̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Queen Mary ̽��ֱ�� of London

Landmark 'pill-on-a-thread' cancer screening trial welcomes first participants

cjb250 — Thu, 28 Nov 2024 12:00:02 +0000

A pivotal clinical trial of a 'pill-on-a-thread' test, which will decide if it becomes a new screening programme for oesophageal cancer, has welcomed its first participants.

Cambridge scientists elected as Members of the European Molecular Biology Organisation

jg533 — Tue, 09 Jul 2024 12:00:56 +0000

Five Cambridge researchers join the community of over 2,100 leading life scientists today as the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) announces its newest Members in its 60th anniversary year.

'Threatening' faces and beefy bodies do not bias criminal suspect identification, study finds

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Apr 2022 14:15:46 +0000

We’re all familiar with the classic “look” of a movie bad guy: peering through narrowing eyes with a sinister sneer (like countless James Bond villains, including Christopher Walken’s memorable Max Zorin in A View to a Kill) or pumped up to cartoon-like dimensions (like the Soviet boxer Drago who growls “I must break you” to Rocky Balboa in Rocky IV).

Yet a detailed new study of identifying criminal suspects finds, to the authors’ surprise, no bias toward selecting people with threatening facial characteristics or muscular bodies. ̽��ֱ��study does find, however, that suspects with highly muscled, “threatening” bodies are most accurately identified by eyewitnesses in line-ups.

‘No systematic bias’

“These findings suggest that while no systematic bias exists in the recall of criminal bodies, the nature of the body itself and the context in which it is presented can significantly impact identification accuracy,” says the research published in the journal Memory & Cognition. “Participant identification accuracy was highest for the most threatening body stimuli high in musculature.”

Eyewitness testimony and the identification of suspects lies at the heart of the criminal justice system. In the absence of incriminating physical evidence, an eyewitness can be crucial in convincing a court of the defendant’s guilt. Previous studies have revealed identification errors may be due to people finding it hard to recognise unfamiliar faces, as well as height and weight frequently being underestimated.

Computer-generated images varying in levels of threat

“Misidentification of innocent defendants plays a significant role in most cases of prisoners later exonerated through DNA evidence,” says study co-author Magda Osman, Head of Research and Analysis at the Centre for Science and Policy, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, which is affiliated with Cambridge Judge Business School.

“Having a stereotypically ‘criminal’ or threatening appearance has long been established to be a disadvantage in the judicial system, both in terms of the likelihood of initially being arrested and in terms of courtroom sentencing,” adds co-author Terence J. McElvaney of the Department of Biological and Experimental sychology, Queen Mary ̽��ֱ�� of London. “What we wanted to establish through this new research was whether some people are also more likely to be falsely identified as a criminal because they naturally have a more threatening appearance – and, contrary to our expectations, we found that this was not the case.

In three separate experiments, participants were first presented with either the outline of a violent crime, neutral information, or no background information. They were then shown a realistic computer-generated image of the male suspect (target) and asked to identify him from a selection of images (foils) that varied in facial threat or body muscle.

“Although this does not match the procedural experience of real eyewitnesses, this allowed us to explore the potential biasing effects of criminal context while maintaining tight control over the stimuli,” the study explains. In some experiments a delay between witnessing the crime and trying to identify the suspect was simulated. All faces in the dataset were Caucasian and converted to greyscale.

Three experiments form basis of study

Around 200 hundred adults living in the UK took part in each of the three experiments:

Experiment 1

Participants were divided into two teams, with one group told the person they were about to see was involved in an armed robbery. ̽��ֱ��other group was told the aim of the experiment was to see how accurately they could identify unfamiliar people. ̽��ֱ��groups completed 20 trials in total, identifying a different suspect each time from a selection of faces and body shapes with blurred heads. In each case, the target image was shown for one second, followed by a blank screen for one second, followed by the line-up.

Experiment 2

This experiment introduced a distractor task adding a five-minute delay between participants seeing the target image for 30 seconds and trying to identify it. Contributors were divided into three categories. In the crime and neutral groups, they were presented with background information such as a shop robbery resulting in a murder, or someone purchasing a winning lottery ticket. ̽��ֱ��final group was told to study the person for later identification. Fixation dots and a random noise mark were also added to the start of each trial to break concentration. This time, faces or bodies were shown individually with those taking part responding Yes or No to the question: “Did that face/body EXACTLY match the one you previously studied?”

