Short stature-related factors and nomogram-based risk prediction in children aged 7-12: evidence from Chaozhou, China
Qun Zhang, Hua-Chuan Lin, Wen Xu
et al.
Objective Childhood height development is a crucial indicator of public health, with the prevalence of short stature serving as an important metric. This study aimed to investigate the height development status, prevalence of short stature, and associated risk factors among 7-12-year-old children in Chaozhou City, China, providing valuable reference data for local prevention and intervention strategies to address short stature. Methods A cross-sectional survey on the height of 7-12-year-old children was conducted in Chaozhou City, Guangdong Province, China. Standardized measurement tools were used to collect height data for epidemiological analysis. To explore risk factors for short stature, a questionnaire survey was administered to a random sample of the surveyed population. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify factors associated with the risk of short stature and to construct a predictive model. Results A total of 7,799 children participated in the height survey. Girls had significantly higher mean heights than boys at ages 8, 11, and 12 (all P < 0.001). The overall prevalence of short stature was 3.7%. Although girls had a higher prevalence than boys (4.0% vs. 3.4%), the difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.167). Multivariate logistic regression identified independent risk factors for short stature, including paternal height < 160 cm, maternal height <150 cm, birth weight < 2.5 kg, preterm birth, exercising < 3 times per week, sleep duration < 8 hours per day, and irregular diet. A preference for meat and dairy products was independently associated with a reduced risk of short stature. The nomogram model developed based on these factors demonstrated good predictive performance, with an area under the curve of 0.858 (95%CI 0.815-0.900). Conclusions The overall prevalence of short stature in 7-12-year-old children in Chaozhou was slightly higher than the national average. This study analyzed the risk factors for short stature in children, and the risk prediction model developed from these factors demonstrated good predictive accuracy for short stature prevalence. However, external validation in independent cohorts is necessary to confirm the robustness of the model.
Understanding the successes and challenges of a social prescribing program for children and youth in Canada: a qualitative evaluation
Caitlin Muhl, Isobel Fishman, V. Dimitrova
et al.
Social prescribing offers a tool to move care upstream to address the non-medical factors that impact health and wellbeing. In 2023, we launched a social prescribing program in a comprehensive, pediatric integrated health and social service hub in an underserved inner city neighborhood in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The program targeted children and youth with poor social health, including social isolation and loneliness. Program participants were paired with a connector, who worked with them to explore their individual needs, strengths, interests, and dreams. Together, they created a social prescription for a child and youth-friendly community activity. The connector then provided a supported referral to aid the program participant in successfully completing their social prescription. The program was piloted at the hub over a period of 10 months, during which time a program evaluation took place. As part of our program evaluation, we sought to explore the successes and challenges from the perspective of key stakeholder groups. Thus, the aim of this evaluation was to understand the successes and challenges of our child and youth social prescribing program from the perspective of program participants, caregivers, and staff members. A qualitative descriptive design was employed. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 33 program participants, 30 caregivers, and five staff members. Interview questions centered around interviewees' experiences of the program. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and anonymized. Data were thematically analyzed. Successes included participant and caregiver satisfaction, enhancing the social connectedness of participants and families, addressing barriers to engagement, provider satisfaction, and community cohesion. Challenges included finding the right social prescription, addressing barriers to engagement, and managing operational constraints. This evaluation investigated the successes and challenges of our child and youth social prescribing program from the perspective of program participants, caregivers, and staff members. The findings of this evaluation add to the growing evidence base on social prescribing in pediatric populations in Canada.
