Development of a Communication Tool to Frame a Vision for Changing Neighbourhoods

Post war neighborhoods all over Europe are facing different kind of challenges in order to adapt them for the use in the future. The predominant factor in many concepts of neighborhood refurbishments is the energy demand of the buildings. In connection, many research projects focus on the reduction of CO2 emissions omitting the fact that this specific value does not have any immediate benefit on the residents themselves, neither on a psychological nor on an economical level. Benefits are solely on a macro-economic level, which rarely is calculated and most likely cannot be communicated as a benefit to the residents in a comprehensible fashion. The methodological approach presented in this paper reflects an iterative process of establishing a vision for a neighborhood development strategy. Its core is an iterative process, using the tools of questionnaires, workshops and focus group discussions, which includes the owners of the buildings, the local energy provider, policy makers, representation of the residents and research experts. Singular priorities were harmonized in the form of a questionnaire and multiple workshops. Based on this process, five key areas of action (energy, living space, open space, social and mobility) have been identified. It is valid for an urban area with mostly social housing, erected between 1966 and 1976. The reference neighborhood houses approximately 2,500 inhabitants and is situated in the town of Salzburg/Austria. The developed iterative process is multipliable and transferrable to comparable urban areas, which share a set of similarities. It is the basis for future decisions and gives orientation to the building owners, the energy provider and policy makers. Besides the methodology the outcome of this process are a poster, a folder and a detailed catalog of measures. The poster and the folder visualise the neighborhood development strategy. A set of characters, icons and photos including easily comprehensible comics were developed. Those design features are important in order to create a recognition value and to stimulate acceptance among the inhabitants of the neighborhood. Moreover, the low-threshold approach of the design facilitates future communication with the concerned public. The methodology of the neighborhood development strategy guarantees the inclusion of all stakeholders and supports a prioritization in order to decide on future measures that can lead to a more energy-efficient and liveable development of neighborhoods in need of adaptation

Correction of misaligned slices in multi-slice cardiovascular magnetic resonance using slice-to-volume registration

A popular technique to reduce respiratory motion for cardiovascular magnetic resonance is to perform a multi-slice acquisition in which a patient holds their breath multiple times during the scan. The feasibility of rigid slice-to-volume registration to correct for misalignments of slice stacks in such images due to differing breath-hold positions is explored. Experimental results indicate that slice-to-volume registration can compensate for the typical misalignments expected. Correction of slice misalignment results in anatomically more correct images, as well as improved left ventricular volume measurements. The interstudy reproducibility has also been improved reducing the number of samples needed for cardiac MR studies

Outcomes of ureteroscopy for stone disease in anomalous kidneys: a systematic review

Introduction: Treatment of stone disease in anomalous kidneys can be challenging. As ureteroscopy (URS) has advanced, the number of studies reporting on outcomes of URS for stone disease in anomalous kidneys has increased. Our objective was to perform a systematic review of the literature to evaluate the outcomes of URS for stone disease in this group of patients. Methods: A Cochrane style review was performed in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines using Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Scopus and individual urologic journals for all English language articles between inception and June 2018. Results: Fourteen papers (413 patients) with a mean age of 43 years and a male to female ratio of 285:128 were included. The underlying renal anomaly was horseshoe kidney (n = 204), ectopic kidney (n = 117), malrotation (n = 86), cross fused ectopia (n = 2) and others (n = 2). With a mean stone size of 16 mm (range 2–35 mm), the majority of stones were in the lower pole (n = 143, 34.6%) or renal pelvis (n = 128, 31.0%), with 18.9% (n = 78) having stones in multiple locations. Treatment modality included the use of flexible ureteroscope in 90% of patients and ureteral access sheath used in 11 studies. With a mean operative time of 61.3 min (range 14–185 min), the initial and final SFR was 76.6% (n = 322) and 82.3% (n = 340), respectively. The overall complication rate was 17.2% (n = 71), of which 14.8% were Clavien I/II and the remaining 2.4% were Clavien ≥ III complications. Conclusion: Although ureteroscopy in patients with anomalous kidneys can be technically challenging, advancements in endourological techniques have made it a safe and effective procedure. In these patients the stone-free rates are good with a low risk of major complications.</p