Open-source data pipeline for street-view images: A case study on community mobility during COVID-19 pandemic.

Street View Images (SVI) are a common source of valuable data for researchers. Researchers have used SVI data for estimating pedestrian volumes, demographic surveillance, and to better understand built and natural environments in cityscapes. However, the most common source of publicly available SVI data is Google Street View. Google Street View images are collected infrequently, making temporal analysis challenging, especially in low population density areas. Our main contribution is the development of an open-source data pipeline for processing 360-degree video recorded from a car-mounted camera. The video data is used to generate SVIs, which then can be used as an input for longitudinal analysis. We demonstrate the use of the pipeline by collecting an SVI dataset over a 38-month longitudinal survey of Seattle, WA, USA during the COVID-19 pandemic. The output of our pipeline is validated through statistical analyses of pedestrian traffic in the images. We confirm known results in the literature and provide new insights into outdoor pedestrian traffic patterns. This study demonstrates the feasibility and value of collecting and using SVI for research purposes beyond what is possible with currently available SVI data. Our methods and dataset represent a first of its kind longitudinal collection and application of SVI data for research purposes. Limitations and future improvements to the data pipeline and case study are also discussed.

What to Expect When the Unexpected Becomes Expected: Harmonic Surprise and Preference Over Time in Popular Music.

Previous work demonstrates that music with more surprising chords tends to be perceived as more enjoyable than music with more conventional harmonic structures. In that work, harmonic surprise was computed based upon a static distribution of chords. This would assume that harmonic surprise is constant over time, and the effect of harmonic surprise on music preference is similarly static. In this study we assess that assumption and establish that the relationship between harmonic surprise (as measured according to a specific time period) and music preference is not constant as time goes on. Analyses of harmonic surprise and preference from 1958 to 1991 showed increased harmonic surprise over time, and that this increase was significantly more pronounced in preferred songs. Separate analyses showed similar increases over the years from 2000 to 2019. As such, these findings provide evidence that the human perception of tonality is influenced by exposure. Baseline harmonic expectations that were developed through listening to the music of "yesterday" are violated in the music of "today," leading to preference. Then, once the music of "today" provides the baseline expectations for the music of "tomorrow," more pronounced violations-and with them, higher harmonic surprise values-become associated with preference formation. We call this phenomenon the "Inflationary-Surprise Hypothesis." Support for this hypothesis could impact the understanding of how the perception of tonality, and other statistical regularities, are developed in the human brain.

How did outdoor biking and walking change during COVID-19?: A case study of three U.S. cities.

A growing body of literature suggests that restrictive public health measures implemented to control COVID-19 have had negative impacts on physical activity. We examined how Stay Home orders in Houston, New York City, and Seattle impacted outdoor physical activity patterns, measured by daily bicycle and pedestrian count data. We assessed changes in activity levels between the period before and during Stay Home orders. Across all three cities, we found significant changes in bicycle and pedestrian counts from the period before to the period during Stay Home orders. The direction of change varied by location, likely due to differing local contexts and outbreak progression. These results can inform policy around the use of outdoor public infrastructure as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.

Daily Bicycle and Pedestrian Activity as an Indicator of Disaster Recovery: A Hurricane Harvey Case Study.

Changes in levels and patterns of physical activity might be a mechanism to assess and inform disaster recovery through the lens of wellbeing. However, few studies have examined disaster impacts on physical activity or the potential for physical activity to serve as an indicator of disaster recovery. In this exploratory study, we examined daily bicycle and pedestrian counts from four public bicycle/pedestrian trails in Houston, before and after Hurricane Harvey landfall, to assess if physical activity returned to pre-Harvey levels. An interrupted time series analysis was conducted to examine the immediate impact of Harvey landfall on physical activity; t-tests were performed to assess if trail usage returned to pre-Harvey levels. Hurricane Harvey was found to have a significant negative impact on daily pedestrian and bicycle counts for three of the four trails. Daily pedestrian and bicycle counts were found to return to pre-Harvey or higher levels at 6 weeks post-landfall at all locations studied. We discuss the potential for further research to examine the trends, feasibility, validity, and limitations of using bicycle and pedestrian use levels as a proxy for disaster recovery and wellbeing among affected populations.

