3,660 research outputs found

    Digital Innovations for a Circular Plastic Economy in Africa

    Get PDF
    Plastic pollution is one of the biggest challenges of the twenty-first century that requires innovative and varied solutions. Focusing on sub-Saharan Africa, this book brings together interdisciplinary, multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder perspectives exploring challenges and opportunities for utilising digital innovations to manage and accelerate the transition to a circular plastic economy (CPE). This book is organised into three sections bringing together discussion of environmental conditions, operational dimensions and country case studies of digital transformation towards the circular plastic economy. It explores the environment for digitisation in the circular economy, bringing together perspectives from practitioners in academia, innovation, policy, civil society and government agencies. The book also highlights specific country case studies in relation to the development and implementation of different innovative ideas to drive the circular plastic economy across the three sub-Saharan African regions. Finally, the book interrogates the policy dimensions and practitioner perspectives towards a digitally enabled circular plastic economy. Written for a wide range of readers across academia, policy and practice, including researchers, students, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), digital entrepreneurs, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and multilateral agencies, policymakers and public officials, this book offers unique insights into complex, multilayered issues relating to the production and management of plastic waste and highlights how digital innovations can drive the transition to the circular plastic economy in Africa. The Open Access version of this book, available at https://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license

    Reasoning about quantities and concepts: studies in social learning

    Get PDF
    We live and learn in a ‘society of mind’. This means that we form beliefs not just based on our own observations and prior expectations but also based on the communications from other people, such as our social network peers. Across seven experiments, I study how people combine their own private observations with other people’s communications to form and update beliefs about the environment. I will follow the tradition of rational analysis and benchmark human learning against optimal Bayesian inference at Marr’s computational level. To accommodate human resource constraints and cognitive biases, I will further contrast human learning with a variety of process level accounts. In Chapters 2–4, I examine how people reason about simple environmental quantities. I will focus on the effect of dependent information sources on the success of group and individual learning across a series of single-player and multi-player judgement tasks. Overall, the results from Chapters 2–4 highlight the nuances of real social network dynamics and provide insights into the conditions under which we can expect collective success versus failures such as the formation of inaccurate worldviews. In Chapter 5, I develop a more complex social learning task which goes beyond estimation of environmental quantities and focuses on inductive inference with symbolic concepts. Here, I investigate how people search compositional theory spaces to form and adapt their beliefs, and how symbolic belief adaptation interfaces with individual and social learning in a challenging active learning task. Results from Chapter 5 suggest that people might explore compositional theory spaces using local incremental search; and that it is difficult for people to use another person’s learning data to improve upon their hypothesis

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

    Get PDF
    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

    Collaborative digital strategies to boost the speaking skills in on-line learning modality with senior students at Liceo Naval Quito in Conocoto-Ecuador during 2021-2022

    Get PDF
    To propose a group of collaborative digital strategies for the boost of the speaking skills in on-line learning modality with senior students at Liceo Naval Quito in Conocoto-Ecuador during 2021-2022.En este trabajo de investigación se realizó una revisión de las Estrategias Digitales Colaborativas utilizadas en entornos virtuales para potenciar las habilidades orales del idioma inglés en el Liceo Naval Quito con Estudiantes de último año. El enfoque de esta investigación fue deductivo-cuantitativo debido a las conclusiones dadas al final. El método fue una revisión descriptiva, y la técnica fue una revisión bibliográfica. Los hallazgos revelaron que los temas más estudiados por Lehtinen (2022), Valamis (2021), Espinoza (2021), Muñóz (2020) y Sevilla (2021) fueron: aprendizaje colaborativo y estrategias colaborativas. Los instrumentos fueron tres rúbricas y dos encuestas que recogieron toda la información relevante. Además, se explicó el procedimiento de aplicación de las rúbricas y las encuestas; y, se dieron detalles básicos sobre la estrategia de selección de la muestra. Se realizó una recolección de información utilizando instrumentos de investigación de campo que permitieron identificar cinco estrategias digitales colaborativas para ser utilizadas en entornos virtuales y que puedan captar la atención de los estudiantes para que mejoren su producción oral. Como resultado se propuso una guía académica para la aplicación de estas estrategias con diferentes actividades colaborativas y herramientas digitales sugeridas. En conclusión, se puede afirmar que las estrategias digitales colaborativas podrían ayudar de manera efectiva a mejorar la fluidez en el lenguaje oral del idioma inglés.Maestrí

