BACKGROUND: Understanding of the consequences of a neuromuscular disease (NMD) can improve when a valid sample of disease-specific categories based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disabilities, and Health (ICF) is available. OBJECTIVE: To examine the content validity of the initial …

We need look no further than the use of email communication, mobile phones and cars to understand that technology has wide-ranging social consequences. What is more, designers are plainly not always aware of the social consequences of technology, despite practicing user-centred design. Email, for instance, …

Within the Philippines Forest Conversion (Kaingin) and charcoal production are still two majors problems which threaten the last remaining patches of rainforest that have survived the destructive patterns of the last 50 years of intensive large-scale forestry management. In particular the island of Palawan …

The concepts of Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Community Investment are not clearly defined in literature as of yet. However, considering the recent surge of attention these concepts have gotten, they have become points of interest for the general public, governments, commercial organisation, …

The worldwide obesity epidemic is a major and complex problem, resulting from the interaction of individual metabolic, genetic, and psychological factors with meso- and macro environmental factors. Adolescents, with their rapid changes in body composition, together with their shift in orientation from …

This dissertation explores the controversial concept of the green economy and the rapidly increasing environmental concerns associated to the heavy energy industry. The main objective of this paper is to investigate how China's 12th Five-Year Plan responds to the green economy paradigm. Hence, it examines …

In recent years, the effects of the physical environment on the healing process and well-being have proved to be increasingly relevant for patients and their families (PF) as well as for healthcare staff. The discussions focus on traditional and institutionally designed healthcare facilities (HCF) relative …

The Arctic Ocean stands at the threshold of significant changes. Climate change and the melting of ice have a potential impact on vulnerable ecosystems, the livelihoods of local inhabitants and indigenous communities, and the potential exploitation of natural resources. (Ilulissat Declaration, 2008, …

In recent years, the effects of the physical environment on the healing process and well-being have proved to be increasingly relevant for patients and their families (PF) as well as for healthcare staff. The discussions focus on traditional and institutionally designed healthcare facilities (HCF) relative …

This chapter discusses the development of health impact assessment (HIA) in The Netherlands. HIA in The Netherlands began in the early 1990s and developed along two different lines: one shaped by the public health approach and the other stemming from the environmental field. Public health-based HIA evolved …