Search

During the occurrence of the Covid-19 pandemic, the laws made by the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia (DPR) as a legislative body, ideally, should not cease to reflect society's needs pursuant to the realisation of the representation principle. In analysing the fulfilment of such an ideal conception with the reality of its implementation, this paper aims to discuss the trends and discourses regarding the laws made by DPR, as a balancing power to the presidential body, during the pandemic as a new state of emergency. The authors would like to scrutinise the trend of laws passed by the DPR in various sectors, both quantitatively by evaluating the number of outcomes and qualitatively by observing the issues raised during the law-making process. Finally, this paper finds that the DPR still falls short of expectations on ensuring the actualisation of a democratic law-making process amidst the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Housing is an important social determinant of health and wellbeing. Aotearoa New Zealand is an outlier in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development both in terms of its notably poor housing standards and the fact that it is one of the few countries where public housing has a better indoor environment and tenure security than private rentals. Our paper analyses the transition from emergency housing to public housing among individuals experiencing homelessness in Aotearoa New Zealand. Using linked de-identified microdata, we identified 31,761 individuals, who moved from emergency housing to public housing between 2016 and 2023. We found about four-fifths of those who transited from emergency housing to public housing required more than one application, and it took more than two months to settle them into public housing. We found a decrease in annual hospitalisation rates (0.50 to 0.29) and the annual rates of mental health outpatient use (5.8 to 3.7) after entering public housing, confirming the importance of stable and secure housing for health and wellbeing. Considering the health and wellbeing benefits observed, increasing affordable and accessible public housing stock in Aotearoa New Zealand is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The USA has some of the highest utilization rates of the Emergency Department (ED) worldwide, leading to increased healthcare costs, constrained resources, and fragmented care. Many of the highest ED utilizers are persons experiencing homelessness (PEH) and those with mental health conditions, with even higher use by those with comorbid social challenges. This study reviewed the literature assessing interventional approaches in the ED to minimize the burden of ED utilization by PEH with associated mental health conditions. We first conducted an informal literature review of high ED utilizers and their most common presenting symptoms. We then conducted a scoping review of articles according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines; we used PubMed and Web of Science databases as well as Google Scholar. We screened the titles and abstracts of studies that evaluated programs that aimed to reduce ED usage by patients with mental illness who were also experiencing homelessness. Of the 1574 titles and abstracts screened, 49 full texts were examined for eligibility. Of those, 35 articles were excluded for a final count of 14 included studies. We found that the studies fell under two main interventional categories: housing support and care management. There were various approaches to reduce ED visits from PEH with mental illness around the world. Overall, these studies found varying degrees of success in reducing ED visits for both housing intervention and care management strategies. Comparison of these studies reveals that the success of related strategies like housing support often have different outcomes which can be attributed to the differences between the populations studied, previously available community resources, and other psychosocial factors affecting study participants. Overall, the most successful studies found that a tailored approach that addresses the unique needs of participants had the greatest impact on reducing ED visits and hospitalizations. Further research is needed to determine the best strategies for specific populations and how to promote health equity among PEH with associated mental health conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last two decades, natural disasters have led to economic losses exceeding $2.97 trillion, causing 1.23 million deaths and affecting over 4 billion people through injuries, housing loss, displacement, and requiring emergency aid. Data have shown that physical, social, and economic inequities significantly contribute to the vulnerability of communities, especially after disasters. Therefore, low-income communities not only endure more severe and long-lasting infrastructure damage but also face over four times as many deaths per disaster. Natural disasters cause prolonged and widespread homelessness, leading to an inevitable temporary housing crisis, further exacerbated by delayed disaster recovery. This study proposes an innovative short-term Origami temporary emergency housing (TEH) solution, providing an equitable and affordable option to swiftly shelter potential victims postdisasters by considering material, construction, and transportation costs. This research aimed to address postdisaster homelessness challenges by: (1) understanding the timeframe for disaster recovery and TEH implementation following a natural disaster; (2) identifying the main challenges, vulnerabilities, and crucial needs faced by low-income communities postdisaster; (3) recognizing the key characteristics for TEH to be an adequate solution postdisaster; and (4) proposing Origami shelter as a solution for the housing crisis that arises postdisaster and validating its feasibility and applicability through surveying engineering, architecture, and