Adaptive reuse of closed malls for dementia programs and services: Community focus group feedback

The double societal hit of dementia and infectious disease outbreaks like COVID-19 have raised a convergence of concerns for the future of care settings for people living with dementia. Images of institutionalized older adults who are quarantined in closed settings have led developers, government agencies, and care administrators to search for innovative options to create more autonomy and quality of life in care settings while protecting the health of residents. This chapter describes the qualitative work being conducted by a Midwestern university research team, laying the groundwork for the conceptual adaptive reuse of an 800,000 square-foot closed mall site for centralized dementia programs, services, housing, and an on-site quarantine and medical center. Focus group outcomes from architects and developers highlighted five principle themes relating to the barriers and benefits of adaptive reuse for this model which include: mixed-use precedents, linking the old with the new, economic factors, development partnerships, and sustainable building practices. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

A framework for sustainable adaptive reuse: understanding vacancy and underuse in existing urban buildings

Cities have been built on the benefits of density, proximity, and connectivity. However, the recent COVID-19 pandemic, along with continuously evolving communication technologies, has seen an increase in vacancies and underuse of urban buildings, challenging the agglomeration benefits of cities and our understanding of business-as-usual. By reflecting on these continuous changes in our urban environment, we can better understand the dynamics in play, the various user needs, the temporary or permanent nature of these changes, and possible adaptive strategies to navigate our future toward a more sustainable and resilient state. This article, therefore, presents a systematic literature review, using PRISMA, to examine and map how vacancy intersects with adaptive reuse literature. This review examined 43 academic articles and revealed research predominately focusing on whole-building adaptive reuse of completely vacant buildings. This review highlighted that vacancy is mainly assumed in research, and both vacancy and adaptive reuse are insufficiently unpacked. A new adaptive reuse framework is proposed to address the misalignment between the realities of how a vacancy is distributed in building stocks and the focus on whole-building adaptive reuse. The framework is set to inform urban policy development supporting sustainable reuse. This article presents a point of departure to understand how adaptive planning approaches could be applied to enhance broader sustainability and resilience initiatives.

Dados governamentais abertos sobre a COVID-19 no Brasil: avalia??o do potencial de re?so

In the COVID-19 pandemic, access to data on the disease has become strategic for controlling public health measures. Faced with the health emergency, a large volume of data needed to be minimally organized and made available in a quick and automated way, composing the open government data. After two years of a pandemic and in order to present an overview of the publication of open data by the federal government of Brazil, on COVID-19, this study sought to evaluate the open government data made available through the Application Programming Interface (API). The methodology involved the identification of datasets on COVID-19 in Brazil, in Application Programming Interface, until April 2022, the analysis of the documentation and the evaluation using the DGABr metric. The evaluation considered the five perspectives of the metric that measures fundamental elements about the open government data, essential for interoperability and consequently reuse of the data and was based on the published documentation. As results, the open government data on COVID-19, made available in Application Programming Interface, presented a good score in the metric, reaching level 4. This result indicates that the use of APIs was an important and agile technological resource for the organization and availability of open government data, promoting its reuse. However, it is important to highlight that this availability to society was late, it needs constant improvements, mainly in technical issues such as the connection of data with other sources, and that the effective reuse actions were limited to data visualization panels on COVID-19.

Research of addition of N95 facial mask fibers, silica fume and marble powder in high performance mortar

The coronavirus pandemic, in addition to the global health crisis, shows damage to the environment due to the high number of disposable face masks, making it necessary to develop research to minimize the environmental risks associated with personal protective equipment used by the population. This research aims to reduce the waste generated by the pandemic, taking advantage of face masks, inserting them in the manufacture of mortars. Processing (grinding) of the masks was carried out and their inclusion in contents of 1.4% and 2.0% in relation to the cement consumption. The products were compared to a reference mix and evaluated for physical and mechanical properties. As a result, it was found that the addition of mask fibers resulting an increase in the water absorption rate, as well as reductions in diametral compression strength and compressive strength, respectively 30% and 50%, due to failures in the matrix/fiber interaction, which may limit the use of the mixture. However, this research contributes to the Brazilian agenda regarding sustainable urban, regional, and national development, through multidisciplinary and innovative approaches, enabling the reduction of environmental degradation by discarding masks and the making of new materials to be employees in the construction sector.

The Importance of Being FAIR and FAST - The Clinical Epidemiology and Study Platform of the German Network University Medicine (NUKLEUS).

