Municipal Databases Research Articles

A municipal database from the 2011 Spanish census

Purpose The paper aims to describe the process to obtain a complete municipal database from the 2011 Spanish Census information. By complete, the authors mean variables for the full sample of the 8,116 municipalities as of the census reference date. In addition, the database should be consistent with the public census information released by the National Statistical Institute: microdata and customized tables. Design/methodology/approach The authors use mainly small area demographic and synthetic estimators that are reconciled using biproportional adjustment (iterative proportional fitting), when needed. Findings As a result, the authors obtain a complete and consistent municipal database composing 55 variables related to socio-demographic characteristics of persons. Originality/value The provision of a complete and consistent municipal database, available for download, which is absent in the original 2011 Spanish Census.

Treatment evaluation to improve preventing mother to child transmission among women with syphilis

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of preventing mother to child syphilis transmission to improve pregnancy outcomes. We performed a retrospective analysis of municipal databases of mother-to-child syphilis transmission. Pregnant women with syphilis were included. Group specific pregnancy outcomes were analyzed according to treatment. A total of 28 pregnant women were diagnosed with syphilis in 2012; 321 were diagnosed with syphilis in 2018. A prevalence of 0.14% was observed amongst pregnant women in Suzhou city from 2012–2018. Primary treatments included benzathine penicillin, ceftriaxone sodium or erythromycin when patients were allergic to Benzathine penicillin. The treatment coverage was 81.57%, and only 52.86% of pregnant women were adequately treated. Adverse pregnant outcomes were higher amongst untreated women. Expanding early screening coverage and promoting treatment were key to improving pregnancy outcomes amongst women with syphilis.

Heavy metal content of herbal health supplement products in Dubai \u2013 UAE: a cross-sectional study

BackgroundLead, mercury, cadmium, chromium, and arsenic intoxication have been associated with the use of health supplement (HS) products. The aim of this study is to estimate the concentration of heavy metals in HS products that are on sale in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, premises and to compare estimated daily metal intake with regulatory standards.MethodsDubai-area premises selling HS products were identified by searching the Dubai Municipality database to identify all pharmacies, para-pharmacies and nutrition and healthcare shops. A total of 859 premises were identified in the Deira and Bur-Dubai areas. Data collection was performed between September 1 and December 12, 2016. During that period, all premises that had been identified within Dubai were visited and samples for laboratory testing were collected.ResultsA total of 200 HS products were tested for lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium and arsenic. High proportion of samples were found to contain metals less than the limits of the detection (LOD) of the method. It was found that 93% of products contained Arsenic (As) < LOD, 94.5% of lead (Pb) < LOD, 100% of Cadmium (Cd) < LOD, 99% of Mercury (Hg) < LOD and 23.5% of Chromium (Cr) < LOD. Using the single imputation method to account for LOD, estimates for the average daily intake of lead was 0.88 μg compared to the tolerable daily intake (TDI) of 20 μg, daily intake of mercury was 0.09 μg (TDI = 20 μg), daily intake of cadmium was 0.83 μg (TDI = 6 μg) while for arsenic it was 0.92 μg compared to the tolerable daily intake of 10 μg. The average daily intake of chromium was 7.57 μg with no internationally established TDI. Assuming users followed the manufacturers’ instructions, daily intake of arsenic, lead and mercury would not exceed TDI for any of the 200 products. However, the daily intake of cadmium exceeded or approximated the TDI for three products.ConclusionsIn this study we found low levels of metals in the products that were available for sale in Dubai. With few exceptions, if the products were used according to the suppliers’ instructions, average daily intake of heavy metals will be well below the recommended tolerable daily intakes.