A Statistical Analysis of the Relationship between Harmonic Surprise and Preference in Popular Music.

Studies have shown that some musical pieces may preferentially activate reward centers in the brain. Less is known, however, about the structural aspects of music that are associated with this activation. Based on the music cognition literature, we propose two hypotheses for why some musical pieces are preferred over others. The first, the Absolute-Surprise Hypothesis, states that unexpected events in music directly lead to pleasure. The second, the Contrastive-Surprise Hypothesis, proposes that the juxtaposition of unexpected events and subsequent expected events leads to an overall rewarding response. We tested these hypotheses within the framework of information theory, using the measure of "surprise." This information-theoretic variable mathematically describes how improbable an event is given a known distribution. We performed a statistical investigation of surprise in the harmonic structure of songs within a representative corpus of Western popular music, namely, the McGill Billboard Project corpus. We found that chords of songs in the top quartile of the Billboard chart showed greater average surprise than those in the bottom quartile. We also found that the different sections within top-quartile songs varied more in their average surprise than the sections within bottom-quartile songs. The results of this study are consistent with both the Absolute- and Contrastive-Surprise Hypotheses. Although these hypotheses seem contradictory to one another, we cannot yet discard the possibility that both absolute and contrastive types of surprise play roles in the enjoyment of popular music. We call this possibility the Hybrid-Surprise Hypothesis. The results of this statistical investigation have implications for both music cognition and the human neural mechanisms of esthetic judgments.

Sex Differences in Music: A Female Advantage at Recognizing Familiar Melodies.

Although sex differences have been observed in various cognitive domains, there has been little work examining sex differences in the cognition of music. We tested the prediction that women would be better than men at recognizing familiar melodies, since memories of specific melodies are likely to be learned (at least in part) by declarative memory, which shows female advantages. Participants were 24 men and 24 women, with half musicians and half non-musicians in each group. The two groups were matched on age, education, and various measures of musical training. Participants were presented with well-known and novel melodies, and were asked to indicate their recognition of familiar melodies as rapidly as possible. The women were significantly faster than the men in responding, with a large effect size. The female advantage held across musicians and non-musicians, and across melodies with and without commonly associated lyrics, as evidenced by an absence of interactions between sex and these factors. Additionally, the results did not seem to be explained by sex differences in response biases, or in basic motor processes as tested in a control task. Though caution is warranted given that this is the first study to examine sex differences in familiar melody recognition, the results are consistent with the hypothesis motivating our prediction, namely that declarative memory underlies knowledge about music (particularly about familiar melodies), and that the female advantage at declarative memory may thus lead to female advantages in music cognition (particularly at familiar melody recognition). Additionally, the findings argue against the view that female advantages at tasks involving verbal (or verbalizable) material are due solely to a sex difference specific to the verbal domain. Further, the results may help explain previously reported cognitive commonalities between music and language: since declarative memory also underlies language, such commonalities may be partly due to a common dependence on this memory system. More generally, because declarative memory is well studied at many levels, evidence that music cognition depends on this system may lead to a powerful research program generating a wide range of novel predictions for the neurocognition of music, potentially advancing the field.

Genomic and genotoxic responses to controlled weathered-oil exposures confirm and extend field studies on impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on native killifish.

To understand the ecotoxicological impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, field studies provide a context for ecological realism but laboratory-based studies offer power for connecting biological effects with specific causes. As a complement to field studies, we characterized genome-wide gene expression responses of Gulf killifish (Fundulus grandis) to oil-contaminated waters in controlled laboratory exposures. Transcriptional responses to the highest concentrations of oiled water in the laboratory were predictive of field-observed responses that coincided with the timing and location of major oiling. The transcriptional response to the low concentration (∼ 10-fold lower than the high concentration) was distinct from the high concentration and was not predictive of major oiling in the field. The high concentration response was characterized by activation of the molecular signaling pathway that facilitates oil metabolism and oil toxicity. The high concentration also induced DNA damage. The low concentration invoked expression of genes that may support a compensatory response, including genes associated with regulation of transcription, cell cycle progression, RNA processing, DNA damage, and apoptosis. We conclude that the gene expression response detected in the field was a robust indicator of exposure to the toxic components of contaminating oil, that animals in the field were exposed to relatively high concentrations that are especially damaging to early life stages, and that such exposures can damage DNA.

