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Social movements such as the yearlong anti-extradition protests in Hong Kong provide useful and precious materials for us to revisit and visualize social and political significance of metro and light rail stations and their surroundings. We used a mixed-methods approach to draw various useful information from police records, newspapers, social media, and/or site audits to compile a list of large-scale protests and sit-ins occurred in Hong Kong between June and August 2019. We attempt to show (1) in high-density and transit-reliant cities like Hong Kong, transit services play an important role in people's daily mobility on both normal days and protest days; (2) on protest days, transit services, related facilities (e.g., entrances, lifts, and platforms) and surrounding areas can become the focuses/battlefields for both the government and the protesters; (3) we still know little about how protests and transit services/usage are related but smartcard data can help us fathom the issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abrupt socioeconomic changes have become increasingly commonplace. In face of these, both institutions and individuals must adapt. Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, suddenness, scale, and impacts of which are unprecedented as compared to its counterparts in history, we first propose transferable measures and methods that can be used to quantify and geovisualize COVID-19 and subsequent events' impacts on metro riders' travel behaviors. Then we operationalize and implement those measures and methods with empirical data from Hong Kong, a metropolis heavily reliant on transit/metro services. We map out where those impacts were the largest and explores its correlates. We exploit the best publicly available data to assemble probable explanatory variables and to examine quantitatively whether those variables are correlated to the impacts and if so, to what degree. We find that both macro- and meso-level external/internal events following the COVID-19 outbreak significantly influenced of metro riders' behaviors. The numbers of public rental housing residents, public and medical facilities, students' school locations, residents' occupation, and household income significantly predict the impacts. Also, the impacts differ across social groups and locales with different built-environment attributes. This means that to effectively manage those impacts, locale- and group-sensitive interventions are warranted. • Propose measures and methods that can be used to quantify COVID-19 and subsequent events' impacts. • Operationalize and implement those measures and methods with empirical data from Hong Kong. • Examine quantitatively which variables are correlated to those impacts and if so, to what degree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Dominant contributors to vibrancy around metro stations are identified. • TOD-ness indicators have nonlinear effects on urban vibrancy. • There are synergistic effects among TOD-ness dimensions/indicators on urban vibrancy. • Insights for tailoring nuanced planning/design criteria for vibrancy promotion in station areas are offered. Urban vibrancy can facilitate human activities and social interactions, attract capital and talent, enhance competitiveness and creativity, maintain resilience, and finally achieve a sustainable urban development. Theoretically, transit-oriented development (TOD) is beneficial for vibrancy. In practice, TOD implementation does not always lead to vibrant community life. To foster vibrancy around stations, we need to understand relationships between TOD-ness (i.e., the degree to which the current (physical) conditions of station areas meet the standards of TOD) and vibrancy. Empirical studies on this topic are scarce, despite numerous studies on built environment effects on vibrancy. Moreover, these studies are likely to overestimate/underestimate the effects as most of them neglect the pervasive nonlinearity and synergism. This research contributes to the understanding of nonlinear and synergistic effects of TOD on vibrancy by constructing gradient boosting decision tree model using multi-source data from 166 metro station areas in Shenzhen, China. Local explanations for the model indicate the following: (1) Sufficient bus services, horizontal built-up coverage, and mixed-use buildings are dominant contributors to vibrancy around metro stations. (2) TOD have nonlinear influences on vibrancy. (3) Synergistic effects are evident among/within TOD dimensions. Practical implications of the findings, such as targeted policies with nuanced planning/design criteria, are further discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students exhibit diverse cognitive styles, necessitating tailored educational approaches. However, the integration of Generative AI (GenAI) tools into design education presents challenges in accommodating the diverse cognitive styles of Industrial Design (ID) students. This study aims to identify students’ cognitive styles in a GenAI environment, and examine how GenAI affects the design outcomes and processes of each cognitive style. We investigated the verbal protocols of 30 ID graduate students during conceptual design processes using Midjourney. To better distinguish cognitive styles, we segmented the protocols and encoded them into cognitive maps, ultimately identifying four primary cognitive styles: Associative Focusers, Focused Probers, Treasure Hunters, and Comprehensive Selectors. The cognitive maps also revealed