One of the most important issues in the study of Urban-Service Distribution is the choice of the unit of analysis. Because of the ready availability of various data at the level of residence units, census tracts have been the spatial units most commonly selected. In some cases, municipally defined service districts have also been selected, and they are, in fact, only the aggregates of several neighboring census tracts. The problem encountered in the current study is the fact that Census-based Neighborhoods such as census tracts and the aggregations of census tracts frequently do not correspond with commonly recognized neighborhoods experienced informally in daily life, and they do not match local residents' perceptions of their neighborhoods as social areas. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of Resident-perceived Neighborhood Boundaries (as the alternative unit of analysis to conventionally-used Census-based Neighborhood Units) on the accessibility to public parks based on equity consideration and its relationship to park utilization. The study also addressed whether the neighborhood boundaries perceived by the actual residents may exhibit more actual neighborhood construct than Census-based Neighborhood Units when the relationship between park accessibility and utilization is considered. First, the results indicate that when Resident-perceived Neighborhood Boundaries are adopted, there is no significant change, either in accessibility measures or in the equity of public park distribution among neighborhoods of different social strata. Second, there was no significant relationship between parks accessibility and utilization, which means that even though a park may be closest to a household, it is not always true that the household will choose to use that park. Third, it was confirmed that the relationship between park accessibility and utilization was significantly affected by some utilization factors. That is, travel distances to the parks were significantly affected by different types of utilization factors and, according to the classification of park type, the affecting utilization factors were different. Lastly, as the spatial unit of analysis, Resident-perceived Neighborhood Boundaries do not significantly enhance the strength of the relationship between public services accessibility and utilization compared to using Census-based Neighborhood Units.

Cobia fish cage is the most popular marine culture species raised in Phu Quoc Island, Vietnam. For its sustainable development, there is a need to determine the carrying capacity to avoid nega-tive marine environmental impact in the future. This study was carried out to collect water samples each two months at the lowest and highest tides at four points around the farming area in Rach Vem, Phu Quoc Island, Kien Giang Province from February to October 2011. Water quality in cobia cage culture was surveyed to assess the environmental status of coastal aquaculture areas including seven parameters such as DO, COD, BOD, TSS, TN, TP and Chlorophyll-a. These parameters are suitable to rear cobia fish cage in this area. Nitrogen and phosphorus are considered as the principal nutrients produced by the cobia fish farm and affecting water environment. This study found that the carrying capacity for fish cage farming in the area is 290.96 to 727.81 tons (based on total nitrogen) and 428.64 to 1,383.88 tons (based on total phosphorus) from February to Au-gust 2011. The maximum number of cobia cages should be, based on total nitrogen, from 64 to 266 and, based on total phosphorus, from 94 to 253. Moreover, this study examined the possibility of remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS) technique based on Object-based Image Analysis (OBIA) method by THEOS imagery for mapping of cage culture facilities and detect the location for cobia cage culture in study area. / Cá bớp nuôi lồng bè là một trong những loài cá nuôi phổ biến khu vực ven biển Phú Quốc, Việt nam. Nhằm phát triển bền vững vùng ven biển, đề tài thực hiện đã xác định và đánh giá hiện trạng môi trường nước và sức tải môi trường của nghề nuôi cá bớp lồng bè ở đảo Phú Quốc. Nghiên cứu này được thực hiện thông qua việc thu mẫu môi trường nước mỗi 2 tháng theo mức nước triều cao nhất và thấp nhất tại 4 điểm quanh khu vực nuôi tại ấp Rạch Vẹm, huyện Phú Quốc, tỉnh Kiên Giang từ tháng 02-10/2011. Chất lượng nước khu vực nuôi thủy sản cũng được khảo sát với 7 chỉ tiêu gồm DO, COD, BOD, TSS, TN, TP, Chlorophyll-a. Các thông số chất lượng môi trường này phù hợp nuôi cá bớp tại khu vực nghiên cứu dựa trên tiêu chuẩn chất lượng môi trường. Trong nghiên cứu này, đạm và lân là 2 thông số được sử dụng để tính toán sức tải môi trường. Sức tải môi trường được tính toán cho khu vực nuôi cá bớp dao động khoảng từ 290.96 tấn đến 727.81 tấn (tính trên hàm lượng đạm tổng số) và từ 428,64 tấn đến 1.383,88 tấn (tính trên hàm lượng lân tổng số) trong thời gian từ tháng 2 đến tháng 10 năm 2011. Số lượng tối đa lồng bè nuôi cá bớp khoảng từ 64 đến 266 (đạm tổng số) và từ 94 đến 253 (lân tổng số) dựa vào phân tích hồi quy tương quan. Bên cạnh đó, công nghệ viễn thám và hệ thống thông tin địa lý (GIS) đã được ứng dụng bằng cách sử dụng ảnh THEOS để xác định vị trí và phân bố không gian khu vực nuôi cá lồng bè dựa trên phương pháp phân tích đối tượng theo hướng (OBIA).

