Soft Mobility Research Articles

Reducing Selenoprotein F Promotes the Transformation of Immortalized Prostate Epithelial Cells

Abstract Objectives Selenoprotein F (SELENOF) levels are responsive to available dietary selenium and found in high levels in benign prostate cells. It is implicated in prostate cancer (PCa) mortality due to associations between polymorphisms in the corresponding gene and death from the disease. SELENOF levels are dramatically lower in prostate cancer compared to adjacent benign tissue. The objective of this study was to determine whether reducing SELENOF levels in human, non-transformed RWPE-1 prostate epithelial cells alters their phenotype to implicate SELENOF loss in PCa progression. Methods SELENOF levels were reduced in RWPE-1 cells that express high levels of SELENOF using a SELENOF shRNA construct. Proliferation was determined by quantifying DNA using fluorometric dsDNA quantitation. Growth in soft agar and cell mobility of cells in culture (wound healing assay) were imaged using an Evos FL microscope and quantified using Image J software. The oxygen consumption rate (OCR) was measured using a Seahorse XFe24 Analyzer. Results SELENOF levels were reduced in RWPE-1 and these cells exhibited decreased contact inhibition in culture (n = 3, P < 0.001) when compared to controls. Normal prostate epithelial cells are atypical in that they rely on glycolysis for energy production, have a truncated TCA cycle, and a metabolic shift from glycolysis to oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) occurs in PCa. Reducing SELENOF in RWPE-1 cells resulted in higher OCR compared to controls, indicating that SELENOF can impact the sources and pathways used in cellular energy metabolism. Conclusions Reduced SELENOF levels in RWPE-1 prostate cells resulted in properties consistent with a transformed phenotype and an increase in OCR, and indicating that the reduction in SELENOF may contribute a metabolic shift towards a PCa cancer-like metabolism. Together, these results indicate that SELENOF loss likely contributes to cancer progression. Funding Sources This work was supported by a grant from the Department of Defense to AMD and a Pre-Doctoral Education for Clinical and Translational Scientists Fellowship to LKH.

Cycling Mobility in Slopping Cities: Trondheim and Other Lessons

Soft mobility is on the top of city’s agenda. Several plans are emerging to improve its performance, regarding sustainable, climate-friendly or easy ways of mobility, without using the car. The political decision-makers, urban designers and academics are working upon new approaches of developing these skills. In sloping cities, specially with ancient roots of narrow and winding streets, the bicycle is still a tricky way of transportation, because it can represent a deep changing of previous urban fabric. This paper presents a set of good practices of bicycles use as soft mobility solution in mountain cities. The example is the sloping city of Trondheim in Norway. The interest for this topic lies in the ongoing Doctorate program in Civil Engineering at the University of Beira Interior, having as case study the city of Covilhã. The system is called CycloCable and it’s the first cycle lift for collective transport designed to help cyclists moving easily to overcome urban slopes. The literature review is the main methodological approach, identifying the good practices of CycloCable, which can be used in other cities with similar morphological conditions. The conclusion has revealed that this system increases the number of cyclists, with environmental, economic and social benefits.

Roofing and thawing the sub-Arctic city. Towards the conceptualisation of wellbeing through urban surfaces

An increasing amount of sub-Arctic population is living in cities and settlements. Despite the urbanisation, seasonality still affects the rhythm of life and willingness to spend time outside of home, which, in turn, affects health and wellbeing of the population. In addition to built artefacts, the materiality of sub-Arctic urban environment consists largely of changing weather conditions and seasonality, including phenomena such as thawing, freezing, snow, ice and slush, which have diverse effects on humans using the urban spaces, yet are not often part of conceptualisations of urban space that are formed in southern climates. In this paper, the relationship between sub-Arctic urban form, climate and users of the urban realm is critically re-evaluated using the concept of surface. Based on a review of the literature, the proposed approach gives agency not only to the weather, but also to different types of people inhabiting the urban space. This paper argues that the proposed approach takes better into account the varied nature of sub-Arctic urban spaces and their affordances as an entity: from privatised, roofed and weather-neutralised shopping centres and arcades to sledding hills, skating rinks and other winter-related spaces. This kind of conceptualisation could be beneficial when developing soft mobility plans for northern regions. Encouraging physical activity has direct effects on the physiological health of the population, but in addition to that, the approach attempts to acknowledge personal control of different user groups as a central aspect of wellbeing, which makes the viewpoint more holistic.

