The "social life" of industrial ruins : a case study of Hashima Island

The inscription of a strange-looking industrial site- coalmine on Hashima- on the World Heritage Site has proved to be the most publicly contested debate of heritage making work between Japan and Korea The debate about this place brings up poignant questions with regard to not only the significance of this heritage, but also the subsequent use of this island. The failure of reconciliation between countries especially, but also of reparation, restitution since the end of the Second World War and the issues of identity and memory have been brought to the fore. This paper seeks to challenge the dominant modes of heritage making and, in so doing, offer an analysis of influences from political, social and economic factors or an improved understanding of the dynamics of capitalistic production expansion. The origin and transformation of tradition is invoked in attempts to explain the pervasiveness and power of historical temporality and continuity. A critical approach to canonisation is employed whereby the choice of heritage resources is done in a more limited and cogent manner. It is argued that currently heritage-making functions as both value distribution and intentional perception for a people in a nation. Above all, the social life of those living in industrial ruins is positioned in the new perspective that as heritage resources they cannot be separated from capitalistic production and world history. Following from this, it is said that the temporality and spatiality of ruins need a political, social and economic debate in which the myths of the nation are forged, transmitted, negotiated and reconstructed constantly. Through employing these ideas, one can relate the thematic approach of heritage selection to commodification, collective memory, capitalism and nationalism in a theoretical and analytical way

Reporting ethics committee approval and patient consent by study design in five general medical journals.

BACKGROUND: Authors are required to describe in their manuscripts ethical approval from an appropriate committee and how consent was obtained from participants when research involves human participants. OBJECTIVE: To assess the reporting of these protections for several study designs in general medical journals. DESIGN: A consecutive series of research papers published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, BMJ, JAMA, Lancet and The New England Journal of Medicine between February and May 2003 were reviewed for the reporting of ethical approval and patient consent. Ethical approval, name of approving committee, type of consent, data source and whether the study used data collected as part of a study reported elsewhere were recorded. Differences in failure to report approval and consent by study design, journal and vulnerable study population were evaluated using multivariable logistic regression. RESULTS: Ethical approval and consent were not mentioned in 31% and 47% of manuscripts, respectively. 88 (27%) papers failed to report both approval and consent. Failure to mention ethical approval or consent was significantly more likely in all study designs (except case-control and qualitative studies) than in randomised controlled trials (RCTs). Failure to mention approval was most common in the BMJ and was significantly more likely than in The New England Journal of Medicine. Failure to mention consent was most common in the BMJ and was significantly more likely than in all other journals. No significant differences in approval or consent were found when comparing studies of vulnerable and non-vulnerable participants. CONCLUSION: The reporting of ethical approval and consent in RCTs has improved, but journals are less good at reporting this information for other study designs. Journals should publish this information for all research on human participants

Factors Affecting Public Engagement by Researchers: a Study on Behalf of a Consortium of Uk Public Research Funders

The "Factors affecting public engagement by researchers" project suggests that the embedding of public engagement in institutional cultures is best understood as a 'work in progress'. There are positive indications in the project outputs that public engagement is increasingly part of the landscape of higher education and research institutions, and that participation in and value placed on public engagement has increased in recent years. At the same time, the research suggests that researchers and institutions remain uncertain about systems of rewards for public engagement, within the context of a profession that is driven by research (and teaching). The project suggests that public engagement is more firmly embedded in the context of the arts, humanities and social sciences than it is among researchers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Wide-ranging research over a lengthy period shows that institutional change of this kind is highly challenging and that higher education institutions are known to be relatively slow to change. Within this context, the project indicates that, while recent and current strategies have been helpful, longer term effort -- perhaps targeted in particular domains -- is required

Girls’ access to education in China: actors, cultures and the windmill of development management

