Non-central Locations Research Articles

CAPITALIZATION EFFECTS OF RIVERS IN URBAN HOUSING SUBMARKETS – A CASE STUDY OF THE YANGTZE RIVER

The study aims to investigate the heterogeneity of the Yangtze River’s impact on housing prices, using the data of 12,325 residential transactions within 8 kilometers of the Yangtze River in Wuhan, based on submarkets divided according to geographical location and buyer groups. The kernel density plots reveal that properties near the Yangtze River have the highest price and the lowest density, while properties further away from the river exhibit the opposite trend. Then the Spatial Generalized Additive Model and the Spatial Quantile Generalized Additive Model show the following results, respectively: (1) The Yangtze River has an influence range of roughly 5 kilometers on adjacent dwellings, with an average impact of 0.035%. However, within the chosen geographical interval, the impact rises from 1.582% to 2.072%. (2) The Yangtze River has the greatest impact on middle-priced houses, followed by high-priced houses, and the least impact on low-priced houses. (3) The Spatial Generalized Additive Model and the Spatial Quantile Generalized Additive Model have been proven to be effective at capturing spatial and temporal impacts on data. In conclusion, this article advises that the government should pay more attention to non-central locations with limited natural resources.

Diurnal changes and topographical distribution of ocular surface epithelial dendritic cells in humans, and repeatability of density and morphology assessment.

Dendritic cells (DC) play a crucial role in ocular surface defence. DC can be visualised in vivo by confocal microscopy but have not yet been fully characterised in humans. This study investigated the diurnal variation, topographical distribution and repeatability of DC density and morphology measurements. In vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM) was conducted on 20 healthy participants (mean age 32.7± 6.4 years, 50% female) at baseline and repeated after 30 minutes, 2, 6 and 24 h. Images were captured at the corneal centre, inferior whorl, corneal periphery, limbus and bulbar conjunctiva. DC were counted manually, and their morphology was assessed for cell body size, presence of dendrites, and presence of long and thick dendrites. Mixed-model analysis, non-parametric analyses, Bland and Altman plots, coefficient of repeatability (CoR) and kappa were used. There were no significant changes in DC density (p≥ 0.74) or morphology (p> 0.07) at any location over the 24-h period. The highest DC density was observed at the corneal limbus followed by the peripheral cornea (p< 0.001), with the lowest density at the corneal centre, inferior whorl and bulbar conjunctiva. Most DC at the corneal periphery, limbus and bulbar conjunctiva had larger cell bodies compared with the corneal centre (p≤ 0.01), and the presence of long dendrites was observed mostly at non-central locations. Day-to-day CoR for DC density ranged from ±28.1 cells/mm2 at the corneal centre to ±56.4 cells/mm2 at the limbus. Day-to-day agreement of DC morphology determined by kappa ranged from 0.5 to 0.95 for cell body size, 0.60 to 0.95 for presence of dendrites, and 0.55 to 0.80 for the presence of long dendrites at various locations. No diurnal changes are apparent in corneal or conjunctival DC. Substantial topographical differences exist in DC density and morphology. IVCM provides good repeatability of DC density and acceptable agreement of DC morphology.

Eternal Urban Youth? Waithood and Agency in Ethiopian and South African settlements

&#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; It is often reported that young people in Africa, the Middle East and North African regions are stuck in situations of ‘waithood’, unable to progress to full adulthood. Utilising a series of innovative research methodologies that included life history interviews, surveys, media training and qualitative interviews, the research project’s aim was the co-production of data, in order to delve into the housing and work nexus in two non-central locations in Ethiopia and South Africa. The variety of mixed methods that were used yielded a depth of engagement and allowed the researchers to deepen and nuance ideas of waithood and stuckness. The rich and varied data showed how young people move through moments of stuckness and moments of movement, and that some movement is possible even when faced with difficult and sometimes overwhelming structural challenges. It also demonstrated how co-produced research can assist young people in moving forward and countering the experience of stuckness and waithood.&#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D;

