Elimination of doubt : methods for a predictive design to direct and optimize the flow of visitors

Ympäristömme globaalistuu ja monimutkaistuu kaiken aikaa. Prosessi näkyy muun muassa kansainvälisen liikenteen solmukohdissa. Esimerkiksi lentokentät ovat kyseisiä eri kulttuurien keskinäisen vuorovaikutuksen kohtia. Eri kulttuureista tulevien ihmisten pitää osata orientoitua vieraassa ja usein sekavassa ympäristössä. Jotta toiminta olisi sujuvaa näissä solmukohdissa, on suunnistamiseen tarvittavan tiedon oltava nopeasti omaksuttavaa ja ymmärrettävää. Monet muotoilijat ja suunnittelijat ajattelevat, että opastejärjestelmät ovat reduktionistisia ja mekanistisia syy-seuraus systeemejä. On kuitenkin ilmeistä, että kansainvälisesti harmonisoimattomien piktogrammien kyky välittää informaatiota on epäonnistunutta. Nykyiset kognitiotieteen havainnot osoittavat, että visuaalisen havaitsemisen ja tilallisen orientaation aikaisemmat mallit ovat vain osittain toimivia. Siispä oli syytä kysyä ”onko mahdollista tuottaa ennakoiva malli jonka avulla voi kehittää, toteuttaa ja varmistaa suunnitteluratkaisuja, jotka ohjaavat ja optimoivat vierailijoiden virtaa laajoissa julkisissa tiloissa.“ Tutkimuksen keskiössä on tästä syystä tilallisessa orientoitumisessa tapahtuva kulttuurinen merkityksellistäminen ja paikkatietoisuuden lisääminen (situation awareness). Juuri tuo yksilöllinen merkityksen tuottaminen voi tarkoittaa laajaa kirjoa erilaisia tulkintoja. Paikkatietoisuuden syntymisen erilaiset mahdollisuudet yhdessä erilaisten menetelmien kanssa voivat tuottaa ratkaisuja suunnitteluprosessiin. Suunnitteluprosessissa voidaan ottaa huomioon myös havaintopsykologisia näkökulmia. Kaiken kaikkiaan tämä johtaa systeemis-holistiseen ja käyttäjäkeskeiseen ajatteluun julkisten tilojen opastejärjestelmien suunnittelun kehityksessä. Esitän myös käytännöllisen ratkaisun opastejärjestelmien suunnitteluun ja arviointiin tarkastelemalla olemassa olevien järjestelmien rakennetta ja parametreja sekä niiden kehitystyötä. Työ sisältää yhteensä yhdeksän tapaustarkastelua. Tutkimusmenetelminä käytin laadullista havainnointia ja kvantitatiivista analyysiä. Havainnoin ja tulkitsin etnisiä tottumuksia ja henkilökohtaisia näkemyksiä. Tekemäni kyselyjen perusteella näyttää siltä, että konstruoimaani mallia voitaisiin käyttää kehittämisen ja todentamisen välineenä.The rapid development of international traffic characterizes our increasingly globalized and ever more complex world. Nodal points (for example, airports) have formed where people from various cultural backgrounds and with differing levels of educational attainment need to reorient themselves in a unfamiliar and often confusing environment. A key condition to ensure everything works smoothly in such an international junction is the extremely fast reception and processing of information by everyone involved. The dominant school of thought among many designers and planners of guidance and routing systems is still a reductionist and mechanistic one (cause - effect). It has become apparent that the use of non-internationally harmonized pictograms as information carriers has failed completely. Recent findings in the field of cognitive science demonstrate convincingly that previous models of visual perception and spatial orientation can only highlight partial aspects. For these aspects, the question has arisen: “Is there a possibility to evolve a predictive system to develop, implement and verify design solutions to direct and optimize the flow of visitors in large public spaces?” Therefore, the moment of semiosis of the orientation seekers moved into the focus of the investigation. This moment of meaning-making, which is perceived by every individual differently, spans the entire spectrum of the perception of the designated item (the optical characteristic of the character substrate) between manifold interpretation or absolute certainty. The various viewing options of “situational awareness” with the help of various methodologies provide solutions for the design process. Taking the aspects of perceptual psychology into account leads to the development of a systemic/holistic and user-centred design of orientation systems in public spaces. Identifying and consulting the predictive parameters in a systematic process could show a practicable solution for the planning and evaluation of guidance and routing systems. In various national and international case studies, the process reliability and processing quality of this solution were demonstrated. Involving mixed research methodologies of qualitative observation and quantitative analysis, it was possible to develop a workable model. Through observation and interpretation, ethnic habits and personal views were taken into account to develop the methods. The use of questionnaires or surveys created statistics to prove or disprove the hypothetical model. The capacity of the presented model and the operationalization of the research demonstrated an effective method for overcoming barriers of age, language and culture. The publication satisfies, therefore, the criteria of the academic quality of a practice-based Ph.D

