The Experts below are selected from a list of 327 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Judith L Isaac-renton - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Water and Sewage Systems, socio-demographics, and duration of residence associated with endemic intestinal infectious diseases: A cohort study
BMC Public Health, 2010Co-Authors: Kay Teschke, Neil Bellack, Rong Chu, Jim Atwater, Hans Schreier, Ying C Macnab, Mieke Koehoorn, Hui Shen, Judith L Isaac-rentonAbstract:BackgroundStudies of water-related gastrointestinal infections are usually directed at outbreaks. Few have examined endemic illness or compared rates across different water supply and Sewage disposal Systems. We conducted a cohort study of physician visits and hospitalizations for endemic intestinal infectious diseases in a mixed rural and urban community near Vancouver, Canada, with varied and well-characterized water and Sewage Systems.MethodsCohort members and their disease events were defined via universal health insurance data from 1995 through 2003. Environmental data were derived from municipal, provincial, and federal government sources. Logistic regression was used to examine associations between disease events and water and Sewage Systems, socio-demographic characteristics, and temporal factors.ResultsThe cohort included 126,499 individuals and approximately 190,000,000 person-days. Crude incidence rates were 1,353 physician visits and 33.8 hospitalizations for intestinal infectious diseases per 100,000 person-years. Water supply chlorination was associated with reduced physician visit incidence (OR: 0.92, 95% CI 0.85-1.0). Two water Systems with the highest proportions of surface water had increased incidence (ORs: 1.57, 95% CI 1.39-1.78; and 1.45, 95% CI 1.28-1.64). Private well water and well depth were not associated with increased risk, likely because of residents' awareness of and attention to water quality. There was increased crude incidence with increasing precipitation in the population served by surface water supplies, but this trend did not remain with adjustment for other variables. Municipal sewer Systems were associated with increased risk (OR: 1.26, 95% CI 1.14-1.38). Most socio-demographic variables had predicted associations with risk: higher rates in females, in the very young and the elderly, and in residents of low income areas. Increased duration of area residence was associated with reduced risk (OR, duration ≥ 6 years: 0.69, 95% CI 0.60-0.80 vs . < 1 year: 1.16, 95% CI 1.03-1.30).ConclusionsThis large cohort study, with objective data on exposures and outcomes, demonstrated associations between endemic infectious intestinal diseases and factors related to water supply, Sewage disposal, socio-demographics, and duration of residency. The results did not always follow prior expectations based on studies examining outbreaks and single Systems, and underscore the importance of studying factors associated with endemic disease across water and Sewage system types.
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Water and Sewage Systems, socio-demographics, and duration of residence associated with endemic intestinal infectious diseases: A cohort study
BMC Public Health, 2010Co-Authors: Kay Teschke, Neil Bellack, Jim Atwater, Hans Schreier, Ying C Macnab, Mieke Koehoorn, Hui Shen, Judith L Isaac-rentonAbstract:Background Studies of water-related gastrointestinal infections are usually directed at outbreaks. Few have examined endemic illness or compared rates across different water supply and Sewage disposal Systems. We conducted a cohort study of physician visits and hospitalizations for endemic intestinal infectious diseases in a mixed rural and urban community near Vancouver, Canada, with varied and well-characterized water and Sewage Systems.
Sverker Molander - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Factors influencing house-owners to adopt environmentally improved on-site Sewage Systems
2017Co-Authors: Are Wallin, Sverker MolanderAbstract:How can large-scale adoption of new technologies that lead to decreasing environmental pressure on the ecosystem be described and analyzed by help of models of influences on the behavior of actors? Here the case of on-site Sewage Systems (Sewage treatment Systems for one or a few households) represents a more general problem situation where decreasing environmental loads depend on the adoption of more environmentally benign technologies made by actors using, providing, controlling the regulations, or in other ways influencing the change of technology. In this case the specific on-site Sewage Systems and the actions of house-owners are studied. The research includes the identification and quantification of relative strength of influences that make the actors controlling the technology at the interface between technosphere and ecosphere actually change their behavior and adopt the technologies. We argue that one possible and valuable approach, driven by observations, to get this knowledge is a Bayesian modeling approach using influence diagrams. We present results from the first modeling efforts based on an initial interview study in three Swedish municipalities to find categories of influences, and a subsequent questionnaire to 3500 Swedish house-owners to get quantitative data that can be used to model the decision situation in the case of on-site Sewage Systems. The case of actors around on-site Sewage Systems is particularly interesting since it contains decision situations with few economic incentives for the individual. Instead, other influencing factors such as regulatory arrangements are important. Increasing the knowledge about this kind of influences on house-owners would likely improve the chances of making policy interventions that work, and actually lead to improved environmental performance of on-site Sewage Systems.
