Areas In Denmark Research Articles

Green transition and noise transition - Europe's first Living Lab on traffic noise

Around Copenhagen, in the most noise emission plagued areas in Denmark, nine municipalities have joined forces to improve citizens' health and quality of life. Traffic noise is one of the largest environmental problems in our society. In Denmark, over 1.3 million people are estimated to be affected by traffic noise. Silent City works on several levels with political influence, opinion-making, competence development and the establishment of a Living Lab. Since the start in 2015, the partnership has managed to put traffic noise on the agenda, and on that basis implemented several concrete initiatives, including a public consultation at the Danish parliament, preparation of a white paper, targeted press efforts and concrete demonstration projects in a single Living Lab. Together we are stronger, and wiser. When municipalities, companies, citizens, regions, and research institutions work together to reduce traffic noise, promote citizens' quality of life. In the next couple of years, we will use the growing attention on traffic noise and continue to test and develop innovative solutions for combating traffic noise on a 1: 1 scale in natural urban environments.

Using Drones with Thermal Imaging to Estimate Population Counts of European Hare (Lepus europaeus) in Denmark

Drones equipped with thermal cameras have recently become readily available, broadening the possibilities for monitoring wildlife. The European hare (Lepus europaeus) is a nocturnal mammal that is closely monitored in Denmark due to populations declining since the mid-1900s. The limitations of current population-assessment methods, such as, spotlight counts and hunting game statistics, could be overcome by relying on drone surveys with thermal imaging for population counts. The aim of this study was to investigate the use of a DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Advanced drone with thermal imaging as a tool for monitoring the Danish hare population. Multiple test flights were conducted over agricultural areas in Denmark in spring 2022, testing various flight altitudes, camera settings, and recording methods. The test flights were used to suggest a method for identifying and counting hares. The applied use of this methodology was then evaluated through a case survey that had the aim of identifying and counting hares over an agricultural area of 242 ha. Hares could be detected with thermal imaging at flight altitudes up to 80 m, and it was possible to fly as low as 40 m without observing direct behaviorial changes. Thermal images taken at these altitudes also provided enough detail to differentiate between species, and animal body size proved to be a good species indicator. The case study supported the use of thermal imaging-based drone surveys to identify hares and conduct population counts, thus indicating the suggested methodology as a viable alternative to traditional counting methods.

Where do we meet? Exploring how facilities and meeting places in rural areas contribute to quality of life

As a result of structural and demographic changes in rural areas, fewer facilities and meeting places exist in Denmark. In this article, we assess which role facilities and meeting places in rural areas might have for the self-assessed Quality of Life (QoL) of the individuals living in the rural areas. Based on 27 semi-structured qualitative interviews with persons from three different rural areas in Denmark, we show how facilities and meeting places in rural areas play a role in relation to self-assessed QoL via two different types of mechanism: 1) through providing a framework for activities and 2) through the symbolic role facilities and meeting places might have to indicate that one is part of a thriving village. We argue that it is important to acknowledge both mechanisms when assessing the role of facilities and meeting places for QoL in rural areas. The findings in this study focus on the users of the local facilities. Further qualitative research could explore which role the presence of facilities and meeting places might play for the inhabitants who do not use the local facilities and meeting places to the same extent as the interview persons in this study.

An investigation of safe and near-optimal strategies for prevention of Covid-19 exposure using stochastic hybrid models and machine learning

In this work investigate the use of stochastic hybrid models, statistical model checking and machine learning to analyze, predict and control the rapid spreading of Covid-19. During the pandemic numerous studies using stochastic models have been produced. Most of these studies are used to predict the effect of some restrictions. In contrast, in this paper we focus on the synthesis of strategies which prevent Covid-19 spreading. The computed strategies provide valuable information which can be used by the authorities to design new and more specific restrictions. We consider two large case studies that develop in the Copenhagen area in Denmark. Our experiments show that the computed strategies significantly prevent Covid-19 spreading, and thus provide valuable information e.g. expected social distance to minimize Covid-19 spreading. On the technical side, we demonstrate the applicability of analytical methods for preventing the spreading of Covid-19 in large scenarios.