The world has a mixed record towards achieving EFA and the MDGs in relation to the targets on gender equity in basic education. For researchers and practitioners, this raises the question of which factors influence the processes leading to the improvement of access and quality of girls’ education and how. This case study from China examines the human and cultural dimensions of project management in determining the planning, implementation and evaluation of interventions designed to improve gender equity. The monograph combines concepts from the actor-oriented approach of development studies, with theories of culture and development management. It generates an analytical framework composed of two super ordinate ‘cultural landscapes’. One is the ‘relational’ landscape with its dimensions of power distance, masculinity-femininity, and collectivism-individualism. The other is the ‘time-orientation’ landscape with its dimensions of uncertainty avoidance and universalism-particularism. The ‘cultural landscapes’ and dimensions provide a powerful description of how the perceptions and strategies of interaction vary and change between and within individual actors. The monograph illustrates how managers act as innovators with varied perceptions and interaction strategies influenced by multiple levels of culture, social and political contexts. Using the metaphor of a windmill, the monograph suggests that project management moves beyond the linear cyclical logic presented in many of the planning texts and manuals of development agencies. The steps and stages of development management are the windmill’s blades. The cultural interactions between actors form the wind that gives the blades energy and speed. The blades run both synchronically and sequentially depending on the wind strength. The monograph recommends that development managers should move beyond superficial concerns for outputs and products to a deeper concern for human and cultural processes that lead to results for achieving EFA and the MDGs

Designers and scientific knowledge production: a case study of collaboration in Aalto University

The societal role of universities and scientific research is being challenged by a new paradigm of knowledge production. Established structures and procedures are being pressured to reconfigure, facing the need to account for increasingly contextual, heterogeneous, transdisciplinary, and socially robust knowledge (Gibbons et al., 1994; Nowotny et al., 2001, 2003). Demand for reflexive and integrated research approaches has become more relevant in the face of global sustainability issues. Consequently, in many academic contexts, interest in multi-disciplinary collaborations is increasing. Among them, the collaboration between design and other disciplines is emerging. However, although a large body of research has investigated the role of design in business (e.g. Muratovski, 2015) and more recently in government and policy making (e.g. Malmberg, 2017), very little is still known about the potential role of design in scientific academic environments. Therefore, this thesis aims to provide an empirical account of design’s contribution to research processes in the current framework of scientific practice. Since its foundation, Aalto University has had the goal to foster a multi-disciplinary community with the mission of “shaping the future” to build a sustainable society (Aalto University, 2015). According to the University Strategy 2016-2020, the goal has been to solve complex societal challenges by combining knowledge from different disciplines, “science and art together with technology and business”. Thus, Aalto University can be seen as a relevant context to observe emerging collaborations between disciplines. Most recently, various initiatives saw designers collaborating with scientists in the process of scientific knowledge production. Through a case study of such initiatives, this research explores practices of collaboration between designers and scientists. Qualitative data was collected through in-depth interviews with a group of 16 participants, composed of designers, scientists and research managers. The results outline various perceived contributions and related benefits of integrating design in the scientific research process. Aspects that act as barriers or facilitating factors to the collaborations are identified as well. Moreover, models from design management and interdisciplinarity studies are borrowed to observe the modalities of integrating and positioning design in the scientific research process and to relate them to the perceived benefits. The study demonstrates that there is indeed potential in establishing design-science collaborations. It provides an initial frame to better understand and articulate the contributions and benefits of integrating design, such as connecting with the public, stakeholders, and the academic community or facilitating and challenging scientific research processes. This study reveals the need for further investigation into the qualities of “deeper” integration and the benefits associated with different models of integration. The findings also point to structural and cultural barriers that need to be addressed in order to establish successful collaborations between designers and scientists

The OBO Foundry: Coordinated Evolution of Ontologies to Support Biomedical Data Integration

The value of any kind of data is greatly enhanced when it exists in a form that allows it to be integrated with other data. One approach to integration is through the annotation of multiple bodies of data using common controlled vocabularies or ‘ontologies’. Unfortunately, the very success of this approach has led to a proliferation of ontologies, which itself creates obstacles to integration. The Open Biomedical Ontologies (OBO) consortium has set in train a strategy to overcome this problem. Existing OBO ontologies, including the Gene Ontology, are undergoing a process of coordinated reform, and new ontologies being created, on the basis of an evolving set of shared principles governing ontology development. The result is an expanding family of ontologies designed to be interoperable, logically well-formed, and to incorporate accurate representations of biological reality. We describe the OBO Foundry initiative, and provide guidelines for those who might wish to become involved in the future

