Recent ced items

Demonstrating the reliability of randomized measurement and verification for switchable control retrofits using a large open-source dataset

Fri, 5 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Conventional measurement and verification (M&V) methods for estimating energy savings rely on comparing pre- and post-retrofit performance. They are often time-consuming and unreliable, especially when non-routine events, such as step changes or more gradual changes in building operation, occur during the M&V process. When those events are unrelated to the retrofit intervention and significantly affect building energy consumption, the results will be confounded when the analyst applies the conventional M&V method. In this study, we demonstrated that switchable interventions, such as most HVAC control retrofits, can benefit from a new M&V method that randomly samples whether to implement the baseline or the intervention strategy at a fixed interval (e.g., daily). We tested this novel randomized M&V method on a large public dataset (hourly energy data over 2 years for 639 buildings) covering various climate zones and commercial building types, using a virtual...

Envelope-Driven Comfort Risk in Residential Demand Response

Fri, 5 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Residential demand response (DR) is a valuable resource for grid reliability, but remains challenging because the highly heterogeneous residential building stock leads to widely varying and hard-to-predict load and comfort responses during DR events. Although prior research has estimated the technical potential of DR-capable technologies for achieving energy demand savings, little is known about how they affect thermal comfort. In particular, it remains unclear how indoor thermal conditions due to DR depend on the thermal envelope characteristics of the housing stock. To address this gap, this study provides a systematic, location-specific assessment of indoor thermal performance during DR-events across the US housing stock using both typical DR weather data and detailed building metadata. We evaluate how envelope characteristics influence indoor temperatures during realistic simulated summer and winter DR events across 37 US locations, applying both temperature threshold and...

Personal comfort systems for adults with intellectual disabilities

Fri, 5 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This study examines how personal comfort systems (PCS) support thermal adaptation among adults with intellectual disabilities living in energy-poor households in Chile. Participants (n = 8) in two identical social-housing units completed two in-home field campaigns: winter (June–August 2023; 10 weeks) and summer (December 2023–March 2024; 14 weeks). The study combined an adapted daily point-in-time thermal comfort questionnaire, continuous indoor dry-bulb temperature monitoring (15 min), and pre-/post-season interviews. Indoor conditions frequently fell outside reference comfort thresholds (92.6% of winter temperatures < 21.5°C; 64.1% of summer temperatures > 26°C). Using participant-level paired comparisons with thermal preference ‘No change’ as a comfort proxy, PCS use showed no systematic winter increase (median Δ = –0.014; p = 0.944) but a consistent summer increase (median Δ = 0.126; p = 0.014). Interview accounts indicated that PCS supported everyday adaptation, while...

From ‘What-is’ to ‘What-if’ in human-factor analysis: A post-occupancy evaluation case

Fri, 5 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Human-factor analysis typically employs correlation analysis and significance testing to identify relationships between variables. However, these descriptive (‘what-is’) methods, while effective for identifying associations, are often insufficient for answering causal (‘what-if’) questions. Their application in such contexts often overlooks confounding and colliding variables, potentially leading to bias and suboptimal or incorrect decisions. We advocate for explicitly distinguishing descriptive from interventional questions in human-factor analysis, and applying causal inference frameworks specifically to these problems to prevent methodological mismatches. This approach disentangles complex variable relationships and enables counterfactual reasoning. Using post-occupancy evaluation (POE) data from the Center for the Built Environment’s (CBE) Occupant Survey as a demonstration case, we show how causal discovery generates testable hypotheses about intervention hierarchies and...

Conformal 3D printing on bending-active formwork - exploring a new approach to the fabrication of wide-spanning structures

Wed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This study introduces a novel methodological framework that combines bending-active structures with conformal 3D printing to address current limitations in architectural-scale additive manufacturing. Traditional horizontal slicing and planar layer deposition present inherent constraints for fabricating large-span elements such as roofs and floor slabs, while conventional approaches to curved forms typically require resource-intensive formwork. We propose an integrated approach that utilizes bending-active structures as material-efficient substrates for 3D printing, potentially serving dual roles as both formwork and supplementary reinforcement. The methodology incorporates a multi-axis robotic platform alongside preliminary design, software, and hardware adaptations to enable material deposition that follows structural force vectors. Through initial experimental studies at various scales, we examine the fundamental aspects of this approach – including material testing, formwork...

Automatic Simplification Of Complex Building Geometry For Whole-building Energy Simulations.

Wed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Automatic Simplification Of Complex Building Geometry For Whole-building Energy Simulations.

Community violence intervention: measuring risk & protective factors for gun use among program participants

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Community Violence Intervention (CVI) involves recruiting likely gun violence offenders using street outreach and offering mentorship, social services and other supports to discourage future firearm violence. Grounded in public health, CVI interventions identify an individual’s risk factors and work to enhance protective and buffering factors that can help prevent a client from offending. This paper reviews evaluations of CVI interventions to understand how participants’ risk factors are defined and measured. We used keywords to identify 38 published evaluations of 32 different CVI interventions that recruited community members and used street-outreach as the primary mode of engagement. We then used the PRISMA scoping review methodology to identify categories of risk and protective factors to screen each published evaluation for whether and how they measured participants’ risk, protective and buffering factors at program onset. We found that 56% (18/32) of evaluations included...

Health Equity in All Urban Policies: A Case Study of Richmond, California

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Local governments working in partnership with communities can institutionalize practices that promote health equity. We offer a case study of how one city in the US is implementing Health in All Policies (HiAP) with the explicit aim of promoting health equity. We use participant observations, original document reviews and interviews to describe how Richmond, California, is building new partnerships, programs and practices with community-based organizations and within government itself as part of the implementation of its HiAP Ordinance. We also report on indicators that were identified by community and government stakeholders for tracking progress toward improving place-based determinants of population health. We find that the responsibility for implementing Richmond's HiAP Ordinance rests on a new institution within local government and this entity is building new partnerships, promoting innovative policies and augmenting practices toward greater health equity. We also reveal...

