Types Of Venues Research Articles

Privacy and the City: User Identification and Location Semantics in Location-Based Social Networks

With the advent of GPS enabled smartphones, an increasing number of users is actively sharing their location through a variety of applications and services. Along with the continuing growth of Location-Based Social Networks (LBSNs), security experts have increasingly warned the public of the dangers of exposing sensitive information such as personal location data. Most importantly, in addition to the geographical coordinates of the user's location, LBSNs allow easy access to an additional set of characteristics of that location, such as the venue type or popularity. In this paper, we investigate the role of location semantics in the identification of LBSN users. We simulate a scenario in which the attacker's goal is to reveal the identity of a set of LBSN users by observing their check-in activity. We then propose to answer the following question: what are the types of venues that a malicious user has to monitor to maximize the probability of success? Conversely, when should a user decide whether to make his/her check-in to a location public or not? We perform our study on more than 1 million check-ins distributed over 17 urban regions of the United States. Our analysis shows that different types of venues display different discriminative power in terms of user identity, with most of the venues in the "Residence" category providing the highest re-identification success across the urban regions. Interestingly, we also find that users with a high entropy of their check-ins distribution are not necessarily the hardest to identify, suggesting that it is the collective behaviour of the users' population that determines the complexity of the identification task, rather than the individual behaviour.

Where Would You Go this Weekend? Time-Dependent Prediction of User Activity Using Social Network Data

Predicting user activities and interests has many applications, for example, in contextual recommendations. Although the problem of predicting interests in general has been studied extensively, the problem of predicting when the users are likely to act on those interests has received considerably less attention. Such predictions of timing are extremely important when the application itself is time-sensitive (e.g., travel recommendations are irrelevant too far in advance and after reservations have already been made). Particularly important is the ability to predict likely future activities long in advance (as opposed to short-term prediction of imminent activities). In this paper we describe a comprehensive study that addresses this problem of making long-term time-dependent predictions of user interest. We have conducted this study on a large collection of visits to various venues of interest performed by users of Foursquare. We have built models that, given a user's history, can predict whether or not the user will visit a venue of a particular type on a given day. These models provide useful prediction accuracy of up to 75% for up to several weeks into the future. Our study explores and compares various feature sets and prediction methods. Of particular interest is the fact that venues interact with each other: to predict visits to one type of venue, it helps to use the history of visits to all venue types.

Does the experience make a difference? Comparing tourist attitudes pre- and post-visit towards the elephant tourism industry

Animal welfare is a significant issue in wildlife tourism and is becoming an important component in tourists' decisions. This study explored the type of tourists who most likely visit different elephant tourism venues and compared tourist attitudes pre-and post-visit. We surveyed 132 tourists at 12 venues in Thailand. We found that participant age was the clearest indicator for the type of venue they were likely to visit and that home location and welfare standards at venues had the greatest effect on attitudes post-visit. Results suggest elephant welfare can be an important factor for some tourists; therefore, efforts should be made to increase public awareness of the issues within elephant tourism venues which could lead to positive attitude and behaviour change.

Enforcement agencies and smoke-free policy compliance: An observational study in Qingdao, China.