Development of the Road Network in the City of Salt in 2004 and 2016 Using GIS

The aim of this study is to analyze the structure of the road network in As-Salt City in the period between 2004 and 2016, in order to identify the road employability in terms of the degree of connectivity, rotation, accessibility, and density. The relationship between the social properties and road distribution are also examined through analysis of the network characteristics concerning population distribution. The data used in this study was based on the As-Salt City Municipality Database supported with fieldwork done in 2016. The network analysis approach using GIS was used to calculate the roads employability.&#x0D; &#x0D; The study compares between the results of the analysis using the cognitive model of the road network for the years 2004 and 2016, knowing that the number of nodes in 2004 and 2016 was constant indicating the number of neighborhoods is 20, while the number of links changed from 42 links in 2004 to 50 links in 2016 and the average center of roads was determined, and it was estimated that the average road center is located near the municipality of As-Salt&#x0D; &#x0D; The study indicates that the road network suffers from a low degree of communication and rotation and the standard distance of road sites in the study area. The standard distance for each group was 2338.49 m. There is a disparity in the distribution of road network within As-Salt City, and the proportion of roads lengths dose not suit the population distribution pattern. The neighborhood of Al- Salalem, includes 19.5% of the total number of roads in As-Salt, because the neighborhood of Al-Salalem contains the highest population census and this is accompanied by urban growth, which is necessarily accompanied by the presence of roads. Therefore, it is recommended to have a plan to redistribute the population in the city and to establish new roads to reduce the problems of traffic in the city.

Albumin and Hemoglobin Trajectories and Incident Disabling Dementia in Community-Dwelling Older Japanese

Background: Serum albumin and hemoglobin levels are independently associated with subsequent cognitive deterioration in older adults. This prospective study used repeated measures analysis to identify aging trajectories in serum albumin and hemoglobin levels and investigated if these trajectories were associated with incident disabling dementia among community-dwelling older Japanese. Methods: A total of 2,005 adults aged 65–90 years participated in annual geriatric health assessments during the period from June 2002 through July 2017; the total number of observations was 9,330. A review of a municipal database of the Japanese public long-term care insurance system identified 1,999 of 2,005 adults without dementia at baseline, 278 (13.9%) of whom developed disabling dementia during the follow-up period (June 2002 through December 2017). Results: We identified three trajectory patterns (high, moderate, and low) for serum albumin and hemoglobin levels for the age period 65 through 90 years. After controlling for potential confounders, participants with moderate and low trajectories for serum albumin level had hazard ratios of 1.27 (95% confidence interval 0.94–1.72) and 2.07 (1.37–3.11), respectively, for the development of incident disabling dementia, with the high trajectory group as reference. The respective hazard ratios for hemoglobin level were 1.31 (0.93–1.85) and 1.58 (1.04–2.40), respectively. Conclusion: Dementia risk was higher for individuals with low trajectories for serum albumin and hemoglobin levels. This finding highlights the importance of interventions that improve nutritional status and control relevant diseases in middle-aged and older adults with low serum albumin and hemoglobin levels.

Children and adolescents\xb4 dental treatment in 2001\u20132013 in the Finnish public dental service

BackgroundThe Public Dental Service (PDS) in Finland has catered for the overwhelming majority of the young for more than 50 years. They have had examinations, preventive measures and all other necessary treatment free of charge. This study aimed to survey the treatment needs and treatment measures provided for children and adolescents and changes in these during the period 2001–2013.MethodsUsing each person’s unique identifier, data on patients (< 18 years), their oral health (CPI > 2, D + d > 0) and treatment received in the period 2001–2013 were collected retrospectively from municipal databases in five PDS-units covering 320,000 inhabitants. The National Institute for Health and Welfare gave ethical approval. Permission to use local data was received from the Directors in the PDS units. Treatment measures were grouped into 14 categories and patients into three age categories (0–6 years, 7–13 years and 14–17 years). Trend analysis was used to test changes over time.ResultsAbout 40,000 children and adolescents visited the PDS each year and 2,488,805 treatment measures were provided for them during the entire study period. The proportion of those in need of treatment decreased from 44.4 to 33.2% during the study period. The most common treatment categories were examinations (613,753, 24.7%), orthodontics (499,033, 20.1%), preventive measures (372,473, 15.0%) and restorative treatment (355,325, 14.3%); these made up 74% of all treatment measures. During the study period, statistically highly significant (p < 0.001***) increasing trends were found for examinations, anaesthesia and the total number of treatment measures, and a significant (p < 0.001***) decreasing trend in restorative treatment were found for all the young. More preventive treatment measures were provided for those not in need of treatment compared with those in need of treatment.ConclusionAlthough children’s oral health had improved and restorative treatment provided had decreased, the total number of treatment measures increased. Healthy children received frequent examinations and high numbers of preventive treatment measures. Targeting treatment according to needs was not satisfactory.

