Climate Influences on Meningitis Incidence in Northwest Nigeria

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Auwal F. Abdussalam ◽  
Andrew J. Monaghan ◽  
Vanja M. Dukić ◽  
Mary H. Hayden ◽  
Thomas M. Hopson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Generalized Linear Models ◽  
Linear Models ◽  
Generalized Additive Models ◽  
Skill Score ◽  
Additive Models ◽  
Maximum Temperature ◽  
Daily Maximum Temperature ◽  
Daily Maximum ◽  
Explanatory Variables ◽  
Score Statistics

Abstract Northwest Nigeria is a region with a high risk of meningitis. In this study, the influence of climate on monthly meningitis incidence was examined. Monthly counts of clinically diagnosed hospital-reported cases of meningitis were collected from three hospitals in northwest Nigeria for the 22-yr period spanning 1990–2011. Generalized additive models and generalized linear models were fitted to aggregated monthly meningitis counts. Explanatory variables included monthly time series of maximum and minimum temperature, humidity, rainfall, wind speed, sunshine, and dustiness from weather stations nearest to the hospitals, and the number of cases in the previous month. The effects of other unobserved seasonally varying climatic and nonclimatic risk factors that may be related to the disease were collectively accounted for as a flexible monthly varying smooth function of time in the generalized additive models, s(t). Results reveal that the most important explanatory climatic variables are the monthly means of daily maximum temperature, relative humidity, and sunshine with no lag; and dustiness with a 1-month lag. Accounting for s(t) in the generalized additive models explains more of the monthly variability of meningitis compared to those generalized linear models that do not account for the unobserved factors that s(t) represents. The skill score statistics of a model version with all explanatory variables lagged by 1 month suggest the potential to predict meningitis cases in northwest Nigeria up to a month in advance to aid decision makers.

Crash Frequency Analysis with Generalized Additive Models

2008 ◽  
Vol 2061 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuanchang Xie ◽  
Yunlong Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Generalized Linear Models ◽  
Linear Models ◽  
Generalized Additive Model ◽  
Negative Binomial ◽  
Generalized Additive Models ◽  
Additive Model ◽  
Additive Models ◽  
Crash Frequency ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Explanatory Variables

Recent crash frequency studies have been based primarily on generalized linear models, in which a linear relationship is usually assumed between the logarithm of expected crash frequency and other explanatory variables. For some explanatory variables, such a linear assumption may be invalid. It is therefore worthwhile to investigate other forms of relationships. This paper introduces generalized additive models to model crash frequency. Generalized additive models use smooth functions of each explanatory variable and are very flexible in modeling nonlinear relationships. On the basis of an intersection crash frequency data set collected in Toronto, Canada, a negative binomial generalized additive model is compared with two negative binomial generalized linear models. The comparison results show that the negative binomial generalized additive model performs best for both the Akaike information criterion and the fitting and predicting performance.

scholarly journals Assessing the Spatial Distribution of Biodiversity in a Changing Temperature Pattern: The Case of Catalonia, Spain

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (20) ◽  
pp. 4026 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Varga ◽  
Mariona Roigé ◽  
Josep Pintó ◽  
Marc Saez
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Minimum Temperature ◽  
Maximum Temperature ◽  
Daily Maximum Temperature ◽  
Daily Maximum ◽  
Temperature Pattern ◽  
Explanatory Variables ◽  
Number Of Species ◽  
Protected Natural Areas ◽  
Planning Processes

The impacts that climate change and land-use dynamics have on biodiversity are already visible in the distribution and behaviour of a large number of species. By using a Bayesian framework, including land-use, meteorological, topography and other variables as explanatory variables, such as distance to roads and urban centres, we modeled a number of species within each cell of a regular lattice for Catalonia, Spain, in the period of 2004 to 2010. We estimated a slight increase in daily maximum temperature and a more significant increase in minimum temperature (a 5-year increase of 0.159 °C in maximum temperature, and an increase of 0.332 °C in minimum temperature). The estimation shows that the total number of species was greater than expected in the cells where land use was not urban—38.4%, in forests and 55.2% in mixed forests. Finally, we observed that most invasive species are found in areas where the minimum temperature is expected to increase. Our study can help with making important recommendations as to where, when and how future threats could affect specie distribution and the kind of planning processes needed for when protected natural areas will be unable to continue to support all the species they were designed to protect.

The Relationship between Mobility and COVID-19 in Germany: Modeling Case Occurrence using Apple's Mobility Trends Data

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark David Walker ◽  
Mihály Sulyok
Keyword(s):  
Generalized Additive Models ◽  
Information Criterion ◽  
Additive Models ◽  
Online Data ◽  
German Government ◽  
Explanatory Variables ◽  
Mobility Data ◽  
Community Mobility ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Potential Use

Abstract Background Restrictions on social interaction and movement were implemented by the German government in March 2020 to reduce the transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Apple's “Mobility Trends” (AMT) data details levels of community mobility; it is a novel resource of potential use to epidemiologists. Objective The aim of the study is to use AMT data to examine the relationship between mobility and COVID-19 case occurrence for Germany. Is a change in mobility apparent following COVID-19 and the implementation of social restrictions? Is there a relationship between mobility and COVID-19 occurrence in Germany? Methods AMT data illustrates mobility levels throughout the epidemic, allowing the relationship between mobility and disease to be examined. Generalized additive models (GAMs) were established for Germany, with mobility categories, and date, as explanatory variables, and case numbers as response. Results Clear reductions in mobility occurred following the implementation of movement restrictions. There was a negative correlation between mobility and confirmed case numbers. GAM using all three categories of mobility data accounted for case occurrence as well and was favorable (AIC or Akaike Information Criterion: 2504) to models using categories separately (AIC with “driving,” 2511. “transit,” 2513. “walking,” 2508). Conclusion These results suggest an association between mobility and case occurrence. Further examination of the relationship between movement restrictions and COVID-19 transmission may be pertinent. The study shows how new sources of online data can be used to investigate problems in epidemiology.

scholarly journals Social media reveal ecoregional variation in how weather influences visitor behavior in U.S. National Park Service units

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily J. Wilkins ◽  
Peter D. Howe ◽  
Jordan W. Smith
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
National Park Service ◽  
Spatial Behavior ◽  
Maximum Temperature ◽  
Daily Maximum Temperature ◽  
Daily Maximum ◽  
Daily Weather ◽  
Visitor Behavior ◽  
Park Service ◽  
The Impact

AbstractDaily weather affects total visitation to parks and protected areas, as well as visitors’ experiences. However, it is unknown if and how visitors change their spatial behavior within a park due to daily weather conditions. We investigated the impact of daily maximum temperature and precipitation on summer visitation patterns within 110 U.S. National Park Service units. We connected 489,061 geotagged Flickr photos to daily weather, as well as visitors’ elevation and distance to amenities (i.e., roads, waterbodies, parking areas, and buildings). We compared visitor behavior on cold, average, and hot days, and on days with precipitation compared to days without precipitation, across fourteen ecoregions within the continental U.S. Our results suggest daily weather impacts where visitors go within parks, and the effect of weather differs substantially by ecoregion. In most ecoregions, visitors stayed closer to infrastructure on rainy days. Temperature also affects visitors’ spatial behavior within parks, but there was not a consistent trend across ecoregions. Importantly, parks in some ecoregions contain more microclimates than others, which may allow visitors to adapt to unfavorable conditions. These findings suggest visitors’ spatial behavior in parks may change in the future due to the increasing frequency of hot summer days.

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