Ergonomic Standards for Disabled People in Pedestrian Areas : Results from Leeds Observation Work 1988/89

This working paper is one of a series (WP 252, 253, 254, 255, 274, 275), describing work undertaken under contract to TRRL investigating design guidance for pedestrian areas and footways to satisfy the needs of disabled and elderly people. This working paper reports on fieldwork conducted with disabled people in Leeds to investigate movement distances; assessments of surface conditions including gaps, undulation, gradients, camber and friction; and assessments of bus shelter seating

Ergonomic Standards for Disabled People in Pedestrian Areas : Results from Leeds Observation Work 1988/89

This working paper is one of a series (WP 252, 253, 254, 255, 274, 275), describing work undertaken under contract to TRRL investigating design guidance for pedestrian areas and footways to satisfy the needs of disabled and elderly people. This working paper reports on fieldwork conducted with disabled people in Leeds to investigate movement distances; assessments of surface conditions including gaps, undulation, gradients, camber and friction; and assessments of bus shelter seating

Economic Standards for Pedestrian Areas for Disabled People: Results from Observation Work

1.1.1 The Institute for Transport Studies was invited by the Transport and Road Research Laboratory to submit a research proposal, with costs, aimed at establishing suitable "Ergonomic Standards for Pedestrian Areas for Disabled People". The project commenced on 1st July, 1986 and was split into two parts, with part one involving four months' work over the period to 31st December, 1986 and part two finishing on 30th April, 1988. 1.1.2 The -objectives of the study laid down in the design brief by the Transport and Road Research Laboratory were: a) To produce a guide to good practice for the design and maintenance of footways and pedestrianised areas; b) To provide, where possible, recommended standards for design and maintenance. The good practice guide and the recommended standards were to be primarily aimed at disabled people and the elderly, but the requirements of the able-bodied were also to be considered, as were conflicts between the needs of different groups of user. The economic implications of implementation and maintenance were also to be detailed. (Continues..

Do Community-Level Models Account for the Effects of Biotic Interactions? A Comparison of Community-Level and Species Distribution Modeling of Rocky Mountain Conifers

Community-level models (CLMs) aim to improve species distribution modeling (SDM) methods by attempting to explicitly incorporate the influences of interacting species. However, the ability of CLMs to appropriately account for biotic interactions is unclear. We applied CLM and SDM methods to predict the distributions of three dominant conifer tree species in the U.S. Rocky Mountains and compared CLM and SDM predictive accuracy as well as the ability of each approach to accurately reproduce species co-occurrence patterns. We specifically evaluated the performance of two statistical algorithms, MARS and CForest, within both CLM and SDM frameworks. Across all species, differences in SDM and CLM predictive accuracy were slight and can be attributed to differences in model structure rather than accounting for the effects of biotic interactions. In addition, CLMs generally over-predicted species cooccurrence, while SDMs under-predicted cooccurrence. Our results demonstrate no real improvement in the ability of CLMs to account for biotic interactions relative to SDMs. We conclude that alternative modeling approaches are needed in order to accurately account for the effects of biotic interactions on species distributions

Economic Standards for Pedestrian Areas for Disabled People: Results from Observation Work

1.1.1 The Institute for Transport Studies was invited by the Transport and Road Research Laboratory to submit a research proposal, with costs, aimed at establishing suitable "Ergonomic Standards for Pedestrian Areas for Disabled People". The project commenced on 1st July, 1986 and was split into two parts, with part one involving four months' work over the period to 31st December, 1986 and part two finishing on 30th April, 1988. 1.1.2 The -objectives of the study laid down in the design brief by the Transport and Road Research Laboratory were: a) To produce a guide to good practice for the design and maintenance of footways and pedestrianised areas; b) To provide, where possible, recommended standards for design and maintenance. The good practice guide and the recommended standards were to be primarily aimed at disabled people and the elderly, but the requirements of the able-bodied were also to be considered, as were conflicts between the needs of different groups of user. The economic implications of implementation and maintenance were also to be detailed. (Continues..

Underwater near infrared spectroscopy (uNIRS) can measure training adaptations in adolescent swimmers

The development of an underwater near-infrared spectroscopy (uNIRS) device has enabled previously unattainable measurements of peripheral muscle hemodynamics and oxygenation to be taken within the natural aquatic environment. The purposes of this study were (i) to trial the use of uNIRS, in a real world training study, and (ii) to monitor the effects of a swim training program upon muscle oxygenation status in short distance swimming. 14 junior club level swimmers completed a repeated swim sprint test before and after an eight week endurance training program. A waterproof, portable NIRS device was attached to the vastus lateralis. uNIRS successfully measured changes in muscle oxygenation and blood volume in all individuals; rapid sub-second time resolution of the device was able to demonstrate muscle oxygenation changes during the characteristic swim movements. Post training heart rate recovery and swim performance time were significantly improved. uNIRS data also showed significant changes. A larger rise in deoxyhemoglobin during individual sprints suggested training induced an increase in muscle oxygen extraction; a faster recovery time for muscle oxygenation suggested positive training induced changes and significant changes in muscle blood volume also occur. As a strong correlation was seen between an increased reoxygenation rate and an improved swim performance time, these findings support the use of uNIRS as a new performance analysis tool in swimming

A feasibility study of signed consent for the collection of patient identifiable information for a national paediatric clinical audit database

Objectives: To investigate the feasibility of obtaining signed consent for submission of patient identifiable data to a national clinical audit database and to identify factors influencing the consent process and its success. Design: Feasibility study. Setting: Seven paediatric intensive care units in England. Participants: Parents/guardians of patients, or patients aged 12-16 years old, approached consecutively over three months for signed consent for submission of patient identifiable data to the national clinical audit database the Paediatric Intensive Care Audit Network (PICANet). Main outcome measures: The numbers and proportions of admissions for which signed consent was given, refused, or not obtained (form not returned or form partially completed but not signed), by age, sex, level of deprivation, ethnicity (South Asian or not), paediatric index of mortality score, length of hospital stay (days in paediatric intensive care). Results: One unit did not start and one did not fully implement the protocol, so analysis excluded these two units. Consent was obtained for 182 of 422 admissions (43%) (range by unit 9% to 84%). Most (101/182; 55%) consents were taken by staff nurses. One refusal (0.2%) was received. Consent rates were significantly better for children who were more severely ill on admission and for hospital stays of six days or more, and significantly poorer for children aged 10-14 years. Long hospital stays and children aged 10-14 years remained significant in a stepwise regression model of the factors that were significant in the univariate model. Conclusion: Systematically obtaining individual signed consent for sharing patient identifiable information with an externally located clinical audit database is difficult. Obtaining such consent is unlikely to be successful unless additional resources are specifically allocated to training, staff time, and administrative support