External Flexibility Research Articles

Development of a plugging material featuring external flexibility and internal rigidity

Recognizing the challenges of low strength, inadequate cementation, significant pore development, and excellent connectivity of reef limestone, as well as the persistent issues of ‘re-leakage’ and increasing leaks when using rigid bridge plugs, this paper posits the use of materials possessing both flexible and rigid properties for the prevention of leaks and plugging in reef limestone formations. Consequently, a plugging material exhibiting external flexibility and internal rigidity is developed (EFIR Material). This synergistic approach employs the deformability of flexible materials and the skeletal support of rigid materials to create a high-strength, dense plugging section. The new design enhances the formation’s pressure-bearing capacity while effectively addressing leakage issues. The material’s functional structure design, a core-shell structure of EFIR, is achieved by reverse-phase suspension polymerization of acrylamide (AM), 2-acrylamide-2-methylpropanesulfonic acid (AMPS), and alkyl ketone polymer (NVP), water-soluble monomers functioning as the shell and modified sand as the core. The results indicate that EFIR retains significant flexibility and strength upon water absorption and expansion. A sand bed made from 10 to 18 mesh calcareous sand exhibits excellent sealing properties. The optimal dosage of 3%-4% produces robust sealing effects, withstands pressures up to 7 MPa, and results in a tightly cemented, high-strength sand bed post-sealing with reef tuff, displaying high-quality sealing that is resistant to re-leakage.

Understanding technology-driven work arrangements from a complexity perspective: a systematic literature review and an agenda for future research

Organizations are increasingly introducing new work arrangements triggered by fast-paced knowledge acquisition, exponential technological growth, and demographic changes. Even though many studies have provided an in-depth understanding of how technology changed individual forms of modern work (e.g. virtual teams, shared leadership, remote work), the field needs a broader view of what constitutes technology-driven work arrangements and why they are implemented in organizations. The purpose of our paper is to systematically review, structure, and integrate the empirical evidence on current research on technology-driven work arrangements and to identify blind spots, which will serve as a springboard for the further development of the field. Based on our understanding of technology-driven work arrangements as flexible approaches to work within and beyond organizational boundaries that result from technology-driven transformation processes characterized by intensified spread, speed, and depth, we identify 191 studies that meet our inclusion criteria and organize them into six thematic clusters. We integrate our findings into an overarching framework based on complexity theory. We argue that three thematic clusters identified in our systematic literature review (organizational architectures across boundaries, knowledge integration processes across boundaries, and flexible employment relations across organizational boundaries) address an organization’s need for external flexibility. In contrast, three other clusters (virtual teams within organizations, virtual communication processes within organizations, and enhancement of self-responsibility of organizational actors) address internal flexibility needs, reflecting the overall goal of technology-driven work arrangements to achieve internal and external flexibility via coordinated and consistent patterns of action across all clusters. We additionally highlight underexplored research opportunities and provide promising avenues for future research.

Building responsive and resilient supply chains: Lessons from the COVID‐19 disruption

Building responsive and resilient supply chains: Lessons from the <scp>COVID</scp>‐19 disruption

Service supply chain risk management in the public healthcare sector

PurposeThe study research aims to examine the effects of supply chain management practices on risk mitigating (RM) by studying the correlation between social ties, institutional support, interagency cooperation and external flexibility in public healthcare sectors. Moreover, this research examines the impact of RM on supplier trust, and also the authors examine the relationship among supplier trust and logistics performance.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used a structural equation model (SEM) based on 539 quantitative data from Ethiopian healthcare organizations. The model included control variables like company size and position to understand better how employees perceive risk mitigation.FindingsThe study's findings indicate that interagency collaboration and external flexibility positively affects RM. On the other hand, RM positively impacts supplier trust and also the supplier trust has a positive effects on performance dimensions. This study also shows that RM has not positively impacting institutional support and social ties.Practical implicationsThe study investigation may help the pharmaceutical industry, healthcare service SC agencies and other stakeholders better understand the effects of supply chain management practices on RM and obtain information on progress made thus far.Originality/valueThis research helps managers and their organizations to manage the risk associated with their organizations. Though, this study focuses on Ethiopian healthcare SCM. The authors expect the findings might apply to other countries organizations with comparable demographic or SCM features.