Experiment 3

Participants were again provided with a criminal context, neutral context, or no additional information. They were given 30 seconds to study the target, then following a distractor task lasting ten minutes, were asked to identify him from a line-up of bodies only, from which the perpetrator was missing.

Impact of stereotypes on memory

̽��ֱ��authors expected that if no background context was provided, participants would not show any bias in recalling a body or a face. They hypothesised that more threatening faces and larger bodies would be selected when the perpetrator was presented in a criminal context, rather than in a neutral context, but this did not turn up in the findings.

Previous research suggests associating someone with a crime can distort their appearance in memory by automatically activating racial stereotypes linked to the crime being committed, such as a Caucasian stereotype being activated for crimes such as identity theft or embezzlement.

This new research found giving criminal background information about the suspects did not significantly influence participants’ memory. “Participants viewing images of alleged violent criminals were no more likely to overestimate the facial threat or musculature of the target stimuli than those who studied the targets in empty or neutral contexts,” the study says.

“These results suggest that, although errors of eyewitness identification can or do occur, they may not be driven by systematic biases related to how threatening a criminal is later recalled.”

̽��ֱ��authors identified several limitations in their study. These included the use of computer-generated still images rather than video footage. Although a delay was introduced in the process, it does not reflect the days or weeks experienced by real eyewitnesses, or difficulties presented by lighting or distance.

Crucially, due to the images used, all the conclusions are restricted to Caucasian defendants.

“Although it’s possible participants didn’t perceive the images to be of a particular race because they’re computer generated, further research could use morphing software to produce photo-realistic facial images of different races that vary in perceived threat”, says co-author Isabelle Mareschal, also of the Department of Biological and Experimental Psychology, Queen Mary ̽��ֱ�� of London.

̽��ֱ��study in Memory & Cognition – entitled “Identifying criminals: No biasing effect of criminal context on recalled threat” – is co-authored by Terence J. McElvaney and Isabelle Mareschal, both of the Department of Biological and Experimental Psychology, Queen Mary ̽��ֱ�� of London; and Magda Osman of the Centre of Science and Policy, Cambridge Judge Business School.

Research shows that there is no bias toward selecting people with muscular bodies or facial characteristics perceived as threatening when identifying criminal suspects in line-ups.

Misidentification of innocent defendants plays a significant role in most cases of prisoners later exonerated through DNA evidence

Magda Osman

Various levels of musculature in Experiment 1. Left-to-right: 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%. Target stimulus (e.g., 50% musculature) shown in the centre.

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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Study reveals ‘drastic changes’ to daily routines during UK lockdowns

fpjl2 — Wed, 03 Nov 2021 17:51:02 +0000

This is according to a new study of “time-use diaries” kept by 766 UK citizens from across the social spectrum during three points in time: the last month of normality, the first lockdown, and the last lockdown in March of this year.

Economists from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and Queen Mary ̽��ֱ�� of London collected data that charted time spent on activities during both typical work and nonwork days to map changes to the rhythm of life for millions.

̽��ֱ��study, published today in the journal PLOS ONE, found marked differences between genders, particularly parents of young children, and that increases in odd working hours and downtime spent alone were detrimental to wellbeing.

“ ̽��ֱ��lockdowns resulted in drastic changes to patterns of time use, disrupting routines and blurring the distinction between work and family life,” said co-author Dr Ines Lee from Cambridge’s Faculty of Economics.

“We have hopefully seen the end of lockdowns, but our study holds lessons for hybrid working, as splitting time between home and office becomes more common.”

“Employers should promote better work-life balance in the post-pandemic world. This could include limits on emails outside working hours, home-working schedules that suit parents, and options for younger workers left isolated by reduced in-person networking,” said Lee.

̽��ֱ��researchers looked at amounts of time each individual spent on activities in four broad categories: employment (excluding commutes); “housework” (from shopping to childcare); leisure (e.g. hobbies or home entertainment); subsistence (meals, sleeping, personal care).

While previous studies have focused on the initial lockdown, this is one of the first to examine the effects of repeated COVID-19 containment measures on our lives and routines.

