Unexpected Occurrences Research Articles

Assessment of causative factors for project abandonment in Nigerian public tertiary educational institutions

PurposeAbandonment of construction projects is still a burning issue in Nigeria. Beside the poor financing of educational infrastructure, abandonment of construction projects remains a significant contributor to the inadequacy of facilities in Nigerian public tertiary educational institutions. The purpose of this paper is, therefore, to assess the causes of abandoned projects specific to public institutions of tertiary education in Nigeria, with a view to providing empirical data that are generalizable to enhancing successful delivery of teaching and research facilities.Design/methodology/approachPrimary data used for the study were obtained through questionnaires administered to 47 professionals comprising 8 architects, 12 mechanical and electrical engineers, 15 civil/structural engineers, 4 builders and 8 quantity surveyors who were involved in physical development of construction projects in public tertiary educational institutions in Osun State. The data were analyzed using mean analysis, factor analysis and the Kruskal-Wallis (K-W) test.FindingsThe factors most significant to abandonment of tertiary educational institutional projects were delayed payments, fund mismanagement, inadequate budgetary allocation, inadequacy of finance, inflation and bankruptcy of the contractor. Findings also showed that not all factors causing abandonment were significant to tertiary institutional projects. The significant factors clustered under stakeholders’ response capacity, poor financial management, inadequate planning and monitoring, and unexpected occurrences. The K-W test showed significant differences among the categories of tertiary institutions on the ranking of the most significant causes of abandoned projects.Research limitations/implicationsThe study was limited to public tertiary educational institutions in Osun State. Further studies could focus on public health institution projects and private tertiary educational projects to improve the body of knowledge on the subject of causative factors for project abandonment.Practical implicationsThe study provided implications for effective contract management of public tertiary educational institutional projects, which is a significant step to improving the available teaching and research facilities in Nigerian tertiary institutions.Originality/valueThe study provides implications for effective contract management systems of projects for public tertiary educational institutions, thereby improving the available teaching and research facilities.

Expectation violation and attention to pain jointly modulate neural gain in somatosensory cortex

The neural processing and experience of pain are influenced by both expectations and attention. For example, the amplitude of event-related pain responses is enhanced by both novel and unexpected pain, and by moving the focus of attention towards a painful stimulus. Under predictive coding, this congruence can be explained by appeal to a precision-weighting mechanism, which mediates bottom-up and top-down attentional processes by modulating the influence of feedforward and feedback signals throughout the cortical hierarchy. The influence of expectation and attention on pain processing can be mapped onto changes in effective connectivity between or within specific neuronal populations, using a canonical microcircuit (CMC) model of hierarchical processing. We thus implemented a CMC within dynamic causal modelling for magnetoencephalography in human subjects, to investigate how expectation violation and attention to pain modulate intrinsic (within-source) and extrinsic (between-source) connectivity in the somatosensory hierarchy. This enabled us to establish whether both expectancy and attentional processes are mediated by a similar precision-encoding mechanism within a network of somatosensory, frontal and parietal sources. We found that both unexpected and attended pain modulated the gain of superficial pyramidal cells in primary and secondary somatosensory cortex. This modulation occurred in the context of increased lateralized recurrent connectivity between somatosensory and fronto-parietal sources, driven by unexpected painful occurrences. Finally, the strength of effective connectivity parameters in S1, S2 and IFG predicted individual differences in subjective pain modulation ratings. Our findings suggest that neuromodulatory gain control in the somatosensory hierarchy underlies the influence of both expectation violation and attention on cortical processing and pain perception.

Teachers’ Oversight of Science Values That Promotes Effective Citizenship

Science and technology is the backbone of development of any nation. It provides the necessary training for development of scientific skills and literacy in citizen. Science education in Nigeria also aims to cultivate a rational mind for the conduct of a good life and democracy. A careful analysis of the entire content of the science curriculum shows that this objective of science education which is value oriented appears not to receive adequate attention. This is because science teachers emphasize skills and knowledge acquisition than they do for value acquisition. This study highlights some science values and attitudes, some events in the science practical as well as the opportunity these events provide the teacher to teach values. This study also shows the similarity between some controversial and unexpected occurrences during science practical and current national challenges. Values of effective citizenship in social studies were also related to science values that can promote development and peace in the Nigerian state.

