Environmental Attribute Research Articles

Assessing the relationship between urban park spatial features and physical activity levels in Residents: A spatial analysis Utilizing drone remote sensing

The park environment is crucial for promoting physical activity (PA). While numerous studies show that park environments influence PA behavior, inconsistencies remain, likely due to varing research methods and parks types. This study employs a fixed spatial grid method to systematically sample four representative parks in Tianjin, China. High-precision orthophoto map (DOM) data from drones provided detailed environmental attributes (like tree canopy area, lawn area, and paved area) and PA characteristics (number of participants, intensity, diversity). The results show: 1) Cluster analysis grouped 1839 park grids into 12 environmental attribute integrations, each correlating with different PA characteristics. “Tree-lined jogging corridors” and “Large sports field areas” exhibit the highest PA intensity, while “Entrance plazas”, “Central plazas,” and “Open sports spaces” have the highest number of participants and PA diversity. 2) Correlation analysis shows that various environmental attributes, including Lawn Area, and Paved Area, are significantly correlated with PA characteristics. 3）Random Forest analysis indicates the key attributes are the paved area for the number of PA participants and PA diversity, and specialized sports facilities area for PA intensity. These findings support urban green space planning and highlight the importance of better park environments for public health.

Economic Valuation of Bukit Kiara Federal Park using the Hedonic Pricing Approach

Urban Green Space (UGS) is a part of urban modern cities living. The significance of the UGS has been outlined in Sustainable Development Goals 11 and 15. Nevertheless, the economic benefits of UGS are often overlooked due to a lack of understanding of their monetary value. This study estimates the economic value of Bukit Kiara Federal Park using the hedonic pricing model. The estimation was conducted by regressing the prices of 599 properties surrounding the park. The change in house pricing could estimate the marginal implicit price which represented the economic value of the park due to the change in its distance to the park (environmental attribute). The results show that reducing the distance by 100 meters increases the house price between RM1,800 and RM54,000 indicating the economic value of Bukit Kiara Federal Park. The study proved that the existence of environmental attributes, in this case, the proximity of a park, influences the house price in the vicinity. Recognizing these economic values will support the justification for developing and maintaining parks which may provide long-term benefits to the community and the environment.

Using geospatial trajectories to explore how the COVID-19 pandemic affects the associations between environmental attributes and runnability of park trails

The worldwide coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the associated social distancing measures have produced alterations in park visits of individuals, as well as their park-based physical activity (e.g. running exercise). Although studies on the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on changes in running activity patterns are becoming an emerging focus, less is known about how these changes are related to the environmental attributes of parks before and after the pandemic, the knowledge of which is essential to planning green infrastructure that better supports physical activities. Therefore, we employed a volunteered geographic information approach to investigate the runnability of park trails in Shenzhen, utilizing self-tracking routes from Strava, in order to uncover the associations between trail characteristics and park features with the running intensity before and after the pandemic. Multilevel regression model analyses revealed that trail network connectivity was the only environmental attribute indicating consistent and positive associations with running intensity. Blue space density was positively correlated with running intensity in urban parks but indicated no significant association in forest parks before the pandemic. In the pre-pandemic era, population density was positively related to running intensity in urban and forest parks. However, after the pandemic, the associations between running behaviours and population density remained positive in forest parks but turned insignificant in urban parks. The outbreak of the pandemic also altered the influence of other park features (e.g. park shape and trail density) on running intensity. The evidence-based knowledge provides planners with significant insights into pandemic-resilient park planning for the post-COVID era.

베이커리 선택속성이 구매의도 및 충성도에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구: 건강관여도의 조절효과를 중심으로

The purpose of this study is to verify the effect relationship of bakery selection attributes on purchase intention and loyalty, and to examine the moderating effect of health involvement. hypothesis 1, the promotion attribute, taste quality attribute, and environmental attribute of the selection attribute have a significant positive (+) effect on purchase intention. hypothesis 2, the promotion attribute, the taste quality attribute, and the environmental attribute of the selection attribute have a significant positive (+) effect on the loyalty. hypothesis 3 was found to have a significant positive (+) effect on loyalty. As a result of examining the moderating effect of health involvement on the relationship between bakery selection attribute and purchase intention under hypothesis 4, it was found that taste, quality attribute, and service attribute made purchase intention stronger. As a result of verifying the moderating effect of health involvement on the influence of bakery selection attributes and loyalty in Hypothesis 5, service attributes and environmental attributes in the low health involvement group were important variables in securing loyal customers.

