Understanding best practices in control engineering education using the concept of TPACK

This study aimed to design an integrated pedagogical approach to advance introductory Process Control Engineering Education through the application of the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework, and evaluating its impact on student learning. The research is initially being undertaken at Nottingham Trent University, UK but we will next adapt it to a case study in Libya. This paper aims to strengthen the teaching of introductory Process Control by using appropriate approach es in universities to improve the learning outcomes for students. From this work a new schematic for teaching Process Control ha s be en developed and, moreover, a thoughtful best practice in introducing Process Control in engineering education can be developed

Share capitalism and worker wellbeing

We show that worker wellbeing is determined not only by the amount of compensation workers receive but also by how compensation is determined. While previous theoretical and empirical work has often been preoccupied with individual performance-related pay, we find that the receipt of a range of group-performance schemes (profit shares, group bonuses and share ownership) is associated with higher job satisfaction. This holds conditional on wage levels, so that pay methods are associated with greater job satisfaction in addition to that coming from higher wages. We use a variety of methods to control for unobserved individual and job-specific characteristics. We suggest that half of the share-capitalism effect is accounted for by employees reciprocating for the “gift”; we also show that share capitalism helps dampen the negative wellbeing effects of what we typically think of as “bad” aspects of job quality

Two cases of food aversion with semantic dementia

Accounts of altered eating behavior in semantic dementia generally emphasize gluttony and abnormal food preferences. Here we describe two female patients with no past history of eating disorders who developed early prominent aversion to food in the context of an otherwise typical semantic dementia syndrome. One patient (aged 57) presented features in line with anorexia nervosa while the second patient (aged 58) presented with a syndrome more suggestive of bulimia nervosa. These cases add to the growing spectrum of apparently dichotomous behavior patterns in the frontotemporal dementias and illustrate a potentially under-recognized cause of eating disorders presenting in later life

Randomized controlled trial of a primary care–based screening program to identify older women with prevalent osteoporotic vertebral fractures: Cohort for skeletal health in Bristol and Avon (COSHIBA)

Approximately 12% of postmenopausal women have osteoporotic vertebral fractures (VFs); these are associated with excess morbidity and mortality and a high risk of future osteoporotic fractures. Despite this, less than one-third come to clinical attention, partly due to lack of clear clinical triggers for referral for spinal radiographs. The aim of this study was to investigate whether a novel primary care–based screening tool could be used to identify postmenopausal women with osteoporotic VFs and increase appropriate management of osteoporosis. A randomized controlled trial was undertaken in 15 general practices within the Bristol area of the UK. A total of 3200 women aged 65 to 80 years were enrolled, with no exclusion criteria. A simple screening tool was carried out by a nurse in primary care to identify women at high risk of osteoporotic VFs. All identified high-risk women were offered a diagnostic thoracolumbar radiograph. Radiographs were reported using standard National Health Service (NHS) reporting, with results sent back to each participant's general practitioner (GP). Participants in the control arm did not receive the screening tool or radiographs. The main outcome measure was self-reported prescription of medication for osteoporosis at 6 months with a random 5% subsample verified against electronic GP records. Secondary outcome was self-reported incidence of new fractures. Results showed that allocation to screening increased prescription of osteoporosis medications by 124% (odds ratio [OR] for prescription 2.24 at 6 months; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.16 to 4.33). Allocation to screening also reduced fracture incidence at 12-month follow-up (OR for new fracture 0.60; 95% CI, 0.35–1.03; p = 0.063), although this did not reach statistical significance. This study supports the use of a simple screening tool administered in primary care to increase appropriate prescription of medications for osteoporosis in postmenopausal women in the UK. © 2012 American Society for Bone and Mineral Researc

Sea-level constraints on the amplitude and source distribution of Meltwater Pulse 1A.

