Geographic influences on sexual and reproductive health service utilization in rural Mozambique

The HIV/AIDS epidemic remains a major public health issue across the globe, and it is of particular concern in sub-Saharan Africa. Utilization of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services can significantly impact HIV prevention, transmission, and treatment. SRH service utilization may be determined by individual characteristics, such as education and economic status, but also by the location and accessibility of health care facilities. Using population-based survey data, this study applies exploratory spatial analysis techniques to examine spatial patterns of SRH service utilization among rural married women in southern Mozambique. Clustering among those using services is found as are spatial associations, indicating significant spatial variability in the utilization of health services. The findings provide valuable insights for current and future health care program planning and configuration.     

Distribution of heavy metals in urban soils – a case study of Danang-Hoian Area (Vietnam)

 This work is part of a research study which is intended to study the degree of anthropogenic influences of the trace metal distribution of soils from Danang-Hoian area (Vietnam). Cu, Ni, Zn and Zr show significant effects in most of the cultivated soil categories, especially in the industrial soils. Extremely high levels of Pb (up to 742 μg/g) are observed in the industrial soil category, which shows an enrichment factor 114 as compared to rural soils. Cd shows only a relative local enrichment with the maximum level of 4.6 μg/g in urban soils. Sequential extraction was performed in selected samples to evaluate the geochemical trace metals. The result indicates that Zn and Cr are mainly found in the crystal and amorphous Fe oxide bounded forms. The contents of Cr in these fractions comprise more than 94% of total extractable Cr. In the case of Zn, 85% of total extractable Zn is in fractions F_V and F_VI. Cu is mainly found in the organic fraction at an average of 39.3% of total extractable content. On the other hand, heavy metal contents show an increasing tendency in the fine fraction (silt and clay). Received: 4 February 1998 · Accepted: 26 November 1998     

The Observation and Characterization of Lunar Meteoroid Impact Phenomena

Confirmed observations of meteoroids from the Leonid stream impacting the Moon in 1999 and 2001 have opened up new opportunities in observational and theoretical astronomy. These opportunities could help bridge the gap between the ground-based (atmospheric) sampling of the smallest meteoroids and the larger objects observable with ground-based telescopes. The Moon provides a laboratory for the study of hypervelocity impacts, with collision velocities not yet possible in ground-based laboratories. Development of automatic detection software removes the time-intensive activity of laboriously reviewing data for impact event signatures, freeing the observer to engage in other activities. The dynamics of professional-amateur astronomer collaboration have the promise of advancing the study of lunar meteoritic phenomenon considerably. These three factors will assist greatly in the development of a systematic, comprehensive program for monitoring the Moon for meteoroid impacts and determining the physical nature of these impacts.     

Mind,the gap in landscape‐evolution modelling

Despite an increasing recognition that human activity is currently the dominant force modifying landscapes, and that this activity has been increasing through the Holocene, there has been little integrative work to evaluate human interactions with geomorphic processes. We argue that agent‐based models (ABMs) are a useful tool for overcoming the limitations of existing, highly empirical approaches. In particular, they allow the integration of decision‐making into process‐based models and provide a heuristic way of evaluating the compatibility of knowledge gained from a wide range of sources, both within and outwith the discipline of geomorphology. The application of ABMs to geomorphology is demonstrated from two different perspectives. The SPASIMv1 (Special Protection Area SIMulator version 1) model is used to evaluate the potential impacts of land‐use change – particularly in relation to wildfire and subsequent soil conditions, runoff and erosion – over a decadal timescale from the present day to the mid‐twenty‐first century. It focuses on the representation of farmers with traditional versus commercial perspectives in central Spain, and highlights the importance of land‐tenure structure and historical contingencies of individuals' decision‐making. CYBEROSION, however, considers changes in erosion and deposition over the scale of at least centuries. It represents both wild and domesticated animals and humans as model agents, and investigates the interactions of them in the context of early agriculturalists in southern France in a prehistoric context. We evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of the ABM approach, and consider some of the major challenges. These challenges include potential process‐scale mismatches, differences in perspective between investigators from different disciplines, and issues regarding model evaluation, analysis and interpretation. If the challenges can be overcome, this fully integrated approach will provide geomorphology a means to conceptualize soundly the study of human–landscape interactions by bridging the gap between social and physical approaches. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

雨量计密度对校准雷达估测降水的影响及单点对校准的贡献

利用新一代天气雷达基数据资料和天津三次不同类型降水天气过程的降水量资料,采用变分校准方法,以校准区域内所有雨量计校准雷达得到的估测降水场作为"真值场",对比分析14种不同密度雨量计网校准雷达估测降水的效果,并对雨量计网中单个雨量计站点对校准雷达的贡献进行试验分析。结果表明:（1）参加校准的雨量计密度较小时,雷达估测降水的误差较大,估测效果不好;随校准雨量计密度的不断加大,雷达估测降水的偏差明显减小、估测精度不断提高并逐渐趋于稳定。（2）校准不同类型降水需要的雨量计密度不同,这与降水的性质有关;当校准雷达估测降水的效果与"真值场"的相当时,所需的雨量计密度为121 km²·部^-1。（3）在雨量计校准网中任意增加降水量不为零的站点,会在增加的站点周围出现估测偏差（高估或低估）,偏差的大小与站点降水量相对于其周围雨量计平均值的大小有关、偏差的影响范围则与站点周围雨量计的分布密度有关。（4）任意增大（减小）雨量计校准网中单个站点的降水量会使雷达对站点周围降水的估计偏高（偏低）,高（低）估的程度及影响范围与站点降水量增大（减小）的多少及站点周围雨量计分布密度有关,而与降水类型及降水随时间的演变无关。     

