In a time of increased admissions at State Colleges and Universities students are at risk for various concerning factors including decreased academic performance, feelings of isolation and alienation from faculty, staff and their peers, and other issues of mental health. Intentional architectural programming, primarily the public spaces within residence halls, can help to alleviate these issues for students and ensure that they are connected to their residential community not only academically but personally. This thesis will discuss how the increase in college admissions has affected residence hall communities and the personal development of students attending large academic institutions. It will analyze current residence hall spaces and propose a renovation for the Southwest Residential Area towers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst which house at least 580 students per tower. Issues of crowding, stress and over stimulation as a result of the built environment will be assessed and discussed to illuminate the need for renovation in the Southwest Residential Area towers, the largest halls on the UMass campus. The proposed renovation focuses on providing students who live in towers with public spaces that connect the community. This renovation reflects the original design intent of Hugh Stubbins, the complex’s architect, who designed the towers to consist of three vertically stacked houses. Each house, consisting of seven floors in the tower will be connected with a series of atria that feature small study and social spaces along their main circulation. The main public space floor of the residence hall, located at the center of the 7-floor vertically stacked house, will undergo the largest renovation of all the floors and will feature centralized service spaces such as mail, laundry and cooking facilities in addition to a large community gathering space and study spaces. The students’ personal spaces have also been renovated to maximize sunlight, reduce roommate viii conflicts, and provide personalized intermediary space that will architecturally draw students towards their public spaces.

Bakgrund Överfulla akutmottagningar på akutsjukhusen är en aktuell diskussion som även rapporterats i media. För få vårdplatser och personalbrist anges bland annat som orsaker, vilket är en negativ påverkan för både arbetsmiljö och patientsäkerheten på akuterna. Samtidigt har vi en utmaning i en åldrande befolkning och brist på arbetskraft inom välfärdssektorn. Det sätter nya arbetssätt även i fokus.   Syfte  Syftet är att identifiera orsaker, konsekvenser och möjliga lösningar till kvarstannande problematiken för patienter på akuten som är klara för inläggning men väntar på vårdplats.    Teori De teoretiska ramverken som används är processteori, förbättringsteori samt teorier avseende kapacitetsplanering.   Metod Studien har en kvalitativ design som en fallstudie. En litteraturstudie för att inhämta teorier och metoder. Primärdata i den empiriska delen via observationer, intervjuer och webenkät med en svarsfrekvens på 25 %. Sekundärdata inhämtas från verksamhetens processbeskrivningar, statistik och övriga dokument. DMAIC-modellen används för att strukturera resultaten samt för analysen.   Resultat 10 % av inläggningarna når målvärden för totala ledtider, där variationen mellan mottagande enheter är stor. Bristande kompetens, bristande följsamhet, fördröjda beslut, ökat antal äldre som får vänta länge, som hänger ihop med brist på vårdplatser samt otillräcklig tillgänglighet i andra vårdformer beskrivs som orsaker.    Slutsats Prioriterade lösningar är utöver vårdplatssituationen att stärka kompetens tidigare i mottagandet vid akuten. DMAIC-metoden fungerar väl för att strukturera, analysera och prioritera möjliga förbättringsförslag vid kvarstannande på akuten. / Background Overcrowded emergency departments are a current discussion and reported in media. Hospital bed and staff shortages are given as reasons. This has a negative impact on work environment and patient safety. However, we have a challenge in an aging population and a lack of staff in the welfare sector. This puts new working methods in focus.   Purpose The purpose is to identify causes, consequences, and possible solutions to crowding in the emergency department.   Theory The theoretical frameworks used are process theory, improvement theory and theories regarding capacity planning.   Method The study has a qualitative design as a case study. A literature study to obtain theories and methods. Primary data in the empirical part via observations, interviews, and a web survey with a response rate of 25%. Secondary data is obtained from the process maps, statistics, and other documents. The DMAIC model is used to structure the results and for the analysis.   Results 10% of patients reach target values ​​for total lead times, where the variation between receiving units is large. Lack of competence, lack of compliance, delayed decisions, increased number of elderly people who must wait a long time, which relates to a lack of beds and insufficient availability of other forms of care are described as causes.   Conclusion Priority solutions are, in addition to increase the number of beds, to strengthen skills earlier in reception at the emergency department. The DMAIC method works well for structuring, analyzing, and prioritizing possible improvement proposals when staying in the emergency room.

