Assessment of the Retail Food Environment Using Integrated GIS and Modified Measures in Wuhan, China

The retail food environment (RFE) has a significant impact on people’s dietary behavior and diet-related outcomes. Although RFE research has received a lot of attention, there are very few studies that shed light on the foodscape and assessment methodologies in the China context. Based on open data obtained from Dianping.com and AutoNavi map, we classified all food outlets into six types. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) techniques were employed to create two network buffer areas (1-km and 3-km) and calculate the absolute measures and relative measures (i.e., mRFEI and Rmix). We modified the calculation of relative measures by adding items and assigning weights. The mean mRFEI using the 1-km and 3-km buffer sizes across the communities were 10.45 and 20.12, respectively, while the mean mRmix of the two buffer sizes were 20.97 and 58.04, indicating that residents in Wuhan have better access to fresh and nutritious food within 3-km network buffers. Residents in urban areas are more likely to be exposed to an unhealthy food environment than those in rural areas. Residents in Xinzhou and Qiaokou districts are more likely to be subjected to unfavorable neighborhood RFE. The open data-driven methods for assessing RFE in Wuhan, China may guide community-level food policy interventions and promote active living by shifting built environments to increase residents’ access to healthy food.

Natural Suitability Evaluation of Habitat Environment in Transition Zone Based on GIS Spatial Analysis Technology—Taking Beichuan County as an Example

Analyzing and measuring the spatial distribution pattern of human settlement environment suitability in Beichuan County China is of great significance for optimizing population distribution and promoting human development and environmental protection. Based on the DEM data and other data of Beichuan County, this paper uses GIS and ENVI software to extract four spatial distribution data of vegetation coverage index, topographic relief, hydrological index and natural disaster risk, and the spatial distribution pattern of natural suitability of human settlement environment in Beichuan County was obtained through overlay analysis. The results show: 1) Most of the areas with small topographic relief are located in the southeast of the study area, which is New Beichuan County and Anchang Town and Yong’an Town. The vegetation coverage index in the eastern region is higher, while the vegetation coverage index in the western and other high altitude regions is lower because there are more grasslands. 2) From the perspective of spatial distribution, Beichuan County as a whole is rich in water resources in the central and eastern part of the county, while the west is short of water resources;Chenjiaba Township, Guixi Town and Old Beichuan County are located on the fault zone with high natural disaster risk, the natural disaster risk is high in Piankou Township and Xiaoba Town and Kaiping Township Area. 3) The human settlement environment index of Beichuan county is 19.72 - 85.25;The natural suitability is the highest in the southeast, followed by the central and western regions, and the worst is located in the Piankou-Xiaoba and Old Beichuan-Guixi fault zones. 4) The general suitable area in Beichuan County is the largest, accounting for 30.4% of the total area of the study area. More suitable area ranked second, accounting for 29.33%;critical fitness suitable area accounted for 17.87%;the area of suitable highly suitable area accounted for 14.06%, and the unsuitable area accounted for 8.32%. Reasonable and efficient development and use of local resources is an inevitable way for the sustainable development of Beichuan County.

Hand Hygiene among Anesthesiologists and Microorganisms Contamination in Anesthesia Environments:A Single-Center Observational Study

Objective To investigate the baseline levels of microorganisms’growth on the hands of anesthesiologists and in the anesthesia environment at a cancer hospital.Methods This study performed in nine operating rooms and among 25 anesthesiologists at a cancer hospital.Sampling of the hands of anesthesiologists and the anesthesia environment was performed at a ready-to-use operating room before patient contact began and after decontamination.Results Microorganisms’growth results showed that 20%(5/25)of anesthesiologists’hands carried microorganisms(>10 CFU/cm^(2))before patient contact began.Female anesthesiologists performed hand hygiene better than did their male counterparts,with fewer CFUs(P=0.0069)and fewer species(P=0.0202).Our study also found that 55.6%(5/9)of ready-to-use operating rooms carried microorganisms(>5 CFU/cm^(2)).Microorganisms regrowth began quickly(1 hour)after disinfection,and increased gradually over time,reaching the threshold at 4 hours after disinfection.Staphylococcus aureus was isolated from the hands of 20%(5/25)of anesthesiologists and 33.3%(3/9)of operating rooms.Conclusion Our study indicates that male anesthesiologists need to pay more attention to the standard operating procedures and effect evaluation of hand hygiene,daily cleaning rate of the operating room may be insufficient,and we would suggest that there should be a repeat cleaning every four hours.

