Search Results (2,820)

Public buildings and open spaces form key elements in an exchange system of both tangible resources (energy, water, physical spaces) and intangible assets (services, skills, time). This study presents an innovative protocol (AGAPE—Automatic GIS Assessment Protocol for Energy and environment) to regenerate metropolitan suburbs by managing common resources and support sustainable communities. It tackles energy poverty by integrating urban planning, environmental design, and economics into geographic information science. This expedites public well-being by redesigning public facilities to enhance community connections and improve bioclimatic resilience. The model test site is a peripheral suburban area, Melito di Napoli, within the Metropolitan City of Naples (Italy), characterized by high population density and ongoing suburban expansion. The protocol evaluates temporal scenarios for implementing multi-purpose solutions, supporting public agencies in strategic intervention assessments, optimizing funding allocation and community benefits. The modeling of redesigned community assets reveal key outcomes: renewed land-use opportunities, reduced spatial inequities, and increased climate change resilience. The transformation of public buildings and facilities into multi-benefit community cores catalyzes virtuous urban regeneration processes. The model AGAPE provides a replicable decision framework to transform existing settlements and to drive the transition towards more sustainable, equitable urban communities. Full article

Traditional sports and physical education programs often generate substantial carbon footprints through facility operation, equipment production, and activity-related energy consumption. While physical education offers unique opportunities for experiential environmental learning, limited research has examined how contextualized cooperative challenges specifically enhance pre-service teachers’ low-carbon awareness. This quasi-experimental study investigated whether situational cooperative environmental challenges within a low-carbon physical education program could more effectively develop environmental awareness compared to non-situational cooperative approaches. A pre–post quasi-experimental comparative design involved 143 Spanish pre-service teachers (ages 21–26, 58.9% female) from the University of Girona during 2022–2024. The Experimental Group (n = 104) received situational cooperative environmental challenges with 20 h of preparatory seminars, while the Control Group (n = 39) received traditional reciprocal teaching without preparatory training. Environmental awareness was assessed through reflective narrative portfolios. Despite significant baseline differences between groups, both demonstrated significant pre–post improvements (EG: 105% improvement; CG: 93% improvement). ANCOVA controlling for baseline differences confirmed EG’s superior performance, with a large effect size. The study provides preliminary evidence for integrating contextualized low-carbon concepts into physical education teacher preparation. Full article

Urban road networks (URNs) underpin critical urban functions ranging from public service provision to emergency response. However, URN resilience is commonly assessed using aggregate performance metrics or critical-element identification, which offers limited insight into how disruption reshapes spatial accessibility. This limitation is increasingly salient under stock-based urban development, where opportunities for large-scale physical network reconfiguration and segment-level engineering interventions are constrained, and resilience enhancement increasingly depends on facility-based adaptation. To address this gap, drawing on graph theory and percolation theory, this study proposes a disconnection-pattern-based (DPB) analytical approach for mapping spatial configurations of URN vulnerability. Two generic disconnection patterns derived from topological limits of network redundancy are conceptualized: Local Island Disconnection (LID) and Global Structural Fragmentation (GSF). Corresponding quantitative mapping methods are developed and applied to cities with contrasting URN morphologies. Results show that spatial configurations of connectivity vulnerability can be systematically mapped across heterogeneous URNs, yielding spatially explicit information critical to resilience-oriented facility siting. By treating vulnerability as a spatial configuration rather than a single-state metric, the proposed approach extends URN resilience assessment toward facility-planning strategies that adapt to existing road-network risk configurations under stock-based development. Full article

Climate change represents a serious challenge to agricultural sustainability in arid and semi-arid regions, where farmers increasingly face drought, temperature fluctuations, and resource scarcity. This study aims to assess and compare farmers’ attitudes in Egypt and Iraq toward climate change adaptation mechanisms and to identify the main barriers that limit the effective adoption of adaptive practices. A descriptive–analytical and comparative field approach was applied, and primary data were collected using a structured questionnaire administered to 342 farmers in Egypt and 157 farmers in Iraq. Descriptive statistics and inferential analyses were used to examine attitudes and determine significant differences between the two groups. Farmers’ attitudes toward climate change adaptation mechanisms and practices were measured using a 30-item scale with a three-point Likert response format (1–3), where higher scores indicate more favorable attitudes. The results indicated that farmers in both countries exhibited moderately positive attitudes toward adaptation practices, with mean scores of 2.34 in Egypt and 2.38 in Iraq with no statistically significant difference at the aggregate level, while differences are more clearly expressed at the dimensional and contextual levels rather than in overall attitudes. Major constraints to adaptation included weak institutional support, limited access to financing, absence of early warning systems, and insufficient training opportunities. The study concludes that improving agricultural extension services, expanding credit facilities, and upgrading rural infrastructure are essential to enhance farmers’ adaptive capacity and strengthen the resilience of agricultural systems. Full article