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Biopolymer networks play a major role as part of the cytoskeleton. They provide stable structures and act as a medium for signal transport. These features encourage the application of such networks as organic computation devices. While research on this topic is not advanced yet, previous results are very promising. The protein actin in particular appears advantageous. It can be arranged to various stable structures and transmit several signals. In this study aster shaped networks were self-assembled via entropic forces by the crowding agent methyl cellulose. These networks are characterised by a regular and uniquely thick bundle structure, but have so far only been accounted in droplets of 100 μm diameter. We report now regular asters in an area of a few mm2 that could be observed even after months. Such stability outside of an organism is striking and underlines the great potential actin aster networks display.

The nonprofit arts and culture sector in the United States is uniquely situated in tension between its not-for-profit status and its growing role as a catalyst for regional economic growth. Since the mid-20th century, for metropolitan areas in particular, these organizations have become an integral part of local economies and visible symbols of regions as robust cultural centers. Their growth is increasingly viewed as a significant contribution to regional economic development. But concomitant with their newly defined roles as regional "economic engines," nonprofit arts and culture organizations also are increasingly pressed to adopt a "market orientation" with respect to both their audiences and funders. This dissertation is an investigation into how these changes have shaped the organizational structures and processes of the sector. The guiding inquiry of this research is how an increased "market orientation" in the sector is affecting organizational operations (especially expenditures), and ultimately, their constituencies. More specifically, this analysis explores the effects of marketization, defined here as dependence on earned income, agenda-oriented local corporate sponsorship, and outcomes-based foundation support, on organizational expenditures and constituency levels and composition. The present research assesses the relative utility of three organizational growth theories- resource dependency theory, institutional theory, and urban growth agenda theory-on the one hand, and the "crowding-out" hypothesis on the other hand, in accounting for the effects of increasing marketization on the size and composition of organizational constituencies. The first three frameworks suggest a connection between marketized revenues and the prioritization of organizational visibility and legitimacy, organizational professionalization, and production quality, with the end goal of constituency growth. On the other hand, the crowding-out hypothesis, though it retains a focus on revenue sources, suggests that revenue from certain sources may lead to the stagnation or even reduction of deeper organizational affiliations such as membership. Specifically, the perspective suggests that a heightened market orientation conflicts with a not-for-profit or philanthropic orientation, thereby "crowding-out" potential members. The tension between these theoretical perspectives reflects the lack of solid empirical evidence regarding the effects of economic inputs (particularly those tied to marketization) on organizational outcomes (particularly constituency composition). The current research hypothesizes that marketized revenues will ultimately lead to audience growth and expansion while simultaneously leading to stagnation or decline in membership. This study focuses on museums and performing arts institutions located within the Pennsylvania portion of the Greater Philadelphia Area. The analysis utilizes survey data on revenues, expenditures, and other organizational characteristics collected on a continuing basis through the Cultural Data Project of the Pew Charitable Trusts, and audience data collected co-operatively by the arts and culture organizations. To test the competing theories listed above, this research uses structural equation modeling to estimate the effects of marketized revenues on organizational expenditures, and ultimately, on constituency composition. The current findings can be divided into three sections. The first central finding of the analysis is that marketized revenues tend to have a positive effect on attendance levels which provides support for resource dependency theory, institutional theory, and urban growth agenda theory in that the need for resources affects organizational expenditures and prioritization in such a way as to ultimately increase organizations' attendance size. The second central finding of the analysis is that the processes that lead to attendance growth in organizations do so, not through increased demographic diversity, but primarily through increases in attendance from communities and neighborhoods outside the region and communities and neighborhoods where there are already high levels of arts and culture participation. This finding is consistent with the critical metropolitan growth perspective that marketization in organizations leads to the establishment of growth over diversity