Mission Fulfillment Research Articles

Reliable Flying IoT Networks for UAV Disaster Rescue Operations

Recently, UAVs (unmanned air vehicles) have been developed with high performance, and hence, the range of system utilizing UAVs has also been widening. UAVs are even considered as connected mobile sensors and are claimed to be the future of IoT (Internet of Things). UAVs’ mission fulfillment is relying on the efficiency and performance of communication in a FANET (Flying Ad hoc NETwork) environment where UAVs communicate with each other through an ad hoc network without infrastructure. Especially, for mission-critical applications such as disaster rescue operations, reliable and on-time transmission of rescue information is very critical. To develop the reliable FANETs, a realistic network simulation platform for UAV communication has become an important role. Motivated by this observation, this paper first presents a study on realistic FANET environment simulation platform. On top of the proposed platform, we also design a stable UAV communication protocol with high packet delivery and bounded end-to-end communication delay.

Adaptive reuse in the healthcare industry: repurposing abandoned buildings to serve medical missions

BackgroundAdaptive reuse—the practice of identifying, acquiring, renovating, and placing back into service a building or similar structure for a purpose different than that for which it was originally designed—offers great potential for addressing the spatial expansion needs of healthcare establishments in a unique and mutually beneficial manner. This repurposing approach, however, has received very little attention in the health sciences literature, diminishing the opportunities of those serving in hospitals, medical clinics, and related care providing institutions to acquire an understanding of the practice.DiscussionThe delivery of healthcare services primarily is site based, requiring physical space for physicians, nurses, administrators, and others to carry out the many duties associated with the provision of medical care and attention. But this space often represents a significant expenditure, consuming financial resources which otherwise could be directed toward patient care. Economies on this front are possible through adaptive reuse, permitting more resources to be directed toward mission fulfillment activities. This article directs attention toward adaptive reuse by profiling Willis-Knighton Health System’s associated experiences and implementation strategies. Among other things, opportunities and obstacles are discussed, detailed cases are presented, and an operational framework is provided, permitting healthcare providers to understand and make use of this novel practice for addressing spatial expansion needs more affordably.ConclusionsSince space considerations exist throughout the lives of healthcare establishments, providers must ensure an awareness of methods for productively attending to these requirements. Evidenced by Willis-Knighton Health System’s associated experiences and outcomes, adaptive reuse presents an option for more economically addressing spatial requirements, fostering opportunities to expand the delivery of health and medical services.

Internal audience segmentation and diversity in internal communication

Purpose Workforce diversity is becoming a crucial matter in the area of internal communication. Realizing that there are multiple brackets within the body of a workforce (i.e. internal audience), the purpose of this paper is to develop an intermediate approach to manage diversity by segmenting the internal audience. Design/methodology/approach Developing a segmentation approach for managing diversity, the authors recommended the use of a few mathematical methodologies, including the expectation-maximization algorithm, partial least squares structural equation model (PLS-SEM) methodology, and Chow test, on a surveyed data set collected from 1,236 nurses of the US healthcare system. A PLS-SEM model, including employees’ mission awareness, management’s mission fulfillment, employees’ mission fulfillment, and turnover intention, was examined with respect to two internal segments. Findings Using a simple set of demographic variables, the authors demonstrated a practical approach to segmenting an internal audience and showed that causal relationships in a nomological network of variables regarding mission integration are significantly different between internal segments. Based on the segmentation approach, the authors proved that managers, in an effort to gain maximum diversity, can mix and match both the centrifugal force of diversity and the centripetal force of diversity to value individuals and for mission integration in their practices, respectively. Research limitations/implications The authors highlighted a practical matter of internal communication by connecting the concepts of diversity and internal audience segmentation. However, the generalizability of the results must be assessed in other settings. Practical implications While managing diversity involves valuing employees as individuals, the segmentation concept can function as a practical and useful intermediate tool for managing diversity. Practitioners can utilize varied sets of segmented variables according to their contexts. Social implications The authors emphasized valuing employees as individuals and developed a managerial way to make personal differences an asset to the productivity of an organization and society. Originality/value Introducing a segmentation approach to internal communication and adopting a set of useful statistical techniques, the authors attempted to develop a unique managing model of diversity. The authors suggested a dynamic and substantial segmentation of an internal audience with a smaller set of appropriate variables in each context.

