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Understanding Enterprise Architecture in four UK universities
No full textThis research examines the rationale and impact of Enterprise Architecture (EA)adoption in the UK Higher Educational (HE) sector. EA supports alignment of Information Systems (IS) capability and high-level Strategic Planning for organisations. Previous studies in HE sector show that IS planning difficulties are increasingly affecting required levels of effectiveness and future changes. Institutions identify the need for a business-like approach, to support senior managers in the decision-making in times of unprecedented economic and sector revolution. Adopters spearheading the process claim that EA concepts and tools will enable institutions capture IT resources, align administrative processes, leverage IS investments and coordinate information requirements and regulations effectively. This claim is supported by the identification of benefits of EA in other public and private sectors.Using 4 UK universities, this study reviews the practices and effects of EA in the larger but more traditional universities and medium-sized but newer universities. The institutions were investigated using interpretive research methods. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis was used to analyse the data and interpret the findings based on a combination of existing and new theoretical constructs. A summary of the research findings states four key success factors for the adoption and institutionalisation of EA in HE institutions. They are: (i) Senior management support, appropriate organisational structures, actors and scope of EA work (ii) Key stakeholder buy-in and commitment (iii) Resources (iv) Evaluation metrics. HE institutions are not adverse to EA adoption; but are aware that institutional actors and cultures shape the adoption. There are necessary support structures that should be in place: (i) institutions need to have a formalised governance structure, which ensures proper planning procedures are enforced and change is monitored effectively, (ii) the right people skill and availability would ensure success, (iii) adopting a systematic and continuous approach to business process review (iv) institutions need to develop simple and flexible IT infrastructure to enable requirements for integration, accessibility, and agility
Room-temperature remote-plasma sputtering of c-axis oriented zinc oxide thin films
No full textHighly c-axis oriented ZnO films have been deposited at room temperature with high rates (similar to 50 nm.min(-1)) using an innovative remote plasma sputtering configuration, which allows independent control of the plasma density and the sputtering ion energy. The ZnO films deposited possess excellent crystallographic orientation, high resistivity (> 10(9) Omega.m), and exhibit very low surface roughness. The ability to increase the sputtering ion energy without causing unwanted Ar+ bombardment onto the substrate has been shown to be crucial for the growth of films with excellent c-axis orientation without the need of substrate heating. In addition, the elimination of the Ar+ bombardment has facilitated the growth of films with very low defect density and hence very low intrinsic stress (< 100 MPa for 3 mu m-thick films). This is over an order of magnitude lower than films grown with a standard magnetron sputtering system. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4736541
Organisational learning and knowledge management in the NHSBT: An evaluation of the impact a geographically dispersed, multi-functional organisation has on the ability to learn and share knowledge
No full textSince the first voluntary blood donations by members of the Camberwell Red Cross at the Kings College Hospital in 1921, to its inception in 1946, the organisation is steeped in history and culture.NHS Blood and Transplant was formed originally from 15 regional blood centres, previously operating in isolation of each other until 1994. After being devolved from the regional health authorities and 'nationalised', the organisation struggled to consolidate its new structure and it was not until the departure of its chief executive in 1998 that the organisation began to develop into the largely multi-directorate structure that it is today. However it remains geographically distributed as an organisation, operating out of 13 blood centres across England.The objective of the study was to investigate whether NHSBT operates as a unified learning organisation, freely sharing its knowledge and to assess how the structural design of the organisation, its culture and its leadership impact on its operation.A case study was undertaken within the estates and facilities directorate and comprised of data compiled from self-completed questionnaires and a series of focus group and semi-structured interviews.For the NHSBT to improve and sustain performance it must be able to learn; this is termed organisational learning, which in turn is dependent on the organisations ability to obtain and transform its knowledge, this is termed knowledge management.For successful OL and KM the organisation needs to recognise and nurture the links between individuals, groups, structure and the process of socialisation within the organisation. The study demonstrated the organisation does not exhibit the requisite characteristics identified for successful OL and KM in a number of areas.Research showed the organisation focuses heavily on policy, process and regulation. Its ability to adapt and change is hindered by bureaucracy and there is a culture of hierarchical control and authority; inhibiting the behaviours required for OL and KM.The research unsurprisingly demonstrated the blood centres are very focussed on their own operations. However, this focus affects the sites ability to share knowledge and best practice between peer colleagues across the regional, let alone national, structure of the organisation.Research showed that area managers don't necessarily share information and knowledge about organisational or directorate wide matters with site based staff, tending to focus on local matters only, inadvertently isolating their teams from the 'bigger picture'.The study determined there is a general view at operational level; the leadership of the organisation is isolated from site operations and the bureaucracy of the multi-directorate infrastructure, presented an emerging negative view of the national infrastructure as a whole.The study concluded with a number of recommendations designed to improve and encourage communication and collaboration within the estates and facilities directorate and the wider organisation. They include the engagement of the board of directors with operational staff, the cross fertilisation of senior directorate managers to openly share knowledge and experience with other directorates and the reduction of bureaucratic processes within the organisation to encourage effective OL and KM
Mechanical and anti-corrosion properties of TiO2 nanoparticle reinforced Ni coating by electrodeposition
