Proactive Management Approach Research Articles

Effective Management Strategies for Small Businesses

In this paper, we investigate what makes for good administration of small businesses. While small businesses play an important role, they frequently encounter difficulties in areas such as talent acquisition and retention, cash flow management, technology adoption, meeting regulatory requirements, and achieving a sustainable level of growth. This study analyzes these essential management techniques and offers advice based on the latest findings and industry standards. In light of these findings, it seems reasonable to assume that small businesses which place a premium on and successfully implement these management strategies will have a greater chance of long-term success and growth. Success and positive social and community effect are more likely for small companies that take a proactive management approach and keep up with industry trends and best practices.

Community Engagement With Proactive Wildfire Management in British Columbia, Canada: Perceptions, Preferences, and Barriers to Action

Wildfires in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) are increasingly threatening lives and livelihoods. These growing impacts have prompted a paradigm shift toward proactive wildfire management that prioritizes prevention and preparedness instead of response. Despite this shift, many communities remain unprepared for wildfires in the WUI due to diverse individual and social-political factors influencing engagement with proactive management approaches. The catastrophic fire seasons of 2017, 2018, and 2021 in British Columbia (BC), Canada, highlighted just how vulnerable communities continue to be and the urgent need to understand the factors limiting engagement to future resilience to wildfire. Our study, conducted prior to the catastrophic fire season in 2017, surveyed 77 community leaders across BC to better understand the factors driving engagement, including risk perception, preferences and support for approaches, and key barriers limiting progress. We demonstrate that wildfire risk is an urgent issue facing communities across BC, but a range of factors drive variable community engagement with proactive wildfire management. First Nations and smaller (≤5,000 residents) communities were less likely to have developed a community wildfire plan, even though First Nations were significantly more concerned than municipalities/regional districts about certain values (such as drinking water and biodiversity) that were at risk from wildfire. In general, proactive approaches that were considered effective were also the most supported. The most highly supported approaches included enforcement of regulations and education, both of which are considered provincial responsibility in BC and are unlikely to alter community values in the WUI. In contrast, approaches involving prescribed burning of the understory had the highest levels of opposition. Despite variability in these individual factors, social-political barriers related to financial and social (time and expertise) capacity primarily limited engagement with proactive wildfire management, including provincial and federal funding programs. However, these barriers are not equally felt across community groups; First Nations identified social capacity (such as expertise on government-sponsored approaches and awareness of funding programs) as significantly more limiting than municipalities/regional districts. Our study illustrates the limitations of implementing a “shared responsibility” of proactive wildfire management in the WUI in BC without targeted supports to address unequal capacity barriers.

Quantification and benchmarking of construction waste and its impact on cost – a case of Pakistan

PurposeThe construction industry struggles in environmental and economic performance due to waste generation. Several studies have measured this waste in the construction industry of developing countries like India, Brazil, China, Nigeria and Iran, and proposed strategies to enhance the overall efficiency. But no such work exists in Pakistan's context. The construction industry of Pakistan contributes significantly to the country's gross domestic product (GDP). And with several mega projects in progress to overcome the energy crises and improve the infrastructure of the country, the absence of proper waste management policies and plans calls for empirical research. Therefore, this study quantifies and benchmarks material waste in the local context, its impact on project cost and the effect of multiple subcontracting arrangements on waste generation. It also proposes a conceptual waste management plan (WMP) for local conditions which can be generalized for developing countries.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses a mixed research approach by leveraging Saunders's research onion model. To benchmark the current wastage practices, quantitative data of material waste in the Pakistani construction industry are gathered through document review of accounting systems, inventory and payment records of 40 completed building projects. Using the data, the waste rate of different materials is measured along with their impact on cost. Additionally, the role of subcontracting arrangements in waste generation is also investigated. Also, semi-structured interviews are conducted with project managers of high- and low-performing construction organizations to propose a conceptual WMP for the local industry and developing countries.FindingsThe highest wasteful materials by quantity are wood, sand and concrete blocks, and those by cost are wood, bricks and steel. By quantity, 123% more material was used on average than the actual productive work. Also, the labor only (L-O) subcontracting arrangement causes maximum waste. Moreover, the difference between the highest (155%) and lowest wasting company (104%) is 51%, highlighting the proactive and resistive waste management culture and approach by the worst- and best-performing companies. Further, the impact of waste quantities is more than 2% of the project cost. Finally, a conceptual model consisting of measures at the project, industry and national levels is also proposed as a guide for developing countries.Practical implicationsThe findings of this benchmarking study can help improve the project planning, execution and monitoring, and control practices by providing a better understanding of the material waste potential. This will help economize the construction industry and improve its sustainability.Originality/valueThis is the first benchmarking study that quantitatively measures material waste in the construction industry of Pakistan. It highlights that costly as well as sustainability-implicating materials are frequently wasted in the local construction projects. Also, this study correlates the wastage with subcontracting arrangements. Additionally, an original conceptual WMP is proposed that could help the industry improve its performance. The findings could help the construction professionals identify the loopholes in their material management practices and not only save money but also ensure better sustainability.

