Maximising social interactions and effectiveness within distance learning courses : cases from construction

Advanced Internet technologies have revolutionised the delivery of distance learning education. As a result, the physical proximity between learners and the learning providers has become less important. However, whilst the pervasiveness of these technological developments has reached unprecedented levels, critics argue that the student learning experience is still not as effective as conventional face-to-face delivery. In this regard, surveys of distance learning courses reveal that there is often a lack of social interaction attributed to this method of delivery, which tends to leave learners feeling isolated due to a lack of engagement, direction, guidance and support by the tutor. This paper defines and conceptualises this phenomenon by investigating the extent to which distance-learning programmes provide the social interactions of an equivalent traditional classroom setting. In this respect, two distance learning case studies were investigated, covering the UK and Slovenian markets respectively. Research findings identified that delivery success is strongly dependent on the particular context to which the specific distance learning course is designed, structured and augmented. It is therefore recommended that designers of distance learning courses should balance the tensions and nuances associated with commercial viability and pedagogic effectiveness

Construction informatics in Turkey: strategic role of ICT and future research directions

Construction Informatics deals with subjects ranging from strategic management of ICTs to interoperability and information integration in the construction industry. Studies on defining research directions for Construction Informatics have a history over 20 years. The recent studies in the area highlight the priority themes for Construction Informatics research as interoperability, collaboration support, intelligent sites and knowledge sharing. In parallel, today it is widely accepted in the Architecture/Engineering/Construction (AEC) industry that ICT is becoming a strategic asset for any organisation to deliver business improvement and achieve sustainable competitive advantage. However, traditionally the AEC industry has approached investing in ICT with a lack of strategic focus and low level of priority to the business. This paper presents a recent study from Turkey that is focused on two themes. The first theme investigates the strategic role of ICT implementations from an industrial perspective, and explores if organisations within the AEC industry view ICT as a strategic resource for their business practice. The second theme investigates the ‘perspective of academia’ in terms of future research directions of Construction Informatics. The results of the industrial study indicates that ICT is seen as a value-adding resource, but a shift towards the recognition of the importance of ICT in terms of value adding in winning work and achieving strategic competitive advantage is observed. On the other hand, ICT Training is found to be the theme of highest priority from the academia point of view

Offsite Sustainability—Disentangling the Rhetoric through Informed Mindset Change

The construction sector and concomitant supply chain has been acknowledged in the literature as a major contributor to environmental “stress”, from the design, sourcing and extraction of raw materials through to transportation, design, construction and demolition. Clear indicators/solutions have been showcased as vehicles for reducing this stress, ranging from lifecycle costing through to waste reduction strategies, carbon assessment and “green” environmental assessment tools to name but a few. However, this paper argues that whilst some of these (intervention strategies) may have had some positive effects, the main challenge rests with people—inter alia, the key decision-makers and leadership structures with the “position power” to effect change. Acknowledging this as a supposition, this paper uses three discreet construction organisations engaging in offsite construction as a micro-study (cf. cross-case study) to evaluate sustainability perceptions. In doing so, it focuses specifically on sustainability practices and business processes underpinning technology (adoption, absorption and diffusion), including the perceptions of different stakeholders involved in each of these three companies. In total, 30 respondents from three organisations (cases) participated in this study, representing three tiers of management (top, middle and first line). Priority areas are highlighted, along with the reasons supporting these perspectives. Findings from this work present a new technology diffusion sustainability model for offsite construction. This model identifies sustainability causal links, super catalysts, actuators, barriers, forces and facilitators. More importantly perhaps, this work presents a clear case for “conjoined thinking” in order to instill a collective mindset change and common purpose for those wishing to evidence offsite sustainability

Securing the embeddedness of psychosocial diffusion indicators into the Turkish construction industry: Silence is no longer golden

© 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited. Purpose: The paper aims to investigate the employee–stakeholder engagement on business performance. A psychosocial approach was used to evaluate employees’ perception and role engagement on organisational performance, cognisant of: strategy development; leadership; fiscal acuity; employees’ skills, empowerment; supply chain relationships; external stakeholders and wider societal beneficiaries. Design/methodology/approach: This research is context-bound to the Turkish construction industry. Findings generated from literature established a set of evidenced-based priorities for further investigation. A case study approach was conducted with three large architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) organisations to define psychosocial diffusion indicators and priorities for future uptake. Findings: Initial findings on psychosocial diffusion indicators and their impact on business performance are presented through a psychosocial diffusion model. Three interconnected facets are proffered for future uptake: capability (responsiveness), capability (flexibility) and capability (competence). Research limitations/implications: Findings are exclusively bound to the sample frame in question. No attempt has been made to undertake detailed cross-analysis/correlation to support internal/external consistency, validity or reliability. Practical implications: Organisations are able to reflect on their core business strategy to appreciate how psychosocial diffusion can be operationalised. Social implications: This work impinges on social factors embedded within (and across) organisational boundaries, including the AEC supply chain. It also relates to employer/employee relationships, psychological functioning and employee well-being. Originality/value: Originality rests with the identification of construction-related psychosocial indicators. It contributes to the wider body of knowledge on embedding psychosocial indicators into organisational systems and processes, adding further insight into systems thinking and business transformation.Published versio

