End In Mind Research Articles

Scale-up of industrial microbial processes.

Scaling up industrial microbial processes for commercial production is a high-stakes endeavor, requiring time and investment often exceeding that for laboratory microbe and process development. Omissions, oversights and errors can be costly, even fatal to the program. Approached properly, scale-up can be executed successfully. Three guiding principles are provided as a basis: begin with the end in mind; be diligent in the details; prepare for the unexpected. A detailed roadmap builds on these principles. There is a special emphasis on the fermentation step, which is usually the costliest and also impacts downstream processing. Examples of common scale-up mistakes and the recommended approaches are given. It is advised that engineering resources skilled in integrated process development and scale-up be engaged from the very beginning of microbe and process development to guide ongoing R&D, thus ensuring a smooth and profitable path to the large-scale commercial end.

Applying Design Thinking to systemic problems in educational assessment information management

The integrative process of design thinking provides a compelling framework for addressing problems in education involving coherent assessment and instruction. New possibilities for more meaningful developmental coherence within, horizontal coherence across, and vertical coherence between classroom formative and accountability assessments emerge by thinking through and enacting conceptual solutions that begin with the end in mind and that involve end users every step of the way. The nonlinear process involves empathy for students and teachers, the definition of a solvable problem (one with solutions that are feasible, viable, and desirable), the ideation of a brainstormed array of ideal “possibly impossible” resources for creativity (such as a very demanding measurement model and traceability to unit standards), the rapid development of an initial prototype expected to have limitations, and the first of an iterative series of tests that deliberately test the prototype en route to a recycling as needed through any other parts of the process. Applying Design Thinking may lead to new solutions to problems encountered in reconceiving and reconfiguring classrooms as meta-design ecosystem niches of creativity and innovation. An assessment outcome prototype drawn from recent work with teacher/educators that integrates developmental, horizontal, and vertical coherence is presented.

SOSFul: Sensor Observation Service (SOS) for Internet of Things (IoT)

Sensor networks have expanded their scope and capabilities, becoming a fundamental part within the Internet of Things (IoT). To be able to meet the interoperability needs, it is necessary to have a repository of the sensors' data and observations, with this end in mind, the Sensor Observation Service (SOS) has been created; however, after several years since its last update, many technological changes have accumulated. This paper proposes and evaluates a SOS with a REST architecture and a JSON over HTTP message exchange, which is used to interconnect sensors networks and, at the same time, improve the performance of these networks and facilitate their deployment within the IoT.

Begin with the End in Mind: A three-part workshop series to facilitate end-of-life discussions with members of the community

ABSTRACT Death is among the most avoided topics of conversation. Although end-of-life planning may greatly benefit individuals and their survivors, research and practice indicate that family, friends, and even health care providers resist discussing end-of-life plans. Consequences of not planning ahead have created a public health issue. This article describes a community-level intervention that facilitates those necessary conversations among elders who have at least begun to talk with others about their wishes. A free, three-part educational workshop series on end-of-life planning titled “Begin with the End in Mind” was developed at a midwestern university. A survey was distributed to all attendees to learn about their beliefs regarding end-of-life planning. Inductive content analysis was used to understand participants’ thoughts about discussing end-of-life planning. Findings from 33 participants suggest a concern about making plans and ensuring others would follow their wishes. In conclusion, this article offers a roadmap for gerontologists and others to use in engaging the community to think about and act on end-of-life public health issues.

New columns for architecture in reinforced concrete

DOI: 10.7764/RDLC.16.3.489 Abstract This paper concerns the provision of new architectural forms in reinforced concrete, obtaining volumes with a double curve surfaces at a reasonable cost, constructed using flexible formwork. Through design research (research by design) 8 types of columns made of in situ reinforced concrete are achieved. An architectonic element with optimal spatial quality and an organic form, with a surface not requiring another finish is the end in mind. The construction process is relatively simple given the results obtained and the construction of prototypes during building work on site opens up the possibility of using this technology on building sites everywhere reinforced concrete is available.

‘A giant gutter in outer space’: Investigating pessimism as rhetorical action in True Detective

Abstract Perhaps too quickly dismissed as simply ‘downbeat’ conversational partners, pessimists often face the rhetorical burden of negotiating social contexts dismissive of such an outlook. As the discipline of communication studies aims to investigate different perspectives that are made manifest in the marketplace of ideas, it is noteworthy that heretofore little has been said about the pessimist-as-interlocutor. This article establishes a view of pessimism as rhetorical action by investigating the link between such a philosophical world-view and its embodiment as performative utterance. With this end in mind, it engages with the HBO series True Detective (2014) as an illustrative popular culture media example by which to consider some nuances of this interpersonal phenomenon.

Multiple-Criteria Decision-Making Tool for Local Governments to Evaluate the Global and Local Sustainability of Transportation Systems in Urban Areas: Case Study

AbstractEfficient management of urban transportation systems is a challenge for any local government that wishes to improve public wellbeing and comfort. With that end in mind, this paper proposes ...

