This article proposes a data collection technique for describing experiences of a built environment. Besides the experiences of the visual and physical aspects of the place, this technique helps ...describe the sensory, bodily, emotional, interactive, and social experiences occurring during the human-environment encounter. The enabling technique presented is called Reactions and Actions Description Survey (RADES). It employs 120 images depicting people going through different situations involving all the senses, showing expressions related to positive and negative emotions, and realizing varied activities. Forty-five participants visited the esplanade in the exterior of a historic building called Obispado. The case study is located on a hill and is a scenic viewpoint of Monterrey, Mexico. The participants answered the RADES and the Environmental Description Survey (ENVIDES), which focuses on describing the qualities of the place and the appraisals with which it is experienced. The comments about the experiences of the place obtained through both surveys were grouped into 133 categories. Qualitative and quantitative data about the experiences of the place were obtained through both techniques. A quantitative analysis of the data was realized since the participants not only described their experiences with words but also indicated numerically the intensity of such experiences. Spearman correlations between the experiences were calculated, and a general map of the experiences of the place was created through multidimensional scaling analysis (MDS). The study revealed the connections between the elements and qualities of the site and the views with specific positive and negative experiences occurring during the visit. Furthermore, MDS allowed the discovery of 10 dimensions of environmental experience—pleasure/displeasure, high/low arousal, dominance/submissiveness, knowing/inhabiting, environment/self, higher/lower cognition, spatiality/materiality, states/processes, natural/built, and visual/sensory. The presented techniques and the findings obtained through them can assist architects in recognizing valuable environmental features for the design of livable spaces.
The objective of this exploratory study is to discover the relations between visual attention to an architectural work and the subjective experiences produced during its observation. A subjective ...experience with a building is the specific manner in which an architectural element or the building as a whole are presented to a person. The qualities of the element as how they are perceived and the inner world of the observer are both considered in this subjective experience. The aims of this study are to describe the experience that a building generates in people, pinpoint what has attracted the participant's attention during each view of the building in an itinerary; and understand which aspects of this selected case study have made it an object of attention. An eye-tracking study was carried out using a portable eye tracker. This tool allowed the participants to walk freely around the exterior of a historic train station in the city of Monterrey, Mexico. Two groups of participants, with routes starting from opposite sides of the building, contemplated it while using the eye tracker. Eye tracking allowed for the identification of the architectural elements that were objects of attention, the lengths of observation, and the points of view from which the elements were observed. Other data collection techniques, such as the think-aloud protocol and a special type of survey, were used to deeply understand the experiences that accompanied the visual exploration of the historic building. Results suggest that the participants observed the different architectural elements for a time that was neither influenced by the route used to explore the building nor the point where that route was initiated. The architectural elements identified as examples of high-quality architecture and perceived as aesthetically pleasing by the participants during the itinerary were observed for longer times.
The interactive role of the ecological, architectural, biophilic, and sensory qualities of outdoor and indoor spaces in the restorative experiences of urban inhabitants is little known. We analyzed ...the restorative influence on mood states and situational stress related to exposure to vegetation proportion, spatial extension, landmark salience, biophilic architecture, people density, street visual access, olfactory pleasantness, and noise of 65 public spaces in a Mexican city. The environmental qualities of these places were analyzed with multidimensional scaling (MDS), leading to eight space categories (e.g., historic squares with biophilic architecture, large parks, street scenes, and interiors with non-biophilic architecture). Ratings of the restorative potential, mood states, situational stress, olfactory pleasantness, and noise annoyance were evaluated on such places and modeled through a structural equation modeling (SEM). The model shows that the restorative influence of the environmental qualities on moods and stress was related to a decrease in experiences of negative moods and perceived stress, and an increase of positive mood states. Based on our findings, we discuss design guidelines, emphasizing the relevance of including vegetation and built elements with biophilic qualities to create restorative environments.
Outdoor office work is an emerging aspect of the concept of 'new ways of working', but only sparse data are available about the environmental qualities of the outdoor office space, experiences of ...office workers, and work-related well-being of outdoor office work. Here, we present an exploratory pilot study on well-being and outdoor office work in a public urban space. An outdoor office was set up in the courtyard of a university campus, and the participants (
= 16) conducted office work outdoors for 30 min and thereafter participated in an eye-tracking session for 11-15 min (
= 8) and subsequently filled out surveys (
= 16). The eye tracker allowed the discovery of natural and built elements in the outdoor environment that caught the participants' visual attention, whereas the surveys assessed aspects of their subjective experiences of the outdoor office space (its visual and spatial qualities) and the work there. The results are presented as network graphs where correlations are shown regarding different aspects of office work outdoors. The results indicate that outdoor office work in a public urban space may promote work-related well-being in terms of positive outdoor office space experiences. Based on the findings, a preliminary set of outdoor office qualities is proposed. Those qualities relate to the legibility and imageability of the outdoor office space, its focal points, and depth/spaciousness, in addition to attributes of usability and environmental richness, including if the outdoor office space affords natural contact and supports activities, in addition to social and individual interactions and relations.