Co-creating places for urban health & healing: the case of Pogo Park

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This case study explores how an urban, low-income, community in Richmond, California, came together to reclaim a local park, redesign and redevelop it, and the impacts that process and the new green space is having on local residents. The park is called Elm Playlot and the community group, Pogo Park. Methods used to generate the case study included original document review, participant observation, and interviews, as well as data from two community surveys and a youth photovoice project. The case study emphasizes that urban health promoting and healing physical and social transformations must be co-created, community leadership, ownership and economic benefits must be prioritized, and decade-long commitments from residents, local government and non-governmental organizations, not one alone, are necessary. We also found that redevelopment of Pogo Park contributed to significant reductions in self-reported fear of violence and improvements in community social connections, trust...

Correction: Evaluating advance peace in Fresno, California: An interrupted times series analysis of a community-based gun violence intervention

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0328780.].

Earthquake Loss Estimates and Policy Implications for Nonductile Concrete Buildings in Los Angeles

Mon, 13 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The collapse potential of nonductile concrete buildings represents a substantial life safety hazard globally that can be mitigated through carefully crafted policy. Mitigation policy should be approached incrementally by (1) understanding problem scale, (2) screening for low‐ and high‐risk buildings, (3) performing engineering analysis for potentially vulnerable buildings, and (4) retrofit or replacement of high‐risk structures. This research addresses initial stages of this sequence for Los Angeles, California. The intent was to investigate approaches for informing mitigation priorities by: characterizing the inventory of approximately 1,500 pre‐1976 concrete buildings; estimating risk, including identification of building types that contribute most substantially to the risk; and investigating the impact of retrofit policy alternatives. Loss estimates for scenario events are based on the HAZUS™ Advanced Engineering Building Module. Depending on model assumptions, losses range...

Rethinking resilience policy and practice

Mon, 13 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The concept of resilience has become a part of the larger discourse not only for the engineering professions involved in the design of buildings and infrastructure, but also for disaster researchers in many academic fields as well as policymakers in governments at the local and national levels. The concept has evolved significantly over the past 10–20 years. In the early 2000s, the engineering community was coming to grips with the two paradigms of resilience: (1) a more technical approach to design that focused on predictability and stability in a steady state; and (2) a broader definition originating in systems theory and ecology that focused on the ability to reorganize while undergoing change. The concept of resilience continues to be redefined, in part because of the human and community impacts highlighted by the COVID pandemic, and natural and climate-induced disasters. Recent experience suggests that there are gaps in the narrower technical/engineering framing of resilience...

Influence of overhead HVAC and aerosol control strategies on coarse mode particle dispersion and exposure in a full-scale room experiment

Thu, 2 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Coarse mode respiratory aerosols can carry viral loads over long distances and have very different dynamics than submicron particles, but experimental studies under realistic conditions remain limited. To study the differential impacts on exposure under different mixing conditions, we co-released 7–10 µm particles and carbon dioxide (CO2)—which served as an indicator of gas and submicron particle dynamics—in a 158 m3 room at LBNL’s FLEXLAB facility with an overhead heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system. The room was arranged as a distanced meeting then a classroom with eight heated manikins and a researcher. Spatial variability was measured using 16 particle counters and 22–26 CO2 sensors throughout the space. Conditions included: HVAC off or supply air at 1000-1060 m3 h-1 at neutral, cooling, or heating temperatures; with and without 20% outdoor air; and added HVAC filtration, portable air cleaners (PACs), or a physical barrier between the speaker and occupants....

Reviving public transit ridership to downtowns and employment centers: Case Studies of San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, Berkeley, and Walnut Creek

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This paper examines transit ridership and its role in downtowns in five San Francisco Bay Area cities pre- and post-COVID. We analyze transit ridership data from 2019 and 2022-24, review transit agency responses to COVID’s consequences, and examine the plans and proposals for downtowns adopted by the cities and those developed by business improvement districts (BIDs). We draw upon focus groups we held with transit users and interviews we conducted with key stakeholders to gain additional information and insights. We found that trips to, from and within our five case study downtowns account for a significant share of overall regional transit ridership, a finding that underscores downtown transit’s importance to state and regional goals for greenhouse gas reduction, pollution abatement, economic prosperity, and equity and inclusion. For the five downtowns, transit ridership is on a path to recovery but as of early 2024 was still falling short of pre-COVID levels, leaving...

Enduring empire: U.S. statecraft and race-making in the Philippines

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Enduring empire: U.S. statecraft and race-making in the Philippines

DeepAir: deep learning and satellite imagery to estimate high-resolution PM2.5 at scale

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Air pollution, specifically PM2.5, has become a significant global concern owing to its detrimental impacts on public health. Even so, the high-resolution monitoring of air pollution is still a challenge on a global scale. To cope with this, machine learning (ML) techniques have been utilized to infer the concentration of air pollutants at a fine scale. In this study, we propose DeepAir, a learning framework for estimating PM2.5 concentrations at a fine scale with sparsely distributed observations. DeepAir integrates a pre-trained convolutional neural network with the LightGBM method. This framework estimates the PM2.5 concentration of a given patch, utilizing a synergy of geographical information, meteorological conditions, and satellite observations. We select California as the focal region and train the model with data from 2014 to 2017 provided by 130 PM2.5 observation stations in the state. Upon training, the model can be applied to estimate the daily PM2.5 concentrations...

A hypergraph model shows the carbon reduction potential of effective space use in housing

Thu, 11 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Humans spend over 90% of their time in buildings, which account for 40% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and are a leading driver of climate change. Incentivizing more sustainable construction, building codes are used to enforce indoor comfort standards and minimum energy efficiency requirements. However, they currently only reward measures such as equipment or envelope upgrades and disregard the actual spatial configuration and usage. Using a new hypergraph model that encodes building floorplan organization and facilitates automatic geometry creation, we demonstrate that space efficiency outperforms envelope upgrades in terms of operational carbon emissions in 72%, 61% and 33% of surveyed buildings in Zurich, New York, and Singapore. Using automatically generated floorplans in a case study in Zurich further increased access to daylight by up to 24%, revealing that auto-generated floorplans have the potential to improve the quality of residential spaces in terms of environmental...

