Perspectives on research in project management : the nine schools

This paper demonstrates that project management is a developing field of academic study in management, of considerable diversity and richness, which can make a valuable contribution to the development of management knowledge, as well as being of considerable economic importance. The paper reviews the substantial progress and trends of research in the subject, which has been grouped into nine major schools of thought: optimization, modelling, governance, behaviour, success, decision, process, contingency, and marketing. The paper addresses interactions between the different schools and with other related management fields, and provides insights into current and potential research in each and across these schools.

Habituated interaction and social objects

In this position paper we draw from critical approaches to the concept of habit from cultural theory to argue that considering the sociality of everyday objects might be productive for understanding and designing for habituated interaction within the emerging Internet of Things.

Prevalence of undiagnosed urinary tract infections on admission to a rehabilitation unit

Background Through clinical observation nursing staff of an inpatient rehabilitation unit identified a link between incontinence and undiagnosed urinary tract infections (UTIs). Further, clinical observation and structured continence management led to the realisation that urinary incontinence often improved, or resolved completely, after treatment with antibiotics. In 2009 a small study found that 30% of admitted rehabilitation patients had an undiagnosed UTI, with the majority admitted post-orthopaedic fracture. We suspected that the frequent use of indwelling urinary catheters (IDCs) in the orthopaedic environment may have been a contributing factor. Therefore, a second, more thorough, study was commenced in 2010 and completed in 2011. Aim The aim of this study was to identify what proportion of patients were admitted to one rehabilitation unit with an undiagnosed UTI over a 12-month period. We wanted to identify and highlight the presence of known risk factors associated with UTI and determine whether urinary incontinence was associated with the presence of UTI. Methods Data were collected from every patient that was admitted over a 12-month period (n=140). The majority of patients were over the age of 65 and had an orthopaedic fracture (36.4%) or stroke (27.1%). Mid-stream urine (MSU) samples, routinely collected and sent for culture and sensitivity as part of standard admission procedure, were used by the treating medical officer to detect the presence of UTI. A data collection sheet was developed, reviewed and trialled, before official data collection commenced. Data were collected as part of usual practice and collated by a research assistant. Inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. Results This study found that 25 (17.9%) of the 140 patients admitted to rehabilitation had an undiagnosed UTI, with a statistically significant association between prior presence of an IDC and the diagnosis of UTI. Urinary incontinence improved after the completion of treatment with antibiotics. Results further demonstrated a significant association between the confirmation of a UTI on culture and sensitivity and the absence of symptoms usually associated with UTI, such as burning or stinging on urination. Overall, this study suggests careful monitoring of urinary symptoms in patients admitted to rehabilitation, especially in patients with a prior IDC, is warranted.

Building and sustaining a culture to support peer review of teaching

1. Background/context This presentation will report on emerging results from a two phase project funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC). The project was designed in partnership with five universities and aimed to embed peer review within the local teaching and learning culture by using a distributive leadership framework. 2. The initiative/practice The presentation will highlight research outcomes that bring together both the fundamentals of peer review of teaching with the broader contextual elements of Integration, Leadership and Development. It will be demonstrated that peer review of teaching can be implemented and have advantages for academic staff, teaching evaluation and an organisation if attention is given to strategies that influence the contexts and cultures of teaching. Peer review as a strategy to develop excellence in teaching is considered from a holistic perspective that by necessity encompasses all elements of an educational environment. Results demonstrate achievements that can be obtained through working to foster conditions needed for sustainable leadership and change. The work has implications for policy, research, teaching development and student outcomes and has potential application world-wide. 3. Method(s) of evaluative data collection and analysis The 2 phase project collected focus group and questionnaire data to inform research results that were analysed using a thematic qualitative approach and statistical exploration. 4. Evidence of effectiveness The presentation will demonstrate the effectiveness of distributive leadership and strategic approaches to working for cultural change through the presentation of project findings.

