Power, participation and partnership: methodological reflection on researching professional doctorate candidates' experiences of researching in the workplace

This study aimed to explore the candidate experience in order to understand more deeply aspects of the development in work based research. Delphi technique was chosen as an approach in order to capture a range of experience and data, to inform how we may best support candidates on practice based doctorates. Many such programmes include a stakeholder learning agreement between the candidate, the university and the employer organisation with the common aim to bring about transformational and sustainable change. Our research to date indicates a disparity within the agreement in the level of stakeholder participation. Where the organisation stakeholder is not fully engaged and involved in supporting the research, there is a potential threat to the effectiveness of any change outcome. Current practice based doctoral research participants were invited to relate to a range of temporal themes in their research project cycle, for example: setting up the project; implementing the project; changes/ contingency planning within the project; project completion and post completion. Of particular interest in relation to the above was the availability of resources and how they were used within the project life cycle. In this respect, resources are deemed to include, human, material, time, personal and organisational culture influence. The allocation, manipulation and distribution of such resources can be understood in terms of power relationships. The paper presents our experience and reflections from two iterative Delphi cycles and proposes a final stage of greater integration with existing academic resources within the professional doctorate programme. The study has enabled the researchers to gain a new understanding of how power may operate in a work based research project through the experience of undertaking the Delphi approach. Furthermore, by thinking about affordances of the project life cycle, it may help us to better understand needs and strategy for the curriculum in order to more effectively support candidates through their transformational learning experience. The consequences of such change might have implications for participation and power distribution within the management and leadership of doctoral work base research projects

Modelling sustainable lighting with eyetracker and spatial syntax techniques

This research provides an integrated methodological approach based on the combined use of spatial syntax modelling and eyetracker analysis techniques for lighting sustainability aimed to adaptive reuse of all the spaces with high historical, architectural, philological value of Cultural Heritage (CH). MosLESS (Modelling Sustainable Lighting with Eyetracker and Spatial Syntax techniques) is the proposed method, that can suggest fundamental guidelines for dynamic and static lighting in the museographic and museological areas, but also for reuse, conservation and enhancement of historical and CH buildings integrated with efficient energy management and conservation and protection needs. The National Museum of San Matteo in Pisa (Italy) was the pilot project. Particular environments were chosen for the experimental measurement campaigns carried out to assess dynamic and static visual fields, vision and perception. Methodological approach and results can be useful tools for exhibition planning with important energy, social and cultural effects. A further objective of the research will be to facilitate cultural exchanges, communication and new procedures for the digital management of the transmission or modification of museographic and exhibition projects, up to relations with public clients, as well as integrated management of information and decision-making processes

Do You Know if You Trust a Robot? Influences that Mediate Implicit and Explicit Trust

With the widespread expansion in fields of technology, the use of robotics in the average person’s everyday life continues to increase. This fast paced shift has brought about issues related to user trust. Here we investigate the effects of robot appearance and reliability on a user’s level of trust. Traditionally trust in the field of robotics has measured explicit trust, primarily through the use of self-report questionnaires. While we maintain this paradigm in our current work, we also expand on it by including a measure of implicit trust. This was achieved through the use of the Implicit Associations Test (IAT), administered prior to the experimental trials and aimed at evaluating participant’s implicit trust differences between humans and robots. Explicit trust was evaluated by measuring participant response to three different robot forms. Additionally, each robot could behave reliably or unreliably during a series of three experimental trials. A final fourth trial was also used, where we evaluated choice by allowing participants to choose their preferred robot. Explicit trust was measured through the use of two questionnaires: the Trust in Automation Scale (TAS) and the Human-Robot Trust Scale (HRTS). Results from the IAT showed implicit reservations related to trusting a robot over a human. Results from the explicit trust metrics showed differences based on the reliability of the robot, as well as when the participant chose to interact with the robot. We conclude that reliability remains a dominant driver of trust, yet other contextual factors do prove influential

Cytology of Primary Salivary Gland-Type Tumors of the Lower Respiratory Tract: Report of 15 Cases and Review of the Literature.

Primary pulmonary salivary gland-type tumors are rare neoplasms arising from the seromucinous submucosal glands of the lower respiratory tract (LRT), the most common of which are mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC) and adenoid cystic carcinoma. They are morphologically indistinguishable from their salivary gland counterpart and recognizing them is a challenge, especially on cytological specimens. We analyzed 15 cases of histologically proven primary salivary gland tumors of the LRT to identify cytomorphological features and define potential diagnostic clues that might assist cytopathologists in the preoperative diagnosis of these neoplasias. Three out of the four cases of adenoid cystic carcinomas showed the characteristic tridimensional cell clusters and hyaline globules, whereas the last one did not show malignant cells; only two cases of MEC presented the three characteristic cell types (i.e., squamous, intermediate, and mucin secreting) on cytology. Since these neoplasms are rare and do not have a completely specific set of cytological features, it is important for practicing cytopathologists to be aware of the possibility of encountering them, in specimens from patients with LRT masses, in order to render the correct diagnosis

Pathological characterization of tumor immune microenvironment (Time) in malignant pleural mesothelioma

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Tumor immune microenvironment is an important structural component of malignant pleural mesothelioma that contributes to disease growth support and progression. Its study and pathological characterization are important tools to find new biomarkers for advanced therapeutic strategies. ABSTRACT: Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a rare and highly aggressive disease that arises from pleural mesothelial cells, characterized by a median survival of approximately 13–15 months after diagnosis. The primary cause of this disease is asbestos exposure and the main issues associated with it are late diagnosis and lack of effective therapies. Asbestos-induced cellular damage is associated with the generation of an inflammatory microenvironment that influences and supports tumor growth, possibly in association with patients’ genetic predisposition and tumor genomic profile. The chronic inflammatory response to asbestos fibers leads to a unique tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) composed of a heterogeneous mixture of stromal, endothelial, and immune cells, and relative composition and interaction among them is suggested to bear prognostic and therapeutic implications. TIME in MPM is known to be constituted by immunosuppressive cells, such as type 2 tumor-associated macrophages and T regulatory lymphocytes, plus the expression of several immunosuppressive factors, such as tumor-associated PD-L1. Several studies in recent years have contributed to achieve a greater understanding of the pathogenetic mechanisms in tumor development and pathobiology of TIME, that opens the way to new therapeutic strategies. The study of TIME is fundamental in identifying appropriate prognostic and predictive tissue biomarkers. In the present review, we summarize the current knowledge about the pathological characterization of TIME in MPM