Accurately quantifying the detoxication of solid waste and its scientific insights: The case of typical industrial waste

<p indent="0mm">The increasing surge in solid waste generation poses tremendous risks to the safety of the environment, resources, and industry, prompting solid waste management to be a global environmental issue and a grand challenge in the 21st century. Solid waste has a double attribute of resource and environment, which is commonly resolved by recycling and detoxication. Previously, the resource attribute of solid waste was measured with recyclability. To achieve the sound management of solid waste, its environmental attribute discovery plays a crucial role in process selecting and policy formulating, especially for some hazardous industrial waste. In this study, we first proposed the removability concept to indicate the environmental attribute, and then established an environmental attribute measuring method, utilizing an interdisciplinary philosophy of statistical entropy and pollution grade. By measuring the removability of toxic substances towards detoxication, the method determines the potential and difficulty of toxic substance removal and resource recovery under current process conditions. Applying the method, we evaluated the removability of various toxic substances in 24 types of industrial waste. A sensitivity analysis was also picked up to identify the key influencing factors. Finally, we analyzed the feasibility of removing toxic substances from industrial waste by recovery technologies. The research on heavy metals and inorganic non-metallic toxic substances in industrial waste shows that the removability of these toxic substances is correlated with valence and stability. The results range from 11 bit^–1 to 66 bit^–1, revealing a low removability of the above toxic substances. However, the removability of organic toxic substances is related to their degradability. Besides, the combination of heavy metals and organic toxic substances could further decrease the removability of the toxic substances. The sensitivity analysis assessed the influence of different factors on the removability of toxic substances. The results suggest that the component, stability, and concentration of toxic substances have obvious effects on removability. To be specific, lower stability will reduce the difficulty to enrich and remove toxic substances. Thus, the high stability of the toxic substances in industrial waste emphasizes the requirement of an additional energy supply to change the phase composition or valence state of the toxic substances. However, the improvement of removability has an efficiency limit, with the critical value of the limit relating to the initial removability. Compared to virgin mining, the removability of over 50% of toxic substances in industrial waste fails to meet the requirements under the condition of the lowest industrial grade. Meanwhile, the feasibility of toxic substance removal and resource recovery in industrial waste detoxication should take both the types of waste and toxic substances into account. From the perspective of waste, only 6 types of industrial waste among 24 types of industrial waste being studied have a removal index greater than zero, including gold tailings, steel slag, and fly ash. Hence, it is suitable to enable toxic substance removal and impair the environmental attribute by material recovery when treating these 6 types of waste. In contrast, the rest types of industrial waste are of high environmental attributes, making it hard to remove the toxic substances by recovery due to the inferior removability and economic feasibility under the current technological condition. From the perspective of toxic substances, the slight differences of toxic substances in industrial wastes make it difficult to perform targeted separation and precise removal with the same technology. In a conclusion, removability is an intrinsic property of solid waste that can influence extrinsic properties, such as the environmental risk of solid waste sound management. Therefore, we considered incorporating the environmental attribute into the classification of solid waste and carried out the complete process of detoxification and accurate accounting. It will assist the recycling industry in the design of waste treatment and resource recycling, and guide the upgrading of waste disposal technology.

