ALBERT

Beschreibung: We estimate the contamination risks from the atmospheric dispersion of radionuclides released by severe nuclear power plant accidents using the ECHAM/Modular Earth Submodel System (MESSy) atmospheric chemistry (EMAC) atmospheric chemistry-general circulation model at high resolution (50 km). We present an overview of global risks and also a case study of nuclear power plants that are currently under construction, planned and proposed in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East, a region prone to earthquakes. We implemented continuous emissions from each location, making the simplifying assumption that all potential accidents release the same amount of radioactivity. We simulated atmospheric transport and decay, focusing on 137Cs and 131I as proxies for particulate and gaseous radionuclides, respectively. We present risk maps for potential surface layer concentrations, deposition and doses to humans from the inhalation exposure of 131I. The estimated risks exhibit seasonal variability, with the highest surface level concentrations of gaseous radionuclides in the Northern Hemisphere during winter.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2014 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 22 Author(s): Herman van Os , Rien Herber , Bert Scholtens The decision-making process for subsurface activities in the Netherlands has been unable to cope with the driving forces related to social acceptance in several recently proposed subsurface activities. We therefore investigated the possibility to include the triangle of social acceptance in the decision-making process. Our conceptual model relates the stakeholders, their goals and the driving forces to each other. We developed a framework, which describes the interaction between eleven design criteria for a Decision Support System (DSS). This framework will enable us to design a better, from a social acceptance perspective, DSS for subsurface activities in the Netherlands. Since the goals addressed in the decision-making process are very broad and the stakeholders are quite diverse, a single uniform DSS is not able to provide a satisfactory solution. We therefore suggest to design a DSS that is matched with each class of social acceptance.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2014 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 22 Author(s): Yoshie Inada , Shinobu Izumi , Motoya Koga , Shigehito Matsubara We are developing a planning support system for welfare urban design. If we quantify the optimal route (the route that is the easiest to pass through) for challenged people, we will be able to select the areas that require adjustment in terms of accessibility with greater efficiency. In this paper we report on our development of the prototype system to present an optimal route for wheelchair users, and also, the two workshops we had for evaluating the accuracy of the resulted optimal route.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2014 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 22 Author(s): Erfaneh Allameh , Mohammadali Heidari , Bauke De Vries , Harry Timmermans , Mohammad Masoud , Farhang Mozaffar Almost everyone would agree that teleworking is increasingly growing; but beyond this broad statement, we know little about how people behave when they work at home and how they balance their work and life. User comfort and productivity cannot be addressed properly, without a deep understanding of usersʼ working behavior. This gap is even deeper when it comes to the domain of smart homes as new types of housing which aim to enhance working at home. Hence, more user-centered studies are needed to comprehend the interrelationships among housing, technology, daily life and the work activities. In this paper, we use the outputs of an experiment to model usersʼ work activities in a smart home. The experiment was conducted among 254 respondents, who were asked to explore a smart home in a virtual environment and then to arrange their daily activities including work related activities in the virtual smart home. A choice modeling approach, based on the Multinomial Logit Model (MNL), is applied to model how an individual works at a smart home given influential factors such as the individualsʼ socio-demographic profile and their current lifestyle. Two features of working in a smart home are covered in this paper, namely, “the integration of work activities with other daily activities” and “the location of work activities in the house”. The results give better insight into the future trends of working at home and the effects of smart homes on working behavior of people. The results can be used in further developments of both smart homes and teleworking.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2014 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 22 Author(s): Jinhee Kim , Soora Rasouli , Harry Timmermans Hybrid choice models have been developed as an extension of discrete choice models, particularly multinomial logit models, in an attempt to include attitudinal variables. The quintessence of hybrid choice models is that a model of attitude formation is estimated and the estimated attitudes are added to the commonly used set of attributes in discrete choice models: attributes of the choice alternatives and socio-demographic variables. The most commonly applied model is based on linear specifications, both for the attitude model and the utility function. In this review paper, we discuss the principles underlying the hybrid choice model, summarize the specifications used in previous applications of the model and then continue discussing recent progress that added social influence to the model specification and replaced the linear specification of the utility function with a nonlinear function.

Beschreibung: Publication date: 2014 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 22 Author(s): Yountaik Leem , Sang Ho Lee , Jungho Yoon To overcome many difficulties in sustaining the satisfying quality of life for a large population 1 , urban spaces are evolving toward more efficient spaces by combination with ICTs (information and communication technologies) and raising the possibility to provide improved urban services which can enrich the quality of life of the citizen. In many cities over the world, a good number of public and private services in transportation, environment, urban safety from crime or disaster, health and other fields are designed and implemented with IT infrastructure. In spite of the expectation of cost-effective urban services based on the linkage between data and systems, obstructions in administrative and technical domains have made it difficult to be implemented. In this study, two advanced ICTs based urban services, which were developed by linkage and convergence of urban information and systems of Korea were introduced and analysed. The structural design of system convergence and data sharing scheme of Carbon Emission Monitoring System (CEMS) in Sejong City uses UIS (Urban Information System for local authorities), GIS data and other data provided by the public agencies, such as Korea Meteorological Administration for the monitoring and analysing the characteristics of the energy consumption of household 2 . Another system, Urban Integrated CCTV Control System (ICCS) in Anyang City, shows integrated CCTV networks for crime prevention, traffic control and public facility management to provide extended urban services, such as disaster prevention, police investigation and others. Qualitative and Quantitative effects analyses with technical and policy directions were suggested for the development and improvement of future urban services for a liveable city.

Beschreibung: Our aim is to explore general practitioners’ (GPs’) knowledge about EMF, and to assess whether different knowledge structures are related to the GPs’ concern about EMF. Random samples were drawn from lists of GPs in Germany in 2008. Knowledge about EMF was assessed by seven items. A latent class analysis was conducted to identify latent structures in GPs’ knowledge. Further, the GPs’ concern about EMF health risk was measured using a score comprising six items. The association between GPs’ concern about EMF and their knowledge was analysed using multiple linear regression. In total 435 (response rate 23.3%) GPs participated in the study. Four groups were identified by the latent class analysis: 43.1% of the GPs gave mainly correct answers; 23.7% of the GPs answered low frequency EMF questions correctly; 19.2% answered only the questions relating EMF with health risks, and 14.0% answered mostly “don’t know”. There was no association between GPs’ latent knowledge classes or between the number of correct answers given by the GPs and their EMF concern, whereas the number of incorrect answers was associated with EMF concern. Greater EMF concern in subjects with more incorrect answers suggests paying particular attention to misconceptions regarding EMF in risk communication.

Beschreibung: This study aims to explore the efficiency of using online education as an intervention measure to prevent occupational hazards in a clinical nursing setting. The subjects were 320 female nursing staff from two hospitals in Taiwan. The questionnaire results indicated that the subjects primarily experienced human factor occupational hazards, as well as psychological and social hazards. Specifically, 73.1% and 69.8% of the subjects suffered from poor sleep quality and low back pain, respectively. After web-based learning, the experimental group had higher post-test scores than the control group in terms of knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP). However, there was only a significant difference (p 〈 0.05) in their knowledge about the prevention of occupational hazards. It is suggested that an online discussion may enhance nursing staff’s participation in web-based learning, and further facilitate their comments on negative factors. The findings can highly promote nursing staff’s attitudes and practices toward preventing occupational hazards through web-based learning.

Beschreibung: Ambient particulate matters and temperature were reported to have additive effects over the respiratory disease hospital admissions and deaths. The purpose of this study is to discuss the interactive pulmonary toxicities of cold stress and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure by estimating inflammation and oxidative stress responses. 48 Wistar male rats, matched by weight and age, were randomly assigned to six groups, which were treated with cold stress alone (0 °C, 10 °C, and 20 °C (Normal control)) and cold stresses plus PM2.5 exposures respectively. Cold stress alone groups were intratracheal instillation of 0.25 mL normal saline, while cold stress plus PM2.5 exposure groups were intratracheal instillation of 8 mg/0.25 mL PM2.5. These procedures were carried out for three times with an interval of 48 hours for each treatment. All rats were sacrificed after 48 hours of the third treatment. The bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) was collected for analyzing inflammatory cells and cytokines, and lung homogenate MDA was determined for oxidative stress estimation. Results showed higher level of total cell and neutrophil in the BALF of PM2.5 exposed groups (p 〈 0.05). Negative relationships between cold stress intensity and the level of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a), C-reactive protein (CRP) interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-8 (IL-8) in BALF were indicated in PM2.5 exposure groups. Exposure to cold stress alone caused significant increase of inflammatory cytokines and methane dicarboxylic aldehyde (MDA) and decline of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity only in 0 °C exposure group (p 〈 0.05). The two-way ANOVA found significant interactive effects between PM2.5 exposure and cold stress in the level of neutrophil, IL-6 and IL-8 and SOD activity (p 〈 0.05). These data demonstrated that inflammation and oxidative stress involved in the additive effect of PM2.5 exposure and cold stress on pulmonary toxicity, providing explanation for epidemiological studies on the health effect of ambient PM2.5 and cold stress.

Beschreibung: This paper presents a detailed description of an approach designed to investigate the application of the Health Impact Assessment (HIA) framework to assess the potential health impacts of climate change. A HIA framework has been combined with key climate change terminology and concepts. The fundamental premise of this framework is an understanding of the interactions between people, the environment and climate. The diversity and complexity of these interactions can hinder much needed action on the critical health issue of climate change. The objectives of the framework are to improve the methodology for understanding and assessing the risks associated with potential health impacts of climate change, and to provide decision-makers with information that can facilitate the development of effective adaptation plans. While the process presented here provides guidance with respect to this task it is not intended to be prescriptive. As such, aspects of the process can be amended to suit the scope and available resources of each project. A series of working tables has been developed to assist in the collation of evidence throughout the process. The framework has been tested in a number of locations including Western Australia, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Nauru.

Beschreibung: One of the most uncertain parameters in stepped spillway design is the length (from the crest) of boundary layer development. The normal velocity profiles responding to the steps as bed roughness are investigated in the developing non-aerated flow region. A detailed analysis of the logarithmic vertical velocity profiles on stepped spillways is conducted through experimental data to verify the computational code and numerical experiments to expand the data available. To determine development length, the hydraulic roughness and displacement thickness, along with the shear velocity, are needed. This includes determining displacement height d and surface roughness length z0 and the relationship of d and z0 to the step geometry. The results show that the hydraulic roughness height ks is the primary factor on which d and z0 depend. In different step height, step width, discharge and intake Froude number, the relations d/ks = 0.22–0.27, z0/ks = 0.06–0.1 and d/z0 = 2.2–4 result in a good estimate. Using the computational code and numerical experiments, air inception will occur over stepped spillway flow as long as the Bauer-defined boundary layer thickness is between 0.72 and 0.79.