construction (EAC) experts from Peru and Puerto Rico, given the frequent exposure and high vulnerability of these regions to natural disasters. The results underscore the need to implement TEH that can be quickly assembled, enabling victims to reside safely and resume normal activities while infrastructure systems and homes are being repaired or rebuilt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to determine the inter-relationship among the profile, disaster preparedness, and resiliency of the residents in Barangay 74-A Matina Crossing and what demographic profile significantly predicts resiliency as well as the disaster preparedness of the residents. It explores whether resiliency significantly predicts disaster preparedness among the identified residents. A survey was conducted on a convenience sample of 400 residents situated in a landslide-prone area in Barangay 74-A Matina Crossing using a 3-part structured questionnaire; the Demographic Profile of the residents, the Disaster Preparedness Index, and the Resiliency Scale. When grouped according to sex, it shows that 200 (50.0%) were males and 200 (50.0%) were females. The age groups have a total of 247 respondents (61.8%) with ages between 18-25 years old; 90 respondents (2.5%) with ages between 36- 39 years old; and 63 respondents (15.8%) with ages between 50-60 years old. The overall mean of the level of disaster preparedness is 2.66 with a standard deviation of 0.30, indicating that the disaster preparedness of respondents is well-prepared. The respondents obtained the descriptive interpretation of true nearly all the time mean ratings on meaningfulness/Purpose, and the other six variables: Self-Efficacy, Hardiness, Adaptability/Flexibility, Regulation of Emotion and Cognition, and Coping, had often true mean ratings. Findings highlight the significant associations of demographic profiles, disaster preparedness, and resiliency, while regression results show that the demographic profile did not significantly predict the resiliency of the residents. However, only adaptability/flexibility significantly predicts the disaster preparedness of the identified residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Disasters in developing countries result in higher human and financial losses compared to global standards, with the death rate being 12 times higher than that of developed countries. Many experts attribute the failures in disaster management to the lack of a system for documenting and analyzing disaster management functions and not leveraging the experiences and lessons learned. This study employed a qualitative data collection approach, utilizing semi-structured interviews with managers, deputies, members of operational teams, and individuals affected by the disaster in the area. This research aims to explore the challenges, strengths, and lessons learned from the response to the Khoy earthquake in Iran. Results: After conducting 40 interviews and achieving data saturation, we extracted experiences and lessons learned to investigate the performance of responsible organizations in the 2022 Khoy earthquake. The obtained data were categorized into 8 categories and 39 sub-categories. These categories encompassed warning and calling forces, disaster assessment, disaster commanding, emergency housing, supply and distribution of items, organization, and guidance of public participation and charities, psychological support, logistics operations, monitoring, evaluation, documentation, information dissemination, and media management. Planners and operational managers can use the findings to review and revise their action and prevention plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ontainer settlements (CS) have been widely used as emergency and temporary dwellings in Europe due to the advantages of rapid deployment, cost-efficiency and relatively good living standards. Nevertheless, many authors emphasize the risks of disturbing the spatial order and stigmatization of residents that can lead to deepening the feeling of unrooting and generate substantial social problems. The purpose of the article is to demonstrate the main architectural characteristics of CS built in Ukraine to address internal migration caused by war. Multiple comparative case study includes 18 settlements built for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in three distinctive phases. The research focuses on the features critical to human comfort and life quality: settlement size, program, building typology, spatial arrangement, circulation, unit layout, degree of privacy. Results show that developments from 2015 and 2022 have similarities including basic program, size of dwelling units and density, but there are important differences related to the time allocated to designing and construction as well as expected period of operation. Basic recommendations for improving existing and planned developments are increasing the privacy by creating collective-private space outside and inside, developing a rich program, use existing greenery and new landscaping, providing good transit to the urban centres, using all-year weatherproof typologies and technical solutions suitable for long-term use. This fact must be considered in the process of designing new CS for IDPs and refugees, that are being planned and constructed in Ukraine and Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a result of the latest neoliberal policies carried out in the urban area, cities have grown unevenly, fragmented and disintegrated. This work presents the development of a theoretical and methodological instrument for making political decisions regarding the origin, growth and densification of the popular habitat in La Plata City. Vacant lands susceptible to being occupied have been identified based on the study of their accessibility, basic infrastructure services, equipment, recreational spaces and environmental conditions (flood risk). As an example of application, a strategic urban integration