…when the category ‘migration’ lost its innocence for migration scholars. And what now? A plea for dialogue
Janine Dahinden
Social Sciences, Communities. Classes. Races
Future-making as a refugee in Turkey: containment, resettlement, and multiple futures
Mert Pekşen
Abstract This article examines the dynamics of temporality and containment in the case of conditional refugees in Turkey awaiting resettlement to a third country. Currently, Turkey hosts approximately 300,000 conditional refugees and international protection applicants who are required to reside in provinces (“satellite cities”) designated by the immigration authority. Policies such as registration requirements, travel permits, and weekly reporting obligations prevent refugees from leaving these Turkish provinces, turning them into containment spaces where refugees spend extended periods of time awaiting resettlement. By analyzing the effects of such restrictive spatial and temporal limitations, the article explores the diverse futures and imaginations that emerge under conditions of such containment. Drawing on the anthropological concept of future-making, the article contends that refugees subvert, challenge, and counter-time the temporal (b)orders imposed by the resettlement scheme. Refugees continue to imagine and act upon multiple futures, depending on their specific circumstances. An analysis of the discrepancy between the anticipated future of resettlement and the stagnant present of containment provides a productive opportunity to examine the multiple experiences and imaginings of time, rhythm, and the future.
Social Sciences, Communities. Classes. Races
Population-mobility coevolution drives spatial heterogeneity of cities
Hao Huang, Yuming Lin, Jiazhen Liu
The spatial heterogeneity of cities -- the uneven distribution of population and activities -- is fundamental to urban dynamics and related to critical issues such as infrastructure overload, housing affordability, and social inequality. Despite sharing similar scaling laws of population and mobility, cities exhibit vastly different spatial patterns. This paradox call for a mechanistic explanation for the emergence of spatial heterogeneity, while existing qualitative or descriptive studies fail to capture the underlying mechanisms. Here, we propose a coupled dynamical model that describe the intra-city population-mobility coevolution, explaining spatial heterogeneity as an emergent outcome of mutual feedback between the fast-changing mobility and the slow-adapting population. Our model is validated on over 388 million records from eight diverse global cities, successfully reproduces both the statistical laws and realistic spatial patterns. We find out realistic heterogeneity emerges as a distinct stable state, intermediate between disordered homogeneity and unsustainable super-hub dominance. Moreover, we theoretically and empirically show that populated areas are predominantly shaped by coevolution strength, while the increasing distance decay leads cities through a three-phase transition of homogeneity-heterogeneity-homogeneity. Besides, functional attractiveness between areas consistently enhances the ordered heterogeneous structure. Simulations of real-world planning scenarios -- including crisis-induced lockdown, planned zone expansions, and dispersal from congested centers -- indicate that integrated population-mobility policies are more cost-effective than single interventions. Our model can provides mechanistic, high-resolution insights to rigorously inform policy design.
Observing cities as a complex system
Rafael Prieto-Curiel
Cities are some of the most intricate and advanced creations of humanity. Most objects in cities are perfectly synchronised to coordinate activities such as jobs, education, transportation, entertainment, and waste management. Although each city has its own characteristics, some commonalities can be observed across most cities, such as issues related to noise, pollution, segregation, and others. Further, some of these issues might be accentuated in larger or smaller cities. For example, with more people, a city might experience more competition for space, so rents would be higher. The urban scaling theory provides a framework for analysing cities in terms of their size. New data for analysing urban scaling theory allow for an understanding of how urban metrics change with population size, whether they apply across most regions, or whether patterns correspond only to some countries or regions. Yet, reducing a city and all its complexity to a single indicator might simplify urban areas to the extent that their disparities and variations are overlooked. Often, the differences in living conditions across different parts of the same city are greater than the degree of variation observed between cities. For example, in terms of rent or crime, within-city variations might be more significant than between cities. Here, we review some urban scaling principles and explore ways to analyse variations within the same city.
