Gentrified Sustainability: Inequitable Development and Seattle’s Skewed Riskscape

This paper examines the tensions of sustainable development in Seattle, Washington, a commonly recognised urban environmental leader. Drawing on the perspective of sustainability as a conflicted process, this research expected a negative relationship between gentrification and environmental justice when affluent residents outcompete less affluent ones for neighbourhoods with fewer environmental hazards. The methods combine geographic cluster analysis and longitudinal air toxic emission comparisons to analyse socioeconomic changes in Seattle Census block-groups between 1990, 2000, and 2009 coupled with measures of relative potential risk and pollution volume. The property and development conflicts embedded within sustainability lead to pollution exposure risk and socioeconomic vulnerability converging in the same areas and reveal one of the ‘Emerald City’s’ significant environmental challenges. Inequitable development and environmental injustice remain overlooked dimensions of sustainability that interdisciplinary research should address

Risky Business: Sustainability and Industrial Land Use across Seattle’s Gentrifying Riskscape

This paper examines the spatial and temporal trajectories of Seattle’s industrial land use restructuring and the shifting riskscape in Seattle, WA, a commonly recognized urban model of sustainability. Drawing on the perspective of sustainability as a conflicted process, this research explored the intersections of urban industrial and nonindustrial land use planning, gentrification, and environmental injustice. In the first part of our research, we combine geographic cluster analysis and longitudinal air toxic emission comparisons to quantitatively investigate socioeconomic changes in Seattle Census block-groups between 1990, 2000, and 2009 coupled with measures of pollution volume and its relative potential risk. Second, we qualitatively examine Seattle’s historical land use policies and planning and the growing tension between industrial and nonindustrial land use. The gentrification, green cities, and growth management conflicts embedded within sustainability/livability lead to pollution exposure risk and socioeconomic vulnerability converging in the same areas and reveal one of Seattle’s significant environmental challenges. Our mixed-method approach can guide future urban sustainability studies to more effectively examine the connections between land use planning, industrial displacement, and environmental injustice. Our results also help sustainable development practitioners recognize that a more just sustainability in Seattle and beyond will require more planning and policy attention to mitigate obscured industrial land use conflicts

Obscured geographies of the Emerald City: a study on gentrification in Seattle, WA

The city of Seattle, Washington has received widespread acclaim both in popular literature and scientific research for its sustainable development efforts to improve quality of life and economic vitality. As a reflection of overall quality of life, the city frequently appears on lists of Best Places to Live and boasts a unique combination of cultural amenities and recreational opportunities. The city is also home to a robust high-technology economy with a highly-educated, professionalized workforce consistent with postindustrial city status. However, Seattle has not always been an attractive place to live as evidenced by notable population decline between 1960 and 1980. During the next twenty years, from 1980 to 2000, the city witnessed an increase in population characterized by residents with higher socioeconomic status and increased social, economic, and cultural capital. This pattern of upward transitioning in the socioeconomic status within neighborhoods is known as gentrification. My research is based on a set of selected indicators to examine neighborhood change in Seattle between 1980 and 2000 to identify gentrification pattern. Data were collected for each of the 568 census block-groups in the city for the period 1980 to 2000. The discerning characteristics of gentrification are revealed using principal components analysis (PCA). Next, cluster analysis is utilized to identify three distinct forms of gentrification - replacement, core redevelopment, and displacement. Finally, a composite index technique is employed to assess the intensity of gentrification phenomena in Seattle. The gentrification trends presented in this research will enhance discussions and offer perspectives on the divergent traits of gentrification occurring in Seattle, Washington

AdCraft: An Advanced Reinforcement Learning Benchmark Environment for Search Engine Marketing Optimization

