Effects Of Physical Environmental Factors Research Articles

Portraying the Influence Factor of Urban Vibrancy at Street Level Using Multisource Urban Data

Exploring the factors influencing urban vibrancy can help policy development and advance urban planning and sustainable development. Previous studies have typically focused on the effects of physical environmental factors (e.g., built environment, urban landscape) on urban vibrancy, ignoring the role of non-physical environmental factors (e.g., urban psychological perceptions). In addition, these studies remain focused on relatively coarse spatial units and lack the exploration of finer-grained spatial structures. In this study, a novel framework is proposed to analyze urban vibrancy and its influencing factors at a more fine-grained street level. Firstly, two types of urban sensing data, POIs and Weibo check-ins, are integrated to portray the spatial distribution patterns of urban vibrancy on the streets. Secondly, a full convolutional network (FCN-8s) is used to segment the streetscape images of Beijing and use them as a basis to extract potential visual–spatial features and urban psychological perceptual features that influence urban vibrancy. Thirdly, we reveal the deeper causes of the impact of psychological perception on urban vibrancy. Finally, an improved ridge regression model is proposed to model the relationship between features and vibrancy, reducing the covariance between features while avoiding the reduction of important features. Satisfactory regression model performances were attained with adjusted R2 values of 0.706, 0.743, and 0.807 at each characteristic level. The results of the study show that: Urban vibrancy is highly dependent on the proposed visual–spatial and urban psychological perception characteristics at the street level. In particular, positive urban psychological perceptions (safety, lively, wealthy) are positively correlated with urban vibrancy, while negative street perceptions (boring) are negatively correlated with urban vibrancy. Unlike previous research scales, our study shows that urban vibrancy portrayal based on the street scale has a greater potential to demonstrate fine-grained vibrancy distribution compared to the neighborhood scale. These findings may provide important insights for people-oriented urban development and planning.

How do landscape elements affect public health in subtropical high-density city: The pathway through the neighborhood physical environmental factors

Purposes of this study are to explore associations between neighborhood landscape elements and public health in a subtropical high-density urban context, elucidate mediating effects of physical environmental factors, and propose corresponding neighborhood renewal strategies.Nine sampling sites were selected in Guangzhou, China, and public health data were collected from 438 participating residents using the MOS item short from health survey (SF-36 scale). Landscape elements of the neighborhoods, including greenness, blue spaces, walking trail systems, public squares, garden architecture, and dedicated sports spaces were mapped by unmanned aerial vehicle surveys. Seven physical environmental factors were measured: the heat stress index (HSI), relative humidity (RH), average wind speed (AWS), negative oxygen ions (NOI), <2.5 μM particulate matter (PM2.5), illumination (I), and noise (N). General linear models were used to explore differences between neighborhoods in landscape elements. Relationships between public health and both landscape elements and physical environmental factors, as well as the mediating pathways involved, were explored by correlation analysis and Mediation analyses.In subtropical high-density neighborhood, I, RH, HSI, NOI, and PM2.5 were significantly correlated with public health in the neighborhoods, as were greenness, blue spaces, walking trail systems, and public squares. Multiple mediation analysis showed that greenness, blue spaces and public squares significantly affected public health, with mediation by I, HSI and NOI. Landscape elements have close associations with public health, mainly mediated by effects on light, thermal, and atmospheric environments. These closely related landscape elements and physical environments need careful attention in neighborhood renewal efforts.

Springs ecosystems: vulnerable ecological islands where environmental conditions, life history traits, and human disturbance facilitate non-native plant invasions

Ecosystem invasion by non-native plants depends on plant life history characteristics that influence the species’ invasiveness, as well as environmental factors that determine site invasibility. Small, insular ecosystems are thought be especially vulnerable to invasion but evidence for this pattern has been mixed. Freshwater springs form island-like ecosystems, allowing for a test of this proposal. Here, we investigated the effects of physical environmental factors, human disturbance, and plant life history traits on the occurrence of native and non-native plant species at 55 springs across different biomes in Alberta, Canada. A total of 526 plants were identified, 12.5% of which were non-native. Among these, species richness and abundance were greater at springs within biomes subject to increased land use intensity, especially livestock grazing, as compared to springs in parks and protected areas with limited land use. Subsequently, springs with higher human impact supported greater richness (r2 = 0.13) and abundance (r2 = 0.31) of non-native species, while native species abundance declined with increasing human impact (r2 = 0.14). Common native and non-native plant taxa exhibited life history traits that confer greater tolerance to human disturbance, such as that arising from livestock production that can disperse propagules, including clonal capacity and physical and chemical herbivory defenses. Our results indicated that springs ecosystems with greater human disturbance were more vulnerable to invasion by non-native plants, and this can reduce plant biodiversity and the ecological services provided by these distinctive, insular ecosystems.

How can we assess the effects of urban environment on obesity using aggregated data?

