Exploratory Assessment of Roadway Infrastructure Adaptation to the Impacts of Sea-level Rise

Transportation agencies in coastal urban areas face a significant challenge to enhance the long-term resilience of their networks to flooding and storm surge events exacerbated by sea level rise. The problem of sea-level rise adaptation is characterized by deep uncertainty that makes it complex to assess the value of adaptation investments. To enable informed adaptation decisions, the present study created a dynamic stochastic modeling framework based on the theoretical underpinnings of complex adaptive systems that integrates: (i) stochastic simulation of sea-level rise stressors based on the data obtained from downscaled climate studies pertaining to future projections of sea-level and precipitation; (ii) dynamic modeling of roadway conditions by considering regular decay of roadways, as well as structural damages caused by storm surge events; and (iii) a decision-theoretic modeling of agency infrastructure management and adaptation processes based on cognitive psychology, bounded rationality, and regret theories. In this framework, resilience is examined based on trend changes in the network performance measures (e.g., life cycle costs and performance). The created framework and model were tested in a case study related to the road network of the city of Miami-Beach, which global assessments rank first iv among the world\u27s urban areas most exposed to sea-level rise risks. The results indicated that: (i) SLR Adaptation investment and life cycle costs of roadway infrastructure are negatively correlated. In addition, it was shown that the sensitivity of network’s life cycle cost to actual sea-level rise scenario decreases when adaptation investment increases. These finding emphasize the importance of proactive improvement of the network resilience to alleviate the long-term costs of sea-level rise. (ii) When funding is sufficient for all required adaptation actions, mid-term adaptation planning yields lower life cycle cost. When funding is insufficient, aggregated investment in long-term adaptation planning intervals yields lower network LCC. These findings imply that different adaptation planning approaches should be taken for different levels of adaptation investment. (iii) The agency’s perception of SLR and risk attitude do not have significant effect on life cycle cost of roadway networks. Hence, implementation of adaptation action based on any perception of sea-level rise and risk attitude can significantly reduce the life cycle costs of roadway networks under the impacts of SLR. (iv) The devised performance target has negative correlation with life cycle cost of a roadway network affected by SLR impacts. Therefore, compromising the network performance condition will never result in lower life cycle costs

Global Cancer Mortality: National Healthcare System Resources And Surivival From Cancer

Cancer continues to rise steadily as a contributor to premature death in the developing world. Despite this, little is known about what aspects of national healthcare systems are associated with reduced mortality from cancer. Thus, we aimed to investigate the relationship between national healthcare system resources and cancer mortality. The most recent estimates of cancer incidence and deaths were obtained for the 85 countries with reliable data. We defined cancer mortality to incidence ratio as deaths per year divided by incidence per year for a given cancer. Countries were categorized according to high (GDP\u3e$15,000) or low-income (GDP\u3c$15,000), and a multivariate linear regression model was used to determine the association between healthcare system indicators and cancer-specific mortality to survival ratio. Indicators studied included per capita gross domestic product (GDP), overall healthcare expenditure, health expenditure as a proportion of GDP, total external beam radiotherapy devices per capita (TEBD), physician density, and the year 2000 World Health Organization (WHO) healthcare system rankings. The overall cancer mortality to survival ratio in high income countries (47%) was significantly lower than that of low income countries (64%), with a p\u3c0.0001. In high income countries, GDP, health expenditure and TEBD showed significant inverse correlations with overall cancer mortality to survival ratio, with health expenditure(overall and as a proportion of GDP) showing the strongest relationship. For overall cancer, a $3,040 increase in GDP (p=0.004), a$379 increase in THE (p\u3c0.0001), a 0.75% increase in THE per GDP (p\u3c0.001) or an increase of 0.59 TEBD 100,000 population (p=0.027) were all associated with a 1% decrease in mortality to survival ratio. In low income countries, only WHO score correlated with decreased overall cancer mortality to survival ratio (p=0.022). Our analysis suggests that WHO healthcare score is associated with improved cancer outcomes in low income countries while absolute levels of financial resources and infrastructure play a more important role in high income countries