that while GenAI notably enhances the frequency of reflections across all student groups, there are marginal significant differences between the cognitive styles. Additionally, two experts evaluated all design outcomes, finding no significant differences in novelty, diversity, integrity, and feasibility across different cognitive styles, indicating the balancing effect of GenAI on the design outcomes of students with different cognitive styles. These findings provide a theoretical foundation for further research on GenAI’s impact on students, enhance understanding of GenAI’s influence on design processes and outcomes, and offer insights for personalized ID education based on different cognitive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) degree, the correlation between transit-based accessibility and urban development, reflects to what extent TOD shapes urban form. This paper empirically examines the shifting patterns of TOD degree and its correlates by using publicly available big and/or open data (BOD) such as point of interest (POI) and OpenStreetMap data for Shenzhen, China, a city experiencing rapid growth/changes in recent decades. The BOD used contain up-to-date information of human activities in finer spatiotemporal resolutions than traditional data. The paper illustrates how BOD can be utilized to quantify TOD degree and its correlates in 2014 and 2017. The main findings are twofold. First, bus stops, a proxy for bus-based accessibility, were found to markedly influence urban development (measued by the number of POIs with social media check-ins) around a (planned) metro station in 2014, when the local metro system was still in devleopment. Second, the impacts of the metro-based accessibility (measured by the average time to the two central business districts) on urban development became larger than those of the accessibility to bus stops as the local metro system matured. It is recommended that decision-makers should systematically consider and harness those effects over time to better promote TOD degree. • It examines transit-based accessibility and urban development in Shenzhen • It uses publicly available big and/or open data • It illustrates new ways to quantify transit-based accessibility and urban development • It finds two effects of the accessibility: Path-dependence and Substitution/Enhancement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Utilizing a multi-modal two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method to investigate the impacts of public transport on job accessibility. • The multi-modal approach accounts for the inter-modal competition for the same set of opportunities. • Results reveal significant disadvantages in accessing job opportunities for workers who are dependent on public transport. • The consideration of inter-modal competition would strengthen the disadvantages of job accessibility by public transport. • Highlighting land use and transport policy countermeasures to improve job accessibility by public transport. Job accessibility depends on the relationship between transport system and land uses. It involves competition for the same set of opportunities among users of various transport modes. This study introduces a multi-modal approach to investigate the impacts of public transport on job accessibility. It adapts the multi-modal two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method to measure job accessibility. It collects empirical data to operationalize the method in the context of Shenzhen, China. Shenzhen is chosen because of public transport accounts for a significant share of the city's commuting trips and the city is a pilot city for China's Transit Metropolis Strategy. Results show that job accessibility by public transport is much poorer and more unevenly distributed than that by driving car. The former reaches its minimum in the peripheral whereas the latter is relatively high in most areas. Results reveal significant disadvantages in accessing job opportunities for low-income or migrant workers who are dependent on public transport. The consideration of inter-modal competition would further strengthen such disadvantages. Considering that there is often correlation between job accessibility by public transport and social equity, this study illustrates transferable procedures and methods to quantify and visualize such accessibility and to identify spots where there is deficiency in the supply of such accessibility. It demonstrates the importance of incorporating the inter-modal competition into the evaluation of job accessibility in multi-modal contexts. It highlights land use and transport policy countermeasures to improve job accessibility by public transport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Redefine familiar stranger in big data era (FSiBE). • Empirically operationalize FSiBE and its probable determinants. • Identity determinants of FSiBE's count and odds among metro riders in Beijing. • Synthesize and discuss significance of FSiBE in cities. Traditionally, familiar strangers are defined as those we encounter and observe repeatedly in the city but never interact with. They are common to most urban dwellers. They also have various socioeconomic, sociopsychological and public-policy implications, which have only been sporadically mentioned and/or examined in existing studies across different disciplines. In this manuscript, we first summarize fragmental existing studies on familiar strangers that are defined in the traditional manner based on "small data" such as survey responses. Then we