Towards Healthy Urbanism: Inclusive, Equitable and Sustainable (THRIVES) – An urban design and planning framework from theory to praxis

The globally distributed health impacts of environmental degradation and widening population inequalities require a fundamental shift in understandings of healthy urbanism – including policies and decisions that shape neighbourhood and building design. The built environment tends to disadvantage or exclude women, children, the elderly, disabled, poor and other groups, starting from design and planning stages through to occupation, and this results in avoidable health impacts. Although these concepts are not new, they are rapidly emerging as built environment research and practice priorities without clear understanding of the interconnected aims of healthy environments that are sustainable, equitable and inclusive. This article promotes a new framework – Towards Healthy uRbanism: InclusiVe Equitable Sustainable (THRIVES) – that extends previous conceptualisations and reorients focus towards the existential threat of environmental breakdown and the social injustice created through inequitable and exclusive urban governance and design processes and outcomes. The Framework was developed through synthesising knowledge from research and practice, and by testing this new conceptualisation in a participatory workshop. Ongoing research is exploring implementation of the Framework in practice. If widely adopted, this Framework may contribute towards achieving the goals of sustainable development through a focus on increasing human health and wellbeing in urban development

Cold War in the Classroom: Effects of the Onset of the Cold War on Public Education

World War II permanently changed the state of global politics, establishing the United States as a major superpower. In particular, the creation of the atomic bomb at the end of the war ushered in a new era of nuclear tension and a Cold War between the United States and Soviet Union, in which each side was pushed to marshal resources – foreign and domestic, cultural and political, at all levels – in support of its cause. The purpose of this research is to provide an analysis of the impact of the Cold War on American public primary and secondary schools, particularly focusing on changes in curriculum as a result of pressures from the Soviet Union and the influence of the federal government. In order to respond to the Soviet threat and maintain the U.S.’s status, public schools utilized their influence by instilling “American” values and conditioning children to be future contributors to society by focusing more heavily on mathematics, science, physical education, and foreign languages. By exploring primary and secondary sources, I analyze the changes in public school functions within the context of the onset of the Cold War (1947-1968). Utilizing these sources, which include federal acts, Massachusetts Board of Education reports, funding directives, and curricula, this research aims to show what specific changes were enacted by schools in order to mold pupils into ideal members of society during the Cold War. This research will contribute to existing literature on education in late twentieth-century America, which has shaped the needs and goals of education in the new millennium. My findings emphasize the deep and lasting impact that a war of such magnitude has had on society. In addition, it shows how American public schools responded to the Cold War in order to help current and future educators fully understand and utilize their influence in divisive times

Controversy and the Death Penalty

The Declaration of Independence guarantees a right to life that was given by a creator. The Constitution guarantees a right to life, which can be found in both the explicit text itself as well as in between the lines. After looking at the founding documents through the lens of a moral reading, examining the case law, and reviewing the process of execution itself, it becomes clear that the death penalty violates one’s inalienable right to life, and is, in fact, a cruel and unusual punishment

Plant production and immunogenic characterisation of Human papillomavirus chimaeric vaccines

Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 153-175).Cervical cancer is primarily caused by infection with Human papillomavirus (HPV) and is a global concern, particularly in developing countries which contain ~80% of the cervical cancer burden. Current HPV L1 major capsid protein virus-like particle (VLP)-based vaccines are effective in the type-specific prevention of infection and associated disease. However, the high cost of the vaccines has limited their widespread application, and cytological screening programmes are still required to detect malignant lesions associated with the non-vaccine types, particularly in HIV-infected populations

Process, color, form, space and motion

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The application of computational modeling to data visualization

Researchers have argued that perceptual issues are important in determining what makes an effective visualization, but generally only provide descriptive guidelines for transforming perceptual theory into practical designs. In order to bridge the gap between theory and practice in a more rigorous way, a computational model of the primary visual cortex is used to explore the perception of data visualizations. A method is presented for automatically evaluating and optimizing data visualizations for an analytical task using a computational model of human vision. The method relies on a neural network simulation of early perceptual processing in the retina and visual cortex. The neural activity resulting from viewing an information visualization is simulated and evaluated to produce metrics of visualization effectiveness for analytical tasks. Visualization optimization is achieved by applying these effectiveness metrics as the utility function in a hill-climbing algorithm. This method is applied to the evaluation and optimization of two visualization types: 2D flow visualizations and node-link graph visualizations. The computational perceptual model is applied to various visual representations of flow fields evaluated using the advection task of Laidlaw et al. The predictive power of the model is examined by comparing its performance to that of human subjects on the advection task using four flow visualization types. The results show the same overall pattern for humans and the model. In both cases, the best performance was obtained from visualizations containing aligned visual edges. Flow visualization optimization is done using both streaklet-based and pixel-based visualization parameterizations. An emergent property of the streaklet-based optimization is head-to-tail streaklet alignment, the pixel-based parameterization results in a LIC-like result. The model is also applied to node-link graph diagram visualizations for a node connectivity task using two-layer node-link diagrams. The model evaluation of node-link graph visualizations correlates with human performance, in terms of both accuracy and response time. Node-link graph visualizations are optimized using the perceptual model. The optimized node-link diagrams exhibit the aesthetic properties associated with good node-link diagram design, such as straight edges, minimal edge crossings, and maximal crossing angles, and yields empirically better performance on the node connectivity task

