Staff Assignment Research Articles

NATIVE COURT IN KUDAT AND MATUNGGONG, SABAH: CHALLENGES TO ITS GOVERNANCE AND STRUCTURAL ECOSYSTEM

The Sabah Native Court is a legal institution created specifically to address the application of customary law among the ethnics or indigenous peoples of Sabah. Sabah Native Court is a legal institution established by a special act known as the Native Courts Enactment 1992 amendment 1995. The purpose of this study was to identify the challenges to the governance and structural ecosystem of native courts in selected districts, specifically Kudat District and Matunggong Sub-district. This study uses qualitative methods through in-depth interviews with district heads in these two native court. Among the study's interesting findings is the hierarchy of the organisational structure of the native court institution found in both study locations, which has differences in the number of staff appointments either at the decision-making level for district head or among native court implementers such as native chiefs and deputy native chiefs. Furthermore, the two study locations have different day-to-day governance and assignment for every entity within the native court. Questions about the benefits and drawbacks of challenges to both governance and the structural ecosystem of the native courts in both study locations were also addressed in the discussion section. Due to its importance in monitoring these challenges, this study will examine how well the native courts can resolve the concerns of each ethnic in the state compared to other judicial institutions such as the Syariah Court and Civil Court.

1629P SARS-Cov-2 and Cancer Trials Ireland: Impact, resolution, legacy

Background: The SARS-Cov-2 pandemic led to significant ongoing disruptive change in healthcare from 3/2020 to the present. The impact and legacy on a national clinical trials organisation was assessed. Methods: A review was conducted of prospectively acquired communications, team logs and time sheets, trial activation, closure, and accrual, for the period 2019-present. An online survey of the impact of the pandemic on clinical investigators was performed. During lock-down periods hospital sites closed to monitoring visits and remote visits were not always possible due to paper- based health information systems. Overall accrual to academic cancer clinical trials decreased by 49%. Results: In the 9 months after the pandemic was declared clinical trial accrual fell by 54%, radiotherapy trial accrual by 90% and translational studies by 36%. Staff reassignment occurred in 60% of units. Monitoring visits by Clinical Research Associates was reduced by 42% and remote monitoring rose from 5% to 20% of monitoring visits. The opening of new trials fell by 67%. 77% of investigators experienced burnout, 71% had less time for trials and 53% reported less support for trials. Conclusions: The pandemic has had a significant negative impact on cancer clinical trial activity in Ireland with a notable decline in academic-led trial activity compared to pharmaceutical-led trials. Protected staff assignments, electronic records to facilitate remote monitoring and enhanced support for clinical trials staff is needed to increase resilience in the system. Legal entity responsible for the study: Cancer Trials Ireland. Funding: Cancer Trials Ireland. Disclosure: The author has declared no conflicts of interest.

IMPROVING EDUCATION QUALITY OF SECONDARY SCHOOL IN INDONESIA: AN EMPIRICAL RESEARCH

This study aims to determine the planning, implementation, and evaluation processes in improving the quality of education in the Inclusive Elementary School in Bantul Regency. Data collection techniques are through interviews, observation, and study documentation. Subjects were principals, vice-principals, teachers, and the committee chairperson in Elementary Inclusion in the Regional District Bantul. The results showed that: (1) program planning was based on the school’s vision, mission, and goals. Each school component compiles work programs by revising last year and verified by the school principal. The substance leads to efforts to improve the quality of education. However, it does not cover detailed results targets, (2) the implementation of the program is managed by each school component, by preparing written implementation instructions such as 2013 curriculum document, organizational structure, division of teacher and education staff assignments, regulations academic, and school rules, (3) program evaluation is more focused on academic programs than on the effectiveness and efficiency of learning and teacher performance, carrying out the Self- Inclusion Elementary School Evaluation in the District of Bantul and school accreditation. The evaluation results of the program's implementation made a report consisting of technical and financial reports to local governments.

