Risky Places Research Articles

Mesopredators have differing influences on prey habitat use and diel activity in a multipredator landscape

AbstractResource distribution, habitat structure, and predators greatly influence spatial and temporal landscape use by prey species. The “risky places” hypothesis establishes prey will proactively respond to predators' presence based on habitat cues, whereas the “risky times” hypothesis predicts prey will reactively respond by increasing vigilance in the presence of predators regardless of habitat cues. We fit a multiscale, Bayesian species interaction occupancy model with detection/non‐detection data to evaluate black‐tailed jackrabbit (Lepus californicus) and eastern cottontail rabbit (Sylvilagus floridanus) habitat use in the presence and absence of coyotes (Canis latrans), American badgers (Taxidea taxus), and swift foxes (Vulpes velox). We also evaluated how species‐specific predator presence modified temporal activity patterns of prey. Jackrabbits decreased habitat use in areas with greater forage and opted to use areas with greater visibility when coyotes or swift foxes were present. However, cottontails used habitat in open areas with greater visibility when American badgers were present and all other predators absent, suggesting dissimilar habitat‐use patterns dictated by predator‐specific risks. Both lagomorph species are nocturnal with segregated peaks of activity compared with predators, suggesting fine‐scale temporal use partitioning. Our results provide insights into predator–prey dynamics across heterogenous landscapes in a multi‐predator system.

Identifying Risky Places on Campus: The Impact of LSC and Fear of Crime

Identifying Risky Places on Campus: The Impact of LSC and Fear of Crime

Destination Management Organizations’ Roles in Sustainable Tourism in the Face of Climate Change: An Overview of Prince Edward Island

Globally, destination management organizations (DMOs) are becoming increasingly known for their sustainable practices. Despite the importance of destination management organizations’ sustainability initiatives in the face of climate change, minimal research has been undertaken on the topic in Canada. DMOs on PEI can inform tourists better if they know what other adaptive strategies are taken into consideration around Canada. Our work included host-community interviews and perceptions on DMOs’ roles in improving tourism in the face of climate change. The interviews concluded that tourism officials in Prince Edward Island are becoming more conscious of climate change, but more has to be done to slow down the effects of the phenomenon. This paper also identified challenges facing DMOs in the area of sustainable tourism in the context of climate change. One of the recommendations was that DMOs should have access to techniques for mitigation and adaptation in addition to incentives that are sensitive to local situations. They may successfully advocate for climate change in this way and inform visitors if they are staying in risky places because of the consequences of climate change. The information on the standard operating procedures that DMOs use was intended to be useful to travelers, DMOs, and enterprises involved in the tourism industry. Future implications should discover new approaches for sustainability projects and to achieve a better understanding of how to enhance processes within the tourism industry, and more research on DMOs’ sustainability practices in the face of climate change could help improve this field.

Risky yet enticing: the need for uniqueness and destination personality stimulates tourists to visit a risky place

ABSTRACT This research aims to create a novel model for exploring the factors that motivate individuals to visit a risky yet alluring place. Employing uniqueness and stimulus organism response (SOR) theories, this study investigates the concomitant impact of consumers’ need for uniqueness (CNFU) and destination personality on memorable tourism experience (MTE), thereby impacting tourist behaviors. The data were collected from three attractive tourist sites in Kashmir. The study findings reveal that CNFU and destination personality are crucial factors affecting tourist recommendation intentions and approach reactions via MTE at a risky destination. Considering the study findings, theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

COVID-19 information seeking and individuals’ protective behaviors: examining the role of information sources and information content

BackgroundSeeking COVID-19 information promotes individuals to adopt preventive behaviors, including wearing a mask, social distancing, staying away from risky places, and washing hands. This study aims to investigate which information and sources individuals relied on in seeking COVID-19 information and further examine their roles in individuals’ adoption of preventive behaviors.MethodsThrough a statistical analysis of 1027 valid responses from citizens in different Chinese cities in 2022 to the self-designed items in an online survey, this study identified individuals’ preferred information sources and content on COVID-19. Regarding the information sources and content, the study used multiple regression analysis to examine their associations with individuals’ preventive behaviors, and further applied fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to explore their configurations that increase the likelihood of individuals adopting preventive behaviors.ResultsIndividuals preferred information about the newest prevention and control policies, precautions and treatment, and symptoms from the sources of workplace and community, social media, and social live streaming services. Additionally, individuals’ preventive behaviors were positively related to the workplace and community (β = 0.202, p <.001), social live streaming services (β = 0.089, p <.01), government department websites (β = 0.079, p <.05), television (β = 0.073, p <.05), and online news media (β = 0.069, p <.05), but were negatively associated with newspapers (β=-0.087, p <.05). Regarding information content, precautions and treatments (β = 0.211, p <.001), the newest prevention and control policies (β = 0.173, p <.001), symptoms (β = 0.152, p <.001), and official rumor-dispelling information (β = 0.082, p <.05) had a positive relationship with individuals’ preventive behaviors. In addition, fsQCA results presented eight configurations that promote individuals to adopt preventive behaviors. The total coverage and solution consistency values were 0.869 and 0.987, respectively. Furthermore, COVID-19 information content, the sources of social media and interpersonal sources, and official news media played an essential role in increasing the likelihood of individuals adopting preventive behaviors.ConclusionsOur findings demonstrated that individuals seek various COVID-19 information from multiple sources. The direct and degree of association of information sources and content with individuals’ preventive behaviors vary from source to source and from content to content. Information sources and content could combinatorially promote individuals to adopt preventive behaviors through several configurations.

