COP Model Research Articles

Our approach to developing communities of practice to foster research capacities for the adult social care workforce.

Efforts to build and foster adult social care research in England have historically encountered more challenges to its growth and expansion compared with health research, with a sector facing significant barriers in facilitating research activity due to a lack of resourcing, poor valuation or understanding of the profile of social care research. The landscape for supporting research in adult social care has been rather bleak, but in recent years there has been recognition of the need to foster a research community. The National Institute for Health and Care Research in England have committed to investing in social care research capacity by funding six adult social care partnerships, with one based in Southeast England. Three large online networking events were held in the first year of the project to engage managers and practitioners from the local authority and from the wider adult social care sector. These took place in July and November 2021, with a last event in March 2022. Two COPs were identified, following an ordering and thematising process of feedback from the networking events, of: (a) Supporting people with complex needs throughout the lifespan, and (b) Enhancing, diversifying and sustaining the social care workforce. Whilst it would be premature to identify their long-term impacts, through the facilitation of 20 COP meetings held so far, alongside the engagement platforms and enrichment resources, these have provided a space for regular communication in the sector, knowledge sharing and networking between COP members. The COP framework offers a collaborative approach to initiating research from the grass-roots level in adult social care. This paper focuses on how the COP model offers great promise for knowledge-exchange providing a forum to generate and disseminate knowledge around social care in our two COP domains.

The cops model for collaborative problem-solving in mathematics

ABSTRACT While the importance of collaborative problem-solving has been highlighted as an important skill by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), no specific model exists for mathematics facilitators to implement when engaging their students in group problem-solving. In this paper, we introduce the CoPs model for Collaborative Problem-solving in mathematics, a structured approach to facilitating group-work of this kind. We outline the theoretical foundations of the CoPs model as well as its implementation in practice. We then consider its usage in a case study with 89 highly-achieving post-primary school students from numerous mixed schools around Ireland and discuss student feedback on the experience of the CoPs model as an approach to collaborative problem-solving in mathematics. Students were positive about this approach to collaborative problem-solving, suggesting that this model may provide an approach that teachers could introduce into classroom settings when teaching problem-solving in mathematics.

Cops and robber on variants of retracts and subdivisions of oriented graphs (Brief Announcement)

Cops and Robber is one of the most studied two-player pursuit-evasion games played on graphs, where multiple cops, controlled by one player, pursue a single robber. The cop number of a graph is the minimum number of cops that can ensure the capture of the robber. In directed graphs, two kinds of moves are defined for players: strong move, where a player can move both along and against the orientation of an arc to an adjacent vertex; and weak move, where a player can only move along the orientation of an arc to an out-neighbor. We study three variants of Cops and Robber on oriented graphs: strong cop model, where the cops can make strong moves while the robber can only make weak moves; normal cop model, where both cops and the robber can only make weak moves; and weak cop model, where the cops can make weak moves while the robber can make strong moves. We study the cop number of these models with respect to several variants of retracts on oriented graphs and establish that the strong and normal cop number of an oriented graph remains invariant in their strong and distributed retracts, respectively. Next, we go on to study all three variants with respect to the subdivisions of graphs and oriented graphs. Finally, we establish that all these variants remain computationally difficult even when restricted to the class of 2-degenerate bipartite graphs.

Using COP Model to Map the Vulnerability of Groundwater Wells Adjacent to Landfills

