Evidence-based design: theoretical and practical reflections of an emerging approach in office architecture

Evidence-based design is a practice that has emerged only relatively recently, inspired by a growing popularity of evidence-based approaches in other professions such as medicine. It has received greatest attention in design for the health sector, but has received less in office architecture, although this would seem not only to be beneficial for clients, but increasingly important in a changing business environment. This paper outlines the history and origins of evidence-based practice, its influence in the health sector, as well as some of the reasons why it has been found more difficult to apply in office architecture. Based on these theoretical reflections, data and experiences from several research case studies in diverse workplace environments are presented following a three part argument: firstly we show how organisational behaviours may change as a result of an organisation moving into a new building; secondly we argue that not all effects of space on organisations are consistent. Examples of both consistent and inconsistent results are presented, giving possible reasons for differences in outcomes. Thirdly, practical implications of evidence-based design are made and difficulties for evidence-based practice, for example the problem of investment of time, are reflected on. The paper concludes that organisations may be distinguished according to both their spatial and transpatial structure (referring to a concept initially introduced by Hillier and Hanson in their study of societies). This means that evidence-based design in office architecture needs to recognise that it deals with a multiplicity of possible organisational forms, with specific clients requiring case-dependent research and evidence gathering. In this evidence-based design practice differs markedly from evidence-based medicine. Finally, we suggest a framework for systematic review inclusion criteria in the development of Evidence-Based Design as a field of practice. We argue that it is only through the development of an approach tailored to the specific nature of design practice and organisational function that research evidence can properly be brought to bear

Dust Transport in Protostellar Disks Through Turbulence and Settling

We apply ionization balance and MHD calculations to investigate whether magnetic activity moderated by recombination on dust can account for the mass accretion rates and the mid-infrared spectra and variability of protostellar disks. The MHD calculations use the stratified shearing-box approach and include grain settling and the feedback from the changing dust abundance on the resistivity of the gas. The two-decade spread in accretion rates among T Tauri stars is too large to result solely from variety in the grain size and stellar X-ray luminosity, but can be produced by varying these together with the disk magnetic flux. The diversity in the silicate bands can come from the coupling of grain settling to the distribution of the magneto-rotational turbulence, through three effects: (1) Recombination on grains yields a magnetically inactive dead zone extending above two scale heights, while turbulence in the magnetically active disk atmosphere overshoots the dead zone boundary by only about one scale height. (2) Grains deep in the dead zone oscillate vertically in waves driven by the turbulent layer above, but on average settle at the laminar rates, so the interior of the dead zone is a particle sink and the disk atmosphere becomes dust-depleted. (3) With sufficient depletion, the dead zone is thinner and mixing dredges grains off the midplane. The MHD results also show that the magnetic activity intermittently lifts clouds of dust into the atmosphere. The photosphere height changes by up to one-third over a few orbits, while the extinction along lines of sight grazing the disk surface varies by factors of two over times down to 0.1 orbit. We suggest that the changing shadows cast by the dust clouds on the outer disk are a cause of the daily to monthly mid-infrared variability in some young stars. (Abridged.)Comment: ApJ in pres

Comparative studies of offices pre and post — how changing spatial configurations affect organisational behaviours

Understanding the way in which design interventions in an office affect everyday users, and thus shape organisational behaviour, should be high on the agenda for architects, designers and consultants alike. Surprisingly, this seems rarely to be the case. Here we aim to help close this gap by studying a variety of organisations in depth both before and after an office move from the point of view of design practice. This paper thus aims at understanding how a newly designed office is seen, used and filled with life by staff, so that planners can continuously and systematically reflect on and learn from experience, and create effective and well-used workplaces for the future. The research and reflective practice presented in this paper resulted from a collaboration on 'Effective Workplaces' between The Bartlett School of Graduate Studies at University College London and Spacelab architects. Insights from in-depth case studies conducted over the last four years on various corporate clients in the media sector in the UK will be drawn upon. The studies each compared an organisation before and after it moved into a Spacelab-designed office. Two different lines of argument will be presented: firstly, results of the pre-post comparison of organisations before and after moving into a newly designed space suggest that physical space influences the way in which organisations communicate, interact, and perform in many ways. Secondly, the practical side of evidence-based design will be discussed. It can be seen that designers would do things differently if they had had the specific evidence prior to the design process. At the same time, difficulties arise in conducting 'evidence-based' practice, for example the problem of time in a business environment where designers are often asked to deliver solutions within days or weeks, whereas gaining a good understanding of a complex organisation may take months. These issues will be reflected on. General conclusions on the use and usefulness of Space Syntax in an architectural practice will be drawn

Effective workplaces – bridging the gap between architectural research and design practice.

