Finding an attractive or best-fit neighborhood for a new resident of any city is not only important from the perspective of the resident him or herself, but has larger implications for developers and city planners. The environment or mood of the right neighborhood is not simply created through traditional characteristics such as income, crime, or zoning regulations - more ephemeral traits related to user-perception also have significant weight. Using datasets and tools previously unassociated with real-estate decision-making and neighborhood planning, such as social media and machine learning, we create a non-deterministic and customized way of discovering and understanding neighborhoods. Our project creates a customizable ranking system for the 195 neighborhoods in New York City that helps users find the one that best matches their preferences. Our team has developed a composite weighted score with urban spatial data and social media data to rank all NYC neighborhoods based on a series of questions asked to the user. The project's contribution is to provide a scientific and calibrated understanding of the impact that socially oriented activities and preferences have towards the uses of space.

Background: The Hispanic/Latino population in the US is experiencing high rates of obesity and cardio-metabolic disease that may be attributable to a nutrition transition away from traditional diets emphasizing whole plant foods. In the US, plant-based diets have been shown to be effective in preventing and controlling obesity and cardio-metabolic disease in large samples of primarily non-Hispanic subjects. Studying this association in US Hispanic/Latinos could inform culturally tailored interventions. Objective: To examine whether the plant-based diet pattern that is frequently followed by Hispanic/Latino Seventh-day Adventists is associated with lower levels of adiposity and adiposity-related biomarkers. Methods: The Adventist Multiethnic Nutrition Study (AMEN) enrolled 74 Seventh-day Adventists from five Hispanic/Latino churches within a 20 mile radius of Loma Linda, CA into a cross-sectional study of diet (24 h recalls, surveys) and health (anthropometrics and biomarkers). Results: Vegetarian diet patterns (Vegan, Lacto-ovo vegetarian, Pesco-vegetarian) were associated with significantly lower BMI (24.5 kg/m² vs. 27.9 kg/m², p = 0.006), waist circumference (34.8 in vs. 37.5 in, p = 0.01), and fat mass (18.3 kg vs. 23.9 kg, p = 0.007), as compared to non-vegetarians. Adiposity was positively associated with pro-inflammatory cytokines (Interleukin-6) in this sample, but adjusting for this effect did not alter the associations with vegetarian diet. Conclusions: Plant-based eating as practiced by US-based Hispanic/Latino Seventh-day Adventists is associated with BMI in the recommended range. Further work is needed to characterize this type of diet for use in obesity-related interventions among Hispanic/Latinos in the US.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fnut.2019.00034.].