A participatory design approach for the development of support environments in eGovernment services to citizens

The introduction of eGovernment services and applications leads to major changes in the structure and operation of public administrations. In this paper we describe the work in progress in an Italian project called “SPO.T.” aimed at the analysis, development, deployment and evaluation of tools and environments to support the people who plan, deliver, use and evaluate user-centred provision of One-Stop-Shop services to citizens. The “SPO.T.” project has focused on two requirements: 1. the support tools and environments must facilitate the active involvement of all stakeholders in the definition and evolution of eGovernment applications and services, and it is argued that through participatory design changes of structure, process and culture can be delivered effectively; 2. they must embody a set of architecturally coherent resources which reflect the new roles and relationships of public administration and which are sufficiently generic to be relevant to a wide range of local contexts across the community

Constellation Modelling, Performance Prediction and Operations Management for the Spire Constellation

The operational complexity of managing the Spire constellation continually increases with the routine introduction of additional satellites and new capabilities. The heterogeneous nature of the satellites, payloads, and ground station configurations compounds the difficulty of strategic planning and operational scheduling. In order to efficiently operate this diverse network of assets, Spire developed a suite of bespoke constellation modeling and management tools that are designed to support existing demand and to scale for future needs. The modeling tools enable Spire to accurately simulate and optimize the performance of various constellation configurations prior to deployment. The operational tools required to harness the full potential of the constellation incorporate complex techniques in order to schedule payload operations, maximize data collection, and monitor performance. These tools are developed in a modular and scalable fashion to ensure that new capabilities, such as the introduction of inter-satellite links, can be readily integrated into the planning system. In addition to these internal tools, Spire also offers a suite of standardized APIs and user services through which both internal and external customers can seamlessly integrate payloads and software with the Spire constellation, enabling secure access to development and simulation environments, scheduling, and data pipeline tools. The constellation modeling, performance prediction, and operational management tools developed at Spire are essential to ensure efficient and optimized production in an increasingly complex system

How Leaders Create the Conditions for Equity

Equity is a complex topic that encompasses many facets of leadership, education reform, and socio-economic issues. This module offers district and school leaders an introduction to equity and the conditions that create equitable school environments. The module provides educational leaders with strategies based on equity frameworks and research-based high-leverage equitable practices to implement in order to begin equity work at their sites and help teachers meet the needs of all of their diverse students. See the additional resources section at the end of this module for links to tools for assessing equity, creating action plans, and seeking support for improving the conditions that reduce opportunity and achievement gaps and establish equitable learning environments for diverse students and staff. View professional learning module.https://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/improve/1019/thumbnail.jp

Examining the content validity of the Birthing Unit Design Spatial Evaluation Tool (BUDSET) within a woman-centred framework.

Introduction: The environment for birth influences women in labor. Optimal birthing environments have the potential to facilitate normal labor and birth. The measurement of optimal birth units is currently not possible because there are no tools. An audit tool, the Birth Unit Design Spatial Evaluation Tool (BUDSET), was developed to assess the optimality of birthing environments. The BUDSET is based on 4 domains (fear cascade, facility, aesthetics, support), each comprising design principles that are further differentiated into specific assessable design items. In the process of developing measurement tools, content validity must be established. The aim of this study was to establish the content validity of the BUDSET from the perspective of women and midwives. Methods: This was a mixed-methods study with a survey assessing agreement with BUDSET items and in-depth interviews. Survey results were analyzed using an item-level content validity index and a survey-level validity index. Interview data were analyzed using a directed content analysis approach. The study was conducted in 2 locations¿a major maternity hospital and a midwifery research center, both in Australia. Study participants were 10 women and 2 midwifery academics. Results: The survey revealed that content-related validity varied according to the BUDSET domain, with the domains of facility and support established as content valid by most participants. The domains of the fear cascade and aesthetic were less strong, particularly among pregnant women. Interview data analysis provided content validity evidence of both the fear cascade and aesthetic domains. A further 4 subthemes of fear cascade also were identified: foreign space, medical-hospital-emergency, being sterile/clinical, and protecting the woman from the environment. Content validity evidence for facility and support domains also was established. Discussion: This study has established that the BUDSET is content valid for assessing the optima ity of birthing environments. Some further refinement of the tool is now possible

Healthy environments from a broad perspective : an overview of research performed at the unit Building Physics and Systems of Eindhoven University of Technology

The design and realization of a healthy indoor environment is a challenge that is investigated from different perspectives at the unit Building Physics and Systems (BPS; Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning) of Eindhoven University of Technology. Performance requirements (for instance, with respect to air quality, thermal comfort and lighting) and performance based assessment methods are the point-of-departure, focusing at computational techniques supporting the design process. Different specific application fields such as dwellings, offices, schools, but also, operating theatres, churches, musea and multifunctional stadiums, underline the applied approach that is part of the research within the unit. In the design of healthy environments, the performance based design assessment is crucial in arriving at innovative design solutions and optimized indoor and outdoor environments. In this assessment computational support tools and experimental verification play an important role. However, assessing the right indicators in an objective way, applying the correct tools and correct application of these tools is not yet well established. Alongside, developments are still ongoing. The work performed in the unit by the different researchers relates to the research questions that can be derived from this notice. The paper gives an introduction to the Unit BPS and presents a brief overview of recent and ongoing research. An extensive list of references is provided for further reading and supports the conclusion that healthy environments can and should be addressed from a wide angle

