Blogging It: Encouraging Reflective Thinking for Architectural Practice.

In a period of dynamic change for architectural professionalism and practice, it is becoming increasingly relevant to identify effective ways for students to develop reflective thinking which they will need to manage their transition from student to practitioner and be able to respond to industry change throughout their careers. This paper reports upon an assessment technique using an online blog which was used to capture students’ real-time and reflective thoughts. The key elements of the brief are discussed and the outcomes of the assessment, which included learning experiences which were planned for as well as some which were not predicted

Evolving The Idea: Designing teams for detailed design

The detailed design phase is critical in maintaining the design concept whilst considering aesthetic ventures in light of time, cost, and buildability prior to implementation. During this phase, design components are connected, solutions are tested and methods of implementation finalised. Design becomes a truly interdisciplinary activity. In addition, the challenge of sustainability requires built environment professionals to transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries if effective solutions are to be realised. However, there is currently limited research on how the behaviour of teams affects subsequent products and outcomes. This paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of this link. An experiment was carried out using single discipline and multi-disciplinary teams with differing collective personality characteristics to test whether it is essential to have the right personalities in the design team as well as the correct disciplines. Observation of design workshops provided the necessary data for analysis of how these environments influenced design outcomes. An evolutionary analogy was applied to map and understand the way that ideas behave during each of the four design processes. The teams’ performances and design outcomes are then analysed to draw some tentative conclusions about how design teams may be formed and managed during the detailed design phase

New York State\u27s Alternate Assessment: Is It Really Fulfilling Its Purpose?

The main focus of this study was to demonstrate that the New York State Alternate Assessment is not a useful tool for instructional planning. The current study suggested that in all cases, it is not. As mentioned prior, the purpose of implementing an assessment is to use the results to improve teaching practices. The current study has suggested that the alternate assessment used by New York State is not fulfilling its purpose

It’s About Lyme: Why Congress Must Enact Medical Insurance Coverage Laws for Lyme Disease Patients Now

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates approximately 476,000 people are diagnosed with Lyme disease in the United States each year. While many will recover with a short course of antibiotics, up to 35% will suffer from persistent symptoms after initial treatment. Despite scientific evidence showing the infection can persist long after initial treatment, most insurance companies restrict access to treatment beyond twenty-eight days, leaving patients to bear much of the financial burden. To limit crippling out-of-pocket expenses, Congress must enact legislation mandating coverage for the treatment of clinically diagnosed Lyme disease and co-infections based on the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society’s Guidelines. Further, Congress must require insurance companies to report all claims related to Lyme disease in order to hold insurance companies accountable. Lyme patients have suffered for decades from insurance injustice. It is time for Congress to act

The social life of the novel idea: What did social psychologists ever do for us?

Purpose - The paper presents the extant literature relating to the social processes of innovation in built environment design teams. The paper connects the relevant and significant work in the field of Social Psychology and Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) to derive a theoretical framework which can be used to direct further research, towards development of the behavioural facet of design management. Design/methodology/approach - First, we establish which aspects of social processes of innovation are already present within the AEC field and examine concepts/ideas in Social Psychology that are likely to be important in understanding group processes within AEC, applying three emergent themes of 1) social climate; 2) risk attitudes and 3) motivation and reward. Second, we identify which elements of Social Psychology may be used to expand, consolidate and develop our understanding and identify gaps in AEC specific knowledge. Findings - The paper suggests that whilst the AEC literature has supplanted some key elements of Social Psychology, this discipline offers a further and significant theoretical resource. However, whilst some aspects of social climate and motivation/reward are well-represented in the AEC field, these have not yet been fully explored. Furthermore, how collective attitudes to risk can influence design decision-making is identified as having a limited presence. Originality/value - This paper is the first to bring together the two disciplines of AEC and Social Psychology to examine the social aspects of innovative design performance in built environment teams. The paper fulfils an identified need to examine the social processes that influence innovative design performance in constructio

Health Literacy Practices in Primary Care Settings: Examples From the Field

Presents findings from a survey and interviews on practices to improve health literacy among patients. Identifies five promising practices as well as barriers to implementing such practices, and recommends better training, quality of care, and research