INTRODUCTIONIn recent years, tobacco control policy initiatives have emerged at the subnational level in China. In 2013, for example, Qingdao enacted a 100% smoke-free policy that gave regulatory authority to multiple enforcement agencies. Given that little is known about the extent of smoke-free policy compliance in smaller Chinese cities, this study assessed compliance with Qingdao’s Tobacco Control Regulation and whether compliance differed by enforcement agency.METHODSA cross-sectional observational study was undertaken between October and November 2018. Venues were selected based on enforcement agency and included restaurants, retail stores, schools, government buildings, hospitals, business offices, and other hospitality venues. Comprehensive lists of venues were identified where they existed, and a random sample of venues were subsequently selected. For venue categories for which there were no comprehensive lists, a walking protocol was used. Observational data included evidence of smoking, the presence of no-smoking signage, and designated smoking areas (DSAs). Descriptive statistics were obtained. Subsequently, logistic regression models were used to determine the association between enforcement agency and policy compliance.RESULTSA total of 694 venues were observed. For all venue types, 64.7% were compliant with the composite indicator ‘evidence of smoking’. Findings also showed that smoke-free compliance varied by enforcement agency (p<0.001). Venues with evidence of smoking and not posting of no-smoking signs at the main entrance were lowest among venues that fall under Public Security Bureau. Compliance with posting no-smoking signs inside was lowest in venues that fall under the Industry and Commercial Administration (I&C). While Qingdao’s smoke-free policy prohibits DSAs, our findings showed that 2% of venues that fall under the jurisdiction of I&C had DSAs.CONCLUSIONSAn effective coordination mechanism that can ensure a consistent and standardized approach is urgently needed in Qingdao. With such a concerted effort, it will be possible to achieve the target of 100% smoke-free indoor places in Qingdao.

Decoding the Street-Based Spatiality of Urban Gyms: Implications for Healthy City Planning

Many cities face health issues that result from ineffective urban planning strategies. The chances of doing exercises in sportive venues implicate public health and citizen quality of life. With the advent of the geo-big data era, it is crucial to explore the spatial pattern of sports facilities to reflect urban health issues. This study aims to decode the street-based spatiality of gyms (one prevailing type of sportive venues) from a comprehensive perspective by both geometric methods (i.e., segment streets) and topological analytics in the context of complexity science (i.e., complex network derived from the topology of natural streets). We found that: (1) gyms are spatially clustered and distributed unevenly; (2) community-to-gym walkability fits the power-law with a heavy-tailed distribution at the 10-min and 20-min temporal scales; (3) the model for the street connectivity and the multi-distance reachability of gyms is with high polynomial fitting goodness. This article is conducive to strategies-making of healthy city planning and the further optimization of urban spatial structure.

Adherence to smoke-free policies in Ghana: Findings from a cross-sectional survey of hospitality venue owners and staff.

INTRODUCTIONImplementation of and compliance with smoke-free policies (SFPs) can be problematic in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) due to limited resources. This study evaluated knowledge, opinions and compliance related to Ghana’s SFPs among owners and staff of hospitality venues by city, staff designation, and venue type.METHODSA cross-sectional study design was used in venue types including hotels, bars, pubs and restaurants in the three cities of Kumasi, Accra, and Tamale, in Ghana.Data were collected between July and September 2019. Interviewer administered face-to-face surveys were conducted with owners and staff (n=142) recruited from randomly selected hospitality venues (n=154) in these three large cities of Ghana. The relationship between knowledge, opinions, and compliance items on SFPs, and city, venue type and staff designation was first studied using χ2 or a Fisher’s exact test, and then with univariate logistic regression model analysis.RESULTSOf the 142 respondents, some had heard of Ghana’s 2012 Tobacco Control Act (27.5%), smoking restriction in public places (29%), smoke-free places (22%), and display of ‘no smoking’ signage (6.3%). Knowledge levels were higher in Accra compared to Tamale (OR=3.08; 95% CI: 1.10–8.60). Staff designation and type of venue did not have any relationship with knowledge levels. Support for SFPs was over 80%, but opinions in support of SFPs were lower in Accra than Tamale (OR=0.25; 95% CI: 0.08–0.71). Compliance with SFPs was similar in the three cities. Hotels were three times more compliant compared to bars and pubs (OR=3.16; 95% CI: 1.48–6.71).CONCLUSIONSThe study highlights the strong support for restriction of smoking in public places including hospitality venues despite poor knowledge and low compliance levels with the current SFPs. A review of the current SFP in Ghana together with education of hospitality staff on the benefits and requirements of SFPs is recommended.

