Towards building resilient cities to pandemics: A review of COVID-19 literature.

With the global prevalence of COVID-19 disease, the concept of urban resilience against pandemics has drawn the attention of a wide range of researchers, urban planners, and policymakers. This study aims to identify the major dimensions and principles of urban resilience to pandemics through a systematic review focused on lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and comparing different perspectives regarding resilient urban environments to such diseases. Based on the findings, the study proposes a conceptual framework and a series of principles of urban resilience to pandemics, consisting of four spatial levels: housing, neighborhoods, city, and the regional and national scales, and three dimensions of pandemic resilience: pandemic-related health requirements, environmental psychological principles, and general resilience principles. The findings show that resilient cities should be able to implement the pandemic-related health requirements, the psychological principles of the environment to reduce the stresses caused by the pandemic, and the general principles of resilience in the smart city context. This framework provides scholars and policymakers with a comprehensive understanding of resilience on different scales and assists them in making better-informed decisions.

Overlooking the coast: Limited local planning for coastal area management along Michigan's Great Lakes.

This paper presents an evaluation of local efforts to manage Great Lakes coastal shorelands through master plans, focusing on Michigan localities. We framed the analysis around the concepts of capacity, knowledge, and commitment. We conducted plan content evaluations, structured surveys of local officials, and multiple unstructured interviews of local officials and citizens through a participatory action research (PAR) program. We analyzed those data, along with census data, using descriptive statistics, correlations, regression analyses, and triangulation of observations. We found that Michigan's coastal localities are largely failing to consider their coastal areas in their planning, or to adopt meaningful plan policies to manage them, for at least four reasons: damaging erosion and storm events have been relatively infrequent; localities rely on the state to address coastal issues; insurance programs effectively indemnify them when a storm does happen; and-to some extent-shoreland owners push back against proactive local management. To the extent localities are planning, higher overall plan quality is associated with having in-house planning staff (a measure of both capacity and knowledge) and development pressure (knowledge and commitment). To the extent plans address their coastal areas specifically, the adoption of plan policies advancing coastal area management is associated directly with having higher median house values (capacity), in-house planning staff (capacity and knowledge), and development pressure (knowledge and commitment). Focus on coastal management is inversely associated, however, with the use of planning consultants. Higher plan quality is correlated significantly with the adoption of more robust plan policies overall. In sum, having knowledge about coastal dynamics appears important in explaining local planning efforts, but having the capacity to act on that knowledge and the commitment to do so are equally or more important.

Cross sections for positron impact with 2,2,4-trimethylpentane.

2,2,4-Trimethylpentane (C8H18), a hydrocarbon produced all over the world on a large scale in the processing of crude oil, has long been known and used in the energy sector. It has also recently attracted the attention of the radiation physics and chemistry community, owing to its applications in medical imaging techniques. Charged-particle interactions with this species unfortunately remain mostly unknown. In this study, we report on measured total cross sections for positron scattering from 2,2,4-trimethylpentane in the energy range from 0.12 to 50 eV. We also present calculations of the total cross sections, elastic integral and differential cross sections, positronium formation cross sections, and inelastic integral cross sections at energies from 1 to 1000 eV using the independent atom model with screening corrected additivity rule. A knowledge of those scattering cross sections might, through simulation models, help to improve the accuracy of current radiation detection devices and hence provide better estimates of the extent of any charged-particle-induced damage in biomolecular systems.

Positron interactions with water-total elastic, total inelastic, and elastic differential cross section measurements.

Utilising a high-resolution, trap-based positron beam, we have measured both elastic and inelastic scattering of positrons from water vapour. The measurements comprise differential elastic, total elastic, and total inelastic (not including positronium formation) absolute cross sections. The energy range investigated is from 1 eV to 60 eV. Comparison with theory is made with both R-Matrix and distorted wave calculations, and with our own application of the Independent Atom Model for positron interactions.

On the use of Monte Carlo simulations to model transport of positrons in gases and liquids.