reconceptualize "familiar strangers" against the backdrop of the emergence and increased availability of big and open data. Such familiar strangers are called "familiar strangers in the big data era" (FSiBDE). After this, we have done the following: (a) synthesized and hypothesized factors influencing the distribution and quantity of the FSiBDE; (b) conducted an empirical study in the context of Beijing to embody and operationalize a special type of the FSiBDE among metro riders and to study its possible influencers. We find that across metro stations, it is spatial structure, population distribution, and transport network that significantly influence the count and odds of FSiBDE among millions of metro riders. In addition, the FSiBDE also can have important policy and planning implications for operating metro services and managing metro station. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, transit equity has become a recurrent topic within the domain of sustainable transportation, where accessibility is a crucial indicator. However, the measurement of accessibility and equity in existing studies is usually based on the route with the shortest travel time, whereas multiple travel routes and corresponding travel costs remain unexamined. Taking the ground access to Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) as an example, this study aims to fill the previous research gaps by examining the equity of accessibility by public transport simultaneously considering different sets of route options and corresponding total travel costs. These routes have either the shortest travel time or the maximum time-saving benefit–monetary cost ratio. Results reveal spatial variation in the total travel cost, which reflects considerable horizontal inequity. The results, however, indicate that vertical equity exists because the total travel cost is positively correlated with median income level across different locations. In addition, the route that provides a reasonable benefit–cost ratio further improves the equity in accessibility to HKIA. The study illustrates the significance of simultaneous consideration of total travel costs and multiple routes in the assessment of accessibility equity. It also provides transferrable methods for evaluating transit equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract\nHIGHLIGHTSWith the development of children’s education, parents and teachers pay more and more attention to the learning and training of children with developmental dyslexia (DD). There are many reasons for DD and various intervention tools with a large number of learning costs. In this paper, we aim to analyze the relationship between music, pinyin, and reading, and confirm the theoretical link of "music - Chinese pinyin - reading ability". Then, we sort out a method to design the music intervention tool in this article, which is a new tangible interactive tool for children with DD. This tool is composed of hardware and software and has three modules: music intervention, pinyin intervention, and reading intervention, covering a total of 11 levels and is suitable for classroom teaching, home self-study, and other scenarios, to improve the Chinese pinyin and reading abilities. Subsequently, we conducted a pre-experiment and formal experiment on 20 children with DD to demonstrate the effectiveness of this tool, while using the SUS scale to analyze the evaluation of these children. Finally, we figured that the intervention tool designed in this study has a certain helpful effect on improving the phonetic and reading abilities of children with DD, and is more effective than the three intervention methods used alone. This study has certain reference significance for the designers of intervention tools and also provides new intervention methods for teachers in training institutions. It also provides another possibility for the self-treatment and training of children with developmental dyslexia.Combine music with Chinese Pinyin and Chinese reading to design.Provide a new tangible interactive intervention tool for children with developmental dyslexia in China.Design several levels for music, Pinyin, and reading intervention systems using an advanced music teaching method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Equity and justice have long been central in transport policy. The emphasise on the importance of individuals' access to social and economic opportunities stresses the link between accessibility and concepts like agency and freedom of choice. It calls for a nuanced and comprehensive understanding of accessibility that considers specific contextual factors that limit people's transport choices, such as the design of public transport networks and services, government interventions, and competition between public transport companies. To promote people's potential mobility and freedom of choice, it is crucial to initially assess the spatial distribution of transport options. In this article, we synthesise the findings from existing scholarship on transport choice, reinforcing the need for (re)considering choice in transport equity. We propose a metric to evaluate the availability of transport choices by considering the trade-off between time and money. By analysing household survey responses on transport choices and transit service datasets, we investigate the spatial disparities in the availability of transport choices within a multimodal public transportation system in Hong Kong and explore how adjusting unappealing choices can potentially enhance transport equity. • Discuss transport