Spatial data quality impacts on the efficiency of the property tax system: The case of construction land fees

Spatial data are directly linked to spatial planning, and to spatial management in general, including the property tax system. Spatial data quality impacts the efficiency of the property tax system, as well as its equity and reasonability. This article presents a methodological approach to analysing the quality of spatial databases managed by municipalities for assessing construction land fees. Adjusted Jaccard and Czekanowski indices were defined and applied for data quality analysis because they are applicable in cases in which differences between the data compared amount to less than 5%. The indices were used to establish the level of matching for areas of buildings and the unbuilt construction land in the municipal construction land fee assessment databases and in the real estate register. Based on an analysis of the completeness, logical consistency, and thematic accuracy of municipal construction land fee assessment databases, municipal databases were updated. Modifications to the municipal databases were analysed following updating in terms of the number of persons subject to construction land fee payment and the construction land fee amount payable. The results of the first study of this type have been obtained on a small sample, but the methodology is also applicable for analysis on a large sample or in all Slovenian municipalities. As such, the analysis may be of help to experts at municipal offices, spatial planners, and decision-makers in taxation policies.

Demographic and urban environmental variables associated with dog bites in Detroit.

To identify demographic and urban environmental variables associated with prevalence rates of dog bites per zip code in Detroit. Retrospective ecological study. 6,540 people who visited any 1 of 15 hospital emergency rooms in the 29 zip codes in Detroit between January 1, 2006, and December 31, 2013, with a primary complaint of dog bite. The number of dog bites over the study period was determined per zip code. Data for the human population in each zip code in 2011 and demographic and urban environmental variables were obtained from federal, state, and municipal databases. The prevalence rate of dog bites in each zip code was calculated, and regression analysis was used to identify variables associated with this outcome. Results of multivariate analysis indicated that demographic variables (eg, gender, age, and education) accounted for 23.2% (adjusted R2 = 0.232) of the variation in prevalence rates of dog bites per zip code, whereas urban environmental variables (eg, blight, crime with weapons, and vacancy rate) accounted for 51.6% (adjusted R2 = 0.516) of the variation. Findings suggested that demographic variables had poor association with variation in prevalence rates of dog bites per zip code, whereas urban environmental variables, particularly crime, vacancy rate, and blight, were better associated. Thus, public health and education policies need to address these urban environmental issues to lower the prevalence of dog bites in distressed urban areas.

Spatial directional robust Benefit of the Doubt approach in presence of undesirable output: An application to Italian waste sector

This paper introduces a new composite indicator method integrating the spatial dependence into the robust directional model in the case of undesirable outputs. The proposed approach is advantageous compared to the traditional and conditional robust Benefit-of-the-Doubt (BoD) models in that it allows to compare the performance of individual units with local cluster of peers. The methodology has been tested on a very detailed database of Italian municipalities for the year 2015 in the municipal solid waste collection and processing sector and confirms the existence of strong local constraints linked to the disposal facilities planned by higher level Authorities.

Making a bridge between general hospital and specialised community-based treatment for alcohol use disorder—A pragmatic randomised controlled trial

AimTo investigate if more patients in the intervention group attended specialized alcohol treatment compared with a treatment-as-usual group (TAU). MethodsPragmatic randomized controlled trial where consecutive patients, admitted to somatic hospitals, filled out a lifestyle questionnaire with the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) embedded. Patients scoring 8+ on AUDIT were included in the study. Included patients were randomized to either a Danish screening brief intervention and referral to treatment (SBIRT) called the Relay model or TAU depending on date of admission. The Relay group was offered a brief alcohol intervention by an outreach alcohol therapist. Patients scoring 16 points and above on the AUDIT test also received referral to alcohol treatment. Outcome was attendance at specialized outpatient alcohol treatment centres after discharge from hospital. Information on patients was gathered from municipal databases at 18 months follow-up. ResultsA total of 3534 patients completed the questionnaire, and 609 patients (17%) scored AUDIT 8+. 48 patients were lost to follow-up, and the final sample had 561 patients. Only 33 patients (6%) attended outpatient treatment at 18-months follow-up, but significantly more patients in the Relay group sought alcohol treatment than in the TAU group (OR = 2.5 [1.2;5.2] (p = 0.017)). Number needed to treat (NNT) was 20 [95% CI 11.2;112.3]. ConclusionThe Relay intervention was associated with more patients attending specialized treatment, but further research is needed to establish if general hospitals are an excellent platform for performing SBIRT.

