The Visual Driver; promoting clarity and coherence

Drawing from a research-based case study for a vision support charity, this professional paper articulates the role of a 'visual driver' as a key tool in shaping a rebranding. The 'visual driver' is a visual-based rubric of nine subjects, each with an image critically selected to capture the personality and essence of an entity. The paper discusses challenges around identifying the subtleties of a brand, how it behaves, its world outlook, its tone of voice. All difficult to define. However, once established, the designer’s journey towards creating a successful brand with personality becomes clear. Furthermore, the participatory nature of the 'visual driver' rubric – as it passes between designer and client, communicates early ideation as well as initiating an informed dialogue between multiple parties. The flexibility, accessibility and the participatory nature of this method are especially critical when working alongside clients with sensory impairments. The case study within the paper demonstrates the flexibility of the ‘Visual Driver’ to incorporate textures which enhance the effectiveness of the tool for an organisation dealing with visual impairment. The paper articulates how the 'visual rubric' enables designers to work collaboratively with clients, comparing their creative thinking and ensuring a better awareness and understanding of the brand challenges from client and end-user perspectives. Increasingly, developing a modern brand strategy demands a multiplicity of additional sensory feedback— aural, touch sonic etc. The paper concludes by presenting and discussing how a multisensory 'visual driver' was used to facilitate a rebrand

Visualization techniques to aid in the analysis of multi-spectral astrophysical data sets

This report describes our project activities for the period Sep. 1991 - Oct. 1992. Our activities included stabilizing the software system STAR, porting STAR to IDL/widgets (improved user interface), targeting new visualization techniques for multi-dimensional data visualization (emphasizing 3D visualization), and exploring leading-edge 3D interface devices. During the past project year we emphasized high-end visualization techniques, by exploring new tools offered by state-of-the-art visualization software (such as AVS3 and IDL4/widgets), by experimenting with tools still under research at the Department of Computer Science (e.g., use of glyphs for multidimensional data visualization), and by researching current 3D input/output devices as they could be used to explore 3D astrophysical data. As always, any project activity is driven by the need to interpret astrophysical data more effectively

An evaluation of the role of the Admiral Nurse : a systematic evidence synthesis to inform service delivery and research

Two thirds of people with dementia live in the community and receive support from family members. There is a great deal of evidence to suggest that caring for a person with dementia impacts on the health and wellbeing of family carers. Despite this the provision of funded support for family carers is often limited or inadequate. Admiral Nurses, developed in the 1990s, were specifically designed by the charity for dementia (now Dementia UK) to support the family carers of people with dementia. Admiral Nurses are mental health nurses specialising in the care of people with dementia. They are mainly employed by local providers of care for people with dementia but dementia UK is involved in setting up new posts and providing ongoing practice development. There are currently around 100 Admiral Nurses employed in England. In addition the charity has a national helpline provided by experienced Admiral Nurses. The evidence synthesis presented here was commissioned by Dementia UK in order to establish what is currently known about the scope, nature and effectiveness of Admiral Nurse

A Case Study on Examining Systemic African American Poverty in Caddo Parish and Bossier Parish, Louisiana