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On-Site Sewage Systems from Good to Bad to…? Swedish Experiences with Institutional Change and Technological Dependencies 1900 to 2010
Sustainability, 2013Co-Authors: Are Wallin, Mathias Zannakis, Sverker MolanderAbstract:Even though technological advances have occurred during recent decades today’s nutrient loading from Swedish on-site Sewage Systems (OSSs) is much higher than in the 1940s, despite a decreased rural population and the existence of potentially far better technologies than the existing inadequate installations. The objective of this paper is first, to explain this situation as the result of co-evolution of technology and institutions, which has resulted in a very stable conservation. Second, to properly understand how such stable configurations may change, the paper investigates how a power-distributional theory of incremental institutional change might complement the previous analysis and open up the thinking about how seemingly stable configurations may change endogenously. The analysis reveals how shifts in the distribution of power, i.e., public and private actors’ resources and tools to use in interaction with other actors, have influenced the direction of technological and institutional development. We conclude that the sequencing of events has been important; the series of choices made foremost between the 1950s and 1990s caused both institutional and technical lock-in effects that have been increasingly difficult to break out from. Despite parallel and later incremental developments, improvement in the environmental outcome is not yet seen on the large scale.
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Influence of interventions and internal motivation on Swedish homeowners' change of on-site Sewage Systems
Resources Conservation and Recycling, 2013Co-Authors: Are Wallin, Mathias Zannakis, Lars-olof Johansson, Sverker MolanderAbstract:This article reports results from a questionnaire administered to Swedish homeowners (N = 1481) investigating factors that influence them, as users and owners of on-site Sewage Systems (OSS), to environmentally improve their OSS. Social and psychological factors were based on previous research into pro-environmental and compliance behaviors and a previous interview study. The results suggest that the most important motives are to benefit, to act when outcomes are fair, and to avoid inconvenience. Less important motives are to act when outcomes are fair and to act of concern for the environment. Perceived efficacy in decreasing the environmental impacts of current OSS, when the OSS is changed, and perceived ability to change their OSS are also among the strongest predictors of readiness to change OSS. However, among homeowners who changed their OSS to do ones duty and achieve long-term safety were ranked highest. The results support the expectations of goal-framing theory that motives related to “gain” would be focal in situations of unfavorable cost–benefit ratios. Similarly, the importance of fair outcomes and efficacious rules is consistent with general findings in research on social dilemmas.