Les foyers artistiques à la fin du règne de Louis XIV (1682–1715): Musique et spectacles ed. by Anne-Madeleine Goulet

Reviewed by: Les foyers artistiques à la fin du règne de Louis XIV (1682–1715): Musique et spectacles ed. by Anne-Madeleine Goulet Beverly Wilcox Les foyers artistiques à la fin du règne de Louis XIV (1682–1715): Musique et spectacles. Edited by Anne-Madeleine Goulet in collaboration with Rémy Campos, Mathieu da Vinha, and Jean Duron. (Series "Épitome musical.") Turnhout: Brepols, 2019. [446 p. ISBN 9782503586199 (paperback), $150.] Illustrations, bibliographical references, index. This collection of essays comes from a 2015 colloquium at Versailles sponsored by the Université de Tours and the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles for the three-hundredth anniversary of the death of Louis XIV, King of France. It concerns the concept of "foyers" for the arts from 1682, when the king moved his court to the new palace of Versailles, until the end of his reign. As he grew less interested in ceremonial display, new venues arose in the courts of his legitimate and illegitimate children and his nephew, the duc d'Orléans. Musicologists generally view music and theater in these satellite courts as political resistance to royal power; the conference organizers—but not all the contributors—take a revisionist view that such courts were a system of artistic competition, with a certain amount of collaboration (pp. 12–13). The result is a diverse group of essays that proposes a continuum with political competition at one end, interchange and collaboration at the other, and a mixture of motives in between. The French word foyer, in medieval times, meant a hearth or fireplace, and by extension, a home: a place where people shared warmth and conversation. Here, it serves as a metaphor for musical exchange. Given an itinerant court that moved around between several palaces, and princes or nobles who did the same with their châteaux, town houses, and provincial seats, the foyer was really a household, and itinerance made it simultaneously a propagator and concentrator of art, in a way that led to new forms of musical patronage and the beginnings of galant style in music at the turn of the eighteenth century. Part 1, "The Court, the Courts," begins with a general comparison by David Hennebelle of the old tool of statecraft—noisy and expensive magnificence—versus the new princely tool of "good taste." The members of the Musique du Roi composed and performed in both types of venue, and the newer mode—good taste—created a foyer for musical experimentation (pp. 29–36). The other chapters are case studies. Don Fader writes on the Orléans family [End Page 252] at St. Cloud and in Paris at the Palais-Royal, who created a fun-loving alternative to Versailles to woo the Grand Dauphin in the expectation that he would one day become king. Architectural historian Tarek Berrada documents new designs that took music into account: a central music room in the Hôtel de Guise so that sound could drift into nearby billiards and dining rooms; a hunting lodge at Saint-Germain-en-Laye that allowed placement of activities closer to or further from two music tribunes ad libitum; and a cabinet de musique at the Château de Chantilly, purpose-built furniture needed for the household musicians. Thomas Vernet writes about Marie Anne, princesse de Conti, who maintained a théâtre de société (a private theater) in her residence across the street from the Château de Versailles for the youthful companions of her half-brother, the dauphin, but still avoided alienating the religious sensibilities of the king and Madame de Maintenon. Catherine Cessac shows how the humiliation of a marriage between a granddaughter of the Grand Condé (Louis, prince de Condé, 1621–1686) and a royal bastard was countered by parodying Versailles: sixteen grands nuits de Sceaux, over the course of a year, each with its own "king" and "queen" who chose or commissioned divertissements performed by members of the Paris Opéra. Oddly, the final paragraph suddenly concludes that this celebration of the glories of the night in the waning days of the reign of the Sun King was not a "foyer of opposition to Versailles," but rather, evidence of "the exceptional personality of the...