Protecting the quality of the groundwater is of the utmost importance, particularly in countries such as Jordan, where the groundwater comprises a significant portion of the total water resources. A groundwater vulnerability assessment is one of the viable preventive measures that is normally used to preserve this strategic water resource. Groundwater vulnerability maps provide information on the groundwater basins that are vulnerable to contamination, particularly those coming from the landfills, and thus, they can be used for sustainable land use planning. The general goal of this study was to map the groundwater vulnerability to contamination and evaluate the impact of landfills on the groundwater quality at five landfill sites in Jordan, i.e., Akaider, Al-Husaineyat, Madaba, Dair Alla, and Azraq by using a COP hydrogeological model. The COP method is an European approach for aquifer vulnerability in the karst regions. This method uses the parameters: C—Concentration of flow; O—Overlying layers; P—Precipitation. Unlike the other methods, the COP model allows for us to assess the impact of the karst systems if they exist. For the study area, daily rain records from three weather stations surrounding each landfill were used. Along with the vulnerability maps, Peizometric maps for Akaider, Azraq, Dair Alla, Madaba and Al-Husaineyat were produced that assisted in our efforts to determine the wells located in the upstream and downstream of each targeted landfill. The water quality was tested two times in the upstream and downstream wells of each targeted landfill to explore the potential impacts of the landfills on the groundwater wells. The developed vulnerability maps show that most of the lands surrounding the landfills’ areas, within a diameter of 15 km, are located in low to very low vulnerability areas, except for the Al-Husaineyat landfill in Mafraq where a significant part of it lies in a moderate vulnerability area across a fault section. Additionally, the results of the water analysis from the surrounding wells indicated that there was no clear evidence of the contamination of the groundwater resulting from surrounding landfills, which was in agreement with the produced vulnerability maps.

Animal Advocacy and the “Good Cop‐Bad Cop” Radical Flanking of Laboratory Research

This research explores the concurrent effects of radical and reformist approaches to animal advocacy on how animal welfare is institutionalized in laboratory research. The long‐term outcomes of militant animal rights activism are not adequately explained by the two current radical flank effect models: a positive effect where militancy helps moderates, and a negative effect where militancy compromises the movement as a whole. Interviews and participant observation were used to identify a third model—good cop‐bad cop radical flanking—that more accurately captures how a longstanding radical fringe of activism affects the institutionalization of animal advocates' demands. Contrary to existing models that describe immediate radical flank effects, a good cop‐bad cop model helps explain the long‐term effects of militancy and reformism on institutional practices, where activists' seemingly opposing efforts are, in fact, mutually reinforcing.

Assessment of groundwater vulnerability using GIS-based COP model in the northern governorates of Jordan

Assessment of groundwater vulnerability using GIS-based COP model in the northern governorates of Jordan

RESEARCH OF ELECTRIC POWER INDUSTRY MODELS AND METHODS OF ELECTRICITY QUALITY MEASUREMENTS

During the reconstruction of existing and construction of new energy facilities, mostly modern imported equipment is used, which is not certified in Ukraine due to inconsistencies in domestic standards. This creates difficulties in coordinating projects with government agencies regarding building codes and regulations, energy efficiency requirements, safety requirements, and so on. There are also no standards in Ukraine regarding the functioning of the energy market. Therefore, it is necessary to update the array of ND industry, for the implementation of which it is necessary to develop appropriate scientific and methodological principles for improving the system of these documents. The introduction of international standards as national standards of Ukraine will remove many controversial issues in the modernization of energy facilities, promote domestic energy equipment in the Western market, create conditions for parallel operation of Ukraine's energy system with European energy associations, improve the quality of energy. But updating the regulatory framework of the industry requires significant time and money, so it is necessary to properly organize this process in order to improve the technical and economic efficiency (EE) of energy in the shortest possible time with minimal costs. One of the methods of solving this problem is complex standardization (CS), the methodological foundations of which were laid in Soviet times, but are outdated due to changing economic conditions and basic criteria for assessing the efficiency of energy facilities, especially their impact on humans and the environment. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a new approach to the COP in the field of electricity in modern conditions, in particular, to develop a model of the COP, methods, classification of tasks and determine the priority of standardization in the field of electricity. Standardization in the electricity sector should cover all major areas of industry development and contribute to the creation of conditions for safe operation of electricity facilities, ensuring rational energy consumption, improving the technical level and environmental safety of energy facilities, ensuring reliable and efficient operation of Ukraine's integrated energy system. Therefore, the development of the COP model should be based on the structural model of the power industry, which corresponds to the real conditions of the industry. To ensure the cost-effectiveness of the COP, it is necessary to develop a new methodology for evaluating EE development and implementation of standards for energy equipment in market conditions, as well as methodological approaches to economic optimization of the sequence of implementation of standards. Thus, the development of scientific and methodological principles for improving the system of regulatory documents of the electric power industry of Ukraine is an urgent and important task, the solution of which will contribute to the effective updating of the regulatory framework of the industry.

