A field survey on the indoor environmental quality of the UK primary school classroom

The indoor environmental quality (thermal, visual, acoustic and air quality) of the primary school classroom has an impact on pupils' learning and wellbeing. A field study, conducted on random days from 2012 to 2013, was carried out in 203 classrooms from 30 primary schools in 3 areas within the UK. Physical parameters were measured at the site: illuminance, air temperature, relative humidity, CO2 concentration and noise level. It was inferred that: 30.9% classrooms did not meet the proposed standards limiting the level of CO2 levels; light levels were found to be notably low (less than 500lux) because the pedagogy was reliant on smart boards; high noise levels (between 40 to 80dBA) were caused mainly from the adjacent activity areas to the classroom. Based on the findings, practical suggestions are proposed to maximise the environmental benefit to the pupil

Teachers' views of their primary school classrooms

This article presents the views of 222 head teachers and classroom-based teachers about their experiences and perceptions of 193 specific classroom environments from 29 primary schools in 3 different areas in England, UK. One-to-one interviews were carried out focusing on teachers’ perceptions about their classrooms throughout the year. It was found that teachers’ views of their overall comfort were fairly high, despite widespread problems with overheating, stuffiness, glare and noise. Surprisingly, schools built in 1950s had the least negative feelings, while those since the 1990s to date had the highest. The teachers appear to be aware of the ‘hard’ aspects of the physical environment, but less conscious of the impact of ‘softer’ aspects, especially those with impact on the level of stimulation created

The impact of classroom design on pupils' learning: Final results of a holistic, multi-level analysis

Assessments have been made of 153 classrooms in 27 schools in order to identify the impact of the physical classroom features on the academic progress of the 3766 pupils who occupied each of those specific spaces. This study confirms the utility of the naturalness, individuality and stimulation (or more memorably, SIN) conceptual model as a vehicle to organise and study the full range of sensory impacts experienced by an individual occupying a given space. In this particular case the naturalness design principle accounts for around 50% of the impact on learning, with the other two accounting for roughly a quarter each. Within this structure, seven key design parameters have been identified that together explain 16% of the variation in pupils' academic progress achieved. These are Light, Temperature, Air Quality, Ownership, Flexibility, Complexity and Colour. The muted impact of the whole-building level of analysis provides some support for the importance of “inside-out design”. The identification of the impact of the built environment factors on learning progress is a major new finding for schools' research, but also suggests that the scale of the impact of building design on human performance and wellbeing in general, can be isolated and that it is non-trivial. It is argued that it makes sense to capitalise on this promising progress and to further develop these concepts and techniques

The Holistic Impact of Classroom Spaces on Learning in Specific Subjects

The Holistic Evidence and Design (HEAD) study of U.K. primary schools sought to isolate the impact of the physical design of classrooms on the learning progress of pupils aged from 5 to 11 years (U.S. kindergarten to fifth grade). One hundred fifty-three classrooms were assessed and links made to the learning of the 3,766 pupils in them. Through multilevel modeling, the role of physical design was isolated from the influences of the pupils’ characteristics. This article presents analyses for the three main subjects assessed, namely, reading, writing, and math. Variations in the importance of the physical design parameters are revealed for the learning of each subject. In addition to some common factors, such as lighting, a heavy salience for Individualization in relation to math becomes apparent and the importance emerges of Connection for reading and of Links to Nature for writing. Possible explanations are suggested. These results provide a stimulus for additional finesse in practice and for further investigation by researchers

Changes in CRH and ACTH Synthesis during Experimental and Human Septic Shock

Context The mechanisms of septic shock-associated adrenal insufficiency remain unclear. This study aimed at investigating the synthesis of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) and vasopressin (AVP) by parvocellular neurons and the antehypophyseal expression of ACTH in human septic shock and in an experimental model of sepsis. Objective To test the hypothesis that ACTH secretion is decreased secondarily to alteration of CRH or AVP synthesis, we undertook a neuropathological study of the antehypophyseal system in patients who had died from septic shock and rats with experimental faecal peritonitis. Methods Brains obtained in 9 septic shock patients were compared to 10 nonseptic patients (controls). Parvocellular expression of AVP and CRH mRNA were evaluated by in situ hybridization. Antehypophyseal expression of ACTH, vasopressin V1b and CRH R1 receptors and parvocellular expression of iNOS in the PVN were evaluated by immunohistochemistry. The same experiments were carried out in a fecal peritonitis-induced model of sepsis. Data from septic rats with (n = 6) or without (n = 10) early death were compared to sham-operated (n = 8) animals. Results In patients and rats, septic shock was associated with a decreased expression of ACTH, unchanged expression of V1B receptor, CRHR1 and AVP mRNA, and increased expression of parvocellular iNOS compared to controls. Septic shock was also characterized by an increased expression of CRH mRNA in rats but not in patients, who notably had a greater duration of septic shock. Conclusion The present study suggests that in humans and in rats, septic shock is associated with decreased ACTH synthesis that is not compensated by its two natural secretagogues, AVP and CRH. One underlying mechanism might be increased expression of iNOS in hypothalamic parvocellular neurons

How valuable are your customers in the brand value co-creation process? The development of a Customer Co-Creation Value (CCCV) scale.

Despite an increasing amount of research on co-creation of value, in general, research on brand value co-creation remains limited. Particularly, how much value customers contribute to the brand value co-creation process remains unclear. This research develops in a series of eight studies the Customer Co-Creation Value (CCCV) measurement scale that helps firms assess the value of customers in the brand value co-creation process. The findings reveal that CCCV is a multidimensional construct consisting of two higher-order factors and seven dimensions: customer-owned resources (including brand knowledge, brand skills, brand creativity, and brand connectedness) and customer motivation (comprising brand passion, brand trust, and brand commitment). Further, the CCCV scale reliably and validly gauges the value customers contribute to a firm's brand. The CCCV framework helps marketing managers understand how customers can contribute to a firm's brand value cocreation efforts and how much value customers contribute to a brand in the co-creation process

Pan-Cancer Analysis of lncRNA Regulation Supports Their Targeting of Cancer Genes in Each Tumor Context

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are commonly dys-regulated in tumors, but only a handful are known toplay pathophysiological roles in cancer. We inferredlncRNAs that dysregulate cancer pathways, onco-genes, and tumor suppressors (cancer genes) bymodeling their effects on the activity of transcriptionfactors, RNA-binding proteins, and microRNAs in5,185 TCGA tumors and 1,019 ENCODE assays.Our predictions included hundreds of candidateonco- and tumor-suppressor lncRNAs (cancerlncRNAs) whose somatic alterations account for thedysregulation of dozens of cancer genes and path-ways in each of 14 tumor contexts. To demonstrateproof of concept, we showed that perturbations tar-geting OIP5-AS1 (an inferred tumor suppressor) andTUG1 and WT1-AS (inferred onco-lncRNAs) dysre-gulated cancer genes and altered proliferation ofbreast and gynecologic cancer cells. Our analysis in-dicates that, although most lncRNAs are dysregu-lated in a tumor-specific manner, some, includingOIP5-AS1, TUG1, NEAT1, MEG3, and TSIX, synergis-tically dysregulate cancer pathways in multiple tumorcontexts

Genomic, Pathway Network, and Immunologic Features Distinguishing Squamous Carcinomas

This integrated, multiplatform PanCancer Atlas study co-mapped and identified distinguishing molecular features of squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) from five sites associated with smokin