Failure is an option:an innovative engineering curriculum

PurposeAdvancements and innovation in engineering design are based on learning from previous failures but students are encouraged to ‘succeed’ first time and hence can avoid learning from failure in practice. The purpose of the study was to design and evaluate a curriculum to help engineering design students to learn from failure.Design/Methodology/ApproachA new curriculum design provided a case study for evaluating the effects of incorporating learning from failure within a civil engineering course. An analysis of the changes in course output was undertaken in relation to graduate destination data covering 2006 to 2016 and student satisfaction from 2012 to 2017 and a number of challenges and solutions for curriculum designers were identified.FindingsThe design and delivery of an innovative curriculum, within typical constraints, can provide opportunities for students to develop resilience to failure as an integral part of their learning in order to think creatively and develop novel engineering solutions. The key issues identified were: the selection of appropriate teaching methods, creating an environment for exploratory learning, group and team assessments with competitive elements where practicable, and providing students with many different pedagogical approaches to produce a quality learning experience.OriginalityThis case study demonstrates how to design and implement an innovative curriculum that can produce positive benefits of learning from failure. This model can be applied to other disciplines such as building surveying and construction management. This approach underpins the development of skills necessary in the educational experience to develop as a professional building pathologist

The generative routine dynamics of internship/work placements : an exploration of process dynamics facilitating knowledge creating

The role of knowledge in organisations has tended to be considered in the context of its transfer and to a lesser extent its creation. The university-industry relationship is predominantly relied on as an appropriate context for these discussions. However little by way of scholarly attention has focused on the concept of 'knowledge creating' per se or addresses the research question "how can organisational processes facilitate knowledge creating over time?" This research introduces and explores the concept of 'knowledge creating' within an often ignored and under researched theory-practice context - the internship/work placement. Routines theory, and its generative claim, is relied on here to address the processual attribute associated with 'knowledge creating'. Dialogicality has also been identified as an attribute of 'knowledge creating'. This is understood as a sensitivity to otherness that leads to social interaction within dialogical exchanges. Consequently, the objective of this study becomes a question of unpacking process dynamics or generative routine dynamics by using a dialogical theory for knowledge creation. Dialogical exchanges that facilitate continuous articulations and productive relational engagement are assessed with dynamic aspects of routines. By combining routines theory with dialogicality a novel and robust conceptual lens guiding data collection and analysis is provided. Data was collected over four separate internship/placement cycles in Ireland's largest business school during the financial crisis from 2008 to 2014. A plurality of methods was employed for data collection; which included over 60 interviews, 18 hours of direct observation, and 50 separated documentary artifacts. Combined these minimise fragmented descriptions of the internship/placement, while highlighting novel processual dynamics that have previously been overlooked in empirical routines research. The empirical findings highlight three interlinked dualities which contribute to a nuanced understanding of generative routine dynamics; the presence/absence duality; the centrality/peripherality duality and the evaluating/quality duality. When combined these dualities reveal how dialogical exchanges can lead to continuous articulations, which in turn become productive when resulting in action. From this we gain an insight in what we understand as knowledge creating.The role of knowledge in organisations has tended to be considered in the context of its transfer and to a lesser extent its creation. The university-industry relationship is predominantly relied on as an appropriate context for these discussions. However little by way of scholarly attention has focused on the concept of 'knowledge creating' per se or addresses the research question "how can organisational processes facilitate knowledge creating over time?" This research introduces and explores the concept of 'knowledge creating' within an often ignored and under researched theory-practice context - the internship/work placement. Routines theory, and its generative claim, is relied on here to address the processual attribute associated with 'knowledge creating'. Dialogicality has also been identified as an attribute of 'knowledge creating'. This is understood as a sensitivity to otherness that leads to social interaction within dialogical exchanges. Consequently, the objective of this study becomes a question of unpacking process dynamics or generative routine dynamics by using a dialogical theory for knowledge creation. Dialogical exchanges that facilitate continuous articulations and productive relational engagement are assessed with dynamic aspects of routines. By combining routines theory with dialogicality a novel and robust conceptual lens guiding data collection and analysis is provided. Data was collected over four separate internship/placement cycles in Ireland's largest business school during the financial crisis from 2008 to 2014. A plurality of methods was employed for data collection; which included over 60 interviews, 18 hours of direct observation, and 50 separated documentary artifacts. Combined these minimise fragmented descriptions of the internship/placement, while highlighting novel processual dynamics that have previously been overlooked in empirical routines research. The empirical findings highlight three interlinked dualities which contribute to a nuanced understanding of generative routine dynamics; the presence/absence duality; the centrality/peripherality duality and the evaluating/quality duality. When combined these dualities reveal how dialogical exchanges can lead to continuous articulations, which in turn become productive when resulting in action. From this we gain an insight in what we understand as knowledge creating

