375 research outputs found
Strategy Tripod Perspective on the Determinants of Airline Efficiency in A Global Context: An Application of DEA and Tobit Analysis
The airline industry is vital to contemporary civilization since it is a key player in the globalization process: linking regions, fostering global commerce, promoting tourism and aiding economic and social progress. However, there has been little study on the link between the operational environment and airline efficiency. Investigating the amalgamation of institutions, organisations and strategic decisions is critical to understanding how airlines operate efficiently.
This research aims to employ the strategy tripod perspective to investigate the efficiency of a global airline sample using a non-parametric linear programming method (data envelopment analysis [DEA]). Using a Tobit regression, the bootstrapped DEA efficiency change scores are further regressed to determine the drivers of efficiency. The strategy tripod is employed to assess the impact of institutions, industry and resources on airline efficiency. Institutions are measured by global indices of destination attractiveness; industry, including competition, jet fuel and business model; and finally, resources, such as the number of full-time employees, alliances, ownership and connectivity. The first part of the study uses panel data from 35 major airlines, collected from their annual reports for the period 2011 to 2018, and country attractiveness indices from global indicators. The second part of the research involves a qualitative data collection approach and semi-structured interviews with experts in the field to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on the first part’s significant findings.
The main findings reveal that airlines operate at a highly competitive level regardless of their competition intensity or origin. Furthermore, the unpredictability of the environment complicates airline operations. The efficiency drivers of an airline are partially determined by its type of business model, its degree of cooperation and how fuel cost is managed. Trade openness has a negative influence on airline efficiency. COVID-19 has toppled the airline industry, forcing airlines to reconsider their business model and continuously increase cooperation. Human resources, sustainability and alternative fuel sources are critical to airline survival. Finally, this study provides some evidence for the practicality of the strategy tripod and hints at the need for a broader approach in the study of international strategies
Tradition and Innovation in Construction Project Management
This book is a reprint of the Special Issue 'Tradition and Innovation in Construction Project Management' that was published in the journal Buildings
A comprehensive review on the potential of green hydrogen in empowering the low-carbon economy: development status, ongoing trends and key challenges.
Green hydrogen is currently considered a key element for delivering free-carbon energy. This paper provides an extensive assessment of the potential of green hydrogen technology as a pathway to the low-carbon economy while highlighting the major technical challenges to its implementation. A detailed overview of green hydrogen production, storage technologies, transportation infrastructures and green hydrogen implementations is provided. Status of the ongoing trends for repurposing the existing gas grid infrastructures to transport the hydrogen safely across Europe is presented in this work, with 48 sample projects statistically reviewed and classified based on the key challenges being addressed. The potential of green hydrogen in decarbonizing the energy sector and the associated technical challenges are widely reviewed and critically assessed. Detailed discussions have been provided on the optimal sizing of renewable hydrogen energy systems, real-world modelling of hydrogen energy storage elements and the smart energy management strategies for the application of hydrogen electrolysers as smart controllable loads. Some prospects are given on how digital key trends of blockchain technologies could support the growth of green hydrogen markets together with emphasis on the raised research questions. Further assessment is presented on the potential of green hydrogen versus blue hydrogen while reflecting on future directions and policy recommendations for planning a successful energy transition. Finally, some future insights and near-term policy recommendations are provided for promoting the use of green hydrogen production while supporting the green hydrogen industry
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Optimizing The Clinical Efficacy And Safety Of Biological Medicines And Their Biosimilars Within Available Resources In Europe
Introduction: Biological medicines contain active principles made by large and complex molecular structures, produced or extracted from a biological source. Biosimilars offer significant opportunities to reduce the price of biological medicines especially in an area of spiralling healthcare expenditure. Given the complexity of these medicines, their role in the management of many diseases, and their high price, there is the need to promote their appropriate use and develop tools and policies to increase access to high quality and affordable medicines.
Aims: With a multidisciplinary approach, I took into account different facets this topic.
1. Analysis of the development and marketing authorisation of biosimilars in the EU to explore how the regulatory framework affects biosimilar clinical development, policies and uptake.
