Blueprints for Green Communities: Climate change visioning and participatory landscape planning for resilient low-carbon communities

Emerging 3D visualization tools and future visioning methods offer new ways to make climate change impacts and potential responses explicit, and accelerate holistic solutions. Previous research at UBC’s Collaborative for Advanced Landscape Planning (CALP) and elsewhere confirms that 4D visioning processes using landscape visualizations of recognizable places under alternative future conditions can improve community engagement and awareness on complex environmental and planning issues (Tress and Tress, 2002; Sheppard and Meitner, 2005; Schroth, 2007). This paper examines a visioning process (Sheppard, 2008) that applies visualization and other landscape planning methods to explore high and low-carbon futures of the affluent, sub-urban hillside community of North Vancouver with climate change, and its surrounding scenic North Shore sub region of Metro Vancouver, BC, Canada

Forces at Individual Pseudopod-Filament Adhesive Contacts

On-chip cellular force sensors are fabricated from cantilever poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene) filaments that visibly deflect under forces exerted at individual pseudopod-filament adhesive contacts. The shape of the deflected filaments and their ∼3 nN/μm spring constants are predicted by cantilever rod theory. Pulling forces exerted by Dictyostelium discoideumcells at these contacts are observed to reach ∼20 nN without breaking the contact

Impact of Baseline Magnetic Resonance Imaging on Neurologic, Functional, and Safety Outcomes in Patients With Acute Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury

Study Design: Systematic review. Objective: To perform a systematic review to evaluate the utility of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients with acute spinal cord injury (SCI). Methods: An electronic search of Medline, EMBASE, the Cochrane Collaboration Library, and Google Scholar was conducted for literature published through May 12, 2015, to answer key questions associated with the use of MRI in patients with acute SCI. Results: The literature search yielded 796 potentially relevant citations, 8 of which were included in this review. One study used MRI in a protocol to decide on early surgical decompression. The MRI-protocol group showed improved outcomes; however, the quality of evidence was deemed very low due to selection bias. Seven studies reported MRI predictors of neurologic or functional outcomes. There was moderate-quality evidence that longer intramedullary hemorrhage (2 studies) and low-quality evidence that smaller spinal canal diameter at the location of maximal spinal cord compression and the presence of cord swelling are associated with poor neurologic recovery. There was moderate-quality evidence that clinical outcomes are not predicted by SCI lesion length and the presence of cord edema. Conclusions: Certain MRI characteristics appear to be predictive of outcomes in acute SCI, including length of intramedullary hemorrhage (moderate-quality evidence), canal diameter at maximal spinal cord compression (low-quality evidence), and spinal cord swelling (low-quality evidence). Other imaging features were either inconsistently (presence of hemorrhage, maximal canal compromise, and edema length) or not associated with outcomes. The paucity of literature highlights the need for well-designed prospective studies. © 2017, © The Author(s) 2017

Risk factors and outcomes associated with community-onset and hospital-acquired coinfection in patients hospitalized for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): A multihospital cohort study

BACKGROUND: We sought to determine the incidence of community-onset and hospital-acquired coinfection in patients hospitalized with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and to evaluate associated predictors and outcomes. METHODS: In this multicenter retrospective cohort study of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 from March 2020 to August 2020 across 38 Michigan hospitals, we assessed prevalence, predictors, and outcomes of community-onset and hospital-acquired coinfections. In-hospital and 60-day mortality, readmission, discharge to long-term care facility (LTCF), and mechanical ventilation duration were assessed for patients with versus without coinfection. RESULTS: Of 2,205 patients with COVID-19, 141 (6.4%) had a coinfection: 3.0% community onset and 3.4% hospital acquired. Of patients without coinfection, 64.9% received antibiotics. Community-onset coinfection predictors included admission from an LTCF (OR, 3.98; 95% CI, 2.34-6.76; P \u3c .001) and admission to intensive care (OR, 4.34; 95% CI, 2.87-6.55; P \u3c .001). Hospital-acquired coinfection predictors included fever (OR, 2.46; 95% CI, 1.15-5.27; P = .02) and advanced respiratory support (OR, 40.72; 95% CI, 13.49-122.93; P \u3c .001). Patients with (vs without) community-onset coinfection had longer mechanical ventilation (OR, 3.31; 95% CI, 1.67-6.56; P = .001) and higher in-hospital mortality (OR, 1.90; 95% CI, 1.06-3.40; P = .03) and 60-day mortality (OR, 1.86; 95% CI, 1.05-3.29; P = .03). Patients with (vs without) hospital-acquired coinfection had higher discharge to LTCF (OR, 8.48; 95% CI, 3.30-21.76; P \u3c .001), in-hospital mortality (OR, 4.17; 95% CI, 2.37-7.33; P ≤ .001), and 60-day mortality (OR, 3.66; 95% CI, 2.11-6.33; P ≤ .001). CONCLUSION: Despite community-onset and hospital-acquired coinfection being uncommon, most patients hospitalized with COVID-19 received antibiotics. Admission from LTCF and to ICU were associated with increased risk of community-onset coinfection. Future studies should prospectively validate predictors of COVID-19 coinfection to facilitate the reduction of antibiotic use

Chemical Beam Epitaxy of Compound Semiconductors

Contains an introduction, reports on three research projects and a list of publications.3M Company Faculty Development GrantDefense Advanced Research Projects Agency Subcontract 216-25013Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Subcontract 542383Joint Services Electronics Program Contract DAAL03-92-C-0001National Science Foundation Grant ECS 88-46919National Science Foundation Grant ECS 89-05909National Science Foundation Grant DMR 92-0295

Soil organic matter: a sustainability indicator for wildfire control and bioenergy production in the urban/forest interface.

This work was presented at the “North America Forest Soils Conference, Montana 2013”, in the “New Technologies in Soil Research” session.Incluye material complementarioMany rural communities in British Columbia (western Canada) are increasingly at risk from wildfire as temperatures rise and droughts become more frequent. In addition, these communities are also faced with rising fuel costs, and a growing demand for heat as their populations increase. The fact these communities are surrounded by forests presents an opportunity to combine community wildfire risk abatement with bioenergy development. Here we show how the ecological model FORECAST was linked with GIS and economic models to create a freely available on-line tool (FIRST Heat) to help other communities make their own screening-level ecological assessments of combining wildfire risk control with district heating systems. The tool incorporates an ecological sustainability index based on the relative change in soil organic matter (SOM) after 50 years of management compared to initial levels. Two thresholds were defined: 10% SOM lost as “warning” level, and 20% SOM lost as “critical” level. The tool was able to adequately capture the influences of ecological zone, stand age, site quality, and intensity of forest management on SOM losses. Stands in the sub-boreal and arid interior were significantly more exposed to SOM losses than in other ecological zones, as well as soils in old-growth forests. Stands in poor sites were significantly more sensitive to forest management than young and fertile sites. All things considered, our results show the suitability of incorporating ecological models and SOM thresholds in user-friendly decision-support tools to successfully transfer scientific knowledge on forest soils to local stakeholders and decision makers

Relapse after withdrawal from anti-TNF therapy for inflammatory bowel disease: an observational study, plus systematic review and meta-analysis.

Infliximab and adalimumab have established roles in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) therapy. UK regulators mandate reassessment after 12 months' anti-TNF therapy for IBD, with consideration of treatment withdrawal. There is a need for more data to establish the relapse rates following treatment cessation.This article is freely available via Open Access. Click on the 'Additional Link' above to access the full-text from the publisher's site.Publishe