ABSTRACT
Background and objective: As the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the entire world and people found themselves spending more time at home, many households began gardening, and purchased various ornamental plants. Many cultivars of Hibiscus syriacus are grown for their showy flowers, or used as landscape shrubs. H. syriacus is generally known for its high rate of asexual reproduction. However, it is known that the effectiveness of propagation by cuttings can have big differences depending on internal and external factors. This study was conducted to determine the effects of optimal rooting bed soil composition and auxin on the rooting of H. syriacus cuttings. Methods: Cuttings used in this study were from 17 cultivars. As types of bed soil for propagation by cutting, gardening bed soil, sand, mixed soil 1, and mixed soil 2 were used, and the plant growth regulators of IBA and NAA were applied at 500, 1000, and 1500 mg⋅L-1 concentrations. Results: The rooting rate and number of roots were highest with the combination of perlite and vermiculite. On the other hand, the gardening bed soil showed an extremely low rooting percentage. The root growth was improved in most cultivars when treated by plant growth regulator. The highest rooting rate was verified at IBA 500 mg⋅L-1 treatment while the number of roots and root length showed good result in IBA 1500 mg⋅L-1 treatment. Conclusion: In many cultivars, it was observed that the rooting rate and number of roots differed depending on the bed soil. The most suitable bed soil for the cuttings was a mixture of peat moss and vermiculite, and it was possible to increase the efficiency through treatment with a growth regulator, and the efficiency of IBA was better than that of NAA. However, it is necessary to identify which detailed growth regulator treatment is suitable for the root development of each cultivar, because plant growth regulator was less effective and even problematic in some cultivars. © 2022 by the Society for People, Plants, and Environment.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a drastic transformation to schooling for students throughout the world. During this period, a number of issues arose in our local, national and global communities, including the death of George Floyd and subsequent protests and rallies organised by #BlackLivesMatter. Living through and witnessing many social issues, coupled with the new and enduring pandemic, furthered our understandings of how young people were engaging with these topics without the structures of schools to support them. This article presents the results of a case study where youth aged 15–17 years shared their experiences and understandings about many social justice issues they were observing. The most significant learning around these issues for youth occurred informally through social media as opposed to in the classroom, reinforcing that schools are not ethical spaces from which to challenge institutional, structural and systemic barriers to justice. As such, this article discusses the potential for formal education to be transformed into an ethical and decolonising space to learn about and challenge injustice. © 2022, Thashika Pillay, Claire Ahn, Kenneth Gyamerah and Shuyuan Liu.
ABSTRACT
Infectious diseases such as COVID-19 has caused a critical shortage in a number of negative pressure isolation rooms in responding to treat confirmed patients around the world. After the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome(MERS) crisis in 2015, the Korean government revised the law on the prevention and management of infectious diseases by assigning state-designated infectious disease hospitals or by adjusting the interval of emergency room bed usage, but it was insufficient in responding to the rapid increase in number of cases within a short period of time. As a result, it is necessary to provide a quick and efficient solution in increasing a number of usable negative pressure wards that can be utilized by the existing hospital facilities. Modular units could be a solution due to its flexibility and quick manufacturing time. Therefore, the goal of this study is to develop spatial size requirement for modular negative pressure isolation units to cope with national disasters and emergencies such as epidemics. © 2022 Architectural Institute of Korea.
ABSTRACT
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the role of facility managers in controlling and limiting the spread of the virus among facility occupants is critical. To enable facility managers to design and evaluate the effectiveness of facility operational measures (e.g., limiting room occupancy, staggering schedules), researchers have developed simulation models that can predict the physical distancing behaviors of occupants in a given facility layout and facility operational policies. However, these models do not take into consideration the impacts of spatial and temporal constraints in a facility, which can limit occupants' ability to physical distance. To this end, this study examines whether and how such constraints affect occupants' physical distancing behaviors in the context of K-12 educational facilities, where physical distancing is extremely important. A survey to examine students' physical distancing behaviors in educational facilities was designed and conducted in four educational facilities (n=527). The results indicate that occupants' physical distancing behaviors are significantly affected by crowdedness of space (i.e., spatial constraint) given that spatial density impacts the perceived risk of infection. On the other hand, it appears that time pressure due to limited time to meet occupancy schedules (i.e., temporal constraints) does not much influence physical distancing behaviors. These findings are expected to provide a basis upon which to enhance occupant behavior simulation efforts by deepening our understanding of physical distancing behaviors of children and adolescents in educational facilities. © 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.