Evaluation of environmental qualities in the outdoor environment at child and adolescent psychiatric emergency rooms

Trädgårdar och natur har visat sig ha positiva hälsoeffekter bland annat på stress. Förr var sjukhusets placering viktig med hänsyn till att det skulle finnas tillgång till vacker natur. Inom psykiatrin var trädgårdar och trädgårdsterapi en del av behandlingen och ansågs kunna lindra ångest. Intresset för trädgårdar inom vård och psykiatri minskade kraftigt under 1900-talets mitt, men idag finns åter ett intresse för hur vårdens fysiska miljö påverkar patienterna och deras tillfrisknande. I den här kandidatuppsatsen undersöks hur utemiljön vid en barn-och ungdomspsykiatrisk akutmottagning kan utformas med stöd i evidensbaserad design om trädgårdar i vårdsammanhang. Syftet är också att redovisa eventuella förslag till åtgärder i en plan. Som metod har utomhusmiljön undersökts utifrån sammanlagt nitton designkriterier som visat sig viktiga i utemiljön vid vårdinrättningar. En semistrukturerad fokusintervju med personal på den aktuella barn - och ungdomspsykiatriska akutmottagningen har genomförts i syfte att undersöka betydelsen av utomhusmiljön och designkriterierna för patienterna. En tidigare uppgift genomförd inom ramen för kursen hälsoträdgårdar (kallad pilotstudien) vid samma barn- och ungdomspsykiatriska akutmottagning har gett viktig bakgrundskunskap om målgruppen och deras behov i kontakten med utemiljön. Atriumgårdarna anses viktiga för patienterna, särskilt för de som vårdas under tvång. Utemiljön ses också som en tillgång i vården av patienterna då de bland annat kan hjälpa till och dämpa ångest med till exempel fysisk aktivitet. Atriumgårdarna föreslås bland annat få olika utformning med utgångspunkt från utmaningsgradienten i teorin om stödjande miljöer. Atriumgård A får stå för avskildhet, vildhet/natur och rofylldhet medan atriumgård B inriktas mot sociala möjligheter samt lustfyllda och meningsfulla aktiviteter. I omgivande grönområde föreslås ändringar som bland annat mer sammanhängande promenadstråk, fler sittplatser och aktivitetsområde inriktat på äldre barn. Avslutningsvis redovisas resultatet i en illustrationsplan för atriumgårdarna och en illustrationsplan för det omgivande grönområdet där överväganden har gjorts från både inventering och intervju.Gardens and nature have shown to have positive health effects, including stress. In the past, the location of the hospital was important considering that there was access to beautiful scenery. In psychiatry, gardens and garden therapy were part of the treatment and were considered to be able to relieve anxiety. Interest in gardens in health care facility and psychiatry declined in the middle of the 20th century, but today there is an interest in how the physical environment of the health care facility affects patients and their recovery. This dissertation examines how the outdoor environment of a child and adolescent psychiatric emergency room can be designed with support in evidence-based design of gardens in care settings. The purpose is also to report any proposals for measures in a plan. As a method, the outdoor environment has been examined on the basis of a total of nineteen design criteria that have proved important in the outdoor environment at health care institutions. A semi-structured focus interview with staff at the current pediatric and adolescent psychiatric emergency room has been conducted to investigate the importance of the outdoor environment and the design criteria for the patients. An earlier assignment carried out within the a health gardens course (called the pilot study) at the same child and adolescent psychiatric emergency room has provided important background knowledge about the target group and their needs in contact with the outdoor environment. The Atriums are considered important for patients, especially for those under forced care. The outdoor environment is also seen as an asset in the care of patients as they can, among other things, help and cushion anxiety with, for example, physical activity. Among other things, the atriums are proposed to have a few different designs based on the challenge gradient in the theory of supportive environments. Atrium A can stand for privacy, wildness / nature and tranquility, while Atrium B focuses on social opportunities as well as fun and meaningful activities. In the surrounding green area, changes are proposed such as more connected walking paths, more seating and activity area aimed at older children. Finally, the results are presented in an illustration plan for the atrium A and B and an illustration plan for the surrounding green area where considerations have been made from both inventory and interview