Kay Teschke - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Water and Sewage Systems, socio-demographics, and duration of residence associated with endemic intestinal infectious diseases: A cohort study
BMC Public Health, 2010Co-Authors: Kay Teschke, Neil Bellack, Rong Chu, Jim Atwater, Hans Schreier, Ying C Macnab, Mieke Koehoorn, Hui Shen, Judith L Isaac-rentonAbstract:BackgroundStudies of water-related gastrointestinal infections are usually directed at outbreaks. Few have examined endemic illness or compared rates across different water supply and Sewage disposal Systems. We conducted a cohort study of physician visits and hospitalizations for endemic intestinal infectious diseases in a mixed rural and urban community near Vancouver, Canada, with varied and well-characterized water and Sewage Systems.MethodsCohort members and their disease events were defined via universal health insurance data from 1995 through 2003. Environmental data were derived from municipal, provincial, and federal government sources. Logistic regression was used to examine associations between disease events and water and Sewage Systems, socio-demographic characteristics, and temporal factors.ResultsThe cohort included 126,499 individuals and approximately 190,000,000 person-days. Crude incidence rates were 1,353 physician visits and 33.8 hospitalizations for intestinal infectious diseases per 100,000 person-years. Water supply chlorination was associated with reduced physician visit incidence (OR: 0.92, 95% CI 0.85-1.0). Two water Systems with the highest proportions of surface water had increased incidence (ORs: 1.57, 95% CI 1.39-1.78; and 1.45, 95% CI 1.28-1.64). Private well water and well depth were not associated with increased risk, likely because of residents' awareness of and attention to water quality. There was increased crude incidence with increasing precipitation in the population served by surface water supplies, but this trend did not remain with adjustment for other variables. Municipal sewer Systems were associated with increased risk (OR: 1.26, 95% CI 1.14-1.38). Most socio-demographic variables had predicted associations with risk: higher rates in females, in the very young and the elderly, and in residents of low income areas. Increased duration of area residence was associated with reduced risk (OR, duration ≥ 6 years: 0.69, 95% CI 0.60-0.80 vs . < 1 year: 1.16, 95% CI 1.03-1.30).ConclusionsThis large cohort study, with objective data on exposures and outcomes, demonstrated associations between endemic infectious intestinal diseases and factors related to water supply, Sewage disposal, socio-demographics, and duration of residency. The results did not always follow prior expectations based on studies examining outbreaks and single Systems, and underscore the importance of studying factors associated with endemic disease across water and Sewage system types.
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Water and Sewage Systems, socio-demographics, and duration of residence associated with endemic intestinal infectious diseases: A cohort study
BMC Public Health, 2010Co-Authors: Kay Teschke, Neil Bellack, Jim Atwater, Hans Schreier, Ying C Macnab, Mieke Koehoorn, Hui Shen, Judith L Isaac-rentonAbstract:Background Studies of water-related gastrointestinal infections are usually directed at outbreaks. Few have examined endemic illness or compared rates across different water supply and Sewage disposal Systems. We conducted a cohort study of physician visits and hospitalizations for endemic intestinal infectious diseases in a mixed rural and urban community near Vancouver, Canada, with varied and well-characterized water and Sewage Systems.
Are Wallin - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Factors influencing actors at the interface between the socio-technical and the ecological Systems: The case of on-site Sewage Systems and eutrophication
2017Co-Authors: Are WallinAbstract:Eutrophication, caused by nutrient loading, is a global environmental problem, particularly severe for the Baltic Sea. Long-term solutions rely on the ability of society to respond effectively. This involves, for example, instigating actors who have the capability to directly influence nutrient loads to take action. In Sweden, one of the substantial sources of nutrients is on-site Sewage Systems (OSS), that is, wastewater treatment Systems for one or a few households. The aim of this thesis is to increase the knowledge about factors influencing actors that directly and indirectly influence nutrient loads from Swedish OSS by (1) Identify factors influencing homeowners’ to change OSS, and (2) Investigate the relative strength of these factors. Semi-structured interviews with homeowners and authority inspectors were used to elicit tentative conceptualizations of influencing factors. The results together with literature on pro-environmental and compliance behavior were used in the construction of a questionnaire, directed at Swedish homeowners with OSS. The analysis involved statistical methods, including principal components analysis to identify underlying motivational factors, and regression analysis to investigate the relative strength of these factors, while controlling for government and authority interventions. The result shows that authority interventions are needed to make homeowners change OSS. Informal means, such as information, will not likely lead to a large-scale transformation of OSS. They may, however, be effective in combination with more deterrent means of regulatory enforcement, such as injunctions. Such interventions are needed because of the high costs and no, or very low, benefits of changing OSS from the homeowner point of view. Furthermore, the awareness about the need to change OSS from an environmental point of view seems to be low. In this situation, homeowners are most inclined to defend their self-interest and do not act based on environmental concerns. Homeowners are more inclined to change OSS under the condition that other homeowners are cooperating.