Consumer Preference for Certified Sustainable Palm Oil with Environmental Sustainability Attributes: A Choice Experiment Approach

Increasing consumer preference for sustainable palm oil necessitates a paradigm shift towards certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO), and the introduction of CSPO cooking oil, with environmental attribute certification and eco-labelling, will be hallmarks of the necessary sustainability standard. In this study, we applied a choice experiment to investigate supply side consumer preferences, and to estimate willingness to pay (WTP) for cooking oil certified under Roundtable for Sustainable Palm oil (RSPO). Sustainability standards for the palm oil industry were introduced to address environmental issues, such as biodiversity conservation, and the harmful reduction in CO2 emission. To achieve this, we examined Malaysian consumer knowledge of the CSPO, and investigated its influence on their choice of palm oil supply value chain model, considering biodiversity conservation, CO2 reduction and the willingness to pay (WTP). The main finding of this study indicated that Malaysian consumers are willing to pay more than a 5% price premium for RSPO certified palm (cooking) oil, while the most prioritized attributes is the mass balanced supply chain model that included both moderate levels of biodiversity conservation and of CO2 emission.

Age-difference In The Association Of Built Environment With Walking In Older Adults

PURPOSE: It remains unclear whether the relationship between built environment and walking behavior differ by age groups. Therefore, this study aimed to examine age-related differences in associations of built environmental attributes with walking in older Taiwanese adults. METHODS: This study was based on a cross-sectional telephone survey using a computer-assisted telephone interviewing, targeting 1,068 older Taiwanese adults (over 65 years) in 2017. Time spent in walking was measured by the short version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Built environmental attributes were assessed by geographic information systems (GIS), including population density, street connectivity, sidewalk availability, leisure destinations, utilization destinations & access to public transportation. Adjusted binary logistic regression models adjusting for potential confounders were employed to examine the relationships between the seven built environment variables & walking time in total sample, and stratified for young (65-74 year) & old (75+ years)older adults. RESULTS: A total of 1,040 respondents provided complete information for analysis. The mean age (SD) of the respondent was 73.04 (± 6.13) years. 68.8% achieved 150 min of walking in a week. In total sample, only one GIS-derived environmental attribute - leisure destinations was positive associated with the 150 min of walking in a week (odds ratio (OR)=1.34, 95% confidential interval (CI)=1.02-1.75). After stratifying by age groups, among 65 to 74 age group, population density was negative associated with the 150 min of walking in a week (OR=0.65, 95%CI=0.46-0.93) and number of leisure destination was positive associated with the 150 min of walking in a week (OR=1.55, 95%CI=1.10-2.19). However, no significant associations were observed between all built environmental attributes and walking in old adults who aged over 75 year. CONCLUSIONS: These results showed that age could be a potential moderator between built environment and walking in older adult population. High-density neighborhoods with favorable leisure destinations can be supportive for walking among young older adults (65-74 year). However, for old older adults (over 75 years), it is critical to further explore other multi-level factors related to their walking behavior.

Assessing the economic value of urban green spaces in Kuala Lumpur.

This study assessed the economic value of public urban green spaces (UGSs) in Kuala Lumpur (KL) city by using the hedonic price method (HPM). It involves 1269 house units from eight sub-districts in KL city. Based on the hedonic price method, this study formulates a global and local model. The global model and local model are analyzed using ordinary least square (OLS) regression and geographically weighted regression (GWR). By using the hedonic price method, the house price serves as a proxy for public urban green spaces' economic value. The house price is regressed against the set of three variables which are structural characteristics, neighborhood attributes, and environmental attributes. Measurements of interest in this study are environmental characteristics, including distance to public UGSs and size of public UGSs. The results of the OLS regression illustrated that Taman Rimba Kiara and Taman Tasik Titiwangsa provide the maximum economic value. On average, reducing the distance of the house location to Taman Rimba Kiara by 10m increased the house price by RM1700. Similarly, increasing the size of the Taman Tasik Titiwangsa by 1000m2 increases the house price by RM60,000. The advantage of the GWR result is the economic value of public UGSs which can be analyzed by the specific location according to sub-district. From this study, the GWR result exposed that the economic values of Taman Rimba Bukit Kiara and Taman Tasik Titiwangsa were not significant in each of the sub-district within KL city. Taman Rimba Bukit Kiara was negatively significant at all sub-districts except Setapak and certain house locations located at the sub-district of KL. In contrast, Taman Tasik Titiwangsa was positively significant at all sub-districts except certain house locations at the sub-districts of Batu, KL, Setapak, and KL city center. In conclusion, results show that the house price is influenced by the environmental attribute. However, even though both of these public UGSs generate the highest economic value based on distance and size, its significant values with an expected sign are only obtained based on the specific house location as verified by the local model. In terms of model comparison, the local model was better compared with the global model.