Developing a culture to support peer review of teaching in higher education

This presentation addresses issues related to leadership, academic development and scholarship of teaching and learning, and highlights research funded by the Australian Office of Learning and Teaching (OLT) designed to embed and sustain peer review of teaching within the culture of 5 Australian universities: Queensland University of Technology, University of Technology, Sydney, University of Adelaide, Curtin University, and Charles Darwin University. Peer review of teaching in higher education will be emphasised as a professional process for providing feedback on teaching and learning practice, which if sustained, can become an effective ongoing strategy for academic development (Barnard et al, 2011; Bell, 2005; Bolt and Atkinson, 2010; McGill & Beaty 2001, 1992; Kemmis & McTaggart, 2000). The research affirms that using developmental peer review models (Barnard et al, 2011; D'Andrea, 2002; Hammersley-Fletcher & Orsmond, 2004) can bring about successful implementation, especially when implemented within a distributive leadership framework (Spillane & Healey, 2010). The project’s aims and objectives were to develop leadership capacity and integrate peer review as a cultural practice in higher education. The research design was a two stage inquiry process over 2 years. The project began in July 2011 and encompassed a development and pilot phase followed by a cascade phase with questionnaire and focus group evaluation processes to support ongoing improvement and measures of outcome. Leadership development activities included locally delivered workshops complemented by the identification and support of champions. To optimise long term sustainability, the project was implemented through existing learning and teaching structures and processes within the respective partner universities. Research outcomes highlight the fundamentals of peer review of teaching and the broader contextual elements of integration, leadership and development, expressed as a conceptual model for embedding peer review of teaching within higher education. The research opens a communicative space about introduction of peer review that goes further than simply espousing its worth and introduction. The conceptual model highlights the importance of development of distributive leadership capacity, integration of policies and processes, and understanding the values, beliefs, assumptions and behaviors embedded in an organizational culture. The presentation overviews empirical findings that demonstrate progress to advance peer review requires an ‘across-the-board’ commitment to embed change, and inherently demands a process that co-creates connection across colleagues, discipline groups, and the university sector. Progress toward peer review of teaching as a cultural phenomenon can be achieved and has advantages for academic staff, scholarship, teaching evaluation and an organisation, if attention is given to strategies that influence the contexts and cultures of teaching practice. Peer review as a strategy to develop excellence in teaching is considered from a holistic perspective that by necessity encompasses all elements of an educational environment and has a focus on scholarship of teaching. The work is ongoing and has implication for policy, research, teaching development and student outcomes, and has potential application world-wide.

Toward a sustainable culture of peer partnership

This project is a two phase design working in partnership with five universities to develop, implement and systematically embed a distributive leadership model that aims to embed peer partnership (review, development) within the culture of teaching and learning excellence. This presentation will posit a ‘prototype’ peer review leadership model based on ongoing research that brings together both the fundamentals of peer review with the broader importance of context and persons. It will be argued that essential to teaching development is a need to address not only the implementation of peer partnership programs but also strategies to influence and change both the contexts of teaching and the advantages for colleagues. Peer review as a strategy to develop excellence in teaching needs to be considered from a holistic perspective encompassing all elements of the teaching environment. The emphasis is on working to foster the type of conditions needed for leadership and change to begin and be sustained. The work has implications for policy, research, leadership development and student outcomes and has potential application world-wide. Phase 1 has collected focus interview and questionnaire data to inform the research and is being analysed using a thematic qualitative approach and statistical analysis. Evidence is emerging currently as the project is ongoing.

The reduced expression of the HADH2 protein causes X-linked mental retardation, choreoathetosis, and abnormal behavior

Recently, we defined a new syndromic form of X-linked mental retardation in a 4-generation family with a unique clinical phenotype characterized by mild mental retardation, choreoathetosis, and abnormal behavior (MRXS10). Linkage analysis in this family revealed a candidate region of 13.4 Mb between markers DXS1201 and DXS991 on Xp11; therefore, mutation analysis was performed by direct sequencing in most of the 135 annotated genes located in the region. The gene (HADH2) encoding L-3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase II displayed a sequence alteration (c.574 C-->A; p.R192R) in all patients and carrier females that was absent in unaffected male family members and could not be found in 2,500 control X chromosomes, including in those of 500 healthy males. The silent C-->A substitution is located in exon 5 and was shown by western blot to reduce the amount of HADH2 protein by 60%-70% in the patient. Quantitative in vivo and in vitro expression studies revealed a ratio of splicing transcript amounts different from those normally seen in controls. Apparently, the reduced expression of the wild-type fragment, which results in the decreased protein expression, rather than the increased amount of aberrant splicing fragments of the HADH2 gene, is pathogenic. Our data therefore strongly suggest that reduced expression of the HADH2 protein causes MRXS10, a phenotype different from that caused by 2-methyl-3-hydroxybutyryl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency, which is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by missense mutations in this multifunctional protein.