TINJAUAN PENERAPAN NINE LIFE SAVING PATIENT SAFETY SOLUTIONS (STUDI KASUS DI RS PKU MUHAMMADIYAH BANTUL)

Background: Patient safety already a high priority in the health service aspect in the hospital and has become demands of the needs in the health services, as it will hopefully minimize the risk of unexpected occurrences. Reducing the conflict between health workers and patients, reducing the incidence of medical disputes, reducing the demands and legal proceedings and administrative charges of malpractice accusation are getting more and more against hospital. WHO Collaborating Centre for Patient Safety has published Nine Life Saving Patient Safety Solutions. The purpose of this research was to review and analyze the application of nine life saving patient safety solutions in RS PKU Muhammadiyah Bantul.Method: This case study was qualitative to review nine life saving safety patient solutions in RS PKU Muhammadiyah Bantul. The data has been collected with interview, observation, and analysis of documents in RS PKU Muhammadiyah Bantul. The research was held in RS PKU Muhammadiyah Bantul in October 2011. The object of this research is RS PKU Muhammadiyah Bantul. While the subject of this research is the chairman of the patient safety team, Assistant Manager of Pharmacy, Assistant Manager of ICU, Assistant Manager of surgery room, Assistant Manager of Emergency room, Assistant Manager of nursing, head of the ward hall Al Kahfi, head of the ward hall Al A€™raf, and the head of the ward hall Ar Rahman. Result: This study shows that the patient safety program in PKU Muhammadiyah Bantul was still initiated and built, whereas the implementation of nine life saving patient safety solutions program is not yet specific and detailed. However there are a few items from these items are already implemented and can become input in the implementation of the nine life saving patient safety solutions program.Summary: The implementation of nine life saving patient safety solutions program is not yet specific. However there are a few items from these items are already implemented and can become input in the implementation of the nine life saving patient safety solutions program.

SME2EM: Smart mobile end-to-end monitoring architecture for life-long diseases

Monitoring life-long diseases requires continuous measurements and recording of physical vital signs. Most of these diseases are manifested through unexpected and non-uniform occurrences and behaviors. It is impractical to keep patients in hospitals, health-care institutions, or even at home for long periods of time. Monitoring solutions based on smartphones combined with mobile sensors and wireless communication technologies are a potential candidate to support complete mobility-freedom, not only for patients, but also for physicians. However, existing monitoring architectures based on smartphones and modern communication technologies are not suitable to address some challenging issues, such as intensive and big data, resource constraints, data integration, and context awareness in an integrated framework. This manuscript provides a novel mobile-based end-to-end architecture for live monitoring and visualization of life-long diseases. The proposed architecture provides smartness features to cope with continuous monitoring, data explosion, dynamic adaptation, unlimited mobility, and constrained devices resources. The integration of the architecture׳s components provides information about diseases׳ recurrences as soon as they occur to expedite taking necessary actions, and thus prevent severe consequences. Our architecture system is formally model-checked to automatically verify its correctness against designers׳ desirable properties at design time. Its components are fully implemented as Web services with respect to the SOA architecture to be easy to deploy and integrate, and supported by Cloud infrastructure and services to allow high scalability, availability of processes and data being stored and exchanged. The architecture׳s applicability is evaluated through concrete experimental scenarios on monitoring and visualizing states of epileptic diseases. The obtained theoretical and experimental results are very promising and efficiently satisfy the proposed architecture׳s objectives, including resource awareness, smart data integration and visualization, cost reduction, and performance guarantee.