Objectif : L’objectif principal de cette thèse est d’examiner les déterminants de l’utilisation des services de soins pour des raisons de santé mentale dans le sud-ouest de Montréal. Données et méthodes : L’étude utilise les données de la première phase du projet portant sur « le développement d’une zone circonscrite d’études épidémiologiques en psychiatrie dans le sud-ouest de Montréal ». Les données ont été collectées entre mai 2007 et août 2008 auprès d’un échantillon de 2434 personnes sélectionnées au hasard dans tout le territoire de l’étude. De cet échantillon, nous avons sélectionné un sous-échantillon de personnes ayant eu au moins un diagnostic de santé mentale au cours de la dernière année. 423 personnes ont rencontrées ce critère et constituent l’échantillon pour les analyses de la présente thèse. Le modèle comportemental d’Andersen a servi de cadre pour le choix des variables à analyser. Parce que l’approche socio-spatiale a été privilégiée pour modéliser les déterminants de l’utilisation des services, les analyses ont été effectuées à l’aide de quatre logiciels distincts à savoir : SPSS, AMOS, ArcGIS et MlWin. Résultats : Les résultats montrent que 53,66% de notre échantillon ont utilisés au moins un service de santé pour des raisons de santé mentale. On constate néanmoins que les déterminants de l’utilisation des services en santé mentale sont à la fois complexes et spatialement inégalement réparties. En ce qui concerne les caractéristiques sociodémographiques et cliniques, les femmes et ceux qui perçoivent la stigmatisation envers les personnes ayant un problème de santé mentale utilisent plus les services. Le nombre de diagnostics de santé mentale est aussi associé à l’utilisation des services. L’augmentation du nombre de diagnostics entraîne une augmentation de l’utilisation des services (=0,38; p<0,001). D’autres variables comme l’âge, le statut matrimonial, la taille du ménage, le soutien social et la qualité de vie influencent indirectement l’utilisation des services. À titre illustratif toute augmentation de l’âge entraîne une augmentation du soutien social de (=0,69; p<0,001) qui à son tour fait diminuer la détresse psychiatrique (= -0,09 (p<0,05). Or, toute augmentation d’une unité de détresse psychiatrique entraîne une augmentation de l’utilisation des services (=0,58 (p<0,001). Sur le plan spatiale, il existe une corrélation positive entre l’utilisation des services et la défavorisation matérielle, la défavorisation sociale et le nombre d’immigrants récents sur un territoire. Par contre, la corrélation entre la prévalence de la santé mentale et l’utilisation des services est négative. Les analyses plus poussées indiquent que le contexte de résidence explique 12,26 % (p<0,05) de la variation totale de l’utilisation des services. De plus, lorsqu’on contrôle pour les caractéristiques individuelles, vivre dans un environnement stable augmente l’utilisation des services (O.R=1,24; p<0,05) tandis que les contextes défavorisés du point de vue socioéconomique ont un effet néfaste sur l’utilisation (O.R=0,71; p<0,05). Conclusion : Les résultats de l’étude suggèrent que si on veut optimiser l’utilisation des services en santé mentale, il est important d’agir prioritairement au niveau de la collectivité. Plus spécifiquement, il faudrait mener des campagnes de sensibilisation auprès de la population pour combattre la stigmatisation des personnes ayant un problème de santé mentale. Sur le plan de la planification des soins de santé, on devrait augmenter l’offre des services dans les territoires défavorisés pour en faciliter l’accès aux habitants. / Objective: The objective of this thesis is to examine the determinants of health services use for mental health reasons in the southwest of Montreal. Data and methods: The study uses data from the first phase of the project « le développement d’une zone circonscrite d’études épidémiologiques en psychiatrie dans le sud-ouest de Montréal ». Data were collected from May 2007 to August 2008 among a sample of 2.434 persons randomly selected throughout the study area. From this sample, we selected a sub sample of people with at least one mental health diagnosis during the past year. 423 persons met the criteria and constitute the sample for analysis of this thesis. The behavioral model of Andersen provided the framework for the selection of variables to analyze. Because