The COVID-19 pandemic has urged the need to set up, conduct and analyze high-quality epidemiological studies within a very short time-scale to provide timely evidence on influential factors on the pandemic, e.g. COVID-19 severity and disease course. The comprehensive research infrastructure developed to run the German National Pandemic Cohort Network within the Network University Medicine is now maintained within a generic clinical epidemiology and study platform NUKLEUS. It is operated and subsequently extended to allow efficient joint planning, execution and evaluation of clinical and clinical-epidemiological studies. We aim to provide high-quality biomedical data and biospecimens and make its results widely available to the scientific community by implementing findability, accessibility, interoperability and reusability - i.e. following the FAIR guiding principles. Thus, NUKLEUS might serve as role model for FAIR and fast implementation of clinical epidemiological studies within the setting of University Medical Centers and beyond.

Review of the Effect of Continuous Use and Limited Reuse of N95 Respirators on Respirator Fit.

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has led to severe shortages of filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs). As a result, extended use, limited reuse, and FFR decontamination have been utilized to extend the life of single-use FFRs. Although some studies have raised concerns that reuse could affect the FFR's ability to form a seal, no comprehensive literature review of the effect of extended use or limited reuse on FFR seal exists. Objective: The goal of this review was to assess the effect of extended use and reuse on respirator fit, with and without decontamination. Methods: Searches of PubMed and Medrxiv yielded 24 papers that included assessment of fit after extended use or limited reuse on a human. One additional handpicked paper was added. Results: Studies report a wide variation in the number of donnings and doffings before fit failure between different models of respirators. Additionally, while seal checks lack sufficient sensitivity to reliably detect fit failures, individuals who failed fit testing were often able to pass subsequent tests by re-positioning the respirator. Even with failure, respirators often maintained a substantially higher level of fit than a surgical mask, so they may still provide a level of protection in crisis settings. Conclusion: Based on currently available data, this literature review was unable to establish a consensus regarding the amount of time a respirator can be worn or the number of uses before fit failure will occur. Furthermore, variations in reuses before fit failure between different models of N95 respirators limit the ability to offer a comprehensive recommendation of greater than one reuse or a specific amount of wear time.

Efficiency and Sustainability: The Role of Digitization in Re-Inhabiting the Existing Building Stock

Cities are complex and constantly evolving systems where changing social needs have always reshaped the built environment. Considering recent evolutionary trends in housing emergencies, amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic, and environmental sustainability goals, a rethinking of the building heritage is fundamental. This article aims to promote the conversion of buildings designed initially for nonresidential uses as a process and project strategy based on energy efficiency and a holistic and integrated vision of the circular economy. The methodological approach is based on two main phases: definition of evaluative parameters for the potential reuse of a building, and integration of the evaluation system in a BIM and GIS environment. The result is a tool for rapid automatic pre-evaluation of the potential conversion of a building into a residential space. Applying the developed methodology allows for a practical approach to the significant issue of sustainable construction, with particular attention to energy improvement and the reduction of environmental impact related to the construction of new buildings. The originality of the contribution lies in the systematization of various digital technologies to provide fundamental support for managing and transforming the varied and widespread unused real estate assets in a state of abandonment and degradation. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Energies (19961073) is the property of MDPI and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Green meets food delivery services: consumers' intention to reuse food delivery containers in the post-pandemic era

Purpose: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has increased food delivery service demand, which generates massive amounts of solid waste, specifically plastic material. Therefore, this study aims to examine the determinants of consumers' intention to reuse food delivery containers (ITR) using the extended theory of planned behavior (TPB). Moral obligation was included as an antecedent, while behavioral expectation (BE) ahead of behavioral intention was an immediate predictor of consumers' pro-environmental behaviors. Design/methodology/approach: The hypotheses were tested on 348 food delivery service users in Malaysia and analyzed using the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings: The findings indicated that consumers' ITR is directly influenced by perceived behavioral control and attitude. Perceived behavioral control and attitude had a positive partial indirect effect on ITR through BE. Meanwhile, subjective norms and moral obligation had a positive full indirect effect on ITR through BE. Research limitations/implications: The findings can be directly applied to practical situations of food delivery companies and environmental protection organizations managing solid waste among food delivery services. Practical implications: Understanding consumers' ITR could promote practical environmental sustainability. Practically, the study provides insights to the food delivery service industry, policymakers and relevant stakeholders to encourage consumer behavior change by reusing food delivery containers in line with Sustainable Development Goal 12. Originality/value: The study enhances the existing literature by extending TPB with two psychological variables: moral obligation (independent variable) and BE (mediating variable). To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first attempt to empirically investigate BE in consumers' pro-environmental behavioral intention in a high-context culture and developing economy. This study could benefit food and beverage merchants, food delivery companies, governments, non-governmental organizations and pro-environmental behavior researchers in this industry. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Which Motivations Influence Consumer Behavior?: Focusing on Second-hand Distribution Platforms

