Tackling Ageing Continence through Theory, Tools & Technology

Originally presented at ‘Aging and Society: An Interdisciplinary Conference’, University of California, Berkeley (2011), this article was double-blind peer reviewed, receiving scores of 96% and 73%. It outlines the interdisciplinary research of the cross-Research-Council-funded New Dynamics of Ageing Tackling Ageing Continence through Theory Tools & Technology (TACT3) project (2008–12), which brought together designers, social scientists, bio-engineers, chemists and care-management services to understand the challenges faced by an ageing population in the management of continence. Bichard’s Work Package, ‘Challenging Environmental Barriers to Continence’, explored the need for public toilet provision as essential for quality of life, health and well-being. It developed a life-course methodology that considered ageing from birth through to advanced age (0–101 years), and involved inclusive design research with members of the public and providers of facilities to assess public expectations and provider limitations in service provision. As co-investigator on TACT3, this research built on Bichard’s previous work for the VivaCity2020 consortium (Bichard REF Output 2). Whereas the VivaCity2020 work focused on architectural barriers in toilet provision, the TACT3 project examined the problem in service provision, and how, through inclusive design research, service-design solutions might be explored and implemented. Bichard’s contribution to the TACT3 project produced The Great British Public Toilet Map (http://greatbritishpublictoiletmap.rca.ac.uk/), a public participation website that provides information and locations of public toilets, encouraging members of the public to contact relevant local authorities that have not released information in the format of Open Data. Secondary analysis of TACT3 data for references to issues of personal safety and community initiative in toilet provision was used for the ESRC-funded Robust Accessible Toilets (RATs) project (2011) and produced Publicly Accessible Toilets: An Inclusive Design Guide (2011). Related published conference papers include those in ‘Cumulus 2010’ (China) and ‘Include 2011’ (UK)

An interprofessional, intercultural, immersive short-term study abroad program: public health and service systems in rome

The purpose of this paper is to describe a short-term study abroad program that exposes engineering and nursing undergraduate students from the United States and Italy to an intercultural and interprofessional immersion experience. Faculty from Purdue University and Sapienza Università di Roma collaborated to design a technical program that demonstrates the complementary nature of engineering and public health in the service sector, with Rome as an integral component of the program. Specifically, the intersection of topics including systems, reliability, process flow, maintenance management, and public health are covered through online lectures, in-class activities and case study discussions, field experiences, and assessments. Herein, administrative issues such as student recruitment, selection, and preparation are elucidated. Additionally, the pedagogical approach used to ensure constructive alignment among the program goals, the intended learning outcomes, and the teaching and learning activities is described. Finally, examples of learning outcomes resulting from this alignment are provided

Carpe Diem: Transforming Services in Academic Libraries

Amid a global economic crisis and spurred, in my country, by a great influx of funding intended to stimulate the economy quickly, librarians are confronted by other factors that could have transformative powers ??? if they choose to seize the opportunity. This paper focuses on the future of academic library services and the opportunities that await those who reject hunkering down in troubled times.unpublishednot peer reviewe

Developing Human Functioning and Rehabilitation Research from the comprehensive perspective.

With the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) the World Health Organization (WHO) has prepared the ground for a comprehensive understanding of Human Functioning and Rehabilitation Research, integrating the biomedical perspective on impairment with the social model of disability. This poses a number of old and new challenges regarding the enhancement of adequate research capacity. Here we will summarize approaches to address these challenges with respect to 3 areas: the organization of Human Functioning and Rehabilitation Research into distinct scientific fields, the development of suitable academic training programmes and the building of university centres and collaboration networks

A global approach to digital library evaluation towards quality interoperability

This paper describes some of the key research works related to my PhD thesis. The goal is the development of a global approach to digital library (DL) evaluation towards quality interoperability. DL evaluation has a vital role to play in building DLs, and in understanding and enhancing their role in society. Responding to two parallel research needs, the project is grouped around two tracks. Track one covers the theoretical approach, and provides an integrated evaluation model which overcomes the fragmentation of quality assessments; track two covers the experimental side, which has been undertaken through a comparative analysis of different DL evaluation methodologies, relating them to the conceptual framework. After presenting the problem dentition, current background and related work, this paper enumerates a set of research questions and hypotheses that I would like to address, and outlines the research methodology, focusing on a proposed evaluation framework and on the lessons learned from the case studies

The Human–Nature Relationship and Its Impact on Health: A Critical Review

Within the past four decades, research has been increasingly drawn toward understanding whether there is a link between the changing human–nature relationship and its impact on people’s health. However, to examine whether there is a link requires research of its breadth and underlying mechanisms from an interdisciplinary approach. This article begins by reviewing the debates concerning the human–nature relationship, which are then critiqued and redefined from an interdisciplinary perspective. The concept and chronological history of “health” is then explored, based on the World Health Organization’s definition. Combining these concepts, the human–nature relationship and its impact on human’s health are then explored through a developing conceptual model. It is argued that using an interdisciplinary perspective can facilitate a deeper understanding of the complexities involved for attaining optimal health at the human–environmental interface

Infusing the Interdisciplinary into Medical/ Health Sciences Education: Vitamins or Vaccines?

Academic medical institutions have responded to recent changes and challenges confronting the health care system with various recommendations for curricular reform; many grouped under the rubric of interdisciplinary training. The ultimate goal is to create physicians, with mastery over specialized knowledge, who can practice cost-effective, humanized medicine. This article elaborates a conceptual classification system that categorizes curricular reform recommendations into one of two approaches – Vitamins or Vaccines – that highlights differences in the processes of curricular reform programs. Programs seeking the same goal may create different types of practitioners depending on the approach dominating the professional training and socialization process. The Vitamins approach is reactive, supplemental, and incremental, often imparting instruction instead of education. The Vaccines approach is proactive, addresses fundamental factors, and seeks long-term solutions from a preventive perspective. As educators, our choice of approach, Vitamins or Vaccines, for curricular reform will determine how academia prepares physicians for the futur

Is Management Interdisciplinary? The Evolution of Management as an Interdisciplinary Field of Research and Education in the Netherlands

Management research and education are often characterized as being interdisciplinary. However, most discussions on what interdisciplinarity in management studies means have bogged down in ideological fixations. In this paper we alternatively take a historical perspective and analyze the evolution of the interdisciplinarity concept in management studies during the last decades in the Netherlands. We distinguish between two opposite versions of interdisciplinarity: a synoptic (conceptual) and an instrumental (pragmatic) one. Both versions resulted from different knowledge strategies (boundary-work) of competing and cooperating disciplines. We conclude that in the Netherlands instrumental versions of interdisciplinarity in management research and education prevailed.management science;Interdisciplinarity;disciplinarity;management education;history of management education

An Overview of Health Law Research and an Annotated Bibliography

This analysis and the following bibliography are designed to meet the needs of researchers attempting to locate information in the field of health law. The analysis is written from the perspective of law librarians, but the same information retrieval problems apply to health administrators, hospital and medical counsel, and academic lawyers interested in health law and administration