GIS在不动产测绘中的应用及前景分析

地理信息系统技术(GeographicInformation System,以下简称GIS)在不动产测绘能够提供不动产测绘数据空间基准、进行对不动产数据整合处理、建立不动产数据库、完成不动产数据质量检验。GIS具有工作效率高、测量精度大、应用便捷等优势,GIS与大数据、人工智能、实景三维技术融合不动产测绘行业中应用前景广阔。

Public Participation GIS (PPGIS) for Regional Mapping and Environmental Awareness

Giant Hogweed is a poisonous invasive weed in Latvia that poses significant threat to biodiversity and human health. Local residents are afraid and have very special concerns about the safety of their children because the plant causes phytophotodermatitis (severe burns), painful blistering, permanent scarring and blindness when the sap of the plant comes in contact with the human body and is exposed to sunlight. This study utilizes public participation GIS (PPGIS) involving Latvian high school students as data collectors to monitor the geographic distribution of Giant Hogweed in Northeast Latvia. This paper also explores challenges with implementing such a public program, how to maximize participation, and how participation impacts environmental awareness of participants. In this study we also assessed the accuracy of PPGIS-collected data and how the utilization of such data impacts mapping and monitoring of Giant Hogweed in the study area. Results indicate that this PPGIS program is effective in facilitating data collection for monitoring Giant Hogweed in Latvia. Tested methods of increasing participation have proven largely unsuccessful to date. Statistical analyses of survey responses indicate participation had a marked effect on sensitivity towards environmental issues. Accuracy assessments indicate that quality of point data collected by participants is sufficient for mapping and for use as ground verification.

Using GIS Data to Build Informed Virtual Geographic Environments (IVGE)

In this paper, we propose a novel approach to automatically building Informed Virtual Geographic Environments (IVGE) using data provided by Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The obtained IVGE provides 2D and 3D geographic information for visualization and simulation purposes. Conventional VGE approaches are generally built upon a grid-based representation, raising the well-known problems of the lack of accuracy of the localized data and the difficulty to merge data with multiple semantics. On the contrary, our approach uses a topological model and provides an exact representation of GIS data, allowing an accurate geometrical exploitation. Moreover, our model can merge semantic information, even if spatially overlapping. In addition, the proposed IVGE contains spatial information which can be enhanced thanks to a geometric abstraction method. We illustrate this model with an application which automatically extracts the required data from standard GIS files and allows a user to navigate and retrieve information from the computed IVGE.

Study of Fussy Clustering of Engineering Geological Environment with GIS

Based on previous evaluating methods, a new method which combines GIS with Fussy Clustering algorithm is proposed and applied in evaluating the engineering geological environment of the research area of XuZHou City in this paper. By analyzing the characteristics and formation of engineering geological environment,the major problems are discussed, including stability of basement rock, sandy soil liquefaction and cultural stratum.According to effecting factors of these problems, the stability of every engineering geological problem in the worked area is classified into different classes. Then, the Fussy Clustering method is used in assessing all conditions of engineering geological environment. Finally, the evaluation is fulfilled in the whole studied area. The calculating result shows the method is feasible.

GIS Database Template for Environmental Management of Mining in Indonesia

Mining sector in Indonesia faces many challenges including needed to support national economy, compliance to central and local government regulations, local community empowerment and environmental impact management. Mining companies are mandatory to perform the environmental management efforts to minimize the negative impact to the environment and pursue sustainability of post-mining land use and as much as possible to restore land to the initial conditions. There are many challenges on management multi parameter and multi temporal spatial data of environmental management. The aim of this research is to design the GIS database template for environmental management in Indonesia’s mining operation. This GIS database is designed using ArcCatalog ArcGIS 9.3 software, through following steps: inventory and assessment government regulations, inventory and assessment environmental quality standards, sorting and grouping parameters, design feature class and attribute, create GIS database, create GIS database dictionary. According to research result, GIS database template has many advantages for environmental management include integrated into a single database, avoid redundancy data, reduce volume data, uniformity data, easy to find and track data, integrated spatial and attribute data, can be used as an input for GIS analysis for decision-making and development strategies.

