Preferred Location Research Articles

Orthodontic Treatment of Patients With Disabilities in Norway: A Survey Among Orthodontists.

The objective of this study was to examine orthodontic treatment of patients with disabilities in Norway, as perceived by orthodontists. A digital questionnaire was sent out to the 220 registered members of the Norwegian Orthodontic Society and a response rate of 41% (n = 90) was achieved. The majority (92%) had received referrals for patients with disabilities, 53% reported treating up to 10 patients, while 37% reported treating up to 50 patients in the last 5 years. Most of the participants (64%) showed a willingness to treat more patients with disabilities, with this interest significantly and conversely linked to years in practice (p = 0.02, chi-squared test). Orthodontists desire more referrals to increase patient intake, and also financial incentives play a relevant role in this context. Regarding the preferred location for orthodontic treatment for patients with disabilities, 34% prefer treatment in specialized centers rather than the current setup in optional private practices. An association exists between this perspective and the readiness to treat additional patients (p = 0.009) CONCLUSION: Most orthodontists in Norway have treated patients with disabilities. Among the surveyed orthodontists, a notable 64% expressed a positive inclination toward treating more patients with disabilities or initiate such services. To enhance their acceptance of these patients, it seems crucial to increase referrals and provide improved financial incentives.

Office-Based Endoscopic Urological Procedures Under Local Anesthesia: Prospective Evaluation of Feasibility, Pain, and Patient Preference.

Introduction: Several diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopic urological procedures, such as stent placement, ureteroscopy, and bladder stone lithotripsy, can be performed in a hospital, an ambulatory surgery center, in the office with IV sedation, or in the office using only topical anesthesia. The potential benefits of performing procedures in the office setting using topical anesthesia include efficiency and cost reduction. The potential harms are failure to achieve the desired outcome and patient pain. The purpose of our study was to assess the feasibility, safety, pain tolerance, and cost-effectiveness of advanced office endourological procedures. Methods: All patients from September 2022 to July 2023 undergoing certain office-based endoscopic procedures under topical anesthesia, including ureteral stent placement for obstruction, ureteral stent exchange, ureteroscopy with laser lithotripsy, ureteroscopy with tumor ablation, laser ablation of multifocal bladder tumors, laser lithotripsy of bladder stones, nephrostomy tube exchange, and ureteral catheterization for chemotherapy instillation or retrograde ureteropyelography, were prospectively enrolled and evaluated. At the end of every procedure, visual analog scale (VAS) score and procedure location preference were assessed. Complications and facility costs were also assessed. Results: A total of 80 endoscopic procedures were performed, including 11 bladder procedures, 9 ureteroscopies, and 60 stent and nephrostomy procedures. The mean VAS pain score for bladder procedures was 2.4, ureteroscopy procedures 3.9, and stent and nephrostomy procedures 3.3. Patients undergoing bladder and stent/nephrostomy procedures unanimously expressed a preference for the in-office setting. The office setting was also largely preferred in the ureteroscopy procedure cohort (77.8%). There were eight postprocedure calls and two ED visits. One complication and one failed stent placement occurred. Procedure cost savings ranged from $5,309 to $6,009. Conclusions: Performing certain endoscopic urological procedures in an office setting with only the use of topical anesthesia is feasible, safe, well tolerated, and cost-effective when compared with performing these procedures in the operating room or with general anesthesia.

Individualized Tourist Experience Route Recommendation : İstiklal Street in Beyoğlu

Linear tourist routes in cities are a significant obstacle to spreading social functions such as culture, trade, shopping, and entertainment. To address this issue, the study proposes a novel approach that creates personalized, multi-sensory experience routes to revitalize the interaction between place and tourist. The purpose of the study is to design a route-generation model that draws multi-sensory and personalized experience routes. In addition, the importance of multi-sensory experience associated with the concept of 4E (Entertainment, Education, Esthetic, and Escapist) in tourism is emphasized. The design of the model was carried out with datasets collected from 80 different small and medium-sized workshops in four different themes, each containing 20 points of interest (POI), located in Beyoğlu which is one of the important historical centers of Istanbul. In this way, the route generation model allows tourists to have a multi-sensory experience; it provides personalization according to the content, location, time, and budget preferences of the tourists, and experience routes are drawn. Newly proposed routes for historic city centers aim to provide a more personalized tourism experience by revealing hidden gems based on tourists' senses and 4E preferences.