Purpose: The no-contact and economic downturn caused by COVID-19 have further grown the used market. The second-hand trading industry has established itself as a popular consumption culture, leading to exponential growth in the size of the market. This study aims to identify the types of shopping motivation for used products targeting Korean consumers, and to examine the relationship between shopping motivations for second-hand transactions, consumption values, and re-use intentions. Research design, data and methodology: The first study was conducted on 63 used trading platform users and the second study was conducted on 441 used trading platform users to identify the types of consumers' motivation for shopping for used products. Results: As a result of the first study, the shopping motivation types of Korean used product consumers were classified into convenience motivation, economic motivation, hedonistic motivation, information Acquisition motivation, and free time utilization motivation. As a result of the second study, it was found that convenience motivation had the greatest influence on functional values and hedonic motivation had the greatest influence on emotional values, and that functional values had a great influence on platform reuse intentions. Conclusions: This study provides practical implications for the establishment of marketing strategies for used trading platforms and academic implications for research related to used trading © This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://Creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

Tacit Knowledge Management in Engineering Industries: Systematic Literature Review and Development of a Conceptual Model

Knowledge of every organisation is the most important resource, often not fully leveraged by organisations. Moreover, the value of tacit knowledge of an individual is much less understood and not exploited to the desired levels in organisations. It is quite evident when an experienced employee retires from an organisation, he carries away a very valuable chunk of knowledge with him, which is a strategic resource of the organisation. The COVID-19 pandemic and the great resignation times created a sudden loss of experts which troubled many organisations and made the topic of tacit knowledge management very relevant to current times. While PRISMA framework was used for selection of articles among the vast literature using justifiable validation criteria, a combination of bibliometric and narrative methods is used for the process of analysis and summarisation. The relevant papers are obtained using keywords "Tacit knowledge", "Tacit knowledge management", "Knowledge sharing". Overall, 50 relevant and quality papers are picked after systematic filtration and study. The important keywords from these papers are picked and analysed to arrive at six major themes under which all the papers can be categorised. The six themes are tacit knowledge concept evolution, barriers to knowledge sharing, tacit knowledge acquisition process - various methods, role of context in knowledge sharing, enablers for tacit knowledge sharing, and IT for explicit Knowledge capture and reuse. Each of these themes also has sub-themes under which the papers are categorised. The gist of papers under each of these themes/sub-themes is captured in detail, providing key insights under each theme. While literature review papers focus on a certain domain or industry, this work developed a conceptual model using these themes which represents the current literature in tacit knowledge management as a system model, thus making this work complementary to the current body of knowledge. This model is useful in placing any future literature under one of the themes. Future work also can focus on adding additional themes as well as making this model more insightful through continuous improvement. Each of the themes in the model created can be colour coded to represent high and least researched areas, which can be a valuable guide for the future researchers. Future research directions relevant for the current engineering industries are collated from the literature reviewed, detailed under the above themes in chronological order. © 2023 World Scientific Publishing Co.

Single Use Personal Protective Equipment Reinforced Asphalt.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, global personal protective equipment (PPE) volume production and demand increased by 300-400% between 2019 and 2021. In this scenario, the present study aims to propose and validate an innovative circular economy scenario for end of life (EoL) PPEs, reusing them to produce reinforced bituminous mixtures. Despite that several studies confirmed the possibility of reusing plastic in the asphalt mixtures, none of them investigated the potential of PPEs, highlighting the innovativeness in the scientific panorama. Five different alternatives of EoL PPE mixtures (different products, materials, dosages, etc.) were tested at laboratory scale to verify the technical feasibility of the proposed scenario. The most promising solution resulted to be the mix of gloves and face masks composed by polypropylene, polyethylene, nitrile and lattice at a dosage of 0,5% weight/weight that allowed to produce bituminous mixtures with acceptable performances in terms of relevant mechanical parameters while recycling waste PPEs. This leads to environmental benefits, since more than 3kg of EoL PPEs per square meter of road pavement can be reused instead of disposed (about 1,5 million tons/year considering the bituminous mixtures produced at European level), as well as economic benefits for public administrations and the collectivity, due to the reduced landfilling of solid wastes.

