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Critical Conversations are held by members of the greater Engineering, Social Justice, and Peace network in the activist tradition of reflecting on our public engagement and collectively discovering ways of deepening our action. The particpants are selected based on their submissions (Expressions of Interest) in response to the Call for Participation in the Critcial Conversations disseminated through the ESJP website (esjp.org). For years, we have gathered in locations immersed in nature. In 2018 and 2019, the gathering took place in Cala Munda, organized by Caroline Baillie and Eric Feinblatt, in the beautiful Catskills mountains in upstate New York in the U.S.A. We want to feel our connection with the land while we engage in critical conversations on the intersection of the engineering field with social justice and peace. Caroline Baillie facilitates these conversations employing forest pedagogy. Through this pedagogy, we open our hearts to the forest for seeking guidance on how our profession can help restore, heal, and serve people, planet, and life instead of its current practice of destroying, pillaging, and harming nature. In the throes of the coronavirus pandemic, the urgency of action was evident in 2020 like never before. On June 26 and 27, 2020, a group of up to 40 educators, researchers, activists, and field practitioners, from 4 continents, met virtually for the 4th Annual Critical Conversations – almost thrice as large as the 2018 and 2019 groups that met in-person. The virtual format allowed for broader participation – both in numbers as well as geographical locations. Though we were physically separated in the online gathering, situated in our respective modern, often disconnected-from-nature enclaves, our hearts and minds were engaged in envisioning transition to a just and egalitarian society. In keeping with the need of the moment, our focus was on brainstorming action projects that we can implement in the near future. The retreat facilitated the formation of action teams, which spent the summer discussing possible action items moving forward. These teams are now looking for a more permanent structure with team leaders, team members, an infrastructure, and social media presence. This is a call to action! We carried out these deliberations in an open-space format, wherein the agenda for the two days was set by the participants. In the two sessions on day one, using this participatory approach, we were able to sift six main themes that participants were interested in exploring in-depth. On day two, we divided ourselves into six teams and each team took a deeper dive into their theme of choice. Five of these teams have written summaries of their deliberations and proposed their Calls to Action for the engineering community, which we report below.

The focus of this chapter is on mathematics education and, in particular, a curriculum initiative, “Project Maths”, that predated the current round of junior cycle reform in Ireland. Project Maths was a major reform of post-primary mathematics education in Ireland and involved changes to what students learnt in mathematics, how they learnt it and how they were assessed. The changes were introduced to all schools nationally in Autumn 2010. However, their introduction on a phased basis meant that it was June 2017 before a substantial cohort of students had experienced all five strands of Project Maths throughout their second-level education. The new junior cycle mathematics specification was introduced for all first-year students in Autumn 2018. The close proximity between the reforms caused some stress for mathematics teachers. This chapter outlines the main similarities and differences between the reforms and investigates what lessons from the recent experiences of Project Maths might usefully inform ongoing implementation of the junior cycle reform.

The aim of this chapter is to examine teachers’ and parents’ role and perspectives in relation to curriculum change, especially in the context of junior cycle reform in Ireland. This chapter is presented from a sociological perspective and draws on the sociological constructs of the school, teachers, parents, capital and agency to explore perspectives relative to curriculum reform. The literature indicates a variety of teacher and parent perspectives linked to curriculum reform in educational settings. This chapter explores a selection of perspectives and prioritises the most relevant for discussion. It is widely accepted that the home and the school are the two main developmental contexts of childhood. Despite the important role of both, there have often been barriers erected between them. The new junior cycle curriculum promotes student participation in learning experiences outside of the school setting through community engagement. Such an aim necessitates the explication of greater bonds between the school and home, enabling teachers and parents to enact their agency and contribute to the implementation of the new curriculum. This chapter utilises a sociological lens to consider teacher and parent perspectives and look at how teachers and parents engage in curriculum reform.

Background There has been a recent steep growth in platelet-rich plasma (PRP) use for musculoskeletal conditions, but findings from high quality clinical trial data are lacking in the literature. Here, we describe the statistical analysis plan (SAP) for the Platelet-rich plasma in Achilles Tendon Healing 2 (PATH-2) trial. Methods PATH-2 is a pragmatic, parallel-group, multi-centre, double-blinded, randomised, placebo-controlled, superiority trial. The study aims to evaluate the clinical efficacy of PRP in acute Achilles tendon rupture in terms of muscle-tendon function. Patients are identified in the orthopaedic/trauma outpatient clinic. The primary outcome is muscle-tendon work capacity from the Heel Rise Endurance Test result, expressed as the Limb Symmetry Index (work, in joules), at 24 weeks post randomisation. Multivariate linear regression adjusting for the stratification factors (centre and age) and additional prognostic factors will be used to investigate the adjusted effect of the intervention. The analysis will be by modified intention-to-treat. Sensitivity analysis will assess the internal validity of the trial results by performing a per-protocol analysis. Safety will be summarised by treatment arm for all patients who started treatment. Secondary patient-reported outcome measures will be analysed using linear mixed effects models to allow all data collected at all follow-up points to be considered. Missing data will be summarised and reported by treatment arm. Missing data imputation will be performed, if appropriate. Discussion The PATH-2 trial will be reported in accordance with the CONSORT statement. This SAP publication will avoid bias arising from prior knowledge of the study results. Any changes or deviations from the current SAP will be described and justified in the final report. Trial registration ISRCTN registry: ISRCTN54992179, assigned 12 January 2015. ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02302664, received 18 November 2014. UK Clinical Research Network Study Portfolio Database: ID 17850. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s13063-018-2840-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The National Centre for Product Design & Development Research (PDR) has generated extensive case study material based on over 20 successful Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs). These KTP projects have concentrated on enhancing the design capabilities of a range of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in order to facilitate innovation and new product development. This paper highlights the opportunities for design and development within SMEs, and provides a rationale for knowledge transfer. PDR's research has identified four issues that characterize design challenges within SMEs: (i) the impact of the owner-manager; (ii) the resource-constrained environment; (iii) the need for an effective design process; and (iv) promoting a company vision for innovation and change. The paper employs twelve exemplar KTP case studies (three in each of these four areas) to fully define these issues and draw conclusions with regard to a framework for effective product design within SMEs.