We introduce AdCraft, a novel benchmark environment for the Reinforcement Learning (RL) community distinguished by its stochastic and non-stationary properties. The environment simulates bidding and budgeting dynamics within Search Engine Marketing (SEM), a digital marketing technique utilizing paid advertising to enhance the visibility of websites on search engine results pages (SERPs). The performance of SEM advertisement campaigns depends on several factors, including keyword selection, ad design, bid management, budget adjustments, and performance monitoring. Deep RL recently emerged as a potential strategy to optimize campaign profitability within the complex and dynamic landscape of SEM but it requires substantial data, which may be costly or infeasible to acquire in practice. Our customizable environment enables practitioners to assess and enhance the robustness of RL algorithms pertinent to SEM bid and budget management without such costs. Through a series of experiments within the environment, we demonstrate the challenges imposed by sparsity and non-stationarity on agent convergence and performance. We hope these challenges further encourage discourse and development around effective strategies for managing real-world uncertainties

Designing a 2D RZ Venture Model for Neutronic Analysis of the Nigeria Research Reactor-1 (NIRR-1)

A 2D RZ VENTURE model has been developed for the Nigeria Research Reactor-1 (NIRR-1) and this model was used to perform neutronic analysis for the system using the code “VENTURE-PC”. The major homogenized regions in the 2D VENTURE model include the active fuel region and the control region while the remaining components in the system geometry where modelled as closely as possible. The reactor physics parameters generated from the neutronic calculations include excess reactivity, control rod worth, shim worth, shutdown margin. The model predictions of these parameters for NIRR-1 system were in good agreement with experimental results as well as the results from similar calculations using different nuclear analysis tools. This 2D RZ VENTURE model gives an excellent simulation of the Nigeria Research Reactor-1 and the model will be very helpful in the future analysis of the system, as well for developing an LEU core model for future conversion of NIRR-1 from HEU to LEU fuelled research reactor. Keywords: Model, Neutronics, geometry, code, Design, Reactor, Simulation, Calculations, NIRR-1, Shim, Control, Shutdown, Physics. Peak, Density, Power, Flux, Neutro

Seeking Counterparts to Advanced LIGO/Virgo Transients with Swift

Binary neutron star (NS) mergers are among the most promising astrophysical sources of gravitational wave emission for Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo, expected to be operational in 2015 . Finding electromagnetic counterparts to these signals will be essential to placing them in an astronomical context. The Swift satellite carries a sensitive X-ray telescope (XRT), and can respond to target-of-opportunity requests within 1-2 hours, and so is uniquely poised to find the X-ray counterparts to LIGO / Virgo triggers. Assuming NS mergers are the progenitors of short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), some percentage of LIGO/Virgo triggers will be accompanied by X-ray band afterglows that are brighter than 10(exp -12) ergs/s/sq cm in the XRT band one day after the trigger time. We find that a soft X-ray transient of this flux is bright enough to be extremely rare, and so could be confidently associated with even a moderately localized GW signal. We examine two possible search strategies with the Swift XRT to find bright transients in LIGO/Virgo error boxes. In the first strategy, XRT could search a volume of space with a approx.100 Mpc radius by observing approx 30 galaxies over the course of a day, with sufficient depth to observe the expected X-ray afterglow. For an extended LIGO / Virgo horizon distance, the XRT could employ very short 100 s exposures to cover an area of approx 35 square degrees in about a day, and still be sensitive enough to image GW discovered GRB afterglows. These strategies demonstrate that the high X-ray luminosity of short GRBs and the relatively low X-ray transient background combine to make high confidence discoveries of X-ray band counterparts to GW triggers possible, though challenging, with current satellite facilities

