Interdisciplinary Research Team Research Articles

Building with landscape

The multi-dimensionality of BwN calls for the incorporation of ‘designerly ways of knowing and doing’ from other fields involved in this new trans-disciplinary approach. The transition out of a focus on rational design paradigms towards reflective design paradigms such as those employed in the spatial design disciplines may be a first step in this process. By extension, the knowledge base and design methodologies of BwN may be critically expanded by drawing on ways of knowing and doing in spatial design disciplines such as landscape architecture, which elaborates the agency of the term ‘landscape’ as counterpart to the term ‘nature’. Operative perspectives and related methodologies in this discipline such as perception, anamnesis, multi-scalar thinking, and process design resonate with specific themes in the BwN approach such as design of/with natural processes, integration of functions or layers in the territory and the connection of engineering works to human-social contexts. A series of installations realised for the Oerol festival on the island of Terschelling between 2011 and 2018 serve as case studies to elaborate potential transfers and thematic elaborations towards BwN. In these projects inter-disciplinary teams of students, researchers and lecturers developed temporary landscape installations in a coastal landscape setting. Themes emerging from these project include ‘mapping coastal landscapes as complex natures’, ‘mapping as design-generative device’, ‘crowd-mapping’, ‘people-place relationships’, ‘co-creation’, ‘narrating coastal landscapes’, ‘public interaction’ and ‘aesthetic experience’. Specific aspects of these themes relevant to the knowledge base and methodologies of BwN, include integration of sites and their contexts through descriptive and projective mappings, understanding the various spatial and temporal scales of a territory as complex natures, and the integration of collective narratives and aesthetic experiences of coastal infrastructures in the design process, via reflective dialogues.

Engaging Latinos in an Academic-Community Partnership in Montana through a Health Screening Event

ABSTRACT Background: Engaging minorities in research especially in Montana where Latinos make up a small percentage of the population can be a challenge. We describe an effort to recruit Latinos into a research study by hosting a health screening event. Purpose: This event served as the first step in the creation of an academic-community partnership. Methods: We formed an interdisciplinary research team and involved key community stakeholders in planning a health screening event. We provided lunch, flu vaccinations, and screening measures including blood pressure, body mass index, and diabetes status. We also asked for volunteers to sign up to participate in future focus groups. Results: Thirty five people participated in the health screening event, and 29 people volunteered to engage in future research. The majority of participants reported not having health insurance or a regular medical provider, were overweight or obese, and did not have diabetes. Discussion: Engaging the Latino community in research is important, and this paper describes the first step in the creation of an academic-community partnership. Translation to Health Education Practice: Attention to community needs through active partnership and adherence to the responsibilities and competencies for health education specialists provides an example of a successful study that can be adapted to other populations. A AJHE Self-Study quiz is online for this article via the SHAPE America Online Institute (SAOI) http://portal.shapeamerica.org/trn-Webinars

Building an interdisciplinary team set on bringing the sense of smell to computers

Building an interdisciplinary team set on bringing the sense of smell to computers

A formative and self-reflective approach to monitoring and evaluation of interdisciplinary team research: An integrated water resource modelling application in Australia

Recent literature on model evaluation has highlighted the need, particularly in an interdisciplinary problem and team setting, to go beyond the evaluation of results and outputs of a problem-solving pathway (process), and monitor and evaluate the pathway itself to improve ongoing activities undertaken by the research team that best achieve the desired impact. By reflecting on what decisions have been made, the reasons, influences and effects of each decision, such evaluation can improve the learning process of stakeholders and researchers. The authors have designed a formative, self-reflective monitoring and evaluation (M&E) process and applied it to an integrated assessment and modelling project in the Campaspe catchment, part of the Murray-Darling Basin in Victoria, Australia. The M&E process consists of six steps: 1) review of documents to understand research goals, priorities and records, 2) pathway assessment, 3) reflective meetings with each team member, 4) analysis of qualitative data from meetings to capture perceived strengths, weaknesses, successes and failures, and suggested actions, objections and goals, 5) survey to elicit feedback on identified goals, objectives and actions, and 6) a report of approved actions based on the conducted survey of team members. Four overall goals and constituent objectives were identified with 42 actions, and between 37 and 42 of these actions appear to have support for adoption. The evaluation indicated the benefits of the enhanced M&E approach to realise a more adaptive and effective problem-solving modelling and assessment project.