the socio-spatial approach was preferred to model the determinants of services use, the tests were performed using four different software including: SPSS, AMOS, ArcGIS and MlWin. Results: The results show that 53.66% of our sample had used at least one health service for mental health reasons. It should be note, however, that the determinants of mental health services use are both complex and spatially unevenly distributed. Regarding the socio-demographic and clinical characteristics, women and those who perceive stigma against people with mental health problems use more services. The number of mental health diagnoses is also associated with health services use. Health services utilization increase with the number of diagnosis (=0.38; p<0.001). Other variables such as age, marital status, household size, social support and quality of life indirectly influence use of services. For instance, any increase of one year of age leads to increased social support of 0.69 (p<0.001) which in turn reduced the psychiatric distress of 0.09 (p<0.05). Any increase of one unit of psychiatric distress leads to increased use of services of 0.58 (p<0.001). At the spatial scale, there is a positive correlation between health service use and material deprivation, social deprivation and the number of recent immigrants in a neighbourhood. However, there is a negative correlation between the prevalence of mental health and health services use. Further analyses indicate that the neighbourhood explains 12.26% (p<0.05) of the total variation of health services use. After controlling for individual characteristics, living in a stable neighbourhood increases service use (O.R=1.24; p<0.05) while deprive socio-economic neighbourhood hinders use of services (O.R=0.71; p<0.05). Conclusion: Results of this study suggest that if we want to optimize the use of mental health services, it is important to act primarily at the community level. More specifically, awareness campaigns should be conducted to combat stigmatization of people with mental health problems. In term of health services planning, it is urgent to increase the number of health services in disadvantage neighbourhoods to facilitate accessibility to residents.

Introduction: The burden of road traffic injuries (RTI) is worsening globally, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) and among the young and economically productive populations. A major barrier to improving road safety in India and other LMIC is that existing RTI data sources are severely limited by poor population coverage and data quality. This dissertation explores the reliability and feasibility of using a novel data source with verbal autopsy (VA) methods for the purposes of RTI surveillance in India. Methods: The reliability of the VA methods was assessed using physician agreement on the specific categories of injury death as the metric. Next, a nationally representative household mortality survey with VA methods was used to directly estimate the age- and gender-specific RTI death rates and to identify context-specific RTI risk factors in India. Finally, a national spatial database was constructed to quantify potential access to trauma care in relation to the spatial distribution of RTI deaths in India. Results: Across a broad array of application settings in India, the level of physician agreement was high indicating that the VA methods were reliable in distinguishing RTI deaths among other specific categories of injury deaths. The estimated 183,600 RTI deaths in 2005 from the mortality survey were over 50% more than the national police statistics. Of these RTI deaths, 65% were males between ages 15-59 years, 68% were pedestrians and other vulnerable road users, and over 55% occurred at the scene of collision, within minutes of collision, and/or involved a head injury. The existing community health centres and district hospitals in the Indian public health system had inadequate trauma care capacity but were suitably located to allow broad spatial access to timely trauma care for the majority of RTI deaths in India, which were most problematic in the northern states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and in Tamil Nadu. Conclusions: Properly designed VA studies can provide accurate and reliable RTI surveillance data and assist in identifying context-specific road safety interventions.