A new data mining-based framework to predict the success of private participation in infrastructure projects

The study aims to propose a data mining-based framework to predict the success of private participation in infrastructure projects in developing countries. Data have been collected from the World Bank’s maintained PPI projects database. The proposed framework in this study consists of imputation of missing values, selection of significant features method, resampling imbalanced classes, and application of classification algorithms, including random forest, logistic regression, and support vector machines to predict the binary classes (project success). The results suggest multivariate imputation by chained equations(MICE) as the best method for the imputation, Boruta for the feature selection method, and logistic regression for the classification to predict binary classes in PPI project dataset. The major contribution of this study is that it builds a new data mining-based framework, which considers different feature selection methods and classification techniques. This study will help the practitioners to predict the success of projects carried out under different contractual arrangements and adopt different proactive project management approaches.

Obesity in young South African women living with HIV: A cross-sectional analysis of risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

Young South African women are faced with a dual epidemic of HIV and obesity, placing them at a high risk of developing atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD). We sought to determine the prevalence of CVD risk factors in a cohort of reproductive-aged South African women living with HIV (WLHIV). While the main purpose of an ongoing intervention study is the reduction of cardiovascular disease through the integration of CVD screening and prevention in the HIV management plan for women of reproductive age (ISCHeMiA trial), we present the prevalence of risk factors for CVD in this cohort of young women at baseline. Sociodemographic, conventional CVD risk factors, HIV-related factors and self body image perception were assessed through study questionnaires and standardized clinical and laboratory procedures. Of the 372 WLHIV enrolled from November 2018 to May 2019, 97% had received efavirenz-based antiretroviral treatment (ART) for at least 1 year and 67.5% (248/367) of women were overweight or obese at the time of enrolment. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 17.6% (95%CI 11.6-22.8) at a median age of 35 years (IQR 30.5-40.5). A significant proportion of women had abnormally low levels of high-density lipoprotein (43.2%, 80/185) and elevated levels of high sensitivity C-reactive protein (59.5%, 110/185). Seventy five percent of overweight women with an increased waist circumference reported to be satisfied with their body image. The high prevalence of metabolic syndrome, obesity and elevated markers of inflammation in young South African WLHIV, underscores the need for a proactive integrated management approach to prevent atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in low and middle income settings.

Managing Biofouling on Submerged Static Artificial Structures in the Marine Environment – Assessment of Current and Emerging Approaches

The number, extent, diversity, and global reach of submerged static artificial structures (SSAS) in the marine environment is increasing. These structures are prone to the accumulation of biofouling that can result in unwanted impacts, both immediate and long-term. Therefore, management of biofouling on SSAS has a range of potential benefits that can improve structure functions, cost-efficiency, sustainability, productivity, and biosecurity. This review and synthesis collates the range of methods and tools that exist or are emerging for managing SSAS biofouling for a variety of sectors, highlighting key criteria and knowledge gaps that affect development, and uptake to improve operational and environmental outcomes. The most common methods to manage biofouling on SSAS are mechanical and are applied reactively to manage biofouling assemblages after they have developed to substantial levels. Effective application of reactive methods is logistically challenging, occurs after impacts have accumulated, can pose health and safety risks, and is costly at large scales. Emerging technologies aim to shift this paradigm to a more proactive and preventive management approach, but uncertainty remains regarding their long-term efficacy, feasibility, and environmental effects at operational scales. Key priorities to promote more widespread biofouling management of SSAS include rigorous and transparent independent testing of emerging treatment systems, with more holistic cost-benefit analyses where efficacy is demonstrated.

