About

Professor Nicholas Flores is a faculty member in the Department of Economics at the University of Colorado Boulder, with a primary research focus on environmental economics. His work involves the development and refinement of methodologies for eliciting environmental preferences, applying economic theory to understand elicitation methods and empirical phenomena related to environmental valuation. His research interests include the theory of public and environmental goods and their valuation, the role of nonuse values in economic analyses, the incorporation of environmental values into public decision-making, and the economics of natural and technical hazards. Professor Flores holds a PhD in Economics from the University of California, San Diego, obtained in 1995, along with a master's degree in Mathematical Statistics and a master's degree in Economics from the same institution. He also earned a BA in Economics with a Mathematics minor from the University of Texas at Austin. His completed projects include analyzing the interaction of multiple public goods in monetary valuation, examining nonuse values for environmental goods, exploring the relationship between income and environmental values, assessing the welfare-signaling capabilities of environmentally-adjusted national income accounts, investigating the relevance of altruism in benefit-cost analysis, and empirically studying the importance of provision mechanisms in contingent valuation methods. Professor Flores is also affiliated as a Faculty Research Associate at the Institute of Behavioral Science, Environment & Society, and as a Principal Investigator at the National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics.

Research topics

• Internal medicine
• Anesthesia
• Medicine

Selected publications

• Implementation and validation of an electroencephalography dual‐task paradigm for detection of preclinical Alzheimer’s Disease

  Alzheimer s & Dementia · 2024-12-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Background Dementia has a worldwide prevalence of 55 million people, with 60 to 70% of cases attributed to Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). In Antioquia, Colombia, exists a group of families with early‐onset AD associated to PSEN1‐E280A, a genetic variant with an autosomal dominant inheritance pattern and a penetrance over 99%, which enables the study of individuals across different disease stages. Electroencephalography (EEG) is a non‐invasive, portable, and low‐cost technique that allows the study of electrophysiological changes associated with neurodegeneration. When used in conjunction with dual‐task paradigms, EEG could serve as a clinical marker for evaluating brain functional reserve according to three theoretical models: the ability to share cognitive resources between tasks, the cross‐talk dependent on the content of processed information, and the bottleneck model. Therefore, the combined use of EEG and dual‐task represents a potential novel and adaptable alternative in clinical settings for detecting preclinical stages of AD. Method The study population comprises cognitively healthy individuals who are carriers of the PSEN1‐E280A variant and control subjects without mobility limitations or impairments in verbal or written communication skills. The experimental protocol involves a motor task (single‐task) of elbow flexion‐extension and a motor‐cognitive task (dual‐task) that integrates the single‐task with six cognitive tasks. Data on upper extremity function (UEF) were collected using a tri‐axial wearable gyroscope and accelerometer sensor, while EEG recordings were obtained with the Open BCI CYTON BIOSENSING BOARD device, using the channels FP1, FP2, C3, C4, P7, P8, O1, O2. Result 10 healthy non‐carrier individuals have been evaluated to describe the behavior of the metrics in control subjects. The UEF measured by angular velocity curves illustrates a lower amplitude and flat points during the dual‐task compared to the single‐task, indicating that cognitive activity impacted motor performance. The EEG recordings showed a higher power spectral density during dual‐task compared to single‐task. Conclusion The obtained results represent the motor performance between single and dual‐task modalities, which possibly represent a change in the dynamics of brain functioning as observed in the EEG signals.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Postintubation Decline in Oxygen Saturation Index Predicts Mortality in COVID-19: A Retrospective Pilot Study

  Critical Care Research and Practice · 2021 · 4 citations

  • Medicine
  • Internal medicine
  • Anesthesia

  BACKGROUND: , and oxygen saturation index (OSI), commonly used to assess the severity of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), can predict mortality in mechanically ventilated COVID-19 patients. METHODS: , and OSI with mortality was assessed using multiple variable logistic regression analysis. Receiver operating characteristic analysis was conducted to evaluate the performance of the predictive models. RESULTS: , and OSI, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Decline in oxygenation indices after intubation is predictive of mortality in COVID-19 patients. This time window is critical to the outcome of these patients and a possible target for future interventions. Future large-scale studies to confirm the prognostic value of the indices in COVID-19 patients are warranted.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Playing with Fire: Assessing the effects of risk interdependency, social norms, and costs on homeowners’ wildfire mitigation decisions using choice experiments

  CU Scholar (University of Colorado Boulder) · 2019-01-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  This data set emerges from an online choice experiments with homeowners in areas at risk of wildfire in Western Colorado to assess the role of social interactions in shaping wildfire mitigation decisions. These experiments manipulated conditions on neighboring properties to separately identify two social effect pathways: 1) risk interdependency, or the effect of neighbors' vegetation conditions on an individual's own perceived risk and subsequent actions, and 2) social norms, or the desire to conform to dominant behaviors in one's reference group.

  PublisherDOI

• Relevant Recruiting for Online Survey Participation

  2018-01-01 · 2 citations

  bookSenior author

  Administering a survey online has a number of practical benefits including lower costs, reductions in paper use and data entry time, and a faster data collection time period. A significant challenge, however, entails creating and recruiting a relevant sample of respondents with specific characteristics when email lists are unavailable. In this case, we seek to encourage researcher conversation about relevant and effective recruitment strategies by describing the extensive pretesting process we undertook to develop our survey sampling and recruitment strategy for a study of wildfire mitigation behaviors in Western Colorado. Pretesting response rates varied from 3% to 30%, with the inclusion of a US$2 billion in the recruitment envelope yielding the highest response rate. The actual study subsequently used this approach and resulted in a 35% response rate.