Data-driven approach for spatiotemporal distribution prediction of fault events in power transmission systems

The spatiotemporal distribution of future fault events in a power transmission system assists in operational planning and maintenance scheduling. To this end, this paper proposes an environmental attributes-based framework for the spatiotemporal distribution prediction of potential fault events in the system. In this framework, the distribution of future fault events is predicted via the forecasted information of the environmental attributes rather than the electrical attributes. An extensive investigation covering all environmental attributes including the fault causes is presented, and the underlying fault-attribute relationships are explored. Notably, the rare association rule mining is employed to cope with the rare occurred elements in each environmental attribute through five new significance measurements. Next, to distinguish the diverse influence of each environmental element on the reliability of the whole system, the relative weights are developed. Also, the impact of the latent erroneous predictions of the events caused by one fault cause on the overall prediction performance is assessed via an extended definition of the component importance measurement. Ultimately, the efficiency of the modified significance measurements, the prediction performance in the two test cases, and the impact of each single fault cause are validated by an empirical study. The flexibility and the robustness of this framework in real applications are therefore demonstrated.

Hilly neighborhoods are associated with increased risk of weight gain among older adults in rural Japan: a 3-years follow-up study

BackgroundNeighborhood environments have been regularly associated with the weight status. Although the evidence is mostly limited to adults residing in western urban settings, the weight status of older adults living in rural areas is also assumed to be significantly affected by their neighborhood environments. This study aimed to identify environmental attributes specific to rural areas that could affect the risk of longitudinal weight gain among older adults (≥ 65 years) in Japan.MethodsWe examined five environmental attributes, i.e., land slope, public transportation accessibility, residential density, intersection density, and the availability of parks and recreational centers, measured by the geographic information system. Our analysis was based on 714 subjects participated in Shimane Community-based Healthcare Research and Education study in 2012 and 2015. Multinomial logistic regression model was conducted to examine the association between each neighborhood environmental attribute and weight change status (gain, loss and unchanged).ResultsWe observed a significant increase in the risk of weight gain as the steepness of the neighborhood land slope increased. There was no significant association between other environmental attributes and risk of weight gain as well as weight loss among older adults.ConclusionLiving in hilly neighborhoods was associated with increased risk of weight gain among rural Japanese older adults. Future research should consider region-specific environmental attributes when investigating their effect on older adults’ weight status.

Older adults’ environmental preferences for transportation cycling

IntroductionCycling is a non-polluting and healthy transportation mode for older adults. However, there is limited knowledge about the infrastructural changes necessary to stimulate cycling among older adults (≥65 years). This is particularly true for electric cycling (e-biking), an increasingly popular form of cycling. The current experiment with manipulated photographs examined the environmental preferences for transportation cycling among older adults. Additionally, it examined whether subgroups with different environmental preferences exist and whether these subgroups differ on socio-demographics, health characteristics, transport behaviour, e-bike use and cycling levels. MethodsA structured questionnaire and choice-based conjoint exercise was completed by 895 Flemish older adults. The conjoint exercise included 13 choice tasks each presenting two street situations, which were manipulated on nine environmental attributes. Hierarchical Bayes and latent class analyses were applied to obtain environmental preferences and identify subgroups. ResultsIn the total sample, type of cycle path was the most important environmental attribute (importance = 40.0, 95% CI = 39.0–41.0) determining older adults’ preference for transportation cycling. The second most important attribute was traffic density (16.7, 95% CI = 15.9–17.4), followed by cycle path evenness (11.8, 95% CI = 11.4–12.1) and distance (10.6, 95% CI = 10.1–11.0). Six subgroups with different environmental preferences were identified. These subgroups could be characterized based on differences in cycling limitations, driving status, e-bike use and cycling levels. ConclusionsThe provision of well-separated cycle paths should be considered a priority in urban planning initiatives aiming to stimulate transportation cycling among older adults. Such initiatives should be evaluated to validate the current findings and optimize future initiatives.

