Dear Disaster

In the project a metaphor is used depicturing interpretations of a recovery process of overcoming fear and regaining trust in nature after a natural disaster. This is done in order to describe the investigation of a love - hate relationship towards design. The intention with the investigation is to discuss meanings of emotional exchanges in design and analyse relationships between the user and objects. The result is emerged from a therapeutic background of processing natural disasters as well as from an investigation of visual and tactile structures aimed to instinctively evoke curiosity and fascination

Trigger Points of Fear and Distrust in Human-Robot Interaction: The Case of Cooperative Manufacturing

Digital technology is becoming ubiquitous and embedded as an integrated part of our daily lives, in which the digital and the physical worlds are increasingly interconnected and intertwined. While advanced technology can provide tremendous benefits and opportunities, it can also be very complex and challenging to understand, potentially leading to fear, suspicion, and distrust. This paper investigates a case of human-robot interaction in cooperative manufacturing, focusing on understanding how operators, managers and viewers feel about cooperating with industrial robots using potentially dangerous tools like nail guns. The aim of the study is to identify how human reactions to technology-induced change can be understood. The research question is: how can different trigger points of fear or distrust in technology be understood in the context of human-robot interaction? The findings reveal three key factors in overcoming fear, creating trust and encouraging interaction: knowledge, control, and self-preservation. The main contribution is illustrated through suggested guidelines for aspects that have to be practically considered when building this type of flexible robot cell for interacting with industrial robots in a real setting

Overcoming Roadblocks to Learning

{Excerpt} The gulf between the ideal type of a learning organization and the state of affairs in typical bilateral and multilateral development agencies remains huge. Defining roadblocks, however numerous they may be, is half the battle to removing them—it might make them part of the solution instead of part of the problem. Organizational learning is collective learning by individuals, and the fundamental phenomena of individual learning apply to organizations. However, organizational learning has distinctive characteristics concerning what is learned, how it is learned, and the adjustments needed to enhance learning. These owe to the fact that an organization is, by general definition, a collective whose individual constituents work to achieve a common goal from discrete operating and supporting units. Practices bring different perspectives and cultures to bear and shape data, information, and knowledge flows. Political considerations are the most serious impediment to becoming a learning organization. However, by understanding more fully what obstacles to learning can exist in a complex organization in a complex environment, one can circumscribe the problem space and create enabling environments for a more positive future. Such environments would facilitate self-organization, exploration of the space of possibilities, generative feedback, emergence, and coevolution.They would create an explanatory framework and facilitate action

Temporal and developmental risk factors for sexual harassment and abuse in sport

Recent revelations of sexual misconduct by sports coaches have challenged long-held beliefs in the educational value of sport, yet there is very little knowledge about the dynamics of sexual exploitation in sport upon which to base improvements in the practice of sports coaching or teaching. Earlier inductive research by Brackenridge (1996, 1997a, 1997b) in Britain established a set of hypothesised risk factors for sexual abuse in sport which have subsequently been reinforced by the results of survey research on elite athletes in Canada (Kirby and Greaves 1996). However, risk analysis for sexual abuse in sport has not yet been framed within a temporal or developmental sequence, nor sufficiently differentiated between elite and recreational levels of sport, or between coach-initiated and peer-initiated abuse. This paper reports selected findings from a Dutch qualitative study (Cense 1997) of 14 athletes who have survived sexual abuse in sport. The aim of the study was to identify risk factors that influence sexual abuse and harassment and to analyse which risks might be diminished through a prevention policy implemented by sport organisations. The Dutch study reinforces the earlier risk factor analyses but extends them by putting forward a preliminary temporal model of risk in sport that integrates offender behaviour with athlete and situational factors. On the basis of this model, suggestions are made to assist early diagnosis and prevention of sexual harassment and abuse by authority figures in sport

Working Report #2: Client and Community Relations (Service Provider Perspectives)

This report addresses two important questions: how much emphasis is placed on building positive relationships with families and communities across agency based, integrated service, and community and school based models of service delivery? And, how successful is each model at building relationships, minimizing stigma for families, and improving the image of child welfare in the community? Educating clients and the community about child welfare services was identified as an important role for workers in some sites and not in others. While families’ fears of child protection services were a concern, some workers also expressed a fear of their clients and feared for their own personal safety in their work. Service providers within each model seemed to be oriented to different aspects of relationship building and also had different advantages and disadvantages. For example, community based and school based models provided unique forums for engaging with clients and other service providers. Heightened awareness and concern about stigma in many agency based settings was noted; while, in community based and school based settings workers saw themselves on the front-line of improving the agency’s image and building relationships with the community

Access to Hospice Care: Expanding Boundaries, Overcoming Barriers

This report looks at issues of social justice, access, and public policy in hospice and palliative care. As it examines the issues from the perspectives of social justice and fairness, it also recommends ways in which the definition of hospice can be expanded to include more Americans for a longer period of time than simply the days or months shortly before death

Brain Resilience: Shedding Light into the Black Box of Adventure Processes

Understanding of the active beneficial processes of adventure learning remains elusive. Resilience may provide one foundation for understanding the positive adaptation derived from Outdoor Adventure Education (OAE) and Adventure Therapy (AT) programming. From a neurological perspective, resilience may be explained by the brain’s innate capability to adapt its structure (growth of new cells) and function (re-wiring of existing cells) directly in response to environmental exposure. This paper explores the role of known brain responses to experiences analogous to adventure programming based on themes from a key literature review. The fundamental paradigm of ‘stress and recovery’ contends that a balance of neurobiological processes help realign psychosocial equilibrium in the short term and over time. Through progressive, repeated exposure to custom-built outdoor challenges, the concept of brain resilience may provide a scientific platform for understanding the mechanisms of achieving meaningful, authentic and healthy outcomes. It could also help to begin to illuminate a section of the black box of adventure processes

Love as a Replacement for Fear in the Workplace

Fear is routinely used in organizations and interpersonal relationships as a source of motivation. Some research supports the use of fear to motivate employees to work and to change. However, fear has long lasting negative effects that outweigh the motivation that it produces. This paper proposes and supports the notion of love as a central motivator in place of fear. Inner texture exegesis of 1 John 4:18, along with recent research on love in organizations, supports the move from fear to love. Love produces long lasting effects of inspiration and heart level motivation, increased creativity and effectiveness, and a release of energy. It offers holistic health and growth to individuals. Although replacing fear with love requires a paradigm shift, the effort produces an organizational environment that is more productive and more attractive to employees

Knowledge transfer processes in PFI: identification of barriers and enablers

Increasingly, the UK’s Private Finance Initiative has created a demand for construction companies to transfer knowledge from one organization or project to another. Knowledge transfer processes in such contexts face many challenges, due to the many resulting discontinuities in the involvement of organisations, personnel and information flow. This paper empirically identifies the barriers and enablers that hinder or enhance the transfer of knowledge in PFI contexts, drawing upon a questionnaire survey of construction firms. The main findings show that knowledge transfer processes in PFIs are hindered by time constraints, lack of trust, and policies, procedures, rules and regulations attached to the projects. Nevertheless, the processes of knowledge transfer are enhanced by emphasising the value and importance of a supportive leadership, participation/commitment from the relevant parties, and good communication between the relevant parties. The findings have considerable relevance to understanding the mechanism of knowledge transfer between organizations, projects and individuals within the PFI contexts in overcoming the barriers and enhancing the enablers. Furthermore, practitioners and managers can use the findings to efficiently design knowledge transfer frameworks that can be used to overcome the barriers encountered while enhancing the enablers to improve knowledge transfer processes