scholarly journals Citizens’ Preference and Perception of Street Trees of Main Boulevards in Busan, South Korea

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 3141
Author(s):  
Sang Seup Kim ◽  
Jae-Song Lee ◽  
Dong Hak Lee ◽  
Yeol Choi
Keyword(s):  
Tree Species ◽  
Selection Criteria ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Effective Management ◽  
Street Trees ◽  
Affective Evaluation ◽  
Street Tree ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Urban Greenspaces ◽  
Positive Feelings

Street tree species are selected mainly based on functional utility. This selection practice results in effective management. If the value of street trees as perceived by citizens is added to the existing selection criteria, satisfaction will be improved in addition to effective management. This study attempted to find a way to reflect citizens’ values in street tree selection criteria through empirical analysis. A preference survey and the visual and affective evaluation of 12 street tree species in Busan Metropolitan City were conducted. With the collected data, principal component analysis (PCA) was performed to draw common factors of evaluation. Additionally, multidimensional scaling (MDS) was used to group tree species that were considered similar. The study results revealed that citizens prefer species that provide visually positive feelings and intimacy. Some species appropriate for urban greenspaces are not preferred for street trees. Although a low level of nuisance is an important aspect of street trees, citizens do not prefer species that are excessively free from nuisance. When selecting species with a polarized preference, dealing with undesired aspects is required. It is necessary to acknowledge the different preferences of citizens and street tree authorities; reflecting citizens’ values can provide more citizen-friendly street plans.

Street Tree Diversity in Massachusetts, USA

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-43
Author(s):  
F.D. Cowett ◽  
Nina Bassuk
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Tree Diversity ◽  
Asian Longhorned Beetle ◽  
Street Trees ◽  
Tree Population ◽  
Tree Inventory ◽  
Street Tree ◽  
Tree Survival ◽  
Considerable Work

Pests, disease, and climate change pose major challenges to street tree survival, and diversity in tree species and genera is widely considered to promote the sustainability of municipal street tree populations. Conversely, the lack of sufficient diversity in street tree population was judged a contributing factor in the death and removal of thousands of street trees in Worcester, Massachusetts, that state’s second most populous city, due to an infestation of the Asian longhorned beetle (ALB, Anoplophora glabripennis). Therefore, reducing the dominance of prevalent street tree species and genera and increasing tree species and genera diversity are considered vital to sustainable street tree management and to the preservation of the ecosystem services and social benefits that street trees provide. This paper assesses street tree diversity in Massachusetts by analyzing a nonrandom sample of collated municipal street tree inventory data stratified by plant hardiness zones. Consistent with results previously found for Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, results in Massachusetts indicate that a relatively small number of species and genera dominate the composition of most municipal street tree populations, including in particular Acer spp. (maple), one of the ALB’s favorite host genera. There is accordingly a need for greater species and genus diversity in municipal street tree populations statewide. While there may be a trend towards increased street tree diversity and reduction in the dominance of Acer spp., considerable work remains to be done.

scholarly journals Classification of Street Tree Species Using UAV Tilt Photogrammetry

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 216
Author(s):  
Yutang Wang ◽  
Jia Wang ◽  
Shuping Chang ◽  
Lu Sun ◽  
Likun An ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neural Network ◽  
Machine Learning ◽  
Bp Neural Network ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Support Vector ◽  
Street Trees ◽  
Species Classification ◽  
Machine Learning Classification ◽  
Tree Species Classification ◽  
Street Tree

As an important component of the urban ecosystem, street trees have made an outstanding contribution to alleviating urban environmental pollution. Accurately extracting tree characteristics and species information can facilitate the monitoring and management of street trees, as well as aiding landscaping and studies of urban ecology. In this study, we selected the suburban areas of Beijing and Zhangjiakou and investigated six representative street tree species using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) tilt photogrammetry. We extracted five tree attributes and four combined attribute parameters and used four types of commonly-used machine learning classification algorithms as classifiers for tree species classification. The results show that random forest (RF), support vector machine (SVM), and back propagation (BP) neural network provide better classification results when using combined parameters for tree species classification, compared with those using individual tree attributes alone; however, the K-nearest neighbor (KNN) algorithm produced the opposite results. The best combination for classification is the BP neural network using combined attributes, with a classification precision of 89.1% and F-measure of 0.872, and we conclude that this approach best meets the requirements of street tree surveys. The results also demonstrate that optical UAV tilt photogrammetry combined with a machine learning classification algorithm is a low-cost, high-efficiency, and high-precision method for tree species classification.

