scholarly journals Variability in Human Mobility during the Third Wave of COVID-19 in Japan

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 13131
Author(s):  
Takafumi Ando ◽  
Toshihisa Sato ◽  
Naohisa Hashimoto ◽  
Yen Tran ◽  
Naoki Konishi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Urban Development ◽  
Public Transportation ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Human Mobility ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
Lower Score ◽  
Life Space ◽  
Road Density ◽  
Mobility Service

Understanding factors regarding individual variability in human mobility during the COVID-19 pandemic would help inform future political and medical decisions. Particularly, understanding environmental factors would provide effective evidence for future urban development and the construction of a mobility service. Given the limited related evidence thus far, we investigated inter-individual variability in human mobility regarding life space during COVID-19 in Japan. We conducted an online survey to assess human mobility, demographics, and personality, and city structure surveys for objective environmental factors. Human mobility was assessed using the Life Space Assessment (LSA) questionnaire. Result revealed that the total LSA score was significantly higher in people who were men, middle-aged, working, living with their children, public transportation users, bicycle users, and car drivers, and those having a higher score for extraversion and ego resiliency and a lower score for conscientiousness. People living in the city with high traffic on the roads between plains and mountains had a higher LSA score, and had a lower score where there were many plains with a consistent road density, revealing diverse individual and environmental factors associated with human mobility during the pandemic. Thus, political decisions for urban development should consider these characteristics, the pandemic, and individual convenience.

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic in Taiwan: An Facebook Online study on Concern/Fear Regarding the Disease and General Anxiety and Relevant Factors (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peng-Wei Wang ◽  
Wei-Hsin Lu ◽  
Yi-Lung Chen ◽  
Dian-Jeng Li ◽  
Yu-Ping Chang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Psychological Impact ◽  
Health Resources ◽  
World Health ◽  
Regional Government ◽  
General Anxiety ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
Health Organization

BACKGROUND The World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a ‘public health emergency of international concern. Both worry and anxiety are the common psychological impact during the pandemic. The level of and determinants for worry and anxiety during COVID-19 are not well explored. OBJECTIVE The present study aimed to explore the associations of demographic and environmental factors with worry toward COVID-19 and general anxiety among people in Taiwan. METHODS In total, 1970 respondents were recruited through a Facebook advertisement and completed an online survey on worry toward COVID-19, general anxiety during the pandemic, and individual and environmental factors. RESULTS In total, 51.7% and 43.4% of respondents reported high levels of worry toward COVID-19 and general anxiety, respectively. Worse self-rated mental health, lower self-confidence in COVID-19 management, and insufficient mental health resources were significantly associated with high levels of both worry toward COVID-19 and general anxiety. Lower perceived confidence in COVID-19 management by the regional government was significantly associated with a higher level of worry toward COVID-19. Lower perceived social support was significantly associated with a higher level of general anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic. CONCLUSIONS The results showed that high levels of worry toward COVID-19 and general anxiety were prevalent during the disease outbreak. Multiple individual and environmental factors related to worry toward COVID-19 and general anxiety were identified. CLINICALTRIAL

scholarly journals Polarized nature of the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan: associations with population age structure and behaviours

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Junko Okumura
Keyword(s):  
Age Structure ◽  
Public Transportation ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Preventive Measures ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Cumulative Number ◽  
Population Age Structure ◽  
Major Factors ◽  
Drinking Places

