Mutual Goals Research Articles

Developing an alemtuzumab infusion unit for patients with multiple sclerosis

Treating multiple sclerosis (MS) with alemtuzumab involves multiple dosing cycles and long-term safety monitoring. With the NHS being under increasing financial pressure, there is the potential for gaps to form between national guidelines for MS treatment and service provision, making it difficult for patients with MS who are eligible to receive treatments like alemtuzumab. In this article, we share our experiences of setting up an alemtuzumab infusion unit at The Royal London Hospital. We created a collaborative partnership with industry, based on the mutual goal of optimising access to alemtuzumab for all eligible patients who would like to receive it. This agreement involved the provision of additional nursing support and a roaming phlebotomy service by Sanofi Genzyme (formerly Genzyme), and careful planning of the hospital's support requirements on a month-by-month basis. The success of the partnership has been reflected by the complete clearance of the patient waiting list for alemtuzumab.

Integration of a community-based engagement model of service learning in a master’s entry nursing program

The future of nursing will include a growing presence in communities with less focus on hospital health care. In response to the need for community health focused learning a five-course community engagement experience model was designed for the master’s entry to nursing practice students in a nursing program. Community Engagement, defined as the process of working together in a collaborative spirit with groups of persons who are affiliated by geographic, special interest, or health care needs (CDC/ASTDR, 2006), is an ideal way for nursing students to fully understand the assets and needs of communities and develop goals for the health care concerns of specific communities. The goals of community engagement are to establish trust between clients, agencies, and the School of Nursing, to then develop mutual goals, enlist needed resources and improve learning and health outcomes in the community. This article describes the leveled objectives and course structure for the implementation of the community engagement pedagogy and model.

Interorganizational Cooperation and Youth Policy: Case of Utena

The implementation of youth policy is closely connected to interorganizational cooperation between the organizations that are active in the field of youth activities. The goal of this paper is to present the results of a study wherein the factors that possibly determine cooperation between youth organizations and the local government administration in the Utena District municipality were studied. According to the studies on cooperation and organizational behavior, the factors that contribute to cooperation are the following: an uncertainty of the future, possessing mutual goals, the costs and benefits of cooperation maintenance, and the level of trust between organizations. In order to determine the exact combination of factors and how they contribute to cross-organizational cooperation, a crisp-set qualitative comparative analysis was conducted. The possible cooperation situations between the organizations that are active in the field of youth and the local government administration were the study cases. The semistructured interview method was employed in order to interview the representatives of local the government administration and organizations. The results of data analysis revealed that the most important factor for interorganizational cooperation in the field of youth policy is the level of trust between organizations in the Utena District municipality.

The tyranny of difference: exploring attitudes to the role of the consumer academic in teaching students of mental health nursing

Background: Consumer participation in mental health service delivery is now a policy expectation. Negative attitudes of health professionals towards collaboration with consumers have been identified as a major barrier to policy implementation. Consumers contributing to the education of nurses and other health positions have been identified as an effective strategy, particularly when consumers occupy academic positions. Attitudes of nurse and consumer academics to the consumer academic role remain under-researched.Aims: To explore the implementation of a consumer academic position from the perspectives of the broader academic team.Methods: Qualitative exploratory research was undertaken to give voice to different perspectives of the implementation of a consumer academic position. In-depth interviews were conducted with nurse academics, the consumer academic and the research team.Results: Thematic data analysis revealed five main themes: seeking a united perspective; who can provide a consumer perspective? How accurate is consumer perspective? One consumer, one opinion, one way, one delivery; bias and poor portrayal of nurses.Conclusions: Marked divergence in views and opinions was evident in terms of support for the role and its perceived value. Further investigation of factors facilitating successful implementation is required and strategies identified to facilitate mutual understandings and goal setting.

