Using Green Building As A Model For Making Health Promotion Standard In The Built Environment

Conceptual foundations of physiological regulation incorporating the free energy principle and self-organized criticality

Bettinger, J. S., K. J. Friston. Conceptual Foundations of Physiological Regulation incorporating the Free Energy Principle & Self-Organized Criticality. NEUROSCI BIOBEHAV REV 23(x) 144-XXX, 2022. Since the late nineteen-nineties, the concept of homeostasis has been contextualized within a broader class of "allostatic" dynamics characterized by a wider-berth of causal factors including social, psychological and environmental entailments; the fundamental nature of integrated brain-body dynamics; plus the role of anticipatory, top-down constraints supplied by intrinsic regulatory models. Many of these evidentiary factors are integral in original descriptions of homeostasis; subsequently integrated; and/or cite more-general operating principles of self-organization. As a result, the concept of allostasis may be generalized to a larger category of variational systems in biology, engineering and physics in terms of advances in complex systems, statistical mechanics and dynamics involving heterogenous (hierarchical/heterarchical, modular) systems like brain-networks and the internal milieu. This paper offers a three-part treatment. 1) interpret "allostasis" to emphasize a variational and relational foundation of physiological stability; 2) adapt the role of allostasis as "stability through change" to include a "return to stability" and 3) reframe the model of homeostasis with a conceptual model of criticality that licenses the upgrade to variational dynamics.

Classification of Regional Healthy Environment and Public Health in China

Environmental pollution has become a hot topic of concern for the government, academia and the public. The evaluation of environmental health should not only relate to environmental quality and exposure channels but also the level of economic development, social environmental protection responsibility and public awareness. We put forward the concept of the "healthy environment" and introduced 27 environmental indicators to evaluate and classify the healthy environment of 31 provinces and cities in China. Seven common factors were extracted and divided into economic, medical, ecological and humanistic environment factors. Based on the four environmental factors, we classify the healthy environment into five categories-economic leading healthy environment, robust healthy environment, developmental healthy environment, economic and medical disadvantageous healthy environment and completely disadvantageous healthy environment. The population health differences among the five healthy environment categories show that economic environment plays a major role in population health. Public health in regions with sound economic environment is significantly better than that in other areas. Our classification result of healthy environment can provide scientific support for optimizing environmental countermeasures and realizing environmental protection.

Developing non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) through building design

Purpose

Physical inactivity has a considerable negative impact on health. Physical activity has reduced partly due to workplace and lifestyle changes, causing people to spend more time in buildings and increasing sedentary behaviour. The purpose of this paper is to address a largely untapped opportunity for designers and managers to improve building users’ health by designing buildings that raise users’ Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT) levels. In this research a conceptual model was developed to assess buildings’ performance in providing NEAT-promoting opportunities through building design features and management, in relation to building users’ propensity for NEAT behaviours.

Design/methodology/approach

The conceptual model was developed by a multi-disciplinary team of researchers and data to populate the model was obtained through a survey of 75 buildings in Jakarta (Indonesia).

Findings

The presented proof-of-concept shows that the model’s “meso-scale” approach to study physical activity and building design can lead to potential improvements of NEAT levels and physical activity in buildings.

Originality/value

The review of precedent models shows that this subject has been researched at micro-scale (i.e. detailed monitoring of individuals’ movement) and macro-scale (i.e. epidemiological studies of populations’ health). The presented model is original, as it explores a “meso-scale”(i.e. building scale) that is unique.

The impact of energy retrofits on pediatric asthma exacerbation in a Boston multi-family housing complex: a systems science approach

BACKGROUND

Pediatric asthma is currently the most prevalent chronic disease in the United States, with children in lower income families disproportionately affected. This increased health burden is partly due to lower-quality and insufficient maintenance of affordable housing. A movement towards 'green' retrofits that improve energy efficiency and increase ventilation in existing affordable housing offers an opportunity to provide cost-effective interventions that can address these health disparities.

METHODS

We combine indoor air quality modeling with a previously developed discrete event model for pediatric asthma exacerbation to simulate the effects of different types of energy retrofits implemented at an affordable housing site in Boston, MA.

RESULTS

Simulation results show that retrofits lead to overall better health outcomes and healthcare cost savings if reduced air exchange due to energy-saving air tightening is compensated by mechanical ventilation. Especially when exposed to indoor tobacco smoke and intensive gas-stove cooking such retrofit would lead to an average annual cost saving of over USD 200, while without mechanical ventilation the same children would have experienced an increase of almost USD 200/year in health care utilization cost.