Beschreibung: A regional-level and dimensionless analysis for designing a domestic rainwater harvesting system (DRWHS) was developed. To consider various combinations of water demand, storage capacity, effective roof area, and rainfall in DRWHS design, two dimensionless ratios were used, namely, demand fraction and storage fraction, along with a relationship between the two ratios. Firstly, Northern Taiwan was divided into four sub-regions through cluster analysis based on the average annual 10-day rainfall distribution at rainfall stations and administrative districts. Easy-to-use dimensionless curves between demand fraction and storage fraction were obtained for five rainwater supply reliabilities of the DRWHS for the four sub-regions. Based on the dimensionless curves, a nomogram was constructed for designing DRWHSs at a rainwater supply reliability of 95% in the sub-region I. Storage capacities determined from the dimensionless curves showed a close fit with those determined from simulated values, but were larger than the values estimated from the method presented in the Green Building Evaluation Manual in most situations. The methodology developed herein can be used effectively for the preliminary design of a DRWHS and for overcoming the difficulties faced in designing a DRWHS without rainfall data and with incomplete rainfall data.

Beschreibung: From a holistic view, this paper addresses a perspective of coordinated development of economy, society, and environment for regional sustainability assessment. Firstly, a comprehensive indicator system for co-evaluating the level of economic, social, and environmental subsystems is presented based on a holistic understanding of regional sustainability. Then, a coordinated development index model focusing on the level of coordination among the subsystems as well as their comprehensive development level is established. Furthermore, an empirical study of all the provinces and municipalities is conducted by collecting the panel data from 2004 to 2010. The result shows that: (1) the coordinated developments of the most developed and the most underdeveloped regions stay stable while the regions with medium development level possess more fluctuant trends during the study years; (2) regional disparities are indicated according to the grading of CDI (the coordinated development index), which are further analyzed to be related to the local economic development patterns; (3) the conditions and causes of economic, social, and environmental development in real situations under different grades of CDI are discussed through detailed case studies of typical regions, which indicate specific suggestions of sustainable development for regions in the same pattern.

Beschreibung: As the largest solid waste (SW) generator in the world, China is facing serious pollution issues induced by increasing quantities of SW. The sustainability assessment of SW management is very important for designing relevant policy for further improving the overall efficiency of solid waste management (SWM). By focusing on industrial solid waste (ISW) and municipal solid waste (MSW), the paper investigated the sustainability performance of SWM by applying decoupling analysis, and further identified the main drivers of SW change in China by adopting Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) model. The results indicate that China has made a great achievement in SWM which was specifically expressed as the increase of ISW utilized amount and harmless disposal ratio of MSW, decrease of industrial solid waste discharged (ISWD), and absolute decoupling of ISWD from economic growth as well. However, China has a long way to go to achieve the goal of sustainable management of SW. The weak decoupling, even expansive negative decoupling of ISW generation and MSW disposal suggests that China needs timely technology innovation and rational institutional arrangement to reduce SW intensity from the source and promote classification and recycling. The factors of investment efficiency and technology are the main determinants of the decrease in SW, inversely, economic growth has increased SW discharge. The effects of investment intensity showed a volatile trend over time but eventually decreased SW discharged. Moreover, the factors of population and industrial structure slightly increased SW.

Beschreibung: This paper aims to construct conservation laws for a Benjamin–Bona–Mahony equation with variable coefficients, which is a third-order partial differential equation. This equation does not have a Lagrangian and so we transform it to a fourth-order partial differential equation, which has a Lagrangian. The Noether approach is then employed to construct the conservation laws. It so happens that the derived conserved quantities fail to satisfy the divergence criterion and so one needs to make adjustments to the derived conserved quantities in order to satisfy the divergence condition. The conservation laws are then expressed in the original variable. Finally, a conservation law is used to obtain exact solution of a special case of the Benjamin–Bona–Mahony equation.

Beschreibung: Climate change will increase the frequency and magnitude of extreme weather events and create risks that will impact health care facilities. Health care facilities will need to assess climate change risks and adopt adaptive management strategies to be resilient, but guidance tools are lacking. In this study, a toolkit was developed for health care facility officials to assess the resiliency of their facility to climate change impacts. A mixed methods approach was used to develop climate change resiliency indicators to inform the development of the toolkit. The toolkit consists of a checklist for officials who work in areas of emergency management, facilities management and health care services and supply chain management, a facilitator’s guide for administering the checklist, and a resource guidebook to inform adaptation. Six health care facilities representing three provinces in Canada piloted the checklist. Senior level officials with expertise in the aforementioned areas were invited to review the checklist, provide feedback during qualitative interviews and review the final toolkit at a stakeholder workshop. The toolkit helps health care facility officials identify gaps in climate change preparedness, direct allocation of adaptation resources and inform strategic planning to increase resiliency to climate change.

Beschreibung: The World Health Organization defines social determinants of health as “complex, integrated, and overlapping social structures and economic systems” that are responsible for most health inequities. Similar to the individual-level risk factors such as behavioral and biological risk factors that influence disease, we consider social determinants of health such as the distribution of income, wealth, influence and power as risk factors for risk of disease. We operationally define health inequity in a disease within a population due to a risk factor that is unfair and avoidable as the difference between the disease outcome with and without the risk factor in the population. We derive expressions for difference in health inequity between two populations due to a risk factor that is unfair and avoidable for a given disease. The difference in heath inequity between two population groups due to a risk factor increases with increasing difference in relative risks and the difference in prevalence of the risk factor in the two populations. The difference in health inequity could be larger than the difference in health outcomes between the two populations in some situations. Compared to health disparities which are typically measured and monitored using absolute or relative disparities of health outcomes, the methods presented in this manuscript provide a different, yet complementary, picture because they parse out the contributions of unfair and avoidable risk factors.

Beschreibung: Enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) extract heat from underground hot dry rock (HDR) by first fracturing the HDR and then circulating a geofluid (typically water) into it and bringing the heated geofluid to a power plant to generate electricity. This study focuses on analysis, examination, and comparison of leading geothermal power plant configurations with a geofluid temperature from 200 to 800 °C, and also analyzes the embodied energy of EGS surface power plants. The power generation analysis is focused on flash type cycles for using subcritical geofluid (〈374 °C) and expansion type cycles for using supercritical geofluid (>374 °C). Key findings of this study include: (i) double-flash plants have 24.3%–29.0% higher geofluid effectiveness than single-flash ones, and 3%–10% lower specific embodied energy; (ii) the expansion type plants have geofluid effectiveness > 750 kJ/kg, significantly higher than flash type plants (geofluid effectiveness 〈 300 kJ/kg) and the specific embodied energy is lower; (iii) to increase the turbine outlet vapor fraction from 0.75 to 0.90, we include superheating by geofluid but that reduces the geofluid effectiveness by 28.3%; (iv) for geofluid temperatures above 650 °C, double-expansion plants have a 2% higher geofluid effectiveness and 5%–8% lower specific embodied energy than single-expansion ones.

Beschreibung: The effects of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) exposure and sodium selenite supplementation on cell apoptosis of jejunum in broilers were studied. A total of 240 one-day-old male AA broilers were randomly assigned four dietary treatments containing 0 mg/kg of AFB1 (control), 0.3 mg/kg AFB1 (AFB1), 0.4 mg/kg supplement Se (+ Se) and 0.3 mg/kg AFB1 + 0.4 mg/kg supplement Se (AFB1 + Se), respectively. Compared with the control broilers, the number of apoptotic cells, the expression of Bax and Caspase-3 mRNA were significantly increased, while the expression of Bcl-2 mRNA and the Bcl-2/Bax ratio were significantly decreased in AFB1 broilers. The number of apoptotic cells and the expression of Caspase-3 mRNA in AFB1 + Se broilers were significantly higher than those in the control broilers, but significantly lower than those in AFB1 broilers. There were no significant changes in the expression of Bax mRNA between AFB1 + Se and control broilers; the expression of Bcl-2 mRNA and the Bcl-2/Bax ratio in AFB1 + Se broilers were significantly lower than those in the control broilers, but significantly higher than those in AFB1 broilers. In conclusion, 0.3 mg/kg AFB1 in the diet can increase cell apoptosis, decrease Bcl-2 mRNA expression, and increase of Bax and Caspase-3 mRNA expression in broiler’s jejunum. However, supplementation of dietary sodium selenite at the concentration of 0.4 mg/kg Se may ameliorate AFB1-induced apoptosis by increasing Bcl-2 mRNA expression, and decreasing Bax and Caspase-3 mRNA expression.

Beschreibung: Terra Preta Sanitation (TPS) plays a key role in sustainable sanitation (SuSan) and in the sustainable management of resources such as water, energy, soil (agriculture), liquid and solid organic waste streams as well as in the development of sustainable urban environment and infrastructure systems. This paper discusses the advantages of, and requirements for, SuSan systems, focusing on TPS. Case studies showing the stepwise extension and re-development of conventional sanitation systems (CSS) using TPS technologies and system approaches are presented and discussed. Decentralized TPS systems integrated in sustainable urban resource management were implemented in the German cities of Hamburg and Berlin. The compilation of best practice examples and findings using the newest TPS systems illustrates the immense potential of this approach for the transformation from conventional to SuSan systems. For this purpose, the potential savings of drinking water resources and the recycling potential of nutrient components are quantified. The results strongly suggest the need to encourage the development and application of innovative decentralized sanitation technologies, urban infrastructures, and resource management systems that have TP as a key component.

Beschreibung: Native chilies (Capsicum spp.) are currently underutilized in Bolivia, one of this crop’s centers of diversity. Fewer local farmers cultivate native chilies annually due to low market demand. Increasing its private use value can lead to the in-situ conservation of this crop. The objective of the paper is to evaluate the market acceptability of three native chili products: (a) chili marmalade; (b) chili cooking paste; and (c) pickled chilies. Multi-product Becker-DeGroot-Marschak experimental auctions and hedonic tests were conducted with 337 participants in La Paz and Santa Cruz. Data were analyzed using seemingly unrelated regressions. Results suggest that consumers are willing to pay price premiums of about 25–50 percent. Biodiversity conservation and improvements in farmers’ quality of life statements would not have influence on first purchase decisions but rather on repurchase decisions and therefore on consumers’ product loyalty. This in turn could lead to sustainable agro-biodiversity conservation, centered on consumers’ purchase of these products over time.