Roadside habitat: Boon or bane for pollinating insects?

Pollinators, which provide vital services to wild ecosystems and agricultural crops, are facing global declines and habitat loss. As undeveloped land becomes increasingly scarce, much focus has been directed recently to roadsides as potential target zones for providing floral resources to pollinators. Roadsides, however, are risky places for pollinators, with threats from vehicle collisions, toxic pollutants, mowing, herbicides, and more. Although these threats have been investigated, most studies have yet to quantify the costs and benefits of roadsides to pollinators and, therefore, do not address whether the costs outweigh the benefits for pollinator populations using roadside habitats. In this article, we address how, when, and under what conditions roadside habitats may benefit or harm pollinators, reviewing existing knowledge and recommending practical questions that managers and policymakers should consider when planning pollinator-focused roadside management.

Badgers remain fearless in the face of simulated wolf presence near their setts.

Many mesocarnivores are fossorial and use burrow systems to avoid predators. But fossorial animals cannot stay safely underground forever; they must also risk emerging overground to forage and find mates. To make this trade-off effectively and maximise their own fitness, it is imperative they assess how risk varies in space and time and adapt their denning behaviour accordingly. We used the badger in Białowieża Forest, Poland, as a model for investigating how the denning behaviour of a fossorial mesocarnivore varies in response to short-term large carnivore risk. To this end, we experimentally simulated perceived wolf presence outside 10 badger setts using audio playbacks of wolves (their howls). We assayed two behavioural measures of fear: badger emergence time from setts on the day playbacks were broadcast and their presence in setts on the day after. We found that neither badger emergence time nor next-day sett use varied in response to wolf playbacks. The results of the present study contrast with a previous study of ours that found badgers used setts in areas with high landscape level perceived wolf risk less often than those in lower-risk areas. Together, these papers' findings suggest that different spatiotemporal scales of perceived risk can have differential effects on badger behaviour. We conclude that rather than take risk avoidance measures at all risky times and places, badgers likely display a diversity of reactions to large carnivore presence that depend on the context and spatiotemporal scale of the risk being perceived.

Assessing the impacts of recreation on the spatial and temporal activity of mammals in an isolated alpine protected area.

The management objectives of many protected areas must meet the dual mandates of protecting biodiversity while providing recreational opportunities. It is difficult to balance these mandates because it takes considerable effort to monitor both the status of biodiversity and impacts of recreation. Using detections from 45 camera traps deployed between July 2019 and September 2021, we assessed the potential impacts of recreation on spatial and temporal activity for 8 medium- and large-bodied terrestrial mammals in an isolated alpine protected area: Cathedral Provincial Park, British Columbia, Canada. We hypothesised that some wildlife perceive a level of threat from people, such that they avoid 'risky times' or 'risky places' associated with human activity. Other species may benefit from associating with people, be it through access to anthropogenic resource subsidies or filtering of competitors/predators that are more human-averse (i.e., human shield hypothesis). Specifically, we predicted that large carnivores would show the greatest segregation from people while mesocarnivores and ungulates would associate spatially with people. We found spatial co-occurrence between ungulates and recreation, consistent with the human shield hypothesis, but did not see the predicted negative relationship between larger carnivores and humans, except for coyotes (Canis latrans). Temporally, all species other than cougars (Puma concolor) had diel activity patterns significantly different from that of recreationists, suggesting potential displacement in the temporal niche. Wolves (Canis lupus) and mountain goats (Oreamnos americanus) showed shifts in temporal activity away from people on recreation trails relative to off-trail areas, providing further evidence of potential displacement. Our results highlight the importance of monitoring spatial and temporal interactions between recreation activities and wildlife communities, in order to ensure the effectiveness of protected areas in an era of increasing human impacts.

