From Offshore Operation to Onshore Simulator: Using Visualized Ethnographic Outcomes to Work with Systems Developers

This paper focuses on the process of translating insights from a Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW)-based study, conducted on a vessel at sea, into a model that can assist systems developers working with simulators, which are used by vessel operators for training purposes on land. That is, the empirical study at sea brought about rich insights into cooperation, which is important for systems developers to know about and consider in their designs. In the paper, we establish a model that primarily consists of a ‘computational artifact’. The model is designed to support researchers working with systems developers. Drawing on marine examples, we focus on the translation process and investigate how the model serves to visualize work activities; how it addresses relations between technical and computational artifacts, as well as between functions in technical systems and functionalities in cooperative systems. In turn, we link design back to fieldwork studies

Dates and Times Made Easy with lubridate

This paper presents the lubridate package for R, which facilitates working with dates and times. Date-times create various technical problems for the data analyst. The paper highlights these problems and offers practical advice on how to solve them using lubridate. The paper also introduces a conceptual framework for arithmetic with date-times in R.

Japanese manufacturing: strategy and practice

A striking characteristic of Japanese factories is the extent of process control: from both the technical and the social viewpoint the labour and production system is controlled down to the very last detail. The characteristics of management and organization which underlie this are closely interwoven with Japanese culture. This explains why the work content, working conditions and working relationships in the factories look so different from those in western cultures. The paper shows why factories in the West cannot and should not copy Japanese factories

Brave New World: Can We Engineer a Better Start for Freshers?

Abstract - The crucial importance of first experiences in shaping future success has been widely acknowledged. Creating the best foundations in large cohorts of students from diverse backgrounds presents special problems of its own. But a secure foundation can enhance student achievement and improve retention – and the students may even have fun too. Research has suggested that building learning communities can enhance student engagement and achievement. This paper examines how introducing non-technical activities can establish sound foundations for a university career by a) addressing objectives in the wider curriculum and b) promoting non-technical skills and experience of group working. A set of changes introduced to five degree cohorts in our academic school were designed to complement enhancements to our technical curriculum introduced during many years of debate and consideration. The changes have impacted upon generic and technical educational experiences. The paper presents an evaluation of the programme of changes through two iterations from the perspective of both faculty and student

NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Paper 14: An analysis of the technical communications practices reported by Israeli and US aerospace engineers and scientists

As part of Phase 4 of the NASA/DoD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project, two pilot studies were conducted that investigated the technical communications practices of Israeli and U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists. Both studies had the same five objectives: first, to solicit the opinions of aerospace engineers and scientists regarding the importance of technical communications to their profession; second, to determine the use and production of technical communications by aerospace engineers and scientists; third, to seek their view about the appropriate content of an undergraduate course in technical communications; fourth, to determine aerospace engineers' and scientists' use of libraries, technical information centers, and on-line databases; and fifth, to determine the use and importance of computer and information technology to them. A self-administered questionnaire was mailed to randomly selected U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists who are working in cryogenics, adaptive walls, and magnetic suspension. A slightly modified version was sent to Israeli aerospace engineers and scientists working at Israel Aircraft Industries, LTD. Responses of the Israeli and U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists to selected questions are presented in this paper

Technical Progress and Early Retirement

This paper claims that technical progress induces early retirement of older workers. Technical progress erodes technology specific human capital. Since older workers have shorter career horizons, there is less incentive for them or for their employers to invest in learning how to use the new technologies. Consequently, they are more likely to stop working. We call this effect the erosion effect. Since technical progress also raises wages in the economy as a whole and since technical progress is positively correlated across sectors, this presents an opposite effect of technical progress, which we call the wage effect. Using individual and sector data, we separate the two effects and find support for our theory. JEL Specification: J24, J26, O15, O33Early Retirement, Technical Change, Human Capital, Labor For

“Technical Efficiency of Hospitals in Ireland”. ESRI Working Paper No. 18, November 2004

Similar to many other European countries, the funding system for Irish hospitals is partially based on casemix, whereby resources are redistributed annually to hospitals with greater efficiency. For this reason, accurate measurement of efficiency is essential, so in this paper, we use Data Envelopment Analysis and Stochastic Frontier Analysis to measure technical efficiency of acute public hospitals in Ireland between 1992 and 2000. Although previous research elsewhere has used DEA extensively, the more recent panel model approach to estimating the stochastic frontier has not been employed to the same extent. The results from both methodologies will provide estimates of average efficiency in the hospital sector in Ireland, and this is the first time an application of this type has been performed on input and output data from Irish hospitals. While our output measure is not adjusted for casemix, it is useful for obtaining initial estimates of technical efficiency in Irish hospitals, and we show that our results are in the same range as those obtained recently for hospitals in Northern Ireland. We then use a measure of output adjusted with Diagnostic Related Groups weights and determine whether or not efficiency estimates are different to those found when we use the simple measure of output. Internationally, the comparison of the results of the stochastic frontier model to the DEA efficiency scores contribute to the expanding literature of comparisons between DEA and SFA applications

Staple crops biofortified with increased vitamins and minerals : considerations for a public health strategy

Biofortification of staple crops has been proposed as a strategy to address micronutrient malnutrition, particularly with respect to insufficient intake of vitamin A, iron, zinc, and folate. The World Health Organization, in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the Sackler Institute for Nutrition Science at the New York Academy of Sciences, convened a technical consultation entitled "Staple Crops Biofortified with Vitamins and Minerals: Considerations for a Public Health Strategy" in April 2016. Participants of the consultation reviewed the definition of biofortification of staple crops, patterns of crops production, processing, consumption, seed varieties, and micronutrient stability and bioavailability, as well as farmers' adoption and acceptability of the modified crops. Also discussed were economic, environmental, safety, and equity aspects of biofortified crops, as well as legal, policy, regulatory, and ethical issues for the implementation of biofortification strategies in agriculture and nutrition. Consultation working groups identified important and emerging technical issues, lessons learned, and research priorities to better support the evidence of improved nutrition and unintended adverse effects of biofortification. This paper provides the background and rationale of the technical consultation, synopsizes the presentations, and provides a summary of the main considerations proposed by the working groups

Lone parents and employment: an exploration of findings from the Families and Children Study 2006-08 (Working paper no 93)

"In order to better understand some of the key issues for all mothers in combining paid work and parenting DWP and the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) developed in 2006 a series of questions for use on the Families and Children Study (FACS)... The findings presented in this working paper refer to the FACS data for lone mothers only and it is the first time that the Choices and Constraints set has been analysed longitudinally. One reason for conducting this analysis was to contribute to the wider evidence on lone mothers’ decisions regarding employment. However, given that this question set will be used in future research projects, including the LPO evaluation, the analysis was also commissioned to inform how longitudinal data emerging from LPO might best be explored. For this reason this working paper also contains technical detail describing the analysis process itself." - Page 1