Cost modelling and concurrent engineering for testable design

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.As integrated circuits and printed circuit boards increase in complexity, testing becomes a major cost factor of the design and production of the complex devices. Testability has to be considered during the design of complex electronic systems, and automatic test systems have to be used in order to facilitate the test. This fact is now widely accepted in industry. Both design for testability and the usage of automatic test systems aim at reducing the cost of production testing or, sometimes, making it possible at all. Many design for testability methods and test systems are available which can be configured into a production test strategy, in order to achieve high quality of the final product. The designer has to select from the various options for creating a test strategy, by maximising the quality and minimising the total cost for the electronic system. This thesis presents a methodology for test strategy generation which is based on consideration of the economics during the life cycle of the electronic system. This methodology is a concurrent engineering approach which takes into account all effects of a test strategy on the electronic system during its life cycle by evaluating its related cost. This objective methodology is used in an original test strategy planning advisory system, which allows for test strategy planning for VLSI circuits as well as for digital electronic systems. The cost models which are used for evaluating the economics of test strategies are described in detail and the test strategy planning system is presented. A methodology for making decisions which are based on estimated costing data is presented. Results of using the cost models and the test strategy planning system for evaluating the economics of test strategies for selected industrial designs are presented

Розроблення структури бази знань системи геоінформаційного моніторингу для оцінювання якісного стану земель сільськогосподарського призначення

Solution to the problem of information decision support for monitoring the quality status of agricultural lands was highlighted and the necessity of creating an information structure that will facilitate operational monitoring of lands, creation of integrated digital thematic maps and GIS models to reflect the current status of lands was substantiated. A set of thematic variables of geoinformation monitoring system objects for evaluating and mapping the quality status of agricultural lands, providing calculation of key indicators of the quality status of lands such as ploughing-up, forest cover, field-protective forest cover, agricultural development, factors of anthropogenic load and environmental stability was defined.The process of developing the knowledge base structure of the geoinformation monitoring system that includes the following components: thematic variables of geoinformation monitoring system objects, sets of methods for research, data processing, cartographic representation and spatial analysis was shown. A set and composition of knowledge base libraries and geoinformation monitoring system rules - set of thematic variables, set of scales of indices, library of formulas that unify information, methods of processing and presentation of results was determined.A set and composition of metadata, rules of spatial analysis and cartographic representation of geoinformation monitoring system objects for evaluating the quality status of agricultural lands was established. The methods and types of cartographic representation were selected, the rulesets for geoinformation analysis (classification, overlay analysis, cartometric operations), symbols and composition of the legend for each index were chosen.The developed knowledge base structure can be a basis for creating a set of thematic maps for evaluating, updating and forecasting the status of geosystems and their components.Приведены примеры практического применения базы знаний для анализа качественного состояния земель сельскохозяйственного назначения на основе пространственного распределения показателей распаханности угодий, лесистости, полезащитной лесистости, сельскохозяйственного освоения земель, коэффициентов антропогенной нагрузки и экологической стабильности.Разработанная структура базы знаний может выступать основой для создания набора тематических карт, других геоизображений для оценки, актуализации и прогнозирования состояния геосистем и их компонентов.Відображено приклади практичного застосування бази знань для аналізу якісного стану земель сільськогосподарського призначення на основі просторового розподілу показників розораності, лісистості, полезахисної лісистості, сільськогосподарської освоєності земель, коефіцієнтів антропогенного навантаження й екологічної стабільності.Розроблена структура бази знань може виступати основою для створення набору тематичних карт, інших геозображень для оцінювання, актуалізації та прогнозування стану геосистем та їх компоненті

Quality of core collections for effective utilisation of genetic resources review, discussion and interpretation

Definition of clear criteria for evaluation of the quality of core collections is a prerequisite for selecting high-quality cores. However, a critical examination of the different methods used in literature, for evaluating the quality of core collections, shows that there are no clear guidelines on the choices of quality evaluation criteria and as a result, inappropriate analyses are sometimes made leading to false conclusions being drawn regarding the quality of core collections and the methods to select such core collections. The choice of criteria for evaluating core collections appears to be based mainly on the fact that those criteria have been used in earlier publications rather than on the actual objectives of the core collection. In this study, we provide insight into different criteria used for evaluating core collections. We also discussed different types of core collections and related each type of core collection to their respective evaluation criteria. Two new criteria based on genetic distance are introduced. The consequences of the different evaluation criteria are illustrated using simulated and experimental data. We strongly recommend the use of the distance-based criteria since they not only allow the simultaneous evaluation of all variables describing the accessions, but they also provide intuitive and interpretable criteria, as compared with the univariate criteria generally used for the evaluation of core collections. Our findings will provide genebank curators and researchers with possibilities to make informed choices when creating, comparing and using core collection

