Use Of Case Studies Research Articles

Using remote sensing and GIS technology for an improved decision support: a case study of residential water use in El Paso, Texas

This paper presents a case study of using remote sensing and geographic information system technology for extracting green-surface areas of a residential neighborhood (933.20 acres) of El Paso, Texas. Four IKONOS images (September 2000) and a parcel layer were used to identify the green-surface areas which is an important variable in modelling the outdoor water use of individual households. The modelled outdoor water use together with indoor water use was compared with water meter reading and was used to analyse the behaviour of individual household-based water consumption. The modelling processes improve our understanding of water consumption and resource distributions so that a better decision in water management can be made. The results showed that pervious (green) and impervious surfaces constitute 26% and 74% of the total area of the 2422 parcel lots, and 21% and 79% of the entire study area, respectively. Average indoor water use of 2374 residential parcels is 31 m3 (or 11 ccf) per month, derived by averaging the water use of December, January and February. Estimation of outdoor water demand for the landscape was based on monthly potential evapotranspiration information and the delineated green-surface area of each parcel. Thus, the difference between the water meter reading and estimated (indoor and outdoor) water uses can be calculated. This study provides an alternative and quick approach to help water departments in efficiently monitoring the water use of each household.

The Use of Interrupted Case Studies to Enhance Critical Thinking Skills in Biology

There has been a dramatic increase in the availability of case studies for use in the biology classroom, and perceptions of the effectiveness of case-study-based learning are overwhelmingly positive. Here we report the results of a study in which we evaluated the ability of interrupted case studies to improve critical thinking in the context of experimental design and the conventions of data interpretation. Students were assessed using further case studies designed to evaluate their ability to recognize and articulate problematic approaches to these elements of experimentation. Our work reveals that case studies have broad utility in the classroom. In addition to demonstrating a small but statistically significant increase in the number of students capable of critically evaluating selected aspects of experimental design, we also observed increased student engagement and documented widespread misconceptions regarding the conventions of data acquisition and analysis.

S1402-1-3 標準技術の相互活用による工場内情報連携(第3報) : ORiNによる異メーカ・異種機器接続(生産システムの新展開(応用・実践1))

ORiN (Open Resource Interface for the Network / Open Robot Interface for the Network) is a standardized specification that provides a unified access interface and a data representation to access informational resources in any kinds of equipments in factories, robots, machine tools, PLCs, other various controllers and so on. In this paper, we introduce an outline of ORiN, various activities for the promotion of spreading ORiN by ORiN Forum. And, some case studies of use of ORiN, such as monitoring and control of production lines, are introduced.

Evaluative Criteria to Create and Assess Case Studies for Use in Ethical Decision-Making Analysis

The case method approach to analyze ethical dilemmas is common in graduate public administration ethics courses or public administration courses that include an ethical component. To keep the cases current, relevant, and engaging, the instructor can draw on the wealth of personal experiences that students offer. The dilemmas they face in day-to-day public service are rich in complex relationships, organizational and political pressures, and competing personal and professional values, but the scenarios must incorporate certain characteristics to maximize classroom discussion and to ensure that key ethical issues receive sufficient attention. This article provides the criteria by which students are taught to frame their experiences with ethical dilemmas so that those cases can be formally delivered to the class, ignite debate, and clearly demonstrate essential components of ethical decision-making analysis. These required conditions for formulating a quality case study for analysis may similarly serve as a means to evaluate the quality of any professionally produced case study available for use in the classroom; this article also offers the criteria by which cases may be critiqued.

A case study of the use of the Records Management Capacity Assessment System (RMCAS) software tool across the London Museums Hub

PurposeThis paper aims to document a case study of recent use of the International Records Management Trust's Records Management Assessment System (RMCAS) software tool.Design/methodology/approachThe author used RMCAS as the primary data collection tool in an assessment of records management across the London Museums Hub.FindingsThe application of RMCAS in a museum context underlined its flexibility for use within the public sector outside of central government ministries. While RMCAS continues to serve as an excellent data collection tool that can deliver high‐level analyses, its use outside central government highlights the potential benefits of some re‐design in its next generation.Originality/valueThis paper can serve as a guide to others considering the use of RMCAS outside its original context.