Before Covid arrived, 86% of the sample was employed, but this fell to 63% in the first lockdown and 74% in the third. Mothers of young children were significantly less likely to be employed than fathers by the third lockdown.

For those employed before and during lockdowns, people with at least one young child spent an average of 43 fewer minutes a day on their paid job in the first lockdown, and 32 fewer minutes in the third, compared to pre-pandemic.

For those without young children it was an average decrease of 28 minutes and 22 minutes a day on paid work respectively.

Women with young children spent around an hour less on paid work a day than men and women without young children. This was mainly a reduction in time spent on actual work tasks rather than, for example, meetings.

During the first lockdown, the average time women spent on housework increased by 28 minutes a day, while for men the average time spent on subsistence activities (e.g. sleeping and eating) increased by 30 minutes. By 2021 these changes had evened out.

Life with small children during this year’s lockdown meant an extra hour of housework a day over pre-pandemic levels. Mothers of young kids did 67 more minutes of housework a day than fathers. Only women saw an increase in cooking and cleaning (time spent on caring duties was spread across genders).

̽��ֱ��study suggests that parents often forfeited leisure time. Living with young kids was associated with a drop in leisure activities of almost an hour a day in both lockdowns – and income levels made no difference to this loss of downtime.

For those without young kids, leisure time increased – but much of it was spent alone. By the third lockdown, people with no small children had around an extra hour of solitary leisure time a day over pre-pandemic levels.

However, in terms of quality – the self-reported “enjoyment” of given activities – this solo leisure time felt less pleasurable during the last lockdown than it had prior to the pandemic.

̽��ֱ��third lockdown also saw around 20% of individuals spend more time working unusual hours (outside 0830-1730) compared to the pre-pandemic period, which reduced the reported enjoyment of their day overall.

Those earning £5k a month or more, worked almost two extra hours a day than people earning less than £1k a month by the last lockdown. High earners also spent less time on subsistence activities during both lockdowns.

Overall, the third lockdown felt a bit more miserable than the first, according to the research.

While there was little change in the enjoyment of various activities in the early days of Covid, with men even reporting slightly higher “quality” of time during lockdown one, by March of this year enjoyment of activities was around 5% lower than pre-pandemic levels across the board.

Dr Eileen Tipoe, co-author from Queen Mary ̽��ֱ�� of London, said: “It is no surprise that having to do more work outside of typical working hours meant that people were substantially unhappier during the third lockdown.

“And it was concerning to find that women, and especially those with young children, were disproportionately affected by lockdown – for example being less likely to be employed and the fact that only women spent more time cooking and cleaning.”

Some spent an extra hour a day on chores and childcare during lockdowns, while others got an added daily hour of solo leisure time – and most of us reduced time spent on paid work by around half an hour a day.

̽��ֱ��lockdowns resulted in drastic changes to patterns of time use, disrupting routines and blurring the distinction between work and family life

Ines Lee

Charles Deluvio via Unsplash

Child and mother during lockdown

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Scientists find upper limit for the speed of sound

Anonymous — Mon, 12 Oct 2020 09:17:26 +0000

̽��ֱ��result - about 36km per second - is around twice as fast as the speed of sound in diamond, the hardest known material in the world.

Waves, such as sound or light waves, are disturbances that move energy from one place to another. Sound waves can travel through different mediums, such as air or water, and move at different speeds depending on what they’re travelling through. For example, they move through solids much faster than they would through liquids or gases, which is why you’re able to hear an approaching train much faster if you listen to the sound propagating in the rail track rather than through the air.

Einstein’s theory of special relativity sets the absolute speed limit at which a wave can travel which is the speed of light and is equal to about 300,000km per second. However, until now it was not known whether sound waves also have an upper speed limit when travelling through solids or liquids.

̽��ֱ��study, published in the journal Science Advances, shows that predicting the upper limit of the speed of sound is dependent on two dimensionless fundamental constants: the fine structure constant and the proton-to-electron mass ratio.

These two numbers are already known to play an important role in understanding our Universe. Their finely-tuned values govern nuclear reactions such as proton decay and nuclear synthesis in stars and the balance between the two numbers provides a narrow ‘habitable zone’ where stars and planets can form and life-supporting molecular structures can emerge. However, the new findings suggest that these two fundamental constants can also influence other scientific fields, such as materials science and condensed matter physics, by setting limits to specific material properties such as the speed of sound.