Monitoring and field data acquisition system for hybrid static concentrator plant

Abstract After the past Fukushima nuclear crisis, the renewable energy industry has been growing remarkably over the last years and has given a further incentive worldwide. In this context, the solar energy is one of the more accessible and cheaper energy resources. For this reason, the solar energy industry has seen a rapid expansion in the last ten years with the result that the share of electricity produced by this technology increases continuously. In order to optimize the photovoltaic energy costs, many solutions have been proposed. In particular, solar concentrating systems have been introduced with the scope of the reduction of silicon needed when compared to the traditional linear photovoltaic modules. This paper is focused on the development of a monitoring system for a hybrid (photovoltaic and thermal – PV/T) static concentrator plant that is able to monitor both electrical and thermal characteristics acquired from the solar and thermal plant. The monitoring of plant parameters is a very important task that can be achieved by means of a well-designed monitoring of system parameters. This approach allows for improving complex system maintenance policies and, at the same time, to achieve a reduction of unexpected failure occurrences in the most critical components, reducing the operating cost.

Decreasing intrapartum malpractice: Targeting the most injurious neonatal adverse events.

Medical malpractice expenditures are mainly due to the occurrence of preventable harm with some of the highest liability rates in obstetrics. Establishing delivery system models which decrease preventable harm and malpractice risk have had varied results over the last decade. We conducted a case study of a risk reduction labor and delivery model at 5 demonstration sites. The model included standardized protocols for the most injurious events, training teams in labor and delivery emergencies, rapid reporting with cause analysis for all unplanned events, and disclosing unexpected occurrences to patients using coordinated communication and documentation. Each of the model's components required buy in from the hospital's clinical and administrative leadership, and it also required collaboration, training, and continual feedback to labor and delivery nurses, doctors, midwives, and risk managers. The case study examined the key elements in the development of the model based on interviews of all team members and document review. We also completed data analysis pre and post implementation of the new model to assess the impact on event reporting and high liability occurrence rates. After 27 months post implementation, reporting of unintended events increased significantly (43 vs 84 per 1000 births, p < .01) while high-risk malpractice events decreased significantly (14 vs 7 per 1000 births, p < .01). This decrease enabled money allotted for malpractice claims to be reallocated for the implementation of the new model at 42 additional labor and delivery sites. Due to these results, this multilevel integrated model showed promise.

Analysis of the acceptance of autonomous planetary science data collection by field of inquiry

The acceptance of autonomous control technologies in planetary science has met significant resistance. Many within this scientific community question the efficacy of autonomous technologies for making decisions regarding what data to collect, how to process it and its processing. These technologies, however, can be used to significantly increase the scientific return on mission investment by removing limitations imposed by communications bandwidth constraints and communications and human decision making delays. A fully autonomous mission, in an ideal case, could be deployed, perform most of the substantive work itself (possibly relying on human assistance for dealing with any unexpected or unexplained occurrences) and return an answer to a scientific question along with data selected to allow scientists to validate software performance. This paper presents the results of a survey of planetary scientists which attempts to identify the root causes of the impediments to the use of this type of technology and identify pathways to its acceptance. Previous work considered planetary science as a single large community. This paper contrasts the differences in acceptance between component fields of planetary science.

Diagnostic architecture: A procedure based on the analysis of the failure causes applied to photovoltaic plants

Analysis of failure modes and causes and diagnostic architectures are fundamental aspects for plants based on photovoltaic (PV) panel. In fact, for these plants, high level of reliability is necessary in order to operate, without failures, in the time taking into consideration also the typical lifetime of these plants. To this aim the monitoring of both plant parameters and plant performances is a very important task that can be obtained, as presented in this paper, by means of a well-designed diagnostic and monitoring system. This approach allows to improve complex system maintenance policies and, at the same time, to achieve a reduction of unexpected failure occurrences in the most critical components.

‘Go Be a Writer’: Intra-activity with materials, time and space in literacy learning

This article is based on research in a United States second-grade classroom during a multimodal literacy workshop. Observing students working with tissue paper, foam board, string, pipe cleaners and other materials, we asked how is intra-activity with materials, time and space influencing literacy learning in Room 203? While the research partnership of the authors spanned four years, video and audio recordings, artefacts and interviews with children for this article focus on year two of the research. Poststructural enquiry methods of pedagogical documentation and thinking with theory were used for data production and analysis. Pedagogical documentation focuses not only on the expected ways of being and learning (in this case, the norms of writing in an early childhood classroom) but also on unexpected occurrences (departures from what is typical or developmental) when students write. Thinking with poststructural and posthumanist theories allowed us to explore time, space and materials with three ideas: departures from the expected, the notion of becoming and intra-activity with materials. We illustrate how intra-activity with materials, time and space manifested in two projects: a 3D birdhouse and a 19-foot giraffe mural. We encourage educators to consider how expanded definitions of writing that include intra-actions with a range of materials create learning opportunities for children to live out literacy desiring with multimodal artefacts.

Determining the reliability function of the thermal power system in power plant "Nikola Tesla, Block B1"

Representation of probabilistic technique for evaluation of thermal power system reliability is the main subject of this paper. The system of thermal power plant under study consists of three subsystems and the reliability assessment is based on a sixteen-year failure database. By applying the mathematical theory of reliability to exploitation research data and using complex two-parameter Weibull distribution, the theoretical reliability functions of specified system have been determined. Obtained probabilistic laws of failure occurrence have confirmed a hypothesis that the distribution of the observed random variable fully describes behaviour of such a system in terms of reliability. Shown results make possible to acquire a better knowledge of current state of the system, as well as a more accurate estimation of its behavior during future exploitation. Final benefit is opportunity for potential improvement of complex system maintenance policies aimed at the reduction of unexpected failure occurrences.

Peculiar effects accompanying the production of white light by IR excited nanoparticles

We report some unexpected occurrences that have accompanied our recent discovery of white light emission from infrared light excited doped and nominally un-doped oxide nano-powders.

Spindle-like abdominal wall-lifting device in gasless laparoscopic surgery in animal experiments

Introduction: CO2 pneumoperitoneum has been used to establish an operation space in laparoscopic surgery. It may have some bad consequences, such as respiratory and circulatory system changes, hypotension and hypoxia in infants and the release of free tumor cells into the abdominal cavity. Gasless laparoscopic technique can avoid these adverse effects. But present gasless laparoscopic techniques have their own disadvantages. The main shortcoming of gasless laparoscopic techniques is inadequate operative space. Material and methods: We herein describe a new technique. We used a self-designed spindle-like abdominal wall-lifting device to perform gasless laparoscopic cholecystectomy in seven pigs, recording the operation time, bleeding volume and unexpected occurrences during the operation. Results: Seven pigs underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy using this technique with no conversion to open operation. The operation time was between 21minutes and 65 minutes, with a mean operative time of 42.5 minutes. The range of bleeding volumes was 2 ml to 8 ml, with a mean operative bleeding volume of 4.3ml. There were no massive hemorrhages, internal organ injuries or other complications during the operation. Conclusions: These preliminary outcomes indicate that the spindle-like abdominal wall-lifting device is feasible and safe in gasless laparoscopic cholecystectomy, which can provide sufficient exposure of the operative filed.

Sink or Swim: Empowering Leadership and Overload in Teams' Ability to Deal with the Unexpected

