Uncovering the Nexus between Urban Heat Islands and Material Stocks of Built Environment in 335 Chinese Cities.

China's unprecedented rapid urbanization has dramatically reshaped the urban built environment, disrupting the thermal balance of cities. This disruption causes the urban heat island (UHI) effect, adversely affecting urban sustainability and public health. Although studies have highlighted the remarkable impacts of the built environment on UHIs, the specific effects of its various structures and components remain unclear. In this study, a multidimensional remote sensing data set was used to quantify the atmospheric UHIs across 335 Chinese cities from 1980 to 2020. In conjunction with stocks of three end-use sectors and three material groups, the impacts of gridded material stocks on UHI variations were analyzed. The findings reveal that building stocks exert a predominant influence in 48% of cities. Additionally, the extensive use of metal and inorganic materials has increased thermal stress in 220 cities, leading to an average UHI increase of 0.54 °C. The effect of organic materials, primarily arising from mobile heat sources, is continuously increasing. Overall, this study elucidates the effect of the functional structure and material composition of urban landscapes on UHIs, highlighting the complexities associated with the influence of the built environment on the urban heat load.

Value of training on motivation among health workers in Narok County, Kenya.

INTRODUCTION: Training, as an additive human resources intervention is decisive to organizational performance. Employees require constant update of formal and informal knowledge alongside positive attitudes that have been defined as necessary in motivation leading to effectiveness in performance hence workplace training is tied to achieving organizational aims and objectives. The objective of this study was to determine the influence of training on motivation among health workers in Narok County, Kenya. METHODS: A cross-sectional study utilizing a self administered questionnaire, targeting 237 health workers and 21 health managers was used. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 21 using descriptive statistics. Factor analysis was done on the training perception in relation to motivation. RESULTS: Majority of the respondents rated their motivation between 7 and 9 in the current health facility (35.4%), Sub-county (33.8%) and County (32.9%) with the median motivation level of 5. Majority of health workers 194 (81.9%) had received a form of training, of whom 191 (98.5%) indicated that on-job training was relevant to their tasks and that it motivated 192 (99.0%) of them to perform better due to coining skills to motivation. Training significantly predicted general motivation (p-value = 0.013), job satisfaction (p-value = .001), intrinsic job satisfaction (p-value = .001) and organisational commitment (p-value <.001). CONCLUSION: The researchers concluded that there is a relationship between training and motivated health workforce in Narok County and recommended strengthening of current training initiatives by ensuring trainings are more regular and involvement of health workers in discussing their career development prospects.