Review of Systems for Instructional Improvement: Creating Coherence from the Classroom to the District Office

In Systems for Instructional Improvement: Creating Coherence from the Classroom to the District Office, Paul Cobb, Kara Jackson, Erin Henrick, Thomas M. Smith, and their colleagues showcase a long-term professional development project titled Middle School Mathematics and the Institutional Setting of Teaching (MIST). The MIST Project included an extensive team of researchers who engaged in a Research-Practice Partnership with teachers, instructional leaders, and administrators from four urban school districts for multiple years (two districts for 4 years and two districts for 8 years). The overarching purpose of this project, based on mutual goals of the school districts and the research team, was to “take a broad perspective that spans from the classroom to the district central office” (p. 3) to understand how to most effectively “support teachers’ development of ambitious and equitable instructional practices” (p. 2). More specifically, the MIST team had two types of goals: pragmatic and research. Their pragmatic goal was to assist the four partner school districts with their instructional improvement objectives by engaging in annual cycles of data collection, analysis, and feedback to help district leaders understand the extent to which the district's instructional improvement strategies were being implemented as intended and to make recommendations for revising the improvement strategies. Their research goal was to identify effective improvement strategies that districts can implement to improve mathematics teaching and learning on a large scale.

Impact of value co-creation on firm performance: Mediating role of strategic advantages

Value co-creation (VC), the unified motive of different stakeholders of a firm to improve the VC process, is a crucial in mounting mutual goals. Though, the current movement of a growing size and number of enormous customers has placed the smaller industrial dealers in subservient roles and consigned their goalmouth to persistence. Hypotheses were analyzed by structured equation modeling using partial least squares 3.0. Data were collected by field survey from March May 2019. Convenient random sampling used to select the respondents. Study, examine the influences of VC on small and medium producer (SMP) performance in Cameroon. They provide components or parts to huge companies’ buyers, notified that the VC does have a positive and statistically significant direct and indirect influence on the organizational performance (OP) through their improved strategic competitive advantages (CA). Consequently, VC is not only significant for only big firms, but also to small and medium producers (SMP), as it promotes them from a commercial correlation to a cooperative link with their partners. Keywords : Value Co-creation (VC) , Competitive Advantage (CA) , Small and medium producer (SMP) , Organizational performance (OP) DOI : 10.7176/EJBM/11-21-20 Publication date :July 31 st 2019

ELABORATION OF CUSTOMER LOYALTY PROGRAMMES ON THE MARKET OF TRAVEL SERVICES WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT

Goal. The paper is aimed to disclose the nature of customer loyalty programms as a component of managerial technologies. It defines the conceptual principles for the construction of a more balanced customer loyalty programme on the travel services market within the context of total quality management. Methodology. The methodological basis for the scientific study of the customer loyalty system’s construction on the market of travel services within the context of total quality management is compiled from scientific works by foreign authors, statistical data of the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, as well as the information available on the official websites of transportation companies. The author considers new scientific research on the formation of customer loyalty programmes within the context of total quality management to be of great importance. That fact causes the need to analyse existing customer loyalty programmes of the participants on the travel transportation market, taking into account various impact factors, in particular, intra-industry and inter-industry competition. In order to study customer loyalty programmes on the market of travel services carrying out the transportation of tourists, some of them were analysed, including the representatives of the JSC "Ukrzaliznytsya"/ Ukrainian Railway, bus and air traffic service operators. Results. As a result of the study, the author identifies some high-risk situations in which companies could lose customers’ loyalty on the travel service market. The article provides general conceptual principles for implementation in order to increase the loyalty level of customers while their transportation by the aforementioned companies. The author introduces a pilot project for issuing a trial batch of the "Tourist Card of JSC" Ukrzaliznytsya, a fundamentally new for the JSC "Ukrzaliznytsya"/ Ukrainian Railway and previously not introduced service. The implementation of the pilot project and the study of consumers' demand for the "Tourist Card" JSC "Ukrzaliznytsia", as well as other gained conclusions, will create new opportunities to balance more effectively the mutual goals of all participants on the travel rail transport market. Consequently, the project will provide a higher individualisation level of the relations between the JSC "Ukrzaliznytsia" and its customers, and that will definitely increase the customers’ level of loyalty. Scientific novelty. The conceptual tools and framework proposed for all participants on the travel transportation market will contribute to more effective development of the customer loyalty programmes within the context of total quality management. The introduction of special personalised offers like the "Tourist Card" JSC "Ukrzaliznytsya" will provide a new level of relationships, a higher level of the JSC "Ukrzaliznytsya" efficiency and other advantages. Besides, the mentioned means will create more profitable economic platform to unite different participants on the travel services market, including transportation companies, reduce risks and provide a new stage of development for the JSC "Ukrzaliznytsya"/ Ukrainian Railway. Practical importance. In the long term, the implementation of the "Tourist cards of JSC “Ukrzaliznytsya” and the “Consumer Loyalty Programmess” personalised cards, as well as clear definition of conditions for their purchase and use, will provide an innovative level for the development of interrelations between the customers of the JSC "Ukrzaliznytsya" services.

