The Design Process- Making It Relevant For Students

Within the ever-changing arenas of architectural design and education, the core element of architectural education remains – that of the design process. The consideration of ‘how’ to design in addition to ‘what’ to design presents architectural educators with that most constant and demanding challenge of “how do we best teach the design process?” This challenge is arguably most acute at a student’s early stages of their architectural education. In their first years in architecture, students will commonly concentrate on the end product rather than the process. This is, in many ways, understandable. A great deal of time, money and effort go into their final presentations. They believe that it is “what is on the wall” that is going to be assessed. In an era of increasing speed, immediacy of information and powerful advertising, it is not surprising that students want to race quickly to presenting an end-product. Recognizing that trend, new teaching methods and models were introduced into the Stage 02 undergraduate studio over the past two years at Queen’s University Belfast, aimed at promoting student self-reflection and making the design process more relevant to the students. This paper will first generate a critical discussion on the difficulties associated with the design process before outlining some of the methods employed to help promote the following; an understanding of concept, adding realism and value to the design process and finally, getting the students to play to their strengths in illustrating their design process like an element of product and promoting personalization of the design process for each individual student. Frameworks, examples, outcomes and student feedback will all be presented to help illustrate the effectiveness of the new strategies employed in making the design process firstly, more relevant and therefore secondly, of greater value, to the architecture student

Identifying Enrollment Factors at New River Community College

The problem of this study was to determine significant factors that facilitated enrollment increases at New River Community College

An Annotated Checklist of the Crayfishes (Decapoda: Cambaridae) of Arkansas

Prior to the present study, 56 species with 3 additional subspecies for a total of 59 different taxa of crayfishes were recognized from Arkansas. We add a single species (Carmel Crayfish, Fallicambarus schusteri) to that list, subtract a documented synonym (Procambarus ferrugenius = Procambarus liberorum), update the classification to better reflect recent phylogenetic insights, and provide an updated annotated checklist of the 59 crayfish taxa of presently known from the state. There are 8 endemic species in Arkansas, including the Bayou Bodcau Crayfish (Bouchardina robisoni), Boston Mountains Crayfish (Cambarus causeyi), Hell Creek Cave Crayfish (C. zophonastes), Jefferson County Crayfish (Creaserinus gilpini), Ouachita Burrowing Crayfish (Fallicambarus harpi), Slenderwrist Burrowing Crayfish (F. petilicarpus), Saline Burrowing Crayfish (F. strawni), and Redspotted Stream Crayfish (Faxonius acares). There are also 2 federally endangered species, the Benton County Cave Crayfish (Cambarus aculabrum) and the Hell Creek Cave Crayfish (C. zophonastes) that inhabit Arkansas karst habitat. We expect that additional species will be included in the list with further DNA analyses

Living Independently: Exploring the Experiences of Visually Impaired People Living in Age-Related and Lifetime Housing Through Qualitative Synthesis

Objectives: The aim of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of the experiences of visually impaired older people living independently at home. Background: As populations are aging globally, there is now an increase in the prevalence of visual impairment. That means for ongoing and future aging-in-place strategies that seek to enable older people to remain independent for longer, more attention needs to be given to the needs of those with visual impairment. As people develop visual impairment, they use adaptive strategies including modifying long-term homes or relocating to more suitable accommodation. In the United Kingdom, aging-in-place strategies include employing statutory lifetime home standards (LTHS) in the home or relocating to sheltered housing to live independently with support available if required. Methods: To get a better understanding of the needs of the visually impaired in the home, 12 interviews with six visually impaired occupants of LTHS homes and six from sheltered accommodation were analyzed separately using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Secondly, qualitative synthesis was used to further analyze themes generated from both samples before interview results were conceptualized in two superordinate concepts, namely, “negotiating priorities” and “understanding visual impairment.” Results: Participants from both groups had similar needs and were willing to compromise by living with some negative features. Those who coped well with moving utilized various resources. Conclusions: These findings will shed more understanding on providing good quality housing for those with visual impairment wanting to live either independently or within healthcare home environments

