Nuisance and medically important ticks can be abundant in a variety of forested landscapes, including recreational parks. Strategies to reduce the abundance of host-seeking ticks in high-use areas ...within parks are limited. Mowing vegetation is a recommended method to control ticks, but few studies have evaluated the efficacy of this practice. The goal of this study was to determine if a single mowing event could reduce the abundance of host-seeking ticks on recreational trails. Ticks were collected by dragging trails at three recreational parks in northern Minnesota during June and July, 2021. A pre-intervention sample was taken followed by six consecutive weeks of tick sampling. We encountered a total of 3,456 ticks (2,459 Ixodes scapularis Say and 997 Dermacentor variabilis L.) during the 7-week study period. There were no significant differences in the abundance of I. scapularis (adults) or D. variabilis (adults only) between control and mown trail sections. Mowing was a significant predictor of nymphal I. scapularis abundance but trended towards more ticks in mown sections compared to controls. These results suggest that a single mowing intervention during early June is likely to be ineffective as a strategy to reduce the risk of human contacts with ticks on trails. Key words: tick management, blacklegged tick, mowing, tick control, recreational park
Jian He
Angewandte Chemie,
May 22, 2023, Letnik:
62, Številka:
22
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
“I am waiting for the day when someone will discover recyclable heterogeneous catalysts with millions of turnovers for organic synthesis … My group has fun by hiking, fishing, and singing at karaoke ...bars.” Find out more about Jian He in his Introducing … Profile.
Background: Sedentary activity, stress, and sleep problems increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Previously, we showed links between engagement in a winter hiking challenge and hiking frequency. ...Yet a common barrier to engagement in the challenge was a lack of access to winter hiking equipment. In the present study, we tested whether providing winter traction cleats improved uptake of this intervention and bolstered its impacts. Methods: Participants (n=51; 46 female, 5 male; mean age = 47.2 years) were recruited and randomized to 1 of 2 study groups in January 2022. The intervention group received access to a winter hiking challenge and winter traction cleats. The control group received access to a summer hiking challenge at the end of the study (i.e. a delayed intervention). Participants completed online surveys at baseline, midpoint (~6 weeks after baseline), and post-test (~12 weeks), reporting on daily activities, stress, and sleep. Those engaged beyond baseline (n=47) were included in repeated measures ANOVAs testing intervention effects on hiking, sleep, and stress. Results: Half the intervention group completed challenge hikes and 28% completed the challenge, completing 8 hikes, which was an increase from our prior study. The intervention group hiked significantly more than controls overall (F=4.23, p<0.05) and trended toward greater nightly sleep by post-test (p=0.07). Differences in stress were non-significant but in the expected direction. Conclusions: After addressing reported barriers from a previous study by providing access to winter traction cleats, moderate increases in uptake of this winter hiking intervention were observed. The intervention group hiked more often, and there was some evidence of group differences in other health-related outcomes. Findings support the potential of scaling this intervention and continuing to explore ways to bolster its uptake even further.
In this paper, a novel metaheuristic called ‘The Hiking Optimization Algorithm’ (HOA) is proposed. HOA is inspired by hiking, a popular recreational activity, in recognition of the similarity between ...the search landscapes of optimization problems and the mountainous terrains traversed by hikers. HOA’s mathematical model is premised on Tobler’s Hiking Function (THF), which determines the walking velocity of hikers (i.e. agents) by considering the elevation of the terrain and the distance covered. THF is employed in determining hikers’ positions in the course of solving an optimization problem. HOA’s performance is demonstrated by benchmarking with 29 well-known test functions (including unimodal, multimodal, fixed-dimension multimodal, and composite functions), three engineering design problems (EDPs), (including I-beam, tension/compression spring, and gear train problems) and two N-P Hard problems (i.e. Traveling Salesman’s and Knapsack Problems). Moreover, HOA’s results are verified by comparison to 14 other metaheuristics, including Teaching Learning Based Optimization (TLBO), Genetic Algorithm (GA), Differential Evolution (DE), Particle Swarm Optimization, Grey Wolf Optimizer (GWO) as well as newly introduced algorithms such as Komodo Mlipir Algorithm (KMA), Quadratic Interpolation Optimization (QIO), and Coronavirus Optimization Algorithm (COVIDOA). In this study, we employ statistical tests such as the Wilcoxon rank sum, Friedman test, and Dunn’s post hoc test for the performance evaluation. HOA’s results are competitive and, in many instances, outperform the aforementioned well-known metaheuristics. The source codes of HOA and related metaheuristics can be accessed publicly via this link: https://github.com/DayoSun/The-Hiking-Optimization-Algorithm.
This anthology explores possibilities to acknowledge human motion, and traces thereof, as heritage. Today, with the increasing interest in local and sustainable connections, and in bodily and ...spiritual enhancement, we see a growing use of walking tracks both in landscapes within reach from urban centres and in more remotely located or ‘wild’ areas. The corona pandemic has further propelled these trends. Of course, landscapes that are commonly understood as wilderness or ‘nature’ are in most cases clearly influenced by human actions and movements. While walking trails tend to be regarded as pathways to experience nature and as tools to promote public health, they could also be seen and used as routes to culture and history, indeed as pathways to the past. Based on a Swedish research project with the aim to explore the multiple dimensions of walking, paths and movement, this volume engages and discusses the potential effects of such an expansion of the heritage register.