Study protocol: health survey of Sao Paulo: ISA-Physical Activity and Environment

BackgroundMany studies have investigated the association between the built environment and physical activity behavior in urban settings. However, most of the studies conducted in low- and middle-income countries were cross-sectional, which are limited to identify behavioral determinants. We propose a prospective cohort study to verify the relationship between built environment features and leisure-time and transport-related physical activity in adults from Sao Paulo city, Brazil.MethodsProspective multilevel cohort, denominated “ISA-Physical Activity and Environment”. It will build on the Health Survey of Sao Paulo in 2015 (“Inquérito de Saúde de São Paulo (ISA)” in Portuguese). The Health Survey of Sao Paulo, originally designed as a cross-sectional survey, had a multi-stage sample, covering 150 census tracts distributed in five health administrative areas. Data collection was performed by face-to-face interviews until December 2015 and the sample comprised 4043 individuals aged 12 years or more. The ISA-Physical Activity and Environment study will reassess people who are aged 18 years or more in 2020, including telephone and household interviews. The primary outcome will be leisure-time and transport-related physical activity, assessed through the International Physical Activity Questionnaire long version. Exposure variables will be built environment features in the areas participants live and work in the follow-up. Data analysis will include multivariate multilevel linear and logistic models. We will also conduct cost-effectiveness analysis and develop agent-based models to help inform decision-makers. The study will be conducted by an interdisciplinary research team specialized in physical activity epidemiology, nutritional epidemiology, georeferencing applied to health, statistics, agent-based modeling, public health policy, and health economics.DiscussionThere are few longitudinal studies on the relationship between the built environment and physical activity behavior in low- and middle-income countries. We believe that the ISA-Physical Activity and Environment study will contribute with important results for the progress of the knowledge in this field and for the implementation of policies that promote leisure-time physical activity and active travel in Sao Paulo and similar cities across the world.

The Effect of Team Communication Behaviors and Processes on Interdisciplinary Teams’ Research Productivity and Team Satisfaction

Aim/Purpose: There is ample evidence that team processes matter more than the characteristics of individual team members; unfortunately, very few empirical studies have examined communication process variables closely or tied them to team outcomes. Background: The University of Miami Laboratory for Integrated Knowledge (U-LINK) is a pilot funding mechanism that was developed and implemented based on empirically-established best practices established in the literature on the Science of Team Science (SciTS). In addition to addressing grand societal challenges, teams engaged in processes designed to enhance the process of “teaming”. This study uses the Inputs-Mediator-Outputs-Inputs (IMOI) model as a blueprint for an investigation into how team communication processes (shared communication, shared leadership, formal meetings, informal meetings) influence intermediary team processes (goal clarity, role ambiguity, process clarity, trust) and team outcomes (team satisfaction, team productivity). Methodology: Monte Carlo methodologies were used to explore both longitudinal self-report (survey of communication and team outcome variables) data and objective data on scholarly productivity, collected from seventy-eight members of eleven real-world intact interdisciplinary teams to explore how team communication processes affect team outcomes. Contribution: This study is among the few that centers communication practice and processes in the operationalization and measurement of its constructs and which provides a test of hypotheses centered on key questions identified in the literature. Findings: Communication practices are important to team processes and outcomes. Shared communication and informal meetings were associated with increased team satisfaction and increased research productivity. Shared leadership was associated with increased research productivity, as well as improved process and goal clarity. Formal meetings were associated with increased goal clarity and decreased role ambiguity. Recommendation for Researchers: Studying intact interdisciplinary research teams requires innovative methods and clear specification of variables. Challenges associated with access to limited numbers of teams should not preclude engaging in research as each study contributes to our larger body of knowledge of the factors that influence the success of interdisciplinary research teams. Future Research: Future research should examine different team formation and funding mechanisms and extend observation and data collection for longer periods of time.