Structural design as a cost competitive and scalable carbon mitigation strategy

Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The built environment is responsible for a large percentage of the global carbon footprint. Many generations of structural designers have developed material and structural systems for the efficient use of natural resources and low-carbon designs. The accumulated present knowledge we have today around material efficiency would be sufficient to design and build with a much lower carbon footprint, if it weren’t for a major constraint: cost. However, current construction economics do not account for the real costs of materials, including their environmental externalities. Considering the actual societal costs associated with embodied carbon emissions could suddenly make material efficiency and low carbon materials more economical. In this paper, we compare the cost of carbon avoidance or storage in the built environment through structural design with other carbon capture technologies. We show how financial incentives for low-carbon design could support carbon reduction targets and...

Reparative planning through contextual vulnerabilities for disaster mitigation: a Gulf Coast case study

Tue, 2 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Purpose: Reparative planning, when paired with participatory research, can serve as a framework for addressing ongoing harms that enable disaster racism while building toward more equitable disaster mitigation. This paper discusses the intersection between disparate disaster impacts, environmental racism, compounding disasters and the role of contextualizing vulnerability. Design/methodology/approach: A participatory research framework is explored in the context of disaster recovery and mitigation, which led to uncovering the roots of institutional vulnerabilities experienced by the predominantly Black community of North Port St. Joe, Florida. Findings: The main findings include the significance of situated knowledge in the relational participatory process, the importance of redistributing decision-making power and the development of a desire-based reparative disaster mitigation framework in local hazard mitigation planning. Social implications: Disaster impacts compound...

Measuring What Matters: A Benchmarking System for Occupant Satisfaction with Workspace Environments

Mon, 27 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Occupant satisfaction with the physical environment of the workplace is a key metric of office building performance. To date, no clear consensus exists on how to fairly compare satisfaction levels between buildings or benchmark workspace designs. This study analyses 93,153 Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) survey responses from the United States, Australia, Japan, and Singapore to identify systematic differences between countries and establish empirical benchmarks across key aspects of office workspaces. Results show that Singaporean offices achieve the highest overall workspace satisfaction (79%), followed by the United States (68%), Australia (65%) and Japan (39%). The United States and Australian databases display broadly comparable patterns across workspace aspects, with only minor differences in temperature, acoustics, and privacy. In contrast, significant differences are observed in the Japanese and Singaporean datasets compared with Western counterparts. Rather than applying...

Evaluating advance peace in Fresno, California: An interrupted times series analysis of a community-based gun violence intervention

Sat, 6 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

BACKGROUND: Gun violence is a critical public health issue, contributing to the disproportionate burden of health inequities among racially and economically marginalized populations. Advance Peace, a community-driven gun reduction program that integrates street outreach workers to interrupt conflicts with trauma-informed programming to provide mentorship and support for young people at the center of urban gun violence, may be a strategy to reduce gun violence and build healthy communities. We assessed whether the implementation of Advance Peace in Fresno, California was associated with a reduction in gun-related violence, including homicides and assaults. We hypothesized that post-implementation of Advance Peace, there would be a reduction in both gun-related homicides and assaults. METHODS: Leveraging crime statistics from the Fresno Police Department on gun-related homicides and assaults between January 2014 and June 2023, we evaluated the impact of Advance Peace programming,...

Structures and Architecture

Thu, 31 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

From Wood to Tree explores designing with wood’s natural degradation processes. This case-study proposes a sustainable approach for reintegrating processed preprocessed lumber into forest ecosystems, highlighting the importance of deadwood in supporting nutrient cycling, fostering fungal growth, enhancing soil health and providing habitats for saplings, animals, seeds, and other living organisms essential to local forest ecologies. This design-research study establishes a framework for re-evaluating conventional approaches to material circularity, which predominantly emphasize material preservation. Instead, it proposes an alternative perspective that integrates biodegradation as a fundamental process in ecological and architectural design.

Improving Air Quality using Smart Thermostats: Minimizing Indoor Exposure to Wildfire-Generated Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5)

Thu, 3 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) contributes to millions of excess deaths worldwide each year. Wildfires are a major source of PM2.5 and sheltering indoors using central air filtration is effective in reducing indoor PM2.5 levels during an event. We analyzed smart thermostat usage in California homes during the 2020 wildfire season and found that central air is not generally utilized for air filtration. We evaluated the effectiveness of operating central air systems to reduce indoor PM2.5 levels using a mass balance model. Simulation results showed up to a 56% reduction in indoor PM2.5 during wildfire days from central air filtration. Installing a MERV 13 filter, as opposed to a MERV 10 filter, can further lower indoor PM2.5 concentrations by up to 31%. Using central air systems for filtration can match the efficiency of four portable air cleaners in an average Californian home. These results may serve as the basis for an automated control logic to utilize central air filtration...

Cooked Air

Thu, 22 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Since 1996, ASHRAE Standard 62.2 has provided guidelines for residential ventilation. As ventilation becomes increasingly scientised, quantifiable, and reliant on hyper-specific equipment, technical literacy on ventilation has narrowed. The relationship between architecture, inhabitants and air management has become increasingly reliant on ventilation standards, in turn increasing reliance on technical specialists, and creating a gap in ventilation knowledge. Through an examination of ASHRAE Standard 62.2, this essay asks why is it that, as ventilation processes become increasingly measurable, there is an equal tendency to reverse awareness in relation to the human sensation, when the standard itself underlines the reality of both phenomenal and intellectual knowledge towards air quality assessment. Furthermore, if architecture’s domain centres on formal, aesthetic, and material logics, is an expanded literacy on air management necessary to address mechanical equipment within...

Collective Comfort: A Public Program for Heat Resilience

Thu, 22 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

American desert cities designed and built at the turn of the century, in collaboration with the advent of air-conditioning technologies, have been able to house millions of Americans by relying primarily on fossil-fuels to supply relief from extreme hot weather. The Phoenix Metro Area, or The Valley of The Sun as it is known to locals, experienced 145 days reaching tempera-tures over 100˚F in 2020 according to the National Weather Service. In July of 2023, Phoenix set a new record with 31 days straight of over 110-degree heat. The increased probability of a longer-lasting heat-wave, combined with the over demand of electrical power supply during extreme weather events can be catastrophic, especially to the most vulnerable communities.2 As climate change intensifies, desert cities like Phoenix must innovate and adapt, ensuring the safety and well-being of all residents, particularly those in high-risk areas.