ANALYSIS OF COMPLEX MODEL OF MONITORING OF ELECTRIC POWER QUALITY PARAMETERS

The main task of Ukraine's energy strategy until 2030 is to bring the country's electricity complex in line with international requirements for efficiency and reliability of energy supply, which requires improvement of the regulatory framework of Ukraine's electricity. The introduction of international standards as national standards of Ukraine will remove many controversial issues in the modernization of energy facilities, promote domestic energy equipment in the Western market, create conditions for parallel operation of Ukraine's energy system with European energy associations, improve the quality of energy. But updating the regulatory framework of the industry requires significant time and money, so it is necessary to properly organize this process in order to improve the technical and economic efficiency (EE) of energy in the shortest possible time with minimal costs. One of the methods of solving this problem is complex standardization (CS), the methodological foundations of which were laid in Soviet times, but are outdated due to changing economic conditions and basic criteria for assessing the efficiency of energy facilities, especially their impact on humans and the environment. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a new approach to the COP in the field of electricity in modern conditions, in particular, to develop a model of the COP, methods, classification of tasks and determine the priority of standardization in the field of electricity. Standardization in the electricity sector should cover all major areas of industry development and contribute to the creation of conditions for safe operation of electricity facilities, ensuring rational energy consumption, improving the technical level and environmental safety of energy facilities, ensuring reliable and efficient operation of Ukraine's integrated energy system. Therefore, the development of the COP model should be based on the structural model of the power industry, which corresponds to the real conditions of the industry. To ensure the cost-effectiveness of the COP, it is necessary to develop a new methodology for evaluating EE development and implementation of standards for energy equipment in market conditions, as well as methodological approaches to economic optimization of the sequence of implementation of standards. Thus, the development of scientific and methodological principles for improving the system of regulatory documents of the electric power industry of Ukraine is an urgent and important task, the solution of which will contribute to the effective updating of the regulatory framework of the industry.

Cops and Robber on some families of oriented graphs

Cops and Robber is a two-player pursuit-evasion game in which a set of cops, controlled by Player 1, try to capture the robber, controlled by Player 2. We study three models of this game on oriented graphs which differ based on the kind of moves the players can make. These models are (i) the normal cop model, where both cops and robber can only move along the direction of the arcs; (ii) the strong cop model, where the cops can move along or against the direction of the arcs while the robber can only move along them; and (iii) the weak cop model, where the robber can move along or against the direction of the arcs while the cops can only move along them. The cop number is the minimum number of cops required to capture the robber in a graph, and a graph is cop-win if its cop number is 1.We begin our study by comparing the cop number in these three models for oriented graphs. For the normal cop model, we show that there exist strongly connected oriented graphs having high girth, high minimum degree, and high cop number. We also characterize the cop-win graphs in various graph classes like transitive-triangle-free, outerplanar, and subcubic graphs. For the strong cop model, we construct graphs with unbounded cop number, and also study the cop number of grids, outerplanar, and planar graphs. For the weak cop model, we characterize the cop-win graphs.

Care of Older People in Surgery for general surgery: a single centre experience.

Older patients undergoing emergency surgery experience higher mortality and morbidity. 'Care of Older People in Surgery' (COPS) is a comprehensive geriatric care model developed for acute surgical units (ASU) to improve clinical outcomes in older general surgical patients. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of COPS on clinical and health service outcomes in an Australian hospital. The before-and-after study was conducted in the ASU, at Nepean Hospital. Data from patients ≥75 years admitted for >24 h into the ASU during the intervention period between April 2017 and March 2018 were compared to patients admitted in the previous year (April 2016 to March 2017) prior to the COPS intervention (n=212). Health service outcomes measured include the average stay length, medical emergency team response, unplanned intensive care unit admission and 28-day readmission rates. The COPS group (n=214) suffered significantly fewer medical complications, including less acute kidney injuries, arrhythmias and urinary tract infections compared to the pre-intervention cohort (n=212). Medical emergency team activation was significantly reduced after COPS model implementation and the average length of stay decreased. However, the incidence of postoperative delirium and acute coronary syndrome were higher in COPS cohort. Our study demonstrated that comprehensive geriatric assessment and care delivered through a shared model of care in older general surgical patients improved clinical outcome and patient safety measures.

