Search Results (84)

Digital technologies could facilitate green development by enhancing energy efficiency. However, existing research on coupling coordination between digital infrastructure and green development remains scarce. To fill this research gap, this study analyzes the spatio-temporal variations and barriers of coupling coordination. An evaluation index system is established and then the coupling relationship and the barrier factors between digital infrastructure and green development are analyzed. A provincial analysis is conducted by using data from China. The results in the study indicate (1) coupling coordination between digital infrastructure and green development exhibits a relatively low state, characterized by an overall upward trend; (2) noteworthy disparities are observed in the spatio-temporal pattern of the coupling coordination degree, reflecting the overall evolutionary trend from low to high coupling coordination, along with the characteristics of positive spatial correlation and high spatial concentration; and (3) obstacle factors are analyzed from the aspects of digital infrastructure and green development, emphasizing the construction of mobile phone base stations and investment in pollution control, among other aspects. This study contributes valuable insights for improvement paths for digital infrastructure and green development, offering recommendations for optimizing strategies to promote their coupled development. Full article

Ongoing interest in the intersection of spirituality and health has prompted a need for integrated research. This report proposes a distinct approach in a model that allows for successful and harmonious cross-fertilization within these latter two areas of interest. Our work is especially pertinent to inquiries around the role of spirituality in mental health, with special attention to chronic pain conditions. The latter have become an open channel for novel avenues to explore the field of spirituality-based interventions within the arena of psychological inquiry. To address this, the authors developed and implemented the Church and Academia Model, a prototype for an innovative collaborative research project, with the aim of exploring the role of devotional practices, and their potential to be used as therapeutic co-adjuvants or tools to enhance the coping skills of patients with chronic pain. Keeping in mind that the church presents a rich landscape for clinical inquiry with broad relevance for clinicians and society at large, we created a unique hybrid research model. This is a new paradigm that focuses on distinct and well-defined studies where the funding, protocol writing, study design, and implementation are shared by experts from both the pastoral and clinical spaces. A team of theologians, researchers, and healthcare providers, including clinical pain psychologists, built a coalition leveraging their respective skill sets. Each expert is housed in their own environs, creating a functional network that has proven academically productive and pastorally effective. Key outputs include the creation and validation of a new psychometric measure, the Pain-related PRAYER Scale (PPRAYERS), an associated bedside prayer tool and a full-scale dissemination strategy through journal publications and specialty society conferences. This collaborative prototype is also an ideal fit for integrated knowledge translation platforms, and it is a promising paradigm for future collaborative projects focused on spirituality and mental health. Full article

High unemployment rates, inaccessible housing markets, and funding challenges create barriers to finding suitable housing for adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) who have less obvious support needs, also known as autistic adults. While public and community housing services in Aotearoa New Zealand (AoNZ) may be an option, a lack of accessible designs leaves families uncertain about future care options. This paper, part of the MBIE-funded Public Housing and Urban Regeneration: Maximising Wellbeing research programme in partnership with registered Community Housing Provider, Te Toi Mahana (TTM), takes an exploratory approach to ask how public and community housing can support and help enable semi-independent living for autistic adults. It investigates how design elements—such as dwelling layouts, material choices, colour schemes, lighting, acoustics, shared and community spaces, and external environments—impact the wellbeing of autistic adults. By extension, insights may also inform private housing design. The study focuses on autistic adults who may be considered ‘mid-to-high’ functioning or those who have been previously diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, whose housing needs are often overlooked. It develops guiding principles and detailed guidance points for public and community housing, informed by the literature, case studies, and data from a photo elicitation study and interviews undertaken with autistic adults in AoNZ. These guiding principles are tested through the speculative redesign of a large TTM site in Newtown, Wellington, AoNZ. Findings should be of interest to government agencies, housing providers, architects, stakeholders, and others involved in shaping the built environment, as well as autistic adults and their supporters, both in AoNZ and internationally. Full article

