26729 research outputs found
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Model-based gamification design with Web-Agon: an automated analysis tool for gamification
Get PDFDesigning effective gamified solutions is a difficult and highly complex task. Supporting tools for requirements analyst are very rare, while most existing tools provide automation for reasoning over complex knowledge models. Drawing from our involvement in EU Projects and extensive analyst feedback, this paper presents crucial lessons learned on automating gamification analysis and design. We employed these lessons to guide the development of Web-Agon, a web-based solution that automates reasoning over models to support the analyst. Web-Agon, based on the Acceptance/Gamification Requirements Agon Framework, facilitates systematic gamification analysis of software systems. This approach, driven by acceptance (psychological, sociological, behavioral) requirements, has proven effective in designing systems that positively engage users. Based on models and gamification principles, Web-Agon contributes to building user-centered, engaging software systems. We have evaluated the effectiveness of our tool through a case study on Participatory Architectural Change Management in Air Traffic Management (ATM) systems with the use of Web-Agon for system gamification. We obtained positive results in terms of supporting analyst in a structured, systematic and automated way, reducing potential errors, thanks to automated functionalities, as well as speeding up the gamification process
Addressing the interoperability of electronic health records: the technical and semantic interoperability, preserving privacy and security framework
Get PDFInteroperability has become crucial in the world of electronic health records, allowing for seamless data exchange and integration across diverse settings. It facilitates the integration of disparate systems, ensures that patient records are accessible, and enhances the care-delivery process. The current interoperability landscape of electronic health records is saddled with challenges hindering efficient interoperability. Existing interoperability frameworks have not adequately addressed many of the challenges relating to data exchange, security and privacy. To address these challenges, the TASIPPS (Technical and Semantic Interoperability, Preserving Privacy and Security) framework is proposed as a comprehensive approach to achieving efficient interoperability. The TASIPPS framework integrates robust security and privacy measures, providing real-time access to electronic health records that enable precise diagnoses, timely treatment plans and improved patient outcomes. The TASIPPS framework offers a holistic and effective solution to healthcare interoperability challenges. A comparison of the framework with existing frameworks showed that the TASIPPS framework addresses key limitations in privacy, security, and scalability, while providing enhanced interoperability across distinct healthcare systems, positioning it as a more comprehensive solution for modern healthcare needs
Occupant complacency in workplace fire evacuations
Get PDFThis study explored occupant complacency during workplace fire evacuations. It is targeted at those responsible for fire safety management and fire safety practitioners with a contribution to prevent or mitigate the risk of injury or death arising out of a delayed evacuation at work. It seeks to define occupant complacency during workplace fire evacuations, identify its antecedents and explore effective measures to mitigate or control the antecedents of occupant complacency during workplace fire evacuations. Research was conducted using a survey instrument by contacting safety, health and fire safety professionals globally through convenience sampling and several international safety, health and fire safety-related institutions. This included demographics of the respondents, the confirmation of a definition of complacency, and means of dealing with complacency as defined by the questionnaire including priority strategies. The research team then sought to identify the antecedents of occupant complacency during workplace fire evacuations using raw data from a previous study. This study addresses the hypothesis that if there is a clear definition of occupant complacency during workplace fire evacuations and control measures are developed, tested and implemented, the risks of injury and death related to occupant complacency during workplace fire evacuations could be prevented or mitigated. Analysis of survey findings clarified a number of key strategies to avoid evacuation complacency including but not limited to underscoring the importance of leadership involvement within a safety culture; training and education, awareness raising and communications to avoid occupant complacency during workplace fire evacuations; evacuation drills; procedures, and the role of fire wardens. Based on information from a published report that explored individual attitudes, perceptions and experiences as well as perceived vulnerability that shape antecedents of occupant complacency during workplace fire evacuations and individual behaviours when an evacuation alarm is initiated, the authors identified and filled a gap in the report, by suggesting a working definition of occupant complacency during workplace fire evacuations and control measures to prevent or mitigate this behaviour
Shared sensemaking during a strategic change process: a non-managerial perspective
Get PDFPurpose
This study offers insight into how individuals in non-managerial positions make sense of a strategic change as it unfolds. We explore the dynamic aspects of how these individuals perceive and engage with the evolving process, and how shared strategic understanding is created. The study aimed to bridge the gap between structure and action by highlighting the agency of faculty staff members, during strategic change, in a business school context.
