Roles Of Various Stakeholders Research Articles

Self-directing return-to-work: Employees' perspective.

BACKGROUND:Dutch legislation stimulates active participation of employees in their own return-to-work (RTW). In addition, RTW professionals encourage sick-listed employees to self-direct RTW. It remains unclear, however, how employees give meaning to and shape their self-direction.OBJECTIVE:This study aims to conceptualize self-direction using the components of Self-Determination Theory (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) as a framework.METHODS:Semi-structured interviews were conducted with three long-term sick-listed employees. These results were combined with 14 existing transcripts of semi-structured interviews with long-term sick-listed employees and employees who experienced long-term sick leave during the previous calendar year. All interview transcripts were analyzed thematically.RESULTS:Employees generally think of self-direction as making their own decision regarding RTW. They wish to decide by themselves how to shape their RTW-process. Several environmental factors play a role in employees’ self-direction. Proximal factors are satisfaction of the need for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Distal factors are legislation regarding RTW, organizational culture and clarity regarding the roles of various stakeholders in the process of sickness absence and RTW.CONCLUSIONS:Exercising self-direction in RTW seems to contribute to a personalized RTW-process that takes into account individual needs and wishes. Preconditions for effective self-direction are a supportive environment and good cooperation between employee, employer, and occupational physician.

Exemplars Illustrating De-implementation of Tradition-Based Practices.

Clinical practice must be based on evidence. When evidence suggests that a certain practice may be ineffective or even harmful, that practice should be discontinued. The Choosing Wisely campaign, an initiative of the ABIM (American Board of Internal Medicine) Foundation, is intended to bring attention to tradition-based practices, or "sacred cows," which lack evidence to support their ongoing use. The complex process of discontinuing or reducing the use of tradition-based practices is known as "de-implementation." Recognizing the importance of de-implementation is necessary to fully understand evidence-based practice. This article explores the de-implementation process, examining its barriers and facilitators. Three critical care exemplars of tradition-based practices are presented and examined through the lens of de-implementation. Barriers and facilitators related to de-implementing these tradition-based practices are described, with an emphasis on the roles of various stakeholders and the need to overcome cognitive dissonance and psychological bias.

An Investigation on the Intralocality Differences in Health and Safety Implementation of Construction Industries

Generally, the status of health and safety in the construction sector is reported to be declining. Consequently, this indicates the necessity of developing an awareness and a comprehensive knowledge among the role of various stakeholders in their contribution to construction health and safety improvement. As part of the construction industry stakeholders, the role of localities is one of the factors to consider in the formation of construction health and safety knowledge and practice. Despite the plethora of construction health and safety studies found in the literature, there have been very few studies that have considered the association between localities and their association with construction health and safety practices. In this paper, a Chi-square test of independence is used to investigate whether a disparity between localities and their safety practices exists. Moreover, this study contributes to existing literature in such a way that it is the first to consider the relationship between intra-locality and health and safety practices in the context of the construction industry. Furthermore, this study will be valuable for construction stakeholders in the formulation of a more unified and standardized health and safety practices and regulations.

Growing Progress in the Evolving Science, Business, and Policy of Sustainable Nutrition

ABSTRACTA session was convened at the ASN Nutrition 2018 annual meeting to discuss the scientific evidence on what makes individual foods and dietary patterns both sustainable and nutritious, and the role of various stakeholders in the actions needed to implement food systems that deliver “sustainable nutrition.” This commentary is a structured synthesis of the primary themes of the session, and concludes with a set of implications and research recommendations. Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the environmental implications of what they eat, and there is growing momentum toward changes in the food system. However, ecological challenges persist, and although the literature is evolving, methodologic improvements are needed in the scientific approaches to address dietary patterns that meet nutrition needs in more holistically sustainable ways. The session concluded with encouraging evidence that consumers, businesses, scientists, and policy-makers are collectively “rising to the occasion,” with cross-sectoral partnerships to address these issues.

Communities Shaping Sustainable Cities

The contribution introduces significance of local communities in global context of sustainable urban development. Since last decades, urban regeneration, redevelopment and improvements of stabilized localities has become the subject of attention, as the limits of land use and urban expansion has been understood and generally accepted. Recently, the role of community and citizens has been emphasized in international strategies, for instance UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (2015) or UNESCO Strategic Objectives of the World Heritage Convention, so called Five C’s (the fifth C representing Community added in 2007). Bottom-up initiatives and community activities have become important in urban revitalization and regeneration. The contribution aims to describe the activities and roles of various stakeholders, based on analysis of application project in Prague, Czech Republic inspired with a project in Basel, Switzerland, and characteristics of the evolution process heading towards community activation, which is important for the integrated planning processes, involving an interdisciplinary team and active public participation.