Professional Doctorates and Emerging Online Pedagogies

The development and implementation of networked learning within postgraduate programmes is increasing, but there is emerging evidence that the use of networked technology within these programmes is creating specific challenges that reflect the cultural, professional and educational expectations of students as they develop expertise in research, particularly in the case of the professional doctorate. The implications of using networked technology for the development of communities of practice of researchers have not yet been fully identified nor understood nor have its benefits been explored. In this paper, we address these issues by presenting a case study of the development of interactive online research narratives as the basis for the teaching of research methods in professional doctorate programmes.New technology and networked learning has had to date a surprisingly limited impact on teaching and learning practice within professional doctorate programmes. Learning technology has been identified by a number of researchers as having potential to bring more flexibility into the learning and teaching of research methods. Despite the existence of considerable distance learning provision supporting remote location students, however, there is not much evidence that this is happening. We argue that networked learning has the potential to change the pedagogic practice of professional doctorates, not only through flexible learning in relation to time, place, topics and use of resources, but also for the development of higher order knowledge and metacognition where we can involve students in rich interactions with peers and more experienced researchers and engagement with authentic examples and insights about practice We will present outcomes from the V-ResORT Project (Virtual Resources for Online Research Project to address these issues. This work has been funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) over a three year period from 2004-7. The V-ResORT Project has developed innovative online learning materials that provide video narratives of researchers exploring key questions connected with their work. These narratives are displayed using the MS Producer video streaming software as a series of short 3-5 minute clips in higher resolution alongside PowerPoint slides and a transcript that enable the user to easily navigate through a complete narrative and provides them with support for the often complex language used within research methodology.We will give a demonstration of some clips of video narratives that capture effective practice as case studies of use. We will briefly discuss the theoretical framework for the context of use in professional doctorate programmes and for developing the video narratives. We will draw on empirical data to present evidence of how we achieved this, particularly in attempting to embed capabilities within the online materials of reusability and personalisation, the relationship between these and student feedback. Our strategies for reusability have resulted in new scenarios of use, for example the development of a Virtual Graduate School.

Student Attitudes and Perceptions of an Online Problem-based Learning Case Study in Landscape Management

Horticulture graduates entering the landscape (design, installation, and maintenance) segment of the green industry will be faced with a myriad of complicated decision scenarios. Graduates must be able to integrate their understanding of plant science, environmental and physical site constraints, and the human impact on built and natural landscapes to make complex decisions. The objectives of this project were to develop an online case study for use in landscape management and landscape construction courses, and to determine students' perceptions of using this virtual case study to practice active problem solving in landscape horticulture. After completing a scenario from the online case study, students were asked to complete a 20-question survey instrument consisting of open- and close-ended questions evaluating the case study. Sixty-nine surveys were returned and useable, for a response rate of 76.6%. Overall student attitudes and perceptions of the online case study were positive. Participants felt comfortable using the web-based format (4.3 of 5), and felt it was an effective way to deliver information (4.1). Furthermore, participants rated their ability to summarize the scenario data as 4.2 and also felt confident in their ability (4.1) to make a landscape management recommendation to the homeowner.

Academic Subject Guides: A Case Study of Use at San José State University

Subject guides are lists of resources created to assist students with their research needs. While academic librarians ascribe great importance to subject guide development, it is difficult to tell whether students find them useful. A review of the literature reveals a lack of user-centered data in this area. This study investigates students’ use of subject guides in three areas of study—Nursing, Journalism & Mass Communications, and Organization & Management. Results indicate that students who have received library instruction tend to use subject guides more frequently and find them useful.

The ATLAS Experience With Databases for Structured Data With Temporal and Hierarchical Order

Developing systems for the ATLAS (A Toroidal LHC ApparatuS) detector at LHC poses a new set of challenges like the storage of enormous amounts of data with different structures. This data is not only traditional Conditions Data which is slowly evolving data but also data from the online systems which cannot be stored with the event data but must be accessible from each event, like run information. Following the requirements from such systems we have developed a system which provides the facility to store structural data in a time order and with the possibility to classify hierarchically. We will also present a case study of use in the online systems of the ATLAS experiment where this system was used to store online data. Furthermore, we will show the different interfaces developed for this system and its use in different areas of application

SU-8: promising resist for advanced direct LIGA applications for high aspect ratio mechanical microparts

A case study of use of negative type SU-8 X-ray sensitive resist for fabrication of advanced, highly precise, ultra tall direct LIGA mechanical microparts is presented in this paper. Using direct LIGA technique, ∼1 mm tall highly precise metallic gear wheels are being fabricated, previously using PMMA based process. Starting from a non-optimized non-satisfying SU-8 process, significant process parameters for process optimization were identified using statistical design of experiment. By varying the significant process parameters, SU-8 process was further optimized with respect to critical aspect of sidewall bow and tilt of metallic structures. After the optimization, metallic parts fabricated using SU-8 process showed comparable quality as those fabricated using PMMA based process.

