Design Project Research Articles

Development of a Tabletop Hologram for Spatial Visualization: Application in the Field of Architectural and Urban Design

Architects, engineers, and designers normally visualize architectural, urban planning, urban design, or landscape design projects in different ways to present their ideas. At present, the two most widely utilized and accessible methods for spatial visualization are digital 3D modeling and physical 3D modeling. Despite their popularity, both approaches have intrinsic limitations. These shortcomings are progressively being mitigated through advancements in technology and digitalization. In this study, we propose the utilization of hologram technology as an innovative approach to overcome the limitations of both modeling methods mentioned. This research addresses two main points: the seamless integration of hologram production into the standard workflow of architectural and urban design projects, and the experimental creation of a tabletop hologram prototype using the most advanced stereoscopic visualization capabilities—CHIMERA hologram printer. The experiment’s results indicate that tabletop holograms’ visualization quality can potentially replace traditional methods in the near future. The process of creating holograms can be incorporated into the standard workflow of architectural and urban design projects and utilized in specific contexts.

Evaluation of Green Infrastructure Benefits in Urban Areas in Paris

Purpose: The aim of the study was to investigate the evaluation of green infrastructure benefits in urban areas in Paris. Methodology: This study adopted a desk methodology. A desk study research design is commonly known as secondary data collection. This is basically collecting data from existing resources preferably because of its low cost advantage as compared to a field research. Our current study looked into already published studies and reports as the data was easily accessed through online journals and libraries. Findings: An evaluation of green infrastructure benefits in urban Paris found that parks and street trees effectively mitigate urban heat island effects and improve air quality by reducing pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter. Recommendations emphasize integrating green infrastructure into urban planning to sustain these benefits and promote environmental resilience, highlighting its critical role in enhancing urban livability and sustainability in Paris. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: Ecosystem services framework, social-ecological Systems (SES) theory & urban political ecology (UPE may be used to anchor future studies on the evaluation of green infrastructure benefits in urban areas in Paris. Foster interdisciplinary collaboration between urban planners, landscape architects, environmental scientists, and social researchers to enhance the design, implementation, and management of green infrastructure projects. Advocate for policy frameworks that integrate green infrastructure into urban planning and development strategies at local, regional, and national levels. This includes incentivizing green infrastructure adoption through financial incentives, tax breaks, and regulatory support.

Application Strategies of Modular Design in Assembled Teaching Buildings

As an efficient, environmentally friendly, energy-saving construction method, assembled buildings are now widely used in campus building construction. Modular design thinking is system-based design thinking, and its application to the design of an assembled teaching building project will comprehensively improve the rationality of the teaching building and component design. The paper focuses on the application of modular design thinking in assembled teaching building design, aiming to provide references for China’s architectural design units, giving full play to the advantages of modular design thinking in future teaching building design projects, and enhancing the level of design, for the construction of the teaching building and the basis of the technical guarantee.

Utilizing rapid qualitative assessment and thematic analysis methods to identify and share promising case investigation and contact tracing practices with people in refugee, immigrant, and migrant communities during COVID-19.

In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic The National Resource Center for Refugees, Immigrants and Migrants (NRC-RIM) was established. NRC-RIM initially sought to rapidly identify promising case investigation and contact tracing (CICT) practices within refugee, immigrant, and migrant communities. Between September 2020 and April 2021, the team conducted 60 interviews with individuals from cross-sector organizations (i.e., public health, health systems, community experts/organizations) working with refugee, immigrant and migrant communities in health and public health capacities related to COVID-19. The overarching aim was to identify and amplify innovative promising and best practices for CICT with refugee, immigrant, and migrant communities, including an exploration of barriers and facilitators. We utilized layered methods to rapidly assess, summarize and disseminate promising practices while simultaneously completing four thematic analyses including: (1) public health organizations; (2) health system organizations; (3) community leaders and organizations; and (4) vaccine planning and access across the three sectors. The primary objective of this article is to describe the project design, applied methods, and team science approach we utilized. We found that rapid identification and dissemination of promising practices, and barriers and facilitators for CICT with refugee, immigrant and migrant communities was feasible during a public health emergency. This approach was essential for identifying and widely sharing culturally and linguistically concordant public health practices.

