Testing a Shape-Changing Haptic Navigation Device With Vision-Impaired and Sighted Audiences in an Immersive Theater Setting

Flatland was an immersive “in-the-wild” experimental theater and technology project, undertaken with the goal of developing systems that could assist “real-world” pedestrian navigation for both vision-impaired (VI) and sighted individuals, while also exploring inclusive and equivalent cultural experiences for VI and sighted audiences. A novel shape-changing handheld haptic navigation device, the “Animotus,” was developed. The device has the ability to modify its form in the user's grasp to communicate heading and proximity to navigational targets. Flatland provided a unique opportunity to comparatively study the use of novel navigation devices with a large group of individuals (79 sighted, 15 VI) who were primarily attending a theater production rather than an experimental study. In this paper, we present our findings on comparing the navigation performance (measured in terms of efficiency, average pace, and time facing targets) and opinions of VI and sighted users of the Animotus as they negotiated the 112 m2 production environment. Differences in navigation performance were nonsignificant across VI and sighted individuals and a similar range of opinions on device function and engagement spanned both groups. We believe more structured device familiarization, particularly for VI users, could improve performance and incorrect technology expectations (such as obstacle avoidance capability), which influenced overall opinion. This paper is intended to aid the development of future inclusive technologies and cultural experiences

Waste management in the coastal areas of the ASEAN region: roles of governments, banking institutions, donor agencies, private sector and communities

Waste disposal, Marine pollution, Pollution control, Coastal zone management, Environment management, ASEAN,

Columbia Chronicle (04/28/2008)

Student newspaper from April 28, 2008 entitled The Columbia Chronicle. This issue is 44 pages and is listed as Volume 43, Number 28. Cover story: A super-sized trip to the Middle East Editor-in-Chief: Amanda Maurerhttps://digitalcommons.colum.edu/cadc_chronicle/1731/thumbnail.jp

Approaches to safe nanotechnology: managing the health and safety concerns associated with engineered nanomaterials

"Nanotechnology has the potential to dramatically improve the effectiveness of a number of existing consumer and industrial products and could have a substantial impact on the development of new products in all sectors, ranging from disease diagnosis and treatment to environmental remediation. Because of the broad range of possible nanotechnology applications, continued evaluation of the potential health risks associated with exposure to nanomaterials is essential to ensure their safe handling. Engineered nanoparticles are materials purposefully produced with at least one dimension between 1 and 100 nanometers. Nanoparticles often exhibit unique physical and chemical properties that impart specific characteristics essential in making engineered materials, but little is known about what effect these properties may have on human health. Research has shown that the physicochemical characteristics of particles can influence their effects in biological systems. These characteristics include particle size, shape, surface area, charge, chemical properties, solubility, oxidant generation potential, and degree of agglomeration. Until the results from research studies can fully elucidate the characteristics of nanoparticles that may pose a health risk, precautionary measures are warranted. NIOSH has developed this document to provide an overview of what is known about the potential hazards of engineered nanoparticles and measures that can be taken to minimize workplace exposures. " - NIOSHTIC-21. Introduction -- 2. Purpose -- 3. Scope -- 4. Descriptions and definitions -- 5. Potential health concerns -- 6. Potential safety hazards -- 7. Exposure assessment and characterization -- 8. Guidelines for working with engineered nanomaterials -- 9. Occupational health surveillance -- 10. Research needs -- References -- Sources of additional information -- Appendix [Nanoparticle emission assessment technique for identification of sources and releases of engineered nanomaterials]"March 2009.""This report was developed by the scientists and staff of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) who participate in the NIOSH Nanotechnology Research Center (NTRC). Paul Schulte is the manager and Charles Geraci, coordinator of the NIOSH NORA nanotechnology cross-sector program. Special thanks go to Ralph Zumwalde and Laura Hodson for writing and organizing the report and to Mark Methner for the development of the Appendix: Nanoparticle Emission Assessment Technique for Identification of Sources and Releases of Engineered Nanomaterials." - p. xiiiAlso available via the World Wide Web as an Acrobat .pdf file (1.46 MB; 104 p.).Includes bibliographical references (p. 59-70)

In Transit vol 5 Spring 2011

In Transit is the LaGuardia Journal on Teaching and Learning. It is published by the Center for Teaching and Learning at LaGuardia Community College, CUNY

FOUNDRIES OF THE FUTURE:

Since the 1970s, cities world-wide have been witness to radical de-industrialisation. Manufacturing was considered incompatible with urban life and was actively pushed out. As economies have grown, public officials and developers have instinctively shifted their priorities to short-term, high-yielding land uses such as offices, retail space and housing. Inner-city growth from New York to London and even Seoul have generally come at the expense of land uses such as manufacturing or logistics. Despite the odds, manufacturing is not in terminal decay in western cities. On the contrary, it is at the opening of a new chapter. Urban manufacturing can help cities to be more innovative, circular, inclusive and resilient. Recently, with increasing interest in the circular economy, with cleaner and more compact technology, with more progressive building codes for mixed use, with increasing awareness of the impacts of social inequality and with a clearer understanding of the value chains between the trade of material and immaterial goods, cities across the world are realising that manufacturing has an important place in the 21st century urban economy. While both enthusiasm for making is increasing and the value of manufacturing is becoming increasingly evident in cities, the topic remains extremely complex and challenging to manage. This book attempts to shed light on the ways manufacturing can address urban challenges, it exposes constraints for the manufacturing sector and provides fifty patterns for working with urban manufacturing. This book has been written as a manual to help politicians, public authorities, planners, designers and community organisations to be able to plan, discuss and collaborate by developing more productive urban manufacturing. The book is split into two parts.  We first cover an abridged history of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, noting how European cities evolved rapidly by harnessing manufacturing, and then how the late twentieth century led to a radical shift in how cities work and think. We’re now at a crossroads between actors that do not see the need for manufacturing in cities and those that consider it vital for a prosperous urban future. Part of the tension comes from the fact that manufacturing is considered a ‘weak land use’ compared to activities such as real-estate development, which has been considered more financially attractive by many actors in the private and public sector. This real estate-oriented development narrative is increasingly regarded as short-sighted, but will not change without an alternative vision. We have therefore elaborated a narrative on how urban manufacturing responds to four specific challenges facing cities and how in turn manufacturing needs cities. In practice, planning and design for a topic like this is highly challenging. The second part of the book is intended as a handbook. By synthesising our research and fieldwork conducted in a number of cities, we have encountered many similarities in terms of problems, challenges and solutions for urban manufacturing. Inspired by the seminal 1977 book, ‘A Pattern Language’ we have translated our findings into fifty patterns which help render the diversity of issues concerning manufacturing more tangible. As both teamwork and negotiation are necessary, exercises and methods are provided to use the patterns. Finally, we have set out twelve key action areas as possible starting points for supporting urban manufacturing

Policy research working papers : catalog of numbers 801-1200

This paper contains a numerical listing of working papers produced by the Central Vicepresidencies. Each citation contains a brief abstract, and the contact point for the paper.Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Banks&Banking Reform,Poverty Assessment,Health Economics&Finance

The social construction and control of medical errors: a new frontier for medical/managerial relations?

This thesis explores changes in medical professional work and regulation in the context of emerging 'patient safety' health policies. The study engages with three components of this policy. First, to what extent is the concept of error promoted in theory and policy being taken up within managerial practice and is this coterminous with the medical interpretation and construction of error? Second, how do medical professionals regard the introduction of new reporting systems to collect information about errors in their work? Third, what new organisational systems are being developed to analyse and control errors and how do these diverge with those approaches advocated and practiced by medical professionals? It has been estimated that one in ten of all inpatient admissions experience some form of error in the delivery of care, totalling 850,000 events a year. Given such findings a new policy framework is being developed to improve 'patient safety' in the NHS. Following the Human Factors approach a new error management system is being introduced that consists of incident reporting procedures for the collection of information about errors, matched by techniques to identify the "root causes", and promote organisational change. Of importance for this thesis is the impact of policy on established forms of medical regulation. Through predominantly qualitative research techniques, this study has been carried out within a single NHS hospital case-study involving medical and managerial occupational groups. The empirical findings suggest, firstly, that the medical construction of error is indeed divergent from that advocated in policy and practiced in management and leads to distinct trajectories for the control of error. Secondly, medical professionals are generally disinclined to participate in managerial forms of incident reporting, and where such a system is in place there is a high degree of localised professional leadership. Thirdly, it was found that alongside new managerial systems for the control of errors, there were also a range of professional-led systems embedded within medical work and the local organisation of the hospital that had precedence of other centralised hospital systems. In consequence, the ability of managerial systems to penetrate the working environment of medicine was negligible. In conclusion, it is argued that while this policy could appear to challenge the basis of medical professional regulation the social, cultural and structural context of medical work is adapting to maintain a high degree of medical control and resist managerial encroachment

Entrepreneurial Intentions: A process perspective

Entrepreneurship research heavily populates many of the leading business and management journals of contemporary times. It´s expansive utility however is not bound by any one particular area, evidenced by the prominence of coverage in a wide-array of multi-disciplinary domains spanning from psychology and sociology to medicine and politics. Attention is fueled by a commonly held belief that multi-faceted complex issues such as, market, economic and social dynamism can all be addressed through individuals both thinking and acting entrepreneurially. It is by means of entrepreneurship that plausible and effective solutions can be uncovered towards economic necessities whilst concomitantly at a broader level developing societies, instigating social change and combating poverty. The entrepreneurship process is considered to begin upon the articulation of an intention. As such, entrepreneurial intentions (EI), as a cognitive construct imparting attention towards, and prediction of, engagement in future behaviours based upon individually held beliefs and desires, represent an important pre-condition that can act as a catalyst to the emergence, or lack thereof, of entrepreneurial behaviour. The area is one that is coming under increasing pressure to prove its worth beyond parsimonious causative models that can predict a portion of variance but concomitantly leave large amounts unaccounted for, largely due to its failure to take into consideration the true dynamism of open systems. To abridge this shortcoming, the aim of the current thesis is to increase and progress our understanding of EI embedded within a processual perspective taking time as a key variable. The key research question that follows is: How (and if) do EIs change over time? Answer to this is achieved through the presentation of three inter-related scientific research articles through a mixed-method approach, namely, a conceptual contribution systematically analysing the current state-of-art in EI scholarship (Paper 1), a qualitative case study investigating intentional transitions throughout the entrepreneurial process (Paper 2), and finally a quantitative investigation tracking changes in intentional stability longitudinally over time (Paper 3)