equity issues with a relative understudied angle – transport choice. • Propose a metric to assess spatial equity of transport choices. • A realistic case study based on a multi-modal public transport network in Hong Kong. • Implications to transit choice provision and fare adjustment tactics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Walking is an imperative travel mode, especially for short trips. Walking accessibility, which is defined as the ease of reaching essential destinations in the walk-in catchment area, may affect property prices because residents are more likely to be willing to pay for this attribute. In addition, different categories of public services may have varied influencing directions and magnitude. These two hypotheses are tested in this study. Taking Xiamen, China as a case study, we estimate the cumulative opportunities of public services on foot and develop a set of hedonic pricing models (more specifically, two pre-specified ordinary least squares models, four Box-Cox transformed models, and two spatial econometric models) to estimate, whether and to what extent, walking accessibility contributes to price premiums (or discounts). Using a database of 22,586 second-hand residential properties in 358 multi- or high-storey residential complexes, we find that (1) walking accessibility to public services contributes to the variations in housing prices and plays a role in determining housing prices; (2) different categories of services have vastly divergent, even opposite, influencing impacts; and (3) walking accessibility to primary schools, commercial centers, and sports and cultural centers have positive effects on house prices whereas walking accessibility to comprehensive hospitals adversely affects housing prices. Methodologically, we confirm that spatial econometric methods improve estimation accuracy and have more explanatory power relative to the standard non-spatial models. Robustness check analysis further guarantees the plausibility of this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stereolithography apparatus (SLA) is one of the most famous and versatile additive manufacturing techniques and has been widely used in many industrial fields. However, the surface quality of SLA parts is unsatisfactory for the precise parts due to stair stepping caused by the layered manufacturing process. In this study, the stair stepping of SLA parts was relieved by ultrahigh pressure atomizing coating with the polyethylene wax emulsion using a group of optimum coating parameters. The experimental results showed that polyethylene wax film with the thickness less than 0.1 mm bonded to the SLA parts adequately and the surface roughness of the SLA parts can be significantly reduced; the Ra of SLA parts was decreased to less than 2.5 μm. This method can be applied to improve both the outer surface and the inner surface of complex SLA parts with good dimensional accuracy and no damage to SLA parts, implying potential for fabrication of precise components. Expected advantages of this method include economical, operator-friendly, and time-saving for the manufacturers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The node-place model epitomizes metro stations as nodes in a city's transportation network and station areas as places accommodating activities in the city. According to this model, stations and station areas with balanced node and place contents/values contribute to harmony among human interactions, land uses, and (public) transportation services. The harmony is indispensable for civic engagement, quality of life, and well-being of urbanites. Most of the existing studies on the model, however, focus on transportation services and land uses. Little has been done on whether and how social contacts play an essential role in such harmony and are associated with node-place values. In this article, we therefore measure social contact in a city and introduce social contact as a third aspect to the node-place model. In particular, we introduce a method to identify group travel activities in the metro system, as a proxy for social contact, by using smartcard swipe records from Hong Kong's metro system in 2020. We then define and calculate place values, node values, and the intensity and density of social contacts by metro station or station area. We find that some stations with balanced and even stressed node-place values would have relatively low social contacts. The conventional node-place framework is not capable of capturing and evaluating realized social contacts of a metro station area. There exists a gap between realization of social contacts and the interaction potential facilitated by both node and place values of stations. Our new model allows us to better categorize different metro station areas according to their respective realized social contacts. • Realization of human interactions is a desired goal of the node-place model. • Intentional travel groups (ITGs) capture some realized social contacts of stations. • Social contact is involved into the node-place model as a third aspect. • Stations with balanced node and place values could have low ITG values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outbreak of COVID-19 and subsequent pandemic containment measures have significantly affected our daily life, which has been extensively examined in the existing scholarship. However, the existing scholarship has done little on the jobs/housing relationship impacts of COVID-19. We attempted to fill this gap by using an excess-commuting approach. The approach