Interaction studies unveil potential binding sites on bovine serum albumin for gut metabolite trimethylamine n-oxide (TMAO)

Trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) is gut microbiota-derived metabolite, plays a critical role in human health and diseases such as metabolic, cardiovascular, colorectal cancer and, neurological disorders. Binding interactions between TMAO and serum albumins are crucial to understand the impact of TMAO on disease mechanisms. However, detailed insights into the interaction mechanisms, preferred binding locations, and conformational changes in BSA upon binding TMAO are still unclear. TMAO interacts with serum albumin in human body and thus, a model study of interaction for TMAO-BSA conjugate is presented in support of it. Decrease in absorbance intensity of protein upon interaction with metabolites reveals conjugate formation, while fluorescence spectroscopy indicate static quenching. Contact angle measurements further reveal the hydrophilic nature of the TMAO-BSA complex, while CD and FTIR support conformational changes in BSA upon binding but structure remain intact. Computational studies, such as molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulation and, MM/GBSA, confirm a stable complex with a binding energy of − 3.6 kcal/mol. These findings provide a foundation for understanding the pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of TMAO and may aid in developing strategies for treating diseases, such as chronic kidney disease and neurological disorder where TMAO-serum albumins interaction are implicated.

Decision-making under flood predictions: A risk perception study of coastal real estate.

Flood models, while representing our best knowledge of a natural phenomenon, are continually evolving. Their predictions, albeit undeniably important for flood risk management, contain considerable uncertainties related to model structure, parameterization, and input data. With multiple sources of flood predictions becoming increasingly available through online flood maps, the uncertainties in these predictions present considerable risks related to property devaluation. Such risks stem from real estate decisions, measured by location preferences and willingness-to-pay to buy and rent properties, based on access to various sources of flood predictions. Here, we evaluate the influence of coastal flood predictions on real estate decision-making in the United Kingdom by adopting an interdisciplinary approach, involving flood modeling, novel experimental willingness-to-pay real estate surveys of UK residents in response to flood predictions, statistical modeling, and geospatial analysis. Our main findings show that access to multiple sources of flood predictions dominates real estate decisions relative to preferences for location aesthetics, reflecting a shift in demand toward risk averse locations. We also find that people do not consider flood prediction uncertainty in their real estate decisions, possibly due to an inability to perceive such uncertainty. These results are robust under a repeated experimental survey using an open access long-term flood risk map. We, therefore, recommend getting flood models "right" but recognize that this is a contentious issue because it implies having an error-free model, which is practically impossible. Hence, to reduce real estate risks, we advocate for a greater emphasis on effectively communicating flood model predictions and their uncertainties to non-experts.

Crowdsourced Indicators of Flora and Fauna Species: Comparisons Between iNaturalist Records and Field Observations

Cultural ecosystem services provide intangible benefits such as recreation and aesthetic enjoyment but are difficult to quantify compared to provisioning or regulating ecosystem services. Recent technologies offer alternative indicators, such as social media data, to identify popular locations and their features. This study demonstrates how large volumes of citizen science and social media data can be analyzed to reveal patterns of human interactions with nature through unconventional, scalable methods. By applying spatial statistical methods, data from the citizen science platform iNaturalist are analyzed and compared with ground-truth visitation data. To minimize data bias, records are grouped by taxonomic information and applied to the metropolitan area of Seoul, South Korea (2005–2022). The taxonomic information included in the iNaturalist data were investigated using a standard global biodiversity database. The results show citizen science data effectively quantify public preferences for scenic locations, offering a novel approach to mapping cultural ecosystem services when traditional data are unavailable. This method highlights the potential of large-scale citizen-generated data for conservation, urban planning, and policy development. However, challenges like bias in user-generated content, uneven ecosystem coverage, and the over- or under-representation of locations remain. Addressing these issues and integrating additional metadata—such as time of visit, demographics, and seasonal trends—could provide deeper insights into human–nature interactions. Overall, the proposed method opens up new possibilities for using non-traditional data sources to assess and map ecosystem services, providing valuable information for conservation efforts, urban planning, and environmental policy development.