A Study of User Activity Patterns and the Effect of Venue Types on City Dynamics Using Location-Based Social Network Data

The main purpose of this research is to study the effect of various types of venues on the density distribution of residents and model check-in data from a Location-Based Social Network for the city of Shanghai, China by using combination of multiple temporal, spatial and visualization techniques by classifying users’ check-ins into different venue categories. This article investigates the use of Weibo for big data analysis and its efficiency in various categories instead of manually collected datasets, by exploring the relation between time, frequency, place and category of check-in based on location characteristics and their contributions. The data used in this research was acquired from a famous Chinese microblogs called Weibo, which was preprocessed to get the most significant and relevant attributes for the current study and transformed into Geographical Information Systems format, analyzed and, finally, presented with the help of graphs, tables and heat maps. The Kernel Density Estimation was used for spatial analysis. The venue categorization was based on nature of the physical locations within the city by comparing the name of venue extracted from Weibo dataset with the function such as education for schools or shopping for malls and so on. The results of usage patterns from hours to days, venue categories and frequency distribution into these categories as well as the density of check-in within the Shanghai and contribution of each venue category in its diversity are thoroughly demonstrated, uncovering interesting spatio-temporal patterns including frequency and density of users from different venues at different time intervals, and significance of using geo-data from Weibo to study human behavior in variety of studies like education, tourism and city dynamics based on location-based social networks. Our findings uncover various aspects of activity patterns in human behavior, the significance of venue classes and its effects in Shanghai, which can be applied in pattern analysis, recommendation systems and other interactive applications for these classes.

Nuevos datos sobre la vida del autor de comedias Bartolomé de Mendoza

En el presente estudio damos a la luz un documento de 1582 que nos permite conocer nuevos datos sobre el autor de comedias Bartolomé de Mendoza. Se trata de un proceso que este interpuso contra Juan de Ibáñez, alcaide de las cárceles reales de Pamplona, por el pago de tres ducados por una representación que hizo en las mismas. Este documento nos proporciona interesantes datos sobre aspectos tales como la representación, el ámbito de representación, la compañía de Mendoza y la vida de los actores en el siglo xvi.

Sports bars: environmental design, drinking, and sports betting

Background Informed by literature on venue design and ‘nudging’ in the context of choice architecture, the purpose of this article is to investigate the physical design of, and practices enacted within, sports bars to provide some indication as to whether these venues are spaces that encourage risky drinking and betting. Methods Our analysis draws on three arms of data collection: (i) website review of licensed venues in Victoria, Australia that promoted sports telecasting; (ii) observational data collection including site visits to 50 venues in Victoria that promoted sport telecasting, and more intensive sessions of observation during six sporting matches; and (iii) in situ interviews with 200 sports bar patrons. Findings We identified three types of sports bars: (i) prototypical sports bars; (ii) venues that have a sports bar section; and (iii) venues that televise sport on occasion. Sports bar attendees reported moderately heavy drinking at sports bars and frequent engagement in sports betting. We identified two distinct groups of sports bettors. Prototypical sports bars and venues that televise sport on occasion attracted younger men who bet the least frequently but in the highest amounts, while venues that have a sports bar section attracted older men who bet more often but in smaller amounts. Conclusions We identified several design elements across the three types of venues, each ‘nudging’ sports betting and drinking in different ways. Any focused public health work in relation to sports bars will need to consider the social and physical design elements of different sports betting environments.

