Contributions of a Child’s Built, Natural, and Social Environments to Their General Cognitive Ability: A Systematic Scoping Review

EPA Science Inventory

The etiology of a child’s cognitive ability is complex, with research suggesting that it is not attributed to a single determinant or even a defined period of exposure. Rather, cognitive development is the product of cumulative interactions with the environment, both negati...

A method for the inclusion of physical activity-related health benefits in cost-benefit analysis of built environment initiatives.

PubMed

Zapata-Diomedi, Belen; Gunn, Lucy; Giles-Corti, Billie; Shiell, Alan; Lennert Veerman, J

2018-01-01

The built environment has a significant influence on population levels of physical activity (PA) and therefore health. However, PA-related health benefits are seldom considered in transport and urban planning (i.e. built environment interventions) cost-benefit analysis. Cost-benefit analysis implies that the benefits of any initiative are valued in monetary terms to make them commensurable with costs. This leads to the need for monetised values of the health benefits of PA. The aim of this study was to explore a method for the incorporation of monetised PA-related health benefits in cost-benefit analysis of built environment interventions. Firstly, we estimated the change in population level of PA attributable to a change in the built environment due to the intervention. Then, changes in population levels of PA were translated into monetary values. For the first step we used estimates from the literature for the association of built environment features with physical activity outcomes. For the second step we used the multi-cohort proportional multi-state life table model to predict changes in health-adjusted life years and health care costs as a function of changes in PA. Finally, we monetised health-adjusted life years using the value of a statistical life year. Future research could adapt these methods to assess the health and economic impacts of specific urban development scenarios by working in collaboration with urban planners. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Non-linear effects of the built environment on automobile-involved pedestrian crash frequency: A machine learning approach.

PubMed

Ding, Chuan; Chen, Peng; Jiao, Junfeng

2018-03-01

Although a growing body of literature focuses on the relationship between the built environment and pedestrian crashes, limited evidence is provided about the relative importance of many built environment attributes by accounting for their mutual interaction effects and their non-linear effects on automobile-involved pedestrian crashes. This study adopts the approach of Multiple Additive Poisson Regression Trees (MAPRT) to fill such gaps using pedestrian collision data collected from Seattle, Washington. Traffic analysis zones are chosen as the analytical unit. The effects of various factors on pedestrian crash frequency investigated include characteristics the of road network, street elements, land use patterns, and traffic demand. Density and the degree of mixed land use have major effects on pedestrian crash frequency, accounting for approximately 66% of the effects in total. More importantly, some factors show clear non-linear relationships with pedestrian crash frequency, challenging the linearity assumption commonly used in existing studies which employ statistical models. With various accurately identified non-linear relationships between the built environment and pedestrian crashes, this study suggests local agencies to adopt geo-spatial differentiated policies to establish a safe walking environment. These findings, especially the effective ranges of the built environment, provide evidence to support for transport and land use planning, policy recommendations, and road safety programs. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

International study of perceived neighbourhood environmental attributes and Body Mass Index: IPEN Adult study in 12 countries.

PubMed

De Bourdeaudhuij, Ilse; Van Dyck, Delfien; Salvo, Deborah; Davey, Rachel; Reis, Rodrigo S; Schofield, Grant; Sarmiento, Olga L; Mitas, Josef; Christiansen, Lars Breum; MacFarlane, Duncan; Sugiyama, Takemi; Aguinaga-Ontoso, Ines; Owen, Neville; Conway, Terry L; Sallis, James F; Cerin, Ester

2015-05-16

Ecological models of health behaviour are an important conceptual framework to address the multiple correlates of obesity. Several single-country studies previously examined the relationship between the built environment and obesity in adults, but results are very diverse. An important reason for these mixed results is the limited variability in built environments in these single-country studies. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine associations between perceived neighbourhood built environmental attributes and BMI/weight status in a multi-country study including 12 environmentally and culturally diverse countries. A multi-site cross-sectional study was conducted in 17 cities (study sites) across 12 countries (Australia, Belgium, Brazil, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, the UK and USA). Participants (n = 14222, 18-66 years) self-reported perceived neighbourhood environmental attributes. Height and weight were self-reported in eight countries, and measured in person in four countries. Three environmental attributes were associated with BMI or weight status in pooled data from 12 countries. Safety from traffic was the most robust correlate, suggesting that creating safe routes for walking/cycling by reducing the speed and volume of traffic might have a positive impact upon weight status/BMI across various geographical locations. Close proximity to several local destinations was associated with BMI across all countries, suggesting compact neighbourhoods with more places to walk related to lower BMI. Safety from crime showed a curvilinear relationship with BMI, with especially poor crime safety being related to higher BMI. Environmental interventions involving these three attributes appear to have international relevance and focusing on these might have implications for tackling overweight/obesity.

The role of the built environment in explaining educational inequalities in walking and cycling among adults in the Netherlands.

PubMed

van Wijk, Daniël C; Groeniger, Joost Oude; van Lenthe, Frank J; Kamphuis, Carlijn B M

2017-03-31

This study examined whether characteristics of the residential built environment (i.e. population density, level of mixed land use, connectivity, accessibility of facilities, accessibility of green) contributed to educational inequalities in walking and cycling among adults. Data from participants (32-82 years) of the 2011 survey of the Dutch population-based GLOBE study were used (N = 2375). Highest attained educational level (independent variable) and walking for transport, cycling for transport, walking in leisure time and cycling in leisure time (dependent variables) were self-reported in the survey. GIS-systems were used to obtain spatial data on residential built environment characteristics. A four-step mediation-based analysis with log-linear regression models was used to examine to contribution of the residential built environment to educational inequalities in walking and cycling. As compared to the lowest educational group, the highest educational group was more likely to cycle for transport (RR 1.13, 95% CI 1.04-1.23), walk in leisure time (RR 1.12, 95% CI 1.04-1.21), and cycle in leisure time (RR 1.12, 95% CI 1.03-1.22). Objective built environment characteristics were related to these outcomes, but contributed minimally to educational inequalities in walking and cycling. On the other hand, compared to the lowest educational group, the highest educational group was less likely to walk for transport (RR 0.91, 95% CI 0.82-1.01), which could partly be attributed to differences in the built environment. This study found that objective built environment characteristics contributed minimally to educational inequalities in walking and cycling in the Netherlands.

Multilevel built environment features and individual odds of overweight and obesity in Utah

PubMed Central

Xu, Yanqing; Wen, Ming; Wang, Fahui

2015-01-01

Based on the data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) in 2007, 2009 and 2011 in Utah, this research uses multilevel modeling (MLM) to examine the associations between neighborhood built environments and individual odds of overweight and obesity after controlling for individual risk factors. The BRFSS data include information on 21,961 individuals geocoded to zip code areas. Individual variables include BMI (body mass index) and socio-demographic attributes such as age, gender, race, marital status, education attainment, employment status, and whether an individual smokes. Neighborhood built environment factors measured at both zip code and county levels include street connectivity, walk score, distance to parks, and food environment. Two additional neighborhood variables, namely the poverty rate and urbanicity, are also included as control variables. MLM results show that at the zip code level, poverty rate and distance to parks are significant and negative covariates of the odds of overweight and obesity; and at the county level, food environment is the sole significant factor with stronger fast food presence linked to higher odds of overweight and obesity. These findings suggest that obesity risk factors lie in multiple neighborhood levels and built environment features need to be defined at a neighborhood size relevant to residents' activity space. PMID:26251559

Commuting Mode Choice in a High-Density City: Do Land-Use Density and Diversity Matter in Hong Kong?

PubMed Central

Sun, Guibo; Sarkar, Chinmoy; Xiao, Yang

2018-01-01

Hong Kong is a densely populated and transit-oriented Chinese city, which provides an ideal urban environment with which to study the various successful facets of land use policy as a model for potential replication to curb increasing car use in other Chinese cities. We examine the commuting mode choice of 203,900 households living in 4768 street blocks in Hong Kong from 2011 census. A street block is the smallest planning unit, made up of one or more housing estates with a homogenous built environment and socioeconomic status. The built environment is measured using the five Ds framework, an international dimensioning framework for classifying and measuring attributes of the built environment for physical activity and travel behaviors. Generalized, multi-level mixed models were applied to detect the associations between travel choice and built environment characteristics, while adjusting for socioeconomic status. Design and destination accessibility had greater effects on the choices to walk and take public transport than on the choice to drive. Density and diversity had only marginal effects on mode choice. Unexpectedly, distance to the urban center had the opposite effect on automobile use to that found in Western studies. Hong Kong residents living close to the urban center were more likely to drive for commuting trips. The contrasting findings between our study and Western studies suggest that the associations between a high-density built environment and travel choice vary with urban context. PMID:29734721

Perceived Environmental Factors Associated with Obesity in Libyan Men and Women

PubMed Central

Papadopoulos, Chris

2018-01-01

Background: There is a lack of research pertaining to the links between built environment attributes and obesity in adults in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. In the Libyan context, no previous studies have been conducted to investigate this relationship. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine associations between perceived neighbourhood built environmental attributes and obesity among Libyan men and women. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was also assessed. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was used for the population-based survey in Benghazi, Libya. A multi-stage cluster sampling technique was used to select Libyan adults from the Benghazi electoral register. The Physical Activity Neighbourhood Environment Scale (PANES) was used to measure participants’ perception of neighbourhood environmental factors. Using the Tanita BC-601 Segmental Body Composition Monitor and a portable stadiometer, anthropometric measurements were taken at a mutually agreeable place by qualified nurses. Results: Four hundred and one Libyan adults were recruited (78% response rate). Participants were aged 20–65 years, 63% were female, and all had lived in Benghazi for over 10 years. The prevalence of obesity and overweight was 42.4% and 32.9% respectively. A significant association was found between BMI and 6 neighbourhood environment attributes, specifically: street connectivity, unsafe environment and committing crimes at night, and neighbourhood aesthetics. For men only, these were: access to public transport, access to recreational facilities, and unsafe environment and committing crimes during the day. The attribute ‘residential density zones’ was only significant for women. Conclusions: The study suggests that Libyan people are at risk of living in neighbourhoods with unsupportive environmental features of physical activity, which are likely to promote obesity of both genders. The findings of this study could inform Libyan health policies about interventions in the obesogenic environments that might slow the obesity epidemic and contain the public health crisis. This study suggests that further research is needed, within the Libyan context, to explore the impact of the neighbourhood environment attributes on contributing to increased obesity. PMID:29425161

Social and built-environment factors related to children's independent mobility: The importance of neighbourhood cohesion and connectedness.

PubMed

Lin, En-Yi; Witten, Karen; Oliver, Melody; Carroll, Penelope; Asiasiga, Lanuola; Badland, Hannah; Parker, Karl

2017-07-01

This study examines aspects of neighbourhood social environments (namely, neighbourhood safety, cohesion and connection) and child-specific built environment attributes in relation to children's independent mobility. The results suggest that children aged 8-13 years with parents who perceive their neighbourhood as more cohesive and more connected, and are located closer to school, engaged in higher levels of independently mobile trips. The qualitative component of this research revealed that for NZ European, Māori, Samoan and other Pacific parents, 'people danger' was the most common concern for letting their children go out alone, whereas for Asian and Indian parents, 'traffic danger' was the most common reason for their concern. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Promoting Active Urban Aging: A Measurement Approach to Neighborhood Walkability for Older Adults

PubMed Central

Weiss, Rachael L.; Maantay, Juliana A.; Fahs, Marianne

2011-01-01

Understanding the role of the built environment on physical activity behavior among older adults is an important public health goal, but evaluating these relationships remains complicated due to the difficulty of measuring specific attributes of the environment. As a result, there is conflicting evidence regarding the association between perceived and objectively measured walkability and physical activity among urban-dwelling older adults. This suggests that both actual environmental features and perceptions of these attributes influence walking behavior. The purpose of this pilot project is to create an Objective Walkability Index (OWI) by census block using a Geographic Information System (GIS) and supplement the results with resident perceptions thus more accurately characterizing the context of walkability. Computerized Neighborhood Environment Tracking (ComNET) was used to systematically assess environmental risks impacting activity patterns of older adults in two New York City neighborhoods. In addition, the Senior Center Evaluation of the Neighborhood Environment (SCENE) survey was administered to older adults attending two senior centers located within the target neighborhoods. The results indicate that there is substantial variation in OWI score both between and within the neighborhoods suggesting that residence in some communities may increase the risk of inactivity among older adults. Also, low walkability census blocks were clustered within each neighborhood providing an opportunity for targeted investigation into localized threats to walkability. A lack of consensus regarding the association between the built environment and physical activity among older adults is a consequence of the problems inherent in measuring these determinants. Further empirical evidence evaluating the complex relationships between the built environment and physical activity is an essential step towards creating active communities. PMID:21874149

Smart Location Database - Service

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Smart Location Database (SLD) summarizes over 80 demographic, built environment, transit service, and destination accessibility attributes for every census block group in the United States. Future updates to the SLD will include additional attributes which summarize the relative location efficiency of a block group when compared to other block groups within the same metropolitan region. EPA also plans to periodically update attributes and add new attributes to reflect latest available data. A log of SLD updates is included in the SLD User Guide. See the user guide for a full description of data sources, data currency, and known limitations: https://edg.epa.gov/data/Public/OP/SLD/SLD_userguide.pdf

Smart Location Database - Download

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Smart Location Database (SLD) summarizes over 80 demographic, built environment, transit service, and destination accessibility attributes for every census block group in the United States. Future updates to the SLD will include additional attributes which summarize the relative location efficiency of a block group when compared to other block groups within the same metropolitan region. EPA also plans to periodically update attributes and add new attributes to reflect latest available data. A log of SLD updates is included in the SLD User Guide. See the user guide for a full description of data sources, data currency, and known limitations: https://edg.epa.gov/data/Public/OP/SLD/SLD_userguide.pdf

Walkability of local communities: using geographic information systems to objectively assess relevant environmental attributes.

PubMed

Leslie, Eva; Coffee, Neil; Frank, Lawrence; Owen, Neville; Bauman, Adrian; Hugo, Graeme

2007-03-01

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can be used to objectively measure features of the built environment that may influence adults' physical activity, which is an important determinant of chronic disease. We describe how a previously developed index of walkability was operationalised in an Australian context, using available spatial data. The index was used to generate a stratified sampling frame for the selection of households from 32 communities for the PLACE (Physical Activity in Localities and Community Environments) study. GIS data have the potential to be used to construct measures of environmental attributes and to develop indices of walkability for cities, regions or local communities.

The Role of Built Environments in Physical Activity, Obesity, and CVD

PubMed Central

Sallis, James F.; Floyd, Myron F.; Rodríguez, Daniel A.; Saelens, Brian E.

2012-01-01

In industrialized nations like the United States and Sweden, the vast majority of adults do not meet the physical activity guidelines of 150 minutes per week.1 Inactive lifestyles put most adults at risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD), diabetes, obesity, some cancers, osteoporosis, and psychological disorders.2 Physical activity can be effective at all phases of chronic disease management, from primordial prevention (prevention of risk factors) through treatment and rehabilitation.2 There is particular interest in the potential for physical activity to prevent chronic diseases, thereby improving quality of life and reducing health care costs.3 In the past decade, limitations of prevention approaches that target mainly individuals with educational and motivational programs have been recognized, triggering a trend to consider influences on behavior that are outside the person, such as the built environment.4,5 The purposes of the present paper are to describe multilevel ecological models of behavior as they apply to physical activity, describe key concepts, summarize evidence on the relation of built environment attributes to physical activity and obesity, and provide recommendations for built environment changes that could increase physical activity. The intent of this non-systematic review is to present conclusions from previous reviews then illustrate results by highlighting selected studies. PMID:22311885

Strengthening the weak link: Built Environment modelling for loss analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Millinship, I.

2012-04-01

Methods to analyse insured losses from a range of natural perils, including pricing by primary insurers and catastrophe modelling by reinsurers, typically lack sufficient exposure information. Understanding the hazard intensity in terms of spatial severity and frequency is only the first step towards quantifying the risk of a catastrophic event. For any given event we need to know: Are any structures affected? What type of buildings are they? How much damaged occurred? How much will the repairs cost? To achieve this, detailed exposure information is required to assess the likely damage and to effectively calculate the resultant loss. Modelling exposures in the Built Environment therefore plays as important a role in understanding re/insurance risk as characterising the physical hazard. Across both primary insurance books and aggregated reinsurance portfolios, the location of a property (a risk) and its monetary value is typically known. Exactly what that risk is in terms of detailed property descriptors including structure type and rebuild cost - and therefore its vulnerability to loss - is often omitted. This data deficiency is a primary source of variations between modelled losses and the actual claims value. Built Environment models are therefore required at a high resolution to describe building attributes that relate vulnerability to property damage. However, national-scale household-level datasets are often not computationally practical in catastrophe models and data must be aggregated. In order to provide more accurate risk analysis, we have developed and applied a methodology for Built Environment modelling for incorporation into a range of re/insurance applications, including operational models for different international regions and different perils and covering residential, commercial and industry exposures. Illustrated examples are presented, including exposure modelling suitable for aggregated reinsurance analysis for the UK and bespoke high resolution modelling for industrial sites in Germany. A range of attributes are included following detailed claims analysis and engineering research with property type, age and condition identified as important differentiators of damage from flood, wind and freeze events.

Pathways to policy: Lessons learned in multisectoral collaboration for physical activity and built environment policy development from the Coalitions Linking Action and Science for Prevention (CLASP) initiative.

PubMed

Politis, Christopher E; Mowat, David L; Keen, Deb

2017-06-16

The Canadian Partnership Against Cancer funded 12 large-scale knowledge to action cancer and chronic disease prevention projects between 2009 and 2016 through the Coalitions Linking Action and Science for Prevention (CLASP) initiative. Two projects, Healthy Canada by Design (HCBD) and Children's Mobility, Health and Happiness (CMHH), developed policies to address physical activity and the built environment through a multisectoral approach. A qualitative analysis involving a review of 183 knowledge products and 8 key informant interviews was conducted to understand what policy changes occurred, and the underlying critical success factors, through these projects. Both projects worked at the local level to change physical activity and built environment policy in 203 sites, including municipalities and schools. Both projects brought multisectoral expertise (e.g., public health, land use planning, transportation engineering, education, etc.) together to inform the development of local healthy public policy in the areas of land use, transportation and school travel planning. Through the qualitative analysis of the knowledge products and key informant interviews, 163 policies were attributed to HCBD and CMHH work. Fourteen "pathways to policy" were identified as critical success factors facilitating and accelerating the development and implementation of physical activity and built environment policy. Of the 14 pathways to policy, 8 had a focus on multisectoral collaboration. The lessons learned from the CLASP experience could support enhanced multisectoral collaborations to accelerate the development and implementation of physical activity and built environment policy in new jurisdictions across Canada and internationally.

Understanding the Relationship between Activity and Neighbourhoods (URBAN) Study: research design and methodology.

PubMed

Badland, Hannah M; Schofield, Grant M; Witten, Karen; Schluter, Philip J; Mavoa, Suzanne; Kearns, Robin A; Hinckson, Erica A; Oliver, Melody; Kaiwai, Hector; Jensen, Victoria G; Ergler, Christina; McGrath, Leslie; McPhee, Julia

2009-07-10

Built environment attributes are recognized as being important contributors to physical activity (PA) engagement and body size in adults and children. However, much of the existing research in this emergent public health field is hindered by methodological limitations, including: population and site homogeneity, reliance on self-report measures, aggregated measures of PA, and inadequate statistical modeling. As an integral component of multi-country collaborative research, the Understanding the Relationship between Activity and Neighbourhoods (URBAN) Study seeks to overcome these limitations by determining the strengths of association between detailed measures of the neighborhood built environment with PA levels across multiple domains and body size measures in adults and children. This article outlines the research protocol developed for the URBAN Study. The URBAN Study is a multi-centered, stratified, cross-sectional research design, collecting data across four New Zealand cities. Within each city, 12 neighborhoods were identified and selected for investigation based on higher or lower walkability and Māori demographic attributes. Neighborhoods were selected to ensure equal representation of these characteristics. Within each selected neighborhood, 42 households are being randomly selected and an adult and child (where possible) recruited into the study. Data collection includes: objective and self-reported PA engagement, neighborhood perceptions, demographics, and body size measures. The study was designed to recruit approximately 2,000 adults and 250 children into the project. Other aspects of the study include photovoice, which is a qualitative assessment of built environment features associated with PA engagement, an audit of the neighborhood streetscape environment, and an individualized neighborhood walkability profile centered on each participant's residential address. Multilevel modeling will be used to examine the individual-level and neighborhood-level relationships with PA engagement and body size. The URBAN Study is applying a novel scientifically robust research design to provide urgently needed epidemiological information regarding the associations between the built environment and health outcomes. The findings will contribute to a larger, international initiative in which similar neighborhood selection and PA measurement procedures are utilized across eight countries. Accordingly, this study directly addresses the international priority issues of increasing PA engagement and decreasing obesity levels.

Understanding the Relationship between Activity and Neighbourhoods (URBAN) Study: research design and methodology

PubMed Central

Badland, Hannah M; Schofield, Grant M; Witten, Karen; Schluter, Philip J; Mavoa, Suzanne; Kearns, Robin A; Hinckson, Erica A; Oliver, Melody; Kaiwai, Hector; Jensen, Victoria G; Ergler, Christina; McGrath, Leslie; McPhee, Julia

2009-01-01

Background Built environment attributes are recognized as being important contributors to physical activity (PA) engagement and body size in adults and children. However, much of the existing research in this emergent public health field is hindered by methodological limitations, including: population and site homogeneity, reliance on self-report measures, aggregated measures of PA, and inadequate statistical modeling. As an integral component of multi-country collaborative research, the Understanding the Relationship between Activity and Neighbourhoods (URBAN) Study seeks to overcome these limitations by determining the strengths of association between detailed measures of the neighborhood built environment with PA levels across multiple domains and body size measures in adults and children. This article outlines the research protocol developed for the URBAN Study. Methods and design The URBAN Study is a multi-centered, stratified, cross-sectional research design, collecting data across four New Zealand cities. Within each city, 12 neighborhoods were identified and selected for investigation based on higher or lower walkability and Māori demographic attributes. Neighborhoods were selected to ensure equal representation of these characteristics. Within each selected neighborhood, 42 households are being randomly selected and an adult and child (where possible) recruited into the study. Data collection includes: objective and self-reported PA engagement, neighborhood perceptions, demographics, and body size measures. The study was designed to recruit approximately 2,000 adults and 250 children into the project. Other aspects of the study include photovoice, which is a qualitative assessment of built environment features associated with PA engagement, an audit of the neighborhood streetscape environment, and an individualized neighborhood walkability profile centered on each participant's residential address. Multilevel modeling will be used to examine the individual-level and neighborhood-level relationships with PA engagement and body size. Discussion The URBAN Study is applying a novel scientifically robust research design to provide urgently needed epidemiological information regarding the associations between the built environment and health outcomes. The findings will contribute to a larger, international initiative in which similar neighborhood selection and PA measurement procedures are utilized across eight countries. Accordingly, this study directly addresses the international priority issues of increasing PA engagement and decreasing obesity levels. PMID:19589175

The relationship between the built environment and habitual levels of physical activity in South African older adults: a pilot study.

PubMed

Kolbe-Alexander, Tracy L; Pacheco, Kyla; Tomaz, Simone A; Karpul, David; Lambert, Estelle V

2015-05-30

Previous research has shown that the built environment plays a role in habitual levels of physical activity (PA), however much of this research has been conducted in adults and higher income countries. The aim of this pilot study was to examine the strength of association between the built environment and PA in South African older adults. Participants were recruited (n = 44, mean age 65 ± 8.5 years) from two suburbs, representing either a high socioeconomic (HSA) or low socioeconomic area (LSA). Self-reported PA, and subjective assessments of neighborhood walkability (Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale, NEWS) was measured. Participants wore Actigraph GT3x accelerometers to objectively quantify PA. HSA participants reported significantly more leisure-time and less transport PA. Objectively measured and self-reported MVPA was significantly higher in HSA participants. NEWS 'Land-use Mix' was negatively associated with leisure-time MVPA, (r(2) = 0.20; p < 0.02). In addition, neighborhood aesthetics was positively associated with leisure-time physical activity (r(2) = 0.33; p = 0.02). 'Safety from traffic' was inversely associated with travel-related PA (r(2) = 0.14, p = 0.01). None of the other NEWS scores were associated with PA for the total group. Leisure-time and transport-related PA was influenced by socio-economic status. Attributes of the perceived built environment associated with leisure-time and total MVPA in older South Africa adults were different in low- and high- income settings.

Interactions between psychosocial and built environment factors in explaining older adults' physical activity.

PubMed

Carlson, Jordan A; Sallis, James F; Conway, Terry L; Saelens, Brian E; Frank, Lawrence D; Kerr, Jacqueline; Cain, Kelli L; King, Abby C

2012-01-01

To evaluate ecological model predictions of cross-level interactions among psychosocial and environmental correlates of physical activity in 719 community-dwelling older adults in the Baltimore, Maryland and Seattle, Washington areas during 2005-2008. Walkability, access to parks and recreation facilities and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) minutes per week (min/week) were measured objectively. Neighborhood aesthetics, walking facilities, social support, self-efficacy, barriers and transportation and leisure walking min/week were self-reported. Walkability interacted with social support in explaining total MVPA (B=13.71) and with social support (B=7.90), self-efficacy (B=7.66) and barriers (B=-8.26) in explaining walking for transportation. Aesthetics interacted with barriers in explaining total MVPA (B=-12.20) and walking facilities interacted with self-efficacy in explaining walking for leisure (B=-10.88; Ps<.05). Summarizing across the interactions, living in a supportive environment (vs. unsupportive) was related to 30-59 more min/week of physical activity for participants with more positive psychosocial attributes, but only 0-28 more min/week for participants with less positive psychosocial attributes. Results supported synergistic interactions between built environment and psychosocial factors in explaining physical activity among older adults. Findings suggest multilevel interventions may be most effective in increasing physical activity. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Architectural design influences the diversity and structure of the built environment microbiome

PubMed Central

Kembel, Steven W; Jones, Evan; Kline, Jeff; Northcutt, Dale; Stenson, Jason; Womack, Ann M; Bohannan, Brendan JM; Brown, G Z; Green, Jessica L

2012-01-01

Buildings are complex ecosystems that house trillions of microorganisms interacting with each other, with humans and with their environment. Understanding the ecological and evolutionary processes that determine the diversity and composition of the built environment microbiome—the community of microorganisms that live indoors—is important for understanding the relationship between building design, biodiversity and human health. In this study, we used high-throughput sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene to quantify relationships between building attributes and airborne bacterial communities at a health-care facility. We quantified airborne bacterial community structure and environmental conditions in patient rooms exposed to mechanical or window ventilation and in outdoor air. The phylogenetic diversity of airborne bacterial communities was lower indoors than outdoors, and mechanically ventilated rooms contained less diverse microbial communities than did window-ventilated rooms. Bacterial communities in indoor environments contained many taxa that are absent or rare outdoors, including taxa closely related to potential human pathogens. Building attributes, specifically the source of ventilation air, airflow rates, relative humidity and temperature, were correlated with the diversity and composition of indoor bacterial communities. The relative abundance of bacteria closely related to human pathogens was higher indoors than outdoors, and higher in rooms with lower airflow rates and lower relative humidity. The observed relationship between building design and airborne bacterial diversity suggests that we can manage indoor environments, altering through building design and operation the community of microbial species that potentially colonize the human microbiome during our time indoors. PMID:22278670

Quantifying the Relative Contribution of Factors to Household Vehicle Miles of Travel

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Garikapati, Venu; Singh, Abhilash C.; Astroza, Sebastian

Household vehicle miles of travel (VMT) has been exhibiting a steady growth in post-recession years in the United States and has reached record levels in 2017. With transportation accounting for 27 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, planning professionals are increasingly seeking ways to curb vehicular travel to advance sustainable, vibrant, and healthy communities. Although there is considerable understanding of the various factors that influence household vehicular travel, there is little knowledge of their relative contribution to explaining variance in household VMT. This paper presents a holistic analysis to identify the relative contribution of socio-economic and demographic characteristics, built environment attributes,more » residential self-selection effects, and social and spatial dependency effects in explaining household VMT production. The modeling framework employs a simultaneous equations model of residential location (density) choice and household VMT generation. The analysis is performed using household travel survey data from the New York metropolitan region. Model results showed insignificant spatial dependency effects, with socio-demographic variables explaining 33 percent, density (as a key measure of built environment attributes) explaining 12 percent, and self-selection effects explaining 11 percent of the total variance in the logarithm of household VMT. The remaining 44 percent remains unexplained and attributable to omitted variables and unobserved idiosyncratic factors, calling for further research in this domain to better understand the relative contribution of various drivers of household VMT.« less

The Impact of the Built Environment on Children's School Conduct Grades: The Role of Diversity of Use in a Hispanic Neighborhood

PubMed Central

Szapocznik, José; Lombard, Joanna; Martinez, Frank; Mason, Craig A.; Gorman-Smith, Deborah; Plater-Zyberk, Elizabeth; Brown, Scott C.; Spokane, Arnold

2013-01-01

A population-based study examined the relationship between diversity of use of the built environment and teacher reports of children's grades. Diversity of use of the built environment (i.e., proportion of a block that is residential, institutional, commercial and vacant) was assessed for all 403 city blocks in East Little Havana, Miami—a Hispanic neighborhood. Cluster analysis identified three block-types, based on diversity of use: Residential, Mixed-Use, and Commercial. Cross-classified hierarchical linear modeling was used to examine the impact of diversity of use, school, gender, and year-in-school on academic and conduct grades for 2857 public school children who lived in these blocks. Contrary to popular belief, mixed-use blocks were associated with optimal outcomes. Specifically, follow-up analyses found that a youth living on a residential block had a 74% greater odds of being in the lowest 10% of conduct grades (conduct GPA <2.17) than a youth living on a mixed-use block. In fact, an analysis of the population attributable fraction suggests that if the risk associated with residential blocks could be reduced to the level of risk associated with mixed-use blocks, a 38% reduction in Conduct GPAs <2.17 could be achieved in the total population. These findings suggest that public policy targeting the built environment may be a mechanism for community-based interventions to enhance children's classroom conduct, and potentially related sequelae. PMID:16967342

Correlates of walking for transportation and use of public transportation among adults in St Louis, Missouri, 2012.

PubMed

Zwald, Marissa L; Hipp, James A; Corseuil, Marui W; Dodson, Elizabeth A

2014-07-03

Attributes of the built environment can influence active transportation, including use of public transportation. However, the relationship between perceptions of the built environment and use of public transportation deserves further attention. The objectives of this study were 1) to assess the relationship between personal characteristics and public transportation use with meeting national recommendations for moderate physical activity through walking for transportation and 2) to examine associations between personal and perceived environmental factors and frequency of public transportation use. In 2012, we administered a mail-based survey to 772 adults in St Louis, Missouri, to assess perceptions of the built environment, physical activity, and transportation behaviors. The abbreviated International Physical Activity Questionnaire was used to assess walking for transportation and use of public transportation. The Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale was used to examine perceptions of the built environment. Associations were assessed by using multinomial logistic regression. People who used public transportation at least once in the previous week were more likely to meet moderate physical activity recommendations by walking for transportation. Age and employment were significantly associated with public transportation use. Perceptions of high traffic speed and high crime were negatively associated with public transportation use. Our results were consistent with previous research suggesting that public transportation use is related to walking for transportation. More importantly, our study suggests that perceptions of traffic speed and crime are related to frequency of public transportation use. Future interventions to encourage public transportation use should consider policy and planning decisions that reduce traffic speed and improve safety.

Correlates of Walking for Transportation and Use of Public Transportation Among Adults in St Louis, Missouri, 2012

PubMed Central

Hipp, James A.; Corseuil, Marui W.; Dodson, Elizabeth A.

2014-01-01

Introduction Attributes of the built environment can influence active transportation, including use of public transportation. However, the relationship between perceptions of the built environment and use of public transportation deserves further attention. The objectives of this study were 1) to assess the relationship between personal characteristics and public transportation use with meeting national recommendations for moderate physical activity through walking for transportation and 2) to examine associations between personal and perceived environmental factors and frequency of public transportation use. Methods In 2012, we administered a mail-based survey to 772 adults in St Louis, Missouri, to assess perceptions of the built environment, physical activity, and transportation behaviors. The abbreviated International Physical Activity Questionnaire was used to assess walking for transportation and use of public transportation. The Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale was used to examine perceptions of the built environment. Associations were assessed by using multinomial logistic regression. Results People who used public transportation at least once in the previous week were more likely to meet moderate physical activity recommendations by walking for transportation. Age and employment were significantly associated with public transportation use. Perceptions of high traffic speed and high crime were negatively associated with public transportation use. Conclusion Our results were consistent with previous research suggesting that public transportation use is related to walking for transportation. More importantly, our study suggests that perceptions of traffic speed and crime are related to frequency of public transportation use. Future interventions to encourage public transportation use should consider policy and planning decisions that reduce traffic speed and improve safety. PMID:24995654

Designer's approach for scene selection in tests of preference and restoration along a continuum of natural to manmade environments.

PubMed

Hunter, MaryCarol R; Askarinejad, Ali

2015-01-01

It is well-established that the experience of nature produces an array of positive benefits to mental well-being. Much less is known about the specific attributes of green space which produce these effects. In the absence of translational research that links theory with application, it is challenging to design urban green space for its greatest restorative potential. This translational research provides a method for identifying which specific physical attributes of an environmental setting are most likely to influence preference and restoration responses. Attribute identification was based on a triangulation process invoking environmental psychology and aesthetics theories, principles of design founded in mathematics and aesthetics, and empirical research on the role of specific physical attributes of the environment in preference or restoration responses. From this integration emerged a list of physical attributes defining aspects of spatial structure and environmental content found to be most relevant to the perceptions involved with preference and restoration. The physical attribute list offers a starting point for deciphering which scene stimuli dominate or collaborate in preference and restoration responses. To support this, functional definitions and metrics-efficient methods for attribute quantification are presented. Use of these research products and the process for defining place-based metrics can provide (a) greater control in the selection and interpretation of the scenes/images used in tests of preference and restoration and (b) an expanded evidence base for well-being designers of the built environment.

Designer's approach for scene selection in tests of preference and restoration along a continuum of natural to manmade environments

PubMed Central

Hunter, MaryCarol R.; Askarinejad, Ali

2015-01-01

It is well-established that the experience of nature produces an array of positive benefits to mental well-being. Much less is known about the specific attributes of green space which produce these effects. In the absence of translational research that links theory with application, it is challenging to design urban green space for its greatest restorative potential. This translational research provides a method for identifying which specific physical attributes of an environmental setting are most likely to influence preference and restoration responses. Attribute identification was based on a triangulation process invoking environmental psychology and aesthetics theories, principles of design founded in mathematics and aesthetics, and empirical research on the role of specific physical attributes of the environment in preference or restoration responses. From this integration emerged a list of physical attributes defining aspects of spatial structure and environmental content found to be most relevant to the perceptions involved with preference and restoration. The physical attribute list offers a starting point for deciphering which scene stimuli dominate or collaborate in preference and restoration responses. To support this, functional definitions and metrics—efficient methods for attribute quantification are presented. Use of these research products and the process for defining place-based metrics can provide (a) greater control in the selection and interpretation of the scenes/images used in tests of preference and restoration and (b) an expanded evidence base for well-being designers of the built environment. PMID:26347691

Adaptation and Evaluation of the Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale in India (NEWS-India).

PubMed

Adlakha, Deepti; Hipp, J Aaron; Brownson, Ross C

2016-04-02

Physical inactivity is the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality, with most of these deaths occurring in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) like India. Research from developed countries has consistently demonstrated associations between built environment features and physical activity levels of populations. The development of culturally sensitive and reliable measures of the built environment is a necessary first step for accurate analysis of environmental correlates of physical activity in LMICs. This study systematically adapted the Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale (NEWS) for India and evaluated aspects of test-retest reliability of the adapted version among Indian adults. Cultural adaptation of the NEWS was conducted by Indian and international experts. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with local residents and key informants in the city of Chennai, India. At baseline, participants (N = 370; female = 47.2%) from Chennai completed the adapted NEWS-India surveys on perceived residential density, land use mix-diversity, land use mix-access, street connectivity, infrastructure and safety for walking and cycling, aesthetics, traffic safety, and safety from crime. NEWS-India was administered for a second time to consenting participants (N = 62; female = 53.2%) with a gap of 2-3 weeks between successive administrations. Qualitative findings demonstrated that built environment barriers and constraints to active commuting and physical activity behaviors intersected with social ecological systems. The adapted NEWS subscales had moderate to high test-retest reliability (ICC range 0.48-0.99). The NEWS-India demonstrated acceptable measurement properties among Indian adults and may be a useful tool for evaluation of built environment attributes in India. Further adaptation and evaluation in rural and suburban settings in India is essential to create a version that could be used throughout India.

Adaptation and Evaluation of the Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale in India (NEWS-India)

PubMed Central

Adlakha, Deepti; Hipp, J. Aaron; Brownson, Ross C.

2016-01-01

Physical inactivity is the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality, with most of these deaths occurring in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) like India. Research from developed countries has consistently demonstrated associations between built environment features and physical activity levels of populations. The development of culturally sensitive and reliable measures of the built environment is a necessary first step for accurate analysis of environmental correlates of physical activity in LMICs. This study systematically adapted the Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale (NEWS) for India and evaluated aspects of test-retest reliability of the adapted version among Indian adults. Cultural adaptation of the NEWS was conducted by Indian and international experts. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with local residents and key informants in the city of Chennai, India. At baseline, participants (N = 370; female = 47.2%) from Chennai completed the adapted NEWS-India surveys on perceived residential density, land use mix-diversity, land use mix-access, street connectivity, infrastructure and safety for walking and cycling, aesthetics, traffic safety, and safety from crime. NEWS-India was administered for a second time to consenting participants (N = 62; female = 53.2%) with a gap of 2–3 weeks between successive administrations. Qualitative findings demonstrated that built environment barriers and constraints to active commuting and physical activity behaviors intersected with social ecological systems. The adapted NEWS subscales had moderate to high test-retest reliability (ICC range 0.48–0.99). The NEWS-India demonstrated acceptable measurement properties among Indian adults and may be a useful tool for evaluation of built environment attributes in India. Further adaptation and evaluation in rural and suburban settings in India is essential to create a version that could be used throughout India. PMID:27049394

Moderating effects of age, gender and education on the associations of perceived neighborhood environment attributes with accelerometer-based physical activity: the IPEN Adult study Moderating effects of age, gender and education on the associations of perceived neighborhood environment attributes with accelerometer-based physical activity: the IPEN Adult study

PubMed Central

Van Dyck, Delfien; Cerin, Ester; De Bourdeaudhuij, Ilse; Salvo, Deborah; Christiansen, Lars B; Macfarlane, Duncan; Owen, Neville; Mitas, Josef; Troelsen, Jens; Aguinaga-Ontoso, Ines; Davey, Rachel; Reis, Rodrigo; Sarmiento, Olga L; Schofield, Grant; Conway, Terry L; Sallis, James F

2015-01-01

The study's purpose was to examine age, gender, and education as potential moderators of the associations of perceived neighborhood environment variables with accelerometer-based moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Data were from 7273 adults from 16 sites (11 countries) that were part of a coordinated multi-country cross-sectional study. Age moderated the associations of perceived crime safety, and perceiving no major physical barriers to walking, with MVPA: positive associations were only found in older adults. Perceived land use mix-access was linearly (positive) associated with MVPA in men, and curvilinearly in women. Perceived crime safety was related to MVPA only in women. No moderating relationships were found for education. Overall the associations of adults’ perceptions of environmental attributes with MVPA were largely independent of the socio-demographic factors examined. These findings are encouraging, suggesting that efforts to optimize the perceived built and social environment may act in a socially-equitable manner to facilitate MVPA. PMID:26454247

Associations between the neighbourhood built environment and out of school physical activity and active travel: An examination from the Kids in the City study.

PubMed

Oliver, Melody; Mavoa, Suzanne; Badland, Hannah; Parker, Karl; Donovan, Phil; Kearns, Robin A; Lin, En-Yi; Witten, Karen

2015-11-01

This study's aim was to examine selected objectively-measured and child specific built environment attributes in relation to proportion of out-of-school time spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (%MVPA) and active travel in a group of ethnically and socio-economically diverse children (n=236) living in Auckland, New Zealand. Street connectivity and distance to school were related to the proportion of trips made by active modes. Ratio of high speed to low speed roads and improved streetscape for active travel were related to %MVPA on weekdays only. Inconsistent results were found for destination accessibility. Local destinations (particularly schools) along a safe street network may be important for encouraging children's activity behaviours. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Characteristics and use of urban health indicator tools by municipal built environment policy and decision-makers: a systematic review protocol.

PubMed

Pineo, Helen; Glonti, Ketevan; Rutter, Harry; Zimmermann, Nicole; Wilkinson, Paul; Davies, Michael

2017-01-13

There is wide agreement that there is a lack of attention to health in municipal environmental policy-making, such as urban planning and regeneration. Explanations for this include differing professional norms between health and urban environment professionals, system complexity and limited evidence for causality between attributes of the built environment and health outcomes. Data from urban health indicator (UHI) tools are potentially a valuable form of evidence for local government policy and decision-makers. Although many UHI tools have been specifically developed to inform policy, there is poor understanding of how they are used. This study aims to identify the nature and characteristics of UHI tools and their use by municipal built environment policy and decision-makers. Health and social sciences databases (ASSIA, Campbell Library, EMBASE, MEDLINE, Scopus, Social Policy and Practice and Web of Science Core Collection) will be searched for studies using UHI tools alongside hand-searching of key journals and citation searches of included studies. Advanced searches of practitioner websites and Google will also be used to find grey literature. Search results will be screened for UHI tools, and for studies which report on or evaluate the use of such tools. Data about UHI tools will be extracted to compile a census and taxonomy of existing tools based on their specific characteristics and purpose. In addition, qualitative and quantitative studies about the use of these tools will be appraised using quality appraisal tools produced by the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and synthesised in order to gain insight into the perceptions, value and use of UHI tools in the municipal built environment policy and decision-making process. This review is not registered with PROSPERO. This systematic review focuses specifically on UHI tools that assess the physical environment's impact on health (such as transport, housing, air quality and greenspace). This study will help indicator producers understand whether this form of evidence is of value to built environment policy and decision-makers and how such tools should be tailored for this audience. N/A.

Neighborhood Environments and Objectively Measured Physical Activity in 11 Countries

PubMed Central

Cerin, Ester; Cain, Kelli L; Conway, Terry L; Dyck, Delfien Van; Hinckson, Erica; Schipperijn, Jasper; Bourdeaudhuij, Ilse De; Owen, Neville; Davey, Rachel C; Hino, Adriano Akira Ferreira; Mitáš, Josef; Orzanco-Garralda, Rosario; Salvo, Deborah; Sarmiento, Olga L; Christiansen, Lars B; Macfarlane, Duncan J; Schofield, Grant; Sallis, James F

2014-01-01

Purpose Environmental changes are potentially effective population-level physical activity (PA) promotion strategies. However, robust multi-site evidence to guide international action for developing activity-supportive environments is lacking. We estimated pooled associations of perceived environmental attributes with objectively-measured PA outcomes; between-site differences in such associations; and, the extent to which perceived environmental attributes explain between-site differences in PA. Methods This was a cross-sectional study conducted in 16 cities located in Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, China, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, United Kingdom, and USA. Participants were 6,968 adults residing in administrative units stratified by socio-economic status and transport-related walkability. Predictors were 10 perceived neighborhood environmental attributes. Outcome measures were accelerometry-assessed weekly minutes of moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) and meeting the PA guidelines for cancer/weight gain prevention (420 min/week of MVPA). Results Most perceived neighborhood attributes were positively associated with the PA outcomes in the pooled, site-adjusted, single-predictor models. Associations were generalizable across geographical locations. Aesthetics and land use mix – access were significant predictors of both PA outcomes in the fully-adjusted models. Environmental attributes accounted for within-site variability in MVPA corresponding to a 3 min/d or 21 min/week standard deviation. Large between-site differences in PA outcomes were observed: 15.9% to 16.8% of these differences were explained by perceived environmental attributes. All neighborhood attributes were associated with between-site differences in the total effects of the perceived environment on PA outcomes. Conclusions Residents’ perceptions of neighborhood attributes that facilitate walking were positively associated with objectively-measured MVPA and meeting the guidelines for cancer/weight gain prevention at the within- and between-site levels. Associations were similar across study sites, lending support for international recommendations for designing PA-friendly built environments. PMID:24781892

Urban Health Indicator Tools of the Physical Environment: a Systematic Review.

PubMed

Pineo, Helen; Glonti, Ketevan; Rutter, Harry; Zimmermann, Nici; Wilkinson, Paul; Davies, Michael

2018-04-16

Urban health indicator (UHI) tools provide evidence about the health impacts of the physical urban environment which can be used in built environment policy and decision-making. Where UHI tools provide data at the neighborhood (and lower) scale they can provide valuable information about health inequalities and environmental deprivation. This review performs a census of UHI tools and explores their nature and characteristics (including how they represent, simplify or address complex systems) to increase understanding of their potential use by municipal built environment policy and decision-makers. We searched seven bibliographic databases, four key journals and six practitioner websites and conducted Google searches between January 27, 2016 and February 24, 2016 for UHI tools. We extracted data from primary studies and online indicator systems. We included 198 documents which identified 145 UHI tools comprising 8006 indicators, from which we developed a taxonomy. Our taxonomy classifies the significant diversity of UHI tools with respect to topic, spatial scale, format, scope and purpose. The proportions of UHI tools which measure data at the neighborhood and lower scale, and present data via interactive maps, have both increased over time. This is particularly relevant to built environment policy and decision-makers, reflects growing analytical capability and offers the potential for improved understanding of the complexity of influences on urban health (an aspect noted as a particular challenge by some indicator producers). The relation between urban health indicators and health impacts attributable to modifiable environmental characteristics is often indirect. Furthermore, the use of UHI tools in policy and decision-making appears to be limited, thus raising questions about the continued development of such tools by multiple organisations duplicating scarce resources. Further research is needed to understand the requirements of built environment policy and decision-makers, public health professionals and local communities regarding the form and presentation of indicators which support their varied objectives.

Built environment characteristics and parent active transportation are associated with active travel to school in youth age 12–15

PubMed Central

Carlson, Jordan A; Sallis, James F; Kerr, Jacqueline; Conway, Terry L; Cain, Kelli; Frank, Lawrence D; Saelens, Brian E

2015-01-01

Purpose To investigate the relation of factors from multiple levels of ecological models (ie, individual, interpersonal and environmental) to active travel to/from school in an observational study of young adolescents. Methods Participants were 294 12–15-year olds living within two miles of their school. Demographic, psychosocial and perceived built environment characteristics around the home were measured by survey, and objective built environment factors around home and school were assessed in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Mixed effects multinomial regression models tested correlates of engaging in 1–4 (vs 0) and 5–10 (vs 0) active trips/week to/from school, adjusted for distance and other covariates. Results 64% of participants reported ≥1 active trip/ week to/from school. Significant correlates of occasional and/or habitual active travel to/from school included barriers (ORs=0.27 and 0.15), parent modelling of active travel (OR=3.27 for habitual), perceived street connectivity (OR=1.78 for occasional), perceived pedestrian safety around home (OR=2.04 for habitual), objective street connectivity around home (OR=0.97 for occasional), objective residential density around home (ORs=1.10 and 1.11) and objective residential density around school (OR=1.14 for habitual). Parent modelling interacted with pedestrian safety in explaining active travel to/from school. Conclusions Results supported multilevel correlates of adolescents active travel to school, consistent with ecological models. Correlates of occasional and habitual active travel to/from school were similar. Built environment attributes around schools, particularly residential density, should be considered when siting new schools and redeveloping neighbourhoods around existing schools. PMID:24659503

Built environment characteristics and parent active transportation are associated with active travel to school in youth age 12-15.

PubMed

Carlson, Jordan A; Sallis, James F; Kerr, Jacqueline; Conway, Terry L; Cain, Kelli; Frank, Lawrence D; Saelens, Brian E

2014-12-01

To investigate the relation of factors from multiple levels of ecological models (ie, individual, interpersonal and environmental) to active travel to/from school in an observational study of young adolescents. Participants were 294 12-15-year olds living within two miles of their school. Demographic, psychosocial and perceived built environment characteristics around the home were measured by survey, and objective built environment factors around home and school were assessed in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Mixed effects multinomial regression models tested correlates of engaging in 1-4 (vs 0) and 5-10 (vs 0) active trips/week to/from school, adjusted for distance and other covariates. 64% of participants reported ≥1 active trip/week to/from school. Significant correlates of occasional and/or habitual active travel to/from school included barriers (ORs=0.27 and 0.15), parent modelling of active travel (OR=3.27 for habitual), perceived street connectivity (OR=1.78 for occasional), perceived pedestrian safety around home (OR=2.04 for habitual), objective street connectivity around home (OR=0.97 for occasional), objective residential density around home (ORs=1.10 and 1.11) and objective residential density around school (OR=1.14 for habitual). Parent modelling interacted with pedestrian safety in explaining active travel to/from school. Results supported multilevel correlates of adolescents' active travel to school, consistent with ecological models. Correlates of occasional and habitual active travel to/from school were similar. Built environment attributes around schools, particularly residential density, should be considered when siting new schools and redeveloping neighbourhoods around existing schools. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Health impacts of the built environment: within-urban variability in physical inactivity, air pollution, and ischemic heart disease mortality.

PubMed

Hankey, Steve; Marshall, Julian D; Brauer, Michael

2012-02-01

Physical inactivity and exposure to air pollution are important risk factors for death and disease globally. The built environment may influence exposures to these risk factors in different ways and thus differentially affect the health of urban populations. We investigated the built environment's association with air pollution and physical inactivity, and estimated attributable health risks. We used a regional travel survey to estimate within-urban variability in physical inactivity and home-based air pollution exposure [particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 μm (PM2.5), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and ozone (O3)] for 30,007 individuals in southern California. We then estimated the resulting risk for ischemic heart disease (IHD) using literature-derived dose-response values. Using a cross-sectional approach, we compared estimated IHD mortality risks among neighborhoods based on "walkability" scores. The proportion of physically active individuals was higher in high- versus low-walkability neighborhoods (24.9% vs. 12.5%); however, only a small proportion of the population was physically active, and between-neighborhood variability in estimated IHD mortality attributable to physical inactivity was modest (7 fewer IHD deaths/100,000/year in high- vs. low-walkability neighborhoods). Between-neighborhood differences in estimated IHD mortality from air pollution were comparable in magnitude (9 more IHD deaths/100,000/year for PM2.5 and 3 fewer IHD deaths for O3 in high- vs. low-walkability neighborhoods), suggesting that population health benefits from increased physical activity in high-walkability neighborhoods may be offset by adverse effects of air pollution exposure. Currently, planning efforts mainly focus on increasing physical activity through neighborhood design. Our results suggest that differences in population health impacts among neighborhoods are similar in magnitude for air pollution and physical activity. Thus, physical activity and exposure to air pollution are critical aspects of planning for cleaner, health-promoting cities.

Development of a dynamic framework to explain population patterns of leisure-time physical activity through agent-based modeling.

PubMed

Garcia, Leandro M T; Diez Roux, Ana V; Martins, André C R; Yang, Yong; Florindo, Alex A

2017-08-22

Despite the increasing body of evidences on the factors influencing leisure-time physical activity, our understanding of the mechanisms and interactions that lead to the formation and evolution of population patterns is still limited. Moreover, most frameworks in this field fail to capture dynamic processes. Our aim was to create a dynamic conceptual model depicting the interaction between key psychological attributes of individuals and main aspects of the built and social environments in which they live. This conceptual model will inform and support the development of an agent-based model aimed to explore how population patterns of LTPA in adults may emerge from the dynamic interplay between psychological traits and built and social environments. We integrated existing theories and models as well as available empirical data (both from literature reviews), and expert opinions (based on a systematic expert assessment of an intermediary version of the model). The model explicitly presents intention as the proximal determinant of leisure-time physical activity, a relationship dynamically moderated by the built environment (access, quality, and available activities) - with the strength of the moderation varying as a function of the person's intention- and influenced both by the social environment (proximal network's and community's behavior) and the person's behavior. Our conceptual model is well supported by evidence and experts' opinions and will inform the design of our agent-based model, as well as data collection and analysis of future investigations on population patterns of leisure-time physical activity among adults.

Perceived Built Environment and Physical Activity in U.S. Women by Sprawl and Region

PubMed Central

Troped, Philip J.; Tamura, Kosuke; Whitcomb, Heather A.; Laden, Francine

2012-01-01

Background A number of studies have demonstrated relationships between the perceived built environment and physical activity among adults. However, little is known about whether these associations differ by U.S. region and level of urban sprawl. Purpose To examine associations between the perceived built environment and physical activity in U.S. women by region and urban sprawl. Methods Nurses’ Health Study II participants (N = 68,968) completed four perceived neighborhood environment survey items in 2005. Logistic regression was used to estimate associations with meeting physical activity recommendations, adjusting for demographic and weight-status variables, and stratifying by region and sprawl. Data analyses were completed in 2011. Results Perceived proximity to shops/stores was positively associated with physical activity across regions and levels of sprawl (ORs = 1.21 to 1.46). Perceived access to recreation facilities was also a positive physical activity correlate in most region–sprawl strata with strongest relationships found in the West (ORs = 1.31 to 1.70). Perceived crime and presence of sidewalks did not show statistically significant associations with physical activity in most region–sprawl strata, although ORs for perceived crime showed a consistent pattern of negative associations (ORs from 0.60 to 0.95). A higher number of positive environmental attributes was associated with a greater odds of meeting physical activity recommendations. Conclusions Findings indicate that perceived proximity to shops/stores and access to recreation facilities are important correlates of physical activity for women, irrespective of region or sprawl. PMID:22011417

United Space Alliance, LLC Windchill As-Built Highlights

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Richmond, Dena M.

2011-01-01

Work Order execution data from Solumina As Worked BOM (As-Built) in Solumina (Slide 2) sent to Windchill Windchill receives As Worked BOM data and 'marries' the Solumina execution data to the Part Instance/Product Structure/As-Design (Slide 3 As-Design and Slide 4 &5 As-Built) Manage the As-Built to As-Design delta's via the interface and Part Instance Attributes (Slide 6) including Work Order data and any CMcomments Produce an As-Built to As-Design report that also includes all Part Instance Attribute data (no screenshot as this is still in development) Utilize Windchill and Solumina 'Out of the Box' functionality

Hierarchical Distributed-Lag Models: Exploring Varying Geographic Scale and Magnitude in Associations Between the Built Environment and Health

PubMed Central

Baek, Jonggyu; Sanchez-Vaznaugh, Emma V.; Sánchez, Brisa N.

2016-01-01

It is well known that associations between features of the built environment and health depend on the geographic scale used to construct environmental attributes. In the built environment literature, it has long been argued that geographic scales may vary across study locations. However, this hypothesized variation has not been systematically examined due to a lack of available statistical methods. We propose a hierarchical distributed-lag model (HDLM) for estimating the underlying overall shape of food environment–health associations as a function of distance from locations of interest. This method enables indirect assessment of relevant geographic scales and captures area-level heterogeneity in the magnitudes of associations, along with relevant distances within areas. The proposed model was used to systematically examine area-level variation in the association between availability of convenience stores around schools and children's weights. For this case study, body mass index (weight kg)/height (m)2) z scores (BMIz) for 7th grade children collected via California's 2001–2009 FitnessGram testing program were linked to a commercial database that contained locations of food outlets statewide. Findings suggested that convenience store availability may influence BMIz only in some places and at varying distances from schools. Future research should examine localized environmental or policy differences that may explain the heterogeneity in convenience store–BMIz associations. PMID:26888753

Moderating effects of age, gender and education on the associations of perceived neighborhood environment attributes with accelerometer-based physical activity: The IPEN adult study.

PubMed

Van Dyck, Delfien; Cerin, Ester; De Bourdeaudhuij, Ilse; Salvo, Deborah; Christiansen, Lars B; Macfarlane, Duncan; Owen, Neville; Mitas, Josef; Troelsen, Jens; Aguinaga-Ontoso, Ines; Davey, Rachel; Reis, Rodrigo; Sarmiento, Olga L; Schofield, Grant; Conway, Terry L; Sallis, James F

2015-11-01

The study's purpose was to examine age, gender, and education as potential moderators of the associations of perceived neighborhood environment variables with accelerometer-based moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Data were from 7273 adults from 16 sites (11 countries) that were part of a coordinated multi-country cross-sectional study. Age moderated the associations of perceived crime safety, and perceiving no major physical barriers to walking, with MVPA: positive associations were only found in older adults. Perceived land use mix-access was linearly (positive) associated with MVPA in men, and curvilinearly in women. Perceived crime safety was related to MVPA only in women. No moderating relationships were found for education. Overall the associations of adults' perceptions of environmental attributes with MVPA were largely independent of the socio-demographic factors examined. These findings are encouraging, suggesting that efforts to optimize the perceived built and social environment may act in a socially-equitable manner to facilitate MVPA. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Associations of Perceived and Objectively Measured Neighborhood Environmental Attributes With Leisure-Time Sitting for Transport.

PubMed

Liao, Yung; Sugiyama, Takemi; Shibata, Ai; Ishii, Kaori; Inoue, Shigeru; Koohsari, Mohammad Javad; Owen, Neville; Oka, Koichiro

2016-12-01

This study examined associations of perceived and objectively measured neighborhood environmental attributes with leisure-time sitting for transport among middle-to-older aged Japanese adults. Data were collected using a postal survey of 998 adults aged 40 to 69 years. Generalized linear modeling with a gamma distribution and a log link was used to examine associations of perceived (International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Environmental module) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS)-derived built environment attributes with self-reported leisure-time sitting for transport. Mean leisure-time sitting time for transport was 20.4 min/day. After adjusting for potential confounders, perceived higher residential density, GIS-measured higher population density, better access to destinations, better access to public transport, longer sidewalk length, and higher street connectivity, were associated significantly with lower sitting time for transport. Residents living in neighborhoods with attributes previously found to be associated with more walking tended to spend less time sitting for transport during leisure-time. The health benefits of walkability-related attributes may accrue not only through increased physical activity, but also through less sedentary time.

Hierarchical Distributed-Lag Models: Exploring Varying Geographic Scale and Magnitude in Associations Between the Built Environment and Health.

PubMed

Baek, Jonggyu; Sanchez-Vaznaugh, Emma V; Sánchez, Brisa N

2016-03-15

It is well known that associations between features of the built environment and health depend on the geographic scale used to construct environmental attributes. In the built environment literature, it has long been argued that geographic scales may vary across study locations. However, this hypothesized variation has not been systematically examined due to a lack of available statistical methods. We propose a hierarchical distributed-lag model (HDLM) for estimating the underlying overall shape of food environment-health associations as a function of distance from locations of interest. This method enables indirect assessment of relevant geographic scales and captures area-level heterogeneity in the magnitudes of associations, along with relevant distances within areas. The proposed model was used to systematically examine area-level variation in the association between availability of convenience stores around schools and children's weights. For this case study, body mass index (weight kg)/height (m)2) z scores (BMIz) for 7th grade children collected via California's 2001-2009 FitnessGram testing program were linked to a commercial database that contained locations of food outlets statewide. Findings suggested that convenience store availability may influence BMIz only in some places and at varying distances from schools. Future research should examine localized environmental or policy differences that may explain the heterogeneity in convenience store-BMIz associations. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Perceived built environment and physical activity in U.S. women by sprawl and region.

PubMed

Troped, Philip J; Tamura, Kosuke; Whitcomb, Heather A; Laden, Francine

2011-11-01

A number of studies have demonstrated relationships between the perceived built environment and physical activity among adults. However, little is known about whether these associations differ by U.S. region and level of urban sprawl. To examine associations between the perceived built environment and physical activity in U.S. women by region and urban sprawl. Nurses' Health Study II participants (N=68,968) completed four perceived neighborhood environment survey items in 2005. Logistic regression was used to estimate associations with meeting physical activity recommendations, adjusting for demographic and weight-status variables, and stratifying by region and sprawl. Data analyses were completed in 2011. Perceived proximity to shops/stores was positively associated with physical activity across regions and levels of sprawl (ORs=1.21-1.46). Perceived access to recreation facilities was also a positive physical activity correlate in most region-sprawl strata, with strongest relationships found in the West (ORs=1.31-1.70). Perceived crime and presence of sidewalks did not show statistically significant associations with physical activity in most region-sprawl strata, although ORs for perceived crime showed a consistent pattern of negative associations (ORs=0.60-0.95). A higher number of positive environmental attributes was associated with a greater odds of meeting physical activity recommendations. Findings indicate that perceived proximity to shops/stores and access to recreation facilities are important correlates of physical activity for women, irrespective of region or sprawl. Copyright © 2011 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Linking social and built environmental factors to the health of public housing residents: a focus group study.

PubMed

Hayward, Erin; Ibe, Chidinma; Young, Jeffery Hunter; Potti, Karthya; Jones, Paul; Pollack, Craig Evan; Gudzune, Kimberly A

2015-04-10

Public housing residents have a high risk of chronic disease, which may be related to neighborhood environmental factors. Our objective was to understand how public housing residents perceive that the social and built environments might influence their health and wellbeing. We conducted focus groups of residents from a low-income public housing community in Baltimore, MD to assess their perceptions of health and neighborhood attributes, resources, and social structure. Focus groups were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Two investigators independently coded transcripts for thematic content using editing style analysis technique. Twenty-eight residents participated in six focus groups. All were African American and the majority were women. Most had lived in public housing for more than 5 years. We identified four themes: public housing's unhealthy physical environment limits health and wellbeing, the city environment limits opportunities for healthy lifestyle choices, lack of trust in relationships contributes to social isolation, and increased neighborhood social capital could improve wellbeing. Changes in housing and city policies might lead to improved environmental health conditions for public housing residents. Policymakers and researchers may consider promoting community cohesiveness to attempt to empower residents in facilitating neighborhood change.

Walkability for Different Urban Granularities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hollenstein, D.; Bleisch, S.

2016-06-01

The positive effects of low-intensity physical activity are widely acknowledged and in this context walking is often promoted as an active form of transport. Under the concept of walkability the role of the built environment in encouraging walking is investigated. For that purpose, walkability is quantified area-wise by measuring a varying set of built environment attributes. In purely GIS-based approaches to studying walkability, indices are generally built using existing and easily accessible data. These include street network design, population density, land use mix, and access to destinations. Access to destinations is usually estimated using either a fixed radius, or distances in the street network. In this paper, two approaches to approximate a footpath network are presented. The two footpath networks were built making different assumptions regarding the walkability of different street types with respect to more or less restrictive safety preferences. Information on sidewalk presence, pedestrian crossings, and traffic restrictions were used to build both networks. The first network comprises car traffic free areas only. The second network includes streets with low speed limits that have no sidewalks. Both networks are compared to the more commonly used street network in an access-to-distance analysis. The results suggest that for the generally highly walkable study area, access to destination mostly depends on destination density within the defined walkable distance. However, on single street segments access to destinations is diminished when only car traffic free spaces are assumed to be walkable.

Measuring physical activity environments: a brief history.

PubMed

Sallis, James F

2009-04-01

Physical activity is usually done in specific types of places, referred to as physical activity environments. These often include parks, trails, fitness centers, schools, and streets. In recent years, scientific interest has increased notably in measuring physical activity environments. The present paper provides an historical overview of the contributions of the health, planning, and leisure studies fields to the development of contemporary measures. The emphasis is on attributes of the built environment that can be affected by policies to contribute to the promotion of physical activity. Researchers from health fields assessed a wide variety of built environment variables expected to be related to recreational physical activity. Settings of interest were schools, workplaces, and recreation facilities, and most early measures used direct observation methods with demonstrated inter-observer reliability. Investigators from the city planning field evaluated aspects of community design expected to be related to people's ability to walk from homes to destinations. GIS was used to assess walkability defined by the 3Ds of residential density, land-use diversity, and pedestrian-oriented designs. Evaluating measures for reliability or validity was rarely done in the planning-related fields. Researchers in the leisure studies and recreation fields studied mainly people's use of leisure time rather than physical characteristics of parks and other recreation facilities. Although few measures of physical activity environments were developed, measures of aesthetic qualities are available. Each of these fields made unique contributions to the contemporary methods used to assess physical activity environments.

Developing Built Environment Programs in Local Health Departments: Lessons Learned From a Nationwide Mentoring Program

PubMed Central

Rube, Kate; Veatch, Maggie; Huang, Katy; Lent, Megan; Goldstein, Gail P.; Lee, Karen K.

2014-01-01

Local health departments (LHDs) have a key role to play in developing built environment policies and programs to encourage physical activity and combat obesity and related chronic diseases. However, information to guide LHDs’ effective engagement in this arena is lacking. During 2011–2012, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) facilitated a built environment peer mentoring program for 14 LHDs nationwide. Program objectives included supporting LHDs in their efforts to achieve built environment goals, offering examples from DOHMH’s built environment work to guide LHDs, and building a healthy built environment learning network. We share lessons learned that can guide LHDs in developing successful healthy built environment agendas. PMID:24625166

Reliable and valid NEWS for Chinese seniors: measuring perceived neighborhood attributes related to walking.

PubMed

Cerin, Ester; Sit, Cindy Hp; Cheung, Man-Chin; Ho, Sai-Yin; Lee, Lok-Chun Janet; Chan, Wai-Man

2010-11-25

The effects of the built environment on walking in seniors have not been studied in an Asian context. To examine these effects, valid and reliable measures are needed. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a questionnaire of perceived neighborhood characteristics related to walking appropriate for Chinese seniors (Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale for Chinese Seniors, NEWS-CS). It was based on the Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale - Abbreviated (NEWS-A), a validated measure of perceived built environment developed in the USA for adults. A secondary study aim was to establish the generalizability of the NEWS-A to an Asian high-density urban context and a different age group. A multidisciplinary panel of experts adapted the original NEWS-A to reflect the built environment of Hong Kong and needs of seniors. The translated instrument was pre-tested on a sample of 50 Chinese-speaking senior residents (65+ years). The final version of the NEWS-CS was interviewer-administered to 484 seniors residing in four selected Hong Kong districts varying in walkability and socio-economic status. Ninety-two participants completed the questionnaire on two separate occasions, 2-3 weeks apart. Test-rest reliability indices were estimated for each item and subscale of the NEWS-CS. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to develop the measurement model of the NEWS-CS and cross-validate that of the NEWS-A. The final version of the NEWS-CS consisted of 14 subscales and four single items (76 items). Test-retest reliability was moderate to good (ICC > 50 or % agreement > 60) except for four items measuring distance to destinations. The originally-proposed measurement models of the NEWS-A and NEWS-CS required 2-3 theoretically-justifiable modifications to fit the data well. The NEWS-CS possesses sufficient levels of reliability and factorial validity to be used for measuring perceived neighborhood environment in Chinese seniors. Further work is needed to assess its construct validity and generalizability to other Asian locations. In general, the measurement model of the original NEWS-A was generalizable to this study context, supporting the feasibility of cross-country and age-group comparisons of the effect of the neighborhood environment on walking using the NEWS-A as a tool to measure the perceived built environment.

How do changes to the built environment influence walking behaviors? a longitudinal study within a university campus in Hong Kong

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Previous studies testing the association between the built environment and walking behavior have been largely cross-sectional and have yielded mixed results. This study reports on a natural experiment in which changes to the built environment were implemented at a university campus in Hong Kong. Longitudinal data on walking behaviors were collected using surveys, one before and one after changes to the built environment, to test the influence of changes to the built environment on walking behavior. Methods Built environment data are from a university campus in Hong Kong, and include land use, campus bus services, pedestrian network, and population density data collected from campus maps, the university developmental office, and field surveys. Walking behavior data were collected at baseline in March 2012 (n = 198) and after changes to the built environment from the same cohort of subjects in December 2012 (n = 169) using a walking diary. Geographic information systems (GIS) was used to map walking routes and built environment variables, and compare each subject’s walking behaviors and built environment exposure before and after the changes to the built environment. Walking behavior outcomes were changes in: i) walking distance, ii) destination-oriented walking, and iii) walked altitude range. Multivariable linear regression models were used to test for associations between changes to the built environment and changes in walking behaviors. Results Greater pedestrian network connectivity predicted longer walking distances and an increased likelihood of walking as a means of transportation. The increased use of recreational (vs. work) buildings, largely located at mid-range altitudes, as well as increased population density predicted greater walking distances.Having more bus services and a greater population density encouraged people to increase their walked altitude range. Conclusions In this longitudinal study, changes to the built environment were associated with changes in walking behaviors. Use of GIS combined with walking diaries presents a practical method for mapping and measuring changes in the built environment and walking behaviors, respectively. Additional longitudinal studies can help clarify the relationships between the built environment and walking behaviors identified in this natural experiment. PMID:25069949

The elderly in the shopping centers: the usability study of semipublic spaces as attractiveness generator.

PubMed

Bittencourt, Maria Cristina; do Valle Pereira, Vera Lúcia Duarte; Pacheco, Waldemar

2012-01-01

This article aims to study the importance of the attributes of usability and attractiveness for the semi-public spaces of Shopping Centers considering the elderly users, the psycho-cognitive and bio-physiological changes resulting from the aging process, as well as their expectations of the built space. Through a qualitative study of theoretical review with a multidisciplinary focus in architecture, ergonomics, gerontology, environmental psychology and management, the conditions of the elderly users were identified, and also the attributes related to usability and attractiveness, collected in order to understand and organize their interrelationships, to suggest recommendations about the drafting of Shopping Centers, aiming to generate projects and environments that should promote the efficient and satisfactory use for elderly and may also create a competitive advantage for these enterprises.

Parametric Modelling of As-Built Beam Framed Structure in Bim Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, X.; Koehl, M.; Grussenmeyer, P.

2017-02-01

A complete documentation and conservation of a historic timber roof requires the integration of geometry modelling, attributional and dynamic information management and results of structural analysis. Recently developed as-built Building Information Modelling (BIM) technique has the potential to provide a uniform platform, which provides possibility to integrate the traditional geometry modelling, parametric elements management and structural analysis together. The main objective of the project presented in this paper is to develop a parametric modelling tool for a timber roof structure whose elements are leaning and crossing beam frame. Since Autodesk Revit, as the typical BIM software, provides the platform for parametric modelling and information management, an API plugin, able to automatically create the parametric beam elements and link them together with strict relationship, was developed. The plugin under development is introduced in the paper, which can obtain the parametric beam model via Autodesk Revit API from total station points and terrestrial laser scanning data. The results show the potential of automatizing the parametric modelling by interactive API development in BIM environment. It also integrates the separate data processing and different platforms into the uniform Revit software.

