Buruli ulcer (BU) is an environmental bacterium caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans. Modes of transmission and hosts of the disease remain unknown. The purposes of this study are to explore the environmental factors that are possibly explain the spatial distribution of BU, to predict BU cases by using the environmental factors, and to investigate the impact of land use and land cover change on the BU distribution. The study area covers the southwest portion of Ghana, 74 districts in 6 regions. The results show that the highest endemic areas occur in the center and expand to the southern portion of the study area. Statistically, the incidence rates of BU are positively correlated to the percentage of forest cover and inversely correlated to the percentages of grassland, soil, and urban areas in the study area. That is, forest is the most important environmental risk factor in this study. Model from zero-inflated Poisson regression is used in this paper to explain the impact of each land use and land cover type on the spatial distribution of BU. The results confirm that the changes of land use and land cover affect the spatial distribution of BU in the study area.

Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by the bacillus Mycobacterium leprae, which is transmitted from person to person by continuous contact with infectious patients without treatment. In Brazil, due to its endemicity is an important public health problem. This study aimed to analyze and map epidemiological data of leprosy in the metropolitan area of Aracaju, Sergipe. It performed a longitudinal retrospective study based on secondary data from the Notifiable Diseases Information System (SINAN) aiming to achieve the spatial distribution, temporal analysis and describe the epidemiological profile of leprosy in the metropolitan area of Aracaju, Sergipe, Brazil, in the period from 2001 to 2013. Information regarding the patients were collected in the SINAN database provided by the State Health Department of Sergipe. Interest surveyed variables were: municipality of residence, number of cases diagnosed per year, age, education, race, operational classification, clinical form, disability grade, form of entry into the reporting system. The temporal analysis of leprosy in the metropolitan area of Aracaju identified a declining trend in the disease, when studying the municipalities together. The high number of cases with indeterminate clinical form shows that there is a high bacterial load circulating in the community, the statement of Kernel density showed that the hottest areas are concentrated in the center of Aracaju, and will spread by other municipalities in Region Metropolitan Aracaju. These results show the regions where the risk of infection by the bacillus Mycobacterium leprae can occur, showing that leprosy transmission is occurring in the study area, generating new cases. It is of utmost importance that the research activities and leprosy control are maintained and developed for the purpose of disposal and effective control of this disease. / A hanseníase é uma doença infectocontagiosa crônica, causada pelo bacilo Mycobacterium leprae, que é transmitido de pessoa a pessoa pelo contato contínuo com doentes contagiantes sem tratamento. No Brasil, devido a sua endemicidade constitui em um importante problema de saúde pública. Este estudo teve como objetivo principal analisar e mapear dados epidemiológicos da hanseníase na Região Metropolitana de Aracaju, Sergipe. Foi realizado um estudo retrospectivo longitudinal baseado em dados secundários do Sistema de Informação de Agravos Notificáveis (SINAN) com os objetivos de realizar a distribuição espacial, análise temporal e descrever o perfil epidemiológico da hanseníase na Região Metropolitana de Aracaju, Sergipe, Brasil, no período de 2001 a 2013. As informações referentes aos pacientes foram coletadas no banco de dados do SINAN disponibilizadas pela Secretaria Estadual de Saúde de Sergipe. As variáveis de interesse pesquisadas foram: município de residência, número de casos diagnosticados por ano, idade, escolaridade, raça, classificação operacional, forma clínica, grau de incapacidade, forma de ingresso no sistema de notificação. A análise temporal da hanseníase na Região Metropolitana de Aracaju identificou uma tendência ao declínio da doença, quando se estuda os municípios em conjunto. O elevado número de casos com a forma clínica indeterminada demonstra que há uma alta carga bacilar circulando na comunidade, O mapa da densidade de Kernel demonstrou que as áreas mais quentes estão concentradas no centro de Aracaju, e que vai se difundindo pelos outros municípios da Região Metropolitana de Aracaju. Esses resultados evidenciam as regiões onde o risco de infecção pelo bacilo Mycobacterium leprae pode ocorrer, demonstrando que a transmissão da hanseníase está ocorrendo na área em estudo, gerando novos casos. É de extrema importância que as atividades de pesquisa e controle da hanseníase sejam mantidas e desenvolvidas, com o propósito de eliminação e um controle efetivo dessa doença.