There are many states, counties, and cities in the United States of America where people do not have access to basic necessities such as food, housing, proper medical facilities, access to schools, and ready or no transportation, etc. The reason for this situation is due to the issue of poverty. Poverty is an unacceptably low-standard way of life that is a complex human phenomenon. It has multiple causes, manifestations, and dimensions. (Odhiambo, Omiti, Muthaka, 2005) Caddo Parish, Louisiana, is such a place that has high poverty among Black people. The population of African American people in Caddo Parish is larger than the Whites who live there, and African American poverty has more than doubled the White residents. African American poverty in Caddo Parish is higher than the poverty average in the State of Louisiana and is higher than the United States average. The neighboring parish of Bossier is experiencing the same issue as the African Americans in Caddo Parish. Caddo and Bossier Parishes connect by their two largest cities in the parishes, which is named the Shreveport-Bossier City Metropolitan area. Both cities’ poverty level amongst Black people is higher than the United States National Average. This case study explores and argues how systemic racism has blended into urbanization, sprawl, and politics. The research explores how these factors cause poverty in the Black community and has plagued their progress from the colonization of Louisiana through the American Civil War to the present time in Caddo Parish, Louisiana. Dr. Robert Bullard mentions that “racism is and continues to be a conspicuous part of the American sociopolitical system. As a result, Black people in particular, and ethnic and racial minority groups of color, find themselves at a disadvantage in contemporary society. (Bullard, 1994, p. 445) The factor of poverty has caused population change in Shreveport and Bossier City. Shreveport has seen a population decline, whereas Bossier has seen an increase in population. However, Caddo Parish still has a larger population. (Bayliss, 2019) African American homeownership is low considering the heavy populations of these people in the Shreveport-Bossier City area and is disproportionate to the White residents. This study will examine housing discrimination in these areas because housing discrimination denies a substantial segment of the African American community a basic form of wealth accumulation and investment through homeownership. (Bullard, Johnson, Torres, 2000) There are development plans to make the area a more attractive and dynamic location for corporate investments, expansions, and expansion for the future Shreveport-Bossier area. This development attempts to modernize the metropolitan areas’ environmental sustainability, neighborhoods, housing stock, infrastructure, and transportation. Further considerations include aiding with workforce training and business attraction through local organizations and the city’s programs. Eliminating cost-burdened, extremely cost-burdened residences and improving housing conditions for residents with housing maintenance issues are major concerns. The purpose of this case study is to shed light on the history of racism, bad politics, sprawl, spatial mismatch, lack of homeownership, population trends, transportation issues, lack of employment opportunities, high crime, bank deserts, health care, present Jim Crow Laws, and the miseducation of African Americans in Louisiana as these factors play on their social and economic place in Northwest Louisiana. The researcher will use qualitative research to answer questions with spatial and statistical analysis to provide visuals of the data collected on the census tracts. There will be some quantitative information within the qualitative findings. There will be some quantitative information within the qualitative findings. Researchers use qualitative research with some quantitative results because they consider both methods extremely effective for poverty analysis and give a more holistic view to a given study. (Odhiambo, Omiti, Muthaka, 2005) The purpose of this dissertation is to research and understand African American poverty in Caddo Parish, how they ended up in this predicament, and present solutions to rectify the situation. The adverse effects of Urbanization and Sprawl result in poverty. These harmful effects, including the study area, are frequently seen in the African American/Black community. Negative effects of urbanization can be a lack of resources, poverty, unemployment, and overcrowding. Furthermore, the migration from rural areas to metropolitan areas causes congestion that impedes growth and bolsters the negative issues from geographically concentrated poverty, such as crime and violence in Shreveport, LA. This study highlights Poverty, Education, Unemployment, Homeownership, and Renters and contrasts and compares variables in Caddo Parish to Bossier Parish with Black versus White residents with GIS Mapping. The GIS Mapping shows the disproportionate percentages in each factor for the Black population versus the White Population for both Caddo Parish and Bossier Parish, Louisiana. The project distinctively shows (1) inequity and inequality in homeownership, (2) The poor education and miseducation in the Louisiana school system, (3) How incarceration ratios are disproportionate, (4) The lack of employment opportunities in the area, (5) Inequity in public and personal transportation. Furthermore, the results show the negative effects of Black versus White birth rates, IRS inequalities, health care inequalities, and how the factors mentioned in this study are blended in racism, which have kept Blacks in poverty in Caddo Parish and Bossier Parish from the colonization of Louisiana to the last 30 years. Lastly, this study presents mapping, snapshots, and negative effects of food deserts, banking deserts, pay-day loan companies, eye-soar neighborhoods, non-walkable and non-bikeable communities, and lack of enough medical facilities in predominately Black neighborhoods in the study area. Despite the Civil Rights Movement and other Justice Movements, there are still disparities in wealth, employment, health care, education, laws, housing, transportation, poverty, and other factors. To bring change, urban planners and/or environmental justice activists must work diligently to overcome and subdue obstacles to create Smart Growth, Cleaner, Greener Communities, and Sustainable Communities while simultaneously promoting equality and eliminating inequities

Competing constructions of children's participation in social care : analysing text and talk