Urbanization and Quality of Urban Environment Using Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques in East Delhi-India

An explosive increase of urban population, practically in all major cities and towns, has the consequent strain on the existing system manifested in an environmental chaos. The phenomena of accelerated urbanisation is the main culprit, wherein besides bringing higher standard of living, it has also brought problems, as growth of dense and unplanned residential areas, environmental pollution, non-availability of services and amenities, solid waste etc. Remote sensing satellite data is suitable for urban land use mapping to get detail and up- to-date information for environmental management. Where as GIS helps in developing database system for urban information, which supports decision making process. Development of digital database on all aspects of land use and urban planning is the next crucial task for the future in which remote sensing based informa-tion is going to play a major role. In Delhi, rise in population and growth in economic activity has led to en-vironmental degradation. With this view an attempt has been made to study the quality of urban environment in the East district of Delhi, which is experiencing very high urban growth with 98.75% urban population in 2001. For this study Landsat ASTER (MSS) data of year 2001 (15 m Ground resolution), Guide map of the year 1982 and demographic and environmental data has been used. Eight parameters were selected, which affect the urban environmental quality, namely built-up area, open spaces, household density, occupancy ra-tio, population density, accessibility to roads, noise and smell affected area. The study shows that the quality of environment has been degraded when we compare 1982 and 2003 data. Most of the East district was in a better state of environment in 1982, but in 2003 things have been changed and now 50% area is in very good, fair and desirable condition. The public participation and involvement should be encouraged planning and decisions making for the improvement in better urban environmental quality.

Aerial Extent Analysis and Environmental Problems Identification of Matasagar and Sukhsagar Wetlands in Bangladesh Using GIS and Remote Sensing Tools

Bangladesh is a land of wetlands. Basically, most of them are freshwater wetlands and have great influence on the primary economic activities such as agriculture and fisheries of the country. Due to its important role in the harmonizing ecosystem, wetlands demand much attention as a significant part of our environment. Matasagar and Sukhsagar are very important historical wetlands of Bangladesh. But those are endangered today due to lack of public awareness of the dangers of their activities to the environment and unbridled profit making activities of the commercial users of the wetlands. Comparisons of maps and Google images from 1933 to present have shown that the forest areas of the wetlands have been progressively destroyed, and these have greatly affected the biodiversity of these areas mentioned. GIS (Geographic Information System) and remote sensing techniques are used to identify the changes in the aerial extent of those wetlands. This study also tried to explore present environmental conditions by in-situ observation. This is high time;some serious steps should be taken to ensure the conservation and preservation of these areas mentioned.

Simulation Models and GIS Technology in Environmental Planning and Landscape Management

Landscape protection that, in the past, has been mainly concerned with its historical, artistic and cultural heritage, follows, nowadays, a systemic methodology that looks at landscape as a high level aggregate of spatial, ecologically different units that interact each other by exchanging energy and materials. Strategic environmental assessment, nowadays, has been adopted in Europe in landscape planning, whose task is to verify the compatibility of territory transformations with respect to their levels of criticality and vulnerability, to evaluate possible future scenarios as consequence of interventions by checking if they are in line with preservation and valorization of environmental. To this aim, we make here a short survey of three different simulation models that can be used as Decision Support System in landscape planning and management. They adopt tools of the Landscape Ecology and are based on GIS (Geographic Information System) technology. The first one consists of a planar graph, the so called ecological graph, whose construction needs the computation of suitable indices of environmental control, proper of Landscape Ecology, such as biodiversity, biological territorial capacity, connectivity. The planar graph, for the considered environmental system, returns a picture of its actual ecological health condition and provides very detailed indications and operational assistance for choosing among possible ecological sustainable interventions. The second one, based on the data used to construct the ecological graph, uses the least-cost path algorithm from GIS technology in order to build an ecological network to prevent and to reduce territorial fragmentation caused by intense processes of urbanisation and industrialisation. At last, an integrated GIS-based approach is developed combining an ecological graph model and a mathematical model based on a nonlinear differential equation of logistic-type with harvesting to perform qualitative predictions on the sustainability of a given territorial plan.