Modeling Occupant-Building-Appliance Interaction for Energy Waste Analysis

AbstractThe objective of this paper is to discover the emergent energy performance and determinants of energy waste in buildings. Electricity consumption in the U.S. attributes to 73% of energy waste in buildings and much of this waste is due to improper design, operation, and use of appliances. In particular, the operation or use phase of buildings and the way occupants behave significantly contribute to energy waste. Understanding the determinants of energy waste during the operation phase of buildings is a challenging task due to the complex interactions between the occupants, building units, and appliances. To decode these complex interactions and facilitate a better understanding of the determinants of energy waste, a simulation approach is used in this study. An agent-based simulation model was developed to capture the diverse attributes and dynamic behaviors of building occupants at the interface of human-building-appliance interactions. The application of the proposed model is demonstrated in a case study. Using simulation experiments, the interactions between occupant, building unit and appliance on energy consumption were investigated. The simulation model also was used for estimating determinants of energy waste. In addition, the simulation model includes a visualization interface that facilitates communication of strategies between the buildings users and facility managers. The results will highlight the significant attributes and effective strategies for energy waste reduction at the interface of human-building-appliance interactions. This information has potentially significant implications for building designers, facility managers, and users through a better understanding of emergent energy performance of buildings

How do cannabis users mentally travel in time? Evidence from an fMRI study of episodic future thinking

Rationale Episodic future thinking (EFT) is a cognitive function that allows individuals to imagine novel experiences that may happen in the future. Prior studies show that EFT is impaired in different groups of substance users. However, there is no evidence regarding the neurobiological mechanisms of EFT in cannabis users. Objectives We aimed to compare brain activations of regular cannabis users and non-using controls during an EFT fMRI task. Exploratory analyses were also conducted to investigate the association between EFT and cannabis use variables (e.g., duration of use, age onset, frequency of use). Methods Twenty current cannabis users and 22 drug-naïve controls underwent an fMRI scanning session while completing a task involving envisioning future-related events and retrieval of past memories as a control condition. The EFT fMRI task was adapted from the autobiographical interview and composed of 20 auditory cue sentences (10 cues for past and 10 cues for future events). Participants were asked to recall a past or generate a future event, in response to the cues, and then rate their vividness after each response. Results We found that cannabis users compared to non-user controls had lower activation within the cerebellum, medial and superior temporal gyrus, lateral occipital cortex, and occipital fusiform gyrus while envisioning future events. Cannabis users rated the vividness of past events significantly lower than non-users (P < 0.005). There were marginal group differences for rating the vividness of future events (P = 0.052). Significant correlations were also found between the medial and superior temporal gyrus activities and behavioral measures of EFT and episodic memory. Conclusions Cannabis users, compared to drug-naïve controls, have lower brain activation in EFT relevant regions. Thus, any attempts to improve aberrant EFT performance in cannabis users may benefit from EFT training

The Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test: Age-, Gender- and Education-Related Normative Data for The Iranian Healthy Population

Purpose: Memory and learning have particular importance due to their ubiquitous nature in everyday life and the high prevalence of related complaints. The present study aimed to provide normative data for one of the most widely used tests of verbal memory and learning in Iran and to assess the effect of demographic variables of age, gender, and education on its various measures. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted as part of the Iranian Brain Imaging Database (IBID) project. The sample consisted of 300 normal individuals in the age range of 20 to 70 years, with an equal number of participants in each age decade (#60). The sample was classified by five decades, including 20-30-year-olds, 31-40-year-olds, 41-50-year-olds, 51-60-year-olds, and 61-70-year-olds. Each age decade was divided equally between the genders. The Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT), which was defined in terms of 10 scores on learning, recall, and recognition, was used to assess verbal learning and memory. Results: The correlation matrix among the variables shows that all three variables of age, gender, and education had a significant correlation with most RAVLT measures. Among the three demographic variables, age had the strongest correlation with most RAVLT scores. Three-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) showed that the effect of age and gender on memory and learning measures was significant. On the other hand, the effect of education on some measures was statistically significant. In addition, the mean and standard deviation of 10 RAVLT measures classified by gender and education years in the five age groups are provided. Conclusion: The findings show that while increasing age, verbal memory, and learning performance decline, women outperform men, and education affects some indicators of learning and memory. These findings emphasize the importance of using age-, gender- and education-related normative data in clinical, educational, and research settings

Iron quantification in basal ganglia using quantitative susceptibility mapping in a patient with ALS: a case report and literature review

BackgroundQuantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) is a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique that can measure the magnetic susceptibility of tissues, which can reflect their iron content. QSM has been used to detect iron accumulation in cortical and subcortical brain regions. However, its application in subcortical regions such as the basal ganglia, particularly the putamen, is rare in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).Case presentation and literature reviewWe present the case of a 40-year-old male patient with ALS who underwent an MRI for QSM. We compared his QSM images with those of a control subject and performed a quantitative analysis of the magnetic susceptibility values in the putamen regions. We also reviewed the literature on previous QSM studies in ALS and summarized their methods and findings. Our QSM analysis revealed increased magnetic susceptibility values in the bilateral putamen of the ALS patient compared to controls, indicating iron overload. This finding is consistent with previous studies reporting iron dysregulation in subcortical nuclei in ALS. We also discussed the QSM processing techniques used in our study and in the literature, highlighting their advantages and limitations.ConclusionThis case report demonstrates the potential of QSM as a sensitive MRI biomarker for evaluating iron levels in subcortical regions of ALS patients. QSM can provide quantitative information on iron deposition patterns in both motor and extra-motor areas of ALS patients, which may help understand the pathophysiology of ALS and monitor disease progression. Further studies with larger samples are needed to validate these results and explore the clinical implications of QSM in ALS

Psychometric properties of the Persian version of the overall anxiety severity and impairment scale (OASIS)

Objectives: This study was conducted to assess the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the overall anxiety severity and impairment scale (OASIS), a measure designed to evaluate the severity and functional impairments associated with clinical and subsyndromal anxiety. Methods: Using a descriptive-analytic framework, first, the OASIS was translated into Persian according to the forward-backward translation guidelines. Then, a total of 463 students of Guilan University of Medical Sciences in the academic year 2017 - 18 were selected using the convenience sampling method. Participants completed seven measures (i.e., OASIS, anxiety and stress subscales of depression anxiety stress scales-21, Beck anxiety inventory, openness subscale of NEO five-factor inventory, positive affect and negative affect scales, Connor-Davidson resilience scale, and state subscale of state-trait anxiety inventory), and the data were analyzed by SPSS V. 20.0 for windows and Lisrel V. 8.80. Results: Internal consistency reliability of the OASIS was acceptable (Cronbach�s α = 0.877). The exploratory factor analysis indicated that all items were loaded on a single factor (loadings = 0.799 - 0.849). The confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the single-factor model has resulted in an adequate model fit. The OASIS was positively correlated with the anxiety- and negative affect-related scales, whereas it was negatively correlated with the resilience- and positive affect-related scales. Correlations with the openness subscale were not significant. Conclusions: In line with previous studies, the findings showed that the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the OASIS are acceptable. Therefore, it seems that the measure can be used in clinical practices and research studies in Iran. Copyright © 2020, Author(s)

Cognitive functions in epileptic patients on lamotrigine and other antiepileptic drugs

Background and purpose: Anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) can affect cognitive functions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of lamotrigine (LT) on cognitive functions of patients with epilepsy. Materials and methods: A study with retrospective cohort design was carried out in which we assessed cognitive functions of 20 IGE patients attending Sari Bu Ali Hospital, and 12 healthy subjects. The control group was matched for age, sex, and educational level. Standardized neuropsychological tests were used to evaluate cognitive functions. The study was analyzed applying one-way ANOVA and Tukey Test in SPSS. Results: Compared with the control group, LT group showed poor performance in Stroop test and verbal fluency test-semantic test (P<0.05). The group on other drugs were also found to have poor performance in verbal fluency test (phonetic and semantic), forward digit span task, and Stroop test compared with those of the control group (P<0.05). Conclusion: Compared with LT, other AEDs had more adverse effects on cognitive functions which could be due to their effect on channels and release changing stimulatory neurotransmitters. © 2019, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

A Different Olfactory Perception in Anosmic Patients: Evidence from Functional MRI

Olfactory system is a vital sensory system in mammals, giving them the ability to connect with their environment. Anosmia, or the complete loss of olfaction ability, which could be caused by injuries, is an interesting topic for inspectors with the aim of diagnosing patients. Sniffing test is currently utilized to examine if an individual is suffering from anosmia; however, functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) provides unique information about the structure and function of the different areas of the human brain, and therefore this noninvasive method could be used as a tool to locate the olfactory-related regions of the brain. In this study, by recruiting 31 healthy and anosmic individuals, we investigated the neural BOLD responses in the olfactory cortices following two odor stimuli, rose and eucalyptus, by using a 3T MR scanner. Comparing the two groups, we observed a network of brain areas being more active in the normal individuals when smelling the odors. In addition, a number of brain areas also showed an activation decline during the odor stimuli, which is hypothesized as a resource allocation deactivation. This study illustrated alterations in the brain activity between the normal individuals and anosmic patients when smelling odors, and could potentially help for a better anosmia diagnosis in the future