Avoiding the needle: A quality improvement program introducing apixaban for extended thromboprophylaxis after major gynecologic cancer surgery

ObjectivePatients undergoing gynecologic cancer surgery at our centre are recommended up to 28 days of enoxaparin for extended post-operative thromboprophylaxis (EP). Baseline survey revealed 92% patient adherence, but highlighted negative effects on patient experience due to the injectable route of administration. We aimed to improve patient experience by reducing pain and bruising by 50%, increasing adherence by 5%, and reducing out-of-pocket cost after introducing apixaban as an oral alternative for EP. MethodsIn this interrupted time series quality improvement study, gynecologic cancer patients were offered a choice between apixaban (2.5 mg orally twice daily) or enoxaparin (40 mg subcutaneously once daily) at time of discharge. A multidisciplinary team informed project design, implementation, and evaluation. Process interventions included standardized orders, patient and care team education programs. Telephone survey at 1 and 6 weeks and chart audit informed outcome, process, and balancing measures. ResultsFrom August to October 2022, 127 consecutive patients were included. Apixaban was chosen by 84%. Survey response rate was 74%. Patients who chose apixaban reported significantly reduced pain, bruising, increased confidence with administration, and less negative impact of the medication (p < 0.0001 for all). Adherence was unchanged (92%). The proportion of patients paying less than $125 (apixaban cost threshold) increased from 45% to 91%. There was no difference in bleeding and no VTE events. ConclusionsIntroduction of apixaban for EP was associated with significant improvement in patient-reported quality measures and reduced financial toxicity with no effect on adherence or balancing measures. Apixaban is the preferred anticoagulant for EP at our centre.

A Black Women’s Practice: Oral History from Fisk University’s Ex-slave Narratives and the Black Women Oral History Project

ABSTRACT Building on recent works that question a simplistic, White narrative of the history of academic oral history, this article focuses on the labors of Black women related to the field. It spans the fifty years during which the first oral history programs began and the Oral History Association came to prominence by highlighting two twentieth-century bookends: Ophelia Settle Egypt collecting ex-slave narratives at Fisk University in the 1920s and the Black Women Oral History Project at Radcliffe College’s Schlesinger Library in the 1970s. 1 Spotlighting Black women’s oral history work—from project design, advising, and funding, to interviewing, transcribing, project management, and archiving—demonstrates how they developed ethos and practices that reflected themselves and their communities as part of the larger field and best practices. Their approaches are precursors to many of today’s innovations in oral history methods and theories.

Hospital operations management – characterising patients’ process flows in emergency departments

PurposeThis work aims to integrate the concepts generated by a systematic literature review on patient flows in emergency departments (ED) to serve as a basis for developing a generic process model for ED.Design/methodology/approachA systematic literature review was conducted using PRISMA guidelines, considering Lean Healthcare interventions describing ED patients’ flows. The initial search found 141 articles and 18 were included in the systematic analysis. The literature analysis served as the basis for developing a generic process model for ED.FindingsED processes have been represented using different notations, such as value stream mapping and workflows. The main alternatives for starting events are arrival by ambulance or walk-in. The Manchester Triage Scale (MTS) was the most common protocol referred to in the literature. The most common end events are admission to a hospital, transfer to other facilities or admission to an ambulatory care system. The literature analysis allowed the development of a generic process model for emergency departments. Nevertheless, considering that several factors influence the process of an emergency department, such as pathologies, infrastructure, available teams and local regulations, modelling alternatives and challenges in each step of the process should be analysed according to the local context.Originality/valueA generic business process model was developed using BPMN that can be used by practitioners and researchers to reduce the effort in the initial stages of design or improvement projects. Moreover, it’s a first step toward the development of generalizable and replicable solutions for emergency departments.

Defining community-led monitoring and its role in programme-embedded learning: lessons from the Citizen Science Project in Malawi and South Africa.

Programme Science (PS) and community-led monitoring (CLM) intersect in unexpected and promising ways. This commentary examines a CLM initiative in Malawi and South Africa to highlight the crucial role of CLM in bolstering the PS framework. By leveraging data sources often overlooked by conventional research and evaluation approaches, CLM emerges as a pivotal element in enhancing programme effectiveness. This paper delineates the fundamental principles of CLM, presents programme outcomes derived from CLM methodologies and contextualizes these findings within the broader framework of PS. The Citizen Science Project implements CLM continuously at 33 health facilities: 14 in Malawi (eight in Kasungu District and six in Dedza District), and 19 in South Africa (all in the West Rand District), representing a total catchment area of 989,848 people. Monitoring indicators are developed in an iterative process with community groups. The indicators are unique to each country, but both focus on the uptake of health services (quantitative) and barriers to access (qualitative). Monthly clinic records surveys capture 34 indicators in Malawi and 20 in South Africa and are supplemented by qualitative interviews with care recipients and healthcare workers. Qualitative interviews provide additional granularity and help confirm and explain the more macro trends in service coverage as described in quantitative data. The resulting data analysis reveals key themes that help stakeholders and decision-makers to solve problems collaboratively. Noteworthy outcomes include a substantial increase in multi-month dispensing of antiretroviral therapy (ART) during COVID-19 (from 6% to 31%) with a subsequent recovery surpassing of HIV service benchmarks in Malawi post-pandemic. While quantifying direct impact remains challenging due to the project's design, CLM proves to be a robust methodology that generates credible data and produces impactful outcomes. Its potential extends beyond the health sector, empowering community leadership and fostering interventions aligned with community needs. As CLM continues to evolve, its integration into PS promises to improve relevance, quality and impact across diverse disciplines.

