Explaining an Influential Model of the Significant Relationship Between Religion, Spirituality, and Environmental Peace in Mosque Interior Architecture.

Investigating the components of environmental peace in an architectural work, especially Islamic mosques, requires a detailed understanding of this concept and its influential factors. In the architecture of the mosques of the past, certain patterns have always followed a continuous trend that made a logical relationship with the time before and after, but this continuity and trend are not seen today. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of environmental peace from two aspects of religion and spirituality. Religion means comprehensive instructions and complete guidelines that, on the one hand, show the goal and teaches the human being how to achieve it, and on the other hand, help the human being on problems that are difficult to understand by universal means of understanding (reason, experience, and intuition). Therefore, the identification of the true ultimate goal in human life as well as the determination of the intermediate goals that indicate the path to the ultimate goal is possible only through the recognition and adherence to the right religion, and this fact shows the close relationship between religion and spirituality. The research method investigates the relationship between variables through a correlation method and then through structural equations. The statistical population was selected based on the Cochran formula including 120 professors and postgraduate students in architecture and Islamic architecture of Tehran Universities. The research tool was a web-based questionnaire and its link was made available to the statistical community online. The structural equation method was used in SPSS and Amos software to test the regression and fitting test model. Pearson correlation test was also used to determine the relationship between research variables. The results show that the model of the influence of "religion" factors in enhancing "environmental peace" through the mediating variable of "spirituality" explains these relationships; in other words, in this indirect causal relation, enhancement of semantic factors mediated by "spirituality" factors enhances environmental peace in architecture.

Derivation and application of an analytical rock displacement solution on rectangular cavern wall using the inverse mapping method.

Rectangular caverns are increasingly used in underground engineering projects, the failure mechanism of rectangular cavern wall rock is significantly different as a result of the cross-sectional shape and variations in wall stress distributions. However, the conventional computational method always results in a long-winded computational process and multiple displacement solutions of internal rectangular wall rock. This paper uses a Laurent series complex method to obtain a mapping function expression based on complex variable function theory and conformal transformation. This method is combined with the Schwarz-Christoffel method to calculate the mapping function coefficient and to determine the rectangular cavern wall rock deformation. With regard to the inverse mapping concept, the mapping relation between the polar coordinate system within plane ς and a corresponding unique plane coordinate point inside the cavern wall rock is discussed. The disadvantage of multiple solutions when mapping from the plane to the polar coordinate system is addressed. This theoretical formula is used to calculate wall rock boundary deformation and displacement field nephograms inside the wall rock for a given cavern height and width. A comparison with ANSYS numerical software results suggests that the theoretical solution and numerical solution exhibit identical trends, thereby demonstrating the method's validity. This method greatly improves the computing accuracy and reduces the difficulty in solving for cavern boundary and internal wall rock displacements. The proposed method provides a theoretical guide for controlling cavern wall rock deformation failure.

Occupation and renal cell cancer in Central and Eastern Europe.

OBJECTIVE: Central and Eastern Europe has among the highest rates of renal cell cancer worldwide. Few studies have been conducted in these areas to investigate the possible role of occupational exposures in renal cell cancer aetiology. The purpose of this study was to examine the association of renal cell cancer with employment in specific occupations and industries. METHODS: From 1999 to 2003, we conducted a hospital-based case-control study in seven areas of the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania and Russia. A detailed occupational history was collected from renal cell cancer cases and controls, together with information on potential confounders. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% CI of cancer risk were calculated for having ever been employed in selected jobs and industries, with follow-up analyses examining duration of employment. RESULTS: A total of 992 histologically confirmed incident renal cell cancer cases and 1459 controls were included in the analysis. An increased risk of renal cell cancer was observed for workers in agricultural labour and animal husbandry (OR 1.43; 95% CI 1.05 to 1.93), particularly among women employed as general farm workers (OR 2.73; 95% CI 1.05 to 7.13). Risk gradients for agricultural work increased with longer employment. An overall increased risk of renal cell cancer was seen among architects and engineers (OR 1.89; 95% CI 1.35 to 2.65), and mechanical engineers (OR 1.71; 95% CI 1.03 to 2.84). CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest an association between renal cell cancer and agricultural work, particularly among female workers.

Some findings on prospect and refuge theory: II.

This article presents four new studies on the efficacy of predictions based on prospect and refuge theory and summarizes the results over eight studies. New data covered 49 participants and 36 environments. The eight studies included in the summary covered 144 participants and 80 widely diverse environments (Japanese Tatami rooms, Western rooms, porch, meadow, neighborhood commercial, shopping mall, vacation landscapes). Data were available for hypotheses about five factors: prospect, refuge, light, venue, and spatial transition. Efficacy was represented by correlations for the levels of the factors with responses of preference or comfort. Overall, venue was the most efficacious factor (r = .42, 95% CI = .14, .64). Efficacies for the other factors were very near zero. It is suggested that a considerable amount of additional formal inquiry be conducted before assuming the utility of prospect and refuge theory.

Suicide and occupation: the impact of socio-economic, demographic and psychiatric differences.

