In Grenada, West Indies, What Is the Degree of Bat-human Interaction in Households and Is It Associated to Arboviral Disease?

Background: Bats are reservoirs for several zoonotic pathogens, making human-bat interactions particularly concerning. Recent studies documented that Grenadian bats can be infected with Zika, dengue and Chikungunya viruses and Leptospira bacteria among other pathogens. The objective of this study was to estimate the number of homes in Grenada that have a bat infestation, and to determine whether there is a correlation between the number of bat infested homes with the type of roofing or the presence of arbovirus infections of human inhabitants. Methods: An institutional review board (IRB) approved questionnaire delivered through a semi-structured interview was administered at the central bus stop in St. George, Grenada to recruit participants from all six parishes and the island of Carriacou. Results determined the percentage of individuals that had bat roosts in their households, whether this was of concern to them, whether they had taken any steps to keep bats out of their residence, and whether they had confirmed or suspected cases of dengue, Zika or Chikungunya virus infections. Information on the type of roofing and presence of window screens were also documented. Bat type (fruit vs insect eating bats) was attempted by guano description. Results: Results from 210 individual responses provided data showing all six parishes were represented although not equally. Having bats at the household was not associated with parish of residence, roof type or presence or absence of window screens. The results showed 60% of homes in Grenada are bat-infested and 51% of people self-reported recent arbovirus infection; but no correlation between the two. Also, no correlation to a specific type of roof or type of bat was found.Conclusions: A statistically significant number of inhabitants had attempted to remove bats from their homes, indicating that bats are perceived as pest to homes in Grenada, and justifying further research into relocating bats through the use of construction changes, awareness, and the creation of bat houses.

Risk Area Identification Model of Bus Bay Stops Based on Distribution of Conflicts

Effective identification of the risk area of the bus bay stop is a prerequisite for the enhancement of traffic safety. This study proposes a method of identifying the risk area based on the distribution of traffic conflicts. Firstly, the traffic flow data of the bus stop is collected by drones and video recognition software, and the traffic flow characteristics of the bus stop are analyzed by the mathematical and statistical methods. Secondly, using the gray clustering evaluation theory, on the basis of the rasterization of the functional area of the bus bay stop, a risk level model based on the index system of conflict rate, conflict severity, and potential conflict risk is proposed. Finally, take a bus stop in Guangzhou as an example to verify the solution. The results show that the constructed model can effectively identify the risk areas of bus bay stops. The risk areas of the bus bay stops are concentrated in the middle and lower reaches of the bus stop, which proves that the impact of bus exiting the stop on the surrounding traffic is greater than the process of bus entering the stop; the traffic risk areas of lanes near the bus stop are concentrated, and the severity of conflicts is low. The traffic risk zone of the lane far away from the bus stop is widely distributed, and the severity of conflict is higher. The research results can provide a basis for the micro safety performance evaluation and safety optimization of bus bay stops, which has strong theoretical and practical significance.

Pavimentos Táteis em Paragens de Autocarro

O Projeto de Investigação ACCES4ALL focaliza-se em interfaces modais projetadas de acordo com o conceito de “Design Universal”. Tem como objetivo principal desenvolver um estudo piloto de uma paragem de autocarros acessível, inteligente e sustentável, a localizar numa interface multimodal. Num contexto de sustentabilidade social, os ambientes construídos inclusivos têm de garantir acessibilidade universal. Assim, as pessoas com deficiência visual necessitam de pavimentos táteis e/ou com diferenciação cromática que forneçam orientação e informação sobre os espaços e os meios de transporte. Com esta comunicação pretende-se apresentar exemplos internacionais de sistemas de encaminhamento, através de pavimentos táteis, em paragens de autocarro, tendo-se recorrido a pesquisa bibliográfica e realizado desenhos técnicos. Os resultados indicam que existe uma grande diversidade de soluções técnicas de encaminhamento tátil no ambiente construído, recomendando-se a necessidade de harmonização de soluções podotáteis no mundo, considerando um contexto de Turismo Acessível.Palavras-chave: Turismo Acessível. Acessibilidade universal. Ambiente construído. Paragens de autocarro. Pavimentos táteis. Pessoas com deficiência visual. Tactile Floors at Bus StopsABSTRACTThe ACCES4ALL research project focuses on modal interfaces designed according to the concept of "Universal Design". Its main objective is to develop a pilot study of an accessible, smart and sustainable bus stop to be located at a multimodal interface. In a context of social sustainability, inclusive built environments must guarantee universal accessibility. Thus, people with visual disability need tactile and/or chromatically differentiated pavements that provide orientation and information about spaces and means of transport. This paper intends to present international examples of guiding systems, through tactile surfaces, at bus stops, having resorted to bibliographic research and technical drawings. The results indicate that there is a great diversity of technical solutions for tactile routing in the built environment, recommending the need for harmonization of podotactile solutions in the world, considering an Accessible Tourism context. Keywords: Accessible Tourism. Universal accessibility. Built environment. Bus stops. Tactile surfaces. People with visual disability.

