Essential Capabilities Research Articles

Mentoring preparation in educational contexts: a review of the literature

PurposeThis article aims to contribute to a clearer understanding of the importance of mentor preparation and provide recommendations for effective mentor preparation programmes based on the literature.Design/methodology/approachA narrative review of a range of literature focussing on the importance and characteristics of effective mentor practice and preparation.FindingsMany mentors working in educational contexts lack adequate preparation, and a shift in mentoring practice from a mentor as expert approach, which mentors are likely revert to without training, to a more collaborative relationship in line with educative mentoring is recommended. Relationship building, working collaboratively and encouraging critical reflection are essential mentoring capabilities, and can be supported by participation in effective mentoring preparation programmes. Characteristics of these programmes include: providing time for mentors to reflect on their personal capabilities and attitudes; strengthening their knowledge about mentoring and learning a range of approaches and tools.Practical implicationsImplications for mentor preparation include consideration of curricula that focus on the nature of effective mentoring relationships, provision of effective observation-based feedback and the facilitation of critical reflection. Blended learning models appear to have potential and organisational leaders need to recognise and value mentoring to ensure that it is prioritised.Originality/valueThis article makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of the nature of effective mentor preparation programmes.

Learning from socially driven frugal innovation to design the future of healthcare: A case of mobile Primary Health Center

AbstractBackground and AimDespite their flaws, the low‐cost but powerful economical solutions can ensure everyone has access to health. The main aim of this study is to extract characteristics of frugal innovation (FI) and social innovation (SI) for Primary Health Centers (PHCs) in low resource settings (LRS) for sustainable development. We will use the gained insights to design the mobile primary healthcare infrastructure using FI and SI strategies. There is a lack of methodology to design sustainable healthcare infrastructure for LRS. There is a gap in the literature about building sustainable infrastructure to provide basic healthcare facilities essential to the community. This article studies several factors necessary for designing sustainable infrastructure from the lens of FI, SI, and sustainability to develop a mobile healthcare infrastructure for last‐mile people.MethodsStarted with purposive sampled case studies to find out factors and criteria that most affect the success for an innovation to be frugal, social, and sustainable. The established criteria were used to design, develop, and deploy the mobile Primary Health Center (mPHC). Moving forward, we tested the system designed with stakeholders to gather insights. At this stage we found the feedback loop from the stakeholders and the role of interdisciplinary discussions between experts, medical officers, nurses, patient, and other staff of PHCs during the design, development, deployment, and test stage to be useful in taking design decisions efficiently.ResultsThe designed healthcare infrastructure of mPHC through the aspects of FI and SI proves to be efficient in providing key healthcare services to LRS.ConclusionFocusing on essential capabilities and optimizing performance with technology, methodologies, and processes reduces costs in an innovation. Focus on socially inclusive and rebalancing power disparities, overcome societal challenges and improve human capabilities will create a sustainable and novel solution.

Is there such a thing as an indispensable skills profile to be a good doctor? "Life skills" as essential capabilities in the medicoforensic professions.

This writing aims to convey the essential nature and features of a cultural tool based on a set of skills and capabilities generally referred to as "life skills", which allow for the proper management (in the medical and medical-forensic professional realms) of daily situations in an effective and rewarding fashion. Such a process is based on individual tools such as communication, problem solving, stress management, self-control, the ability to make timely decisions, empathy, creativity and the opportunity to work in a multidisciplinary setting. Life skills include everything the professional should rely on in order to minimize the risks of a professional error, through the acquisition of knowledge and behavioral traits which constitute the fundamental, experience-based starting point. The chief objective of this commentary is to outline the scope of a straightforward discussion by specifically defining such skills; that in turn will make it possible to identify all the technical issues to address during the medical-diagnostic assessment, also from a medico-legal perspective, in order to frame the residual life skills and evaluate the possibilities of recovery and any disabilities, based on observation and interactions with each patient aimed at weighing their psychophysical performance.