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Factors influencing house-owners to adopt environmentally improved on-site Sewage Systems
2017Co-Authors: Are Wallin, Sverker MolanderAbstract:How can large-scale adoption of new technologies that lead to decreasing environmental pressure on the ecosystem be described and analyzed by help of models of influences on the behavior of actors? Here the case of on-site Sewage Systems (Sewage treatment Systems for one or a few households) represents a more general problem situation where decreasing environmental loads depend on the adoption of more environmentally benign technologies made by actors using, providing, controlling the regulations, or in other ways influencing the change of technology. In this case the specific on-site Sewage Systems and the actions of house-owners are studied. The research includes the identification and quantification of relative strength of influences that make the actors controlling the technology at the interface between technosphere and ecosphere actually change their behavior and adopt the technologies. We argue that one possible and valuable approach, driven by observations, to get this knowledge is a Bayesian modeling approach using influence diagrams. We present results from the first modeling efforts based on an initial interview study in three Swedish municipalities to find categories of influences, and a subsequent questionnaire to 3500 Swedish house-owners to get quantitative data that can be used to model the decision situation in the case of on-site Sewage Systems. The case of actors around on-site Sewage Systems is particularly interesting since it contains decision situations with few economic incentives for the individual. Instead, other influencing factors such as regulatory arrangements are important. Increasing the knowledge about this kind of influences on house-owners would likely improve the chances of making policy interventions that work, and actually lead to improved environmental performance of on-site Sewage Systems.
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What factors can influence house-owners' willingness to invest in environmentally improved on-site Sewage Systems?
2017Co-Authors: Are Wallin, Mathias ZannakisAbstract:This paper explores the case of on-site Sewage Systems (OSSS) in Sweden with the purpose to identify what factors that influence individual house owners’ willingness to invest in new Sewage Systems and what makes them not. Such investments are needed, since release of nutrient-rich Sewage water is one important cause of eutrophication of seas and lakes, not least of the environmentally vulnerable Baltic Sea. The situation is a social dilemma indeed: the responsibility - and hence the cost - lies with the property owner to invest in a Sewage system with proper purification, while at the same time the benefits are collective and quite diffuse in space and time. However, the municipalities have a key role, because they are expected to translate national regulations into local standards while considering local circumstances. Hence, municipalities’ action is a potentially important factor for influencing individual behavior. However, the “failure” to implement proper OSSS is telling of the importance of other factors too. Potentially important factors are individuals’ trust in authorities and fellow citizens, adherence to different justice principles, as well as individually held beliefs, attitudes and norms. The paper will theoretically elaborate possible relations between these variables and in what way they may affect actors’ willingness to invest in environmentally improved on-site Sewage Systems.
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On-Site Sewage Systems from Good to Bad to…? Swedish Experiences with Institutional Change and Technological Dependencies 1900 to 2010
Sustainability, 2013Co-Authors: Are Wallin, Mathias Zannakis, Sverker MolanderAbstract:Even though technological advances have occurred during recent decades today’s nutrient loading from Swedish on-site Sewage Systems (OSSs) is much higher than in the 1940s, despite a decreased rural population and the existence of potentially far better technologies than the existing inadequate installations. The objective of this paper is first, to explain this situation as the result of co-evolution of technology and institutions, which has resulted in a very stable conservation. Second, to properly understand how such stable configurations may change, the paper investigates how a power-distributional theory of incremental institutional change might complement the previous analysis and open up the thinking about how seemingly stable configurations may change endogenously. The analysis reveals how shifts in the distribution of power, i.e., public and private actors’ resources and tools to use in interaction with other actors, have influenced the direction of technological and institutional development. We conclude that the sequencing of events has been important; the series of choices made foremost between the 1950s and 1990s caused both institutional and technical lock-in effects that have been increasingly difficult to break out from. Despite parallel and later incremental developments, improvement in the environmental outcome is not yet seen on the large scale.
