Hasil untuk "Metropolitan areas"

Yunfei Shu, Yunfei Shu, Suihan Xu et al.

BackgroundThe U.S. population is aging, accompanied by concurrent increases in the burden of respiratory failure. However, respiratory failure-related mortality trends among 45 years old adults have not been investigated. The purpose of this study was to assess the trends and regional differences in respiratory failure-related mortality among older adults in the United States.MethodsData were obtained from the CDC WONDER database, encompassing death records of U.S. residents aged 45 years and older between 1999 and 2023. Cases were identified in which respiratory failure (ICD-10 codes J96.0, J96.1, and J96.9) was documented as the cause of death. We computed both crude and age-adjusted mortality rates (AAMR) per 100,000 population and employed Joinpoint regression to estimate annual percentage changes (APC) and average annual percentage change (AAPC). Additionally, a sensitivity analysis was conducted in which lung cancer was identified as the underlying cause of death and respiratory failure as a contributing cause, to assess the robustness of the conclusions.ResultsA total of 186,075 respiratory failure-related deaths were recorded within the study period. The AAMR increased markedly from 3.71 in 1999 to 10.50 in 2023. The most pronounced upward trend occurred between 2005 and 2018 (APC: +7.96%; 95% CI: 7.44 to 8.93; p < 0.001). Specifically, mortality was higher among males than females (AAMR: 11.14 vs. 9.94) in 2023. Racial and ethnic disparities were evident, with non-Hispanic Black or African American individuals exhibiting the highest AAMR (14.07), compared to Hispanic individuals, who showed the lowest (5.96) in 2023. Geographically, rural/county areas experienced a significantly greater AAMR than large and medium/small metropolitan areas (12.27, 8.86, and 10.08, respectively) in 2020. Furthermore, distinct mortality trends were observed across various census regions. A sensitivity analysis-where lung cancer was identified as the underlying cause of death and respiratory failure as a contributing cause of death-confirmed this conclusion.ConclusionRespiratory failure-related mortality has risen substantially over the study period, particularly after 2005, with significant inequalities observed across racial, gender, and geographic subgroups. These findings highlight the urgent need for targeted public health interventions to mitigate the increasing burden of these conditions.

Xiaxing Cai

The anisotropic $s$-fractional area measures are introduced as the first variation of the anisotropic fractional $s$-perimeter $P_s(K,L)$, with $L$ an origin symmetric convex body and $s\in(0,1)$. As $s\rightarrow 1^-$, the anisotropic $s$-fractional area measure converges to the mixed area measure of $K$ and the moment body of $L$. The Minkowski problem of these measures are solved. Finally, a necessary condition for the convexity of optimizers in the anisotropic fractional isoperimetric inequality is derived.

Zixiao Li, Seyed Hadi Mirfarshbafan, Oscar Castañeda et al.

We present a 22 nm FD-SOI (fully depleted silicon-on-insulator) application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) implementation of a novel soft-output Gram-domain block coordinate descent (GBCD) data detector for massive multi-user (MU) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. The ASIC simultaneously addresses the high throughput requirements for millimeter wave (mmWave) communication, stringent area and power budget per subcarrier in an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) system, and error-rate performance challenges posed by realistic mmWave channels. The proposed GBCD algorithm utilizes a posterior mean estimate (PME) denoiser and is optimized using deep unfolding, which results in superior error-rate performance even in scenarios with highly correlated channels or where the number of user equipment (UE) data streams is comparable to the number of basestation (BS) antennas. The fabricated GBCD ASIC supports up to 16 UEs transmitting QPSK to 256-QAM symbols to a 128-antenna BS, and achieves a peak throughput of 7.1 Gbps at 367 mW. The core area is only 0.97 mm$^2$ thanks to a reconfigurable array of processing elements that enables extensive resource sharing. Measurement results demonstrate that the proposed GBCD data-detector ASIC achieves best-in-class throughput and area efficiency.