Physical Activity Environment and Japanese Adults' Body Mass Index.

Evidence about the impacts of the physical activity environment on adults’ weight in the context of Asian countries is scarce. Likewise, no study exists in Asia examining whether Walk Score®—a free online walkability tool—is related to obesity. This study aimed to examine associations between multiple physical activity environment measures and Walk Score® ratings with Japanese adults’ body mass index (BMI). Data from 1073 adults in the Healthy Built Environment in Japan study were used. In 2011, participants reported their height and weight. Environmental attributes, including population density, intersection density, density of physical activity facilities, access to public transportation, and availability of sidewalks, were calculated using Geographic Information Systems. Walk Scores® ratings were obtained from the website. Multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to examine the association between each environmental attribute and BMI. Adjusting for covariates, all physical activity environmental attributes were negatively associated with BMI. Similarly, an increase of one standard deviation of Walk Score® was associated with a 0.29 (95% confidence interval (CI) of −0.49–−0.09) decrease in BMI. An activity-friendly built environment was associated with lower adults’ BMI in Japan. Investing in healthy community design may positively impact weight status in non-Western contexts.

Relationships between the neighborhood environment and depression in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

This review systematically examined the literature on neighborhood environmental correlates of depression in older adults. Findings were analyzed according to three depression outcomes: depressive symptoms, possible depression, and clinical depression. Based on their description in the article, environmental variables were assigned to one of 25 categories. The strength of evidence was statistically quantified using a meta-analytical approach with articles weighted for sample size and study quality. Findings were summarized by the number of positive, negative, and statistically non-significant associations by each combination of environmental attribute - depression outcome and by combining all depression outcomes. Seventy-three articles met the selection criteria. For all depression outcomes combined, 12 of the 25 environmental attribute categories were considered to be sufficiently studied. Three of these, neighborhood socio-economic status, collective efficacy, and personal/crime-related safety were negatively associated with all depression outcomes combined. Moderating effects on associations were sparsely investigated, with 52 articles not examining any. Attributes of the physical neighborhood environment have been understudied. This review provides support for the potential influence of some neighborhood attributes on population levels of depression. However, further research is needed to adequately examine physical attributes associated with depression and moderators of both social and physical neighborhood environment attribute - depression outcome associations.

Street characteristics preferred for transportation walking among older adults: a choice-based conjoint analysis with manipulated photographs

BackgroundKnowledge about the relationships between micro-scale environmental factors and older adults’ walking for transport is limited and inconsistent. This is probably due to methodological limitations, such as absence of an accurate neighborhood definition, lack of environmental heterogeneity, environmental co-variation, and recall bias. Furthermore, most previous studies are observational in nature. We aimed to address these limitations by investigating the effects of manipulating photographs on micro-scale environmental factors on the appeal of a street for older adults’ transportation walking. Secondly, we used latent class analysis to examine whether subgroups could be identified that have different environmental preferences for transportation walking. Thirdly, we investigated whether these subgroups differed in socio-demographic, functional and psychosocial characteristics, current level of walking and environmental perceptions of their own street.MethodsData were collected among 1131 Flemish older adults through an online (n = 940) or an interview version of the questionnaire (n = 191). This questionnaire included a choice-based conjoint exercise with manipulated photographs of a street. These manipulated photographs originated from one panoramic photograph of an existing street that was manipulated on nine environmental attributes. Participants chose which of two presented streets they would prefer to walk for transport.ResultsIn the total sample, sidewalk evenness had by far the greatest appeal for transportation walking. The other environmental attributes were less important. Four subgroups that differed in their environmental preferences for transportation walking were identified. In the two largest subgroups (representing 86 % of the sample) sidewalk evenness was the most important environmental attribute. In the two smaller subgroups (each comprising 7 % of the sample), traffic volume and speed limit were the most important environmental attributes for one, and the presence of vegetation and a bench were the most important environmental attributes for the other. This latter subgroup included a higher percentage of service flat residents than the other subgroups.ConclusionsOur results suggest that the provision of even sidewalks should be considered a priority when developing environmental interventions aiming to stimulate older adults’ transportation walking. Natural experiments are needed to confirm whether our findings can be translated to real environments and actual transportation walking behavior.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12966-016-0331-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The influence of differing protected area status and environmental factors on the macroinvertebrate fauna of temperate austral wetlands

