ATTEMPTS TO EMBED GREEN VALUES IN THE INFORMATION SYSTEMS CURRICULUM: A CASE STUDY IN A SOUTH AFRICAN SETTING

Environmental Sustainability is a persisting problem and it is incumbent on educators in Higher Education to address this urgent need. In the spirit of creating awareness of this real life problem and to adequately prepare students for professional practice, an attempt was made to embed content about environmental sustainability into the Information Systems (IS) curriculum at the University of Cape Town. This paper reports on a case study where five teams of undergraduate students were tasked with examining power consumption and paper wastage on campus and conducting experiments aimed at reducing consumption. The theoretical framework of Green Information Systems developed by Ijab which draws on the IS lifecycle framework proposed by Diez and McIntosh was implemented in this study. The most important contributing factors for success of the student experiments were found to be communication, a phased approach and the application of De Bono’s concept of serious creativity. The study further demonstrated that awareness of environmental sustainability was increased through a process of guided reflection during project execution. A key observation, worthy of future research, was the experience by the students of resistance to change by participants, who reverted to environmentally-unfriendly practices on conclusion of the experiments

A common structured integrated collaborative digitised (CrOsS) framework for the historic building repair and maintenance (R&M) sector

The UK historic building repair and maintenance (R&M) sector generates £9.7 billion in output. However, challenging delivering quality R&M are project under-performance, a lack of collaborative project practices, resulting in poor communication, underpinned by persistent skills shortages. These are not solely UK concerns; various international studies have echoed similar issues, however, to maintain focus, the scope of the research is within the UK context, in particular Scotland’s stone-built heritage. Adopting a four stage qualitative participatory exploratory action research strategy; this research aims to develop a framework, to support an effective integrated multi-disciplinary, collaborative, structured, and digitised Project Management and on-site practice approach, to aid increased efficiencies. Firstly, a synthesis of the relevant academic literature and industrial reports enabled direction towards the acquisition of appropriate intelligence, in order to guide and inform the study’s theoretical foundation. Secondly, 14 semi-structured interviews with Scottish SMEs were executed, which bounded the key findings under three main themes; senior management, human resource, and technical. Concurrently, through co-operative industry engagement, the generation of a best practice historic building SME R&M four-phase process map was undertaken. Thirdly, a common structured collaborative process standard framework was developed and finally, validated through active industry participation; a demonstration project, four semi-structured interviews, and two focus groups of six industry practitioners. The validation feedback confirmed that the developed framework is valid, credible, acceptable, and applicable as a process standard designed to offer a process model, map, and management tool.The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)Heriot Watt Universit

Cloud System Evolution in the Trades (CSET): Following the Evolution of Boundary Layer Cloud Systems with the NSFNCAR GV

The Cloud System Evolution in the Trades (CSET) study was designed to describe and explain the evolution of the boundary layer aerosol, cloud, and thermodynamic structures along trajectories within the North Pacific trade winds. The study centered on seven round trips of the National Science FoundationNational Center for Atmospheric Research (NSFNCAR) Gulfstream V (GV) between Sacramento, California, and Kona, Hawaii, between 7 July and 9 August 2015. The CSET observing strategy was to sample aerosol, cloud, and boundary layer properties upwind from the transition zone over the North Pacific and to resample these areas two days later. Global Forecast System forecast trajectories were used to plan the outbound flight to Hawaii with updated forecast trajectories setting the return flight plan two days later. Two key elements of the CSET observing system were the newly developed High-Performance Instrumented Airborne Platform for Environmental Research (HIAPER) Cloud Radar (HCR) and the high-spectral-resolution lidar (HSRL). Together they provided unprecedented characterizations of aerosol, cloud, and precipitation structures that were combined with in situ measurements of aerosol, cloud, precipitation, and turbulence properties. The cloud systems sampled included solid stratocumulus infused with smoke from Canadian wildfires, mesoscale cloudprecipitation complexes, and patches of shallow cumuli in very clean environments. Ultraclean layers observed frequently near the top of the boundary layer were often associated with shallow, optically thin, layered veil clouds. The extensive aerosol, cloud, drizzle, and boundary layer sampling made over open areas of the northeast Pacific along 2-day trajectories during CSET will be an invaluable resource for modeling studies of boundary layer cloud system evolution and its governing physical processes

A dual role for the N-terminal domain of the IL-3 receptor in cell signalling

The interleukin-3 (IL-3) receptor is a cell-surface heterodimer that links the haemopoietic, vascular and immune systems and is overexpressed in acute and chronic myeloid leukaemia progenitor cells. It belongs to the type I cytokine receptor family in which the α-subunits consist of two fibronectin III-like domains that bind cytokine, and a third, evolutionarily unrelated and topologically conserved, N-terminal domain (NTD) with unknown function. Here we show by crystallography that, while the NTD of IL3Rα is highly mobile in the presence of IL-3, it becomes surprisingly rigid in the presence of IL-3 K116W. Mutagenesis, biochemical and functional studies show that the NTD of IL3Rα regulates IL-3 binding and signalling and reveal an unexpected role in preventing spontaneous receptor dimerisation. Our work identifies a dual role for the NTD in this cytokine receptor family, protecting against inappropriate signalling and dynamically regulating cytokine receptor binding and function.Sophie E. Broughton, Timothy R. Hercus, Tracy L. Nero, Winnie L. Kan ... Timothy P. Hughes, Angel F. Lopez ... et al

Stonemasonry skills development: Two case studies of historic buildings in Scotland

Purpose – Scotland’s built heritage (pre-1919 building stock) is exhibiting varying levels of disrepair, in particular for stonemasonry works, despite the government’s on-going efforts for promoting higher standards of repair and maintenance (R &amp; M) of historic buildings. The purpose of this paper is to examine the problems associated with the R &amp; M of historic buildings. Design/methodology/approach – Two case studies (Projects A and B) exhibiting critical disrepair are reported. Site surveying was carried-out on both projects, to identify site features and R &amp; M problems along with proposed solutions drawing on the lead author’s extensive industry experience as a stonemasonry consultant. Three semi-structured interviews were conducted with professionals involved in each project to elicit views on the challenges faced. Additionally, three industry experts were interviewed to provide a wider perspective of the R &amp; M challenges facing historic buildings. Findings – Neglect and poor practice resulted in both projects becoming more challenging and expensive than they needed to be, which was attributed to generic and advanced skills 6deficiencies of the workforce. There is an urgent need for a multi-disciplinary approach to the development of a method statement for R &amp; M, drawing on the expertise of professionals and contractors, particularly when specifying repairs to structural elements. Originality/value – This paper has provided original and valuable information on R &amp; M problems, highlighting the importance of continued investment in skills development for historic building R &amp; M to enhance existing current training provision and practice. There is a need for further similar project-based data to inform skills development strategies for the R &amp; M of historic buildings as well as enhancing existing qualification frameworks. </jats:sec