Smart cities and attracting knowledge workers: Which cities attract highly‐educated workers in the 21st century?

Regional policy‐makers have long sought to attract highly‐educated workers with a view to stimulating economic growth and vibrancy. Previous studies over the decades leading up to the new millennium show human capital divergence across cities, where the share of college graduates grew faster in cities that had larger initial shares of college‐educated workers. However, labour markets have changed significantly post‐2000, likely affecting migration decisions of highly‐skilled workers. Additionally, past studies have not controlled for important changes in industry education levels and overall industry composition that may influence city‐level college graduate growth. We use detailed 4‐digit NAICS industry employment data combined with public micro‐data to construct measures of industry skill upgrading and changes in industry composition to control for their effects on human capital growth. We find agglomeration forces, rather than initial graduate share, explains college‐graduate share growth post‐2000. We also decompose graduates into bachelors and postgraduate degree holders to determine whether different forces are at play on growth of graduates at different education levels.     

The Portuguese railway in time and space – mapping phases of growth,stagnation, and decline (1845–2015)*

This paper aims to analyse the development of the Portuguese railway in time and space, between 1845 and 2015. The development of the railway in mainland Portugal was a subject of interest to several stakeholders, including politicians, private investors, constructors, and the state itself. This article aims to explore what actors were involved in the development of the Portuguese railway, their respective goals and planning mechanisms. Focus is placed on the Portuguese state’s attempts to specifically shape the rail sector in its national infrastructure, while confronting it with the interests of the private initiative. By discussing the transformations seen in the urban and countryside spaces on which the railway network was built, this paper provides an overview of the effects that the railway had on the Portuguese territory and its urban areas. A comparative analysis of the railway system in the past and present reveals that the current layout of the Portuguese railway network does not differ greatly from that of the early twentieth century. Finally, it is shown that the history of the Portuguese railway coincided with different periods of significant socio-economic changes.     

Family metaphors and moral intuitions: How conservatives and liberals narrate their lives.

This research examines life-narrative interviews obtained from 128 highly religious and politically active adults to test differences between political conservatives and liberals on (a) implicit family metaphors (G. Lakoff, 2002) and (b) moral intuitions (J. Haidt & C. Joseph, 2004). Content analysis of 12 key scenes in life stories showed that conservatives, as predicted, tended to depict authority figures as strict enforcers of moral rules and to identify lessons in self-discipline. By contrast, liberals were more likely to identify lessons learned regarding empathy and openness, even though (contrary to prediction) they were no more likely than conservatives to describe nurturant authority figures. Analysis of extended discourse on the development of religious faith and personal morality showed that conservatives emphasized moral intuitions regarding respect for social hierarchy, allegiance to in-groups, and the purity or sanctity of the self, whereas liberals invested more significance in moral intuitions regarding harm and fairness. The results are discussed in terms of the recent upsurge of interest among psychologists in political ideology and the value of using life-narrative methods and concepts to explore how politically active adults attempt to construct meaningful lives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Studies addressing the importance of charge in the binding of fosmidomycin-like molecules to deoxyxylulosephosphate reductoisomerase

Fosmidomycin and its homologue FR900098 are inhibitors of 1-deoxy-D-xylulose-5-phosphate reductoisomerase, which is part of the mevalonate-independent isoprenoid biosynthetic pathway. Replacement of the phosphonate moiety by uncharged sulfone or sulfonamide partial structures resulted in complete loss of activity. Dropping one of the two negative charges resulted in a marked decrease in activity. Through occupation of a hydrophobic binding site, some activity could be regained, leading to compounds with micromolar activity against cultured malaria parasites.     

Knowledge production and the structure of collaboration networks in two scientific fields

In this paper the relationship between knowledge production and the structure of research networks in two scientific fields is assessed. We investigate whether knowledge production corresponds positively or negatively with different types of social network structure. We show that academic fields generate knowledge in different ways and that within the fields, different types of networks act as a stimulant for knowledge generation.     

Composer-Science: A semantic service based framework for workflow composition in e-Science projects

An important element in e-Science research is scientific workflow which is, in general, very long and composed of many computations, and represents a scientific process. Generally, a scientific workflow is difficult to define. One way to define it is using tools that aggregate semantics to assist in composition. In this context, this paper presents a proposal that aims to make composition of scientific workflows possible, considering semantic search of Web services and incorporating them into workflow definition.     

Effect of thermal processing on oxide reductase inactivation and on colour fixing in erva‐mate (Ilex paraguariensis St. Hill) leaves

Leaves of erva‐mate (Ilex paraguariensis St. Hill) were heat treated with different combinations of time and temperature. Polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and peroxidase (POD) residual activities and colouring (L, a, b and ΔE) were studied after treatment for 3 weeks. The best results for enzyme inactivation after heat treatment were obtained with the leaves treated at 450 °C for 15 s and at 500 °C for 10 s, with reductions of 90.6% and 83.4% for PPO and 94.5% and 92.7% for POD. These groups also showed low levels of enzyme activity during the first few days of storage, and a few days later no enzyme activity was detected. The data on the colours, specially –a values (green colour), were in accordance with results for enzyme activity and helped in the research on the changes that occur in the leaves during storage. Data from this work can be suggested for the improvement of the current method of erva‐mate processing, which is still performed empirically.     

Preparation and characterization of chitosan/cashew gum beads loaded with Lippia sidoides essential oil

Beads based on chitosan (CH) and cashew gum (CG), were prepared and loaded with an essential oil with larvicide activity (Lippia sidoides – Ls). CH and CH–CG beads were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), infrared and UV–VIS spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), as well as, regarding their larvicide loading, swelling, in vitro and in vivo release kinetics. The oil encapsulation was evidenced by FTIR analysis and LS loading ranges from 2.4% to 4.4%. CH beads duly showed swelling degree (Q) values from 4.0 to 6.7, reaching equilibrium after 30 min, whereas crosslinked CH–CG beads showed lower swelling values, from 0.4 to 3.8, exhibiting a longer equilibrium time. Liquid transport parameters have revealed diffusion coefficient for CH–CG beads, as low as 2 × 10^? 15 m²/s. TGA and DSC revealed that CH:CG crosslinked beads are more thermally stable than CH beads. In vitro release follows a non-Fickian diffusion profile for both bead types, however, and a prolonged release being achieved only after beads crosslinking. In vivo release showed that both CH and CH–CG presented a prolonged larvicide effect. These aforesaid results, indicate that CH–CG beads loaded with LS are efficient for A. aegypti larval control.