Design/methodology/approach
The study utilized a longitudinal, real-time, inductive approach based on a single explanatory case study to describe how phenomena change over time in context, focusing on faculty staff members in non-managerial positions. Qualitative data was collected in three phases involving real-time reflective diaries and observations, interviews, and documentation. A combinatory process-practice ontology, was adopted, complemented by a “temporal lens” to capture the strategic change process as it unfolded.
Findings
The authors present a temporal process model of strategic change and identify four enabling factors through which shared sensemaking was achieved during the change process. Additionally, the study explores the role of tensions and dissonance in fostering reflection and progress within the context of organizational change.
Originality/value
Findings contribute to the concept of shared sensemaking, and we illustrate how a change process is enabled through the interplay of dynamic (less visible) practices and static (prescriptive) elements of a change process. We contribute towards theory development through a more comprehensive understanding of contextual dynamics and how change processes unfold and interweave, by considering process, structure, and context
MDXPD Magazine 2024
Get PDFThe 2023-24 has been an exciting, creative and productive time for the BA and BEng students and staff, but the broader landscape of Higher Education we sit within has become increasingly uncertain.
Big changes and impacts from Brexit, demographic shifts and directions in government policy over the last decade and a half have left many universities struggling, with course closures and staff redundancies. These changes have the potential to cause societal division, embed disadvantage and more broadly negatively impact the UK’s standing as one of the world-leading providers of Higher Education. The upcoming academic year will start to reveal the real impacts of the choices now being made. Alongside these societal and institutional level challenges, there has been an ongoing sector specific challenge for Design and Technology education, impacting creative sector Higher Education and industry. The Design Council ‘A Blueprint for Renewal Design and Technology Education’ Report in June 2024 discusses the background and proposes action to rectify this: “D&T is a subject in critical decline – it is a microcosm of wider tensions within creative, technical, and cross-curricular learning across the UK. Over the last decade, British D&T GCSE entries have fallen by 68%, and the number of D&T teachers has halved. The fall in D&T has destabilised the whole subject area, masking steep declines in all art and design subjects and cutting off a vital pipeline for creative and engineering talent into industry. Without decisive action from government, industry, and education, the subject risks falling into the margins of the curriculum at the very time it is most needed. All young people must be able to access a great design education if they are to develop the creative problem solving, material intelligence, and systems thinking ability they need to thrive…Design and technology (D&T) is one of the few spaces in the school curriculum where science and creativity meet, and students get to solve real-world problems in innovative ways. The UK’s design industry itself contributes £97.4bn in GVA and is growing at twice the rate of the economy as a whole - it now needs new and diverse talent to lead us forward.”
We celebrate and support the Design Council’s recommendations, along with the Campaign for the Arts, and many other initiatives fighting to ensure that creative education is properly valued and accessible to all. MDXPD will continue to do what it can, connecting with schools, teachers and students to create innovative vertically integrated educational experiences and developing practice-based research that support those experiences.
Have a look through this year’s magazine to see the brilliant work that Product Design and Engineering students, graduates, staff and collaborative partners produce, and the real-world impacts that work can have in our features and reflections.
Good luck to our fantastic graduates for the future!
We hope you enjoy the magazine and best wishes to all readers
A diversified funding profile for banks: including green bonds in the liability structure
No full textBank treasurers can improve their asset and liability management (ALM) using sustainable or green bonds in several ways. Sustainable bonds are fixed-income securities issued specifically to finance environmentally friendly or socially responsible projects. They are an increasingly popular investment option for investors looking to support sustainable development. A number of sovereign entities have issued green and sustainable bonds, followed by financial institutions and other corporates, for several good reasons
The EPPO as a domesticated cat: a perspective from Bulgaria
Get PDFThe European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) has just celebrated the third anniversary of the start of its operations. As a country frequently shaken by scandals implicating abuses of EU funds and known for rampant corruption, Bulgaria provides ample opportunities for the EPPO to show its teeth. Sadly, however, this institution has little to boast with in Bulgaria – it seems to have fallen victim to the country’s long-standing challenges in the area of the rule of law. Without implementing changes ensuring less biased appointment procedures for European Delegated Prosecutors from Bulgaria and without resolving Bulgaria’s rule of law challenges first, the EPPO’s legitimacy and work will always be under question
Strength training perceptions amongst vocational circus and dance students
Get PDFThe aim of this study was to analyse perceptions of strength training in vocational circus and dance students. It was hypothesised that due to the higher relative strength demands and associated risks of working at height in some aerial and acrobatic disciplines that circus students would be more open to strength training than dancers.