Built environment attributes related to GPS measured active trips in mid-life and older adults with mobility disabilities.

PubMed

Gell, Nancy M; Rosenberg, Dori E; Carlson, Jordan; Kerr, Jacqueline; Belza, Basia

2015-04-01

Understanding factors which may promote walking in mid-life and older adults with mobility impairments is key given the association between physical activity and positive health outcomes. To examine the relationship between active trips and objective measures of the home neighborhood built environment. Global positioning systems (GPS) data collected on 28 adults age 50+ with mobility disabilities were analyzed for active trips from home. Objective and geographic information systems (GIS) derived measures included Walk Score, population density, street connectivity, crime rates, and slope within the home neighborhood. For this cross-sectional observational study, we conducted mean comparisons between participants who took active trips from home and those who did not for the objective measures. Effect sizes were calculated to assess the magnitude of group differences. Nine participants (32%) took active trips from home. Walking in the home neighborhood was significantly associated with GIS derived measures (Walk Score, population density, and street density; effect sizes 0.9-1.2). Participants who used the home neighborhood for active trips had less slope within 1 km of home but the difference was not significant (73.5 m ± 22 vs. 100.8 m ± 38.1, p = 0.06, d = 0.8). There were no statistically significant differences in mean scores for crime rates between those with active trips from home and those without. The findings provide preliminary evidence that more walkable environments promote active mobility among mid-life and older adults with mobility disabilities. The data suggest that this population can and does use active transportation modes when the built environment is supportive. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The built environment and alcohol consumption in urban neighborhoods.

PubMed

Bernstein, Kyle T; Galea, Sandro; Ahern, Jennifer; Tracy, Melissa; Vlahov, David

2007-12-01

To examine the relations between characteristics of the neighborhood built environment and recent alcohol use. We recruited participants through a random digit dial telephone survey of New York City (NYC) residents. Alcohol consumption was assessed using a structured interview. All respondents were assigned to neighborhood of residence. Data on the internal and external built environment in 59 NYC neighborhoods were collected from archival sources. Multilevel models were used to assess the adjusted relations between features of the built environment and alcohol use. Of the 1355 respondents, 40% reported any alcohol consumption in the past 30 days, and 3% reported more than five drinks in one sitting (heavy drinking) in the past 30 days. Few characteristics of the built environment were associated with any alcohol use in the past 30 days. However, several features of the internal and external built environment were associated with recent heavy drinking. After adjustment, persons living in neighborhoods characterized by poorer features of the built environment were up to 150% more likely to report heavy drinking in the last 30 days compared to persons living in neighborhoods characterized by a better built environment. Quality of the neighborhood built environment may be associated with heavy alcohol consumption in urban populations, independent of individual characteristics. The role of the residential environment as a determinant of alcohol abuse warrants further examination.

Health Impacts of the Built Environment: Within-Urban Variability in Physical Inactivity, Air Pollution, and Ischemic Heart Disease Mortality

PubMed Central

Hankey, Steve; Brauer, Michael

2011-01-01

Background: Physical inactivity and exposure to air pollution are important risk factors for death and disease globally. The built environment may influence exposures to these risk factors in different ways and thus differentially affect the health of urban populations. Objective: We investigated the built environment’s association with air pollution and physical inactivity, and estimated attributable health risks. Methods: We used a regional travel survey to estimate within-urban variability in physical inactivity and home-based air pollution exposure [particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 μm (PM2.5), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and ozone (O3)] for 30,007 individuals in southern California. We then estimated the resulting risk for ischemic heart disease (IHD) using literature-derived dose–response values. Using a cross-sectional approach, we compared estimated IHD mortality risks among neighborhoods based on “walkability” scores. Results: The proportion of physically active individuals was higher in high- versus low-walkability neighborhoods (24.9% vs. 12.5%); however, only a small proportion of the population was physically active, and between-neighborhood variability in estimated IHD mortality attributable to physical inactivity was modest (7 fewer IHD deaths/100,000/year in high- vs. low-walkability neighborhoods). Between-neighborhood differences in estimated IHD mortality from air pollution were comparable in magnitude (9 more IHD deaths/100,000/year for PM2.5 and 3 fewer IHD deaths for O3 in high- vs. low-walkability neighborhoods), suggesting that population health benefits from increased physical activity in high-walkability neighborhoods may be offset by adverse effects of air pollution exposure. Policy implications: Currently, planning efforts mainly focus on increasing physical activity through neighborhood design. Our results suggest that differences in population health impacts among neighborhoods are similar in magnitude for air pollution and physical activity. Thus, physical activity and exposure to air pollution are critical aspects of planning for cleaner, health-promoting cities. PMID:22004949

The built environment moderates effects of family-based childhood obesity treatment over 2 years.

PubMed

Epstein, Leonard H; Raja, Samina; Daniel, Tinuke Oluyomi; Paluch, Rocco A; Wilfley, Denise E; Saelens, Brian E; Roemmich, James N

2012-10-01

Research suggests the neighborhood built environment is related to child physical activity and eating. The purpose of this study was to determine if characteristics of the neighborhood environment moderate the relationship between obesity treatment and weight loss, and if outcomes of particular treatments are moderated by built environment characteristics. The relationship between the built environment and standardized BMI (zBMI) changes for 191 8-12-year-old children who participated in one of four randomized, controlled trials of pediatric weight management was assessed using mixed models analysis of covariance. At 2-year follow-up, greater parkland, fewer convenience stores, and fewer supermarkets were associated with greater zBMI reduction across all interventions. No treatments interacted with characteristics of the built environment. Activity- and eating-related built neighborhood characteristics are associated with child success in behavioral obesity treatments. Efficacy may be improved by individualizing treatments based on built environment characteristics.

Children's physical activity and parents' perception of the neighborhood environment: neighborhood impact on kids study.

PubMed

Tappe, Karyn A; Glanz, Karen; Sallis, James F; Zhou, Chuan; Saelens, Brian E

2013-03-27

Physical activity is important to children's physical health and well-being. Many factors contribute to children's physical activity, and the built environment has garnered considerable interest recently, as many young children spend much of their time in and around their immediate neighborhood. Few studies have identified correlates of children's activity in specific locations. This study examined associations between parent report of their home neighborhood environment and children's overall and location-specific physical activity. Parents and children ages 6 to 11 (n=724), living in neighborhoods identified through objective built environment factors as high or low in physical activity environments, were recruited from Seattle and San Diego metropolitan areas, 2007-2009. Parents completed a survey about their child's activity and perceptions of home neighborhood environmental attributes. Children wore an accelerometer for 7 days. Multivariate regression models explored perceived environment correlates of parent-reported child's recreational physical activity in their neighborhood, in parks, and in general, as well as accelerometry-based moderate-to-vigorous activity (MVPA) minutes. Parent-reported proximity to play areas correlated positively with both accelerometery MVPA and parent-reported total child physical activity. Lower street connectivity and higher neighborhood aesthetics correlated with higher reported child activity in the neighborhood, while reported safety from crime and walk and cycle facilities correlated positively with reported child activity in public recreation spaces. Different aspects of parent's perceptions of the neighborhood environment appear to correlate with different aspects of children's activity. However, prioritizing closer proximity to safe play areas may best improve children's physical activity and, in turn, reduce their risk of obesity and associated chronic diseases.

Comprehensive model for predicting perceptual image quality of smart mobile devices.

PubMed

Gong, Rui; Xu, Haisong; Luo, M R; Li, Haifeng

2015-01-01

An image quality model for smart mobile devices was proposed based on visual assessments of several image quality attributes. A series of psychophysical experiments were carried out on two kinds of smart mobile devices, i.e., smart phones and tablet computers, in which naturalness, colorfulness, brightness, contrast, sharpness, clearness, and overall image quality were visually evaluated under three lighting environments via categorical judgment method for various application types of test images. On the basis of Pearson correlation coefficients and factor analysis, the overall image quality could first be predicted by its two constituent attributes with multiple linear regression functions for different types of images, respectively, and then the mathematical expressions were built to link the constituent image quality attributes with the physical parameters of smart mobile devices and image appearance factors. The procedure and algorithms were applicable to various smart mobile devices, different lighting conditions, and multiple types of images, and performance was verified by the visual data.

RiskScape Volcano: Development of a risk assessment tool for volcanic hazards

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deligne, Natalia; King, Andrew; Jolly, Gill; Wilson, Grant; Wilson, Tom; Lindsay, Jan

2013-04-01

RiskScape is a multi-hazard risk assessment tool developed by GNS Science and the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd. (NIWA) in New Zealand that models the risk and impact of various natural hazards on a given built environment. RiskScape has a modular structure: the hazard module models hazard exposure (e.g., ash thickness at a given location), the asset module catalogues assets (built environment, infrastructure, and people) and their attributes exposed to the hazard, and the vulnerability module models the consequences of asset exposure to the hazard. Hazards presently included in RiskScape are earthquakes, river floods, tsunamis, windstorms, and ash from volcanic eruptions (specifically from Ruapehu). Here we present our framework for incorporating other volcanic hazards (e.g., pyroclastic density currents, lava flows, lahars, ground deformation) into RiskScape along with our approach for assessing asset vulnerability. We also will discuss the challenges of evaluating risk for 'point source' (e.g., stratovolcanoes) vs 'diffuse' (e.g., volcanic fields) volcanism using Ruapehu and the Auckland volcanic field as examples. Once operational, RiskScape Volcano will be a valuable resource both in New Zealand and internationally as a practical tool for evaluating risk and also as an example for how to predict the consequences of volcanic eruptions on both rural and urban environments.

Kids in the city study: research design and methodology.

PubMed

Oliver, Melody; Witten, Karen; Kearns, Robin A; Mavoa, Suzanne; Badland, Hannah M; Carroll, Penelope; Drumheller, Chelsea; Tavae, Nicola; Asiasiga, Lanuola; Jelley, Su; Kaiwai, Hector; Opit, Simon; Lin, En-Yi Judy; Sweetsur, Paul; Barnes, Helen Moewaka; Mason, Nic; Ergler, Christina

2011-07-24

Physical activity is essential for optimal physical and psychological health but substantial declines in children's activity levels have occurred in New Zealand and internationally. Children's independent mobility (i.e., outdoor play and traveling to destinations unsupervised), an integral component of physical activity in childhood, has also declined radically in recent decades. Safety-conscious parenting practices, car reliance and auto-centric urban design have converged to produce children living increasingly sedentary lives. This research investigates how urban neighborhood environments can support or enable or restrict children's independent mobility, thereby influencing physical activity accumulation and participation in daily life. The study is located in six Auckland, New Zealand neighborhoods, diverse in terms of urban design attributes, particularly residential density. Participants comprise 160 children aged 9-11 years and their parents/caregivers. Objective measures (global positioning systems, accelerometers, geographical information systems, observational audits) assessed children's independent mobility and physical activity, neighborhood infrastructure, and streetscape attributes. Parent and child neighborhood perceptions and experiences were assessed using qualitative research methods. This study is one of the first internationally to examine the association of specific urban design attributes with child independent mobility. Using robust, appropriate, and best practice objective measures, this study provides robust epidemiological information regarding the relationships between the built environment and health outcomes for this population.

Quality of Life for Diverse Older Adults in Assisted Living: The Centrality of Control.

PubMed

Koehn, Sharon D; Mahmood, Atiya N; Stott-Eveneshen, Sarah

This pilot project asked: How do ethnically diverse older adult residents of assisted living (AL) facilities in British Columbia (BC) experience quality of life? And, what role, if any, do organizational and physical environmental features play in influencing how quality of life is experienced? The study was conducted at three AL sites in BC: two ethnoculturally targeted and one nontargeted. Environmental audits at each site captured descriptive data on policies, fees, rules, staffing, meals, and activities, and the built environment of the AL building and neighborhood. Using a framework that understands the quality of life of older adults to be contingent on their capability to pursue 5 conceptual attributes-attachment, role, enjoyment, security, and control-we conducted 3 focus groups with residents (1 per site) and 6 interviews with staff (2 per site). Attributes were linked to the environmental features captured in the audits. All dimensions of the environment, especially organizational, influence tenants' capability to attain the attributes of quality of life, most importantly control. Although many tenants accept the trade-off between increased safety and diminished control that accompanies a move into AL, more could be done to minimize that loss. Social workers can advocate for the necessary multi-sectoral changes.

Kids in the city study: research design and methodology

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Physical activity is essential for optimal physical and psychological health but substantial declines in children's activity levels have occurred in New Zealand and internationally. Children's independent mobility (i.e., outdoor play and traveling to destinations unsupervised), an integral component of physical activity in childhood, has also declined radically in recent decades. Safety-conscious parenting practices, car reliance and auto-centric urban design have converged to produce children living increasingly sedentary lives. This research investigates how urban neighborhood environments can support or enable or restrict children's independent mobility, thereby influencing physical activity accumulation and participation in daily life. Methods/Design The study is located in six Auckland, New Zealand neighborhoods, diverse in terms of urban design attributes, particularly residential density. Participants comprise 160 children aged 9-11 years and their parents/caregivers. Objective measures (global positioning systems, accelerometers, geographical information systems, observational audits) assessed children's independent mobility and physical activity, neighborhood infrastructure, and streetscape attributes. Parent and child neighborhood perceptions and experiences were assessed using qualitative research methods. Discussion This study is one of the first internationally to examine the association of specific urban design attributes with child independent mobility. Using robust, appropriate, and best practice objective measures, this study provides robust epidemiological information regarding the relationships between the built environment and health outcomes for this population. PMID:21781341

Built-up land mapping capabilities of the ASTER and Landsat ETM+ sensors in coastal areas of southeastern China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Hanqiu; Huang, Shaolin; Zhang, Tiejun

2013-10-01

Worldwide urbanization has accelerated expansion of urban built-up lands and resulted in substantial negative impacts on the global environments. Precisely measuring the urban sprawl is becoming an increasing need. Among the satellite-based earth observation systems, the Landsat and ASTER data are most suitable for mesoscale measurements of urban changes. Nevertheless, to date the difference in the capability of mapping built-up land between the two sensors is not clear. Therefore, this study compared the performances of the Landsat-7 ETM+ and ASTER sensors for built-up land mapping in the coastal areas of southeastern China. The comparison was implemented on three date-coincident image pairs and achieved by using three approaches, including per-band-based, index-based, and classification-based comparisons. The index used is the Index-based Built-up Index (IBI), while the classification algorithm employed is the Support Vector Machine (SVM). Results show that in the study areas, ETM+ and ASTER have an overall similar performance in built-up land mapping but also differ in several aspects. The IBI values determined from ASTER were consistently higher than from ETM+ by up to 45.54% according to percentage difference. The ASTER also estimates more built-up land area than ETM+ by 5.9-6.3% estimated with the IBI-based approach or 3.9-6.1% with the SVM classification. The differences in the spectral response functions and spatial resolution between relative spectral bands of the two sensors are attributed to these different performances.

Parental perceived built environment measures and active play in Washington DC metropolitan children.

PubMed

Roberts, Jennifer D; Knight, Brandon; Ray, Rashawn; Saelens, Brian E

2016-06-01

Previous research identified associations between perceived built environment and adult physical activity; however, fewer studies have explored associations in children. The Built Environment and Active Play (BEAP) Study examined relationships between children's active play and parental perceptions of home neighborhood built environments within the Washington, DC metropolitan area (DMV). With this cross-sectional study, a questionnaire was administered in 2014 to parents of children (7-12 years old) residing in the DMV. Data were collected on children's active play, home built environment parental perceptions, and demographics. Active play response data were dichotomized by whether the child did or did not meet the 60-min/day Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans (PAGAs) recommendation. Perceived home neighborhood built environment data were also dichotomized. Chi-square tests determined differences in parental perceived built environment measures between active and non-active child groups. Logistic regression assessed the association of parental perceived built environment variables with active play while adjusting for demographic variables. The BEAP Study population (n = 144) included a uniquely diverse population of children with 23.7% African Americans and 10.4% Asian Americans. A statistically significant greater proportion of active children's parents agreed with the importance of neighborhood esthetics, active play areas, walkability and safety as compared to the parents of non-active children. Fully adjusted logistic regression models demonstrated that some parental perceived built environment measures (e.g. access to play equipment) were predictors of their children meeting the 60-min/day PAGA recommendation. Our findings support the important role of home neighborhood built environment perceptions on childhood active play.

Primary Care Practice Development: A Relationship-Centered Approach

PubMed Central

Miller, William L.; Crabtree, Benjamin F.; Nutting, Paul A.; Stange, Kurt C.; Jaén, Carlos Roberto

2010-01-01

PURPOSE Numerous primary care practice development efforts, many related to the patient-centered medical home (PCMH), are emerging across the United States with few guides available to inform them. This article presents a relationship-centered practice development approach to understand practice and to aid in fostering practice development to advance key attributes of primary care that include access to first-contact care, comprehensive care, coordination of care, and a personal relationship over time. METHODS Informed by complexity theory and relational theories of organizational learning, we built on discoveries from the American Academy of Family Physicians’ National Demonstration Project (NDP) and 15 years of research to understand and improve primary care practice. RESULTS Primary care practices can fruitfully be understood as complex adaptive systems consisting of a core (a practice’s key resources, organizational structure, and functional processes), adaptive reserve (practice features that enhance resilience, such as relationships), and attentiveness to the local environment. The effectiveness of these attributes represents the practice’s internal capability. With adequate motivation, healthy, thriving practices advance along a pathway of slow, continuous developmental change with occasional rapid periods of transformation as they evolve better fits with their environment. Practice development is enhanced through systematically using strategies that involve setting direction and boundaries, implementing sensing systems, focusing on creative tensions, and fostering learning conversations. CONCLUSIONS Successful practice development begins with changes that strengthen practices’ core, build adaptive reserve, and expand attentiveness to the local environment. Development progresses toward transformation through enhancing primary care attributes. PMID:20530396

Application of GIS to modified models of vehicle emission dispersion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jin, Taosheng; Fu, Lixin

This paper reports on a preliminary study of the forecast and evaluation of transport-related air pollution dispersion in urban areas. Some modifications of the traditional Gauss dispersion models are provided, and especially a crossroad model is built, which considers the great variation of vehicle emission attributed to different driving patterns at the crossroad. The above models are combined with a self-developed geographic information system (GIS) platform, and a simulative system with graphical interfaces is built. The system aims at visually describing the influences on the urban environment by urban traffic characteristics and therefore gives a reference to the improvement of urban air quality. Due to the introduction of a self-developed GIS platform and a creative crossroad model, the system is more effective, flexible and accurate. Finally, a comparison of the simulated (predicted) and observed hourly concentration is given, which indicates a good simulation.

Perceived Neighborhood Environmental Attributes Associated with Walking and Cycling for Transport among Adult Residents of 17 Cities in 12 Countries: The IPEN Study

PubMed Central

Kerr, Jacqueline; Emond, Jennifer A.; Badland, Hannah; Reis, Rodrigo; Sarmiento, Olga; Carlson, Jordan; Sallis, James F.; Cerin, Ester; Cain, Kelli; Conway, Terry; Schofield, Grant; Macfarlane, Duncan J.; Christiansen, Lars B.; Van Dyck, Delfien; Davey, Rachel; Aguinaga-Ontoso, Ines; Salvo, Deborah; Sugiyama, Takemi; Owen, Neville; Mitáš, Josef; Natarajan, Loki

2015-01-01

Introduction Prevalence of walking and cycling for transport is low and varies greatly across countries. Few studies have examined neighborhood perceptions related to walking and cycling for transport in different countries. Therefore, it is challenging to prioritize appropriate built-environment interventions. Objectives The aim of this study was to examine the strength and shape of the relationship between adults’ neighborhood perceptions and walking and cycling for transport across diverse environments. Methods As part of the International Physical activity and Environment Network (IPEN) adult project, self-reported data were taken from 13,745 adults (18–65 years) living in physically and socially diverse neighborhoods in 17 cities across 12 countries. Neighborhood perceptions were measured using the Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale, and walking and cycling for transport were measured using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire–Long Form. Generalized additive mixed models were used to model walking or cycling for transport during the last seven days with neighborhood perceptions. Interactions by city were explored. Results Walking-for-transport outcomes were significantly associated with perceived residential density, land use mix–access, street connectivity, aesthetics, and safety. Any cycling for transport was significantly related to perceived land use mix–access, street connectivity, infrastructure, aesthetics, safety, and perceived distance to destinations. Between-city differences existed for some attributes in relation to walking or cycling for transport. Conclusions Many perceived environmental attributes supported both cycling and walking; however, highly walkable environments may not support cycling for transport. People appear to walk for transport despite safety concerns. These findings can guide the implementation of global health strategies. Citation Kerr J, Emond JA, Badland H, Reis R, Sarmiento O, Carlson J, Sallis JF, Cerin E, Cain K, Conway T, Schofield G, Macfarlane DJ, Christiansen LB, Van Dyck D, Davey R, Aguinaga-Ontoso I, Salvo D, Sugiyama T, Owen N, Mitáš J, Natarajan L. 2016. Perceived neighborhood environmental attributes associated with walking and cycling for transport among adult residents of 17 cities in 12 countries: the IPEN study. Environ Health Perspect 124:290–298; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1409466 PMID:26186801

Correlates of non-concordance between perceived and objective measures of walkability.

PubMed

Gebel, Klaus; Bauman, Adrian; Owen, Neville

2009-04-01

Objective and self-reported physical environmental attributes have been related to physical activity. We examined the characteristics of adults who are resident in objectively identified high walkable neighborhoods but whose perceptions of neighborhood attributes are not concordant with objective attributes relating to high walkability. Neighborhood built-environment attributes relating to walkability (dwelling density, intersection density, land use mix, and net retail area) were determined objectively, using Geographic Information System databases; data on corresponding perceptions of local environment attributes (from the Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale) were derived from a self-completion survey of a socially diverse sample of 2,650 adults aged 19 to 65. Objective and perceived walkability attributes were categorized using median splits, and correlates of non-concordance were determined using multiple logistic regression models. There was a fair overall agreement between objectively determined walkability and perceived walkability (Kappa = 0.35, 95% CI = 0.31-0.39). Among those resident in objectively assessed high walkable areas (n = 1,063), 32.1% perceived them to be low walkable; conversely, 32.7% (n = 1,021) resident in objectively determined low walkability areas perceived them to be high. For residents of objectively determined high walkable areas, the characteristics that differentiated those with perceptions of low walkability (non-concordant perceptions) from those with concordant perceptions of high walkability were: not being university-educated (OR = 1.47, 95% CI = 1.06-2.04); having lower household incomes (OR = 1.54, 95% CI = 1.09-2.17); being overweight (OR = 1.46, 95% CI = 1.03-2.07); and walking fewer days per week for transport (OR = 1.75, 95% CI = 1.11-2.70). Higher walking times and more positive cognitive variables were noted among participants who lived in a neighborhood with low walkability that was perceived as high compared to those who lived in a high walkable environment that was perceived as low walkable. Adults with lower educational attainment and lower incomes, who were overweight, or who were less physically active for transportation purposes, were more likely to misperceive their high walkable neighborhood as low walkable. There is the potential for physical activity promotion and persuasion strategies to address non-concordant perceptions, especially among those who live in high walkable environments but perceive them to be low and also among those who are socially disadvantaged and are less active. Perceptions of environmental attributes may be more strongly correlated with cognitive antecedents and with behavior than are objective measures.

Using Green Building As A Model For Making Health Promotion Standard In The Built Environment.

PubMed

Trowbridge, Matthew J; Worden, Kelly; Pyke, Christopher

2016-11-01

The built environment-the constructed physical parts of the places where people live and work-is a powerful determinant of both individual and population health. Awareness of the link between place and health is growing within the public health sector and among built environment decision makers working in design, construction, policy, and both public and private finance. However, these decision makers lack the knowledge, tools, and capacity to ensure that health and well-being are routinely considered across all sectors of the built environment. The green building industry has successfully established environmental sustainability as a normative part of built environment practice, policy making, and investment. We explore the value of this industry's experience as a template for promoting health and well-being in the built environment. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

Parental perception of built environment characteristics and built environment use among Latino families: a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Heerman, William J; Mitchell, Stephanie J; Thompson, Jessica; Martin, Nina C; Sommer, Evan C; van Bakergem, Margaret; Taylor, Julie Lounds; Buchowski, Maciej S; Barkin, Shari L

2016-11-22

Perception of undesirable features may inhibit built environment use for physical activity among underserved families with children at risk for obesity. To examine the association of perceived availability, condition, and safety of the built environment with its self-reported use for physical activity, we conducted a cross-sectional analysis on baseline data from a randomized controlled trial. Adjusted Poisson regression was used to test the association between the primary independent variables (perceived availability, physical condition, and safety) with the primary outcome of self-reported use of built environment structures. Among 610 parents (90% Latino) of preschool-age children, 158 (26%) reported that there were no available built environment structures for physical activity in the neighborhood. The use of built environment structures was associated with the perceived number of available structures (B = 0.34, 95% CI 0.31, 0.37, p < 0.001) and their perceived condition (B = 0.19, 95% CI 0.12, 0.27, p = 0.001), but not with perceived safety (B = 0.00, 95% CI -0.01, 0.01, p = 0.7). In this sample of underserved families, perceived availability and condition of built environment structures were associated with use rather than perceived safety. To encourage physical activity among underserved families, communities need to invest in the condition and availability of built environment structures. Registered at ClinicalTrials.gov ( NCT01316653 ) on March 11, 2011.

External built residential environment characteristics that affect mental health of adults.

PubMed

Ochodo, Charles; Ndetei, D M; Moturi, W N; Otieno, J O

2014-10-01

External built residential environment characteristics include aspects of building design such as types of walls, doors and windows, green spaces, density of houses per unit area, and waste disposal facilities. Neighborhoods that are characterized by poor quality external built environment can contribute to psychosocial stress and increase the likelihood of mental health disorders. This study investigated the relationship between characteristics of external built residential environment and mental health disorders in selected residences of Nakuru Municipality, Kenya. External built residential environment characteristics were investigated for 544 residents living in different residential areas that were categorized by their socioeconomic status. Medically validated interview schedules were used to determine mental health of residents in the respective neighborhoods. The relationship between characteristics of the external built residential environment and mental health of residents was determined by multivariable logistic regression analyses and chi-square tests. The results show that walling materials used on buildings, density of dwelling units, state of street lighting, types of doors, states of roofs, and states of windows are some built external residential environment characteristics that affect mental health of adult males and females. Urban residential areas that are characterized by poor quality external built environment substantially expose the population to daily stressors and inconveniences that increase the likelihood of developing mental health disorders.

Direct and Indirect Associations Between the Built Environment and Leisure and Utilitarian Walking in Older Women.

PubMed

Troped, Philip J; Tamura, Kosuke; McDonough, Meghan H; Starnes, Heather A; James, Peter; Ben-Joseph, Eran; Cromley, Ellen; Puett, Robin; Melly, Steven J; Laden, Francine

2017-04-01

The built environment predicts walking in older adults, but the degree to which associations between the objective built environment and walking for different purposes are mediated by environmental perceptions is unknown. We examined associations between the neighborhood built environment and leisure and utilitarian walking and mediation by the perceived environment among older women. Women (N = 2732, M age  = 72.8 ± 6.8 years) from Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and California completed a neighborhood built environment and walking survey. Objective population and intersection density and density of stores and services variables were created within residential buffers. Perceived built environment variables included measures of land use mix, street connectivity, infrastructure for walking, esthetics, traffic safety, and personal safety. Regression and bootstrapping were used to test associations and indirect effects. Objective population, stores/services, and intersection density indirectly predicted leisure and utilitarian walking via perceived land use mix (odds ratios (ORs) = 1.01-1.08, 95 % bias corrected and accelerated confidence intervals do not include 1). Objective density of stores/services directly predicted ≥150 min utilitarian walking (OR = 1.11; 95% CI = 1.02, 1.22). Perceived land use mix (ORs = 1.16-1.44) and esthetics (ORs = 1.24-1.61) significantly predicted leisure and utilitarian walking, CONCLUSIONS: Perceived built environment mediated associations between objective built environment variables and walking for leisure and utilitarian purposes. Interventions for older adults should take into account how objective built environment characteristics may influence environmental perceptions and walking.

Tools for estimating VMT reductions from built environment changes.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-06-01

Built environment characteristics are associated with walking, bicycling, transit use, and vehicle : miles traveled (VMT). Developing built environments supportive of walking, bicycling, and transit use : can help meet state VMT reduction goals. But ...

Children’s physical activity and parents’ perception of the neighborhood environment: neighborhood impact on kids study

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Physical activity is important to children’s physical health and well-being. Many factors contribute to children’s physical activity, and the built environment has garnered considerable interest recently, as many young children spend much of their time in and around their immediate neighborhood. Few studies have identified correlates of children’s activity in specific locations. This study examined associations between parent report of their home neighborhood environment and children’s overall and location-specific physical activity. Methods Parents and children ages 6 to 11 (n=724), living in neighborhoods identified through objective built environment factors as high or low in physical activity environments, were recruited from Seattle and San Diego metropolitan areas, 2007–2009. Parents completed a survey about their child’s activity and perceptions of home neighborhood environmental attributes. Children wore an accelerometer for 7 days. Multivariate regression models explored perceived environment correlates of parent-reported child’s recreational physical activity in their neighborhood, in parks, and in general, as well as accelerometry-based moderate-to-vigorous activity (MVPA) minutes. Results Parent-reported proximity to play areas correlated positively with both accelerometery MVPA and parent-reported total child physical activity. Lower street connectivity and higher neighborhood aesthetics correlated with higher reported child activity in the neighborhood, while reported safety from crime and walk and cycle facilities correlated positively with reported child activity in public recreation spaces. Conclusions Different aspects of parent’s perceptions of the neighborhood environment appear to correlate with different aspects of children’s activity. However, prioritizing closer proximity to safe play areas may best improve children’s physical activity and, in turn, reduce their risk of obesity and associated chronic diseases. PMID:23531282

Effects of environmental design on patient outcome: a systematic review.

PubMed

Laursen, Jannie; Danielsen, Anne; Rosenberg, Jacob

2014-01-01

The aim of this systematic review was to assess how inpatients were affected by the built environment design during their hospitalization. Over the last decade, the healthcare system has become increasingly aware of how focus on healthcare environment might affect patient satisfaction. The focus on environmental design has become a field with great potential because of its possible impact on cost control while improving quality of care. A systematic literature search was conducted to identify current and past studies about evidence-based healthcare design. The following databases were searched: Medline/PubMed, Cinahl, and Embase. Inclusion criteria were randomized clinical trials (RCTs) investigating the effect of built environment design interventions such as music, natural murals, and plants in relation to patients' health outcome. Built environment design aspects such as audio environment and visual environment had a positive influence on patients' health outcomes. Specifically the studies indicated a decrease in patients' anxiety, pain, and stress levels when exposed to certain built environment design interventions. The built environment, especially specific audio and visual aspects, seems to play an important role in patients' outcomes, making hospitals a better healing environment for patients. Built environment, evidence-based design, healing environments, hospitals, literature review.

Built Environment Education in Art Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guilfoil, Joanne K., Ed.; Sandler, Alan R., Ed.

This anthology brings the study of the built environment, its design, social and cultural functions, and the criticism thereof into focus. Following a preface and introduction, 22 essays are organized in three parts. Part 1 includes: (1) "Landscape Art and the Role of the Natural Environment in Built Environment Education" (Heather…

The built environment & the impact of neighborhood characteristics on youth sexual risk behavior in Cape Town, South Africa

PubMed Central

Burns, Paul A.; Snow, Rachel C.

2012-01-01

Youth sexual risk behavior is often described in social terms, and there has been limited attention to date on how measures of the built environment, including access to municipal services, impact sexual risk behavior, particularly in resource-limited countries. Using the Cape Area Panel Study, we assessed the impact of neighborhood conditions (six single items and a built environment index (BEI)), net of individual socio-demographic factors. The results suggest that built environment factors are associated with sexual risk behavior. Also, the magnitude of associations between built environment factors and sexual risk behavior was more pronounced for females than for males. PMID:22704913

Compact development and VMT: environmental determinism, self-selection, or some of both?

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ewing, Reid; Hamidi, Shima; Grace, James B.

2016-01-01

There is a long-running debate in the planning literature about the effects of the built environment on travel behavior and the degree to which apparent effects are due to the tendency of households to self-select into neighborhoods that reinforce their travel preferences. Those who want to walk will choose walkable neighborhoods, and those who want to use transit will choose transit-served neighborhoods. These households might have walked or used transit more than their neighbors wherever they lived. Most previous studies have shown that individual attitudes attenuate the relationship between the residential environment and travel choices, and so the effect of the built environment on travel may be overestimated. But there are other researchers who argue the reverse, claiming that residential preferences reinforce built environmental influences. This study assesses the relative importance of the built environment and residential preferences/travel attitudes for a sample of 962 households in the Greater Salt Lake region using structural equation modeling. For the sake of simplicity, we extracted two factors using principal component analysis, one representing the built environment and the other representing residential preferences/attitudes. Our findings are consistent with the view that the neighborhood built environment and residential preferences both influence household’s travel, that the built environment is the stronger influence, and that the built environment affects travel through two causal pathways, one direct and the other indirect, through attitudes.

A novel tool for assessing and summarizing the built environment

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background A growing corpus of research focuses on assessing the quality of the local built environment and also examining the relationship between the built environment and health outcomes and indicators in communities. However, there is a lack of research presenting a highly resolved, systematic, and comprehensive spatial approach to assessing the built environment over a large geographic extent. In this paper, we contribute to the built environment literature by describing a tool used to assess the residential built environment at the tax parcel-level, as well as a methodology for summarizing the data into meaningful indices for linkages with health data. Methods A database containing residential built environment variables was constructed using the existing body of literature, as well as input from local community partners. During the summer of 2008, a team of trained assessors conducted an on-foot, curb-side assessment of approximately 17,000 tax parcels in Durham, North Carolina, evaluating the built environment on over 80 variables using handheld Global Positioning System (GPS) devices. The exercise was repeated again in the summer of 2011 over a larger geographic area that included roughly 30,700 tax parcels; summary data presented here are from the 2008 assessment. Results Built environment data were combined with Durham crime data and tax assessor data in order to construct seven built environment indices. These indices were aggregated to US Census blocks, as well as to primary adjacency communities (PACs) and secondary adjacency communities (SACs) which better described the larger neighborhood context experienced by local residents. Results were disseminated to community members, public health professionals, and government officials. Conclusions The assessment tool described is both easily-replicable and comprehensive in design. Furthermore, our construction of PACs and SACs introduces a novel concept to approximate varying scales of community and describe the built environment at those scales. Our collaboration with community partners at all stages of the tool development, data collection, and dissemination of results provides a model for engaging the community in an active research program. PMID:23075269

The perceived and built environment surrounding urban schools and physical activity among adolescent girls.

PubMed

Hager, Erin R; Witherspoon, Dawn O; Gormley, Candice; Latta, Laura W; Pepper, M Reese; Black, Maureen M

2013-02-01

Neighborhood perceived/built environment and physical activity (PA) associations have been examined for adolescents around homes, but not surrounding schools. The purpose of this paper is to examine if positive perceptions/built environment in neighborhoods surrounding schools predict PA among low-income, urban adolescent girls. Measures include: minutes in moderate-vigorous PA (MVPA, ankle accelerometry), perceptions of the school environment (questionnaire), built environment (neighborhood audit). Analyses include multi-level models. Two hundred twenty-four sixth and seventh grade girls [mean(sd) age = 12.1(0.7) years] from 12 schools serving low-income, primarily African American communities; mean MVPA 35.4 min (mean days assessed = 5.8). Girls in schools with more positive perceptions of the neighborhood environment surrounding the school were less active (β = 7.2, p = 0.043). Having "places to go within walking distance" (perceptions) and number of food stores near school (built environment) positively relate to MVPA (β = 5.5, p = 0.042 and β = 0.59, p = 0.047). Among neighborhoods surrounding urban schools, positive perceptions do not predict PA; accessibility, via both perceived and built environment, support PA.

Childcare outdoor renovation as a built environment health promotion strategy: evaluating the preventing obesity by design intervention.

PubMed

Cosco, Nilda G; Moore, Robin C; Smith, William R

2014-01-01

To evaluate the effectiveness of Preventing Obesity by Design (POD), a childcare center outdoor renovation intervention. Pre-post intervention evaluation. North Carolina licensed childcare centers (N = 27). Preschool children. Outdoor renovation, teacher training. Behavior mapping, Preschool Outdoor Environment Measurement Scale (POEMS), center director interview. Descriptive statistics, ordinary least squares and logistic regressions calculated to assess levels of association between environmental change, children's physical activity (PA), social behaviors, and environmental quality. Qualitative interview data analyzed to help understand intervention impact. Behavior mapping showed that site layout attributes, such as the form (i.e., "single loop" and "double loop") of pathways (functioning as circulation routes and wheeled toy settings), are associated with higher levels of PA. Teacher interaction was associated with decreased children's PA. Absence of teacher or lack of child/child interaction was associated with increased PA. POEMS assessment of environmental quality was higher after renovation. POEMS domains (Physical Space and Teacher/Caregiver Roles) were positively associated with PA. After renovation, 68% of center directors reported positive changes in children's behavior and 40% mentioned edible plant installations as greatest success. Built environment renovation of childcare center outdoors, including looped pathways installation, coupled with teacher training, may support increased PA. Renovation, including food gardens, may be a key to success for preschool health promotion and support change in childcare policy.

Built environment change: a framework to support health-enhancing behaviour through environmental policy and health research.

PubMed

Berke, Ethan M; Vernez-Moudon, Anne

2014-06-01

As research examining the effect of the built environment on health accelerates, it is critical for health and planning researchers to conduct studies and make recommendations in the context of a robust theoretical framework. We propose a framework for built environment change (BEC) related to improving health. BEC consists of elements of the built environment, how people are exposed to and interact with them perceptually and functionally, and how this exposure may affect health-related behaviours. Integrated into this framework are the legal and regulatory mechanisms and instruments that are commonly used to effect change in the built environment. This framework would be applicable to medical research as well as to issues of policy and community planning.

Overview of ergonomics built environment.

PubMed

Costa, Ana Paula Lima; Campos, Fábio; Villarouco, Vilma

2012-01-01

This article provides an overview of academic research in the scientific discipline of ergonomics in the context of the built environment, from data collected from journals, conferences and research groups whose focus is the theme of the Ergonomics of Built Environment. Starting from the context of the Ergonomics of Built Environment, it identifies the broadcast media who publish work in this area and its scientific production, seeking to recover from the first published papers to the production of the most recent scientific journals and conferences to be launched 2010. From this mapping, we identified the major outstanding and open issues in these studies, outlining the state of the art Ergonomics Built Environment, in order to inform those interested and intend to develop scientific research in this field.

Cohort profile: Examining Neighbourhood Activities in Built Living Environments in London: the ENABLE London—Olympic Park cohort

PubMed Central

Ram, Bina; Nightingale, Claire M; Hudda, Mohammed T; Kapetanakis, Venediktos V; Ellaway, Anne; Cooper, Ashley R; Page, Angie; Lewis, Daniel; Cummins, Steven; Giles-Corti, Billie; Whincup, Peter H; Cook, Derek G; Rudnicka, Alicja R; Owen, Christopher G

2016-01-01

Purpose The Examining Neighbourhood Activities in Built Living Environments in London (ENABLE London) project is a natural experiment which aims to establish whether physical activity and other health behaviours show sustained changes among individuals and families relocating to East Village (formerly the London 2012 Olympics Athletes' Village), when compared with a control population living outside East Village throughout. Participants Between January 2013 and December 2015, 1497 individuals from 1006 households were recruited and assessed (at baseline) (including 392 households seeking social housing, 421 seeking intermediate and 193 seeking market rent homes). The 2-year follow-up rate is 62% of households to date, of which 57% have moved to East Village. Findings to date Assessments of physical activity (measured objectively using accelerometers) combined with Global Positioning System technology and Geographic Information System mapping of the local area are being used to characterise physical activity patterns and location among study participants and assess the attributes of the environments to which they are exposed. Assessments of body composition, based on weight, height and bioelectrical impedance, have been made and detailed participant questionnaires provide information on socioeconomic position, general health/health status, well-being, anxiety, depression, attitudes to leisure time activities and other personal, social and environmental influences on physical activity, including the use of recreational space and facilities in their residential neighbourhood. Future plans The main analyses will examine the changes in physical activity, health and well-being observed in the East Village group compared with controls and the influence of specific elements of the built environment on observed changes. The ENABLE London project exploits a unique opportunity to evaluate a ‘natural experiment’, provided by the building and rapid occupation of East Village. Findings from the study will be generalisable to other urban residential housing developments, and will help inform future evidence-based urban planning. PMID:27793838

How the built environment affects physical activity: views from urban planning.

PubMed

Handy, Susan L; Boarnet, Marlon G; Ewing, Reid; Killingsworth, Richard E

2002-08-01

The link between the built environment and human behavior has long been of interest to the field of urban planning, but direct assessments of the links between the built environment and physical activity as it influences personal health are still rare in the field. Yet the concepts, theories, and methods used by urban planners provide a foundation for an emerging body of research on the relationship between the built environment and physical activity. Recent research efforts in urban planning have focused on the idea that land use and design policies can be used to increase transit use as well as walking and bicycling. The development of appropriate measures for the built environment and for travel behavior is an essential element of this research. The link between the built environment and travel behavior is then made using theoretical frameworks borrowed from economics, and in particular, the concept of travel as a derived demand. The available evidence lends itself to the argument that a combination of urban design, land use patterns, and transportation systems that promotes walking and bicycling will help create active, healthier, and more livable communities. To provide more conclusive evidence, however, researchers must address the following issues: An alternative to the derived-demand framework must be developed for walking, measures of the built environment must be refined, and more-complete data on walking must be developed. In addition, detailed data on the built environment must be spatially matched to detailed data on travel behavior.

Transformative Learning: Innovating Sustainability Education in Built Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Iyer-Raniga, Usha; Andamon, Mary Myla

2016-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to evaluate how transformative learning is key to innovating sustainability education in the built environment in the region's universities, in addition to reporting on the research project undertaken to integrate sustainability thinking and practice into engineering/built environment curricula in Asia-Pacific…

Announcement: Community Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation for Built Environment Interventions to Increase Physical Activity.

PubMed

2017-05-05

The Community Preventive Services Task Force recently posted new information on its website: "Physical Activity: Built Environment Approaches Combining Transportation System Interventions with Land Use and Environmental Design." This information is available at https://www.thecommunityguide.org/findings/physical-activity-built-environment-approaches.

Focus group discussion in built environment qualitative research practice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Omar, D.

2018-02-01

Focus groups discussion is a useful way in built environment for qualitative research practice. Drawing upon recent reviews of focus group discussion and examples of how focus group discussions have been used by researchers and educators, this paper provides what actually happens in focus group discussion as practiced. There is difference between group of people and topic of interest. This article examines the focus group discussions as practiced in built environment. Thus, there is broad form of focus group discussions as practiced in built environment and the applications are varied.

Regional differences of physical activity and sedentary behaviour in Swiss children are not explained by socio-demographics or the built environment.

PubMed

Bringolf-Isler, Bettina; Mäder, Urs; Dössegger, Alain; Hofmann, Heidi; Puder, Jardena J; Braun-Fahrländer, Charlotte; Kriemler, Susi

2015-03-01

We evaluated whether regional differences in physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviour (SB) existed along language boundaries within Switzerland and whether potential differences would be explained by socio-demographics or environmental characteristics. We combined data of 611 children aged 4 to 7 years from four regional studies. PA and SB were assessed by accelerometers. Information about the socio-demographic background was obtained by questionnaires. Objective neighbourhood attributes could be linked to home addresses. Multivariate regression models were used to test associations between PA and SB and socio-demographic characteristics and neighbourhood attributes. Children from the German compared to the French-speaking region were more physically active and less sedentary (by 10-15 %, p < 0.01). Although German-speaking children lived in a more favourable environment and a higher socioeconomic neighbourhood (differences p < 0.001), these characteristics did not explain the differences in PA behaviour between French and German speaking. Factors related to the language region, which might be culturally rooted were among the strongest correlates of PA and SB among Swiss children, independent of individual, social and environmental factors.

Built environment and diabetes

PubMed Central

Pasala, Sudhir Kumar; Rao, Allam Appa; Sridhar, G. R.

2010-01-01

Development of type 2 diabetes mellitus is influenced by built environment, which is, ‘the environments that are modified by humans, including homes, schools, workplaces, highways, urban sprawls, accessibility to amenities, leisure, and pollution.’ Built environment contributes to diabetes through access to physical activity and through stress, by affecting the sleep cycle. With globalization, there is a possibility that western environmental models may be replicated in developing countries such as India, where the underlying genetic predisposition makes them particularly susceptible to diabetes. Here we review published information on the relationship between built environment and diabetes, so that appropriate modifications can be incorporated to reduce the risk of developing diabetes mellitus. PMID:20535308

The Role of Education for Democracy in Linking Social Justice to the "Built" Environment: The Case of Post-Earthquake Haiti

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carr, Paul R.; Pluim, Gary; Thésée, Gina

2014-01-01

The manner in which the built environment is constructed has a tremendous effect on the degree to which health, wealth and social outcomes are distributed within a society. This is particularly evident when a crisis of the natural environment affects the built environment, as was the case after the Haitian earthquake of 2010. Understanding the…

Distributed Lag Models: Examining Associations between the Built Environment and Health

PubMed Central

Baek, Jonggyu; Sánchez, Brisa N.; Berrocal, Veronica J.; Sanchez-Vaznaugh, Emma V.

2016-01-01

Built environment factors constrain individual level behaviors and choices, and thus are receiving increasing attention to assess their influence on health. Traditional regression methods have been widely used to examine associations between built environment measures and health outcomes, where a fixed, pre-specified spatial scale (e.g., 1 mile buffer) is used to construct environment measures. However, the spatial scale for these associations remains largely unknown and misspecifying it introduces bias. We propose the use of distributed lag models (DLMs) to describe the association between built environment features and health as a function of distance from the locations of interest and circumvent a-priori selection of a spatial scale. Based on simulation studies, we demonstrate that traditional regression models produce associations biased away from the null when there is spatial correlation among the built environment features. Inference based on DLMs is robust under a range of scenarios of the built environment. We use this innovative application of DLMs to examine the association between the availability of convenience stores near California public schools, which may affect children’s dietary choices both through direct access to junk food and exposure to advertisement, and children’s body mass index z-scores (BMIz). PMID:26414942

The Built Environment and Its Relationship to the Public’s Health: The Legal Framework

PubMed Central

Perdue, Wendy Collins; Stone, Lesley A.; Gostin, Lawrence O.

2003-01-01

The built environment significantly affects the public’s health. This was most obvious when infectious disease was the primary public health threat during the industrial revolution; unsanitary conditions and overcrowded urban areas facilitated the spread of infection. However, even today in the age of chronic diseases there remains an important connection between population health and the built environment. Physical spaces can expose people to toxins or pollutants and influence lifestyles that contribute to diabetes, coronary vascular disease, and asthma. Public health advocates can help shape the design of cities and suburbs in ways that improve public health, but to do so effectively they need to understand the legal framework. This article reviews the connection between public health and the built environment and then describes the legal pathways for improving the design of our built environment. PMID:12948949

Perceived neighborhood environmental attributes associated with adults’ transport-related walking and cycling: Findings from the USA, Australia and Belgium

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Active transportation has the potential to contribute considerably to overall physical activity levels in adults and is likely to be influenced by neighborhood-related built environment characteristics. Previous studies that examined the associations between built environment attributes and active transportation, focused mainly on transport-related walking and were conducted within single countries, limiting environmental variability. We investigated the direction and shape of relationships of perceived neighborhood attributes with transport-related cycling and walking in three countries; and examined whether these associations differed by country and gender. Methods Data from the USA (Baltimore and Seattle), Australia (Adelaide) and Belgium (Ghent) were pooled. In total, 6,014 adults (20–65 years, 55.7% women) were recruited in high-/low-walkable and high-/low-income neighborhoods. All participants completed the Neighborhood Environmental Walkability Scale and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Generalized additive mixed models were used to estimate the strength and shape of the associations. Results Proximity to destinations, good walking and cycling facilities, perceiving difficulties in parking near local shopping areas, and perceived aesthetics were included in a ‘cyclability’ index. This index was linearly positively related to transport-related cycling and no gender- or country-differences were observed. The ‘walkability’ index consisted of perceived residential density, land use mix access, proximity of destinations and aesthetics. A non-linear positive relationship with transport-related walking was found. This association was stronger in women than in men, and country-specific associations were identified: the strongest association was observed in Seattle, the weakest in Adelaide. In Ghent, the association weakened at higher levels of walkability. Conclusions For cycling, consistent correlates were found in the three countries, but associations were less straightforward for transport-related walking. Moreover, the identified neighborhood environmental correlates were different for walking compared to cycling. In order to further clarify the shape of these associations and reach more specific international guidelines for developing walkable and bikeable neighborhoods, future studies should include even more countries to maximize environmental variability. PMID:22691723

Human Behavior and Environmental Sustainability: promoting a pro-environmental behavior by harnessing the social, psychological and physical influences of the built environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abusafieh, Shaden; Razem, Maiss

2017-11-01

Recently, technological advancements in the sustainable design field have allowed us to reduce the ecological impact of the built environment, to reduce consumption of non-renewable resources, to create healthy environments and in some cases may even rehabilitate the ecosystem. Nevertheless, several studies have been carried out showing that sustainable technology does not automatically lead to environmentally friendly behaviors in its users. Various environmental problems threaten environmental sustainability and many of these problems are rooted in human behavior. Unfortunately, there is a lack in studies which take into consideration the human behavior influences within a sustainable built environment. We believe that the built environment should be used to support human goals and requirements, but at the same time we should consider it as a context in which human values and behaviors are cultivated. This research aimed to help in promoting environmental sustainability by using architectural design in changing relevant human behavior toward an environmentally friendly behavior. In order to achieve this, the research adopted Environment-centered Approach to gain more acute perspective into the relationship between the physical environment and human behavior, focusing on social, psychological and physical influences of the built environment. It appears that environmental psychology's merits have high potential in changing behavior within the built environment. The research provides a systematic approach for selecting, assessing, evaluating the behaviors to be changed and the factors that determine them. Furthermore, this approach helps in choosing the best interventions that could be applied in built environment to encourage such a sustainable behavior. This study tried to construct an agenda for further researches to find particular architectural design elements and strategies that we can harness to develop a pro-environment human behavior.

Policy, Research and Residents' Perspectives on Built Environments Implicated in Heart Disease: A Concept Mapping Approach.

PubMed

Stankov, Ivana; Howard, Natasha J; Daniel, Mark; Cargo, Margaret

2017-02-09

An underrepresentation of stakeholder perspectives within urban health research arguably limits our understanding of what is a multi-dimensional and complex relationship between the built environment and health. By engaging a wide range of stakeholders using a participatory concept mapping approach, this study aimed to achieve a more holistic and nuanced understanding of the built environments shaping disease risk, specifically cardiometabolic risk (CMR). Moreover, this study aimed to ascertain the importance and changeability of identified environments through government action. Through the concept mapping process, community members, researchers, government and non-government stakeholders collectively identified eleven clusters encompassing 102 built environmental domains related to CMR, a number of which are underrepresented within the literature. Among the identified built environments, open space, public transportation and pedestrian environments were highlighted as key targets for policy intervention. Whilst there was substantive convergence in stakeholder groups' perspectives concerning the built environment and CMR, there were disparities in the level of importance government stakeholders and community members respectively assigned to pedestrian environments and street connectivity. These findings support the role of participatory methods in strengthening how urban health issues are understood and in affording novel insights into points of action for public health and policy intervention.

The Influence of Family Dog Ownership and Parental Perceived Built Environment Measures on Children's Physical Activity within the Washington, DC Area.

PubMed

Roberts, Jennifer D; Rodkey, Lindsey; Grisham, Cortney; Ray, Rashawn

2017-11-16

Sedentary behavior and physical inactivity are significant contributors to youth obesity in the United States. Neighborhood dog walking is an outlet for physical activity (PA). Therefore, understanding the relationship between built environment, dog ownership, and youth PA is essential. This study examined the influence of dog ownership and parental built environment perceptions on children's PA in the Washington, D.C. area. In 2014, questionnaires were mailed to 2000 parents to assess family dog ownership; children's outdoor dog walking or playing; and parental perceived built environment measures. Chi-square analyses examined differences in parental perceived built environment measures between children with and without family dogs. The sample included 144 children (50% female; average-age 9.7 years; 56.3% White; 23.7% African-American; 10.4% Asian-American; 29.9% owned dog). Only 13% and 5.6% of the children walked or played outdoors with the dog daily, respectively. A significantly greater proportion ( p -value < 0.05) of parents who owned dogs recognized and observed some home built environment measures (e.g., traffic speed on most streets is 30 mph or less) that were PA -promoting for their children. Findings suggest that dog ownership may provide more positive parental perceptions of the neighborhood built environment, which supports children's outdoor PA through dog walking and playing.

Creating neighbourhood groupings based on built environment features to facilitate health promotion activities.

PubMed

Schopflocher, Donald; VanSpronsen, Eric; Spence, John C; Vallianatos, Helen; Raine, Kim D; Plotnikoff, Ronald C; Nykiforuk, Candace I J

2012-07-26

Detailed assessments of the built environment often resist data reduction and summarization. This project sought to develop a method of reducing built environment data to an extent that they can be effectively communicated to researchers and community stakeholders. We aim to help in an understanding of how these data can be used to create neighbourhood groupings based on built environment characteristics and how the process of discussing these neighbourhoods with community stakeholders can result in the development of community-informed health promotion interventions. We used the Irvine Minnesota Inventory (IMI) to assess 296 segments of a semi-rural community in Alberta. Expert raters "created" neighbourhoods by examining the data. Then, a consensus grouping was developed using cluster analysis, and the number of IMI variables to characterize the neighbourhoods was reduced by multiple discriminant function analysis. The 296 segments were reduced to a consensus set of 10 neighbourhoods, which could be separated from each other by 9 functions constructed from 24 IMI variables. Biplots of these functions were an effective means of summarizing and presenting the results of the community assessment, and stimulated community action. It is possible to use principled quantitative methods to reduce large amounts of information about the built environment into meaningful summaries. These summaries, or built environment neighbourhoods, were useful in catalyzing action with community stakeholders and led to the development of health-promoting built environment interventions.

Social spaces for young children in hospital.

PubMed

Lambert, V; Coad, J; Hicks, P; Glacken, M

2014-03-01

In the last number of years heightened interest has been attributed to the impact of hospital environments on children's psychosocial well-being. With policy largely built around adult assumptions, knowledge about what constitutes a child-friendly hospital environment from young children's perspectives has been lacking. If hospital environments are to aspire to being child friendly then the views of younger aged children must be taken into account. The current study investigated young children's perspectives of hospital social spaces to inform the design of the built environment of a new children's hospital. An exploratory qualitative participatory design was employed. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews (one-to-one and group workshops) which incorporated art-based activities to actively engage young children. Fifty-five young children aged 5 to 8 years with various acute and chronic illnesses were recruited from inpatient, outpatient and emergency departments of three children's hospitals. Young children want a diversity of readily available, independently accessible, age, gender and developmentally appropriate leisure and entertainment facilities seamlessly integrated throughout the hospital environment. Such activities were invaluable for creating a positive hospital experience for children by combating boredom, enriching choice and control and reducing a sense of isolation through enhanced socialization. When in hospital, young children want to feel socially connected to the internal hospital community as well as to the outside world. Technology can assist to broaden the spectrum of children's social connectivity when in hospital - to home, school and the wider outside world. While technology offers many opportunities to support children's psychosocial well-being when in confined healthcare spaces, the implementation and operation of such services and systems require much further research in the areas of ethics, facilitation, organizational impact and evaluation. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Spatial Cues Provided by Sound Improve Postural Stabilization: Evidence of a Spatial Auditory Map?

PubMed Central

Gandemer, Lennie; Parseihian, Gaetan; Kronland-Martinet, Richard; Bourdin, Christophe

2017-01-01

It has long been suggested that sound plays a role in the postural control process. Few studies however have explored sound and posture interactions. The present paper focuses on the specific impact of audition on posture, seeking to determine the attributes of sound that may be useful for postural purposes. We investigated the postural sway of young, healthy blindfolded subjects in two experiments involving different static auditory environments. In the first experiment, we compared effect on sway in a simple environment built from three static sound sources in two different rooms: a normal vs. an anechoic room. In the second experiment, the same auditory environment was enriched in various ways, including the ambisonics synthesis of a immersive environment, and subjects stood on two different surfaces: a foam vs. a normal surface. The results of both experiments suggest that the spatial cues provided by sound can be used to improve postural stability. The richer the auditory environment, the better this stabilization. We interpret these results by invoking the “spatial hearing map” theory: listeners build their own mental representation of their surrounding environment, which provides them with spatial landmarks that help them to better stabilize. PMID:28694770

From digital earth to digital neighbourhood: A study of subjective measures of walkability attributes in objectively assessed digital neighbourhood

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qureshi, S.; Ho, C. S.

2014-02-01

According to IEA report (2011), about 23% of the World's CO2 emissions result from transport and this is one of the few areas where emissions are still rapidly increasing. The use of private vehicles is one of the principle contributors to green house gas emissions from transport sector. Therefore this paper focuses on the shift to more sustainable and low carbon forms of transportation mode such as walking. Neighbourhood built environment attributes may influence walkability. For this study, the author used a modified version of the "Neighbourhood Environment Walkability Scale" to make comparison between respondents' perceptions regarding attributes of two neighborhoods of Putrajaya. The 21st Century really needs planners to use the Digital Earth Concept, to go from global to regional to national to very local issues, using integrated, advanced technologies such as earth observation, GIS, virtual reality, etc. For this research, two (2) neighborhoods of different densities (High and Low density) were selected. A sample total of 381(195 and 186) between 7 to 65 years old participants were selected For subjective measures we used 54 questions questionnaire survey where as for the objective measures we used desktop 9.3 version of Arc GIS soft ware. Our results shows that respondents who reside in high-walkable neighbourhood precinct 9 in Putrajaya rated factors such as residential density, land use mix, proximity to destination and street connectivity, consistently higher then did respondents of the low walkable neighbourhood precinct 8 in Putrajaya.

The Dark Side:Stigma in purpose-built senior environments

PubMed Central

Hrybyk, G; Rubinstein, RL; Eckert, K; Frankowski, AC; Keimig, L; Nemec, M; Peeples, A; Roth, E; Doyle, PJ

2014-01-01

This paper focuses on stigma in collective living environments for older adults, specifically multi-level campuses. We contrast two design profiles, a purpose-built campus which opened in 1997, and an older setting that grew by accretion over decades. Purpose-built housing is used as originally intended, designed, and constructed; housing built by accretion has been modified over time to meet changing needs and uses. The separation by care levels in both sites is reflected in their cultures as residents and staff relate to physical levels of care through a vocabulary of fear and stigma. Residents of the independent living building on the purpose-built campus refer to the assisted living building, accessed only through a second floor link, as “the other side” or “the dark side.” In this setting we observe stigma assigned to a place in the built environment. By contrast, in the older setting built by accretion over the last century, levels of care feature a less-structured clustering of independent living and assisted living, and common areas were shared by residents from multiple care levels. We have observed less stigma associated with levels of care in this older building. Grounding our analysis in data drawn from ongoing ethnographic research, we focus on the built environment as it relates to stigma in the social environment. The paper concludes with a discussion of the importance and pervasiveness of stigma in senior environments. PMID:25214701

Public spaces and urban sustainability in the tropical built environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yusof, Y. M.; Kozlowski, M.

2018-01-01

Sustainability is an overarching sense of responsibility towards the future. On a city-wide level, urban sustainability incorporates a wide body of changes especially as they relate to the built environment, all of which intended at creating a livable place. This paper discusses existing public spaces in view of their achievement against a set of criteria for the built environment. The paper introduces performance design criteria for the tropical built environment. The key findings indicate that long-term strategies, guidance and directions for the city and region can achieve development which corresponds to local climate, synergies and provide a higher proportion of public spaces that offer something for everyone.

Built Environment and Elderly Population Health: A Comprehensive Literature Review

PubMed Central

Garin, Noe; Olaya, Beatriz; Miret, Marta; Ayuso-Mateos, Jose Luis; Power, Michael; Bucciarelli, Paola; Haro, Josep Maria

2014-01-01

Global population aging over recent years has been linked to poorer health outcomes and higher healthcare expenditure. Policies focusing on healthy aging are currently being developed but a complete understanding of health determinants is needed to guide these efforts. The built environment and other external factors have been added to the International Classification of Functioning as important determinants of health and disability. Although the relationship between the built environment and health has been widely examined in working age adults, research focusing on elderly people is relatively recent. In this review, we provide a comprehensive synthesis of the evidence on the built environment and health in the elderly. PMID:25356084

Place-focused physical activity research, human agency, and social justice in public health: taking agency seriously in studies of the built environment.

PubMed

Blacksher, Erika; Lovasi, Gina S

2012-03-01

Built environment characteristics have been linked to health outcomes and health disparities. However, the effects of an environment on behavior may depend on human perception, interpretation, motivation, and other forms of human agency. We draw on epidemiological and ethical concepts to articulate a critique of research on the built environment and physical activity. We identify problematic assumptions and enumerate both scientific and ethical reasons to incorporate subjective perspectives and public engagement strategies into built environment research and interventions. We maintain that taking agency seriously is essential to the pursuit of health equity and the broader demands of social justice in public health, an important consideration as studies of the built environment and physical activity increasingly focus on socially disadvantaged communities. Attention to how people understand their environment and navigate competing demands can improve the scientific value of ongoing efforts to promote active living and health, while also better fulfilling our ethical obligations to the individuals and communities whose health we strive to protect. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Our Built and Natural Environments

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Our Built and Natural Environments summarizes research that shows how development patterns affect the environment and human health, and how certain development patterns can reduce the environmental and human health impacts of development.

Exploring the Role of the Built and Social Neighborhood Environment in Moderating Stress and Health

PubMed Central

Yang, Tse-Chuan

2014-01-01

Background Health researchers have explored how different aspects of neighborhood characteristics contribute to health and well-being, but current understanding of built environment factors is limited. Purpose This study explores whether the association between stress and health varies by residential neighborhood, and if yes, whether built and social neighborhood environment characteristics act as moderators. Methods This study uses multilevel modeling and variables derived from geospatial data to explore the role of neighborhood environment in moderating the association of stress with health. Individual-level data (N=4,093) were drawn from residents of 45 neighborhoods within Philadelphia County, PA, collected as part of the 2006 Philadelphia Health Management Corporation's Household Health Survey. Results We find that the negative influence of high stress varied by neighborhood, that residential stability and affluence (social characteristics) attenuated the association of high stress with health, and that the presence of hazardous waste facilities (built environment characteristics) moderated health by enhancing the association with stress. Conclusions Our findings suggest that neighborhood environment has both direct and moderating associations with health, after adjusting for individual characteristics. The use of geospatial data could broaden the scope of stress–health research and advance knowledge by untangling the intertwined relationship between built and social environments, stress, and health. In particular, future studies should integrate built environment characteristics in health-related research; these characteristics are modifiable and can facilitate health promotion policies. PMID:20300905

Using a Total Environment Framework (Built, Natural, Social Environments) to Assess Life-long Health Effects of Chemical Exposures

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPAseeks applications for research on how pollution affects human health in the context of the total environment – built, natural, and social environments interacting together with inherent characteristics and interactions.

Assessing the Nexus of Built, Natural, and Social Environments and Public Health Outcomes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Archer, R.; Alexander, S.; Douglas, J.

2017-12-01

This study investigates community-related environmental justice concerns and chemical and non-chemical health stressors from built, natural, and social environments in Southeast Los Angeles (SELA) County and East Oakland, California. The geographical distribution of health outcomes is related to the built and natural environments, as well as impacts from the social environment. A holistic systems view is important in assessing healthy behaviors within a community, because they do not occur in isolation. Geospatial analysis will be performed to integrate a total environment framework and explore the spatial patterns of exposure to chemical and non-chemical stressors and access to health-promoting environments. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analysis using primary and secondary existing data will be performed to determine how social environments impact exposure to chemical health stressors and access to health-promoting built and natural environments. This project will develop a comprehensive list of health-promoting built and natural environments (e.g., parks and community gardens) and polluting sites (e.g., shipping ports and sources of pollution not included in federal regulatory databases) in East Oakland and SELA. California Department of Public Health and U.S. Decennial Census data will also be included for geospatial analysis to overlay the distribution of air pollution-related morbidities (e.g. asthma, diabetes, and cancer) and access to health-promoting built and natural environments and related community assets, exposure to polluting industries, social disorganization, and public health outcomes in the target areas. This research will help identify the spatial and temporal distribution and cumulative impacts of critical pollution hotspots causing community environmental health impacts. The research team will also map how social environments impact exposure to chemical health stressors and access to health-promoting built and natural environments. The process and outcomes of this research should empower communities and aid decision-makers to integrate environmental justice considerations into public health policies.

Interactive and independent associations between the socioeconomic and objective built environment on the neighbourhood level and individual health: a systematic review of multilevel studies.

PubMed

Schüle, Steffen Andreas; Bolte, Gabriele

2015-01-01

The research question how contextual factors of neighbourhood environments influence individual health has gained increasing attention in public health research. Both socioeconomic neighbourhood characteristics and factors of the built environment play an important role for health and health-related behaviours. However, their reciprocal relationships have not been systematically reviewed so far. This systematic review aims to identify studies applying a multilevel modelling approach which consider both neighbourhood socioeconomic position (SEP) and factors of the objective built environment simultaneously in order to disentangle their independent and interactive effects on individual health. The three databases PubMed, PsycINFO, and Web of Science were systematically searched with terms for title and abstract screening. Grey literature was not included. Observational studies from USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Western European countries were considered which analysed simultaneously factors of neighbourhood SEP and the objective built environment with a multilevel modelling approach. Adjustment for individual SEP was a further inclusion criterion. Thirty-three studies were included in qualitative synthesis. Twenty-two studies showed an independent association between characteristics of neighbourhood SEP or the built environment and individual health outcomes or health-related behaviours. Twenty-one studies found cross-level or within-level interactions either between neighbourhood SEP and the built environment, or between neighbourhood SEP or the built environment and individual characteristics, such as sex, individual SEP or ethnicity. Due to the large variation of study design and heterogeneous reporting of results the identification of consistent findings was problematic and made quantitative analysis not possible. There is a need for studies considering multiple neighbourhood dimensions and applying multilevel modelling in order to clarify their causal relationship towards individual health. Especially, more studies using comparable characteristics of neighbourhood SEP and the objective built environment and analysing interactive effects are necessary to disentangle health impacts and identify vulnerable neighbourhoods and population groups.

Interactive and Independent Associations between the Socioeconomic and Objective Built Environment on the Neighbourhood Level and Individual Health: A Systematic Review of Multilevel Studies

PubMed Central

Schüle, Steffen Andreas; Bolte, Gabriele

2015-01-01

Background The research question how contextual factors of neighbourhood environments influence individual health has gained increasing attention in public health research. Both socioeconomic neighbourhood characteristics and factors of the built environment play an important role for health and health-related behaviours. However, their reciprocal relationships have not been systematically reviewed so far. This systematic review aims to identify studies applying a multilevel modelling approach which consider both neighbourhood socioeconomic position (SEP) and factors of the objective built environment simultaneously in order to disentangle their independent and interactive effects on individual health. Methods The three databases PubMed, PsycINFO, and Web of Science were systematically searched with terms for title and abstract screening. Grey literature was not included. Observational studies from USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Western European countries were considered which analysed simultaneously factors of neighbourhood SEP and the objective built environment with a multilevel modelling approach. Adjustment for individual SEP was a further inclusion criterion. Results Thirty-three studies were included in qualitative synthesis. Twenty-two studies showed an independent association between characteristics of neighbourhood SEP or the built environment and individual health outcomes or health-related behaviours. Twenty-one studies found cross-level or within-level interactions either between neighbourhood SEP and the built environment, or between neighbourhood SEP or the built environment and individual characteristics, such as sex, individual SEP or ethnicity. Due to the large variation of study design and heterogeneous reporting of results the identification of consistent findings was problematic and made quantitative analysis not possible. Conclusions There is a need for studies considering multiple neighbourhood dimensions and applying multilevel modelling in order to clarify their causal relationship towards individual health. Especially, more studies using comparable characteristics of neighbourhood SEP and the objective built environment and analysing interactive effects are necessary to disentangle health impacts and identify vulnerable neighbourhoods and population groups. PMID:25849569

Antifragility and Tinkering in Biology (and in Business) Flexibility Provides an Efficient Epigenetic Way to Manage Risk

PubMed Central

Danchin, Antoine; Binder, Philippe M.; Noria, Stanislas

2011-01-01

The notion of antifragility, an attribute of systems that makes them thrive under variable conditions, has recently been proposed by Nassim Taleb in a business context. This idea requires the ability of such systems to ‘tinker’, i.e., to creatively respond to changes in their environment. A fairly obvious example of this is natural selection-driven evolution. In this ubiquitous process, an original entity, challenged by an ever-changing environment, creates variants that evolve into novel entities. Analyzing functions that are essential during stationary-state life yield examples of entities that may be antifragile. One such example is proteins with flexible regions that can undergo functional alteration of their side residues or backbone and thus implement the tinkering that leads to antifragility. This in-built property of the cell chassis must be taken into account when considering construction of cell factories driven by engineering principles. PMID:24710302

Antifragility and Tinkering in Biology (and in Business) Flexibility Provides an Efficient Epigenetic Way to Manage Risk.

PubMed

Danchin, Antoine; Binder, Philippe M; Noria, Stanislas

2011-11-29

The notion of antifragility, an attribute of systems that makes them thrive under variable conditions, has recently been proposed by Nassim Taleb in a business context. This idea requires the ability of such systems to 'tinker', i.e., to creatively respond to changes in their environment. A fairly obvious example of this is natural selection-driven evolution. In this ubiquitous process, an original entity, challenged by an ever-changing environment, creates variants that evolve into novel entities. Analyzing functions that are essential during stationary-state life yield examples of entities that may be antifragile. One such example is proteins with flexible regions that can undergo functional alteration of their side residues or backbone and thus implement the tinkering that leads to antifragility. This in-built property of the cell chassis must be taken into account when considering construction of cell factories driven by engineering principles.