Biomimetics provides lessons from nature for contemporary ways to improve human health.

Homo sapiens is currently living in serious disharmony with the rest of the natural world. For our species to survive, and for our well-being, we must gather knowledge from multiple perspectives and actively engage in studies of planetary health. The enormous diversity of species, one of the most striking aspects of life on our planet, provides a source of solutions that have been developed through evolution by natural selection by animals living in extreme environments. The food system is central to finding solutions; our current global eating patterns have a negative impact on human health, driven climate change and loss of biodiversity. We propose that the use of solutions derived from nature, an approach termed biomimetics, could mitigate the effects of a changing climate on planetary health as well as human health. For example, activation of the transcription factor Nrf2 may play a role in protecting animals living in extreme environments, or animals exposed to heat stress, pollution and pesticides. In order to meet these challenges, we call for the creation of novel interdisciplinary planetary health research teams.

A Clinical Decision Support System based on fuzzy rules and classification algorithms for monitoring the physiological parameters of type-2 diabetic patients.

The use of different types of Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS) makes possible the improvement of the quality of the therapeutic and diagnostic efficiency in health field. Those systems, properly implemented, are able to simulate human expert clinician reasoning in order to suggest decisions on treatment of patients. In this paper, we exploit fuzzy inference machines to improve the quality of the day-by-day clinical care of type-2 diabetic patients of Anti-Diabetes Centre (CAD) of the Local Health Authority ASL Naples 1 (Naples, Italy). All the designed functionalities were developed thanks to the experience on the field, through different phases (data collection and adjustment, Fuzzy Inference System development and its validation on real cases) executed by an interdisciplinary research team comprising doctors, clinicians and IT engineers. The proposed approach also allows the remote monitoring of patients' clinical conditions and, hence, can help to reduce hospitalizations.

Toys for Conviviality. Situating Commoning, Computation and Modelling

AbstractThis article explores the use of agent-based modelling as a critical and playful form of engagement with cooperative housing organizations. Because of its inherent complexities vis-à-vis decision-making, commoning is a well-suited field of study to explore the potential of humanities-driven experimental design (media) research to provoke critical reflection, problem-finding and productive complication. By introducing two different agent-based models, the interdisciplinary research team discusses their experience with setting up parameters for modelling, their implications, and the possibilities and limits of employing modelling techniques as a basis for decision-making. While it shows that modelling can be helpful in detecting long-term results of decisions or testing out effects of unlikely yet challenging events, modelling might act as a discursive practice uncovering hidden assumptions inherent in the model setup and generating an increase of scientific uncertainty. The project “ThinkingToys for Commoning” thus argues for a critical modelling practice and culture, in which models act as toys for probing alternative modes of living together and exploring the constructedness of methods. In countering late forms of capitalism, the resulting situated and critical practice provides avenues for enabling more self-determined forms of governance.

Social capital and knowledge integration in interdisciplinary research teams: a multilevel analysis

PurposeEffective knowledge integration is vital for decision making in interdisciplinary research (IDR) teams. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the antecedents of knowledge integration. This study aims to examine how social capital at different levels and their interaction influences knowledge integration in IDR teams. Specifically, this study explores the moderating role of team social capital in the relationship between individual social capital and knowledge integration.Design/methodology/approachA survey on 346 individuals from 46 IDR teams in a research university in China is conducted. A multilevel analysis of the hierarchical linear model is used to process the sociometric data.FindingsResults reveal that team social capital interacts with individual social capital by influencing knowledge integration. At the individual level, tie strength and structural equivalence have a positive influence on knowledge integration. There is an inverted U-shaped relationship between betweenness centrality and knowledge integration. Furthermore, team cohesion negatively moderates the positive effect of tie strength and structural equivalence on knowledge integration. No support is found for the moderating role of team cohesion on the effect of betweenness centrality.Originality/valueFirst, different from previous research on social capital at single levels, this study links the individual-level and the team-level views to explore the effects of social capital on knowledge integration. Second, this study enriches research on inducing factors of knowledge integration. Third, this study extends social capital research and knowledge integration research to the IDR team context.

