Cross-disciplinary Teams Research Articles

Integrating employability learning and career development learning: Insights into a business school approach

This practitioner reflection shares insights based on our seven-year journey pursuing an ambitious curriculum transformation espousing partnerships pedagogy within the School of Business (SOB) at Western Sydney University (WSU). With a significant proportion of first-generation and culturally and linguistically diverse students, employability is of strategic significance for WSU. The objective was to integrate employability and career development learning while addressing confidence and self-esteem deficits among graduates. Massification of the higher education sector, new universities, courses and pathways along with the competition among university graduates for employment all compound the issue. This challenging landscape required a unique approach to achieve a fundamental shift in learning and outcomes to prepare students for life beyond university. A massive curriculum transformation was endorsed and led by a cross-disciplinary team adopting partnerships pedagogy to transform the student learning experience. This reflection documents the practitioner journey involved in developing a program expressly targeting graduate employability for business students. Emphasis is on the experiences and challenges encountered while implementing a partnership-based approach to build, sustain, and cultivate graduate employability, through the development of industry networking experiences.

Cross-disciplinary mathematical modelling to benefit healthcare - could clinical pharmacology play an enabling role?

Clinical pharmacology is often the nexus in any cross-disciplinary team that is seeking solutions for human healthcare issues. The use and application of real-world data and artificial intelligence to better understand our ecosystem has influenced our view at the world and how we do things. This has resulted in remarkable advancements in the healthcare space and development of personalized medicines with great attributes from the application of models and simulations, contributing to a more efficient healthcare development process. A cross-disciplinary symposium was held in December 2023, whereby experts from different scientific disciplines engaged in a high-level discussion on the opportunities and challenges of mathematical models in different fields, possible future developments and decision making. A strong interlink amongst the disciplines represented was apparent, with clinical pharmacology identified as the one which integrates various scientific disciplines. Deliberate and strategic cross-disciplinary dialogues are required to break out of the silos and implement integration for efficiency and cost-effectiveness of novel interventions.

Fostering Design Thinking mindset for university students with NPCs in the metaverse

This study investigates the efficacy of Non-Player Characters (NPCs) in the metaverse as a tool for enhancing the design thinking mindset of university students. Utilizing a controlled experimental design, we compared the design thinking competencies of two student groups: those who interacted with NPCs in the metaverse and those who did not. Over design thinking mindset questionnaire and four assignments, we measured dimensions of design thinking, including Human centeredness, Empathy, Mindfulness and awareness of process, Holistic view; Problem reframing; Team Working; Multi-/inter-/cross-disciplinary collaborative teams, Open to different perspectives/diversity, using a t-test for statistical significance. The findings reveal that NPCs significantly foster the development of Empathy, Problem reframing, and Open to different perspectives/diversity skills, which are essential to design thinking. In contrast, no significant effect was observed in the areas of human-centeredness, process awareness, team working, and collaboration in diverse disciplines. The use of NPCs was particularly impactful in complex tasks, as evidenced by the increasing effectiveness observed in later assignments. The results underscore the selective benefits of NPCs in metaverse learning environments, suggesting that their integration should be strategically targeted to enhance specific design thinking skills. The study suggests a potential for NPCs to play a significant role in long-term learning strategies, where a step-by-step skill acquisition could culminate in advanced design thinking tasks. These insights pave the way for educators to develop nuanced curricula that leverage the strengths of NPCs and for further research to optimize their use in educational metaverse platforms.

Building on Successful Mechanical and Passive Environmental Controls for Preventive Conservation Through Data Analysis at National Museum Cardiff, Wales

