1,721,043 research outputs found
Normalized Schrödinger equations with mass-supercritical nonlinearity in exterior domains
No full textWe consider the problem m −∆u + λu = |u|p−p−2u, where u ∈ H10 (Ω) satisfies |u|2 = m > 0, λ ∈ R and Ω is a smooth exterior domain. We prove the existence of a positive solution with a constrained Morse index less or equal than N + 1 and λ ≥ 0. We treat both the cases m fixed and RN \ Ω small and Ω fixed and m large
Housing and health. An overview
Full text linkLiving environment, and especially dwellings, affect directly and indirectly health in several ways end represent one of the key social determinants of health. The relationship between health and housing has long been recognized and, in the last decades, researchers developed several conceptual models to put in relation the numerous housing factors able to impact on inhabitants' health. For some authors, factors linked to housing and neighborhood conditions that influence health, can be grouped into four broad categories: first considers the health impacts of not having a stable home (residential instability); second, the financial burdens resulting from high-cost housing (affordability); third, the health impacts of conditions inside the home (the housing' safety and quality); lastly, the health impacts of neighborhoods, including both the environmental and social characteristics of where people live (neighborhood). It is evident that the theme of "housing and health" nowadays needs to be assessed with a multidisciplinary approach, because of the complexity and wideness of its components. Moreover it is today clear that to guarantee good health standards it is indispensable to direct political and administrative choices to improve the overall conditions of the neighborhood and of the buildings, and, At the same time, to dispose of a clear and updated regulatory system, since key factor to ensure Public Health protection and social justice
Housing spaces in nine european countries. A comparison of dimensional requirements
Full text linkModern housing units must meet new needs and requirements; housing dimensions and functional characteristics are relevant issues, mainly considering population ageing and disability. The housing standards of nine European countries were compared to analyze their ability to satisfy new population need, in terms of size. The regulations were downloaded from the websites of the official channels of each country. A wide variability in room size was observed (e.g., single room: from 9 m2 in Italy to 7 m2 in France, to the absence of any limit in England and Wales, GermanyHesse, and Denmark). Italian and French legislations define housing dimension considering the room destination and the number of people. The Swedish regulation provides performance requirements and functional indications but does not specify the minimum dimensions of habitable rooms. The rooms’ minimum heights vary between 2.70 m in Italy and Portugal and 2.60 m in the Netherlands, but no limits are established in England and Wales. A diverse approach among European countries regulations is observed: from a market-oriented logic one (e.g., England and Wales) in which room minimum dimensions are not defined to a prescriptive one (Italy) and one that is functionality-oriented (the Netherlands). However, considering the health, social, environmental, and economic trends, many of these standards should be revised
Quanto sono camionabili i nostri quartieri?
No full textA strategy that prioritizes health and well-being in cities, based on physical activity, understood above all as a lifestyle that is generally active and practicable every day, is a practice that is accessible to all, able to counteract the sedentary lifestyle and reduce the impact of chronic diseases.
Several authors investigated the characteristics of the neighborhoods able to promote an active lifestyle. A key point is the measure of the link between built environment and physical activity. For that reason, several authors defined specific tools to gauge walkability. Scientific evidence shows that walkability indices vary according to the purpose of the move, the socio-economic characteristics of the residents and the quality of the surrounding environment (quality and decency of the neighborhoods and urban spaces in general, the presence of green spaces, cycle and pedestrian paths, functional mix, numerous intersections of streets, residential density, etc.)
At present, most of the Walkability Indexes (WI) are mainly based on archive data sets, analyzed with GIS, which do not consider the environmental quality of the context. To overcome these limitations, a tool called “Walking Suitability Index of the Territory” (T-WSI) has been developed and it’s described in this paper. The tool, which essentially represents an audit based on direct observation by a trained investigator, is applied to each street of an environmental area in order to measure its walkability. T-WSI includes 12 indicators subdivided into four categories: practicability (sidewalk surface, obstacles, road slope), safety (protection from vehicle speed, road lighting, crossings protection), urbanity (sidewalk width, road equipment, activities), pleasurableness (traf- fic, building context, green). To each category and to the included indicators a different weight is assigned, by reason of its impact on walkability. Data collected in each street are inserted in an algorithm to perform weighted sums and to aggregate the indicators and categories, up to calculate the final index in which the length of each street is included.
