1,249 research outputs found

    Researching animal research: What the humanities and social sciences can contribute to laboratory animal science and welfare

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    Every year around 80 million scientific procedures are carried out on animals globally. These experiments have the potential to generate new understandings of biology and clinical treatments. They also give rise to ongoing societal debate.This book demonstrates how the humanities and social sciences can contribute to understanding what is created through animal procedures - including constitutional forms of research governance, different institutional cultures of care, the professional careers of scientists and veterinarians, collaborations with patients and publics, and research animals, specially bred for experiments or surplus to requirements.Developing the idea of the animal research nexus, this book explores how connections and disconnections are made between these different elements, how these have reshaped each other historically, and how they configure the current practice and policy of UK animal research

    Integrated Approaches to Digital-enabled Design for Manufacture and Assembly: A Modularity Perspective and Case Study of Huoshenshan Hospital in Wuhan, China

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    Countries are trying to expand their healthcare capacity through advanced construction, modular innovation, digital technologies and integrated design approaches such as Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA). Within the context of China, there is a need for stronger implementation of digital technologies and DfMA, as well as a knowledge gap regarding how digital-enabled DfMA is implemented. More critically, an integrated approach is needed in addition to DfMA guidelines and digital-enabled approaches. For this research, a mixed method was used. Questionnaires defined the context of Huoshenshan Hospital, namely the healthcare construction in China. Then, Huoshenshan Hospital provided a case study of the first emergency hospital which addressed the uncertainty of COVID-19. This extreme project, a 1,000-bed hospital built in 10 days, implemented DfMA in healthcare construction and provides an opportunity to examine the use of modularity. A workshop with a design institution provided basic facts and insight into past practice and was followed by interviews with 18 designers, from various design disciplines, who were involved in the project. Finally, multiple archival materials were used as secondary data sources. It was found that complexity hinders building systems integration, while reinforcement relationships between multiple dimensions of modularity (across organisation-process-product-supply chain dimensions) are the underlying mechanism that allows for the reduction of complexity and the integration of building systems. Promoting integrated approaches to DfMA relies on adjusting and coupling multi-dimensional modular reinforcement relationships (namely, relationships of modular alignment, modular complement, and modular incentive). Thus, the building systems integrator can use these three approaches to increase the success of digital-enabled DfMA

    Methodologies for the assessment of industrial and energy assets, based on data analysis and BI

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    In July 2020, post pandemic onset, Europe launched the Next Generation EU (NGEU) program. The amount of resources deployed to revitalize Europe has reached 750 billion. The NGEU initiative directs significant resources to Italy. These funds can enable our country to boost investment and increase employment. The missions of Italian Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) include digitization, innovation and sustainable mobility (rail network investments, etc.). In this context, this doctorate thesis discusses the importance of infrastructure for society with a special focus on energy, railway and motorway infrastructure. The central theme of sustainability, defined by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCDE) as ''development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs’’, is also highlighted. Through their activities and relationships, organizations contribute positively or negatively to the goal of sustainable development. Sustainability becomes an integrated part of corporate culture. First research in this thesis describes how Artificial Intelligence techniques can play a supporting role for both maintenance operators in tunnel monitoring and those responsible for safety in operation. Relevant information can be extracted from large volumes of data from sensor equipment in an efficient, fast, dynamic and adaptive manner and made immediately usable by those operating machinery and services to support rapid decisions. Performing sensor-based analysis in motorway tunnels represents a major technological breakthrough that would simplify tunnel management activities and thus the detection of possible deterioration, while keeping risk within tolerance limits. The idea involves the creation of an algorithm for detecting faults, acquiring real-time data from tunnel subsystem sensors and using it to help identify the tunnel's state of service. Artificial intelligence models were trained over a sixmonth period with a granularity of one-hour time series measured on a road tunnel forming part of the Italian motorway systems. The verification was carried out with 3 reference to a series of failures recorded by the sensors. The second research argument is relates to the transfer capacities of high-voltage overhead lines (HVOHL), which are often limited by the critical temperature of the power line, which depends on the magnitude of the current transferred and the environmental conditions, i.e. ambient temperature, wind, etc. In order to use existing power lines more effectively (with a view to progressive decarbonization) and more safely with respect to critical power line temperatures, this work proposes a Dynamic Thermal Rating (DTR) approach using IoT sensors installed on a number of HV OHL located in different geographical locations in Italy. The objective is to estimate the temperature and ampacity of the OHL conductor, using a data-driven thermomechanical model with a bayesian probabilistic approach, in order to improve the confidence interval of the results. This work shows that it might be possible to estimate a spatio-temporal temperature distribution for each OHL and an increase in the threshold values of the effective current to optimize the OHL ampacity. The proposed model was validated using the Monte Carlo method. Finally, in this thesis is presented study on KPIs as indispensable allies of top management in the asset control phase. They are often overwhelmed by the availability of a huge amount of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Most managers struggle In understanding and identifying the few vital management metrics and instead collect and report a vast amount of everything that is easy to measure. As a result, they end up drowning in data, thirsty for information. This condition does not allow good systems management. The aim of this research is help the Asset Management System (AMS) of a railway infrastructure manager using business intelligence (BI) to equip itself with a KPI management system in line with the AM presented by the normative ISO 55000 - 55001 - 55002 and UIC (International Union of Railways) guideline, for the specific case of a railway infrastructure. This work starts from the study of these regulations, continues with the exploration, definition and use of KPIs. Subsequently KPIs of a generic infrastructure are identified and analyzed, 4 especially for the specific case of a railway infrastructure manager. These KPIs are fitted in the internal elements of the AM frameworks (ISO-UIC) for systematization. Moreover, an analysis of the KPIs now used in the company is made, compared with the KPIs that an infrastructure manager should have. Starting from here a gap analysis is done for the optimization of AMS

