As geothermal energy is of increasing importance as a renewable energy source, there is a high demand for comprehensive studies to prevent failure during implementation, as is the case in Staufen im Breisgau, Germany. The drilling of seven wells for the geothermal heating of the city hall in 2007 is thought to have disturbed the existing hydro-geological system in the complex structured transit...

Background: Given relatively less favorable health outcomes in rural Alabama, electronic health records (EHRs) have an even greater potential to improve quality and alleviate disparities if meaningfully used. Objectives: We examined rural-urban differences as it pertained to perceived barriers, benefits, and motivating factors of EHR implementation. Methods: We used multivariate logistic models...

The utilization of urban green zones forms a major part of urban sustainability in the context of the improvement of quality of life of the citizens. Within the policy for sustainable management of urban green zones, the tools that are used effectively are new technologies such as web databases, web DSS, GIS and environmental impact prediction model. This paper presents the geodatabase, which w...

BACKGROUND Inconsistencies in rural and urban health care exist; however, little has been done to evaluate the potential differences in asthma management. OBJECTIVE To compare asthma management in rural versus urban primary care physician practices. METHODS Forty-two of 136 consenting primary care physicians were randomly selected for chart review. The charts of 3072 patients diagnosed with...

Background: In China, rapid urbanization has caused migration from rural to urban areas, and raised the prevalence of hypertension. However, public health insurance is not portable from one place to another, and migration may limit the effectiveness of this non-portable health insurance on healthcare. Our study aims to investigate whether migration limits the effectiveness of health insurance o...

Brent D. Ryan first visited Detroit in 1993. Describing this experience, he says: ‘‘The sense of emptiness was overpowering. ... I felt as if I was walking into the ruin of America.’’ In his book ‘‘Design after decline—how America rebuilds shrinking cities,’’ Ryan tries to understand why so many American cities have been losing population, what was and is done to change the fortune of these cit...

To reduce the losses caused by natural disasters such as hurricanes, it is necessary to build effective and efficient emergency management/planning systems for cities. With increases in volume, variety and acquisition rate of urban data, major opportunities exist to implement data-oriented emergency management/planning. New York/New Jersey metropolitan area is selected as the study area. Large ...