Activities of Vavuniya Public Library and Its Challenges: A Survey Research

Public libraries are the best contributors to the community. In this way, Vavuniya Public Library is also providing its services to the community. This study is based on the Activities of the Vavuniya Public Library and its challenges. The descriptive study was selected by a random sampling method based on the population. Data were collected through research tools such as questionnaires, discussions, and documentations. Questionnaires were administered to 100 readers randomly selected from the total readers and the Chief Librarian. Data were analyzed with the adaption of the percentage system, rating scale and the MS Excel software. The results were presented in the form of tables, diagrams etc. The results state that the library faces challenges in their service providing and the readers are dissatisfied with the library activities. Current information sources and services of the library seem scarce. Students and higher education students are found to be dissatisfied with the infrastructure facilities of the library. Inappropriate and lack of staff appointments also cause the perception of unsatisfactory services of the library. It is revealed that the significant challenges of the Vavuniya Public Library are inadequate fund allocation, lack of reader-based information resource mobilization, less prominence for electronic information and braille section, and finding difficulties in the provision of essential social information services to the readers. There should be a clear awareness to be adopted among local government officials about the significance of public libraries.

Decision Support System for Appointment Assignment of Honorary Using TOPSIS Method

The Honorary Staff Appointment and Assignment Program initiated by the Education Office of North Gorontalo Regency is one of the regional responses to overcome the shortage of teachers in remote areas and islands [1]. The purpose of this study is to build a decision support systemv that is used to assist the Education Office of North Gorontalo Regency in the process of appointing and assigning honorary staff. This study uses the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method. This method is based on the concept that the best chosen alternative not only has the shortest distance from the positive ideal solution, but also has the longest distance from the negative ideal solution. This method is widely used to complete practical decision making [2]. The results of this study are by using the TOPSIS method in a decision support system that can facilitate decision makers related to the issue of the Handling and Assignment of Honorary Personnel at the Education Office of North Gorontalo Regency, especially in the assessment process according to predetermined criteria. The results of this assessment took a sample of 3 honorary candidates with the best score alterative obtained by a total value of 0.74 with the results being accepted as honorary

A Longitudinal, Clinical, and Spatial Epidemiologic Analysis of a Large COVID-19 Long-Term Care Home Outbreak

ObjectivesCOVID-19 has had devastating effects on long-term care homes across much of the world, and especially within Canada, with more than 50% of the mortality from COVID-19 in 2020 in these homes. Understanding the way in which the virus spreads within these homes is critical to preventing further outbreaks. DesignRetrospective chart review. Settings and ParticipantsLong-term care home residents and staff in Ontario, Canada. MethodsWe conducted a longitudinal study of a large long-term care home COVID-19 outbreak in Ontario, Canada, using electronic medical records, public health records, staff assignments, and resident room locations to spatially map the outbreak through the facility. ResultsBy analyzing the outbreak longitudinally, we were able to draw 3 important conclusions: (1) 84.5% had typical COVID-19 symptoms and only 15.5% of residents had asymptomatic infection; (2) there was a high attack rate of 85.8%, which appeared to be explained by a high degree of interconnectedness within the home exacerbated by staffing shortages; and (3) clustering of infections within multibedded rooms was common. Conclusion and ImplicationsLow rates of asymptomatic infection suggest that symptom-based screening in residents remains very important for detecting outbreaks, a high degree of interconnectedness explains the high attack rate, and there is a need for improved guidance for homes with multibedded rooms on optimizing resident room movement to mitigate spread of COVID-19 in long-term care homes.

How do I know who I am? Academic professional development, peer support, and identity for practitioners who teach

ABSTRACT Workplace preparation is increasingly part of university curricula and this has led to the appointment of staff with professional practice expertise being appointed to teach, who are experienced professionals yet HE novices. How do they make sense of HE’s expectations and begin to reconcile their identity as educators with the credibility their practice expertise confers? The paper draws on sociocultural perspectives of Communities of Practice, framing identity development as a process of intertwined trajectories between the different communities an individual is involved with. It seeks to illuminate the affective impact of socialisation experiences and implications for academic development.

Acceptability and feasibility of conducting a pilot trial in Irish primary care: lessons from the IDEAs study.

