100 research outputs found
Few and Simple Elements: Lauretta Vinciarelli, the Puglia Project, and the Idea of ‘Spatial Fabric’
No full textLauretta Vinciarelli (1943–2011) is perhaps best known for her evocative watercolor paintings and her decade-long creative partnership with Donald Judd. This essay by Jolanda Devalle instead foregrounds Vinciarelli’s contributions as an architect, theorist, and educator, through a close reading of the ‘Puglia Project’ (1975–77), a proposal developed with fellow IAUS architect Leonardo Foderà. Drawing on Vinciarelli’s own reflections, a recent interview with Foderà by the author, and original drawings courtesy of Judd Foundation, the essay offers a revealing cross-section of her architectural thinking—her engagement with typology, her concept of “spatial fabric,” and her analytical approach to design—all of which invite renewed critical attention today.TPO
Improving nutrition and health among Albanian schoolchildren
No full textNutrition is a critical part of health and development. Better nutrition is related to improved infant, child and maternal health, stronger immune systems, safer pregnancy and childbirth, lower risk of non-communicable diseases and longevity.
Prevention of malnutrition among adolescents and improvement of the nutritional status of children are considered important targets in Albanian health system efforts to achieve benefits in the population’s health.
Key approaches for improving nutritional status and nutrition-related knowledge, attitude and practices among school-children in Albania (based on the main findings from the in-depth analysis of three nationwide surveys conducted in Albania between 2015 and 2018 on nutritional status and nutrition-related knowledge, attitudes and practices among school-children in Albania and other findings) consist ofprevention and promotion from an early age, focus on knowledge, attitudes and practices, limit exposure to less healthy foods and increase parental awareness and involvement.
These studies findings and respective recommendations can support the development of a National School Food and Nutrition Education programme in Albania. While there is evidence for the need to intervene at the national level, the stratified analysis at regional and district levels points to the need for the design and implementation of specific interventions at the local level. It is also very crucial to strengthen and improve anthropometric nutrition and surveillance systems for nutritional risk factors for children and adolescents, and use the data obtained by these systems effectively and appropriately.
Conflicts of interest: None declared.
Acknowledgment: This document is based on the In-depth analysis of three nationwide surveys conducted recently in Albania regarding ‘Nutritional Status and Nutrition-Related Knowledge, Attitude and Practices Among School-Children in Albania”carried out by Ass. Prof Jolanda Hyska in the framework of the Project "Improving the nutritional status of children in schools in Albania", a project developed by the Albanian Center for Economic Research (ACER), funded by UNICEF Albania. The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official opinion of ACER nor of UNICEF.
 
Having a lot of a good thing: multiple important group memberships as a source of self-esteem.
No full textCopyright: © 2015 Jetten et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are creditedMembership in important social groups can promote a positive identity. We propose and test an identity resource model in which personal self-esteem is boosted by membership in additional important social groups. Belonging to multiple important group memberships predicts personal self-esteem in children (Study 1a), older adults (Study 1b), and former residents of a homeless shelter (Study 1c). Study 2 shows that the effects of multiple important group memberships on personal self-esteem are not reducible to number of interpersonal ties. Studies 3a and 3b provide longitudinal evidence that multiple important group memberships predict personal self-esteem over time. Studies 4 and 5 show that collective self-esteem mediates this effect, suggesting that membership in multiple important groups boosts personal self-esteem because people take pride in, and derive meaning from, important group memberships. Discussion focuses on when and why important group memberships act as a social resource that fuels personal self-esteem.This study was supported by 1. Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (FT110100238) awarded to Jolanda Jetten (see http://www.arc.gov.au) 2. Australian Research Council Linkage Grant (LP110200437) to Jolanda Jetten and Genevieve Dingle (see http://www.arc.gov.au) 3. support from the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research Social Interactions, Identity and Well-Being Program to Nyla Branscombe, S. Alexander Haslam, and Catherine Haslam (see http://www.cifar.ca)
Client-contractor collaboration in bouwteams: A contractor's perspective
No full textRecently, the Marktvisie (2016) expressed the need for more collaborative relationships based on equality and lately, a shift from adversarial to collaborative relationships is observed. The use of collaborative contracting strategies is increasing of which the bouwteam is an example. The bouwteam is a collaboration agreement during the design phase of a construction project, in which at least client, contractor, and designer work together to deliver a feasible and constructible design. Even though the contractor is involved early the client is still in charge of the project and has control over the design, indicating that client and contractor are dependent upon each other. The goal of this research is to identify contractor's perspectives of collaboration in bouwteam, in order to find a way for contractors to influence client-contractor collaboration in bouwteams to achieve successful project delivery. Three contractor's perspectives are identified with help of Q-methodology, including a Q-set