ABSTRACT Amgueddfa Cymru’s National Museum Cardiff in Cardiff, Wales, houses fine arts, natural science, and archaeological collections in a Grade I-listed historic building. With over 50 individual air handling units in addition to the original building-wide ventilation system, critical examination of how to create sustainable spaces and reduce energy consumption has been a goal of the museum for two decades. This paper will present the evolution of two techniques, and discuss their successes and limitations. The first – system shutdowns – has been successful, and has been taken further by switching some spaces entirely to passive control by blocking ductwork; preventing inappropriate conditions from entering the room via HVAC has led to an improvement in these specific cases. The second technique of seasonal set points required regular manual programming of the set points and was not responsive to short-term varying conditions, often resulting in high RH; a set of four basic guidelines was then developed to change the HVAC programming to better address this risk throughout the year. The impact of both techniques was analyzed using the widely available Microsoft Power BI™ program, whose focus on data visualization makes generating and modifying graphs easier than in Microsoft Excel. Following some of the tenets of sustainable environmental management including the value of a cross-disciplinary team, commitment to an ongoing process, and thorough data analysis, this work has allowed for preservation and energy efficiency beyond initial gains.

Challenges and strategic solutions in commissioning and start-up of subsea production systems

The commissioning and start-up of subsea production systems represent critical phases in offshore oil and gas operations, where meticulous planning and execution are essential for success. This abstract presents an overview of the challenges encountered during these phases and proposes strategic solutions to address them effectively. Environmental factors such as deepwater operations and subsea geology pose significant challenges to commissioning and start-up activities. Technical challenges include ensuring equipment reliability and seamless integration of control systems in harsh underwater conditions. Operational challenges such as remote monitoring and intervention and personnel safety further compound the complexities of these operations. Strategic solutions to mitigate these challenges include advanced planning and simulation using digital twin technology and scenario planning. Enhanced risk management strategies, including contingency planning and early detection systems, are vital to anticipate and manage potential issues effectively. Collaborative partnerships between stakeholders, including suppliers and cross-disciplinary teams, foster innovation and enhance project resilience. Drawing from successful case studies and lessons learned, this abstract emphasizes the importance of proactive planning, risk mitigation, and collaborative approaches in ensuring the successful commissioning and start-up of subsea production systems. By implementing these strategic solutions, operators can enhance operational efficiency, minimize downtime, and improve safety outcomes, ultimately contributing to the long-term viability and sustainability of offshore energy production.

Challenges in IBD Research 2024: Precision Medicine.

Precision medicine is part of 5 focus areas of the Challenges in IBD Research 2024 research document, which also includes preclinical human IBD mechanisms, environmental triggers, novel technologies, and pragmatic clinical research. Building on Challenges in IBD Research 2019, the current Challenges aims to provide a comprehensive overview of current gaps in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) research and deliver actionable approaches to address them with a focus on how these gaps can lead to advancements in interception, remission, and restoration for these diseases. The document is the result of multidisciplinary input from scientists, clinicians, patients, and funders, and represents a valuable resource for patient-centric research prioritization. In particular, the precision medicine section is focused on the main research gaps in elucidating how to bring the best care to the individual patient in IBD. Research gaps were identified in biomarker discovery and validation for predicting disease progression and choosing the most appropriate treatment for each patient. Other gaps were identified in making the best use of existing patient biosamples and clinical data, developing new technologies to analyze large datasets, and overcoming regulatory and payer hurdles to enable clinical use of biomarkers. To address these gaps, the Workgroup suggests focusing on thoroughly validating existing candidate biomarkers, using best-in-class data generation and analysis tools, and establishing cross-disciplinary teams to tackle regulatory hurdles as early as possible. Altogether, the precision medicine group recognizes the importance of bringing basic scientific biomarker discovery and translating it into the clinic to help improve the lives of IBD patients.

Towards sustainable success: A framework for assessing performance of sustainable manufacturing adoption in Indian textile industry

This study aims to evaluate performance of SM adoption in textile organizations by developing a performance measurement framework. A fuzzy modified balanced scorecard technique has been used to fulfil the objective of the study. A cross-disciplinary team of fifteen experts, the delineation of performance perspectives, and classification of performance measures of SM were established. The findings reveal that environmental perspective, emerges as the most crucial criterion, trailed by social perspective, economic perspective, innovation perspective, supply chain perspective, regulatory and compliance perspective and customer perspective. Results will help managers and academicians to examine the performance of key indicators in implementing SM.

Conducting Research at the Intersection of HCI and Health: Building and Supporting Teams with Diverse Expertise to Increase Public Health Impact.