The neighbourhood index results as the sum of the weighted averages of the indices of each street.
A field investigation applying T-WSI was conducted in two environmental areas of Rome: “San Saba” and “Sacco Pastore”. The first one is an almost exclusively residential neighbourhood, partly included in the historic city centre, with high urban quality. The second area is in the 20th century consoli- dated city, with a defined building typology and high-density settlements. Both results are around the average values of the adopted scale (0-100), highlighting gaps in the design for pedestrian use of public spaces, especially regarding the protection from vehicles and road equipment.
Among the analyzed categories, Security showed the worst results in both neighborhoods, particularly for the lack of “Protection from vehicle speed”.
Finally, the objective measures detected through the audit were compared with the qualities perceived by the residents using a questionnaire developed in the USA to measure the perceptions of the residents about the environmental characteristics of their neighbourhood (NEWS-A). Both the measurements show quite convergent and superimposable results.
In the general framework of existing walkability indices, T-WSI, an easy to use, sensitive and reproducible tool, could be a good support for decision-making of local health authorities and policymakers, for the development of regeneration projects aimed at the redevelopment of urban voids or deteriorated areas of the cities
Changes in walkability in three urban neighborhoods of the city of Rome. A comparison 2009-2019
Full text linkIntroduction - Scientific evidence stresses that more walkable neighborhoods are linked to increased physical activity. Walking Suitability Index of the territory (T-WSI) is an easy method, already validated, to evaluate the walkability on the basis of direct observation. Aim of the study is to compare the walkability indices obtained in three urban neighborhoods of the city of Rome in 2009 and 2019, to evaluate whether the urban redevelopment interventions, performed in the decade, do really promote walkability.
Methods - An audit, through T-WSI, is carried out for each street of a neighborhood. T-WSI audit evaluates 12 indicators subdivided into 4 categories: practicability, safety, urbanity, pleasurableness. The weighted analysis of these indicators gives an overall score of the actual usability of the neighborhood. In this study, 2 different trained surveyors, evaluated T-WSI in three neighborhoods of Rome (San Saba, Sacco Pastore and Tufello-Val Melaina), which differ in socio-economic conditions. Average scores have been compared using t-student.
Results - A considerable improvement was observed in the Sacco Pastore neighborhood final weighted scores (T-WSI scores: from 53.6 in 2009 to 68.3 in 2019, with an increase of 14.7% (p < 0.005). All categories improved, although Safety (T-WSI scores: from 35.0 to 59.3; increase of 24.3% - p < 0.005) and Pleasurableness (T-WSI scores: from 48.5 to 61.4; increase of 12.9% - p < 0.005) show the greatest improvements. It is mainly due to redevelopment works carried out in the neighborhood in the last 10 years, mainly aimed to increase citizen's perceived safety (e.g. signs, crossing protection devices, traffic lights, greenery management) and to remove architectural barriers.
