Doctor of Philosophy(PhD) / Many people believe that ‘purpose-built’ facilities will diminish some of the challenging behaviours exhibited by older people with dementia or psychiatric conditions. This study aimed to explore and understand what hands-on nurses in psychogeriatric assessment units experience and think of the built environment as a part of their day to day work. Twenty-one unstructured interviews were conducted with nurses at three psychogeriatric assessment units. The units ranged in style from an ancient adapted building to a contemporary 'purpose-built' facility. A critical hermeneutics derived from Gadamer was used to explore the interviews. It found that nurses think of the built environment in relation to the care needs of their patients, and feel bureaucratic restrictions in using the built environment more keenly than the shortcomings of the built environment itself. Nurses saw themselves and their patients as 'outcasts' or victims of those with money and power. The study concludes with suggestions for challenging the status quo, but also considers that being regarded as 'outcasts' allows opportunities to avoid being overly impressed by technological marvels.

BACKGROUND: Active transportation, such as using a bicycle to get one from one place to another, has definite benefits over driving or some other form of travel that requires less exertion; the most obvious of these is that it helps a person meet the daily recommendations for physical activity. College campuses tend to have higher rates of bicycle-commuters than non-campus environments, although Georgia State University faces unique barriers to bicycling due to its downtown location. In 2009, a cross-sectional study was conducted to assess bicycling attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors. In the two years that followed, a faculty-student collaborative known as GSU Bikes implemented efforts to try to increase bicycling on campus. Campus bicycle count data between the two years showed positive increases. In 2011, the study was repeated to examine if bicycling attitudes, knowledge, and behavior had changed since 2009. METHODS: 211 Georgia State University undergraduate and graduate students were surveyed in Fall 2011. The data they provided were then analyzed and compared to the 2009 bicycle data using independent-samples t­-tests and a chi-square analysis to identify significant differences between the two data sets. RESULTS: Few significant differences between the two sets of data were identified. Participants in 2011 had significantly higher agreement that they could locate information regarding bicycle safety and repairs, as well as reported a significantly greater likelihood of bicycling to campus if educational programs to, from, and around the GSU campus were implemented. Written feedback suggested that fear of collisions was still a major barrier; many students suggested a campus bicycle-share program and more information disseminated to students about bicycling to campus. DISCUSSION: The results from this study demonstrate that efforts aimed at encouraging students to bicycle to campus, between the 2009 and 2011 data collections, may not have been as effective as they were intended. Bicycle promotion that reaches a greater number of Georgia State University students is suggested. Because of the method of data sampling in this study, the data analyzed may not be truly representative of the Georgia State University population. In the future, an improved survey that is disseminated electronically may result in a larger sample size, increasing statistical validity and ability to generalize findings.

This study aimed to examine how the characteristics of the road network and the built environment influence the frequency of pedestrian-vehicle crashes. Pedestrian crashes (2000 – 2007) on major roads in DeKalb County of Georgia were obtained from Georgia Department of Transportation. Hotspot analysis was performed on locations with frequent pedestrian incidents to determine their built environment characteristics. Using Geographic Information Systems, the built environment was characterized using road grade, curvature, population density, the amount stores and restaurants, bars, and public transit stops nearby. A negative binomial regression model was used to examine the influence of the built environment characteristics on pedestrian crashes. The results showed that all the variables except for road grade were positively associated with increased number of pedestrian crashes. Findings provided insights into the influence of built environment characteristics which is important for injury prevention to improve pedestrian safety.

This study aimed to examine how the characteristics of the road network and the built environment influence the frequency of pedestrian-vehicle crashes. Pedestrian crashes (2000 – 2007) on major roads in DeKalb County of Georgia were obtained from Georgia Department of Transportation. Hotspot analysis was performed on locations with frequent pedestrian incidents to determine their built environment characteristics. Using Geographic Information Systems, the built environment was characterized using road grade, curvature, population density, the amount stores and restaurants, bars, and public transit stops nearby. A negative binomial regression model was used to examine the influence of the built environment characteristics on pedestrian crashes. The results showed that all the variables except for road grade were positively associated with increased number of pedestrian crashes. Findings provided insights into the influence of built environment characteristics which is important for injury prevention to improve pedestrian safety.