Feasibility Study on the School-enterprise "Double Tutorial System" Mode of Higher Vocational Hotel Management Major: Stakeholder Perspective

Industry practice-school learning integration is the main way to train students in higher vocational colleges. Sustainable industry practice—school teaching mode will benefit all stakeholders. Through literature research and hotel interviews, this paper explores the feasibility of the double tutorial system model for higher vocational hotel management major, establishes a model based on the stakeholder theory, analyzes the roles of various stakeholders, and makes some innovations in this field.

Leveraging Available Resources and Stakeholder Involvement for Improved Productivity of African Livestock in the Era of Genomic Breeding.

The African continent is home to diverse populations of livestock breeds adapted to harsh environmental conditions with more than 70% under traditional systems of management. Animal productivity is less than optimal in most cases and is faced with numerous challenges including limited access to adequate nutrition and disease management, poor institutional capacities and lack of adequate government policies and funding to develop the livestock sector. Africa is home to about 1.3 billion people and with increasing demand for animal proteins by an ever growing human population, the current state of livestock productivity creates a significant yield gap for animal products. Although a greater section of the population, especially those living in rural areas depend largely on livestock for their livelihoods; the potential of the sector remains underutilized and therefore unable to contribute significantly to economic development and social wellbeing of the people. With current advances in livestock management practices, breeding technologies and health management, and with inclusion of all stakeholders, African livestock populations can be sustainably developed to close the animal protein gap that exists in the continent. In particular, advances in gene technologies, and application of genomic breeding in many Western countries has resulted in tremendous gains in traits like milk production with the potential that, implementation of genomic selection and other improved practices (nutrition, healthcare, etc.) can lead to rapid improvement in traits of economic importance in African livestock populations. The African livestock populations in the context of this review are limited to cattle, goat, pig, poultry, and sheep, which are mainly exploited for meat, milk, and eggs. This review examines the current state of livestock productivity in Africa, the main challenges faced by the sector, the role of various stakeholders and discusses in-depth strategies that can enable the application of genomic technologies for rapid improvement of livestock traits of economic importance.

‘The different sets of ideas at the back of our heads’: Dissent and authority at the International Court of Justice

AbstractAdditional opinions (AOs) – dissenting opinions, separate opinions and declarations, whether authored individually or jointly – are a distinctive characteristic of the ICJ’s jurisprudence. Few decisions of the International Court of Justice (the Court, ICJ) are delivered without any additional opinion attached to it. Yet, despite their ubiquity, there is still significant disagreement as to their relationship to the authority of the Court and its decisions. Although this disagreement is commonly attributed to the different approaches and attitudes traditionally associated with the ‘civil law’ and ‘common law’ traditions, few ask specifically why those traditions take the approach they do, and even fewer consider the appropriateness of the extension of those attitudes to the ICJ, which of course is neither ‘civil law’ nor ‘common law’. In this article, using the work of Mirjan Damaška, I offer a contextually coherent and contextually contingent understand of the theory and practice of additional opinions at the ICJ upon which engagement with this practice – by judges, scholars and practitioners – can be premised. This effort to understand the relationship between additional opinions and institutional authority will, by its very nature, lead to a broader enquiry into the very nature of institutional authority at the ICJ. Having explained the importance of AOs to the structural integrity of the Court’s authority, I will close this article by highlighting the role of various stakeholders when engaging with that practice to ensure that their institutional function is discharged.

Hierarchical Scheduling Scheme for AC/DC Hybrid Active Distribution Network Based on Multi-Stakeholders

This paper presents a hierarchical multi-stage scheduling scheme for the AC/DC hybrid active distribution network (ADN). The load regulation center (LRC) is considered in the developed scheduling strategy, as well as the AC and DC sub-network operators. They are taken to be different stakeholders. To coordinate the interests of all stakeholders, a two-level optimization model is established. The flexible loads are dispatched by LRC in the upper-level optimization model, the objective of which is minimizing the loss of the entire distribution network. The lower-level optimization is divided into two sub-optimal models, and they are carried out to minimize the operating costs of the AC/DC sub-network operators respectively. This two-level model avoids the difficulty of solving multi-objective optimization and can clarify the role of various stakeholders in the system scheduling. To solve the model effectively, a discrete wind-driven optimization (DWDO) algorithm is proposed. Then, considering the combination of the proposed DWDO algorithm and the YALMIP toolbox, a hierarchical optimization algorithm (HOA) is developed. The HOA can obtain the overall optimization result of the system through the iterative optimization of the upper and lower levels. Finally, the simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed scheduling scheme.