Preferred and Actual Location of Death in Adolescents and Young Adults With Cancer

Adolescent and young adult (AYA) patients with advanced cancer often die in hospital settings. Data characterizing the degree to which this pattern of care is concordant with patient goals are sparse. To evaluate the extent of concordance between the preferred and actual location of death among AYA patients with cancer. This multicenter retrospective cohort study included AYA patients (aged 12-39 years) with cancer who died between January 1, 2003, and December 31, 2019, after receiving care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Kaiser Permanente Northern California or who died between January 1, 2009, and December 31, 2019, after receiving care at Kaiser Permanente Southern California. Data were analyzed from January 12 to July 1, 2024. Death due to cancer. Medical record documentation of discussions about preferred location of death, actual location of death, and concordance between preferred and actual location of death. The analytic population included 1929 AYA decedents, of whom 1049 (54.4%) were female; 227 (11.8%), Asian; 157 (8.1%), Black; 514 (26.6%), Hispanic; and 1184 (61.4%), White. Median age at death was 32 (IQR, 25-37) years. A total of 1226 AYA patients (63.6%) had a documented discussion about preferred location of death. Among those with a documented discussion, 594 (48.5%) did not have a documented preference, 402 (32.8%) wanted to die at home, 177 (14.4%) preferred a hospital death, and 48 (3.9%) desired inpatient hospice. Eight hundred and thirty patients (43.0%) died in acute care settings (256 [13.3%] intensive care unit [ICU], 548 [28.4%] hospital [non-ICU], and 26 [1.3%] emergency department), while 643 (33.3%) died at home and 47 (2.4%) in an inpatient hospice. Among the 528 patients with both a documented preferred death location of home, hospital, or inpatient hospice and documented death in one of these locations, the concordance between preferred and actual location of death was 401 (75.9%). One hundred and sixty-four of 172 patients (95.3%) who preferred a hospital death died there; 224 of 317 (70.7%) who preferred a home death died at home, and 13 of 39 (33.3%) who desired to die in inpatient hospice did so. Although many AYA patients with cancer died in their preferred location, over one-quarter of those who desired to die at home did not realize this goal. These findings highlight the need for effective solutions to enable goal-concordant care for this population.

Host-seeking and exophilic-endophilic activities of Culicoides spp. (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) with notes on two trapping methods.

Host-seeking behavior of Culicoides species was examined from 2018 to 2019 in West Bengal, India, which elucidated diel activity, feeding success, attack rate, biting rate, and preferential landing of adult Culicoides on the cattle. A comparative assessment was done between the light trap and the aspirator. The host-seeking experiment involved a substantial timeframe of 297h of catch collections over 27 nights. The number of adult Culicoides captured in the light trap was 1.3 times higher than the aspirator collections. The species in light trap catch were Culicoides oxystoma Kieffer Culicoides peregrinus Kieffer, and Culicoides fulvus Sen and Das Gupta (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae). However, only C. oxystoma and C. peregrinus were collected using the aspirator. The findings related to feeding success, attack rate, and biting rate carried significant implications for the vectorial potential of C. oxystoma and C. peregrinus. The light trap data suggest that Culicoides species displayed crepuscular behavior, while the aspirator collections peaked 1h before sunrise, between 04:00 and 05:00h, and gradually declined. A separate study evaluated the exophily and endophily of Culicoides in 2016 at Memari in West Bengal. To delve into the indoor-outdoor activity, 264 trap collections were made in 4 combinations: Light trap operated in the presence and absence of cattle, placed outdoors and indoors. The study revealed that the outdoor prevalence of midges was 14 times higher than the indoor. There was a 6-time increase in the prevalence of adult Culicoides in the presence of cattle, indicating a preference for outdoor locations for feeding.

Wearable Technology in Mobility and Falls Health Care: Finding Consensus on Their Clinical Utility and Identifying a Roadmap to Actual Use.

Despite the promise wearable technology offers through detailed insight into mobility and fall risk, timely identification of high risk, assessment of risk severity, evaluation of clinical interventions, and potential to redefine the assessment of behaviours which influence health, they are not routinely used in clinical practice. Establish consensus on how wearable technology can be applied to support clinical care for people aged 50 and over experiencing changes to mobility and/or who are at increased risk of falling. A Delphi study was conducted among 17 hospital-based health professionals. Over three rounds, experts were asked about fall prevention, mobility assessment, the potential role of wearable sensors, and clinical considerations for implementing wearable technology into practice. Consensus was defined as 75% agreement. Data were analysed using qualitative and quantitative methods. Experts found that wearable technology has short and long-term clinical utility, data should be shared with general practitioners to improve long-term health outcomes, and devices would need to fit all individuals with a preference for wrist or pendant-worn locations. Technological literacy was not a perceived barrier. However, cost and data accuracy were important for successful implementation. This study provides a group consensus statement and guidance on the clinical implementation of wearable technology to support care for people aged 50 and over experiencing changes to mobility and/or who are at increased risk of falling. Health professionals are receptive to using wearable technologies to advance fall risk and mobility assessment and believe wearable technology has a role in clinical practice.

