Longitudinal Applications of Stepladder Technique for Enhancing Group Performance

Stepladder technique is intended to improve decision making in small groups by structuring the entry of group members, ensuring that each member contributes to the decision-making process. Previous research has employed the stepladder technique for intellective exercises of short duration. Here, we examined a more realistic application of the stepladder technique to a longitudinal project team engaged in a design/build/ test engineering program. Application of stepladder technique beyond a laboratory/one-time setting is a unique addition to the team performance research. Preliminary data indicates that the stepladder technique is effective in a longitudinal project more aligned to typical organization applications; constraints, covariates and mitigating issues will also be presented. POSTER PRESENTATION EAGLE PRIZE AWAR

VEX U Robotics

VEX U is a competition hosted by the REC Foundation for university students to get engaged in hands-on engineering. Each team produces two robots using the VEX provided parts to compete in the VEX U competition. The competition changes every year with the only constants being the size of the field, the tools and parts teams are able to use, and the size constraints of the robots. The teams compete in regional competitions in order to qualify for the World Championship Competition, which is the highest competition a team can compete in for VEX U. The VEX U teams at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University are divided into two teams, ERAU Blue and ERAU Gold. Each of these teams are divided into a programming and build teams, in which students learn to communicate and cooperate between software and hardware and the importance of doing so. The leadership structure of the club includes the president, vice president/treasure, the gold and blue team leads, the programming leads, and the build team leads. Both teams compete at the competitions in order to gain engineering experience, networking opportunities, and the opportunity to compete in a rigorous competition. POSTER PRESENTATION AND DEMONSTRATION originally planned; POSTER PRESENTATION given online format of event. EAGLE PRIZE AWAR

Practicing the Worlds We Want: Prefigurative design for revolutionary transformation

Background From our experience as systemic designers engaging with various practices, particularly with several forms of systems mapping (e.g., Jones & Bowes, 2017) and transition design (Irwin et al., 2015), we have found that these practices favour analytical and strategic approaches to working for systems change. These approaches attempt to deeply understand a system through various kinds of analyses and then design strategies to to shift it, placing change in the future as an outcome. Through collaborative reflection, we have developed a desire to see these approaches complimented by prefigurative approaches where change is embodied in the design process (Campbell & Lutterman, 2019). Prefigurative design involves the manifestation of a desired future into present practices (Asad, 2018). To practice prefiguratively for systemic transformation is to form our process as a reflection of the desired transformation. Like prefigurative politics from which these ideas are inspired, prefigurative design “is both an expressive and experimental endeavor. Through the processes of enactment, we not only indicate the social relations we desire; we also test what works, and does not work, in the construction and maintenance of those social relations” (Disalvo, 2016). Understanding that the transformed state of a desired system should inherently look and function differently from its present state, a prefigurative approach recognizes that practices intended to transform must similarly expand beyond the practices formed within the dominant system. We draw on inspiration from Audre Lorde (1984): “the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.” In this understanding, transformed systems require transformed practices. Conway’s Law (1968) echoes this in stating that “any organization that designs a system will inevitably produce a design whose structure is a copy of the organization’s communication [or design] structure.” In the words of adrienne maree brown (2017), “what we practice at the small scale sets the patterns for the whole system.” From Donna Haraway (2016): “it matters what thoughts think thoughts.” The ways we create change in turn create (or preclude) the possibilities for how that change will emerge. It matters what designs design design. Mariam Asad (2019) notes that “prefigurative design is not meant to be an overarching framework or prescriptive model to determine individual research projects.” Prefigurative design is instead an orientation through which researchers, designers, community members, and other systems actors can articulate and align their processes with a shared vision. Our workshop will build on Asad’s (2019) phases of prefigurative design, “envisioning, acting presently, and building counter-institutions.” We elaborate on these phases by providing activities for systemic designers to assess the prefigurative nature of their current practice, envision their desired future, and determine how they can practice differently to enact a prefigurative politics. Our activities will be inspired by a variety of well-known design – and foresight-related methods such as causal layered analysis (Inayatullah, 2004) but will centre around a method we have developed specifically for prefigurative practices, principles-based design. Principles-based design is a process of developing principles which can be intentionally applied during a design process and against which the design process can be evaluated. These principles guide and inform design decisions and actions. This process begins by distilling a desired future into core values which can be translated into principles for design practice. To develop vision-oriented principles, we follow the GUIDE criteria for effective principles (Patton, 2017). According to GUIDE: a “high-quality principle image (1) provides guidance, (2) is useful, (3) inspires, (4) supports ongoing development and adaptation, and (5) is evaluable” (p. 36). We will take our workshop participants through an activity to create principles aligned with their own desired futures, guiding them toward prefigurative practice. Our workshop fits primarily within the Methodology, philosophy and theory of systemic design track, but it would also fit well within the track on Systems for equity, collectivism, co-design and citizen movements. Workshop Structure The three main workshop phases, Assessing, Envisioning, and Practicing Differently will include a mix of short presentations, small group discussions in breakout rooms, whole group discussions, participatory idea generation on a collaborative whiteboard platform, and individual reflection. The phases will explore the following questions: Assessing: What kind of future does my current practice prefigure? Envisioning: What is my/our desired future? What does systemic transformation look like? Practicing Differently: How can I manifest my/our desired future in my design practice? How do we continuously practice prefigurative design? What aspects of my current practice can be revised? Goal/Expected Outcome Participants will leave the workshop with an awareness of what a prefigurative orientation could mean for their own practices and methods to begin evaluating and engaging with the prefigurative elements of their practice. They will have developed critical and reflective relationships with other participants and with us, the workshop facilitators

