Bringing Life to a Hospital Site: 19 Years of Proposals for the Abandoned Malden Hospital Site in Malden, MA

Malden is a long, thin city over 1.5 miles tall and 3.5 miles wide. It is designed in traditional New England style with multiple squares concentrating commercial and residential centers. The population is 63,373 according to the latest U.S. Census report, which is nearly a 5,000-person rise since 2010 (MAPC). It has a median age of 36.2 and approximately 36.5 percent of the population is foreign-born. This is a particularly young and international population for the state, which has a median age of 39.1 and 16.1 percent are foreign-born. Between 2006-2008, it was found that a majority of the foreign-born population were from Latin America, Eastern Asia, and Southeastern Asia respectively (MAPC, 45). Malden is strongly identified with its position on the MBTA’s Orange Line and bus connection. As a “streetcar suburb,” the city used to be connected by tram tracks. The city’s connection to the subway system and commuter rail is an important economic asset. The Malden Hospital sits in the West End neighborhood at the Stoneham-Medford border atop a hill overlooking Fellsmere Pond. This neighborhood is approximately 4,823 residents with roughly 60 percent renting apartments. The area is more heavily settled than the city of Malden as a whole, likely due to the continuous string of homes and a few medium-sized apartment complexes. It is a 20-minute walk from Malden Center train station and a 7-minute direct trip on the 99 bus route. Because the hospital straddles the border of Malden and Medford, it is important to assess the adjacent neighborhood of Medford. Looking at the 7,020-person census tract, the neighborhood is significantly more white (83.42 percent to Malden’s 54.37) and wealthy (with a median income of $120,705 to$71,795). In addition, vacancy rates are lower and only about 12 percent are rental occupants. The 65 and older population is much higher at 21 percent

Cognitive Psychological Expansions Of The Split-Attention Effect

The split-attention effect is in the area of multimedia learning an often examined and researched effect postulating higher learning success when corresponding sources are in spatial proximity. This article shows that it is possible by using new principles of grouping to have at least equal learning results with multimedia sources far away. To prove this it has been conducted an online survey and the data of almost 900 subjects have been analyzed regarding to their retention and transfer performance

A New Linear Inductive Voltage Adder Driver for the Saturn Accelerator

Saturn is a dual-purpose accelerator. It can be operated as a large-area flash x-ray source for simulation testing or as a Z-pinch driver especially for K-line x-ray production. In the first mode, the accelerator is fitted with three concentric-ring 2-MV electron diodes, while in the Z-pinch mode the current of all the modules is combined via a post-hole convolute arrangement and driven through a cylindrical array of very fine wires. We present here a point design for a new Saturn class driver based on a number of linear inductive voltage adders connected in parallel. A technology recently implemented at the Institute of High Current Electronics in Tomsk (Russia) is being utilized[1]. In the present design we eliminate Marx generators and pulse-forming networks. Each inductive voltage adder cavity is directly fed by a number of fast 100-kV small-size capacitors arranged in a circular array around each accelerating gap. The number of capacitors connected in parallel to each cavity defines the total maximum current. By selecting low inductance switches, voltage pulses as short as 30-50-ns FWHM can be directly achieved.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figures. This paper is submitted for the 20th Linear Accelerator Conference LINAC2000, Monterey, C

High-resolution wave model validation over the Greek maritime areas

The increasing maritime activity can be seriously affected by severe weather and sea conditions. To avoid serious damages to ships, marine structures and humans, a good weather and wave forecast is of primary importance. In general the meteorological and the wave models are used to produce forecasts at large scale like the global or the medium-size inner seas. For much smaller environments like the Greek maritime areas, characterized by complicated features like the orography and the presence of islands, the modelisation becomes a not simple task. <br><br> This study is devoted to the validation of the performance of the WAM wave model over the Ionian and Aegean Seas. The period of validation refers to the first 12 months of operational use of the model at the National Observatory of Athens. The wave model is applied at a resolution of 1/16 degrees and is driven by the 10 m wind, produced by the BOLAM meteorological model operationally run over the same area. Two different sources of data have been used for the verification of the model results. The first dataset is provided by a network of buoys deployed over the Greek maritime areas and the second consists of altimeter data, provided by the OSTM/Jason-2 satellite platform. Although the study area is characterized by complex topography and a large number of islands, the implementation of the WAM model provides very encouraging results. In general, with the exception of the two buoys located in the Ionian Sea, the WAM model tends to underestimate the wave energy in the region of the Aegean Sea. The comparison with the altimeter data shows that the model has a tendency to overestimate the height for waves lower than 2.5 m and to underestimate the waves higher than 3 m