Market Innovation, Rational Housing Supply and Urban Quality at the Neighbourhood Scale

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Puglisi, Valentina; Celani, Alberto

2017-10-01

Innovation of product, process and markets are the three categories to assess the improvement of a sector. This document is aimed to provide a review of papers about innovation in housing market and analyses solutions adopted by the international market in terms of definition of attributes of housing products. Enlightening aspects linked to quality attributes of housing products and it has been tried to read a common scheme in any study analysed to provide solutions to set innovation hints to enhance market innovation in the sector. The idea of choice, user and buyer categories definition, assessment and rating system is the backbone of the paper, as the parallelism between marketing of industrial goods and services and built environment objects. Quality of the neighbourhood and the idea of an ex-post assessment is the theme behind the last case presented, based on a research made by ABC Department of Politecnico di Milano in a neighbourhood in Milano, aimed to assess its quality.

The research and development of water resources management information system based on ArcGIS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cui, Weiqun; Gao, Xiaoli; Li, Yuzhi; Cui, Zhencai

According to that there are large amount of data, complexity of data type and format in the water resources management, we built the water resources calculation model and established the water resources management information system based on the advanced ArcGIS and Visual Studio.NET development platform. The system can integrate the spatial data and attribute data organically, and manage them uniformly. It can analyze spatial data, inquire by map and data bidirectionally, provide various charts and report forms automatically, link multimedia information, manage database etc. . So it can provide spatial and static synthetical information services for study, management and decision of water resources, regional geology and eco-environment etc..

Effective use of the built environment to manage behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia: a systematic review.

PubMed

Soril, Lesley J J; Leggett, Laura E; Lorenzetti, Diane L; Silvius, James; Robertson, Duncan; Mansell, Lynne; Holroyd-Leduc, Jayna; Noseworthy, Tom W; Clement, Fiona M

2014-01-01

To determine the effectiveness of built environment interventions in managing behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) among residents in long-term care settings. Systematic review of literature published from 1995-2013. Studies were included if they: were randomized controlled trials, quasi-experimental trials, or comparative cohort studies; were in long-term or specialized dementia care; included residents with dementia and BPSD; and examined effectiveness of a built environment intervention on frequency and/or severity of BPSD. Quality of included studies was assessed using the Downs and Black Checklist. Study design, patient population, intervention, and outcomes were extracted and narratively synthesized. Five low to moderate quality studies were included. Three categories of interventions were identified: change/redesign of existing physical space, addition of physical objects to environment, and type of living environment. One of the two studies that examined change/redesign of physical spaces reported improvements in BPSD. The addition of physical objects to an existing environment (n = 1) resulted in no difference in BPSD between treatment and control groups. The two studies that examined relocation to a novel living environment reported decreased or no difference in the severity and/or frequency of BPSD post-intervention. No studies reported worsening of BPSD following a built environment intervention. The range of built environment interventions is broad, as is the complex and multi-dimensional nature of BPSD. There is inconclusive evidence to suggest a built environment intervention which is clinically superior in long-term care settings. Further high-quality methodological and experimental studies are required to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of such interventions.

Potential Strategies to Eliminate Built Environment Disparities for Disadvantaged and Vulnerable Communities

PubMed Central

Bouye, Karen E.; Skillen, Elizabeth; Lee, Charles; Whitehead, LaToria; Rashid, Jamila R.

2011-01-01

In 2006, the Federal Collaboration on Health Disparities Research (FCHDR) identified the built environment as a priority for eliminating health disparities, and charged the Built Environment Workgroup with identifying ways to eliminate health disparities and improve health outcomes. Despite extensive research and the development of a new conceptual health factors framework, gaps in knowledge exist in areas such as disproportionate environmental and community hazards, individual and cumulative risks, and other factors. The FCHDR provides the structure and opportunity to mobilize and partner with built environment stakeholders, federal partners, and interest groups to develop tools, practices, and policies for translating and disseminating the best available science to reduce health disparities. PMID:21389288

Potential strategies to eliminate built environment disparities for disadvantaged and vulnerable communities.

PubMed

Hutch, Daniel J; Bouye, Karen E; Skillen, Elizabeth; Lee, Charles; Whitehead, Latoria; Rashid, Jamila R

2011-04-01

In 2006, the Federal Collaboration on Health Disparities Research (FCHDR) identified the built environment as a priority for eliminating health disparities, and charged the Built Environment Workgroup with identifying ways to eliminate health disparities and improve health outcomes. Despite extensive research and the development of a new conceptual health factors framework, gaps in knowledge exist in areas such as disproportionate environmental and community hazards, individual and cumulative risks, and other factors. The FCHDR provides the structure and opportunity to mobilize and partner with built environment stakeholders, federal partners, and interest groups to develop tools, practices, and policies for translating and disseminating the best available science to reduce health disparities.

Exposure to natural environments, and photographs of natural environments, promotes more positive body image.

PubMed

Swami, Viren; Barron, David; Furnham, Adrian

2018-03-01

Five studies were conducted to understand the impact of nature exposure on body image. In three studies using different designs and outcome measures, British university students were exposed to photographs of natural or built environments. Results indicated that exposure to images of natural, but not built, environments resulted in improved state body image. In Study 4, British community participants went on a walk in a natural or built environment, with results indicating that the walk in a natural environment resulted in significantly higher state body appreciation, whereas the walk in a built environment resulted in significantly lower scores. In Study 5, British participants were recruited as they were entering a designed green space on their own volition. Results indicated that spending time in the green space led to improved state body appreciation. These results indicate that exposure to isomorphic or in-situ natural environments has positive effects on state body image. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Democratizing Authority in the Built Environment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Andersen, Michael P; Kolb, John; Chen, Kaifei

Operating systems and applications in the built environment have relied upon central authorization and management mechanisms which restrict their scalability, especially with respect to administrative overhead. We propose a new set of primitives encompassing syndication, security, and service execution that unifies the management of applications and services across the built environment, while enabling participants to individually delegate privilege across multiple administrative domains with no loss of security or manageability. We show how to leverage a decentralized authorization syndication platform to extend the design of building operating systems beyond the single administrative domain of a building. The authorization system leveraged ismore » based on blockchain smart contracts to permit decentralized and democratized delegation of authorization without central trust. Upon this, a publish/subscribe syndication tier and a containerized service execution environment are constructed. Combined, these mechanisms solve problems of delegation, federation, device protection and service execution that arise throughout the built environment. We leverage a high-fidelity city-scale emulation to verify the scalability of the authorization tier, and briefly describe a prototypical democratized operating system for the built environment using this foundation.« less

The Built Environment and Child Health: An Overview of Current Evidence.

PubMed

Gascon, Mireia; Vrijheid, Martine; Nieuwenhuijsen, Mark J

2016-09-01

Urbanization and the shaping of the built environment have provided a number of socioeconomic benefits, but they have also brought unwanted side effects on health. We aimed to review the current epidemiological evidence of the associations between the built environment, closely related exposures, and child health. We focused on growth and obesity, neuropsychological development, and respiratory and immune health. We used existing review articles and supplemented these with relevant work published and not included in existing reviews. The present review shows that there is good evidence for an association between air pollution and fetal growth restriction and respiratory health, whereas for other exposure and outcome combinations, further evidence is needed. Future studies should make efforts to integrate the different built environment features and to include the evaluation of environments other than home, as well as accessibility, qualitative and perception assessment of the built environment, and, if possible, with improved and standardized tools to facilitate comparability between studies. Efforts are also needed to conduct longitudinal and intervention studies and to understand potential mechanisms behind the associations observed. Finally, studies in low- and middle-income countries are needed.

The Built Environment and Childhood Obesity in Durham, NC

PubMed Central

Miranda, Marie Lynn; Edwards, Sharon E.; Anthopolos, Rebecca; Dolinsky, Diana H.; Kemper, Alex R.

2013-01-01

The relationship between childhood obesity and aspects of the built environment characterizing neighborhood social context is understudied. We evaluate the association between seven built environment domains and childhood obesity in Durham, NC. Measures of housing damage, property disorder, vacancy, nuisances, and territoriality were constructed using data from a 2008 community assessment. Renter-occupied housing and crime measures were developed from public databases. We linked these measures to 2008–2009 Duke University Medical Center pediatric preventive care visits. Age- and sex-specific body mass index percentiles were used to classify children as normal weight (>5th and ≤ 85th percentile), overweight (>85th and ≤ 95th percentile), or obese (> 95th percentile). Ordinal logistic regression models with cluster-corrected standard errors evaluated the association between weight status and the built environment. Adjusting for child-level socioeconomic characteristics, nuisances and crime were associated with childhood overweight/obesity (P<0.05). Built environment characteristics appear important to childhood weight status in Durham, NC. PMID:22563061

Walking and child pedestrian injury: a systematic review of built environment correlates of safe walking.

PubMed

Rothman, Linda; Buliung, Ron; Macarthur, Colin; To, Teresa; Howard, Andrew

2014-02-01

The child active transportation literature has focused on walking, with little attention to risk associated with increased traffic exposure. This paper reviews the literature related to built environment correlates of walking and pedestrian injury in children together, to broaden the current conceptualization of walkability to include injury prevention. Two independent searches were conducted focused on walking in children and child pedestrian injury within nine electronic databases until March, 2012. Studies were included which: 1) were quantitative 2) set in motorized countries 3) were either urban or suburban 4) investigated specific built environment risk factors 5) had outcomes of either walking in children and/or child pedestrian roadway collisions (ages 0-12). Built environment features were categorized according to those related to density, land use diversity or roadway design. Results were cross-tabulated to identify how built environment features associate with walking and injury. Fifty walking and 35 child pedestrian injury studies were identified. Only traffic calming and presence of playgrounds/recreation areas were consistently associated with more walking and less pedestrian injury. Several built environment features were associated with more walking, but with increased injury. Many features had inconsistent results or had not been investigated for either outcome. The findings emphasise the importance of incorporating safety into the conversation about creating more walkable cities.

Built environment change and change in BMI and waist circumference: Multi-ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.

PubMed

Hirsch, Jana A; Moore, Kari A; Barrientos-Gutierrez, Tonatiuh; Brines, Shannon J; Zagorski, Melissa A; Rodriguez, Daniel A; Diez Roux, Ana V

2014-11-01

To examine longitudinal associations of the neighborhood built environment with objectively measured body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) in a geographically and racial/ethnically diverse group of adults. This study used data from 5,506 adult participants in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, aged 45-84 years in 2000 (baseline). BMI and WC were assessed at baseline and four follow-up visits (median follow-up 9.1 years). Time-varying built environment measures (population density, land-use, destinations, bus access, and street characteristics) were created using Geographic Information Systems. Principal components analysis was used to derive composite scores for three built environment factors. Fixed-effects models, tightly controlling for all time-invariant characteristics, estimated associations between change in the built environment, and change in BMI and WC. Increases in the intensity of development (higher density of walking destinations and population density, and lower percent residential) were associated with less pronounced increases or decreases over time in BMI and WC. Changes in connected retail centers (higher percent retail, higher street connectivity) and public transportation (distance to bus) were not associated with changes in BMI or WC. Longitudinal changes in the built environment, particularly increased density, are associated with decreases in BMI and WC. © 2014 The Obesity Society.

Health and the Built Environment: Exploring Foundations for a New Interdisciplinary Profession

PubMed Central

Kent, Jennifer; Thompson, Susan

2012-01-01

The supportive role of the built environment for human health is a growing area of interdisciplinary research, evidence-based policy development, and related practice. Nevertheless, despite closely linked origins, the contemporary professions of public health and urban planning largely operate within the neoliberal framework of academic, political, and policy silos. A reinvigorated relationship between the two is fundamental to building and sustaining an effective “healthy built environment profession.” A recent comprehensive review of the burgeoning literature on healthy built environments identified an emergent theme which we have termed “Professional Development.” This literature relates to the development of relationships between health and built environment professionals. It covers case studies illustrating good practice models for policy change, as well as ways professionals can work to translate research into policy. Intertwined with this empirical research is a dialogue on theoretical tensions emerging as health and built environment practitioners and researchers seek to establish mutual understanding and respect. The nature of evidence required to justify policy change, for example, has surfaced as an area of asynchrony between accepted disciplinary protocols. Our paper discusses this important body of research with a view to initiating and supporting the ongoing development of an interdisciplinary profession of healthy planning. PMID:23028393

Identifying research needs for wheelchair transfers in the built environment.

PubMed

Crytzer, Theresa Marie; Cooper, Rory; Jerome, Genevieve; Koontz, Alicia

2017-02-01

The purpose of this study is to describe the results of focus groups held during the Independent Wheelchair Transfer (IWT) Workgroup. The aims were to facilitate exchange of ideas on (1) the impact of the built environment on the wheelchair transfer process within the community (i.e. moving from wheelchair to and from other surfaces (e.g. furniture, toilet seat, bath bench, car seat) to participate in daily activities), (2) wheelchair users' needs during transfers in the built environment, and (3) future research directions. Live web-based conferencing using Adobe Connect technology (Clarix Technologies, Inc., Pittsford, NY) was utilized to conduct three focus groups composed of experts in the field of assistive technology. Investigators independently reviewed focus group meeting transcripts and used qualitative methods to identify main themes. Thirty-one experts in assistive technology and related fields participated in focus groups. Nine main themes were found including the effect of transfer skills training, space considerations in the built environment, wheelchair configuration, and the interaction between the built environment, user preferences, and transfer techniques. All groups raised issues about the transfer process in areas of the built environment with limited access, the effect of wheelchair users' transfer techniques, and user preferences during transfers. The area of independent transfers is multi-faceted and several factors require consideration when contemplating environmental changes to improve accessibility for wheelchair users. Obvious opportunity exists for research which could lead to advances in transfer technology, environments, and techniques for wheelchair users. Implications for Rehabilitation Tremendous opportunities for research collaborations in the field of assistive technology: To develop new terminology to describe wheelchair transfers. To improve the design of the built environment for wheelchair users. To investigate wheelchair transfer training techniques.

The physical environment of purpose-built and non-purpose-built supported housing for persons with psychiatric disabilities in Sweden.

PubMed

Johansson, Maria; Brunt, David

2012-04-01

The primary aim of the present study was to investigate if methods derived from environmental psychology can be used to study the qualities of the physical environment of supported housing facilities for persons with psychiatric disabilities. Three units of analysis were selected: the private area, the common indoor area, and the outdoor area. Expert assessments of 110 features of the physical environment in these units and semantic environmental description of the visual experience of them consistently showed that purpose-built supported housing facilities had more physical features important for high quality residential environments than the non-purpose-built supported housing facilities. The employed methods were thus seen to be able to describe and discriminate between qualities in the physical environment of supported housing facilities. Suggestions for the development of tools for the assessment of the physical environment in supported housing are made.

Understanding Physical Activity through Interactions Between the Built Environment and Social Cognition: A Systematic Review.

PubMed

Rhodes, Ryan E; Saelens, Brian E; Sauvage-Mar, Claire

2018-05-16

Few people in most developed nations engage in regular physical activity (PA), despite its well-established health benefits. Socioecological models highlight the potential interaction of multiple factors from policy and the built environment to individual social cognition in explaining PA. The purpose of this review was to appraise this interaction tenet of the socioecological model between the built environment and social cognition to predict PA. Eligible studies had to have been published in peer-reviewed journals in the English language, and included any tests of interaction between social cognition and the built environment with PA. Literature searches, concluded in October 2017, used five common databases. Findings were grouped by type of PA outcomes (leisure, transportation, total PA and total moderate-vigorous PA [MVPA]), then grouped by the type of interactions between social cognitive and built environment constructs. The initial search yielded 308 hits, which was reduced to 22 independent studies of primarily high- to medium-quality after screening for eligibility criteria. The interaction tenet of the socioecological model was not supported for overall MVPA and total PA. By contrast, while there was heterogeneity of findings for leisure-time PA, environmental accessibility/convenience interacted with intention, and environmental aesthetics interacted with affective judgments, to predict leisure-time PA. Interactions between the built environment and social cognition in PA for transport are limited, with current results failing to support an effect. The results provide some support for interactive aspects of the built environment and social cognition in leisure-time PA, and thus highlight potential areas for integrated intervention of individual and environmental change.

Does the built environment moderate the relationship between having a disability and lower levels of physical activity? A systematic review.

PubMed

Eisenberg, Yochai; Vanderbom, Kerri A; Vasudevan, Vijay

2017-02-01

The relationship between the built environment and physical activity has been well documented. However, little is known about how the built environment affects physical activity among people with disabilities, who have disproportionately higher rates of physical inactivity and obesity. This study is the first systematic review to examine the role of the built environment as a moderator of the relationship between having a disability (physical, sensory or cognitive) and lower levels of physical activity. After conducting an extensive search of the literature published between 1990 and 2015, 2039 articles were screened, 126 were evaluated by abstract and 66 by full text for eligibility in the review. Data were abstracted using a predefined coding guide and synthesized from both qualitative and quantitative studies to examine evidence of moderation. Nine quantitative and six qualitative articles met the inclusion criteria. Results showed that most research to date has been on older adults with physical disabilities. People with disabilities described how aspects of the built environment affect neighborhood walking, suggesting a positive moderating role of features related to safety and aesthetic qualities, such as benches, lighting and stop light timing. There were mixed results among studies that examined the relationship quantitatively. Most of the studies were not designed to appropriately examine moderation. Future research should utilize valid and reliable built environment measures that are more specific to disability and should include people with and without disabilities to allow for testing of moderation of the built environment. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Airborne bacterial assemblage in a zero carbon building: A case study.

PubMed

Leung, M H Y; Tong, X; Tong, J C K; Lee, P K H

2018-01-01

Currently, there is little information pertaining to the airborne bacterial communities of green buildings. In this case study, the air bacterial community of a zero carbon building (ZCB) in Hong Kong was characterized by targeting the bacterial 16S rRNA gene. Bacteria associated with the outdoor environment dominated the indoor airborne bacterial assemblage, with a modest contribution from bacteria associated with human skin. Differences in overall community diversity, membership, and composition associated with short (day-to-day) and long-term temporal properties were detected, which may have been driven by specific environmental genera and taxa. Furthermore, time-decay relationships in community membership (based on unweighted UniFrac distances) and composition (based on weighted UniFrac distances) differed depending on the season and sampling location. A Bayesian source-tracking approach further supported the importance of adjacent outdoor air bacterial assemblage in sourcing the ZCB indoor bioaerosol. Despite the unique building attributes, the ZCB microbial assemblage detected and its temporal characteristics were not dissimilar to that of conventional built environments investigated previously. Future controlled experiments and microbial assemblage investigations of other ZCBs will undoubtedly uncover additional knowledge related to how airborne bacteria in green buildings may be influenced by their distinctive architectural attributes. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The built environment and older adults: A literature review and an applied approach to engaging older adults in built environment improvements for health.

PubMed

Tuckett, Anthony G; Banchoff, Ann W; Winter, Sandra J; King, Abby C

2018-03-01

This paper presents a review of the literature about the built environment as it impacts the health of older people. It then introduces the gerontological nurse and researcher to the Our Voice framework for engaging older people as citizen scientists in order to empower them as agents of change in improving their local built environment and ultimately advancing community health. Community-level strategies to promote successful ageing in place are critical both to optimising health outcomes and containing healthcare costs. Such strategies must take into account the influence of the built environment both on individual health behaviours and on overall community health. At the same time, the perspectives and experiences of older people themselves ought to inform policies and practices in a systematic way. Integrative literature review. A wide scan of English language articles published in the EMBASE, PubMed and CINAHL bibliographic databases was conducted. Additional articles were sourced by mining relevant reference lists (i.e., snowball sampling). Papers included were published between 2005 and 2016. Three distinct components emerged from the review: the impact of the built environment on health-in particular the health of older persons; citizen science and its applicability for older people research; and the promise of the Our Voice citizen science framework to activate changes in the built environment that improve older peoples' health. The ageing of the world's population brings with it an increased population-level risk of chronic disease and disability. We present the Our Voice framework, developed by researchers at Stanford University, as a promising strategy for engaging and empowering older people as citizen scientists, as a framework to apply to gerontological nursing and improving community health. Gerontology nurses are encouraged to: (i) Recognise the impact of the built environment and other community-level factors on the health of their patients. (ii) Encourage older adults to take an active role in documenting features of their environments that promote or hinder healthy living. (iii) Support policies and programmes that promote healthy environments. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Teaching Creative Thinking through Architectural Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jeon, Kijeong; Cotner, Teresa L.

2010-01-01

Art and art education are open to broader definitions in the twenty-first century. It is time that teachers seriously think about including built environment design in K-12 art education. The term "built environment" includes interior design, architecture, landscape architecture, and urban planning. Due to increased exposure to built environment…

Using the ICF's environmental factors framework to develop an item bank measuring built and natural environmental features affecting persons with disabilities.

PubMed

Heinemann, Allen W; Lai, Jin-Shei; Wong, Alex; Dashner, Jessica; Magasi, Susan; Hahn, Elizabeth A; Carlozzi, Noelle E; Tulsky, David S; Jerousek, Sara; Semik, Patrick; Miskovic, Ana; Gray, David B

2016-11-01

To develop a measure of natural environment and human-made change features (Chapter 2 of the international classification of functioning, disability, and health) and evaluate the influence of perceived barriers on health-related quality of life. A sample of 570 adults with stroke, spinal cord injury, and traumatic brain injury residing in community settings reported their functioning in home, outdoor, and community settings (mean age = 47.0 years, SD = 16.1). They rated 18 items with a 5-point rating scale to describe the influence of barriers to moving around, seeing objects, hearing sounds, hearing conversations, feeling safe, and regulating temperature and indicated whether any difficulties were due to environmental features. We used Rasch analysis to identify misfitting items and evaluate differential item functioning (DIF) across impairment groups. We computed correlations between barriers and patient-reported outcomes measurement information system (PROMIS) social domain measures and community participation indicators (CPI) measures. The 18 items demonstrated person reliability of .70, discriminating nearly three levels of barriers. All items fit the Rasch model; impairment-related DIF was negligible. Ceiling effects were negligible, but 25 % of the respondents were at the floor, indicating that they did not experience barriers that they attributed to the built and natural environment. As anticipated, barriers correlated moderately with PROMIS and CPI variables, suggesting that although this new item bank measures a construct that is related to participation and health-related quality of life, it also captures something unique. Known-groups validity was supported by wheelchair users reporting a higher level of barriers than did ambulatory respondents. Preliminary evidence supports the reliability and validity of this new measure of barriers to the built and natural environment. This measure allows investigators and clinicians to measure perceptions of the natural environment and human-made changes, providing information that can guide interventions to reduce barriers. Moderate relationships between barriers and PROMIS and CPI variables provide support for the measurement and theory of environmental influences on social health and participation.

A GIS based model for active transportation in the built environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Addison, Veronica Marie Medina

Obesity and physical inactivity have been major risk factors associated with morbidity and mortality in the United States. Recently, obesity and physical inactivity have been on the rise. Determining connections between this trend and the environment could lead to a built environment that is conducive to healthy, active people. In my previous research, I have studied the built environment and its connection to health. For my dissertation, I build on this fundamental work by incorporating energy, specifically by studying the built environment and its connection to energy expenditures. This research models the built environment and combines this with human energy expenditure information in order to provide a planning tool that allows an individual to actively address health issues, particularly obesity. This research focuses on the design and development of an internet based model that enables individuals to understand their own energy expenditures in relation to their environment. The model will work to find the energy consumed by an individual in their navigation through campus. This is accomplished by using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to model the campus and using it as the basis for calculating energy expended through active transportation. Using GIS to create the model allows for the incorporation of built environment factors such as elevation and energy expenditures in relation to physical exertion rate. This research will contribute to the long-term solution to the obesity epidemic by creating healthy communities through smart growth and sustainable design. This research provides users with a tool to use in their current environment for their personal and community well being.

Aerospace Toolbox--a flight vehicle design, analysis, simulation, and software development environment II: an in-depth overview

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Christian, Paul M.

2002-07-01

This paper presents a demonstrated approach to significantly reduce the cost and schedule of non real-time modeling and simulation, real-time HWIL simulation, and embedded code development. The tool and the methodology presented capitalize on a paradigm that has become a standard operating procedure in the automotive industry. The tool described is known as the Aerospace Toolbox, and it is based on the MathWorks Matlab/Simulink framework, which is a COTS application. Extrapolation of automotive industry data and initial applications in the aerospace industry show that the use of the Aerospace Toolbox can make significant contributions in the quest by NASA and other government agencies to meet aggressive cost reduction goals in development programs. The part I of this paper provided a detailed description of the GUI based Aerospace Toolbox and how it is used in every step of a development program; from quick prototyping of concept developments that leverage built-in point of departure simulations through to detailed design, analysis, and testing. Some of the attributes addressed included its versatility in modeling 3 to 6 degrees of freedom, its library of flight test validated library of models (including physics, environments, hardware, and error sources), and its built-in Monte Carlo capability. Other topics that were covered in part I included flight vehicle models and algorithms, and the covariance analysis package, Navigation System Covariance Analysis Tools (NavSCAT). Part II of this series will cover a more in-depth look at the analysis and simulation capability and provide an update on the toolbox enhancements. It will also address how the Toolbox can be used as a design hub for Internet based collaborative engineering tools such as NASA's Intelligent Synthesis Environment (ISE) and Lockheed Martin's Interactive Missile Design Environment (IMD).

Urban microbiomes and urban ecology: how do microbes in the built environment affect human sustainability in cities?

PubMed

King, Gary M

2014-09-01

Humans increasingly occupy cities. Globally, about 50% of the total human population lives in urban environments, and in spite of some trends for deurbanization, the transition from rural to urban life is expected to accelerate in the future, especially in developing nations and regions. The Republic of Korea, for example, has witnessed a dramatic rise in its urban population, which now accounts for nearly 90% of all residents; the increase from about 29% in 1955 has been attributed to multiple factors, but has clearly been driven by extraordinary growth in the gross domestic product accompanying industrialization. While industrialization and urbanization have unarguably led to major improvements in quality of life indices in Korea and elsewhere, numerous serious problems have also been acknowledged, including concerns about resource availability, water quality, amplification of global warming and new threats to health. Questions about sustainability have therefore led Koreans and others to consider deurbanization as a management policy. Whether this offers any realistic prospects for a sustainable future remains to be seen. In the interim, it has become increasingly clear that built environments are no less complex than natural environments, and that they depend on a variety of internal and external connections involving microbes and the processes for which microbes are responsible. I provide here a definition of the urban microbiome, and through examples indicate its centrality to human function and wellbeing in urban systems. I also identify important knowledge gaps and unanswered questions about urban microbiomes that must be addressed to develop a robust, predictive and general understanding of urban biology and ecology that can be used to inform policy-making for sustainable systems.

Health-equity issues related to childhood obesity: a scoping review.

PubMed

Vargas, Clemencia M; Stines, Elsie M; Granado, Herta S

2017-06-01

The purpose of this scoping review was to determine the health-equity issues that relate to childhood obesity. Health-equity issues related to childhood obesity were identified by analyzing food environment, natural and built environment, and social environment. The authors searched Medline, PubMed, and Web of Science, using the keywords "children" and "obesity." Specific terms for each environment were added: "food desert," "advertising," "insecurity," "price," "processing," "trade," and "school" for food environment; "urban design," "land use," "transportation mode," "public facilities," and "market access" for natural and built environment; and "financial capacity/poverty," "living conditions," "transport access," "remoteness," "social support," "social cohesion," "working practices," "eating habits," "time," and "social norms" for social environment. Inclusion criteria were studies or reports with populations under age 12, conducted in the United States, and published in English in 2005 or later. The final search yielded 39 references (16 for food environment, 11 for built environment, and 12 for social environment). Most food-environment elements were associated with obesity, except food insecurity and food deserts. A natural and built environment that hinders access to physical activity resources and access to healthy foods increased the risk of childhood obesity. Similarly, a negative social environment was associated with childhood obesity. More research is needed on the effects of food production, living conditions, time for shopping, and exercise, as related to childhood obesity. Most elements of food, natural and built, and social-environments were associated with weight in children under age 12, except food insecurity and food deserts. © 2017 American Association of Public Health Dentistry.

The effect of changing the built environment on physical activity: a quantitative review of the risk of bias in natural experiments.

PubMed

Benton, Jack S; Anderson, Jamie; Hunter, Ruth F; French, David P

2016-10-07

Evidence regarding the association of the built environment with physical activity is influencing policy recommendations that advocate changing the built environment to increase population-level physical activity. However, to date there has been no rigorous appraisal of the quality of the evidence on the effects of changing the built environment. The aim of this review was to conduct a thorough quantitative appraisal of the risk of bias present in those natural experiments with the strongest experimental designs for assessing the causal effects of the built environment on physical activity. Eligible studies had to evaluate the effects of changing the built environment on physical activity, include at least one measurement before and one measurement of physical activity after changes in the environment, and have at least one intervention site and non-intervention comparison site. Given the large number of systematic reviews in this area, studies were identified from three exemplar systematic reviews; these were published in the past five years and were selected to provide a range of different built environment interventions. The risk of bias in these studies was analysed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Assessment Tool: for Non-Randomized Studies of Interventions (ACROBAT-NRSI). Twelve eligible natural experiments were identified. Risk of bias assessments were conducted for each physical activity outcome from all studies, resulting in a total of fifteen outcomes being analysed. Intervention sites included parks, urban greenways/trails, bicycle lanes, paths, vacant lots, and a senior citizen's centre. All outcomes had an overall critical (n = 12) or serious (n = 3) risk of bias. Domains with the highest risk of bias were confounding (due to inadequate control sites and poor control of confounding variables), measurement of outcomes, and selection of the reported result. The present review focused on the strongest natural experiments conducted to date. Given this, the failure of existing studies to adequately control for potential sources of bias highlights the need for more rigorous research to underpin policy recommendations for changing the built environment to increase physical activity. Suggestions are proposed for how future natural experiments in this area can be improved.

Pedestrians' perceptions of walkability and safety in relation to the built environment in Cali, Colombia, 2009-10.

PubMed

Villaveces, Andrés; Nieto, Luis Alfonso; Ortega, Delia; Ríos, José Fernando; Medina, John Jairo; Gutiérrez, María Isabel; Rodríguez, Daniel

2012-10-01

To assess pedestrians' perceptions of the walkability of the urban environment and pedestrian safety in Cali, Colombia. Standardised intercept interviews were conducted of 400 pedestrians walking in 20 randomly selected urban zones to ascertain frequency of walking, and perceptions of safety, the built environment and security. Four focus group meetings were held with community members and students addressing these issues in an open-ended forum. The study analysed quantitative data collected in street interviews and qualitative information from focus groups addressing respondents' views on problems for pedestrians, how the built environment affects walking and ideal walking conditions. Access to public transportation was deemed the most positive characteristic of the built environment and 61% of respondents liked walking in the street. When disaggregating street conditions, the majority of pedestrians were dissatisfied with their walking experiences. Pedestrians cited lack of respect for norms, personal safety and built environment characteristics as their main concerns. Among frequent walkers, residents tended to rate their neighbourhoods more negatively compared with non-residents. Through qualitative interviews it became apparent that narrow sidewalks that are frequently obstructed by motor vehicles are a key reason for pedestrian dissatisfaction. A perception of overall insecurity further determines how pedestrians assess or modulate their walking in this city. Overall, walking in Cali was perceived negatively by pedestrians because of built environment characteristics and perceptions of insecurity. Qualitative information used to complement intercept surveys can provide a better way to identify pedestrian-specific transport-related problems.

The microbiome of the built environment and mental health.

PubMed

Hoisington, Andrew J; Brenner, Lisa A; Kinney, Kerry A; Postolache, Teodor T; Lowry, Christopher A

2015-12-17

The microbiome of the built environment (MoBE) is a relatively new area of study. While some knowledge has been gained regarding impacts of the MoBE on the human microbiome and disease vulnerability, there is little knowledge of the impacts of the MoBE on mental health. Depending on the specific microbial species involved, the transfer of microorganisms from the built environment to occupant's cutaneous or mucosal membranes has the potential to increase or disrupt immunoregulation and/or exaggerate or suppress inflammation. Preclinical evidence highlighting the influence of the microbiota on systemic inflammation supports the assertion that microorganisms, including those originating from the built environment, have the potential to either increase or decrease the risk of inflammation-induced psychiatric conditions and their symptom severity. With advanced understanding of both the ecology of the built environment, and its influence on the human microbiome, it may be possible to develop bioinformed strategies for management of the built environment to promote mental health. Here we present a brief summary of microbiome research in both areas and highlight two interdependencies including the following: (1) effects of the MoBE on the human microbiome and (2) potential opportunities for manipulation of the MoBE in order to improve mental health. In addition, we propose future research directions including strategies for assessment of changes in the microbiome of common areas of built environments shared by multiple human occupants, and associated cohort-level changes in the mental health of those who spend time in the buildings. Overall, our understanding of the fields of both the MoBE and influence of host-associated microorganisms on mental health are advancing at a rapid pace and, if linked, could offer considerable benefit to health and wellness.

Local health department leadership strategies for healthy built environments.

PubMed

Kuiper, Heather; Jackson, Richard J; Barna, Stefi; Satariano, William A

2012-01-01

The built environment is an important but less-recognized health determinant, and local health departments need expanded guidance to address it. In such situations, leadership is particularly relevant. To assess whether and how local public and environmental health leaders increase their departments' health-promoting impact on built environment design, and what pitfalls they should avoid. Mixed-methods employing cross-sectional surveys and a comparative case study. Local public and environmental health departments. PARTICIPANTS SURVEY: A total of 159 (89%) health officers, health directors, and environmental health directors from all 62 local jurisdictions in California. Case-Study: Three departments, 12 cases, 36 health and land-use professionals, and 30 key informants. The study measured the influence of leadership practices on health departments' built environment-related collaborations, land use activities, policy developments, and contributions to physical changes. Quantitative multivariate linear and logistic regression were used. Case-study content analysis and pattern-matching, which related strong and weak leadership practices to outcomes, were also employed. Departments having highly innovative leaders with positive attitudes had greater odds of achieving physical changes to the built environment (OR: 4.5, 3.4, respectively). Leadership that most prepared their departments for built environment work (by updating staffing, structure, and strategy) tripled interagency and cross-sector collaboration (OR: 3.4). Leadership of successful departments consistently (1) established and managed a healthy built environment vision, (2) cultivated innovation, (3) supported, empowered and protected staff, (4) directly engaged in land use and transportation processes, (5) established direct contacts with directors in other departments, and (6) leveraged their professional reputation. Inconsistency in these practices was twice as common among failure as success cases (80%, 43%). Local health leadership underlies public and environmental health departments' community design efforts and should receive technical support and targeted resources to do so effectively.

The Relationship of Built Environment to Perceived Social Support and Psychological Distress in Hispanic Elders: The Role of “Eyes on the Street”

PubMed Central

Mason, Craig A.; Lombard, Joanna L.; Martinez, Frank; Plater-Zyberk, Elizabeth; Spokane, Arnold R.; Newman, Frederick L.; Pantin, Hilda; Szapocznik, José

2009-01-01

Background Research on contextual and neighborhood effects increasingly includes the built (physical) environment's influences on health and social well-being. A population-based study examined whether architectural features of the built environment theorized to promote observations and social interactions (e.g., porches, windows) predict Hispanic elders’ psychological distress. Methods Coding of built environment features of all 3,857 lots across 403 blocks in East Little Havana, Florida, and enumeration of elders in 16,000 households was followed by assessments of perceived social support and psychological distress in a representative sample of 273 low socioeconomic status (SES) Hispanic elders. Structural-equation modeling was used to assess relationships between block-level built environment features, elders’ perceived social support, and psychological distress. Results Architectural features of the front entrance such as porches that promote visibility from a building's exterior were positively associated with perceived social support. In contrast, architectural features such as window areas that promote visibility from a building's interior were negatively associated with perceived social support. Perceived social support in turn was associated with reduced psychological distress after controlling for demographics. Additionally, perceived social support mediated the relationship of built environment variables to psychological distress. Conclusions Architectural features that facilitate direct, in-person interactions may be beneficial for Hispanic elders’ mental health. PMID:19196696

Understanding the Independent and Joint Associations of the Home and Workplace Built Environments on Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Body Mass Index

PubMed Central

Hoehner, Christine M.; Allen, Peg; Barlow, Carolyn E.; Marx, Christine M.; Brownson, Ross C.; Schootman, Mario

2013-01-01

This observational study examined the associations of built environment features around the home and workplace with cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) based on a treadmill test and body mass index (BMI) (weight (kg)/height (m)2). The study included 8,857 adults aged 20–88 years who completed a preventive medical examination in 2000–2007 while living in 12 Texas counties. Analyses examining workplace neighborhood characteristics included a subset of 4,734 participants. Built environment variables were derived around addresses by using geographic information systems. Models were adjusted for individual-level and census block group–level demographics and socioeconomic status, smoking, BMI (in CRF models), and all other home or workplace built environment variables. CRF was associated with higher intersection density, higher number of private exercise facilities around the home and workplace, larger area of vegetation around the home, and shorter distance to the closest city center. Aside from vegetation, these same built environment features around the home were also associated with BMI. Participants who lived and worked in neighborhoods in the lowest tertiles for intersection density and the number of private exercise facilities had lower CRF and higher BMI values than participants who lived and worked in higher tertiles for these variables. This study contributes new evidence to suggest that built environment features around homes and workplaces may affect health. PMID:23942215

From built environment to health inequalities: An explanatory framework based on evidence

PubMed Central

Gelormino, Elena; Melis, Giulia; Marietta, Cristina; Costa, Giuseppe

2015-01-01

Objective: The Health in All Policies strategy aims to engage every policy domain in health promotion. The more socially disadvantaged groups are usually more affected by potential negative impacts of policies if they are not health oriented. The built environment represents an important policy domain and, apart from its housing component, its impact on health inequalities is seldom assessed. Methods: A scoping review of evidence on the built environment and its health equity impact was carried out, searching both urban and medical literature since 2000 analysing socio-economic inequalities in relation to different components of the built environment. Results: The proposed explanatory framework assumes that key features of built environment (identified as density, functional mix and public spaces and services), may influence individual health through their impact on both natural environment and social context, as well as behaviours, and that these effects may be unequally distributed according to the social position of individuals. Conclusion: In general, the expected links proposed by the framework are well documented in the literature; however, evidence of their impact on health inequalities remains uncertain due to confounding factors, heterogeneity in study design, and difficulty to generalize evidence that is still very embedded to local contexts. PMID:26844145

Do associations between objectively-assessed physical activity and neighbourhood environment attributes vary by time of the day and day of the week? IPEN adult study.

PubMed

Cerin, Ester; Mitáš, Josef; Cain, Kelli L; Conway, Terry L; Adams, Marc A; Schofield, Grant; Sarmiento, Olga L; Reis, Rodrigo Siqueira; Schipperijn, Jasper; Davey, Rachel; Salvo, Deborah; Orzanco-Garralda, Rosario; Macfarlane, Duncan J; De Bourdeaudhuij, Ilse; Owen, Neville; Sallis, James F; Van Dyck, Delfien

2017-03-20

To more accurately quantify the potential impact of the neighbourhood environment on adults' physical activity (PA), it is important to compare environment-PA associations between periods of the day or week when adults are more versus less likely to be in their neighbourhood and utilise its PA resources. We examined whether, among adults from 10 countries, associations between objectively-assessed neighbourhood environment attributes and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) varied by time of the day and day of the week. The secondary aim was to examine whether such associations varied by employment status, gender and city. This cross-sectional study included 6,712 adults from 14 cities across 10 countries with ≥1 day of valid accelerometer-assessed MVPA and complete information on socio-demographic and objectively-assessed environmental characteristics within 0.5 and 1 km street-network buffers around the home. Accelerometer measures (MVPA min/h) were created for six time periods from early morning until late evening/night, for weekdays and weekend days separately. Associations were estimated using generalized additive mixed models. Time of the day, day of week, gender and employment status were significant moderators of environment-MVPA associations. Land use mix was positively associated with MVPA in women who were employed and in men irrespective of their employment status. The positive associations between MVPA and net residential density, intersection density and land use mix were stronger in the mornings of weekdays and the afternoon/evening periods of both weekdays and weekend days. Associations between number of parks and MVPA were stronger in the mornings and afternoon/evenings irrespective of day of the week. Public transport density showed consistent positive associations with MVPA during weekends, while stronger effects on weekdays were observed in the morning and early evenings. This study suggests that space and time constraints in adults' daily activities are important factors that determine the impact of neighbourhood attributes on PA. Consideration of time-specific associations is important to better characterise the magnitude of the effects of the neighbourhood environment on PA. Future research will need to examine the contribution of built environment characteristics of areas surrounding other types of daily life centres (e.g., workplaces) to explaining adults' PA at specific times of the day.

Quantifying multi-dimensional attributes of human activities at various geographic scales based on smartphone tracking.

PubMed

Zhou, Xiaolu; Li, Dongying

2018-05-09

Advancement in location-aware technologies, and information and communication technology in the past decades has furthered our knowledge of the interaction between human activities and the built environment. An increasing number of studies have collected data regarding individual activities to better understand how the environment shapes human behavior. Despite this growing interest, some challenges exist in collecting and processing individual's activity data, e.g., capturing people's precise environmental contexts and analyzing data at multiple spatial scales. In this study, we propose and implement an innovative system that integrates smartphone-based step tracking with an app and the sequential tile scan techniques to collect and process activity data. We apply the OpenStreetMap tile system to aggregate positioning points at various scales. We also propose duration, step and probability surfaces to quantify the multi-dimensional attributes of activities. Results show that, by running the app in the background, smartphones can measure multi-dimensional attributes of human activities, including space, duration, step, and location uncertainty at various spatial scales. By coordinating Global Positioning System (GPS) sensor with accelerometer sensor, this app can save battery which otherwise would be drained by GPS sensor quickly. Based on a test dataset, we were able to detect the recreational center and sports center as the space where the user was most active, among other places visited. The methods provide techniques to address key issues in analyzing human activity data. The system can support future studies on behavioral and health consequences related to individual's environmental exposure.

Built Environment and Obesity by Urbanicity in the U.S

PubMed Central

Xu, Yanqing; Wang, Fahui

2015-01-01

Based on the data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System 2012, this study examines the association of neighborhood built environments with individual physical inactivity and obesity in the U.S. Multilevel modeling is used to control for the effects of individual socio-demographic characteristics. Neighborhood variables include built environment, poverty level and urbanicity at the county level. Among the built environment variables, a poorer street connectivity and a more prominent presence of fast-food restaurants are associated with a higher obesity risk (especially for areas of certain urbanicity levels). Analysis of data subsets divided by areas of different urbanicity levels and by gender reveals the variability of effects of independent variables, more so for the neighborhood variables than individual variables. This implies that some obesity risk factors are geographically specific and vary between men and women. The results lend support to the role of built environment in influencing people’s health behavior and outcome, and promote public policies that need to be geographically adaptable and sensitive to the diversity of demographic groups. PMID:25864019

Built environment and obesity by urbanicity in the U.S.

PubMed

Xu, Yanqing; Wang, Fahui

2015-07-01

Based on the data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System 2012, this study examines the association of neighborhood built environments with individual physical inactivity and obesity in the U.S. Multilevel modeling is used to control for the effects of individual socio-demographic characteristics. Neighborhood variables include built environment, poverty level and urbanicity at the county level. Among the built environment variables, a poorer street connectivity and a more prominent presence of fast-food restaurants are associated with a higher obesity risk (especially for areas of certain urbanicity levels). Analysis of data subsets divided by areas of different urbanicity levels and by gender reveals the variability of effects of independent variables, more so for the neighborhood variables than individual variables. This implies that some obesity risk factors are geographically specific and vary between men and women. The results lend support to the role of built environment in influencing people's health behavior and outcome, and promote public policies that need to be geographically adaptable and sensitive to the diversity of demographic groups. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Factors Shaping the Human Exposome in the Built Environment: Opportunities for Engineering Control.

PubMed

Dai, Dongjuan; Prussin, Aaron J; Marr, Linsey C; Vikesland, Peter J; Edwards, Marc A; Pruden, Amy

2017-07-18

The "exposome" is a term describing the summation of one's lifetime exposure to microbes and chemicals. Such exposures are now recognized as major drivers of human health and disease. Because humans spend ∼90% of their time indoors, the built environment exposome merits particular attention. Herein we utilize an engineering perspective to advance understanding of the factors that shape the built environment exposome and its influence on human wellness and disease, while simultaneously informing development of a framework for intentionally controlling the exposome to protect public health. Historically, engineers have been focused on controlling chemical and physical contaminants and on eradicating microbes; however, there is a growing awareness of the role of "beneficial" microbes. Here we consider the potential to selectively control the materials and chemistry of the built environment to positively influence the microbial and chemical components of the indoor exposome. Finally, we discuss research gaps that must be addressed to enable intentional engineering design, including the need to define a "healthy" built environment exposome and how to control it.

Barriers to optimizing investments in the built environment to reduce youth obesity: policy-maker perspectives.

PubMed

Grant, Jill L; MacKay, Kathryn C; Manuel, Patricia M; McHugh, Tara-Leigh F

2010-01-01

To identify factors which limit the ability of local governments to make appropriate investments in the built environment to promote youth health and reduce obesity outcomes in Atlantic Canada. Policy-makers and professionals participated in focus groups to discuss the receptiveness of local governments to introducing health considerations into decision-making. Seven facilitated focus groups involved 44 participants from Atlantic Canada. Thematic discourse analysis of the meeting transcripts identified systemic barriers to creating a built environment that fosters health for youth aged 12-15 years. Participants consistently identified four categories of barriers. Financial barriers limit the capacities of local government to build, maintain and operate appropriate facilities. Legacy issues mean that communities inherit a built environment designed to facilitate car use, with inadequate zoning authority to control fast food outlets, and without the means to determine where schools are built or how they are used. Governance barriers derive from government departments with distinct and competing mandates, with a professional structure that privileges engineering, and with funding programs that encourage competition between municipalities. Cultural factors and values affect outcomes: people have adapted to car-oriented living; poverty reduces options for many families; parental fears limit children's mobility; youth receive limited priority in built environment investments. Participants indicated that health issues have increasing profile within local government, making this an opportune time to discuss strategies for optimizing investments in the built environment. The focus group method can foster mutual learning among professionals within government in ways that could advance health promotion.

Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to assess the role of the built environment in influencing obesity: a glossary.

PubMed

Thornton, Lukar E; Pearce, Jamie R; Kavanagh, Anne M

2011-07-01

Features of the built environment are increasingly being recognised as potentially important determinants of obesity. This has come about, in part, because of advances in methodological tools such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS). GIS has made the procurement of data related to the built environment easier and given researchers the flexibility to create a new generation of environmental exposure measures such as the travel time to the nearest supermarket or calculations of the amount of neighbourhood greenspace. Given the rapid advances in the availability of GIS data and the relative ease of use of GIS software, a glossary on the use of GIS to assess the built environment is timely. As a case study, we draw on aspects the food and physical activity environments as they might apply to obesity, to define key GIS terms related to data collection, concepts, and the measurement of environmental features.

Testing Hypothesized Psychosocial Mediators: Lessons Learned in the MassBUILT Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Okechukwu, Cassandra A.; Krieger, Nancy; Sorensen, Glorian; Li, Yi; Barbeau, Elizabeth M.

2011-01-01

Only a few of the interventions that target blue-collar workers have conducted formal analysis to evaluate the specific attributes of their intervention that are associated with success or failure. This study examined the role of dual hazard and decisional balance in the MassBUILT smoking cessation intervention. The authors conducted sets of…

The anatomy of the safe and social suburb: an exploratory study of the built environment, social capital and residents' perceptions of safety.

PubMed

Wood, Lisa; Shannon, Tya; Bulsara, Max; Pikora, Terri; McCormack, Gavin; Giles-Corti, Billie

2008-03-01

This study explored the relationship between social capital and aspects of the built environment, focusing in particular on the walkability of suburbs as determined by street network design and the mix of land uses. We measured social capital and feelings of personal safety in 335 residents of three suburbs in metropolitan Perth, WA, and collected objective and perceived data on the built environment. After adjustment for demographic factors, the built environment was found to have a significant but small effect on social capital and feelings of safety, particularly in relation to the number and perceived adequacy of destinations. A high level of neighbourhood upkeep was associated with both higher social capital and feelings of safety.

Making unhealthy places: The built environment and non-communicable diseases in Khayelitsha, Cape Town.

PubMed

Smit, Warren; de Lannoy, Ariane; Dover, Robert V H; Lambert, Estelle V; Levitt, Naomi; Watson, Vanessa

2016-05-01

In this paper, we examine how economic, social and political forces impact on NCDs in Khayelitsha (a predominantly low income area in Cape Town, South Africa) through their shaping of the built environment. The paper draws on literature reviews and ethnographic fieldwork undertaken in Khayelitsha. The three main pathways through which the built environment of the area impacts on NCDs are through a complex food environment in which it is difficult to achieve food security, an environment that is not conducive to safe physical activity, and high levels of depression and stress (linked to, amongst other factors, poverty, crime and fear of crime). All of these factors are at least partially linked to the isolated, segregated and monofunctional nature of Khayelitsha. The paper highlights that in order to effectively address urban health challenges, we need to understand how economic, social and political forces impact on NCDs through the way they shape built environments. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

The impact of exposure to films of natural and built environments on state body appreciation.

PubMed

Swami, Viren; Pickering, Mark; Barron, David; Patel, Shreepali

2018-06-12

Previous work has shown that exposure to images of nature results in elevated state body appreciation, but static images may lack ecological validity. Here, we examined the impact of exposure to short films of simulated, first-person walks in natural or built environments. Thirty-six university students completed a measure of state body appreciation before and after watching films of either a walk in a natural or a built environment created specifically for the present study. Two weeks later, they completed the same task but watched the other film type. Results indicated that exposure to the film of a natural environment resulted in significantly elevated state body appreciation (d = 0.66). There was no significant change in state body appreciation following exposure to the film of the built environment (d = 0.14). These findings suggest that exposure to films depicting the natural environment may promote immediate, moderate-sized improvements in state body image. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Assessing climate change and health vulnerability at the local level: Travis County, Texas.

PubMed

Prudent, Natasha; Houghton, Adele; Luber, George

2016-10-01

We created a measure to help comprehend population vulnerability to potential flooding and excessive heat events using health, built environment and social factors. Through principal component analysis (PCA), we created non-weighted sum index scores of literature-reviewed social and built environment characteristics. We created baseline poor health measures using 1999-2005 age-adjusted cardiovascular and combined diabetes and hypertension mortality rates to correspond with social-built environment indices. We mapped US Census block groups by linked age-adjusted mortality and a PCA-created social-built environment index. The goal was to measure flooding and excessive heat event vulnerability as proxies for population vulnerability to climate change for Travis County, Texas. This assessment identified communities where baseline poor health, social marginalisation and built environmental impediments intersected. Such assessments may assist targeted interventions and improve emergency preparedness in identified vulnerable communities, while fostering resilience through the focus of climate change adaptation policies at the local level. No claim to original US government works. Journal compilation © 2016 Overseas Development Institute.

[Coupling coordination evaluation method between eco-environment quality and economic development level in contiguous special poverty-stricken areas of China].

PubMed

Wang, Yan-hui; Li, Jing-yi

2015-05-01

It is one of the important strategies in the new period of national poverty alleviation and development to maintain the basic balance between the ecological environment and economic development, and to promote the coordinated sustainable development of economy and ecological environment. Taking six contiguous special poverty-stricken areas as the study areas, a coupling coordination evaluation method between eco-environment quality and economic development level in contiguous special poverty-stricken areas was explored in this paper. The region' s ecological poverty index system was proposed based on the natural attribute of ecological environment, and the ecological environment quality evaluation method was built up by using AHP weighting method, followed by the design of the coupling coordination evaluation method between the ecological environment indices and the county economic poverty comprehensive indices. The coupling coordination degrees were calculated and their spatial representation differentiations were analyzed respectively at district, province, city, and county scales. Results showed that approximately half of the counties in the study areas achieved the harmoniously coordinated development. However, the ecological environmental quality and the economic development in most counties could not be synchronized, where mountains, rivers and other geographic features existed roughly as a dividing line of the coordinated development types. The phenomena of dislocation between the ecological environment and economic development in state-level poor counties were more serious than those of local poor counties.

Independent and joint associations between multiple measures of the built and social environment and physical activity in a multi-ethnic urban community.

PubMed

Schulz, Amy; Mentz, Graciela; Johnson-Lawrence, Vicki; Israel, Barbara A; Max, Paul; Zenk, Shannon N; Wineman, Jean; Marans, Robert W

2013-10-01

Physical activity is associated with reduced risk of a number of health outcomes, yet fewer than half of adults in the United States report recommended levels of physical activity. Analyses of structural characteristics of the built environment as correlates of physical activity have yielded mixed results. We examine associations between multiple aspects of urban neighborhood environments and physical activity in order to understand their independent and joint effects, with a focus on the extent to which the condition of the built environment and indicators of the social environment modify associations between structural characteristics and physical activity. We use data from a stratified, multi-stage proportional probability sample of 919 non-Hispanic Black, non-Hispanic White, and Hispanic adults in an urban community, observational data from their residential neighborhoods, and census data to examine independent and joint associations of structural characteristics (e.g., street network connectivity), their condition (e.g., sidewalk condition), and social environments (e.g., territoriality) with physical activity. Our findings suggest that sidewalk condition is associated with physical activity, above and beyond structural characteristics of the built environment. Associations between some structural characteristics of the built environment and physical activity were conditional upon street condition, physical deterioration, and the proportion of parks and playgrounds in good condition. We found modest support for the hypothesis that associations between structural characteristics and physical activity are modified by aspects of the social environment. Results presented here point to the value of and need for understanding and addressing the complexity of factors that contribute to the relationships between the built and social environments and physical activity, and in turn, obesity and co-morbidities. Bringing together urban planners, public health practitioners and policy makers to understand and address aspects of urban environment associated with health outcomes is critical to promoting health and health equity.

A Review of Obesity and Its Relationship with the Built Environment: Implications for Health Educators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pinzon-Perez, Helda

2007-01-01

Obesity is an important worldwide public health problem. Obesogenic environments have been associated with increasing rates of overweight and obesity. The relationship between obesity and the built environment, along with its implications for health education are discussed in this article.

The Impact of Neighborhood Social and Built Environment Factors across the Cancer Continuum: Current Research, Methodologic Considerations, and Future Directions

PubMed Central

Gomez, Scarlett Lin; Shariff-Marco, Salma; De Rouen, Mindy; Keegan, Theresa H. M.; Yen, Irene H.; Mujahid, Mahasin; Satariano, William A.; Glaser, Sally L.

2015-01-01

Neighborhood social and built environments have been recognized as important contexts in which health is shaped. We review the extent to which these neighborhood factors have been addressed in population-level cancer research, with a scan of the literature for research that focuses on specific social and/or built environment characteristics and association with outcomes across the cancer continuum, including incidence, diagnosis, treatment, survivorship, and survival. We discuss commonalities and differences in methodologies across studies, current challenges in research methodology, and future directions in this research area. The assessment of social and built environment factors in relation to cancer is a relatively new field, with 82% of 34 reviewed papers published since 2010. Across the wide range of social and built environment exposures and cancer outcomes considered by the studies, numerous associations were reported. However, the directions and magnitudes of association varied, due in large part to the variation in cancer sites and outcomes being studied, but also likely due to differences in study populations, geographical region, and, importantly, choice of neighborhood measure and geographic scale. We recommend that future studies consider the life course implications of cancer incidence and survival, integrate secondary and self-report data, consider work neighborhood environments, and further develop analytical and statistical approaches appropriate to the geospatial and multilevel nature of the data. Incorporating social and built environment factors into research on cancer etiology and outcomes can provide insights into disease processes, identify vulnerable populations, and generate results with translational impact of relevance for interventionists and policy makers. PMID:25847484

Multilevel modelling of built environment characteristics related to neighbourhood walking activity in older adults

PubMed Central

Li, F.; Fisher, K; Brownson, R.; Bosworth, M.

2005-01-01

Objective: To examine the relation between built environment factors (representing several dimensions of urban form of neighbourhoods) and walking activity at both the neighbourhood level and the resident level, in an older adult sample. Design, setting, participants: A cross sectional, multilevel design with neighbourhoods as the primary sampling unit and senior residents as the secondary unit. Five hundred and seventy seven residents (mean age = 74 years, SD = 6.3 years) participated in the survey, which was conducted among 56 city defined neighbourhoods in Portland, Oregon, USA. Neighbourhood level variables were constructed using geographical information systems. Resident level variables consisted of a mix of self reports and geocoded data on the built environment. Main outcome measure: Self reported neighbourhood walking. Main results: A positive relation was found between built environment factors (density of places of employment, household density, green and open spaces for recreation, number of street intersections) and walking activity at the neighbourhood level. At the resident level, perceptions of safety for walking and number of nearby recreational facilities were positively related to high levels of walking activity. A significant interaction was observed between number of street intersections and perceptions of safety from traffic. Conclusions: Certain neighbourhood built environment characteristics related to urban form were positively associated with walking activity in the neighbourhoods of senior residents. Public health promotion of walking activity/urban mobility and the design of interventions need to consider the contribution of neighbourhood level built environment influences. PMID:15965138

Racial residential segregation and preterm birth: built environment as a mediator.

PubMed

Anthopolos, Rebecca; Kaufman, Jay S; Messer, Lynne C; Miranda, Marie Lynn

2014-05-01

Racial residential segregation has been associated with preterm birth. Few studies have examined mediating pathways, in part because, with binary outcomes, indirect effects estimated from multiplicative models generally lack causal interpretation. We develop a method to estimate additive-scale natural direct and indirect effects from logistic regression. We then evaluate whether segregation operates through poor-quality built environment to affect preterm birth. To estimate natural direct and indirect effects, we derive risk differences from logistic regression coefficients. Birth records (2000-2008) for Durham, North Carolina, were linked to neighborhood-level measures of racial isolation and a composite construct of poor-quality built environment. We decomposed the total effect of racial isolation on preterm birth into direct and indirect effects. The adjusted total effect of an interquartile increase in racial isolation on preterm birth was an extra 27 preterm events per 1000 births (risk difference = 0.027 [95% confidence interval = 0.007 to 0.047]). With poor-quality built environment held at the level it would take under isolation at the 25th percentile, the direct effect of an interquartile increase in isolation was 0.022 (-0.001 to 0.042). Poor-quality built environment accounted for 35% (11% to 65%) of the total effect. Our methodology facilitates the estimation of additive-scale natural effects with binary outcomes. In this study, the total effect of racial segregation on preterm birth was partially mediated by poor-quality built environment.

Does Viewing Documentary Films Affect Environmental Perceptions and Behaviors?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Janpol, Henry L.; Dilts, Rachel

2016-01-01

This research explored whether viewing documentary films about the natural or built environment can exert a measurable influence on behaviors and perceptions. Different documentary films were viewed by subjects. One film emphasized the natural environment, while the other focused on the built environment. After viewing a film, a computer game…

Environmental Determinants of Cardiovascular Disease.

PubMed

Bhatnagar, Aruni

2017-07-07

Many features of the environment have been found to exert an important influence on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, progression, and severity. Changes in the environment because of migration to different geographic locations, modifications in lifestyle choices, and shifts in social policies and cultural practices alter CVD risk, even in the absence of genetic changes. Nevertheless, the cumulative impact of the environment on CVD risk has been difficult to assess and the mechanisms by which some environment factors influence CVD remain obscure. Human environments are complex, and their natural, social, and personal domains are highly variable because of diversity in human ecosystems, evolutionary histories, social structures, and individual choices. Accumulating evidence supports the notion that ecological features such as the diurnal cycles of light and day, sunlight exposure, seasons, and geographic characteristics of the natural environment such as altitude, latitude, and greenspaces are important determinants of cardiovascular health and CVD risk. In highly developed societies, the influence of the natural environment is moderated by the physical characteristics of the social environments such as the built environment and pollution, as well as by socioeconomic status and social networks. These attributes of the social environment shape lifestyle choices that significantly modify CVD risk. An understanding of how different domains of the environment, individually and collectively, affect CVD risk could lead to a better appraisal of CVD and aid in the development of new preventive and therapeutic strategies to limit the increasingly high global burden of heart disease and stroke. © 2017 American Heart Association, Inc.

Contributions of a Child’s Built, Natural, and Social Environments to Their General Cognitive Ability: A Systematic Scoping Review

DOE PAGES

Ruiz, Jazmin Del Carmen; Quackenboss, James J.; Tulve, Nicolle S.; ...

2016-02-03

The etiology of a child’s cognitive ability is complex, with research suggesting that it is not attributed to a single determinant or even a defined period of exposure. Rather, cognitive development is the product of cumulative interactions with the environment, both negative and positive, over the life course. The aim of this systematic scoping review was to collate evidence associated with children’s cognitive health, including inherent factors as well as chemical and non-chemical stressors from the built, natural, and social environments. Three databases were used to identify recent epidemiological studies (2003–2013) that examined exposure factors associated with general cognitive abilitymore » in children. Over 100 factors were evaluated from 258 eligible studies. We found that recent literature mainly assessed the hypothesized negative effects of either inherent factors or chemical exposures present in the physical environment. Prenatal growth, sleep health, lead and water pollutants showed consistent negative effects. Of the few studies that examined social stressors, results consistently showed cognitive development to be influenced by both positive and negative social interactions at home, in school or the community. Among behavioral factors related to diet and lifestyle choices of the mother, breastfeeding was the most studied, showing consistent positive associations with cognitive ability. There were mostly inconsistent results for both chemical and non-chemical stressors. The majority of studies utilized traditional exposure assessments, evaluating chemical and non-chemical stressors separately. Collective evidence from a limited number of studies revealed that cumulative exposure assessment that incorporates multiple chemical and non-chemical stressors over the life course may unravel the variability in effect on cognitive development and help explain the inconsistencies across studies. Here, future research examining the interactions of multiple stressors within a child’s total environment, depicting a more real-world exposure, will aid in understanding the cumulative effects associated with a child’s ability to learn.« less

Contributions of a Child’s Built, Natural, and Social Environments to Their General Cognitive Ability: A Systematic Scoping Review

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ruiz, Jazmin Del Carmen; Quackenboss, James J.; Tulve, Nicolle S.

The etiology of a child’s cognitive ability is complex, with research suggesting that it is not attributed to a single determinant or even a defined period of exposure. Rather, cognitive development is the product of cumulative interactions with the environment, both negative and positive, over the life course. The aim of this systematic scoping review was to collate evidence associated with children’s cognitive health, including inherent factors as well as chemical and non-chemical stressors from the built, natural, and social environments. Three databases were used to identify recent epidemiological studies (2003–2013) that examined exposure factors associated with general cognitive abilitymore » in children. Over 100 factors were evaluated from 258 eligible studies. We found that recent literature mainly assessed the hypothesized negative effects of either inherent factors or chemical exposures present in the physical environment. Prenatal growth, sleep health, lead and water pollutants showed consistent negative effects. Of the few studies that examined social stressors, results consistently showed cognitive development to be influenced by both positive and negative social interactions at home, in school or the community. Among behavioral factors related to diet and lifestyle choices of the mother, breastfeeding was the most studied, showing consistent positive associations with cognitive ability. There were mostly inconsistent results for both chemical and non-chemical stressors. The majority of studies utilized traditional exposure assessments, evaluating chemical and non-chemical stressors separately. Collective evidence from a limited number of studies revealed that cumulative exposure assessment that incorporates multiple chemical and non-chemical stressors over the life course may unravel the variability in effect on cognitive development and help explain the inconsistencies across studies. Here, future research examining the interactions of multiple stressors within a child’s total environment, depicting a more real-world exposure, will aid in understanding the cumulative effects associated with a child’s ability to learn.« less

Contributions of a Child’s Built, Natural, and Social Environments to Their General Cognitive Ability: A Systematic Scoping Review

PubMed Central

Ruiz, Jazmin Del Carmen; Quackenboss, James J.; Tulve, Nicolle S.

2016-01-01

The etiology of a child’s cognitive ability is complex, with research suggesting that it is not attributed to a single determinant or even a defined period of exposure. Rather, cognitive development is the product of cumulative interactions with the environment, both negative and positive, over the life course. The aim of this systematic scoping review was to collate evidence associated with children’s cognitive health, including inherent factors as well as chemical and non-chemical stressors from the built, natural, and social environments. Three databases were used to identify recent epidemiological studies (2003–2013) that examined exposure factors associated with general cognitive ability in children. Over 100 factors were evaluated from 258 eligible studies. We found that recent literature mainly assessed the hypothesized negative effects of either inherent factors or chemical exposures present in the physical environment. Prenatal growth, sleep health, lead and water pollutants showed consistent negative effects. Of the few studies that examined social stressors, results consistently showed cognitive development to be influenced by both positive and negative social interactions at home, in school or the community. Among behavioral factors related to diet and lifestyle choices of the mother, breastfeeding was the most studied, showing consistent positive associations with cognitive ability. There were mostly inconsistent results for both chemical and non-chemical stressors. The majority of studies utilized traditional exposure assessments, evaluating chemical and non-chemical stressors separately. Collective evidence from a limited number of studies revealed that cumulative exposure assessment that incorporates multiple chemical and non-chemical stressors over the life course may unravel the variability in effect on cognitive development and help explain the inconsistencies across studies. Future research examining the interactions of multiple stressors within a child’s total environment, depicting a more real-world exposure, will aid in understanding the cumulative effects associated with a child’s ability to learn. PMID:26840411

Climate Change Potential Impacts on the Built Environment and Possible Adaptation Strategies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Quattrochi, Dale A.

2014-01-01

The built environment consists of components that exist at a range of scales from small (e.g., houses, shopping malls) to large (e.g., transportation networks) to highly modified landscapes such as cities. Thus, the impacts of climate change on the built environment may have a multitude of effects on humans and the land. The impact of climate change may be exacerbated by the interaction of different events that singly may be minor, but together may have a synergistic set of impacts that are significant. Also, mechanisms may exist wherein the built environment, particularly in the form of cities, may affect weather and the climate on local and regional scales. Hence, a city may be able to cope with prolonged heat waves, but if this is combined with severe drought, the overall result could be significant or even catastrophic, as accelerating demand for energy to cooling taxes water supplies needed both for energy supply and municipal water needs. This presentation surveys potential climate change impacts on the built environment from the perspective of the National Climate Assessment, and explores adaptation measures that can be employed to mitigate these impacts.

Effects of Buffer Size and Shape on Associations between the Built Environment and Energy Balance

PubMed Central

Berrigan, David; Hart, Jaime E.; Hipp, J. Aaron; Hoehner, Christine M.; Kerr, Jacqueline; Major, Jacqueline M.; Oka, Masayoshi; Laden, Francine

2014-01-01

Uncertainty in the relevant spatial context may drive heterogeneity in findings on the built environment and energy balance. To estimate the effect of this uncertainty, we conducted a sensitivity analysis defining intersection and business densities and counts within different buffer sizes and shapes on associations with self-reported walking and body mass index. Linear regression results indicated that the scale and shape of buffers influenced study results and may partly explain the inconsistent findings in the built environment and energy balance literature. PMID:24607875

Environment-insensitive and gate-controllable photocurrent enabled by bandgap engineering of MoS2 junctions.

PubMed

Shih, Fu-Yu; Wu, Yueh-Chun; Shih, Yi-Siang; Shih, Ming-Chiuan; Wu, Tsuei-Shin; Ho, Po-Hsun; Chen, Chun-Wei; Chen, Yang-Fang; Chiu, Ya-Ping; Wang, Wei-Hua

2017-03-21

Two-dimensional (2D) materials are composed of atomically thin crystals with an enormous surface-to-volume ratio, and their physical properties can be easily subjected to the change of the chemical environment. Encapsulation with other layered materials, such as hexagonal boron nitride, is a common practice; however, this approach often requires inextricable fabrication processes. Alternatively, it is intriguing to explore methods to control transport properties in the circumstance of no encapsulated layer. This is very challenging because of the ubiquitous presence of adsorbents, which can lead to charged-impurity scattering sites, charge traps, and recombination centers. Here, we show that the short-circuit photocurrent originated from the built-in electric field at the MoS 2 junction is surprisingly insensitive to the gaseous environment over the range from a vacuum of 1 × 10 -6   Torr to ambient condition. The environmental insensitivity of the short-circuit photocurrent is attributed to the characteristic of the diffusion current that is associated with the gradient of carrier density. Conversely, the photocurrent with bias exhibits typical persistent photoconductivity and greatly depends on the gaseous environment. The observation of environment-insensitive short-circuit photocurrent demonstrates an alternative method to design device structure for 2D-material-based optoelectronic applications.

Attribution of local climate zones using a multitemporal land use/land cover classification scheme

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wicki, Andreas; Parlow, Eberhard

2017-04-01

Worldwide, the number of people living in an urban environment exceeds the rural population with increasing tendency. Especially in relation to global climate change, cities play a major role considering the impacts of extreme heat waves on the population. For urban planners, it is important to know which types of urban structures are beneficial for a comfortable urban climate and which actions can be taken to improve urban climate conditions. Therefore, it is essential to differ between not only urban and rural environments, but also between different levels of urban densification. To compare these built-up types within different cities worldwide, Stewart and Oke developed the concept of local climate zones (LCZ) defined by morphological characteristics. The original LCZ scheme often has considerable problems when adapted to European cities with historical city centers, including narrow streets and irregular patterns. In this study, a method to bridge the gap between a classical land use/land cover (LULC) classification and the LCZ scheme is presented. Multitemporal Landsat 8 data are used to create a high accuracy LULC map, which is linked to the LCZ by morphological parameters derived from a high-resolution digital surface model and cadastral data. A bijective combination of the different classification schemes could not be achieved completely due to overlapping threshold values and the spatially homogeneous distribution of morphological parameters, but the attribution of LCZ to the LULC classification was successful.

Could strength of exposure to the residential neighbourhood modify associations between walkability and physical activity?

