Gentrification is multidimensional and complex, but there is general agreement that visible changes to neighbourhoods are a clear manifestation of the process. Recent advances in computer vision and ...deep learning provide a unique opportunity to support automated mapping or 'deep mapping' of perceptual environmental attributes. We present a Siamese convolutional neural network (SCNN) that automatically detects gentrification-like visual changes in temporal sequences of Google Street View (GSV) images. Our SCNN achieves 95.6% test accuracy and is subsequently applied to GSV sequences at 86110 individual properties over a 9-year period in Ottawa, Canada. We use Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) to produce maps that illustrate where the spatial concentration of visual property improvements was highest within the study area at different times from 2007-2016. We find strong concordance between the mapped SCNN results and the spatial distribution of building permits in the City of Ottawa from 2011 to 2016. Our mapped results confirm those urban areas that are known to be undergoing gentrification as well as revealing areas undergoing gentrification that were previously unknown. Our approach differs from previous works because we examine the atomic unit of gentrification, namely, the individual property, for visual property improvements over time and we rely on KDE to describe regions of high spatial intensity that are indicative of gentrification processes.
Income polarization is a pressing issue which is increasingly discussed by academics and policymakers. The present research examines income polarization in Canada's eight largest Census Metropolitan ...Areas (CMAs) using data at the census-tract (CT) level between 1971 and 2016. Generally, there are significant decreasing trends in the middle-income population with simultaneously increasing trends in low-income groups. The high-income groups have been relatively stable with fewer significant increasing population trends. Using conventional mapping and cartograms, patterns of the spatial evolution of income inequality are illustrated. Every CMA examined contains an increasing trend of spatial fragmentation at the patch level within each CMA's landscape mosaic. The results of a spatial autocorrelation analysis at the sub-patch, CT level, exhibit significant spatial clustering of high-income CTs as one process that dominates the increasingly fragmented landscape mosaic.
In Ontario, despite the increasing prevalence of Parkinson’s disease (PD), barriers to access-to-care for people with Parkinson’s disease (PwP) and their caregivers are not well understood. The ...objective of this study is to examine spatial patterns of health care utilization among PwP and identify factors associated with PD-related health care utilization of individuals in Ontario. We employed a retrospective, population-based study design involving administrative health data to identify PwP as of March 31, 2018 (N = 35,482) using a previously validated case definition. An enhanced 2-step floating catchment area method was used to measure spatial accessibility to PD care and a descriptive spatial analysis was conducted to describe health service utilization by geographic area and specialty type. Negative binomial regression models were then conducted to identify associated geographic, socioeconomic, comorbidity and demographic factors. There was marked spatial variability in PD-related service utilization, with neurology and all provider visits being significantly higher in urban areas (CMF>1.20; p<0.05) and family physician visits being significantly higher (CMF >1.20; p<0.05) in more rural areas and remote areas. More frequent visits to family physicians were associated with living in rural areas, while less frequent visitation was associated with living in areas of low spatial accessibility with high ethnic concentration. Visits to neurologists were positively associated with living in areas of high spatial accessibility and with high ethnic concentration. Visits to all providers were also positively associated with areas of high spatial accessibility. For all outcomes, less frequent visits were found in women, older people, and those living in more deprived areas as years living with PD increased. This study demonstrates the importance of geographic, socioeconomic and individual factors in determining PwP’s likelihood of accessing care and type of care provided. Our results can be expected to inform the development of policies and patient care models aimed at improving accessibility among diverse populations of PwP.
Extremely high-quality factor ( Q ) superconducting coils comprising two conventional high-temperature superconducting (HTS) coated conductor (CC) tapes, the use of which substantially improves the ...power transfer efficiency (PTE) of resonant coupling wireless power transfer (WPT), have been developed. In this article, a method for joining two HTS CC tapes by using dielectric film tape was developed. A styrene foam coil-support configuration that has lower effective dielectric loss was also developed. The skin effect of the Ag protection layer was suppressed by making it thinner than the conventional one. A coil using the proposed tape had a measured Q (resonant frequency: 8.0 MHz) of around 20 000, which is about 20 times that of one using Cu tape. Measurement of the PTE of a WPT system using coils fabricated using the proposed tape for transmitting and receiving demonstrated that the use of coils with an extremely high Q enables a WPT system to achieve a transfer distance much greater than that of a comparable system with Cu coils. Measured PTE of the system using such coils and one using Cu coils were 90% and 28% at a transfer distance of 80 cm. This achievement opens the door to new high-frequency applications of HTS CC tape such as using if for WPT.