"BENİM YERİM"DEN "YOK-YERLERE": İSTANBUL'DA GÜNCEL SEYİR DENEYİMİNE DAİR SALON-İÇİ MANZARALAR

Avrupa düzeyinde ilk kez 1980’lerin ortalarında İngiltere’de ortaya çıkan multipleksler, projeksiyon sisteminin özellikleri ve mekâna özgülüğü ile yüceltile gelmiş bir seyir biçimini tek tipleştirdiği iddia edilen yeni alanlar olarak çok sayıda eleştirinin hedefi olmuştur. Tek perdeli salonların gösterim altyapısının halen önemli bir bileşenini oluşturduğu Avrupa’dan farklı olarak Türkiye pazarının baskın kategorisi olan multipleksler, ülke özelinde içinde bulundukları alışveriş merkezleri nedeniyle kentsel dönüşüm krizinin bir parçası olarak da kabul edilebilirler. Yine Avrupalı muadillerinden farklı biçimde İstanbul’da kent çeperlerine ek olarak merkezlerinde konuşlanan bu AVM’lerde film izlemek seyir deneyimini nasıl etkiler? Aynı filmi alışveriş merkezi koridorlarına çıkan çoklu bir salonda veya kapısı sokağa açılan bir mahalle sinemasında izlemek bizim için neyi değiştirir? Bu ve benzeri sorulara yanıt aramak amacıyla bu çalışma; hafızası olan, evin bir uzantısı gibi görülen mahalle sinemalarıyla kimliksizlik ve tek tiplikleri ile Augé’nin “yok-yerler” kategorisi içerisinde değerlendirilmeye uygun görünen multipleksler arasındaki ayrımdan yola çıkmakta ve İstanbul’da farklı tip salonlarda gerçekleştirilmiş 15 katılımcı gözlem aracılığıyla günümüz seyir deneyimine dair fotoğraflar sunmayı hedeflemektedir.

How to Build a Sustainable MICE Environment Based on Social Identity Theory

MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions/Events) have been established as one of the most important industries. Limited attention, however, has been given to understanding the underlying mechanisms of a sustainable market environment. In order to build such an environment, this research investigates a way to enhance the identity between local businesses and the MICE industry that make up the MICE environment by employing the brand concept in marketing. This study examines the effect of venue name and type of events being exposed on brand formation. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between brand identity and the impact on residents’ perceived brand value. The findings of this research suggest that consistent exposure of content-specific brand names and similar types of events increases the identity between local businesses and the MICE industry, and the identity mediates the relationship.

Self-reported secondhand smoke exposure following the adoption of a national smoke-free policy in Poland: analysis of serial, cross-sectional, representative surveys, 2009–2019

ObjectiveWe assessed changes in secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure in workplaces and public venues in Poland over a 9-year period following the adoption of a smoke-free policy in Poland in 2010.DesignSix...

105 Actually, it is easy being green: Ten years of the Canadian PAediatric Society Annual General Meeting viewed through a sustainability lens