Interrelations Between Socio-economic Development and Environmental Quality:a Simulation Integrating System Dynamics Models with GIS

System dynamics (SD) theory has long been deployed in modeling complex non-linear interrelationships but, so far it has not been common to do the kind of modeling in support of bringing environmental sustainability policies to practice. This is largely because the challenge of including spatial data has not yet been well met. Potential for adoption of SD and GIS methods in combination is exemplified with the results of a decision-support exercise designed for simulation and prediction of the dynamic inter-relationships between socio-economic development and environmental quality for the "Wen, Pi, Du" county in Sichuan province, southwestern China.

An Environmental Risk Evaluation Method Employing Atmospheric Dispersion Models and GIS

This study aims to develop a method for evaluating the environmental risk of harmful chemical substances released from specific sources, using two atmospheric dispersion models and GIS (Geographic Information Systems). In the first stage of evaluation, ADMER was used to conduct a wide-area evaluation which covered the entire area of the evaluation target region. In the second stage, METI-LIS was used to conduct a detailed limited-area evaluation which targeted the vicinity of sources. In this study, incinerators were selected as sources and dioxins were selected as harmful chemical substances. The area selected for evaluation was the Tokyo Metropolis in Japan, and the evaluation method proposed in this study was used to evaluate environmental risk. Through the use of atmospheric dispersion models and GIS, the behavior of dioxins emitted into the atmosphere from incinerators was estimated. By superimposing atmospheric levels and population data, the amounts of dioxins that humans exposed to were found. Additionally, by superimposing deposition amounts and land use data, the amounts of dioxins accumulated in each land environment were found. Conducting these steps enabled the impact of dioxins on humans and the environment to be grasped quantitatively and visually, and the risk that dioxins emitted from incinerators pose to the environment to be evaluated.

Utilizing Anesthesiologists, Emergency and Critical Care Physicians with Telemedicine Monitoring to Develop Intubation and Ventilation Services in an Intensive Care Unit in the Austere Medical Environment: A Case Series. Expansion of the EP/CC GAS Project

Background: Significant resource constraints and critical care training gaps are responsible for the limited development of intensive care units (ICUs) in resource limited settings. We describe the implementation of an ICU in Haiti and report the successes and difficulties encountered throughout the process. We present a consecutive case series investigating an anesthesiologist, emergency, and critical care physician implemented endotracheal intubation and mechanical ventilation protocol in an austere environment with the assistance of telemedicine. Methods: A consecutive case series of fifteen patients admitted to an ICU at St. Luc Hospital located in Portau-Prince, Haiti, between the months of February 2012 to April 2014 is reported. Causes of respiratory failure and the clinical course are presented. Patients were followed to either death or discharge. Results: Fifteen patients (eight women and seven men) were included in the study with an average age of 37.7 years. The mean duration of ventilation was three days. Of the fifteen patients intubated, five patients (33.3%) survived and were discharged from the ICU. Of the five surviving patients, two were intubated for status epilepticus, one for status asthmaticus and one for hyperosmolar coma associated with intracerebral hemorrhage. Of the patients dying on the ventilator, four patients died from pneumonia, two from renal failure, and one from tetanus. The remaining three died from strokes and cardiac arrests. Conclusions: Mortality of mechanically ventilated patients in a resource-limited country is significant. Focused training in core critical care skills aimed at increasing the endotracheal intubation and ventilatory management capacity of local medical staff should be a priority in order to continue to develop ICUs in these austere environments. Collaborative educational and training efforts directed by anesthesiologists, emergency, and critical care physicians, and aided by telemedicine can facilitate realizing this goal.

