A Global Survey of Infection Control and Mitigation Measures for Combating the Transmission of COVID-19 Pandemic in Buildings Under Facilities Management Services

Facilities management along with health care are two important aspects in controlling the spread of infectious diseases with regard to controlling the outbreak of global COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, with the increasing outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of examining the relationship between the built environment and the outbreak of infectious diseases has become more significant. The aim of the research described in this article is to develop effective infection control and mitigation measures to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 pandemic in the built environment. This study seeks to answer the question of how the facilities management industry can help reduce the transmission of coronavirus. For this purpose, an online survey questionnaire was distributed internationally from 8 April to 25 July, 2020 to collect data from various key stakeholders. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS software. Various methods for the prevention and control of infectious diseases transmission are evaluated through this questionnaire-based survey with regard to their effectiveness for the healthy and safe built environment. These methods were categorized into three groups, including training protocols, operation and maintenance, and design and construction. The results show that all suggested methods have a positive effect on all types of buildings. These methods have an equal effect on low-risk buildings, while for high and very high-risk buildings, training protocols and design and construction measures have the greatest impact. In addition, training protocols and the measures in operation and maintenance will have the greatest effect on medium-risk buildings. The results can help in more rational decision making in relation to controlling the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in all types of buildings

Monitoring Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) Changes During a Massive Fish Kill Using Multitemporal Landsat-8 Satellite Images in Maninjau Lake, Indonesia

Maninjau Lake is one of Indonesia's lakes for hydroelectric power plants, tourism, and fish farming activities. Some activities around the lake cause pollution, leading to massive fish kill. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor water quality regularly. One of the critical water quality parameters is biochemical oxygen demand (BOD). This study aimed to analyze BOD changes using a remote sensing approach during massive fish kills in Maninjau Lake, Indonesia. Multi-temporal Landsat-8 satellite images are processed to estimate the BOD level based on Wang Algorithm. After that, the estimated BOD value is validated using in situ data measurement. The results of the average BOD concentration that occurred in Lake Maninjau was 1.85 mg/L and showed that R2 was 0.8334, and the standard error was 0.076 between the estimated BOD and in situ data. Furthermore, the average concentration of BOD obtained on 23rd August 2017, 13th December 2017, 30th January 2018, 19th March 2018, and 7th July 2018 are 4.96 mg/L, 4.82 mg/L, 5.31 mg/L, 6.94 mg/L, and 6.60 mg/L, respectively. Increased BOD concentration in January 2018 indicates moderate pollution in the waters. BOD concentration increases after the massive fish kill due to the decaying fish across the lake

Geospatial analyses of groundwater depletion and contamination: Multiscale - global, regional and local analyses

The overarching objective of this dissertation was to study groundwater resources on global, local, and regional scales. The first objective of this dissertation was to analyze the groundwater nitrate contamination in the Edwards-Trinity and the Southern High-Plains aquifers of Texas. The second was to study groundwater quality in terms of seawater intrusion in the California Coastal Basin, Upper Floridian, and North Atlantic Coastal Plain aquifers. This dissertation also provided a comprehensive overview of the groundwater level in basins at the global scale and further analyzed agricultural activities on groundwater storage in small and large basins. To achieve first objective, Ordinary Least Square (OLS) and Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) models were used to study the relationship between groundwater nitrate contamination and land use. This dissertation further identified dominant groundwater types using USGS well data and to estimate the extent of seawater intrusion in terms of dominant ions and ocean salinity in the United States coastal aquifers. Finally, groundwater storage anomaly was quantified using Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) derived variations in total Terrestrial Water Storage (TWS) and the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS). Land cover data representing a percentage of irrigated lands using groundwater resources was used to study agricultural activities on groundwater storage. Groundwater nitrate contamination was positively associated with cotton production in Southern High-Plains and Edwards-Trinity aquifers. The nitrate concentrations tended to increase as the well-depth decreased in both aquifers. Results showed that the dominant ions in the study area were Na+ and Cl- . The study concluded that Na-Cl and mixed Ca-Mg-Cl were dominant water types in the United States\u27 coastal aquifers. Results also indicated that seawater intrusion is occurring in the US coastal aquifers. Groundwater depletion has increased in southern Asia, western North America, and southwestern Europe due to groundwater withdrawal for agricultural use. However, farming practice is not the main reason for groundwater scarcity in South America, Africa, and Australia

Sokakların dönüşümü ve yeniden yapılanmasında sosyokültürel pratiklerin rolü: İstanbul, Bağdat caddesi örneği.

