Dataset Information

The influence of socioeconomic factors on the densities of high-value cross-border species, the African elephant.

ABSTRACT: Unprecedented poaching levels triggered by demand for ivory in Far East Asia are threatening the persistence of African elephant Loxodonta africana. Southern African countries make an important contribution to elephant conservation and could soon become the last stronghold of elephant conservation in Africa. While the ecological factors affecting elephant distribution and densities have extensively been accounted for, there is a need to understand which socioeconomic factors affect elephant numbers in order to prevent conflict over limited space and resources with humans. We used elephant count data from aerial surveys for seven years in a generalized linear model, which accounted for temporal correlation, to investigate the effect of six socioeconomic and ecological variables on the number of elephant at the country level in the Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier Conservation Area (GMTFCA). Important factors in predicting elephant numbers were the proportion of total land surface under cultivation, human population density and the number of tourists visiting the country. Specifically, elephant numbers were higher where the proportion of total land surface under cultivation was the lowest; where population density was the lowest and where tourist numbers had increased over the years. Our results confirm that human disturbance is affecting elephant numbers, but highlight that the benefits provided by ecotourism could help enhance elephant conservation. While future studies should include larger areas and more detailed data at the site level, we stress that the development of coordinated legislation and policies to improve land-use planning are needed to reduce the impact of increasing human populations and agriculture on elephant.

SUBMITTER: Selier SJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5088604 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The influence of socioeconomic factors on the densities of high-value cross-border species, the African elephant.

Selier Sarah-Anne Jeanetta SJ Slotow Rob R Di Minin Enrico E

PeerJ 20161027

Unprecedented poaching levels triggered by demand for ivory in Far East Asia are threatening the persistence of African elephant <i>Loxodonta africana</i>. Southern African countries make an important contribution to elephant conservation and could soon become the last stronghold of elephant conservation in Africa. While the ecological factors affecting elephant distribution and densities have extensively been accounted for, there is a need to understand which socioeconomic factors affect elepha ...[more]

PMID: 27812404

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Project description:BackgroundThe correlation between low socioeconomic status (SES) and poor health outcome or higher risk of disease has been consistently reported by many epidemiological studies across various race/ancestry groups. However, the biological mechanisms linking low SES to disease and/or disease risk factors are not well understood and remain relatively under-studied. The analysis of the blood transcriptome is a promising window for elucidating how social and environmental factors influence the molecular networks governing health and disease. To further define the mechanistic pathways between social determinants and health, this study examined the impact of SES on the blood transcriptome in a sample of African-Americans.MethodsAn integrative approach leveraging three complementary methods (Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis, Random Forest and Differential Expression) was adopted to identify the most predictive and robust transcriptome pathways associated with SES. We analyzed the expression of 15079 genes (RNA-seq) from whole blood across 36 samples.ResultsThe results revealed a cluster of 141 co-expressed genes over-expressed in the low SES group. Three pro-inflammatory pathways (IL-8 Signaling, NF-?B Signaling and Dendritic Cell Maturation) are activated in this module and over-expressed in low SES. Random Forest analysis revealed 55 of the 141 genes that, collectively, predict SES with an area under the curve of 0.85. One third of the 141 genes are significantly over-expressed in the low SES group.ConclusionLower SES has consistently been linked to many social and environmental conditions acting as stressors and known to be correlated with vulnerability to chronic illnesses (e.g. asthma, diabetes) associated with a chronic inflammatory state. Our unbiased analysis of the blood transcriptome in African-Americans revealed evidence of a robust molecular signature of increased inflammation associated with low SES. The results provide a plausible link between the social factors and chronic inflammation.