allows us to analyse a series of jobs-housing matrices based on the location-based service big data of around fifty million individuals in the Pearl River Delta (PRD), China before and amid COVID-19. In the PRD, a zero-COVID policy was implemented, which presents a distinct and interesting context for our study. We found that after the COVID-19 outbreak: (1) residences and employment became more centrally located in downtowns, which is opposite to the suburbanization trend elsewhere; (2) in the whole PRD, the minimum and maximum commutes became smaller while the actual commute became larger, indicating the simultaneous presences of some paradoxical phenomena: a better spatial juxtaposition of jobs and housing, more compressed distribution of jobs and housing, and longer average actual commutes; (3) inter-city commutes between large cities were significantly refrained and decreased, while new inter-city commuters between smaller cities emerged; (4) it was more likely for the less-educated and female workers to see smaller minimum commutes amid COVID-19. This paper illustrates the potential of big data in the longitudinal study on jobs-housing relationships and excess commuting. It also produces new insights into such relationships in a unique context where stringent anti-COVID-19 policies have been continuously in place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to understand extreme public transit riders in Beijing using both traditional household surveys and emerging new data sources such as Smart Card Data (SCD). We focus on four types of extreme transit behaviors: public transit riders who (1) travel significantly earlier than average riders (‘early birds’); (2) ride in unusual late hours (‘night owls’); (3) commute in excessively long distance (‘tireless itinerants’); and (4) make significantly more trips per day (‘recurring itinerants’). SCD are used to identify the spatiotemporal patterns of these four extreme transit behaviors. In addition, household surveys are employed to supplement the socioeconomic background and tentatively profile extreme travelers. While the research findings are useful to guide urban governance and planning in Beijing, our methodology and procedures can be extended to understand travel patterns elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public transport with high levels of patronage is the cornerstone of a sustainable city. Passengers' feelings of safety shapes an individuals' decision to utilise public transport that are informed in large part by the other people with which the transit stations and public transit trips are shared. Some of these people are unknown to us but considered – familiar strangers – in that we visually recognise the individuals but have never spoken to them. Our empirical understanding of this subtle yet important social phenomena known to impact sense of community, place attachment and feelings of safety remain in their infancy but with emergence of disaggregate sources of big data bourne from smart card technologies there exists new opportunities to measure and visualise potential familiar strangers in transit networks. The aim of the current study is to develop a new measurement framework that moves beyond existing work that measures familiar strangers via a single volumetric measure and introduce a suite of metrics capturing the full scope of the social phenomena within a transit network. Our measurement framework and associated metrics are operationalised using smart card data from Brisbane, Australia. Results hold implications for policy and planning, and it is hoped that the framework will be redeployed across other situational and cultural contexts forming a growing set of comparative studies. • A new measurement framework for familiar stranger encounters in transit networks. • Measure and visualise spatial-temporal dynamics of familiar stranger encounters. • Explore patterns of familiar stranger encounters across both weekdays and weekends. • Explore patterns of familiar stranger encounters by transit passenger type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transit accessibility should take transit timetable into account and be time-dependent. The reason is that the maximum passenger carrying capacity of a transit station is determined by the scheduled timetable. In addition, passengers always choose departure time according to their own need, which varies with time. Based on the traditional two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) and gravity method, this paper proposes two new methods to evaluate transit accessibility. The proposed methods are implemented to evaluate the bus accessibility of Xiamen City, China. According to the local bus timetable, a typical workday is divided into three periods. Within each time period, bus travel supply-to-demand ratios by station are calculated and then aggregated into the traffic analysis zone (TAZ). The empirical findings show that fluctuations in travel demand and the passenger carrying capacity of bus stations in different time periods make the bus accessibility significantly differ throughout the city. They also show that bus accessibility based on the extended 2SFCA model are equivalent to that based on the extended gravity model, when the total demand is relatively lower than the total passenger carrying capacity of a bus station. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commuting efficiency, a measure of how effectively workers utilise their time and resources for journeys to work, is generally assessed through an excess commuting framework. This approach quantifies the disparity between the theoretical minimum and actual commutes. However, conventional methods often make oversimplified assumptions of industry homogeneity and temporal invariance, neglecting the intricate dynamics of commuting efficiency. To bridge the gap, this study scrutinises cross-year commuting efficiency across 13 industry sectors by developing a disaggregated excess-commuting framework. An analysis of substantial data encompassing 11 million commuters in Shenzhen over the period from 2017 to 2021 reveals that: (1) secondary sectors and industries requiring relatively lower skills demonstrate higher commuting efficiency compared to their tertiary, high-skilled counterparts; (2) increases in industry-related minimum and random commuting significantly contribute to the growth of commuting distances, whereas local self-contained employment helps mitigate this effect; and (3) addressing jobs-housing imbalance in absolute ratio may not necessarily reduce commuting distances for all industry sectors. Urban policy development should be specifically tailored to the unique evolution of commuting efficiency performance within individual industries, rather than adopting a generic one-size-fits-all approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to develop a scale to measure students' STEM continuing motivation (CM). In accordance with the conceptualisation of CM by Maehr (1976. Continuing motivation: An analysis of a seldom considered educational outcome. Review of Educational Research, 46(3), 443–462. doi:), we define STEM CM as students' tendencies to actively engage in STEM-related activities. The STEM Continuing Motivation Scale was developed from a literature review and student cognitive interviews, and was validated on a sample of 465 Chinese 7th and 8th graders. The results demonstrated that the developed scale had high reliability (Cronbach's α = 0.91) and good validity. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that boys had significantly higher STEM CM than girls and there were significant differences in engineering CM among students from different schools. The implications of the findings of this study are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has exerted unprecedented impacts on travel behaviors because of people's increased health precautions and the presence of various COVID-19 containment measures. However, little research has explored whether and how people changed their travel with respect to their perceived local infection risks across space and time. In this article, we relate elasticity and resilience thinking to the changes in metro travel and perceived infection risks at the station or community level over time. Using empirical data from Hong Kong, we measure a metro station's elasticity as the ratio of changes in its average trip length to the COVID-19 cases' footprints around that station. We regard those footprints as a proxy for people's perceived infection risks when making trips to that station. To explore influencing factors on travel in the ups and downs of perceived infection risks, we classify stations based on their elasticity values and examine the association between stations' elasticities and characteristics of stations and their served communities. The findings show that stations varied in elasticity values across space and different surges of the local pandemic. The elasticity of stations can be predicted by socio-demographics and physical attributes of station areas. Stations serving a larger percentage of population with higher education degrees and certain occupations observed more pronounced trip length decrease for the same level of perceived infection risks. The number of parking spaces and retail facilities significantly explained variations in stations' elasticity. The results provide references on crisis management and resilience improvement amid and post COVID-19. • How travel changed relative to perceived infection risks across space and time remains understudied. • A station's elasticity is measured as the ratio of changes in trip length to the case footprints around the station. • Stations varied in elasticity values across space and different surges of the local pandemic. • Stations' physical attributes and socioeconomic characteristics could predict their elasticities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] This paper estimates CO2 emissions from China’s urban passenger transportation. [•] A “bottom-up” methodology is developed based upon passenger travel behaviors. [•] Traffic optimization can reduce 21% of the transportation energy in 2030. [•] Traffic plus urban optimization will reduce 43% of the transportation energy in 2030. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Vibrancy is indispensable and beneficial for revitalization of historic districts. Hence, identifying built environment predictors for vibrancy is of great interest to urban practitioners and policy makers. However, it is challenging. On the one hand, there is no consensus in selection of appropriate proxy for vibrancy. On the other hand, the built environment is multidimensional, but limited studies examined its impacts on vibrancy from different dimensions simultaneously. The Baitasi Area is a typical historic district in Beijing, China. In this study, on the basis of a long-term repeatedly measured dataset generated from the Citygrid sensors, we investigated the spatiotemporal distribution of street vibrancy in Baitasi Area and examined its built environment predictors in two