O presente trabalho foi realizado em um fragmento florestal de Mata Atlântica em São Luiz do Paraitinga - São Paulo, com o objetivo de verificar como é a estrutura da população da palmeira Syagrus romanzoffiana no fragmento florestal, se o padrão espacial altera nos diversos estádios de desenvolvimento e entre borda e interior e se a distância média entre os indivíduos da população difere entre borda e interior. Foram marcados dois transectos de 200m x 25m cada no sentido borda-interior a uma distância de 50 metros um do outro. Em cada transecto, os indivíduos adultos encontrados foram considerados como adulto central de parcelas circulares de 100m, alocadas visando identificar a distribuição de plântulas e jovens em relação aos adultos. Foram feitas 8 parcelas no transecto de borda e 6 parcelas no transecto de interior. O ciclo de vida das palmeiras foi dividido em 6 estádios de desenvolvimento ontogenético de acordo com a altura do estipe: plântula, infante, juvenil 1, juvenil 2, imaturo e adulto. A população, com predominância plântulas tanto na borda (88,5%) quanto no interior (62,9%). Os resultados do Índice de Morisita indicaram que o padrão espacial da população na borda e no interior foi agregado, (Id = 1,33 e Id = 1,61, respectivamente). Na borda a distância média da população em relação ao adulto central foi de 361 cm sendo maior no interior, 383 cm. O mesmo ocorreu em relação a distância média ao adulto mais próximo, na borda foi de 328 cm e 372 cm no interior. / The present survey was carried out in a forest fragment of the Atlantic rain forest in Sao Luiz de Paraitinga SP, Brazil. The goal was to study the Syagrus romanzoffiana palm population structure, if the spatial pattern varies in different developmental stages between the border and the interior of the fragment, and if the average distance of individuals varies between these areas. Two 200x25m parallel transects were allocated, one along the border contours and the other in the interior of the fragment, at a distance of 50 m one from the other. To identify the distribution of seedling and juveniles in relation to adults, in each transect, were allocated 100m circular plots with one adult individual considered as the central adult. In border transect 8 plots were sampled and in the interior transect only 6 plots were sampled. The population had higher seedling predominance in the border (88.5%) than in the interior (62.9%). The results of the Index of Morisita indicated that the spatial pattern of the population in the border and the interior was aggregate (Id = 1.33 and Id = 1.61, respectively). The average distance between the central adult and the population was higher in the border transects (361cm) than in the interior transects (383). The same was observed for the average distance between other adults and juveniles that is, they were closer to each other in the border transects (328cm) than in the interior transects (372cm).

Submitted by Adriana Martinez (amartinez@unoeste.br) on 2018-03-22T20:15:20Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Anne.pdf: 2786717 bytes, checksum: 189c2e910309a09dc6c613794edea010 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-03-22T20:15:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Anne.pdf: 2786717 bytes, checksum: 189c2e910309a09dc6c613794edea010 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-02-27 / Tuberculosis (TB) is a chronic infectious disease, widely distributed worldwide, and has long affected humanity, and still represents a serious public health problem. In 2015, the estimated global incidence for tuberculosis was 144 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, totaling around 10.4 million cases worldwide. Pontal Paranapanema is a region comprising 32 municipalities in the state of São Paulo, located in the extreme west of the state, southeast region of Brazil. This region has government programs that stimulate family farming, houses many rural settlements and settlements, and additionally covers the largest number of prisons in the country. Considering the socioeconomic, cultural and environmental characteristics of the region, the present study aims to evaluate the spatial distribution of reported cases of tuberculosis in the region of Pontal Paranapanema between 2007 and 2015, as well as to identify endemic regions and related factors. The research was carried out in 4 stages: 1) data collection on TB cases and characteristics of individuals reported from the National System of Aggravations and Notification (SINAN); 2) statistical analyzes, from the Prais-Winsten regression model, Durbin-Watson test and Pearson correlation; 3) production of thematic maps in Geographic Information System software; and 4) identification of endemic outbreaks of TB in the Pontal Paranapanema. 2221 cases of TB were reported in all clinical forms in region, between 2007 and 2015. Most of reported cases were white male individuals aged between 20 and 39 years, with many illiterates. In addition, the cure rate and the percentage of treatment abandonment did not reach goals established by the World Health Organization. It is concluded that the spatial distribution of tuberculosis in the 32 municipalities studied is not homogeneous, revealing it as an endemic problem in the region of Pontal Paranapanema, concentrating on four municipalities. The trend analysis of the disease was not linear. To achieve WHO goals, better integration between managers and professionals at the federal, state and municipal levels is required. / A tuberculose (TB) é uma doença infecciosa crônica, com ampla distribuição mundial, e que há muito tempo afeta a humanidade, representando, ainda hoje, um grave problema de saúde pública. Em 2015, a incidência global estimada para a tuberculose foi de 144 casos por 100.000 habitantes, totalizando cerca de 10,4 milhões de casos no mundo. O Pontal do Paranapanema é uma região que compreende 32 municípios do estado de São Paulo, localizada no extremo oeste do estado, região sudeste do Brasil. Essa região dispõe de programas governamentais que estimulam a agricultura familiar, abriga uma grande quantidade de acampamentos e assentamentos rurais e, adicionalmente, abrange o maior número de unidades prisionais do país. Levando em consideração as características socioeconômicas, culturais e ambientais da região, o presente estudo tem como objetivo avaliar a distribuição espacial dos casos notificados de tuberculose na região do Pontal do Paranapanema entre 2007 e 2015, bem como identificar regiões endêmicas e fatores relacionados. A pesquisa foi realizada em 4 etapas: 1) coleta dos dados sobre casos de TB e características dos indivíduos notificados a partir do Sistema Nacional de Agravos e Notificação (SINAN); 2) análises estatísticas, a partir do Modelo de regressão de Prais-Winsten, Teste de Durbin-Watson e Correlação de Pearson; 3) produção dos mapas temáticos em softwares de Sistema de Informação Geográfica; e 4) identificação de focos endêmicos de TB no Pontal do Paranapanema. Foram notificados 2221 casos de TB em todas as formas clínicas na região, entre 2007 e 2015. A maioria dos casos notificados foram em indivíduos brancos do sexo masculino, faixa etária entre 20 e 39 anos, em grande número analfabetos. Além disso, a taxa de cura e o percentual de abandono do tratamento não alcançaram metas estabelecidas pela Organização Mundial da Saúde. Conclui-se que a distribuição espacial da tuberculose nos 32 municípios em estudo não é homogênea, revelando-a como um problema endêmico na região do Pontal do Paranapanema, concentrando-se em quatro municípios. A análise de tendência da doença não se apresentou de forma linear. Para alcançar as metas da OMS, é necessária a melhor integração entre os gestores e os profissionais, nos níveis federal, estadual e municipal.

