Organizational Climate as Performance Driver: Health Care Workers’ Perception in a Large Hospital

Recently health care (HC) organizations have increasingly embarked on organizational climate (OC) assessment with the intent to improve their efficiency and the quality of the delivered services. This is important; however, it is even if more crucial to ensure that workers engaged in the evaluation process are aware of the importance of their fruitful engagement in this investigation as well as of its potential benefits. From the management viewpoint, this is crucial to plan and implement management initiatives able to create a great place to work. The purpose of this paper is to shed empirical light on how, in effect, HC workers perceive OC for itself and as a performance driver to assess and manage. The study was carried out through an action research (AR) project, which included the use of both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Key phases of the AR project were some focus groups and a survey. During the focus groups, several methods and approaches were adopted for getting opinions from people and animating discussion. About the survey, a total sample of 560 HC workers was investigated. The AR project has shown that even if HC workers intuitively conceive OC as an important performance driver, the meaning of the construct is not completely clear. Moreover, a good level of awareness among HC workers about how and why OC can improve individual and organizational performance represents a key issue to address in evaluating and managing OC

Using metadata for content indexing within an OER network

This paper outlines the ICT solution for a metadata portal indexing open educational resources within a network of institutions. The network is aimed at blending academic and entrepreneurial knowledge,by enabling higher education institutions to publish various academic learning resources e.g. video lectures, course planning materials, or thematic content, whereasenterprises can present different forms of expert knowledge, such as case studies, expert presentations on specific topics, demonstrations of software implementation in practice and the like. As these resources need to bediscoverable, accessible and shared by potential learners across the learning environment, it is very important that they are well described and tagged in a standard way in machine readable form by metadata. Only then can they be successfully used and reused, especially when a large amount of these resources is reached, which makes it hard for the user to locate efficiently those of interest. The metadata set adopted in our approach relies on two standards: Dublin Core and Learning Object Metadata. The aim of metadata and the corresponding metadata portal described in this paper is to provide structured access to information on open educational resources within the network

Creating an environment for free education and technology-enhanced learning

The purpose of this paper is to present a project aimed at making knowledge publically available through opene ducational resources (OER). The focus is on open online courses which will be created by educational institutions and best practice examples offered by leading companies, with the purpose to support life-long education and enhancement of academic education with practical knowledge. The goal is to create diverse high quality educational materials in electronic format, which will be publically available. The educational material will follow basic pedagogical-didactic principles, in order to best meet the needs of the potential learners. In accordance with that a review of didactic principles that can contribute to producing OER content of excellence is given. The choice of a convenient platform, as well as the application of appropriate information technologies enable content representation in a suitable, innovative and meaningful way

Knowledge and Management Models for Sustainable Growth

In the last years sustainability has become a topic of global concern and a key issue in the strategic agenda of both business organizations and public authorities and organisations. Significant changes in business landscape, the emergence of new technology, including social media, the pressure of new social concerns, have called into question established conceptualizations of competitiveness, wealth creation and growth. New and unaddressed set of issues regarding how private and public organisations manage and invest their resources to create sustainable value have brought to light. In particular the increasing focus on environmental and social themes has suggested new dimensions to be taken into account in the value creation dynamics, both at organisations and communities level. For companies the need of integrating corporate social and environmental responsibility issues into strategy and daily business operations, pose profound challenges, which, in turn, involve numerous processes and complex decisions influenced by many stakeholders. Facing these challenges calls for the creation, use and exploitation of new knowledge as well as the development of proper management models, approaches and tools aimed to contribute to the development and realization of environmentally and socially sustainable business strategies and practices

Performance Information and Managerial Knowledge Needs

Performance management raises managerial information needs. This paper elaborates various knowledge processes that are used for gathering, analysing and communicating performance information. Thus, the paper explores the potential contribution of knowledgebased management disciplines on performance management. Although the literature on performance measurement provides guidance on building performance measurement systems, there remains many open questions relating to how the data is obtained, analyzed and utilized. To address these phenomena knowledge-based management literature focuses on knowledge assets as performance drivers and the role of knowledge management as a lever of performance. There are also approaches that aim to streamline knowledge flows in order to improve operational performance. However, between these strategic and operative approaches is a research gap concerning thIe question, how can knowledge-based management support performance management. To address this gap in practice, the paper studies managerial information needs in 9 case environments in Finland

Benefits and Risks of the Technological Creep of LED Light Technologies Applied to the Purse Seine Fishery

This study is a first attempt to investigate the catch efficiency of LED light technology compared to the traditional incandescent lamp that is used in the purse seine fishery (PS) in the Central Adriatic Sea (Mediterranean Sea). Catches per unit effort were adopted to assess the performance of lighting systems, considering the electrical energy and the fuel consumption as effort units. Concerning the catch efficiency, the white LED, which emits the same light spectra as the incandescent lamp, increased the yield by over 2 times per consumption unit of energy and fuel. The yield efficiency increased up to approximately 6 and 9 times when adopting the pulsing white or blue LED, respectively. These increases were due to the energy savings resulting from the flashing of the white LED or by the greater water penetration of the blue LED. No significant difference in target species sizes was detected between the use of LEDs and the incandescent lamp. The results obtained from estimates of the hourly fuel consumption and CO2 emissions stress potential benefits in the reduction of the carbon footprint due to the use of LEDs within the PS fishery. Positive economic impacts were derived from the LED technology on the PS fishery, with the fuel cost-saving percentages all being higher than 60%. The LED technology clearly shows potential benefits at the economic level for the fishermen, and the possibility of mitigating indirect negative effects on the environment due to fuel combustion and greenhouse gas emissions. On the other hand, the application of new technology that improves the catch efficiency of fishing gears should be carefully considered. The lack of regulations controlling technological advancement could cause unwanted long-term effects

