| environment | <biology, zoology> The sum total of all the conditions and elements which make up the surroundings and influence the development and actions of an individual. (18 Nov 1997) |
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| environment and public health | Natural and man-made environments and their impact on public health. (12 Dec 1998) |
| environment design | The structuring of the environment to permit or promote specific patterns of behaviour. (12 Dec 1998) |
| environment, controlled | A state in which the environs of hospitals, laboratories, domestic and animal housing, work places, spacecraft, and other surroundings are under technological control with regard to air conditioning, heating, lighting, humidity, ventilation, and other ambient features. The concept includes control of atmospheric composition. (12 Dec 1998) |
| environmental assessment | (EA) A public document that analyzes a proposed federal action for the possibility of significant environmental impacts. The analysis is required by NEPA. If the environmental impacts will be significant, the federal agency must then prepare an environmental impact statement. (05 Dec 1998) |
| environmental exposure | The exposure to potentially harmful chemical, physical, or biological agents in the environment or to environmental factors that may include ionizing radiation, pathogenic organisms, or toxic chemicals. (12 Dec 1998) |
| environmental health | The science of controlling or modifying those conditions, influences, or forces surrounding man which relate to promoting, establishing, and maintaining health. (12 Dec 1998) |
| environmental illness | A polysymptomatic condition believed by clinical ecologists to result from immune dysregulation induced by common foods, allergens, and chemicals, resulting in various physical and mental disorders. The medical community has remained largely skeptical of the existence of this "disease", given the plethora of symptoms attributed to environmental illness, the lack of reproducible laboratory abnormalities, and the use of unproven therapies to treat the condition. (12 Dec 1998) |
| environmental impact statement | (EIS; FEIS) A statement of the environmental effects of a proposed action and of alternative actions. Section 102 of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires an EIS for all major federal actions. (05 Dec 1998) |
| environmental medicine | Medical specialty concerned with environmental factors that may impinge upon human disease, and development of methods for the detection, prevention, and control of environmentally related disease. (12 Dec 1998) |
| environmental microbiology | The study of microorganisms living in a variety of environments (air, soil, water, etc.) and their pathogenic relationship to other organisms including man. (12 Dec 1998) |
| environmental monitoring | The monitoring of the level of toxicants, pollutants, or other harmful chemicals in the environment or workplace by measuring the amounts of these toxicants in the bodies of people and animals in that environment, among other methods. It also includes the measurement of environmental exposure. Humans and animals are used as indicators of toxic levels of undesirable chemicals. (12 Dec 1998) |
| environmental output | Environmental outputs are the desired or anticipated measurable products or results of restoration measures and plans. (09 Oct 1997) |
| environmental pollutants | Substances which pollute the environment. Use for environmental pollutants in general or for which there is no specific heading. (12 Dec 1998) |
| environmental pollutants, noxae, and pesticides | Substances capable of producing a harmful or deadly effect on living organisms as well as the environment. (12 Dec 1998) |
| health facility environment | Physical surroundings or conditions of a hospital or other health facility and influence of these factors on patients and staff. (12 Dec 1998) |
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| social environment | The aggregate of social and cultural institutions, forms, patterns, and processes that influence the life of an individual or community. (12 Dec 1998) |
| isotropic environment | Environments in which the properties are the same at all points and there are no vectorial or axial cues. (18 Nov 1997) |
| extraterrestrial environment | <astronomy> The environment outside the earth or its atmosphere. The environment may refer to a closed cabin (such as a space shuttle or space station) or to space itself, the moon, or other planets. (12 Dec 1998) |