Architectural researchers and design practitioners mostly segregate in distinct communities with hardly any overlap, collaboration or exchange of ideas. This gap between research and practice leads to a wide-spread ignorance and inability to make practical use of evidence produced by research, resulting too often in poor designs and a self-absorbed research that cannot make a difference to peoples’ everyday lives and spatial experience. In order to bridge the gap between architectural research and design practice, UCL’s Bartlett School of Graduate Studies and Spacelab Ltd. have commited themselves to a Knowledge Transfer Partnership on Effective Workplaces. Ideas and concepts on how to change architectural business to combine research and practice will be presented as well as the first analytical results from this newly started venture

A field-based fitness testing battery for Rugby League

Rugby league football originated in the north of England in the 1890’s and is now played globally. Participating nations in the southern hemisphere include Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Samoa, with only the British Isles (England, Scotland, and Wales), Ireland, and France representing the Northern Hemisphere. Currently, little data exists regarding the physical demands of professional rugby league, with evidence being solely represented through sub-elite10 and junior players.18 This knowledge however, is fundamental when designing strength and conditioning programmes and specific to this article, fitness testing batteries. Therefore, the purpose of this article is two fold. Firstly, to conduct a needs analysis of rugby league and thus identify the fundamental fitness parameters. Then secondly, compare and contrast tests deemed suitable to assess these and from which a testing battery will be advised. The fitness testing battery will also be considered based on the practical experience gained from working with professional rugby league teams. This is an important step in bridging the gap between the theory and application of sport science, whereby the constraints of the work place can also be commented on

Spreading of Block Copolymer Films and Domain Alignment at Moving Terrace Steps

We investigate spreading of phase separated copolymer films, where domain walls and thickness steps influence polymer flow. We show that at early stages of spreading its rate is determined by slow activated flow at terrace steps (i.e. thickness steps). At late stages of spreading, on the other hand, the rate is determined by the flow along terraces, with diffusion-like time dependence $t^{-1/2}$. This dependence is similar to de Gennes and Cazabat's prediction for generic layered liquids, as opposed to the classical Tanner's law of drop spreading. We also argue that chain hopping at the spreading terrace steps should lead to the formation of aligned, defect-free domain patterns on the growing terraces.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, submitted to J. Chem. Phy

X-ray variability analysis of a large series of XMM-Newton + NuSTAR observations of NGC 3227

We present a series of X-ray variability results from a long XMM-Newton + NuSTAR campaign on the bright, variable AGN NGC 3227. We present an analysis of the lightcurves, showing that the source displays typically softer-when-brighter behaviour, although also undergoes significant spectral hardening during one observation which we interpret as due to an occultation event by a cloud of absorbing gas. We spectrally decompose the data and show that the bulk of the variability is continuum-driven and, through rms variability analysis, strongly enhanced in the soft band. We show that the source largely conforms to linear rms-flux behaviour and we compute X-ray power spectra, detecting moderate evidence for a bend in the power spectrum, consistent with existing scaling relations. Additionally, we compute X-ray Fourier time lags using both the XMM-Newton and - through maximum-likelihood methods - NuSTAR data, revealing a strong low-frequency hard lag and evidence for a soft lag at higher frequencies, which we discuss in terms of reverberation models.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS; 19 pages, 13 figures, 4 tables; minor typographical errors corrected and reference list update

Channelized melt flow in downwelling mantle: Implications for 226Ra-210Pb disequilibria in arc magmas

We present the results of an analytical model of porous flow of viscous melt into a steadily dilating ‘‘channel’’ (defined as a cluster of smaller veins) in downwelling subarc mantle. The model predicts the pressure drop in the mantle wedge matrix surrounding the channel needed to drive melt flow as a function of position and time. Melt is sucked toward the dilatant region at a near-constant velocity (105 s1) until veins comprising the channel stop opening (t = t). Fluid elements that complete their journey within the time span t < t arrive at a channel. Our results make it possible to calculate the region of influence sampled by melt that surrounds the channel. This region is large compared to the model size of the channelized region driving flow. For a baseline dilation time of 1 year and channel half width of 2 m, melt can be sampled over an 80-m radius and has the opportunity to sample matrix material with potentially contrasting chemistry on geologically short timescales. Our mechanical results are consistent with a downgoing arc mantle wedge source region where melting and melt extraction by porous flow to a channel network are sufficiently rapid to preserve source-derived 238U-230Th-226Ra, and potentially also 226 Ra-210Pb, disequilibria, prior to magma ascent to the surface. Since this is the rate-determining step in the overall process, it allows the possibility that such short-lived disequilibria measured in arc rocks at the surface are derived from deep in the mantle wedge. Stresses due to partial melting do not appear capable of producing the desired sucking effect, while the order of magnitude rate of shear required to drive dilation of 107 s1 is much larger than values resulting from steady state subduction. We conclude that local deformation rates in excess of background plate tectonic rates are needed to ‘‘switch on’’ the dilatant channel network and to initiate the sucking effect

Assessing group-based changes in high-performance sport. Part 1: null hypothesis significance testing and the utility of p values

The role of a strength and conditioning coach (SCC) has evolved over the last 10 years to accommodate the large influx of data now available. As such, today’s SCC must extend their skill set to include data analysis, understanding the validity and utility of p values, effect sizes, confidence intervals, and terms such as the smallest worthwhile change, and minimal difference. The aim of part one of this two-part review is to define and discuss the utility of null hypothesis significance testing (NHST), p values, and error rates. In part two, we introduce effect sizes, measures of variability, and confidence intervals, culminating in recommendations as to which may be the most viable options within the context of performance-based sport, and thus potential methods to report group-based changes