José S. Andrade

Large cities are less green.

We study how urban quality evolves as a result of carbon dioxide emissions as urban agglomerations grow. We employ a bottom-up approach combining two unprecedented microscopic data on population and carbon dioxide emissions in the continental US. We first aggregate settlements that are close to each other into cities using the City Clustering Algorithm (CCA) defining cities beyond the administrative boundaries. Then, we use data on CO2 emissions at a fine geographic scale to determine the total emissions of each city. We find a superlinear scaling behavior, expressed by a power-law, between CO2 emissions and city population with average allometric exponent β = 1.46 across all cities in the US. This result suggests that the high productivity of large cities is done at the expense of a proportionally larger amount of emissions compared to small cities. Furthermore, our results are substantially different from those obtained by the standard administrative definition of cities, i.e. Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). Specifically, MSAs display isometric scaling emissions and we argue that this discrepancy is due to the overestimation of MSA areas. The results suggest that allometric studies based on administrative boundaries to define cities may suffer from endogeneity bias.

Mandala Networks: ultra-small-world and highly sparse graphs

The increasing demands in security and reliability of infrastructures call for the optimal design of their embedded complex networks topologies. The following question then arises: what is the optimal layout to fulfill best all the demands? Here we present a general solution for this problem with scale-free networks, like the Internet and airline networks. Precisely, we disclose a way to systematically construct networks which are robust against random failures. Furthermore, as the size of the network increases, its shortest path becomes asymptotically invariant and the density of links goes to zero, making it ultra-small world and highly sparse, respectively. The first property is ideal for communication and navigation purposes, while the second is interesting economically. Finally, we show that some simple changes on the original network formulation can lead to an improved topology against malicious attacks.

Sand transport on Mars

Whether the winds of the present Mars are shaping the variety of dune forms observed on the Martian surface has remained an open question that challenged planetary scientists for decades. In order to elucidate this issue, we have studied sand transport and dune formation from two different points of view. The first approach consists of solving the equations of aeolian transport at the level of the particles, whereas we study the trajectories and the velocities of sand grains during Martian wind storms. Next, we adapt a well established continuum model for sand dunes, which successfully reproduces the shape of Earth dunes, in order to study the formation of dunes under atmospheric conditions of Mars. Based on our results, we provide estimates for the wind strength, dune velocity and the timescale of changes in wind directions on Mars.

Characterizing the intrinsic correlations of scale-free networks

Very often, when studying topological or dynamical properties of random scale-free networks, it is tacitly assumed that degree-degree correlations are not present. However, simple constraints, such as the absence of multiple edges and self-loops, can give rise to intrinsic correlations in these structures. In the same way that Fermionic correlations in thermodynamic systems are relevant only in the limit of low temperature, the intrinsic correlations in scale-free networks are relevant only when the extreme values for the degrees grow faster than the square-root of the network size. In this situation, these correlations can significantly affect the dependence of the average degree of the nearest neighbors of a given vertice on this verticess degree. Here, we introduce an analytical approach that is capable to predict the functional form of this property. Moreover, our results indicate that random scale-free networks models are not self-averaging, that is, the second moment of their degree distribution may vary orders of magnitude among different realizations. Finally, we argue that the intrinsic correlations investigated here may have profound impact on the critical properties of random scale-free networks.

Mechanical behavior of “living quicksand”: Simulation and Experiment

The nature and danger of quicksand has been disputed since a long time. Despite widespread belief that humans can be swallowed or even sucked in, engineers of soil mechanics have typically asserted that, since the density of sludge is larger than that of water, a person cannot fully submerge.We investigated a specific type of quicksand at the shore of drying lagoons. Cyanobacteria form an impermeable crust, giving the impression of stable ground. After breaking the crust a person rapidly sinks to the bottom of the field. We measured the shear strength of the material before and after perturbation and found a drastic change. The initial structure cannot be restored once it had collapsed, i.e. the material investigated shows a strong memory effect.We simulated a model for this type of quicksand in which we constructed a tenuous granular structure representing the unperturbed soil. The initial structure consists of cohesive disks put together by ballistic deposition and settled by gravity using Contact Dynam...

The hidden traits of endemic illiteracy in cities

Abstract In spite of the considerable progress towards reducing illiteracy rates, many countries, including developed ones, have encountered difficulty achieving further reduction in these rates. This is worrying because illiteracy has been related to numerous health, social, and economic problems. Here, we show that the spatial patterns of illiteracy in urban systems have several features analogous to the spread of diseases such as dengue and obesity. Our results reveal that illiteracy rates are spatially long-range correlated, displaying non-trivial clustering structures characterized by percolation-like transitions and fractality. These patterns can be described in the context of percolation theory of long-range correlated systems at criticality. Together, these results provide evidence that the illiteracy incidence can be related to a transmissible process, in which the lack of access to minimal education propagates in a population in a similar fashion to endemic diseases.

Corrigendum: Large cities are less green.

Scientific Reports 4, Article number: 4235 10.1038/srep04235 (2014); Published: February282014; Updated: March042015 This Article contains an error in the third line of the introduction: “surface area” should read “metabolic rate”.