Surface Water Extent Mapping in Denmark: Comparing Airborne Thermal Imagery and Satellite Earth Observation

Mapping and prediction of inundated areas are increasingly important for climate change adaptation and emergency preparedness. Flood forecasting tools and flood risk models have to be compared to observe flooding patterns for training, calibration, validation, and benchmarking. At the regional to continental scales, satellite earth observation (EO) is the established method for surface water extent (SWE) mapping, and several operational global-scale data products are available. However, the spatial resolution of satellite-derived SWE maps remains a limiting factor, especially in low-lying areas with complex hydrography, such as Denmark. We collected thermal imagery using an unmanned airborne system (UAS) for three areas in Denmark shortly after major flooding events. We combined the thermal imagery with an airborne lidar-derived high-resolution digital surface model of the country to retrieve high-resolution (40 cm) SWE maps. The resulting SWE maps were compared with low-resolution SWE maps derived from satellite earth observation and with potential flooded areas derived from the high-resolution digital elevation model. We conclude that UASs have significant potential for SWE mapping at intermediate scales (up to a few square kilometers), can bridge the scale gap between ground observations and satellite EO, and can be used to benchmark and validate SWE mapping products derived from satellite EO as well as models predicting inundation.

Modeling Censored Mobility Demand Through Censored Quantile Regression Neural Networks

Shared mobility services require accurate demand models for effective service planning. On the one hand, modeling the full probability distribution of demand is advantageous because the entire uncertainty structure preserves valuable information for decision-making. On the other hand, demand is often observed through the usage of the service itself, so that the observations are censored, as they are inherently limited by available supply. Since the 1980s, various works on Censored Quantile Regression models have performed well under such conditions. Further, in the last two decades, several papers have proposed to implement these models flexibly through Neural Networks. However, the models in current works estimate the quantiles individually, thus incurring a computational overhead and ignoring valuable relationships between the quantiles. We address this gap by extending current Censored Quantile Regression models to learn multiple quantiles at once and apply these to synthetic baseline datasets and datasets from two shared mobility providers in the Copenhagen metropolitan area in Denmark. The results show that our extended models yield fewer quantile crossings and less computational overhead without compromising model performance.

Normative values of short-term heart rate variability in a cross-sectional study of a Danish population. The DanFunD study.

The autonomic nervous system includes parasympathetic and sympathetic components that monitor and regulate most of the bodily functions and play a central role in the physiology and homeostasis of the human body. Heart rate variability is a non-invasive tool for quantification of rhythmic fluctuations in heart rate that reflects the function of the autonomic nervous system. The study aims to describe the heart rate variability distribution in the general population, stratified in sex and age groups, which is currently insufficiently described. A cross-sectional population-based study recruited participants in 10 municipalities in the western part of the greater Copenhagen area in Denmark, including 6891 men and women aged 18-72 years (participation rate was 29.5%). Short-term heart rate variability measures were obtained and related to age and gender. Both time and frequency domain measures showed a huge variation in the different sex and age groups. Women had a higher median heart rate than men, and the association with age was U-shaped. Measures indicating a predominance of the parasympathetic component in relation to the sympathetic component were more frequent in women and younger age groups. Both sex and age influence the heart rate variability in this adult Danish population. Therefore, our age- and sex-related reference values of heart rate variability in the time and frequency domain should be used in further epidemiological and clinical research.

Learning From Covid-19: Social Infrastructure in Disadvantaged Housing Areas in Denmark