Shengjie Liu, Siqin Wang, Lu Zhang

Many real-world applications rely on land surface temperature (LST) data at high spatiotemporal resolution. In complex urban areas, LST exhibits significant variations, fluctuating dramatically within and across city blocks. Landsat provides high spatial resolution data at 100 meters but is limited by long revisit time, with cloud cover further disrupting data collection. Here, we propose DELAG, a deep ensemble learning method that integrates annual temperature cycles and Gaussian processes, to reconstruct Landsat LST in complex urban areas. Leveraging the cross-track characteristics and dual-satellite operation of Landsat since 2021, we further enhance data availability to 4 scenes every 16 days. We select New York City, London and Hong Kong from three different continents as study areas. Experiments show that DELAG successfully reconstructed LST in the three cities under clear-sky (RMSE = 0.73-0.96 K) and heavily-cloudy (RMSE = 0.84-1.62 K) situations, superior to existing methods. Additionally, DELAG can quantify uncertainty that enhances LST reconstruction reliability. We further tested the reconstructed LST to estimate near-surface air temperature, achieving results (RMSE = 1.48-2.11 K) comparable to those derived from clear-sky LST (RMSE = 1.63-2.02 K). The results demonstrate the successful reconstruction through DELAG and highlight the broader applications of LST reconstruction for estimating accurate air temperature. Our study thus provides a novel and practical method for Landsat LST reconstruction, particularly suited for complex urban areas within Landsat cross-track areas, taking one step toward addressing complex climate events at high spatiotemporal resolution. Code and data are available at https://skrisliu.com/delag

Alexander Vavoulas, Konstantinos K. Delibasis, Harilaos G. Sandalidis et al.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have gained significant attention for improving wireless communication, especially in emergencies or as a complement to existing cellular infrastructure. This letter addresses the problem of efficiently covering a large convex quadrilateral using multiple UAVs, where each UAV generates elliptical coverage footprints based on its altitude and antenna tilt. The challenge is approached using circle-packing techniques within a unit square to arrange UAVs in an optimal configuration. Subsequently, a homography transformation is applied to map the unit square onto the quadrilateral area, ensuring that the UAVs' elliptical footprints cover the entire region. Numerical simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, providing insight into coverage density and optimal altitude configurations for different placement scenarios. The results highlight the scalability and potential for improving UAV-based communication systems, focusing on maximizing coverage efficiency in large areas with irregular shapes.

Joyce Tiang, Algis J. Vingrys, Algis J. Vingrys et al.

PurposeVisual field testing is important for glaucoma diagnosis and management, but access to standard automated perimetry can be limited in some areas due to cost or access. Melbourne Rapid Fields-web (MRF-web) perimeter is designed to address these limitations by allowing perimetry testing on the flat screen of your personal computer.MethodsThis study is a retrospective, cross-sectional study involving two locations in Australia, one in metropolitan Melbourne and one in rural Dubbo NSW. 232 patients with stable glaucoma, glaucoma suspect or normal eyes were tested with MRF-web and outcomes were compared to the most recent Humphrey Field Analyzer (HFA) 24-2 SITA Faster test. Outcomes were compared by Deming regressions, Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICC) and Bland-Altman methods.ResultsPatient age ranged from 21 to 92 (average 66.3, SD 16.1). Bland-Altman found a bias of -0.50dB for Mean Deviation (MD) between the two tests, with 95% Limits of Agreement (LoA) of -6.80dB to 5.80dB. Pattern Deviation (PD) had a bias of -0.58dB with 95% LoA of -5.60dB to 4.40dB. High concordance was found for MD and PD, with ICCs of 0.87 and 0.73. No significant differences were found in false positive and fixation loss rates. Test time was approximately one minute longer for MRF-web compared to SITA-Faster. Area Under the Curve of MRF and HFA are similar indicating comparable diagnostic capacity.ConclusionMRF-web produces outcomes comparable to HFA SITA-Faster. Its portability and cost-effectiveness suggest suitability as an alternative method for visual field testing where a standard perimeter is not easily accessible.

Oluwole Olumide Durodolu, Samuel M Mojapelo, Bolaji David Oladokun et al.