Introduction Understanding primary care practices' 'readiness' to engage in trials and their experience is important to inform trial procedures and supports. Few studies report on the feasibility of study procedures though this is a central part of pilot trials. We explored the acceptability and feasibility of study procedures of a cluster randomised pilot trial of an intervention in primary care to improve uptake of Ireland's national diabetic retinopathy programme. Methods As part of the embedded mixed-methods process evaluation, quantitative and qualitative data were gathered across four general practices participating in the intervention. Interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of staff. Research logs on time spent on intervention delivery, staff assignment, resources, problems/changes, and reasons for drop-outs, were maintained over the course of intervention rollout, and practice audit data were analysed. Quantitative outcomes included recruitment, retention, completion, and data quality and completeness. Qualitative data on perceptions and experience of the pilot trial procedures were analysed using the Framework Method. Findings Nine staff (3 GPs, 4 nurses, 2 administrators) were interviewed. An interest in the topic area or in research motivated practices to take part in the trial. Reimbursement meant they could ' afford' to participate. Staff valued the researcher briefing at the start of the trial, to avoid ' going in slightly blind'. While staff varied in audit skills and confidence, and some found this aspect of data collection challenging, a ' step-by-step' audit manual and regular researcher contact, helped them stay on track and troubleshoot during data collection. Audit quality was acceptable overall, however there were some issues, incorrect assignment of patient status being most common. Conclusion The IDEAs trial procedures were acceptable and feasible for primary care staff, however, challenges with conducting the audit may reflect staff skills gaps and the need for greater guidance and support from researchers.

إعادة هیکلة الموارد البشریة و دورها فی تحسین أداء الجمعیات الأهلیة

الملخص: يعتبر العنصر البشري هو حجر الزاوية وأساس نجاح العمل في الجمعيات الأهلية, فبدونه لا تستطيع الجمعية القيام بأدوارها وإنجاز أعمالها, فهو يمثل الأساس في خلق القيمة المتمثلة بالمخرجات المناسبة التي تحسن أداء الجمعية وتحقق رضا المستفيدين وتعزز سمعة الجمعية, لذلک لابد من الإهتمام بالموارد البشرية عن طريق إعادة هيکلتها من خلال الإهتمام بأسس إستقطابهم وتعيينهم وإختيارهم بالإضافة إلى وضع مستويات مرضية لهم من الأجور والحوافز وتطوير مهاراتهم وقدراتهم المختلفة حتى يستطيعوا التکيف مع المتغيرات البيئية المختلفة بجانب وضع نظام مناسب لتقييم أدائهم مما ينعکس بشکل إيجابي على أداء الجمعية، لذا هدفت الدراسة الحالية إلى تحديد دور إعادة هيکلة الموارد البشرية في تحسين أداء الجمعيات، وتنتمي هذه الدراسة إلى الدراسات الوصفية وإعتمدت على المسح الإجتماعي الشامل لمجالس إدارات الجمعيات الأهلية وتطبيق إستمارة قياس على (232) من مجالس إدارات الجمعيات الأهلية، وأسفرت نتائج الدراسة عن أن إعادة هيکلة الموارد البشرية تساهم في تحسين أداء الجمعيات الأهلية وذلک عن طريق: توفير أسس واضحة ومعلنة بالجمعية يتم بناء عليها إستقطاب وإختيار وتعيين العاملين في الوظائف المتعددة, صياغة لوائح تکون واضحة ومحددة تنظم حقوق العاملين المالية, وضع خطة بالجمعية تساهم في تطوير قدرات العاملين المختلفة سواء الإدارية أو الفنية أو التنظيمية, و وضع نظام تقييم لأداء العاملين بشکل يحقق إبداع العمل وتوفير بيئة مشجعة على الإبتکار. الکلمات الدالة: إعادة الهيکلة الموارد البشرية – الأداء-الجمعيات الأهلية Abstract: The human element is the cornerstone and the basis of the successful functioning of Voluntary Associations. Without this element, an association cannot perform its roles and functions. It is a basis for creating the value of outputs appropriate for improving their functioning, satisfaction of beneficiaries, or publicity. Accordingly, more attention should be paid to human resources. This can be achieved by HR restructure based on successful polarization, assignment, and selection of staff. Besides, satisfactory levels of wages, incentives, skill improvement programs should be well developed so that they can adapt to various environmental variables. It is also important to develop an appropriate system for the evaluation of their performance, which will be positively reflected on the functioning of the association. Thus, the current study aimed to define the role of human resources' restructure in improving the performance of the Voluntary Associations. The study belongs to descriptive studies. It counts on a comprehensive social survey administrated to 232 boards of Voluntary Associations, The findings of the study revealed that the HR restructure contributes to the improvement of the performance of Voluntary Associations through providing clear principles upon which polarization, selection, and assignment of staff in various positions is based; formulation of clear and well-defined regulations that organize the financial rights of staff; developing a plan that contributes in enhancing staff's administrative, technical and organizational abilities; and finally, developing a system for evaluating the staff's performance in a way that achieves job creativity and inspiring environment. Key words: Human Resource Restructuring - Performance - Voluntary Associations