Understanding demand for innovation in the food industry

Purpose – This paper aims to focus on understanding how demand for innovation is articulated in low-tech industries, dominated by SMEs, where innovation is often based on informal processes and uncodified knowledge, relying on intangible assets. Design/methodology/approach – The authors hypothesize that the problems found in the innovation area are exacerbated in a traditional industry. SMEs might have difficulty understanding what their requirements might be, let alone finding the optimal provider of technologies. The authors therefore expect to find three main forms of demand: real, latent, and potential. The specific case is the food industry in Apulia, Italy. First, focus groups identified general business and technology needs. Then in-depth interviews were conducted with 87 firms, stratified in order to be representative of food firms in Apulia. Findings – The authors detected 285 different needs requiring an innovative solution. In most cases, firms understand the areas to be improved, but do not have a technological solution in mind. Demand for innovation is mostly latent. Research limitations/implications – The study is narrow in geographic and industry scope. This limits generalizability, but the methodology is transferable and the results comparable. The authors studied the demand side, whereas interaction between supply and demand needs to be understood. Future studies into regional public research organizations (PROs) and intermediaries can therefore be useful. Practical implications – The findings can be used to understand how PROs can engage with SMEs and what policymakers can do to facilitate the interaction. Originality/value – This study applies thinking typically used in high-tech sectors to a traditional sector, hence testing and extending the theoretical boundaries.Alessandro Muscio, Gianluca Nardone and Antonio Dottor

Site characterization of station IV.LAV9 (LANUVIO) of Italian National Seismic Network

Final report illustrating array measurements performed at IV.LAV9 station of the Italian national seismic network. This report is part of the Project: DPC-INGV 2016 agreement All. B2 Task B: Seismic characterization of accelerometric sites

Glycopatterns of the foregut in the striped dolphin Stenella coeruleoalba, Meyen 1833 from the Mediterranean Sea

AbstractThe glycopatterns of the glycans secreted by the mucosa of stomach and duodenal ampulla of the striped dolphin, Stenella coeruleoalba were studied by histochemical (Periodic acid‐Schiff, Alcian Blue pH 2.5, High Iron Diamine) and lectin‐binding (SBA, DBA, PNA, WGA, MAA‐II, SNA, ConA, UEA‐I, AAA, LTA) techniques. The stomach can be divided into four compartments: main stomach, two connecting chambers and pylorus. The pylorus is followed by the duodenal ampulla. Mucins are secreted by surface cells and intramucosal glands specific for each compartment. In the main stomach glands, neck cells were weakly sulphated, with prevailing glycosaminylated, glycosylated/mannosylated, and fucosylated residuals. Parietal and chief cells in general were scarcely reactive. In the connecting chambers glands, there were high levels of sulphation, glycosaminylation, glycosylation/mannosylation, and fucosylation, the latter with more complex patterns than those observed in the main stomach glands. In the pyloric glands sulphated, glycosaminylated and fucosylated residuals decreased, whereas the opposite was observed for galactosyl/galactosaminylated residuals. Glycosylation patterns in the glands of the duodenal ampulla differed from those of the pyloric ones, with similar levels of sulphation, lower levels of galactosyl/galactosaminylation and glycosaminylation, and higher level of fucosylation. The results are compared with those available in literature

Prognostic factors of lung cancer in lymphoma survivors (the LuCiLyS study)

Background Second cancer is the leading cause of death in lymphoma survivors, with lung cancer representing the most common solid tumor. Limited information exists about the treatment and prognosis of second lung cancer following lymphoma. Herein, we evaluated the outcome and prognostic factors of Lung Cancer in Lymphoma Survivors (the LuCiLyS study) to improve the patient selection for lung cancer treatment. Methods This is a retrospective multicentre study including consecutive patients treated for lymphoma disease that subsequently developed non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Data regarding lymphoma including age, symptoms, histology, disease stage, treatment received and lymphoma status at the time of lung cancer diagnosis, and data on lung carcinoma as age, smoking history, latency from lymphoma, symptoms, histology, disease stage, treatment received, and survival were evaluated to identify the significant prognostic factors for overall survival. Results Our study population included 164 patients, 145 of which underwent lung cancer resection. The median overall survival was 63 (range, 58–85) months, and the 5-year survival rate 54%. At univariable analysis no-active lymphoma (HR: 2.19; P=0.0152); early lymphoma stage (HR: 1.95; P=0.01); adenocarcinoma histology (HR: 0.59; P=0.0421); early lung cancer stage (HR: 3.18; P<0.0001); incidental diagnosis of lung cancer (HR: 1.71; P<0.0001); and lung cancer resection (HR: 2.79; P<0.0001) were favorable prognostic factors. At multivariable analysis, no-active lymphoma (HR: 2.68; P=0.004); early lung cancer stage (HR: 2.37; P<0.0001); incidental diagnosis of lung cancer (HR: 2.00; P<0.0001); and lung cancer resection (HR: 2.07; P<0.0001) remained favorable prognostic factors. Patients with non-active lymphoma (n=146) versus those with active lymphoma (n=18) at lung cancer diagnosis presented better median survival (64 vs. 37 months; HR: 2.4; P=0.02), but median lung cancer specific survival showed no significant difference (27 vs. 19 months; HR: 0.3; P=0.17). Conclusions The presence and/or a history of lymphoma should not be a contraindication to resection of lung cancer. Inclusion of lymphoma survivors in a lung cancer-screening program may lead to early detection of lung cancer, and improve the survival