Purpose. This study examines the role of school librarians in promoting information literacy in secondary schools within a metropolitan city. It highlights the importance of information literacy, which involves the ability to access, evaluate, and use information effectively. Methodology. The research, using qualitative interviews with librarians from six selected local government areas, investigates how librarians support teachers and enhance educational outcomes. Key research areas include methods used by librarians to determine teachers' information needs, the extent of consultation with teachers on new acquisitions, how librarians inform teachers about available resources, and the adequacy and usage frequency of library resources. Results and discussion. The findings reveal varying levels of librarian engagement, with some actively collaborating with teachers and others taking a more passive approach. Challenges identified include time constraints and resource inadequacies. Conclusions. The study emphasizes the need for better communication and resource management to support information literacy. Despite recognizing its importance, gaps exist in understanding effective librarian practices for empowering teachers and students. Recommendations include fostering librarian-teacher collaboration, updating resource collections, and increasing awareness of available resources to enhance their use in education.

Amadeusz Dydniański, Aleksandra Łopion, Mateusz Raczyński et al.

In this work, we study the impact of carrier localization on three quantities sensitive to carrier gas density at the micrometer scale: charged exciton (X+) oscillator strength, local free carrier conductivity, and the Knight shift. The last two are observed in a micrometer-scale, spatially resolved optically detected magnetic resonance experiment (ODMR). On the surface of MBE-grown (Cd,Mn)Te quantum well we identify defected areas in the vicinity of dislocations. We find that these areas show a much lower conductivity signal while maintaining the same Knight shift values as the pristine areas of the quantum well. We attribute this behavior to carrier localization in the defected regions.

Kevin McQuillan

Big cities have always been attractive places for people to settle. However, recent trends, including work-from-home and hybrid work arrangements, along with the rising cost of housing in big cities, mean more Canadians of all age groups are relocating to smaller communities. Much of this movement is to smaller areas within the same province, so that communities which traditionally saw an out-migration of population are now dealing with the challenges created by a significant influx of new residents. Focusing on the exodus from the three largest Canadian Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs) of Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, this paper examines the challenges and consequences for smaller communities. The proportion of people living in these three CMAs has grown from 28.9 per cent in 1981 to 35.5 per cent in 2021. This increase reflects the fact that the fastest growing industries, such as finance, technology and communications, are located in major urban areas. However, the pandemic, combined with the technology that allows people to work from anywhere, means that more people are moving to smaller communities where they can enjoy lower housing costs and other benefits that less dense places offer. While younger people willing to tolerate the occasional commute to the city in hybrid working arrangements are relocating to smaller communities, some retirees are downsizing and also leaving the big city behind. This out-migration has created challenges for big cities. With workers resisting a return to the downtown office, urban cores are left with vast amounts of empty office space. Companies are thus reducing the size of their leased space or not renewing current leases. Public transit and shopping malls have seen usage drop, and a subsequent rise in crime and social disorder in some cities is encouraging even more people to consider moving elsewhere. The COVID-19 pandemic certainly contributed to the increasing exodus from the largest cities. A post-pandemic return to normal economic activity could slow departures from the big cities. The largest CMAs are still growing, due to an increasing number of immigrants, many of whom prefer to settle in big cities where people who arrived previously from their homelands have located. Canada’s commitment to expanded immigration has meant continued growth for major urban centres while the exodus of people from those centres has renewed the growth of mid-size and smaller communities. For the community of Cowansville, Quebec, for example, the flow of people out of Montreal has produced renewed growth. The newcomers, especially those who bring significant resources with them, stimulate the local economy. Greater demand for products and services helps local businesses and can create employment opportunities for local residents. It will be important to monitor these migration trends in the coming years in order to ensure that infrastructure, funding and services adapt to the challenges so that everyone, whether they choose to live in a big city or in a small community, has access to the services and infrastructure they need in order to enjoy an optimum quality of life.