PubMed

Ivory, Vivienne C; Blakely, Tony; Pearce, Jamie; Witten, Karen; Bagheri, Nasser; Badland, Hannah; Schofield, Grant

2015-12-01

The importance of neighbourhoods for health and wellbeing may vary according to an individual's reliance on their local resources, but this assertion is rarely tested. We investigate whether greater neighbourhood 'exposure' through reliance on or engagement with the residential setting magnifies neighbourhood-health associations. Three built environment characteristics (destination density, streetscape (attractiveness of built environment) and street connectivity) and two physical activity components (weekday and weekend accelerometer counts) were measured for 2033 residents living in 48 neighbourhoods within four New Zealand cities in 2009-2010, giving six different built environment-physical activity associations. Interactions for each built environment-physical activity association with four individual-level characteristics (acting as proxies for exposure: gender, working status, car access, and income) were assessed with multi-level regression models; a total of 24 'tests'. Of the 12 weekday built environment-physical activity tests, 5 interaction terms were significant (p < 0.05) in the expected direction (e.g. stronger streetscape-physical activity among those with restricted car access). For weekend tests, one association was statistically significant. No significant tests were contradictory. Pooled across the 12 weekday physical activity 'tests', a 1 standard deviation increase in the walkability of the built environment was associated with an overall 3.8% (95% CI: 3.6%-4.1%) greater increase in weekday physical activity across all the types of people we hypothesised to spend more time in their residential neighbourhood, and for weekend physical activity it was 4.2% (95% CI 3.9%-4.5%). Using multiple evaluation methods, interactions were in line with our hypothesis, with a stronger association seen for proxy exposure indicators (for example, restricted car access). Added to the wider evidence base, our study strengthens causal evidence of an effect of the built environment on physical activity, and highlights that health gains from improvements of the residential neighbourhood may be greater for some people. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Residential Greenness and Birth Outcomes: Evaluating the Influence of Spatially Correlated Built-Environment Factors

PubMed Central

Davies, Hugh W.; Frank, Lawrence; Van Loon, Josh; Gehring, Ulrike; Tamburic, Lillian; Brauer, Michael

2014-01-01

Background: Half the world’s population lives in urban areas. It is therefore important to identify characteristics of the built environment that are beneficial to human health. Urban greenness has been associated with improvements in a diverse range of health conditions, including birth outcomes; however, few studies have attempted to distinguish potential effects of greenness from those of other spatially correlated exposures related to the built environment. Objectives: We aimed to investigate associations between residential greenness and birth outcomes and evaluate the influence of spatially correlated built environment factors on these associations. Methods: We examined associations between residential greenness [measured using satellite-derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) within 100 m of study participants’ homes] and birth outcomes in a cohort of 64,705 singleton births (from 1999–2002) in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. We also evaluated associations after adjusting for spatially correlated built environmental factors that may influence birth outcomes, including exposure to air pollution and noise, neighborhood walkability, and distance to the nearest park. Results: An interquartile increase in greenness (0.1 in residential NDVI) was associated with higher term birth weight (20.6 g; 95% CI: 16.5, 24.7) and decreases in the likelihood of small for gestational age, very preterm (< 30 weeks), and moderately preterm (30–36 weeks) birth. Associations were robust to adjustment for air pollution and noise exposures, neighborhood walkability, and park proximity. Conclusions: Increased residential greenness was associated with beneficial birth outcomes in this population-based cohort. These associations did not change after adjusting for other spatially correlated built environment factors, suggesting that alternative pathways (e.g., psychosocial and psychological mechanisms) may underlie associations between residential greenness and birth outcomes. Citation: Hystad P, Davies HW, Frank L, Van Loon J, Gehring U, Tamburic L, Brauer M. 2014. Residential greenness and birth outcomes: evaluating the influence of spatially correlated built-environment factors. Environ Health Perspect 122:1095–1102; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1308049 PMID:25014041

Assessment of Environmental Determinants of Physical Activity: a Study of Built Environment Indicators in Brno, Czech Republic.

PubMed

Brázdová, Zuzana Derflerová; Klimusová, Helena; Hruška, Dalibor; Prokopová, Alice; Burjanek, Aleš; Wulff, Krauff Rainer Schwanhaeuser

2015-11-01

Research on physical activity in relation to obesity gradually becomes more focused on environmental determinants, which can potentially influence people's health choices. The present article addresses the topic of physical activity from a wider sociological perspective. Our pilot study was designed with the objective of testing the applicability of a method included in the EC 6th Framework Programme EURO-PREVOB, in the Czech context. The method examines specific determinants of the built environment that can have an impact on physical activity at the population level. In addition, the study aims to analyze possible differences in built environment indicators and their relation to the physical activity of people living in neighbourhoods with areas of varying socioeconomic status. The field study was carried out in the city of Brno, Czech Republic, in 5 neighbourhood quintiles, i.e. areas divided according to the socioeconomic status of local residents. In each quintile, we evaluated the quality of the built environment according to the quality, aesthetics and safety of segregated cycle facilities, playgrounds/playing areas, public open spaces, marked road crossings and pavements as well as signs of incivilities and devastation. Between the five quintiles, significant differences were found in the quality of parks and playgrounds/playing areas, pavements, marking of pedestrian crossings, and in general aesthetics, i.e. signs of incivilities and devastation of the built environment. No differences were found in the quality and use of cycle facilities. The method we used for the evaluation of the built environment proved highly applicable in Czech populated areas. Monitoring of built environment indicators in the Czech Republic should provide a basis for health maps, showing potential associations between the prevalence of high-incidence, non-infectious diseases and various social determinants of physical activity. This information might help in achieving an improvement in these determinants at a community level and promoting an increase in physical activity at the population level. Copyright© by the National Institute of Public Health, Prague 2015.

Associations between the Quality of the Residential Built Environment and Pregnancy Outcomes among Women in North Carolina

PubMed Central

Messer, Lynne C.; Kroeger, Gretchen L.

2011-01-01

Background: The built environment, a key component of environmental health, may be an important contributor to health disparities, particularly for reproductive health outcomes. Objective: In this study we investigated the relationship between seven indices of residential built environment quality and adverse reproductive outcomes for the City of Durham, North Carolina (USA). Methods: We surveyed approximately 17,000 residential tax parcels in central Durham, assessing > 50 individual variables on each. These data, collected using direct observation, were combined with tax assessor, public safety, and U.S. Census data to construct seven indices representing important domains of the residential built environment: housing damage, property disorder, security measures, tenure (owner or renter occupied), vacancy, crime count, and nuisance count. Fixed-slope random-intercept multilevel models estimated the association between the residential built environment and five adverse birth outcomes. Models were adjusted for maternal characteristics and clustered at the primary adjacency community unit, defined as the index block, plus all adjacent blocks that share any portion of a line segment (block boundary) or vertex. Results: Five built environment indices (housing damage, property disorder, tenure, vacancy, and nuisance count) were associated with each of the five outcomes in the unadjusted context: preterm birth, small for gestational age (SGA), low birth weight (LBW), continuous birth weight, and birth weight percentile for gestational age (BWPGA; sex-specific birth weight distributions for infants delivered at each gestational age using National Center for Health Statistics referent births for 2000–2004). However, some estimates were attenuated after adjustment. In models adjusted for individual-level covariates, housing damage remained statistically significantly associated with SGA, birth weight, and BWPGA. Conclusion: This work suggests a real and meaningful relationship between the quality of the residential built environment and birth outcomes, which we argue are a good measure of general community health. PMID:22138639

Built Environment Education Program Manual for Teachers and Architects.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

American Inst. of Architects, Sacramento, CA. California Council.

This teacher's handbook is designed to educate the city builders of tomorrow about the importance of responsible urban development. The activities stress the relationship between the built and natural environment. The goals of the project emphasize: (1) sensitivity to the importance of working in greater harmony with the total environment; (2)…

Neighborhood archetypes for population health research: is there no place like home?

PubMed

Weden, Margaret M; Bird, Chloe E; Escarce, José J; Lurie, Nicole

2011-01-01

This study presents a new, latent archetype approach for studying place in population health. Latent class analysis is used to show how the number, defining attributes, and change/stability of neighborhood archetypes can be characterized and tested for statistical significance. The approach is demonstrated using data on contextual determinants of health for US neighborhoods defined by census tracts in 1990 and 2000. Six archetypes (prevalence 13-20%) characterize the statistically significant combinations of contextual determinants of health from the social environment, built environment, commuting and migration patterns, and demographics and household composition of US neighborhoods. Longitudinal analyses based on the findings demonstrate notable stability (76.4% of neighborhoods categorized as the same archetype ten years later), with exceptions reflecting trends in (ex)urbanization, gentrification/downgrading, and racial/ethnic reconfiguration. The findings and approach is applicable to both research and practice (e.g. surveillance) and can be scaled up or down to study health and place in other geographical contexts or historical periods. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Current and future risks of asbestos exposure in the Australian community

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Background Australia mined asbestos for more than 100 years and manufactured and imported asbestos products. There is a legacy of in situ asbestos throughout the built environment. Methods The aim of this study was to identify the possible sources of current and future asbestos exposure from the built environment. Telephone interviews with environmental health officers, asbestos removalists, and asbestos assessors in Australia sought information about common asbestos scenarios encountered. Results There is a considerable amount of asbestos remaining in situ in the Australian built environment. Potential current and future sources of asbestos exposure to the public are from asbestos-containing roofs and fences, unsafe asbestos removal practices, do-it-yourself home renovations and illegal dumping. Conclusion This research has highlighted a need for consistent approaches in the regulation and enforcement of safe practices for the management and removal of asbestos to ensure that in situ asbestos in the built environment is managed appropriately. PMID:27611196

Current and future risks of asbestos exposure in the Australian community.

PubMed

Gray, Corie; Carey, Renee N; Reid, Alison

2016-10-01

Australia mined asbestos for more than 100 years and manufactured and imported asbestos products. There is a legacy of in situ asbestos throughout the built environment. The aim of this study was to identify the possible sources of current and future asbestos exposure from the built environment. Telephone interviews with environmental health officers, asbestos removalists, and asbestos assessors in Australia sought information about common asbestos scenarios encountered. There is a considerable amount of asbestos remaining in situ in the Australian built environment. Potential current and future sources of asbestos exposure to the public are from asbestos-containing roofs and fences, unsafe asbestos removal practices, do-it-yourself home renovations and illegal dumping. This research has highlighted a need for consistent approaches in the regulation and enforcement of safe practices for the management and removal of asbestos to ensure that in situ asbestos in the built environment is managed appropriately.

The influence of the built environment on adverse birth outcomes.

PubMed

Woods, N; Gilliland, J; Seabrook, J A

2017-01-01

Adverse birth outcomes are associated with neonatal morbidity and mortality, and higher risk for coronary heart disease, non-insulin-dependent diabetes and hypertension in adulthood. Although there has been considerable research investigating the association between maternal and environmental factors on adverse birth outcomes, one risk factor, not fully understood, is the influence of the built environment. A search of MEDLINE, Scopus, and Cochrane was conducted to find articles assessing the influence of the built environment on preterm birth (PTB), low birth weight (LBW), and small-for-gestational-age (SGA). In total, 41 studies met our inclusion criteria, and were organized into nine categories: Roadways, Greenness, Power Plants, Gas Stations/Wells, Waste Management, Power Lines, Neighborhood Conditions, Food Environment, and Industry. The most common built environmental variable was roads/traffic, encompassing 17/41 (41%) of the articles reviewed, of which 12/17 (71%) found a significant small to moderate association between high traffic exposure and adverse birth outcomes.

The impact of neighborhood social and built environment factors across the cancer continuum: Current research, methodological considerations, and future directions.

PubMed

Gomez, Scarlett Lin; Shariff-Marco, Salma; DeRouen, Mindy; Keegan, Theresa H M; Yen, Irene H; Mujahid, Mahasin; Satariano, William A; Glaser, Sally L

2015-07-15

Neighborhood social and built environments have been recognized as important contexts in which health is shaped. The authors reviewed the extent to which these neighborhood factors have been addressed in population-level cancer research by scanning the literature for research focused on specific social and/or built environment characteristics and their association with outcomes across the cancer continuum, including incidence, diagnosis, treatment, survivorship, and survival. The commonalities and differences in methodologies across studies, the current challenges in research methodology, and future directions in this research also were addressed. The assessment of social and built environment factors in relation to cancer is a relatively new field, with 82% of the 34 reviewed articles published since 2010. Across the wide range of social and built environment exposures and cancer outcomes considered by the studies, numerous associations were reported. However, the directions and magnitudes of associations varied, in large part because of the variation in cancer sites and outcomes studied, but also likely because of differences in study populations, geographic regions, and, importantly, choice of neighborhood measures and geographic scales. The authors recommend that future studies consider the life-course implications of cancer incidence and survival, integrate secondary and self-report data, consider work neighborhood environments, and further develop analytical and statistical approaches appropriate to the geospatial and multilevel nature of the data. Incorporating social and built environment factors into research on cancer etiology and outcomes can provide insights into disease processes, identify vulnerable populations, and generate results with translational impact of relevance for interventionists and policy makers. © 2015 American Cancer Society.

Air pollution abatement performances of green infrastructure in open road and built-up street canyon environments - A review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abhijith, K. V.; Kumar, Prashant; Gallagher, John; McNabola, Aonghus; Baldauf, Richard; Pilla, Francesco; Broderick, Brian; Di Sabatino, Silvana; Pulvirenti, Beatrice

2017-08-01

Intensifying the proportion of urban green infrastructure has been considered as one of the remedies for air pollution levels in cities, yet the impact of numerous vegetation types deployed in different built environments has to be fully synthesised and quantified. This review examined published literature on neighbourhood air quality modifications by green interventions. Studies were evaluated that discussed personal exposure to local sources of air pollution under the presence of vegetation in open road and built-up street canyon environments. Further, we critically evaluated the available literature to provide a better understanding of the interactions between vegetation and surrounding built-up environments and ascertain means of reducing local air pollution exposure using green infrastructure. The net effects of vegetation in each built-up environment are also summarised and possible recommendations for the future design of green infrastructure are proposed. In a street canyon environment, high-level vegetation canopies (trees) led to a deterioration in air quality, while low-level green infrastructure (hedges) improved air quality conditions. For open road conditions, wide, low porosity and tall vegetation leads to downwind pollutant reductions while gaps and high porosity vegetation could lead to no improvement or even deteriorated air quality. The review considers that generic recommendations can be provided for vegetation barriers in open road conditions. Green walls and roofs on building envelopes can also be used as effective air pollution abatement measures. The critical evaluation of the fundamental concepts and the amalgamation of key technical features of past studies by this review could assist urban planners to design and implement green infrastructures in the built environment.

Urban built environments and trajectories of mobility disability: findings from a national sample of community-dwelling American adults (1986-2001).

PubMed

Clarke, Philippa; Ailshire, Jennifer A; Lantz, Paula

2009-09-01

As people age, they become more dependent on their local communities, especially when they are no longer able to drive. Uneven or discontinuous sidewalks, heavy traffic, and inaccessible public transportation, are just some of the built environment characteristics that can create barriers for outdoor mobility in later adulthood. A small body of literature has been investigating the role of the built environment on disability, but has been limited to cross-sectional analyses. The purpose of this paper is to further advance this area of research by examining the role of the built environment on long-term trajectories of mobility disability in a national sample of American adults (age 45+) followed over a 15-year period. Using multilevel logistic growth curve models with nationally representative data from the Americans' Changing Lives Study (1986-2001), we find that trajectories of mobility disability are steeper in older age groups. Women and those with lower education had a higher odds of mobility disability over time. The presence of just one chronic health condition doubled the odds of mobility disability at each of the four study waves. Among older adults (age 75+), living in neighborhoods characterized by more motorized travel was associated with an odds ratio for mobility disability that was 1.5 times higher in any given year than for older adults living in environments that were more pedestrian friendly. These results suggest that the built environment can exacerbate mobility difficulties for older adults. When considering ways to minimize disability as the population ages, simple changes in the built environment may be easier to implement than efforts to change risk factors at the individual level.

Comparing the appropriate geographic region for assessing built environmental correlates with walking trips using different metrics and model approaches

PubMed Central

Tribby, Calvin P.; Miller, Harvey J.; Brown, Barbara B.; Smith, Ken R.; Werner, Carol M.

2017-01-01

There is growing international evidence that supportive built environments encourage active travel such as walking. An unsettled question is the role of geographic regions for analyzing the relationship between the built environment and active travel. This paper examines the geographic region question by assessing walking trip models that use two different regions: walking activity spaces and self-defined neighborhoods. We also use two types of built environment metrics, perceived and audit data, and two types of study design, cross-sectional and longitudinal, to assess these regions. We find that the built environment associations with walking are dependent on the type of metric and the type of model. Audit measures summarized within walking activity spaces better explain walking trips compared to audit measures within self-defined neighborhoods. Perceived measures summarized within self-defined neighborhoods have mixed results. Finally, results differ based on study design. This suggests that results may not be comparable among different regions, metrics and designs; researchers need to consider carefully these choices when assessing active travel correlates. PMID:28237743

Security Implications of Physical Design Attributes in the Emergency Department.

PubMed

Pati, Debajyoti; Pati, Sipra; Harvey, Thomas E

2016-07-01

Security, a subset of safety, is equally important in the efficient delivery of patient care. The emergency department (ED) is susceptible to violence creating concerns for the safety and security of patients, staff, and visitors and for the safe and efficient delivery of care. Although there is an implicit and growing recognition of the role of the physical environment, interventions typically have been at the microlevel. The objective of this study was to identify physical design attributes that potentially influence safety and efficiency of ED operations. An exploratory, qualitative research design was adopted to examine the efficiency and safety correlates of ED physical design attributes. The study comprised a multimeasure approach involving multidisciplinary gaming, semistructured interviews, and touring interviews of frontline staff in four EDs at three hospital systems across three states. Five macro physical design attributes (issues that need to be addressed at the design stage and expensive to rectify once built) emerged from the data as factors substantially associated with security issues. They are design issues pertaining to (a) the entry zone, (b) traffic management, (c) patient room clustering, (d) centralization versus decentralization, and (e) provisions for special populations. Data from this study suggest that ED security concerns are generally associated with three sources: (a) gang-related violence, (b) dissatisfied patients, and (c) behavioral health patients. Study data show that physical design has an important role in addressing the above-mentioned concerns. Implications for ED design are outlined in the article. © The Author(s) 2016.

Engaging Places Research Summary. Bridging the Gap: A Synthesis of Research into the Supply and the Demand of Built Environment Education in Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kendall, Sally; Murfield, Jenny; White, Richard; Wilkin, Anne

2007-01-01

"Built environment education" refers to the various types of learning activity for children and young people of school age which use buildings, places and spaces as a context for learning. It covers many different kinds of built settings such as: historic and contemporary; urban and rural; and exceptional and commonplace. It also has a…

Practical Implementation of Semi-Automated As-Built Bim Creation for Complex Indoor Environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yoon, S.; Jung, J.; Heo, J.

2015-05-01

In recent days, for efficient management and operation of existing buildings, the importance of as-built BIM is emphasized in AEC/FM domain. However, fully automated as-built BIM creation is a tough issue since newly-constructed buildings are becoming more complex. To manage this problem, our research group has developed a semi-automated approach, focusing on productive 3D as-built BIM creation for complex indoor environments. In order to test its feasibility for a variety of complex indoor environments, we applied the developed approach to model the `Charlotte stairs' in Lotte World Mall, Korea. The approach includes 4 main phases: data acquisition, data pre-processing, geometric drawing, and as-built BIM creation. In the data acquisition phase, due to its complex structure, we moved the scanner location several times to obtain the entire point clouds of the test site. After which, data pre-processing phase entailing point-cloud registration, noise removal, and coordinate transformation was followed. The 3D geometric drawing was created using the RANSAC-based plane detection and boundary tracing methods. Finally, in order to create a semantically-rich BIM, the geometric drawing was imported into the commercial BIM software. The final as-built BIM confirmed that the feasibility of the proposed approach in the complex indoor environment.

Secondary GIS built environment data for health research: guidance for data development

PubMed Central

Stewart, Orion T.; Carlos, Heather A.; Lee, Chanam; Berke, Ethan M.; Hurvitz, Philip M.; Li, Li; Moudon, Anne Vernez; Doescher, Mark P.

2016-01-01

Built environment (BE) data in geographic information system (GIS) format are increasingly available from public agencies and private providers. These data can provide objective, low-cost BE data over large regions and are often used in public health research and surveillance. Yet challenges exist in repurposing GIS data for health research. The GIS data do not always capture desired constructs; the data can be of varying quality and completeness; and the data definitions, structures, and spatial representations are often inconsistent across sources. Using the Small Town Walkability study as an illustration, we describe (a) the range of BE characteristics measurable in a GIS that may be associated with active living, (b) the availability of these data across nine U.S. small towns, (c) inconsistencies in the GIS BE data that were available, and (d) strategies for developing accurate, complete, and consistent GIS BE data appropriate for research. Based on a conceptual framework and existing literature, objectively measurable characteristics of the BE potentially related to active living were classified under nine domains: generalized land uses, morphology, density, destinations, transportation system, traffic conditions, neighborhood behavioral conditions, economic environment, and regional location. At least some secondary GIS data were available across all nine towns for seven of the nine BE domains. Data representing high-resolution or behavioral aspects of the BE were often not available. Available GIS BE data - especially tax parcel data - often contained varying attributes and levels of detail across sources. When GIS BE data were available from multiple sources, the accuracy, completeness, and consistency of the data could be reasonable ensured for use in research. But this required careful attention to the definition and spatial representation of the BE characteristic of interest. Manipulation of the secondary source data was often required, which was facilitated through protocols. PMID:28459001

Secondary GIS built environment data for health research: guidance for data development.

PubMed

Stewart, Orion T; Carlos, Heather A; Lee, Chanam; Berke, Ethan M; Hurvitz, Philip M; Li, Li; Moudon, Anne Vernez; Doescher, Mark P

2016-12-01

Built environment (BE) data in geographic information system (GIS) format are increasingly available from public agencies and private providers. These data can provide objective, low-cost BE data over large regions and are often used in public health research and surveillance. Yet challenges exist in repurposing GIS data for health research. The GIS data do not always capture desired constructs; the data can be of varying quality and completeness; and the data definitions, structures, and spatial representations are often inconsistent across sources. Using the Small Town Walkability study as an illustration, we describe (a) the range of BE characteristics measurable in a GIS that may be associated with active living, (b) the availability of these data across nine U.S. small towns, (c) inconsistencies in the GIS BE data that were available, and (d) strategies for developing accurate, complete, and consistent GIS BE data appropriate for research. Based on a conceptual framework and existing literature, objectively measurable characteristics of the BE potentially related to active living were classified under nine domains: generalized land uses, morphology, density, destinations, transportation system, traffic conditions, neighborhood behavioral conditions, economic environment, and regional location. At least some secondary GIS data were available across all nine towns for seven of the nine BE domains. Data representing high-resolution or behavioral aspects of the BE were often not available. Available GIS BE data - especially tax parcel data - often contained varying attributes and levels of detail across sources. When GIS BE data were available from multiple sources, the accuracy, completeness, and consistency of the data could be reasonable ensured for use in research. But this required careful attention to the definition and spatial representation of the BE characteristic of interest. Manipulation of the secondary source data was often required, which was facilitated through protocols.

Measuring the Built Environment for Physical Activity

PubMed Central

Brownson, Ross C.; Hoehner, Christine M.; Day, Kristen; Forsyth, Ann; Sallis, James F.

2009-01-01

Physical inactivity is one of the most important public health issues in the U.S. and internationally. Increasingly, links are being identified between various elements of the physical—or built—environment and physical activity. To understand the impact of the built environment on physical activity, the development of high-quality measures is essential. Three categories of built environment data are being used: (1) perceived measures obtained by telephone interview or self-administered questionnaires; (2) observational measures obtained using systematic observational methods (audits); and (3) archival data sets that are often layered and analyzed with GIS. This review provides a critical assessment of these three types of built-environment measures relevant to the study of physical activity. Among perceived measures, 19 questionnaires were reviewed, ranging in length from 7 to 68 questions. Twenty audit tools were reviewed that cover community environments (i.e., neighborhoods, cities), parks, and trails. For GIS-derived measures, more than 50 studies were reviewed. A large degree of variability was found in the operationalization of common GIS measures, which include population density, land-use mix, access to recreational facilities, and street pattern. This first comprehensive examination of built-environment measures demonstrates considerable progress over the past decade, showing diverse environmental variables available that use multiple modes of assessment. Most can be considered first-generation measures, so further development is needed. In particular, further research is needed to improve the technical quality of measures, understand the relevance to various population groups, and understand the utility of measures for science and public health. PMID:19285216

Creating a Healthy Built Environment for Diabetic Patients: The Case Study of the Eastern Province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

PubMed Central

Sidawi, Bhzad; Alhariri, Mohamed Taha; Albaker, Walid Ibrahim

2014-01-01

Many studies worldwide have demonstrated the negative impact of an unhealthy built environment on citizens. In the case of diabetes, studies have concentrated on the environmental impact and accessibility issues of a place i.e. the home and neighborhood, whereas few studies have addressed the comfort of the type and spatial arrangement of a household and linked it with the prevalence of diabetes. Also, little research has tackled the place’s impact on diabetic patients and their views concerning their environments. This paper demonstrates the outcomes of survey that was carried out on diabetic individuals who usually visit the King Fahd teaching hospital of the University of Dammam, Al-Khober, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The patients were surveyed and physically examined. The present researchers found significant links between patients’ diabetes symptoms such as reported paresthesia and blurred vision, and medical investigations results such as lipid profile, blood glucose and blood pressure with the environmental conditions of their homes and neighborhoods. The paper shows that the prevalence of the disease is not only caused by an unhealthy lifestyle but also by an unhealthy built environment. Moreover, it illustrates that unhealthy built environment promotes unhealthy life styles. It makes recommendations on how to improve the built environment in the KSA to be healthier for all citizens including the diabetic patients. PMID:24999135

Older adults' quality of life - Exploring the role of the built environment and social cohesion in community-dwelling seniors on low income.

PubMed

Engel, L; Chudyk, A M; Ashe, M C; McKay, H A; Whitehurst, D G T; Bryan, S

2016-09-01

The built environment and social cohesion are increasingly recognized as being associated with older adults' quality of life (QoL). However, limited research in this area still exists and the relationship has remained unexplored in the area of Metro Vancouver, Canada. This study examined the association between the built environment and social cohesion with QoL of 160 community-dwelling older adults (aged ≥ 65 years) on low income from Metro Vancouver. Cross-sectional data acquired from the Walk the Talk (WTT) study were used. Health-related QoL (HRQoL) and capability wellbeing were assessed using the EQ-5D-5L and the ICECAP-O, respectively. Measures of the environment comprised the NEWS-A (perceived built environment measure), the Street Smart Walk Score (objective built environment measure), and the SC-5PT (a measure of social cohesion). The primary analysis consists of Tobit regression models to explore the associations between environmental features and HRQoL as well as capability wellbeing. Key findings indicate that after adjusting for covariates, older adults' capability wellbeing was associated with street connectivity and social cohesion, while no statistically significant associations were found between environmental factors and HRQoL. Our results should be considered as hypothesis-generating and need confirmation in a larger longitudinal study. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Creating a healthy built environment for diabetic patients: the case study of the eastern province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

PubMed

Sidawi, Bhzad; Alhariri, Mohamed Taha; Albaker, Walid Ibrahim

2014-04-14

Many studies worldwide have demonstrated the negative impact of an unhealthy built environment on citizens. In the case of diabetes, studies have concentrated on the environmental impact and accessibility issues of a place i.e. the home and neighborhood, whereas few studies have addressed the comfort of the type and spatial arrangement of a household and linked it with the prevalence of diabetes. Also, little research has tackled the place's impact on diabetic patients and their views concerning their environments. This paper demonstrates the outcomes of survey that was carried out on diabetic individuals who usually visit the King Fahd teaching hospital of the University of Dammam, Al-Khober, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The patients were surveyed and physically examined. The present researchers found significant links between patients' diabetes symptoms such as reported paresthesia and blurred vision, and medical investigations results such as lipid profile, blood glucose and blood pressure with the environmental conditions of their homes and neighborhoods. The paper shows that the prevalence of the disease is not only caused by an unhealthy lifestyle but also by an unhealthy built environment. Moreover, it illustrates that unhealthy built environment promotes unhealthy life styles. It makes recommendations on how to improve the built environment in the KSA to be healthier for all citizens including the diabetic patients.

Environmental Linguistics: A Typology of Visual Factors in Shopping Malls.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Woods, John D.; Sewell, Edward H., Jr.

Environment may be regarded as a form of communication, with environmental linguistics becoming a new discipline that will have to be explored. Its goal is to demystify some of the constructs that contribute to the built environment as a communication tool. Treating the built environment as a language requires a recognition of its dynamic nature.…

Obesity and the built environment at different urban scales: examining the literature.

PubMed

Garfinkel-Castro, Andrea; Kim, Keuntae; Hamidi, Shima; Ewing, Reid

2017-01-01

The majority of people now live in an urban (or suburban) environment. The built (material) environment, its vehicular and pedestrian infrastructure, buildings, and public realm places, are the places used for working, living, and recreating. The environment currently favors and facilitates motorized vehicles generally, and private automobiles especially. The prioritization given to vehicles reduces opportunities for other, more active modes of travel such as walking and bicycling. Though the built environment cannot be said to directly affect human obesity, the built environment clearly has a relationship to obesity as a consequence of physical activity. Most concerning is that rates of obesity have risen as cars have become increasingly privileged, leading to places that favor driving over walking or bicycling. This review examines current empirical literature on the environment and obesity at 3 key urban scales: macro, meso, and micro. Other key issues examined include longitudinal studies and self-selection bias. Evidence for a relationship between urban and suburban environments and obesity is found in the literature, but the lack of longitudinal research and research controlling for self-selection bias remains underrepresented. © The Author(s) 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Life Sciences Institute. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Effects of buffer size and shape on associations between the built environment and energy balance.

PubMed

James, Peter; Berrigan, David; Hart, Jaime E; Hipp, J Aaron; Hoehner, Christine M; Kerr, Jacqueline; Major, Jacqueline M; Oka, Masayoshi; Laden, Francine

2014-05-01

Uncertainty in the relevant spatial context may drive heterogeneity in findings on the built environment and energy balance. To estimate the effect of this uncertainty, we conducted a sensitivity analysis defining intersection and business densities and counts within different buffer sizes and shapes on associations with self-reported walking and body mass index. Linear regression results indicated that the scale and shape of buffers influenced study results and may partly explain the inconsistent findings in the built environment and energy balance literature. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Associations Between the Built Environment and Objective Measures of Sleep: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.

PubMed

Johnson, Dayna A; Hirsch, Jana A; Moore, Kari A; Redline, Susan; Diez Roux, Ana V

2018-05-01

Although dense neighborhood built environments support increased physical activity and lower obesity, these features may also disturb sleep. Therefore, we sought to understand the association between the built environment and objectively measured sleep. From 2010 to 2013, we analyzed data from examination 5 of the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, a diverse population from 6 US cities. We fit multilevel models that assessed the association between the built environment (Street Smart Walk Score, social engagement destinations, street intersections, and population density) and sleep duration or efficiency from 1-week wrist actigraphy in 1,889 individuals. After adjustment for covariates, a 1-standard-deviation increase in Street Smart Walk Score was associated with 23% higher odds of short sleep duration (≤6 hours; odds ratio = 1.2, 95% confidence interval: 1.0, 1.4), as well as shorter average sleep duration (mean difference = -8.1 minutes, 95% confidence interval: -12.1, -4.2). Results were consistent across other built environment measures. Associations were attenuated after adjustment for survey-based measure of neighborhood noise. Dense neighborhood development may have multiple health consequence. In promoting denser neighborhoods to increase walkability, it is important to also implement strategies that reduce the adverse impacts of this development on sleep, such as noise reductions efforts.

Built Environment Influences of Children's Physical Activity: Examining Differences by Neighbourhood Size and Sex.

PubMed

Mitchell, Christine A; Clark, Andrew F; Gilliland, Jason A

2016-01-15

Neighbourhoods can facilitate or constrain moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) among children by providing or restricting opportunities for MVPA. However, there is no consensus on how to define a child's neighbourhood. This study examines the influence of the neighbourhood built environment on objectively measured MVPA among 435 children (aged 9-14 years) in London (ON, Canada). As there is no consensus on how to delineate a child's neighbourhood, a geographic information system was used to generate measures of the neighbourhood built environment at two buffer sizes (500 m and 800 m) around each child's home. Linear regression models with robust standard errors (cluster) were used to analyze the relationship between built environment characteristics and average daily MVPA during non-school hours on weekdays. Sex-stratified models assessed sex-specific relationships. When accounting for individual and neighbourhood socio-demographic variables, park space and multi-use path space were found to influence children's MVPA. Sex-stratified models found significant associations between MVPA and park space, with the 800 m buffer best explaining boys' MVPA and the 500 m buffer best explaining girls' MVPA. Findings emphasize that, when designing built environments, programs, and policies to facilitate physical activity, it is important to consider that the size of the neighbourhood influencing a child's physical activity may differ according to sex.

Cleaning of HT-7 Tokamak Exposed First Mirrors by Radio Frequency Magnetron Sputtering Plasma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yan, Rong; Chen, Junling; Chen, Longwei; Ding, Rui; Zhu, Dahuan

2014-12-01

The stainless steel (SS) first mirror pre-exposed in the deposition-dominated environment of the HT-7 tokamak was cleaned in the newly built radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering plasma device. The deposition layer on the FM surface formed during the exposure was successfully removed by argon plasma with a RF power of about 80 W and a gas pressure of 0.087 Pa for 30 min. The total reflectivity of the mirrors was recovered up to 90% in the wavelength range of 300-800 nm, while the diffuse reflectivity showed a little increase, which was attributed to the increase of surface roughness in sputtering, and residual contaminants. The FMs made from single crystal materials could help to achieve a desired recovery of specular reflectivity in the future.

[Association between walking time and perception of built environment among urban adults in Hangzhou].

PubMed

Liu, Qingmin; Ren, Yanjun; Cao, Chengjian; Su, Meng; Lyu, Jun; Li, Liming

2015-10-01

To explore the association between walking time and the perception of built environment among local adults in Hangzhou. Through multistage stratified random sampling, a total of 1 440 urban residents aged 25-59 years were surveyed in Hangzhou by face-to face interview in 2012. The international physical activity questionnaire-long version (IPAQ-L) was used to assess the physical activity levels, including walking time in the past week. Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale-Abbreviated (NEWS-A) was used to obtain information about their perception of built environment. Multiple logistic regression was applied to estimate the relationship between waking and the perception of built environment. Among the local adults in Hangzhou, the median of total physical activity was 2 766 met·min⁻¹·week⁻¹, the average walking time per week was 90 min for leisure and 100 min for transportation respectively. After controlling the age, marital status, BMI, educational level, employment, community type and the total PA scores, the leisure-time walking was negatively related to the accessibility to stores, facilities and other things for both man (OR=0.764, 95% CI: 0.588-0.992) and woman (OR=0.633, 95% CI: 0.481-0.833). In sex specific analysis, the leisure-time walking was negatively related with the residential density (OR=0.997, 95% CI: 0.996-0.999) while transportation related walking was positively related with walking/cycling way scores (OR=1.537, 95% CI: 1.138-2.075) in females. In contrast, there were no significant associations between perception of built environment and transportation related walking in males. Improving the built environment, such as the walking/cycling way, might be useful to increase the transportation related walking time for adults. The sex specific differences need to be considered in the environment intervention for walking promotion.

Concept mapping applied to the intersection between older adults' outdoor walking and the built and social environments.

PubMed

Hanson, Heather M; Schiller, Claire; Winters, Meghan; Sims-Gould, Joanie; Clarke, Philippa; Curran, Eileen; Donaldson, Meghan G; Pitman, Beverley; Scott, Vicky; McKay, Heather A; Ashe, Maureen C

2013-12-01

For older adults, the ability to navigate walking routes in the outdoor environment allows them to remain active and socially engaged, facilitating community participation and independence. In order to enhance outdoor walking, it is important to understand the interaction of older adults within their local environments and the influence of broader stakeholder priorities that impact these environments. Thus, we aimed to synthesize perspectives from stakeholders to identify elements of the built and social environments that influence older adults' ability to walk outdoors. We applied a concept mapping approach with the input of diverse stakeholders (N=75) from British Columbia, Canada in 2012. A seven-cluster map best represented areas that influence older adults' outdoor walking. Priority areas identified included sidewalks, crosswalks, and neighborhood features. Individual perceptions and elements of the built and social environments intersect to influence walking behaviors, although targeted studies that address this area are needed. © 2013.

Neighbourhood Built Environment Influences on Physical Activity among Adults: A Systematized Review of Qualitative Evidence

PubMed Central

Salvo, Grazia; Doyle-Baker, Patricia K.; McCormack, Gavin R.

2018-01-01

Qualitative studies can provide important information about how and why the built environment impacts physical activity decision-making—information that is important for informing local urban policies. We undertook a systematized literature review to synthesize findings from qualitative studies exploring how the built environment influences physical activity in adults. Our review included 36 peer-reviewed qualitative studies published from 1998 onwards. Our findings complemented existing quantitative evidence and provided additional insight into how functional, aesthetic, destination, and safety built characteristics influence physical activity decision-making. Sociodemographic characteristics (age, sex, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status) also impacted the BE’s influence on physical activity. Our review findings reinforce the need for synergy between transportation planning, urban design, landscape architecture, road engineering, parks and recreation, bylaw enforcement, and public health to be involved in creating neighbourhood environments that support physical activity. Our findings support a need for local neighbourhood citizens and associations with representation from individuals and groups with different sociodemographic backgrounds to have input into neighbourhood environment planning process. PMID:29724048

Making Time for Nature: Visual Exposure to Natural Environments Lengthens Subjective Time Perception and Reduces Impulsivity

PubMed Central

Berry, Meredith S.; Repke, Meredith A.; Nickerson, Norma P.; Conway, Lucian G.; Odum, Amy L.; Jordan, Kerry E.

2015-01-01

Impulsivity in delay discounting is associated with maladaptive behaviors such as overeating and drug and alcohol abuse. Researchers have recently noted that delay discounting, even when measured by a brief laboratory task, may be the best predictor of human health related behaviors (e.g., exercise) currently available. Identifying techniques to decrease impulsivity in delay discounting, therefore, could help improve decision-making on a global scale. Visual exposure to natural environments is one recent approach shown to decrease impulsive decision-making in a delay discounting task, although the mechanism driving this result is currently unknown. The present experiment was thus designed to evaluate not only whether visual exposure to natural (mountains, lakes) relative to built (buildings, cities) environments resulted in less impulsivity, but also whether this exposure influenced time perception. Participants were randomly assigned to either a natural environment condition or a built environment condition. Participants viewed photographs of either natural scenes or built scenes before and during a delay discounting task in which they made choices about receiving immediate or delayed hypothetical monetary outcomes. Participants also completed an interval bisection task in which natural or built stimuli were judged as relatively longer or shorter presentation durations. Following the delay discounting and interval bisection tasks, additional measures of time perception were administered, including how many minutes participants thought had passed during the session and a scale measurement of whether time "flew" or "dragged" during the session. Participants exposed to natural as opposed to built scenes were less impulsive and also reported longer subjective session times, although no differences across groups were revealed with the interval bisection task. These results are the first to suggest that decreased impulsivity from exposure to natural as opposed to built environments may be related to lengthened time perception. PMID:26558610

Do Natural Experiments of Changes in Neighborhood Built Environment Impact Physical Activity and Diet? A Systematic Review

PubMed Central

George, Emma S.; Feng, Xiaoqi; Merom, Dafna; Bennie, Andrew; Cook, Amelia; Dwyer, Genevieve; Pang, Bonnie; Astell-Burt, Thomas

2018-01-01

Physical activity and diet are major modifiable risk factors for chronic disease and have been shown to be associated with neighborhood built environment. Systematic review evidence from longitudinal studies on the impact of changing the built environment on physical activity and diet is currently lacking. A systematic review of natural experiments of neighborhood built environment was conducted. The aims of this systematic review were to summarize study characteristics, study quality, and impact of changes in neighborhood built environment on physical activity and diet outcomes among residents. Natural experiments of neighborhood built environment change, exploring longitudinal impacts on physical activity and/or diet in residents, were included. From five electronic databases, 2084 references were identified. A narrative synthesis was conducted, considering results in relation to study quality. Nineteen papers, reporting on 15 different exposures met inclusion criteria. Four studies included a comparison group and 11 were pre-post/longitudinal studies without a comparison group. Studies reported on the impact of redeveloping or introducing cycle and/or walking trails (n = 5), rail stops/lines (n = 4), supermarkets and farmers’ markets (n = 4) and park and green space (n = 2). Eight/15 studies reported at least one beneficial change in physical activity, diet or another associated health outcome. Due to limitations in study design and reporting, as well as the wide array of outcome measures reported, drawing conclusions to inform policy was challenging. Future research should consider a consistent approach to measure the same outcomes (e.g., using measurement methods that collect comparable physical activity and diet outcome data), to allow for pooled analyses. Additionally, including comparison groups wherever possible and ensuring high quality reporting is essential. PMID:29373567

Do Natural Experiments of Changes in Neighborhood Built Environment Impact Physical Activity and Diet? A Systematic Review.

PubMed

MacMillan, Freya; George, Emma S; Feng, Xiaoqi; Merom, Dafna; Bennie, Andrew; Cook, Amelia; Sanders, Taren; Dwyer, Genevieve; Pang, Bonnie; Guagliano, Justin M; Kolt, Gregory S; Astell-Burt, Thomas

2018-01-26

Physical activity and diet are major modifiable risk factors for chronic disease and have been shown to be associated with neighborhood built environment. Systematic review evidence from longitudinal studies on the impact of changing the built environment on physical activity and diet is currently lacking. A systematic review of natural experiments of neighborhood built environment was conducted. The aims of this systematic review were to summarize study characteristics, study quality, and impact of changes in neighborhood built environment on physical activity and diet outcomes among residents. Natural experiments of neighborhood built environment change, exploring longitudinal impacts on physical activity and/or diet in residents, were included. From five electronic databases, 2084 references were identified. A narrative synthesis was conducted, considering results in relation to study quality. Nineteen papers, reporting on 15 different exposures met inclusion criteria. Four studies included a comparison group and 11 were pre-post/longitudinal studies without a comparison group. Studies reported on the impact of redeveloping or introducing cycle and/or walking trails ( n = 5), rail stops/lines ( n = 4), supermarkets and farmers' markets ( n = 4) and park and green space ( n = 2). Eight/15 studies reported at least one beneficial change in physical activity, diet or another associated health outcome. Due to limitations in study design and reporting, as well as the wide array of outcome measures reported, drawing conclusions to inform policy was challenging. Future research should consider a consistent approach to measure the same outcomes (e.g., using measurement methods that collect comparable physical activity and diet outcome data), to allow for pooled analyses. Additionally, including comparison groups wherever possible and ensuring high quality reporting is essential.

Changes in the Built Environment and Changes in the Amount of Walking Over Time: Longitudinal Results From the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis

PubMed Central

Hirsch, Jana A.; Moore, Kari A.; Clarke, Philippa J.; Rodriguez, Daniel A.; Evenson, Kelly R.; Brines, Shannon J.; Zagorski, Melissa A.; Diez Roux, Ana V.

2014-01-01

Lack of longitudinal research hinders causal inference on the association between the built environment and walking. In the present study, we used data from 6,027 adults in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis who were 45–84 years of age at baseline to investigate the association of neighborhood built environment with trends in the amount of walking between 2000 and 2012. Walking for transportation and walking for leisure were assessed at baseline and at 3 follow-up visits (median follow-up = 9.15 years). Time-varying built environment measures (measures of population density, land use, number of destinations, bus access, and street connectivity) were created using geographic information systems. We used linear mixed models to estimate the associations between baseline levels of and a change in each built environment feature and a change in the frequency of walking. After adjustment for potential confounders, we found that higher baseline levels of population density, area zoned for retail, social destinations, walking destinations, and street connectivity were associated with greater increases in walking for transportation over time. Higher baseline levels of land zoned for residential use and distance to buses were associated with less pronounced increases (or decreases) in walking for transportation over time. Increases in the number of social destinations, the number of walking destinations, and street connectivity over time were associated with greater increases in walking for transportation. Higher baseline levels of both land zoned for retail and walking destinations were associated with greater increases in leisure walking, but no changes in built environment features were associated with leisure walking. The creation of mixed-use, dense developments may encourage adults to incorporate walking for transportation into their everyday lives. PMID:25234431

Grassroots projects aimed at the built environment: Association with neighbourhood deprivation, land-use mix and injury risk to road users.

PubMed

Dubé, Anne Sophie; Beausoleil, Maude; Gosselin, Céline; Beaulme, Ginette; Paquin, Sophie; Pelletier, Anne; Goudreau, Sophie; Poirier, Marie-Hélène; Drouin, Louis; Gauvin, Lise

2014-07-09

1) To describe grassroots projects aimed at the built environment and associated with active transportation on the Island of Montreal; and 2) to examine associations between the number of projects and indicators of neighbourhood material and social deprivation and the built environment. We identified funding agencies and community groups conducting projects on built environments throughout the Island of Montreal. Through website consultation and a snowballing procedure, we inventoried projects that aimed at transforming built environments and that were carried out by community organizations between January 1, 2006, and November 1, 2010. We coded and validated information about project activities and created an interactive map using Geoclip software. Correlational analyses quantified associations between number of projects, neighbourhood characteristics and deprivation. A total of 134 community organizations were identified, and 183 grassroots projects were inventoried. A large number of projects were aimed at increasing awareness of/improving active or public transportation (n=95), improving road safety (n=84) and enhancing neighbourhood beautification and greening (n=69). The correlation between the presence of projects and the extent of neighbourhood material deprivation was small (Kendall's t=0.26, p<0.001), but in areas with greater social deprivation there were more projects (Kendall's t=0.38, p<0.001). Larger numbers of projects were also associated with the presence of more extensive land-use mix (Kendall's t=0.23, p<0.001) and a greater proportion of road intersections with injured pedestrians, cyclists and motor vehicle users (Kendall's t=0.43, p<0.001). There is significant community mobilization around built environments and active transportation. Investigations of the implementation processes and impacts are warranted.

The impact of the built environment on health across the life course: design of a cross-sectional data linkage study

PubMed Central

Villanueva, Karen; Pereira, Gavin; Knuiman, Matthew; Bull, Fiona; Wood, Lisa; Christian, Hayley; Foster, Sarah; Boruff, Bryan J; Beesley, Bridget; Hickey, Sharyn; Joyce, Sarah; Nathan, Andrea; Saarloos, Dick; Giles-Corti, Billie

2013-01-01

Introduction The built environment is increasingly recognised as being associated with health outcomes. Relationships between the built environment and health differ among age groups, especially between children and adults, but also between younger, mid-age and older adults. Yet few address differences across life stage groups within a single population study. Moreover, existing research mostly focuses on physical activity behaviours, with few studying objective clinical and mental health outcomes. The Life Course Built Environment and Health (LCBEH) project explores the impact of the built environment on self-reported and objectively measured health outcomes in a random sample of people across the life course. Methods and analysis This cross-sectional data linkage study involves 15 954 children (0–15 years), young adults (16–24 years), adults (25–64 years) and older adults (65+years) from the Perth metropolitan region who completed the Health and Wellbeing Surveillance System survey administered by the Department of Health of Western Australia from 2003 to 2009. Survey data were linked to Western Australia's (WA) Hospital Morbidity Database System (hospital admission) and Mental Health Information System (mental health system outpatient) data. Participants’ residential address was geocoded and features of their ‘neighbourhood’ were measured using Geographic Information Systems software. Associations between the built environment and self-reported and clinical health outcomes will be explored across varying geographic scales and life stages. Ethics and dissemination The University of Western Australia's Human Research Ethics Committee and the Department of Health of Western Australia approved the study protocol (#2010/1). Findings will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at local, national and international conferences, thus contributing to the evidence base informing the design of healthy neighbourhoods for all residents. PMID:23325897

The influence of the neighborhood physical environment on early child health and development: A review and call for research.

PubMed

Christian, Hayley; Zubrick, Stephen R; Foster, Sarah; Giles-Corti, Billie; Bull, Fiona; Wood, Lisa; Knuiman, Matthew; Brinkman, Sally; Houghton, Stephen; Boruff, Bryan

2015-05-01

This review examines evidence of the association between the neighborhood built environment, green spaces and outdoor home area, and early (0-7 years) child health and development. There was evidence that the presence of child relevant neighborhood destinations and services were positively associated with early child development domains of physical health and wellbeing and social competence. Parents׳ perceptions of neighborhood safety were positively associated with children׳s social-emotional development and general health. Population representative studies using objective measures of the built environment and valid measures of early child development are warranted to understand the impact of the built environment on early child health and development. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Accessibility and independent mobility in rural built environments : challenges and opportunities for young people.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-03-01

Much of the research on accessibility and the built environment performed to date have been : conducted in urban settings and most have focused on adults. Few studies addressing this topic : have concerned areas with low population density and fewer ...

Towards Entrepreneurial Learning Competencies: The Perspective of Built Environment Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ernest, Kissi; Matthew, Somiah K.; Samuel, Ansah K.

2015-01-01

This paper sought to discuss entrepreneurial learning competencies by determining the outcome of entrepreneurial learning on the views of built environment students in the university setting. In this study, three relevant competencies were identified for entrepreneurial learning through literature, namely: entrepreneurial attitude, entrepreneurial…

Harboring illnesses: On the association between disease and living conditions in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon

PubMed Central

HABIB, RIMA R.; BASMA, SHIRAZ H.; YERETZIAN, JOUMANA S.

2007-01-01

This research examined the association between the domestic built environment in a Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon, and the presence of illness among household members. Data on the domestic built environment, socio-demographics and health were collected in 860 households. The association between the presence of illness among household members and three environmental indices, namely infrastructure and services, housing conditions, and crowding was evaluated. These indices were based on a number of items that reflected the existing problems in the domestic built environment. The main finding was the positive association between poor housing conditions and the presence of illness among household members. Households with 8-15 housing problems were twice more likely to report the presence of illness than those with less than four housing problems (OR = 2.08, 95% CI = 1.40-3.11). This research contributes to the understanding of the influence of the built environment on the health of a refugee population. PMID:16546804

Aerospace Toolbox---a flight vehicle design, analysis, simulation ,and software development environment: I. An introduction and tutorial

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Christian, Paul M.; Wells, Randy

2001-09-01

This paper presents a demonstrated approach to significantly reduce the cost and schedule of non real-time modeling and simulation, real-time HWIL simulation, and embedded code development. The tool and the methodology presented capitalize on a paradigm that has become a standard operating procedure in the automotive industry. The tool described is known as the Aerospace Toolbox, and it is based on the MathWorks Matlab/Simulink framework, which is a COTS application. Extrapolation of automotive industry data and initial applications in the aerospace industry show that the use of the Aerospace Toolbox can make significant contributions in the quest by NASA and other government agencies to meet aggressive cost reduction goals in development programs. The part I of this paper provides a detailed description of the GUI based Aerospace Toolbox and how it is used in every step of a development program; from quick prototyping of concept developments that leverage built-in point of departure simulations through to detailed design, analysis, and testing. Some of the attributes addressed include its versatility in modeling 3 to 6 degrees of freedom, its library of flight test validated library of models (including physics, environments, hardware, and error sources), and its built-in Monte Carlo capability. Other topics to be covered in this part include flight vehicle models and algorithms, and the covariance analysis package, Navigation System Covariance Analysis Tools (NavSCAT). Part II of this paper, to be published at a later date, will conclude with a description of how the Aerospace Toolbox is an integral part of developing embedded code directly from the simulation models by using the Mathworks Real Time Workshop and optimization tools. It will also address how the Toolbox can be used as a design hub for Internet based collaborative engineering tools such as NASA's Intelligent Synthesis Environment (ISE) and Lockheed Martin's Interactive Missile Design Environment (IMD).

Evaluation of the neighborhood environment walkability scale in Nigeria.

PubMed

Oyeyemi, Adewale L; Sallis, James F; Deforche, Benedicte; Oyeyemi, Adetoyeje Y; De Bourdeaudhuij, Ilse; Van Dyck, Delfien

2013-03-21

The development of reliable and culturally sensitive measures of attributes of the built and social environment is necessary for accurate analysis of environmental correlates of physical activity in low-income countries, that can inform international evidence-based policies and interventions in the worldwide prevention of physical inactivity epidemics. This study systematically adapted the Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale (NEWS) for Nigeria and evaluated aspects of reliability and validity of the adapted version among Nigerian adults. The adaptation of the NEWS was conducted by African and international experts, and final items were selected for NEWS-Nigeria after a cross-validation of the confirmatory factor analysis structure of the original NEWS. Participants (N = 386; female = 47.2%) from two cities in Nigeria completed the adapted NEWS surveys regarding perceived residential density, land use mix - diversity, land use mix - access, street connectivity, infrastructure and safety for walking and cycling, aesthetics, traffic safety, and safety from crime. Self-reported activity for leisure, walking for different purposes, and overall physical activity were assessed with the validated International Physical Activity Questionnaire (long version). The adapted NEWS subscales had moderate to high test-retest reliability (ICC range 0.59 -0.91). Construct validity was good, with residents of high-walkable neighborhoods reporting significantly higher residential density, more land use mix diversity, higher street connectivity, more traffic safety and more safety from crime, but lower infrastructure and safety for walking/cycling and aesthetics than residents of low-walkable neighborhoods. Concurrent validity correlations were low to moderate (r = 0.10 -0.31) with residential density, land use mix diversity, and traffic safety significantly associated with most physical activity outcomes. The NEWS-Nigeria demonstrated acceptable measurement properties among Nigerian adults and may be useful for evaluation of the built environment in Nigeria. Further adaptation and evaluation in other African countries is needed to create a version that could be used throughout the African region.

Parental perceptions of the impacts the built environment has on young children׳s health: a qualitative examination and lay assessment amongst residents in four Scottish communities.

PubMed

Teedon, Paul; Gillespie, Morag; Lindsay, Kate; Baker, Keith

2014-07-01

The built environment is important for children׳s health and development. Qualitative research in four communities in Scotland explored with groups of parents of young children their lay perceptions of their local environment with specific reference to its impact upon their children׳s health. Valuing most strong supportive communities; good quality public spaces and social housing, parents׳ key concerns included anti-social behaviour, incivility and a range of locally-specific concerns. As knowledgeable key gatekeepers to children׳s use of home environments and public spaces, parent׳s qualitative lay input is important for the development of children׳s effective use of outdoor spaces and the built environment over the long term. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

RED or READ: the built environment is colored

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, Dianne

2002-06-01

How important is color in the design of our built environment? Prototypes and massing models for designs are often presented in white or monochromatic combinations, irrespective of the materials incorporated and the colors that may be applied in the final constructed building, interior or object. Therefore, it is of interest to identify the way color is positioned by designers in how they go about the business of making environments. The built environment is understood by the designers and design researchers generally in one of four fields - as object, as product, as communicator, or as social domain. In addition, Franz identified four conceptions of designing held by designers - the experiential conception, the structural conception, the production conception and the retail conception. Fashion and style are often associated with color in a local context and may simply be applied to the physical environment because it is in fashion, rather than because of what it communicates more broadly. It is assumed that the integration of color in the built environment is influenced by these understandings. In order to address color's position in the design process and the importance of color in relation to space, form, and the experience of place, a selection of Queensland architects and interior designers were surveyed. The study is not conclusive, however, it does identify differences and commonalities between the participants that are of interest in light of the above issues. Explorations into environmental meaning, in addition to color theory and decorative applications, are hypothesized to be important sources of information for designers involved in the coloration of the built environment.

[Analyzing the attributes of surgeons and working environment required for a successful career path and work-life balance: results of a survey administered to doctors working at Kyoto University Hospital].

PubMed

Okoshi, Kae; Tanabe, Tomoko; Hisamoto, Norio; Sakai, Yoshiharu

2012-05-01

We conducted a survey in March 2010 of all physicians at Kyoto University Hospital on working environments, levels of satisfaction, and level of exhaustion. A comparison of surgeons with other physicians showed tendencies among surgeons toward longer working hours and lower income. The findings indicated that surgeons experienced satisfaction from teamwork with fellow physicians, opportunities to manage interesting cases, and patient gratitude. Surgeons tended to have low fatigue level and were satisfied with their working environments, despite their low wages and long working hours. Although surgical treatment is currently built upon the feelings of accomplishment and satisfaction of individual surgeons, there is always a limit to his/her psychological strength. Indeed, the number of young surgeons is not increasing. In the future, efforts must be taken to prevent the departure of currently practicing surgeons. Consideration must also be given to reducing nonsurgical duties by increasing the numbers of medical staff, and making work conditions more appealing to young surgeons by guaranteeing income and prohibiting long working hours, particularly consecutive working hours.

Our built and natural environments : a technical review of the interactions between land use, transportation, and environmental quality

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2001-01-01

In recent years interest has grown in Smart Growth as a mechanism for improving environmental quality. In Our Built and Natural Environments, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) summarizes technical research on the relationship between the...

Walk around the Block Curriculum.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Center for Understanding the Built Environment, Prairie Village, KS.

This curriculum packet contains two teacher-developed lesson plans for upper elementary students focusing on the built environment. The first lesson plan, "The Built Environment--An Integrating Theme" (Liesa Schroeder), offers suggestions for developing a walking tour around the school neighborhood, a historic area, or a city square. It…

Development of the promoting teacher attribution model for promoting science teachers' moral and ethical characteristics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chanprathak, Anusorn; Worakham, Paisan; Suikraduang, Arun

2018-01-01

The promotion science teacher attribution model to develop the moral and ethical characteristics was to analyze, synthesis, and develop the guidelines of the scoping study into concepts, theories and research related about the moral and ethics of characteristically teachers from the resources, including research papers, research articles related research, and interviews with luminaries of 9 members. Using interviews and document analysis, data analysis, content analysis, and present an essay was built. The promoting attributes a teacher, moral principles, concepts and theories involved and guidance of a qualified were developed. The Multiple-Attribute Consensus Reaching (MACR) from 12 educational experts were checked the suitability and feasibility of the model, the possibility of the manual with the research instruments consisted of the promotion model attributes the moral and ethics teacher's characteristics were evaluated, to guide the promotion attributes' model forms were assessed, the first edition of the manual data analysis, information obtained from the evaluation of the suitability and feasibility analysis model and guide for the average were administered. The results have found that; the promoting moral teacher attribute data to their moral and ethical characteristics was divided into two groups, priests and scholars. In both groups, the promotion attributes, focusing on teacher's groups is moral in nature to modify the idea to a change of attitude within the organism. Students got down to real experience; an analysis and synthesis face learning environments that cause cognitive skills to act as a self-realization possibly. The promotion model, moral principles, including the importance of the activities, objectives and evaluation methods were attributed. These core concepts learning theory and social cognitive theory, and integrated learning experience were comprised in five stages and four processes, namely; the intended, memory storage process, the actions, and the incentives of the motivation processes. The appropriateness and feasibility of the model and the appropriateness of the form scales evidence of a high level. The assessing guide on the appropriateness of the guide scale and the possibility of the manual guide responded of at a high level, similarly.

Built environment interventions aimed at improving physical activity levels in rural Ontario health units: a descriptive qualitative study.

PubMed

Coghill, Cara-Lee; Valaitis, Ruta K; Eyles, John D

2015-05-03

Few studies to date have explored the relationship between the built environment and physical activity specifically in rural settings. The Ontario Public Health Standards policies mandate that health units in Ontario address the built environment; however, it is unclear how public health practitioners are integrating the built environment into public health interventions aimed at improving physical activity in chronic disease prevention programs. This descriptive qualitative study explored interventions that have or are being implemented which address the built environment specifically related to physical activity in rural Ontario health units, and the impact of these interventions. Data were collected through twelve in-depth semi-structured interviews with rural public health practitioners and managers representing 12 of 13 health units serving rural communities. Key themes were identified using qualitative content analysis. Themes that emerged regarding the types of interventions that health units are employing included: Engagement with policy work at a municipal level; building and working with community partners, committees and coalitions; gathering and providing evidence; developing and implementing programs; and social marketing and awareness raising. Evaluation of interventions to date has been limited. Public health interventions, and their evaluations, are complex. Health units who serve large rural populations in Ontario are engaging in numerous activities to address physical activity levels. There is a need to further evaluate the impact of these interventions on population health.

Transmission of Airborne Bacteria across Built Environments and Its Measurement Standards: A Review.

PubMed

Fujiyoshi, So; Tanaka, Daisuke; Maruyama, Fumito

2017-01-01

Human health is influenced by various factors including microorganisms present in built environments where people spend most of their lives (approximately 90%). It is therefore necessary to monitor and control indoor airborne microbes for occupational safety and public health. Most studies concerning airborne microorganisms have focused on fungi, with scant data available concerning bacteria. The present review considers papers published from 2010 to 2017 approximately and factors affecting properties of indoor airborne bacteria (communities and concentration) with respect to temporal perspective and to multiscale interaction viewpoint. From a temporal perspective, bacterial concentrations in built environments change depending on numbers of human occupancy, while properties of bacterial communities tend to remain stable. Similarly, the bacteria found in social and community spaces such as offices, classrooms and hospitals are mainly associated with human occupancy. Other major sources of indoor airborne bacteria are (i) outdoor environments, and (ii) the building materials themselves. Indoor bacterial communities and concentrations are varied with varying interferences by outdoor environment. Airborne bacteria from the outdoor environment enter an indoor space through open doors and windows, while indoor bacteria are simultaneously released to the outer environment. Outdoor bacterial communities and their concentrations are also affected by geographical factors such as types of land use and their spatial distribution. The bacteria found in built environments therefore originate from any of the natural and man-made surroundings around humans. Therefore, to better understand the factors influencing bacterial concentrations and communities in built environments, we should study all the environments that humans contact as a single ecosystem. In this review, we propose the establishment of a standard procedure for assessing properties of indoor airborne bacteria using four factors: temperature, relative humidity (RH), air exchange rate, and occupant density, as a minimum requirement. We also summarize the relevant legislation by country. Choice of factors to measure remain controversial are discussed.

Transmission of Airborne Bacteria across Built Environments and Its Measurement Standards: A Review

PubMed Central

Fujiyoshi, So; Tanaka, Daisuke; Maruyama, Fumito

2017-01-01

Human health is influenced by various factors including microorganisms present in built environments where people spend most of their lives (approximately 90%). It is therefore necessary to monitor and control indoor airborne microbes for occupational safety and public health. Most studies concerning airborne microorganisms have focused on fungi, with scant data available concerning bacteria. The present review considers papers published from 2010 to 2017 approximately and factors affecting properties of indoor airborne bacteria (communities and concentration) with respect to temporal perspective and to multiscale interaction viewpoint. From a temporal perspective, bacterial concentrations in built environments change depending on numbers of human occupancy, while properties of bacterial communities tend to remain stable. Similarly, the bacteria found in social and community spaces such as offices, classrooms and hospitals are mainly associated with human occupancy. Other major sources of indoor airborne bacteria are (i) outdoor environments, and (ii) the building materials themselves. Indoor bacterial communities and concentrations are varied with varying interferences by outdoor environment. Airborne bacteria from the outdoor environment enter an indoor space through open doors and windows, while indoor bacteria are simultaneously released to the outer environment. Outdoor bacterial communities and their concentrations are also affected by geographical factors such as types of land use and their spatial distribution. The bacteria found in built environments therefore originate from any of the natural and man-made surroundings around humans. Therefore, to better understand the factors influencing bacterial concentrations and communities in built environments, we should study all the environments that humans contact as a single ecosystem. In this review, we propose the establishment of a standard procedure for assessing properties of indoor airborne bacteria using four factors: temperature, relative humidity (RH), air exchange rate, and occupant density, as a minimum requirement. We also summarize the relevant legislation by country. Choice of factors to measure remain controversial are discussed. PMID:29238327

Gender differences in the relationship between built environment and non-communicable diseases: A systematic review.

PubMed

Valson, Joanna Sara; Kutty, V Raman

2018-02-05

Non-communicable diseases are on the rise globally. Risk factors of non-communicable diseases continue to be a growing concern in both developed and developing countries. With significant rise in population and establishment of buildings, rapid changes have taken place in the built environment. Relationship between health and place, particularly with non-communicable diseases has been established in previous literature. This systematic review assesses the current evidence on influence of gender in the relationship between built environment and non-communicable diseases. A systematic literature search using PubMed was done to identify all studies that reported relationship between gender and built environment. All titles and abstracts were scrutinised to include only articles based on risk factors, prevention, treatment and outcome of non-communicable diseases. The Gender Analysis Matrix developed by the World Health Organization was used to describe the findings of gender differences. Sex differences, biological susceptibility, gender norms/ values, roles and activities related to gender and access to/control over resources were themes for the differences in the relationship. A total of 15 out of 214 articles met the inclusion criteria. Majority of the studies were on risk factors of non-communicable diseases, particularly cardiovascular diseases. Gender differences in physical access to recreational facilities, neighbourhood perceptions of safety and walkability have been documented. Men and women showed differential preferences to walking, engaging in physical activity and in perceiving safety of the neighbourhood. Girls and boys showed differences in play activities at school and in their own neighbourhood environment. Safety from crime and safety from traffic were also perceived important to engage in physical activity. Gender norms and gender roles and activities have shown basis for the differences in the prevalence of non-communicable diseases. Sparse evidence was found on how built environment affects health seeking behaviour, preventive options or experience with health providers. Though yet unexplored in the developing or low/middle income countries, there seems to be a major role in the gendered perception of how men and women are affected by noncommunicable diseases. Large gaps still exist in the research evidence on gender-based differences in non-communicable diseases and built environment relationship. Future research directions could bring out underpinnings of how perceived and objective built environment could largely affect the health behaviour of men and women across the globe.

Local descriptive norms for overweight/obesity and physical inactivity, features of the built environment, and 10-year change in glycosylated haemoglobin in an Australian population-based biomedical cohort.

PubMed

Carroll, Suzanne J; Paquet, Catherine; Howard, Natasha J; Coffee, Neil T; Taylor, Anne W; Niyonsenga, Theo; Daniel, Mark

2016-10-01

Descriptive norms vary between places. Spatial variation in health-related descriptive norms may predict individual-level health outcomes. Such relationships have rarely been investigated. This study assessed 10-year change in glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) in relation to local descriptive norms for overweight/obesity (n = 1890) and physical inactivity (n = 1906) in models accounting for features of the built environment. HbA1c was measured three times over 10 years for a population-based biomedical cohort of adults in Adelaide, South Australia. Environmental exposures were expressed for cohort participants using 1600 m road-network buffers centred on participants' residential address. Local descriptive norms (prevalence of overweight/obesity [body mass index ≥25 kg/m(2)] and of physical inactivity [<150 min/week]) were aggregated from responses to a separate geocoded population survey. Built environment measures were public open space (POS) availability (proportion of buffer area) and walkability. Separate sets of multilevel models analysed different predictors of 10-year change in HbA1c. Each model featured one local descriptive norm and one built environment variable with area-level education and individual-level covariates (age, sex, employment status, education, marital status, and smoking status). Interactions between local descriptive norms and built environment measures were assessed. HbA1c increased over time. POS availability and local descriptive norms for overweight/obesity and physical inactivity were each associated with greater rates of HbA1c increase. Greater walkability was associated with a reduced rate of HbA1c increase, and reduced the influence of the overweight/obesity norm on the rate of increase in HbA1c. Local descriptive health-related norms and features of the built environment predict 10-year change in HbA1c. The impact of local descriptive norms can vary according to built environment features. Little researched thus far, local descriptive norms may play an important role in the evolution of HbA1c and thus cardiometabolic risk, over time. Further empirical research on local descriptive norms is necessary to understand how residential environments shape chronic disease risk. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Design in the Classroom: Exploring the Built Environment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maine Arts Commission, Augusta.

Design and the built environment are subjects of concern to Maine communities. State mandated town planning, new school construction, and the Department of Transportation plans to rebuild roads and bridges elicit public discussion. The study of design encourages elementary students to enter this public forum as informed citizens. The study of…

A Disadvantaged Advantage in Walkability: Findings from Socioeconomic and Geographic Analysis of National Built Environment Data in the United States.

EPA Science Inventory

Urban form-the structure of the built environment-can influence physical activity, yet little is known about how walkable design differs according to neighborhood sociodemographic composition. We studied how walkable urban form varies by neighborhood sociodemographic composition,...

[Interpreting Historic Sites & the Built Environment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yellis, Ken, Ed.

1985-01-01

This issue focuses on the interpretation of built environments, from Washington Irving's 19th century home in Tarrytown, New York, to structures in contemporary Chicago. Barbara Carson, Margaret Piatt, and Renee Friedman discuss the interpretation of interior and exterior spaces and explain how to teach history with objects instead of teaching the…

Immersive Virtual Environment Technology to Supplement Environmental Perception, Preference and Behavior Research: A Review with Applications

PubMed Central

Smith, Jordan W.

2015-01-01

Immersive virtual environment (IVE) technology offers a wide range of potential benefits to research focused on understanding how individuals perceive and respond to built and natural environments. In an effort to broaden awareness and use of IVE technology in perception, preference and behavior research, this review paper describes how IVE technology can be used to complement more traditional methods commonly applied in public health research. The paper also describes a relatively simple workflow for creating and displaying 360° virtual environments of built and natural settings and presents two freely-available and customizable applications that scientists from a variety of disciplines, including public health, can use to advance their research into human preferences, perceptions and behaviors related to built and natural settings. PMID:26378565

Immersive Virtual Environment Technology to Supplement Environmental Perception, Preference and Behavior Research: A Review with Applications.

PubMed

Smith, Jordan W

2015-09-11

Immersive virtual environment (IVE) technology offers a wide range of potential benefits to research focused on understanding how individuals perceive and respond to built and natural environments. In an effort to broaden awareness and use of IVE technology in perception, preference and behavior research, this review paper describes how IVE technology can be used to complement more traditional methods commonly applied in public health research. The paper also describes a relatively simple workflow for creating and displaying 360° virtual environments of built and natural settings and presents two freely-available and customizable applications that scientists from a variety of disciplines, including public health, can use to advance their research into human preferences, perceptions and behaviors related to built and natural settings.

Reliability Modeling of Microelectromechanical Systems Using Neural Networks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Perera. J. Sebastian

2000-01-01

Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are a broad and rapidly expanding field that is currently receiving a great deal of attention because of the potential to significantly improve the ability to sense, analyze, and control a variety of processes, such as heating and ventilation systems, automobiles, medicine, aeronautical flight, military surveillance, weather forecasting, and space exploration. MEMS are very small and are a blend of electrical and mechanical components, with electrical and mechanical systems on one chip. This research establishes reliability estimation and prediction for MEMS devices at the conceptual design phase using neural networks. At the conceptual design phase, before devices are built and tested, traditional methods of quantifying reliability are inadequate because the device is not in existence and cannot be tested to establish the reliability distributions. A novel approach using neural networks is created to predict the overall reliability of a MEMS device based on its components and each component's attributes. The methodology begins with collecting attribute data (fabrication process, physical specifications, operating environment, property characteristics, packaging, etc.) and reliability data for many types of microengines. The data are partitioned into training data (the majority) and validation data (the remainder). A neural network is applied to the training data (both attribute and reliability); the attributes become the system inputs and reliability data (cycles to failure), the system output. After the neural network is trained with sufficient data. the validation data are used to verify the neural networks provided accurate reliability estimates. Now, the reliability of a new proposed MEMS device can be estimated by using the appropriate trained neural networks developed in this work.

The Influence of Weather Variation, Urban Design and Built Environment on Objectively Measured Sedentary Behaviour in Children.

