Senior Project Research Articles

Capturing Potential Interventions for the Empowerment of Older People and Informal Caregivers in Transitional Care Decision-Making: A Qualitative Study Using Focus Groups.

To capture older people's, informal caregivers' and health professionals' ideas on potential interventions for empowering older people and informal caregivers in transitional care decision-making. A descriptive qualitative design was adopted. The study was conducted between February and May 2022 in the region of Flanders, Belgium, as part of the TRANS-SENIOR consortium's collaborative research. Data were collected using focus groups, including older people, informal caregivers and healthcare professionals involved in any physical relocation of the older person across home, hospital or nursing home settings. Thematic data analysis was performed based on Braun and Clarke's six-step method. A total of 40 people participated in the focus groups. Four main themes were identified, which describe ideas on how to empower older people and informal caregivers in transitional care: Providing clear and timely information, preparing people for what is to come, person-centredness and providing professional and peer support for informal caregivers. Healthcare (professionals) should facilitate older people's and informal caregivers' empowerment in transitional care decision-making by setting them at the core and inception of the decision-making process. While informal caregivers support their loved ones in decision-making processes, they should also be supported and monitored for burdensome issues. Multicomponent, well-planned and personalised interventions are needed to empower older people and informal caregivers in transitional care decision-making. The ideas raised by all stakeholders who participated in this study can inform these interventions. Adhered to consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research checklist. Organisations advocating for the interests of older people and informal caregivers played a pivotal role in shaping the TRANS SENIOR project. Furthermore, the study benefitted from the collaborative input of AGE Platform Europe, which amplified the voices and representation of older people during the project design phase.

Students create prize‐winning app to keep everyone safer on campus

Four students from the University of Nevada, Reno, for their senior project in computer science class, created an app designed specifically to help women feel safer on campus. Kathleen Scafidi, Anna Desorcy, Michael Munakash, and Kurtis Bertauche were all computer science majors when they created the app Ur Next Route.

Design and prototyping of smart mobile grinding bots as an educational experience

Abrasive finishing of large areas is often done manually and can be time-consuming, ergonomically challenging, and even detrimental to the operator’s health. Inspired by ant robots, this paper presents a senior design project that developed a grinding robot and a quality robot, which can grind and assess a sheet metal surface. This concept of mobile grinding robots is novel and demands a multidisciplinary design approach. The main requirements included applying a controlled pressure with the grinding spindle to the surface, having a range of mobility within a predefined work area, and communication between the robots. A first prototype was delivered based on Linkbot modules, a commercial power tool as grinding spindle, sensors to measure spindle height, taped work area boundary, and surface finish. The mechanical and electronical system performance was analyzed and tested. This paper presents a proof of concept for smart mobile grinding bots and a reproducible educational experience.

Students create prize‐winning app to keep everyone safer on campus

Four students from the University of Nevada, Reno, senior project in computer science class created an app designed specifically to help women feel safer on campus. Kathleen Scafidi, Anna Desorcy, Michael Munakash, and Kurtis Bertauche were all computer science majors when they created the app Ur Next Route.

Unlocking the Secrets of Successful Knowledge Transfer Among Software Project Managers: A Mixed-Methods Study

Objectives: This study combined qualitative and quantitative sequential exploratory mixed-method approaches to identify the success factors of knowledge transfer effectiveness with software project managers and investigate how these factors impacted knowledge transfer effectiveness. Methods/Analysis: The qualitative research component included twelve senior and junior project managers, while the quantitative component involved a cross-sectional survey of 212 completed responses from software project managers. Findings: The results suggested that two influential factors as knowledge providers and knowledge transfer environment had a significant effect on knowledge transfer effectiveness. Novelty/Improvement: The research results enhance the operational capability of software project supervision and contribute to the improvement of knowledge transfer for software project managers operating in teams. Doi: 10.28991/HEF-2024-05-03-06 Full Text: PDF