The Danish post-war housing areas originally epitomised the dawn of the welfare state, with modern housing blocks organised as enclaves surrounded by open green spaces, promoting ideals like hygiene, light, fresh air, equity, and community. Often, these housing areas were developed in vacant lots in suburban areas, and social infrastructure planning was an essential part of stimulating the sense of community with centrally located community centres and other common facilities. Due to segregation, some of these housing areas have become disadvantaged neighbourhoods, and the Danish state has recently introduced new measures, including demolitions and evictions, to transform the areas and increase their social and functional mix. The social infrastructure of these areas has traditionally been a physical framework for organised social activities and social support for socially disadvantaged citizens, facilitated by professionals. However, during the pandemic lockdown, shared physical facilities were temporarily closed and all organised social activities cancelled, thus rendering visible critical aspects of social infrastructure that may normally be taken for granted or remain unnoticed. Yet the pandemic also activated communities in new ways, making visible more informal and ad hoc social infrastructure with new communication channels, practical help among neighbours, and community singing from balconies. Based on recent architectural-anthropological field studies in a range of disadvantaged housing areas in Denmark, this article locates social infrastructure during the time of Covid-19. It discusses the potential of mapping existing social networks and suggests a more differentiated view through three levels of social infrastructure learning from the pandemic’s emergency period.

Association Between Urban Regeneration and Healthcare-Seeking Behavior of Affected Residents: A Natural Experiment in two Multi-Ethnic Deprived Housing Areas in Denmark.

Area regeneration of deprived neighborhoods is being used to reduce health inequality, socioeconomic deprivation and ethnic segregation. This quasi-experimental study examines if long-term graded exposure to urban regeneration is associated with primary healthcare-seeking behavior among residents. We compared general practitioner (GP) contacts from 2015-2020 in two adjacent, deprived social housing areas, one exposed to area regeneration. Populations were into Western and non-Western males and females aged 15 years and older (N = 3,960). Mean annual GP contact frequency for each group were estimated and a difference-in-difference (DiD) analysis was conducted with adjustments for propensity scores based on baseline characteristics. GP contact frequency increased for all groups across time with a systematically higher level and faster increase in the control groups. In particular, the mean difference between the exposed and control area for Western women increased from -4.67 to -5.76 annual contacts across the period. The mean differences in contact frequency increased for all groups but results of the DiD analyses were insignificant. In conclusion, an increasing gap in GP contact frequency, with the highest levels in the control area, was observed for all comparisons across time. More long-term research is needed to understand how the increasing gaps evolve.

Association of COVID-19 Infection With Wearing Glasses in a High-Prevalence Area in Denmark and Sweden

Observational studies have indicated that glasses might protect against contracting COVID-19 through reduced airborne and contact transmission. To investigate the association between wearing one's own glasses with contracting COVID-19 when adjusting for relevant confounders. This cohort study was conducted during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (June to August 2020) in Denmark and Sweden, where personal protective equipment was not recommended for the general population at the time. Employees at Falck, an international rescue corps with different job functions (ambulance, health care, office, and field staff, firefighters, and roadside assistance) participated in the study. The main exposure was wearing glasses (also including contact lenses and reading glasses), which was assessed in a questionnaire. Persons wearing glasses were compared with those who did not wear glasses (ie, nonusers). To adjust for potential confounders, information on age, sex, job function, and number of workday contacts were included. The outcome was COVID-19 infection before (positive polymerase chain reaction test) or during the study period (biweekly voluntary tests with a rapid test). The investigated hypothesis was formulated after collecting the data. A total of 1279 employees in Denmark and 841 in Sweden were included (839 [39.6%] female and 1281 [60.4%] male; 20.5% were aged <40 years; 57.0%, 40-60 years, and 22.5%, >60 years). Of these, 829 individuals (64.8%) in Denmark and 619 (73.6%) in Sweden wore glasses. Wearing glasses was inversely associated with COVID-19 infection in the Swedish cohort (odds ratio [OR], 0.61 [95% CI, 0.37-0.99]; P = .047; seroprevalence, 9.3%) but not in the Danish cohort (OR, 1.14 [95% CI, 0.53-2.45]; P = .73; seroprevalence, 2.4%). Adjusting for age, sex, job function, and number of workday contacts in Sweden, wearing glasses no longer was associated with COVID-19 infection (OR, 0.64 [95% CI, 0.37-1.11]; P = .11). When stratifying by job function, a large difference was observed among office staff (OR, 0.20 [95% CI, 0.06-0.70]; P = .01) but not ambulance staff (OR, 0.83 [95% CI, 0.41-1.67]; P = .60) nor health care staff (OR, 0.89 [95% CI, 0.35-2.30]; P = .81). While wearing one's glasses was inversely associated with COVID-19 in Sweden in an unadjusted analysis, an association no longer was identified when adjusting for confounders. These results provide inconclusive findings regarding whether wearing one's own glasses is associated with a decreased risk of COVID-19 infections.

