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Introduction: Pasifika young people of Aotearoa New Zealand are known to experience higher rates of mental health and addiction conditions (especially anxiety and depression), compared with young non-Māori/non-Pasifika (NMNP). However, there is little information about how well these issues are identified by mental health services. Aim: We compared rates of diagnosis of common mental health and substance use-related conditions between Pasifika and NMNP young people (aged 10-24 years) and examined how these diagnoses varied with deprivation. Method: This national, cross-sectional study was undertaken using 2017/18 fiscal year data from a national database known as the Integrated Data Infrastructure. Specialist mental health service use, hospitalisations and pharmaceutical dispensing for any mental health condition, emotional condition (depression and/or anxiety), substance use-related conditions, and self-harm were examined. Results: A total of 982,305 young people (12.4%, Pasifika and 63.9%, NMNP) were identified. Compared with NMNP, Pasifika young people were significantly less likely to be diagnosed by specialist mental health services with any mental health condition (adjusted Risk Ratio (aRR) = 0.77, 95% CI = 0.75 to 0.78); any emotional condition (aRR= 0.44, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) = 0.43 to 0.45); or to be hospitalised for self-harm (aRR = 0.88, 95% CI = 0.82 to 0.94). However, they were significantly more likely than NMNP to be diagnosed with substance use-related conditions (aRR = 1.68, 95% CI = 1.63 to 1.74). Although the overall rate of mental health issues remained relatively stable across deprivation levels, emotional conditions were much less frequently diagnosed in those with greater deprivation. Discussion: Discrepancies between expected and identified rates of diagnoses of common mental health and substance use-related conditions might indicate different patterns of service access by Pasifika young people, or they may reflect the bias of an inequitable and less than culturally appropriate health system.

To examine specialist mental health service, hospital discharge, and pharmaceutical dispensing data for emotional conditions (anxiety, depression), substance use, and self-harm for Māori compared to non-Māori/non-Pasifika (NMNP) youth.A novel population-level case identification method using New Zealand's Integrated Data Infrastructure for 232,845 Māori and 627,891 NMNP aged 10-24 years. Descriptive statistics on mental health conditions were generated and stratified by Māori/NMNP. Unadjusted and adjusted risk ratios (RRs) of mental health conditions were generated using generalised linear regression.Māori were less likely to be identified for anxiety (ARR=0.88; 95% CI 0.85-0.90) or depression (ARR=0.92; 95% CI 0.90-0.95) than NMNP. They were more likely to be identified for substance problems (ARR)=2.66; 95% CI 2.60-2.71) and self-harm (ARR=1.56; 95% CI 1.50-1.63). Māori living in high deprivation areas were significantly more likely to be identified for substance problems, but less likely for emotional conditions, than Māori in least deprived areas.Despite known high levels of mental health concerns for rangatahi Māori, administrative data suggests significant under-reporting, assessment, and treatment of emotional conditions relative to NMNP. These differences were exacerbated by deprivation. Māori were more likely to be referred to services for externalised symptoms of distress (substance use and self-harm).

Background: This study investigates the association between television (TV) viewing and child adiposity and if parental education and child ethnicity moderate this association.Method: Cross-sectional, pooled (2013/2014–2016/2017) adult and child New Zealand Health Survey were matched resulting in 13,039 children (2–14 y) and parent dyads. Child TV viewing was estimated using self-reported time for each weekday and weekend. The height (in centimeters), weight (in kilograms), and waist circumference of parents and children were measured. Childhood body mass index and obesity were defined using the International Obesity Task Force cutoff values. Effect modification was assessed by interaction and then by stratifying regression analyses by parent education (low, moderate, and high) and child ethnicity (Asian, European/other, Māori, and Pacific).Results: Overall, watching ≥2 hours TV on average per day in the past week, relative to zscore (b = 0.123 [0.061–0.187]), and higher waist circumference (b = 0.546 [0.001–1.092]). Interactions considering this association by child ethnicity and parent education revealed little evidence of effect modification.Conclusion: While TV viewing was associated with child adiposity, the authors found little support for a moderating role of parental education and child ethnicity.