    Sensing Collectives: Aesthetic and Political Practices Intertwined

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    Are aesthetics and politics really two different things? The book takes a new look at how they intertwine, by turning from theory to practice. Case studies trace how sensory experiences are created and how collective interests are shaped. They investigate how aesthetics and politics are entangled, both in building and disrupting collective orders, in governance and innovation. This ranges from populist rallies and artistic activism over alternative lifestyles and consumer culture to corporate PR and governmental policies. Authors are academics and artists. The result is a new mapping of the intermingling and co-constitution of aesthetics and politics in engagements with collective orders

    Perceptions of Selves: Beyond the Skin Bag - Analyzing self-representation and ethos in creative digital artefacts

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    As technological innovations reach new heights, questions regarding how we act, see, and live with machines reveal themselves. What was once viewed as mere tools have become something we perceive as part of our social world. Technological actants now hold the power of persuasion, the power to be perceived as a self. This constitutes new perspectives regarding how we relate to those with self-representational qualities. Relations between actants in social settings boil down to discourse, where this study manifests itself. The point of entry is, paradoxically, taking root in ancient theories of rhetoric. Because self-representation in digital artefacts must necessarily be produced, it becomes a text with the potential for analysis. In its broadest possible meaning, text is a modal manifestation of existence, a textual manifestation of self. The representations are always mediated, and that mediation opens up questions about authenticity, agency, and ethos. The artefacts I propose in this thesis exist in a way that changes shape in the perception of those who perceive it. When artefacts are imbued with some form of life, uniqueness, personality and ethos, approaches and attentions must change. That is dependent on the relations we allow and instil in them. We now have different relations than before, which means that the concept of ethos must be seen anew. This thesis is a philosophical and rhetorical exploration of how ethos and self-representation can be renewed to encompass more ways of being. Through perspectives inspired by Posthumanism and Actor-Network Theory, I explore themes relating to self-representation and ethos to conceptualize an updated framework that, in essence, “de-anthropocentrize” our field of view. This thesis does not aim to be either final or limiting, but a starting point in opening a conversation about the rhetorical impact we encounter every day through humans and otherwise.Mastergradsoppgave i digital kulturDIKULT350MAHF-DIKU

    Measuring the impact of COVID-19 on hospital care pathways

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    Care pathways in hospitals around the world reported significant disruption during the recent COVID-19 pandemic but measuring the actual impact is more problematic. Process mining can be useful for hospital management to measure the conformance of real-life care to what might be considered normal operations. In this study, we aim to demonstrate that process mining can be used to investigate process changes associated with complex disruptive events. We studied perturbations to accident and emergency (A &E) and maternity pathways in a UK public hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic. Co-incidentally the hospital had implemented a Command Centre approach for patient-flow management affording an opportunity to study both the planned improvement and the disruption due to the pandemic. Our study proposes and demonstrates a method for measuring and investigating the impact of such planned and unplanned disruptions affecting hospital care pathways. We found that during the pandemic, both A &E and maternity pathways had measurable reductions in the mean length of stay and a measurable drop in the percentage of pathways conforming to normative models. There were no distinctive patterns of monthly mean values of length of stay nor conformance throughout the phases of the installation of the hospital’s new Command Centre approach. Due to a deficit in the available A &E data, the findings for A &E pathways could not be interpreted