Spatial distribution of hospitalization rates of children due to pneumonia in the Unified Health System, in the municipalities of the state of São Paulo.

To identify spatial patterns in the distribution of hospitalization rates of children with pneumonia in the state of São Paulo, Brazil from 2009 to 2013. This was an exploratory ecological study with data obtained from DATASUS of hospitalizations of children with pneumonia in the municipalities in São Paulo from 2009 to 2013/ Data on maternal education and family income were obtained and rates per thousand children were calculated and inserted in a database of municipalities obtained from IBGE. Thematic, kernel and Moran maps were constructed for the hospitalization rates and the Moran indices were calculated. The TerraView program was used for spatial analysis. A total of 43,809 children were hospitalized in the study period, with a minimum of zero and a maximum of 69,072. The mean rate per municipality was 11.51 ± 8.62 (SD). The Moran index was 0.21 (p = 0.01). The thematic map showed clusters in the northern, northwestern, midwestern and southwestern regions of the state; the kernel map showed a higher density of rates in the northwestern and midwestern areas, and the Moran map identified 39 municipalities that deserve the attention of municipal and regional managers. Geoprocessing identifies regions with higher hospitalization rates for pneumonia and also municipalities that deserve a high intervention priority.

Regional policies for sustainable water management and impacts on municipal planning

Environmental protection issues are gaining increasing relevance in the framework of regional and local planning. The protection and enhancement of ecological networks is one of the most significant factors, in connection with sustainable urban water management.Several countries are revising their planning systems, in order to translate into practice the principles of ecological sustainability. An overview of iconic examples of river ecosystem restoration within some of the most populous European urban areas showed how river restoration could give the spur to urban rehabilitation programs, giving the opportunity to increase urban quality.This paper presents Campania regional policies regarding water protection and sustainable water management, and their influence on Provincial and Municipal planning practice, using as case study a group of fourteen municipalities located within one the most critical river basins, i.e. Sarno Valley. A research carried out by the University of Naples Federico II investigated the effects of water protection policies on municipal plans in Campania Region. The study showed that, roughly fifteen years after the regional legislative reform of 2004, the renewal rate of urban plans is still low. A deeper analysis of local planning state of the art, carried out through local plan collection and comparison, interviews and review of municipal databases, underlined the poor consideration put on sustainable water management by local planners.

Observations of urban NOx plume dispersion using mobile and satellite DOAS measurements around the megacity of St.Petersburg (Russia)

ABSTRACTMobile DOAS (Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy) circular measurements of tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2) were performed on a number of days in 2012 and 2014–2016 around St.Petersburg. These observations figured out an evolution of urban pollution plume, released from the megacity. The HYSPLIT (HYbrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectories) model was configured to simulate the observed NO2 dispersion, taking into account the municipal inventory database of urban nitrogen oxides (NOx = NO+ NO2) emission. The simulation results were found consistent with the data of mobile measurements, allowing to fit an estimate of integral NOx emission rate from St.Petersburg (about 60 kt year−1 on the average). Coincident satellite measurements the Aura Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) of tropospheric NO2 mostly agree with the data of simulation on the days of mobile observations. In general, presented results demonstrate the capabilities of joint interpretation of disparate tropospheric NO2 data in the vicinity of a megacity.

Mini-Mental State Examination score trajectories and incident disabling dementia among community-dwelling older Japanese adults.