The effects of organization mission fulfillment and perceived organizational support on job performance

Purpose – Drawing from Bagozzi’s (1992) reformulation of attitude theory, the purpose of this paper is to propose and test a conceptual model that links organization mission fulfillment (OMF) and perceived organizational support (POS) to job performance (JP) via work engagement (WE). Design/methodology/approach – Data gathered from frontline bank employees with a time lag of two weeks and their supervisors in Northern Cyprus were utilized to test the aforementioned relationships. Findings – The results from structural equation modeling suggest that OMF and POS foster WE. WE in turn stimulates employees’ JP. In short, WE fully mediates the effects of OMF and POS on JP. Research limitations/implications – Incorporating creative performance into the conceptual model would shed further light on WE as a mediator of the effects of OMF and POS on various performance outcomes. Gathering data from frontline bank employees in similar islands would allow conducting a cross-national study. Practical implications – Management of banks can organize workshops where frontline employees can contribute to the preparation of the mission statement. Employees making such contribution will display elevated levels of WE, because they contribute to something which is significant and meaningful. Management should also use selective staffing procedures to hire individuals who are customer oriented and therefore feel energetic and dedicated and are engrossed in their work. Originality/value – This study contributes to the current knowledge base by linking OMF and POS to JP via WE in frontline service jobs in the retail banking industry.

Test of a mediational model of organization mission fulfillment: evidence from the hotel industry

Purpose This paper aims to propose and test a conceptual model, guided by conservation of resources theory, that examines whether emotional exhaustion is a mediator between organization mission fulfillment and critical outcomes such as turnover intentions, lateness attitude, job performance and extra-role customer service. Design/methodology/approach The aforesaid relationships were assessed via data gathered from customer-contact employees two weeks apart in three waves and their immediate supervisors in the international five-star chain hotels in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. The relationships in the model were gauged via structural equation modeling. Findings The results reveal that organization mission fulfillment influences the above-mentioned outcomes only through emotional exhaustion. Specifically, organization mission fulfillment mitigates customer-contact employees’ emotional exhaustion. Under these circumstances, these employees report desirable outcomes such as low levels of quitting intentions and lateness attitude as well as higher in- and extra-role performances. Research limitations/implications In future research, collecting data from different service settings in different countries would enable the researcher to conduct a cross-national study and make further generalizations. In future research, including actual turnover and absenteeism as well creative and service recovery performances in the model would enrich the understanding about the outcomes of organization mission fulfillment and emotional exhaustion. Practical implications Management needs to use several intra-organizational communication tools so that customer-contact employees can have an understanding of how the organization is trying to accomplish its mission. When employees participate in and contribute to the preparation of the organization’s mission statement, they own the mission statement and do their best to achieve the organizational objectives. Management should also offer a work environment where employees can avail themselves of psychosocial support to be provided by mentors. Such psychosocial support would enable employees to manage problems emerging from emotional exhaustion. Originality/value This paper contributes to current knowledge by testing the effect of the organization’s fidelity to its mission statement on emotional exhaustion and the above-mentioned job outcomes using data obtained from employees in frontline service jobs in the hotel industry.

Diversity For Nonprofits: Mission Drift Or Mission Fulfillment?

Nonprofit stewardship imposes two special duties. As stewards of donative resources, nonprofits must fulfill their programmatic mandates. As stewards of public benefit, they must also be responsive to pressing social issues that transcend organizational confines. This paper examines the tension nonprofit leaders encounter when, in response to the latter duty, some stakeholders push for an organizational diversity initiative, while other stakeholders, in response to the former duty, claim organizational diversity initiatives trigger mission drift. Drawing upon an interdisciplinary theoretical palette, this article proposes a conceptual way to reconcile a tightly constructed nonprofit mission with a broader calling to mitigate the degenerative effects of historically embedded identity hierarchies.

From Heroic to Post-Heroic Warfare

Since the late 1970s Israel has been operating postheroically, with postheroic behavior gradually becoming an integral part of its strategic culture and way of war, and often coming at the expense of mission fulfillment. In the Israeli case, the strongest explanation for such behavior has been the marriage of two factors: Israel's engagement in low-intensity conflicts (LICs), which have not threatened its basic security, let alone its existence, and sophisticated technology, which has played a significant facilitating role in applying postheroic warfare. Sparing the lives of the Israel Defense Forces' (IDF's) own troops and of enemy civilians helped gaining greater domestic and legitimacy, as well as greater sustainability in LICs. On the other hand, living up to postheroic warfare's rules had a price not only in terms of fulfilling the military missions, but also in terms of sensitivity to unexpected, sometimes sudden leaps in casualties and/or collateral damage; the danger of lowering the threshold war; and asymmetry with enemies that do not cooperate with postheroic rules and rather fight heroically. The analysis of the Israeli case covers the LIC events Israel has been engaged in from the 1978 Operation Litani, in which postheroic warfare was detected for the same time, to the more recent 2012 Operation Pillar of Defense.

