930 research outputs found

    Behavior quantification as the missing link between fields: Tools for digital psychiatry and their role in the future of neurobiology

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    The great behavioral heterogeneity observed between individuals with the same psychiatric disorder and even within one individual over time complicates both clinical practice and biomedical research. However, modern technologies are an exciting opportunity to improve behavioral characterization. Existing psychiatry methods that are qualitative or unscalable, such as patient surveys or clinical interviews, can now be collected at a greater capacity and analyzed to produce new quantitative measures. Furthermore, recent capabilities for continuous collection of passive sensor streams, such as phone GPS or smartwatch accelerometer, open avenues of novel questioning that were previously entirely unrealistic. Their temporally dense nature enables a cohesive study of real-time neural and behavioral signals. To develop comprehensive neurobiological models of psychiatric disease, it will be critical to first develop strong methods for behavioral quantification. There is huge potential in what can theoretically be captured by current technologies, but this in itself presents a large computational challenge -- one that will necessitate new data processing tools, new machine learning techniques, and ultimately a shift in how interdisciplinary work is conducted. In my thesis, I detail research projects that take different perspectives on digital psychiatry, subsequently tying ideas together with a concluding discussion on the future of the field. I also provide software infrastructure where relevant, with extensive documentation. Major contributions include scientific arguments and proof of concept results for daily free-form audio journals as an underappreciated psychiatry research datatype, as well as novel stability theorems and pilot empirical success for a proposed multi-area recurrent neural network architecture.Comment: PhD thesis cop

    Application of knowledge management principles to support maintenance strategies in healthcare organisations

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    Healthcare is a vital service that touches people's lives on a daily basis by providing treatment and resolving patients' health problems through the staff. Human lives are ultimately dependent on the skilled hands of the staff and those who manage the infrastructure that supports the daily operations of the service, making it a compelling reason for a dedicated research study. However, the UK healthcare sector is undergoing rapid changes, driven by rising costs, technological advancements, changing patient expectations, and increasing pressure to deliver sustainable healthcare. With the global rise in healthcare challenges, the need for sustainable healthcare delivery has become imperative. Sustainable healthcare delivery requires the integration of various practices that enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare infrastructural assets. One critical area that requires attention is the management of healthcare facilities. Healthcare facilitiesis considered one of the core elements in the delivery of effective healthcare services, as shortcomings in the provision of facilities management (FM) services in hospitals may have much more drastic negative effects than in any other general forms of buildings. An essential element in healthcare FM is linked to the relationship between action and knowledge. With a full sense of understanding of infrastructural assets, it is possible to improve, manage and make buildings suitable to the needs of users and to ensure the functionality of the structure and processes. The premise of FM is that an organisation's effectiveness and efficiency are linked to the physical environment in which it operates and that improving the environment can result in direct benefits in operational performance. The goal of healthcare FM is to support the achievement of organisational mission and goals by designing and managing space and infrastructural assets in the best combination of suitability, efficiency, and cost. In operational terms, performance refers to how well a building contributes to fulfilling its intended functions. Therefore, comprehensive deployment of efficient FM approaches is essential for ensuring quality healthcare provision while positively impacting overall patient experiences. In this regard, incorporating knowledge management (KM) principles into hospitals' FM processes contributes significantly to ensuring sustainable healthcare provision and enhancement of patient experiences. Organisations implementing KM principles are better positioned to navigate the constantly evolving business ecosystem easily. Furthermore, KM is vital in processes and service improvement, strategic decision-making, and organisational adaptation and renewal. In this regard, KM principles can be applied to improve hospital FM, thereby ensuring sustainable healthcare delivery. Knowledge management assumes that organisations that manage their organisational and individual knowledge more effectively will be able to cope more successfully with the challenges of the new business ecosystem. There is also the argument that KM plays a crucial role in improving processes and services, strategic decision-making, and adapting and renewing an organisation. The goal of KM is to aid action – providing "a knowledge pull" rather than the information overload most people experience in healthcare FM. Other motivations for seeking better KM in healthcare FM include patient safety, evidence-based care, and cost efficiency as the dominant drivers. The most evidence exists for the success of such approaches at knowledge bottlenecks, such as infection prevention and control, working safely, compliances, automated systems and reminders, and recall based on best practices. The ability to cultivate, nurture and maximise knowledge at multiple levels and in multiple contexts is one of the most significant challenges for those responsible for KM. However, despite the potential benefits, applying KM principles in hospital facilities is still limited. There is a lack of understanding of how KM can be effectively applied in this context, and few studies have explored the potential challenges and opportunities associated with implementing KM principles in hospitals facilities for sustainable healthcare delivery. This study explores applying KM principles to support maintenance strategies in healthcare organisations. The study also explores the challenges and opportunities, for healthcare organisations and FM practitioners, in operationalising a framework which draws the interconnectedness between healthcare. The study begins by defining healthcare FM and its importance in the healthcare industry. It then discusses the concept of KM and the different types of knowledge that are relevant in the healthcare FM sector. The study also examines the challenges that healthcare FM face in managing knowledge and how the application of KM principles can help to overcome these challenges. The study then explores the different KM strategies that can be applied in healthcare FM. The KM benefits include improved patient outcomes, reduced costs, increased efficiency, and enhanced collaboration among healthcare professionals. Additionally, issues like creating a culture of innovation, technology, and benchmarking are considered. In addition, a framework that integrates the essential concepts of KM in healthcare FM will be presented and discussed. The field of KM is introduced as a complex adaptive system with numerous possibilities and challenges. In this context, and in consideration of healthcare FM, five objectives have been formulated to achieve the research aim. As part of the research, a number of objectives will be evaluated, including appraising the concept of KM and how knowledge is created, stored, transferred, and utilised in healthcare FM, evaluating the impact of organisational structure on job satisfaction as well as exploring how cultural differences impact knowledge sharing and performance in healthcare FM organisations. This study uses a combination of qualitative methods, such as meetings, observations, document analysis (internal and external), and semi-structured interviews, to discover the subjective experiences of healthcare FM employees and to understand the phenomenon within a real-world context and attitudes of healthcare FM as the data collection method, using open questions to allow probing where appropriate and facilitating KM development in the delivery and practice of healthcare FM. The study describes the research methodology using the theoretical concept of the "research onion". The qualitative research was conducted in the NHS acute and non-acute hospitals in Northwest England. Findings from the research study revealed that while the concept of KM has grown significantly in recent years, KM in healthcare FM has received little or no attention. The target population was fifty (five FM directors, five academics, five industry experts, ten managers, ten supervisors, five team leaders and ten operatives). These seven groups were purposively selected as the target population because they play a crucial role in KM enhancement in healthcare FM. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with all participants based on their pre-determined availability. Out of the 50-target population, only 25 were successfully interviewed to the point of saturation. Data collected from the interview were coded and analysed using NVivo to identify themes and patterns related to KM in healthcare FM. The study is divided into eight major sections. First, it discusses literature findings regarding healthcare FM and KM, including underlying trends in FM, KM in general, and KM in healthcare FM. Second, the research establishes the study's methodology, introducing the five research objectives, questions and hypothesis. The chapter introduces the literature on methodology elements, including philosophical views and inquiry strategies. The interview and data analysis look at the feedback from the interviews. Lastly, a conclusion and recommendation summarise the research objectives and suggest further research. Overall, this study highlights the importance of KM in healthcare FM and provides insights for healthcare FM directors, managers, supervisors, academia, researchers and operatives on effectively leveraging knowledge to improve patient care and organisational effectiveness