Beschreibung: This study proposes a new concept, green organisational ambidexterity, that integrates green exploration learning and green exploitation learning simultaneously. Besides, this study argues that the antecedents of green organisational ambidexterity are green shared vision and green absorptive capacity and its consequents are green radical innovation performance and green incremental innovation performance. The results demonstrate that green exploration learning partially mediates the positive relationships between green radical innovation performance and its two antecedents—green shared vision and green absorptive capacity. In addition, this study indicates that green exploitation learning partially mediates the positive relationships between green incremental innovation performance and its two antecedents—green shared vision and green absorptive capacity. Hence, firms have to increase their green shared vision, green absorptive capacity, and green organisational ambidexterity to raise their green radical innovation performance and green incremental innovation performance.

Beschreibung: This paper proposes a polygeneration system based on a multi-input chemical looping combustion system, which generates methanol and electricity, through the use of natural gas and coal. In this system, the chemical looping hydrogen (CLH) production system and the coal-based methanol production system are integrated. A high quality fuel, natural gas, is used to improve the conversion ratio of coal. The Gibbs energy of the two kinds of fuels is fully used. Benefitting from the chemical looping process, 27% CO2 can be captured without energy penalty. With the same outputs of methanol and electricity, the energy savings ratio of the new system is about 12%. Based on the exergy analyses, it is disclosed that the integration of synthetic utilization of natural gas and coal plays a significant role in reducing the exergy destruction of the new system. The promising results obtained in this paper may lead to a clean coal technology that will utilize natural gas and coal more efficiently and economically.

Beschreibung: Many city governments choose to supply more developable land and transportation infrastructure with the hope of attracting people and businesses to their cities. However, like those in Taiwan, major cities worldwide suffer from traffic congestion. This study applies the system thinking logic of the causal loops diagram (CLD) model in the System Dynamics (SD) approach to analyze the issue of traffic congestion and other issues related to roads and land development in Taiwan’s cities. Comparing the characteristics of development trends with yearbook data for 2002 to 2013 for all of Taiwan’s cities, this study explores the developing phenomenon of unlimited city sprawl and identifies the cause and effect relationships in the characteristics of development trends in traffic congestion, high-density population aggregation in cities, land development, and green land disappearance resulting from city sprawl. This study provides conclusions for Taiwan’s cities’ sustainability and development (S&D). When developing S&D policies, during decision making processes concerning city planning and land use management, governments should think with a holistic view of carrying capacity with the assistance of system thinking to clarify the prejudices in favor of the unlimited developing phenomena resulting from city sprawl.

Beschreibung: This study assessed the feasibility of community-based comprehensive intervention on Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) on a large population in China. An intervention study was conducted on 7200 T2DM patients within one year and consisted of six lectures on health issues, and four times face-to-face lifestyle counseling delivered by general health practitioners, at local primary health centers (PHCs). A “knowledge, attitude and practice” (KAP) survey and fasting plasma glucose (FPG) measurement were conducted at baseline and after the intervention, respectively. A total of 6586 T2DM patients completed the intervention. After one year intervention, patients’ KAP level improved significantly (p 〈 0.001) and the average FPG has decreased from 8.53 mmol/L (standard deviation: 2.84) to 7.11 mmol/L (standard deviation: 1.34) (p 〈 0.001). Patients in rural areas and with lower education level showed higher FPG and poorer KAP level both before and after the intervention. In conclusion, community-based comprehensive intervention for T2DM is feasible on a large population. Improving and repeating the comprehensive strategy is greatly recommended in order to sustain the impact, especially in rural areas and for patients with lower education levels.

Beschreibung: The South Korean government has long been attempting to reduce the nation’s heavy reliance on fossil fuels and increase environmental safety by developing and installing renewable power generation infrastructures and implementing policies for promoting the green growth of Korea’s energy industry. This study focuses on the use of independent renewable power generation systems in the more than 3000 officially affirmed islands off Korea’s coast and proposes a simulated solution to the electricity load demand on Ulleungdo Island that incorporates several energy sources (including solar, batteries, and wind) as well as one hydro-electric and two diesel generators. Recommendations based on the simulation results and the limitations of the study are discussed.

Beschreibung: Evaluation of the sustainability of biomass pyrolysis requires a thorough assessment of the product yields and energy densities. With this purpose, a laboratory scale fixed bed reactor (FBR) was adapted from the standard Gray-King (GK) assay test on coal to conduct fixed bed pyrolysis experiments on agricultural and agro-industrial by-products. The present study provides results on the pyrolysis of two types of biomass: chipped olive tree trimmings (OT) and olive pomace (OP). Solid (char) and liquid (tar) product yields are reported. Mass yields are determined and compared with values obtained in similar works. Results indicate that char yield decreases from 49% (OT-db) and 50% (OP-db) at 325 °C to 26% (OT db) and 30% (OP-db) at 650 °C. Tar yield is almost constant (42%) at different reaction temperatures for OT, while it decreases slightly from 42% to 35% for OP. Energy density of the products at different peak temperatures is almost constant for OT (1.2), but slightly increases for OP (from a value of 1.3 to a value of 1.4).

Beschreibung: Efficient delivery and precision provision of urban public services concern quality of urban life and urban sustainability. Amid much debate regarding citizen assessments as a policy tool of public services, this study examines the validity of citizen assessments through user assessments of urban green spaces (UGSs) in Guangzhou, China. Users can distinguish the qualities of UGS across the dimensions and types, the assessment of individual UGSs matches the overall assessment of all UGSs in the city as a whole, and the overall assessment is only slightly influenced by personal backgrounds. Findings consistently support user assessments as a policy tool of UGSs and offer empirical evidence on the validity of citizen assessments. This positive evidence will encourage city managers to seriously consider citizen assessments and even institutionalize them as a standard management practice of (specific) urban public services, including UGSs, in China and abroad.

Beschreibung: The aim of this study is to analyze the environmental performance of countries and the variables that can influence it. At the same time, we performed a multivariate analysis using the HJ-biplot, an exploratory method that looks for hidden patterns in the data, obtained from the usual singular value decomposition (SVD) of the data matrix, to contextualize the countries grouped by geographical areas and the variables relating to environmental indicators included in the environmental performance index. The sample used comprises 149 countries of different geographic areas. The findings obtained from the empirical analysis emphasize that socioeconomic factors, such as economic wealth and education, as well as institutional factors represented by the style of public administration, in particular control of corruption, are determinant factors of environmental performance in the countries analyzed. In contrast, no effect on environmental performance was found for factors relating to the internal characteristics of a country or political factors.

Beschreibung: The relationship between economic growth, expansion of urban land area and the broader issue of cultivated land conversion in China has been closely examined for the late 1980s and 1990s. Much less is known about recent urban expansion and if the effects of economic growth on this expansion have changed over time. This paper updates estimates of urban expansion for China and examines the relationship with city economic growth for 1993–2012. To see if patterns are robust to different types of evidence, administrative data on the area of 225 urban cores are compared to estimates of brightly lit areas from remotely sensed night lights. The trend annual expansion rate in lit area is 8% and was significantly faster in the decade to 2002 than in the most recent decade. Expansion is slower according to administrative data, at just 5% per annum, with no change in unconditional expansion rates between decades, while conditional expansion rates have declined. The elasticity of area with respect to city economic output is about 0.3. Over time, expansion of urban land area is becoming less responsive to the growth of the local non-agricultural population.

Beschreibung: In order to meet the needs of wind speed prediction in wind farms, we consider the influence of random atmospheric disturbances on wind variations. Considering a simplified fluid convection mode, a Lorenz system can be employed as an atmospheric disturbance model. Here Lorenz disturbance is defined as the European norm of the solutions of the Lorenz equation. Grey generating and accumulated generating models are employed to explore the relationship between wind speed and its related disturbance series. We conclude that a linear or quadric polynomial generating model are optimal through the verification of short-term wind speed prediction in the Sotavento wind farm. The new proposed model not only greatly improves the precision of short-term wind speed prediction, but also has great significance for the maintenance and stability of wind power system operation.

Beschreibung: In this study a microclimate analysis on a particular urban configuration: the—street canyon—has been carried out. The analysis, conducted by performing numerical simulations using the finite volumes commercial code ANSYS-Fluent, shows the flow field in an urban environment, taking into account three different aspect ratios (H/W). This analysis can be helpful in the study on urban microclimate and on the heat exchanges with the buildings. Fluid-dynamic fields on vertical planes within the canyon, have been evaluated. The results show the importance of the geometrical configuration, in relation to the ratio between the height (H) of the buildings and the width (W) of the road. This is a very important subject from the point of view of “Smart Cities”, considering the urban canyon as a subsystem of a larger one (the city), which is affected by climate changes.

Beschreibung: This paper analyzes the differences in the amount and the structure of residential energy consumption at the provincial level in China and identifies the hidden factors behind such differences. The econometrical analysis reveals that population, economic development level, energy resource endowment and climatic conditions are the main factors driving residential energy consumption; while the regional differences in energy consumption per capita and the consumption structure can be mainly illustrated by various economic development levels, energy resource endowments and climatic conditions. Economic development level has a significant positive impact on the proportion of gasoline consumption, whereas its impact on the proportion of electricity consumption is not notable; energy resource endowment and climatic condition indirectly affect both the proportion of electricity consumption and that of gasoline consumption, primarily through their impacts on the proportions of coal consumption and heat consumption.

Beschreibung: A model is described that can be used to estimate the bulk polarization of largerotating meteoroids in the magnetic field of a neutron star. The results of this model areapplicable to the Supernova Neutrino Amino Acid Processing model, which describes onepossible way in which the amino acids, known in nearly all cases to exhibit supramolecularchirality, could have become enantiomeric.

Beschreibung: H-type finned tube heat exchanger elements maintain a high capacity for heat transfer, possess superior self-cleaning properties and retain the ability to effect flue gas waste heat recovery in boiler renovations. In this paper, the heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of H-type finned tube banks are studied via an experimental open high-temperature wind tunnel system. The effects of fin width, fin height, fin pitch and air velocity on fin efficiency, convective heat transfer coefficient, integrated heat transfer capacity and pressure drop are examined. The results indicate that as air velocity, fin height and fin width increase, fin efficiency decreases. Convective heat transfer coefficient is proportional to fin pitch, but inversely proportional to fin height and fin width. Integrated heat transfer capacity is related to fin efficiency, convective heat transfer coefficient and finned ratio. Pressure drop increases with the increase of fin height and fin width. Finally, predictive correlations of fin efficiency, Nusselt number and Euler Number are developed based on the experimental data.