An empirical study of the impact of goal orientation on individual ambidexterity – moderating roles of goal interdependence and constructive controversy

PurposeAmbidexterity is the source of organizational sustainable development and long-term success. However, understanding the role of individual ambidexterity in organizations remains underdeveloped. Recently, scholars have increasingly emphasized the importance of individual ambidexterity, calling for more research on the topic. This study aims to explore the factors influencing individual ambidexterity. It proposed that goal orientation would be related to individual ambidexterity, and perceived cooperative goal interdependence and constructive controversy would play moderating roles in this relationship.Design/methodology/approachThe paper opted for a survey study. Questionnaires were distributed to enterprise managers from a part-time MBA program at a university located in Beijing, China. They were also asked to bring copies to their colleagues, so they could fill them out. The authors obtained 229 valid questionnaires and used hierarchical regression analysis to test the relationships.FindingsThe results revealed that both learning goal orientation and performance goal orientation were significantly and positively related to individual ambidexterity. Perceived cooperative goal interdependence and constructive controversy positively moderated the relationship between learning goal orientation/ performance goal orientation and individual ambidexterity.Practical implicationsThe paper provides beneficial suggestions for both managers and employees. It offers a reference for managers regarding how to promote employee ambidexterity. It also provides suggestions for employee career development.Originality/valueThe paper explored the factors influencing ambidextrous activities at the individual level, a very scare approach in extant studies. It also constructed a systematic process mechanism of individual ambidexterity, integrating both internal and external factors.

Iranian Nurses' Attitudes Toward Nurse-Physician Collaboration and its Relationship with Job Satisfaction.

Introduction: Although nurses and physicians are known to share the common goal of improving the quality of health care, there has traditionally been a relational gap between them. The aim of the present study was to investigate the attitude of Iranian nurses about physician-nurse collaboration and its relationship with their job satisfaction.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, a total of 232 nurses were recruited from three educational hospitals of Zanjan University of medical sciences. Three questionnaires were used in this study; (a) Demographic data questionnaire, (2) Jefferson Scale of Attitudes toward Physician–Nurse Collaboration (JSAPNC), and (3) Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire.Results: In this study, the mean age of the participants was 33.22(SD= 6.13) years, 83.8% of nurses were female, 90.8% had a baccalaureate degree in nursing, and 82.5 % had rotational work shifts. The mean score of physician-nurse collaboration was found to be 48.07 (SD= 8.95) (ranged from 15 to 60), and the mean score of job satisfaction scale was 57.78 (SD = 14.67) (ranged from 20 to 100). There was a significant positive correlation between the attitudes toward physician–nurse collaboration and job satisfaction among the nurses (r=0.59, P≤0.001).Conclusion: The results indicated that the collaboration between nurses and physicians increases the job satisfaction of nurses working in clinical settings. Therefore, nurses and physicians should develop a new culture of collaboration with each other with the mutual goal of high quality patient care. Moreover, health care administrators should implement the strategies that strengthen the development of physician–nurse collaboration.

The Andrews/Boyle Transcultural Interprofessional Practice (TIP) Model.

The goals of the Andrews/Boyle Transcultural Interprofessional Practice (TIP) model are to provide a patient- or client-centered systematic, logical, orderly, scientific process for delivering safe, culturally congruent and competent, affordable, accessible, evidence-based, and quality care for people from diverse backgrounds across the life span. Key components of the TIP model include the context from which people's health-related values, attitudes, beliefs, and practices emerge; the interprofessional health care team; effective verbal and nonverbal communication among all team members; and a five-step systematic, scientific problem-solving process-assessment, mutual goal setting, and planning, implementing, and evaluating the effectiveness of therapeutic interventions and care. The model is applicable wherever nurses practice, teach, learn, lead, consult, and conduct research domestically and globally.

