Students' Attitudes towards Interdisciplinary Education: A Course on Interdisciplinary Aspects of Science and Engineering Education

Science.gov (United States)

Gero, Aharon

2017-01-01

A course entitled "Science and Engineering Education: Interdisciplinary Aspects" was designed to expose undergraduate students of science and engineering education to the attributes of interdisciplinary education which integrates science and engineering. The core of the course is an interdisciplinary lesson, which each student is…

Global Culture, Learning Style, and Outcome: An Interdisciplinary Empirical Study of International University Students

Science.gov (United States)

Strang, Kenneth David

2010-01-01

The study examined 2500 business degree students from 21 countries, enrolled at an Australian university, using a survey to assess learning style, which was integrated into a global culture taxonomy. The research hypothesis was that academic outcome could be explained through an interdisciplinary model, by integrating proven theories from…

Using integrated research and interdisciplinary science: Potential benefits and challenges to managers of parks and protected areas

Science.gov (United States)

van Riper, Charles; Powell, Robert B.; Machlis, Gary; van Wagtendonk, Jan W.; van Riper, Carena J.; von Ruschkowski, Eick; Schwarzbach, Steven E.; Galipeau, Russell E.

2012-01-01

Our purpose in this paper is to build a case for utilizing interdisciplinary science to enhance the management of parks and protected areas. We suggest that interdisciplinary science is necessary for dealing with the complex issues of contemporary resource management, and that using the best available integrated scientific information be embraced and supported at all levels of agencies that manage parks and protected areas. It will take the commitment of park managers, scientists, and agency leaders to achieve the goal of implementing the results of interdisciplinary science into park management. Although such calls go back at least several decades, today interdisciplinary science is sporadically being promoted as necessary for supporting effective protected area management(e.g., Machlis et al. 1981; Kelleher and Kenchington 1991). Despite this history, rarely has "interdisciplinary science" been defined, its importance explained, or guidance provided on how to translate and then implement the associated research results into management actions (Tress et al. 2006; Margles et al. 2010). With the extremely complex issues that now confront protected areas (e.g., climate change influences, extinctions and loss of biodiversity, human and wildlife demographic changes, and unprecedented human population growth) information from more than one scientific discipline will need to be brought to bear in order to achieve sustained management solutions that resonate with stakeholders (Ostrom 2009). Although interdisciplinary science is not the solution to all problems, we argue that interdisciplinary research is an evolving and widely supported best practice. In the case of park and protected area management, interdisciplinary science is being driven by the increasing recognition of the complexity and interconnectedness of human and natural systems, and the notion that addressing many problems can be more rapidly advanced through interdisciplinary study and analysis.

Legacy model integration for enhancing hydrologic interdisciplinary research

Science.gov (United States)

Dozier, A.; Arabi, M.; David, O.

2013-12-01

Many challenges are introduced to interdisciplinary research in and around the hydrologic science community due to advances in computing technology and modeling capabilities in different programming languages, across different platforms and frameworks by researchers in a variety of fields with a variety of experience in computer programming. Many new hydrologic models as well as optimization, parameter estimation, and uncertainty characterization techniques are developed in scripting languages such as Matlab, R, Python, or in newer languages such as Java and the .Net languages, whereas many legacy models have been written in FORTRAN and C, which complicates inter-model communication for two-way feedbacks. However, most hydrologic researchers and industry personnel have little knowledge of the computing technologies that are available to address the model integration process. Therefore, the goal of this study is to address these new challenges by utilizing a novel approach based on a publish-subscribe-type system to enhance modeling capabilities of legacy socio-economic, hydrologic, and ecologic software. Enhancements include massive parallelization of executions and access to legacy model variables at any point during the simulation process by another program without having to compile all the models together into an inseparable 'super-model'. Thus, this study provides two-way feedback mechanisms between multiple different process models that can be written in various programming languages and can run on different machines and operating systems. Additionally, a level of abstraction is given to the model integration process that allows researchers and other technical personnel to perform more detailed and interactive modeling, visualization, optimization, calibration, and uncertainty analysis without requiring deep understanding of inter-process communication. To be compatible, a program must be written in a programming language with bindings to a common

Integrating Interdisciplinary Research-Based Experiences in Biotechnology Laboratories

Science.gov (United States)

Iyer, Rupa S.; Wales, Melinda E.

2012-01-01

The increasingly interdisciplinary nature of today's scientific research is leading to the transformation of undergraduate education. In addressing these needs, the University of Houston's College of Technology has developed a new interdisciplinary research-based biotechnology laboratory curriculum. Using the pesticide degrading bacterium,…

Interdisciplinary Communication

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nagib Callaos

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Communication is fundamental in scientific practice and an integral part of academic work. The practice of communication cannot be neglected by those who are trying to advance scientific research. Effective means should continuously be identified in order to open channels of communication within and among disciplines, among scientists and between scientists and the general public.[1]The increasing importance of interdisciplinary communication has been pointed out by an increasing number of researchers and scholars, as well as in conferences and roundtables on the subject. Some authors even estimate that "interdisciplinary study represents the future of the university."[2] Since interdisciplinary study is "the most underthought critical, pedagogical and institutional concept in modern academy"[3] it is important to think and reflect, and even do some research, on this concept or notion. Research and practice based reflections with regards to this issue are important especially because the increasing complexity and proliferation of scientific research is generating countless specialties, sub-specialties and sub-sub-specialties, with their respective special languages; which were "created for discrete local areas of research based upon the disconnected branches of science."[4] On the other hand, scientific, technical and societal problems are requiring multi- or inter-disciplinary consideration. Consequently, interdisciplinary communication channels are being needed with urgency, and scientific research should be integrated, not just in the context of its discipline, but also in the context of related disciplines. Much more reflection and research should be done on this issue. Research on adequate research integration and communication is urgently required, i.e. meta-research efforts should be done in order to relate research results in an adequate and more useful way. This meta-research effort might be done in the context of each particular

Acquisition of an Advanced Thermal Analysis andImaging System for Integration with Interdisciplinary Researchand Education in Low Density Organic Inorganic Materials

Science.gov (United States)

2017-12-02

Report: Acquisition of an Advanced Thermal Analysis and Imaging System for Integration with Interdisciplinary Research and Education in Low Density...Agreement Number: W911NF-16-1-0475 Organization: University of Texas at El Paso Title: Acquisition of an Advanced Thermal Analysis and Imaging System ...for Integration with Interdisciplinary Research and Education in Low Density Organic-Inorganic Materials Report Term: 0-Other Email: dmisra2

Interdisciplinary Introductory Course in Bioinformatics

Science.gov (United States)

Kortsarts, Yana; Morris, Robert W.; Utell, Janine M.

2010-01-01

Bioinformatics is a relatively new interdisciplinary field that integrates computer science, mathematics, biology, and information technology to manage, analyze, and understand biological, biochemical and biophysical information. We present our experience in teaching an interdisciplinary course, Introduction to Bioinformatics, which was developed…

Structural Narratology and Interdisciplinary Studies

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A. Mohammadi Kalesar

2016-02-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between structural narratology and interdisciplinary studies. We will try to answer two main questions: What factors have been effective in narratology’s orientation toward interdisciplinary studies? Is this tendency the result of a possibility in narration or a methodological necessity? The movement of narratology to interdisciplinary is observable not only in new narratological tendencies but also in changes in structural theories. Therefore, this article will trace the roots of this tendency in the revises and critiques of these theories until 1970s. By tracing these changes it can be realized that the theories of structural narrotology have broken with idea of independence and self-sufficiency of literature and embraced other disciplines. The main factors in these changes are: attention to cultural elements and reading process in the perception of narrative structure. These considerations have been accompanied by some results; first, the main targets of narratology changed from investigating textual properties to reading and understanding the narration process; second, some disciplines and fields related to culture and mind studies found their way into narratology.

Middle Level Preservice Teachers Experience a Natural History Arts-Integrated Interdisciplinary Thematic Unit

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Weber, Carolyn A.; Rule, Audrey C.

2017-01-01

Curricular demands and best practices for middle school require interdisciplinary units. Arts integration can provide motivation and a new pathway to learning. This unit focused on inquiry into the natural history of artifacts and rocks recovered from the exposed subsoil of an area near Cedar Falls, Iowa that had been bulldozed as part of…

Psychology as an Evolving, Interdisciplinary Science: Integrating Science in Sensation and Perception from Fourier to Fluid Dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Ebersole, Tela M.; Kelty-Stephen, Damian G.

2017-01-01

This article outlines the theoretical rationale and process for an integrated-science approach to teaching sensation and perception (S&P) to undergraduate psychology students that may also serve as an integrated-science curriculum. The course aimed to introduce the interdisciplinary evolution of this psychological field irrespective of any…

Integrating interdisciplinary pain management into primary care: development and implementation of a novel clinical program.

Science.gov (United States)

Dorflinger, Lindsey M; Ruser, Christopher; Sellinger, John; Edens, Ellen L; Kerns, Robert D; Becker, William C

2014-12-01

The aims of this study were to develop and implement an interdisciplinary pain program integrated in primary care to address stakeholder-identified gaps. Program development and evaluation project utilizing a Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) approach to address the identified problem of insufficient pain management resources within primary care. A large Healthcare System within the Veterans Health Administration, consisting of two academically affiliated medical centers and six community-based outpatients clinics. An interprofessional group of stakeholders participated in a Rapid Process Improvement Workshop (RPIW), a consensus-building process to identify systems-level gaps and feasible solutions and obtain buy-in. Changes were implemented in 2012, and in a 1-year follow-up, we examined indicators of engagement in specialty and multimodal pain care services as well as patient and provider satisfaction. In response to identified barriers, RPIW participants proposed and outlined two readily implementable, interdisciplinary clinics embedded within primary care: 1) the Integrated Pain Clinic, providing in-depth assessment and triage to targeted resources; and 2) the Opioid Reassessment Clinic, providing assessment and structured monitoring of patients with evidence of safety, efficacy, or misuse problems with opioids. Implementation of these programs led to higher rates of engagement in specialty and multimodal pain care services; patients and providers reported satisfaction with these services. Our PDSA cycle engaged an interprofessional group of stakeholders that recommended introduction of new systems-based interventions to better integrate pain resources into primary care to address reported barriers. Early data suggest improved outcomes; examination of additional outcomes is planned. Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Interdisciplinary and Meta-Disciplinary Integration as a Means of Developing Students’ Communicative Competence

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Y. L. Semenova

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Interdisciplinary and meta-disciplinary integration in education reflects a comprehensive approach to education and training, and makes it possible to single out both the main elements of educational content and subject interrelations, re solving the problem of fragmentation and isolation of different subjects. The paper considers the way of improving students’ bilingual communicative competence by means of implementing interdisciplinary and meta-disciplinary integration in teaching process. By the above competence the authors understand the readiness and ability to perform effective interpersonal, inter-group and inter-cultural communication both in native and foreign languages. The paper describes the meta-disciplinary principle that involves school training of general methods, techniques, schemes and mental work patterns used in working with any materials in any sphere of knowledge, and not lim- ited by specific subjects. The authors recommend the culture dialog as the condition, means and way of personal development in learning native and foreign languages. Bilingual informational, cultural and semantic interrelations, comparison of cultures and languages stimulate students’ cognitive process actualizing their personal experience, facilitating both socio-linguistic and socio-cultural discursive knowledge, providing the effective development of communication skills. The example of meta-disciplinary integration is given demonstrating the students’ communicative competence development in the process of training for the creative part of the unified state examinations in the Russian and English languages. 

Interdisciplinary skills in architectural and engineering education programs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersson, Niclas; Andersson, Pernille Hammar

2006-01-01

and requirements for reinforcement of the interdisciplinary skills within the architectural and engineering education programs as to face the challenges from industry. The study claims that the development of interdisciplinary skills should be regarded a pedagogical issue that can be accomplished by integrative...... project. Besides, new and more integrated forms of co-operation between the various actors make the prevalent professional disciplines more ambiguous and it compels into a need for trans-professional skills among the actors. In contrast to the requirements for interdisciplinary skills, the educational...... training programmes of architects and engineers are traditionally characterised by strict disciplinary boundaries. Thus, the prevailing educational system is challenged to meet the demands for trans-professional skills within industry. The purpose of this paper is to outline some pedagogical prerequisites...

Victorian Era: An Interdisciplinary Unit.

Science.gov (United States)

Gildart, Donna Mae; And Others

Seventh grade students studied the Victorian period using a 4-6 week interdisciplinary unit that integrated language arts, mathematics, art, science, social studies, music, home economics, parents, and business into the program. The main goals were to help students understand the importance of all curriculum subjects; comprehend how subjects are…

Comparison of Syllabi and Inclusion of Recommendations for Interdisciplinary Integration of Visual Arts Contents

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Eda Birsa

2017-09-01

Full Text Available We applied qualitative analysis to the syllabi of all subjects from the 1st up to the 5th grade of basic school in Slovenia in order to find out in what ways they contain recommendations for interdisciplinary integration. We classified them into three categories: references to subjects, implicit references, and explicit references. The classification into these categories has shown that certain concepts foreseen for integration with visual arts education in individual subjects for a certain grade or for a particular educational cycle cannot be found in the visual arts syllabus.

InTeGrate: Interdisciplinary Teaching about the Earth for a Sustainable Future

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Manduca, C. A.

2017-12-01

InTeGrate supports integrated interdisciplinary learning about resource and environmental issues across the undergraduate curriculum to create a sustainable and just civilization. The project has developed teaching materials and examples of their use in programs and is currently engaged in a suite of activities that support use of these resources in improving undergraduate Earth education. Thirty-three sets of teaching materials supporting instruction over time periods of 2 weeks to a full semester have been developed by teams of faculty and peer-reviewed to ensure strong research-based pedagogic design and attention to five design principles: 1) address one or more grand challenges involving the Earth and society, 2) develop student ability to address interdisciplinary problems, 3) improve student understanding of the nature and methods of science and developing geoscientific habits of mind, 4) make use of authentic and credible science data to learn central concepts in the context of scientific methods of inquiry, and, 5) incorporate systems thinking. They have been tested in a wide variety of institutional and disciplinary settings and are documented with instructor notes describing adaptation for specific settings. All published materials passed a review for scientific accuracy. Sixteen program models demonstrate strategies for strengthening learning about Earth and sustainability at scales ranging from a department to an interinstitutional collaboration. These examples document the use of InTeGrate resources in the development and evaluation of these programs. A synthesis of lessons learned by these projects addresses strategies for teaching about the Earth across the curriculum. InTeGrate is currently supporting use of ideas and resources developed over the past six years of project work through a webinar series, workshops at professional society meetings, a traveling workshop program for departments and regions, a set of online learning communities and

Conceptual analysis of interdisciplinary scientific work

OpenAIRE

Beers , P.J.; Bots , P.W.G.

2007-01-01

The main advantage to interdisciplinary professional practice is that it can produce novel product designs and problem solutions. However, it requires knowledge sharing and integration to leverage this potential. This paper reports on a study with a method of conceptual analysis to elicit, analyse and compare conceptual models used by individual researchers, with the ultimate aim to facilitate researchers in sharing and integrating their conceptual notions. We build on an earlier study by ext...

Towards an integrated approach to emergency management: interdisciplinary challenges for research and practice

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Christian Webersik

2015-10-01

Full Text Available This article presents an interdisciplinary vision for large-scale integrated emergency management that has been inspired by the transition from platform centric to inte-grated operations in the oil and gas fields, which uses remote emergency control centres collaborating virtually with local responders. The article discusses some of the most salient research challenges for integrated emergency management, including the role of mobile technology, human-centred sensing, citizen participation and social media, and the socio-cultural determinants of disaster management. The purpose of this article is to frame an integrated emergency management approach that adopts a multi-disciplinary approach, including human computer interaction, information systems, computer science, development studies and organization science employing different methodologies.Most importantly, we need to better understand the socio-cultural determinants of how people prepare to, respond and perceive disasters, in order to evaluate whether and what kind of information and communication technology (ICT support is appropriate. There is need for more research as to why in some regions local people ignore official orders to evacuate, and rather follow the advice of local leaders, elders or religious leaders. In other instances, disasters are seen as 'acts of God' thus shaping disaster preparedness and response.

Developing an evidence base for interdisciplinary learning: a systematic review.

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Cooper, H; Carlisle, C; Gibbs, T; Watkins, C

2001-07-01

The overall aim of the study was to explore the feasibility of introducing interdisciplinary education within undergraduate health professional programmes. This paper reports on the first stage of the study in which a systematic review was conducted to summarize the evidence for interdisciplinary education of undergraduate health professional students. Systematic reviews integrate valid information providing a basis for rational decision making about health care which should be based on empirical and not anecdotal evidence. The accepted principles for systematic reviews were adapted in order to allow integration of the literature to produce recommendations for educational practice and guidelines for future research. The literature on interdisciplinary education was found to be diverse, including relatively small amounts of research data and much larger amounts of evaluation literature. Methodological rating schemes were used to test for confounding influences in the research studies. The number of studies found was 141 but only 30 (21%) were included in the analysis because of lack of methodological rigour in the research and poorly developed outcome measures. Student health professionals were found to benefit from interdisciplinary education with outcome effects primarily relating to changes in knowledge, skills, attitudes and beliefs. Effects upon professional practice were not discernible and educational and psychological theories were rarely used to guide the development of the educational interventions.

Exploring the Effectiveness of Interdisciplinary Instruction on Learning: A Case Study in a College Level Course on Culture, Aid, and Engineering

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Timothy Frank

2013-04-01

Full Text Available The opportunity for higher education students to study a topic through multiple, integrated angles is rare even though life outside of the classroom is filled with problems that require blending of knowledge areas to make appropriate decisions. The authors created a course at the United States Air Force Academy called Foreign Area Studies (FAS 495 in the Spring 2012 semester that integrated African studies, economics, history, political science, literature, project management, military strategy, language, culture, and environmental engineering in the study of how foreign aid has affected Mozambique and how an engineering technology along with cultural consciousness can be effectively used for good. To determine effectiveness of the interdisciplinary approach, qualitative data from student reflection papers and in-class discussions were collected and analyzed. The intent of this paper is to highlight the challenges and lessons learned from developing a project based interdisciplinary course. Results suggest a project based course with interdisciplinary pedagogy can be effective in meeting course goals and increasing meaningful student learning.

Integrated Concentration in Science (iCons): Undergraduate Education Through Interdisciplinary, Team-Based, Real-World Problem Solving

Science.gov (United States)

Tuominen, Mark

2013-03-01

Attitude, Skills, Knowledge (ASK) - In this order, these are fundamental characteristics of scientific innovators. Through first-hand practice in using science to unpack and solve complex real-world problems, students can become self-motivated scientific leaders. This presentation describes the pedagogy of a recently developed interdisciplinary undergraduate science education program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst focused on addressing global challenges with scientific solutions. Integrated Concentration in Science (iCons) is an overarching concentration program that supplements the curricula provided within each student's chosen major. iCons is a platform for students to perform student-led research in interdisciplinary collaborative teams. With a schedule of one course per year over four years, the cohort of students move through case studies, analysis of real-world problems, development of potential solutions, integrative communication, laboratory practice, and capstone research projects. In this presentation, a track emphasizing renewable energy science is used to illustrate the iCons pedagogical methods. This includes discussion of a third-year laboratory course in renewable energy that is educationally scaffolded: beginning with a boot camp in laboratory techniques and culminating with student-designed research projects. Among other objectives, this course emphasizes the practice of using reflection and redesign, as a means of generating better solutions and embedding learning for the long term. This work is supported in part by NSF grant DUE-1140805.

Research design: the methodology for interdisciplinary research framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Tobi, Hilde; Kampen, Jarl K

2018-01-01

Many of today's global scientific challenges require the joint involvement of researchers from different disciplinary backgrounds (social sciences, environmental sciences, climatology, medicine, etc.). Such interdisciplinary research teams face many challenges resulting from differences in training and scientific culture. Interdisciplinary education programs are required to train truly interdisciplinary scientists with respect to the critical factor skills and competences. For that purpose this paper presents the Methodology for Interdisciplinary Research (MIR) framework. The MIR framework was developed to help cross disciplinary borders, especially those between the natural sciences and the social sciences. The framework has been specifically constructed to facilitate the design of interdisciplinary scientific research, and can be applied in an educational program, as a reference for monitoring the phases of interdisciplinary research, and as a tool to design such research in a process approach. It is suitable for research projects of different sizes and levels of complexity, and it allows for a range of methods' combinations (case study, mixed methods, etc.). The different phases of designing interdisciplinary research in the MIR framework are described and illustrated by real-life applications in teaching and research. We further discuss the framework's utility in research design in landscape architecture, mixed methods research, and provide an outlook to the framework's potential in inclusive interdisciplinary research, and last but not least, research integrity.

Bridges and Barriers to Developing and Conducting Interdisciplinary Graduate-Student Team Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wayde Cameron. Morse

2007-12-01

Full Text Available Understanding complex socio-environmental problems requires specialists from multiple disciplines to integrate research efforts. Programs such as the National Science Foundation's Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship facilitate integrated research efforts and change the way academic institutions train future leaders and scientists. The University of Idaho and the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center in Costa Rica collaborate on a joint research program focusing on biodiversity conservation and sustainable production in fragmented landscapes. We first present a spectrum of integration ranging from disciplinary to transdisciplinary across seven aspects of the research process. We then describe our experiences and lessons learned conducting interdisciplinary graduate student team research. Using our program as a case study, we examine the individual, disciplinary, and programmatic bridges and barriers to conducting interdisciplinary research that emerged during our student team research projects. We conclude with a set of recommendations for exploiting the bridges and overcoming the barriers to conducting interdisciplinary research, especially as part of graduate education programs.

Geography and Geographical Information Science: Interdisciplinary Integrators

Science.gov (United States)

Ellul, Claire

2015-01-01

To understand how Geography and Geographical Information Science (GIS) can contribute to Interdisciplinary Research (IDR), it is relevant to articulate the differences between the different types of such research. "Multidisciplinary" researchers work in a "parallel play" mode, completing work in their disciplinary work streams…

Interdisciplinary Approach: A Lever to Business Innovation

Science.gov (United States)

Razmak, Jamil; Bélanger, Charles H.

2016-01-01

The advances in interdisciplinary studies are driving universities to utilize their available resources to efficiently enable development processes and provide increasing examples of research while gradually allocating the disciplines' resources. Ultimately, this trend asks universities to provide a platform of integrated disciplines, along with…

Experiences in applying Bayesian integrative models in interdisciplinary modeling: the computational and human challenges

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kuikka, Sakari; Haapasaari, Päivi Elisabet; Helle, Inari

2011-01-01

We review the experience obtained in using integrative Bayesian models in interdisciplinary analysis focusing on sustainable use of marine resources and environmental management tasks. We have applied Bayesian models to both fisheries and environmental risk analysis problems. Bayesian belief...... be time consuming and research projects can be difficult to manage due to unpredictable technical problems related to parameter estimation. Biology, sociology and environmental economics have their own scientific traditions. Bayesian models are becoming traditional tools in fisheries biology, where...

Integrating health literacy and ESL: an interdisciplinary curriculum for Hispanic immigrants.

Science.gov (United States)

Soto Mas, Francisco; Mein, Erika; Fuentes, Brenda; Thatcher, Barry; Balcázar, Héctor

2013-03-01

Adult Hispanic immigrants are at a greater risk of experiencing the negative outcomes related to low health literacy, as they confront cultural and language barriers to the complex and predominately monolingual English-based U.S. health system. One approach that has the potential for simultaneously addressing the health, literacy, and language needs of Hispanics is the combination of health literacy and English as a second language (ESL) instruction. The purpose of the project was to evaluate the feasibility of using ESL instruction as a medium for improving health literacy among Hispanic immigrants. Objectives included the development, implementation, and evaluation of an interdisciplinary health literacy/ESL curriculum that integrates theories of health literacy and health behavior research and practice, sociocultural theories of literacy and communication, and adult learning principles. This article describes the curriculum development process and provides preliminary qualitative data on learners' experiences with the curriculum. Results indicate that the curriculum was attractive to participants and that they were highly satisfied with both the format and content. The curriculum described here represents one example of an audience-centered approach designed to meet the specific health and literacy needs of the Hispanic population on the U.S.-Mexico border. The combination of ESL and health literacy contributed to a perceived positive learning experience among participants. Interdisciplinary approaches to health literacy are recommended.

Interdisciplinary Learning as a Basis for Formation of Intercultural Communicative Competence

Science.gov (United States)

Redchenko, Nadezhda N.

2016-01-01

An interdisciplinary approach provides many benefits that warrant the need for its use at technical universities teaching foreign language as an academic discipline. This article reviews recent Russian researches focused on interdisciplinary integration, summarizes advantages and proves overall high efficacy of the interdisciplinary approach to…

How to Enhance Interdisciplinary Competence--Interdisciplinary Problem-Based Learning versus Interdisciplinary Project-Based Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Brassler, Mirjam; Dettmers, Jan

2017-01-01

Interdisciplinary competence is important in academia for both employability and sustainable development. However, to date, there are no specific interdisciplinary education models and, naturally, no empirical studies to assess them. Since problem-based learning (PBL) and project-based learning (PjBL) are learning approaches that emphasize…

Interdisciplinary teamwork: is the influence of emotional intelligence fully appreciated?

Science.gov (United States)

McCallin, Antoinette; Bamford, Anita

2007-05-01

The purpose of this study is to discuss how emotional intelligence affects interdisciplinary team effectiveness. Some findings from a larger study on interdisciplinary teamworking are discussed. Teams are often evaluated for complementary skill mix and expertise that are integrated for specialist service delivery. Interactional skills and emotional intelligence also affect team behaviour and performance. An effective team needs both emotional intelligence and expertise, including technical, clinical, social and interactional skills, so that teamwork becomes greater or lesser than the whole, depending on how well individuals work together. Team diversity, individuality and personality differences, and interprofessional safety are analysed to raise awareness for nurse managers of the complexity of interdisciplinary working relationships. If nursing input into interdisciplinary work is to be maximized, nurse managers might consider the role of emotional intelligence in influencing team effectiveness, the quality of client care, staff retention and job satisfaction.

Systems innovation model: an integrated interdisciplinary team approach pre- and post-bariatric surgery at a veterans affairs (VA) medical center.

Science.gov (United States)

Eisenberg, Dan; Lohnberg, Jessica A; Kubat, Eric P; Bates, Cheryl C; Greenberg, Lauren M; Frayne, Susan M

2017-04-01

Provision of bariatric surgery in the Veterans Health Administration must account for obese veterans' co-morbidity burden and the geographically dispersed location of patients relative to Veterans Affairs (VA) bariatric centers. To evaluate a collaborative, integrated, interdisciplinary bariatric team of surgeons, bariatricians, psychologists, dieticians, and physical therapists working in a hub-and-spokes care model, for pre- and post-bariatric surgery assessment and management. This is a description of an interdisciplinary clinic and bariatric program at a VA healthcare system and a report on program evaluation findings. Retrospective data of a prospective database was abstracted. For program evaluation, we abstracted charts to characterize patient data and conducted a patient survey. Since 2009, 181 veterans have undergone bariatric surgery. Referrals came from 7 western U.S. states. Mean preoperative body mass index was 46 kg/m 2 (maximum 71). Mean age was 53 years, with 33% aged>60 years; 79% were male. Medical co-morbidity included diabetes (70%), hypertension (85%), and lower back or extremity joint pain (84%). A psychiatric diagnosis was present in 58%. At 12 months, follow-up was 81% and percent excess body mass index loss was 50.5%. Among 54 sequential clinic patients completing anonymous surveys, overall satisfaction with the interdisciplinary team approach and improved quality of life were high (98% and 94%, respectively). The integrated, interdisciplinary team approach using a hub-and-spokes model is well suited to the VA bariatric surgery population, with its heavy burden of medical and mental health co-morbidity and its system of geographically dispersed patients receiving treatment at specialty centers. As the VA seeks to expand the use of bariatric surgery as an option for obese veterans, interdisciplinary models crafted to address case complexity, care coordination, and long-term outcomes should be part of policy planning efforts. Published by

Barriers and Solutions to Conducting Large International, Interdisciplinary Research Projects

Science.gov (United States)

Pischke, Erin C.; Knowlton, Jessie L.; Phifer, Colin C.; Gutierrez Lopez, Jose; Propato, Tamara S.; Eastmond, Amarella; de Souza, Tatiana Martins; Kuhlberg, Mark; Picasso Risso, Valentin; Veron, Santiago R.; Garcia, Carlos; Chiappe, Marta; Halvorsen, Kathleen E.

2017-12-01

Global environmental problems such as climate change are not bounded by national borders or scientific disciplines, and therefore require international, interdisciplinary teamwork to develop understandings of their causes and solutions. Interdisciplinary scientific work is difficult enough, but these challenges are often magnified when teams also work across national boundaries. The literature on the challenges of interdisciplinary research is extensive. However, research on international, interdisciplinary teams is nearly non-existent. Our objective is to fill this gap by reporting on results from a study of a large interdisciplinary, international National Science Foundation Partnerships for International Research and Education (NSF-PIRE) research project across the Americas. We administered a structured questionnaire to team members about challenges they faced while working together across disciplines and outside of their home countries in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. Analysis of the responses indicated five major types of barriers to conducting interdisciplinary, international research: integration, language, fieldwork logistics, personnel and relationships, and time commitment. We discuss the causes and recommended solutions to the most common barriers. Our findings can help other interdisciplinary, international research teams anticipate challenges, and develop effective solutions to minimize the negative impacts of these barriers to their research.

Barriers and Solutions to Conducting Large International, Interdisciplinary Research Projects.

Science.gov (United States)

Pischke, Erin C; Knowlton, Jessie L; Phifer, Colin C; Gutierrez Lopez, Jose; Propato, Tamara S; Eastmond, Amarella; de Souza, Tatiana Martins; Kuhlberg, Mark; Picasso Risso, Valentin; Veron, Santiago R; Garcia, Carlos; Chiappe, Marta; Halvorsen, Kathleen E

2017-12-01

Global environmental problems such as climate change are not bounded by national borders or scientific disciplines, and therefore require international, interdisciplinary teamwork to develop understandings of their causes and solutions. Interdisciplinary scientific work is difficult enough, but these challenges are often magnified when teams also work across national boundaries. The literature on the challenges of interdisciplinary research is extensive. However, research on international, interdisciplinary teams is nearly non-existent. Our objective is to fill this gap by reporting on results from a study of a large interdisciplinary, international National Science Foundation Partnerships for International Research and Education (NSF-PIRE) research project across the Americas. We administered a structured questionnaire to team members about challenges they faced while working together across disciplines and outside of their home countries in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. Analysis of the responses indicated five major types of barriers to conducting interdisciplinary, international research: integration, language, fieldwork logistics, personnel and relationships, and time commitment. We discuss the causes and recommended solutions to the most common barriers. Our findings can help other interdisciplinary, international research teams anticipate challenges, and develop effective solutions to minimize the negative impacts of these barriers to their research.

Development of Emotional Skills through Interdisciplinary Practices Integrated into a University Curriculum

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. L. Pertegal-Felices

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The emotional profile of university students has been related to both academic performance and professional success. Such evidence has led higher education professionals to ask whether students can be trained in emotional skills at university stage. However, learning specific emotional skills requires a considerable investment of time from students. This paper presents an intervention aimed at developing emotional skills through interdisciplinary teamwork, without adding specific courses that could decrease the time that students devote to their core studies. The results indicated that working in interdisciplinary teams improved the level of emotional skills without hindering the attainment of academic objectives.

Three Interdisciplinary Studies on IT Outsourcing

Science.gov (United States)

Gantman, Sonia Vilvovsky

2012-01-01

This dissertation provides interdisciplinary insights into the role of client's internal collaborative experience in managing communication during a complex outsourced project, building a quality client-vendor relationship and ultimately achieving success in the project. Each of the three studies in this dissertation identifies a gap in…

Water as Life, Death, and Power: Building an Integrated Interdisciplinary Course Combining Perspectives from Anthropology, Biology, and Chemistry

Science.gov (United States)

Willermet, Cathy; Mueller, Anja; Juris, Stephen J.; Drake, Eron; Upadhaya, Samik; Chhetri, Pratik

2013-01-01

In response to a request from a campus student organization, faculty from three fields came together to develop and teach an integrated interdisciplinary course on water issues and social activism. This course, "Water as Life, Death, and Power", brought together topics from the fields of anthropology, biology and chemistry to explore…

Defining interdisciplinary competencies for audiological rehabilitation: findings from a modified Delphi study.

Science.gov (United States)

Xue, Lina; Le Bot, Gaëlle; Van Petegem, Wim; van Wieringen, Astrid

2018-02-01

The aim of this study is to derive a consensus on an interdisciplinary competency framework regarding a holistic approach for audiological rehabilitation (AR), which includes disciplines from medicine, engineering, social sciences and humanities. We employed a modified Delphi method. In the first round survey, experts were asked to rate an initial list of 28 generic interdisciplinary competencies and to propose specific knowledge areas for AR. In the second round, experts were asked to reconsider their answers in light of the group answers of the first round. An international panel of 27 experts from different disciplines in AR completed the first round. Twenty-two of them completed the second round. We developed a competency framework consisting of 21 generic interdisciplinary competencies grouped in five domains and nine specific competencies (knowledge areas) in three clusters. Suggestions for the implementation of the generic competencies in interdisciplinary programmes were identified. This study reveals insights into the interdisciplinary competencies that are unique for AR. The framework will be useful for educators in developing interdisciplinary programmes as well as for professionals in considering their lifelong training needs in AR.

Interdisciplinary Approach in Engineering Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anda Zeidmane

2011-04-01

Full Text Available The analysis of the scientific literature available on the types of general competences and their classification caused the authors to conclude that it is necessary to implement interdisciplinary approach in engineering education to develop competences necessary for engineers to make them competitive in the labour market. The attention should be paid to a professional foreign language, computer literacy and educational psychology recommendations. To improve professional foreign language skills, CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning method should be integrated in the study process of engineering education. In order to develop information literacy competence, it is important to create a single e-study environment. The academic staff, developing study subjects for engineering programmes, should focus on the study content and study methods. As regards the content, the compromise should be sought between fundamental acquisition of the knowledge of the subject matter, the know-how of the application of this knowledge as well as the use of brand new software in the calculations. The paper presents the examples of the application of the interdisciplinary approach in the universities, where the authors of the paper are affiliated: the LUA (Latvia University of Agriculture and the RTU (Riga Technical University, respectively.

An interdisciplinary study in initial teacher training

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Virginia Larraz Rada

2014-07-01

Full Text Available This experiment of innovative university education shows the interdisciplinary work carried out in the studies of the Bachelor of Science in Education at the University of Andorra. The study was developed within two subjects: Communication Technology (TAC and Cultural Heritage Education in Andorra. The main objective of this experiment is to foster the use of technological resources and digital materials, with the aim of drawing cultural heritage closer to the classroom. Based on a previous study of documentation and an analysis of online educational materials, the students have to design an e-book, which is understood to be digital material in the curricular field of cultural heritage. This digital material is a didactic proposal that focuses on the construction of knowledge by primary school students. During the elaboration of the materials the instructors introduce follow-up activities. The results of the experiment show that, from an interdisciplinary approach, and a problem-solving, learning-centered methodology, specific and transferable abilities in initial teacher training can be studied and evaluated.

Assessing the facilitators and barriers of interdisciplinary team working in primary care using normalisation process theory: An integrative review.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Reilly, Pauline; Lee, Siew Hwa; O'Sullivan, Madeleine; Cullen, Walter; Kennedy, Catriona; MacFarlane, Anne

2017-01-01

Interdisciplinary team working is of paramount importance in the reform of primary care in order to provide cost-effective and comprehensive care. However, international research shows that it is not routine practice in many healthcare jurisdictions. It is imperative to understand levers and barriers to the implementation process. This review examines interdisciplinary team working in practice, in primary care, from the perspective of service providers and analyses 1 barriers and facilitators to implementation of interdisciplinary teams in primary care and 2 the main research gaps. An integrative review following the PRISMA guidelines was conducted. Following a search of 10 international databases, 8,827 titles were screened for relevance and 49 met the criteria. Quality of evidence was appraised using predetermined criteria. Data were analysed following the principles of framework analysis using Normalisation Process Theory (NPT), which has four constructs: sense making, enrolment, enactment, and appraisal. The literature is dominated by a focus on interdisciplinary working between physicians and nurses. There is a dearth of evidence about all NPT constructs apart from enactment. Physicians play a key role in encouraging the enrolment of others in primary care team working and in enabling effective divisions of labour in the team. The experience of interdisciplinary working emerged as a lever for its implementation, particularly where communication and respect were strong between professionals. A key lever for interdisciplinary team working in primary care is to get professionals working together and to learn from each other in practice. However, the evidence base is limited as it does not reflect the experiences of all primary care professionals and it is primarily about the enactment of team working. We need to know much more about the experiences of the full network of primary care professionals regarding all aspects of implementation work. International

Culture in Context: An Interdisciplinary Travel Study Course.

Science.gov (United States)

Berger, Karen A.; O'Neill, Geraldine P.

2002-01-01

Describes an interdisciplinary travel study course designed to teach cultural appreciation and sensitivity in context. Readings and instruction focus on cultural issues that affect business and marketing practices, using France and the French as the subjects of the study. (Author/VWL)

Interdisciplinary SBME : a case study in development of B-SBME

OpenAIRE

Shahoumian, Armineh; Parchoma, Gale; Saunders, Murray; Hanson, Jacky; Dickinson, Mike; Pimblett, Mark

2013-01-01

This study examines interdisciplinary practices in the development a blended learning approach to Simulation Based Medical Education (B-SBME). The project team included an emergency medicine consultant, two health care professionals/simulation facilitators, an educational researcher, and an educational research student. The terms, multi- and inter-disciplinary, are often used interchangeably. Whilst in multi-disciplinary projects members of different disciplines “work together on a joint proj...

Facilitating the transition from physiology to hospital wards through an interdisciplinary case study of septic shock.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Albert S; Berger, Kenneth I; Schwartz, David R; Slater, William R; Goldfarb, David S

2014-04-12

In order to develop clinical reasoning, medical students must be able to integrate knowledge across traditional subject boundaries and multiple disciplines. At least two dimensions of integration have been identified: horizontal integration, bringing together different disciplines in considering a topic; and vertical integration, bridging basic science and clinical practice. Much attention has been focused on curriculum overhauls, but our approach is to facilitate horizontal and vertical integration on a smaller scale through an interdisciplinary case study discussion and then to assess its utility. An interdisciplinary case study discussion about a critically ill patient was implemented at the end of an organ system-based, basic sciences module at New York University School of Medicine. Three clinical specialists-a cardiologist, a pulmonologist, and a nephrologist-jointly led a discussion about a complex patient in the intensive care unit with multiple medical problems secondary to septic shock. The discussion emphasized the physiologic underpinnings behind the patient's presentation and the physiologic considerations across the various systems in determining proper treatment. The discussion also highlighted the interdependence between the cardiovascular, respiratory, and renal systems, which were initially presented in separate units. After the session students were given a brief, anonymous three-question free-response questionnaire in which they were asked to evaluate and freely comment on the exercise. Students not only took away physiological principles but also gained an appreciation for various thematic lessons for bringing basic science to the bedside, especially horizontal and vertical integration. The response of the participants was overwhelmingly positive with many indicating that the exercise integrated the material across organ systems, and strengthened their appreciation of the role of physiology in understanding disease presentations and guiding

How to successfully publish interdisciplinary research: learning from an Ecology and Society Special Feature

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christian Pohl

2015-06-01

Full Text Available What are the factors that hinder or support publishing interdisciplinary research? What does a successful interdisciplinary publishing process look like? We address these questions by analyzing the publishing process of the interdisciplinary research project titled "Mountland." Project researchers published most of their main results as a Special Feature of Ecology and Society. Using the story wall method and qualitative content analysis, we identified ten factors contributing to the success or failure of publishing interdisciplinary research. They can be assigned to four groups of resources: scientific resources, i.e., previous joint research, simultaneously written manuscripts; human resources, i.e., coordination, flexibility, composition of the team; integrative resources, i.e., vision of integration, chronology of results; and feedback resources, i.e., internal reviews, subject editors, external reviewers. According to this analysis, an ideal-typical publishing process necessitates, among other things, (1 a strong, interdisciplinary coordinator, (2 a clear shared vision of integration and a common framework, (3 flexibility in terms of money and time, (4 a certain sense of timing regarding when and how to exchange results and knowledge, (5 subject editors who are familiar with the specific project and its interdisciplinary merits, and (6 reviewers who are open minded about interdisciplinary efforts.

Integrating cognitive rehabilitation: A preliminary program description and theoretical review of an interdisciplinary cognitive rehabilitation program.

Science.gov (United States)

Fleeman, Jennifer A; Stavisky, Christopher; Carson, Simon; Dukelow, Nancy; Maier, Sheryl; Coles, Heather; Wager, John; Rice, Jordyn; Essaff, David; Scherer, Marcia

2015-01-01

Interdisciplinary cognitive rehabilitation is emerging as the expected standard of care for individuals with mild to moderate degrees of cognitive impairment for a variety of etiologies. There is a growing body of evidence in cognitive rehabilitation literature supporting the involvement of multiple disciplines, with the use of cognitive support technologies (CSTs), in delivering cognitive therapy to individuals who require cognitive rehabilitative therapies. This article provides an overview of the guiding theories related to traditional approaches of cognitive rehabilitation and the positive impact of current theoretical models of an interdisciplinary approach in clinical service delivery of this rehabilitation. A theoretical model of the Integrative Cognitive Rehabilitation Program (ICRP) will be described in detail along with the practical substrates of delivering specific interventions to individuals and caregivers who are living with mild to moderate cognitive impairment. The ultimate goal of this article is to provide a clinically useful resource for direct service providers. It will serve to further clinical knowledge and understanding of the evolution from traditional silo based treatment paradigms to the current implementation of multiple perspectives and disciplines in the pursuit of patient centered care. The article will discuss the theories that contributed to the development of the interdisciplinary team and the ICRP model, implemented with individuals with mild to moderate cognitive deficits, regardless of etiology. The development and implementation of specific assessment and intervention strategies in this cognitive rehabilitation program will also be discussed. The assessment and intervention strategies utilized as part of ICRP are applicable to multiple clinical settings in which individuals with cognitive impairment are served. This article has specific implications for rehabilitation which include: (a) An Interdisciplinary Approach is an

Preparing to understand and use science in the real world: interdisciplinary study concentrations at the Technical University of Darmstadt.

Science.gov (United States)

Liebert, Wolfgang J

2013-12-01

In order to raise awareness of the ambiguous nature of scientific-technological progress, and of the challenging problems it raises, problems which are not easily addressed by courses in a single discipline and cannot be projected onto disciplinary curricula, Technical University of Darmstadt has established three interdisciplinary study concentrations: "Technology and International Development", "Environmental Sciences", and "Sustainable Shaping of Technology and Science". These three programmes seek to overcome the limitations of strictly disciplinary research and teaching by developing an integrated, problem-oriented approach. For example, one course considers fundamental nuclear dilemmas and uses role-playing techniques to address a controversy in the area of nuclear security. At the same time, incorporating interdisciplinary teaching into a university that is organized around mono- or multi-disciplinary faculties also poses a number of challenges. Recognition in disciplinary curricula, and appropriate organizational support and funding are examples of those challenges. It is expected that science and engineering students, empowered by such interdisciplinary study programmes, will be better prepared to act responsibly with regard to scientific and technological challenges.

Creating interdisciplinary education within monodisciplinary structures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lindvig, Katrine; Lyall, Catherine; R. Meagher, Laura

2017-01-01

The literature on interdisciplinary higher education is influenced by two overall trends: one looks at the institutional level of specially designed interdisciplinary institutions, while the other assesses individual interdisciplinary educational activities. Much less attention is given...... to the processes of creating interdisciplinary education initiatives within traditional monodisciplinary universities. In this study, we thus explore how interdisciplinary education and teaching emerge and develop within universities that have little or no established infrastructure to support interdisciplinarity....... Using qualitative data from a multi-part case study, we examine the development of diverse interdisciplinary educational efforts within a traditional faculty-structured university in order to map the ways in which interdisciplinary educational elements have been created, supported, challenged or even...

Promoting interdisciplinary education - the Vienna Doctoral Programme on Water Resource Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Blöschl, G.; Carr, G.; Bucher, C.; Farnleitner, A. H.; Rechberger, H.; Wagner, W.; Zessner, M.

2012-02-01

The Vienna Doctoral Programme on Water Resource Systems (DK-WRS) is a programme that aims to educate students in interdisciplinary water science through cutting edge research at an international level. It is funded by the Austrian Science Fund and designed to run over a period of 12 yr during which 80 doctoral students are anticipated to graduate. This paper reports on our experiences of setting up and implementing the Programme. We identify three challenges: integrating the disciplines, maintaining depth in an interdisciplinary programme, and teaching subjects remote to each student's core expertise. To address these challenges we adopt a number of approaches. We use three levels of instruments to foster integration across the disciplines: joint groups (e.g. a joint study programme), joint science questions (e.g. developed in annual symposia), and joint study sites. To maintain depth we apply a system of quality control including regular feedback sessions, theses by journal publications and international study exchange. For simultaneously teaching students from civil and environmental engineering, biology, geology, chemistry, mathematics we use visually explicit teaching, learning by doing, extra mentoring and by cross relating associated subjects. Our initial assessment of the Programme shows some very positive outcomes. Joint science questions formed between students from various disciplines indicate integration is being achieved. The number of successful publications in top journals suggests that depth is maintained. Positive feedback from the students on the variety and clarity of the courses indicates the teaching strategy is working well. Our experiences have shown that implementing and running an interdisciplinary doctoral programme has its challenges and is demanding in terms of time and human resources but seeing interactions progress and watching people grow and develop their way of thinking in an interdisciplinary environment is a valuable reward.

Integrating Hydrology and Historical Geography in an Interdisciplinary Environmental Masters Program in Northern Ontario, Canada

Science.gov (United States)

Greer, Kirsten; James, April

2016-04-01

Research in hydrology and other sciences are increasingly calling for new collaborations that "…simultaneously explore the biogeophysical, social and economic forces that shape an increasingly human-dominated global hydrologic system…" (Vorosmarty et al. 2015, p.104). With many environmental programs designed to help students tackle environmental problems, these initiatives are not without fundamental challenges (for example, they are often developed around a single epistemology of positivism). Many environmental graduate programs provide narrow interdisciplinary training (within the sciences, or bridging to the social sciences) but do not necessarily engage with the humanities. Geography however, has a long tradition and history of bridging the geophysical, social sciences, and humanities. In this paper, we reflect on new programming in an Interdisciplinary Master's program in Northern Ontario, Canada, inspired by the rich tradition of geography. As Canada Research Chairs trained in different geographical traditions (historical geography and hydrology), we aim to bring together approaches in the humanities and geophysical sciences to understand hydrological and environmental change over time. We are teaching in a small, predominantly undergraduate University located in Northern Ontario, Canada, a region shaped significantly by colonial histories and resource development. The Masters of Environmental Studies/Masters of Environmental Sciences (MES/MESc) program was conceived from a decade of interdisciplinary dialogue across three undergraduate departments (Geography, Biology and Chemistry, History) to promote an understanding of both humanistic and scientific approaches to environmental issues. In the fall of 2015, as part of our 2015-2020 Canada Research Chair mandates, we introduced new initiatives to further address the integration of humanities and sciences to our graduate program. We believe the new generation of environmental scientists and practioners

Considering dance practices as unique cases in interdisciplinary research studies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ravn, Susanne

” (Flyvbjerg, 2011) in the domain of qualitative research. Such designs are of specific relevance for research projects exploring body, movement and sensing in general. Thereafter I present the results of some of my resent studies. These studies are based in a critical constructive interdisciplinary......The aim of this paper is to present interdisciplinary considerations of relevance to strengthen dance research in relation to – and in cooperation with - other academic disciplines. I firstly describe how dance practices can be handled as “extreme cases” and cases with “maximal variations...

Interdisciplinary Working Practices: Can Creative Dance Improve Math?

Science.gov (United States)

Leandro, Cristina Rebelo; Monteiro, Elisabete; Melo, Filipe

2018-01-01

This study is integrated in the field of Dance in Education, focusing on the instrumentalist aspect of art. We focused on creative dance as a catalyst to learn Mathematics' contents. This interdisciplinary work can enhance the learning, as far as the understanding of Mathematics' concepts is achieved through the body and revealed by expressive and…

Assessing the facilitators and barriers of interdisciplinary team working in primary care using normalisation process theory: An integrative review

Science.gov (United States)

O’Reilly, Pauline; Lee, Siew Hwa; O’Sullivan, Madeleine; Cullen, Walter; Kennedy, Catriona; MacFarlane, Anne

2017-01-01

Background Interdisciplinary team working is of paramount importance in the reform of primary care in order to provide cost-effective and comprehensive care. However, international research shows that it is not routine practice in many healthcare jurisdictions. It is imperative to understand levers and barriers to the implementation process. This review examines interdisciplinary team working in practice, in primary care, from the perspective of service providers and analyses 1 barriers and facilitators to implementation of interdisciplinary teams in primary care and 2 the main research gaps. Methods and findings An integrative review following the PRISMA guidelines was conducted. Following a search of 10 international databases, 8,827 titles were screened for relevance and 49 met the criteria. Quality of evidence was appraised using predetermined criteria. Data were analysed following the principles of framework analysis using Normalisation Process Theory (NPT), which has four constructs: sense making, enrolment, enactment, and appraisal. The literature is dominated by a focus on interdisciplinary working between physicians and nurses. There is a dearth of evidence about all NPT constructs apart from enactment. Physicians play a key role in encouraging the enrolment of others in primary care team working and in enabling effective divisions of labour in the team. The experience of interdisciplinary working emerged as a lever for its implementation, particularly where communication and respect were strong between professionals. Conclusion A key lever for interdisciplinary team working in primary care is to get professionals working together and to learn from each other in practice. However, the evidence base is limited as it does not reflect the experiences of all primary care professionals and it is primarily about the enactment of team working. We need to know much more about the experiences of the full network of primary care professionals regarding all aspects

Case study of the interdisciplinary integration in an IST-E3 project

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Ulrik

2002-01-01

Case study of a specific IST-E3 project funded by the EU commissions 5th framework program. The case study highlights the difficulties in integrating different disciplinary approaches and suggests that a more openended research strategy should be applied by the commission.......Case study of a specific IST-E3 project funded by the EU commissions 5th framework program. The case study highlights the difficulties in integrating different disciplinary approaches and suggests that a more openended research strategy should be applied by the commission....

Position Paper: Designing Complex Systems to Support Interdisciplinary Cognitive Work

Science.gov (United States)

Greene, Melissa T.; Papalambros, Panos Y.; Mcgowan, Anna-Maria R.

2016-01-01

The paper argues that the field we can call cognitive science of interdisciplinary collaboration is an important area of study for improving design of Large-Scale Complex Systems (LaCES) and supporting cognitive work. The paper mostly raised questions that have been documented in earlier qualitative analysis studies, and provided possible avenues of exploration for addressing them. There are likely further contributions from additional disciplines beyond those mentioned in this paper that should be considered and integrated into such a cognitive science framework. Knowledge and awareness of various perspectives will help to inform the types of interventions available for improving LaCES design and functionality. For example, a cognitive interpretation of interdisciplinary collaborations in LaCES elucidated the need for a "translator" or "mediator" in helping subject matter experts to transcend language boundaries, mitigate single discipline bias, support integrative activities, and correct misaligned objectives. Additional research in this direction is likely to uncover similar gaps and opportunities for improvements in practice.

