Benchmarking seeding strategies for spreading processes in social networks: an interplay between influencers, topologies and sizes.

The explosion of network science has permitted an understanding of how the structure of social networks affects the dynamics of social contagion. In community-based interventions with spill-over effects, identifying influential spreaders may be harnessed to increase the spreading efficiency of social contagion, in terms of time needed to spread all the largest connected component of the network. Several strategies have been proved to be efficient using only data and simulation-based models in specific network topologies without a consensus of an overall result.

Towards a novel model for studying the nutritional stage dynamics of the Colombian population by age and socioeconomic status.

Low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) are experiencing a nutritional transition in which the burden of obesity tends to shift towards the lower-socioeconomic status (SES) group. We propose a system dynamics (SD) model for assessing the nutritional stage dynamics of the Colombian urban population by age and SES projected to 2030. This SD model captures the ageing population according to body mass index (BMI) categories and SES.

Using agent based modeling to assess the effect of increased Bus Rapid Transit system infrastructure on walking for transportation.

The effect of transport infrastructure on walking is of interest to researchers because it provides an opportunity, from the public policy point of view, to increase physical activity (PA). We use an agent based model (ABM) to examine the effect of transport infrastructure on walking. Particular relevance is given to assess the effect of the growth of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system in Bogotá on walking.

TransMilenio, a Scalable Bus Rapid Transit System for Promoting Physical Activity.

Transport systems can play an important role in increasing physical activity (PA). Bogotá has been recognized for its bus rapid transit (BRT) system, TransMilenio (TM). To date, BRTs have been implemented in over 160 cities worldwide.

Modeling a bus through a sequence of traffic lights.

We propose a model of a bus traveling through a sequence of traffic lights, which is required to stop between the traffic signals to pick up passengers. A two dimensional model, of velocity and traveled time at each traffic light, is constructed, which shows non-trivial and chaotic behaviors for realistic city traffic parameters. We restrict the parameter values where these non-trivial and chaotic behaviors occur, by following analytically and numerically the fixed points and period 2 orbits.

A case study analysis to examine motorcycle crashes in Bogota, Colombia.

Introduction: Contributory factors to motorcycle crashes vary among populations depending on several aspects such as the users' profiles, the composition and density of traffic, and the infrastructure features. A better understanding of local motorcycle crashes can be reached in those places where a comprehensive analysis is performed. This paper presents the results obtained from a case study analysis of 400 police records of accidents involving motorcycles in Bogota.

Regular transport dynamics produce chaotic travel times.

In the hope of making passenger travel times shorter and more reliable, many cities are introducing dedicated bus lanes (e.g., Bogota, London, Miami).

Simple mathematical law benchmarks human confrontations.

Many high-profile societal problems involve an individual or group repeatedly attacking another - from child-parent disputes, sexual violence against women, civil unrest, violent conflicts and acts of terror, to current cyber-attacks on national infrastructure and ultrafast cyber-trades attacking stockholders. There is an urgent need to quantify the likely severity and timing of such future acts, shed light on likely perpetrators, and identify intervention strategies. Here we present a combined analysis of multiple datasets across all these domains which account for >100,000 events, and show that a simple mathematical law can benchmark them all.

Network analysis of Bogotá's Ciclovía Recreativa, a self-organized multisectorial community program to promote physical activity in a middle-income country.

Purpose: Conduct a social network analysis of the health and non-health related organizations that participate in Bogotá's Ciclovía Recreativa (Ciclovía).

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Ciclovía is a multisectoral community-based mass program in which streets are temporarily closed to motorized transport, allowing exclusive access to individuals for leisure activities and physical activity.

The Ciclovia and Cicloruta programs: promising interventions to promote physical activity and social capital in Bogotá, Colombia.

Objectives: We compared participants from the Ciclovia (streets temporarily closed to motorized vehicles and open for pedestrians) and Cicloruta (bicycle paths) programs in Bogotá, Colombia, to assess associations of program participation with physical activity, safety, social capital, and equity.

Methods: We conducted 2 cross-sectional studies in October 2009 with intercept surveys: one among 1000 Ciclovia participants and the other among 1000 Cicloruta participants.

Results: Most Ciclovia participants met the physical activity recommendation in leisure time (59.

Do health benefits outweigh the costs of mass recreational programs? An economic analysis of four Ciclovía programs.

One promising public health intervention for promoting physical activity is the Ciclovía program. The Ciclovía is a regular multisectorial community-based program in which streets are temporarily closed for motorized transport, allowing exclusive access to individuals for recreational activities and physical activity. The objective of this study was to conduct an analysis of the cost-benefit ratios of physical activity of the Ciclovía programs of Bogotá and Medellín in Colombia, Guadalajara in México, and San Francisco in the U.

Quantitative description of realistic wealth distributions by kinetic trading models.

Data on wealth distributions in trading markets show a power law behavior x(-)(1+alpha) at the high end, where, in general, alpha is greater than 1 (Pareto's law). Models based on kinetic theory, where a set of interacting agents trade money, yield power law tails if agents are assigned a saving propensity. In this paper we are solving the inverse problem, that is, in finding the saving propensity distribution which yields a given wealth distribution for all wealth ranges.