Walkability evaluation sourounding university campus

The pedestrian space should encourage walking and offer safety and comfort for all people. One of the most widely used modes of transportation to access a university campus is on foot. To identify the degree of safety and comfort offered by the infrastructure intended for pedestrians around three university campuses in Marilia (SP), to develop their daily activities such as study, research, work and medical care, performance indicators were used, developed by Cerna (2014), and a walkability index, developed by Pires et al. (2017), based on the method proposed by Cerna. The results show that among the evaluated themes, the indicators related to Traffic light, sidewalks, passenger shelters (bus stop), bus stops and sidewalks had the worst scores. These results point to the effectiveness of the method and thus, they can contribute so that managers and owners of buildings around these university campuses can improve the quality of the access infrastructure to the respective universities.

Socioeconomic patterning of food and drink advertising at public transport stops in Edinburgh, UK

Objective: Outdoor advertisements for food and drink products form a large part of the food environment and they disproportionately promote unhealthy products. However, less is known about the social patterning of such advertisements. The main aim of this study was to explore the socioeconomic patterning of food and drink advertising at bus stops in Scotland’s capital city, Edinburgh. Design: Bus stop advertisements were audited to identify food/drink adverts and classify them by food/drink category (i.e. ‘advert category’). This data was then linked to area-based deprivation and proximity measures. Neighbourhood deprivation was measured using the bus stop x/y co-ordinates, which were converted to postcodes to identify the matching 2012 deprivation level via the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD). Distance to schools and leisure centres were also collected using location data. Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) and linear regression analyses were used to assess associations between the promotion of advert categories and deprivation and proximity to schools/leisure centres, respectively. Setting: Edinburgh city, United Kingdom Results: 561 food/drink advertisements were identified across 349 bus stops, with eight advertisement categories noted and included in the final analysis, including alcohol, fast food outlets and confectionary. The majority of adverts were for ‘unhealthy’ food and drink categories, however there was no evidence for any socioeconomic patterning of these advertisements. There was no evidence of a relationship between advertisements and proximity to schools and leisure centres. Conclusions: While there is no evidence for food and drink advertising being patterned by neighbourhood deprivation, the scale of unhealthy advertising is an area for policy evaluations and interventions on the control of such outdoor advertising.

The inspection paradox in stochastic resetting

The remaining travel time of a plane shortens with every minute that passes from its departure, and a flame diminishes a candle with every second it burns. Such everyday occurrences bias us to think that processes which have already begun will end before those which have just started. Yet, the inspection paradox teaches us that the converse can also happen when randomness is at play. The paradox comes from probability theory, where it is often illustrated by measuring how long passengers wait upon arriving at a bus stop at a random time. Interestingly, such passengers may on average wait longer than the mean time between bus arrivals – a counter-intuitive result, since one expects to wait less when coming some time after the previous bus departed. In this viewpoint, we review the inspection paradox and its origins. The insight gained is then used to explain why, in some situations, stochastic resetting expedites the completion of random processes. Importantly, this is done with elementary mathematical tools which help develop a probabilistic intuition for stochastic resetting and how it works. This viewpoint can thus be used as an accessible introduction to the subject.