Low-income households face severe energy affordability issues due to poor housing quality. To fight this problem, Spanish public administrations and NGOs have collaborated with the Naturgy Foundation’s Energy Rehabilitation Solidarity Fund to improve the energy efficiency of vulnerable households through quick and low-cost interventions. This paper evaluates the impact of shallow renovation and micro-efficiency measures implemented within this program on energy poverty across various Spanish provinces. The analysis includes data from 416 households in 10 provinces, examining sociodemographic factors, housing conditions, energy bills, and thermal comfort perceptions. The methodology involved collecting data through two questionnaires and energy bills provided by collaborating entities. The study found that shallow renovation measures reduced the energy poverty gap by 14.51%, from EUR 554/year to EUR 483/year. Despite these gains, many households remain in severe hidden energy poverty, spending less than a quarter of their theoretical energy expenditure. The findings highlight the diversity among different provinces and measures and the need for more extensive structural measures to reduce energy poverty significantly. Eventually, the study underscores the effectiveness of energy renovations carried out by non-profit organizations. Thus, scaling these efforts nationally might help meet the goals of the public energy poverty plans. Full article

This study explores the publication and dissemination of the Pilu Canon 《毗盧藏》, engraved by followers of Bao’en Wanshou Hall in Houshan Village, Fujian, during the Yanyou reign of the Yuan Dynasty. Funded through donations, this canon was part of a broader initiative to republish the four major Buddhist Canons. Its engraving style blends influences from Yan Zhenqing, Ouyang Xun, and Zhao Mengfu, with rounder characters and more spacious layouts compared to earlier Song editions. The project, supported by the White Lotus Society, involved various engravers and resulted in diverse transcription practices. Although no complete set survives, scattered volumes are housed in different institutions. The Pilu Canon provides valuable insights into the evolution of Buddhist scripture layout, the White Lotus Society’s influence, and the interaction between Buddhist texts and secular society in medieval China. Full article

Waqf investment funds represent an innovative approach to sustainable finance, integrating Islamic investment principles with contemporary social and economic goals. The research explores how Waqf investment funds affect socio-economic factors in Saudi Arabia through their influence on personal income, healthcare systems, and education while analyzing financial sustainability. The study assessed primary socio-economic indicators through beneficiary survey data, expert interviews, and secondary sources. The study used chi-square tests, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and regression analysis to evaluate the long-term impact of the funds on social welfare and economic stability. The results highlight several significant achievements, the most important of which is that personal income benefited most from enhanced purchasing power. At the same time, healthcare outcomes improved significantly due to support for chronic disease treatments. Support for student housing and living services positively impacted the education sector by providing learning stability and access to educational opportunities. Financial sustainability reached its peak through improved financial security measures. The full potential of Waqf investment funds remains restricted because they face continuous issues with investment diversification, governance effectiveness, and entrepreneurial support. The results show that Waqf investment funds work as a welfare tool while also serving as a strategic tool for sustainable development in line with Saudi Vision 2030 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Full article

Most people in the world now live in urban areas and their shared quest for better cities is embodied in several Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. These indicate that successful cities need jobs, adequate housing stock, effective governance, and other support systems. At the most basic level, they need a basket of core public works services like clean water and efficient transit, among others. These must be provided to improve public trust in government by addressing equity and affordability while also improving operational and cost efficiency. These targets are moving as transitions are occurring from stove-piped to integrated services, even while social contracts between government and the private sector are also shifting. Essential tools to improve cities include urban planning and infrastructure development, but applying them effectively faces challenges like climate change, inequality, social disorder, and even armed conflicts. This paper focuses on seven core public works services for drinking water, wastewater, stormwater, trash collection, mass transit, streets and traffic control, and disaster management. It reviews how these have evolved in the US, how they are organized under the federalism system, and how the goal of integrated management is being pursued. Challenges to integrated approaches include increasing responsibilities but lack of funding, political stress, and rule-driven and internally oriented management. Methods for performance assessment are explained under legacy systems based on methods like indicators and benchmarking applied to public works systems. Current methods focus on regulatory targets and the details; information has been shallow and not always timely. This paper projects how the performance assessment of core public works systems can be broadened to address goals like those of the SDGs and assesses why it is difficult to rate major systems. Examples of the activities of NGOs are given and an example of how progress toward SDG6 is included to show why performance management of integrated management applied to linked systems is needed. Performance dashboards with open government are currently the most common pathways, but emerging methods based on data analytics and visualization offer new possibilities. Reviewing the status of public works management shows that it is an important branch of the field of public administration, and it can be presented as a professional field with its own identity. The findings will support educators and researchers as well as provide policy insights into public works and stakeholder engagement. Full article

