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Pregnant women and children are the most vulnerable populations for malaria infection. Yet, knowledge of risk, and preventive measures are poor among this population. Using the 2015 Nigeria Malaria Indicator Survey, we applied logit link function to estimate the associations of wealth status, educational attainment, and region of residence with malaria risk knowledge and prevention strategies (using a treated mosquito net and malaria drugs) among 739 Nigerian pregnant women aged 15-49 years. Urban women who had obtained a secondary school education (Adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 2.12; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.09-4) or higher (aOR = 8.31; 95% CI 3.2-22) had more knowledge of malaria risk. Urban women in the South-West (aOR = 5.02; [CI] 2.02-12.50) and South-East (aOR = 2.68; 95% CI 1.19-6.06) were more likely to use treated mosquito nets during pregnancy. Women in the urban South-West (aOR = 4.04; 95% CI 1.5-11) were more likely to use malaria drugs during pregnancy than those in the North-Central. A wide regional disparity in the knowledge of malaria risks and use of preventive measures exists. Thus, promoting equal access to malaria preventive measures as well as improving knowledge about malaria transmission by mosquitoes should be considered as essential components of ongoing malaria control and elimination efforts in Nigeria.

Understanding the relationships between obesity and socioeconomic status (SES) among school children and the spatial variation of such relationship is essential for developing appropriate intervention strategies. In this study, we employed Local Entropy Map (LEM) to explore the spatial patterns of the relationship at school district level in Texas. Children's obesity was measured by Body Mass Index (BMI). The BMI data for this study were obtained from Physical Fitness Assessment Initiative (PFAI) program that has been coordinated by Texas Education Agency (TEA). SES was described by six variables, which were further reduced into two factors, namely Household SES and Neighborhood SES. The study period was 2012–2013 academic year. LEM analyses revealed clear spatial variation of the relationship between obesity and SES at school-district level. In particular, the prevalence of obesity among school children was found to be significantly related to Household SES and Neighborhood SES in four regions in Texas. These four regions are centered in major metropolitan areas in Texas, including San Antonio, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and Lubbock. Further regression analyses showed variation of the relationship across these four regions. Obesity among school children in Texas was found to be more related to Household SES than Neighborhood SES; the relationship was strongest in San Antonio region. These findings may suggest the presence of obesogenic environment in the low SES school districts in these regions. Further studies to examine the particular nature of the obesogenic environment in these school districts are needed in order to support the development of regionalized policy and practice that can be more effective in addressing locale specifics.

Hand-foot-and-mouth disease (HFMD) is a highly contagious viral infection, and real-time predicting of HFMD outbreaks will facilitate the timely implementation of appropriate control measures. By integrating a susceptible-exposed-infectious-recovered (SEIR) model and an ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) assimilation method, we developed an integrated compartment model and assimilation filtering forecast model for real-time forecasting of HFMD. When applied to HFMD outbreak data collected for 2008–11 in Beijing, China, our model successfully predicted the peak week of an outbreak three weeks before the actual arrival of the peak, with a predicted maximum infection rate of 85% or greater than the observed rate. Moreover, dominant virus types enterovirus 71 (EV-71) and coxsackievirus A16 (CV-A16) may account for the different patterns of HFMD transmission and recovery observed. The results of this study can be used to inform agencies responsible for public health management of tailored strategies for disease control efforts during HFMD outbreak seasons.

