Capabilities and accessibility: a model for progress

Accessibility is seen to be a core issue which relates directly to the quality of life: if a person cannot reach and use a facility then they cannot take advantage of the benefits that the facility is seeking to provide. In some cases this is about being able to take part in an activity for enjoyment, but in some it is a question of the exercise of human rights – access to healthcare, education, voting and other citizens’ rights. This paper argues that such an equitable accessibility approach requires understanding of the relationships between the capabilities that a person has and the capabilities required of them by society in order to achieve the accessibility they seek. The Capabilities Model, which has been developed at UCL is an attempt to understand this relationship and the paper sets out an approach to quantifying the capabilities in a way that allows designers and implementers of environmental construction and operation to have a more robust approach to their decisions about providing accessibility.Peer Reviewe

Adaptive Governance as an Avenue for Delivering Public Purpose in the Wake of Financialization

The demand for infrastructure and utility services is an acute challenge for countries in middle- and low-income countries undergoing high levels of urbanization, demographic shifts, and civil and political reorganization. The demand for utilities occurs alongside a trend toward increased financialization of the local state. A challenge for meeting demand for utility services is the shift toward increased financialization where the delivery of public purpose is challenged. This chapter aims to highlight governing arrangements that aid in understanding how public purpose can be delivered through utilities using the case study of Medellin, Colombia. Through examples of public infrastructure projects and the delivery of water by its utility-company, Empresas Publicas de Medellin, the paper discusses how this company achieved alignment of essential services with public purpose through adaptive governance structures that mitigate adverse effects of financialization and promote the integration of economic, environmental, and social goals. While this case does not propose a transferable model of governance, it highlights arrangements that enable a more mixed, adaptive, and nuanced understanding of how adverse effects associated with total financialization might be abated

Cost Efficient Radio Telescope

This project aims to construct a smaller and less expensive radio telescope compared to traditional radio telescope designs by utilizing a Software Defined Radio (SDR). This is the first stage of a multi-year effort to bring radio astronomy capabilities to Santa Clara University. The implementation of this project includes designing and building a pyramidal horn antenna centered around the hydrogen line frequency of 1420 MHz. The project will also be comparing specifications of low noise amplifiers (LNA) and designing band-pass filters. Lastly, this project implements an SDR to process the signals received by the telescope to recreate a map of the movements of celestial objects in the galaxy

Concert recording 2014-11-30

[Track 01]. Wicca / Casey Cangelosi -- [Track 02]. Suomineito / Nebojsa Zivkovic -- [Track 03]. Velocities / Joseph Schwantner -- [Track 04]. Raga no. 1 / William Cahn -- [Track 05]. Pure imagination / arranged by Alex Stopa and Tyler Simmons -- [Track 06]. Catching shadows / Ivan Trevino

Investigating ramp gradients for humps on railway platforms

Horizontal and vertical gaps between the train and the platform are a major safety concern for railway passengers, especially for disabled passengers. London Underground is implementing a programme to install platform humps to remove vertical differences between the train and the platform. In order to properly design platform humps, this study empirically investigated the effects of the design factors of the ramps, namely the slope and cross-fall gradients, on disabled passengers. The investigation consisted of two experiments: one where 20 participants were asked to walk on simulated slopes, and the other where 25 participants were asked to board or alight from the simulated train from or onto the slopes. The slope gradients tested were 3·0% (1:33), 5·2% (1:19) and 6·9% (1:14) with the cross-fall gradients 1·5% (1:67), 2·0% (1:50) and 2·5% (1:40). The results showed that the slope gradient does not largely affect the participants’ performance of longitudinal walking on the slopes or their subjective safety evaluation, but would cause additional difficulty for them to board/alight from the train from/onto the slope. This suggests that train doors should not stop next to the ramp. There was little evidence concerning the effects of the cross-fall gradient. The results provide useful information for designing platform humps

Networks of asylum support in the UK and USA: a handbook of ideas, strategies and best practice for asylum support groups in a challenging social and economic climate