Designing Futures with Care: Finding Our Way to Different Worlds Together

Current converging social, economic, and environmental crises offer an opportunity for a “great transition.” Transition is the project of intentionally directing change toward desired futures. While designing for transition has been explored in theory, the question of how one incorporates the ongoing, complex, and values-based nature of transition into design practices remains largely unaddressed. This research explores how we might orient our own design practice around transition. We establish principles-based designing as a process for intentionally, effectively, and critically working toward a desired future. We demonstrate and evaluate this process during a design engagement for a sustainability-oriented innovation centre in the Northwest Territories. We find that effectively using principles- based designing for transition requires using principles as more than static guidelines. We reframe principles-based design as a way to encourage ongoing critical reflection of one’s design practice and its role in shaping emerging futures

Expenditure and Revenue Patterns of State Mental Health Agencies from 1981 to 1987

This paper documents expenditure and revenue patterns of state mental health agencies from 1981 to 1987. Expenditure data show an overall decline of mental health expenditures of 4.9% over this period. States with declining overall expenditures were more likely to make deep cuts in hospital expenditures and little or no increases in community programs, while the few states with increasing expenditures showed substantial increases in community programs and contant funding for hospitals. A relatively more dramatic shift was noted across states of shifting expenditures from inpatient to ambulatory care. Revenue data reveal that federal support for state mental health agencies increased slightly during this period, but solely as a function of the introduction of the Block Grant in 1982. However, once introduced, both the Block Grant and other federal sources show steady losses against inflation. State sources also show a decline of 4% during this period, most of which was felt between 1981 and 1983, after which there has been no further decreases. Interstate variability in percapita spending on mental health is described and found to significant even beyond adjustments for costs of services. Expenditures on mental health also show relatively greater declines compared to overall state budgets and state health and welfare budgets during this period, suggesting an increasingly lower priority for mental health services in the state budget alloction process

New trends for metal complexes with anticancer activity

Medicinal inorganic chemistry can exploit the unique properties of metal ions for the design of new drugs. This has, for instance, led to the clinical application of chemotherapeutic agents for cancer treatment, such as cisplatin. The use of cisplatin is, however, severely limited by its toxic side-effects. This has spurred chemists to employ different strategies in the development of new metal-based anticancer agents with different mechanisms of action. Recent trends in the field are discussed in this review. These include the more selective delivery and/or activation of cisplatin-related prodrugs and the discovery of new non-covalent interactions with the classical target, DNA. The use of the metal as scaffold rather than reactive centre and the departure from the cisplatin paradigm of activity towards a more targeted, cancer cell-specific approach, a major trend, are discussed as well. All this, together with the observation that some of the new drugs are organometallic complexes, illustrates that exciting times lie ahead for those interested in ‘metals in medicine

‘We don't have recipes; we just have loads of ingredients’: explanations of evidence and clinical decision making by speech and language therapists

Rationale, aims and objectives: Research findings consistently suggest that speech and language therapists (SLTs) are failing to draw effectively on research-based evidence to guide clinical practice. This study aimed to examine what constitutes the reasoning provided by SLTs for treatment choices and whether science plays a part in those decisions. Method: This study, based in Ireland, reports on the qualitative phase of a mixed-methods study, which examined attitudes underpinning treatment choices and the therapy process. SLTs were recruited from community, hospital and disability work settings via SLT managers who acted as gatekeepers. A total of three focus groups were run. Data were transcribed, anonymized and analysed using thematic analysis. Results: In total, 48 participants took part in the focus groups. The majority of participants were female, represented senior grades and had basic professional qualifications. Three key themes were identified: practice imperfect; practice as grounded and growing; and critical practice. Findings show that treatment decisions are scaffolded primarily on practice evidence. The uniqueness of each patient results in dynamic and pragmatic practice, constraining the application of unmodified therapies. Conclusion: The findings emerging from the data reflect the complexities and paradoxes of clinical practice as described by SLTs. Practice is pivoted on both the patient and clinician, through their membership of groups and as individuals. Scientific thinking is a component of decision making; a tool with which to approach the various ingredients and the dynamic nature of clinical practice. However, these scientific elements do not necessarily reflect evidence-based practice as typically constructed

Os2-Os4 switch controls DNA knotting and anticancer activity

Dinuclear trihydroxido-bridged osmium–arene complexes are inert and biologically inactive, but we show here that linking dihydroxido-bridged OsII–arene fragments by a bridging di-imine to form a metallacycle framework results in strong antiproliferative activity towards cancer cells and distinctive knotting of DNA. The shortened spacer length reduces biological activity and stability in solution towards decomposition to biologically inactive dimers. Significant differences in behavior toward plasmid DNA condensation are correlated with biological activity