scholarly journals The Influence of the Local Neighbourhood Environment on Walking Levels during the Walking for Wellbeing in the West Pedometer-Based Community Intervention

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. B. Robertson ◽  
C. Ward Thompson ◽  
P. Aspinall ◽  
C. Millington ◽  
C. McAdam ◽  
...  

We investigated the relationship between walking levels and the local neighbourhood physical environment during the Walking for Wellbeing in the West (WWW) randomised pedometer-based community intervention. Walking activity was recorded as step counts at baseline (n=76), and at 3 months (n=57), 6 months (n=54), and 12 months (n=45) post-intervention. Objective physical environment data were obtained from GIS datasets and street surveys conducted using the SWAT audit tool. Sixty-nine environment variables were reduced to eight environment factors using principal axis factoring, and the relationship between environment factors and (i) step counts, and (ii) the change in step counts relative to baseline, was examined using hierarchical multiple linear regression, controlling for age, gender, income, and deprivation. Five environment factors were significant predictors of step counts, but none were significant predictors of the change in step counts relative to baseline. None of the demographic variables included in the analysis were significant predictors at any stage of the study. Total variance explained by the environment ranged from 6% (P<0.05) to 34% (P<0.01), with lowest levels during the initial stages of the study. The physical environment appears to have influenced walking levels during the WWW intervention, and to have contributed to the maintenance of walking levels post-intervention.

2007 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 237-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Bungum ◽  
Mindy Meacham ◽  
Nicole Truax

Background:Physical activity (PA) is a health behavior that most Americans do not participate in at recommended levels.Methods:We sought to increase PA by use of motivational signs in selected buildings. Because physical environments are known to influence PA, the relationship of building characteristics and stair usage was also assessed. One pre- and two post-intervention observations were conducted.Results:The proportion of those using the stairs increased from baseline to the second data collection, (χ2 = 39.31, p < 0.01) and baseline to a final data collection (χ2 = 10.1, p < 0.01). Built environment factors, including steps to the next higher floor and the number of floors in the building were consistent predictors of stair use. With signs positioned, the visibility of the stairs while standing in front of elevators became a significant predictor of stair usage.Conclusions:Motivational signs and characteristics of built environments are associated with increased stair usage.


1993 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally Macintyre ◽  
Sheila Maciver ◽  
Anne Sooman

AbstractIn Britain there has been a long tradition of research into associations between area of residence and health. Rarely has this involved investigating socio-economic or cultural features of areas that might influence health; usually studies use area level data, for example about specific pathogens or about levels of deprivation, as surrogates for individual level data, rather than being interested in the areas themselves. This paper reviews the literature on the relationship between area and health. It advocates directly studying features of the local social and physical environment which might promote or inhibit health, illustrating this approach with some findings from a study in the West of Scotland, and suggests that improvements in public health might be achieved by focusing on places as well as on people.


Author(s):  
L. Zhan ◽  
Z. Wang ◽  
X. Zhao ◽  
Z. Liu ◽  
G. Liu

The painting is one of the most decorative elements of ancient Chinese architecture and it is sensitive to the natural environment. The outdoor painting is very easily to be affected by the natural environment and its color is easily to decay. In order to study the relationship between the painting decay and the physical environment, the two paintings on both east and west inner eaves of Jilan Pavilion beside the Kunming Lake in Summer Palace are taken as the research objects, because these two paintings are painted at the same period but their decay degrees are greatly different. Since 2013, the research group regularly monitors the color decay of these two paintings. Meanwhile, the physical environment around these two paintings has been monitored. Based on the analysis of the monitor data, it can be seen that the illumination is the major factor that causes the decay of the painting. Meanwhile, by using the ECOTECT software to stimulate the light environment around the Jilan Pavilion, it can be seen that it is the mirror reflection of the lake that causes the result that the illumination of the west eave (face east) is stronger than that of the east eave (face west).


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (17) ◽  
pp. 6759 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis Duque ◽  
Renato Costa ◽  
Álvaro Dias ◽  
Leandro Pereira ◽  
José Santos ◽  
...  

Employee engagement is becoming an increasingly essential factor in organizational competitiveness. Although employee engagement is an extensively researched topic, the roles of new ways of working and physical environment factors are still under exploited. As such, this study examines the relationship between physical environment factors, the dimensions that integrate new ways of working, and employee engagement. Survey data with 126 respondents are analyzed using structural equation modeling. The findings indicate a positive significant relationship between the physical environment factors and work engagement. Furthermore, this relation is mediated by four facets regarding new ways of working. The results also indicate that, for the group where facilities were not modified, the new ways of working are a stronger predictor of work engagement when compared with the group where facilities were modified. These findings extend existing knowledge on the antecedents of employee engagement, namely physical environment factors and new ways of working. Another important contribution is related to the mediating role of several facets of new ways of working in the relationship between physical environmental factors and employee engagement.