Enhancing (In)Formal Learning Ties in Interdisciplinary Management Courses: A Quasi-Experimental Social Network Study

Science.gov (United States)

Rienties, Bart; Héliot, YingFei

2018-01-01

While interdisciplinary courses are regarded as a promising method for students to learn and apply knowledge from other disciplines, there is limited empirical evidence available whether interdisciplinary courses can effectively "create" interdisciplinary students. In this innovative quasi-experimental study amongst 377 Master's…

La dinámica interdisciplinar del proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje del Cálculo Diferencial e Integral en la carrera Ingeniería Civil Model of the interdisciplinary dynamics of the teaching-learning process of Differential and Integral Calculus in the Civil Engineering career

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nilda Iglesias Domecq

2018-05-01

Full Text Available The current information society demands that civil engineers have an adequate command of the contents of Differential and Integral Calculus as a basis for their successful professional performance. However, there are many national and international reports of learning difficulties of these contents during the undergraduate training period. The objective of this article is to explain the interdisciplinary dynamic that underlies the teaching-learning process of Differential and Integral Calculus by Civil Engineering students. The research methods used were the content analysis of relevant theoretical sources and holistic-configurational modeling. The main result reveals the interdisciplinary logic established between the systematization and engineering functionality of the content of Differential and Integral Calculus and its projective-structural generalization, which constitutes an essential necessary condition for the development of competence for the application of the referred content to the resolution of projective-structural problems. Keywords: The current information society demands that civil engineers have an adequate command of the contents of Differential and Integral Calculus as a basis for their successful professional performance. However, there are many national and international reports of learning difficulties of these contents during the undergraduate training period. The objective of this article is to explain the interdisciplinary dynamic that underlies the teaching-learning process of Differential and Integral Calculus by Civil Engineering students. The research methods used were the content analysis of relevant theoretical sources and holistic-configurational modeling. The main result reveals the interdisciplinary logic established between the systematization and engineering functionality of the content of Differential and Integral Calculus and its projective-structural generalization, which constitutes an essential

Promoting interdisciplinary education − the Vienna Doctoral Programme on Water Resource Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

W. Wagner

2012-02-01

Full Text Available The Vienna Doctoral Programme on Water Resource Systems (DK-WRS is a programme that aims to educate students in interdisciplinary water science through cutting edge research at an international level. It is funded by the Austrian Science Fund and designed to run over a period of 12 yr during which 80 doctoral students are anticipated to graduate. This paper reports on our experiences of setting up and implementing the Programme. We identify three challenges: integrating the disciplines, maintaining depth in an interdisciplinary programme, and teaching subjects remote to each student's core expertise. To address these challenges we adopt a number of approaches. We use three levels of instruments to foster integration across the disciplines: joint groups (e.g. a joint study programme, joint science questions (e.g. developed in annual symposia, and joint study sites. To maintain depth we apply a system of quality control including regular feedback sessions, theses by journal publications and international study exchange. For simultaneously teaching students from civil and environmental engineering, biology, geology, chemistry, mathematics we use visually explicit teaching, learning by doing, extra mentoring and by cross relating associated subjects. Our initial assessment of the Programme shows some very positive outcomes. Joint science questions formed between students from various disciplines indicate integration is being achieved. The number of successful publications in top journals suggests that depth is maintained. Positive feedback from the students on the variety and clarity of the courses indicates the teaching strategy is working well. Our experiences have shown that implementing and running an interdisciplinary doctoral programme has its challenges and is demanding in terms of time and human resources but seeing interactions progress and watching people grow and develop their way of thinking in an interdisciplinary environment is a

Who talks to whom about what? How interdisciplinary communication and knowledge of expertise distribution improve in integrated R&D labs.

Science.gov (United States)

Heinzen, Mareike; Cacciatori, Eugenia; Zoller, Frank A; Boutellier, Roman

2018-04-13

Although several studies have examined the impact of open workspaces, there is still an on-going debate about its advantages and disadvantages. Our paper contributes to this debate by shedding light on three issues: the effect of open workspaces on (1) the flow of communication along and across hierarchical lines; (2) the content of communication; and (3) the specificities of open integrated laboratories. Our findings derive from a longitudinal case in a large pharmaceutical company that has relocated some R&D teams from enclosed to multi-space offices and labs. The relocation has resulted in (a) increased interdisciplinary communication, particularly at lower hierarchical levels, (b) a shift of the location of discussions and the content of conversations and (c) an improved knowledge about expertise distribution. Practitioner Summary: Communication is essential in knowledge-driven organisations. This article examines the impact of a relocation of R&D employees from enclosed to multi-space offices and labs on communication patterns. We explain how the new environment fosters interdisciplinary communication, shifts the location of discussions and increases the knowledge of expertise distribution.

The need for interdisciplinary research in personality studies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Van Oers, K.

2007-01-01

The target paper demonstrates the value of evolutionary genetics for personality research. Apart from a summing-up of concepts, the authors validate their theory with evidence from studies on both human- and animal personality. In this commentary, I want to show the need for inter-disciplinary

Integration of microbiology and infectious disease teaching courses in an interdisciplinary training programme (Master level) centred on the 'One world, one health' WHO concept.

Science.gov (United States)

Eveillard, Matthieu; Ruvoen, Nathalie; Lepelletier, Didier; Fradet, Stéphanie; Couvreur, Sébastien; Krempf, Michel; Magras, Catherine

2016-05-01

This report describes the integration of the microbiology and infectious diseases teaching courses in an international Master's level interdisciplinary programme based on the 'One world, one health' WHO concept, and reports the students and teachers' evaluation related to their feelings of about this innovative programme. The integration was evaluated by recording the positioning of these two topics in the five teaching units constituting the programme, and by identifying their contribution in the interactions between the different teaching units. The satisfaction of students was assessed by a quantitative survey, whereas the feelings of students and teachers were assessed by interviews. The study demonstrated that microbiology and infectious diseases were widely involved in interactions between the teaching units, constituting a kind of cement for the programme. The students assigned a mean score of 3.7 to the topics dealing with microbiology and infectious diseases. According to the qualitative data, students and teachers considered that the interdisciplinary approach provided new insights but reported problems of communication, probably inherent to the multiculturalism of the class. © FEMS 2016. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Fostering Interdisciplinary Thinking through an International Development Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Ellett, Rachel L.; Esperanza, Jennifer; Phan, Diep

2016-01-01

Despite widespread acknowledgment of the importance of interdisciplinary pedagogy, disciplinary teaching remains the norm on most campuses, primarily due to cost and institutional constraints. Bridging the gap between literature on interdisciplinary teaching and active-learning techniques, this article describes an innovative and less costly…

The method shaft projects integrator in the process of forming the teaching mode interdisciplinary performance at the initial stage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Beatriz Páez Rodríguez

2010-06-01

Full Text Available In this article is approached the practical viability of the method of projects for the contribution to the process of formation in the professional, pedagogic and interdisciplinary way of acting in the initial stage of the trainee teachers, which is inserted in the professional formation in the curricular and in the extracurricular field, so that the formation of the student be integral and inside the context.

Five Strategic Imperatives for Interdisciplinary Study in Mass Communications/Media Studies in the U.S. and U.K.

Science.gov (United States)

Petrausch, Robert J.

2005-01-01

Interdisciplinary study can allow students to share ideas with scholars in allied fields and broaden their knowledge of global issues. Mass communication/media studies programs in the U.S. and U.K. can serve as models to lead students into successful learning through interdisciplinary study. This paper outlines five strategic imperatives for the…

Teaching `community engagement' in engineering education for international development: Integration of an interdisciplinary social work curriculum

Science.gov (United States)

Gilbert, Dorie J.; Lehman Held, Mary; Ellzey, Janet L.; Bailey, William T.; Young, Laurie B.

2015-05-01

This article reviews the literature on challenges faced by engineering faculty in educating their students on community-engaged, sustainable technical solutions in developing countries. We review a number of approaches to increasing teaching modules on social and community components of international development education, from adding capstone courses and educational track seminars to integrating content from other disciplines, particularly the social sciences. After summarising recent pedagogical strategies to increase content on community-focused development, we present a case study of how one engineering programme incorporates social work students and faculty to infuse strategies for community engagement in designing and implementing student-led global engineering development projects. We outline how this interdisciplinary pedagogical approach teaches students from the two disciplines to work together in addressing power balances, economic and social issues and overall sustainability of international development projects.

Visualising the Interdisciplinary Research Field: The Life Cycle of Economic History in Australia

Science.gov (United States)

Wright, Claire; Ville, Simon

2017-01-01

Interdisciplinary research is frequently viewed as an important component of the research landscape through its innovative ability to integrate knowledge from different areas. However, support for interdisciplinary research is often strategic rhetoric, with policy-makers and universities frequently adopting practices that favour disciplinary…

Transporting ideas between marine and social sciences: experiences from interdisciplinary research programs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lucy M. Turner

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The oceans comprise 70% of the surface area of our planet, contain some of the world’s richest natural resources and are one of the most significant drivers of global climate patterns. As the marine environment continues to increase in importance as both an essential resource reservoir and facilitator of global change, it is apparent that to find long-term sustainable solutions for our use of the sea and its resources and thus to engage in a sustainable blue economy, an integrated interdisciplinary approach is needed. As a result, interdisciplinary working is proliferating. We report here our experiences of forming interdisciplinary teams (marine ecologists, ecophysiologists, social scientists, environmental economists and environmental law specialists to answer questions pertaining to the effects of anthropogenic-driven global change on the sustainability of resource use from the marine environment, and thus to transport ideas outwards from disciplinary confines. We use a framework derived from the literature on interdisciplinarity to enable us to explore processes of knowledge integration in two ongoing research projects, based on analyses of the purpose, form and degree of knowledge integration within each project. These teams were initially focused around a graduate program, explicitly designed for interdisciplinary training across the natural and social sciences, at the Gothenburg Centre for Marine Research at the University of Gothenburg, thus allowing us to reflect on our own experiences within the context of other multi-national, interdisciplinary graduate training and associated research programs.

Epistemic dependence in interdisciplinary groups

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Hanne; Wagenknecht, Susann

2013-01-01

In interdisciplinary research scientists have to share and integrate knowledge between people and across disciplinary boundaries. An important issue for philosophy of science is to understand how scientists who work in these kinds of environments exchange knowledge and develop new concepts...... and theories across diverging fields. There is a substantial literature within social epistemology that discusses the social aspects of scientific knowledge, but so far few attempts have been made to apply these resources to the analysis of interdisciplinary science. Further, much of the existing work either...... ignores the issue of differences in background knowledge, or it focuses explicitly on conflicting background knowledge. In this paper we provide an analysis of the interplay between epistemic dependence between individual experts with different areas of expertise. We analyze the cooperative activity...

Quality improvement of interdisciplinary rounds by leadership training based on essential quality indicators of the Interdisciplinary Rounds Assessment Scale.

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Ten Have, Elsbeth C M; Nap, Raoul E; Tulleken, Jaap E

2013-10-01

The implementation of interdisciplinary teams in the intensive care unit (ICU) has focused attention on leadership behavior. Daily interdisciplinary rounds (IDRs) in ICUs integrate leadership behavior and interdisciplinary teamwork. The purpose of this intervention study was to measure the effect of leadership training on the quality of IDRs in the ICU. A nonrandomized intervention study was conducted in four ICUs for adults. The intervention was a 1-day training session in a simulation environment and workplace-based feedback sessions. Measurement included 28 videotaped IDRs (total, 297 patient presentations) that were assessed with 10 essential quality indicators of the validated IDR Assessment Scale. Participants were 19 intensivists who previously had no formal training in leading IDRs. They were subdivided by cluster sampling into a control group (ten experienced intensivists) and intervention group (nine intensive care fellows). Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare results between control and intervention groups. Baseline measurements of control and intervention groups revealed two indicators that differed significantly. The frequency of yes ratings for the intervention group significantly increased for seven of the ten indicators from before to after intervention. The frequency of yes ratings after training was significantly greater in the intervention than control groups for eight of the ten essential quality indicators. The leadership training improved the quality of the IDRs performed in the ICUs. This may improve quality and safety of patient care.

Course Descriptions in Environmental Studies Part Two: Interdisciplinary Courses.

Science.gov (United States)

Dunlap, Riley; And Others

1984-01-01

Presents descriptions (syllabi, outlines, goals) of interdisciplinary environmental studies courses. Topic areas of these courses include: environmental sociology; human ecology (politics, institutions, and the environment); humans and the environment in historical perspective; environmental management; humans, hazards, and disasters; and other…

Teaching Earth Sciences as an interdisciplinary subject: Novel module design involving research literature

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Tong, Vincent C. H.

2010-05-01

The study of Earth Sciences requires an interdisciplinary approach as it involves understanding scientific knowledge originating from a wide spectrum of research areas. Not only does it include subjects ranging from, for instance, hydrogeology to deep crustal seismology and from climate science to oceanography, but it also has many direct applications in closely related disciplines such as environmental engineering and natural resources management. While research crossing traditional disciplinary boundaries in geosciences is becoming increasingly common, there is only limited integration of interdisciplinary research in the teaching of the subject. Given that the transition from undergraduate education based on subject modules to postgraduate interdisciplinary research is never easy, such integration is a highly desirable pedagogical approach at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. My presentation is based on a recent teaching project involving novel design of an undergraduate course. The course is implemented in order to address the synergy between research and teaching (Tong, 2009). This project has been shown to be effective and successful in teaching geosciences undergraduates at the University of London. The module consists of studying core geophysical principles and linking them directly to a selection of recently published research papers in a wide range of interdisciplinary applications. Research reviewing and reporting techniques are systematically developed, practised and fully integrated into teaching of the core scientific theories. A fully-aligned assignment with a feedback website invites the students to reflect on the scientific knowledge and the study skills related to research literature they have acquired in the course. This teaching project has been recognized by a teaching award (http://www.clpd.bbk.ac.uk/staff/BETA). In this presentation, I will discuss how undergraduate teaching with a focus on research literature in Earth Sciences can

Teaching design engineering in an interdisciplinary programme

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wits, Wessel Willems; Homminga, Jasper Johan; Endedijk, Maaike Dorine; Visscher, Klaasjan; Krab-Hüsken, Leonie; van den Berg, Frank; Wilhelm, P.

2014-01-01

ATLAS, the Academy of Technology and Liberal Arts & Sciences, is an interdisciplinary three-year Bachelor of Science honours programme for talented students that opened its doors in September 2013. This international programme uses the concept of project-led education to teach students to integrate

Knowledge Integration and Inter-Disciplinary Communication in Action Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hahn Heidi Ann

2014-08-01

Full Text Available In a plenary talk at WMSCI 2012 entitled "Planning for Action Research: Looking at Practice through a Different Lens," this author asserted that behavioral science practitioners, often "back into" action research – they start out doing a process improvement or intervention and discover something along the way, i.e., generalizable knowledge, that seems worthwhile to share with their community of practice. It was further asserted that, had the efforts been conceived of as research from the outset, the contributions to the body of knowledge would be more robust and the utility of the projects would improve as well. This paper continues on that theme. Action research and process improvement methods are briefly described and compared. A comparison of two Los Alamos National Laboratory engineering ethics training projects – one developed using a process improvement framework, the other using an action research framework – is put forth to provide evidence that use of a research "lens" can enhance behavioral science interventions and the knowledge that may result from them. The linkage between the Specifying Learning and Diagnosing stages of the Action Research Cycle provides one mechanism for integrating the knowledge gained into the product or process being studied and should provide a reinforcing loop that leads to continual improvement. The collaborative relationships among researchers and the individual, group, or organization that is the subject of the imp rovement op p ortunity (the "client", who are likely from very different backgrounds, and the interpretive epistemology that are among the hallmarks of action research also contribute to the quality of the knowledge gained. This paper closes with a discussion of how Inter-Disciplinary Communication is embedded within the action research paradigm and how this likely also enriches the knowledge gained.

An interdisciplinary approach to volcanic risk reduction under conditions of uncertainty: a case study of Tristan da Cunha

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Hicks, A.; Barclay, J.; Simmons, P.; Loughlin, S.

2014-07-01

The uncertainty brought about by intermittent volcanic activity is fairly common at volcanoes worldwide. While better knowledge of any one volcano's behavioural characteristics has the potential to reduce this uncertainty, the subsequent reduction of risk from volcanic threats is only realised if that knowledge is pertinent to stakeholders and effectively communicated to inform good decision making. Success requires integration of methods, skills and expertise across disciplinary boundaries. This research project develops and trials a novel interdisciplinary approach to volcanic risk reduction on the remote volcanic island of Tristan da Cunha (South Atlantic). For the first time, volcanological techniques, probabilistic decision support and social scientific methods were integrated in a single study. New data were produced that (1) established no spatio-temporal pattern to recent volcanic activity; (2) quantified the high degree of scientific uncertainty around future eruptive scenarios; (3) analysed the physical vulnerability of the community as a consequence of their geographical isolation and exposure to volcanic hazards; (4) evaluated social and cultural influences on vulnerability and resilience; and (5) evaluated the effectiveness of a scenario planning approach, both as a method for integrating the different strands of the research and as a way of enabling on-island decision makers to take ownership of risk identification and management, and capacity building within their community. The paper provides empirical evidence of the value of an innovative interdisciplinary framework for reducing volcanic risk. It also provides evidence for the strength that comes from integrating social and physical sciences with the development of effective, tailored engagement and communication strategies in volcanic risk reduction.

Learning about the Earth through Societally-relevant Interdisciplinary Research Projects: the Honours Integrated Science Program at McMaster

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Eyles, C.; Symons, S. L.; Harvey, C. T.

2016-12-01

Students in the Honours Integrated Science (iSci) program at McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) learn about the Earth through interdisciplinary research projects that focus on important societal issues. The iSci program is a new and innovative undergraduate program that emphasizes the links between scientific disciplines and focuses on learning through research and the development of scientific communication skills. The program accepts up to 60 students each year and is taught by a team of 18 instructors comprising senior and junior faculty, post-doctoral fellows, a lab coordinator, instructional assistant, a librarian and library staff, and an administrator. The program is designed around a pedagogical model that emphasizes hands-on learning through interdisciplinary research (Research-based Integrated Education: RIE) and is mostly project-based and experiential. In their freshman year students learn fundamental Earth science concepts (in conjunction with chemistry, physics, mathematics and biology) through research projects focused on environmental contamination, interplanetary exploration, the effect of drugs on the human body and environment, sustainable energy, and cancer. In subsequent years they conduct research on topics such as the History of the Earth, Thermodynamics, Plant-Animal Interactions, Wine Science, Forensics, and Climate Change. The iSci program attracts students with a broad interest in science and has been particularly effective in directing high quality students into the Earth sciences as they are introduced to the discipline in their first year of study through research projects that are interesting and stimulating. The structure of the iSci program encourages consideration of geoscientific applications in a broad range of societally relevant research projects; these projects are reviewed and modified each year to ensure their currency and ability to meet program learning objectives.

Interdisciplinary approach to disaster resilience education and research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Faber, Michael Havbro; Giuliani, Luisa; Revez, A.

2014-01-01

in disaster-resilience design by social and cultural aspects, which are instead not often adequately considered in the practice. The establishment of an education on resilient design of urban system, which includes both social and technological aspects, emerges as a possible solution to overcome barriers......-operation and interdisciplinary methodologies in research and education. The survey has been carried out by means of a questionnaire focusing on disaster-resilience projects and on the main challenges faced in interdisciplinary working. The results of the questionnaire, which collected 57 answers from more than 20 European...... that information and methods are exchanged, but a full integration of methods and concepts into a common shared language and system of axioms is missing; iii) the lack of a common framework and common terminology represents a major barrier to good interdisciplinary work. The results highlight the role played...

Toward an Analytic Framework of Interdisciplinary Reasoning and Communication (IRC) Processes in Science

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Ji; Sung, Shannon; Zhang, Dongmei

2015-11-01

Students need to think and work across disciplinary boundaries in the twenty-first century. However, it is unclear what interdisciplinary thinking means and how to analyze interdisciplinary interactions in teamwork. In this paper, drawing on multiple theoretical perspectives and empirical analysis of discourse contents, we formulate a theoretical framework that helps analyze interdisciplinary reasoning and communication (IRC) processes in interdisciplinary collaboration. Specifically, we propose four interrelated IRC processes-integration, translation, transfer, and transformation, and develop a corresponding analytic framework. We apply the framework to analyze two meetings of a project that aims to develop interdisciplinary science assessment items. The results illustrate that the framework can help interpret the interdisciplinary meeting dynamics and patterns. Our coding process and results also suggest that these IRC processes can be further examined in terms of interconnected sub-processes. We also discuss the implications of using the framework in conceptualizing, practicing, and researching interdisciplinary learning and teaching in science education.

Interdisciplinary Integration of the CVS Module and Its Effect on Faculty and Student Satisfaction as Well as Student Performance

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Ayuob Nasra N

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Beyond the adoption of the principles of horizontal and vertical integration, significant planning and implementation of curriculum reform is needed. This study aimed to assess the effect of the interdisciplinary integrated Cardiovascular System (CVS module on both student satisfaction and performance and comparing them to those of the temporally coordinated CVS module that was implemented in the previous year at the faculty of Medicine of the King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia. Methods This interventional study used mixed method research design to assess student and faculty satisfaction with the level of integration within the CVS module. A team from the medical education department was assembled in 2010/2011 to design a plan to improve the CVS module integration level. After delivering the developed module, both student and faculty satisfaction as well as students performance were assessed and compared to those of the previous year to provide an idea about module effectiveness. Results Many challenges faced the medical education team during design and implementation of the developed CVS module e.g. resistance of faculty members to change, increasing the percentage of students directed learning hours from the total contact hour allotted to the module and shifting to integrated item writing in students assessment, spite of that the module achieved a significant increase in both teaching faculty and student satisfaction as well as in the module scores. Conclusion The fully integrated CVS has yielded encouraging results that individual teachers or other medical schools who attempt to reformulate their curriculum may find valuable.

Interdisciplinary innovations in biomedical and health informatics graduate education.

Science.gov (United States)

Demiris, G

2007-01-01

Biomedical and health informatics (BHI) is a rapidly growing domain that relies on the active collaboration with diverse disciplines and professions. Educational initiatives in BHI need to prepare students with skills and competencies that will allow them to function within and even facilitate interdisciplinary teams (IDT). This paper describes an interdisciplinary educational approach introduced into a BHI graduate curriculum that aims to prepare informatics researchers to lead IDT research. A case study of the "gerontechnology" research track is presented which highlights how the curriculum fosters collaboration with and understanding of the disciplines of Nursing, Engineering, Computer Science, and Health Administration. Gerontechnology is a new interdisciplinary field that focuses on the use of technology to support aging. Its aim is to explore innovative ways to use information technology and develop systems that support independency and increase quality of life for senior citizens. As a result of a large research group that explores "smart home" technologies and the use of information technology, we integrated this new domain into the curriculum providing a platform for computer scientists, engineers, nurses and physicians to explore challenges and opportunities with our informatics students and faculty. The interdisciplinary educational model provides an opportunity for health informatics students to acquire the skills for communication and collaboration with other disciplines. Numerous graduate and postgraduate students have already participated in this initiative. The evaluation model of this approach is presented. Interdisciplinary educational models are required for health informatics graduate education. Such models need to be innovative and reflect the needs and trends in the domains of health care and information technology.

Integration of biological, economic and sociological knowledge by Bayesian belief networks: the interdisciplinary evaluation of potential management plans for Baltic salmon

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Levontin, Polina; Kulmala, Soile; Haapasaari, Päivi Elisabet

2011-01-01

There is a growing need to evaluate fisheries management plans in a comprehensive interdisciplinary context involving stakeholders. The use of a probabilistic management model to evaluate potential management plans for Baltic salmon fisheries is demonstrated. The analysis draws on several scientific...... studies: a biological stock assessment with integrated economic analysis of the commercial fisheries, an evaluation of recreational fisheries, and a sociological study aimed at understanding stakeholder perspectives and potential commitment to alternative management plans. A Bayesian belief network is used...... is highlighted by modelling the link between commitment and implementation success. Such analyses, relying on prior knowledge, can forewarn of the consequences of management choices before they are implemented...

Anesthesia: A Topic for Interdisciplinary Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Labianca, Dominick A.; Reeves, William J.

1977-01-01

Describes an interdisciplinary approach for teaching the topic of anesthesia as one aspect of a chemistry-oriented course for nonscience majors which focuses on timely topics such as the energy crisis and drugs. Historical treatment with the examination of literature is emphasized in teaching. (HM)

6. The Interdisciplinary Dimension of the Vocalchoral Culture of the Pupil in the Music School

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Glebov Ana

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Process in the context of the vocal-choral culture of the students of the music school. The concept of interdisciplinary is considered as a symbiosis of two or more academic disciplines in the formation of the vocal-choral culture of pupils in the musical-artistic field. In this case, interdisciplinary occurs in integrating the knowledge, capabilities and aptitudes formed, taking into account significant specific factors. Thus, the interdisciplinary approach is carried out through such disciplines as solfeggio, history of music, instrument, ensemble, but also the integration into the vocal-choral of the method of interiorizing the music through the philosophical, musical and psycho-pedagogical aspects.

The "Goldberg Variations" and Ian McEwan's Saturday - a study of interdisciplinary analogies

OpenAIRE

Lykka, Inga Hild

2014-01-01

This thesis examines the musical influence on Ian McEwan’s fiction, in particular that of the Goldberg Variations’ influence on his novel Saturday. This involves an interdisciplinary analysis that compares the two arts, and sheds light on both possibilities and difficulties with regards to which musical features are likely to occur in literature or not. The analysis is founded on previous interdisciplinary studies of music and literature in general, studies of representations of the Goldberg ...

Nurturing Interdisciplinary Competence in Academic Writing Classes: Two Taiwanese TESOL Professionals' Shared Journey

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Cheryl Wei-yu; Wang, Hung-chun

2016-01-01

This study delineates two Taiwanese TESOL teachers' efforts of combining English writing with entrepreneurship education to cultivate English majors' interdisciplinary competence in academic writing classes. An integrated business-and-writing approach was proposed to foster English majors' academic writing skills and entrepreneurial capacities. In…

Towards an interdisciplinary ICT applied ethics: language matters

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Marcelo Buzato

Full Text Available Abstract: This study seeks to support an interdisciplinary, theory-practice integrated work on the applied ethics of information and communication technologies (ICT. Current work on applied ICT ethics is of a disciplinary nature and seeks to apply traditional philosophical norms to novel situations that are not easily identified by analogy to previous cases. I propose an alternative view in which ICTs are seen as a moral environment and ethical agents are seen as human-computer hybrids (cyborgs whose experiences acquire ethical value ecologically. To implement such a view, I propose employing two different kinds of semiotics: a semiotics of meaning-making that is open to the environmental effects of cyborg acts across scales, and a material semiotics that allows for interdisciplinary practitioners to recognize the modes of existence involved in the ethical issues and work out better means-ends relationships among the modes pertinent to each discipline.

Measurement properties and implementation of a checklist to assess leadership skills during interdisciplinary rounds in the intensive care unit

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ten Have, Elsbeth C M; Nap, Raoul E; Tulleken, Jaap E

2015-01-01

The implementation of interdisciplinary teams in the intensive care unit (ICU) has focused attention on leadership behavior. A daily recurrent situation in ICUs in which both leadership behavior and interdisciplinary teamwork are integrated concerns the interdisciplinary rounds (IDRs). Although IDRs

Interdisciplinary research and education in the Vienna Doctoral Programme on Water Resource Systems: a framework for evaluation

Science.gov (United States)

Bloeschl, G.; Carr, G.; Loucks, D. P.

2017-12-01

Greater understanding of how interdisciplinary research and education evolves is critical for identifying and implementing appropriate programme management strategies. We propose a program evaluation framework that is based on social learning processes (individual learning, interdisciplinary research practices, and interaction between researchers with different backgrounds); social capital outcomes (ability to interact, interpersonal connectivity, and shared understanding); and knowledge and human capital outcomes (new knowledge that integrates multiple research fields). The framework is tested on established case study doctoral program: the Vienna Doctoral Program on Water Resource Systems. Data are collected via mixed qualitative/quantitative methods that include semi-structured interviews, publication co-author analysis, analysis of research proposals, categorisation of the interdisciplinarity of publications and graduate analysis. Through the evaluation and analysis, several interesting findings about how interdisciplinary research evolves and can be supported are identified. Firstly, different aspects of individual learning seem to contribute to a researcher's ability to interact with researchers from other research fields and work collaboratively. These include learning new material from different research fields, learning how to learn new material and learning how to integrate different material. Secondly, shared interdisciplinary research practices can be identified that may be common to other programs and support interaction and shared understanding between different researchers. They include clarification and questioning, harnessing differences and setting defensible research boundaries. Thirdly, intensive interaction between researchers from different backgrounds support connectivity between the researchers, further enabling cross-disciplinary collaborative work. The case study data suggest that social learning processes and social capital outcomes

AN APPROACH TO MANAGING UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ SELF-STUDY BASED ON INTERDISCIPLINARY E-PROJECTS

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Yu. V. Krasavina

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction. There are two tendencies considerably allocated in educational process of the modern higher school: the increasing amount of time for independent work of students and the active introduction of the information and communication technologies (ICT which is followed by its continuous updating and improvement. The article contributes to the problem of managing competency-based and professionally-oriented self-study for future teachers; the suggested method combines the advantages of project-based learning and the use of ICT.Aim. The objective of the paper is to assess the efficacy of interdisciplinary e-project-based approach to managing university students’ self-study.Methods. To evaluate the efficacy of such innovative method as interdisciplinary e-projects, we use quantitative and qualitative assessment. A set of quantitative pre- and post-surveys are administered for students in order to evaluate their learning outcomes and competencies development. Students’ motivation and attitudes were evaluated through questionnaires, interviews and discussions. An expert group appraisal method was used to define assessment components. Results. The groups of didactic properties and ICT didactic functions are allocated and analysed. Types of educational projects are presented. Definition and characteristic of the interdisciplinary e-project are given. Results of the pedagogical experiment conducted in M. T. Kalashnikov Izhevsk State University are described; the technology of development among students of foreign-language and information-communication competences as the most important professional ones is approved.Scientific novelty. The method of interdisciplinary e-projects is offered; it involves a set of the educational-informative techniques and procedures realized in the electronic environment and directed to the solution of the interdisciplinary problem connected with types and tasks of vocational activity

How journal rankings can suppress interdisciplinary research. A comparison between Innovation Studies and Business & Management

OpenAIRE

Rafols, Ismael; Leydesdorff, Loet; O'Hare, Alice; Nightingale, Paul; Stirling, Andy

2011-01-01

This study provides quantitative evidence on how the use of journal rankings can disadvantage interdisciplinary research in research evaluations. Using publication and citation data, it compares the degree of interdisciplinarity and the research performance of a number of Innovation Studies units with that of leading Business & Management schools in the UK. On the basis of various mappings and metrics, this study shows that: (i) Innovation Studies units are consistently more interdisciplinary...

Case Study in Interdisciplinary Scientific Communication: A Decade of the INDECS Journal

OpenAIRE

Stepanić, Josip; Zoroja, Jovana; Šimičević, Vanja

2017-01-01

Background: Interdisciplinary scientific areas regularly develop unique methodologies, yet utilise the conventional communication modes to disseminate results of their researches. Objectives: This paper analyses whether a novel, interdisciplinary communication mode can be found in a gradually developing interdisciplinary journal. Methods/Approach: The content of the journal was categorised based on the characteristics attributed to the published papers. Statistical tests were performed to che...

Patient Care Planning: An Interdisciplinary Approach

OpenAIRE

Prophet, Colleen M.

1989-01-01

The INFORMM Patient Care Planning System provides interdepartmental communication and individualized patient care plans based upon current standards of care. This interdisciplinary system facilitates the identification of patient problems and nursing diagnoses as well as patient care orders. The selected nurses' and physicians' orders are integrated and organized by care plan categories in printouts. As a system by-product, Patient Care Planning automatically generates and calculates patient ...

Building interdisciplinary leadership skills among health practitioners in the 21st century: an innovative training model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Preeti eNegandhi

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Transformational learning is the focus of 21st century global educational reforms. In India there is a need to amalgamate the skills and knowledge of medical, nursing and public health practitioners and to develop robust leadership competencies among them. This initiative proposed to identify interdisciplinary leadership competencies among Indian health practitioners, and to develop a training program for interdisciplinary leadership skills through an Innovation Collaborative. Medical, nursing and public health institutions partnered in this endeavour. An exhaustive literature search was undertaken to identify leadership competencies in these three professions. Published evidence was utilized in searching for the need for interdisciplinary training of health practitioners, including current scenarios in inter-professional health education and the key competencies required. The interdisciplinary leadership competencies identified were: self-awareness, vision, self-regulation, motivation, decisiveness, integrity, interpersonal communication skills, strategic planning, team-building, innovation and being an effective change agent. Subsequently, a training program was developed and three training sessions were piloted with 66 participants. Each cohort comprised of a mix of participants from different disciplines. The pilot training guided the development of a training model for building interdisciplinary leadership skills and organizing interdisciplinary leadership workshops. The need for interdisciplinary leadership competencies is recognized. The long-term objective of the training model is integration into the regular medical, nursing and public health curricula, with the aim of developing interdisciplinary leadership skills among them. Although challenging, formal incorporation of leadership skills into health professional education is possible within the interdisciplinary classroom setting using principles of transformative learning.

Building Interdisciplinary Leadership Skills among Health Practitioners in the Twenty-First Century: An Innovative Training Model.

Science.gov (United States)

Negandhi, Preeti; Negandhi, Himanshu; Tiwari, Ritika; Sharma, Kavya; Zodpey, Sanjay P; Quazi, Zahiruddin; Gaidhane, Abhay; Jayalakshmi N; Gijare, Meenakshi; Yeravdekar, Rajiv

2015-01-01

Transformational learning is the focus of twenty-first century global educational reforms. In India, there is a need to amalgamate the skills and knowledge of medical, nursing, and public health practitioners and to develop robust leadership competencies among them. This initiative proposed to identify interdisciplinary leadership competencies among Indian health practitioners and to develop a training program for interdisciplinary leadership skills through an Innovation Collaborative. Medical, nursing, and public health institutions partnered in this endeavor. An exhaustive literature search was undertaken to identify leadership competencies in these three professions. Published evidence was utilized in searching for the need for interdisciplinary training of health practitioners, including current scenarios in interprofessional health education and the key competencies required. The interdisciplinary leadership competencies identified were self-awareness, vision, self-regulation, motivation, decisiveness, integrity, interpersonal communication skills, strategic planning, team building, innovation, and being an effective change agent. Subsequently, a training program was developed, and three training sessions were piloted with 66 participants. Each cohort comprised a mix of participants from different disciplines. The pilot training guided the development of a training model for building interdisciplinary leadership skills and organizing interdisciplinary leadership workshops. The need for interdisciplinary leadership competencies is recognized. The long-term objective of the training model is integration into the regular medical, nursing, and public health curricula, with the aim of developing interdisciplinary leadership skills among them. Although challenging, formal incorporation of leadership skills into health professional education is possible within the interdisciplinary classroom setting using principles of transformative learning.

Paradigmatic approaches to studying environment and human health: (Forgotten) implications for interdisciplinary research

OpenAIRE

Phoenix, Cassandra; Osborne, Nicholas J.; Redshaw, Clare; Moran, Rebecca; Stahl-timmins, Will; Depledge, Michael H.; Fleming, Lora E.; Wheeler, Benedict W.

2013-01-01

Interdisciplinary research is increasingly promoted in a wide range of fields, especially so in the study of relationships between the environment and human health. However, many projects and research teams struggle to address exactly how researchers from a multitude of disciplinary and methodological backgrounds can best work together to maximize the value of this approach to research. In this paper, we briefly review the role of interdisciplinary research, and emphasise that it is not only ...

From words to action: visibility of management in supporting interdisciplinary team working in an acute rehabilitative geriatric hospital.

Science.gov (United States)

Buttigieg, Sandra C; Cassar, Vincent; Scully, Judy W

2013-01-01

The following case study aims to explore management's, health professionals' and patients' experiences on the extent to which there is visibility of management support in achieving effective interdisciplinary team working, which is explicitly declared in the mission statement of a 60-bed acute rehabilitative geriatric hospital in Malta. A total of 21 semi-structured interviews were conducted with the above-mentioned key stakeholders. Three main distinct yet interdependent themes emerged as a result of thematic analysis: "managing a team-friendly hospital", "interdisciplinary team components", and "interdisciplinary team processes". The findings show that visibility of management support and its alignment with the process and content levels of interdisciplinary teamwork are key to integrated care for acute rehabilitative geriatric patients. The emerging phenomena may not be reproducible in a different context; although many of the emerging themes could be comfortably matched with the existing literature. The implications are geared towards raising the consciousness and conscientiousness of good practice in interdisciplinary teamwork in hospitals, as well as in emphasizing organizational and management support as crucial factors for team-based organizations. Interdisciplinary teamwork in acute rehabilitative geriatrics provides optimal quality and integrated health care delivery with the aim that the older persons are successfully discharged back to the community. The authors draw on solid theoretical frameworks--the complexity theory, team effectiveness model and the social identity theory--to support their major finding, namely the alignment of organizational and management support with intra-team factors at the process and content level.

[Integration of sex/gender into environmental health research. Results of the interdisciplinary research network Sex/Gender-Environment-Health (GeUmGe-NET)].

Science.gov (United States)

Bolte, Gabriele; David, Madlen; Dębiak, Małgorzata; Fiedel, Lotta; Hornberg, Claudia; Kolossa-Gehring, Marike; Kraus, Ute; Lätzsch, Rebecca; Paeck, Tatjana; Palm, Kerstin; Schneider, Alexandra

2018-06-01

The comprehensive consideration of sex/gender in health research is essential to increase relevance and validity of research results. Contrary to other areas of health research, there is no systematic summary of the current state of research on the significance of sex/gender in environmental health. Within the interdisciplinary research network Sex/Gender-Environment-Health (GeUmGe-NET) the current state of integration of sex/gender aspects or, respectively, gender theoretical concepts into research was systematically assessed within selected topics of the research areas environmental toxicology, environmental medicine, environmental epidemiology and public health research on environment and health. Knowledge gaps and research needs were identified in all research areas. Furthermore, the potential for methodological advancements by using gender theoretical concepts was depicted. A dialogue between biomedical research, public health research, and gender studies was started with the research network GeUmGe-NET. This dialogue has to be continued particularly regarding a common testing of methodological innovations in data collection and data analysis. Insights of this interdisciplinary research are relevant for practice areas such as environmental health protection, health promotion, environmental justice, and environmental health monitoring.

A modeling paradigm for interdisciplinary water resources modeling: Simple Script Wrappers (SSW)

Science.gov (United States)

Steward, David R.; Bulatewicz, Tom; Aistrup, Joseph A.; Andresen, Daniel; Bernard, Eric A.; Kulcsar, Laszlo; Peterson, Jeffrey M.; Staggenborg, Scott A.; Welch, Stephen M.

2014-05-01

Holistic understanding of a water resources system requires tools capable of model integration. This team has developed an adaptation of the OpenMI (Open Modelling Interface) that allows easy interactions across the data passed between models. Capabilities have been developed to allow programs written in common languages such as matlab, python and scilab to share their data with other programs and accept other program's data. We call this interface the Simple Script Wrapper (SSW). An implementation of SSW is shown that integrates groundwater, economic, and agricultural models in the High Plains region of Kansas. Output from these models illustrates the interdisciplinary discovery facilitated through use of SSW implemented models. Reference: Bulatewicz, T., A. Allen, J.M. Peterson, S. Staggenborg, S.M. Welch, and D.R. Steward, The Simple Script Wrapper for OpenMI: Enabling interdisciplinary modeling studies, Environmental Modelling & Software, 39, 283-294, 2013. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2012.07.006 http://code.google.com/p/simple-script-wrapper/

Practice-Based Interdisciplinary Approach and Environmental Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ranjan Kumar Datta

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Interdisciplinary researchers and educators, as community members, creators of knowledge, and environmental activists and practitioners, have a responsibility to build a bridge between community practice, academic scholarship, and professional contributions aimed at establishing environmental sustainability. In this paper, I focus on an undervalued area of environmental politics, practices, and often unarticulated assumptions which underlie human–environmental relations. This article challenges interdisciplinary studies that are not connected with practice by reconfiguring the meaning of a community-based, interdisciplinary approach. Drawing from works by Foucault, Latour, and Haraway, this paper first shows how to reconfigure the meaning of an interdisciplinary approach. Second, using Bourdieu and Brightman’s ethnographic studies as a framework, the paper situates practice as central to our efforts to deconstruct and replace current interdisciplinary initiatives with a practice-based approach. Through a practice-based interdisciplinary approach (PIA, environmental educators and researchers gain an awareness of and learn to make an investment in sustainable communities. As teams of environmental researchers practising in the local community, they are meaningfully involved with the community, with each other, and with the environment.

Teaching scientific literacy in an introductory women's studies course: a case study in interdisciplinary collaboration

Science.gov (United States)

Fuselier, Linda; Murphy, Claudia; Bender, Anita; Creel Falcón, Kandace

2015-01-01

Background and purpose:The purpose of this exploratory case study is to describe how scholars negotiated disciplinary divides to develop and communicate to their students an understanding of the basic features of scientific knowledge. Our goals were to examine boundary crossing in interdisciplinary collaboration and to assess the efficacy of adding science content to an introductory Women's Studies course. Sample:We studied a collaboration between faculty in Biology and Women's Studies and evaluated science modules in a Women's Studies course at a regional four-year university in the Midwestern USA. The study included 186 student participants over three semesters and four faculty from Philosophy, Women's Studies and Biology. Design and method:Women's Studies and Biology faculty collaborated to design and implement science content learning modules that included the case of women and science in an introductory Women's Studies course. Qualitative data collected from faculty participants in the form of peer debrief sessions and narrative reflections were used to examine the process of interdisciplinary collaboration. Students exposed to curriculum changes were administered pre- and post-lesson surveys to evaluate their understanding of issues faced by women in science careers, the nature of science, and interest in science studies. Data from collaborators, student journal reflections, and pre-/post-lesson surveys were considered together in an evaluation of how knowledge of science was understood and taught in a Women's Studies course over a longitudinal study of three semesters. Results:We found evidence of discipline-based challenges to interdisciplinarity and disciplinary boundary crossing among collaborators. Three themes emerged from our collaboration: challenges posed by disciplinary differences, creation of a space for interdisciplinary work, and evidence of boundary crossing. Student participants exhibited more prior knowledge of Women's Studies content than

Logistics Systems Engineer – Interdisciplinary Competence Model for Modern Education

OpenAIRE

Tarvo Niine; Ott Koppel

2015-01-01

Logistics is an interdisciplinary field of study. Modern logisticians need to integrate business management and administration skills with technology design, IT systems and other engineering fields. However, based on research of university curricula and competence standards in logistics, the engineering aspect is not represented to full potential. There are some treatments of logistician competences which relate to engineering, but not a modernized one with wide-spread recognition. This paper...

Interdisciplinary Study of Numerical Methods and Power Plants Engineering

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ioana OPRIS

2014-08-01

Full Text Available The development of technology, electronics and computing opened the way for a cross-disciplinary research that brings benefits by combining the achievements of different fields. To prepare the students for their future interdisciplinary approach,aninterdisciplinary teaching is adopted. This ensures their progress in knowledge, understanding and ability to navigate through different fields. Aiming these results, the Universities introduce new interdisciplinary courses which explore complex problems by studying subjects from different domains. The paper presents a problem encountered in designingpower plants. The method of solvingthe problem isused to explain the numerical methods and to exercise programming.The goal of understanding a numerical algorithm that solves a linear system of equations is achieved by using the knowledge of heat transfer to design the regenerative circuit of a thermal power plant. In this way, the outcomes from the prior courses (mathematics and physics are used to explain a new subject (numerical methods and to advance future ones (power plants.

An interdisciplinary approach to personalized medicine: case studies from a cardiogenetics clinic.

Science.gov (United States)

Erskine, Kathleen E; Griffith, Eleanor; Degroat, Nicole; Stolerman, Marina; Silverstein, Louise B; Hidayatallah, Nadia; Wasserman, David; Paljevic, Esma; Cohen, Lilian; Walsh, Christine A; McDonald, Thomas; Marion, Robert W; Dolan, Siobhan M

2013-01-01

In the genomic age, the challenges presented by various inherited conditions present a compelling argument for an interdisciplinary model of care. Cardiac arrhythmias with a genetic basis, such as long QT syndrome, require clinicians with expertise in many specialties to address the complex genetic, psychological, ethical and medical issues involved in treatment. The Montefiore-Einstein Center for CardioGenetics has been established to provide personalized, interdisciplinary care for families with a history of sudden cardiac death or an acute cardiac event. Four vignettes of patient care are presented to illustrate the unique capacity of an interdisciplinary model to address genetic, psychological, ethical and medical issues. Because interdisciplinary clinics facilitate collaboration among multiple specialties, they allow for individualized, comprehensive care to be delivered to families who experience complex inherited medical conditions. As the genetic basis of many complex conditions is discovered, the advantages of an interdisciplinary approach for delivering personalized medicine will become more evident.

Should we quit our jobs? Challenges, barriers and recommendations for interdisciplinary energy research

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schuitema, Geertje; Sintov, Nicole D.

2017-01-01

Many plea for a better integration of social sciences in energy research, which would imply more comprehensive interdisciplinary energy research. We argue that in order to achieve this, institutional barriers and research challenges need to be recognised and addressed. We identify six challenges and barriers, and provide recommendations for working towards solutions. We conclude that to engage in interdisciplinary research implies extra costs and fewer rewards for all researchers, particularly early and mid-career academics. We propose a new conceptualisation of practices and incentive structures among academic institutions, funding agencies, and publication outlets, and urge all energy researchers to join this debate. - Highlights: • Interdisciplinary energy research currently does not reach its full potential. • Social sciences are underutilised in energy research. • Barriers and challenges need to be addressed to stimulate interdisciplinary energy research. • High costs and small rewards for interdisciplinary (early and mid-career) researchers.

How best to structure interdisciplinary primary care teams: the study protocol for a systematic review with narrative framework synthesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Wranik, W Dominika; Hayden, Jill A; Price, Sheri; Parker, Robin M N; Haydt, Susan M; Edwards, Jeanette M; Suter, Esther; Katz, Alan; Gambold, Liesl L; Levy, Adrian R

2016-10-04

Western publicly funded health care systems increasingly rely on interdisciplinary teams to support primary care delivery and management of chronic conditions. This knowledge synthesis focuses on what is known in the academic and grey literature about optimal structural characteristics of teams. Its goal is to assess which factors contribute to the effective functioning of interdisciplinary primary care teams and improved health system outcomes, with specific focus on (i) team structure contribution to team process, (ii) team process contribution to primary care goals, and (iii) team structure contribution to primary care goals. The systematic search of academic literature focuses on four chronic conditions and co-morbidities. Within this scope, qualitative and quantitative studies that assess the effects of team characteristics (funding, governance, organization) on care process and patient outcomes will be searched. Electronic databases (Ovid MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, PAIS, Web of Science) will be searched systematically. Online web-based searches will be supported by the Grey Matters Tool. Studies will be included, if they report on interdisciplinary primary care in publicly funded Western health systems, and address the relationships between team structure, process, and/or patient outcomes. Studies will be selected in a three-stage screening process (title/abstract/full text) by two independent reviewers in each stage. Study quality will be assessed using the Mixed Methods Assessment Tool. An a priori framework will be applied to data extraction, and a narrative framework approach is used for the synthesis. Using an integrated knowledge translation approach, an electronic decision support tool will be developed for decision makers. It will be searchable along two axes of inquiry: (i) what primary care goals are supported by specific team characteristics and (ii) how should teams be structured to support specific primary care goals? The results of this evidence

The Challenge of Interdisciplinary Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Locker, Kitty O.

1994-01-01

Discusses what makes business communication research interdisciplinary and why interdisciplinary research is difficult yet desirable. Details the value of interdisciplinary concepts, methods, and perspectives. Notes how business communication research might be made interdisciplinary and points out the need for tolerance in interdisciplinary…

Integrating Design Disciplines: Understanding the Potential for and Factors Affecting the Success of Interdisciplinary Design Education for Architecture and Landscape Architecture

Science.gov (United States)

Koo, Tae Seo

2012-01-01

Interdisciplinary design education is becoming more important as design disciplines need various perspectives and solutions. However, only a limited amount of research has been done in regard to interdisciplinary design education. The goal of this study is to begin to answer the question about how designers and researchers develop and improve…

Impact of Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Research in mathematics and biology on the development of a new course integrating five STEM disciplines.

Science.gov (United States)

Caudill, Lester; Hill, April; Hoke, Kathy; Lipan, Ovidiu

2010-01-01

Funded by innovative programs at the National Science Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Richmond faculty in biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics, and computer science teamed up to offer first- and second-year students the opportunity to contribute to vibrant, interdisciplinary research projects. The result was not only good science but also good science that motivated and informed course development. Here, we describe four recent undergraduate research projects involving students and faculty in biology, physics, mathematics, and computer science and how each contributed in significant ways to the conception and implementation of our new Integrated Quantitative Science course, a course for first-year students that integrates the material in the first course of the major in each of biology, chemistry, mathematics, computer science, and physics.

Superficial and deep learning approaches among medical students in an interdisciplinary integrated curriculum.

Science.gov (United States)

Mirghani, Hisham M; Ezimokhai, Mutairu; Shaban, Sami; van Berkel, Henk J M

2014-01-01

Students' learning approaches have a significant impact on the success of the educational experience, and a mismatch between instructional methods and the learning approach is very likely to create an obstacle to learning. Educational institutes' understanding of students' learning approaches allows those institutes to introduce changes in their curriculum content, instructional format, and assessment methods that will allow students to adopt deep learning techniques and critical thinking. The objective of this study was to determine and compare learning approaches among medical students following an interdisciplinary integrated curriculum. This was a cross-sectional study in which an electronic questionnaire using the Biggs two-factor Study Process Questionnaire (SPQ) with 20 questions was administered. Of a total of 402 students at the medical school, 214 (53.2%) completed the questionnaire. There was a significant difference in the mean score of superficial approach, motive and strategy between students in the six medical school years. However, no significant difference was observed in the mean score of deep approach, motive and strategy. The mean score for years 1 and 2 showed a significantly higher surface approach, surface motive and surface strategy when compared with students in years 4-6 in medical school. The superficial approach to learning was mostly preferred among first and second year medical students, and the least preferred among students in the final clinical years. These results may be useful in creating future teaching, learning and assessment strategies aiming to enhance a deep learning approach among medical students. Future studies are needed to investigate the reason for the preferred superficial approach among medical students in their early years of study.

A Study Assessing the Potential of Negative Effects in Interdisciplinary Math–Biology Instruction

Science.gov (United States)

Madlung, Andreas; Bremer, Martina; Himelblau, Edward; Tullis, Alexa

2011-01-01

There is increasing enthusiasm for teaching approaches that combine mathematics and biology. The call for integrating more quantitative work in biology education has led to new teaching tools that improve quantitative skills. Little is known, however, about whether increasing interdisciplinary work can lead to adverse effects, such as the development of broader but shallower skills or the possibility that math anxiety causes some students to disengage in the classroom, or, paradoxically, to focus so much on the mathematics that they lose sight of its application for the biological concepts in the center of the unit at hand. We have developed and assessed an integrative learning module and found disciplinary learning gains to be equally strong in first-year students who actively engaged in embedded quantitative calculations as in those students who were merely presented with quantitative data in the context of interpreting biological and biostatistical results. When presented to advanced biology students, our quantitative learning tool increased test performance significantly. We conclude from our study that the addition of mathematical calculations to the first year and advanced biology curricula did not hinder overall student learning, and may increase disciplinary learning and data interpretation skills in advanced students. PMID:21364099

Interdisciplinary eHealth Practice in Cancer Care: A Review of the Literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Janssen, Anna; Brunner, Melissa; Keep, Melanie; Hines, Monique; Nagarajan, Srivalli Vilapakkam; Kielly-Carroll, Candice; Dennis, Sarah; McKeough, Zoe; Shaw, Tim

2017-10-25

This review aimed to identify research that described how eHealth facilitates interdisciplinary cancer care and to understand the ways in which eHealth innovations are being used in this setting. An integrative review of eHealth interventions used for interdisciplinary care for people with cancer was conducted by systematically searching research databases in March 2015, and repeated in September 2016. Searches resulted in 8531 citations, of which 140 were retrieved and scanned in full, with twenty-six studies included in the review. Analysis of data extracted from the included articles revealed five broad themes: (i) data collection and accessibility; (ii) virtual multidisciplinary teams; (iii) communication between individuals involved in the delivery of health services; (iv) communication pathways between patients and cancer care teams; and (v) health professional-led change. Use of eHealth interventions in cancer care was widespread, particularly to support interdisciplinary care. However, research has focused on development and implementation of interventions, rather than on long-term impact. Further research is warranted to explore design, evaluation, and long-term sustainability of eHealth systems and interventions in interdisciplinary cancer care. Technology evolves quickly and researchers need to provide health professionals with timely guidance on how best to respond to new technologies in the health sector.

Interdisciplinary island studies: connecting the social sciences, natural sciences and humanities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sietze J. Norder

2016-11-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we present the outline of an interdisciplinary undergraduate course entitled: “Islands: Models for our Planet – Metaphors for our World”, and will reflect on insights gained during its development and teaching in two consecutive academic years (2014-2015; 2015-2016. The main challenge faced during the development and teaching of this interdisciplinary course was to introduce a wide range of topics in a coherent way. For this reason, a theoretical framework was developed to guide students throughout their learning process and to structure the content of the course. The developed course materials are shared in the supplementary materials of this paper to facilitate colleagues around the world who are teaching a course in island studies.

Introduction of interdisciplinary teaching: two case studies : commentary on "teaching science, technology, and society to engineering students: a sixteen year journey".

Science.gov (United States)

Spitzer, Hartwig

2013-12-01

Interdisciplinary courses on science, engineering and society have been successfully established in two cases, at Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey, and at the University of Hamburg, Germany. In both cases there were institutional and perceptual barriers that had to be overcome in the primarily disciplinary departments. The ingredients of success included a clear vision of interdisciplinary themes and didactics, and the exploitation of institutional opportunities. Haldun M. Ozaktas in Ankara used the dynamics of an accreditation process to establish courses on engineering and society. At the University of Hamburg the introduction of optional courses into all curricula allowed for the establishment of a seminar series on physics and society, as well as on peace education and peace building. Both of these approaches have a weakness in common: the courses can disappear once their initiators have left, unless the interdisciplinary themes are integrated into compulsory core curricula.

