Digital Transformation in Healthcare

This book presents a collection of papers revealing the impact of advanced computation and instrumentation on healthcare. It highlights the increasing global trend driving innovation for a new era of multifunctional technologies for personalized digital healthcare. Moreover, it highlights that contemporary research on healthcare is performed on a multidisciplinary basis comprising computational engineering, biomedicine, biomedical engineering, electronic engineering, and automation engineering, among other areas

The EDINSOST project: improving sustainability education in spanish higher education

The EDINSOST R+D+i “Society Challenges” Project, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities under the research challenge in the field of social change and innovation, aims to contribute to the improvement of social challenges across the (1) Spanish Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation, (2) the State Plan of Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation, and (3) the European 2020 Strategy. The research is both highly multidisciplinary and contextualized and is applied in Ten Spanish Universities working together in the “Curriculum sustainability" group of the CRUE Sectorial Commission of Sustainability. The goal of this group is to create synergies and action frameworks agreed at a national level. This is an area of research action whose lack of common criteria for integrating sustainability competencies, learning processes and assessment hinders their achievement. To meet this challenge, frameworks and processes have been designed to facilitate the integration of sustainability into the university curriculum holistically through mapping and validation of pedagogical practices and the diagnosis of the state of Spanish universities, for which building materials for teaching and learning sustainability competencies have been developed. The project objectives and results are focused on: 1) Defining the map of sustainability competencies of the university degrees involved in the project, and establishing the framework to facilitate their integration in a holistic manner; 2) validating teaching strategies for the acquisition of sustainability competencies from a constructivist and community-oriented pedagogical approach; 3) diagnosing the state of faculty sustainability training needs and developing and pilot training proposals; and 4) diagnosing the state of learning of sustainability competencies in university students as well as preparing and piloting training proposals. The research methodology has an interpretive focus and uses quantitative and qualitative techniques to cover a population with three impact levels. Firstly, Bachelor and Master Degrees that integrate the three pillars of sustainability (environmental, social and economic). Secondly, and taking into account their long-term multiplier effect, special emphasis is made on five Bachelor and Master degrees in Education, since these graduates are the future teachers of the next generation of citizens. Finally, seven technological Bachelor Degrees are studied for their great impact on societal challenges.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

The metric tide: report of the independent review of the role of metrics in research assessment and management

This report presents the findings and recommendations of the Independent Review of the Role of Metrics in Research Assessment and Management. The review was chaired by Professor James Wilsdon, supported by an independent and multidisciplinary group of experts in scientometrics, research funding, research policy, publishing, university management and administration. This review has gone beyond earlier studies to take a deeper look at potential uses and limitations of research metrics and indicators. It has explored the use of metrics across different disciplines, and assessed their potential contribution to the development of research excellence and impact. It has analysed their role in processes of research assessment, including the next cycle of the Research Excellence Framework (REF). It has considered the changing ways in which universities are using quantitative indicators in their management systems, and the growing power of league tables and rankings. And it has considered the negative or unintended effects of metrics on various aspects of research culture. The report starts by tracing the history of metrics in research management and assessment, in the UK and internationally. It looks at the applicability of metrics within different research cultures, compares the peer review system with metric-based alternatives, and considers what balance might be struck between the two. It charts the development of research management systems within institutions, and examines the effects of the growing use of quantitative indicators on different aspects of research culture, including performance management, equality, diversity, interdisciplinarity, and the ‘gaming’ of assessment systems. The review looks at how different funders are using quantitative indicators, and considers their potential role in research and innovation policy. Finally, it examines the role that metrics played in REF2014, and outlines scenarios for their contribution to future exercises

CIVIC EPISTEMOLOGIES – Development of a Roadmap for Citizen Researchers in the Age of Digital Culture

The CIVIC EPISTEMOLOGIES project investigates citizen science and crowdsourcing in the domain of the research in Digital Cultural Heritage and Humanities (DCHH). The ultimate aim is to produce a validated Roadmap indicating the suggested direction that the deployment of services and infrastructures should take, in order to support the participation of citizens in the research processes and the participation of creative industries in the exploitation of digital cultural content. The case of DCHH is particularly relevant because of the major cross-cutting role that the humanities play in European research and innovation, recently acknowledged in a clear way in the Horizon2020 Community Programme for Research and Innovation. Cultural heritage and humanities also represent a subject area in which citizens are particularly active, counting several – still spread - experiences of their involvement in recording, annotating and cataloguing activities on an individual or group basis, as volunteers and amateurs. The case of broadening e-Infrastructure deployment to support the participation of citizens to DCHH research, even if holding a strong impact potential for social cohesion and job development, is not yet fully explored. The paper discusses about the multidisciplinary approach to citizen science and how this method can contribute to the benefit of many scientific domains, research communities, and technology advancements as well as delivering novel social and economic impact

