Using Stormwater Modeling in Iterative Site Design: An Integration of Techniques from Engineering and Landscape Architecture

Landscape Architects currently do not have an efficient method for including stormwater quantities in early stages of their design process. With stormwater control infrastructure and theory rapidly shifting in favor of stormwater management with Green Infrastructure or Low Impact Development technologies (LIDs), landscape architects and planners are increasingly making layout and sizing decisions for stormwater design. Due to the development of modeling tools, it is now possible to rapidly produce quantifiable stormwater values for complex site designs at a range of scales. This paper proposes a methodology for the utilization of the EPA – Stormwater Management Model (SWMM), in conjunction with hand sketching, AutoCAD measured layouts and spreadsheet calculators, to quickly optimize stormwater detention based on spatial arrangements, sizing, and construction costs. Unlike available calculator-based methods, this model-centered methodology successfully simulates water quantity benefits of LIDs used in series. A twelve-acre development in Southeast Louisiana, broken into a 1.4-acre commercial site and 10.9-acre multi-family residential site, was designed using this multidisciplinary methodology. A total of fifty iterations were simulated, forty-one of which involved LIDs and twenty-nine of which included LIDs in sequence. Iterations were compared with pre-development flow rates and runoff volumes, and with each other in terms of stormwater performance and capital costs. The cumulative time required to set up and alter this thirty-eight subcatchment based model, run the almost instantaneous simulations, and track and cost the fifty iterations was less than 20 hours. Schematic and measured plan, section and perspective sketches, as well as quick context analysis, were employed before modeling to determine appropriate type, sizing and layout of LIDs and after modeling to decide between the top quantifiably optimized designs. This integrated methodology provides the basis for more collaborative and quantitatively supported LID stormwater landscape designs by introducing efficient multidisciplinary modeling techniques at the beginning of the design process

Can Skeuomorphic Design Provide a Better Online Banking User Experience for Older Adults?

With the prevalence of digital technologies and internet connectivity, combined with the reduction in footfall on high streets, banks have taken steps to move most of their customer base online. This has left many older adults behind, trying to keep up with the changes and having to learn to use sometimes complex online banking interfaces. In this work we investigate whether skeuomorphic design can create a more usable online banking system for older adults, compared to the more commonplace flat design. This work took a user-centered approach, beginning with interviews with older adults that were conducted to gather data to be used in the production of prototype user interfaces. Two prototypes were then created: a flat user interface and a skeuomorphic one. We evaluated these interfaces with 15 older adults, gathering a combination of data, including data from the System Usability Scale, observations, and interviews. Results of the experiments showed that our older users preferred the flat prototype to the skeuomorphic one, but raised some potentially useful guidelines for the design of future skeuomorphic user interfaces for older adults. A validation experiment with 17 younger adults (aged 20–25) also showed that the skeuomorphic interface was more usable for older adults than younger ones

The Effect of Bike Lanes on Congestion and Ridership in Boise

This research project examines the effect of adding bike lanes in the downtown area of Boise and the impact it has on congestion as well as ridership. Cycling has become increasingly popular in major U.S metropolitan areas as an alternative form of transportation. The addition of bike lanes in downtown areas has been furiously debated in recent years. We will explore how bike lanes have affected congestion and ridership thus far in Boise, and in other regional cities of comparable size, Spokane, WA and Eugene, OR in hopes of determining the impact that the addition of bike lanes causes. Our research will examine how congestion changes with the addition of bike lanes on a road and whether or not it impacts the flow of traffic. For ridership, we will use a time-series data of bike counts that show the amount of riders passing through a given area before and after bike lanes are added. We expect to show that adding bike lanes downtown causes an increase in bike ridership and alleviates some of the effects of congestion

Spitzer Space Telescope Spectroscopy of Ices toward Low-Mass Embedded Protostars

Sensitive 5-38 μm Spitzer Space Telescope and ground-based 3-5 μm spectra of the embedded low-mass protostars B5 IRS1 and HH 46 IRS show deep ice absorption bands superposed on steeply rising mid-infrared continua. The ices likely originate in the circumstellar envelopes. The CO_2 bending mode at 15 μm is a particularly powerful tracer of the ice composition and processing history. Toward these protostars, this band shows little evidence for thermal processing at temperatures above 50 K. Signatures of lower temperature processing are present in the CO and OCN^- bands, however. The observed CO2 profile indicates an intimate mixture with H_(2)O, but not necessarily with CH_(3)OH, in contrast to some high-mass protostars. This is consistent with the low CH_(3)OH abundance derived from the ground-based L-band spectra. The CO_2 : H_(2)O column density ratios are high in both B5 IRS1 and HH 46 IRS (~35%). Clearly, the Spitzer spectra are essential for studying ice evolution in low-mass protostellar environments and for eventually determining the relation between interstellar and solar system ices