Switching Towards a Proactive Grid Based Data Management Approach

Over time, an exorbitant data quantity is generating which indeed requires a shrewd technique for handling such a big database to smoothen the data storage and disseminating process. Storing and exploiting such big data quantities require enough capable systems with a proactive mechanism to meet the technological challenges too. The available traditional Distributed File System (DFS) becomes inevitable while handling the dynamic variations and requires undefined settling time. Therefore, to address such huge data handling challenges, a proactive grid base data management approach is proposed which arranges the huge data into various tiny chunks called grids and makes the placement according to the currently available slots. The data durability and computation speed have been aligned by designing data disseminating and data eligibility replacement algorithms. This approach scrumptiously enhances the durability of data accessing and writing speed. The performance has been tested through numerous grid datasets and therefore, chunks have been analysed through various iterations by fixing the initial chunks statistics, then making a predefined chunk suggestion and then relocating the chunks after the substantial iterations and found that chunks are in an optimal node from the first iteration of replacement which is more than 21% of working clusters as compared to the traditional approach.

Evaluation of Risk Scores to Predict Pediatric Severe Asthma Exacerbations

Asthma exacerbations commonly lead to unplanned health care utilization and are costly. Early identification of children at increased risk of asthma exacerbations would allow a proactive management approach. We evaluated common asthma risk factors to predict the probability of exacerbation for individual children aged 0-21 years using data from the electronic medical record (EMR). We analyzed longitudinal EMR data for over 3000 participants with asthma seen at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center over a 7-year period. The study population was divided into 3 age groups: 0-4, 5-11, and 12-21 years. Each age group was divided into a derivation cohort and a validation cohort, which were used to build a risk score model. We predicted risk of exacerbation in the next 12 months, validated the scores by risk stratum, and developed a clinical tool to determine the risk level based on this model. Risk model results were confirmed with validation cohorts by calendar year and age groups. Race, allergic sensitization, and smoke exposure were each important risk factors in the 0-4 age group. Abnormal spirometry and obesity were more sensitive predictors of exacerbation in children >12 years. For each age group, a higher expanded score was associated with a higher predicted probability of an asthma exacerbation in the subsequent year. This asthma exacerbation prediction model, and the associated clinical tool, may assist clinicians in identifying children at high risk for exacerbation that may benefit from more aggressive management and targeted risk mitigation.

Stock-recruitment-environment relationships of invertebrate resources in Western Australia and their link to pro-active management harvest strategies

There are several ways to set biological reference points (BRP) for harvest strategies, but one of the most direct methods is to use the stock-recruitment relationship (SRR). Even if the SRR is not statistically significant, it provides valuable information about the spawning stock levels that don’t influence the recruitment that is relevant to setting BRP. Environmental factors, particularly extreme events such as the 2011 Western Australia (WA) marine heatwave, are typically a major driver of recruitment, so it is important to assess their influence as ignoring this effect may bias the SRR. This study examines the SRR for 13 invertebrate stocks in WA including lobster, prawn, scallop, abalone, pearl oysters and crabs. These stocks have long time series of fishery-independent juvenile abundance indices, which provide a clear signal of the year-class strength that improves the ability to assess the SRR and environmental effects. Eleven stocks showed a significant environmental effect on recruitment with seven stocks demonstrating a significant spawning stock effect. The stock-recruitment data is used to determine the BRP based on the species’ specific biological information, even when the relationship is not significant. Importantly, management action in the harvest control rules is not just reactive to low spawning stock levels but is proactive based on the juvenile abundance to ensure that the level of fishing results in future spawning stocks being maintained above the BRP. This evidence-based approach to setting BRPs and the proactive management approach adopted in the harvest strategy can be invaluable to fisheries management generally.