Quantile Regression Approach for Analyzing Similarity of Gene Expressions under Multiple Biological Conditions

Temporal gene expression data contain ample information to characterize gene function and are now widely used in bio-medical research. A dense temporal gene expression usually shows various patterns in expression levels under different biological conditions. The existing literature investigates the gene trajectory using the mean function. However, temporal gene expression curves usually show a strong degree of heterogeneity under multiple conditions. As a result, rates of change for gene expressions may be different in non-central locations and a mean function model may not capture the non-central location of the gene expression distribution. Further, the mean regression model depends on the normality assumptions of the error terms of the model, which may be impractical when analyzing gene expression data. In this research, a linear quantile mixed model is used to find the trajectory of gene expression data. This method enables the changes in gene expression over time to be studied by estimating a family of quantile functions. A statistical test is proposed to test the similarity between two different gene expressions based on estimated parameters using a quantile model. Then, the performance of the proposed test statistic is examined using extensive simulation studies. Simulation studies demonstrate the good statistical performance of this proposed test statistic and show that this method is robust against normal error assumptions. As an illustration, the proposed method is applied to analyze a dataset of 18 genes in P. aeruginosa, expressed in 24 biological conditions. Furthermore, a minimum Mahalanobis distance is used to find the clustering tree for gene expressions.

Conventional fluoroscopic views are inadequate to predict the Tip Apex Distance and articular clearance of sliding screw devices: A computed tomography-based analysis

Tip-apex-distance (TAD) has been widely advocated as the index to predict the risk of screw cut out in hip fractures treated with sliding hip screw devices. The fluoroscopic extents of the femoral head can change with the slightest change in the limb position which includes internal and external rotations, adduction and abduction. These changes can affect the visible TAD and articular-clearance of the screw-tip. The purpose of this Computed-tomography(CT) based analysis is to analyze the variations of the radiographically visible articular-clearance and TAD measurements with limb positioning and to determine the appropriate fluoroscopic projections for different screw-positions within the femoral head. We retrospectively analysed CT studies of twenty healthy proximal femora. Spatial markers simulating screw tips were placed in the different combinations of anteroposterior(AP) and cephalocaudal(CC) positions. Software-based AP and lateral radiographs were developed for each screw position. Additional AP radiographs with femur in internal and external rotation, and lateral radiographs with the femur in adduction and abduction were developed. The variation of TAD and articular-clearance of the screw was measured among these radiographs for individual screw tip positions. Screw tip placed centrally in AP and CC planes position didn't show any significant variation in TAD and articular-clearance with modified AP and lateral radiographs. Significant differences were observed in TAD and articular-clearance values for other screw tip positions. Anteriorly placed screw tips had higher TAD and articular-clearance values with external rotation and similar changes were observed with posteriorly placed tips in internal rotation. Inferiorly placed tips had higher articular-clearance and TAD with limb abduction and similar changes were observed for superiorly placed tips with limb adduction. For the sliding screws placed in non-central locations, the clearance of the screw tip from the articular margins can not be appropriately estimated with conventional AP and lateral views. Additional views with the limb in internal rotation and external rotation in AP view, and adduction-abduction in lateral view are required to safely place the sliding screw in the femoral head. The limb should be brought to a neutral alignment for the accurate estimation of TAD.

Global rural value chains and the role of natural disasters in their transformation

Global rural value chains relate to business activities in non-central locations all over the world. They contain almost all global agricultural production, a major part of global tourism, and minor shares of industry and other services than tourism. Their generated value is more dependent on climate and extreme weather events than what is the case with urban value chains. Concepts of disaster vulnerability and disaster resilience to rural value chains are presented and followed by a system view on global rural value according to four income groups of countries. A different meaning of disasters becomes perceivable for each income group. We come up with four cases of successful in some aspects controversial alterations of global rural value chains: palm oil value chain in ASEAN, the sixth industry in Japan, rural tourism in Asia, and winter tourism in Austria and analyze the impacts of natural disasters in case studies. The business disturbances are manifold, complex, and not entirely adverse. The value at risk in a given location widely depends on the susceptibility of people and environment to a natural disaster, the costs to repair, and possibilities to innovate. Along with economic growth, disasters accelerate transformations in rural value chains and the strive to become more global while contracting in their local extensions.