Listen, talk, understand. Interpersonal communication in a senior project

Studies carried out around the world on the structure of human populations clearly indicate that modern society is “aging”. Demographic indicators show the dynamism of this process, and thus the trend of population ageing will intensify in the coming years. That is why the activation and activity of older people is so important, this is a condition for functioning in society, playing assigned social roles, meeting bio-psychosocial needs and, above all, communicating. Its absence can cause progressive disability, social isolation, loneliness. That is why activating senior projects aimed at increasing independence and counteracting the risk of social marginalization are so important in the lives of seniors. The aim of the research was to establish the factors that determine proper communication with the elderly people. The study involved 86 seniors, participants of the senior project entitled: "Passion - a recipe for eternal youth". A qualitative strategy was used to collect and analyze the data using partially categorized interviews. In order to supplement the information obtained during the interviews, an analysis of the documents held by the senior project organizer was carried out. The presentation of the results of the study was divided into three areas related to communication: listening, talking, understanding. In order to build effective interpersonal communication with seniors, it is important to understand individual experiences, specific needs, expectations and concerns. For seniors in the process of interpersonal communication important elements are: empathy, patience, commitment, as well as understanding their shortcomings related to the aging process. The openness of expressing desires and needs by seniors is fostered by appreciation and listening. In their family environment, they notice a deficit in the area of active listening, as well as the infantilization of the message addressed to them. They emphasize the very important importance of communication in their lives, and identify its lack with loneliness and isolation. They believe that the activity they undertake in the auditory, motor and cognitive spheres affects the slowing down of the aging process, as well as helps in communication. Taking into account the results of the study, it should be proposed to increase the awareness of people working in senior projects on the specifics of interpersonal communication with seniors through the organization of educational trainings in this area, which should be reflected in legal regulations.

A proposed framework using systems engineering to design human-centric manufacturing systems for novel products to reduce complexity and risk

AbstractThe environment for powertrain production system engineers is changing radically. This initial prescriptive study proposes a systems engineering framework based on two previous case studies which are under review for publication concerning design of battery plants. The framework was developed based on ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288 standard using Concept of Operations and Model-Based Systems Engineering in a workshop setting, with a focus on visualisation to understand the practical and emotional needs of the humans in the system. The framework was validated by twelve senior project members.

Nursing Students’ Experiences in Adopting a Senior: A Qualitative Study

This qualitative study explored the caring thoughts and feelings of nursing students through the analysis of reflection papers and presentations (oral and recorded) submitted at the end of a 12-week experience called the Adopt a Senior project. The analysis included the word count with accompanying cloud visualization, and subsequently, the individual researchers reading and reviewing student reflections with identification of topics and themes. Subsequently, the researchers met to compare and discuss the identified topics and themes, with resolution of differences resulting in the themes and illustrations reported in this article.

The Quality in Acute Stroke Care (QASC) global scale-up using a cascading facilitation framework: a qualitative process evaluation