Beschreibung: This paper is devoted to the analysis and design of high performance permanent-magnet synchronous wind generators (PSWGs). A systematic and sequential methodology for the design of PMSGs is proposed with a high performance wind generator as a design model. Aiming at high induced voltage, low harmonic distortion as well as high generator efficiency, optimal generator parameters such as pole-arc to pole-pitch ratio and stator-slot-shoes dimension, etc. are determined with the proposed technique using Maxwell 2-D, Matlab software and the Taguchi method. The proposed double three-phase and six-phase winding configurations, which consist of six windings in the stator, can provide evenly distributed current for versatile applications regarding the voltage and current demands for practical consideration. Specifically, windings are connected in series to increase the output voltage at low wind speed, and in parallel during high wind speed to generate electricity even when either one winding fails, thereby enhancing the reliability as well. A PMSG is designed and implemented based on the proposed method. When the simulation is performed with a 6 Ω load, the output power for the double three-phase winding and six-phase winding are correspondingly 10.64 and 11.13 kW. In addition, 24 Ω load experiments show that the efficiencies of double three-phase winding and six-phase winding are 96.56% and 98.54%, respectively, verifying the proposed high performance operation.

Beschreibung: To meet Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) cellulosic biofuel mandates, the United States will require an annual domestic supply of about 242 million Mg of biomass by 2022. To improve the feedstock logistics of lignocellulosic biofuels in order to access available biomass resources from areas with varying yields, commodity systems have been proposed and designed to deliver quality-controlled biomass feedstocks at preprocessing “depots”. Preprocessing depots densify and stabilize the biomass prior to long-distance transport and delivery to centralized biorefineries. The logistics of biomass commodity supply chains could introduce spatially variable environmental impacts into the biofuel life cycle due to needing to harvest, move, and preprocess biomass from multiple distances that have variable spatial density. This study examines the uncertainty in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of corn stover logistics within a bio-ethanol supply chain in the state of Kansas, where sustainable biomass supply varies spatially. Two scenarios were evaluated each having a different number of depots of varying capacity and location within Kansas relative to a central commodity-receiving biorefinery to test GHG emissions uncertainty. The first scenario sited four preprocessing depots evenly across the state of Kansas but within the vicinity of counties having high biomass supply density. The second scenario located five depots based on the shortest depot-to-biorefinery rail distance and biomass availability. The logistics supply chain consists of corn stover harvest, collection and storage, feedstock transport from field to biomass preprocessing depot, preprocessing depot operations, and commodity transport from the biomass preprocessing depot to the biorefinery. Monte Carlo simulation was used to estimate the spatial uncertainty in the feedstock logistics gate-to-gate sequence. Within the logistics supply chain GHG emissions are most sensitive to the transport of the densified biomass, which introduces the highest variability (0.2–13 g CO2e/MJ) to life cycle GHG emissions. Moreover, depending upon the biomass availability and its spatial density and surrounding transportation infrastructure (road and rail), logistics can increase the variability in life cycle environmental impacts for lignocellulosic biofuels. Within Kansas, life cycle GHG emissions could range from 24 g CO2e/MJ to 41 g CO2e/MJ depending upon the location, size and number of preprocessing depots constructed. However, this range can be minimized through optimizing the siting of preprocessing depots where ample rail infrastructure exists to supply biomass commodity to a regional biorefinery supply system.

Beschreibung: Urbanization transforms urban-rural landscape and profoundly affects ecological processes. To maintain a sustainable urbanization, two important issues of land-use need to be quantified: the comprehensive variation of urban-rural construction land and the specific models for consolidating these lands. The purpose of this study is to develop a framework to assess the change of urban-rural construction land and build a decision-support system for consolidating these lands. Four sub-layers were first built in the assessment framework, including the characteristic layer, the coordination layer, the potential layer and the urgency layer. Each layer encompassed specific indices for evaluating the change of urban-rural construction land in different aspects. The entropy method was then applied to the data resources from Landsat TM (Thematic Mapper) images, statistical data and overall land-use and land consolidation planning of Nantong city in coastal China to allocate weightings to the indices in each sub-layer. Finally, the decision-support system was built based on the assessment results and the degree of importance for consolidating urban and rural construction land, respectively. The results of our study show an overall investigation and quantitative description of the change of urban-rural construction land and provide an effective framework for land consolidation and land use management.

Beschreibung: The identification and characterization of particulate matter (PM) concentrations from construction site activities pose major challenges due to the diverse characteristics related to different aspects, such as concentration, particle size and particle composition. Moreover, the characterization of particulate matter is influenced by meteorological conditions, including temperature, humidity, rainfall and wind speed. This paper is part of a broader investigation that aims to develop a methodology for assessing the environmental impacts caused by the PM emissions that arise from construction activities. The objective of this paper is to identify and characterize the PM emissions on a construction site with different aerodynamic diameters (PM2.5, PM10, total suspended particulates (TSP)), based on an exploratory study. Initially, a protocol was developed to standardize the construction site selection criteria, laboratory procedures, field sample collection and laboratory analysis. This protocol was applied on a multifamily residential building construction site during three different construction phases (earthworks, superstructure and finishings) aimed at measuring and monitoring PM concentrations arising from construction activities. The particulate matter was characterized in different particle sizes. Results showed that the higher TSP emissions arising from construction activities provoked environmental impacts. Some limitations to the results were identified, especially with regards the need for a detailed investigation about the influence of different construction phases on PM emissions. The findings provided significant knowledge about various situations, serving as a basis for improving the existing methodology for particulate material collection on construction sites and the development of future studies on the specific construction site phases.

Beschreibung: With a unique cultural background and fast economic development, China’s adoption of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become the center of discussion worldwide, and its successful implementation will have great significance for global sustainability. This paper aims to explore how CSR has given way to economic growth in China since the start of economic transition and its cultural, historical and political background, and how this has affected or been affected by the economic performance of firms. Thus, the recent calls for China to adopt CSR in its industries follow a period where the country arguably had one of the strongest implementations of CSR approaches in the world. This transition is considered in the context of a case study of a Chinese state-owned enterprise (SOE) and a group of small private firms in the same industrial sector in Zhengzhou City, Henan Province over a time span of eight years. While the CSR of the SOE has been steadily decreasing along with the change of ownership structure, its economic performance did not improve as expected. On the other hand, with a steady improvement in economic performance, the small private firms are showing a great reluctance to engage in CSR. The results indicate that implementation of CSR in China needs both the manager’s ethical awareness and the change of institutional framework. The results also raise the question as to whether CSR is a universal concept with a desired means of implementation across the developed and developing world.

Beschreibung: A simple and inexpensive method based on solvent extraction followed by low temperature clean-up was applied for determination of seven pyrethroids residues in bovine raw milk using gas chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) and gas chromatography with electron-capture detector (GC-ECD). Sample extraction procedure was established through the evaluation of seven different extraction protocols, evaluated in terms of analyte recovery and cleanup efficiency. Sample preparation optimization was based on Doehlert design using fifteen runs with three different variables. Response surface methodologies and polynomial analysis were used to define the best extraction conditions. Method validation was carried out based on SANCO guide parameters and assessed by multivariate analysis. Method performance was considered satisfactory since mean recoveries were between 87% and 101% for three distinct concentrations. Accuracy and precision were lower than ±20%, and led to no significant differences (p 〈 0.05) between results obtained by GC-ECD and GC-MS/MS techniques. The method has been applied to routine analysis for determination of pyrethroid residues in bovine raw milk in the Brazilian National Residue Control Plan since 2013, in which a total of 50 samples were analyzed.

Beschreibung: Interdisciplinary sustainability science teamwork skills are essential for addressing the world’s most pressing and complex sustainability problems, which inherently have social, natural, and engineering science dimensions. Further, because sustainability science problems exist at global scales, interdisciplinary science teams will need to consist of international members who communicate and work together effectively. Students trained in international interdisciplinary science skills will be able to hit the ground running when they obtain jobs requiring them to tackle sustainability problems. While many universities now have sustainability science programs, few offer courses that are interdisciplinary and international in scope. In the fall semester of 2013, we piloted a course for graduate students entitled “Principles of Interdisciplinary Sustainability Research” at Michigan Technological University. This course was part of our United States National Science Foundation Partnerships in International Research and Education project on bioenergy development impacts across the Americas. In this case study, we describe the course development and implementation, share critical insights from our experience teaching the course and student learning outcomes, and give recommendations for future similar courses.

Beschreibung: Patients with limited English proficiency have known limitations accessing health care, but differences in hospital outcomes once access is obtained are unknown. We investigate inpatient mortality rates and obstetric trauma for self-reported speakers of English, Spanish, and languages of Asia and the Pacific Islands (API) and compare quality of care by language with patterns by race/ethnicity. Data were from the United States Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, 2009 State Inpatient Databases for California. There were 3,757,218 records. Speaking a non-English principal language and having a non-White race/ethnicity did not place patients at higher risk for inpatient mortality; the exception was significantly higher stroke mortality for Japanese-speaking patients. Patients who spoke API languages or had API race/ethnicity had higher risk for obstetric trauma than English-speaking White patients. Spanish-speaking Hispanic patients had more obstetric trauma than English-speaking Hispanic patients. The influence of language on obstetric trauma and the potential effects of interpretation services on inpatient care are discussed. The broader context of policy implications for collection and reporting of language data is also presented. Results from other countries with and without English as a primary language are needed for the broadest interpretation and generalization of outcomes.

Beschreibung: Large private sector investments in low- and middle-income countries are often critically evaluated with regards to their environmental, social, human rights, and health impacts. A health impact assessment, including a baseline health survey, was commissioned by the Addax Bioenergy Sierra Leone project in 2010. As part of the monitoring, a follow-up survey was conducted three years later. A set of health indicators was assessed at six impacted and two control sites. Most of these indices improved, particularly at the impacted sites. The prevalences of stunting, wasting, and Plasmodium falciparum in children under five years of age decreased significantly at impacted sites (all p 〈 0.05) and non-significantly at control sites. Anemia in children and in women of reproductive age (15–49 years) decreased significantly at impacted and control sites (p 〈 0.05 and p 〈 0.001, respectively). Health facility-based deliveries increased significantly at the impacted sites (p 〈 0.05). The prevalences of helminth infections in children aged 10–15 years remained approximately at the same levels, although focal increases at the impacted sites were noted. Access to improved sanitation decreased significantly (p 〈 0.05) at control and non-significantly at impacted sites. Water quality remained poor without significant changes. The epidemiologic monitoring of a bioenergy project provides a useful contribution for evidence-based decision-making.

Beschreibung: Elderly persons’ perceived accessibility to railway traveling depends on their functional limitations/diseases, their functional abilities and their travel behaviors in interaction with the barriers encountered during whole trips. A survey was conducted on a random sample of 1000 city residents (65–85 years old; 57% response rate). The travels were perceived least accessible by respondents with severely reduced functional ability and by those with more than one functional limitation/disease (e.g., restricted mobility and chronic pain). Those who traveled “often”, perceived the accessibility to be better than those who traveled less frequently. For travelers with high functional ability, the main barriers to more frequent traveling were travel costs and low punctuality. For those with low functional ability, one’s own health was reported to be the main barrier. Our results clarify the links among existing functional limitations/functional abilities, the barriers encountered, the travel behavior, and the overall accessibility to traveling. By operationalizing the whole-trip concept as a chain of events, we deliver practical knowledge on vulnerable groups for decision-making to improve the transport environment for all.