Research at the intersection of human-computer interaction (HCI) and health is increasingly done by collaborative cross-disciplinary teams. The need for cross-disciplinary teams arises from the interdisciplinary nature of the work itself-with the need for expertise in a health discipline, experimental design, statistics, and computer science, in addition to HCI. This work can also increase innovation, transfer of knowledge across fields, and have a higher impact on communities. To succeed at a collaborative project, researchers must effectively form and maintain a team that has the right expertise, integrate research perspectives and work practices, align individual and team goals, and secure funding to support the research. However, successfully operating as a team has been challenging for HCI researchers, and can be limited due to a lack of training, shared vocabularies, lack of institutional incentives, support from funding agencies, and more; which significantly inhibits their impact. This workshop aims to draw on the wealth of individual experiences in health project team collaboration across the CHI community and beyond. By bringing together different stakeholders involved in HCI health research, together, we will identify needs experienced during interdisciplinary HCI and health collaborations. We will identify existing practices and success stories for supporting team collaboration and increasing HCI capacity in health research. We aim for participants to leave our workshop with a toolbox of methods to tackle future team challenges, a community of peers who can strive for more effective teamwork, and feeling positioned to make the health impact they wish to see through their work.

562 AI Translation Advisory Board: Mastering team science to facilitate implementation of AI into clinical practice

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Healthcare sectors are rushing to develop AI models. Yet, a dearth of coordinated practices leaves many teams struggling to implement models into practice. The Enterprise AI Translation Advisory Board uses across-disciplinary team to facilitate AI translation. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: The Mayo Clinic Enterprise AI Translation Advisory Board was established to assess AI solutions lever aging cross-disciplinary team science to accelerate AI innovation and translation. The 23-member board reflects expertise in data science, qualitative research, user experience, IT, human factors, informatics, regulatory compliance,ethics, and clinical care, with members spanning thought leadership, decision-making, and clinical practice. Taking an approach of respectful communication, transparency, scientific debate, and open discussion, the Board has consulted onover two dozen projects at various stages of the AI life cycle. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Common issues identified for projects earlier in the AI life cycle, sometimes fatal but often address able once identified, include a lack of buy-in from potential product users, a lack of planningabout integration into clinical workflow, inadequately labeled data, and attempting to use machine learning when what is desired is really a causal model for intervening. Recommendations for projects later in the AI life cycle include details of a testing plan (silent evaluation, pragmatic clinical trials), advice about clinical integration, both post-hoc and on going auditing for performance disparities, and planning for regulatory clearance. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Advising is more valuable for projects at the ideation phase, when multi disciplinary interrogation can identify weaknesses. But at all phases, projects have gaps related to a lack of specific disciplinary expertise. A multi disciplinary cluster like the AI Translation Advisory Board seeks to address these gaps.

Insights into commonalities of a sample: A visualization framework to explore unusual subset-dataset relationships

Domain experts are driven by business needs, while data analysts develop and use various algorithms, methods, and tools, but often without domain knowledge. A major challenge for companies and organizations is to integrate data analytics in business processes and workflows. We deduce an interactive process and visualization framework to enable value creating collaboration in inter- and cross-disciplinary teams. Domain experts and data analysts are both empowered to analyze and discuss results and come to well-founded insights and implications. Inspired by a typical auditing problem, we develop and apply a visualization framework to single out unusual data in general subsets for potential further investigation. Our framework is applicable to both unusual data detected manually by domain experts or by algorithms applied by data analysts. Application examples show typical interaction, collaboration, visualization, and decision support.

Catalyzing Clinically Driven Undergraduate Design Projects at the Nexus of Engineering, Medicine, and Business.