PubMed

Katapally, Tarun Reddy; Rainham, Daniel; Muhajarine, Nazeem

2016-01-01

With emerging evidence indicating that independent of physical activity, sedentary behaviour (SB) can be detrimental to health, researchers are increasingly aiming to understand the influence of multiple contexts such as urban design and built environment on SB. However, weather variation, a factor that continuously interacts with all other environmental variables, has been consistently underexplored. This study investigated the influence of diverse environmental exposures (including weather variation, urban design and built environment) on SB in children. This cross-sectional observational study is part of an active living research initiative set in the Canadian prairie city of Saskatoon. Saskatoon's neighbourhoods were classified based on urban street design into grid-pattern, fractured grid-pattern and curvilinear types of neighbourhoods. Diverse environmental exposures were measured including, neighbourhood built environment, and neighbourhood and household socioeconomic environment. Actical accelerometers were deployed between April and June 2010 (spring-summer) to derive SB of 331 10-14 year old children in 25 one week cycles. Each cycle of accelerometry was conducted on a different cohort of children within the total sample. Accelerometer data were matched with localized weather patterns derived from Environment Canada weather data. Multilevel modeling using Hierarchical Linear and Non-linear Modeling software was conducted by factoring in weather variation to depict the influence of diverse environmental exposures on SB. Both weather variation and urban design played a significant role in SB. After factoring in weather variation, it was observed that children living in grid-pattern neighbourhoods closer to the city centre (with higher diversity of destinations) were less likely to be sedentary. This study demonstrates a methodology that could be replicated to integrate geography-specific weather patterns with existing cross-sectional accelerometry data to understand the influence of urban design and built environment on SB in children.

The Impact of Built Environment on Diabetic Patients: The Case of Eastern Province, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

PubMed Central

Sidawi, Bhzad; Al-Hariri, Mohamed Taha Ali

2012-01-01

At present, Diabetes mellitus is considered as one of the main threats to the human health in the 21st century. It may lead to severe conditions such as blindness, end-stage of renal disease, limb amputation and a variety of debilitating neuropathies. Previous researches indicated that diabetes is caused by a complex interaction of patient’s genetics, life-style and environmental factors. They also highlighted that providing quality and healthy built environment to citizens including diabetic patients would prevent poor and unhealthy condition. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is one of top ten countries in the prevalence of diabetes. Little researches though were conducted in KSA in regards to the effect of environmental conditions of the built environment. In 2011, the present researchers have carried out a pilot survey on a number of diabetic patients to find out the possible impact of built environment settings on the patient’s lifestyle. The research explored whether diabetic patients use smart tools in their daily life to overcome the daily life’s difficulties and perform their life as normal as possible. The results showed a close link between a poor home and environmental settings, the patient’s lifestyle, and the patient’s health status. It also highlighted the absence of smart tools and systems use. The paper argues that certain changes to the built environment must be done and to provide a healthy and safe environment for diabetic patients. This would help these patients to abandon their bad habits and adopt healthier lifestyle. PMID:22980349

The impact of built environment on diabetic patients: the case of Eastern Province, KIngdom of Saudi Arabia.

PubMed

Sidawi, Bhzad; Al-Hariri, Mohamed Taha Ali

2012-06-13

At present, Diabetes mellitus is considered as one of the main threats to the human health in the 21st century. It may lead to severe conditions such as blindness, end-stage of renal disease, limb amputation and a variety of debilitating neuropathies. Previous researches indicated that diabetes is caused by a complex interaction of patient's genetics, life-style and environmental factors. They also highlighted that providing quality and healthy built environment to citizens including diabetic patients would prevent poor and unhealthy condition. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is one of top ten countries in the prevalence of diabetes. Little researches though were conducted in KSA in regards to the effect of environmental conditions of the built environment. In 2011, the present researchers have carried out a pilot survey on a number of diabetic patients to find out the possible impact of built environment settings on the patient's lifestyle. The research explored whether diabetic patients use smart tools in their daily life to overcome the daily life's difficulties and perform their life as normal as possible. The results showed a close link between a poor home and environmental settings, the patient's lifestyle, and the patient's health status. It also highlighted the absence of smart tools and systems use. The paper argues that certain changes to the built environment must be done and to provide a healthy and safe environment for diabetic patients. This would help these patients to abandon their bad habits and adopt healthier lifestyle.

Development of Process Analytical Technology (PAT) methods for controlled release pellet coating.

PubMed

Avalle, P; Pollitt, M J; Bradley, K; Cooper, B; Pearce, G; Djemai, A; Fitzpatrick, S

2014-07-01

This work focused on the control of the manufacturing process for a controlled release (CR) pellet product, within a Quality by Design (QbD) framework. The manufacturing process was Wurster coating: firstly layering active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) onto sugar pellet cores and secondly a controlled release (CR) coating. For each of these two steps, development of a Process Analytical Technology (PAT) method is discussed and also a novel application of automated microscopy as the reference method. Ultimately, PAT methods should link to product performance and the two key Critical Quality Attributes (CQAs) for this CR product are assay and release rate, linked to the API and CR coating steps respectively. In this work, the link between near infra-red (NIR) spectra and those attributes was explored by chemometrics over the course of the coating process in a pilot scale industrial environment. Correlations were built between the NIR spectra and coating weight (for API amount), CR coating thickness and dissolution performance. These correlations allow the coating process to be monitored at-line and so better control of the product performance in line with QbD requirements. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

NFIRE-to-TerraSAR-X laser communication results: satellite pointing, disturbances, and other attributes consistent with successful performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fields, Renny; Lunde, Carl; Wong, Robert; Wicker, Josef; Kozlowski, David; Jordan, John; Hansen, Brian; Muehlnikel, Gerd; Scheel, Wayne; Sterr, Uwe; Kahle, Ralph; Meyer, Rolf

2009-05-01

Starting in late 2007 and continuing through the present, NFIRE (Near-Field Infrared Experiment), a Missile Defense Agency (MDA) experimental satellite and TerraSAR-X, a German commercial SAR satellite have been conducting mutual crosslink experiments utilizing a secondary laser communication payload built by Tesat-Spacecom. The narrow laser beam-widths and high relative inter-spacecraft velocities for the two low-earth-orbiting satellites imply strict pointing control and dynamics aboard both vehicles. The satellites have achieved rapid communication acquisition times and maintained communication for hundreds of seconds before losing line of sight to the counter satellite due to earth blockage. Through post-mission analysis and other related telemetry we will show results for pointing accuracy, disturbance environments and pre-engagement prediction requirements that support successful and reliable operations.

Novel Intersection Type Recognition for Autonomous Vehicles Using a Multi-Layer Laser Scanner.

PubMed

An, Jhonghyun; Choi, Baehoon; Sim, Kwee-Bo; Kim, Euntai

2016-07-20

There are several types of intersections such as merge-roads, diverge-roads, plus-shape intersections and two types of T-shape junctions in urban roads. When an autonomous vehicle encounters new intersections, it is crucial to recognize the types of intersections for safe navigation. In this paper, a novel intersection type recognition method is proposed for an autonomous vehicle using a multi-layer laser scanner. The proposed method consists of two steps: (1) static local coordinate occupancy grid map (SLOGM) building and (2) intersection classification. In the first step, the SLOGM is built relative to the local coordinate using the dynamic binary Bayes filter. In the second step, the SLOGM is used as an attribute for the classification. The proposed method is applied to a real-world environment and its validity is demonstrated through experimentation.

Novel Intersection Type Recognition for Autonomous Vehicles Using a Multi-Layer Laser Scanner

PubMed Central

An, Jhonghyun; Choi, Baehoon; Sim, Kwee-Bo; Kim, Euntai

2016-01-01

There are several types of intersections such as merge-roads, diverge-roads, plus-shape intersections and two types of T-shape junctions in urban roads. When an autonomous vehicle encounters new intersections, it is crucial to recognize the types of intersections for safe navigation. In this paper, a novel intersection type recognition method is proposed for an autonomous vehicle using a multi-layer laser scanner. The proposed method consists of two steps: (1) static local coordinate occupancy grid map (SLOGM) building and (2) intersection classification. In the first step, the SLOGM is built relative to the local coordinate using the dynamic binary Bayes filter. In the second step, the SLOGM is used as an attribute for the classification. The proposed method is applied to a real-world environment and its validity is demonstrated through experimentation. PMID:27447640

Residential greenness and birth outcomes: evaluating the influence of spatially correlated built-environment factors.

PubMed

Hystad, Perry; Davies, Hugh W; Frank, Lawrence; Van Loon, Josh; Gehring, Ulrike; Tamburic, Lillian; Brauer, Michael

2014-10-01

Half the world's population lives in urban areas. It is therefore important to identify characteristics of the built environment that are beneficial to human health. Urban greenness has been associated with improvements in a diverse range of health conditions, including birth outcomes; however, few studies have attempted to distinguish potential effects of greenness from those of other spatially correlated exposures related to the built environment. We aimed to investigate associations between residential greenness and birth outcomes and evaluate the influence of spatially correlated built environment factors on these associations. We examined associations between residential greenness [measured using satellite-derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) within 100 m of study participants' homes] and birth outcomes in a cohort of 64,705 singleton births (from 1999-2002) in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. We also evaluated associations after adjusting for spatially correlated built environmental factors that may influence birth outcomes, including exposure to air pollution and noise, neighborhood walkability, and distance to the nearest park. An interquartile increase in greenness (0.1 in residential NDVI) was associated with higher term birth weight (20.6 g; 95% CI: 16.5, 24.7) and decreases in the likelihood of small for gestational age, very preterm (< 30 weeks), and moderately preterm (30-36 weeks) birth. Associations were robust to adjustment for air pollution and noise exposures, neighborhood walkability, and park proximity. Increased residential greenness was associated with beneficial birth outcomes in this population-based cohort. These associations did not change after adjusting for other spatially correlated built environment factors, suggesting that alternative pathways (e.g., psychosocial and psychological mechanisms) may underlie associations between residential greenness and birth outcomes.

Is missing geographic positioning system data in accelerometry studies a problem, and is imputation the solution?

PubMed Central

Meseck, Kristin; Jankowska, Marta M.; Schipperijn, Jasper; Natarajan, Loki; Godbole, Suneeta; Carlson, Jordan; Takemoto, Michelle; Crist, Katie; Kerr, Jacqueline

2016-01-01

The main purpose of the present study was to assess the impact of global positioning system (GPS) signal lapse on physical activity analyses, discover any existing associations between missing GPS data and environmental and demographics attributes, and to determine whether imputation is an accurate and viable method for correcting GPS data loss. Accelerometer and GPS data of 782 participants from 8 studies were pooled to represent a range of lifestyles and interactions with the built environment. Periods of GPS signal lapse were identified and extracted. Generalised linear mixed models were run with the number of lapses and the length of lapses as outcomes. The signal lapses were imputed using a simple ruleset, and imputation was validated against person-worn camera imagery. A final generalised linear mixed model was used to identify the difference between the amount of GPS minutes pre- and post-imputation for the activity categories of sedentary, light, and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Over 17% of the dataset was comprised of GPS data lapses. No strong associations were found between increasing lapse length and number of lapses and the demographic and built environment variables. A significant difference was found between the pre- and post-imputation minutes for each activity category. No demographic or environmental bias was found for length or number of lapses, but imputation of GPS data may make a significant difference for inclusion of physical activity data that occurred during a lapse. Imputing GPS data lapses is a viable technique for returning spatial context to accelerometer data and improving the completeness of the dataset. PMID:27245796

An Interactive Multimedia Learning Environment for VLSI Built with COSMOS

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Angelides, Marios C.; Agius, Harry W.

2002-01-01

This paper presents Bigger Bits, an interactive multimedia learning environment that teaches students about VLSI within the context of computer electronics. The system was built with COSMOS (Content Oriented semantic Modelling Overlay Scheme), which is a modelling scheme that we developed for enabling the semantic content of multimedia to be used…

Does Built Environment Matter to Early Adolescents' Physical Activity?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Jen-Jia; Ting, Tzu-Cheng

2014-01-01

This study examined the relationship of built environments to physical activity among adolescents aged 12 to 14 years old. The study sample included 269 junior high school students studying in Nangang District, Taipei, Taiwan. Sample physical activity data were obtained by surveying adolescents using a self-administered short version of the…

Teaching Children about Aspects of Comfort in the Built Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kowaltowski, Doris C. C. K.; Filho, Francisco Borges; Labaki, Lucila C.; Pina, Silvia A. Mikami G.; Bernardi, Nubia

2004-01-01

This article presents specific teaching material for the primary school level that introduces basic concepts of environmental comfort. The authors developed 2 booklets to make children aware of the built environment. Following a postoccupancy evaluation of state schools in the city of Campinas, in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, the research team…

Air Pollution Abatement Performances of Green Infrastructure in Open Road and Built-up Street Canyon Environments – A Review

EPA Science Inventory

Intensifying the proportion of urban green infrastructure has been considered as one of the remedies for air pollution levels in cities, yet the impact of numerous vegetation types deployed in different built environments has to be fully synthesised and quantified. This review ex...

A Design Model: The Autism Spectrum Disorder Classroom Design Kit

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McAllister, Keith; Maguire, Barry

2012-01-01

Architects and designers have a responsibility to provide an inclusive built environment. However, for those with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the built environment can be a frightening and confusing place, difficult to negotiate and tolerate. The challenge of integrating more fully into society is denied by an alienating built…

Does the social environment moderate associations of the built environment with Latinas' objectively-measured neighborhood outdoor physical activity?

PubMed

Perez, L G; Carlson, J; Slymen, D J; Patrick, K; Kerr, J; Godbole, S; Elder, J P; Ayala, G X; Arredondo, E M

2016-12-01

Favorable perceptions of the built and social neighborhood environment may promote outdoor physical activity (PA). However, little is known about their independent and interactive effects on neighborhood-specific outdoor PA. We examined associations of perceived built and social neighborhood environment factors, and their interactions, with objectively-measured neighborhood outdoor moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) among a sample of Latina women in San Diego, CA. Analyses included baseline data collected in 2011-2013 from 86 Latinas with ≥ 2 days of combined accelerometer and global positioning system data and complete survey measures. We examined objective neighborhood outdoor MVPA within 500-meter home buffers. Generalized linear mixed models examined associations of 3 perceived built (e.g., sidewalk maintenance) and 3 social environmental (e.g., safety from crime) factors with engaging in any daily neighborhood outdoor MVPA. Models tested interactions between the built and social environmental factors. Although the perceived neighborhood environmental factors were not significantly related to daily neighborhood outdoor MVPA, we found 2 significant interactions: perceived sidewalk maintenance x safety from crime ( p  = 0.05) and neighborhood aesthetics x neighborhood social cohesion ( p  = 0.03). Sidewalk maintenance was positively related to daily neighborhood outdoor MVPA only among Latinas that reported low levels of safety from crime. Neighborhood aesthetics was positively related to daily neighborhood outdoor MVPA only among Latinas with high neighborhood social cohesion. Findings suggest several built and social environmental factors interact to influence Latinas' neighborhood outdoor MVPA. Interventions are needed targeting both built and social neighborhood environmental factors favorable to outdoor PA in the neighborhood.

The Uncertain Geographic Context Problem in the Analysis of the Relationships between Obesity and the Built Environment in Guangzhou

PubMed Central

Zhao, Pengxiang; Zhou, Suhong

2018-01-01

Traditionally, static units of analysis such as administrative units are used when studying obesity. However, using these fixed contextual units ignores environmental influences experienced by individuals in areas beyond their residential neighborhood and may render the results unreliable. This problem has been articulated as the uncertain geographic context problem (UGCoP). This study investigates the UGCoP through exploring the relationships between the built environment and obesity based on individuals’ activity space. First, a survey was conducted to collect individuals’ daily activity and weight information in Guangzhou in January 2016. Then, the data were used to calculate and compare the values of several built environment variables based on seven activity space delineations, including home buffers, workplace buffers (WPB), fitness place buffers (FPB), the standard deviational ellipse at two standard deviations (SDE2), the weighted standard deviational ellipse at two standard deviations (WSDE2), the minimum convex polygon (MCP), and road network buffers (RNB). Lastly, we conducted comparative analysis and regression analysis based on different activity space measures. The results indicate that significant differences exist between variables obtained with different activity space delineations. Further, regression analyses show that the activity space delineations used in the analysis have a significant influence on the results concerning the relationships between the built environment and obesity. The study sheds light on the UGCoP in analyzing the relationships between obesity and the built environment. PMID:29439392

Associations between sociodemographic characteristics and perceptions of the built environment with the frequency, type, and duration of physical activity among trail users.

PubMed

Maslow, Andréa L; Reed, Julian A; Price, Anna E; Hooker, Steven P

2012-01-01

Rail trails are elements of the built environment that support the Task Force on Community Preventive Services' recommendation to create, or enhance access to, places for physical activity (PA). The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between sociodemographic characteristics and perceptions of the built environment with the frequency, type, and duration of PA among users of an urban, paved rail trail segment. Interviewers conducted intercept surveys with 431 rail trail users and analyzed data by using logistic regression to estimate odds ratios between sociodemographic characteristics and perceptions of the built environment on the frequency, type, and duration of PA performed on the trail. Adults who used the trail in the cool months, traveled to the trail by a motorized vehicle, used the trail with others, and had some graduate school education visited the trail less often. Younger adults, men, whites, and those with some graduate school education were more likely to engage in vigorous activities on the trail. Adults who traveled to the trail by a motorized vehicle spent more time engaged in PA on the trail. Our results suggest that the most frequent users of a rail trail for PA are those who use the trail alone and travel to the trail by bicycle or on foot. Trails are an aspect of the built environment that supports active lifestyles, and future studies should evaluate different types of trails among more diverse populations and locations.

Built environment assessment: Multidisciplinary perspectives.

PubMed

Glanz, Karen; Handy, Susan L; Henderson, Kathryn E; Slater, Sandy J; Davis, Erica L; Powell, Lisa M

2016-12-01

As obesity has become increasingly widespread, scientists seek better ways to assess and modify built and social environments to positively impact health. The applicable methods and concepts draw on multiple disciplines and require collaboration and cross-learning. This paper describes the results of an expert team׳s analysis of how key disciplinary perspectives contribute to environmental context-based assessment related to obesity, identifies gaps, and suggests opportunities to encourage effective advances in this arena. A team of experts representing diverse disciplines convened in 2013 to discuss the contributions of their respective disciplines to assessing built environments relevant to obesity prevention. The disciplines include urban planning, public health nutrition, exercise science, physical activity research, public health and epidemiology, behavioral and social sciences, and economics. Each expert identified key concepts and measures from their discipline, and applications to built environment assessment and action. A selective review of published literature and internet-based information was conducted in 2013 and 2014. The key points that are highlighted in this article were identified in 2014-2015 through discussion, debate and consensus-building among the team of experts. Results focus on the various disciplines׳ perspectives and tools, recommendations, progress and gaps. There has been significant progress in collaboration across key disciplines that contribute to studies of built environments and obesity, but important gaps remain. Using lessons from interprofessional education and team science, along with appreciation of and attention to other disciplines׳ contributions, can promote more effective cross-disciplinary collaboration in obesity prevention.

Achieving built-environment and active living goals through Music City Moves.

PubMed

Omishakin, Adetokunbo A; Carlat, Jennifer L; Hornsby, Shannon; Buck, Tracy

2009-12-01

Nashville, Tennessee, formed Music City Moves (MCM), an interdisciplinary, countywide partnership to implement its vision for the community: a metropolitan region where routine physical activity is a fundamental part of daily life for all residents. Music City Moves' main focus was the pursuit of changes in community planning policies to help shape Nashville's built environment and facilitate walking and bicycling. To complement this focus, MCM developed a suite of health programs to support physical activity in high-risk populations and a countywide promotional campaign designed to increase awareness and get people active through event participation. Nashville made considerable strides in improving policies and regulations related to building and site design to improve the built environment for pedestrians and cyclists, including passage of (1) specific plan zoning; (2) revised subdivision regulations that introduced a "walkable subdivision" option for developers; and (3) a community-character manual that will guide future land-use planning. Programs and promotions have increased awareness and participation, and the Tour de Nash bike/walk event showcases yearly changes in the built environment. Political leadership has been critical to MCM's success. Leadership of the partnership by the planning department facilitated regulatory changes in planning policies. Music City Moves has accelerated Nashville's movement to improve the built environment and encourage active living. The beneficial impact of policy changes will continue to be manifested in coming years; however, ongoing political support and education of stakeholders in the planning process will be necessary to ensure that planning policies are fully implemented.

Changes in the built environment and changes in the amount of walking over time: longitudinal results from the multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis.

PubMed

Hirsch, Jana A; Moore, Kari A; Clarke, Philippa J; Rodriguez, Daniel A; Evenson, Kelly R; Brines, Shannon J; Zagorski, Melissa A; Diez Roux, Ana V

2014-10-15

Lack of longitudinal research hinders causal inference on the association between the built environment and walking. In the present study, we used data from 6,027 adults in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis who were 45-84 years of age at baseline to investigate the association of neighborhood built environment with trends in the amount of walking between 2000 and 2012. Walking for transportation and walking for leisure were assessed at baseline and at 3 follow-up visits (median follow-up = 9.15 years). Time-varying built environment measures (measures of population density, land use, number of destinations, bus access, and street connectivity) were created using geographic information systems. We used linear mixed models to estimate the associations between baseline levels of and a change in each built environment feature and a change in the frequency of walking. After adjustment for potential confounders, we found that higher baseline levels of population density, area zoned for retail, social destinations, walking destinations, and street connectivity were associated with greater increases in walking for transportation over time. Higher baseline levels of land zoned for residential use and distance to buses were associated with less pronounced increases (or decreases) in walking for transportation over time. Increases in the number of social destinations, the number of walking destinations, and street connectivity over time were associated with greater increases in walking for transportation. Higher baseline levels of both land zoned for retail and walking destinations were associated with greater increases in leisure walking, but no changes in built environment features were associated with leisure walking. The creation of mixed-use, dense developments may encourage adults to incorporate walking for transportation into their everyday lives. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Monitoring the expansion of built-up areas in Seberang Perai region, Penang State, Malaysia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samat, N.

2014-02-01

Rapid urbanization has caused land use transformation and encroachment of built environment into arable agriculture land. Uncontrolled expansion could bring negative impacts to society, space and the environment. Therefore, information on expansion and future spatial pattern of built-up areas would be useful for planners and decision makers in formulating policies towards managing and planning for sustainable urban development. This study demonstrates the usage of Geographic Information System in monitoring the expansion of built-up area in Seberang Perai region, Penang State, Malaysia. Built-up area has increased by approximately 20% between 1990 and 2001 and further increased by 12% between 2001 and 2007. New development is expected to continue encroach into existing open space and agriculture area since those are the only available land in this study area. The information on statistics of the expansion of built-up area and future spatial pattern of urban expansion were useful in planning and managing urban spatial growth.

Designing with Care. A Guide to Adaptation of the Built Environment for Disabled Persons.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hanson, Lisa; And Others

Developed as part of the International Year of Disabled Persons, the guide is intended to help planners, architects, and designers to accommodate the built environment of developing regions for disabled persons. Guidelines focus on public building in urban or village settings and emphasize simple solutions to common problems. Following an…

Why Students Leave Engineering and Built Environment Programmes When They Are Academically Eligible to Continue

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ahmed, Nazeema; Kloot, Bruce; Collier-Reed, Brandon I.

2015-01-01

The retention of students to graduation is a concern for most higher education institutions. This article seeks to understand why engineering and built environment students fail to continue their degree programmes despite being academically eligible to do so. The sample comprised 275 students registered between 2006 and 2011 in a faculty of…

The Role of Built Environments in Physical Activity, Eating, and Obesity in Childhood

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sallis, James F.; Glanz, Karen

2006-01-01

Over the past forty years various changes in the U.S. "built environment" have promoted sedentary lifestyles and less healthful diets. James Sallis and Karen Glanz investigate whether these changes have had a direct effect on childhood obesity and whether improvements to encourage more physical activity and more healthful diets are likely to lower…

Lost in the Labyrinthine Library: A Multi-Method Case Study Investigating Public Library User Wayfinding Behavior

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mandel, Lauren Heather

2012-01-01

Wayfinding is the method by which humans orient and navigate in space, and particularly in built environments such as cities and complex buildings, including public libraries. In order to wayfind successfully in the built environment, humans need information provided by wayfinding systems and tools, for instance architectural cues, signs, and…

Spatializing Marxist Educational Theory: School, the Built Environment, Fixed Capital and (Relational) Space

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ford, Derek R.

2014-01-01

Over the last two decades, educational theory has begun to incorporate analyses of space where formerly temporal considerations dominated. In this article, Marxist educational theory is spatialized by considering the school as (1) a form of fixed capital, (2) a crucial aspect of the built environment and (3) a relational space. The author begins…

ARCTOS: a relational database relating specimens, specimen-based science, and archival documentation

USGS Publications Warehouse

Jarrell, Gordon H.; Ramotnik, Cindy A.; McDonald, D.L.

2010-01-01

Data are preserved when they are perpetually discoverable, but even in the Information Age, discovery of legacy data appropriate to particular investigations is uncertain. Secure Internet storage is necessary but insufficient. Data can be discovered only when they are adequately described, and visibility increases markedly if the data are related to other data that are receiving usage. Such relationships can be built within (1) the framework of a relational database, or (1) they can be built among separate resources, within the framework of the Internet. Evolving primarily around biological collections, Arctos is a database that does both of these tasks. It includes data structures for a diversity of specimen attributes, essentially all collection-management tasks, plus literature citations, project descriptions, etc. As a centralized collaboration of several university museums, Arctos is an ideal environment for capitalizing on the many relationships that often exist between items in separate collections. Arctos is related to NIH’s DNA-sequence repository (GenBank) with record-to-record reciprocal linkages, and it serves data to several discipline-specific web portals, including the Global Biodiversity Information Network (GBIF). The University of Alaska Museum’s paleontological collection is Arctos’s recent extension beyond the constraints of neontology. With about 1.3 million cataloged items, additional collections are being added each year.

Associations of built environment and children's physical activity: a narrative review.

PubMed

Masoumi, Houshmand E

2017-12-20

Childhood obesity has been an epidemic particularly in high-income countries. There is a considerable volume of data and studies depicting the rising number of obese children and adolescents in different countries. As suggested by the literature, physical inactivity is one the main drivers of childhood obesity. This paper addresses the associations of the built environment with physical activity of children in order to find to theoretically facilitate intervention and prevention measures. Literature: There is a large body of literature describing the overall determinants of children's physical activity. The built environment is one of the influential factors that have been partially examined. Among the physical environment indicators, distance to school has been repeatedly reported to be negatively associated with active travels to school; thus, it indirectly affects physical activity of children. Apart from distance to school, some other built environment indicators have also been less researched, such as population and construction densities, distance to the city center, land use mix, and type of urban fabric (urban, suburban, etc.). The purpose of this review was to shed light on some of the less-studied areas of the existing literature related to the relationship between the built environment and physical activity of children aged between 3 and 12 years. The English-language publications, majority of which were peer-reviewed journal papers published in recent years, were collected and descriptively analyzed. Two large categories were the backbone of this narrative review: (1) non-school outdoor activities of children that take place in the residential neighborhood and (2) commuting to school and the related interventions such as safe routes to school. Seven areas were synthesized by this review of the literature. Differences in associations of the built environment and physical activity in (1) different types of urban forms and land uses such as urban, suburban, high-density, etc.; (2) different city sizes such as small towns, mid-sized cities, large cities and megacities; (3) different cultures, subcultures and ethnicities in the same city of country, e.g. the Asian minority of London or the Turkish minority of Germany; (4) between perceptions of parents and children and associations with children's physical activity, e.g. how they perceive safety and security of the neighborhood; (5) associations of the built environment with children's physical activity in less-studied contexts, e.g. many developing and under-developed countries or eastern European countries; (6) differences in built environment - physical activity associations in different regions of the world, e.g. continents; and finally (7) associations between mobility patterns of parents and their children's physical activity, for instance, the frequencies of taking public transport or walk as a commute mode. Researchers are recommended to focus their less-researched subtopics mentioned under the Results section in accordance with local conditions observed in less-researched contexts so that measures and interventions are accordingly planned.

Using built environment characteristics to predict walking for exercise

PubMed Central

Lovasi, Gina S; Moudon, Anne V; Pearson, Amber L; Hurvitz, Philip M; Larson, Eric B; Siscovick, David S; Berke, Ethan M; Lumley, Thomas; Psaty, Bruce M

2008-01-01

Background Environments conducive to walking may help people avoid sedentary lifestyles and associated diseases. Recent studies developed walkability models combining several built environment characteristics to optimally predict walking. Developing and testing such models with the same data could lead to overestimating one's ability to predict walking in an independent sample of the population. More accurate estimates of model fit can be obtained by splitting a single study population into training and validation sets (holdout approach) or through developing and evaluating models in different populations. We used these two approaches to test whether built environment characteristics near the home predict walking for exercise. Study participants lived in western Washington State and were adult members of a health maintenance organization. The physical activity data used in this study were collected by telephone interview and were selected for their relevance to cardiovascular disease. In order to limit confounding by prior health conditions, the sample was restricted to participants in good self-reported health and without a documented history of cardiovascular disease. Results For 1,608 participants meeting the inclusion criteria, the mean age was 64 years, 90 percent were white, 37 percent had a college degree, and 62 percent of participants reported that they walked for exercise. Single built environment characteristics, such as residential density or connectivity, did not significantly predict walking for exercise. Regression models using multiple built environment characteristics to predict walking were not successful at predicting walking for exercise in an independent population sample. In the validation set, none of the logistic models had a C-statistic confidence interval excluding the null value of 0.5, and none of the linear models explained more than one percent of the variance in time spent walking for exercise. We did not detect significant differences in walking for exercise among census areas or postal codes, which were used as proxies for neighborhoods. Conclusion None of the built environment characteristics significantly predicted walking for exercise, nor did combinations of these characteristics predict walking for exercise when tested using a holdout approach. These results reflect a lack of neighborhood-level variation in walking for exercise for the population studied. PMID:18312660

Designing healthy communities: creating evidence on metrics for built environment features associated with walkable neighbourhood activity centres.

PubMed

Gunn, Lucy Dubrelle; Mavoa, Suzanne; Boulangé, Claire; Hooper, Paula; Kavanagh, Anne; Giles-Corti, Billie

2017-12-04

Evidence-based metrics are needed to inform urban policy to create healthy walkable communities. Most active living research has developed metrics of the environment around residential addresses, ignoring other important walking locations. Therefore, this study examined: metrics for built environment features surrounding local shopping centres, (known in Melbourne, Australia as neighbourhood activity centres (NACs) which are typically anchored by a supermarket); the association between NACs and transport walking; and, policy compliance for supermarket provision. In this observational study, cluster analysis was used to categorize 534 NACs in Melbourne, Australia by their built environment features. The NACS were linked to eligible Victorian Integrated Survey of Travel Activity 2009-2010 (VISTA) survey participants (n=19,984). Adjusted multilevel logistic regressions estimated associations between each cluster typology and two outcomes of daily walking: any transport walking; and, any 'neighbourhood' transport walking. Distance between residential dwellings and closest NAC was assessed to evaluate compliance with local planning policy on supermarket locations. Metrics for 19 built environment features were estimated and three NAC clusters associated with walkability were identified. NACs with significantly higher street connectivity (mean:161, SD:20), destination diversity (mean:16, SD:0.4); and net residential density (mean:77, SD:65) were interpreted as being 'highly walkable' when compared with 'low walkable' NACs, which had lower street connectivity (mean:57, SD:15); destination diversity (mean:11, SD:3); and net residential density (mean:10, SD:3). The odds of any daily transport walking was 5.85 times higher (95% CI: 4.22, 8.11), and for any 'neighborhood' transport walking 8.66 (95% CI: 5.89, 12.72) times higher, for residents whose closest NAC was highly walkable compared with those living near low walkable NACs. Only highly walkable NACs met the policy requirement that residents live within 1km of a local supermarket. Built environment features surrounding NACs must reach certain levels to encourage walking and deliver walkable communities. Research and metrics about the type and quantity of built environment features around both walking trip origins and destinations is needed to inform urban planning policies and urban design guidelines.

The neighborhood environment and obesity: Understanding variation by race/ethnicity.

PubMed

Wong, Michelle S; Chan, Kitty S; Jones-Smith, Jessica C; Colantuoni, Elizabeth; Thorpe, Roland J; Bleich, Sara N

2018-06-01

Neighborhood characteristics have been associated with obesity, but less is known whether relationships vary by race/ethnicity. This study examined the relationship between soda consumption - a behavior strongly associated with obesity - and weight status with neighborhood sociodemographic, social, and built environments by race/ethnicity. We merged data on adults from the 2011-2013 California Health Interview Survey, U.S. Census data, and InfoUSA (n=62,396). Dependent variables were soda consumption and weight status outcomes (body mass index and obesity status). Main independent variables were measures of three neighborhood environments: social (social cohesion and safety), sociodemographic (neighborhood socioeconomic status, educational attainment, percent Asian, percent Hispanic, and percent black), and built environments (number of grocery stores, convenience stores, fast food restaurants, and gyms in neighborhood). We fit multi-level linear and logistic regression models, stratified by individual race/ethnicity (NH (non-Hispanic) Whites, NH African Americans, Hispanics, and NH Asians) controlling for individual-level characteristics, to estimate neighborhood contextual effects on study outcomes. Lower neighborhood educational attainment was associated with higher odds of obesity and soda consumption in all racial/ethnic groups. We found fewer associations between study outcomes and the neighborhood, especially the built environment, among NH African Americans and NH Asians. While improvements to neighborhood environment may be promising to reduce obesity, null associations among minority subgroups suggest that changes, particularly to the built environment, may alone be insufficient to address obesity in these groups. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Interactions of psychosocial factors with built environments in explaining adolescents' active transportation.

PubMed

Wang, Xiaobo; Conway, Terry L; Cain, Kelli L; Frank, Lawrence D; Saelens, Brian E; Geremia, Carrie; Kerr, Jacqueline; Glanz, Karen; Carlson, Jordan A; Sallis, James F

2017-07-01

The present study examined independent and interacting associations of psychosocial and neighborhood built environment variables with adolescents' reported active transportation. Moderating effects of adolescent sex were explored. Mixed-effects regression models were conducted on data from the Teen Environment and Neighborhood observational study (N=928) in the Seattle, WA and Baltimore regions 2009-2011. Frequency index of active transportation to neighborhood destinations (dependent variable) and 7 psychosocial measures were reported by adolescents. Built environment measures included home walkability and count of nearby parks and recreation facilities using GIS procedures and streetscape quality from environmental audits. Results indicated all 3 environmental variables and 3 psychosocial variables (self-efficacy, social support from peers, and enjoyment of physical activity) had significant positive main effects with active transportation (Ps<0.05). Three of 21 two-way interactions were significant in explaining active transportation (Ps<0.1): self-efficacy×GIS-based walkability index, barriers to activity in neighborhood×MAPS streetscape scores, and self-efficacy×GIS-based counts of parks and recreation facilities. In each two-way interaction the highest active transportation was found among adolescents with the combination of activity-supportive built environment and positive psychosocial characteristics. Three-way interactions with sex indicated similar associations for girls and boys, with one exception. Results provided modest support for the ecological model principle of interactions across levels, highlight the importance of both built environment and psychosocial factors in shaping adolescents' active transportation, demonstrated the possibility of sex-specific findings, and suggested strategies for improving adolescents' active transportation may be most effective when targeting multiple levels of influence. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Built environment and physical activity for transportation in adults from Curitiba, Brazil.

PubMed

Hino, Adriano A F; Reis, Rodrigo S; Sarmiento, Olga L; Parra, Diana C; Brownson, Ross C

2014-06-01

The goal of this study was to assess the association between features of the built environment and levels of walking and cycling as forms of transportation in the city of Curitiba, Brazil. Data collection was conducted through a telephone survey in 2008. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire was used to identify walking or cycling as forms of transportation. The built environment characteristics were obtained through the Geographic Information System for 1,206 adults. Density indicators were computed, considering a radius of 500 m around each individual's household. For the accessibility measures, the shortest distance to selected built environment features (e.g., bus stop, bike path) was used. The association between characteristics of the environment and the practice of walking or cycling was assessed through logistic regressions. After considering individual characteristics, higher-income areas (OR = 0.56, 95 % CI = 0.41-0.76), higher density of Bus Rapid Transit stations (OR = 1.50, 95 % CI = 1.22-1.84), and the proportion of residential (OR = 1.25, 95 % CI = 1.02-1.53) and commercial (OR = 1.47, 95 % CI = 1.13-1.91) areas were associated with any walking prevalence (≥ 10 min/week). Higher access to bike paths (OR = 0.80, 95 % CI = 0.64-1.00) was inversely associated with walking at recommended levels (≥ 150 min/week). Higher-income areas (OR = 0.26, 95 % CI = 0.08-0.81), greater number of traffic lights (OR = 0.27, 95 % CI = 0.09-0.88), and higher land use mix (OR = 0.52, 95 % CI = 0.31-0.88) were inversely associated with cycling. The neighborhood built environment may affect active commuting among adults living in urban centers in middle-income countries.

Embodied carbon mitigation and reduction in the built environment - What does the evidence say?

PubMed

Pomponi, Francesco; Moncaster, Alice

2016-10-01

Of all industrial sectors, the built environment puts the most pressure on the natural environment, and in spite of significant efforts the International Energy Agency suggests that buildings-related emissions are on track to double by 2050. Whilst operational energy efficiency continues to receive significant attention by researchers, a less well-researched area is the assessment of embodied carbon in the built environment in order to understand where the greatest opportunities for its mitigation and reduction lie. This article approaches the body of academic knowledge on strategies to tackle embodied carbon (EC) and uses a systematic review of the available evidence to answer the following research question: how should we mitigate and reduce EC in the built environment? 102 journal articles have been reviewed systematically in the fields of embodied carbon mitigation and reduction, and life cycle assessment. In total, 17 mitigation strategies have been identified from within the existing literature which have been discussed through a meta-analysis on available data. Results reveal that no single mitigation strategy alone seems able to tackle the problem; rather, a pluralistic approach is necessary. The use of materials with lower EC, better design, an increased reuse of EC-intensive materials, and stronger policy drivers all emerged as key elements for a quicker transition to a low carbon built environment. The meta-analysis on 77 LCAs also shows an extremely incomplete and short-sighted approach to life cycle studies. Most studies only assess the manufacturing stages, often completely overlooking impacts occurring during the occupancy stage and at the end of life of the building. The LCA research community have the responsibility to address such shortcomings and work towards more complete and meaningful assessments. Crown Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Measuring the food and built environments in urban centres: reliability and validity of the EURO-PREVOB Community Questionnaire.

PubMed

Pomerleau, J; Knai, C; Foster, C; Rutter, H; Darmon, N; Derflerova Brazdova, Z; Hadziomeragic, A F; Pekcan, G; Pudule, I; Robertson, A; Brunner, E; Suhrcke, M; Gabrijelcic Blenkus, M; Lhotska, L; Maiani, G; Mistura, L; Lobstein, T; Martin, B W; Elinder, L S; Logstrup, S; Racioppi, F; McKee, M

2013-03-01

The authors designed an instrument to measure objectively aspects of the built and food environments in urban areas, the EURO-PREVOB Community Questionnaire, within the EU-funded project 'Tackling the social and economic determinants of nutrition and physical activity for the prevention of obesity across Europe' (EURO-PREVOB). This paper describes its development, reliability, validity, feasibility and relevance to public health and obesity research. The Community Questionnaire is designed to measure key aspects of the food and built environments in urban areas of varying levels of affluence or deprivation, within different countries. The questionnaire assesses (1) the food environment and (2) the built environment. Pilot tests of the EURO-PREVOB Community Questionnaire were conducted in five to 10 purposively sampled urban areas of different socio-economic status in each of Ankara, Brno, Marseille, Riga, and Sarajevo. Inter-rater reliability was compared between two pairs of fieldworkers in each city centre using three methods: inter-observer agreement (IOA), kappa statistics, and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs). Data were collected successfully in all five cities. Overall reliability of the EURO-PREVOB Community Questionnaire was excellent (inter-observer agreement (IOA) > 0.87; intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC)s > 0.91 and kappa statistics > 0.7. However, assessment of certain aspects of the quality of the built environment yielded slightly lower IOA coefficients than the quantitative aspects. The EURO-PREVOB Community Questionnaire was found to be a reliable and practical observational tool for measuring differences in community-level data on environmental factors that can impact on dietary intake and physical activity. The next step is to evaluate its predictive power by collecting behavioural and anthropometric data relevant to obesity and its determinants. Copyright © 2013 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Objective and subjective measures of neighborhood environment (NE): relationships with transportation physical activity among older persons.

PubMed

Nyunt, Ma Shwe Zin; Shuvo, Faysal Kabir; Eng, Jia Yen; Yap, Keng Bee; Scherer, Samuel; Hee, Li Min; Chan, Siew Pang; Ng, Tze Pin

2015-09-15

This study examined the associations of subjective and objective measures of the neighbourhood environment with the transportation physical activity of community-dwelling older persons in Singapore. A modified version of the Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale (NEWS) and Geographical Information System (GIS) measures of the built environment characteristics were related to the frequency of walking for transportation purpose in a study sample of older persons living in high-density apartment blocks within a public housing estate in Singapore. Relevant measured variables to assess the complex relationships among built environment measures and transportation physical activity were examined using structural equation modelling and multiple regression analyses. The subjective measures of residential density, street connectivity, land use mix diversity and aesthetic environment and the objective GIS measure of Accessibility Index have positively significant independent associations with transportation physical activity, after adjusting for demographics, socio-economic and health status. Subjective and objective measures are non-overlapping measures complementing each other in providing information on built environment characteristics. For elderly living in a high-density urban neighborhood, well connected street, diversity of land use mix, close proximity to amenities and facilities, and aesthetic environment were associated with higher frequency of walking for transportation purposes.

Influence of fuels, weather and the built environment on the exposure of property to wildfire

USGS Publications Warehouse

Penman, Trent D.; Collins, Luke S.; Syphard, Alexandra D.; Keeley, Jon E.; Bradstock, Ross A.

2014-01-01

Wildfires can pose a significant risk to people and property. Billions of dollars are spent investing in fire management actions in an attempt to reduce the risk of loss. One of the key areas where money is spent is through fuel treatment – either fuel reduction (prescribed fire) or fuel removal (fuel breaks). Individual treatments can influence fire size and the maximum distance travelled from the ignition and presumably risk, but few studies have examined the landscape level effectiveness of these treatments. Here we use a Bayesian Network model to examine the relative influence of the built and natural environment, weather, fuel and fuel treatments in determining the risk posed from wildfire to the wildland-urban interface. Fire size and distance travelled was influenced most strongly by weather, with exposure to fires most sensitive to changes in the built environment and fire parameters. Natural environment variables and fuel load all had minor influences on fire size, distance travelled and exposure of assets. These results suggest that management of fuels provided minimal reductions in risk to assets and adequate planning of the changes in the built environment to cope with the expansion of human populations is going to be vital for managing risk from fire under future climates.

Influence of Fuels, Weather and the Built Environment on the Exposure of Property to Wildfire

PubMed Central

Penman, Trent D.; Collins, Luke; Syphard, Alexandra D.; Keeley, Jon E.; Bradstock, Ross A.

2014-01-01

Wildfires can pose a significant risk to people and property. Billions of dollars are spent investing in fire management actions in an attempt to reduce the risk of loss. One of the key areas where money is spent is through fuel treatment – either fuel reduction (prescribed fire) or fuel removal (fuel breaks). Individual treatments can influence fire size and the maximum distance travelled from the ignition and presumably risk, but few studies have examined the landscape level effectiveness of these treatments. Here we use a Bayesian Network model to examine the relative influence of the built and natural environment, weather, fuel and fuel treatments in determining the risk posed from wildfire to the wildland-urban interface. Fire size and distance travelled was influenced most strongly by weather, with exposure to fires most sensitive to changes in the built environment and fire parameters. Natural environment variables and fuel load all had minor influences on fire size, distance travelled and exposure of assets. These results suggest that management of fuels provided minimal reductions in risk to assets and adequate planning of the changes in the built environment to cope with the expansion of human populations is going to be vital for managing risk from fire under future climates. PMID:25360741

Piloting a 'spatial isolation' index: the built environment and sexual and drug use risks to sex workers.

PubMed

Deering, Kathleen N; Rusch, Melanie; Amram, Ofer; Chettiar, Jill; Nguyen, Paul; Feng, Cindy X; Shannon, Kate

2014-05-01

Employing innovative mapping and spatial analyses of individual and neighbourhood environment data, we examined the social, physical and structural features of overlapping street-based sex work and drug scenes and explored the utility of a 'spatial isolation index' in explaining exchanging sex for drugs and exchanging sex while high. Analyses drew on baseline interview and geographic data (January 2010-October 2011) from a large prospective cohort of street and off-street sex workers (SWs) in Metropolitan Vancouver and external publically-available, neighbourhood environment data. An index measuring 'spatial isolation' was developed from seven indicators measuring features of the built environment within 50m buffers (e.g., industrial or commercial zoning, lighting) surrounding sex work environments. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression was used to examine associations between the two outcomes (exchanged sex for drugs; exchanged sex while high) and the index, as well as each individual indicator. Of 510 SWs, 328 worked in street-based/outdoor environments (e.g., streets, parks, alleys) and were included in the analyses. In multivariable analysis, increased spatial isolation surrounding street-based/outdoor SWs' main places of servicing clients as measured with the index was significantly associated with exchanging sex for drugs. Exchanging sex for drugs was also significantly positively associated with an indicator of the built environment suggesting greater spatial isolation (increased percent of parks) and negatively associated with those suggesting decreased spatial isolation (increased percent commercial areas, increased count of lighting, increased building footprint). Exchanging sex while high was negatively associated with increased percent of commercial zones but this association was removed when adjusting for police harassment. The results from our exploratory study highlight how built environment shapes risks within overlapping street-based sex work and drug scenes through the development of a novel index comprised of multiple indicators of the built environment available through publicly available data, This study informs the important role that spatially-oriented responses, such as safer-environment interventions, and structural responses, such as decriminalization of sex work can play in improving the health, safety and well-being of SWs. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Piloting a ‘Spatial Isolation’ Index: The Built Environment and Sexual and Drug Use Risks to Sex Workers

PubMed Central

Deering, Kathleen N; Rusch, Melanie; Amram, Ofer; Chettiar, Jill; Nguyen, Paul; Feng, Cindy X; Shannon, Kate

2014-01-01

Background Employing innovative mapping and spatial analyses of individual and neighborhood environment data, we examined the social, physical and structural features of overlapping street-based sex work and drug scenes and explored the utility of a ‘spatial isolation index’ in explaining exchanging sex for drugs and exchanging sex while high. Methods Analyses drew on baseline interview and geographic data (Jan/10-Oct/11) from a large prospective cohort of street and off-street sex workers (SWs) in Metropolitan Vancouver and external publically-available, neighborhood environment data. An index measuring ‘spatial isolation’ was developed from seven indicators measuring features of the built environment within 50m buffers (e.g. industrial or commercial zoning, lighting) surrounding sex work environments. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression was used to examine associations between the two outcomes (exchanged sex for drugs; exchanged sex while high) and the index, as well as each individual indicator. Results Of 510 SWs, 328 worked in street-based/outdoor environments (e.g. streets, parks, alleys) and were included in the analyses. In multivariable analysis, increased spatial isolation surrounding street-based/outdoor SWs’ main places of servicing clients as measured with the index was significantly associated with exchanging sex for drugs. Exchanging sex for drugs was also significantly positively associated with an indicator of the built environment suggesting greater spatial isolation (increased percent of parks) and negatively associated with those suggesting decreased spatial isolation (increased percent commercial areas, increased count of lighting, increased building footprint). Exchanging sex while high was negatively associated with increased percent of commercial zones but this association was removed when adjusting for police harassment. Conclusions The results from our exploratory study highlight how built environment shapes risks within overlapping street-based sex work and drug scenes through the development of a novel index comprised of multiple indicators of the built environment available through publicly available data, This study informs the important role that spatially-oriented responses, such as safer-environment interventions, and structural responses, such as decriminalization of sex work can play in improving the health, safety and well-being of SWs. PMID:24433813

Quantifying loss and damage from anthropogenic climate change - Bridging the gap between two research communities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Otto, F. E. L.

2015-12-01

The science of attribution of meteorological events to anthropogenic causes has for the first time been included in the latest assessment of the Physical Science Basis of the Climate, (WGI), of the Fifth IPCC Assessment Report AR5 (Stocker et al., 2013). At the same time there is a very rapidly growing body of literature on climate change and its impact on economy, society and environment but apart from very few exemptions no link is made to the causes of these changes. Observed changes in hydrological variables, agriculture, biodiversity and the built environment have been attributed to a changing climate, whether these changes are the result of natural variability or external forcings (Cramer et al., 2014). While the research community represented in WGI assesses whether, and to what extent, recent extreme weather events can be attributed to anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases and aerosols, the research community of impact specialists asks how climatic changes lead to different impacts largely independent of the causes of such changes. This distinction becomes potentially very relevant with respect to the 2013 established the Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM) to address loss and damage from the impacts of climate change in developing countries under the UNFCCC climate change negotiations. Currently there is no discussion what consists of loss and damage and the reasons for this inexistence of a definition are not primarily scientific but political however, the absence of a definition could potentially lead to absurd consequences if funds in the context of loss and damage would be redistributed, as e.g. suggested, for all low risk high impact events. Here we present the implications of discussed definitions of loss and damage (Huggel et al. 2015) and how scientific evidence could be included. Cramer et al. (2014) Detection and Attribution of Observed Impacts. In: Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability Contribution of WG 2 to AR5 of the IPCC. Huggel, C., Stone, D., Eicken, H., & Hansen, G. (2015). Potential and limitations of the attribution of climate change impacts for informing loss and damage discussions and policies. Clim. Change, doi: 10.1007/s10584-015-1441-z. Stocker et al. (eds.) (2013) The IPCC Fifth Assessment Report: The Physical Science Basis. Cambridge University Press.

Optimising measurement of health-related characteristics of the built environment: Comparing data collected by foot-based street audits, virtual street audits and routine secondary data sources.

PubMed

Pliakas, Triantafyllos; Hawkesworth, Sophie; Silverwood, Richard J; Nanchahal, Kiran; Grundy, Chris; Armstrong, Ben; Casas, Juan Pablo; Morris, Richard W; Wilkinson, Paul; Lock, Karen

2017-01-01

The role of the neighbourhood environment in influencing health behaviours continues to be an important topic in public health research and policy. Foot-based street audits, virtual street audits and secondary data sources are widespread data collection methods used to objectively measure the built environment in environment-health association studies. We compared these three methods using data collected in a nationally representative epidemiological study in 17 British towns to inform future development of research tools. There was good agreement between foot-based and virtual audit tools. Foot based audits were superior for fine detail features. Secondary data sources measured very different aspects of the local environment that could be used to derive a range of environmental measures if validated properly. Future built environment research should design studies a priori using multiple approaches and varied data sources in order to best capture features that operate on different health behaviours at varying spatial scales. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Considering built environment and spatial correlation in modeling pedestrian injury severity.

PubMed

Prato, Carlo G; Kaplan, Sigal; Patrier, Alexandre; Rasmussen, Thomas K

2018-01-02

This study looks at mitigating and aggravating factors that are associated with the injury severity of pedestrians when they have crashes with another road user and overcomes existing limitations in the literature by focusing attention on the built environment and considering spatial correlation across crashes. Reports for 6,539 pedestrian crashes occurred in Denmark between 2006 and 2015 were merged with geographic information system resources containing detailed information about the built environment and exposure at the crash locations. A linearized spatial logit model estimated the probability of pedestrians sustaining a severe or fatal injury conditional on the occurrence of a crash with another road user. This study confirms previous findings about older pedestrians and intoxicated pedestrians being the most vulnerable road users and crashes with heavy vehicles and in roads with higher speed limits being related to the most severe outcomes. This study provides novel perspectives by showing positive spatial correlations of crashes with the same severity outcomes and emphasizing the role of the built environment in the proximity of the crash. This study emphasizes the need for thinking about traffic calming measures, illumination solutions, road maintenance programs, and speed limit reductions. Moreover, this study emphasizes the role of the built environment, because shopping areas, residential areas, and walking traffic density are positively related to a reduction in pedestrian injury severity. Often, these areas have in common a larger pedestrian mass that is more likely to make other road users more aware and attentive, whereas the same does not seem to apply to areas with lower pedestrian density.

The influence of housing characteristics on leisure-time sitting. A prospective cohort study in Danish adults.

PubMed

Saidj, Madina; Jørgensen, Torben; Jacobsen, Rikke Kart; Linneberg, Allan; Aadahl, Mette

2015-12-01

Built environmental attributes have been studied in relation to domestic time spent sedentary. An indoor behaviour has thus been linked to an outdoor setting. Yet, attributes of the actual domestic environment may also influence the time spent sedentary at home. Therefore, the aim was to examine if housing characteristics were cross-sectionally and prospectively related to leisure-time sitting in adults. In the Danish Health2006 cohort, 2308 adults were followed for 5 years. At baseline, subjects self-reported housing characteristics (habitat type, habitat surface area and household size), moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and socio-demographic factors. Leisure-time sitting was self-reported at baseline and 5-year follow-up. Multiple linear regression was used to assess cross-sectional and prospective associations. At baseline habitat surface area and household size were inversely associated with leisure-time sitting (p<0.01). Living in an apartment was associated with higher leisure-time sitting compared to living in a house (p<0.01). Household size was a predictor of 5-year leisure-time sitting (p<0.01), after adjustment for confounders and the other housing characteristics. Habitat type, habitat surface area and household size were associated with leisure-time sitting in adults, while especially household size was a predictor of leisure-time sitting five years later. The findings highlight the importance of home-environmental attributes when targeting a reduction in sedentary behaviours. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Predictors of Study Success from a Teacher's Perspective of the Quality of the Built Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kok, Herman; Mobach, Mark; Omta, Onno

2015-01-01

The article aims to find predictors of study success from a teacher's perspective that relate to the built environment. The research is based on a national online survey among 1752 teachers at 18 Dutch Universities of Applied Sciences. Multivariate data analyses were used to test the hypothesis that the quality of spatial and functional aspects at…

Outdoor Built Environment Barriers and Facilitators to Activity among Midlife and Older Adults with Mobility Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosenberg, Dori E.; Huang, Deborah L.; Simonovich, Shannon D.; Belza, Basia

2013-01-01

Purpose: To gain better understanding of how the built environment impacts neighborhood-based physical activity among midlife and older adults with mobility disabilities. Design and methods: We conducted in-depth interviews with 35 adults over age 50, which used an assistive device and lived in King County, Washington, U.S. In addition,…

Educating in the Design and Construction of Built Environments Accessible to Disabled People: The Leonardo da Vinci AWARD Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frattari, Antonio; Dalpra, Michela; Bernardi, Fabio

2013-01-01

An interdisciplinary partnership within an European Leonardo da Vinci project has developed a new approach aimed at educating secondary school students in the creation of built environments accessible to disabled people and at sensitizing them towards the inclusion of people with disabilities in all realms of social life. The AWARD (Accessible…

Categorisation of built environment characteristics: the trouble with tertiles.

PubMed

Lamb, Karen E; White, Simon R

2015-02-15

In the analysis of the effect of built environment features on health, it is common for researchers to categorise built environment exposure variables based on arbitrary percentile cut-points, such as median or tertile splits. This arbitrary categorisation leads to a loss of information and a lack of comparability between studies since the choice of cut-point is based on the sample distribution. In this paper, we highlight the various drawbacks of adopting percentile categorisation of exposure variables. Using data from the SocioEconomic Status and Activity in Women (SESAW) study from Melbourne, Australia, we highlight alternative approaches which may be used instead of percentile categorisation in order to assess built environment effects on health. We discuss these approaches using an example which examines the association between the number of accessible supermarkets and body mass index. We show that alternative approaches to percentile categorisation, such as transformations of the exposure variable or factorial polynomials, can be implemented easily using standard statistical software packages. These procedures utilise all of the available information available in the data, avoiding a loss of power as experienced when categorisation is adopted.We argue that researchers should retain all available information by using the continuous exposure, adopting transformations where necessary.

Adaptation, test-retest reliability, and construct validity of the Physical Activity Neighborhood Environment Scale in Nigeria (PANES-N).

PubMed

Oyeyemi, Adewale L; Sallis, James F; Oyeyemi, Adetoyeje Y; Amin, Mariam M; De Bourdeaudhuij, Ilse; Deforche, Benedicte

2013-11-01

This study adapted the Physical Activity Neighborhood Environment Scale (PANES) to the Nigerian context and assessed the test-retest reliability and construct validity of the Nigerian version (PANESN). A multidisciplinary panel of experts adapted the original PANES to reflect the built and social environment of Nigeria. The adapted PANES was subjected to cognitive testing and test retest reliability in a diverse sample of Nigerian adults (N = 132) from different neighborhood types. Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICC) was used to assess test-retest reliability, and construct validity was investigated with Analysis of Covariance for differences in environmental attributes between neighborhoods. Four of the 17 items on the original PANES were significantly modified, 3 were removed and 2 new items were incorporated into the final version of adapted PANES-N. Test-retest reliability was substantial to almost perfect (ICC = 0.62-1.00) for all items on the PANES-N, and residents of neighborhoods in the inner city reported higher residential density, land use mix and safety, but lower pedestrian facilities and aesthetics than did residents of government reserved area/new layout neighborhoods. The PANES-N appears promising for assessing environmental perceptions related to physical activity in Nigeria, but further testing is required to assess its applicability across Africa.

Associations between resident perceptions of the local residential environment and metabolic syndrome.

PubMed

Baldock, Katherine; Paquet, Catherine; Howard, Natasha; Coffee, Neil; Hugo, Graeme; Taylor, Anne; Adams, Robert; Daniel, Mark

2012-01-01

A substantial body of research has arisen concerning the relationships between objective residential area features, particularly area-level socioeconomic status and cardiometabolic outcomes. Little research has explored residents' perceptions of such features and how these might relate to cardiometabolic outcomes. Perceptions of environments are influenced by individual and societal factors, and may not correspond to objective reality. Understanding relations between environmental perceptions and health is important for the development of environment interventions. This study evaluated associations between perceptions of local built and social environmental attributes and metabolic syndrome, and tested whether walking behaviour mediated these associations. Individual-level data were drawn from a population-based biomedical cohort study of adults in Adelaide, South Australia (North West Adelaide Health Study). Participants' local-area perceptions were analysed in cross-sectional associations with metabolic syndrome using multilevel regression models (n = 1, 324). A nonparametric bootstrapping procedure evaluated whether walking mediated these associations. Metabolic syndrome was negatively associated with greater local land-use mix, positive aesthetics, and greater infrastructure for walking, and was positively associated with greater perceived crime and barriers to walking. Walking partially mediated associations between metabolic syndrome and perceived environmental features. Initiatives targeting residents' perceptions of local areas may enhance the utility of environmental interventions to improve population health.

Associations between Resident Perceptions of the Local Residential Environment and Metabolic Syndrome

PubMed Central

Baldock, Katherine; Paquet, Catherine; Howard, Natasha; Coffee, Neil; Hugo, Graeme; Taylor, Anne; Adams, Robert; Daniel, Mark

2012-01-01

A substantial body of research has arisen concerning the relationships between objective residential area features, particularly area-level socioeconomic status and cardiometabolic outcomes. Little research has explored residents' perceptions of such features and how these might relate to cardiometabolic outcomes. Perceptions of environments are influenced by individual and societal factors, and may not correspond to objective reality. Understanding relations between environmental perceptions and health is important for the development of environment interventions. This study evaluated associations between perceptions of local built and social environmental attributes and metabolic syndrome, and tested whether walking behaviour mediated these associations. Individual-level data were drawn from a population-based biomedical cohort study of adults in Adelaide, South Australia (North West Adelaide Health Study). Participants' local-area perceptions were analysed in cross-sectional associations with metabolic syndrome using multilevel regression models (n = 1, 324). A nonparametric bootstrapping procedure evaluated whether walking mediated these associations. Metabolic syndrome was negatively associated with greater local land-use mix, positive aesthetics, and greater infrastructure for walking, and was positively associated with greater perceived crime and barriers to walking. Walking partially mediated associations between metabolic syndrome and perceived environmental features. Initiatives targeting residents' perceptions of local areas may enhance the utility of environmental interventions to improve population health. PMID:23049574

Quality by design for herbal drugs: a feedforward control strategy and an approach to define the acceptable ranges of critical quality attributes.

PubMed

Yan, Binjun; Li, Yao; Guo, Zhengtai; Qu, Haibin

2014-01-01

The concept of quality by design (QbD) has been widely accepted and applied in the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry. There are still two key issues to be addressed in the implementation of QbD for herbal drugs. The first issue is the quality variation of herbal raw materials and the second issue is the difficulty in defining the acceptable ranges of critical quality attributes (CQAs). To propose a feedforward control strategy and a method for defining the acceptable ranges of CQAs for the two issues. In the case study of the ethanol precipitation process of Danshen (Radix Salvia miltiorrhiza) injection, regression models linking input material attributes and process parameters to CQAs were built first and an optimisation model for calculating the best process parameters according to the input materials was established. Then, the feasible material space was defined and the acceptable ranges of CQAs for the previous process were determined. In the case study, satisfactory regression models were built with cross-validated regression coefficients (Q(2) ) all above 91 %. The feedforward control strategy was applied successfully to compensate the quality variation of the input materials, which was able to control the CQAs in the 90-110 % ranges of the desired values. In addition, the feasible material space for the ethanol precipitation process was built successfully, which showed the acceptable ranges of the CQAs for the concentration process. The proposed methodology can help to promote the implementation of QbD for herbal drugs. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Influence of Weather Variation, Urban Design and Built Environment on Objectively Measured Sedentary Behaviour in Children

PubMed Central

Katapally, Tarun Reddy; Rainham, Daniel; Muhajarine, Nazeem

2016-01-01

With emerging evidence indicating that independent of physical activity, sedentary behaviour (SB) can be detrimental to health, researchers are increasingly aiming to understand the influence of multiple contexts such as urban design and built environment on SB. However, weather variation, a factor that continuously interacts with all other environmental variables, has been consistently underexplored. This study investigated the influence of diverse environmental exposures (including weather variation, urban design and built environment) on SB in children. This cross-sectional observational study is part of an active living research initiative set in the Canadian prairie city of Saskatoon. Saskatoon's neighbourhoods were classified based on urban street design into grid-pattern, fractured grid-pattern and curvilinear types of neighbourhoods. Diverse environmental exposures were measured including, neighbourhood built environment, and neighbourhood and household socioeconomic environment. Actical accelerometers were deployed between April and June 2010 (spring-summer) to derive SB of 331 10–14 year old children in 25 one week cycles. Each cycle of accelerometry was conducted on a different cohort of children within the total sample. Accelerometer data were matched with localized weather patterns derived from Environment Canada weather data. Multilevel modeling using Hierarchical Linear and Non-linear Modeling software was conducted by factoring in weather variation to depict the influence of diverse environmental exposures on SB. Both weather variation and urban design played a significant role in SB. After factoring in weather variation, it was observed that children living in grid-pattern neighbourhoods closer to the city centre (with higher diversity of destinations) were less likely to be sedentary. This study demonstrates a methodology that could be replicated to integrate geography-specific weather patterns with existing cross-sectional accelerometry data to understand the influence of urban design and built environment on SB in children. PMID:29546188

Evolving from Planning and Scheduling to Real-Time Operations Support: Design Challenges

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Marquez, Jessica J.; Ludowise, Melissa; McCurdy, Michael; Li, Jack

2010-01-01

Versions of Scheduling and Planning Interface for Exploration (SPIFe) have supported a variety of mission operations across NASA. This software tool has evolved and matured over several years, assisting planners who develop intricate schedules. While initially conceived for surface Mars missions, SPIFe has been deployed in other domains, where people rather than robotic explorers, execute plans. As a result, a diverse set of end-users has compelled growth in a new direction: supporting real-time operations. This paper describes the new needs and challenges that accompany this development. Among the key features that have been built for SPIFe are current time indicators integrated into the interface and timeline, as well as other plan attributes that enable execution of scheduled activities. Field tests include mission support for the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) and Desert Research and Technology Studies (DRATS) campaigns.

Does urban sprawl hold down upward mobility?

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ewing, R.; Hamidi, Shima; Grace, James B.; Wei, Y.

2016-01-01

Contrary to the general perception, the United States has a much more class-bound society than other wealthy countries. The chance of upward mobility for Americans is just half that of the citizens of the Denmark and many other European countries. In addition to other influences, the built environment may contribute to the low rate of upward mobility in the U.S. This study tests the relationship between urban sprawl and upward mobility for commuting zones in the U.S. We examine potential pathways through which sprawl may have an effect on mobility. We use structural equation modeling to account for both direct and indirect effects of sprawl on upward mobility. We find that upward mobility is significantly higher in compact areas than sprawling areas. The direct effect, which we attribute to better job accessibility in more compact commuting zones, is stronger than the indirect effects. Of the indirect effects, only one, through the mediating variable income segregation, is significant.

Filter forensics: microbiota recovery from residential HVAC filters.

PubMed

Maestre, Juan P; Jennings, Wiley; Wylie, Dennis; Horner, Sharon D; Siegel, Jeffrey; Kinney, Kerry A

2018-01-30

Establishing reliable methods for assessing the microbiome within the built environment is critical for understanding the impact of biological exposures on human health. High-throughput DNA sequencing of dust samples provides valuable insights into the microbiome present in human-occupied spaces. However, the effect that different sampling methods have on the microbial community recovered from dust samples is not well understood across sample types. Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) filters hold promise as long-term, spatially integrated, high volume samplers to characterize the airborne microbiome in homes and other climate-controlled spaces. In this study, the effect that dust recovery method (i.e., cut and elution, swabbing, or vacuuming) has on the microbial community structure, membership, and repeatability inferred by Illumina sequencing was evaluated. The results indicate that vacuum samples captured higher quantities of total, bacterial, and fungal DNA than swab or cut samples. Repeated swab and vacuum samples collected from the same filter were less variable than cut samples with respect to both quantitative DNA recovery and bacterial community structure. Vacuum samples captured substantially greater bacterial diversity than the other methods, whereas fungal diversity was similar across all three methods. Vacuum and swab samples of HVAC filter dust were repeatable and generally superior to cut samples. Nevertheless, the contribution of environmental and human sources to the bacterial and fungal communities recovered via each sampling method was generally consistent across the methods investigated. Dust recovery methodologies have been shown to affect the recovery, repeatability, structure, and membership of microbial communities recovered from dust samples in the built environment. The results of this study are directly applicable to indoor microbiota studies utilizing the filter forensics approach. More broadly, this study provides a better understanding of the microbial community variability attributable to sampling methodology and helps inform interpretation of data collected from other types of dust samples collected from indoor environments.

Typology of person-environment fit constellations: a platform addressing accessibility problems in the built environment for people with functional limitations.

PubMed

Slaug, Björn; Schilling, Oliver; Iwarsson, Susanne; Carlsson, Gunilla

2015-09-02

Making the built environment accessible for all regardless of functional capacity is an important goal for public health efforts. Considerable impediments to achieving this goal suggest the need for valid measurements of acccessibility and for greater attention to the complexity of person-environment fit issues. To address these needs, this study aimed to provide a methodological platform, useful for further research and instrument development within accessibility research. This was accomplished by the construction of a typology of problematic person-environment fit constellations, utilizing an existing methodology developed to assess and analyze accessibility problems in the built environment. By means of qualitative review and statistical methods we classified the person-environment fit components covered by an existing application which targets housing accessibility: the Housing Enabler (HE) instrument. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) was used as a conceptual framework. Qualitative classification principles were based on conceptual similarities and for quantitative analysis of similarities, Principal Component Analysis was carried out. We present a typology of problematic person-environment fit constellations classified along three dimensions: 1) accessibility problem range and severity 2) aspects of functioning 3) environmental context. As a result of the classification of the HE components, 48 typical person-environment fit constellations were recognised. The main contribution of this study is the proposed typology of person-environment fit constellations. The typology provides a methodological platform for the identification and quantification of problematic person-environment fit constellations. Its link to the globally accepted ICF classification system facilitates communication within the scientific and health care practice communities. The typology also highlights how relations between aspects of functioning and physical environmental barriers generate typical accessibility problems, and thereby furnishes a reference point for research oriented to how the built environment may be designed to be supportive for activity, participation and health.

Building the capacity of health authorities to influence land use and transportation planning: Lessons learned from the Healthy Canada by Design CLASP Project in British Columbia.

PubMed

Miro, Alice; Perrotta, Kim; Evans, Heather; Kishchuk, Natalie A; Gram, Claire; Stanwick, Richard S; Swinkels, Helena M

2014-08-06

The main objective of the Healthy Canada by Design CLASP Initiative in British Columbia (BC) was to develop, implement and evaluate a capacity-building project for health authorities. The desired outcomes of the project were as follows: 1) increased capacity of the participating health authorities to productively engage in land use and transportation planning processes; 2) new and sustained relationships or collaborations among the participating health authorities and among health authorities, local governments and other built environment stakeholders; and 3) indication of health authority influence and/or application of health evidence and tools in land use and transportation plans and policies. This project was designed to enhance the capacity of three regional health authorities, namely Fraser Health, Island Health and Vancouver Coastal Health, and their staff. These were considered the project's participants. The BC regions served by the three health authorities cover the urban, suburban and rural spectrum across relatively large and diverse geographic areas. The populations have broad ranges in socio-economic status, demographic profiles and cultural and political backgrounds. The Initiative provided the three health authorities with a consultant who had several years of experience working on land use and transportation planning. The consultant conducted situational assessments to understand the baseline knowledge and skill gaps, assets and objectives for built environment work for each of the participating health authorities. On the basis of this information, the consultant developed customized capacity-building work plans for each of the health authorities and assisted them with implementation. Capacity-building activities were as follows: researching health and built environment strategies, policies and evidence; transferring health evidence and promising policies and practices from other jurisdictions to local planning contexts; providing training and support with regard to health and the built environment to health authority staff; bringing together public health staff with local planners for networking; and participating in land use planning processes. The project helped to expand the capacity of participating health authorities to influence land use and transportation planning decisions by increasing the content and process expertise of public health staff. The project informed structural changes within health authorities, such as staffing reallocations to advance built environment work after the project. Health authorities also forged new relationships within and across sectors, which facilitated knowledge exchange and access of the public health sector to opportunities to influence built environment decisions. By the end of the project, there was emerging evidence of a health presence in land use policy documents. The project helped to prioritize, accelerate and formalize the participating health authorities' involvement in land use and transportation planning processes. In the long term, this is expected to lead to health policies and programs that consider the built environment, and to built environment policies and practices that integrate population health goals, thereby reducing the risk of chronic diseases.