Quantitative Evaluations with 2d Electrical Resistance Tomography in the Low-Conductivity Solutions Using 3d-Printed Phantoms and Sucrose Crystal Agglomerate Assessments.

Crystallization is a significant procedure in the manufacturing of many pharmaceutical and solid food products. In-situ electrical resistance tomography (ERT) is a novel process analytical tool (PAT) to provide a cheap and quick way to test, visualize, and evaluate the progress of crystallization processes. In this work, the spatial accuracy of the nonconductive phantoms in low-conductivity solutions was evaluated. Gauss–Newton, linear back projection, and iterative total variation reconstruction algorithms were used to compare the phantom reconstructions for tap water, industrial-grade saturated sucrose solution, and demineralized water. A cylindrical phantom measuring 10 mm in diameter and a cross-section area of 1.5% of the total beaker area was detected at the center of the beaker. Two phantoms with a 10-mm diameter were visualized separately in noncentral locations. The quantitative evaluations were done for the phantoms with radii ranging from 10 mm to 50 mm in demineralized water. Multiple factors, such as ERT device and sensor development, Finite Element Model (FEM) mesh density and simulations, image reconstruction algorithms, number of iterations, segmentation methods, and morphological image processing methods, were discussed and analyzed to achieve spatial accuracy. The development of ERT imaging modality for the purpose of monitoring crystallization in low-conductivity solutions was performed satisfactorily.

Iatrogenic Pleural Effusion Due to Extravasation of Parenteral Nutrition via an Epicutaneo Cava Catheter in Neonates: A Prospective Cohort Study.

Background: Although Epicutaneo cava catheters (ECCs) are being routinely used for intravenous access for long-term parenteral nutrition and prolonged medication administration in neonates, ECC use can be associated with rare but acute life-threatening events such as pleural effusion (PE). It is important to identify and maintain the ECC tip in a central location for preventing complications. Recently, intracavitary electrocardiogram (IC-ECG) has been developed for the real-time monitoring and verification of ECC tip position.Objective: To investigate the causes and preventive measures of ECC-related PE in neonates.Methods: This prospective cohort study was conducted between January 2013 and December 2017. We observed and analyzed the clinical characteristics and causes of ECC-related PE. From January to December 2017, all ECCs were guided by IC-ECG. The incidence of ECC-related PE and first-attempt success rates were analyzed before and after the introduction of IC-ECG. Additionally, the sensitivity and specificity of IC-ECG were evaluated.Results: ECC-related PE was identified in 14 infants. Catheters were malpositioned in three cases; in the other 11 cases, catheters were located centrally on insertion but had migrated to non-central locations at the time of PE. After the introduction of IC-ECG, the incidence of PE was zero (P < 0.05). The incidence of ECC-related PE was lower when veins of the lower extremities were selected as the insertion site (P < 0.05). The first-attempt success rate was significantly higher in the group with IC-ECG-guided ECC placement than in the group without (P < 0.05). The sensitivity and specificity of IC-ECG were 97.9 and 84.6%, respectively.Conclusion: ECC-related PE can be associated with either primary malposition or migration of the catheter tip. IC-ECG can help detect malposition and migration of catheter tips and improve the first-attempt success rate. Choosing a lower extremity insertion site may help decrease the rate of ECC-related PE. In neonates, IC-ECG is a reliable positioning method for ECCs with superior sensitivity and specificity.