Is Street Tree Diversity Increasing in New York State, USA?

2021 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 196-213
Author(s):  
F.D. Cowett ◽  
N.L. Bassuk
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Diversity Index ◽  
New York State ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Tree Diversity ◽  
Urban Trees ◽  
Street Trees ◽  
York State ◽  
Street Tree

Diversity in tree populations is viewed as essential for protecting the public investment in urban trees and for preserving the environmental, social, and economic benefits that these trees provide. It is therefore crucial for officials responsible for the management of municipal trees to know the diversity of their municipal tree populations and whether their efforts to increase diversity have been effective or should be modified. We assessed street tree diversity in New York State, USA by analyzing municipal street tree inventory data from two data sets, the first comprised of 75 inventories collated from municipalities, and the second comprised of 32 sets of inventories conducted at multiple points in time. This analysis builds on two previous papers containing similar assessments by analyzing more current data and by calculating diversity index statistics and relative abundance percentages for prevalent street tree species and genera. Findings indicate that there has been substantial progress to increase street tree diversity in New York State. This progress is correlated with reductions in the dominance of Norway maple (Acer platanoides), the state’s most prevalent street tree species (17% of street trees statewide), and in the dominance of maple (Acer), the state’s most prevalent street tree genus (35% of street trees statewide). Work remains to be done to further increase species and genus diversity so as to meet the challenges posed to municipal street tree populations by invasive pests and climate change. Strategies are proposed for accomplishing this.

Novel Swellable/Expandable Gastroretentive Floating Films of Gliclazide Folded in Capsule Shell for the Effective Management of Diabetes Mellitus: Formulation Development, Optimization and In vitro Evaluation

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diksha Sharma ◽  
Deepak Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Diabetes Mellitus ◽  
Drug Absorption ◽  
Gastric Fluid ◽  
Stability Study ◽  
Gastric Retention ◽  
Effective Management ◽  
In Vitro Evaluation ◽  
Capsule Shell ◽  
Study Results

Background: Gliclazide (GLZ) belongs to the second-generation of sulphonylureas, is a drug of choice for the management of type II DM. It belongs to BCS Class II. The major site of drug absorption for GLZ is the stomach; it displayed variation in the drug absorption rate and bioavailability due to the shorter gastric retention time. Floating mechanism performance gets affected when the gastric fluid level not sufficiently higher, which ultimately obstructs the floating behavior, which is the major limitation of reported formulations. This limitation can get over by folded the film into the capsule shell that dissolved in gastric fluid and film swell/expands to dimensions higher than pylorus sphincter (12mm), thus prevents its evacuation. Objective: To explore the floating mechanism in the designing of films along with a tendency to expand by swelling and unfolding by utilizing a mixture of hydrophilic and hydrophobic polymer to achieve the controlled drug delivery and prolonged gastric retention of drug. Methods: The gastroretentive floating films were formulated by the solvent casting technique using 32 full factorial design and subjected to in vitro evaluation parameters, drug-excipient compatibility, X-ray diffraction and accelerated stability study. Results: The pre-formulation study established the purity and identification of drug. FTIR study confirmed no drug excipient interaction. F3, F6, and F9 were optimized based on in vitro floating characteristics, swelling/expanding ability, and unfolding time study. All developed formulations were unfolded within 14-22 min after capsule disintegration. The F3 was selected as final formulation as its ability to control the release of drug for 24 hrs followed by Zero-order kinetics having super case 2 transport. XRD confirmed the amorphousness of drug within formulation. The stability study results revealed that formulation was quite stable at extreme storage condition. Conclusion: The developed novel formulation has a good potential for the effective management and treatment of Diabetes Mellitus.