Adaptive large neighborhood search for integrated planning in railroad classification yards

Railroad classification yards serve as central hubs in single wagonload freight transportation by disassembling inbound trains and classifying outbound ones. This enables railcars to switch trains, thereby reducing the number of point-to-point connections for low demand origin-destination pairs. The quality of the operations in classification yards has a large impact on the overall performance of the system. The planning process comprises the cut generation problem, the train makeup problem, the railcar classification problem, the outbound track assignment problem, and the scheduling of service and safety operations along with the assignment of both locomotives and staff to them. This tactical planning task is nowadays mainly done manually by experienced planners and most optimization models in the literature focus only on subproblems. In the hope of filling this gap, we therefore propose a formulation for the integrated planning problem in classification yards. Since the formulation turns out to be intractable for general-purpose solvers, we propose a tailored adaptive large neighborhood search heuristic that yields high-quality results for realistic instances. Problems with up to 20 inbound and outbound trains are solved on average in less than 20 min with an average optimality gap of 0.5% for the instances for which an optimal solution is known.

The Reassertion of National Sovereignty

Abstract International organizations (io s) have repeatedly been challenged in their existence. In this essay, I review arguments about the causes of their decline and survival in existing research. While the majority of research has focused on structural pressures such as geopolitical crises, I argue that io s can also be threatened by member-states reasserting their sovereignty, for example through budget cuts, non-compliance with core norms, obstruction of staff appointments and membership withdrawal. More systematic research is required to investigate when these challenges are more likely to lead to the demise of io s and which factors make io s survive these challenges.

Mixed Integer Programming versus Evolutionary Computation for Optimizing a Hard Real-World Staff Assignment Problem

Assigning staff to engagements according to hard constraints while optimizing several objectives is a task encountered by many companies on a regular basis. Simplified versions of such assignment problems are NP-hard. Despite this, a typical approach to solving them consists of formulating them as mixed integer programming (MIP) problems and using a stateof-the-art solver to get solutions that closely approximate the optimum.In this paper, we consider a complex real-world staff assignment problem encountered by the professional service company KPMG, with the goal of finding an algorithm that solves it faster and with a better solution than a commercial MIP solver. We follow the evolutionary algorithm (EA) metaheuristic and design a search heuristic which iteratively improves a solution using domain-specific mutation operators. Furthermore, we use a flow algorithm to optimally solve a subproblem, which tremendously reduces the search space for the EA.For our real-world instance of the assignment problem, given the same total time budget of 100 hours, a parallel EA approach finds a solution that is only 1.7% away from an upper bound for the (unknown) optimum within under five hours, while the MIP solver Gurobi still has a gap of 10.5%.

Impact of anesthesia resident staff assignment decisions on nurse anesthetist and anesthesia resident staff scheduling and productivity: Tutorial using data from a pediatric hospital

BackgroundMost large US teaching hospitals have anesthesia fellows, anesthesia residents, and nurse anesthetists or anesthesiologist assistants. The objective of the tutorial is the review of how fellow and resident staff scheduling and staff assignment decisions can influence not only their productivity but that of the nurse anesthetists (or anesthesiologist assistants). MethodsWe developed scenarios for this tutorial using data from 35 consecutive Tuesdays at a pediatric hospital, May through December 2020. This organizational case study used given probability distributions of workload, along with the resulting allocations of anesthesia time based on minimizing the inefficiency of use of anesthesia providers. Four scenarios were created. ResultsOne scenario highlights that if (a) residents are assigned to cases based on the procedure category corresponding to their rotation, (b) the workday at that anesthetizing location is relatively brief, and (c) the residents are not assigned also to start one or two brief cases of different types, then productivity can be reduced substantially because of variability among operating rooms in the daily hours of cases.Another scenario highlights that productivity would be greater if the resident rotation included a pair of two specialties that took into account expected durations of the workday for the paired specialties. ConclusionsOur tutorial highlights how the effect of resident staff assignments on anesthesia group productivity can be substantial because functionally, their minimum shift length would not be known from the staff schedules months in advance but instead only be realized upon the day of surgery. When a department is investigating reasons for apparently lower nurse anesthetists’ (or anesthesiologist assistants’) and anesthesia residents’ productivity, assignments based on first case starts, for whatever educational or other reasons, but not considering the duration of the workday should be part of the differential diagnosis.