Labour policy in the face of the COVID-19 socio-economic crisis in Spain: institutional change and social pacts

PurposeThis study aims to analyse the institutional changes in the Spanish labour market in the light of the measures introduced to support workers during the COVID-19 crisis. Applying the theoretical framework the authors’ hypothesis is that the labour policy response to the crisis provoked by COVID-19 in Spain has ranged from strategy of preservation of the social democratic coalition to the anti-bourgeois bloc coalition with a greater presence of social pacts and the support of the social partners.Design/methodology/approachCombining the institutional theory of liberalisation trajectories, the four ideal-typical reform strategies and the social pacts literature, the authors analyse the change in the labour market policy orientation during the COVID-19 economic crisis in Spain.FindingsIn comparison to the Great Recession labour policy response, short-time work schemes and new benefits have characterised the 2020 labour policy strategy. Then, the labour policy response has oscillated between, on the one hand, a strategy of preservation of the social democratic coalition, which is characterised by measures to protect workers on the margins of the labour market without affecting the discretionary power of employers. On the other hand, a strategy of the anti-bourgeois bloc coalition, reflected in the employment safeguard clause that attempts to limit both external numerical flexibility and the increase in unemployment. Finally, the authors have analysed whether the labour policies after the COVID-19 crisis constitute a new round of social pacts in Spain and how this took place. They conclude that the main measures approved in the area of employment protection have been supported by social pacts and the social partners (trade unions and employers), as reflected in the signing of the Social Agreement in Defence of Employment (ASDE).Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is a significant contribution as it is the first article to point out that the labour policy represents a change in the trajectory of liberalisation, limiting the discretionary power of employers and re-regulating the labour market. The main measure of (re)regulation has been to safeguard employment and to avoid objective or unfair dismissals, which is the traditional form of adjustment. In other words, internal numerical flexibility has been promoted over external flexibility, thus significantly modifying the orientation of labour policy. Finally, the authors have found that social pacts have allowed for greater institutional coherence between legal changes and the behaviour of employers and workers.

Germany and the United States in coronavirus distress: internal versus external labour market flexibility

Germany and the United States pursued different economic strategies to minimise the impact of the Coronavirus Crisis on the labour market. Germany focused on safeguarding existing jobs through the use of internal flexibility measures, especially short-time work (STW). The United States relied on a mix of external flexibility and income protection. On this basis, we use macroeconomic time series to examine the German strategy of securing employment through internal flexibility by contrasting it with the chosen strategy in the United States. In Germany, temporary cyclical reductions in working hours are mainly driven via STW. US unemployment rose at an unprecedented rate, but unlike in previous recessions, it was mostly driven by temporary layoffs. However, a closer look at the blind spots of the chosen strategies in both countries showed that despite the different approaches, people in weaker labour market positions were less well protected by the chosen strategies.

Shippers’ willingness to use flexible transportation services

Factors driving the choice of shipper firms for services of logistics service providers have long been recognized in the freight transportation literature. However, the willingness among shippers to choose flexible transportation services, where the service package can be adapted during planning and execution, has received less attention. In particular, little is known about the contextual circumstances under which shippers would be inclined to select such flexible transportation service. In this study, experimental scenarios and discrete choice modeling are used to investigate the willingness among shippers to use flexible transportation services. We estimate multinomial logit, mixed logit, and latent class models for a sample of nearly 200 global shipper firms and calculate willingness-to-pay measures for flexibility. The findings indicate that flexible services are essential in demand-volatile markets. Since logistics services may provide external flexibility for shipper firms, we also study which related internal flexibilities in supply chains drive these choices. In particular, our findings show that it is mainly the volume flexibility of shippers that mediates the choice of flexible transportation services.

Breaking out of the pandemic: How can firms match internal competence with external resources to shape operational resilience?

This study explores how firms sought to effectively match their internal competence with external resources from the supply chain network to improve operational resilience (OR) during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Drawing upon matching theory, this study provides an internal–external matching perspective based on flexibility–stability features of OR to explain the operational mechanisms underlying the different matchings between internal flexibility (i.e., product diversity)/stability (i.e., operational efficiency) and external flexibility (i.e., structural holes)/stability (i.e., network centrality). We find that more heterogeneous matchings between internal (external) flexibility and external (internal) stability have a complementary effect that enhances OR, whereas more homogeneous matchings between internal flexibility (or stability) and external flexibility (or stability) have a substitutive effect that reduces OR. This study provides valuable contributions to research focusing on the supply chain, organizational resilience, and operations management.