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a movement disorder caused by degeneration of the nigrostriatal dopamine (DA) neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta and the resultant deficiency in the ...neurotransmitter DA at the nerve terminals in the striatum. We and other investigators found increased levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, interleukin (IL)-1beta, and IL-6, and decreased levels of neurotrophins such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the nigrostriatal region of postmortem brains and/or in the ventricular or lumbar cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from patients with sporadic PD, and in animal models, such as 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1, 2, 3, 6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)- and 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-induced PD. These changes in cytokine and neurotrophin levels may be initiated by activated microglia, which may then promote apoptotic cell death and subsequent phagocytosis of DA neurons. Cytokines as pleiotropic factors, promote signals that either lead to cell death or exert neuroprotective effects. The discovery of toxic changes in trophic microglia by M. Sawada and co-workers is important to this point. Ultimately, microglial cells may regulate cellular changes that cause either harm or benefit by producing cytokines or neurotrophins depending upon the primary cause and the circumstances during the inflammatory process of PD.
A mean continental July temperature reconstruction based on pollen records from across North America quantifies temperature variations of several timescales for the past 14,000 cal yr BP. In North ...America, temperatures increased nearly 4°C during the late glacial, reaching maximum values between 6000 and 3000 cal yr BP, after which mean July temperatures decreased. Superimposed on this orbital‐scale trend are millennial‐scale temperature variations that appear coherent in structure and frequency with high‐resolution ice, marine and other terrestrial paleoclimate records of the Holocene. During the Holocene, climate in North America appears to have varied periodically every ∼1100 years rather than the ∼1500 year cycle found during the last glacial period. Coherence at frequencies between 900 and 1100 years between land, ice, and ocean records suggests a common forcing associated with widespread surface impacts during the Holocene. These results provide important insight to the global warming debate, as the observed twentieth century temperature increase appears unprecedented compared to our mean North American temperature reconstruction of the past 14,000 years.
A parallel finite element method (FEM) based on high‐fidelity models for solving diverse earthquake engineering problems is presented. Its key feature is a parallel solver that is tuned to solve ...large‐scale wave equations. Tensorial material constitutive relations of concrete and soil and sophisticated nonlinear joint elements are implemented to broaden the applicability of the parallel FEM. The performance of the proposed parallel FEM is demonstrated for three examples; namely, seismic response, liquefaction, and surface earthquake fault analyses. A high‐fidelity model was constructed for each analysis, and the numerical results were validated against observed data. The performance of the proposed parallel FEM approach was evaluated in terms of the resolution of the simulated results. Ensemble computing based on approximately a hundred high‐fidelity models is useful for cases where there are considerable uncertainties regarding the material properties.
We present a 2000-year pollen-based reconstruction of total annual precipitation (ANNP) for North America. Application of Local Indices of Spatial Association (LISA) permitted us to distinguish ...regional large-scale hydroclimate patterns from local site-specific conditions across North America during this time period. Century-scale filtered pollen-based reconstructions are more spatially coherent than unfiltered reconstructions, allowing for better identification of past hydroclimate patterns across North America. Similar spatial patterns dominated during both the ‘Medieval Warm Period’ (MWP; 950–1250 CE) and Roman Warm Period (RWP; 50 BCE–150 CE), although the MWP was generally drier than the RWP. In contrast, hydroclimate changes during Dark Ages Cold Period (DAC; 350–650 CE) and the ‘Little Ice Age’ (LIA; 1550–1850 CE) show opposing patterns across the western and eastern boreal region of North America. During warm periods, eastern and western boreal regions had similar moisture condition, whereas during cold periods, the eastern boreal region was relatively wet and the west was dry.
•Co/Gd3Ga5O 12/Y3Fe5O12 heterostructures were grown by laser molecular beam epitaxy.•Selective YIG and Co magnetization curves were measured by MOKE and XMCD techniques.•Clear proximity effects were ...observed in heterostructures with 1 nm thick GGG spacer.•Ferromagnetic interaction between Co and YIG was explained by “orange peal” effect.
Interlayer magnetic coupling has been studied in the epitaxial system consisting of few nanometer thick magnetic layers of cobalt and yttrium iron garnet (YIG) separated by non-magnetic spacers of gadolinium gallium garnet (GGG). The samples were grown by laser molecular beam epitaxy on GGG(1 1 1) substrates. The layer morphology and crystal structure were characterized by atomic force microscopy, X-ray and electron diffraction techniques. MOKE and XMCD methods were applied for element selective study of the magnetization reversal in Co and YIG layers. For the Co/YIG/GGG heterostructures it has been found that magnetization loops of YIG and Co exhibit the same values of coercive field and are of the same shape indicating strong magnetic coupling between Co and YIG layers. In opposite, when YIG and Co are separated by a 1 nm thick GGG spacer layer, the coercive field of Co becomes very different from that of YIG. Moreover the center of YIG loop gets shifted in field whereas the sign and value of this shift depend on the current magnetic state of the Co layer. The magnetic interaction between Co and YIG can be interpreted in the terms of 2–3 Oe magnetic field induced in the YIG layer by the adjacent Co layer. This magnetic field is likely caused by the “orange peel” effect arising due to granular structure of Co layer.
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