Accountability mechanisms for implementing a health financing option: the case of the basic health care provision fund (BHCPF) in Nigeria

BackgroundThe Nigerian National Health Act proposes a radical shift in health financing in Nigeria through the establishment of a fund – Basic Healthcare Provision Fund, (BHCPF). This Fund is intended to improve the functioning of primary health care in Nigeria. Key stakeholders at national, sub-national and local levels have raised concerns over the management of the BHCPF with respect to the roles of various stakeholders in ensuring accountability for its use, and the readiness of the implementers to manage this fund and achieve its objectives. This study explores the governance and accountability readiness of the different layers of implementation of the Fund; and it contributes to the generation of policy implementation guidelines around governance and accountability for the Fund.MethodsNational, state and LGA level respondents were interviewed using a semi structured tool. Respondents were purposively selected to reflect the different layers of implementation of primary health care and the levels of accountability. Different accountability layers and key stakeholders expected to implement the BHCPF are the Federal government (Federal Ministry of Health, NPHCDA, NHIS, Federal Ministry of Finance); the State government (State Ministry of Health, SPHCB, State Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Local Government); the Local government (Local Government Health Authorities); Health facilities (Health workers, Health facility committees (HFC) and External actors (Development partners and donors, CSOs, Community members).ResultsIn general, the strategies for accountability encompass planning mechanisms, strong and transparent monitoring and supervision systems, and systematic reporting at different levels of the healthcare system. Non-state actors, particularly communities, must be empowered and engaged as instruments for ensuring external accountability at lower levels of implementation. New accountability strategies such as result-based or performance-based financing could be very valuable.ConclusionThe key challenges to accountability identified should be addressed and these included trust, transparency and corruption in the health system, political interference at higher levels of government, poor data management, lack of political commitment from the State in relation to release of funds for health activities, poor motivation, mentorship, monitoring and supervision, weak financial management and accountability systems and weak capacity to implement suggested accountability mechanisms due to political interference with accountability structures.

“Ruslani” Social Innovation in Public Service Based on Community Empowerment in Samarinda Seberang Sub-District of Samarinda City

The number of complaints, the slow performance, and the lack of productivity demands the need for a reformed public sector. Reform can be done with social innovation by involving and making citizens as participants and end users. Not only that, fundamentally, changing the role of various stakeholders in the provision of services. Where citizens act to decide themselves and play an active role in making decisions. “Ruslani” Innovation is one of the forms of social innovations based on the problem of limited access to the fulfillment of healthy habitable home ownership for the poor. How the implementation of Ruslani innovation based on the community empowerment done in Samarinda Seberang Sub-District is analyzed in this research. By using a descriptive qualitative method, data collection is conducted through in-depth interviews of key informants selected purposively and by analyzing secondary data documents. The results show that the implementation of Ruslani program has been aligned based on the principle of Law Number 23 of 2014 on Regional Government, according to principles; increased efficiency; improvement of effectiveness; improvement of service quality; no conflict of interest; oriented to the public interest; done openly; fulfill propriety values; can be accounted for the results that are not for self-interest. On the other hand, the Ruslani program has also followed the criteria; relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, observability, and criteria of service innovation based on the Regulation of Menpan-RB Number 19 of 2016, which in its implementation has introduced a new, productive, impactful and beneficial approach, and the most important thing is this program has running sustainably. Factors supporting and inhibiting innovation based on environmental categories, organizations, and individuals generally do not hinder the implementation of the program.

Measuring China's new energy vehicle patents: A social network analysis approach

Due to increasing concerns on climate change, air pollution, and associated public health, China's new-energy-vehicle (NEV) industry has received great support and experienced rapid development. Many patents have been approved and applied in this field to support its rapid development. However, few studies investigated the evolution of these patents. Under such a background, we measure China's NEV-related patents by using a social network analysis approach. The top 38 organizations with the most NEV-related patents were chosen as the study targets. Patent numbers, technological innovation and development, and the geographical distribution of patents were examined. The cooperation network of NEV-related patents was also investigated, including its features and performance during different stages of the NEV growth. The results show that China's NEV-patents cooperation network has evolved smoothly with a growing network density, stable structure, and more cohesive subgroups. Policy recommendations were raised by considering the Chinese realities, such as the encouragement of cooperation, the creation of NEV-related patents pools, and the roles of various stakeholders.

