Electrophysiological population dynamics reveal context dependencies during decision making in human frontal cortex.

Evidence from monkeys and humans suggests that the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) encodes the subjective value of options under consideration during choice. Data from non-human primates suggests that these value signals are context-dependent, representing subjective value in a way influenced by the decision makers' recent experience. Using electrodes distributed throughout cortical and subcortical structures, human epilepsy patients performed an auction task where they repeatedly reported the subjective values they placed on snack food items. High-gamma activity in many cortical and subcortical sites including the OFC positively correlated with subjective value. Other OFC sites showed signals contextually modulated by the subjective value of previously offered goods-a context dependency predicted by theory but not previously observed in humans. These results suggest that value and value-context signals are simultaneously present but separately represented in human frontal cortical activity.

Integration of knowledge systems in urban farming initiatives: insight from Taipei Garden City.

There is growing interest globally in the potential of urban farming to respond to a breadth of urban sustainability challenges. Yet it is also recognised that the policy and implementation of this nature-based strategy is influenced by an underlying science-policy-practice community. The aim of this paper is to understand how different actors and knowledges come together to form a science-policy-practice community for a citywide urban farming initiative-Taipei Garden City. The result shows that the science-policy-practice community was formed in a dynamic 'top-down' and 'bottom-up' process. This allows long-term public-private partnership to be developed and enables different knowledges and experiences to co-exist in policies and practices. This study argues that in-between spaces and actors, who can cut across different fora, are vital to make urban farming interventions happen. Nonetheless, we also question the extent to which embodied and experiential knowledge is sufficient to support environmentally and socially appropriate outcomes for attaining urban sustainability.

Identifying factors contributing to social vulnerability through a deliberative Q-Sort process: an application to heat vulnerability in Taiwan.

Extreme heat events are gaining ever more policy and societal attention under a warming climate. Although a breadth of expertises are required to understand drivers of vulnerability to hazards such as extreme heat, it is also acknowledged that expert assessments in group settings may be subject to biases and uneven power relations. In this Technical Note, we outline a structured deliberative process for supporting experts to work collaboratively to assess social vulnerability to a climate-related hazard, in this case extreme heat in Taiwanese cities. We argue that adapting elicitation approaches such as Q-Methodology for use in collaborative settings can help to organise expert discussion and enable dialogue and mutual learning, in a way that supports consensus-building on vulnerability assessment. Outcomes from our collaborative assessments suggest elderly people living alone, elderly people over 75, pre-existing circulatory diseases and level of participation in community decision-making may all be notable drivers of heat vulnerability in the Taiwanese context. Methodologically, we argue that collaborative sorting exercises offer a way to embed local and experiential knowledges into assessments of available evidence, but that strong facilitation and additional checks are necessary to ensure an inclusive process that reflects the diversity of perspectives involved. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11069-022-05280-4.

Urban greenspace as a climate change adaptation strategy for subtropical Asian cities: A comparative study across cities in three countries.

Interest in nature-based approaches for climate change adaptation in cities is growing. Whilst there is a growing field of scholarship in a European and North America setting, research on the policy and governance of urban greenspace for climate adaptation in subtropical Asia is limited. Given the different development patterns, environmental characteristics and governance arrangements in subtropical cities, plus their comparatively large population and high climate risk, this is a significant knowledge gap. In response, this paper evaluates competences - skill sets, capabilities, and supporting policy and legislation - to enact adaptation through greenspace across different governance contexts; and assesses how international rhetoric on nature-based adaptation becomes localised to subtropical Asian city settings. We conduct interviews with stakeholders, plus review of relevant policy and city-specific research, for three cities with different governance and development contexts: Hanoi (Vietnam); Taipei (Taiwan); and Fukuoka (Japan). Across all three cases, we find that institutional structures and processes for connecting different remits and knowledge systems are a bigger challenge than a lack of appropriate policy or individuals with the required technical knowledge. However, opportunities for civil society participation and consideration of justice issues vary between the cities according to the socio-political context. These findings illustrate the value of individuals and organisations able to work across institutional boundaries in linking greenspace and adaptation agendas for subtropical Asian cities; and the importance of competence in collaboration with developers and civil society so that the rapid development or regeneration seen in subtropical Asian contexts does not tend towards green climate gentrification. More broadly, our findings show that the diverse nature of subtropical Asian cities means the role of greenspace in climate adaptation is likely to be context-specific, and thus that caution must be exercised against uncritically importing best practices from exemplar cases elsewhere.

Spatial relationship between land development pattern and intra-urban thermal variations in Taipei.