Розробка математичної моделі оцінювання процесу іскріння в індуктивно-ємнісних електричних колах

The brain is one of the most energetically expensive organs in the vertebrate body. Consequently, the high cost of brain development and maintenance is predicted to constrain adaptive brain size evolution (the expensive tissue hypothesis, ETH). Here, we test the ETH in a teleost fish with predominant female mating competition (reversed sex roles) and male pregnancy, the pacific seaweed pipefish Syngnathus schlegeli. The relative size of the brain and other energetically expensive organs (kidney, liver, heart, gut, visceral fat, and ovary/testis) was compared among three groups: pregnant males, nonpregnant males and egg producing females. Brood size in pregnant males was unrelated to brain size or the size of any other organ, whereas positive relationships were found between ovary size, kidney size, and liver size in females. Moreover, we found that the size of energetically expensive organs (brain, heart, gut, kidney, and liver) as well as the amount of visceral fat did not differ between pregnant and nonpregnant males. However, we found marked differences in relative size of the expensive organs between sexes. Females had larger liver and kidney than males, whereas males stored more visceral fat than females. Furthermore, in females we found a negative correlation between brain size and the amount of visceral fat, whereas in males, a positive trend between brain size and both liver and heart size was found. These results suggest that, while the majority of variation in the size of various expensive organs in this species likely reflects that individuals in good condition can afford to allocate resources to several organs, the cost of the expensive brain was visible in the visceral fat content of females, possibly due to the high costs associated with female egg production.Data available from the Dryad Digital Repository: http://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.t25d2</p

Dosimetric verification of the anisotropic analytical algorithm for radiotherapy treatment planning

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: To investigate the accuracy of photon dose calculations performed by the Anisotropic Analytical Algorithm, in homogeneous and inhomogeneous media and in simulated treatment plans. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Predicted dose distributions were compared with ionisation chamber and film measurements for a series of increasingly complex situations. Initially, simple and complex fields in a homogeneous medium were studied. The effect of inhomogeneities was investigated using a range of phantoms constructed of water, bone and lung substitute materials. Simulated treatment plans were then produced using a semi-anthropomorphic phantom and the delivered doses compared to the doses predicted by the Anisotropic Analytical Algorithm. RESULTS: In a homogeneous medium, agreement was found to be within 2% dose or 2mm dta in most instances. In the presence of heterogeneities, agreement was generally to within 2.5%. The simulated treatment plan measurements agreed to within 2.5% or 2mm. Conclusions: The accuracy of the algorithm was found to be satisfactory at 6MV and 10MV both in homogeneous and inhomogeneous situations and in the simulated treatment plans. The algorithm was more accurate than the Pencil Beam Convolution model, particularly in the presence of low density heterogeneities

Report of AAPM Therapy Physics Committee Task Group 74: Inâ air output ratio, Sc, for megavoltage photon beams

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/134830/1/mp7367.pd

Diversity and Relatedness Enhance Survival in Colour Polymorphic Grasshoppers

Evolutionary theory predicts that different resource utilization and behaviour by alternative phenotypes may reduce competition and enhance productivity and individual performance in polymorphic, as compared with monomorphic, groups of individuals. However, firm evidence that members of more heterogeneous groups benefit from enhanced survival has been scarce or lacking. Furthermore, benefits associated with phenotypic diversity may be counterbalanced by costs mediated by reduced relatedness, since closely related individuals typically are more similar. Pygmy grasshoppers (Tetrix subulata) are characterized by extensive polymorphism in colour pattern, morphology, behaviour and physiology. We studied experimental groups founded by different numbers of mothers and found that survival was higher in low than in high density, that survival peaked at intermediate colour morph diversity in high density, and that survival was independent of diversity in low density where competition was less intense. We further demonstrate that survival was enhanced by relatedness, as expected if antagonistic and competitive interactions are discriminately directed towards non-siblings. We therefore also performed behavioural observations and staged encounters which confirmed that individuals recognized and responded differently to siblings than to non-siblings. We conclude that negative effects associated with competition are less manifest in diverse groups, that there is conflicting selection for and against genetic diversity occurring simultaneously, and that diversity and relatedness may facilitate the productivity and ecological success of groups of interacting individuals