Cumprimento de missões militares na América Latina

Este estudo sugere um modelo para o entendimento da relação entre diferentes missões militares e diferentes níveis de cumprimento ou não cumprimento. O cumprimento tem a ver com a natureza da missão em si e se a experiência e o treinamento prévio dos militares são compatíveis com as funções que lhe são atribuídas. Quanto maior a diferença entre a missão e a capacidade profissional para realizá-la, será menos provável que os militares estejam favoravelmente predispostos a cumpri-las. A exceção a essa regra reside naquelas onde estão presentes consideráveis benefícios potenciais para uma missão nova e não familiar. Caso contrário, onde a desvantagem é grande, os militares irão fugir de suas funções, negociar, ou estabelecer condições como preço para o cumprimento da missão. Eu suponho que o cumprimento da missão será maior nos casos de manutenção da paz, de ação cívica e de missões de destruição de drogas. A negociação é mais provável nos casos de contra-insurgência e o não-cumprimento é mais provável para missões anti-crimes e de manutenção da ordem pública.

On the Scheduling of Systems of UAVs and Fuel Service Stations for Long-Term Mission Fulfillment

The duration of missions that can be accomplished by a system of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is limited by the battery or fuel capacity of its constituent UAVs. However, a system of UAVs that is supported by automated refueling stations may support long term or even indefinite duration missions. We develop a mixed integer linear program (MILP) model to formalize the problem of scheduling a system of UAVs and multiple shared bases in disparate geographic locations. There are mission trajectories that must be followed by at least one UAV. A UAV may hand off the mission to another in order to return to base for fuel. To address the computational complexity of the MILP formulation, we develop a genetic algorithm to find feasible solutions when a state-of-the-art solver such as CPLEX cannot. In practice, the approach allows for a long-term mission to receive uninterrupted UAV service by successively handing off the task to replacement UAVs served by geographically distributed shared bases.

The Potential of the Human Rights-Based Approach for the Evolution of the United Nations as a System

The United Nations (UN), facing increasingly intense challenges in the fulfillment of its mission, also harbors the potential for enhanced effectiveness, relevance, and legitimacy in the form of the human rights-based approach. The human rights-based approach (HRBA) is one model for translating the organization’s values into a more adaptive, inclusive, dynamic, and responsive system of processes and outcomes. In the arena of politics, its meeting with a meaningful degree of receptiveness could signal a growing acceptance of the validity of structural approaches to development and other issues despite traditional defensive positions on human rights. Application of the HRBA in programming is leading to greater appreciation for addressing core disparities and promoting empowerment for sustainable outcomes. It is also cultivating new qualities in development practitioners, advancing creativity, openness and responsiveness in organizational culture. In feeding its evolution in this way, the UN as a system has the potential for deeper, longer-term mission fulfillment and thus ensuring its viability.

The Impact of Mission Fulfillment on the Internal Audience: Psychological Job Outcomes in a Services Setting

The way a firm fulfills its mission statement may play a role in internal marketing and affect important psychological job outcomes of employees. The conceptual model proposed herein argues that mission fulfillment influences key psychological states related to motivation (i.e., employee engagement), social identity (organizational identification), and emotional resources (emotional exhaustion). These psychological states in turn drive affective commitment and turnover intentions, two variables of continued interest to researchers and managers. The authors test this model empirically using data from 3,999 employees of a health care service system. The findings provide support for the hypothesized model rather than an alternative and shed light on an important tool for internal marketing. Besides suggesting avenues for future research, such as refining the concept of employee engagement and uncovering the antecedents of employees’ perceptions of mission fulfillment, this study demonstrates the importance of exploring the psychological processes that comprise the mechanisms by which contextual variables affect key outcomes. For managers, the results imply the importance of aligning an organization’s actions with its stated mission, given that employees are attuned to and affected by such an alignment. Further, managers should actively communicate to employees the organization’s efforts and accomplishments in fulfilling its mission.