APOBEC3A deaminates CTG hairpin loops to promote fragility and instability of expanded CAG/CTG repeats

CAG/CTG repeats are prone to expansion, causing several inherited human diseases. The initiating sources of DNA damage which lead to inaccurate repair of the repeat tract to cause expansions are not fully understood. Expansion-prone CAG/CTG repeats are actively transcribed and prone to forming stable R-loops with hairpin structures forming on the displaced single-stranded DNA (S-loops). We previously determined that damage by the Saccharomyces cerevisiae cytosine deaminase, Fcy1, was required for both fragility and instability of CAG/CTG tracts engaged in R-loops. To determine whether this mechanism is more universal, we expressed human cytidine deaminases APOBEC3A (A3A), APOBEC3B (A3B), or activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) in our yeast system. We show that mutagenic activity of Apolipoprotein B messenger RNA-editing enzyme, catalytic polypeptides causes CAG/CTG fragility and instability, with A3A having the greatest effect followed by A3B and least from AID. A3A-induced repeat fragility was exacerbated by enrichment of R-loops at the repeat site. A3A and A3B-induced instability was dependent on the MutLγ nuclease and to a lesser extent, base excision repair factors. Deaminase activity assays on hairpin substrates containing CTG and GTC triplet sequences revealed that A3A prefers cytidines within the hairpin loop, and bulges in the hairpin stem alter preferred locations. Analysis of RNA expression levels in human cortex samples revealed that A3A is expressed in brain tissue that exhibits CAG/CTG repeat expansions and its expression is elevated in Huntington's disease (HD) patient samples. These results implicate cytidine deamination by A3A as a potential source of repeat expansions in HD and other CAG/CTG repeat expansion disorders.

Student and Physician Views of How the Dobbs Decision Affects Training and Practice Location Preferences: Cross-Sectional Questionnaire Study.

By allowing for abortion bans and restrictions to take effect in the majority of US states, the 2022 Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization decision portends to have lasting impacts on patient care and the physician workforce. Notably, it is already beginning to impact practice location preferences of US health care workers, evidenced by declining application rates to residency programs in abortion-restrictive states since 2022. Yet, there remains a gap in the literature regarding why this trend exists. This study aims to describe what factors are driving the practice location preferences of medical students and physicians after the Dobbs decision. This study analyzes qualitative data from a web-based, cross-sectional study. In August 2022, a nonprobabilistic sample of physicians and medical students were surveyed on social media about the impact of overturning Roe v Wade on practice location preferences, which included the free-text question "Please share your thoughts about the overturning of Roe v Wade and how it will affect your decision about your (residency/job or fellowship) programs." A total of 3 independent team members completed an inductive thematic analysis of 524 free responses, resolving differences by discussion. Approximately 1 in 4 survey respondents also completed the free-response item (524/2063, 25.4%); a total of 219 were medical students, 129 were residents and fellows, and 176 were practicing physicians. Of them, approximately half (261/524, 50.5%) resided in states where abortion bans were in place or anticipated. Those who answered the free-response item were relatively more likely to hail from states with restrictive abortion bans (P<.001) compared to those who did not, with other demographic characteristics being largely similar between the groups. Inductive thematic analysis yielded 2 broad thematic categories: patient-related and workforce-related factors influencing practice decision preferences. The 3 most common themes overall were respondent concerns regarding their patient's access to care (249/524, 47.5%), their desire not to practice or train in a state with abortion restrictions regardless of current residence (249/524, 47.5%), and their personal belief that abortion bans are human rights and/or body autonomy violation (197/524, 37.6%). Some respondents stated that the Dobbs decision would not impact their choice of practice location (41/524, 7.8%), and some supported it (35/594, 6.7%). This study shows that abortion restrictions are having an impact on the practice location preferences of the physician workforce due to both patient care and personal factors. It is important that state policy makers and others who are considering abortion restrictions also consider how to address these concerns of physicians and medical students, to avoid worsening geographic maldistribution of physicians and worsening access to care from physicians for their citizens.