Improving co-learner interactions through web based online assessments within distant learning settings

Distance education technologies have come into prominence during the last two decades of the 20th century. Propagation of these technologies, software development and methods of computer aided assessments have been fuelled by the advances in the Internet as a platform by which the various courses can be delivered. Web based tools, which are both classed as synchronous (using same time communications) and asynchronous (communications that do not require participants to exchange information at the same time) are being used for the purpose of delivering the DL courses. Although some of the tools utilised in these courses have the capability not only to communicate but address issues such as facilitating virtual tutor - learner interaction whilst achieving the intended learning outcomes, they are not utilised to its full potential. At the School of the Built Environment (SOBE) most of its Masters programmes are delivered via the distance learning mode and this area is given significant prominence in its teaching portfolio. This project investigates improving co-learner interactions within distance learning settings with the use of both formative and summative assessment methods available on web based DL tools

Anti-Allergic Cromones Inhibit Histamine and Eicosanoid Release from Activated Human and Murine Mast Cells by Releasing Annexin A1

PMCID: PMC3601088This 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

Single Gene Deletions of Orexin, Leptin, Neuropeptide Y, and Ghrelin Do Not Appreciably Alter Food Anticipatory Activity in Mice

Timing activity to match resource availability is a widely conserved ability in nature. Scheduled feeding of a limited amount of food induces increased activity prior to feeding time in animals as diverse as fish and rodents. Typically, food anticipatory activity (FAA) involves temporally restricting unlimited food access (RF) to several hours in the middle of the light cycle, which is a time of day when rodents are not normally active. We compared this model to calorie restriction (CR), giving the mice 60% of their normal daily calorie intake at the same time each day. Measurement of body temperature and home cage behaviors suggests that the RF and CR models are very similar but CR has the advantage of a clearly defined food intake and more stable mean body temperature. Using the CR model, we then attempted to verify the published result that orexin deletion diminishes food anticipatory activity (FAA) but observed little to no diminution in the response to CR and, surprisingly, that orexin KO mice are refractory to body weight loss on a CR diet. Next we tested the orexigenic neuropeptide Y (NPY) and ghrelin and the anorexigenic hormone, leptin, using mouse mutants. NPY deletion did not alter the behavior or physiological response to CR. Leptin deletion impaired FAA in terms of some activity measures, such as walking and rearing, but did not substantially diminish hanging behavior preceding feeding time, suggesting that leptin knockout mice do anticipate daily meal time but do not manifest the full spectrum of activities that typify FAA. Ghrelin knockout mice do not have impaired FAA on a CR diet. Collectively, these results suggest that the individual hormones and neuropepetides tested do not regulate FAA by acting individually but this does not rule out the possibility of their concerted action in mediating FAA

Absence of annexin I expression in B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphomas and cell lines

BACKGROUND: Annexin I, one of the 20 members of the annexin family of calcium and phospholipid-binding proteins, has been implicated in diverse biological processes including signal transduction, mediation of apoptosis and immunosuppression. Previous studies have shown increased annexin I expression in pancreatic and breast cancers, while it is absent in prostate and esophageal cancers. RESULTS: Data presented here show that annexin I mRNA and protein are undetectable in 10 out of 12 B-cell lymphoma cell lines examined. Southern blot analysis indicates that the annexin I gene is intact in B-cell lymphoma cell lines. Aberrant methylation was examined as a cause for lack of annexin I expression by treating cells 5-Aza-2-deoxycytidine. Reexpression of annexin I was observed after prolonged treatment with the demethylating agent indicating methylation may be one of the mechanisms of annexin I silencing. Treatment of Raji and OMA-BL-1 cells with lipopolysaccharide, an inflammation inducer, and with hydrogen peroxide, a promoter of oxidative stress, also failed to induce annexin I expression. Annexin I expression was examined in primary lymphoma tissues by immunohistochemistry and presence of annexin I in a subset of normal B-cells and absence of annexin I expression in the lymphoma tissues were observed. These results show that annexin I is expressed in normal B-cells, and its expression is lost in all primary B-cell lymphomas and 10 of 12 B-cell lymphoma cell lines. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that, similar to prostate and esophageal cancers, annexin I may be an endogenous suppressor of cancer development, and loss of annexin I may contribute to B-cell lymphoma development