Soft-mobility in a winter-dominant city: A case study by comparing Nordic and non-Nordic residents in Umeå

Outdoor microclimate is one important factor influencing the amenity of outdoor spaces. The optimisation of urban and spatial planning, building facades, and road design can serve to moderate negative effects on human movement in long and harsh winter conditions, which can also help promote polar tourism. This study explores the impacts of weather on the use of non-motorised transport (soft mobility). The aim of this study is to highlight the barriers to soft mobility for the purposes of local urban planning and polar tourism in the winter-dominant city of Umeå, Sweden. Influential factors including solar access, wind and snow management, and other weather and terrain conditions were analysed, and possible solutions were pointed out. A questionnaire survey, given to 211 Nordic and non-Nordic residents, was the main research method. Compared with non-Nordic residents, Nordic residents were more likely to use modes of soft mobility under five different winter weather conditions, including rain, snow, darkness, ice, and low temperatures. The designs for winter-dominant cities (i.e. connections between buildings, enclosed bus stops) concerning climate barriers such as rain and snow alternation, are expected as possible solutions for intermittent outdoor exposure.

Dockless E-Scooter: A Green Solution for Mobility? Comparative Case Study between Dockless E-Scooters, Displaced Transport, and Personal E-Scooters

This study applies a life cycle assessment (LCA) to the shared dockless standing e-scooter system that is established in Brussels. The results are given for four impact categories: global warming potential (GWP), particulate matter formation, mineral resource, and fossil resource scarcity. Regarding GWP, the use of the shared e-scooters in the current system causes 131 g of CO2-eq. per passenger-kilometer while the mode of transportation displaced has an impact of 110 g of CO2-eq. Thus, at present, the use of e-scooters shows a higher impact than the transportation modes they replace. The high results for the shared e-scooter, in terms of GWP, are mainly caused by the short lifespan of the shared e-scooter. Nevertheless, as the market further matures, the lifespan of e-scooters could increase and the impact per kilometer travelled could decrease accordingly. Regarding the use of the personal e-scooter, the LCA results show an impact of around 67 g of CO2-eq. This study quantifies the LC impacts of the current situation based on local, ‘real-life’ data. However, potential changes on soft mobility patterns induced by the use-oriented product-service system (PSS), such as a shared e-scooter system, could not be quantified.

Perceived impact of meteorological conditions on the use of public space in winter settlements

This study aimed to assess the impact of meteorological conditions on the use of public space in Scandinavia and Canada. Between September 21 and December 18, 2017, a cross-sectional online survey ‘EAMQ-Climate: space’ was distributed via web-based platforms. Survey responses were received from 361 residents (258 people from Scandinavia and 103 from Canada). The relative impact of the meteorological determinants on the use of public space was calculated, and a factor analysis was performed. Disparities between Canada and Scandinavia as well as between the climate zones represented were analysed using ANOVA. Overall results showed that the most significant meteorological enablers for the use of outdoor public spaces in winter were solar gain, snowfall and snow-covered surfaces. The main barriers were slush-covered and icy surfaces, rainfall and darkness. Wind and cold were conditions with less influence. The impact of rain and ice, however, differed between climatic zones. It was also established that, when addressing the meteorological impact on avoiding the use of public spaces in winter, it is vital to discriminate between conditions related to a) the ground surface and b) ambient conditions, as well as the particular significance of c) snow and sun, and d) darkness. For the design of public space in winter cities, we conclude that designers need to focus on a wider range of weather conditions than sun, wind and cold, and include snow, rainfall, slushy and icy ground and poor visibility. The study suggests that winter public space has a higher climatic design requirement to be successful than streets and pathways that are mainly used for soft mobility.