'Proactive' use of cue-context congruence for building reinforcement learning's reward function.

PubMed

Zsuga, Judit; Biro, Klara; Tajti, Gabor; Szilasi, Magdolna Emma; Papp, Csaba; Juhasz, Bela; Gesztelyi, Rudolf

2016-10-28

Reinforcement learning is a fundamental form of learning that may be formalized using the Bellman equation. Accordingly an agent determines the state value as the sum of immediate reward and of the discounted value of future states. Thus the value of state is determined by agent related attributes (action set, policy, discount factor) and the agent's knowledge of the environment embodied by the reward function and hidden environmental factors given by the transition probability. The central objective of reinforcement learning is to solve these two functions outside the agent's control either using, or not using a model. In the present paper, using the proactive model of reinforcement learning we offer insight on how the brain creates simplified representations of the environment, and how these representations are organized to support the identification of relevant stimuli and action. Furthermore, we identify neurobiological correlates of our model by suggesting that the reward and policy functions, attributes of the Bellman equitation, are built by the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), respectively. Based on this we propose that the OFC assesses cue-context congruence to activate the most context frame. Furthermore given the bidirectional neuroanatomical link between the OFC and model-free structures, we suggest that model-based input is incorporated into the reward prediction error (RPE) signal, and conversely RPE signal may be used to update the reward-related information of context frames and the policy underlying action selection in the OFC and ACC, respectively. Furthermore clinical implications for cognitive behavioral interventions are discussed.

Evaluation of the built environment: staff and family satisfaction pre- and post-occupancy of the Children's Hospital.

PubMed

Kotzer, Anne Marie; Zacharakis, Susan Koch; Raynolds, Mary; Buenning, Fred

2011-01-01

To evaluate and compare the impact of an existing and newly built hospital environment on family and staff satisfaction related to light, noise, temperature, aesthetics, and amenities, as well as safety, security, and privacy. The United States is engaged in an unprecedented healthcare building boom driven by the need to replace aging facilities, understand the impact of the built environment on quality and safety, incorporate rapidly emerging technologies, and enhance patient- and family-centered care. More importantly, there is heightened attention to creating optimal physical environments to achieve the best possible outcomes for patients, families, and staff. Using a pre-post descriptive survey design, all nursing, social work, therapy staff, and families on selected inpatient units were invited to participate. A demographic form and Family and Staff Satisfaction Surveys were developed and administered pre- and post-occupancy of the new facility. Pre/post mean scores for staff satisfaction improved on all survey subscales with statistically significant improvement (p < .05) in most areas. The most improvement was seen with layout of the patient room, natural light, storage and writing surfaces, and comfort and appeal. Family satisfaction demonstrated statistically significant improvement on all subscales (p ≤ .01), especially for natural light, quiet space, parking, and the child's room as a healing environment. Families and staff reported greater satisfaction with the newly built hospital environment compared to the old facility. Study results will help guide future architectural design decisions, attract and retain staff at a world-class facility, and create the most effective healing environments.

Sensing Attribute Weights: A Novel Basic Belief Assignment Method

PubMed Central

Jiang, Wen; Zhuang, Miaoyan; Xie, Chunhe; Wu, Jun

2017-01-01

Dempster–Shafer evidence theory is widely used in many soft sensors data fusion systems on account of its good performance for handling the uncertainty information of soft sensors. However, how to determine basic belief assignment (BBA) is still an open issue. The existing methods to determine BBA do not consider the reliability of each attribute; at the same time, they cannot effectively determine BBA in the open world. In this paper, based on attribute weights, a novel method to determine BBA is proposed not only in the closed world, but also in the open world. The Gaussian model of each attribute is built using the training samples firstly. Second, the similarity between the test sample and the attribute model is measured based on the Gaussian membership functions. Then, the attribute weights are generated using the overlap degree among the classes. Finally, BBA is determined according to the sensed attribute weights. Several examples with small datasets show the validity of the proposed method. PMID:28358325

Sensing Attribute Weights: A Novel Basic Belief Assignment Method.

PubMed

Jiang, Wen; Zhuang, Miaoyan; Xie, Chunhe; Wu, Jun

2017-03-30

Dempster-Shafer evidence theory is widely used in many soft sensors data fusion systems on account of its good performance for handling the uncertainty information of soft sensors. However, how to determine basic belief assignment (BBA) is still an open issue. The existing methods to determine BBA do not consider the reliability of each attribute; at the same time, they cannot effectively determine BBA in the open world. In this paper, based on attribute weights, a novel method to determine BBA is proposed not only in the closed world, but also in the open world. The Gaussian model of each attribute is built using the training samples firstly. Second, the similarity between the test sample and the attribute model is measured based on the Gaussian membership functions. Then, the attribute weights are generated using the overlap degree among the classes. Finally, BBA is determined according to the sensed attribute weights. Several examples with small datasets show the validity of the proposed method.

An Investigation into the Provision of Built Environment Education to Schools in London, the South East and Yorkshire and the Humber

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kendall, Sally; Murfield, Jenny; Wilkin, Anne

2007-01-01

The report was commissioned by the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) to provide information on organizations providing education focusing on the built environment in three regions (London, the South East and Yorkshire and the Humber). The findings from this study will be used to inform "Engaging Places," a project from DCMS,…

Bridging the Gap: A Synthesis of Research into the Supply and the Demand of Built Environment Education in Schools. Engaging Places Research Summary

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kendall, Sally; Murfield, Jenny; White, Richard; Wilkin, Anne

2007-01-01

"Engaging Places" is a partnership between the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS), English Heritage, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE), in association with the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF--formerly DfES) and the Academy for Sustainable Communities (ASC). It was set up by…

Building Eco-Informatics: Examining the Dynamics of Eco-Feedback Design and Peer Networks to Achieve Sustainable Reductions in Energy Consumption

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jain, Rishee K.

2013-01-01

The built environment accounts for a substantial portion of energy consumption in the United States and in many parts of the world. Due to concerns over rising energy costs and climate change, researchers and practitioners have started exploring the area of eco-informatics to link information from the human, natural and built environments.…

Systematic literature review of built environment effects on physical activity and active transport - an update and new findings on health equity.

PubMed

Smith, Melody; Hosking, Jamie; Woodward, Alistair; Witten, Karen; MacMillan, Alexandra; Field, Adrian; Baas, Peter; Mackie, Hamish

2017-11-16

Evidence is mounting to suggest a causal relationship between the built environment and people's physical activity behaviours, particularly active transport. The evidence base has been hindered to date by restricted consideration of cost and economic factors associated with built environment interventions, investigation of socioeconomic or ethnic differences in intervention effects, and an inability to isolate the effect of the built environment from other intervention types. The aims of this systematic review were to identify which environmental interventions increase physical activity in residents at the local level, and to build on the evidence base by considering intervention cost, and the differential effects of interventions by ethnicity and socioeconomic status. A systematic database search was conducted in June 2015. Articles were eligible if they reported a quantitative empirical study (natural experiment or a prospective, retrospective, experimental, or longitudinal research) investigating the relationship between objectively measured built environment feature(s) and physical activity and/or travel behaviours in children or adults. Quality assessment was conducted and data on intervention cost and whether the effect of the built environment differed by ethnicity or socioeconomic status were extracted. Twenty-eight studies were included in the review. Findings showed a positive effect of walkability components, provision of quality parks and playgrounds, and installation of or improvements in active transport infrastructure on active transport, physical activity, and visits or use of settings. There was some indication that infrastructure improvements may predominantly benefit socioeconomically advantaged groups. Studies were commonly limited by selection bias and insufficient controlling for confounders. Heterogeneity in study design and reporting limited comparability across studies or any clear conclusions to be made regarding intervention cost. Improving neighbourhood walkability, quality of parks and playgrounds, and providing adequate active transport infrastructure is likely to generate positive impacts on activity in children and adults. The possibility that the benefits of infrastructure improvements may be inequitably distributed requires further investigation. Opportunities to improve the quality of evidence exist, including strategies to improve response rates and representativeness, use of valid and reliable measurement tools, cost-benefit analyses, and adequate controlling for confounders.

Identifying mechanisms for facilitating knowledge to action strategies targeting the built environment.

PubMed

Fazli, Ghazal S; Creatore, Maria I; Matheson, Flora I; Guilcher, Sara; Kaufman-Shriqui, Vered; Manson, Heather; Johns, Ashley; Booth, Gillian L

2017-01-03

In recent years, obesity-related diseases have been on the rise globally resulting in major challenges for health systems and society as a whole. Emerging research in population health suggests that interventions targeting the built environment may help reduce the burden of obesity and type 2 diabetes. However, translation of the evidence on the built environment into effective policy and planning changes requires engagement and collaboration between multiple sectors and government agencies for designing neighborhoods that are more conducive to healthy and active living. In this study, we identified knowledge gaps and other barriers to evidence-based decision-making and policy development related to the built environment; as well as the infrastructure, processes, and mechanisms needed to drive policy changes in this area. We conducted a qualitative thematic analysis of data collected through consultations with a broad group of stakeholders (N = 42) from Southern Ontario, Canada, within various sectors (public health, urban planning, and transportation) and levels of government (federal, provincial, and municipalities). Relevant themes were classified based on the specific phase of the knowledge-to-action cycle (research, translation, and implementation) in which they were most closely aligned. We identified 5 themes including: 1) the need for policy-informed and actionable research (e.g. health economic analyses and policy evaluations); 2) impactful messaging that targets all relevant sectors to create the political will necessary to drive policy change; 3) common measures and tools to increase capacity for monitoring and surveillance of built environment changes; (4) intersectoral collaboration and alignment within and between levels of government to enable collective actions and provide mechanisms for sharing of resources and expertise, (5) aligning public and private sector priorities to generate public demand and support for community action; and, (6) solution-focused implementation of research that will be tailored to meet the needs of policymakers and planners. Additional research priorities and key policy and planning actions were also noted. Our research highlights the necessity of involving stakeholders in identifying inter-sectoral solutions to develop and translate actionable research on the built environment into effective policy and planning initiatives.

The importance of the food and physical activity environments.

PubMed

Oppert, Jean-Michel; Charreire, Hélène

2012-01-01

There is increasing interest in identifying characteristics of neighborhood environments (physical, social, economical) that might favor unhealthy dietary and physical activity patterns leading to excess weight at population level. Measurement of characteristics of the physical environment in relation to food and physical activity has greatly improved in recent years. Methods based on assessment of perceptions by residents of their neighborhood or on objective assessment of the actual built environment (such as provided by Geographic Information Systems tools) would benefit to be combined. A number of recent systematic reviews have updated our knowledge on relationships of food and physical activity environments with relevant behaviors and obesity. Available evidence appears to show more consistent evidence of association between built environment characteristics related to physical activity ('walkability' indices, land use mix, variety of transports. . .) with physical activity behavior than with weight status. In contrast, built environment characteristics related to food habits (accessibility to different types of food outlets, availability of healthy foods. . .) would be more consistently associated with weight status than with eating behavior. The need for data from different countries and cultures is emphasized, as much as the importance of transdisciplinary research efforts for translation of these findings into our living environment. Copyright © 2012 Nestec Ltd., Vevey/S. Karger AG, Basel.

Relationship between built environment attributes and physical function in Japanese community-dwelling older adults.

PubMed

Soma, Yuki; Tsunoda, Kenji; Kitano, Naruki; Jindo, Takashi; Tsuji, Taishi; Saghazadeh, Mahshid; Okura, Tomohiro

2017-03-01

To explore the relationships between the built environment and older adults' physical function. The present cross-sectional study carried out in 2010-2012 used data drawn from 509 community-dwelling older adults aged 65-86 years living in Kasama City, a Japanese rural region. We evaluated physical function with the following performance tests: grip strength, sit-to-stand, timed up & go and walking speed. Using geographic information systems, we measured population density and the number of destinations related to daily life, community centers, medical facilities and recreational facilities within participants' neighborhoods. After adjusting for potential confounders, we found lower population density was related to poor performance of sit-to-stand and walking speed in both sexes, and grip strength in women (trend P < 0.05). A lower number of daily life-related destinations was related to poor performance of sit-to-stand and walking speed in men, and grip strength and sit-to-stand in women. Similarly, the number of community centers was related to walking speed in both sexes. The number of medical and recreational facilities was also related to some physical performance in both sexes. A lower land use mix score, calculated by principal component analysis, was related to lower performance of sit-to-stand and walking speed in men, and grip strength and sit-to-stand in women. The present study suggests that, although there are some sex differences, low population density, land use mix, and fewer daily life-related destinations, community centers, medical facilities and recreational facilities are negative determinants of physical function. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2017; 17: 382-390. © 2016 Japan Geriatrics Society.

Longitudinal associations between built environment characteristics and changes in active commuting.

PubMed

Yang, Lin; Griffin, Simon; Khaw, Kay-Tee; Wareham, Nick; Panter, Jenna

2017-05-17

Few studies have assessed the predictors of changes in commuting. This study investigated the associations between physical environmental characteristics and changes in active commuting. Adults from the population-based European Prospective Investigation into Cancer (EPIC)-Norfolk cohort self-reported commuting patterns in 2000 and 2007. Active commuters were defined as those who reported 'always' or 'usually' walking or cycling to work. Environmental attributes around the home and route were assessed using Geographical Information Systems. Associations between potential environmental predictors and uptake and maintenance of active commuting were modelled using logistic regression, adjusting for age, sex and BMI. Of the 2757 participants (62% female, median baseline age: 52, IQR: 50-56 years), most were passive commuters at baseline (76%, n = 2099) and did not change their usual commute mode over 7 years (82%, n = 2277). In multivariable regression models, participants living further from work were less likely to take up active commuting and those living in neighbourhoods with more streetlights were more likely to take up active commuting (both p < 0.05). Findings for maintenance were similar: participants living further from work (over 10 km, OR: 0.06; 95% CI: 0.25 to 0.13) and had a main or secondary road on route were more likely to maintain their active commuting (OR: 0.52; 95% CI: 0.28 to 0.98). Those living in neighbourhoods with greater density of employment locations were more likely to maintain their active commuting. Co-locating residential and employment centres as well as redesigning urban areas to improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists may encourage active commuting. Future evaluative studies should seek to assess the effects of redesigning the built environment on active commuting and physical activity.

Residential outdoor water use in Tucson, Arizona: Geospatial, demographic and temporal perspectives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Himmel, Alexander I.

Outdoor water use by single-family residences in the desert city of Tucson, Arizona is investigated as a multi-scaled coupled human-environment system, using remotely sensed images, GIS data, household water use records and survey responses. Like many desert cities, Tucson's municipal water system faces stresses at multiple spatial and temporal scales: rising demand, limited supplies, competition for distant resources and the likelihood of shortages due to regional climate change. Though the need for demand management is recognized, conflict between the long-term regional scale of the ecosystem that sustains Tucson's water supply and the short-term, local scale of the municipal utility results in a "lack of fit", shown here as the inability to reduce consumption to sustainable levels. While direct regulation of outdoor water use has not been successful, geographic research suggests that modification of the built environment, the focus of the three studies comprising this dissertation, holds promise as a demand management strategy. The first study is a spatial analysis of survey responses on outdoor water use practices during a drought. Next, the potential for substituting common amenities (irrigated landscapes and swimming pools) for private ones is investigated. Residential use was found to be sensitive to park proximity, greenness (proxied by the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), size and presence of a park pool. Most small parks were net water savers; large parks offered the opportunity to substitute reclaimed water for potable supplies. The last study correlates long-term Landsat-based vegetation and water use trends and integrates these with a spatial analysis of kinetic temperatures. Findings indicate that despite reduced water use, Tucson became greener over the 1995 -- 2008 period. This effect is attributed to a pulse of vegetation establishment in response to a shift in the El Nino -- Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) around 1976 and to irrigation prior to the study period. I conclude that although the coupled human-environment system of Tucson's municipal water supply and use practices is complex, there are scale-dependent competitive advantages to be gained through thoughtful modification of the built environment.

GIS measured environmental correlates of active school transport: A systematic review of 14 studies

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Emerging frameworks to examine active school transportation (AST) commonly emphasize the built environment (BE) as having an influence on travel mode decisions. Objective measures of BE attributes have been recommended for advancing knowledge about the influence of the BE on school travel mode choice. An updated systematic review on the relationships between GIS-measured BE attributes and AST is required to inform future research in this area. The objectives of this review are: i) to examine and summarize the relationships between objectively measured BE features and AST in children and adolescents and ii) to critically discuss GIS methodologies used in this context. Methods Six electronic databases, and websites were systematically searched, and reference lists were searched and screened to identify studies examining AST in students aged five to 18 and reporting GIS as an environmental measurement tool. Fourteen cross-sectional studies were identified. The analyses were classified in terms of density, diversity, and design and further differentiated by the measures used or environmental condition examined. Results Only distance was consistently found to be negatively associated with AST. Consistent findings of positive or negative associations were not found for land use mix, residential density, and intersection density. Potential modifiers of any relationship between these attributes and AST included age, school travel mode, route direction (e.g., to/from school), and trip-end (home or school). Methodological limitations included inconsistencies in geocoding, selection of study sites, buffer methods and the shape of zones (Modifiable Areal Unit Problem [MAUP]), the quality of road and pedestrian infrastructure data, and school route estimation. Conclusions The inconsistent use of spatial concepts limits the ability to draw conclusions about the relationship between objectively measured environmental attributes and AST. Future research should explore standardizing buffer size, assess the quality of street network datasets and, if necessary, customize existing datasets, and explore further attributes linked to safety. PMID:21545750

Electronic media time and sedentary behaviors in children: Findings from the Built Environment and Active Play Study in the Washington DC area.

PubMed

Roberts, Jennifer D; Rodkey, Lindsey; Ray, Rashawn; Knight, Brandon; Saelens, Brian E

2017-06-01

An objective of the Built Environment and Active Play (BEAP) Study was to examine whether home built environment, bedroom electronic presence, parental rules and demographics predicted children's sedentary behavior (SB). In 2014, BEAP Study questionnaires were mailed to 2000 parents of children (7-12 years) within the Washington DC area. SB-Duration (hours/day) and SB-Frequency (days/week) were assessed by two questions with multiple subparts relating to SB activity type (e.g. car riding) and SB companionship (e.g. friends). Built environment, bedroom electronic presence, parental rules and demographic data were obtained through questionnaire items and ordered logistic regression models were used to examine whether these variables were associated with SB. Study sample included 144 children (female (50%); average age (9.7 years); White (56.3%); Black/African-American (23.7%); Asian-Americans (10.4%)). Nearly 40% of the sample reported daily solitary SB with car riding being the most frequently reported type of SB. Children living on streets without a dead-end/cul-de-sac exhibited a higher odds in SB-Duration using electric media [2.61 (CI: 1.31, 5.18)] and having no television in a child's bedroom was associated with a lower odds in SB-Frequency [0.048 (CI: 0.006, 0.393)] and SB-Duration [0.085 (CI: 0.018, 0.395)]. Non-Hispanic/Latino children were also found to have higher odds in solitary SB-Frequency when parental rules of electronic use were modeled [8.56 (CI: 1.11, 66.01)]. Based on results from this cross-sectional study, home neighborhood built environment, bedroom electronic presence and absence of parental rules can significantly predict children's SB.

Neighbourhood looking glass: 360º automated characterisation of the built environment for neighbourhood effects research.

PubMed

Nguyen, Quynh C; Sajjadi, Mehdi; McCullough, Matt; Pham, Minh; Nguyen, Thu T; Yu, Weijun; Meng, Hsien-Wen; Wen, Ming; Li, Feifei; Smith, Ken R; Brunisholz, Kim; Tasdizen, Tolga

2018-03-01

Neighbourhood quality has been connected with an array of health issues, but neighbourhood research has been limited by the lack of methods to characterise large geographical areas. This study uses innovative computer vision methods and a new big data source of street view images to automatically characterise neighbourhood built environments. A total of 430 000 images were obtained using Google's Street View Image API for Salt Lake City, Chicago and Charleston. Convolutional neural networks were used to create indicators of street greenness, crosswalks and building type. We implemented log Poisson regression models to estimate associations between built environment features and individual prevalence of obesity and diabetes in Salt Lake City, controlling for individual-level and zip code-level predisposing characteristics. Computer vision models had an accuracy of 86%-93% compared with manual annotations. Charleston had the highest percentage of green streets (79%), while Chicago had the highest percentage of crosswalks (23%) and commercial buildings/apartments (59%). Built environment characteristics were categorised into tertiles, with the highest tertile serving as the referent group. Individuals living in zip codes with the most green streets, crosswalks and commercial buildings/apartments had relative obesity prevalences that were 25%-28% lower and relative diabetes prevalences that were 12%-18% lower than individuals living in zip codes with the least abundance of these neighbourhood features. Neighbourhood conditions may influence chronic disease outcomes. Google Street View images represent an underused data resource for the construction of built environment features. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Association Between the Built Environment in School Neighborhoods With Physical Activity Among New York City Children, 2012

PubMed Central

Gray, Heewon Lee; Quinn, James; Rundle, Andrew G.; Contento, Isobel R.; Koch, Pamela A.

2016-01-01

Introduction The benefits of physical activity for health and well-being are well established, yet built environment characteristics in the school neighborhood may constrain students’ ability to engage in physical activity and contribute to the considerable variation in physical activity among students at different schools. Methods Baseline data from the Food, Health and Choices obesity prevention trial were used to create multilevel linear models of the relationship between fifth-grade students’ (n = 952) physical activity and related psychosocial factors and characteristics of the built environment of the school’s neighborhood (park access, public transportation density, total crime, and walkability), controlling for age and body mass index z scores. Results Total crime was inversely associated with boys’ light physical activity duration (β = −0.189; P = .02) and behavioral intention for physical activity (β = −0.178; P = .03). Boys’ habit strength for physical activity was positively associated with public transportation density (β = 0.375; P = .02) and negatively associated with total crime (β = −0.216; P = .01), explaining 67% of between-school variation. Girls’ frequency of light physical activity was positively associated with park access (β = 0.188; P = .04). Built environment characteristics explained 97% of the between-school variation in girls’ self-efficacy in walking for exercise. Conclusions Characteristics of the built environment surrounding schools were associated with and explain between-school variation in students’ physical activity and several theory-based psychosocial factors. Partnerships between public health practitioners, policy makers, and school administrators may be warranted to shape the school neighborhood, specifically to decrease crime rates and increase park access, to encourage physical activity in youth. PMID:27536902

Computer-Aided Design for Built-In-Test (CADBIT) - BIT Library. Volume 2

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-10-01

TECHNIQUE: ON-BOARD RONI CATEGORY: LONG TUTORIA \\L PAG E 5 of 14I SUBCATEGORY: BIT TECHNIQUE ATTRIBUTES DATA TYPE: TEXT El LIST E] TABLE [ GRAPHIC E...SHIFT REGISTER (MISR) CATEGORY: LONG TUTORIA -L PAGE i Of 13 SUBCATEGORY: BIT TECH-{MQUE ATTRIBUTES DATA TYPE: TEXT LIST El TABLE GRAPHIC E EQUATIONS...ELEMENT DATA SHEET BIT TECHNIQUE: UTILIZING REDUNDANCY CATEGORY: LONG TUTORIA L PAGE 9 of 10 SUBCATEGORY: PARTS DATA TABLE DATA TYPE: TEXT F1 UST C3

A dynamic framework on travel mode choice focusing on utilitarian walking based on the integration of current knowledge.

PubMed

Yang, Yong

2016-09-01

Recently, research on utilitarian walking has gained momentum due to its benefits on both health and the environment. However, our overall understanding of how built and social environments affect travel mode choice (walking or not) is still limited, and most existing frameworks on travel mode choice lack dynamic processes. After a review of several mainstream theories and a number of frameworks, we propose an integrated framework. The basic constructs in the travel mode choice function are utilities, constraints, attitudes, and habits. With a hierarchical structure and heuristic rules, the travel mode choice function is modified by individual characteristics and travel characteristics. The framework explicitly presents several dynamic processes, including the perception process on the environment, attitude formation process, habit formation process, interactions among an individual's own behaviors, interactions among travelers, feedback from travel to the built and social environments, and feedback from other behaviors to the built and social environments. For utilitarian walking, the framework may contribute to the study design, data collection, adoption of new research methods, and provide indications for policy interventions.

A dynamic framework on travel mode choice focusing on utilitarian walking based on the integration of current knowledge

PubMed Central

Yang, Yong

2016-01-01

Recently, research on utilitarian walking has gained momentum due to its benefits on both health and the environment. However, our overall understanding of how built and social environments affect travel mode choice (walking or not) is still limited, and most existing frameworks on travel mode choice lack dynamic processes. After a review of several mainstream theories and a number of frameworks, we propose an integrated framework. The basic constructs in the travel mode choice function are utilities, constraints, attitudes, and habits. With a hierarchical structure and heuristic rules, the travel mode choice function is modified by individual characteristics and travel characteristics. The framework explicitly presents several dynamic processes, including the perception process on the environment, attitude formation process, habit formation process, interactions among an individual’s own behaviors, interactions among travelers, feedback from travel to the built and social environments, and feedback from other behaviors to the built and social environments. For utilitarian walking, the framework may contribute to the study design, data collection, adoption of new research methods, and provide indications for policy interventions. PMID:27747158

Identifying the impact of the built environment on flood damage in Texas.

PubMed

Brody, Samuel D; Zahran, Sammy; Highfield, Wesley E; Grover, Himanshu; Vedlitz, Arnold

2008-03-01

Floods continue to pose the greatest threat to the property and safety of human communities among all natural hazards in the United States. This study examines the relationship between the built environment and flood impacts in Texas, which consistently sustains the most damage from flooding of any other state in the country. Specifically, we calculate property damage resulting from 423 flood events between 1997 and 2001 at the county level. We identify the effect of several built environment measures, including wetland alteration, impervious surface, and dams on reported property damage while controlling for biophysical and socio-economic characteristics. Statistical results suggest that naturally occurring wetlands play a particularly important role in mitigating flood damage. These findings provide guidance to planners and flood managers on how to alleviate most effectively the costly impacts of foods at the community level.

Violent crime in San Antonio, Texas: an application of spatial epidemiological methods.

PubMed

Sparks, Corey S

2011-12-01

Violent crimes are rarely considered a public health problem or investigated using epidemiological methods. But patterns of violent crime and other health conditions are often affected by similar characteristics of the built environment. In this paper, methods and perspectives from spatial epidemiology are used in an analysis of violent crimes in San Antonio, TX. Bayesian statistical methods are used to examine the contextual influence of several aspects of the built environment. Additionally, spatial regression models using Bayesian model specifications are used to examine spatial patterns of violent crime risk. Results indicate that the determinants of violent crime depend on the model specification, but are primarily related to the built environment and neighborhood socioeconomic conditions. Results are discussed within the context of a rapidly growing urban area with a diverse population. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Quality by control: Towards model predictive control of mammalian cell culture bioprocesses.

PubMed

Sommeregger, Wolfgang; Sissolak, Bernhard; Kandra, Kulwant; von Stosch, Moritz; Mayer, Martin; Striedner, Gerald

2017-07-01

The industrial production of complex biopharmaceuticals using recombinant mammalian cell lines is still mainly built on a quality by testing approach, which is represented by fixed process conditions and extensive testing of the end-product. In 2004 the FDA launched the process analytical technology initiative, aiming to guide the industry towards advanced process monitoring and better understanding of how critical process parameters affect the critical quality attributes. Implementation of process analytical technology into the bio-production process enables moving from the quality by testing to a more flexible quality by design approach. The application of advanced sensor systems in combination with mathematical modelling techniques offers enhanced process understanding, allows on-line prediction of critical quality attributes and subsequently real-time product quality control. In this review opportunities and unsolved issues on the road to a successful quality by design and dynamic control implementation are discussed. A major focus is directed on the preconditions for the application of model predictive control for mammalian cell culture bioprocesses. Design of experiments providing information about the process dynamics upon parameter change, dynamic process models, on-line process state predictions and powerful software environments seem to be a prerequisite for quality by control realization. © 2017 The Authors. Biotechnology Journal published by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

The Built Environment and Health: Introducing Individual Space-Time Behavior

PubMed Central

Saarloos, Dick; Kim, Jae-Eun; Timmermans, Harry

2009-01-01

Many studies have examined the relationship between the built environment and health. Yet, the question of how and why the environment influences health behavior remains largely unexplored. As health promotion interventions work through the individuals in a targeted population, an explicit understanding of individual behavior is required to formulate and evaluate intervention strategies. Bringing in concepts from various fields, this paper proposes the use of an activity-based modeling approach for understanding and predicting, from the bottom up, how individuals interact with their environment and each other in space and time, and how their behaviors aggregate to population-level health outcomes. PMID:19578457

Older People's Experiences of Mobility and Mood in an Urban Environment: A Mixed Methods Approach Using Electroencephalography (EEG) and Interviews.

PubMed

Tilley, Sara; Neale, Chris; Patuano, Agnès; Cinderby, Steve

2017-02-04

There are concerns about mental wellbeing in later life in older people as the global population becomes older and more urbanised. Mobility in the built environment has a role to play in improving quality of life and wellbeing, as it facilitates independence and social interaction. Recent studies using neuroimaging methods in environmental psychology research have shown that different types of urban environments may be associated with distinctive patterns of brain activity, suggesting that we interact differently with varying environments. This paper reports on research that explores older people's responses to urban places and their mobility in and around the built environment. The project aim was to understand how older people experience different urban environments using a mixed methods approach including electroencephalography (EEG), self-reported measures, and interview results. We found that older participants experience changing levels of "excitement", "engagement" and "frustration" (as interpreted by proprietary EEG software) whilst walking between a busy built urban environment and an urban green space environment. These changes were further reflected in the qualitative themes that emerged from transcribed interviews undertaken one week post-walk. There has been no research to date that has directly assessed neural responses to an urban environment combined with qualitative interview analysis. A synergy of methods offers a deeper understanding of the changing moods of older people across time whilst walking in city settings.

Efficient use of land to meet sustainable energy needs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hernandez, Rebecca R.; Hoffacker, Madison K.; Field, Christopher B.

2015-04-01

The deployment of renewable energy systems, such as solar energy, to achieve universal access to electricity, heat and transportation, and to mitigate climate change is arguably the most exigent challenge facing humans today. However, the goal of rapidly developing solar energy systems is complicated by land and environmental constraints, increasing uncertainty about the future of the global energy landscape. Here, we test the hypothesis that land, energy and environmental compatibility can be achieved with small- and utility-scale solar energy within existing developed areas in the state of California (USA), a global solar energy hotspot. We found that the quantity of accessible energy potentially produced from photovoltaic (PV) and concentrating solar power (CSP) within the built environment (`compatible’) exceeds current statewide demand. We identify additional sites beyond the built environment (`potentially compatible’) that further augment this potential. Areas for small- and utility-scale solar energy development within the built environment comprise 11,000-15,000 and 6,000 TWh yr-1 of PV and CSP generation-based potential, respectively, and could meet the state of California’s energy consumptive demand three to five times over. Solar energy within the built environment may be an overlooked opportunity for meeting sustainable energy needs in places with land and environmental constraints.

Biological Weapons Attribution: A Primer

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-06-01

attacks are very difficult: (1) the nature of biological weapons, (2) the unique restrictions the international environment places on BW attribution, and...provides a basic epistemological framework for analysis for successful BW attribution, detailing the nature , methods, and limits of current BW...difficult: (1) the nature of biological weapons, (2) the unique restrictions the international environment places on BW attribution, and (3) the

Alternative electrical distribution system architectures for automobiles

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Afridi, K.K.; Tabors, R.D.; Kassakian, J.G.

At present most automobiles use a 12 V electrical system with point-to-point wiring. The capability of this architecture in meeting the needs of future electrical loads is questionable. Furthermore, with the development of electric vehicles (EVs) there is a greater need for a better architecture. In this paper the authors outline the limitations of the conventional architecture and identify alternatives. They also present a multi-attribute trade-off methodology which compares these alternatives, and identifies a set of Pareto optimal architectures. The system attributes traded off are cost, weight, losses and probability of failure. These are calculated by a computer program thatmore » has built-in component attribute models. System attributes of a few dozen architectures are also reported and the results analyzed. 17 refs.« less

A Novel Method to Evaluate the Community Built Environment Using Photographs – Environmental Profile of a Community Health (EPOCH) Photo Neighbourhood Evaluation Tool

PubMed Central

Chow, Clara K.; Corsi, Daniel J.; Lock, Karen; Madhavan, Manisha; Mackie, Pam; Li, Wei; Yi, Sun; Wang, Yang; Swaminathan, Sumathi; Lopez-Jaramillo, Patricio; Gomez-Arbelaez, Diego; Avezum, Álvaro; Lear, Scott A.; Dagenais, Gilles; Teo, Koon; McKee, Martin; Yusuf, Salim

2014-01-01

Background Previous research has shown that environments with features that encourage walking are associated with increased physical activity. Existing methods to assess the built environment using geographical information systems (GIS) data, direct audit or large surveys of the residents face constraints, such as data availability and comparability, when used to study communities in countries in diverse parts of the world. The aim of this study was to develop a method to evaluate features of the built environment of communities using a standard set of photos. In this report we describe the method of photo collection, photo analysis instrument development and inter-rater reliability of the instrument. Methods/Principal Findings A minimum of 5 photos were taken per community in 86 communities in 5 countries according to a standard set of instructions from a designated central point of each community by researchers at each site. A standard pro forma derived from reviewing existing instruments to assess the built environment was developed and used to score the characteristics of each community. Photo sets from each community were assessed independently by three observers in the central research office according to the pro forma and the inter-rater reliability was compared by intra-class correlation (ICC). Overall 87% (53 of 60) items had an ICC of ≥0.70, 7% (4 of 60) had an ICC between 0.60 and 0.70 and 5% (3 of 60) items had an ICC ≤0.50. Conclusions/Significance Analysis of photos using a standardized protocol as described in this study offers a means to obtain reliable and reproducible information on the built environment in communities in very diverse locations around the world. The collection of the photographic data required minimal training and the analysis demonstrated high reliability for the majority of items of interest. PMID:25369366

Neighborhood Attributes Associated With the Social Environment.

PubMed

Child, Stephanie T; Schoffman, Danielle E; Kaczynski, Andrew T; Forthofer, Melinda; Wilcox, Sara; Baruth, Meghan

2016-11-01

To examine the association between specific attributes of neighborhood environments and four social environment measures. Data were collected as part of a baseline survey among participants enrolling in a walking intervention. Participants were recruited from a metropolitan area in a Southeastern state. Participants (n = 294) were predominantly African-American (67%) and female (86%), with some college education (79%) and a mean age of 49. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire Environment Module assessed perceptions about neighborhood attributes. The social environment was assessed using three distinct scales: social cohesion, social interactions with neighbors, and social support for physical activity from family and friends. Multiple regression models examined associations between neighborhood attributes and social environment measures, adjusting for demographic variables. Having walkable destinations and having access to amenities and transit stops were associated with increased interactions with neighbors (b = 1.32, 1.04, and 1.68, respectively, p < .05). Attributes related to structural support for physical activity (sidewalks, street connectivity, recreation facilities) were associated with increased interactions with neighbors (b = 1.47, 1.34, and 1.13, respectively, p < .05). Bicycling facilities that were maintained (i.e., bike lanes, racks) were associated with social support for physical activity from family and friends (b = .43 and .30, respectively, p < .05). The study highlights key attributes of neighborhood environments that may be associated with the social context of such settings. © 2016 by American Journal of Health Promotion, Inc.

Impact of social and built environment factors on body size among breast cancer survivors: the Pathways Study

PubMed Central

Shariff-Marco, Salma; Von Behren, Julie; Reynolds, Peggy; Keegan, Theresa H. M.; Hertz, Andrew; Kwan, Marilyn L.; Roh, Janise M.; Thomsen, Catherine; Kroenke, Candyce H.; Ambrosone, Christine; Kushi, Lawrence H.; Gomez, Scarlett Lin

2017-01-01

Background As social and built environment factors have been shown to be associated with physical activity, dietary patterns, and obesity in the general population, they likely also influence these health behaviors among cancer survivors, and thereby impact survivorship outcomes. Methods Enhancing the rich, individual-level survey and medical record data from 4,505 breast cancer survivors in the Pathways Study, a prospective cohort drawn from Kaiser Permanente Northern California, we geocoded baseline residential addresses and appended social and built environment data. With multinomial logistic models, we examined associations between neighborhood characteristics and body mass index and whether neighborhood factors explained racial/ethnic/nativity disparities in overweight/obesity. Results Low neighborhood socioeconomic status, high minority composition, high traffic density, high prevalence of commuting by car, and a higher number of fast food restaurants were independently associated with higher odds of overweight or obesity. The higher odds of overweight among African Americans, US-born Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders and foreign-born Hispanics and the higher odds of obesity among African Americans and US-born Hispanics, compared to non-Hispanic Whites, remained significant though somewhat attenuated when accounting for social and built environment features. Conclusions Addressing aspects of neighborhood environments may help breast cancer survivors maintain a healthy body weight. Impact Further research in this area, such as incorporating data on individuals’ perceptions and use of their neighborhood environments, is needed to ultimately inform multilevel interventions that would ameliorate such disparities and improve outcomes for breast cancer survivors, regardless of their social status (e.g., race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, nativity). PMID:28154107

True-slime-mould-inspired hydrostatically coupled oscillator system exhibiting versatile behaviours.

PubMed

Umedachi, Takuya; Idei, Ryo; Ito, Kentaro; Ishiguro, Akio

2013-09-01

Behavioural diversity is an indispensable attribute of living systems, which makes them intrinsically adaptive and responsive to the demands of a dynamically changing environment. In contrast, conventional engineering approaches struggle to suppress behavioural diversity in artificial systems to reach optimal performance in given environments for desired tasks. The goals of this research include understanding the essential mechanism that endows living systems with behavioural diversity and implementing the mechanism in robots to exhibit adaptive behaviours. For this purpose, we have focused on an amoeba-like unicellular organism: the plasmodium of true slime mould. Despite the absence of a central nervous system, the plasmodium exhibits versatile spatiotemporal oscillatory patterns and switches spontaneously among these patterns. By exploiting this behavioural diversity, it is able to exhibit adaptive behaviour according to the situation encountered. Inspired by this organism, we built a real physical robot using hydrostatically coupled oscillators that produce versatile oscillatory patterns and spontaneous transitions among the patterns. The experimental results show that exploiting physical hydrostatic interplay—the physical dynamics of the robot—allows simple phase oscillators to promote versatile behaviours. The results can contribute to an understanding of how a living system generates versatile and adaptive behaviours with physical interplays among body parts.

Fast-food restaurants, park access, and insulin resistance among Hispanic youth.

PubMed

Hsieh, Stephanie; Klassen, Ann C; Curriero, Frank C; Caulfield, Laura E; Cheskin, Lawrence J; Davis, Jaimie N; Goran, Michael I; Weigensberg, Marc J; Spruijt-Metz, Donna

2014-04-01

Evidence of associations between the built environment and obesity risk has been steadily building, yet few studies have focused on the relationship between the built environment and aspects of metabolism related to obesity's most tightly linked comorbidity, type 2 diabetes. To examine the relationship between aspects of the neighborhood built environment and insulin resistance using accurate laboratory measures to account for fat distribution and adiposity. Data on 453 Hispanic youth (aged 8-18 years) from 2001 to 2011 were paired with neighborhood built environment and 2000 Census data. Analyses were conducted in 2011. Walking-distance buffers were built around participants' residential locations. Body composition and fat distribution were assessed using dual x-ray absorptiometry and waist circumference. Variables for park space, food access, walkability, and neighborhood sociocultural aspects were entered into a multivariate regression model predicting insulin resistance as determined by the homeostasis model assessment. Independent of obesity measures, greater fast-food restaurant density was associated with higher insulin resistance. Increased park space and neighborhood linguistic isolation were associated with lower insulin resistance among boys. Among girls, park space was associated with lower insulin resistance, but greater neighborhood linguistic isolation was associated with higher insulin resistance. A significant interaction between waist circumference and neighborhood linguistic isolation indicated that the negative association between neighborhood linguistic isolation and insulin resistance diminished with increased waist circumference. Reducing access to fast food and increasing public park space may be valuable to addressing insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes, but effects may vary by gender. Copyright © 2014 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Building partnerships for healthy environments: research, leadership and education.

PubMed

Thompson, Susan; Kent, Jennifer; Lyons, Claudine

2014-12-01

As populations across the globe face an increasing health burden from rising rates of obesity, diabetes and other lifestyle-related diseases, health professionals are collaborating with urban planners to influence city design that supports healthy ways of living. This paper details the establishment and operation of an innovative, interdisciplinary collaboration that brings together urban planning and health. Situated in a built environment faculty at one of Australia's most prestigious universities, the Healthy Built Environments Program (HBEP) partners planning academics, a health non-government organisation, local councils and private planning consultants in a state government health department funded consortium. The HBEP focuses on three strategic areas: research, workforce development and education, and leadership and advocacy. Interdisciplinary research includes a comprehensive literature review that establishes Australian-based evidence to support the development, prioritisation and implementation of healthy built environment policies and practices. Another ongoing study examines the design features, social interventions and locational qualities that positively benefit human health. Formal courses, workshops, public lectures and e-learning develop professional capacity, as well as skills in interdisciplinary practice to support productive collaborations between health professionals and planners. The third area involves working with government and non-government agencies, and the private sector and the community, to advocate closer links between health and the built environment. Our paper presents an overview of the HBEP's major achievements. We conclude with a critical review of the challenges, revealing lessons in bringing health and planning closer together to create health-supportive cities for the 21st century.

The associations between objectively-determined and self-reported urban form characteristics and neighborhood-based walking in adults.

PubMed

Jack, Elizabeth; McCormack, Gavin R

2014-06-04

Self-reported and objectively-determined neighborhood built characteristics are associated with physical activity, yet little is known about their combined influence on walking. This study: 1) compared self-reported measures of the neighborhood built environment between objectively-determined low, medium, and high walkable neighborhoods; 2) estimated the relative associations between self-reported and objectively-determined neighborhood characteristics and walking and; 3) examined the extent to which the objectively-determined built environment moderates the association between self-reported measures of the neighborhood built environment and walking. A random cross-section of 1875 Canadian adults completed a telephone-interview and postal questionnaire capturing neighborhood walkability, neighborhood-based walking, socio-demographic characteristics, walking attitudes, and residential self-selection. Walkability of each respondent's neighborhood was objectively-determined (low [LW], medium [MW], and high walkable [HW]). Covariate-adjusted regression models estimated the associations between weekly participation and duration in transportation and recreational walking and self-reported and objectively-determined walkability. Compared with objectively-determined LW neighborhoods, respondents in HW neighborhoods positively perceived access to services, street connectivity, pedestrian infrastructure, and utilitarian and recreation destination mix, but negatively perceived motor vehicle traffic and crime related safety. Compared with residents of objectively-determined LW neighborhoods, residents of HW neighborhoods were more likely (p < .05) to participate in (odds ratio [OR] = 3.06), and spend more time, per week (193 min/wk) transportation walking. Perceived access to services, street connectivity, motor vehicle safety, and mix of recreational destinations were also significantly associated with transportation walking. With regard to interactions, HW x utilitarian destination mix was positively associated with participation, HW x physical barriers and MW x pedestrian infrastructure were positively associated with minutes, and HW x safety from crime was negatively associated with minutes, of transportation walking. Neither neighborhood type nor its interactions with perceived measures of walkability were associated with recreational walking, although perceived aesthetics was associated with participation (OR = 1.18, p < .05). Objectively-determined and self-reported built characteristics are associated with neighborhood-based transportation walking. The objectively-determined built environment might moderate associations between perceptions of walkability and neighborhood-based transportation walking. Interventions that target perceptions in addition to modifications to the neighborhood built environment could result in increases in physical activity among adults.

Climate Risk Assessment: Technical Guidance Manual for DoD Installations and Built Environment

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-09-06

climate change risks to DoD installations and the built environment. The approach, which we call “decision-scaling,” reveals the core sensitivity of...DoD installations to climate change . It is designed to illuminate the sensitivity of installations and their supporting infrastructure systems...including water and energy, to climate changes and other uncertainties without dependence on climate change projections. In this way the analysis and

Concentrated solar power in the built environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Montenon, Alaric C.; Fylaktos, Nestor; Montagnino, Fabio; Paredes, Filippo; Papanicolas, Costas N.

2017-06-01

Solar concentration systems are usually deployed in large open spaces for electricity generation; they are rarely used to address the pressing energy needs of the built environment sector. Fresnel technology offers interesting and challenging CSP energy pathways suitable for the built environment, due to its relatively light weight (<30 kg.m-2) and low windage. The Cyprus Institute (CyI) and Consorzio ARCA are cooperating in such a research program; we report here the construction and integration of a 71kW Fresnel CSP system into the HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) system of a recently constructed office & laboratory building, the Novel Technologies Laboratory (NTL). The multi-generative system will support cooling, heating and hot water production feeding the system of the NTL building, as a demonstration project, part of the STS-MED program (Small Scale Thermal Solar District Units for Mediterranean Communities) financed by the European Commission under the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI), CBCMED program.

Working with Policy and Regulatory Factors to Implement Universal Design in the Built Environment: The Australian Experience.

PubMed

Larkin, Helen; Hitch, Danielle; Watchorn, Valerie; Ang, Susan

2015-07-15

Built environments that are usable by all provide opportunities for engagement in meaningful occupations. However, enabling them in day to day design processes and practice is problematic for relevant professions. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to gain greater understanding of the policy and regulatory influences that promote or hinder the uptake of universal design in built environments, to inform better future design. Focus groups or telephone interviews were undertaken with 28 key building industry and disability stakeholders in Australia. Four themes were identified: the difficulties of definition; the push or pull of regulations and policy; the role of formal standards; and, shifting the focus of design thinking. The findings highlight the complexity of working within policy and regulatory contexts when implementing universal design. Occupational therapists working with colleagues from other professions must be aware of these influences, and develop the skills to work with them for successful practice.

Systems architecture: a new model for sustainability and the built environment using nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive science with living technology.

PubMed

Armstrong, Rachel

2010-01-01

This report details a workshop held at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London, to initiate interdisciplinary collaborations for the practice of systems architecture, which is a new model for the generation of sustainable architecture that combines the discipline of the study of the built environment with the scientific study of complexity, or systems science, and adopts the perspective of systems theory. Systems architecture offers new perspectives on the organization of the built environment that enable architects to consider architecture as a series of interconnected networks with embedded links into natural systems. The public workshop brought together architects and scientists working with the convergence of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive science and with living technology to investigate the possibility of a new generation of smart materials that are implied by this approach.

Chicago Residents’ Perceptions of Air Quality: Objective Pollution, the Built Environment, and Neighborhood Stigma Theory

PubMed Central

King, Katherine E.

2014-01-01

Substantial research documents higher pollution levels in minority neighborhoods, but little research evaluates how residents perceive their own communities’ pollution risks. According to “Neighborhood stigma” theory, survey respondents share a cultural bias that minorities cause social dysfunction, leading to over-reports of dysfunction in minority communities. This study investigates perceptions of residential outdoor air quality by linking objective data on built and social environments with multiple measures of pollution and a representative survey of Chicago residents. Consistent with the scholarly narrative, results show air quality is rated worse where minorities and poverty are concentrated, even after extensive adjustment for objective pollution and built environment measures. Perceptions of air pollution may thus be driven by neighborhood socioeconomic position far more than by respondents’ ability to perceive pollution. The finding that 63.5% of the sample reported excellent or good air quality helps to explain current challenging in promoting environmental action. PMID:26527847

Potential Climate Change Impacts on the Built Environment in the United States and Implications for Sustainability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Quattrochi, D.

2012-12-01

The built environment consists of components that have been made by humans at a range of scales from small (e.g., houses, shopping malls) to large (e.g., transportation networks) to highly modified landscapes such as cities. The impacts of climate change on the built environment, therefore, may have a multitude of effects on humans and the land. The impact of climate change may be exacerbated by the interaction of different events that singly may be minor, but together may have a synergistic set of impacts that are significant. Also, there may be feedback mechanisms wherein the built environment, particularly in the form of cities, may affect weather and the climate on local and regional scales. Besides having a host of such interactions, the impacts of climate change on urban areas will likely have thresholds, below which effects are incidental or of mild consequence, but beyond which the effects quickly become major. Hence, a city may be able to cope with prolonged heat waves, but if this is combined with severe drought, the overall result could be significant or even catastrophic, as accelerating demand for energy to cooling taxes water supplies needed both for energy supply and municipal water needs. Moreover, urban areas may be affected by changes in daily and seasonal high or low temperatures or precipitation, which may have a much more prolonged impact than the direct effect of these events. Thus, the cumulative impacts of multiple events may be more severe than those of any single event. Primary hazards include sea level rise and coastal storms, heat waves, intense precipitation, drought, extreme wind events, urban heat islands, and secondary air pollutants, and cold air events including frozen precipitation. Indicators need to be developed to provide a consistent, objective, and transparent overview of major variations in climate impacts, vulnerabilities, adaptation, and mitigation activities. Overall, indicators of climate change on the built environment should: 1) provide meaningful, authoritative climate-relevant measures about the status, rates, and trends of key physical, ecological, and societal variables and values to inform decisions on management, research, and education at regional to national scales; 2) identify climate-related conditions and impacts to help develop effective mitigation and adaptation measures and reduce costs of management; and 3) document and communicate the climate-driven dynamic nature and condition of Earth's systems and societies, and provide a coordinated. This presentation will provide an overview of possible climate impacts on the built environment. Also, given that spatial analysis and remote sensing techniques will be of paramount importance in assessing these impacts and in preparing adaptation strategies, the presentation will provide examples of how these techniques can be used to identify potential impacts of climate change on the built environment.

Validation of the COURAGE Built Environment Self-Reported Questionnaire.

PubMed

Raggi, Alberto; Quintas, Rui; Bucciarelli, Paola; Franco, Maria Grazia; Andreotti, Alessandra; Miret, Marta; Zawisza, Katarzyna; Olaya, Beatriz; Chatterji, Somnath; Sainio, Päivi; Frisoni, Giovanni Battista; Martinuzzi, Andrea; Minicuci, Nadia; Power, Mick; Leonardi, Matilde

2014-01-01

The built environment (BE) impacts on people's disability and health, in terms of overweight, depression, alcohol abuse, poor self-rated health and presence of psychological symptoms; it is reasonable to assume that BE also impacts on participation levels. This paper presents the validation of the COURAGE Built Environment Self-Reported Questionnaire (CBE-SR), an instrument designed to evaluate BE in the context of health and disability. Subjects participating to COURAGE, a cross-sectional study conducted on 10,800 citizens of Poland, Finland and Spain, completed a protocol inclusive of the CBE-SR. Psychometric properties and factor structure were analysed, and factor scores created. Gender differences, differences between persons from different age groups and persons reporting the environment as facilitating, hindering or neutral were calculated. Eight items were deleted so that the final version of CBE-SR comprises 19 items. Cronbach's alpha ranged from 0.743 to 0.906, and test-retest stability was demonstrated for the majority of items. Four subscales were identified: Usability of the neighbourhood environment; Hindrance of walkable environment; Easiness of use of public buildings, places and facilities; and Risk of accidents and usability of the living place. Younger respondents reported their neighbourhood as more usable but perceived walkways as more hindering and public buildings as less easy to use; gender differences were almost inexistent. The CBE-SR is a four-scale instrument with good psychometric properties that measures the person-environment interaction. It is sensitive across age groups and is consistent with the subject's overall judgement of the degree to which the environment is facilitating or hindering. Poor built environments have a negative impact on the level of a person's participation. However, instruments measuring the person-environment interaction are lacking. The CBE-SR is a valid and reliable instrument that researchers can use to assess the relationships between the intrinsic health state and the objective features of the environment. Understanding this relationship would provide further insight into the need of addressing the individual's functioning either by means of interventions directed to the individual or by making changes to the individual's environment. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The clinical learning environment in nursing education: a concept analysis.

PubMed

Flott, Elizabeth A; Linden, Lois

2016-03-01

The aim of this study was to report an analysis of the clinical learning environment concept. Nursing students are evaluated in clinical learning environments where skills and knowledge are applied to patient care. These environments affect achievement of learning outcomes, and have an impact on preparation for practice and student satisfaction with the nursing profession. Providing clarity of this concept for nursing education will assist in identifying antecedents, attributes and consequences affecting student transition to practice. The clinical learning environment was investigated using Walker and Avant's concept analysis method. A literature search was conducted using WorldCat, MEDLINE and CINAHL databases using the keywords clinical learning environment, clinical environment and clinical education. Articles reviewed were written in English and published in peer-reviewed journals between 1995-2014. All data were analysed for recurring themes and terms to determine possible antecedents, attributes and consequences of this concept. The clinical learning environment contains four attribute characteristics affecting student learning experiences. These include: (1) the physical space; (2) psychosocial and interaction factors; (3) the organizational culture and (4) teaching and learning components. These attributes often determine achievement of learning outcomes and student self-confidence. With better understanding of attributes comprising the clinical learning environment, nursing education programmes and healthcare agencies can collaborate to create meaningful clinical experiences and enhance student preparation for the professional nurse role. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

[Evaluation of perceptions of physical activity related built environment among urban adults with different characteristics in Hangzhou].

PubMed

Ren, Yanjun; Liu, Qingmin; Cao, Chengjian; Su, Meng; Lyu, Jun; Li, Liming

2015-10-01

To understand the perceptions of physical activity-related built environment among urban adults in Hangzhou. A face-to-face interview was conducted among the urban residents aged 25-59 years selected through multistage stratified random sampling in Hangzhou in 2012. The Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale-Abbreviated (NEWS-A) was used to assess the perception of built environment among residents, including residential building density, the diversities of stores, facilities and others, the accessibility to public service, the street connectivity, walking/cycling facilities, aesthetics, traffic safety, and public security. The multilevel logistic regression model was used to assess the demographic characteristics, BMI and other factors' influence on people's perceptions. Among 1 362 local residents surveyed, no sex, martial status and occupation specific significant differences in the perception of built environment were found. After adjusting other factors, the age group 45-59 years was positively related to the score of street connectivity (OR=2.02, 95% CI: 1.30-3.15). The educational level of college or higher was positively associated with the score of residential building density (OR=1.97, 95% CI: 1.29-3.00) but negatively associated with the score of facility variety (OR=0.65, 95% CI: 0.43-0.97). Overweight or obesity was negatively related to the scores of walking/cycling ways (OR=0.67, 95%CI: 0.48-0.95) and public security (OR=0.75, 95% CI: 0.57-0.99). Compared with the class I residential area, the people in class III residential area had lower perception scores on facility diversity (OR=0.11, 95% CI: 0.04-0.30), accessibility to public service (OR=0.33, 95% CI: 0.11-0.95), street connectivity (OR=0.30, 95% CI: 0.11-0.86) and traffic safety (OR=0.39, 95% CI: 0.17-0.91). The perceptions of physical activity-related built environment was associated with age, educational level, BMI and residential area. The personal characteristics should be considered while performing environment intervention on physical activity.

Microbial growth under a high-pressure CO2 environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thompson, J. R.; Hernandez, H. H.

2009-12-01

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) of CO2 has the potential to significantly reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses associated with fossil fuel combustion. The largest potential for storing captured CO2 in the United Sates is in deep geologic saline formations. Currently, little is known about the effects of CO2 storage on biologically active microbial communities found in the deep earth biosphere. Therefore, to investigate how deep earth microbial communities will be affected by the storage of CO2, we have built a high-pressure microbial growth system in which microbial samples are subjected to a supercritical CO2 (scCO2) environment. Recently we have isolated a microbial consortium that is capable of growth and extracellular matrix production in nutrient media under a supercritical CO2 headspace. This consortium was cultivated from hydrocarbon residues associated with saline formation waters and includes members of the gram-positive Bacillus genus. The cultivation of actively growing cells in an environment containing scCO2 is unexpected based on previous experimental evidence of microbial sterilization attributed to the acidic, desiccating, and solvent-like properties of scCO2. Such microbial consortia have potential for development as (i) biofilm barriers for geological carbon-dioxide sequestration, and as (ii) agents of biocatalysis in environmentally-friendly supercritical (sc) CO2 solvent systems. The discovery that microbes can remain biologically active, and grow, in these environments opens new frontiers for the use of self-regenerating biological systems in engineering applications.

Older People’s Experiences of Mobility and Mood in an Urban Environment: A Mixed Methods Approach Using Electroencephalography (EEG) and Interviews

PubMed Central

Tilley, Sara; Neale, Chris; Patuano, Agnès; Cinderby, Steve

2017-01-01

There are concerns about mental wellbeing in later life in older people as the global population becomes older and more urbanised. Mobility in the built environment has a role to play in improving quality of life and wellbeing, as it facilitates independence and social interaction. Recent studies using neuroimaging methods in environmental psychology research have shown that different types of urban environments may be associated with distinctive patterns of brain activity, suggesting that we interact differently with varying environments. This paper reports on research that explores older people’s responses to urban places and their mobility in and around the built environment. The project aim was to understand how older people experience different urban environments using a mixed methods approach including electroencephalography (EEG), self-reported measures, and interview results. We found that older participants experience changing levels of “excitement”, “engagement” and “frustration” (as interpreted by proprietary EEG software) whilst walking between a busy built urban environment and an urban green space environment. These changes were further reflected in the qualitative themes that emerged from transcribed interviews undertaken one week post-walk. There has been no research to date that has directly assessed neural responses to an urban environment combined with qualitative interview analysis. A synergy of methods offers a deeper understanding of the changing moods of older people across time whilst walking in city settings. PMID:28165409

Neighborhood walkability, fear and risk of falling and response to walking promotion: The Easy Steps to Health 12-month randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Merom, D; Gebel, K; Fahey, P; Astell-Burt, T; Voukelatos, A; Rissel, C; Sherrington, C

2015-01-01

In older adults the relationships between health, fall-related risk factors, perceived neighborhood walkability, walking behavior and intervention impacts are poorly understood. To determine whether: i) health and fall-related risk factors were associated with perceptions of neighborhood walkability; ii) perceived environmental attributes, and fall-related risk factors predicted change in walking behavior at 12 months; and iii) perceived environmental attributes and fall-related risk factors moderated the effect of a self-paced walking program on walking behavior. Randomized trial on walking and falls conducted between 2009 and 2012 involving 315 community-dwelling inactive adults ≥ 65 years living in Sydney, Australia. Measures were: mobility status, fall history, injurious fall and fear of falling (i.e., fall-related risk factors), health status, walking self-efficacy and 11 items from the neighborhood walkability scale and planned walking ≥ 150 min/week at 12 months. Participants with poorer mobility, fear of falling, and poor health perceived their surroundings as less walkable. Walking at 12 months was significantly greater in "less greenery" (AOR = 3.3, 95% CI: 1.11-9.98) and "high traffic" (AOR = 1.98, 95% CI: 1.00-3.91) neighborhoods. The intervention had greater effects in neighborhoods perceived to have poorer pedestrian infrastructure (p for interaction = 0.036). Low perceived walkability was shaped by health status and did not appear to be a barrier to walking behavior. There appears to be a greater impact of, and thus, need for, interventions to encourage walking in environments perceived not to have supportive walking infrastructure. Future studies on built environments and walking should gather information on fall-related risk factors to better understand how these characteristics interact.

Design and implementation of a physical activity intervention to enhance children's use of the built environment (the CUBE study).

PubMed

Oreskovic, Nicolas M; Goodman, Elizabeth; Park, Elyse R; Robinson, Alyssa I; Winickoff, Jonathan P

2015-01-01

Adequate physical activity promotes physical and mental health and decreases obesity risk. However, most adolescents do not attain recommended physical activity levels and effective interventions are lacking. Physical activity trials rarely incorporate built environment use patterns. This paper describes the design and rationale of the Children's Use of the Built Environment (CUBE) Study, an office-based intervention designed to teach youth how to use their surrounding built environment to increase physical activity. CUBE is a 6-month intervention trial among 60 overweight and obese 10-16 year old adolescents from a community health center in Massachusetts. The study began in the winter of 2013. Patients are sequentially assigned to either the intervention or control group. Baseline physical activity by accelerometry and location by GPS, along with measured height, weight, and blood pressure are collected. Control subjects receive standard of care lifestyle counseling. Intervention subjects receive tailored recommendations on how to increase their physical activity based on their accelerometer and GPS data. Data collections are repeated at end-of-treatment, and again 3 months later. The findings from this study should help guide future efforts to design interventions aimed at increasing adolescent physical activity as well as to inform design professionals and government officials charged with creating outdoor spaces where adolescents spend time. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Approaches to Changing the Physical Attributes of the Adult Learning Environment: A Preliminary Investigation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fulton, Rodney D.

A study surveyed 139 individuals to determine if differences in the way they approached the physical attributes of various learning environments could be attributed to either gender or age. Participants were Montana State University graduate students in education; adult basic education students in Bozeman, Montana; adult basic education faculty…

Impact of Social and Built Environment Factors on Body Size among Breast Cancer Survivors: The Pathways Study.

PubMed

Shariff-Marco, Salma; Von Behren, Julie; Reynolds, Peggy; Keegan, Theresa H M; Hertz, Andrew; Kwan, Marilyn L; Roh, Janise M; Thomsen, Catherine; Kroenke, Candyce H; Ambrosone, Christine; Kushi, Lawrence H; Gomez, Scarlett Lin

2017-04-01

Background: As social and built environment factors have been shown to be associated with physical activity, dietary patterns, and obesity in the general population, they likely also influence these health behaviors among cancer survivors and thereby impact survivorship outcomes. Methods: Enhancing the rich, individual-level survey and medical record data from 4,505 breast cancer survivors in the Pathways Study, a prospective cohort drawn from Kaiser Permanente Northern California, we geocoded baseline residential addresses and appended social and built environment data. With multinomial logistic models, we examined associations between neighborhood characteristics and body mass index and whether neighborhood factors explained racial/ethnic/nativity disparities in overweight/obesity. Results: Low neighborhood socioeconomic status, high minority composition, high traffic density, high prevalence of commuting by car, and a higher number of fast food restaurants were independently associated with higher odds of overweight or obesity. The higher odds of overweight among African Americans, U.S.-born Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders, and foreign-born Hispanics and the higher odds of obesity among African Americans and U.S.-born Hispanics, compared with non-Hispanic whites, remained significant, although somewhat attenuated, when accounting for social and built environment features. Conclusions: Addressing aspects of neighborhood environments may help breast cancer survivors maintain a healthy body weight. Impact: Further research in this area, such as incorporating data on individuals' perceptions and use of their neighborhood environments, is needed to ultimately inform multilevel interventions that would ameliorate such disparities and improve outcomes for breast cancer survivors, regardless of their social status (e.g., race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, nativity). Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 26(4); 505-15. ©2017 AACR See all the articles in this CEBP Focus section, "Geospatial Approaches to Cancer Control and Population Sciences." ©2017 American Association for Cancer Research.

Short- and Long-Term Impacts of Neighborhood Built Environment on Self-Rated Health of Older Adults.

PubMed

Spring, Amy

2018-01-18

Proximity to health care, healthy foods, and recreation is linked to improved health in older adults while deterioration of the built environment is a risk factor for poor health. Yet, it remains unclear whether individuals prone to good health self-select into favorable built environments and how long-term exposure to deteriorated environments impacts health. This study uses a longitudinal framework to address these questions. The study analyzes 3,240 Americans aged 45 or older from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics with good self-reported health at baseline, and follows them from 1999 to 2013. At each biennial survey wave, individual data are combined with data on services in the neighborhood of residence (defined as the zip code) from the Economic Census. The analysis overcomes the problem of residential self-selection by employing marginal structural models and inverse probability of treatment weights. Logistic regression estimates indicate that long-term exposure to neighborhood built environments that lack health-supportive services (e.g., physicians, pharmacies, grocery stores, senior centers, and recreational facilities) and are commercially declined (i.e., have a high density of liquor stores, pawn shops, and fast food outlets) increases the risk of fair/poor self-rated health compared to more average neighborhoods. Short-term exposure to the same environments as compared to average neighborhoods has no bearing on self-rated health after adjusting for self-selection. Results highlight the importance of expanding individuals' access to health-supportive services prior to their reaching old age, and expanding access for people unlikely to attain residence in service-dense neighborhoods. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The Role of Neighborhood Characteristics and the Built Environment in Understanding Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Childhood Obesity

PubMed Central

Sharifi, Mona; Sequist, Thomas D; Rifas-Shiman, Sheryl L; Melly, Steven J; Duncan, Dustin T; Horan, Christine M; Smith, Renata L; Marshall, Richard; Taveras, Elsie M

2016-01-01

Background Childhood obesity prevalence remains high and racial/ethnic disparities may be widening. Studies have examined the role of health behavioral differences. Less is known regarding neighborhood and built environment mediators of disparities. The objective of this study is to examine the extent to which racial/ethnic disparities in elevated child body mass index (BMI) are explained by neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) and built environment. Methods We collected and analyzed race/ethnicity, BMI, and geocoded address from electronic health records of 44,810 children 4 to 18 years-old seen at 14 Massachusetts pediatric practices in 2011–2012. Main outcomes were BMI z-score and BMI z-score change over time. We used multivariable linear regression to examine associations between race/ethnicity and BMI z-score outcomes, sequentially adjusting for neighborhood SES and the food and physical activity environment. Results Among 44,810 children, 13.3% were black, 5.7% Hispanic, and 65.2% white. Compared to white children, BMI z-scores were higher among black (0.43 units [95% CI: 0.40–0.45]) and Hispanic (0.38 [0.34–0.42]) children; black (0.06 [0.04–0.08]), but not Hispanic, children also had greater increases in BMI z-score over time. Adjusting for neighborhood SES substantially attenuated BMI z-score differences among black (0.30 [0.27–0.34]) and Hispanic children (0.28 [0.23–0.32]), while adjustment for food and physical activity environments attenuated the differences but to a lesser extent than neighborhood SES. Conclusions Neighborhood SES and the built environment may be important drivers of childhood obesity disparities. To accelerate progress in reducing obesity disparities, interventions must be tailored to the neighborhood contexts in which families live. PMID:27404577

Incorporating a built environment module into an accelerated second-degree community health nursing course.

PubMed

Hays, Judith C; Davis, Jeffrey A; Miranda, Marie Lynn

2006-01-01

Environmental quality is a leading indicator of population health. Environmental health content has been integrated into the curriculum of an Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing program for second-degree students through development of an environmental health nursing module for the final-semester community health nursing course. The module was developed through collaboration between two professional schools at Duke University (the School of Nursing and the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences). It focused on the role of the built environment in community health and featured a mix of teaching strategies, including five components: (1) classroom lecture with associated readings, (2) two rounds of online small-group student discussions, (3) assessment of the built environment in local neighborhoods by student teams, (4) team presentation of the neighborhood assessments, and (5) individual student papers synthesizing the conclusions from all team presentations. The goal of the module was to provide nursing students with an organizing framework for integrating environmental health into clinical practice and an innovative tool for understanding community-level components of public health.

Hindrances to Green Building Developments in Nigeria’s Built Environment: “The Project Professionals’ Perspectives”

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dalibi, S. G.; Feng, J. C.; Shuangqin, Liu; Sadiq, Abubakar; Bello, B. S.; Danja, I. I.

2017-05-01

Developing countries like Nigeria are faced with the growth of residential housing sector accompanied by huge power, water, and material consumptions etc., which were due to the population growth, increased households and the increased urbanization. The construction industry is guilty of many practices because its activities have adversely affected the environment negatively. It responded with new initiative called Eco / green / sustainable buildings to ensure environmental sustainability. Despite all these glaring challenges green building developments and sustainable practices are embraced very slowly and practiced at slow pace in the Nigeria’s construction industry. This is worrisome and is due to some factors hindering such pace. The aim of this paper is to identify, examine and assess the factors that are hindering green building developments based on the project professionals’ perceptions. Reviewed literatures were used to identify the various factors that hindered the adoption of green measures and practices within the Nigeria’s built environment. A questionnaire survey was conducted within the industry. The results showed the major factors hindering green building developments and practices in the Nigeria’s built environment.

Is Your Neighborhood Designed to Support Physical Activity? A Brief Streetscape Audit Tool.

PubMed

Sallis, James F; Cain, Kelli L; Conway, Terry L; Gavand, Kavita A; Millstein, Rachel A; Geremia, Carrie M; Frank, Lawrence D; Saelens, Brian E; Glanz, Karen; King, Abby C

2015-09-03

Macro level built environment factors (eg, street connectivity, walkability) are correlated with physical activity. Less studied but more modifiable microscale elements of the environment (eg, crosswalks) may also affect physical activity, but short audit measures of microscale elements are needed to promote wider use. This study evaluated the relation of a 15-item neighborhood environment audit tool with a full version of the tool to assess neighborhood design on physical activity in 4 age groups. From the 120-item Microscale Audit of Pedestrian Streetscapes (MAPS) measure of street design, sidewalks, and street crossings, we developed the 15-item version (MAPS-Mini) on the basis of associations with physical activity and attribute modifiability. As a sample of a likely walking route, MAPS-Mini was conducted on a 0.25-mile route from participant residences toward the nearest nonresidential destination for children (n = 758), adolescents (n = 897), younger adults (n = 1,655), and older adults (n = 367). Active transportation and leisure physical activity were measured with age-appropriate surveys, and accelerometers provided objective physical activity measures. Mixed-model regressions were conducted for each MAPS item and a total environment score, adjusted for demographics, participant clustering, and macrolevel walkability. Total scores of MAPS-Mini and the 120-item MAPS correlated at r = .85. Total microscale environment scores were significantly related to active transportation in all age groups. Items related to active transport in 3 age groups were presence of sidewalks, curb cuts, street lights, benches, and buffer between street and sidewalk. The total score was related to leisure physical activity and accelerometer measures only in children. The MAPS-Mini environment measure is short enough to be practical for use by community groups and planning agencies and is a valid substitute for the full version that is 8 times longer.

Perceptions of social capital and the built environment and mental health.

PubMed

Araya, Ricardo; Dunstan, Frank; Playle, Rebecca; Thomas, Hollie; Palmer, Stephen; Lewis, Glyn

2006-06-01

There has been much speculation about a possible association between the social and built environment and health, but the empirical evidence is still elusive. The social and built environments are best seen as contextual concepts but they are usually estimated as an aggregation of individual compositional measures, such as perceptions on trust or the desirability to live in an area. If these aggregated compositional measures were valid measures, one would expect that they would evince correlations at higher levels of data collection (e.g., neighbourhood). The aims of this paper are: (1) to investigate the factor structure of a self-administered questionnaire measuring individual perceptions of trust, social participation, social cohesion, social control, and the built environment; (2) to investigate variation in these factors at higher than the individual level (households and postcodes) in order to assess if these constructs reflect some contextual effect; and (3) to study the association between mental health, as measured by the General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12), and these derived factors. A cross-sectional household survey was undertaken during May-August 2001 in a district of South Wales with a population of 140,000. We found that factor analysis grouped our questions in factors similar to the theoretical ones we had previously envisaged. We also found that approximately one-third of the variance for neighbourhood quality and 10% for social control was explained at postcode (neighbourhood) level after adjusting for individual variables, thus suggesting that some of our compositional measures capture contextual characteristics of the built and social environment. After adjusting for individual variables, trust and social cohesion, two key social capital components were the only factors to show statistically significant associations with GHQ-12 scores. However, these factors also showed little variation at postcode levels, suggesting a stronger individual determination. We conclude that our results provide some evidence in support of an association between mental health (GHQ-12 scores) and perceptions of social capital, but less support for the contextual nature of social capital.