The impact of the EU economic governance in Portugal

This article discusses the main changes introduced to the Portuguese labour market following the adoption of the Memorandum of Understanding of 2011. The intent behind the Memorandum's demands was to reduce the costs related to employment contracts, to expand both internal and external flexibility, and to relaunch collective bargaining under a new and more decentralised framework. However, several measures ended up being at odds not only with the Portuguese Constitution, but also with ILO Conventions and the (Revised) European Social Charter. We address the changes to wage policies, working time, employment protection legislation, and collective bargaining, which gave way to a new ‘flexibility-oriented’ labour relations model, characterised by a global reduction of labour protection levels. We argue that not only were these measures unable to fix the problems of the Portuguese labour market, but they also had crippling effects on social rights in general and, most particularly, on workers’ rights. Moreover, despite the overcoming of the economic crisis, as well as the changes to the political scene, the most significant alterations were maintained. This demonstrates that bailout reforms leave their mark, particularly when they correspond to measures previously under discussion and when their implementation is supported by external pressures.

Berthing time in the port of Tanjung Priok, Jakarta, Indonesia

This paper examines the health operations flexibility dimensions in the United Arab Emirate in the healthcare sector by employing Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approaches. The study also attempts to determine the numbers for the operational flexibility dimensions which will help the researchers in future find healthcare operational flexibility dimensions valid and reliable. A model consisting of two constructs of operations flexibility structures: external flexibility and internal robustness is examined to measure health operations flexibility elements in service sectors. Respondents are the health leaders (managers, middle manager, top manager and others) who were working in health service sectors in the United Arab Emirate. The underlying constructs of operations flexibility are empirically verified and validated through Reliability Analysis Procedure, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), First and Second Confirmatory Factor Analysis, and Construct Validity Procedures, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was employed to test the model, drawing on a sample of 250. The findings revealed that the model of the UAE health service sector consists of two latent's operations flexibility dimensions namely external flexibility and internal robustness, each dimension consisting of four items. Further research should be considered to validate these findings in the other firms. The two dimensions of health operations flexibility represent a valid instrument to measure the operations flexibility in the services sector in the United Arab Emirate. This research is important for one to understand the main topics of health operations flexibility in the health services sector.

Validating the operational flexibility dimensions in the medical service sectors

This paper examines the health operations flexibility dimensions in the United Arab Emirate in the healthcare sector by employing Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approaches. The study also attempts to determine the numbers for the operational flexibility dimensions which will help the researchers in future find healthcare operational flexibility dimensions valid and reliable. A model consisting of two constructs of operations flexibility structures: external flexibility and internal robustness is examined to measure health operations flexibility elements in service sectors. Respondents are the health leaders (managers, middle manager, top manager and others) who were working in health service sectors in the United Arab Emirate. The underlying constructs of operations flexibility are empirically verified and validated through Reliability Analysis Procedure, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), First and Second Confirmatory Factor Analysis, and Construct Validity Procedures, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was employed to test the model, drawing on a sample of 250. The findings revealed that the model of the UAE health service sector consists of two latent's operations flexibility dimensions namely external flexibility and internal robustness, each dimension consisting of four items. Further research should be considered to validate these findings in the other firms. The two dimensions of health operations flexibility represent a valid instrument to measure the operations flexibility in the services sector in the United Arab Emirate. This research is important for one to understand the main topics of health operations flexibility in the health services sector.

Incorporating External Flexibility in Generation Expansion Planning

Exploiting flexibilities (e.g., demand response, energy storage, and deep peak regulation.) in generation expansion planning (GEP) is significant for coping with the increase of renewable energy (RE). This letter presents a GEP model with novel consideration of the flexibility of the interconnected external network without data leakage. External flexibility (detailed information) is represented as a feasible region with generation cost functions related to tie-line power, by using multi-parametric programming. Numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model.

Work flexibility and firm growth: evidence from LEED data on the Emilia-Romagna region

AbstractIn the last decades, work flexibility emerged as a key requirement firms must meet to face volatile markets and highly differentiated product demand. This article compares two alternative approaches to strengthen work flexibility: internal flexibility, that is, practices that focus on the employees’ ability to perform a variety of highly qualified tasks in a context of stable employment relationships; and external flexibility, that is, practices that align employment and labor costs to demand fluctuations using a buffer of nonstandard employees involved in routine tasks. We empirically verify whether both practices are able to boost sales growth using a linked employer-employee panel of manufacturing firms from the Emilia-Romagna region (Italy). While internal flexibility positively affects firm growth, external flexibility is at best not significant, and in some empirical specifications, it appears to hamper firm growth. Such a negative effect, however, decreases when we limit the analysis to industries with high demand volatility and cost-based competition. The related managerial and policy implications are discussed.