as the absolute bottom line. According to this perspective, if the pursuit of attendance diversity, attendance expansion to local underserved communities, or new single site-attendees does not contribute to the bottom line of attendance growth, then marketized revenues and those who control their flow will not encourage these priorities. The third central finding of the analysis deals with the crowding-out perspective. This analysis shows some degree of support for the crowding-out hypothesis. The results show that membership is decreasing as a result of marketization, and this effect is explained, in part, by differences in organizational prioritization and orientation reflected in organizational expenditure allocation. The implications of this research are extensive for individual organizations, their urban areas, and the future of the sector. As the sector evolves, arts and culture organizations inevitably face the task of balancing their goals and missions with the demands that accompany revenue acquisition. Furthermore, as urban areas continue to emphasize their role as cultural centers which also foster economic development, they will need to consider the balance between the economic and public service functions of arts and culture organizations. Finally, the trend of greater marketization may encourage organizational growth even while it increasingly alienates the sector's not-for-profit identity and, with it, its most ardent supporters. / Sociology

Mathematical models are important tools in systems biology, since the regulatory networks in biological cells are too complicated to understand by biological experiments alone. Analytical solutions can be derived only for the simplest models and numerical simulations are necessary in most cases to evaluate the models and their properties and to compare them with measured data. This thesis focuses on the mesoscopic simulation level, which captures both, space dependent behavior by diffusion and the inherent stochasticity of cellular systems. Space is partitioned into compartments by a mesh and the number of molecules of each species in each compartment gives the state of the system. We first examine how to compute the jump coefficients for a discrete stochastic jump process on unstructured meshes from a first exit time approach guaranteeing the correct speed of diffusion. Furthermore, we analyze different methods leading to non-negative coefficients by backward analysis and derive a new method, minimizing both the error in the diffusion coefficient and in the particle distribution. The second part of this thesis investigates macromolecular crowding effects. A high percentage of the cytosol and membranes of cells are occupied by molecules. This impedes the diffusive motion and also affects the reaction rates. Most algorithms for cell simulations are either derived for a dilute medium or become computationally very expensive when applied to a crowded environment. Therefore, we develop a multiscale approach, which takes the microscopic positions of the molecules into account, while still allowing for efficient stochastic simulations on the mesoscopic level. Finally, we compare on- and off-lattice models on the microscopic level when applied to a crowded environment.

<p>The study Packning i tid och rum (Crowding in Time and Space) is a Master Thesis in Human Geography within Geography, presented at Södertörn University College.</p><p>The aim is to investigate the connections between time and space, more particularly, geographical changes over time. This is done by focusing on the Study of Land use as a phenomenon and on-going processes in demarcated areas. Distinct areas are given special interest, i.e. how they are used. The study deals with three different kinds of sites in three levels of scale: a market garden, cemeteries and a residential area.</p><p>The main focus of the study is on the cemeteries. Sources to geographical data and other pieces of information are geographical systems, statistics, interviews, own observations, and photographs. This material has been worked up with simple statistic methods, map studies, and qualitative methods. The Time Geography and the New Regional Geography are used as a theoretical framework. There is an ambition to search for general understanding. The work is strongly inspired by the geographer Torsten Hägerstrand’s work and approach. It is also influenced by Systems Theory.</p><p>The results confirm that there is a closer crowding of geographic objects in time and space within the cemeteries. Chorological changes could indicate similar processes at the garden center and residential area. Space is a limited resource and packing problems need to be solved. Some strategies to achieve that aim are found. At the end is discussed if closer crowding, needs more of register, measuring and restrictions and that some things are accepted to take large place in space since they are temporal.</p> / <p>Studien Packning i tid och rum är ett examensarbete i ämnet geografi, inriktning kulturgeografi, vid Södertörns högskola.</p><p>Syftet är att utforska sambandet mellan tid och rum och då som geografiska förändringar över tiden. Det sker genom att studera markanvändning som fenomen och pågående processer i avgränsade områden. Speciellt intresse ägnas åt hur ytor disponeras. Tre olika slags områden studeras: en handelsträdgård, begravningsplatser och ett bostadsområde.