Mission Impact Research Articles

AGE-SET SYSTEM AMONG THE BABUKUSU OF WESTERN KENYA

This paper was extracted from a Master of Arts Degree (History) thesis which was submitted to Graduate School of Kenyatta University in April 2017. The study interrogated the Impact of the Inter-Christian Fellowship Evangelical Mission on circumcision Rituals among the Babukusu of Kimilili Constituency. However, this paper traces the origin and the development of circumcision concepts among Babukusu, emphasizing on age-sets that are closely attached to this initiation ritual. It gives a historical perspective of this rite that has been examined by social Anthropologists. To achieve this, the adoption of interview schedules was very paramount and as such, knowledgeable informants were subjected to Oral Interviews whose data was corroborated with other secondary sources to ascertain relevant historical facts. That aside, significant information was collected from the Kenya National Archives and this was a crucial source towards the development of this paper.

Ten years of pediatric congenital heart disease surgery in a Caribbean nation

BackgroundSocioeconomical limitations in developing countries make congenital heart disease surgery (CHDs) a challenge that often relays on humanitarian efforts. We aimed to describe the evolution of an established pediatric CHDs program in the Dominican Republic and the impact of international medical missions (IMM) on its sustainability. MethodsData of cases operated from 2009 to 2018 were analyzed using Pearson's chi-squared test to study trends between a 5-year implementation period (T1) January 2009–December 2013, and subsequent consolidation (T2) January 2014–December 2018. Results1344 consecutive patients were intervened: T1 ​= ​278 (21%), age 7 ​± ​5 years, F 51%, mean 56 cases/year; T2 ​= ​1066 (79%), age 5 ​± ​4 years, F 49%, mean 213 cases/year (p ​< ​0.001 T1 vs. T2); T1 RACHS>2 interventions occurred at a mean of 11/year, and 27/year during T2 (p ​< ​0.05); there was an increase in operated children <1 year of age [T1 ​= ​32 (12%) vs. T2 ​= ​299 (28%) p ​= ​0.0001]. During T1, IMM cases accounted for 198 (71%) and 92 (9%) during T2 (p ​< ​0.001). Yearly mortality varied in parallel to case complexity, however no difference in cumulative mortality was observed T1 vs. T2 (figure). ConclusionsIn this CHDs program, there was robust growth without negatively impacting outcomes while IMM participation dropped. Integration of local and regional networks may facilitate reproducing these findings.

Swatch Bharath Mission Impact on high School Students

The honorable Prime Minister of India Mr. Narendra Modi had launched a mass campaign ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ on 2nd October 2014. The campaign was launched with an aim to make India and especially its rural areas completely open defecation free (ODF) by the 150th birth anniversary of great Mahatma Gandhi falling on 2nd October 2019. The main reason behind launching the campaign was to realize the vision of Mahatma Gandhi of making India the cleanest country in the world. The Prime Minister himself started the cleanliness drive by picking up the broom and cleaning the streets and dirty places nearby. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is such an initiative, in which the participation for every individual is equally and very important. Although the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan needs the co-operation of every Indian yet the co-operation of the students of India plays the most important role in making the campaign truly successful. We are describing here few points to elaborate the role of students in Swachh Bharat Abhiyan/Clean India Campaign: The present study was conducted to know the impact of swatch bharath mission on high school students of Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh. So, the present study is aimed at finding the impact of swatch bharath mission on high school students of Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh in relating to their demographical variable like gender, class, locality, type of school, medium, religion, category, parent’s income, parents occupation, parents education and type of family. Randomly 9 high schools the rural and urban area of Kurnool District, Andhra Pradesh. The sample size is 630. The investigator adopted interview method to study the present research topic. For the present study the investigator used the tool with Persona standardized l Data Sheet, Impact of swatch breath mission on high school students constructed and validated by the investigator. Percentage analysis, Mean, Standard deviation and t – test statistical techniques were used for Analysis and Interpretation. It is found that there is a significant impact among high school students of kurnool district on swatch bharath abhiyan. There is no significant difference between boys and girl student but there is a significant difference between urban and rural students and the urban students are having good awareness on swatch bharath abhiyan. It is also found that there is significant impact of swatch bharath on demographical variables like class, type of school, medium, Religion, category and type of family. There is no significant difference related to parent’s income, parent’s qualification and their education.

