Remote sensing continues to be an invaluable tool in earthquake damage assessments and emergency response. This study evaluates the effectiveness of multilayer feedforward neural networks, radial ...basis neural networks, and Random Forests in detecting earthquake damage caused by the 2010 Port-au-Prince, Haiti 7.0 moment magnitude (Mw) event. Additionally, textural and structural features including entropy, dissimilarity, Laplacian of Gaussian, and rectangular fit are investigated as key variables for high spatial resolution imagery classification. Our findings show that each of the algorithms achieved nearly a 90% kernel density match using the United Nations Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNITAR/UNOSAT) dataset as validation. The multilayer feedforward network was able to achieve an error rate below 40% in detecting damaged buildings. Spatial features of texture and structure were far more important in algorithmic classification than spectral information, highlighting the potential for future implementation of machine learning algorithms which use panchromatic or pansharpened imagery alone.
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or aerial drones, are an emerging technology with significant market potential. UAVs may lead to substantial cost savings in, for instance, monitoring of ...difficult‐to‐access infrastructure, spraying fields and performing surveillance in precision agriculture, as well as in deliveries of packages. In some applications, like disaster management, transport of medical supplies, or environmental monitoring, aerial drones may even help save lives. In this article, we provide a literature survey on optimization approaches to civil applications of UAVs. Our goal is to provide a fast point of entry into the topic for interested researchers and operations planning specialists. We describe the most promising aerial drone applications and outline characteristics of aerial drones relevant to operations planning. In this review of more than 200 articles, we provide insights into widespread and emerging modeling approaches. We conclude by suggesting promising directions for future research.
Last year was the 25th anniversary of two seminal transportation hub location publications, which appeared in 1986 in
Transportation Science
and
Geographical Analysis
. Though there are related hub ...location and network design articles that predate these works, the 1986 publications provided a key impetus for the growth of hub location as a distinct research area. This paper is not intended as a comprehensive review of hub location literature; rather, our goal is to reflect on the origins of hub location research, especially in transportation, and provide some commentary on the present status of the field. We provide insight into early motivations for analyzing hub location problems and describe linkages to problems in location analysis and network design. We also highlight some of the most recent research, discuss some shortcomings of hub location research and suggest promising directions for future effort.
Coastal enhanced weathering (CEW) is a carbon dioxide removal (CDR) approach whereby crushed silicate minerals are spread in coastal zones to be naturally weathered by waves and tidal currents, ...releasing alkalinity and removing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO
). Olivine has been proposed as a candidate mineral due to its abundance and high CO
uptake potential. A life cycle assessment (LCA) of silt-sized (10 μm) olivine revealed that CEW's life-cycle carbon emissions and total environmental footprint, i.e., carbon and environmental penalty, amount to around 51 kg CO
eq and 3.2 Ecopoint (Pt) units per tonne of captured atmospheric CO
, respectively, and these will be recaptured within a few months. Smaller particle sizes dissolve and uptake atmospheric CO
even faster; however, their high carbon and environmental footprints (e.g., 223 kg CO
eq and 10.6 Pt tCO
, respectively, for 1 μm olivine), engineering challenges in comminution and transportation, and possible environmental stresses (e.g., airborne and/or silt pollution) might restrict their applicability. Alternatively, larger particle sizes exhibit lower footprints (e.g., 14.2 kg CO
eq tCO
and 1.6 Pt tCO
, respectively, for 1000 μm olivine) and could be incorporated in coastal zone management schemes, thus possibly crediting CEW with avoided emissions. However, they dissolve much slower, requiring 5 and 37 years before the 1000 μm olivine becomes carbon and environmental net negative, respectively. The differences between the carbon and environmental penalties highlight the need for using multi-issue life cycle impact assessment methods rather than focusing on carbon balances alone. When CEW's full environmental profile was considered, it was identified that fossil fuel-dependent electricity for olivine comminution is the main environmental hotspot, followed by nickel releases, which may have a large impact on marine ecotoxicity. Results were also sensitive to transportation means and distance. Renewable energy and low-nickel olivine can minimize CEW's carbon and environmental profile.
Capsaicin, the pungent ingredient in chili peppers, produces intense burning pain in humans. Capsaicin selectively activates the transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1), which is enriched in ...nociceptive primary afferents, and underpins the mechanism for capsaicin-induced burning pain. Paradoxically, capsaicin has long been used as an analgesic. The development of topical patches and injectable formulations containing capsaicin has led to application in clinical settings to treat chronic pain conditions, such as neuropathic pain and the potential to treat osteoarthritis. More detailed determination of the neurobiological mechanisms of capsaicin-induced analgesia should provide the logical rationale for capsaicin therapy and help to overcome the treatment's limitations, which include individual differences in treatment outcome and procedural discomfort. Low concentrations of capsaicin induce short-term defunctionalization of nociceptor terminals. This phenomenon is reversible within hours and, hence, likely does not account for the clinical benefit. By contrast, high concentrations of capsaicin lead to long-term defunctionalization mediated by the ablation of TRPV1-expressing afferent terminals, resulting in long-lasting analgesia persisting for several months. Recent studies have shown that capsaicin-induced Ca2+/calpain-mediated ablation of axonal terminals is necessary to produce long-lasting analgesia in a mouse model of neuropathic pain. In combination with calpain, axonal mitochondrial dysfunction and microtubule disorganization may also contribute to the longer-term effects of capsaicin. The analgesic effects subside over time in association with the regeneration of the ablated afferent terminals. Further determination of the neurobiological mechanisms of capsaicin-induced analgesia should lead to more efficacious non-opioidergic analgesic options with fewer adverse side effects.
