This paper analyzes the relationships between the values and dispersion of residential properties and the environmental-health quality of their locations. It constructs residents’ health-adjusted lifetime-utility function by combining satisfaction from consumption over the lifespan with risk to life from living in an environmentally unhealthy location. It employs this utility function to analyz...

Collecting and analysing timely and accurate information about the quality of care that is delivered to older people in residential homes is a challenge. Most current approaches to collecting this information are manual, and add time, cost and human error to them. Interactive digital technologies have the potential to reduce the time consumed, cost and errors in these processes, which in turn c...

We describe our ongoing research in the area of developing and testing technologies for successful aging. Sensing and perception technologies can enable a home environment to be aware of the whereabouts and activities of its occupants. Motivated by the desire to use such an awareness to help maintain independence and quality of life for an aging population, we describe the technological, design...

Background and purpose: Disposing sludge from industrial wastewater treatment plants (IWWTPs) is a serious issue because it can affect human and animals health, and also environmental quality. In this study, sludge from an IWWTP was analyzed regarding its physicochemical characteristics and disposal options. Materials and Methods: Grab sampling was used to collect 12 sludge samples biweekly (Ma...

Recently, we are focusing on managing the energy system automatically. The smart grids perform much functionality like a self-healing capability, a self-resistance to external attacks, and actively engage the consumers. Also we provide high quality power to consumers in the operation environment of smart grids. In this paper, we propose a prediction methodology based on random forest classifier...

There is growing interest in the impact of community design on the health of residents. In 1998, the Western Australian Government began a trial of new subdivision design codes (i.e. Liveable Neighbourhoods Community Design Code) aimed at creating pedestrian-friendly neighbourhoods to increase walking, cycling and public transport use. The trial provided a unique opportunity for a natural exper...

BACKGROUND Few studies have empirically investigated factors that define residential aged care units that are perceived as being highly person-centred. The purpose of this study was to explore factors characterising residential aged care units perceived as being highly person-centred, with a focus on organisational and environmental variables, as well as residents' and staff' characteristics. ...

OBJECTIVE Environmental exposure to food sources may underpin area level differences in individual risk for overweight. Place of residence is generally used to assess neighbourhood exposure. Yet, because people are mobile, multiple exposures should be accounted for to assess the relation between food environments and overweight. Unfortunately, mobility data is often missing from health surveys....

BACKGROUND Built environment research is dominated by cross-sectional designs, which are particularly vulnerable to residential self-selection bias resulting from health-related attitudes, neighborhood preferences, or other unmeasured characteristics related to both neighborhood choice and health-related outcomes. METHODS We used cohort data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent ...