Learning Environments in Design Studio Culture

The paper reports on a study of design studio culture from a student perspective. Learning in design studio culture has been theorised variously as a signature pedagogy emulating professional practice models, as a community of practice and as a form of problem-based learning, all largely based on the study of teaching events in studio. The focus of this research has extended beyond formally recognized activities to encompass the student’s experience of their social and community networks, working places and study set-ups, to examine how these have contributed to studio culture and how there have been supported by studio teaching. Semi-structured interviews with final year undergraduate students of architecture formed the basis of the study using an interpretivist approach informed by Actor-network theory, with studio culture featured as the focal actor, enrolling students and engaging with other actors, together constituting an actor-network of studio culture. The other actors included social community patterns and activities; the numerous working spaces (including but not limited to the studio space itself); the equipment, tools of trade and material pre-requisites for working; the portfolio enrolling the other actors to produce work for it; and the various formal and informal events associated with the course itself. Studio culture is a highly charged social arena: The question is how, and in particular, which aspects of it support learning? Theoretical models of situated learning and communities of practice models have informed the analysis, with Bourdieu’s theory of practice, and his interrelated concepts of habitus, field and capital providing a means of relating individually acquired habits and modes of working to social contexts. Bourdieu’s model of habitus involves the externalisation through the social realm of habits and knowledge previously internalised. It is therefore a useful model for considering whole individual learning activities; shared repertoires and practices located in the social realm. The social milieu of the studio provides a scene for the exercise and display of ‘practicing’ and the accumulation of a form of ‘practicing-capital’. This capital is a property of the social milieu rather than the space, so working or practicing in the company of others (in space and through social media) becomes a more valued aspect of studio than space or facilities alone. This practicing-capital involves the acquisition of a habitus of studio culture, with the transformation of physical practices or habits into social dispositions, acquiring social capital (driving the social milieu) and cultural capital (practicing-knowledge) in the process. The research drew on students’ experiences, and their practicing ‘getting a feel for the game’ by exploring the limits or boundaries of the field of studio culture. The research demonstrated that a notional studio community was in effect a social context for supporting learning; a range of settings to explore and test out newly internalised knowledge, demonstrate or display ideas, modes of thinking and practicing. The study presents a nuanced interpretation of how students relate to a studio culture that involves a notional community, and a developing habitus within a field of practicing that extends beyond teaching scenarios.

Development of an instrument measuring the quality of residential care facilities for older people

Aims. To validate the Swedish version of the Sheffield Care Environment Assessment Matrix (S-SCEAM). The instrument’s items measure environmental elements important for supporting the needs of older people, and conceptualized within eight domains. Methods. Item relevance was assessed by a group of experts and measured using content validity index (CVI). Test-retest and inter-rater reliability tests were performed.  The domain structure was assessed by the inter-rater agreement of a second group of experts, and measured using Fleiss kappa. Results. All items attained a CVI above 0.78, the suggested criteria for excellent content validity. Test-retest reliability showed high stability (96% and 95% for two independent raters respectively), and inter-rater reliability demonstrated high levels of agreement (95% and 94% on two separate rating occasions). Kappa values were very good for test-retest (κ = 0.903 and 0.869) and inter-rater reliability (κ = 0.851 and 0.832). Domain structure was good,  Fleiss’ kappa was 0.63 (range 0.45 to 0.75).    Conclusion. The S-SCEAM of 210 items and eight domains showed good content validity and construct validity. The instrument is suggested for use in measuring of the quality of the physical environment in residential care facilities for older persons.

Chicken Run: A Chicken-Centred Design Research Project

Chicken Run, an experimental project still in development, sees designers and scientists working together to explore ideas to improve poultry welfare in commercial facilities, applying user-centred design to all key stakeholders: farmer, consumer and chicken. Exploring various aspects of the chicken’s journey from egg to plate, the process has allowed researchers to better understand their needs and to maximise joined-up positive impact. The paper describes the ongoing process where Initial proposals including perches, bales and an app to enable consumers to make the right chicken purchase choices have been developed and tested. Co-authored by leaders of the design and scientific communities involved in the project, the paper describes the issues, design methods used, as well as some of the learning from the cross-disciplinary process. It also provides an update on progress of selected design ideas that are currently being developed with a commercial poultry farm, drawing out the challenges and successes encountered.

O design para a comunicação do território : rotas pedestres da Figueira da Foz

O concelho da Figueira da Foz é um local tipicamente turístico, conhecido essencialmente pela sua costa marítima, extenso areal e vida noturna. No entanto, esta localidade dispõe de um património cultural e ecológico desconhecido pela maioria da população. Com o objetivo de dar a conhecer o território, foi desenvolvido um Guia das Rotas Pedestres, que permite dar a conhecer um pouco desse ambiente desconhecido.

A MORE COMPLETE STREET A STREET FOR EVERYONE TO ENJOY, NORTH EAST STREET, FREDERICK, MARYLAND – A DESIGN INVESTIGATION OF DIFFERENT STREET DESIGN THEORIES

This design-research thesis suggests that the improvement of North East Street performances by using Complete Streets, Green Street, Place Making and Context Sensitive Solution principles and practices. Heavily used by a variety of users, often conflicting with one another, University of Maryland Campus Drive would benefit from a major planning and design amelioration to meet the increasing demands of serving as a city main street. The goal of this thesis project is to prioritize the benefits for pedestrians in the right-of-way and improve the pedestrian experience. This goal also responds to the recent North East Street Extension Phrase I of economic renaissances. The goal of this design-research thesis will be achieved focusing on four aspects. First, the plans and designs will suggest to building mixed use blocks, increase the diversity of street economic types and convenience of people’s living. Second, design and plans will propose bike lanes, separate driving lanes from sidewalks and bike lanes by street tree planters, and narrow driving lanes to reduce vehicular traffic volume and speed in order to reduce pedestrian and vehicle conflicts. Third, plans and designs will introduce bioswales, living walls and raingardens to treat and reuse rain water. Finally, the plans and designs will seek to preserve local culture and history by adding murals and farmers market. The outcome of the design-research thesis project is expected to serve as an example of implementing Complete Streets, Green Street, Place Making and Context Sensitive Solution principles and practices in urban landscape, where transportation, environment and social needs interact with each other.

Design and Pilot Study for an Efficient High-Throughput Automated Computer-Vision Guided Intelligent De-Calyxing Machine for Post-Harvest Strawberry Processing

Strawberries harvested for processing as frozen fruits are currently de-calyxed manually in the field. This process requires the removal of the stem cap with green leaves (i.e. the calyx) and incurs many disadvantages when performed by hand. Not only does it necessitate the need to maintain cutting tool sanitation, but it also increases labor time and exposure of the de-capped strawberries before in-plant processing. This leads to labor inefficiency and decreased harvest yield. By moving the calyx removal process from the fields to the processing plants, this new practice would reduce field labor and improve management and logistics, while increasing annual yield. As labor prices continue to increase, the strawberry industry has shown great interest in the development and implementation of an automated calyx removal system. In response, this dissertation describes the design, operation, and performance of a full-scale automatic vision-guided intelligent de-calyxing (AVID) prototype machine. The AVID machine utilizes commercially available equipment to produce a relatively low cost automated de-calyxing system that can be retrofitted into existing food processing facilities. This dissertation is broken up into five sections. The first two sections include a machine overview and a 12-week processing plant pilot study. Results of the pilot study indicate the AVID machine is able to de-calyx grade-1-with-cap conical strawberries at roughly 66 percent output weight yield at a throughput of 10,000 pounds per hour. The remaining three sections describe in detail the three main components of the machine: a strawberry loading and orientation conveyor, a machine vision system for calyx identification, and a synchronized multi-waterjet knife calyx removal system. In short, the loading system utilizes rotational energy to orient conical strawberries. The machine vision system determines cut locations through RGB real-time feature extraction. The high-speed multi-waterjet knife system uses direct drive actuation to locate 30,000 psi cutting streams to precise coordinates for calyx removal. Based on the observations and studies performed within this dissertation, the AVID machine is seen to be a viable option for automated high-throughput strawberry calyx removal. A summary of future tasks and further improvements is discussed at the end.

Design of evacuation plans for densely urbanised city centres

The high population density and tightly packed nature of some city centres make emergency planning for these urban spaces especially important, given the potential for human loss in case of disaster. Historic and recent events have made emergency service planners particularly conscious of the need for preparing evacuation plans in advance. This paper discusses a methodological approach for assisting decision-makers in designing urban evacuation plans. The approach aims at quickly and safely moving the population away from the danger zone into shelters. The plans include determining the number and location of rescue facilities, as well as the paths that people should take from their building to their assigned shelter in case of an occurrence requiring evacuation. The approach is thus of the location–allocation–routing type, through the existing streets network, and takes into account the trade-offs among different aspects of evacuation actions that inevitably come up during the planning stage. All the steps of the procedure are discussed and systematised, along with computational and practical implementation issues, in the context of a case study – the design of evacuation plans for the historical centre of an old European city.

FDOT District Six Pedestrian Safety Web GIS Application

A group of four applications including Top 20 Pedestrian Crash Locations: This application is designed to display top 20 pedestrian crash locations into both map- view and detailed information view. FDOT Crash Reporting Tool: This application is designed to simplify the usage and sharing of CAR data. The application can load raw data from CAR and display it into a web map interface. FDOT Online Document Portal: This application is designed for FDOT project managers to be able to share and manage documents through a user friendly, GIS enable web interface GIS Data Collection for Pedestrian Safety Tool: FIU-GIS Center was responsible for data collection and processing work for the project of Pedestrian Safety Tool Project. The outcome of this task is present by a simple web-GIS application design to host GIS by projects.