Background: Health inequalities between citizens of different European countries and between socially advantaged and disadvantaged groups are seen as challenges to the EU’s commitment to solidarity, social and economic cohesion, human rights, and equality of opportunity. This study aimed to assess inequity in the distribution of specific communicable and non-communicable diseases among the adult population of Pécs City, Hungary. Methods: This is an ecological study combined with health inequity analysis. The study population comprised adult patients living in the city of Pécs who were treated for circulatory, neoplasm, or respiratory diseases in 2019. Hospitalization and local socioeconomic data by zip codes were obtained from the National Health Insurance Fund of Hungary and the Hungarian Central Statistical Office. Diseases were classified according to the International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision (ICD-10). The differences and ratios of the proportions of treated diseases were calculated, along with the concentration index (C). Zip codes were ranked into categories 1 to 5 based on socio-demographic variables: education, employment status, and apartment ownership. A p-value of less than 0.05 was used as the cut-off point for statistical significance. IBM SPSS version 25 and STATA version 14.0 software were used for data analysis. Results: All 36 zip codes in the city of Pécs were included in this study. Analysis based on employment status showed a higher prevalence of neoplasms in areas with higher unemployment (C = −0.0528; 95% CI = −0.0975, −0.0080). In terms of apartment ownership, neoplasms (C = −0.0742; 95% CI = −0.1102, −0.0382) and circulatory diseases (C = −0.0280; 95% CI = −0.0520, −0.0039) were more prevalent in zip codes with fewer apartment owners. Conclusions: This study identified significant inequity in the distribution of neoplasms and circulatory diseases among the adult population of Pécs, especially in areas where the low socioeconomic segment of the population lives. Efforts should be made to establish tailored interventions such as targeted healthcare funding and employment programs for the unemployed and National Housing Trust Fund for those who do not own houses through multisectoral collaboration among healthcare providers, employers, governors, and policymakers. Full article

This study aims to understand the impacts of climate change and extreme climate events on residential buildings and explore how existing buildings can be adapted to resist these negative impacts. A bibliometric and scientometric analysis was conducted on resilient residential retrofits to highlight the prevalent themes, critical directions, and gaps in the literature, which can inform future research directions. The resilient residential retrofit publications from 2012 to 2023 were retrieved and analyzed using text-mining software. In all, 4011 publications and 2623 patents were identified. The analysis revealed an average annual publication growth rate of 11%, indicating increasing interest in resilient residential retrofits. Four central topics were explored specifically throughout the study, as they are known to be the most prevalent climate risks for residential buildings: Overheating, Flooding, Wind, and Wildfires. The research trends analysis reveals that emerging interests in resilient residential retrofit encompass nature-based solutions, energy efficiency, thermal comfort, microclimates, durability, post-disaster recovery, and extreme events. Nearly half of the publications reference urban context and over one-third mention costs. The building envelope is the most frequently discussed housing component. Although energy retrofit was not the primary focus of this study and was not specifically searched for, energy concerns were still prevalent in the dataset, highlighting the critical importance of energy efficiency and management in resilient residential retrofits. The analysis of R&D momentum revealed several research gaps. Despite high growth rates, there are low publication rates on key topics such as durability, holistic approaches, microclimates, nature-based solutions, and traditional homes, to name a few. These areas could benefit from further research in the context of climate-resilient residential retrofits. Additionally, the analysis indicates a lack of publications on cross-themed research specific to rural and suburban settings. There are also few studies addressing combinations of themes, such as overheating in high-rise buildings, wildfires in Nordic climates, and flooding risk in smart homes within the scope of resilient residential retrofits. The United States leads in publication output, followed by China and the UK, with China dominating the patent landscape. This scientometric analysis provides a comprehensive overview of the research landscape in resilient residential retrofit, systematically maps and analyzes the vast amount of research output, and identifies the key trends and gaps, enabling us to see a type of quantitative snapshot of the research in a field at a certain point in time and thus providing a unique point of view. This study helps stakeholders prioritize efforts and resources effectively for guiding future research, funding decisions, informing policy decisions, and ultimately enhancing the resilience of residential buildings to climate-related challenges. Full article