Comparing carbon offsets and livelihood benefits in a long‐term reforestation project: Agroforestry versus native timber versus enrichment planting

Abstract Indigenous People and Local Communities (IPLC) can play an important role in reforestation for climate change mitigation while providing environmental and livelihood benefits. However, there is a lack of direct comparison between different reforestation design's carbon uptake potential and their relevance to community reforestation. We evaluate the carbon capture and survival of the four most common reforestation designs in a 14‐year‐long project in an Emberá community in eastern Panama. We look at native timber mixtures and monocultures, agroforestry, and natural regrowth with enrichment planting. To explain the differences between plots, we compare design, management and environmental characteristics using redundancy analyses (RDA). We then contextualize our results with the project leader's perspectives of success using interviews and workshops. In the first decade, mixtures and monocultures of timber stored on average roughly 3× more carbon than agroforestry and enrichment planting (140 tCO2/ha compared to 40 tCO2/ha and 53 tCO2/ha). The project design had the largest influence on carbon storage and survival with an explanatory power of 31% followed by management and environmental characteristics (14% and 2% respectively). The largest threat to the survival and growth was the risk of fire which caused mortality in more than 2/3 of the plots. Some damage was offset by natural regrowth which accounted for 34% of the total carbon, but the participants generally perceived natural regrowth as being “dirty.” They had a strong preference for agroforestry, particularly coffee (Coffea spp.), a crop with negligible carbon value, but high economic value. ‘Practical implication’: The findings underscore the need to balance carbon sequestration with local economic preferences, integrate community input, mitigate environmental risks and adopt long‐term, holistic approaches for effective reforestation projects.

Advancing Water Deoiling Efficiency in Petroleum Production: A Comprehensive Case Study of Hybrid Flotation Technology Integration

_ The efficient management of increasing water cuts in oil fields is paramount for sustaining profitability and minimizing environmental impact. This article presents a comprehensive case study conducted by Saudi Aramco, focusing on the integration of hybrid flotation technology into a gravity water/oil separator (WOSEP) to enhance deoiling efficiency and reduce operational costs and carbon emissions. The retrofit involved merging enhanced gravity separation with induced gas flotation (IGF) within the same vessel, resulting in significant improvements in deoiling capacity, outlet oil-in-water content reduction, and operational efficiency. Detailed insights into the design, operation, and performance of hybrid flotation systems are provided, offering valuable guidance for similar initiatives in the petroleum industry. Introduction Petroleum production facilities face escalating challenges with increasing water-production rates during crude-oil extraction, particularly in waterflooding operations for secondary oil recovery. This trend not only escalates operational costs but also intensifies environmental concerns, particularly regarding energy consumption and carbon emissions associated with water-handling processes. In response to these challenges, Saudi Aramco embarked on a pioneering initiative to enhance water-deoiling efficiency by integrating hybrid flotation technology into a conventional gravity WOSEP. This case study presents a comprehensive analysis of the design, implementation, and outcomes of this transformative project, offering valuable insights for the broader petroleum industry. Methodology The upgrade process commenced with an assessment of the existing WOSEP system and its operational challenges. Recognizing the impending capacity constraints and escalating oil-in-water content, Saudi Aramco’s engineering team opted for a holistic approach that combined enhanced gravity separation with IGF within the same vessel. The retrofit involved reconfiguring the internal components of the WOSEP to accommodate the hybrid flotation system, including the installation of advanced plate-pack internals for gravity separation and the integration of IGF cells for additional oil removal. Rigorous testing and optimization procedures were conducted to ensure seamless integration and optimal performance of the hybrid system. Gas/Oil Separation Plant Process Description In a typical gas/oil separation plant, the initial phase involves the extraction of crude oil, associated gas, and produced water from wells via a production manifold. These constituents are then directed to a three-phase separator, also known as a high-pressure production trap (HPPT). In the HPPT, free water droplets are separated from the oil through gravity separation, aided by demulsifier injection at the production header. The separated free water is discharged to a WOSEP, typically a gravity separator, for deoiling.