Abstract Introduction/Background The Canadian Paediatric Society (CPS) recently released the “Global climate change and health of Canadian Children” statement. As climate rapidly evolves from “change” to “crisis” there is an increasing pressure toward sustainable conferencing. Knowing the value of attending meetings, the growing body of literature evaluating travel-related carbon cost and convention sustainability can inform environmental harm minimization. Conferences can pressure venues to increase sustainability by choosing sites and venues wisely and communicating their requirements to rejected venues. They can also offer carbon offset purchase through credible companies (e.g. Gold Standard). Over the last 10 years the CPS has conducted its Annual General Meeting (AGM) at host cities that reflect Canada’s large geographic footprint. Venues included both hotel and standalone conference centers. There is no published evaluation of sustainable practices for CPS meetings. Objectives Evaluate the past 10 CPS Annual General Meetings (AGMs) for: Design/Methods Travel-related carbon cost was estimated with a round-trip calculator for economy seating the most direct available flights (https://co2.myclimate.org/en/offset_further_emissions). Cities of origin for attendee were the 11 CaRMS-matched pediatric residency training programs (https://www.carms.ca/match/psm/program-descriptions/). Venues were evaluated based on current publicly available self-reported information using conference sustainability criteria suggested through a literature review and public rating tools (Green Key, Quality Standards of the International Association of Convention Centres). Ground transportation from the airport was scored /3 by: public transport from airport (1), formal shared transport (1), fee deterrence for parking (1). Venue type was split by hotel-associated (H) and standalone convention centre (CC) meeting facilities. Sustainability of meeting facilities was divided into supports /2 (rentable supports, links to local vendors, catering and personnel) for exhibitors (1) and event planners (1), policies /3 by: sustainability, promotion of a green community (1), and waste management (1), and walkability from accommodation /1. Results The last 10 CPS AGMs were held in western (3; Vancouver 2010, Edmonton 2013, Vancouver 2017), eastern (1; Charlottetown 2016) and central (6; Quebec City 2011, London 2012, Montreal 2014, Toronto 2015, Quebec City 2018, Toronto 2019) provinces; in 2020 it is in Vancouver. Central Canada sites had the lowest air travel carbon cost per attendee. Average air travel-related carbon cost per attendee for different host cities ranged from 0.479 (London) to 0.919 (Vancouver) tonnes, with Ontario and Quebec sites averaging 0.518, Charlottetown 0.654 and Edmonton 0.756 tonnes. Ground transportation scores differed by city from Montreal (3/3 with public transit, formal transportation share and parking fees to dissuade driving) to London (0/3), with more favorable public transit options in larger cities. Venues differed when divided by hotel with meeting facilities (H) vs standalone conference center (CC), with CC outranking H for clearly posted sustainability plans (1.6 vs 1.2/2; 2=venue-specific, 1=company chain policy, 0=no plan), green and sustainable community building plans (1.6 vs 1.2/2; 2=greening local communities, 1=company chain policy, 0=no plan) and green waste management policies (1.2 vs 0/2; 2=venue-specific, 1=company chain policy, 0=no plan). Walkable accommodation was equal and present for all venues, with attached accommodation for all but one CC (Montreal), which had immediately adjacent hotels available. Conclusion As expected, the carbon cost of air transportation per attendee was lower in central provinces. Ground transportation from the airport was better in larger host cities. Standalone conference centres had more sustainable event support and locally focused policies regarding sustainability, environmentally friendly community building initiatives and waste management solutions, three major components of “greening” conferences. Based on the available resources across Canada, we recommend that the CPS considers these sustainability criteria in planning future events.

Clinical Study on Psychiatric Morbidity in Suicide Attempters- A Observational Study

Background: Suicide is a tragic and serious preventable public health problem all over the world. It is one of the three leading causes of death globally. Usually suicide has no single cause. It is the endpoint of an individual process, in which several cultural, social, situational, psychological, and biological factors interact. The objective of the current study is to evaluate the nature of psychiatric morbidity and it’s severity in patients who have attempted suicide, its relation to the socio-demographic and clinical variables and the particulars of the current attempt. Subjects and Methods: Fifty patients with alleged history of suicide attempt were evaluated. Tools used were Socio Economic Status Schedule, Suicide Intent Scale and Comprehensive Psychopathology Rating Scale. ICD 10-AM Symptom Check List was used to evaluate and find out psychiatric diagnosis and final diagnosis was made on the basis of ICD-10- Classification of mental and behavioral disorders, Diagnostic Criteria for Research (DCR-10). Results: Most subjects are in the age group of 18-30, married, Hindus, with a primary education, semi-skilled workers with average monthly income of more than 3000 rupees from a nuclear family of semi urban area and belong to SESS category III. Adjustment disorder with brief depressive reaction is the most common diagnosis made and the diagnosis has statistically significant relation with past attempt, recent stressors, and motive. Type of attempt, method used, venue, lethality, and medical complication of the attempt have significant relation with, substance dependence and its total duration, gender, medication history and total duration of symptoms. Suicide intent score is statistically related with gender, total duration of symptoms, family history, motive, venue and lethality. Conclusion: Significant proportions of the individuals who attempt suicide have psychiatric morbidity. Attempted suicide can be considered to be a distinct sub- group of psychiatric symptoms which is usually neglected but is the most common cause of morbidity and mortality in subjects with psychiatric disorders. Patients who attempt suicide require special attention and management by all the medical professionals.