Blockchain-enabled supervised secure data sharing and delegation scheme in Web3.0

Web3.0 represents the ongoing evolution of blockchain technology, placing a strong emphasis on establishing a decentralized and user-controlled Internet. Current data delegation solutions for Web3.0 predominantly rely on attribute-based encryption algorithms (ABE) but lack the essential capabilities for processing ciphertext. Additionally, the attribute-based ciphertext transformation algorithm (ABCT) falls short when it comes to verifying the transformed ciphertext provided by data proxies. The primary objective of this article is to design a fine-grained and supervised attribute-based data delegating solution tailored specifically for Web3.0. This scheme aims to enhance the ciphertext processing capabilities of existing data delegation solutions based on blockchain and ABE. Additionally, it addresses the current limitations of ABCT technology. This includes its inability to verify re-encrypted ciphertext and ensure non-repudiation of transformation results. We leverage smart contracts to ensure the automatic execution of the data delegation process and to store permanent records on the blockchain for auditing and traceability. This approach guarantees a fair distribution of interests among all stakeholders. Furthermore, we employ a commitment mechanism and digital signature to enhance the regulatory compliance of existing ABCT technology. We present a secure access control and supervised data delegation scheme for Web3.0 with blockchain along with its instantiation, emphasizing its fine-grained nature and verifiability. Finally, the evaluation results demonstrate its practicality and effectiveness.

Enterprise Long-term Development and Survival in The Crisis

The paper encompasses an examination of the challenges that small and medium-sized enterprises may face during periods of economic depression, as well as the essential capabilities required for enterprises to sustain long-term competitiveness in such circumstances. By comparing the operational strategies employed by companies that successfully weathered economic crises with those that went bankrupt within the same industry and timeframe, this study identifies key factors contributing to enterprise resilience in times of crisis. These factors primarily include research and development efforts towards new product innovation, optimization of enterprise capital structure, and investment in human capital. Additionally, this paper analyzes the feasibility macroeconomic environments across different regions or countries, consumer demand patterns and confidence levels, as well as human capital availability and skill sets. In this way, smes in different countries can find their own solutions to cope with the crisis during the economic depression.

Providing a New Multiobjective Two-Layer Approach for Developing Service Restoration of a Smart Distribution System by Islanding of Faulty Area

One of the essential capabilities of a smart distribution network is to improve network restoration performance using the postfault islanding method. Islanding of the faulty area can be done offline and online. Online islanding will decrease load shedding and operation cost. In this study, a novel two-step mathematical method for system restoration after the fault is presented. A new mathematical model for the optimal arrangement of the system for the faulty area in the first layer is proposed. In this layer, the main objective is to decrease the distribution system’s load shedding and operational costs. In this regard, after the fault event, the boundary of the islanded MGs is determined. Then, in the second layer, the problem of unit commitment in the smart distribution network is addressed. In addition to the load shedding, optimal planning of energy storage systems (ESSs) and nondispatchable distributed generation (DG) resource rescheduling are also determined in this layer. The important advantages of the proposed approach are low execution time and operational costs. A demand response (DR) program has also been used for optimal system restoration. Solving the problem using the multiobjective method with the epsilon-constraint method is another goal of the paper, which simultaneously minimizes the cost and the emissions of the smart distribution network. The proposed model has been tested on an IEEE 33-bus system. Better performance of the proposed model compared to the techniques in the literature has been proven.

Artificial Intelligence-Enabled Muscular Movement Analysis in Wireless Body Area Networks for IoT based Fitness Assessment

The game's physical and physiological stakes are equal for all players. The two dimensions that rely on the power of physical and physiological consequences are the pursuer and the defence. Whether a chaser or defender, male or female, the physiological actions that occur during the physical activity will have a good effect on the body and on the personality. A Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) is a network that may transmit real-time traffic like data, speech, and video to monitor the state of essential organs capabilities while remaining external to the body. The present research provides a clear evaluation of how different bones and muscles function, metabolism, movement regulation, and energy generation in relation to varying environmental conditions. There are physiological differences between a chaser and a defender. The primary goal is to gain an in-depth IoT based understanding of how several physiological variables, such as resting heart rate, maximum heart rate, aerobic capacity, and the regulation and maintenance of red blood cells and haemoglobin, are affected by skeletal muscle contraction. It was discovered based on artificial intelligence that the defenders with high speed agility and flexibility performed better in the pre-test. Physiological variables have a considerable impact on speed, strength, agility, and flexibility tests.