Supporting communities of practice – A Journey to effective problem-solving

In contexts of scarce resources, varied assets, and diverse communities, engaging local stakeholders in the problem-solving process is critical to develop interventions for HIV prevention and treatment. Communities of practice (CoPs) – groups of people organized around a key purpose and a delivery point – can develop expertise in identifying their local community’s key challenges and selecting viable solutions. We propose a framework, adapted from the CoP model developed by Etienne Wenger, for systematically understanding the stages a CoP may go through as it develops its capacity to identify and solve problems and implement good practices. Our framework is based on the experience of practitioners of the LISTEN model (Local Initiatives Scaled Through Enterprise Networks) in eight local-level CoPs in Kenya and Eswatini. LISTEN seeks to help CoPs integrate continuous improvement processes, data, and human-centered design into their development and solutioning activities. The four stages in our framework for a CoP’s problem-solving journey are: 1) Community Identity: Identify and understand the CoP’s purpose and goals, and build rapport with its members and leaders; 2) Quick Win: Use a process of human-centered design to obtain a rapid and clear success in addressing a problem that the CoP has identified for itself and which it can tackle with its own resources; 3) Stewardship: Support the CoP in addressing more complex or long-term issues, including links to other CoPs at the local-community or higher levels to disseminate knowledge and obtain resources and support, where needed; and 4) Evolution: Support the CoP as it transitions into potentially new structures or functions. For each stage of the framework, we describe the kinds of support that may be provided to the CoP in the LISTEN model, and the types of tools that could be developed to assist them in problem-solving and in disseminating sustainable solutions.

A Revision of the Campbellian Validity System

ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to propose a revision of the well-known Campbellian system for causal research. The revised system, termed the COPS model, applies to both applied and basic research. Five validities are included, where two validities are adopted from the Campbellian system, and the validities are partly hierarchically ordered. Important similarities and differences between the Campbellian system and the COPS model are discussed.

Assessment of groundwater vulnerability to pollution using two different vulnerability models in Halabja-Saidsadiq Basin, Iraq

Groundwater aquifer in Halabja-Saidsadiq Basin considered as one of the most important aquifers in terms of water supplying in Kurdistan Region, NE of Iraq. The growing of economics, irrigation and agricultural activities inside the basin makes it of the main essentials to the region. Therefore, pollution of groundwater is of specific worry as groundwater resources are the principal source of water for drinking, agriculture, irrigation and industrial activities. Thus, the best and practical arrangement is to keep the pollution of groundwater through. The current study aims to evaluate of the vulnerability of groundwater aquifers of the study area. Two models were applied, to be specific VLDA and COP to develop maps of groundwater vulnerability for contamination. The VLDA model classified the area into four classes of vulnerability: low, moderate, high and very high with coverage area of (2%,44%,53% and 1%), respectively. While four vulnerability classes were accomplished dependent on COP model including very low, low, moderate and high vulnerability classes with coverage areas of (1%, 37%, 2% and 60%) respectively. To confirm the suitability of each map for assessment of groundwater vulnerability in the area, it required to be validated of the theoretical sympathetic of current hydrogeological conditions. In this study, groundwater age evaluated utilizing tritium isotopes investigation and applied it to validate the vulnerability results. Based on this validation, the outcome exhibits that the vulnerability classes acquired utilizing VLDA model are more predictable contrasted with the COP model.

Building an oncology community of practice to improve cancer care.