BackgroundVariation in hospital stroke care is problematic. The Quality in Acute Stroke (QASC) Australia trial demonstrated reductions in death and disability through supported implementation of nurse-led, evidence-based protocols to manage fever, hyperglycaemia (sugar) and swallowing (FeSS Protocols) following stroke. Subsequently, a pre-test/post-test study was conducted in acute stroke wards in 64 hospitals in 17 European countries to evaluate upscale of the FeSS Protocols. Implementation across countries was underpinned by a cascading facilitation framework of multi-stakeholder support involving academic partners and a not-for-profit health organisation, the Angels Initiative (the industry partner), that operates to promote evidence-based treatments in stroke centres. .We report here an a priori qualitative process evaluation undertaken to identify factors that influenced international implementation of the FeSS Protocols using a cascading facilitation framework.MethodsThe sampling frame for interviews was: (1) Executives/Steering Committee members, consisting of academics, the Angels Initiative and senior project team, (2) Angel Team leaders (managers of Angel Consultants), (3) Angel Consultants (responsible for assisting facilitation of FeSS Protocols into multiple hospitals) and (4) Country Co-ordinators (senior stroke nurses with country and hospital-level responsibilities for facilitating the introduction of the FeSS Protocols). A semi-structured interview elicited participant views on the factorsthat influenced engagement of stakeholders with the project and preparation for and implementation of the FeSS Protocol upscale. Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed inductively within NVivo.ResultsIndividual (n = 13) and three group interviews (3 participants in each group) were undertaken. Three main themes with sub-themes were identified that represented key factors influencing upscale: (1) readiness for change (sub-themes: negotiating expectations; intervention feasible and acceptable; shared goal of evidence-based stroke management); (2) roles and relationships (sub-themes: defining and establishing roles; harnessing nurse champions) and (3) managing multiple changes (sub-themes: accommodating and responding to variation; more than clinical change; multi-layered communication framework).ConclusionA cascading facilitation model involving a partnership between evidence producers (academic partners), knowledge brokers (industry partner, Angels Initiative) and evidence adopters (stroke clinicians) overcame multiple challenges involved in international evidence translation. Capacity to manage, negotiate and adapt to multi-level changes and strategic engagement of different stakeholders supported adoption of nurse-initiated stroke protocols within Europe. This model has promise for other large-scale evidence translation programs.

Evaluating the Role of Project Management Offices (PMOs) in Large-Scale Construction Projects: Insights from Construction Industry Professionals

This research paper evaluates the role of Project Management Offices (PMOs) in large-scale construction projects, with insights from construction industry professionals. The study's main objective was to bridge the gap in literature by obtaining direct perspectives from those managing these projects. A structured online survey, encompassing both quantitative and qualitative questions, was administered to a diverse group of professionals. The analysis, conducted using statistical software for quantitative data and thematic analysis for qualitative insights, led to several key findings. PMOs were perceived as highly effective in aligning project objectives, resource allocation, process standardization, communication facilitation, and risk management. Notable challenges included resistance to change, inadequate senior management support, resource constraints, and project complexity. PMOs positively impacted project timelines, budget management, stakeholder engagement, and quality of deliverables. High integration of sustainability practices and moderate to high adoption of innovative technologies were also observed. Key success factors for PMOs included effective leadership, clear objectives, skilled teams, robust risk management, and effective stakeholder communication. Over 89% of respondents were satisfied with PMO performance. The study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by providing practical insights and confirming the critical role of PMOs in the success of large-scale construction projects. It highlights the importance of PMOs in driving sustainability and technological advancements, thus offering actionable guidance for enhancing PMO effectiveness in the construction industry.

Construction Safety Management Systems Using Promethee Method

Construction safety management is at the construction site safe working environment security to ensure to control activities a method that can be used. Planning and design taken during the process results of the construction project when the protection is largely affected. Construction and demolition sites, labor protection, and health hazard the result is unique hazards and risks causing professional safety and health management protection of systems organizations and health hazards continue to detect and remove help, incident possibilities reduce, to regulations compliance and risk-reduction implement interventions. Construction industry sites employee health and safety very dangerous to work with one of the workplace environments. Manufacturing processes, labor intensive characteristics, and occupational accidents due to the construction industry the greater the risk, the greater it is scale of financial losses, and the worst the company results from reputation. Construction in the construction industry site security is very important this is an important requirement mostly on project sites is ignored. Correct without safety regulations, hazards of the construction industry and because of the dynamic environment, staff small and large are prone to accidents. Security management systematic risk management in detection, and with it related risks can also help control, at the same time this control activities of the construction site useful in aiding protection it promises to be. Safety management process roughly the following steps outlines: planning related to the workplace at the stage identity hazards and accident or to avoid property damage ensure construction safety appropriate restrictions for making and advance the determination of the step. Accidents possible actions early detection, safe practices followed and safe conditions whether maintained monitoring of verification work. Neighbors are public and private protection of assets at all levels of the organization effective communication implementation and promotion. Safe operating modes attractive to use regularly with incentive programs safety education and training providing. Constant professionalism health and safety compliance with regulations. PROMETHEEE is a priority for assessment enrichment Ranking system and its interactive help Descriptive complementary geometric analysis known as PROMETHEEE methods. In this, The PROMETHEEE method is the best solution from the analysis The shorter the distance and the longer the negative-ideal solution Determines the solution with the distance, but of these distances, The comparison was not considered significant. Alternative is Safety Commitment by Senior Management, Competency Profiles, Safety Climate, Project Management, Safety Requirements and Incentives, Safe Working Environment/ Conditions. Evaluation preference is Government building, Private building, Civil engineering, Industrial building. From the result it is seen that Government building is got the first rank where as is the Industrial building is having the lowest rank. Government building is ranked first and industrial building is ranked lowest.