Management of a nonvital discolored tooth associated with radicular cyst: A multidisciplinary approach

The radicular cyst arises from proliferated epithelial cell rests of malassez when they get stimulated by an inflammatory process originating from pulpal necrosis of a nonvital tooth. The associated tooth is usually asymptomatic and may result in swelling of the soft tissues and mobility of the teeth involved. The typical radiographic description of the lesion is a round or oval, well-circumscribed radiolucency involving the apex of the tooth. Radicular cysts can be managed either surgically or nonsurgically. The nonvital, discolored anterior tooth associated with the lesion is a common esthetic concern for patients. It can effect their self-confidence and employability. Discolored nonvital teeth are frequently compromised due to root canal treatment, previous trauma, or caries. Invasive treatment options like crowns or veneers further weaken the tooth structure. This case report presents the successful surgical management of a radicular cyst associated with a nonvital discolored anterior tooth. This will also include the technicalities involved in the inside/outside nonvital bleaching technique.

Cycling traffic at turbo roundabouts: some considerations related to cyclist mobility and safety

The growing need for sustainable mobility has led the transport policy-makers as well as population to use more of soft mobility solutions such as pedestrian and cycling traffic. Several European countries are implementing policies for total mobility with less motorization in order to reduce the negative environmental effects generated by industries and transport. In the same time new unconventional types of intersections are developed in order to ensure safer conditions not only for motorized traffic but also for pedestrians and cyclist. One of those is turbo roundabout, at-grade two-lane roundabout, introduced also in urban areas where heterogeneous traffic users are expected and on which traffic safety should be considered carefully. This article aims to analyze the safety of cyclists in different traffic conditions at turbo roundabout with and without separated traffic lanes for cyclists. Through the evaluation of level of service and surrogate safety parameters, the advantages and critical aspects linked to turbo roundabout are highlighted. The research will be conducted on theoretical turbo roundabout with substantial variation in traffic flow. Comparison of the results will allow a better understanding of functionality (level of service, traffic safety) of turbo roundabout in the presence of pedestrians and cyclists of different age. The aim of this article is to present possible solutions to enable safer introduction of cycling traffic at turbo-roundabouts and help defining conditions (number of vehicles, number of cyclist, and number of pedestrians) in which safety of cyclist is questionable and there is need for different solution.

Segregation vs interaction in the walkways: An analysis of pedestrians' perceptions

The promotion of soft mobility and particularly pedestrian mobility in urban areas is a key action to reduce the environmental and social costs related to the use of motorized transportation systems. Therefore, a such action represents a strategy towards a sustainable mobility. In order to encourage people to move on foot, attractive pedestrian paths should be designed and offered. From this perspective, it is fundamental to know people opinions about the provided pedestrian paths. In this paper, experimental data collected on a sample of pedestrians are analyzed. More specifically, two paths with different characteristics were selected: the first one is a path where pedestrians have an exclusive space to walk, while the second path is characterized by interactions between motorized modes and pedestrians. Interviewed people were asked to provide their sense of comfort, nuisance and protection concerning some aspects and elements that they experienced while walking. From the proposed analysis, interesting findings emerged. The results could be useful to identify convenient policies for managing pedestrian mobility.

Environmental health risks perceptions: results from cross-sectional surveys in Southeastern France