Health system organizational reform in governing Iranian public hospitals: A content analysis to comprehend the barriers in Board of Trustees' hospitals.

Since the early 1990s, Iran has initiated structural and decentralization reforms in the hospital system. This policy led to the formation of a Board of Trustees (BOTs) for the governing of public educational hospitals and making important modifications in hospitals' financing. This study was conducted to identify the barriers in implementing this policy. All the Iranian Medical Sciences Universities and hospitals involved in the policy implementation were included in this qualitative study. The data were analyzed by using content analysis. In total, 403 problems were divided into 9 classes including problems related to implementing regulation, financial problems in policy implementation, problems related to faculty members, ambiguity in executive regulation, problems related to the BOTs, authority level, hospital structure, the quality and quantity of hospital human resources, and fee for services. It appears that "implementing regulation" and "financial problems" embrace over 50% of the barriers. Apparently, the new approach to hospitals' autonomy has not achieved the desired goals. Considering the contextual factor, the evidence and identification of the clear role of various stakeholders should be essential determinants. Partial implementation of this policy without paying attention to the other aspects would end in failure. The results showed insufficient budget to be the most influential factor that posed a dilemma in implementing the BOTs' policy. However, BOTs in Iranian health system need to strive toward a higher level of performance that will improve effectiveness and efficiency now more than ever.

Transmedia Theory’s Author Discourse and Its Limitations

Transmedia Theory’s Author Discourse and Its Limitations

Framework to improve sustainability of agriculture in small islands: The case of Pistacia vera L. cultivation in Aegina, Greece

ABSTRACTPistacia vera L. (pistachio) is a tree widely cultivated for its edible nuts in Iran, the Mediterranean countries, China, the United States (mainly California), and some other countries. The objective of the present study is to provide a framework for sustainable agriculture in small islands, focusing on the cultivation of Pistacia vera L. in Aegina island, Greece. The framework comprises, among other elements, current cultivation practices, the characteristics of the island, pressures from other sectors such as tourism, current land uses, and groundwater vulnerability. Special emphasis is given to agricultural waste management for the production of compost and biochar and the subsequent application to soils in order to improve soil quality (e.g., soil organic matter, soil aggregate stability, water retention capacity, cation exchange capacity), increase soil carbon sequestration, and minimize the risk of groundwater contamination. Finally, the role of various stakeholders in the development of the sustainable framework is also discussed. The sustainability framework, if well designed and implemented, may identify pressures, environmental hotspots, and lack of concerted action between stakeholders and thus indicate mid- and long-term actions to mitigate impacts at various levels. The proposed framework may be also applied in other areas, and especially small islands, exhibiting characteristics similar to those of Aegina.

“The great divide”: skill gap between the employer’s expectations and skills possessed by employees

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to emphasise on demand supply skill gap of human resources in India which would help generate reasons for the same and the necessary steps to be taken to improve the situation and bridge the skill gap helping maximum number of the students becoming employable. It will put an impact on various stakeholders about the steps to be taken in bridging the gap in India.Design/methodology/approachA review of available literature was done in order to understand the reasons behind the increasing skill gap despite a vibrant and abundance of young population.FindingsThe findings of the paper implicitly point out that a vast skill gap is prevailing in the Indian labour market and there is a dearth of human intellectual capital in India. Also it emphasises on the role of various stakeholders in bridging the skill gap by investing in workforce of today for a better tomorrow.Originality/valueBased on literature review, the paper makes specific recommendations to various stakeholders (industry, academia, and government) in bridging the skill gap and would serve as a roadmap for companies guiding them to follow certain strategies to improve skills of future workers by investing in them and growing their own talent pool; and is an attempt to highlight the fact that India’s jobless growth is not going to reap the demographic dividend and certainly the increasing skill gap needs to be bridged ASAP.