AbstractThe notion of improvisation has recently emerged in managerial studies as a viable solution to flexibly dealing with unexpected occurrences in work environments. However, past research on team improvisation has overlooked the contingencies that allow teams to effectively improvise. Drawing upon demand‐control theory, we investigate how empowering leadership and overload affect the improvisation‐performance relationship in the context of 48 work teams. Our results suggest that empowering leadership positively moderates the relationship between improvisation and performance, while overload attenuates the same relationship. Moreover, we found a joint effect of overload and empowering leadership influencing the improvisation‐performance link, such that improvisation is most positively related to performance when empowering leadership is high and overload is low. Conversely, we found that empowering leadership is particularly detrimental to the improvisation‐performance relationship when team members perceive high degrees of overload. Our findings make important contributions to the extant team literature as well as to the emerging literature on team improvisation. We outline several significant insights for HR managers and team leaders who are responsible for supporting teams that face unexpected events in the work environment. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Progressive multifocal leucoencephalopathy (PML): A novel complication of brentuximab vedotin from the Southern Network on Adverse Reactions (SONAR) project.

e22181 Background: BV is FDA approved for angio-immunoblastic large cell lymphoma and refractory Hodgkin’s lymphoma (HL). BV-linked PML cases reviewed. Methods: Case 1—Age:47/HIV negative male relapsed stage IIIB mixed cellularity undergoing treatment with BV. Prior therapies: 8 cycles of ABVD, ESHAP, BEAM, autologous stem cell transplant, involved field radiotherapy to the neck and mediastinum in 2008 and GVD ending in 2009. A 2011 relapse treated with BV q 3 weeks. Patient complained of impaired coordination and left greater than right dysdiadokinesis after 2 BV doses. Third BV cycle administered. Patient formed dysarthria, left-sided hemianopsia, hemiparesis. CSF analysis for JC virus DNA by PCR positive. Patient died shortly after. Case 2—Age:38/female revealed cutaneous anaplastic T-cell lymphoma refractory started on BV in mid-2011 led to loss of cutaneous tumors. A day after 2ndBV dose, difficulty finding words and unsteady gait. MRI revealed multifocal white matter lesions in bilateral cerebral hemispheres. Brain biopsy revealed PML. Prednisone initiated. Patient continued mixed non-fluent aphasia, quadriparesis, gait ataxia. MRI showed white matter lesions and contrast enhancement consistent with IRIS. High dose oral corticosteroids continued. Repeat MRI shows decreased lesion load, resolution of enhancement. Patient improving. Case 3—Age:72/female stage IB mycosis fungoides (MF) controlled with topical steroids and nitrogen mustard, phototherapy and interferon alpha, developed painful ulcerated plaques and tumors 4 years after diagnosis. BV administered, clinical response of skin tumors, decreased pain. Two weeks after 3rdBV dose: disoriented, poor short term memory. MRI revealed right frontal white matter. CSF sent for JC virus DNA was negative. Patient died 2 months after last BV dose. Autopsy: demyelination associated JC virus positive cells. Results: Shown. Conclusions: Unexpected PML occurrences after 2 or more BV doses, with IRIS and survival in 1 patient.

Integral formulation of null-collision Monte Carlo algorithms

At the kinetic level, the meaning of null-collisions is straightforward: they correspond to pure-forward scattering events. We here discuss their technical significance in integral terms. We first consider a most standard null-collision Monte Carlo algorithm and show how it can be rigorously justified starting from a Fredholm equivalent to the radiative transfer equation. Doing so, we also prove that null-collision algorithms can be slightly modified so that they deal with unexpected occurrences of negative values of the null-collision coefficient (when the upper bound of the heterogeneous extinction coefficient is nonstrict). We then describe technically, in full details, the resulting algorithm, when applied to the evaluation of the local net-power density within a bounded, heterogeneous, multiple scattering and emitting/absorbing medium. The corresponding integral formulation is then explored theoretically in order to distinguish the statistical significance of introducing null-collisions from that of the integral-structure underlying modification.