Ali Shkera, Dr. Vaishali Patankar

This research delves into mode choice behavior for shopping-related excursions in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), a rapidly expanding and socio-economically diverse urban area. The study seeks to identify key determinants influencing individuals' decisions between sustainable travel options, such as walking, cycling, and public transport, and private vehicles like cars. Utilizing empirical data from questionnaire surveys conducted on both weekdays and weekends, this study employed a binary logistic regression model to analyze the associations between mode preferences and pivotal factors, including car ownership, gender, income, age, walk score, and population density. Key findings underscored the prominence of sustainable transportation modes over private vehicles for shopping trips. Car ownership, gender, and income emerged as significant determinants shaping transportation decisions. The study emphasizes the need for policies prioritizing the enhancement of public transport infrastructure and services while promoting environmental sustainability. The research identifies areas for further investigation, suggesting a more nuanced approach to understand variations within demographic and built environment segments. Ultimately, the study provides insights to guide sustainable transportation policies, interventions, and urban planning in the MMR, advocating for a more sustainable and livable urban future.

Caiyao Xu, Bowei Li, Fanbin Kong et al.

Urbanization results in drastic land use/cover change (LUCC) and ecological resilience (ER) issues, which has become an important and urgent question of regional sustainability. This study applied the remote sensing ecological index (RSEI) to represent the ER, and further combined ordinary least squares (OLS), and the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform to analyze the spatiotemporal variations of ER and LUCC at the regional and city scales from 1990 to 2020 in Hangzhou Bay Metropolitan Area (HBMA), explore the relationship between ER and LUCC, and apply for urban resilience management zoning. The results demonstrated that the ER in HBMA showed a characteristic of “slightly worse overall and improved locally”, the mean value of which decreased from 0.508 in 1990 to 0.502 in 2020. Specifically, the ER in Shanghai, Shaoxing, and Ningbo increased, and others decreased. ER exhibited a very obvious spatial aggregation feature of “high value in the southwest and low value in the northeast”. The spatiotemporal dynamic feature of LUCC from 1990 to 2020 depicted that the expansion of construction land was at the expense of occupying cropland. The LUCC degree and population have significant negative effects on the ER. The ER management zoning of HBMA could be divided into five zones, namely the ecological core protection area, ecological monitoring area, ecological optimization area, ecological restoration area, and ecological potential governance area. Results of this study could provide a more comprehensive understanding of ER change in metropolitan areas and the implication of resilience management was provided to improve the adaptation and sustainable development of the coastal urban area.

Yonghao Huangfu, Qingshan Li, Weiwei Yang et al.

Various studies have shown that the heavy use of pharmaceuticals poses serious ecological risks, especially in metropolitan areas with intensive human activities. In this study, the spatial distribution, sources, and ecological risks of 29 pharmaceuticals in 82 surface waters collected from the North Canal Basin in Beijing were studied. The results showed that the pharmaceutical concentrations ranged from not detected to 193 ng/L, with ampicillin being undetected while ofloxacin had a 100% detection frequency, which indicates the widespread occurrence of pharmaceutical pollution in the North Canal Basin. In comparison with other freshwater study areas, concentrations of pharmaceuticals in the North Canal Basin were generally at moderate levels. It was found that pharmaceutical concentrations were always higher in rivers that directly received wastewater effluents. Source analysis was conducted using the positive matrix factorization model. Combining the spatial pollution patterns of pharmaceuticals, it has been found that wastewater effluents contributed the most to the loads of pharmaceuticals in the studied basin, while in suburban areas, a possible contribution of untreated wastewater was demonstrated. Risk assessment indicated that approximately 55% of the pharmaceuticals posed low-to-high ecological risks, and combining the results of risk analyses, it is advised that controlling WWTP effluent is probably the most cost-effective measure in treating pharmaceutical pollution.

Bo Zhong, Shuang Wu, Ning Wu et al.

