GIS-Based Decision Support System for Safe and Sustainable Building Construction Site in a Mountainous Region

The site selection process for a building entails evaluating a variety of factors with varying degrees of importance or percentage influence. In order to ensure that critical site selection factors are not overlooked, a methodology for calculating a building’s safe site selection must be developed. The study identified three broad aspects widely considered in site selection, namely environmental, physical, and socioeconomic criteria. To assess the safest site selection of residential building construction for sustainable urban growth, we used GIS-based multi-criteria decision-making approach that combined Fuzzy-AHP and weighted linear combination (WLC) aggregation method used to calculate the SSPZ. The final safe site suitability map was generated by aggregating all aspects such as geophysical, socio-economic and Geo-environmental thematic layers and their associated Fuzzy-AHP weights using the weighted linear combination method. The sites potential index’s mean value of 0.513 with standard deviation of 0.340, minimum and maximum GeoPhySSSI are 0.0 and 0.91, respectively, SSS index is classified into zones by histogram profile using natural breaks (jenks)” Subsequently, safe sites identified and divided into six classes namely no construction, very low suitable site low suitable site, moderate suitable site, high suitable site, and very high suitable site.“ According to the statistical analysis, 3.64% and 32.12% of the total area were under very high and high SSSZ, while 26.40% and 6.22% accounted to the moderate and low suitable potential, respectively” Our findings suggest that integrating the fuzzy collection with AHP is highly desirable in terms of alternative and decision-making effectiveness. The study reveals that the areas of high and moderate suitability are located near existing habitant area, major roads, and educational and health services; they are not located in restricted/protected areas or are vulnerable to natural hazards. The findings indicate that unsuitable and less-suitable land uses such as vegetation, protected areas, and agriculture lands cover nearly one-third area of Abha-Khamis Mushyet regions, implying that using Fuzzy-AHP and GIS techniques will significantly aid in the conservation of the environment. This would significantly mitigate adverse effects on the ecosystem and climate.

“Please mind the gap”: successful use of ultrasound-assisted spinal anesthesia for urgent cesarean section in a patient with implanted spinal cord stimulation system for giant chest wall arteriovenous malformation – a case report

Background The use of Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS) system to treat medically refractory neuropathic pain is increasing. Severe neuropathic pain can be found in giant chest wall arteriovenous malformations (AVMs), exceedingly rare and debilitating abnormalities, rarely reported during pregnancy. Case presentation We present a report of a pregnant patient with implanted Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS) system because of painful thoracic AVM scheduled for an urgent cesarean section in which we used lumbar ultrasound (US) to rule out the possibility to damage SCS electrodes and to find a safe site to perform spinal anesthesia. Conclusions The use of lumbar US to find a safe site for a lumbar puncture in presence of SCS system in a patient affected by painful thoracic AVM makes this case a particularly unique operative challenge and offers a new possible use of ultrasound to detect a safe space in patients with SCS implant.

Pleural drainage

Ultrasound guidance is recommended by the British Thoracic Society when undertaking any procedure on a pleural effusion in order to reduce complications. This chapter outlines the indications for draining a pleural effusion and describes the technique for using ultrasound to identify a safe site for drainage. A detailed description of how to undertake an ultrasound-guided pleural aspiration, thoracocentesis, and insertion of chest drain follows.