Drones, Virtual Reality, and Modeling: Communicating Catastrophic Dam Failure

Dam failures occur worldwide and can be economically and ecologically devastating. Communicating the scale of these risks to the general public and decision-makers is imperative. Two-dimensional (2D) dam failure hydraulic models inform owners and floodplain managers of flood regimes but have limitations when shared with non-specialists. This study addresses these limitations by constructing a 3D Virtual Reality (VR) environment to display the 1976 Teton Dam disaster case study using a pipeline composed of (1) 2D hydraulic model data (extrapolated into 3D), (2) a 3D reconstructed dam, and (3) a terrain model processed from UAS (Uncrewed Airborne System) imagery using Structure from Motion photogrammetry. This study validates the VR environment pipeline on the Oculus Quest 2 VR Headset with the criteria: immersion fidelity, movement, immersive soundscape, and agreement with historical observations and terrain. Through this VR environment, we develop an effective method to share historical events and, with future work, improve hazard awareness; applications of this method could improve citizen engagement with Early Warning Systems. This paper establishes a pipeline to produce a visualization tool for merging UAS imagery, Virtual Reality, digital scene creation, and sophisticated 2D hydraulic models to communicate catastrophic flooding events from natural or human-made levees or dams

Gamma radiation survey of the LDEF spacecraft

The retrieval of the Long Duration Exposure Facility spacecraft in January 1990 after nearly six years in orbit offered a unique opportunity to study the long term buildup of induced radioactivity in the variety of materials on board. We conducted the first complete gamma-ray survey of a large spacecraft on LDEF shortly after its return to earth. A surprising observation was the Be-7 activity which was seen primarily on the leading edge of the satellite, implying that it was picked up by LDEF in orbit. This is the first known evidence for accretion of a radioactive isotope onto an orbiting spacecraft. Other isotopes observed during the survey, the strongest being Na-22, are all attributed to activation of spacecraft components. Be-7 is a spallation product of cosmic rays on nitrogen and oxygen in the upper atmosphere. However, the observed density is much greater than expected due to cosmic-ray production in situ. This implies transport of Be-7 from much lower altitudes up to the LDEF orbit

Perceived health change in the aftermath of a petrochemical accident: an examination of pre-accident, within-accident, and post-accident variables

Little research has been conducted on changes in perceived health after an industrial accident. Using data from an ongoing survey on stress and health in a petrochemical complex in Texas City, Texas, the associations of a petrochemical accident with perceived health changes were examined

Transient Pulses from Exploding Primordial Black Holes as a Signature of an Extra Dimension

An evaporating black hole in the presence of an extra spatial dimension would undergo an explosive phase of evaporation. We show that such an event, involving a primordial black hole, can produce a detectable, distinguishable electromagnetic pulse, signaling the existence of an extra dimension of size $L\sim10^{-18}-10^{-20}$ m. We derive a generic relationship between the Lorentz factor of a pulse-producing "fireball" and the TeV energy scale. For an ordinary toroidally compactified extra dimension, transient radio-pulse searches probe the electroweak energy scale ($\sim$0.1 TeV), enabling comparison with the Large Hadron Collider.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure; references added; typos corrected; clarifying remarks added near the end of section

Exploring the effects of telehealth on medical human resources supply: a qualitative case study in remote regions

BACKGROUND: The availability of medical human resource supply is a growing concern for rural and remote communities in many countries. In the last decade, various telehealth experiences in Canada have highlighted the potential impact of this technology on professional practice. The purpose of this study was to explore physicians' and managers' perceptions regarding the potential of telehealth to support recruitment and retention of physicians in remote and rural regions. METHODS: A case study in Eastern Quebec was performed to explore this complex phenomenon. The analytical framework was based on two literature reviews and a Delphi study. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews with 41 physicians and 22 managers. Transcripts were produced and interview content was coded independently by two judges and validated by an expert panel. RESULTS: Interviews have highlighted the potential impact of telehealth on several factors influencing the recruitment and retention of physicians in rural and remote regions. The potential effects of telehealth on physicians' choice of practice location could be seen at the professional, organizational, educational and individual levels. For instance, telehealth could improve work satisfaction by allowing a regional on-call duty system and a better follow-up of patients. However, there are also certain limits related to telehealth, such as the fear that it would eventually replace all continuing medical education activities and onsite specialists in remoteregions. CONCLUSION: Telehealth is likely to have an impact on several factors related to medical workforce supply in remote and rural regions. However, the expected benefits will materialize if and only if this technology is properly integrated into organizations as a support to professional practice

Envejecer en casa con teleasistencia en España. Un análisis del discurso

Caring for the elderly is turning to forms of community care and home care. Telecare is one of those emergent modalities of caring. This article will explore the meanings that older people give to the experience of staying at home in later life by using telecare. Discourse analysis is used to examine a set of focus groups and interviews with telecare users from different cities of Catalonia (Spain). The outcomes include three interpretative repertoires that we called: "Aging at home", "normal aging" and "unsafe aging". For each repertoire we examine how the permanence of older people in their homes is accounted, and which role telecare plays in such experience.El cuidado de las personas mayores está dando un giro hacia modalidades de atención comunitaria y domiciliaria. La teleasistencia es una de dichas modalidades. Este artículo se propone explorar los significados que las personas mayores asocian a la experiencia de permanecer en el hogar a edades avanzadas con ayuda de la teleasistencia. Se utiliza el análisis del discurso para examinar un conjunto de grupos de discusión con y de entrevistas a usuarios de teleasistencia de diferentes ciudades de Cataluña (España). Como resultado se presentan tres repertorios interpretativos denominados: "envejecimiento en casa", "envejecimiento normal" y "envejecimiento inseguro". Para cada uno se examina la forma como describen la permanencia de las personas mayores en sus hogares, así como el papel que la teleasistencia juega en dicha experiencia

Evaluation design of a reactivation care program to prevent functional loss in hospitalised elderly: A cohort study including a randomised controlled trial

Background: Elderly persons admitted to the hospital are at risk for hospital related functional loss. This evaluation aims to compare the effects of different levels of (integrated) health intervention care programs on preventing hospital related functional loss among elderly patients by comparing a new intervention program to two usual care progra