Rethinking Accreditation Criteria to focus on Design

© 2017 IEEE. Accreditation criteria in most countries imply that mathematics and science are the key elements of engineering. This tends to support traditional engineering curricula that emphasise lecture-driven topics in engineering science, such as statics, dynamics, materials, circuits, control, and so on, giving students in four year programs little time to really develop engineering problem solving skills for a world of sustainability and complexity. There is a pressing need to redesign engineering curricula around design and problem solving if new engineers are to grapple with complex challenges such as climate change and the need for continuous and relentless innovation. This paper proposes that a good place to start is to reimagine the accreditation criteria for engineering programs

The Impact of State Equity Standards on Leaders\u27 Espoused Beliefs About Social Justice

School leaders are tasked with greater responsibilities than ever before. Today’s school leaders are expected to act as social justice leaders, ensuring all students have an equitable environment to learn in. State departments of education hold leaders accountable by comparing standardized test scores of students in majority and minority groups. The problem is these assessments measure the outcome of learning, but fail to measure the environments learning occurs in. The purpose of this study was to understand, within the context of the accountability climate, school leaders’ espoused beliefs about social justice, and the practices they employ to those ends. Using the dual lenses of epistemic injustice and critical race theory, in this qualitative research study, I sought to understand the complex bidirectional and reciprocal relationship between the accountability climate and school leaders’ espoused beliefs and practices regarding social justice. After conducting my study with seven school leaders from six different school districts in Southeastern Virginia, I discovered school leaders believed social justice was a concern, however struggle with their role in eradicating societal injustices. My findings indicated how complex that relationship between the accountability climate and leaders practices are. I uncovered a schism between leaders’ personal beliefs and unofficial practices when it came to social justice and the official practices required by central office supervisors. Although participants believed social justice was an issue they struggled to understand the role they should play in ending the cycle

Advanced Topical Formulations (ATF)

Topical formulations aim to target the skin for a variety of cosmetic, protective or therapeutic needs. Despite the use of creams and ointments over the millennia, the bioavailability of actives from topical preparations remains quite low, often not exceeding 1-2% of the applied dose. In this review we examine the reasons underlying the poor performance of topical preparations. We also outline a rational approach, based on Fick’s laws of diffusion, to develop advanced topical formulations. Methodologies which are currently used in research and development are critically examined and the importance of understanding the fate of the vehicle as well as the active is emphasised. Advanced topical formulation development will also be facilitated by emerging and sophisticated analytical techniques that are able to probe real time delivery of actives to the skin. A good understanding of the underlying physical chemistry of both the formulation and the skin is crucial in the development of optimised topical products

Transdermal delivery of testosterone

Male hypogonadism has been treated with exogenous testosterone since the 1930s. The early transdermal patches of testosterone became available in the 1980s with gel and solution preparations following subsequent decades. This review focusses on the skin permeation characteristics of testosterone, pharmacokinetics following application of transdermal formulations and formulations currently available. At present, gels dominate the market for transdermal testosterone replacement therapy, presumably because of their greater patient acceptability and non-occlusive nature compared with patches. However, specific incidences of secondary transfer of gels to children with consequent unwanted effects such as precocious puberty have been reported. A regulatory review of all testosterone replacement therapies is currently underway which may have implications for future prescribing practices of transdermal testosterone products

Drug crystallization – implications for topical and transdermal delivery

INTRODUCTION: Crystallization of actives in skin following topical application was suggested by studies in the 1950s and 1960s but is poorly understood. In contrast, the problem of crystallization of actives on skin and in transdermal formulations has been known for many years. Areas covered: With respect to crystallization in skin, this review describes early reports of a skin 'reservoir' and possible reasons underlying its genesis. Techniques to study crystallization on and in skin and in transdermal patches are outlined. The role of the vehicle in skin delivery is emphasised. Studies which have investigated permeation from crystalline particles are described. Approaches to limit crystallization of actives are discussed. Using supersaturation and antinuclean polymers, control of crystal size is possible; controlled release from crystals is also employed in transdermal patches. Expert Opinion: Drug crystallization has significant implications for topical and transdermal delivery. Approaches have been developed to counteract the issue for transdermal patches but crystallization in and on the skin for other formulations remains unresolved. Greater knowledge of residence time of excipients and their interaction with skin at the molecular level is critical in order to address the problem. This will lay the foundations for better design of topical/transdermal formulations

Understanding Engineering Competencies in Practice and the Educational Implications

