Urban design

In South Africa, Mental Health (MH), HIV, and Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) form a syndemic, that disproportionately affects women. These challenges are often co-occurring and create complex adversities for women. Recognising these intersections and the broader socio-cultural dynamics at play is crucial to understanding the layered experiences of these women and developing effective interventions. This research explores the experiences of the women living with at least two of the epidemics (HIV, IPV and or MH) and how they cope...

OBJECTIVE: Road familiarity is an important factor affecting drivers' visual features. Analyzing the quantitative correlation between drivers' road familiarity and visual features in complex environment is of great help to improve driving safety. However, there are few relevant studies. This paper takes urban plane intersection as the environmental object to explore the correlation between drivers' glance behavior and road familiarity, and conducts research on the quantitative evaluation model of road familiarity based on this correlation...

Miniaturized and microstructured reactors in process engineering are essential for a more decentralized, flexible, sustainable, and resilient chemical production. Modern, additive manufacturing methods for metals enable complex reactor-geometries, increased functionality, and faster design iterations, a clear advantage over classical subtractive machining and polymer-based approaches. Integrated microsensors allow online, in situ process monitoring to optimize processes like the direct synthesis of hydrogen peroxide...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This study examines the association between the built environment and mental health among older adults by exploring the potential pathways through the perceived built environment, social interaction, and environmental pollution. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Research data were collected from 1 405 older adults aged 60 years and older in 30 residential neighborhoods of Hangzhou, China, in 2022. The participants' evaluation of the perceived built environment, social interaction, and environmental pollution were assessed...

Green innovation is essential for environmentally sustainable development. The construction of smart cities offers significant potential for developing green innovation through optimizing urban administration and improving the allocation of critical resources. Using Chinese city data from 2005 to 2019, this study adopts a causal identification framework based on the multi-temporal difference-in-difference method to explore the impact of smart city construction on green innovation and the mechanism and joint industrial emission reduction effect between them...

Utilizing city-level data from China, the paper employs a spatial econometric analysis to investigate the impact of fiscal decentralization on urban pollution. Empirical evidence indicates: (1) In the context of the emphasis of ecological civilization construction in China, an increase of fiscal autonomy for local governments is conducive to mitigating urban pollution intensity. Specifically, fiscal decentralization in one city not only promotes a reduction in local pollution intensity but alleviates environmental pollution problems in adjacent cities through spatial spillover effects...

The emerging markets in the ASEAN region, such as Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, have put great effort into achieving dual objectives: (i) supporting economic growth and (ii) combating environmental degradation simultaneously. These objectively depend on the fast urbanization taking place in these countries. While increased energy consumption from urbanization supports economic growth, urbanization is a key driver of environmental degradation. This paper examines a potential link between urbanization and renewable energy consumption, primarily ignored in current literature, particularly in the ASEAN-5 countries...

This research analyzes data on the microplastic (MP) contamination in the environmental systems (atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere) and the levels of MPs in freshwater of cities with different levels of national income. This study investigates the influencing factors of MP generation, i.e., mismanaged plastic waste, untreated wastewater, number of registered motor vehicles, and stormwater runoff. The statistical correlations between the MP contamination in urban freshwater and the four influencing factors of MP generation are determined by linear regression...

The current energy crisis is worsening worldwide, and in China, urban expansion and per capita vehicle ownership have created a growing energy imbalance and increased pressure to reduce carbon emissions.The popularization of new energy vehicles (NEVs) can provide a step forward to solving energy shortage problems, environmental pollution, and global warming. In 2022, the average penetration rate, which is ratio of new energy vehicle sales to vehicle sales, is just 19.1 %. This paper analysed the reasons for the differences in the penetration rates of new energy vehicles in China's 269 prefecture-level cities, using a Geo Detector approach, and the results showed that the level of economic development, the average annual temperature difference, the density of charging piles, the charging price and the number of population all had significant effects(q＞0...

BACKGROUND: Parasitic diseases pose challenges in impoverished urban settlements with limited access to clean water, proper hygiene, and sanitation (WASH). This study assesses WASH practices and risk perceptions of parasitic infections among households in the Bataan Shipyard and Engineering Corporation (BASECO) Compound in Manila, an urban poor community in the Philippines. METHODS: A cross-sectional study design was employed to collect data through a self-administered questionnaire...