Relative phytoplankton growth responses to physically and chemically dispersed South Louisiana sweet crude oil.

We conducted controlled laboratory exposure experiments to assess the toxic effects of water-accommodated fractions (WAFs) of South Louisiana sweet crude oil on five phytoplankton species isolated from the Gulf of Mexico. Experiments were conducted with individual and combinations of the five phytoplankton species to determine growth inhibitions to eight total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) equivalent concentrations ranging from 461 to 7,205 ppb. The composition and concentration of crude oil were altered by physical and chemical processes and used to help evaluate crude oil toxicity. The impact of crude oil exposure on phytoplankton growth varied with the concentration of crude oil, species of microalgae, and their community composition. At a concentration of TPH < 1,200 ppb, dinoflagellate species showed significantly better tolerance, while diatom species showed a higher tolerance to crude oil at higher concentrations of TPH. For both groups, the larger species were more tolerant to crude oil than smaller ones. The toxicity potential of crude oil seems to be strongly influenced by the concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The addition of the dispersant, Corexit® EC9500A, increased the amount of crude oil up to 50-fold in the water column, while the physical enhancement (vigorous mixing of water column) did not significantly increase the amount of TPH concentration in the water column. The species response to crude oil was also examined in the five-species community. Each phytoplankton species showed considerably less tolerance to crude oil in the five-species community compared to their individual responses. This study provides baseline information about individual phytoplankton responses to crude oil and dispersed crude oil for subsequent research efforts seeking to understand the impacts of oil on the phytoplankton in the bigger picture.

Executive function in rats is impaired by low (20 cGy) doses of 1 GeV/u (56)Fe particles.

Exposure to galactic cosmic radiation is a potential health risk in long-term space travel and represents a significant risk to the central nervous system. The most harmful component of galactic cosmic radiation is the HZE [high mass, highly charged (Z), high energy] particles, e.g., (56)Fe particle. In previous ground-based experiments, exposure to doses of HZE-particle radiation that an astronaut will receive on a deep space mission (i.e., ∼20 cGy) resulted in pronounced deficits in hippocampus-dependent learning and memory in rodents. Neurocognitive tasks that are dependent upon other regions of the brain, such as the striatum, are also impaired after exposure to low HZE-particle doses. These data raise the possibility that neurocognitive tasks regulated by the prefrontal cortex could also be impaired after exposure to mission relevant HZE-particle doses, which may prevent astronauts from performing complex executive functions. To assess the effects of mission relevant (20 cGy) doses of 1 GeV/u (56)Fe particles on executive function, male Wistar rats received either sham treatment or were irradiated and tested 3 months later for their ability to perform attentional set shifting. Compared to the controls, rats that received 20 cGy of 1 GeV/u (56)Fe particles showed significant impairments in their ability to complete the attentional set-shifting test, with only 17% of irradiated rats completing all stages as opposed to 78% of the control rats. The majority of failures (60%) occurred at the first reversal stage, and half of the remaining animals failed at the extra-dimensional shift phase of the studies. The irradiated rats that managed to complete the tasks did so with approximately the same ease as did the control rats. These observations suggest that exposure to mission relevant doses of 1 GeV/u (56)Fe particles results in the loss of functionality in several regions of the cortex: medical prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulated cortex, posterior cingulated cortex and the basal forebrain. Our observation that 20 cGy of 1 GeV/u (56)Fe particles is sufficient to impair the ability of rats to conduct attentional set-shifting raises the possibility that astronauts on prolonged deep space exploratory missions could subsequently develop deficits in executive function.

Genomic and physiological footprint of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on resident marsh fishes.

The biological consequences of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill are unknown, especially for resident organisms. Here, we report results from a field study tracking the effects of contaminating oil across space and time in resident killifish during the first 4 mo of the spill event. Remote sensing and analytical chemistry identified exposures, which were linked to effects in fish characterized by genome expression and associated gill immunohistochemistry, despite very low concentrations of hydrocarbons remaining in water and tissues. Divergence in genome expression coincides with contaminating oil and is consistent with genome responses that are predictive of exposure to hydrocarbon-like chemicals and indicative of physiological and reproductive impairment. Oil-contaminated waters are also associated with aberrant protein expression in gill tissues of larval and adult fish. These data suggest that heavily weathered crude oil from the spill imparts significant biological impacts in sensitive Louisiana marshes, some of which remain for over 2 mo following initial exposures.

Disaster risk reduction capacity assessment for precarious settlements in Guatemala City.

This study presents findings of an institutional capacity analysis of urban disaster risk reduction for informal settlements in the Guatemala Metropolitan Region. It uses a resource access perspective of vulnerability, actor-network theory, and qualitative data collection. The analysis reveals that there is interest in disaster risk reduction for the informal settlements; however, there is little in the way of direct financial or oversight relationships between informal settlement residents and all other actors. Respondents observed that informal settlements would probably remain inhabited; thus, there is a need for disaster risk reduction within these settlements. Disaster risk reduction capacity for informal settlements exists and can be further leveraged, as long as steps are taken to ensure appropriate access to and control of resources and oversight. Further, the nascent institutional arrangements should be strengthened through increased communication and coordination between actors, a decentralization of oversight and financial relationships, and mediation of identified resource conflicts.

The PediaFlow pediatric ventricular assist device.

The very limited options available to treat ventricular failure in patients with congenital and acquired heart diseases have motivated the development of a pediatric ventricular assist device (VAD). Our effort involves a consortium consisting of the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, World Heart Corporation, and LaunchPoint Technologies, LLC. The overall aim of our program is to develop a highly reliable, biocompatible VAD for chronic support (6 months) of the unique and high-risk population of children between 3 kg and 15 kg (patients from birth to 2 years of age). The innovative pediatric VAD we are developing (PediaFlow) is based on a miniature mixed-flow turbodynamic pump featuring magnetic levitation, with the design goal being to assure minimal blood trauma and risk of thrombosis. This article discusses the limitations of current pediatric cardiac assist treatment options and the work to date by our consortium toward the development of a pediatric VAD.

In-situ burning of oil in coastal marshes. 2. Oil spill cleanup efficiency as a function of oil type, marsh type, and water depth.

In-situ burning of spilled oil, which receives considerable attention in marine conditions, could be an effective way to cleanup wetland oil spills. An experimental in-situ burn was conducted to study the effects of oil type, marsh type, and water depth on oil chemistry and oil removal efficiency from the water surface and sediment. In-situ burning decreased the totaltargeted alkanes and total targeted polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the burn residues as compared to the pre-burn diesel and crude oils. Removal was even more effective for short-chain alkanes and low ring-number PAHs. Removal efficiencies for alkanes and PAHs were >98% in terms of mass balance although concentrations of some long-chain alkanes and high ring-number PAHs increased in the burn residue as compared to the pre-burn oils. Thus, in-situ burning potentially prevents floating oil from drifting into and contaminating adjacent habitats and penetrating the sediment. In addition, in-situ burning significantly removed diesel oil that had penetrated the sediment for all water depths. Furthermore, in-situ burning at a water depth 2 cm below the soil surface significantly removed crude oil that had penetrated the sediment. As a result, in-situ burning may reduce the long-term impacts of oil on benthic organisms.

A prototype HeartQuest ventricular assist device for particle image velocimetry measurements.

The objective of this study is to fully characterize the flow within the HeartQuest ventricular assist device (VAD), a magnetically levitated centrifugal VAD, using particle image velocimetry (PIV) to identify regions of potential high shear or stagnation and validate and refine computational models of the flow. An acrylic model of the pump was designed and constructed to allow optical access into all interior regions of the pump. The geometry of the exterior housing and the use of a novel working fluid make quantitative measurements of velocity within the exit volute, blade passage, cut-water, blade tip clearance, and pump inlet possible. Highly accurate velocity measurements using particle PIV have been made in one region (the inlet elbow), and measurements in the other critical regions of the pump will be made. These measurements are used for investigation of regions with potential for hemolysis resulting from high shear stress or with potential for thrombosis caused by recirculation or stagnation. Quantitative velocity data are also needed for comparison with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models of the VAD. In this study, experiments have again proven to be an essential complement to CFD for thorough investigations of the flow inside the pump.