From Exigent to Adaptive

Thu, 22 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The divorce between the disciplines of architectural design and systems engineering in conjunction with the scientisation of comfort-standards encourages a year-round and day-round comfort routine to the contemporary human. In his proposal for Air Architecture, French artist Yves Klein proposes the opposite: an architecture devoid of the responsibility to temper human environs. Mechanical machinery enables an architecture to come, while Klein’s proposal for an Architecture of Air imagines a future adaptive-human. Before the popularisation of interior weather, Native populations employed adaptations, or experience a ‘change of human sensitivity’, much like native plants and animals do in order to survive their environment, much like the transformation that Klein describes. In a world where resource reduction and scaremongering tactics regarding climate change do not accomplish enough, we must think towards a more enriched human existence, for a thriving, strengthened human race....

The Unbearable Tightness of Building

Thu, 22 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The Unbearable Tightness of Building

Vertical Planting: tectonics and aesthetics

Thu, 8 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This book, which has been developed from the original presentations at the symposium, presents the thoughts of a select international group of landscape architects and historians who discuss the subject of planting design through the lens ...

Embodied carbon in mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems: A critical literature review

Thu, 27 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The environmental impacts of mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) systems have been largely overlooked and are commonly excluded from building-scale life cycle assessments (LCAs). Understanding the impacts and reduction potential of these systems is crucial for decarbonizing retrofits and new buildings. Therefore, we have conducted a critical review of LCA studies on MEP systems in buildings, selected using a systematic method, to identify: 1) estimates for upfront embodied [A1-A5] and replacement [B4] carbon impacts; 2) LCA reporting fundamentals needed to ensure transparency and interpretability of results; 3) future research directions. Since 2016, 54 studies presented sufficient information to investigate presented methodologies and LCA results of MEP systems. The review reinforces the need to report environmental impacts by individual life cycle stages and building or system elements to interpret influencing factors and enable further utility of results. Two studies...

Design in government: City planning, space-making, and urban politics

Wed, 12 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In recent years, design has appeared in an ever-broadening range of government processes and projects, particularly in cities. What has design become, such that its methods and practices could be applied to urban planning and public administration? And what are the governmental problems that design methods and designers are being mobilized to address? This article answers these questions by tracing the tangled intersections of design, city planning, and urban administration in the last century. Through a genealogical analysis, it shows how a number of designers came to redefine design as a set of procedures for formulating and proposing solutions to “wicked problems.” This understanding of design—which developed in fields such as industrial and product design that were remote from government—has recently gained salience in public administration and city planning. In contrast to an influential geographical analysis of design as spectacular architecture that is divorced from any...

The disaster contradiction of contemporary capitalism: Resilience, vital systems security, and ‘post-neoliberalism’

Wed, 12 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The disaster contradiction of contemporary capitalism: Resilience, vital systems security, and ‘post-neoliberalism’

The post-global city: revisiting and reimagining the competitiveness and livability of primary central city centers

Fri, 7 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The post-global city: revisiting and reimagining the competitiveness and livability of primary central city centers

Fri, 7 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The post-global city: revisiting and reimagining the competitiveness and livability of primary central city centers

Spatial Variation in the Association between Extreme Heat Events and Warm Season Pediatric Acute Care Utilization: A Small-Area Assessment of Multiple Health Conditions and Environmental Justice Implications in California (2005–2019)

Thu, 13 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

BACKGROUND: The increasing frequency and severity of extreme heat events due to climate change present unique risks to children and adolescents. There is a lack of evidence regarding how heat's impacts on pediatric patients vary spatially and how structural and sociodemographic factors drive this heterogeneity. OBJECTIVES: We examined the association between extreme heat events and pediatric acute care utilization in California for 19 distinct health conditions. We then assessed how extreme heat's consequences varied at the ZIP code level and identified environmental justice metrics that modulated children's vulnerability to extreme heat. METHODS: This study analyzed 7.2 million unscheduled hospitalizations and emergency department visits for children years old in California between May and September from 2005 to 2019. We first utilized a time-stratified case-crossover design to generate statewide estimates for the association between extreme heat events and care utilization....

Urban Environments, Health, and Environmental Sustainability: Findings From the SALURBAL Study

Wed, 25 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Despite the relevance of cities and city policies for health, there has been limited examination of large numbers of cities aimed at characterizing urban health determinants and identifying effective policies. The relatively few comparative studies that exist include few cities in lower and middle income countries. The Salud Urbana en America Latina study (SALURBAL) was launched in 2017 to address this gap. The study has four aims: (1) to investigate social and physical environment factors associated with health differences across and within cities; (2) to document the health impact of urban policies and interventions; (3) to use systems approaches to better understand dynamics and identify opportunities for intervention and (4) to create a new dialogue about the drivers of health in cities and their policy implications and support action. Beyond these aims SALURBAL, has an overarching goal of supporting collaborative policy relevant research and capacity -building that engages...

Effectiveness of triethylene glycol disinfection on airborne MS2 bacteriophage under diverse building operational parameters

Tue, 27 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Effectiveness of triethylene glycol disinfection on airborne MS2 bacteriophage under diverse building operational parameters

A case-control study of behavioural and built environment determinants of COVID-19 transmission in sheltered markets

Tue, 27 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

A case-control study of behavioural and built environment determinants of COVID-19 transmission in sheltered markets

Cozie Apple: An iOS mobile and smartwatch application for environmental quality satisfaction and physiological data collection

Fri, 23 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Collecting feedback from people in indoor and outdoor environments is traditionally challenging and complex to achieve in a reliable, longitudinal, and non-intrusive way. This paper introduces Cozie Apple, an open-source mobile and smartwatch application for iOS devices. This platform allows people to complete a watch-based micro-survey and provide real-time feedback about environmental conditions via their Apple Watch. It leverages the inbuilt sensors of the smartwatch to collect physiological (e.g., heart rate, activity) and environmental (sound level) data. This paper outlines data collected from 48 research participants who used the platform to report perceptions of urban-scale environmental comfort (noise and thermal) and contextual factors such as who they were with and what activity they were doing. The results of 2,400 micro-surveys across various urban settings are illustrated in this paper, showing the variability of noise-related distractions, thermal comfort, and associated...

