Strategic planning for urban air mobility: Perceptions of citizens and potential users on autonomous flying vehicles

World’s current mobility systems are often inefficient and unsustainable, therefore the need for new schemes to satisfy mobility needs appears. This quest has given the impetus to the industry to invest in new technologies such as autonomous systems enabling self-driving vehicles. In this context, the concept of Urban Air Mobility (UAM), a term used for short-distance, on-demand, highly automated, passenger or cargo-carrying air mobility services, has arisen. This paper presents the introduction phase of strategic planning for the era of urban air mobility focusing on user and citizen acceptance of the system required for its operation. A survey is designed to capture the perception of citizens and potential users on aspects such as safety, security, well-being of the society (including issues of aesthetics, quality of life, social impacts), driving behaviour, mobility behaviour, expected benefits and their impact on the acceptance and the intention to use these systems. The acceptance of citizens and potential users (considered as two different groups) is analysed in terms of its potential uses (e.g. health emergencies, leisure, connectivity to remote regions). The survey is applied to the Metropolitan area of Lisbon and 207 responses were gathered. The collected data was analysed through correlation analysis and non-parametric tests. Conclusions are made on perceptions of citizens over different adoption and embracement levels.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

The usual suspects: How psychological motives and thinking styles predict the endorsement of well-known and COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs

Research on belief in conspiracy theories identified many predictors but often failed to investigate them together. In the present study, we tested how the most important predictors of beliefs in conspiracy theories explain endorsing COVID‐19 and non‐COVID‐19 conspiracy theories and conspiracy mentality. Apart from these three measures of conspiratorial thinking, participants (N = 354) completed several measures of epistemic, existential, and social psychological motives, as well as cognitive processing variables. While many predictors had significant correlations, only three consistently explained conspiratorial beliefs when included in one model: higher spirituality (specifically eco‐awareness factor), higher narcissism, and lower analytical thinking. Compared to the other two conspiratorial measures, predictors less explained belief in COVID‐19 conspiracy theories, but this depended on items' content. We conclude that the same predictors apply to belief in both COVID and non‐COVID conspiracies and identify New Age spirituality as an important contributor to such beliefs

Determination and economical evaluations of damages on forest products logged by different logging techniques

Bu çalışmada; dağlık arazi yapısına sahip olan Artvin bölgesinde gerçekleştirilen odun hammaddesi üretimi faaliyetlerinin taşınan ürünler üzerinde oluşturduğu fiziksel zararlar tespit edilmiş ve bu zararların ekonomik boyutlarına yönelik genel değerlendirmeler yapılmıştır. Bölmeden çıkarma çalışmalarının taşınan ürünlere verdiği zarara yönelik ölçümler toplam 15 deneme alanında yapılmıştır. Ölçümler Artvin Orman İşletme Müdürlüğü-Taşlıca Orman İşletme Şefliği sınırları içerisinde orman hava hatları, orman traktörü ve insan gücüyle ile bölmeden çıkarmanın yapıldığı her bir teknik için beşer adet olmak üzere toplam 15 deneme alanında gerçekleştirilmiştir. Taşınan ürünlerde oluşan zarar tespitinde 0 ile 3 arasında toplam 4 kategoride derecelendirme yapılmıştır. Elde edilen sonuçlara göre kullanılan 3 değişik bölmeden çıkarma tekniğinin taşınan ürünlerde oluşan zararlar üzerinde önemli derecede etkili olduğu ortaya çıkmıştır. Taşınan ürünler üzerinde en fazla zarar insan gücü ile yapılan bölmeden çıkarma çalışmalarında oluşmuş (1.92) onu sırasıyla traktörle (1.22) ve hava hattı ile (0.51) bölmeden çıkarma tekniği izlemiştir. Hava hattı ile bölmeden çıkarmada taşınan ürünlerin % 57.6’sı hiç zarar görmemiştir. Bu durum diğer bölmeden çıkarma çalışmalarında % 15’in altında kalmıştır. Hava hattı ile bölmeden çıkarmada taşınan ürünlerin hiç biri ağır zarara uğramazken, traktörle bölmeden çıkarmada ürünlerin % 6.0’sı, insan gücü ile bölmeden çıkarma da ise % 20’si ağır zarara uğramıştır. Bölmeden çıkarma tekniğine bağlı olarak ortaya çıkan bu zararlar, ürünler üzerinde nitelik ve bazen de nicelik kayıplarına sebebiyet vermiştir. Bu zarardan dolayı tomruğun kağıtlık oduna veya kağıtlık odunun yakacak oduna dönüşmesi sonucunda, birim ürün satış fiyatında kaba bir tahminle % 25 ile % 60 oranlarında bir ekonomik kayıp söz konusu olmaktadır.In this present study, the physical damages of logging on forest products were investigated in Artvin, and the qualitative and quantitative impacts of damages on forest products were economically discussed. The damages of three logging techniques (man power, skidder, skyline) on the forest products were investigated in 15 sites in Artvin Forest Enterprise-Taşlıca Forest District. The levels of damages in each site were categorized into 4 as 0- no damage, 1- low, 2- moderate and 3-heavy damages. Results have showed that three different logging techniques have a significant influence on damages of forest products. The highest damage on forest products was for the man power (1.92) followed by skidder (1.22) and skyline (0.51). The undamaged forest products were 56.7% for skyline, 17.7% for skidder and 6% for man power. The forest products logged by skyline had no heavily damages, while the other techniques caused heavily damages on the forest products with being 6% for the skidder and 20% for the man power

