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The purpose of this study is to examine and compare the methodologies being developed in assessing social vulnerability to natural disasters. Existing vulnerability literature shows that two methods have been used in developing social vulnerability indexes: (1) a deductive approach based on a theoretical understanding of relationships and (2) an inductive approach based on statistical relationships (Adger et al. in New indicators of vulnerability and adaptive capacity. Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, Norwich, 2004 ). Two techniques were also utilized in aggregating social vulnerability indicators: (1) a deductive approach using standardization techniques such as z scores or linear scaling (Wu et al. in Clim Res 22:255–270, 2002 ; Chakraborty et al. in Nat Hazards Rev 6(1):23–33, 2005 ) and (2) an inductive approach using data-reduction techniques such as factor analysis (Clark et al. in Mitig Adapt Strateg Glob Change 3(1):59–82, 1998 ; Cutter et al. Soc Sci Quart 84(2):242–261, 2003 ). This study empirically compares deductive and inductive index development and indicator aggregation methods in assessing social vulnerability to natural disasters in the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coastal areas. The aggregated social vulnerability index is used to examine a relationship with disaster losses in the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coastal areas. The results show that coastal counties with more vulnerability in terms of social achieved status are positively associated with disaster damages, while variations in the development of the index using deductive and inductive measurement approaches produce different outcomes.

Cognitive frailty is defined as the presence of both physical frailty and cognitive impairment (clinical dementia rating score = 0.5), in the absence of dementia. It is characterized by concurrent physical frailty and potentially reversible cognitive impairment. In this study, we sought to elucidate the effects of high-speed resistance exercise training on cognitive function and physical performance in older adults with cognitive frailty. We conducted a parallel-group, randomized controlled trial involving community-living older adults with cognitive frailty. The participants' mean age was 73.9 (± 4.3 SD) years, and 69.8% (n=30) were female. Two different 4-month interventions included high-speed resistance exercise training group (n=22) and a control group (balance and band stretching, n=23). Frailty score, cognitive function (memory, processing speed, cognitive flexibility, working memory, executive function), physical function (SPPB, TUG, gait speed), and muscle strength (grip strength, knee extension strength) were assessed at baseline, 8 weeks, and 16 weeks. Statistical analysis showed that exercise improved performance significantly in the tests for cognitive function (processing speed and executive function, both p < 0.05), physical function (SPPB, TUG, gait speed, both p < 0.05), and muscle strength (grip strength, knee extension strength, both p < 0.05). However, no significant changes in frailty score were observed between intervention and either control group (p < 0.05). In conclusion, our findings indicate that high-speed resistance exercise training approaches are effective in improving cognitive function and physical performance in older adults with cognitive frailty. This study shows that it is feasible to identify older adults with cognitive frailty in the community and primary care setting for effective intervention to reduce their level of frailty and cognitive impairment.

The equilibrium optical phonons of graphene are well characterized in terms of anharmonicity and electron–phonon interactions; however, their non-equilibrium properties in the presence of hot charge carriers are still not fully explored. Here we study the Raman spectrum of graphene under ultrafast laser excitation with 3 ps pulses, which trade off between impulsive stimulation and spectral resolution. We localize energy into hot carriers, generating non-equilibrium temperatures in the ~1700–3100 K range, far exceeding that of the phonon bath, while simultaneously detecting the Raman response. The linewidths of both G and 2D peaks show an increase as function of the electronic temperature. We explain this as a result of the Dirac cones’ broadening and electron–phonon scattering in the highly excited transient regime, important for the emerging field of graphene-based photonics and optoelectronics. Non-equilibrium ultrafast processes in graphene entail relaxation pathways involving electron–electron and electron–phonon scattering events. Here, the authors probe graphene optical phonons at high electronic temperatures by means of Raman spectroscopy under pulsed excitation

Electron pairing in the vast majority of superconductors follows the Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer theory of superconductivity, which describes the condensation of electrons into pairs with antiparallel spins in a singlet state with an s -wave symmetry. Unconventional superconductivity was predicted in single-layer graphene (SLG), with the electrons pairing with a p -wave or chiral d -wave symmetry, depending on the position of the Fermi energy with respect to the Dirac point. By placing SLG on an electron-doped (non-chiral) d -wave superconductor and performing local scanning tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy, here we show evidence for a p -wave triggered superconducting density of states in SLG. The realization of unconventional superconductivity in SLG offers an exciting new route for the development of p -wave superconductivity using two-dimensional materials with transition temperatures above 4.2 K. Unconventional superconductivity may be triggered when graphene is deposited on a high temperature superconductor. Here, Di Bernardo et al . observe spectroscopic evidence for p -wave superconductivity in single layer graphene on an electron-doped cuprate superconductor.

NRF2 (nuclear factor erythroid-derived 2-like 2) plays an important role in defense against oxidative stress at the cellular level. Recently, the roles of NRF2 in embryonic and adult stem cells have been reported, but its role in maintaining self-renewal and differentiation potential remains unknown. We studied the mechanisms of NRF2 action in mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) derived from human bone marrow. We found that the cellular localization of NRF2 changed during prolonged cell passage and osteogenic differentiation. Blocking the nuclear import of NRF2 using ochratoxin A (OTA) induced the loss of the self-renewal and osteogenic potential of early-passage (EP) MSCs. Conversely, reinforcing the nuclear import of NRF2 using tert -butylhydroquinone (t-BHQ) improved the self-renewal capacity and maintained the differentiation potential in the osteogenic lineage of EP MSCs. Real-time quantitative PCR and western blot analysis showed that NRF2 positively regulates sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) at the mRNA and protein levels via the negative regulation of p53. The self-renewal and osteogenic potential suppressed in OTA-treated or NRF2-targeting small hairpin RNA (shRNA)-infected EP MSCs were rescued by introducing small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting p53. t-BHQ treatment in late-passage (LP) MSCs, which lost their self-renewal and osteogenic potential, reversed these effects. In LP MSCs treated with t-BHQ for ∼7 days, the phosphorylation and nuclear localization of NRF2 improved and SIRT1 protein level increased, whereas p53 protein levels decreased. Therefore, our results suggest that NRF2 plays an important role in regulating p53 and SIRT1 to maintain MSC stemness. This study is the first to establish a functional link between NRF2 and SIRT1 expression in the maintenance of MSC self-renewal and differentiation potential.

