Suchergebnisse

In spite of a dramatic decrease in anthropogenic emissions, ambient concentrations of major pollutants have not changed within many urban locations. To clarify the relationship between ambient air quality trend and the population exposures, we compared the intraurban versus temporal variability of the collocated measurements of five major air pollutants including particulate matter (PM) with an aerodynamic diameter <10 µm (PM10), < 2.5 µm (PM2.5), tropospheric ozone (O3), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), in Kraków, Poland, during the 2000−2010 period. Strong seasonal trends and overall absence of spatial heterogeneity in PM10 and PM2.5, except in the traffic monitoring site, were observed across the monitoring network. The range of median PM2.5 concentrations during winter (54–64 µg/m3) was 3- to 4-times higher than the summer medians (15–26 µg/m3) across the sites during 2009−2010. Furthermore, large proportion of PM10 appears to be comprised of PM2.5 (PM2.5/PM10 concentration ratios range, 0.5–0.7). At each monitoring site, the Pearson's correlation coefficients between PM2.5 and PM10 ranged between 0.944 and 0.963, suggesting a health-relevance of PM10 monitoring. One ln-unit increase in PM10 was associated with 92%–100% increase in PM2.5 concentrations in the same location. While PM10 did not demonstrate a clear temporal trend, SO2 concentrations steadily declined by 40% during the 2000–2010 period. Summertime median NO2 concentration was acutely elevated ‎(70 μg/m3 vs. 22 μg/m3) at the traffic oriented site compared to the city's central monitoring site. The traffic and the industrial sites were associated with highest number of days during which 24-hour mean PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations exceeded the European Union standard. Steadily growing contributions by vehicular emissions appear to be associated with the absence of clear trend in PM10. Current practices of air quality control within Kraków may not be adequate for the protection of the public's health.

PurposeLaboratories typically consume 4‐5 times more energy than similarly‐sized commercial space. This paper adds to a growing dialogue about how to "green" a laboratory's design and operations.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is divided into three sections. The first section reviews the background and theoretical issues. A case is made for sustainable laboratories, introduce the Harvard Green Campus Initiative's (HGCIs) study of potential energy reduction in Harvard's research laboratories and examine other issues including: behavioral change, technical change, and the required codes and suggested standards that influence laboratory design and operations. Next, a survey conducted through a partnership between HGCI, Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), and Laboratories for the twenty‐first century (Labs21) to clarify issues surrounding use of codes and standards in high‐performance laboratory design and maintenance is introduced.FindingsSurvey findings highlight the confusion among survey participants surrounding the applications and interpretations of current lab guidelines, codes and standards, particularly addressing sustainable performance. The findings suggest that confusion has financial, environmental, and human health consequences, and that more research is needed to define the operational risks to laboratory workers. Findings indicate that many energy efficient technologies and strategies are not routinely specified in lab design, perhaps in part due to confusion concerning the guidelines, standards and codes.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough the survey sample size is too small to be statistically significant, it does provide valuable insight into the general confusion surrounding the applications and interpretations of current codes and guidelines, especially those addressing sustainable performance.Practical implicationsThe practical implications of this research are many, including that there are many opportunities for technical and behavior improvements within modern university laboratories that yield great energy savings. This is critical as laboratories are one of the most energy‐intense building types on a university campus.Originality/valueThe critical originality of the paper is provided in the analysis of the obstacles to achieving the great potential energy savings that exist within the university laboratory context.

Purpose
Universities can do more to deliver against the sustainable development goals (SDGs), working with faculty, staff and students, as well as their wider stakeholder community and alumni body. They play a critical role in helping shape new ways for the world, educating global citizens and delivering knowledge and innovation into society. Universities can be engines of societal transformation. Using a multiple case study approach, this study aims to explore different ways of strategizing sustainability toward delivering the SDGs are explored in a university setting with an example from the UK, Bulgaria (Europe) and USA.


Design/methodology/approach
The first case is a public UK university that adopted enterprise and sustainability as its academic mission to secure differentiation in a disrupted and increasingly marketized global higher education sector; this became a source of inspiration for change in regional businesses and the local community. The second case is a business sector-led sustainability-driven transformation working with a private university in Bulgaria to catalyze economic regeneration and social innovation. Finally, a case from the office for sustainability in a major US research university is given to show how its engagement program connected faculty and students in sustainability projects within the institution and with external partners.


Findings
Each case is in effect a "living lab," positioning sustainability as an intentional and aspirational strategy with sustainable development and the SDG framework a means to that end. Leadership at all levels, and by students, was key to success in acting with a shared purpose. Partnerships within and with universities can help accelerate delivery of the SDGs, enabling higher education to make a fuller contribution to sustaining the economic, environmental, cultural and intellectual well-being of our global communities.


Originality/value
The role of universities as the engine of transformational sustainability toward delivering the SDGs has been explored by way of three case studies that highlight different means toward that end. The collegiate nature of the higher education sector, with its shared governance models and different constituencies and performance drivers, means that sustainability at a strategic level must be led with leaders at all levels acting with purpose. The "living lab" model can become a part of transformative institutional change that draws on both top-down and bottom-up strategies in pursuit of sustainable development.

