Case For Consultation: A Managers Perspective

This research supports the hypothesis that consultation, team work and congruence is a strategy to reduce risk, and that effective consultation reduces the potential for outrage when things do not go to plan. The research sought the opinion of managers on these matters, and if they were aware of own-biases that undermine the effectiveness in which they engage, and of antidotes to such “hazardous thoughts”. To understand what influences consultation (“upwards listening” as such) we conducted 4 preliminary one-on-one interviews. We then surveyed a total of 20 senior managers and other stakeholders in the coal mining industry, in an on-line survey. 100% of respondents (17/17) believe that access to information improves chances of making a correct decision; 78% of respondents (13/17) believe that managers are conscious of a socially divide (class-stratification) from subordinates; 100% of respondents (17/17) believe that managers must consult with employees in order to reduce Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) risk; 58% (11/19) believe that someone should be held to account for an OH&S disaster; 94% (15/16) believe that distributed decision making results in more resilient operations; 65% (11/17) agree that it is important for employees to have representatives to act as a channel of communication with management on safety and health matters; 71% (11/17) believe that elected safety and health representatives are likely to abuse their powers if they are a member of a union; 82% (14/17) believe that very close co-operation between mine managers, the Mines Inspectorate, and the workmen's inspectors reduces OH&S risk. The research demonstrated that managers are conscious of own-biases, and of behaviour that is capable of undermining consultation and system safety. Managers also understand why mismanagement of information can be promoted by others as prima-facie-evidence-of-neglect, or malfeasance, when disaster strikes. It is hypothesised that managers in safety system are akin to jurors in the judicial system; ethics apply, and both managers and jurors are expected to represent the interests of community, not themselves

Gamifikation und Evaluierung eines Handy-Toolkits zur Bestimmung kognitiver Performanz

Unsere kognitive Performanz ist über den Tag hinweg starken Schwankungen unterlegen. Zu einem Teil sind insbesondere die zirkadianen Rhythmen für diese Schwankungen verantwortlich, welche von Mensch zu Mensch unterschiedlich sind und maßgeblich durch den Chronotypen der Person bestimmt werden. Zum anderen zeigen andere Faktoren, wie die vorherige Nahrungszunahme, Koffeinzufuhr, aber auch der vorangegangene Schlaf, Auswirkungen und tragen zu den Schwankungen bei. Nathaniel Kleitman gilt als der erste Wissenschaftler, dem ein Zusammenhang zwischen der kognitiven Performanz und den zirkadianen Rhythmen aufgefallen ist. Aufbauend auf seinen Erkenntnissen wird erforscht, wie sich diese Schwankungen am besten messen lassen, um in Zukunft Systemen die Möglichkeit zu geben, sich auf die momentane kognitive Leistung eines Menschen einstellen zu können. Diese Circadian-Aware-Systems sollen in Zukunft den Menschen unterstützen und entlasten. So könnten Kalenderapplikationen kognitiv anspruchsvolle Termine zu Zeiten planen, zu denen der jeweilige Mensch die geforderte kognitive Leistung erbringen kann. Das würde den Stress im Alltag verringern und stressbedingten Krankheiten entgegenwirken. In dieser Arbeit wird ein vorhandenes Toolkit zur Bestimmung der kognitiven Performanz gamifiziert, damit es sich besser als das bisherige Toolkit in den Alltag integrieren lässt. Dazu werden die einzelnen Aufgaben PVT, GNG und MOT in einen Spielablauf integriert und mit zusätzlichen Spiel-Design-Elementen ausgestattet. Anschließend wurde mit der Applikation eine Studie durchgeführt, um sie dahingehend zu evaluieren, ob sie die Schwankungen der kognitiven Performanz messen kann

A Game-Based Method for Teaching Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is often thought of as the act of commercializing an innovation. In modern open economies, entrepreneurship is one of the key aspects for economic growth. Teaching and learning entrepreneurship is therefore of importance and schools, colleges and universities can play an important role by including entrepreneurship and innovation in their curricula. The Berkeley Method of Entrepreneurship is a holistic and student-centered teaching and learning approach that is hypothesized to enable engineers to be more entrepreneurial. It encompasses three main elements; networks, mindset and frameworks. Networks and Framewoks are covered in most entrepreneurial curricula, whereas only few curricula explicitly include the mindset perspective. The Berkeley Method of Entrepreneurship is based on the hypothesis that the mindset of an entrepreneur can be characterized by a distinct set of behavioral patterns, and that an inductive game-based teaching approach is a successful vehicle for introducing and re-enforcing these. The game-based teaching approach lets the students explore his/her current mindset and compare it with that of entrepreneurs. The paper presents two of the hypothesis behind the Berkeley Method of Entrepreneurship; the set of behavioral patterns, and the game based teaching approach. The paper outlines the concepts behind this novel teaching approach as well as future research

Turning science into health solutions: KEMRI’s challenges as Kenya’s health product pathfinder

