Nikolaos Efstathiou, Anna Lock, Suha Ahmed, Linda Parkes, Tammy Davies and Susan Law
Following the development of a service that consisted of a “single point of contact” to coordinate end-of-life care (EoLC), including EoLC facilitators and an urgent response…
Abstract
Purpose
Following the development of a service that consisted of a “single point of contact” to coordinate end-of-life care (EoLC), including EoLC facilitators and an urgent response team, we aimed to explore whether the provision of coordinated EoLC would support patients being cared or dying in their preferred place and avoid unwanted hospital admissions.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a realist evaluation approach, the authors examined “what worked for whom, how, in what circumstances and why”. Multiple data were collected, including activity/performance indicators, observations of management meetings, documents, satisfaction survey and 30 interviews with service providers and users.
Findings
Advance care planning (ACP) increased through the first three years of the service (from 45% to 83%) and on average 74% of patients achieved preferred place of death. More than 70% of patients avoided an emergency or unplanned hospital admission in their last month of life. The mechanisms and context identified as driving forces of the service included: 7/7 single point of contact; coordinating services across providers; recruiting and developing the workforce; understanding and clarifying new roles; and managing expectations.
Research limitations/implications
This was a service evaluation and the outcomes are related to the specific context and mechanisms. However, findings can be transferable to similar settings.
Practical implications
“Single point of contact” services that offer coordinated EoLC can contribute in supporting people to be cared and die in their preferred place.
Originality/value
This paper provides an evaluation of a novel approach to EoLC and creates a set of hypotheses that could be further tested in similar services in the future.
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Jeffrey Boon Hui Yap and Anna Lock
Knowledge management (KM) is the central know how for the construction industry. However, the delivery of construction projects is often plagued by schedule delays and cost…
Abstract
Purpose
Knowledge management (KM) is the central know how for the construction industry. However, the delivery of construction projects is often plagued by schedule delays and cost overruns due to lack of working knowledge of project personnel. Hence, the need to appraise the practices of knowledge management in the construction industry has become all the more germane. This paper aims to determine the awareness of KM practices in Malaysia-based construction small and medium enterprises, and to investigate the benefits, tools and techniques, and challenges associated with knowledge management implementation so that effective measures can be devised to address them.
Design/methodology/approach
The research data were gathered using a structured questionnaire survey disseminated in the Klang Valley region in Malaysia. Responses were collected from 107 industry practitioners. The quantitative data are subjected to descriptive statistics, and the ranking with category of significance of the hypothesised variables is determined using the relative importance index (RII) technique.
Findings
The key benefits of KM practices are predominantly raising efficiency, quality, productivity and decision-making. The most preferred KM techniques are “face-to-face interaction”, “mentoring” and “documents and reports”. The highly significant tools are “groupware” and “telephone”. The major organisational issue hampering the implementation of knowledge management practices is “lack of motivation” while the critical cultural issue is relating to “bureaucracy and hierarchical”, and the vital people issue concerns “lack of trust”.
Research limitations/implications
The respondents were limited to only small and medium construction enterprises located in the Klang Valley region in Malaysia, which makes generalisation challenging.
Practical implications
KM provides not only a pragmatic but also a proactive approach to raising the competitive edge and capabilities of a construction company. Identification of the critical attributes of KM provides the basis for project managers in formulating KM strategies to enhance the chances of successful delivery of future projects.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the debate on the knowledge agenda in the construction industry, particularly from a fast developing economy’s perspective, where an effective KM can further contribute to realising a reasonable level of competitiveness operation.
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Anna Schreuer, Annina Elisa Thaller and Alfred Posch
This paper aims to explore the manoeuvring room of higher education institutions to take action to reduce emissions from academic flying. In particular, this study investigates…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the manoeuvring room of higher education institutions to take action to reduce emissions from academic flying. In particular, this study investigates how university staff and central actors in university management evaluate potential measures in this area.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors applied a single case study design encompassing an online survey directed at staff (N = 338) and 11 semi-structured interviews with key actors from management at an Austrian university. The authors used descriptive statistics and qualitative content analysis to examine the data.
