Spatial influence on qualitative food consumption in Colombia

Spatial location is a factor that may facilitate the consumption of processed foods due to the ease of access, especially in highly urbanized, high density populations. This study presents the differences in food consumption in populations with different densities and urban and rural characteristics, and income above and below ten dollars a day. A sample of 2,130 subjects was used from 9 populations that included the Capital of Colombia, outlying medium-sized municipalities, metropolitan-area municipalities and small villages. The results confirm that processed and ultra-processed foods are consumed more in cities and urban areas than in smaller and rural populations, and that there are differences in consumption generated by income.

Precaritate și cosmopolitism în romanul românesc (1845-1947): muncă, hrană, sănătate, îmbrăcăminte, mondenitate

The present study dwells on an archive that includes around 85% of the Romanian production of novel from 1845 to 1947 and analyzes the social aspects of daily life in the fictional worlds of realist novels published in this timespan. From work conditions to the rights of employees, from hunger to bountifulness, from modesty to display, two different hemispheres seem to co-exist: a rustical and narrow one of the rural, liminal spaces, and a cosmopolitan and broad one of cities and mobility. Without a doubt, besides this spatial influence over daily life, an even more important one, that sometimes is complementary to the first and sometimes it overarches it is social class. In the mirrored image of the realist Romanian novel until 1947, there is nothing more consequential for individual and collective characters than class, and the differences between classes are closely linked to all dimensions of daily life described in our article.

Crime Risk Stations: Examining Spatiotemporal Influence of Urban Features through Distance-Aware Risk Signal Functions

Static indicators may fail to capture spatiotemporal differences in the spatial influence of urban features on different crime types. In this study, with a base station analogy, we introduced crime risk stations that conceptualize the spatial influence of urban features as crime risk signals broadcasted throughout a coverage area. We operationalized these risk signals with two novel risk scores, risk strength and risk intensity, obtained from novel distance-aware risk signal functions. With a crime-specific spatiotemporal approach, through a spatiotemporal influence analysis we examined and compared these risk scores for different crime types across various spatiotemporal models. Using a correlation analysis, we examined their relationships with concentrated disadvantage. The results showed that bus stops had relatively lower risk intensity, but higher risk strength, while fast-food restaurants had a higher risk intensity, but a lower risk strength. The correlation analysis identified elevated risk intensity and strength around gas stations in disadvantaged areas during late-night hours and weekends. The results provided empirical evidence for a dynamic spatial influence that changes across space, time, and crime type. The proposed risk functions and risk scores could help in the creation of spatiotemporal crime hotspot maps across cities by accurately quantifying crime risk around urban features.

Recreational Trail Impacts and their Spatial Influence on Species Diversity and Composition

This thesis quantifies the differences observed in floral communities exposed to varying degrees of long-term recreational trail use. The study was undertaken in a temperate deciduous forest located in Uxbridge, ON, Canada, which permits hiking, mountain biking and equestrian trail users. Vegetation exposed to trail impacts was sampled using transects which extended from the trail edge to 25m into the forest interior. The results demonstrated that trail-influenced environments experienced significant shifts in composition and reductions in species richness at distances beyond the influence of an edge effect. It was also established that types of recreational trail use do not disproportionately cause greater disturbance or result in greater exotic and invasive species coverage. Multiple regression analysis revealed that when choosing new trail routes, managers can mitigate changes to species composition by selecting areas with steep side-slopes and by avoiding areas with a south facing aspect.

Recreational Trail Impacts and their Spatial Influence on Species Diversity and Composition

This thesis quantifies the differences observed in floral communities exposed to varying degrees of long-term recreational trail use. The study was undertaken in a temperate deciduous forest located in Uxbridge, ON, Canada, which permits hiking, mountain biking and equestrian trail users. Vegetation exposed to trail impacts was sampled using transects which extended from the trail edge to 25m into the forest interior. The results demonstrated that trail-influenced environments experienced significant shifts in composition and reductions in species richness at distances beyond the influence of an edge effect. It was also established that types of recreational trail use do not disproportionately cause greater disturbance or result in greater exotic and invasive species coverage. Multiple regression analysis revealed that when choosing new trail routes, managers can mitigate changes to species composition by selecting areas with steep side-slopes and by avoiding areas with a south facing aspect.

Siland a R package for estimating the spatial influence of landscape

The spatial distributions of populations are both influenced by local variables and by characteristics of surrounding landscapes. Understanding how landscape features spatially structure the frequency of a trait in a population, the abundance of a species or the species’ richness remains difficult specially because the spatial scale effects of the landscape variables are unknown. Various methods have been proposed but their results are not easily comparable. Here, we introduce “siland”, a general method for analyzing the effect of landscape features. Based on a sequential procedure of maximum likelihood estimation, it simultaneously estimates the spatial scales and intensities of landscape variable effects. It does not require any information about the scale of effect. It integrates two landscape effects models: one is based on focal sample site (Bsiland, b for buffer) and one is distance weighted using Spatial Influence Function (Fsiland, f for function). We implemented “siland” in the adaptable and user-friendly R eponym package. It performs landscape analysis on georeferenced point observations (described in a Geographic Information System shapefile format) and allows for effects tests, effects maps and models comparison. We illustrated its use on a real dataset by the study of a crop pest (codling moth densities).

Biodiversity Patterns of Macroinvertebrate Assemblages in Natural and Artificial Lentic Waters on an Oceanic Island

The Azorean islands have been historically affected by human activities, mainly due to the combined effects of habitat degradation and fragmentation, and the introduction of exotic species. We here aim to analyze the role of environmental characteristics and spatial descriptors in supporting regional biodiversity of macroinvertebrates by considering natural ponds and artificial tanks. After the monthly variation of macroinvertebrate assemblages was assessed in three temporary and two permanent ponds in the Azorean island of Terceira during a complete inundation-desiccation annual cycle, the assemblage differences of 12 ponds (three temporary and nine permanent ponds) and 8 closely-located artificial tanks were analyzed across a range of landscape disturbances. Macroinvertebrate assemblages were found to differ according to hydroperiod and sampled months. Although the former explained the highest variance, macroinvertebrate differentiation by hydroperiod was also dependent on the study month. Our results also revealed a consistent monthly pattern of species replacement. However, the contribution of nestedness to the macroinvertebrate β-diversity was notable when temporary ponds were close to desiccation, probably indicating a deterministic loss of species due to the impoverished water conditions of the ponds facing desiccation. When the macroinvertebrate assemblages were analyzed in relation to physico-chemical variations and spatial descriptors, the artificial tanks were not clearly segregated from the natural ponds, and only differentiated by pH differences. In contrast, those natural ponds exhibiting high concentrations of total phosphorous (likely signs of anthropization) also discriminated the ordination of ponds in a distance-based redundancy analysis, and showed impoverished assemblages in comparison with well-preserved ponds. The macroinvertebrate assemblages of the natural ponds showed a significant spatial pattern, but this spatial influence was not significant when tanks and ponds were considered together. Our results suggest that tanks may act as possible reservoirs of biodiversity during the desiccation period of temporary ponds, but are unable to establish successful populations. These fishless permanent tanks can complement the conservation of a biodiversity that is largely maintained by the pristine high-altitude natural ponds. The establishment of a guideline for conservation management that also considers the artificial tanks is necessary to benefit the local and regional Azorean macroinvertebrate diversity.