The educational design ladder : creation of a multi-discipline design thinking program

As global industries change and technology advances, traditional education systems may no longer be able to supply companies with graduates possessing an appropriate mix of skills and experience. The recent increased interest in Design Thinking as an approach to innovation has resulted in its adoption by non-design trained professionals. This necessitates a new method of teaching Design Thinking related skills and processes. This research investigates what (content) and how (assessment and learning modes) Design Thinking is being taught from fifty-one (51) selected courses across twenty-eight (28) international universities. Their approaches differ, with some universities specifically investing in design schools and programs, while others embed Design Thinking holistically throughout the university. Business, engineering and design schools are all expanding their efforts to teach students how to innovate, often through multi-disciplinary classes. This paper presents ‘The Educational Design Ladder’ a resource model, which suggests a process for the organisation and structuring of units for a multi-disciplinary Design Thinking program. The intention is to provide 21st century graduates with the right combination of skills and experience to solve workplace design problems regardless of their core discipline.

Climbing the design ladder : step by step

This research presents findings of a research project where the first author worked with a small to medium sized enterprise (SME) manufacturing company in order to integrate design at a strategic level within the company. This study aims to identify the changes experienced in the participating company while shifting the perspective of design from a product focus towards a strategic focus. Staff interviews at two points in time and a reflective journal were used as data sources within an action research methodology. A shift in the perspective of design was noted in three cultural changes within the firm over time: a focus on long term as well as short term outcomes, on indirect as well as direct value and on intangible as well as tangible benefits. These three components are proposed as ‘cultural stepping stones’ that describe how a company transitions from an exclusively product- focused utilisation of design, to a process-level application of design. Implications of this research are provided as considerations for businesses that are attempting to facilitate a similar transformation in the future.

From mountaintop to corporate ladder: What new professionals really really want in a capstone experience!

Capstone subjects are increasingly used in Universities worldwide to complete the undergraduate program experience and to transition graduates into the workplace. As such, capstones fulfil a large role consolidating one experience and traversing the gap to another. Yet, little is known or understood about their design, their implementation or evaluation. In this study we investigate the final-year experience from the student's perspective. We surveyed graduates from five Business Schools in Australia to identify perceptions of their final-year experience. Findings indicate that the transition experience of the student to professional is unique. In their liminal or intermediate state between student and professional they recognise the value of process skills, in particular the development of generic business skills related to application and the importance of opportunities for experiencing the application of theory in practice. The findings add a new understanding to the current literature which has not previously acknowledged the insight of the transitioning professional.

Design thinking pedagogy: The educational design ladder

As global industries change and technology advances, traditional education systems might no longer be able to supply companies with graduates who possess an appropriate mix of skills and experience. The recent increased interest in Design Thinking as an approach to innovation has resulted in its adoption by non-design-trained professionals. This development necessitates a new method of teaching Design Thinking and its related skills and processes. As a basis for such a method, this research investigated 51 selected courses across 28 international universities to determine what Design Thinking is being taught (content), and how it is being taught (assessment and learning modes). To support the teaching and assessment of Design Thinking, this paper presents The Educational Design Ladder, an innovative resource/model that provides a process for the organisation and structuring of units for a multidisciplinary Design Thinking programme.

Climbing the design ladder: Step by step

This research presents findings of a research project where the first author worked with a small to medium sized enterprise (SME) manufacturing company in order to integrate design at a strategic level within the company. This study aims to identify the changes experienced in the participating company while shifting the perspective of design from a product focus towards a strategic focus. Staff interviews at two points in time and a reflective journal were used as data sources within an action research methodology. A shift in the perspective of design was noted in three cultural changes within the firm over time: a focus on long term as well as short term outcomes, on indirect as well as direct value and on intangible as well as tangible benefits. These three components are proposed as ‘cultural stepping stones’ that describe how a company transitions from an exclusively product- focused utilisation of design, to a process-level application of design. Implications of this research are provided as considerations for businesses that are attempting to facilitate a similar transformation in the future.