    Offene-Welt-Strukturen: Architektur, Stadt- und Naturlandschaft im Computerspiel

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    Welche Rolle spielen Algorithmen fĂŒr den Bildbau und die Darstellung von Welt und Wetter in Computerspielen? Wie beeinflusst die Gestaltung der RĂ€ume, Level und Topografien die Entscheidungen und das Verhalten der Spieler_innen? Ist der Brutalismus der erste genuine Architekturstil der Computerspiele? Welche Bedeutung haben LandschaftsgĂ€rten und Nationalparks im Strukturieren von Spielwelten? Wie wird Natur in Zeiten des Klimawandels dargestellt? Insbesondere in den letzten 20 Jahren adaptieren digitale Spielwelten akribischer denn je Merkmale der physisch-realen Welt. Durch aufwĂ€ndige Produktionsverfahren und komplexe Visualisierungsstrategien wird die Angleichung an unsere ĂŒbrige Alltagswelt stets in AbhĂ€ngigkeit von Spielmechanik und Weltlichkeit erzeugt. Wie sich spĂ€testens am Beispiel der Open-World-Spiele zeigt, fĂŒhrt die Übernahme bestimmter Weltbilder und Bildtraditionen zu ideologischen Implikationen, die weit ĂŒber die bisher im Fokus der Forschung stehenden, aus anderen Medienformaten transferierten ErzĂ€hlkonventionen hinausgehen. Mit seiner Theorie der Architektur als medialem Scharnier legt der Autor offen, dass digitale Spielwelten medienspezifische Eigenschaften aufweisen, die bisher nicht zu greifen waren und der Erforschung harrten. Durch VerschrĂ€nken von Konzepten aus u.a. Medienwissenschaft, Game Studies, Philosophie, Architekturtheorie, Humangeografie, Landschaftstheorie und Kunstgeschichte erarbeitet Bonner ein transdisziplinĂ€res Theoriemodell und ermöglicht anhand der daraus entwickelten analytischen Methoden erstmals, die komplexe Struktur heutiger Computerspiele - vom Indie Game bis zur AAA Open World - zu verstehen und zu benennen. Mit "Offene-Welt-Strukturen" wird die Architektonik digitaler Spielwelten umfassend zugĂ€nglich

