Differences In Urban Areas Research Articles

Does income inequality restrain marriage? A longitudinal study from the 35 large and medium-sized cities of China

In recent years, the continuous decline of marriage rate in Chinese cities has attracted significant attention. The study examined the impact of income inequality on marriage rates, and explored the mechanisms through which this relationship operates. Panel data of 35 large and medium-sized cities of mainland China from 2004 to 2019 were used to empirically test the theoretical hypothesis, finding the following results: Firstly, widening income inequality emerges as a crucial factor contributing to the decline in marriage rates within Chinese cities. Secondly, the impact of the income inequality on the marriage rate shows significant spatial and temporal differences in urban areas. Lastly, factors such as Internet penetration, urbanization and housing price are important channels for income inequality to affect the marriage rate. The objective of this study is to explain the decline of marriage rate in China's cities from the perspective of income distribution, and subsequently unveil the macro-level correlation between income inequality and marital behavior.

Rural-Urban Differences in Mild Cognitive Impairment Among Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in ChengDu, China.

The rural-urban gap in sociodemographic, lifestyle, and disease-related characteristics among COPD patients is prevalent. These differences may influence the prevalence of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). This study aimed to compare the prevalence and determinants of MCI between rural and urban areas among COPD patients. The cross-sectional study sample comprised 372 COPD patients from China. We evaluated the cognitive function and lung function, collected sociodemographic, lifestyle, and disease-related information, to compare the prevalence of MCI in rural and urban areas. Using multivariate regression analysis to examine the effects of variables to MCI. The prevalence of MCI in rural areas was higher than that in urban areas (65.4% vs 47.9%, P=0.001). The prevalence in farm laborers was almost twice as high as that of non-farm laborers in urban areas (82.6% vs 43.1%), but no significant difference in rural areas (P=0.066). However, the data were lower in subjects who insisted on long-term home oxygen therapy (39.7%, CI:27.8-51.6, P<0.001), and who with higher monthly household income (49.6%, CI:40.2-58.9) in rural areas, but no significant difference in urban areas (P=0.985 and 0.502). Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that participants aged 71 years and above, former smokers were at a high risk of MCI in both urban and rural areas. However, participants who slept for 6-8 hours a day, shopping frequently, or exercised for more than 2 hours a day had a lower risk of MCI in urban areas. But rural participants who insisted on long-term home oxygen therapy had a lower probability of developing MCI. This study revealed that there were significant differences in MCI among COPD patients in rural and urban areas, especially in exercise, sleeping, shopping, and long-term home oxygen therapy. Medical staff should give health guidance according to the actual situation of patients with COPD.

Distribution of heavy metals and the exploration of potential indicators and hyperaccumulators in Jiang'an River, Chengdu, PR China

As a highly toxic contaminant, heavy metals have been proven to be widely distributed in the water and sediments of the global oceans, rivers, and lakes. Due to the functional differences in urban areas, the extent, characteristics, and hazards of heavy metal pollution in rivers are also different. To monitor and eliminate heavy metal pollution in rivers, indicators and hyperaccumulators perform crucial roles. In this study, heavy metal concentrations in the water, sediment, benthic faunae and aquatic plants of the Jiang'an River (which flows through Chengdu city, Sichuan Province, P.R. China) were investigated, followed by heavy metal correlation analysis of different media to identify potential bioindicator and hyperaccumulator. The results demonstrated that, none of the heavy metals were detected in the water. However, the 6 heavy metals in the surface sediments showed dramatic spatial regional differences, with Ni-As, Ni-Pb, Ni-Cr, Cr-Cu and Cr-Zn being highly significantly correlated. Furthermore, heavy metal contents in surface sediments were highly significantly correlated with the enrichment capacity of Eriocheir sinensis, Polypogon fugax, and Setaria viridis, and significantly correlated with Erigeron acer. Moreover, all plants were poorly enriched with Pb, which may be related to the morphology of Pb in the sediments. Besides, Eriocheir sinensis is a potential indicator of Zn and Cr in the sediments, and Erigeron acer is a possible Zn hyperaccumulator. This research confirms that heavy metals migrated in the water–sediment-benthic-plant system. Therefore, this study can provide a theoretical foundation for river monitoring and administration in Chengdu city and Sichuan Province.

