Beginning at the end: The outcome spaces framework to guide purposive transdisciplinary research

© 2014 The Authors. The framework presented in this paper offers an alternative starting point for transdisciplinary research projects seeking to create change. The framework begins at the end: it distinguishes three distinct 'transdisciplinary outcome spaces' and proposes articulating their content for purposive transdisciplinary research projects. Defining upfront the desired improvements has profound implications for how transdisciplinary research is conceived, designed, implemented and evaluated.Three key realms of transdisciplinary outcome spaces are distinguished - situation, knowledge, and learning - and elaborated: (1) an improvement within the 'situation' or field of inquiry; (2) the generation of relevant stocks and flows of knowledge, including scholarly knowledge and other societal knowledge forms, and making those insights accessible and meaningful to researchers, participants and beneficiaries; and (3) mutual and transformational learning by researchers and research participants to increase the likelihood of persistent change.Positioning the framework in the field of transdisciplinary literature reveals that much of the contestation concerning transdisciplinary research and practice may be attributable to the diverse but implicit ontological and epistemological perspectives inhabited by transdisciplinary researchers, leading to a call for more reflexive and explicit attention to these and other formative influences (i.e. sources of funding, project motivation, or locus of power)

Assessing research impact potential: using the transdisciplinary Outcome Spaces Framework with New Zealand’s National Science Challenges

© 2020, © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Calls for science to have impact as well as excellence have been loud and clear from research funders, policymakers and research institutions for some time. Transdisciplinary research (TDR) is expected to deliver impact by connecting scientists with stakeholders and end users to co-produce knowledge to respond to complex issues. While New Zealand’s science system is geared to deliver excellence, its capability to also deliver impact beyond academic institutions is less clear. This paper has two interconnected aims. Firstly, it presents findings from testing innovations to the TDR Outcome Spaces Framework (OSF+) with four National Science Challenges (NSCs). We conclude that OSF+ is a useful tool for planning for multiple outcomes and assessing the potential for impact. Secondly, it presents findings of how using OSF+ to assess research impact potential revealed a range of implicit theories of change (i.e. catalyst, deficit, engagement and collaboration) across the NSCs. The findings raise important questions about the prospects for New Zealand’s science system to deliver the envisaged and needed levels of research impact when current institutional settings, expectations, recognition systems, career paths and measures of success are not yet able to adequately accommodate TDR to deliver the research impact

Reconstructing Colonization Dynamics of the Human Parasite Schistosoma mansoni following Anthropogenic Environmental Changes in Northwest Senegal

© 2015 Van den Broeck et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The attached file is the published version of the article

Framework of controlling 3d virtual human emotional walking using BCI

A Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) is the device that can read and acquire the brain activities. A human body is controlled by Brain-Signals, which considered as a main controller. Furthermore, the human emotions and thoughts will be translated by brain through brain signals and expressed as human mood. This controlling process mainly performed through brain signals, the brain signals is a key component in electroencephalogram (EEG). Based on signal processing the features representing human mood (behavior) could be extracted with emotion as a major feature. This paper proposes a new framework in order to recognize the human inner emotions that have been conducted on the basis of EEG signals using a BCI device controller. This framework go through five steps starting by classifying the brain signal after reading it in order to obtain the emotion, then map the emotion, synchronize the animation of the 3D virtual human, test and evaluate the work. Based on our best knowledge there is no framework for controlling the 3D virtual human. As a result for implementing our framework will enhance the game field of enhancing and controlling the 3D virtual humans’ emotion walking in order to enhance and bring more realistic as well. Commercial games and Augmented Reality systems are possible beneficiaries of this technique. © 2015 Penerbit UTM Press. All rights reserved