    Interdisciplinarity in the Age of the Triple Helix: a Film Practitioner's Perspective

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    This integrative chapter contextualises my research including articles I have published as well as one of the creative artefacts developed from it, the feature film The Knife That Killed Me. I review my work considering the ways in which technology, industry methods and academic practice have evolved as well as how attitudes to interdisciplinarity have changed, linking these to Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff’s ‘Triple Helix’ model (1995). I explore my own experiences and observations of opportunities and challenges that have been posed by the intersection of different stakeholder needs and expectations, both from industry and academic perspectives, and argue that my work provides novel examples of the applicability of the ‘Triple Helix’ to the creative industries. The chapter concludes with a reflection on the evolution and direction of my work, the relevance of the ‘Triple Helix’ to creative practice, and ways in which this relationship could be investigated further

    Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order!

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    This authorized biography was made possible through the gracious help of my mother-in-law, Rhoda Kadalie, who provided generous access to her files, letters, photographs, and extensive library of documents. She made time to sit with me for several hours of interviews from September through October 2021, to answer questions as they arose, and to offer innumerable clarifications. Rhoda also reviewed the first draft of the biography in December 2021, making corrections and additions, and contributing some of her own original vignettes, never before published

    Changing Priorities. 3rd VIBRArch

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    In order to warrant a good present and future for people around the planet and to safe the care of the planet itself, research in architecture has to release all its potential. Therefore, the aims of the 3rd Valencia International Biennial of Research in Architecture are: - To focus on the most relevant needs of humanity and the planet and what architectural research can do for solving them. - To assess the evolution of architectural research in traditionally matters of interest and the current state of these popular and widespread topics. - To deepen in the current state and findings of architectural research on subjects akin to post-capitalism and frequently related to equal opportunities and the universal right to personal development and happiness. - To showcase all kinds of research related to the new and holistic concept of sustainability and to climate emergency. - To place in the spotlight those ongoing works or available proposals developed by architectural researchers in order to combat the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. - To underline the capacity of architectural research to develop resiliency and abilities to adapt itself to changing priorities. - To highlight architecture's multidisciplinarity as a melting pot of multiple approaches, points of view and expertise. - To open new perspectives for architectural research by promoting the development of multidisciplinary and inter-university networks and research groups. For all that, the 3rd Valencia International Biennial of Research in Architecture is open not only to architects, but also for any academic, practitioner, professional or student with a determination to develop research in architecture or neighboring fields.Cabrera Fausto, I. (2023). Changing Priorities. 3rd VIBRArch. Editorial Universitat PolitĂšcnica de ValĂšncia. https://doi.org/10.4995/VIBRArch2022.2022.1686

    YEARBOOK 2019/2020. Arts Museology and Curatorship

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    Yearbook is the first collection of AMaC’s student projects developed during the first two years of the course. AMaC is a Master’s degree in Arts, Museology and Curatorship with a clear mission: to educate and train professionals with creative and research skills essential to developing successful arts and cultural heritage strategies. This broad and demanding field requires an engagement with the current debate on common goods, the identity of communities, access to heritage art, and the impact of the arts on society

    Les écrivaines autochtones contemporaines au Québec : re/connexion avec le soi, la communauté et la Terre par la narration résurgente