    Micromechanistic study of hydrogen embrittlement in pipeline steels

    Get PDF
    Hydrogen embrittlement, which causes the premature failure of steel pipelines, poses a long-standing challenge to hydrogen energy utilization. Ferrite-pearlite steels dominate the in-service hydrogen pipelines market. Yet hydrogen embrittlement mechanisms for the highly susceptible pearlite phase have remained inconclusive since the complicated microstructures in the bulk ferrite-pearlite steels interfere with categorizing the contribution of pearlite to hydrogen-induced failure. Here we provide a protocol combining in-situ micromechanical testing and ex-situ electrochemical hydrogen charging to successfully examine the effects of hydrogen on the mechanical behavior of pearlite and ferrite micropillars. In this project atom probe tomography with cryogenic-transfer technique was conducted on hydrogen-charged pearlite samples and observed hydrogen is trapped in the cementite lamellae rather than at the ferrite-cementite interfaces. The introduction of hydrogen reduces the yield strength of pearlite micropillars to a narrow range, which means that hydrogen weakens the anisotropic yielding of pearlite. Slip occurs at the ferrite-cementite interface for uncharged micropillars with inclined lamellae but after hydrogen charging it takes place in the ferrite matrix. Shear deformation dominates in micropillars with vertical and horizontal lamellae, where fracture occurs in the presence of hydrogen. Unlike pearlite, hydrogen only slightly reduces the yield strength of ferrite but has a greater impact on plasticity. Hydrogen softens ferrite micropillars and weakens intermittency during plastic deformation. These phenomena are attributed mainly to the hydrogen-enhanced local plasticity mechanism. This thesis also provides a new scanning electron microscope-based protocol to test the effect of hydrogen on the mechanical behavior of ferrite-pearlite steels that can facilitate fundamental studies on the interactions between hydrogen, microstructure, and deformation behavior

    Social Protection And Voices From Below During The Covid-19 Pandemic In Malaysia

    Get PDF
    In late July 2021, Malaysia was almost two months into its third nationwide lockdown to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. Twenty-seven-year-old Mohamed Ismad was struggling to make ends meet. Originating from Sabah's Sandakan, Ismad was a bachelor who had graduated from a local university in Sabah and made a living as a GrabCar driver in Kata Kinabalu. He was kept afloat by the federal government's one-time Geran Khas PRIHATIN (PRIHATIN Special Grant or GKP) RM1 1,500 cash handout. Moreover, he had to prematurely withdraw his meager savings from the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF), a retirement fund for workers in the private sector. Despite receiving state assistance, Ismad still felt the pinch. Before the pandemic, he made over RM 3,000 per month as a GrabCar driver, but his income was almost halved to about RM 1,800 per month during the pandemic. Meanwhile, his personal expenses remained the same, and he began having to support his jobless and divorced mother and younger siblings in Sandakan. While the government aids have been timely, they've proven far from sufficient, as Ismad explains

    Educar para a resiliência : um percurso com crianças e adolescentes surdos

    Get PDF
    A resiliência é um conceito que implica adaptação e sucesso perante os desafios que surgem diariamente e que colocam em risco o desenvolvimento harmonioso do indivíduo. Promover programas preventivos e promotores de resiliência é fundamental na infância e na adolescência, principalmente com crianças vulneráveis, nomeadamente crianças surdas, já que enfrentam quotidianamente desafios acrescidos a nível da comunicação e da linguagem. Estes desafios acarretam outros, por exemplo, a nível relacional e emocional. O Currículo Europeu para a Resiliência surge num consórcio europeu com o objetivo de promover competências cognitivas, sociais e emocionais associadas à resiliência. Consciente da importância desta ferramenta e das caraterísticas específicas de crianças e adolescentes surdos, este estudo tem como objetivo adaptar o RESCUR para esta população, implementá-lo e avaliá-lo sob a perspetiva dos alunos, respetivos pais e professores. As quatro investigações que integram este trabalho apresentam a seguinte sequência de estudos: (i) uma revisão compreensiva da literatura acerca da resiliência em crianças e adolescentes surdos; (ii) um estudo com as adaptações do RESCUR para a população surda, tendo em consideração a estrutura de cada sessão e respetivas atividades; (iii) dois estudos, um quantitativo e outro qualitativo, realizados em contexto escolar, em três Agrupamentos de Escolas de Referência Bilingue: no norte, centro e sul de Portugal, com 37 alunos surdos, do pré-escolar ao 3.º ciclo. Os resultados sob a perspetiva de pais, professores e alunos revelam melhorias ao nível da aquisição de competências relacionais, comunicacionais e académicas; ao nível do bem-estar individual e social. Ainda integrado neste estudo é apresentado o documento “Indicações para a aplicação do RESCUR com crianças/adolescentes surdos” com diretrizes específicas para o educador implementar este currículo em contexto escolar; são também apresentados exemplos de sessões adaptadas.Resilience is a concept involving adaptation and success in the face of challenges that arise daily and that endanger the harmonious development of the individual. Promoting preventive programs and promoting resilience is fundamental in childhood and adolescence, especially with vulnerable children, namely deaf children, as they face increased challenges in terms of communication and language daily. These challenges lead to others, for example, at a relational and emotional level. The European Curriculum for Resilience is part of a European consortium to promote cognitive, social, and emotional skills associated with resilience. Aware of the importance of this tool and the specific characteristics of deaf children and adolescents, this study aims to adapt the RESCUR to this population, implement it and evaluate it from the perspective of students, their parents, and teachers. The four investigations that make up this work present the following sequence of studies: (i) a comprehensive review of the literature on resilience in children and adolescents with deafness; (ii) a study with the adaptations of RESCUR for the deaf population, taking into account the structure of each session and respective activities; (iii) two studies, one quantitative and the other qualitative, carried out in a school context, in three Groups of Bilingual Reference Schools: in the north, center, and south of Portugal, with 37 deaf students, from preschool to 3rd cycle. The results from the perspective of parents, teachers, and students reveal improvements in terms of the acquisition of relational, communicational, and academic skills; at the level of individual and social well-being. Also included in this study is the document “Indications for the application of RESCUR with deaf children/adolescents” with specific guidelines for the educator to implement this curriculum in a school context; examples of adapted sessions are also presented
    corecore