The impact of building location on green certification price premiums: Evidence from three European countries

Green building certification has gained global prominence in the wake of the recent calls for ensuring the sustainable development of expanding urban areas. This trend rooted in the fact that buildings are among the main sources of energy consumption and CO2 emissions. Green certification therefore emerged in response to sustainability concerns throughout the building sector. Nonetheless, the significant costs required by green investments have elicited scholars’ attention, in an attempt to determine if the benefits of green certification outweigh its costs. This study uses a proprietary data-set of office building transactions from three major European countries - Finland, France, and Germany - in order to analyze the price premium of green certification over the 2010–2015 period. Considering the increasing demand for certification in the European Union (EU) after 2010, it is expected that green office buildings would sell at higher prices relative to non-green buildings. Empirical tests suggest that office buildings with green certification have a 19 percent higher price relative to non-certified buildings. Further, the study aims to assess whether the premium varies with the location of the green buildings within the urban area. Given the price premium brought by a central location - irrespective of green certification - it is expected that the price premium of green investments would incrementally increase in non-central locations. The distance variable is hand-constructed based on geocoding all properties in the dataset - empirical results indicate that the green certification price premium incrementally increases by 10.5 percent for 1-km distance from the city center. Further tests show that the distance effect becomes insignificant in both (i) large cities and (ii) cities of under 200,000 inhabitants. In these two contingencies, the price premium associated with central locations is reduced - which also diminishes the relevance of the green buildings’ location. The empirical results are robust to eliminating 2010 and 2011 from the sample and to employing a propensity score matching approach, aimed at increasing the similarity of the treatment and control groups. This paper adds to the rising literature on the topic of green buildings, as it is the first international study to assess the price impact of green certification as a function of office building location.

The Corporate Elasticity of Taxable Income: Event Study Evidence from Switzerland

We estimate the corporate elasticity of taxable income. Our analysis draws on panel variation in the decentralized system of corporate taxation in Switzerland. We find that an increase in a jurisdiction's corporate net-of-tax rate by 1% results in an increase in aggregate corporate income by about 3.5% over a time span of 4 years. The elasticity is larger in remote, non-central locations. Firm entry, exit, and mobility only account for a small share of the overall elasticity.

Reclaiming Urban Space: A Study of Community Gardens in Poznań

Abstract In this paper, we discuss the presence of community gardens in urban spaces and the types of activities performed there, using the city of Poznań as a case study. First, based on interviews with representatives of selected non-governmental organisations, analyses of available Internet sources as well as our own field research, cartographic and photographic documentation, we identify community gardens in the space of the city and explore their formation process. In the course of our study we also concentrate on the type of garden location. In addition, we devote our attention to the gardens which have disappeared from the fabric of the city. Our study reveals that community gardens currently operating in Poznań are established in non-central locations. These gardens are scattered in various parts of the city. Only in the Łazarz district there are two community gardens. Most frequently, community gardens are established on plots between old blocks of flats and tenement houses. Two gardens are located on underdeveloped greenery near the Warta River and in two city parks. A detailed examination of the events held in the community gardens in the Łazarz district in the years 2014–2017 shows that they had a very diversified character. Both of them turned out to be multifunctional, i.e. hosted meetings devoted to agriculture and horticulture, environmental education, artistic events, DIY and recreation. However, the percentage of events in the structure of the meetings organised in the gardens differed considerably.

Towards a typology of urban centers and subcenters – evidence from German city regions

ABSTRACTThis study aims to characterize urban spatial structure with respect to its multidimensionality. Using an encompassing data set of socioeconomic variables, as well as variables pertaining to the built environment, accessibility and land use, we suggest a quantitatively based urban (sub-) center typology. The fine-grained spatial scale of 1 km2 grid cells permits a higher spatial resolution than that used in most previous studies. Our suggested typology is two-layered: a “macro layer” based on cluster analyses sheds light on urban spatial configurations. A corresponding threshold-based “micro layer” identifies distinctive types of centers and subcenters at the local level. The application of this multi-scale and multivariate typology to four German city regions indicates both the core cities’ morphological dominance and the formation of subcenters with distinct profiles of regional economic importance, land use patterns and urban form. However, a substantial degree of spatial dispersion is observed because much activity is located in non-central locations.

Percutaneously Inserted Central Catheter-Related Pleural Effusion in a Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: A 5-Year Review (2008-2012).