  PublisherDOI

• Adenocarcinoma de mama

  2017-06-02

  article

  Resumen El cancer de mama corresponde a menos del 1% del total de casos de cancer en hombres. Su pico maximo se produce por encima de los 70 anos y se han identificado como factores de riesgo: la mutacion del gen BRCA-2, sindrome de Klinefelter, antecedentes familiares, exposicion laboral, hiperestrogenismo, entre otros. Sus caracteristicas clinicas incluyen una masa indolora subareolar, retraccion del pezon y descarga sanguinolenta, siendo las dos ultimas mas frecuentes en estadios avanzados. El diagnostico suele complementarse con estudios de imagenes, incluyendo la mamografia y ultrasonido de mama, y se confirma mediante el estudio histopatologico, donde destaca la variante ductal invasora como la mas frecuente. El tratamiento de eleccion es la mastectomia radical modificada con linfadenectomia axilar o biopsia de ganglio centinela, la misma que puede acompanarse de radioterapia coadyuvante, terapia hormonal y quimioterapia sistemica. El caso que a continuacion de describe corresponde a un hombre de 32 anos con una masa nodular levemente dolorosa al tacto, de bordes irregulares, adherida a planos profundos en mama derecha y acompanada de linfadenopatias axilares palpables del mismo lado; la misma que fue estudiada mediante biopsia incisional reportando un adenocarcinoma de mama de localizacion ductal. El paciente fue sometido a ciclos de radioterapia y quimioterapia; sin embargo fallecio un ano despues del diagnostico tras el desarrollo de metastasis a distancia.

• OC.03.4: The Humanistic and Economic Burden of Irritable Bowel Syndrome with Diarrhoea Among Patients in Italy

  Digestive and Liver Disease · 2017-03-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• 0457 COMORBIDITIES AND HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE AMONG PEOPLE WITH SLEEP APNEA WITH EXCESSIVE SLEEPINESS: FINDINGS FROM THE 2016 US NATIONAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS SURVEY

  SLEEP · 2017-04-28 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Few population-based studies have explored how excessive sleepiness (ES) contributes to burden of illness among patients with sleep apnea (SA). Data were obtained from the 2016 US National Health and Wellness Survey, an annual, representative, cross-sectional, general health survey (N=97,503). Respondents self-reporting a SA diagnosis were categorized as having ES (Epworth Sleepiness Scale [ESS≥11]) or not having ES (ESS<11) and compared with a non-SA control group. Respondents reporting narcolepsy were excluded. Measures included comorbidities and health-related quality of life (HRQoL; using SF-36v2) via the mental component summary (MCS), physical component summary (PCS) and health utility scores (SF-6D). Outcomes were examined by three groups: SA w/ES, SA w/oES, and non-SA controls using one-way ANOVAs (continuous outcomes) and chi-squares (categorical outcomes). Generalized linear models controlling for covariates examined the effect of SA/ES status on HRQoL. Overall, SA w/ES was associated with higher comorbidities and lower HRQoL. The SA w/ES group (N=731) had a significantly higher proportion reporting depression (62.4% vs. 48.0%), unstable angina (6.4% vs. 4.1%), asthma (26.3% vs. 20.7%) and GERD (39.0% vs. 29.4%) compared to the SA w/oES group (N=1,452; all P<.05) and also compared to non-SA controls (N=86,961; P<.05). The SA w/ES group also had significantly lower HRQoL compared with the SA w/oES group and non-SA controls on MCS, PCS, and SF-6D (P<.05). After controlling for covariates, the burden of ES remained consistent as the SA w/ES group had significantly lower MCS (41.81 vs. 45.65 vs. 47.81), PCS (46.62 vs. 48.68 vs. 51.36), and SF-6D (0.65 vs. 0.69 vs.0.73) (all P<.001) compared with SA w/oES and non-SA controls. These data provide support that ES is associated with a substantial increased burden to SA patients as demonstrated by increased comorbidities and reduced HRQoL compared to those without ES and non-SA controls. This research was funded by Jazz Pharmaceuticals.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• real-World Data (RWD) On The Attainment Of Composite Quality Measures (Cqm) In A Brazilian Population With Self-Reported Type-2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM)

  Value in Health · 2017-10-01

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Impact Assessment of Natural Resource Management Policy Research: Potential Economic Benefits of CIFOR Sustainable Wetlands Adaptation and Mitigation Project Contributions to an Effective Indonesian Forest Moratorium

  VTechWorks (Virginia Tech) · 2016-10-01

  articleSenior author

  The role of research in policy-making is complex and context specific, generating many challenges for evaluating the impact of policy research. Two key issues in policy-oriented research impact assessment (PORIA) are determining the degree of influence that can be claimed by a knowledge-generating entity and quantifying the eventual economic impact of a policy-oriented research program. This brief reports research that addresses these issues in an ex-ante impact assessment of the Sustainable Wetlands Adaptation and Mitigation Program (SWAMP); an environmentally-focused, policy-oriented research project led by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).

  Publisher

• FRI0564 Serum Uric Acid Testing Practices over Five Years among Incident Gout Cases

  Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases · 2016-06-01

  article
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Patricia A. Champ

  9 shared

• Hannah Brenkert‐Smith

  University of Colorado Boulder

  7 shared

• Katherine L. Dickinson

  6 shared

• G. Ivetich

  3 shared

• Gabriela Orzuza

  Instituto de Neurología Cognitiva

  3 shared

• Maria Goretti Pessôa de Araújo Burgos

  Universidade Federal de Pernambuco

  3 shared

• J.C. Angulo

  Universidad Europea de Madrid

  3 shared

• S. Bolge

  Janssen (United States)

  2 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Economics

  University of California, San Diego

  1995

• M.A., Economics

  University of California, San Diego

• M.S., Mathematical Statistics

  University of California, San Diego

• B.A., Economics, Mathematics Minor

  University of Texas at Austin