El origen de la relación entre ciencia, tecnología y Estado en el Ecuador

Se analiza el proceso de gestación de las dos primeras tentativas de política científica y tecnológica en el Ecuador, a partir del rol de los actores relevantes: científicos, políticos y sectores productivos. La primera institucionalización de esta política surgió en 1973 en el marco de la dictadura militar «nacionalista y revolucionaria» de Rodríguez Lara, como parte del proyecto de Industrialización por Sustitución de Importaciones (ISI) y gracias al boom petrolero. La segunda tuvo lugar en el marco del retorno a la democracia en 1979 y se basó en la promulgación de la Ley del Sistema Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología y la creación del Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología. Se plantea una descripción analítica bajo la idea de que lo que ocurrió no tiene una causa sino más bien una historia o narrativa. Se retoma la noción de interacción estratégica de los actores relevantes y con ello además de considerar los procesos macros sociales -condiciones político-económicas nacionales e influencias internacionales- se estudia también los procesos concretos de definición y ejecución de las políticas. Se usa conceptos como culturas políticas, política científica implícita y política científica explícita y paradigma científico tecnológico.

Utilisation of loss and waste during the food-production cycle as livestock feed

Approximately one-third of the food produced is wasted, which has high environmental, economic and social costs. Besides, it adversely affects food security. A part of such losses and non-food parts of the agricultural products can be safely used as animal feed, without compromising animal product safety and animal and human welfare. FAO organised an e-conference to generate discussion and obtain inputs on definition of food loss in context to their use as animal feed and to identify roles of various stakeholders in the feed production and use chain for converting such waste to worth in the form of animal feed. This review presents a synthesis of the conference proceedings. Future areas of work and way forward have also been discussed.

Network and participatory governance in urban forestry: An assessment of examples from selected Slovakian cities

Current political trends and scholarly research increasingly promotes network and participatory governance in multi-level systems as a way to more sustainable and effective environmental policy. In Slovakia best practice knowledge on shaping and implementing participatory processes is scarce. The main aim of the article is to assess the role of various stakeholders in the processes of participatory and network governance in urban forests in Slovakia. Based on selected case studies critical factors of success or failure in urban forestry at local level were identified. The methodological approach consisted of combination of multiple research methods. The main data sources for the qualitative part were expert structural interviews and complemented by desk study of relevant scientific literature, strategic documents, and personal observation and own findings from previous research projects on public participation. At national and regional levels open, continuous and initiatively functioning network is present and influences decision making. The result of the cooperation among various stakeholders at the local level most frequently takes the form of positive experience sharing from the implementation of community and civic projects, but it can also be beneficial to promote alternative proposals in strategic documents and development plans. In Slovakia, companies of municipal forests organize participatory processes in collaboration with local self-government, local and regional state government, nature conservation agencies, community activists and NGOs and enhance participation at regional and local level. The results thus show that difference between success and failure in many participatory processes is often unclear especially if a large number of stakeholders take part in the activities and their interests might differ. The crucial factor for the success or failure of the complex participatory process is to ensure the sustainability of the achieved goal or result.

Adaption of Knowledge and Participation of Stakeholders in Three Public Health Interventions at Local Government Level in Denmark

Background:When implementing public health interventions in practice, it is recommended to use research evidence and to include relevant stakeholders. This should ensure effective interventions but it can be challenging. This study investigates the use of knowledge and inclusion of stakeholders in three different public health interventions at the local government level in Denmark and discusses strategies for future improvements in the use of research evidence. Method:Based on a previous assessment of all public health interventions in Varde Municipality using the European Community Health Promotion Indicator Development Model (EUHPID model), three different types of interventions (one Health Promotion, one Health Protection, and one Disease Prevention) were chosen for a case study analysis. The data consisted of document reviews and interviews. Data were analysed by content analysis using a framework for Evidence Based Practice as a guiding tool. Discussion of strategies for future improvements was based on experiences from previous studies. Results:In the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention interventions, knowledge of community characteristics and knowledge based on practitioners’ expertise were the most applied types of knowledge. In the Health Protection intervention, evidence from research was also used. Various stakeholders were included in all interventions. Barriers for the use of research evidence were lack of access to reported research, lack of time and competences to identify, adapt and apply the most relevant research evidence. The perceived facilitators for using evidence from research were access to summaries of research results or guidelines based on research and collaboration with researchers. Conclusion:Very limited knowledge on how to improve the use of research evidence in such interventions exists, however it seems like an active collaboration between research and practice is a promising strategy. There is a need for more research on this topic taking the role of various stakeholders into account.