Association between Surgical Technical Skills and Clinical Outcomes: A Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND: A systematic literature review and meta-analysis was conducted to assess the association between intraoperative surgical skill and clinical outcomes. METHODS: Peer-reviewed, original research articles published through August 31, 2021 were identified from PubMed and Embase. From the 1,513 potential articles, seven met eligibility requirements, reporting on 151 surgeons and 17,932 procedures. All included retrospective assessment of operative videos. Associations between surgical skill and outcomes were assessed by pooling odds ratios (OR) using random-effects models with the inverse variance method. Eligible studies included pancreaticoduodenectomy, gastric bypass, laparoscopic gastrectomy, prostatectomy, colorectal, and hemicolectomy procedures. RESULTS: Meta-analytic pooling identified significant associations between the highest vs. lowest quartile of surgical skill and reoperation (OR: 0.44; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.23, 0.83), hemorrhage (OR: 0.66; 95% CI, 0.65, 0.68), obstruction (OR: 0.33; 95% CI, 0.30, 0.35), and any medical complication (OR: 0.23, 95% CI, 0.19, 0.27). Nonsignificant inverse associations were noted between skill and readmission, emergency department visit, mortality, leak, infection, venous thromboembolism, and cardiac and pulmonary complications. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, surgeon technical skill appears to predict clinical outcomes. However, there are surprisingly few articles that evaluate this association. The authors recommend a thoughtful approach for the development of a comprehensive surgical quality infrastructure that could significantly reduce the challenges identified by this study

Habitat selection of smooth-coated otters (Lutrogale perspicillata) in the peri-coastal, urbanised landscape of Goa, India

Human development can have detrimental impacts on the environment and its contained ecosystems. However, several species have adapted to thrive in human-modified landscapes. This study was aimed to assess habitat selection of threatened Smooth Coated Otters (Lutrogale perspicillata) in the peri-coastal landscape of Goa, India. In the Indian context, there are significant gaps in knowledge pertaining to factors that influence otter occurrence in such environments. Otter presence/absence in 78 1 km2 plots across two river catchments was modelled against several habitat variables including measures of agricultural pollution, salinity, mangrove cover, and fishing presence. The effect size and direction of relationships between the probability of otter occurrence and the habitat variables were analysed by building a set of candidate generalized linear models. The models were subsequently ranked using small-sample Akaike’s Information Criterion (AICc). Analysis indicated that water salinity, mangrove cover and fishing presence had a significant positive influence on otter occurrence. However, the concentrations of agricultural pollutants (nitrates, phosphates, and sulphates) were not contributing factors in influencing otter occurrence in the surveyed landscape. The metrics used in this study can be applied for preliminary assessments of presence and occupancy of otters in other coastal landscapes of India, and aid in the conservation of the species

OSM-11 Facilitates LIN-12 Notch Signaling during Caenorhabditis elegans Vulval Development

Notch signaling is critical for cell fate decisions during development. Caenorhabditis elegans and vertebrate Notch ligands are more diverse than classical Drosophila Notch ligands, suggesting possible functional complexities. Here, we describe a developmental role in Notch signaling for OSM-11, which has been previously implicated in defecation and osmotic resistance in C. elegans. We find that complete loss of OSM-11 causes defects in vulval precursor cell (VPC) fate specification during vulval development consistent with decreased Notch signaling. OSM-11 is a secreted, diffusible protein that, like previously described C. elegans Delta, Serrate, and LAG-2 (DSL) ligands, can interact with the lineage defective-12 (LIN-12) Notch receptor extracellular domain. Additionally, OSM-11 and similar C. elegans proteins share a common motif with Notch ligands from other species in a sequence defined here as the Delta and OSM-11 (DOS) motif. osm-11 loss-of-function defects in vulval development are exacerbated by loss of other DOS-motif genes or by loss of the Notch ligand DSL-1, suggesting that DOS-motif and DSL proteins act together to activate Notch signaling in vivo. The mammalian DOS-motif protein Deltalike1 (DLK1) can substitute for OSM-11 in C. elegans development, suggesting that DOS-motif function is conserved across species. We hypothesize that C. elegans OSM-11 and homologous proteins act as coactivators for Notch receptors, allowing precise regulation of Notch receptor signaling in developmental programs in both vertebrates and invertebrates