Ten principles of good interdisciplinary team work.

Science.gov (United States)

Nancarrow, Susan A; Booth, Andrew; Ariss, Steven; Smith, Tony; Enderby, Pam; Roots, Alison

2013-05-10

Interdisciplinary team work is increasingly prevalent, supported by policies and practices that bring care closer to the patient and challenge traditional professional boundaries. To date, there has been a great deal of emphasis on the processes of team work, and in some cases, outcomes. This study draws on two sources of knowledge to identify the attributes of a good interdisciplinary team; a published systematic review of the literature on interdisciplinary team work, and the perceptions of over 253 staff from 11 community rehabilitation and intermediate care teams in the UK. These data sources were merged using qualitative content analysis to arrive at a framework that identifies characteristics and proposes ten competencies that support effective interdisciplinary team work. Ten characteristics underpinning effective interdisciplinary team work were identified: positive leadership and management attributes; communication strategies and structures; personal rewards, training and development; appropriate resources and procedures; appropriate skill mix; supportive team climate; individual characteristics that support interdisciplinary team work; clarity of vision; quality and outcomes of care; and respecting and understanding roles. We propose competency statements that an effective interdisciplinary team functioning at a high level should demonstrate.

Interdisciplinary research framework for identifying research needs. Case: bioenergy-biodiversity interlinkages

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Furman, E.; Peltola, T.; Varjopuro, R. (eds.)

2009-05-15

A loss of biological diversity continues in spite of the existing, and in some respects, rather elaborate and heavy attempts at management and protection. It has been argued that one of the reasons for the lack of success is the unmet and challenging knowledge needs. Meeting the needs requires integration of various sciences and expertise, since attempts to manage biodiversity gives rise also to many emerging, complex and political questions. Integration of the disciplines needs practices that are able to overcome practical, institutional and cultural obstacles. ALTER-Net, a European network for research on biological diversity under the 6th framework programme, has aimed to undertake further interdisciplinary research that will feed into the addressing of societal needs. This report describes how the integration of research progressed and succeeded during the five year life span of ALTER-Net. Initially the integration between disciplines was given as an overall goal, which did result in determining concrete practices of integration between the sciences, teams and partner organisations. The analysis shows that in spite of complications an interdisciplinary research approach can evolve in large research networks, but this can happen also through unanticipated channels. A large network allows room for several parallel processes of integration. The report depicts the development of and choices leading to the development of an interdisciplinary research framework for ALTER-Net, the IDR framework. The framework presents a method to enhance interdisciplinary syntheses of emerging policy-relevant issues and to further develop the identification of relevant topics as interdisciplinary research projects. The IDR framework was tested by focusing on the interlinkages between the bioenergy question and biodiversity. The report consists of a synthesis of pressing research needs pertaining to that topic. The report presents how the IDR framework was constructed using a method

An analysis of factors that lead to better learning in an integrated and interdisciplinary course on climate change

Science.gov (United States)

Reed, D. E.; Lyford, M.; Schmidt, L. O.; Bowles-Terry, M.

2012-12-01

Climate change education presents many challenges to college educators due to the interdisciplinary nature of the issue as well as the social and political context and implications. This presents multiple barriers to learning for the student, both because it is difficult to address all scientific components in one course, and because many students have strong preconceived feelings or beliefs about climate change. A further barrier to learning for non-science majors is that very often the number of required science courses is low and a highly complex issue such as climate change is difficult to address in introductory science courses. To attempt to address these issues a course for non-science majors, Life Science 1002, Discovering Science, at the University of Wyoming was created as an interdisciplinary and integrated science course that includes a lecture component as well as weekly lab and discussion sections. Our previous work has shown a clear change in the reference sources used by non-science majors when referring to complex topics; namely, students increase their use of scientific journals when they are shown how to use scientific journals and students also report a correlated decrease in non-peer reviewed sources (ie, radio, newspapers, TV). We seek to expand on this work by using pre- and post-topic student surveys in the course at the University of Wyoming to directly measure student performance in different components of the course. The course has enrollment between 120 and 130 students, with nearly equal distribution between grade levels and a wide sampling of non-science majors or undeclared majors. For this work we will use a non-quantitative survey of students to find out which part of the course (lecture, lab or discussion) is most effective for student learning. Further, quantitative analysis of which factors of the student body (class standing, major, gender, background and personal beliefs) will be correlated to help predict who achieved the best

Information Literacy and Communication Research: A Case Study on Interdisciplinary Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Natalle, Elizabeth J.; Crowe, Kathryn M.

2013-01-01

This report offers an interdisciplinary approach for conducting assessment on learning outcomes in undergraduate communication research skills where information literacy is embedded in the expected outcome. A Communication Studies department and the University Library piloted a two-year program to develop strategies for coordinated assessment that…

Interdisciplinary studies and our practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Olds, David D

2006-01-01

Why should psychoanalysts learn about neighboring disciplines? It is often argued that, although information from neuroscience, neuropsychology, evolutionary psychology, and other fields may be of interest to analysts, it has no real effect on their practice: on the way they listen, the way they react, or the way they treat their patients. A corollary of this position is that there is no reason to include such information in a psychoanalytic curriculum, since it does not help candidates become better analysts. Against this view, two reasons are advanced for the importance of interdisciplinary study. The more general reason is that it grounds psychoanalysis in the broader scientific world, reducing its isolation and inbred parochialism. This can help justify the discipline intellectually, possibly in advance of and independently of supportive research from within the field (e.g., outcome studies). The second reason is that our own minds, and particularly those of the generation now entering training, have been altered by changes in the scientific zeitgeist and we need to have some grasp of these changes. Finally, six examples of findings from other disciplines are presented that even now may be contributing to thinking about psychoanalytic practice.

Interdisciplinary cooperation and studies in geoscience in the Carpathian Basin

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marcel MINDRESCU

2012-06-01

Full Text Available An interdisciplinary approach to geoscience is particularly important in this vast research field, as the more innovative studies are increasingly crossing discipline boundaries and thus benefitting from multiple research methods and viewpoints. Grasping this concept has led us to encourage interdisciplinary cooperation by supporting and promoting the creation of “meeting places” able to provide a framework for researchers and scholars involved in geoscience research to find common grounds for discussion and collaboration. Most recently, this was achieved by organizing the 1st Workshop on “Interdisciplinarity in Geosciences in the Carpathian Basin” (IGCB held in the Department of Geography at the University of Suceava (Romania, between the 18th and 22nd October 2012. This event brought together both an international group of scientists and local researchers which created opportunities for collaboration in research topics such as geography, environment, geology and botany, biology and ecology in the Carpathian Basin.

Using concept mapping to measure changes in interdisciplinary learning during high school

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Priit Reiska

2018-03-01

Full Text Available How, when and what kind of learning takes place are key questions in all educational environments. School graduates are expected to have reached a development level whereby they have, among many fundamental skills, the ability to think critically, to plan their studies and their future, and to integrate knowledge across disciplines. However, it is challenging to develop these skills in schools. Following existing curricula, disciplines are often taught separately and by different teachers, making it difficult for students to connect knowledge studied and learned from one discipline to that of another discipline. The Next Generation Science Standards on teaching and learning natural science in the United States point out important crosscutting concepts in science education (NGSS, 2013. In Estonia, similar trends are leading to an emphasis on the need to further develop scientific literacy skills and interdisciplinary learning in students. The changing environment around us must be reflected in changes in our school system. In this paper, we report on research that intends to answer the questions: (a “How much do Estonian students develop an interdisciplinary understanding of science throughout their high school education?”, and (b “Is their thinking more interdisciplinary after two years of studies in an Estonian high school?” Additionally, we analyzed the results based on the type of school the students attended, and we examined the use concept mapping to assess interdisciplinary learning. This research is part of an overall study that involved students from 44 Estonian high schools taking a science test similar to the three-dimensional Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA test (hereafter called PISA-like multidimensional test as well as constructing concept maps, while in 10th and 12th grade. In this paper, we report on the analysis of the results for 182 of the students, concentrating on the analysis of the concept maps

The Law School as a Base for Interdisciplinary Studies in a University

Science.gov (United States)

Willrich, Mason

1974-01-01

Discusses the objectives of the Center for the Study of Science, Technology and Public Policy at the School of Law of the University of Virginia, summarizes the center's activities, and draws conclusions concerning the future role of a problem-oriented, interdisciplinary study in legal education. (Author/PG)

Design and Implementation of an Interdisciplinary Marketing/Management Course on Technology and Innovation Management

Science.gov (United States)

Athaide, Gerard A.; Desai, Harsha B.

2005-01-01

Given increasing industry demand for integrative learning, marketing curricula need to emphasize interdisciplinary approaches to teaching. Although team teaching is a useful method for achieving cross-functional integration, there are very few frameworks for effectively implementing team teaching. Consequently, marketing educators seeking to offer…

Cross-interdisciplinary insights into adaptive governance and resilience

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Craig Anthony (Tony. Arnold

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The Adaptive Water Governance project is an interdisciplinary collaborative synthesis project aimed at identifying the features of adaptive governance in complex social-ecological institutional systems to manage for water-basin resilience. We conducted a systematic qualitative meta-analysis of the project's first set of published interdisciplinary studies, six North American basin resilience assessments. We sought to develop new knowledge that transcends each study, concerning two categories of variables: (1 the drivers of change in complex water-basin systems that affect systemic resilience; and (2 the features of adaptive governance. We have identified the pervasive themes, concepts, and variables of the systemic-change drivers and adaptive-governance features from these six interdisciplinary texts using qualitative methods of inductive textual analysis and synthesis. We produced synthesis frameworks for understanding the patterns that emerged from the basin assessment texts, as well as comprehensive lists of the variables that these studies uniformly or nearly uniformly addressed. These study results are cross-interdisciplinary in the sense that they identify patterns and knowledge that transcend several diverse interdisciplinary studies. These relevant and potentially generalizable insights form a foundation for future research on the dynamics of complex social-ecological institutional systems and how they could be governed adaptively.

How interdisciplinary is nanotechnology?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Porter, Alan L.; Youtie, Jan

2009-01-01

Facilitating cross-disciplinary research has attracted much attention in recent years, with special concerns in nanoscience and nanotechnology. Although policy discourse has emphasized that nanotechnology is substantively integrative, some analysts have countered that it is really a loose amalgam of relatively traditional pockets of physics, chemistry, and other disciplines that interrelate only weakly. We are developing empirical measures to gauge and visualize the extent and nature of interdisciplinary interchange. Such results speak to research organization, funding, and mechanisms to bolster knowledge transfer. In this study, we address the nature of cross-disciplinary linkages using 'science overlay maps' of articles, and their references, that have been categorized into subject categories. We find signs that the rate of increase in nano research is slowing, and that its composition is changing (for one, increasing chemistry-related activity). Our results suggest that nanotechnology research encompasses multiple disciplines that draw knowledge from disciplinarily diverse knowledge sources. Nano research is highly, and increasingly, integrative-but so is much of science these days. Tabulating and mapping nano research activity show a dominant core in materials sciences, broadly defined. Additional analyses and maps show that nano research draws extensively upon knowledge presented in other areas; it is not constricted within narrow silos.

How interdisciplinary is nanotechnology?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Porter, Alan L., E-mail: aporter@isye.gatech.ed [Georgia Institute of Technology, Technology Policy and Assessment Center, School of Public Policy (United States); Youtie, Jan, E-mail: jan.youtie@innovate.gatech.ed [Georgia Institute of Technology Enterprise Innovation Institute (United States)

2009-07-15

Facilitating cross-disciplinary research has attracted much attention in recent years, with special concerns in nanoscience and nanotechnology. Although policy discourse has emphasized that nanotechnology is substantively integrative, some analysts have countered that it is really a loose amalgam of relatively traditional pockets of physics, chemistry, and other disciplines that interrelate only weakly. We are developing empirical measures to gauge and visualize the extent and nature of interdisciplinary interchange. Such results speak to research organization, funding, and mechanisms to bolster knowledge transfer. In this study, we address the nature of cross-disciplinary linkages using 'science overlay maps' of articles, and their references, that have been categorized into subject categories. We find signs that the rate of increase in nano research is slowing, and that its composition is changing (for one, increasing chemistry-related activity). Our results suggest that nanotechnology research encompasses multiple disciplines that draw knowledge from disciplinarily diverse knowledge sources. Nano research is highly, and increasingly, integrative-but so is much of science these days. Tabulating and mapping nano research activity show a dominant core in materials sciences, broadly defined. Additional analyses and maps show that nano research draws extensively upon knowledge presented in other areas; it is not constricted within narrow silos.

The direction and autonomy of interdisciplinary study and research paths in teacher education

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Klaus

2016-01-01

This paper presents a case study of didactic infrastructures to direct Study and Research Paths (SRP) in teacher education within the context of interdisciplinary inquiry. The disciplines of school mathematics and school biology, and their didactics, are made to interconnect through...

Drug Design, Development, and Delivery: An Interdisciplinary Course on Pharmaceuticals

Science.gov (United States)

Prausnitz, Mark R.; Bommarius, Andreas S.

2011-01-01

We developed a new interdisciplinary course on pharmaceuticals to address needs of undergraduate and graduate students in chemical engineering and other departments. This course introduces drug design, development, and delivery in an integrated fashion that provides scientific depth in context with broader impacts in business, policy, and ethics.…

Cocitation or Capacity-Building? Defining Success within an Interdisciplinary, Sustainability Science Team

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abby J. Roche

2017-10-01

Full Text Available To address gaps in knowledge and to tackle complex social–ecological problems, scientific research is moving toward studies that integrate multiple disciplines and ways of knowing to explore all parts of a system. Yet, how these efforts are being measured and how they are deemed successful is an up-and-coming and pertinent conversation within interdisciplinary research spheres. Using a grounded theory approach, this study addresses how members of a sustainability science-focused team at a Northeastern U.S. university funded by a large, National Science Foundation (NSF grant contend with deeply normative dimensions of interdisciplinary research team success. Based on semi-structured interviews (N = 24 with researchers (e.g., faculty and graduate students involved in this expansive, interdisciplinary team, this study uses participants’ narrative accounts to progress our understanding of success on sustainability science teams and addresses the tensions arising between differing visions of success present within the current literature, and perpetuated by U.S. funding agencies like NSF. Study findings reveal that team members are forming definitions of interdisciplinary success that both align with, and depart from, those appearing in the literature. More specifically, some respondents’ notions of team success appear to mirror currently recognized outcomes in traditional academic settings (i.e., purpose driven outcomes—citations, receipt of grant funding, etc.. At the same time, just as many other respondents describe success as involving elements of collaborative research not traditionally acknowledged as a forms of “success” in their own right (i.e., capacity building processes and outcomes—relationship formation, deep understandings of distinct epistemologies, etc.. Study results contribute to more open and informed discussions about how we gauge success within sustainability science collaborations, forming a foundation for

Factors that impact interdisciplinary natural science research collaboration in academia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Maglaughlin, Kelly L.; Sonnenwald, Diane H.

2005-01-01

to provide a more comprehensive understanding of interdisciplinary scientific research collaboration within the natural sciences in academia. Data analysis confirmed factors previously identified in various literatures and yielded new factors. A total of twenty factors were identified, and classified......Interdisciplinary collaboration occurs when people with different educational and research backgrounds bring complementary skills to bear on a problem or task. The strength of interdisciplinary scientific research collaboration is its capacity to bring together diverse scientific knowledge...... to address complex problems and questions. However, interdisciplinary scientific research can be difficult to initiate and sustain. We do not yet fully understand factors that impact interdisciplinary scientific research collaboration. This study synthesizes empirical data from two empirical studies...

City evacuations an interdisciplinary approach

CERN Document Server

Binner, Jane; Branicki, Layla; Galla, Tobias; Jones, Nick; King, James; Kolokitha, Magdalini; Smyrnakis, Michalis

2015-01-01

Evacuating a city is a complex problem that involves issues of governance, preparedness education, warning, information sharing, population dynamics, resilience and recovery. As natural and anthropogenic threats to cities grow, it is an increasingly pressing problem for policy makers and practitioners.   The book is the result of a unique interdisciplinary collaboration between researchers in the physical and social sciences to consider how an interdisciplinary approach can help plan for large scale evacuations.  It draws on perspectives from physics, mathematics, organisation theory, economics, sociology and education.  Importantly it goes beyond disciplinary boundaries and considers how interdisciplinary methods are necessary to approach a complex problem involving human actors and increasingly complex communications and transportation infrastructures.   Using real world case studies and modelling the book considers new approaches to evacuation dynamics.  It addresses questions of complexity, not only ...

Researchers' experiences, positive and negative, in integrative landscape projects

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tress, B.; Tress, G.; Fry, G.

2005-01-01

Integrative (interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary) landscape research projects are becoming increasingly common. As a result, researchers are spending a larger proportion of their professional careers doing integrative work, participating in shifting interdisciplinary teams, and cooperating

Collaboration, interdisciplinary thinking, and communication: new approaches to K-12 ecology education

Science.gov (United States)

Ecologists often engage in global-scale research through partnerships among scientists from many disciplines. Such research projects require collaboration, interdisciplinary thinking, and strong communication skills. We advocate including these three practices as an integral part of ecology educatio...

College-"Conocimiento": Toward an Interdisciplinary College Choice Framework for Latinx Students

Science.gov (United States)

Acevedo-Gil, Nancy

2017-01-01

This paper builds upon Perna's college choice model by integrating Anzaldúa's theory of "conocimiento" to propose an interdisciplinary college choice framework for Latinx students. Using previous literature, this paper proposes college-"conocimiento" as a framework that contextualizes Latinx student college choices within the…

[Interdisciplinary healthcare centres--a way of organising healthcare in the future from a health insurer's perspective].

Science.gov (United States)

Hecke, Torsten L; Hoyer, Jens Martin

2009-01-01

The German healthcare system modernization act enables healthcare providers to fund interdisciplinary healthcare centres. The Techniker Krankenkasse (TK) is a statutory health sickness fund that has contracted with some of the interdisciplinary healthcare centres named ATRIO-MED to achieve high-quality medical care and healthcare management. A range of patient-centred services is described in the cooperation agreement; in addition to central medical patient records one of the core competencies includes integrated pathways for defined diagnosis. The concept of the interdisciplinary healthcare centre is highly accepted among patients. It will serve as a platform for future TK healthcare policies.

Integrating the participants' perspective in the study of language and communcation disorders

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Klemmensen, Charlotte Marie Bisgaard

This book presents a new analytical approach that will advance the establishment of a new discourse within the study of language and communication disorders. Instances of recurring aphasia and acquired brain injury are discussed in an empirical observation study through a theoretical lens that co...... that combines Integrational linguistics, Ethnomethodology and Conversation analysis and Practice theory. In doing so, this interdisciplinary analysis adds a person-centered perspective to existing ethnographic approaches. It addresses a significant gap in our understanding of the social...

From Surprise Parties to Mapmaking: Undergraduate Journeys toward Interdisciplinary Understanding

Science.gov (United States)

Haynes, Carolyn; Leonard, Jeannie Brown

2010-01-01

As educators in academic programs featuring interdisciplinary learning, the authors can attest that helping undergraduate students in an interdisciplinary studies major engage in interdisciplinary learning--that is, draw from two or more disciplines to advance understanding of a problem, question, or phenomenon--is no mean feat. Consequently, the…

Integrative teaching in radiology - a survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Dettmer, S; Weidemann, J; Fischer, V; Wacker, F K

2015-04-01

To survey integrative teaching in radiology at German universities. A questionnaire about radiological education was sent electronically to all 37 chairpersons of university radiology departments in Germany. The questions included the course type, teaching methods, concept, perception, and advantages and disadvantages of integrative teaching. Statistical analysis was performed with nonparametric statistics and chi-square test. The survey was considered representative with a return rate of 68 %. Integrative teaching is established at 4/5 of all departments. Integrative teaching is well accepted with an acceptance rate that is significantly higher in so-called "Modellstudiengängen" [model courses of study] (100 %) compared to conventional courses of study (72 %). The advantages of integrative teaching include linking of content (92 %) and preparation for interdisciplinary work (76 %). The disadvantages include high effort (75 %) and time (67 %) for organization. Furthermore, there is a risk that basic radiological facts and knowledge cannot be conveyed and that the visibility of radiology as an independent discipline is lost. Conventional radiological teaching has a similarly high acceptance (84 %) compared to integrative courses (76 %). Integrative teaching has a high acceptance among chairpersons in radiology in Germany despite the greater effort. A good interdisciplinary collaboration is essential for integrative teaching and at the same time this can be conveyed to the students. However, the visibility of radiology as a discipline and the possibility to cover basic radiological content must be ensured. Therefore, both conventional courses and integrative teaching seems reasonable, especially in cross-disciplinary subjects such as radiology. Both integrative teaching and conventional radiological teaching are highly accepted. The advantages include the linking of multidisciplinary content and the preparation for interdisciplinary cooperation

University of Idaho Water of the West Initiative: Development of a sustainable, interdisciplinary water resources program

Science.gov (United States)

Boll, J.; Cosens, B.; Fiedler, F.; Link, T.; Wilson, P.; Harris, C.; Tuller, M.; Johnson, G.; Kennedy, B.

2006-12-01

Recently, an interdisciplinary group of faculty from the University of Idaho was awarded a major internal grant for their project "Water of the West (WoW)" to launch an interdisciplinary Water Resources Graduate Education Program. This Water Resources program will facilitate research and education to influence both the scientific understanding of the resource and how it is managed, and advance the decision-making processes that are the means to address competing societal values. By educating students to integrate environmental sciences, socio-economic, and political issues, the WoW project advances the University's land grant mission to promote economic and social development in the state of Idaho. This will be accomplished through novel experiential interdisciplinary education activities; creation of interdisciplinary research efforts among water resources faculty; and focusing on urgent regional problems with an approach that will involve and provide information to local communities. The Water Resources Program will integrate physical and biological sciences, social science, law, policy and engineering to address problems associated with stewardship of our scarce water resources. As part of the WoW project, faculty will: (1) develop an integrative problem-solving framework; (2) develop activities to broaden WR education; (3) collaborate with the College of Law to offer a concurrent J.D. degree, (4) develop a virtual system of watersheds for teaching and research, and (5) attract graduate students for team-based education. The new program involves 50 faculty from six colleges and thirteen departments across the university. This university-wide initiative is strengthened by collaboration with the Idaho Water Resources Research Institute, and participation from off-campus Centers in Idaho Falls, Boise, Twin Falls, and Coeur d'Alene. We hope this presentation will attract university faculty, water resources professionals, and others for stimulating discussions on

Employing Model-Based Reasoning in Interdisciplinary Research Teams: Evidence-Based Practices for Integrating Knowledge Across Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Pennington, D. D.; Vincent, S.

2017-12-01

The NSF-funded project "Employing Model-Based Reasoning in Socio-Environmental Synthesis (EMBeRS)" has developed a generic model for exchanging knowledge across disciplines that is based on findings from the cognitive, learning, social, and organizational sciences addressing teamwork in complex problem solving situations. Two ten-day summer workshops for PhD students from large, NSF-funded interdisciplinary projects working on a variety of water issues were conducted in 2016 and 2017, testing the model by collecting a variety of data, including surveys, interviews, audio/video recordings, material artifacts and documents, and photographs. This presentation will introduce the EMBeRS model, the design of workshop activities based on the model, and results from surveys and interviews with the participating students. Findings suggest that this approach is very effective for developing a shared, integrated research vision across disciplines, compared with activities typically provided by most large research projects, and that students believe the skills developed in the EMBeRS workshops are unique and highly desireable.

Functional Analysis in Interdisciplinary Applications

CERN Document Server

Nursultanov, Erlan; Ruzhansky, Michael; Sadybekov, Makhmud

2017-01-01

This volume presents current research in functional analysis and its applications to a variety of problems in mathematics and mathematical physics. The book contains over forty carefully refereed contributions to the conference “Functional Analysis in Interdisciplinary Applications” (Astana, Kazakhstan, October 2017). Topics covered include the theory of functions and functional spaces; differential equations and boundary value problems; the relationship between differential equations, integral operators and spectral theory; and mathematical methods in physical sciences. Presenting a wide range of topics and results, this book will appeal to anyone working in the subject area, including researchers and students interested to learn more about different aspects and applications of functional analysis.

An interdisciplinary approach to personalized medicine: case studies from a cardiogenetics clinic

OpenAIRE

Erskine, Kathleen E; Griffith, Eleanor; DeGroat, Nicole; Stolerman, Marina; Silverstein, Louise B; Hidayatallah, Nadia; Wasserman, David; Paljevic, Esma; Cohen, Lilian; Walsh, Christine A; McDonald, Thomas; Marion, Robert W; Dolan, Siobhan M

2013-01-01

In the genomic age, the challenges presented by various inherited conditions present a compelling argument for an interdisciplinary model of care. Cardiac arrhythmias with a genetic basis, such as long QT syndrome, require clinicians with expertise in many specialties to address the complex genetic, psychological, ethical and medical issues involved in treatment. The Montefiore–Einstein Center for CardioGenetics has been established to provide personalized, interdisciplinary care for families...

A Healthy Mix: A Case Study of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Interdisciplinary Health Communication Certificate Program

Science.gov (United States)

El-Toukhy, Sherine; Holman, Lynette

2012-01-01

This study evaluated attitudes toward interdisciplinary education by appraising the Interdisciplinary Health Communication (IHC) Certificate program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a case study. Sixteen affiliated faculty and thirteen students enrolled in the IHC program as of 2008-2009 were surveyed. Although the attitude…

Riding Alone on the Elevator: A Class Experiment in Interdisciplinary Education

Science.gov (United States)

Frank, Anna M.; Froese, Rebecca; Hof, Barbara C.; Scheffold, Maike I. E.; Schreyer, Felix; Zeller, Mathias; Rödder, Simone

2017-01-01

The ability to conduct interdisciplinary research is crucial to address complex real-world problems that require the collaboration of different scientific fields, with global warming being a case in point. To produce integrated climate-related knowledge, climate researchers should be trained early on to work across boundaries and gain an…

Assessing Interdisciplinary Learning and Student Activism in a Water Issues Course

Science.gov (United States)

Mueller, Anja; Juris, Stephen J.; Willermet, Cathy; Drake, Eron; Upadhaya, Samik; Chhetri, Pratik

2014-01-01

In response to a request from a campus student organization, faculty from three fields came together to develop and teach an integrated interdisciplinary course on water issues and social activism. This course, "Water as Life, Death, and Power," brought together issues from the fields of anthropology, biology and chemistry to explore…

Hydrology: The interdisciplinary science of water

Science.gov (United States)

Vogel, Richard M.; Lall, Upmanu; Cai, Ximing; Rajagopalan, Balaji; Weiskel, Peter K.; Hooper, Richard P.; Matalas, Nicholas C.

2015-01-01

We live in a world where biophysical and social processes are tightly coupled. Hydrologic systems change in response to a variety of natural and human forces such as climate variability and change, water use and water infrastructure, and land cover change. In turn, changes in hydrologic systems impact socioeconomic, ecological, and climate systems at a number of scales, leading to a coevolution of these interlinked systems. The Harvard Water Program, Hydrosociology, Integrated Water Resources Management, Ecohydrology, Hydromorphology, and Sociohydrology were all introduced to provide distinct, interdisciplinary perspectives on water problems to address the contemporary dynamics of human interaction with the hydrosphere and the evolution of the Earth’s hydrologic systems. Each of them addresses scientific, social, and engineering challenges related to how humans influence water systems and vice versa. There are now numerous examples in the literature of how holistic approaches can provide a structure and vision of the future of hydrology. We review selected examples, which taken together, describe the type of theoretical and applied integrated hydrologic analyses and associated curricular content required to address the societal issue of water resources sustainability. We describe a modern interdisciplinary science of hydrology needed to develop an in-depth understanding of the dynamics of the connectedness between human and natural systems and to determine effective solutions to resolve the complex water problems that the world faces today. Nearly, every theoretical hydrologic model introduced previously is in need of revision to accommodate how climate, land, vegetation, and socioeconomic factors interact, change, and evolve over time.

Second-Order Science of Interdisciplinary Research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Alrøe, Hugo Fjelsted; Noe, Egon

2014-01-01

require and challenge interdisciplinarity. Problem: The conventional methods of interdisciplinary research fall short in the case of wicked problems because they remain first-order science. Our aim is to present workable methods and research designs for doing second-order science in domains where...... there are many different scientific knowledges on any complex problem. Method: We synthesize and elaborate a framework for second-order science in interdisciplinary research based on a number of earlier publications, experiences from large interdisciplinary research projects, and a perspectivist theory...... of science. Results: The second-order polyocular framework for interdisciplinary research is characterized by five principles. Second-order science of interdisciplinary research must: 1. draw on the observations of first-order perspectives, 2. address a shared dynamical object, 3. establish a shared problem...

Interdisciplinary Practice Approach to Proteins Study and Analysis in Undergraduate Program in Biotechnology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L.P. Xavier

2013-05-01

Full Text Available The undergraduate program in Biotechnology at Federal University of Pará has been consolidated as excellence course in Pará, however there are still difficulties in some practice classes. In this way, the aim of this research was to develop low cost and easy implementation methodologies of teaching and learning that help the students to understand the integration of contents, and promote interdisciplinary and greater integration among professors. The main theme of the study was “Proteins: obtaining to analysis”. Professors charged of subjects in Biochemistry, Protein Biochemistry, Protein Engineering, Microbiology and Separation Methods of Biotech Products, has developed this work, which has been promoted by the program PROINT of UFPA. The main purpose of PROINT has been the consolidation of undergraduate teaching projects. Thirty students enrolled in the third semester were involved in this study. To perform the practice classes: a were made models with alternative materials (Styrofoam, cardboard; b were used the tutorials and exercises online as a complement to the teaching and learning process and; c were analyzed chromatograms, simulation purification steps, assembled and interpreted tables purification (falcon tubes, colored beads. Were used also conventional materials and reagents purchased in practices related to microbiology with the support of PROINT. Until now had been a greater interest and participation of students in the implementation of practices and a greater understanding of the theoretical content covered.

Integrative teaching in Radiology. A survey; Integrative Lehre in der Radiologie. Eine Bestandsaufnahme

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Dettmer, S.; Weidemann, J.; Wacker, F. [Hannover Medical School, Hannover (Germany). Inst. for Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology; Fischer, V. [Hannover Medical School, Hannover (Germany). Office for Medical Education

2015-04-15

To survey integrative teaching in radiology at German universities. A questionnaire about radiological education was sent electronically to all 37 chairpersons of university radiology departments in Germany. The questions included the course type, teaching methods, concept, perception, and advantages and disadvantages of integrative teaching. Statistical analysis was performed with nonparametric statistics and chi-square test. The survey was considered representative with a return rate of 68%. Integrative teaching is established at 4/5 of all departments. Integrative teaching is well accepted with an acceptance rate that is significantly higher in so-called 'Modellstudiengaengen' (model courses of study) (100%) compared to conventional courses of study (72%). The advantages of integrative teaching include linking of content (92%) and preparation for interdisciplinary work (76%). The disadvantages include high effort (75%) and time (67%) for organization. Furthermore, there is a risk that basic radiological facts and knowledge cannot be conveyed and that the visibility of radiology as an independent discipline is lost. Conventional radiological teaching has a similarly high acceptance (84%) compared to integrative courses (76%). Integrative teaching has a high acceptance among chairpersons in radiology in Germany despite the greater effort. A good interdisciplinary collaboration is essential for integrative teaching and at the same time this can be conveyed to the students. However, the visibility of radiology as a discipline and the possibility to cover basic radiological content must be ensured. Therefore, both conventional courses and integrative teaching seems reasonable, especially in cross-disciplinary subjects such as radiology.

Creative Realization of the Interdisciplinary Approach to the Study of Foreign Languages in the Experience of the Danube Basin

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olga Demchenko

2013-08-01

Full Text Available The article provides a brief overview of the experience of the Danube Basin universities, with an emphasis on the importance of studying Maritime English as a language of international communication. The phenomenon of “interdisciplinarity” and dominants of the interdisciplinary approach to the study of a foreign language is considered. Due to the need to train competent professionals for the maritime fleet with knowledge of professionally oriented foreign language and the lack of theoretically and practically developed technique with purposeful development of communicative competence with the use of interdisciplinary approach to foreign language learning, some practical experience of the use of interdisciplinary approach as an innovative technology in teaching Maritime English is presented.

Computer-mediated interdisciplinary teams: theory and reality.

Science.gov (United States)

Vroman, Kerryellen; Kovacich, Joann

2002-05-01

The benefit of experience, tempered with the wisdom of hindsight and 5 years of text-based, asynchronous, computer-mediated, interdisciplinary team communications, provides the energy, insights and data shared in this article. Through the theoretical lens of group dynamics and the epistemology of interdisciplinary teaming, we analyze the interactions of a virtual interdisciplinary team to provide an understanding and appreciation of collaborative interdisciplinary communication in the context of interactive technologies. Whilst interactive technologies may require new patterns of language similar to that of learning a foreign language, what is communicated in the interdisciplinary team process does not change. Most important is the recognition that virtual teams, similar to their face-to-face counterparts, undergo the same challenges of interdisciplinary teaming and group developmental processes of formation: forming, storming, norming, performing, and transforming. After examining these dynamics of communication and collaboration in the context of the virtual team, the article concludes with guidelines facilitating interdisciplinary team computer-mediated communication.

The adoption of an interdisciplinary instructional model in secondary education

Science.gov (United States)

Misicko, Martin W.

This study describes the experiences of a secondary high school involved in the adoption of an interdisciplinary curriculum. An interdisciplinary curriculum is defined as both the precalculus and physics curriculums taught collaboratively throughout the school year. The students' academic performances were analyzed to gage the success of the interdisciplinary model. The four year study compared students taught precalculus in a traditional discipline-based classroom versus those facilitated in an interdisciplinary precalculus/physics model. It also documents the administrative changes necessary in restructuring a high school to an interdisciplinary team teaching model. All of the students in both pedagogical models received instruction from the same teacher, and were given identical assessment materials. Additionally, the curriculum guidelines and standards of learning were duplicated for both models. The primary difference of the two models focused on the applications of mathematics in the physics curriculum. Prerequisite information was compared in both models to ensure that the students in the study had comparable qualifications prior to the facilitation of the precalculus curriculum. Common trends were analyzed and discussed from the student's performance data. The students enrolled in the interdisciplinary model appeared to outperform the discipline-based students in common evaluative assessments. The themes and outcomes described in this study provide discussion topics for further investigation by other school districts. Further study is necessary to determine whether scheduling changes may have influenced student performances, and to examine whether other content areas may experience similar results.

New study program: Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Specialist Study in Medical Informatics.

Science.gov (United States)

Hercigonja-Szekeres, Mira; Simić, Diana; Božikov, Jadranka; Vondra, Petra

2014-01-01

Paper presents an overview of the EU funded Project of Curriculum Development for Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Specialist Study in Medical Informatics named MEDINFO to be introduced in Croatia. The target group for the program is formed by professionals in any of the areas of medicine, IT professionals working on applications of IT for health and researchers and teachers in medical informatics. In addition to Croatian students, the program will also provide opportunity for enrolling students from a wider region of Southeast Europe. Project partners are two faculties of the University of Zagreb - Faculty of Organization and Informatics from Varaždin and School of Medicine, Andrija Štampar School of Public Health from Zagreb with the Croatian Society for Medical Informatics, Croatian Chamber of Economy, and Ericsson Nikola Tesla Company as associates.

Interdisciplinary preceptor teams to improve the clinical nurse leader student experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, Penny; Schmidt, Debra; Howington, Lynnette

2014-01-01

The Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) role was introduced by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) in 2003 (AACN, 2003). There are now over 2,500 certified CNLs in the United States. Still some areas of the country have no CNLs in practice; this was true of north central Texas until May 2010 when Texas Christian University (TCU) had its first graduating class. Lack of CNLs to serve as preceptors for the practicum courses in the CNL program was one concern, although AACN does offer options when CNLs are not available. TCU's CNL teaching team developed the interdisciplinary preceptor team (IPT) model to strengthen the practicum component of CNL education at TCU. One advantage of the IPT model is the match it provides with several CNL competencies: lateral integration of care via interdisciplinary teams, member and leader of health care teams, skillful communication within teams, and implementation of an interdisciplinary approach to safe, quality, patient care. Components of the IPT model are discussed with specific information about preceptor selection, team development, and examples of feedback from preceptors and students. © 2014.

Organizational Influences on Interdisciplinary Interactions during Research and Design of Large-Scale Complex Engineered Systems

Science.gov (United States)

McGowan, Anna-Maria R.; Seifert, Colleen M.; Papalambros, Panos Y.

2012-01-01

The design of large-scale complex engineered systems (LaCES) such as an aircraft is inherently interdisciplinary. Multiple engineering disciplines, drawing from a team of hundreds to thousands of engineers and scientists, are woven together throughout the research, development, and systems engineering processes to realize one system. Though research and development (R&D) is typically focused in single disciplines, the interdependencies involved in LaCES require interdisciplinary R&D efforts. This study investigates the interdisciplinary interactions that take place during the R&D and early conceptual design phases in the design of LaCES. Our theoretical framework is informed by both engineering practices and social science research on complex organizations. This paper provides preliminary perspective on some of the organizational influences on interdisciplinary interactions based on organization theory (specifically sensemaking), data from a survey of LaCES experts, and the authors experience in the research and design. The analysis reveals couplings between the engineered system and the organization that creates it. Survey respondents noted the importance of interdisciplinary interactions and their significant benefit to the engineered system, such as innovation and problem mitigation. Substantial obstacles to interdisciplinarity are uncovered beyond engineering that include communication and organizational challenges. Addressing these challenges may ultimately foster greater efficiencies in the design and development of LaCES and improved system performance by assisting with the collective integration of interdependent knowledge bases early in the R&D effort. This research suggests that organizational and human dynamics heavily influence and even constrain the engineering effort for large-scale complex systems.

IEDA Integrated Services: Improving the User Experience for Interdisciplinary Earth Science Research

Science.gov (United States)

Carter-Orlando, M.; Ferrini, V. L.; Lehnert, K.; Carbotte, S. M.; Richard, S. M.; Morton, J. J.; Shane, N.; Ash, J.; Song, L.

2017-12-01

The Interdisciplinary Earth Data Alliance (IEDA) is an NSF-funded data facility that provides data tools and services to support the Ocean, Earth, and Polar Sciences. IEDA systems, developed and maintained primarily by the IEDA partners EarthChem and the Marine Geoscience Data System (MGDS), serve as primary community data collections for global geochemistry and marine geoscience research and support the preservation, discovery, retrieval, and analysis of a wide range of observational field and analytical data types. Individual IEDA systems originated independently and differ from one another in purpose and scope. Some IEDA systems are data repositories (EarthChem Library, Marine Geo-Digital Library), while others are actively maintained data syntheses (GMRT, PetDB, EarthChem Portal, Geochron). Still others are data visualization and analysis tools (GeoMapApp). Although the diversity of IEDA's data types, tools, and services is a major strength and of high value to investigators, it can be a source of confusion. And while much of the data managed in IEDA systems is appropriate for interdisciplinary research, investigators may be unfamiliar with the user interfaces and services of each system, especially if it is not in their primary discipline. This presentation will highlight new ways in which IEDA helps researchers to more efficiently navigate data submission and data access. It will also discuss how IEDA promotes discovery and access within and across its systems, to serve interdisciplinary science while also remaining aware of and responsive to the more specific needs of its disciplinary user communities. The IEDA Data Submission Hub (DaSH), which is currently under development, aspires to streamline the submission process for both the science data contributor and for the repository data curator. Instead of users deciding a priori, which system they should contribute their data to, the DaSH helps route them to the appropriate repository based primarily on data

Interdisciplinary Project-Based Learning through an Environmental Water Quality Study

Science.gov (United States)

Juhl, Lorie; Yearsley, Kaye; Silva, Andrew J.

1997-12-01

An interdisciplinary environmental water quality study was designed and conducted to enhance training and employability of chemical and environmental technician students in associate degree programs. Four project objectives were identified as a means to enhance the educational experience and employability of our students: provide experience on analytical instrumentation for organic compounds (gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, GC/MS), require interdisciplinary group interactions and problem solving, provide experience with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) procedures, and require cooperation with state agencies/private organizations. Students worked in groups that included representatives from both programs to develop project objectives and a Sampling and Analysis Plan (SAP) following EPA standards. Input from personnel at Idaho's Department of Environmental Quality and Bureau of Laboratories and from volunteers in an environmental "watch dog" organization called the Henry's Fork Foundation aided students in the development and implementation of their SAP. Subsequently, groups sampled sections of the Henry's Fork River and analyzed for organic, inorganic, and fecal contaminants. Analysis included EPA method 525.2 for pesticides using GC/MS. Data from all river segments was shared and each group submitted a final report analyzing results. Surveys completed by students and instructors indicate that the project is a successful teaching method allowing introduction of new skills as well as review of important technical and employability skills.

Technology of interdisciplinary open-ended designing in engineering education

Science.gov (United States)

Isaev, A. P.; Plotnikov, L. V.; Fomin, N. I.

2017-11-01

Author’s technology of interdisciplinary open-ended engineering is presented in this article. This technology is an integrated teaching method that significantly increases the practical component in the educational program. Author’s technology creates the conditions to overcome the shortcomings in the engineering education. The basic ideas of the technology of open-ended engineering, experience of their implementation in higher education and the author’s vision of the teaching technology are examined in the article. The main stages of development process of the author’s technology of open-ended engineering to prepare students (bachelor) of technical profile are presented in the article. Complex of the methodological tools and procedures is shown in the article. This complex is the basis of the developed training technology that is used in educational process in higher school of engineering (UrFU). The organizational model of the technology of open-ended engineering is presented. Organizational model integrates the functions in the creation and implementation of all educational program. Analysis of the characteristics of educational activity of students working on author’s technology of interdisciplinary open-ended engineering is presented. Intermediate results of the application of author’s technology in the educational process of the engineering undergraduate are shown.

Personal Professional Reflection as Interdisciplinary Problem

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rezvan Oksana

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Consideration of professional reflection as interdisciplinary problem is the necessary condition of quality analysis for personal professional becoming. Personal becoming in a profession is related to forming the necessary professional skills of a person, behaviour stereotypes which is the area of pedagogics. Reflection processes are inalienable part of self-knowledge of a person which result must lead to his self-perfection (including professional one and studying within the psychology increasingly. Thus the aim of the article is to ground the determination of professional reflection as an interdisciplinary problem in pedagogics and psychology.

How journal rankings can suppress interdisciplinary research: a comparison between innovation studies and business & management

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rafols, I.; Leydesdorff, L.; O'Hare, A.; Nightingale, P.; Stirling, A.

2012-01-01

This study provides quantitative evidence on how the use of journal rankings can disadvantage interdisciplinary research in research evaluations. Using publication and citation data, it compares the degree of interdisciplinarity and the research performance of a number of Innovation Studies units

An Examination of Learning Formats on Interdisciplinary Teamwork Knowledge, Skills, and Dispositions

Science.gov (United States)

Ivey, Carole K.; Reed, Evelyn

2011-01-01

Although interdisciplinary teamwork is a recommended practice and important for coordinated interdisciplinary programming in special education, there is limited research on pedagogical practices to prepare professionals to work together effectively. This study examined the effectiveness of a graduate interdisciplinary teamwork course taught…

Interdisciplinary design study of a high-rise integrated roof wind energy system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Moonen S.P.G.

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Today’s market in micro-wind turbines is in constant development introducing more efficient solutions for the future. Besides the private use of tower supported turbines, opportunities to integrate wind turbines in the built environment arise. The Integrated Roof Wind Energy System (IRWES presented in this work is a modular roof structure integrated on top of existing or new buildings. IRWES is build up by an axial array of skewed shaped funnels used for both wind inlet and outlet. This inventive use of shape and geometry leads to a converging air capturing inlet to create high wind mass flow and velocity toward a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT in the center-top of the roof unit for the generation of a relatively high amount of energy. The scope of this research aims to make an optimized structural design of IRWES to be placed on top of the Vertigo building in Eindhoven; analysis of the structural performance; and impact to the existing structure by means of Finite Element Modeling (FEM. Results show that the obvious impact of wind pressure to the structural design is easily supported in different configurations of fairly simple lightweight structures. In particular, the weight addition to existing buildings remains minimal.

Avoiding pitfalls in interdisciplinary education

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Holt, R. E.; Woods, P. J.; Ferreira, Ana Sofia

2017-01-01

education, illustrating approaches towards solutions using the Nordic Centre for Research on Marine Ecosystems and Resources under Climate Change (NorMER) research network as a case study. We provide insights and detailed examples of how to overcome some of the challenges of conducting interdisciplinary......As the world’s social-environmental problems increasingly extend across boundaries, both disciplinary and political, there is a growing need for interdisciplinarity, not only in research per se, but also in doctoral education. We present the common pitfalls of interdisciplinary research in doctoral...... research within doctoral studies that can be applied within any doctoral/postdoctoral education programme, and beyond. Results from a selfevaluation survey indicate that early-career workshops, annual meetings and research visits to other institutions were the most effective learning mechanisms, whereas...

Epilogue: The study of care in cross cultural, interdisciplinary ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

No abstract available for this article... Keywords: care in cross culture, interdisciplinary perspective. Research Review Supplement 16 (2004: 95-101). AJOL African Journals Online. HOW TO USE AJOL... for Researchers · for Librarians · for Authors · FAQ's · More about AJOL · AJOL's Partners · Terms and Conditions of Use ...

Capacity Building for the Common Good: PSU's Interdisciplinary Minor in Civic Leadership

Science.gov (United States)

Nishishiba, Masami; Kecskes, Kevin

2012-01-01

Since the early 1990s, Portland State University has furthered its commitment to civic engagement education by adopting an integrated approach to its general education curriculum. As an outgrowth to this initiative, the minor in Civic Leadership was developed in 2004-05. This interdisciplinary minor was designed with the intent to further…

Att skapa sammanhang: lärare i naturvetenskapliga ämnen, ämnesövergripande samarbete och etiska perspektiv i undervisningenTo create coherence: science teachers, interdisciplinary collaboration and ethical perspectives in the educational practice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ingela Bursjöö

2015-03-01

Full Text Available This paper focuses on how experienced science teachers talk about interdisciplinary collaboration and ethical perspectives in their educational practice, two important components in science education and central in research on socio-scientific issues and education for sustainable development. The teachers in this interview study were asked in detail about how they integrate such components in their teaching practice. The findings indicate that the teachers in the study value interdisciplinary collaboration and try to integrate ethical aspects in their teaching. However, the science teachers in this study encounter problems in the practical implementation as it demands excellent communication in the team. Furthermore, the science teachers rate their ethical competence as rather low. They also show signs of a decrease in their professional capital, as in decisions they can make related to their teaching practice. The process of interacting with and learning from others, here called social learning, is vital for interdisciplinary collaboration and integration of ethical aspects. Such issues place severe demands, not only on the science teacher, but also on the whole educational system. 

Examination of Postgraduate Theses in Sciences within the Interdisciplinary Context

Science.gov (United States)

Karakus, Memet; Yalçin, Onur

2017-01-01

Nowadays, the rapid spread of the interdisciplinary approach contributes to the development of disciplines and scientific developments in many ways. Therefore, how the interdisciplinary approach is addressed in the studies carried out is important in terms of guiding other studies. For this purpose, an attempt to determine how 155 doctorate theses…

Report on an interdisciplinary program for allied health.

Science.gov (United States)

Peloquin, S M; Cavazos, H; Marion, R; Stephenson, K S; Pearrow, D

2007-11-01

A central recommendation from the Pew Health Commission to educators has been to empower future care providers to function effectively as teams. Administrators and faculty members within a school of allied health sciences thus established an interdisciplinary program where students would learn to function as team members and demonstrate competencies required for practice in diverse, demanding, and continually changing health care environments. Students from five disciplines have participated in featured events, mentored activities and capstone projects, earning credit in an interdisciplinary course of study that complements offerings in their home disciplines. This follow-up article reports on the progress and development since 2002 of an interdisciplinary program known as Team IDEAL. Formative evaluation measures used to assess satisfaction with the program are presented alongside a discussion of new directions. Team IDEAL will move forward in a streamlined form that reflects its central aim. IDEAL leadership will remain cognizant of the effects of discipline-specific curricular changes, complex programming, and student perspectives on the process interdisciplinary education.

Revolutionary interdisciplinary cooperation. Effects of short- term regulation studied in a river environment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Saimakallio, H.; Virsu, R.

1996-11-01

A three-year study on how short-term regulation affects the river environment provides power plant builders with new capabilities to meet the needs of the riverside population, recreational users and power plants. The study also opens up new perspectives to researchers. Interdisciplinary cooperation between experts on the living environment, vegetation, fish, recreational use and energy has been revolutionary even on the international scale. (orig.)

Interdisciplinary and Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Explanatory Coexistence.

Science.gov (United States)

Watson-Jones, Rachel E; Busch, Justin T A; Legare, Cristine H

2015-10-01

Natural and supernatural explanations are used to interpret the same events in a number of predictable and universal ways. Yet little is known about how variation in diverse cultural ecologies influences how people integrate natural and supernatural explanations. Here, we examine explanatory coexistence in three existentially arousing domains of human thought: illness, death, and human origins using qualitative data from interviews conducted in Tanna, Vanuatu. Vanuatu, a Melanesian archipelago, provides a cultural context ideal for examining variation in explanatory coexistence due to the lack of industrialization and the relatively recent introduction of Christianity and Western education. We argue for the integration of interdisciplinary methodologies from cognitive science and anthropology to inform research on explanatory coexistence. Copyright © 2015 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Interdisciplinary Psychology and Law Training in Family and Child Mediation: An Empirical Study of the Effects on Law Student Mediators

Science.gov (United States)

Holtzworth-Munroe, Amy; Applegate, Amy G.; Rudd Brittany N.; Freeman, Ann; D'Onofrio, Brian

2013-01-01

There is growing interest in interdisciplinary training programs for law students. The goal of these programs is to prepare law students for the real world interdisciplinary settings they will face in their careers. However, there exists little research to provide evidence of the utility of such training. This study examined the effectiveness of…

Promoting Interdisciplinary Research among Faculty

Science.gov (United States)

Novak, Elena; Zhao, Weinan; Reiser, Robert A.

2014-01-01

With the growing recognition of the importance of interdisciplinary research, many faculty have increased their efforts to form interdisciplinary research teams. Oftentimes, attempts to put together such teams are hampered because faculty have a limited picture of the research interests and expertise of their colleagues. This paper reports on…

Constructing an Interdisciplinary Context for Definition of Life

Science.gov (United States)

Tsokolov, S. A.

One of the main problems in understanding life is that that lifecannot be defined as a self-evident phenomenon. Instead, definitions of life inevitably depend on the context: social, ethical, theological, and scientific. Even in a purely scientific context, different scientific disciplines and approaches provide a variety of criteria related to life. My intention is to define life in an interdisciplinary context, where the class of living systems can be presented as a particular case in series of systems: physical, chemical, prebiotic, biotic, ecological, social, cognitive, etc. related by a universal principle. To this end, the first step in establishing general criteria for life is to define the essential features of life processes. The very functional principle of living beings is circular organization (feedback circularity) embedded on different levels of organization: molecular, genetic, cellular, neural, behavioural, mental, and social. Understanding that the degree of system's wholeness, i.e. degree of feedback net integration can serve as a primary parameter, we can in principle construct an interdisciplinary context in which different systems including living beings can be analyzed, defined and compared.

Performance feedback: An exploratory study to examine the acceptability and impact for interdisciplinary primary care teams

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

Background This mixed methods study was designed to explore the acceptability and impact of feedback of team performance data to primary care interdisciplinary teams. Methods Seven interdisciplinary teams were offered a one-hour, facilitated performance feedback session presenting data from a comprehensive, previously-conducted evaluation, selecting highlights such as performance on chronic disease management, access, patient satisfaction and team function. Results Several recurrent themes emerged from participants' surveys and two rounds of interviews within three months of the feedback session. Team performance measurement and feedback was welcomed across teams and disciplines. This feedback could build the team, the culture, and the capacity for quality improvement. However, existing performance indicators do not equally reflect the role of different disciplines within an interdisciplinary team. Finally, the effect of team performance feedback on intentions to improve performance was hindered by a poor understanding of how the team could use the data. Conclusions The findings further our understanding of how performance feedback may engage interdisciplinary team members in improving the quality of primary care and the unique challenges specific to these settings. There is a need to develop a shared sense of responsibility and agenda for quality improvement. Therefore, more efforts to develop flexible and interactive performance-reporting structures (that better reflect contributions from all team members) in which teams could specify the information and audience may assist in promoting quality improvement. PMID:21443806

MBA in Education Leadership: A Model for Developing an Interdisciplinary Principal Preparation Program

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Rachel A.; Somers, John

2016-01-01

This paper presents a model for developing an interdisciplinary principal preparation program, an MBA in Education Leadership, which integrates best practices in both education and business within an educational context. The paper addresses gaps that exist in many traditional principal preparation programs and provides an alternative model, which…

Interdisciplinary Work in Schools

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tofteng, Ditte Maria Børglum; Rasmussen, Gitte Lyng

In a Danish school or institutional context there is a variety of professionals working around children’s lives, both as a part of an ordinary child life and when there are cognitive or social challenges connected to this life. Thus, the professionals are often working closely together in both......, combined with their more formal organizational affiliation. In this way, professionals can be working directly within the school or institution, or they can be in a supportive role being formally affiliated to the local council. Both these types of affiliations entail interdisciplinary cooperation......, interdisciplinary work is part of the new vision of how welfare systems can work more effectively and successfully, and in this logic, it is framed as a new standard for working systematically and consistently with cases. Hence, interdisciplinary work also represents a meaningful way of working with cases...