Long-Term Prevention of Pressure Ulcers in High-Risk Patients: A Single Case Study of the Use of Gluteal Neuromuscular Electric Stimulation

Bogie KM, Wang X, Triolo RJ. Long-term prevention of pressure ulcers in high-risk patients: a single case study of the use of gluteal neuromuscular electric stimulation. Objective To evaluate the efficacy of gluteal neuromuscular electric stimulation (NMES) using implanted percutaneous electrodes to improve regional tissue health and decrease the risk of pressure ulcer development. Design Case study of long-term use of gluteal NMES. Setting Community. Participant A patient with a C4-level American Spinal Injury Association grade A spinal cord injury, 22 years postinjury at study enrollment, and a clinical history of regular grade II and occasional IV ischial pressure ulcers. Intervention Gluteal NMES using an electric stimulation system comprising a combination of implanted percutaneous electrodes and an external stimulator (controller). Main Outcome Measures Objective measurements of tissue health comprising evaluation of gluteal muscle thickness, interface pressures, and regional blood flow. Subjective self-reported sitting tolerance. Results Increased gluteal muscle thickness and blood flow together with reduced regional interface pressures occurred. Weight-shifting because of alternating left and right gluteal NMES became more effective over time as the muscles strengthened. Sitting tolerance more than doubled. Conclusions A gluteal NMES system has been developed that provides both improved regional tissue health and dynamic weight shifting while seated in the wheelchair. In the current case, regular daily use had a positive impact on multiple indirect indicators of tissue health. Continued use was indicated as the positive effects were lost when stimulation was discontinued.

Abbreviated Case Studies in Organizational Communication

Objective: Upon completion of this activity, students, based upon their personal and professional experiences, should be able to develop abbreviated case studies for use in organizational communication classes Course: Organizational Communication

An Extreme Example?

With Eichmann in Jerusalem, we have, I would admit, a most unlikely case study for use in a business ethics classroom. The story of Eichmann is already some sixty years old, and his activities in his career as a Nazi were far beyond the pale of even the most egregious cases found in the typical business ethics case books. No doubt, there is some truth to the fact that introducing Eichmann’s story into an applied ethics class would inevitably depict an unseemly analogy between the practices of latter day corporations and the bureaucracy of the Nazi era. My argument here, though, is that the story of Adolf Eichmann, as depicted in Hannah Arendt’s well-known Eichmann in Jerusalem, offers a philosophically cogent account of judgment and ethical decision-making that future business managers and employees would do well to heed. Indeed, Eichmann in Jerusalem, originally a series of press accounts for New Yorker magazine, deserves consideration alongside the Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics, Kant’s Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals, and other classic ethics texts in a business ethics syllabus. This is not to say that Arendt’s work is uncontroversial; there are serious questions to be raised about both her depiction of Eichmann and her conclusions about “the banality of evil.” Nevertheless, her account of ethics, which, with its account of ethical duties and its case study of Eichmann’s character, shows both its Aristotelian and Kantian influences, is a warning to readers who would conflate morality with state laws and their duties with the needs of superiors. In short, I argue that, despite her well-known critique of modern large scale economies and her general avoidance of discussions of post-industrial corporations, Arendt may be a business ethicist of the first order.

Introduction to the Special Issue on New Case Studies forTechnical and Professional Communication Courses

This special issue of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION focuses on developing new case studies for use in technical and professional communication courses. The term “case study” used here refers to descriptions of real world events that illustrate particular communication problems through collections of primary documents and secondary materials. While case study pedagogy provides students with many benefits, such as concrete applications of technical communication theory, there are distinct challenges that may prevent instructors from developing case studies, such as collecting primary documents as they become available in the media. The case studies treated in the special issue focus on the following events: the crash of Air Midwest Flight 5481; the accounting scandals of the Enron corporation; the communication crisis at Brookhaven National Laboratory; the leaking of nuclear material at the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Plant; the Texas AM and airline press releases in the wake of the attack on the World Trade Center.