and insertion project for emergency housing has been proposed in a representative neighborhood on the periphery of La Plata. As a result of this specific intervention, the possible incorporation of 35 households and 4 buildings (equipment according to need) in the already urbanized area has been defined. Conclusively, it has been observed that the identification of strategic areas for the socio-territorial integration of popular neighborhoods is possible. Additionally, specific guidelines for housing insertion have been defined, either in case of emergency (for example, in the event of a climate catastrophe) or due to recurring need regarding the current housing deficit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The design of transitional housing for humanitarian emergencies is an important line of research in current architecture in the world. The response to an emergency, whether due to natural causes or irregular migratory movements, begins with provisory solutions, but as it continues over time, it is necessary to design temporary solutions that can house those affected until their definitive relocation is found. These homes must be able to be implemented in a short period of time, so the most appropriate solutions are prefabricated, light and transportable homes that require minimal work on site. In this sense, a type of modular and transportable housing will be analysed, made up of elements that can be stored compactly, assembled in the factory and transported complete to the place where they are needed. At your location they can be installed quickly and with the fewest possible number of operations. Finally, at the end of their period of use, they can be transferred back to the factory to be disassembled and stored while waiting to be reused again. The article develops a housing model with these characteristics. As part of a company-university collaboration agreement, the Emsamble company has built an experimental module similar to the one proposed, which has been subjected to various tests by the authors. The results obtained are provided and a critical review of the built prototype and the proposed lines of improvement is made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This text explores the significance of shipping containers in global trade and their impact on various aspects of society. It discusses how containers can be repurposed for different uses, such as food stalls, schools, and housing. The text also examines how poets use shipping containers as metaphors in their work, reflecting on ideas of form, technology, and globalization. Additionally, it explores the role of containers in rebuilding efforts after natural disasters. Overall, the text presents a nuanced perspective on the cultural and economic implications of shipping containers. [Extracted from the article]

This article presents a methodology that combines methods of architectural representation with qualitative social science research to study housing, particularly, home-based work. Studies of home-based work have specialised in discussing the complexities of sharing the domestic and productive spaces. However, the literature shows that there is a methodological gap in approaching these complexities. Specifically, both social science and architectural techniques separately fail to represent the relationships and conflicts between these two spheres. This article addresses the following question: how to achieve a representation that corresponds to the complexity of the relationship between domestic and productive space in dwellings? To answer this question, our methodology combines the techniques of architecture (sketches, plans, maquettes and axonometries) and social science (observation, interviews and focus groups) to capture the relationship between domestic (reproductive) and work (productive) spaces in households. The method presents three scales of analysis: the micro (household), the meso (part of the neighbourhood) and the macro (neighbourhood). These different scales of analysis were applied in two case studies to test the performance of the method. These are the transitional emergency neighbourhoods built after the 2015 floods in Atacama (Chile). These cases were selected because, for many families, housing is also a place of income generation, and often emergency housing is a place of work, contributing to the economic recovery process after a disaster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses London's post-war prefabs, highlighting the Prefab Museum as an online resource dedicated to Britain's post-war prefabs. These prefabricated bungalows were erected between 1945 and 1948 to rehouse ex-servicemen, families affected by bombings, and key workers. The article delves into the history, design, manufacture, legislation, and lifespan of prefabs, emphasizing the importance of preserving memories and researching their significance in a post-war context. The Prefab Museum continues to serve as a valuable archive, celebrating the legacy of these unique homes. [Extracted from the article]

While there are many data-driven approaches to identifying individuals at risk of suicide, they tend to focus on clinical risk factors, such as previous psychiatric hospitalizations, and rarely include risk factors that occur in nonclinical settings, such as jails or emergency shelters. A better understanding of system-level encounters by individuals at risk of suicide could help inform suicide prevention efforts. In Philadelphia, we built a community-level data infrastructure that encompassed suicide death records, behavioral health claims, incarceration episodes, emergency housing episodes, and involuntary commitment petitions to examine a broader spectrum of suicide risk factors. Here, we describe the development of the data infrastructure, present key trends in suicide deaths in Philadelphia, and, for the Medicaid-eligible population, determine whether suicide decedents were more likely to interact with the behavioral