scholarly journals A Study On Financial Self-Efficacy During Covid-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (08) ◽  
pp. 472-483
Author(s):  
Sitangshu Khatua ◽  
◽  
Debdulal Dutta Roy ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
The Novel ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
Online Mode ◽  
Personal Finances ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Financial Goal ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
And Control

Financial Self-efficacy is defined as a person’s observed capability to control his/her personal finances (Lapp, 2010; Postmus, 2011). It refers to one’s beliefs in the abilities to accomplish a financial goal or task. It is the “knowledge and ability to influence and control one’s financial matters” by Fox and Bartholomae (2008). Financial efficacy pattern of people during very critical moment is unknown. The world is experiencing one of the deepest recessions since the Great Depression in the 1930s owing to the novel coronavirus, World Bank President David Malpass has said, terming the COVID-19 pandemic a “catastrophic event” for many developing and the poorest countries. Aim of the study is to examine financial efficacy pattern of people during lockdown period for COVID-19. Data were collected through online mode using financial efficacy scale developed by authors for the study. Results of principal component analysis revealed that during lockdown, financial efficacy is more concerned with financial planning, planned payment and financial coping.

scholarly journals Functional relationship between woody plants and insect communities in response to Bursaphelenchus xylophilus infestation in the Three Gorges Reservoir region

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhuang Wang ◽  
Lijuan Zhao ◽  
Jiaqi Liu ◽  
Yajie Yang ◽  
Juan Shi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plant Communities ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Woody Plants ◽  
Functional Relationship ◽  
Woody Plant ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Bursaphelenchus Xylophilus ◽  
Insect Community ◽  
Insect Communities ◽  
Masson Pine

To study the effect of the invasion of Bursaphelenchus xylophilus on the functional relationship between woody plants and insect communities, the populations of tree species and insect communities were investigative in the Masson pine forests with different infestation durations of B. xylophilus. In this study, the number of Pinus massoniana began to decrease sharply, whereas the total number of other tree species in the arboreal layer increased gradually with the infestation duration of B. xylophilus. The principal component analysis ordination biplot shows that there was a significant change in the spatial distribution of woody plant species in different Masson pine forest stands. Additionally, a total of 7,188 insect specimens was obtained. The insect population showed an upward trend in stand types with the increase of pine wilt disease infection periods, which demonstrated that the insect community had been significantly affected by the invasion of B. xylophilus. The structure of insect functional groups changed from herbivorous (He) > omnivorous (Om) > predatory (Pr) > parasitic (Pa) > detritivorous (De) in the control stand to He > Pa > Om, De > Pr after B. xylophilus infestation in the forests. The results showed that the populations of He, Pa, and De increased after the invasion of B. xylophilus, but the populations of Pr decreased. Moreover, the redundancy analysis ordination bi-plots reflected the complicated functional relationship between woody plant communities and insects after the invasion of B. xylophilus. The present study provides insights into the changes in the community structure of woody plants and insects, as well as the functional relationship between woody plant communities and insect communities after invasion of B. xylophilus.

scholarly journals Opportunities for selective reporting of harms in randomized clinical trials: Selection criteria for nonsystematic adverse events

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evan Mayo-Wilson ◽  
Nicole Fusco ◽  
Hwanhee Hong ◽  
Tianjing Li ◽  
Joseph K. Canner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Trials ◽  
Adverse Events ◽  
Selection Criteria ◽  
Randomized Clinical Trials ◽  
Bipolar Depression ◽  
Selective Reporting ◽  
Journal Articles ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Meta Analyses