</p><p>Tyngdpunkten i undersökningen ligger på studiet av begravningsplatser. Geografiska data och annan information har hämtats från geografiska informationssystem, statistik, intervjuer, egna observationer och fotografier. Materialet har bearbetats med enkel statistisk metod, kartstudier och kvalitativa metoder. Som teoretisk ram används tidsgeografi och den nya regionalgeografin. Det finns en ambition att söka efter generell förståelse. Arbetet är starkt inspirerat av geografen Torsten Hägerstrands arbete och synsätt. I arbetet finns även inslag av systemteoretiskt tänkande.</p><p>Resultaten visar att det sker en tätare packning av geografiska objekt i tid och rum på kyrkogårdarna. Korologiska förändringar kan tyda på liknande processer i handelsträdgården och bostadsområdet. Utrymmet är en begränsad resurs och packning är ett problem att lösa. Olika strategier för att hantera trängseln observeras. Avslutningsvis diskuteras förhållandet att ju tätare packning desto mer av registerhållning, mätning och restriktioner fordras och att vissa saker tillåts breda ut sig i rummet om de är tillfälliga.</p>

L’effet d’encombrement, qui nous empêche d’identifier correctement un stimulus visuel lorsqu’il est entouré de flanqueurs, est omniprésent à travers une grande variété de classes de stimuli. L’excentricité du stimulus cible ainsi que la distance cible-flanqueur constituent des facteurs fondamentaux qui modulent l’effet d’encombrement. La similarité cible-flanqueur semble également contribuer à l’ampleur de l’effet d’encombrement, selon des données obtenues avec des stimuli non-linguistiques. La présente étude a examiné ces trois facteurs en conjonction avec le contenu en fréquences spatiales des stimuli, dans une tâche d’identification de lettres. Nous avons présenté des images filtrées de lettres à des sujets non-dyslexiques exempts de troubles neurologiques, tout en manipulant l’excentricité de la cible ainsi que la similarité cible-flanqueurs (selon des matrices de confusion pré-établies). Quatre types de filtrage de fréquences spatiales ont été utilisés : passe-bas, passe-haut, à large bande et mixte (i.e. élimination des fréquences moyennes, connues comme étant optimales pour l’identification de lettres). Ces conditions étaient appariées en termes d’énergie de contraste. Les sujets devaient identifier la lettre cible le plus rapidement possible en évitant de commettre une erreur. Les résultats démontrent que la similarité cible-flanqueur amplifie l’effet d’encombrement, i.e. l’effet conjoint de distance et d’excentricité. Ceci étend les connaissances sur l’impact de la similarité sur l’encombrement à l’identification visuelle de stimuli linguistiques. De plus, la magnitude de l’effet d’encombrement est plus grande avec le filtre passe-bas, suivit du filtre mixte, du filtre passe-haut et du filtre à large bande, avec différences significatives entre les conditions consécutives. Nous concluons que : 1- les fréquences spatiales moyennes offrent une protection optimale contre l’encombrement en identification de lettres; 2- lorsque les fréquences spatiales moyennes sont absentes du stimulus, les hautes fréquences protègent contre l’encombrement alors que les basses fréquences l’amplifient, probablement par l’entremise de leur impact opposé quant la disponibilité de l’information sur les caractéristiques distinctives des stimul. / Visual crowding, which impairs our ability to accurately identify a target stimulus when surrounded by flankers, is ubiquitous across a wide variety of stimulus classes. Target eccentricity and target-flanker distance constitute fundamental factors in crowding. Target-flanker similarity appears as another key factor based on findings obtained with non-linguistic stimuli. The present study investigated the impact of these factors in conjunction with spatial frequency content on single letter identification performance. We presented spatial frequency filtered letters to neurologically intact nondyslexic readers while manipulating target-flanker distance, target eccentricity and target-flanker similarity (metric based on published letter confusion matrices). Spatial frequency filtering conditions were broadband, low-pass, high-pass and hybrid (i.e. medium spatial frequencies, known as optimal for letter recognition, removed from the stimulus). These conditions were matched on overall contrast energy. Participants were required to identify the target letter as fast and as accurately as possible. The results show that high target-flanker similarity enhances crowding, i.e. the joint effects of distance and eccentricity. This extends past findings on the impact of similarity on crowding to the visual identification of linguistic materials. Most importantly, the magnitude of the crowding effect is greatest with low-pass filtering, followed by hybrids, high-pass, and broadband, with all pairwise contrasts significant. We conclude that: 1- medium spatial frequencies provide optimal protection from crowding in letter recognition; 2- when medium spatial frequencies are absent from the stimulus, low spatial frequencies magnify crowding and high spatial frequencies protect against it, most likely through their opposite impact on the availability of distinctive feature information.