Community Crime Mapping: Increasing Predictive Policing with Dynamic Symbol Sets

Crime prevention is an important area of study in our society that plays an integral role in the lives of citizens and the local police who enlist the aid of strategic counter crime plans to tackle the urgency created everyday when crimes are committed. This mode of counter acting crime is termed “problem oriented policing” and is a policing approach where individual pieces of police data are critically examined with the hope that the findings learned will lead to discovering a new and more effective counter crime strategy. Crime mapping is one of these analyzed tools allowing officers to understand criminalistic data and map out individual incidents, crime routes, hot zones and predict where the next crime may occur. Through mapping spatial relationships, predictable policing efforts can be put into effect that cut crime rates by policing areas that need it most. Crime mapping is a strategy used by most police agencies but it lacks in specific factors most of which is a cohesive unified visual language. It is also restricted to crimes which don’t take into account non-criminal police field work, emergency response and search and rescue efforts. Furthermore, the sharing of information between departments becomes problematic as each department customizes their imagery, colors, etc. Perhaps one of the greatest challenges to crime mapping is the element of change. Change allows for patterns to emerge which allow officers to define those patterns and effectively predict future criminal occurrences. This thesis serves to fill the gap in crime mapping by unifying the strategy with a series of standard icon system sets that span the breadth of law enforcement duties. A dynamic flexible icon system strives to create order and concise visual interpretation between officers and analysts within departments and between departments. The system is flexible, interchangeable and dynamic by addressing one of the most important aspects of change, time. The symbols are based on time of day and also express relative time periods when events occur. By improving the functionality of crime mapping, citizens, officers and communities can become safer

A scoping review of the use of visual aids in health education materials for persons with low-literacy levels

OBJECTIVE : To conduct a scoping review on the literature on visual aids in health education for persons with low-literacy. METHODS : A scoping review methodology was employed. Pre-defined selection criteria identified 47 studies for inclusion. Data were extracted in relation to: (a) definitions of low-literacy and health literacy, (b) population studied, (c) research country, (d) consent procedures, (e) visual aids used, (f) development of visual aids, and (g) targeted outcomes. RESULTS : Visual aids developed with persons with low-literacy demonstrated statistically significant improvements in health literacy outcomes, with benefits in medication adherence and comprehension also reported. Pictograms and videos were the most effective visual aids. Only one study adapted consent procedures for low-literacy participants. DISCUSSION : Visual aids in health education materials may benefit persons with low-literacy levels, but large gaps in the research base are evident. Experimental research in low- and middle-income countries, with a particular focus on consent for participants with low-literacy is needed. PRACTIVE IMPLICATIONS : Visual aid design needs to include stakeholders. Consent procedures and decision-making need to be specifically adapted for participants with low-literacy.The National Institute of Humanities and Social Science. Travel for collaboration on the project was funded by the NRF/STINT.http://www.elsevier.com/locate/pateducouhj2022Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (CAAC

Final MA Portfolio

This portfolio is a compilation of graduate research and writing completed as the capstone project for the Master of Arts in English degree with a specialization in professional writing and rhetoric. The first selection is a research paper that reviews how embellishments in graphical representations and infographics affect viewer perception. The second research paper is a content analysis that explores the extent to which visual metaphors are used in ISO public information graphical symbols. The third research paper explores how to create effective video software tutorials and reorganizes existing guidelines into eighteen distinct guidelines in three major categories: accessibility, cognitive design, and affective design. The final selection is a teaching guide geared toward an introductory undergraduate technical writing course

Design revolutions: IASDR 2019 Conference Proceedings. Volume 3: People

In September 2019 Manchester School of Art at Manchester Metropolitan University was honoured to host the bi-annual conference of the International Association of Societies of Design Research (IASDR) under the unifying theme of DESIGN REVOLUTIONS. This was the first time the conference had been held in the UK. Through key research themes across nine conference tracks – Change, Learning, Living, Making, People, Technology, Thinking, Value and Voices – the conference opened up compelling, meaningful and radical dialogue of the role of design in addressing societal and organisational challenges. This Volume 3 includes papers from People track of the conference

Design revolutions: IASDR 2019 Conference Proceedings. Volume 2: Living, Making, Value

In September 2019 Manchester School of Art at Manchester Metropolitan University was honoured to host the bi-annual conference of the International Association of Societies of Design Research (IASDR) under the unifying theme of DESIGN REVOLUTIONS. This was the first time the conference had been held in the UK. Through key research themes across nine conference tracks – Change, Learning, Living, Making, People, Technology, Thinking, Value and Voices – the conference opened up compelling, meaningful and radical dialogue of the role of design in addressing societal and organisational challenges. This Volume 2 includes papers from Living, Making and Value tracks of the conference