Abstract Background In accordance with commitments made as part as the European conferences on environment and health in the 90s, France has adopted national environmental health plans since 2004. These plans include regional offshoots to take local specificities into account. To guide stakeholders in defining this plan in Southeastern France, studies were carried out to document general population environmental health risks perceptions and practices. Methods Data come from the Southeastern Baromètre santé environment, random cross-sectional telephone surveys carried out in 2007 and 2017 among the population aged 18-75 years (n = 1415 and 1960 respectively). They focused on people perceptions’ about environmental health risks (e.g., air pollution) and actions to reduce them, trust in sources of information, and their practices. We performed descriptive analyses of the 2017 data, and logistic regression models adjusted for sociodemographic variables to test time evolutions. Results In 2017, the main environmental health risks perceived were pesticides, carbon monoxide, and air pollution (over 90% of the participants thought they carry high health risks). As in 2007, over 90 % thought the air quality had been worsening. The most efficient ways to reduce air pollution were the improvement of public transportation, of bike paths and the development of car sharing. Between 2007 and 2017, self-reported use of soft mobility and/or car sharing increased from 54% to 66%; and consumption of organic food increased from 40% to 69%. Participants perceived physicians as the most trustful source of information about environmental health. Conclusions Habitants from Southeastern France are highly concerned by environmental health risks, especially pesticides and air pollution. They call stakeholders to take actions to reduce these risks, but appear to have changed some of their own practices too. These results helped stakeholders to define priorities of the current regional environmental health plan. Key messages The general population was highly concerned by environmental health risks (especially pesticides and air pollution), and has become aware of the necessity of changing its own practices. Such results about the regional population main concerns have been used to define regional priorities for actions.

Bicycle Solutions in Mountain Cities: CycloCable® in Trondheim-Norway

With the rising of soft mobility strategies among to the decision-makers regarding the city policies, the urban designers are developing new ways of improving the bicycles using solutions considering the urban spaces. In the particular case of the mountain cities, the bicycle is still seen as a problematic way of transportation, requiring deep transformations of the urban fabric features. This paper presents the case study of the Norwegian city of Trondheim, well-known by its hills, which is an enormous success in terms of bicycle solutions not only among the locals but also among the visitors. The system is called CycloCable® and it is the first cycle lift for collective transportation which aims to help cyclists, who wish to move more easily, to overcome the sleepiest slopes in urban areas. The methodological approach is based on the literature review, in order to identify the characteristics of this system, which could be used in other mountain cities with similar features of the urban fabric.

Characterizing TDP-43307-319 Oligomeric Assembly: Mechanistic and Structural Implications Involved in the Etiology of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Aggregation of TAR DNA-binding protein of 43 kDa (TDP-43) is a salient feature of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a debilitating neurodegenerative disorder affecting over 200 000 people worldwide. The protein undergoes both functional and pathogenic aggregation; the latter is irreversible and hypothesized to produce soluble oligomers that are toxic to neurons in addition to inclusions made of stable fibrous deposits. Despite progress made toward identifying disease-related proteins, the underlying pathogenic mechanism associated with these toxic oligomers remains elusive. Utilizing a multimodal approach that combines several measurement techniques (circular dichroism (CD), thioflavin T spectroscopy (ThT), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR)) and high spatial resolution imaging tools (electron microscopy (EM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM)), with soft ion mobility mass spectrometry (IM-MS) and atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, we explore the oligomerization mechanisms, structures, and assembly pathways of TDP-43307-319. This fragment is both amyloidogenic and toxic and is within the glycine-rich C-terminal domain essential for both toxicity and aggregation of the full-length protein. In addition to the wild-type peptide, two ALS-related mutants (A315T and A315E) and a non-axon-toxic mutant (G314V) were investigated to determine how mutations affect the oligomerization of TDP-43307-319 and structures of toxic oligomers. The results of our study provide new insights into how ALS-related mutants, A315T and A315E, accelerate or alter the pathogenic mechanism and highlight the role of an internal glycine, G314, in maintaining efficient packing known to be critical for functional oligomer assembly. More importantly, our data demonstrate that G314 plays a vital role in TDP-43 assembly and prevents cytotoxicity via its unique aversion to oligomers larger than trimer. Our observation is consistent with previous studies showing that G314V mutation of the full-length TDP-43 induced remediation of both axonotoxicity and neuronal apoptosis. Our findings reveal a distinct aggregation mechanism for each peptide and elucidate oligomeric species and possible structures that may be involved in the pathology of ALS.