of success factors for collaboration in bouwteams, and are called relationship first, early involvement of the right people, and structure first. Even though the perspective value collaboration differently, they share the belief that mutual trust and a clear defined scope of the bouwteam are most essential for collaboration in bouwteams. To indicate how contractors can influence client-contractor collaboration, strategies are designed based on the identified contractor's perspectives and implementation of them. Since each client is different and a client-specific approach is desirable, three clients are identified in literature and for each one a strategy is designed. Combined, the strategies form a strategic framework that can be used by contractors. To define a way for contractors to influence client-contractor collaboration, practical implications are established. For the contractor, it is important to define the scope early and clearly for successful project delivery. To achieve this, the contractor can identify the client charactertiscts of the involved client and determine the perspective of available personnel. The contractor's are a valuable reference for the contractor because they represent his playing field. The contractor can have a meeting with the client to elaborate on which success factors are most important for the bouwteam. With this information, the contractor can determine which perspectives are most appropriate to establish good collaboration. As a result, the contractor can develop a strategy and communicate this internally. For this, the strategic framework can be used as a guideline to give insights into possibilities and considerations. In doing so, relationship first and structure first are considered most suitable for good collaboration. Dependent on the client, the contractor can choose the right perspective to deploy to influence client-contractor collaboration to achieve successful project delivery. Nonetheless, in the end, defining the scope is one of the most important success factors for collaboration for the contractor, independent of the strategy to be develop. However, one has to question whether the bouwteam is a necessary approach for collaboration between client and contractor in a project. But even when this is not the case, the contractor's perspectives can stille be used since the collaborative principles from a contractor's perspective are similar. Civil Engineering | Construction Management and Engineerin
Serial RV wall stress measurements:association with right ventricular function in repaired Tetralogy of Fallot patients
No full textBackground: Optimal timing of pulmonary valve replacement (PVR) in Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) patients remains challenging. Ventricular wall stress is considered to be an early marker of right ventricular (RV) dysfunction.Objectives: To investigate the association of RV wall stresses and their change over time with functional parameters in TOF patients.Methods: Ten TOF patients after surgical repair with moderate/severe pulmonary regurgitation were included. At two timepoints (median follow-up time 7.2 years), patient-specific computational biventricular models for wall stress assessment were created using CMR short-axis cine images and echocardiography-based RV pressures. RV ejection fraction (RVEF), NT-proBNP and cardiopulmonary exercise tests were used as outcome measures reflecting RV function. Associations between regional RV diastolic wall stress and RV function were investigated using linear mixed models.Results: Increased wall stress correlated with lower RV mass (rrm = −0.70, p = 0.017) and lower RV mass-to-volume (rrm = −0.80, p = 0.003) using repeated measures. Wall stress decreased significantly over time, especially in patients with a stable RVEF (p < 0.001). Higher wall stress was independently associated with lower RVEF, adjusted for left ventricular ejection fraction, RV end-diastolic volume and time since initial surgery (decrease of 1.27% RVEF per kPa increase in wall stress, p = 0.029) using repeated measurements. No association was found between wall stress, NT-proBNP, and exercise capacity.Conclusions: Using a computational method to calculate wall stress locally in geometrically complex ventricles, we demonstrated that lower wall stress might be important to maintain ventricular function. RV wall stress assessment can be used in serial follow-up, and is potentially an early marker of impending RV dysfunction
Use of an online gaming tool, the Veterinary DialogueTrainer, for teaching clinical communication skills to bovine veterinary practitioners
No full textEffective clinical communication is essential for bovine veterinary practitioners to establish and maintain positive client relationships. When applied properly in herd health consultancy, it increases client satisfaction and adherence to veterinary advice, and improves patient health and welfare. Although communication skills are often taught by providing feedback on simulated conversations, this has limitations, including time constraints, subjective assessments, and cost. The Veterinary DialogueTrainer (VDT) is an online serious game platform using ‘digital role-play’ with avatars, recently developed to enhance and assess learning outcomes, improve use of learned skills, and increase cost-effectiveness of communication training. The objective was to evaluate its suitability and applicability. Finnish (n = 24) and Swedish (n = 21) bovine veterinarians participated in communication training using VDT for training and assessment. Participants completed the provided scenario at least twice. After playing a bovine health communication simulation, participants received their scores and feedback on selected conversation options. VDT scores measured multiple aspects of communication on a 0–100% scale, based on motivational interviewing methodology and Calgary-Cambridge guidelines. Mean (±SD) number of attempts participants played the scenario was 4.1 (±2.6, Finland) and 3.9 (±1.3, Sweden), with