Edge computing for Internet of Things: A survey, e-healthcare case study and future direction

The world has recently witnessed the emergence of huge technological growth in the field of data transmission and smart living through various modes of information and communication technology. For example, edge computing has taken a leading role to embark upon the problems related to the internetwork bandwidth minimization and service latency reduction. Inclusion of small microcontroller chips, smart sensors and actuators in the existing socio-economic sectors have paved the Internet of Things (IoT) to act upon the dissemination of smart services to the end users. Thus, a strong need of understating of the industrial elements of edge computing has become necessary that can share the mutual goal while assimilating with the IoT. This paper advocates the crucial role of industrial standards and elements of the edge computing for the dissemination of overwhelming augmented user experience with conjunction with the IoT. First, we present the taxonomical classification and review the industrial aspects that can benefit from both of the IoT and edge computing scenario, then discuss about each of the taxonomical components in detail. Second, we present two practically implemented use cases that have recently employed the edge-IoT paradigm together to solve urban smart living problems. Third, we propose a novel edge-IoT based architecture for e-healthcare i.e. EH-IoT and developed a demo test-bed. The test results showed promising results towards minimizing dependency over IoT cloud analytics or storage facility. We conclude with discussion on the various parameters such as, architecture, requirement capability, functional issues, and selection criteria, related to the survival of edge-IoT ecosystem incorporation.

Scheduled care – as a way of caring. A phenomenological study of being cared for when suffering from alcohol use disorders

Excessive alcohol consumption is health damaging and is also recognized as one of the major avoidable health risk factors. Alcohol use disorders are classified among one of the most harmful, debilitating disease categories and patients are frequent visitors in the emergency departments. The meeting between patient and healthcarer is considered contradictory and characterized by dilemmas and arbitrariness. Furthermore, this patient group differs from the regular patient. They are often characterized by very complex health pictures and chaotic social problems spawned by turbulent lifestyles. However, the experience of a hospitalization from a patient perspective is sparsely documented in a scientific context. The aim of this study was to elucidate the lived experience of how patients with alcohol use disorders experience being cared for when admitted to acute medical units. 
 The data set consists of 15 in-depth interviews with patients suffering from alcohol use disorders admitted to an acute medical unit. The study is anchored in the phenomenological philosophy and the methodology applied is a descriptive phenomenological method as defined by Dahlberg. The intention is to identify and understand the essences, patterns, and structures of the lived experience of being cared for when hospitalized and suffering from alcohol use disorders. Data has been analysed according to the guidelines in Reflective Lifeworld Research, given by Dahlberg.
 Being cared for was experienced as a two-staged process that changed throughout the hospitalization from an experience of scheduled care experienced as caring to an experience of scheduled care experienced as non-caring. Four constituents further described the variable experiences: being in a safe haven, sharing a tacit but mutual goal, being in a chaotic space, and being on your own.
 The study showed that patients suffering from alcohol use disorders call for an intentional and distinctive attentiveness from the carers throughout their hospitalization. Being both seen and met in an authentic presence by carers was a powerful tool that helped ease the hospitalization. Likewise the absence of the authentic presence during the second stage may have hindered the carers notice and respond to a transfer of attention within the patients, and thus adapting the care provided.

Philosophical Reflections on Ubuntu in the Context of Cooperative Learning

Learning institutions ought to be receptive to the desires of humanity by moulding students who are all-inclusive and inspired with a vibrant consideration and obligation of who they are in relation to their immediate and external environment. The study focused on philosophical reflections on ubuntu in the context of cooperative learning in higher education. A qualitative methodology was adopted. Interpretivism and the grounded theory were the paradigms used in this study. A grounded theory has the potential to generate new theories based on the data collected from participants. The sample comprised of two lecturers who were purposively selected for their expertise in teaching philosophy. Findings clarified that ubuntu creates a teamwork culture which inspires students to work collectively in order to achieve a common goal. Ubuntu collection of themes indicated that ubuntu is a philosophy. From the African point of view ubuntu is a set of beliefs that refers to the way people relate at individual and personal level, but at the core of ubuntu there is an element of humanity. Ubuntu can act as a weapon to cover the weaknesses of colleagues. As the weaknesses of family members or other learners is protected or shielded it helps to build confidence and trust among the learners. Findings also revealed that ubuntu brings coordination and direction with due respect of individual abilities and differences. It was also noted that ubuntu is the cement or the glue that unifies, interrelates or interconnects individuals in cooperative learning. On a negative note it was revealed that without ubuntu there is irrationality, chaos, disorder, selfishness and separation, where everything is scattered. As the grounded theory emphasised the generation of a new theory, a communalist enhanced theory was adopted. The communalist enhanced learning anchored on social interdependence which promotes task, behavioural and goal interdependence.