The Internet Community as a Phenomenon of Modern Network Culture (on the example of the KVN community in the social network VKontakte)

This paper discusses the characteristics and specific features of the Internet community ‘I love KVN’, whereas identifying user tokens in a network group are shown during their adaptation in the community. The author considers users’ techniques and virtual tools (audio recordings, video recordings, text publications, images, animated images, posters, polls, etc.). The Internet, as unique in terms of the its conditions and possibilities, makes it possible to study sociological phenomena that were not actualized or so accessible to empirical study in different environment of activity and interaction. This is relevant in the light of the rapid development of thematic communities on the VKontakte social network. According to the Levada Center analytical center, today about 72% of the population of the Russia use the Internet “daily or almost daily” and “several times a week”. At the same time, about 45% of citizens go online “several times a day”; these are, first of all, the youngest Russians under the age of 25 (87%). The focus of our consideration is the group on VKontakte “I love KVN”. KVN (The Club of Cheerful and Inventive) is one of the first projects that appeared on domestic television in the format of a humorous game, in which teams (educational institutions, universities, enterprises, cities and so on) compete in humorous answers to questions asked, improvisations on given topics, playing pre-prepared scenes. In the narrow sense, KVN is a competition in one’s own wit. The long-term history of the project (since 1961) and the relentless attention to the game from the mass audience determined in many respects the appearance of communities of lovers of intellectual humorous competitions on various types of venues. With the advent of social networks on the Internet, many KVN fans have joined together in a community that currently numbers approximately 670 thousand people.

​Investigating Knowledge Creation Processes Among The Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) Fleet Personnel

This study was conducted to gauge the extent of knowledge creation within the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) fleet. It was due to rotational of personnel serving on board for their career progressions and personnel retired that may bring with them substantial amount of knowledge. Thus, quantitative study was conducted, taking into account of descriptive data analyzed by SPSS software with 234 respondents utilizing SECI model as the theoretical platform. Items analysis was conducted to gauge the extent. Apart from that, level and type of knowledge, mechanisms and venues for knowledge creation were identified. The results showed the extent of knowledge creation processes varied in every mode of SECI. Operational knowledge and knowledge from experiences are common within the fleet. Social media identified as the common mechanism utilized. Seminar, workshop and meeting were identified as the venues for most of the knowledge creation processes took place. Besides identifying the extent of knowledge creation processes, this study could be the platform for the fleet to identify suitable recommendation to create and capture more knowledge, to retain and to disseminate knowledge in order to improve fleet operations.

Programmatic options for monitoring malaria in elimination settings: easy access group surveys to investigate Plasmodium falciparum epidemiology in two regions with differing endemicity in Haiti

BackgroundAs in most eliminating countries, malaria transmission is highly focal in Haiti. More granular information, including identifying asymptomatic infections, is needed to inform programmatic efforts, monitor intervention effectiveness, and identify remaining foci. Easy access group (EAG) surveys can supplement routine surveillance with more granular information on malaria in a programmatically tractable way. This study assessed how and which type of venue for EAG surveys can improve understanding malaria epidemiology in two regions with different transmission profiles.MethodsEAG surveys were conducted within the departments of Artibonite and Grand’Anse (Haiti), in regions with different levels of transmission intensity. Surveys were conducted in three venue types: primary schools, health facilities, and churches. The sampling approach varied accordingly. Individuals present at the venues at the time of the survey were eligible whether they presented malaria symptoms or not. The participants completed a questionnaire and were tested for Plasmodium falciparum by a highly sensitive rapid diagnostic test (hsRDT). Factors associated with hsRDT positivity were assessed by negative binomial random-effects regression models.ResultsOverall, 11,029 individuals were sampled across 39 venues in Artibonite and 41 in Grand’Anse. The targeted sample size per venue type (2100 in Artibonite and 2500 in Grand’Anse) was reached except for the churches in Artibonite, where some attendees left the venue before they could be approached or enrolled. Refusal rate and drop-out rate were < 1%. In total, 50/6003 (0.8%) and 355/5026 (7.1%) sampled individuals were hsRDT positive in Artibonite and Grand’Anse, respectively. Over half of all infections in both regions were identified at health facilities. Being male and having a current or reported fever in the previous 2 weeks were consistently identified with increased odds of being hsRDT positive.ConclusionsSurveys in churches were problematic because of logistical and recruitment issues. However, EAG surveys in health facilities and primary schools provided granular information about malaria burden within two departments in Haiti. The EAG surveys were able to identify residual foci of transmission that were missed by recent national surveys. Non-care seeking and/or asymptomatic malaria infections can be identified in this alternative surveillance tool, facilitating data-driven decision-making for improved targeting of interventions.