Understanding the decision-making structures, roles and actions of village-level water committees in Fiji

ABSTRACT As part of a community-based project on water-related disease in Fiji, we conducted a qualitative study to assess the decision-making structures, roles and actions of village-level water committees. Village water committees played a role in the management, operation and maintenance of water and sanitation infrastructure. Reactive and proactive management approaches were both present. The water committees had clear processes in place for decision-making and membership and were influenced by social and cultural norms. Men dominated water committee membership, roles and decision-making. Knowledge about governance structures and processes can be used to strengthen systems for water committees to effectively manage water access and security.

Review of construction safety performance measurement methods and practices: a science mapping approach

The construction industry is struggling with poor safety performance. Also, the existing construction safety performance (CSP) measurement methods are no longer effective by reaching their point of diminishing returns, which ultimately points to the need for a novel and reliable method for CSP measurement. To do so, a systematic and comprehensive review of existing methods is a prerequisite. Therefore, this study aims to conduct a comprehensive review of CSP research using a science mapping approach. The CSP research literature was retrieved from the Scopus literature database and analyzed using VOSviewer and NVIVO tools, to visualize the domain-specific body of knowledge. The investigation highlighted the most productive and influential contributors, highly focused research levels, project types and phases, research instruments and data sources, CSP measurement methods, key safety practices, current research trends, future research directions, theoretical and practical implications. This study has observed the CSP research paradigm shift from reactive to proactive approach. To this end, 11 safety dimensions that comprise 109 safety practices were identified, and a proactive CSP management approach was proposed.

Rapid Evolution of Invasive Weeds Under Climate Change: Present Evidence and Future Research Needs

Although evolution has been often seen as a gradual process through a Darwinian lens, far more rapid evolutionary change has been observed in recent times. Recent examples documenting the potential speed of invasive plant evolution have included: latitudinal flowering clines, life history shifts, or abrupt changes in morphology. The timescales for such observations range from centuries down to <5 years. Invasive weeds provide good models for the rapid changes, partly because invasive weeds exhibit unique evolutionary mechanisms integral to their success. For example, purging of their genetic load may enable invasive plants to adapt more rapidly. Other genetic mechanisms include plasticity as an evolved trait, hybridization, polyploidy, epigenetics, and clonal division of labor. It is well-demonstrated that anthropogenic stressors such as habitat disturbance or herbicide use may work synergistically with climate change stressors in fostering rapid weed evolution. Changing temperatures, moisture regimes and extreme climate events operate universally, but invasive plant species are generally better equipped than native plants to adapt. Research on this potential for rapid evolution is critical to developing more proactive management approaches that anticipate new invasive plant ecotypes adapted to changing climatic conditions.

Addressing challenges associated with long-term topical treatment and benefits of proactive management in patients with psoriasis.

The majority of patients with psoriasis vulgaris (chronic plaque psoriasis) can be treated successfully with short‐term topical therapies. However, long‐term management of psoriasis with topicals is challenging and tends to take a reactive approach to disease relapse, rather than a proactive approach aimed at maintaining disease remission. Patients are often dissatisfied with the delay in treatment response and inconvenience of applying topical treatments, and therefore frequently discontinue treatment leading to poor outcomes. Relapse is common, particularly with reactive management, as underlying residual disease can remain following initial skin clearance; some patients find that their disease at relapse may be worse than their initial symptoms. This can have a detrimental effect on patient quality of life (QoL) and increase the risk of psoriasis‐associated depression. A long‐term proactive management approach, with maintenance treatment following initial treatment success, could help sustain disease remission and improve clinical and QoL outcomes for patients. Treatment with fixed‐dose calcipotriol 50 µg/g betamethasone dipropionate 0.5 mg/g cutaneous foam (Cal/BD foam) is effective in the short term, providing a fast onset of action and improvements in disease at 4 weeks. Results from the Phase III PSO‐LONG study demonstrated that long‐term proactive management was superior to reactive management in prolonging time to first relapse, reducing number of relapses and increasing days in remission in adults with psoriasis vulgaris. Furthermore, Cal/BD foam was well tolerated in PSO‐LONG. No new safety concerns were identified over 52 weeks; the safety profile was consistent with that described previously. Given this, Cal/BD foam should be considered when prescribing topicals for the long‐term proactive management for patients with psoriasis.