本論文的主要目的在對於分類詞、性別詞以及複數標記在語言當中的地域分佈提出解釋．在前人的研究當中，這三項元素被認為是名詞句中平衡資訊的重要工具(Greenberg, 1990; Aikhenvald, 2000)：分類詞語言主要位於東南亞和南美洲部分地區，而具有性別詞或複數標記的語言大多出現在歐洲、非洲和美洲部分地區．我們提出的論證如下：即便這三樣元素外表上具有歧異，它們會呈現當今所見的地域分佈原因在於它們共有的兩項標記功能：可數性質及語意分類．分類詞同時滿足兩者而性別詞及複數標記分別滿足其一；依照此邏輯，我們預測有分類詞的語言不會同時具有性別詞及複數標記而反之亦然．本文中我們透過句法形式和語意功能的比較提出論證並透過類型學、地理及歷史的角度分析來自世界上最大的二十個語系（印歐，漢藏，亞非，尼日爾-剛果，南島，達羅毗荼，阿爾泰，南亞，壯侗，尼羅－撒哈拉，烏拉，高加索，等語系）的155個語言．架構上，第一章簡單對研究題目進行介紹，第二章呈現前人研究的匯整，第三章包含我們的理論論證以及我們對於分類詞、性別詞及複數標記分與合的解釋．隨後的第四章中，我們提出類型學和地理資訊系統(GIS)的證據；最後在第五張和第六章我們分別點出本研究的限制以及結論． / This thesis aims at providing an explanation for the typological and areal distribution between numeral classifiers, genders (noun classes) and grammatical plural markers. Within previous studies, these three components are considered as different devices to balance information in noun phrases (Greenberg, 1990; Aikhenvald, 2000). Numeral classifier languages are mainly present in South-East Asia and parts of South-America, while languages with genders and grammatical plural markers are generally attested in Europe, Africa and parts of the Americas. We propose that despite their apparent divergence, the three elements display this particular geographical distribution due to their convergent features of count/mass distinction and semantic classification: Numeral classifiers carry both functions, while genders and plural markers separately fulfill one of them. Following this logic, we expect that a language with numeral classifier do not have simultaneously the systems of genders plus plural markers and vice-versa. Theoretical evidence via formal syntactic form and semantic function comparison is proposed and further supported by typological, geographical and historical analysis of 155 languages that are mainly part of the 20 biggest language groups in the world, e.g. Indo-European, Sino-Tibetan, Afro-Asiatic, Niger-Congo, Austronesian, Dravidian, Japonic, Altaic, Austro-Asiatic, Tai-Kadai, Creole, Nilo-Saharan, Uralic, Quechuan, Hmong-Mien, Mayan, North Caucasian, Language isolates among others. Chapter 1 presents a brief introduction of the subject while chapter 2 displays the literature review. Chapter 3 includes our theoretical discussion proposing explaining the convergence and divergence among numeral classifiers, genders and plural markers, followed by typological and geographical evidence via GIS (Geographic Information System) in Chapter 4. Finally Chapter 5 and 6 contain the limitations of our study and its conclusion.