Executive summary: Over the past four decades, rapid urbanisation in China has brought unprecedented health benefits to its urban population, but has also created new challenges for protection of and promotion of health in cities. With the shift from rural to urban living, more people than ever enjoy the health advantages that cities can provide, such as better access to health services and improved sanitation. For example, the average life expectancy of male urban residents in 2010 was estimated to be 7·09 years longer than that of of their counterparts in rural China; urban females lived 6·64 years longer.1 Other changes associated with rapid urbanisation– including large-scale migration, ageing, pollution, shifts in diet and lifestyle, and social inequality–have created new health challenges.2 For example, about 52% of people over 60 years old lived in urban areas in 2015 compared with 34% in 2000,3 thus increasing the burden of senior care in Chinese cities. Non-communicable diseases have replaced infectious diseases as the leading cause of death among urban residents; the percentage of years of life lost because of such diseases as a fraction of all-cause years of life lost increased from 50·0% (95% CI 48·5–53·0) in 1990 to 77·3% (76·5–78·1) in 2015.4 Health inequality also increased in urban areas.5 China has acted to address urban health challenges by passing strict environmental regulations and investing heavily in urban infrastructure. Major reforms have been passed to increase the transparency of environmental governance to control pollution over the short term, while moving to reform whole industries and thus provide long-term solutions. Programmes like the Hygienic Cities movement have invested heavily in urban infrastructure to promote health, including major improvements in urban sanitation.6 China has also increased coverage of and accessibility to health services in urban areas. In 2016, around 93·8% of the urban population was covered by urban medical insurance programmes, a substantial increase from 4·1% in 1998 when the programmes started.7,8 Meanwhile, cities in China are also testing new strategies for urban health management, such as China’s pilot Healthy Cities project.9 Management of chronic diseases and mental disorders in cities has improved dramatically and major progress has been made regarding access to preventive and primary health services. All these efforts have contributed to the reduction of exposure to health risks and health improvement in urban China. However, despite these successes, major gaps remain, including but not limited to an over-reliance on a top-down-approach to environmental management, a narrow focus on health care in urban health management, and a scarcity of intersectoral action. Given that the urbanisation rate in China is predicted to reach 71% by 2030,10 urban health challenges will continue to emerge and expand. If innovative strategies are not used to address these issues, they will become major obstacles to the achievement of improved health and development for millions of people. It has also become clear that the health sector alone, with its traditional piecemeal approach, cannot effectively resolve the modern challenges to urban health in China. The country is now in a transitional period in which the pursuit of economic growth at any cost is being replaced by sustainable development. In 2013, President Xi Jinping declared China’s intention to develop a so-called ecological civilisation (ecocivilisation), the core principles of which involve balancing the relationship between humanity and nature. During this transition, health is recognised as the centrepiece of sustainable development in China, as highlighted in the Healthy China 2030 plan that was adopted in 2016.11 As a result, people-centred and health-oriented urban development will hopefully prevail in China; however, major efforts, political will, and investments will be needed to put this vision into practice. The Tsinghua–Lancet Commission on Healthy Cities in China aimed to characterise, understand, and address urban health challenges in the unique context of China’s rapid and dynamic urban development. Experts from a wide range of disciplines examined environmental and social determinants of health, identified key stakeholders,and assessed actions for the prevention, management, and control of adverse health outcomes associated with the country’s urban experience. We conclude that key efforts are needed to combat urban health challenges in China and these should be unified with the Healthy Cities movement, which uses a systems approach to urban health management and provides a clear path to the realisation of the Healthy China 2030 plan. Actions taken to build healthy cities in China have contributed to global knowledge on the development of healthy cities in other parts of the world. China’s strategic, simultaneous rollout of diverse trials in different cities— in areas such as health education and promotion—and its rapid adoption of effective approaches at the national scale is a valuable lesson for other countries facing rapid urbanisation. Despite such successes, we believe that there is room for substantial improvement and make the following five key recommendations. Integrate health into all policies China should take advantage of new, human-centred urbanisation strategies. For example, cities should integrate health into urban planning and design as a first step towards the integration of health into all policies. Increase participation Cities should increase participation by residents, the private sector, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and community groups in health management. This increase can be achieved through investment in community capacity building and engagement with the private sector. Promote intersectoral action To motivate and sustain intersectoral action in the design, building, and management of healthy cities, cities should develop ways to assess the health effects of urban management by use of measures that span multiple and diverse sectors. Set local goals for 2030 and assess progress periodically Cities should view the health goals specified in the Healthy China 2030 plan as long-term goals that are achieved through the building of healthy cities. Indicator systems should be put in place to assess progress and inform the public. Enhance research and education on healthy cities To develop new theories and practical solutions, cities should increase investment and form partnerships with universities, research institutes, and the private sector to support research and education on the best ways to create healthy cities.