Mobility Management With Transferable Reinforcement Learning Trajectory Prediction

Future mobile networks will enable the massive deployment of mobile multimedia applications anytime and anywhere. In this context, mobility management schemes, such as handover and proactive multimedia service migration, will be essential to improve network performance. In this article, we propose a proactive mobility management approach based on group user trajectory prediction. Specifically, we introduce a mobile user trajectory prediction algorithm by combining the Long-Short Term Memory networks (LSTM) with Reinforcement Learning (RL) to automate the model training procedure. We further develop a group user trajectory predictor to reduce prediction calculation overheads of users with similar movement patterns. To validate the impact of the proposed mobility management approach, we present a virtual reality (VR) service migration scheme built on the top of the proactive handover mechanism that benefits from trajectory predictions. Experiment results validate our predictor's outstanding accuracy and its impacts on enhancing handover and service migration performance to provide quality of service assurance.

An Essencist Evaluation of Socio-Economic Impacts of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic in Nigeria

There is a tripartite global crises of social, economic and health unlike any in the past almost eight decades history of the United Nations that is fast killing people, increasing and spreading human woes and sufferings with an unending existential calamities. This is indeed, beyond health, economic and social crises. It is evidently human existential crises that have the potency and potential to bring about existential eclipse of the human race. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is wreaking havoc on societies at their core. With the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reassessment of the prospect for growth for 2020 and 2021, and the declaration that there is a global recession that is as bad as or even worse than the 2009 situation, Nigeria socio-economic survival is at risk. The only hope of any recovery in 2021 is if the country succeeds in containing the pandemic and take sound and necessary economic decisions and measures. The only roadmap for the socio-economic survival of the country will depend on the proactive management approaches, health policy framework and leadership that will comprehensively address the several social conditions that have to do with health education and literacy level, both nationally and internationally in the areas of economic stimulus that will demand both government and citizens partnerships and the constitution of National Technical Committee on Coronavirus (NTCC) that will relate with a global technical body. The efficient execution of these policy and ideas will certainly demand the total cooperation of all strata of the society, which will include governmental agencies, information experts, civil societies, health experts, educationists and the citizens. What the paper therefore advocates is a multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches anchored on a sound philosophy through the educational process towards overcoming this 21st century invisible monster. Our approach in this paper will be a combination of analysis and philosophical evidential speculation, which will inspire creativity that will match the novel nature of the crisis.

Development of a fixable model for the reliability and safety evaluation of the components of a commercial lithium-ion battery

Abstract In recent years, efforts and attention are gradually been shifted to the pollution-free renewable energy (fuel cell and lithium-ion battery), for propelling vehicles and for rural and urban electrification. With the advancement of these renewable energies, it is only necessary to continuously explore their behaviour, reliability, and safety. In this paper, the study will be focused on the reliability and safety of the components of the lithium-ion battery, by proposing a fixable model for the evaluation of their reliability and safety. The model proposed (Triangular Intuitionistic Fuzzy Aggregating and Ranking Function (TIFARF) model), is one that has been coined from the reliability-centered maintenance concept, which is aimed at probing into the reliability and safety of the components of the battery. It is proactive reliability and safety management approach and it is intended to determine what could happen when it is used in electric vehicles or aircraft. The results from the evaluation show that the electrolyte (ES3), has the least reliability and the highest safety concerns according to the analysis and opinion represented by the invited experts. Hence the electrolyte (ES3), should be given the most or top reliability and safety priority. The model has the advantage of been able to model imprecise information in the evaluation of the reliability and safety concerns associated with the lithium-ion battery.

What is the point of innovation in patient dose monitoring?

The Medical Futurist says that radiology is one of the fastest growing and developing areas of medicine, and therefore this might be the speciality in which we can expect to see the largest steps in development. So why do they think that, and does it apply to dose monitoring? The move from retrospective dose evaluation to a proactive dose management approach represents a serious area of research. Indeed, artificial intelligence and machine learning are consistently being integrated into best-in-class dose management software solutions. The development of clinical analytics and dashboards are already supporting operators in their decision-making, and these optimisations - if taken beyond a single machine, a single department, or a single health network - have the potential to drive real and lasting change. The question is for whom exactly are these innovations being developed? How can the patient know that their scan has been performed to the absolute best that the technology can deliver? Do they know or even care how much their lifetime risk for developing cancer has changed post examination? Do they want a personalised size-specific dose estimate or perhaps an individual organ dose assessment to share on Instagram? Let's get real about the clinical utility and regulatory application of dose monitoring, and shine a light on the shared responsibility in applying the technology and the associated innovations.