Energy Resilience Impact of Supply Chain Network Disruption to Military Microgrids

The ability to provide uninterrupted power to military installations is paramount in executing a country’s national defense strategy. Microgrid architectures increase installation energy resilience through redundant local generation sources and the capability for grid independence. However, deliberate attacks from near-peer competitors can disrupt the associated supply chain network, thereby affecting mission critical loads. Utilizing an integrated discrete-time Markov chain and dynamic Bayesian network approach, we investigate disruption propagation throughout a supply chain network and quantify its mission impact on an islanded microgrid. We propose a novel methodology and an associated metric we term “energy resilience impact” to identify and address supply chain disruption risks to energy security. The proposed methodology addresses a gap in the literature and practice where it is assumed supply chains will not be disrupted during incidents involving microgrids. A case study of a fictional military installation is presented to demonstrate how installation energy managers can adopt this methodology for the design and improvement of military microgrids. The fictional case study shows how supply chain disruptions can impact the ability of a microgrid to successfully supply electricity to critical loads throughout an islanding event.

The Impact of the Third Mission on Teaching and Research Performance: Evidence From Academic Scholars in an Emerging Country

Despite the plethora of empirical evidence on the associations between the third mission of academic scholars (i.e., academic engagement, academic commercialization, and public engagement) and their performance regarding two other missions (teaching and research), we have not known much about such relationships in the context of emerging countries such as Vietnam. To examine this problem, we delivered a survey with 245 Vietnamese academic scholars. Findings extracted from exploratory factor analysis revealed that the third mission of Vietnamese academic scholars might be divided into two distinct factors: (i) academic engagement and commercialization and (ii) public engagement and extra work. Subsequently, results of multiple regression revealed that while both academic engagement and commercialization, public engagement and extra work, as well as the interaction of these two factors, have positive impacts on research performance, only the second factor has a positive impact on teaching performance. This study extended the current mixed understandings on the associations among the three missions of academic scholars with evidence from an emerging country such as Vietnam. This study also provides implications for stakeholders, including policymakers, university leaders, and industry practitioners.

Analyzing Mission Impact of Military Installations Microgrid for Resilience

This article develops a method to model, analyze, and design military microgrids with the objective to improve their resilience in the face of disconnections from the larger electrical grid. Military microgrids provide power to installation and base facilities to enable base mission objective accomplishments that are related to national security. Previous research, tools, and methods for microgrid design and assessment do not adequately address resilience in terms of accomplishing mission objectives and instead primarily focus on economic outcomes. This article proposes a novel metric to quantify microgrid resilience in terms of its ability to minimize the impact of power disruption on missions supported by the microgrid. The metric is used in a novel design method to ensure an islanded military microgrid can continue operations while disconnected for a two-week duration. Our model examines the ability to continue mission operations subject to various microgrid disruptions as well as equipment reliability.

Capturing Catalysis: A Mixed-Methods Study Raises Questions on Instrumentation’s Fit to Mission

ABSTRACT Museums frequently default to simple attendance measures to define success, measures that fall well short of the mission impact these institutions seek to have. Mixed methods studies can integrate quantitative and qualitative findings to paint a robust picture of the impact a museum’s educational programming is capable of having, although this design represents significant challenges to staff time and resources and existing instrumentation rarely matches mission precisely. The Morton Arboretum in Lisle, IL used such a design to evaluate its Natural Areas Conservation Training program and its impact with participants, modifying an existing instrument to align with that program’s intended outcomes. Results of the study are presented here, as well as insight into the challenges and benefits of modifying existing instrumentation to fit the assessment of a museum’s unique mission.

Concentration of Human Capital in Research Universities as the Basis of Competitiveness of Education Systems and Its Reflection in Global University Rankings

This paper presents an approach to evaluating the role of research universities in national scientific and technological development. It includes an analysis of the level of human capital concentration in the world’s leading research universities and their contribution to the making of new scientific knowledge. It shows that over the recent decades, the governments of many countries have been putting a lot of effort into building national networks of competitive world-class research universities as part of academic excellence programmes. The focus is on the experience of France (COMUE), Germany (Excellence Strategy), Republic ofKorea (Brain Korea) and China (Double First World Class). The paper shows that the key global university rankings are based on a research university model, with changes in the ranking positions indicating national governments’ efforts to concentrate human capital in leading research universities. Evaluation of the economic efficiency of the Russell Group universities (the UK) serves to show the impact of the third mission of a university on national economy and society. Leading research universities are regarded as a basis for meeting the demands of their national economies for highly qualified staff, new scientific knowledge, technology and innovation, which are vital for speeding up the rate of scientific and technological as wellas social and economic development.

Geophysical Challenges for Future Satellite Gravity Missions: Assessing the Impact of MOCASS Mission

The GRACE/GRACE-FO satellites have observed large scale mass changes, contributing to the mass budget calculation of the hydro-and cryosphere. The scale of the observable mass changes must be in the order of 300 km or bigger to be resolved. Smaller scale glaciers and hydrologic basins significantly contribute to the closure of the water mass balance, but are not detected with the present spatial resolution of the satellite. The challenge of future satellite gravity missions is to fill this gap, providing higher temporal and spatial resolution. We assess the impact of a geodetic satellite mission carrying on board a cold atom interferometric gradiometer (MOCASS: Mass Observation with Cold Atom Sensors in Space) on the resolution of simulated geophysical phenomena, considering mass changes in the hydrosphere and cryosphere. Moreover, we consider mass redistributions due to seamounts and tectonic movements, belonging to the solid earth processes. The MOCASS type satellite is able to recover 50% smaller deglaciation rates over a mountain range as the High Mountains of Asia compared to GRACE, and to detect the mass of 60% of the cumulative number of glaciers, an improvement respect to GRACE which detects less than 20% in the same area. For seamounts a significantly smaller mass eruption could be detected with respect to GRACE, reaching a level of mass detection of a submarine basalt eruption of 1.6 109 m3. This mass corresponds to the eruption of Mount Saint Helens. The simulations demonstrate that a MOCASS type mission would significantly improve the resolution of mass changes respect to existing geodetic satellite missions.

Fulfilling University third mission: towards an ecosystemic strategy of entrepreneurship education

ABSTRACT This paper presents an organizing framework of Entrepreneurship Education (EE) evolving strategies to fulfill third mission in an Entrepreneurial University. Actually, universities are struggling to face the challenges in achieving third mission objectives enhancing entrepreneurial culture to prosper in an entrepreneurial society. In this context, there is currently no clear categorization in the literature of the different EE academic strategies able to contribute differently to third mission goals and impact. Gathering from the literature on EE, the paper typifies academic EE strategies and their evolution toward an ecosystemic approach that is here seen as an ideal scenario to align EE within the mission and values expected to achieve third mission outcomes and impact. The contribution is a starting point for future research in the field, paving the way for empirical validations able to highlight the link between University EE strategy and University ability to implement its third mission. It can also serve as a guide for entrepreneurship educators, university executives and policy makers to develop extensive and effective strategies in the EE field.

Livelihood security among rural poor: Evaluating the impact of Rural Livelihood Mission in Odisha, India

Livelihood insecurity remains a prime concern for low household income countries. To provide secured livelihood to rural poor, the government of India has introduced a self-employment type poverty ...

Impact of national food security mission (NFSM) interventions in wheat crop of Jammu region

Impact of national food security mission (NFSM) interventions in wheat crop of Jammu region

Impact of policy missions on research activity and thematic orientation: Evidence from fuel cell technology

Impact of policy missions on research activity and thematic orientation: Evidence from fuel cell technology

Criticality assessment for a regional maritime economy.

To identify and assess the criticality for infrastructure assets and better understand their dependencies, interdependencies, and supply chain reliance. This study used a modified mission impact, symbolism, history, accessibility, recognizability, population, and proximity model combined with a deliberative process with regional subject matter experts. Hampton roads Virginia maritime area. Emergency managers, US Corps of Engineers, US Coast Guard, law enforcement, railroad industry, intelligence community, Virginia Department of Emergency Management, Virginia Department of Transportation, and Virginia Port. A prioritized list of one-to-n critical assets in the maritime area and identification of up and down-stream dependencies. The final most highly critical grouping included 26 out of 277 assets including especially important road bridges and tunnels, rail bridges and choke points, shipping channels, and marine terminals. Subject matter experts identified 277 critical infrastructure assets in the Hampton Roads Maritime Area (HRMA). From these, 26 assets that were deemed to be significantly more critical than others. From this reduced list, 12 were further assessed to be most important. The selection process provided significant support to those responsible for providing protection, mitigating potential damage, and planning recovery and allows informed, objective expenditures of limited funding. Additional key findings include the following: Proximity, or the potential for an asset that has been damaged or destroyed to cause direct harm to adjacent assets in the surrounding community, drives criticality in the HRMA more than any other factor in the model. A small group of 26 out of 277 assets exerts an outsized impact in the HRMA-nearly 20 percent of criticality-due to the potential consequences associated with their destruction or disruption. Road transportation, particularly tunnels, represents the primary dependency among critical assets. Major road and maritime transportation assets rely heavily on federal and state organizations to maintain their function. Supply chain: The critical asset group supports or supplies many missions and industries both nationally and internationally, including defense, manufacturing, commercial enterprise, and the movement of raw commodities.

Performance audit in the vision of public sector management. The case of Romania

Research Question: What is the impact of the performance audit missions on the activity of the Romanian public institutions? Motivation: Public resources' management and use, public sector entities' performance, in the context of the economic environment turbulences and of the complexity and heterogeneity of the public services demand are of interest to a wide range of interested parties. Thus, the informational valences of the performance audit represent for the public sector management, a credible and relevant information source to substantiate the decision-making process focused on performance and circumscribed to the community members. Idea: The paper includes an empirical research on the investigation of the public sector management perception regarding the impact of the performance audit missions performed by the Romanian Court of Accounts, on the public institutions activity. Data: Information regarding the performed missions and the entities subject to performance audit was collected by reviewing the Romanian Court of Accounts' portfolio of publications (available online on the institution's official website). The email addresses of the respondents were collected by consulting the official web pages of the audited entities (contact section). Tools: The research is based on the study of the public sector management’s perception regarding the performance audit missions performed by the Romanian Court of Accounts. In this regard, we developed and disseminated questionnaires to the management of public sector entities subject to performance audit within the period 2015-2019. Complementarily, in order to identify the tendencies and the respondents’ homogeneous perceptions, the descriptive analysis is completed by cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling. Data processing, clustering and the results’ analysis were performed using the SPSS statistical software. Findings: The research results show that performance auditing contributes to improving the economicity, efficiency and effectiveness in the public resources use, but its usefulness is inversely proportional to the professional experience of the respondents within the audited entity. The respondents also consider that the performance audits’ objectives are appropriate to the sensitive areas related to the activity of public institutions, and their results provide a fair image regarding the public resources' management and use. Concerning the performance audit reports, the respondents consider them objective, rigorous, credible, and the collaboration and communication of the auditors with the entity are appreciated as successful elements of the performance audit missions. Contribution: The paper adds value to the specialized literature, given that the performance audit issue in the vision of the public sector management has not been addressed in Romania, being also limited internationally. The research results are also of interest to both the professional and the socio-economic environment, concerned with the public sector entities performance.

The Macroeconomic Effects of Aerospace Shocks

As major future space explorations are firmly rooted in the US government agenda, research into the macroeconomic impact of a space mission is still scarce. This paper tries to fill the existing gap by building a narrative of the aerospace structural shocks to assess their macroeconomic effects. The main finding is that almost all the publicly funded space missions significantly and persistently raise real GDP, while this is not the case in the private narrative. We conclude that the latest events, while important from the perspective of private investors, do not reflect yet the milestone achievements carried out under government-driven space activity.