Optimal allocation of technical reclamation and ecological restoration for a cost-effective solution in Pingshuo Opencast Coal Mine area of China.

Limiting adverse consequences of mining activities requires ecosystem restoration efforts, whose arrangement around mining areas is poorly designed. It is unclear, however, where best to locate ecological projects to enhance ecosystem services cost-effectively. To answer this question, we conducted an optimized ecological restoration project planning by the Resource Investment Optimization System (RIOS) model to identify the restoration priority areas in the Pingshuo Opencast Coal Mine region in Shanxi Province. This region features notable mining activity, agricultural land use, and urban development. We found that the land use changes were primarily influenced by human activities such as mining and urbanization, as well as ecological interventions from 1986 to 2022, during which the area of industrial and construction land continuously expanded. The RIOS model was configured using input data such as land use, digital elevation models (DEM), and biophysical coefficients. Ecological restoration objectives were selected, including Erosion Control for Drinking Water Quality, Erosion Control for Reservoir Maintenance, Nutrient Retention, and Baseflow. Investment optimization scenario simulations revealed that over 90% of ecological projects in the Pingshuo Opencast Coal Mine are distributed in the low-slope areas (0°-15°). Four types of technical reclamation and ecological restoration projects, i.e., agroforestry, grass strips, riparian management, and terracing, exhibit strong preferences for specific locations. Riparian management and agroforestry tend to be distributed on soil dumps; terracing and grass strips tend to be distributed in the upstream agricultural areas of rivers and junctions of watershed gullies and slopes. The model prioritized areas based on ecological restoration goals and stakeholder interests, optimizing locations that would maximize ecological benefits while addressing the objectives. Moreover, depending on the different goals of ecological restoration in the mining area, investment plans that maximize benefits for stakeholders should range between 3 and 6 million dollars. While the restoration strategies in this study were designed for the Pingshuo region, they hold potential for other mining areas with similar biophysical conditions, surrounding ecosystems, and mining scales. The RIOS model adjusts its recommendations based on specific input data, making it adaptable and broadly applicable to other mining area. The results of this study positively contribute to alleviating the conflict between ecosystem protection and socioeconomic development in mining areas, scientifically regulating ecological restoration activities, and enhancing ecosystem services. Our results provide evidence that ecological restoration interventions contribute measurably to restore the degraded ecosystems in the mining areas.

Impact of Electric Vehicles on the Future E-Commerce Landscape: Challenges &amp; Advantages

The E-commerce landscape has seen a paradigm shift with an increasing demand for door- step delivery and even same day delivery. The convenience of shopping over a handheld mobile devise from the convenience of one’s preferred location is a major driver for the phenomenon growth, development, and expansion of online shopping. The COVID pandemic led lockdowns acted as catalysts expediting this expansion. But with this progress came the menace of rapid expansion of delivery trucks, vans, 3-wheelers, and 2-wheelers that increased not only the congestions within the cities but also added massively to the already deteriorating air quality. Pollution (both air and noise) and congestion, are the two immediate fallouts of the expansion in delivery fleet. This made the fleet owners and businesses turn to the obvious alternative – EVs or electrical vehicles that have the potential to not only cut down harmful emissions but also enhance financial and operational efficiencies. Modern businesses cannot help but improve efficiencies in order to sustain in an immensely competitive and dynamic business environment. This article adds to the literature on EVs and generates insight into the practicability of adopting EVs in the last mile logistics. It highlights that despite being both environment and pocket friendly, the benefits of economy and efficiency looks futile in the face of inadequate availability of charging infrastructure that heightens range anxiety.

Preferred fixation position and gaze location: Two factors modulating the composite face effect.

Humans consistently land their first saccade to a face at a preferred fixation location (PFL). Humans also typically process faces as wholes, as evidenced by perceptual effects such as the composite face effect (CFE). However, not known is whether an individual's tendency to process faces as wholes varies with their gaze patterns on the face. Here, we investigated variation of the CFE with the PFL. We compared the strength of the CFE for two groups of observers who were screened to have their PFLs either higher up, closer to the eyes, or lower on the face, closer to the tip of the nose. During the task, observers maintained their gaze at either their own group's mean PFL or at the other group's mean PFL. We found that the top half of the face elicits a stronger CFE than the bottom half. Further, the strength of the CFE was modulated by the distance of the PFL from the eyes, such that individuals with a PFL closer to the eyes had a stronger CFE than those with a PFL closer to the mouth. Finally, the top-half CFE for both upper-lookers and lower-lookers was abolished when they fixated at a non-preferred location on the face. Our findings show that the CFE relies on internal face representations shaped by the long-term use of a consistent oculomotor strategy to view faces.