̽��ֱ��scientists tested their theoretical prediction on a wide range of materials and addressed one specific prediction of their theory that the speed of sound should decrease with the mass of the atom. This prediction implies that the sound is the fastest in solid atomic hydrogen. However, hydrogen is an atomic solid at very high pressure above 1 million atmospheres only, pressure comparable to those in the core of gas giants like Jupiter. At those pressures, hydrogen becomes a fascinating metallic solid conducting electricity just like copper and is predicted to be a room-temperature superconductor. Therefore, researchers performed state-of-the-art quantum mechanical calculations to test this prediction and found that the speed of sound in solid atomic hydrogen is close to the theoretical fundamental limit.

Professor Chris Pickard, from Cambridge's Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, said: “Soundwaves in solids are already hugely important across many scientific fields. For example, seismologists use sound waves initiated by earthquakes deep in the Earth's interior to understand the nature of seismic events and the properties of Earth's composition. They’re also of interest to materials scientists because sound waves are related to important elastic properties including the ability to resist stress.”

Professor Kostya Trachenko, Professor of Physics at Queen Mary, said: “We believe the findings of this study could have further scientific applications by helping us to find and understand limits of different properties such as viscosity and thermal conductivity relevant for high-temperature superconductivity, quark-gluon plasma and even black hole physics.”

Reference:
K. Trachenko et al. ‘Speed of sound from fundamental physical constants.’ Science Advances (2020). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abc8662

Adapted from a Queen Mary ̽��ֱ�� of London press release.

A research collaboration between the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, Queen Mary ̽��ֱ�� of London and the Institute for High Pressure Physics in Troitsk has discovered the fastest possible speed of sound.

PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay

Soundwave

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Cambridge spin-out starts producing graphene at commercial scale

sc604 — Tue, 12 Mar 2019 07:45:07 +0000

Paragraf is producing graphene ‘wafers’ and graphene-based electronic devices, which could be used in transistors, where graphene-based chips could deliver speeds more than ten times faster than silicon chips; and in chemical and electrical sensors, where graphene could increase sensitivity by a factor of more than 30. ̽��ֱ��company’s first device will be available in the next few months.

Graphene’s remarkable properties – stronger than steel, more conductive than copper, highly flexible and transparent – make it ideal for a range of applications. However, its widespread commercial application in electronic devices has been held back by the difficulties associated with producing it at high quality and at high volume. ̽��ֱ��conventional way of making large-area graphene involves using copper as a catalyst which contaminates the graphene, making it unsuitable for electronic applications.

Professor Sir Colin Humphreys from the Centre for Gallium Nitride in Cambridge’s Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, along with his former postdoctoral researchers Dr Simon Thomas and Dr Ivor Guiney, developed a new way to make large-area graphene in 2015.

Using their method, the researchers were able form high-quality graphene wafers up to eight inches in diameter, beating not only other university research groups worldwide, but also companies like IBM, Intel and Samsung.

̽��ֱ��three researchers spun out Paragraf in early 2018. Thomas is currently the company’s CEO and Guiney is its Chief Technology Officer, while Humphreys, who has recently moved to Queen Mary ̽��ֱ�� of London, serves as Chair.

Paragraf has received £2.9 million in funding to support the development of its first commercial products and moved into premises in February 2018. ̽��ֱ��funding round was led by Cambridge Enterprise, the ̽��ֱ��’s commercialisation arm. Paragraf already employs 16 people and has filed eight patents.

“Paragraf has the potential to transform a wide range of industries, including electronics, energy and healthcare,” said Humphreys. “It will enable the basic science results achieved in laboratories worldwide using small graphene flakes to be commercially exploited in graphene-based devices and to realise the potential and benefits to society of graphene, the wonder material.”

̽��ֱ��original research was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

A recent ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge spin-out company, Paragraf, has started producing graphene – a sheet of carbon just one atomic layer thick – at up to eight inches (20cm) in diameter, large enough for commercial electronic devices.