Introdução: Várias espécies de culicídeos são vetores de patógenos que causam graves doenças em humanos e outros animais. Objetivos: Investigar a presença e distribuição espacial de insetos vetores na Cidade Universitária, zona Oeste - São Paulo e os fatores ambientais associados a sua ocorrência. Metodologia: A área de estudo foi a Cidade Universitária Armando de Salles Oliveira (CUASO), que foi dividido em quatro partes. As coletas com ovitrampas e adultraps foram realizadas de dezembro de 2013 a novembro de 2014, mensalmente foram sorteados dez pontos de coleta por área, em cada área foram instaladas dez ovitrampas e dez adultraps. As coletas com aspirador ocorreram de janeiro a dezembro de 2014 e mensalmente foram sorteados dois pontos por área para realização das aspirações, totalizando oito pontos de coletas por mês, resultando em 120 minutos/mensal. Todo material coletado foi levado ao Laboratório de Entomologia em Saúde Pública da Faculdade de Saúde Pública da USP para análise. Resultados: De maneira geral as variáveis ambientais influenciaram na presença dos culicídeos coletados. O índice de densidade de ovos sofreu influência significativa da temperatura, enquanto que a pluviosidade afetou mais significativamente a presença do adulto. Em relação à aspiração Culex quinquefasciatus foi a espécie predominante em todas as coletas, seguida de Aedes albopictus e Aedes aegypti. Porém apenas Aedes albopictus e Aedes aegypti apresentaram correlação significativa com as variáveis climáticas. Conclusão: a presença de culicídeos vetores na Cidade universitária foi expressiva praticamente o ano inteiro, tornando esse local um meio propício para propagação de várias arboviroses, necessitando um monitoramento constante da presença desses vetores. / Introduction: Several species of culicidae are vectors of pathogens that cause serious diseases in humans and other animals. Objectives: To investigate the presence and spatial distribution of vector insects in Cidade Universitária, Oeste - São Paulo and the environmental factors associated with its ocurrence. Methodology: The study area was the University City Armando de Salles Oliveira (CUASO), which was divided into four parts. The collections with ovitraps and adultraps were carried out from December 2013 to November 2014, monthly there were drawn ten collection points per area, in each area were installed ten ovitraps and ten adultraps. The collections with eletric aspirators (12V battery) occurred from January to December 2014 and monthly there were drawn two points per area to make the aspirations, totaling eight collection points per month, resulting in 120 minutes / month. All collected material was taken to the Laboratory of Entomology in Public Health of the Faculty of Public Health of USP for analysis. Results: In general the environmental variables influenced the presence of culicids collected. The egg density index was significantly influenced by temperature, while rainfall affected the adult presence more significantly. Regarding aspiration Culex quinquefasciatus was the predominant species in all collections, followed by Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti. However, only Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti showed a significant correlation with climatic variables. Conclusion: the presence of culicids insects in the University City was expressive practically all year round, making this place a propitious medium for the propagation of several arboviruses, necessitating a constant monitoring of the presence of these vectors.

