221 research outputs found
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Learning in Game Jams: A Case Study of the GLASS Summer School
Game jams provide exciting opportunities for education and research. In this session we describe the GLASS Summer School, sharing videos where students talk about their experiences, and sharing results from our learning survey. We discuss questions such as what are optimal conditions for game jams? How can we measure learning
A validated numerical methodology for flow-induced vibration of a semi-spherical end cantilever rod in axial flow
This study presents a simulation method for turbulent flow-induced vibrations of cantilever rods with a semi-spherical end exposed to axial flow, a configuration investigated for the first time. This simulation strategy has been developed using solids4Foam, a toolkit for the open-source package OpenFOAM, which uses the finite-volume approach. The fluid and solid domain equations are solved separately. Coupling is achieved with the Interface Quasi-Newton Inverse Least-Squares (IQN-ILS) algorithm. The mean flow is described by the unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations. Turbulence is modeled through either the stress-transport model of Launder, Reece, and Rodi or the effective-viscosity k– ω shear stress transport model, both with the wall-function approach accounting for near-wall turbulence. The methodology is validated using experimental data produced during this study. The simulations show good agreement with the measured values of the oscillation amplitude and frequency for both flow directions (toward rod free-end and away from it). Turbulence model comparisons show that (a) Reynolds stress transport models are necessary to reproduce the vibration amplitude and (b) wall functions enable the simulations to be completed in realistic time scales. The significance to the fluid–solid-interaction (FSI) process of a so far overlooked (with the exception of a couple of recent studies) dimensionless number, the ratio of the flow dynamic pressure to the rod's Young's modulus of elasticity, is also explored. Simulations, which decouple the variation of this dimensionless number from that of the Reynolds number, demonstrate this number's strong effect on the vibration amplitude. This finding is important to the contact of further FSI studies and the scaling of FSI data
Motivations, Learning and Creativity in Online Citizen Sceince Charlene Jennett, Laure Kloetzer, Daniel Schneider, Ioanna Iacovides, Anna L. Cox, Margaret Gold, Brian Fuchs, Alexandra Eveleigh, Kathleen Mathieu, Zoya Ajani and Yasmin Talsi
Online citizen science projects have demonstrated their usefulness for research, however little is known about the potential benefits for volunteers. We conducted 39 interviews (28 volunteers, 11 researchers) to gain a greater understanding of volunteers' motivations, learning and creativity (MLC). In our MLC model we explain that participating and progressing in a project community provides volunteers with many indirect opportunities for learning and creativity. The more aspects that volunteers are involved in, the more likely they are to sustain their participation in the project. These results have implications for the design and management of online citizen science projects. It is important to provide users with tools to communicate in order to supporting social learning, community building and sharing.This article is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial -
NoDerivativeWorks 4.0 License. The article attached is the publisher's pdf
Closing the Virtuous Circle: Making the Nuances of Infusion Pump Use Visible
Infusion pumps are sophisticated, safety critical devices that are used by people with a range of skills and backgrounds. Errors with various degrees of severity have been reported in their use, e.g. (ISMP, 2007), and they have been implicated in many medication errors (e.g. Husch et al, 2005). These incidents are typically not due to device failures, but to pumps being used in ways that were not anticipated by their developers. An example would be the avoidance of, or need to work around, Dose Error Reduction Systems (DERS) on IV infusion pumps. Such systems are designed to protect patients and users by limiting the potential for inadvertent, incorrect programing (Sims et al, 2010), but may not take into account specifics regarding the context in which they are being used (AAMI/FDA, 2010). One of the challenges in developing infusion pumps that are fit for purpose is that they are used pervasively across many branches of healthcare for delivery of various treatments to people with many different conditions (Iacovides, Cox & Blandford, 2013). If intravenous medication and other procedures involving infusion devices are to become safer then there needs to be convergence between the ways they are intended to be used and the ways they are actually used in practice. This is a concern for all involved in the development, regulation, procurement, training and use of infusion devices. Many factors influence the design of next-generation devices, including regulation and standards, and procurement policies and practices. In turn, the design of devices, local policies about use and the ways in which staff are trained influence performance. In principle, there should be a virtuous circle in which an understanding of actual use informs future regulation, procurement, design, policy, etc. However, this can be difficult to achieve in practice. Real performance is currently often invisible, and reports where actual use deviates from intended use tend to be dismissed as anecdotes, deviant behavior, “off-label use”, violations, etc. Post-market surveillance typically focuses on reported incidents and major