Bound by Silence: Psychological Effects of the Traditional Oath Ceremony Used in the Sex Trafficking of Nigerian Women and Girls

Nigerian women and children have been trafficked to Italy over the last 30 years for commercial sexual exploitation with an alarming increase in the past three years. The Central Mediterranean Route that runs from West African countries to Italy is rife with organized crime gangs that have created a highly successful trafficking operation. As part of the recruitment process, the Nigerian mafia and its operatives exploit victims by subjecting them to a traditional religious juju oath ceremony, which is an extremely effective control mechanism to silence victims and trap them in debt bondage. This study explores the psychological effects of taking the oath, the linkages to the definition of torture as outlined by international law in the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the culpability of non-State actors who participate in, and profit from, the trafficking of women and girls. Original quantitative and qualitative research was conducted, which was comprised of 51 surveys and 28 interviews of Nigerian survivors of sex trafficking, as well as 15 interviews with key experts who are working on the ground in Italy. In addition, observational research of prostituted women who are currently exploited on the streets of Turin, Italy, was critical to understanding the world in which the women live and the immense psychological control of the oath. The study concludes that the traditional juju oath, as performed in the sex trafficking of Nigerian women to Europe, creates a mechanism for perpetual trauma, coercion, threat, and mental control, thus meets the criteria for torture as defined by the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

Literacy Instruction in the Wake of Common Core State Standards

As teachers modify their instruction to meet English Language Arts (ELA) Common Core State Standards (CCSS), how do these modifications influence literacy instruction and learning opportunities afforded to students? While the CCSS standardized objectives for literacy instruction, the enacted curriculum is uniquely shaped by teachers and their students (Coburn, 2001; Datnow & Castellano, 2000; Smagorinsky, Lakly, & Johnson 2002). This study describes how two elementary school teachers in one school: (a) perceived the ELA CCSS and their influence on instruction and the enacted curriculum; (b) adapted and aligned literacy instruction to respond to implementation of the CCSS; and (c) created instruction and literacy learning opportunities influenced by the ELA CCSS. To investigate the rich, nested levels of context in which teachers used the ELA CCSS to construct literacy instruction and learning opportunities for children, I applied a sociocultural framework and Engeström’s third generation Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) model to create a theory-driven description of how teachers approached CCSS implementation and literacy instruction. I analyzed data from interviews, observations, and documents through constant comparative analysis (Charmaz, 2006) to identify activities for CHAT analysis (Yamagata-Lynch, 2010). Findings from this study provide information about the implementation of the ELA CCSS in literacy instruction and the enacted literacy curricula. Findings suggest that multiple levels of context influenced the ELA CCSS implementation, including teachers’ perceptions (Coburn, 2001; Maloch & Bomer, 2012), and that while teachers may teach from a standardized curriculum, the literacy learning opportunities differ in each class (Pacheco, 2010)

The effects of group-housing and relative weight on feeding behaviour in rats

To meet the growing concern for the well-being of laboratory animals, group-housing is now recommended for rats. The aim of the present study was to examine the effects of group-housing and relative weight within the group on feedingbehaviour in rats. Studies of the individual feeding behaviour of group-housed animals have been carried out in many farm animals. In these studies, when effects of group-housing and hierarchy on individual feeding behaviour are studied, theresults are often confounded by differences in age, body weight, genetic differences and earlier experience of the animal. All these factors were standardised in the present study. The individual meal patterns of 12 male Sprague-Dawley rats, ofthe same weight and age, housed singly were compared to their meal patterns after two weeks of housing in groups of three per cage. The feed intake and the feeding behaviour were recorded by computerised balances in combination with timelapse video recordings, during the group-housing period. Although when group-housed the rats made the same number of visits to the food cup as when housed singly, they ate more quickly, ate less per visit, and hence spent less time per dayeating. The increase in eating rate was significant for the rats assigned to be the medium weight or lightest in their groups but not for the rats designated to be heaviest in their groups, indicating that the relative weight of the rats had an effect on their eating behaviour