Intra-urban Area Research Articles

Impact of initial outbreak locations on transmission risk of infectious diseases in an intra-urban area

Infectious diseases usually originate from a specific location within a city. Due to the heterogenous distribution of population and public facilities, and the structural heterogeneity of human mobility network embedded in space, infectious diseases break out at different locations would cause different transmission risk and control difficulty. This study aims to investigate the impact of initial outbreak locations on the risk of spatiotemporal transmission and reveal the driving force behind high-risk outbreak locations. First, we built a SLIR (susceptible-latent-infectious-removed)-based age-stratified meta-population model, integrating mobile phone location data, to simulate the spreading process of an infectious disease across fine-grained intra-urban regions (i.e., 649 communities of Shenzhen City, China). Based on the simulation model, we evaluated the transmission risk caused by different initial outbreak locations by proposing three indexes including the number of infected cases (CaseNum), the number of affected regions (RegionNum), and the spatial diffusion range (SpatialRange). Finally, we investigated the contribution of different influential factors to the transmission risk via machine learning models. Results indicate that different initial outbreak locations would cause similar CaseNum but different RegionNum and SpatialRange. To avoid the epidemic spread quickly to more regions, it is necessary to prevent epidemic breaking out in locations with high population-mobility flow density. While to avoid epidemic spread to larger spatial range, remote regions with long daily trip distance of residents need attention. Those findings can help understand the transmission risk and driving force of initial outbreak locations within cities and make precise prevention and control strategies in advance.

Filtros ambientais urbanos na movimentação de aves e morcegos em uma cidade média do Sul do Brasil

Urbanization causes drastic changes in the diversity and distribution of many species in Brazil, there are insufficient data on the accessibility and quality of urban forest fragments for wildlife. Thus, we estimated the proportion of bird and bat species barred from entering the intra-urban area of Ponta Grossa (PR) through a multiscale study of landscape and vegetation quality in the core area and the avian and chiropteran fauna present. Phytosociological analyses were carried out by means of tree and shrub vegetation plots in three urban parks. Bird surveys were carried out in a non-systematic manner over 12 months at dawn and dusk at potential birding sites in the urban area. Data on bats were obtained from the literature on local sampling in the urban area. Finally, landscape fragmentation metrics were calculated to assess the resistance of urban areas to the transit of the target species. A total of 142 shrub and tree taxa were surveyed in forested urban remnants, with diversity H' ranging from 3.68 to 3.87. This vegetation supported 62 species of birds and 8 bats, exceeding the literature estimative. The urban space is frequented by 37% of the regional avifauna and 50% of the regional chiropterofauna. The forest fragments have significant areas with a good supply of resources, close enough to connect these populations. However, the species observed are mostly generalists due to the poverty of the transition area corridors, which causes those peri-urban source areas could strongly select species adapted to environments subjected to edge effects. An integrated analysis of the vegetation cover of riparian areas, street trees, and backyard vegetation could point out the bottlenecks that urban planning should focus on to increase the environmental quality of the urban area.

Notes on the life history of Aguna megacles megacles (Mabille, 1888) (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae: Eudaminae) feeding on Bauhinia species in the State of Alagoas, Brazil

Eudaminae Mabille, 1877 (Hesperiidae), recognized as subfamily recently, is rich in Brazil. It is along the Neotropical Region where a significant part of the diversity is found, however, information that involves the biology of species is poorly yet. This paper gathers new bioecological data of an Aguna species from the municipality of Maceió (Alagoas, Brazil), close to the Environmental Protection Area of “Catolé” and “Fernão Velho”, a remnant of Atlantic Forest. Leaves containing eggs were collected in a peri-urban area (9° 33’ 26” S, 35° 46’ 36” W) and taken to laboratory to observe post-embryonic development. Larvae were also collected from another host plant in an intra-urban area (9° 39’ 40” S, 35° 41’ 58” W). The specimens were identified as Aguna megacles megacles (Mabille, 1888) and the two Fabaceae as Bauhinia pentandra (Bong.) D. Dietr. and Bauhinia monandra Kurz. from exsiccates deposited at the Herbarium. Rearing from the eggs collected on B. pentandra exposes a post-embryonic development that lasted 53.4 days for six larval instars individuals, and 46 days for the five larval instars specimen. The larvae built a shelter since the first instar and in laboratory conditions they preferred pupate on the base of the cage. This is the first report of development features for A. m. megacles, including six and five larval instars, as well as a new locality for the State of Alagoas, and two more host plants of Bauhinia suggesting specialist behavior.

Analysis of morphological changes of rural settlement patterns after World War II in the metropolitan area of Łódź using a graph theory based method

Abstract This research concerns the complex problem of morphological transformations of villages in the intra-urban area (i.e. settlements incorporated into acity), as well as the suburban area, using the example of the metropolitan area of Łódź, Poland. The main aim of the research was to analyse the diversity of selected rural settlements and their spatial changes after World War II.. The study was based on preserved historical maps and today’s plans. An analysis of morphological changes of selected villages was conducted using graph theory methods. It was noticed that the graph development index should depend on the relative number of edges in relation to the number of nodes and the number of graph cycles, which express the degree of complexity of a settlement unit. Three main groups of villages, characterised by different scales of morphological transformations, were distinguished as a result of the study. Settlement units with orthomorphic transformations, where all spatial modifications were mainly additive and the initial layouts have been preserved almost completely, represent the first group of villages. The second group is composed of units with semi-metamorphic transformations, where the spatial reorganization was significant, but not total. The third group includes villages with metamorphic changes, where the initial layouts have been totallytransformed.