The increasing risk of river flooding or coastal submersion is already visible through recent events like the storm Xynthia and the floods in the Var department, which caused several dozens of deaths in France. These catastrophic events, even if their extent remains relatively limited, would have justified a preventive evacuation of high risk prone areas. However, the consequences for the population would be much more serious when large cities of hundreds of thousands of people will be partially or totally threatened by floods. This possibility is already an actual danger for large megacities like Bangkok and Alexandria, and also threatens French cities like Tours, Paris or Nice. Being more and more aware of this possibility, big coastal, estuarine and river cities in France, in Europe and in all continents are incited to prepare emergency and mass evacuation plans in order to prevent and cope with exceptional events. The elaboration of these plans is extremely complex and difficult due to technical, organizational, sociological and even political aspects. The great majority of cities in the world prone to large scale disasters do not already have this kind of plan at their disposal. Moreover, the existing state of the art shows that there are few operational tools to help territorial managers implement these plans in the phases of preparation and crisis management. Our work aims to contribute to the development of a support method for the evacuation decision taken in a crisis management context. This method is partly based on the information included in the provisional evacuation plans produced in the preparation phase. To reach this objective, we propose to adapt the tools of the fuzzy logic approach and apply them to a set of synthesized indicators. These indicators or decision criteria have been first selected from a method of evacuation planning previously developed by the research team Avenues-GSU. These criteria integrate classic data on the hazard level (overall forecast level and local flood water levels), the vulnerability of the territory and population and, which is more innovative, some information about the ability of the organization to evacuate and the security or the risk of the evacuation itself. The final result of this method, applied to the spatial dimension with the Matlab and ArcGIS software, is a map of the necessity to evacuate. This map shows the areas with the highest priority to be evacuated according to a fuzzy multicriteria analysis. It has been tested 5 at the pilot site of the city of Bordeaux located upstream in the Gironde estuary, and the theoretical results were compared with historical floods of 1981 and 1999. A hypothetic flood scenario was also studied taking into account the potential climate change impact and the consequences of a 1 meter sea level rise during the 21st century. This method and prototype tool should help policymakers to better understand a complex situation in pre-alert phase and assess the real need for urban zones evacuation on the basis of a limited but representative set of criteria. The maps of the necessity to evacuate represents an innovative proposal which extend and complement the existing official maps of flood forecasting (vigicrue) and its implications in terms of local impacts and crisis management anticipation.

Introduction: The burden of road traffic injuries (RTI) is worsening globally, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) and among the young and economically productive populations. A major barrier to improving road safety in India and other LMIC is that existing RTI data sources are severely limited by poor population coverage and data quality. This dissertation explores the reliability and feasibility of using a novel data source with verbal autopsy (VA) methods for the purposes of RTI surveillance in India. Methods: The reliability of the VA methods was assessed using physician agreement on the specific categories of injury death as the metric. Next, a nationally representative household mortality survey with VA methods was used to directly estimate the age- and gender-specific RTI death rates and to identify context-specific RTI risk factors in India. Finally, a national spatial database was constructed to quantify potential access to trauma care in relation to the spatial distribution of RTI deaths in India. Results: Across a broad array of application settings in India, the level of physician agreement was high indicating that the VA methods were reliable in distinguishing RTI deaths among other specific categories of injury deaths. The estimated 183,600 RTI deaths in 2005 from the mortality survey were over 50% more than the national police statistics. Of these RTI deaths, 65% were males between ages 15-59 years, 68% were pedestrians and other vulnerable road users, and over 55% occurred at the scene of collision, within minutes of collision, and/or involved a head injury. The existing community health centres and district hospitals in the Indian public health system had inadequate trauma care capacity but were suitably located to allow broad spatial access to timely trauma care for the majority of RTI deaths in India, which were most problematic in the northern states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and in Tamil Nadu. Conclusions: Properly designed VA studies can provide accurate and reliable RTI surveillance data and assist in identifying context-specific road safety interventions.