Using support vector machine to detect desk illuminance sensor blockage for closed-loop daylight harvesting

Fri, 23 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Daylight can reduce electric lighting in buildings. This is facilitated by sensors that relay real-time illuminance data to a light controller. When daylight provides greater than required or desired levels of illuminance, control actions enable electric lights to reduce their output and save energy. Occupant behaviours can block desk sensors and this reduces the amount of energy saved. However, no method exists that can be used to continuously monitor sensors to ensure they operate as intended (e.g. remain unblocked). We carried out a study in an open-plan office building in Singapore, consisting of 39 workstations each fitted with desk illuminance sensors independently controlling a dedicated ceiling light. Power over Ethernet was used to collect individual data signals for both illuminance and power from each workstation. Data were collected across a one month period, sampling signals at every 2-minute interval. A linear support vector machine model accurately classified 99%...

CBE Clima Tool: A free and open-source web application for climate analysis tailored to sustainable building design

Fri, 23 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Climate-responsive building design holds immense potential for enhancing comfort, energy efficiency, and environmental sustainability. However, many social, cultural, and economic obstacles might prevent the wide adoption of designing climate-adapted buildings. One of these obstacles can be removed by enabling practitioners to easily access, visualize and analyze local climate data. The CBE Clima Tool (Clima) is a free and open-source web application that offers easy access to publicly available weather files and has been created for building energy simulation and design. It provides a series of interactive visualizations of the variables contained in the EnergyPlus Weather Files and several derived ones like the UTCI or the adaptive comfort indices. It is aimed at students, educators, and practitioners in the architecture and engineering fields. Since its inception, Clima’s user base has exhibited robust growth, attracting over 25,000 unique users annually from across 70 countries....

Implementation of desk fans in open office: Lessons learned and guidelines from a field study

Fri, 23 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Desk fans allow individual thermal adjustment in shared spaces which increases occupants' thermal satisfaction. When associated with the increase of room conditioning system setpoint temperature, they can also reduce energy use. In comparison to other Personal Comfort Systems (PCS), low-power desk fans can be very efficient for cooling. Nevertheless, previous studies identify some barriers to their implementation and show no clear guidelines on how to overcome them. Therefore, this study presents the results of a field implementation of desk fans in an open office in Brazil. The intervention consisted of providing one desk fan for each occupant and progressively increasing the setpoint temperature. Indoor thermal conditions were recorded simultaneously with occupants' thermal perception using sensors and surveys. Results show fans increased thermal satisfaction by 20 %. And, when fans were available, the preferred indoor air temperature increased by 1 °C. However, many constraints...

The design of window shades and fenestration for view clarity

Fri, 23 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The ability to discern the content of the view through a window is referred to as view clarity. It is often overlooked in the design process, and the methods of shading daylight can affect window views. We conducted a narrative review of building standards and the scientific literature to better understand how shades can be designed so as to retain the window view. View clarity was characterised by three main dimensions: (1) the shading solution, (2) the view content and (3) the observer. Each dimension and the interactions between them influence view clarity. These interactions make it difficult to predict view clarity for all the situations that can occur in buildings. Nonetheless, we highlighted the effects of different shades on the view clarity. Our insights can help designers consider these impacts within the context of overall window design.

Comparison of the environmental, energy, and thermal comfort performance of air and radiant cooling systems in a zero-energy office building in Singapore

Fri, 23 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

In an experimental study set in Singapore's tropical climate, we evaluated the thermal environmental performance, energy consumption, and thermal comfort of air and radiant cooling systems, operating at an operative and air temperature of 26 °C. 78 participants across five groups answered thermal comfort surveys in a crossover study design. Environmental performance metrics indicated that both systems produced similar conditions, with a noticeable difference in air velocity. The mean radiant temperature to air temperature difference was less than 0.5 °C in both systems. The radiant system exhibited a 33 % higher heat flux extraction than the air system and required less electrical power for the transportation of the cooling medium and ventilation air. Overall, the radiant system used 4 % less energy than the air system when controlled at 26 °C and 34 % when operated at 23 °C. Results show that radiant and air systems provided equal thermal comfort in cooling, with over 60 % of...

Using causal inference to avoid fallouts in data-driven parametric analysis: A case study in the architecture, engineering, and construction industry

Fri, 23 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The decision-making process in real-world implementations has been affected by a growing reliance on data-driven models. Recognizing the limitations of isolated methodologies - namely, the lack of domain understanding in data-driven models, the subjective nature of empirical knowledge, and the idealized assumptions in first-principles simulations, we explore their synergetic integration. We showed the potential risk of biased results when using data-driven models without causal analysis. Through a case study on energy consumption in building design, we demonstrate how causal analysis significantly enhances the modeling process, mitigating biases and spurious correlations. We concluded that: (a) Sole data-driven models' accuracy assessment or domain knowledge screening may not rule out biased and spurious results; (b) Data-driven models' feature selection should involve careful consideration of causal relationships, especially colliders; (c) Integrating causal analysis results...

Should we use ceiling fans indoors to reduce the risk of transmission of infectious aerosols?

Fri, 23 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Should we use ceiling fans indoors to reduce the risk of transmission of infectious aerosols?

Assessing the impact of glazing and window shade systems on view clarity

Sat, 17 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Windows provide access to daylight and outdoor views, influencing building design. Various glazing and window shade materials are used to mitigate glare, overheating and privacy issues, and they affect view clarity. Among them, we evaluated the effect of window films, electrochromic (EC) glass, and fabric shades on view clarity. We conducted an experiment with 50 participants using visual tests adapted from clinical vision tests (visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, color sensitivity) and images displayed on a computer monitor in a controlled laboratory. Window films and EC glass tints outperformed fabric shades in visual acuity, contrast sensitivity and view satisfaction with the exception of the darkest EC tint state and dark grey VLT 3% shade for color sensitivity and view satisfaction. The EC tints pose internal reflection issues and fabric shades are preferred for visual privacy. Window films and EC glass hinder participants’ blue–green color discrimination while fabric shades...