Interplay Between Air Travel, Genome Integrity, and COVID-19 Risk vis-a-vis Flight Crew.

During air travel, flight crew (flight attendants, pilots) can be exposed to numerous flight-related environmental DNA damaging agents that may be at the root of an excess risk of cancer and other diseases. This already complex mix of exposures is now joined by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The complex exposures experienced during air travel present a challenge to public health research, but also provide an opportunity to consider new strategies for understanding and countering their health effects. In this article, we focus on threats to genomic integrity that occur during air travel and discuss how these threats and our ability to respond to them may influence the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and the development of range of severity of the symptoms. We also discuss how the virus itself may lead to compromised genome integrity. We argue that dauntingly complex public health problems, such as the challenge of protecting flight crews from COVID-19, must be met with interdisciplinary research teams that include epidemiologists, engineers, and mechanistic biologists.

Experience-Based Co-Design to Develop an Injury Prevention Intervention in Skilled Nursing Facilities

Experience-based co-design (EBCD) improves clinical effectiveness and safety by incorporating end-user perspectives in the design of clinical interventions. To refine a centralized, multi-component fall-related injury prevention service (IPS) to be tested in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) in a pragmatic trial, we employed a modified EBCD process. We first conducted in-depth interviews with SNF residents, family members, and staff (n = 28; three facilities in two states) regarding their experiences in falls prevention. We then engaged these and other stakeholders from multiple institutions (n=4) in a day-long co-design workshop with our interdisciplinary research team. Building upon themes drawn from the analysis of interviews, we targeted three intervention components that were refined during the workshop: de-prescribing process, osteoporosis treatment, and educational videoconferences. Key outcomes from the ECBD process included development of strategies to ensure that: (1) residents, families, and SNF staff are involved in communication about residents identified as high risk for fall-related injury, and in related treatment decisions; (2) approaches to monitoring for unintended consequences from the injury prevention plan are clearly understood by direct care staff and are compatible with existing workflow; (3) treatment plan risks and benefits are presented in a manner easily understood by stakeholders; and (4) staff education conferences build trust with the IPS nurse and provide direct care staff with support and advice about challenging cases. EBCD is a feasible approach to strengthen intervention development in SNFs and can lead to testable new ideas for protocol refinement to address diverse stakeholder perspectives.

The Spiritual Dimensions of Caring for a Family Member With Early-Stage Dementia

There are approximately 16.1 million family members caring for persons with Alzheimer’s Disease and other dementias in the USA. However, few studies have examined the role of spirituality/religiosity as it relates to the caregiving experience, particularly in family members of persons in the early-stages of dementia. In this cross-sectional qualitative study, one-on-one, in-depth, 60-90 minute interviews were conducted with family members of persons assessed to be in the early-stages of dementia (n = 26). A structured interview, “The Spiritual and Religious Dimensions of Living with Dementia” developed by McGee, J. & Carlson-Zhao, H. (2012), was utilized. Interviews were recorded and transcribed by members of an interdisciplinary team of gerontology researchers (nursing, psychology, and social work). Narrative data were examined through thematic analysis approach, supported by NVivo (version 12.0) software, and a modified constant comparison analysis approach (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Participants reported a diverse range of spiritual/religious beliefs, practices, and experiences including how these intersected with their adaptation to the opportunities and challenges of the caregiver role. The importance of intrapersonal processing, family connection, and community support for managing the ambiguity of this role was expressed. The interview questions were reportedly therapeutic for some participants suggesting the need to include similar questions as part of the assessment in clinical care settings. Indeed, interviewing caregivers of people with early-stage dementia may serve to improve clinical outcomes by identifying important aspects of spiritual/religious coping that can be encouraged as well as spiritual struggles that need to be addressed. Additional research is needed.

Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Maintenance of Health Behavior Change

Modifying health behaviors can be difficult, especially for older adults who are challenged by multiple chronic conditions, reduced functional and/or cognitive capacity, and limited social support. Although much attention has been given to the theories, skills, and resources behind initiating and achieving behavior change, less work has focused on maintenance of health behaviors over time. This presentation will showcase pilot research inspired by RCCN’s first workshop, Achieving and Sustaining Behavior Change. Specifically, this pilot brings together an interdisciplinary team of behavioral scientists and health services researchers working at the intersection of intervention science and implementation science to better understand the construct of maintenance and discuss emerging methods for intervention development and evaluation. The presentation will utilize physical activity as an example behavior to demonstrate the value of interdisciplinary research, including recommendations on how some of the six NIA research centers can make unique contributions to understanding health behavior maintenance.

Kinlessness and Social Isolation at the End of Life: Cross-National Comparisons

Nearly all older adults cross-nationally rely on close family members to facilitate care at the end-of-life, but recent demographic shifts toward declining fertility and marriage rates have yielded an unprecedented increase in older adults who lack traditional family ties (“kinless”). “Kinless” older adults may be at risk for social isolation, lack of caregiving options, and poorer end-of-life outcomes, and these risks may be buffered or exacerbated by social and economic resources as well as country context. Because the potential impact of “kinlessness” on end-of-life outcomes cross-nationally is unknown and virtually unstudied, this symposium composed of overlapping, interdisciplinary research teams investigate if and how “kinlessness” is associated with end-of-life outcomes cross-nationally. Mudrazija and Ornstein analyze a sample of older European adults (SHARE) to predict location of death (e.g., home deaths) by family size, living alone, and size of social network. Plick, Ankuda, and Ornstein examine a sample of older American decedents (HRS) to predict end-of-life outcomes (e.g., hours of care received, location of death). Mair, Ornstein, Aldridge, and Thygesen explore associations between family structure and multiple end-of-life outcomes (e.g., hospitalizations, ICU visits, medical treatment) among the population of decedents aged 50+ from Denmark. Finally, Mair, Ornstein, Calvo, Donoso, and Medina explore family structure, social isolation, loneliness, and end-of-life outcomes among a sample of older adults from 20 countries (Gateway to Global Aging). These papers will be discussed by Feinian Chen, a family sociologist and social demographer who specializes in cross-national comparisons of older adults’ family structures, country context, and health.

Team learning in interdisciplinary research teams: antecedents and consequences

PurposeTeam learning is critical to interdisciplinary research teams (IDR teams) to use heterogeneous knowledge effectively. Nevertheless, team learning is rarely addressed in the IDR team literature. Also, few studies investigate the antecedents and consequences of team learning in IDR teams, leading to a lack of guidance for management practices. This study aims to investigate how team learning can be developed and how team learning influences team outcomes in IDR teams.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire survey on 304 members of 37 IDR teams in a research university in China is conducted. Data are analyzed using a partial least square structural equation modeling.FindingsThe results support most hypotheses in general. For the antecedent variables, task interdependence, trust and constructive conflict positively affect team learning. For the outcome variables, team learning improves shared mental models, coordination quality and team performance significantly. Additionally, task uncertainty positively moderates the team learning-coordination quality relation and team learning-team performance relation. However, this paper does not find support for the moderating role of task uncertainty on the team learning-shared mental models relation.Originality/valueTo the best of the knowledge, this is the first study investigating the antecedents and consequences of team learning in IDR teams. A multidimensional measurement of team learning for the IDR team context is developed. This study investigates how team behavioral factors influence team learning and the effect of team learning on shared mental models, coordination quality and team performance. This study also explores the contingency role of task uncertainty in the effects of team learning.