problems. It is difficult for a rich understanding of real performance to feed back and influence regulation and procurement. Without a complete loop in which understanding of actual use feeds into design, we end up with pumps that are not fit for purpose and whose safety is therefore compromised. The potential for a virtuous circle is missed because the feedback loop is broken. The aim of this paper is to “make visible”, and give a voice to, some of the less prominent, but nevertheless important, activities that exemplify real practices that result from the design, policy and training decisions that precede them. We do this by summarizing issues that we have identified across a number of studies of infusion pump use and training and, where possible, the factors that shape behaviours. Our paper includes examples from both published papers and work-in-progress, that describe nurse training, critical care, oncology, hematology, emergency room, surgery and medication administration record design (e.g., Rajkomar & Blandford, 2012; Furniss, Blandford & Mayer, 2011; Back & Cox, 2013). These examples of real practice cover only a small part of the space of all practices. But by “making visible” these practices, we move a step closer to being able to reason about implications for design, not just for devices but also for surrounding systems (prescribing, training, procurement, regulation, etc.), as well as implications for use (e.g. standardizing best practice within particular contexts). References: AAMI/FDA. (2010). Infusing Patients Safely: Priority Issues from the AAMI/FDA Infusion Device Summit. Retrieved 5/10/13, 2012, from http://tinyurl.com/46l7ynq Back, J. & Cox, A.L. (2013) Artifacts for programmable devices: the good, the bad and the ugly. Proceedings of the 2013 ACM annual conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1731-1736. Furniss, D., Blandford, A., & Mayer, A. (2011). Unremarkable errors: Low-level disturbances in infusion pump use. Proceedings of the 25th BCS Conference on Human Computer Interaction (HCI-2011), 197–204. Husch, M., Sullivan, C., Rooney, D., Barnard, C., Fotis, M., Clarke, J., & Noskin, G. (2005). Insights from the sharp end of intravenous medication errors: implications for infusion pump technology. Quality and Safety in Health Care, 14(2), 80-86. Iacovides, I., Cox, A. L., & Blandford, A. (2013). Supporting learning within the workplace: device training in healthcare. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 31st European Conference on Cognitive Ergonomics. ISMP. (2007). Fluorouracil incident root cause analysis. Retrieved 10/5/13, 2012, from http://www.ismp-canada.org/download/reports/FluorouracilIncidentMay2007.pdf Rajkomar, A., & Blandford, A. (2012). Understanding infusion administration in the ICU through Distributed Cognition. Journal of Biomedical Informatics, 45, 580–590. Sims, N., Kinnealey, M. E., Hampton, R., Fishman, G. and DeMonaco, H. (2010) Drug Infusion Pumps in Anesthesia, Critical Care, and Pain Management. In Sandberg, W., Urman, R., & Ehrenfeld, J. (2010). The MGH Textbook of Anesthetic Equipment: Expert Consult. Churchill Livingstone. pp 236-24
How external and internal resources influence user action: the case of infusion devices
Human error can have potentially devastating consequences in contexts such as healthcare, but there is a rarely a simple dichotomy between errors and correct behaviour. Furthermore, there has been little consideration of how the activities of users (erroneous and otherwise) relate to the conceptual fit between user and device, despite the fact that healthcare technologies are becoming increasingly prevalent and complex. In this article, we present a study in which nurses’ conceptions of infusion device practice were elicited to identify misfits. By focusing on key concepts that users work with when setting up infusions and the extent to which the system supports them, our analysis highlights how actions are influenced by the different resources available to users including: the device itself; supporting artefacts; the conceptual understanding of the user; and the community of practice the user is part of. The findings reveal the ways in which users are resourceful in their day-to-day activities and also suggest potential vulnerabilities within the wider system that could threaten patient safety. Our approach is able to make previously under-explored aspects of practice visible, thus enabling insight into how users act and why
Racing Academy: A case study of a digital game for supporting students learning of physics and engineering
Racing Academy is a digital game, which is specifically designed to engage and motivate students in science and engineering. The aim of this chapter is to report a case study where the authors evaluated how effective Racing Academy is at supporting students’ learning of science and engineering. The study involved 219 students from five different courses in three further and higher educational institutions. They were given a pre-test a week before they started using Racing Academy. It consisted of an assessment of the students’ knowledge of engineering or physics and motivation towards engineering or physics. A week after they had used Racing Academy, they were given a post-test, which was the same as the pre-test, but it also included a measure of how motivating they found Racing Academy. The project found that after playing Racing Academy there is an increase in students’ knowledge and understanding in all five of the courses in which Racing Academy was used. The students found Racing Academy motivating to play, and 95% thought that Racing Academy was successful. The implications of these findings and the lessons learnt are discussed
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