Reuse of end-of-life personal protective equipment in hot asphalt mixtures: an environmental evaluation.

In the present global health emergency, face masks, gowns, caps, gloves play a key role in limiting the diffusion of the COVID-19 pandemic, by acting as physical barriers to avoid droplets and filtrate exhalations coming from infected subjects. Since the most widespread devices are disposable products made of plastic or rubber materials, this means that relevant quantities of fossil resources are consumed, and huge amounts of wastes are generated. Currently the end of life of personal protective equipment (PPE) represents a problem in environmental, economic, and social terms. The market considers two possible disposal scenarios: incineration with energy recovery or landfill. In both cases, significant impacts are achieved both on the environment and on human health. This study aims to propose and validate a new scenario for PPE based on material reuse for bituminous conglomerates. The Life Cycle Assessment methodology and the experimental tests has been used to assess the environmental impacts in terms of both ReCiPe midpoints and endpoints and for demonstrate the technical feasibility of this new scenario. From an environmental point of view, relevant benefits were observed in comparison with the standard incineration for energy recovery or disposal in landfill.

Utilization of Waste Banks System in the COVID-19 Pandemic

People's perspectives and behaviors altered in a variety of ways during the pandemic period, most notably in areas related to health, environment, and most notably waste management. Many people still prefer to work from home and this in turn leads to a large accumulation of garbage without having any proper means of disposal. As a result, the garbage area will serve as a breeding ground for illness. Garbage is usually composed of a residual waste generated from a product or object that has outlived its useful life, but can still be recycled into a valuable item. On this basis, the solution is to use a waste bank;it is a collection point for sorted garbage. It is claimed that using a waste bank can help in preventing the garbage accumulation. The main purpose of this study is to determine the contribution of the waste bank to end garbage accumulation. The information gathered through a review of the literature and direct interviews with multiple informants. According to the findings of the literature review, waste banks can provide a variety of benefits to users, as well as the community and surrounding environment. The proposed research study's findings show that the changes in community activity patterns contribute to an increase in garbage, and that the community plays an important role in waste control. From the performed research study, it is evident that m any individuals are interested about garbage banks and their benefits based on this presumption. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Assessment and monitoring of human health risk during wastewater reuse

Wastewater reuse has attracted remarkable attention during recent decades as an alternative source of water. Recycling waste water for irrigation, forests, and agricultural fields have been very common nowadays. Industries also recycle waste water for different purposes as an alternative to freshwater. In spite of the fact that waste water reuse could significantly enrich nation's water resources, however, there are potential risks of human exposure to pathogenic and chemical contaminants from waste water reuse. Toxic chemicals such as pollutants, pesticides, heavy metals, and other toxins are drained into freshwater from sewage treatment plants and industrial effluents. Several studies have identified some resistant strains of bacteria which survive the antibiotic treatment during the recycling process of water. In a recent study it also has been concluded that SARS-COV2, the causative agent of COVID-19 pandemic is found to be present in wastewater increasing the risk of contamination. The presence of these substances is of utmost concern because of their reduced biodegradability which might lead to biomagnification. Even after treatment using it for potable use is not safe because even the trace exposure of these pollutants can lead to adverse health outcomes. The use of reclaimed water for irrigation purposes is practiced in many countries but persistence of these substances leading to bioaccumulation in plants and their consumption by human population can cause serious hazards. The risk assessment methods followed should be in compliance with the regulatory authorities like United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). There are several risk assessment studies which have been conducted. The current chapter deals with the identification of different pathogens and chemical hazards present in waste water, monitoring and assessment of the human health hazards associated with it and optimize the strategies of waste water reuse to safeguard human health. © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Post-Covid intergenerational living

Recent changes to society, coupled with the pandemic emergency, have exposed the need to reformulate models of housing and hospitality based on principles of living together and relations among different generations. The international architectural panorama offers examples of multipurpose structures integrated at the neighbourhood scale and expanded systems of shared spaces for living, working and caring, suited to an elderly population, and inserted within intergenerational contexts. Copyright © FrancoAngeli.