INTRODUCTION: Initial dementia prevalence estimates have revealed a significant burden of the disease in Indigenous communities in Amazonas, Brazil. However, the need for culturally adapted cognitive tools poses a critical challenge when assessing cognitive performance in these communities. This study addressed this issue by culturally adapting and providing validity indicators for the Brazilian Indigenous Cognitive Assessment (BRICA) tool in Manaus, Brazil's urban multiethnic Indigenous community...

BACKGROUND: Integrating mental health services into HIV clinics is recognized as a promising strategy. However, the literature reveals gaps, particularly in the unique context of Northern Uganda, where factors such as historical conflict, stigma, and limited resources pose potential barriers. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This qualitative study, conducted between October and November 2023, employed a phenomenological design. The study involved primary healthcare facilities across diverse urban and rural settings, focusing on healthcare providers, village health teams, and service users...

BACKGROUND: The globe has been working to promote a multi-domain lifestyle intervention for dementia prevention in older adults, referring to the Worldwide-FINGERS (Finnish Geriatric Intervention Study to Prevent Cognitive Impairment and Disability) initiative. In China, the multi-domain lifestyle intervention has been implemented in rural communities (MIND-China), yet the adaptability of such intervention based on the urban communities in China has not been verified. OBJECTIVE: To examine the effectiveness and feasibility of the multi-domain lifestyle intervention on dementia prevention in at-risk community-dwelling older adults in China...

BACKGROUND: Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most common type of irreversible dementia, is predicted to affect 152 million people by 2050. Evidence from large-scale preventive randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on modifiable risk variables in Europe has shown that multi-domain lifestyle treatments for older persons at high risk of dementia may be practical and effective. Given the substantial differences between the Chinese and European populations in terms of demographics and living conditions, direct adoption of the European program in China remains unfeasible...

This paper presents a newly developed high-performance mobile single-photon ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (M-SPI-TOFMS) system for on-line analysis and stereoscopic monitoring of complex gas mixtures. The system is designed for stereoscopic imaging to map the distribution of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and trace their emission sources in urban areas and industrial parks. It mainly consists of a SPI-TOFMS instrument, a customized commercial vehicle, a meteorological five-parameter monitor with GPS, a high-power generator, and an uninterruptible power supply...

Winter cold wave adaptation strategies in hot climates due to climate change didn't receive the deserved attention from previous studies. Therefore, this study comprehensively investigates the impact of various windbreak parameters on mitigating winter cold stress in hot steppe-arid climate. A microclimate model for a residential campus was built and validated through on-site measurement on a typical winter day to assess thirty-two scenarios for tree characteristics and spatial configuration windbreak parameters based on PET, wind speed, and Air Temperature (AT)...

BACKGROUND: Urban farms are spaces designated for the cultivation of plants for food security, medicinal and curative purposes. Since the turn of the century, they have become more widespread and health benefits have been claimed; however, no consensus exists regarding this information. Hence, this study aims to provide information about the health effects of urban farming. METHODS: Protocol register number CRD42023448001. We followed the guidelines of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses statement...

Burns affect 11 million people worldwide annually. Electrical burns are renowned for inflicting extensive harm and long-term consequences that can lead to severe illnesses and fatalities. People in both occupational and non-occupational settings may be exposed to electrical burns, leading to functional or anatomical consequences. We identified sociodemographic features related to electrical burns in both settings. A cross sectional design, using an open dataset of electrical shock injuries occurred in Colombia during 2010-2021 period, was carried out...

BACKGROUND: According to social-ecological models, the built and natural environment has the potential to facilitate or hinder physical activity (PA). While this potential is well researched in urban areas, a current systematic review of how the built and natural environment is related to PA in rural areas is lacking. METHODS: We searched five databases and included studies for adults (18-65 years) living in rural areas. We included quantitative studies investigating the association between any self-reported or objectively measured characteristic of the built or natural environment and any type of self-reported or objectively measured PA, and qualitative studies that reported on features of the built or natural environment perceived as barriers to or facilitators of PA by the participants...

Throughout the world, ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5 ) is the environmental factor that poses the greatest risk to health and most European citizens continue to be exposed to PM2.5 levels well above World Health Organization guidelines. Here we present a comprehensive PM2.5 modelling-based source allocation assessment in 708 urban areas in Europe. The results show that urban cores, together with their commuting zones, contribute an average of 22% to urban PM2.5 concentrations levels. The residential sector is the highest source sector in 56% of cities...