Multidimensional mass profiles increase confidence in bacterial identification when using low-resolution mass spectrometers.

Field-forward analytical technologies, such as portable mass spectrometry (MS), enable essential capabilities for real-time monitoring and point-of-care diagnostic applications. Significant and recent investments improving the features of miniaturized mass spectrometers enable various new applications outside of small molecule detection. Most notably, the addition of tandem mass spectrometry scans (MS/MS) allows the instrument to isolate and fragment ions and increase the analytical specificity by measuring unique chemical signatures for ions of interest. Notwithstanding these technological advancements, low-cost, portable systems still struggle to confidently identify clinically significant organisms of interest, such as bacteria, viruses, and proteinaceous toxins, due to the limitations in resolving power. To overcome these limitations, we developed a novel multidimensional mass fingerprinting technique that uses tandem mass spectrometry to increase the chemical specificity for low-resolution mass spectral profiles. We demonstrated the method's capabilities for differentiating four different bacteria, including attentuated strains of Yersinia pestis. This approach allowed for the accurate (>92%) identification of each organism at the strain level using de-resolved matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF) data to mimic the performance characteristics of miniaturized mass spectrometers. This work demonstrates that low-resolution mass spectrometers, equipped with tandem MS acquisition modes, can accurately identify clinically relevant bacteria. These findings support the future application of these technologies for field-forward and point-of-care applications where high-performance mass spectrometers would be cost-prohibitive or otherwise impractical.

Faculty members’ perceptions and students’ experiences of research-based curricula: a multiple case study of four undergraduate programmes

The implementation of a research-based curriculum that enables students to develop essential capabilities for this complex world is challenging. There is limited understanding of the implementation of a research-based curriculum in a whole degree programme, and few studies examined how faculty members and students perceived such a curriculum. This study explored faculty members’ perceptions and students’ experiences of four research-based curricula in two research-intensive universities in Hong Kong. Based on document review, 18 faculty interviews, and 113 student interviews, we discovered an overall positive view of research-based curricula but also substantial differences between faculty members’ perceptions and students’ experiences. For example, faculty members emphasised the learning and critical evaluation of knowledge. In comparison, students focused on exploring specific interesting issues and collecting and analysing information without fully recognising the potential of research in generating, applying, and validating knowledge. Moreover, students’ experiences of research-based curricula contained a broader scope of activities than the curriculum perceived by faculty members. These gaps demonstrate that the fundamental goals of research-based curricula to develop ‘powerful knowledge’ and induct students into disciplinary ways of thinking have yet to be fully achieved. The study implies a need to enhance communication between students and faculty members and build a consensus on designing and supporting undergraduate research across the curriculum.

What capabilities are required for facilitators to support student pharmacists effectively during experiential learning (EL) in Scotland? – Part 2

Background: A key outcome of the changes to the Standards for Initial Education and Training of Pharmacists in Great Britain is to increase the quantity and quality of Experiential Learning (EL) in the MPharm programme. A companion paper described the development of a framework of essential capabilities required of EL facilitators to support quality EL. The aim of this paper was to establish the views of pharmacy stakeholders on the capability framework and suggest further development and potential uses in practice. Methods: Three focus groups were used to gather the views of pharmacy stakeholders with experience in delivering experiential learning. The focus groups were transcribed and analysed using thematic content analysis. Results: The themes from the focus group were categorised into five areas: 1) Overall views of the framework; 2) Perceived reasons for descriptors not reaching consensus; 3) Challenges of using the framework; 4) Potential developments of framework; and 5) Potential uses of the framework in practice. Conclusion: Given the current changes in the initial education and training of pharmacists, this research provides evidence of the value the framework provided on the role of an EL facilitator while outlining the need for refinements to encourage acceptability by stakeholders.