Eighty students completed the Training Information Survey (TIS) (Mean age = 20.74±2.71); 39 circus students and 41 dance students. Ninety-seven percent of circus students and 69% of dance participants reported that strength training was a required part of their training with students participating in strength training 4.24±0.98 days per week and 3.05±1.42 days per week respectively.
Perceptions of strength training amongst vocational circus and dance students appear to be favourable, with both sets of students strongly agreeing with the statements “Strength training is essential to my overall development as a dancer/circus artist” (5.00 (IQR 1.00) and 5.00 (IQR 1.00) respectively). Following Bonferonni correction only one statement returned statistically significant results with dance students agreeing more strongly with the statement “Strength training increases muscle size”, U=473.00, p=0.001. Students also agreed that strength training helped them to feel better mentally and physically, that strength training is beneficial for both men and women and that it should not be designated as specific to either sex.
Results support earlier studies that suggest a cultural shift in perceptions of strength training and ideal aesthetic in dance, particularly amongst students and that they are keen to incorporate strength training into their practice. Educational establishments should note students’ interest in participating in strength training, reviewing how to embed effective strength training education, more coaching and time allowance for these activities within their timetable. Further research with a greater sample size is recommended to further substantiate these indications of a shift in perceptions
Single leg drop jump is affected by physical capacities in male soccer players following ACL reconstruction
Get PDFSingle leg drop jump (SLDJ) assessment is commonly used during the later stages of rehabilitation to identify residual deficits in reactive strength but the effects of physical capacity on kinetic and kinematic variables in male soccer players following ACL reconstruction remains unknown. Isokinetic knee extension strength, kinematics from an inertial measurement unit 3D system and SLDJ performance variables and mechanics derived from a force plate were measured in 64 professional soccer players (24.7 ± 3.4 years) prior to return to sport (RTS). SLDJ between-limb differences were measured (part 1) and players were divided into tertiles based on isokinetic knee extension strength (weak, moderate and strong) and reactive strength index (RSI) (low, medium and high) (part 2). Moderate to large significant differences between the ACL reconstructed and uninjured limb in SLDJ performance (d = 0.92 – 1.05), kinetic (d = 0.62 – 0.71) and kinematic variables (d = 0.56) were evident. Stronger athletes jumped higher (p = 0.002; d = 0.85), produced greater concentric (p = 0.001; d = 0.85) and eccentric power (p = 0.002; d = 0.84). Similar findings were present for RSI, but the effects were larger (d = 1.52 – 3.84). Weaker players, and in particular those who had lower RSI, displayed landing mechanics indicative of a “stiff” knee movement strategy. SLDJ performance, kinetic and kinematic differences were identified between-limbs in soccer players at the end of their rehabilitation following ACL reconstruction. Players with lower knee extension strength and RSI displayed reduced performance and kinetic strategies associated with increased injury risk
The augmented studio: Teaching and learning in digital space
Get PDF‘In mixed reality environments, where the physical and virtual merge, every object has the potential to be smart. Every fitting, button, handle, knob, moulding, cornice, ledge has the potential to become a switch, gate, window, link to worlds beyond that in which they materially exist.’
A physical and pedagogical entity, the Design Studio embraces and fosters collaboration beyond its physical borders, however the move to online teaching and learning during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, presented significant challenges to the delivery of architecture and design education, especially in terms of transposing the ‘studio’ environment – it’s ‘signature pedagogy’ - to a virtual alternative. Prompting a deep reflection on and rethinking of teaching and learning within this context, it is our contention that this experience deserves a new empirical framework able to challenge existing pedagogic practices that are fundamentally resistant to change.
Reviewing a year in the life of the BA (Hons) Interior Architecture programme at Middlesex University in London, we explore how the use of digital platforms signaled an emergent spatial typology, investigating pedagogical engagement in a digitally networked learning environment, that sits within the broader context of the Internet of Things, and more latterly, the Internet of Spaces. Further, since the pandemic new forms of Artificial Intelligence have begun to significantly impact upon this learning environment, once again challenging the efficacy of the Design Studio as a pedagogic space. Articulating a future scenario where the Design Studio will necessarily exist as a mixed reality entity, we propose the “Augmented Studio”, as an emerging pedagogic landscape within which we prepare, shape, and equip teaching and learning moving forward. What precedents exist for this augmented environment? How might these inform the evolution of a new pedagogic framework for spatial design education and how might future pedagogy continue to be shaped by digital-era technologies