Conclusions - The results show T-WSI is a useful tool in order to measure the effectiveness of the interventions already realized at local level, but it could also contribute to making decisions to develop regeneration projects for degraded areas of the cities
Microbial Environmental Pollution in ICUs. Results, Trends, and Suggestions from a Long-Lasting Surveillance
Full text linkIntensive care units (ICUs) are special areas in hospitals for patients with severe and life- threatening diseases. ICUs are of several categories, such as neonatal ICUs, cardiac ICUs, neurological ICUs, surgical ICUs, etc. The ICUs’ patients may show a high susceptibility for hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) depending on underlying disease, duration of stay and treatment. ICUs are considered potential reservoirs for (opportunistic) pathogenic microbial strains and the risk of acquiring infection in these hospital environments is higher than in others. Several studies show the role of inanimate surface and equipment contamination in the transmission of pathogens to ICU patients. The aim of this study is to describe the results of 124 sampling campaigns performed during 12 years of microbiological surveillance of five ICUs of different categories, for an overall number of 714 samples (232 from air and 482 from surface), to analyze their trends and to elaborate suggestions to improve ICUs’ environmental quality and patients’ safety
A project to identify the best practices and health performance objectives for building construction and renovation
Full text linkThe 2014-2018 National Prevention Plan (NPP), in order to promote a correct relationship between health and the environment, indicated, among the central objectives, the definition of guidelines to promote the building hygiene codes in an eco-compatible way, but also to develop specific skills on the subject of confined environments and residential construction in the operators of the Regional Health Services. The CCM2015 Project has therefore set itself the goal of taking stock of the best health practices available today in terms of sustainability and eco-compatibility in the buildings' construction and renovation actions. All this in order to define updated health performance targets to be made available to the competent Authorities, to adapt the current legislation at national, regional and local level, and finally to define the contents of a continuing education (training courses) capable to support operators in risk assessment related to the built environment and in the definition of effective preventive measures
Housing and health in urban areas
No full textLiving environment, and especially dwellings, affect health in several ways end represent a key social determinant of health. The current COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted its relevance. Factors linked to housing and neighborhood conditions that influence health, can be grouped into broad categories: the health impacts of residential instability; those related to housing internal conditions; the health impacts of context in which dwelling is located; the housing affordability. Many answers to these requirements can be offered by co-housing and social housing and Authors describe same examples from international experiences. These problems nowadays need to be assessed with a multidisciplinary approach, because of the complexity and wideness of its components. To guarantee good health standards it is also necessary to direct political and administrative choices to improve the overall conditions of the neighborhood and of the buildings, and, to dispose of a clear and updated regulatory system, since key factor to ensure health and social justice
Reliability of T-WSI to evaluate neighborhoods walkability and its changes over time
Full text linkMore walkable neighborhoods are linked to increased physical activity. The Walking Suitability Index of the territory (T-WSI) is an easy method to evaluate walkability on the basis of direct observation. T-WSI provides 12 indicators divided into 4 categories (practicability, safety, urbanity, pleasantness); the weighted analysis of these indicators gives an overall score of the actual usability of the neighborhood. The aim of the study is to evaluate the ability of T-WSI’ indicators to measure, in a reliable way, any street’s walkability variations occurred over time. The investigation was performed in 2018 in nine urban neighborhoods of Rieti city. Cronbach’s α is used to evaluate internal consistency of T-WSI; Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) is used to evaluate the reproducibility of measurements (or ratings) made by different investigators. Cronbach’s α is 0.89 (± 0.02); ICC is also good (ICC = 0.89; 95% CI: 0.84–0.92). The results of the 2018 investigation are also compared with those collected in 2016 in the same districts. The results show that T-WSI is a reliable and easy to use tool, useful to measure the effectiveness of the interventions already realized at local level, but it could also contribute to making decisions to develop regeneration projects
Housing problems in a changing society. Regulation and training needs in Italy
Full text linkThe paper focuses on the social, economic and environmental trends of recent years in Italy, highlighting the issue of housing emergency, both in quantitative and qualitative terms. What emerges are several shortages in housing especially in the suburbs of large cities, emphasizing the relevance of this issue in terms of health consequences and its priority for the definition of local policies. The authors underline that the availability of accessible and healthy housing is a human right, and a multisectoral responsibility, achievable only if a contribution is made by all relevant sectors including housing, environmental, social welfare, urban planning, building management and public health. The authors conclude by stressing the strategic role of training and illustrating a proposal addressed to all stakeholders, aiming to provide health evidences in terms of impact of housing hazards on health and to describe good building practices, helpful in order to obtain safe and healthy homes
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