In this paper we make a parallel between the swarm method in physics of ionized gases and modeling of positrons in radiation therapy and diagnostics. The basic idea is to take advantage of the experience gained in the past with electron swarms and to use it in establishing procedures of modeling positron diagnostics and therapy based on the well-established experimental binary collision data. In doing so we discuss the application of Monte Carlo technique for positrons in the same manner as used previously for electron swarms, we discuss the role of complete cross section sets (complete in terms of number, momentum and energy balance and tested against measured swarm parameters), we discuss the role of benchmarks and how to choose benchmarks for electrons that may perhaps be a subject to experimental verification. Finally we show some samples of positron trajectories together with secondary electrons that were established solely on the basis of accurate binary cross sections and also how those may be used in modeling of both gas filled traps and living organisms.

Total, elastic, and inelastic cross sections for positron and electron collisions with tetrahydrofuran.

We present total, elastic, and inelastic cross sections for positron and electron scattering from tetrahydrofuran (THF) in the energy range between 1 and 5000 eV. Total cross sections (TCS), positronium formation cross sections, the summed inelastic integral cross sections (ICS) for electronic excitations and direct ionization, as well as elastic differential cross sections (DCS) at selected incident energies, have been measured for positron collisions with THF. The positron beam used to carry out these experiments had an energy resolution in the range 40-100 meV (full-width at half-maximum). We also present TCS results for positron and electron scattering from THF computed within the independent atom model using the screening corrected additivity rule approach. In addition, we calculated positron-impact elastic DCS and the sum over all inelastic ICS (except rotations and vibrations). While our integral and differential positron cross sections are the first of their kind, we compare our TCS with previous literature values for this species. We also provide a comparison between positron and electron-impact cross sections, in order to uncover any differences or similarities in the scattering dynamics with these two different projectiles.

Experimental and theoretical cross sections for positron collisions with 3-hydroxy-tetrahydrofuran.

Cross section results from a joint experimental and theoretical investigation into positron scattering from 3-hydroxy-tetrahydrofuran (3H-THF) are presented. Total and positronium (Ps) formation cross sections have been measured from 1 to 190 eV using the positron beamline at the Australian National University, which has an energy resolution between 60 and 100 meV. The total cross section (TCS) and the elastic and total inelastic integral cross sections in the energy range between 1 and 1000 eV have been computed within the Independent Atom Model using the Screening Corrected Additivity Rule approach. In addition, we have calculated elastic differential cross sections at selected incident energies. Our computations represent the first theoretical results reported for this target species, while our measured Ps formation cross sections are also novel. Comparison of the present TCS with the previous results from the University of Trento shows a good level of agreement at the lowest energies. We also provide a comparison between the present cross sections for 3H-THF and those from our earlier study on the parent molecule tetrahydrofuran.

Modelling low energy electron and positron tracks for biomedical applications.

PURPOSE: To incorporate the effects of low energy electrons and positrons into radiation interaction models. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The simulation method proposed here was based on experimental and theoretical cross section data and energy loss spectra we have previously derived. After a summary of the main techniques used to obtain reliable input data, the basis of a Low Energy Particle Track Simulation (LEPTS) procedure was established. The programme is specifically designed to describe electron and positron interactions below 10 keV, down to thermal energies. RESULTS: Single electron and positron tracks in water are presented and the possibility of using these results to develop tools for nanodosimetry is discussed. CONCLUSIONS: Standard approximations based on high incident energies, such as the Born-Bethe theory, are not suitable to simulate electron and positron tracks below 10 keV. Prior to the inclusion of low-energy effects in a radiation model, an appropriate study is required to determine both the interaction cross sections and the energy loss spectra.

Absolute electron scattering cross sections for the CF2 radical.

Using a crossed electron-molecular beam experiment, featuring a skimmed nozzle beam with pyrolytic radical production, absolute elastic cross sections for electron scattering from the CF2 molecule have been measured. A new technique for placing measured cross sections on an absolute scale is used for molecular beams produced as skimmed supersonic jets. Absolute differential cross sections for CF2 are reported for incident electron energies of 30-50 eV and over an angular range of 20-135 deg. Integral cross sections are subsequently derived from those data. The present data are compared to new theoretical predictions for the differential and integral scattering cross sections, as calculated with the Schwinger multichannel variational method using the static-exchange and static-exchange plus polarization approximations.