IntroductionWith the acceleration of urbanization, human population and built surface in urban areas have increased rapidly, triggering numerous environmental problems. Identification of ecological security pattern (ESP) can be helpful to optimize the interaction and relationship between ecological conservation and socioeconomic development in a given region. In this study, taking Chengdu City as an example, a methodology was used to analyze the city’s ESP.MethodologyEcological sources were identified based on their ecological security values, which were derived from the spatio-temporal evaluation of ecosystem services and ecological health. The ecological resistance surface was revised with nighttime light index. Linkage Mapper combined with circuit theory was used to extracted ecological corridors and key ecological nodes.Results:The results showed that the mean values of ecological security in Chengdu City presented a downward and then upward trend from 2000 to 2018. In 2018, the ESP in Chengdu City was formed by 140 ecological sources with the total area of 8,819.78 km2, 302 ecological corridors with the area of 456.91 km2, as well as 61 pinch-points and 17 barrier points. The ecological sources in Chengdu City were mainly distributed in or nearby Longmen Mountain and Longquan Mountain, two flanks of the Chengdu Plain, and connected each other with hundreds of ecological corridors. Most of ecological sources and corridors were composited of forests in mountainous areas and linpan units (wooded lots) in rural plain areas. On the contrary, pinch-points and barrier points were mainly distributed in the districts nearby the metropolitan urban center.ConclusionFinally, this study proposed that constructing ESP must adopt a dynamic and holistic approach in considering the change of restoring ecosystems, shift of urban demands for ecosystem services and transformation of urban-rural land use/cover. Restoring and managing corridors sustainably are important for improving the ecological connectivity of all over ecological sources in a city, all of which together, if functioning well, could further support the realization of sustainable urbanization.

Ferran Larroya, Ofelia Díaz, Oleguer Segarra et al.

The analysis of pedestrian GPS datasets is fundamental to further advance on the study and the design of walkable cities. The highest resolution GPS data can characterize micro-mobility patterns and pedestrians' micro-motives in relation to a small-scale urban context. Purposed-based recurrent mobility data inside people's neighborhoods is an important source in these sorts of studies. However, micro-mobility around people's homes is generally unavailable, and if data exists, it is generally not shareable often due to privacy issues. Citizen science and its public involvement practices in scientific research are valid options to circumvent these challenges and provide meaningful datasets for walkable cities. The study presents GPS records from single-day home-to-school pedestrian mobility of 10 schools in the Barcelona Metropolitan area (Spain). The research provides pedestrian mobility from an age-homogeneous group of people. The study shares processed records with specific filtering, cleaning, and interpolation procedures that can facilitate and accelerate data usage. Citizen science practices during the whole research process are reported to offer a complete perspective of the data collected.

Yuji Murayama, Ruci Wang

This Special Issue focuses on the data, methods, techniques, and empirical outcomes of urban heat island studies from a time and space perspective. We showcase research papers, empirical studies, conceptual or analytic reviews, and policy-related tasks to help achieve urban sustainability. We are interested in target methodologies and datasets capturing urban heat island phenomena, including novel techniques for urban heat island monitoring and forecasting with the integration of remote sensing and GIS, the spatial relationship between urban heat island intensity and land use/cover distribution in metropolitan areas, the geographical patterns and processes of urban heat island phenomena in large cities, spatial differences in urban heat island intensity between developing and developed countries, urban heat island disaster mitigation and adaptation for future urban sustainability, and prediction and scenario analysis of urban heat island formation for policy and planning purposes.

Angelo Solimini, Chiara Virgillito, Mattia Manica et al.

<h4>Background</h4>Outbreaks of Aedes-borne diseases in temperate areas are not frequent, and limited in number of cases. We investigate the associations between habitat factors and temperature on individuals' risk of chikungunya (CHIKV) in a non-endemic area by spatially analyzing the data from the 2017 Italian outbreak.<h4>Methodology/principal findings</h4>We adopted a case-control study design to analyze the association between land-cover variables, temperature, and human population density with CHIKV cases. The observational unit was the area, at different scales, surrounding the residence of each CHIKV notified case. The statistical analysis was conducted considering the whole dataset and separately for the resort town of Anzio and the metropolitan city of Rome, which were the two main foci of the outbreak. In Rome, a higher probability for the occurrence of CHIKV cases is associated with lower temperature (OR = 0.72; 95% CI: 0.61-0.85) and with cells with higher vegetation coverage and human population density (OR = 1.03; 95% CI: 1.00-1.05). In Anzio, CHIKV case occurrence was positively associated with human population density (OR = 1.03; 95% CI: 1.00-1.06) but not with habitat factors or temperature.<h4>Conclusion/significance</h4>Using temperature, human population density and vegetation coverage data as drives for CHIKV transmission, our estimates could be instrumental in assessing spatial heterogeneity in the risk of experiencing arboviral diseases in non-endemic temperate areas.