2. Analysis of the evidence supporting the switch between originator and biosimilars and the switch among biosimilars, in chronic clinical conditions.
3. Development and testing of an innovative analytical technique to monitor the appropriate use of biological medicines in order to maximise patient outcomes.
4. Development of education and training programmes for healthcare professionals regarding biological medicines and biosimilars in collaboration with local health authorities.
Methods: I applied a combination of different methodologies, tailored to each different aim.
1. Analysis of pivotal clinical trials of EU approved biosimilars that compare their efficacy and safety to originators.
2. Series of systematic reviews that evaluate efficacy and safety of switching between biologics and their biosimilars of insulin analogues and anti-TNFs. Identification of studies through systematic searches on Medline, EMBASE, and The Cochrane Library. Update of anti-TNFs review (2022) to retrieve studies on switching among biosimilars.
3. Measurement of serum concentrations of therapeutic antibodies and anti-drug antibodies using the innovative Surface Plasmon Resonance-based immunoassay.
4. Definition of training objectives and modalities of educational sessions on biological medicines. Identification of clinical areas where these medicines are commonly used. Development of key metrics of prescription performance used as starting point for the course content.
Main results:
1. Up to April 2022, I retrieved 68 biosimilars approved in the EU, corresponding to 18 active principles. The comparability exercise and subsequent approval of the majority of them is based on one or more pivotal phase III trials comparing their clinical efficacy to the originators. Often trials adopted an equivalence design, while insulin analogue biosimilars approval based on non-inferiority trial design. Two third of these trials included data on immunogenicity. The requirement for showing similarity in terms of clinical efficacy and safety provides a robust demonstration of comparable clinical outcomes.
2. I retrieved 22 studies addressing the insulin review questions. Three randomised controlled trials, on insulin glargine, collected evidence on equivalent efficacy, safety and immunogenicity when switching to biosimilar. Data on switching between different analogues, or from analogues to human insulins are very limited (one RCT).
Studies comparing switching from originators to biosimilars of anti-TNF (infliximab, adalimumab, etanercept) in chronic inflammatory diseases are many and consistent. I included 32 records, corresponding to three systematic reviews, 14RCTs, 8 OLEs and three cohort studies. Substantial amount of evidence from RCTs is available for IFX and ADMB, versus one RCT of ETN. All these studies suggest switching is safe and effective. With regards of switching among biosimilars, I included 19 clinical studies: 11 cohort studies and 8 single-arm studies: none of these studies highlights significant concerns on switching between biosimilars.
3. The study involved 76 patients receiving infliximab for IBD. Concentration of biological drug and anti-drug-antibodies in each sample determined by SPR in triplicate by two researchers with different experience. Measurements with both ELISA and SPR indicated very similar IFX serum concentrations, with differences of ADA. All the sera showing ADA by ELISA also showed ADA by SPR. 8 patients showed ADA only with SPR: these ADA had significantly faster dissociation rate constants than those detectable by both methods. Measurement of IFX and ADA can support informed decisions for a more rational management of biological therapies.
4. Education programme was replied four times with 30-40 participants each. There was a case-mix of specialties: gastroenterologists, dermatologists, rheumatologists but also oncologists, internal medicine physicians and general practitioners. The majority was confident in prescribing biosimilars in naïve patients, with some restraint to switching. All the participants were in favour of better integration of the gained experience with different specialities.