Recreation and Alcohol Consumption in Sub-Saharan Africa: Addressing Gender and Age Differences in Urban Areas-Praia, Cabo Verde.

Background: Reducing alcohol consumption and improving urban planning in African cities are public health priorities. The aim of this study was to explore gender and age differences in recreational activity participation and its link with self-reported alcohol consumption in three urban areas of Praia. Methods: A questionnaire was applied to a probabilistic sample of 1912 adults, with a median age of 35.0 (IQR: 26.0–48.8) years, living in informal, transition, and formal areas of the capital of Cabo Verde. Results: More than 80% of the participants reported rarely or never participating in recreational activities. Going daily or weekly to the café was the most reported recreational activity, regardless of the urban area. Participation in recreational activities was higher in men than women, decreasing with age in both cases. Alcohol consumption was significantly higher in men than women (72.4% versus 47.4%, p < 0.001). Multiple logistic regression models showed that going at least once to the bar/nightclub (for men and women) and going to the café (for women) were associated with alcohol consumption. Furthermore, age (for women), in a protective way, and having children (for men) appeared to be associated with alcohol consumption. Conclusions: This study provides new data on the recreational environment in Praia and can contribute to the development of local and national public health policies and interventions in line with several SDGs to reduce alcohol consumption, enhance healthy leisure/recreation practices, and promote better living conditions for its inhabitants.

Disparities in Access to Radiation Oncology Facilities Among American Indian/Alaska Natives and Hispanics in Metro and Non-Metro Washington State

Racial and ethnic minorities in Washington State (WA) experience higher cancer mortality relative to whites. We sought to characterize differences in travel distance as a marker for access to radiation therapy (RT) facilities in WA and one possible contributing factor to cancer disparities.Geocoded mortality data from the WA Department of Health (2011-2018) were used to identify decedents with mortality related to all causes, all cancers, and cancers likely requiring access to RT (defined as estimated RT usage rate > 50% by anatomical subsite corresponding to ICD-9 or 10 code). Race was defined per US Office of Management and Budget 1997 standard and ethnicity as Hispanic or non-Hispanic. RT facility locations were identified from the Directory of Radiotherapy Centers and validated by internet search or phone calls. Road network distance from decedent's residence to nearest RT facility was calculated on a geographic information platform. Generalized mixed models were used for statistical analysis.We identified 109,134 cancer-related deaths of which 60,973 likely required RT. Among decedents with cancers likely requiring RT, non-Hispanic (NH) American Indian/Alaskan Native (AI/AN) decedents would have had to travel 1.16 times (95% CI 1.09-1.24) farther to reach the nearest treatment facility compared to NH whites. This association existed in metro counties but was more pronounced in non-metro and rural counties, where NH AI/ANs would have had to travel 1.39 times farther compared to NH whites (95% CI 1.22 - 1.58). This translated to an average of 83 miles (SD = 22) for NH AI/AN in rural areas to travel to RT centers whereas NH Whites in rural areas would have had to travel on average 59 miles (SD = 28). Hispanics would have had to travel 1.11 times farther to reach the nearest facility compared to NH whites (95% CI 1.06 - 1.16), primarily due to differences in urban areas. NH African American, NH Asian, and NH Native Hawaiian decedents lived closer to RT facilities compared to the NH white decedents. Based on our findings, we estimated that expanding the federal "safe harbor" restrictions on health systems providing transportation from 50 to 75 miles could open up needed services for 96% of rural NH AI/ANs.NH AI/ANs and rural decedents experience stark disparities in access to RT facilities in WA state. The findings call for creative initiatives to improve access to critical cancer treatment services to combat racial, ethnic and rural disparities in cancer deaths. In depth analysis of local barriers to access for minority communities is necessary to devising practical solutions such as advocating for policy change for "safe harbor" restrictions.