Project description:IntroductionEast African cross-border areas are visited by mobile and vulnerable populations, such as men, female sex workers, men who have sex with men, truck drivers, fisher folks and young women. These groups may not benefit from traditional HIV prevention interventions available at the health facilities where they live, but may benefit from services offered at public venues identified as places where people meet new sexual partners (e.g. bars, nightclubs, transportation hubs and guest houses). The goal of this analysis was to estimate availability, access and uptake of prevention services by populations who visit these venues.MethodsWe collected cross-sectional data using the Priorities for Local AIDS Control Efforts sampling method at cross-border locations near or along the land and lake borders of Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda from June 2016-February 2017. This bio-behavioural survey captured information from a probability sample of 11,428 individuals at 833 venues across all areas. Data were weighted using survey sampling weights and analysed using methods to account for the complex sampling design.ResultsAmong the 85.6% of persons who had access to condoms, 60.5% did not use a condom at their last anal or vaginal sexual encounter. Venues visited by high percentages of persons living with HIV were not more likely than other venues to offer condoms. In 12 of the 22 cross-border areas, male or female condoms were available at less than 33% of the venues visited by persons having difficulty accessing condoms. In 17 of the 22 cross-border areas, education outreach visits in the preceding six months occurred at less than 50% of the venues where participants had low effective use of condoms.ConclusionsIndividuals visiting venues in cross-border areas report poor access to and low effective use of condoms and other prevention services. Availability of HIV prevention services differed by venue and population type and cross-border area, suggesting opportunities for more granular targeting of HIV prevention interventions and transnational coordination of HIV programming.

Project description:BackgroundAlthough policies of Thailand for migrant health protection are inclusive for all migrant groups, due to existing constraints in practices and policy implementation, many migrant children still lack the protection. This study aimed to assess the health insurance status of children aged 0-14 whose parents were cross-border migrant workers in Thailand, and factors related to the status.MethodsA Thai-Myanmar border area, being developed as a 'special economic zone' by the Thai government, was selected as a study site. With a cross-sectional research design, the study collected primary data in late 2018 by a structured questionnaire from 402 migrant households that contained 803 children. The logistic generalized estimating equation (GEE) technique was applied to examine factors associated with the children's health insurance status. These included socio-economic factors, migration factors, and health insurance-related factors.ResultsIt is found that 83.2% of the migrant children did not have health insurance. Factors associated with the health insurance status included age 12-14 years (Odds ratio (OR) 2.34; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.23-4.46), having a birth certificate (OR 1.89, 95% CI 1.04-3.45), and plan of the family in the future to remain the child in Thailand (OR 2.37, 95% CI 1.09-5.17). The primary carer's factors that were important health insurance-related factors included having no legal work permit (OR 4.12, 95% CI 1.88-9.06), having health insurance (OR 8.51, 95% CI 3.93-18.41), little or no ability to communicate in Thai (OR 0.31, 95% CI 0.14-0.66), and understanding the right of migrant children to purchase health insurance (OR 2.57, 95% CI 1.52-4.34).ConclusionsThe findings point to the need for every migrant child to have a birth certificate, diminishing language barriers, and providing education and motivation about the need for health insurance for migrants and their accompanying dependents, especially children. For further studies, it is suggested to include migrant health insurance supply-side factors with qualitative analyses to understand how all the factors interactively determine the health insurance status of migrant children.

Project description:Trade friction has always been a prominent feature in the current economic development of the world. Its impacts on multinational enterprises are self-evident, but its psychological effects on the multinational entrepreneurs are still unclear. In order to understand the impacts of trade friction on psychological effects of multinational legal service entrepreneurs, 305 multinational entrepreneurs were selected in this study for questionnaire survey, and Spearman's correlation and regression models were used to analyze the correlation among economic pressure, the thought of recession, self-efficacy, and social support. The structural equation model was used to analyze the influence path of economic pressure and social support on the thought of entrepreneurial recession, as well as the influence path of multinational entrepreneurship orientation and value-chain potential on the international performance. The results show that economic pressure is significantly and positively correlated with the thought of recession and self-efficacy extremely and significantly and negatively correlated with objective support and support utilization extremely; social support will reverse the thought of entrepreneurial recession caused by the economic pressure; the indirect impact path coefficient of social support utilization in economic pressure and entrepreneurial recession is - 0.281; the indirect impact path coefficient of value-chain potential in multinational entrepreneurial motivation and international performance is - 0.424. It shows that trade friction will indirectly trigger the thought of entrepreneurial recession of entrepreneurs by reducing their economic incomes. Besides, the social support utilization can significantly regulate the relationship between the economic pressure and the thought of entrepreneurial recession. Therefore, the value-chain potential plays an intermediary role in multinational entrepreneurial motivation and international performance.

Dataset Information

The influence of socioeconomic factors on the densities of high-value cross-border species, the African elephant.

Publications

The influence of socioeconomic factors on the densities of high-value cross-border species, the African elephant.

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