This thesis is about how the concept of participation constructs children as subjects within social welfare formations. It is the result of a qualitative and interpretive research project using narrative and discourse analysis as key methodologies. The research is theoretically framed within the social constructionist, post-structuralist, feminist and psychoanalytic perspectives. By using these the thesis explores the competing constructions of children’s participation within social/legal policy texts and the discourses of social care. The focus is on children within contemporary UK welfare contexts who are either identified as being ‘at risk’ of significant harm or who are Looked After by the local authority. I examine the way that children’s participation is framed by the Children Act, 1989 (England and Wales), the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and Quality Protects. I analyse the policy and interview texts to show how the discourses of protectionism, developmentalism, rights and managerialism compete unevenly across them. I argue that there is a new configuration of welfare developing around children’s services where managerialism is dominant and children’s rights are collapsed into the customer discourse. Children’s voices are either absent or mediated by adult/professionals in most of the formal policy texts. This thesis explores the affective and emotional aspects of performing participation with children. My data shows how individual professionals as well as the institutions of welfare experience anxiety and strain about how to enable and manage the participation of children. I show how professionals and welfare institutions develop various coping strategies, whose effects include the avoidance of the difficulties of listening to children

The Representation-Production of Blacks On COPS

This major research paper is an examination of Black suspects on the crime reality television program known as COPS. This major research paper is a content analysis of COPS and the potential societal effects this may cause. The analysis shows that COPS over-represents Whites as police officers and Blacks as criminal suspects in comparison to labor and criminal statistics. The selected pieces of literature suggest that crime reality texts like COPS reinforce racist views and the so-called police racism. Citizens live in a mental environment filled with myths and understandings of the world around them. This major research paper focuses on the myth of Blacks and crime. The study is based on the idea that Blacks are overrepresented on COPS as criminal suspects perpetuating the Black Criminal stereotype, justifying controversial policing practices such as racial profiling, supports and disseminates a law and order/crime control ideology, and makes Black individuals' presence in particular spaces socially unacceptable. The Black criminal stereotype is perpetuated on COPS through the over-proportionate representation of Blacks as criminal suspects. This constructs the idea that Blacks are responsible for the majority of crime because of a supposed biological inferiority to the White race. How audiences are likely to interpret the imagery on COPS is examined through the lenses of George Gerbner (1988; 1976) and Stuart Hall (2013; 1972). The violence disseminated on COPS makes viewers believe the world is more dangerous than it actually is, experience heightened levels of racism, and support law and order/crime control policies and policing. The actuality, but as info-tainment (Information-entertainment). Along with very seamless editing, COPS footage appears very realistic. The stereotypical showcase of young Black males committing street crimes works to normalize the realistic appearing content, which acts as a tool to reproduce a racial hierarchy, social order, and white domination. This is shown through multiple content analyses of COPS. The bu This has the potential to have a number of implications of viewers supporting crime control polices such as stop and frisk and racial profiling. The constant appearance of Blacks as guilty criminal suspects, has given rise to nation wide Suspicion of Blacks males and the enacting of racist legislation designed to deal with the Black threat. The enactment of Castle Doctrines serve as an example of the racial tensions that have been amplified in the United States.¹ The case of Trayvon Martin is discussed in relation to Michel Foucault's disciplinary and biopower and criminalization of the black body and concludes with a discussion of Caucasian perceptions of Black space. ______________________ ¹ Castle Doctrines and 'stand-your-ground' laws are legal defenses for individuals charged with criminal homicide. A Castle Doctrine empowers an individual to use reasonable force, including deadly force to defend their respective person, or others. Stand-your-ground laws allow individuals to use reasonable force, including deadly force for purposes of self-defense, or where there is reasonable belief of a threat. Stand-your-ground laws do not require individuals to retreat inside of their premise thus allowing individuals to use deadly force in public environments when there is reasonable belief of threat

Super Resolution Techniques for DUV Optical Lithography

As device geometries shrink, new illumination sources will be needed to obtain practical resolution. The krypton fluoride (KrF) excimer laser (248nm) is capable of 0.30 μm resolution with conventional illumination methods. A weak quadrupole off-axis illumination technique combines the advantages of two-beam imaging (off-axis illumination), and three-beam imaging (conventional illumination). This allows for the advantage of increased Depth-of-Focus (DOF) without the degradation of isolated patterns. This method is suitable for use with an attenuated phase shift mask (APSM) which also enhances resolution and DOF