Framework to Maintain Specialisations in a General Degrees Structure: An economical high-value degree structure

Structuring a degree is a common activity for course developers. Analyzing appropriate subjects and year levels, establishing pre- and co-requisite, and benchmarking against similar degrees are common academic activities. However, the degree structure itself has not had significant changes until now. A degree often lacks flexibility and cohesion and arguably may even lose the main concept of making students highly skilled in the selected labor market more employable. After examining different degree structures, approaches, and employability incentives, we identified a degree structure that can divide each subject into components. Subjects' learning activities, tutorials, and assessments are tailored to align more closely with employment skills. We then proposed breaking all subjects into components relative to year levels, such as majors, minors, streams, and more. This sub-division of work can be performed to any degree. Particular advantages come with a general degree with standard core units and majors—creating learning activities closer to the major and offering students a more robust academic scaffold of their subjects. In addition, higher Education providers benefit by having a cost-efficient degree with minimum overhead to pass the benefits onto students. We discussed several examples from engineering, business, and information technology. Showing how learning opportunities can be divided per degree and subjects into degrees, majors, streams, and specializations. Students studying this framework will have developed skills firmly built on each other, enabling specialization in employment careers and academically. Closing the gap between employment and graduation

Assessment Re-Think: Income-Generating and Industry-Based Assessments

Assessments are the fundamental media between students and educators. This paper aims to evaluate how to create assessments, how students learn from them, and how to link them to the industry and entrepreneurism. The implementation plan postulates how students can generate income from income-generation assessments or business innovation assessments. In this paper, we discuss the involvement of modern industry in assessment. We examine evidence from approximately 100 assessments detailed in 32 subject outlines. We employ a descriptive, pragmatic research methodology to consider whether they can be aligned more with industry expectations and expected duties. We propose a framework to connect with industry and create student income-generating projects. This proposed income-generating assessments framework recommended industry-based assessments with which students can not only earn marks towards a subject but potentially earn an income based on it. This paper extends the idea of peer learning to expert or industry learning: an approach that did not employ in higher education. Our approach supports educators in keeping the assessment up-to-date, enabling students to add more value to their learning of industry products and procedures. Students can directly contribute to the product and procedures and learn from the strategies actively employed in the workplace

Comparison of transcranial, scalp-to-brain, layered phantoms

Ultrasound in the brain suffers from the major drawback of acoustic deterioration through the skull. Treatment or diagnosis is heavily dependent on skull thickness and diploe scattering. Our objective is, therefore, to examine ultrasound signals in laboratory controlled experiments using transcranial phantoms. A comparison is presented of scalp-to-brain, three layer phantoms. Soft tissue phantoms are usually made from gelatine/agarose often with a variety of additional substances to act as scatterers. Bone phantom materials are typically comprised of: calcium, plaster and coral. However, plaster can form impenetrable boundaries, and coral, while it has similar cavities to trabecular bone, these cavities do not completely fill with a gelatine based mixture. Air pockets can develop in both plaster and coral boundaries leaving impenetrable air cavities. Transcranial layers were mimicked using gelatine with scattering additives for the soft tissue, scalp and brain, and calcium based mixtures for skull bone. Different consistencies were investigated and two combinations were found to give acceptable tissue-equivalent layers. In both cases, gelatine (with scattering additives) was poured into a container to mimic the brain. When this had thickened, a calcium-gelatine layer was added to acoustically resemble the trabecular bone. Then, a highly dense calcium-water (first instance) or gelatine-calcium-water (second instance) layer was thinly coated on top to form the cortical skull surface. Finally, a scalp equivalent soft tissue layer was added using a gelatine (with scattering additives) mixture. Satisfactory transcranial bone phantoms were developed with similar acoustical properties to human tissue, confirmed with a commercial ultrasound scanner

Enhanced transcranial Doppler procedure for the Third World

Transcranial Doppler Ultrasound (TCD) measures cerebral blood flow velocities, and is commonly used to examine the arteries of the Circle of Willis in patients suspected of suffering from severe blood flow disruption to the brain. Diagnostic tools such as Computed Tomography (CT) or Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) are readily accessible in developed countries but in developing countries the cost is well beyond the means of many. Likewise the expense of in-patient care is excessive in developing countries: hence some trained professionals run clinics from their homes. Due to its low costs and portability, ultrasound is the most common imaging modality for clinical diagnosis and monitoring of symptoms. TCD is therefore critical for neurological healthcare in developing countries. However, finding a suitable site (an acoustic window) to perform TCD can be very difficult or even impossible, often resulting in a time-consuming procedure to first locate an adequate site. The aim of this research is to reliably detect the optimum transtemporal acoustic window for TCD from a preliminary B-Mode (image) ultrasound scan. Once the optimized location has been established a TCD can commence at the predefined location. Three sheep heads were examined (left and right) with a Sonix RP (Ultrasonix, Canada) and raw radio frequency data was collected. The quantitative Broadband Spectral Difference (BSD) technique for attenuation-velocity was used to identify the temporal bone. The quantitative temporal bone detection methods give an alternative to blindly searching for the transtemporal acoustic window with a TCD scan by trial and error

Dilution media effects on proteinaceous ultrasound contrast agents

The dilution effects of a protein solution and of water on the attenuation frequency spectrum of a proteinaceous ultrasound contrast agent were compared. The aim was to determine if the properties of the contrast agent changed when diluted in different media. The agent consists of microbubbles intended to be injected into blood, have shells made of a natural blood protein, Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA), and are air-filled. The effect of their dilution in both water and in a BSA concentration similar to blood was investigated. Attenuation frequency spectra of multiple, statistically averaged batches is plotted, with noticeable differences between the different dilution media of BSA and water. The attenuation relative to the dilution media was greater when the microbubbles were diluted in BSA than when diluted in water. The response in the BSA solution has a broader peak whereas water has relative statistically similar response for the 1-10 MHz frequency range. The difference in the responses was attributed to changes in the microbubble population caused by dilution in the different media

Cross-sectional human tissue equivalent phantoms

Abstract not available

Cross-sectional human tissue equivalent phantoms

Abstract not available

Identifying ovine transcranial acoustic windows

Transcranial Doppler ultrasound (TCD) is used to measure cerebral blood flow velocity in patients with cerebrovascular pathology. The task of locating an adequate acoustic window, through which TCD might be performed, is frequently time consuming or impossible for patients with thick or dense temporal bones. We examined the possibility of utilising B-Mode ultrasound images to guide detection of acoustic windows prior to TCD. B-Mode images of the temporal bone were acquired on deceased sheep shortly after death. We found that on selected sheep, the inner table of the temporal bone was visible on B-Mode imaging. We suggest that visibility of the inner table of the temporal bone on B-Mode imaging is associated with a high probability of successful TCD at that location

Assessing ultrasound response of materials for contrast agents and soft tissue phantoms

Abstract not available