Although peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs) provide vascular access in newborns who require parenteral nutrition and medications, they can be associated with complications that lead to significant morbidity and mortality. To describe the characteristics of pleural effusion (PLE) associated with PICC use in a large level III neonatal intensive care unit. A retrospective review of PICC-related PLE in newborns was conducted over a 5-year period, from 2008-2012. A total of 926 PICCs were inserted, accounting for 17,606 catheter days. PICC-related PLE was identified in 7 infants, with an incidence of 0.4 per 1000 catheter days. Infants who developed PLE had a median gestational age of 28 weeks (range, 24-38 weeks) and birth weight of 735 g (range, 500-2975 g). PICCs were inserted at a median age of 4 days (range, 3-11 days). The median time from catheter insertion to the development of PLE was 16 days (range, 7-75 days). In all cases, the catheter tips were centrally located at the time of insertion but migrated to the subclavian veins or tributaries at the time of the events. PICC-related PLE can be associated with the migration of PICC tips to noncentral locations, despite optimal positioning of the tip at the time of insertion. Attention should be paid to migration of catheter tips on subsequent x-ray films. For PICCs inserted via upper limb or scalp, serial follow-up x-rays, beginning 1 week after insertion, may be helpful to detect migration of catheter tips and identify patients at risk.

Perceptions of Costs and Benefits of Informal-Formal Linkages: Market and Street Vendors in Accra, Ghana

This paper investigates how linkages between informal and formal economic segments benefit or impose costs upon informal workers, based on self-reported relationships of market and street vendors in Accra with the formal economy and its institutions and a World Bank study of informal household enterprises providing. Data from 15 focus groups and 150 vendors from Accra city center and non-central locations are analyzed in terms of vendors’ relationships to the value chain, non-governmental institutions, the government, and the macroeconomy. The latter two exert a strong, mostly negative influence on informal operators, offset to some extent by support from membership-based organizations and NGOs. Access to loans from microfinance institutions is viewed both as a positive and negative influence on vendors’ work. Despite few visible direct linkages between informal operators and formal firms, they are somewhat mutually interdependent as retailers and suppliers in the value chain. To take advantage of potential informal-formal synergies, government and other actors need to become more proactive toward facilitating, rather than denying, infrastructure, support services and adequate space for informal traders.

Prosuming creative urban areas. Evidence from East London

This research explores the role creative clusters play in the development of tourism. It involves an in-depth study of characteristics, motivations and experiences of visitors to creative urban areas using qualitative analysis of 142 interviews in creative, non-central locations in East London. The data show that the concentration of creative industries affords opportunities for consumption and for the accumulation of cultural capital, leveraging the presence of creative producers and other creative visitors, who are themselves perceived as an attraction. These factors, combined with a particular urban morphology and the presence of everyday activities, contribute to the areas’ perceived authenticity, bohemian atmosphere and cool image. The paper develops typologies of visitors to creative areas and concludes with a discussion of Bourdieu’s notion of cultural capital applied to a contemporary urban context.

Alkali-metal clusters encapsulated into fullerenes: Computations on Lix@C60

Li@C$_{60}$ and Li@C$_{70}$ can be now produced by the low-energy bombardment method in bulk amounts and thus, their computations at higher levels of theory are also of interest. In the report, the computations are carried out on Li@C$_{60}$, Li$_2$@C$_{60}$ and Li$_3$@C$_{60}$with the B3LYP density-functional treatment in the standard 3-21G and 6-31G* basis sets. In all three species Li atoms exhibit non-central locations relatively close to the cage. The computed energetics suggests that Li$_x$@C$_{60}$ species could be produced for several small x values if the Li pressure is enhanced sufficiently. This type of metallofullerenes also belongs among potential candidate agents for nanoscience applications including molecular electronics.