Communities of practice (cops) have been shown to be effective models for achieving quality outcomes in health care. Here, we describe the application of the cop model to the Canadian oncology context. We established an oncology cop at our urban community hospital and its networks. Goals were to decrease barriers to access, foster collaboration, and improve knowledge of guidelines in cancer care. We hosted 6 in-person multidisciplinary meetings, focusing on screening, diagnosis, and management of common solid tumours. Health care providers affiliated with our hospital were invited to attend and to complete post-meeting surveys. Likert scales assessed whether cop goals were realized. Meetings attracted a mean of 57 attendees (range: 48-65 attendees), with a mean of 84% completing the surveys and consenting to the analysis. Attendees included family physicians (mean: 41%), specialist physicians (mean: 24%), nurses (mean: 10%), and allied health care providers (mean: 22%). Repeat attendance increased during the series, with 85% of attendees at the final meeting having attended 1 or more prior meetings. Across the series, most participants agreed or strongly agreed that the cop reduced barriers (mean: 76.0% ± 7.9%) and improved access to cancer care services (mean: 82.4% ± 8.1%) and subject matter experts (mean: 91.7% ± 4.2%); fostered teamwork (mean: 84.5% ± 6.8%) and a culture of collaboration (mean: 94.8% ± 4.2%); improved knowledge of cancer care services (mean: 93.3% ± 4.8%), standards of practice (mean: 92.3% ± 3.1%), and quality indicators (mean: 77.5% ± 6.3%); and improved cancer-related practice (mean: 88.8% ± 4.6%) and satisfaction in caring for cancer patients (mean: 82.9% ± 6.8%). Participant feedback carried a potential for bias. We demonstrated the feasibility of oncology cops and found that participants perceived their value in reducing barriers to access, fostering collaboration, and improving knowledge of guidelines in cancer care.

Developing Communities of Practice Model to Enhance Knowledge and Improve Learning among Faculty Members (Case Study: Tabriz University of Medical Sciences)

Background: Due to the importance of the teaching and learning process in medical sciences,it is necessary to provide an appropriate context to facilitate knowledge sharing. Communities of practice (CoPs) is one strategy for sharing explicit knowledge and learning among individuals.This research aimed to develop CoPs model at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. Methods: This descriptive-survey research was conducted on 245 faculty members selected through a simple random sampling method at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences who had the rank of professor, associate professor and assistant professor in the 2017-2018 academic year. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed by analyzing main components that were verified by a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The reliability of components was calculated using Cronbach’s alpha. Results: The CoPs model consists of six components including participatory leadership, goals/aims, boundary and size, interactions, formal structures, and informal structures. There was a significant relationship observed between all components. The strongest correlations were observed between the boundary-size and interactions (0.85), goals/aims and leadership(0.78), and informal structure and leadership (0.76). In examining the relationships between each component, the strongest correlation was found between CoPs and informal structure(0.88), participatory leadership (0.87), and interactions (0.85) and the weakest relationship was observed between formal structure and CoPs (0.61). Results of determining fit indices indicated validity of the CoPs model (χ2/df =2.69, CFI= 0.92, IFI= 0.92, NFI= 0.88, RMSEA= 0.09). Conclusion: university managers using this model and strengthening the informal aspects of existing communities increase the possibility of faculty members’ interactions from different units and having them participate in decision making related to teaching and learning processes to take effective steps towards academic development of this university.

Developing an Effective Model of Students' Communities of Practice in a Higher Education Context

The purpose of this research is to build an effective model for communities of practice (CoPs) in higher education. This research was designed to a) investigate core factors facilitating organizational learning process among CoP members and b) propose a systematic CoP model for higher education from a learning organization standpoint. A thematic analysis approach was used based on the open-ended responses of 212 CoP program participants at a South Korean university. The results showed that self-regulated learning activities, positive learning perception, and self-participation were found to be core elements for successful CoP activities at the individual level. At the group level, problem-based learning, facilitator, and collaborative learning environments were revealed as key factors for effective organizational learning. Administrative support, systematic learning support, and overall learning culture were found to be the most important influential environmental factors at the organizational level. The study findings imply that the goals, learning processes, and evaluation systems at the higher education level are fundamentally different from those in industrial settings, and conclude that more customized approaches and supporting efforts should be considered in facilitating CoP activities. Research limitations and future research suggestions are proposed based on the study findings.