Findings
This study found considerable support among university staff in principle for implementing measures to reduce academic flying, but also serious concerns about the fairness and viability of some restrictive measures, especially disincentives and caps on flying. However, bans on short-haul flights were largely supported. Actors from university management saw their manoeuvring room limited by the potential resistance and non-compliance of staff, as well as by framework conditions external to the university.
Practical implications
Dedicated leadership is needed to facilitate broad commitment within the university and to avoid shifting the responsibility between different governance levels. Restrictive measures to reduce academic air travel will be more readily accepted if perceived as fair and viable.
Originality/value
Although several papers have addressed the behavioural and institutional factors that sustain extensive flying in academia, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first contributions to investigate the potentials and challenges of introducing measures to reduce air travel in higher education institutions.
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Hollie Bass, Anna Tickle and Nicholas Lewis
The purpose of this paper is to measure service user and staff views of the recovery orientation of three mental health rehabilitation units; two “open” and one “locked”. It…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to measure service user and staff views of the recovery orientation of three mental health rehabilitation units; two “open” and one “locked”. It identified elements of recovery that were important to service users. It measured the units’ performance on domains of recovery, attending to differences between staff members’ and service users’ perceptions and between the locked and open units.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional design was used. Staff and service users completed the “Developing Recovery Enhancing Environment Measure (DREEM)”.
Findings
Findings revealed some differences between staff and service user views. Service users in the locked unit reported the organisational climate to be more recovery oriented on some domains than those in the open units. Service users’ responses highlighted potential areas for service improvement.
Research limitations/implications
The sample was small but reflected the applied setting. Some service users were not invited to participate because of significant communication or cognitive difficulties and it is recognised that they may have had alternative views that remain unrepresented.
Practical implications
The DREEM provided valuable information about current practice and potential for service development. Both locked and open units can provide recovery-oriented environments. Services should be aware of discrepant views between staff and service users.
Originality/value
To the knowledge, this is the first study to use the DREEM to evaluate the recovery orientation of a locked recovery unit and to compare locked and unlocked units.
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Amy Mellow, Anna Tickle and Michael Rennoldson
The purpose of this paper is to conduct a systematic search of the peer-reviewed qualitative literature investigating the lived experience of seclusion for adults with mental…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to conduct a systematic search of the peer-reviewed qualitative literature investigating the lived experience of seclusion for adults with mental health difficulties, to appraise the quality of the existing literature and synthesise findings. Background: seclusion is a controversial intervention for the short-term management of unsafe behaviours in inpatient mental health services. There has been some sporadic interest in service users’ experiences of this.
Design/methodology/approach
Systematic literature review and meta-synthesis: data sources – databases MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL and PSYCINFO were searched in July 2015; review methods – the Joanna Briggs Institute’s Qualitative Assessment and Review Instrument tools for critical appraisal and data extraction were used to review papers and synthesise findings.
Findings
A small number of papers were found, which were of mixed quality.
Originality/value
The existing research is limited in both quantity and quality. Although most participants from the existing research described seclusion as mostly negative with the potential for causing iatrogenic harm, some described more positive experiences, often in the context of compassionate interactions with staff.
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Ruqing Bai, Hakim Naceur, Jinglei Zhao, Jin Yi, Jie Ma, Huayan Pu and Jun Luo
In this paper, the standard Peridynamic Timoshenko beam model accounting for the shear deformation is chosen to describe the thick beam kinematics. Unfortunately, when applied to…
Abstract
Purpose
In this paper, the standard Peridynamic Timoshenko beam model accounting for the shear deformation is chosen to describe the thick beam kinematics. Unfortunately, when applied to very thin beam structures, the standard Peridynamics (PD) encounters the shear locking phenomenon, leading to incorrect solutions.
Design/methodology/approach
PD differs from classical continuum mechanics and other nonlocal theories that do not involve spatial derivatives of the displacement field. PD is based on the integral equation instead of differential equations to handle discontinuities and other singularities.
Findings
The shear locking can be successfully alleviated using the developed selective integration method. In particular, this technique has been implemented in the standard PD, which allows an accurate result for a wide range of slenderness from very thin to thick (10 < L/t < 103) structures. It can also accelerate the computational time for particular dynamic problems using fewer neighboring integration particles. Several numerical examples are solved to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method for modeling beam structures.