CONCLUSION

The combination of indoor air quality modeling and discrete event modeling applied in this paper can allow for the inclusion of health impacts in cost-benefit analyses of proposed affordable housing energy retrofits.

Research on the Literature of Green Building Based on the Web of Science: A Scientometric Analysis in CiteSpace (2002–2018)

Since the 21st century, the concept of green building has been gradually popularized and implemented in more countries, which has become a popular direction in the area of sustainability in the building industry. Over the past few decades, many scholars and experts have done extensive research on green building. The purpose of this paper is to systematically analyze and visualize the status quo of green building. Therefore, based on Web of Science (WoS), this paper analyzed the existing knowledge system of green building using CiteSpace, identified keywords related to green building and their frequency of occurrence using the function of keyword co-occurrence analysis, recognized five clusters using the function of cluster analysis, and explored the knowledge evolution pattern of green building using citation bursts analysis in order to reveal how research related to green building has evolved over time. On the basis of aforementioned keywords, clusters, and citation bursts analysis, this paper has built a knowledge graph for green building. This paper can help readers to better understand the status quo and development trend of green building and to easier recognize the shortcomings in the development of green building, so as to provide a promising direction for future research.

A Copernican Approach to Brain Advancement: The Paradigm of Allostatic Orchestration

There are two main paradigms for brain-related science, with different implications for brain-focused intervention or advancement. The paradigm of homeostasis (“stability through constancy,” Walter Cannon), originating from laboratory-based experimental physiology pioneered by Claude Bernard, shows that living systems tend to maintain system functionality in the direction of constancy (or similitude). The aim of physiology is to elucidate the factors that maintain homeostasis, and therapeutics aim to correct abnormal factor functions. The homeostasis paradigm does not formally recognize influences outside its controlled experimental frames and it is variable in its modeling of neural contributions. The paradigm of allostatic orchestration (PAO) extends the principle of allostasis (“stability through change”) as originally put forth by Peter Sterling. The PAO originates from an evolutionary perspective and recognizes that biological set points change in anticipation of changing environments. The brain is the organ of central command, orchestrating cross-system operations to support optimal behavior at the level of the whole organism. Alternative views of blood pressure regulation and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) illustrate differences between the paradigms. For the PAO, complexities of top-down neural effects and environmental context are foundational (not to be “factored out”), and anticipatory regulation is the principle of their interface. The allostatic state represents the integrated totality of brain-body interactions. Health itself is an allostatic state of optimal anticipatory oscillation, hypothesized to relate to the state of criticality, a mathematical point of poise between phases, on the border between order and disorder (or the “edge of chaos”). Diseases are allostatic states of impaired anticipatory oscillations, demonstrated as rigidifications of set points across the brain and body (disease comorbidity). Conciliation of the paradigms is possible, with “reactive homeostasis” resolved as an illusion stemming from the anticipation of environmental monotony. Considerations are presented with respect to implications of the two paradigms for brain-focused intervention or advancement; the hypothesis that the state of criticality is a vehicle for evolutionary processes; concordance with a philosophy of freedom based on ethical individualism as well as self-creativity, non-obsolescence, empowerment, and citizenship; and concluding reflections on the science and ethics of the placebo, and the potential for virtuous cycles of brain-Anthropocene interactions.

An Exploration of Lactation Facilities and Planning in U.S. Higher Education Campuses

BACKGROUND

Women in academia face challenges in continuing breastfeeding. Higher education campuses are investing in lactation support, but little is known about their approaches. This study explores the planning and design of lactation spaces on college and university campuses from the perspectives of campus planners and facility professionals, administrators, and other decision-makers.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We conducted an online survey with a convenience sample of members of the Society for College and University Planning (SCUP). Representatives from each U.S. member campus were invited to participate in an online survey.

RESULTS

One hundred five individuals responded, representing their institutions; 94% reported at least one dedicated lactation space (range 0-50). Sixty-eight percent reported having a policy for creating/identifying lactation spaces; 28% reported that the lactation space was included in campus construction standards. Over 80% of spaces were structurally enclosed, lockable, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant, and had open electrical outlets and in-room light control. Campus/facility planning was involved in lactation space planning at 77% of institutions and in funding for creation and maintenance at 59%.

CONCLUSIONS

Many campuses are building lactation infrastructure, but there is considerable variability in approaches and accommodations for lactation at higher education institutions. While local conditions, constraints, and demands will inform program development, decision-makers can leverage campus resources, recommendations, and design best practices to improve lactation experiences of women.