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What’s Behind Recent Transit Ridership Trends in the Bay Area? Volume I: Overview and Analysis of Underlying Factors
Public transit ridership has been falling nationally and in California since 2014. The San Francisco Bay Area, with the state’s highest rates of transit use, had until recently resisted those trends, especially compared to Greater Los Angeles. However, in 2017 and 2018 the region lost over five percent (>27 million) of its annual riders, despite a booming economy and service increases. This report examines Bay Area transit ridership to understand the dimensions of changing transit use, its possible causes, and potential solutions. We find that: 1) the steepest ridership losses have come on buses, at off-peak times, on weekends, in non-commute directions, on outlying lines, and on operators that do not serve the region’s core employment clusters; 2) transit trips in the region are increasingly commute-focused, particularly into and out of downtown San Francisco; 3) transit commuters are increasingly non-traditional transit users, such as those with higher incomes and automobile access; 4) the growing job-housing imbalance in the Bay Area is related to rising housing costs and likely depressing transit ridership as more residents live less transit-friendly parts of the region; and 5) ridehail is substituting for some transit trips, particularly in the off-peak. Arresting falling transit use will likely require action both by transit operators (to address peak capacity constraints; improve off-peak service; ease fare payments; adopt fare structures that attract off-peak riders; and better integrate transit with new mobility options) and public policymakers in other realms (to better meter and manage private vehicle use and to increase the supply and affordability of housing near job centers)
Percolation theory applied to measures of fragmentation in social networks
We apply percolation theory to a recently proposed measure of fragmentation
for social networks. The measure is defined as the ratio between the
number of pairs of nodes that are not connected in the fragmented network after
removing a fraction of nodes and the total number of pairs in the original
fully connected network. We compare with the traditional measure used in
percolation theory, , the fraction of nodes in the largest cluster
relative to the total number of nodes. Using both analytical and numerical
methods from percolation, we study Erd\H{o}s-R\'{e}nyi (ER) and scale-free (SF)
networks under various types of node removal strategies. The removal strategies
are: random removal, high degree removal and high betweenness centrality
removal. We find that for a network obtained after removal (all strategies) of
a fraction of nodes above percolation threshold, . For fixed and close to percolation threshold
(), we show that better reflects the actual fragmentation. Close
to , for a given , has a broad distribution and it is
thus possible to improve the fragmentation of the network. We also study and
compare the fragmentation measure and the percolation measure
for a real social network of workplaces linked by the households of the
employees and find similar results.Comment: submitted to PR
Influence of a knot on the strength of a polymer strand
Many experiments have been done to determine the relative strength of
different knots, and these show that the break in a knotted rope almost
invariably occurs at a point just outside the `entrance' to the knot. The
influence of knots on the properties of polymers has become of great interest,
in part because of their effect on mechanical properties. Knot theory applied
to the topology of macromolecules indicates that the simple trefoil or
`overhand' knot is likely to be present with high probability in any long
polymer strand. Fragments of DNA have been observed to contain such knots in
experiments and computer simulations. Here we use {\it ab initio} computational
methods to investigate the effect of a trefoil knot on the breaking strength of
a polymer strand. We find that the knot weakens the strand significantly, and
that, like a knotted rope, it breaks under tension at the entrance to the knot.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figure
Quantifying short-term dynamics of Parkinson's disease using self-reported symptom data from an internet social network
Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is an incurable neurological disease with approximately 0.3% prevalence. The hallmark symptom is gradual movement deterioration. Current scientific consensus about disease progression holds that symptoms will worsen smoothly over time unless treated. Accurate information about symptom dynamics is of critical importance to patients, caregivers, and the scientific community for the design of new treatments, clinical decision making, and individual disease management. Long-term studies characterize the typical time course of the disease as an early linear progression gradually reaching a plateau in later stages. However, symptom dynamics over durations of days to weeks remains unquantified. Currently, there is a scarcity of objective clinical information about symptom dynamics at intervals shorter than 3 months stretching over several years, but Internet-based patient self-report platforms may change this. Objective: To assess the clinical value of online self-reported PD symptom data recorded by users of the health-focused Internet social research platform PatientsLikeMe (PLM), in which patients quantify their symptoms on a regular basis on a subset of the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Ratings Scale (UPDRS). By analyzing this data, we aim for a scientific window on the nature of symptom dynamics for assessment intervals shorter than 3 months over durations of several years. Methods: Online self-reported data was validated against the gold standard Parkinson’s Disease Data and Organizing Center (PD-DOC) database, containing clinical symptom data at intervals greater than 3 months. The data were compared visually using quantile-quantile plots, and numerically using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. By using a simple piecewise linear trend estimation algorithm, the PLM data was smoothed to separate random fluctuations from continuous symptom dynamics. Subtracting the trends from the original data revealed random fluctuations in symptom severity. The average magnitude of fluctuations versus time since diagnosis was modeled by using a gamma generalized linear model. Results: Distributions of ages at diagnosis and UPDRS in the PLM and PD-DOC databases were broadly consistent. The PLM patients were systematically younger than the PD-DOC patients and showed increased symptom severity in the PD off state. The average fluctuation in symptoms (UPDRS Parts I and II) was 2.6 points at the time of diagnosis, rising to 5.9 points 16 years after diagnosis. This fluctuation exceeds the estimated minimal and moderate clinically important differences, respectively. Not all patients conformed to the current clinical picture of gradual, smooth changes: many patients had regimes where symptom severity varied in an unpredictable manner, or underwent large rapid changes in an otherwise more stable progression. Conclusions: This information about short-term PD symptom dynamics contributes new scientific understanding about the disease progression, currently very costly to obtain without self-administered Internet-based reporting. This understanding should have implications for the optimization of clinical trials into new treatments and for the choice of treatment decision timescales
Exponential Random Graph Modeling for Complex Brain Networks
Exponential random graph models (ERGMs), also known as p* models, have been
utilized extensively in the social science literature to study complex networks
and how their global structure depends on underlying structural components.