A tool instead of a chore: Measuring student learning gains in order to improve instruction

ABSTRACTAssessment is often treated as an unwelcome and time-consuming university or departmental requirement. This project proposes that assessment is actually an opportunity that communication faculty should embrace. Beginning with the end in mind, this study used stated course learning outcomes to construct a pre-/posttest instrument, administering those assessments in order to find out whether students were really learning what they were supposed to be learning. This article explains how the assessment instruments were constructed and administered, demonstrates clear and significant learning gains across three semesters, and identifies learning outcomes in need of instructional improvement. It also finds that by separating assessment from grading, pretests can identify concepts that need not be retaught, and posttests can reveal that an instructor’s perception of a successful instructional day does not necessarily match the reality of student learning for that day.

Strengthening the clinical research in long-term therapy of hepatitis B: beginning with the end in mind

Chronic hepatitis B is a serious public health issue in China. The clinical management of hepatitis B is effective with the emergence of antiviral agents. The outcome of long-term therapy and nucleos(t)ide analogues stopping rules are currently unresolved issues and unmet needs. Thus, we need to pay more attention to clinical research to build large-sample and long-term follow-up cohorts and begin with the end in mind. We believe that the way to resolve the issues above will be found with the efforts of generations.

La noción de bienestar subjetivo y el concepto de derecho. A propósito del vínculo entre normas jurídicas y felicidad humana

The aim of this work is to analyze the contemporary idea of subjective well-being as equivalent to the classical notion of happiness. The parameters that derive from this subjective well-being are examined as well, in an effort to formulate a relationship with the law, which is understood as the entire body of normative prescriptions in force in a community. With that end in mind, the traditional Aristotelian notion of happiness is summarized to compare the differences between it and the idea of subjective well-being, the development of which occupies the body of this work. The conclusions point to the relationship with the effects – for understanding the law - that are derived from the methodologies related to the notion of subjective well-being.

Follow the Reader: An Effective Strategy to Support Students Reading More Complex Text

This article describes how one second-grade teacher implemented Follow the Reader, her term for dyad reading. Common Core expects students to read increasingly complex texts. Teachers can implement dyad reading with this end in mind. It is a modified version of the neurological impress method in which a lead reader and an assisted reader sit side by side and read a shared text aloud in unison. As this article demonstrates, this strategy can be implemented successfully with small groups or an entire class and is effective with both English-proficient and English-learning children. She included fiction and nonfiction texts, daily class discussions, book logs to maintain student accountability, and discussion between partners about texts. She provided modeling for students and gave them time to practice procedures.

Biological Monitoring : Begin with the End in Mind

Biological Monitoring : Begin with the End in Mind

A Time to Mourn - How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Quite Like the European Union

Many things are worth doing, but should nevertheless be done with some sadness; they have a price tag. This essay, although not at all Eurosceptic, chooses to look at the downsides of European integration, and in particular at the loss of local autonomy that it entails. The essay suggests that even if this sacrifice of autonomy is worthwhile, it is still painful for states and peoples, and that pain is too often ignored by everyone except foaming-at-the-mouth Europhobes. Borrowing some ideas from psychology - Kubler-Ross on the processing of loss - and from social science - Charles Taylor on recognition - the essay suggests that if the EU wants to be more loved it needs to concentrate less on technocratic improvements, and more on acknowledging and recognising the pain that it is causing. Some concrete suggestions are made for how laws and the position of the Court of Justice could be changed with this end in mind. The essay was originally delivered as my inaugural lecture as Professor of European Law at the Free University in Amsterdam (VU University Amsterdam).

Potential pitfalls of experimental design

Good experimental design begins with the end in mind. An early conversation with a statistician will both increase the chances of an experimental study contributing to the literature and minimize the risks to participating human subjects. Sir R.A. Fisher felt that “to consult the statistician after an experiment is finished is often merely to ask him to conduct a post mortem examination: he can perhaps say what the experiment died of.” To this end, some questions from a statistician are presented along with the associated experimental study pitfalls to avoid during the study planning phase. Several concrete examples are provided to give some practical knowledge on how to improve an experimental study at the onset. Hypothesis formulation, sample size determination, randomization, and double-blinding are all explained from the viewpoint of a statistician’s final analysis. Confounders, sampling, and missing data are also briefly covered through this hypothetical question and answer session.

A Framework for Achieving Organizational Culture Change

Organizational culture change is difficult to achieve, particularly so when efforts are not systematic and planned with the end in mind. Based on experience, the authors outline a six-step framework for achieving sustained organizational culture change. Examples and outcomes from the decade-long strategic and organizational change experience at the University Library at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, are referred to within each step of the framework. The framework provides a successful model for library leaders to adopt when implementing organizational change, particularly when a shift to the organization’s culture is also desired.