health, carceral, and housing service systems compared to Medicaid-eligible Philadelphians who did not die by suicide. Between 2003 and 2018, there was an increase in the number of annual suicide deaths among Medicaid-eligible individuals, in part due to changes in Medicaid eligibility. There were disproportionately more suicide deaths among Black and Hispanic individuals who were Medicaid-eligible, who were younger on average, compared to suicide decedents who were never Medicaid-eligible. However, when we accounted for the racial and ethnic composition of the Medicaid population at large, we found that White individuals were four times as likely to die by suicide, while Asian, Black, Hispanic, and individuals of other races were less likely to die by suicide. Overall, 58% of individuals who were Medicaid-eligible and died by suicide had at least one Medicaid-funded behavioral health claim, 10% had at least one emergency housing episode, 25% had at least one incarceration episode, and 22% had at least one involuntary commitment. By developing a data infrastructure that can incorporate a broader spectrum of risk factors for suicide, we demonstrate how communities can harness administrative data to inform suicide prevention efforts. Our findings point to the need for suicide prevention in nonclinical settings such as jails and emergency shelters, and demonstrate important trends in suicide deaths in the Medicaid population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyses the war-imbued housing crisis in Ukraine and emergency response to it in the first four months of the full scale Russian invasion as embedded in the wider context of Ukrainian housing politics. As in other countries of Central and Eastern Europe after 1989/91, the Ukrainian housing sphere has been shaped by mass giveaway privatisation, which created a super homeownership regime that is characterised by high expectations towards the state in the support of homeownership. Despite the mass destruction of the war and scale of the displacement, housing politics continues to be shaped by institutional inertia and attempts to resolve the current housing crisis with existing instruments and the support of homeownership. Such an ad-hoc policy approach leaves displaced households without coherent assistance in finding shelter. Only rather sporadic and insufficient options provided by communities at local level and international aid organisations are available. However, while lacking institutional and policy adjustment in the first months of war, the Ukrainian housing sector is changing. Growing importance of renting in the tenure structure and the pressing need to shelter those who lost access to homeownership as a result of war call for the development of a new, more comprehensive, housing strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on Winnipeg's post-World War II housing crisis, marked by evictions, overcrowding, and the struggles faced by returning soldiers and low-income families. It covers the acute housing shortage, the implementation of emergency housing measures including barracks conversion, and the living conditions and societal attitudes toward occupants in these emergency shelters, highlighting the challenges faced by these marginalized individuals and families.

Background: Heart failure is common and is associated with high rates of hospitalization. Home care support clinics/hospitals (HCSCs) and enhanced HCSCs were introduced in Japan in 2006 and 2012, respectively. Objective: This study aimed to examine the effect of post-discharge care by conventional or enhanced HCSCs on readmission, compared with general clinics. Design: Retrospective cohort study using the Japanese nationwide health insurance claims database. Participants: Participants were ≥65 years of age, admitted for heart failure and discharged between July 2014 and August 2015 and received a home visit within a month following the discharge (n=12,393). Main Measures: The exposure was the type of medical facility that provides post-discharge home healthcare: general clinics, conventional HCSCs, and enhanced HCSCs. The primary outcome was all-cause readmission for 6 months after the first visit; the incidence of emergency house calls was a secondary outcome. We used a competing risk regression using the Fine and Gray method, in which death was regarded as a competing event. Key Results: At 6 months, readmissions were lower in conventional (38%) or enhanced HCSCs (38%) than general clinics (43%). The adjusted subdistribution hazard ratio (sHR) of readmission was 0.87 (95% CI: 0.78–0.96) for conventional and 0.86 (0.78–0.96) for enhanced HCSCs. Emergency house calls increased with conventional (sHR: 1.77, 95% CI:1.57–2.00) and enhanced HCSCs (sHR: 1.93, 95% CI: 1.71-2.17). Conclusions: Older Japanese patients with heart failure receiving post-discharge home healthcare by conventional or enhanced HCSCs had lower readmission rates, possibly due to compensation with more emergency house calls. Conventional and enhanced HCSCs may be effective in reducing the risk of rehospitalization. Further studies are necessary to confirm the medical functions performed by HCSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between law and welfare in the governing of homelessness has been studied from a range of perspectives but their interconnections have had little scrutiny at that key moment in the later 20th century when vagrancy was repealed and homelessness became a 'sector' in most western countries. Focussing on Australia, this paper provides a critical historical analysis of how and why these interconnections limited reform. Despite the early 1970s being the highpoint of social democratic idealism, the new homelessness sector redeployed the methods of residual charity, largely because it was seen as a replacement for jail. The legal reforms were partial and, since their focus was limited to homeless white men, they had unintended consequences, tragically so for Indigenous