scholarly journals Noise in Maternity Wards: A Research on Its Contributors and Sources

Author(s):  
Qichao Ban ◽  
Bing Chen ◽  
Jian Kang ◽  
Yiping Zhang ◽  
Jie Li ◽  
...  

Aims: This research aimed to investigate the major user behavior patterns of noise sources in healthcare environments and summarize such information as evidence that can inform the design of maternity wards for indoor noise control and patients’ well-being. Methods: Field investigations were conducted to identify users’ behaviors as the major contributors of noises in the maternity wards of a typical hospital. A control experiment was set to test the feasibility of a noise control system that consisted of smart bracelets, mobile terminals, and monitors. Comparative studies were designed for statistical analysis of patients’ sleep quality and satisfaction. Finally, a follow-up interview was conducted among the experts who were from the fields of healthcare environment design, medical treatments, and hospital administration to shed an insight into their concerns on the findings. Results: The enclosed waiting areas, instead of open ones that were often seen in hospitals, around the entrances of operation rooms, were considered as the appropriate design strategy for maternity wards in China. Such a design could keep patients from being exposed to the excessive noises generated by visitors during nighttime, although it would occupy the floor area of wards and lead to a reduction of beds. Moreover, the statistical information of patients’ behaviors could be used to moderate visitors’ behaviors. Conclusions: It was necessary to include user behavior information in building information management and then make a good trade-off between the proportions of wards and enclosed waiting rooms in order to achieve a balance of medical efficiency and environmental satisfaction.

2021 ◽  
pp. 097206342110115
Author(s):  
Feryad A. Hussain

Integrative models of health care have garnered increasing attention over the years and are currently being employed within acute and secondary health care services to support medical treatments in a range of specialities. Clinical hypnosis has a history of working in partnership with medical treatments quite apart from its psychiatric associations. It aims to mobilise the mind–body connection in order to identify and overcome obstacles to managing symptoms of ill health, resulting in overall improved emotional and physical well-being. This article aims to encourage the use of hypnotherapy in physical health care by highlighting the effectiveness of hypnosis as an adjunct to medical treatment and identifying barriers preventing further integrative treatments.


2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 106-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johnny Hartz Søraker

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the ethical implications of video game companies employing psychologists and using psychological research in game design. Design/methodology/approach The author first argues that exploiting psychology in video games may be more ethically problematic than familiar application domains like advertising, gambling and political rhetoric. Then an overview of the effects particular types of game design may have on user behavior is provided, taking into account various findings and phenomena from behavioral psychology and behavioral economics. Findings Finally, the author concludes that the corresponding ethical problems cannot – and should not – be addressed by means of regulation or rating systems. The author argues instead that a more promising countermeasure lies in using the same psychological research to educate gamers (children in particular) and thereby increase their capacity for meta-cognition. Originality/value The importance of this lies in the tremendous effect these behavior-modifying technologies may have upon our self-determination, well-being and social relations, as well as corresponding implications for the society.


2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nurashikin Saaludin ◽  
Amna Saad ◽  
Cordelia Mason ◽  
Norsaadah Zakaria

Anthropometric data is widely used in various applications such as manufacturing, healthcare, forensics, and medical treatments. In addition, the data can be applied to design ergonomic tools, equipment, clothing, and footwear to ensure that the products, facilities, and services fit the users. This paper aims to analyze the existing literature on the importance of anthropometric data on the Malaysian population's productivity and quality of life and look into any further research that needs improvement. Guided by the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses), through Scopus and Web of Science databases, 15 related studies were identified. The review managed to extract six applications of anthropometric data and its seven perceived benefits. Data applications were classified into furniture, clothing and footwear, car seat, fitting and fixture, forensic investigation, and safety products. The benefits were grouped into easy to use, fit, well-being, welfare, safety, work efficiency, and identity verification by using thematic analysis. The review also highlighted the methodological issues related to the number of samples, locations coverage for a survey and the financial support in conducting research. Finally, several recommendations were drawn, including the importance of anthropometric database development at the end of this paper for reference by future scholars.


Author(s):  
J.H.M. Tah ◽  
A.H. Oti ◽  
F.H. Abanda

AbstractElements that constitute the built environment are vast and so are the independent systems developed to model its various aspects. Many of these systems have been developed under various assumptions and approaches to execute functions that are distinct, complementary or sometimes similar. Furthermore, these systems are ever increasing in number and often assume similar nomenclatures and acronyms, thereby exacerbating the challenges of understanding their peculiar functions, definitions and differences. The current societal demand to improve sustainability performance through collaboration as well as whole-system and through-life thinking is driving the need to integrate independent systems associated with different aspects and scales of the built environment to deliver smart solutions and services that improve the well-being of citizens. The contemporary object-oriented digitization of real-world elements appears to provide a leeway for amalgamating the modelling systems of various domains in the built environment which we termed as built environment information modelling (BeIM). These domains include architecture, engineering, construction as well as urban planning and design. Applications such as building information modelling, geographic information systems and 3D city modelling systems are now being integrated for city modelling purposes. The various works directed at integrating these systems are examined, revealing that current research efforts on integration fall into three categories: (1) data/file conversion systems, (2) semantic mapping systems and (3) the hybrid of both. The review outcome suggests that good knowledge of these domains and how their respective systems operate is vital to pursuing holistic systems integration in the built environment.