Urban space, as a sociocultural phenomenon, is (re)constructed as a result of changes in the contextual attributes, from global to local scales. Contemporary urban spaces are involved in inter- disciplinary development and transformation aimed at creating a living, resistant and inclusive place. The large Turkish cities should take advantage of the inter-disciplinary development with the increasing complexity of socio-economic and spatial relations. This study hypothesizes that the sociocultural reality of urban space is constructed over time, and that the interaction of numerous attributes at various scales, including local, national and global, contribute to the reconstruction of space as a social place. It further suggests that this can only be understood through an extraction of varying attributes and their relationship to each other that identify different historical periods in which the transformation and reconstruction of urban space took place. To this end, three major research questions are posed: (1) What are the shared conceived attributes of Bağdat Street within a historical perspective? (2) Which shared conceived attributes of Bağdat Street have been handed down from 1923 to the present day and contributed to the construction, re-construction and/or transformation of the street? (3) What socio-political and spatial relations may have prepared the context for those attributes to settle as the part of the street culture? This exploratory-descriptive research follows a case study approach, given its suitability as a methodology in holistic-historical and in-depth investigations. The case study was made around Bağdat Street in Kadiköy, Istanbul, where in-depth interviews with people who are familiar with past events and the history of the street permitted the gathering of a large quantity of relevant data. A Fuzzy Cognitive Map technique was then applied to analyze the mass of data, from which the answers to the questions posed in the study could be drawn. The findings of the thesis reveal that sociocultural structure is a relationally constructed reality; and that multiple scales, dynamics and attributes collaborate in the construction of the social context. Accordingly, the study has uncovered that the relationally constructed place is a resistant and inclusive space.Ph.D. - Doctoral Progra

A Geographical Analysis of Socioeconomic and Environmental Drivers of Physical Inactivity in Post Pandemic Cities: The Case Study of Chicago, IL, USA

The pandemic’s lockdown has made physical inactivity unavoidable, forcing many people to work from home and increasing the sedentary nature of their lifestyle. The link between spatial and socio-environmental dynamics and people’s levels of physical activity is critical for promoting healthy lifestyles and improving population health. Most studies on physical activity or sedentary behaviors have focused on the built environment, with less attention to social and natural environments. We illustrate the spatial distribution of physical inactivity using the space scan statistic to supplement choropleth maps of physical inactivity prevalence in Chicago, IL, USA. In addition, we employ geographically weighted regression (GWR) to address spatial non-stationarity of physical inactivity prevalence in Chicago per census tract. Lastly, we compare GWR to the traditional ordinary least squares (OLS) model to assess the effect of spatial dependency in the data. The findings indicate that, while access to green space, bike lanes, and living in a diverse environment, as well as poverty, unsafety, and disability, are associated with a lack of interest in physical activities, limited language proficiency is not a predictor of an inactive lifestyle. Our findings suggest that physical activity is related to socioeconomic and environmental factors, which may help guide future physical activity behavior research and intervention decisions, particularly in identifying vulnerable areas and people

A Geographical Analysis of Socioeconomic and Environmental Drivers of Physical Inactivity in Post Pandemic Cities: The Case Study of Chicago, IL, USA

The pandemic’s lockdown has made physical inactivity unavoidable, forcing many people to work from home and increasing the sedentary nature of their lifestyle. The link between spatial and socio-environmental dynamics and people’s levels of physical activity is critical for promoting healthy lifestyles and improving population health. Most studies on physical activity or sedentary behaviors have focused on the built environment, with less attention to social and natural environments. We illustrate the spatial distribution of physical inactivity using the space scan statistic to supplement choropleth maps of physical inactivity prevalence in Chicago, IL, USA. In addition, we employ geographically weighted regression (GWR) to address spatial non-stationarity of physical inactivity prevalence in Chicago per census tract. Lastly, we compare GWR to the traditional ordinary least squares (OLS) model to assess the effect of spatial dependency in the data. The findings indicate that, while access to green space, bike lanes, and living in a diverse environment, as well as poverty, unsafety, and disability, are associated with a lack of interest in physical activities, limited language proficiency is not a predictor of an inactive lifestyle. Our findings suggest that physical activity is related to socioeconomic and environmental factors, which may help guide future physical activity behavior research and intervention decisions, particularly in identifying vulnerable areas and people