A building trades program at the Charlottesville-Albemarle Technical Education Center in Charlottesville, Virginia, teaches students to build universal design housing. Such homes are equipped to accommodate persons with special needs but are not inconvenient for someone without a disability. (JOW)

Outlines research showing different ways that information is used in the decision-making process at high levels in organizations. Patterns of executive information use are described, including conceptual, instrumental, tactical, symbolic, and political use; and implications for the design of information systems that support decision making are…

Discusses 10 library roles that need to be taken into consideration when planning for a new facility: study hall, workplace, distribution center, cost center, part of a community, a museum, part-time parent, a store, an evolving organism, or something more. It is noted that different roles help determine the type of facility needed. (LAE)

A search reveals only six articles that concern human-factors engineering as it relates to student furniture. Contacts with five school-furniture manufacturers disclose that designs were basically unaltered for years and are claimed to reflect what schools want in furniture. Proposes recommendations to design and secure furniture to meet students'…

Explains how daily maintenance and design planning can reduce the potential safety hazards found in athletic-facility locker rooms. Topics include designing locker rooms for visual openness and traffic control, providing non-slip surfaces and proper drainage, installing ventilation systems that can handle the moisture produced in locker rooms,…

Discusses locker-room design standards and common challenges when complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Accessibility and safety considerations for shower, toilet, and locker areas are addressed, as are entrance vestibules, drying and grooming areas, and private dressing rooms. (GR)

Provides advice on designing sports-field lighting that can help balance design with cost and lighting-system performance. Areas addressed include system installation, pole placement, light-spillage control, and maintenance. (GR)

Describes the planning of, and community and staff reaction toward, a four-dome, K-12 school complex in a Missouri rural community. The efficiency of the school's design and layout are discussed. (GR)

Explores school design's influence on enhancing school security inside and out and addresses whether schools should be designed as public spaces for the community at large. Design tips for planners are highlighted. (GR)

Describes XML (extensible markup language), a new language classification submitted to the World Wide Web Consortium that is defined in terms of both SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) and HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), specifically designed for the Internet. Limitations of PDF (Portable Document Format) files for electronic journals…

Describes the most popular optical detector in the design of photodiode detector circuits. Discusses how a photodiode works, points to consider in the design of a photodiode, and photodiode hybrids. (AIM)

Describes a study that examined the home pages of all 120 libraries in the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) to compare design similarities and differences. Highlights include background; document headers and footers; graphics; hypertext links; and unlinked text. (Author/LRW)

Discusses multimedia Web site design that may include images, animations, audio, and video. Highlights include interfaces that stress user-centered design; using only relevant media; placing high-demand content on secondary pages and keeping the home page simpler; providing information about the media; considering users with disabilities; and user…

Discusses the Americans with Disabilities (ADA) and Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards (UFAS) regulations regarding public facilities' crowd control stanchions and queuing systems. The major elements are protruding objects and wheelchair accessibility. Describes how to maintain compliance with the regulations and offers a list of additional…

Discusses important issues concerning the design of student health clinics, including convenient access, privacy and security, showers and sinks, durability and safety, and special considerations. (EV)