Blockchain-Capabilities, Supply Chain Resilience, and Company Performance:

Alignment and agility are essential supply chain capabilities required to maintain and enhance performance, particularly in the current era of disruption. The research aimed to examine the impact of blockchain capabilities on supply chain resilience and company performance using quantitative and cross-sectional survey methods. Logistics service providers (LSP) were selected as the units of analysis, and individuals such as logisticians in Indonesia and Switzerland served as units of observation. Data were collected through an electronic questionnaire (Google Forms) using a quota sampling technique and analyzed using Smart-PLS software. The sample size included 60 respondents, comprising 45 and 15 from Indonesia and Switzerland based on the 10-times rule. The results show that supply chain resilience partially and fully mediated the impact of blockchain capabilities (supply chain alignment and agility) on LSPPerformance. LSP could also enhance performance and resilience by implementing blockchain technology to enhance supply chain alignment and agility. In theoretical terms, the results have implications contributing to dynamic capability theory. In practical applications, the research serves as valuable insights for government authorities and IT consultants when formulating effective plans and strategies to analyze the adoption of blockchain technology among LSP. Additionally, directors and owners of these companies are persuaded that blockchain has the potential to create and enhance supply chain capabilities, as well as increasing competitive advantage.

ESSENTIAL CAPABILITIES FOR MANAGING THE LONG-TERM CARE WORKFORCE: EVIDENCE FROM AN INTERNATIONAL SCOPING REVIEW

Abstract Amid ongoing concerns about meeting the staffing needs of long-term care providers, arguably exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a need to better understand the skills and capabilities required of managers in the sector. Internationally, the management of the long-term care workforce has been somewhat neglected by both the research literature and recent enquiries into the sector. There is fundamental agreement that well-managed staff provide better care. The sector’s leadership and its workforce have been under scrutiny for some time and the context of COVID-19 has shone further light on their limited ability to respond to crises. It is recognised that operational deficiencies in terms of the organization and characteristics of the sector’s workforce as well as its socio-cultural positioning have contributed to sub-optimal functioning. This project collated evidence and recommendations that could inform policymaking among long-term care providers as well as policy and decision makers. An evidence review of relevant international gray and academic literature was undertaken and examples of successful models of management practice across a range of dimensions were identified and written up as vignettes. The paper reports key information regarding the building of capabilities in long-term care workforce management, including: current and future workforce considerations, value proposition, onboarding of staff, career development and retention. Recommendations regarding essential management capabilities in the long-term care workforce are set out with the intention of providing a basis for developing innovative and novel methods for improving and monitoring the quality and impact of management on the workforce.

RoboCraft: Learning to see, simulate, and shape elasto-plastic objects in 3D with graph networks

Modeling and manipulating elasto-plastic objects are essential capabilities for robots to perform complex industrial and household interaction tasks (e.g., stuffing dumplings, rolling sushi, and making pottery). However, due to the high degrees of freedom of elasto-plastic objects, significant challenges exist in virtually every aspect of the robotic manipulation pipeline, for example, representing the states, modeling the dynamics, and synthesizing the control signals. We propose to tackle these challenges by employing a particle-based representation for elasto-plastic objects in a model-based planning framework. Our system, RoboCraft, only assumes access to raw RGBD visual observations. It transforms the sensory data into particles and learns a particle-based dynamics model using graph neural networks (GNNs) to capture the structure of the underlying system. The learned model can then be coupled with model predictive control (MPC) algorithms to plan the robot’s behavior. We show through experiments that with just 10 min of real-world robot interaction data, our robot can learn a dynamics model that can be used to synthesize control signals to deform elasto-plastic objects into various complex target shapes, including shapes that the robot has never encountered before. We perform systematic evaluations in both simulation and the real world to demonstrate the robot’s manipulation capabilities.