Beschreibung: Sustainable water management (SWM) requires allocating between competing water sector demands, and balancing the financial and social resources required to support necessary water systems. The objective of this review is to assess SWM in three sectors: urban, agricultural, and natural systems. This review explores the following questions: (1) How is SWM defined and evaluated? (2) What are the challenges associated with sustainable development in each sector? (3) What are the areas of greatest potential improvement in urban and agricultural water management systems? And (4) What role does country development status have in SWM practices? The methods for evaluating water management practices range from relatively simple indicator methods to integration of multiple models, depending on the complexity of the problem and resources of the investigators. The two key findings and recommendations for meeting SWM objectives are: (1) all forms of water must be considered usable, and reusable, water resources; and (2) increasing agricultural crop water production represents the largest opportunity for reducing total water consumption, and will be required to meet global food security needs. The level of regional development should not dictate sustainability objectives, however local infrastructure conditions and financial capabilities should inform the details of water system design and evaluation.

Beschreibung: In most emerging economies, there has been many incentives and high availability of funding for low-cost housing projects. This has encouraged product standardization and the application of mass production ideas, based on the assumption that this is the most effective strategy for reducing costs. However, the delivery of highly standardized housing units to customers with different needs, without considering their lifestyle and perception of value, often results in inadequate products. Mass customization has been pointed out as an effective strategy to improve value generation in low-cost housing projects, and to avoid waste caused by renovations done in dwellings soon after occupancy. However, one of the main challenges for the implementation of mass customization is the definition of a set of relevant options based on users’ perceived value. The aim of this paper is to propose a method for defining value adding attributes in customized housing projects, which can support decision-making in product development. The means-end chain theory was used as theoretical framework to connect product attributes and costumers’ values, through the application of the laddering technique. The method was tested in two house-building projects delivered by a company from Brazil. The main contribution of this method is to indicate the customization units that are most important for users along with the explanation of why those units are the most relevant ones.

Beschreibung: A fiber optic daylighting system is an evolving technology for transporting illumination from sunlight into building interiors. This system is a solution developed by daylighting designers to reduce operational costs and enhance comfort. As an innovative technology, fiber optic daylighting systems can illuminate building interiors efficiently compared with other daylighting strategies. However, as a transmission medium in daylighting systems, optical fibers require uniform light distribution in sunlight concentration, which could generate heat. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effect of heat buildup produced by end-emitting fiber optic daylighting systems in tropical buildings. The applied method adopts a new fiber optic daylighting system technology from Sweden called Parans SP3, with a 10 m cable to be tested in an actual room size under the Malaysian climatic environment, particularly within the vicinity of the main campus of the Universiti Sains Malaysia. Results show that the system generated a temperature of 1.3 °C under average conditions through fiber optic diffusers and increases indoor temperature by 0.8 °C in a 60 m3 room. According to the results, applying fiber optic daylighting systems, as renewable energy sources, generates extra heat gain in building interiors in the tropics.

Beschreibung: Coastal fisheries contribute to global food security, since fish are an important source of protein for many coastal communities in the world. However, they are constrained by problems, such as weak management of fisheries and overfishing. Local communities perceive that they are fishing less, as in other fisheries in the world. The aim of this study was to evaluate the fisheries sustainability in the Jalisco coast through the fishing footprint, or fishprint (FP), based on the primary productivity required (PPR) and the appropriated surface by the activity (biocapacity). The total catch was 20,448.2 metric tons from 2002–2012, and the average footprint was calculated to be 65,458 gha/year, a figure that quadrupled in a period of 10 years; the biocapacity decreased, and the average trophic level of catches was 3.1, which implies that it has remained at average levels, resulting in a positive balance between biocapacity and ecological footprint. Therefore, under this approach, the fishing activity is sustainable along the coast of Jalisco.

Beschreibung: Long-Term Evolution (LTE) is a fourth-generation mobile communication technology implemented throughout the world. It is the communication means of smartphones that send and receive all of the private date of individuals. M2M, IOT, etc., are the base technologies of mobile communication that will be used in the future cyber world. However, identification parameters, such as International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), Radio Network Temporary Identities (RNTI), etc., in the initial attach section for accessing the LTE network are presented with the vulnerability of being exposed as clear text. Such vulnerability does not end in a mere identification parameter, but can lead to a secondary attack using the identification parameter, such as replication of the smartphone, illegal use of the mobile communication network, etc. This paper proposes a security protocol to safely transmit identification parameters in different cases of the initial attach. The proposed security protocol solves the exposed vulnerability by encrypting the parameters in transmission. Using an OPNET simulator, it is shown that the average rate of delay and processing ratio are efficient in comparison to the existing process.

Beschreibung: Chlorpyrifos (CPF) is a commonly used organophosphate insecticide (OP). In adults, exposure to OPs has been inconsistently associated with reduced lung function. OP exposure and lung function has not been assessed in adolescents. The objective of this study was to assess CPF exposure and lung function among Egyptian adolescents. We conducted a 10-month study of male adolescent pesticide applicators (n = 38) and non-applicators of similar age (n = 24). Urinary 3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridinol (TPCy), a CPF-specific metabolite, was analyzed in specimens collected throughout the study. Spirometry was performed twice after pesticide application: day 146, when TCPy levels were elevated and day 269, when TCPy levels were near baseline. Applicators had higher levels of TCPy (mean cumulative TCPy day 146 = 33,217.6; standard deviation (SD) = 49,179.3) than non-applicators (mean cumulative TCPy day 146 = 3290.8; SD = 3994.9). Compared with non-applicators, applicators had higher odds of reporting wheeze, odds ratio = 3.41 (95% CI: 0.70; 17.41). Cumulative urinary TCPy was inversely associated with spirometric measurements at day 146, but not at day 269. Although generally non-significant, results were consistent with an inverse association between exposure to CPF and lung function.

Beschreibung: Diatoms are a highly diversified group of algae that are widely distributed in aquatic ecosystems, and various species have different nutrient and temperature requirements for optimal growth. Here, we describe unusual psychrophilic diatoms of Cymbella in a travertine deposition environment in southwestern China in winter season. Travertine surfaces are colonized by these psychrophilic diatoms, which form biofilms of extracellular polysaccharide substances (EPS) with active metabolic activities in extremely cold conditions. The travertine in Huanglong, is a typical single crystalline calcite with anisotropic lattice distortions of unit cell parameters along axes of a and c, and this structure is suggestive of some level of metabolic mediation on mineralization. Near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (NEXAFS) results further confirmed the occurrence of biogenic distortion of the crystal lattice of travertine calcite. Overall, our results imply that the metabolic influence of psychrophilic diatoms may be particularly important for promoting formation and dissolution of travertine in extremely cold environments of Huanglong. The EPS of psychrophilic diatoms will protect travertine from HCO3− etching and provide template for forming travertine when water re-flowing, in warm season.

Beschreibung: The aim of this study is to investigate the relationships between road traffic noise exposure, annoyance caused by different noise sources and validated health indicators in a cohort of 1375 adults from the region of Basel, Switzerland. Road traffic noise exposure for each study participant was determined using modelling, and annoyance from various noise sources was inquired by means of a four-point Likert scale. Regression parameters from multivariable regression models for the von Zerssen score of somatic symptoms (point symptom score increase per annoyance category) showed strongest associations with annoyance from industry noise (2.36, 95% CI: 1.54, 3.17), neighbour noise (1.62, 95% CI: 1.17, 2.06) and road traffic noise (1.53, 95% CI: 1.09, 1.96). Increase in modelled noise exposure by 10 dB(A) resulted in a von Zerssen symptom score increase of 0.47 (95% CI: −0.01, 0.95) units. Subsequent structural equation modelling revealed that the association between physical noise exposure and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is strongly mediated by annoyance and sleep disturbance. This study elucidates the complex interplay of different factors for the association between physical noise exposure and HRQOL.

Beschreibung: Background: Lead is a pervasive pollutant, associated at low levels to many adverse health effects. Objective: To investigate lead levels, exposure pathways and intervention possibilities in school children from Alpuyeca, in Morelos, Mexico. Methods: Blood lead concentrations (BPb) were measured in 226 children in 2011. Exposure pathways were assessed through a questionnaire, lead measurements in different environmental matrices and spatial aggregation analysis of lead concentrations. Results: BPb ranged from 1.5 to 36.5 µg/dL, with a mean (SD) of 7.23 (4.9) µg/dL. Sixty-four and 18% of the children had BPb > 5 µg/dL and > 10 µg/dL, respectively. The use of lead glazed ceramics was reported in almost half of the households; it was the main BPb determinant and it was associated with an increased risk of having BPb > 5 g/dL by 2.7 times (p = 0.001). Environmental samples were within US EPA’s lead recommended limits, and blood lead levels were randomly distributed in the community. Conclusions: Lead remains a public health problem in Alpuyeca, Mexico. Unlike other local pollutants, lead exposure prevention can be achieved inexpensively and in a short term. Interventions should make mothers aware of lead’s health effects and empower them to safeguard their children’s health by avoiding the culturally ingrained use of lead glazed pottery.Background: Lead is a pervasive pollutant, associated at low levels to many adverse health effects. Objective: To investigate lead levels, exposure pathways and intervention possibilities in school children from Alpuyeca, in Morelos, Mexico. Methods: Blood lead concentrations (BPb) were measured in 226 children in 2011. Exposure pathways were assessed through a questionnaire, lead measurements in different environmental matrices and spatial aggregation analysis of lead concentrations. Results: BPb ranged from 1.5 to 36.5 µg/dL, with a mean (SD) of 7.23 (4.9) µg/dL. Sixty-four and 18% of the children had BPb > 5 µg/dL and > 10 µg/dL, respectively. The use of lead glazed ceramics was reported in almost half of the households; it was the main BPb determinant and it was associated with an increased risk of having BPb > 5 g/dL by 2.7 times (p = 0.001). Environmental samples were within US EPA’s lead recommended limits, and blood lead levels were randomly distributed in the community. Conclusions: Lead remains a public health problem in Alpuyeca, Mexico. Unlike other local pollutants, lead exposure prevention can be achieved inexpensively and in a short term. Interventions should make mothers aware of lead’s health effects and empower them to safeguard their children’s health by avoiding the culturally ingrained use of lead glazed pottery.