Retail centers for community : addressing both pedestrian and car traffic

The purpose of this thesis was to redesign a commercial center in Miami, Florida in a manner that incorporates the needs of pedestrians as well as the automobile. In my research, I studied projects that had been successful at integrating cars in retail design. I applied the strategies learned from this research to the design of a center that creates a positive interaction of pedestrian and car traffic, addressing the needs of the surrounding community. I designed a master plan that includes a mix of residential, retail, commercial and parking space. The parking is designed so that the retail center is not dominated by surface parking. Rather, the automobile is introduced into the different layers of the proposed buildings. The design focused on connecting pedestrian plazas and parking areas beneath them through the introduction of light and greenery. The findings show how a shopping center might transform the area around it by including spaces for residential, civic, cultural and social functions, as well as for the automotive infrastructure that make those functions possible.

Dairy Farm Layout and Design: Building and Yard Design, Warm Climates

The current knowledge revised in this article describes a wide range of facilities in common use on dairy cattle farms in warm climates. A dairy cattle farm consists of several facilities, such as housing system, yards, manure pits, milking center, environmental protection structures, forage storage, and several machines for different facilities. Any facility design tends to be a compromise, often between many factors, and no single solution will be optimal for all concerned.

The quality of the physical environment and its association with activities and well-being among older people in residential care facilities

The physical environment can influence older people’s health and well-being, and is often mentioned as being an important factor for person-centred care. Due to high levels of frail health, many older people spend a majority of their time within care facilities and depend on the physical environment for support in their daily life. However, the quality of the physical environment is rarely evaluated, and knowledge is sparse in terms of how well the environment meets the needs of older people. This is partly due to the lack of valid and reliable instruments that could provide important information on environmental quality. Aim: The aim of this thesis was to study the quality of the physical environment in Swedish care facilities for older people, and how it relates to residents’ activities and well-being. Methods: The thesis comprises four papers where both qualitative and quantitative methods were used. Study I involved the translation and adaptation of the Sheffield Care Environment Assessment Matrix (SCEAM) into a Swedish version (S-SCEAM). Several methods were used including forward and backward translation, test of validity via expert consultation and reliability tests. In Study II, S-SCEAM was used to assess the quality of the environment, and descriptive data were collected from 20 purposively sampled residential care facilities (RCFs). Study III was a comparative case study conducted at two RCFs using observations, interviews and S-SCEAM to examine how the physical environment relates to older people’s activities and interactions. In study IV, multilevel modeling was used to determine the association between the quality of the physical environment and the psychological and social well-being of older people living in RCFs. The data in the thesis were analysed using qualitative content analysis, and descriptive, bivariate and multilevel statistics. Results: A specific result was the production of the Swedish version of SCEAM. The instrument contains 210 items structured into eight domains reflecting the needs of older people. When using S-SCEAM, the results showed a substantial variation in the quality of the physical environment between and within RCFs. In general, private apartments and dining areas had high quality, whereas overall building layout and outdoor areas had lower quality. Also, older people’s safety was supported in the majority of facilities, whereas cognitive support and privacy had lower quality. Further, the results showed that environmental quality in terms of cognitive support was associated with residents’ social well-being. Specific environmental features, such as building design and space size, were also noted, through observation, as influencing residents’ activities, and several barriers were found that seemed to restrict residents’ full use of the environment. Conclusions: This thesis contributes to the growing evidence-based design field. The S-SCEAM can be used in future research on the association between the environment and people’s health and well-being. The instrument could also serve as a guide in the planning and design process of new RCFs.

The Scored Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA) and its Association with Quality of Life in Ambulatory Patients Receiving Radiotherapy

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the scored Patient-generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA) tool as an outcome measure in clinical nutrition practice and determine its association with quality of life (QoL). DESIGN: A prospective 4 week study assessing the nutritional status and QoL of ambulatory patients receiving radiation therapy to the head, neck, rectal or abdominal area. SETTING: Australian radiation oncology facilities. SUBJECTS: Sixty cancer patients aged 24-85 y. INTERVENTION: Scored PG-SGA questionnaire, subjective global assessment (SGA), QoL (EORTC QLQ-C30 version 3). RESULTS: According to SGA, 65.0% (39) of subjects were well-nourished, 28.3% (17) moderately or suspected of being malnourished and 6.7% (4) severely malnourished. PG-SGA score and global QoL were correlated (r=-0.66, P<0.001) at baseline. There was a decrease in nutritional status according to PG-SGA score (P<0.001) and SGA (P<0.001); and a decrease in global QoL (P<0.001) after 4 weeks of radiotherapy. There was a linear trend for change in PG-SGA score (P<0.001) and change in global QoL (P=0.003) between those patients who improved (5%) maintained (56.7%) or deteriorated (33.3%) in nutritional status according to SGA. There was a correlation between change in PG-SGA score and change in QoL after 4 weeks of radiotherapy (r=-0.55, P<0.001). Regression analysis determined that 26% of the variation of change in QoL was explained by change in PG-SGA (P=0.001). CONCLUSION: The scored PG-SGA is a nutrition assessment tool that identifies malnutrition in ambulatory oncology patients receiving radiotherapy and can be used to predict the magnitude of change in QoL.