A COP Model For Graph-Constrained Coalition Formation


 
 
 We consider Graph-Constrained Coalition Formation (GCCF), a widely studied subproblem of coalition formation in which the set of valid coalitions is restricted by a graph. We propose COP-GCCF, a novel approach that models GCCF as a COP, and we solve such COP with a highly-parallel approach based on Bucket Elimination executed on the GPU, which is able to exploit the high constraint tightness of COP-GCCF. Results show that our approach outperforms state of the art algorithms (i.e., DyCE and IDPG) by at least one order of magnitude on realistic graphs, i.e., a crawl of the Twitter social graph, both in terms of runtime and memory.
 
 

Aproximación a la gestión económica integral de las obras por procesos productivos: elaboración del modelo COP de control de costes de construcción

La profunda crisis económica sufrida recientemente en España ha puesto de manifiesto la vulnerabilidad del Sector de la Construcción y la necesidad de desarrollar nuevas herramientas que incrementen su eficacia. Centrándonos en el aspecto económico de las obras, un acuciante problema es la importante desviación existente entre presupuesto y coste real en numerosas intervenciones. En aras de paliar este desajuste, se propone la definición de un modelo COP de control de costes basado en procesos productivos que extrapola, a la fase de seguimiento y control económico de las obras, los planteamientos desarrollados en el modelo POP de presupuestación de obras por procesos. Así, la aplicación combinada de los modelos POP y COP en las obras de edificación proporciona una gestión económica eficaz e integral, que se adapta fielmente a su planificación y desarrollo, posibilitando la precisa identificación de desviaciones y la adopción de medidas correctoras para reajustar los errores detectados.

Longitudinal Study of EFL Students Using the Systemic Functional Linguistics Method

This study examined the progress of English as a foreign language (EFL) writers using the instructional framework of systemic functional linguistics (SFL) and the communities of practice (CoPs) model. The study participants comprised 11 first-year undergraduate students in Japan with intermediate-level English proficiency who were exposed to SFL in a single EFL classroom (CoP). The participants’ genre understanding and meaning-making decisions when writing discussion essays were studied over two semester-long courses. To do so, their developmental changes were analyzed using pre- and post-instructional writing tasks. In particular, their ability to convey interpersonal meaning, such as through the use of modal verbs, was examined and compared between the pre- and post-tasks. To triangulate the findings, participants’ genre awareness in relation to discussion essays was also examined using in-depth qualitative analysis of their self-reflective texts and peer assessments, based on a grounded theory approach. In the pre-writing task, it was apparent that the learners lacked understanding of the components of discussion essay writing. However, analysis of their post-instructional tasks revealed that most had begun to apply the language components required to convey interpersonal meaning in their discussion genre texts. These results suggest that the changes in learner’s genre awareness and knowledge affected the lexicogrammatical features they used when writing discussion essays. Thus, this study concludes that applying the SFL framework to writing instruction enhanced EFL learners’ awareness of textual meaning and their understanding of the function of discussion essay texts.

Assessment of intrinsic vulnerability to the contamination of karst aquifer using the COP method in the Carste Lagoa Santa Environmental Protection Unit, Brazil

This study addresses the intrinsic groundwater vulnerability by using the COP method index and GIS technology on the karst-fissured aquifer of the Carste Lagoa Santa Protection Unit, located in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. This area has a great importance due to its rich paleontology, archeology and speleology. The region is groundwater dependent, and it has been suffering pressure by economic development. Therefore, it is important to identify vulnerable areas in which infiltration of contaminants is likely to happen. The main goal of this study was to create an intrinsic groundwater contamination vulnerability map (scale 1:50.000), which will be used to assist the implantation of groundwater monitoring net project in the area. The index vulnerability was evaluated by analyzing COP model parameters through geoprocessing techniques. However, in order to adapt the method to the studied area conditions, changes in frame and values of input parameter weights (lithology and slope/vegetation) were necessary. The outcomes showed five categories of groundwater contamination vulnerable zones: high to the highest vulnerability level (10.95%), moderated (58.77%) and low to the lowest vulnerability (30.28%). Despite the low percentage of high to the highest vulnerably level area, they must be considered by environmental managers due to strong relationship between superficial and groundwater in the area.