highest total score reached after a mean of 3.5 (±2.1, Finland) and 3.1 (±1.1, Sweden) attempts. On the first attempt, 39 participants (87%) scored 80% after 4.0 (±1.6, Finland) or 2.8 (±1.0, Sweden) attempts. Net Promoter Score of the training was +89 (Finland), +88 (Finland) and + 83 (Sweden) on a scale from −100 to +100, indicating that most participants were very likely to recommend the training to other veterinarians. Use of VDT increased communication skills scores but whether it will improve communication skills in practice requires further study. We concluded there is a likely benefit of using the VDT in teaching and monitoring veterinary communication competencies and preparing for offline role-plays and real-life conversations in veterinary practice.Canada's Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC)Industrial Research Chair Program (Ottawa, ON, Canada)Alberta Milk (Edmonton, AB, Canada)the Dairy Farmers of Canada (Ottawa, ON, Canada)Westgen Endowment Fund (Milner, BC, Canada)the BC Dairy Association (Burnaby, BC, Canada)Canadian Dairy Network (Guelph, ON, Canada)CanWest DHI (Guelph, ON, Canada)SaskMilk (Regina, SK, Canada)Dairy Farmers of Manitoba (Winnipeg, MB, Canada)MSD Animal Health (Kirkland, QC, Canada
Mantelzorg en Mindfulness: Gevolgen van de Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction interventie op kwaliteit van leven van overbelaste mantelzorgers
No full textThe “Urmann” is a Woman. A Re-reading of Yūsuf Idrīs’ Abū ar-riǧāl
No full textIn this article I propose a close reading of Yūsuf Idrīs’ short story Abū ar-riǧāl. This text, published by the Egyptian author in 1988, addresses issues of homosexuality as opposed to the idea of masculinity prevailing in the social and political discourse of the Eighties in Egypt. Homosexuality is not a new subject in Arabic literature. It is in fact present in the literary production in the Arabic language since the Classical Age, and several homosexual characters can be noticed in modern and contemporary literature. The difference stands in presenting homosexuality without censorship or moral judgment, and above all masculinity is conceived by parameters, which are others in respect to those of the state discourse. When the short story was published, it passed almost unnoticed by the Arab reading public while scholars in the West did not discuss the issue at the core of it. Nowadays, when a lot of novels and short stories by Arab women and men writers propose the homosexual character anew, Abū ar-riǧāl testifies the presence of different point of views in the Arabic literature
PEPSA: Optimizing the Patient Experience of patients newly diagnosed with Psoriatic Arthritis
No full textPsoriatic arthritis is a chronic inflammation disease that affects the joints and the skin, which can manifest in many ways and various severities. Psoriatic arthritis impacts the lives of patients in both physical and mental ways. This project focussed on how the patient experience can be improved of newly diagnosed psoriatic arthritis patients. The patient experience involves multiple things, including the hospital visits and life at home. For this project it was decided to focus on the context of home. To get the necessary insights into the disease and the experience of patients with psoriatic arthritis, the co-creation method was used. In this method, a small group of stakeholders are actively part of the complete project as experts. In this project, five PsA patients were included as experts of their own experiences. The literature study and explorative research done in this project showed the following thing about the patient experience of PsA patients: - Most of the information and help that is available focusses on the physical difficulties that psoriatic arthritis causes, even though there are a lot of mental difficulties that currently get too little attention. - There is a lot of information available that the patients only get when they look for it themselves. But especially right after their diagnosis, they have little to no idea of what is relevant and what they have to look for. With this knowledge, it was decided to focus on these mental difficulties that patients have. To do this, several group sessions together with the five participating patients were done. These sessions revealed that the diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis influences the perception of their identity as well as how they think others perceive them. The patients want to stay valuable and independent, where the psoriatic arthritis causes them to make changes in their daily life and become more dependable. This gives patients the idea that the psoriatic arthritis sometimes takes control over their life. This insight led to the design goal of the project, where the focus laid on empowering the patients to be in control of their own life again. Together with the participant group, various design directions were explored and evaluated with help of various prototypes. This eventually resulted in the final design: The PEPSA journal. The PEPSA journal is a service that provides the user with journal pages that focus on several aspects of life and psoriatic arthritis. The journal makes a distinction between standard material, which is relevant for everyone and focus topics, which allow the user to personalize their journal and make it more fitting to their life and what they think is relevant. Through positively formulated questions about each topic the users are encouraged to think about the various aspects of their life and psoriatic arthritis and how they relate to and influence each other. In this way the PEPSA journal allows the user to get more insights into their situation and get a clearer view of their life with psoriatic arthritis, putting them back in control. Design for Interaction | Medisig
Sottoboschi letterari. Sei Case Studies fra Otto e Novecento. Mara Antelling, Emma Boghen Conigliani, Evelyn, Anna Franchi, Jolanda, Flavia Steno
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