One means of conserving wetlands is to designate the area around them as ‘protected’. Although many different types of protected areas exist, ranging from international (Ramsar-listed) to local importance, there is little information on how the type of protection influences biodiversity conservation. Studies of the effectiveness of protected area systems are a priority, if we are to understand their importance and design systems effectively. Many Tasmanian wetlands are regarded as having high to very high conservation values with more than 60% located within protected areas. This study tested macroinvertebrate richness and assemblage responses to a range of environmental attributes and differing types of protected area status at 66 protected Tasmanian (Australian) wetlands. Two hundred and eighteen taxa were identified with an average of 33 species (or morphospecies) and 18 families recorded per wetland. The wetland assemblages were idiosyncratic, four families contributed 21% of the total recorded and only two families contributed greater than 10%. Wetlands were not significantly nested on the basis of the composition of their macroinvertebrate assemblages. No single environmental attribute had a strong relationship with macroinvertebrate richness or assemblage composition and neither species richness nor assemblage composition varied significantly between different types of protected areas. Although the majority of protected area types were designed to support terrestrial conservation objectives rather than wetland values, our results suggest that the latter were also afforded protection. The state of the proximal zone (the terrestrial zone within 50m of the wetland edge) and the type of aquatic habitat present (macrophyte or sediment-dominated substrates) were the most important determinants of macroinvertebrate richness and assemblage composition across all types of protected wetlands. These results suggest that for temperate austral wetlands located within protected areas, the macroinvertebrate fauna will be best conserved by minimal disturbance of proximal lands.

Green, greener or brown: choosing the right color of the product

There does not exist a one-size-fits-all green product strategy in green market, and formulating a strategy that aligns a company’s economic and environmental goals is no small feat. In this paper we provide insights into a firm’s green product strategy choice with a focus on two alternative strategies: Greening-Up and Greening-Out. In doing so, we incorporate two important characteristics of the customer market where there are substantial numbers of customers who are potentially receptive to a green appeal: (1) Customer market is divided into three distinct and mutually exclusive segments based on large-scale surveys and interviews conducted to measure both customers’ willingness-to-pay for products with environmental attribute(s) and their propensity to buy these products; and (2) We factor in the findings of the most recent market behavior studies that even the customers that demonstrate the least environmental responsibility of all the segments can buy green products for non-environmental reasons. The contributions and findings of our work are as follows. First, we characterize the market- and product-related factors a firm should act on for a successful execution of green product strategies. Second, on the basis of customer choice data available, we assess the strategic fit of distinct pricing options under each strategy choice with the objective(s) of a firm. Third, we explore the extent to which a green product strategy creates higher environmental benefits while providing economic payoffs to a firm. In contrast to prevailing view, we show that greening up an existing brown product is not necessarily better at reducing the environmental impact of a firm than designing a new green product. We observe that responsiveness of the least environmentally conscious customers to environmental attributes added into a brown product sets one of the two major constraints on the environmental performance of Greening-Up strategy. We also observe that there does not exist a strict dichotomy between having a better economic performance and achieving a higher environmental performance, and a firm can achieve both goals simultaneously, even if it means leaving out serving some of the customers targeted by the firm’s existing brown product.

Does the Spatial Weight Configuration Matter in the Determination of the Effects of Environmental Externalities on Housing Prices?

This paper highlights, from both a theoretical and an empirical point of view, how the choice of neighborhood and spatial weight affects the direct and indirect effects of environmental housing attributes on house price in environmental hedonic models.An original empirical investigation is herein undertaken for the area of the lower Loire estuary (France), in order to illustrate and complement our theoretical analysis. The first thing it shows is that as the radius of the neighborhood increases, the spatial specification changes from the Spatial Durbin to the SLAG model, which could modify the MWTP of the environmental attribute and therefore affect welfare analysis. It shows also that the indirect effects of environmental attributes, i.e., proximity to the sea or to a noisy road, should be taken into account in hedonic environmental valuations when the matrix of spatial weights is distance-dependent.