Abstract Background Although the scale of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic was relatively small in Japan compared with the rest of the world, the polarisation of areas into high- and low-COVID-19-incidence areas was observed among the 47 prefectures. The aims of this study were not only identifying the factors associated with the polarised COVID-19 pandemic in Japan but also discussing effective preventive measures. Methods This was an ecological study using online survey data which was cross-sectionally conducted by the author. A total of 6000 respondents who resided in 10 low- and 10 high-COVID-19 incidence prefectures, with a wide gap in terms of COVID-19 incidence, in Japan were recruited. Data on COVID-19 cases and geodemographic information were obtained from official government sites. Statistical analyses were conducted to compare variables between the two areas and age groups. Results This study revealed that that age influenced people’s behaviours and perceptions, except one behaviour of ‘wearing facemasks’. The major factors significantly associated with the cumulative number of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people were ‘commuting by private automobile’ (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 0.444; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.394–0.501), ‘commuting by public transportation’ (AOR, 6.813; 95% CI, 5.567–8.336), ‘washing hands’ (AOR, 1.233; 95% CI, 1.005–1.511), ‘opening windows regularly’ (AOR, 1.248; 95% CI, 1.104–1.412), ‘avoiding crowded places (AOR, 0.757; 95% CI, 0.641–0.893), ‘non-scheduled visits to drinking places’ (AOR, 1.212; 95% CI, 1.054–1.392) and ‘perceived risk of contracting COVID-19’ (AOR, 1.380; 95% CI, 1.180–1.612). These factors were strongly associated with age groups. Conclusions Effective preventive measures for COVID-19 transmission can be developed by understanding the characteristics of populated areas, such as public transportation infrastructure and younger people’s movements and behaviours in relation to the population age structure to contain the current epidemic and protect the most vulnerable elderly people.

Residents’ preferred measures and willingness-to-pay for improving urban air quality: A case study of Hanoi city, Vietnam

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thanh Cong Nguyen ◽  
Hang Dieu Nguyen ◽  
Hoa Thu Le ◽  
Shinji Kaneko
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Willingness To Pay ◽  
Public Transportation ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Urban Air Quality ◽  
Multivariate Probit ◽  
Urban Air ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Public Opinions

PurposeThis purpose of this paper is to understand residents’ choice of preferred measures and their willingness-to-pay (WTP) for the measures to improve the air quality of Hanoi city.Design/methodology/approachQuestionnaire surveys were conducted to collect the opinions of 212 household representatives living in Hanoi City. The survey tools were tested and adjusted through an online survey with 191 responses. Multivariate probit and linear regression models were used to identify determinants of respondents’ choices of measures and their WTP.FindingsRespondents expressed their strong preferences for three measures for air quality improvements, including: (1) increase of green spaces; (2) use of less polluting fuels; (3) expansion of public transportation. The mean WTP for the implementation of those measures was estimated at about 148,000–282,000 Vietnamese dong, equivalent to 0.09–0.16% of household income. The respondents’ choices appear to be consistent with their characteristics and needs, such as financial affordability, time on roads and their perceived impacts of air pollution. The WTP estimates increase with perception of air pollution impacts, time on roads, education and income; but are lower for older people.Originality/valueTo gain a better understanding of public opinions, we applied multivariate probit models to check whether respondents’ choices were consistent with their characteristics and perceptions. This appears to be the first attempt to test the validity of public opinions on choices of measures for improving urban air quality in Vietnam. Our WTP estimates also contribute to the database on the values of improved air quality in the developing world.

scholarly journals Exploring the Health-Promoting Potential of the “parkrun” Phenomenon: What Factors are Associated With Higher Levels of Participation?

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Verity Cleland ◽  
Meredith Nash ◽  
Melanie J. Sharman ◽  
Suzi Claflin
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Regression Models ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Multivariate Analyses ◽  
Health Gain ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Physically Active ◽  
Health Promoting ◽  
Intentions To Participate

Purpose: “ parkrun” is a free and increasingly popular weekly 5-km walk/run international community event, representing a novel setting for physical activity (PA) promotion. However, little is known about who participates or why. This study aimed to identify sociodemographic, health, behavioral, individual, social, and environmental factors associated with higher levels of participation. Design: Cross-sectional. Setting: Tasmania, Australia; June 2016. Participants: Three hundred seventy two adult parkrun participants. Measures: Online survey measuring sociodemographic, health, individual, social and environmental factors, parkrun participation, and PA. Analysis: Descriptive statistics, zero-truncated Poisson regression models. Results: Respondents (n = 371) were more commonly women (58%), aged 35 to 53 years (54%), and occasional or nonwalkers/runners (53%) at registration. A total of 44% had overweight/obesity. Half had non-adult children, most spoke English at home, and 7% reported PA-limiting illness/injury/disability. Average run/walk time was 30.2 ± 7.4 minutes. Compared to regular walkers/runners at registration, nonwalkers/runners were less commonly partnered, more commonly had overweight/obesity, less physically active, and had poorer self-rated health. Multivariate analyses revealed relative parkrun participation was inversely associated with education level and positively associated with interstate parkrun participation, perceived social benefits, self-efficacy for parkrun, and intentions to participate. Conclusion: parkrun attracts nonwalkers/runners and population groups hard to engage in physical activity. Individual- and social-level factors were associated with higher relative parkrun participation. parkrun’s scalability, accessibility, and wide appeal confers a research imperative to investigate its potential for public health gain.