Interdisciplinary Dissertation Research Among Public Health Doctoral Trainees, 2003-2015.

Science.gov (United States)

Golembiewski, Elizabeth H; Holmes, Ann M; Jackson, Joanna R; Brown-Podgorski, Brittany L; Menachemi, Nir

Given the call for more interdisciplinary research in public health, the objectives of this study were to (1) examine the correlates of interdisciplinary dissertation completion and (2) identify secondary fields most common among interdisciplinary public health graduates. We analyzed pooled cross-sectional data from 11 120 doctoral graduates in the Survey of Earned Doctorates, 2003-2015. The primary outcome was interdisciplinary dissertation completion. Covariates included primary public health field, sociodemographic characteristics, and institutional attributes. From 2003 to 2015, a total of 4005 of 11 120 (36.0%) doctoral graduates in public health reported interdisciplinary dissertations, with significant increases observed in recent years. Compared with general public health graduates, graduates of environmental health (odds ratio [OR] = 1.74; P dissertation work, whereas graduates from biostatistics (OR = 0.51; P dissertation was associated with being male, a non-US citizen, a graduate of a private institution, and a graduate of an institution with high but not the highest level of research activity. Many secondary dissertation fields reported by interdisciplinary graduates included other public health fields. Although interdisciplinary dissertation research among doctoral graduates in public health has increased in recent years, such work is bounded in certain fields of public health and certain types of graduates and institutions. Academic administrators and other stakeholders may use these results to inform greater interdisciplinary activity during doctoral training and to evaluate current and future collaborations across departments or schools.

Creation of medicinal chemistry learning communities through enhanced technology and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Science.gov (United States)

Henriksen, Brian; Roche, Victoria

2012-10-12

Objectives. To build an integrated medicinal chemistry learning community of campus and distance pharmacy students though the use of innovative technology and interdisciplinary teaching.Design. Mechanisms were implemented to bring distance students into campus-based medicinal chemistry classrooms in real time, stimulate interaction between instructors and various student cohorts, and promote group work during class. Also, pharmacy clinician colleagues were recruited to contribute to the teaching of the 3 medicinal chemistry courses.Assessment. Student perceptions on the value of technology to build community and advance learning were gleaned from course evaluations, in class feedback, and conversations with class officers and student groups. Responses on a survey of second-year students confirmed the benefits of interdisciplinary content integration on engagement and awareness of the connection between drug chemistry and pharmacy practice. A survey of clinician colleagues who contributed to teaching the 3 medicinal chemistry courses found their views were similar to those of students.Conclusions. The purposeful use of technology united learners, fostered communication, and advanced content comprehension in 3 medicinal chemistry courses taught to campus and distance students. Teaching collaboration with pharmacy clinicians enhanced learner interest in course content and provided insight into the integrated nature of the profession of pharmacy.

Semantic Web meets Integrative Biology: a survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Huajun; Yu, Tong; Chen, Jake Y

2013-01-01

Integrative Biology (IB) uses experimental or computational quantitative technologies to characterize biological systems at the molecular, cellular, tissue and population levels. IB typically involves the integration of the data, knowledge and capabilities across disciplinary boundaries in order to solve complex problems. We identify a series of bioinformatics problems posed by interdisciplinary integration: (i) data integration that interconnects structured data across related biomedical domains; (ii) ontology integration that brings jargons, terminologies and taxonomies from various disciplines into a unified network of ontologies; (iii) knowledge integration that integrates disparate knowledge elements from multiple sources; (iv) service integration that build applications out of services provided by different vendors. We argue that IB can benefit significantly from the integration solutions enabled by Semantic Web (SW) technologies. The SW enables scientists to share content beyond the boundaries of applications and websites, resulting into a web of data that is meaningful and understandable to any computers. In this review, we provide insight into how SW technologies can be used to build open, standardized and interoperable solutions for interdisciplinary integration on a global basis. We present a rich set of case studies in system biology, integrative neuroscience, bio-pharmaceutics and translational medicine, to highlight the technical features and benefits of SW applications in IB.

The Implementation of an Interdisciplinary Co-planning Team Model Among Mathematics and Science Teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Michelle Cetner

In recent years, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education has become a significant focus of numerous theoretical and commentary articles as researchers have advocated for active and conceptually integrated learning in classrooms. Drawing connections between previously isolated subjects, especially mathematics and science, has been shown to increase student engagement, performance, and critical thinking skills. However, obstacles exist to the widespread implementation of integrated curricula in schools, such as teacher knowledge and school structure and culture. The Interdisciplinary Co-planning Team (ICT) model, in which teachers of different subjects come together regularly to discuss connections between content and to plan larger interdisciplinary activities and smaller examples and discussion points, offers a method for teachers to create sustainable interdisciplinary experiences for students within the bounds of the current school structure. The ICT model is designed to be an iterative, flexible model, providing teachers with both a regular time to come together as "experts" and "teach" each other important concepts from their separate disciplines, and then to bring their shared knowledge and language back to their own classrooms to implement with their students in ways that fit their individual classes. In this multiple-case study, which aims to describe the nature of the co-planning process, the nature of plans, and changes in teacher beliefs as a result of co-planning, three pairs of secondary mathematics and science teachers participated in a 10-week intervention with the ICT model. Each pair constituted one case. Data included observations, interviews, and artifact collection. All interviews, whole-group sessions, and co-planning sessions were transcribed and coded using both theory-based and data-based codes. Finally, a cross-case comparison was used to present similarities and differences across cases. Findings suggest that the

Air Pollution Awareness in the Scope of the Community Service Practices Course: An Interdisciplinary Study

Science.gov (United States)

Aydin-Güç, Funda; Aygün, Müge; Ceylan, Derya; Çavus-Güngören, Seda; Durukan, Ümmü Gülsüm; Hacioglu, Yasemin; Yekeler, Ayse Dilek

2018-01-01

The aim of this study is to determine the effect of the interdisciplinary (the disciplines of Turkish, Social Science, Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Public Administration) activities performed in the scope of the Community Service Practices Course on the air pollution awareness (APW). This study has been performed as a multiple case study.…

INTERDISCIPLINARY SYSTEMIC JURIDICAL ARGUMENTATION: A NEW WAY TO JUSTIFY EMPHATICALLY AND EFFECTIVELLY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jorge Isaac Torres Manrique

2018-04-01

Full Text Available The article discusses the interdisciplinary systemic juridical argumentation. We propose to elevate the legal argumentation to a complete and integral level. That is, to provide a kind of tool that facilitates and ensures a full and complete analysis and foundation, in order to achieve a due as expected justice administration, in justice proper.

Integrative teaching in Radiology. A survey

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dettmer, S.; Weidemann, J.; Wacker, F.; Fischer, V.

2015-01-01

To survey integrative teaching in radiology at German universities. A questionnaire about radiological education was sent electronically to all 37 chairpersons of university radiology departments in Germany. The questions included the course type, teaching methods, concept, perception, and advantages and disadvantages of integrative teaching. Statistical analysis was performed with nonparametric statistics and chi-square test. The survey was considered representative with a return rate of 68%. Integrative teaching is established at 4/5 of all departments. Integrative teaching is well accepted with an acceptance rate that is significantly higher in so-called 'Modellstudiengaengen' (model courses of study) (100%) compared to conventional courses of study (72%). The advantages of integrative teaching include linking of content (92%) and preparation for interdisciplinary work (76%). The disadvantages include high effort (75%) and time (67%) for organization. Furthermore, there is a risk that basic radiological facts and knowledge cannot be conveyed and that the visibility of radiology as an independent discipline is lost. Conventional radiological teaching has a similarly high acceptance (84%) compared to integrative courses (76%). Integrative teaching has a high acceptance among chairpersons in radiology in Germany despite the greater effort. A good interdisciplinary collaboration is essential for integrative teaching and at the same time this can be conveyed to the students. However, the visibility of radiology as a discipline and the possibility to cover basic radiological content must be ensured. Therefore, both conventional courses and integrative teaching seems reasonable, especially in cross-disciplinary subjects such as radiology.

Exploring Parental Involvement Strategies Utilized by Middle School Interdisciplinary Teams

Science.gov (United States)

Robbins, Chris; Searby, Linda

2013-01-01

Adolescents present a unique collection of characteristics and challenges which middle school interdisciplinary teams were designed to address. This article describes a research study which explored parental involvement strategies employed by interdisciplinary teaching teams from three very different middle schools: an affluent suburban school, a…

Rational accountability and rational autonomy in academic practice: An extended case study of the communicative ethic of interdisciplinary science

Science.gov (United States)

Robertson, Susan Margaret

The dissertation investigates the interaction of rational accountability and rational autonomy in interdisciplinary science within the lifeworld of the university. It focuses on the cultural, social and motivational forces that university researchers draw on, and develop, to constitute and regulate interdisciplinary science. Findings are analyzed within an applied critical social theory framework that attends to the interaction of instrumental and communicative rational action within the public spaces that constitute the lifeworld of the university as a public sphere in society. The research raises questions of how academics practice interdisciplinary science and how these practices relate to the reproduction of the regulative ideal of the university as a community that practices public reason. The conceptual framework informing the research is Habermas' (1984) theory of communicative action. Using Burawoy's (1991) extended case study method as an operational strategy, two modes of constituting and regulating interdisciplinary science were found. Instrumental rational modes dominated in social contexts of interdisciplinary science where consensus on the normative goals and purposes of rational academic action were pre-existing and pre-supposed by participants. Communicative rational modes dominated in social contexts of interdisciplinary science where the normative goals and purposes of rational academic action entered a contested domain. Endorsements for interdisciplinary science policies are coinciding with demands for increased accountability and relevance of Canada's university system. At the same time that the university system must respond to external demands, it must reproduce itself as a public institution open to the discursive redemption of factual and normative validity claims. The study found that academics participate in, but also contest the instrumental regulation of academic inquiry and conduct by using their constitutional autonomy and freedom to

Three-dimensional printing of human skeletal muscle cells: An interdisciplinary approach for studying biological systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Bagley, James R; Galpin, Andrew J

2015-01-01

Interdisciplinary exploration is vital to education in the 21st century. This manuscript outlines an innovative laboratory-based teaching method that combines elements of biochemistry/molecular biology, kinesiology/health science, computer science, and manufacturing engineering to give students the ability to better conceptualize complex biological systems. Here, we utilize technology available at most universities to print three-dimensional (3D) scale models of actual human muscle cells (myofibers) out of bioplastic materials. The same methodological approach could be applied to nearly any cell type or molecular structure. This advancement is significant because historically, two-dimensional (2D) myocellular images have proven insufficient for detailed analysis of organelle organization and morphology. 3D imaging fills this void by providing accurate and quantifiable myofiber structural data. Manipulating tangible 3D models combats 2D limitation and gives students new perspectives and alternative learning experiences that may assist their understanding. This approach also exposes learners to 1) human muscle cell extraction and isolation, 2) targeted fluorescence labeling, 3) confocal microscopy, 4) image processing (via open-source software), and 5) 3D printing bioplastic scale-models (×500 larger than the actual cells). Creating these physical models may further student's interest in the invisible world of molecular and cellular biology. Furthermore, this interdisciplinary laboratory project gives instructors of all biological disciplines a new teaching tool to foster integrative thinking. © 2015 The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Biosocial Conservation: Integrating Biological and Ethnographic Methods to Study Human-Primate Interactions.

Science.gov (United States)

Setchell, Joanna M; Fairet, Emilie; Shutt, Kathryn; Waters, Siân; Bell, Sandra

2017-01-01

Biodiversity conservation is one of the grand challenges facing society. Many people interested in biodiversity conservation have a background in wildlife biology. However, the diverse social, cultural, political, and historical factors that influence the lives of people and wildlife can be investigated fully only by incorporating social science methods, ideally within an interdisciplinary framework. Cultural hierarchies of knowledge and the hegemony of the natural sciences create a barrier to interdisciplinary understandings. Here, we review three different projects that confront this difficulty, integrating biological and ethnographic methods to study conservation problems. The first project involved wildlife foraging on crops around a newly established national park in Gabon. Biological methods revealed the extent of crop loss, the species responsible, and an effect of field isolation, while ethnography revealed institutional and social vulnerability to foraging wildlife. The second project concerned great ape tourism in the Central African Republic. Biological methods revealed that gorilla tourism poses risks to gorillas, while ethnography revealed why people seek close proximity to gorillas. The third project focused on humans and other primates living alongside one another in Morocco. Incorporating shepherds in the coproduction of ecological knowledge about primates built trust and altered attitudes to the primates. These three case studies demonstrate how the integration of biological and social methods can help us to understand the sustainability of human-wildlife interactions, and thus promote coexistence. In each case, an integrated biosocial approach incorporating ethnographic data produced results that would not otherwise have come to light. Research that transcends conventional academic boundaries requires the openness and flexibility to move beyond one's comfort zone to understand and acknowledge the legitimacy of "other" kinds of knowledge. It is

Best practices and pearls in interdisciplinary mentoring from Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health Directors.

Science.gov (United States)

Guise, Jeanne-Marie; Nagel, Joan D; Regensteiner, Judith G

2012-11-01

Increasingly, national programs and leaders are looking at interdisciplinary collaborations as essential to future research. Twelve years ago, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH) developed and implemented the Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health (BIRCWH) K12 program to focus on interdisciplinary mentored career development for junior faculty in women's health research. We applied a mixed-methods approach using an electronic survey and in-person presentations and discussions to understand best practices and lessons learned for interdisciplinary mentoring across BIRCWH K12 program leaders. We received responses from all 29 active BIRCWH programs. Factors associated with success included ensuring sufficient protected time for regular (weekly or biweekly) mentoring; mentors promoting the research independence of the Scholar; a team mentoring approach, including career as well as content mentors; and explicit and clear expectations outlined between the Scholar and mentor. The majority of programs conduct formal evaluations of mentorship, and 79% of programs offer training in mentorship for either Scholars, mentors, or both. This article presents program leaders' best practices, challenges, and lessons learned from mentoring junior faculty who are conducting women's health research, whether basic, clinical, behavioral, translational, or health services research, using an interdisciplinary mentoring approach.

Devising and Interdisciplinary Teaching: A Case Study in Collaboration between Theatre and Humanities Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Mahoney, Kristin; Brown, Rich

2013-01-01

We use an experimental course collaboration that occurred in the winter of 2012 as a case study for an approach to interdisciplinary collaboration between Theatre and Humanities courses, and we argue that the theatre methodology of "devising" can serve as a particularly rich locus for collaboration between Theatre students and other…

Interdisciplinary debate in the teaching-learning process on bioethics: academic health experiences.

Science.gov (United States)

Campos Daniel, Jéssica; Dias Reis Pessalacia, Juliana; Leite de Andrade, Ana Flávia

2016-06-01

The study aimed to understand the health of student experiences to participate in interdisciplinary discussions in bioethics and know the contributions of interdisciplinary methodological resource for the teaching-learning process at graduation. Descriptive study of qualitative approach in a public higher education institution of Divinópolis, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Three categories of analysis were identified: ''active methodologies in the training of a professional critic,'' ''interdisciplinary debate as facilitator reflection of bioethics'' and ''feelings and attitudes caused by the interdisciplinary debate.'' Discussion. There was a lack of approach of bioethical contents in the health curriculum, and the adoption of active methodologies provides a better reflection in bioethics, but that requires changing paradigms of teachers and educational institutions.

Supporting students in building interdisciplinary connections across physics and biology

Science.gov (United States)

Turpen, Chandra

2014-03-01

Our research team has been engaged in the iterative redesign of an Introductory Physics course for Life Science (IPLS) majors to explicitly bridge biology and physics in ways that are authentic to the disciplines. Our interdisciplinary course provides students opportunities to examine how modeling decisions (e.g. knowing when and how to use different concepts, identifying implicit assumptions, making and justifying assumptions) may differ depending on canonical disciplinary aims and interests. Our focus on developing students' interdisciplinary reasoning skills requires 1) shifting course topics to focus on core ideas that span the disciplines, 2) shifting epistemological expectations, and 3) foregrounding typically tacit disciplinary assumptions. In working to build an authentic interdisciplinary course that bridges physics and biology, we pay careful attention to supporting students in constructing these bridges. This course has been shown to have important impacts: a) students seek meaningful connections between the disciplines, b) students perceive relevance and utility of ideas from different disciplines, and c) students reconcile challenging disciplinary ideas. Although our focus has been on building interdisciplinary coherence, we have succeeded in maintaining strong student learning gains on fundamental physics concepts and allowed students to deepen their understanding of challenging concepts in thermodynamics. This presentation will describe the shifts in course content and the modern pedagogical approaches that have been integrated into the course, and provide an overview of key research results from this project. These results may aid physicists in reconsidering how they can meaningfully reach life-science students. This work is supported by NSF-TUES DUE 11-22818, the HHMI NEXUS grant, and a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (DGE 0750616).

Use of the Interdisciplinary Team Approach in the Rehabilitation of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Research and clinical experience have shown the importance of using a team approach in the rehabilitation of stroke patients. The interdisciplinary team approach is recommended in the managing or rehabilitation of such patients. This study sought to determine if the interdisciplinary team approach was utilized in the ...

Interdisciplinary Investigation of CO2 Sequestration in Depleted Shale Gas Formations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zoback, Mark D. [Stanford Univ., CA (United States); Kovscek, Anthony R. [Stanford Univ., CA (United States); Wilcox, Jennifer [Stanford Univ., CA (United States)

2013-09-30

This project investigates the feasibility of geologic sequestration of CO2 in depleted shale gas reservoirs from an interdisciplinary viewpoint. It is anticipated that over the next two decades, tens of thousands of wells will be drilled in the 23 states in which organic-rich shale gas deposits are found. This research investigates the feasibility of using these formations for sequestration. If feasible, the number of sites where CO2 can be sequestered increases dramatically. The research embraces a broad array of length scales ranging from the ~10 nanometer scale of the pores in the shale formations to reservoir scale through a series of integrated laboratory and theoretical studies.

Llama Herders and Urban Elites: Interdisciplinary Readings of Early Colonial Narratives in the Americas

Science.gov (United States)

Beaule, Christine D.; Quintana, Benito

2017-01-01

We argue for an interdisciplinary pedagogical approach that we call the Integration of Research and Education in the Classroom, which highlights and crosses disciplinary boundaries to challenge each field's assumptions, limitations, conceptual and interpretive purview. We use a set of examples that center on problematizing various aspects of the…

Music therapy applied to complex blast injury in interdisciplinary care: a case report.

Science.gov (United States)

Vaudreuil, Rebecca; Avila, Luis; Bradt, Joke; Pasquina, Paul

2018-04-24

Music therapy has a long history of treating the physiological, psychological, and neurological injuries of war. Recently, there has been an increase in the use of music therapy and other creative arts therapies in the care of combat injured service members returning to the United States from Iraq and Afghanistan, especially those with complex blast-related injuries. This case report describes the role of music therapy in the interdisciplinary rehabilitation of a severely injured service member. Music therapy was provided as stand-alone treatment and in co-treatment with speech language pathology, physical therapy, and occupational therapy. The report is based on clinical notes, self-reports by the patient and his wife, and interviews with rehabilitation team members. In collaboration with other treatment disciplines, music therapy contributed to improvements in range of motion, functional use of bilateral upper extremities, strength endurance, breath support, articulation, task-attention, compensatory strategies, social integration, quality of life, and overall motivation in the recovery process. The inclusion of music therapy in rehabilitation was highly valued by the patient, his family, and the treatment team. Music therapy has optimized the rehabilitation of a service member through assisting the recovery process on a continuum from clinic to community. Implications for Rehabilitation Music therapy in stand-alone sessions and in co-treatment with traditional disciplines can enhance treatment outcomes in functional domains of motor, speech, cognition, social integration, and quality of life for military populations. Music therapists can help ease discomfort and difficulty associated with rehabilitation activities, thereby enhancing patient motivation and participation in interdisciplinary care. Music therapy assists treatment processes from clinic to community, making it highly valued by the patient, family, and interdisciplinary team members in military

Film Scenes in Interdisciplinary Education: Teaching the Internet of Things

Science.gov (United States)

Hwang, Young-mee; Kim, Kwang-sun; Im, Tami

2017-01-01

The Internet of Things (IoT) is gaining importance in education owing to its rapid development. This study addresses the importance of interdisciplinary education between technology and the humanities. The use of films as a teaching resource is suitable for interdisciplinary education because films represent creative forecasts and predictions on…

Critical Pedagogy and APA: A Resonant (and Timely) Interdisciplinary Blend.

Science.gov (United States)

Connolly, Maureen; Harvey, William J

2018-04-12

Critical pedagogy owes much of its emergence, development, and ongoing relevance to the work of Paulo Freire whose legacy remains relevant for a next generation of scholars who seek to explore issues of inclusion, oppression, social justice, and authentic expression. An interdisciplinary dialogue between critical pedagogy and adapted physical activity is timely, appropriate, and should focus on complex profiles of neurodiversity, mental illness, and mental health, with emphasis on pedagogic practices of practitioners in service delivery and teacher educators who prepare them for professional practice. A case-based scenario approach is used to present practitioner and teacher educator practices. Concrete examples are provided for analyzing and understanding deeper issues and challenges related to neurodiversity in a variety of embodied dimensions in educational and activity contexts. We work with Szostak's approach to interdisciplinary research and model an analysis strategy that integrates and applies the methodological features of interdisciplinarity, adapted physical activity, and critical pedagogy.

Fostering intentional interdisciplinary leadership in developmental disabilities: the North Carolina LEND experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Rosenberg, Angela; Margolis, Lewis H; Umble, Karl; Chewning, Linda

2015-02-01

This study describes the effects of interdisciplinary leadership training on a retrospective cohort (2001-2009) of the University of North Carolina MCH Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (UNC-CH LEND) program, including LEND graduates who were selected to participate in a focused Interdisciplinary Leadership Development Program (ILDP) in addition to their LEND training. Specifically, the study examined graduates' reports of the relationship between LEND training and their attitudes/beliefs about interdisciplinary practice, as well as their reported use of interdisciplinary skills in their post-fellowship practice settings. Using a post-test design, participants in the LEND and ILDP programs were contacted to complete an on-line survey. Using a Conceptual Model guided by EvaluLEAD, respondents were asked to rate the influence of the UNC-LEND training program on their attitudes/beliefs and skills using a 5-point Likert scale, as well as through open-ended descriptions. The 49 LEND respondents represented a 56% overall response rate from years 2001-2009. ILDP participants reported greater agreement with interdisciplinary attitudes/beliefs and more frequent use of interdisciplinary skills than did the non-participants. Graduates of LEND as well as ILDP reported the influence of training through a range of qualitative responses. Response examples highlight the influence of LEND training to promote outcomes at the individual, organizational and systems level. Findings from this study illustrate that MCHB funded LEND training has a strong influence on the future employment and interdisciplinary practices of graduates for the MCH workforce as well as services for individuals with developmental disabilities, their families and systems of care.

Box Integrals

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bailey, David H.; Borwein, Jonathan M.; Crandall, Richard E.

2006-06-01

By a "box integral" we mean here an expectation $\\langle|\\vec r - \\vec q|^s \\rangle$ where $\\vec r$runs over the unit $n$-cube,with $\\vec q$ and $s$ fixed, explicitly:\\begin eqnarray*&&\\int_01 \\cdots \\int_01 \\left((r_1 - q_1)2 + \\dots+(r_n-q_n)2\\right)^ s/2 \\ dr_1 \\cdots dr_n.\\end eqnarray* The study ofbox integrals leads one naturally into several disparate fields ofanalysis. While previous studies have focused upon symbolic evaluationand asymptotic analysis of special cases (notably $s = 1$), we workherein more generally--in interdisciplinary fashion--developing resultssuch as: (1) analytic continuation (in complex $s$), (2) relevantcombinatorial identities, (3) rapidly converging series, (4) statisticalinferences, (5) connections to mathematical physics, and (6)extreme-precision quadrature techniques appropriate for these integrals.These intuitions and results open up avenues of experimental mathematics,with a view to new conjectures and theorems on integrals of thistype.

Modeling interdisciplinary activities involving Mathematics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Iversen, Steffen Møllegaard

2006-01-01

In this paper a didactical model is presented. The goal of the model is to work as a didactical tool, or conceptual frame, for developing, carrying through and evaluating interdisciplinary activities involving the subject of mathematics and philosophy in the high schools. Through the terms...... of Horizontal Intertwining, Vertical Structuring and Horizontal Propagation the model consists of three phases, each considering different aspects of the nature of interdisciplinary activities. The theoretical modelling is inspired by work which focuses on the students abilities to concept formation in expanded...... domains (Michelsen, 2001, 2005a, 2005b). Furthermore the theoretical description rest on a series of qualitative interviews with teachers from the Danish high school (grades 9-11) conducted recently. The special case of concrete interdisciplinary activities between mathematics and philosophy is also...

Student Socialization in Interdisciplinary Doctoral Education

Science.gov (United States)

Boden, Daniel; Borrego, Maura; Newswander, Lynita K.

2011-01-01

Interdisciplinary approaches are often seen as necessary for attacking the most critical challenges facing the world today, and doctoral students and their training programs are recognized as central to increasing interdisciplinary research capacity. However, the traditional culture and organization of higher education are ill-equipped to…

Interdisciplinary Education: A Reflection of the Real World

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Ronald A. Styron, Jr.

2013-12-01

Full Text Available This paper contains a discussion of curricular implications of interdisciplinary education and pedagogical strategies. The focus of the literature cited in this work is on application activities aimed at developing critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and communication to prepare students to meet the challenges of the 21st century. The Know/Do/Be conceptual model for interdisciplinary education, the pros and cons of interdisciplinary education, and pedagogies that lend themselves well to interdisciplinary strategies, such as Inquiry-Based Learning and Team-based Learning, and instructor competencies are examined.

The Integrated Curriculum, University Teacher Identity and Teaching Culture: The Effects of an Interdisciplinary Activity

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Sáez, Israel Alonso; Sancho, Naiara Berasategi

2017-01-01

The results of an investigative process are reported that centre on the impact that modular curricular organization and its interdisciplinary activity are having on the teaching culture in the Degree in Social Education at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/ EHU). This understanding of the curriculum is a seminal change for teaching staff…

Developing apprentice skills for innovation through interdisciplinary training and education

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Haslam, Christian Ravn

2016-01-01

This paper is concerned with training students of vocational education programs; specifically, tradesmen and skilled workers to better utilise value networks and knowledge hubs, set up through government initiatives, as an innovation platform. The study indicates that massively interdisciplinary...... not only interdisciplinary collaboration but also entrepreneurship in general. The study is based on two years of experimentation running six independent workshops across ten different disciplines and trades and four educational institutions....

Assessing Interdisciplinary Education in U.S. Dental Hygiene Programs.

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Holt, Lorie; Bray, Kimberly; Mayberry, Bill; Overman, Pamela

2000-01-01

Survey responses from 136 of 216 dental hygiene programs indicated that 31% included interdisciplinary activities in the curriculum; only 15% included both clinical and instructional interdisciplinary coursework. However, 74% felt that students would benefit from interdisciplinary experiences. (SK)

Interdisciplinary Education and Research in Mexico

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Villa-Soto, Juan Carlos

2016-01-01

In this article we discuss interdisciplinary teaching and research in Latin America through the lens of Mexican perspectives, in particular the experiences at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). The history of these experiences goes back to the creation of the frst interdisciplinary education programs in Mexico in the 1970s and…

The Development of Interdisciplinary Teaching Approaches among Pre-service Science and Mathematics Teachers

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Miranda Martins, Dominique

This study sought to understand how a group of pre-service teachers in a combined secondary science and mathematics teaching methods course conceptualized and experienced interdisciplinary approaches to teaching. Although knowing how to plan interdisciplinary activities is an essential teaching practice in Quebec, these pre-service teachers faced many challenges during the process of learning to teach with this approach. By using two interdisciplinary frameworks (Nikitina, 2005; Boix Mansilla & Duraising, 2007), I qualitatively analyzed the development of the pre-service teachers' prior and emerging ideas about interdisciplinarity and their ability to plan interdisciplinary teaching activities. The provincial curriculum and issues related to time greatly shaped students' conceptions about interdisciplinarity in the classroom and constrained their ability to plan for and envision the enactment of interdisciplinary lessons in secondary science and mathematics classes. In addition, images of themselves as content-specialists, self-efficacy beliefs in relation to interdisciplinary teaching, and student learning as a source of teacher motivation emerged as key factors promoting or interrupting the development of interdisciplinary teaching approaches. Examination of these factors highlights the need for teacher-education programs to provide opportunities for pre-service teachers to explore how they see themselves as educators, increase their instructional self-efficacy beliefs, and motivate them to teach in an interdisciplinary fashion. Keywords: interdisciplinary teaching, student-teachers, curriculum, teacher-education program, self-efficacy, motivation.

Spirituality and job satisfaction among hospice interdisciplinary team members.

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Clark, Leah; Leedy, Stephen; McDonald, Laurie; Muller, Barbara; Lamb, Cheryl; Mendez, Tracy; Kim, Sehwan; Schonwetter, Ronald

2007-12-01

As a continuing effort to enhance the quality of palliative care for the dying, this study examined (1) the prevalence of spirituality among hospice interdisciplinary team (IDT) members; (2) whether spirituality is related to job satisfaction; and (3) the structural path relationships among four variables: spiritual belief, integration of spirituality at work, self actualization and job satisfaction. The study surveyed 215 hospice IDT members who completed the Jarel Spiritual Well-Being Scale, the Chamiec-Case Spirituality Integration and Job Satisfaction Scales. Multiple regression and structural path modeling methods were applied to explain the path relationships involving all four variables. The IDT members surveyed were: nurses, 46.4%; home health aids, 24.9%; social workers, 17.4%; chaplains, 4.2%; physicians, 2.3%; and other, 4.8%. Ninety-eight percent of the respondents viewed themselves as having spiritual well-being. On a 0-100 scale, IDT staff reported high spiritual belief (mean = 89.4) and they were self-actualizing (mean = 82.6). Most reported high job satisfaction (mean = 79.3) and spiritual integration (mean = 67.9). In multiple regression, spirituality, integration and self-actualization explained 22% of the variation in job satisfaction (R = 0.48; adjusted R(2) = 0.218; df = 3,175; F = 17.2; p = 0.001). Structural path models revealed that job satisfaction is more likely to be realized by a model that transforms one's spirituality into processes of integrating spirituality at work and self actualization (chi(2) = 0.614; df = 1; p = 0.433) than a model that establishes a direct path from spirituality to job satisfaction (chi(2) = 1.65; df = 1; p = 0.199). Hospice IDT member's integration of their spirituality at work and greater self actualization significantly improve job satisfaction.

Interdisciplinary Research: Performance and Policy Issues.

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Rossini, Frederick A.; Porter, Alan L.

1981-01-01

Successful interdisciplinary research performance, it is suggested, depends on such structural and process factors as leadership, team characteristics, study bounding, iteration, communication patterns, and epistemological factors. Appropriate frameworks for socially organizing the development of knowledge such as common group learning, modeling,…

Measurement properties and implementation of a checklist to assess leadership skills during interdisciplinary rounds in the intensive care unit.

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Ten Have, Elsbeth C M; Nap, Raoul E; Tulleken, Jaap E

2015-01-01

The implementation of interdisciplinary teams in the intensive care unit (ICU) has focused attention on leadership behavior. A daily recurrent situation in ICUs in which both leadership behavior and interdisciplinary teamwork are integrated concerns the interdisciplinary rounds (IDRs). Although IDRs are recommended to provide optimal interdisciplinary and patient-centered care, there are no checklists available for leading physicians. We tested the measurement properties and implementation of a checklist to assess the quality of leadership skills in interdisciplinary rounds. The measurement properties of the checklist, which included 10 essential quality indicators, were tested for interrater reliability and internal consistency and by factor analysis. The interrater reliability among 3 raters was good (κ, 0.85) and the internal consistency was acceptable (α, 0.74). Factor analysis showed all factor loadings on 1 domain (>0.65). The checklist was further implemented during videotaped IDRs which were led by senior physicians and in which 99 patients were discussed. Implementation of the checklist showed a wide range of "no" and "yes" scores among the senior physicians. These results may underline the need for such a checklist to ensure tasks are synchronized within the team.

"Paideia Kyriou": Biblical and Patristic Models for an Integrated Christian Curriculum

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Turley, Stephen Richard

2009-01-01

In recent years, a number of studies corroborate the importance of an integrated or interdisciplinary curriculum for an effective education. However, contemporary proposals for the function of theology as the integrative center have been limited mainly to sectarian communities and remain a work in progress. Noting the fruitfulness of historical…

A method of reflexive balancing in a pragmatic, interdisciplinary and reflexive bioethics.

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Ives, Jonathan

2014-07-01

In recent years there has been a wealth of literature arguing the need for empirical and interdisciplinary approaches to bioethics, based on the premise that an empirically informed ethical analysis is more grounded, contextually sensitive and therefore more relevant to clinical practice than an 'abstract' philosophical analysis. Bioethics has (arguably) always been an interdisciplinary field, and the rise of 'empirical' (bio)ethics need not be seen as an attempt to give a new name to the longstanding practice of interdisciplinary collaboration, but can perhaps best be understood as a substantive attempt to engage with the nature of that interdisciplinarity and to articulate the relationship between the many different disciplines (some of them empirical) that contribute to the field. It can also be described as an endeavour to explain how different disciplinary approaches can be integrated to effectively answer normative questions in bioethics, and fundamental to that endeavour is the need to think about how a robust methodology can be articulated that successfully marries apparently divergent epistemological and metaethical perspectives with method. This paper proposes 'Reflexive Bioethics' (RB) as a methodology for interdisciplinary and empirical bioethics, which utilizes a method of 'Reflexive Balancing' (RBL). RBL has been developed in response to criticisms of various forms of reflective equilibrium, and is built upon a pragmatic characterization of Bioethics and a 'quasi-moral foundationalism', which allows RBL to avoid some of the difficulties associated with RE and yet retain the flexible egalitarianism that makes it intuitively appealing to many. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Interdisciplinary island studies : Connecting the social sciences, natural sciences and humanities

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Norder, S.J.; Rijsdijk, K.F.

2016-01-01

In this paper, we present the outline of an interdisciplinary undergraduate course entitled: “Islands: Models for our Planet – Metaphors for our World”, and will reflect on insights gained during its development and teaching in two consecutive academic years (2014-2015; 2015-2016). The main

Interdisciplinary matrix in economics: two applications to the transition from socialism to capitalism.

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Jakimowicz, Aleksander

2009-10-01

The 7-fold interdisciplinary matrix is introduced. This integrated methodological point of view is original, although it is based on ideas of others in various ways. The name for this new approach draws on the Kuhnian notion of a disciplinary matrix. There are four components of the Kuhnian matrix on which the existence of scientific communities hinges: symbolic generalizations, models, values, and exemplars. In this context the term "paradigm" should refer to exemplars. The interdisciplinary matrix is composed of seven elements: cybernetics, catastrophe theory, fractal geometry, deterministic chaos, artificial intelligence, theory of complexity, and humanistic values. Scientific developments have recently brought substantial changes in the structure of scientific communities. Transferability of ideas and thoughts contributed to the creation of scientific communities, which unite representatives of various professions. When researching into certain phenomena we no longer need to develop theories for them from scratch, as we can draw on the achievements in other disciplines. Two examples of the employment of the interdisciplinary matrix in macroeconomics are elaborated here: the investment cycle model in socialist economy, and the model of economic transformation based on chaotic hysteresis.

The mangrove's contribution to people: Interdisciplinary pilot study of the Can Gio Mangrove Biosphere Reserve in Viet Nam

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Cormier-Salem, Marie-Christine; Van Trai, Nguyen; Burgos, Ariadna; Durand, Jean-Dominique; Bettarel, Yvan; Klein, Judith; Duc Huy, Hoang; Panfili, Jacques

2017-10-01

The main objective of this pilot study, conducted in June 2015 in the Can Gio Mangrove Biosphere Reserve (Can Gio MBR, Viet Nam), was to develop an interdisciplinary approach to assess some key services provided by reforested mangroves subject to external pressures and varying management policies. We focused on the abundance of viruses, bacteria, endo- and epi- and macrofauna and the diversity of crabs in the mangrove and the exploitation of its resources. The main social finding was that the local inhabitants are aware of the levels of protection of the different zones within the Can Gio MBR and respect them. The core and the buffer zones seem to present a similar ecological status. Genotyping showed a low level of crab diversity although there were many different morphotypes. In the future, we need to understand the stakeholders' general perception of the biodiversity and environment changes by developing an integrated, multi-scale approach.

Exploring indicators of interdisciplinary research and education success

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Carr, Gemma; Blanch, Anicet; Blaschke, Alfred Paul; Brouwer, Roy; Bucher, Christian; Farnleitner, Andreas; Fürnkranz-Prskawetz, Alexia; Loucks, Daniel Pete; Morgenroth, Eberhard; Parajka, Juraj; Pfeifer, Norbert; Rechberger, Helmut; Wagner, Wolfgang; Zessner, Matthias; Blöschl, Günter

2017-04-01

Interdisciplinary research and education programmes aim to produce groundbreaking research, often on socially relevant topics, and to produce experts with the skills to work across disciplines. However, there are many outstanding questions on the effectiveness of interdisciplinary programmes. Such as whether they produce novel and groundbreaking research, whether interdisciplinary graduates are leading to a more interdisciplinary culture of research and practice in academia and beyond, and whether an interdisciplinary approach can more effectively address issues of societal relevance than a mono-disciplinary approach. The Vienna Doctoral Programme on Water Resource Systems at Vienna University of Technology is currently in its eighth year and offers a valuable case study to contribute to understanding interdisciplinary research and education. Ten different research fields are covered by the Programme and because collaborative research takes place both between researchers from different research fields (cross-disciplinary research) and from researchers from the same research field (mono-disciplinary research) we are able to compare the impacts of each research type. We specifically explored three questions: i) whether cross-disciplinary research leads to more innovative scientific findings than mono-disciplinary research, ii) whether cross-disciplinary researchers develop professional skills that benefit their future careers, and iii) whether cross-disciplinary research produces findings of greater societal relevance than mono-disciplinary research. To conduct the evaluation we identified a variety of indicators. Journal impact factors (IF) and citation rates of ISI indexed publications were used to compare scientific innovativeness. Based on these indicators, our findings suggest that cross-disciplinary work is more innovative. The cross-disciplinary work is published in journals with a slightly higher impact factor (mean IF is 2.36) and receives slightly more

Revisiting an interdisciplinary hydrological modelling project. A socio-hydrology (?) example from the early 2000s

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Seidl, Roman; Barthel, Roland

2016-04-01

Interdisciplinary scientific and societal knowledge plays an increasingly important role in global change research. Also, in the field of water resources interdisciplinarity as well as cooperation with stakeholders from outside academia have been recognized as important. In this contribution, we revisit an integrated regional modelling system (DANUBIA), which was developed by an interdisciplinary team of researchers and relied on stakeholder participation in the framework of the GLOWA-Danube project from 2001 to 2011 (Mauser and Prasch 2016). As the model was developed before the current increase in literature on participatory modelling and interdisciplinarity, we ask how a socio-hydrology approach would have helped and in what way it would have made the work different. The present contribution firstly presents the interdisciplinary concept of DANUBIA, mainly with focus on the integration of human behaviour in a spatially explicit, process-based numerical modelling system (Roland Barthel, Janisch, Schwarz, Trifkovic, Nickel, Schulz, and Mauser 2008; R. Barthel, Nickel, Meleg, Trifkovic, and Braun 2005). Secondly, we compare the approaches to interdisciplinarity in GLOWA-Danube with concepts and ideas presented by socio-hydrology. Thirdly, we frame DANUBIA and a review of key literature on socio-hydrology in the context of a survey among hydrologists (N = 184). This discussion is used to highlight gaps and opportunities of the socio-hydrology approach. We show that the interdisciplinary aspect of the project and the participatory process of stakeholder integration in DANUBIA were not entirely successful. However, important insights were gained and important lessons were learnt. Against the background of these experiences we feel that in its current state, socio-hydrology is still lacking a plan for knowledge integration. Moreover, we consider necessary that socio-hydrology takes into account the lessons learnt from these earlier examples of knowledge integration

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS: The Utmost Interdisciplinary Integrator

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Bernd Eissfeller

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Currently four global satellite navigation systems are under modernization and development: The US American GPS III, the Russian GLONASS, the European Galileo and Chinese BeiDou systems. In the paper the interdisciplinary contributions of different scientific areas to GNSS are assessed. It is outlined that GNSS is not only a technical system but also a basic element of mobile computing high-tech market. At the same time a GNSS has the role of a force enabler in security related applications. Technology, market and security policies are interdependent and are sometimes in a relationship of tension. The goal of the paper is to describe the overall systemics of GNSS from a holistic point of view. The paper also addresses the human factor side of GNSS. The requirements on human resources in GNSS are at least two-fold: On the one hand very specialized engineers are needed; on the other hand the generalists are necessary who are able to understand the system aspects. Decision makers in institutions and industry need special knowledge in technologies, economics and political strategies. Is the current university system able to educate and prepare such generalists? Are specialized master courses for GNSS needed? Are external training courses necessary?

The Interdisciplinary Geriatric/Gerontological Team in the Academic Setting.

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Mellor, M Joanna; Solomon, Renee

1992-01-01

Geriatric health care requires the services of an interdisciplinary health care team to assess, treat and order the social service needs of the older person, and this concept needs to be included in geriatric social work education. But while the necessity of interdisciplinary team care is recognized, little focus has been placed on the actual process of developing a functional team. The issues that arise-disparate terminologies, organizational and administrative differentials, turf-and the steps needed for a team to become viable are described, using an interdisciplinary team based in academia as a case model. The academic interdisciplinary team may easily become a forum for 'hot air' rather than a catalyst for good practice. This danger is reviewed with reference to stages in the interdisciplinary team development-- goal development group affiliation; team awareness; and goal evaluation. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the impact of the interdisciplinary team on faculty, students and the academic setting.

Interdisciplinary Collaboration in Launching a Large-Scale Research Study in Schools

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DeLoach, Kendra P.; Dvorsky, Melissa; George, Mellissa R. W.; Miller, Elaine; Weist, Mark D.; Kern, Lee

2012-01-01

Interdisciplinary collaboration (IC) is a critically important theme generally, and of particular significance in school mental health (SMH), given the range of people from different disciplines who work in schools and the various systems in place. Reflecting the move to a true shared school-family-community system agenda, the collaborative…

Sustained Change: Institutionalizing Interdisciplinary Graduate Education

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Borrego, Maura; Boden, Daniel; Newswander, Lynita K.

2014-01-01

We employ Scott's three pillars of institutions (regulative, normative, and cultural-cognitive) to investigate how higher education organizations change to support interdisciplinary graduate education. Using document analysis and case study approaches, we illustrate how strategies which address both policies and cultural norms are most…

RETHINKING RESIDENTIAL MOBILITY: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY INTERPRETATION

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Roderick J. Lawrence

2008-03-01

Full Text Available Since the 1950s academics and professionals have proposed a number of disciplinary and sector based interpretations of why, when and where households move or choose to stay in the same housing unit at different periods of the life cycle and especially the family cycle. This article challenges studies that only analyse one set of factors. The article stems from a synthesis of 20 years of research by the author who  has an interdisciplinary training in the broad field of people-environment relations. First, it reviews some key concepts related to human ecology, including housing, culture, identity and cultivation. Then it will consider how these concepts can be applied to interpret residential mobility using an interdisciplinary approach. An empirical case study of residential mobility in Geneva, Switzerland is presented in order to show how this approach can help improve our understanding of the motives people have regarding the wish to stay in their residence or to move elsewhere.

Challenges in interdisciplinary weight management in primary care: lessons learned from the 5As Team study.

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Asselin, J; Osunlana, A M; Ogunleye, A A; Sharma, A M; Campbell-Scherer, D

2016-04-01

Increasingly, research is directed at advancing methods to address obesity management in primary care. In this paper we describe the role of interdisciplinary collaboration, or lack thereof, in patient weight management within 12 teams in a large primary care network in Alberta, Canada. Qualitative data for the present analysis were derived from the 5As Team (5AsT) trial, a mixed-method randomized control trial of a 6-month participatory, team-based educational intervention aimed at improving the quality and quantity of obesity management encounters in primary care practice. Participants (n = 29) included in this analysis are healthcare providers supporting chronic disease management in 12 family practice clinics randomized to the intervention arm of the 5AsT trial including mental healthcare workers (n = 7), registered dietitians (n = 7), registered nurses or nurse practitioners (n = 15). Participants were part of a 6-month intervention consisting of 12 biweekly learning sessions aimed at increasing provider knowledge and confidence in addressing patient weight management. Qualitative methods included interviews, structured field notes and logs. Four common themes of importance in the ability of healthcare providers to address weight with patients within an interdisciplinary care team emerged, (i) Availability; (ii) Referrals; (iii) Role perception and (iv) Messaging. However, we find that what was key to our participants was not that these issues be uniformly agreed upon by all team members, but rather that communication and clinic relationships support their continued negotiation. Our study shows that firm clinic relationships and deliberate communication strategies are the foundation of interdisciplinary care in weight management. Furthermore, there is a clear need for shared messaging concerning obesity and its treatment between members of interdisciplinary teams. © 2016 World Obesity.

The ENTRIA project. Selected disciplinary and interdisciplinary research topics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roehlig, Klaus-Juergen; Hocke, Peter; Walther, Clemens

2015-01-01

ENTRIA (''Disposal Options for Radioactive Residues: Interdisciplinary Analyses and Development of Evaluation Principles'', www.entria.de) is a joint research project carried out by twelve departments and institutes from German universities and major research institutions and one partner from Switzerland. It is financed by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Scientists representing natural sciences, civil engineering, philosophy, law, social and political sciences, and technology assessment carry out disciplinary and interdisciplinary research addressing three options to manage especially high-level radioactive waste: - Final disposal in deep geological formations without any arrangements for retrieval, - disposal in deep geological formations with arrangements for monitoring and retrieval, and - (prolonged) surface (or near-surface) storage. In the paper, the following selected research topics - both disciplinary and interdisciplinary - are briefly introduced in order to provide an impression of the project scope: - Surface storage, - reference concepts for emplacement in deep geological formations with retrievability and monitoring, - radiation exposure and justification of measures, - interdisciplinary perspectives on dose limits, - comparative studies on nuclear waste governance, - nuclear waste governance in Switzerland, - public involvement and the German Site Selection Act, and - citizens' jury.

Past, Present and Future in Interdisciplinary Research

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Gusdorf, Georges

1977-01-01

Presents examples of interdisciplinary research since the origin of western science and predicts that future interdisciplinary approaches to epistemological writing will take into account divergent thinking patterns and thereby end the domination by western intellectual imperialism. For journal availability, see SO 506 201. (Author/DB)

Toward an Interdisciplinary Understanding of Sensory Dysfunction in Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Integration of the Neural and Symptom Literatures.

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Schauder, Kimberly B; Bennetto, Loisa

2016-01-01

Sensory processing differences have long been associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and they have recently been added to the diagnostic criteria for the disorder. The focus on sensory processing in ASD research has increased substantially in the last decade. This research has been approached from two different perspectives: the first focuses on characterizing the symptoms that manifest in response to real world sensory stimulation, and the second focuses on the neural pathways and mechanisms underlying sensory processing. The purpose of this paper is to integrate the empirical literature on sensory processing in ASD from the last decade, including both studies characterizing sensory symptoms and those that investigate neural response to sensory stimuli. We begin with a discussion of definitions to clarify some of the inconsistencies in terminology that currently exist in the field. Next, the sensory symptoms literature is reviewed with a particular focus on developmental considerations and the relationship of sensory symptoms to other core features of the disorder. Then, the neuroscience literature is reviewed with a focus on methodological approaches and specific sensory modalities. Currently, these sensory symptoms and neuroscience perspectives are largely developing independently from each other leading to multiple, but separate, theories and methods, thus creating a multidisciplinary approach to sensory processing in ASD. In order to progress our understanding of sensory processing in ASD, it is now critical to integrate these two research perspectives and move toward an interdisciplinary approach. This will inevitably aid in a better understanding of the underlying biological basis of these symptoms and help realize the translational value through its application to early identification and treatment. The review ends with specific recommendations for future research to help bridge these two research perspectives in order to advance our understanding

Building Transferable Knowledge and Skills through an Interdisciplinary Polar Science Graduate Program

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Culler, L. E.; Virginia, R. A.; Albert, M. R.; Ayres, M.

2015-12-01

Modern graduate education must extend beyond disciplinary content to prepare students for diverse careers in science. At Dartmouth, a graduate program in Polar Environmental Change uses interdisciplinary study of the polar regions as a core from which students develop skills and knowledge for tackling complex environmental issues that require cooperation across scientific disciplines and with educators, policy makers, and stakeholders. Two major NSF-funded initiatives have supported professional development for graduate students in this program, including an IGERT (Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship) and leadership of JSEP's (Joint Science Education Project) Arctic Science Education Week in Greenland. We teach courses that emphasize the links between science and the human dimensions of environmental change; host training sessions in science communication; invite guest speakers who work in policy, academia, journalism, government research, etc.; lead an international field-based training that includes policy-focused meetings and a large outreach component; provide multiple opportunities for outreach and collaboration with local schools; and build outreach and education into graduate research programs where students instruct and mentor high school students. Students from diverse scientific disciplines (Ecology, Earth Science, and Engineering) participate in all of the above, which significantly strengthens their interdisciplinary view of polar science and ability to communicate across disciplines. In addition, graduate students have developed awareness, confidence, and the skills to pursue and obtain diverse careers. This is reflected in the fact that recent graduates have acquired permanent and post-doctoral positions in academic and government research, full-time teaching, and also in post-docs focused on outreach and science policy. Dartmouth's interdisciplinary approach to graduate education is producing tomorrow's leaders in science.

Engaging Undergraduates through Interdisciplinary Research in Nanotechnology

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Goonewardene, Anura U.; Offutt, Christine; Whitling, Jacqueline; Woodhouse, Donald

2012-01-01

To recruit and retain more students in all science disciplines at our small (5,000 student) public university, we implemented an interdisciplinary strategy focusing on nanotechnology and enhanced undergraduate research. Inherently interdisciplinary, the novelty of nanotechnology and its growing career potential appeal to students. To engage…

Preface to the 8th Volume of The Interdisciplinary Journal of International Studies (IJIS)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Juego, Bonn

2012-01-01

This 8th volume of The Interdisciplinary Journal of International Studies (IJIS) is a product of the continuing revitalization process that the journal has undertaken since 2010. Very significant recent developments in this process are the IJIS’ successful listing in the Directory of Open Access ...... by the commitments and generosity of many people—current students, alumni, and faculty members—to whom we express our sincerest gratitude and appreciation....

An interdisciplinary team communication framework and its application to healthcare 'e-teams' systems design.

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Kuziemsky, Craig E; Borycki, Elizabeth M; Purkis, Mary Ellen; Black, Fraser; Boyle, Michael; Cloutier-Fisher, Denise; Fox, Lee Ann; MacKenzie, Patricia; Syme, Ann; Tschanz, Coby; Wainwright, Wendy; Wong, Helen

2009-09-15

There are few studies that examine the processes that interdisciplinary teams engage in and how we can design health information systems (HIS) to support those team processes. This was an exploratory study with two purposes: (1) To develop a framework for interdisciplinary team communication based on structures, processes and outcomes that were identified as having occurred during weekly team meetings. (2) To use the framework to guide 'e-teams' HIS design to support interdisciplinary team meeting communication. An ethnographic approach was used to collect data on two interdisciplinary teams. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze the data according to structures, processes and outcomes. We present details for team meta-concepts of structures, processes and outcomes and the concepts and sub concepts within each meta-concept. We also provide an exploratory framework for interdisciplinary team communication and describe how the framework can guide HIS design to support 'e-teams'. The structures, processes and outcomes that describe interdisciplinary teams are complex and often occur in a non-linear fashion. Electronic data support, process facilitation and team video conferencing are three HIS tools that can enhance team function.