Objective. Protons have advantageous dose distributions and are increasingly used in cancer therapy. At the depth of the Bragg peak range, protons produce a mixed radiation field consisting of low- and high-linear energy transfer (LET) components, the latter of which is characterized by an increased ionization density on the microscopic scale associated with increased biological effectiveness. Prediction of the yield and LET of primary and secondary charged particles at a certain depth in the patient is performed by Monte Carlo simulations but is difficult to verify experimentally. Approach. Here, the results of measurements performed with Timepix detector in the mixed radiation field produced by a therapeutic proton beam in water are presented and compared to Monte Carlo simulations. The unique capability of the detector to perform high-resolution single particle tracking and identification enhanced by artificial intelligence allowed to resolve the particle type and measure the deposited energy of each particle comprising the mixed radiation field. Based on the collected data, biologically important physics parameters, the LET of single protons and dose-averaged LET, were computed. Main results. An accuracy over 95% was achieved for proton recognition with a developed neural network model. For recognized protons, the measured LET spectra generally agree with the results of Monte Carlo simulations. The mean difference between dose-averaged LET values obtained from measurements and simulations is 17%. We observed a broad spectrum of LET values ranging from a fraction of keV μm−1 to about 10 keV μm−1 for most of the measurements performed in the mixed radiation fields. Significance. It has been demonstrated that the introduced measurement method provides experimental data for validation of LETD or LET spectra in any treatment planning system. The simplicity and accessibility of the presented methodology make it easy to be translated into a clinical routine in any proton therapy facility.

COVID-19 can affect the entire population, but it poses an increased risk for particular population groups. Socioeconomic and demographic factors, as well as long-term health conditions, can make p...

Background The prevalence of children with elevated weight or obesity is concerning for public health due to associated comorbidities. This study investigates associations between parental adiposity, physical activity (PA), fruit and vegetable consumption, and child adiposity and moderation by both child and parent gender. Methods Cross-sectional nationally representative data from the New Zealand Health Survey were pooled for the years 2013/14-2016/17. Parent and child surveys were matched resulting in 13,039 child (2-14 years) and parent (15-70 years) dyads. Parent and child, height (cm), weight (kg) and waist circumference (WC) were measured objectively. Height and weight were used to calculate BMI. Linear regression, accounting for clustered samples (b [95% CI]) investigated associations between parental characteristics and child BMI z-score and WC. Interactions and stratification were used to investigate effect moderation by parent gender, child gender, and parent adiposity. Results Parental PA and fruit and vegetable consumption were unrelated to child adiposity. Overall, higher parent BMI was related to a higher child BMI z-score (b = 0.047 [0.042, 0.052]) and higher parental WC was related to a higher child WC (0.15 [0.12, 0.17]). A three-way interaction revealed no moderation by parent gender, child gender, and parent BMI for child BMI z-score ((b = 0.005 [-0.017, 0.027], p = 0.318). However, a three-way interaction revealed moderation by parent gender, child gender, and parent WC for child WC (b = 0.13 [0.05, 0.22]). The slightly stronger associations were seen between father-son WC (b = 0.20 [0.15, 0.24]) and mother-daughter WC (b = 0.19 [0.15, 0.22]). Conclusions The findings are highly relevant for those wishing to understand the complex relationships between child-parent obesity factors. Findings suggest that family environments should be a key target for obesity intervention efforts and show how future public health interventions should be differentiated to account for both maternal and paternal influences on child adiposity.

Background We examined the association between area-level deprivation and dental ambulatory sensitive hospitalizations (ASH) and considered the moderating effect of community water fluoridation (CWF). The hypothesis was that higher levels of deprivation are associated with higher dental ASH rates and that CWF will moderate this association such that children living in the most deprived areas have greater health gain from CWF. Methods Dental ASH conditions (dental caries and diseases of pulp/periapical tissues), age, gender and home address identifier (meshblock) were extracted from pooled cross-sectional data (Q3, 2011 to Q2, 2017) on children aged 0–4 and 5–12 years from the National Minimum Dataset, New Zealand (NZ) Ministry of Health. CWF was obtained for 2011 and 2016 from the NZ Institute of Environmental Science and Research. Dental ASH rates for children aged 0–4 and 5–12 years (/1000) were calculated for census area units (CAUs). Multilevel negative binomial models investigated associations between area-level deprivation, dental ASH rate and moderation by CWF status. Results Relative to CWF (2011 and 2016), no CWF (2011 and 2016) was associated with increased dental ASH rates in children aged 0–4 [incidence rate ratio (IRR) = 1.171 (95% confidence interval 1.064, 1.288)] and aged 5–12 years [IRR = 1.181 (1.084, 1.286)]. An interaction between area-level deprivation and CWF showed that the association between CWF and dental ASH rates was greatest within the most deprived quintile of children aged 0–4 years [IRR = 1.316 (1.052, 1.645)]. Conclusions CWF was associated with a reduced dental ASH rate for children aged 0–4 and 5–12 years. Children living in the most deprived areas showed the greatest effect of CWF on dental ASH rates, indicating that the greater health gain from CWF occurred for those with the highest socio-economic disadvantage. Variation in CWF contributes to structural inequities in oral-health outcomes for children.