Beschreibung: Crotamine is one of the main constituents of the venom of the South American rattlesnake Crotalus durissus terrificus. Here we sought to investigate the inflammatory and toxicological effects induced by the intrahippocampal administration of crotamine isolated from Crotalus whole venom. Adult rats received an intrahippocampal infusion of crotamine or vehicle and were euthanized 24 h or 21 days after infusion. Plasma and brain tissue were collected for biochemical analysis. Complete blood count, creatinine, urea, glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT), glutamic pyruvic transaminase (GPT), creatine-kinase (CK), creatine kinase-muscle B (CK-MB) and oxidative parameters (assessed by DNA damage and micronucleus frequency in leukocytes, lipid peroxidation and protein carbonyls in plasma and brain) were quantified. Unpaired and paired t-tests were used for comparisons between saline and crotamine groups, and within groups (24 h vs. 21 days), respectively. After 24 h crotamine infusion promoted an increase of urea, GOT, GPT, CK, and platelets values (p ≤ 0.01), while red blood cells, hematocrit and leukocytes values decreased (p ≤ 0.01). Additionally, 21 days after infusion crotamine group showed increased creatinine, leukocytes, TBARS (plasma and brain), carbonyl (plasma and brain) and micronucleus compared to the saline-group (p ≤ 0.01). Our findings show that crotamine infusion alter hematological parameters and cardiac markers, as well as oxidative parameters, not only in the brain, but also in the blood, indicating a systemic pro-inflammatory and toxicological activity. A further scientific attempt in terms of preserving the beneficial activity over toxicity is required.

Beschreibung: We have recently been made aware by Prof. Sharon Megdal (The University of Arizona) and Dr. Peter Dillon (CSIRO) of some errors and omissions in our recent paper [1]. The authors wish to make the following corrections to this paper:[...]

Beschreibung: Global climate change is affecting health and mortality, particularly in vulnerable populations. High ambient temperatures decrease blood pressure (BP) in young and middle aged adults and may lead to orthostatic hypotension, increasing the risk of falls in older adults. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of a test protocol to investigate BP response and aerobic capacity of older adults in a hot indoor environment. BP response and aerobic capacity were assessed in 26 community-dwelling older women (median age 75.5 years) at a room temperature of either 20 °C or 30 °C. The protocol was well tolerated by all participants. In the 30 °C condition systolic and diastolic BP (median difference 10 and 8 mmHg, respectively) and distance walked in 6 min (median difference 29.3 m) were lower than in the 20 °C condition (all p 〈 0.01). Systolic BP decreased after standing up from a lying position in the 30 °C (17.4 mmHg) and 20 °C (14.2 mmHg) condition (both p 〈 0.001). In conclusion, the protocol is feasible in this cohort and should be repeated in older adults with poor physical performance and impaired cardio-vascular response mechanisms. Furthermore, aerobic capacity was reduced after exposure to hot environmental temperatures, which should be considered when recommending exercise to older people during the summer months.

Beschreibung: Avoiding or minimizing potential environmental impact is the driving idea behind protecting a population’s health via Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) and Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEAs). However, both are often carried out without any systematic approach. This paper describes the findings of a review of HIA, EIA and SEA experiences carried out by the authors, who act as institutional competent subjects at the national and regional levels in Italy. The analysis of how health is tackled in EIA and SEA procedures could support the definition of a protocol for the integration of HIA with EIA and SEA. Although EIA and SEA approaches include the aim of protecting health, significant technical and methodological gaps are present when assessing health systematically, and their basic principles regarding assessment are unsatisfactory for promoting and addressing healthcare concepts stated by the WHO. HIA is still poorly integrated into the decision-making process, screening and monitoring phases are only occasionally implemented, and operational details are not well-defined. The collaborative approach of institutions involved in environment and health is a core element in a systematic advancement toward supporting effective decisions and effective protection of the environment and health. At the Italian national level, the definition of guidelines and tools for HIA, also in relation with EIA and SEA, is of great interest.

Beschreibung: There is expedient evidence showing that differences in adolescent alcohol consumption and other risk-behaviour depend on both family structure and family member drunkenness exposure. Data were obtained among adolescents (N = 12,115, mean age 14.9 ± 0.89) in Austria, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Romania, Slovenia and Spain within the European Union’s 7th Framework Programme funded project, ‘Saving and Empowering Young Lives in Europe (SEYLE)’. The current study reveals how adolescents’ alcohol consumption patterns are related to their family structure and having seen their family member drunk. The results revealed statistically significant differences in adolescent alcohol consumption depending on whether the adolescent lives in a family with both birth parents, in a single-parent family or in a family with one birth parent and one step-parent. The study also revealed that the abstaining from alcohol percentage among adolescents was greater in families with both birth parents compared to other family types. The study also showed that the more often adolescents see their family member drunk the more they drink themselves. There is no difference in adolescent drinking patterns whether they see their family member drunk once a month or once a week. This study gives an insight on which subgroups of adolescents are at heightened risk of alcohol abuse and that decrease of family member drunkenness may have positive effects on the drinking habits of their children.

Beschreibung: This paper analyzed the characteristic of the tourism destination ecosystem from perspective of entropy in Dunhuang City. Given these circumstances, an evaluation index system that considers the potential of sustainable development was formed based on dissipative structure and entropy change for the tourism destination ecosystem. The sustainable development potential evaluation model for tourism destination ecosystem was built up based on information entropy. Then, we analyzed each indicator impact for the sustainable development potential and proposed some measures for the tourism destination ecosystem. The conclusions include: (a) the requirements of Dunhuang tourism destination ecosystem on the natural ecosystem continuously grew between 2000 and 2012; (b) The sustainable development potential of the Dunhuang tourism destination ecosystem was on an oscillation upward trend during the study period, which is dependent on government attention, and pollution problems were improved.

Beschreibung: Measures of soil and water conservation (SWC) could affect the hydrological process. The impacts of typical measures on groundwater recharge, levels and flow were analyzed based on simulated rainfall experiments and a groundwater model. The three-dimensional finite-difference groundwater flow model (MODFLOW) was calibrated and verified for bare slope, grassland and straw mulching scenarios based on the experiments. The results of the verification in groundwater balance, levels, runoff and flow field all showed that MODFLOW could be applied to study the impact of SWC measures on groundwater. Meanwhile, the results showed the recharge rate (α) and specific yield of the three soil layers (Sy1, Sy2 and Sy3) were the most sensitive parameters to the change in the underlying surface. Then, the impacts of the SWC measures’ construction and destruction on the groundwater regime were studied. The results indicated the measures could strengthen groundwater recharge. The amounts of groundwater recharge, runoff and level were on the order of straw mulching > grassland > bare slope. When the underlying surface was converted from grass and mulching to bare slope, the recharge decreased by 42.2% and 39.1%. It was concluded that SWC measure construction would increase groundwater recharge and the measure destruction would decrease recharge.

Beschreibung: In three-phase inverters used in uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs), three-limb inductors and three-limb transformers are commonly used in consideration of cost and size. However, magnetic coupling exists between the three phases of the inverter, which can result in complex models. When instantaneous feedback control strategies are introduced to achieve high quality output waveforms, the transient analysis of the closed-loop inverters becomes difficult. In this paper, the phenomenon of magnetic coupling in three-phase inverters due to three-limb inductors and three-limb transformers is analyzed. A decoupled dynamic model is derived based on the instantaneous symmetrical components transformation, which comprises three decoupled equivalent circuits of instantaneous symmetrical components. Analyses based on this model indicate that magnetic coupling may have a significant impact on the performance of three-phase inverters under unbalanced load conditions and transient responses. For three-phase inverters in UPSs with Proportional-Integral-Differential (PID) closed-loop control strategies, the interactive influence between instantaneous closed-loop regulation and magnetic coupling is researched. Finally, a method of reliability analysis and PID controller design for inverters with magnetic coupling is derived. Simulation and experiment results validate the model and conclusions.

Beschreibung: The aim of this paper is to present a thermodynamic cycle for the production of electrical power in the 2–5 kW range, suitable for all types of thermally propelled vehicles. The sensible heat recovered from the exhaust gases feeds the energy recovery system, which is able to produce sufficient power to sustain the air conditioning system or other auxiliaries. The working fluids R134a and R245fa have been used in the ORC system, and the systems are simulated by CAMEL-ProTM software. The cycles are generated starting from the same heat source: the exhaust gas of a typical 2.0 L Diesel engine (or from a small size turbine engine). The design of the condenser has been performed to obtain a very compact component, evaluating the heat exchanger tube and fins type design. Through empirical formulas, the area of heat exchange, the heat required to exchange and the pressure drop in the element have been calculated. A commercial software package is used to build the model of the condenser, then a thermal and mechanical analysis and a CFD analysis are realized to estimate the heat exchange. Finally the evaluations, the possible future studies and possible improvements of the system are shown.

Beschreibung: In urban Maroua, Cameroon, improved drinking water sources are available to a large majority of the population, yet this water is frequently distributed through informal distribution systems and stored in home containers (canaries), leaving it vulnerable to contamination. We assessed where contamination occurs within the distribution system, determined potential sources of environmental contamination, and investigated potential pathogens. Gastrointestinal health status (785 individuals) was collected via health surveys. Drinking water samples were collected from drinking water sources and canaries. Escherichia coli and total coliform levels were evaluated and molecular detection was performed to measure human-associated faecal marker, HF183; tetracycline-resistance gene, tetQ; Campylobacter spp.; and Staphylococcus aureus. Statistical analyses were performed to evaluate the relationship between microbial contamination and gastrointestinal illness. Canari samples had higher levels of contamination than source samples. HF183 and tetQ were detected in home and source samples. An inverse relationship was found between tetQ and E. coli. Presence of tetQ with lower E. coli levels increased the odds of reported diarrhoeal illness than E. coli levels alone. Further work is warranted to better assess the relationship between antimicrobial-resistant bacteria and other pathogens in micro-ecosystems within canaries and this relationship’s impact on drinking water quality.

Beschreibung: Exploring the relationship between different services has become the focus of ecosystem services research in recent years. The agro-ecosystem, which accounts for one-third of the global land area, provides lots of services but also disservices, depending on resources provided by other systems. In this paper, we explored the agro-ecosystem from four aspects: a summary of different indicators in the agro-ecosystem, input and output changes with time, relationships between different ecosystem services and disservices, and resource contribution to major services, using Luancheng County of North China as the study area. We then used emergy analysis to unify all the indicators. The conclusions were that the agro-ecosystem maintained provisioning and regulating services but with increasing volatility under continued growth in production inputs and disservice outputs. There was a positive correlation between most of the different services and disservices. Rainfall and groundwater resources were the most used input resources in the agro-ecosystem and all other major ecosystem services depended directly on them.