The association between social integration and neighborhood dissatisfaction and unsafety: a cross-sectional survey study among social housing residents in Denmark

BackgroundSocial integration and perceived neighborhood environment are recognized as important social determinants of health. However, little is known about the association between social integration and perceived neighborhood environment among underrepresented population groups, such as residents in disadvantaged neighborhoods, in public health research. The aim of this study is to: 1) Describe the levels of social integration and 2) Investigate the association between social integration and neighborhood dissatisfaction and unsafety among middle-aged and older social housing residents.MethodsA multilingual face-to-face interviewer-administrated survey questionnaire was conducted among 206 residents aged 45 years and above (response rate: 34.1%) of various nationalities in disadvantaged socioeconomic positions in a social housing area in Denmark. The assessment of social integration was based on cohabitation status, frequency of face-to-face and non-face-to-face interaction with social relations and participation in local association activities. Neighborhood dissatisfaction measured the level of dissatisfaction with the neighborhood, and neighborhood unsafety assessed the level of unsafety being outdoors in the neighborhood. Descriptive statistics were conducted to illustrate respondent characteristics and the distribution of social integration among the study population. Logistic regression models were applied to analyze associations between social integration and neighborhood dissatisfaction and unsafety, adjusted for age, sex, country of origin, educational attainment and employment status.ResultsIn total, 23.8% of the respondents reported low levels of social integration. A medium level of social integration was associated with higher odds of neighborhood dissatisfaction (OR: 2.36; 95% CI: 1.04–5.38) compared to the highest level of integration. A low frequency of face-to-face interaction was associated with higher odds of neighborhood dissatisfaction (OR: 2.65; 95% CI: 1.16–6.06) and neighborhood unsafety (OR: 2.41; 95% CI: 1.04–5.57) compared to the highest frequency of face-to-face interaction.ConclusionsAlmost one-fourth of respondents reported low levels of social integration. A medium level of social integration was associated with neighborhood dissatisfaction. A low frequency of face-to-face interaction was associated with neighborhood dissatisfaction and unsafety. The results suggest that targeted health promotion interventions designed to foster face-to-face interaction, hold potential to reduce neighborhood dissatisfaction and unsafety among residents in disadvantaged neighborhoods.

My Criminal Friend: Maneuvering Friendships and Abstaining from Crime in High-Risk Areas in Denmark

This article highlights the perspective of 39 young men who live and have friends in a Danish high-risk neighborhood. We look into their use of microlevel tactics to socialize with crime-involved friends while managing to abstain from crime. Maintaining this balance was a constant everyday processual negotiation of friendship relations, moral obligations, and risk assessment. However, the most severe consequences of having criminal friends were to endure police control and potentially be known and registered by the police as criminals or ‘gang-affiliated’. In that way, the criminal justice system was deeply entangled in the social lives of these young people.

Landslide Susceptibility Mapping Using Machine Learning: A Danish Case Study

Mapping of landslides, conducted in 2021 by the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), revealed 3202 landslides in Denmark, indicating that they might pose a bigger problem than previously acknowledged. Moreover, the changing climate is assumed to have an impact on landslide occurrences in the future. The aim of this study is to conduct the first landslide susceptibility mapping (LSM) in Denmark, reducing the geographical bias existing in LSM studies, and to identify areas prone to landslides in the future following representative concentration pathway RCP8.5, based on a set of explanatory variables in an area of interest located around Vejle Fjord, Jutland, Denmark. A subset from the landslide inventory provided by GEUS is used as ground truth data. Three well-established machine learning (ML) algorithms—Random Forest, Support Vector Machine, and Logistic Regression—were trained to classify the data samples as landslide or non-landslide, treating the ML task as a binary classification and expressing the results in the form of a probability in order to produce susceptibility maps. The classification results were validated through the test data and through an external data set for an area located outside of the region of interest. While the high predictive performance varied slightly among the three models on the test data, the LR and SVM demonstrated inferior accuracy outside of the study area. The results show that the RF model has robustness and potential for applicability in landslide susceptibility mapping in low-lying landscapes of Denmark in the present. The conducted mapping can become a step forward towards planning for mitigative and protective measures in landslide-prone areas in Denmark, providing policy-makers with necessary decision support. However, the map of the future climate change scenario shows the reduction of the susceptible areas, raising the question of the choice of the climate models and variables in the analysis.