Objective. The lateral dose fall-off in proton pencil beam scanning (PBS) technique remains the preferred choice for sparing adjacent organs at risk as opposed to the distal edge due to the proton range uncertainties and potentially high relative biological effectiveness. However, because of the substantial spot size along with the scattering in the air and in the patient, the lateral penumbra in PBS can be degraded. Combining PBS with an aperture can result in a sharper dose fall-off, particularly for shallow targets. Approach. The aim of this work was to characterize the radiation fields produced by collimated and uncollimated 100 and 140 MeV proton beams, using Monte Carlo simulations and measurements with a MiniPIX-Timepix detector. The dose and the linear energy transfer (LET) were then coupled with published in silico biophysical models to elucidate the potential biological effects of collimated and uncollimated fields. Main results. Combining an aperture with PBS reduced the absorbed dose in the lateral fall-off and out-of-field by 60%. However, the results also showed that the absolute frequency-averaged LET (LETF) values increased by a maximum of 3.5 keV μm−1 in collimated relative to uncollimated fields, while the dose-averaged LET (LETD) increased by a maximum of 7 keV μm−1. Despite the higher LET values produced by collimated fields, the predicted DNA damage yields remained lower, owing to the large dose reduction. Significance. This work demonstrated the dosimetric advantages of combining an aperture with PBS coupled with lower DNA damage induction. A methodology for calculating dose in water derived from measurements with a silicon-based detector was also presented. This work is the first to demonstrate experimentally the increase in LET caused by combining PBS with aperture, and to assess the potential DNA damage which is the initial step in the cascade of events leading to the majority of radiation-induced biological effects.

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has asked unprecedented questions of governments around the world. Policy responses have disrupted usual patterns of movement in society, locally and globally, with resultant impacts on national economies and human well-being. These interventions have primarily centred on enforcing lockdowns and introducing social distancing recommendations, leading to questions of trust and competency around the role of institutions and the administrative apparatus of state. This study demonstrates the unequal societal impacts in population movement during a national ‘lockdown’.MethodsWe use nationwide mobile phone movement data to quantify the effect of an enforced lockdown on population mobility by neighbourhood deprivation using an ecological study design. We then derive a mobility index using anonymised aggregated population counts for each neighbourhood (2253 Census Statistical Areas; mean population n=2086) of national hourly mobile phone location data (7.45 million records, 1 March 2020–20 July 2020) for New Zealand (NZ).ResultsCurtailing movement has highlighted and exacerbated underlying social and spatial inequalities. Our analysis reveals the unequal movements during ‘lockdown’ by neighbourhood socioeconomic status in NZ.ConclusionIn understanding inequalities in neighbourhood movements, we are contributing critical new evidence to the policy debate about the impact(s) and efficacy of national, regional or local lockdowns which have sparked such controversy.

To investigate risk factors for women with obesity of childbearing age. A cross-sectional survey of New Zealand women (15–49 years) with measured height and weight was used [unweighted (n = 3625) and weighted analytical sample (n = 1,098,372)] alongside sociodemographic-, behavioural- and environmental-level predictors. Multilevel logistic regression weighted for non-response of height and weight data was used. Meeting physical activity guidelines (AOR (adjusted odds ratio) 0.66, 95% CI 0.54–0.80), Asian (AOR 0.15, 95% CI 0.10–0.23) and European/other ethnicity (AOR 0.46, 95% CI 0.36–0.58) and an increased availability of public greenspace (Q4 AOR 0.55, 95% CI 0.41–0.75) were related to decreased obesity risk. Older age (45–49 years AOR 3.01, 95% CI 2.17–4.16), Pacific ethnicity (AOR 2.81, 95% CI 1.87–4.22), residing in deprived areas (AOR 1.65, 95% CI 1.16–2.35) or secondary urban areas (AOR 1.49, 95% CI 1.03–2.18) were related to increased obesity risk. When examined by rural/urban classification, private greenspace was only related to increased obesity risk in main urban areas. This study highlights factors including but not limited to public greenspace, which inform obesity interventions for women of childbearing age in New Zealand.