peoples. While these shifts represented a turning point in the long governance of homelessness, they were ones in which old ways prevailed and, as neoliberalism gained ground, they became embedded in the policy landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use administrative data from Calgary and Toronto to tie together three key results from the literature on homeless shelter use. Those results are used to derive estimates of the cost of maintaining a community-wide system of homeless shelters. The three key results—that people experience sheltered homelessness in vastly different ways, that the experience varies by their age, and that these experiences vary by community—are shown by using comparable data collected over a common period of time and by applying common assumptions and methods to the treatment of those data. This approach allows us to test for statistically significant differences in how sheltered homelessness is experienced and so provides a set of results confirming how much the ways in which people experience sheltered homelessness are sensitive to their age and their location. Finally, we show how these differences matter for the cost of maintaining a community-wide system of emergency homeless shelters. Our results confirm that what may be an inexpensive solution to providing shelter in some locations and for some demographics is rather more expensive in another location and for a different demographic. The cost savings realized by shelter operators from housing those who were previously homelessness is also measured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we consider the patient, provider, and public health repercussions of San Francisco's (SF) COVID-related response to homelessness using tourist hotels to house people experiencing homelessness (PEH). We describe the demographics, medical comorbidities, and healthcare utilization patterns of a subset of PEH who accessed the shelter-in-place (SIP) hotel sites during the 2020–2021 pandemic. We focus on how SIP hotels impacted connection to outpatient care and higher-cost emergency utilization. Our mixed methods study integrates qualitative and quantitative data to consider the impact of this temporary housing initiative among a medically complex cohort in a time of increased morbidity and mortality related to substance use. We found that temporary SIP housing increased outpatient care and reduced higher-cost hospital utilization. Our results can inform the future design and implementation of integrated supportive housing models to reduce mortality and promote wellness for PEH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In most nations homelessness remains a major injustice. A key response in Wales has been the introduction of a pioneering justiciable right to homelessness prevention and relief assistance. This paper explores the complexities of the new welfare bureaucracy this has created. We explore whether these housing rights invoke a paradox, whereby the positive impacts for citizens are accompanied by distancing and exclusion. The study reveals both a faceless bureaucracy characterised by processes of silencing and subordination propped up by tools of exclusion, particularly impenetrable paperwork, but also a system that can work to grant housing rights to those in need of support. There is no evidence for an utterly 'faceless tyrant' of a bureaucratic system, due to the often-inclusive ways that frontline staff operate, frequently at the margins of the law (Arendt 1970). Thus, this paper draws attention to the complexities inherent in a rights-based homelessness system and the paradoxical nature of attempting to grant housing rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: This study explores the benefits and challenges of pet ownership for people experiencing crisis situations, from the perspectives of clients from The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals New South Wales (RSPCA NSW) Community Programs. Our findings were that human–animal bonds are highly valued by people experiencing crisis situations, and can affect people's ability to seek help or refuge, and to help people recover after a crisis. Human–animal bonds provided companionship and catalyzed interpersonal connections, which improved mental health and coping during a crisis. However, separation from a pet can cause stress and anxiety, which can dissuade pet owners from seeking help. Programs such as the RSPCA NSW Community Programs address pet safety and remove cost barriers, providing relief and encouraging help-seeking. Human–animal bonds provided structure and companionship, which by improving mental health, aided in recovery, post-crisis. Additionally, the absence of a pet post-crisis negatively affects people's recovery. Human–animal bonds, by providing social support, have been shown to improve the health and wellbeing of pet owners, especially those experiencing a crisis situation. The human–animal bond for people in crisis situations is complex and multifaceted, as it has shown to improve health, whilst it can also discourage people from seeking help, due to fears of leaving their pet behind. The purpose of the study is to capture and to assess the role of the human–animal bond for people in crisis situations. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with pet owners involved in the RSPCA NSW Community Programs (n = 13) in 2021 and 2022. The findings of the study indicate that the human–animal bond is highly valued by people experiencing crisis situations, that the human–animal bonds can affect people's ability to seek help or refuge, and that the human–animal bond helps people to recover after a crisis. The findings suggest that community crisis support services, prison systems, hospital systems, emergency housing, and government legislation should recognize and aim to preserve this bond to provide the best help for people experiencing crisis situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"History of the shantytowns in the city of Buenos Aires: from the origins to the present" by Valeria Snitcofsky is a historical reconstruction of the villas in Buenos Aires. The book focuses on the role of community-based organizations in providing infrastructure services and asserting claims against the state. It uses a variety of sources, including governmental, journalistic, and scholarly materials, as well as oral history testimonies and personal archives. The book traces the origins of the villas, their growth during periods of economic change, and their significance during authoritarian regimes. It concludes with an update on the present-day challenges faced by the villas. This book is a valuable resource for understanding the historical formation of informal settlements, social struggles for urban space, and spatial inequalities in Latin America. [Extracted from the article]

