Users' views of hospital environmental quality: Validation of the Perceived Hospital Environment Quality Indicators (PHEQIs)

Environmental Quality Perception (EQP) is an important construct used to help to understand the relationship between people and the hospital environment. From a patient-centered care perspective, it is important that hospital design take into account the patients' (and other users') point of view. This paper presents the adaptation and validation of a measure of hospital EQP, the Perceived Hospital Environment Quality Indicators (PHEQIs; Fornara, Bonaiuto, & Bonnes, 2006), and seeks to confirm the factor structure of this construct in a different cultural context. Three scales, two focusing on physical environments and one evaluating the social environment, were completed by 562 users of four orthopedic units in Portuguese hospitals, two older and two recently built or renovated. To assess criterion validity, hospital physical environments were also objectively evaluated by two architects. Using a confirmatory factor analysis the three validation procedures produced acceptable fit indices in the final measurement models. Overall reliability values were satisfactory, as was the evidence for criterion validity. PHEQIs scales and factors correlated with global evaluation of the environment, supporting concurrent criterion validity; and predictive criterion validity was demonstrated given that users of older and newer hospitals differed significantly on the perception of quality of hospital EQP, and that high congruence between users' and experts' evaluations was found. Discriminant construct validity was supported, and some difficulties in showing convergent validity are discussed in terms of item formulation adequacy. Implications for research and practice are described.     

Cultivating Chlorella vulgaris and Scenedesmus quadricauda microalgae to degrade inorganic compounds and pesticides in water

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This work evaluates the possibility of cultivating Scenedesmus quadricauda and Chlorella vulgaris microalgae in wastewater from the hydroponic...     

The international register of potentially toxic chemicals

The benefits and drawbacks consequent to the widespread use of chemicals are inextricably interwoven. According to recent estimates, more than 8 million substances are presently known, 70,000 of which are in common use as industrial compounds, pesticides, Pharmaceuticals, food additives, cosmetics and the like. It is estimated that substances used as such will increase annually by 1000 in number. The deleterious consequences deriving from their exploitation pose tremendous challenges to the scientific community for the protection of human health and the environment. Therefore it is of utmost priority to appropriately select valid information generated in this investigation area and to convey it correctly to users. Here, the adoption of the principles of good laboratory practice in experimental activities is essential, as well as the creation of global networks for data exchange on the safe use of chemicals. The structure and goals of the International Register of Potentially Toxic Chemicals (IRPTC, the database of the United Nations Environment Programme) are detailed to give an example of such an undertaking. Seventeen fields are covered,i.e. identifiers, properties and classification, production/trade, production processes, use, pathways into the environment, concentrations, environmental fate tests, environmental fate, chemobiokinetics, mammalian toxicity, special toxicity studies, effects on organisms in the environment, sampling/preparation/analysis, spills, treatment of poisoning, waste management and recommendations/legal mechanisms.     

Perceived hospital environment quality indicators: A study of orthopaedic units

The purposes of this study are to develop perceived hospital environment quality indicators for rating hospital settings, and to use those scales to compare hospitals selected to differ in their spatial–physical humanization (design features that support users’ needs and well-being). Orthopaedic units in three different hospitals in a major Italian city were selected to represent low, moderate and high levels of environmental humanization. Two architects rated the settings on 120 qualities and provided modest corroboration for the three levels. In each orthopaedic unit, patients, visitors and staff completed questionnaires including four scales about the physical and social environments (N=202). A total of 12 Perceived Hospital Environment Quality Indicators (PHEQIs) scales emerged from factor and reliability analyses of these responses. The PHEQIs had face validity, reflecting the main features articulated by the scientific literature on humanization, and overall had good inter-item reliability. ANOVAs supported hypotheses that patients and visitors would rate humanized environments more positively, although staff members seemed to be less sensitive than service users to differences in design quality.     

Understanding the role of chronic environmental disturbance in the context of island biogeographic theory

Island biogeographic theory offers a powerful conceptual framework for understanding and managing insular diversity. The human impact on insular environments is constantly growing, especially because of tourism. We performed a simulation study aimed at improving the understanding of the role of disturbance in islands. We also built an individual-oriented computer model of an archipelago subjected to chronic disturbance of varying degree. Results are discussed in the light of island biogeographic theory. Relevant results show the importance of autoecological characteristics of the species considered, regarding the attainment of equilibrium and the species-area relationship in both disturbed and undisturbed cases. The possibility of bias in the predictions of the equilibrium model is pointed out. Fundamental criticisms concerning the ecological relevance of the equilibrium theory are discussed.     

Efficacy and reliability of upgraded industrial treatment plant at Porto Marghera, near Venice, Italy, in removing nutrients and dangerous micropollutants from petrochemical wastewaters

Chemical and petrochemical wastewaters contain a host of contaminants that require different treatment strategies. Regulation of macropollutants and micropollutants in the final discharge from industrial wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have become increasingly stringent in recent decades, requiring many WWTPs to be upgraded. This article presents an analysis of a WWTP treating petrochemicals in Porto Marghera, Italy, that recently was upgraded following legislative changes. Because of strict legal limits for macropollutants and micropollutants and a lack of space necessary for a full-scale WWTP overhaul, the existing activated sludge tank was converted into a membrane biological reactor. The paper presents experimental data collected during a five-month investigation showing the removal rates achieved by the upgraded plant for macropollutants (particularly nitrogen compounds) and micropollutants (heavy metals and organic and inorganic toxic compounds).     

Intelligent Databases Assist Transparent and Sound Economic Valuation of Ecosystem Services

Assessment and economic valuation of services provided by ecosystems to humans has become a crucial phase in environmental management and policy-making. As primary valuation studies are out of the reach of many institutions, secondary valuation or benefit transfer, where the results of previous studies are transferred to the geographical, environmental, social, and economic context of interest, is becoming increasingly common. This has brought to light the importance of environmental valuation databases, which provide reliable valuation data to inform secondary valuation with enough detail to enable the transfer of values across contexts. This paper describes the role of next-generation, intelligent databases (IDBs) in assisting the activity of valuation. Such databases employ artificial intelligence to inform the transfer of values across contexts, enforcing comparability of values and allowing users to generate custom valuation portfolios that synthesize previous studies and provide aggregated value estimates to use as a base for secondary valuation. After a general introduction, we introduce the Ecosystem Services Database, the first IDB for environmental valuation to be made available to the public, describe its functionalities and the lessons learned from its usage, and outline the remaining needs and expected future developments in the field.