PURPOSE Ion beam radiotherapy offers enhances dose conformity to the tumor volume while better sparing healthy tissue compared to conventional photon radiotherapy. However, the increased dose gradient also makes it more sensitive to uncertainties. While the most important uncertainty source is the patient itself, the beam delivery is also subject to uncertainties. Most of the proton therapy centers used cyclotrons, which deliver typically a stable beam over time, allowing a continuous extraction of the beam. Carbon-ion beam radiotherapy (CIRT) in contrast uses synchrotrons and requires a larger and energy-dependent extrapolation of the nozzle-measured positions to obtain the lateral beam positions in the isocenter, since the nozzle-to-isocenter distance is larger than for cyclotrons. Hence, the control of lateral pencil beam positions at isocenter in CIRT is more sensitive to uncertainties than in proton radiotherapy. Therefore, an independent monitoring of the actual lateral positions close to the isocenter would be very valuable and provide additional information. However, techniques capable to do so are scarce, and they are limited in precision, accuracy and effectivity. METHODS The detection of secondary ions (charged nuclear fragments) has previously been exploited for the Bragg peak position of C-ion beams. In our previous work, we investigated for the first time the feasibility of lateral position monitoring of pencil beams in CIRT. However, the reported precision and accuracy were not sufficient for a potential implementation into clinical practice. In this work, it is shown how the performance of the method is improved to the point of clinical relevance. To minimize the observed uncertainties, a mini-tracker based on hybrid silicon pixel detectors was repositioned downstream of an anthropomorphic head phantom. However, the secondary-ion fluence rate in the mini-tracker rises up to 1.5 × 105 ions/s/cm2 , causing strong pile-up of secondary-ion signals. To solve this problem, we performed hardware changes, optimized the detector settings, adjusted the setup geometry and developed new algorithms to resolve ambiguities in the track reconstruction. The performance of the method was studied on two treatment plans delivered with a realistic dose of 3 Gy (RBE) and averaged dose rate of 0.27 Gy/s at the Heidelberg Ion-Beam Therapy Center (HIT) in Germany. The measured lateral positions were compared to reference beam positions obtained either from the beam nozzle or from a multi-wire proportional chamber positioned at the room isocenter. RESULTS The presented method is capable to simultaneously monitor both lateral pencil beam coordinates over the entire tumor volume during the treatment delivery, using only a 2-cm2 mini-tracker. The effectivity (defined as the fraction of analyzed pencil beams) was 100%. The reached precision of (0.6 to 1.5) mm and accuracy of (0.5 to 1.2) mm are in line with the clinically accepted uncertainty for QA measurements of the lateral pencil beam positions. CONCLUSIONS It was demonstrated that the performance of the method for a non-invasive lateral position monitoring of pencil beams is sufficient for a potential clinical implementation. The next step is to evaluate the method clinically in a group of patients in a future observational clinical study.

New Zealand has a large research database called the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI). The IDI contains linked microdata about people and households from a wide range of authoritative datasets and surveys originating in and outside government. The GeoHealth Laboratory at the University of Canterbury in collaboration with the New Zealand Ministry of Health supports policymakers and stakeholders across the New Zealand health system through several IDI research projects. One such project aims to determine how an individual’s place of residence and the frequency of residential movement can affect access to regionally-provided health and community services. The presented case study examines the relationships between limited or irregular interaction with health services and potential drivers such as low-engagement, non-enrolment or transience during the study period (August 2013 - July 2018).

Background Accounting for the co-occurrence of multiple environmental influences is a more accurate reflection of population exposure than considering isolated influences, aiding in understanding the complex interactions between environments, behaviour and health. This study examines how environmental ‘goods’ such as green spaces and environmental ‘bads’ such as alcohol outlets co-occur to develop a nationwide area-level healthy location index (HLI) for New Zealand. Methods Nationwide data were collected, processed, and geocoded on a comprehensive range of environmental exposures. Health-constraining ‘bads’ were represented by: (i) fast-food outlets, (ii) takeaway outlets, (iii) dairy outlets and convenience stores, (iv) alcohol outlets, (v) and gaming venues. Health-promoting ‘goods’ were represented by: (i) green spaces, (ii) blue spaces, (iii) physical activity facilities, (iv) fruit and vegetable outlets, and (v) supermarkets. The HLI was developed based on ranked access to environmental domains. The HLI was then used to investigate socio-spatial patterning by area-level deprivation and rural/urban classification. Results Results showed environmental ‘goods’ and ‘bads’ co-occurred together and were patterned by area-level deprivation. The novel HLI shows that the most deprived areas of New Zealand often have the most environmental ‘bads’ and less access to environmental ‘goods’. Conclusions The index, that is now publicly available, is able to capture both inter-regional and local variations in accessibility to health-promoting and health-constraining environments and their combination. Results in this study further reinforce the need to embrace the multidimensional nature of neighbourhood and place not only when designing health-promoting places, but also when studying the effect of existing built environments on population health.

Background Declining childhood immunization represents a serious public health problem globally and in New Zealand. To guide efforts to increase immunization coverage, this study monitors nationwide change in immunization coverage since the introduction of the National Immunisation Register (NIR) in 2005 and spatiotemporal patterns of immunization coverage from 2006 to 2017. Methods The study population consisted of 4 482 499 individual immunization records that were obtained from the NIR (2005–2017). Data on yearly and average immunization coverage in census area units (CAUs) in New Zealand were calculated by milestone age (6/8/12/18/24/60/144 months). Data for 2005 were excluded due to missing records in the introductory period of the NIR. We analyzed spatial and spatiotemporal patterns using Gi* and SaTScan methods. Results Immunization coverage improved since the introduction of the NIR in 2005, reaching a peak in 2014 and 2015 with a slight decrease in 2016 and 2017. Well and insufficiently immunized areas were identified with spatial autocorrelation analyses highlighting several hot- and cold-spots. Comparison of CAUs with neighbouring CAUs allowed for the identification of places where immunization coverage was significantly higher or lower than expected, over both time and space. Conclusion We provide the first spatiotemporal analysis of childhood immunization in New Zealand that utilizes a large sample of over 4.4 million individual immunization records. Our spatial analyses enable policymakers to understand the development of childhood immunization coverage and make more effective prevention strategies in New Zealand.