Increased annexin A1 and A2 levels in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid are associated with resistance to respiratory disease in beef calves

Strategies to control bovine respiratory disease depend on accurate classification of disease risk. An objective method to refine the risk classification of beef calves could be economically beneficial, improve welfare by preventing unexpected disease occurrences, refine and reduce the use of antibiotics in beef production, and facilitate alternative methods of disease control. The objective of this study was to identify proteins in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of stressed healthy calves that predict later disease outcome, serve as biomarkers of susceptibility to pneumonia, and play a role in pathogenesis. BALF was collected from 162 healthy beef calves 1–2 days after weaning and transportation. Difference in gel electrophoresis (DIGE) and mass spectrometry were used to compare proteins in samples from 7 calves that later developed respiratory disease compared to 7 calves that remained healthy. Calves that later developed pneumonia had significantly lower levels of annexin A1, annexin A2, peroxiredoxin I, calcyphosin, superoxide dismutase, macrophage capping protein and dihydrodiol dehydrogenase 3. Differences in annexin levels were partially confirmed by western blot analysis. Thus, lower levels of annexins A1 and A2 are potential biomarkers of increased susceptibility to pneumonia in recently weaned and transported feedlot cattle. Since annexins are regulated by glucocorticoids, this finding may reflect individual differences in the stress response that predispose to pneumonia. These findings also have implications in pathogenesis. Annexins A1 and A2 are known to prevent neutrophil influx and fibrin deposition respectively, and may thus act to minimize the harmful effects of the inflammatory response during development of pneumonia.

If quality is the answer ... what is the question?

In Douglas Adams' iconic works, a supercomputer takes 7 1/2 million years to compute and check that the ultimate answer to life, the universe and everything is 42 [1]. A more powerful supercomputer subsequently takes 10 million years to discover the ultimate question: ‘What do you get if you multiply six by nine?’ [1, 2] Input errors due to a series of unexpected occurrences are later discovered in the system [2]. Quality improvement (QI) efforts in health care can be rather like this. Quality assessment tools offer a set of answers, but if the ‘answers’ are to be at all meaningful, it is important to first identify the questions. Improving the quality of health-care provision is advocated as the answer to better health outcomes for all: to rectify health-care inequities; address human error; and bring the health-care safety record up to par with other industries, where human life can be placed at risk [3, 4]. Providers facing endless drivers to greater efficiency, accountability and service delivery scramble for initiatives to assure and improve health-care quality in the face of fiscal constraints. Indicator implementation has been embraced internationally at all levels of health-care provision, on the rationale that measurement is essential to demonstrate improvement [5] and that indicators can help monitor the efficacy of improvement initiatives [6]. Consequently, a large number of indicators have been introduced to assess performance of individuals and organizations, signal service outcome expectations, …

Onboard nurse on oil platforms: an offshore experience report

This experience report aims at describing the activities carried out by nurses on an offshore oil platform between 2010 and 2011. Administrative (monitoring, inspection, and water analysis) and health care and orientation (training of the rescue team, health lectures, and health instructions for onboard processes) activities were managed through planning, organization, control and leadership protocols within the workplace context established in offshore environments. Predictable and unexpected occurrences were also taken into account. In this multiprofessional team, the nurse must interact, dialogue with and conduct actions aimed at promoting health and maintaining the physical and psychological integrity and welfare of offshore workers performing complex and dangerous activities in a confined space, as professionals are kept onboard for 15 consecutive days. In this scenario, the nurse is the only health professional to work a daily 12-hour shift, plus 12 on-call hours for emergency care.

Fallibility and Insight in Moral Judgment

This article investigates the relationship between moral judgments, fallibility, and imaginative insight. It will draw heavily from the canon of classical American philosophy, the members of which (from Ralph Waldo Emerson, to C.S. Peirce, E.L. Cabot, to Jane Addams, to John Dewey) took up this relationship as pivotally important in moral theorizing. It argues that the process of hypothesis formation—characterized as “insight” by Emerson and extended by Peirce in his notion of “abduction”—is a necessary condition of moral progress for it allows individuals to think through the boundaries of social and ethical life. In a world of unexpected occurrences and uncertainty, the ability to generate novel explanatory frameworks and normative ideals is a crucial, if normally underappreciated, moral faculty. This paper attempts to respond to this relative neglect.