Handling Projects Under Unprecedented risks: Challenges and Threats

The unprecedented risks pandemic has been the biggest worldwide health crisis in decades. Apart from unprecedented number of hospitalizations and deaths, the pandemic has led to in the financial and economic downturns and business disruptions. The current will aim to establish the implications of the unprecedented risks pandemic on the projects in the UAE. The main objective of the research will be to identify the challenges facing the UAE projects and determine the success of risk management. In addition to that, the research will focus on identifying the most impacted project knowledge areas by the pandemic and the effectiveness of government support to help the business sustain the success of their projects. The research will also address the strategies followed by project managers to recover the delay of projects caused by the pandemic. The descriptive research design and deductive approach will be adopted for the study. Simple random sampling method and purposive sampling method will be applied in the selection of respondents for quantitative and qualitative data, respectively. A total of 50 project managers and 5 senior project managers working in the UAE will be sample for the survey and interview method, respectively. Survey and interview data will be collected will be using the close-ended online and open-ended questionnaire, respectively. It is expected that the research will find a significant impact of unprecedented risks pandemic on the number of days to complete the projects in the UAE. The finding will also reveal that the pandemic has resulted in inadequate access to labor and raw materials, thereby resulting in delay of the business projects. The implications of this research would inform the decision and policy-makers in the UAE to employ efficient ways of addressing the issues and challenges for the stability of the sector.

Process competences to incorporate in higher education curricula

This study reports on a survey on project managers' priorities. The survey used ISO 21500 as a scaffold to ask various respondents, like junior, experienced, and senior project managers, project sponsors, and students, to share their perceptions on the priorities for junior project managers. The respondent groups shared similar perceptions. Furthermore, project type and sector had little effect on junior project managers' priorities. Experienced and senior project managers shared their own priorities as well. The perceptions of priorities for junior, experienced, and senior project managers were mostly alike. However, experienced and senior project managers' priorities seemed slightly more affected by project type and sector. A session with experts in project management and teaching project management highlighted that the results for junior project managers could provide accents for introducing project management to students in higher education, provided the entire playing field of project management is also introduced.

Talent mobility for accelerating diversity at leadership levels: A pilot study

Mayo Clinic is committed to reskilling and upskilling its workforce and to creating a strong, diverse leadership pipeline to advance its ‘Bold. Forward.’ strategy. In alignment with this commitment, the Mayo Clinic Shared Services Organization (MCSSO) launched a pilot offering staff the opportunity to work in a hybrid role and build new skills and connections. Pilot participants split their time equally between job roles in which the professional skill sets required were approximately the same. The pilot involved six MCSSO departments and six candidates (three pairs) from the participating departments. Staff were recruited for three roles: senior project manager, senior business analyst and call centre representative. Each of the three pairs worked in a hybrid assignment for six months. Candidates were offered opportunities to network with each other, MCSSO senior leaders and other diverse colleagues. Pilot evaluations were conducted at 0, 3 and 6 months with candidates and their supervisors. Additionally, benchmarking with external organisations allowed learning from advanced talent mobility and leadership diversity programmes. The evaluations highlighted that 50 per cent of the candidates were promoted by the end of their hybrid assignment. Most of them engaged in new projects, cross-trained and gained valuable insights, skills and expertise. Candidates and supervisors valued the opportunity to network with senior leaders and cross-functional colleagues. The pilot and external benchmarks emphasised the importance of a formal ‘talent mobility programme’ to build and sustain a diverse leadership pipeline. It is crucial to be intentional and bold with hybrid and mobility opportunities for intersectional candidates, under-represented groups and staff committed to equity, inclusion and diversity. All candidates and supervisors wanted the pilot to be expanded and operationalised. We believe that these early experiences, results and lessons on preparing diverse talent for leadership levels in the organisation are broadly transferable to other healthcare and non-healthcare organisations.