-
Influence of interventions and internal motivation on Swedish homeowners' change of on-site Sewage Systems
Resources Conservation and Recycling, 2013Co-Authors: Are Wallin, Mathias Zannakis, Lars-olof Johansson, Sverker MolanderAbstract:This article reports results from a questionnaire administered to Swedish homeowners (N = 1481) investigating factors that influence them, as users and owners of on-site Sewage Systems (OSS), to environmentally improve their OSS. Social and psychological factors were based on previous research into pro-environmental and compliance behaviors and a previous interview study. The results suggest that the most important motives are to benefit, to act when outcomes are fair, and to avoid inconvenience. Less important motives are to act when outcomes are fair and to act of concern for the environment. Perceived efficacy in decreasing the environmental impacts of current OSS, when the OSS is changed, and perceived ability to change their OSS are also among the strongest predictors of readiness to change OSS. However, among homeowners who changed their OSS to do ones duty and achieve long-term safety were ranked highest. The results support the expectations of goal-framing theory that motives related to “gain” would be focal in situations of unfavorable cost–benefit ratios. Similarly, the importance of fair outcomes and efficacious rules is consistent with general findings in research on social dilemmas.
Neil Bellack - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Water and Sewage Systems, socio-demographics, and duration of residence associated with endemic intestinal infectious diseases: A cohort study
BMC Public Health, 2010Co-Authors: Kay Teschke, Neil Bellack, Rong Chu, Jim Atwater, Hans Schreier, Ying C Macnab, Mieke Koehoorn, Hui Shen, Judith L Isaac-rentonAbstract:BackgroundStudies of water-related gastrointestinal infections are usually directed at outbreaks. Few have examined endemic illness or compared rates across different water supply and Sewage disposal Systems. We conducted a cohort study of physician visits and hospitalizations for endemic intestinal infectious diseases in a mixed rural and urban community near Vancouver, Canada, with varied and well-characterized water and Sewage Systems.MethodsCohort members and their disease events were defined via universal health insurance data from 1995 through 2003. Environmental data were derived from municipal, provincial, and federal government sources. Logistic regression was used to examine associations between disease events and water and Sewage Systems, socio-demographic characteristics, and temporal factors.ResultsThe cohort included 126,499 individuals and approximately 190,000,000 person-days. Crude incidence rates were 1,353 physician visits and 33.8 hospitalizations for intestinal infectious diseases per 100,000 person-years. Water supply chlorination was associated with reduced physician visit incidence (OR: 0.92, 95% CI 0.85-1.0). Two water Systems with the highest proportions of surface water had increased incidence (ORs: 1.57, 95% CI 1.39-1.78; and 1.45, 95% CI 1.28-1.64). Private well water and well depth were not associated with increased risk, likely because of residents' awareness of and attention to water quality. There was increased crude incidence with increasing precipitation in the population served by surface water supplies, but this trend did not remain with adjustment for other variables. Municipal sewer Systems were associated with increased risk (OR: 1.26, 95% CI 1.14-1.38). Most socio-demographic variables had predicted associations with risk: higher rates in females, in the very young and the elderly, and in residents of low income areas. Increased duration of area residence was associated with reduced risk (OR, duration ≥ 6 years: 0.69, 95% CI 0.60-0.80 vs . < 1 year: 1.16, 95% CI 1.03-1.30).ConclusionsThis large cohort study, with objective data on exposures and outcomes, demonstrated associations between endemic infectious intestinal diseases and factors related to water supply, Sewage disposal, socio-demographics, and duration of residency. The results did not always follow prior expectations based on studies examining outbreaks and single Systems, and underscore the importance of studying factors associated with endemic disease across water and Sewage system types.
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Water and Sewage Systems, socio-demographics, and duration of residence associated with endemic intestinal infectious diseases: A cohort study
BMC Public Health, 2010Co-Authors: Kay Teschke, Neil Bellack, Jim Atwater, Hans Schreier, Ying C Macnab, Mieke Koehoorn, Hui Shen, Judith L Isaac-rentonAbstract:Background Studies of water-related gastrointestinal infections are usually directed at outbreaks. Few have examined endemic illness or compared rates across different water supply and Sewage disposal Systems. We conducted a cohort study of physician visits and hospitalizations for endemic intestinal infectious diseases in a mixed rural and urban community near Vancouver, Canada, with varied and well-characterized water and Sewage Systems.