During the last deglaciation, sea levels rose as ice sheets retreated. This climate transition was punctuated by periods of more intense melting; the largest and most rapid of these—Meltwater Pulse 1A—occurred about 14,500 years ago, with rates of sea-level rise reaching approximately 4 m per century1, 2, 3. Such rates of rise suggest ice-sheet instability, but the meltwater sources are poorly constrained, thus limiting our understanding of the causes and impacts of the event4, 5, 6, 7. In particular, geophysical modelling studies constrained by tropical sea-level records1, 8, 9 suggest an Antarctic contribution of more than seven metres, whereas most reconstructions10 from Antarctica indicate no substantial change in ice-sheet volume around the time of Meltwater Pulse 1A. Here we use a glacial isostatic adjustment model to reinterpret tropical sea-level reconstructions from Barbados2, the Sunda Shelf3 and Tahiti1. According to our results, global mean sea-level rise during Meltwater Pulse 1A was between 8.6 and 14.6 m (95% probability). As for the melt partitioning, we find an allowable contribution from Antarctica of either 4.1 to 10.0 m or 0 to 6.9 m (95% probability), using two recent estimates11, 12 of the contribution from the North American ice sheets. We conclude that with current geologic constraints, the method applied here is unable to support or refute the possibility of a significant Antarctic contribution to Meltwater Pulse 1A

Happiness economics

There is enough evidence to be confident that individuals are able and willing to provide a meaningful answer when asked to value on a finite scale their satisfaction with their own lives, a question that psychologists have long and often posed to respondents of large questionnaires. Without taking its limitations and criticisms too lightly, some economists have been using thismeasure of self-reported satisfaction as a proxy for utility so as to contribute to a better understanding of individuals' tastes and hopefully behavior. By means of satisfaction questions we can elicit information on individual likes and dislikes over a large set of relevant issues, such as income, working status and job amenities, the risk of becoming unemployed, inflation, and health status. This information can be used to evaluate existing ideas from a new perspective, understand individual behavior, evaluate and design public policies, study poverty and inequality, and develop a preference based valuation method. In this article I first critically assess the pros and cons of using satisfaction variables, and then discuss its main applications

Determinants of job satisfaction: a European comparison of self-employed and paid employees

The job satisfaction of self-employed and paid-employed workers is analyzed using the European Community Household Panel for the EU-15 covering the years 1994-2001. We distinguish between two types of job satisfaction: job satisfaction in terms of type of work and job satisfaction in terms of job security. Findings from our generalized ordered logit regressions indicate that self-employed individuals as compared to paid employees are more likely to be satisfied with their present jobs in terms of type of work and less likely to be satisfied in terms of job security. The findings also provide many insights into the determinants of the two types of job satisfaction for both self-employed and paid-employed workers

Quantitating skill acquisition with optical ultrasound simulation

Objective To investigate and compare the effect of simulator training on quantitative scores for ultrasound‐related skills for trainees with novice level ultrasound experience and expert ultrasound operators. Methods Three novice (comprising of 11, 32, 23 participants) and one expert (10 participants) subgroups undertook an ultrasound simulation training session. Pre‐ and post‐training test scores were collected for each subgroup. Outcome measures were as follows: mean accuracy score for obtaining the correct anatomical plane, percentage of correctly acquired target planes, mean number of movements, time to achieve image, distance travelled by probe and accumulated angling of the probe. Results The novices showed improvement in image acquisition after completion of the simulation training session with an improvement in the rate of correctly acquired target planes from 28–57% to 39–83%. This was not replicated in the experts. The novice’s individual ratios based on pre‐ vs. post‐training metrics improved between 1.7‐ and 4.3‐fold for number of movements, 1.9‐ and 6.7‐fold for distance, 2.0‐ and 5.2‐fold for time taken and 1.8‐ and 7.3‐fold for accumulated angling. Among the experts, there was no relationship between pre‐training simulator metrics and years of ultrasound experience. Conclusions The individual simulation metrics suggest the sessions were delivered at an appropriate level for basic training as novice trainees were able to show demonstrable improvements in both efficiency and accuracy on the simulator. Experts did not improve after the simulation modules, and the novice scores post‐training were similar to those of experts, suggesting the exercises were valid in testing ultrasound skills at novice but not expert level