Undergraduate Research EFL Students Experiences in Building ePortfolios

[EN] High-impact practices (HIPs) have been adopted by many universities around the world to enhance student learning. The aim of this qualitative study was to analyzed how building ePortfolios may impact student learning experience via weekly reflections. A total of 47 senior undergraduate English as a foreign language (EFL) students enrolled in research projects shared reflections about their research experiences via the development of ePortfolios. Data analysis was carried out through deductive coding of the transcribed focus groups and weekly reflections. Findings suggest that the participants used their ePortfolios to improve their writing skills and increase their knowledge. Students were able to track their progress and felt more engaged in learning. They also showed appreciation to the feedback provided by their instructors on their reflections. However, the students shared some challenges they faced while developing their ePortfolios. Despite these challenges, there was a positive impact of ePortfolios on students learning experiences. Implications and further directions for research are discussed.The authors extend their appreciation to the Deputyship for Research & Innovation, Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia for funding this research work through project number "IF_2020_1661".Alanazi, SM.; Bensalem, E. (2022). Undergraduate Research EFL Students Experiences in Building ePortfolios. Multidisciplinary Journal for Education, Social and Technological Sciences. 9(2):1-22. https://doi.org/10.4995/muse.2022.171671229

Multidisciplinary Engineering Systems 2nd and 3rd Year College-Wide Courses

Undergraduate engineering education today is ineffective in preparing students for multidisciplinary system integration and optimization - exactly what is needed by companies to become innovative and gain a competitive advantage in this global economy. While there is some movement in engineering education to change that, this change is not easy, as it involves a cultural change from the silo approach to a holistic approach. The ABET-required senior capstone multidisciplinary design course too often becomes a design-build-test exercise with the emphasis on just getting something done. Students rarely break out of their disciplinary comfort zone and thus fail to experience true multidisciplinary system design. What is needed are multidisciplinary systems courses, with a balance between theory and practice, between academic rigor and the best practices of industry, presented in an integrated way in the 2nd and 3rd years that prepares students for true multidisciplinary systems engineering at the senior level and beyond. The two courses presented here represent a significant curriculum improvement in response to this urgent need

Modelling the Product Development performance of Colombian Companies

Organised by: Cranfield UniversityThis paper presents the general model of the Product Development Process (PDP) in the Metal mechanics Industry in Barranquilla-Colombia, since this sector contributes significantly to the productivity of this industrial city. This case study counted on a five-company sample. The main goal was to model the current conditions of the PDP according to the Concurrent Engineering philosophy. The companies were selected according to their productive profile, in order to contrast differences regarding the structure of their productive processes, conformation of multidisciplinary teams, integration of different areas, customers and suppliers to the PDP; human resources, information, technology and marketing constraints.Mori Seiki – The Machine Tool Compan

The role of network administrative organizations in the development of social capital in inter-organizational food networks

This paper is concerned with the role of network administrative organizations (NAOs) in the development of social capital in inter‐organizational networks aiming at supporting their members to innovate in the food sector through interacting with one another. A multi‐case study approach is used whereby three Belgian inter‐organizational networks are investigated i.e. Wagralim, R&eacute;seau‐Club and Flanders Food. Our study shows that there are many options available to NAOs to build social capital within the networks they are responsible for; options which we propose to categorize in three main distinct groups: creation of boundary objects, careful selection of members and effective communication.</p

Mapping and Developing Service Design Research in the UK.

This report is the outcome of the Service Design Research UK (SDR UK) Network with Lancaster University as primary investigator and London College of Communication, UAL as co-investigator. This project was funded as part of an Arts and Humanities Research Council Network grant. Service Design Research UK (SDR UK), funded by an AHRC Network Grant, aims to create a UK research network in an emerging field in Design that is Service Design. This field has a recent history and a growing, but still small and dispersed, research community that strongly needs support and visibility to consolidate its knowledge base and enhance its potential impact. Services represent a significant part of the UK economy and can have a transformational role in our society as they affect the way we organize, move, work, study or take care of our health and family. Design introduces a more human centred and creative approach to service innovation; this is critical to delivering more effective and novel solutions that have the potential to tackle contemporary challenges. Service Design Research UK reviewed and consolidated the emergence of Service Design within the estalished field of Design