REGIONAL CHANGE OF ICT USING INDUSTRIES IN THE NETHERLANDS

There are two classical and opposite perspectives on the effects of information and communication technology (ICT) on spatial economic development: dispersal or concentration. In this paper we analyse the dynamics in the spatial pattern of the ICT using industries in the period 1991-2002. We conclude that particularly the urban centres and the areas just outside of these centres had a loss of their share in the ICT-related employment and that the more rural areas are catching up. There is not a general dispersal of ICT-related employment over non-central areas though, but rather an emergence of new agglomeration areas at both the urban fringe and non-central locations within the urban system. ICT use as such does lead to spatial developments different from general spatial changes: not hi general trends but particularly in a much larger magnitude of the dynamics.

MOCASSIN: a fully three-dimensional Monte Carlo photoionization code

The study of photoionized environments is fundamental to many astrophysical problems. Up to the present most photoionization codes have numerically solved the equations of radiative transfer by making the extreme simplifying assumption of spherical symmetry. Unfortunately very few real astronomical nebulae satisfy this requirement. To remedy these shortcomings, a self-consistent, three-dimensional radiative transfer code has been developed using Monte Carlo techniques. The code, mocassin, is designed to build realistic models of photoionized nebulae having arbitrary geometry and density distributions, with both the stellar and diffuse radiation fields treated self-consistently. In addition, the code is capable of treating one or more exciting stars located at non-central locations. The gaseous region is approximated by a cuboidal Cartesian grid composed of numerous cells. The physical conditions within each grid cell are determined by solving the thermal equilibrium and ionization balance equations. This requires a knowledge of the local primary and secondary radiation fields, which are calculated self-consistently by locally simulating the individual processes of ionization and recombination. The structure and the computational methods used in the mocassin code are described in this paper. mocassin has been benchmarked against established one-dimensional spherically symmetric codes for a number of standard cases, as defined by the Lexington/Meudon photoionization workshops: at Meudon in 1985 and at Lexington in 1995 and 2000. The results obtained for the benchmark cases are satisfactory and are presented in this paper. A performance analysis has also been carried out and is discussed here.

Cortical motor and somatosensory representation: effect of cerebral lesions.

Changes in cortical representation in patients with cerebral lesions may alter the correlation between cortical anatomy and function. This is of potential clinical significance when the extent of cortical resection is based on surface anatomical landmarks. Fifty-one patients with supratentorial lesions were studied. Nineteen harbored noncentral lesions (no involvement of pre- or postcentral gyrus), whereas 32 had central lesions. Control studies consisted of stimulation of the hand contralateral to the unaffected hemisphere. Positron emission tomography activation studies were performed using the [15O]H2O tracer. Somatosensory stimulation of the hand or foot was performed using a mechanical vibrator. Motor activation consisted of hand clenching or foot tapping. The t-statistic volumes were generated from images showing the mean change in regional cerebral blood flow, and coregistered with a T1-weighted magnetic resonance image. At the threshold selected, exclusive contralateral primary sensorimotor cortex activation was elicited in 100% of the control studies. A different pattern of cortical activation was associated with central lesions in 35 (78%) of 45 patients, which occurred significantly more often than with noncentral lesions (eight [31%] of 26 patients). The most common difference in the pattern of activation with central lesions was activation of cortical regions outside the central area (including the supplementary sensorimotor area and the secondary somatosensory cortex). No sensorimotor activation was observed in gyri adjacent to the pre- or postcentral gyrus. Central lesions are more frequently associated with altered patterns in activation than lesions in noncentral locations. Characteristic patterns include activation of secondary sensorimotor areas. The absence of activation in gyri adjacent to the sensorimotor strip has clinical significance for the planning of resections in the central area.

Nucleated Urban Growth Effects on Transportation Energy Consumption

An aggregate digital computer simulation model was used to test the urban passenger transportation energy consumption associated with different patterns of nuclear growth in a hypothetical city. The model simulated the effects of various central and noncentral locations for residential, employment, and retail growth clusters. Centralized urban growth is more efficient, in terms of transportation energy consumption, than noncentralized growth. Off-center manufacturing employment clusters are the least energy efficient of non-centralized cluster, and clusters at the edge of the established urban area are less attractive for all land use types. The implications for near term urban decision making are explored.