seasons (i.e., summer/autumn and winter), with pedestrian volume as the proxy for vibrancy and built environment portrayed from four different dimensions (i.e., morphology, configuration, function, and landscape). We found that (1) the street vibrancy in Baitasi Area is temporally relatively evenly distributed, but with higher spatial concentration; (2) microclimate and built environment are more significant in winter than in summer/autumn; (3) street morphology and configuration features are more significant predictors than street function and landscape features; (4) generally, streets with higher point of interest (POI) diversity, higher buildings, and stronger network connection tend to have higher vibrancy. This study provides decision makers with insights in revitalizing historic districts. • Street vibrancy in Baitasi Area is temporally evenly distributed and yet with higher spatial concentration. • Effects of built environment on street vibrancy is more significant in winter than in summer/autumn. • Comparatively, day-time street vibrancy is less affected by the built environment. • Street morphology and configuration features are more significant predictors than street function and landscape features. • Streets with higher POI diversity, higher buildings, and stronger network connection tend to have higher vibrancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Reveals the rationale for R+P programs in Mainland China. • The obstacles for private sector participation thereof. • The balance between profit and social obligations in R+P programs. • Local business environment has discouraged private sector participation. Populous Chinese cities have invested heavily in metro systems and planned proactively for transit-oriented development. Rail plus property (R+P) programs, where metro corporations engage in, and even orchestrate real estate development in or around rail station areas, have been recurrently reported among these cities. However, careful assessment of these programs is still rare in the existing literature. Built upon multiple R+P programs led by Shenzhen Metro Cooperation and/or Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway Cooperation, this article fathoms the rationale for R+P programs in Mainland China, the obstacles for oversea private investors' participation and the balance between profit making and social goods supply. It finds that R+P programs serve as alternative funding sources for expensive metro projects. It decreases municipal governments' cash flow contribution to those projects, which is mandated by the central government. In addition, local business environment for R+P projects has disadvantaged private sector participation, especially those private investors from overseas. Furthermore, public subsidy to local metro corporations is likely to persist as R+P programs have not been designed for economic value maximization; rather, they are in place because (1) they reduce the cash flow burden of the municipal government; (2) they are tasked by the municipal government to produce a considerable number of affordable public housing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multifunctional magneto-plasmonic nanoparticles with magnetic hyperthermia and photothermal therapy could kill cancer cells efficiently. Herein, carbon-encapsulated Au/Fe 3 O 4 (Au/Fe 3 O 4 @C) was fabricated using an enclosed flame spray pyrolysis. The nanostructures, including an Fe 3 O 4 core (51.9-55.2 nm) with a decreasing carbon shell thickness and an Au core (4.68-8.75 nm) coated with 2-4 graphite layers, were tailored by tuning the C 2 H 4 content in the reacting gas mixture. Saturation magnetization (33.7-48.2 emu/g) and optical absorption were determined. The carbon shell facilitated the dispersion of Au/Fe 3 O 4 and restrained their laser-induced and magnetic field-induced coalescence and growth. Au/Fe 3 O 4 @C exhibited excellent magnetic resonance imaging capability (91.4 mM -1 s -1 ) and photothermal performance (65.4°C for 0.8 mg/mL Au/Fe 3 O 4 @C at a power density of 1.0 W/cm 2 after 300 s near-IR laser irradiation (808 nm)). Moreover, the combined application of photothermal and magnetic-heating properties reduced the required intensity of both laser and magnetic field compared to the intensity of separate situations. Our work provides a unique, intriguing approach to preparing multicomponent core/shell nanoaggregates that are promising candidates for esophageal cancer cell therapy., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Wang, Liu, Zhou, Zhao and Cai.)

Dental caries is listed as one of the three major non-communicable diseases by the World Health Organization, and its main treatment method is to restore it by filling it with resin. At present, the visible light-cure method has the problems of non-uniform curing and low penetration efficiency, which makes the bonding area easy to develop marginal leakages, thus leading to secondary caries and requiring repeated treatment. In this work, through the strong terahertz (THz) irradiation-weak THz detection technique, it is found that the strong THz electromagnetic pulses can accelerate the curing process of the resin, and the weak-field THz spectroscopy can be used to monitor this dynamic change in real time, which will greatly promote the potential application of THz technology in dentistry., Competing Interests: The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest related to this article., (© 2023 Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Optica Open Access Publishing Agreement.)