This paper assesses the influence of land development patterns on intra-urban thermal variation in a densely-developed subtropical city, considering joint effect from greenspace pattern and built-up geometry. Despite growing research on urban climates, research at a scale that can support urban planning with scientificallyinformed strategies is still not as well documented for warm climate cities as for temperate cities. In response, this paper uses land surface temperature and geoinformation to assess the subtropical city of Taipei, Taiwan. Results show cooler environments are not only associated with natural surfaces, but also their interrelation with different spatial arrangement of buildings. An open layout tends to have lower temperature at low- to mid-rise buildings, whereas a compact layout is the coolest form for high-rise buildings. Cooling benefit from open layouts is, however, related to an increase in greenery. Clustering distribution of greenspaces produces more notable cooling. Accordingly, this paper proposes four heat mitigation strategies for Taipei: 1) increasing the amount of water bodies and vegetation, with greater coverage and coherence; 2) taking building height and shadow into account during regeneration/development; 3) increasing spacing and greenery between low- to midrise buildings; and 4) avoiding construction of compact low-rise buildings with corrugated iron steel.

Ecosystem metabolism regulates seasonal bioaccumulation of metals in atyid shrimp (Neocaridina denticulata) in a tropical brackish wetland.

Natural dissolved organic matter (DOM) forms the base of aquatic food webs and is a key environmental factor that affects the bioavailability of metals for aquatic organisms. Aquatic communities are naturally exposed simultaneously to environments containing a mixture of metals and varying DOM levels and compositions. However, the exact effect of DOM on metal bioaccumulation is difficult to predict due to temporal and spatial variations in sources, production, and consumption of DOM, and to interactions between DOM and metals. Ecosystem metabolism describes the process of organic carbon production and consumption and, therefore, the trophic status of ecosystems. However, whether and how ecosystem metabolism determines the seasonality of metal bioaccumulation remains unclear. The present study used in-situ water quality sondes and discrete field samplings to establish the relationship between the seasonality of ecosystem metabolism; related environmental and limnological regulators; the metal speciation and concentration in bulk water and sediments; and their metal bioaccumulation. The target population consisted of atyid shrimp (Neocaridina denticulata) in a brackish constructed wetland in tropical Taiwan was sampled between August 2014 and November 2015. Metal bioaccumulation displayed distinct seasonal patterns that peaked in summer (Cu, Cd, Cr, Zn, Mn, and Se) or winter (Pb and Ni). The in situ production (gross primary production) and heterotrophic consumption (ecosystem respiration) of organic matter significantly decreased with increasing waterborne DOM levels in this heterotrophic wetland. Both dissolved free metals bioavailable for respiratory surfaces (As, Zn, Cu, and Cr) and insoluble metals available for dietary intake (Mn and Ni) decreased with increasing DOM, as well as with decreasing gross primary production and ecosystem respiration. Seasonal variations of metal bioaccumulation also paralleled the transition in wetland trophic status, which reflected the effect of potential qualitative changes in the wetland DOM pool. Bioaccumulation of most metals displayed strong correlations with gross primary production, ecosystem respiration, and wetland trophic status. Our findings demonstrated that ecosystem metabolism can play a key mediating role in the seasonality of metal bioaccumulation in atyid shrimp, as it links the variation and interaction between DOM level/source, the speciation/bioavailability, and the uptake efficiency for metals by aquatic organisms. This study contributes to the temporal-specific risk assessment of aquatic metal exposure in regional environmental settings. It also reveals ecosystem-specific spectra in the context of changes in climate and environment.

What is the role of epistemic communities in shaping local environmental policy? Managing environmental change through planning and greenspace in Fukuoka City, Japan.

This paper evaluates the role of epistemic communities in shaping local environmental policy, through the case of management of environmental change through planning and greenspace in Fukuoka City, Japan. Amidst increasing global interest in the role of evidence-based policy and urban science in responding to environmental issues in cities, Fukuoka is distinctive. Locally-situated scholars in Fukuoka have, for several decades, sought to shape local responses to environmental change by influencing policy for the built environment and greenspace. Through analysis of scholarly outputs produced by scholars working at universities and research institutes within Fukuoka and policy documentation produced by the city government, we characterise the development of Fukuoka's urban environmental change epistemic community. We suggest that built environment and greenspace policy to respond to environmental change in Fukuoka has been shaped by an epistemic community in three ways. These are: (a) a common belief in techno-scientific evidence derived from empirical observation; (b) a shared interest in urban planning and greenspace as a vehicle for realising change; and (c) a common normative concern with citizen wellbeing, rooted in negative historical experiences with pollution. We argue that policy formation driven by scholarly expertise in cities may have a greater chance of taking root if there is a favourable historical context of locally-led environmental science research, personal investment of the epistemic community members in the city, and regular dialogue between the epistemic community and wider society in the city. We conclude that a strong and reflexive epistemic community, working in collaboration with environmental and civil society actors, is important in understanding an appropriate response to current urban environmental challenges.