Web Framework

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how to extend a web framework (WF) for developing web apps that can meet the diverse needs of different fields. This work aims to provide computer science senior project students with an opportunity to work on a wide range of projects using Apache, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, and MySQL. The paper presents a WF that manages jokes, based on the book PHP MySQL: Novice to Ninja (6th ed.) by T. Butler and K. Yank. The WF is interactive, responsive, secure, password-protected and database-driven. It consists of generic and specific components that use a MySQL database on the web server-side to store jokes. The specific components can be modified or added to create custom apps. Admin users can log in with their email and password and perform various actions (view, add, delete and edit) on jokes and categories, depending on their level of permission. Admins with full permissions can also edit the permissions of other registered accounts and access the Manage Categories, Manage Jokes, and Manage Authors pages. The original WF is enhanced and expanded for the senior project starting point by adding the following features: a hierarchical main menu with admin menus as the second level, a highlighted selected menu item, responsive design - accessibility on all devices, improved password security (minimum of 8 characters, 1 lowercase letter, 1 uppercase letter, 1 digit, 1 special character), a two-factor authentication security subsystem, cascaded deletion and uploaded and retrieved binary files (images and documents). In conclusion, the project is designed and implemented following the best practices and tested on a web hosting server provider.

SUCCESS FACTORS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SIX SIGMA METHODOLOGY IN THE EXPORT INDUSTRY OF CIUDAD JUÁREZ, CHIHUAHUA, MÉXICO

ABSTRACT: Success in the process of implementing the six sigma methodology in companies is not always guaranteed. The aim of this research is to provide the administration of productive companies with a tool that allows them to prioritize the actions and resources to be assigned to maximize the probability of achieving the expected success in the process of implementing the six sigma methodology. The research methodology is based on the use of the method of structural equation models with partial least squares to build a linear regression model, which establishes the causal relationship between the critical success factors and the success in the implementation of the six methodology sigma. A sample of 134 companies of the export industry located in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico is analyzed. The results establish that: senior management, project management, and organizational infrastructure are the significant critical success factors; the predictive capacity of the estimated model makes it possible to reliably obtain estimates of success in this implementation process; there is no unobserved heterogeneity in the sample. This study contributes, in this region of the country, to strengthening the existing knowledge about the solution to the problem of identifying, what are the critical factors and their impact on the success variable in the implementation of the six sigma methodology? Keywords: critical success factors, six sigma methodology, structural equation models with partial least squares

Certificate Management Application

The purpose of the paper is to show how to expand the low code interactive framework in order to develop a web app for the broad needs of different fields. The goal of this work is to give a chance to computer science senior project students to work on a broad spectrum of projects using Apache, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, and MySQL. In this paper, the web app keeps track of recipients of computer science certificates. The web application is interactive, responsive, secured, password and database driven app. The web app uses a MYSQL database on the web server-side to record concentration, courses, and certificates. Admins and users with proper permissions can add, delete, view, and edit recipients, categories, certificates, and courses based on a level of permission. Admins with full permissions can edit permissions for other registered accounts. They have access to the Manage Categories, Manage Certificates, Manage Courses, Manage Recipients, and Manage Users pages depending on their permissions. The web app is accessible on all devices and is designed to be mobile as well. In conclusion, the project has been successfully designed and implemented according to best practices and finally tested on a web hosting server provider.