No full textNanocomposite metallic coatings containing various reinforced nanoparticles to improve their tribological and mechanical properties enhance and improve their use in industry and have been developed in last few decades. The main purpose of the current work is to investigate mechanical and anti-corrosion properties of the electroplated nickel nanocomposite with a small percentage of titania nanoparticles. The surface morphology, hardness, wear and corrosion resistance were investigated in detail. The results showed the nanocomposite coatings have a smoother and more compact surface than the pure nickel layer, and have higher hardness and lower wear rate than the pure Ni coating. The preferred orientation of the nanocomposite coating changes from (200) crystal plane to (220) plane. The anti-corrosion property of nanocomposite coating was carried out in 3.5% and 35% NaCl solution, respectively. The results also showed that the nanocomposite coating improves the corrosion resistance significantly. This present work reveals that incorporation of titania nanoparticles in nickel nanocomposite coating can achieve much improved corrosion resistance and mechanical properties of both hardness and wear resistance performances, and the improvement becomes stronger as the content of titania is increased
Pharmacy students want guidelines on Facebook and online professionalism
No full textAimTo investigate pharmacy students’ use of, and attitudes towards, Facebook and professionalism.Design A quantitative, online anonymous survey Subjects and setting 91 pharmacy students at a UK university completed the online survey Results Most students completing the survey were female and most had a Facebook account which they logged onto daily. Results suggest pharmacy students need and want more guidance on online professionalism.Conclusion Although the sample size of the study is small, the findings are nevertheless interesting and insightful and warrant further investigation. The findings indicate that there is a need for students to be more aware of online professionalism, and that they require clear guidelines on online professionalism. These issues may best be dealt with through their undergraduate education in order to prepare students for their careers as healthcare providers
The Educational Affordances of Widgets and Application Stores
No full textIn order to provide interoperable services to a range of applications, platforms and devices a number of open source applications have been developed, many of them within the Apache Software Foundation. We analyse the way that these relate to research and development in education, which has also informed the functionality which they offer, providing a case study of the relationship between generic open source infrastructure development, and the discourse around pedagogy. The functionality foreseen for Personal Learning Environments and for the learning design approach to face-to-face learning is identified. The capabilities of Apache Wookie (incubating) W3C Widget Server are compared with this desired functionality, and the unfulfilled functionality identified with a particular focus on the need to support teachers control over their technological environment in response to emerging conditions in the classroom. The application store ('app store') is identified as a key software paradigm for meeting the unfulfilled functionality, and the ways in which it can support teaching practice are explored. A number of current software projects, and collaborations between them, are described which are contributing to providing a coherent infrastructure for building app stores. Finally some areas of functionality which remain pending future research and development are identified
Dielectric screening effects on transition energies in aligned carbon nanotubes
No full textThe optical transition energies E-ii of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) strongly depend on the dielectric function epsilon(q) of the nanotubes and the dielectric background constant epsilon(bg) of their surroundings. It becomes particularly evident when CNTs in solution and free-standing, vertically aligned CNTs are compared via their optical spectra. Using photoluminescence-excitation spectroscopy, we determine the first two transition energies for these two types of carbon-nanotube samples, i.e., for CNT-solution and CNT-forest samples. We observe considerable energy shifts and explain them by microscopic calculations based on the density-matrix formalism. Combining experiment and theory, we determine the dielectric background constant of the CNT-forest and CNT-solution samples to be 1.3 +/- 0.1 and 1.8 +/- 0.1, respectively
Examining the relationship between male rape myth acceptance, victim blame, homophobia and ambivalent sexism.
No full textThe relationship between male rape myth acceptance, female rape myth acceptance, attitudes toward gay men, a series of gender role and sexism measures, victim blame and assault severity were investigated. It was predicted that men would display more negative, stereotypical attitudes than women and that male rape myth endorsement would be related to, and predicted by, the other attitude and attribution scales. Respondents comprised 323 undergraduates (146 males and 177 females) from a large University in the Northwest of England. Results broadly conformed to predictions, with men generally more negative than women, and male rape myth acceptance significantly related to female rape myth acceptance, negative attitudes about gay men, gender role attitudes, and victim blame. Furthermore, male rape myth acceptance was predicted by female rape myth acceptance, gender attitudes, and victim blame. Methodological issues and implications for future work and those working with victims are discussed
Electro-Responsive Polystyrene Shape Memory Polymer Nanocomposites
No full textMicrostructure, thermo-mechanical, electrical properties and shape recovery efficiency of carbon nano-particles (CNPs) enhanced polystyrene (PS) nanocomposites were characterized. Dynamic mechanical thermal analysis showed an increase in glass transition temperature (T-g) and enhancement of the storage modulus for the polystyrene (PS) composites with the addition of CNPs. Instrumental nanoindentation experiments revealed micro-scale enhancement of mechanical properties by introducing the CNPs into the polymer matrix. Electrical conductivity and dielectric properties of the nanocomposites were dependent on CNP concentrations, testing frequency and temperature. Electro-triggering recovery of a microcantilever made from the CNP/PS shape memory nanocomposite was has been demonstrated and the recovery rates were studied as a function of applied voltage
Protein functionalized ZnO thin film bulk acoustic resonator as an odorant biosensor
No full textZnO thin film bulk acoustic resonators (FBARs) with resonant frequency of ∼1.5GHz have been fabricated to function as an odorant biosensor. Physical adsorption of an odorant binding protein (AaegOBP22 from Aedes aegypti) resulted in frequency down shift. N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide (DEET) has been selected as a ligand to the odorant binding protein (OBP). Alternate exposure of the bare FBARs to nitrogen flow with and without DEET vapor did not cause any noticeable frequency change. However, frequency drop was detected when exposing the OBP loaded FBAR sensors to the nitrogen flow containing DEET vapor against nitrogen flow alone (control) and the extent of frequency shift was proportional to the amount of the protein immobilized on the FBAR surface, indicating a linear response to DEET binding. These findings demonstrate the potential of binding protein functionalized FBARs as odorant biosensors