en
physics.soc-ph, physics.data-an
Impact and Influence of Teachers on the Lives of Migrant Children
Prachi Lahiri, Bishakha Bhattacharyya
Millions of Indians migrate from their homeland either lured by better prospects or just to survive the subsistence crisis. Poverty, lack of employment, dismal state of the economy, lack of opportunity, depletion of natural resources, occurrence of natural disasters, lack of cultivable land and low agricultural output are some of the ‘push factors’ from the place of origin. ‘Pull factors’, such as better employment options, higher earning facilities, and better working conditions, draw migrants to a new destination like the metropolitan cities. Education of the children of these migrant workers is severely compromised in this movement. The present education system of India is largely suitable for the settled population and does not cater to the underprivileged migrant children. Language, caste, religion and grade appropriate age are some of the other impediments faced by these children to acquire education. Civil Society Organizations and Non-Government Organizations run schools or day-care facilities to ensure continuity in their education. The teachers working with the children in these schools play an important role at the grassroot level to bridge the gaps in their learning. They provide them with a safe space to receive education. This paper highlights the challenges faced by these teachers and the possible reasons behind these difficulties. It also focusses on the opportunities created by the NGOs and CSOs to empower these teachers to provide a better environment for teaching and learning. Multiple perspectives from both teachers and CSO management representatives have been incorporated. It enriches the data triangulation by including diverse viewpoints and experiences. Quantitative data was gathered through questionnaires, and qualitative insights were obtained through interviews. CSOs and their dedicated team of teachers play a crucial role in providing education to children from migrant families, by raising the standard of primary education and provide an inclusive environment.
Comparison of vaccination coverage of children of the first year of life in the pre-pandemic period and during the COVID-19 pandemic
N. A. Belykh, P. O. Kotova, I. V. Pisnyur
et al.
Introduction. Vaccination remains the most effective measure to combat infectious diseases. The COVID-19 pandemic has made adjustments to the work of pediatric health services around the world, which has affected all aspects of life, including routine immunization of children.Objective. To analyze the indicators of coverage and timeliness of vaccination of children of the first year of life in the pre-pandemic period and during the COVID-19 pandemic, to assess the frequency and severity of post-vaccination reactions in children of the first year of life.Materials and methods. A retrospective single-center study of medical documentation (form 112/y) of 414 children was conducted on the basis of GBU RO “City Children’s Polyclinic No. 3” in Ryazan, who were divided into 2 groups: group 1 — children born in 2018 (n = 256), among whom 47.5% (n = 122) were girls, 51.5% (n = 134) are boys, group 2 are children born in 2020 (n = 158), of which 49% (n = 77) are girls, 51% (n = 81) are boys. The assessment of intergroup differences was carried out using the Pearson criterion (χ2), adjusted for small samples. The difference in values was considered statistically significant at p < 0.05.Results. Vaccination coverage in 2018 and 2020 was 95% and 98%, respectively (p < 0.05). The post-vaccination period in the majority of vaccinated children in group 1 (85%, n = 208) and in group 2 (81%, n = 128) proceeded smoothly (p = 0.04).Conclusion. The COVID-19 pandemic did not have a negative impact on routine vaccination in the population of children in the first year of life.
From Roots to Routes: The Role of Ethnic Networks in the Development of Migrant Communities in Russia
Mihran Galstyan, Nare Galstyan, Gayane Hakobyan
This article examines the role of ethnic networks in the development of migrant communities by focusing on modern-day Armenian migration to Russia. While much existing research on migrant networks tends to focus on newly arrived migrants’ experiences of gaining support in the destination countries through ethnic networks, little has been said about the impact of ethnic networks on migrant community development. Additionally, studies on the Armenian communities’ development are mainly focused on the historical context and scholars see little interest in studying modern-day Armenian migration and migrant community development. Drawing on empirical data from Armenia, this study explores how post-Soviet migration to Russia shapes contemporary Armenian communities there. Through a combination of quantitative and qualitative research conducted in 2020−2021, the article studies the significance of ethnic networks at both individual and collective levels. The quantitative research results offer insights into the role of ethnic networks in shaping migratory routes, while qualitative research highlights how these networks contribute to community construction, driven by regional affiliations that differ from traditional Armenian diaspora institutions. The study reveals the multiple roles of ethnic networks, including their influence on migratory behaviour, their persistence and importance across generations and their impact on community organisations’ development and leadership. It also highlights migrants’ preferences for engaging with their regions or villages of origin.