Collecting resilience points for a smooth transition to adult healthcare services: Co-creating a playful resource for Spina Bifida

BackgroundThe transition of young people with a disability or a chronic health condition, from paediatric to adult-focused health and social care services, in Scotland, is known to be difficult. There is a significant body of evidence to suggest that a transition should start early, be holistic and inclusive, as well as structured to build essential capabilities and promote resilience. The nurse-led project, reported here, created a playful mechanism for meaningful interaction between young people, families and healthcare professionals. MethodologyUsing participatory design as a framework to support development of a collaborative boardgame, guided ways to develop a ‘sense of coherence’. The ecological framing of resilience shaped the way captured lived experience, of adults with spina bifida who transitioned to adult care, was used to support developments. Experiential learning guided the co-creation of a playful resource on a journey through transition that could be used by families as well as healthcare students and professionals. We also explored ways to enhance a ‘Sense of Coherence’ and build resilience through serious game design. ResultsIn this nurse-led project we jointly crafted and tested a transition game that is easily accessible, inclusive and sufficiently adaptable to fit different settings, communities and cultures. The open licence enables others to freely use and adapt this game so it could be further used, tested and validated.

Supply Chain Resilience: A Common Weights Efficiency Analysis with Non-discretionary and Non-controllable Inputs

Supply chain resilience (SCRes) as the supply chain network's (SCN) capacity is essential to recover from disruptions. The economic, environmental, and geopolitical regional characteristics of the Pacific region present many challenges and opportunities for building supply chain resilience. This study aims to measure the resilience of supply chains (SCs) considering the characteristics of the network under which they operate. In this study, we proposed a new common set of weights (CSW) model in data envelopment analysis to evaluate the resilience of SCNs. Many external variables beyond decision-makers’ direct control impact SC operations and their resilience. Therefore, the proposed CSW model formulates the non-discretionary and non-controllable inputs in measuring the resilience of SCNs and provides a complete ranking with a higher discrimination power. To improve SCRes, SC managers are recommended to enhance the clustering coefficient and node degree of their SCN by establishing more connections with other SCNs in order to pinpoint the essential capabilities that companies should prioritise in order to develop a stronger and more adaptable SC in the post-COVID-19 pandemic.

Engineering Sustainable System of Systems: A Holistic Approach for a Brighter Future

AbstractThis article highlights the importance of System of Systems Engineering (SoSE) in achieving sustainability goals. System of Systems (SoS), as systems with significant and enduring environmental impact, play a critical role in overall sustainability efforts. The article first introduces the foundations of SoSE and Design for Sustainability. It then identifies eight essential capabilities for developing sustainable system of systems, emphasizing a holistic approach that considers processes, methods, technologies, people, and the environment. Finally, it outlines the challenges of such approach and indicates future work. Despite the difficulties associated with adopting this approach, the paper highlights the profound significance and implications that complex systems have on the environment in which they operate.

A Study on Social Factors Fffecting Type 2 Diabetes Self-management, a Narrative Review

Context: Patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) need to commit to permanent discipline to minimize the risks of disease. On the other hand, the approach to disease self-management has shifted from a solely biological and doctor-patient-oriented approach to a more comprehensive model with a cooperative approach that takes advantage of social factors such as the community and family. Therefore, it is necessary to comprehensively extract social factors affecting consumer discipline from scientific sources. Evidence Acquisition: This narrative review identified social factors T2D self-management. Relevant studies were retrieved from reputable databases including PubMed, Google Scholar, Iran Doc, Emerald, and ScienceDirect through a web search (with no temporal limitations). Out of the 18,082 retrieved articles, 68 studies resonating with research goals were selected and underwent qualitative analysis. Results: Four categories of social factors were identified, including family, diabetes educators, peers, and diabetes online communities. Family member behaviors were classified into three groups: Diabetes self-management facilitators, obstacles, and neutral behaviors. Studies on diabetes educators accentuated their essential capabilities. Also, two face-to-face peer support models were identified. Ultimately, diabetes online communities were investigated as an emerging context capable of identifying and covering the needs of diabetic patients and their families. Conclusions: Social factors, including family, educators, peers, and online communities, play a crucial role in T2D self-management. By recognizing these factors, healthcare professionals can design interventions that ultimately result in better outcomes for patients with T2D.