Design projects, particularly those related to assistive technology, offer unparalleled educational opportunities for undergraduate students to synthesize engineering knowledge with a clinically driven need to produce a product that can improve quality of life. Such projects are most effective when engineering, clinical, and business perspectives are considered throughout. However, the logistics of successfully implementing such interdisciplinary projects can be challenging. This paper presents an auto-ethnography of 12 undergraduate design team projects in assistive technology performed by 87 students from five majors (including engineering, business, and clinical students) over the course of 5 years. The overarching goal of our work was to establish an undergraduate integrated design experience at a university in the absence of a dedicated biomedical engineering major. The focus of this experience was to foster the creation of student-led prototypes to address real-world problems for people with disabilities while keeping commercialization potential at the forefront throughout. Student participation demonstrated a clear enthusiasm for completing biomedical engineering-themed projects. To encourage the implementation of similar approaches at universities where a biomedical engineering major does not exist, we identify common obstacles that can arise and present strategies for mitigating these challenges, as well as effective approaches for catalyzing cross-disciplinary collaborations. High impact practices include close involvement of end-users in the design process; cross-disciplinary team composition (e.g., engineering, business, and health sciences students); and choosing cross-disciplinary leads for project management. Teams experienced a high degree of success with all 12 teams producing functional prototypes. We conclude that at universities that do not offer a biomedical engineering major, health-focused integrated design experiences offer students important interdisciplinary perspectives, including a holistic approach to project implementation. Furthermore, for many students, these projects ultimately served as a gateway to subsequent careers and graduate study in biomedical engineering.

Envisioning sustainability through (un)shared professional visions of the “visual” materials of a design situation: a CCO approach

PurposeCommunicating a clear, precise, interpretable and unambiguous visual message usually relies on a cross-disciplinary team of professionals. Their complementary visions can uncover which information matter and how it could be visually displayed to inform, sensitize and encourage people to act toward sustainability. While design studies generally claim that this team has to come to a shared vision, the authors question this assumption, which seems to contradict the benefits of cross-disciplinarity. The purpose of this study is to reveal how simple visual representations displayed in a PowerPoint actively participate in the expression of various and sometimes divergent visions. Recognizing the agency of visuals also leads this study to propose the notion of (un)shared professional vision, which shows that the richness of visual representations can only reveal itself through the capacity of professional visions to maintain their differences while confronting each other.Design/methodology/approachOver a 20-month ethnography, this study documented its own cross-disciplinary reflective design process, which aimed to design collectively an experimental environmental label, focusing on interactions occurring between professionals and visuals displayed on five key PowerPoint slides.FindingsThis study first demonstrates how, in practice, a cross-disciplinary reflective design conversation with visuals concretely unfolds through boundary-objects. This study shows how these visuals manage to ex-press themselves through the multiple visions represented in the discussions, revealing their complexity. Second, this study introduces the notion of (un)shared professional vision which underlines that unsharing a vision nurtures the team’s collective capacity to express the complexity of a design situation, while sharing a vision is also necessary to confront these respective expressions to allow the professional uncovering of what should be visually communicated.Originality/valueThe Communication as Constitutive of Organization lens the authors chose to understand the reflective design conversation illustrates that, even though each collaborator’s vision was “(un)shared,” their many voices expand the understanding of the situation and lead them to develop an unexpected and creative environmental information ecosystem that can positively transform society through visuals.

Research on optical computing system architecture for simple recurrent neural networks

Moore’s Law, relating to the speed and capabilities of computers is becoming less applicable. In this ‘post-Moore’ era, a cross-disciplinary team based in the Constructive Electronics Laboratory, Kyushu University, Japan, is investigating optical computing system infrastructures, with a view to driving computing technology forward in a way that negates the need to comply with Moore’s Law. Associate Professor Satoshi Kawakami is an expert in electric circuits and computer architecture who is part of the team. The team’s expertise covers materials, devices, circuits, architectures and algorithms and is geared towards pioneering new computing technologies in the post-Moore era. Kawakami believes that the continuous improvement of computer systems with higher performance and lower power consumption/energy consumption will be essential to realise a sustainable advanced information society and wants to maximise the advantages of devices and hide their disadvantages at the system level, which will necessitate collaboration with higher system layers. Another important goal is reducing power consumption by improving the efficiency of computers. In one current project, the researchers are exploring optical computing system infrastructure for simple recurrent neural networks. The team is keen to re-examine the ideal state of optical circuits from the perspective of the entire system, including electrical memory and interfaces.