Crystal growth and characterization of two-leg spin ladder compounds: Sr14Cu24O41 and Sr2Ca12Cu24O41

Single crystals of Sr14−xCaxCu24O41 (x=0 and 12) are grown by the travelling solvent floating zone technique using an image furnace. The grown crystals are characterized for their single crystallinity by the X-ray and Neutron Laue method. The magnetic susceptibility measurements in Sr14Cu24O41 show considerable anisotropy along the main crystallographic axes. Low-temperature specific heat measurement and DC susceptibility measurement in Ca-doped crystal showed antiferromagnetic ordering at 2.8 K at ambient pressure. High-pressure AC susceptibility measurement on Ca-doped crystal showed a sharp superconducting transition at 2 K under 40 kbars. Tc onset reached a maximum value of 9.9 K at 54 kbars. The bulk superconductivity of the sample is confirmed by the high-pressure AC calorimetry with Tc max=9.4 K and TN=5 K at 56 kbars.

Topological phases, Majorana modes and quench dynamics in a spin ladder system

We explore the salient features of the `Kitaev ladder', a two-legged ladder version of the spin-1/2 Kitaev model on a honeycomb lattice, by mapping it to a one-dimensional fermionic p-wave superconducting system. We examine the connections between spin phases and topologically non-trivial phases of non-interacting fermionic systems, demonstrating the equivalence between the spontaneous breaking of global Z(2) symmetry in spin systems and the existence of isolated Majorana modes. In the Kitaev ladder, we investigate topological properties of the system in different sectors characterized by the presence or absence of a vortex in each plaquette of the ladder. We show that vortex patterns can yield a rich parameter space for tuning into topologically non-trivial phases. We introduce and employ a new topological invariant for explicitly determining the presence of zero energy Majorana modes at the boundaries of such phases. Finally, we discuss dynamic quenching between topologically non-trivial phases in the Kitaev ladder and, in particular, the post-quench dynamics governed by tuning through a quantum critical point.

Twisted aromatics, 9-anthryl and 1-pyrenyl terpyridines organize into novel multi-directional 'ladder-like' motifs in the solid state

9-Anthryl and 1-pyrenyl terpyridines (1 and 2, respectively), key precursors for the design of novel fluorescent sensors have been synthesized and characterized by H-1 NMR, mass spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography. Twisted molecular conformations for each 1 and 2 were observed in their single crystal structures. Energy minimization calculations for the 1 and 2 using the semi-empirical AM1 method show that the 'twisted' conformation is intrinsic to these systems. We observe interconnected networks of edge-to-face CH...pi interactions, which appear to be cooperative in nature, in each of the crystal structures. The two twisted molecules, although having differently shaped polyaromatic hydrocarbon substituents, show similar patterns of edge-to-face CH...pi interactions.The presently described systems comprise of two aromatic surfaces that are almost orthogonal to each other. This twisted or orthogonal nature of the molecules leads to the formation of interesting multi-directional ladder like supramolecular organizations. A combination of edge-to-face and face-to-face packing modes helps to stabilize these motifs. The ladder like architecture in 1 is helical in nature. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

Quantum phases and phase transitions of frustrated hard-core bosons on a triangular ladder

Kinetically frustrated bosons at half filling in the presence of a competing nearest-neighbor repulsion support a wide supersolid regime on the two-dimensional triangular lattice. We study this model on a two-leg ladder using the finite-size density-matrix renormalization-group method, obtaining a phase diagram which contains three phases: a uniform superfluid (SF), an insulating charge density wave (CDW) crystal, and a bond ordered insulator (BO). We show that the transitions from SF to CDW and SF to BO are continuous in nature, with critical exponents varying continuously along the phase boundaries, while the transition from CDW to BO is found to be first order. The phase diagram is also found to contain an exactly solvable Majumdar Ghosh point, and reentrant SF to CDW phase transitions.

