Evolving Design Pedagogies: Broadening Universal Design for Social Justice

Universal Design came into prominence as a successor to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), contributing to broader notions of accessibility beyond baseline codes and standards. Rooted in human factors research, Universal Design primarily centers on supporting human performance through the development of accessible and usable environments (Steinfeld and Maisel 2012, 95-96). As such, Universal Design pedagogies predominantly focus on enhancing environments for people with disabilities and aging populations (O Shea 2018, 721; Steinfeld and Maisel 2012, 49). However, some believe Universal Design is on the cusp of a paradigm shift to address broader aspects of social justice (Salmen 2012; Steinfeld and Maisel 2012, 159-160). This paper synthesizes existing literature to explore how current academic and practice-facing Universal Design pedagogies support the movement’s expansion to address social justice across demographic groups. Critical audiences for this work include architectural educators, students, researchers, policymakers, and building professionals interested in advancing the theory and practice of Universal Design. Recommendations from this work reposition Universal Design pedagogies as a pathway for creating more equitable and inclusive buildings, spaces, and communities that are truly designed for all.&nbsp

Effect of high-pressure processing on the microbial load and functionality of sugar-cookie dough

Background and objectives: Refrigerated dough products have the potential to be a safety hazard to consumers because they could be consumed raw or undercooked. The objectives of this study were designed to evaluate the microbial and functionality changes in high pressured sugar-cookie dough as a function of aw (0.80–0.87), pressure level (100–600 MPa), and holding time (1–6 min). Findings: Endogenous microbial populations were marginally reduced (0.2–0.5 log CFU/g) by pressure treatments. However, treating the dough at 600 MPa for 6 min significantly reduced counts of inoculated Escherichia coli by as much as 2.0 log CFU/g. Increasing the aw of cookie dough from 0.80 to 0.87 did not play a significant role in the reduction of microbial counts; however, it yielded a softer and thicker cookie when baked. Dough and cookie physical characteristics did not differ significantly among HPP-treated and control doughs within the same aw level. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that pressure treatment has the potential to improve the microbiological quality of wheat-based cookie doughs. However, variations in food matrix composition must be considered because some food constituents, such as sugar and fat, may protect microorganisms against pressure-induced inactivation. Significance and novelty: The results reported here have practical implications for the food industry and contributes to understand the effects of high-pressure processing on wheat-based cookie doughs and their microbial loads

The role of angular momentum in the construction of electromagnetic multipolar fields

Multipolar solutions of Maxwell's equations are used in many practical applications and are essential for the understanding of light-matter interactions at the fundamental level. Unlike the set of plane wave solutions of electromagnetic fields, the multipolar solutions do not share a standard derivation or notation. As a result, expressions originating from different derivations can be difficult to compare. Some of the derivations of the multipolar solutions do not explicitly show their relation to the angular momentum operators, thus hiding important properties of these solutions. In this article, the relation between two of the most common derivations of this set of solutions is explicitly shown and their relation to the angular momentum operators is exposed.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figure

A psychometric evaluation of the Defence Style Questionnaire-40 in a UK forensic patient population

Psychological defence mechanisms have been considered important personality processes in the onset, maintenance and recovery of mental disorders. More recently, their application to understanding presenting problems and as potential outcome indicators for forensic patients has been recommended. However, to date there have been no investigations into the reliability and factor structure of defence mechanism assessments for this population. The current study investigated the factor structure, internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the Defence Style Questionnaire-40 (DSQ) for 160 adult male UK forensic patients. The three-factor model of defences proposed by the DSQ-40 developers was not confirmed in the study sample. Reliability indices of the three factors indicated that the Immature factor was the most ‘acceptable’ in terms of internal consistency. Test-retest reliability coefficients ranged from .70 to .91. A revised three-factor structure that closely corresponds to the original validation study is recommended following an exploratory factor analysis. The findings are compared with previous reliability and factor analytic evaluations of the DSQ-40, and recommendations for its use with forensic patients are discussed

Deciding to Disclose a Mental Health Condition in Male Dominated Workplaces; A Focus-Group Study