In an era of acute concern about airline safety, bird strikes are still one of the major hazards to aviation worldwide. The severity of the problem is such that it is mandatory in all developed countries to include bird management as part of airport safety management programs. In Australia, there are approximately 500 bird aircraft strikes per year (Bailey 2000). Brisbane airport has a relatively high occurrence of strikes, with an average of 77 recorded every year (2002-2004). Given the severity of the problem, a variety of techniques have been employed by airports to reduce bird strikes. Scare devices, repellents, continuous patrols for bird hazing, use of raptors to clear airspace of birds and depredation are used by many airports. Even given the diversity of control methods available, it is accepted that habitat management is the most effective long term way to control birds in and around the airport space. Experimental studies have shown that habitat manipulation and active scaring measures (shooting, scaring etc), can reduce bird numbers to an acceptable level. The current study investigated bird populations in six major vegetation habitat types identified within the operational and surrounding areas of Brisbane airport. In order to determine areas where greater bird control and management should be focused, bird abundance, distribution, and activity were recorded and habitats that pose the greatest bird strike risk to aircraft were identified. Secondly, species with high hazard potential were identified and ranked according to their hazard potential to aircraft. This study also investigated the effectiveness of different vegetation management options to reduce bird species abundance within operational areas of Brisbane airport. Four different management options were compared. Each management option was assessed for grass structural complexity and potential food resources available to hazardous bird species. Analysis of recorded data showed that of the habitats compared within the Brisbane airport boundaries, grasslands surrounding runways, taxiways and aprons possess the greatest richness and abundance of bird species that pose the greatest potential hazard to aircraft. Ibis and the Australian kestrel were identified as the bird species that pose the greatest risk to aircraft at Brisbane airport, and both were found in greatest numbers within the managed grasslands surrounding operational areas at the airport. An improved reporting process that allows correct identification of all individual bird species involved in bird strikes will not only increase the accuracy of risk assessments, but will also allow implementation of more effective control strategies at Brisbane airport. Compared with current grassland management practice, a vegetation management option of maintaining grass height at 30-50cm reduced total bird utilisation by 89% while utilisation of grassland by potentially hazardous birds was also reduced by 85%. Maintaining grass height within the 30-50cm range also resulted in a 45% reduction in the number of manipulations required per year (11 to 6), when compared with current management practices, and a 64% reduction in annual maintenance cost per hectare. When extrapolated to the entire maintained grass area at Brisbane airport, this resulted in a saving of over $60 000 annually. Optimisation of potential hazard reduction will rely on future studies that investigate the effect of particular vegetation species that could replace the existing mix of grasses used at Brisbane airport and an understanding of the relative importance of vegetation structure and food supply in determining utilisation by potentially hazardous bird species.

Air pollution is ranked by the World Health Organisation as one of the top ten contributors to the global burden of disease and injury. Epidemiological studies have shown that exposure to air pollution is associated with cardiorespiratory diseases. However, most of the previous studies have looked at this issue using air pollution data from a single monitoring site or average values from a few monitoring sites in a city. There is increasing concern that the relationships between air pollution and mortality may vary with geographical area, particularly for a big city. This thesis consisted of three interlinked studies that aimed to examine the spatial variation in the relationship between long-term exposure to air pollution and cardiorespiratory mortality in Brisbane, Australia. The first study evaluated the long-term air pollution trends in Brisbane, Australia. Air pollution data used in this study were provided by the Queensland Environmental Protection Agency (QEPA). The data comprised the daily average concentrations of particulate matter less then 10 µm in aerodynamic diameter (PM10), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3) and sulphur dioxide (SO2) between 1 January 1980 and 31 December 2004 in two monitoring sites (i.e. Eagle farm and Rocklea), and in other available monitoring sites between 1 January 1996 and 31 December 2004. Computerised data files of daily mortality between 1 January 1996 and 31 December 2004 in Brisbane city were provided by the Office of Economic and Statistical Research of the Queensland Treasury. Population data and the Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA) data in 2001 were obtained from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) for each statistical local area (SLA) of the Brisbane city. The