Finding your research voice : the application of bibliometrics as an analytic literature tool on the pedagogic field of higher education

This paper documents the use of bibliometrics as a methodology to bring forth a structured, systematic and rigorous way to analyse and evaluate a range of literature. When starting out and reading broadly for my doctoral studies, one article by Trigwell and Prosser (1996b) led me to reflect about my level of comprehension as the content, concepts and methodology did not resonate with my epistemology. A disconnection between our paradigms emerged. Further reading unveiled the work by Doyle (1987) who categorised research in teaching and teacher education by three main areas: teacher characteristics, methods research and teacher behaviour. My growing concerns that there were gaps in the knowledge also exposed the difficulties in documenting said gaps. As an early researcher who required support to locate myself in the field and to find my research voice, I identified bibliometrics (Budd, 1988; Yeoh & Kaur, 2007) as an appropriate methodology to add value and rigour in three ways. Firstly, the application of bibliometrics to analyse articles is systematic, builds a picture from the characteristics of the literature, and offers a way to elicit themes within the categories. Secondly, by systematic analysis there is occasion to identify gaps within the body of work, limitations in methodology or areas in need of further research. Finally, extension and adaptation of the bibliometrics methodology, beyond citation or content analysis, to investigate the merit of methodology, participants and instruments as a determinant for research worth allowed the researcher to build confidence and contribute new knowledge to the field. Therefore, this paper frames research in the pedagogic field of Higher Education through teacher characteristics, methods research and teacher behaviour, visually represents the literature analysis and locates my research self within methods research. Through my research voice I will present the bibliometrics methodology, the outcomes and document the landscape of pedagogy in the field of Higher Education.

Higher education for capacity development or revenue maximisation? Lessons from transnational higher education programs at two Indonesian universities

HE has been changing rapidly due to globalisation that has increased the interconnectedness between nations and people throughout the world (Mok, 2012). As HE has manifested into different forms and governed by competing rationales in recent years, this paper focuses on transnational HE, which is an example of the interconnectedness of universities beyond the national borders. Indonesia is also influenced by the above changes. It took part in free-trade agreements that include HE as a sector to be liberated and accessed by international providers (Nizam, 2006). Indonesian universities found themselves bracing for the global competition for students and simultaneously having to improve their quality in order to survive amidst the growing competition. This competition gave birth to joint transnational HE programs with overseas partners among many Indonesian universities (Macaranas, 2010).

Materialities influencing the design process

The use of material artefacts within the design process is a long-standing and continuing characteristic of interaction design. Established methods, such as prototyping, which have been widely adopted by educators and practitioners, are seeing renewed research interest and being reconsidered in light of the evolving needs of the field. Alongside this, the past decade has seen the introduction and adoption of a diverse range of novel design methods into interaction design, such as cultural probes, technology probes, context mapping, and provotypes.

Social contraptions and embodied interaction

In this paper we introduce the idea of "social contraptions", which are interactive physical devices employed as designerly explorations of social relations as mediated by physical space and artefacts. We present two independent but related design explorations that were situated in fine art and industrial research contexts. We argue that these contraptions open up for exploration some interaction issues related to the theme of ’Embodied Facilitation'. This is particularly in relation to awareness and coordination between interactants as mediated by the spatial and material configuration of the contraptions. These methods, as well as the insights gained from them can contribute to the development of the emerging field of embodied interaction.

A New DER coordination in LV network based on the concept of distributed control

Given the paradigm of smart grid as the promising backbone for future network, this paper uses this paradigm to propose a new coordination approach for LV network based on distributed control algorithm. This approach divides the LV network into hierarchical communities where each community is controlled by a control agent. Different level of communication has been proposed for this structure to control the network in different operation modes.

Common DC link in residential LV network to improve the penetration level of Small-Scale Embedded Generators

This paper presents a new approach for network upgrading to improve the penetration level of Small Scale Generators in residential feeders. In this paper, it is proposed that a common DC link can be added to LV network to alleviate the negative impact of increased export power on AC lines, allowing customers to inject their surplus power with no restrictions to the common DC link. In addition, it is shown that the proposed approach can be a pathway from current AC network to future DC network.

Intrapleural analgesis following endoscopic scoliosis correction

Endoscopic scoliosis correction plays an important part in the surgical options available for treating adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. However, there is a paucity of literature examining optimum methods of analgesia following this type of surgery. The role of intrapleural analgesia is examined and described. In this study, local anaesthetic administration via an intrapleural catheter was found to be a safe and effective method of analgesia following endoscopic scoliosis correction. Post-operative pain following anterior scoliosis correction can be reduced to ‘mild’ levels by combined analgesia regimes. Surgeons may wish to expand its use into open or minimally invasive anterior scoliosis correction or anterior releases.

Culture as a driver of entrepreneurship : contrasting independent entrepreneurship versus employee entrepreneurship