The present prospective study used repeated measures analysis to identify potential Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score trajectories and determine whether MMSE trajectory was associated with incident disabling dementia among community-dwelling older Japanese adults. A total of 1724 non-demented adults (mean age 71.4 years [SD 5.7]; 56.7% women) aged 65-90 years participated in annual geriatric health assessments during the period from June 2002 through July 2014. The total number of observations was 6755, and the average number of follow-up assessments was 3.9. A review of municipal databases in the Japanese public long-term care insurance system showed that 205 (11.9%) participants developed disabling dementia through December 2014. We identified three distinct MMSE score trajectory patterns (high, middle and low) in adults aged 65-90 years. After adjusting for important confounders, participants with middle (42.8%) and low (5.1%) MMSE trajectories had hazard ratios of 2.46 (95% confidence interval 1.64-3.68) and 10.73 (95% confidence interval 4.91-23.45), respectively, for incident disabling dementia, as compared with those in the high (52.1%) trajectory group. Approximately half of the participants were classified as having a high MMSE trajectory, whereas 43% and 5% had middle and low MMSE trajectories, respectively, in this population. Individuals with middle and low MMSE trajectories had a higher risk for incident disabling dementia, which suggests that a high-risk approach to dementia prevention should target people with mild and more rapid cognitive decline. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2017; 17: 1928-1935.

DINÁMICA GEOGRÁFICA DE PRODUCTIVIDAD E INNOVACIÓN EN LA MANUFACTURA MEXICANA

La aglomeración industrial es caracterizada por fuerzas centrípetas y centrífugas que pueden medirse con la variedad industrial y el promedio de firmas por ramo. Una revisión de la teoría de geografía económica explica cómo estos indicadores se correlacionan con mayores niveles de productividad, y con competencia y congestión, respectivamente. Estimativas por niveles y dinámicas de productividad, capital físico, salario promedio, escala de producción, variedad industrial y promedio de firmas, realizadas para una base municipal correspondiente a 1993 y 1998, confirman la existencia de una muy significativa dinámica geográfica industrial en México. Observamos que entre las fuerzas centrípetas y centrífugas existen retroalimentaciones tanto positivas como negativas, ya que la competencia inhibe la formación de nuevos ramos industriales. Un subsidio local a su introducción estabilizaría la dinámica industrialy promovería su productividad y tasa de innovación. Encontramos además que las inversiones en infraestructura de transporte, y la transformación democrática mexicana, son positivas para la escala industrial y su intensidad de capital.

Gait Performance Trajectories and Incident Disabling Dementia Among Community-Dwelling Older Japanese

ObjectivesInitial gait speed is a good predictor of dementia in later life. This prospective study used repeated measures analysis to identify potential gait performance trajectory patterns and to determine whether gait performance trajectory patterns were associated with incident disabling dementia among community-dwelling older Japanese. DesignA prospective, observational, population-based follow-up study. SettingJapan, 2002 to 2014. ParticipantsA total of 1686 adults without dementia (mean [SD] age, 71.2 [5.6] years; women, 56.3%) aged 65 to 90 years participated in annual geriatric health assessments during the period from June 2002 through July 2014. The average number of follow-up assessments was 3.9, and the total number of observations was 6509. MeasurementsGait performance was assessed by measuring gait speed and step length at usual and maximum paces. A review of municipal databases in the Japanese public long-term care insurance system revealed that 196 (11.6%) participants developed disabling dementia through December 2014. ResultsWe identified 3 distinct trajectory patterns (high, middle, and low) in gait speed and step length at usual and maximum paces in adults aged 65 to 90 years; these trajectory patterns showed parallel declines among men and women. After adjusting for important confounders, participants in the low trajectory groups for gait speed and step length at usual pace were 3.46 (95% confidence interval 1.88–6.40) and 2.12 (1.29–3.49) times as likely to develop incident disabling dementia, respectively, as those in the high trajectory group. The respective values for low trajectories of gait speed and step length at maximum pace were 2.05 (1.02–4.14) and 2.80 (1.48–5.28), respectively. ConclusionsRegardless of baseline level, the 3 major trajectory patterns for gait speed and step length tended to show similar age-related changes in men and women in later life. Individuals with low trajectories for gait speed and step length had a higher dementia risk, which highlights the importance of interventions for improvements in gait performance, even among older adults with low gait performance.