TransformEHRs: a flexible methodology for building transparent ETL processes for EHR reuse

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, several methodologies were designed for obtaining electronic health record (EHR)-derived datasets for research. These processes are often based on black boxes, on which clinical researchers are unaware of how the data were recorded, extracted, and transformed. In order to solve this, it is essential that extract, transform, and load (ETL) processes are based on transparent, homogeneous, and formal methodologies, making them understandable, reproducible, and auditable. Objectives: This study aims to design and implement a methodology, according with FAIR Principles, for building ETL processes (focused on data extraction, selection, and transformation) for EHR reuse in a transparent and flexible manner, applicable to any clinical condition and health care organization. Methods: The proposed methodology comprises four stages: (1) analysis of secondary use models and identification of data operations, based on internationally used clinical repositories, case report forms, and aggregated datasets; (2) modeling and formalization of data operations, through the paradigm of the Detailed Clinical Models; (3) agnostic development of data operations, selecting SQL and R as programming languages; and (4) automation of the ETL instantiation, building a formal configuration file with XML. Results: First, four international projects were analyzed to identify 17 operations, necessary to obtain datasets according to the specifications of these projects from the EHR. With this, each of the data operations was formalized, using the ISO 13606 reference model, specifying the valid data types as arguments, inputs and outputs, and their cardinality. Then, an agnostic catalog of data was developed through data-oriented programming languages previously selected. Finally, an automated ETL instantiation process was built from an ETL configuration file formally defined. Conclusions: This study has provided a transparent and flexible solution to the difficulty of making the processes for obtaining EHR-derived data for secondary use understandable, auditable, and reproducible. Moreover, the abstraction carried out in this study means that any previous EHR reuse methodology can incorporate these results into them.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad Instituto de Salud Carlos III PI18/00981, PI18/01047, PI18CIII/00019.S

Financial interests of patient organisations contributing to technology appraisal at England's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE): a policy review

Objectives: To investigate the prevalence of financial interests among patient organisations contributing to health technology assessment at the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in England, and the extent to which current disclosure policy ensures decision-making committees are aware of these interests. Design: Policy review using annual accounts, reports and websites of patient organisations, a database of payments declared by pharmaceutical manufacturers (Disclosure UK), other manufacturer declarations, responses from patient organisations, and declarations of interests by nominated representatives of patient organisations. Setting: Appraisals of medicines and treatments for use in the English and Welsh National Health Service. Participants: 53 patient organisations contributing to 41 NICE technology appraisals published in 2015 and 2016, with 117 separate occasions that a patient organisation contributed to the appraisal of a technology. Main outcome measures: (i) Prevalence of specific interests, i.e. funding from manufacturer(s) of a technology under appraisal or competitor products; (ii) Proportion of specific interests of which NICE decision-making committees were aware; (iii) Proportion of specific interests for which disclosure was not required by current NICE policy. Results: 38/53 (71.7%) patient organisations had accepted funding from the manufacturer(s) of a technology or a competitor product in the same or previous year that they had contributed to the appraisal of that technology. Specific interests were 46 present on 92 out of 117 (78.6%) occasions that patient organisations contributed to appraisals in 2015 and 2016. NICE decision-making committees were aware of less than a third of specific interests (36/115, 31.3%). For over half of the specific interests of which committees were unaware (42/79, 53.2%), disclosure by patient organisations was not required by current NICE policy. Conclusions: Specific interests are highly prevalent among patient organisations contributing to health technology assessment. NICE is reviewing its disclosure policy to ensure that decision-making committees are aware of all relevant interests

Data-driven nonparametric Li-ion battery ageing model aiming at learning from real operation data – Part A : storage operation

Conventional Li-ion battery ageing models, such as electrochemical, semi-empirical and empirical models, require a significant amount of time and experimental resources to provide accurate predictions under realistic operating conditions. At the same time, there is significant interest from industry in the introduction of new data collection telemetry technology. This implies the forthcoming availability of a significant amount of real-world battery operation data. In this context, the development of ageing models able to learn from in-field battery operation data is an interesting solution to mitigate the need for exhaustive laboratory testing