Toward dynamic urban environmental exposure assessments in mental health research

Background: Measuring mobility is critical for understanding neighborhood influences on older adults’ health and functioning. Global Positioning Systems (GPS) may represent an important opportunity to measure, describe, and compare mobility patterns in older adults. Methods: We generated three types of activity spaces (Standard Deviation Ellipse, Minimum Convex Polygon, Daily Path Area) using GPS data from 95 older adults in Vancouver, Canada. Calculated activity space areas and compactness were compared across sociodemographic and resource characteristics. Results: Area measures derived from the three different approaches to developing activity spaces were highly correlated. Participants who were younger, lived in less walkable neighborhoods, had a valid driver’s license, had access to a vehicle, or had physical support to go outside of their homes had larger activity spaces. Mobility space compactness measures also differed by sociodemographic and resource characteristics. Conclusions: This research extends the literature by demonstrating that GPS tracking can be used as a valuable tool to better understand the geographic mobility patterns of older adults. This study informs potential ways to maintain older adult independence by identifying factors that influence geographic mobility.

/pdf/generating-gps-activity-spaces-that-shed-light-upon-the-5dreqwqetz.pdf

Generating GPS activity spaces that shed light upon the mobility habits of older adults: a descriptive analysis.

Background
Knowledge on domain-specific physical activity (PA) has the potential to advance public health interventions and inform new policies promoting children’s PA. The purpose of this study is to identify and assess domains (leisure, school, transport, home) and subdomains (e.g., recess, playgrounds, and urban green space) for week day moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) using objective measures and investigate gender and age differences.

/pdf/using-accelerometers-and-global-positioning-system-devices-4nbpg1yjmy.pdf

Using accelerometers and global positioning system devices to assess gender and age differences in children’s school, transport, leisure and home based physical activity

Exposure to ultrafine particles (UFPs) is deemed to be a major risk affecting human health. Therefore, airborne particle studies were performed in the recent years to evaluate the most critical micro-environments, as well as identifying the main UFP sources.

Nonetheless, in order to properly evaluate the UFP exposure, personal monitoring is required as the only way to relate particle exposure levels to the activities performed and micro-environments visited.

To this purpose, in the present work, the results of experimental analysis aimed at showing the effect of the time-activity patterns on UFP personal exposure are reported. In particular, 24 non-smoking couples (12 during winter and summer time, respectively), comprised of a man who worked full-time and a woman who was a homemaker, were analyzed using personal particle counter and GPS monitors. Each couple was investigated for a 48-h period, during which they also filled out a diary reporting the daily activities performed. Time activity patterns, particle number concentration exposure and the related dose received by the participants, in terms of particle alveolar-deposited surface area, were measured.

The average exposure to particle number concentration was higher for women during both summer and winter (Summer: women 1.8×104 part. cm-3; men 9.2×103 part. cm-3; Winter: women 2.9×104 part. cm-3; men 1.3×104 part. cm-3), which was likely due to the time spent undertaking cooking activities. Staying indoors after cooking also led to higher alveolar-deposited surface area dose for both women and men during the winter time (9.12×102 and 6.33×102 mm2, respectively), when indoor ventilation was greatly reduced. The effect of cooking activities was also detected in terms of women’s dose intensity (dose per unit time), being 8.6 and 6.6 in winter and summer, respectively. On the contrary, the highest dose intensity activity for men was time spent using transportation (2.8 in both winter and summer).

Personal exposure to ultrafine particles : the influence of time-activity patterns

The environment has long been associated with physical activity engagement, and recent developments in technology have resulted in the ability to objectively quantify activity behaviours and activity context. This paper reviews studies that have combined Global Positioning Systems (GPS), Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and accelerometry to investigate the PA-environment relationship in children and young people (5–18 years old). Literature searches of the following bibliographic databases were undertaken: Sportdiscus, Medline, Embase, CINAHL, Psychinfo and Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts (ASSIA). Fourteen studies met the inclusion criteria, and covered topics including greenspace use, general land use, active travel, and the built environment. Studies were largely cross-sectional and took place across developed countries (UK, USA, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia). Findings suggest that roads and streets, school grounds, and the home location are important locations for total PA, and moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA). The relationship between greenspace was positive, however, multiple definitions and outcome measures add complexity to the results. MVPA was more likely in those exposed to higher levels of greenspace compared to sedentary individuals. Total MVPA time in greenspace is low, but when framed as a proportion of the total can be quite high. Domestic gardens may be an important area for higher intensity activity. Researchers are encouraged to show transparency in their methods. As a relatively new area of research, with ever-evolving technology, future work is best placed in developing novel, but robust, methods to investigate the PA and environment relationship. Further descriptive work is encouraged to build on a small but increasing knowledge base; however, longitudinal studies incorporating seasonal/weather variation would also be extremely beneficial to elicit some of the nuances associated with land use. A greater understanding of geographic variation (i.e. within and between countries), as well as urban/suburban and rural dwelling is welcomed, and future work should also include the investigation of psycho-social health as an outcome, as well as differences in socio-economic status, sex and adiposity.

/pdf/combining-gps-gis-and-accelerometry-to-explore-the-physical-26mca72lw2.pdf

Combining GPS, GIS, and accelerometry to explore the physical activity and environment relationship in children and young people - a review

Background: Children’s current physical activity levels are disturbingly low when compared to recommended levels. This may be changed by intervening in the school environment. However, at present, it is unclear to what extent schoolyard physical activity contributes towards reaching the daily physical activity guideline. The aim of this study was to examine how long and at what intensity children are physically active at the schoolyard during different time segments of the day. Moreover, the contribution of schoolyard physical activity towards achieving the recommended guideline for daily physical activity was investigated. Methods: Children (n=76) between the age of 6–11 years were recruited in six different schools in five cities (>70.000 residents) in the Netherlands. During the weekdays of a regular school week, childrens’ physical activity and location were measured with ActiGraph accelerometers and Travelrecorder GPS receivers. Data was collected from December 2008 to April 2009. From the data, the amount of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) on and outside the schoolyard was established. Moreover, the percentage of MVPA on the schoolyard was compared between the following segments of the day: pre-school, school, school recess, lunch break and post-school. Differences between boys and girls were compared using linear and logistic mixed-effects models. Results: On average, children spent 40.1 minutes/day on the schoolyard. During this time, boys were more active on the schoolyard, with 27.3% of their time spent as MVPA compared to 16.7% among girls (OR=2.11 [95% CI 1.54 - 2.90]). The children were most active on the schoolyard during school recess, during which boys recorded 39.5% and girls recorded 23.4% of the time as MVPA (OR=2.55 [95% CI: 1.69 - 3.85]). Although children were only present at the schoolyard for 6.1% of the total reported time, this time contributed towards 17.5% and 16.8% of boys’ and girls’ minutes of MVPA. Conclusions: On the schoolyard, children’s physical activity levels are higher than on average over the whole day. Physical activity levels are particularly high during school recess. The school environment seems to be an important setting for improving children’s physical activity levels. Further research on the facilitators of these high activity levels may provide targets for further promotion of physical activity among children.

/pdf/schoolyard-physical-activity-of-6-11-year-old-children-750sawi205.pdf

Schoolyard physical activity of 6–11 year old children assessed by GPS and accelerometry

https://repub.eur.nl/pub/73483/1-s2.0-S1353829214000240-main.pdf

How many walking and cycling trips made by elderly are beyond commonly used buffer sizes : Results from a GPS study

Personal exposure to UFP in different micro-environments and time of day

Studying the interaction between individual health and their neighbourhood characteristics has become increasingly popular. Global Positioning Systems (GPS) are increasingly used to assess the exact location of neighbourhood residents and the level of exposure to neighbourhood characteristics. This chapter provides the reader with a theoretical background and practical advice for GPS application in research and describes what a GPS device is and how GPS data can be processed. Furthermore, it uses examples to describe how GPS can be used in studies on the relationship between neighbourhood and health. The chapter ends with an overview of advantages and considerations

Using GPS to Measure the Interaction Between Individuals and Their Neighbourhood

Pool evaporation modelling is an important element in consequence assessment of accidentally released hazardous liquids. The evaporation rate determines the amount of toxic or flammable gas released into the atmosphere and is an important factor for the size of a pool fire. In this paper a completely integrated model is described for spreading-and-evaporating pools on land. The model considers boiling as well as non-boiling liquids and enables smooth transitions between boiling and non-boiling conditions. The liquid, which is spilled from a tank or leaked from a pipe line into the pool, can be either instantaneously or continuously released. The model results are evaporation rate, pool size and pool temperature as a function of time. The spreading of the liquid is considered until a minimum layer thickness is reached or until the border of a bund is reached. The model is verified by comparison to other pool evaporation models.

R.P. Sterkenburg

Papers

Schoolyard physical activity of 6–11 year old children assessed by GPS and accelerometry

How many walking and cycling trips made by elderly are beyond commonly used buffer sizes : Results from a GPS study

Personal exposure to UFP in different micro-environments and time of day

Using GPS to Measure the Interaction Between Individuals and Their Neighbourhood

An advanced model for spreading and evaporation of accidentally released hazardous liquids on land