Paragraf has the potential to transform a wide range of industries, including electronics, energy and healthcare

Colin Humphreys

Yes

Major global study reveals new hypertension and blood pressure genes

sc604 — Mon, 12 Sep 2016 15:00:00 +0000

̽��ֱ��discoveries include DNA changes in three genes that have much larger effects on blood pressure in the population than previously seen, providing new insights into the physiology of hypertension and suggesting new targets for treatment.

High blood pressure or hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and premature death. It is estimated to be responsible for a larger proportion of global disease burden and premature mortality than any other disease risk factor. However, there is limited knowledge on the genetics of blood pressure.

̽��ֱ��teams investigated the genotypes of around 347,000 people and their health records to find links between their genetic make-up and cardiovascular health. ̽��ֱ��participants included healthy individuals and those with diabetes, coronary artery disease and hypertension, from across Europe, (including the UK, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Estonia), the USA, Pakistan and Bangladesh. ̽��ֱ��study brought together around 200 investigators from across 15 countries.

Study author Professor Patricia Munroe from QMUL said: “We already know from earlier studies that high blood pressure is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Finding more genetic regions associated with the condition allows us to map and understand new biological pathways through which the disease develops, and also highlight potential new therapeutic targets. This could even reveal drugs that are already out there but may now potentially be used to treat hypertension.”

Most genetic blood pressure discoveries until now have been of common genetic variants that have small effects on blood pressure. ̽��ֱ��study, published in Nature Genetics, has found variants in three genes that appear to be rare in the population, but have up to twice the effect on blood pressure.

“ ̽��ֱ��sheer scale of our study has enabled us to identify genetic variants carried by less than one in a hundred people that affect blood pressure regulation,” said study author, Dr Joanna Howson from Cambridge’s Department of Public Health and Primary Care. “While we have known for a long time that blood pressure is a risk factor for coronary heart disease and stroke, our study has shown that there are common genetic risk factors underlying these conditions.”

RBM47 is a gene that encodes for a protein responsible for modifying RNA. RRAS is involved in cell cycle processes and has already been implicated in a syndrome related to ‘Noonan syndrome’ which is characterised by heart abnormalities. COL21A1 is involved in collagen formation in many tissues, including the heart and aorta. COL21A1 and RRAS warrant particular interest since both are involved in blood vessel remodelling, with relevance to hypertension.

̽��ֱ��team also found a mutation in a key molecule ENPEP that affects blood pressure. This gene codes for an enzyme that is a key molecule involved in regulating blood pressure through the dilation and constriction of blood vessels, and is currently a therapeutic target.

Professor Jeremy Pearson, Associate Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation which part-funded the research, said: “Large scale genetic studies continue to expand the number of genes that may contribute to the development of heart disease, or risk factors such as high blood pressure. But so far most of the genes discovered in these studies individually have only very small effects on risk – though they may still provide valuable clues for new drug targets.

“This study has increased the number of genes implicated in control of blood pressure to almost 100 and, in the process, has also identified three genes that have larger effects on blood pressure than previously found.”

̽��ֱ��study was also funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), National Institute of Health (NIH), Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council.

Reference:
Surendran et al. ‘Trans-ancestry meta-analyses identify rare and common variants associated with blood pressure and hypertension’. Nature Genetics 2016. DOI: 10.1038/ng.3654

Thirty-one new gene regions linked with blood pressure have been identified in one of the largest genetic studies of blood pressure to date, involving over 347,000 people, and jointly led by Queen Mary ̽��ֱ�� of London (QMUL) and the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge.

While we have known for a long time that blood pressure is a risk factor for coronary heart disease and stroke, our study has shown that there are common genetic risk factors underlying these conditions.

Joanna Howson

Yale Rosen

Pulmonary hypertension-associated vasculitis

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

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Predicting gentrification through social networking data

sc604 — Tue, 12 Apr 2016 23:13:44 +0000

̽��ֱ��first network to look at the interconnected nature of people and places in large cities is not only able to quantify the social diversity of a particular place, but can also be used to predict when a neighbourhood will go through the process of gentrification, which is associated with the displacement of residents of a deprived area by an influx of a more affluent population.

̽��ֱ��researchers behind the study, led by the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, will present their results today (13 April) at the 25^th International World Wide Web Conference in Montréal.

