Organizational maturity for co-creation: Towards a multi-attribute decision support model for public organizations

The paper conceptualizes a multi-attribute decision support model for the assessment of organizational maturity for co-creation, specifically for public organizations. This is achieved on the basis of a systematic literature review (i.e. content analysis) and analysis of two European case studies of promising collaborative practices (from UK and Slovenia). The co-creation drivers and barriers elicited from these two sources are integrated in a decision support model, thus setting the layout of a multi-attribute decision support model for the assessment of organizational maturity for co-creation. The final model conceptualized here consists of 25 attributes or criteria grouped into three categories: organization capacity, staff capacity, and a wider political and normative context in which public organizations act

Organizational readiness for co-creation of public services in the central and eastern european administrative tradition: Development of the conceptual multi-attribute decision support model

Co-creation of public services and policies is considered a promising practice of re-shaping the traditional relationship between the state and its citizens, businesses and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Nevertheless, there are also warnings that the implementation of the process of co-creation could fail. A possible reason is that the organization is not ready or sufficiently mature to implement the process of co-creation. This paper addresses co-creation drivers and barriers identified through systematic literature review and analysis of case studies from two Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. The aim of this paper is to provide practitioners from CEE countries with a conceptual multi-attribute decision support model for evaluating the organizational readiness for co-creation. The methodological framework consists of three steps. The first two steps, content analysis (i.e. literature review) and case-study analysis, were used to identify and analyze drivers and barriers, which are then used in the last step to develop the conceptual multi-attribute decision support model. The developed model consists of 26 attributes grouped into three categories: Capacity of the organization, drivers and barriers related to internal (public organization) co-creators, and context related drivers and barriers. The key points for practitioners are: •Co-creation drivers and barriers affect organizations at the beginning of their co-creation journey (i.e. in identifying the key co-creation success factor at the organizational level); •Co-creation drivers and barriers serve as guidance to organizations that were unsuccessful in co-creation; •The conceptual model supporting the evaluation of co-creation readiness serves as a tool to those that consider implementing co-creation; •The model offers an insight into a possible methodology for evaluation of readiness in different areas; •For practitioners from the CEE region, co-creation drivers and barriers, together with the conceptual multi-attribute decision support model supporting the evaluation of co-creation readiness, offer a roadmap to successful co-creation

Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide Phosphate-Diaphorase (NADPH-d) Histochemistry Detecting NOS in Healthy and Chronically Inflamed Pulp

The aim of this study was to examine the expression of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-diaphorase (NADPH-d) activity in human dental pulps and determine whether there are changes of the activity in chronically inflamed pulp tissue. Nineteen pulps with clinical diagnosis of chronic pulpitis were collected during endodontic treatment. The healthy controls were obtained from teeth extracted for orthodontic therapy. The clinical diagnosis was confirmed by histological analysis. Healthy pulps showed stratified odontoblasts in peripheral parts, while in central area there was normal connective tissue. Chronically inflamed pulps showed less expressed stratification of odontoblasts and infiltration of lymphocytes, polymorphonuclear leukocytes, plasma cells and mastocytes. NADPH-d granular reactivity was assessed semi quantitatively under the light microscope by a single observer and scored on an intensity scale from negative reaction to very strong reaction. In healthy human pulps, NADPH-d activity was strong to very strong in odontoblastic layer. Endothelial cells and Schwann cells showed strong NADPH-d reactivity, while the other parts of central area were weakly positive. Similar distribution of reactivity was expressed also in chronically inflamed pulp; moderate to strong reaction was observed in stromal area as result of positive reaction in inflammatory cells and endothelial cells of abundant newly formed capillaries

Dynamic Simulation of Batch Polymerization Reactor and Sensitivity Analysis of Styrene Homopolymerization

Provedena je dinamička simulacija rada šaržnog polimerizacijskog reaktora za proces homopolimerizacije stirena u otopini ksilena iniciranog uz monofunkcijski i difunkcijski peroksidni inicijator. Monofunkcijski inicijator ima široku industrijsku primjenu, dok je difunkcijski u preliminarnim istraživanjima pokazao određene prednosti kao što su proizvodnja polimera homogenije strukture uz postizanje visokih ili čak potpunih konverzija monomera. Također, vrijeme reakcije može se znatno smanjiti bez potrebe za preinakom reaktorskog sustava. Računalna simulacija provedena je primjenom programskog sustava za simuliranje procesa ChemCAD, točnije njegova modula CC-Polymer, razvijenog isključivo za analizu i projektiranje radikalskih i stupnjevitih polimerizacijskih sustava. Na temelju kompleksnih kinetičkih modela program omogućava predviđanje osnovnih strukturnih svojstava polimera – raspodjele (disperznosti) i prosjeka molekulskih masa, koji izravno određuju kvalitetu i primjenu gotovih proizvoda. Ovisnosti konverzije monomera i strukturnih značajki polimera o vremenu polimerizacije izračunate računalnom simulacijom uspoređene su s eksperimentalno dobivenim rezultatima. Dobivene su istovjetne tendencije i razmjerno dobro slaganje za završetak polimerizacije pri većini ispitanih uvjeta. Provedena je i parametarska analiza za homopolimerizacijski sustav iniciran diperoksidnim inicijatorom. Ispitan je utjecaj koncentracije monomera, koncentracije inicijatora, temperature i vremena reakcije na konverziju monomera, brojčani i maseni prosjek molarnih masa te disperznost.In this work, dynamic simulations of a batch reactor in the process of styrene homopolymerization in a xylene solution initiated with two types of peroxide initiators, monofunctional and bifunctional, was carried out. The monofunctional peroxide initiator has wide industrial applications, while the bifunctional initiator in preliminary studies has shown some advantages, such as the production of polymers with homogeneous structure along with achieving high or even complete conversion of monomers. Additionally, the reaction time can be significantly reduced with no modification of the reactor system. Computer simulation was performed using ChemCAD software for simulation of the chemical process and its integrated modules CC-Polymer developed exclusively for the analysis and design of radical and step polymerization processes. This software package based on the previously developed very complex kinetic models predicts the basic structural properties of polymers such as molar mass and its distribution (dispersity), which directly determines the quality and use of the final product. Dependencies of monomer conversion and structural characteristics of the polymers on the polymerization time obtained by computer simulation were compared with the experimental data. The satisfactory tendencies and a relatively good agreement were accomplished regarding the end of polymerization for most of the examined conditions. Additionally, a sensitivity study for homopolymeric system initiated with diperoxide initiator was performed. The effects of monomer concentration, initiator concentration, temperature and reaction time on the rate of polymerization (monomer conversion) and the main structural properties of polymers were examined