Does local public corruption generate partisan effects on polls?

During the recent years of economic boom in Spain, political corruption at the local level boomed as well. In fact, it increased from 7 publicly denounced cases from 1999 to 2003 to at least 180 in the legislative period (2007–2011). In this paper, we explore this phenomenon in two related ways: how it has affected voting results and political participation, and whether the wrongdoing of local politicians has undermined the voters’ trust in them. We constructed a socioeconomic municipality database that matched polling results and corruption cases and then estimated a voting-share equation by difference-in-difference and matching techniques. Our results confirm that the voters’ attitude towards corruption is significantly different with respect to parties on the right or the left. In fact, after a prosecution in a local corruption case, abstention increases by an average 1.8 percentage points, left-parties’ voting share is reduced by approximately 2 percentage points, while right-parties’ share increases approximately 2 points.

A Simplified Semi-Automatic Technique for Highway Extraction from High-Resolution Airborne LiDAR Data and Orthophotos

Information on highways is an essential input for various geospatial applications, including car navigation, forensic analysis on highway geometries, and intelligent transportation systems. Semi-automatic and automatic extractions of highways are critical for the regular updating of municipal databases and for highway maintenance. This study presents a semi-automatic data processing approach for extracting highways from high-resolution airborne LiDAR height information and aerial orthophotos. The method was developed based on two data sets. Experimental results for the first testing site showed that the accuracy of the proposed method for highway extraction was 74.50 % for completeness and 73.13 % for correctness. Meanwhile, the completeness and correctness for the second testing site were 71.20 and 70.72 %, respectively. The proposed method was compared with an object-based approach on a different data set. The accuracy for highway extraction of the object-based approach was 64.29 % for completeness and 63.11 % for correctness, whereas that of the proposed method was 67.14 % for completeness and 65.08 % for correctness. This research aims to promote semi-automatic highway extraction from LiDAR data and orthophotos by proposing a new approach and a multistep post-processing technique. The proposed method provides an accurate final output that is valuable for a wide range of geospatial applications.

Methodology for leading indicators on sustainable regional development

Abstract This research depicts an exploratory initiative focused on treating data to create score and rank indicators of sustainability that can be used to monitor sustainable regional development in metropolitan regions. In order to characterize, classify, and predict the conditions that might lead to the sustainable regional development of cities in a metropolitan area, the study of municipalities in the Baixada Fluminense (region neighboring the city of Rio de Janeiro) was adopted as a reference. The operational assumption for constructing and handling the variables took into account the existence of a legal framework, proposed by the government institute in charge of national research and socioeconomic data surveys, thereby establishing the parameters for the leading indicators required to characterize the conditions needed to achieve different development levels. Based on a series of secondary data, available in binary format for the year 2009 and obtained from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) Municipal Database (BDM), the statistical methods used in this paper indicated a high level of accuracy in the "mashing-up" constructs (Cronbach's Alpha equivalent to 0.824). They also showed the existence of different hierarchical clusters and functions able to classify the typology of municipalities based on selected leading indicators and 87.8% correspondence in the classification of observations. According to the purposes of this study, namely to discover a framework for measuring, discussing, and producing policies for sustainable development, some findings show that it is possible to create simple methods to deal with the complexity of sustainable regional development: the creation of types and hierarchies favors the development of policies focused on the comparison and alignment of local realities.

Gestión y actualización del viario urbano a través de la aplicación web de un SIG

Having a digital integrated system of postal address with associated and georeferenced information involve an advantage in the territorial management for public administrations, including local, regional and national level. Although INSPIRE legislation, through its article 1, joins numbering processes of European cities, to renew and to conserve the resulting information will be task of the local government. In this sense, a methodology that can be extrapolated to all urban European nucleuses does not exist. The aim of this work has been to develop a process to update the urban road of the municipality of Mazarron (Murcia), using GIS technology and available information at the IDEE directory, cadastre and municipal data base. Once the data has been selected, it is updated through a Web Cartographic Application synchronized with a desktop GIS.