Fleeting Success: The Legacy of Honduras’ International Anti-Corruption Mission

In January 2016, the Honduran government of President Juan Orlando Hernandez signed an agreement with the Organization of American States (OAS) to create an international anti-corruption mission called the Mission in Support of the Fight against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras, known as “MACCIH.” During its four-year span, the Mission’s expert investigators worked in integrated teams with investigators and prosecutors from the Public Ministry (equivalent to the Attorney-General’s office) to indict 133 individuals in 15 criminal cases. Indictees included the former first lady, senior government officials, prominent businessmen, labor union representatives, and over two dozen current and former legislators. However, this experiment in international help with the rule of law enjoyed only fleeting success and closed in January 2020 as a result of concerted efforts by Honduran political and economic elites. This report draws conclusions about the legacy and lessons of MACCIH, analyzing the political, juridical, social, and institutional impact of the OAS Mission. The report considers the extent to which MACCIH has contributed to the fight against corruption and impunity. It assesses the Mission according to its mandate, but also seeks to understand its social and political significance for Honduran society. Finally, it analyzes MACCIH as an example of a particular type of tool of national and international decisionmakers – an international body created at the request of a national government to work in close collaboration with authorities and civil society in the realm of rule of law and anti-impunity.

COVID-19 Impact on Well-Being and Education in Radiology Residencies: A Survey of the Association of Program Directors in Radiology

Rationale and ObjectivesThe COVID-19 pandemic has forced rapid evolution of the healthcare environment. Efforts to mitigate the spread of the virus through social distancing and shelter-at-home edicts have unintended consequences upon clinical and educational missions and mental well-being of radiology departments. We sought to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on radiology residencies with respect to the educational mission and perceptions of impact on well-being.Materials and MethodsThis study was IRB exempt. An anonymous 22 question survey regarding the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on educational and clinical missions of residencies, its perceived impact upon morale of radiologists and trainees and a query of innovative solutions devised in response, was emailed to the Association of Program Directors in Radiology membership. Survey data were collected using SurveyMonkey (San Mateo, California).ResultsRespondents felt the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted their residency programs. Regarding the educational mission impact, 70.1% (75/107) report moderate/marked negative impact and 2.8% (3/107) that educational activities have ceased. Regarding the pandemic's impact on resident morale, 44.8% (48/107) perceive moderate/marked negative effect; perceived resident morale in programs with redeployment is significantly worse with 57.1% (12/21) reporting moderate/marked decrease. Respondents overwhelmingly report adequate resident access to mental health resources during the acute phase of the pandemic (88.8%, 95/107). Regarding morale of program directors, 61% (65/106) report either mild or marked decreased morale. Program innovations reported by program directors were catalogued and shared.ConclusionThe COVID-19 pandemic has markedly impacted the perceived well-being and educational missions of radiology residency programs across the United States.

Diversionary Peace: International Peacekeeping and Domestic Civil-Military Relations

ABSTRACT What is the impact of international peacekeeping missions for civil-military relations at home? This article unpacks the conditions that produce positive effects of peacekeeping participation on the domestic politics of an authoritarian regime. Drawing on field research, I discuss four mechanisms that link foreign policy making to domestic civil-military relations in Ben Ali’s Tunisia. First, the deployment of troops for peacekeeping abroad presents obstacles for the coordination of coup plots at home. Second, incumbents can allocate material resources to meet officers’ economic grievances. Moreover, peacekeeping operations serve to enhance corporate institutionalization through specific training programmes. Finally, peacekeeping contributes to a professional ethos and hence the depoliticization of the officer corps. These findings give rise to the notion that contributing to peace can have similar effects for domestic politics as going to war.

The Impact of Mission and Involvement on Employees’ Performance in Hotel Sector of Pakistan

This research aims to examine the impact of mission and involvement on employees’ performance. This research work aimed to check the influence of mission and involvement which are two traits of the culture of the organization over employees’ performance in the hotel sector of Pakistan. 108 employees were sampled out of 549 employees. To collect data from respondents, the questionnaire was used to have a Likert Scale type. To analyze data, regression analysis was used. The study found that there is a significant impact of mission and involvement on employees’ performance. This study recommends that there should be a clear mission that gives direction to the work. Goals set must be realistic and there should be a widespread agreement about goals. This work also recommends that always keep employees involved in business planning. Teamwork needs to be instilled rather than exercising hierarchy. Delegation of authority will make them more responsible. Future directions are also specified.