Aim: While studies using global positioning systems (GPS) have the potential to refine measures of exposure to the neighbourhood environment in health research, one limitation is that they do not typically identify time spent undertaking journeys in motorised vehicles when contact with the environment is reduced. This paper presents and tests a novel methodology to explore the impact of this concern.
Methods: Using a case study of exposure assessment to food environments, an unsupervised computational algorithm is employed in order to infer two travel modes: motorised and non-motorised, on the basis of which trips were extracted. Additional criteria are imposed in order to improve robustness of the algorithm.
Results: After removing noise in the GPS data and motorised vehicle journeys, 82.43% of the initial GPS points remained. In addition, after comparing a sub-sample of trips classified visually of motorised, non-motorised and mixed mode trips with the algorithm classifications, it was found that there was an agreement of 88%. The measures of exposure to the food environment calculated before and after algorithm classification were strongly correlated.
Conclusion: Identifying non-motorised exposures to the food environment makes little difference to exposure estimates in urban children but might be important for adults or rural populations who spend more time in motorised vehicles. 相似文献
Cuvier's beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris, G. Cuvier 1823) is a poorly known species and many international agreements have asked for a better understanding of its biology for conservation purposes. In the present study, systematic cetacean surveys were carried out from ferries along a trans‐regional fixed transect in the Central Tyrrhenian Sea (Civitavecchia, Latium – Golfo Aranci, Sardinia), just outside the southeastern border of the Pelagos Sanctuary. This research provided long‐term, consistent data on Cuvier's beaked whale during two research periods (1990–1992 and 2007–2011). The objective of the research was to compare the presence, distribution and habitat use of Cuvier's beaked whale between the two investigated periods. Summer data (June–September) from the two periods were compared in terms of frequency of sightings, group size and spatial distribution related to the main ecogeographical features. A presence‐absence model (generalized additive modelling) was performed to predict habitat suitability in the two study periods. The results highlight long‐term site fidelity of Cuvier's beaked whale in the Central Tyrrhenian Sea with encounter rates comparable to the ones reported for other key areas. Separate suitability models based on 1990s and 2000s data appeared to work for each individual time period but differences were evident between the two periods, indicating changes in habitat selection over time. Our findings of the study appear to expand the definition of suitable beaked whale habitat and underline how the temporal scale of the analysis can affect the results in habitat studies. Moreover, this research highlights the importance of the Central Tyrrhenian Sea marine region for Cuvier's beaked whale and the ability of continuous monitoring to identify changes in cetacean frequency and distribution, necessary for adaptive conservation management approaches. 相似文献
The concept of aquifer vulnerability is certainly useful in the field of groundwater protection. Nevertheless, within the scientific community, the definition of vulnerability is still under debate and lacks standardisation. As a consequence, the methods for evaluating the vulnerability degree are numerous and often lead to conflicting results. Thus, in this study, three methods that are commonly used in groundwater vulnerability assessments due to their easy application (namely DRASTIC, GOD and TOT) were utilised in four areas of the Piedmont region (NW Italy). The results obtained by the different methods were compared and correlated with the nitrate concentrations in the groundwater. The aims of the study were (i) to evaluate the effectiveness of the adopted methods and their comparability, (ii) to discuss the limits of the intrinsic vulnerability methods and (iii) to verify the applicability of nitrate as a tracer in the assessment of groundwater vulnerability or explain the reasons why it is not applicable. It was observed that the three intrinsic vulnerability methods are not able to uniquely identify the most or least vulnerable areas. Additionally, the comparison of the intrinsic vulnerability indexes only occasionally showed a reasonable correlation. Furthermore, there was no clear correlation between the vulnerability indexes and nitrate concentrations in the groundwater. These results could be explained by several reasons: (1) the methods are mostly based on the level of groundwater protection provided by the overlaying lithologies and do not consider the physical processes occurring in the aquifer; (2) the intrinsic vulnerability methods only consider vertical pathways for contaminants, but a pre-existing contaminant could be present in the aquifer; (3) groundwater nitrate concentrations are affected by the nitrate input and surplus; and (4) nitrates are subject to physical and biological attenuation in aquifers and cannot necessarily be considered stable tracers in the assessment of groundwater vulnerability. 相似文献
A seismic sequence in central Italy from August 2016 to January 2017 affected groundwater dynamics in fractured carbonate aquifers. Changes in spring discharge, water-table position, and streamflow were recorded for several months following nine Mw 5.0–6.5 seismic events. Data from 22 measurement sites, located within 100 km of the epicentral zones, were analyzed. The intensity of the induced changes were correlated with seismic magnitude and distance to epicenters. The additional post-seismic discharge from rivers and springs was found to be higher than 9 m3/s, totaling more than 0.1 km3 of groundwater release over 6 months. This huge and unexpected contribution increased streamflow in narrow mountainous valleys to previously unmeasured peak values. Analogously to the L’Aquila 2009 post-earthquake phenomenon, these hydrogeological changes might reflect an increase of bulk hydraulic conductivity at the aquifer scale, which would increase hydraulic heads in the discharge zones and lower them in some recharge areas. The observed changes may also be partly due to other mechanisms, such as shaking and/or squeezing effects related to intense subsidence in the core of the affected area, where effects had maximum extent, or breaching of hydraulic barriers.