The water line : research into the peculiar place of the Namib Desert coast

This dissertation began as a study of a portion of the coastal Namib Desert that I am particularly inspired by and with which I formed a personal connection over the course of many childhood coastal excursions. From these studies a site within the salt pan mine concession outside of Swakopmund was chosen. Stretching from the ocean to the edge of an existing naturalindustrial salt pan, this site becomes the location for my architectural intervention, the Water Line. This intervention is a testing space for a small scale solar desalination and fog catching system that services a hydrology research center base, as well as attempting to incorporate a more public exposure to this form of technology and the water resource potential it provides. Before design within this landscape could be considered, both a more poetic and pragmatic understanding of this peculiar place and its extreme conditions was necessary. In considering the landscape and celebrating the natural-human idiosyncrasies of this particular landscape, and a specific site within it, the hope of invoking and advocating for the singularity of local phenomena is attempted through design. Throughout this dissertation the understanding of context and character of place was viewed as a means by which the architectural possibilities of the intricacies, peculiarities and experience of a space and landscape could be questioned. It was, and remains, a journey of discovery and understanding of place. The intention of this document is to highlight the many aspects of the environment; from historical, human and biological interrogations to its experiential and functional clues. Understanding context and landscape through multiple layers and scales is vital in this space of eternal contrasts. It is in a sense the only way to obtain a greater understanding of "sitedness" of this project. The existing responses to environment and place-making within this context also provide clues to how to capture a unique response to the singularities of this space, without succumbing to the ease of uniformity. Within this understanding is the theoretical questioning of what the architecture of this space could become

The value and use of urban health indicator tools in the complex urban planning policy and decision-making context

Urban health indicator (UHI) tools are promoted as an evidence-based form of information to influence urban planning policy and decision-making. However, there is a lack of research on their value and use. Indicator producers, often from health fields, tend to have a linear and rational view of indicator use and policy-making that is starkly contrasted by urban policy scholars who see these processes as complex and socially constructed. It is therefore unclear how UHI tools might function within the complex planning policy and decision-making process to promote health considerations. This mixed-methods research investigates the use and value of UHI tools using collaborative rationality and systems theories. A two-part systematic review included a census of 145 UHI tools and a narrative synthesis of 10 qualitative studies on the use of UHI tools. The results were used to develop a taxonomy of UHI tools and theory of change. A series of 22 semi-structured interviews were conducted with indicator producers and users in San Francisco, Melbourne and Sydney. These data were analysed using thematic analysis and systems thinking approaches to produce causal loop diagrams (CLD) of participants’ mental models. The CLDs were tested and improved in a participatory modelling workshop. Indicator users and producers had significant overlap in their mental models. The development and application of UHI tools increased inter-sectoral relationships which supported actors to better understand each other’s opportunities and constraints for health promotion. Relationships helped to create new advocates for health in diverse organisations, supporting health in all policies or whole-of-society approaches to health promotion. Community involvement in UHI tools and the effectiveness of advocates helped to challenge constraints to health-promoting policy development and implementation. However, the high number of new indicators being created can create confusion and reduce indicator use, particularly when they are not designed to meet users’ needs

Built environment stakeholders’ experiences of implementing healthy urban development: an exploratory study

Healthy urban development, in the form of buildings and infrastructure, is necessary to reduce disease and injury internationally. The urban development process is complex, characterised by a plurality of actors, decisions, delays, and competing priorities that affect the integration of health and wellbeing. Despite clear shifts in the built environment sector towards considering health, there is a lack of research about how the principles of healthy design are put into practice in development projects. We explored this topic via semi-structured interviews with 31 built environment and public health professionals involved in such projects in Australia, China, England, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United States. We used thematic analysis and three themes emerged from our hybrid deductive and inductive approach, encompassing challenges and potential solutions for integrating health in development. Managing risk, responsibility and economic constraints were paramount to persuade developers to adopt healthy design measures. Participants could push business-as-usual practices towards healthy urbanism by showing economic benefits or piloting new approaches. Finally, participants had contrasting views on whether increasing professional knowledge is required, with several arguing that financial barriers are more problematic than knowledge gaps. This exploratory study contributes insights into an under-research topic and outlines priorities for further investigation