The supply and design of different types of venues for business events

Purpose Hosting business events is no longer the preserve of hotels and purpose-built conference and exhibition centres. Today, visitor attractions, theatres, museums, universities and sporting complexes also compete for their share of the lucrative business events sector. However, few of these venues were originally designed and built to accommodate events but are now multipurpose in function and marketed to the events industry to secure a secondary source of income. This paper aims to evaluate the supply and design of venues for business events from both a historical and contemporary viewpoint. Design/methodology/approach As business events have specific venue requirements, ranging from extensive, accessible space for exhibitions to numerous rooms for plenary and syndicate conference sessions, choosing an appropriate venue from those available has become a considerable task. A review of key moments in history demonstrates how different types of venues have emerged and developed. Findings This study reveals how venues that have a similar background typically share features such as architectural design and layout. The paper discusses the characteristics of unusual, academic and sporting venues as well as hotels and purpose-built space to include factors such as availability, cost and location. Originality/value This paper provides an insight into the benefits and drawbacks of using different types of venues for business events and the advantages and challenges that these present to organisers. Case studies are embedded within this paper, illustrating the range of venues that are used to successfully host business events today. As there is limited literature that explores venue development for events, or commonalities of venue characteristics by type, the synthesis of these two important elements of event management makes this study an original and valuable contribution to the developing literature.

Fruit and Vegetable Incentive Programs for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Participants: A Scoping Review of Program Structure.

The low intake of fruits/vegetables (FV) by Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants is a persistent public health challenge. Fruit and vegetable incentive programs use inducements to encourage FV purchases. The purpose of this scoping review is to identify structural factors in FV incentive programs that may impact program effectiveness, including (i.) differences in recruitment/eligibility, (ii.) incentive delivery and timing, (iii.) incentive value, (iv.) eligible foods, and (v.) retail venue. Additionally, the FV incentive program impact on FV purchase and/or consumption is summarized. Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines for scoping reviews, a search of four bibliographic databases resulted in the identification of 45 publications for consideration; 19 of which met the pre-determined inclusion criteria for full-length publications employing a quasi-experimental design and focused on verified, current SNAP participants. The data capturing study objective, study design, sample size, incentive program structure characteristics (participant eligibility and recruitment, delivery and timing of incentive, foods eligible for incentive redemption, type of retail venue), and study outcomes related to FV purchases/consumption were entered in a standardized chart. Eleven of the 19 studies had enrollment processes to receive the incentive, and most studies (17/19) provided the incentive in the form of a token, coupon, or voucher. The value of the incentives varied, but was usually offered as a match. Incentives were typically redeemable only for FV, although three studies required an FV purchase to trigger the delivery of an incentive for any SNAP-eligible food. Finally, most studies (16/19) were conducted at farmers’ markets. Eighteen of the 19 studies reported a positive impact on participant purchase and/or consumption of FV. Overall, this scoping review provides insights intended to inform the design, implementation, and evaluation of future FV incentive programs targeting SNAP participants; and demonstrates the potential effectiveness of FV incentive programs for increasing FV purchase and consumption among vulnerable populations.