Evacuation planning in the Auckland Volcanic Field, New Zealand: a spatio-temporal approach for emergency management and transportation network decisions

Auckland is the largest city in New Zealand (pop. 1.5 million) and is situated atop an active monogenetic volcanic field. When volcanic activity next occurs, the most effective means of protecting the people who reside and work in the region will be to evacuate the danger zone prior to the eruption. This study investigates the evacuation demand throughout the Auckland Volcanic Field and the capacity of the transportation network to fulfil such a demand. Diurnal movements of the population are assessed and, due to the seemingly random pattern of eruptions in the past, a non-specific approach is adopted to determine spatial vulnerabilities at a micro-scale (neighbourhoods). We achieve this through the calculation of population-, household- and car-to-exit capacity ratios. Following an analysis of transportation hub functionality and the susceptibility of motorway bridges to a new eruption, modelling using dynamic route and traffic assignment was undertaken to determine various evacuation attributes at a macro-scale and forecast total network clearance times. Evacuation demand was found to be highly correlated to diurnal population movements and neighbourhood boundary types, a trend that was also evident in the evacuation capacity ratio results. Elevated population to evacuation capacity ratios occur during the day in and around the central city, and at night in many of the outlying suburbs. Low-mobility populations generally have better than average access to public transportation. Macro-scale vulnerability was far more contingent upon the destination of evacuees, with favourable results for evacuation within the region as opposed to outside the region. Clearance times for intra-regional evacuation ranged from one to nine hours, whereas those for inter-regional evacuation were found to be so high, that the results were unrealistic. Therefore, we conclude that, from a mobility standpoint, there is considerable merit to intra-regional evacuation

Modelling the cost differential between healthy and current diets: the New Zealand case study

Background: Evidence on whether healthy diets are more expensive than current diets is mixed due to lack of robust methodology. The aim of this study was to develop a novel methodology to model the cost differential between healthy and current diets and apply it in New Zealand. Methods: Prices of common foods were collected from 15 supermarkets, 15 fruit/vegetable stores and from the Food Price Index. The distribution of the cost of two-weekly healthy and current household diets was modelled using a list of commonly consumed foods, a set of min and max quantity/serves constraints for each, and food group and nutrient intakes based on dietary guidelines (healthy diets) or nutrition survey data (current diets). The cost differential between healthy and current diets was modelled for several diet, prices and policy scenarios. Acceptability of resulting meal plans was validated. Results: The average cost of healthy household diets was 40 and $60 cheaper than current diets due to large energy intakes. Discretionary foods and takeaway meals contributed 30-40% to the average cost of current diets. This cost differential could be reduced if fruits and vegetables became exempt from Goods and Services Tax. Healthy diets were cheaper with an allowance for discretionary foods and more expensive when including takeaway meals. Conclusion: Healthy New Zealand diets were on average more expensive than current diets, but one-quarter of healthy diets were cheaper than the average cost of current diets. The impact of diet composition, types of prices and policies on the cost differential was substantial. The methodology can be used in other countries to monitor the cost differential between healthy and current household diets

Induction of Endothelial Cell Apoptosis by Solid Tumor Cells

peer reviewedThe mechanisms by which tumor cells extravasate to form metastasis remain controversial. Previous studies performed in vivo and in vitro demonstrate that the contact between tumor cells and the vascular wall impairs endothelium integrity. Here, we investigated the effect of breast adenocarcinoma MCF-7 cells on the apoptosis of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). TUNEL labeling, nuclear morphology, and DNA electrophoresis indicated that MCF-7 cells induced a two- to fourfold increase in HUVEC apoptosis. Caspase-3 activity was significantly enhanced. Neither normal cells tested (mammary epithelial cells, fibroblasts, leukocytes) nor transformed hematopoietic cells tested (HL60, Jurkat) induced HUVEC apoptosis. On the contrary, cells derived from solid tumors (breast adenocarcinoma, MDA-MB-231 and T47D; fibrosarcoma, HT 1080) had an effect similar to that of MCF-7 cells. The induction of apoptosis requires cell-to-cell contact, since it could not be reproduced by media conditioned by MCF-7 cells cultured alone or cocultured with HUVEC. Our results suggest that cells derived from solid tumors may alter the endothelium integrity by inducing endothelial cell apoptosis. On the contrary, normal or malignant leukocytes appear to extravasate by distinct mechanisms and do not damage the endothelium. Our data may lead to a better understanding of the steps involved in tumor cell extravasation

Challenging problems of geospatial visual analytics

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Interpreting climate data visualisations to inform adaptation decisions

The appropriate development of graphical visualisations to communicate climate data is fundamental to the provision of climate services to guide climate change adaptation decisions. However, at present there is a lack of empirical evidence, particularly in Africa, to help climate information providers determine how best to communicate and display climate data. To help address this issue, an online survey, primarily targeted at the African vulnerability, impacts and adaptation community, was designed and disseminated widely. The survey examines the interpretation of climate data as a function of the style and information content of graphical visualisations. It is shown that choices made when constructing the visualisations, such as presenting percentile information versus showing the range, significantly impact on interpretation. Results also show that respondents who interpret a higher likelihood of future changes to climate, based on the visualisation of climate model projections, express greater confidence in their interpretations. The findings have relevance to the climate risk community in Africa and elsewhere across the world, and imply that a naïve approach to visualising climate data risks misinterpretation and unjustified levels of trust, with the potential to misinform adaptation and policy decisions

Digital representation of park use and visual analysis of visitor activities

Urban public parks can serve an important function by contributing to urban citizens' quality of life. At the same time, they can be the location of processes of displacement and exclusion. Despite this ambiguous role, little is known about actual park use patterns. To learn more about park use in three parks in Zurich, Switzerland, extensive data on visitor activities was collected using a new method based on direct recording via a portable GIS solution. Then, the data was analyzed using qualitative and quantitative methods. This paper examines whether geographic visualization of these data can help domain experts like landscape designers and park managers to assess park use. To maximize accessibility, the visualizations are made available through a web-interface of a common, off-the-shelf GIS. The technical limitations imposed by this choice are critically assessed, before the available visualization techniques are evaluated in respect to the needs and tasks of practitioners with limited knowledge on spatial analysis and GIS. Key criteria are each technique's level of abstraction and graphical complexity. The utility and suitability of the visualization techniques is characterized for the distinct phases of exploration, analysis and synthesis. The findings suggest that for a target user group of practitioners, a combination of dot maps showing the raw data and surface maps showing derived density values for several attributes serves the purpose of knowledge generation best

Geography and computers: Past, present, and future

The discipline of Geography has long been intertwined with the use of computers. This close interaction is likely to increase with the embeddedness of computers and concomitant growth of spatially referenced data. To better understand the current situation, and to be able to better speculate about the future, this article provides two parallel perspectives: first, we offer an historical perspective on the relationship between Geography and computers; second, we document developments—in particular the nascent field of data science—that are currently taking place outside of Geography and to which we argue the discipline should be paying close attention. Combining both perspectives, we identify the benefits of tighter integration between Geography and Data Science and argue for the establishment of a new space—that we term Geographic Data Science—in which cross‐pollination could occur to the benefit of both Geography and the larger data community