Facilities Re-layout of “X” Health Center

Public health center as the first place to carry out tracer of covid-19 survivors and theimplementation of the COVID-19 mass vaccine as well as the large interest of the people who carry out treatment at the Public health center, the Public health center is a very risky place for the spread of infectious diseases, especially covid-19. In order to minimize the effect of transmission on infectious diseases and optimize the layout of the facilities, it is necessary to improve the layout of the facilities (re-layout) of the existing Public health center services. So far, Public health center services are still very irregular, such as the distance from general medical centers to other medical centers. The purpose of this research will be to produce a new facility layout for the Public health center, so that it can optimize employee performance and the layout of the facility. In this study, the layout of the facility was redesigned using the Activity Relationship Chart (ARC) And Material Handling Costs are used to determine the distance between rooms and to estimate degree of closeness between rooms, the results of this study are two layout designs aimed at puskesmas which aim to approach the treatment center and pharmacies as well and keep the ISPA room away to minimize the spread of COVID-19 disease.

Child drowning prevention: GPS and LoRa based emergency alert system

UNICEF recently published in the "Country Office Report 2021" about the mortality of children in Bangladesh, "Every day, 30 children die from drowning – Bangladesh's second leading cause of under-five mortality. Drowning is preventable, and most cases occur within a child's home community." Bangladesh is a country of rivers, which means Bangladesh called a riverine country located in South Asia. The Center for Injury Prevention and Research conducted a survey, Around 19000 people of (all types of ages) drown every year in Bangladesh. Among them, 14500 which mean 77% are children. In our research, the emergency alert system is designed to be cost-effective and user-friendly for village communities in Bangladesh. The system is divided into two components: the kid is equipped with the transmitter, and the receiver is placed at home. The transmitter and receiver both use a LoRa transmission module that can communicate accurately within a 300-meter range (coverage up to 10 Kilometers) and can transmit 256 bytes of data. The transmitter collects geolocation data using a GPS module and sends the data to the receiver using the LoRa module. The receiver module is configured by setting up the geolocation of risky places. The receiver will send SMS or buzzing the receiver to alert the parents when the transmitter or kid is nearby risky places. The Equirectangular approximation method calculates the distance between children's positions from risky areas. Additionally, the transmitter and receiver may communicate encrypted messages using AES 128-bit symmetric encryption technology compatible with Arduino Nano controller. Thus, our emergency alert system can save children from drowning in the home environment.

Risky digital behavior or risky digital places? Victimization risk perception and evaluation on the internet

ABSTRACT This study applies context-based approaches to victimization risk perception in digital spaces. Vignettes are randomly assigned to a convenience sample of internet users and analyzed to determine how digital location and user behavior affects perceived likelihood of malware victimization and objective risk evaluation. Means-differences tests between conjoint treatment groups show statistically significant differences on all dependent variables between respondents who received high risk site/high risk behavior scenarios and those who received low risk site/low risk behavior scenarios. Internet users’ risk perception is affected both by location in digital space and user behavior, but these effects vary when measured in a conjoint scenario. In the context of online victimization, the findings suggest that internet users’ risk perceptions are influenced by behavior regardless of location. This conclusion supports prior research suggesting that digital victimology should examine specific behaviors on the internet such as information-sharing, rather than types of websites visited, to better understand how individuals navigate victimization risk in digital space.

Erosion and Culture

Erosion and Culture

Aktivitas Penyimpangan Perilaku Remaja Di Lingkungan Seleksi Tilawatil Quran Bengkulu

Juvenile delinquency in the study of social problems can be categorized into deviant behavior. In the perspective of deviant behavior, social problems occur because there are deviations in behavior from various social rules or from prevailing social values and norms. Deviant behavior can be considered a source of problems because it can endanger the establishment of the social system. This study uses qualitative discriptive studies, namely research that examines a place that used to be the center of the crowd of very positive activities, namely the National Musabaqoh Tilawatil Quran (MTQ) activity, but is now a risky place to be misused by negative activities or activities of adolescents in the Tilawati Quran (STQ) Selection Mat. The purpose of this study was to determine the deviant activities of adolescent behavior in STQ, and the efforts of parents and preventive actions from surrounding community stores towards adolescents in the STQ Bengkulu environment using Qualitative Research methods. The results of the study found various behavioral deviations such as mugging, fornication, murder, drug transactions and wild racing.

