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The number and variety of patients admitted to hospitals have changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These changes have also affected dermatology clinics. The pandemic has had an adverse effect on the psychol- ogy of people by negatively affecting their quality of life. Patients who were admitted to the Bursa City Hospital Dermatology Clinic between July 15, 2020 and October 15, 2020 and from July 15, 2019 to October 15, 2019 were includ- ed in this study. The data of patients were gathered retrospectively by review- ing the electronic medical records and International Classification Diseases (ICD-10) codes. Our results showed that, despite the decrease in the total number of applications, a significant increase was observed in the frequency of stress-related dermatological diseases such as psoriasis (P0.05, for all). There was a significant decrease in the telogen effluvium rate during the pandemic (P

This study reviews literature for identifying the methods in order to evaluate the impacts of key transport infrastructure provisions on urban form and peri-urban development in European Union (EU) member countries. Key impacts and linkages of transportation provision on urban development trends are identified through the international literature. These include direct impacts of transportation infrastructure provision, socio-economic impacts, transportation network effects and energy and environmental impacts. Among the evaluation methodologies, cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is the most common approach for transport policy impact assessments both in the national project appraisal guidelines and in scientific analysis and research. Considering its extensive usage in the appraisal work, the main focus will be on the evaluation tools used within the CBA approach. The corresponding data requirements for the valuation of indicators will be also discussed in order to assess the impacts of costs and benefits of transport investments, particularly rapid rail investments, on urban form and development.

Urban green space, an integral part of urban ecosystems, provides important environmental and social services that mitigate environmental problems caused by rapid urbanisation and urban sprawl. Urban planning and policy aim at optimising the benefits obtained from urban green spaces. The analytic hierarch process (AHP) is a commonly used technique for suitability assessment of land uses. The traditional AHP method is criticised for its subjectivity and uncertainty. Considering this, Fuzzy-AHP has been introduced as an advanced methodology in dealing with the uncertainty in the decision making process. In this study, we compared the two methods of AHP and fuzzy-AHP integrated with geographic information systems (GIS) for the suitability assessment of Pendik district, Istanbul regarding green space development. First, criteria and sub-criteria were determined and the corresponding weights were assigned based on literature and experts’ knowledge. This is followed by preparation of spatial maps integrated with the corresponding weights and development of final suitability maps in both methods of AHP and fuzzy-AHP. Our results show that high suitability areas are mainly distributed in the southern part of Pendik district around the existing urban green infrastructure. In both maps obtained from AHP and fuzzy-AHP, more than 30 percent of the study area has the potential for green space development., TeMA - Journal of Land Use, Mobility and Environment, Vol 12 No 2 (2019): The Times They Are a-Changin'

Urban green space, an integral part of urban ecosystems, provides important environmental and social services that mitigate environmental problems caused by rapid urbanisation and urban sprawl. Urban planning and policy aim at optimising the benefits obtained from urban green spaces. The analytic hierarch process (AHP) is a commonly used technique for suitability assessment of land uses. The traditional AHP method is criticised for its subjectivity and uncertainty. Considering this, Fuzzy-AHP has been introduced as an advanced methodology in dealing with the uncertainty in the decision making process. In this study, we compared the two methods of AHP and fuzzy-AHP integrated with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for the suitability assessment of Pendik district, Istanbul regarding green space development. First, criteria and sub-criteria were determined and the corresponding weights were assigned based on literature and experts' knowledge. This is followed by preparation of spatial maps integrated with the corresponding weights and development of final suitability maps in both methods of AHP and fuzzy-AHP. Our results show that high suitability areas are mainly distributed in the southern part of Pendik district around the existing urban green infrastructure. In both maps obtained from AHP and fuzzy-AHP, more than 30 percent of the study area has the potential for green space development.

The Cohesion policy for the programming period 2014-2020 is analyzed in terms of its likely land use and environmental impacts using the Land Use Modelling Platform (LUMP). This report describes in detail the process and the methodology by which the ex-ante impact assessment was made, and presents the results for Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, and Poland. The modelling approach can provide insights on the trade-offs between economic growth, investment policies (such as the Cohesion policy), and land use and the environment. In addition, ways to mitigate potentially negative land use and environmental impacts were explored. The future development of the LUMP is discussed in view of planned future work., JRC.H.8-Sustainability Assessment

Improving social sustainability within Europe and abroad is among the founding premises of the European Union. European Commission external policy documents – in particular, those associated with trade and development - explicitly call for the use of policy instruments as a means of improving social conditions in third countries. Unclear, however, is the extent to which progress in social sustainability as a result of Commission policy measures is being assessed, or measures to further leverage improved social sustainability implemented. Life cycle thinking (LCT) refers to a management philosophy predicated on holistic consideration of management alternatives for the purpose of preventing unintentional burden shifting – whether between supply chain activities or issue areas. Significant strides have already been made in the environmental domain to operationalize life cycle thinking in European Commission policies, with supporting methodological norms, frameworks, tools and data. To date, comparable approaches and instruments are lacking in support of life cycle-based social sustainability policy initiatives. Such information and tools are critical in support of improved policy design, implementation, monitoring and/or reformulation. Social risk refers to the potential for one or more parties to be exposed to negative social conditions that, in turn, undermine social sustainability. We conducted a macro-scale analysis of the social risk profile of EU-27 trade by combining trade statistics regarding imports from intra- and extra-territorial trading partners in 2010 with country and sector-specific social risk indicator data. These data cover 17 social themes in five thematic areas: Labour Rights and Decent Work; Health and Safety; Human Rights; Governance; and Community Infrastructure. We assessed the apparent social risk profiles of EU-27 imports based on consideration of country-of-origin social risk data only, compared to a life cycle-based social risk assessment which took into account the distribution of social risk along product supply chains. Our intention was to better understand how and to what extent current trade-based consumption in the EU-27 may be associated with socially unsustainable conditions, and the value of applying a life cycle perspective for sustainability management in this context. Our analysis underscores the importance of a life cycle-based approach to understanding and managing social risk in support of policies for socially sustainable development. Moreover, the methods and information presented herein offer a potentially powerful decision-support tool for policy makers wishing to better understand the magnitude and distribution of social risk associated with EU production and consumption patterns, the mitigation of which will contribute to socially sustainable development within Europe and abroad. A novel opportunity hence presents itself for decision makers and those who provide scientific and technical support to policy making to collaborate closely in moving forward the agenda for socially sustainable development. This will require the identification of strategic policy directions and supporting research projects, building upon existing, complementary environmental and economic sustainability assessment tools within the European Commission, which will continue to strengthen the elaboration, implementation, and impact assessment of science-based policy for sustainable development., JRC.H.8-Sustainability Assessment

This paper develops a methodological approach to be utilised for the evaluation of transport-land-use impacts of rapid rail investments in the Leipzig Region with the potential for this approach to be used for other European regions. Various land development scenarios are generated from the MOLAND Model applications. The land-use scenarios considered in this research are a baseline scenario of dispersed development and an alternative scenario of more compact urban developments associated with potential rapid rail provisions in the Leipzig Region. The appraisal of transport-land-use relationships is subject to the use of economic indicators and can be evaluated based on alternative land development scenarios developed for the Leipzig Area. In this context, key elements of a Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) approach will be developed for the evaluation of potential costs of urban rail provisions with its alternative. This will contribute to the existing framework for the transport policy and planning decisions concerning Leipzig and other regions internationally., JRC.H.8-Sustainability Assessment