Time kinetics of bone defect healing in response to BMP-2 and GDF-5 characterised by in vivo biomechanics

This study reports that treatment of osseous defects with different growth factors initiates distinct rates of repair. We developed a new method for monitoring the progression of repair, based upon measuring the in vivo mechanical properties of healing bone. Two different members of the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) family were chosen to initiate defect healing: BMP-2 to induce osteogenesis, and growth-and-differentiation factor (GDF)-5 to induce chondrogenesis. To evaluate bone healing, BMPs were implanted into stabilised 5 mm bone defects in rat femurs and compared to controls. During the first two weeks, in vivo biomechanical measurements showed similar values regardless of the treatment used. However, 2 weeks after surgery, the rhBMP-2 group had a substantial increase in stiffness, which was supported by the imaging modalities. Although the rhGDF-5 group showed comparable mechanical properties at 6 weeks as the rhBMP-2 group, the temporal development of regenerating tissues appeared different with rhGDF-5, resulting in a smaller callus and delayed tissue mineralisation. Moreover, histology showed the presence of cartilage in the rhGDF-5 group whereas the rhBMP-2 group had no cartilaginous tissue. Therefore, this study shows that rhBMP-2 and rhGDF-5 treated defects, under the same conditions, use distinct rates of bone healing as shown by the tissue mechanical properties. Furthermore, results showed that in vivo biomechanical method is capable of detecting differences in healing rate by means of change in callus stiffness due to tissue mineralisation.

Toward a sustainable culture of peer partnership

This project is a two phase design working in partnership with five universities to develop, implement and systematically embed a distributive leadership model that aims to embed peer partnership (review, development) within the culture of teaching and learning excellence. This presentation will posit a ‘prototype’ peer review leadership model based on ongoing research that brings together both the fundamentals of peer review with the broader importance of context and persons. It will be argued that essential to teaching development is a need to address not only the implementation of peer partnership programs but also strategies to influence and change both the contexts of teaching and the advantages for colleagues. Peer review as a strategy to develop excellence in teaching needs to be considered from a holistic perspective encompassing all elements of the teaching environment. The emphasis is on working to foster the type of conditions needed for leadership and change to begin and be sustained. The work has implications for policy, research, leadership development and student outcomes and has potential application world-wide. Phase 1 has collected focus interview and questionnaire data to inform the research and is being analysed using a thematic qualitative approach and statistical analysis Evidence is emerging currently as the project is ongoing

Developing a culture of peer review of teaching through a distributive leadership approach

Teaching is a core function of higher education and must be effective if it is to provide students with learning experiences that are stimulating, challenging and rewarding Obtaining feedback on teaching is indispensable to enhancing the quality of learning design, facilitating personal and/or professional development and maximising student learning outcomes. Peer review of teaching has the potential to improve the quality of teaching at tertiary level, by encouraging critical reflection on teaching, innovation in teaching practice and scholarship of teaching at all academic levels. However, embedding peer review within the culture of teaching and learning is a significant challenge that requires sustained commitment from senior leadership as well as those in leadership roles within local contexts.

What information is necessary to assess the environmental impacts of deconstruction?

4D modeling - the simulation and visualisation of the construction process - is now a common method used during the building construction process with reasonable support from existing software. The goal of this paper is to examine the information needs required to model the deconstruction/demolition process of a building. The motivation is the need to reduce the impacts on the local environment during the deconstruction process. The focus is on the definition and description of the activities to remove building components and on the assessment of the noise, dust and vibration implications of these activities on the surrounding environment. The outcomes of the research are: i. requirements specification for BIM models to support operational deconstruction process planning, ii. algorithms for augmenting the BIM with the derived information necessary to automate planning of the deconstruction process with respect to impacts on the surrounding environment, iii. algorithms to build naive deconstruction activity schedules.