Where’s the Data? Using Data Convincingly in Transdisciplinary Doctoral Research

Aim/Purpose The aim of this paper is to identify some of the issues in writing a transdisciplinary doctoral thesis and to develop strategies for addressing them, particularly focusing on the presentation of data and data analysis. The paper, based on the authors’ own experience, offers guidance to, and invites further comment from, transdisciplinary doctoral candidates, their supervisors and their examiners, as well as the broader field of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary researchers. Background The paper uses the authors’ experience of writing four very different transdisciplinary doctoral theses to examine the diverse responses received from examiners and what this means for the thesis writing process. The theses and examiners’ reports span an array of disciplinary and transdisciplinary epistemologies, ontologies, and world views. Methodology A preliminary review of the examiners’ reports revealed a common concern with the definition of ‘data’ and with ‘data analysis’. The examiners’ reports were then more formally coded and thematized. These themes were then used to reflect critically on the four theses, within a broad interpretive framework based on the idea of writing ‘convincingly’, and in light of current literature on the meaning of ‘data’ and the idea and aims of transdisciplinarity. Contribution The paper offers specific strategies for doctoral candidates, their supervisors, and examiners in working with the burgeoning number of doctoral research projects that are now taking place in the transdisciplinary space. Findings Doctoral candidates engaged in transdisciplinary research need to define what they mean by data and make data visible in their research, be creative in their conceptions of data and in how they communicate this to examiners, specify the quality criteria against which they wish their work to be assessed and hold discussions with their supervisors about examiner appointments and briefing, and communicate to examiners the special value of transdisciplinary research and the journey on which it takes the researcher. Our conclusion connects these findings to the development of an emerging concept of transdisciplinary research writing. Recommendations for See below under ‘Recommendations for Researchers’ (For the purpose of Practitioners this paper, practitioners are the researchers). Recommendations The paper makes the following recommendations for transdisciplinary for Researchers doctoral researchers: • Make the data visible and argue for the unique or special way in which the data will be used • Make clear the quality criteria against which you expect the work to be judged • Be creative and explore the possibilities enabled by a broad interpretation of ‘data’ • Transdisciplinary research is transformative. Communicate this to your examiner. Impact on Society As more complex and ‘wicked’ problems in the world are increasingly addressed through transdisciplinary research, it is important that doctoral research in this area be encouraged, which continues to develop transdisciplinary theoretical frameworks, methodologies and applications. The strategies proposed in this paper will help to ensure the development of high quality transdisciplinary researchers and a greater understanding of the value of transdisciplinary research in the wider research community. It also draws attention to the potential benefits of similar strategies in multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research. Future Research Further exploration is needed of how researchers across disciplines can ‘talk’ to one another to resolve complex problems, and how the solitary transdisciplinary scholar, such as the doctoral student, can effectively communicate their research contribution to others. These issues could also be explored for multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research teams

Spontaneous radiative decay of translational levels of an atom near a dielectric surface

We study spontaneous radiative decay of translational levels of an atom in the vicinity of a semi-infinite dielectric. We systematically derive the microscopic dynamical equations for the spontaneous decay process. We calculate analytically and numerically the radiative linewidths and the spontaneous transition rates for the translational levels. The roles of the interference between the emitted and reflected fields and of the transmission into the evanescent modes are clearly identified. Our numerical calculations for the silica--cesium interaction show that the radiative linewidths of the bound excited levels with large enough but not too large vibrational quantum numbers are moderately enhanced by the emission into the evanescent modes and those for the deep bound levels are substantially reduced by the surface-induced red shift of the transition frequency

Ethics in fieldwork: Reflections on the unexpected

© 2014: Jane Palmer, Dena Fam, Tanzi Smith, Sarina Kilham, and Nova Southeastern University. Research involving fieldwork can present the researcher with ethical dilemmas not anticipated in institutional ethics approval processes, and which offer profound personal and methodological challenges. The authors' experiences of conducting qualitative fieldwork in four distinctly different contexts are used to illustrate some of these unexpected consequences and ethical dilemmas. Issues encountered included: compromised relationships with informants which develop in unforeseen ways; engagement with traumatized informants which lead to unexpected roles for the researcher such as confidante, dealing with new information that is critical to informants' futures but could undermine the research project, and the implications of ethical decisions for research design and analysis. In our shared reflection on the four case studies in this paper, we examine anticipatory rather than reactive ways of dealing with such ethical dilemmas. Preparation and critical reflection are found to be key tools in relating to field informants, dealing with the personal challenges of undertaking field work, and developing useful research outcomes after returning home. We conclude by suggesting some issues for field researchers to consider in addition to the concerns addressed in a standard university ethics approval process