The Essex Risk-Based Policing Initiative: Evidence-Based Practices in Problem Analysis and Crime Prevention in the United Kingdom

This study draws insights from environmental criminology to implement a policing initiative focused on risky places and the micro-spatial attractors that create vulnerable settings for crime to emerge or persist in the town of Basildon. Evidence-based approaches to crime control have become more important within law enforcement approaches to crime control. Insights that have emerged from recent research on place-based approaches will serve as a central focus of this paper. The experimental approach taken to assess, implement and test the risk-based policing initiative incorporates lessons learned from similar US-based initiatives, and is the first study of its kind in the UK. Results show that community violence offences reduced significantly, and the target areas outperformed the control areas by over 47%. A cost-benefit analysis found this equates to a costs savings of £106,220 during the 6-month intervention period. This study demonstrates the value of evidence-based approaches to problem analysis and place-based crime prevention, and the generalizability of policing research in the US to UK settings. It also demonstrates how a researcher-practitioner implemented initiative from a large city in Missouri (US) was transferred to a small town in Essex (UK) solely via the in-house expertise of Essex Police personnel who reviewed published and open-access scientific literature, a true testament to “pracademics” and translational criminology.

Design and Synthesis of Eight-Legged Spider Robot

Abstract: Less than half the world’s landmass is accessible to existing wheeled and tracked vehicles. But people and animals using their legs can go almost anywhere. Our aim is to develop a new type of rough-terrain robots that capture the mobility, autonomy and speed of living creatures. Such robots will travel in outdoor terrain that is too steep, rutted, rocky, wet, muddy, and snowy for conventional wheeled vehicles. They will travel in cities as well as in our homes, doing chores and providing care, where steps, stairways and household clutter limit the utility of wheeled vehicles. Robots meeting these goals will have various sensors, sophisticated computing and power systems, advanced actuators and dynamic controls. It is marvellous that creatures can go over a rough terrain at speeds which are remarkably higher than practically possible with wheeled vehicles. Indeed, even an individual, by getting down on each of the eight legs if necessary, can travel or climb over terrain which is unreachable for a wheeled or followed vehicle. It is therefore of immense eagerness to realize what machines for land locomotion can do if they are intended to imitate nature. Legged robots can be used for space missions on extraterrestrial planets and in risky places, for example, within an atomic reactor, giving independent legged robots a great potential. less power consumption and weight are further advantages of walking robots, so it is important to use the minimum number of actuators. In this context, the objective of this project is to learn and design a prototype of the Theo-Jansen eight leg strolling robot. The goal is to develop a new mechanical automated walker utilizing eight bar link mechanism. The essential Theo Jansen device is a 13 bar framework that strolls when a crank is rotated. So, utilizing linkages we attempted to imitate nature and put together certain strolling robot which will suite off-road.

Spectrums of Relocation: A typological framework for understanding risk-based relocation through space, time and power

This paper reviews and classifies forms of environmental relocation, including retreat, migration, and resettlement, which are increasingly being considered and promoted as mechanisms for adapting to environmental risks. Current research and practice in relocation planning lacks a typological framework for assessing the many modes and norms of risk-based movement. Classical and critical location models help theorize how populations have come to be settled in differentially risky places in the first place, and are helpful for categorizing relocation situations and evaluating the relocation planning strategies. Written from the perspective of environmental design and planning disciplines, our typological framework emphasizes relocation as spatial processes shaped by environmental risk, and the article thus focuses on relocation, retreat, and resettlement processes. A systematic review of current research on relocation and resettlement identified six descriptive spectrums of relocation attributes: agency, planning, grouping, speed, distance, and temporality. We discuss the normative aspects of those spectra, and relate them to the location and relocation literatures. We then combine these attributes to construct a typology of relocation processes through the lenses of space, time, and power. By considering normative as well as descriptive aspects of relocation, we show how the typology can help address the equity of relocation. The resulting framework provides an analytical and planning tool that is practical and flexible. It can be used to assess and compare relocation projects that have already occurred as well as to evaluate strategies for relocation planning.