In 2021, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, coronavirus research spiked, with over 83,000 original research articles related to the word “coronavirus” added to the online resource PubMed. Just 2 years later, in 2023, only 30,900 original research articles related to the word “coronavirus” were added. While, irrefutably, the funding of coronavirus research drastically decreased, a possible explanation for the decrease in interest in coronavirus research is that projects on SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19, halted due to the challenge of establishing a good cellular or animal model system. Most laboratories do not have the capabilities to culture SARS-CoV-2 ‘in house’ as this requires a Biosafety Level (BSL) 3 laboratory. Until recently, BSL 2 laboratory research on endemic coronaviruses was arduous due to the low cytopathic effect in isolated cell culture infection models and the lack of means to quantify viral loads. The purpose of this review article is to compare the human coronaviruses and provide an assessment of the latest techniques that use the endemic coronaviruses—HCoV-229E, HCoV-OC43, HCoV-NL63, and HCoV-HKU1—as lower-biosafety-risk models for the more pathogenic coronaviruses—SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV, and MERS-CoV. Full article

Australia’s housing affordability crisis has deepened despite extensive policy intervention, with the private rental sector experiencing unprecedented pressure. This study proposes that affordable housing should guarantee low and moderate-income households their fundamental right to access secure and safe dwellings, enabling these households to meet essential needs and maintain quality of life without enduring housing stress. Despite significant public investment, a critical housing shortage persists across the nation with a need to build 640,000 homes annually. This crisis is exacerbated by ineffective public–private–community partnerships (PPCP) and the absence of a unified national housing policy. This study critically examines the NRAS to understand why market-based interventions have consistently fallen short of addressing housing affordability challenges. Through empirical analysis of 31 in-depth interviews with senior stakeholders across public, private and community sectors, this research identifies five systemic barriers: definitional inconsistencies in affordable housing policy; inflexible strategic frameworks; misaligned investment incentives; geographical inequities in resource allocation; and fragmented governance structures. The study introduces the Personal and Collective Will in Policy Implementation (PaCWiPI) framework as an innovative approach integrating Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs with Henderson’s Poverty Line metrics. Our findings demonstrate that effective housing policy requires a fundamental shift from rigid, standardised approaches towards adaptive frameworks that are responsive to diverse market conditions. This research advances housing policy scholarship by providing empirical evidence of implementation barriers while offering practical recommendations for future initiatives, relevant to the current Housing Australia Future Fund and other regionally-related housing policies. Full article

Emerging research suggests that chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and asthma are often mediated by adverse social conditions that complicate their management. These conditions include circumstances such as lack of affordable housing, food insecurity, barriers to safe and reliable transportation, structural racism, and unequal access to healthcare or higher education. Although health systems cannot independently solve these problems, their infrastructure, funding resources, and well-trained workforce can be realigned to better address social needs created by them. For example, community pharmacies and the professionals they employ can be utilized and are well-positioned to deliver balanced, individualized clinical services, with a focus on the whole person. Because they have deep roots and presence in the community, especially in under-resourced neighborhoods, community pharmacies (independent and chain) represent local entities that community members recognize and trust. In this article, we provide case examples from California, United States, to illustrate and explore how community pharmacies can be leveraged to address patient social needs as part of their core responsibilities and overall strategy to improve healthcare quality. Full article