A Large Scale, App-Based Behaviour Change Experiment Persuading Sustainable Mobility Patterns: Methods, Results and Lessons Learnt

The present urban transportation system, mostly tailored for cars, has long shown its limitations. In many urban areas, public transportation and soft mobility would be able to effectively satisfy many travel needs. However, they tend to be neglected, due to a deep-rooted car dependency. How can we encourage people to make sustainable mobility choices, reducing car use and the related CO 2 emissions and energy consumption? Taking advantage of the wide availability of smartphone devices, we designed GoEco!, a smartphone application exploiting automatic mobility tracking, eco-feedback, social comparison and gamification elements to persuade individual modal change. We tested the effectiveness of GoEco! in two regions of Switzerland (Cantons Ticino and Zurich), in a large-scale, one year long randomized controlled trial. Notwithstanding a large drop-out rate experienced throughout the experiment, GoEco! was observed to produce a statistically significant impact (a decrease in CO 2 emissions and energy consumption per kilometer) for systematic routes in highly car-dependent urban areas, such as the Canton Ticino. In Zurich, instead, where high quality public transport is already available, no statistically significant effects were found. In this paper we present the GoEco! experiment and discuss its results and the lessons learnt, highlighting practical difficulties in performing randomized controlled trials in the field of mobility and providing recommendations for future research.

Winter City Urbanism: Enabling All Year Connectivity for Soft Mobility.

This study explores connectivity for soft mobility in the winter season. Working with residents from the sub-arctic city of Luleå, Sweden, the research examines how the interaction between the built environment and winter season affects people’s use of the outdoor environment. The research questions for this study are (1) How do residents perceive the effects of winter on an areas spatial structure and pattern of streets and pathways? and (2) What enablers and barriers impact resident soft mobility choices and use of the public realm in winter? Methods used were mental mapping and photo elicitation exercises. These were used to gain a better understanding of people’s perception of soft mobility in winter. The results were analysed to identify how soft mobility is influenced by the winter season. The discussion highlights that at the neighbourhood scale, residents perceive that the winter alters an areas spatial structure and pattern of streets and pathways. It was also seen to reduce ease of understanding of the public realm and townscape. In conclusion, it is argued that new and re-tooled town planning strategies, such as extending blue/ green infrastructure planning to include white space could help better enable all year outdoor activity in winter cities.

Soft Mobility as an Urban Design Solution for Water Fronts

Soft mobility is on the top of the agenda as a strategy for cities liveability. It refers to non-motorized transportation solutions in order to promote the human mobility. In this domain pedestrian and bicycle paths have a pivotal interest on behalf of urban design solutions. This paper presents an urban design project focused on soft mobility solutions having as case study a Portuguese city. The area called Train Station surroundings in São Pedro do Sul, makes the link in between the urban fabric and the Vouga river banks. This city is very well-known because of its thermal baths, known since the Roman times. The presented urban design project is a result of the agreement in between the University team, on behalf of the Urban Planning Unit of the Master Degree in Architecture at the University of Beira Interior in Covilhã and the Municipal authority of São Pedro do Sul. The students were organized in several international groups (including people from Portugal, Greece, Brazil, Slovakia, Lithuania and Poland) in order to propose their urban design projects, ensuring the continuity of the urban fabric with the water front. The city hall has organized a competition and has offered four prizes (1st, 2nd and 2 honour awards) for the best projects, which was an extra motivation for students. Regarding the presented solution, the conclusions show that the main strategy was to propose an urban system of soft mobility pathways for pedestrians and bicycles, in order to connect the main natural element in the case study area which is the river with the city. This soft mobility system is connecting places such as the existing low density housing neighbourhoods or the most relevant historical and cultural landmark, the nineteen-century train station building.

Integrated urban regeneration policy and soft mobility planning for transport energysaving

Integrated urban regeneration policy and soft mobility planning for transport energysaving

Electron-Phonon Scattering in the Presence of Soft Modes and Electron Mobility in SrTiO_{3} Perovskite from First Principles.

Structural phase transitions and soft phonon modes pose a long-standing challenge to computing electron-phonon (e-ph) interactions in strongly anharmonic crystals. Here we develop a first-principles approach to compute e-ph scattering and charge transport in materials with anharmonic lattice dynamics. Our approach employs renormalized phonons to compute the temperature-dependent e-ph coupling for all phonon modes, including the soft modes associated with ferroelectricity and phase transitions. We show that the electron mobility in cubic SrTiO_{3} is controlled by scattering with longitudinal optical phonons at room temperature and with ferroelectric soft phonons below 200K. Our calculations can accurately predict the temperature dependence of the electron mobility in SrTiO_{3} between 150-300K, and reveal the microscopic origin of its roughly T^{-3} trend. Our approach enables first-principles calculations of e-ph interactions and charge transport in broad classes of crystals with phase transitions and strongly anharmonic phonons.

School mobility management case study: German School of Oporto (Deutsche Schule zu Porto)

In recent years we have witnessed an increase in the number of parents driving children to school in several developed countries, with increases of, for instance, 35% in the USA, 12% in the United Kingdom and 44% in Australia. These changes have been responsible for several negative impacts ranging from the general increase of Greenhouse Gas emissions and traffic congestion, to more individualized impacts on the health and safety of students. In this context, special attention has been given to introducing mobility management strategies for school trips aimed at creating healthier and more sustainable travel behaviours in students and their parents. Regardless of the vast research, the knowledge on the effects of mobility management measures is still limited, particularly for the soft measures aimed at voluntary travel behaviour change.This paper aims to assess the effects of soft mobility management measures in the travel patterns of pre-university students, namely, Carpooling, Park & Stride, School Route Map, Safe Parking Banners, and the Tree of Life Contest. The assessment of such effects is developed in a particular context, in which the school implementing the measures does not benefit from any institutional or financial support. The research followed the implementation phase during one semester using before and after surveys to assess effects on travel behaviour.This research displayed the difficulties of a school lacking funding and technical expertise in successfully implementing soft mobility measures when compared with other case-studies where government support was provided. Although a direct influence on the mobility patterns due to the implemented measures was not clear, the results suggest that they were able to create awareness and intentions of change, strengthening the role of such measures in increasing sustainable mobility within the student community.

THE ROLE OF SOFT MOBILITY TOWARDS STRENGTHENING URBAN TRANSFORMATION AND SUSTAINABLE WELL-BEING: CASE STUDY: MANSOURA CITY, EGYPT

This research investigates the method of soft mobility role on Egyptian neighborhood unit. It discusses itsrelationship with the main principles of New Urbanism. And proposes some objectives: Interpret Mobilitynew concepts in New Urbanism, cite urbanism principles and its trends to conclude soft mobility indicators,design a matrix inventories the compatibility of soft mobility indicators and behavioral dimension. And atlast, the matrix tests the combination of indicators and dimensions in an Egyptian traditional urban fabric,at Mansoura City.

Understanding the needs of MENA public transport customers: Culture of service and gender-responsive recommendations

Fast population growth, urban sprawl and the raise in households’ motorization observed in all major cities of the Middle-East and North-Africa (MENA) region, are constantly challenging public transport providers who seek to handle efficiently the continuously rising travel demand. Most of the MENA cities suffer from traffic congestion that not only impacts the quality of life of MENA citizens, but also their access to job opportunities, health services, and social and political participation. Alongside the development of public transport network, it is crucial to encourage urban dwellers to reduce their dependence on personal cars, use public transport, and develop soft mobility skills. Therefore, operators and service providers need to define customer-centric strategy and build a culture of service excellence in line with their customers’ expectations. In cooperation with academic partners, the UITP MENA Centre for Transport Excellence launched the User-Oriented Public Transport research project with the aim to understand the perceptions of female and male users and non-users about public transport services in five MENA cities: Algiers, Amman, Beirut, Casablanca and Muscat. The methodological framework was built around the five dimensions of the user’s needs pyramid: safety, security, ease-to-use, comfort and experience. Based on the quantitative analysis of data collected from 984 respondents and the qualitative analysis of 49 women’s testimonies collected during the focus groups, recommendations were made to encourage culture of service and gender mainstreaming in public transport development in the region.