Biochemical engineering’s grand adventure

Building on the recent revolution in molecular biology, enabling a wealth of bio-product innovations made from renewable feedstocks, the biotechnology field is in a transition phase to bring the products to the market. This requires a shift from natural sciences to engineering sciences with first conception of new, efficient large-scale bioprocess designs, followed by implementation of the most promising design in practice. Inspired by a former publication by O. Levenspiel in 1988, an outline is presented of main challenges that the field of biochemical engineering is currently facing, in a context of major global sustainability trends. The critical stage is the conceptual design phase. Issues can best be addressed and overcome by adopting an attitude where one begins with the end in mind. This applies to three principal components: 1. the bioprocess value chain, where the product specifications and downstream purification schemes should be set before defining the upstream sections, 2. the time perspective, starting in the future assuming that feedstock and product-market combinations are already in place and then going back to today, and 3. the scale of operation, where the industrial operation sets the boundaries for all labscale research and development, and not vice versa. In this way, and ideal process is defined taking constraints from anticipated manufacturing into account. For illustration, three bioprocess design examples are provided, that show how new, ideal conceptual designs can be generated. These also make clear that the engineering sciences are undergoing a revolution, where bio-based approaches replace fossil routes, and gross simplification is replaced by highly detailed computational methods. For biochemical processes, lifeline modeling frameworks are highlighted as powerful means to reconcile the competing needs for high speed and high quality in biochemical engineering, both in the design and implementation stages, thereby enabling significant growth of the bio-based economy.

Religious Violence and the Conspiracy of the Secular West

Religion has a dangerous tendency to condone, propagate and even promote violence. This idea is so deeply rooted in both Eastern and Western social and political psyche that it is almost impossible to separate religion and politics from their policies and institutions. However, I will challenge the validity of this thought in this paper. Firstly, I will try and prove that dividing institutions and ideologies into separate watertight compartments is not possible and when done becomes incoherent and arbitrary. Secondly, this division just seems to ignore some varieties of violence are while others are condemned. Finally, this paper will try to prove these two hypotheses and bring home the conclusion that, while religion has to an extent instigated violence, it has usually done so in alliance with secular, political and economic forces with a very ‘worldly’ end in mind.

Listening Into 2030 Workshop: An Experiment in Envisioning the Future of Hearing and Communication Science.

Here we report the methods and output of a workshop examining possible futures of speech and hearing science out to 2030. Using a design thinking approach, a range of human-centered problems in communication were identified that could provide the motivation for a wide range of research. Nine main research programs were distilled and are summarized: (a) measuring brain and other physiological parameters, (b) auditory and multimodal displays of information, (c) auditory scene analysis, (d) enabling and understanding shared auditory virtual spaces, (e) holistic approaches to health management and hearing impairment, (f) universal access to evolving and individualized technologies, (g) biological intervention for hearing dysfunction, (h) understanding the psychosocial interactions with technology and other humans as mediated by technology, and (i) the impact of changing models of security and privacy. The design thinking approach attempted to link the judged level of importance of different research areas to the “end in mind” through empathy for the real-life problems embodied in the personas created during the workshop.

The Effect of Crime on Foreign Direct Investment: A Multi-Country Panel Data Analysis

This paper examines the impact violent crime has on foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in a global sample of 62 countries over the period 1997 to 2012. Foreign direct investment is considered to be one of those financial flows that help economies, especially developing ones, overcome development challenges. With this end in mind, policymakers in these economies constantly engage in the design of more attractive incentive packages that would ensure their countries become host for many of these potential investments. However, some of these economies may themselves have internal challenges that can either substantially reduce these inflows or completely eliminate them from the pool of potential hosts. One such challenge is the prevalence of criminal activities. Criminal activities have the potential to increase the cost of doing business and can even reduce the demand for goods and services that are sold in high crime areas. Therefore, it is imperative that one should question the impact of crime on foreign direct investment. More precisely, in this paper, we attempt to answer the question of whether or not violent crime acts as a deterrent to foreign direct investment inflows. We use both OLS fixed-effects and generalized method of moments (GMM) specification for our empirical model. Our use of GMM is due to concerns about potential endogeneity between our variable of interest, violent crime, proxied by homicide rates, and FDI. The dynamic panel data method is also useful in addressing issues relating to serial correlation. The results reveal that violent crime acts as a deterrent to FDI. To test the sensitivity of our results, we use a sub-sample of developing countries only. Again, our results reveal a negative effect of crime on FDI. Therefore our result is robust to various specifications. This result has some serious policy implications for countries that struggle to contain violent crime but need foreign direct investment to aid in capital development. In this case, policymakers must address significant crime issues to stem the reduction of foreign capital inflows, especially if these flows are critical to the country's path to sustainable economic development. The literature on the economics of crime suggests a number of initiatives necessary to fight crime. These include but are not limited to reducing income inequality and also increase the level of educational attainments of the populace.

Performance Improvement Precepts at the Core of a Transformational Change: A Look at Pronto International

The case study looks at how fundamentals of performance improvement were at the core of innovation. PRONTO International is a low-tech simulation for resource-starved environments. Precepts such as taking a systems view, starting with the end in mind, and understanding the intangibles of human behavior were leveraged to help PRONTO achieve and sustain its impact in complex environments.