Ecosystem Responses in the Distribution of Black Clam (<i>Villorita cyprinoides</i>) Beds in Vembanad Estuary during Environmental Changes Using GIS and RS

The biomass and distribution of black clam (Villorita cyprinoides) in Vembanad, a tropical estuary located along the southwest coast of India varied significantly. Sampling was done in freshwater-dominated zone in the south (distal) and brackish water zone in the north (proximal), during pre and post monsoon seasons. Clam biomass was estimated from samples, collected from different stations during the study period. Water transparency and temperature were measured at the sample sites. Water samples were collected and analysed for salinity, dissolved oxygen (DO), pH and hardness. There was a significant difference in the clam biomass during the two seasons in the distal zone, and those collected from the distal and proximal zones during pre-monsoon season. The data were further analysed to determine the factors affecting the clam biomass distribution in the two zones and seasons. Factor analyses, comparing the distal zone during two seasons and zonal variations were similar to earlier observations. Step wise regression analyses found that dissolved oxygen (adjusted R2 = 0.3) is the only variable affecting clam survival during pre-monsoon period in the distal and proximal zones. A geographic map of the region obtained from the Indian satellite sensor LISS (Linear Image Self Scanner) was used along with in situ data to map the results using inverse distance weightage model.

Integration of GIS in the Development of an Environmental Cadastre Administrative System for the Environment Protection Agency Sierra Leone

The Environment Protection Agency Sierra Leone (EPA) is mandated by law to issue Environmental Impact Assessment license. Currently the agency achieves this mandate by issuing environmental licenses manually which always encountered lot of problems of accountability and transparency of the management of environmental licenses and assessment documentation. Client’s information and documentation is usually mixed up while carrying files from one point to the other or from one staff to another. Data on client are stored in a way which makes it difficult for the management to retrieve useful information on time. This paper explores these challenges faced by the manual system of issuing environmental licenses and infer solutions to the current challenges by integrating a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to develop an Environmental Cadastre administrative System (ECAS) which establishes a web-based information repository database developed with open sources software (Java, PHP, MySQL, QGIS) that published revenues online and made the data available to stakeholders and/or the public to complete the cycle of accountability and transparency. The information is presented and downloadable in a comprehensible and user-friendly manner, which in turn improves monitoring and reporting, and increases effectiveness and accountability of the management of environmental licenses and assessment documentation. The findings show these challenges facing the manual system, the back and forth between EPA and the client in the EIA process, the difficulty in the searching a client record, the mixing up of Client’s information and documentation by carrying files from one point to the other, and the storage of data on client in a way which makes it difficult for the management to retrieve useful information on time, and lack of back up when data or information is lost. Problems encountered in the time-consuming nature of the manual retrieval of files and preparation of prompt and accurate reports make it become a difficult task to accomplish as data and information are difficult to retrieve or collect from various files. Based on these findings, this paper provides the possible solution to the above problems. An online Environmental Cadastre administrative System (ECAS) which establishes a web-based information repository database was designed to capture the full lifecycle of environmental licenses including all stages of monitoring, licenses and payments and seamlessly manage the environmental impact assessment (EIA) licenses.

Research on GIS-Based Environmental Management Information System of Coastal Zone

Owing to the exploitation of ocean resources and the change of coastal industry base construction, plenty of pollutants discharged had lead to the serious environmental pollution of coastal zone and the destroy of local ecological balance that threaten the existent environmental safety of local inhabitants and marine biology of coastal zone.So,environmental safety problems of coastal zone are concerned by

Outdoor thermal environmental research of the mountainous city by GIS

The study of urban outdoor thermal environment was carried out in one of the mountainous cities by using geography information system(GIS) technique which is connected with predicting and evaluating models for the outdoor thermal environment, monitoring data and simulating data. A prediction and evaluation system were set up. A typical mountainous city, i.e., Yunyang city in Chongqing in China, was taken as an example, its urbanization trend and population growth was predicted and evaluated. The heat island intensity and its trend were simulated, the temperature field, velocity field and the humidity field were analyzed. The results show that GIS is an effective tool to deal with the outdoor thermal environment, especially for the mountainous cities with special geographical particularities. GIS can be used in the environmental management and the city planning especially for the mountainous cities.

Research on the Evaluation of Marine Environmental Quality by Using the GIS Technology

Based on the biological resources surveys in China’s exclusive economic zone, the paper discusses the application of the GIS technology in evaluating the marine environmental quality, establishes the basic concept and technological process for evaluating the environmental quality of the habitats of marine living resources, proposes the key points for the establishment of the relevant evaluation attributes database by applying the GIS technology and analyses several typical evaluation models and the data interpolation method for the model in GIS. Results show that the combination of the GIS technology with the quantitative evaluation model can be applied to the fast and accurate evaluation of the marine environmental quality.