Current trends in the development of geothermal resources

Based on the analysis of publications in world publications, as well as a generalization of the experience of developing domestic geothermal fields, current trends in the development of geothermal resources are shown. The key trend is considered to be the transition from subsidized to commercial projects, which increases the relevance of research in areas that have a significant impact on the economic efficiency of resource development processes, primarily in the direction of geothermal technologies. In terms of subsidized projects that set research goals, the most relevant are works in the direction of EGS (Enhanced Geothermal Systems). Moreover, there is a tendency towards the creation of international interdisciplinary collaborative research teams. It is noted that the current level of technology development allows producing geothermal energy for use in local heat supply systems practically anywhere in the world. However, given the concentration of power per unit area, the basis of modern geothermal energy is still the direction associated with the rise of deep fluids to the surface in areas characterized by the presence of ascending flows of hot juvenile fluids. It is indicated that Russia is lagging behind the world level of progress in the development of geothermal resources, including in terms of current research and development directions, and measures are proposed to overcome this lag.

The Prospects for Collaborative Research in Business History

After reflecting on the thematic evolution of business history as a field over the past 50 years, this revised presidential address invites readers to consider the potential payoffs of expanding the contexts in which business historians work together on research projects, as well as with colleagues from cognate fields and with students. In addition to charting the steady growth in collaborative research among business historians since 2000, the essay also identifies areas that especially lend themselves to this mode of historical inquiry, including comparative or transnational analysis that requires detailed knowledge of multiple societies, the development of oral history projects, and the use of data science techniques. It concludes by exploring the advantages of incorporating interdisciplinary research teams into curricular structures, using the example of the Bass Connections program at Duke University.

WBF-2019 Core Research Cluster of Disaster Science Planning Session as Disaster Preparedness: Participation in a Training Program for Conductor-Type Disaster Healthcare Personnel

Introduction: Health professionals and support staff need to be prepared for disasters and know how to respond. This study aimed to examine a one-day “Conductor-type disaster healthcare management personnel” training course and its effect among healthcare professionals. Tohoku University and Fukushima Medical University are experienced in disaster response preparedness and they conducted the one-day course comprising multiple sessions at the World Bosai Forum-2019 (WBF-2019). Method: The course introduced the recent activities of four groups: the Practical Disaster Risk Reduction Research Group; the Natural Science Research Group; the Disaster Humanities Research Group; and the Disaster Medicine Research Group. Unifying four scientific areas based on the theory of the disaster cycle, the research field “disaster science” has been created through interdisciplinary cooperation. The participants completed reports, which were then analyzed using the KJ method. Discussion: The program participants wanted to gain practical knowledge about disasters and have a multifaceted perspective on disaster response. Participants who attended other sessions had an interest in comparing their training with the training provided by other sessions on disaster preparedness. Comparisons included determining the effectiveness of high-level disaster medical preparations from a multilateral viewpoint and involving an interdisciplinary research team in disaster medical preparations to prepare for future disaster events. Conclusion: The participants identified that interdisciplinary activities lead to an improvement in knowledge, skills, or attitudes toward disaster preparedness. There needs to be a greater focus on disaster medicine care teams, including research on both past and future disasters.

Health services research in France: bridging the gap between academia and policymaking.

-We aimed to identify the knowledge producers, the knowledge that they produce and the main areas of interest for health services research (HSR) in France, which is one of the priorities for public health research planning. -A two-phase approach comprising a bibliometric analysis and semi-structured interviews with 20 researchers and 13 staff members of public health bodies was used. -In France today, interdisciplinary research teams are being organized in the main cities despite a lack of critical mass. The interviews showed that the term 'health services research' is vague with fuzzy boundaries between research, scientific expertise and evaluation. A keyword cluster analysis showed that French HSR is more hospital-centric compared to those countries that publish most frequently. The analysis also revealed a lack of research on methodological aspects. -We analyzed the structure of HSR in France and the specificity of the French publications in this field, compared with other countries. The results indicate the obstacles faced by researchers and decision-makers and offer insight into how these barriers may be removed.