Classificação do Uso e Ocupação do Solo com Ênfase em Áreas Urbanas

Urbanization in Brazil occurred in a disorganized way and without observing criteria that could ensure the sustainability of this process, resulting in high population concentrations in large urban centers. In this way, it is recognized the need for an adequate planning that contemplates the economic and social interests and respects the environmental demands. Thus, the present work aims to map the land use and occupancy, with an emphasis in an urban area, having as a case study the municipality of Novo Hamburgo, RS. The methodology is established in two levels of detailing of classes, in which supervised classification and manual vectorization were used, seeking a more accurate specification of the urban areas. Validation was established through two databases: Google Earth and Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS), using the confusion matrix and the Kappa index. The results show the efficiency of the hybrid method for high-resolution images, besides highlighting the existing anthropogenic differences in urban areas. In relation to the use of different databases for validation, close values are also perceived between the two processes, with a Kappa index of 0.928 for data obtained from Google Earth and 0.943 for the RPAS.

Interconnections of the urban heat island with the spatial and temporal micrometeorological variability in Rome

The annual and diurnal behavior of the temperature differences in urban areas is important to predict the possible impacts of the future land-use development on climate change and air pollution in heavily populated areas. The behavior of the temperature as well as wind spatio-temporal differences in turn is strongly interconnected with the turbulent and radiative fluxes variability. A 3-year dataset from three automated micrometeorological stations run by the Regional Agency for Environment Protection of Lazio and located in and around the city of Rome is used. The distribution of the urban heat island intensity for the whole period of measurements peaks at 1 °C, but higher values are frequently registered especially referring to differences with the coastal site also due to the sea-breeze cooling effects. The city is generally drier and characterized by winds of lower intensity reaching their maximum 1 h later with the respect to the sub-urban/coastal sites during the afternoon. The micrometeorological data are also analyzed to estimate some key parameter characteristic of the terrain, which represents the main forcing in the numerical models for UHI estimates, such as the albedo, aerodynamics and atmospheric turbulence parameters.

The Fingerprint of Climate Change and Urbanization in South Korea

Understanding long-term changes in precipitation and temperature patterns is important in the detection and characterization of climate change, as is understanding the implications of climate change when performing impact assessments. This study uses a statistically robust methodology to quantify long-, medium- and short-term changes for evaluating the degree to which climate change and urbanization have caused temporal changes in precipitation and temperature in South Korea. We sought to identify a fingerprint of changes in precipitation and temperature based on statistically significant differences at multiple-timescales. This study evaluates historical weather data during a 40-year period (1973–2012) and from 54 weather stations. Our results demonstrate that between 1993–2012, minimum and maximum temperature trends in the vicinity of urban and agricultural areas are significantly different from the two previous decades (1973–1992). The results for precipitation amounts show significant differences in urban areas. These results indicate that the climate in urbanized areas has been affected by both the heat island effect and global warming-caused climate change. The increase in the number of rainfall events in agricultural areas is highly significant, although the temporal trends for precipitation amounts showed no significant differences. Overall, the impacts of climate change and urbanization in South Korea have not been continuous over time and have been expressed locally and regionally in terms of precipitation and temperature changes.