The health benefits of reducing micro-heat islands: A 22-year analysis of the impact of urban temperature reduction on heat-related illnesses in California's major cities

Wed, 14 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This study investigates the relationship between temporal changes in temperatures characterizing local urban heat islands (UHIs) and heat-related illnesses (HRIs) in seven major cities of California. UHIs, which are a phenomenon that arises in the presence of impervious surfaces or the lack of green spaces exacerbate the effects of extreme heat events, can be measured longitudinally using satellite products. The two objectives of this study were: (1) to identify temperature trends in local temperatures to characterize UHIs across zip code tabulation areas (ZCTAs) in the seven observed cities over a 22-year period and (2) to use propensity score and inverse probability weighting to achieve exchangeability between different types of ZCTAs and assess the difference in hospital admissions recorded as HRIs attributable to temporal changes in UHIs. We use monthly land surface temperature data derived from MODIS Terra imagery from the summer months (June-September) from 2000 to 2022....

Hot, cold, or just right? An infrared biometric sensor to improve occupant comfort and reduce overcooling in buildings via closed-loop control

Tue, 30 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

To improve occupant comfort and save energy in buildings, we have developed a closed-loop air conditioning (AC) sensor-controller that predicts occupant thermal sensation from the thermographic measurement of skin temperature distribution, then uses this information to reduce overcooling (cooling-energy overuse that discomforts occupants) by regulating AC output. Taking measures to protect privacy, it combines thermal-infrared (TIR) and color (visible spectrum) cameras with machine vision to measure the skin-surface temperature profile. Since the human thermoregulation system uses skin blood flow to maintain thermoneutrality, the distribution of skin temperature can be used to predict warm, neutral, and cool thermal states. We conducted a series of human-subject thermal-sensation trials in cold-to-hot environments, measuring skin temperatures and recording thermal sensation votes. We then trained random-forest classification machine-learning models (classifiers) to estimate thermal...

Indoor environmental quality in WELL-certified and LEED-certified buildings

Sat, 20 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

International building certification systems, such as the WELL and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards, play a pivotal role in the design of healthy and sustainable buildings. While LEED adopts a holistic approach to designing healthy and sustainable buildings, the WELL standard has a strong emphasis on human health, comfort, and well-being. Although prior research has revealed inconsistent results for occupant satisfaction in office buildings with WELL certification compared to buildings without WELL certification, or are certified using another certification system (e.g., LEED), most of these comparisons tend to lack methodological rigor. This study used a statistical procedure to match and compare 1634 occupant surveys from LEED-certified buildings to 1634 surveys from WELL-certified buildings. Six important architectural and experiential parameters were matched, masking their influence on the outcome. Overall building and workspace satisfaction was...

Passive and low-energy strategies to improve sleep thermal comfort and energy resilience during heat waves and cold snaps.

Mon, 24 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Sleep is a pillar of human health and wellbeing. In high- and middle-income countries, there is a great reliance on heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems (HVAC) to control the interior thermal environment in the bedroom. However, these systems are expensive to buy, maintain, and operate while being energy and environmentally intensive-problems that may increase due to climate change. Easily-accessible passive and low-energy strategies, such as fans and electrical heated blankets, address these challenges but their comparative effectiveness for providing comfort in sleep environments has not been studied. We used a thermal manikin to experimentally show that many passive and low-energy strategies are highly effective in supplementing or replacing HVAC systems during sleep. Using passive strategies in combination with low-energy strategies that elevate air movement like ceiling or pedestal fans enhances the cooling effect by three times compared to using fans alone....

Can restoring water and sediment fluxes across a mega-dam cascade alleviate a sinking river delta?

Wed, 29 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Hydropower, although an attractive renewable energy source, can alter the flux of water, sediments, and biota, producing detrimental impacts in downstream regions. The Mekong River illustrates the impacts of large dams and the limitations of conventional dam regulating strategies. Even under the most optimistic sluicing scenario, sediment load at the Mekong Delta could only recover to 62.3 ± 8.2 million tonnes (1 million tonnes = 10⁹ kilograms), short of the (100 to 160)-million tonne historical level. Furthermore, unless retrofit to reroute sediments, the dams are doomed to continue trapping sediment for at least 170 years and thus starve downstream reaches of sediment, contributing to the impending disappearance of the Mekong Delta. Therefore, we explicitly challenge the widespread use of large dead storages-the portion of the reservoirs that cannot be emptied-in dam designs. Smaller dead storages can ease sediment starvation in downstream regions, thereby buffering...

Meet Me at the Plague Column: Monuments and Conservation Planning

Wed, 15 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Meet Me at the Plague Column: Monuments and Conservation Planning

The Fair that Never WasArchitecture and Urban Boosterism at the 1939 San Francisco World's Fair

Wed, 15 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The unbuilt proposals for the 1939 San Francisco World's Fair offer a cross section of designs put before the public in a formative moment just before modernism came to dominate architectural discourse and production. Projects by luminaries Bernard Maybeck and Richard Neutra joined projects by Joseph Strauss and Henry Killam Murphy. Here were architectural hopefuls at the nadir of the Great Depression attempting to draw their way into the commission of a lifetime. Thus, a Beaux-Arts bohemian competed with a sincere modernist, a self-promoting engineer, and America's leading practitioner in China. At the same time, the proposals were part of the larger economic and political landscape of San Francisco, as neighborhood associations and politicians used them to attract the fair to their part of the city. More than pie in the sky, these designs show in amplified form the way architecture is embedded in public discourse as a form of persuasion, a kind of politics by other means through...

Understanding congestion propagation by combining percolation theory with the macroscopic fundamental diagram

Mon, 13 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The science of cities aims to model urban phenomena as aggregate properties that are functions of a system’s variables. Following this line of research, this study seeks to combine two well-known approaches in network and transportation science: (i) The macroscopic fundamental diagram (MFD), which examines the characteristics of urban traffic flow at the network level, including the relationship between flow, density, and speed. (ii) Percolation theory, which investigates the topological and dynamical aspects of complex networks, including traffic networks. Combining these two approaches, we find that the maximum number of congested clusters and the maximum MFD flow occur at the same moment, precluding network percolation (i.e. traffic collapse). These insights describe the transition of the average network flow from the uncongested phase to the congested phase in parallel with the percolation transition from sporadic congested links to a large, congested cluster of links. These...