The concordance of directly and indirectly measured built environment attributes and physical activity adoption

BackgroundPhysical activity (PA) adoption is essential for obesity prevention and control, yet ethnic minority women report lower levels of PA and are at higher risk for obesity and its comorbidities compared to Caucasians. Epidemiological studies and ecologic models of health behavior suggest that built environmental factors are associated with health behaviors like PA, but few studies have examined the association between built environment attribute concordance and PA, and no known studies have examined attribute concordance and PA adoption.PurposeThe purpose of this study was to associate the degree of concordance between directly and indirectly measured built environment attributes with changes in PA over time among African American and Hispanic Latina women participating in a PA intervention.MethodWomen (N = 410) completed measures of PA at Time 1 (T1) and Time 2 (T2); environmental data collected at T1 were used to compute concordance between directly and indirectly measured built environment attributes. The association between changes in PA and the degree of concordance between each directly and indirectly measured environmental attribute was assessed using repeated measures analyses.ResultsThere were no significant associations between built environment attribute concordance values and change in self-reported or objectively measured PA. Self-reported PA significantly increased over time (F(1,184) = 7.82, p = .006), but this increase did not vary by ethnicity or any built environment attribute concordance variable.ConclusionsBuilt environment attribute concordance may not be associated with PA changes over time among minority women. In an effort to promote PA, investigators should clarify specific built environment attributes that are important for PA adoption and whether accurate perceptions of these attributes are necessary, particularly among the vulnerable population of minority women.

Integrated Ecosystem Assessment: Lake Ontario Water Management

BackgroundEcosystem management requires organizing, synthesizing, and projecting information at a large scale while simultaneously addressing public interests, dynamic ecological properties, and a continuum of physicochemical conditions. We compared the impacts of seven water level management plans for Lake Ontario on a set of environmental attributes of public relevance.Methodology and FindingsOur assessment method was developed with a set of established impact assessment tools (checklists, classifications, matrices, simulations, representative taxa, and performance relations) and the concept of archetypal geomorphic shoreline classes. We considered each environmental attribute and shoreline class in its typical and essential form and predicted how water level change would interact with defining properties. The analysis indicated that about half the shoreline of Lake Ontario is potentially sensitive to water level change with a small portion being highly sensitive. The current water management plan may be best for maintaining the environmental resources. In contrast, a natural water regime plan designed for greatest environmental benefits most often had adverse impacts, impacted most shoreline classes, and the largest portion of the lake coast. Plans that balanced multiple objectives and avoided hydrologic extremes were found to be similar relative to the environment, low on adverse impacts, and had many minor impacts across many shoreline classes.SignificanceThe Lake Ontario ecosystem assessment provided information that can inform decisions about water management and the environment. No approach and set of methods will perfectly and unarguably accomplish integrated ecosystem assessment. For managing water levels in Lake Ontario, we found that there are no uniformly good and bad options for environmental conservation. The scientific challenge was selecting a set of tools and practices to present broad, relevant, unbiased, and accessible information to guide decision-making on a set of management options.

Geostatistical Tools for Deriving Block-Averaged Values of Environmental Attributes

This paper reviews four different approaches for estimating the block-averaged value of an environmental attribute from point data: 1) the sample arithmetic average, 2) the declustered mean, 3) block kriging, and 4) stochastic simulation. The first approach is straightforward and well suited for estimation over large blocks that contain many randomly located observations. Declustering techniques can be used to correct for preferential sampling of specific subareas of such large blocks. The last two techniques, kriging and simulation, account for the pattern of spatial dependence of observations and allow one to compensate for the shortage of data inside small blocks by incorporating observations outside the block. The major advantage of stochastic simulation is that it provides a non-parametric measure of the uncertainty attached to the prediction of a single block or multiple spatially dependent blocks. Stochastic simulation can also be used to upscale properties like permeability that do not average linearly in space, whereas the first 3 techniques are only valid for linear averaging parameters. The different techniques are illustrated using a soil data set related to heavy metal contamination over a 14.5km2 area in the Swiss Jura.