This article, titled "Property wrongs: The seventy-year fight for public housing in Winnipeg," provides an eloquent and well-documented account of the housing struggles in Winnipeg, focusing on the period up until the late 1960s. The author, Doug Smith, highlights the failure of the private housing market to provide adequate housing for everyone and the ongoing efforts of campaigners to address this issue. The narrative also emphasizes the resistance of the business community and the political power dynamics that have influenced the development of housing initiatives for low-income households. The article offers a chronological overview of the housing problems in Winnipeg, including the impact of political battles and the limited success of public housing projects. It also briefly compares Winnipeg's housing situation to that of other Canadian cities and mentions the role of homeownership promotion in government initiatives. The article concludes by acknowledging the persistence required for effective activism in addressing housing issues. [Extracted from the article]

Background: In response to the continuing threat of importing novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), many countries have implemented some form of border restriction. A repercussion of these restrictions has been that some travellers have found themselves stranded abroad unable to return to their country of residence, and in need for government support. Our analysis explores the COVID-19-related information and support options provided by 11 countries to their citizens stranded overseas due to travel restrictions. We also examined the quality (i.e., readability, accessibility, and useability) of the information that was available from selected governments' web-based resources.Methods: Between June 18 to June 30, 2021, COVID-19-related webpages from 11 countries (Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Canada, United States of America (USA), United Kingdom (UK), France, Spain, Japan, Singapore, and Thailand) were reviewed and content relating to information and support for citizens stuck overseas analysed. Government assistance-related data from each webpage was extracted and coded for the following themes: travel arrangements, health and wellbeing, finance and accommodation, information needs, and sources. Readability was examined using the Simplified Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG) and the Flesch Kincaid readability tests; content 'accessibility' was measured using the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Version 2.1; and content 'usability' assessed using the usability heuristics for website design tool.Results: Ninety-eight webpages from 34 websites were evaluated. No country assessed covered all themes analysed. Most provided information and some level of support regarding repatriation options; border control and re-entry measures; medical assistance; and traveller registration. Only three countries provided information or support for emergency housing while abroad, and six provided some form of mental health support for their citizens. Our analysis of the quality of COVID-19-related information available on a subset of four countries' websites found poor readability and multiple accessibility and usability issues.Conclusion: This study uniquely analyses government support for citizens stuck abroad during the COVID-19 pandemic. With large variance in the information and services available across the countries analysed, our results highlight gaps, inconsistencies, and potential inequities in support available, and raise issues pertinent to the quality, accessibility, and usability of information. This study will assist policymakers plan and communicate comprehensive support packages for citizens stuck abroad due to the COVID-19 situation and design future efforts to prepare for global public health emergencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regarding the polycrisis of the inner and marginal landscapes of Italy and in the broader context of an increasingly complex housing emergency, the paradigm of temporality in the post-emergency context is investigated here. With an interdisciplinary and transcalar approach, the contribution proposes a time-based design for the project of emergency housing in response to the post-earthquake “reconstruction risk”. In this respect, going beyond the concept of temporality, the prototype resulting from the research is intended as an “on-site store”. In order to interpret the emergency as an opportunity for renewal and the temporary heritage as permanent capital, the proposed design, process and product innovations exploit the potential of information modelling and cold-formed steel components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Children with cancer commonly experience distressing symptoms such as pain, fatigue and nausea. Improvements in patient outcomes have been associated with implementation of clinical practice guideline-consistent care across several domains. The objective of this study was to develop a process to identify symptom management clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) applicable to children and adolescents receiving cancer treatments. Methods: We focused on identifying CPGs to manage 15 symptoms. The process defined three Tiers of CPGs based upon applicability to pediatric cancer patients and ease of identification: Tier 1: endorsed by the Children's Oncology Group; Tier 2: housed in the Emergency Care Research Institute repository, or developed by the American Society of Clinical Oncology or National Institute for Health and Care Excellence; and Tier 3: identified by systematic review. We first searched for CPGs published 2015–2020 and identified Tiers 1 or 2 CPGs. If unavailable or scope was too narrow, we proceeded to Tier 3. If CPGs were not identified, we repeated these steps for CPGs published 2010–2014. Results: There were six Tier 1 and 13 Tier 2 CPGs published 2015–2020 across the 15 symptoms. Four symptoms required progression to Tier 3 because CPGs were absent (anger) or because scope was too narrow (pain, anorexia/excessive hunger and diarrhea). The systematic review identified three CPGs for pain and none for the other three symptoms. In total, CPGs were identified for 14 of 15 symptoms. None were identified for anger. Conclusion: We created a process to identify supportive care CPGs for pediatric cancer symptom management and were able to identify CPGs that addressed 14 of 15 symptoms. Future work should focus on evaluating implementation techniques for these CPGs and determining the impact of these CPGs on provider and patient outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the housing and social policies for URMs in Greece. The main argument is that the social policies pursued have residual characteristics and focus on emergency housing services, a form of management that does not favor the social integration of URMs. Instead, it traps them in dismal conditions that violate the human rights. The findings of the scholarly review and the field research shed further light on another aspect of the shrinking of the welfare state which, along with the EU refugee repression policies, trap a vulnerable group in extreme forms of marginalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the new platypus conservation center at Taronga Western Plains Zoo, Dubbo, New South Wales, aiming to enhance captive breeding, study reproductive behavior, and provide emergency housing for platypuses facing habitat threats.

Introduction: Homeless migrant women, facing adverse living conditions and barriers to legal status, are at risk of cervical cancer, HIV infection and may encounter barriers to screening services. We investigate factors associated with each screening in a population of migrant women in France and aim to determine the mean time since last HIV testing according to duration of residence in France. Methods: We use data from the DSAFHIR study (Rights and Health of Migrant Women in Emergency Housing) investigating health and migration experience of homeless migrant women housed in emergency housing hotels in the Paris Metropolitan area in 2017. We computed multivariate logistic regression models to investigate no lifetime cervical cancer screening (CCS) and no lifetime HIV test. We used linear regression models to analyze time since last HIV test. Results: We included 469 women. 46% of respondents had no lifetime CCS, 31% had no lifetime HIV test. Both screenings were associated with educational attainment and French proficiency. Compared with duration of residence < 1 year, duration ≥ 7 years was associated with a lower likelihood of no lifetime CCS (adjusted Odd Ratio = 0.17; 95% CI = 0.07–0.39). Compared to women born in North Africa, women born in West (aOR = 0.15; 95% CI = 0.07–0.33) and East Africa (aOR = 0.06; 95% CI = 0.02–0.20) were less likely to have no lifetime HIV test. Time since last HIV test increased for each additional year spent in France (coef = 0.21; 95% CI = 0.09, 0.33). Conclusion: While access to CCS remains poor for recent migrants, HIV testing is more likely to occur shortly after migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In January 2020, I collaborated with Brisbane-based artist Kay S. Lawrence to produce Tipping Point, an art exhibition on climate emergency hosted at House Conspiracy, Brisbane, Australia. Lawrence's art addresses climate emergency both politically through references to coal, animal extinction, and Australian policy, and poetically through metaphors conveyed with delicate materials, vertical arrangements, and stitching techniques. The exhibition communicated that we have reached a tipping point in regard to environmental disaster, as well as amoral tipping point regarding urgent community responses to the climate emergency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the past two decades, impact evaluation and multidimensional poverty measurement have gained increasing relevance in development practice and research. The objective of this paper is to propose empirical strategies for using the multidimensional poverty measures proposed by Alkire and Foster (2011. "Counting and Multidimensional Poverty Measurement." Journal of Public Economics 95 (7–8): 476–487) in impact evaluation. The principal argument for taking this approach is that it provides a means for assessing the effects of social programmes on the simultaneous occurrence or joint frequency of deprivations, what Wolff and de-Shalit (2007. Disadvantage. Oxford: Oxford University Press) call the "clustering" of disadvantage. As the interrelation between functionings tends to bind disadvantages together, social programmes that "decluster" disadvantages could produce benefits that go beyond improvements in multiple wellbeing dimensions individually. These strategies are applied to the evaluation of the NGO TECHO's emergency housing programme in the informal settlements of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The results show that the programme produces a large reduction in the simultaneous