User Perception towards Ride hail Service: A case of Nagpur city, India

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
B. Raghuram Kadali
Keyword(s):  
Public Transport ◽  
Public Transportation ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
University Campus ◽  
User Perception ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Transportation Services ◽  
The Public ◽  
Shared Service

In recent times, there is an increase in the utilization of the ride-hail service (viz., mobile application-based shared service) by the younger generation due to tremendous changes in technology, extensive usage of smartphones, and perceived convenience during travelling. For evaluating ride-hail service further, it is necessary to understand the user perception towards the ride-hail service and public transportation system (viz., bus in this case) to efficiently plan the public transportation services. Hence, the present study analyzes user perception while making trips, using ride-hail service and public transport buses. A long stretch of 3.8 km has been selected in the Nagpur city for the study and the stretch attracts a good number of trips by ride-hailing and public transportation. To perform the analysis, a survey has been conducted in the stretch which includes an online survey (viz., based on the Google form) and an offline survey (viz., at selected bus stops on the route between university campus and shopping complex). A binary logit model has been developed to understand the user perception towards ride-hail service and to identify the significant contributing factors towards the preference of the ride-hail service over the public transport bus. From the model results, it has been noted that age, accessibility, waiting time, travel time, income, and travel cost of the trip are the most significant contributing factors that affect user decision for availing the ride-hail service. It has been concluded from the study that the inferences obtained would be useful in the direction of developing warrants for transport planners and policymakers to improve the service quality of public transport buses (viz., frequency and routes) in cities especially in the Indian context.

A scale for restaurant customers’ healthy menu choices: individual and environmental factors

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 217-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
EunHa Jeong ◽  
SooCheong (Shawn) Jang ◽  
Carl Behnke ◽  
James Anderson ◽  
Jonathon Day
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Healthy Eating ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Eating Behaviors ◽  
Survey Method ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Healthy Eating Behaviors

Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore the dimensions of restaurant customers’ engagement or disengagement with healthy eating in terms of individual and environmental factors to develop a scale. The results identified the underlying constructs of customers’ individual motives for and perceived barriers to healthy eating, as well as environmental elements of restaurants that encourage or discourage healthy eating. Design/methodology/approach To develop an appropriate set of measures to assess factors influencing customers’ healthy eating behaviors at restaurants, the current study undertook the five steps of scale development suggested by Churchill (1979): specifying the domain of constructs, generating a pool of initial measurement items, assessing content adequacy, administering questionnaires (an online survey method) and purifying and finalizing the measurement (via exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using 410 samples and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using 423 samples). Findings The results revealed ten individual factors (health, body image, weight control, feeling better, unappealing food, cost perception, lack of knowledge, state of mind (stress), lack of self-control and negative influences) and five environmental factors (healthy indications, social impact, availability of healthy menu, price policy and unhealthy indications) influencing customers’ healthy eating behaviors at restaurants. Originality/value This study developed an appropriate set of measures to assess individual and environmental factors influencing restaurant customers’ healthy eating behaviors, along with identifying underlying sub-constructs. The reliability and validity of the scale and the factor structure are presented and potential applications and theoretical contributions of the scale are provided as well.

scholarly journals Barriers and Motivators of Bicycling by Gender Among Older Adult Bicyclists in the Midwest

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Grimes ◽  
Matthew Chrisman ◽  
Joseph Lightner
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Ecological Model ◽  
The United States ◽  
Environmental Barriers ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
The Social ◽  
Personal Level ◽  
Barriers And Motivators