Investigation Into the Relationship Between Positive Interdependence and Autonomous Learning Ability of College Students in a Normal University

Positive interdependent, one of the key elements of cooperative learning, would be inspired when study members have quest for the same goal, whose relationship with autonomous learning has received more and more attention from research to explore whether the cultivation of positive interdependent can do benefit to students’ ability of autonomous learning in English learning. Meanwhile cultivating college students’ autonomous learning abilities has become one of the focuses of modern teaching reform, and a deeper concern of the advancement of quality education in China. Students who have been only finishing since transition to the autonomous learning ability, could further form initiative spirit and practice ability. But autonomous learning does not mean learning alone, students’ cooperation, the key element of which is positive interdependence, in autonomous learning plays an essential role in the cultivation of their learning ability, which can never be ignored. This study is carried out to investigate the overall condition of positive interdependence and autonomous learning ability of the non-English major college students in normal university, and to explore the relationship between college students’ positive interdependence and autonomous learning ability. The Positive Interdependence Questionnaire Scale and College Students’ Autonomous English Learning Ability Questionnaire Scale have been administered in order to elicit 120 college students’ responses. According to the results, non-English major college students perform well on positive interdependence and autonomous learning. The entire positive interdependence and autonomous learning ability are at a medium level. Positive goal interdependence is the more frequently perceived type of positive interdependence. Besides, there exists a significant positive relationship between English majors’ positive interdependence and autonomous learning ability.

An Embedded Health Engagement Team Pilot Test.

As an innovative test of an alternative health engagement method during CONTINUING PROMISE 2011 a joint embedded health engagement team (EHET) was created and executed. EHETs may serve as US military alternatives for improved outcomes in global health engagement activities. The EHET concept was to integrate into the host nation's public health system to collaborate in direct patient care, contribute to comprehensive preventive health, and achieve intellectual exchange between professionals of similar disciplines. EHET resulted in greater satisfaction on behalf of the host nation and US health professionals, smaller footprint of US personnel and equipment, emphasis on host nation existing infrastructure and system, action upon needs already identified by the host nation health strategy, and optimal US military and security cooperation outcomes. Although this pilot test was a military to civilian engagement the concept is applicable for military to military engagement and across the full range of US military operations. The pilot test was well received by the host nation. Participants on both sides expressed positive feedback that EHETs should be the preferred method for health engagements. Thoroughly planned and executed EHET engagements should bring greater, measurable positive effects than typical mass patient care activities. EHETs are especially suitable for longer duration or recurrent missions to build partnership, capacity, and security. EHETs should replace legacy mass care missions as the primary health engagement capability to achieve mutual goals while using US military resources on legitimate local health needs.

Strategic goal interdependence approach to dynamic capability and the effects of customer integration and market dynamism: evidence from China

ABSTRACTBased on the theory of cooperation and competition, this study proposed goal interdependence with downstream company as an important enabler of firms’ dynamic capability. Moreover, we examined both how and when cooperative and competitive goals affect dynamic capability by considering customer integration as a mediator and market dynamism as an important contingency. We tested our moderated mediation model by using survey data from a cross-industry sample of 233 firms in China. Results of structural equation analyses suggest that firms and downstream companies that recognize strategic goal interdependence as cooperation rather than competition develop customer integration. With customer integration, firms’ dynamic capability is promoted. Additionally, the moderated mediation analysis revealed that the positive indirect relationship between cooperative goal and dynamic capability with the linkage of customer integration is weaker for higher levels of market dynamism, but the negative indirect effect of competitive goal on the dynamic capability through customer integration does not depend on market dynamism. Based on these findings, we discussed how our findings extend dynamic capability research, the theory of cooperation and competition and provide implications for practice.