Colonies and colonization. Emigration and immigration. International migration, City population. Including children in cities, immigration
Multifractal analysis of racially-constrained population patterns and residential segregation in the US cities
Tomasz F. Stepinski, Anna Dmowska
A phenomenon of racial segregation in U.S. cities is a multifaceted area of study. A recent advancement in this field is the development of a methodology that transforms census population count-by-race data into a grid of monoracial cells. This format enables assessment of heterogeneity of segregation within a city. This paper leverages such a grid for the quantification of race-constrained population patterns, allowing for the calculation and mapping of binary segregation patterns within arbitrary region. A key innovation is the application of Multifractal Analysis (MFA) to quantify the residency patterns of race-constrained populations. The residency pattern is characterized by a multifractal spectrum function, where the independent variable is a local metric of pattern's "gappiness", and the dependent variable is proportional to the size of the sub-pattern consisting of all locations having the same value of this metric. In the context of binary populations, the gappiness of the race-constrained population's pattern is intrinsically linked to its segregation. This paper provides a comprehensive description of the methodology, illustrated with examples focusing on the residency pattern of Black population in the central region of Washington, DC. Further, the methodology is demonstrated using a sample of residency patterns of Black population in fourteen large U.S. cities. By numerically describing each pattern through a multifractal spectrum, the fourteen patterns are clustered into three distinct categories, each having unique characteristics. Maps of local gappiness and segregation for each city are provided to show the connection between the nature of the multifractal spectrum and the corresponding residency and segregation patterns. This method offers an excellent quantification of race-restricted residency and residential segregation patterns within U.S. cities.
A universal framework for inclusive 15-minute cities
Matteo Bruno, Hygor Piaget Monteiro Melo, Bruno Campanelli
et al.
Proximity-based cities have attracted much attention in recent years. The 15-minute city, in particular, heralded a new vision for cities where essential services must be easily accessible. Despite its undoubted merit in stimulating discussion on new organisations of cities, the 15-minute city cannot be applicable everywhere, and its very definition raises a few concerns. Here, we tackle the feasibility and practicability of the '15-minute city' model in many cities worldwide. We provide a worldwide quantification of how close cities are to the ideal of the 15-minute city. To this end, we measure the accessibility times to resources and services, and we reveal strong heterogeneity of accessibility within and across cities, with a significant role played by local population densities. We provide an online platform (\href{whatif.sonycsl.it/15mincity}{whatif.sonycsl.it/15mincity}) to access and visualise accessibility scores for virtually all cities worldwide. The heterogeneity of accessibility within cities is one of the sources of inequality. We thus simulate how much a better redistribution of resources and services could heal inequity by keeping the same resources and services or by allowing for virtually infinite resources. We highlight pronounced discrepancies among cities in the minimum number of additional services needed to comply with the 15-minute city concept. We conclude that the proximity-based paradigm must be generalised to work on a wide range of local population densities. Finally, socio-economic and cultural factors should be included to shift from time-based to value-based cities.
SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
S. Dawson
Currently, around 56% of the world’s population -4.4 billion people -live in cities. With 80 million people added to the urban population every year, the figure is set to rise close to 60% by 2030 and to almost 70% by mid-century. Over 90% of this growth will take place in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. This rapid urbanization which is largely unplanned and unregulated raises a myriad of development challenges, including, massive environmental, socio-economic and spatial challenges. The slum population has crossed 1 billion and is increasing in proportion and absolute terms every year with more than 80% of slum dwellers living in Asia and Africa. At a conservative estimate, there are around 350 million children living in slums with limited access to housing, basic infrastructure and quality essential services.