Automated Building Information Modeling Compliance Check through a Large Language Model Combined with Deep Learning and Ontology

Ensuring compliance with complex industry standards and regulations during the design and implementation phases of construction projects is a significant challenge in the building information modeling (BIM) domain. Traditional manual compliance checking methods are inefficient and error-prone, failing to meet modern engineering demands. Natural language processing (NLP) and deep learning methods have improved efficiency and accuracy in rule interpretation and compliance checking. However, these methods still require extensive manual feature engineering, large, annotated datasets, and significant computational resources. Large language models (LLMs) provide robust language understanding with minimal labeled data due to their pre-training and few-shot learning capabilities. However, their application in the AEC field is still limited by the need for fine-tuning for specific tasks, handling complex texts with nested clauses and conditional statements. This study introduces an innovative automated compliance checking framework that integrates LLM, deep learning models, and ontology knowledge models. The use of LLM is motivated by its few-shot learning capability, which significantly reduces the need for large, annotated datasets required by previous methods. Deep learning is employed to preliminarily classify regulatory texts, which further enhances the accuracy of structured information extraction by the LLM compared to directly feeding raw data into the LLM. This novel combination of deep learning and LLM significantly enhances the efficiency and accuracy of compliance checks by automating the processing of regulatory texts and reducing manual intervention. This approach is crucial for architects, engineers, project managers, and regulators, providing a scalable and adaptable solution for automated compliance in the construction industry with broad application prospects.

Evaluation of the Improved Feeding Practices for the First 1000 Days Project in Ghana

BackgroundSub-optimal nutrition during the first 1000 days of life can impair the physical andcognitive development of children, as well as limit their health and wellbeing. Theimproved feeding practices for the first 1,000 days (IFP) project aimed to improve thedietary practices of women of reproductive age (pregnant and lactating) and children belowages two years in three selected districts (Kassena-Nankana West [KNW], Sekyere East[SE],and Kintampo South[KS]) in Ghana. This integrated project combined interventions onmicronutrient powder (MNP) distribution, social behaviour-change communication, andnutrition-sensitive agriculture to catalyse enhanced awareness and consumption ofnutrient-rich foods in selected communities.ObjectiveThis paper evaluates the IFP project based on measures associated with relevance,effectiveness, impact, and sustainability.MethodsUsing a mixed-methods design, data from in-depth interviews of project beneficiaries, andkey community-based actors involved in the project’s implementation were triangulatedwith routine project monitoring data, and documentation to answer the evaluationquestions. The evaluation questions and our analyses were guided by the DevelopmentAssistance Committee evaluation criteria. Interviews with key stakeholders wereconducted in June 2023. Key project data were compared between baseline and endlineassessments to ascertain the extent to which the project met its intended objectives andtargets.ResultsThe project demonstrated high relevance of the proposed project among the target groups;for example, nearly half the children were eating low quality, non-diverse diets (49% inKNW, 46% in KS and 35 in SE). The project enabled almost 14,000 children to be reachedwith MNP. While 96,000 eggs were produced, &lt;10% was consumed at home. About 35,000kilograms of orange-fleshed sweet potatoes (OFSP) were produced, resulting in improvedaccess to the nutrient-rich foods produced. Nutrition messages were disseminated widelyand were reported to have contributed to improved awareness of nutrition amongcaregivers. Data-based and reported evidence both indicated there was improved childdietary diversity between baseline and endline of the project; in KNW, 90% of children metminimum dietary diversity at endline compared to 75% at baseline. In KS and SE, theendline estimates of dietary diversity were 71% and 70%, up from 65% in both districts atbaseline, respectively. Multiple strategies aiming to support project sustainability thatwere built into the project design were implemented. Additional sustainability strategiesevolved during the project’s lifetime, including crossbreeding of project chickens withhardier local breeds, continued multiplication of OFSP vines, and transfer of VillageSavings and Loans Association funds accumulated from MNP sale to Village-BasedEntrepreneurs to sustain MNP supply.ConclusionsIFP project delivered interventions successfully, leading to improved awareness andpractices related to diets of women in reproductive age and young children, in projectcommunities. These strategies can be extended to women and children living in similarsettings to improve the diet quality of women and children.