̽��ֱ��Cambridge researchers, working with colleagues from the ̽��ֱ�� of Birmingham, Queen Mary ̽��ֱ�� of London, and ̽��ֱ�� College London, used data from approximately 37,000 users and 42,000 venues in London to build a network of Foursquare places and the parallel Twitter social network of visitors, adding up to more than half a million check-ins over a ten-month period. From this data, they were able to quantify the ‘social diversity’ of various neighbourhoods and venues by distinguishing between places that bring together strangers versus those that tend to bring together friends, as well as places that attract diverse individuals as opposed to those which attract regulars.

When these social diversity metrics were correlated with wellbeing indicators for various London neighbourhoods, the researchers discovered that signs of gentrification, such as rising housing prices and lower crime rates, were the strongest in deprived areas with high social diversity. These areas had an influx of more affluent and diverse visitors, represented by social media users, and pointed to an overall improvement of their rank, according to the UK Index of Multiple Deprivation.

̽��ֱ��UK Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) is a statistical exercise conducted by the Department of Communities and Local Government, which measures the relative prosperity of neighbourhoods across England. ̽��ֱ��researchers compared IMD data for 2010, the year their social and place network data was gathered, with the IMD data for 2015, the most recent report.

“We’re looking at the social roles and properties of places,” said Desislava Hristova from the ̽��ֱ��’s Computer Laboratory, and the study’s lead author. “We found that the most socially cohesive and homogenous areas tend to be either very wealthy or very poor, but neighbourhoods with both high social diversity and high deprivation are the ones which are currently undergoing processes of gentrification.”

This aligns with previous research, which has found that tightly-knit communities are more resistant to changes and resources remain within the community. This suggests that affluent communities remain affluent and poor communities remain poor because they are relatively isolated.

Hristova and her co-authors found that of the 32 London boroughs, the borough of Hackney had the highest social diversity, and in 2010, had the second-highest deprivation. By 2015, it had also seen the most improvement on the IMD index, and is now an area undergoing intense gentrification, with house prices rising far above the London average, fast-decreasing crime rate and a highly diverse population.

In addition to Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Greenwich, Hammersmith and Lambeth are also boroughs with high social diversity and high deprivation in 2010, and are now undergoing the process of gentrification, with all of the positive and negative effects that come along with it.

̽��ֱ��ability to predict the gentrification of neighbourhoods could help local governments and policy-makers improve urban development plans and alleviate the negative effects of gentrification while benefitting from economic growth.

In order to measure the social diversity of a given place or neighbourhood, the researchers defined four distinct measures: brokerage, serendipity, entropy and homogeneity. Brokerage is the ability of a place to connect people who are otherwise disconnected; serendipity is the extent to which a place can induce chance encounters between its visitors; entropy is the extent to which a place is diverse with respect to visits; and homogeneity is the extent to which the visitors to a place are homogenous in their characteristics.

Within categories of places, the researchers found that some places were more likely places for friends to meet, and some were for more fleeting encounters. For example, in the food category, strangers were more likely to meet at a dumpling restaurant while friends were more likely to meet at a fried chicken restaurant. Similarly, friends were more likely to meet at a B&B, football match or strip club, while strangers were more likely to meet at a motel, art museum or gay bar.

“We understand that people who diversify their contacts socially and geographically have high social capital, but what about places?” said Hristova. “We all have a general notion of the social diversity of places and the people that visit them, but we’ve attempted to formalise this – it could even be used as a specialised local search engine.”

For instance, while there are a number of ways a tourist can find a highly-recommended restaurant in a new city, the social role that a place plays in a city is normally only known by locals through experience. “Whether a place is touristy or quiet, artsy or mainstream could be integrated into mobile system design to help newcomers or tourists feel like locals,” said Hristova.

Reference:
Desislava Hristova et al. ‘Measuring Urban Social Diversity Using Interconnected Geo-Social Networks.’ Paper presented to the International World Wide Web Conference, Montréal, 11-15 April 2016. https://www2016.ca/ontario-online-casino/.

Data from location-based social networks may be able to predict when a neighbourhood will go through the process of gentrification, by identifying areas with high social diversity and high deprivation.

We understand that people who diversify their contacts socially and geographically have high social capital, but what about places?

Desislava Hristova

MsSaraKelly

Gentrification in Progress

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

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