Development of Robot Patient Lower Limbs to Reproduce the Sit-to-Stand Movement with Correct and Incorrect Applications of Transfer Skills by Nurses

Recently, human patient simulators have been widely developed as substitutes for real patients with the objective of applying them as training tools in nursing education. Such simulated training is perceived as beneficial for imparting the required practical skills to students. Considering the aging world population, this study aimed to develop a robot patient for training nursing students in the sit-to-stand (STS) transfer skill, which is indispensable in caring for elderly people. To assess a student’s skill, the robot patient should be able to access the skill correctness and behave according to whether the skill is correctly or incorrectly implemented. Accordingly, an STS control method was proposed to reproduce the different STS movements during correct and incorrect applications of the skill by the nurses. The lower limbs of a prototype robot were redesigned to provide an active joint with a compliant unit, which enables the measurement of external torque and flexibility of the human joint to be reproduced. An experiment was conducted with four nurse teachers, each of whom was asked to demonstrate both correct and incorrect STS transfer skills. The results of the external torque and joint torque measured in robot’s lower limbs revealed that a significant difference (p &lt; 0.05) between correct and incorrect skills. It also indicates the introduction of the proposed control method for the robot can satisfy the requirement of the assessment of STS skill. Among the various measurements conducted, the external torque of the hip joint exhibited the most significant difference and therefore represented the most robust measure for assessing whether the STS transfer skill was correctly applied.

Network governance forms in healthcare: empirical evidence from two Italian cancer networks

BackgroundThis study focuses on the application of Provan and Kenis’ modes of network governance to the specific field of public healthcare networks, extending the framework to an analysis of systems in which networks are involved. Thus, the aim of this study is to analyze and compare the governance of two cancer networks in two Italian regions that underwent system reconfiguration processes due to reforms in the healthcare system.MethodsA qualitative study of two clinical networks in the Italian healthcare system was conducted. The sample for interviews included representatives of the regional administration (n = 4), network coordinators (n = 6), and general and clinical directors of health organizations involved in the two networks (n = 25). Data were collected using semi-structured interviews.ResultsOur study shows that healthcare system reforms have a limited impact on network governance structures. In fact, strong inertial tendencies characterize networks, especially network administrative organization models (NAO). Networks tend to find their own balance with respect to the trade-offs analyzed using a mix of formal and informal ties. Our study confirms the general validity of Provan and Kenis’ framework and shows how other specific factors and contingencies may affect the possibility that cancer networks find positive equilibria between competing needs of inclusivity and efficiency, internal and external legitimacy, and stability and flexibility. It also shows how networks react to external changes.ConclusionsOur study shows the importance of considering three factors and contingencies that may affect network effectiveness: a) the importance of looking at network governance modes not in isolation, but in relationship to the governance of regional systems; b) the influence of a specific network’s governance structure on the network’s ability to respond to tensions and to achieve its goals; and c) the need to take into account the role of professionals in network governance.

ДИАГНОСТИКА И СОВЕРШЕНСТВОВАНИЕ КАДРОВОЙ ПОЛИТИКИ МЕДИЦИНСКОЙ ОРГАНИЗАЦИИ

Personnel policy in the health care institution is one of the main activities, which contains a system of methods and principles implemented by the personnel department of the organization. Only under the condition of a systematic analysis of the activities of a health care institution and an assessment of human potential, a personnel strategy is it possible to competently and effectively manage the medical personnel. The issues of forming an effective personnel policy in a medical institution in the modern conditions of global reform of the industry are not sufficiently covered in the open press. The materials of the study were data on the composition and structure of the personnel of the medical institution “Stavropol Regional Hospital for War Veterans”, and the regulations governing the activities of the personnel service. To identify the type of personnel policy and its main components, the methods of questioning and statistical processing of information were used. As a result of the study, the type of personnel policy of the hospital was determined, namely, the institution adopted a reactive personnel policy, since the efforts of the personnel service and the management of the organization are mainly aimed at tracking the causes and consequences of negative aspects related to personnel. In terms of the degree of openness and the level of interaction with the environment, personnel policy is more characterized by a closed type, which is typical for medical organizations and is explained by the specifics of their activities. A new type of personnel policy is proposed, which is adequate to the modern conditions of the external environment in which the hospital operates, namely, a strategically oriented personnel policy, the main characteristics of which will be, firstly, the correct ratio of openness and closedness towards the external environment, and, secondly, high flexibility and quick adaptability to the changes in the external and internal environment, including those in the long term. The article will be of interest to managers and employees of the personnel service of medical organizations responsible for the formation of personnel policy.