1989 ◽  
Vol 111 (3) ◽  
pp. 337-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. J. Silcox ◽  
H. C. Lester ◽  
S. B. Abler

This paper examines the physical mechanisms governing the use of active noise control in an extended volume of a cylindrical shell. Measured data were compared with computed results from a previously derived analytical model based on infinite shell theory. For both the analytical model and experiment, the radiation of external monopoles is coupled to the internal acoustic field through the radial displacement of the thin, elastic, cylindrical shell. An active noise control system was implemented inside the cylinder using a fixed array of discrete monopole sources, all of which lie in the plane of the exterior noise sources. Good agreement between measurement and prediction was obtained for both internal pressure response and overall noise reduction. Attenuations in the source plane greater than 15 dB were recorded along with a uniformly quieted noise environment over an indicative length inside the experimental model. Results indicate that for forced responses with extended axial distributions, axial arrays of control sources may be required. Finally, the Nyquist criteria for the number of azimuthal control sources is shown to provide for effective control over the full cylinder cross section.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abhinav Sood ◽  
Vanessa Ann Quintal ◽  
Ian Phau

Purpose This research aims to develop a user risk segmentation typology and implement a method that traces how user emotions adapt before, after and toward a next cosmetic procedure. It introduces the user risk segments to an empirical framework to explain re-engagement with the procedure. Design/methodology/approach A survey was self-administered to online consumer panels in the USA. The survey targeted users who had previously undertaken one of three elective procedures, namely, Botox (N = 550), hair transplant (N = 350) or liposuction (N = 350). Findings The typology identified timid image seekers, daring image crafters, approval-seeking socialites and mainstream image adopters. The method tracking user emotions found significant differences before, after and toward a next cosmetic procedure in the user risk segments. The framework predicted user re-engagement with the procedure for each segment. Research limitations/implications The typology presents more sophisticated user risk profiles. The method maps adapting user emotions toward engagement pre- and post-procedure. However, findings are limited to the USA and three cosmetic procedures. Practical implications The typology offers a profile of users and their risk perceptions of a behavior. The method presents an instrument that follows how user emotions adapt. The framework advances understanding of user re-engagement with the behavior. Originality/value Arguably, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first research to explore how perceived risk operates on emotional states and adaptation, which manifest user well-being and impact user behavior.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 205630512091560
Author(s):  
Niall Docherty

Through an analysis of Facebook design blogs, funded social psychology and human–computer interaction (HCI) research, this article will demonstrate how Facebook “scripts” a discursive material configuration of ideal use. It will show how users are prompted toward habits of “healthy” active usership—commenting on posts, direct messaging, and liking, for instance, through the design of the News Feed’s user interface. This article will detail how Facebook users are technologically nudged to choose practices of active behavior on the News Feed for the sake of their own health. This socio-technical configuration brings together contingent evolutionary psychology and neoliberal theories of social capital to construct a model of eudaimonic well-being—normative descriptions of what it means to live well as a human in time. In this way, Facebook will be shown to conceptualize well-being as an outcome of user choice, raising pertinent links to modalities of neoliberal responsibilization as a result. The conclusion will argue that Facebook’s configuration of its ideal user ought to be situated within a historical lineage of governance through habit, and will critically assess the extent to which the discursive and material scripting of the News Feed, which seeks to channel user behavior along “healthy,” predictable, and profitable avenues of interaction, operates as a technology of power entwined with contemporary relations of digital capitalism.


2008 ◽  
Vol 32 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 423-438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tian-Syung Lan ◽  
Min-Chie Chiu

Noise control is important and essential in a manufacturing factory, where the noise level is restricted by the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Several researches on new techniques of single noise control have been well addressed and developed; however, the study of noise depression on the whole plant noise by using optimum allocation planning is hardly found. An improper machine allocation will not only result in the tremendous cost on noise control task, but also cause the harmful environment for the neighborhood; therefore, the approach of optimum and economic allocation of noise sources within a constrained plant area becomes crucial and obligatory. In this paper, a novel technique of simulated annealing (SA) is applied in the numerical optimization, and the multi-noise plant with various sound monitoring systems is also introduced. Before optimization, the single noise is tested and compared with the simulated data from SoundPlan, a commercial sound simulation package, for the accuracy check of the mathematical model. The result reveals to be within good agreements. The proposed SA optimization on the allocation of multi-noise plant surely provides an economic and effective methodology in reducing the sound accumulation around the plant boundary.


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