Left centro-parieto-temporal response to tool-gesture incongruity: an ERP study.

BACKGROUND: Action semantics have been investigated in relation to context violation but remain less examined in relation to the meaning of gestures. In the present study, we examined tool-gesture incongruity by event-related potentials (ERPs) and hypothesized that the component N400, a neural index which has been widely used in both linguistic and action semantic congruence, is significant for conditions of incongruence. METHODS: Twenty participants performed a tool-gesture judgment task, in which they were asked to judge whether the tool-gesture pairs were correct or incorrect, for the purpose of conveying functional expression of the tools. Online electroencephalograms and behavioral performances (the accuracy rate and reaction time) were recorded. RESULTS: The ERP analysis showed a left centro-parieto-temporal N300 effect (220-360 ms) for the correct condition. However, the expected N400 (400-550 ms) could not be differentiated between correct/incorrect conditions. After 700 ms, a prominent late negative complex for the correct condition was also found in the left centro-parieto-temporal area. CONCLUSIONS: The neurophysiological findings indicated that the left centro-parieto-temporal area is the predominant region contributing to neural processing for tool-gesture incongruity in right-handers. The temporal dynamics of tool-gesture incongruity are: (1) firstly enhanced for recognizable tool-gesture using patterns, (2) and require a secondary reanalysis for further examination of the highly complicated visual structures of gestures and tools. The evidence from the tool-gesture incongruity indicated altered brain activities attributable to the N400 in relation to lexical and action semantics. The online interaction between gesture and tool processing provided minimal context violation or anticipation effect, which may explain the missing N400.

Analyzing the effectiveness of using branchial NKA activity as a biomarker for assessing waterborne copper toxicity in tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus): A damage-based modeling approach.

Branchial Na(＋)-K(＋)-ATPase (NKA) activity has been suggested as a promising biomarker for assessing metal stress in aquatic organisms. However, studies that systematically show the effectiveness of using NKA activity to detect metal exposure and toxicity at the individual level are limited. In this study, we aimed to determine whether branchial NKA activity mechanistically responds to the accumulation of waterborne copper (Cu) and accounts for observed toxicity over time under environmentally-relevant and aquafarming Cu exposure levels (0.2, 1 and 2 mg L(-1)). Temporal trends in Cu accumulation and the corresponding responses of branchial NKA activity resulting from Cu exposure were investigated in laboratory experiments conducted on juvenile tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus), a freshwater teleost that shows potential as a bioindicator of real-time and historical metal pollution. We used the process-based damage assessment model (DAM) to inspect the time course of Cu toxicity by integrating the compensation process between Cu-induced inhibition and repair of branchial NKA activity. NKA activity acted as a sensitive biomarker for Cu exposure and accumulation in tilapia, which showed induced impairment of osmoregulation and lethality when they were exposed to environmentally relevant levels (0.2 mg L(-1)), but not to higher exposure levels (1 and 2 mg L(-1)) in aquaculture farms or contaminated aquatic ecosystems. This study highlights the benefits and limitations of using branchial NKA activity as a sensitive biomarker to assess the health status of a fish population and its ecosystem.

Institution type-dependent high prevalence of dementia in long-term care units.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: It is estimated that there are 90,000 patients with dementia in the 23 million habitants of Taiwan, with a few institutions specialized in dementia care. To assess the need of institutional care for dementia, we investigated the institution prevalence of dementia. METHODS: We performed stratified randomized sampling of elder residents from different types of institutions in different regions of Taiwan. A 2-stage survey with screening and clinical confirmation was carried out in 2004. RESULTS: In total, 1,525 residents aged 65 years and over in 60 institutions participated in the study in which 1,308 elders completed the 2-stage survey. Among these, 631 elders were diagnosed as having dementia. The dementia prevalence was 26.8% in the residential houses, 61.8% in the assisted living facilities and 64.5% in the nursing homes. Vascular dementia was the leading cause of dementia in the institutions. Old age, diabetes mellitus and family history of dementia increased risks for both Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia. CONCLUSION: The investigation showed that the prevalence of dementia in the long-term care units of Taiwan was much higher than those from community studies and the high prevalence in the institutions depended on the type of the long-term care unit.