Carsten Schuett, Elisabeth M. Werner

We give an overview of the affine surface area, its properties and its history.

Stefan Kojchev, Robert Hult, Jonas Fredriksson

Confined areas present an opportunity for early deployment of autonomous vehicles (AV) due to the absence of non-controlled traffic participants. In this paper, we present an approach for coordination of multiple AVs in confined sites. The method computes speed-profiles for the AVs such that collisions are avoided in cross-intersection and merge crossings. Specifically, this is done through the solution of an optimal control problem where the motion of all vehicles is optimized jointly. The order in which the vehicles pass the crossings is determined through the solution of a Mixed Integer Quadratic Program (MIQP). Through simulation results, we demonstrate the capability of the algorithm in terms of performance and satisfaction of collision avoidance constraints.

Natan Eismont, Vladislav Zubko, Andrey Belyaev et al.

A problem of determining attainable landing sites on the surface of Venus is an essential part of the Venera-D project aimed to explore the planet using a lander. This problem appears due to the inability for the descent module to land at any point on the surface of Venus because of the short duration of the launch window (about 2 weeks from the optimal launch date), as well as restrictions on the maximum permissible overload. An additional factor affecting the reduction of attainable landing sites is the low angular velocity of Venus own rotation. This study proposes a new approach to expand the attainable landing areas. The approach is based on the use of the gravitational field of Venus to transfer the spacecraft to an orbit resonant to the Venusian one with a ratio of periods of 1:1. All the simulations were performed at the patched conic approximation. As an example, we considered a flight to Venus at launch in 2029 or 2031. For both cases maps of attainable landing areas on the surface were constructed. It has been demonstrated that there is always at least one launch date within the launch window, allowing the spacecraft to reach almost any point on the surface of Venus. It is shown that the application of the proposed approach makes it possible to achieve a significant expansion of the attainable landing areas (over 70\% of the surface) and, in some cases, provide access to any point on the surface of Venus. However, the price of this advantage is an increase in the flight duration by one Venusian year.

Alec Brian Lacerda, Camila Lorenz, Thiago Salomão De Azevedo et al.

Scorpion envenomation is a significant public health concern in São Paulo, Brazil, and its incidence and mortality have increased in recent decades. The present study analyzed documented scorpion envenomation notifications from 2008 to 2018 throughout the 645 municipalities of São Paulo. Annual incidence and mortality rates were calculated and stratified according to sex and age. The local empirical Bayesian method and Getis-Ord Gi* statistic were used to represent standardized incidence rates in the municipalities and to identify high- and low-risk agglomerates. The incidence rate of scorpion envenomation quintupled between 2008 and 2018. Overall, the risk was higher for man, and increased with age. Deaths due to envenomation, however, were concentrated almost entirely in children 0-9 years of age. Incidence maps showed that the risk of envenomation increased in almost all regions and municipalities of São Paulo throughout the study period. The highest incidence rates were found in the western, northwestern and northern regions of the state, in contrast to the São Paulo metropolitan area and southern and coastal regions. Hot spots were identified in the Presidente Prudente, Barretos, São José do Rio Preto, and Araçatuba regional health districts, which over time formed a single high-risk cluster. In spatial terms, however, deaths were randomly distributed. In this study, we identified areas and populations at risk of scorpion envenomation and associated-fatalities, which can be used to support decision-making by health services to reduce human contact with these arachnids and avoid fatalities, especially in children.