Where has the city choir gone? Loss of the temporal structure of bird dawn choruses in urban areas

Living in the city represents a great challenge for organisms that are exposed to the novel environmental conditions inherent to urbanization. Recent studies have highlighted the ecological impact that urbanization poses on the acoustic phenotype and singing routines of birds. However, the organization and structure of avian dawn choruses in urban settings remains largely unexplored. In this study, we assessed the temporal structure of avian dawn choruses in an intra-urban area and a peri-urban forest using bipartite network analyses. We predicted a random network structuring of dawn choruses across time at the intra-urban area, while expected a non-random structure (i.e., modular or nested) at the peri-urban forest. While we detected different groups of birds vocalizing together temporarily, following a modular pattern in both studied conditions, only the one from the peri-urban forest showed a sequential temporal structure of dawn choruses. Avian dawn choruses from both intra-urban and peri-urban areas were mainly comprised by phylogenetically unrelated species (i.e., random phylogenetic structure), also exhibiting low overlap on singing frequencies. Our results are in agreement with the temporal partitioning of the acoustic space in the peri-urban forest. Our findings also suggest that the absence of temporally-structured modules of bird dawn choruses at heavily-urbanized areas could be related to the depauperization of the avian community at intra-urban areas as a sequel of ecological filtering, as well as the consequent importance of the dominance of the acoustic space by invasive species.

Intra-urban and peri-urban differences in cattle farming systems of Burkina Faso

Little is known about the classification of urban and peri-urban cattle farming systems in West Africa. To contribute to filling this knowledge gap, we conducted a questionnaire-based survey in 137 and 133 cattle enterprises located, respectively, within and beyond the municipal boundaries of the city of Bobo Dioulasso in Burkina Faso. Categorical principal component and two-step cluster analysis techniques were used to group the different farms. The farmer’s engagement in crop production, the area of cultivated land, his experience in cattle farming, the orientation of the cattle enterprises towards fattening or milk production and the feeding mode (zero-grazing, grazing only or grazing plus supplementation), among others, were relevant differentiating factors. Overall nine distinct clusters reflecting different farming systems in the intra-urban and peri-urban areas were identified. Farm types in the intra-urban area were mainly oriented towards meat production and included intensive landless cattle fattening (n=30; 21.9%), semi-intensive grassland-based cattle farming (n=40; 29.2%), extensive cattle farming (n=20, 14.6%), semi-intensive maize-cattle farming (n=37, 27.0%) and intensive maize-cattle farming (n=10, 7.3%). In contrast, farms in the peri-urban area were mostly oriented towards milk production and classified as semi-intensive pastoral (n=11; 8.3%), semi-sedentary pastoral (n=38; 28.6%), medium-scale agro-pastoral maize-dairy farming (n=40, 30.1%), and small-scale agro-pastoral dairy-maize farming (n=44; 33.1%). The intensive landless fattening enterprises seem to be most promising for the future exploitation of the growing demand of urban customers for beef, whereas small dairy herds integrated or not with crop production appear to be the most adapted to the continuously changing peri-urban environment.

Industrial spatial agglomeration using distance-based approach in Beijing, China

To study the difference of industrial location among different industries, this article is to test the spatial agglomeration across industries and firm sizes at the city level. Our research bases on a unique plant-level data set of Beijing and employs a distance-based approach, which considers space as continuous. Unlike previous studies, we set two sets of references for service and manufacturing industries respectively to adapt to the investigation in the intra-urban area. Comparing among eight types of industries and different firm sizes, we find that: 1) producer service, high-tech industries and labor-intensive manufacturing industries are more likely to cluster, whereas personal service and capital-intensive industries tend to be randomly dispersed in Beijing; 2) the spillover of the co-location of firms is more important to knowledge-intensive industries and has more significant impact on their allocation than business-oriented services in the intra-urban area; 3) the spatial agglomeration of service industries are driven by larger establishments, whereas manufacturing industries are mixed.