Transcript and metabolite profiling for the evaluation of tobacco tree and poplar as feedstock for the bio-based industry

The global demand for food, feed, energy and water poses extraordinary challenges for future generations. It is evident that robust platforms for the exploration of renewable resources are necessary to overcome these challenges. Within the multinational framework MultiBioPro we are developing biorefinery pipelines to maximize the use of plant biomass. More specifically, we use poplar and tobacco tree (Nicotiana glauca) as target crop species for improving saccharification, isoprenoid, long chain hydrocarbon contents, fiber quality, and suberin and lignin contents. The methods used to obtain these outputs include GC-MS, LC-MS and RNA sequencing platforms. The metabolite pipelines are well established tools to generate these types of data, but also have the limitations in that only well characterized metabolites can be used. The deep sequencing will allow us to include all transcripts present during the developmental stages of the tobacco tree leaf, but has to be mapped back to the sequence of Nicotiana tabacum. With these set-ups, we aim at a basic understanding for underlying processes and at establishing an industrial framework to exploit the outcomes. In a more long term perspective, we believe that data generated here will provide means for a sustainable biorefinery process using poplar and tobacco tree as raw material. To date the basal level of metabolites in the samples have been analyzed and the protocols utilized are provided in this article.

Never too old : engaging retired people inventing the future with MaKey MaKey

Within HCI, aging is often viewed in terms of designing assistive technologies to improve the lives of older people, such as those who are suffering from frailty or memory loss. Our research adopts a very different approach, reframing the relationship in terms of wisdom, creativity and invention. We ran a series of workshops where groups of retirees, aged between early 60s and late 80s, used the MaKey MaKey inventor's toolkit. We asked them to think about inventing the future and suggest ideas for new technologies. Our findings showed that they not only rose to the challenge but also mastered the technology, collaborated intensely together while using it and freely and at length discussed their own, their family's and others' relationship with technology. We discuss the value of empowering people in this way and consider what else could be invented to enable more people to be involved in the design and use of creative technologies.

Invisible connections : investigating older people's emotions and social relations around objects

The advent of the Internet of Things creates an interest in how people might interrelate through and with networks of internet enabled objects. With an emphasis on fostering social connection and physical activity among older people, this preliminary study investigated objects that people over the age of 65 years viewed as significant to them. We conducted contextual interviews in people's homes about their significant objects in order to understand the role of the objects in their lives, the extent to which they fostered emotional and social connections and physical activity, and how they might be augmented through internet connection. Discussion of significant objects generated considerable emotion in the participants. We identified objects of comfort and routine, objects that exhibited status, those that fostered independence and connection, and those that symbolized relationships with loved ones. These findings lead us to consider implications for the design of interconnected objects.

Harnessing the influence of reactive edges and defects of graphene substrates for achieving complete cycle of room-temperature molecular sensing

Molecular doping and detection are at the forefront of graphene research, a topic of great interest in physical and materials science. Molecules adsorb strongly on graphene, leading to a change in electrical conductivity at room temperature. However, a common impediment for practical applications reported by all studies to date is the excessively slow rate of desorption of important reactive gases such as ammonia and nitrogen dioxide. Annealing at high temperatures, or exposure to strong ultraviolet light under vacuum, is employed to facilitate desorption of these gases. In this article, the molecules adsorbed on graphene nanoflakes and on chemically derived graphene-nanomesh flakes are displaced rapidly at room temperature in air by the use of gaseous polar molecules such as water and ethanol. The mechanism for desorption is proposed to arise from the electrostatic forces exerted by the polar molecules, which decouples the overlap between substrate defect states, molecule states, and graphene states near the Fermi level. Using chemiresistors prepared from water-based dispersions of single-layer graphene on mesoporous alumina membranes, the study further shows that the edges of the graphene flakes (showing p-type responses to NO2 and NH3) and the edges of graphene nanomesh structures (showing n-type responses to NO2 and NH3) have enhanced sensitivity. The measured responses towards gases are comparable to or better than those which have been obtained using devices that are more sophisticated. The higher sensitivity and rapid regeneration of the sensor at room temperature provides a clear advancement towards practical molecule detection using graphene-based materials.