BACKGROUND Study of the causes of the reduced levels of physical activity in patients with COPD has been scarce and limited to biological factors. AIM To assess the relationship between novel socio-environmental factors, namely dog walking, grandparenting, neighbourhood deprivation, residential surrounding greenness and residential proximity to green or blue spaces, and amount and intensity o...

This research assessed the direct and indirect influences of renovated public spaces (parks and sports facilities) on social cohesion and residential satisfaction, in the context of low and medium-low socio economic status individuals in Mexico. The research method is based on structural equation models. The findings of the study suggest the importance of public spaces in promoting informal soc...

While the explosion of on-line information has brought new opportunities for finding and using electronic data, it has also brought to the forefront the problem of isolating useful information and making sense of large multi-dimension information spaces. We have built several developed an approach to building data “tour guides,” called FINDME systems. These programs know enough about an informa...

BACKGROUND Green spaces have been associated with improved mental health in children; however, available epidemiological evidence on their impact on child behavioral development is scarce. OBJECTIVES We investigated the impact of contact with green spaces and blue spaces (beaches) on indicators of behavioral development and symptoms of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in school...

The acoustics of residential balcony spaces in the presence of road traffic noise has been investigated by several authors over a period of several decades. However it would appear there remains an absence of a simple and yet reliable method to predict the acoustics of balcony spaces. There are two primary elements requiring consideration. The first element is to predict road traffic noise leve...

Mosquitoes and birds were sampled for West Nile virus (WNV) in suburban Chicago, USA, in a "hot spot" of arboviral transmission. Viral genetic diversity within this area was similar to that within Illinois and the United States. Diversity was higher among viruses from mosquitoes than from birds, higher among viruses from birds in urban "green spaces" than from birds in residential areas, but lo...

In this paper, I explore do-it-yourself approaches in installation art and building projects. Although DIY products and systems were developed to help non-professionals, they can also enable professionals to experiment with different methods of creating buildings and spaces. DIY approaches allow people to change spaces while they occupy them, because do not require specialized construction tool...

Whereas natural ventilation design in hot climates is intended to mitigate discomfort effect of thermal transmission into building interiors, the uncertainty of the aggregate effect of the strategy on interior air temperature in hot dry climates has been expressed. This study investigated how air temperature in rooms of a residential building in a hot dry climate is affected by some natural ven...

organization of living environment is possible through a clear definition of private and public arenas and determinationof a spatial hierarchy. such defined arenas increase the sense of belonging to the environment which personalizesresidential environments. enclosure is among the quantities that play a significant role in defining the spaces. in fact,enclosure is the factor that defines a spac...

Few birth cohort studies have examined the role of traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) in the development of infantile atopic dermatitis (AD), but none have investigated the role of preventive factors such as green spaces. The aim of this study was to investigate whether exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of <10 μm (PM10) during pregnancy is ...