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, face-to-face contacts decreased but still existed despite people's fear of virus infection and governments' social gathering restrictions. These interactions influenced virus transmission routes, if any and reflected people's essential social interactive demands in the city. In this article, we identified people who intentionally travel as groups (ITGs) to characterize social interactions before and amid COVID-19. To systematically understand ITGs' mobility patterns, an ITG structure was defined and measured in multiple dimensions, including composition, function, size, intensity, quality, and spatiotemporal distribution. Based on a longitudinal smartcard dataset in Hong Kong spanning the year of 2020, we operationalized the ITG structure in the local metro system and examined whether and to what degree the structure changed during the pandemic. We found that ITGs' activities fluctuated as the pandemic progressed and their changes differed across different ITG groups. The long-distance ITGs saw the most significant change. The spatial distribution of persistent ITG trips before and amid the pandemic became spatiotemporally more concentrated. Stations with similar ITG indices clustered in proximity, and features of station areas like residents' education level and quantity of commercial facilities could well predict stations' ITG indices. In other words, inequal distribution of essential facilities and opportunities could notably influence ITGs, social contacts, and socioeconomic benefits brought about by them amid COVID-19. The findings provide insights concerning both resilience management amid the crisis and the long-term planning of essential facilities and services that facilitate group-based outgoings and activities., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Dental caries is a widespread chronic infectious disease which may induce a series of oral and general problems if untreated. As a result, early diagnosis and follow-up following radiation-free dental caries therapy are critical. Terahertz (THz) waves with highly penetrating and non-ionizing properties are ideally suited for dental caries diagnosis, however related research in this area is still in its infancy. Here, we successfully observe the existence of THz birefringence phenomenon in enamel and demonstrate the feasibility of utilizing THz spectroscopy and birefringence to realize caries diagnosis. By comparing THz responses between healthy teeth and caries, the transmitted THz signals in caries are evidently reduced. Concomitantly, the THz birefringence is also unambiguously inhibited when caries occurs due to the destruction of the internal hydroxyapatite crystal structure. This THz anisotropic activity is position-dependent, which can be qualitatively understood by optical microscopic imaging of dental structures. To increase the accuracy of THz technology in detecting dental caries and stimulate the development of THz caries instruments, the presence of significant THz birefringence effect induced anisotropy in enamel, in combination with the strong THz attenuation at the caries, may be used as a new tool for caries diagnosis.

Terahertz (THz) spectroscopy provides multifaceted capabilities for observing low-energy responses of macromolecules, cells and tissues, understanding THz biophysical effects, and expecting to realize the application of THz technology in biomedicine. However, its high-frequency characteristics of limited penetration depth and strong absorption of water in the body comparable to microwaves are impeding the proliferation of THz spectroscopy. Here we show that THz spectroscopy makes possible the observation of THz anisotropy phenomena for the first time in fascia and lean tissue. Through optical microscopy, we infer that the microscopic mechanism of THz anisotropy comes from the periodic stripe structure of the biological tissue. The above related experimental findings may be expected to promote the application of THz technology in biomedicine., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (© 2022 Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Optica Open Access Publishing Agreement.)

Residential locations, the jobs-housing relationship, and commuting patterns are key elements to understand urban spatial structure and how city dwellers live. Their successive interaction is important for various fields including urban planning, transport, intraurban migration studies, and social science. However, understanding of the long-term trajectories of workplace and home location, and the resulting commuting patterns, is still limited due to lack of year-to-year data tracking individual behavior. With a 7-y transit smartcard dataset, this paper traces individual trajectories of residences and workplaces. Based on in-metro travel times before and after job and/or home moves, we find that 45 min is an inflection point where the behavioral preference changes. Commuters whose travel time exceeds the point prefer to shorten commutes via moves, while others with shorter commutes tend to increase travel time for better jobs and/or residences. Moreover, we capture four mobility groups: home mover, job hopper, job-and-residence switcher, and stayer. This paper studies how these groups trade off travel time and housing expenditure with their job and housing patterns. Stayers with high job and housing stability tend to be home (apartment unit) owners subject to middle- to high-income groups. Home movers work at places similar to stayers, while they may upgrade from tenancy to ownership. Switchers increase commute time as well as housing expenditure via job and home moves, as they pay for better residences and work farther from home. Job hoppers mainly reside in the suburbs, suffer from long commutes, change jobs frequently, and are likely to be low-income migrants., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2018 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.)