Cost-effectiveness of a tetravalent human papillomavirus vaccine in Germany

Aim: Clinical trials have demonstrated the efficacy of the tetravalent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination in the prevention of cervical cancer and genital warts associated with HPV types 6, 11, 16 and 18. We used an empirically calibrated Markov cohort model of the natural history of HPV to assess the cost-effectiveness of the vaccine administered to 12-year-old girls alongside existing cervical screening programmes in Germany. Subjects and methods: The model estimated cervical cancer (CC), cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and genital wart lifetime risks and total lifetime health care costs, life years gained and quality-adjusted life years (QALY) gained. The analysis was conducted from the perspective of the German health care payer. Results: In the base case (considering a lifetime duration of protection and 100% efficacy) it was estimated that 2,835 cervical cancer cases and 679 deaths could be prevented among a cohort of 400,000, at an incremental cost per QALY gained of 10,530 €. A total of 120 girls needed to be vaccinated to prevent 1 case of CC. Cost-effectiveness is sensitive to a duration of protection of less than 20 years and to the discount rate for costs and benefits. Conclusion: A policy of vaccinating adolescent girls has been recommended by the German Standing Committee on Vaccinations. This study has demonstrated that such a policy is cost-effective based on thresholds of cost-effectiveness that apply in Germany

Finding a way: long-term care homes to support dementia

An ageing demographic has increased the number of people with dementia. Although dementia is commonly associated with memory loss, other early symptoms include difficulty with wayfinding. Dementia alters visuo-spatial perception and the processes used to interpret the physical environment. The role of the design of the physical environment for people with dementia has gained increased recognition. Despite this, design for dementia is often overlooked, focusing on issues relating to physical impairment. This paper presents the results of a PhD study and aims to examine the role of the design of the physical environment in supporting wayfinding for people with dementia living in long-term care settings in Northern Ireland. Mixed methods combined the observation of wayfinding walks and conversational style interviews to elicit perspectives and experiences of residents with dementia. The findings aim to promote well-being for those with dementia living in long-term care settings

Implications of lowering threshold of plasma troponin concentration in diagnosis of myocardial infarction: cohort study

Objective To assess the relation between troponin concentration, assay precision, and clinical outcomes in patients with suspected acute coronary syndrome

Evaluating the Quality of Research into a Single Prognostic Biomarker: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of 83 Studies of C-Reactive Protein in Stable Coronary Artery Disease

Background Systematic evaluations of the quality of research on a single prognostic biomarker are rare. We sought to evaluate the quality of prognostic research evidence for the association of C-reactive protein (CRP) with fatal and nonfatal events among patients with stable coronary disease. Methods and Findings We searched MEDLINE (1966 to 2009) and EMBASE (1980 to 2009) and selected prospective studies of patients with stable coronary disease, reporting a relative risk for the association of CRP with death and nonfatal cardiovascular events. We included 83 studies, reporting 61,684 patients and 6,485 outcome events. No study reported a prespecified statistical analysis protocol; only two studies reported the time elapsed (in months or years) between initial presentation of symptomatic coronary disease and inclusion in the study. Studies reported a median of seven items (of 17) from the REMARK reporting guidelines, with no evidence of change over time. The pooled relative risk for the top versus bottom third of CRP distribution was 1.97 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.78–2.17), with substantial heterogeneity (I2 = 79.5). Only 13 studies adjusted for conventional risk factors (age, sex, smoking, obesity, diabetes, and low-density lipoprotein [LDL] cholesterol) and these had a relative risk of 1.65 (95% CI 1.39–1.96), I2 = 33.7. Studies reported ten different ways of comparing CRP values, with weaker relative risks for those based on continuous measures. Adjusting for publication bias (for which there was strong evidence, Egger's p<0.001) using a validated method reduced the relative risk to 1.19 (95% CI 1.13–1.25). Only two studies reported a measure of discrimination (c-statistic). In 20 studies the detection rate for subsequent events could be calculated and was 31% for a 10% false positive rate, and the calculated pooled c-statistic was 0.61 (0.57–0.66). Conclusion Multiple types of reporting bias, and publication bias, make the magnitude of any independent association between CRP and prognosis among patients with stable coronary disease sufficiently uncertain that no clinical practice recommendations can be made. Publication of prespecified statistical analytic protocols and prospective registration of studies, among other measures, might help improve the quality of prognostic biomarker research