IMPLEMENTATION OF AN EDUCATIONAL PROJECT AS A SOCIAL EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY FOR TRAINING BACHELORS IN THE FIELD OF SOCIAL WORK

Background. The problem is becoming urgent in the demand for the implementation of educational projects that allows increasing the competence of bachelors in the field of social work as a technology that will eliminate the dissonance with an insufficient number of presented model range of the final product. Purpose. The purpose of the article is to present the implementation of the educational project model as a technology of pedagogical activity improving the competences of university students which includes the possibility of transforming the final product according to the chosen type of literacy in the context of social education. The subject of the analysis is the design of educational projects. The authors aim to present the experience of implementing an educational project model that proves the success of developing professional skills and meta competencies of students. Research methodology is based on the experimental search work and the technological level of pedagogical research methodology that consider the pedagogical conditions for implementing the technology of project activities for training bachelor students in the field of social work. Results. This study has identified the pedagogical conditions that ensure the possibility of developing high and average level competences defined by the Federal State Educational Standard for Bachelors in the field of Social Work through the types of literacy that make up social education. The authors present product evaluation criteria that make it possible to draw conclusions on the formation of declared competencies among the participants. The results of the experimental search work are presented, which allows to track students’ recognition and understanding of the main theoretical units of the course. The authors justify the use of project activities as a pedagogical technology for improving systematically the professional and meta competences, for consolidating theoretical knowledge and developing skills, for expanding the cognitive capabilities of students and providing opportunities for fulfillment of their creative abilities, etc. Practical implications. The results of the study can be applied for training bachelors in social sciences, for implementing the idea of lifelong education, for providing conditions of creative self-development and professional self-improvement in solving practical problems of specialists in the field of social work.

장 이론(Field theory)을 이용한 청년아파트 입주자 커뮤니케이션 방법에 관한 연구

This study analyzes Chinese representative rental youth apartments based on Field theory, examining the correlation between these apartments and their fields. The purpose of this study is to analyze the influence of spatial design of projects on interaction patterns and communication modes among tenants through the field theory. First, it explores the relationship between Field theory's concepts and characteristics, applying the relationship between field capital and practice to rental youth apartments. It then examines how project background, space structure, and field relationships impact residents' social behavior. Findings indicate that the rules of the field in rental youth apartments influence social methods, with functional diversity, shared spaces, and enhanced transitions between areas increasing residents' social willingness.

PENINGKATAN PENGETAHUAN SISWA MENGENAI PRODUK INDUSTRI MELALUI PENGENALAN KONSEP CAPSTONE DESIGN PROJECT

Project-based learning is considered important for developing student character because it provides students with the opportunity to learn through experience (experiential learning). The Project-based Learning (PjBL) model is a learning model that involves students' activeness in solving problems, carried out in groups/independently through scientific stages with certain time limits which are outlined in a product to then be presented to others. Starting from 2022 to 2024, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (Kemendikbudristek) provides three curriculum options that can be applied by educational units in learning, namely the 2013 curriculum, emergency curriculum and prototype curriculum. The prototype curriculum has been implemented in 2,500 educational units that are members of the Driving Schools and Center of Excellence Vocational Schools program in 2021. However, starting in 2022, educational units that are not included in driving schools will also be given the option to be able to implement the prototype curriculum. The capstone project is a culmination of the learning process by applying what has been learned in the learning process. Innovation and product development is something that companies rely on to be able to progress and compete in the industrial world. Industrial products will ultimately be produced in a manufacturing system where everything becomes more complex. Insight and knowledge regarding capstone design projects through training to introduce the stages of the product and system development process. Community Service activities have been carried out with vocational school student participants showing enthusiasm and increased knowledge regarding the capstone design project.

공공디자인 진흥을 위한 사업 유형 분류에 관한 연구

Today, it is difficult to think of the public sphere, daily life, and community life without thinking of public design. As public design is actively linked and grafted with various fields, it is spreading to all phenomena of public policy and society, expanding the scope of new business opportunities. Therefore, this study aims to present a typology of public design projects by examining the terrain of public design projects from a multidimensional perspective, which is a collection of processes and outcomes carried out for the purpose of individual and social needs, and ultimately accepted by the public as a socio-cultural experience. In line with the purpose of the study, the need for research on public design project types was confirmed through a review of previous studies and literature, and project types were categorized through case analysis of projects by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Seoul Metropolitan Government. As a result, four types of public design projects are proposed based on the orientation of thematic and practical methods: value creation, culture diffusion, capacity building, and foundation creation. At a time when a way of understanding public design projects that can be shared by various actors in implementation, participation, and cooperation needs to be established, the more comprehensive conceptualization of project types presented in this study is expected to provide direction in planning and implementing policies and projects, as it can be combined and linked to various areas such as culture, tourism, welfare, pedestrianism, safety, and health, as well as the design field.