Abstract CN11-03: Designing sustainable cancer prevention interventions for populations of low socioeconomic status

Abstract CN11-03: Designing sustainable cancer prevention interventions for populations of low socioeconomic status

Publishing cooperatives: An alternative for non-profit publishers

Publishing cooperatives — owned, controlled, and benefiting non–profit publishers — would provide an organizational and financial structure well suited to balancing society publishers’ twin imperatives of financial sustainability and mission fulfillment. Market challenges and structural constraints often render it difficult for small society publishers to compete individually. Publishing cooperatives would allow society publishers to remain independent while operating collectively to overcome both structural and strategic disadvantages and to address the inefficiencies in the market for academic journals. Publishing cooperatives can provide a scaleable publishing model that aligns with the values of the academy while providing a practical financial framework capable of sustaining society publishing programs.

Dental Education and Evidence‐Based Educational Best Practices: Bridging the Great Divide

Research about educational best practices is negatively perceived by many dental faculty. Separation between teaching and learning strategies commonly employed in dental education and evidence-based educational techniques is real and caused by a variety of factors: the often incomprehensible jargon of educational specialists; traditional academic dominance of research, publication, and grantsmanship in faculty promotions; institutional undervaluing of teaching and the educational process; and departmentalization of dental school governance with resultant narrowness of academic vision. Clinician-dentists hired as dental school faculty may model teaching activities on decades-old personal experiences, ignoring recent educational evidence and the academic culture. Dentistry's twin internal weaknesses--factionalism and parochialism--contribute to academic resistance to change and unwillingness to share power. Dental accreditation is a powerful impetus toward inclusion of best teaching and learning evidence in dental education. This article will describe how the gap between traditional educational strategies and research-based practices can be reduced by several approaches including dental schools' promotion of learning cultures that encourage and reward faculty who earn advanced degrees in education, regular evaluation of teaching by peers and educational consultants with inclusion of the results of these evaluations in promotion and tenure committee deliberations, creating tangible reward systems to recognize and encourage teaching excellence, and basing faculty development programs on adult learning principles. Leadership development should be part of faculty enrichment, as effective administration is essential to dental school mission fulfillment. Finally, faculty who investigate the effectiveness of educational techniques need to make their research more available by publishing it, more understandable by reducing educational jargon, and more relevant to the day-to-day teaching issues that dental school faculty encounter in classrooms, labs, and clinics.

Organizational Capacity and Organizational Effectiveness among Street-Level Food Assistance Programs

Organizational capacity is a critical issue for street-level charitable organizations, such as food pantries and soup kitchens, which are increasingly involved as partners with government in the provision of social services. Capacity refers to a set of attributes assumed in the literature to bear on organizational effectiveness. This survey of food programs in the Detroit metropolitan area not only attempts to develop a capacity profile, but it empirically seeks to link the notion of capacity to effectiveness, that is, to mission fulfillment. The key attributes of organizational capacity that bear on mission fulfillment among this sample of organizations are the presence of a paid staff person and computerization of records. Institutionalization and seeking technical assistance from other organizations, other aspects of capacity, seem to do little to increase organizational effectiveness.

Organizational self-evaluation: An emerging frontier for organizational improvement

The authors have been working to improve clients’ institutional performance through a framework for institutional assessment and self-assessment. In this framework, performance is defined in terms of mission fulfillment, efficiency, and ongoing relevance (the extent to which the organization adapts to changing conditions in its environment). The framework implies that certain contextual forces drive performance: the internal capacities and motivation of an organization and its external environment. The article presents the framework as well as case studies of several institutions that are using the framework to assess themselves.

Evaluation of ocular protection filters in field situations.

A computer program has been developed to simulate eye movement during pursuit tracking to test the effectiveness of filters protecting the eyesight of individuals exposed to laser radiation. Two types of retinal damage are considered: macular lesions and retinal injury causing vitreous or subretinal hemorrhage. The retinal damage caused by optical radiation in the visible and near infrared of the spectrum differs from almost all other types of hazards in their proabilistic nature. That is, a small movement of the laser beam or change of eye position decreases or increases the probability of injury by several orders of magnitude. A laser beam combines the problem of a small source with extreme directionality with the probabilistic nature of this hazard location in space, and we now add the probabilistic nature of the action of the protective filter, i.e., a dependence upon angle of incidence. From this combination, an even more probabilistic picture of injury or disablement emerges. When it is necessary to plan the probabilities during military operations of mission fulfillment or injury with regard to various types of lasers in the battlefield ++environment, the problem must be analyzed very carefully. Our solution of the problem indicates the type of injuries to be expected and their dependence upon the various parameters of the angle of incidence of the lasers on the protective filters in the viewing system.