As a result of China’s rapid urbanization, new urban districts are characterized by a superblock development paradigm that contrasts sharply with core urban areas, where service facilities remain largely congruent with the population distribution. This planning approach has resulted in a pronounced spatial mismatch, with an intensive concentration of public service facilities within commercial cores and a critical lack of facilities proximate to high-density residential clusters. Within the framework of the 15 min community life circle policy, evaluating and optimizing these configurations is imperative for mitigating such structural imbalances. Using Xi’an’s Qujiang New District as a representative empirical case, this study integrates Point of Interest (POI) geospatial data with 330 resident behavioral questionnaires to assess facility distribution and utilization patterns. The findings reveal a distinct spatial pattern of core–periphery polarization, which is significantly influenced by cultural landscapes and commercial land values. Furthermore, the utilization patterns differ markedly across age groups. The reliance of young and middle-aged groups on digital life circles should be viewed not only as a lifestyle preference but also as an adaptation to mitigate physical facility deficits. While digital services compensate for physical facility shortages, they mask the actual lack of community spaces. This further disadvantages older adults, who still rely heavily on walking to access daily services. Addressing the unique characteristics of new urban districts, this study proposes a synergistic physical–digital dual-tier system in which physical infrastructure safeguards the equity baseline, while digital platforms enhance operational efficiency, providing a scientific basis for constructing age-friendly communities. Full article

Extreme hydro-meteorological events are intensifying under climate change, disproportionately disrupting last-mile healthcare in flood-prone geographies. In this study, flood-adaptive primary care clinics (FAPCCs) integrated with islandable smart microgrids and a rapid-deploy medical technology stack (MedTech) are developed and evaluated to ensure continuity of essential services (triage, maternal and child health, vaccination cold-chain, minor procedures, diagnostics, and telemedicine) during fluvial, pluvial, and coastal flooding. Evidence on resilient health facilities, microgrid architectures, distributed energy resources, and modular clinical systems is presented in a multi-layer systems design: (1) a modular, amphibious, and elevatable clinic chassis; (2) a photovoltaic–battery–diesel hybrid system with demand-aware energy management; (3) redundant connectivity long-term evolution/fifth-generation, satellite, and very high frequency; (4) a rapid-deploy MedTech kit including point-of-care diagnostics, low-temperature cold-chain, negative-pressure isolation, and sterilization modules; and (5) flood-aware logistics using unmanned aerial vehicle/unmanned surface vehicle. A mixed-integer linear programming sizing is formulated and dispatched with a continuity-of-care reliability metric that couples energy availability to clinical throughput. Simulation across three archetypal sites (peri-urban delta, inland riverine, coastal estuary) shows that FAPCCs achieve the service availability of higher than 99.5% across 7-day grid outage scenarios while reducing fuel use by 62–81% relative to diesel-only baselines, maintaining vaccine temperatures within 2–8 °C with <0.1% thermal excursion time, and sustaining telemedicine quality of service with <150 ms median uplink latency in hybrid networks. A life-cycle cost analysis indicates a 7.1–9.8 year discounted payback from fuel displacement and avoided service loss. Deployment playbooks and policy guidance are also proposed for Ministries of Health and Disaster Agencies in monsoon-impacted regions. Full article

Emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), including chatbots, are now transforming the hospitality and tourism industry. Chatbot technology is an excellent tool for enhancing communication, boosting service delivery efficiency, reducing costs, and improving the tourist experience. Despite their potential benefits, the adoption of AI-powered chatbots in Goa’s hospitality and tourism industry remains low, underscoring the need to identify the determinants influencing tourists’ behavioural intention to adopt this technology and use behaviour. Therefore, this study examines the key determinants influencing tourists’ behavioural intentions to adopt AI-powered chatbots in the hospitality and tourism industry. In addition, the study also examines the impact of tourists’ behavioural intentions to adopt AI-powered chatbots on use behaviour. For this purpose, a revised UTAUT2 model is assessed by leveraging a quantitative research approach. Structured questionnaires were distributed to a total of 400 inbound and outbound tourists, of which 227 respondents who were aware of AI-powered chatbots were chosen as the respondents for this study based on purposive sampling. The collected data were analysed using Partial Least Squares–Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS 4.0. The findings revealed that attitude, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, and perceived enjoyment significantly influence tourists’ behavioural intention to adopt AI-powered chatbots, whereas automation and habit do not significantly influence their behavioural intention to adopt AI-powered chatbots. This study has implications for tourism managers and policymakers in the tourism and hospitality industry, who can gain insights into the factors that can encourage tourists to adopt AI-based facilities. Full article