Limits of ultra-high-precision optical astrometry: Stellar surface structures

We investigate the astrometric effects of stellar surface structures as a practical limitation to ultra-high-precision astrometry, e.g. in the context of exoplanet searches, and to quantify the expected effects in different regions of the HR-diagram. Stellar surface structures are likely to produce fluctuations in the integrated flux and radial velocity of the star, as well as a variation of the observed photocentre, i.e. astrometric jitter, and closure phase. We use theoretical considerations supported by Monte Carlo simulations to derive statistical relations between the corresponding astrometric, photometric, and radial-velocity effects. For most stellar types the astrometric jitter due to stellar surface structures is expected to be of order 10 micro-AU or greater. This is more than the astrometric displacement typically caused by an Earth-size exoplanet in the habitable zone, which is about 1-4 micro-AU for long-lived main-sequence stars. Only for stars with extremely low photometric variability (<0.5 mmag) and low magnetic activity, comparable to that of the Sun, will the astrometric jitter be of order 1 micro-AU, suffcient to allow the astrometric detection of an Earth-sized planet in the habitable zone. While stellar surface structure may thus seriously impair the astrometric detection of small exoplanets, it has in general negligible impact on the detection of large (Jupiter-size) planets and on the determination of stellar parallax and proper motion. From the starspot model we also conclude that the commonly used spot filling factor is not the most relevant parameter for quantifying the spottiness in terms of the resulting astrometric, photometric and radial-velocity variations.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, submitted to A&

A Taxonomy of Causality-Based Biological Properties

We formally characterize a set of causality-based properties of metabolic networks. This set of properties aims at making precise several notions on the production of metabolites, which are familiar in the biologists' terminology. From a theoretical point of view, biochemical reactions are abstractly represented as causal implications and the produced metabolites as causal consequences of the implication representing the corresponding reaction. The fact that a reactant is produced is represented by means of the chain of reactions that have made it exist. Such representation abstracts away from quantities, stoichiometric and thermodynamic parameters and constitutes the basis for the characterization of our properties. Moreover, we propose an effective method for verifying our properties based on an abstract model of system dynamics. This consists of a new abstract semantics for the system seen as a concurrent network and expressed using the Chemical Ground Form calculus. We illustrate an application of this framework to a portion of a real metabolic pathway

Classification of primary and incisional abdominal wall hernias

A classification for primary and incisional abdominal wall hernias is needed to allow comparison of publications and future studies on these hernias. It is important to know whether the populations described in different studies are comparable.Comparative StudyConsensus Development ConferenceJournal ArticleReviewSCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

European Reference Network for Rare Vascular Diseases (VASCERN) position statement on cerebral screening in adults and children with hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT)

Hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) is a multisystemic vascular dysplasia inherited as an autosomal dominant trait. Approximately 10 % of patients have cerebral vascular malformations, a proportion being cerebral arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) and fistulae that may lead to potentially devastating consequences in case of rupture. On the other hand, detection and treatment related-risks are not negligible, and immediate. While successful treatment can be undertaken in individual cases, current data do not support the treatment of unruptured AVMs, which also present a low risk of bleeding in HHT patients. Screening for these AVMs is therefore controversial. Structured discussions, distinctions of different cerebrovascular abnormalities commonly grouped into an "AVM"bracket, and clear guidance by neurosurgical and neurointerventional radiology colleagues enabled the European Reference Network for Rare Vascular Disorders (VASCERN-HHT) to develop the following agreed Position Statement on cerebral screening: 1) First, we emphasise that neurological symptoms suggestive of cerebral AVMs in HHT patients should be investigated as in general neurological and emergency care practice. Similarly, if an AVM is found accidentally, management approaches should rely on expert discussions on a case-by-case basis and individual risk-benefit evaluation of all therapeutic possibilities for a specific lesion. 2) The current evidence base does not favour the treatment of unruptured cerebral AVMs, and therefore cannot be used to support widespread screening of asymptomatic HHT patients. 3) Individual situations encompass a wide range of personal, cultural and clinical states. In order to enable informed patient choice, and avoid conflicting advice, particularly arising from non-neurovascular interpretations of the evidence base, we suggest that all HHT patients should have the opportunity to discuss knowingly brain screening issues with their healthcare provider. 4) Any screening discussions in asymptomatic individuals should be preceded by informed pre-test review of the latest evidence regarding preventative and therapeutic efficacies of any interventions. The possibility of harm due to detection of, or intervention on, a vascular malformation that would not have necessarily caused any consequence in later life should be stated explicitly. We consider this nuanced Position Statement provides a helpful, evidence-based framework for informed discussions between healthcare providers and patients in an emotionally charged area

Metabolic Engineering of Cofactor F420 Production in Mycobacterium smegmatis

Cofactor F420 is a unique electron carrier in a number of microorganisms including Archaea and Mycobacteria. It has been shown that F420 has a direct and important role in archaeal energy metabolism whereas the role of F420 in mycobacterial metabolism has only begun to be uncovered in the last few years. It has been suggested that cofactor F420 has a role in the pathogenesis of M. tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis. In the absence of a commercial source for F420, M. smegmatis has previously been used to provide this cofactor for studies of the F420-dependent proteins from mycobacterial species. Three proteins have been shown to be involved in the F420 biosynthesis in Mycobacteria and three other proteins have been demonstrated to be involved in F420 metabolism. Here we report the over-expression of all of these proteins in M. smegmatis and testing of their importance for F420 production. The results indicate that co–expression of the F420 biosynthetic proteins can give rise to a much higher F420 production level. This was achieved by designing and preparing a new T7 promoter–based co-expression shuttle vector. A combination of co–expression of the F420 biosynthetic proteins and fine-tuning of the culture media has enabled us to achieve F420 production levels of up to 10 times higher compared with the wild type M. smegmatis strain. The high levels of the F420 produced in this study provide a suitable source of this cofactor for studies of F420-dependent proteins from other microorganisms and for possible biotechnological applications

A lightweight, flow-based toolkit for parallel and distributed bioinformatics pipelines

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Bioinformatic analyses typically proceed as chains of data-processing tasks. A pipeline, or 'workflow', is a well-defined protocol, with a specific structure defined by the topology of data-flow interdependencies, and a particular functionality arising from the data transformations applied at each step. In computer science, the dataflow programming (DFP) paradigm defines software systems constructed in this manner, as networks of message-passing components. Thus, bioinformatic workflows can be naturally mapped onto DFP concepts.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>To enable the flexible creation and execution of bioinformatics dataflows, we have written a modular framework for parallel pipelines in Python ('PaPy'). A PaPy workflow is created from re-usable components connected by data-pipes into a directed acyclic graph, which together define nested higher-order map functions. The successive functional transformations of input data are evaluated on flexibly pooled compute resources, either local or remote. Input items are processed in batches of adjustable size, all flowing one to tune the trade-off between parallelism and lazy-evaluation (memory consumption). An add-on module ('NuBio') facilitates the creation of bioinformatics workflows by providing domain specific data-containers (<it>e.g</it>., for biomolecular sequences, alignments, structures) and functionality (<it>e.g</it>., to parse/write standard file formats).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>PaPy offers a modular framework for the creation and deployment of parallel and distributed data-processing workflows. Pipelines derive their functionality from user-written, data-coupled components, so PaPy also can be viewed as a lightweight toolkit for extensible, flow-based bioinformatics data-processing. The simplicity and flexibility of distributed PaPy pipelines may help users bridge the gap between traditional desktop/workstation and grid computing. PaPy is freely distributed as open-source Python code at <url>http://muralab.org/PaPy</url>, and includes extensive documentation and annotated usage examples.</p