Transport of skips between recycling centers and treatment facilities

We study two versions of a skip pickup and delivery problem. In the first version, skips are picked up from recycling centers and, depending on their content, they are transported to specified treatment facilities where they are emptied before being returned to their origin. In the second version, the point of return of empty skips is flexible and determined by the skip type. We provide mathematical models for both versions of the problem and present a variable neighborhood search-inspired heuristic for solving them to near-optimality. Computational results are provided for real-life instances from four areas in Denmark.

Healthcare Use in the Five Years Before a First Infertility Diagnosis: A Danish Register-Based Case-Control Study in the CROSS-TRACKS Cohort.

PurposeInfertility may affect somatic and mental health later in life. Nevertheless, health status before diagnosed infertility is sparsely studied in women. We aimed to describe healthcare use in primary and secondary care before a first infertility diagnosis and compare use between cases and controls.Materials and MethodsThe case–control study was based on register data and used incidence density sampling. From the CROSS-TRACKS Cohort, we included women residing in the Horsens area in Denmark in 2012–2018 (n = 54,175). Eligible women were aged 18–40 years, nulliparous, and living in heterosexual relationships. Cases were women with a first infertility diagnosis in the Danish National Patient Registry (index date). Five controls were matched on age, birth year, and calendar time. Through linkage to Danish national health registries, we identified general practitioner (GP) attendance, paraclinical examinations, hospital contacts, diagnoses, and redeemed prescriptions. Healthcare use from one year to five years before index date was compared with conditional logistic regression.ResultsWe identified 711 cases and 3555 controls. At one year before index date, cases consulted their GP (odds ratio (OR) = 5.2, 95% confidence interval (CI): 3.2, 8.3) and visited hospital (OR = 1.2, 95% CI: 1.0, 1.4) and redeemed prescriptions (OR = 2.3 95% CI: 1.9, 2.7) more often compared to controls. Cases more often had blood and hemoglobin tests performed, redeemed more drugs related to genitourinary and hormonal diseases, and were more often diagnosed with endocrine and genitourinary diseases in the year before a first infertility diagnosis compared to controls. Cases and controls had comparable healthcare use from five years to one year before a first infertility diagnosis.ConclusionCases and controls had similar healthcare use from five years to one year before a first infertility diagnosis. However, cases had a higher healthcare use in the year preceding a first infertility diagnosis compared to controls.

Citizen science and deep mapping for climate communication: A report on CHICC

ABSTRACT This paper reports on CHICC: a community archaeology project funded by Horizon 2020 (2021–2023). CHICC (Culture, Heritage, Identity: impacts of Climate Change) explores the impact of heritage upon climate communication and action in the project areas of Denmark, Ireland and Scotland. The citizen science methodology involves working with communities to co-create digital presentations or ‘deep maps’ of heritage sites at risk from anthropogenic climate change. The early results of this unrestricted co-creation include the community’s deeper understanding of their local heritage and its relationships to climate change, which can be a provocation for climate action.

Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in social housing areas in Denmark