Telemedicine at the national scale must balance clinical quality, privacy, latency, and sustainability. This study aims to develop a system architecture and methodology for low-energy edge AI combined with green data center routing to reduce energy per consultation while maintaining clinical-grade performance. The results present (1) an energy-aware edge inference stack for physiological sensing and video triage; (2) a carbon-aware, service level agreement (SAL)-constrained routing strategy across regional data centers using software-defined networking and dynamic workload placement; (3) a techno-environmental methodology linking patient-level service key performance indexes to energy neutrality factor, grams CO₂e per encounter, and latency–reliability envelopes; and (4) national rollout playbooks covering network tiers (household/clinic/edge/cloud), facilities upgrades, and governance. Scenarios in urban, peri-urban, and rural/remote environments show 37–62% energy savings and 28–49% carbon reductions relative to cloud-only baselines, with median end-to-end latency ≤120 ms for triage and ≤40 ms for vitals alarms, meeting the World Health Organization and the International Telecommunication Union latency expectations for eHealth. Trade-offs, risks (drift, network volatility), and policy levers (green SLAs, data residency, open standards) are evaluated to scale sustainable telemedicine without compromising safety or equity. Full article

Taiwan’s rapid demographic shift toward a super-aged society has heightened demand for long-term care, yet limited staffing creates safety risks from fires; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning failures; and health incidents. To address this, we propose an IoT-based intelligent environmental monitoring and early-warning system designed for care facilities. The three-layer architecture integrates sensors for temperature, humidity, light, air quality, and noise; employs ESP-NOW and wireless fidelity mesh for reliable networking; and supports user interfaces with real-time anomaly alerts. Using PCA and Isolation Forest for efficient anomaly detection, the modular, node-based design enhances safety, reduces manpower burden, and enables scalable smart services. Full article

The limited availability of structured and consistent health-facility information poses challenges for assessing service accessibility and quality in rapidly growing cities, particularly in the Middle East. Although digital map platforms provide extensive public data, such information is often fragmented and not directly suitable for systematic spatial analysis. This study presents GeoJed, a framework designed to automate the collection, organisation, and spatial analysis of healthcare facility information from digital map platforms. The framework is demonstrated through a case study in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, highlighting its applicability for large-scale and reproducible spatial analysis of healthcare services. Using the resulting GeoJedHF dataset, a baseline analysis was conducted to illustrate the analytical value of the collected data, including the construction of an initial Patient Satisfaction Index (PSI) that integrates service availability with user-reported quality indicators derived from a multilingual sentiment model (XLM-RoBERTa). The results reveal clear spatial variations between districts in both facility distribution and perceived service quality. Overall, GeoJed establishes a reusable and extensible process for facility-level spatial data acquisition and analysis, with potential applications in accessibility assessment, urban planning, and service evaluation. Full article

This paper addresses the optimization of electric vehicle (EV) charging facility configuration on highways by proposing a collaborative planning method that integrates driver anxiety psychology, mixed traffic flow dynamics, and service area queuing characteristics. By abstracting the road travel and service area replenishment processes into an integrated queuing network, a system analysis framework is constructed to characterize the coupling relationship of “facility supply, traffic assignment, and state feedback.” On this basis, a bi-level optimization model is established with the objective of minimizing the generalized total social cost. The upper level makes decisions on the coordinated quantities of fixed charging piles and mobile charging vehicles, while the lower level describes the stochastic user equilibrium behavior of drivers under the influence of real-time congestion and anxiety. To tackle the high-dimensional nonlinear nature of the model, an efficient solution algorithm based on simultaneous perturbation stochastic approximation (SPSA) is designed. A case study of the Nei-Yi Expressway demonstrates that compared with the traditional peak demand proportional allocation method, the proposed approach can better balance construction costs, operation and dispatching costs, and user travel experience under limited investment, significantly reducing waiting times and psychological anxiety costs. It provides theoretical methods and decision support for planning a resilient energy replenishment network that achieves “fixed facilities ensuring base load and mobile resources responding to peak demands.” Full article