The use of intravascular contrast media in patients with impaired kidney function - joint clinical practice position statement of the Polish Society of Nephrology and the Polish Medical Society of Radiology.

Radiological procedures utilising intravascular contrast media (ICM) are fundamental to modern medicine, enhancing diagnostics and treatment in diverse medical fields. However, the application of ICM has been constrained in patients with compromised kidney function due to perceived nephrotoxic risks, called contrast-induced nephropathy or contrastinduced acute kidney injury. Historical evidence marked ICM as a possible contributor to kidney damage. This led to restrictive guidelines advocating limited ICM use in patients with impaired renal function, preventing crucial radiographic interventions in patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) and chronic kidney disease. Recent advances challenge these traditional views. In particular, no direct causal relationship has been confirmed between contrast admi-nistration and elevated serum creatinine concentrations in humans. Furthermore, contemporary research models and meta-analyses do not associate AKI with contrast usage. This paper, prepared by a cross-disciplinary team of nephrologists and radiologists, presents updated guidelines for ICM application amid renal function impairments, emphasising the reduced nephrotoxic risks currently understood and loosening the previous restrictive approach in patients with renal dysfunction.

Statistical Analysis of Effectiveness of Cross-Disciplinary Team Practice in Engineering Project-Based Learning

Statistical Analysis of Effectiveness of Cross-Disciplinary Team Practice in Engineering Project-Based Learning

Opinion: Tropical cirrus – from micro-scale processes to climate-scale impacts

Abstract. Tropical cirrus clouds, i.e., any type of ice cloud with tops above 400 hPa, play a critical role in the climate system and are a major source of uncertainty in our understanding of global warming. Tropical cirrus clouds involve processes spanning a wide range of spatial and temporal scales, from ice microphysics on cloud scales to mesoscale convective organization and planetary wave dynamics. This complexity makes tropical cirrus clouds notoriously difficult to model and has left many important questions stubbornly unanswered. At the same time, their multi-scale nature makes them well-positioned to benefit from the rise of global, high-resolution simulations of Earth's atmosphere and a growing abundance of remotely sensed and in situ observations. Rapid progress on our understanding of tropical cirrus requires coordinated efforts to take advantage of these modern computational and observational abilities. In this opinion paper, we review recent progress in cirrus studies, highlight important unanswered questions, and discuss promising paths forward. Significant progress has been made in understanding the life cycle of convectively generated “anvil” cirrus and the response of their macrophysical properties to large-scale controls. On the other hand, much work remains to be done to fully understand how small-scale anvil processes and the climatological anvil radiative effect will respond to global warming. Thin, in situ formed cirrus clouds are now known to be closely tied to the thermal structure and humidity of the tropical tropopause layer, but microphysical uncertainties prevent a full understanding of this link, as well as the precise amount of water vapor entering the stratosphere. Model representation of ice-nucleating particles, water vapor supersaturation, and ice depositional growth continue to pose great challenges to cirrus modeling. We believe that major advances in the understanding of tropical cirrus can be made through a combination of cross-tool synthesis and cross-scale studies conducted by cross-disciplinary research teams.

Clinical Nurse Specialists: Professional Framework and Qualifications

Achieving enhanced healthcare quality by participating in cross-disciplinary medical teams and providing specialized, precision nursing are core professional values of clinical nurse specialists (CNSs). Although CNSs are crucial in the healthcare field, the development of CNSs in Taiwan remains in its infancy. The Taiwan Nurses Association has already announced regulations related to professional frameworks and scope of practice for advanced practice nurses and has reached a preliminary consensus and plans on the definition, qualifications, and indicators of care for CNSs. The clinical application, job titles, and certification of the professional core values of CNSs require continuous and joint deliberation and development by professional nurse organizations. In this study, the results of empirical research into professional organizational frameworks and certification of CNSs in Europe, the United States, and Australia were used to derive a reference model for CNS education and training development for advanced practice nurse specialties in Taiwan. The fundamental elements of the roles and professional frameworks and feasible qualification certification systems were also explored.