An interdisciplinary team communication framework and its application to healthcare 'e-teams' systems design

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MacKenzie Patricia

2009-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background There are few studies that examine the processes that interdisciplinary teams engage in and how we can design health information systems (HIS to support those team processes. This was an exploratory study with two purposes: (1 To develop a framework for interdisciplinary team communication based on structures, processes and outcomes that were identified as having occurred during weekly team meetings. (2 To use the framework to guide 'e-teams' HIS design to support interdisciplinary team meeting communication. Methods An ethnographic approach was used to collect data on two interdisciplinary teams. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze the data according to structures, processes and outcomes. Results We present details for team meta-concepts of structures, processes and outcomes and the concepts and sub concepts within each meta-concept. We also provide an exploratory framework for interdisciplinary team communication and describe how the framework can guide HIS design to support 'e-teams'. Conclusion The structures, processes and outcomes that describe interdisciplinary teams are complex and often occur in a non-linear fashion. Electronic data support, process facilitation and team video conferencing are three HIS tools that can enhance team function.

INTERDISCIPLINARY, CURRICULUM AND TECNOLOGY: A STUDY ON THE PEDAGOGICAL PRACTICE IN THE ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOL

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Mariana Aranha de Souza

2017-06-01

Full Text Available In this study is discussed the relationship between curriculum, Interdisciplinarity, and Technology based upon an epistemological, methodological, and ontological perspective. Reasoned on the studies by Sacristán (2000, and Moreira and Silva (1990, this work reports the main theories to the curriculum and their applications on the everyday school. The interdisciplinary, supported by the work by Fazenda (2001,2014, points to the possible complementarity between knowledge and effectiveness of the partnership as essential to an intentional and contextualized practice. Valente (1993 and Silva (2002 stress out that the technology must be integrated into the curriculum and must contribute to the discussion that involves the everyday school.  Based upon a qualitative perspective, it is discussed two pedagogical practices carried out in computer labs in two classes of elementary and middle schools of a private school branch, one of the fifth and another of the eighth grades. The practices have shown: i the importance of the partnership between teachers; ii the need to work into thematics coming from critical perspective of the curriculum; and iii the possibilities to use the technology offers pedagogical practices and development of the autonomy of students, which contribute to their formation and to the own formation of the teachers.

Interdisciplinary Best Practices for Adapted Physical Activity

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Szostak, Rick

2016-01-01

This article provides an introduction to the literature on interdisciplinary research. It then draws lessons from that literature for the field of adapted physical activity. It is argued that adapted physical activity should be a self-consciously interdisciplinary field. It should insist that research be performed according to recognized…

The influence of interdisciplinary collaboration on decision making: a framework to analyse stakeholder coalitions, evolution and learning in strategic delta planning

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Vermoolen, Myrthe; Hermans, Leon

2015-04-01

The sustained development of urbanizing deltas requires that conflicting interests are reconciled, in an environment characterized by technical complexity and knowledge limitations. However, integrating ideas and establishing cooperation between actors with different backgrounds and roles still proves a challenge. Agreeing on strategic choices is difficult and implementation of agreed plans may lead to unanticipated and unintended outcomes. How can individual disciplinary perspectives come together and establish a broadly-supported and well-informed plan, the implementation of which contributes to sustainable delta development? The growing recognition of this need to bring together different stakeholders and different disciplinary perspectives runs parallel to a paradigm shift from 'hard' hydrological engineering to multi-functional and more 'soft' hydrological engineering in water management. As a result, there is now more attention for interdisciplinary collaboration that not only takes the physical characteristics of water systems into account, but also the interaction between physical and societal components of these systems. Thus, it is important to study interdisciplinary collaboration and how this influences decision-making. Our research looks into this connection, using a case in delta planning in the Netherlands, where there have been several (attempts for) integration of spatial planning and flood risk/ water management, e.g. in the case of the Dutch Delta Programme. This means that spatial designers and their designs play an important role in the strategic delta planning process as well, next to civil engineers, etc. This study explores the roles of stakeholders, experts and policy makers in interdisciplinary decision-making in dynamic delta planning processes, using theories and methods that focus on coalitions, learning and changes over time in policy and planning processes. This requires an expansion of the existing frameworks to study

Transfer and Cohesion in Interdisciplinary Education

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Søren Harnow Klausen

2014-06-01

Full Text Available One of the great challenges of interdisciplinary education is to create sufficient cohesion between disciplines. It is suggested that cohesion depends on the transfer of knowledge (in a broad sense, which includes skill and competences among the disciplines involved. Some of the most characteristic types of such transfer are identified and analyzed: Transfer of factual knowledge, theories, methods, models, skills, modes of collaboration and organization, meta-competences, disciplinary self-consciousness, problem selection, framework construction and motivation. Though some of these types of transfer may have a greater or smaller potential for creating cohesion, different kinds of cohesion may serve different interests, and there is no reason to assume that e.g. joint problem solving or theoretical integration should be more conducive to cohesion than e.g. contributions to motivation or disciplinary self-consciousness.

Egg and a lot of science: an interdisciplinary experiment

OpenAIRE

Gayer, M. C.; Interdisciplinary Research Group on Teaching Practice, Graduate Program in Biochemistry, Unipampa, RS, Brazil Laboratory of Physicochemical Studies and Natural Products, Post Graduate Program in Biochemistry, Unipampa, RS, Brazil; T., Rodrigues D.; Interdisciplinary Research Group on Teaching Practice, Graduate Program in Biochemistry, Unipampa, RS, Brazil Laboratory of Physicochemical Studies and Natural Products, Post Graduate Program in Biochemistry, Unipampa, RS, Brazil; Denardin, E. L.G.; Laboratory of Physicochemical Studies and Natural Products, Post Graduate Program in Biochemistry, Unipampa, RS, Brazil; Roehrs, R.; Interdisciplinary Research Group on Teaching Practice, Graduate Program in Biochemistry, Unipampa, RS, Brazil Laboratory of Physicochemical Studies and Natural Products, Post Graduate Program in Biochemistry, Unipampa, RS, Brazil

2014-01-01

Egg and a lot of science: an interdisciplinary experimentGayer, M.C.1,2;Rodrigues, D.T.1,2; Escoto, D.F.1; Denardin, E.L.G.2, Roehrs, R.1,21Interdisciplinary Research Group on Teaching Practice, Graduate Program in Biochemistry, Unipampa, RS, Brazil2Laboratory of Physicochemical Studies and Natural Products, Post Graduate Program in Biochemistry, Unipampa, RS, BrazilIntroduction: How to tell if an egg is rotten? How to calculate the volume of an egg? Because the rotten egg float? Why has this...

Interdisciplinary planning in the education of professionals in education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eudaldo Enrique Espinoza-Freire

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The work had as objective to compile information in the scientific literature, on the implementation of interdisciplinary in the educational teaching process in the formation of the professional of the education. The methodology followed in this inquiry, was to consult the literature results of research about interdisciplinary and ways of implementing it in the teaching-learning process, planning and educational relations interdisciplinary, it-reviewed publications in journals, thesis of degree of master's degrees and doctorates, and other materials such as conferences. In this review, we found the problems existing in educational institutions with respect to teacher training and the interdisciplinary approach, the conceptualization of this category, among other aspects. As a result, we present an updated material that will contribute to the update of the teachers about the content about interdisciplinary and its implementation in the teaching-learning process.

The Electric Humanities: An Interdisciplinary Perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Marsden, Michael T.; Litwin, James L.

An interdisciplinary "Coordinated Quarter of Mass Media Studies," instituted at Bowling Green State University with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, is the subject of this paper. The first part of the paper tells how instructors from the subject areas of popular culture, psychology, sociology, speech communication, and…

Healthcare management strategies: interdisciplinary team factors.

Science.gov (United States)

Andreatta, Pamela; Marzano, David

2012-12-01

Interdisciplinary team factors are significant contributors to clinical performance and associated patient outcomes. Quality of care and patient safety initiatives identify human factors associated with team performance as a prime improvement area for clinical patient care. The majority of references to interdisciplinary teams in obstetrics and gynecology in the literature recommends the use of multidisciplinary approaches when managing complex medical cases. The reviewed literature suggests that interdisciplinary team development is important for achieving optimally efficient and effective performance; however, few reports provide specific recommendations for how to optimally achieve these objectives in the process of providing interdisciplinary care to patients. The absence of these recommendations presents a significant challenge for those tasked with improving team performance in the workplace. The prescribed team development programs cited in the review are principally built around communication strategies and simulation-based training mechanisms. Few reports provide descriptions of optimal team-based competencies in the various contexts of obstetric and gynecology teams. However, team-based evaluation strategies and empirical data documenting the transfer of team training to applied clinical care are increasing in number and quality. Our findings suggest that research toward determining team factors that promote optimal performance in applied clinical practice requires definition of specific competencies for the variable teams serving obstetrics and gynecology.

Achieving clinical nurse specialist competencies and outcomes through interdisciplinary education.

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Sievers, Beth; Wolf, Sherry

2006-01-01

Without formal education, many healthcare professionals fail to develop interdisciplinary team skills; however, when students are socialized to interdisciplinary practice through academic clinical learning experiences, effective collaboration skills can be developed. Increasingly, educational environments are challenged to include clinical experiences for students that teach and model interdisciplinary collaboration. The purpose of this quality improvement initiative was to create an interdisciplinary educational experience for clinical nurse specialist (CNS) students and postgraduate physicians. The interdisciplinary learning experience, supported by an educational grant, provided an interdisciplinary cohort of learners an opportunity to engage in a clinically focused learning experience. The interdisciplinary cohort consisted of CNS students and physicians in various stages of postgraduate training. The clinical experience selected was a quality improvement initiative in which the students were introduced to the concepts and tools of quality improvement. During this 1-month clinical experience, students applied the new skills by implementing a quality improvement project focusing on medication reconciliation in the outpatient setting. The CNS core competencies and outcomes were used to shape the experience for the CNS students. The CNS students exhibited 5 of the 7 essential characteristics of the CNS (leadership, collaboration, consultation skills, ethical conduct, and professional attributes) while demonstrating competencies and fulfilling performance expectations. During this learning experience, the CNS students focused on competencies and outcomes in the organizational sphere of influence. Multiple facilitating factors and barriers were identified. This interdisciplinary clinical experience in a quality improvement initiative provided valuable opportunities for CNS students to develop essential CNS characteristics and to explore practice competencies in the

A Holistic Approach to Interdisciplinary Innovation Supported by a Simple Tool

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Denise J. Stokholm, Marianne

2008-01-01

Innovation is recognised as a strategy to achieve competitive businesses and products. Managing innovation at all levels requires integration of knowledge and interdisciplinary cooperation. Different understandings and approaches to innovation between professions often result in communication...... problems. To overcome this barrier a common ground is needed. This paper describes a holistic approach to innovation and presents a simple tool for facilitating cooperation on a diversity of innovation matters. It describes the development and use of the tool and demonstrates its capacity to support...

Enhancing Interdisciplinary Human System Risk Research Through Modeling and Network Approaches

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Mindock, Jennifer; Lumpkins, Sarah; Shelhamer, Mark

2015-01-01

NASA's Human Research Program (HRP) supports research to reduce human health and performance risks inherent in future human space exploration missions. Understanding risk outcomes and contributing factors in an integrated manner allows HRP research to support development of efficient and effective mitigations from cross-disciplinary perspectives, and to enable resilient human and engineered systems for spaceflight. The purpose of this work is to support scientific collaborations and research portfolio management by utilizing modeling for analysis and visualization of current and potential future interdisciplinary efforts.

Social Workers' Perceptions of Job Satisfaction, Interdisciplinary Collaboration, and Organizational Leadership.

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Marmo, Suzanne; Berkman, Cathy

2018-01-01

To address job satisfaction, and therefore employment retention, of hospice social workers, this study examined how relationships with other members of the interdisciplinary hospice team and perceptions of hospice leadership may be associated with job satisfaction of hospice social workers. The sample of 203 hospice social workers was recruited by e-mailing invitations to hospice social workers identified by hospice directors in three states, use of online social media sites accessed by hospice social workers, and snowball sampling. Study measures included professional experience, hospice characteristics, interdisciplinary collaboration, perception of servant leadership, and intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction. Variables significant in the model for intrinsic satisfaction were perception of servant leadership, interdisciplinary collaboration, and feeling valued by the hospice physician. Variables significant in the model for extrinsic satisfaction were perception of servant leadership, interdisciplinary collaboration, feeling valued by the hospice physician, and number of social workers at the hospice. Interdisciplinary collaboration was more important for intrinsic job satisfaction and leadership style was more important for extrinsic job satisfaction. Profit status of the hospice, experience of the social worker, caseload size, and other variables were not significant in either model. These results support previous findings that leadership style of the hospice director and relationships with hospice colleagues are important for hospice social workers' job satisfaction. Such low-cost modifications to the hospice work environment, albeit not simple, may improve job satisfaction of hospice social workers.

Development of a Pedagogical Model to Help Engineering Faculty Design Interdisciplinary Curricula

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Navarro, Maria; Foutz, Timothy; Thompson, Sidney; Singer, Kerri Patrick

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to develop a model to help engineering faculty overcome the challenges they face when asked to design and implement interdisciplinary curricula. Researchers at a U.S. University worked with an Interdisciplinary Consultant Team and prepared a steering document with Guiding Principles and Essential Elements for the…

Forging Alliances in Interdisciplinary Rehabilitation Research (FAIRR): A Logic Model.

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Gill, Simone V; Khetani, Mary A; Yinusa-Nyahkoon, Leanne; McManus, Beth; Gardiner, Paula M; Tickle-Degnen, Linda

2017-07-01

In a patient-centered care era, rehabilitation can benefit from researcher-clinician collaboration to effectively and efficiently produce the interdisciplinary science that is needed to improve patient-centered outcomes. The authors propose the use of the Forging Alliances in Interdisciplinary Rehabilitation Research (FAIRR) logic model to provide guidance to rehabilitation scientists and clinicians who are committed to growing their involvement in interdisciplinary rehabilitation research. We describe the importance and key characteristics of the FAIRR model for conducting interdisciplinary rehabilitation research.

Insects: An Interdisciplinary Unit

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Leger, Heather

2007-01-01

The author talks about an interdisciplinary unit on insects, and presents activities that can help students practice communication skills (interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational) and learn about insects with hands-on activities.

GEOSS Water Cycle Integrator

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Koike, Toshio; Lawford, Richard; Cripe, Douglas

2013-04-01

It is critically important to recognize and co-manage the fundamental linkages across the water-dependent domains; land use, including deforestation; ecosystem services; and food-, energy- and health-securities. Sharing coordinated, comprehensive and sustained observations and information for sound decision-making is a first step; however, to take full advantage of these opportunities, we need to develop an effective collaboration mechanism for working together across different disciplines, sectors and agencies, and thereby gain a holistic view of the continuity between environmentally sustainable development, climate change adaptation and enhanced resilience. To promote effective multi-sectoral, interdisciplinary collaboration based on coordinated and integrated efforts, the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO) is implementing the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). A component of GEOSS now under development is the "GEOSS Water Cycle Integrator (WCI)", which integrates Earth observations, modeling, data and information, management systems and education systems. GEOSS/WCI sets up "work benches" by which partners can share data, information and applications in an interoperable way, exchange knowledge and experiences, deepen mutual understanding and work together effectively to ultimately respond to issues of both mitigation and adaptation. (A work bench is a virtual geographical or phenomenological space where experts and managers collaborate to use information to address a problem within that space). GEOSS/WCI enhances the coordination of efforts to strengthen individual, institutional and infrastructure capacities, especially for effective interdisciplinary coordination and integration. GEO has established the GEOSS Asian Water Cycle Initiative (AWCI) and GEOSS African Water Cycle Coordination Initiative (AfWCCI). Through regional, inter-disciplinary, multi-sectoral integration and inter-agency coordination in Asia and Africa, GEOSS

Chaos: a topic for interdisciplinary education in physics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bae, Saebyok

2009-01-01

Since society and science need interdisciplinary works, the interesting topic of chaos is chosen for interdisciplinary education in physics. The educational programme contains various university-level activities such as computer simulations, chaos experiment and team projects besides ordinary teaching. According to the participants, the programme seems useful and good. In addition, we discuss some issues which can be important to interdisciplinary education in physics: for example the possible difficulties in programme design, the expertise barriers of non-major fields, the role of non-theoretical education in understanding and the project-type team activities

Addressing Global Environmental Challenges through Interdisciplinary Biogeochemical Research

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Paytan, A.

2013-12-01

Our planet is dynamic; energy and matter constantly move between the hydrosphere, atmosphere and lithosphere on time scales from seconds to millenia. These tight interactions - including those between organisms and their physical environment - are what make Earth habitable. However, as Rachel Carson wrote, 'Only within the moment of time represented by the present century has one species - man - acquired significant power to alter the nature of this world'. Globalization and explosive population growth have generated far-reaching environmental problems on a scale that humanity has never faced before. Fortunately, our species has also developed an unprecedented ability to provide science-based solutions. Since processes impacting the environment involve complex biological, physical, chemical and geological interactions and feedbacks, they require the integration of expertise from all these scientific disciplines as well as input from policy makers, social scientists, and economists. This talk presents four examples of current interdisciplinary research projects conducted in my lab, each one related to a theme from one of Carson's books (Under the Sea-wind, The Sea Around Us, The Edge of the Sea, and Silent Spring). These projects, and others like them, provide hope that we can move toward a sustainable relationship with the natural world by encouraging the best scientists to conduct interdisciplinary research with direct applications for environmental management and stewardship.

Interdisciplinary collaboration within project-level NEPA teams in the US Forest Service

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James W. Freeman; Marc J. Stern; Michael Mortimer; Dale J. Blahna; Lee K. Cerveny

2011-01-01

Interdisciplinary teamwork has become a foundation of natural resources planning and management in the US. Yet, we know little about the degree of interdisciplinary collaboration of natural resource planning teams. We conducted 10 case studies of Forest Service NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) teams working on projects related to the 2005 Travel Management Rule...

Practical Preconditions for the Development of the Interdisciplinary Collaboration Competence in Healthcare

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Raimonda Brunevičiūtė

2011-12-01

Full Text Available This article presents the results of the fourth stage of the longitudinal research performed at Kaunas University of Medicine (since 2010 – Lithuanian University of Health Sciences and Vytautas Magnus University. The main goal of the research was to investigate educational possibilities and preconditions for the development of the education of professional intercultural communication for students in the education programs of medicine and social work. Previous stages of the study revealed the peculiarities of intercultural/interdisciplinary teamwork, and educational premises for professional education of the team members. The fourth stage of the study is focused on the analysis of the practical activity of the interdisciplinary (intercultural team, striving to improve health specialists’ and social workers’ interdisciplinary collaboration competence.

Flash flooding: Toward an Interdisciplinary and Integrated Strategy for Disaster Reduction in a Global Environmental Change Perspective

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Ruin, Isabelle

2014-05-01

How do people answer to heavy precipitation and flood warnings? How do they adapt their daily schedule and activity to the fast evolution of the environmental circumstances? More generally, how do social processes interact with physical ones? Such questions address the dynamical interactions between hydro-meteorological variables, human perception and representation of the environment, and actual individual and social behavioral responses. It also poses the question of scales and hierarchy issues through seamless interactions between smaller and larger scales. These questions are relevant for both social and physical scientists. They are more and more pertinently addressed in the Global Environmental Change perspective through the concepts of Coupled Human And Natural Systems (CHANS), resilience or panarchy developped in the context of interdisciplinary collaborations. Nevertheless those concepts are complex and not easy to handle, specially when facing with operational goals. One of the main difficulty to advance these integrated approaches is the access to empirical data informing the processes at various scales. In fact, if physical and social processes are well studied by distinct disciplines, they are rarely jointly explored within similar spatial and temporal resolutions. Such coupled observation and analysis poses methodological challenges, specially when dealing with responses to short-fuse and extreme weather events. In fact, if such coupled approach is quite common to study large scale phenomenon like global change (for instance using historical data on green house gaz emissions and the evolution of temperatures worldwide), it is rarer for studing smaller nested sets of scales of human-nature systems where finer resolution data are sparse. Another problem arise from the need to produce comparable analysis on different case studies where social, physical and even cultural contexts may be diverse. Generic and robust framework for data collection, modeling

Knowledge and attitude toward interdisciplinary team working among obstetricians and gynecologists in teaching hospitals in South East Nigeria.

Science.gov (United States)

Iyoke, Chukwuemeka Anthony; Lawani, Lucky Osaheni; Ugwu, George Onyemaechi; Ajah, Leonard Ogbonna; Ezugwu, Euzebus Chinonye; Onah, Paul; Onwuka, Chidinma Ifechi

2015-01-01

Interdisciplinary team working could facilitate the efficient provision and coordination of increasingly diverse health services, thereby improving the quality of patient care. The purpose of this study was to describe knowledge of interdisciplinary team working among obstetricians and gynecologists in two teaching hospitals in South East Nigeria and to determine their attitude toward an interdisciplinary collaborative approach to patient care in these institutions. This was a questionnaire-based cross-sectional study. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics and was carried out using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software version 17.0 for Windows. In total, 116 doctors participated in the study. The mean age of the respondents was 31.9±7.0 (range 22-51) years. Approximately 74% of respondents were aware of the concept of interdisciplinary team working. Approximately 15% of respondents who were aware of the concept of interdisciplinary team working had very good knowledge of it; 52% had good knowledge and 33% had poor knowledge. Twenty-nine percent of knowledgeable respondents reported ever receiving formal teaching/training on interdisciplinary team working in the course of their professional development. About 78% of those aware of team working believed that interdisciplinary teams would be useful in obstetrics and gynecology practice in Nigeria, with 89% stating that it would be very useful. Approximately 77% of those aware of team working would support establishment and implementation of interdisciplinary teams at their centers. There was a high degree of knowledge of the concept and a positive attitude toward interdisciplinary team working among obstetricians and gynecologists in the study centers. This suggests that the attitude of physicians may not be an impediment to implementation of a collaborative interdisciplinary approach to clinical care in the study centers.

REALIZAREA LEGĂTURILOR INTERDISCIPLINARE PRIN LECŢII INTEGRATE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Teodora VASCAN

2017-07-01

Full Text Available În articol este abordată problema integrării disciplinelor de învăţământ, accentul fiind pus pe legătura dintre infor­ma­tică şi matematică. Sunt identificate şi analizate avantajele şi rolul profesorului şi al studenţilor în organizarea lecţiilor integrate. Autorul propune o metodologie de realizare a legăturilor interdisciplinare dintre cursurile Grafica asistată de calculator şi Geometrie.REALIZATION OF THE INTERDISCIPLINARY CONNECTIONS BY INTEGRATED LESSONSThe article discussed the problem of integrating the disciplines of education, focusing on the connection between computer science and mathematics. They are identified and analyzed the benefits and role of the teacher and students in organizing integrated lessons. The author proposes a methodology for realization interdisciplinary connections between courses Computer Graphics and Geometry.

Interdisciplinary preoperative patient education in cardiac surgery.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Weert, J. van; Dulmen, S. van; Bar, P.; Venus, E.

2003-01-01

Patient education in cardiac surgery is complicated by the fact that cardiac surgery patients meet a lot of different health care providers. Little is known about education processes in terms of interdisciplinary tuning. In this study, complete series of consecutive preoperative consultations of 51

Psychometric Testing of the Self-Efficacy for Interdisciplinary Plans of Care Scale.

Science.gov (United States)

Molle, Elizabeth; Froman, Robin

2017-01-01

Computerized interdisciplinary plans of care have revitalized nurse-centric care plans into dynamic and meaningful electronic documents. To maximize the benefits of these documents, it is important to understand healthcare professionals' attitudes, specifically their confidence, for making computerized interdisciplinary care plans useful and meaningful documents. The purpose of the study was to test the psychometric properties of the Self-Efficacy for Interdisciplinary Plans of Care instrument intended to measure healthcare professionals' self-efficacy for using such documents. Content validity was assessed by an expert review panel. Content validity indices ranged from 0.75 to 1.00, with a scale CVI of 0.94. A sample of 389 healthcare providers completed the 14-item instrument. Principal axis factoring was used to assess factor structure. The exploratory factor analysis yielded a single-factor structure accounting for 71.76% of covariance. Cronbach internal consistency coefficient for the single factor solution was .97. The corrected item-total correlations ranged from 0.71 to 0.90. The coefficient of stability, during a 2-week period, with a subset of the sample (n = 38), was estimated at 0.82. The results of this study suggest that the Self-Efficacy for Interdisciplinary Plans of Care has sturdy reliability and validity for measuring the self-efficacy of healthcare providers to make computerized interdisciplinary plans of care meaningful and useful documents.

Socio-Technical Perspective on Interdisciplinary Interactions During the Development of Complex Engineered Systems

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McGowan, Anna-Maria R.; Daly, Shanna; Baker, Wayne; Papalambros, panos; Seifert, Colleen

2013-01-01

This study investigates interdisciplinary interactions that take place during the research, development, and early conceptual design phases in the design of large-scale complex engineered systems (LaCES) such as aerospace vehicles. These interactions, that take place throughout a large engineering development organization, become the initial conditions of the systems engineering process that ultimately leads to the development of a viable system. This paper summarizes some of the challenges and opportunities regarding social and organizational issues that emerged from a qualitative study using ethnographic and survey data. The analysis reveals several socio-technical couplings between the engineered system and the organization that creates it. Survey respondents noted the importance of interdisciplinary interactions and their benefits to the engineered system as well as substantial challenges in interdisciplinary interactions. Noted benefits included enhanced knowledge and problem mitigation and noted obstacles centered on organizational and human dynamics. Findings suggest that addressing the social challenges may be a critical need in enabling interdisciplinary interactions

Interdisciplinary Team Teaching versus Departmentalization in Middle Schools.

Science.gov (United States)

Alspaugh, John W.; Harting, Roger D.

1998-01-01

Studied the effects of interdisciplinary teaming versus departmentalization on student achievement in middle schools. Found no significant differences for reading, math, science, and social studies achievement. Results suggest that team teaching merits further investigation as a potential strategy for mediating the student achievement loss…

Enabling interdisciplinary analysis

Science.gov (United States)

L. M. Reid

1996-01-01

'New requirements for evaluating environmental conditions in the Pacific Northwest have led to increased demands for interdisciplinary analysis of complex environmental problems. Procedures for watershed analysis have been developed for use on public and private lands in Washington State (Washington Forest Practices Board 1993) and for federal lands in the Pacific...

Eclecticism as the foundation of meta-theoretical, mixed methods and interdisciplinary research in social sciences.

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Kroos, Karmo

2012-03-01

This article examines the value of "eclecticism" as the foundation of meta-theoretical, mixed methods and interdisciplinary research in social sciences. On the basis of the analysis of the historical background of the concept, it is first suggested that eclecticism-based theoretical scholarship in social sciences could benefit from the more systematic research method that has been developed for synthesizing theoretical works under the name metatheorizing. Second, it is suggested that the mixed methods community could base its research approach on philosophical eclecticism instead of pragmatism because the basic idea of eclecticism is much more in sync with the nature of the combined research tradition. Finally, the Kuhnian frame is used to support the argument for interdisciplinary research and, hence, eclecticism in social sciences (rather than making an argument against multiple paradigms). More particularly, it is suggested that integrating the different (inter)disciplinary traditions and schools into one is not necessarily desirable at all in social sciences because of the complexity and openness of the research field. If it is nevertheless attempted, experience in economics suggests that paradigmatic unification comes at a high price.

Studies in organic and physical photochemistry - an interdisciplinary approach.

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Oelgemöller, Michael; Hoffmann, Norbert

2016-08-21

Traditionally, organic photochemistry when applied to synthesis strongly interacts with physical chemistry. The aim of this review is to illustrate this very fruitful interdisciplinary approach and cooperation. A profound understanding of the photochemical reactivity and reaction mechanisms is particularly helpful for optimization and application of these reactions. Some typical reactions and particular aspects are reported such as the Norrish-Type II reaction and the Yang cyclization and related transformations, the [2 + 2] photocycloadditions, particularly the Paternò-Büchi reaction, photochemical electron transfer induced transformations, different kinds of catalytic reactions such as photoredox catalysis for organic synthesis and photooxygenation are discussed. Particular aspects such as the structure and reactivity of aryl cations, photochemical reactions in the crystalline state, chiral memory, different mechanisms of hydrogen transfer in photochemical reactions or fundamental aspects of stereoselectivity are discussed. Photochemical reactions are also investigated in the context of chemical engineering. Particularly, continuous flow reactors are of interest. Novel reactor systems are developed and modeling of photochemical transformations and different reactors play a key role in such studies. This research domain builds a bridge between fundamental studies of organic photochemical reactions and their industrial application.

Chaos: A Topic for Interdisciplinary Education in Physics

Science.gov (United States)

Bae, Saebyok

2009-01-01

Since society and science need interdisciplinary works, the interesting topic of chaos is chosen for interdisciplinary education in physics. The educational programme contains various university-level activities such as computer simulations, chaos experiment and team projects besides ordinary teaching. According to the participants, the programme…

Interdisciplinary Aspects of Learning: Physics and Psychology

Science.gov (United States)

Oleg, Yavoruk

2015-01-01

The article deals with interdisciplinary aspects of learning in the case of physics and psychology. It describes the lab-based academic course focused on: observation and experimentation; discovery of new scientific facts; measurement; identification of errors; the study of psychological characteristics of people (time perception, the reaction…

An interdisciplinary approach to study Pre-Earthquake processes

Science.gov (United States)

Ouzounov, D.; Pulinets, S. A.; Hattori, K.; Taylor, P. T.

2017-12-01

We will summarize a multi-year research effort on wide-ranging observations of pre-earthquake processes. Based on space and ground data we present some new results relevant to the existence of pre-earthquake signals. Over the past 15-20 years there has been a major revival of interest in pre-earthquake studies in Japan, Russia, China, EU, Taiwan and elsewhere. Recent large magnitude earthquakes in Asia and Europe have shown the importance of these various studies in the search for earthquake precursors either for forecasting or predictions. Some new results were obtained from modeling of the atmosphere-ionosphere connection and analyses of seismic records (foreshocks /aftershocks), geochemical, electromagnetic, and thermodynamic processes related to stress changes in the lithosphere, along with their statistical and physical validation. This cross - disciplinary approach could make an impact on our further understanding of the physics of earthquakes and the phenomena that precedes their energy release. We also present the potential impact of these interdisciplinary studies to earthquake predictability. A detail summary of our approach and that of several international researchers will be part of this session and will be subsequently published in a new AGU/Wiley volume. This book is part of the Geophysical Monograph series and is intended to show the variety of parameters seismic, atmospheric, geochemical and historical involved is this important field of research and will bring this knowledge and awareness to a broader geosciences community.

Communication dynamics in hospice teams: understanding the role of the chaplain in interdisciplinary team collaboration.

Science.gov (United States)

Wittenberg-Lyles, Elaine; Oliver, Debra Parker; Demiris, George; Baldwin, Paula; Regehr, Kelly

2008-12-01

Hospice chaplains provide a specific expertise to patient and family care, however, individual roles and responsibilities that facilitate the interdisciplinary team environment are less well known. The primary aim of this study was to investigate how hospice chaplains perceive their role in interdisciplinary team meetings and to what extent hospice chaplains share common experiences within the interdisciplinary team approach in hospice. Hospice chaplains within a 10-state region participated in a 39-item phone survey about professional roles, group roles, and structural characteristics that influence their ability to participate in interdisciplinary collaboration. Findings revealed that professional role conflict is experienced, primarily with social workers. Informal group task and maintenance roles included team spiritual care advisor and conflict manager, and structural characteristics consisted of extracurricular communication outside of the organization. Although chaplains foster interdisciplinary collaboration within the hospice team, future research needs to address improvements to the chaplain's role within the interdisciplinary team process.

An Inter-Disciplinary Language for Inter-Disciplinary Communication: Academic Globalization, Ethos, Pathos, and Logos

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marta Szabo White

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Inspired by the intersection of character, emotions, and logic, much like a Hungarian Rhapsody which is beautifully sad; this paper explores ethos, pathos, and logos in the context of Academic Globalization. As students of the world, an inter-disciplinary language is pivotal for inter-disciplinary communication. Given that the current state of the world stems primarily from miscommunications, it is imperative to launch a cognitive language tool which underscores global commonalities and mitigates cultural differences. Such a platform would foster interdisciplinary research, education, and communication. New paradigms would evolve, grounded in ethos, pathos, and logos. Like yin and yang, these states are interrelated, interacting, and interchanging learning spheres. Just as day and night blend at some point; just as the Parthenon epitomized Greek thought, celebrated the birthplace of democracy, and for the first time, depicted everyday citizens in friezes- underscoring their impactful role- ethos, pathos, and logos represent cross-disciplinary communication devices which synergistically transform and ignite academic globalization. The Literature Review links the concepts of ethos, pathos, and logos with the seminal work Lewis and his LMR framework, which has given birth to Cultureactive and subsequently to ICE [InterCultural Edge]. http://www.fuqua.duke.edu/ciber/programs/we_organize/ice/ Accessed February 14, 2014

Vulnerability studies and integrated assessments for hazard risk reduction in Pittsburgh, PA (Invited)

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Klima, K.

2013-12-01

Today's environmental problems stretch beyond the bounds of most academic disciplines, and thus solutions require an interdisciplinary approach. For instance, the scientific consensus is changes in the frequency and severity of many types of extreme weather events are increasing (IPCC 2012). Yet despite our efforts to reduce greenhouse gases, we continue to experience severe weather events such as Superstorm Sandy, record heat and blizzards, and droughts. These natural hazards, combined with increased vulnerability and exposure, result in longer-lasting disruptions to critical infrastructure and business continuity throughout the world. In order to protect both our lives and the economy, we must think beyond the bounds of any one discipline to include an integrated assessment of relevant work. In the wake of recent events, New York City, Washington, DC, Chicago, and a myriad of other cities have turned to their academic powerhouses for assistance in better understanding their vulnerabilities. This talk will share a case study of the state of integrated assessments and vulnerability studies of energy, transportation, water, real estate, and other main sectors in Pittsburgh, PA. Then the talk will use integrated assessment models and other vulnerability studies to create coordinated sets of climate projections for use by the many public agencies and private-sector organizations in the region.

Approach Towards an Evidence-Oriented Knowledge and Data Acquisition for the Optimization of Interdisciplinary Care in Dentistry and General Medicine.

Science.gov (United States)

Seitz, Max W; Haux, Christian; Knaup, Petra; Schubert, Ingrid; Listl, Stefan

2018-01-01

Associations between dental and chronic-systemic diseases were observed frequently in medical research, however the findings of this research have so far found little relevance in everyday clinical treatment. Major problems are the assessment of evidence for correlations between such diseases and how to integrate current medical knowledge into the intersectoral care of dentists and general practitioners. On the example of dental and chronic-systemic diseases, the Dent@Prevent project develops an interdisciplinary decision support system (DSS), which provides the specialists with information relevant for the treatment of such cases. To provide the physicians with relevant medical knowledge, a mixed-methods approach is developed to acquire the knowledge in an evidence-oriented way. This procedure includes a literature review, routine data analyses, focus groups of dentists and general practitioners as well as the identification and integration of applicable guidelines and Patient Reported Measures (PRMs) into the treatment process. The developed mixed methods approach for an evidence-oriented knowledge acquisition indicates to be applicable and supportable for interdisciplinary projects. It can raise the systematic quality of the knowledge-acquisition process and can be applicable for an evidence-based system development. Further research is necessary to assess the impact on patient care and to evaluate possible applicability in other interdisciplinary areas.

An Interdisciplinary Team Project: Psychology and Computer Science Students Create Online Cognitive Tasks

Science.gov (United States)

Flannery, Kathleen A.; Malita, Mihaela

2014-01-01

We present our case study of an interdisciplinary team project for students taking either a psychology or computer science (CS) course. The project required psychology and CS students to combine their knowledge and skills to create an online cognitive task. Each interdisciplinary project team included two psychology students who conducted library…

The Challenges of Interdisciplinary Epistemology in Neuroaesthetics

Science.gov (United States)

Croft, James

2011-01-01

Neuroaesthetics is a burgeoning new interdisciplinary research space in which cognitive science, psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy intersect in order to better inform our understanding of aesthetic experience. The purpose of this study is to analyze high-profile work in neuroaesthetics in the light of recent research into interdisciplinary…

The role of architect in interdisciplinary collaborative design studios

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anja Jutraž

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Architectural design is a complex process involving different actors. While studying architecture, students usually work alone, and they do not have many opportunities to collaborate with other professions. Consequently, they end up lacking the knowledge regarding other professions, as well as regarding communic42ation and collaboration with other professionals. They become too proud of themselves, which eventually prevents them from engaging in active collaboration and accepting compromises. Furthermore, it is essential for their future professional careers that architects collaborate with other professions, adopt their ideas and requirements. Such collaboration is recommended from the early stages of the design process onwards. The main focus of this article is to determine the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in architecture projects through the process of studying architecture, the role of the architect within this process, and the manner in which decisions are usually made within an interdisciplinary team. The following research is based on the AEC Global Teamwork Course, which took place during school years 2011/2012, 2012/2013 and 2013/2014, 2013 at Stanford University under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Renate Fruchter. Students from all around the world worked together on an architectural project from its initial stages. They met twice only: at the beginning and at the end of the project, otherwise they worked on a virtual basis, using different digital tools intended for long-distance interdisciplinary collaboration. There were three case studies examined for the purposes of this article in which the main focus was placed on architects, more specifically on the challenges and the problems they were facing, the knowledge architects gained through interdisciplinary collaboration, and lessons learned in such a course that could help them with their professional careers.

Researching Lifelong Learning Participation through an Interdisciplinary Lens

Science.gov (United States)

Boeren, Ellen

2017-01-01

This paper explores the interdisciplinary nature of studies in the field of lifelong learning participation. Until recently, participation studies have been presented in a rather fragmented way, often drawing on insights from separate disciplines such as sociology or psychology. The complex nature of lifelong learning participation, however, urges…

Interdisciplinary Information Design with an Empowerment Strategy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Barlach, Anders; Engberg, Axel; Pallesen, Bodil

2006-01-01

An innovative research into a model for ICT enabled Empowerment. By deliberate use of ICT and a feedback-focused communication model in a prototyping process, e-health information based on an empowerment strategy is evaluated. Overall a risk-driven spiral model is applied for Progress...... and Complexity handling in order to ensure success. The process model devised has a proactive approach to interdisciplinary teamwork, organisational web maturity, and the post-modern user's interaction with ICT. The research is performed and evaluated in cooperation with an interdisciplinary team of health......'s perspective. ORGANIZATIONAL LEVEL: Nursing Informatics becomes a tool in the interdisciplinary understanding, allowing the nurses to take responsibility for core nursing themes regarding the healthy and the diseased phases of the patients' lives. Iterative modelling ensuring the results is evident and derived...

A school-based interdisciplinary approach to promote health and academic achievement among children in a deprived neighborhood: study protocol for a mixed-methods evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

Abrahamse, Mariëlle E; Jonkman, Caroline S; Harting, Janneke

2018-04-10

The large number of children that grow up in poverty is concerning, especially given the negative developmental outcomes that can persist into adulthood. Poverty has been found as a risk factor to negatively affect academic achievement and health outcomes in children. Interdisciplinary interventions can be an effective way to promote health and academic achievement. The present study aims to evaluate a school-based interdisciplinary approach on child health, poverty, and academic achievement using a mixed-method design. Generally taken, outcomes of this study increase the knowledge about effective ways to give disadvantaged children equal chances early in their lives. An observational study with a mixed-methods design including both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods will be used to evaluate the interdisciplinary approach. The overall research project exists of three study parts including a longitudinal study, a cross-sectional study, and a process evaluation. Using a multi-source approach we will assess child health as the primary outcome. Child poverty and child academic achievement will be assessed as secondary outcomes. The process evaluation will observe the program's effects on the school environment and the program's implementation in order to obtain more knowledge on how to disseminate the interdisciplinary approach to other schools and neighborhoods. The implementation of a school-based interdisciplinary approach via primary schools combining the cross-sectoral domains health, poverty, and academic achievement is innovative and a step forward to reach an ethnic minority population. However, the large variety of the interventions and activities within the approach can limit the validity of the study. Including a process evaluation will therefore help to improve the interpretation of our findings. In order to contribute to policy and practice focusing on decreasing the unequal chances of children growing up in deprived neighborhoods, it is

Procedures of interdisciplinary cooperation and conflict in school

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Røn Larsen, Maja

of such processes, e.g. political, legal and administrative conditions, without either dismissing the structural aspects or assigning them with determining power. The study investigates how legislation and administrative conditions influence the interdisciplinary collaborative processes of in- and exclusion...

Integrative studies of cultural evolution: crossing disciplinary boundaries to produce new insights.

Science.gov (United States)

Kolodny, Oren; Feldman, Marcus W; Creanza, Nicole

2018-04-05

Culture evolves according to dynamics on multiple temporal scales, from individuals' minute-by-minute behaviour to millennia of cultural accumulation that give rise to population-level differences. These dynamics act on a range of entities-including behavioural sequences, ideas and artefacts as well as individuals, populations and whole species-and involve mechanisms at multiple levels, from neurons in brains to inter-population interactions. Studying such complex phenomena requires an integration of perspectives from a diverse array of fields, as well as bridging gaps between traditionally disparate areas of study. In this article, which also serves as an introduction to the current special issue, we highlight some specific respects in which the study of cultural evolution has benefited and should continue to benefit from an integrative approach. We showcase a number of pioneering studies of cultural evolution that bring together numerous disciplines. These studies illustrate the value of perspectives from different fields for understanding cultural evolution, such as cognitive science and neuroanatomy, behavioural ecology, population dynamics, and evolutionary genetics. They also underscore the importance of understanding cultural processes when interpreting research about human genetics, neuroscience, behaviour and evolution.This article is part of the theme issue 'Bridging cultural gaps: interdisciplinary studies in human cultural evolution'. © 2018 The Author(s).

Building connected data standards to promote interdisciplinary research in the paleogeosciences- PalEON, Neotoma, THROUGHPUT

Science.gov (United States)

Goring, S. J.; Richard, S. M.; Williams, J. W.; Dawson, A.

2017-12-01

A broad array of data resources, across disciplines, are needed to study Earth system processes operating at multiple spatial or temporal scales. Data friction frequently delays this integrative and interdisciplinary research, while sustainable solutions may be hampered as a result of academic incentives that penalize technical "tool building" at the expense of research publication. The paleogeosciences, in particular, often integrate data drawn from multiple sub-disciplines and from a range of long-tail and big data sources. Data friction can be lowered and the pace of scientific discovery accelerated through the development and adoption of data standards, both within the paleogeosciences and with allied disciplines. Using the PalEON Project (https://sites.nd.edu/paleonproject/) and the Neotoma Paleoecological Database (https://neotomadb.org) as focal case studies, we first illustrate the advances possible through data standardization. We then focus on new efforts in data standardization and building linkages among paleodata resources underway through the EarthCube-funded Throughput project. A first step underway is to analyze existing standards across paleo-data repositories and identify ways in which the adoption of common standards can promote connectivity, reducing barriers to interdisciplinary research, especially for early career researchers. Experience indicates that standards tend to emerge by necessity and from a mixture of bottom-up and top-down processes. A common pathway is when conventions developed to solve specific problems within a community are extended to address challenges that are more general. The Throughput project will identify, document, and promote such solutions to foster wider adoption of standards for data interchange and reduce data friction in the paleogeosciences.

INTERDISCIPLINARY FORMATION TO ACTUATION AT UNIFIED HEALTH SYSTEM: OVERVIEW OF ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN BRAZIL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iane Franceschet de Sousa

2012-10-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was analysed the articles published in Brazil about interdisciplinarity in the formation process in graduation level of the health profissionals for their actuation at Unified Health System. It was selected 40 publications that was conformable according to inclusion criterious. It was datached some aspects that contribute with the reflections around the subject, as the obstacles and difficulties for the interdisciplinary practice, as well the alternatives and suggestions to introduce the interdisciplinary. The most of the articles was a theoretical base, there are scarcity of practice studies that reveal effectives interdisciplinaries experiences in the formation of health profissionals.

Interdisciplinary shock-room care: tasks for the radiologist from the viewpoint of the trauma surgeon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mutschler, W.; Kanz, K.G.

2002-01-01

Efficient resuscitation of major trauma requests an interdisciplinary communication between trauma surgeons, anaesthesiologists and radiologists. Trauma outcome is significantly influenced by horizontal trauma team organisation and coherence to clinical algorithms, which allow fast diagnosis and intervention. A radiologist present on patients arrival in the trauma room provides a major impact on trauma care. Nevertheless optimal integration in the trauma team implies profound knowledge of the priorities of advanced trauma life support and trauma algorithms. His or her involvement is not limited to patient care only, also active participation in trauma room design, interdisciplinary algorithm development and trauma research are essential tasks for radiologists devoted to emergency radiology. Based on the pathophysiology of polytrauma and the structure of German trauma system, current concepts and proven clinical algorithms with special regard to the radiologist and his duties and tasks will are presented. (orig.) [de

InTeGrate's model for developing innovative, adaptable, interdisciplinary curricular materials that reach beyond the geosciences

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Egger, A. E.; Baldassari, C.; Bruckner, M. Z.; Iverson, E. A.; Manduca, C. A.; Mcconnell, D. A.; Steer, D. N.

2013-12-01

InTeGrate is NSF's STEP Center in the geosciences. A major goal of the project is to develop curricula that will increase the geoscience literacy of all students such that they are better positioned to make sustainable decisions in their lives and as part of the broader society. This population includes the large majority of students that do not major in the geosciences, those historically under-represented in the geosciences, and future K-12 teachers. To achieve this goal, we established a model for the development of curricular materials that draws on the distributed expertise of the undergraduate teaching community. Our model seeks proposals from across the higher education community for courses and modules that meet InTeGrate's overarching goals. From these proposals, we select teams of 3-5 instructors from three or more different institutions (and institution types) and pair them with assessment and web experts. Their communication and development process is supported by a robust, web-based content management system (CMS). Over two years, this team develops materials that explicitly address a geoscience-related societal challenge, build interdisciplinary problem-solving skills, make use of real geoscience data, and incorporate geoscientific and systems thinking. Materials are reviewed with the InTeGrate design rubric and then tested by the authors in their own courses, where student learning is assessed. Results are reviewed by the authors and our assessment team to guide revisions. Several student audiences are targeted: students in general education and introductory geoscience courses, pre-service K-12 teachers, students in other science and engineering majors, as well as those in the humanities and social sciences. Curriculum development team members from beyond the geosciences are critical to producing materials that can be adopted for all of these audiences, and we have been successful in engaging faculty from biology, economics, engineering, sociology

Socialisation to Interdisciplinary Legal Education

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schäfke, Werner; Mayoral, Juan A.; Hvidt, Martine Stagelund

2018-01-01

studies. Nevertheless, there is still few evidence of how this lecturing philosophy might be affected by the socialization with other disciplines. For that purpose, we analyse the case of external lectures in the Faculty of Law at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, who covers the majority...... of the teaching staff in this institution. To explain the adoption of interdisciplinary teaching, we rely on socialization factors connected to their former higher education and socialization in research and multidisciplinary environments....

Interdisciplinary study of post-glacial faulting in the Lansjaerv area, Northern Sweden 1986-1988

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baeckblom, G.; Stanfors, R.

1989-12-01

Post-glacial faults have been recognized in the northern Baltic shield for several decades. It is important to evaluate whether such neotectonic movements can lead to new fracturing or decisively alter the geohydrological or geohydrochemical situation around a final repository for spent nuclear fuel. The post-glacial Lansjaerv fault was chosen for interdisciplinary study because of its relative accessibility. The goals of the study were to assess the mechanisms that caused present day scarps, to clarify the extent of any recent fracturing and to clarify the extent of any ongoing movements. All these objectives were reasonable met through a series of studies. This report describes achievements that have been gained since the study was initiated by SKB 1986. Analysis of geology and geophysics over a 150x200 km region supplemented with seismic networks and field studies at outcrops and trenches set a framework for a cored borehole down to depth of 500 m at the fault. The core has been studied in detail with respect to fracture-infillings in order to analyse mineralogical and geochemical alteration. The borehole has been logged for geophysics, stress, hydraulic conductivity, groundwater pressure and the chemical constituents of the groundwater. Numerical modelling has been undertaken in order to understand the effects of glaciation on the behaviour of a blocky rock mass. Several general conclusions have been made by the interdisciplinary research group. One of the major conclusions is that pre-existing old structures were reactivated by tectonic movements, possibly triggered by deglaciation. In spite of a major earthquake that may have occurred during the deglaciation, and in spite of the anomalous tectonic setting compared to study-sites within SKB:s site investigation programme, the hydraulic conductivity and groundwater chemistry are comparable with results from those sites. (83 figs., 15 tabs., 150 refs.)

Interdisciplinary research and trans-disciplinary validity claims

CERN Document Server

Gethmann, C F; Hanekamp, G; Kaiser, M; Kamp, G; Lingner, S; Quante, M; Thiele, F

2015-01-01

Interdisciplinarity has seemingly become a paradigm for modern and meaningful research. Clearly, the interdisciplinary modus of deliberation enables to unfold relevant but quite different disciplinary perspectives to the reflection of broader scientific questions or societal problems. However, whether the comprehensive results of interdisciplinary reflection prove to be valid or to be acceptable in trans-disciplinary terms depends upon certain preconditions, which have to be fulfilled for securing scientific quality and social trust in advisory contexts. The present book is written by experts and practitioners of interdisciplinary research and policy advice. It analyses topical and methodological approaches towards interdisciplinarity, starting with the current role of scientific research in society. The volume continues with contributions to the issues of knowledge and acting and to trans-disciplinary deliberation. The final conclusions address the scientific system as substantial actor itself as well as the...

Going interdisciplinary in Uganda's education system | Namusisi ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study presents the relevance of interdisciplinary education, the crisis in which Uganda's education system is, where specialisation is at its peak. It analyses the form of the present curriculum, which leaves the learner in state of dilemma. The author again shows the need for interdisciplinarity, tries to find out whether ...

[Quality development within interdisciplinary transgender healthcare : Results and implications of a participatory research project].

Science.gov (United States)

Nieder, Timo O; Köhler, Andreas; Eyssel, Jana; Briken, Peer

2017-09-01

Both internationally and nationally, the objective has been set to offer specialized, coordinated, and interdisciplinary treatment to individuals with rare clinical needs, such as trans individuals (e. g., transsexual, transgender). The Interdisciplinary Transgender Health Care Center Hamburg (ITHCCH) is the first and only center in Germany to integrate all disciplines relevant to trans healthcare (THC).The research project seeks to generate valid information to support quality development and assure high-quality treatment at the ITHCCH. This was done by (a) investigating needs and concerns of trans individuals regarding interdisciplinary THC, and (b) analyzing attitudes and interests of key stakeholders.Using a participatory approach involving a work group (representatives of trans support groups and local THC professionals), researchers developed an online survey focusing on trans individuals' needs and concerns. Data from N = 415 trans-identified participants were analyzed using quantitative and qualitative methods. In addition, a short survey was used to record key stakeholders' attitudes and interests towards the ITHCCH.Healthcare offers accessed by trans individuals as part of transition related treatment vary in focus and number. For example, take-up numbers of genital surgery differ between binary and non-binary trans individuals. Crucial aspects impacting on THC quality are structural characteristics, communication/social aspects, individuality, and professionalism/quality.To ensure successful, high-quality interdisciplinary THC, feedback from (potential) patients and stakeholders is crucial. In addition, both structural development and optimizing individuality and flexibility throughout the treatment process are key. This poses a considerable challenge to the sector of THC provision.

Advantages and disadvantages of interdisciplinary consultation in the prescription of assistive technologies for mobility limitations.

Science.gov (United States)

de Laat, Fred A; van Heerebeek, Bart; van Netten, Jaap J

2018-03-28

To explore the advantages and disadvantages experienced by professionals in interdisciplinary consultation involving the user, prescriber and technician in the prescription of assistive technologies for mobility limitations. Cross-sectional study. Prescribers (N = 39) and orthopaedic technicians (N = 50), who were regularly involved in an interdisciplinary consultation completed a questionnaire about advantages and disadvantages of the interdisciplinary consultation. Advantages of the interdisciplinary consultation were mentioned within all CanMEDS areas of medical practice, including better and quicker prescription of the assistive technology, shared knowledge of medical diagnosis and device possibilities, shared decision making of the device prescription and clear communication rules. Disadvantages were mentioned in the CanMEDS areas management and collaboration, including planning problems (financial) reimbursement of this type of consultation, and time efficiency. On a 10-point scale, mean (standard deviation) rates of interdisciplinary consultations were 7.9 (0.6) according to prescribers, and 7.8 (0.9) by technicians. All participants wanted to continue the interdisciplinary consultation. Prescribers and technicians in the field of assistive technologies for walking mobility limitations appreciate an interdisciplinary consultation. Advantages are found in all CanMEDS areas, whereas disadvantages only concern coordination. It should be encouraged to realize this kind of consultation in all situations where such technologies are prescribed. Implications for rehabilitation Interdisciplinary consultation involving the user, prescriber and technician to prescribe assistive technologies for mobility limitations has many advantages in all CanMEDS areas of medical practice, and few disadvantages, related to management and collaboration only. The disadvantages of interdisciplinary consultation, such as (financial) reimbursement by health insurance companies

Clinical social work roles in an integrative, interdisciplinary team: enhancing parental compliance.