Abstract Background: Adverse events (AEs) in randomized clinical trials may be reported in multiple sources. Different methods for reporting adverse events across trials, or across sources for a single trial, may produce inconsistent and confusing information about the adverse events associated with interventions Methods: We sought to compare the methods authors use to decide which AEs to include in a particular source (i.e., “selection criteria”) and to determine how selection criteria could impact the AEs reported. We compared sources (e.g., journal articles, clinical study reports [CSRs]) of trials for two drug-indications: gabapentin for neuropathic pain and quetiapine for bipolar depression. We identified selection criteria and assessed how criteria affected AE reporting. Results: We identified 21 gabapentin trials and 7 quetiapine trials. All CSRs (6 gabapentin, 2 quetiapine) reported all AEs without applying selection criteria; by comparison, no other source reported all AEs, and 15/68 (22%) gabapentin sources and 19/48 (40%) quetiapine sources reported using selection criteria. Selection criteria greatly affected the number of AEs that would be reported. For example, 67/316 (21%) AEs in one quetiapine trial met the criterion “occurring in ≥2% of participants in any treatment group,” while only 5/316 (2%) AEs met the criterion, “occurring in ≥10% of quetiapine-treated patients and twice as frequent in the quetiapine group as the placebo group.” Conclusions: Selection criteria for reporting AEs vary across trials and across sources for individual trials. If investigators do not pre-specify selection criteria, they might “cherry-pick” AEs based on study results. Even if investigators pre-specify selection criteria, selective reporting of AEs will produce biased meta-analyses and clinical practice guidelines. Data about all AEs identified in clinical trials should be publicly available; however, sharing data will not solve all the problems we identified in this study. Keywords: Harms, adverse events, clinical trials, reporting bias, selective outcome reporting, data sharing, trial registration

scholarly journals Hotel Selection Criteria of Solo Traveling Females

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 58-73
Author(s):  
Halimin Herjanto ◽  
◽  
Alexandra Chilicki ◽  
Chidchanok Anantamongkolkul ◽  
Erin McGuinness ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cell Phone ◽  
Selection Criteria ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Selection Criterion ◽  
Product Evaluations ◽  
Purchasing Decisions ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Automated Teller Machine ◽  
Selection For ◽  
Cost Efficient

Consumers use online e-reviews as a popular tool for information and obtaining guidance. E-reviews have therefore become an important barometer in conducting product evaluations, and more importantly, to make purchasing decisions. This includes decisions about hotel selection. For hospitality industry marketers, the information in e-reviews is particularly important in translating and understanding consumer-specific needs. The current study brings valuable awareness to the limited academic research into hotel selection criteria among solo-traveling females. TripAdvisor’s top 25 list of cost-efficient hotels worldwide received 345 total consumer reviews. Noteworthy findings of the current study show unique selection criteria considered important to the solo traveling female including a hotel-provided cell phone programmed with emergency local contact information, and a nearby or on-premise automated teller machine. Study results also indicate that stewardship service, such as intimate and personalized hotel staff who “go the extra mile” is an important selection criterion. Also discussed are research limitations and implications.

scholarly journals Can Field Crews Telecommute? Varied Data Quality from Citizen Science Tree Inventories Conducted Using Street-Level Imagery

Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Berland ◽  
Lara A. Roman ◽  
Jess Vogt
Keyword(s):  
Data Quality ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Field Data ◽  
Urban Forest ◽  
Street Trees ◽  
Diameter Class ◽  
Tree Diameter ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Street Tree ◽  
High Level

Street tree inventories are a critical component of urban forest management. However, inventories conducted in the field by trained professionals are expensive and time-consuming. Inventories relying on citizen scientists or virtual surveys conducted remotely using street-level photographs may greatly reduce the costs of street tree inventories, but there are fundamental uncertainties regarding the level of data quality that can be expected from these emerging approaches to data collection. We asked 16 volunteers to inventory street trees in suburban Chicago using Google Street ViewTM imagery, and we assessed data quality by comparing their virtual survey data to field data from the same locations. We also compared virtual survey data quality according to self-rated expertise by measuring agreement within expert, intermediate, and novice analyst groups. Analyst agreement was very good for the number of trees on each street segment, and agreement was markedly lower for tree diameter class and tree identification at the genus and species levels, respectively. Interrater agreement varied by expertise, such that experts agreed with one another more often than novices for all four variables assessed. Compared to the field data, we observed substantial variability in analyst performance for diameter class estimation and tree identification, and some intermediate analysts performed as well as experts. Our findings suggest that virtual surveys may be useful for documenting the locations of street trees within a city more efficiently than field crews and with a high level of accuracy. However, tree diameter and species identification data were less reliable across all expertise groups, and especially novice analysts. Based on this analysis, virtual street tree inventories are best suited to collecting very basic information such as tree locations, or updating existing inventories to determine where trees have been planted or removed. We conclude with evidence-based recommendations for effective implementation of this type of approach.

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