Planning and predicting the experiences that buildings will produce is an essential part of architectural design. The importance of representation lies in its ability to communicate experiences ...before a building is materialized. This article will treat the topic of representation of architecture works without putting aside our direct experience with edifices. By understanding the perceptual, associative and interactive phenomena that arise from the human encounter with buildings, it becomes possible to comprehend the representation of these phenomena through pictorial means. The first objective of this theoretical article is to define the inherent and unavoidable factors that are present in the creation and interpretation of all architectural representations, regardless of the technical means used. Any representation conveys two processes: the representation of experience (a creative process), and the experience of representation (an interpretive process). Furthermore, there exist two layers in any representation: the what (the architectural object) and the how (the representational medium). The second objective is to suggest alternatives to visual realism, in order to create representations that embody the particular phenomena that an architectural work will be able to produce. On the one hand, representations that pretend to copy reality produce in the observers detailed visual experiences; on the other hand, certain representations reflect the experiences themselves after they have been produced; they represent buildings as they are transformed by experience. This article focuses on those representations that are not only the reflection of an object, but also the reflection of our way of experiencing it.
Throughout pregnancy, the decidua is predominantly populated by NK lymphocytes expressing Killer immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) that recognize human leukocyte antigen-C (HLA-C) ligands from ...trophoblast cells. This study aims to investigate the association of KIR-HLA-C phenotypes in couples facing infertility, particularly recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) and recurrent implantation failure (RIF), in comparison to a reference population and fertile controls. This observational, non-interventional retrospective case-control study included patients consecutively referred to our Reproductive Immunology Unit from 2015 to 2019. We analyzed the frequencies of KIR and HLA-C genes. As control groups, we analyzed a reference Spanish population for KIR analysis and 29 fertile controls and their male partners for KIR and HLA-C combinations. We studied 397 consecutively referred women with infertility and their male partners. Among women with unexplained RPL (133 women) and RIF (176 women), the centromeric (cen)AA KIR genotype was significantly more prevalent compared to the reference Spanish population (p = 0.001 and 0.02, respectively). Furthermore, cenAA was associated with a 1.51-fold risk of RPL and a 1.2-fold risk of RIF. Conversely, the presence of BB KIR showed a lower risk of reproductive failure compared to non-BB KIR (OR: 0.12, p < 0.001). Women and their partners with HLA-C1C1/C1C1 were significantly less common in the RPL-Group (p < 0.001) and RIF-Group (p = 0.002) compared to the control group. Moreover, the combination of cenAA/C1C1 in women with C1C1 partners was significantly higher in the control group than in the RPL (p = 0.009) and RIF (p = 0.04) groups, associated with a 5-fold increase in successful pregnancy outcomes. In our cohort, the cenAA KIR haplotype proved to be a more accurate biomarker than the classic AA KIR haplotype for assessing the risk of RPL and RIF, and might be particularly useful to identify women at increased risk among the heterogeneous KIR AB or Bx population. The classification of centromeric KIR haplotypes outperforms classical KIR haplotypes, making it a better indicator of potential maternal-fetal KIR-HLA-C mismatch in patients.
Exposure to outside views creates opportunities to distract and experience feelings of relaxation. To explore the relationship between the environmental qualities of the views with such psychological ...states, 89 participants from seven Mexican states evaluated the views they contemplated during the confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Items on fascination, cognitive well-being, and how relaxing and helpful the views were to withstand the confinement were answered. Participants took photographs of the views, which were evaluated according to 41 environmental dimensions, considering the built elements, vegetation, and visibility. Based on these dimensions, a classification of the views into categories was realized with multidimensional scaling. The five categories obtained were (a) immersive views of extensive landscapes with vegetation, (b) non-immersive views of landscapes with vegetation, (c) views of courtyards with vegetation, (d) views of commonplace scenes, and (e) views of mostly built elements. The categories generating the highest and lowest relaxation, fascination, and cognitive well-being were identified. The views of extensive landscapes with vegetation and the views of courtyards were the categories presenting the most favorable psychological effects. Furthermore, a partial correlation network found direct relations between the environmental and psychological dimensions. Fascination relates to the observation of distant elements, mountains, and trees. Meanwhile, relaxation correlates with the presence of plants and anticorrelates with car visibility, the quantity of the windows of the visible buildings, and the variety of built elements. Relaxation was the psychological state with the highest direct relation with the environmental dimensions. Meanwhile, the perceived immersion (the feeling of being outdoors), the quantity of plants, and the attractiveness of the built elements were the environmental aspects most directly related to the psychological dimensions. The multiplicity of environmental and architectural qualities considered allowed specific implications for architecture to be obtained. An integrated configuration of the natural and the built elements, and a limited quantity and variation of the built elements were qualities that generated positive outcomes in the observers of the views.