Passivhaus (PH) has gained global recognition for its energy-efficient features despite a 5% to 10% higher construction cost than traditional houses, especially within European countries. However, its adoption and popularity have not met the same fate in other countries like New Zealand. The higher upfront cost has been critical to the slow adoption of the PH movement in New Zealand. This study aimed to demystify the mist around the cost of PHs with a focus on the effects of drivers and barriers on their life cycle costs (LCCs). As such, a systematic literature review was conducted to provide a comprehensive understanding of the cost implications associated with PH. Using the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) review method, we examined 71 past studies on PHs from 2005 to 2023. We found that the drivers of PHs include reduced heating demand, increased thermal comfort, and indoor air quality (IAQ). Research showed that the rising market for PHs is fueled by climate change, environmental awareness, innovative materials and technologies, individual commitment, improved regulations, pilot studies, research efforts, and governmental funding and initiatives. However, PHs face significant challenges such as increased complexity, advanced technology, higher initial investments compared to conventional and low-energy houses, national requirements, overheating, difficulties in affording the technologies, and a lack of options in the market. Despite the wealth of research on the economic aspects of PH, there is a lack of in-depth studies exploring the LCC of PHs focusing on cost commitments and benefits. Such studies are essential for assessing and optimising the cost-effectiveness of PH, considering different climates and regions, and comparing them with other low energy standards. The findings of our review provide a crucial focus for PH stakeholders in assessing the long-term financial viability of PH projects, thereby improving decision-making and facilitating effective planning for sustainable and cost-effective housing. Full article

App-based carpooling is recognized as a solution for sustainable commuting. However, there is currently no widespread acceptance and adoption of app-based carpooling services among urban commuters. The study aims to predict residents’ intention to use app-based carpooling services for commuting trips based on the extended Technology Acceptance Model, focusing on perceived risk, social influence, and environmental awareness, and further explore whether there are significant gender differences among these influential factors. A questionnaire was created to empirically test the model and a total of 392 valid surveys were collected in Hefei, China. The results confirm that commuter intention was positively affected by perceived usefulness, social influence, and environmental awareness, while it was negatively influenced by perceived risk. Although the effect of perceived ease of use on intention was not significant, it played a role in enhancing commuters’ perceived usefulness of the service. Moreover, gender differences exist regarding the strength of the relationship between environmental awareness and commuter intention. These findings provide practical insights for app-based carpooling providers and transportation departments aiming to promote their services and foster sustainable commuting practices. Full article

Liquid biopsy is rapidly becoming an indispensable tool in the oncologist’s arsenal; however, this technique remains elusive in a publicly funded healthcare system, and real-world evidence is needed to demonstrate utility and feasibility. Here, we describe the first experience of an in-house point of care liquid biopsy program at a Canadian community hospital. A retrospective review of consecutive cases that underwent plasma-based next-generation sequencing (NGS) was conducted. Liquid biopsy was initiated at the discretion of clinicians. Sequencing followed a point of care workflow using the Genexus™ integrated sequencer and the Oncomine precision assay, performed by histotechnologists. Results were reported by the attending pathologist. Eligible charts were reviewed for outcomes of interest, including the intent of the liquid biopsy, results of the liquid biopsy, and turnaround time from blood draw to results available. A total of 124 cases, with confirmed or suspected cancer, underwent liquid biopsy between January 2021 and November 2023. The median turnaround time for liquid biopsy results was 3 business days (range 1–12 days). The sensitivity of liquid biopsies was 71%, compared to tissue testing in cases with matched tissue results available for comparison. Common mutations included EGFR (29%), in 86 lung cancer patients, and PIK3CA (22%), identified in 13 breast cancer patients. Healthcare providers ordered liquid biopsies to inform diagnostic investigations and treatment decisions, and to determine progression or resistance mechanisms, as these reasons often overlapped. This study demonstrates that rapid in-house liquid biopsy using point of care methodology is feasible. The technique facilitates precision treatment and offers many additional advantages for cancer care. Full article