    Behavior quantification as the missing link between fields: Tools for digital psychiatry and their role in the future of neurobiology

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    The great behavioral heterogeneity observed between individuals with the same psychiatric disorder and even within one individual over time complicates both clinical practice and biomedical research. However, modern technologies are an exciting opportunity to improve behavioral characterization. Existing psychiatry methods that are qualitative or unscalable, such as patient surveys or clinical interviews, can now be collected at a greater capacity and analyzed to produce new quantitative measures. Furthermore, recent capabilities for continuous collection of passive sensor streams, such as phone GPS or smartwatch accelerometer, open avenues of novel questioning that were previously entirely unrealistic. Their temporally dense nature enables a cohesive study of real-time neural and behavioral signals. To develop comprehensive neurobiological models of psychiatric disease, it will be critical to first develop strong methods for behavioral quantification. There is huge potential in what can theoretically be captured by current technologies, but this in itself presents a large computational challenge -- one that will necessitate new data processing tools, new machine learning techniques, and ultimately a shift in how interdisciplinary work is conducted. In my thesis, I detail research projects that take different perspectives on digital psychiatry, subsequently tying ideas together with a concluding discussion on the future of the field. I also provide software infrastructure where relevant, with extensive documentation. Major contributions include scientific arguments and proof of concept results for daily free-form audio journals as an underappreciated psychiatry research datatype, as well as novel stability theorems and pilot empirical success for a proposed multi-area recurrent neural network architecture.Comment: PhD thesis cop

    Application of knowledge management principles to support maintenance strategies in healthcare organisations

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    Healthcare is a vital service that touches people's lives on a daily basis by providing treatment and resolving patients' health problems through the staff. Human lives are ultimately dependent on the skilled hands of the staff and those who manage the infrastructure that supports the daily operations of the service, making it a compelling reason for a dedicated research study. However, the UK healthcare sector is undergoing rapid changes, driven by rising costs, technological advancements, changing patient expectations, and increasing pressure to deliver sustainable healthcare. With the global rise in healthcare challenges, the need for sustainable healthcare delivery has become imperative. Sustainable healthcare delivery requires the integration of various practices that enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare infrastructural assets. One critical area that requires attention is the management of healthcare facilities. Healthcare facilitiesis considered one of the core elements in the delivery of effective healthcare services, as shortcomings in the provision of facilities management (FM) services in hospitals may have much more drastic negative effects than in any other general forms of buildings. An essential element in healthcare FM is linked to the relationship between action and knowledge. With a full sense of understanding of infrastructural assets, it is possible to improve, manage and make buildings suitable to the needs of users and to ensure the functionality of the structure and processes. The premise of FM is that an organisation's effectiveness and efficiency are linked to the physical environment in which it operates and that improving the environment can result in direct benefits in operational performance. The goal of healthcare FM is to support the achievement of organisational mission and goals by designing and managing space and infrastructural assets in the best combination of suitability, efficiency, and cost. In operational terms, performance refers to how well a building contributes to fulfilling its intended functions. Therefore, comprehensive deployment of efficient FM approaches is essential for ensuring quality healthcare provision while positively impacting overall patient experiences. In this regard, incorporating knowledge management (KM) principles into hospitals' FM processes contributes significantly to ensuring sustainable healthcare provision and enhancement of patient experiences. Organisations implementing KM principles are better positioned to navigate the constantly evolving business ecosystem easily. Furthermore, KM is vital in processes and service improvement, strategic decision-making, and organisational adaptation and renewal. In this regard, KM principles can be applied to improve hospital FM, thereby ensuring sustainable healthcare delivery. Knowledge management assumes that organisations that manage their organisational and individual knowledge more effectively will be able to cope more successfully with the challenges of the new business ecosystem. There is also the argument that KM plays a crucial role in improving processes and services, strategic decision-making, and adapting and renewing an organisation. The goal of KM is to aid action – providing "a knowledge pull" rather than the information overload most people experience in healthcare FM. Other motivations for seeking better KM in healthcare FM include patient safety, evidence-based care, and cost efficiency as the dominant drivers. The most evidence exists for the success of such approaches at knowledge bottlenecks, such as infection prevention and control, working safely, compliances, automated systems and reminders, and recall based on best practices. The ability to cultivate, nurture and maximise knowledge at multiple levels and in multiple contexts is one of the most significant challenges for those responsible for KM. However, despite the potential benefits, applying KM principles in hospital facilities is still limited. There is a lack of understanding of how KM can be effectively applied in this context, and few studies have explored the potential challenges and opportunities associated with implementing KM principles in hospitals facilities for sustainable healthcare delivery. This study explores applying KM principles to support maintenance strategies in healthcare organisations. The study also explores the challenges and opportunities, for healthcare organisations and FM practitioners, in operationalising a framework which draws the interconnectedness between healthcare. The study begins by defining healthcare FM and its importance in the healthcare industry. It then discusses the concept of KM and the different types of knowledge that are relevant in the healthcare FM sector. The study also examines the challenges that healthcare FM face in managing knowledge and how the application of KM principles can help to overcome these challenges. The study then explores the different KM strategies that can be applied in healthcare FM. The KM benefits include improved patient outcomes, reduced costs, increased efficiency, and enhanced collaboration among healthcare professionals. Additionally, issues like creating a culture of innovation, technology, and benchmarking are considered. In addition, a framework that integrates the essential concepts of KM in healthcare FM will be presented and discussed. The field of KM is introduced as a complex adaptive system with numerous possibilities and challenges. In this context, and in consideration of healthcare FM, five objectives have been formulated to achieve the research aim. As part of the research, a number of objectives will be evaluated, including appraising the concept of KM and how knowledge is created, stored, transferred, and utilised in healthcare FM, evaluating the impact of organisational structure on job satisfaction as well as exploring how cultural differences impact knowledge sharing and performance in healthcare FM organisations. This study uses a combination of qualitative methods, such as meetings, observations, document analysis (internal and external), and semi-structured interviews, to discover the subjective experiences of healthcare FM employees and to understand the phenomenon within a real-world context and attitudes of healthcare FM as the data collection method, using open questions to allow probing where appropriate and facilitating KM development in the delivery and practice of healthcare FM. The study describes the research methodology using the theoretical concept of the "research onion". The qualitative research was conducted in the NHS acute and non-acute hospitals in Northwest England. Findings from the research study revealed that while the concept of KM has grown significantly in recent years, KM in healthcare FM has received little or no attention. The target population was fifty (five FM directors, five academics, five industry experts, ten managers, ten supervisors, five team leaders and ten operatives). These seven groups were purposively selected as the target population because they play a crucial role in KM enhancement in healthcare FM. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with all participants based on their pre-determined availability. Out of the 50-target population, only 25 were successfully interviewed to the point of saturation. Data collected from the interview were coded and analysed using NVivo to identify themes and patterns related to KM in healthcare FM. The study is divided into eight major sections. First, it discusses literature findings regarding healthcare FM and KM, including underlying trends in FM, KM in general, and KM in healthcare FM. Second, the research establishes the study's methodology, introducing the five research objectives, questions and hypothesis. The chapter introduces the literature on methodology elements, including philosophical views and inquiry strategies. The interview and data analysis look at the feedback from the interviews. Lastly, a conclusion and recommendation summarise the research objectives and suggest further research. Overall, this study highlights the importance of KM in healthcare FM and provides insights for healthcare FM directors, managers, supervisors, academia, researchers and operatives on effectively leveraging knowledge to improve patient care and organisational effectiveness

    Connecting to make a difference : social learning and radical collective change in prefigurative online communities

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    In view of the current global social and ecological predicament, what might constitute relevant forms of radical collective change? What role can processes of social learning play in facilitating such change? And to what extent are online networks able to support the unfolding of such processes? This thesis addresses these questions. I first present the results of two participatory action research projects, taking place in two different prefigurative online communities attempting to bring about very different forms of collective change. The first focuses on building a transnational, decentralised grassroots economic system as an alternative to global capitalism, but struggles to shake free from the toxic influence of global financial markets, and from unhelpful ways of relating and organising. The second aims to foster self-organisation and new forms of relationality between humans and with the rest of the living world, but struggles to address the heritage of historical violence and injustice, or to bring about visible political change. With the help of the Wenger-Trayner social learning theory and evaluation framework, I consider what processes of social learning have been taking place (or not) in these networks, and their outcomes; and what other social change efforts may learn from these experiments and their limitations. Finally, I present a reflexive account of my own process of learning and unlearning through my involvement with these projects and others, with regards to the question of what may constitute radical collective change. This critical assessment of my own thinking and aspirations leads me to argue in favour of decolonial approaches to social change as potentially relevant responses to the global predicament. This thesis contributes to the understanding of social learning processes within prefigurative online communities, and to the practice of social change efforts in such contexts
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