Alcohol-related traffic crashes cause thousands of deaths a year in the United States. Many types of enforcement approaches have been used by law enforcement agencies to decrease the amount of injuries and deaths caused by intoxicated drivers. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the “no refusal” blood draw programs used by law enforcement agencies in the Capital Area Council of Governments and the Alamo Area Council of Governments of central Texas. The study area covers twenty-three counties that are served by more than 120 municipal, county, and other law enforcement agencies. A difference-in-differences method was applied to analyze the alcohol-related crash rates before and after the no refusal program. Statistically significant reductions in the alcohol-related crash rate after the adoption of no refusal programs were revealed, suggesting the effectiveness of the program in reducing alcohol-related traffic crashes.

Drug smuggling routes are chosen to maximize profit while minimizing costs. Routes with the least drug transportation costs and the lowest risk for drug confiscation and gang fight are most preferred. This study attempts to predict the ground trafficking corridors for transporting marijuana and opium derivatives from Mexico to the United States border. The cost surface, representing impedance to transport illicit drugs, is modeled by considering physical, socio-demographic, and drug violence factors. The impedance is then transferred to the road network to represent the cost for moving drugs along the roads, which becomes the main input for network analysis. The results from the routes simulation confirm largely the known territory divisions and the drug trafficking routes of the major Mexican drug organizations. The findings help us understand the development of drug trafficking routes in Mexico, which can potentially enhance our capability to predict the dynamics of drug smuggling routes.

Dengue Fever (DF) has become one of the most serious infectious diseases in China. Dengue virus and its vector (Aedes mosquito) are known to be sensitive to climate condition. Climate impacts DF through affecting three essential bioecological aspects: DF virus, vector (mosquito) and DF transmission environment. Weather-based DF model, mosquito model and climate model are the three pillars to help the prediction of DF distribution. Through a systematic review of literature between 1980 and 2017, this paper summarizes empirical evidences in China on the impact of climate change on DF; it further reviews the related DF incidence models and their findings on how changes in weather factors may impact DF occurrences in China. Compared with some well-known research projects in the western countries, there is a lack of knowledge in China regarding how the spatiotemporal distribution of DF will respond to climate change. However, being able to predict DF distribution is key to China's efforts to prevent and control DF transmission. We conclude this paper by recommending four focused areas for China: promoting more advanced research on the relationship between extreme weather events and DF, developing regional-specific models for the high risk regions of DF in south China, encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration between climate studies and health services, and enhancing public health education and management at national, regional and local levels.

Patterns of illicit narcotics cultivation are among the understudied topics. Some studies estimate the prevalence of illegal crops using imagery and remote sensing data. These studies rely heavily ...

Location-enabled online tools and/or services (i.e. Google Earth/Maps, Flickr, Facebook check-ins, etc.) have been widely used for distributing and processing geospatial-related data. They attract diverse users to consume and contribute geographic information (GI) in many different forms. This study examines college students’ consumption and contribution of GI through these tools and/or services as well as their perception of risk and privacy. It evaluates the impact of Geographic information systems (GIS) and geography knowledge on the related behavior and perception. Through conducting a survey, it was found that college students’ consumption frequency of GI through the investigated tools and services is positively related to their knowledge in GIS and geography, but their GI contribution is not related. GIS knowledge was found to help raise students’ awareness level of risk. However, this relationship does not translate into students’ concern about potential privacy disclosure or their willingness to share personal location information through using location-enabled online tools and/or services. Discussions on the gap between students’ consumption and contribution of GI through the tools and/or services are shared in the paper as well as possible explanations on the disconnection between their risk awareness, privacy concern, and willingness to share personal information. Future research directions are discussed.