2012 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-72
Author(s):  
Morteza Karimi-Nia

The status of tafsīr and Qur'anic studies in the Islamic Republic of Iran has changed significantly during recent decades. The essay provides an overview of the state of Qur'anic studies in Iran today, aiming to examine the extent of the impact of studies by Western scholars on Iranian academic circles during the last three decades and the relationship between them. As in most Islamic countries, the major bulk of academic activity in Iran in this field used to be undertaken by the traditional ʿulamāʾ; however, since the beginning of the twentieth century and the establishment of universities and other academic institutions in the Islamic world, there has been increasing diversity and development. After the Islamic Revolution, many gradual changes in the structure and approach of centres of religious learning and universities have occurred. Contemporary advancements in modern sciences and communications technologies have gradually brought the institutions engaged in the study of human sciences to confront the new context. As a result, the traditional Shīʿī centres of learning, which until 50 years ago devoted themselves exclusively to the study of Islamic law and jurisprudence, today pay attention to the teaching of foreign languages, Qur'anic sciences and exegesis, including Western studies about the Qur'an, to a certain extent, and recognise the importance of almost all of the human sciences of the West.


Author(s):  
Haluk Tanrıverdi ◽  
Orhan Akova ◽  
Nurcan Türkoğlu Latifoğlu

This study aims to demonstrate the relationship between the qualifications of neonatal intensive care units of hospitals (physical conditions, standard applications, employee qualifications and use of personal protective equipment) and work related causes and risks, employee related causes and risks when occupational accidents occur. Accordingly, a survey was prepared and was made among 105 nurses working in 3 public and 3 private hospital's neonatal intensive care units, in the January of 2010. The survey consists of questions about the qualifications of neonatal intensive care units, work related causes and risks, and employee related causes and risks. From the regression analysis conducted, it has been found that confirmed hypotheses in several studies in the literature were not significant in this study. The sub-dimensions in which relationships has been found show that the improvement of the physical environment in workplace, the improvement of the employee qualifications and standard applications can reduce the rate of occupational accidents. According to the results of this study management should take care of the organizational factors besides to improvement of the physical environment in workplace, the improvement of the employee qualifications and standard applications.


1970 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Moh. Salman Hamdani

This paper aims to provide explanation about John Louis Esposito’s insights on therelationship between Islam and The West. The relationship is a fluctuative one, some tensionsand even open conflict may occur. Some events become the entry point to the relationship, forinstance, the crusades that is not only happened physically but also, through this war, the meetingbetween Islam and The West establishes inter cultural dialogue among them.John Louis Esposito’s views on the relationship between Islam and The West ispositioned in view of some Muslim intellectuals and orientalists to emphasize its originality. Theintellectual positions do not put it on pros or cons side in the context of the relationship betweenIslam and The West.Historically, the relationship between Islam and The West actually has a theologicallystrong bond that there is common ground and similarities between Islam and The West. Islamand The west are inherited with Jewish and Christian traditions. Islam like Christianity andJudaism are religions ‘of the sky’ that are allied in Abrahamic religions. Therefore, according toJohn L. Esposito, based on historical fact, there were a real strong bond between Islam and theWest and it started centuries ago .


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 109
Author(s):  
Massoomeh Hedayati ◽  
Aldrin Abdullah ◽  
Mohammad Javad Maghsoodi Tilaki

There is continuous debate on the impact of house quality on residents’ health and well-being. Good living environment improves health, and fear of crime is recognised as a mediator in the relationship between physical environment and health. Since minimal studies have investigated the relationship, this study aims to examine the impact of the house quality on fear of crime and health. A total of 230 households from a residential neighbourhood in Malaysia participated in the study. Using structural equation modelling, the findings indicate that housing quality and fear of crime can account for a proportion of the variance in residents’ self-rated health. However, there is no significant relationship between housing quality and fear of crime. Results also show that fear of crime does not mediate the relationship between housing quality and health. This study suggests that the environment-fear relationship should be re-examined theoretically.  


2018 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-236
Author(s):  
Martin Braxatoris ◽  
Michal Ondrejčík

Abstract The paper proposes a basis of theory with the aim of clarifying the casual nature of the relationship between the West Slavic and non-West Slavic Proto-Slavic base of the Slovak language. The paper links the absolute chronology of the Proto-Slavic language changes to historical and archaeological information about Slavs and Avars. The theory connects the ancient West Slavic core of the Proto-Slavic base of the Slovak language with Sclaveni, and non-West Slavic core with Antes, which are connected to the later population in the middle Danube region. It presumes emergence and further expansion of the Slavic koiné, originally based on the non-West Slavic dialects, with subsequent influence on language of the western Slavic tribes settled in the north edge of the Avar Khaganate. The paper also contains a periodization of particular language changes related to the situation in the Khaganate of that time.


1969 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 330-342
Author(s):  
G. C. Hufbauer ◽  
Nayyara Aziz ◽  
Asghar Ali

The senior author has elsewhere argued [8] that foreign exchange earned by the export of West Pakistan-manufactured goods has a high domestic cost. Much the same contention has been advanced by Hecox [7], Islam [9] and MacEwan [11]. In these papers the relationship between costs and earnings is usually based on fairly abstract assumptions. The purpose of this note is to reduce the calculations to a "plain man" level. Specifically, we try to calculate how many rupees of indigenous resources are expended to earn each extra rupee of foreign exchange which is received from exporting cotton textiles and leather goods rather than their primary ingredients, namely raw cotton and hides and skins i. Since this note was written, the Board of Economic Inquiry, Lahore, at the request of the West Pakistan Planning and Development Department, has undertaken a wider study applying the same general approach used here.


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