Conclusions: Altogether, the different strategies exploited in my project could support a clinical decision-making based on a more rational use of biological medicines, with benefits for both the patient’s outcome and the health budgets
Digital Literacy Education in Welsh Primary and Secondary Schools from the 1960s to the Present
Digital technologies are imbued with ideologies that impact culture and society. These technologies are ubiquitous, pervasive, and central to how people communicate, consume information, and orchestrate their lives. Therefore, for people to fully understand the impact and influence of these technologies on their lives and engage with them and the digital environment in a critically informed way - digital literacy is an absolute and necessary requirement. However, we are not seeing digital literacy as standard. This study assesses: (1) Whether students are being sufficiently educated about how digital technologies use and affect them in a social, cultural, and ethical capacity; (2) Whether the programme content of digital literacy education (DLE) is primarily driven by neo-liberal economically driven government policies; and (3) How much influence private neo-liberal capitalistic enterprises have in determining the educational agenda of DLE? Qualitative data was collected via three focus group interviews and twenty-six semi-structured interviews which explored students, educational professionals, and government officials’ views of DLE in Wales. The data was thematically coded using critical discourse analysis, and analysed using theories developed in Herbert Marcuse’s 1964 publication One-Dimensional Man. The results indicated that DLE educational policy has broadened to include knowledge that extends beyond the teaching of purely mechanistic skills. However, a variety of factors were identified that impede their implementation. Additionally, it is argued that students’ mechanistic digital skills have been declining since the introduction of touch screen technologies into primary and secondary schools. Findings also indicated that educators main DLE focus was on preparing students for employment purposes, and the influence private neo-liberal capitalistic enterprises have in determining not only the educational agenda of DLE, but education in general is profound, and has accelerated exponentially since the COVID-19 imposed lockdowns
A review of task allocation methods for UAVs
Unmanned aerial vehicles, can offer solutions to a lot of problems, making it crucial to research more and improve the task allocation methods used. In this survey, the main approaches used for task allocation in applications involving UAVs are presented as well as the most common applications of UAVs that require the application of task allocation methods. They are followed by the categories of the task allocation algorithms used, with the main focus being on more recent works. Our analysis of these methods focuses primarily on their complexity, optimality, and scalability. Additionally, the communication schemes commonly utilized are presented, as well as the impact of uncertainty on task allocation of UAVs. Finally, these methods are compared based on the aforementioned criteria, suggesting the most promising approaches
Demand Response in Smart Grids
The Special Issue “Demand Response in Smart Grids” includes 11 papers on a variety of topics. The success of this Special Issue demonstrates the relevance of demand response programs and events in the operation of power and energy systems at both the distribution level and at the wide power system level. This reprint addresses the design, implementation, and operation of demand response programs, with focus on methods and techniques to achieve an optimized operation as well as on the electricity consumer
A risk management model for commercial property development and investment in Ghana
Commercial property development and investment provide many benefits to individuals and governments around the globe; these include the generation of income for investors, employment, tax revenues, and contributions to a country‘s GDP. Yet commercial property development and investment projects involve construction, economic and management risks. A lack of effective risk assessment and management tools may lead to developers and investors incurring losses. To curtail such losses, this study sought to create a credible management model that can be used to assess and manage risks in Ghana‘s commercial property development and investment industry. An extensive literature review was done, covering all 12 identified study constructs: real estate trends and cycle, construction project management, outside advice/mentorship, spatial development, strategic factors, business management skills, PMBOK, PESTEL analysis, general management skills, governance structures, financial feasibility, professional feasibility, and risk management. Each construct was defined and operationalised. A positivistic philosophical approach was used, and quantitative approach was used to solicit data from the main respondents through the distribution of questionnaires to the target population sample. CB-SEM and SPSS version 24 were used to analyse data, SEM to test the positive relationships hypothesised between the identified variables and SPSS to analyse the demographic data. The major findings are that there is a lack of financial and professional feasibility analysis among respondents along the following factors: the PMBOK, real estate trends and cycles, general management, business management, strategic factors, spatial development, and PESTEL analysis. It was found that these factors have positive and favourable influences on CPDI projects. The study recommends that developers and investors do financial and professional feasibility studies before they embark on projects. This could improve project viability in commercial property development and investment. The study has contributed to the body of knowledge in CPDI sector by developing a new risk assessment/risk management model.Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Engineering Built Environment and Technology, School of the built Environment, 202
Internet and Biometric Web Based Business Management Decision Support
Internet and Biometric Web Based Business Management Decision Support
MICROBE
MOOC material prepared under
IO1/A5 Development of the MICROBE personalized MOOCs content and teaching materials
Prepared by:
A. Kaklauskas, A. Banaitis, I. Ubarte
Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Lithuania
Project No: 2020-1-LT01-KA203-07810
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