Primary care micro-teams: a protocol for an international systematic review to describe and examine the opportunities and challenges of implementation for patients and healthcare professionals

Introduction: There has been a recent trend towards creating larger primary care practices with the assumption that interdisciplinary teams can deliver improved and more cost-effective services to patients with better accessibility. Micro-teams have been proposed to mitigate some of the potential challenges with practice expansion, including continuity of care. We aim to review the available literature to improve understanding of how micro-teams are described and the opportunities which primary care micro-teams can provide for practice staff and patients and limitations to their introduction and implementation. Our review asks: how is micro-team implementation described? What are the experiences of healthcare professionals and patients concerning micro-teams in primary care? What are the reported implications of micro-teams for patient care? // Methods and analysis: CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Embase, MEDLINE and Scopus will be searched for studies in English. Grey literature will be sourced from Google Scholar, government websites, CCG websites, general practice directives and strategies with advice from stakeholders. Included studies will give evidence regarding the implementation of micro-teams. Data will be synthesised using framework analysis. We will use iterative stakeholder and public and patient participation to embed the perspectives of those whom micro-teams could impact. Included studies will be quality assessed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. The quality assessment will not be used to exclude any evidence but rather to develop a narrative discussion evaluating included literature. // Ethics and dissemination: Ethical approval will not be necessary for this systematic review as there will only be a secondary analysis of data already available in scientific databases and the grey literature. This protocol has been submitted for registration to be made available on a review database (PROSPERO). Findings will be disseminated widely through peer-reviewed publication and in various media, for example, conferences, congresses or symposia

READMIT Clinical Risk Index: Identifying Risk Factors to Reduce 30-day Psychiatric Readmissions

Abstract Problem: There has been a growing concern in the past decades over the increase in community-based adults who require readmission to psychiatric care shortly after discharge. It is estimated that nearly half of discharged psychiatric patients will be readmitted within twelve months after discharge. This has been primarily attributed to the absence of screening tools and resources to assists behavioral healthcare providers in identifying socio-demographic factors contributing to readmissions. Screening tools like the READMIT Clinical Risk Index identify patients at risk for psychiatric readmission. This quality improvement project aims to identify socio-demographic factors that lead to 30-day readmission rates through the implementation of the READMIT Clinical Risk Index. Methods: This quality improvement project used a retrospective chart review with a purposive convenience sample of 96 behavioral health electronic medical records. Data was collected through a two-step process. The first set of data collected patient demographics selecting age, whether participant is black, length of stay, has depression, housing status at discharge, discharged with medication, and has friend support. The second set of data collection captured READMIT scores. Results: Multiple regression (b =- 0.20, p \u3c .001) demonstrated age to be the primary predictor of an individual’s likelihood of 30-day readmission post-discharge. Every one-year increase in age is associated with a 0.20 decline in individuals READMIT scores. Implications for practice: Providers can identify high risk patients when READMIT Index tool is implemented appropriately. Creating an opportunity for developing, evaluating, and delivering interventions that integrate individuals into their communities more successfully

21st Century Managers and Intuition: Evaluating the learning achieved from an Example of Pedagogic Change for Business Undergraduates

A key requirement for effective research on pedagogy and course redesign is a credible measure (or measures) of student learning on completion of individual modules or even specific teaching initiatives. This has proved difficult to achieve for business courses for some subjects - in particular for the teaching of soft skills such as team working. Traditional methods such as examinations are inappropriate. This paper reports on a novel approach to the evaluation of an exercise, designed to develop business students’ skill of managerial intuition. Changing business conditions are placing a greater value on managers’ ability to deal with open-ended complex (wicked) problems. One academic stream of work has identified that managerial intuition is the key to handling such problems effectively. This, like all skills, can best be acquired through practice. An exercise designed to give small teams of students experience of such a problem was designed for a module delivered during the 1st year of a business degree at Business SchoolX. In parallel students were required to carry out both team and individual reflections that focused on the learning achieved on this exercise. Since the reflective practice was required and marked this ensured that we obtained a comprehensive response from almost all students on the course. Reflective practice can be anonymised and draws on an individual’s most deeply held thinking. This year (2015/16) is the first attempt at carrying out an evaluation exercise of this type. The paper reports on the preliminary results from the Autumn Term module

An introduction to crowdsourcing for language and multimedia technology research

Language and multimedia technology research often relies on large manually constructed datasets for training or evaluation of algorithms and systems. Constructing these datasets is often expensive with significant challenges in terms of recruitment of personnel to carry out the work. Crowdsourcing methods using scalable pools of workers available on-demand offers a flexible means of rapid low-cost construction of many of these datasets to support existing research requirements and potentially promote new research initiatives that would otherwise not be possible