Beschreibung: Integrated analysis on socio-economic metabolism could provide a basis for understanding and optimizing regional sustainability. The paper conducted socio-economic metabolism analysis by means of the emergy accounting method coupled with data envelopment analysis and decomposition analysis techniques to assess the sustainability of Qingyang city and its eight sub-region system, as well as to identify the major driving factors of performance change during 2000–2007, to serve as the basis for future policy scenarios. The results indicate that Qingyang greatly depended on non-renewable emergy flows and feedback (purchased) emergy flows, except the two sub-regions, named Huanxian and Huachi, which highly depended on renewable emergy flow. Zhenyuan, Huanxian and Qingcheng were identified as being relatively emergy efficient, and the other five sub-regions have potential to reduce natural resource inputs and waste output to achieve the goal of efficiency. The results of decomposition analysis show that the economic growth, as well as the increased emergy yield ratio and population not accompanied by a sufficient increase of resource utilization efficiency are the main drivers of the unsustainable economic model in Qingyang and call for polices to promote the efficiency of resource utilization and to optimize natural resource use.

Beschreibung: In recent years, there has been an increase in the types of marine weapons used in response to diverse hostile threats. However, because marine weapons are only tested under a single set of environmental conditions, failures due to different environmental stresses have been difficult to detect. Hence, this study proposes an environmental test sequence for multi-environment testing. The environmental test sequences for electrical units described in the international standard IEC 60068-1, and for military supply described in the United States national standard MIL-STD-810G were investigated to propose guidelines for the appropriate test sequences. This study demonstrated the need for tests in multiple environments by investigating marine weapon accidents, and evaluated which environmental stresses and test items have the largest impacts on marine weapons using a two-phase quality function deployment (QFD) analysis of operational scenarios, environmental stresses, and environmental test items. Integer programming was used to determine the most influential test items and the shortest environmental test time, allowing us to propose optimal test procedures. Based on our analysis, we developed optimal environmental test sequences that could be selected by a test designer.

Beschreibung: A widespread dissemination of improved cooking stoves in the developing world can lead to considerable improvement of health, to reduced pressure on natural woody resources and to substantial reductions of emissions contributing to global warming. A number of programs have aimed to achieve such dissemination, while few of the programs have had any large-scale success. It has been suggested that a more commercial approach, as opposed to subsidized or freely distributed stoves, would achieve a higher level of success. However, a majority of the households that would benefit from an improved stove are poor and cannot afford the cost of the stove, especially if no monetary savings are possible from a more efficient fuel use, i.e., if the fuel used is collected biomass. The aim of this paper is to propose and evaluate a model that might overcome some of the barriers previous programs have experienced. The proposed model involves commercialization of collected fuels. The methods for evaluation include a qualitative assessment of the proposed model aided by the literature on improved cooking stove programs, fuel wood collection and fuel switching together with a quantitative simplistic model calculation of a hypothetical application of the proposed model principles, in order to assess its financial feasibility. The assessment indicates that the model would increase both households’ incentives and means to purchase and use improved cooking stoves. Furthermore, the model could possibly be partly financed based on carbon credits achieved from the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

Beschreibung: The article “Characteristics of Point Recharge in Karst Aquifers, Water 6: 2782–2807” by N. Somaratne evaluates various recharge estimation techniques applied to four limestone aquifers in South Australia. Somaratne [1] concludes that methods based on watertable fluctuations, groundwater modelling and water budgets are independent of recharge processes, and are therefore superior to the chloride mass balance (CMB) approach for karst aquifers. The current comment offers alternative interpretations from existing field measurements and previous literature, in particular for the Uley South aquifer, which is the focus of much of the article by Somaratne [1]. Conclusions regarding this system are revised, partly to account for the misrepresentation of previous studies. The aeolianite sediments of Uley South are mostly unconsolidated or poorly consolidated, and dissolution features in the calcrete capping provide point infiltration into a predominantly unconsolidated vadose zone, whereas Somaratne’s [1] findings require that the system comprises well-developed conduits in otherwise low-conductivity limestone. Somaratne’s [1] assertion that the basic premise of CMB is violated in Uley South is disputable, given strong evidence of relatively well-mixed groundwater arising from mostly diffuse recharge. The characterization of karst aquifer recharge should continue to rely on multiple techniques, including environmental tracers such as chloride.

Beschreibung: This editorial provides an overview of the special issue “Wetlands and Sustainability”. In particular, the special issue contains a review of Paul Keddy’s book “Wetland Ecology” with specific reference to wetland sustainability. It also includes papers addressing wetland data acquisition via radar and remote sensing to better understand wetland system dynamics, hydrologic processes linked to wetland stress and restoration, coastal wetlands land use conflict/management, and wetland utilization for water quality treatment.

Beschreibung: Most of the waterborne disease outbreaks observed in North America are associated with rural drinking water systems. The majority of the reported waterborne outbreaks are related to microbial agents (parasites, bacteria and viruses). Rural areas are characterized by high livestock density and lack of advanced treatment systems for animal and human waste, and wastewater. Animal waste from livestock production facilities is often applied to land without prior treatment. Biosolids (treated municipal wastewater sludge) from large wastewater facilities in urban areas are often transported and applied to land in rural areas. This situation introduces a potential for risk of human exposure to waterborne contaminants such as human and zoonotic pathogens originating from manure, biosolids, and leaking septic systems. This paper focuses on waterborne outbreaks and sources of microbial pollution in rural areas in the US, characterization of the microbial load of biosolids and manure, association of biosolid and manure application with microbial contamination of surface and groundwater, risk assessment and best management practice for biosolids and manure application to protect water quality. Gaps in knowledge are identified, and recommendations to improve the water quality in the rural areas are discussed.

Beschreibung: The impact of climate change and Baltic Sea level rise on groundwater resources in a shallow, unconfined, low-lying coastal aquifer in Hanko, southern Finland, was assessed using the UZF1 model package coupled with the three-dimensional groundwater flow model MODFLOW to simulate flow from the unsaturated zone through the aquifer. The snow and PET models were used to calculate the surface water availability for infiltration from the precipitation data used in UZF1. Infiltration rate, flow in the unsaturated zone and groundwater recharge were then simulated using UZF1. The simulation data from climate and sea level rise scenarios were compared with present data. The results indicated changes in recharge pattern during 2071–2100, with recharge occurring earlier in winter and early spring. The seasonal impacts of climate change on groundwater recharge were more significant, with surface overflow resulting in flooding during winter and early spring and drought during summer. Rising sea level would cause some parts of the aquifer to be under sea level, compromising groundwater quality due to intrusion of sea water. This, together with increased groundwater recharge, would raise groundwater levels and consequently contribute more surface leakage and potential flooding in the low-lying aquifer.

Beschreibung: The authors wish to add the following amendment and correction on their paper published in IJERPH [1]: Page 6139, Line 3 in Paragraph 3: “…Israel, [17,18],…” should read “…Israel and Palestine [17,18]…”. [...]

Beschreibung: Longitudinal data enables detecting the effect of aging/time, and as a repeated measures design is statistically more efficient compared to cross-sectional data if the correlations between repeated measurements are not large. In particular, when genotyping cost is more expensive than phenotyping cost, the collection of longitudinal data can be an efficient strategy for genetic association analysis. However, in spite of these advantages, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) with longitudinal data have rarely been analyzed taking this into account. In this report, we calculate the required sample size to achieve 80% power at the genome-wide significance level for both longitudinal and cross-sectional data, and compare their statistical efficiency. Furthermore, we analyzed the GWAS of eight phenotypes with three observations on each individual in the Korean Association Resource (KARE). A linear mixed model allowing for the correlations between observations for each individual was applied to analyze the longitudinal data, and linear regression was used to analyze the first observation on each individual as cross-sectional data. We found 12 novel genome-wide significant disease susceptibility loci that were then confirmed in the Health Examination cohort, as well as some significant interactions between age/sex and SNPs.

Beschreibung: To mitigate climate change, city authorities are developing policies in areas such as transportation, housing and energy use, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In addition to their effects on greenhouse gas emissions, these policies are likely to have consequences for the wellbeing of their populations for example through changes in opportunities to take physical exercise. In order to explore the potential consequences for wellbeing, we first explore what ‘wellbeing’ is and how it can be operationalised for urban planners. In this paper, we illustrate how wellbeing can be divided into objective and subjective aspects which can be measured quantitatively; our review of measures informs the development of a theoretical model linking wellbeing to policies which cities use to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Finally, we discuss the extent to which the links proposed in the conceptual model are supported by the literature and how cities can assess wellbeing implications of policies.

Beschreibung: Aluminum absorption leads to deposits in several tissues. In this study, we have investigated, to our knowledge for the first time, aluminum deposition in the salivary glands in addition to the resultant cellular changes in the parotid and submandibular salivary glands in a model of chronic intoxication with aluminum citrate in rats. Aluminum deposits were observed in the parotid and submandibular glands. Immunohistochemical evaluation of cytokeratin-18 revealed a decreased expression in the parotid gland with no changes in the submandibular gland. A decreased expression of α-smooth muscle actin was observed in the myoepithelial cells of both glands. The expression of metallothionein I and II (MT-I/II), a group of metal-binding proteins, which are useful indicators for detecting physiological responses to metal exposure, was higher in both glands. In conclusion, we have shown that at a certain time and quantity of dosage, aluminum citrate promotes aluminum deposition in the parotid and submandibular glands, leads to an increased expression of MT-I/II in both the glands, damages the cytoskeleton of the myoepithelial cells in both glands, and damages the cytoskeleton of the acinar/ductal cells of the parotid glands, with the submandibular glands showing resistance to the toxicity of the latter.

Beschreibung: Compensatory health beliefs (CHBs) are beliefs that an unhealthy behavior can be compensated with a healthy behavior. In line with the CHBs model, the aim of this study was twofold. First, the study investigated the relationship between autonomous motivation and CHBs that physical inactivity can be compensated by taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Second, the study focused on the associations between CHBs and readiness to use the stairs more often and stair and elevator use. Thus, a cross-sectional online questionnaire was designed that was filled out by 135 participants. Path analysis showed that individuals with stronger autonomous motivation to use the stairs strongly agreed that sedentary behavior could be compensated by taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Moreover, CHBs were positively related to readiness to change behavior, but not to self-reported stair and elevator use. Even though future research is necessary to replicate these findings, autonomous motivation seems to have a positive impact on CHBs which, in turn, might boost an intended behavior change. Thus, promoting possible compensation of physical inactivity might foster the readiness to change the unhealthy behavior.