Assessing Aircraft Security: A Comprehensive Survey and Methodology for Evaluation

The sophistication and complexity of cyber attacks and the variety of targeted platforms have grown in recent years. Adversaries are targeting a wide range of platforms, e.g., enterprise networks, mobile phones, PCs, and industrial control systems. The past few years have also seen various cyber attacks on transportation systems, including attacks on ports, trains, airports, and aircraft. Due to the enormous potential damage inherent in attacking vehicles carrying many passengers and the lack of security measures applied in existing airborne systems, the vulnerability of aircraft systems is one of the most concerning topics in the vehicle security domain. This article provides a comprehensive review of aircraft systems and components and their various networks, emphasizing the cyber threats they are exposed to and the impact of a cyber attack on these components and networks and an aircraft’s essential capabilities. In addition, we present a comprehensive and in-depth taxonomy that standardizes the knowledge and understanding of cyber security in the avionics field. The taxonomy divides attack techniques into relevant categories (tactics) reflecting the various phases of the adversarial attack lifecycle and maps existing attacks according to the MITRE ATT&CK methodology. To contribute to increased understanding of the potential risks, we categorize the identified threats related to the various systems based on STRIDE threat model and demonstrate the practical application of this taxonomy in the analysis of real-world attack use cases. Finally, we review various mitigation techniques aimed at addressing security risks related to aircraft systems. Future work directions are presented as guidelines for industry and academia.

The Effect of Innovation Management on Sustainable Competitive Advantage in Contemporary Organizations

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to analyse the relative importance of manufacturing SMEs' essential dynamic capabilities, namely their creative competitive advantage, product excellence, and technology acceptability. The industry's idea of dynamical properties provided the theoretical foundation for the study.
 
 Theoretical framework: The theoretical basis is the literature on the impact that two forms of creative competitive advantage — consumer choice and innovative business structure — it has on product quality in the service of fostering long-term growth among micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Also, it looked at the role that technology adoption may play as a moderator amongst innovative financial strength and customer satisfaction.
 
 Design/methodology/approach: Data was gathered quantitatively. Using the use of partial least squares structural equation modelling, we studied surveying information from 245 Nigerian SMEs in the manufacturing sector.
 
 Findings: According to the findings, indicate that consumers' inclinations would not directly impact the quality of items; rather, the introduction of cutting-edge technology moderates the correlation among consumer tastes and superiority in the marketplace. There was a significant and positive relationship found among the corporate business model and product excellence, suggesting that the integration of new technology encouraged this link. In order to grow in a sustainable manner, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the industrial sector, as found in this research, would profit from a rise in customer satisfaction achieved via the introduction of innovative competitive supplementary cost approaches and technical progress.
 
 Research, Practical & Social implications: This research aimed was to investigate how SME' long-term success is affected by factors including consumer preferences and innovative business layout (SMEs). It also looked at how the technological proliferation may affect the correlation amongst innovative capacity and customer satisfaction.
 
 Originality/value: The study's worth lies in the additional insights it gives into the rising innovation necessary for the profitable and sustainability of businesses of all sizes.

Through-life stochastic carbon emission assessment and optimisation for critical assets

International governments and businesses are increasingly pledging more action to address human-induced climate change, including committing to the Paris Climate Agreement, which seeks to reduce global Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHGE). Critical assets provide essential capabilities where failure could have catastrophic consequences. These assets have long service lives and are exposed to varying operational conditions and service requirements, which makes assessing through-life GHGE challenging. Current modelling techniques provide deterministic, single-point results, which provides a limited assessment of critical asset through-life GHGE where uncertainty can be significant. Furthermore, no modelling technique was identified that relates asset GHGE to Whole Life Cost (WLC) and operational effectiveness, which are both organisational priorities. This leaves decision-makers without robust information regarding the possible impacts of GHGE reduction strategies on the WLC and the operational effectiveness of their critical assets. This study develops a methodology framework to model critical asset GHGE with WLC and operational availability based on industry best practices and transferrable modelling techniques from other sectors. A model was created based on an in-service helicopter platform and was subjected to four test scenarios to demonstrate effects on WLC, GHGE and operational availability relative to baseline. Monte Carlo simulation was used to appropriately present modelling uncertainty.