Driving renovation: A comparative research project in urban regeneration across cities in China

Post-industrial sites in Chinese cities are being redeveloped as catalysts for urban regeneration, often tuning into the creative cultures of these cities to provide platforms for creative enterprises to flourish. The success of these projects in driving the development of China’s creative economy, however, has led to many imitative redevelopment projects, creating a blueprint for the format of industrial zones and cultural parks in cities. Many recent urban renewal projects have placed great emphasis on commercial and practical aspects of implementation and creative practice but have failed to respond to the different contexts of each location within the design and planning, and therefore performed poorly in providing opportunities for developing local enterprise or addressing social welfare needs. A recent funded research project has been conducted by an international cross-disciplinary team that is seeking different opportunities for developing relevant creative industries while retaining cultural and industrial heritage. The project focuses on regional culture and, with use of new methodologies, studies its impact on urban regeneration. By working with participants who are both site users and developers, this paper explores the research conducted so far and offers initial findings. Findings include that regenerations should integrate the characteristics of historic industrial sites with the new requirements of the creative industries. The major stakeholders whose impact on urban regenerations have also been identified and the most important factors for successful transformations from heavy to creative industry are discovered to be local geography, history, culture, politics, economy and ethnography.

Transdisciplinary Learning Opportunities: Exploring Differences in Complex Thinking Skill Development Between STEM and Non-STEM Majors

As higher education institutions look to educate and graduate degree earners that have the skills and knowledge necessary to design, communicate, and collaborate in ways that allow for innovative solutions to complex socio-technical challenges, new approaches to educational efforts are being considered and implemented. Institutional responses have included new courses that have a transdisciplinary focus and embedded course experiences that use problem-based approaches coupled with cross-disciplinary team exposure. Often these initiatives have a singular thematic focus (i.e., sustainability). Little is known about the efficacy of transdisciplinary learning initiatives, especially those that encompass a breadth of thematic areas, as it relates to development of complex thinking skills and whether these learning environments provide for similar benefits across student majors. This study, conducted at a Research I university, was designed to address this gap in the literature by examining whether a university level learning initiative using transdisciplinary approaches was achieving desired goals to advance undergraduate students’ complex thinking skills. Findings among the respondents (n = 592) indicate that the initiative is advancing fundamental complex thinking skills in that specific courses allow students to learn about other disciplines and provide exposure to different disciplinary perspectives. However, results reveal that across all majors courses would benefit from increased real-world problem-based exposure and opportunities to interact with community stakeholders. Additionally, results suggest that undergraduates may need opportunities to develop a deeper understanding of the complexities that exist in cross-disciplinary collaboration, including how to develop integrated solutions that leverage the strengths of technical and non-technical approaches.

Preparing undergraduates for the post-pandemic workplace: Teams of education and engineering students teach engineering virtually

When schools and universities across the world transitioned online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ed+gineering, a National Science Foundation (NSF) project that partners engineering and education undergraduates to design and deliver engineering lessons to elementary students, also had to shift its hands-on lessons to a virtual format. Through the lens of social cognitive theory (SCT), this study investigates engineering and education students’ experiences during the shift to online instruction to understand how they perceived its influence on their learning. As a result of modifying their lessons for online delivery, students reported learning professional skills, including skills for teaching online and educational technology skills, as well as Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) content. Some also lamented missed learning opportunities, like practice presenting face-to-face. Students’ affective responses were often associated with preparing and delivering their lessons. SCT sheds light on how the mid-semester change in their environment, caused by the shift in designing and teaching from face-to-face to online, affected the undergraduate engineering and education students’ personal experiences and affect. Overall, the transition to fully online was effective for students’ perceived learning and teaching of engineering. Though students experienced many challenges developing multimedia content for delivering hands-on lessons online, they reported learning new skills and knowledge and expressed positive affective responses. From the gains reported by undergraduates, we believe that this cross-disciplinary virtual team assignment was a successful strategy for helping undergraduates build competencies in virtual skills. We posit that similar assignment structures and opportunities post-pandemic will also continue to prepare future students for the post-pandemic workplace.