Course and Faculty Management System

The purpose of the paper is to show how to expand the low code interactive framework in order to develop a web app for the broad needs of different fields. The goal of this work is to give a chance to computer science senior project students to work on a broad spectrum of projects using Apache, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, and MySQL. In this paper the web app is Course and Faculty Management System allowing educational organizations efficiently organize and manage their courses and faculty. The web application is interactive, responsive, secured, password and database driven app. The website is accessible on all devices. Public users can view the courses the university offers as well as which instructors teach them. Courses can be filtered by term and subject. Users that are logged in and have the correct permissions can edit/add/delete courses, departments, and instructors in the database. Admins can import files containing information about multiple courses as well as export the courses in the database to a csv file. The admin can also edit the other user’s permissions. In conclusion, the project has been successfully designed and implemented according to best practices and finally tested on a web hosting server provider.

In the context of a deprived neighborhood, does self‐identified race cause dementia?

AbstractBackgroundAlthough accumulating evidence has shown that individual socioeconomic status affects dementia incidence, it remains unknown whether a higher degree of neighborhood disadvantage which is independent of individual socioeconomic status contributes to the excess risk of dementia among African Americans (AA).MethodIn the Monongahela‐Youghiogheny Healthy Aging Team and 15104 Senior Project, two population‐based prospective cohort studies in an economically disadvantaged Rust Belt community, 2733 participants aged 65+ years were assessed for their health history, lifestyle, and cognitive functioning. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia was defined as Clinical Dementia Rating score ≥0.5. Each participant was assigned an Area Deprivation Index (ADI) value according to the census block group where one resided, indicating the level of neighborhood disadvantage. In cross‐sectional data, racial differences in the odds of MCI or dementia were assessed using weighted logistic regressions. Inverse probability weighting was used to balance AA and European Americans (EA) with respect to 1) ADI, 2) other confounders (age, sex, APOE*4 genotype, cardiometabolic diseases, individual socioeconomic status, health‐related behaviors, use of regular health services, functional health literacy, and air pollution [PM2.5]), and 3) ADI and other confounders.ResultThe frequency of MCI and dementia were 648 (24%) and 25 (0.9%), respectively. AA had significantly higher proportion of MCI or dementia (35% vs. 24%, p = 0.001) and higher mean ADI (96 vs. 79, p<0.0001) than EA. Being AA was associated with higher odds of MCI or dementia compared to being EA (odds ratio [OR] = 1.71, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.26 ‐ 2.33, unadjusted model). After balancing racial groups with respect to ADI only, the difference between AA and EA no longer reached the level of significance. When balancing all other confounders only, the OR was 1.66 (95% CI = 1.04 ‐ 2.67) and the confounders explained 5.2% of the observed disparity. After balancing both ADI and other confounders, the difference again became non‐significant (OR = 1.61, 95% CI = 0.93 ‐ 2.80) and resulted in 11.1% of the MCI or dementia disparity being explained.ConclusionA higher degree of neighborhood disadvantage may contribute to the excess risk of MCI or dementia found among AA.

UV-C Based Disinfectant Robot

Abstract: UVC (ultraviolet-C) light has been proven to kill various bacteria and viruses, including the COVID-19-producing virus, which has been discovered to be a powerful disinfectant. Manual UVC disinfection, on the other hand, can be tiresome, time-consuming, and hazardous for human operators. As our senior project, we developed a UVC-based disinfection robot to address these problems. Our robot has been designed to move and clean on its own in a variety of applications including hospitals, schools, and public places. Ultrasonic sensors for navigation and obstacle avoidance, a mobile platform, a UVC light source, and an Arduino microcontroller for communication and control comprise the robot.We conducted a microbiological test to gauge the robot's performance by comparing the number of microbe cells on a surface before and after UVC disinfection. Our findings demonstrated the robot's effectiveness as a disinfection tool by showing that bacterial colonies were reduced by 93.9%. By measuring UVC radiation levels at various angles and at various distances from the light source, we were also able to assess the safety of the robot. Our findings demonstrated that the robot complied with safety requirements for UVC radiation exposure to humans.