In a multidisciplinary way, this research takes the topic of our experience of buildings considering what all human beings have in common: the sensorial organs, the body, and a brain predisposed for ...responding to buildings in a relatively similar way. We will treat the different processes that arise in us in our encounter with a work of architecture. This article is divided into the discrete but interacting steps that characterize all human cognition: from the early processes of the acquisition of information from the environment, to the most complicated thoughts and feelings about architecture. From the points of view of physiology, perception psychology and semiotics, we look for the way the human constitution molds our experience of things. The intention is to use that knowledge creatively in architecture: to design according to the way we experience buildings.
Santrauka
Šio tyrimo tikslas – iš daugiadalykės perspektyvos pažvelgti į statinių patirtį, aptariant, ką bendra turi visos žmogiškosios būtybės: jutimo organus, kūną ir smegenis, kurių funkcija yra sąlygiškai panašiai reaguoti į statinius. Nagrinėsime architektūros darbuose iškylančius skirtingus procesus. Šis straipsnis padalytas į tarpusavyje sąveikaujančias dalis, apibūdinančias visą žmogiškąjį pažinimą: nuo ankstyvųjų informacijos įgijimo iš aplinkos procesų iki pačių sudėtingiausių su architektūra susijusių minčių ir jausmų. Žvelgdami iš fiziologijos, suvokimo psichologijos ir semiotikos perspektyvų, bandysime nustatyti, kaip žmogaus konstitucija lemia mūsų su daiktais susijusį patyrimą. Sieksime įrodyti, kad architektūroje žinojimas yra kūrybingas procesas: projektavimas priklauso nuo mūsų požiūrio į statinius.
Uterus Transplantation as a Surgical Innovation Pérez-Blanco, Alicia; Seoane, José-Antonio; Pallás, Teresa Aldabo ...
Journal of bioethical inquiry,
09/2023, Letnik:
20, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Uterus transplantation (UTx) research has been introduced in several countries, with trials in Sweden and the United States producing successful outcomes. The growing interest in developing UTx ...trials in other countries, such as Spain, the Netherlands, Japan, and Australia, raises important questions regarding the ethics of surgical innovation research in the field of UTx. This paper examines the current state of UTx in the context of the surgical innovation paradigm and IDEAL framework and discusses the ethical challenges faced by those considering the introduction of new trials. We argue that UTx remains an experimental procedure at a relatively early stage of the IDEAL framework, especially in the context of
de novo
trials, where protocols are likely to deviate from those used previously and where researchers are likely to have limited experience of UTx. We conclude that countries considering the introduction of UTx trials should build on the strengths of the reported outcomes to consolidate the evidence base and shed light on the uncertainties of the procedure. Authorities responsible for the ethical governance of UTx trials are advised to draw on the ethical framework used in the oversight of surgical innovation.
Architectural experience is defined in this article as the manner in which people apprehend buildings, and the way they respond to them. A classification of architectural experiences is presented ...here, encompassing people’s sensory and emotional responses, the meanings that buildings evoke and the actions carried out in them. The main objectives of this article are, first, to introduce a method to discover the experiential schemes or ways of appreciating architecture works that people adopt when they observe, explore, and analyze buildings; and second, to render tangible those phenomena through graphical representations or visualizations. In order to collect qualitative data about the experiences of participants with buildings, a think-aloud protocol was used, in which participants were asked to say whatever came to their minds as they visited a building. The use of the think-aloud protocol and a special graphic survey (proposed here) allowed a deeper comprehension of human experiences with architectural environments. Pilot test participants of think-aloud and the survey were architecture students who visited one of the two buildings selected. The phenomena experienced in built environments were made visible through visualizations of the survey results. Just like eye-tracking heat maps, these visualizations allowed seeing in space which areas or parts of a building produce specific experiences, as well as the intensity of those phenomena. A better understanding of what is considered beautiful, interesting, uncommon, ordered, etc.—and the relationships among them—was achieved through this method.
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