Large Pool Fires in the Process Industry. A Simple Model for Safety Distances Estimation

In recent years, the global production growth and the complexity of processes operation have increased safety concern, especially during the design project, considering potential accidental events as fires, explosions, and their related domino effects. Pool fire is one of the most frequent accidental events. Some procedures for safety distances estimation from pool fires were reported. However, there is a lack of adequate simple models to directly estimate safety distances covering a wide range of substances and pool diameters, considering a continuous interval of receptor vulnerabilities (from damage to people to domino effect prevention). In this paper, a simple model to estimate safety distances is proposed, suitable to be incorporated into complex models (e.g. safety management systems, layout optimization). A surrogate model is achieved by adopting a reference one. Methodologically, the main variables that play a key role modelling a pool fire were selected and their influence on the safety distance was analyzed to propose simple mathematical expressions. NLP optimization problems were solved to optimize the model parameters. A conservative, accurate and easy-to-use model was achieved with the aim of developing safer plants or for their safe operation by improving the optimal process design, or implementing safe management systems, considering risks.

Investigation of Lateral and Longitudinal Deformation of Submarine Nuclear Power Plant Water-Intake Tunnel on Non-Uniform Soft Soil during Earthquake

The safety-grade water-intake immersed tunnel plays a vital role in the nuclear power cooling system, and its seismic safety is crucial. This paper employs the response displacement method and dynamic time-history analysis using the finite element software ANSYS to construct a beam–spring model and a 3D finite element model of a shield tunnel and foundation. It also develops equivalent linear dynamic constitutive and viscoelastic boundary element subprograms. This study focuses on the weak joint sections of immersed tunnels, conducting a seismic performance analysis under extreme safety earthquake conditions (SL-2). The results indicate that the joint stiffness of immersed tunnels and the increase in seismic peak values do not affect the trend of joint opening variation with longitudinal position. The change in joint opening is primarily located where the thickness of the cover layer changes abruptly or where the soil hardness is unevenly distributed. The joint opening is mainly influenced by seismic forces when considering static and dynamic superposition. When the stiffness of the joint GINA water stop exceeds a certain value, the correlation between stiffness change and joint compression–tension variation gradually weakens. This research can provide a reference for the seismic design of similar projects.

Intensity-Duration-Frequency Curves for Manicaragua city, Cuba

The Intensity-Duration-Frequency (IDF) curves are a way to visualize and represent extreme hydrometeorological rainfall events. In this article, an analysis of convective rainfall events recorded at the La Piedra Meteorological Station, Villa Clara, Cuba, was conducted. To develop IDF curves, the 2006- 2019 time series was analyzed. A partial duration series was generated, including intervals from 20 minutes to 4320 minutes, subjected to an outlier detection process. The series was divided into two categories: one for durations ≤ 720 minutes and another for durations &gt; 720 minutes. The resulting series underwent nonparametric tests to assess their independence, randomness, homogeneity, and seasonality. Subsequently, they were fitted to the Generalized Pareto probability distribution and to a parametric equation of the Montana model, and then the curves were plotted for return periods of 10, 50 and 100. The Montana model led to obtaining correlation coefficients greater than 0.90 compared to the other methods used, significantly improving the quality of the fit in both categories. This research provides information to understand and plan the management of intense climatic phenomena and adequate risk management in an area where such studies are lacking, facilitating access to crucial data essential in the design and execution of hydraulic engineering projects in the region.

Learning game design while playing games

This course investigated game design competencies of graduate students as they engaged in gameplay and learned about game-related concepts, including gamified approaches, game-based learning (GBL), design thinking, maker technologies, and game designs. Students were introduced to the week's topic beforehand and collaborated on design projects during class sessions. Students played a different game each week, focusing mainly on game mechanics. Through the utilization of foundational readings, video tutorials, discussions, assignments, and guidance from the instructor and a guest speaker, students developed a comprehensive understanding of game design principles. This understanding ultimately led them to design both board and video games. No prior programming or game design experience was necessary.