Introduction. Physical activity (PA), particularly low-impact activities like bicycling, can improve health in older adults. However, bicycling rates are lower in the Midwest than other regions in the United States. Therefore, it is important to identify unique social, personal, and environmental factors that inhibit or promote bicycling, and how these are associated with PA. The influences of these factors were explored using the social ecological model. Method. A cross-sectional online survey was developed using previously validated local and national bicycling questionnaires, then distributed to Midwestern bicyclists 50 years and older. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted to understand the influences of social, personal, and environmental barriers and promoters on bicycling patterns. All models were conducted separately by gender, and accounted for age, race, education, marital status, income, and employment. Results. Social promoters (B = 0.386, p = .002), such as having friends/family that bicycle were associated with greater PA. Personal promoters (B = −0.311, p = .006) such as needing to lose weight were associated with reduced PA. Environmental factors had no associations with PA. However, individual environmental components, such as number of vehicles on the roads, were significantly associated with PA for both males and females. Females reported more barriers than males. The overall model accounted for 16.1% of the total variance in PA levels. Conclusion. Interventions to promote PA via bicycling in older adults should focus on social factors, while also reducing personal-level factors for males. Interventions for females could focus on reducing specific personal, social, and environmental barriers.

scholarly journals Characteristics of Utility Cyclists in Queensland, Australia: An Examination of the Associations Between Individual, Social, and Environmental Factors and Utility Cycling

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 818-828 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon L. Sahlqvist ◽  
Kristiann C. Heesch
Keyword(s):  
Logistic Regression ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Demographic Characteristics ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Advocacy Group ◽  
The Us ◽  
Moderate Rate ◽  
Mode Of Transport ◽  
Cycling Behavior

Background:Initiatives to promote utility cycling in countries like Australia and the US, which have low rates of utility cycling, may be more effective if they first target recreational cyclists. This study aimed to describe patterns of utility cycling and examine its correlates, among cyclists in Queensland, Australia.Methods:An online survey was administered to adult members of a state-based cycling community and advocacy group (n = 1813). The survey asked about demographic characteristics and cycling behavior, motivators and constraints. Utility cycling patterns were described, and logistic regression modeling was used to examine associations between utility cycling and other variables.Results:Forty-seven percent of respondents reported utility cycling: most did so to commute (86%). Most journeys (83%) were > 5 km. Being male, younger, employed full-time, or university-educated increased the likelihood of utility cycling (P < .05). Perceiving cycling to be a cheap or a convenient form of transport was associated with utility cycling (P < .05).Conclusions:The moderate rate of utility cycling among recreational cyclists highlights a potential to promote utility cycling among this group. To increase utility cycling, strategies should target female and older recreational cyclists and focus on making cycling a cheap and convenient mode of transport.

scholarly journals The Impact of Mobility Policy and Modal Share to The University Community in Bologna

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Battistini ◽  
Luciana Sacchetti ◽  
Andrea Braschi
Keyword(s):  
Public Transportation ◽  
Traffic Congestion ◽  
Socioeconomic Development ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Sustainable Mobility ◽  
Territorial Structure ◽  
Policy Application ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

In the Twentieth century transportation has been one of the most impactful drivers for economic and social development, while nowadays, it appears as a major cause of environmental and social problems. Even worse, the more transportation has become a relevant part in daily life and business, the more it is blamed for problems such as traffic congestion, car accidents, social economic inequality, energy consumption and pollution. Transportation is in fact caught in a vicious circle. Urban planning is forced to reduce transition costs, transforming cities in a sort of social network, and in parallel to orient mobility towards sustainability, both capable to convey socioeconomic development. Within this context, the University of Bologna has chosen a sustainable approach for its Multi-campus territorial structure, applying several sustainable mobility policies regarding public transportation, cycling, electric/hybrid car fleet and walking accessibility. The paper purpose is to show significative links between sustainable policy application and modal share, using data from an online survey submitted to university staff and students. Even gender influence on modal share has been investigated.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document