Technology management maps have been developed to evaluate new product development (NPD) within small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). These maps provide a graphical 'footprint' of a company in terms of knowledge, resources, quality, and innovation & change. A series of 15 case-study companies highlight that the shape and extent of the technology management maps correlate well with the overall impact of the NPD activities. Implementation of an effective NPD process is the main distinguishing factor between the best- and worst-performing companies. The inherent benefits of design-led technology are also encapsulated, specifically in the areas of resource savings and improved product quality.

The purpose of this study was to quantify peak vertical ground reaction force (VGRF) and loading rate during performance of a drop jump when (a) attempting to jump for maximum height (DJ‐H) and (b) attempting to jump for maximum height and minimum ground contact time (DJ‐H/t), both common training techniques for athletes in a variety of sports. Peak VGRF's were between 7.59 and 9.37 times bodyweight for the DJ‐H/t technique, which was approximately twice the magnitude of the DJ‐H technique. The maximum rate of loading was also greater for DJ‐H/t. In an earlier related study it was observed that 3 subjects who trained with the DJ‐H/t method experienced lower limb pain, which prevented them from further training. These dropouts were compared to non‐dropouts on factors related to their pre‐training level of leg strength and training drop height. An index of drop height divided by leg strength was found to be significantly greater (p

The goals of the proposed special session are the following: (1) Describe ongoing efforts at various institutions which attempt to integrate the issues of poverty, environmental degradation and war into existing engineering courses; (2) Describe process(es) used in developing course modules; (3) Provide an interactive, experiential process whereby the session participants will begin to develop their own course modules for use in their respective courses; (4) Further develop a community interested in increasing awareness of issues of poverty, environmental degradation and war within engineering education and the engineering profession; and (5) Explore options for establishing closer ties between the course modules and real-world community agencies/organizations.

This paper reviews recent trends in the UK Technical Textiles manufacturing sector and sub-sectors over recent years. It reviews the activities of the TechniTex Faraday Partnership during the first three-year period of operation (2000 to 2003). It will give examples of the successful transfer of technology from the UK science base into the marketplace. It will focus on establishing the R&D needs of six key sectors within technical textiles and will address a series of issues relating to sustainability.

Middle leader Chris Byrne discusses the five strategies he employed to raise attainment within his department

Performance Health Products Ltd is a small healthcare company that specialises in the design and development of posture management products that can be customised to the specific needs of the end user. The company formed a collaboration with The National Centre for Product Design and Development Research to develop an injection-moulded version of their AXXIS backrest system. This paper employs a case-study methodology to examine how flexible tooling solutions can drive rapid product development in the small company context. Customisation of the company's product has been matched by agility within the overall development and manufacturing process. The case-study shows that flexible tooling solutions provide a balanced development strategy, that risk management is a key element during the initial tooling development, and that cost reduction and time compression can be achieved through the use of reconfigurable tooling, high-speed machining techniques and advanced cutter technology.

Nuclei from calf thymus tissue digested with micrococcal nuclease under nonchelating conditions yielded soluble nucleoprotein enriched in copper. Following limited digestion, the ratio of μg Cu:mg DNA was inversely related either to percent solubility of chromatin or to levels of enzyme maintaining an enzyme:A 260 ratio of 0.059. The enzyme appeared to cleave preferentially regions of chromatin where copper is localized, releasing no additional metal upon further digestion. Moreover, the highest copper: DNA ratio was always associated with the least-digested sample. The distribution between copper and angiotensin II (AII) in chromatin fragments following slight nuclease digestion suggests a possible link between copper and nuclear AII binding. When nuclei are incubated with AII prior to digestion and dialysis, solubilized chromatin contained about three times more copper than buffer control. Metal profiles generated from gel (A-5 M) chromatography for these samples were distinctive: copper peaks appeared near or adjacent to linker DNA regions, and in the case of AII, coincided with fragments containing specific AII receptors; thus, there appears to be an enrichment of copper in these active nucleoprotein fragments.