Due to continuing city growth and global warming over the past decades, urban heat island (UHI) effects, referring to the phenomena wherein the ambient air temperatures in cities are higher than those in rural areas, have become a serious threat to urban populations. Impervious surfaces, buildings with low-albedo materials, and a lack of vegetated areas are the major causes of poor urban thermal environments, particularly during the summer. Previous research has focused primarily on the thermal characteristics of individual building units. Few studies consider the impact of the street-scale thermal environments on the surface temperature, which affects pedestrian thermal comfort. The purpose of this study is to analyze the thermal characteristics of various physical elements on urban streets using thermal imaging cameras, and present policy implications for improving pedestrian thermal comfort. This study examines street-scale thermal environments of three major commercial streets: Garosu road, Serosu road, and Narosu road, in Seoul, Korea. This study conducted field measurements both during the day and the night in June 2017 in order to investigate changes in the urban surface temperatures across time. The results show that street trees are the most effective mitigation element for reducing surface temperatures. With regard to building use types, the highest surface temperatures are typically measured near restaurant buildings. Building façades that are dark-colored or partially covered with a metal contribute to high surface temperatures. Similarly, the temperatures of artificial turf or wooden decks on urban streets are also significantly high during the daytime. The thermal characteristics of various urban street elements should be considered to reduce the surface temperature and mitigate the urban heat island effect.

Socially and economically marginalized people and environmentally vulnerable areas are disproportionately affected by natural hazards. Identifying populations and places vulnerable to disasters is important for disaster management, and crucial for mitigating their economic consequences. From the fields of geography, emergency management, and urban planning, several approaches and methodologies have been used to identify significant vulnerability factors affecting the incidence and impact of disasters. This study performs a regression analysis to examine several factors associated with disaster damage in 230 local communities in South Korea, using ten vulnerability indicators for social, economic, and environmental aspects, and a single indicator for disaster characteristics. A Lagrange Multiplier diagnostic test-based spatial autoregressive model (SAM) was applied to assess the potential spatial autocorrelation in the ordinary least squares (OLS) residuals. This study compared the OLS regression results with those of a spatial autoregressive model, for both presence of spatial autocorrelation, and model performance. The conclusion of this study is that Korean communities with a higher vulnerability to disasters, as a result of their socioeconomic and environmental characteristics, are more likely to experience economic losses from natural disasters.

Human teaching, a highly specialized form of cooperative information transmission, depends not only on the presence of benevolent communicators in the environment, but also on the preparedness of the students to learn from communication when it is addressed to them. We tested whether 9-month-old human infants can distinguish between communicative and noncommunicative social contexts and whether they retain qualitatively different information about novel objects in these contexts. We found that in a communicative context, infants devoted their limited memory resources to encoding the identity of novel objects at the expense of encoding their location, which is preferentially retained in noncommunicative contexts. We propose that infants' sensitivity to, and interpretation of, the social cues distinguishing infant-directed communication events represent important mechanisms of social learning by which others can help determine what information even preverbal human observers retain in memory.

Background/Objectives: There are limited data on the association between dietary information and leukocyte telomere length (LTL), which is considered an indicator of biological aging. In this study, we aimed at determining the association between dietary patterns or consumption of specific foods and LTL in Korean adults. Subject/Methods: A total of 1958 middle-aged and older Korean adults from a population-based cohort were included in the study. Dietary data were collected from a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire at baseline (June 2001 to January 2003). LTL was assessed using real-time PCR during the 10-year follow-up period (February 2011 to November 2012). Results: We identified two major factors and generated factor scores using factor analysis. The first factor labeled ‘prudent dietary pattern’ was characterized by high intake of whole grains, seafood, legumes, vegetables and seaweed, whereas the second factor labeled ‘Western dietary pattern’ was characterized by high intake of refined grain, red meat or processed meat and sweetened carbonated beverages. In a multiple linear regression model adjusted for age, sex, body mass index and other potential confounding variables, the prudent dietary pattern was positively associated with LTL. In the analysis of particular food items, higher consumption of legumes, nuts, seaweed, fruits and dairy products and lower consumption of red meat or processed meat and sweetened carbonated beverages were associated with longer LTL. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that diet in the remote past, that is, 10 years earlier, may affect the degree of biological aging in middle-aged and older adults.

There has been increasing interest in effective evacuation in response to natural disasters, particularly in understanding human evacuation behavior. It is important to determine the factors affecting evacuation decision making to promote prompt evacuation. This study focuses on the effects of past experiences on evacuation behavior in South Korea, especially the evacuation drill experience. Additionally, the influence of demographic and socio-economic characteristics on evacuation behavior is considered. After collecting data through telephone surveys, t-tests and logit regression models were used to evaluate the data. The results reveal that an evacuation drill experience is positively related to making a decision to evacuate. The results also confirm that certain demographic factors, such as age and household size, as well as socio-economic factors, such as household income and housing type, influence evacuation decisions. Besides these, knowing the location of a shelter is another factor that improves the chances of evacuation. Finally, discussions and suggestions for increasing participation in evacuation drills are provided.