Science.gov (United States)

Terry, P O

1981-01-01

This paper is directed toward those attempting to develop effective social work functions within an interdisciplinary treatment team and utilizes a specialized group as a demonstration model. The Inborn Errors of Metabolism Team at the University of Tennessee Child Development Center deals with children whose genetic disorders require precise dietary management for the prevention of various handicapping conditions including mental retardation. Representatives of the six disciplines forming the core team recognize that professional interdependence must combine with parental cooperation if the program is to succeed. The clinical social worker is a permanent member of the team and focuses on the family during the years each child is followed. Social work roles are multiple and include those of crisis interventionist, family therapist, marriage counselor, patient advocate, and team interpreter. Such social work involvement is essential in the holistic approach to long-term patient care which recognizes that no disorder exists apart from the patient, nor the patient from his family.

Co-ordinated Interdisciplinary Efforts on Research in Animal Production and Health

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Houe Hans

2003-03-01

Full Text Available The objectives are to review results and experiences from interdisciplinary research projects in Research Centre for the Management of Animal Production and Health (CEPROS concerning scientific content, organisation, and collaboration. The Centre has been founded as a result of an agreement between four institutions: the Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences (DIAS, the Danish Veterinary Laboratory (DVL, the Danish Veterinary Institute for Virus Research (DVIV and The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University (KVL. CEPROS is a "research centre without walls" and is physically located as an integrated part of the four institutions named above. The Centre has close collaboration with the industry. The superior goals of the Centre are to co-ordinate fundamental and applied research and simultaneously integrate the veterinary and the production oriented livestock research within animal health and welfare, taking into consideration the production economics and reduced use of medication. The assignment of the Centre is to initiate and carry out research, aiming to investigate the influence of breeding and production systems on animal health and welfare as well as on production and product quality. The Centre has since 1997 established 16 interdisciplinary research projects dealing with cattle, pigs, poultry, or mink. The scientific content can be divided into three research clusters: A. Management of animal production and health in production systems, B: Pathogenesis of production diseases, and C. Animal health economics. In Cluster A, the physical environments of production systems have been investigated, broader definitions of the concept health have been established and used in identification of risk factors. Cluster B has investigated physiological, immunological and genetic mechanisms behind development of production diseases and how to apply this knowledge in disease prevention. The cluster in animal health economics has developed decision

Interdisciplinary Research and Disciplinary Toleration: A Reply to Kitty Locker.

Science.gov (United States)

Kent, Thomas

1994-01-01

Responds to an article in this issue regarding the challenge of interdisciplinary research. Suggests that the primary motivation for avoiding interdisciplinary research is political, not epistemological. (SR)

Beyond Interdisciplinary Teaming: Findings and Implications of the NASSP National Middle Level Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Hackmann, Donald G.; Petzko, Vicki N.; Valentine, Jerry W.; Clark, Donald C.; Nori, John R.; Lucas, Stephen E.

2002-01-01

Reports trends and implications of interdisciplinary teaming practices in middle schools, based on findings from a national survey. Noting that nearly 80 percent of schools currently implement teaming, challenges principals and teachers to move beyond simple formation of teams to the creation of an infrastructure that supports high-performing…

The Influence of Tablet-Based Technology on the Development of Communication and Critical Thinking Skills: An Interdisciplinary Study

Science.gov (United States)

Bagdasarov, Zhanna; Luo, Yupeng; Wu, Wei

2017-01-01

The purpose of this interdisciplinary study was to explore the impacts of tablet technology in a college classroom on students' perceptions of their own learning. Students were asked about oral, written, and graphical communication and critical thinking skills. Mid-semester and end-of-semester surveys were administered to tablet-enabled classes…

Ovarian cancer in an interdisciplinary context

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Seibæk, Lene; Søgaard, Charlotte

quality of treatment.   Patients/ Methods We developed an interdisciplinary programme including patient data from the records of doctors, nurses, anaesthetists and observations. This programme was applied on a population of 65 women with ovarian malignancies. Subsequently analyses were performed.......   Results This study has had implications concerning organisation, quality of treatment and psychosocial support. The study identified correlations not previously discovered between the different elements of the programme. Correlations e.g. between patient information, pain, nausea and mobilisation were...

What makes interdisciplinarity difficult? Some consequences of domain specificity in interdisciplinary practice

NARCIS (Netherlands)

MacLeod, Miles Alexander James

2018-01-01

Research on interdisciplinary science has for the most part concentrated on the institutional obstacles that discourage or hamper interdisciplinary work, with the expectation that interdisciplinary interaction can be improved through institutional reform strategies such as through reform of peer

Integrating orthodontics for the optimal smile.

Science.gov (United States)

Yorita, Frank K

2008-08-01

With the rapid and complex advancements in materials and technology in dentistry today, it has become difficult for the dental practitioner to stay current in one field, let alone more than one. In order to increase patient benefits and decrease the dentist's frustration, today's dental practice requires an interdisciplinary approach that integrates the knowledge, skills, and experience of all the disciplines of dentistry and its associated fields. This article highlights the advantage of an interdisciplinary treatment approach and how knowledge of basic orthodontic techniques can help in producing a more comprehensive treatment plan.

Interdisciplinary collaboration as a prerequisite for inclusive education

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hedegaard-Sørensen, Lotte; Riis Jensen, Charlotte; Tofteng, Ditte Maria Børglum

2017-01-01

to the development of an inclusive learning environment in mainstream schools. Not as a simple task of transferring knowledge, but as a process of transforming knowledge through interdisciplinary collaboration and co-teaching. The design of the study is inspired by the notion of participation within action research...

Interdisciplinary Professional Development Needs of Cooperative Extension Field Educators

Science.gov (United States)

Sondgerath, Travis

2016-01-01

The study discussed in this article sought to identify cross-program professional development needs of county-based Extension professionals (field educators). The study instrument was completed by 105 county-based Extension professionals. Interdisciplinary topics, such as program evaluation and volunteer management, were identified as subjects of…

Predictors of food decision making: A systematic interdisciplinary mapping (SIM) review.

Science.gov (United States)

Symmank, Claudia; Mai, Robert; Hoffmann, Stefan; Stok, F Marijn; Renner, Britta; Lien, Nanna; Rohm, Harald

2017-03-01

The number of publications on consumer food decision making and its predictors and correlates has been steadily increasing over the last three decades. Given that different scientific disciplines illuminate this topic from different perspectives, it is necessary to develop an interdisciplinary overview. The aim of this study is to conduct a systematic interdisciplinary mapping (SIM) review by using rapid review techniques to explore the state-of-the-art, and to identify hot topics and research gaps in this field. This interdisciplinary review includes 1,820 publications in 485 different journals and other types of publications from more than ten disciplines (including nutritional science, medicine/health science, psychology, food science and technology, business research, etc.) across a period of 60 years. The identified predictors of food decision making were categorized in line with the recently proposed DONE (Determinants Of Nutrition and Eating behavior) framework. After applying qualitative and quantitative analyses, this study reveals that most of the research emphasizes biological, psychological, and product-related predictors, whereas policy-related influences on food choice are scarcely considered. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Interdisciplinary Interactions During R&D and Early Design of Large Engineered Systems

Science.gov (United States)

McGowan, Anna-Maria Rivas

2014-01-01

Designing Large-Scale Complex Engineered Systems (LaCES) such as aircraft and submarines requires the input of thousands of engineers and scientists whose work is proximate in neither time nor space. Comprehensive knowledge of the system is dispersed among specialists whose expertise is in typically one system component or discipline. This study examined the interactive work practices among such specialists seeking to improve engineering practice through a rigorous and theoretical understanding of current practice. This research explored current interdisciplinary practices and perspectives during R&D and early LaCES design and identified why these practices and perspectives prevail and persist. The research design consisted of a three-fold, integrative approach that combined an open-ended survey, semi-structured interviews, and ethnography. Significant empirical data from experienced engineers and scientists in a large engineering organization were obtained and integrated with theories from organization science and engineering. Qualitative analysis was used to obtain a holistic, contextualized understanding. The over-arching finding is that issues related to cognition, organization, and social interrelations mostly dominate interactions across disciplines. Engineering issues, such as the integration of hardware or physics-based models, are not as significant. For example, organization culture is an important underlying factor that guided researchers more toward individual sovereignty over cross-disciplinarity. The organization structure and the engineered system architecture also serve as constraints to the engineering work. Many differences in work practices were observed, including frequency and depth of interactions, definition or co-construction of requirements, clarity or creation of the system architecture, work group proximity, and cognitive challenges. Practitioners are often unaware of these differences resulting in confusion and incorrect assumptions

Integrated approach in the development of competencies valeological students - medical doctor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Y.F. Ostafijchuk

2013-11-01

Full Text Available The analysis of the scientific - methodical sources. We prove the feasibility of using an integrative approach in the training of future health professionals. Scientists are perspectives on the essence of the concept of integration, their position relative to integrative learning in higher education. Integrative learning is seen as a new educational technology. The basic components of the integration of modern science: Interscience synthesis, synthesis of methodological, social synthesis. It is found that an integrative technology is based on the principles of integrative and personal - oriented education. Reveals the main ways of implementing these principles: the design of interdisciplinary integration, the identification of the same type of interdisciplinary topics; orientation training content on the personality of the student, the formation integrity valeological knowledge and practical skills (in the context valeological behavior. Lit their own opinions of the authors on the formation valeological competence of students of medical colleges in the integration environment. Predicted the final result of this process - a methodological willingness of future health professionals to use valeological component in professional activities.

Interdisciplinary Research Produces Results in the Understanding of Planetary Dunes

Science.gov (United States)

Titus, Timothy N.; Hayward, Rosalyn Kay; Bourke, Mary C.

2010-08-01

Second International Planetary Dunes Workshop: Planetary Analogs—Integrating Models, Remote Sensing, and Field Data; Alamosa, Colorado, 18-21 May 2010; Dunes and other eolian bed forms are prominent on several planetary bodies in our solar system. Despite 4 decades of study, many questions remain regarding the composition, age, and origins of these features, as well as the climatic conditions under which they formed. Recently acquired data from orbiters and rovers, together with terrestrial analogs and numerical models, are providing new insights into Martian sand dunes, as well as eolian bed forms on other terrestrial planetary bodies (e.g., Titan). As a means of bringing together terrestrial and planetary researchers from diverse backgrounds with the goal of fostering collaborative interdisciplinary research, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, the Desert Research Institute, and the U.S. National Park Service held a workshop in Colorado. The small group setting facilitated intensive discussion of problems and issues associated with eolian processes on Earth, Mars, and Titan.

Realization of Interdisciplinary Communications of Fundamental Disciplines and Disciplines of Mathematical Cycle in the Preparation of Future Programmers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miсhaеl Lvov

2016-02-01

Full Text Available The article is devoted to interdisciplinary communication in the process of preparation of the future programmers and implementation of the basic principles of these relations in the study of disciplines of professional and practical training and math courses. The article deals with the role of interdisciplinary connections, as well as their function and significance for the formation of cognitive activity, independence and positive learning motivation. The focus is on methodological aspects of realization of interdisciplinary communications at studying basic disciplines of training future programmers and disciplines of mathematical cycle. In particular, the issues of realization of interdisciplinary communications during the study such disciplines as "Computer graphics, computational geometry," "Basics of algorithms and programming", "Programming Technologies" and the course "Analytical geometry and linear algebra", which included in to normative part of the training of programmers. This article describes the theoretical aspects of the implementation of interdisciplinary connections in the study of these disciplines, as well as examples of practical tasks with which these relationships can be implemented most effectively during training

An interdisciplinary knowledge translation intervention in long-term care: Study protocol for the vitamin D and osteoporosis study (ViDOS pilot cluster randomized controlled trial

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kennedy Courtney C

2012-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Knowledge translation (KT research in long-term care (LTC is still in its early stages. This protocol describes the evaluation of a multifaceted, interdisciplinary KT intervention aimed at integrating evidence-based osteoporosis and fracture prevention strategies into LTC care processes. Methods and design The Vitamin D and Osteoporosis Study (ViDOS is underway in 40 LTC homes (n = 19 intervention, n = 21 control across Ontario, Canada. The primary objectives of this study are to assess the feasibility of delivering the KT intervention, and clinically, to increase the percent of LTC residents prescribed ≥800 IU of vitamin D daily. Eligibility criteria are LTC homes that are serviced by our partner pharmacy provider and have more than one prescribing physician. The target audience within each LTC home is the Professional Advisory Committee (PAC, an interdisciplinary team who meets quarterly. The key elements of the intervention are three interactive educational sessions led by an expert opinion leader, action planning using a quality improvement cycle, audit and feedback reports, nominated internal champions, and reminders/point-of-care tools. Control homes do not receive any intervention, however both intervention and control homes received educational materials as part of the Ontario Osteoporosis Strategy. Primary outcomes are feasibility measures (recruitment, retention, attendance at educational sessions, action plan items identified and initiated, internal champions identified, performance reports provided and reviewed, and vitamin D (≥800 IU/daily prescribing at 6 and 12 months. Secondary outcomes include the proportion of residents prescribed calcium supplements and osteoporosis medications, and falls and fractures. Qualitative methods will examine the experience of the LTC team with the KT intervention. Homes are centrally randomized to intervention and control groups in blocks of variable size using

The Societal Nature of Subjectivity: An Interdisciplinary Methodological Challenge

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Henning Salling Olesen

2012-09-01

Full Text Available The thematic issue presents a psycho-societal approach to qualitative empirical research in several areas of everyday social life. It is an approach which integrates a theory of subjectivity and an interpretation methodology which integrates hermeneutic experiences from text analysis and psychoanalysis. Its particular focus is on subjectivity—as an aspect of the research object and as an aspect of the research process. By the term "approach" is indicated the intrinsic connection between the theorizing of an empirical object and the reflection of the research process and the epistemic subject. In terms of methodology it revives the themes originally launched in FQS exactly ten years ago: "Subjectivity and Reflectivity in Qualitative Research" (BREUER, MRUCK & ROTH, 2002; MRUCK & BREUER, 2003. This editorial introduction presents the intellectual background of the psycho-societal methodology, reflects on its relevance and critical perspectives in a contemporary landscape of social science, and comments the way in which an international and interdisciplinary research group has developed this approach to profane empirical research. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs120345

An Interdisciplinary Model for Connecting Writing, Psychology, and Printmaking

Science.gov (United States)

Stone, Staci

2015-01-01

This article presents an effective model for a manageable interdisciplinary project that shows students the connections among art, English, and other disciplines; gives composition students an external audience for their writing; and emphasizes the importance of research in the process of creating arguments and art. This interdisciplinary project…

Are Nursing Students Appropriate Partners for the Interdisciplinary Training of Surgery Residents?

Science.gov (United States)

Stefanidis, Dimitrios; Ingram, Katherine M; Williams, Kristy H; Bencken, Crystal L; Swiderski, Dawn

2015-01-01

Interdisciplinary team training in a simulation center recreates clinical team interactions and holds promise in improving teamwork of clinicians by breaking down educational silos. The objective of our study was to assess the appropriateness of interdisciplinary training with general surgery residents and nursing students. Over 2 consecutive academic years (2012-2013 and 2013-2014), general surgery residents participated in interdisciplinary team-training simulation-based sessions with senior nursing students. Scenario objectives included demonstration of appropriate teamwork and communication, and clinical decision making; sessions incorporated interdisciplinary debriefing of the scenarios. Participants were asked to assess their team-training experience and the appropriateness of their team-training partner. Responses were compared. A total of 16 team-training sessions were conducted during the study period. Overall, 12 surgery residents (67%) and 44 nursing students (63%) who had participated in at least 1 session responded to the survey. Although both residents and nursing students indicated that the knowledge and team skills acquired during these sessions were useful to them in clinical practice (73% vs 86%, respectively; p = not significant), residents rated their educational value lower (3.3 vs 4.3 on a 5-point scale, respectively; p training partners whereas 100% residents preferred practicing nurses and 0% with nursing students owing to their limited clinical experience. Interdisciplinary team training and debriefing of surgery residents with nursing students is feasible and highly valued by nursing students. Nevertheless, our experience indicates that residents do not prefer nursing students as team-training partners owing to their limited clinical experience and would rather train with experienced nurses. Copyright © 2015 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Crime in media: an interdisciplinary research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Palma Wolff

2005-12-01

Full Text Available This article analyses conceptual issues that present problems for interdisciplinary research - criminality and urban space; the transversal aspects of violence - developed by researchers from diff erent fi elds: communications, psychology and social services. Highlighted in this work, above all, are questions related to the media and journalism; which constitute one of the axes of the proposal (media, growing juvenile component of criminality, drugs and social control but are inevitably interconnected with the others due to the interdisciplinary force of the initiative. It is argued that the processes of report construction, the subject agenda and consumption of the news constitute complex semioses that involve other semiotic systems.

An evolution in interdisciplinary competencies to prevent and manage patient violence.

Science.gov (United States)

Morton, Paula G

2002-01-01

Patient violence is a growing problem in healthcare institutions. Incidents of violence lead to injuries and increased operating costs. An innovative organizational approach to this problem is inclusion of interdisciplinary competency-based staff education and practice, as a key component of a comprehensive violence prevention program.Interdisciplinary competencies include a variety of behavioral responses, aimed at prevention, environmental, interpersonal, and physical interventions and postvention techniques for aggression and violence. Methods to maintain, monitor, document, and improve staff performance and skills are delineated. Organizational investment in such interdisciplinary competency-based education and practice evolves over time. Results include fewer incidents and injuries and enhanced interdisciplinary cooperation.

Exposing interdisciplinary diversity in a health care setting

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olesen, Birgitte Ravn; Nordentoft, Helle Merete; Nørtoft, Kamilla

(Peräkylä & Vehviläinen, 2003). There seems to be a tension between these normative theories and situated embodied practices Phillips, Kristiansen, Vehviläinen & Gunnarsson, 2012). In the paper we investigate how an interdisciplinary and participatory learning environment can be designed to mediate...... the normative and evidence based interaction models based on normative theories which are systematically introduced as part of practitioners’ competence development . We question the relevance of this pedagogical approach as we see these models as abstract idealizations whereas practices unfold in situ......). Inspired by Bakhtin’s dialogical theory, we look at centripetal and centrifugal forces in participants’ talk and also their tolerance for the emergence of multiple, different and interdisciplinary knowledge forms (Phillips, 2011). Method In the paper we draw on data from 6 interdisciplinary workshops...

Ontological Metaphors for Negative Energy in an Interdisciplinary Context

Science.gov (United States)

Dreyfus, Benjamin W.; Geller, Benjamin D.; Gouvea, Julia; Sawtelle, Vashti; Turpen, Chandra; Redish, Edward F.

2014-01-01

Teaching about energy in interdisciplinary settings that emphasize coherence among physics, chemistry, and biology leads to a more central role for chemical bond energy. We argue that an interdisciplinary approach to chemical energy leads to modeling chemical bonds in terms of negative energy. While recent work on ontological metaphors for energy…

Integration of oncology and palliative care: setting a benchmark.

Science.gov (United States)

Vayne-Bossert, P; Richard, E; Good, P; Sullivan, K; Hardy, J R

2017-10-01

Integration of oncology and palliative care (PC) should be the standard model of care for patients with advanced cancer. An expert panel developed criteria that constitute integration. This study determined whether the PC service within this Health Service, which is considered to be fully "integrated", could be benchmarked against these criteria. A survey was undertaken to determine the perceived level of integration of oncology and palliative care by all health care professionals (HCPs) within our cancer centre. An objective determination of integration was obtained from chart reviews of deceased patients. Integration was defined as >70% of all respondents answered "agree" or "strongly agree" to each indicator and >70% of patient charts supported each criteria. Thirty-four HCPs participated in the survey (response rate 69%). Over 90% were aware of the outpatient PC clinic, interdisciplinary and consultation team, PC senior leadership, and the acceptance of concurrent anticancer therapy. None of the other criteria met the 70% agreement mark but many respondents lacked the necessary knowledge to respond. The chart review included 67 patients, 92% of whom were seen by the PC team prior to death. The median time from referral to death was 103 days (range 0-1347). The level of agreement across all criteria was below our predefined definition of integration. The integration criteria relating to service delivery are medically focused and do not lend themselves to interdisciplinary review. The objective criteria can be audited and serve both as a benchmark and a basis for improvement activities.

[Experience of a nursing student in an interdisciplinary team: factory of ideas].

Science.gov (United States)

Vaie, S; Barros, S

2001-06-01

The experience of the Curricular Training in a mental health work attendance to out-patients, CAPS, lead to this study development in the attempt to understand and characterize interdisciplinary team in this institution, as well as to understand the admittance of a nursing student in this team. The analysis of the replies disclosed that in the reports is found the concept of interdiscipline as well as of the multidiscipline (work in compartments). The conception which has of the model of assistance and of the admittance of the project in it is compatible with the conceptions that establish the description of the work: flexibility, the projects inter-relation the enlarged practice and the psychosocial rehabilitation. The fact that the service has a Program of lecturing--Assistance Integration, "naturalizes" and validates the participation of a nursing student in the projects of assistance or sociability.

Emerging interdisciplinary fields in the coming intelligence/convergence era

Science.gov (United States)

Noor, Ahmed K.

2012-09-01

Dramatic advances are in the horizon resulting from rapid pace of development of several technologies, including, computing, communication, mobile, robotic, and interactive technologies. These advances, along with the trend towards convergence of traditional engineering disciplines with physical, life and other science disciplines will result in the development of new interdisciplinary fields, as well as in new paradigms for engineering practice in the coming intelligence/convergence era (post-information age). The interdisciplinary fields include Cyber Engineering, Living Systems Engineering, Biomechatronics/Robotics Engineering, Knowledge Engineering, Emergent/Complexity Engineering, and Multiscale Systems engineering. The paper identifies some of the characteristics of the intelligence/convergence era, gives broad definition of convergence, describes some of the emerging interdisciplinary fields, and lists some of the academic and other organizations working in these disciplines. The need is described for establishing a Hierarchical Cyber-Physical Ecosystem for facilitating interdisciplinary collaborations, and accelerating development of skilled workforce in the new fields. The major components of the ecosystem are listed. The new interdisciplinary fields will yield critical advances in engineering practice, and help in addressing future challenges in broad array of sectors, from manufacturing to energy, transportation, climate, and healthcare. They will also enable building large future complex adaptive systems-of-systems, such as intelligent multimodal transportation systems, optimized multi-energy systems, intelligent disaster prevention systems, and smart cities.

[Interdisciplinary management of chronic tinnitus (II)].

Science.gov (United States)

Rosanowski, F; Hoppe, U; Köllner, V; Weber, A; Eysholdt, U

2001-06-01

Tinnitus is defined as the perception of sound in the absence of any appropriate external stimulation. It is a common, bothersome and hard-to-evaluate symptom and in most cases it cannot be objectified. Its incidence in Germany and the western world is about 10%. About 1-2% of the population are severely disturbed by tinnitus and it may disrupt everyday activities and sleep. Recent theoretical developments favour a neurophysiological approach as an explanation for tinnitus in addition to a psychoacoustic model based on peripheral lesion in the cochlea or auditory nerve. In the neurophysiological model, the processing of the tinnitus signal plays a dominant role in its detection, perception and evaluation. Therefore, attention and other psychological factors become important in the understanding and treatment of tinnitus. Many treatments of chronic tinnitus have been proposed and implemented. Today, cognitive-behavioural treatment is regarded as an important part of an integrative therapy which may be compiled of counselling, relaxation therapy, instrumental (hearing aid, tinnitus masker, tinnitus instrument, tinnitus noiser) and pharmacological tools (lidocaine, neurotransmitters). In well-controlled studies the empirical support for other therapeutical approaches such as acupuncture is weak. This work gives a review of the current knowledge of the etiology, pathogenesis, epidemiology, the interdisciplinary diagnostic approach and treatment of tinnitus and especially focuses on insurance and medico-legal aspects.

Silence in Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Verouden, Nick W.; Sanden, van der Maarten C.A.; Aarts, Noelle

2016-01-01

Solving publicly important issues asks for the development of socio-technical approaches, which demands collaboration between researchers with different perspectives, values, and interests. In these complex interdisciplinary collaborations, the course of communication is of utmost importance,

Assessing the Downstream Impact of the Integrated Use of Socioeconomic and Remote Sensing Data

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, R. S.; Downs, R. R.; Schumacher, J.

2014-12-01

The interdisciplinary use of data from multiple disciplines to address both research and applied problems has received increasing attention in the sciences, but understanding remains limited on the specific modalities of data use and their impact not only in enabling new research insights but also in facilitating the application of research to societal problems. In our previous work, we used citation analysis to investigate the use of data from the NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) and identify the extent of interdisciplinary use, based on the subject classifications of citing journals. We also proposed and tested a taxonomy of data integration and use on a selection of peer-reviewed scientific articles that cited both remote sensing data and socioeconomic data from SEDAC. We extend both of these analyses here. We analyze the interdisciplinary use of SEDAC data over a seven-year period including the types and topical areas of application observed. We also explore the degree to which different types of data integration and use are leading to further "downstream" research and applications, and if objective measures can be developed using bibliometric methods to quantify downstream use and impact in meaningful ways. These methods include both traditional citation analysis and searches of the informal literature and online resources. Better understanding of how disparate data and information has been utilized to address new interdisciplinary problems will help the data user and provider communities improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their efforts. It should also provide justification for further investments in linking different data resources and networks across scientific fields, in methods of interdisciplinary data integration, and in application of integrated data to societal problems.

The Paradigm of Critical Realism: Approach to an Interdisciplinary Methodology

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M. A. Tavana

2015-02-01

Full Text Available The debate of method of recognition in humanities, social and nature science is one of the apprehensions of Scientists in Wisdom Domain –especially in the modern world. This apprehension, before all things was of appearing in the paradigm of methodoligical between the advocates of the paradigms of positivism with having a share of the natural science. They used to values of naturalism in social and human studies. Additionally, testing and observation and repetition are present as the main terms of recognition. In front, the difference between human studies and natural science is important for the advocates of hermeneutic paradigm. Also, they speak about the methodology of interpretation (understanding of human and social phenomenon. But, in the second half of 20th century another paradigms was established as the Critical realism. This paradigm is tried to parther from the methodoloigcal binary and has a share from the recognition of ontological positivism and epistemological hermeneutics attain to a procedure of interdisciplinary about recognition. So, on the basis of this subject, this article mentioned this question that: would the critical realism receive as the methodology in interdisciplinary? Method of the Article is postulate. This article reasoned that multilayer ontology and epistemology redounded to multilayer methodology that could build up the knowledge of interdisciplinary.

ENTRA - or the chances of interdisciplinary work

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Walther, Clemens; Roehlig, Klaus-Juergen; Smeddinck, Ulrich

2015-01-01

Since 2013 about 60 scientists work together in the research platform ENTRA (disposal options for radioactive residuals: interdisciplinary analyses and development of evaluation criteria). The scientists group includes physicists, mathematicians, engineers, jurists, experts from ethics, social and political sciences. The common question is the disposal of high-level radioactive waste. The contribution describes the concept of interdisciplinary work, using the example of the definition of terms like risk by different scientists, projects for specific disposal options, the problem of public distrust, the problem of limiting values and the optimization of final repository systems.

Humanity in God's Image: An Interdisciplinary Exploration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Welz, Claudia

. Claudia Welz offers an interdisciplinary exploration of theological and ethical 'visions' of the invisible. By analysing poetry and art, Welz exemplifies human self-understanding in the interface between the visual and the linguistic. The content of the imago Dei cannot be defined apart from the image......How can we, in our times, understand the biblical concept that human beings have been created in the image of an invisible God? This is a perennial but increasingly pressing question that lies at the heart of theological anthropology. Humanity in God's Image: An Interdisciplinary Exploration...

Didactic strategy for the interdisciplinary formation of the Physical culture graduate

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Jacinto Enrique Mendoza-Díaz

2015-04-01

Full Text Available In the Physical Culture and Sports sciences University of Santiago de Cuba are developed different scientific research projects, one of them is named Professional's Formati on, in which are registered the results of the research that is proposing. The investigative task that is the study object is conceived a didactic methodological strategy that promote a teaching learning process from a holistic approach of knowledge, skill s, values, methodologies and ways of thinking that point to interdisciplinary. In essence, the present work proposes a didactic strategy for the interdisciplinary formation of the Physical Culture graduate; it has as objective to develop the interdisciplin ary formation that favors a coherent performance in the academic, working and investigative activities they do. The didactic strategy presents necessary important aspects for the teachers and students in its structural conception, it is structured in three stages with a system of actions that in the educative practice lead to the Physical Culture graduate interdisciplinary formation.

The interdisciplinary team in type 2 diabetes management: Challenges and best practice solutions from real-world scenarios

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Margaret McGill

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The Global Partnership for Effective Diabetes Management has previously recommended the implementation of an interdisciplinary team (IDT approach to type 2 diabetes (T2DM management as one of 10 practical steps for health care professionals to help more people achieve their glycaemic goal. This article discusses some of the key contributors to success and also the challenges faced when applying IDT care, by examining case studies and examples from around the world. The real-world practices discussed show that implementing successful interdisciplinary care in diabetes is possible despite significant barriers such as established hierarchal structures and financial resource constraints. Instituting collaborative, integrated working relationships among multiple disciplines under strong leadership, together with enhanced and active communication and improved patient access to appropriate specialties is essential. Patients have a crucial role in the management of their own disease and including them as part of the treatment team is also critical. IDTs in diabetes care improve patient outcomes in terms of control of glycaemia and cardiometabolic risk factors, and decreased risk of diabetes complications. Ensuring access to an appropriate IDT, in whatever form, is paramount to enable the best care to be delivered.

A Discussion of the Power of Science to Complement Ethno+musicological Studies: Insights from Interdisciplinary Musicology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Silvia Lazo

2018-01-01

Full Text Available In the animal kingdom, competition and hierarchical arrangements relative to members of the same sex are extremely common, with males competing for the top “alpha male” position and females ranked below them. Despite the widespread occurrence of hierarchical self-organization among animals and humans, ethno+musicologists often shy away from phylogenetic inferences and borrowing resources from biology, psychology, and anthropology. Is this a reflection of scholarly bias or a sense of unease with interdisciplinary, indirect, and large-scale data? This paper explores some answers to this question and suggests interdisciplinary connections for both ethnomusicology and musicology through the examination of biological and cultural frameworks with respect to social dominance.

Anthropology and Geosciences: Training and Collaboration Advancing Interdisciplinary Research of Human-environment Interaction

Science.gov (United States)

Brondizio, E.; Moran, E.

2005-05-01

Over the past thirteen years the Anthropological Center for Training and Research on Global Environmental Change (ACT) at Indiana University has pioneered the use of anthropological and environmental research approaches to address issues of land use change, and population-environment interaction, particularly in the Amazon. Our research and training objectives focus on how particular local populations manage resources and how those activities may be studied by integrating time-tested ethnographic methods, survey instruments, ecological field studies, and the spatial and temporal perspectives of remote sensing and Geographical Information Systems. The globalization of the environment crisis bears the risk of the research and training at universities being purely global or large scale in nature. This would fail to take into account the highly variable local causes of human activities or to discover sustainable solutions to the use, conservation, and restoration of human ecosystems. Our approach combines institutional and international collaboration, formal and hands-on laboratory and field activities developed within an interdisciplinary environment, but based on the strength of disciplinary programs. Over the past years, we have particularly emphasized collaboration between American and Brazilian scholars and students and intense work with local farmers and communities both during data collection and field research, as well as in returning data and results using different formats. In this paper, we address our experience, the challenges and advantages of theoretical and methodological development for students approaching interdisciplinary problems, innovations in linking levels of analysis, and new opportunities for international and collaborative training and research on human-environment interaction.

New perspectives on interdisciplinary earth science at the Dead Sea: The DESERVE project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kottmeier, Christoph; Agnon, Amotz; Al-Halbouni, Djamil; Alpert, Pinhas; Corsmeier, Ulrich; Dahm, Torsten; Eshel, Adam; Geyer, Stefan; Haas, Michael; Holohan, Eoghan; Kalthoff, Norbert; Kishcha, Pavel; Krawczyk, Charlotte; Lati, Joseph; Laronne, Jonathan B.; Lott, Friederike; Mallast, Ulf; Merz, Ralf; Metzger, Jutta; Mohsen, Ayman

2016-01-01

The Dead Sea region has faced substantial environmental challenges in recent decades, including water resource scarcity, ~ 1 m annual decreases in the water level, sinkhole development, ascending-brine freshwater pollution, and seismic disturbance risks. Natural processes are significantly affected by human interference as well as by climate change and tectonic developments over the long term. To get a deep understanding of processes and their interactions, innovative scientific approaches that integrate disciplinary research and education are required. The research project DESERVE (Helmholtz Virtual Institute Dead Sea Research Venue) addresses these challenges in an interdisciplinary approach that includes geophysics, hydrology, and meteorology. The project is implemented by a consortium of scientific institutions in neighboring countries of the Dead Sea (Israel, Jordan, Palestine Territories) and participating German Helmholtz Centres (KIT, GFZ, UFZ). A new monitoring network of meteorological, hydrological, and seismic/geodynamic stations has been established, and extensive field research and numerical simulations have been undertaken. For the first time, innovative measurement and modeling techniques have been applied to the extreme conditions of the Dead Sea and its surroundings. The preliminary results show the potential of these methods. First time ever performed eddy covariance measurements give insight into the governing factors of Dead Sea evaporation. High-resolution bathymetric investigations reveal a strong correlation between submarine springs and neo-tectonic patterns. Based on detailed studies of stratigraphy and borehole information, the extension of the subsurface drainage basin of the Dead Sea is now reliably estimated. Originality has been achieved in monitoring flash floods in an arid basin at its outlet and simultaneously in tributaries, supplemented by spatio-temporal rainfall data. Low-altitude, high resolution photogrammetry, allied to

New perspectives on interdisciplinary earth science at the Dead Sea: The DESERVE project

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kottmeier, Christoph, E-mail: Christoph.Kottmeier@kit.edu [Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Hermann von Helmholtz Platz 1, Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen (Germany); Agnon, Amotz [The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem (Israel); Al-Halbouni, Djamil [GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam (Germany); Alpert, Pinhas [Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv-Yafo (Israel); Corsmeier, Ulrich [Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Hermann von Helmholtz Platz 1, Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen (Germany); Dahm, Torsten [GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam (Germany); Eshel, Adam [Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv-Yafo (Israel); Geyer, Stefan [Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research GmbH — UFZ, Theodor-Lieser-Strasse 4, 06120 Halle (Germany); Haas, Michael; Holohan, Eoghan [GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam (Germany); Kalthoff, Norbert [Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Hermann von Helmholtz Platz 1, Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen (Germany); Kishcha, Pavel [Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv-Yafo (Israel); Krawczyk, Charlotte [Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics (LIAG), Stilleweg 2, 30655 Hannover (Germany); Lati, Joseph [Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv-Yafo (Israel); Laronne, Jonathan B. [Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Be' er Sheva (Israel); Lott, Friederike [Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Hermann von Helmholtz Platz 1, Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen (Germany); Mallast, Ulf; Merz, Ralf [Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research GmbH — UFZ, Theodor-Lieser-Strasse 4, 06120 Halle (Germany); Metzger, Jutta [Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Hermann von Helmholtz Platz 1, Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen (Germany); Mohsen, Ayman [An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine (Country Unknown); and others

2016-02-15

The Dead Sea region has faced substantial environmental challenges in recent decades, including water resource scarcity, ~ 1 m annual decreases in the water level, sinkhole development, ascending-brine freshwater pollution, and seismic disturbance risks. Natural processes are significantly affected by human interference as well as by climate change and tectonic developments over the long term. To get a deep understanding of processes and their interactions, innovative scientific approaches that integrate disciplinary research and education are required. The research project DESERVE (Helmholtz Virtual Institute Dead Sea Research Venue) addresses these challenges in an interdisciplinary approach that includes geophysics, hydrology, and meteorology. The project is implemented by a consortium of scientific institutions in neighboring countries of the Dead Sea (Israel, Jordan, Palestine Territories) and participating German Helmholtz Centres (KIT, GFZ, UFZ). A new monitoring network of meteorological, hydrological, and seismic/geodynamic stations has been established, and extensive field research and numerical simulations have been undertaken. For the first time, innovative measurement and modeling techniques have been applied to the extreme conditions of the Dead Sea and its surroundings. The preliminary results show the potential of these methods. First time ever performed eddy covariance measurements give insight into the governing factors of Dead Sea evaporation. High-resolution bathymetric investigations reveal a strong correlation between submarine springs and neo-tectonic patterns. Based on detailed studies of stratigraphy and borehole information, the extension of the subsurface drainage basin of the Dead Sea is now reliably estimated. Originality has been achieved in monitoring flash floods in an arid basin at its outlet and simultaneously in tributaries, supplemented by spatio-temporal rainfall data. Low-altitude, high resolution photogrammetry, allied to

On the Criticality of Interdisciplinary Communications for Continued Scholarly Research, and the Potential Applicability of the Case Studies Methodology (Invited Paper

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jeffrey A. Dunne

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Increasing the prevalence and effectiveness of interdisciplinary communication/collaboration is not a simple matter, but has significant benefits to offer. Ironically, one of the greatest challenges, namely the diversity in perspectives and contributor nature, provides one of its most significant payoffs. Diversity in backgrounds, skills, knowledge, and approaches promotes ingenuity and creativity, and is a powerful source of innovation. But perhaps more importantly, effective interdisciplinary collaboration is essential for applying forefront research to the most challenging societal problems. This reflection paper describes a line of reasoning for why effective interdisciplinary collaboration skills have emerged as an essential, and yet largely neglected, requirement for maintaining the development and relevance of scholarly research. It outlines challenges that must be overcome in meeting this requirement, important factors for addressing those challenges, and concludes by discussing the applicability of the case methodology, as introduced at the 2014 International Multi-Conference on Complexity, Informatics and Cybernetics, as a mechanism for training people to become effective participants in interdisciplinary endeavors.

Integrated catchment modelling within a strategic planning and decision making process: Werra case study

Science.gov (United States)

Dietrich, Jörg; Funke, Markus

Integrated water resources management (IWRM) redefines conventional water management approaches through a closer cross-linkage between environment and society. The role of public participation and socio-economic considerations becomes more important within the planning and decision making process. In this paper we address aspects of the integration of catchment models into such a process taking the implementation of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) as an example. Within a case study situated in the Werra river basin (Central Germany), a systems analytic decision process model was developed. This model uses the semantics of the Unified Modeling Language (UML) activity model. As an example application, the catchment model SWAT and the water quality model RWQM1 were applied to simulate the effect of phosphorus emissions from non-point and point sources on water quality. The decision process model was able to guide the participants of the case study through the interdisciplinary planning and negotiation of actions. Further improvements of the integration framework include tools for quantitative uncertainty analyses, which are crucial for real life application of models within an IWRM decision making toolbox. For the case study, the multi-criteria assessment of actions indicates that the polluter pays principle can be met at larger scales (sub-catchment or river basin) without significantly compromising cost efficiency for the local situation.

Towards mutual understanding within interdisciplinary palaeoenvironmental research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Förster, F.; Großmann, R.; Hinz, M.

2013-01-01

The term landscape is a crucial term for a diversity of scientific disciplines researching the Quaternary, each of which maintains different concepts and definitions. With increasing interdisciplinary research cooperation between disparate disciplines, a basis for communication has to be establis......The term landscape is a crucial term for a diversity of scientific disciplines researching the Quaternary, each of which maintains different concepts and definitions. With increasing interdisciplinary research cooperation between disparate disciplines, a basis for communication has...... to be established. The aim of this paper is a) to survey an assortment of concepts and understandings of landscape within diverse disciplinary contexts and b) to explore the possibilities and usefulness of a common concept in an interdisciplinary palaeo-environmental research field, shared by scholars from...... the humanities and natural sciences alike. This comprises the disciplines art history, prehistoric archaeology, classical archaeology, ecology, geography, geology, and history. As a result, it can be stated that landscape is a cultural term: Landscapes are a cultural construct, and any landscape is the result...

Physiotherapy students' perspectives of online e-learning for interdisciplinary management of chronic health conditions: a qualitative study.

Science.gov (United States)

Gardner, Peter; Slater, Helen; Jordan, Joanne E; Fary, Robyn E; Chua, Jason; Briggs, Andrew M

2016-02-16

To qualitatively explore physiotherapy students' perceptions of online e-learning for chronic disease management using a previously developed, innovative and interactive, evidence-based, e-learning package: Rheumatoid Arthritis for Physiotherapists e-Learning (RAP-eL). Physiotherapy students participated in three focus groups in Perth, Western Australia. Purposive sampling was employed to ensure maximum heterogeneity across age, gender and educational background. To explore students' perspectives on the advantages and disadvantages of online e-learning, ways to enhance e-learning, and information/learning gaps in relation to interdisciplinary management of chronic health conditions, a semi-structured interview schedule was developed. Verbatim transcripts were analysed using inductive methods within a grounded theory approach to derive key themes. Twenty-three students (78 % female; 39 % with previous tertiary qualification) of mean (SD) age 23 (3.6) years participated. Students expressed a preference for a combination of both online e-learning and lecture-style learning formats for chronic disease management, citing flexibility to work at one's own pace and time, and access to comprehensive information as advantages of e-learning learning. Personal interaction and ability to clarify information immediately were considered advantages of lecture-style formats. Perceived knowledge gaps included practical application of interdisciplinary approaches to chronic disease management and developing and implementing physiotherapy management plans for people with chronic health conditions. Physiotherapy students preferred multi-modal and blended formats for learning about chronic disease management. This study highlights the need for further development of practically-oriented knowledge and skills related to interdisciplinary care for people with chronic conditions among physiotherapy students. While RAP-eL focuses on rheumatoid arthritis, the principles of learning apply to

Literature search strategies for interdisciplinary research a sourcebook for scientists and engineers

CERN Document Server

Ackerson, Linda G

2006-01-01

The amount of published literature can be overwhelming for scientists and researchers moving from a broad disciplinary research area to a more specialized one, particularly in fields that use information from more than one discipline. Without a focused inquiry, the researcher may find too little information or may be overcome by too much. Striking the correct balance of information is the focus of Literature Search Strategies for Interdisciplinary Research. This useful reference tool studies diverse interdisciplinary areas revealing the general and individual qualities that dictate the strateg

Teaching about Fascism: An Interdisciplinary Approach.

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Hirshfield, Claire

1980-01-01

Describes a university course which teaches the history of fascism and nazism through interdisciplinary methods: philosophy, film, literature, and art. Visiting lecturers include survivors of concentration camps. (KC)

Feasibility of interdisciplinary community-based fall risk screening.

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Elliott, Sharon J; Ivanescu, Andrada; Leland, Natalie E; Fogo, Jennifer; Painter, Jane A; Trujillo, Leonard G

2012-01-01

This pilot study examined the feasibility of (1) conducting interdisciplinary fall risk screens at a communitywide adult fall prevention event and (2) collecting preliminary follow-up data from people screened at the event about balance confidence and home and activity modifications made after receiving educational information at the event. We conducted a pilot study with pre- and posttesting (4-mo follow-up) with 35 community-dwelling adults ≥55 yr old. Approximately half the participants were at risk for falls. Most participants who anticipated making environmental or activity changes to reduce fall risk initiated changes (n = 8/11; 72.7%) during the 4-mo follow-up period. We found no significant difference in participants' balance confidence between baseline (median = 62.81) and follow-up (median = 64.06) as measured by the Activities-specific Balance Confidence scale. Conducting interdisciplinary fall risk screens at an adult fall prevention event is feasible and can facilitate environmental and behavior changes to reduce fall risk. Copyright © 2012 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

Creating Interdisciplinary STEM Environments at the University of Nebraska at Omaha

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Shuster, R. D.; Grandgenett, N. F.

2010-12-01

Effective, integrated and interdisciplinary STEM environments depend upon strong faculty collaboration. During the past decade, the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) has put an emphasis on STEM faculty working together across departments, colleges, and the university system, as well as with local school systems. Supported by a University-wide Content and Pedagogy Committee and a new Office of STEM Education, faculty members have aggressively undertaken and evaluated various interdisciplinary STEM activities. This presentation will briefly describe three of these projects, including evaluation-related data and UNO support mechanisms. First, an interdisciplinary student research project has been developed involving our introductory geology and chemistry courses. The project includes collecting drinking water samples from around Omaha by geology students, the chemical analysis of drinking water by chemistry students, followed by water quality analysis of the chemical data by the geology students. Students learn about the scientific method, potential problems with project design, and limitations of interpretation of real data, while also applying knowledge learned in the class to this real world problem. This project reaches ~600 undergraduate students each year and requires close cooperation between faculty of the Chemistry and Geology programs. Evaluation data indicates that this project has had a positive impact on student attitude towards science in general and towards geology and chemistry in particular. The second project highlighted will be the Silicon Prairie Initiative for Robotics in Information Technology (SPIRIT). The SPIRIT project is a NSF funded collaboration between the UNO College of Education, the University of Nebraska at Lincoln College of Engineering, and local school systems. It strives to integrate the use of educational robotics and sensors in the teaching of STEM topics, particularly at the middle school and high school levels. The project

Transformation of Geography as an Interdisciplinary Science

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H. Afrakhteh

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Geography as a science of the spatial analysis of phenomena is based on three main objectives: studying spatial structures, examining the locational-spatial order of socio-economic activities, and searching spatial relationships and functions through hierarchical leveling of rural and urban settlements. The applied form of geography or “spatial planning” addresses the modification of spatial structures, the locational-spatial order of activities, and the organization of spatial relationships and functions. There are mutual interactions between structure and function in this spatial order. Science has developed a complex structure through the electronic revolution, which is called “third wave science”; also specialized studies have developed. Specialized studies result in a very deep understanding of subjects, but this deep understanding always remains just in a “spot” and its applications could be traumatic, which is because it is not regulated in combination with other dimensions of human life. This kind of science cannot be beneficial in human life or solve some important problems. The main aim of this article, which is based on qualitative content analysis, is to analyze geography as an interdisciplinary science. The findings of the study show that geographical research has interdisciplinary characteristics; otherwise it cannot explain today’s complex problems. Geography can both use the findings of other sciences, including statistics, mathematics, economics, sociology, history and psychology, and provide them with services and help.

Successful Components of Interdisciplinary Education.

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Shepard, Katherine; And Others

1985-01-01

This article presents 10 ideas for developing successful interdisciplinary curricula as suggested in the allied health literature. Implementation of the ideas is illustrated by examples from a clinical geriatric course involving physical therapy, physician assistant, nurse practitioner, and medical students. (Author/CT)

Long-term interdisciplinary therapy reduces endotoxin level and insulin resistance in obese adolescents.

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Lira, Fábio S; Rosa, Jose C; Pimentel, Gustavo D; Santos, Ronaldo V; Carnier, June; Sanches, Priscila L; de Piano, Aline; de Souza, Claudio T; Tock, Lian; Tufik, Sergio; de Mello, Marco T; Seelaender, Marília; Oller do Nascimento, Claudia M; Oyama, Lila M; Dâmaso, Ana R

2012-09-18

The purpose of the present study was to assess the dietary fat intake, glucose, insulin, Homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance HOMA-IR, and endotoxin levels and correlate them with adipokine serum concentrations in obese adolescents who had been admitted to long-term interdisciplinary weight-loss therapy. The present study was a longitudinal clinical intervention of interdisciplinary therapy. Adolescents (n = 18, aged 15-19 y) with a body mass index > 95th percentile were admitted and evaluated at baseline and again after 1 year of interdisciplinary therapy. We collected blood samples, and IL-6, adiponectin, and endotoxin concentrations were measured by ELISA. Food intake was measured using 3-day diet records. In addition, we assessed glucose and insulin levels as well as the homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). The most important finding from the present investigation was that the long-term interdisciplinary lifestyle therapy decreased dietary fat intake and endotoxin levels and improved HOMA-IR. We observed positive correlations between dietary fat intake and endotoxin levels, insulin levels, and the HOMA-IR. In addition, endotoxin levels showed positive correlations with IL-6 levels, insulin levels and the HOMA-IR. Interestingly, we observed a negative correlation between serum adiponectin and both dietary fat intake and endotoxin levels. The present results indicate an association between dietary fat intake and endotoxin level, which was highly correlated with a decreased pro-inflammatory state and an improvement in HOMA-IR. In addition, this benefits effect may be associated with an increased adiponectin level, which suggests that the interdisciplinary therapy was effective in improving inflammatory pathways.

Long-term interdisciplinary therapy reduces endotoxin level and insulin resistance in obese adolescents

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Lira Fábio S

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Aim The purpose of the present study was to assess the dietary fat intake, glucose, insulin, Homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance HOMA-IR, and endotoxin levels and correlate them with adipokine serum concentrations in obese adolescents who had been admitted to long-term interdisciplinary weight-loss therapy. Design The present study was a longitudinal clinical intervention of interdisciplinary therapy. Adolescents (n = 18, aged 15–19 y with a body mass index > 95th percentile were admitted and evaluated at baseline and again after 1 year of interdisciplinary therapy. We collected blood samples, and IL-6, adiponectin, and endotoxin concentrations were measured by ELISA. Food intake was measured using 3-day diet records. In addition, we assessed glucose and insulin levels as well as the homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR. Results The most important finding from the present investigation was that the long-term interdisciplinary lifestyle therapy decreased dietary fat intake and endotoxin levels and improved HOMA-IR. We observed positive correlations between dietary fat intake and endotoxin levels, insulin levels, and the HOMA-IR. In addition, endotoxin levels showed positive correlations with IL-6 levels, insulin levels and the HOMA-IR. Interestingly, we observed a negative correlation between serum adiponectin and both dietary fat intake and endotoxin levels. Conclusions The present results indicate an association between dietary fat intake and endotoxin level, which was highly correlated with a decreased pro-inflammatory state and an improvement in HOMA-IR. In addition, this benefits effect may be associated with an increased adiponectin level, which suggests that the interdisciplinary therapy was effective in improving inflammatory pathways.

An Interdisciplinary Approach Between Medical Informatics and Social Sciences to Transdisciplinary Requirements Engineering for an Integrated Care Setting.

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Vielhauer, Jan; Böckmann, Britta

2017-01-01

Requirements engineering of software products for elderly people faces some special challenges to ensure a maximum of user acceptance. Within the scope of a research project, a web-based platform and a mobile app are approached to enable people to live in their own home as long as possible. This paper is about a developed method of interdisciplinary requirements engineering by a team of social scientists in cooperation with computer scientists.

The Educational Design of Textbooks: A Text for Being Interdisciplinary

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Golding, Clinton

2014-01-01

This paper provides insights into both the educational design of textbooks and interdisciplinary education. The author introduces two educational principles for textbook design--instructional alignment and balancing diversity and meaningful guidance for readers--and applies them to writing his own textbook chapter for being interdisciplinary. The…

If a Marketer Teaches Ethics, Is There Still a Sound? The Interdisciplinary Case

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Murrow, Jim

2006-01-01

When a marketer teaches general ethics courses, widespread ontological shock can result on campus. A case for positive paradigm expansion of all involved persons in an interdisciplinary environment is made. Suggestions for specific interdisciplinary opportunities and applications are provided. A call for interdisciplinary efforts is made and…

Integrating Classical Music into the Elementary Social Studies Curriculum.

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Bracken, Khlare R.

1997-01-01

Provides a rationale for using classical music as the basis of interdisciplinary units in elementary social studies. Recommends beginning with a series of humorous pieces to familiarize students with classical music. Includes many examples for utilizing pieces related to geography and history. (MJP)

Lingua-Pedagogy as the Interdisciplinary Research Problem

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A. N. Yakovleva

2012-01-01

Full Text Available  The paper is devoted to lingua-pedagogy – one of the modern branches of pedagogy dealing with personal socialization in the process of foreign language learning. This interdisciplinary field of knowledge is related to linguistics, pedagogic psychology, development psychology and acmeology. Lingua-pedagogy undergoes the formation process; therefore, there still are a number of open questions concerning its place among the other sciences, and the final definitions of the main concepts and terms. The author recommends the systematic approach to developing the theoretical foundation of lingua- pedagogy. The paper outlines the subject and aims of the lingua-pedagogic research, its content and affecting means. The system in question is poly- functional, its main functions being the integral pedagogic effect in foreign language teaching, stimulating self-dependent learning, and arranging the in- tercultural integration. The linguistic faculties at universities can be taken as the key elements of the lingua-pedagogic system – the development centers, nurturing the value-oriented respectful attitude to the native and foreign cul- ture, providing intercultural competence acquisition, and training pedagogic staff capable of fulfilling the poly-cultural development tasks. Identification of the conformities of intercultural socialization makes it possible to organize the system of pedagogic facilitation for students learning foreign languages; and develop the perspective methods and technologies of language competence acquisition and consolidation. 

Impact of Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Research in Mathematics and Biology on the Development of a New Course Integrating Five STEM Disciplines

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Caudill, Lester; Hill, April; Hoke, Kathy; Lipan, Ovidiu

2010-01-01

Funded by innovative programs at the National Science Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Richmond faculty in biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics, and computer science teamed up to offer first- and second-year students the opportunity to contribute to vibrant, interdisciplinary research projects. The result was…

Social Network Analysis as an Analytic Tool for Task Group Research: A Case Study of an Interdisciplinary Community of Practice

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Lockhart, Naorah C.