Cognitive Load Theory und der split-attention effect: Ein empirischer Test kognitionspsychologischer Erweiterungen

Mit der Cognitive Load Theory und der Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning existieren zwei Theorien zum Lernen mit multimedialen Inhalten. Aus beiden Theorien sind viele Effekte entstanden, wobei der split-attention effect sicherlich einer der bekanntesten ist. Dieser Effekt postuliert, dass die Lernergebnisse für den Lernenden umso besser ausfallen je näher Text und Bild beieinander sind. In einer aufwendigen Online-Untersuchung zum meteorologischen Phänomen „Die Entstehung von Blitzen“ wird experimentell der Frage nachgegangen, ob es nicht auch andere Möglichkeiten zur Verbesserung des Lernerfolgs gibt, ohne Text und Bild nahe beieinander zu platzieren. Mit den neueren Faktoren der Wahrnehmungsorganisation bieten sich an dieser Stelle erstmalig Verknüpfungsmöglichkeiten an, besonders mit dem Faktor der Verbundenheit der Elemente und dem Faktor der gemeinsamen Region. Beide Faktoren werden kombiniert mit der räumlich nahen (integriertes Darstellungsformat) oder fernen (separiertes Darstellungsformat) Darstellung von Text und Bild, um so mit alternativen Möglichkeiten den Lernerfolg zu erhöhen. Zu diesem Zweck werden die Daten von 869 Versuchspersonen zur Beantwortung dieser Fragestellung, in Bezug auf die Lern- und Transferleistung, ausgewertet. Die Hypothese über den Vorteil des integrierten Darstellungsformats kann in dieser Diplomarbeit nicht bestätigt werden, was gegen die Allgemeingültigkeit des splitattention effect spricht. Unterstützend wird die Hypothese verifiziert, dass die verknüpften Darstellungsformate nicht zu schlechteren Lernergebnissen führen, als das integrierte Darstellungsformat. Zusätzlich wird die Hypothese bekräftigt, dass das konstruierte Material passend und die verwendete Animation ohne beschreibenden Text nicht selbsterklärend ist. Als letztes Ergebnis kann sich die Gruppe mit wenig selbsteingeschätztem Vorwissen nicht signifikant vom Rest der Stichprobe unterscheiden, was aber notwendig gewesen wäre zur Bestätigung der Hypothese, dass Novizen mehr kreative Lösungen generieren. Der negative Aspekt des split-attention effect kann damit auch mit anderen Mitteln umgangen werden, als mit der bisher favorisierten Herangehensweise der hohen räumlichen Nähe von Text und Bild. Der Einfluss und Nutzen der neueren Faktoren der Wahrnehmungsorganisation sollte in weiteren Studien zur Cognitive Load Theory untersucht werden

Participation, Feedback & Incentives in a Competitive Forecasting Community

Macro-economic forecasts are used extensively in industry and government even though the historical accuracy and reliability is questionable. Over the last couple of years prediction markets as a community forecasting method have gained interest. An arising question is how to design incentive schemes and feedback mechanisms to motivate participants to contribute to such an information exchange. We design a prediction market for economic derivatives that aggregates macro-economic information. We show that the level of participation is mainly driven by a weekly newsletter which acts as a reminder. In public goods projects participation feedback has been found to increase participants\u27 contributions. We find that the induced competitiveness of market environments seem to superpose classical feedback mechanisms. We show that forecast errors fall over the prediction horizon. The market generated forecasts compare well to the Bloomberg-survey forecasts, the industry standard. Additionally we can predict community forecast error by using an implicit market measure