Neighborhood impacts on household participation in payments for ecosystem services programs in a Chinese nature reserve: A methodological exploration

Payments for Ecosystem Services(PES)programs have been implemented in both developing and developed countries to conserve ecosystems and the vital services they provide.These programs also often seek to maintain or improve the economic wellbeing of the populations living in the corresponding(usually rural)areas.Previous studies suggest that PES policy design,presence or absence of concurrent PES programs,and a variety of socioeconomic and demographic factors can influence decisions of households to participate or not in the PES program.However,neighborhood impacts on household participation in PES have rarely been addressed.This study explores potential neighborhood effects on villagers'enrollment in the Grain-to-Green Program(GTGP),one of the largest PES pro-grams in the world,using data from China's Fanjingshan National Nature Reserve.We utilize a fixed effects logistic regression model in combination with the eigenvector spatial filtering(ESF)method to explore whether neighborhood size affects household enrollment in GTGP.By comparing the results with and without ESF,we find that the ESF method can help ac-count for spatial autocorrelation properly and reveal neighborhood impacts that are otherwise hidden,including the effects of area of forest enrolled in a concurrent PES program,gender and household size.The method can thus uncover mechanisms previously undetected due to not taking into account neighborhood impacts and thus provides an additional way to account for neighborhood impacts in PES programs and other studies.     

Variation in low food access areas due to data source inaccuracies

Several spatial measures of community food access identifying so called “food deserts” have been developed based on geospatial information and commercially-available, secondary data listings of food retail outlets. It is not known how data inaccuracies influence the designation of Census tracts as areas of low access. This study replicated the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service (USDA ERS) food desert measure and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) non-healthier food retail tract measure in two secondary data sources (InfoUSA and Dun & Bradstreet) and reference data from an eight-county field census covering 169 Census tracts in South Carolina. For the USDA ERS food deserts measure accuracy statistics for secondary data sources were 94% concordance, 50–65% sensitivity, and 60–64% positive predictive value (PPV). Based on the CDC non-healthier food retail tracts both secondary data demonstrated 88–91% concordance, 80–86% sensitivity and 78–82% PPV. While inaccuracies in secondary data sources used to identify low food access areas may be acceptable for large-scale surveillance, verification with field work is advisable for local community efforts aimed at identifying and improving food access.     

Response of Nereis diversicolor (Polychaeta, Nereidae) populations to reduced wastewater discharge in the polluted estuary of Oued Souss, Bay of Agadir, Morocco

Field investigations on the population dynamics of Nereis diversicolor were carried out from January 2002 to December 2003 in the estuary of Oued Souss (southwestern Morocco) to determine the changes caused by setting up of a domestic and industrial wastewater purification plant (M'zar) before and after by the end of wastewater discharges in November 2002 on the structure of the ecosystem. Samples of N. diversicolor were collected monthly in the intertidal zone at low tide before (during 2002) and after (during 2003) the end of wastewater discharges.Separation of cohorts using the Algorithm EM method (McLachlan, G.J., Krishnan, T., 1997. The EM algorithm and extensions. Wiley Series in Probability and Statistics. Wiley, New York, 274 pp.) allowed determination of the growth rate (mm day⁻¹) by cohort and the annual production. The data showed significant differences between populations of Nereis diversicolor before and after the end of wastewater discharges. During the wastewater discharge period (2002), the population had a mean annual density of 1992 ind m⁻², a mean annual biomass of 75.52 g DW m⁻² and an annual secondary production of 141.3 g DW m⁻² with a P/B ratio of 1.87. After the end of discharges (2003), density, biomass and secondary production decreased significantly. The annual averages for these parameters were 740 ind m⁻², 14.16 g DW m⁻² and 23.83 g DW m⁻², respectively, with a P/B ratio of 1.68.The important decrease observed in density, biomass and secondary production of Nereis diversicolor may be attributed (a) to the environmental changes observed after the end of wastewater discharges in the estuary of Oued Souss, namely the increase of salinity and the decrease of organic matter content, and (b) to the migration of this species towards other areas.     

Characteristics and role of groundwater dissolved organic matter on arsenic mobilization and poisoning in Bangladesh

The fluorescence and molecular weight characteristics of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in groundwater of Bangladesh were investigated to evaluate its multiple roles on arsenic (As) mobilization and poisoning. Fluorescence properties of DOM were measured in groundwater samples collected from two As contaminated areas of Bangladesh (Faridpur at the Ganges floodplain and Sonargaon at the Meghna floodplain) from different locations and depths. The three dimensional excitation–emission matrix (3DEEM) fluorescence spectra of groundwater samples showed two characteristic peaks around Ex/Em = 335–365 nm/435–480 nm for fulvic-like peaks and peak at around Ex/Em = 275–290 nm/310–335 nm for the protein-like materials. The similarity of fluorescence spectra of groundwater and surface water of both the study areas with high intensity of fluorescence and its strong correlation with DOC reflect the in situ generation of fluorescent DOM from sedimentary organic matter (SOM) and recent recharge of terrestrial labile organic carbon into shallow aquifer. High performance size-exclusion chromatography (HPSEC) analysis of DOM shows positive correlations between fluorescence intensities (FI) of small molecular fractions (0.65 kDa) and As concentrations, with the signatures of protein-like peaks of DOM in groundwater. This result provides new evidence that small molecular weight fraction of DOM in groundwater of Bangladesh can play an important role on As mobilization and toxicity. In addition, high concentration of fluorescence materials in DOM of As contaminated groundwater of Bangladesh may pose a threat to public health.