Purpose. The purpose of this article was to describe the process by which research findings informed the successful passage of legislation designed to increase opportunities for physical activity in Mississippi, and discuss implications and lessons learned from this process. Design and Setting. The article is descriptive and conceptual, and addresses the collaborative process by which research, legal technical assistance, and advocacy informed and shaped shared use legislation in Mississippi. Subjects. Collaborators informing this article were an Active Living Research grantee, a staff attorney with the Public Health Law Center, the American Heart Association Mississippi Government Relations Director, and community partners. Results. The American Heart Association and Public Health Law Center developed policy guidance in the form of sample language for legislation as a starting point for states in determining policy needed to eliminate or reduce barriers to the shared use of school recreational facilities. The policy guidance was informed by evidence from Active Living Research–funded research studies. The American Heart Association, supporting a bill shaped by the policy guidance, led the effort to advocate for successful shared use legislation in Mississippi. Conclusion. Research should be policy relevant and properly translated and disseminated. Legal technical assistance should involve collaboration with both researchers and advocates so that policymakers have the information to make evidence-based decisions. Government relations directors should collaborate with legal technical staff to obtain and understand policy guidance relevant to their advocacy efforts. Effective collaborations, with an evidence-based approach, can lead to informed, successful policy change.

Abstract
The self-reported prevalence of asthma in the United States increased by 75% from 1980 to 1994, a trend found to be significant and evident in every region of the country. The increase was most marked in children from birth to 14 years of age; and growing evidence indicates that, as with lead poisoning, inner-city and urban populations are most at risk. Attention has turned to the role of indoor environmental risk factors, especially in homes and schools. Such factors include moisture and mold growth, pest infestation, dust mites, the building envelope, heating systems, inadequate Ventilation, nitrogen dioxide, and environmental tobacco smoke. The Healthy Public Housing Initiative (HPHI) is a Boston-based communitycentered research and intervention project designed to engage Boston Housing Authority residents in a collaborative process to improve respiratory health, quality of life, building conditions, and building maintenance in public housing. This article summarizes the significant research findings from four pilot studies in housing developments that laid the foundation for the larger HPHI asthma-related environmental intervention study. The research design for the pilot projects is informed by principles of community-collaborative research. The strengths of this model of research for our work are also discussed.

Increasing residential insulation can decrease energy consumption and provide public health benefits, given changes in emissions from fuel combustion, but also has cost implications and ancillary risks and benefits. Risk assessment or life cycle assessment can be used to calculate the net impacts and determine whether more stringent energy codes or other conservation policies would be warranted, but few analyses have combined the critical elements of both methodologies. In this article, we present the first portion of a combined analysis, with the goal of estimating the net public health impacts of increasing residential insulation for new housing from current practice to the latest International Energy Conservation Code (IECC 2000). We model state‐by‐state residential energy savings and evaluate particulate matter less than 2.5 μm in diameter (PM2.5, NOx, and SO2 emission reductions. We use past dispersion modeling results to estimate reductions in exposure, and we apply concentration‐response functions for premature mortality and selected morbidity outcomes using current epidemiological knowledge of effects of PM2.5 (primary and secondary). We find that an insulation policy shift would save 3 × 1014 British thermal units or BTU (3 × 1017 J) over a 10‐year period, resulting in reduced emissions of 1,000 tons of PM2.5, 30,000 tons of NOx, and 40,000 tons of SO2. These emission reductions yield an estimated 60 fewer fatalities during this period, with the geographic distribution of health benefits differing from the distribution of energy savings because of differences in energy sources, population patterns, and meteorology. We discuss the methodology to be used to integrate life cycle calculations, which can ultimately yield estimates that can be compared with costs to determine the influence of external costs on benefit‐cost calculations.

Purpose. This study examined correlates of park-based physical activity (PA) among children in neighborhood parks. Design. Direct observation was used to assess PA among children. Setting. Public parks in Tampa, Florida (n = 10), and Chicago, Illinois (n = 18), from low income and high income and racially/ethnically diverse communities. Subjects. Children (n = 3410), coded as anyone who appeared to be 10 years or younger, observed at parks in Tampa and Chicago. Measures. Physical activity was measured by a modified version of the System for Observing Play and Leisure Among Youth (SOPLAY). Analysis. Descriptive statistics and multilevel regression models were used in data analysis. Results. At the activity observation level, children's PA was positively related to temperature and unstructured activities in Tampa and Chicago parks. Among park activity area predictors, type of activity area was significantly related to PA. In Tampa, more PA was observed on courts, and less PA was observed in shelter areas compared with open space areas. In Chicago, less PA was observed on courts and fields compared with open space areas. Neighborhood income was associated with lower PA in Tampa parks. Neighborhood race/ethnicity was not a significant predictor of children's PA in either city. Conclusions. Children's PA was linked to modifiable social and environmental features within parks. Strategies to increase PA among children in parks should promote courts, playgrounds, informal activities, and free play. (Am J Health Promot 2011;25[5]:e1-e9.)

AbstractToxic contaminants inadvertently brought from the workplace to the home, known as take-home or paraoccupational exposures, have often been framed as a problem that arises due to unsanitary worker behavior. This review article conceptualizes take-home exposures as a public health hazard by (i) investigating the history of take-home contaminants and how they have been studied, (ii) arguing that an ecosocial view of the problem is essential for effective prevention, (iii) summarizing key structural vulnerabilities that lead populations to be at risk, and (iv) discussing future research and prevention effort needs. This article reframes take-home exposures as one of many chronic pathways that contributes to persistent health disparities among workers, their families, and communities. Including the role of work in community health will increase the comprehensiveness of prevention efforts for contaminants such as lead and pesticides that contribute to environmental disparities.