BackgroundCOVID-19 is thought to be more prevalent among ethnic minorities and individuals with low socioeconomic status. We aimed to investigate the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies during the COVID-19 pandemic among citizens 15 years or older in Denmark living in social housing (SH) areas.MethodsWe conducted a study between January 8th and January 31st, 2021 with recruitment in 13 selected SH areas. Participants were offered a point-of-care rapid SARS-CoV-2 IgM and IgG antibody test and a questionnaire concerning risk factors associated with COVID-19. As a proxy for the general Danish population we accessed data on seroprevalence from Danish blood donors (total Ig ELISA assay) in same time period.ResultsOf the 13,279 included participants, 2296 (17.3%) were seropositive (mean age 46.6 (SD 16.4) years, 54.2% female), which was 3 times higher than in the general Danish population (mean age 41.7 (SD 14.1) years, 48.5% female) in the same period (5.8%, risk ratios (RR) 2.96, 95% CI 2.78–3.16, p > 0.001). Seropositivity was higher among males (RR 1.1, 95% CI 1.05–1.22%, p = 0.001) and increased with age, with an OR seropositivity of 1.03 for each 10-year increase in age (95% CI 1.00–1.06, p = 0.031). Close contact with COVID-19-infected individuals was associated with a higher risk of infection, especially among household members (OR 5.0, 95% CI 4.1–6.2 p < 0,001). Living at least four people in a household significantly increased the OR of seropositivity (OR 1.3, 95% CI 1.0–1.6, p = 0.02) as did living in a multi-generational household (OR 1.3 per generation, 95% CI 1.1–1.6, p = 0.003). Only 1.6% of participants reported not following any of the national COVID-19 recommendations.ConclusionsDanish citizens living in SH areas of low socioeconomic status had a three times higher SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence compared to the general Danish population. The seroprevalence was significantly higher in males and increased slightly with age. Living in multiple generations households or in households of more than four persons was a strong risk factor for being seropositive. Results of this study can be used for future consideration of the need for preventive measures in the populations living in SH areas.

Evolutionary Relationship and the Sequence Similarities among Different Fungal Species Infecting Birds Captured from Different Areas in Denmark.

Fungal diseases are the common cause of death in wild animals and birds of prey. This study was designed to investigate the development of fungal infections among wild birds in Denmark. In this study, fungal samples were isolated from such sources as Barn swallows' feathers, White stork, and birds of prey. The fungal species were isolated by direct culture of feathers on SD Agar with chloramphenicol and incubated at 28±2ºC. The fungal genomic DNA was isolated from each species, PCR reaction was performed, and the resulting fragments of the 18S rRNA DNA were sequenced and used for identification. A comparison between the resulting fragments was made to find out the percentage of similarity among the different fungal species. The multiple sequence alignment showed percentages of similarities ranging from 39% to 99%. To sum up, the 18S rRNA DNA sequence has been evolved dramatically even within the same species, while still conserved in others. It is a useful tool to be used for the identification of fungal species as it reduces time. Moreover, according to the results, there were no comprehensive high homology percentages among the species infecting the same bird.

Place branding and sustainable rural communities: qualitative evidence from rural areas in Denmark

ABSTRACT Several significant societal and economic shifts threaten the sustainability of rural places. More rural communities and municipalities have started to employ place branding to attract residents and businesses and to maintain the service level required to sustain their communities. This study aims to better understand the potential benefits of place branding for the sustainability of rural communities. An exploratory, qualitative research design using case studies from rural places in Denmark was applied. The findings suggest that the level of institutionalization of the place branding approach and the scope of actor engagement influence the type and strength of social sustainability outcomes. Future research should broaden the scope to include both environmental and economic sustainability dimensions. Furthermore, the impact of place branding on sustainability in other spatial contexts, such as cities or countries, should be investigated.

'You Are Kind of Like One of Us': Exploring Researcher Positioning in Studying Community-Based Health Promotion Interventions Among Social Housing Residents of Danish, Turkish and Pakistani Origin.

The practice of qualitative research demands reflexivity throughout the entire research process, with special attention directed towards researcher positioning. In this article, I explore how aspects and characteristics of my social situation positioned me contrary to my expectations regarding researcher positioning. I draw on individual interviews, focus group discussions and field notes about community-based health promotion interventions among residents of Danish, Turkish and Pakistani origin in a deprived social housing area in Denmark. Rather than insider-outsider positioning, the concept represented by the term 'halfie' unfolds the complexity of my researcher positioning: less minority ethnic than the residents of Turkish and Pakistani origin and less Danish than the residents of Danish origin, but similar to both, being a descendant of Sri Lankan Tamil origin brought up in a Danish social housing area. Finally, I present methodological and ethical implications of being a halfie in the context of qualitative health research.