Gender and the return migration process: Gulf returnees in Ghana
Md Mizanur Rahman, Mohammed Salisu
Abstract Labour migration in the context of South-South migration is generally conceived as a multidimensional process that comprises three distinct subprocesses: emigration, immigration, and return migration. There is growing consensus that return migration is the least understood of these three subprocesses. In a similar vein, a gendered analysis has become more integral to migration scholarship today; yet one area where gender matters but has not been thoroughly studied is the return migration process. This paper explores how gender shapes the return migration experiences by reflecting on four transnational sites of return migration such as migrants’ socio-demographic features, working and living conditions in the Gulf, remittance control and use, and finally return and reintegration. Empirically, this research draws on the experiences of selected Gulf male and female return migrants in Accra, Ghana. The study reports that the gender dimension of returnees’ experiences constitutes an avenue of migration research that has the potential to produce a more nuanced understanding of gendered migration scholarship in the Global South.
Social Sciences, Communities. Classes. Races
Modeling the Complexity of City Logistics Systems for Sustainability
Taiwo Adetiloye, Anjali Awasthi
The logistics of urban areas are becoming more sophisticated due to the fast city population growth. The stakeholders are faced with the challenges of the dynamic complexity of city logistics(CL) systems characterized by the uncertainty effect together with the freight vehicle emissions causing pollution. In this conceptual paper, we present a research methodology for the environmental sustainability of CL systems that can be attained by effective stakeholders' collaboration under non-chaotic situations and the presumption of the human levity tendency. We propose the mathematical axioms of the uncertainty effect while putting forward the notion of condition effectors, and how to assign hypothetical values to them. Finally, we employ a spider network and causal loop diagram to investigate the system's elements and their behavior over time.
Stochastic equations and cities
Marc Barthelemy
Stochastic equations constitute a major ingredient in many branches of science, from physics to biology and engineering. Not surprisingly, they appear in many quantitative studies of complex systems. In particular, this type of equation is useful for understanding the dynamics of urban population. Empirically, the population of cities follows a seemingly universal law - called Zipf's law - which was discovered about a century ago and states that when sorted in decreasing order, the population of a city varies as the inverse of its rank. Recent data however showed that this law is only approximate and in some cases not even verified. In addition, the ranks of cities follow a turbulent dynamics: some cities rise while other fall and disappear. Both these aspects - Zipf's law (and deviations around it), and the turbulent dynamics of ranks - need to be explained by the same theoretical framework and it is natural to look for the equation that governs the evolution of urban populations. We will review here the main theoretical attempts based on stochastic equations to describe these empirical facts. We start with the simple Gibrat model that introduces random growth rates, and we will then discuss the Gabaix model that adds friction for allowing the existence of a stationary distribution. Concerning the dynamics of ranks, we will discuss a phenomenological stochastic equation that describes rank variations in many systems - including cities - and displays a noise-induced transition. We then illustrate the importance of exchanges between the constituents of the system with the diffusion with noise equation. We will explicit this in the case of cities where a stochastic equation for populations can be derived from first principles and confirms the crucial importance of inter-urban migrations shocks for explaining the statistics and the dynamics of the population of cities.
en
physics.soc-ph, cond-mat.dis-nn
Sanctuary city policies and Latinx immigrant mental health in California
T. Nieri, Maithili Ramachandran, T. Bruckner
et al.
This quasi-experimental study examined whether “sanctuary city” policies are an effective mechanism for reducing mental health inequalities by immigrant origin status in Latinx populations in California. Ample evidence indicates that people experience mental health problems when restrictive immigration policies are imposed. It remains unclear whether sanctuary city policies can improve population mental health in the groups targeted by restrictive immigration policies: undocumented immigrant Latinxs, documented immigrant Latinxs, and native-born Latinxs. We combined data on California's 482 cities concerning whether and when they implemented a sanctuary policy with health data on approximately 142,000 adults, 6400 adolescents and 13,000 children from the multi-year California Health Interview Survey. After using propensity score matching to identify non-sanctuary cities comparable to sanctuary cities, we estimated respondent-level difference-in-differences models to determine whether sanctuary city policies had beneficial mental health effects on three age groups: adults, adolescents, and children during the period 2007–2018. There was a trend toward improved mental health in sanctuary cities after policy enactment, but the patterns of mental health in the three Latinx immigration sub-groups of each age group did not conform to our hypotheses. Buffering the adverse effects of harsh federal immigration policies may need to involve other approaches, such as expanded local mental health care access. We discuss these results in terms of alternative treatment interference, residents' policy awareness, the policy's capacity to address past health impacts, methodological issues, and potential policy momentum.
