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IntroductionDengue fever, a mosquito-borne viral infection, is a growing threat to human health in tropical and subtropical areas worldwide. There is a demand from public officials for maps that capture the current distribution of dengue and maps that analyze risk factors to predict the future burden of disease.MethodsTo identify relevant articles, we searched Google Scholar, PubMed, BioMed Central, and WHOLIS (World Health Organization Library Database) for published articles with a specific set of dengue criteria between January 2002 and July 2013.ResultsAfter evaluating the currently available dengue models, we identified four key barriers to the creation of high-quality dengue maps: (1) data limitations related to the expense of diagnosing and reporting dengue cases in places where health information systems are underdeveloped; (2) issues related to the use of socioeconomic proxies in places with limited dengue incidence data; (3) mosquito ranges which may be changing as a result of climate changes; and (4) the challenges of mapping dengue events at a variety of scales.ConclusionAn ideal dengue map will present endemic and epidemic dengue information from both rural and urban areas. Overcoming the current barriers requires expanded collaboration and data sharing by geographers, epidemiologists, and entomologists. Enhanced mapping techniques would allow for improved visualizations of dengue rates and risks.

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Outbreaks, epidemics and endemic conditions make dengue a disease that has emerged as a major threat in tropical and sub-tropical countries over the past 30 years. Dengue fever creates a growing burden for public health systems and has the potential to affect over 40% of the world population. The problem being investigated is to identify the highest and lowest areas of dengue risk. This paper presents "Similarity Search", a geospatial analysis aimed at identifying these locations within Kenya. Similarity Search develops a risk map by combining environmental susceptibility analysis and geographical information systems, and then compares areas with dengue prevalence to all other locations. Kenya has had outbreaks of dengue during the past 3 years, and we identified areas with the highest susceptibility to dengue infection using bioclimatic variables, elevation and mosquito habitat as input to the model. Comparison of the modelled risk map with the reported dengue epidemic cases obtained from the open source reporting ProMED and Government news reports from 1982-2013 confirmed the high-risk locations that were used as the Similarity Search presence cells. Developing the risk model based upon the bioclimatic variables, elevation and mosquito habitat increased the efficiency and effectiveness of the dengue fever risk mapping process.

This paper analyzes the relationship among different chemical pollutants retrieved from in situ measurements of underground and surface water in a region of possible development. The area of study is the former mine of the Iglesiente district, which is now a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) protected region in the island of Sardinia (Italy). A full chemical analysis of water/soil samples were collected at the site in 2004. The data show the presence of several toxic contaminants above the national legal threshold. A symbolic machine learning classifier is employed to learn strong patterns associated with a high level of arsenic (As) in the soil samples. The patterns discovered show complex relationships that include both high and low concentrations of different chemicals. The strongest patterns are found between As and the chemicals which are usually found in the soil. This implies that when As is dissolved in the water table, it is expected these other chemicals are also present. It emerges that a specific relationship of As–phosphates is outlined and is clearly shown by applying the symbolic machine learning classifier. This leads to an understanding of the behavior of these elements in the soil, potential impacts on ecosystems, as well as the pollution of groundwater. Finally, an assertion of the advantages of the algorithm quasi‐optimal learning method is clarified in term of applicability in such circumstances. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how a spatial fuzzy clustering mean expands the knowledge of the European agri-environmental initiative impact, named Measure 214, in the Sardinia Region. While sketching out the geographic area covered by the measure for analysis and investigation using fcm is a fruitful approach, their integration with social and economic factors is an essential step in understanding agricultural growth and how it is influenced by environmental policy. This integrated approach shows how agri-environmental measures tend to develop in the region and, geographically, describes the spatial effects. Fuzzy clustering analysis demonstrates how decisions, whether they are related to the pursuit of policies moving towards the agri-environmental initiatives of organic farming and sustainable agriculture, or whether they concern ways of financing the measure’s activities, belong to the sphere of information, able to influence the new phase of agri-environmental financing and to keep it going. The spatial expansion of the measure all over the Region can help identify where the measure has taken root and in which directions it should be steered to achieve sustainable agri-environmental development in the area. Furthermore, the fuzzy cluster analysis highlights the relevance of the results, showing the policy direction that clusters should take in order to improve the measure’s effectiveness