Pandemic policing and the construction of publics: an analysis of COVID-19 lockdowns in public housing

ABSTRACT COVID-19 responses have cast a spotlight on the uneven impacts of public health policy with particular populations or sites targeted for intervention. Perhaps the starkest example in Australia was the ‘hard’ lockdown of nine public housing complexes in inner-city Melbourne from 4 to 18 July 2020, where residents were fully confined to their homes. These complexes are home to diverse migrant communities and the lockdown drew public criticism for unfairly stigmatising ethnic minorities. This article draws on media articles published during the lockdown and the Victorian Ombudsman’s subsequent investigation to explore the implications of broad, top-down public health measures for culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities. Drawing on Lea’s (2020) conceptualisation of policy ecology, we analyse the lockdown measures and community responses to explore the normative assumptions underpinning health policy mechanisms, constituting ‘target populations’ in narrow, exclusionary terms. We argue that the lockdown measures and use of police as compliance officers positioned tower residents as risky subjects in risky places. Tracing how such subject positions are produced, and resisted at the grassroots level, we highlight how policy instruments are not neutral interventions, but rather instantiate classed and racialised patterns of exclusion, reinforcing pervasive social inequalities in the name of public health.

Knowledge and Perception on Sexual Harassment of Currently Working Women in Kathmandu Valley

Sexual harassment is a common and widespread phenomenon that has physical, emotional, and social consequences for individuals. The aim of this paper is to explore the knowledge and perception of sexual harassment among the working women in Kathmandu Valley. The systematic random sampling technique was used and selected 388 people working in the educational and non[1] educational sectors of the Kathmandu Valley. The result revealed that highest percentage of respondents have heard about the term "sexual harassment." low percent (83%) respondents had heard about SH in Bhaktapur compared to Kathmandu and Lalitpur (97%) and (86%), respectively. The majority of respondents (60%) stated that sexual harassment occurs in the workplace, as a result of misread signals from women. However, the majority of respondents (35%) stated that public transportation is the most risky place for sexual harassment followed by dark/ remote places (34%). Almost two-thirds of respondents (ranging from 62% to 65%) in all districts had heard about sexual harassment-related laws, acts, and policies, which was statistically significant at the 0.05 level. Similarly, respondents aged 35 and older had less knowledge than those in the younger age group, and this was significantly related to their age. The majority of respondents (93%) who worked in reception had the most knowledge of harassment-related laws and policies, followed by managerial supervisors (86%) whereas unskilled labor had lowest knowledge (47%) regarding these laws/ policies.

Contextual factors predicting compliance behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic: A machine learning analysis on survey data from 16 countries.

Voluntary isolation is one of the most effective methods for individuals to help prevent the transmission of diseases such as COVID-19. Understanding why people leave their homes when advised not to do so and identifying what contextual factors predict this non-compliant behavior is essential for policymakers and public health officials. To provide insight on these factors, we collected data from 42,169 individuals across 16 countries. Participants responded to items inquiring about their socio-cultural environment, such as the adherence of fellow citizens, as well as their mental states, such as their level of loneliness and boredom. We trained random forest models to predict whether someone had left their home during a one week period during which they were asked to voluntarily isolate themselves. The analyses indicated that overall, an increase in the feeling of being caged leads to an increased probability of leaving home. In addition, an increased feeling of responsibility and an increased fear of getting infected decreased the probability of leaving home. The models predicted compliance behavior with between 54% and 91% accuracy within each country's sample. In addition, we modeled factors leading to risky behavior in the pandemic context. We observed an increased probability of visiting risky places as both the anticipated number of people and the importance of the activity increased. Conversely, the probability of visiting risky places increased as the perceived putative effectiveness of social distancing decreased. The variance explained in our models predicting risk ranged from < .01 to .54 by country. Together, our findings can inform behavioral interventions to increase adherence to lockdown recommendations in pandemic conditions.

AN EMPIRICAL ASSESSMENT OF TOURIST’S RISK PERCEPTION AND ITS IMPACT ON DESTINATION LOYALTY: A STUDY OF KASHMIR VALLEY

The aim of this study was to assess the risk perception of domestic tourists visiting volatile destinations such as the Kashmir valley (India) and reveal the impact of various types of perceived risk on destination loyalty formulation. A quantitative research/deductive approach has been adopted for two reasons: (1) to ensure the objectivity, generalisability, and reliability of research findings; and (2) to develop hypotheses based on an existing theory and then collect data to determine whether empirical evidence to support those hypotheses exists. The current study used a convenience sampling method for collecting data from 413 domestic tourists using a self-administered questionnaire. Furthermore, the two-step approach for structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to assess the psychometric properties of the measurement model and test the proposed structural model. The results revealed that all the five types of perceived risks (socio-psychological, political, performance, financial, and physical) negatively affect tourists' destination loyalty, with socio-psychological risk and political risk emerging as major determinants of loyalty intention of domestic tourists. Moreover, the descriptive analysis revealed that the mean perception of domestic tourists on various risk dimensions was low, and they disagreed that Kashmir is a risky place to visit.