A new commercial boundary dataset for metropolitan areas in the USA and Canada, built from open data

Mon, 6 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The purpose of this study is to define the geographic boundaries of commercial areas by creating a consistent definition, combining various commercial area types, including downtowns, retail centres, financial districts, and other employment subcentres. Our research involved the collection of office, retail and job density data from 69 metropolitan regions across USA and Canada. Using this data, we conducted an unsupervised image segmentation model and clustering methods to identify distinctive commercial geographic boundaries. As a result, we identified 23,751 commercial areas, providing a detailed perspective on the commercial landscape of metropolitan areas in the USA and Canada. In addition, the generated boundaries were successfully validated through comparison with previously established commerce-related boundaries. The output of this study has implications for urban and regional planning and economic development, delivering valuable insights into the overall commercial...

Recent greening may curb urban warming in Latin American cities of better economic conditions

Thu, 21 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Rising temperatures have profound impacts on the well-being of urban residents. However, factors explaining the temporal variability of urban thermal environment, or urban warming, remain insufficiently understood, especially in the Global South. Addressing this gap, we studied the relationship between city-level economic conditions and urban warming, and how urban green space mediated this relationship, focusing on 359 major Latin American cities between 2001 and 2022. While effect sizes varied by economic and temperature measures used, we found that better economic conditions were associated with lower baseline greenness in 2011, which contributed to faster warming. There was modest evidence that this faster warming associated with lower baseline greenness and improved economic conditions was partially offset by cooling from recent greening (2001-2022) in cities of better economic conditions. This offset was more evident in arid cities. Together, these findings provide insights...

Social drivers of vulnerability to wildfire disasters: A review of the literature

Thu, 14 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The increase of wildfire disasters globally has highlighted the need to understand and mitigate human vulnerability to wildfire. In response, there has been a substantial uptick in efforts to characterize and quantify wildfire vulnerability. Such efforts have largely focused on quantifying potential wildfire exposure and frequently overlooked the individual and community vulnerability to wildfire. Here, we review the emergent literature on social vulnerability to wildfire by synthesizing factors related to exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity that contribute to a population’s or community’s overall vulnerability to wildfires. We identify how those factors subsequently affect an individual’s or community’s agency to enact change, and highlight that many of the current paradigms for reducing wildfire vulnerability fail to acknowledge and address the importance of inequalities that create differential vulnerability. We suggest that paying attention to the systems and conditions...

Greenness and excess deaths from heat in 323 Latin American cities: Do associations vary according to climate zone or green space configuration?

Mon, 13 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Green vegetation may protect against heat-related death by improving thermal comfort. Few studies have investigated associations of green vegetation with heat-related mortality in Latin America or whether associations are modified by the spatial configuration of green vegetation. We used data from 323 Latin American cities and meta-regression models to estimate associations between city-level greenness, quantified using population-weighted normalized difference vegetation index values and modeled as three-level categorical terms, and excess deaths from heat (heat excess death fractions [heat EDFs]). Models were adjusted for city-level fine particulate matter concentration (PM_2.5), social environment, and country group. In addition to estimating overall associations, we derived estimates of association stratified by green space clustering by including an interaction term between a green space clustering measure (dichotomized at the median of the distribution) and the...

The Chinese thermal comfort dataset

Sat, 28 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Heating and cooling in buildings accounts for over 20% of total energy consumption in China. Therefore, it is essential to understand the thermal requirements of building occupants when establishing building energy codes that would save energy while maintaining occupants’ thermal comfort. This paper introduces the Chinese thermal comfort dataset, established by seven participating institutions under the leadership of Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology. The dataset comprises 41,977 sets of data collected from 49 cities across five climate zones in China over the past two decades. The raw data underwent careful quality control procedure, including systematic organization, to ensure its reliability. Each dataset contains environmental parameters, occupants’ subjective responses, building information, and personal information. The dataset has been instrumental in the development of indoor thermal environment evaluation standards and energy codes in China. It can also...

Health and Environmental Co-Benefits of City Urban Form in Latin America: An Ecological Study

Fri, 29 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

We investigated the association of urban landscape profiles with health and environmental outcomes, and whether those profiles are linked to environmental and health co-benefits. In this ecological study, we used data from 208 cities in 8 Latin American countries of the SALud URBana en América Latina (SALURBAL) project. Four urban landscape profiles were defined with metrics for the fragmentation, isolation, and shape of patches (contiguous area of urban development). Four environmental measures (lack of greenness, PM_2.5, NO₂, and carbon footprint), two cause-specific mortality rates (non-communicable diseases and unintentional injury mortality), and prevalence of three risk factors (hypertension, diabetes, and obesity) for adults were used as the main outcomes. We used linear regression models to evaluate the association of urban landscape profiles with environmental and health outcomes. In addition, we used finite mixture modeling to create co-benefit...

Scaling of mortality in 742 metropolitan areas of the Americas

Fri, 29 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

We explored how mortality scales with city population size using vital registration and population data from 742 cities in 10 Latin American countries and the United States. We found that more populated cities had lower mortality (sublinear scaling), driven by a sublinear pattern in U.S. cities, while Latin American cities had similar mortality across city sizes. Sexually transmitted infections and homicides showed higher rates in larger cities (superlinear scaling). Tuberculosis mortality behaved sublinearly in U.S. and Mexican cities and superlinearly in other Latin American cities. Other communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional deaths, and deaths due to noncommunicable diseases were generally sublinear in the United States and linear or superlinear in Latin America. Our findings reveal distinct patterns across the Americas, suggesting no universal relation between city size and mortality, pointing to the importance of understanding the processes that explain heterogeneity...