BACKGROUND: To explore the risk of suicide associated with occupation while evaluating the impact of socio-economic, demographic and psychiatric differences. METHOD: A nested case-control study with 3195 suicides and 63 900 matched controls. Information on causes of death, occupation, psychiatric admission, marital status and socio-economic factors was obtained from routine registers. RESULTS: Across the 55 occupations investigated, the risk of suicide ranged from 2.73 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.77-4.22] among doctors to 0.44 (95% CI 0.27-0.72) among architects and engineers compared with primary school teachers. With the exception of doctors and nurses, most of the excess risk of suicide associated with particular occupations is explained by the social and economic characteristics of people in those occupations. Much, but not all, of the excess risk in doctors and nurses is due to their increased use of self-poisoning, a method for which they have the knowledge to use effectively. Occupation has little association with suicide among people who suffer from a psychiatric illness, except for doctors, where the excess risk is 3.62 (p=0.007). CONCLUSIONS: Most of the considerable variation in suicide risk across occupations is explained by socio-economic factors, except for doctors and nurses. Apart from in doctors, the risk of suicide has little association with occupation among people who suffer from a psychiatric illness. Restriction of access to lethal means is an important strategy in suicide prevention.

Evaluation of stage acoustics in Seoul Arts Center Concert Hall by measuring stage support.

Stage acoustics is an important characteristic for concert halls, both for the acoustic quality on stage and for the audience. However, relatively little research has been conducted into the question. This study was based on the investigation of an actual concert hall stage, that of the Seoul Arts Center Concert Hall in Korea. The stage acoustics was evaluated in the actual hall, and with two models: a 1:25 scale model and a computer model. The study was based on the stage support parameter ST1 proposed by Gade as a measure of support for individual performers [Acustica 65, 193-203 (1989)]. The variation of support was measured on the empty stage of the actual hall and in the two models. The effect of musicians on stage, the effect of moving the orchestra, the effect of ceiling height and of stage-wall profile were also investigated. Conclusions are drawn both relating to the Seoul Concert Hall stage and stages in general.

Robustness of spatial average equalization: a statistical reverberation model approach.

Traditionally, multiple listener room equalization is performed to improve sound quality at all listeners, during audio playback, in a multiple listener environment (e.g., movie theaters, automobiles, etc.). A typical way of doing multiple listener equalization is through spatial averaging, where the room responses are averaged spatially between positions and an inverse equalization filter is found from the spatially averaged result. However, the equalization performance, will be affected if there is a mismatch between the position of the microphones (which are used for measuring the room responses for designing the equalization filter) and the actual center of listener head position (during playback). In this paper, we will present results on the effects of microphone-listener mismatch on spatial average equalization performance. The results indicate that, for the analyzed rectangular configuration, the region of effective equalization depends on (i) the distance of a listener from the source, (ii) the amount of mismatch between the responses, and (iii) the frequency of the audio signal. We also present some convergence analysis to interpret the results.

Better, not bigger. Construction costs soar on wings of patient demand, construction & design survey finds.

Even though the number of construction projects remained flat in 1998, overall spending jumped 29% to nearly $15 billion, according to this year's Construction & Design Survey. Outpatient facilities remained in strong demand, increasing 17% compared with last year's survey.

Variation in surgical rates: a population study.

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to compare the use of certain surgical services by physicians to three other professional groups (architects, lawyers, and nurses) and to the general population. To meet this objective, variations in six surgical procedures were studied: appendectomy, tonsillectomy, herniorrhaphy, cholecystectomy, cesarean section, and hysterectomy. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study in the city of Valencia (Spain) from September 1992 to September 1993. The surveys were carried out by mail questionnaire. Two thousand ninety-six subjects were recruited by simple random sampling for each of the groups. The questionnaire contained questions referring to the interviewee and to each family member (spouse or partner and up to a maximum of four children). The proportion of subjects who stated that they had undergone a particular type of surgery was compared among the professional groups. The population denominator was the whole Valencia population. RESULTS: The global response rate was 83.7%. With the exception of herniorrhaphy, the rates of surgical procedures obtained for each procedure for the different groups were not significantly different. The frequency of operations for each group differed according to sex and age. The risk of undergoing tonsillectomy was significantly higher among the general population when there were no medical friends or relatives than when there were. CONCLUSIONS: Barriers against access to surgical care did not seem to have played an important role in the use of surgical services. The frequency of operations for the best informed consumers with the most access to these services, that is, physicians, was very similar to that for other population groups.

1998 construction design survey.

Healthcare construction and design firms are discovering new worlds of opportunity--some domestic, some international and some unconventional. Emergency room renovation and construction work is drawing more attention, as are overseas projects and facilities designed with alternative medicine in mind. The number of projects rose 11% in 1997, but the overall cost of completed projects stayed flat compared with the previous year.

1996 construction & design survey.

Healthcare providers may not be investing as much capital in design and construction as they used to, but there's still plenty of activity in the facility management departments. Projects are smaller, and tight budgets are forcing facilities to spend less on more projects.

Healthcare by design. Construction survey finds providers concentrating on the future.

Spending on design and the development of master plans helped build up the healthcare construction market last year, according to Modern Healthcare's Construction & Design Survey. Executives are looking for facility design to contribute to overall cost-effectiveness.