Musculoskeletal Disorders Among Surgeons and Attitudes Towards Wearable Devices for Ergonomic Optimization

Objective: To assess the burden of ergonomic strain and to examine factors influencing intention to use wearable technology that may improve ergonomics during surgery. Background: Surgical ergonomic strain leads to high rates of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and pain, contributing to early surgeon retirement and an epidemic of burnout. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of surgeons at a single institution was conducted using two validated instruments, the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire and Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2), assessing musculoskeletal strain and facilitators of wearable sensor use, respectively. Additional survey items examined preferred ergonomic device features. Partial least squares structural equation modeling tested model validity. Results: 161 participants completed the entire survey. Most respondents were male (63.4%) and were more likely to be from General Surgery (26.1%) than from other subspecialties. The majority of surgeons had never received prior ergonomic training (n=107, 72.3%). Twenty surgeons (14.1%) required hospitalization and 31 (21.8%) surgeons changed operating responsibilities due to musculoskeletal injury with 77 (59.1%) reporting an impact of ergonomic pain on their ability to work as a surgeon. Perceived efficacy (β=0.190, P=0.005), social influence (β=0.135, P=0.039), hedonic motivation (β=0.274, P&lt;0.001), and innovativeness (β=0.243, P&lt;0.001) were significantly associated with behavioral intention to use a wearable ergonomic device. The waist (n=36, 24.3%), followed by the neck/upper back (n=29, 19.6%), were the most preferred sensor locations. Conclusions: Surgeons report a high burden of MSDs impacting their ability to work. Wearable sensors that provide feedback on ergonomic strain represent an opportunity to reduce MSDs among surgeons.

Linear Accelerator (LINAC) Radiosurgical Management of Brain Arteriovenous Malformations: An Experience From a Tertiary Care Center.

Brain arteriovenous malformations (AVM) are complex vascular pathologies with a significant risk of hemorrhage. Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is an effective treatment modality for AVM, initially popularized on the Gamma Knife (Elekta AB, Stockholm, Sweden) platform, and now benefits from the modern advances in linear accelerator (LINAC)-based platforms. This study evaluates the outcomes of LINAC-based SRS/hypofractionated stereotactic radiotherapy (hFSRT) for cerebral AVMs. Between December 2018 and April 2024, 15 patients with cerebral AVMs underwent SRS/hFSRT at a tertiary government hospital. Patient selection was based on AVM size, location, surgical unsuitability, and patient preference. All patients underwent MRI and cerebral angiography for nidus delineation. SRS was planned using Monaco TPS (treatment planning system) (Elekta AB, Stockholm, Sweden)with VMAT (volumetric modulated arc therapy) technique, delivering a median dose of 20 Gy in single fractions for small AVMs and 28 Gy infour fractions for large AVMs. Patients were followed up with annual MRI and angiography to assess obliteration. The cohort had a median age of 22 years, with a median nidus volume of 3.76 cc. The crude obliteration rate was 60%, confirmed by MRI/angiography. Actuarial obliteration rates at two, three, and five years were 65.71%, 73.57%, and 77.14%, respectively. Smaller AVMs (<3 cc) and those with a modified AVM radiosurgery score <1.5 had nearly 100% obliteration rates. Large AVMs (>10 cc) treated with hypofractionated SRT showed partial responses only. Significant predictors of obliteration included prescription dose, AVM volume, and modified AVM radiosurgery score. LINAC-based SRS demonstrates comparable efficacy to other modalities for treating cerebral AVMs, with obliteration rates influenced by dose, AVM volume, and pre-treatment radiosurgery score. Larger AVMs pose a greater challenge, suggesting a need for adjunctive treatments or higher fractionated doses to improve outcomes.