occurrence of disadvantages. Privacy, interpersonal relations and psychological health are the dimensions that contribute the most to explaining the decline in multidimensional deprivation. Sensitivity analyses demonstrate the robustness of the results to changes in the criteria used to construct the multidimensional poverty measure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has shown that executive function (EF) skills are associated with resilience in preschoolers experiencing risk and adversity, but these studies have typically relied on large batteries of tasks to measure children's EF skills. There is a need for brief, reliable EF assessments that can be used in the field with diverse young children. The current study assessed the validity and test-retest reliability of two tablet-based EF tasks from the NIH Toolbox: The Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) and the Flanker Inhibitory Control and Attention Test, each with a developmental extension (Dext) that is triggered when a child struggles with the standardized versions. Dext versions include easier levels intended to improve task accessibility for younger and disadvantaged children. Eighty-six preschoolers residing in emergency housing participated in two study sessions about one week apart, completing tablet-based DCCS-Dext and Flanker-Dext tasks, along with a table-top EF task (Peg-Tapping) and measures of vocabulary and numeracy. The majority of participants triggered the Dext portion of the DCCS and almost half triggered the Dext portion of the Flanker, underscoring the need for extensions of the Toolbox EF tasks to lower the floor of these measures. The Dext EF measures were positively associated with Peg-Tapping, after controlling for age and vocabulary, indicating construct validity. They were also correlated with math achievement, suggesting criterion validity. DCCS-Dext and Flanker-Dext showed moderate test-retest reliability after one week. Together, these findings demonstrate the value of developmental extensions for assessing EF skills among children experiencing risk and adversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a solar parabolic trough concentrator (PTC) was evaluated as a heat source of a power generation system based on energy (E1), exergy (E2), environmental (E3), and economic (E4) analyses. Various configurations of power generation systems were investigated, including the solar SRC (SRC) and solar ORC (ORC). Water and R113 were used as heat transfer fluids of SRC and ORC system, respectively. It should be mentioned that the proposed solar systems were evaluated for providing the required power of a mobile house in an emergency condition such as an earthquake that was happened in Kermanshah, Iran, in 2016 with many homeless people. The PTC system was optically and thermally investigated based on sensitivity analysis. The optimized PTC system was assumed as a heat source of the RC with two various configurations for power generation. Then, the solar RC systems were investigated based on 4E analyses for providing the power of the mobile house based on various numbers of solar RC units. It was concluded that the solar SRC system could be recommended for achieving the highest 4E performance. The highest value of its energy efficiency was found at 24.60% and of his exergy at 26.37%. On the other hand, the ORC system has energy and exergy efficiencies at 17.64% and 18.91%, respectively, which are significantly lower than the efficiencies of the SRC system. The optimum heat source temperature for the SRC system is found at 650 K, while for the ORC system at 499 K. Moreover, the best economic performance was found with the SRC system with a payback period of 7.47 years. Finally, the CO2 mitigated per annum ( φ CO 2 ) was estimated at 5.29 (tones year−1), and the carbon credit ( Z CO 2 ) was calculated equal to 76.71 ($ year−1). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The shelter needs of refugees in Iraqi Kurdistan were documented by local government and humanitarian organizations. However, official narratives do not include the "voices" of those directly affected by inadequate shelter: the refugee families themselves. This study uses a mixed‐methods approach to understand the shelter issues experienced by 53 refugee families in Iraqi Kurdistan. Refugee families disclosed seven common shelter problems: water infiltration, lack of public services and schools, inadequate access to water, poor roads, extreme temperatures, need for larger living space and erratic electricity. These families faced an average of three shelter issues, with some dealing with up to five problems at the same time. Families with the highest concentration of shelter issues had higher occurrences of water infiltration, inadequate access to water, extreme temperatures and need for larger living space. The evidence suggests that refugee families are living in worse conditions than those outlined in official narratives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Temporary life has become a topic of discussion in the architectural debate concerning both post-catastrophic events and critical peaks in the housing demand. The strategies adopted to deal with emergency contexts can provide a stimulating testing ground that yields suitable approaches, which can be applied when facing the present permanent environmental crisis at a global scale. This is particularly true for certain post-catastrophe strategies adopted in the poorest countries, where local resources and Low-Tech processes can respond to housing and climate needs, compensating for the limited resources available with the intelligence of design solutions. Some criteria established to map the relationship between quality performance and durability of products are later applied to the critical analysis of three emblematic case studies of emergency housing in extreme con texts to identify their innovation content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]