Pyrmont-Ultimo Precinct (PUP) Scale Organics Management Scoping Study

This report, the “Pyrmont Ultimo Precinct (PUP) Scale Organics Management Scoping Study” has been prepared by the Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF), University of Technology Sydney (UTS). The research, conducted by ISF and funded through a collaboration between Sydney Water Corporation (SWC) and the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA), has investigated at a high level, a suite of innovative organic waste management options that could potentially be piloted in Pyrmont-Ultimo, currently the densest urban area in Australia. The Pyrmont-Ultimo precinct (PUP), encompassing Pyrmont, Ultimo and the newly developed Central Park, has been specifically chosen due to the significant potential in the area, existing network of sustainability practitioners (i.e. Smart Locale1) and ISF’s/UTS’s direct involvement in research in food waste management

Effect of an atom on a quantum guided field in a weakly driven fiber-Bragg-grating cavity

We study the interaction of an atom with a quantum guided field in a weakly driven fiber-Bragg-grating (FBG) cavity. We present an effective Hamiltonian and derive the density-matrix equations for the combined atom-cavity system. We calculate the mean photon number, the second-order photon correlation function, and the atomic excited-state population. We show that, due to the confinement of the guided cavity field in the fiber cross-section plane and in the space between the FBG mirrors, the presence of the atom in the FBG cavity can significantly affect the mean photon number and the photon statistics even though the cavity finesse is moderate, the cavity is long, and the probe field is weak.Comment: Accepted for Phys. Rev.

Damage and effective stress-strain diagram of aluminum alloy 1520

У роботі описана вдосконалена методика побудови істинних і ефективних діаграм деформування при одноосьовому розтягуванні. Наведено аналіз різних підходів до експериментального визначення параметра пошкоджуваності та представлені кінетичні діаграми накопичення пошкоджень для алюмінієвого сплаву АМг2. Перевірена гіпотеза про постійність об'єму і її адекватність на всіх ділянках діаграми напруження-деформація. Так само були порівняні дані отримані з використанням даної гіпотези, експериментальними даними та інструментальними вимірами, пояснені причини можливих похибок.Purpose. The aim is to improve methods of constructing true and effective diagrams, analysis of approaches to determine the parameters of the damage on the aluminum alloy AMg2 specimens. Design/methodology/approach. To find the effective stress, we need to know the value of true stress and damage parameter. Effective strain diagram must also construct a curve of damage accumulation. There are different ways of experimental determination of damage, one of the most simple and convenient is to measure the degradations of elastic modulus. All date for calculations obtained from stress-strain curve. Findings. During the test is not always possible to establish the transverse strain sensor in the place of neck beginning, after the rupture, the measured values of width and thickness of the samples do not match. Table 3 shows the comparison of the results. Originality/value. Application of the proposed method allows obtaining stress-strain diagram in the coordinates of the effective stress-strain without the use of additional equipment, while giving accurate results. Simplified procedure and reduces the time of the experiment and analyzing the results of the experiment.В работе описана усовершенствованная методика построения истинных и эффективных диаграмм деформирования при одноосном растяжении. Приведен анализ различных подходов к экспериментальному определению параметра поврежденности и представлены кинетические диаграммы накопления повреждений для алюминиевого сплава АМг2. Проверена гипотеза о постоянстве объема и ее адекватность на всех участках диаграммы напряжение-деформация. Также были сравнены данные полученные с использованием данной гипотезы, экспериментальными данными и инструментальными измерениями, объяснены причины возможных погрешностей