Low rates of lateral migration (centimetres to decimetres per year) combined with relatively high rates of vertical accretion (millimetres to centimetres per year) recorded in microtidal channels of the Venice Lagoon (Italy) give rise to point‐bar geometries and internal facies arrangements that differ substantially from widely accepted models of point‐bar sedimentary architecture. In this study, field data from the Venice Lagoon are combined with a three‐dimensional forward stratigraphic model, the ‘Point‐Bar Sedimentary Architecture Numerical Deduction’ (PB‐SAND), to predict the stratal geometries of point bars formed in aggradational settings. The PB‐SAND uses a combined geometric and stochastic modelling approach that can be constrained by field evidence. The model applied determines the geometry of four point bars generated by 9 to 11 m wide channels cutting through salt marshes. An iterative best‐fit modelling approach has been used to obtain multiple simulations for each case study, each of which fits the observations derived from the analysis of time‐series historical aerial photographs and 44 sedimentary cores. Results demonstrate how the geometry of the bars is determined by the development of two key stratal surfaces: the point‐bar brink and channel‐thalweg surfaces. These surfaces are defined by the progressive translation and vertical shift of the point‐bar brink (i.e. break of slope between bar top and bar slope) and the channel thalweg (i.e. deepest part of the channel) during bar evolution. The approach is used to: (i) reconstruct three‐dimensional point‐bar geometries; (ii) propose alternative reconstructions; (iii) provide insight to drive the acquisition of additional data to better constrain the proposed models; and (iv) provide insight into the mechanism of bar growth for slowly migrating channels in settings subject to relatively high rates of aggradation. This study highlights how interaction between styles of planform transformation and latero‐vertical shifts of meandering channels can determine the geometry of related sedimentary bodies. 相似文献
GeoJournal - While marital age is the highest worldwide, spatial disparities still exist among European regions. Although Mediterranean societies were traditionally characterized by high propensity... 相似文献
Since May 2003, the Center for Orbit Determination in Europe (CODE), one of the analysis centers of the International GNSS Service, has generated GPS and GLONASS products in a rigorous combined multi-system processing scheme, which promises the best possible consistency of the orbits of both systems. The resulting products, in particular the satellite orbits and clocks, are easily accessible by the user community. In the first part of this article, we focus on the generation of the combined global products at CODE, where we put emphasis not only on accuracy, but also on completeness. We study the impact of GLONASS on the CODE products, and the benefit of using them. Last, but not least, we introduce AGNES (Automated GNSS Network for Switzerland), a regional tracking network of small extensions (roughly 400 km East–West, 200 km North–South), which consequently tracks all GNSS satellites and analyzes their measurements using the CODE products. 相似文献
The industrial zone of Porto Marghera is one the most important "contaminated sites of national interest" (SIN) in Italy, being identified as an area of high environmental risk. The site includes a wide shallow water area of the Venice Lagoon extending toward the city of Venice, which was investigated in order to acquire information on the pollutant level and distribution. Grain-size, heavy metal, nutrient, and organic micropollutant concentrations were determined in the surface sediment layers (0-5 and 5-10 cm depths) of 51 sites. A generally low contamination was found, except for Hg concentration, which increases the toxicological risk in most of the sites of the area, according to the results of a comparison with Sediment Quality Guidelines. A heavy pollution fingerprint (Cd, Cu, Hg, Pb, and Zn up to 15.2, 257, 11.9, 248, and 3010 mg/kg d.w., respectively) was instead found near the Tresse Island, which is ascribed to the spill of pollutants from the contaminated sediment disposed therein. Grain-size and heavy metal profiles down to a depth of 40 cm in eight selected sites, finally show a probable decrease of the pollution affecting the area in recent years. 相似文献
In SW Sardinia, the continental Tertiary successions referred up to now to the Cixerri Fm. (Middle Eocene–Lower Oligocene?) have been investigated. Sedimentological analysis suggests these deposits lied down in fluvial environments and comprised between distal braided streams passing eastward to meandering streams/coastal environments (?) under sub-arid climates. The scrutinization of the Cixerri Fm. westernmost successions allowed one to split locally the upper from the lower part based on sedimentological and mineralogical features and indirect dating. Unfortunately, this separation cannot be set everywhere. The few upper outcrops plainly evidenced and well-constrained have been newly named Flumentepido Fm. and assigned to Late Oligocene–Early Miocene: they figure out alluvial fans and proximal braided rivers. This way, the SW Sardinia Tertiary continental sedimentation extends its persistence, contemporaneously changing its tectostratigraphic meaning: from a molassoid context related to the Pyrenean wedge dismantling (Eocene–Oligocene) to a rift-margin succession connected with the opening of the Algero-Provençal back-arc basin due to the Apennine subduction in Oligocene–Miocene times. 相似文献