The purpose of this article is to describe a capstone course in undergraduate student geographical research in which GIS and other geospatial tools were used to teach undergraduate students basic geographical principles. The course uses the “cooperative learning” pedagogical approach to address one of a number of client-supplied research projects, chosen on the basis of logistical difficulty, time, student ability, and project importance. In the connection of primary data with existing data, students confronted a number of important research issues such as mapping ethics, database design and management, time management, group dynamics, and research limitations.

Chagas disease is endemic and is recognized as a major health problem in many Latin American countries. Despite the parallels between socio-economic and environmental conditions in Texas and much of Latin America, Chagas disease is not a notifiable human disease in Texas. Based on extensive review of related literature, this paper seeks to recognize the evidence that Chagas Disease is endemic to Texas but the epidemiological, parasitological and entomological patterns of Chagas disease in Texas are both different from and parallel to other endemic regions. We find that with a growing immigrant human reservoir, the epidemiological differences may be reduced and result in increasing incidence of the disease. Chagas disease should be recognized as an emerging disease among both immigrant and indigenous populations. Without proper actions, Chagas disease will place increasing burden on the health care system. Current medical treatments consist of chemotherapies that carry the risk of serious side effects; curing the potentially fatal disease remains equivocal. Therefore, as shown in South America, prevention is paramount and can be successfully achieved through intervention and education. We conclude that biogeographical research is needed to (1) distinguish the dynamic evolution of the agent–vector–host system, (2) document locations with greater risk and identify mechanisms responsible for observed changes in risk, and (3) assist in developing a model for Triatomid vector-borne disease in states like Texas where the disease is both endemic and may be carried by a sizeable immigrant population. Tracking of Chagas disease and planning for appropriate health care services would also be aided by including Chagas disease on the list of reportable diseases for humans.

A series of exploratory analyses of auto thefts in the city of Buffalo are reported and discussed in this paper. With the aid of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA), the spatial clustering of auto thefts in Buffalo is evaluated, the distribution of auto thefts along the streets is examined, and the spatial choice of auto thefts as related to the patterns of socioeconomic activities in the study area is investigated. In addition to the patterns of auto theft hot spots, this study also examines the impact that the distribution of the available vehicles has on auto theft locations. Analyses reveal that locations along the major roads and the roads directly connected to the major roads are at high risk of being targeted by auto thieves. Furthermore, it is concluded that certain types of urban socioeconomic activities are more attractive to the potential auto thieves than others.

A city and its transportation network are both complicated systems. Fractal geometry provides an effective way to describe the complex property of geographical features. This paper uses a modified box-counting method to describe the fractal property of urban transportation networks. Assuming that human settlements of different sizes are all operated by the same growth procedure, this paper investigates the relationship between the mass size of cities and the complexity of their road systems. The results confirm that, as cities grow from small to large, their transportation networks generally become more complicated—the urban spaces are filled up more densely by city roads and the locations within a city are more accessible. The quantitative relationship identified between the complexity of urban transportation network and city size provides an empirical guide for the planning and policymaking of urban development and road construction.

Analyses of criminals' travel patterns can provide significant suggestions to improve crime management. This study extends the investigation of criminals' travel behavior from journey-to-crime to journey-after-crime. Moreover, new methods are developed to examine the spatial patterns of location pairs when restricted by the underlying geographical process. The methods are employed to investigate criminals' journey-after-auto-theft in the city of Buffalo, New York. The analyses reveal that auto thieves' trips from vehicle-theft locations to the corresponding vehicle-recovery locations are local in nature. The travel distances are significantly shorter than the randomly simulated trips; the travel directions are biased from the random directions as well.