Production of Universal Red Blood Cells via Enzymatic Conversion

Red blood cell (RBC) transfusion units are considered one of the most essential healthcare components in the world. In the United States alone, approximately 21 million transfusion units are required every year. Despite this high demand, RBC units are becoming increasingly scarce since only a fraction of eligible donors provide RBCs to for medical use. Additionally, RBC transfusions are limited to immune compatibility in patients, making it difficult to serve all patients with such a limited supply. This proposed design provides a method in which RBCs of any blood group can be converted into the universal blood type, O, to eliminate any concerns regarding blood type compatibility between donor and patient. This conversion process uses bacterial glycosidades to cleave the sugar groups on the surface of RBCs that defines our blood type. This process will help increase hospitals’ supply of readily usable RBCs for any situation while also providing a solution to hospitals’ struggle to use their blood bags before they expire. This proposal seeks to design a start-up scale plant that will both prepare the glysocidases needed for the treatment process and execute the conversion. This project design expects a production capacity of 200,000 tranfusion units of successfully converted RBCs per year and will be located in Medford, MA. With an initial investment of $25.6 million, the designs yields a a twelve-year net present value of$8,461,700 and has an investor’s rate of return of 21.73%. A limited twelve-year lifespan was chosen in an attempt to more accurately represent the lifespan of a start-up and to more strictly analyze its financial feasibility. The proposed project is forecasted to breakeven in early 2028, at the beginning of its eighth year of its operation, with a return on investment of 17.17%. With initial evidence of profitability, this project design is recommended. Furthermore, the financial analysis performed in this report limits the scope of this project to satisfying the blood demands of one major hospital in a metropolitan area. In reality, however, it is expected that the start-up will expand to other major hospitals or blood collecting organizations within the first several years of operation, further increasing its potential value. It should be noted, however, that investors exercise caution as the blood market has been in constant flux for the past seven years, making it difficult to predict how valuable RBC transfusion units will be compared to other blood components. The process should be executed only if an acceptable pricing can be established to sustain the large costs associated with guaranteeing endotoxin and contamination free products

Invisible Reconstruction: Cross-disciplinary responses to natural, biological and man-made disasters

What does it really mean to reconstruct a city after a natural, biological or man-made disaster? Is the repair and reinstatement of buildings and infrastructure sufficient without the mending of social fabric? The authors of this volume believe that the true measure of success should be societal. After all, a city without people is no city at all. Invisible Reconstruction takes the view that effective disaster mitigation and recovery require interdisciplinary tactics. Historian Lucia Patrizio Gunning and urbanist Paola Rizzi expand beyond the confines of individual disciplines or disaster studies to bring together academics and practitioners from a wide variety of disciplines, comparing strategies and outcomes in different scenarios and cultures from South America, Europe and Asia. From cultural heritage and public space to education and participation, contributors reflect on the interconnection of people, culture and environment and on constructive approaches to strengthening the intangible ties to increase resilience and reduce vulnerability. By bringing practical examples of how communities and individuals have reacted to or prepared for disaster, the publication proposes a shift in public policy to ensure that essential physical reinforcement and rebuilding are matched by attention to societal needs. Invisible Reconstruction is essential reading for policymakers, academics and practitioners working to reduce the impact of natural, biological and man-made disaster or to improve post-disaster recovery

Invisible Reconstruction

What does it really mean to reconstruct a city after a natural, biological or man-made disaster? Is the repair and reinstatement of buildings and infrastructure sufficient without the mending of social fabric? The authors of this volume believe that the true measure of success should be societal. After all, a city without people is no city at all. Invisible Reconstruction takes the view that effective disaster mitigation and recovery require interdisciplinary tactics. Historian Lucia Patrizio Gunning and urbanist Paola Rizzi expand beyond the confines of individual disciplines or disaster studies to bring together academics and practitioners from a wide variety of disciplines, comparing strategies and outcomes in different scenarios and cultures from South America, Europe and Asia. From cultural heritage and public space to education and participation, contributors reflect on the interconnection of people, culture and environment and on constructive approaches to strengthening the intangible ties to increase resilience and reduce vulnerability. By bringing practical examples of how communities and individuals have reacted to or prepared for disaster, the publication proposes a shift in public policy to ensure that essential physical reinforcement and rebuilding are matched by attention to societal needs. Invisible Reconstruction is essential reading for policymakers, academics and practitioners working to reduce the impact of natural, biological and man-made disaster or to improve post-disaster recovery