This study combines data on the location of health-constraining 'bads' (i: fast-food outlets, ii: takeaway outlets, iii: dairy outlets and convenience stores, iv: alcohol outlets, and v: gaming venues) and health-promoting 'goods' (i: green spaces, ii: blue spaces, iii: physical activity facilities, and iv: fruit and vegetable outlets) into a nationwide Healthy Living Index. This was applied to pooled (2015/16-2017/18) nationally representative New Zealand Health Survey data, with mental health conditions (depression, bipolar, and anxiety) and psychological distress as population-level outcomes. Mental health was associated with proximity to environmental 'goods' and 'bads'. Compared to those individuals who reside within the unhealthiest environments, there was a steady reduction in the odds of adverse mental health outcomes and psychological distress as the environment became more health-promoting.

Background Immunisation is a safe and effective way of protecting children and adults against harmful diseases. However, immunisation coverage of children is declining in some parts of New Zealand. Aim Use a nationwide sample to first, examine the socioeconomic and demographic determinants of immunisation coverage and spatial variation in these determinants. Second, it investigates change in immunisation coverage in New Zealand over time. Methods Individual immunisation records were obtained from the National Immunisation Register (NIR) (2005–2017; 4,482,499 events). We calculated the average immunisation coverage by year and milestone age for census area units (CAU) and then examined the immunisation coverage by selected socioeconomic and demographic determinants. Finally, local variations in the association between immunisation coverage and selected determinants were investigated using geographically weighted regression. Results Findings showed a decrease of immunisation rates in recent years in CAUs with high immunisation coverage in the least deprived areas and increasing immunisation rates in more deprived areas. Nearly all explanatory variables exhibited a spatial variation in their association with immunisation coverage. For instance, the strongest negative effect of area-level deprivation is observed in the northern part of the South Island, the central-southern part of the North Island, around Auckland, and in Northland. Conclusion Our findings show that childhood immunisation coverage varies by socioeconomic and demographic factors across CAUs. We also identify important spatial variation and changes over time in recent years. This evidence can be used to improve immunisation related policy in New Zealand.

Introduction Despite improvements in oral health outcomes in New Zealand over the last number of decades, there are still high levels of preventable tooth decay in adults and children. We investigate the prevalence and spatial variation of non-fluoride toothpaste use in a nationally representative sample of adults and children in New Zealand.Method Individual-level self-reported data were sourced from the New Zealand Health Survey (2017/18). Both child (n = 4,723) and adult (n = 13,869) data were used. Data included sociodemographic (for example, age), socioeconomic (for example, area-level deprivation) and dental-related (for example, type of toothpaste used) variables.Results Overall, 6.8% of adults and 6.4% of children use non-fluoride toothpaste. When split by deprivation, the highest prevalence of non-fluoride toothpaste use for children and adults was in the moderate to least deprived areas, while the lowest prevalence was in the most deprived areas. When disaggregated by ethnicity, the Asian population had the highest prevalence of non-fluoride toothpaste use for both adults and children compared to Māori, Pacific and European/Other. There was little difference in prevalence by rural/urban classification; however, prevalence varied geographically across the study area.Conclusion This is the first study that uses a nationally representative sample of adults and children to show variation in the use of non-fluoride toothpaste in New Zealand.

This city profile provides a transdisciplinary story of Ōtautahi Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand. We take a socio-cultural history approach to describe multiple disruptions that have led to the city's current urban form and community resilience, with a specific emphasis on the experiences of Māori since colonisation. Ōtautahi Christchurch is the ancestral home of Ngāi Tahu people who exercise mana whenua - Indigenous sovereignty with respect to land, derived from genealogy and occupation. The area was colonised in the early 1800s and the city's strong colonial English ties are still visible in the city's layout, public spaces, urban representations, and architecture. Te Waipounamu South Island lies in an active fault zone resulting in high seismic activity. The Canterbury Earthquake Sequence 2010-2012 had a significant impact on the health of local communities, infrastructure and economies across the region. Subsequent recovery and long-term regeneration strategies across the region have been developed and partly implemented to date. Citizens embrace collaborative temporary urban projects to bridge the gap between emergency response and urban recovery with a return of Māori influence post-quake. This type of place-making contributes to the re-establishment of a sense of place in Ōtautahi Christchurch and a continuous engagement focused in reconnecting the citizens with the city. With this city profile we contribute to the field of critical geographies by sharing the cultural lessons learnt on indigenous resilience to disasters recovery, which may be of relevance to other cities facing ecological and cultural disruptions.