Objectives: Deciding to disclose a mental illness in the workplace requires thoughtful informed decision making. Decision aids are increasingly used to help people make complex decisions, but need to incorporate relevant factors for the context. This study aimed to identify factors and processes that influence decision making about such disclosure to inform the development of a disclosure decision aid tool for employees in male dominated industries.Methods: We invited 15 partner organisations in male dominated industries to facilitate the recruitment of employees who either had disclosed a mental health condition in their workplace; or occupied a position to whom employees disclosed to focus groups addressing the aims.Results: The majority of the organisations had explicit policies that employees must disclose and so were unable to be seen countenancing non-disclosure as an option. Two focus groups were conducted (n = 13) with mainly male (62%), full-time employees (85%), and both disclosed (46%) and authority (54%) groups. Six themes, all barriers, were identified as influencing decision making processes: knowledge about symptoms, and self-discrimination (internal), stigma and discrimination by others, limited managerial support, dissatisfaction with services, and/or a risk of job or financial loss (external).Conclusion: Decisions to disclose mental health conditions, even by those who had done so, appear driven entirely by consideration of negative aspects. This suggests that anti-discrimination policy, legislation, awareness campaigns, and manager training have yet to change negative perceptions, and that any decision aid tool needs to incorporate counterfactual positive aspects that appear not to be an important consideration in such male dominated workplaces. There is a disconnect between organisational policies favouring disclosure and employees favouring non-disclosure that has caused tension within the organisational culture. Decision aid tools may assist employees with an active disclosure without waiting for an event to occur, giving the control of the decision back to the employee

Prevention of child behavior problems through universal implementation of a group behavioral family intervention.

The aim of this mental health promotion initiative was to evaluate the effectiveness of a universally delivered group behavioral family intervention (BFI) in preventing behavior problems in children. This study investigates the transferability of an efficacious clinical program to a universal prevention intervention delivered through child and community health services targeting parents of preschoolers within a metropolitan health region. A quasiexperimental two-group (BFI, n=804 vs. Comparison group, n=806) longitudinal design followed preschool aged children and their parents over a 2-year period. BFI was associated with significant reductions in parent-reported levels of dysfunctional parenting and parent-reported levels of child behavior problems. Effect sizes on child behavior problems ranged from large (.83) to moderate (.47). Positive and significant effects were also observed in parent mental health, marital adjustment, and levels of child rearing conflict. Findings are discussed with respect to their implication for significant population reductions in child behavior problems as well as the pragmatic challenges for prevention science in encouraging both the evaluation and uptake of preventive initiatives in real world settings

The genetics of nicotine addiction liability: Ethical and social policy implications

Aim To assess the promise and risks of technological applications of genetic research on liability to develop nicotine dependence. Methods We reviewed (i) the evidence on the genetics of nicotine dependence; (ii) the technical feasibility of using genetic information to reduce smoking uptake and increase cessation; and (iii) policy and ethical issues raised by the uses of genetic information on addiction liability. Results (i) Despite evidence from twin studies that genes contribute to addiction susceptibility, research to date has not identified commonly occurring alleles that are strongly predictive of developing nicotine addiction. Nicotine addiction is likely to involve multiple alleles of small effect that interact with each other and with the environment. (ii) Population screening for susceptibility alleles is unlikely to be effective or cost-effective. Tailoring of smoking cessation treatments with genetic information is more plausible but results to date have been disappointing. Population health strategies such as increased taxation and reduced opportunities to smoke are more efficient in reducing cigarette smoking. Tobacco harm reduction policies applied to populations may also play a role in reducing tobacco-related harm. (iii) Future uses of genomic information on addiction risk will need to assess the risks of medicalising addiction (e.g. pessimism about capacity to quit) and community concerns about genetic privacy. Conclusions Nicotine genomics is a very new and underdeveloped field. On the evidence to date, its advocates would be wise to avoid extravagant claims about its preventive applications

The state of the evidence base for psychodynamic psychotherapy for children and adolescents

This article reviews outcomes of psychodynamic psychotherapy (PP) for children and adolescents reported in articles identified by a comprehensive review of the literature on treatment evaluations of psychological and medical interventions for mental disorders in pediatric populations. The review identified 48 reports based on 33 studies. While there is evidence of substantial clinical gains associated with PP, in almost all the studies, when contrasted with family-based interventions, PP fares no better and appears to produce outcomes with some delay relative to family-based therapies. Further rigorous evaluations are needed, but evidence to date suggests that the context in which PP is delivered should be extended from the traditional context of individual therapy and parents should be included in the treatment of children