Associations of Urban Environment Features with Hypertension and Blood Pressure across 230 Latin American Cities

Fri, 29 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

BACKGROUND: Features of the urban physical environment may be linked to the development of high blood pressure, a leading risk factor for global burden of disease. OBJECTIVES: We examined associations of urban physical environment features with hypertension and blood pressure measures in adults across 230 Latin American cities. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study we used health, social, and built environment data from the SALud URBana en América Latina (SALURBAL) project. The individual-level outcomes were hypertension and levels of systolic and diastolic blood pressure. The exposures were city and subcity built environment features, mass transit infrastructure, and green space. Odds ratios (ORs) and mean differences and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using multilevel logistic and linear regression models, with single- and multiple-exposure models adjusted for individual-level age, sex, education, and subcity educational attainment. RESULTS: A total of 109,176...

Is self-reported park proximity associated with perceived social disorder? Findings from eleven cities in Latin America

Fri, 29 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Parks and greenspaces can enhance personal health in various ways, including among others, through psychological restoration and improved well-being. However, under certain circumstances, parks may also have adverse effects by providing isolated and hidden spaces for non-normative and crime-related activities. This study uses a survey conducted by the Development Bank of Latin America in a cross-sectional representative sample of 7,110 respondents in eleven Latin-American cities. We examine associations between self-reported park proximity with perceived social disorder (drug use/sales, gangs, prostitution and assault and/or crime), and whether these associations are modified by neighborhood characteristics (informal neighborhoods, poor street-lighting, abandoned buildings, illegal dumping). High self-reported park proximity was associated with lower perceptions of social disorder, but these associations were no longer significant following adjustment for neighborhood characteristics....

City-Level Travel Time and Individual Dietary Consumption in Latin American Cities: Results from the SALURBAL Study

Fri, 29 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

There is limited empirical evidence on how travel time affects dietary patterns, and even less in Latin American cities (LACs). Using data from 181 LACs, we investigated whether longer travel times at the city level are associated with lower consumption of vegetables and higher consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and if this association differs by city size. Travel time was measured as the average city-level travel time during peak hours and city-level travel delay time was measured as the average increase in travel time due to congestion on the street network during peak hours. Vegetables and sugar-sweetened beverages consumption were classified according to the frequency of consumption in days/week (5-7: "frequent", 2-4: "medium", and ≤1: "rare"). We estimate multilevel ordinal logistic regression modeling for pooled samples and stratified by city size. Higher travel time (Odds Ratio (OR) = 0.65; 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 0.49-0.87) and delay time (OR = 0.57; CI 0.34-0.97)...

Walking for transportation in large Latin American cities: walking-only trips and total walking events and their sociodemographic correlates

Fri, 29 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Walking for transportation is a common and accessible means of achieving recommended physical activity levels, while providing important social and environmental co-benefits. Even though walking in rapidly growing urban areas has become especially challenging given the increasing dependence on motorised transportation, walking remains a major mode of transportation in Latin American cities. In this paper we aimed to quantify self-reported walking for transportation in Mexico City, Bogota, Santiago de Chile, Sao Paulo, and Buenos Aires, by identifying both walking trips that are conducted entirely on foot and walking events involved in trips mainly conducted on other means of transportation (e.g. private vehicle, public transit) among individuals ≥5-years old. We show how walking-only trips account for approximately 30% trips in the analysed cities, and we evidence how the pedestrian dimension of mobility is largely underestimated if walking that is incidental to other transportation...

The equigenic effect of greenness on the association between education with life expectancy and mortality in 28 large Latin American cities

Thu, 28 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

BACKGROUND: Recent studies highlight the equigenic potential of greenspaces by showing narrower socioeconomic health inequalities in greener areas. However, results to date have been inconsistent and derived from high-income countries. We examined whether urban greenness modifies the associations between area-level education, as a proxy for socioeconomic status, and life expectancy and cause-specific mortality in Latin American cities. METHODS: We included 28 large cities, >137 million inhabitants, in nine Latin American countries, comprising 671 sub-city units, for 2012-2016. Socioeconomic status was assessed through a composite index of sub-city level education, and greenness was calculated using the normalized difference vegetation index. We fitted multilevel models with sub-city units nested in cities, with life expectancy or log(mortality) as the outcome. FINDINGS: We observed a social gradient, with higher levels of education associated with higher life expectancy and...

Parental stress increases body mass index trajectory in pre‐adolescents

Tue, 19 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN ABOUT THIS SUBJECT: Rates of childhood obesity have increased since the mid-1970s. Research into behavioural determinants has focused on physical inactivity and unhealthy diets. Cross-sectional studies indicate an association between psychological stress experienced by parents and obesity in pre-adolescents. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS: We provide evidence of a prospective association between parental psychological stress and increased weight gain in pre-adolescents. Family-level support for those experiencing chronic stress might help promote healthy diet and exercise behaviours in children. OBJECTIVE: We examined the impact of parental psychological stress on body mass index (BMI) in pre-adolescent children over 4 years of follow-up. METHODS: We included 4078 children aged 5-10 years (90% were between 5.5 and 7.5 years) at study entry (2002-2003) in the Children's Health Study, a prospective cohort study in southern California. A multi-level linear model simultaneously...

Traffic-related air pollution and obesity formation in children: a longitudinal, multilevel analysis

Mon, 18 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

BackgroundBiologically plausible mechanisms link traffic-related air pollution to metabolic disorders and potentially to obesity. Here we sought to determine whether traffic density and traffic-related air pollution were positively associated with growth in body mass index (BMI = kg/m2) in children aged 5–11 years.MethodsParticipants were drawn from a prospective cohort of children who lived in 13 communities across Southern California (N = 4550). Children were enrolled while attending kindergarten and first grade and followed for 4 years, with height and weight measured annually. Dispersion models were used to estimate exposure to traffic-related air pollution. Multilevel models were used to estimate and test traffic density and traffic pollution related to BMI growth. Data were collected between 2002–2010 and analyzed in 2011–12.ResultsTraffic pollution was positively associated with growth in BMI and was robust to adjustment for many confounders. The effect size in the...

Investigating the Links between Climate Injustice and Ableism: A Measurement of Green Space Access Inequalities within Disability Subgroups

Wed, 13 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Investigating the Links between Climate Injustice and Ableism: A Measurement of Green Space Access Inequalities within Disability Subgroups

The role of geography in the complex diffusion of innovations