This paper begins by exploring a smart city approach in post-earthquake Christchurch, New Zealand, by telling the city's story so far. We take the position of critical scholars who are engaged in a live smart cities project that involves the measurement of air quality by using sensor tools. As the project is still ongoing, the final results of the work are yet to be seen, but, nonetheless worth documenting. This article is composed as an early analysis of the air quality sensing project as a framework for the larger smart city story of Christchurch. It provides an overview of the experiences and lessons learned about the implementation of new technologies in a post-disaster environment. We examine how the narrative of the smart city is constructed, with focus on the terminology used by citizens, academicians, government and corporations. We then argue that top-down technocratic solutions to urban problems alone do not suffice to improve life in the city; rather, they can result in misaligned expectations or outcomes for stakeholders at the government and citizen level. We conclude by suggesting that citizen-led initiatives may be a way to promote more nuanced and inclusive ways of addressing local urban problems in a smart cities context.

In Europe, Lyme borreliosis (LB) and tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) are the two vector-borne diseases with the largest impact on human health. Based on data on the density of host-seeking Ixodes ricinus ticks and pathogen prevalence and using a variety of environmental data, we have created an acarological risk model for a region where both diseases are endemic (Czech Republic&mdash, South Bohemia and Germany&mdash, Lower Bavaria, Upper Palatinate). The data on tick density were acquired by flagging 50 sampling sites three times in a single season. Prevalence of the causative agents of LB and TBE was determined. Data on environmental variables (e.g., altitude, vegetation cover, NDVI, land surface temperature) were obtained from various sources and processed using geographical information systems. Generalized linear models were used to estimate tick density, probability of tick infection, and density of infected ticks for the whole area. A significantly higher incidence of human TBE cases was recorded in South Bohemia compared to Bavarian regions, which correlated with a lower tick density in Bavaria. However, the differences in pathogen prevalence rates were not significant. The model outputs were made available to the public in the form of risk maps, indicating the distribution of tick-borne disease risk in space.

We developed a highly-selective technique to measure the energy loss and linear-energy-transfer (LET) spectra of energetic charged particles in high-resolution and over a large collection of particle-event types. Precise and wide-range spectral and tracking measurements were performed with a single semiconductor pixel detector. The quantum-counting sensitivity, high-granularity and per-pixel spectrometric response of the Timepix ASIC chip enable the detailed spectral-tracking registration of single charged particles across the detector semiconductor sensor. Both the deposited energy along the particle trajectory (energy loss) and the path length of the particle track across the semiconductor sensor are precisely measured for each particle. This allows for the determination of the particle LET in silicon in high accuracy and over a wide-range of energies, particle types and directions. The tracking and energy loss response together with the resolving power at the particle-event level make it possible to selectively provide LET distributions of the light and heavy charged particle components in mixed-radiation and omnidirectional fields. This technique applies to energetic (E > 10 MeV/u) charged particles generating tracks greater than the pixel size and incident at non-perpendicular direction ( > 2 0 ∘ ) to the sensor plane. The technique applies also to electrons of energy above few MeV as well as highly energetic and minimum-ionizing-particles (MIPs). We make use of existing and in part newly collected data at well-defined radiation fields with proton and light ion beam accelerators. Flexible measurements, ease of deployment and online response are possible by the use of compact readout electronics such as the miniaturized radiation camera MiniPix (size 8 cm, weight 50 g) operable by any PC. Results are given for protons and light ions (He, C) of selected energies above 10 MeV/u and directions (2 π FoV). We include also electrons (20 MeV). Selective and detailed LET spectra are produced over a wide range (10−1 to 102 keV/ μ m) in silicon.

Background While it is likely that changing food environments have contributed to the rise in obesity rates, very few studies have explored historical trends in the food environment with little, if any, consideration at a nationwide level. This longitudinal, nationwide, and geospatial study aims to examine change over time in proximity to food environments in all urban areas of New Zealand from 2005 to 2015. Method This study used high quality food outlet data by area-level deprivation within the three largest urban areas of Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington. We hypothesise that distance and travel time by car to supermarkets and fast-food outlets will have decreased over time with the most notable decreases in distance and time occuring in the most deprived areas of urban New Zealand. Change in major chain “fast-food” and “supermarket” outlets as identified by Territorial Authorities between 2005 and 2015 was analysed through the use of multilevel regression models. Results Findings show a decrease in distance and time to both fast-food outlets and supermarkets. The biggest decrease in distance for supermarkets was seen in the most deprived areas. Conclusion Our findings contrast and add to previous evidence to demonstrate how changes in the food environment are not uniform, varying by area-level deprivation and by city with more equitable access to supermarkets occurring over time.

The opportunity of an emerging smart city in post-disaster Christchurch has been explored as a way to improve the quality of life of people suffering Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), which is a progressive disease that affects respiratory function. It affects 1 in 15 New Zealanders and is the 4th largest cause of death, with significant costs to the health system. While, cigarette smoking is the leading cause of COPD, long-term exposure to other lung irritants, such as air pollution, chemical fumes, or dust can also cause and exacerbate it. Currently, we do know little what happens to the patients with COPD after they leave a doctor’s care. By learning more about patients’ movements in space and time, we can better understand the impacts of both the environment and personal mobility on the disease. This research is studying patients with COPD by using GPS-enabled smartphones, combined with the data about their spatiotemporal movements and information about their actual usage of medication in near real-time. We measure environmental data in the city, including air pollution, humidity and temperature and how this may subsequently be associated with COPD symptoms. In addition to the existing air quality monitoring network, to improve the spatial scale of our analysis, we deployed a series of low-cost Internet of Things (IoT) air quality sensors as well. The study demonstrates how health devices, smartphones and IoT sensors are becoming a part of a new health data ecosystem and how their usage could provide information about high-risk health hotspots, which, in the longer term, could lead to improvement in the quality of life for patients with COPD.

This nationwide study investigated the relationship between proximity to alcohol outlets (off-licence, on-licence, and other-licence) and two adverse outcomes; hazardous drinking and crime (common assault, non-aggravated sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault, and tobacco and liquor offences). After adjustment for important individual- and area-level factors, close proximity to alcohol outlets was associated with increased risk of hazardous drinking, with strong associations for on-licence outlets. Proximity alcohol outlets was also strongly associated with all crime outcomes, often with a dose-response relationship. Nationally representative New Zealand data showed that close proximity to alcohol outlets was associated with increased crime and hazardous drinking.

Participatory mapping techniques and social surveys are combined with spatial statistics to examine resident senses of place in a gentrifying neighborhood. Whereas recent debates on gentrification describe how physical displacement need not occur for an area's sense of place to change, there are few tools that test this presumption. Attitudes of current residents toward features of a gentrifying neighborhood are captured using polygons drawn in Collector for ArcGIS. The results were aggregated according to the social characteristics of the respondents (length of residency, education, and housing status). After testing for randomness, it was proven that highly educated newcomers have significantly different attitudes toward their neighborhood when compared to long-term residents. This study supports concerns that the emotional geographies of a gentrifying neighborhood can be disrupted without physical displacement of long-term residents and provides a novel combination of methods for evaluating between-group differences in a sense of place.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease is a progressive lung disease affecting the respiratory function of every sixth New Zealander and over 300 million people worldwide. In this paper, we explored how the combination of social, demographical and environmental conditions (represented by increased winter air pollution) affected hospital admissions due to COPD in an urban area of Christchurch (NZ). We juxtaposed the hospitalisation data with dynamic air pollution data and census data to investigate the spatiotemporal patterns of hospital admissions. Spatial analysis identified high-risk health hot spots both overall and season specific, exhibiting higher rates in winter months not solely due to air pollution, but rather as a result of its combination with other factors that initiate deterioration of breathing, increasing impairments and lead to the hospitalisation of COPD patients. From this we found that socioeconomic deprivation and air pollution, followed by the age and ethnicity structure contribute the most to the increased winter hospital admissions. This research shows the continued importance of including both individual (composition) and area level (composition) factors when examining and analysing disease patterns.

Inspired by local outbreaks of campylobacteriosis in the Czech Republic in 2010 linked to the debate about alleged health risks of the raw milk consumption, a detailed study was carried out. Firstly, scanning was utilised to identify spatio-temporal clusters of the disease from 2008 to 2012. Then a spatial method (geographical profiling originally developed for criminology) served as assessment in selecting fresh-milk vending machines that could have contributed to some of the local campylobacteriosis outbreaks. Even though an area of increased relative risk of the disease was identified in the affected city of České Budějovice during January and February 2010, geoprofiling did not identify any vending machines in the area as the potential source. However, possible sources in some nearby cities were suggested. Overall, 14 high-rate clusters including the localisation of 9% of the vending machines installed in the Czech Republic were found in the period 2008-2012. Although the vending machines are subject to strict hygiene standards and regular testing, a potential link between a small number of them and the spatial distribution of campylobacteriosis has been detected in the Czech Republic. This should be taken into account in public health research of the disease.