However, the literature on their use in biological networks (especially brain
networks) has remained sparse. Descriptive models based on a specific feature
of the graph (clustering coefficient, degree distribution, etc.) have dominated
connectivity research in neuroscience. Corresponding generative models have
been developed to reproduce one of these features. However, the complexity
inherent in whole-brain network data necessitates the development and use of
tools that allow the systematic exploration of several features simultaneously
and how they interact to form the global network architecture. ERGMs provide a
statistically principled approach to the assessment of how a set of interacting
local brain network features gives rise to the global structure. We illustrate
the utility of ERGMs for modeling, analyzing, and simulating complex
whole-brain networks with network data from normal subjects. We also provide a
foundation for the selection of important local features through the
implementation and assessment of three selection approaches: a traditional
p-value based backward selection approach, an information criterion approach
(AIC), and a graphical goodness of fit (GOF) approach. The graphical GOF
approach serves as the best method given the scientific interest in being able
to capture and reproduce the structure of fitted brain networks
The First Definitive Binary Orbit Determined with the Hubble Space Telescope Fine Guidance Sensors: Wolf 1062 (Gliese 748)
The M dwarf binary, Wolf 1062 (Gliese 748), has been observed with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Fine Guidance Sensor 3 in the transfer function scan mode to determine the apparent orbit. This is the first orbit defined fully and exclusively with HST, and is the most accurate definitive orbit for any resolved, noneclipsing system. The orbital period is 2.4490 ± 0.0119 yr and the semimajor axis is 01470 ± 00007—both quantities are now known to better than 1%. Using the weighted mean of seven parallax measurements and these HST data, we find the system mass to be 0.543 ± 0.031 M⊙, where the error of 6% is due almost entirely to the parallax error. An estimated fractional mass from the infrared brightness ratio and infrared mass-luminosity relation yields a mass for the primary of 0.37 M⊙, and the secondary falls in the regime of very low mass stars, with a mass of only 0.17 M⊙
Tightness of slip-linked polymer chains
We study the interplay between entropy and topological constraints for a
polymer chain in which sliding rings (slip-links) enforce pair contacts between
monomers. These slip-links divide a closed ring polymer into a number of
sub-loops which can exchange length between each other. In the ideal chain
limit, we find the joint probability density function for the sizes of segments
within such a slip-linked polymer chain (paraknot). A particular segment is
tight (small in size) or loose (of the order of the overall size of the
paraknot) depending on both the number of slip-links it incorporates and its
competition with other segments. When self-avoiding interactions are included,
scaling arguments can be used to predict the statistics of segment sizes for
certain paraknot configurations.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, REVTeX
Lateral Distribution of Muons in IceCube Cosmic Ray Events
In cosmic ray air showers, the muon lateral separation from the center of the
shower is a measure of the transverse momentum that the muon parent acquired in
the cosmic ray interaction. IceCube has observed cosmic ray interactions that
produce muons laterally separated by up to 400 m from the shower core, a factor
of 6 larger distance than previous measurements. These muons originate in high
pT (> 2 GeV/c) interactions from the incident cosmic ray, or high-energy
secondary interactions. The separation distribution shows a transition to a
power law at large values, indicating the presence of a hard pT component that
can be described by perturbative quantum chromodynamics. However, the rates and
the zenith angle distributions of these events are not well reproduced with the
cosmic ray models tested here, even those that include charm interactions. This
discrepancy may be explained by a larger fraction of kaons and charmed
particles than is currently incorporated in the simulations
Spin half fermions with mass dimension one: theory, phenomenology, and dark matter
We provide the first details on the unexpected theoretical discovery of a
spin-one-half matter field with mass dimension one. It is based upon a complete
set of dual-helicity eigenspinors of the charge conjugation operator. Due to
its unusual properties with respect to charge conjugation and parity, it
belongs to a non-standard Wigner class. Consequently, the theory exhibits
non-locality with (CPT)^2 = - I. We briefly discuss its relevance to the
cosmological `horizon problem'. Because the introduced fermionic field is
endowed with mass dimension one, it can carry a quartic self-interaction. Its
dominant interaction with known forms of matter is via Higgs, and with gravity.
This aspect leads us to contemplate the new fermion as a prime dark matter
candidate. Taking this suggestion seriously we study a supernova-like explosion
of a galactic-mass dark matter cloud to set limits on the mass of the new
particle and present a calculation on relic abundance to constrain the relevant
cross-section. The analysis favours light mass (roughly 20 MeV) and relevant
cross-section of about 2 pb. Similarities and differences with the WIMP and
mirror matter proposals for dark matter are enumerated. In a critique of the
theory we bare a hint on non-commutative aspects of spacetime, and
energy-momentum space.Comment: 78 pages [Changes: referee-suggested improvements, additional
important references, and better readability
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