2017-01-01

Group counselors commonly collaborate in interdisciplinary settings in health care, substance abuse, and juvenile justice. Social network analysis is a methodology rarely used in counseling research yet has potential to examine task group dynamics in new ways. This case study explores the scholarly relationships among 36 members of an…

Scientific Aspects of Leonardo da Vinci's Drawings: An Interdisciplinary Model.

Science.gov (United States)

Struthers, Sally A.

While interdisciplinary courses can help demonstrate the relevance of learning to students and reinforce education from different fields, they can be difficult to implement and are often not cost effective. An interdisciplinary art history course at Ohio's Sinclair Community College incorporates science into the art history curriculum, making use…

Aeolian and fluvial processes in dryland regions: the need for integrated studies

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Belnap, Jayne; Munson, Seth M.; Field, Jason P.

2011-01-01

Aeolian and fluvial processes play a fundamental role in dryland regions of the world and have important environmental and ecological consequences from local to global scales. Although both processes operate over similar spatial and temporal scales and are likely strongly coupled in many dryland systems, aeolian and fluvial processes have traditionally been studied separately, making it difficult to assess their relative importance in drylands, as well as their potential for synergistic interaction. Land degradation by accelerated wind and water erosion is a major problem throughout the world's drylands, and although recent studies suggest that these processes likely interact across broad spatial and temporal scales to amplify the transport of soil resources from and within drylands, many researchers and land managers continue to view them as separate and unrelated processes. Here, we illustrate how aeolian and fluvial sediment transport is coupled at multiple spatial and temporal scales and highlight the need for these interrelated processes to be studied from a more integrated perspective that crosses traditional disciplinary boundaries. Special attention is given to how the growing threat of climate change and land-use disturbance will influence linkages between aeolian and fluvial processes in the future. We also present emerging directions for interdisciplinary needs within the aeolian and fluvial research communities that call for better integration across a broad range of traditional disciplines such as ecology, biogeochemistry, agronomy, and soil conservation.

Interdisciplinary approach to the management of medical supplies in the nursing home setting

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Juan Francisco Peris Martí

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Given the impact of pressure ulcers in institutionalized elderly people, an interdisciplinary approach to the care of ulcers and the management of medical supplies is essential. The aim of this study is to describe and evaluate the management of medical supplies by an interdisciplinary team in order to promote their rational use in the nursing home setting. Methods: An interdisciplinary team was set up, coordinated by a Pharmacy Unit including representatives of 18 elderly nursing homes (1,599 beds. Team interventions were assessed in terms of improvements in the management of wound care supplies. In addition, a retrospective descriptive study was carried out on those patients with pressure ulcers, in order to consider future interventions. Results: The team interventions led to a selection of 15% of the 180 wound care supplies from the public tender process. The monthly savings in wound dressing material purchases was at least 17%. Furthermore, a reduction in consumption greater than 50% was found in 7 centres. The prevalence of ulcers was 5.59%. A fourth of these ulcers were originated outside nursing homes. Conclusions: The creation of an interdisciplinary team, in which the pharmacist gets closer to patient needs, and where nurses share responsibility for the selection and management of medical supplies, leads to positive results and represents an opportunity for improvement in elderly care.

Teaching Bioethics from an Interdisciplinary Perspective.

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Singleton, Rivers, Jr.; Brock, D. Heyward

1982-01-01

Outlines an interdisciplinary workshop in bioethics for secondary teachers taught by a team consisting of a scientist, a philosopher, and a literary critic. Discusses definitions, topics, reading selections, problems, and value. (DC)

Mess management in microbial ecology: Rhetorical processes of disciplinary integration

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McCracken, Christopher W.

As interdisciplinary work becomes more common in the sciences, research into the rhetorical processes mediating disciplinary integration becomes more vital. This dissertation, which takes as its subject the integration of microbiology and ecology, combines a postplural approach to rhetoric of science research with Victor Turner's "social drama" analysis and a third-generation activity theory methodological framework to identify conceptual and practical conflicts in interdisciplinary work and describe how, through visual and verbal communication, scientists negotiate these conflicts. First, to understand the conflicting disciplinary principles that might impede integration, the author conducts a Turnerian analysis of a disciplinary conflict that took place in the 1960s and 70s, during which American ecologists and biologists debated whether they should participate in the International Biological Program (IBP). Participation in the IBP ultimately contributed to the emergence of ecology as a discipline distinct from biology, and Turnerian social drama analysis of the debate surrounding participation lays bare the conflicting principles separating biology and ecology. Second, to answer the question of how these conflicting principles are negotiated in practice, the author reports on a yearlong qualitative study of scientists working in a microbial ecology laboratory. Focusing specifically on two case studies from this fieldwork that illustrate the key concept of textually mediated disciplinary integration, the author's analysis demonstrates how scientific objects emerge in differently situated practices, and how these objects manage to cohere despite their multiplicity through textually mediated rhetorical processes of calibration and alignment.

Interdisciplinary Team Collaboration during Discharge of Depressed Older Persons: A Norwegian Qualitative Implementation Study

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Anne Lise Holm

2013-01-01

Full Text Available In order to deliver effective care, it is necessary to organise interdisciplinary activities for older persons who suffer from depressive disorders. This paper evaluated the interdisciplinary team members’ perceptions of cooperation in the discharge planning of depressed older persons based on the Chronic Care Model (CCM. A qualitative implementation design was used, data were collected by means of multistage focus groups, and a thematic analysis was performed. Three themes emerged: lack of effective team leadership in the community, the need to change the delivery system, and enhancing self-management support for depressed older persons as well as the participation of their families. It was concluded that nurse managers must find ways of supporting the depressed older persons by better structuring the care, increasing cooperation with organisational leadership, and creating an environment characterised by trust and mutual respect. Distrust can have serious implications for discharge planning collaboration. The development of a common vision of transparency in the organization is important as is a policy of change among leadership and in clinical practice.

Three-Dimensional Printing of Human Skeletal Muscle Cells: An Interdisciplinary Approach for Studying Biological Systems

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Bagley, James R.; Galpin, Andrew J.

2015-01-01

Interdisciplinary exploration is vital to education in the 21st century. This manuscript outlines an innovative laboratory-based teaching method that combines elements of biochemistry/molecular biology, kinesiology/health science, computer science, and manufacturing engineering to give students the ability to better conceptualize complex…

Interdisciplinary Professional Development: Astrolabes for Medievalists

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Larsen, Kristine

2014-06-01

Astronomers and astronomy educators have significantly broadened the intended audience for their outreach activities, from the traditional venues of public schools, libraries and planetariums to national parks, coffee houses, and concert halls. At the same time, significant attention has been paid to improving the quality and relevance of professional development directed toward preservice and inservice science teachers. Many of our outreach and professional development programs have also become increasingly creative in their use of interdisciplinary connections to astronomy, such as cultural astronomy and the history of astronomy. This poster describes a specific example of interdisciplinary professional development directed at a different audience, humanities faculty and researchers, through hands-on workshops on the basic astronomical background and usage of an astrolabe conducted at the International Congress on Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University in 2013 and 2014. The goal was to explain the basic astronomy behind astrolabes (as well as their cultural relevance) to medieval scholars in history, literature, and other disciplines. The intention was to increase their comfort with manipulating and explaining astrolabes to a basic level where they could share their knowledge with their own college classes. In this way the relevance of astronomy to myriad human endeavors could be reinforced by humanities faculty within their own courses.

Catalyzing Interdisciplinary Research and Training: Initial Outcomes and Evolution of the Affinity Research Collaboratives Model.

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Ravid, Katya; Seta, Francesca; Center, David; Waters, Gloria; Coleman, David

2017-10-01

Team science has been recognized as critical to solving increasingly complex biomedical problems and advancing discoveries in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of human disease. In 2009, the Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research (ECIBR) was established in the Department of Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine as a new organizational paradigm to promote interdisciplinary team science. The ECIBR is made up of affinity research collaboratives (ARCs), consisting of investigators from different departments and disciplines who come together to study biomedical problems that are relevant to human disease and not under interdisciplinary investigation at the university. Importantly, research areas are identified by investigators according to their shared interests. ARC proposals are evaluated by a peer review process, and collaboratives are funded annually for up to three years.Initial outcomes of the first 12 ARCs show the value of this model in fostering successful biomedical collaborations that lead to publications, extramural grants, research networking, and training. The most successful ARCs have been developed into more sustainable organizational entities, including centers, research cores, translational research projects, and training programs.To further expand team science at Boston University, the Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Office was established in 2015 to more fully engage the entire university, not just the medical campus, in interdisciplinary research using the ARC mechanism. This approach to promoting team science may be useful to other academic organizations seeking to expand interdisciplinary research at their institutions.

Integrating Reiki and community-engaged scholarship: an interdisciplinary educational innovation.

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Bremner, Marie N; Bennett, David N; Chambers, Donna

2014-09-01

To provide students with a meaningful holistic care experience while integrating community-engaged scholarship, students partnered with a Reiki-prepared faculty member within a nurse-managed community clinic to offer Reiki to the clients and participate in the evaluation of the effectiveness of the modality. This article describes how students and faculty integrated holistic care, scholarship, and community engagement. This experience provided the students with an opportunity to embrace the art and science of holistic nursing while obtaining experience in measuring outcomes.

Teaching and learning cinema and visual languages through economics-business studies and law in high school: An experimental interdisciplinary approach

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Anna Poli

2016-04-01

Full Text Available In Italy, little is being done to promote cinema studies and the ability to analyse films and/or multimedia works among high school students. Although Italian legislation provides guidelines on specific learning objectives, activities and content to be included in high school courses, film and media language is still not encouraged in schools. The pilot introduction of cinema at the C. Tenca High School in Milan had the aim of demonstrating the value of film as an educational and epistemological resource and fostering the development of innovative interdisciplinary teaching strategies. Themes related to cinematographic language, Economics-Business Studies and law were introduced and analysed via the exploration of early films (late 1800s and early 1900s. The students investigated the topics of advertising, building a brand name, online marketing and the role of the media in shaping public opinion. In order to enhance students’ skills in analysing interactive communications, we introduced the themes of data journalism and fact-checking. The results are discussed in terms of a possible role for Cinema in the study of Economics-Business Studies and Law and of how cinema might become an interdisciplinary resource for other school subjects.

Interdisciplinary Collaboration in EHDI Programs

Science.gov (United States)

Nelson, Lauri; Houston, K. Todd; Hoffman, Jeff; Bradham, Tamala S.

2011-01-01

State coordinators of early hearing detection and intervention (EHDI) programs were asked to complete a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, or SWOT, analysis that consisted of 12 evaluative areas of EHDI programs. For the interdisciplinary area, 47 coordinators responded with 224 items, and themes were identified within each SWOT…

Overcoming barriers to integrating economic analysis into risk assessment.

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Hoffmann, Sandra

2011-09-01

Regulatory risk analysis is designed to provide decisionmakers with a clearer understanding of how policies are likely to affect risk. The systems that produce risk are biological, physical, and social and economic. As a result, risk analysis is an inherently interdisciplinary task. Yet in practice, risk analysis has been interdisciplinary in only limited ways. Risk analysis could provide more accurate assessments of risk if there were better integration of economics and other social sciences into risk assessment itself. This essay examines how discussions about risk analysis policy have influenced the roles of various disciplines in risk analysis. It explores ways in which integrated bio/physical-economic modeling could contribute to more accurate assessments of risk. It reviews examples of the kind of integrated economics-bio/physical modeling that could be used to enhance risk assessment. The essay ends with a discussion of institutional barriers to greater integration of economic modeling into risk assessment and provides suggestions on how these might be overcome. © 2011 Society for Risk Analysis.

Toward an Integrative Science of Life-Span Development and Aging

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Piccinin, Andrea M.

2010-01-01

The study of aging demands an integrative life-span developmental framework, involving interdisciplinary collaborations and multiple methodological approaches for understanding how and why individuals change, in both normative and idiosyncratic ways. We highlight and summarize some of the issues encountered when conducting integrative research for understanding aging-related change, including, the integration of results across different levels of analysis; the integration of theory, design, and analysis; and the synthesis of results across studies of aging. We emphasize the necessity of longitudinal designs for understanding development and aging and discuss methodological issues that should be considered for achieving reproducible research on within-person processes. It will be important that current and future studies permit opportunities for quantitative comparison across populations given the extent to which historical shifts and cultural differences influence life-span processes and aging-related outcomes. PMID:20237144

Criminologyof the future: interdisciplinary scientific connections

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Antonyan Yu.M.

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The results of interdisciplinary scientific connections of the modern criminology conditional on the open character of this science and the necessity of its further development are given. The narrow-purpose character of criminological researches is noted: trivial subject matter; the criminologists’ lack of psychological, psychiatric, economical, historical, biological, ethnological and other knowledge; insufficiency of complex interdisciplinary works and empirical studies. Different viewpoints on the type of criminologists’ education are analyzed. That emphasizes the necessity of cooperation between criminology and other sciences, such as: sociology, demography, culturology, psychology, economics, pedagogics, psychiatry, ethnology, history, biology, political science, philosophy and others. The phenomenon of criminology is argued: it studies a “bad”, criminal, immoral person unlike other sciences (it belongs to the number of sciences which object is person. The main parameter of criminology as a science is examined – its subject which allows to distinguish it from other legal disciplines especially from criminal law. New aspects of interconnection between criminology and criminal procedure, criminalistics, the theory of investigation activity and criminal executive law are shown. The stable connections with family law, banking law, financial law and administrative law are considered. The author emphasizes the significant potential of developing criminology in its connection with nonlegal sciences: sociology, psychiatry, economics, statistics, psychology (including criminal psychology, biology and philosophy. It is noted that prospects and progress of criminology are possible only in its cooperation with other sciences.

Interdisciplinary Entrepreneurial Leadership Education and the Development of Agricultural Innovators

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Mars, Matthew M.

2015-01-01

This article qualitatively explores the potential of entrepreneurial leadership curricula to encourage interdisciplinary interest in agricultural issues and prompt diverse student engagement in agricultural leadership and innovation. The study focuses specifically on the activities and perspectives of 15 undergraduate students who completed an…

Collaborative Research on Sustainability: Myths and Conundrums of Interdisciplinary Departments

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Kate Sherren

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Establishing interdisciplinary academic departments has been a common response to the challenge of addressing complex problems. However, the assumptions that guide the formation of such departments are rarely questioned. Additionally, the designers and managers of interdisciplinary academic departments in any field of endeavour struggle to set an organisational climate appropriate to the diversity of their members. This article presents a preliminary analysis of collaborative dynamics within two interdisciplinary university departments in Australia focused on sustainability. Social network diagrams and metrics of coauthorship and cosupervision are analysed qualitatively. A “vicarious interdisciplinarity” was identified among key academics working narrowly in order to earn the resources that allow them to support others working interdisciplinarily. Those supported in this way appear to benefit from the esteem and nonredundant collaborative connections their mentors provide via this strategy, but they experience uncertainty about their own career opportunities in similar settings. This article thus unearths a conundrum of succession for interdisciplinary academic environments, and suggests that simple colocation of diverse academic stars is an inadequate strategy to achieve effective intradepartmental collaboration.

Promoting Interdisciplinary Education: The Vienna Doctoral Programme on Water Resource Systems

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Blöschl, Günter; Bucher, Christian; Carr, Gemma; Farnleitner, Andreas; Rechberger, Helmut; Wagner, Wolfgang; Zessner, Matthias

2010-05-01

An interdisciplinary approach is often described as a valuable strategy to assist in overcoming the existing and emerging challenges to water resource management. The development of educational approaches to instil a culture of interdisciplinarity in the future generation of water resource professionals will help to meet this strategic need. The Vienna Doctoral Programme on Water Resource Systems demonstrates how the adoption of an interdisciplinary education framework has been applied to a graduate programme in the water sciences. The interdisciplinary approach aims to provide doctoral research students with an understanding of the wide spectrum of processes relevant to water resource systems. This will enable them to bring together a range of ideas, strategies and methods to their current research and future careers. The education programme also aims to teach the softer skills required for successful interdisciplinary work such as the ability to communicate clearly with non-specialist professionals and the capacity to listen to and accommodate suggestions from experts in different disciplines, which have often not traditionally been grouped together. The Vienna Doctoral Programme achieves these aims through teaching an appreciation for a wide variety of approaches including laboratory analysis, field studies and numerical methods across the fields of hydrology, remote sensing, hydrogeology, structural mechanics, microbiology, water quality and resource management. Teaching takes the form of a detailed study programme on topics such as socio-economic concepts, resource and river basin management, modelling and simulation methods, health related water quality targets, urban water management, spatial data from remote sensing and basics for stochastic mechanics. Courses are also held by internationally recognised top scientists, and a guest scientist seminar series allows doctoral researchers to profit from the expertise of senior researchers from around the world

Summary of Research 1997, Interdisciplinary Academic Groups

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Boger, Dan

1999-01-01

This report contains information of research projects in the interdisciplinary groups, Command, Control, and Communications Academic Group, Information Warfare Academic Group, Space Systems Academic...

Interdisciplinary collaboration: the role of the clinical nurse leader.

Science.gov (United States)

Bender, Miriam; Connelly, Cynthia D; Brown, Caroline

2013-01-01

  To explore the feasibility and acceptability of a clinical nurse leader (CNL) role to improve interdisciplinary collaboration (IC) within a fragmented acute-care microsystem.   Fragmented patient care is associated with preventable adverse healthcare outcomes. IC decreases fragmentation and improves patient care quality. The CNL role is theorized to provide the necessary leadership and competency skill base to impact IC at the optimal organizational level, the point of care where most healthcare decisions are made.   This study used a descriptive non-experimental design. CNL daily workflow was developed to target empirical determinants of IC. Descriptive data were collected from multiple stakeholders using an investigator-developed survey.   Findings indicate the integration of the role is feasible and acceptable to the microsystem healthcare team.   Preliminary evidence suggests the CNL role may be an effective intervention to facilitate IC. More research is needed to support the CNL role's association with microsystem IC.   The CNL role presents an innovative opportunity for clinical and administrative leadership to partner together to redesign a healthcare delivery system and improve patient care quality. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Data management for interdisciplinary field experiments: OTTER project support

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Angelici, Gary; Popovici, Lidia; Skiles, J. W.

1993-01-01

The ability of investigators of an interdisciplinary science project to properly manage the data that are collected during the experiment is critical to the effective conduct of science. When the project becomes large, possibly including several scenes of large-format remotely sensed imagery shared by many investigators requiring several services, the data management effort can involve extensive staff and computerized data inventories. The OTTER (Oregon Transect Ecosystem Research) project was supported by the PLDS (Pilot Land Data System) with several data management services, such as data inventory, certification, and publication. After a brief description of these services, experiences in providing them are compared with earlier data management efforts and some conclusions regarding data management in support of interdisciplinary science are discussed. In addition to providing these services, a major goal of this data management capability was to adopt characteristics of a pro-active attitude, such as flexibility and responsiveness, believed to be crucial for the effective conduct of active, interdisciplinary science. These are also itemized and compared with previous data management support activities. Identifying and improving these services and characteristics can lead to the design and implementation of optimal data management support capabilities, which can result in higher quality science and data products from future interdisciplinary field experiments.

Gender and Disciplinary Differences in Experiences with Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Science.gov (United States)

Borrego, Maura; Creamer, Elizabeth G.

This work directly compares three explanations for differences in experiences of interdisciplinary research collaborators using a sample of 347 academics from 144 different research intensive and extensive universities in the United States who were awarded funding from the same directorate of the National Science Foundation. The findings provide a much more positive view of interdisciplinary collaboration than is routinely found in the literature. Despite varied disciplinary backgrounds, members of the sample are extremely satisfied with their experiences with interdisciplinary collaboration and have much more in common than they differ in their attitudes and experiences, including how they meet collaborators, the difficulties they have encountered, their approach to the division of labor, and their interest in collaboration as a venue for learning. Findings dispute the stereotype that the relational element of collaboration is significantly more salient for women than it is for men.

A Novel Interdisciplinary Approach to Socio-Technical Complexity

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Bassetti, Chiara

The chapter presents a novel interdisciplinary approach that integrates micro-sociological analysis into computer-vision and pattern-recognition modeling and algorithms, the purpose being to tackle socio-technical complexity at a systemic yet micro-grounded level. The approach is empirically-grounded and both theoretically- and analytically-driven, yet systemic and multidimensional, semi-supervised and computable, and oriented towards large scale applications. The chapter describes the proposed approach especially as for its sociological foundations, and as applied to the analysis of a particular setting --i.e. sport-spectator crowds. Crowds, better defined as large gatherings, are almost ever-present in our societies, and capturing their dynamics is crucial. From social sciences to public safety management and emergency response, modeling and predicting large gatherings' presence and dynamics, thus possibly preventing critical situations and being able to properly react to them, is fundamental. This is where semi/automated technologies can make the difference. The work presented in this chapter is intended as a scientific step towards such an objective.

THE PROBLEM OF INTERDISCIPLINARITY IN LEARNING PROCESS STUDIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. M. Osmolovskaya

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction. The process of convergence and integration of scientific disciplines involves research in the field of education. Polydisciplinary studies wherein the knowledge is integrated from various scientific disciplines, do not meet the requirements of the solution of complex didactic problems, such as organization of the educational process in the information and educational environment, the construction of education for sustainable development of society, education in modern geopolitical conditions, etc. Thus, the importance of interdisciplinary research with a single subject matter, complementarity of research methods, integrated theoretical grounds and results, will make the contribution to all those scientific fields that are involved in assigned task solution.The aim of the article is to present intermediate results on identification and characteristic features of interdisciplinary studies in the field of education.Methodology and research methods. General scientific theoretical methods of research were used: analysis, comparison, fact-finding, generalization.Results and scientific novelty. An attempt to differentiate the concepts of interdisciplinarity, polydisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity is made. In spite of the fact that these issues are actively discussed in the field of philosophy, there are no precise and unambiguous definitions of these terms; though, there is a research framework, the author of the article makes reference to. The features of an interdisciplinary study are formulated.The functions of didactics as a scientific field are specified. Updating of interdisciplinary studies in education, need of formation of their specific methodologies and expansion of the research field of didactics by means of other interdisciplinary studies and scientific directions are proved. Psycho-didactic and cognitivedidactic studies are considered. Cognitive didactics at the moment does not seem to claim the status of independent

elements of contemporary integrated science curriculum

African Journals Online (AJOL)

both science and technology (Hurd, 1975). Discoveries in nature are made easier through integration of ideas, thoughts and concepts. To this end, science teaching in the modern world ought to be interdisciplinary, unified, society based and aspire above all to achieve scientific literacy (Arokoyu and Dike, 2009). These are.

The first interdisciplinary experiments at the IMP high energy microbeam

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Du, Guanghua; Guo, Jinlong; Wu, Ruqun; Guo, Na; Liu, Wenjing; Ye, Fei; Sheng, Lina; Li, Qiang [Institute of Modern Physics (IMP), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou (China); Li, Huiyun [Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen (China)

2015-04-01

The high energy beam of tens to hundred MeV/u ions possesses mm-to-cm penetration depth in materials and can be easily extracted into air without significant energy loss and beam scattering. Combination of high energy ions and microbeam technology facilitates the microprobe application to many practical studies in large scale samples. The IMP heavy ion microbeam facility has recently been integrated with microscopic positioning and targeting irradiation system. This paper introduced the first interdisciplinary experiments performed at the IMP microbeam facility using the beam of 80.5 MeV/u carbon ions. Bystander effect induction via medium transferring was not found in the micro-irradiation study using HeLa cells. The mouse irradiation experiment demonstrated that carbon irradiation of 10 Gy dose to its tuberomammillary nucleus did not impair the sleep nerve system. The fault injection attack on RSA (Rivest–Shamir–Adleman) decryption proved that the commercial field-programmable gate array chip is vulnerable in single event effect to low linear-energy-transfer carbon irradiation, and the attack can cause the leakage of RSA private key. This work demonstrates the potential of high energy microbeam in its application to biology, biomedical, radiation hardness, and information security studies.

Special issue about the ENERGIE interdisciplinary program of the CNRS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lallemand, M.; Stitou, D.; Lallemand, A.; Destruel, P.; Seguy, I.; Bock, H.; Nierengarten, J.F.; Alonso, C.; Estibals, B.; Menanteau, Ph.; David, S.; Clement, A.H.

2006-01-01

The French national center of scientific research (CNRS) has started in 2001 a huge interdisciplinary program about the development of new energy sources (solar, biomass, wind energy, geothermal energy, future nuclear systems), the mastery of energy vectors (electricity, heat, hydrogen), and the development of clean and ecological processes (combustion, fuel cells, dwellings, industrial processes etc..). The program has involved about a thousand of researchers and has led to the realization of 65 projects. This newsletter presents the results of a selection of these integrated research projects: development of thermochemical processes for solar cooling and refrigeration, two-phase refrigerants for a lower environmental impact, organic semiconductors for photovoltaic conversion, TECHPOL - an observatory for new energy technologies, scenarios for future nuclear reactors (enriched uranium cycle, regeneration, uranium cycle, thorium cycle), waves energy conversion systems. (J.S.)

A model of integration among prediction tools: applied study to road freight transportation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Henrique Dias Blois

Full Text Available Abstract This study has developed a scenery analysis model which has integrated decision-making tools on investments: prospective scenarios (Grumbach Method and systems dynamics (hard modeling, with the innovated multivariate analysis of experts. It was designed through analysis and simulation scenarios and showed which are the most striking events in the study object as well as highlighted the actions could redirect the future of the analyzed system. Moreover, predictions are likely to be developed through the generated scenarios. The model has been validated empirically with road freight transport data from state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The results showed that the model contributes to the analysis of investment because it identifies probabilities of events that impact on decision making, and identifies priorities for action, reducing uncertainties in the future. Moreover, it allows an interdisciplinary discussion that correlates different areas of knowledge, fundamental when you wish more consistency in creating scenarios.

Interdisciplinarity, Qualitative Research, and the Complex Phenomenon: Toward an Integrative Approach to Intercultural Research

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Ryan, Phillip; Kurtz, Jill Sornsen; Carter, Deanne; Pester, Danielle

2014-01-01

This article is a collaboration by the lead faculty member in a Masters program in Intercultural Studies and students who completed the program under his aegis. This article presents the program's approach to its research course sequence, an approach involving the integration of interdisciplinary and qualitative research. The authors first provide…

Teaching an Issues-Based Interdisciplinary Course: Diversity in Management and Marketing

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Hazen, Mary Ann; Higby, Mary A.

2005-01-01

The authors examine their experiences of coteaching an intensive, interdisciplinary elective course for MBA students: Diversity in Management and Marketing. They address otherness, dialogue, energy, and change within this course and clarify issues that can arise when coteaching interdisciplinary courses. The authors list implications for…

GIS-based Integration of Interdisciplinary Ecological Data to Detect ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Key words: mangrove, satellite imagery, environment, aerial photography, GIS, Kenya Historic environmental, faunal, floral and socioeconomic data of Gazi Bay in coastal Kenya were collated and integrated into a GIS environment and data of impacts due to various factors were then related to remotely sensed data.

Enhancing Study Motivation and Efficacy among First-year Students Using Minute Papers in the Interdisciplinary Subject of Yakugaku Nyumon.

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Yamaki, Kouya; Ikeda, Koji; Ueda, Kumiko; Habu, Yasushi; Nakayama, Yoshiaki; Takeda, Norihiko; Moriwaki, Kensuke; Wada, Akimori; Koyama, Junko; Kodama, Noriko; Kitagawa, Shuji

2017-01-01

Active learning in higher education is important for learning efficacy and motivation. Accordingly, lectures that integrate strategies toward active learning, such as minute papers, debates, and collaborative learning, have become widely adopted. Minute papers facilitate communication among both teachers and students, and can be used as a tool for reviewing lectures. In the present study, we examined the effect of using minute papers on learning efficacy and motivation. To enhance the curriculum of the interdisciplinary course Yakugaku Nyumon, which consists of an omnibus lecture series and problem-based learning, minute papers with exercises were provided to applicants. In a follow-up questionnaire, students who used minute papers (S-USE) responded that they had a better understanding of the relationships, ranging from basic to clinical subject matter, than students who did not use such papers (S-NON). Using the Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction (ARCS) model questionnaire to measure study motivation, S-USE scored higher for some questionnaires than S-NON. This finding indicates that minute papers promoted learning motivation among students taking the Yakugaku Nyumon course. In regular examinations, the average score of S-USE was also statistically higher than that of S-NON. These results demonstrate that minute papers possibly encouraged students to actively review the lectures, thereby increasing both learning efficacy and motivation. This study shows that through promoting active, self-learning, minute papers are suitable for improving curricular strategies in subjects that rely on passive learning methods.

Role of plant pathology in integrated pest management.

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Jacobsen, B J

1997-01-01

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a paradigm that is widely adopted by all pest control disciplines but whose early definitions and philosophical basis belong to entomologists. Plant pathology research and extension work has historically emphasized integration of several control strategies and fits both historical and modern definitions of IPM. While the term IPM has been used only sparingly in the phytopathology literature, the integrated disease management strategies emphasized are now considered to be at the forefront of ecologically based or biointensive pest management. While IPM is broadly endorsed by crop protection disciplines, farmers, other agriculturalists, and consumers, the potential for Integrated Pest Management has not been fully realized. Most IPM programs reflect a package of tools and decision aids for individual crop insect, weed, nematode, and plant disease management. IPM programs that integrate all types of pests with the agroecosystem, crop growth and loss models still await the formation of interdisciplinary teams focusing on growers needs. Lack of funding for both discipline and interdisciplinary developmental research and implementation is responsible for the paucity of comprehensive IPM programs for the majority of the U.S. crop acreage. This review explores the origins and evolution of the IPM paradigm and reviews efforts to achieve the body of knowledge and implementation structure to achieve IPM's full potential.

Design as a Cultural Venue for Interdisciplinary Collaboration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Geert Jensen, Birgitte; Rasmussen, Jørgen; Volf, Mette

2014-01-01

Sense Making has become the strategic fuel for meaningful Change Making in organizations today. 1 When designers enter into and facilitate large interdisciplinary teams it changes the role of the designer from being characterised by aesthetic professionalism to thinking strategically and facilita......Sense Making has become the strategic fuel for meaningful Change Making in organizations today. 1 When designers enter into and facilitate large interdisciplinary teams it changes the role of the designer from being characterised by aesthetic professionalism to thinking strategically...... and visual skills can be the link between mental models and languages that occur in interdisciplinary teams. The designer's methods such as visualization and prototyping as well as their Sensemaking methods2 can strengthen a team's chance to imagine future scenarios and their implications. It provides...... a common ground for discussing and reflecting on choices made. The article describes two different cases in which the visual methods of designers made Sensemaking possible in the organisation. The methods used are elements within the design process: visual sensemaking, user observations, interviews...

Rawls’s Wide Reflective Equilibrium as a Method for Engaged Interdisciplinary Collaboration

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Taebi, Behnam

2017-01-01

The introduction of new technologies in society is sometimes met with public resistance. Supported by public policy calls for “upstream engagement” and “responsible innovation,” recent years have seen a notable rise in attempts to attune research and innovation processes to societal needs, so that stakeholders’ concerns are taken into account in the design phase of technology. Both within the social sciences and in the ethics of technology, we see many interdisciplinary collaborations being initiated that aim to address tensions between various normative expectations about science and engineering and the actual outcomes. However, despite pleas to integrate social science research into the ethics of technology, effective normative models for assessing technologies are still scarce. Rawls’s wide reflective equilibrium (WRE) is often mentioned as a promising approach to integrate insights from the social sciences in the normative analysis of concrete cases, but an in-depth discussion of how this would work in practice is still lacking. In this article, we explore to what extent the WRE method can be used in the context of technology development. Using cases in engineering and technology development, we discuss three issues that are currently neglected in the applied ethics literature on WRE. The first issue concerns the operationalization of abstract background theories to moral principles. The second issue concerns the inclusiveness of the method and the demand for openness. The third issue is how to establish whether or not an equilibrium has been reached. These issues should be taken into account when applying the methods to real-world cases involving technological risks. Applying the WRE method in the context of engaged interdisciplinary collaboration requires sensitivity for issues of power and representativeness to properly deal with the dynamics between the technical and normative researchers involved as well as society at large. PMID:29657348

Managing the Interoperability and Privacy of e-Health Systems as an Interdisciplinary Challenge

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Alexandru Soceanu

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The growing number of patients with chronic diseases, the ageing population worldwide, the rapid increase in hospital costs and in the cost of care personnel as well as the achieving medical objectives "increase the patient quality of life and survival" face Europe with a huge challenge. One of the solutions for reaching these challenges in the future is the deployment of complex eHealth systems in support of all the healthcare aspects on the way between patient home and healthcare provider. In the last decade the European Commission (EC in cooperation with healthcare associations and standardization institutes announced large frameworks for supporting research and development of various components of the future eHealth systems. This may be considered as an immediate interdisciplinary opportunity for European researchers and developers to create jointly the spine of future healthcare systems. After a short introduction to eHealth architecture, interoperability, security and privacy the talk refers to the interdisciplinary solutions which approach these healthcare huge overall challenge. Two case studies will be addressed: a interdisciplinary partnership for conducting jointly European research concerning remote control and management of future wearable dialysis devices, and b ERASMUS supported international education programs for creating future interdisciplinary expert networks working on developing and implementing a better healthcare system.

Interdisciplinary education in palliative care: impact on attitudes of students in medicine, nursing, pharmacy, social work, and chaplaincy.

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Schrader, Susan L; Brechtelsbauer, David; Heins, Jodi; Holland, Peter; Schroeder, Pamela A

2012-10-01

Interdisciplinary education among health professions has been recommended, and related evaluation can be found in the literature. However questions remain on how effective interdisciplinary education is and what impact it has. The objective of this study was to determine changes in student attitudes and perceptions upon completion of a 5-week interdisciplinary palliative care seminar. Pre-test and post-test instruments were administered at three five-week Interdisciplinary Palliative Care Seminars in Sioux Falls, SD during 2009-2010. The central hypotheses were that, at the conclusion of the seminar, students will have greater familiarity with their role in a team and more understanding of the roles of other disciplines in palliative care, and will identify positive contributions to professional practice and patient care using the team approach. Both quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed. Participating students in medicine, nursing, pharmacy, social work, and chaplaincy (N = 88) completed surveys. Quantitative data suggest that interdisciplinary education enhances students' understanding of their discipline and the work of other disciplines. Data show students perceive the team approach as enhancing patient outcomes, goal setting, and communication among colleagues. Qualitative data reinforced the importance of interdisciplinary education while revealing strains among disciplines in hierarchy and valuing. Playing one's part in the team strengthens students' confidence and comfort in interdisciplinary settings. Yet, the hazard of experiencing the limitations of teamwork in action must be acknowledged for some.

Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Special Operations Forces

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

is the result of a research projec tproviding international interdisciplinary perspectives on special operations forces, based on three main themes: - Leading and organizing for strategic effect - Professional entrepreneurship and self-perceptions in special operations forces - Political and popular perceptions...

Interdisciplinary arts and health practice with an institutional logics perspective

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Anita

2018-01-01

Background:Investigating the interdisciplinary relationships between stakeholders engaged in arts and health practice in the UK and Denmark, specifically with regard to institutional logics theory. The identified stakeholders: health professionals, museum educators and mental health service users....... Method:Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 participants: health professionals, museum educators and service users. Data were collected in Denmark and the UK. A thematic approach was used to analyse the data and theoretical lenses of sociological theories, and institutional logics explored...... the findings. Results:The interdisciplinary work in arts and health is complex, given the different disciplines and institutions involved. Findings illustrate that institutional logics play a vital and ambiguous part in arts and health practice and that this presents a challenge for interdisciplinary working...

Perspectives on Open Science and scientific data sharing:an interdisciplinary workshop.

Science.gov (United States)

Destro Bisol, Giovanni; Anagnostou, Paolo; Capocasa, Marco; Bencivelli, Silvia; Cerroni, Andrea; Contreras, Jorge; Enke, Neela; Fantini, Bernardino; Greco, Pietro; Heeney, Catherine; Luzi, Daniela; Manghi, Paolo; Mascalzoni, Deborah; Molloy, Jennifer; Parenti, Fabio; Wicherts, Jelte; Boulton, Geoffrey

2014-01-01

Looking at Open Science and Open Data from a broad perspective. This is the idea behind "Scientific data sharing: an interdisciplinary workshop", an initiative designed to foster dialogue between scholars from different scientific domains which was organized by the Istituto Italiano di Antropologia in Anagni, Italy, 2-4 September 2013.We here report summaries of the presentations and discussions at the meeting. They deal with four sets of issues: (i) setting a common framework, a general discussion of open data principles, values and opportunities; (ii) insights into scientific practices, a view of the way in which the open data movement is developing in a variety of scientific domains (biology, psychology, epidemiology and archaeology); (iii) a case study of human genomics, which was a trail-blazer in data sharing, and which encapsulates the tension that can occur between large-scale data sharing and one of the boundaries of openness, the protection of individual data; (iv) open science and the public, based on a round table discussion about the public communication of science and the societal implications of open science. There were three proposals for the planning of further interdisciplinary initiatives on open science. Firstly, there is a need to integrate top-down initiatives by governments, institutions and journals with bottom-up approaches from the scientific community. Secondly, more should be done to popularize the societal benefits of open science, not only in providing the evidence needed by citizens to draw their own conclusions on scientific issues that are of concern to them, but also explaining the direct benefits of data sharing in areas such as the control of infectious disease. Finally, introducing arguments from social sciences and humanities in the educational dissemination of open data may help students become more profoundly engaged with Open Science and look at science from a broader perspective.

A multimethod analysis of shared decision-making in hospice interdisciplinary team meetings including family caregivers.

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Washington, Karla T; Oliver, Debra Parker; Gage, L Ashley; Albright, David L; Demiris, George

2016-03-01

Much of the existing research on shared decision-making in hospice and palliative care focuses on the provider-patient dyad; little is known about shared decision-making that is inclusive of family members of patients with advanced disease. We sought to describe shared decision-making as it occurred in hospice interdisciplinary team meetings that included family caregivers as participants using video-conferencing technology. We conducted a multimethod study in which we used content and thematic analysis techniques to analyze video-recordings of hospice interdisciplinary team meetings (n = 100), individual interviews of family caregivers (n = 73) and hospice staff members (n = 78), and research field notes. Participants in the original studies from which data for this analysis were drawn were hospice family caregivers and staff members employed by one of five different community-based hospice agencies located in the Midwestern United States. Shared decision-making occurred infrequently in hospice interdisciplinary team meetings that included family caregivers. Barriers to shared decision-making included time constraints, communication skill deficits, unaddressed emotional needs, staff absences, and unclear role expectations. The hospice philosophy of care, current trends in healthcare delivery, the interdisciplinary nature of hospice teams, and the designation of a team leader/facilitator supported shared decision-making. The involvement of family caregivers in hospice interdisciplinary team meetings using video-conferencing technology creates a useful platform for shared decision-making; however, steps must be taken to transform family caregivers from meeting attendees to shared decision-makers. © The Author(s) 2015.

[Archaeology and criminology--Strengths and weaknesses of interdisciplinary cooperation].

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Bachhiesl, Christian

2015-01-01

Interdisciplinary cooperation of archaeology and criminology is often focussed on the scientific methods applied in both fields of knowledge. In combination with the humanistic methods traditionally used in archaeology, the finding of facts can be enormously increased and the subsequent hermeneutic deduction of human behaviour in the past can take place on a more solid basis. Thus, interdisciplinary cooperation offers direct and indirect advantages. But it can also cause epistemological problems, if the weaknesses and limits of one method are to be corrected by applying methods used in other disciplines. This may result in the application of methods unsuitable for the problem to be investigated so that, in a way, the methodological and epistemological weaknesses of two disciplines potentiate each other. An example of this effect is the quantification of qualia. These epistemological reflections are compared with the interdisciplinary approach using the concrete case of the "Eulau Crime Scene".

Interdisciplinary Science Research and Education

Science.gov (United States)

MacKinnon, P. J.; Hine, D.; Barnard, R. T.

2013-01-01

Science history shows us that interdisciplinarity is a spontaneous process that is intrinsic to, and engendered by, research activity. It is an activity that is done rather than an object to be designed and constructed. We examine three vignettes from the history of science that display the interdisciplinary process at work and consider the…

Synergistic Knowledge Development in Interdisciplinary Teams

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Broussard, Shorna R.; La Lopa, Joseph Mick; Ross-Davis, Amy

2007-01-01

Problem solving, interpersonal skills, information literacy, and critical and independent thinking are essential qualities that employers seek, yet many undergraduates lack. We structured an interdisciplinary classroom and experiential learning environment where students from three undergraduate courses (Hospitality and Tourism Management,…

Resilient Learning: Towards Integration of Strategic Research Programmes, Higher Education Functions and Regional-National Development

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Rauno Ilmari Pirinen

2017-06-01

Full Text Available In this study, the concept of Learning by Research and Development (R&D is furthered to the world of more resilient learning in the setting of security related R&D projects for development of co-creative products, services and action competence. The background of this study includes an interdisciplinary combination of service science, security, computer science, pedagogy, engineering, and management science. The interdisciplinary combination involves researchers, learners, teachers, and other participants connecting and integrating the academic disciplines, professions, and technologies, along with their methods and perspectives for co-creation of a common goal. This goal emphasizes results as high-value impacts, as well as the value of products, services, and innovations as “deliverables” of the integrative learning process. Until recently, the Learning by R&D model is clear and transparent; as such, it can be adopted by learning and R&D integration of other sciences and higher education institutions. The structure of the model is also easy to adapt and renew in case of a change, which means that it can develop from the inside on the one hand, and produce interactions, adaptions, resilience and innovations on the other.

Improvements in CanMEDS competencies for medical students in an interdisciplinary and voluntary setting

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Vildbrad MD

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Mads Dam Vildbrad, Johanne Marie Lyhne International Medical Cooperation Committee, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark Background: To practice medicine, doctors must master leadership, communication, team management, and collaboration, in addition to medical knowledge. The CanMEDS framework describes seven roles of a doctor, but the six nonmedical expert roles are de-emphasized in the academic medical curriculum. Innovative opportunities are needed for medical students to develop as participants in a world of interdisciplinary health care. Methods: We founded a volunteer-based, interdisciplinary, student-run project called SUNDdag (HEALTHday with 60 students from 12 different educational backgrounds. To evaluate the learning outcomes of the project, we conducted a cross-sectional study using an anonymous, self-administered questionnaire. Results: Students joined the project due to it being health-promoting, volunteer-based, and interdisciplinary. The medical students reported a significant increase of skills in all seven roles except for “medical expert”. They reported an increased understanding of the non-health-related students' skills. Conclusion: In their future careers, medical students must collaborate with health care professionals in a team-based approach to patient care and with non-health-related professionals in administrative tasks. Interdisciplinary volunteer-based initiatives like SUNDdag are potential platforms for medical students to improve their CanMEDS competencies. We encourage students to initiate similar projects and we encourage faculties to support volunteer-based, interdisciplinary initiatives due to their favorable cost-benefit ratio. Keywords: medical education, voluntarism, interprofessional education, medical students

Action Research in Preservice Teachers' Arts-Integration Pedagogies for Social Justice Teaching and Learning

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Felleman-Fattal, Laura Rachel

2017-01-01

Age-appropriate children's books can be an effective way to introduce and discuss issues of social justice with young students. These books can be the anchor for interdisciplinary lessons that integrate core content areas, such as language arts, science, and/or social studies with the visual and performing arts to enrich students' learning…

Interdisciplinary Project-Based Learning: An Online Wiki Experience in Teacher Education

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Biasutti, Michele; EL-Deghaidy, Heba

2015-01-01

In the current research study the use of Wikis as an online didactic tool to apply project-based learning in higher education was reported. The study was conducted in university teacher education programmes. During the online activities, participants developed interdisciplinary projects for the primary school working collaboratively in small…

A Search for Identity: Exploring Core Competencies for Interdisciplinary Environmental Programs

Science.gov (United States)

Vincent, Shirley Gayle

2010-01-01

Scope and method of study: The study is national in scope, exploratory, and utilized a combination of qualitative and quantitative social science methods. Findings and conclusions: Interdisciplinary environmental (IE) programs in higher education in the United States are both diverse and dynamic in their curriculum designs. Though these…

A Comparative-Interdisciplinary Study of the Production and Publication of Works of Fiction by Simin Daneshvar and Belgheis Soleimani on the Basis of the Theory of Paratextuality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. Rostami

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Interdisciplinary studies confirm the fact that different branches of the humanities are closely connected with each other and increase each others’ efficiency. Since comparative interdisciplinary studies also include fields that are not purely literary, such as printing and publishing industries, the present study aims to analyze how cultural products achieve a better marketing through designing processes. Paratextuality, from Genette’s point of view, is the theoretical basis of this study, and peritexts and epitexts in the novels of Daneshvar and Soleimani are analyzed here. First, we define “comparative interdisciplinary study” and then discuss the peritexts and the epitexts in their novels. This is a library-based research; however, data is also collected through interviews with the publishers of their novels, Kharazmi, Ghoghnoos and Cheshmeh publications. It is a descriptive-analytical study and its findings show that there are some features in the appearance of books that motivate the customers to buy them. During years, because of cultural structures, advertising strategies and critical reviews, these features have changed. However, this study shows that the scope of the changes in the novels of Soleimani is vaster; in other words, by changing such features, publishers have been able to create a better marketing for Soleimani, even though he is less known than Daneshvar.

Interdisciplinary model of care (RADICALS) for early detection and management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Australian primary care: study protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Liang, Jenifer; Abramson, Michael J; Zwar, Nicholas; Russell, Grant; Holland, Anne E; Bonevski, Billie; Mahal, Ajay; Hecke, Benjamin van; Phillips, Kirsten; Eustace, Paula; Paul, Eldho; Petrie, Kate; Wilson, Sally; George, Johnson

2017-09-18

Up to half of all smokers develop clinically significant chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Gaps exist in the implementation and uptake of evidence-based guidelines for managing COPD in primary care. We describe the methodology of a cluster randomised controlled trial (cRCT) evaluating the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of an interdisciplinary model of care aimed at reducing the burden of smoking and COPD in Australian primary care settings. A cRCT is being undertaken to evaluate an interdisciplinary model of care (RADICALS - Review of Airway Dysfunction and Interdisciplinary Community-based care of Adult Long-term Smokers). General practice clinics across Melbourne, Australia, are identified and randomised to the intervention group (RADICALS) or usual care. Patients who are current or ex-smokers, of at least 10 pack years, including those with an existing diagnosis of COPD, are being recruited to identify 280 participants with a spirometry-confirmed diagnosis of COPD. Handheld lung function devices are being used to facilitate case-finding. RADICALS includes individualised smoking cessation support, home-based pulmonary rehabilitation and home medicines review. Patients at control group sites receive usual care and Quitline referral, as appropriate. Follow-ups occur at 6 and 12 months from baseline to assess changes in quality of life, abstinence rates, health resource utilisation, symptom severity and lung function. The primary outcome is change in St George's Respiratory Questionnaire score of patients with COPD at 6 months from baseline. This project has been approved by the Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee and La Trobe University Human Ethics Committee (CF14/1018 - 2014000433). Results of the study will be disseminated in peer-reviewed journals and research conferences. If the intervention is successful, the RADICALS programme could potentially be integrated into general practices across Australia and sustained over time. ACTRN

Development of integrative bioethics in the Mediterranean area of South-East Europe.

Science.gov (United States)

Kukoč, Mislav

2012-11-01

With regards to its origin, foundation and development, bioethics is a relatively new discipline, scientific and theoretical field, where different and even contradicting definition models and methodological patterns of its formation and application meet. In some philosophical orientations, bioethics is considered to be a sub-discipline of applied ethics as a traditional philosophical discipline. Yet in biomedical and other sciences, bioethics is designated as a specialist scientific discipline, or a sort of a new medical ethics. The concept of integrative bioethics as an interdisciplinary scholarly and pluriperspectivistic area goes beyond such one-sided determinations, both philosophical and scientistic, and intends to integrate the philosophical approach to bioethics with its particular scientific contents, as well as different cultural dimensions and perspectives. This concept of integrative bioethics has gradually developed at philosophical and interdisciplinary conferences and institutions on the "bioethical islands" of the Croatian Mediterranean. In this paper, the author follows the formation, development and prospects of integrative bioethics in the wider region of the Mediterranean and Southeast Europe.

Health economic choices in old age: interdisciplinary perspectives on economic decisions and the aging mind.

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Nielsen, Lisbeth; Phillips, John W R

2008-01-01

This chapter offers an integrative review of psychological and neurobiological differences between younger and older adults that might impact economic behavior. Focusing on key health economic challenges facing the elderly, it offers perspectives on how these psychological and neurobiological factors may influence decision-making over the life course and considers future interdisciplinary research directions. We review relevant literature from three domains that are essential for developing a comprehensive science of decision-making and economic behavior in aging (psychology, neuroscience, and economics), consider implications for prescription drug coverage and long-term care (LTC) insurance, and highlight future research directions. Older adults face many complex economic decisions that directly affect their health and well-being, including LTC insurance, prescription drug plans, and end of life care. Economic research suggests that many older Americans are not making cost-effective and economically rational decisions. While economic models provide insight into some of the financial incentives associated with these decisions, they typically do not consider the roles of cognition and affect in decision-making. Research has established that older age is associated with predictable declines in many cognitive functions and evidence is accumulating that distinct social motives and affect-processing profiles emerge in older age. It is unknown how these age differences impact the economic behaviors of older people and implies opportunities for path-breaking interdisciplinary research. Our chapter looks to develop interdisciplinary research to better understand the causes and consequences of age-related changes in economic decision-making and guide interventions to improve public programs and overall social welfare.

42 CFR 460.102 - Interdisciplinary team.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... ELDERLY (PACE) PACE Services § 460.102 Interdisciplinary team. (a) Basic requirement. A PACE organization... the following: (i) Managing a participant's medical situations. (ii) Overseeing a participant's use of.... (iii) Documenting changes of a participant's condition in the participant's medical record consistent...

Interdisciplinary Research on Healthy Aging: Introduction

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Willekens, F.J.; Carey, James; Li, Qiang

2018-01-01

Background: This is an introduction to a Special Collection of Demographic Research on Interdisciplinary Research on Healthy Aging. The collection is an outcome of an international conference in China on biodemography and multistate modeling in healthy aging research. Causal analysis is the common

Using an Interdisciplinary Approach to Enhance Climate Literacy for K-12 Teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Hanselman, J. A.; Oches, E. A.; Sliko, J.; Wright, L.

2014-12-01

The Next Generation Science Standards (2014) will begin to change how K-12 teachers teach science. Using a scaffolding approach, the standards focus on a depth of knowledge across multiple content areas. This philosophy should encourage inquiry-based teaching methods, provided the teacher has both the knowledge and the confidence to teach the content. Although confidence to teach science is high among secondary science (biology, general science, chemistry) teachers, depth of knowledge may be lacking in certain areas, including climate science. To address this issue, a graduate course in climate science (Massachusetts Colleges Online Course of Distinction award winner) was developed to include inquiry-based instruction, connections to current research, and interdisciplinary approaches to teaching science. With the support of the InTeGrate program (SERC) at Carleton College, a module was developed to utilize cli-fi (climate science present in fictional literature) and related climate data. Graduate students gain an appreciation of scientific communication and an understanding of climate data and its connection to societal issues. In addition, the graduate students also gain the ability to connect interdisciplinary concepts for a deeper understanding of climate science and have the opportunity. By the end of the course, the graduate students use the content learned and the examples of pedagogical tools to develop their own activities in his or her classroom.

Peer mentoring program in an interprofessional and interdisciplinary curriculum in Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)

de Oliveira, Camila Aparecida Machado; de França Carvalho, Carolina Prado; Céspedes, Isabel Cristina; de Oliveira, Flávia; Le Sueur-Maluf, Luciana

2015-01-01

The Federal University of São Paulo, Baixada Santista Campus was founded in 2006 with five degree-granting programs in physical education, physiotherapy, nutrition, psychology, and occupational therapy. The guiding principle behind the programs' educational mission was centered on the development of health care professionals capable of working in interdisciplinary teams with an emphasis on holistic patient care. This pedagogical structure required peer-mentoring programs in order to integrate different areas of knowledge and to improve learning strategies among new generations of students. The authors' objective in the present report is to discuss the strategies and activities of the peer-mentoring program in histophysiology and gross anatomy in an interdisciplinary and interprofessional curriculum. Evaluations by students, mentors and professors are presented, along with a statistical analysis of variance comparing student performance in the module assessments according to their participation in the peer-mentoring activities. The results demonstrated that students who participated in peer-mentoring activities enjoyed a higher rate of academic success than those who did not participate. In addition, student and mentor evaluations of the peer mentoring program were highly positive. The program enabled mentors to gain a deeper knowledge of the subjects addressed in the learning modules, as well as to develop intrinsic teaching skills during their time as mentors. In short, the authors believe that the peer-mentoring program has been validated for its effectiveness in raising student academic performance. © 2015 American Association of Anatomists.