Study of a four-level system in vee plus ladder configuration

We present the results of a theoretical study of a four-level atomic system in vee + ladder configuration using a density matrix analysis. The absorption and dispersion profiles are derived for a weak probe field and for varying strengths of the two strong control fields. For specificity, we choose energy levels of Rb-87, and present results for both stationary atoms and moving atoms in room temperature vapor. An electromagnetically induced absorption (EIA) peak with negative dispersion is observed at zero probe de-tuning when the control fields have equal strengths, which switches to electromagnetically induced transparency (ET) with positive dispersion (due to splitting of the EIA peak) when the control fields are unequal. There is significant linewidth narrowing in thermal vapor. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effects of spontaneously induced coherence on absorption of a ladder-type atom

This paper investigates the effects of spontaneously induced coherence on absorption properties in a nearly equispaced three-level ladder-type system driven by two coherent fields. It find that the absorption properties of this system with the probe field applied on the lower transition can be significantly modified if this coherence is optimized. In the case of small spontaneous decay rate in the upper excited state, it finds that such coherence does not destroy the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). Nevertheless, the absorption peak on both sides of zero detuning and the linewidth of absorption line become larger and narrower than those in the case corresponding to the effects of spontaneously induced coherence; while in the case of large decay rate, it finds that, instead of EIT with low resonant absorption, a sharp absorption peak at resonance appears. That is, electromagnetically induced absorption in the nearly equispaced ladder-type system can occur due to such coherent effects.

Phase-dependent properties for absorption and dispersion in a closed equispaced three-level ladder system

It is shown that in a closed equispaced three-level ladder system, by controlling the relative phase of two applied coherent fields, the conversion from absorption with inversion to lasing without inversion (LWI) can be realized; a large index of the refraction with zero absorption can be gotten; considerable increasing of the spectrum region and value of the LWI gain can be achieved. Our study also reveals that the incoherent pumping will produce a remarkable effect oil the phase-dependent properties of the system. Modifying value of the incoherent pumping can change the property of the system from absorption to amplification and enhance significantly LWI gain. If the incoherent pumping is absent, we cannot get any gain for any value of the relative phase. (c) 2007 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Effect of vacuum-induced coherence on lasing without inversion in an equispaced three-level ladder system

The effects of vacuum-induced coherence (VIC) on the properties of the absorption and gain of the probe field in an equispaced three-level ladder atomic system are investigated. It is found that lasing without inversion (LWI) is remarkably enhanced due to the effect of VIC in the case of the small incoherent pump rate.

Effects of relative phase in an open ladder system without incoherent pumping

We studied effects of the relative phase between the probe and driving fields on the absorption and dispersion properties in an open three-level ladder system with spontaneously generated coherence but without incoherent pumping. It is shown that by the phase controlling, switching from absorption to lasing without inversion (LWI) and enhancing remarkablely LWI gain can be realized; large index of refraction with zero absorption and the electromagnetically induced transparency can be obtained. We also find that varying the atomic injection and exit rates has a considerable influence on the phase dependent-absorption property of the probe field, existent of the atomic injection and exit rates gives the necessary condition of the realization of LWI, getting LWI is impossible in the corresponding closed system without incoherent pumping. We studied effects of the relative phase between the probe and driving fields on the absorption and dispersion properties in an open three-level ladder system with spontaneously generated coherence but without incoherent pumping. It is shown that by the phase controlling, switching from absorption to lasing without inversion (LWI) and enhancing remarkablely LWI gain can be realized; large index of refraction with zero absorption and the electromagnetically induced transparency can be obtained. We also find that varying the atomic injection and exit rates has a considerable influence on the phase dependent-absorption property of the probe field, existent of the atomic injection and exit rates gives the necessary condition of the realization of LWI, getting LWI is impossible in the corresponding closed system without incoherent pumping.