ДИПЛОМАТИЧНІ ПРАКТИКИ В’ЯЧЕСЛАВА ЛИПИНСЬКОГО В ОЦІНКАХ ІСТОРИКІВ

In recent years, researchers are increasingly focused on the Viacheslav Lypynskyi (Ukrainian politician, theorist of Ukrainian conservatism) : from practical political actions to a detailed study of theoretical reflections. They interested in various vectors of Lipin studies. It should be noted that V. Lypynskyi became sufficiently studied in recent years as the head of the Ukrainian Embassy in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Scientists, on the work of which drawn attention in the relevant topic: Igor Ducks, Igor Girich, Tatyana Ostashko, Irina Interim and others. This article is aimed at summing a certain result in the long run of scientists. The article is trying to collect, analyze, explore and outline certain results in the historiographic study of the place of V. Lypynskyi in the international politics of the Ukrainian state. The main submers are considered, which researchers studied in the context of the activities of V. Lypynskyi as ambassador during their work from 1918 to 1919. The topics of scientific research were especially studied: Embassy staff (appointment, the appointment of those who are responsible for certain sectors and criticism of personnel by opponents, both from among the government and the social democratic forces); The struggle for territorial encroachments and at the same time ratification of Beresia Agreement (peace treaty between the Ukrainian People’s Republic on the one hand and German, Austria-Hungarian, Ottoman Empires and the Bulgarian kingdom of the other side). The strong Polish diaspora prevented the joining of the Kholm region and part of the smashes in the Ukrainian state. Also, the activity that puts themselves the goal of helping the prisoners of war in concentration camps and citizens of Ukraine, which were in Austria – Hungary); Lypynskyi’s care from the post of Representative of Ukraine in Vienna (comes to power in Kiev in November 1918, the directory of UNR and the inability to find a common language with new government structures). As a result of scientific research, we conclude that this topic is sufficiently studied. Most scientific works used during the writing of the article are combined into a positive assessment of the role of V. Lipinsky as ambassador.

Automated multi-scale cascade of parallel stirred-tank bioreactors for fast protein expression studies

Automation, parallelization and autonomous operation of standard lab equipment, usually applied for manual bioprocess development, is considered as the key for reduction of bioprocess development time and costs. An automated bioreactor system with 4 stirred-tank bioreactors on a L-scale was combined with a custom-made biomass transfer system to distribute the cell suspensions produced on the L-scale into 48 parallel stirred-tank bioreactors on a mL-scale. Afterwards parallel protein expression studies automated by a liquid handling system with integrated fluorescence reader were performed. Isopropyl β-D-1-thiogalactopyranoside-induced (IPTG) expression of the red fluorescence protein mCherry was studied as an example of using fed-batch processes with recombinant Escherichia coli. In a first automated study, IPTG concentrations were varied in 48 parallel fed-batch processes with E. coli cells produced at a growth rate of 0.1 h−1 on an L-scale and transferred automatically to the mL-scale. The mCherry expression rate increased with increasing inducer concentration until the highest protein expression rate was observed at > 9 μM IPTG. In a second automated study, the growth rate of E. coli was varied between 0.1−0.2 h-1 in parallelly-operated stirred-tank bioreactors on a L-scale. The cells were automatically transferred and distributed into the stirred-tank bioreactors on a mL-scale and the concentration of the inducer IPTG was varied as before in parallel fed-batch processes. An increased growth rate during the production of the recombinant E. coli cells and/or higher cell densities during protein expression resulted in the increased IPTG concentrations necessary to achieve identical expression rates compared to a growth rate of 0.1 h−1 with the exception of very low inducer concentrations and inducer concentrations in excess. The new automated multi-scale cascade of parallel stirred-tank bioreactors should easily be applicable for performing fast optimisation studies with other microbial production systems and will have the potential to reduce bioprocess development time and staff assignment considerably.