Interpretation and Explanation of Research and Evaluation Results: A Case Study in Use and Misuse

Interpretation and Explanation of Research and Evaluation Results: A Case Study in Use and Misuse

Lizzi’s Structural System Retrofit with Reticulated Internal Reinforcement Method

The internal reinforcement method (IRM) was developed by Fernando Lizzi in the early 1950s. It is a complete structural system reinforcement method used to retrofit nonreinforced masonry and stone structures and any associated foundation systems. The general design principles of the foundation retrofit are similar to the principles used in the structure retrofit, for placement and engagement of reinforcement. The IRM technology integrates the complete structure, the foundation and bridge or building, into a continuously reinforced seismic-resistant system. The Three Arches Bridge is the only three-span bridge in Venice today. Built in the 17th century, this simple pedestrian bridge was constructed of nonreinforced clay brick masonry with spread footings bearing on the canal floor. Over time, the differential settlement caused localized distress to the overall structure. It was in such a state of disrepair that it was scheduled for demolition in the early 1960s. Lizzi was named to design and construct the historic preservation and structural retrofit of the complete structure. This was accomplished with reticulated internal structural stitching and reticulated micropiles. This structure is a case study of use of the IRM for static and seismic retrofit. The geometric simplicity of the bridge and the clarity of purpose and execution of the reticulated internal stitching and micropiles provide an example of technology that exemplifies the IRM method of integrated complete system static and seismic retrofit.

Designing Case Studies for Use in Teacher Education

Designing Case Studies for Use in Teacher Education

The Floratech Dilemma: A Case Study for Potted Plant Production Specialists

This paper presents a case study for use as an active learning tool with students in a floriculture potted plant production class. Students work together in small groups (three to four) to pose answers to a dilemma. With this case study, students quickly learn the names of their colleagues and work together outside-of-class to solve the assignment. Each student role-plays being hired on as a new potted plant production specialist. A memorandum from the Board of Directors is delivered on their first day of work at Floratech, a company specializing in potted plants. Floratech is a finisher company, purchasing plugs (vegetative or seed-propagated crops) from plug producers and rooting stations, and selling their final products to both wholesale and retail markets. Objectives of this case study are to determine 1) the students' fluency in terminology for potted plant production, 2) ideal production time/labor inputs for the Floratech potted crops, and 3) limiting factor(s) preventing each crop from reaching this goal. As the students progress through the course material, they refer to the memorandum for clarification of unknown terms. Unresolved questions are raised during the semester (in the classroom and during laboratory tours) to other players interacting in the memorandum, i.e., Floratech staff (growers, sales people, management), its suppliers (rooting stations, plug producers, distributors, breeders, producers, operations, quality control), and customers (wholesale, retail). This case study was tested with undergraduate students enrolled in HORT 4051, Floriculture Production and Management I (Potted Plants) at the University of Minnesota, St. Paul, during Fall Semester 1999.

Use of the National Architecture to Develop an Intelligent Transportation Systems Strategic Plan: Case Study for a Medium-Sized Area

A case study of use of the national architecture to develop an intelligent transportation system (ITS) strategic deployment plan for Chittenden County, Vermont, an area with a population of 140,000, is presented. Because the study was conducted after a mature version of the national architecture had been completed, every effort was made to take full advantage of the national architecture documents in developing the plan. This helped reduce significantly the amount of effort needed to complete the plan, while ensuring the interoperability of the systems to be deployed. In developing the plan, the most recent version of the ITS planning process, which is based on the “market package” concept, was followed. A quantitative, systematic procedure was used to screen and prioritize the market packages. A regional ITS architecture was then developed, and the selected packages were developed into a list of recommended projects for the region. The study clearly demonstrates the value of the national architecture. The architecture provided guidance in formulating an ITS vision for the region, formed the basis on which ITS packages were selected, and dramatically reduced the amount of effort needed to develop the regional architecture. The architecture’s market packages are shown to be applicable to medium-sized areas; however, they need to be implemented at a smaller scale than in larger metropolitan areas.

Integrated bioprocess design: A case study for undergraduates

This paper presents a case study for use in the teaching of bioprocess design. Taking the production and isolation of an intracellular protein from S. cerevisae , it demonstrates how undergraduates can use a range of data to construct and then to investigate the range of process flowsheet options available for such a process duty. The paper considers the role of newer operations, such as expanded bed technology, alongside more traditional process routes. An integrated view of bioprocess design is developed to demonstrate how unit operations interact and hence enable students to determine the eventual overall process performance that is achieved.