IDDQ testing is one of the most effective methods for detecting defects in integrated circuits. Higher leakage currents in more advanced semiconductor technologies have reduced the resolution of IDDQ test. One solution is to use built-in current sensors. Several sensor techniques for measuring the current based on the magnetic field or voltage drop across the supply line have been proposed. In this work, we develop a behavioral model for a built-in current sensor measuring voltage drop and use this model to better understand sensor operation, identify the effect of different parameters on sensor resolution, and suggest design modifications to improve future sensor performance.

Many studies have examined the relationship between youth physical activity and their built environment. However, most of them used subjective measurement tools to measure built environment because of their low cost and convenience. The application of geographic information system (GIS) in this study greatly supported the research in this field because it can provide more detailed objectively measured data of built environment. Three hundred and thirty-eight Hispanic low-income youth enrolled in a local San Antonio Youth Center program participated in the study. The first study examined the association between youth's household income, and the availability and accessibility of recreational and utilitarian facilities. Results indicated that youth from low income families had longer distances to and less available number of recreational and utilitarian facilities within their neighborhoods. The second study focused on nutrition environmental features, such as, availability and accessibility of fast food outlets and supermarkets. Findings suggested that the average distance to supermarkets was almost two times that of fast food restaurants. These results indicated that participants need to walk more to access a supermarket compared to the closest fast food restaurant. On the whole, supermarkets were less accessible compared to fast food restaurants for the participants in the study area. The third study provided some important supplements to the first two studies by examining both features related to physical activity and dietary behavior with youth's BMI. Results indicated that the available number (availability) of physical activity- and food-related facilities contributed significantly to youth BMI. Lower BMI was related to more available utilitarian (e.g., shopping malls), recreational facilities (e.g., parks) and some food stores (e.g., supermarkets). This study indicated that youth's individual features (e.g., age and SES) had some associations with their health conditions (e.g., BMI) and built environments (e.g., accessibility and availability of facilities and food outlets). These results may provide some evidence to improve the understanding of the relationship between individual, environmental, and social characteristics, which may be useful to promote children and adolescent health behaviors (e.g., physical activity and eating behavior) in public health.

University-built satellite programs are prone to failure because these projects are performed by inexperienced student-engineers during the early parts of the satellite-building “learning curve”. However, with sufficient attention on risk management, students should be able to identify what risk avoidance actions should be taken, and when. By applying risk mitigation strategies, university built satellite programs will not only contribute students to learn space systems engineering, but also accomplish their scientific missions with higher rates of success. This thesis study is aimed to provide risk management guidelines that could be adapted to university built satellite programs to increase the risk awareness. Besides indicating the key strategies for risk mitigation, a set of risk management procedures are prepared to help students during the university-built satellite projects. / text

Sustainable Built Environments Senior Capstone Project / The campus environment faces many of the same challenges of building quality pedestrian experience that urban environments do. Environmental psychology, related to the built environment, investigates how elements of the built environment affect the mental image and pedestrian experience within places. This study aims to investigate the planning history of the Historic, Science, and Highland districts of the University of Arizona campus, and what elements of each district influence the mental image for pedestrians, and what can be done to better each district. Pedestrian-scale architectural features, accessible natural features, and cohesive pedestrian-oriented plans with mixed uses were found to create successful districts or the lack there of to reduce the quality and use of districts on the University of Arizona campus.

Colour contributes to our everyday experience. The purpose of this research is to explore how landscape architects can use colour in the hardscape of outdoor public spaces to enhance functionality and human experience. Based on a literature review of architectural history and current trends in western architecture and landscape architecture, a Colour Assessment Framework for urban parks was developed to assess functionality of colour in outdoor spaces. Using this framework along with photo documentation, colour treatment of three contemporary parks in Europe was assessed. Results revealed various techniques of colour application in hardscape features that delineated spaces based on the categories of spatiality, identity, relativity, and instrumentality. This research is valuable because it allows designers to consider how the positive attributes of colour can be better incorporated into design to improve landscape function and human experience.

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