How do social-economic differences in urban areas affect tuberculosis mortality in a city in the tri-border region of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina

BackgroundThe World Health Organization (WHO) launched the “End TB Strategy”, which aims to reduce tuberculosis (TB) mortality by 95% by 2035, Brazil has made a commitment to this, however, one challenge is achieving the goal in the border region, where the TB situation is more critical. The proposal was to analyse the spatial mortality due to TB and its socio-economic determinants in the general population, around the border areas of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina, as well as the temporal trend in this region.MethodThis ecological study considered the cases of TB deaths of residents of Foz do Iguaçu (BR), with its units of analysis being the census sectors. The standardized mortality rate was calculated for each area. Socioeconomic variables data were obtained from the 2010 Demographic Census of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The scan statistic was applied to calculate the spatial relative risk (RR), considering a 95% confidence interval (CI). Spatial dependence was analysed using the Global Bivariate Moran I and Local Bivariate Moran I (LISA) to test the relationship between the socioeconomic conditions of the urban areas and mortality from TB. Analysis of the temporal trend was also performed using the Prais-Winsten test.ResultsA total of 74 cases of TB death were identified, of which 53 (71.6%) were male and 51 (68.9%) people of white skin colour. The mortality rate ranged from 0.28 to 22.75 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. A spatial relative risk area was identified, RR = 5.07 (95% CI 1.79–14.30). Mortality was associated with: proportion of people of brown skin colour (I: 0.0440, p = 0.033), income (low income I: − 0.0611, p = 0.002; high income I: − 0.0449, p = 0.026) and density of residents (3 and 4 residents, I: 0.0537, p = 0.007; 10 or more residents, I: − 0.0390, p = 0.035). There was an increase in the mortality rate in people of brown skin colour (6.1%; 95% CI = 0.029, 0.093).ConclusionDeath due to TB was associated with income, race resident density and social conditions. Although the TB mortality rate is stationary in the general population, it is increasing among people of brown skin colour.

Large Uncertainties in Urban‐Scale Carbon Emissions

AbstractAccurate estimates of fossil fuel carbon dioxide (FFCO2) emissions are a critical component of local, regional, and global climate agreements. Current global inventories of FFCO2 emissions do not directly quantify emissions at local scales; instead, spatial proxies like population density, nighttime lights, and power plant databases are used to downscale emissions from national totals. We have developed a high‐resolution (hourly, 1 km2) bottom‐up Anthropogenic Carbon Emissions System (ACES) for FFCO2, based on local activity data for the year 2011 across the northeastern U.S. We compare ACES with three widely used global inventories, finding significant differences at regional (20%) and city scales (50–250%). At a spatial resolution of 0.1°, inventories differ by over 100% for half of the grid cells in the domain, with the largest differences in urban areas and oil and gas production regions. Given recent U.S. federal policy pull backs regarding greenhouse gas emissions reductions, inventories like ACES are crucial for U.S. actions, as the impetus for climate leadership has shifted to city and state governments. The development of a robust carbon monitoring system to track carbon fluxes is critical for emissions benchmarking and verification. We show that existing downscaled inventories are not suitable for urban emissions monitoring, as they do not consider important local activity patterns. The ACES methodology is designed for easy updating, making it suitable for emissions monitoring under most city, regional, and state greenhouse gas mitigation initiatives, in particular, for the small‐ and medium‐sized cities that lack the resources to regularly perform their own bottom‐up emissions inventories.

Air Quality And Health Impacts Of Future Ethanol Production And Use In São Paulo State, Brazil

Background: It is often argued that liquid biofuels are “cleaner” than fossil fuels, and by implication, better for human health. However, the literature on this issue is not clear. Brazil's high uptake of ethanol and its role as a major producer of the fuel makes it the most appropriate case study to assess the potential merits of different biofuel policies. In this study, we evaluated the impact on air quality and health of two future fuel scenarios in São Paulo State: a business-as-usual scenario where ethanol production and use proceeds according to government predictions (a nationwide increase of 3,800 MW from 2010-2020) and a counterfactual scenario where ethanol use is frozen at 2010 levels (5,300 MW) and all future transport fuel demand is met with gasoline. Methods: Concentrations of particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone were modeled for the state of São Paulo in 2020 at a 10km x 10km resolution using the CATT-BRAMS atmospheric chemistry transport model. Health impacts from multiple causes of death were estimated with life table methods using concentration-response functions from studies of long-term exposure. Results: The population-weighted annual average exposure to PM2.5 was 3.0 μg/m3 higher in 2020 in the business-as-usual (ethanol expansion) scenario compared to the scenario that emphasized gasoline, with the biggest differences in urban areas. The corresponding figure was 0.3 ppb for ozone (average of summer 1-hour maximums). The higher exposure in the ethanol scenario would result in the State's population living 1,200 fewer life-years in the first year, and if sustained, would rise to 43,000 life-years lost in year 20. Estimates assume no temporal trend in population health attributable to other causes. Conclusion: Without additional measures to limit emissions, increasing the use of ethanol in Brazil is likely to lead to higher air pollution-related health burdens when compared to a transport fuel policy that instead prioritizes gasoline.