BACKGROUND: A traditional pathway for developing new health products begins with public research institutes generating new knowledge, and ends with the private sector translating this knowledge into new ventures. But while public research institutes are key drivers of basic research in sub-Saharan Africa, the private sector is inadequately prepared to commercialize ideas that emerge from these institutes, resulting in these institutes taking on the role of product development themselves to alleviate the local disease burden. In this article, the case study method is used to analyze the experience of one such public research institute: the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI). DISCUSSION: Our analysis indicates that KEMRI's product development efforts began modestly, and a manufacturing facility was constructed with a strategy for the facility's product output which was not very successful. The intended products, HIV and Hepatitis B diagnostic kits, had a short product life cycle, and an abrupt change in regulatory requirements left KEMRI with an inactive facility. These problems were the result of poor innovation management capacity, variability in domestic markets, lack of capital to scale up technologies, and an institutional culture that lacked innovation as a priority.However, KEMRI appears to have adapted by diversifying its product line to mitigate risk and ensure continued use of its manufacturing facility. It adopted an open innovation business model which linked it with investors, research partnerships, licensing opportunities, and revenue from contract manufacturing. Other activities that KEMRI has put in place over several years to enhance product development include the establishment of a marketing division, development of an institutional IP policy, and training of its scientists on innovation management. SUMMARY: KEMRI faced many challenges in its attempt at health product development, including shifting markets, lack of infrastructure, inadequate financing, and weak human capital with respect to innovation. However, it overcame them through diversification, partnerships and changes in culture. The findings could have implications for other research institutes in Sub-Saharan Africa seeking to develop health products. Such institutes must analyze potential demand and uptake, yet be prepared to face the unexpected and develop appropriate risk-mitigating strategies

Building a COTS archive for satellite data

The goal of the NOAA/NESDIS Active Archive was to provide a method of access to an online archive of satellite data. The archive had to manage and store the data, let users interrogate the archive, and allow users to retrieve data from the archive. Practical issues of the system design such as implementation time, cost and operational support were examined in addition to the technical issues. There was a fixed window of opportunity to create an operational system, along with budget and staffing constraints. Therefore, the technical solution had to be designed and implemented subject to constraint imposed by the practical issues. The NOAA/NESDIS Active Archive came online in July of 1994, meeting all of its original objectives

Science-based health innovation in sub-Saharan Africa

In recent years emerging markets such as India, China, and Brazil have developed appropriate business models and lower-cost technological innovations to address health challenges locally and internationally. But it is not well understood what capabilities African countries, with their high disease burden, have in science-based health innovation

a gamE-basEd mEthod for tEaChing EntrEprEnEurship

Entrepreneurship is often thought of as the act of commercializing an innovation. In modern open economies, entrepreneurship is one of the key aspects for economic growth. The teaching and learning entrepreneurship is therefore of importance. Schools, colleges and universities can play an important role by including entrepreneurship and innovation in their curricula. The Berkeley Method of Entrepreneurship is a holistic and student-centered teaching and learning approach that is hypothesized to enable engineers to be more entrepreneurial. It encompasses three main elements: networks, mindset and frameworks. Networks and frameworks are covered in most entrepreneurial curricula, whereas only a few curricula explicitly include the mindset perspective. The Berkeley Method of Entrepreneurship is based on the hypothesis that the mindset of an entrepreneur can be characterized by a distinct set of behavioral patterns, and that an inductive game-based teaching approach is a successful vehicle for introducing and re-enforcing these. The game-based teaching approach allows the students to explore their current mindset and compare it with that of entrepreneurs. The paper presents two of the hypotheses behind the Berkeley Method of Entrepreneurship: the set of behavioral patterns and the game based teaching approach. This paper outlines the concepts behind this novel teaching approach as well as future research

Scaling hemodialysis target dose to reflect body surface area, metabolic activity, and protein catabolic rate: A prospective, cross-sectional study

Background:Women and small men treated by haemodialysis (HD) have reduced survival. This may be due to the practice of using total body water (V) as the normalising factor for dialysis dosing. Our aim in this study was to explore the use of alternate parameters for scaling dialysis dose. Study Design: Prospective, cross-sectional study. Setting and Participants: 1500 HD patients on thrice weekly schedule were recruited across five different centres. Predictors: Age, sex, weight, ethnicity, comorbidity level and employment status. Outcomes: Kt was estimated by multiplying V by 1.2. Kt/BSA, Kt/REE and Kt/TEE equivalent to a target Kt/V of 1.2 were then estimated by dividing Kt by the respective parameters. Measurements: Anthropometric and HD adequacy details were obtained from direct measurements and medical records of patients. Body surface area (BSA) was estimated using Haycock formula. Resting energy expenditure (REE) was estimated using a novel validated equation. Total energy expenditure (TEE) was calculated from physical activity data obtained using Recent Physical Activity Questionnaire. Results: Mean BSA was 1.87 m2, mean REE 1545 kcal/day and mean TEE 1841 kcal/day. For Kt/V of 1.2, there was a wide range of equivalent doses expressed as Kt/BSA, Kt/REE and Kt/TEE. The mean equivalent dose was lower in women for all 3 parameters (p<0.001). Small men would also receive lower doses compared to larger men. Younger patients, those with low comorbidity, those employed and those of South Asian ethnicity would receive significantly lower dialysis doses with current practice. Limitations: Cross-sectional study and the physical activity data has been collected by an activity questionnaire. Conclusion:Our data suggest that current dosing practices risk under-dialysis in women and men of lower body size and in specific subgroups of patients. Using BSA, REE or TEE based dialysis prescription would result in higher dose delivery in these patients