Structure, Morphology, and Surface Chemistry of Surgical Masks and Their Evolution up to 10 Washing Cycles

The Covid-19 crisis has led to a massive surge in the use of surgical masks worldwide, causing risks of shortages and high pollution. Various decontamination techniques are currently being studied to reduce these risks by allowing the reuse of masks. In this study, surgical masks were washed up to 10 times, each cycle under the same conditions. The consequences of the washing cycles on the structure, fiber morphology, and surface chemistry have been studied through several characterization techniques: scanning electron microscopy, wetting angle measurements, infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectrons spectroscopy. The washing process did not induce large changes in the hydrophobicity of the surface, the contact angle remaining constant throughout the cycles. The composition observed in the IR spectrum also remained unchanged for washed masks up to 10 cycles. Some slight variations were observed during X-ray analysis: the crystallinity of the fibers as well as the size of the crystals increases with the number of wash cycles. The XPS analysis shows that after 10 cycles, the surface of the masks underwent a slight oxidation. In the SEM images, changes were observed in the arrangement of the fibers, which are more visible the more times the mask has been washed: they align themselves in bundles, form areas with holes in the mask layer, and are crushed in some areas. © 2023 American Chemical Society

COVID-19 and sustainable environment: understanding higher education students' willingness to pay more for food delivery containers

Purpose: The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has increased the use of food delivery containers in the food and beverage industry. Based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), the aim of this paper is twofold: Firstly, it examines the influence of three elements of TPB (attitude, perceived behavioral control and subjective norm) and time pressure on the intention to reuse reusable food delivery containers (ITR). Secondly, it examines ITR as an antecedent to the willingness to pay more for reusable food delivery containers (WTPM). Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 401 higher education institution (HEI) students and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). Findings: The study found that the three elements of TPB influenced ITR. Furthermore, the results revealed that ITR directly influenced WTPM. Surprisingly, time pressure did not influence ITR. Originality/value: The research is one of the earliest studies to investigate HEI students' intention to reuse food delivery containers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study contributes to TPB by presenting a novel, integrated model to explain the independent roles of time pressure and ITR on ITR and WTPM, respectively. Finally, it contributes to the existing body of knowledge on pro-environmental behavior among HEI students and advances methodologically by establishing the PLS-SEM approach. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Quality Dimensions of Augmented Reality-based Mobile Apps for Smart-Tourism and its Impact on Customer Satisfaction & Reuse Intention

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected the tourism industry, with national lockdowns aimed at curbing the spread of the virus mandating travel restrictions and prohibiting events and gatherings. The shift to online video conferencing tools, which offer limited interactivity, has spurred the need to integrate augmented reality (AR) in various contexts, such as meetings, exhibitions, museums, and travel. This quantitative study examines visitors' perspectives on AR-based apps in tourism. It investigates the influence of three kinds of quality determinants, such as information quality, system quality, and service quality, on visitors' perspectives on AR apps. Their impact on visitor satisfaction ultimately triggers visitors to reuse AR-based mobile apps. The research makes a theoretical contribution to the literature on AR and the quality dimensions of mobile apps. We expect demand for AR-based apps to rapidly increase, as people continue to follow preventive measures even after COVID-19.

Tracking COVID-19 in sewers and in patients to help halt the pandemic

In this article, experts highlighted their experiences with employing a wastewater-based epidemiological surveillance (WBE) approach to track coronavirus infection levels in local communities in an online symposium. The objective of the Water Research Commission (WRC)-hosted symposium was to share knowledge on the progress that has been made in South Africa in monitoring the spread of COVID-19 using the WBE approach. With insights from collaborating partners, the establishment of South African Collaborative COVID-19 Environmental Surveillance System (SACCESS) has become one of the most significant development to date in terms of WBE surveillance in South Africa. With SACCESS and WBE, advance warnings about outbreaks can be made, such that the data collected using the WBE approach enabled researchers to predict the surge in clinical cases in April in KwaZulu-Natal three weeks before it happened. But risk is still prevalent for the health of wastewater workers or in the reuse of treated effluents, as well as the absence of WBE surveillance in non-sewered communities. With this, research has been made on developing and optimising the methodology for SARS-CoV-2 detection, quantification and monitoring in different types of samples from non-sewered environments. The detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in 98% of the wastewater samples collected has demonstrated the proof of concept for using WBE surveillance to track COVID-19. Continued WBE sampling at priority sites will allow for the expansion of pandemic trend monitoring. In terms of the impact on public health decision-making, only the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape Provincial Department of Health have incorporated WBE into their local responses.

Is the whole-day use of surgical masks during the coronavirus pandemic increasing the contamination of surgeons' masks?

Evaluating the impact of surgical masks' conservation practices during the Coronavirus Disease pandemic in the bioburden of the operating room seems imperative, as they play a critical role against this pandemic. We demonstrate that surgeons' masks tend to be contaminated due to the conservation techniques to maximize protection equipment during the pandemic. Health institutions should highlight the importance of surgical mask exchange to avoid increments in surgical mask contamination.