Australia's Drought: Lessons for California

COMMENTARY Refl ective scientifi c treatises Strengthening citizen science LETTERS I BOOKS I POLICY FORUM I EDUCATION FORUM I PERSPECTIVES LETTERS edited by Jennifer Sills 28 MARCH 2014 sumptive activities—such as daytime lawn watering and car washing—to rules promot- ing efficient water use—such as require- ments for shutoff valves on hoses. Out of those temporary restrictions, permanent restrictions grew. Some areas in Australia still restrict daytime sprinkler use. Perhaps most relevant for worried Californians is how the Australian public received these changes. Studies cite an overall spirit of goodwill and cooperation fostered by the stress of drought (6). The Millennium Drought brought about profound changes in Australians’ concep- tion of the environment, climate change, and water. The sticking power of those les- sons and the success of the resulting policies and strategies will be tested by the next big drought. One lesson California can glean from the Australian experience is empower- ment. Individuals making frugal water deci- sions can make a big difference in urban areas. Water markets and other measures that increase the fl exibility of irrigation farmers in their response to drought can have big payoffs. Sustaining critical environmental water requirements will provide the basis for postdrought environmental recovery. A spirit of cooperation rather than contention can prevail even when tough decisions are made to address the needs of farmers and city residents. AMIR AGHAKOUCHAK, 1 * DAVID FELDMAN, 1 MICHAEL J. STEWARDSON, 2 JEAN-DANIEL SAPHORES, 1 STANLEY GRANT, 1,2 BRETT SANDERS 1 The Henry Samueli School of Engineering, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA. 2 Melbourne School of Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia. *Corresponding author. E-mail: amir.a@uci.edu

Analysis of Outdoor Human Thermal Comfort within Three Major Cities in Egypt

In this study, two thermal comfort indices are employed to investigate outdoor human thermal comfort within three major cities of different climates in Egypt. The indices are: the Discomfort Index (DI), and the Robaa Index (RI). The three considered cities are: Alexandria which is located in the north of Egypt, Cairo which is located in the middle and Aswan city which is located in the south of Egypt. The estimations of the two indices are based on the mean wind data of the three cities, which covers the period from January 2010 to January 2011. The study results show that the thermal comfort indices values can be employed to evaluate climate differences in urban areas. The calculated indices showed that; although extreme climate conditions are not reached in Egypt in general, the climate in the north is milder than in the south. In addition, the study results show that the RI is more practical than DI in assessing the human thermal comfort in the outdoor environment.

School effectiveness in Zambia: The origins of differences between rural and urban outcomes

Surveys have shown that Zambian urban residents have significantly higher schooling attainment rates than rural residents and are more likely to be literate. To address this inequality in education outcomes it is important to understand to what extent this is a result of a resource gap (for example, differences in teachers or textbooks) or different returns on resources (for example, an additional teacher makes more of a difference in urban areas). To explore this idea this study performed an Oaxaca decomposition on the SACMEQ II data set for Zambia. The results showed that the rural–urban gap was attributable both to differences in the presence of resources (55% of the gap) and differences in the returns on resources (45% of the gap). Since returns on resources are considerably lower in rural areas, additional resource investment alone is unlikely to close the gap between rural and urban schooling outcomes.