Disability doesn’t discriminate: health inequities at the intersection of race and disability

ObjectivesGiven the prevalence of discrimination experienced by racial and ethnic minorities living with disabilities, it is likely that racism experienced by Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) is compounded by the ableism experienced by people with disabilities, widening disparities in health and healthcare outcomes. To address this, we described unmet healthcare needs of a sample of Black, non-Hispanic, and Hispanic adults with and without disabilities. The following research question was examined exploratively: Are Black and Hispanic adults with disabilities at increased risk of unmet healthcare needs compared to Black and Hispanic adults without disabilities according to the 2018 National Health Interview Survey?MethodsSurvey data was examined from the 2018 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), a nationally representative survey of community-dwelling adults in the United States.ResultsBlack and non-Hispanic adults most commonly reported mobility only disabilities. People with disabilities were significantly more likely to delay or forego care than their peers without disabilities within each racial/ethnic group. Among non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic adults, nearly 30% of people with disabilities forewent services due to cost compared to persons without disabilities.ConclusionsBlack and Hispanic adults with disabilities experience greater disparities in access to healthcare than Black and Hispanic adults without disabilities. Therefore, health disparities experienced by racial and ethnic minorities living with disabilities is likely influenced by the dual systemic factors of racism and ableism

Sociology 2259: Stem2Stern

Throughout the 2021-2022 academic year, seven students from Professor Lauren Barrs\u27 Sociology of deviance class worked with Stem2Stern, a non for profit organization based in London Ontario. The students helped with maintaining and updating the social media pages, proposed and advertised new events, and helped the owner, David Vine become more tech-friendly. This presentation shows the students\u27 work throughout the academic year, presented through a timeline. Showcasing their biggest contributions to the organization as well as showing Stem2Sterns growth throughout the year

Robotics to enable older adults to remain living at home

Given the rapidly ageing population, interest is growing in robots to enable older people to remain living at home. We conducted a systematic review and critical evaluation of the scientific literature, from 1990 to the present, on the use of robots in aged care. The key research questions were as follows: (1) what is the range of robotic devices available to enable older people to remain mobile, independent, and safe? and, (2) what is the evidence demonstrating that robotic devices are effective in enabling independent living in community dwelling older people? Following database searches for relevant literature an initial yield of 161 articles was obtained. Titles and abstracts of articles were then reviewed by 2 independent people to determine suitability for inclusion. Forty-two articles met the criteria for question 1. Of these, 4 articles met the criteria for question 2. Results showed that robotics is currently available to assist older healthy people and people with disabilities to remain independent and to monitor their safety and social connectedness. Most studies were conducted in laboratories and hospital clinics. Currently limited evidence demonstrates that robots can be used to enable people to remain living at home, although this is an emerging smart technology that is rapidly evolving.<br /

'The live dynamic whole of feeling and behavior': capital punishment and the politics of emotion, 1945–1957

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Climate Action In Megacities 3.0

"Climate Action in Megacities 3.0" (CAM 3.0) presents major new insights into the current status, latest trends and future potential for climate action at the city level. Documenting the volume of action being taken by cities, CAM 3.0 marks a new chapter in the C40-Arup research partnership, supported by the City Leadership Initiative at University College London. It provides compelling evidence about cities' commitment to tackling climate change and their critical role in the fight to achieve global emissions reductions

Bringing Black Feminist's Thoughts, Self-Definitions, and Creative Agency to Digital Media and Technology Design

Users from marginalized groups are often faced with the challenges that result from a lack of diverse thought in the design and implementation of media and technologies that we engage in our daily lives. It is these artifacts that result in the harm, erasure, and hyper-surveillance of Black and Brown people. We seek to disrupt problematic narratives present in tech and design fields by (re)inserting Black Feminism and leveraging our personal experiences to build on design methods. Though research centered on the importance of women’s experiences and standpoints in tech practice is crucial, feminist scholarship has not always reflected the values and the liberation of women who are not white. This paper uses personal narrative to argue for the value of Black feminist thought and methods in the sub-disciplines of computing, such as digital media, human computer interaction (HCI) and human-centered computing (HCC)