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    Abstract : This dissertation explores contemporary Indigenous women writers who crafted their cultural productions in the geo-political territory we now call Quebec between 1976 and the present. My main argument is that contemporary Indigenous women’s writing in Quebec constitutes an expression of Indigenous resurgence. I understand Indigenous resurgence as a movement of transformation that is grounded in Indigenous worldviews and seeks to revitalize Indigenous ways of knowing and being. My corpus is comprised of the artistic and literary texts of seven Indigenous women in Quebec. More specifically, I investigate Kanien’kehĂĄ:ka artist Skawennati’s machinima project TimeTravellerTM (2008-2013), selected poems from Maya Cousineau Mollen’s debut collection BrĂ©viaire du matricule 082 (2019), Natasha KanapĂ© Fontaine’s poetry collections Manifeste Assi (2014) and Bleuets et abricots (2016), Rita Mestokosho’s multilingual collections How I See Life, Grandmother / Eshi uapataman nukum / Comment je perçois la vie, grand-mĂšre (2011) and NĂ©e de la pluie et de la terre (2014), and Manon Nolin’s debut collection Ma peau aime le Nord (2016), as well as the autobiographically-based narratives Eukuan nin matshi-manitu innushkueu / Je suis une maudite Sauvagesse (1976) by An Antane Kapesh and Kuessipan: Ă  toi (2011) by Naomi Fontaine. My methodological approach juxtaposes contemporary Indigenous women’s writing with Indigenous feminist and decolonizing theories. In Chapter 1, I argue that Skawennati’s main objective is to empower Indigenous women by sharing and celebrating decolonial alternatives of the past, present, and future. In Chapter 2, I contend that Innu women poets use what I refer to as “Indigenous herstory” to lyrically transcribe their transformation into “Innushkueu,” meaning Innu or Indigenous woman. Chapter 3 discusses Indigenous women’s autobiographically-based narratives as “tipatshimuns:” Innu traditionally oral stories testifying to the storyteller’s lives experiences. In Chapter 4, I propose that Innu women’s poetry and environmental activism merge into what I call “land-based poetic activism:” activist poetry that voices opposition to environmental exploitation, destruction, and injustice and is thus instrumentalized in a political manner to protect Indigenous land and Rights.Cette thĂšse explore l’élaboration de productions culturelles d’écrivaines autochtones contemporaines dans le territoire gĂ©opolitique que nous appelons prĂ©sentement le QuĂ©bec entre 1976 jusqu’à prĂ©sent. Mon argument principal est que l’écriture contemporaine des femmes autochtones au QuĂ©bec constitue une expression de la rĂ©surgence autochtone. Je comprends la rĂ©surgence autochtone comme un mouvement de transformation qui est fondĂ© sur les visions du monde autochtones et qui cherche Ă  revitaliser les modes de connaissance et d’existence autochtones. Mon corpus est constituĂ© des textes artistiques et littĂ©raires de sept femmes autochtones du QuĂ©bec. Plus prĂ©cisĂ©ment, j’étudie le projet machinima TimeTravellerTM (2008-2013) de l’artiste Kanien’kehĂĄ:ka Skawennati, le premier recueil de Maya Cousineau Mollen BrĂ©viaire du matricule 082 (2019), les recueils de poĂ©sie de Natasha KanapĂ© Fontaine Manifeste Assi (2014) et Bleuets et abricots (2016), les recueils multilingues de Rita Mestokosho How I See Life, Grandmother / Eshi uapataman nukum / Comment je perçois la vie, grand-mĂšre (2011) et NĂ©e de la pluie et de la terre (2014), le premier recueil de Manon Nolin Ma peau aime le Nord (2016), ainsi que les rĂ©cits Ă  caractĂšre autobiographique Eukuan nin matshi-manitu innushkueu / Je suis une maudite Sauvagesse (1976) d’An Antane Kapesh, et Kuessipan: Ă  toi (2011) de Naomi Fontaine. Mon approche mĂ©thodologique juxtapose les Ă©crits de femmes autochtones contemporaines avec les thĂ©ories fĂ©ministes autochtones et dĂ©colonisatrices. Dans le chapitre 1, j’avance que l’objectif principal de Skawennati est de rendre le pouvoir aux femmes autochtones en partageant et en cĂ©lĂ©brant les alternatives dĂ©colonisatrices du passĂ©, du prĂ©sent et du futur. Dans le chapitre 2, je soutiens que les poĂštes innues utilisent ce que j’appelle « l’histoire autochtone au fĂ©minin ou Indigenous herstory » pour transcrire de façon lyrique leur transformation en « Innushkueu », qui signifie femme innue ou autochtone. Le chapitre 3 traite des rĂ©cits autobiographiques en tant que « tipatshimuns » : des histoires innues traditionnellement orales qui tĂ©moignent des expĂ©riences de vie de la narratrice. Dans le chapitre 4, je propose que la poĂ©sie des femmes innues et l’activisme environnemental fusionnent dans ce que j’appelle « l’activisme poĂ©tique territorial ou land-based poetic activism » : une poĂ©sie activiste qui exprime une opposition Ă  l’exploitation, Ă  la destruction et Ă  l’injustice environnementales et qui ainsi est instrumentalisĂ©e de maniĂšre politique pour protĂ©ger la Terre et les droits autochtones
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