Context: Engineering professionals and educators have different interpretations or perspectives on certain engineering competency items, for example, mathematical modelling. The question here is how such differences impact the structuring and interpretation of engineering competencies at the general level. Purpose: This paper responds to the following questions: How can certain engineering competency items be clustered with others? Is there empirical evidence to support such structures? Approach: The research questions stems from a comparative literature review of existing national and international engineering competency standards. Empirical data used in this paper was collected from a small-scale survey. Social Network Analysis (SNA) was used as the method for data analysis - engineering competency mapping. Results: A set of conceptual maps have been made to depict the clustering of 60 engineering competency items identified in a real-life engineering company in China. Conclusions: It is argued that the Social Network Analysis algorithm can be appropriated for the study of engineering competencies. This algorithm provides indicators of identifying relatively "important" competency items, which create implications for undergraduate engineering practice programs

Enhancing mechanics education through shared assessment design

© American Society for Engineering Education, 2016. There is considerable commonality between engineering undergraduate programs in terms of content, pedagogies, course structures and assessment practices, particularly in terms of engineering fundamentals such as mechanics. Despite this, and the availability of an array of online resources, there seems to be limited commitment to sharing learning resources among teaching academics and between institutions. Further, there seems to be a specific resistance to sharing those materials that support the teaching and learning of technical content1. Collaborations seen in research networks seem not to have equivalent presence in teaching and learning, despite a literature that points to the benefits of sharing curriculum resources 2,3. A few projects funded by the Federal Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT) in Australia have made freely available resources as deliverables (A proactive approach to addressing student learning diversity in engineering mechanics 4; Promoting student engagement and continual improvement: Integrating professional quality management practice into engineering curricula5; Remotely accessible laboratories: Enhancing learning outcomes6 and many more 7). There has been varied uptake of these, however, and the long-term maintenance of online resources is problematic. There is also a literature that identifies sustainability challenges with open educational resources including funding and intellectual property rights 3. It could be argued that failure to provide resources and, concomitantly the uptake by teaching academics of such resources impedes student access to these resources and therefore impacts their learning. It also contributes to inefficiencies brought about by work duplication. The reasons for limited uptake of resources are both institutional and individual. However, there are nuances to what is meant by a resource, how resources are modified by academics and where in a program they might be used 1. For the purposes of this paper, we are looking at resources designed to assist in the learning and teaching of engineering mechanics. This paper presents the results of a workshop held as part of a project, funded by the Australian Council of Engineering Deans (ACED), to promote curriculum sharing across the 35 universities in Australia that teach engineering. It includes a description and analysis of the activities, an analysis of the workshop evaluation as well as one participant's reflection on the process

The application of ATR-FTIR spectroscopy and multivariate data analysis to study drug crystallisation in the stratum corneum

Drug permeation through the intercellular lipids, which pack around and between corneocytes, may be enhanced by increasing the thermodynamic activity of the active in a formulation. However, this may also result in unwanted drug crystallisation on and in the skin. In this work, we explore the combination of ATR-FTIR spectroscopy and multivariate data analysis to study drug crystallisation in the skin. Ex vivo permeation studies of saturated solutions of diclofenac sodium (DF Na) in two vehicles, propylene glycol (PG) and dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO), were carried out in porcine ear skin. Tape stripping and ATR-FTIR spectroscopy were conducted simultaneously to collect spectral data as a function of skin depth. Multivariate data analysis was applied to visualise and categorise the spectral data in the region of interest (1700-1500cm(-1)) containing the carboxylate (COO(-)) asymmetric stretching vibrations of DF Na. Spectral data showed the redshifts of the COO(-) asymmetric stretching vibrations for DF Na in the solution compared with solid drug. Similar shifts were evident following application of saturated solutions of DF Na to porcine skin samples. Multivariate data analysis categorised the spectral data based on the spectral differences and drug crystallisation was found to be confined to the upper layers of the skin. This proof-of-concept study highlights the utility of ATR-FTIR spectroscopy in combination with multivariate data analysis as a simple and rapid approach in the investigation of drug deposition in the skin. The approach described here will be extended to the study of other actives for topical application to the skin

The influence of external forces, institutional forces, and academics' characteristics on the adoption of positive teaching practices across australian undergraduate engineering

© 2016 TEMPUS Publications. This study investigates how academics' personal beliefs, perspectives on institutional forces, and perspectives on external influences relate to their teaching and learning decision-making. Using a national-level survey of Australian engineering academics (n = 591; 16% of Australia's engineering academics), analyses investigate (1) how influences external and internal to the university environment vary across characteristics of academics, and (2) how academics' characteristics, organizational features, and external drivers relate to issues informing academics' teaching and their actual teaching practices. External and internal influences differed across academics based on their individual characteristics and university contexts, and academics' individual characteristics explained the greatest variability in their teaching considerations and practices. For external influences (e.g., accreditation), promoting awareness of educational goals for undergraduate engineering-as opposed to forcing outcomes into course planning-relates to more desirable teaching and learning practices. No internal institutional policy driver related to teaching practice variables. This study points to informed, professional development that seeks to capitalize on academics' personal interests and characteristics and assists in helping them understand how curricula and outcomes may better align to help student learning. Findings support working from a bottom-up model of change to improve the teaching and learning culture within engineering programs