How Much are Built Environments Changing, and Where?: Patterns of Change by Neighborhood Sociodemographic Characteristics across Seven U.S. Metropolitan Areas

PubMed Central

Hirsch, Jana A.; Grengs, Joe; Schulz, Amy; Adar, Sara D.; Rodriguez, Daniel A.; Brines, Shannon J.; Diez Roux, Ana V.

2016-01-01

Investments in neighborhood built environments could increase physical activity and overall health. Disproportionate distribution of these changes in advantaged neighborhoods could inflate health disparities. Little information exists on where changes are occurring. This paper aims to 1) identify changes in the built environment in neighborhoods and 2) investigate associations between high levels of change and sociodemographic characteristics. Using Geographic Information Systems, neighborhood land-use, local destinations (for walking, social engagement, and physical activity), and sociodemographics were characterized in 2000 and 2010 for seven U.S. cities. Linear and change on change models estimated associations of built environment changes with baseline (2000) and change (2010–2000) in sociodemographics. Spatial patterns were assessed using Global Moran’s I to measure overall clustering of change and Local Moran’s I to identify statistically significant clusters of high increases surrounded by high increases (HH). Sociodemographic characteristics were compared between HH cluster and other tracts using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). We observed small land-use changes but increases in the destination types. Greater increases in destinations were associated with higher percentage non-Hispanic whites, percentage households with no vehicle, and median household income. Associations were present for both baseline sociodemographics and changes over time. Greater increases in destinations were associated with lower baseline percentage over 65 but higher increases in percentage over 65 between 2000 and 2010. Global Moran’s indicated changes were spatially clustered. HH cluster tracts started with a higher percentage non-Hispanic whites and higher percentage of households without vehicles. Between 2000 and 2010, HH cluster tracts experienced increases in percent non-Hispanic white, greater increases in median household income, and larger decreases in percent of households without a vehicle. Changes in the built environment are occurring in neighborhoods across a diverse set of U.S. metropolitan areas, but are patterned such that they may lead to increased health disparities over time. PMID:27701020

Can the Neighborhood Built Environment Make a Difference in Children's Development? Building the Research Agenda to Create Evidence for Place-Based Children's Policy.

PubMed

Villanueva, Karen; Badland, Hannah; Kvalsvig, Amanda; O'Connor, Meredith; Christian, Hayley; Woolcock, Geoffrey; Giles-Corti, Billie; Goldfeld, Sharon

2016-01-01

Healthy child development is determined by a combination of physical, social, family, individual, and environmental factors. Thus far, the majority of child development research has focused on the influence of individual, family, and school environments and has largely ignored the neighborhood context despite the increasing policy interest. Yet given that neighborhoods are the locations where children spend large periods of time outside of home and school, it is plausible the physical design of neighborhoods (built environment), including access to local amenities, can affect child development. The relatively few studies exploring this relationship support associations between child development and neighborhood destinations, green spaces, interaction with nature, traffic exposure, and housing density. These studies emphasize the need to more deeply understand how child development outcomes might be influenced by the neighborhood built environment. Pursuing this research space is well aligned with the current global movements on livable and child-friendly cities. It has direct public policy impact by informing planning policies across a range of sectors (urban design and planning, transport, public health, and pediatrics) to implement place-based interventions and initiatives that target children's health and development at the community level. We argue for the importance of exploring the effect of the neighborhood built environment on child development as a crucial first step toward informing urban design principles to help reduce developmental vulnerability in children and to set optimal child development trajectories early. Crown Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Optimizing Scoring and Sampling Methods for Assessing Built Neighborhood Environment Quality in Residential Areas

PubMed Central

Adu-Brimpong, Joel; Coffey, Nathan; Ayers, Colby; Berrigan, David; Yingling, Leah R.; Thomas, Samantha; Mitchell, Valerie; Ahuja, Chaarushi; Rivers, Joshua; Hartz, Jacob; Powell-Wiley, Tiffany M.

2017-01-01

Optimization of existing measurement tools is necessary to explore links between aspects of the neighborhood built environment and health behaviors or outcomes. We evaluate a scoring method for virtual neighborhood audits utilizing the Active Neighborhood Checklist (the Checklist), a neighborhood audit measure, and assess street segment representativeness in low-income neighborhoods. Eighty-two home neighborhoods of Washington, D.C. Cardiovascular Health/Needs Assessment (NCT01927783) participants were audited using Google Street View imagery and the Checklist (five sections with 89 total questions). Twelve street segments per home address were assessed for (1) Land-Use Type; (2) Public Transportation Availability; (3) Street Characteristics; (4) Environment Quality and (5) Sidewalks/Walking/Biking features. Checklist items were scored 0–2 points/question. A combinations algorithm was developed to assess street segments’ representativeness. Spearman correlations were calculated between built environment quality scores and Walk Score®, a validated neighborhood walkability measure. Street segment quality scores ranged 10–47 (Mean = 29.4 ± 6.9) and overall neighborhood quality scores, 172–475 (Mean = 352.3 ± 63.6). Walk scores® ranged 0–91 (Mean = 46.7 ± 26.3). Street segment combinations’ correlation coefficients ranged 0.75–1.0. Significant positive correlations were found between overall neighborhood quality scores, four of the five Checklist subsection scores, and Walk Scores® (r = 0.62, p < 0.001). This scoring method adequately captures neighborhood features in low-income, residential areas and may aid in delineating impact of specific built environment features on health behaviors and outcomes. PMID:28282878

Optimizing Scoring and Sampling Methods for Assessing Built Neighborhood Environment Quality in Residential Areas.

PubMed

Adu-Brimpong, Joel; Coffey, Nathan; Ayers, Colby; Berrigan, David; Yingling, Leah R; Thomas, Samantha; Mitchell, Valerie; Ahuja, Chaarushi; Rivers, Joshua; Hartz, Jacob; Powell-Wiley, Tiffany M

2017-03-08

Optimization of existing measurement tools is necessary to explore links between aspects of the neighborhood built environment and health behaviors or outcomes. We evaluate a scoring method for virtual neighborhood audits utilizing the Active Neighborhood Checklist (the Checklist), a neighborhood audit measure, and assess street segment representativeness in low-income neighborhoods. Eighty-two home neighborhoods of Washington, D.C. Cardiovascular Health/Needs Assessment (NCT01927783) participants were audited using Google Street View imagery and the Checklist (five sections with 89 total questions). Twelve street segments per home address were assessed for (1) Land-Use Type; (2) Public Transportation Availability; (3) Street Characteristics; (4) Environment Quality and (5) Sidewalks/Walking/Biking features. Checklist items were scored 0-2 points/question. A combinations algorithm was developed to assess street segments' representativeness. Spearman correlations were calculated between built environment quality scores and Walk Score ® , a validated neighborhood walkability measure. Street segment quality scores ranged 10-47 (Mean = 29.4 ± 6.9) and overall neighborhood quality scores, 172-475 (Mean = 352.3 ± 63.6). Walk scores ® ranged 0-91 (Mean = 46.7 ± 26.3). Street segment combinations' correlation coefficients ranged 0.75-1.0. Significant positive correlations were found between overall neighborhood quality scores, four of the five Checklist subsection scores, and Walk Scores ® ( r = 0.62, p < 0.001). This scoring method adequately captures neighborhood features in low-income, residential areas and may aid in delineating impact of specific built environment features on health behaviors and outcomes.

Mismatch between perceived and objectively measured environmental obesogenic features in European neighbourhoods.

PubMed

Roda, C; Charreire, H; Feuillet, T; Mackenbach, J D; Compernolle, S; Glonti, K; Ben Rebah, M; Bárdos, H; Rutter, H; McKee, M; De Bourdeaudhuij, I; Brug, J; Lakerveld, J; Oppert, J-M

2016-01-01

Findings from research on the association between the built environment and obesity remain equivocal but may be partly explained by differences in approaches used to characterize the built environment. Findings obtained using subjective measures may differ substantially from those measured objectively. We investigated the agreement between perceived and objectively measured obesogenic environmental features to assess (1) the extent of agreement between individual perceptions and observable characteristics of the environment and (2) the agreement between aggregated perceptions and observable characteristics, and whether this varied by type of characteristic, region or neighbourhood. Cross-sectional data from the SPOTLIGHT project (n = 6037 participants from 60 neighbourhoods in five European urban regions) were used. Residents' perceptions were self-reported, and objectively measured environmental features were obtained by a virtual audit using Google Street View. Percent agreement and Kappa statistics were calculated. The mismatch was quantified at neighbourhood level by a distance metric derived from a factor map. The extent to which the mismatch metric varied by region and neighbourhood was examined using linear regression models. Overall, agreement was moderate (agreement < 82%, kappa < 0.3) and varied by obesogenic environmental feature, region and neighbourhood. Highest agreement was found for food outlets and outdoor recreational facilities, and lowest agreement was obtained for aesthetics. In general, a better match was observed in high-residential density neighbourhoods characterized by a high density of food outlets and recreational facilities. Future studies should combine perceived and objectively measured built environment qualities to better understand the potential impact of the built environment on health, particularly in low residential density neighbourhoods. © 2016 World Obesity.

Making microbiology of the built environment relevant to design.

PubMed

Brown, G Z; Kline, Jeff; Mhuireach, Gwynne; Northcutt, Dale; Stenson, Jason

2016-02-16

Architects are enthusiastic about "bioinformed design" as occupant well-being is a primary measure of architectural success. However, architects are also under mounting pressure to create more sustainable buildings. Scientists have a critical opportunity to make the emerging field of microbiology of the built environment more relevant and applicable to real-world design problems by addressing health and sustainability in tandem. Practice-based research, which complements evidence-based design, represents a promising approach to advancing knowledge of the indoor microbiome and translating it to architectural practice.

The Role of Children's Negative Attributions on Depressive Symptoms: An Inherited Characteristic or a Product of the Early Environment?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lau, Jennifer Y. F.; Belli, Stefano D.; Gregory, Alice M.; Napolitano, Maria; Eley, Thalia C.

2012-01-01

Negative attributional style has been associated with depressive symptoms in children. Yet, it is unclear whether these cognitive biases reflect inherited characteristics of the broader depressive phenotype or are a product of children's environments. While existing data in adolescents show that negative attributions reflect a genetic…

Student-Built Housing as an Alternative to Dormitories

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Corbett, Judith A.

1973-01-01

Fourteen polyurethane foam domes were built on a college campus by students desiring to live in nonconventionalhousing and to build their own living environment. This paper gives a brief history and description of the project and an evaluation of the building process. (JP)

Estimating Economic Value of Stream Restoration for Urban Watershed Using Choice Experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oh, J.; Lee, K. S.; Yoo, J.; Kong, K.; Seoul National University; Chungbuk National University

2010-12-01

Since the Yangjaecheon and the Cheonggyecheon project by Seoul city is recognized as starting point of stream restoration project in Korea, many streams having a straight corridor and covered by concrete in an urban watershed have been projected to restore its natural appearance. In some of local autonomous entities the objective of the stream restoration project only deals with improvements in a function of environment which is recreation and amenity for a citizen. Therefore, this study uses the choice experiments based on a citizen’s preference to estimate economic benefits from stream restoration in an urban watershed. The study area is the downstream section (4.5 km from outlet) of the Mokgamcheon, which had been implementing the restoration project. To apply the choice experiments, 5 attributes are chosen as status-quo of the study area. In an attribute of flood control, Potential Flood Damage (PFD) is estimated. A result of comparison between a maintenance flow and a flow duration curve using PCSWMM model is used to achieve an attribute of water utilization. In an attribute of environment, Assessment of Stream Naturalness considering Physical, Biological, Chemical factors (ASNPBC) is applied to get physical stream appearance, and biological, chemical water quality and Use Index of Stream space for Citizen (UISC) is used to survey how facilities for rest, exercise, amenity and view are distributed in the stream space. The results of an assessment for all attributes are estimated to be the 3rd grade. All the attributes introduced above have 4 level grading systems. The attribute described willingness to pay has 3 levels estimated through a survey from a specialist group. An orthogonal plan is used to avoid collinearity between levels of attributes, and a preliminary survey, which is questioned to students and citizens living in the study area is built to modify survey errors and obtain reasonable results. The population of the main survey is citizens living within 800 m radius of the Mokgamcheon, and the sample size of it is 165 of citizens chosen by simple random samples. Through a main survey, 173 of valid responses were obtained among 223 of all responses. Two of multinomial logit model were constructed to explain preference of respondent, model I: except socio-economic characteristic of respondent, model II: considering socio-economic characteristic of respondent. As a result of model estimation, it was proven that model II is more efficient than model I to explain utility coefficients. If the condition of the Mokgamcheon will be the 1st and the 2nd grade over all attributes, the benefit for citizens living in the study area was estimated to be 12.5 billion won and 9.3 billion won per a year. ASNPBC suggested by this study will be applied to establish a concrete and a feasible objective in the stream restoration, and the economic value of each attributes about stream will be a base datum to apply cost-benefit analysis. The tool of the decision making for a public works can be used to lead citizens to be interested of the project of the stream restoration or the close to nature stream because the choice experiments is based on their preferences.

Population and Environment

EPA Science Inventory

The concept of 'protection' is possible only before something is lost, however, development of the built environment to meet human needs also compromises the environmental systems that sustain human life. Because maintaining an environment that is able to sustain human life re...

[Neighbourhood deprivation and community nutrition environment: associations between the social and built environment and food availability].

PubMed

Latawitz, Toni; Spielau, Ulrike; Lipek, Tobias; Gausche, Ruth; Lück, Martina; Kiess, Wieland; Grande, Gesine; Igel, Ulrike

2018-05-16

Eating habits are influenced by individual socioeconomic status (SES). As the association between neighbourhood characteristics and food availability is still unclear, we investigated the community nutrition environment in different neighbourhoods. Using official data of the city of Leipzig, we selected three neighbourhoods which differed in terms of their social (2 deprived vs. 1 affluent) and built (1 large housing estates vs. 2 historic buildings) environment. Data on food outlets were assessed via direct observation (ground truthing). Social and residential environment characteristics are associated with food availability. The proportion of fast food outlets is higher in deprived neighbourhoods compared to the affluent one (25%, 30.4% vs. 13.5%). Neighbourhoods with historic buildings offer a greater variety of food outlets. The greater availability of unhealthy food may contribute to the development of obesity. Preventive measures should consider the physical and social environment. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Single room occupancy (SRO) hotels as mental health risk environments among impoverished women: the intersection of policy, drug use, trauma, and urban space.

PubMed

Knight, Kelly R; Lopez, Andrea M; Comfort, Megan; Shumway, Martha; Cohen, Jennifer; Riley, Elise D

2014-05-01

Due to the significantly high levels of comorbid substance use and mental health diagnosis among urban poor populations, examining the intersection of drug policy and place requires a consideration of the role of housing in drug user mental health. In San Francisco, geographic boundedness and progressive health and housing polices have coalesced to make single room occupancy hotels (SROs) a key urban built environment used to house poor populations with co-occurring drug use and mental health issues. Unstably housed women who use illicit drugs have high rates of lifetime and current trauma, which manifests in disproportionately high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depression when compared to stably housed women. We report data from a qualitative interview study (n=30) and four years of ethnography conducted with housing policy makers and unstably housed women who use drugs and live in SROs. Women in the study lived in a range of SRO built environments, from publicly funded, newly built SROs to privately owned, dilapidated buildings, which presented a rich opportunity for ethnographic comparison. Applying Rhodes et al.'s framework of socio-structural vulnerability, we explore how SROs can operate as "mental health risk environments" in which macro-structural factors (housing policies shaping the built environment) interact with meso-level factors (social relations within SROs) and micro-level, behavioral coping strategies to impact women's mental health. The degree to which SRO built environments were "trauma-sensitive" at the macro level significantly influenced women's mental health at meso- and micro-levels. Women who were living in SROs which exacerbated fear and anxiety attempted, with limited success, to deploy strategies on the meso- and micro-level to manage their mental health symptoms. Study findings underscore the importance of housing polices which consider substance use in the context of current and cumulative trauma experiences in order to improve quality of life and mental health for unstably housed women. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Taxonomic annotation of public fungal ITS sequences from the built environment – a report from an April 10–11, 2017 workshop (Aberdeen, UK)

PubMed Central

Nilsson, R. Henrik; Taylor, Andy F. S.; Adams, Rachel I.; Baschien, Christiane; Johan Bengtsson-Palme; Cangren, Patrik; Coleine, Claudia; Heide-Marie Daniel; Glassman, Sydney I.; Hirooka, Yuuri; Irinyi, Laszlo; Reda Iršėnaitė; Pedro M. Martin-Sanchez; Meyer, Wieland; Seung-Yoon Oh; Jose Paulo Sampaio; Seifert, Keith A.; Sklenář, Frantisek; Dirk Stubbe; Suh, Sung-Oui; Summerbell, Richard; Svantesson, Sten; Martin Unterseher; Cobus M. Visagie; Weiss, Michael; Woudenberg, Joyce HC; Christian Wurzbacher; den Wyngaert, Silke Van; Yilmaz, Neriman; Andrey Yurkov; Kõljalg, Urmas; Abarenkov, Kessy

2018-01-01

Abstract Recent DNA-based studies have shown that the built environment is surprisingly rich in fungi. These indoor fungi – whether transient visitors or more persistent residents – may hold clues to the rising levels of human allergies and other medical and building-related health problems observed globally. The taxonomic identity of these fungi is crucial in such pursuits. Molecular identification of the built mycobiome is no trivial undertaking, however, given the large number of unidentified, misidentified, and technically compromised fungal sequences in public sequence databases. In addition, the sequence metadata required to make informed taxonomic decisions – such as country and host/substrate of collection – are often lacking even from reference and ex-type sequences. Here we report on a taxonomic annotation workshop (April 10–11, 2017) organized at the James Hutton Institute/University of Aberdeen (UK) to facilitate reproducible studies of the built mycobiome. The 32 participants went through public fungal ITS barcode sequences related to the built mycobiome for taxonomic and nomenclatural correctness, technical quality, and metadata availability. A total of 19,508 changes – including 4,783 name changes, 14,121 metadata annotations, and the removal of 99 technically compromised sequences – were implemented in the UNITE database for molecular identification of fungi (https://unite.ut.ee/) and shared with a range of other databases and downstream resources. Among the genera that saw the largest number of changes were Penicillium, Talaromyces, Cladosporium, Acremonium, and Alternaria, all of them of significant importance in both culture-based and culture-independent surveys of the built environment. PMID:29559822

Built environment and Property Crime in Seattle, 1998-2000: A Bayesian Analysis.

PubMed

Matthews, Stephen A; Yang, Tse-Chuan; Hayslett-McCall, Karen L; Ruback, R Barry

2010-06-01

The past decade has seen a rapid growth in the use of a spatial perspective in studies of crime. In part this growth has been driven by the availability of georeferenced data, and the tools to analyze and visualize them: geographic information systems (GIS), spatial analysis, and spatial statistics. In this paper we use exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) tools and Bayesian models to help better understand the spatial patterning and predictors of property crime in Seattle, Washington for 1998-2000, including a focus on built environment variables. We present results for aggregate property crime data as well as models for specific property crime types: residential burglary, nonresidential burglary, theft, auto theft, and arson. ESDA confirms the presence of spatial clustering of property crime and we seek to explain these patterns using spatial Poisson models implemented in WinBUGS. Our results indicate that built environment variables were significant predictors of property crime, especially the presence of a highway on auto theft and burglary.

Working with Policy and Regulatory Factors to Implement Universal Design in the Built Environment: The Australian Experience

PubMed Central

Larkin, Helen; Hitch, Danielle; Watchorn, Valerie; Ang, Susan

2015-01-01

Built environments that are usable by all provide opportunities for engagement in meaningful occupations. However, enabling them in day to day design processes and practice is problematic for relevant professions. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to gain greater understanding of the policy and regulatory influences that promote or hinder the uptake of universal design in built environments, to inform better future design. Focus groups or telephone interviews were undertaken with 28 key building industry and disability stakeholders in Australia. Four themes were identified: the difficulties of definition; the push or pull of regulations and policy; the role of formal standards; and, shifting the focus of design thinking. The findings highlight the complexity of working within policy and regulatory contexts when implementing universal design. Occupational therapists working with colleagues from other professions must be aware of these influences, and develop the skills to work with them for successful practice. PMID:26184278

The relationship between the quality of the built environment and the quality of life of people with dementia in residential care.

PubMed

Fleming, Richard; Goodenough, Belinda; Low, Lee-Fay; Chenoweth, Lynn; Brodaty, Henry

2016-07-01

While there is considerable evidence on the impact of specific design features on problems associated with dementia, the link between the quality of the built environment and quality of life of people with dementia is largely unexplored. This study explored the environmental and personal characteristics that are associated with quality of life in people with dementia living in residential aged care. Data were obtained from 275 residents of 35 aged care homes and analysed using linear regression. The quality of the built environment was significantly associated with the quality of life of the resident measured by global self-report. Environmental ratings were not associated with proxy or detailed self-report ratings. Higher quality of life is associated with buildings that facilitate engagement with a variety of activities both inside and outside, are familiar, provide a variety of private and community spaces and the amenities and opportunities to take part in domestic activities. © The Author(s) 2014.

Built environment and Property Crime in Seattle, 1998–2000: A Bayesian Analysis

PubMed Central

Matthews, Stephen A.; Yang, Tse-chuan; Hayslett-McCall, Karen L.; Ruback, R. Barry

2014-01-01

The past decade has seen a rapid growth in the use of a spatial perspective in studies of crime. In part this growth has been driven by the availability of georeferenced data, and the tools to analyze and visualize them: geographic information systems (GIS), spatial analysis, and spatial statistics. In this paper we use exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) tools and Bayesian models to help better understand the spatial patterning and predictors of property crime in Seattle, Washington for 1998–2000, including a focus on built environment variables. We present results for aggregate property crime data as well as models for specific property crime types: residential burglary, nonresidential burglary, theft, auto theft, and arson. ESDA confirms the presence of spatial clustering of property crime and we seek to explain these patterns using spatial Poisson models implemented in WinBUGS. Our results indicate that built environment variables were significant predictors of property crime, especially the presence of a highway on auto theft and burglary. PMID:24737924

Disentangling neighborhood contextual associations with child body mass index, diet, and physical activity: The role of built, socioeconomic, and social environments

PubMed Central

Carroll-Scott, Amy; Gilstad-Hayden, Kathryn; Rosenthal, Lisa; Peters, Susan M.; McCaslin, Catherine; Joyce, Rebecca; Ickovics, Jeannette R.

2014-01-01

Obesity prevalence among US children and adolescents has tripled in the past three decades. Consequently, dramatic increases in chronic disease incidence are expected, particularly among populations already experiencing health disparities. Recent evidence identifies characteristics of “obesogenic” neighborhood environments that affect weight and weight-related behaviors. This study aimed to examine associations between built, socioeconomic, and social characteristics of a child’s residential environment on body mass index (BMI), diet, and physical activity. We focused on pre-adolescent children living in New Haven, Connecticut to better understand neighborhood environments’ contribution to persistent health disparities. Participants were 1048 fifth and sixth grade students who completed school-based health surveys and physical measures in fall 2009. Student data were linked to US Census, parks, retailer, and crime data. Analyses were conducted using multilevel modeling. Property crimes and living further from a grocery store were associated with higher BMI. Students living within a 5-min walk of a fast food outlet had higher BMI, and those living in a tract with higher density of fast food outlets reported less frequent healthy eating and more frequent unhealthy eating. Students’ reported perceptions of access to parks, playgrounds, and gyms were associated with more frequent healthy eating and exercise. Students living in more affluent neighborhoods reported more frequent healthy eating, less unhealthy eating, and less screen time. Neighborhood social ties were positively associated with frequency of exercise. In conclusion, distinct domains of neighborhood environment characteristics were independently related to children’s BMI and health behaviors. Findings link healthy behaviors with built, social, and socioeconomic environment assets (access to parks, social ties, affluence), and unhealthy behaviors with built environment inhibitors (access to fast food outlets), suggesting neighborhood environments are an important level at which to intervene to prevent childhood obesity and its adverse consequences. PMID:23642646

Interaction between heterogeneous environmental quality domains (air, water, land, socio-demographic and built environment) on preterm birth.

EPA Science Inventory

Environmental exposures are often measured individually, though many occur in tandem. To address aggregate exposures, a county-level Environmental Quality Index (EQI) representing five environmental domains (air, water, land, built and sociodemographic) was constructed. Recent st...

The role of personal values, urban form, and auto availability in the analysis of walking for transportation.

PubMed

Coogan, Matthew A; Karash, Karla H; Adler, Thomas; Sallis, James

2007-01-01

To examine the association of personal values, the built environment, and auto availability with walking for transportation. Participants were drawn from 11 U.S. metropolitan areas with good transit services. 865 adults who had recently made or were contemplating making a residential move. Respondents reported if walking was their primary mode for nine trip purposes. "Personal values" reflected ratings of 15 variables assessing attitudes about urban and environmental attributes, with high reliability (ot = 0.85). Neighborhood form was indicated by a three-item scale. Three binary variables were created to reflect (1) personal values, (2) neighborhood form, and (3) auto availability. The association with walking was reported for each of the three variables, each combination of two variables, and the combination of three variables. An analysis of covariance was applied, and a hierarchic linear regression model was developed. All three variables were associated with walking, and all three variables interacted. The standardized coefficients were 0.23for neighborhood form, 0.21 for autos per person, and 0.18 for personal values. Positive attitudes about urban attributes, living in a supportive neighborhood, and low automobile availability significantly predicted more walking for transportation. A framework for further research is proposed in which a factor representing the role of the automobile is examined explicitly in addition to personal values and urban form.

The unbuilt environment: culture moderates the built environment for physical activity.

PubMed

Perrin, Andrew J; Caren, Neal; Skinner, Asheley C; Odulana, Adebowale; Perrin, Eliana M

2016-12-05

While research has demonstrated a link between the built environment and obesity, much variation remains unexplained. Physical features are necessary, but not sufficient, for physical activity: residents must choose to use these features in health-promoting ways. This article reveals a role for local culture in tempering the effect of the physical environment on physical activity behaviors. We developed Systematic Cultural Observation (SCO) to observe place-based, health-related culture in Lenoir County, NC (population ~60,000). Photographs (N = 6450) were taken systematically from 150 most-used road segments and geocoded. Coders assessed physical activity (PA) opportunities (e.g., public or private activity spaces, pedestrian-friendly features) and presence of people in each photograph. 28.7% of photographs contained some PA feature. Most were private or pedestrian; 3.1% contained public PA space. Only 1.5% of photographs with any PA features (2% of those with public PA space, 0.7% of those with private) depicted people despite appropriate weather and daylight conditions. Even when PA opportunities existed in this rural county, they were rarely used. This may be the result of culture ("unbuilt environment") that disfavors physical activity even in the presence of features that allow it. Policies promoting built environments designed for healthy lifestyles should consider local culture (shared styles, skills, habits, and beliefs) to maximize positive outcomes.

Landscape Character of Pongkor Mining Ecotourism Area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kusumoarto, A.; Gunawan, A.; Machfud; Hikmat, A.

2017-10-01

Pongkor Mining Ecotourism Area has a diverse landscape character as a potential landscape resources for the development of ecotourism destination. This area is part of the Mount of Botol Resort, Halimun Salak National Park (HSNP). This area also has a fairly high biodiversity. This study aims to identify and analysis the category of landscape character in the Pongkor Mining Ecotourism Area for the development of ecotourism destination. This study used a descriptive approach through field surveys and interviews, was carried out through two steps : 1) identify the landscape character, and 2) analysis of the landscape character. The results showed that in areas set aside for ecotourism destination in Pongkor Mining, landscape character category scattered forests, tailing ponds, river, plain, and the built environment. The Category of landscape character most dominant scattered in the area is forest, here is the river, plain, tailing ponds, the built environment, and plain. The landscape character in a natural environment most preferred for ecotourism activities. The landscape character that spread in the natural environment and the built environment is a potential that must be protected and modified such as elimination of incongruous element, accentuation of natural form, alteration of the natural form, intensification and enhanced visual quality intensively to be developed as a ecotourism destination area.

Validation of the Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale (NEWS) items using geographic information systems.

PubMed

Adams, Marc A; Ryan, Sherry; Kerr, Jacqueline; Sallis, James F; Patrick, Kevin; Frank, Lawrence D; Norman, Gregory J

2009-01-01

Concurrent validity of Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale (NEWS) items was evaluated with objective measures of the built environment using geographic information systems (GIS). A sample of 878 parents of children 10 to 16 years old (mean age 43.5 years, SD = 6.8, 34.8% non-White, 63.8% overweight) completed NEWS and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. GIS was used to develop 1-mile street network buffers around participants' residences. GIS measures of the built environment within participants' buffers included percent of commercial and institutional land uses; number of schools and colleges, recreational facilities, parks, transit stops, and trees; land topography; and traffic congestion. Except for trees and traffic, concordance between the NEWS and GIS measures were significant, with weak to moderate effect sizes (r = -0.09 to -0.36, all P < or = 01). After participants were stratified by physical activity level, stronger concordance was observed among active participants for some measures. A sensitivity analysis of self-reported distance to 15 neighborhood destinations found a 20-minute (compared with 10- or 30-minute) walking threshold generally had the strongest correlations with GIS measures. These findings provide evidence of the concurrent validity of self-reported built environment items with objective measures. Physically active adults may be more knowledgeable about their neighborhood characteristics.

The Built Environment and Active Travel: Evidence from Nanjing, China.

PubMed

Feng, Jianxi

2016-03-08

An established relationship exists between the built environment and active travel. Nevertheless, the literature examining the impacts of different components of the built environment is limited. In addition, most existing studies are based on data from cities in the U.S. and Western Europe. The situation in Chinese cities remains largely unknown. Based on data from Nanjing, China, this study explicitly examines the influences of two components of the built environment--the neighborhood form and street form--on residents' active travel. Binary logistic regression analyses examined the effects of the neighborhood form and street form on subsistence, maintenance and discretionary travel, respectively. For each travel purpose, three models are explored: a model with only socio-demographics, a model with variables of the neighborhood form and a complete model with all variables. The model fit indicator, Nagelkerke's ρ², increased by 0.024 when neighborhood form variables are included and increased by 0.070 when street form variables are taken into account. A similar situation can be found in the models of maintenance activities and discretionary activities. Regarding specific variables, very limited significant impacts of the neighborhood form variables are observed, while almost all of the characteristics of the street form show significant influences on active transport. In Nanjing, street form factors have a more profound influence on active travel than neighborhood form factors. The focal point of the land use regulations and policy of local governments should shift from the neighborhood form to the street form to maximize the effects of policy interventions.

Attributes of a research environment that contribute to excellent research and development

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

G. B. Jordan; L. D. Streit; J. S. Binkley

1999-04-01

This paper presents initial work at two U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories to identify attributes of DOE Laboratory research environments that are most important for fostering excellent research.

Influence of social and built environment features on children walking to school: an observational study.

PubMed

Rothman, Linda; To, Teresa; Buliung, Ron; Macarthur, Colin; Howard, Andrew

2014-03-01

To estimate the proportion of children living within walking distance who walk to school in Toronto, Canada and identify built and social environmental correlates of walking. Observational counts of school travel mode were done in 2011, at 118 elementary schools. Built environment data were obtained from municipal sources and school field audits and mapped onto school attendance boundaries. The influence of social and built environmental features on walking counts was analyzed using negative binomial regression. The mean proportion observed walking was 67% (standard deviation=14.0). Child population (incidence rate ratio (IRR) 1.36), pedestrian crossover (IRR 1.32), traffic light (IRR 1.19), and intersection densities (IRR 1.03), school crossing guard (IRR 1.14) and primary language other than English (IRR 1.20) were positively correlated with walking. Crossing guard presence reduced the influence of other features on walking. This is the first large observational study examining school travel mode and the environment. Walking proportions were higher than those previously reported in Toronto, with large variability. Associations between population density and several roadway design features and walking were confirmed. School crossing guards may override the influence of roadway features on walking. Results have important implications for policies regarding walking promotion. Crown Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Relationship between Perceived Health and Physical Activity Indoors, Outdoors in Built Environments, and Outdoors in Nature

PubMed Central

Pasanen, Tytti P; Tyrväinen, Liisa; Korpela, Kalevi M

2014-01-01

Background: A body of evidence shows that both physical activity and exposure to nature are connected to improved general and mental health. Experimental studies have consistently found short term positive effects of physical activity in nature compared with built environments. This study explores whether these benefits are also evident in everyday life, perceived over repeated contact with nature. The topic is important from the perspectives of city planning, individual well-being, and public health. Methods: National survey data (n = 2,070) from Finland was analysed using structural regression analyses. Perceived general health, emotional well-being, and sleep quality were regressed on the weekly frequency of physical activity indoors, outdoors in built environments, and in nature. Socioeconomic factors and other plausible confounders were controlled for. Results: Emotional well-being showed the most consistent positive connection to physical activity in nature, whereas general health was positively associated with physical activity in both built and natural outdoor settings. Better sleep quality was weakly connected to frequent physical activity in nature, but the connection was outweighed by other factors. Conclusion: The results indicate that nature provides an added value to the known benefits of physical activity. Repeated exercise in nature is, in particular, connected to better emotional well-being. PMID:25044598

Review of Non-Chemical Stressors from the Social Environment

EPA Science Inventory

Non-chemical stressors (e.g., noise, diet, temperature, overcrowding) are found in the built, natural and social environments. Correlations between exposure to non-chemical stressors in the social environment (e.g., SES, exposure to violence, acculturation) and negative health ou...

Learning probabilistic models of hydrogen bond stability from molecular dynamics simulation trajectories.

PubMed

Chikalov, Igor; Yao, Peggy; Moshkov, Mikhail; Latombe, Jean-Claude

2011-02-15

Hydrogen bonds (H-bonds) play a key role in both the formation and stabilization of protein structures. They form and break while a protein deforms, for instance during the transition from a non-functional to a functional state. The intrinsic strength of an individual H-bond has been studied from an energetic viewpoint, but energy alone may not be a very good predictor. This paper describes inductive learning methods to train protein-independent probabilistic models of H-bond stability from molecular dynamics (MD) simulation trajectories of various proteins. The training data contains 32 input attributes (predictors) that describe an H-bond and its local environment in a conformation c and the output attribute is the probability that the H-bond will be present in an arbitrary conformation of this protein achievable from c within a time duration Δ. We model dependence of the output variable on the predictors by a regression tree. Several models are built using 6 MD simulation trajectories containing over 4000 distinct H-bonds (millions of occurrences). Experimental results demonstrate that such models can predict H-bond stability quite well. They perform roughly 20% better than models based on H-bond energy alone. In addition, they can accurately identify a large fraction of the least stable H-bonds in a conformation. In most tests, about 80% of the 10% H-bonds predicted as the least stable are actually among the 10% truly least stable. The important attributes identified during the tree construction are consistent with previous findings. We use inductive learning methods to build protein-independent probabilistic models to study H-bond stability, and demonstrate that the models perform better than H-bond energy alone.

Assessing the physical service setting: a look at emergency departments.

PubMed

Steinke, Claudia

2015-01-01

To determine the attributes of the physical setting that are important for developing a positive service climate within emergency departments and to validate a measure for assessing physical service design. The design of the physical setting is an important and contributing factor for creating a service climate in organizations. Service climate is defined as employee perceptions of the practices, procedures, and behaviors that get rewarded, supported, and expected with regard to customer service and customer service quality. There has been research conducted which identifies antecedents within organization that promotes a positive service climate which in turn creates service-oriented behaviors by employees toward clients. The antecedent of the physical setting and its impact on perceptions of service climate has been less commonly explored. Using the concept of the physical service setting (which may be defined as aspects of the physical, built environment that facilitate the delivery of quality service), attributes of the physical setting and their relationship with service climate were explored by means of a quantitative paper survey distributed to emergency nurses (n = 180) throughout a province in Canada. The results highlight the validity and reliability of six scales measuring the physical setting and its relation to service. Respondents gave low ratings to the physical setting of their departments, in addition to low ratings of service climate. Respondents feel that the design of the physical setting in the emergency departments where they work is not conducive to providing quality service to clients. Certain attributes of the physical setting were found to be significant in influencing perceptions of service climate, hence service quality, within the emergency department setting. © The Author(s) 2015.

Clinic Design as Placebo—Using Design to Promote Healing and Support Treatments

PubMed Central

Schuster, Kai

2017-01-01

Analogously to the medical placebo effect, people seem to anticipate the quality of treatments based on external stimuli. In order to gain insights on the effect the built environment can have on a person’s judgments and behavior with a particular focus on health related issues, a quantitative survey (N = 851) with four groups before and after the renovation of a rehabilitation clinic has been conducted. In line with an overall modernization of the clinic, the entrance, the lobby, and some patient rooms have been changed. In the lobby, a service counter and coffee bar have been added as well as light colors and new flooring material to achieve a more modern and clean atmosphere in the sense of aesthetical appearance of the space. The outcome revealed that patients rate the intention to change their health behavior as well as the quality of food or significantly higher in a modernized clinic. These differences cannot be directly attributed solely to the changes in the building. Analogously to the medical placebo, an effect referred to as design placebo effect is, therefore, proposed to explain improved ratings of aspects that have not directly been changed due to the intervention. Other significant effects are attributable to winter and summer climate. During summer time, ratings for waiting area, atmosphere, patient rooms, as well as for staff were significantly higher. It is, therefore, assumed that aesthetic attributes, such as architectural design, or friendliness of the weather, exert their effects as perceptual placebos that directly influence judgment outcomes and behavioral intentions. Further research is needed to match certain design and general environmental features to their effects on patients and investigate their effect strength. PMID:29120378

Clinic Design as Placebo-Using Design to Promote Healing and Support Treatments.

PubMed

Rehn, Jonas; Schuster, Kai

2017-11-09

Analogously to the medical placebo effect, people seem to anticipate the quality of treatments based on external stimuli. In order to gain insights on the effect the built environment can have on a person's judgments and behavior with a particular focus on health related issues, a quantitative survey ( N = 851) with four groups before and after the renovation of a rehabilitation clinic has been conducted. In line with an overall modernization of the clinic, the entrance, the lobby, and some patient rooms have been changed. In the lobby, a service counter and coffee bar have been added as well as light colors and new flooring material to achieve a more modern and clean atmosphere in the sense of aesthetical appearance of the space. The outcome revealed that patients rate the intention to change their health behavior as well as the quality of food or significantly higher in a modernized clinic. These differences cannot be directly attributed solely to the changes in the building. Analogously to the medical placebo, an effect referred to as design placebo effect is, therefore, proposed to explain improved ratings of aspects that have not directly been changed due to the intervention. Other significant effects are attributable to winter and summer climate. During summer time, ratings for waiting area, atmosphere, patient rooms, as well as for staff were significantly higher. It is, therefore, assumed that aesthetic attributes, such as architectural design, or friendliness of the weather, exert their effects as perceptual placebos that directly influence judgment outcomes and behavioral intentions. Further research is needed to match certain design and general environmental features to their effects on patients and investigate their effect strength.

26 CFR 1.1374-0 - Table of contents.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... section lists the major paragraph headings for §§ 1.1374-1 through 1.1374-10. § 1.1374-1 General rules and definitions. (a) Computation of tax. (b) Anti-trafficking rules. (c) Section 1374 attributes. (d) Recognition period. (e) Predecessor corporation. § 1.1374-2 Net recognized built-in gain. (a) In general. (b...

Geospatial analysis of spaceborne remote sensing data for assessing disaster impacts and modeling surface runoff in the built-environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wodajo, Bikila Teklu

Every year, coastal disasters such as hurricanes and floods claim hundreds of lives and severely damage homes, businesses, and lifeline infrastructure. This research was motivated by the 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster, which devastated the Mississippi and Louisiana Gulf Coast. The primary objective was to develop a geospatial decision-support system for extracting built-up surfaces and estimating disaster impacts using spaceborne remote sensing satellite imagery. Pre-Katrina 1-m Ikonos imagery of a 5km x 10km area of Gulfport, Mississippi, was used as source data to develop the built-up area and natural surfaces or BANS classification methodology. Autocorrelation of 0.6 or higher values related to spectral reflectance values of groundtruth pixels were used to select spectral bands and establish the BANS decision criteria of unique ranges of reflectance values. Surface classification results using GeoMedia Pro geospatial analysis for Gulfport sample areas, based on BANS criteria and manually drawn polygons, were within +/-7% of the groundtruth. The difference between the BANS results and the groundtruth was statistically not significant. BANS is a significant improvement over other supervised classification methods, which showed only 50% correctly classified pixels. The storm debris and erosion estimation or SDE methodology was developed from analysis of pre- and post-Katrina surface classification results of Gulfport samples. The SDE severity level criteria considered hurricane and flood damages and vulnerability of inhabited built-environment. A linear regression model, with +0.93 Pearson R-value, was developed for predicting SDE as a function of pre-disaster percent built-up area. SDE predictions for Gulfport sample areas, used for validation, were within +/-4% of calculated values. The damage cost model considered maintenance, rehabilitation and reconstruction costs related to infrastructure damage and community impacts of Hurricane Katrina. The developed models were implemented for a study area along I-10 considering the predominantly flood-induced damages in New Orleans. The BANS methodology was calibrated for 0.6-m QuickBird2 multispectral imagery of Karachi Port area in Pakistan. The results were accurate within +/-6% of the groundtruth. Due to its computational simplicity, the unit hydrograph method is recommended for geospatial visualization of surface runoff in the built-environment using BANS surface classification maps and elevations data. Key words. geospatial analysis, satellite imagery, built-environment, hurricane, disaster impacts, runoff.

Situating the Embodied Mind in a Landscape of Standing Affordances for Living Without Chairs: Materializing a Philosophical Worldview.

PubMed

Rietveld, Erik

2016-07-01

Sitting too much is unhealthy, but a widespread habit in many societies. Realizing behavioral change in this area is hard. Our societies promote being seated via the way its places are structured: they are filled with chairs for example. How can we make healthier environments that invite people to move around more? This article shows how philosophical research in the area of embodied/enactive cognitive science let to a built vision for the office of the future, of 2025. Multidisciplinary studio RAAAF [Rietveld Architecture-Art-Affordances] and visual artist Barbara Visser built this world without chairs, titled The End of Sitting. This large rock-like landscape integrates many affordances for standing. Affordances are the possibilities for action provided by the environment. This landscape of standing affordances allows people to work standing while being supported by the material structure of the environment. This unorthodox working landscape is both an enactive art installation and the materialization of a philosophical worldview that understands people as embodied minds situated in a landscape of affordances. It stimulates reflection on the way built environments can naturally invite more active and healthy behavior.

Sports Facilities, Shopping Centers or Homes: What Locations are Important for Adults' Physical Activity? A Cross-Sectional Study.

PubMed

Jansen, Marijke; Ettema, Dick; Pierik, Frank; Dijst, Martin

2016-03-04

Physical activity (PA) is influenced by the built environment. However, little is known about the types of built environment where adults spend their time, and at what levels of PA they engage in those environments. Understanding the effect of the built environment on PA requires insight into PA behavior at different types of locations (e.g., home, work, shopping centers, and sports facilities). Therefore, this study describes where adults aged 45-65 years were active with moderate-to-vigorous intensity (MVPA), and examines associations of socio-demographic factors and neighborhood with MVPA at these locations. Participants' (N = 308) PA was measured for seven days using accelerometers and GPS-devices. Adults spent most minutes of MVPA at home and work. Highest MVPA-ratios of total time spent at a location were achieved in sports facilities and during transport. Neighborhood characteristics and socio-demographic factors such as work status, health status and household structure, had significant effects on MVPA at various locations and on total MVPA. Understanding PA behavior at various locations may provide insights that allow professionals in different domains (e.g., health, landscaping, urban planning) to develop strategies to stimulate PA.

Conceptual framework describing a child's total (built, natural ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The complexity of the components and their interactions that characterize children’s health and well-being are not adequately captured by current public health paradigms. Children are exposed to combinations of chemical and non-chemical stressors from their built, natural, and social environments at each lifestage and throughout their lifecourse. Children’s inherent characteristics (e.g., sex, genetics, pre-existing disease) and their activities and behaviors also influence their exposures to chemical and non-chemical stressors from these environments. We describe a conceptual framework that considers the interrelationships between inherent characteristics, activities and behaviors, and stressors (both chemical and non-chemical) from the built, natural, and social environments in influencing children’s health and well-being throughout their lifecourse. This framework is comprised of several intersecting circles that represent how stressors from the total environment interact with children’s inherent characteristics and their activities and behaviors to influence their health and well-being at each lifestage and throughout their lifecourse. We used this framework to examine the complex interrelationships between chemical and non-chemical stressors for two public health challenges specific to children: childhood obesity and general cognitive ability. One systematic scoping review showed that children’s general cognitive ability was influenced not only by

Ten questions concerning future buildings beyond zero energy and carbon neutrality

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wang, Na; Phelan, Patrick E.; Gonzalez, Jorge

2017-07-01

Architects, planners, and building scientists have been at the forefront of envisioning a future built environment for centuries. However, fragmental views that emphasize one facet of the built environment, such as energy, environment, or groundbreaking technologies, often do not achieve expected outcomes. Buildings are responsible for approximately one-third of worldwide carbon emissions and account for over 40% of primary energy consumption in the U.S. In addition to achieving the ambitious goal of reducing building greenhouse gas emissions by 75% by 2050, buildings must improve their functionality and performance to meet current and future human, societal, and environmental needs in amore » changing world. In this article, we introduce a new framework to guide potential evolution of the building stock in the next century, based on greenhouse gas emissions as the common thread to investigate the potential implications of new design paradigms, innovative operational strategies, and disruptive technologies. This framework emphasizes integration of multidisciplinary knowledge, scalability for mainstream buildings, and proactive approaches considering constraints and unknowns. The framework integrates the interrelated aspects of the built environment through a series of quantitative metrics that aim to improve environmental outcomes while optimizing building performance to achieve healthy, adaptive, and productive buildings.« less

Sports Facilities, Shopping Centers or Homes: What Locations are Important for Adults’ Physical Activity? A Cross-Sectional Study

PubMed Central

Jansen, Marijke; Ettema, Dick; Pierik, Frank; Dijst, Martin

2016-01-01

Physical activity (PA) is influenced by the built environment. However, little is known about the types of built environment where adults spend their time, and at what levels of PA they engage in those environments. Understanding the effect of the built environment on PA requires insight into PA behavior at different types of locations (e.g., home, work, shopping centers, and sports facilities). Therefore, this study describes where adults aged 45–65 years were active with moderate-to-vigorous intensity (MVPA), and examines associations of socio-demographic factors and neighborhood with MVPA at these locations. Participants’ (N = 308) PA was measured for seven days using accelerometers and GPS-devices. Adults spent most minutes of MVPA at home and work. Highest MVPA-ratios of total time spent at a location were achieved in sports facilities and during transport. Neighborhood characteristics and socio-demographic factors such as work status, health status and household structure, had significant effects on MVPA at various locations and on total MVPA. Understanding PA behavior at various locations may provide insights that allow professionals in different domains (e.g., health, landscaping, urban planning) to develop strategies to stimulate PA. PMID:26959041

A VGI data integration framework based on linked data model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wan, Lin; Ren, Rongrong

2015-12-01

This paper aims at the geographic data integration and sharing method for multiple online VGI data sets. We propose a semantic-enabled framework for online VGI sources cooperative application environment to solve a target class of geospatial problems. Based on linked data technologies - which is one of core components of semantic web, we can construct the relationship link among geographic features distributed in diverse VGI platform by using linked data modeling methods, then deploy these semantic-enabled entities on the web, and eventually form an interconnected geographic data network to support geospatial information cooperative application across multiple VGI data sources. The mapping and transformation from VGI sources to RDF linked data model is presented to guarantee the unique data represent model among different online social geographic data sources. We propose a mixed strategy which combined spatial distance similarity and feature name attribute similarity as the measure standard to compare and match different geographic features in various VGI data sets. And our work focuses on how to apply Markov logic networks to achieve interlinks of the same linked data in different VGI-based linked data sets. In our method, the automatic generating method of co-reference object identification model according to geographic linked data is discussed in more detail. It finally built a huge geographic linked data network across loosely-coupled VGI web sites. The results of the experiment built on our framework and the evaluation of our method shows the framework is reasonable and practicable.

Physical Activity and Food Environments: Solutions to the Obesity Epidemic

PubMed Central

Sallis, James F; Glanz, Karen

2009-01-01

Context: Environmental, policy, and societal changes are important contributors to the rapid rise in obesity over the past few decades, and there has been substantial progress toward identifying environmental and policy factors related to eating and physical activity that can point toward solutions. This article is a status report on research on physical activity and food environments, and it suggests how these findings can be used to improve diet and physical activity and to control or reduce obesity. Methods: This article summarizes and synthesizes recent reviews and provides examples of representative studies. It also describes ongoing innovative interventions and policy change efforts that were identified through conference presentations, media coverage, and websites. Findings: Numerous cross-sectional studies have consistently demonstrated that some attributes of built and food environments are associated with physical activity, healthful eating, and obesity. Residents of walkable neighborhoods who have good access to recreation facilities are more likely to be physically active and less likely to be overweight or obese. Residents of communities with ready access to healthy foods also tend to have more healthful diets. Disparities in environments and policies that disadvantage low-income communities and racial minorities have been documented as well. Evidence from multilevel studies, prospective research, and quasi-experimental evaluations of environmental changes are just beginning to emerge. Conclusions: Environment, policy, and multilevel strategies for improving diet, physical activity, and obesity control are recommended based on a rapidly growing body of research and the collective wisdom of leading expert organizations. A public health imperative to identify and implement solutions to the obesity epidemic warrants the use of the most promising strategies while continuing to build the evidence base. PMID:19298418

Multiple-hypothesis multiple-model line tracking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pace, Donald W.; Owen, Mark W.; Cox, Henry

2000-07-01

Passive sonar signal processing generally includes tracking of narrowband and/or broadband signature components observed on a Lofargram or on a Bearing-Time-Record (BTR) display. Fielded line tracking approaches to date have been recursive and single-hypthesis-oriented Kalman- or alpha-beta filters, with no mechanism for considering tracking alternatives beyond the most recent scan of measurements. While adaptivity is often built into the filter to handle changing track dynamics, these approaches are still extensions of single target tracking solutions to multiple target tracking environment. This paper describes an application of multiple-hypothesis, multiple target tracking technology to the sonar line tracking problem. A Multiple Hypothesis Line Tracker (MHLT) is developed which retains the recursive minimum-mean-square-error tracking behavior of a Kalman Filter in a maximum-a-posteriori delayed-decision multiple hypothesis context. Multiple line track filter states are developed and maintained using the interacting multiple model (IMM) state representation. Further, the data association and assignment problem is enhanced by considering line attribute information (line bandwidth and SNR) in addition to beam/bearing and frequency fit. MHLT results on real sonar data are presented to demonstrate the benefits of the multiple hypothesis approach. The utility of the system in cluttered environments and particularly in crossing line situations is shown.

Bacterial diversity among four healthcare-associated institutes in Taiwan.

PubMed

Chen, Chang-Hua; Lin, Yaw-Ling; Chen, Kuan-Hsueh; Chen, Wen-Pei; Chen, Zhao-Feng; Kuo, Han-Yueh; Hung, Hsueh-Fen; Tang, Chuan Yi; Liou, Ming-Li

2017-08-15

Indoor microbial communities have important implications for human health, especially in health-care institutes (HCIs). The factors that determine the diversity and composition of microbiomes in a built environment remain unclear. Herein, we used 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing to investigate the relationships between building attributes and surface bacterial communities among four HCIs located in three buildings. We examined the surface bacterial communities and environmental parameters in the buildings supplied with different ventilation types and compared the results using a Dirichlet multinomial mixture (DMM)-based approach. A total of 203 samples from the four HCIs were analyzed. Four bacterial communities were grouped using the DMM-based approach, which were highly similar to those in the 4 HCIs. The α-diversity and β-diversity in the naturally ventilated building were different from the conditioner-ventilated building. The bacterial source composition varied across each building. Nine genera were found as the core microbiota shared by all the areas, of which Acinetobacter, Enterobacter, Pseudomonas, and Staphylococcus are regarded as healthcare-associated pathogens (HAPs). The observed relationship between environmental parameters such as core microbiota and surface bacterial diversity suggests that we might manage indoor environments by creating new sanitation protocols, adjusting the ventilation design, and further understanding the transmission routes of HAPs.

Environmental attributable fractions in remote Australia: the potential of a new approach for local public health action.

PubMed

McMullen, Cheryl; Eastwood, Ashley; Ward, Jeanette

2016-04-01

To determine local values for environmental attributable fractions and explore their applicability and potential for public health advocacy. Using World Health Organization (WHO) values for environmental attributable fractions, responses from a practitioner survey (73% response rate) were considered by a smaller skills-based panel to determine consensus values for Kimberley environmental attributable fractions (KEAFs). Applied to de-identified data from 17 remote primary healthcare facilities over two years, numbers and proportions of reasons for attendance directly attributable to the environment were calculated for all ages and children aged 0-4 years, including those for Aboriginal patients. Of 150,357 reasons for attendance for patients of all ages, 31,775 (21.1%) were directly attributable to the environment. The proportion of these directly due to the environment was significantly higher for Aboriginal patients than others (23.1% v 14.6%; p<0.001). Of 29,706 reasons for attendance by Aboriginal children aged 0-4 years, 7,599 (25.6%) were directly attributable to the environment, significantly higher than for non-Aboriginal children aged 0-4 years (25.6% v 18.6%; p<0.001). By addressing environmental factors, 20% of total primary healthcare demand could be prevented and, importantly, some 25% of presentations by Aboriginal children. KEAFs have potential to monitor impact of local environmental investments. © 2015 Public Health Association of Australia.

A Study of Developing an Attitude Scale towards Authentic Learning Environments and Evaluation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Çetinkaya, Murat

2018-01-01

The aim of the research is to improve a valid and reliable attributing scale which identifies authentic learning environments and evaluation attributes of the science teacher candidates. The study has been designed on the base of validity and reliability of the scale developed to evaluate the authentic learning environments. The research group is…

Conceptual framework describing a child's total (built, natural, social) environment in order to optimize health and well-being

EPA Science Inventory

The complexity of the components and their interactions that characterize children’s health and well-being are not adequately captured by current public health paradigms. Children are exposed to combinations of chemical and non-chemical stressors from their built, natural, ...

From the Ground Up: Art in American Built Environment Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guilfoil, Joanne K.

2000-01-01

Provides a case for teaching children about local architecture. Describes a specific example called the Kentucky Project as a humanist approach to built environmental education that enabled middle and high school students to study their architectural heritage through a program of videos and related teaching materials. (CMK)

Association between School Policies and Built Environment, and Youth's Participation in Various Types of Physical Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ward, Stephanie; Bélanger, Mathieu; Donovan, Denise; Caissie, Isabelle; Goguen, Julie; Vanasse, Allain

2015-01-01

Background: School environmental characteristics may be associated with youth's participation in different types of physical activities (PAs). This study aimed to identify which school policies and built environmental characteristics were associated with participation in organized, nonorganized, individual, and group-based activities. Methods:…

[Asylum: the Huge Psychiatric Hospital in the 19th century U.S].

PubMed

Kazano, Haruki

2012-01-01

The large-scale state psychiatric hospitals, referred to as "asylums," were built in the USA in the 19th century and generally have a bad reputation in Japan as institutions with an unpleasant environment for the patients. Asylums were not built for institutionalizing mental patients. The original meaning of the word asylum is a "retreat" or "sanctuary," and these institutions were originally built to act as sanctuaries for the protection of mental patients. The field of psychiatric medicine in western countries in the 19th century began to embrace the concept of "moral treatment" for mental patients, including no restraint of the patients and treating them in a more open environment. With this background, asylums were built according to the efforts of social activist Dorothea Dix with financial assistance from the Quakers. The psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Kirkbride had a large influence on asylum architecture, and believed that the hospital building and environment as well as location have healing effects on the patients, which he called the "therapeutic landscape". Kirkbridelater proposed an architectural plan that became the basis for subsequent mental hospital architecture, and many asylums were built according to this plan. As the architecture was considered part of the treatment, many leading architects and landscape architects at the time became involved in building asylums. In the later half of the 19th century, over 150 asylums were built across the USA. However, moral treatment fell out of favor toward the end of the 19th century, and the concept of therapeutic landscape was also neglected. The hospitals had many uncured patients, and caregivers became pessimistic about the efficacy of the treatments. Abuse and neglect of the patients were also common. The environment at the asylums deteriorated, which created the image of asylums that, we hold today. Many asylums have been demolished or abandoned. These early attempts at asylum failed due to insufficient treatment methods. However, the concept of the therapeutic landscape that comprehensively sees the architecture of the hospital building and landscape of the property as part of the treatment as well as the architectural beauty of asylum buildings may deserve reevaluation.

A STRATEGY TO PROTECT AND SUSTAIN THE ENVIRONMENT

EPA Science Inventory

Environmental sustainability and protection of the environment is not possible after losses have occurred and must be considered during development of the built environment. If that is to occur, criteria must be developed against which proposed land-use decisions can be easily ev...

Weather and the Built Environment

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This course provides broadcast meteorologists, educators, and the public with an overview of the evolution of our modern urban environment with a focus on impacts on the urban watershed, air quality, and climate.

Living with hearing loss

MedlinePlus

... independent Be safer wherever you are Managing the Environment Many things in your surroundings can affect how ... hearing loss . References Andrews J. Optimizing the built environment for frail older adults. In: Fillit HM, Rockwood ...

Leveraging Human-environment Systems in Residential Buildings for Aggregate Energy Efficiency and Sustainability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Xiaoqi

Reducing the energy consumed in the built environment is a key objective in many sustainability initiatives. Existing energy saving methods have consisted of physical interventions to buildings and/or behavioral modifications of occupants. However, such methods may not only suffer from their own disadvantages, e.g. high cost and transient effect, but also lose aggregate energy saving potential due to the oftentimes-associated single-building-focused view and an isolated examination of occupant behaviors. This dissertation attempts to overcome the limitations of traditional energy saving research and practical approaches, and enhance residential building energy efficiency and sustainability by proposing innovative energy strategies from a holistic perspective of the aggregate human-environment systems. This holistic perspective features: (1) viewing buildings as mutual influences in the built environment, (2) leveraging both the individual and contextualized social aspects of occupant behaviors, and (3) incorporating interactions between the built environment and human behaviors. First, I integrate three interlinked components: buildings, residents, and the surrounding neighborhood, and quantify the potential energy savings to be gained from renovating buildings at the inter-building level and leveraging neighborhood-contextualized occupant social networks. Following the confirmation of both the inter-building effect among buildings and occupants' interpersonal influence on energy conservation, I extend the research further by examining the synergy that may exist at the intersection between these "engineered" building networks and "social" peer networks, focusing specifically on the additional energy saving potential that could result from interactions between the two components. Finally, I seek to reach an alignment of the human and building environment subsystems by matching the thermostat preferences of each household with the thermal conditions within their apartment, and develop the Energy Saving Alignment Strategy to be considered in public housing assignment policy. This strategy and the inter-building level energy management strategies developed in my preceding research possess large-scale cost-effectiveness and may engender long-lasting influence compared with existing energy saving approaches. Building from the holistic framework of coupled human-environment systems, the findings of this research will advance knowledge of energy efficiency in the built environment and lead to the development of novel strategies to conserve energy in residential buildings.

Virtual Australia and New Zealand (VANZ): Creating a piece of Digital Earth

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haines, M.

2014-02-01

VANZ is an Initiative of a wide group of research, government, industry, technology and legal stakeholders in Australia and New Zealand. Its purpose is to broker development of the 'Authorised Virtual World' that brings together 3D Spatial and Building Information Modelling within a proposed new Legal Framework. The aim is to create an 'authoritative' and 'enduring' 3D model of both the 'physical attributes', and 'legal entitlements' relating to every property. This 'authorised virtual world' would be used in all 'property-related' activities - to deliver better, quicker and cheaper outcomes. It would also be used as the context for serious games and to model dynamic processes within the built environment, as well as for emergency response and disaster recovery. Productivity savings across Australia have been estimated at 5 billion pa for the design and construct phases alone. The problem for owners, bankers, insurers, architects, engineers and construction companies, and others, is that they require access to 'authoritative' and detailed 3D data for their own purposes, that must also be securely shared with others up and down the 'property' chain, and over time. All parties also need to know what are the rights, responsibilities and restrictions applying to the data, as well as to the land and buildings that it models. VANZ proposes the creation of a network of Data Banks, to hold the 'authoritative data set', 'in perpetuity', along with the associated software and virtual hardware used to model it. Under the proposal, rights of access to the 'authoritative data' will mirror each person's rights in the property that the data models. As more and more buildings are modelled (inside and out), privacy, security and liability become issues of paramount importance. This paper offers a way for the global community to address these issues. It is targeted at all who have an interest in the practical implementation of Digital Earth for the built environment - including new business opportunities worth billions.

The impact of interventions to promote physical activity in urban green space: a systematic review and recommendations for future research.

PubMed

Hunter, Ruth F; Christian, Hayley; Veitch, Jenny; Astell-Burt, Thomas; Hipp, J Aaron; Schipperijn, Jasper

2015-01-01

Evidence is mounting on the association between the built environment and physical activity (PA) with a call for intervention research. A broader approach which recognizes the role of supportive environments that can make healthy choices easier is required. A systematic review was undertaken to assess the effectiveness of interventions to encourage PA in urban green space. Five databases were searched independently by two reviewers using search terms relating to 'physical activity', 'urban green space' and 'intervention' in July 2014. Eligibility criteria included: (i) intervention to encourage PA in urban green space which involved either a physical change to the urban green space or a PA intervention to promote use of urban green space or a combination of both; and (ii) primary outcome of PA. Of the 2405 studies identified, 12 were included. There was some evidence (4/9 studies showed positive effect) to support built environment only interventions for encouraging use and increasing PA in urban green space. There was more promising evidence (3/3 studies showed positive effect) to support PAprograms or PA programs combined with a physical change to the built environment, for increasing urban green space use and PA of users. Recommendations for future research include the need for longer term follow-up post-intervention, adequate control groups, sufficiently powered studies, and consideration of the social environment, which was identified as a significantly under-utilized resource in this area. Interventions that involve the use of PA programs combined with a physical change to the built environment are likely to have a positive effect on PA. Robust evaluations of such interventions are urgently required. The findings provide a platform to inform the design, implementation and evaluation of future urban green space and PAintervention research. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Test-retest reliability of Physical Activity Neighborhood Environment Scale among urban men and women in Nanjing, China.

PubMed

Zhao, L; Wang, Z; Qin, Z; Leslie, E; He, J; Xiong, Y; Xu, F

2018-03-01

The identification of physical-activity-friendly built environment (BE) constructs is highly useful for physical activity promotion and maintenance. The Physical Activity Neighborhood Environment Scale (PANES) was developed for assessing BE correlates. However, PANES reliability has not been investigated among adults in China. A cross-sectional study. With multistage sampling approaches, 1568 urban adults (aged 35-74 years) were recruited for the initial survey on all 17 items of PANES Chinese version (PANES-CHN), with the survey repeated 7 days later for each participant. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to assess the test-retest reliability of PANES-CHN for each item. Totally, 1551 participants completed both surveys (follow-up rate = 98.9%). Among participants (mean age: 54.7 ± 11.1 years), 47.8% were men, 22.1% were elders, and 22.7% had ≥13 years of education. Overall, the PANES-CHN demonstrated at least substantial reliability with ICCs ranging from 0.66 to 0.95 (core items), from 0.75 to 0.95 (recommended items), and from 0.78 to 0.87 (optional items). Similar outcomes were observed when data were analyzed by gender or age groups. The PANES-CHN has excellent test-retest reliability and thus has valuable utility for assessing urban BE attributes among Chinese adults. Copyright © 2017 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Single Room Occupancy (SRO) hotels as mental health risk environments among impoverished women: the intersection of policy, drug use, trauma, and urban space

PubMed Central

Knight, Knight R.; Lopez, Andrea M.; Comfort, Megan; Shumway, Martha; Cohen, Jennifer; Riley, Elise

2014-01-01

Due to the significantly high levels of comorbid substance use and mental health diagnosis among urban poor populations, examining the intersection of drug policy and place requires a consideration of the role of housing in drug user mental health. In San Francisco, geographic boundedness and progressive health and housing polices have coalesced to make single room occupancy hotels (SROs) a key urban built environment used to house poor populations with co-occurring drug use and mental health issues. Unstably housed women who use illicit drugs have high rates of lifetime and current trauma, which manifests in disproportionately high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depression when compared to stably housed women. We report data from a qualitative interview study (n=30) and four years of ethnography conducted with housing policy makers and unstably housed women who use drugs and live in SROs. Women in the study lived in a range of SRO built environments, from publicly-funded, newly built SROs to privately-owned, dilapidated buildings, which presented a rich opportunity for ethnographic comparison. Applying Rhodes et al.’s framework of socio-structural vulnerability, we explore how SROs can operate as “mental health risk environments” in which macro-structural factors (housing policies shaping the built environment) interact with meso-level factors (social relations within SROs) and micro-level, behavioral coping strategies to impact women’s mental health. The degree to which SRO built environments were “trauma-sensitive” at the macro level significantly influenced women’s mental health at meso- and micro- levels. Women who were living in SROs which exacerbated fear and anxiety attempted, with limited success, to deploy strategies on the meso- and micro- level to manage their mental health symptoms. Study findings underscore the importance of housing polices which consider substance use in the context of current and cumulative trauma experiences in order to improve quality of life and mental health for unstably housed women. PMID:24411945

Quantifying the Relationship Among Hospital Design, Satisfaction, and Psychosocial Functioning in a Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Inpatient Unit

PubMed Central

Sherman-Bien, Sandra A.; Malcarne, Vanessa L.; Roesch, Scott; Varni, James W.; Katz, Ernest R.

2013-01-01

Increasingly, empirical support demonstrates that the built environment may affect the physical and psychosocial well-being of patients, their families, and hospital staff (Beauchemin & Hays, 1996; Rubin, Owens, & Golden, 1998; Sherman, Varni, Ulrich, & Malcarne, 2005; Ulrich, 1991; Varni et al., 2004; Whitehouse et al., 2001). Investigators posit two mechanisms through which the built environment can impact patients: indirectly, by enhancing the quality of care and helping a patient feel more relaxed; and/or directly, by altering the physiological recovery process (Malcolm, 1992). Several literature reviews have been published on the relationship between the hospital built environment and patient outcomes (Joseph, Keller, & Kronick, 2008; Rubin et al., 1998; Sherman, Shepley, & Varni, 2005; Ulrich, Quan, Zimring, Joseph, & Choudhary, 2004). In their 1998 review, Rubin et al. found studies linking environment with a number of health and satisfaction outcomes but little research that had been conducted in a scientifically valid manner. Ulrich et al.'s 2004 review of the role of the physical environment in hospital design identified a number of more rigorously conducted studies, focusing mainly on adult environments and on issues of medical safety and hospital-acquired infection rates. Their conclusions linked environmental features such as noise to an increase in perceived stress and physiological arousal; exposure to natural light to reductions in depression, length of hospital stay, and pain medications and to improved sleep; and hospital gardens to improved physical and psychosocial functioning (Ulrich et al., 2004). PMID:21960191

Application of an evidence-based tool to evaluate health impacts of changes to the built environment.

PubMed

Ulmer, Jared M; Chapman, James E; Kershaw, Suzanne E; Campbell, Monica; Frank, Lawrence D

2014-07-11

To create and apply an empirically based health and greenhouse gas (GHG) impact assessment tool linking detailed measures of walkability and regional accessibility with travel, physical activity, health indicators and GHG emissions. Parcel land use and transportation system characteristics were calculated within a kilometre network buffer around each Toronto postal code. Built environment measures were linked with health and demographic characteristics from the Canadian Community Health Survey and travel behaviour from the Transportation Tomorrow Survey. Results were incorporated into an existing software tool and used to predict health-related indicators and GHG emissions for the Toronto West Don Lands Redevelopment. Walkability, regional accessibility, sidewalks, bike facilities and recreation facility access were positively associated with physical activity and negatively related to body weight, high blood pressure and transportation impacts. When applied to the West Don Lands, the software tool predicted a substantial shift from automobile use to walking, biking and transit. Walking and biking trips more than doubled, and transit trips increased by one third. Per capita automobile trips decreased by half, and vehicle kilometres travelled and GHG emissions decreased by 15% and 29%, respectively. The results presented are novel and among the first to link health outcomes with detailed built environment features in Canada. The resulting tool is the first of its kind in Canada. This tool can help policy-makers, land use and transportation planners, and health practitioners to evaluate built environment influences on health-related indicators and GHG emissions resulting from contrasting land use and transportation policies and actions.

The Wisconsin Assessment of the Social and Built Environment (WASABE): a multi-dimensional objective audit instrument for examining neighborhood effects on health.

PubMed

Malecki, Kristen C; Engelman, Corinne D; Peppard, Paul E; Nieto, F Javier; Grabow, Maggie L; Bernardinello, Milena; Bailey, Erin; Bersch, Andrew J; Walsh, Matthew C; Lo, Justin Y; Martinez-Donate, Ana

2014-11-13

Growing evidence suggests that mixed methods approaches to measuring neighborhood effects on health are needed. The Wisconsin Assessment of the Social and Built Environment (WASABE) is an objective audit tool designed as an addition to a statewide household-based health examination survey, the Survey of the Health of Wisconsin (SHOW), to objectively measure participant's neighborhoods. This paper describes the development and implementation of the WASABE and examines the instrument's ability to capture a range of social and built environment features in urban and rural communities. A systematic literature review and formative research were used to create the tool. Inter-rater reliability parameters across items were calculated. Prevalence and density of features were estimated for strata formed according to several sociodemographic and urbanicity factors. The tool is highly reliable with over 81% of 115 derived items having percent agreement above 95%. It captured variance in neighborhood features in for a diverse sample of SHOW participants. Sidewalk density in neighborhoods surrounding households of participants living at less than 100% of the poverty level was 67% (95% confidence interval, 55-80%) compared to 34% (25-44%) for those living at greater than 400% of the poverty level. Walking and biking trails were present in 29% (19-39%) of participant buffer in urban areas compared to only 7% (2-12%) in rural communities. Significant environmental differences were also observed for white versus non-white, high versus low income, and college graduates versus individuals with lower level of education. The WASABE has strong inter-rater reliability and validity properties. It builds on previous work to provide a rigorous and standardized method for systematically gathering objective built and social environmental data in a number of geographic settings. Findings illustrate the complex milieu of built environment features found in participants neighborhoods and have relevance for future research, policy, and community engagement purposes.

