1,720,958 research outputs found
Examining Eye Fixations during Wayfinding in Unfamiliar Environments
No full textThis study focuses on eye-fixations during wayfinding in unfamiliar environments. Literature shows that disorientation due to wayfinding errors and navigation problems in unfamiliar environments produce frustration, irritation, anxiety, and stress .Spatial disorientation due to weak wayfinding is a major source of stress, when the design of the built environment fails to provide adequate wayfinding cues.
The main question investigates what people look at while navigating in unfamiliar environments. This study identified elements of the designed environment that attract eye fixation during wayfinding, by objectively tracking eye movements and fixation as healthy subjects navigate through a complex unfamiliar setting. EyeGuide® - Mobile Tracking Technology was used to capture data on gaze-fixation. The research setting of this study was the College of Human Sciences. Eighteen adult subjects in different age groups (young, middle age, and elderly) and different genders were asked to navigate five different routes. Data analyses were conducted by using different descriptive and inferential statistical tools such as T-test, ANOVA, and Friedman test.
The results of this study suggested that signs have significant influence on successful wayfinding. In total, signs are the major environmental information source among all classes of environmental cues, covering 47% of the times when subjects looked at them to seek information.The more the destination was indicated by environmental attributes/elements, the easier the subjects could find their destinations. This study conducted analysis of data on age and gender differences. The results showed that there is a significant difference between males and females on the time of navigation. Males were faster than females during navigations. The results also showed that young age group (20-29) had the fastest navigation tasks among the age groups
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Age, Place, and Health: Exploring the Impact of Environmental and Technological Innovations on Enhancing Quality of Life in Older Adults
No full text‘Aging-in-place’ as a globally embraced health policy has prompted numerous environmental and technological innovations to improve the well-being of older adults. While these innovations enable seniors to stay in their homes longer, they often overlook the rising social isolation and loneliness that can diminish their quality of life (QoL). My research focuses on exploring how older adults engage with these spatial and technical innovations, and especially their potential to enhance social connections. I investigate seniors’ interactions with social information and communication technologies (Social ICTs) and the physical aspects of their homes that promote social engagement.
My overarching explorative research question is: to what extent does access to Social ICTs and residential spatial features of older adults’ homes impact their experience of social connectedness? And more specifically, what is the role of the residential built environment-- including and access to Social ICTs-- in preventing or encouraging social connectedness for older adults in their homes?
I employ a mixed-methods research design utilizing two phases: correlational research design that incorporates a survey questionnaire as the initial tactic for data collection, followed by a second phase of qualitative research design that utilizes in-depth interviews. This research informs built environment designers about the importance of prioritizing social connectivity for older adults’ enhanced QoL and wellbeing. I will outline design and housing policy strategies that can protect the health and wellbeing of older adults against the detrimental consequences of social isolation, including strategies such as:
1) Inclusive and accessible design of the built environment is critical for older adults’ social health. Although attention to inclusivity and accessibility has been repeatedly advocated in the architecture and design literature, only 3.5% of the US housing stock is designed with accessibility in mind (Gonyea, 2021). Home designs that facilitated safe social interaction and contributed to older adults’ well-being during the Covid-19 pandemic included features such as: access to a backyard (or a form of communal green space in the community), enough spaces to physically distance, and visual access to outdoors through a window.
2) Utilizing Social ICTs for ‘experiential sharing’ was highlighted throughout this research, underscoring the importance of designing at the intersection of physical space and digital interface. To create an interactive and co-creative experience (e.g., transferring culinary knowledge and participation in virtual communal events) while engaging Social ICTs, the supportive role of spatial features, such as adequate lighting, are essential.
3) The results of this research indicate the multiple benefits of access to Social ICTs for older adults as a resource for battling isolation and loneliness. Housing policies, especially those outlined by HUD, are critical tools in providing access to digital infrastructure for the older adults. The FY 2022 NOFO (Notice of Funding Opportunity) Toolkit by HUD’s Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly Program emphasizes the importance of constructing supportive housing that promotes wellness, aging in place, and social health for low-income older adults, However, the toolkit’s ‘Physical Design’ section lacks a prioritization of technology for social well-being, with internet access listed merely as an optional feature. alongside other amenities. In contrast, this research recommends prioritizing internet infrastructure, along with Social ICT devices, supportive spaces, as well as training and educational infrastructure in the toolkit as elements of broader housing and health policies.PhDArchitectureUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/177871/1/erfani_1.pd
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Sensthetics: a crossmodal approach to the perception, and conception, of our environments
Get PDFThis dissertation counters the visual bias, and the simplistic approach to the
senses, in architectural thought, by investigating the connections among different sense
modalities (sight, sound, smell, taste and touch). Literature from the cognitive sciences
shows that sensory modalities are connected perceptually; what we see affects what we
hear, what we smell affects what we taste, and so on. This has a direct impact on the
perceptual choices we make in our day-to-day lives.
A case study conducted in an urban plaza investigates the perceptual choices
people make (or what they attend to) as they explore their physical environment.
Results show that people construct subjective and embodied mental maps of their
environments where sensory impressions are integrated with cognitive concepts such as
emotions or object recognition. Furthermore, when one sense is muted (such as closing
the eyes) other senses are prioritized. A theoretical framework termed as the "Sensthetic Model" is developed illustrating the interdependence of sensory, kinesthetic and cognitive factors, and the hierarchical and lateral relationship between sense-modalities.
The latter is the focus of studies with architecture students in abstract thinking exercises:
a) Hierarchical: Students perceive a hierarchy of senses (sensory order) when
they think about different places. Vision is primary, but not always. Touch, classically
relegated to the bottom of the hierarchy, is often higher in the hierarchy and coupled
with sound.
b) Lateral: Students associate colors with different sounds, smells, textures,
temperatures, emotions and objects and cross over modalities conceptually, with a
degree of consistency. There are more associations with emotions and objects (which are
not constrained to a single sense-modality), than with purely sensory images.
Finally, the theoretical model is further developed as a tool to think
"across" modalities (crossmodally) based on the identification of sensory orders and
sensory correspondences. By focusing on the sensory modalities (nodes) and the
relationships among them (connections), the model serves as a conceptual tool for
professionals to create sensory environments. This dissertation is an initial step beyond
the aesthetics of appearance, towards the Sensthetics of experience
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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