Evaluator perceptions of NGO performance in disasters: meeting multiple institutional demands in humanitarian aid projects.

Providing aid in times of increasing humanitarian need, limited budgets, and mounting security risks is challenging. This paper explores in what organisational circumstances evaluators judge, positively and negatively, the performance of international non‐governmental organisations (INGOs) in response to disasters triggered by natural hazards. It assesses whether and how, as perceived by expert evaluators, CARE and Oxfam successfully met multiple institutional requirements concerning beneficiary needs and organisational demands. It utilises the Competing Values Framework to analyse evaluator statements about project performance and organisational control and flexibility issues, using seven CARE and four Oxfam evaluation reports from 2005–11. The reports are compared using fuzzy‐set Qualitative Comparative Analysis. The resulting configurations show that positive evaluations of an INGO's internal and external flexibility relate to satisfying beneficiary needs and organisational demands, whereas negative evaluations of external flexibility pertain to not meeting beneficiary needs and negative statements about internal control concerning not fulfilling organisational demands.

Governing collaborations: the case of a pioneering settlement services partnership in Australia

ABSTRACT Inter-organizational partnerships are known to encounter various tensions, including efficiency versus inclusiveness, internal versus external legitimacy, flexibility versus stability, and accountability versus autonomy. This study examines how a pioneering settlement services partnership in Australia, made up of 23 not-for-profit organizations, addresses these tensions. Using a case study method, it was found that the partnership adopted a hybrid governance model that combines the lead organization governance model (as mandated) and the shared governance model (as enabled by governance practices by the lead organization), which not only addressed the tensions but also established a strong sense of lateral accountability among partners.

An improved analog equation method for non-linear dynamic analysis of time-fractional beams with discontinuities

In this paper, an improved version of the analog equation method (AEM) is proposed, ideally suitable for non-linear dynamic analysis of time-fractional beams with discontinuities. Various sources of non-linearity will be considered as well as different discontinuities, such as those associated with external point supports (shear force discontinuity) and local flexural flexibility (rotation discontinuity). The main idea of the proposed approach is to reformulate the classical AEM by considering an analog equation with an unknown space-time dependent fictitious load and a spatial generalised operator, which includes the classical 4th-order differential operator and generalised functions modelling the discontinuities along the beam. Consistently, the solution to the analog equation is represented by an integral form involving appropriate Green’s functions of the generalised operator. As in the classical AEM formulation, the integral representation of the solution is then approximated dividing the beam in finite elements and considering a constant value of the fictitious load within every beam element. Substituting the so-built approximate solution in the original equation of motion yields a system of fractional differential equations governing the discrete values of the fictitious load, solved by employing a Newmark integration scheme in conjunction with a G-1 algorithm to account for the fractional-derivative memory effects. Computational efficiency and accuracy will be demonstrated against the classical AEM formulation.

A Flexible Solid Electrolyte with Multilayer Structure for Sodium Metal Batteries

AbstractSolid electrolytes (SEs) can potentially address the inherent safety problems of conventional organic liquid electrolytes. However, their low ionic conductivity and large interfacial resistance limit the practical applications of SEs. Here, a flexible solid electrolyte with a multilayer structure is fabricated by the UV curing of an interpenetrating network of poly(ether‐acrylate) (ipn‐PEA) in the Na3Zr2Si2PO12/poly(vinylidene fluoride‐hexafluoropropylene) porous skeleton (NZSP/PVDF‐HFP), exhibiting a high Na+ transference number of 0.63 and a suitable ionic conductivity of above 10−4 S cm−1 at 60 °C. In addition, due to the unique structure of the internal rigidity and external flexibility, the composite solid electrolyte can effectively mitigate interfacial ion transfer issues while guaranteeing a certain mechanical strength, and largely inhibiting the formation of dendrite and dead sodium. The solid sodium metal batteries using Na3V2(PO4)3 (NVP) as a cathode possess a discharge capacity of 85 mA h g−1 after 100 cycles at 0.5 C, and achieve above 90% of capacity retention rate during 100 cycles at 0.1 C for Na2/3Ni1/3Mn1/3Ti1/3O2 (NTMO) at 60 °C. The flexible solid electrolyte with multilayer structure shows a great advantage for managing the ionic conductivity and interface resistance problem, suggesting a promise as a practical sodium metal battery.