Teamwork in the Family Health Strategy: professionals’ perceptions

Abstract Objective: to identify the perceptions of health professionals about teamwork in the Family Health Strategy. Methods: descriptive study / qualitative approach, carried out with a Family Health Strategy team. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight professionals. Data collection took place in 2017. Thematic modality/ content analysis was used for data treatment. Results: in the analysis of the data emerged three thematic categories: Constituent elements of the teamwork: contemplates important attributes for construction of teamwork, such as dialogue / collaboration / help / consensus and union; Professional specificity: it shows the accomplishment of the work based on the specificity of each profession; Teamwork at specific times: it reveals that, for the interviewees, teamwork occurs in defined moments, as in the circumstances of group attendance, in lectures and in continuing education. Conclusion and Implications for practice: Professionals perceive teamwork as one that is anchored in mutual aid, collaboration and common goals. However, in practice, the work follows the trend more individualized. Evidence of possible changes to be implemented in daily life, in order to promote the modality of teamwork, with a view to integral assistance.

A Mutual Authentication Scheme for Secure Fog Computing Service Handover in Vehicular Network Environment

Handover schemes play a vital role on fog computing service (FCS) provided through vehicular network. It not only determines the quality of services (QoSs) but also the security and safety of vehicular network system against adversaries. As a part of handover process, authentication between vehicles and a new fog node (FN) significantly contributes to protecting private information and infrastructure of vehicular network at once. In this paper, we propose a lightweight and secure mutual authentication scheme for handover process considering limited access FCS in the vehicular network environment and also service reservation scenario at login and service request phase. In the proposed scheme, mutual authentication process is assisted by a cloud server (CS) during login and service request phase in which CS distributes the credentials for on-the-road authentication between the vehicles and FN installed on road side unit (RSU). We demonstrate that our proposed scheme is lightweight due to employing one-way hash function and exclusive-or operation extensively. In addition, our scheme is efficient in terms of computational cost as well as computation cost. We show that our scheme achieves 1.1-56.67 times faster computation and also reduces the total message size by 30%-58.21% in comparison with the previous authentication schemes in the most relevant environment. The informal and formal security analyses show that this authentication scheme can protect the secrecy of transactions of all interacting entities against various known attacks. In addition, validation using SPAN software based on AVISPA also confirms that the proposed authentication scheme can satisfy mutual authentication goal and, at the same time, also protect against replay and man-in-the-middle attack.

Through the Anti-Monopoly Lens: What Constitutes 'Unfairly High Patent Pricing' in China?

Through the Anti-Monopoly Lens: What Constitutes 'Unfairly High Patent Pricing' in China?

Integrating Childhood and Adult Blood Lead Surveillance to Improve Identification and Intervention Efforts.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) collects information on blood lead levels (BLLs) in the United States through the Childhood Blood Lead Surveillance (CBLS) system (<16 years of age) and the Adult Blood Lead Epidemiology and Surveillance (ABLES) program (≥16 years of age). While both of these state-based national programs share the mutual goal of monitoring and reducing lead exposure in the US population, blood lead data for children and adults are maintained in separate data collection systems. This limits the ability to fully describe lead exposure in the US population across these 2 distinct population groups from sources such as take-home and maternal-child lead exposure. In addition, at the state level, having a unified system to collect, maintain, and analyze child and adult blood lead data provides a more efficient use of limited resources. Based on feedback from state partners, CDC is working to integrate CBLS and ABLES data collection systems at the national level. Several states have developed or are developing an integrated child and adult blood lead data collection system. We highlight efforts undertaken in Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Carolina, Iowa, and Oregon to investigate workplace and take-home lead exposure. Integrating blood lead surveillance data at the national level will enhance CDC's ability to monitor sources of lead exposure from both the home and work environments including paint, water, soil, dust, consumer products, and lead-related industries. Together, an integrated child and adult blood lead surveillance system will offer a coordinated, comprehensive, and systematic public health approach to the surveillance and monitoring of reported BLLs across the US population.