Asylum Network Project Repor

Stride Length, but Not Body Borne Load Impacts Gait Stability

Military personnel are required to alter their stride length to run with heavy body borne loads during training. This may compromise their gait stability and increase the risk of suffering fall related musculoskeletal injury. This study quantified how running with body borne loads impact gait stability and whether it differed with stride length. Twelve male participants had medial-lateral (ML) gait stability quantified while running 4.0 m/s with four borne loads (20, 25, 30, and 35 kg). Each participant had ML margin of stability (MoS) calculated when using a normal stride (NS), short (SS, -15% of NS), and long stride (LS, +15 of NS) to run. The MoS measures were submitted to RM ANOVA to test main and interactions effects of load (20,25,30, and 35 kg) and stride (NS, SS, LS) with alpha level at

Load and Sex Impact Active Lower Limb Muscle Volume During Running

Military training requires personnel to safely dissipate large ground reaction forces to avert musculoskeletal injury. Training often requires running with heavy body borne loads, but it is currently unknown if active lower limb muscle volume increases when running with load, and whether muscle volume differs between sexes. Thirty-six (20 Male, 16 Female) participants had lower limb muscle volume quantified when running 4.0 m/s with four body borne loads (20, 25, 30, 35 kg). Custom Matlab code calculated hip, knee, and ankle muscle force (Fm=Mjoint/r) and volume (Vm= L×Fm/σ), using moment arm (r), fascicle length (L) and isometric muscle force per unit of cross-sectional area (σ=20N/cm2) data obtained from published work. Muscle volume was submitted to an RM ANOVA to test the main effect and interaction between sex (male, female) and load (20, 25, 30, 35 kg). Alpha was p \u3c 0.05. Females used greater knee muscle volume than males to run with the 20 (p=0.019) and 35 kg (p=0.017), but not 25 (p=0.280) or 30 kg (p=0.534) loads. Load increased active muscle volume increased at the ankle (p=0.012), but not hip (p=0.112) or knee (p=0.887). Sex had no effect on active muscle volume (p\u3e0.05)

The Association between Physical Environment and Externalising Problems in Typically Developing and Neurodiverse Children and Young People: A Narrative Review

The physical environment is of critical importance to child development. Understanding how exposure to physical environmental domains such as greenspace, urbanicity, air pollution or noise affects aggressive behaviours in typical and neurodiverse children is of particular importance given the significant long-term impact of those problems. In this narrative review, we investigated the evidence for domains of the physical environment that may ameliorate or contribute to the display of aggressive behaviours. We have considered a broad range of study designs that include typically developing and neurodiverse children and young people aged 0-18 years. We used the GRADE system to appraise the evidence. Searches were performed in eight databases in July 2020 and updated in June 2022. Additional articles were further identified by hand-searching reference lists of included papers. The protocol for the review was preregistered with PROSPERO. Results: We retrieved 7174 studies of which 67 are included in this review. The studies reported on green space, environmental noise and music, air pollution, meteorological effects, spatial density, urban or rural setting, and interior home elements (e.g., damp/sensory aspects/colour). They all used well validated parent and child reported measures of aggressive behaviour. Most of the studies were rated as having low or unclear risk of bias. As expected, noise, air pollution, urbanicity, spatial density, colour and humidity appeared to increase the display of aggressive behaviours. There was a dearth of studies on the role of the physical environment in neurodiverse children. The studies were heterogeneous and measured a range of aggressive behaviours from symptoms to full syndromes. Greenspace exposure was the most common domain studied but certainty of evidence for the association between environmental exposures and aggression problems in the child or young person was low across all domains. We found a large knowledge gap in the literature concerning neurodiverse children, which suggests that future studies should focus on these children, who are also more likely to experience adverse early life experiences including living in more deprived environments as well as being highly vulnerable to the onset of mental ill health. Such research should also aim to dis-aggregate the underlying aetiological mechanisms for environmental influences on aggression, the results of which may point to pathways for public health interventions and policy development to address inequities that can be relevant to ill health in neurodiverse young people