PREFACE: International & Interdisciplinary Workshop on Novel Phenomena in Integrated Complex Sciences: from Non-living to Living Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Yoshimura, Kazuyoshi; Ohta, Hiroto; Murase, Masatoshi; Nishimura, Kazuo

2012-03-01

In this workshop recent advancements in experiments and theories were discussed on magnetism and superconductivity, emergent phenomena in biological material, chemical properties and economic problems of non-living and living systems. The aim of the workshop was to discuss old, but also new problems from a multidisciplinary perspective, and to understand the general features behind diversity in condensed matter physics, experimental chemistry and physics in biology and economic science. The workshop was broadly based, and was titled 'International & Interdisciplinary Workshop on Novel Phenomena in Integrated Complex Sciences from Non-living to Living Systems'. However, the primary focus was on magnetism and superconductivity, and NMR research into strongly correlated electrons. The meeting was held as an ICAM workshop, upon official approval in January 2010. Both young scientists and graduate students were invited. We hope that these young scientists had the chance to talk with invited speakers and organizers on their own interests. We thank the participants who contributed through their presentations, discussions and these papers to the advancement of the subject and our understanding. The proceedings are published here in the Journal of Physics: Conference Series (UK). We thank the International Advisory Committee for their advice and guidance: Evgeny Antipov Moscow State University, Russia Nicholas Curro University of California, Davis, USA Minghu Fang Zhejiang University, China Jurgen Haase University of Leipzig, Germany Takashi Imai McMaster University, Canada Peter Lemmens TU Braunschweig, Germany Herwig Michor Vienna TU, Austria Takamasa Momose University of British Columbia, Canada Raivo Stern NICPB, Estonia Louis Taillefer University of Sherbrooke, Canada Masashi Takigawa University of Tokyo, Japan This workshop was mainly organized by the International Research Unit of Integrated Complex System Science, Kyoto University, and was supported by ICAM

Impact of crisis resource management simulation-based training for interprofessional and interdisciplinary teams: A systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Fung, Lillia; Boet, Sylvain; Bould, M Dylan; Qosa, Haytham; Perrier, Laure; Tricco, Andrea; Tavares, Walter; Reeves, Scott

2015-01-01

Crisis resource management (CRM) abilities are important for different healthcare providers to effectively manage critical clinical events. This study aims to review the effectiveness of simulation-based CRM training for interprofessional and interdisciplinary teams compared to other instructional methods (e.g., didactics). Interprofessional teams are composed of several professions (e.g., nurse, physician, midwife) while interdisciplinary teams are composed of several disciplines from the same profession (e.g., cardiologist, anaesthesiologist, orthopaedist). Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and ERIC were searched using terms related to CRM, crisis management, crew resource management, teamwork, and simulation. Trials comparing simulation-based CRM team training versus any other methods of education were included. The educational interventions involved interprofessional or interdisciplinary healthcare teams. The initial search identified 7456 publications; 12 studies were included. Simulation-based CRM team training was associated with significant improvements in CRM skill acquisition in all but two studies when compared to didactic case-based CRM training or simulation without CRM training. Of the 12 included studies, one showed significant improvements in team behaviours in the workplace, while two studies demonstrated sustained reductions in adverse patient outcomes after a single simulation-based CRM team intervention. In conclusion, CRM simulation-based training for interprofessional and interdisciplinary teams show promise in teaching CRM in the simulator when compared to didactic case-based CRM education or simulation without CRM teaching. More research, however, is required to demonstrate transfer of learning to workplaces and potential impact on patient outcomes.

[Interdisciplinarity in action: "trap-words" in interdisciplinary research].

Science.gov (United States)

Villeval, Mélanie; Ginsbourger, Thomas; Bidault, Elsa; Alias, François; Delpierre, Cyrille; Gaborit, Emilie; Kelly-Irving, Michelle; Manuello, Pascale; Grosclaude, Pascale; Lang, Thierry

2014-01-01

Interdisciplinary work is essential to understand and address Social Inequalities in Health (SIH), but involves a number of practical difficulties. The AAPRISS programme, comprises project leaders and researchers from various disciplines in order to co-construct the reorientation of prevention projects, in order to more effectively reduce SIH. Certain challenges emerged during this project concerning the interdisciplinary work, especially misunderstanding of certain terms with different meanings according to various disciplines, within the same discipline, or even between British and US English. The objective is to identify these "trap-words" in order to create a glossary clearly explaining the various meanings, rather than rigidly defining a unique correct definition. The words leading to misunderstandings were identified and several definitions were provided by participating researchers and literature searches. Five sets of words were defined: "politique, programme, projet et intervention"; "impact"; "ressortissant, public cible, population cible, bénéficiaire, et communauté"; "inégalités sociales de santé, disparités et iniquités"; and "protocole". Issues raised by the construction of this glossary, designed to support co-construction between researchers from different disciplines, allow reflection on the richness and difficulties of interdisciplinary research.

Video Inspired the Radio Star: Interdisciplinary Projects for Media Arts and Music

Science.gov (United States)

Giebelhausen, Robin

2017-01-01

Interdisciplinary arts education in music has often included connective lines toward drama, dance, and visual arts. This article will suggest five different projects that could be used to link music to video in order to develop media arts and music interdisciplinary connections.

Memory, museums and information science: An interdisciplinary perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Débora Adriano Sampaio

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Reflects on Museums and Information Science in an interdisciplinary perspective, tracing an interface between memory and information. Presents socio-historical approaches of Information Science in an attempt to subsidize social issues that guide this discussion - 'The Social Epistemology Shera', the 'Hermeneutics Capurro' and 'Approach of Knowledge Wersig'. Highlights the dialogue between information, memory and museum institutions, analyzing its importance in the socio-cultural dynamics of the information society. Considers the process of building interdisciplinary, under a social dimension as a vital contribution to the direction of new readings that can transform individuals in humans reflexive and critical agents capable of walking paths foreseen and unforeseen, changing social reality.

4th international interdisciplinary chaos symposium

CERN Document Server

Banerjee, Santo; Caglar, Suleyman; Ozer, Mehmet; Chaos and complex systems

2013-01-01

Complexity Science and Chaos Theory are fascinating areas of scientific research with wide-ranging applications.  The interdisciplinary nature and ubiquity of complexity and chaos are features that provides scientists with a motivation to pursue general theoretical tools and frameworks. Complex systems give rise to emergent behaviors, which in turn produce novel and interesting phenomena in science, engineering, as well as in the socio-economic sciences. The aim of all Symposia on Chaos and Complex Systems (CCS) is to bring together scientists, engineers, economists and social scientists, and to discuss the latest insights and results obtained in the area of corresponding nonlinear-system complex (chaotic) behavior. Especially for the “4th International Interdisciplinary Chaos Symposium on Chaos and Complex Systems,” which took place April 29th to May 2nd, 2012 in Antalya, Turkey, the scope of the symposium had been further enlarged so as to encompass the presentation of work from circuits to econophysic...

Integrative, Interdisciplinary Learning in Bermuda Through Video Projects

Science.gov (United States)

Fox, R. J.; Connaughton, M.

2017-12-01

Understanding an ecosystem and how humans impact it requires a multidisciplinary perspective and immersive, experiential learning is an exceptional way to achieve understanding. In summer 2017 we took 18 students to the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS) as part of a Washington College two-week, four-credit summer field course. We took a multi-disciplinary approach in choosing the curriculum. We focused on the ecology of the islands and surrounding coral reefs as well as the environmental impacts humans are having on the islands. Additionally, we included geology and both local and natural history. Our teaching was supplemented by the BIOS staff and local tour guides. The student learning was integrated and reinforced through student-led video projects. Groups of three students were tasked with creating a 5-7 minute video appropriate for a public audience. We selected video topics based upon locations we would visit in the first week and topics were randomly assigned. The project intention was for the students to critically analyze and evaluate an area of Bermuda that is a worthwhile tourist destination. Students presented why a tourist should visit a locale, the area's ecological distinctiveness and complexity, the impact humans are having, and ways tourists can foster stewardship of that locale. These projects required students to learn how to make and edit videos, collaborate with peers, communicate a narrative to the public, integrate multi-disciplinary topics for a clear, whole-system perspective, observe the environment from a critical viewpoint, and interview local experts. The students produced the videos within the two-week period, and we viewed the videos as a group on the last day. The students worked hard, were proud of their final products, and produced excellent videos. They enjoyed the process, which provided them opportunities to collaborate, show individual strengths, be creative, and work independently of the instructors.

Three images of interdisciplinary team meetings.

Science.gov (United States)

Crepeau, E B

1994-08-01

Teams are an essential aspect of health care today, especially in rehabilitation or chronic illness where the course of care is frequently long, complex, and unpredictable. The coordinative function of teams and their interdisciplinary aspects are thought to improve patient care because team members bring their unique professional skills together to address patient problems. This coordination is enacted through the team meeting, which typically results in an integrated care plan. This professional image of team meetings is explicit and addresses the description and provision of care as objective and rational activities. In contrast, the constructed and ritualistic images of health care team meetings are implicit and concern the less objective and rational aspects of planning care. The constructed image pertains to the definitional activity of team members as they try to understand patient troubles and achieve consensus. This process involves the individual clinical reasoning of team members and the collective reasoning of the group. The ritualistic image is that aspect of team meetings in which the team affirms and reaffirms its collective identity. Drawing from field research of geropsychiatric team meetings, this article defines and explicates these images, focusing on the constructed and ritualistic aspects of team meetings and the influence of these images on group function.

Analysis of the Interdisciplinary Nature of Library and Information Science

Science.gov (United States)

Prebor, Gila

2010-01-01

Library and information science (LIS) is highly interdisciplinary by nature and is affected by the incessant evolution of technologies. A recent study surveying research trends in the years 2002-6 at various information science departments worldwide has found that a clear trend was identified in Masters theses and doctoral dissertations of social…

Medialogy – Interdisciplinary Education Challenge with Focus on PBL and Students’ Learning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kofoed, Lise B.; Nordahl, Rolf

2010-01-01

The paper investigates the problems of establish an understanding of the competence connected to a new interdisciplinary program called Medialogy. One of the questions raised in the paper are: How do students carry out and combine the different disciplines in an interdisciplinary way when working...

Designing Interdisciplinary Assessments in Sciences for College Students: An Example on Osmosis

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Ji; Liu, Ou Lydia; Sung, Shannon

2014-01-01

College science education needs to foster students' habit of mind beyond disciplinary constraints. However, little research has been devoted to assessing students' interdisciplinary understanding. To address this problem, we formed a team of experts from different disciplines to develop interdisciplinary assessments that target…

Towards Core Modelling Practices in Integrated Water Resource Management: An Interdisciplinary View of the Modelling Process

Science.gov (United States)

Jakeman, A. J.; Elsawah, S.; Pierce, S. A.; Ames, D. P.

2016-12-01

The National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) Core Modelling Practices Pursuit is developing resources to describe core practices for developing and using models to support integrated water resource management. These practices implement specific steps in the modelling process with an interdisciplinary perspective; however, the particular practice that is most appropriate depends on contextual aspects specific to the project. The first task of the pursuit is to identify the various steps for which implementation practices are to be described. This paper reports on those results. The paper draws on knowledge from the modelling process literature for environmental modelling (Jakeman et al., 2006), engaging stakeholders (Voinov and Bousquet, 2010) and general modelling (Banks, 1999), as well as the experience of the consortium members. We organise the steps around the four modelling phases. The planning phase identifies what is to be achieved, how and with what resources. The model is built and tested during the construction phase, and then used in the application phase. Finally, models that become part of the ongoing policy process require a maintenance phase. For each step, the paper focusses on what is to be considered or achieved, rather than how it is performed. This reflects the separation of the steps from the practices that implement them in different contexts. We support description of steps with a wide range of examples. Examples are designed to be generic and do not reflect any one project or context, but instead are drawn from common situations or from extremely different ones so as to highlight some of the issues that may arise at each step. References Banks, J. (1999). Introduction to simulation. In Proceedings of the 1999 Winter Simulation Conference. Jakeman, A. J., R. A. Letcher, and J. P. Norton (2006). Ten iterative steps in development and evaluation of environmental models. Environmental Modelling and Software 21, 602-614. Voinov, A

Effective healthcare process redesign through an interdisciplinary team approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Snyder, Rita; Huynh, Nathan; Cai, Bo; Vidal, José; Bennett, Kevin

2013-01-01

Healthcare process redesign is a complex and often high risk undertaking. Typically, there is a limited understanding of the baseline process and often inadequate tools by which to assess it. This can be confounded by narrow redesign team expertise that can result in unanticipated and/or unintended redesign consequences. Interdisciplinary research teams of healthcare, biostatistics, engineering and computer science experts provide broad support for a more effective and safer approach to healthcare process redesign. We describe an interdisciplinary research team focused on medication administration process (MAP)redesign and its achievements and challenges.

Interdisciplinary environmental impact statement examinations with parallel licensing procedures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gassner, E.

1990-01-01

The article investigates the question how the interdisciplinary, collective, integrative environmental impact statement can predominate the decisions in individual licensing procedures. It illustrates the requirements of the Act on Environmental Impact Statements. According to this Act, measures are to be found which deal with the overall complex, i.e. the entire system. In the article, the monitoring project organization's primary responsibility is emphasized: Analysis and prognosis of a project's environmental impacts are transferred to this organization for decision-preparation. Subsequent corrections or supplementations during the official approval procedure, or incorporation of the public through the authorities, do not change the matter. An all-comprehensive assessment must be based on all-comprehensive standards. From the point of view of immissions this is minimization of adverse effects on the nature cycle and landscape matters; from the point of view of emissions it is the duty of environment-compatible waste management within the sense of waste management legislation having to serve public welfare. (orig.) [de

[The question of interdisciplinary work in the daily work of a nurse in a mental health day care center].

Science.gov (United States)

Mello, R

1998-01-01

This study aim is the nurses perceptions inside the mental health daily attention centre and the interdisciplinary aspect their work. This study has emerged from the necessity of understanding the work and participation of the nurses who act in those new places together with a interdisciplinary group, taking into consideration that graduation does not educate nurses for this kind of work. The interdisciplinary work has been seen as a sine qua non condition for optimising care for people who suffer from serious psychological illness as it is in the II National Conference of Mental Health, the Caracas Conference and the Health Ministry 224 Edict. Quantitative study has been used in order to value each nurse experience as well as his/her professional history in Mental Care Exercise.

Radiological anatomy - evaluation of integrative education in radiology.

Science.gov (United States)

Dettmer, S; Schmiedl, A; Meyer, S; Giesemann, A; Pabst, R; Weidemann, J; Wacker, F K; Kirchhoff, T

2013-09-01

Evaluation and analysis of the integrative course "Radiological Anatomy" established since 2007 at the Medical School Hannover (MHH) in comparison with conventional education. Anatomy and radiology are usually taught separately with a considerable time lag. Interdisciplinary teaching of these associated subjects seems logical for several reasons. Therefore, the integrative course "Radiological Anatomy" was established in the second year of medical education, combining these two closely related subjects. This interdisciplinary course was retrospectively evaluated by consideration of a student questionnaire and staff observations. The advantages and disadvantages of integrative teaching in medical education are discussed. The course ratings were excellent (median 1; mean 1.3 on a scale of 1 to 6). This is significantly (p radiology increased during the course (88 %). According to the students' suggestions the course was enhanced by a visitation in the Department of Radiology and the additional topic central nervous system. Integrative teaching of anatomy and radiology was well received by the students. Both, anatomical and radiological comprehension and the motivation to learn were improved. However, it should be considered, that the amount of work and time required by the teaching staff is considerably increased compared to traditional teaching. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Nonextensive entropy interdisciplinary applications

CERN Document Server

Tsallis, Constantino

2004-01-01

A great variety of complex phenomena in many scientific fields exhibit power-law behavior, reflecting a hierarchical or fractal structure. Many of these phenomena seem to be susceptible to description using approaches drawn from thermodynamics or statistical mechanics, particularly approaches involving the maximization of entropy and of Boltzmann-Gibbs statistical mechanics and standard laws in a natural way. The book addresses the interdisciplinary applications of these ideas, and also on various phenomena that could possibly be quantitatively describable in terms of these ideas.

Research ethics and integrity for social scientists beyond regulatory compliance

CERN Document Server

Israel, Mark

2014-01-01

This book explores recent developments and debates around researching ethically and with integrity, and complying with ethical requirements, and has been updated and expanded to now cover issues relating to international, indigenous, interdisciplinary and internet research.  

Integrative production technology theory and applications

CERN Document Server

Özdemir, Denis

2017-01-01

This contributed volume contains the research results of the Cluster of Excellence “Integrative Production Technology for High-Wage Countries”, funded by the German Research Society (DFG). The approach to the topic is genuinely interdisciplinary, covering insights from fields such as engineering, material sciences, economics and social sciences. The book contains coherent deterministic models for integrative product creation chains as well as harmonized cybernetic models of production systems. The content is structured into five sections: Integrative Production Technology, Individualized Production, Virtual Production Systems, Integrated Technologies, Self-Optimizing Production Systems and Collaboration Productivity.The target audience primarily comprises research experts and practitioners in the field of production engineering, but the book may also be beneficial for graduate students. .

Impact of Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Research in Mathematics and Biology on the Development of a New Course Integrating Five STEM Disciplines

OpenAIRE

Caudill, Lester; Hill, April; Hoke, Kathy; Lipan, Ovidiu

2010-01-01

Funded by innovative programs at the National Science Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Richmond faculty in biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics, and computer science teamed up to offer first- and second-year students the opportunity to contribute to vibrant, interdisciplinary research projects. The result was not only good science but also good science that motivated and informed course development. Here, we describe four recent undergraduate research proj...

Interdisciplinary Research on Climate Change: Past Trends and Challenges for the Future

Science.gov (United States)

Marlon, J. R.; Mitchell, R.

2009-12-01

Interdisciplinary research is crucial to understanding complex and urgent environmental problems, particularly climate change. Universities are increasingly hosting trans-, multi-, and inter-disciplinary workshops and conferences and developing innovative interdisciplinary training programs (e.g., NSF’s IGERT program) to foster such research. Yet, much doctoral training remains highly disciplinary with very little evidence of graduate training producing transformative research that bridges the natural/social-science divide. Indeed, strong cultural and institutional obstacles often deter or preclude doctoral students from conducting such research. Here we analyze the past three decades of climate-change related dissertation abstracts to assess the balance between disciplinary and interdisciplinary scholarship among young climate change scholars. We analyze trends in the number of dissertations in natural vs. social science disciplines and code the abstracts of over 500 recent dissertations to assess how many dissertations reference one or more disciplines beyond the PhD-granting one. This research is sponsored by the Dissertations Initiative for the Advancement of Climate Change Research (DISCCRS).

Strategic Planning for Interdisciplinary Science: a Geoscience Success Story

Science.gov (United States)

Harshvardhan, D.; Harbor, J. M.

2003-12-01

The Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Purdue University has engaged in a continuous strategic planning exercise for several years, including annual retreats since 1997 as an integral part of the process. The daylong Saturday retreat at the beginning of the fall semester has been used to flesh out the faculty hiring plan for the coming year based on the prior years' plans. The finalized strategic plan is built around the choice of three signature areas, two in disciplinary fields, (i) geodynamics and active tectonics, (ii) multi-scale atmospheric interactions and one interdisciplinary area, (iii) atmosphere/surface interactions. Our experience with strategic planning and the inherently interdisciplinary nature of geoscience helped us recently when our School of Science, which consists of seven departments, announced a competition for 60 new faculty positions that would be assigned based on the following criteria, listed in order of priority - (i) scientific merit and potential for societal impact, (ii) multidisciplinary nature of topic - level of participation and leveraging potential, (iii) alignment with Purdue's strategic plan - discovery, learning, engagement, (iv) existence of critical mass at Purdue and availability of faculty and student candidate pools, (v) corporate and federal sponsor interest. Some fifty white papers promoting diverse fields were submitted to the school and seven were chosen after a school-wide retreat. The department fared exceedingly well and we now have significant representation on three of the seven school areas of coalescence - (i) climate change, (ii) computational science and (iii) science education research. We are now in the process of drawing up hiring plans and developing strategies for allocation and reallocation of resources such as laboratory space and faculty startup to accommodate the 20% growth in faculty strength that is expected over the next five years.

Geoarchaeology: interdisciplinary explanations for the archaeological research

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Acevedo, Benjamin

2014-01-01

Geoarchaeological research carried out in Costa Rica and some Central American countries are described. The link between geology and archaeology is described as an interdisciplinary field of research within the earth sciences, with the purpose of to solve problems referring to the life of the pre-Columbian societies of Central American regions and until of postconquest period. The topics developed in the geoarchaeological works have been on geophysical prospecting in archaeological sites, provenance analysis and characterization of raw materials, analysis of processes and technologies of production, detailed reading of materials under study, among others [es

Chronicles of laboratory workshops and interdisciplinary teaching

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Møller, Signe Juhl; Omar, Ghada Said Mohammed

2016-01-01

, exploring open ending activities within practice-based learning in a teaching setting, an in-progress research project, studying students interdisciplinary and inter-sectorial collaborations through practice related issues in a module on Maternal and Child Health will be presented. Doing so theory...... production within the social and humanistic sciences as a case, this presentation wishes to explore practiced-based research to draw out what this research strategy might offer to the conventional modes of research. Hence this will provide an interpretation of a case of practiced-based research. Furthermore...

Evaluating Interdisciplinary Collaborative Learning and Assessment in the Creative Arts and Humanities

Science.gov (United States)

Miles, Melissa; Rainbird, Sarah

2015-01-01

This article responds to the rising emphasis placed on interdisciplinary collaborative learning and its implications for assessment in higher education. It presents findings from a research project that examined the effectiveness of an interdisciplinary collaborative student symposium as an assessment task in an art school/humanities environment.…

Integrative approaches to investigating human-natural systems: the Baltimore ecosystem study

Science.gov (United States)

Mary L. Cadenasso; Steward T.A. Pickett; Morgan J. Grove; Morgan J. Grove

2006-01-01

This paper presents an overview of the research approaches used to study metropolitan Baltimore (Maryland, USA) as an ecological system. The urban ecosystem is a complex of biophysical, social, and built components, and is studied by an interdisciplinary teamof biological, social, and physical scientists, and urban designers. Ecology ?of? themetropolis is addressed...

Diagnosing and improving functioning in interdisciplinary health care teams.

Science.gov (United States)

Blackmore, Gail; Persaud, D David

2012-01-01

Interdisciplinary teams play a key role in the delivery of health care. Team functioning can positively or negatively impact the effective and efficient delivery of health care services as well as the personal well-being of group members. Additionally, teams must be able and willing to work together to achieve team goals within a climate that reflects commitment to team goals, accountability, respect, and trust. Not surprisingly, dysfunctional team functioning can limit the success of interdisciplinary health care teams. The first step in improving dysfunctional team function is to conduct an analysis based on criteria necessary for team success, and this article provides meaningful criteria for doing such an analysis. These are the following: a common team goal, the ability and willingness to work together to achieve team goals, decision making, communication, and team member relationships. High-functioning interdisciplinary teams must exhibit features of good team function in all key domains. If a team functions well in some domains and needs to improve in others, targeted strategies are described that can be used to improve team functioning.

Reflections on Interdisciplinary Collaboration between Sociology ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

If the original ambition of sociology to constitute itself into an encyclopaedia of the social sciences has largely failed (because of the obligation to restrict its scope through disciplinary specialization), the discipline has been more successful as a key actor in interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary encounters that cover a wide ...

Research and Teaching: Toward Interdisciplinary Perspectives--Using Osmotic Pressure as an Example for Analyzing Textbook Explanations

Science.gov (United States)

Sung, Shannon; Shen, Ji; Stanger-Hall, Kathrin F.; Wiegert, Craig; Li, Wan-l; Brown, Scott; Robertson, Tom

2015-01-01

Despite the increasing interests and practices in interdisciplinary science education, little research has been documented to develop effective assessments targeting students' interdisciplinary learning. In response to this gap, a team of scientists and educators developed an interdisciplinary assessment instrument targeting osmosis, which was…

Building Bridges. Researchers on their experiences with interdisciplinary research in the Netherlands

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

De Boer, Y.; De Gier, A.; Verschuur, M.; De Wit, B.

2006-01-01

The central question in this booklet is: what can we learn from interdisciplinary research and individual interdisciplinary researchers? How did they deal with specific problems in the field of epistemology, methodology and organization? What kind of persons are best suited to carry out interdisciplinary research or fulfil the task of project or programme coordinator? For this purpose, a series of interviews was held with fifteen scientists in the Netherlands. Most, but not all of the researchers interviewed are engaged in environmental and climate change research. A minority of the interviewed do research on other topics like demography, social geography, nano technology and philosophy of science

Towards a multidisciplinary and integrated strategy in the assessment of adverse health effects related to air pollution: The case study of Cracow (Poland) and asthma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oudinet, Jean-Paul; Meline, Julie; Chelmicki, Wojciech; Sanak, Marek; Magdalena, Dutsch-Wicherek; Besancenot, Jean-Pierre; Wicherek, Stanislas; Julien-Laferriere, Bertrand; Gilg, Jean-Paul; Geroyannis, Helene; Szczeklik, Andrew; Krzemien, Kazimierz

2006-01-01

Complex interaction between anthropogenic activities, air quality and human health in urban areas, such as in Cracow sustains the need for the development of an interdisciplinary and integrated risk-assessment methodology. In such purpose, we propose a pilot study performed on asthmatics and based on a combined use of a biomarker, such as metallothionein 2A (MT-2A) in the characterization of human exposure to one or a mixture of pollutants and of Geographical Information Systems (G.I.S.) which integrates climatic and urban anthropogenic parameters in the assessment of spatio-temporal dispersion of air pollutants. Considering global incidence of air pollution on asthma and on peripheral blood lymphocytes MT-2A expression should provide a complementary information on biological risks linked to urban anthropogenic activities. Such study would help for the establishment of a sustainable development in urban areas that can maintain the integrity of air quality and preserve human health. - An integrative risk methodology based on both geographic and molecular biological approaches is proposed for the assessment of asthmatics exposure to urban air pollution

An Interdisciplinary Education of Sustainability, Energy and Green Economics

Science.gov (United States)

Sikand, M. V.; Mazzatenta, C.; Wong, K.; Socha, A.

2017-12-01

This following project demonstrates an interdisciplinary method of teaching Sustainability, Energy and Green Economics. It is shown that an interdisciplinary approach to introduce students to the foundations of sustainability strongly connects education with real world applications, and highlights the growing influence of sustainable practices on the world at large. The authors will present results from the interdisciplinary course "Sustainability, Energy and Green Economy" taught at the Center of Sustainable Energy, Bronx Community College, City University of New York (CSE-BCC-CUNY) by faculty from Physics, Chemistry, Biology. The course curriculum covers the relationship of humans within their environment, the facts of climate change, an analysis of the current global energy portfolio, the burgeoning renewable energy sector, and connections between consumption and quality of life. The students are exposed to empirical data and asked to evaluate trends to ascertain the future energy and resource demands of a growing global population. The students are lead through an estimation of their own carbon footprint. Emphasis is made on the concept of `Life Cycle Analysis' and how such analyses can be used to create market value and a "green product". The interdisciplinary approach to teach students on how the principles of sustainability are building the green economy and how to build a successful career within today's workforce encourages students to apply the critical lens of sustainability to all aspects of their personal lives, as well as local, regional and global economies. The authors will present data collected by students to formulate and articulate a hypothesis specifically related to the sustainability of societal and economic market trends.

Interdisciplinary medical, nursing, and administrator education in practice: the Johns Hopkins experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Walrath, Jo M; Muganlinskaya, Nailya; Shepherd, Megan; Awad, Michael; Reuland, Charles; Makary, Martin A; Kravet, Steven

2006-08-01

Reforming graduate medical, nursing and health administrators' education to include the core competencies of interdisciplinary teamwork and quality improvement (QI) techniques is a key strategy to improve quality in hospital settings. Practicing clinicians are best positioned in these settings to understand systems issues and craft potential solutions. The authors describe how, in ten months during 2004 and 2005 the school of medicine, the school of nursing, and an administrative residency program, all at Johns Hopkins University, implemented and evaluated the Achieving Competency Today II Program (ACT II), a structured and interdisciplinary approach to learning QI that was piloted at various sites around the United States. Six teams of learners participated, each consisting of a medical, nursing, and administrative resident. The importance of interdisciplinary participation in planning QI projects, the value of the patient's perspective on systems issues, and the value of a system's perspective in crafting solutions to issues all proved to be valuable lessons. Challenges were encountered throughout the program, such as (1) participants' difficulties in balancing competing academic, personal and clinical responsibilities, (2) difficulties in achieving the intended goals of a broad curriculum, (3) barriers to openly discussing interdisciplinary team process and dynamics, and (4) the need to develop faculty expertise in systems thinking and QI. In spite of these challenges steps have been identified to further enhance and develop interdisciplinary education within this academic setting.

Interdisciplinary consensus on management of premenstrual disorders in Switzerland.

Science.gov (United States)

Stute, Petra; Bodmer, Christine; Ehlert, Ulrike; Eltbogen, Roger; Ging, Ankica; Streuli, Isabelle; von Wolff, Michael

2017-05-01

Premenstrual disorders (PMD) can affect women throughout their entire reproductive years. In 2016, an interdisciplinary expert meeting of general gynecologists, gynecological endocrinologists, psychiatrists and psychologists from Switzerland was held to provide an interdisciplinary algorithm on PMD management taking reproductive stages into account. The Swiss PMD algorithm differentiates between primary and secondary PMD care providers incorporating different levels of diagnostic and treatment. Treatment options include cognitive behavioral therapy, alternative therapy, antidepressants, ovulation suppression and diuretics. Treatment choice depends on prevalent PMD symptoms, (reproductive) age, family planning, cardiovascular risk factors, comorbidities, comedication and the woman's preference. Regular follow-ups are mandatory.

Interdisciplinary analysis of digital government work

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Scholl, Hans J.; Mai, Jens Erik; Fidel, Raya

2006-01-01

This bird-of-a-feather session attempts to break interdisciplinary ground in the context of work content, workflow, and work context analysis in Digital Government. The authors argue that using and connecting multiple theories and disciplines might yield more robust results and deeper understanding...... of the Digital Government evolution than strictly disciplinary research....

Capstone Interdisciplinary Team Project: A Requirement for the MS in Sustainability Degree

Science.gov (United States)

Jiji, Latif M.; Schonfeld, Irvin Sam; Smith, George A.

2015-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to describe experience gained with a required six-credit year-long course, the Capstone Interdisciplinary Team Project, a key component of the Master of Science (MS) in Sustainability degree at the City College of New York. A common feature of sustainability problems is their interdisciplinary nature. Solutions to…

The Impact of an Interdisciplinary Space Program on Computer Science Student Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Straub, Jeremy; Marsh, Ronald; Whalen, David

2015-01-01

Project-based learning and interdisciplinary projects present an opportunity for students to learn both technical skills and other skills which are relevant to their workplace success. This paper presents an assessment of the educational impact of the OpenOrbiter program, a student-run, interdisciplinary CubeSat (a type of small satellite with…

Tribes and tribulations: interdisciplinary eHealth in providing services for people with a traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Science.gov (United States)

Hines, M; Brunner, M; Poon, S; Lam, M; Tran, V; Yu, D; Togher, L; Shaw, T; Power, E

2017-11-21

eHealth has potential for supporting interdisciplinary care in contemporary traumatic brain injury (TBI) rehabilitation practice, yet little is known about whether this potential is being realised, or what needs to be done to further support its implementation. The purpose of this study was to explore health professionals' experiences of, and attitudes towards eHealth technologies to support interdisciplinary practice within rehabilitation for people after TBI. A qualitative study using narrative analysis was conducted. One individual interview and three focus groups were conducted with health professionals (n = 17) working in TBI rehabilitation in public and private healthcare settings across regional and metropolitan New South Wales, Australia. Narrative analysis revealed that participants held largely favourable views about eHealth and its potential to support interdisciplinary practice in TBI rehabilitation. However, participants encountered various issues related to (a) the design of, and access to electronic medical records, (b) technology, (c) eHealth implementation, and (d) information and communication technology processes that disconnected them from the work they needed to accomplish. In response, health professionals attempted to make the most of unsatisfactory eHealth systems and processes, but were still mostly unsuccessful in optimising the quality, efficiency, and client-centredness of their work. Attention to sources of disconnection experienced by health professionals, specifically design of, and access to electronic health records, eHealth resourcing, and policies and procedures related to eHealth and interdisciplinary practice are required if the potential of eHealth for supporting interdisciplinary practice is to be realised.

Interdisciplinary Astronomy Activities

Science.gov (United States)

Nerantzis, Nikolaos; Mitrouda, Aikaterini; Reizopoulou, Ioanna; Sidiropoulou, Eirini; Hatzidimitriou, Antonios

2016-04-01

On November 9th, 2015, three didactical hours were dedicated to Interdisciplinary Astronomy Activities (http://wp.me/p6Hte2-1I). Our students and their teachers formed three groups and in rotation, were engaged with the following activities: (a) viewing unique images of the Cosmos in the mobile planetarium STARLAB (http://www.planitario.gr/tholos-starlab-classic-standard.html), (b) watching the following videos: Journey to the end of the universe (https://youtu.be/Ufl_Nwbl8xs), Rosetta update (https://youtu.be/nQ9ivd7wv30), The Solar System (https://youtu.be/d66dsagrTa0), Ambition the film (https://youtu.be/H08tGjXNHO4) in the school's library. Students and teachers were informed about our solar system, the Rosetta mission, the universe, etc. and (c) tactile activities such as Meet our home and Meet our neighbors (http://astroedu.iau.org, http://nuclio.org/astroneighbours/resources) and the creation of planets' 3D models (Geology-Geography A' Class Student's book, pg.15). With the activities above we had the pleasure to join the Cosmic Light Edu Kit / International Year of Light 2015 program. After our Interdisciplinary Astronomy Activities, we did a "small" research: our students had to fill an evaluation about their educational gains and the results can be found here http://wp.me/p6Hte2-2q. Moreover, we discussed about Big Ideas of Science (http://wp.me/p3oRiZ-dm) and through the "big" impact of the Rosetta mission & the infinity of our universe, we print posters with relevant topics and place them to the classrooms. We thank Rosa Doran (Nuclio - President of the Executive Council) for her continuous assistance and support on innovative science teaching proposals. She is an inspiration.

Intracranial aneurysms: optimized diagnostic tools call for thorough interdisciplinary treatment strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

Mueller, Oliver M; Schlamann, Marc; Mueller, Daniela; Sandalcioglu, I Erol; Forsting, Michael; Sure, Ulrich

2011-09-01

Intracranial aneurysms (IAs) require deliberately selected treatment strategies as they are incrementally found prior to rupture and deleterious subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH). Multiple and recurrent aneurysms necessitate both neurointerventionalists and neurosurgeons to optimize aneurysmal occlusion in an interdisciplinary effort. The present study was conducted to condense essential strategies from a single neurovascular centre with regard to the lessons learned. Medical charts of 321 consecutive patients treated for IAs at our centre from September 2008 until December 2010 were retrospectively analysed for clinical presentation of the aneurysms, multiplicity and treatment pathways. In addition, a selective Medline search was performed. A total of 321 patients with 492 aneurysms underwent occlusion of their symptomatic aneurysm: 132 (41.1%) individuals were treated surgically, 189 (58.2%) interventionally; 138 patients presented with a SAH, of these 44.2% were clipped and 55.8% were coiled. Aneurysms of the middle cerebral artery were primarily occluded surgically (88), whereas most of the aneurysms of the internal carotid artery and anterior communicating artery (114) were treated endovascularly. Multiple aneurysms (range 2-5 aneurysms/individual) were diagnosed in 98 patients (30.2%). During the study period 12 patients with recurrent aneurysms were allocated to another treatment modality (previously clip to coil and vice versa). Our data show that successful interdisciplinary occlusion of IAs is based on both neurosurgical and neurointerventional therapy. In particular, multiple and recurrent aneurysms require tailored individual approaches to aneurysmal occlusion. This is achieved by a consequent interdisciplinary pondering of the optimal strategy to occlude IAs in order to prevent SAH.

An interdisciplinary investigation into the narratives of three co-researchers: A postfoundational notion of practical theology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juanita Meyer

2015-11-01

Full Text Available This article elaborates on the sixth movement of a postfoundational notion of practical theology and is concerned with giving a description of experiences, which are thickened through interdisciplinary investigation. The experiences of interest are those of the co-researchers who formed part of the larger research study, conducted in 2010, and who were at the time adolescent male orphans, affected by HIV and AIDS, poverty and father abandonment. The research was conducted within the theoretical frameworks of a postfoundational notion of practical theology, narrative therapy and research, and social constructionism. A qualitative research strategy was employed, with the case study design as point of departure in collecting and analysing research data. Various key aspects were investigated with the use of the model of narrative and the seven movements of a postfoundational notion of practical theology. The aim of this article is to provide an illustration of the application of the principles of a postfoundational notion of practical theology, and its sixth movement – an interdisciplinary investigation – as it is applied within this specific research context. Four interdisciplinary conversationalists, each from a different academic field, were invited to reflect on the three narrated stories of the co-researchers. This article, then, gives a report on their feedback and the value of interdisciplinary investigation in aiding, with the understanding of the meaningmaking process behind collected narratives.

Balancing Renewable Electricity Energy Storage, Demand Side Management, and Network Extension from an Interdisciplinary Perspective

CERN Document Server

Droste-Franke, Bert; Rehtanz, Christian; Sauer, Dirk Uwe; Schneider, Jens-Peter; Schreurs, Miranda; Ziesemer, Thomas

2012-01-01

A significant problem of integrating renewable energies into the electricity system is the temporally fluctuating energy production by wind and solar power plants. Thus, in order to meet the ambitious long-term targets on CO2 emission reduction, long-term viable low-carbon options for balancing electricity will be needed. This interdisciplinary study analyses published future energy scenarios in order to get an impression of the required balancing capacities and shows which framework conditions should be modified to support their realisation. The authors combine their perspectives from energy engineering, technology assessment, political science, economical science and jurisprudence and address science, politics, actors in the energy sector and the interested public. Respectively, requirements for the balancing systems are analysed, considering the case of Germany as a large country with high ambitions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, an approach to investigate the optimal design of the techn...

The delineation of an interdisciplinary specialty in terms of a journal set: the case of communication studies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Leydesdorff, L.; Probst, C.

2009-01-01

A journal set in an interdisciplinary or newly developing area can be determined by including the journals classified under the most relevant ISI Subject Categories into a journal-journal citation matrix. Despite the fuzzy character of borders, factor analysis of the citation patterns enables us to

The eXtraordinarY Kids Clinic: an interdisciplinary model of care for children and adolescents with sex chromosome aneuploidy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tartaglia N

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Nicole Tartaglia,1,2 Susan Howell,1,2 Rebecca Wilson,2 Jennifer Janusz,1,2 Richard Boada,1,2 Sydney Martin,2 Jacqueline B Frazier,2 Michelle Pfeiffer,2 Karen Regan,2 Sarah McSwegin,2 Philip Zeitler1,2 1Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, 2Child Development Unit, Children's Hospital Colorado, Aurora, CO, USA Purpose: Individuals with sex chromosome aneuploidies (SCAs are born with an atypical number of X and/or Y chromosomes, and present with a range of medical, developmental, educational, behavioral, and psychological concerns. Rates of SCA diagnoses in infants and children are increasing, and there is a need for specialized interdisciplinary care to address associated risks. The eXtraordinarY Kids Clinic was established to provide comprehensive and experienced care for children and adolescents with SCA, with an interdisciplinary team composed of developmental–behavioral pediatrics, endocrinology, genetic counseling, child psychology, pediatric neuropsychology, speech–language pathology, occupational therapy, nursing, and social work. The clinic model includes an interdisciplinary approach to care, where assessment results by each discipline are integrated to develop unified diagnostic impressions and treatment plans individualized for each patient. Additional objectives of the eXtraordinarY Kids Clinic program include prenatal genetic counseling, research, education, family support, and advocacy. Methods: Satisfaction surveys were distributed to 496 patients, and responses were received from 168 unique patients. Results: Satisfaction with the overall clinic visit was ranked as “very satisfied” in 85%, and as “satisfied” in another 9.8%. Results further demonstrate specific benefits from the clinic experience, the importance of a knowledgeable clinic coordinator, and support the need for similar clinics across the country. Three case examples of the interdisciplinary approach to assessment and

Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Librarian Involvement in Grant Projects

Science.gov (United States)

Brandenburg, Marci D.; Cordell, Sigrid Anderson; Joque, Justin; MacEachern, Mark P.; Song, Jean

2017-01-01

Librarians are excellent research collaborators, although librarian participation is not usually considered, thereby making access to research funds difficult. The University of Michigan Library became involved in the university's novel funding program, MCubed, which supported innovative interdisciplinary research on campus, primarily by funding…

Getting Back to Living: Further Evidence for the Efficacy of an Interdisciplinary Pediatric Pain Treatment Program.

Science.gov (United States)

Bruce, Barbara K; Ale, Chelsea M; Harrison, Tracy E; Bee, Susan; Luedtke, Connie; Geske, Jennifer; Weiss, Karen E

2017-06-01

This study examined key functional outcomes following a 3-week interdisciplinary pediatric pain rehabilitation program for adolescents with chronic pain. Maintenance of gains was evaluated at 3-month follow-up. Participants included 171 adolescents (12 to 18 y of age) with chronic pain who completed a hospital-based outpatient pediatric pain rehabilitation program. Participants completed measures of functional disability, depressive symptoms, pain catastrophizing, opioid use, school attendance, and pain severity at admission, discharge, and at 3-month follow-up. Similar to other interdisciplinary pediatric pain rehabilitation program outcome studies, significant improvements were observed at the end of the program. These improvements appeared to be maintained or further improved at 3-month follow-up. Nearly 14% of the patients were taking daily opioid medication at admission to the program. All adolescents were completely tapered off of these medications at the end of the 3-week program and remained abstinent at 3-month follow-up. This study adds to the available data supporting interdisciplinary pediatric pain rehabilitation as effective in improving functioning and psychological distress even when discontinuing opioids. Implications for future research and limitations of the study are discussed.

Innovative application of a new PBL model to interdisciplinary and intercultural projects

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Jens Frederik Dalsgaard; Du, Xiangyun; Kolmos, Anette

2010-01-01

In the knowledge society, learning is not only knowledge acquisition or participation in established social practice. It is also a process of creating new knowledge collaboratively when addressing complex problems which involve interdisciplinary knowledge and innovative thinking. In our research ...... the learning process in the ICT-based, intercultural and interdisciplinary PBL environment of an international student satellite project....

Interdisciplinary practice on PET-SAÚDE for public school teachers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kelly Alves de Almeida

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Objectives: To explore the health status of public school teachers from the perspective of the physiotherapist and the speech pathologist, in order to develop and implement a proposal of preventive intervention for this population, through self-care measures carried out in groups. Methods: This is a research - action qualitative study, with the completion of six meetings that took place fortnightly, lasting 45 minutes in average, covering physical therapy and speech therapy self-care. At the first meeting, a questionnaire was applied to collect personal and professional data and variables: physical therapy, pain sites, seated posturepermanence, speech therapy, annoyance in their voice, throat exams, water intake, strategies to maintain the order in the classroom. The sample consisted on 12 teachers linked to a public elementary school in Fortaleza-CE, Brazil. Results: All teachers made complaintsabout pain in the body and the types of pain most frequently reported were burning and stabbing. The majority (83.3% reported never been submitted to physical therapy to relieve symptoms. In respect to speech complaints, 91.6% (11 of the study group reported discomfortin his voice and only one has held speech therapy, for six months. Conclusions: Integral, intersectional and interdisciplinary actions are needed, in order to prevent and early detect and treat physical or speech disorders that are characteristic of the profession. Group work proved to be a rich in possibilities tool.

Using Case Studies to Teach Interdisciplinary Water Resource Sustainability

Science.gov (United States)

Orr, C. H.; Tillotson, K.

2012-12-01

Teaching about water resources and often emphasizes the biophysical sciences to understand highly complex hydrologic, ecologic and engineering systems, yet most impediments to improving management emerge from social processes. Challenges to more sustainable management often result from trade-offs among stakeholders (e.g., ecosystem services, energy, municipal use, and agriculture) and occur while allocating resources to competing goals of economic development, social equity, and efficient governance. Competing interests operating across multiple scales can increase tensions and prevent collaborative resolution of resource management problems. Here we discuss using specific, place-based cases to teach the interdisciplinary context of water management. Using a case approach allows instructors to first explore the geologic and hydrologic setting of a specific problem to let students understand where water comes from, then how it is used by people and ecosystems, and finally what conflicts arise from mismatches between water quality, quantity, timing, human demand, and ecosystem needs. The case approach helps students focus on specific problem to understand how the landscape influences water availability, without needing to first learn everything about the relevant fields. We look at geology, hydrology and climate in specific watersheds before addressing the human and ecosystem aspects of the broader, integrated system. This gives students the context to understand what limits water availability and how a water budget constrains possible solutions to sustainability problems. It also mimics the approach we have taken in research addressing these problems. In an example case the Spokane Coeur D'Alene basin, spanning the border between SE Washington and NW Idaho, includes a sole source aquifer system with high exchange between surface water and a highly conductive aquifer. The Spokane River does not meet water quality standards and is likely to face climate driven shifts

Introduction to the Special Issue: New and Interdisciplinary Approaches to Linguistic Relativity

Science.gov (United States)

Athanasopoulos, Panos; Bylund, Emanuel; Casasanto, Daniel

2016-01-01

This Special Issue of "Language Learning" presents an interdisciplinary state-of-the-art overview of current approaches to linguistic relativity. It contains empirical and theoretical studies and reflections on linguistic relativity from a variety of perspectives, such as associative learning, conceptual transfer, multilingual awareness,…

An Evaluation of Three Interdisciplinary Social Science Events outside of the College Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Knapp, Sarah; Merges, Renee

2017-01-01

This article describes three interdisciplinary events held outside of the classroom to examine social psychological concepts in the criminal justice system, with undergraduate students enrolled in criminal justice and psychology courses. These events can most accurately be described as using a synthetic interdisciplinary approach, in which the…

Optimising Inter-Disciplinary Problem-Based Learning in Postgraduate Environmental and Science Education: Recommendations from a Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Redshaw, Clare H; Frampton, Ian

2014-01-01

As the value of multi-disciplinary working in the business and research worlds is becoming more recognised, the number of inter-disciplinary postgraduate environmental and health sciences courses is also increasing. Equally, the popularity of problem-based learning (PBL) is expected to grow and influence instructional approaches in many…

Identifying Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration in Instructional Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Cho, Yonjoo

2017-01-01

Interdisciplinarity is defined as communication and collaboration across academic disciplines. The instructional technology (IT) field has claimed to have an interdisciplinary nature influenced by neighboring fields such as psychology, communication, and management. However, it has been difficult to find outstanding evidence of the field's…

Interdisciplinary project-based learning: technology for improving student cognition

OpenAIRE

Natalia Stozhko; Boris Bortnik; Ludmila Mironova; Albina Tchernysheva; Ekaterina Podshivalova

2015-01-01

The article studies a way of enhancing student cognition by using interdisciplinary project-based learning (IPBL) in a higher education institution. IPBL is a creative pedagogic approach allowing students of one area of specialisation to develop projects for students with different academic profiles. The application of this approach in the Ural State University of Economics resulted in a computer-assisted learning system (CALS) designed by IT students. The CALS was used in an analytical chemi...

A DSM-based framework for integrated function modelling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Eisenbart, Boris; Gericke, Kilian; Blessing, Lucienne T. M.

2017-01-01

an integrated function modelling framework, which specifically aims at relating between the different function modelling perspectives prominently addressed in different disciplines. It uses interlinked matrices based on the concept of DSM and MDM in order to facilitate cross-disciplinary modelling and analysis...... of the functionality of a system. The article further presents the application of the framework based on a product example. Finally, an empirical study in industry is presented. Therein, feedback on the potential of the proposed framework to support interdisciplinary design practice as well as on areas of further...

Medieval Iceland, Greenland, and the New Human Condition: A case study in integrated environmental humanities

Science.gov (United States)

Hartman, Steven; Ogilvie, A. E. J.; Ingimundarson, Jón Haukur; Dugmore, A. J.; Hambrecht, George; McGovern, T. H.

2017-09-01

This paper contributes to recent studies exploring the longue durée of human impacts on island landscapes, the impacts of climate and other environmental changes on human communities, and the interaction of human societies and their environments at different spatial and temporal scales. In particular, the paper addresses Iceland during the medieval period (with a secondary, comparative focus on Norse Greenland) and discusses episodes where environmental and climatic changes have appeared to cross key thresholds for agricultural productivity. The paper draws upon international, interdisciplinary research in the North Atlantic region led by the North Atlantic Biocultural Organization (NABO) and the Nordic Network for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies (NIES) in the Circumpolar Networks program of the Integrated History and Future of People on Earth (IHOPE). By interlinking analyses of historically grounded literature with archaeological studies and environmental science, valuable new perspectives can emerge on how these past societies may have understood and coped with such impacts. As climate and other environmental changes do not operate in isolation, vulnerabilities created by socioeconomic factors also beg consideration. The paper illustrates the benefits of an integrated environmental-studies approach that draws on data, methodologies and analytical tools of environmental humanities, social sciences, and geosciences to better understand long-term human ecodynamics and changing human-landscape-environment interactions through time. One key goal is to apply previously unused data and concerted expertise to illuminate human responses to past changes; a secondary aim is to consider how lessons derived from these cases may be applicable to environmental threats and socioecological risks in the future, especially as understood in light of the New Human Condition, the concept transposed from Hannah Arendt's influential framing of the human condition that is

The Interdisciplinary Curriculum: A Literary Review and a Manual for Administrators and Teachers.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Jaimie; Karr-Kidwell, PJ

The purpose of this paper was to provide a literary review and to create a manual explaining the difference between an interdisciplinary curriculum and other curriculum approaches. An interdisciplinary curriculum is a holistic approach that links the disciplines by emphasizing relationships and connections. A different approach to curriculum…

Diagnostic radiology on multiple injured patients: interdisciplinary management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Linsenmaier, U.; Pfeifer, K.J.; Kanz, K.G.; Mutschler, W.

2001-01-01

The presence of a radiologist within the admitting area of an emergency department and his capability as a member of the trauma team have a major impact on the role of diagnostic radiology in trauma care. The knowledge of clinical decision criteria, algorithms, and standards of patient care are essential for the acceptance within a trauma team. We present an interdisciplinary management concept of diagnostic radiology for trauma patients, which comprises basic diagnosis, organ diagnosis, radiological ABC, and algorithms of early clinical care. It is the result of a prospective study comprising over 2000 documented multiple injured patients. The radiologist on a trauma team should support trauma surgery and anesthesia in diagnostic and clinical work-up. The radiological ABC provides a structured approach for diagnostic imaging in all steps of the early clinical care of the multiple injured patient. Radiological ABC requires a reevaluation in cases of equivocal findings or difficulties in the clinical course. Direct communication of radiological findings with the trauma team enables quick clinical decisions. In addition, the radiologist can priority-oriented influence the therapy by using interventional procedures. The clinical radiologist is an active member of the interdisciplinary trauma team, not only providing diagnostic imaging but also participating in clinical decisions. (orig.) [de

Teacher Perspectives of Interdisciplinary Coteaching Relationships in a Clinical Skills Course: A Relational Coordination Theory Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Daniel, Michelle M; Ross, Paula; Stalmeijer, Renée E; de Grave, Willem

2018-01-01

Phenomenon: Interdisciplinary coteaching has become a popular pedagogic model in medical education, yet there is insufficient research to guide effective practices in this context. Coteaching relationships are not always effective, which has the potential to affect the student experience. The purpose of this study was to explore interdisciplinary coteaching relationships between a physician (MD) and social behavioral scientist (SBS) in an undergraduate clinical skills course. We aimed to gain an in-depth understanding of what teachers perceive as influencing the quality of relationships to begin to construct a framework for collaborative teaching in medical education. A qualitative study was conducted consisting of 12 semistructured interviews (6 MD and 6 SBS) and 2 monodisciplinary focus groups. Sampling was purposive and aimed at maximal variation from among 64 possible faculty. The data were analyzed using the constant comparative method to develop a grounded theory. Five major themes resulted from the analysis that outline a framework for interdisciplinary coteaching: respect, shared goals, shared knowledge and understanding, communication, and complementary pairings. Insights: The first 4 themes align with elements of relational coordination theory, an organizational theory of collaborative practice that describes how work roles interact. The complementary pairings extend this theory from work roles to individuals, with unique identities and personal beliefs and values about teaching. Prior studies on coteaching have not provided a clear linkage to theory. The conceptual framework helps suggest future directions for coteaching research and has practical implications for administrative practices and faculty development. These findings contribute to the sparse research in medical education on interdisciplinary coteaching relationships.