INFLUÊNCIA DAS FLORESTAS URBANAS NA VARIAÇÃO TERMO-HIGROMÉTRICA DA ÁREA INTRAURBANA DE CURITIBA – PR

http://dx.doi.org/10.5902/1980509816579De modo a entender a influência das florestas urbanas na variação termo-higrométrica da área intraurbana da cidade de Curitiba, este trabalho teve como objetivo analisar a variação temporal e espacial da temperatura e da umidade relativa do ar em cada estação do ano e relacioná-la com a presença das florestas urbanas. Para a coleta dos dados meteorológicos foram estabelecidos 44 pontos de monitoramento em quatro transectos na malha urbana da cidade. Nestes pontos foram instalados miniabrigos meteorológicos com sensores modelo Hobo®, fixados nas hastes de sinaleiros e placas de sinalização. O monitoramento da temperatura e umidade relativa do ar foi realizado em períodos correspondentes às quatro estações do ano, com 22 dias de coleta e registro contínuo de dados em intervalos de 15 minutos. Nos quatro transectos analisados na área intraurbana de Curitiba foram encontradas diferenças termo-higrométricas significativas entre os pontos de monitoramento em todos os períodos analisados. Mesmo nas estações do ano de mais baixas temperaturas, o outono e o inverno, foram encontradas diferenças térmicas, relacionadas ao calor antropogênico. Pela análise do perfil longitudinal das temperaturas, observou-se curva semelhante ao perfil clássico das ilhas de calor urbano, com as maiores temperaturas nos locais com maior intensidade de ocupação e atividades antrópicas, como na área central e região centro-sul. As menores temperaturas foram encontradas em bairros residenciais e periféricos, como nas porções norte e noroeste do município e limite sul, além de se evidenciar o efeito do resfriamento das florestas urbanas presentes na área intraurbana, como os Parques Municipais Barigui e São Lourenço. As regiões com maior quantidade de áreas permeáveis, concentração de remanescentes florestais ou espaços verdes públicos apresentaram menores temperaturas e aumento da umidade relativa do ar.

Influence of urban forests in the thermo-hygrometric variation in the intra-urban area of the city of Curitiba - Paraná State

Influence of urban forests in the thermo-hygrometric variation in the intra-urban area of the city of Curitiba - Paraná State

Spatial point analysis based on dengue surveys at household level in central Brazil

BackgroundDengue virus (DENV) affects nonimunne human populations in tropical and subtropical regions. In the Americas, dengue has drastically increased in the last two decades and Brazil is considered one of the most affected countries. The high frequency of asymptomatic infection makes difficult to estimate prevalence of infection using registered cases and to locate high risk intra-urban area at population level. The goal of this spatial point analysis was to identify potential high-risk intra-urban areas of dengue, using data collected at household level from surveys.MethodsTwo household surveys took place in the city of Goiania (~1.1 million population), Central Brazil in the year 2001 and 2002. First survey screened 1,586 asymptomatic individuals older than 5 years of age. Second survey 2,906 asymptomatic volunteers, same age-groups, were selected by multistage sampling (census tracts; blocks; households) using available digital maps. Sera from participants were tested by dengue virus-specific IgM/IgG by EIA. A Generalized Additive Model (GAM) was used to detect the spatial varying risk over the region. Initially without any fixed covariates, to depict the overall risk map, followed by a model including the main covariates and the year, where the resulting maps show the risk associated with living place, controlled for the individual risk factors. This method has the advantage to generate smoothed risk factors maps, adjusted by socio-demographic covariates.ResultsThe prevalence of antibody against dengue infection was 37.3% (95%CI [35.5–39.1]) in the year 2002; 7.8% increase in one-year interval. The spatial variation in risk of dengue infection significantly changed when comparing 2001 with 2002, (ORadjusted = 1.35; p < 0.001), while controlling for potential confounders using GAM model. Also increasing age and low education levels were associated with dengue infection.ConclusionThis study showed spatial heterogeneity in the risk areas of dengue when using a spatial multivariate approach in a short time interval. Data from household surveys pointed out that low prevalence areas in 2001 surveys shifted to high-risk area in consecutive year. This mapping of dengue risks should give insights for control interventions in urban areas.

Ecology matters: sustainable development in Southeast Asia

Based on empirical evidence in Southeast Asia, this paper critically evaluates the concept of sustainable development based on four themes: population growth and distribution, the capitalistic system, ecological systems and the nature of development. It argues that the development of capitalism took place in both Europe and Asia and is thus culturally neutral. Capitalism, however, is associated with materialistic values and the growth of consumption, and hence is a major social process and structure in undermining ecosystems and biodiversity. While the concept of sustainable development has varied interpretations, this paper asserts the need to contextualize sustainable development with an ecosystem paradigm, whether qualified as cultural, human, political or cultural. Given that cities are likely to be the norm of living in the future, it is imperative that governments focus on sustainable urban development. Cities have two very different environmental contexts. The intra-urban area is a human engineered landscape that is confronted by ‘brown issues.’ These brown issues are exacerbated by the lower circuit of urban dwellers, the poor slum and squatter dwellers. The upper circuit of wealthy, urban residents contribute to the wider extra-urban ecological implications due to their high consumption patterns. They are the major contributors to the size of the ecological footprint. The paper concludes that though there are many prescriptions to curb environmental deterioration and ecological degradation, the long-term solutions will lie in changing consumption habits, lifestyle goals and value systems. These require an ecological prescription in political thinking, economic activities and educational systems.

The Change in the Location of Convenience Stores in Intra-urban Area

The Change in the Location of Convenience Stores in Intra-urban Area

The Change in the Location of Convenience Stores in the Intra-Urban Area:

The Change in the Location of Convenience Stores in the Intra-Urban Area: