Background: Pediculosis capitis is a common parasitic infection of children. In this study we assessed the prevalence of head pediculosis among the middle schoolchildren in the urban and rural areas of Fars province, southern Iran.Methods: All middle schoolchildren ages 11-14, in all the urban and rural areas of the province were screened for head lice infestation by examining their hair and sc...

In this paper we consider the problem of DTM extraction in dense urban areas. To this aim, we need valuable and reliable data in the tiny open areas among buildings, and a suitable algorithm to reconstruct the terrain discarding these same structures. So, we compare first LIDAR and aerial photogrammetry by evaluating the relative accuracy of the three-dimensional reconstructed surface in the sm...

Motivated by concern about rising obesity rates, researchers have begun to map the neighborhood " food environment " and examine its association with the risk of overweight or obesity. Some argue that " food deserts " – areas with little or no provision of fresh produce and other healthy food – may contribute to disparities in obesity, diabetes, and related health problems. When access to healt...

As the number of people who reside and work in urban areas increases, so, too, do the needs and demands placed on the infrastructure. This has led to severe congestion in many European cities, a situation which affects not only the environment in terms of pollution, but most notably levels of traffic safety. In Europe, tens of thousands of people are killed in road traffic accidents, and more t...

The paper presents an advanced system for railway and road traffic noise monitoring in metropolitan areas. This system is a functional part of a more complex solution designed for environmental monitoring in cities utilizing analyses of sound, vision and air pollution, based on a ubiquitous computing approach. The system consists of many autonomous, universal measuring units and a multimedia se...

Rapid urbanization and increasing demand for transportation burdens urban road infrastructures. The interplay of number of vehicles and available road capacity on their routes determines the level of congestion. Although approaches to modify demand and capacity exist, the possible limits of congestion alleviation by only modifying route choices have not been systematically studied. Here we coup...

Average Winter electricity consumption for rural residents in Utah is significantly greater than for those living in urban areas. Based on data from a 1980 survey of Utah residents, this rural-urban consumption differential was investigated using multiple regression analysis. It was determined that the stock of electricity-using devices, climate, and demographic characteristics were the most im...

Little is known regarding levels and source strength of carbonaceous aerosols in Scandinavia. In the present study, ambient aerosol (PM10 and PM2.5) concentrations of elemental carbon (EC), organic carbon (OC), waterinsoluble organic carbon (WINSOC), and water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) are reported for a curbside site, an urban background site, and a suburban site in Norway in order to inve...

In this paper, we combine the most complete record of daily mobility, based on large-scale mobile phone data, with detailed Geographic Information System (GIS) data, uncovering previously hidden patterns in urban road usage. We find that the major usage of each road segment can be traced to its own--surprisingly few--driver sources. Based on this finding we propose a network of road usage by de...