The Impact of Work Stress Sources in the Employees Performance in the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority Located in Jordan

The present study aimed to identify the impact of sources of work stress in the performance of employees in the authority of Aqaba Special Economic Zone, in order to achieve this goal, a questionnaire was designed as a measure of the Likert five-year, and distributed to a sample size (320) and female employees working in the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority. The researchers used statistical measures, which include frequencies, percentages and multiple regression analysis. The results of the study showed: 
 
 There is significant effect of the sources of work stress combined in the performance of employees in the authority of Aqaba Special Economic Zone.
 No significant effect of role ambiguity in the performance of workers in the authority of Aqaba Special Economic Zone.
 There is significant effect of role conflict in the performance of workers in the authority of Aqaba Special Economic Zone.
 There is significant effect on the amount of work in the performance of employees in the authority of Aqaba Special Economic Zone.
 No significant effect of labor relations in the performance of employees in the authority of Aqaba Special Economic Zone.
 
 The study suggests a number of recommendations including:
 
 Reducing the negative effects of work pressures and by increasing the periods of rest and exercise, social activities and work as one team.
 Drawing the attention of senior management in the authority of Aqaba Special Economic Zone to adequate attention and sources of work stress and try to mitigate the aim of raising the morale of the human race.
 Authority to operate Aqaba Special Economic Zone on the appointment of new staff to reduce the staff veterans of the workload so that they can work in appropriate circumstances, and motivation to focus and creativity.
 Holding training sessions for subordinates and supervisors on the subject of pressure to try to avoid as much as possible, which would in the end, individual and organizational performance, avoid stress at work contribute significantly to improving individual and organizational performance.
 
 Conducting further scientific studies in the scope of this study to determine the causes and sources of work pressures.

Editorial introductions.

Editorial introductions.

Decision Support System for Staff Assignment Using VIKOR Algorithm

Call center staff is a staff who work in providing repair or servicing services by telephone. This staff is in charge of explaining the solutions to be carried out by the company in obtaining answers. Call center staff must have a good temperament and smart. In getting good staff, companies can use a decision support system with the VIKOR method to select and select these staff. Five criteria will be tested in determining the staff. The results of the VIKOR method can help companies find call center staff that match company expectations. The ranking results can determine the level of results of the VIKOR method test on call center staff who are used as candidates or alternatives. By implementing this method, the search for call center staff will be better.

A competency-driven staff assignment approach to improving employee scheduling robustness

Presented paper concerns the competency-driven staff assignment and scheduling approach to the management of project portfolios subject to perturbations caused by employee absences and/or unexpected arrival of high priority jobs. Proactive strategy is considered, which exploits the concept of employee substitutability to improve the robustness of personnel allocation in the case of occurrence of specific types of disruptions. Solutions obtained using the model of a constraint satisfaction problem developed in this study are validated in series quantitative and qualitative experiments. With a view to future implementation in a Decision Support Systems dedicated to prototyping of proactive personnel allocation, a methodology employing the concept of a competency framework-based robustness measure is proposed. Implemented in a declarative framework, the proposed approach allows one to find a redundant competency framework robust to a given set of disruptions.

The Curricular Practical Training Rotation Problem Formulation and the Assessment of Rotation Strategies

This study addresses the curricular practical training rotation problem, which is a type of staff assignment problem. Many educational institutions require theoretical knowledge to be complemented by practical training. Although the details of the implementation differ from institution to institution, it is necessary to prepare a rotation plan that determines how long the trainees will practice in which unit in which training period. Because of the complexity of the problem and humanistic reasons, the manual rotation plan can not reach the optimal level that satisfies all stakeholders and takes time. This study defines a general Curricular Practical Training Rotation Planning Problem specific to the curriculum-based trainee assignment process carried out in a university department and proposes an integer mathematical model for its solution. It is one of the important contributions of this study. It also provides a methodological approach to identify the most appropriate rotation strategy that will satisfy stakeholders. The methodological approach followed is a structure that can be adapted to different perspectives. The study has the potential to guide practitioners and researchers in the field and to lead a rich literature that will be formed with different side constraints and purposes to the problem.