Administrating Displaced People in Colombia through Humanitarian Government: Resilience and the Language of Compassion
Diego I. Meza
Internal forced displacement is a current social problem in Colombia. Although this phenomenon has been studied extensively, the purpose of this article is to analyse the administration of this crisis under the grille interprétative of humanitarian government during the presidential term of Juan Manuel Santos (2010–18). My argument is that humanitarian government functions as a biopolitical assembly that amalgamates two elements: resilience – a fundamental element of psychosocial attention to the displaced – and the language of compassion used publicly by President Santos. Finally, I will try to underline that this logic operates as a condition of possibility to normalise this phenomenon and hide the functioning of the violence that unequally distributes the compassion between lives considered valuable and those whose lives and problems simply appear to be not valuable at all.
City population. Including children in cities, immigration
Researching arts, culture, migration and change: a multi (trans)disciplinary challenge for international migration studies
Marco Martiniello
Abstract The paper first discusses why it is important to research the relations between migration, arts, and cultures. Second, it discusses the most promising methodological options to do it fruitfully. It concludes by claiming that the additional value of such investigations is both to allow a more comprehensive understanding of the migration process, and to move away from the victimization of migrants “rehumanize” them.
Social Sciences, Communities. Classes. Races
Plant Puzzle: How to Apply It to Increase Children's Interest in Learning Science?
Jelita Jelita, Syarfina Syarfina, Novia Fadhila
Learning science concerning early childhood should focus on a fun learning process. However, children's interest in learning while participating in the science learning process is still low; some children are busy playing alone, disturbing their friends, doing other work, and going in and out for various reasons when science learning occurs. This study aims to increase children's interest in learning science through plant puzzle media. The research used the Classroom Action Research (CAR) with the Kemmis-Taggart model with four stages: plan, implementation, observation, and reflection. The participants are ten children aged 5-6 years at Al Faiz Early Childhood Education (ECE) Langsa, Aceh. The researcher used an observation sheet with four indicators: interest in learning, attention to learning, motivation, and knowledge to obtain improvement data. The results showed an increased children's interest in learning science in each cycle. The average score of children in the Well Developed (WD) category was 76%. In addition, children's activities also showed outstanding improvement during the teaching and learning process. The researcher concluded that plant puzzle media could increase children's interest in learning science. The implication of research related to the effectiveness of plant puzzle media on learning other than science needs to be studied further.
Education, City population. Including children in cities, immigration
Banking Deserts," City Size, and Socioeconomic Characteristics in Medium and Large U.S. Cities
Scott W. Hegerty
A lack of financial access, which is often an issue in many central-city U.S. neighborhoods, can be linked to higher interest rates as well as negative health and psychological outcomes. A number of analyses of "banking deserts" have also found these areas to be poorer and less White than other parts of the city. While previous research has examined specific cities, or has classified areas by population densities, no study to date has examined a large set of individual cities. This study looks at 319 U.S. cities with populations greater than 100,000 and isolates areas with fewer than 0.318 banks per square mile based on distances from block-group centroids. The relative shares of these "deserts" appears to be independent of city population across the sample, and there is little relationship between these shares and socioeconomic variables such as the poverty rate or the percentage of Black residents. One plausible explanation is that only a subset of many cities' poorest, least White block groups can be classified as banking deserts; nearby block groups with similar socioeconomic characteristics are therefore non-deserts. Outside of the Northeast, non-desert areas tend to be poorer than deserts, suggesting that income- and bank-poor neighborhoods might not be as prevalent as is commonly assumed.