In meiner Dissertation untersuche ich, inwiefern sich der Zugang zu individuellen Absicherungsmöglichkeiten auf die informellen Unterstützungsnetzwerke zwischen Haushalten auswirkt. Diese Forschungsfrage ist vor dem Hintergrund der rasanten wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung vieler vormalig einkommensschwacher Länder von besonderer Relevanz. Sowohl um Voraussagen machen zu können, wie diese Entwicklung die soziale Struktur verändert als auch um Wohlfahrtseffekte spezifizieren zu können, ist es wichtig die Beziehung zwischen dem Zugang zu individuellen Absicherungsmöglichkeiten und der Nutzung informeller Unterstützungsnetzwerke zu verstehen. In dieser Arbeit erforsche ich diese Beziehung unter drei Gesichtspunkten. In der ersten Studie, untersuche ich die Struktur des Unterstützungsnetzwerks eines Fischerdorfes in den Philippinen. Ausgehend von einem theoretischen Netzwerkmodell, analysiere ich die Faktoren, die dazu führen, dass zwei Haushalte sich im Falle eines Schocks auf den jeweils anderen verlassen, wobei der Fokus auf dem Zugang zu alternativen Absicherungsmöglichkeiten liegt. In der zweiten Studie untersuche ich gezielt, inwieweit die Bereitschaft jemanden zu unterstützen davon beeinflusst wird, ob dieser Zugang zu individuellen Absicherungsmöglichkeiten hat. Dies wird mit Hilfe eines lab-in-the-field-Experimentes, das im ländlichen Kambodscha durchgeführt wurde, analysiert. In der dritten Studie verknüpfe ich die Unterstützungs-Entscheidungen aus dem Experiment mit dem tatsächlichen Unterstützungsnetzwerk der Experimentteilnehmer und untersuche, ob die Struktur der persönlichen sozialen Netzwerke das Verhalten im Experiment erklären kann. Zusammengefasst zeigen die drei Studien, dass mit dem Zugang zu individuellen Absicherungsmöglichkeiten Anreize abnehmen können, in informelle Unterstützungsnetzwerke zu investieren oder altruistisch Unterstützung zu gewähren. Dies hat direkte Auswirkungen auf die lokale Sozialstruktur. / In this thesis, I investigate how access to resources can affect the formation of informal support arrangements between households. This question is of particular relevance in the light of the rapid economic development that many former low-income countries recently experienced, which goes hand in hand with increasing possibilities for the population to cope with hardships individually. An understanding of the relationship between informal support and access to alternative risk management resources is crucial in order to make predictions about how this development can affect the social structure, and to specify welfare effects. In the thesis, I investigate this relationship from three different angles. First, I study the structure of mutual support arrangements in a fishing village on the Philippines (Chapter 2). Based on a model of strategic link formation I investigate which factors explain that two households engage in a mutual support arrangement with a focus on the role of households' alternative resources. In a second study, I investigate how the willingness to provide support can be affected by the availability of alternative resources, in particular individual insurance (Chapter 3). This is analyzed based on a lab-in-the-field experiment conducted in Cambodia. Different to the first study, the second study focuses on social preference motivated support. The last study conceptually links the first two studies. I relate the subjects' support decisions observed in the experiment back to the subjects' engagement in mutual support arrangements in real life and thus put the behavior in context to the social structure (Chapter 4). In summary, the studies show that with access to individual risk management options, the incentives to engage in mutual support arrangements as well as social preference motivated support can reduce, which has a direct impact on the local social structure.