Background: The prevention of the mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV is a vital strategy in reducing paediatric HIV infections. However, the delivery of PMTCT services is frequently impeded by resource constraints within the healthcare systems. This study investigates the systemic barriers affecting PMTCT implementation in Ghana and examines the disconnection between health policy design, priority setting, and on-the-ground realities. Methods: The study employed the qualitative approach using a case study research design. The purposive sampling technique was used in selecting the health facilities, with an in-depth interview guide used to solicit views from healthcare providers and mothers participating in PMTCT services. Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis was employed in analysing the data on the perceptions of infrastructural and resource-related challenges affecting PMTCT services. Results: Participants identified several key barriers, including the absence of dedicated office spaces, a limited outpatient department (OPD) capacity, inadequate storage for antiretroviral therapy (ART) medications, and shortages of HIV-testing equipment affecting care delivery and access. These issues, alongside workforce limitations and supply chain disruptions, were found to significantly undermine the delivery and effectiveness of PMTCT services. Conclusions: The study underscores the need for context-aware health policy development. Effective priority setting and benefits package design must be informed by frontline insights, taking into account infrastructural deficits, human resource constraints, and systemic bottlenecks. Aligning national initiatives, such as the StEPS programme, with operational realities is essential for enhancing PMTCT outcomes. Full article

Indoor climbing gyms are high-occupancy settings, yet integrated indoor air quality (IAQ) studies that analyze objective exposure and occupant perception remain scarce. The novelty consists of combining user perception with multi-zone, high-resolution IAQ measurements. We investigated a climbing gym in Romania to (i) quantify particulate matter (PM₁, PM_2.5, PM₁₀) and carbon dioxide (CO₂), (ii) compare natural and mechanical ventilation under real operating conditions with per capita normalization, (iii) relate exposure to occupancy and user perception, and (iv) coupling continuous optical monitoring with 24 h gravimetric and morphological/chemical analyses (scanning electron microscopy, confocal microscopy, X-ray fluorescence, and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry). The gravimetric 24 h reference measurements (EN 12341:2014) showed that daily means for PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ were 1.9–2.0× and 2.3–2.8× higher than the WHO guideline values, which confirms persistent daily particulate loads. Mechanical ventilation reduced coarse PM and CO₂, but absolute PM remained elevated and fine fractions persisted. CO₂ revealed a near-uniform vertical mixing, confirming dilution but indicating that CO₂ is not a surrogate for particulate exposure. Survey responses from occupants revealed a gap between perception and reality: most of the users rated IAQ as good despite high PM. This study is among the few integrations of perception of IAQ for climbing gyms and the first comprehensive assessment in Romania, providing evidence-based recommendations on ventilation and filtration upgrades, chalk use management, and dust-reservoir control, thus creating sparkling interest for IAQ researchers, building services engineers, sports facilities operators, and policymakers. Full article

Digital twin, a technology that offers an opportunity to access dynamic and real-time data for efficient decision-making, has witnessed minimal utilization in smart facilities management. Additionally, combining stakeholders’ views with a digital twin provides more efficient building management. Thus, this study aimed to combine digital twin technology and stakeholders’ views to develop a best practice framework for enhancing indoor conditions of a typical university building. It analyses feedback received from building stakeholders and results from a digital twin to develop the best practice framework. This study adopted a case study approach by using a university library at Western Sydney University, Australia. It used a multi-stage approach and a series of interviews with facility management experts for the development and validation of the framework, respectively. The key findings revealed that all the monitored parameters in the digital twin system were within acceptable thresholds. However, the building occupants expressed concerns regarding excessive solar heat gain, inadequate airflow, and direct glare. It was also revealed that heat was the most disturbing environmental parameter in the library, and built-in energy efficiency measures were also not adequately maintained, contributing to the building’s energy consumption. The proposed framework provides strategic measures for improving building occupants’ comfort and energy consumption. Furthermore, the best practice framework aids facility managers in holistically considering key aspects of building services management in managing such buildings. Full article

Equity in access to emergency service facilities (ESFs) is essential for ensuring residents’ safety and well-being. Previous studies on equity in access to ESFs have mainly focused on individual facilities or single dimensions, failing to capture the overall fairness of the emergency service system as an integrated entity. This study introduces an integrated opportunity–outcome evaluation framework to examine spatial and social equity in access to ESFs at the community scale, with particular attention to disparities across facility types, spatial levels, and socioeconomic groups. A machine learning-based approach combining XGBoost and SHAP is employed to identify key spatial and non-spatial factors influencing ESF accessibility. The results indicate that: (1) In terms of opportunity equity, spatial accessibility to ESFs varies significantly, with lower accessibility in southwestern Yongdeng County and northern Gaolan County. (2) Regarding outcome equity, a significant spatial mismatch exists between emergency resource distribution and population demand, resulting in polarization between oversupply and insufficiency, with the FSs supply–demand imbalance being the most pronounced. Low-income groups, rural residents, and the elderly face greater difficulty accessing ESFs compared to the general population. Among all variables, average elevation is found to be a decisive factor affecting accessibility. Based on these findings, the study proposes a zoning-based planning strategy for ESFs in Lanzhou. This strategy offers practical guidance for improving future regional ESF planning, enhancing urban emergency response capacity and resilience. Full article