A Comprehensive Usage Pattern Analysis of Shared E-Scooters in Urban Mobility

Shared transportation systems are increasingly playing a pivotal role in urban mobility. Micro-mobility solutions, in particular, have become essential as people seek fast, convenient ways to travel during their daily routines, avoid the hassles of parking their personal vehicles, and face challenges accessing public transportation at their preferred times or locations. Among the emerging shared transportation options, station-less electric scooters (e-scooters) have gained global popularity due to their ease of parking, environmental benefits, cost savings, and ability to alleviate traffic congestion. As a potential solution to first and last-mile problems, academic studies on e-scooter technology are expanding. This study analyzes data from a shared station-less e-scooter service operating in Türkiye to explore how weather-related parameters influence users’ behavior. Additionally, it offers an innovative perspective on geographic and regional variations in users’ behavior by comparing findings with studies from different cities and countries presented in the literature. This research also provides valuable insights for mobility service providers and city planners seeking to optimize shared transportation systems.

Ion Effects on Terahertz Spectra of Microsolvated Clusters.

Water clusters containing Na+ and Cl- ions play a key role in the atmospheric chemistry of sea salt aerosols. While Na+ is clearly buried deep inside, Cl- appears to be a chameleon since evidence for both surface-localized and interior solvation states are reported. Thus, disclosing the preferred location of Cl- within clusters remains challenging. Here, we investigate whether THz spectroscopy, a powerful tool for directly probing hydrogen bonds in water, provides insights into the location of Cl- ions in water clusters. We performed ab initio molecular dynamics simulations on water clusters containing a single Cl- ion and up to 64 water molecules to compute the THz spectra with reference to Na+ and bulk. The THz spectrum of the 64-water Cl- cluster closely agrees with that of the bulk solution. Surprisingly, this match is not caused by bulk-like solvation of Cl- as suggested by phenomenological line shape analyses. Instead, the similarity stems from Cl- being mostly located at the cluster surface, thus leaving the water-water interactions largely unperturbed.

Assessment of how uncertainty representation in flood maps can affect geographic-based decisions

Flood maps that show predicted flood extents will always be uncertain regardless of how the modelling is conducted. It is therefore important that these uncertainties are represented and communicated in the maps, and that map users understand the presented information. Through an online user survey, this study evaluates how users make geographic decisions based on nine flood uncertainty maps, represented and designed according to data scheme and semantics associated with their values (dual-ended, sequential and binary), and applied with different mapping techniques (continuous surface, choropleth and graduated symbol mapping). The results show that the type of map and the visual variable used for representation (in terms of colours and values) became important when deciding locations. Higher decision confidence was shown when dual-ended and sequential probability maps were used. Medium-to-dark blue regions in these maps made participants avoid locations, while white, brown and the lightest blue colours made them select locations. The usage of a sequential map represented by grey scale colour showed to be less intuitive for the participants, leading to lower task performance and less confidence in decisions. Despite the different backgrounds of participants, comprehension of the uncertainty maps and the tasks did not vary much from each other. Differences among them were observed in location preferences and time to solve the tasks. The user group that had the most professional experience with maps and GIS was most conservative in their site choices, and took longest time to solve the tasks. Students, on the other hand, opted to take more risk in their decisions and preferred more uncertain locations. Apparently, the effectiveness of the flood uncertainty maps used in this study varied mainly on the representations used. Appropriate design made them comprehendible by different users. However, making decisions based on these maps, as well as confidence in decisions and time to solve the task, may also be dependent on other factors such as domain knowledge, line of work, practical experience in handing problems or making decisions, and possibly culture.

Creative Class Mobility and Quality of Life: Migration of Creative Class from Istanbul to Izmir

The place attractiveness determines the movement of creative people in a city. Young and skilled people migrate to Izmir from istanbul because Izmir offers higher standards of life with respect to social indicators and tolerance for people who are different than others. It was observed from the migrated creative people that Izmir has the social and cultural advantage over istanbul to attract these free-thinking talented people. In the case comparative study, it was evident that Izmir has the potential to be creative milieu to develop into creative smart city in the region but Istanbul has some negative externalities such as over population, inaccessibility, conservatism, expensive city. This paper examines the migration of creative professionals from Istanbul to Izmir, testing Florida’s creative class concept and the 3T model (Talent, Technology, Tolerance) via QoL parameters regarding creative migration. A mixed-method approach was used to gather and analyse both quantitative and qualitative data for locational preferences of the creative class. The study finds that young, innovative individuals are attracted to cities with high tolerance, advanced technology, and favourable work conditions. These factors not only enhance their quality of life but also drive economic growth and job creation in Izmir, highlighting that while quality of life attracts talent, career opportunities are crucial for their retention.