Crisis mapping is a legitimate component of both crisis informatics and disaster risk management. It has become an effective tool for humanitarian workers, especially after the earthquake in Haiti in 2010. Ushahidi is among the many mapping platforms on offer in the growing field of crisis mapping, and involves the application of crowdsourcing to create online and interactive maps of areas in turmoil. This paper presents the Crisis Map of the Czech Republic, which is the first such instrument to be deployed nationwide in Central Europe. It describes the methodologies used in the preparatory work phase and details some practices identified during the creation and actual employment of the map. In addition, the paper assesses its structure and technological architecture, as well as its potential possible development in the future. Lastly, it evaluates the utilisation of the Crisis Map during the floods in the Czech Republic in 2013.

Public participation is an inherent part of urban planning and the Local Agenda 21 initiative (LA21). Nevertheless, opportunities to involve citizens in the process of creating, using, and evaluating public spaces are still limited. The research presented in the paper involves the integration of Gould-style mental maps with Participatory GIS (PGIS) technologies. This paper describes the testing and implementation of the web-based crowdsourcing tool PocitoveMapy.cz, used for the collection and visualisation on maps of people’s perceptions of environmental deprivation. In the case study the tool was used in the city of Kroměřiž with 99 users (n=99) collecting 1257 perception-based shapefiles on eight different topics. The application is based on Leaflet library, an open-source JavaScript library for mobile-friendly interactive maps. It allows developers without a GIS background to very easily display tiled web maps hosted on a public server, with optional tiled overlays. The collected vector data were analysed as a hexagonal grid with sides of 25 metres, where each hexagon was assigned a value based on the values of points, lines, and polygons spatially overlapping it. Visual analysis showed a similar spatial distribution for some environmental topics, and the non-parametric Kendall’s rank correlation supported the visual observations.

Places are strongly linked with emotions and can be considered safe or unsafe, pleasant or ugly, favourite or boring among other emotions. Subjective perceptions of a city can be valuable sources of information for city planners and a local administration. Among the above-mentioned emotions that have an effect on the quality of life for people in a city, the perception of safety has a prominent position. Safety and fear of criminality affect our interaction with public spaces the most. But criminality does not have to be the only reason people feel uncomfortable in a city, they may also be afraid of the darkness or the friendlessness of a place. The paper describes the mapping of unsafe places in the city of Olomouc via a paper-based questionnaire and a web-based crowdsourcing tool PocitoveMapy.cz. In total, the authors collected answers from 661 respondents; 144 used the online tool and 517 used the paper-based version. The final dataset comprises 1516 places (453 online/1063 questionnaire). The data were gathered over the period between 1st October and 2nd December 2015. The authors collected data that are gender specific as well and time of day specific, therefore it was possible to analyse the differences between daytime and night-time fearful places in the city as well as places that are perceived unsafe by women and men. The spatial density analysis, local correlations and hexagonal aggregation revealed hot-spots that are felt by the citizens of Olomouc to be unsafe. The strongest agreement in votes can mainly be found in the three localities with the densest localisation of votes. In these localities, a strong correlation exists also between the perception of fear during the daytime and the night-time. The results of the case study can be used by the local police department or administration authorities in the future development of safety strategies for the city.

Kriging is one of the geostatistical techniques for spatial data analysis that is usually used for a modelling of natural phenomena or a creation of digital elevation models. In this paper, we introduce kriging methods in the context of a landslide modelling in time. The proposed procedure, as well as most of the statistical methods, is designed for complete data sets, i.e. the observations at the beginning and the end of the study are available. In order to use all the information from the data and to avoid the loss of information after omitting observations with missing values, the algorithm for imputation of missing data values based on kriging techniques is proposed. The methodology was verified by the landslide modelling in Halenkovice, Czech Republic, during the period from June 2008 to March 2010. The obtained results showed a potential of kriging methods for the landslide modelling. © R. Zůvala et al., published by De Gruyter Open., Operational Program Education for Competitiveness - European Social Fund (Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic) [CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.0170]; Internal Grant Agency of Palacky University in Olomouc [IGA_PrF_2015_013]

The prediction of meteorological phenomena is usually based on the creation of surface from point sources using the certain type of interpolation algorithms. The prediction standardly does not incorporate any kind of uncertainty, either in the calculation itself or its results. The selection of the interpolation method, as well as its parameters depend on the user and his experiences. That does not mean the problem necessarily. However, in the case of the spatial distribution modelling of potentially dangerous air pollutants, the inappropriately selected parameters and model may cause inaccuracies in the results and their evaluation. In this contribution, we propose the prediction using fuzzy kriging that allows incorporating the experts knowledge. We combined previously presented approaches with optimization probabilistic metaheuristic method simulated annealing. The application of this approach in the real situation is presented on the prediction of PM10 particles in the air in the Czech Republic.