ObjectiveThis study aimed to assess the effects of urban physical environment on individual obesity using geographically aggregated health behavior surveillance data applying a geo-imputation method.Introduction'Where we live' affects 'How we live'. Information about 'how one lives' collected from the public health surveillance data such as the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). Neighborhood environment surrounding individuals affects their health behavior or health status are influenced as well as their own traits. Meanwhile, geographical information of subjects recruited in the health behavior surveillance data is usually aggregated at administrative levels such as a county. Even if we do not know accurate addresses of individuals, we can allocate them to the random locations where is analogous to their real home within a locality using a geo-imputation method. In this study, we assess the association between obesity and built environment by applying random property allocation (1).MethodsData from the Korean Community Health Survey (KCHS), which is the nationwide community-based cross-sectional survey conducted by 253 community health centers in South Korea, were used (2). More than 90000 subjects recruited in the capital city Seoul from 2011 to 2014. They were selected by two-step stratified random sampling (424 administrative communities with an average area of 1.16km2 and two house types) in each 25 counties. We re-allocated them randomly on the nested locality based on their community (administrative boundaries) and hose type (land-use) using GIS program (Figure 1). Surrounding built environment elements such as fast-food markets, driving roads, public transit and road-crosse were measured within 500m buffer from randomly allocated locations as density or distance. Variables associating obesity are measured by : 1) self-reported obesity (self-reported body mass index(BMI) ≥ 25) (Figure 2), 2) perceived obesity, 3) intention to weight control. We implemented logistic regression models to estimate the effect of physical environmental factors on obesity.ResultsThe person who lives in a detached house, nearer fast food markets or with higher driving road density was more likely to be obese. Who lives in a detached house was less perceived their obesity. Who lives in a detached house, nearer fast food markets or with higher driving road density was less likely to intend to control their body weights. Association between intention to weight control and accessibility to subway station showed marginal effect.ConclusionsUrban environments influenced individual's obesity, perception, and intention to weight loss. Since we used cross-sectional survey data, we do not account cumulative environmental influence. Moreover, individuals' self-selection of more healthier places were not accounted. Even though we did not measure the environment at individuals' real address, we can measure the effects of neighborhood environment more efficiently by using random property allocation.

Canal type affects invasiveness of the apple snail Pomacea canaliculata through its effects on animal species richness and waterweed invasion

Loss of complex natural microhabitats due to human activity is a major cause of decreased biodiversity but its effects on biological invasion are not well understood. The effects of physical environmental factors, especially the type of agricultural canals, on the invasive freshwater snail Pomacea canaliculata were studied at 33 sites in the Chikugogawa River basin, Kyushu, Japan. Differences among sites in the local fauna and vegetation were also monitored. Structural equation modeling with a model selection procedure revealed that canals with a concrete lining had more snails. The effect was indirect in that the concrete lining reduced animal species richness and increased the invasive waterweed Egeria densa, which may serve as a refuge, protecting the snails from predation. A tethering experiment conducted simultaneously indicated high predation pressure on the snails: over 20 % of the tethered snails were lost within a day. Thus, human impacts may increase biological invasion by reducing biotic resistance and increasing the risk of invasional meltdown.

The Physical Environment and Action Team Performance: Evidence From NASCAR Pit Crews

In this study we examine the relationship between two elements of the physical environment (workspace density and temperature) and performance in an action team context. We hypothesize that high levels of workspace density are beneficial for team performance and high temperature is detrimental to team performance. We further hypothesize that team processes will moderate these relationships. Using data on NASCAR pit crews, we found that workspace density behaved as we expected, as the highest performance levels held for teams with good team processes in an environment of high workspace density. For temperature, however, teams with better team processes actually suffered the most loss in performance due to high temperature. These findings suggest a need for more research on the effect of physical environmental factors on team performance.

Different Environmental Drivers of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1 Outbreaks in Poultry and Wild Birds

A large number of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 outbreaks in poultry and wild birds have been reported in Europe since 2005. Distinct spatial patterns in poultry and wild birds suggest that different environmental drivers and potentially different spread mechanisms are operating. However, previous studies found no difference between these two outbreak types when only the effect of physical environmental factors was analysed. The influence of physical and anthropogenic environmental variables and interactions between the two has only been investigated for wild bird outbreaks. We therefore tested the effect of these environmental factors on HPAI H5N1 outbreaks in poultry, and the potential spread mechanism, and discussed how these differ from those observed in wild birds. Logistic regression analyses were used to quantify the relationship between HPAI H5N1 outbreaks in poultry and environmental factors. Poultry outbreaks increased with an increasing human population density combined with close proximity to lakes or wetlands, increased temperatures and reduced precipitation during the cold season. A risk map was generated based on the identified key factors. In wild birds, outbreaks were strongly associated with an increased Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and lower elevation, though they were similarly affected by climatic conditions as poultry outbreaks. This is the first study that analyses the differences in environmental drivers and spread mechanisms between poultry and wild bird outbreaks. Outbreaks in poultry mostly occurred in areas where the location of farms or trade areas overlapped with habitats for wild birds, whereas outbreaks in wild birds were mainly found in areas where food and shelters are available. The different environmental drivers suggest that different spread mechanisms might be involved: HPAI H5N1 spread to poultry via both poultry and wild birds, whereas contact with wild birds alone seems to drive the outbreaks in wild birds.