<p>Visualizing multidimensional spatial data is an essential visual analysis strategy, it helps us interpret and communicate how different variables correlate to geographical information. In this study, we proposed an abstract contextual visualization that encodes data on the boundaries of spatial distributions and developed a new algorithm, AuroraMap. AuroraMap projects the spatial data to the boundaries of the distributions and color-encodes the densities continuously. We further conducted the user experiments, and the results show users can detect the relative locations and scopes of the clusters. Furthermore, users can quantitatively determine the peak value of each cluster’s density. The method provides three contributions: (1) freeing up and saving the graphical visualization space; (2) assisting the users to quantitatively estimate the clusters inside distributions; (3) facilitating the visual comparisons for multiple and multivariate spatial distributions. In the end, we demonstrated two applications with real-world religious infrastructural data by AuroraMap to visualize geospatial data within complex boundaries and compare multiple variables in one graph.</p><p> </p>

付記する学位プログラム名: 霊長類学・ワイルドライフサイエンス・リーディング大学院 / 京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(理学) / 甲第21616号 / 理博第4523号 / 新制||理||1649(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院理学研究科生物科学専攻 / (主査)教授 岡本 宗裕, 准教授 Andrew MacIntosh, 教授 髙井 正成 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Science / Kyoto University / DGAM

This paper examines the effect of technological innovation in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotics on unemployment levels in Sweden. The paper collects over 1350 AI and Robotics patents from 2010 to 2020 and carefully matches the patent applicant’s address with the respective municipality and county to construct a panel data set. The panel data is then used to analyze the relationship between unemployment and technological change across counties. The empirical design consists of Pooled Fixed Effects and Fixed Effects Models. The study finds a negative association between unemployment levels and AI and Robotics innovations in the former design and insignificant results in the latter.

Understanding the formation mechanics of glacial crevasses is crucial in a variety of glacial applications. Besides being a serious safety hazard during field campaigns, crevasses influence calving rates, mass balance, and the hydrological network of glaciers. Therefore, knowledge about their spatial distribution and potential development zones is highly beneficial. In this project, spatial distribution of surface crevasses on the Svalbard archipelago is investigated using a simple crevasse depth model, so called Nye’s zero-stress model, and a set of surface ice velocity data. The model is run for various ice temperatures as it is one of the parameters affecting crevasse development. The crevasse occurrences are also mapped and digitised manually using high resolution remote-sensed images. A special emphasis is put on the Lomonosovfonna ice cap, central Spitsbergen, where the crevasse distribution is studied in detail. The results indicate the greatest density of crevasses in regions of high ice surface velocity and concurrently high strain rates. These areas encompass mainly fast-flowing outlet valley glaciers, while the more stagnant ice caps and ice fields are characterised by little to no crevassing except for their margins. The modelled spatial distribution is concurrent with the observations, particularly for certain ice temperatures, highlighting the importance of accurate ice temperature measurements in modelling and a need of separation of the accumulation and ablation zones. Overall, the Nye’s zero-stress model yields accurate results and proves to be a suitable tool for the task. With room for fine-tuning, it is a promising tool that is easy to incorporate in other models.

A common observation in animal space use studies is that animals do not use space uniformly, but rather use some areas of their home ranges and territories with much higher intensity than others. Numerous methods have been developed to estimate these "core areas"; however, all of the current methods available are based on arbitrary rules. Additionally, most studies do not attempt to understand what behavioral processes lead to the observed patterns of non-uniform space use. This study has four main objectives: 1) to develop an objective and more precise method for estimating core areas, 2) to understand the processes leading to unequal coyote capture probabilities across territories, 3) to understand the biological mechanisms that influence the location of bobcat core areas, and 4) to determine how differences in territory size affect coyote movement patterns. The core area estimation method I developed consistently performed better than methods using arbitrary values to define core areas. Using this method to estimate coyote core areas, I determined that coyote capture locations were not actually biased towards low use areas because of low familiarity with those areas, but rather because of a higher probability of encountering traps there. Intensity of coyote use did, however, influence the location of bobcat core areas. When prey abundance was high, bobcat core areas were located in areas of low coyote use but occurred in areas of high coyote use when prey abundance was low, indicating bobcat core areas are the result of at least two processes: foraging conditions and avoidance of intraguild predation. Lastly, coyote movement behavior changed significantly as territory size increased, leading to faster and straighter movement patterns. However, even though coyotes in larger territories moved twice as fast as those in small territories, they took significantly longer to traverse their territories compared to those in small territories. This might be the result of coyotes occupying large territories being less constrained by defense due to lower conspecific density compared to coyotes occupying small territories. Overall, my research reveals the importance of using more precise methods to delineate animal space use patterns, and the greater information researchers can obtain when they attempt to understand the processes underlying space use patterns.