Healthy environments from a broad perspective : an overview of research performed at the unit Building Physics and Systems of Eindhoven University of Technology

The design and realization of a healthy indoor environment is a challenge that is investigated from different perspectives at the unit Building Physics and Systems (BPS; Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning) of Eindhoven University of Technology. Performance requirements (for instance, with respect to air quality, thermal comfort and lighting) and performance based assessment methods are the point-of-departure, focusing at computational techniques supporting the design process. Different specific application fields such as dwellings, offices, schools, but also, operating theatres, churches, musea and multifunctional stadiums, underline the applied approach that is part of the research within the unit. In the design of healthy environments, the performance based design assessment is crucial in arriving at innovative design solutions and optimized indoor and outdoor environments. In this assessment computational support tools and experimental verification play an important role. However, assessing the right indicators in an objective way, applying the correct tools and correct application of these tools is not yet well established. Alongside, developments are still ongoing. The work performed in the unit by the different researchers relates to the research questions that can be derived from this notice. The paper gives an introduction to the Unit BPS and presents a brief overview of recent and ongoing research. An extensive list of references is provided for further reading and supports the conclusion that healthy environments can and should be addressed from a wide angle

Using Training to Increase Standardization and Collaboration Across Teams

This capstone paper analyzes the effectiveness of a company’s current weekly training and its relationship with communication and dispersed teams that work in geographically separated environments. This paper examines a government contracting project and how the inconsistency of the deliverables produced by team members necessitate a need for training improvements. Research from Blayney, Kalyuga, and Sweller, (2015) and Poell, Krogt, Vermulst, Harris, and Simons (2006) on the role of workplace trainers and cognitive load theory support the training improvements presented in this paper. The proposed changes include the introduction of a standardized method of preparing for training and resources to assist trainers in the development of effective training. Additional tools provided are feedback and evaluation forms to be used to gather information on training needs

Virtual Reality for training the public towards unexpected emergency situations

Nowadays, unexpected situations in public spaces are quite frequent; for this reason, there is the need to provide valid decision-making tools to support people’s behavior in emergency situations. The aim of these support tools is to provide a “training” for the public on how to behave when something unexpected happens, in order to make them aware of how to manage and control their own emotions. Thanks to the introduction of new technologies, trainings are also feasible in Virtual Reality (VR), exploiting the chance to create virtual environments and situations that reflect real ones and test different scenarios on a sample of people in order to verify and validate training procedures. Virtual simulations in this context are paramount, because they offer the possibility to analyse reactions and behaviors in a safe, “not real”, so without health concern, environment. Three scenarios (fire, heart attack of a person in the environment and terrorist attack) have been reproduced in VR, analyzing how to define the context for emergency situations. Users approaching the training only know they are going to face a situation without having details on what is happening; this is fundamental to test the training efficiency on people’s reaction

Factors of acceptance of digital tools: the example of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform in the context of collaborative projects

In face of the omnipresence of digital technology in all aspects of life, education and training players are encouraged to adapt to digital tools. This should enable learners to grasp and take advantage of the potential it offers, while developing the various dimensions of digital skills. However, the introduction of digital tools in education and training environments still raises many challenges, especially because any new technology requires from all actors, teachers and learners in particular, a change in their habits and postures. This action research takes as a theoretical analysis framework the model of instrumental acceptance applied to information and communication technologies developed by Caron and Heutte (2017). It focuses on the factors of acceptance and use of a digital tool in general, in particular the 3DExperience platform, by learners involved in applied collaborative projects. It is based on several experiments carried out with students from ISAE-Supméca, a French engineering school, and other students from partner institutions as part of the EXAPP_3D educational research project. With a methodology that focuses on interpretative phenomenological analysis (Restivo et.al., 2018), it provides scientific support for the sometimes complex challenges of integrating new tools in engineering schools

ROOT Status and Future Developments

In this talk we will review the major additions and improvements made to the ROOT system in the last 18 months and present our plans for future developments. The additons and improvements range from modifications to the I/O sub-system to allow users to save and restore objects of classes that have not been instrumented by special ROOT macros, to the addition of a geometry package designed for building, browsing, tracking and visualizing detector geometries. Other improvements include enhancements to the quick analysis sub-system (TTree::Draw()), the addition of classes that allow inter-file object references (TRef, TRefArray), better support for templated and STL classes, amelioration of the Automatic Script Compiler and the incorporation of new fitting and mathematical tools. Efforts have also been made to increase the modularity of the ROOT system with the introduction of more abstract interfaces and the development of a plug-in manager. In the near future, we intend to continue the development of PROOF and its interfacing with GRID environments. We plan on providing an interface between Geant3, Geant4 and Fluka and the new geometry package. The ROOT GUI classes will finally be available on Windows and we plan to release a GUI inspector and builder. In the last year, ROOT has drawn the endorsement of additional experiments and institutions. It is now officially supported by CERN and used as key I/O component by the LCG project.Comment: Talk from the 2003 Computing in High Energy and Nuclear Physics (CHEP03), La Jolla, Ca, USA, March 2003, 5 pages, MSWord, pSN MOJT00