Longitudinal association between change in the neighbourhood built environment and the wellbeing of local residents in deprived areas: an observational study.

PubMed

Foley, Louise; Coombes, Emma; Hayman, Dan; Humphreys, David; Jones, Andrew; Mitchell, Richard; Ogilvie, David

2018-04-24

Features of the urban neighbourhood influence the physical, social and mental wellbeing of residents and communities. We explored the longitudinal association between change to the neighbourhood built environment and the wellbeing of local residents in deprived areas of Glasgow, Scotland. A cohort of residents (n = 365; mean age 50 years; 44% male; 4.1% of the 9000 mailed surveys at baseline) responded to a postal survey in 2005 and 2013. Wellbeing was assessed with the mental (MCS-8) and physical (PCS-8) components of the SF-8 scale. We developed software to aid identification of visible changes in satellite imagery occurring over time. We then used a Geographical Information System to calculate the percentage change in the built environment occurring within an 800 m buffer of each participant's home. The median change in the neighbourhood built environment was 3% (interquartile range 6%). In the whole sample, physical wellbeing declined by 1.5 units on average, and mental wellbeing increased by 0.9 units, over time. In multivariable linear regression analyses, participants living in neighbourhoods with a greater amount of change in the built environment (unit change = 1%) experienced significantly reduced physical (PCS-8: -0.13, 95% CI -0.26 to 0.00) and mental (MCS-8: -0.16, 95% CI -0.31 to - 0.02) wellbeing over time compared to those living in neighbourhoods with less change. For mental wellbeing, a significant interaction by baseline perception of financial strain indicated a larger reduction in those experiencing greater financial strain (MCS-8: -0.22, 95% CI -0.39 to - 0.06). However, this relationship was reversed in those experiencing lower financial strain, whereby living in neighbourhoods with a greater amount of change was associated with significantly improved mental wellbeing over time (MCS-8: 0.38, 95% CI 0.04 to 0.72). Overall, we found some evidence that living in neighbourhoods experiencing higher levels of physical change worsened wellbeing in local residents. However, we found a stronger negative relationship in those with lower financial security and a positive relationship in those with higher financial security. This is one of few studies exploring the longitudinal relationship between the environment and health.

Polish Version of the Neighbourhood Environment Walkability Scale (NEWS-Poland).

PubMed

Jaśkiewicz, Michał; Besta, Tomasz

2016-11-04

The characteristics of built environments are the subject of intense consideration in the search for solutions to promote wellbeing and a higher quality of life among the inhabitants of cities. Walkability, defined as the extent to which the built environment is friendly to living and fulfilling the needs of the area, has become an important concept in sustainable urban design, public health and environmental psychology. This study systematically adapted the Neighbourhood Environment Walkability Scale (NEWS) for Poland, and evaluated the construct validity aspects of the adapted version among Polish adults. A total sample of 783 participants from a TriCity (Trójmiasto) agglomeration completed the adapted version of the NEWS. Smaller extracted samples of the participants also completed wellbeing related scales, including self-efficacy, local identity and distance to city centre measures. It was expected that various districts of Gdańsk would differ in terms of walkability. The confirmatory factor analysis showed satisfactory goodness-of-fit statistics and factor loadings corresponding to the proposed original factor structure. According to the predictions, the NEWS subscales correlated with the self-efficacy, local identity and wellbeing related measures. In addition, the comparisons between the neighbourhoods of Gdańsk also showed a predictable pattern of results. Overall, the NEWS demonstrated satisfactory measurement properties, and may be useful in the evaluation of the built environment in Poland.

A Case Study: Motivational Attributes of 4-H Participants Engaged in Robotics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Mariah Lea

2013-01-01

Robotics has gained a great deal of popularity across the United States as a means to engage youth in science, technology, engineering, and math. Understanding what motivates youth and adults to participate in a robotics project is critical to understanding how to engage others. By developing a robotics program built on a proper understanding of…

A Synchronization Account of False Recognition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johns, Brendan T.; Jones, Michael N.; Mewhort, Douglas J. K.

2012-01-01

We describe a computational model to explain a variety of results in both standard and false recognition. A key attribute of the model is that it uses plausible semantic representations for words, built through exposure to a linguistic corpus. A study list is encoded in the model as a gist trace, similar to the proposal of fuzzy trace theory…

Stand conditions associated with roundheaded pine beetle (Coleoptera: Scolytidae) infestations in Arizona and Utah

Treesearch

Jose F. Negron; Jill L. Wilson; John A. Anhold

2000-01-01

Stand conditions associated with outbreak populations of the roundheaded pine beetle, Dendroctonus adjunctus Blandford, in ponderosa pine, Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex Laws., forests were studied in the Pinaleno Mountains, AZ, and the Pine Valley Mountains, UT. Classification tree models to estimate the probability of infestation based on stand attributes were built for...

Making a Good Group Decision (Low Risk) in Singapore Under an Environment That Has Time and Cost Constraints

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-09-01

decision-making framework to eliminate bias and promote effective communication. Using a collaborative approach built on systems engineering and...framework to eliminate bias and promote effective communication. Using a collaborative approach built on systems engineering and decision-making...Organization .......................................................................................61 2. Bias

Development of a Conceptual Framework Depicting a Childs Total (Built, Natural, Social) Environment in Order to Optimize Health and Well-Being

EPA Science Inventory

The complexity of the components and their interactions that characterize children’s health and well-being are not adequately captured by current public health paradigms. Children are exposed to combinations of chemical and non-chemical stressors from their built, natural,...

The impact of ergonomic work environment exposures on the risk of disability pension: Prospective results from DWECS/DREAM.

PubMed

Labriola, Merete; Feveile, Helene; Christensen, Karl B; Strøyer, Jesper; Lund, Thomas

2009-11-01

The objectives were to identify the impact of ergonomic work environment exposures on the risk of disability pension. A representative sample of 8475 employees of the total working population in Denmark were interviewed regarding work environment exposures and followed in a national register with data on granted disability pension. For women, approximately 34% of the disability pension cases were attributable to ergonomic work environment exposures. For men, 21% of the disability pension cases were attributable to ergonomic work environment. Ergonomic work environment, especially physically demanding work, working with hands lifted and repetitive work, are areas of intervention at the workplace that can facilitate and prolong labour market participation. The study provides estimates for the association between ergonomic exposures at work and administrative, cost-related measures of work disability in a large population-based longitudinal cohort study over 14 years. Approximately 21% for men and 34% for women of the disability pension cases were attributable to ergonomic work environment exposures.

Biodiversity in intertidal rock pools: informing engineering criteria for artificial habitat enhancement in the built environment.

PubMed

Firth, Louise B; Schofield, Meredith; White, Freya J; Skov, Martin W; Hawkins, Stephen J

2014-12-01

Coastal defence structures are proliferating to counter rising and stormier seas. With increasing concern about the ecological value of built environments, efforts are being made to create novel habitat to increase biodiversity. Rock pools are infrequent on artificial structures. We compared biodiversity patterns between rock pools and emergent rock and assessed the role of pool depth and substratum incline in determining patterns of biodiversity. Rock pools were more taxon rich than emergent substrata. Patterns varied with depth and incline with algal groups being more positively associated with shallow than deeper habitats. Substratum incline had little influence on colonising epibiota, with the exception of canopy algae in deeper habitats where vertical surfaces supported greater taxon richness than horizontal surfaces. The creation of artificial rock pools in built environments will have a positive effect on biodiversity. Building pools of varying depths and inclines and shore heights will provide a range of habitats, increase environmental heterogeneity, therefore creating more possible ecological niches, promoting local biodiversity. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Legionella and risk management in hospitals-A bibliographic research methodology for people responsible for built environment and facility management.

PubMed

Leiblein, Thomas W; Tucker, Matthew; Ashall, Mal; Lee, Susanne B; Gollnisch, Carsten; Hofer, Susanne

2016-11-01

An ongoing research project investigates the roles and duties of persons responsible for the built environment with respect to risk management of water systems and Legionella prevention from a facility management's perspective. Our literature review provides an approach for selecting and analysing abstracts of initially 177 journal articles, subjected to certain topic-specific inclusion and exclusion criteria. Different decision strategies of either logic 'yes/no', Boolean operators 'OR' or 'AND' and decisions for single counts or cumulative counts of the identified three principal keywords 'Legionella', 'hospital' and 'water', were completed. A final list of ten principal reference articles from 29 journals was compiled. It suggests that the interconnected perspective of water systems, Legionella and hospitals seems to be underrepresented in the field of the built environment and facility management. The term 'stakeholder', which would refer to decision-makers, was not found more than once. Our result is a useful summary of established sources of information on environmental Legionella research. The results can be helpful for those new to the topic. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Impact of urban built environment on urban short-distance taxi travel: the case of Shanghai

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Zhuoye; Zhuo, Jian

2018-05-01

The excessive individual motorized transport is the main cause of urban congestion and generates negative consequences on urban environmental quality, energy consumption, infrastructure supply and urban security. Bicycle can compete effectively with automobile for short-distance travels within 3km. If we take action to encourage the rider to shift from automobile to bike for the short-distance travels, it leaves us a great chance to reduce the modal share of individual motorized mode. This paper focus on the spatial impact of built environment on short-distance taxi riders’ travel behaviour. The data sources include taxi trajectory data for a week, demographic data of the Sixth National Census, POI data. In this paper, we figure out the volumes and spatial distribution of short-distance taxi travel in the central city of Shanghai. We build a multiple regression model to quantitative analyze the impact of urban built environment on urban short-distance taxi travel. The findings explain the spatial distribution short-distance taxi travel. In the conclusion, some advice are provided on how planners change the spatial settings to discourage short-distance individual motorized travel.

The relationship between perceived health and physical activity indoors, outdoors in built environments, and outdoors in nature.

PubMed

Pasanen, Tytti P; Tyrväinen, Liisa; Korpela, Kalevi M

2014-11-01

A body of evidence shows that both physical activity and exposure to nature are connected to improved general and mental health. Experimental studies have consistently found short term positive effects of physical activity in nature compared with built environments. This study explores whether these benefits are also evident in everyday life, perceived over repeated contact with nature. The topic is important from the perspectives of city planning, individual well-being, and public health. National survey data (n = 2,070) from Finland was analysed using structural regression analyses. Perceived general health, emotional well-being, and sleep quality were regressed on the weekly frequency of physical activity indoors, outdoors in built environments, and in nature. Socioeconomic factors and other plausible confounders were controlled for. Emotional well-being showed the most consistent positive connection to physical activity in nature, whereas general health was positively associated with physical activity in both built and natural outdoor settings. Better sleep quality was weakly connected to frequent physical activity in nature, but the connection was outweighed by other factors. The results indicate that nature provides an added value to the known benefits of physical activity. Repeated exercise in nature is, in particular, connected to better emotional well-being. © 2014 The Authors. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The International Association of Applied Psychology.

Viewfinders: A Visual Environmental Literacy Curriculum. Elementary Unit: Exploring Community Appearance and the Environment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dunn Foundation, Warwick, RI.

Recognizing that community growth and change are inevitable, Viewfinders' goals are as follows: to introduce students and teachers to the concept of the visual environment; enhance an understanding of the interrelationship between the built and natural environment; create an awareness that the visual environment affects the economy and quality of…

Deployment of Wind Turbines in the Built Environment: Risks, Lessons, and Recommended Practices

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Baring-Gould, Ian; Fields, Jason; Oteri, Frank

Built-environment wind turbine (BEWT) projects are wind energy projects that are constructed on, in, or near buildings, as shown below. These projects present an opportunity for distributed, low-carbon generation combined with highly visible statements on sustainability, but the BEWT niche of the wind industry is still developing and is relatively less mature than the utility-scale wind or conventional ground-based distributed wind sectors. This poster investigates the current state of the BEWT industry by reviewing available literature on BEWT projects as well as interviewing project owners on their experiences deploying and operating the technology.

Environmental Influences on Physical Activity among Rural Adults in Montana, United States: Views from Built Environment Audits, Resident Focus Groups, and Key Informant Interviews.

PubMed

Lo, Brian K; Morgan, Emily H; Folta, Sara C; Graham, Meredith L; Paul, Lynn C; Nelson, Miriam E; Jew, Nicolette V; Moffat, Laurel F; Seguin, Rebecca A

2017-10-04

Rural populations in the United States have lower physical activity levels and are at a higher risk of being overweight and suffering from obesity than their urban counterparts. This paper aimed to understand the environmental factors that influence physical activity among rural adults in Montana. Eight built environment audits, 15 resident focus groups, and 24 key informant interviews were conducted between August and December 2014. Themes were triangulated and summarized into five categories of environmental factors: built, social, organizational, policy, and natural environments. Although the existence of active living features was documented by environmental audits, residents and key informants agreed that additional indoor recreation facilities and more well-maintained and conveniently located options were needed. Residents and key informants also agreed on the importance of age-specific, well-promoted, and structured physical activity programs, offered in socially supportive environments, as facilitators to physical activity. Key informants, however, noted that funding constraints and limited political will were barriers to developing these opportunities. Since building new recreational facilities and structures to support active transportation pose resource challenges, especially for rural communities, our results suggest that enhancing existing features, making small improvements, and involving stakeholders in the city planning process would be more fruitful to build momentum towards larger changes.

Outdoor built environment barriers and facilitators to activity among midlife and older adults with mobility disabilities.

PubMed

Rosenberg, Dori E; Huang, Deborah L; Simonovich, Shannon D; Belza, Basia

2013-04-01

To gain better understanding of how the built environment impacts neighborhood-based physical activity among midlife and older adults with mobility disabilities. We conducted in-depth interviews with 35 adults over age 50, which used an assistive device and lived in King County, Washington, U.S. In addition, participants wore global positioning systems (GPS) devices for 3 days prior to the interview. The GPS maps were used as prompts during the interviews. Open coding of the 35 interviews using latent content analysis resulted in key themes and subthemes that achieved consensus between coders. Two investigators independently coded the text of each interview. Participants were on average of 67 years of age (range: 50-86) and predominantly used canes (57%), walkers (57%), or wheelchairs (46%). Key themes pertained to curb ramp availability and condition, sidewalk availability and condition, hills, aesthetics, lighting, ramp availability, weather, presence and features of crosswalks, availability of resting places and shelter on streets, paved or smooth walking paths, safety, and traffic on roads. A variety of built environment barriers and facilitators to neighborhood-based activity exist for midlife and older adults with mobility disabilities. Preparing our neighborhood environments for an aging population that uses assistive devices will be important to foster independence and health.

Capturing the Interrelationship between Objectively Measured Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour in Children in the Context of Diverse Environmental Exposures.

PubMed

Katapally, Tarun R; Muhajarine, Nazeem

2015-09-07

Even though physical activity and sedentary behaviour are two distinct behaviours, their interdependent relationship needs to be studied in the same environment. This study examines the influence of urban design, neighbourhood built and social environment, and household and individual factors on the interdependent relationship between objectively measured physical activity and sedentary behaviour in children in the Canadian city of Saskatoon. Saskatoon's built environment was assessed by two validated observation tools. Neighbourhood socioeconomic variables were derived from 2006 Statistics Canada Census and 2010 G5 Census projections. A questionnaire was administered to 10-14 year old children to collect individual and household data, followed by accelerometry to collect physical activity and sedentary behaviour data. Multilevel logistic regression models were developed to understand the interrelationship between physical activity and sedentary behaviour in the context of diverse environmental exposures. A complex set of factors including denser built environment, positive peer relationships and consistent parental support influenced the interrelationship between physical activity and sedentary behaviour. In developing interventions to facilitate active living, it is not only imperative to delineate pathways through which diverse environmental exposures influence physical activity and sedentary behaviour, but also to account for the interrelationship between physical activity and sedentary behaviour.

Defining a Set of Architectural Requirements for Service-Oriented Mobile Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Filho, Nemésio Freitas Duarte; Barbosa, Ellen Francine

2014-01-01

Even providing several benefits and facilities with regard to teaching and learning, mobile learning environments present problems and challenges that must be investigated, especially with respect to the definition and standardization of architectural aspects. Most of these environments are still built in isolation, with particular structures and…

Dietary and Built Environment Assessment in a Latino Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Khan, Sarah; Calloway, Stephanie A.; Maida, I. Tatiana; Rakel, David P.

2012-01-01

Background: Assessment of basic dietary intake and community nutrition environment is lacking and needed to improve health outcomes for the growing U.S. Latino community. Purpose: The dietary intake and community nutrition environment of a Latino population in the Midwest was evaluated. Methods: In a community clinic, Block Food Frequency…

Linking amphibian call structure to the environment: the interplay between phenotypic flexibility and individual attributes.

PubMed

Ziegler, Lucía; Arim, Matías; Narins, Peter M

2011-05-01

The structure of the environment surrounding signal emission produces different patterns of degradation and attenuation. The expected adjustment of calls to ensure signal transmission in an environment was formalized in the acoustic adaptation hypothesis. Within this framework, most studies considered anuran calls as fixed attributes determined by local adaptations. However, variability in vocalizations as a product of phenotypic expression has also been reported. Empirical evidence supporting the association between environment and call structure has been inconsistent, particularly in anurans. Here, we identify a plausible causal structure connecting environment, individual attributes, and temporal and spectral adjustments as direct or indirect determinants of the observed variation in call attributes of the frog Hypsiboas pulchellus. For that purpose, we recorded the calls of 40 males in the field, together with vegetation density and other environmental descriptors of the calling site. Path analysis revealed a strong effect of habitat structure on the temporal parameters of the call, and an effect of site temperature conditioning the size of organisms calling at each site and thus indirectly affecting the dominant frequency of the call. Experimental habitat modification with a styrofoam enclosure yielded results consistent with field observations, highlighting the potential role of call flexibility on detected call patterns. Both, experimental and correlative results indicate the need to incorporate the so far poorly considered role of phenotypic plasticity in the complex connection between environmental structure and individual call attributes.

Acessibility in collective housing for the elderly: a case study in Portugal.

PubMed

Paiva, Marie Monique Bruère; Villarouco, Vilma

2012-01-01

Physical spaces need to be adjusted to suit the changes of a physical, cognitive and emotional order occasioned by the natural aging of people. Ergonomics of the built environment contributes to improving the interaction of the user and physical environment, with a view to their comfort and safety. By thinking through the influence that environments have on the quality of life of the elderly, this article presents an assessment of accessibility in private units--bedrooms and bathrooms--of a Long-Stay Institution for the Elderly (ILPI in Portuguese) in Portugal. The analysis of the physical and spatial conditioning factors by means of the Ergonomics Methodology for the Built Environment (EMBE), proposed by VILLAROUCO (2008), gave evidence of the need for interventions to suitably adapt physical infrastructure, with the objective of promoting the physical well-being of the elderly, and thus, enhancing the autonomy and independence of a wider range of users.

Building a Virtual Environment for Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support

PubMed Central

Johnson, Constance; Feenan, Kevin; Setliff, Glenn; Pereira, Katherine; Hassell, Nancy; Beresford, Henry F.; Epps, Shelly; Nicollerat, Janet; Tatum, William; Feinglos, Mark; Vorderstrasse, Allison

2015-01-01

The authors developed an immersive diabetes community to provide diabetes self-management education and support for adults with type 2 diabetes. In this article the authors describe the procedures used to develop this virtual environment (VE). Second Life Impacts Diabetes Education & Self-Management (SLIDES), the VE for our diabetes community was built in Second Life. Social Cognitive Theory, behavioral principles and key aspects of virtual environments related to usability were applied in the development in this VE. Collaboration between researchers, clinicians and information technology (IT) specialists occurred throughout the development process. An interactive community was successfully built and utilized to provide diabetes self-management education and support. VEs for health applications may be innovative and enticing, yet it must be kept in mind that there are substantial effort, expertise, and usability factors that must be considered in the development of these environments for health care consumers. PMID:25699133

The effects of signage and the physical environment on stair usage.

PubMed

Bungum, Tim; Meacham, Mindy; Truax, Nicole

2007-07-01

Physical activity (PA) is a health behavior that most Americans do not participate in at recommended levels. We sought to increase PA by use of motivational signs in selected buildings. Because physical environments are known to influence PA, the relationship of building characteristics and stair usage was also assessed. One pre- and two post-intervention observations were conducted. The proportion of those using the stairs increased from baseline to the second data collection, (chi2 = 39.31, p < 0.01) and baseline to a final data collection (chi2 = 10.1, p < 0.01). Built environment factors, including steps to the next higher floor and the number of floors in the building were consistent predictors of stair use. With signs positioned, the visibility of the stairs while standing in front of elevators became a significant predictor of stair usage. Motivational signs and characteristics of built environments are associated with increased stair usage.

Informing Healthcare Waiting Area Design Using Transparency Attributes: A Comparative Preference Study.

PubMed

Jiang, Shan; Powers, Matthew; Allison, David; Vincent, Ellen

2017-07-01

This study aimed to explore people's visual preference for waiting areas in general hospital environments designed with transparency attributes that fully integrate nature. Waiting can be a tedious and frustrating experience among people seeking healthcare treatments and negatively affect their perception of the quality of care. Positive distractions and supportive designs have gained increasing attraction to improve people's waiting experience. Nature, which has shown therapeutic effects according to a growing amount of evidence, could be a distinguished positive distraction in waiting areas. Additionally, the theory of transparency was operationalized to indicate a spatial continuity between the external nature and the built interiors in general healthcare waiting area design. A survey method was adopted in the study. Twenty-one images of general healthcare waiting areas depicting three design typologies were preselected following a strict procedure, including designs with (a) no window views, (b) limited window views to nature, and (c) transparent spaces with maximum natural views. Ninety-five student participants rated the images based on their visual preference using a Likert-type scale. The results showed that transparent waiting areas were significantly preferred. A significant positive relationship existed between the level of transparency and people's preference scores. The factor analysis indicated additional supportive features that may affect people's preferences, including daylight, perceived warmth, noninstitutional furniture arrangement, visual orientation, and the use of natural materials for interior design. However, these tentative results need to be furthered tested with the real patient population as the next step of this study.

Understanding Driver Anger and Aggression: Attributional Theory in the Driving Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wickens, Christine M.; Wiesenthal, David L.; Flora, David B.; Flett, Gordon L.

2011-01-01

Two studies tested the applicability of Weiner's (1995, 1996, 2001, 2006) attributional model of social conduct to roadway environments. This model highlights the role of inferences of responsibility after making causal judgments for social transgressions. Study 1 employed written scenarios where participants were asked to imagine themselves…

Case study : performance of a house built on a treated wood foundation system in a cold climate

Treesearch

Charles G. Carll; Charles R. Boardman; Collin L. Olson

2010-01-01

Performance attributes of a home, constructed in 2001 in Madison, WI, on a treated-wood foundation system were investigated over a multiyear period. Temperature conditions in the basement of the building were, without exception, comfortable, even though the basement was not provided with supply registers for heating or cooling. Basement humidity conditions were...

The Complexity of Thomas Jefferson. A Response to "'The Diffusion of Light': Jefferson's Philosophy of Education"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carpenter, James

2014-01-01

This response argues that Jefferson's educational philosophy must be considered in a proper historical context. Holowchak accurately demonstrates both Jefferson's obsession with education and the political philosophy on which his educational beliefs are built. However, the effort to apply modern democratic and meritocratic attributes to…

Webcams, Crowdsourcing, and Enhanced Crosswalks: Developing a Novel Method to Analyze Active Transportation.

PubMed

Hipp, J Aaron; Manteiga, Alicia; Burgess, Amanda; Stylianou, Abby; Pless, Robert

2016-01-01

Active transportation opportunities and infrastructure are an important component of a community's design, livability, and health. Features of the built environment influence active transportation, but objective study of the natural experiment effects of built environment improvements on active transportation is challenging. The purpose of this study was to develop and present a novel method of active transportation research using webcams and crowdsourcing, and to determine if crosswalk enhancement was associated with changes in active transportation rates, including across a variety of weather conditions. The 20,529 publicly available webcam images from two street intersections in Washington, DC, USA were used to examine the impact of an improved crosswalk on active transportation. A crowdsource, Amazon Mechanical Turk, annotated image data. Temperature data were collected from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and precipitation data were annotated from images by trained research assistants. Summary analyses demonstrated slight, bi-directional differences in the percent of images with pedestrians and bicyclists captured before and after the enhancement of the crosswalks. Chi-square analyses revealed these changes were not significant. In general, pedestrian presence increased in images captured during moderate temperatures compared to images captured during hot or cold temperatures. Chi-square analyses indicated the crosswalk improvement may have encouraged walking and biking in uncomfortable outdoor conditions (P < 0.5). The methods employed provide an objective, cost-effective alternative to traditional means of examining the effects of built environment changes on active transportation. The use of webcams to collect active transportation data has applications for community policymakers, planners, and health professionals. Future research will work to validate this method in a variety of settings as well as across different built environment and community policy initiatives.

Assessing Built Environment Walkability using Activity-Space Summary Measures.

PubMed

Tribby, Calvin P; Miller, Harvey J; Brown, Barbara B; Werner, Carol M; Smith, Ken R

There is increasing emphasis on active transportation, such as walking, in transportation planning as a sustainable form of mobility and in public health as a means of achieving recommended physical activity and better health outcomes. A research focus is the influence of the built environment on walking, with the ultimate goal of identifying environmental modifications that invite more walking. However, assessments of the built environment for walkability are typically at a spatially disaggregate level (such as street blocks) or at a spatially aggregate level (such as census block groups). A key issue is determining the spatial units for walkability measures so that they reflect potential walking behavior. This paper develops methods for assessing walkability within individual activity spaces : the geographic region accessible to an individual during a given walking trip. We first estimate street network-based activity spaces using the shortest path between known trip starting/ending points and a travel time budget that reflects potential alternative paths. Based on objective walkability measures of the street blocks, we use three summary measures for walkability within activity spaces: i) the average walkability score across block segments (representing the general level of walkability in the activity space); ii) the standard deviation (representing the walkability variation), and; iii) the network autocorrelation (representing the spatial coherence of the walkability pattern). We assess the method using data from an empirical study of built environment walkability and walking behavior in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. We visualize and map these activity space summary measures to compare walkability among individuals' trips within their neighborhoods. We also compare summary measures for activity spaces versus census block groups, with the result that they agree less than half of the time.

Assessing Built Environment Walkability using Activity-Space Summary Measures

PubMed Central

Tribby, Calvin P.; Miller, Harvey J.; Brown, Barbara B.; Werner, Carol M.; Smith, Ken R.

2015-01-01

There is increasing emphasis on active transportation, such as walking, in transportation planning as a sustainable form of mobility and in public health as a means of achieving recommended physical activity and better health outcomes. A research focus is the influence of the built environment on walking, with the ultimate goal of identifying environmental modifications that invite more walking. However, assessments of the built environment for walkability are typically at a spatially disaggregate level (such as street blocks) or at a spatially aggregate level (such as census block groups). A key issue is determining the spatial units for walkability measures so that they reflect potential walking behavior. This paper develops methods for assessing walkability within individual activity spaces: the geographic region accessible to an individual during a given walking trip. We first estimate street network-based activity spaces using the shortest path between known trip starting/ending points and a travel time budget that reflects potential alternative paths. Based on objective walkability measures of the street blocks, we use three summary measures for walkability within activity spaces: i) the average walkability score across block segments (representing the general level of walkability in the activity space); ii) the standard deviation (representing the walkability variation), and; iii) the network autocorrelation (representing the spatial coherence of the walkability pattern). We assess the method using data from an empirical study of built environment walkability and walking behavior in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. We visualize and map these activity space summary measures to compare walkability among individuals’ trips within their neighborhoods. We also compare summary measures for activity spaces versus census block groups, with the result that they agree less than half of the time. PMID:27213027

Urban forms, physical activity and body mass index: a cross-city examination using ISS Earth Observation photographs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lin, Ge

2005-01-01

Johnson Space Center has archived thousands of astronauts acquired Earth images. Some spectacular images have been widely used in news media and in k-12 class room, but their potential utilizations in health promotion and disease prevention have relatively untapped. The project uses daytime ISS photographs to define city forms and links them to city or metropolitan level health data in a multicity context. Road connectivity, landuse mix and Shannon's information indices were used in the classification of photographs. In contrast to previous remote-sensing studies, which tend to focus on a single city or a portion of a city, this project utilized photographs of 39 U.S. cities. And in contrast to previous health-promotion studies on the built environment, which tend to rely on survey respondents' responses to evaluate road connectivity or mixed land use for a single study site, the project examined the built environments of multiple cities based on ISS photos. It was found that road connectivity and landuse mix were not statistically significant by themselves, but the composite measure of the Shannon index was significantly associated with physical activity, but not BMI. Consequently, leisure-time physical activity seems to be positively associated with the urban complexity scale. It was also concluded that unless they are planned or designed in advance, photographs taken by astronauts generally are not appropriate for a study of a single-site built environment nor are they appropriate for a study of infectious diseases at a local scale. To link urban built environment with city-wide health indicators, both the traditional nadir view and oblique views should be emphasized in future astronauts' earth observation photographs.

Leadership success within disaster restoration projects.

PubMed

Rapp, Randy R; Baroudi, Bassam

2014-01-01

Successful project managers draw their performance from essential leadership traits, as guided by their core values.Within disaster recovery, contractors who mitigate, repair, and reconstruct the built environment are often faced with challenges exceeding the norm. The effective leader is commonly expected to consider stakeholder motivations within distressing situations as well as other external and environmental factors when seeking to lead the project team to successful outcomes. This research is most concerned with leadership within the context of disaster restoration of the built environment. Its stimulus comes from the Restoration Industry Association (RIA)'s efforts to highlight leadership traits and core values for its Certified Restorer Body of Knowledge but would be of value to others associated with disaster recovery operations. Among organizations whose membership includes thousands of practitioners who restore and reconstruct the built environment after disasters, the RIA is the only one yet to formally and substantially research which core values and leader traits are deemed critical for the success of efforts to manage the means and methods applied on recovery job sites. Forty-six seasoned disaster restoration industry project professionals voluntarily responded to a survey questionnaire that sought their opinions about the traits and core values that they consider most important for successful disaster restoration project leadership. The most important leader traits were effective communication, professional competence, and leadership by example. The most important restoration industry values were integrity, compassion, and trustworthiness. The recognized imperative of compassion was unexpected in light of stereotypes often associated with construction-related contractors. This and other findings permit disaster response and recovery stakeholders to better understand qualities they should wish to see in leaders of contractor organizations, which they hire to restore and reconstruct the built environment after catastrophic events.

Patient‐friendly hospital environments: exploring the patients’ perspective

PubMed Central

Douglas, Calbert H.; Douglas, Mary R.

2004-01-01

Abstract Objective  To investigate the perceptions and attitudes of patients to the built environments of NHS Trust hospitals, in order to inform design excellence so as to make future hospitals places and spaces responsive to patient needs. Design  An exploratory study of patients perceptions based on qualitative semi‐structured personal interviews. Setting and participants  Fifty one‐to‐one interviews held with hospital in‐patients across the four directorates of surgery, medicine, care of the elderly and maternity at Salford Royal Hospitals NHS Trust, Salford, UK. Results  The research found that there was much similarity in the priorities, issues and concerns raised by patients in each of the four directorates. Patients perceived the built environment of the hospital as a supportive environment. Their accounts in each area pointed to the significance of the factors that immediately impacted on them and their families. Patients identified having a need for personal space, a homely welcoming atmosphere, a supportive environment, good physical design, access to external areas and provision of facilities for recreation and leisure. Responses suggest that patient attitudes and perceptions to the built environment of hospital facilities relates to whether the hospital provides a welcoming homely space for themselves and their visitors that promotes health and wellbeing. Conclusions  The findings have important implications for capital development teams, clinical staff, managers and NHS Estates personnel. Although the study has immediate relevance for Salford Royal Hospitals Trust, findings and recommendations reported provide NHS Estates and other relevant stakeholders with evidence‐based knowledge and understanding of patients’ perceptions and expectations of and preferences for particular facilities and estates provision in NHS hospitals. PMID:14982500

The physical environment and patients' activities and care: A comparative case study at three newly built stroke units.

PubMed

Anåker, Anna; von Koch, Lena; Sjöstrand, Christina; Heylighen, Ann; Elf, Marie

2018-04-20

To explore and compare the impact of the physical environment on patients' activities and care at three newly built stroke units. Receiving care in a stroke unit instead of in a general ward reduces the odds of death, dependency and institutionalized care. In stroke units, the design of the physical environment should support evidence-based care. Studies on patients' activities in relation to the design of the physical environment of stroke units are scarce. This work is a comparative descriptive case study. Patients (N = 55) who had a confirmed diagnosis of stroke were recruited from three newly built stroke units in Sweden. The units were examined by non-participant observation using two types of data collection: behavioural mapping analysed with descriptive statistics and field note taking analysed with deductive content analysis. Data were collected from April 2013 - December 2015. The units differed in the patients' levels of physical activity, the proportion of the day that patients spent with health professionals and family presence. Patients were more physically active in a unit with a combination of single and multi-bed room designs than in a unit with an entirely single-room design. Stroke units that were easy to navigate and offered variations in the physical environment had an impact on patients' activities and care. Patients' activity levels and interactions appeared to vary with the design of the physical environments of stroke units. Stroke guidelines focused on health status assessments, avoidance of bed-rest and early rehabilitation require a supportive physical environment. © 2018 The Authors. Journal of Advanced Nursing Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Obesogenic environment: a concept analysis and pediatric perspective.

PubMed

Gauthier, Kristine I; Krajicek, Marilyn J

2013-07-01

A concept analysis was undertaken to examine the attributes, characteristics, and uses of the concept of obesogenic environment within a pediatric context. Utilizing a modified version of Walker and Avant's method, the attributes and characteristics of obesogenic environment were identified as it pertains to children. Based on the review of the literature and previous definitions applied to adults, a definition of the concept of obesogenic environment within a pediatric context was developed; examples of sample cases illustrate the concept further. Defining the concept of obesogenic environment has utility for nursing theory development, practice, research, and education. © 2013, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Association between Neighborhood Walkability, Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Body-Mass Index

PubMed Central

Hoehner, Christine M.; Handy, Susan L.; Yan, Yan; Blair, teven N.; Berrigan, David

2011-01-01

Many studies have found cross-sectional associations between characteristics of the neighborhood built environment and physical activity (PA) behavior. However, most are based on self-reported PA, which is known to result in overestimation of PA and differential misclassification by demographic and biological characteristics. Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is an objective marker of PA because it is primarily determined by PA. Furthermore, it is causally related to long-term health outcomes. Therefore, analyses of the association between CRF and built environment could strengthen arguments for the importance of built environment influences on health. We examined the association between neighborhood walkability and CRF and body-mass index (BMI). This cross-sectional analysis included 16,543 adults (5,017 women, 11,526 men) aged 18–90 years with home addresses in Texas who had a comprehensive clinical examination between 1987 and 2005. Outcomes included CRF from total duration on a maximal exercise treadmill test and measured BMI. Three neighborhood walkability factors emerged from principal components analyses of block-group measures derived from the U.S. Census. In multilevel adjusted analyses, the neighborhood walkability factors were significantly associated with CRF and BMI among men and women in the expected direction. An interaction between one of the neighborhood factors and age was also observed. The interaction suggested that living in neighborhoods with older homes and with residents traveling shorter distances to work was more strongly positively associated with CRF among younger adults and more strongly negatively associated with BMI among older adults. In conclusion, neighborhood characteristics hypothesized to support more PA and less driving were associated with higher levels of CRF and lower BMI. Demonstration of an association between built environment characteristics and CRF is a significant advance over past studies based on self-reported PA. Nevertheless, stronger causal evidence depends on more robust study designs and sophisticated measures of the environment, behavior, and their physiological consequences. PMID:22030212

Built Environment and Active Transport to School (BEATS) Study: protocol for a cross-sectional study

PubMed Central

Mandic, Sandra; Williams, John; Moore, Antoni; Hopkins, Debbie; Flaherty, Charlotte; Wilson, Gordon; García Bengoechea, Enrique; Spence, John C

2016-01-01

Introduction Active transport to school (ATS) is a convenient way to increase physical activity and undertake an environmentally sustainable travel practice. The Built Environment and Active Transport to School (BEATS) Study examines ATS in adolescents in Dunedin, New Zealand, using ecological models for active transport that account for individual, social, environmental and policy factors. The study objectives are to: (1) understand the reasons behind adolescents and their parents' choice of transport mode to school; (2) examine the interaction between the transport choices, built environment, physical activity and weight status in adolescents; and (3) identify policies that promote or hinder ATS in adolescents. Methods and analysis The study will use a mixed-method approach incorporating both quantitative (surveys, anthropometry, accelerometers, Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis, mapping) and qualitative methods (focus groups, interviews) to gather data from students, parents, teachers and school principals. The core data will include accelerometer-measured physical activity, anthropometry, GIS measures of the built environment and the use of maps indicating route to school (students)/work (parents) and perceived safe/unsafe areas along the route. To provide comprehensive data for understanding how to change the infrastructure to support ATS, the study will also examine complementary variables such as individual, family and social factors, including student and parental perceptions of walking and cycling to school, parental perceptions of different modes of transport to school, perceptions of the neighbourhood environment, route to school (students)/work (parents), perceptions of driving, use of information communication technology, reasons for choosing a particular school and student and parental physical activity habits, screen time and weight status. The study has achieved a 100% school recruitment rate (12 secondary schools). Ethics and dissemination The study has been approved by the University of Otago Ethics Committee. The results will be actively disseminated through reports and presentations to stakeholders, symposiums and scientific publications. PMID:27221127

Mass Spectrometry-Based Visualization of Molecules Associated with Human Habitats.

PubMed

Petras, Daniel; Nothias, Louis-Félix; Quinn, Robert A; Alexandrov, Theodore; Bandeira, Nuno; Bouslimani, Amina; Castro-Falcón, Gabriel; Chen, Liangyu; Dang, Tam; Floros, Dimitrios J; Hook, Vivian; Garg, Neha; Hoffner, Nicole; Jiang, Yike; Kapono, Clifford A; Koester, Irina; Knight, Rob; Leber, Christopher A; Ling, Tie-Jun; Luzzatto-Knaan, Tal; McCall, Laura-Isobel; McGrath, Aaron P; Meehan, Michael J; Merritt, Jonathan K; Mills, Robert H; Morton, Jamie; Podvin, Sonia; Protsyuk, Ivan; Purdy, Trevor; Satterfield, Kendall; Searles, Stephen; Shah, Sahil; Shires, Sarah; Steffen, Dana; White, Margot; Todoric, Jelena; Tuttle, Robert; Wojnicz, Aneta; Sapp, Valerie; Vargas, Fernando; Yang, Jin; Zhang, Chao; Dorrestein, Pieter C

2016-11-15

The cars we drive, the homes we live in, the restaurants we visit, and the laboratories and offices we work in are all a part of the modern human habitat. Remarkably, little is known about the diversity of chemicals present in these environments and to what degree molecules from our bodies influence the built environment that surrounds us and vice versa. We therefore set out to visualize the chemical diversity of five built human habitats together with their occupants, to provide a snapshot of the various molecules to which humans are exposed on a daily basis. The molecular inventory was obtained through untargeted liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analysis of samples from each human habitat and from the people that occupy those habitats. Mapping MS-derived data onto 3D models of the environments showed that frequently touched surfaces, such as handles (e.g., door, bicycle), resemble the molecular fingerprint of the human skin more closely than other surfaces that are less frequently in direct contact with humans (e.g., wall, bicycle frame). Approximately 50% of the MS/MS spectra detected were shared between people and the environment. Personal care products, plasticizers, cleaning supplies, food, food additives, and even medications that were found to be a part of the human habitat. The annotations indicate that significant transfer of chemicals takes place between us and our built environment. The workflows applied here will lay the foundation for future studies of molecular distributions in medical, forensic, architectural, space exploration, and environmental applications.

A Framework for Designing Collaborative Learning Environments Using Mobile AR

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cochrane, Thomas; Narayan, Vickel; Antonczak, Laurent

2016-01-01

Smartphones provide a powerful platform for augmented reality (AR). Using a smartphone's camera together with the built in GPS, compass, gyroscope, and touch screen enables the real world environment to be overlaid with contextual digital information. The creation of mobile AR environments is relatively simple, with the development of mobile AR…

ecoSmart landscapes: a versatile SaaS platform for green infrastructure applications in urban environments

Treesearch

Greg McPherson; Qingfu Xiao; Joe Purohit; Mark Dietenberger; Charles (C.R.) Boardman; Jim Simpson; Paula Peper

2014-01-01

The urban environment offers significant opportunities to improve sustainability and optimize water resources. Historically, research and software applications have been focused on the built environment (buildings). Cost-effective, practical tools that can assess the impact of different landscape configurations and their interactions with buildings have not been widely...

The perception of natural vs. built environments by young children

Treesearch

Briavel Holcomb

1977-01-01

This paper questions the assumption that young children need exposure to natural environments for healthy psychological development. Preliminary investigation of the environmental perceptions of 4-year-olds suggests that the distinction between natural and man-made milieux is insignificant to preschoolers, and that they find both kinds of environments similarly...

Classrooms with nature views: Evidence of differing student perceptions and behaviors

Treesearch

J.A. Benfield; G.N. Rainbolt; P.A. Bell; G.H. Donovan

2015-01-01

Viewing peaceful natural environments has been shown to restore cognitive abilities and reduce physiological arousal. As such, visual access to the natural environment is becoming more commonplace in built environments. One exception to that trend is in educational settings where windowless classrooms are used to reduce outside distractions. The current study examines...

The process of aging: A case study approach implementing an ergonomics evaluation of the built environment for the elderly in Brazil.

PubMed

Paiva, Marie; Ferrer, Nicole; Villarouco, Vilma

2015-01-01

The phenomenon of aging is increasing worldwide. Various problems accompany it since aging makes the elderly undergo a decline in their natural functions. As such, senility can present itself as a barrier for everyday activities. This article presents a research that deals with the study of collective residences for the elderly. It seeks to identify configurations of these homes by seeking shortcomings and/or successful solutions. The Ergonomic Methodology for the Built Environment was applied. The method of the approach is qualitative and consists of multi-case study. Through the methodological approach, conflicts in the environment created by missing or inadequate elements were identified. Also, the opinions and suggestions from the elderly were analyzed, which shows their perception of the environment in use. The situations detected in this study indicate the occurrence of problems, exacerbated by the multiple deficiencies found in the user population of the environments analyzed. Thus it highlights the importance of there being future studies that are better targeted on designing environments for the elderly.

The Role of Perceptual Similarity, Context, and Situation When Selecting Attributes: Considerations Made by 5-6-Year-Olds in Data Modeling Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leavy, Aisling; Hourigan, Mairead

2018-01-01

Classroom data modeling involves posing questions, identifying attributes of phenomena, measuring and structuring these attributes, and then composing, revising, and communicating the outcomes. Selecting attributes is a fundamental component of data modeling, and the considerations made when selecting attributes is the focus of this paper. A…

The water sensitive city: principles for practice.

PubMed

Wong, T H F; Brown, R R

2009-01-01

With the widespread realisation of the significance of climate change, urban communities are increasingly seeking to ensure resilience to future uncertainties in urban water supplies, yet change seems slow with many cities facing ongoing investment in the conventional approach. This is because transforming cities to more sustainable urban water cities, or to Water Sensitive Cities, requires a major overhaul of the hydro-social contract that underpins conventional approaches. This paper provides an overview of the emerging research and practice focused on system resilience and principles of sustainable urban water management Three key pillars that need to underpin the development and practice of a Water Sensitive City are proposed: (i) access to a diversity of water sources underpinned by a diversity of centralised and decentralised infrastructure; (ii) provision of ecosystem services for the built and natural environment; and (iii) socio-political capital for sustainability and water sensitive behaviours. While there is not one example in the world of a Water Sensitive City, there are cities that lead on distinct and varying attributes of the water sensitive approach and examples from Australia and Singapore are presented.

Enhanced electrochemical performance of amorphous carbon nanotube-manganese-di-oxide-poly-pyrrole ternary nanohybrid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pahari, D.; Das, N. S.; Das, B.; Howli, P.; Chattopadhyay, K. K.; Banerjee, D.

2017-12-01

Amorphous carbon nanotubes (a-CNTs) manganese di oxide (MnO2)-poly pyrrole (PPy) ternary nanocomposites have been synthesized by a simple chemical route. The as prepared samples have been characterized with different characterization tools that include field emission scanning and high resolution transmission electron microscopy, Raman, Fourier transformed infrared as well as UV-Vis spectroscopy. The electrochemical performance of all the as prepared pure and hybrid samples have been studied in detail. It has been seen that the ternary hybrid shows efficient electrochemical performance with high value of specific capacitance with good stability even up to 2000 cycles. The superior performance of the hybrid samples can be attributed to the strong synergistic effect between the components resulting electron shuttling along PPy main chains and inter-chain raising built-in continuous conductive network. The ternary composite approach offers an effective solution to enhance the device performance of metal-oxide based supercapacitors for long cycling applications. These studies can well speculate the existence of another supercapacitor hybrid for the use in environment friendly electrode and thus a pollution free nature.

Overview of the University of Pittsburgh/amfAR Training Program in HIV Prevention Research for MSM and Male-to-Female Transgender Populations in Low- and Middle-Income Countries.

PubMed

Stall, Ron; Egan, James E; Kinsky, Suzanne; Coulter, Robert W S; Friedman, M Reuel; Matthews, Derrick D; Klindera, Kent; Cowing, Michael

2016-12-01

Gay men, other men who have sex with men and transgender (GMT) populations suffer a disproportionate burden of HIV disease around the globe, which is directly attributable to the virulently homophobic environments in which many GMT people live. In addition to the direct effects of homophobia on GMT individuals, the ongoing marginalization of GMT people has meant that there is limited social capital on which effective HIV prevention and care programs can be built in many low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). Thus, meaningful responses meant to address the dire situation of GMT populations in LMIC settings must include a combination of bold and innovative approaches if efforts to end the epidemic are to have any chance of making a real difference. The HIV Scholars Program at the University of Pittsburgh's Center for LGBT Health Research is a prime example of a creative and dynamic approach to raising the expertise needed within GMT populations to respond to the global HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Middle Rio Grande Cooperative Water Model

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tidwell, Vince; Passell, Howard

2005-11-01

This is computer simulation model built in a commercial modeling product Called Studio Expert, developed by Powersim, Inc. The simulation model is built in a system dynamics environment, allowing the simulation of the interaction among multiple systems that are all changing over time. The model focuses on hydrology, ecology, demography, and economy of the Middle Rio Grande, with Water as the unifying feature.

Activating Built Pedagogy: A Genealogical Exploration of Educational Space at the University of Auckland Epsom Campus and Business School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Locke, Kirsten

2015-01-01

Inspired by a new teaching initiative that involved a redesign of conventional classroom spaces at the University of Auckland's Epsom Campus, this article considers the relationship between architecture, the built environment and education. It characterises the teaching space of the Epsom Campus as the embodiment of educational policy following…

Faculty Perspectives in Saudi Arabia Pertaining to Attributes of Successful Universities and Future Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kutbi, Ibrahim; Hashim, Khairuddin

2017-01-01

Universities face the challenge of being relevant. This study investigates respondents' perspectives pertaining to attributes of successful universities and future learning environments. Data were collected using a specially designed survey during the 2016 academic year. The sample size was 518 King Abdulaziz University (KAU) academics. The…

Transportation Energy Futures Series. Effects of the Built Environment on Transportation. Energy Use, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, and Other Factors

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Porter, C. D.; Brown, A.; Dunphy, R. T.

2013-03-15

Planning initiatives in many regions and communities aim to reduce transportation energy use, decrease emissions, and achieve related environmental benefits by changing land use. This report reviews and summarizes findings from existing literature on the relationship between the built environment and transportation energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, identifying results trends as well as potential future actions. The indirect influence of federal transportation and housing policies, as well as the direct impact of municipal regulation on land use are examined for their effect on transportation patterns and energy use. Special attention is given to the 'four D' factors of density,more » diversity, design and accessibility. The report concludes that policy-driven changes to the built environment could reduce transportation energy and GHG emissions from less than 1% to as much as 10% by 2050, the equivalent of 16%-18% of present-day urban light-duty-vehicle travel. This is one of a series of reports produced as a result of the Transportation Energy Futures (TEF) project, a Department of Energy-sponsored multi-agency project initiated to pinpoint underexplored strategies for abating GHGs and reducing petroleum dependence related to transportation.« less

Transportation Energy Futures Series: Effects of the Built Environment on Transportation: Energy Use, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, and Other Factors

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Porter, C. D.; Brown, A.; Dunphy, R. T.

2013-03-01

Planning initiatives in many regions and communities aim to reduce transportation energy use, decrease emissions, and achieve related environmental benefits by changing land use. This report reviews and summarizes findings from existing literature on the relationship between the built environment and transportation energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, identifying results trends as well as potential future actions. The indirect influence of federal transportation and housing policies, as well as the direct impact of municipal regulation on land use are examined for their effect on transportation patterns and energy use. Special attention is given to the 'four D' factors of density,more » diversity, design and accessibility. The report concludes that policy-driven changes to the built environment could reduce transportation energy and GHG emissions from less than 1% to as much as 10% by 2050, the equivalent of 16%-18% of present-day urban light-duty-vehicle travel. This is one of a series of reports produced as a result of the Transportation Energy Futures (TEF) project, a Department of Energy-sponsored multi-agency project initiated to pinpoint underexplored strategies for abating GHGs and reducing petroleum dependence related to transportation.« less

The Evolution of the Sustainability Assessment Tool SBToolPT: From Buildings to the Built Environment

PubMed Central

Bragança, Luís

2014-01-01

This paper analyses the current trends in sustainability assessment. After about 15 years from the launch of sustainability assessment tools, focused on buildings evaluation, the paradigm of sustainability assessment tools is changing from the building scale to the built environment scale. Currently European cities and cities around the world are concerned with sustainable development, as well as its evolution. Cities seek a way to adapt to contemporary changes, in order to meet the required needs and ensure population's well-being. Considering this, the new generations of sustainability assessment tools are being developed to be used to guide and help cities and urban areas to become more sustainable. Following the trend of the most important sustainability assessment tools, the sustainability assessment tool SBToolPT is also developing its version for assessing the sustainability of the built environment, namely, the urban planning projects and the urban regeneration projects, to be developed in Portugal, the SBToolPT-UP. The application of the methodology to three case studies will demonstrate its feasibility; at the same time this will identify the best practices which will serve as reference for new projects, thereby assisting the development of the tool. PMID:24592171

Active Travel by Built Environment and Lifecycle Stage: Case Study of Osaka Metropolitan Area.

PubMed

Waygood, E Owen D; Sun, Yilin; Letarte, Laurence

2015-12-15

Active travel can contribute to physical activity achieved over a day. Previous studies have examined active travel associated with trips in various western countries, but few studies have examined this question for the Asian context. Japan has high levels of cycling, walking and public transport, similar to The Netherlands. Most studies have focused either on children or on adults separately, however, having children in a household will change the travel needs and wants of that household. Thus, here a household lifecycle stage approach is applied. Further, unlike many previous studies, the active travel related to public transport is included. Lastly, further to examining whether the built environment has an influence on the accumulation of active travel minutes, a binary logistic regression examines the built environment's influence on the World Health Organization's recommendations of physical activity. The findings suggest that there is a clear distinction between the urbanized centers and the surrounding towns and unurbanized areas. Further, active travel related to public transport trips is larger than pure walking trips. Females and children are more likely to achieve the WHO recommendations. Finally, car ownership is a strong negative influence.

The evolution of the sustainability assessment tool SBToolPT: from buildings to the built environment.

PubMed

Castanheira, Guilherme; Bragança, Luís

2014-01-01

This paper analyses the current trends in sustainability assessment. After about 15 years from the launch of sustainability assessment tools, focused on buildings evaluation, the paradigm of sustainability assessment tools is changing from the building scale to the built environment scale. Currently European cities and cities around the world are concerned with sustainable development, as well as its evolution. Cities seek a way to adapt to contemporary changes, in order to meet the required needs and ensure population's well-being. Considering this, the new generations of sustainability assessment tools are being developed to be used to guide and help cities and urban areas to become more sustainable. Following the trend of the most important sustainability assessment tools, the sustainability assessment tool SBTool(PT) is also developing its version for assessing the sustainability of the built environment, namely, the urban planning projects and the urban regeneration projects, to be developed in Portugal, the SBTool(PT)-UP. The application of the methodology to three case studies will demonstrate its feasibility; at the same time this will identify the best practices which will serve as reference for new projects, thereby assisting the development of the tool.

Spiritual and Affective Responses to a Physical Church and Corresponding Virtual Model.

PubMed

Murdoch, Matt; Davies, Jim

2017-11-01

Architectural and psychological theories posit that built environments have the potential to elicit complex psychological responses. However, few researchers have seriously explored this potential. Given the increasing importance and fidelity of virtual worlds, such research should explore whether virtual models of built environments are also capable of eliciting complex psychological responses. The goal of this study was to test these hypotheses, using a church, a corresponding virtual model, and an inclusive measure of state spirituality ("spiritual feelings"). Participants (n = 33) explored a physical church and corresponding virtual model, completing a measure of spiritual feelings after exploring the outside and inside of each version of the church. Using spiritual feelings after exploring the outside of the church as a baseline measure, change in state spirituality was assessed by taking the difference between spiritual feelings after exploring the inside and outside of the church (inside-outside) for both models. Although this change was greater in response to the physical church, there was no significant difference between the two models in eliciting such change in spiritual feelings. Despite the limitations of this exploratory study, these findings indicate that both built environments and corresponding virtual models are capable of evoking complex psychological responses.

U-Access: a web-based system for routing pedestrians of differing abilities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sobek, Adam D.; Miller, Harvey J.

2006-09-01

For most people, traveling through urban and built environments is straightforward. However, for people with physical disabilities, even a short trip can be difficult and perhaps impossible. This paper provides the design and implementation of a web-based system for the routing and prescriptive analysis of pedestrians with different physical abilities within built environments. U-Access, as a routing tool, provides pedestrians with the shortest feasible route with respect to one of three differing ability levels, namely, peripatetic (unaided mobility), aided mobility (mobility with the help of a cane, walker or crutches) and wheelchair users. U-Access is also an analytical tool that can help identify obstacles in built environments that create routing discrepancies among pedestrians with different physical abilities. This paper discusses the system design, including database, algorithm and interface specifications, and technologies for efficiently delivering results through the World Wide Web (WWW). This paper also provides an illustrative example of a routing problem and an analytical evaluation of the existing infrastructure which identifies the obstacles that pose the greatest discrepancies between physical ability levels. U-Access was evaluated by wheelchair users and route experts from the Center for Disability Services at The University of Utah, USA.

Resilience to urban poverty: theoretical and empirical considerations for population health.

PubMed

Sanders, Anne E; Lim, Sungwoo; Sohn, Woosung

2008-06-01

To better understand the trajectory that propels people from poverty to poor health, we investigated health resilience longitudinally among African American families with incomes below 250% of the federal poverty level. Health resilience is the capacity to maintain good health in the face of significant adversity. With higher levels of tooth retention as a marker of health resilience, we used a social-epidemiological framework to define capacity for health resilience through a chain of determinants starting in the built environment (housing quality) and community context (social support) to familial influences (religiosity) and individual mental health and health behavior. Odds of retaining 20 or more teeth were 3 times as likely among adults with resilience versus more-vulnerable adults (odds ratio=3.1; 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.3, 7.4). Children of caregivers with resilience had a lower incident rate of noncavitated tooth decay at 18- to 24-month follow-up (incidence risk ratio=0.8; 95% CI=0.7, 0.9) compared with other children. Health resilience to poverty was supported by protective factors in the built and social environments. When poverty itself cannot be eliminated, improving the quality of the built and social environments will foster resilience to its harmful health effects.

A cross-sectional examination of school characteristics associated with overweight and obesity among grade 1 to 4 students

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Excessive weight gain among youth is an ongoing public health concern. Despite evidence linking both policies and the built environment to adolescent and adult overweight, the association between health policies or the built environment and overweight are often overlooked in research with children. The purpose of this study was to examine if school-based physical activity policies and the built environment surrounding a school are associated with weight status among children. Methods Objectively measured height and weight data were available for 2,331 grade 1 to 4 students (aged 6 to 9 years) attending 30 elementary schools in Ontario, Canada. Student-level data were collected using parent reports and the PLAY-On questionnaire administered to students by study nurses. School-level policy data were collected from school administrators using the Physical Activity Module of the Healthy School Planner tool, and built environment data were provided by the Enhanced Points of Interest data resource. Multi-level logistic regression models were used to examine the school- and student-level characteristics associated with the odds of a student being overweight or obese. Results There was significant between-school random variation in the odds of a student being overweight [σ2μ0 = 0.274(0.106), p < 0.001], but not for being obese [σ2μ0 = 0.115(0.089)]. If a student attended a school that provided student access to a variety of facilities on and off school grounds during school hours or supported active transportation to and from school, he/she was less likely to overweight than a similar student attending a school without these policies. Characteristics of the built environment were not associated with overweight or obesity among this large cross-sectional sample of children. Conclusions This new evidence suggests that it may be wise to target obesity prevention efforts to schools that do not provide student access to recreation facilities during school hours or schools that do not support active transportation for students. Future research should evaluate if school-based overweight and obesity prevention programming might be improved if interventions selectively targeted the school characteristics that are putting students at the greatest risk. PMID:24139176

Assessing opportunities for physical activity in the built environment of children: interrelation between kernel density and neighborhood scale.

PubMed

Buck, Christoph; Kneib, Thomas; Tkaczick, Tobias; Konstabel, Kenn; Pigeot, Iris

2015-12-22

Built environment studies provide broad evidence that urban characteristics influence physical activity (PA). However, findings are still difficult to compare, due to inconsistent measures assessing urban point characteristics and varying definitions of spatial scale. Both were found to influence the strength of the association between the built environment and PA. We simultaneously evaluated the effect of kernel approaches and network-distances to investigate the association between urban characteristics and physical activity depending on spatial scale and intensity measure. We assessed urban measures of point characteristics such as intersections, public transit stations, and public open spaces in ego-centered network-dependent neighborhoods based on geographical data of one German study region of the IDEFICS study. We calculated point intensities using the simple intensity and kernel approaches based on fixed bandwidths, cross-validated bandwidths including isotropic and anisotropic kernel functions and considering adaptive bandwidths that adjust for residential density. We distinguished six network-distances from 500 m up to 2 km to calculate each intensity measure. A log-gamma regression model was used to investigate the effect of each urban measure on moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) of 400 2- to 9.9-year old children who participated in the IDEFICS study. Models were stratified by sex and age groups, i.e. pre-school children (2 to <6 years) and school children (6-9.9 years), and were adjusted for age, body mass index (BMI), education and safety concerns of parents, season and valid weartime of accelerometers. Association between intensity measures and MVPA strongly differed by network-distance, with stronger effects found for larger network-distances. Simple intensity revealed smaller effect estimates and smaller goodness-of-fit compared to kernel approaches. Smallest variation in effect estimates over network-distances was found for kernel intensity measures based on isotropic and anisotropic cross-validated bandwidth selection. We found a strong variation in the association between the built environment and PA of children based on the choice of intensity measure and network-distance. Kernel intensity measures provided stable results over various scales and improved the assessment compared to the simple intensity measure. Considering different spatial scales and kernel intensity methods might reduce methodological limitations in assessing opportunities for PA in the built environment.

Public transit design for smart growth : using choice experiments to quantify tradeoffs, values and funding implications.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-03-01

Studying public perception of public transportation and the environment in which it operates is crucial to understanding the symbiotic relationship : between transportation and the built environment. This report documents research completed to quanti...

Green Infrastructure Design Evaluation Using the Automated Geospatial Watershed Assessment Tool

EPA Science Inventory

In arid and semi-arid regions, green infrastructure (GI) can address several issues facing urban environments, including augmenting water supply, mitigating flooding, decreasing pollutant loads, and promoting greenness in the built environment. An optimum design captures stormwat...

Evaluation of Green Infrastructure Designs Using the Automated Geospatial Watershed Assessment Tool

EPA Science Inventory

In arid and semi-arid regions, green infrastructure (GI) can address several issues facing urban environments, including augmenting water supply, mitigating flooding, decreasing pollutant loads, and promoting greenness in the built environment. An optimum design captures stormwat...

International variation in neighborhood walkability, transit, and recreation environments using geographic information systems: the IPEN adult study.

PubMed

Adams, Marc A; Frank, Lawrence D; Schipperijn, Jasper; Smith, Graham; Chapman, James; Christiansen, Lars B; Coffee, Neil; Salvo, Deborah; du Toit, Lorinne; Dygrýn, Jan; Hino, Adriano Akira Ferreira; Lai, Poh-chin; Mavoa, Suzanne; Pinzón, José David; Van de Weghe, Nico; Cerin, Ester; Davey, Rachel; Macfarlane, Duncan; Owen, Neville; Sallis, James F

2014-10-25

The World Health Organization recommends strategies to improve urban design, public transportation, and recreation facilities to facilitate physical activity for non-communicable disease prevention for an increasingly urbanized global population. Most evidence supporting environmental associations with physical activity comes from single countries or regions with limited variation in urban form. This paper documents variation in comparable built environment features across countries from diverse regions. The International Physical Activity and the Environment Network (IPEN) study of adults aimed to measure the full range of variation in the built environment using geographic information systems (GIS) across 12 countries on 5 continents. Investigators in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, China, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States followed a common research protocol to develop internationally comparable measures. Using detailed instructions, GIS-based measures included features such as walkability (i.e., residential density, street connectivity, mix of land uses), and access to public transit, parks, and private recreation facilities around each participant's residential address using 1-km and 500-m street network buffers. Eleven of 12 countries and 15 cities had objective GIS data on built environment features. We observed a 38-fold difference in median residential densities, a 5-fold difference in median intersection densities and an 18-fold difference in median park densities. Hong Kong had the highest and North Shore, New Zealand had the lowest median walkability index values, representing a difference of 9 standard deviations in GIS-measured walkability. Results show that comparable measures can be created across a range of cultural settings revealing profound global differences in urban form relevant to physical activity. These measures allow cities to be ranked more precisely than previously possible. The highly variable measures of urban form will be used to explain individuals' physical activity, sedentary behaviors, body mass index, and other health outcomes on an international basis. Present measures provide the ability to estimate dose-response relationships from projected changes to the built environment that would otherwise be impossible.

Linking amphibian call structure to the environment: the interplay between phenotypic flexibility and individual attributes

PubMed Central

Arim, Matías; Narins, Peter M.

2011-01-01

The structure of the environment surrounding signal emission produces different patterns of degradation and attenuation. The expected adjustment of calls to ensure signal transmission in an environment was formalized in the acoustic adaptation hypothesis. Within this framework, most studies considered anuran calls as fixed attributes determined by local adaptations. However, variability in vocalizations as a product of phenotypic expression has also been reported. Empirical evidence supporting the association between environment and call structure has been inconsistent, particularly in anurans. Here, we identify a plausible causal structure connecting environment, individual attributes, and temporal and spectral adjustments as direct or indirect determinants of the observed variation in call attributes of the frog Hypsiboas pulchellus. For that purpose, we recorded the calls of 40 males in the field, together with vegetation density and other environmental descriptors of the calling site. Path analysis revealed a strong effect of habitat structure on the temporal parameters of the call, and an effect of site temperature conditioning the size of organisms calling at each site and thus indirectly affecting the dominant frequency of the call. Experimental habitat modification with a styrofoam enclosure yielded results consistent with field observations, highlighting the potential role of call flexibility on detected call patterns. Both, experimental and correlative results indicate the need to incorporate the so far poorly considered role of phenotypic plasticity in the complex connection between environmental structure and individual call attributes. PMID:22479134

Outdoor Built Environment Barriers and Facilitators to Activity among Midlife and Older Adults with Mobility Disabilities

PubMed Central

Rosenberg, Dori E.

2013-01-01

Purpose: To gain better understanding of how the built environment impacts neighborhood-based physical activity among midlife and older adults with mobility disabilities. Design and methods: We conducted in-depth interviews with 35 adults over age 50, which used an assistive device and lived in King County, Washington, U.S. In addition, participants wore Global Positioning Systems (GPS) devices for 3 days prior to the interview. The GPS maps were used as prompts during the interviews. Open coding of the 35 interviews using latent content analysis resulted in key themes and subthemes that achieved consensus between coders. Two investigators independently coded the text of each interview. Results: Participants were on average of 67 years of age (range: 50–86) and predominantly used canes (57%), walkers (57%), or wheelchairs (46%). Key themes pertained to curb ramp availability and condition, sidewalk availability and condition, hills, aesthetics, lighting, ramp availability, weather, presence and features of crosswalks, availability of resting places and shelter on streets, paved or smooth walking paths, safety, and traffic on roads. Implications: A variety of built environment barriers and facilitators to neighborhood-based activity exist for midlife and older adults with mobility disabilities. Preparing our neighborhood environments for an aging population that uses assistive devices will be important to foster independence and health. PMID:23010096

Evaluation of Silicon-on-Insulator HTOP-01 Operational Amplifier for Wide Temperature Operation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Patterson, Richard; Hammoud, Ahmad; Elbuluk, Malik

2008-01-01

Electronics capable of operation under extreme temperatures are required in many of NASA space exploration missions. Aerospace and military applications, as well as some terrestrial industries constitute environments where electronic systems are anticipated to be exposed to extreme temperatures and wide-range thermal swings. Electronics that are able to withstand and operate efficiently in such harsh environments would simplify, if not eliminate, traditional thermal control elements and their associated structures for proper ambient operation. As a result, overall system mass would be reduced, design would be simplified, and reliability would be improved. Electronic parts that are built utilizing silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology are known to offer better radiation-tolerance compared to their conventional silicon counterparts, provide faster switching, and consume less power. They also exhibit reduced leakage current and, thus, they are often tailored for high temperature operation. These attributes make SOI-based devices suitable for use in harsh environments where extreme temperatures and wide thermal swings are anticipated. A new operational amplifier, based on silicon-on-insulator technology and geared for high temperature well-logging applications, was recently introduced by Honeywell Corporation. This HTOP-01 dual precision operational amplifier is a low power device, operates on a single supply, and has an internal oscillator and an external clocking option [1]. It is rated for operation from -55 C to +225 C with a maximum output current capability of 50 mA. The amplifier chip is designed as a 14-pin, hermetically-sealed device in a ceramic package. Table I shows some of the device manufacturer s specifications.

Floristic response to urbanization: Filtering of the bioregional flora in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.

PubMed

Dolan, Rebecca W; Aronson, Myla F J; Hipp, Andrew L

2017-08-09

Globally, urban plant populations are becoming increasingly important, as these plants play a vital role in ameliorating effects of ecosystem disturbance and climate change. Urban environments act as filters to bioregional flora, presenting survival challenges to spontaneous plants. Yet, because of the paucity of inventory data on plants in landscapes both before and after urbanization, few studies have directly investigated this effect of urbanization. We used historical, contemporary, and regional plant species inventories for Indianapolis, Indiana USA to evaluate how urbanization filters the bioregional flora based on species diversity, functional traits, and phylogenetic community structure. Approximately 60% of the current regional flora was represented in the Indianapolis flora, both historically and presently. Native species that survived over time were significantly different in growth form, life form, and dispersal and pollination modes than those that were extirpated. Phylogenetically, the historical flora represented a random sample of the regional flora, while the current urban flora represented a nonrandom sample. Both graminoid habit and abiotic pollination are significantly more phylogenetically conserved than expected. Our results likely reflect the shift from agricultural cover to built environment, coupled with the influence of human preference, in shaping the current urban flora of Indianapolis. Based on our analyses, the urban environment of Indianapolis does filter the bioregional species pool. To the extent that these filters are shared by other cities and operate similarly, we may see increasingly homogenized urban floras across regions, with concurrent loss of evolutionary information. © 2017 Dolan et al. Published by the Botanical Society of America. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY-NC).

26 CFR 1.1502-15A - Limitations on the allowance of built-in deductions for consolidated return years beginning...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... parent of a group filing consolidated returns on the basis of a calendar year and that P purchases all of... with an adjusted basis of $100 and a fair market value of $50. If the group files a consolidated return... depreciable asset and is not sold by S, depreciation deductions attributable to the $50 difference between...

Using estimates of natural variation to detect ecologically important change in forest spatial patterns: a case study, Cascade Range, eastern Washington.

Treesearch

Paul F. Hessburg; Bradley G. Smith; R. Brion Salter

1999-01-01

Using hierarchical clustering techniques, we grouped subwatersheds on the eastern slope of the Cascade Range in Washington State into ecological subregions by similarity of area in potential vegetation and climate attributes. We then built spatially continuous historical and current vegetation maps for 48 randomly selected subwatersheds from interpretations of 1938-49...

A National Strategic Narrative

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-01-01

and lack of access to adequate health services, and an increasing dependency on cyber networks. At first glance, these trends are cause for concern...the dangerous and destructive prospect of cyber warfare waged from the shadows of non-attribution and deception. Whether this revolution in...a strategy of sustainability that is built upon the solid foundation of our national values. As Americans we needn’t seek the world’s friendship or

1. Perspective view from northeast of former Surgeon's Quarters. This ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

1. Perspective view from northeast of former Surgeon's Quarters. This duplex structure also housed the Secretary and was built in 1887. It is attributed to architect Henry C. Koch, due to the similarity between this Shingle Style house and his contemporary design for the Soldiers' Home Chapel. - National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, Northwestern Branch, Surgeon's Quarters, 5000 West National Avenue, Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, WI

The Greenhouse Effect and Built Environment Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greenall Gough, Annette; Gough, Noel

The greenhouse effect has always existed. Without the greenhouse effect, Earth could well have the oven-like environment of Venus or the deep-freeze environment of Mars. There is some debate about how much the Earth's surface temperature will rise given a certain amount of increase in the amount of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, nitrous…

Evaluation of green infrastructure designs using the Automated Geospatial Watershed Assessment Tool

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

In arid and semi-arid regions, green infrastructure (GI) designs can address several issues facing urban environments, including augmenting water supply, mitigating flooding, decreasing pollutant loads, and promoting greenness in the built environment. An optimum design captures stormwater, addressi...