E-16 Classroom Management in the Perspective of Teacher’s Preparedness

The student`s unbearable behaviors can abrupt classroom environment and can avert Instruction of taking place. In an elementary school, instructors are of lack of content knowledge and classroom management skills, so, that they could be able to deal with the erupting individuals in the surrounding of the institution. The classroom management deemed to be managed with adequate skills, if the teachers` perspective of managing class is with Islamic ADAB and IKHLAQ, it may result in better outcomes.The reason to which this research study was conducted was to explore teachers’ perceptions about their classroom management preparation and to investigate professional development opportunities, that had a great influence in strengthening their skills in classroom management. For conduction of this research study qualitative case study was put into the favour to explore perceptions of six instructors. The research questions inattentively count on teachers’ perceptions and experiences with effective classroom management practices, their perceptions of administrators’ classroom management expectations that may increase teachers’ classroom management skills. Findings from the data were gathered with semi-structured interviews, online journals, and document analysis. Three evolving themes were recognized from the data from beginning to end open coding; it had implicated classroom management strategies, a clear prospect. The results were validated throughout triangulation and member checking.
 It was observed that consequential project comprised of a 3 days specialized development program, planned to boost teachers’ awareness of proactive classroom management approaches. the effectual conduct to organize classrooms. The project had a great contribution to have positive social differencing by provision that teacher`s with these strategically planed motive to advance classroom management skills. enhanced classroom management skills that would lead to classroom circumstances that allow all learners to learn without abruption. (Powell, 2014)

Big data innovation and diffusion in projects teams: Towards a conflict prevention culture

Despite the enormous literature on how team conflicts can be managed and resolved, this study diverges, by examining factors that facilitate conflict prevention culture in project teams, especially when introducing Big Data Technology. Relying on findings from relevant literatures and focus group discussions, 28 attributes for embedding conflict prevention culture were identified and put together in questionnaire survey. Series of statistical tests including reliability analysis and exploratory factor-analysis. The results identified five critical success factors for entrenching the culture of conflict prevention in project teams introducing big data driving innovations. The five-factor solution include “building effective relationship”, “effective project communications”, “project team efficacy”, “pro-active conflict management approach” and “effectual project documentation”. Result of this study presents a Conceptual framework for effective management of human resource in relation to conflict prevention among project teams, as an effective strategy for facilitating seamless adoption and diffusion of big data innovation in organisations.

Proactive Air Management in CT Power Injections: A Comprehensive Approach to Reducing Air Embolization.

Venous air embolism as a complication of contrast media administration from power injection systems in CT is found to occur in 7%-55% of patients, impacting patient safety, diagnostic image quality, workflow efficiency, and patient and radiographer satisfaction. This study reviews the challenges associated with reactive air management approaches employed on contemporary systems, proposes a novel air management approach using proactive methods, and compares the impact of reactive and proactive approaches on injected air volumes under simulated clinical use. Injected air volumes from three power injection systems were measured under simulated clinical use via custom air trap fixture. Two of the systems employed reactive air management approaches, while a new system implemented the proposed proactive air management approach. The proactive system injected significantly less air (average of 0.005mL ± 0.006mL with a maximum of 0.017mL) when compared to two systems with reactive approaches (averages of 0.130mL ± 0.082mL and 0.106mL ± 0.094mL with maximums of 0.259mL and 0.311mL, respectively) (p < 0.05). CT images were taken of static and dynamic 0.1mL air bubbles inside of a vascular phantom, both of which were clearly visible. Additionally, the dynamic bubble was shown to introduce image artifacts similar to those observed clinically. Comparison of the injected air volumes show that a system with a proactive air management approach injected significantly less air compared to tested systems employing reactive approaches. The results indicate that the use of a proactive approach could significantly reduce the prevalence of observable, and potentially artifact-inducing, venous air embolism in contrast-enhanced CT procedures.