Originality/value
The paper highlights the severe shear locking phenomenon in the Peridynamic Timoshenko beam available in the literature, especially for very thin structures. A new alternative for the alleviation of shear locking in the Peridynamic Timoshenko beam, using selective integration. Hence the developed Peridynamic Timoshenko beam model is effective for thin and thick structures. A new peridynamic formulation for the low-velocity impact beam models is presented and validated.
Highlights
The paper highlights the severe shear locking phenomenon in the Peridynamic Timoshenko beam proposed in the literature, especially for very thin structures.
The developed Peridynamic Timoshenko beam model based on selective integration is effective for thin and thick structures.
A new peridynamic formulation for the low-velocity impact beam models is presented and validated.
The paper highlights the severe shear locking phenomenon in the Peridynamic Timoshenko beam proposed in the literature, especially for very thin structures.
The developed Peridynamic Timoshenko beam model based on selective integration is effective for thin and thick structures.
A new peridynamic formulation for the low-velocity impact beam models is presented and validated.
Details
Keywords
The horror genre is and always has been populated by women, who can be seen to be at once both objectified and empowered. Building off the preexisting gender hierarchies and…
Abstract
The horror genre is and always has been populated by women, who can be seen to be at once both objectified and empowered. Building off the preexisting gender hierarchies and dynamics embedded in the history of horror cinema, this chapter looks at a number of New French Extremity films that assault audiences with unrelenting scenes of violence, torture and self-mutilation, which are performed almost exclusively upon or by women. Although the films of the New French Extremity have been dismissed as exploitative in their representations of wounded and suffering female bodies, their narratives also offer internal criticisms of the misogynistic portals of victimhood that are prevalent in the genre. Through a close analysis of the films Inside (Bustillo & Maury, 2007) (French title: À L’intérieur) and Martyrs (Laugier, 2008), this chapter will examine how both films deviate from the male monster/female victim dichotomy. Although the women of these films may start off vulnerable, they take charge of their situations, while also compacting the nature of feminine identity.
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D. Vijay Kirubakar Raj and M. Renuka Devi
The purpose of this paper is to make available to the parachute industry tools to predict behaviour of certain textile materials. In addition to this, it is desired to reveal and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to make available to the parachute industry tools to predict behaviour of certain textile materials. In addition to this, it is desired to reveal and explain the basic requirement criteria for proper textile material selection. The strength of an assembly as a whole is directly dependent on the strengths of the various joints and seams required to assemble the larger structure. Keeping in mind the complex problem of parachute construction, this research seeks to enlighten the industry about the performance of seams in nylon woven canopy fabrics. Five factors have been studied: different types of weave (plain, rip-stop and twill), density (number of stitches per centimetre), different rows of stitches with lapped seams, different types of stitches (lock stitch, chain stitch and zig-zag) and seam direction (warp, weft and bias direction). Two responses have been analysed, the seam breaking force and the seam efficiency (per cent ratio of seam strength to fabric strength). The test results were subjected to an analysis of variance and the seam strength proved to vary significantly not only with the primary parameters, but with the interactions of the primary parameters as well. That is seam strength (and seam efficiency) changes with each primary parameter but it changes in a different manner when other parameters change. Multiple regressions have been used to construct preliminary predictor equations for seam strength and efficiency, and investigations to provide better equations are in progress.
Design/methodology/approach
ANOVA techniques and statistical regression equations were formed.
Findings
The work has concluded that twill weave 9 with chain stitch has the maximum seam strength, which makes canopies made with 2/1 twill weave and stitched with lapped seam with four rows of chain stitch optimum for heavy supply droppings with a single use parachute(s). It is evident from the results that twill weave with lock stich has the maximum seam efficiency. This makes the canopies stitched with twill fabric, constructed with lapped seams and four rows of stitches ideal for parachutes to be used multiple times. The brake parachutes on aircrafts and parachutes used by sky divers and air combat soldiers can use parachutes whose canopies can be used many times made out of the above mentioned weave and stitch specification.
Originality/value
Original work was conducted from the woven fabrics.