Principal Topic Counties in Northern Europe, such as Sweden, Finland and Denmark, have comparatively low per capita rates of entrepreneurship as measured by independent new venture start-up rates – as for example measured by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Total entrepreneurial activity (TEA) rate. However, the latest 2011 GEM data reveals that these same countries have comparatively very high Employee Entrepreneurship Activity (EEA) rates – that is a high rate per capita of employees involved in new product development or new enterprise activities. This observation has prompted us to investigate the role of national culture in driving independent versus employee entrepreneurial activities. Prior research has established that national (and regional) culture plays an important role in forming an “entrepreneurial culture” that encourages (or discourages) independent business start-ups and TEA (e.g. Davidsson, 1995; Beugelsdijk, 2007). However, the relationship of culture and EEA has not received research attention. Moreover, empirical relationships between elements of national culture and independent entrepreneurship have revealed some surprising results. For example, Wildeman et al. (1999) report an unexpected higher share of individual business ownership in countries that have higher uncertainty avoidance, higher power distance and lower individualism according to Hofstede’s dimensions of culture. They speculate that dissatisfaction can be a source of entrepreneurship: in countries with a high power distance, a high uncertainty avoidance and low individualism, there may be relatively more business owners since enterprising individuals cannot satisfy their needs within existing organizations. Yet it remains a rather open question whether entrepreneurial behaviour in existing organisations provides a satisfactory explanation for these empirical findings. Methods We will conduct a cross sectional study of the influence of national culture according to the five / six dimensions of Hofstede (1980; 2001) on both TEA and EEA for the 54 countries that participated in GEM 2011. Since it is well established that the opportunities for entrepreneurship vary substantially with a country’s level of economic development, we intend to conduct separate analyses for the three categories of development – innovation driven economies, efficient driven economies and factor driven economies. We also intend to restrict our assessment of TEA to opportunity driven entrepreneurship, as necessity driven entrepreneurship has a different relationship to the “entrepreneurial culture” that is the focus of our study. We will control for a range of factors such as GDP growth, ease of doing business index and unemployment. Results and Implications Descriptive analyses of the GEM TEA and EEA data reveal clusters of countries that appear to be have similar national culture. We are yet to conduct regression analyses.

The distribution of construction project bids

This paper describes an analysis of construction project bids to determine (a) the global distribution and (b) factors influencing the distribution of bids. The global distribution of bids was found, by using a battery of ll test statistics, to be approximated by a three-parameter log normal distribution. No global spread parameter was found. A multivariate analysis revealed the year of tender to be the major influencing factor. Consideration of the construction order, tender price and output indices lead to the conclusion that distributional spread reflected the degree of difference in pricing policies between bidders and the skewness of the distributions reflected the degree of competition. The paper concludes with a tentative model of the causal relationships between the factors and distributional characteristics involved.

Patient Safety Law: From Silos to Systems

Patient safety has become a significant and pressing policy issue. Around the world, governments, the health care sector and the public are increasingly cognizant of the need to improve the safety of care delivered by their health systems. Pressure for change has been created by highly publicized incidents in a number of countries involving unsafe acts that were significant both in scale and consequence and a number of empirical studies that revealed the high rates of unsafe acts and their consequences. The costs of unsafe health care – both personal and fiscal – to individuals, their families and their communities and to the state are massive. In this research project we explored one particular avenue for change – that is, the use of legal instruments by governments to improve patient safety. We did this through a comparative review of the use of legal instruments or frameworks in other countries (specifically Australia, Denmark, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States) as well as two non-health care related sectors in Canada (transportation and occupational health and safety). We began this research by reviewing the legal instruments and undertaking extensive literature reviews. Further information was gathered through in-person interviews with policy-makers and academics in the countries studied, and from policy-makers and academics expert in the health, occupational health and safety, and transportation sectors in Canada. Once descriptions of the various countries and sectors were drafted, we held small-group meetings with local experts on particular aspects of patient safety. We then hosted a national consultation meeting. We subsequently drafted this final report and the appendices, which fully describe the results of the background research. Finally, we prepared a summary version of the report as well as posters and papers to be published and delivered at conferences and meetings with relevant groups.

The role of HRM practices in building intellectual capital in knowledge-based teams

In this paper, we investigate the ways HRM systems support development of intellectual capital in teams in three case studies of knowledge-intensive firms (KIFs) in Denmark. By focusing on team composition and structure, findings build on the rapidly growing body of literature on HRM’s role in supporting intellectual capital development. Specifically, we make a theoretical contribution to this literature by identifying three distinct ways KIFs develop intellectual capital: 1) through HRM development systems that build relationship-centric team-based intellectual capital by targeting development of social capital; 2) through HRM employee relations systems that build human-centric team based intellectual capital by targeting human capital; 3) through a balanced approach to HRM that builds polycentric team-based intellectual capital through focusing on all aspects of intellectual capital. The findings also have managerial implications regarding the need to align team composition and structure, HRM systems, and intellectual capital focus to support development of team-based intellectual capital.

A flexible protection scheme for an islanded Multi-Microgrid

Multi-Microgrids (MMGs) have been proposed to connect distributed generators (DG), microgrids (MG), and medium-voltage (MV) loads with the distribution system. A flexible protection scheme that enables an islanded MMG to continue operation during fault conditions is yet to be developed. In this paper, a protection scheme for an islanded MMG that utilises MG controllers and communication links is proposed. The MMG model used includes two MGs connected to the distribution system. Each MG consists of diesel, wind, and photovoltaic (PV) microsources. The effectiveness of the proposed protection scheme is evaluated by simulation.

An improved protection strategy for microgrids

Microgrids (MG) enable the integration of low capacity renewable energy resources with distribution systems. A recently proposed protection scheme for MGs utilising undervoltage, High Impedance Fault (HIF) detection, directional protection modules, and communication links significantly reduces the fault clearing time compared to previous schemes. In this paper, the effect of replacing undervoltage protection with differential protection in a scheme that also contains HIF and directional protection modules is studied. The MG model used in this study includes a diesel, wind, and two photovoltaic (PV) microsources. The alternative protection schemes are evaluated by simulation. It is found that the protection scheme consisting of differential, HIF detection, and directional protection modules is more effective compared to the alternative in protecting the MG from some fault conditions such as the phase-A-to-ground, phase-B-to-C, and phase-B-to-C-to-ground.