long-term air pollution (the daily maximum 1-hour average or daily 24-hour average concentrations of NO2, O3 and PM10) trends were evaluated using a polynomial regression model in two monitoring sites (Eagle Farm and Rocklea) in Brisbane, Australia, between 1980 and 2003. The study found that there were significant up-and-down features for air pollution concentrations in both monitoring sites in Brisbane. Rocklea recorded a substantially higher number of days with concentrations above the relevant daily maximum 1-hour or 24-hour standards than that in Eagle Farm. Additionally, there was a significant spatial variation in air pollution concentrations between these areas. Therefore, the results indicated a need to examine the spatial variation in the relationship between long-term exposure to air pollution and cardiorespiratory mortality in Brisbane. The second study examined the spatial variation of SO2 concentrations and cardiorespiratory mortality in Brisbane between 1999 and 2001. Air pollutant concentrations were estimated using geographical information systems (GIS) techniques at a SLA level. Spatial distribution analysis and a multivariable logistic regression model were employed to investigate the impact of gaseous air pollution on cardiorespiratory mortality after adjusting for potential confounding effects of age, sex, calendar year and SEIFA. The results of this study indicate that for every 1 ppb increase in annual average SO2 concentration, there was an estimated increase of 4.4 % (95 % confidence interval (CI): 1.4 - 7.6 %) and 4.8 % (95 % CI: 2.0 - 7.7 %) in cardiovascular and cardiorespiratory mortality, respectively. We estimated that the excess number of cardiorespiratory deaths attributable to SO2 was 312 (3.4% of total cardiorespiratory deaths) in Brisbane during the study period. Our results suggest that long-term exposure to SO2, even at low levels, is a significant hazard to population health. The final study examined the association of long-term exposure to gaseous air pollution (including NO2, O3 and SO2) with cardiorespiratory mortality in Brisbane, Australia, 1996 - 2004. The pollutant concentrations were estimated using GIS techniques at a SLA level. Logistic regression was used to investigate the impact of NO2, O3 and SO2 on cardiorespiratory mortality after adjusting for potential confounding effects of age, sex, calendar year and SEIFA. The study found that there was an estimated 3.1% (95% CI: 0.4 - 5.8%) and 0.5% (95% CI: -0.03 - 1.3 %) increase in cardiorespiratory mortality for 1 ppb increment in annual average concentration of SO2 and O3, respectively. However there was no significant relationship between NO2 and cardiorespiratory mortality observed in the multiple gaseous pollutants model. The results also indicated that long-term exposure to gaseous air pollutants in Brisbane, even at the levels lower than most cities in the world (especially SO2), were associated with cardiorespiratory mortality. Therefore, spatial patterns of gaseous air pollutants and their impact on health outcomes need to be assessed for an evaluation of long-term effects of air pollution on population health in metropolitan areas. This study examined the relationship between air pollution and health outcomes. GIS and relevant mapping technologies were used to display the spatial patterns of air pollution and cardiorespiratory mortality at a SLA level. The results of this study show that long-term exposure to gaseous air pollution was associated with cardiorespiratory mortality in Brisbane and this association appeared to vary with geographic area. These findings may have important public health implications in the control and prevention of air pollution-related health effects, since now many countries and governments have paid more attention to control wide spread air pollution and to protect our environment and human health.

Το Αλιβέρι είναι μια κωμόπολη της Εύβοιας. Βρίσκεται λίγα χιλιόμετρα νοτιοανατολικά της Χαλκίδας και βρέχεται από τα νερά του Ευβοϊκού Kόλπου. Είναι μια περιοχή περιβαλλοντικού ενδιαφέροντος εφόσον λειτουργούν στην παράκτια περιοχή θερμικός σταθμός ηλεκτροπαραγωγής της Δ.Ε.Η. και μια τσιμεντοβιομηχανία (Α.Γ.Ε.Τ.), από τις οποίες είτε αποτίθεται τέφρα κοντά στη θάλασσα είτε διαφεύγουν αέριοι ρύποι από τις καμινάδες. Στόχος της εργασίας είναι να γίνει ψηφιοποίηση τοπογραφικών και γεωγραφικών χαρτών κλίμακας 1:50.000 και να αποτυπωθούν δεδομένα από μετρήσεις που έγιναν σε δείγματα που έχουν ήδη ληφθεί από το θαλάσσιο περιβάλλον. Οι μετρήσεις αυτές αφορούν ρύπανση από μέταλλα. / Aliveri is a town on the island of Evoia, located a few kilometers southwest of Chalkida and watered by Evoian Gulf. It is an area of high environmental importance because of the operation at its coastal area of a thermal power plant operated by the Public Power Corporation (PPC) S.A and the cement manufacturing industry (AGET), from which either ash is stockpiled near the sea coast, or air pollutants are emitted from the chimneys. The aim of the study is to digitize the topographic maps (scale 1:50.000) and to depict data from measurements carried out on samples already taken from the marine environment. These measurements are related to metal pollution. The results include a database where we can build further studies and tracking trends in terms of the outfall and the dispersion of pollutants in the marine environment and attempts to determine the source of the metal pollution through geographical maps.