For the large duct, inflexible use and multiple rooms were not adjusted controlled of central evaporative cooling air conditioning system, we propose a framework which is semi-centralized air-conditioning system of evaporative cooling assisting to mechanical refrigeration. For the majority of medium humidity in the outdoor area weather conditions, we analyse the process of running mode which is based on evaporative cooling in different seasons. Designs an improved automatic control project of semi-centralized air-conditioning system of evaporative cooling assisting to mechanical refrigeration. It ensures security of complex air conditioning and the best energy-saving. We use KINGVIEW to complete the communication between PC and PLC. We achieve centralized control, data recording and printing. These all have provided the detailed information for the scene maintenance of equipment personnel to enable the operation and maintenance work easier.

This paper reports a study examining the association between colorectal cancer (CRC) survival and access to healthcare in Texas using data from the Texas cancer registry. We geo-referenced the data to the census tract level and used an enhanced 2-step floating catchment area method and factor analysis to estimate people's spatial and non-spatial access to healthcare. In addition, Cox proportional hazard regression was employed to assess the influence of different factors on CRC survival, and a spatial scan statistic was used to investigate the geographic disparity of CRC survival and the influence of access to healthcare. The analyses revealed that Hispanics, non-Hispanic blacks, and residents from several regions in Texas were more likely to die from CRC than others. Disadvantaged population groups based on factors rather than spatial access had an increased risk of CRC-specific mortality. Spatial access to oncologists has a significant association with CRC survival in non-urban areas but not in urban areas. Geographic disparities of CRC survival were largely influenced by factors rather than spatial access to healthcare.

This study investigates the convenience of urban transportation in Beijing municipality area. The analyses reported here consist of three parts − the spatial patterns of urban transportation Level of Service (LOS) perceived as transportation convenience by residents in Beijing, the spatial patterns of urban transportation LOS as reflected by objective transportation and traffic data, and the comparison of these two sets of patterns and measurements. The spatial unit of analyses was Jie Dao (街道), which is the basic civil administration unit in Chinese cities. This is one of the first studies linking subjective assessment of transportation convenience in Beijing with objective measurement; it reveals the displacement between the patterns of transprotation convenience reflected from the two aspects. Further examination are needed to explain the discrepancy between the perceived and measured transportation LOS in different Jie Daos in Beijing. The related investigation shall shed light on better understanding the effectiveness of different practices of urban transportation management, planning, and project investment in different types of neighborhoods in Beijing.

Sea Level Rise and Flood Analysis.- Modeling Sea-Level Rise and Surge in Low-Lying Urban Areas Using Spatial Data, Geographic Information Systems, and Animation Methods.- Urban Expansion and Sea-Level Rise Related Flood Vulnerability for Mumbai (Bombay), India Using Remotely Sensed Data.- A GIS for Flood Risk Management in Flanders.- Using Geographic Information Science to Estimate Vulnerable Urban Populations for Flood Hazard and Risk Assessment in New York City.- Geo-Information Technology for Infrastructural Flood Risk Analysis in Unplanned Settlements: A Case Study of Informal Settlement Flood Risk in the Nyabugogo Flood Plain, Kigali City, Rwanda.- Metropolitan Case Studies.- A Respiratory Riskscape for Texas Cities: A Spatial Analysis of Air Pollution, Demographic Attributes and Deaths from 2000 Through 2004.- Spatial Distribution of Toxic Release Inventory Sites in Chicago Area: Is There Environmental Inequity?.- Risk and Exposure to Extreme Heat in Microclimates of Phoenix, AZ.- Wildfire Risk Analysis at the Wildland Urban Interface in Travis County, Texas.- Early Warning of Food Security Crises in Urban Areas: The Case of Harare, Zimbabwe, 2007.- Earthquakes, Tsunamis, and International Applications.- Spatial Information Technologies for Disaster Management in China.- A Cybercartographic Tool for Supporting Disaster Prevention Planning Processes and Emergency Management in Mexico City.- Integration of Tsunami Analysis Tools into a GIS Workspace - Research, Modeling, and Hazard Mitigation efforts Within NOAA's Center for Tsunami Research.- Utilizing New Technologies in Managing Hazards and Disasters.- Hurricane Response/Recovery.- Remote Sensing and GIS Data/Information in the Emergency Response/Recovery Phase.- Investigating Recovery Patterns in Post Disaster Urban Settings: Utilizing Geospatial Technology to Understand Post-Hurricane Katrina Recovery in New Orleans, Louisiana.- Space and Time Changes in Neighborhood Recovery After a Disaster Using a Spatial Video Acquisition System.- Evacuation Studies.- Pre-evacuation Trip Behavior.- Micro-Level Emergency Response: 3D Geometric Network and an Agent-Based Model.- A Planning Support System for Terror-Resistant Urban Communities.