Beschreibung: Climate change puts pressure on existing health vulnerabilities through higher frequency of extreme weather events, changes in disease vector distribution or exacerbated air pollution. Climate change adaptation policies may hold potential to reduce societal inequities. We assessed the role of public health and social justice in European climate change adaptation using a three-fold approach: a document analysis, a critical discourse analysis of a subgroup of strategies, and a ranking of strategies against our social justice framework. The ranking approach favored planning that includes various adaptation types, social issues and infrastructure changes. Themes on values identified in the five subgroup documents showed that risks are perceived as contradictory, technology is viewed as savior, responsibilities need to be negotiated, and social justice is advocated by only a few countries. Of 21 strategy documents assessed overall, those from Austria, England and Sweden received the highest scores in the ranking. Our qualitative assessment showed that in European adaptation planning, progress could still be made through community involvement into adaptation decisions, consistent consideration of social and demographic determinants, and a stronger link between infrastructural adaptation and the health sector. Overall, a social justice framework can serve as an evaluation guideline for adaptation policy documents.

Beschreibung: Cervical cancer remains a significant cause of morbidity and mortality for women in developing countries, despite the fact that inexpensive, simple and effective screening methods are available. Visual inspection of the cervix with acetic acid (VIA) can be used as part of a “reen and treat” program to identify precancerous lesions for cryotherapy treatment. This case report details how the VIA screening test was incorporated into the care of a patient presenting to a maternal health clinic in Thomonde, Haiti which was staffed by doctors and medical students from Emory University School of Medicine in collaboration with Haiti Medishare. As demonstrated here, the VIA test requires minimal materials, can be efficiently incorporated into a physical exams, provides immediate results, and is easily demonstrated to and performed by local healthcare providers. The straightforward and sensitive VIA technique is an ideal cervical cancer screening method for resource poor areas.

Beschreibung: and projection. Although China is the world's most populous country with approximately a fifth of the world's population, none of the empirical tables from mainland China were used in calibrating the existing models. In this paper, we applied recent three model life table systems with different inputs to China mortality data to investigate whether or not these systems truly reflect Chinese mortality epidemiological patterns and whether or not system biases exist. The resulting residuals show that, in most cases, the male infant mortality rate (1q0), adult mortality rate (45q15) and old age mortality rate (20q60) have a strong bias towards being overestimated and the life expectancy at birth (e0) bias is underestimated. We also give the detailed results for each case. Furthermore, we found that the average relative errors (AREs) for females are more than those for males for e0, 45q15 and 20q60, but for 1q0, males have larger AREs in the Wilmoth and Murray systems. We also found that the urban population has more errors than the rural population in almost all cases. Finally, by comparing the AREs with 10 other countries, we found the errors for China are more than those for other countries in most cases. It is concluded that these existing model life table systems cannot accurately reflect Chinese mortality epidemiological situations and trajectories. Therefore, model life tables should be used with caution when applied to China on the basis of 5q0.

Beschreibung: Objective: To assess the impact of different smoking behaviors of caregivers on environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure in children aged 5–6 years in Changsha, China. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional, random digit-dial telephone survey of caregivers (n = 543) between August and October 2013. Caregivers’ smoking behaviors were collected by a questionnaire. Exposure assessment was based upon determination of urinary cotinine levels in children employing gas chromatography–triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). Results: In children not living with a smoker, children living with one smoker, and children living with more than one smoker at home, median urinary cotinine concentrations (ng/mL) were 0.72, 2.97, and 4.46, respectively. For children living with one smoker, median urinary cotinine levels of children exposed to ETS were associated with caregiver smoking behaviors, i.e., if a caregiver consumed more cigarettes (>20 compared with ≤10; 7.73 versus 2.29 ng/mL, respectively). Conclusions: The magnitude of ETS exposure in children is correlated with the smoking behaviors of the caregiver. Counseling for smoking cessation and educational interventions are needed urgently for smoking caregivers to increase their awareness about ETS exposure and to encourage smoking cessation at home or to take precautions to protect children’s health.

Beschreibung: Lentinus edodes, a functional food, was evaluated as a potential antidote for adsorption/removal of cadmium ion from simulated gastrointestinal fluids. An adsorption/removal capacity of 65.12 mg/g was achieved by L. edodes in solutions with a pH ranging from 2.5 to 6.0, while little if any adsorption was observed in solutions with a pH under 2.5. In solutions with pH 6.0, 84% of the cadmium adsorption by L. edodes occurred in the first minute. Scanning electronic microscopic examination showed that the cell wall polysaccharides of L. edodes provided a rough sponge-like surface for effective cadmium adsorption. FTIR indicated that the carboxyl, hydroxyl and –NH groups of the cell wall polysaccharides and proteins were the primary functional groups that chemically bind with cadmium ions. The energy dispersive spectrometry further revealed that cation exchange might be attributed to cadmium biosorption. These results suggested that L. edodes was effective for cadmium detoxication, especially in low concentration.

Beschreibung: This study set out to explore the relationship between female media use behavior and agreement with agenda-specific publicly promoted health messages. A random digit dial telephone cross-sectional survey was conducted using a nationally representative sample of female residents aged 25 and over. Respondents’ agreement with health messages was measured by a six-item Health Information Scale (HIS). Data were analyzed using chi-square tests and multiple logistic regression. This survey achieved a response rate of 86% (n = 1074). In this study the longest duration of daily television news watching (OR = 2.32), high self-efficacy (OR = 1.56), and greater attention to medical and health news (OR = 5.41) were all correlates of greater agreement with the selected health messages. Surprisingly, Internet use was not significant in the final model. Many women that public health interventions need to be targeting are not receptive to health information that can be accessed through Internet searches. However, they may be more readily targeted by television campaigns. Agenda-specific public health campaigns aiming to empower women to serve as nodes of information transmission and achieve efficient trickle down through the family unit might do better to invest more heavily in television promotion.

Beschreibung: This paper investigates the state of food security in Romania and its place in the world. We analysed the level of food security indicators for 1990–2012, in Romania, and their average levels worldwide. References are also made to developed and developing countries. The research seeks to answer the questions: Is food security achieved in Romania and, if so, what kind of structural changes can be made towards improving food quality and people’s living standards? As indicators show, the findings indicate that food security is ensured, on average, in Romania. Dietary energy supply is above dietary energy requirements, the ratio of cereals import dependency is below its average level worldwide, and the daily diet is balanced between vegetal and animal origin food. Having solved the quantitative aspect of food security, Romania can look towards improving the qualitative aspects of it. In this regard, organic food may be considered as a direction of developing sustainable agricultural economy.

Beschreibung: Public fitness centers and exercise facilities have been implicated as possible sources for transmitting community-acquired bacterial infections. However, the overall diversity of the bacterial community residing on the surfaces in these indoor environments is still unknown. In this study, we investigated the overall bacterial ecology of selected fitness centers in a metropolitan area (Memphis, TN, USA) utilizing culture-independent pyrosequencing of the 16S rRNA genes. Samples were collected from the skin-contact surfaces (e.g., exercise instruments, floor mats, handrails, etc.) within fitness centers. Taxonomical composition revealed the abundance of Firmicutes phyla, followed by Proteobacter and Actinobacteria, with a total of 17 bacterial families and 25 bacterial genera. Most of these bacterial genera are of human and environmental origin (including, air, dust, soil, and water). Additionally, we found the presence of some pathogenic or potential pathogenic bacterial genera including Salmonella, Staphylococcus, Klebsiella, and Micrococcus. Staphylococcus was found to be the most prevalent genus. Presence of viable forms of these pathogens elevates risk of exposure of any susceptible individuals. Several factors (including personal hygiene, surface cleaning and disinfection schedules of the facilities) may be the reasons for the rich bacterial diversity found in this study. The current finding underscores the need to increase public awareness on the importance of personal hygiene and sanitation for public gym users.

Beschreibung: To achieve agricultural sustainability, basic land planning would allocate more areas for specific land uses with high ecosystem service values. However, this has always failed because of its low economic interest. Paying farmers would be effective for its implementation. To overcome previous studies’ limitation in spatial display, we developed a novel approach with a spatially explicit land use plan under payment policy. It integrates the tradeoff analysis into a traditional land use optimal allocation system. The land allocation system generates an origin land use scenario. Our method analyzes farmers’ tradeoffs in changing crops by adopting payment policy. Finally, the origin land use map is reallocated. The newly reclaimed region of Yili, China is studied as a representative area. Our tool established a tradeoff curve indicating the adoption proportion of farmers changing other land use types to clover, which is a specific crop with high ecosystem service values, at different payment prices. Areas adopting the payment policy were identified, and corresponding spatial distribution maps of land use re-allocation were generated for the tradeoff curve. Sensitivity analysis validated the robustness of our model. Results demonstrated that our method can provide more spatial and economic information for sustainable land use planning.

Beschreibung: Tobacco use, the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., can be reduced through state-level tobacco prevention and cessation programs. In the absence of research about how to communicate the need for these programs to policymakers, this qualitative study aimed to understand the motivations and priorities of policymakers in North Carolina, a state that enacted a strong tobacco control program from 2003–2011, but drastically reduced funding in recent years. Six former legislators (three Democrats, three Republicans) and three lobbyists for health organizations were interviewed about their attitudes towards tobacco use, support of state-funded programs, and reactions to two policy briefs. Five themes emerged: (1) high awareness of tobacco-related health concerns but limited awareness of program impacts and funding, (2) the primacy of economic concerns in making policy decisions, (3) ideological differences in views of the state’s role in tobacco control, (4) the impact of lobbyist and constituent in-person appeals, and (5) the utility of concise, contextualized data. These findings suggest that building relationships with policymakers to communicate ongoing program outcomes, emphasizing economic data, and developing a constituent advocacy group would be valuable to encourage continued support of state tobacco control programs.

Beschreibung: The present cohort study examined how lifestyle, household environment, and caries activity test score of Japanese children at age 1.5 years affected their dental caries incidence at age 3. Inclusion criteria were 1.5-year-old children with no dental caries. Dental examinations were performed for 33,655 children who participated in routine dental examinations at 1.5 years of age, and the exam was repeated approximately 21 months later (at age 3) at the Kobe City Public Health Center in Japan. After excluding 622 children who had caries at age 1.5 and 1831 children with missing lifestyle and household environment data in the questionnaires, the final data analysis was performed on a total of 31,202 children (16,052 boys, 15,150 girls).The multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated a strong association of the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages/snacks, less frequent tooth brushing by the parents, lack of fluoride varnish, family history of smoking, with the risk of developing dental caries. A child’s late bedtime is also one of the major risk factors for dental caries development. Further investigation is needed to examine whether the short duration or the irregularity of the sleep-wake cycle would affect early childhood oral health and whether there is a relationship between late bedtime and late night snack intake.