The Effects of Physical Environmental Factors on Students’ Perceptions in Computer Classrooms

The environmental setting has a direct impact on perception, comfort, motivation, and concentration in learning environments. Accordingly, in computer classrooms, technological equipment and classroom settings can enhance psychological comfort and the learning environment. With this in mind, seemingly subtle differences in interior design/layout, as opposed to the larger matters of architectural design and floor-plan, were assumed to influence the perceptual performance of design students. To verify this hypothesis, the atmospheric attributes of two computer classrooms used to teach 3Dmax and AutoCAD drawing programs at the Department of Furniture and Decoration of Technical Education Faculty at Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey, were tested by eliciting responses to ten bipolar semantic differential items on a Likert-style scale. Results showed that differences in the environmental settings of each classroom had an important influence on the perceptual evaluations of students. Factors such as proximity/distance of pieces of equipment to one another, roominess/crowdedness in terms of the placement of the PC boxes, the presence of paintings and plants, and attention to circulation and sightlines, were observed to have an effect on whether student participants perceived a space positively or negatively. These results imply that preparing an optimal environment would encourage a good relationship between the student and his or her environment, thereby encouraging more productive learning and better motivation and concentration.

Discuss on effect of physical environmental factors on natureof Chinese materia medica

Nature of Chinese materia medica is the nucleus in the theory of Chinese material medica, according to the recognition of Traditional Chinese Medicine, which is the character of the drug related on curative effect. Nature and efficacy of a drug is through the medical material, then, physical environment, including the temperature, humidity, atmospheric water, wind, topography, soil, micro-organism, and so on, influence the growth and development of the medical meterial. In this paper, we researched the explanation on nature of Chinese materia medica in the medical books of past dynasties, combined with the modem research, analyzed the relationship between generative reception and physical environmental factors, and discussed the effect of physical environmental factors on nature of Chinese materia medica. We indicated that the formation of Chinese materia medical nature is that the drug receptive the change of physical environmental factors, and resulted by the synthetic action of the factors, such as climate, soil, biology, topography, etc.

Moving towards making social toxins mainstream in children's environmental health.

Although traditional disciplinary research theory and methods have focused separately on how social and physical environmental factors affect children's health, evolving research underscores important integrated effects. This review outlines the specific reasons why social determinants should be considered mainstream in children's environmental health research with particular focus on interactive effects between social and physical hazards. These include sensitivity of overlapping physiological systems, via epigenesis, programming, and plasticity to social and physical environmental moderation that may impact health across the life span; ways in which social environmental vulnerabilities moderate the effects of physical environmental factors, providing specific examples related to respiratory health and neurodevelopment; overlapping exposure distribution profiles; and relevance to pediatric health disparities. Because of the covariance across exposures, and evidence that social stress and other environmental toxins (e.g., pollutants, tobacco smoke) may influence common physiological pathways (e.g., oxidative stress, proinflammatory immune pathways, autonomic disruption), understanding the potential synergistic effects promises to more completely inform children's environmental health risk. Although this discussion focuses around the respiratory and neurological systems, these concepts extend more broadly to children's psychological and physical development.

걷기활동 증진을 위한 보행환경 평가지표의 개발

The promotion of walking and bicycling is recently a hot topic in the urban planning and design field. Many planners have already examined the many components of the land use-transportation connection and built environment-physical activity link. A rapidly growing area of urban form research is to measure the level of walk-ability in urban environments. With this background, this research conducted a preliminary study to develop the evaluation indicators of pedestrian environments. Based on the literature reviews on walking or pedestrian environments, we proposed the seventeen indicators related with pedestrian facilities, road attributes and walking environment. We also performed a questionary survey to evaluate the satisfaction of their neighborhood pedestrian environments for 302 randomly selected adults living in the City of Changwon, Gyeongsangnam-do. Finally, this research provided the valid model to evaluate the effects of physical environmental factors on the walking satisfaction using factor analysis and multiple regression analysis.

Stability and Changes in Living Arrangement Among Unmarried Older Persons

Using data from the first two waves of the Asset and Health Dynamics among the Oldest Old (AHEAD), this study examined (1) housing characteristics of elders by their baseline living arrangements: living alone, with adult children/grandchildren, and with others; and (2) whether the baseline housing characteristics were likely to be directly or indirectly associated with the subsequent stability or changes in independent living arrangement over a two-year period. Housing characteristics included were ownership status, features of structural amenities, and housing type (senior housing, with or without supportive services, and housing not specifically for seniors), and elders' self-ratings of the physical condition of their housing and the safety of their neighborhood. The results of hierarchical multinomial logistic regression analysis show that these housing variables did not mediate the direct effect of the elders' health status on their transition into coresidence with children/other relatives or into nursing homes. Only the ownership status and the housing type had small direct effects on the elders' transition into or long stay in nursing homes. Further research on the effect of physical environmental factors on older persons' independent versus coresidential living arrangements is called for.