The Supreme Court's unanimous decision upholding the appointments structure of Puerto Rico's controversial Financial Oversight and Management Board in 'FOMB v Aurelius' has, to date, yielded ...commentary fixated on what the Justices did not say. The bulk of that commentary criticizes the Court for declining to square up to and overturn the 'Insular Cases', the series of early twentieth-century decisions holding that the 'Constitution' does not fully apply to Puerto Rico and other "unincorporated" possessions populated by "savages" and persons of "uncivilized race." However, 'Aurelius' teaches that the core constitutional problems of territorial exceptionalism and status manipulation run far deeper than the doctrinal framework of the 'Insular Cases' - such that those cases' ceremonious judicial overthrow is unlikely to spell an end to the harms of the legal order they represent. Observing the 'Aurelius' Court's inclination to erase overseas expansion from its account of Article III doctrine, this article questions the wisdom of urging judicial overthrow of the 'Insular Cases' without a coherent rubric for the many doctrinal universes that might emerge from such an intervention. Together, the framing problems on display in 'Aurelius' and the lessons from the recently overturned Japanese-internment case 'Korematsu v United States' suggest that although the 'Insular Cases' are plainly indefensible, ill-considered judicial intervention will pose a grave threat to procedurally legitimate self-determination and to path-dependent interests with roots in that troubled framework. This article reorients a conversation inclined to view judicial overthrow of the 'Insular Cases' as an end in itself toward more informed and productive judicial engagement that secures legal recognition of territories' agency in charting their own future. Formally condemning or overruling the 'Insular Cases' will mean little if judges fail to account for the threshold ambiguities enabling territorial status manipulation across constitutional domains, which 'Aurelius' shows can be effected with or without express reliance on the 'Insular Cases' or the Incorporation Doctrine. Ultimately, this article proposes a conversation with Federal Indian law as a starting point for theorizing judicial engagement with the 'Insular Cases' and the so-called "law of the territories."
Most microorganisms from all taxonomic levels are uncultured. Single-cell genomes and metagenomes continue to increase the known diversity of Bacteria and Archaea; however, while 'omics can be used ...to infer physiological or ecological roles for species in a community, most of these hypothetical roles remain unvalidated. Here, we report an approach to capture specific microorganisms from complex communities into pure cultures using genome-informed antibody engineering. We apply our reverse genomics approach to isolate and sequence single cells and to cultivate three different species-level lineages of human oral Saccharibacteria (TM7). Using our pure cultures, we show that all three Saccharibacteria species are epibionts of diverse Actinobacteria. We also isolate and cultivate human oral SR1 bacteria, which are members of a lineage of previously uncultured bacteria. Reverse-genomics-enabled cultivation of microorganisms can be applied to any species from any environment and has the potential to unlock the isolation, cultivation and characterization of species from as-yet-uncultured branches of the microbial tree of life.
Optimization of routing problems using drones (unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs) has become an important area of academic research. The purpose of this article is to look to the future and help ...stimulate drone routing research in directions we hope will prove interesting and fruitful. We discuss opportunities for better modeling of (1) drone capabilities for both existing drones and those likely to be used in the future, (2) constraints on drone performance and operations, (3) different objectives for various drone services, and (4) alternative delivery modes, as well as some areas for methodological advances and some possible new applications. While much of the research to date has leveraged existing TSP (traveling salesman problem), VRP (vehicle routing problem), and arc routing models, we look forward to new contributions from drone research that use better models of more realistic drone types and new drone applications.
Summary To improve maternal health requires action to ensure quality maternal health care for all women and girls, and to guarantee access to care for those outside the system. In this paper, we ...highlight some of the most pressing issues in maternal health and ask: what steps can be taken in the next 5 years to catalyse action toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goal target of less than 70 maternal deaths per 100 000 livebirths by 2030, with no single country exceeding 140? What steps can be taken to ensure that high-quality maternal health care is prioritised for every woman and girl everywhere? We call on all stakeholders to work together in securing a healthy, prosperous future for all women. National and local governments must be supported by development partners, civil society, and the private sector in leading efforts to improve maternal–perinatal health. This effort means dedicating needed policies and resources, and sustaining implementation to address the many factors influencing maternal health-care provision and use. Five priority actions emerge for all partners: prioritise quality maternal health services that respond to the local specificities of need, and meet emerging challenges; promote equity through universal coverage of quality maternal health services, including for the most vulnerable women; increase the resilience and strength of health systems by optimising the health workforce, and improve facility capability; guarantee sustainable finances for maternal–perinatal health; and accelerate progress through evidence, advocacy, and accountability.
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