The term, “wildland urban interface” (WUI) refers to the area where structures and other human development meet or intermingle with undeveloped wildland or vegetative fuel. When development encroaches into wildland – areas that have been minimally impacted by human activities – the wildfire threat to life and property increases. A wildfire risk profile for the WUI in Travis County, Texas was created using a geographic information system (GIS). Historic wildfire records were linked to land cover types to identify the empirical relationship between fuels and ground cover. Topographical characteristics, land cover types, and housing density were combined to estimate wildfire risk. Risk levels for communities within and outside the WUI were compared. Analyses also compared wildfire risk levels for different types of WUI areas, which are distinguished based on vegetation coverage percentages and housing density. Findings indicate that in Travis County, TX, the wildfire risk is highest in high-density WUI areas, pointing to an urgent need for special fire control and fire regulations in this development zone. Vacant lands, which are likely future development sites, could be used by land managers to reduce wildfire risk if they can be managed as natural fire breaks or fuel freezones.

While we have seen the wide use of other information technologies in health services and management, the use of geographic information technologies in health related services has been limited so far. Given that location-related data play important roles in many health related services, it is anticipated that geographic information technologies have a lot to offer in helping improve health related services, management, and research. As an example, the authors report the development of a geographic information system (GIS) for Texas-Mexico border disease surveillance and environmental health research. This presentation covers three important aspects in the development of the GIS: (1) the specification of uses and users of the GIS and the associated data, products, and functions; (2) a preliminary design of the data types and formats in the GIS; and (3) a prototype of a GIS-based spatial search tool that can be used to support environmental epidemiology research. In some disease monitoring and environmental epidemiology studies, it is often necessary to perform spatial search to determine the distances between environmental hazardous sites and the locations of cases and controls when distance is used as measure of exposure. The GIS can be used to interactively and automatically determine the distance between any possible pair of environmental hazardous sites and cases/controls. Preliminary results suggest that the prototype GIS is indeed a powerful tool for spatial search when distance is used as a measure of exposure in environmental health research. The reported system should be useful to researchers facing similar situations in disease monitoring and environmental health research.

Crime is typically a multi-location event where multiple locations are associated through one crime incident. Understanding the patterns of the spatial association between crime locations and their corresponding crime-related locations (for example, the residence location of an offender or that of a victim) can enhance our capability to explain and predict crime patterns. GIS technologies coupled with spatial statistics have been widely used to model areas of high crime (that is, crime hot spot). But very limited effort has been spent to investigate the spatial association between crime locations from a crime hot spot and the corresponding crime-related locations. This chapter introduces the concept of “hot link” to describe the spatial autocorrelation of the one-to-one relationship between a crime location and a crime-related location. It develops an approach for the hot link analysis problem. Related techniques are applied to the hot link analysis between auto theft and recovery locations in the city of Buffalo, New York. Identifying the patterns of hot links from auto theft locations to recovery locations is important for understanding auto thieves’ travel behavior. Related findings can contribute to the law enforcement’s effort to fight against auto theft. The hot link analysis method can be easily extended to analyzing spatial patterns of other types of crime and crime-related locations.