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This research examines how social media helps increase the dynamic capabilities of health organizations. Using the concepts of “technical fitness” and “evolutionary fitness,” the research focuses on changes in: (1) the number of “likes”; (2) the amount of discussions in these pages; and (3) enabling factors for (1) and (2) over time.

Missouri Hospital Association (MHA) provides a sample of 164 hospitals. The Facebook pages of these hospitals are analyzed. Specifically, the number of “likes” and the amount of discussions are readily available for analysis. Data collection was conducted at two time points.

At time 1, 39% of the hospitals had an official Facebook page, increased to 47% at time 2. On average, there was a 22.2% increase in likes and a 4.0% increase in pages of discussions. Whether measured by staffs or patients’ capacity, size is a significant factor that contributes to the increase in likes and discussions. Yet, the location of a hospital — measured by urbanity — is statistically insignificant. Qualitative analyses suggest that certain patient groups particularly welcomed social media. Beside, pictures, videos, and “happy news” tended to increase usage of social media for hospital stakeholders.

Social media can help health organizations fulfill the social needs of their patients. This research applies several useful concepts. In further study, researchers may examine how hospitals optimize staffs’ and patients’ inputs. Besides, comparing how hospitals’ social media platforms operate differently in other states or countries may yield findings with practical implications.

This chapter sought to answer the following questions: (a) what does special education means for students with intellectual disability?, (b) what is being done, and (c) how do we maintain tradition? The answers, while complicated, suggest special education for students with intellectual disability historically and currently involves attention to what, how, and where, with the how being the key elements of special education for students with intellectual disability. This chapter discussed the what, how, and where for students with intellectual disability in a historical and current framework while also providing evidence-based practices for students with intellectual disability to implement to maintain the tradition of high-quality services.

A well‐known librarian said recently that a good staff was a happy staff. Presumably in such a case the administration and staff organisation would be running smoothly, and everybody concerned would naturally find happiness in that. But there is more to it than organisation and administration. If the personal element is considered, as it should be, the relationship on a social level would also naturally make for pleasant conditions. How can the general ideal be reached? It seems obvious that there is a social side to it, but there's no doubt that one senior of ill‐conditioned temperament can spoil things for everybody. It is suggested that every effort should be made by librarians to cement happy relationships in every way possible. Successful library service does not depend merely on the circulation; there is also the aspect of happy fellowship in the service. These notes are intended to be suggestive to that end.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate value management (VM) practice by professional architects in South Africa. A primary aim is to test the assertion of Kelly et al. that VM has “evolved to become an established service with commonly understood tools, techniques and styles.”

A web‐based, online questionnaire survey was employed to establish VM practice by South African registered architects. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the survey response data.

The results suggest that awareness of VM is not widespread among South African architects, and that its actual practice is minimal. Where VM was used on projects, it was invariably cost‐minimization driven in terms of both the project and the VM process itself. These findings are in direct conflict with the assertion of Kelly et al. There is also a mismatch between clients' value system key performance variables and objectives defined for VM studies. Use of VM for project brief facilitation is not widespread, and the integration of VM with risk and quality management systems is not pervasive. Where VM was undertaken, no attempt is made to benchmark VM activities against international standards.

Professional architectural associations in South Africa should adopt a proactive role in promoting the use of VM by architects; facilitated by continuing professional development programmes.

The originality of the research lies in determining the nature of, and extent to which, architects in South Africa practice VM.

A luminescent purple glow expands, refracting holographic light in the background. As the perspective shifts, each color of the rainbow appears and disappears along multiple axes of a prismatic spray. Our Diva, Carolyn Ellis, sits alone on a stool in the midst of the purple glow, extending her hand, palm up, with outstretched tapered fingers, beckoning us to join her. “Don’t be afraid,” she smiles, “we are all the same.”

The link between relationship typologies and effectiveness of conflict resolution approaches remains to be tested despite its significance in conflict management in construction project delivery. By using the four relationships attributes based on the group attachment theory, the purpose of the study was to explore the cluster of relationships among project teams and organisations and the performance of conflict management strategies across these clusters in the Ghanaian construction industry.

Using a deductive questionnaire survey in the Ghanaian construction industry, a total of 137 responses were gathered and analyzed using cluster analysis, mean scores and ANOVA to reveal the relationship clusters and performance of conflict management strategies across these clusters.

The results revealed eight relationship clusters that exist among project teams and organisations with distinct influence of roles & tasks function, cognition, emotions and behavior attributes across the relationship clusters. In the aspect of the effectiveness of conflict management strategies, it was noted that the performance of these strategies were significantly different across the groups. For instance, integrating as a conflict management strategy was deemed to be effective in resolving conflict in unitary, adversarial, pluralist, mutuality, collaborative and partnering relationship clusters. In the case of coopetitive and coercive relationships, the performance of integrating as a conflict management strategy was less effective. This study thus has empirically proved that, different relationship clusters of teams and organizations exist within the Ghanaian construction industry, and that they perform different roles & tasks functions, cognition, emotions and behavioural attributes in their formation. Additionally, the performance effectiveness of conflict management strategies differed across the relationship clusters.

By aligning the relationship attributes to the dynamics of relationship clusters experienced in project teams and organisations, relationship quality, suitability and effectiveness of conflict management strategies can be optimized. The findings can inform project teams and stakeholders to develop fit-for-purpose relationship attributes among teams and organisations to enhance team effectiveness, relationship quality and conflict management in the industry.

Although established theoretical models suggest that race differences in physical health are partially explained by exposures to environmental toxins, there is little empirical evidence to support these processes. We build on previous research by formally testing whether black–white differences in self-rated physical health are mediated by the embodiment of environmental toxins.

Using cross-sectional data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (2007–2008), we employ ordinary least squares regression to model environmental toxins (from urine specimens) and overall self-rated health as a function of race and ethnicity. We employ the Sobel test of indirect effects to formally assess mediation.

Our results show that non-Hispanic black respondents tend to exhibit higher levels of total toxins, lead, and cadmium in their urine and poorer physical health than non-Hispanic whites, even with adjustments for age, gender, and socioeconomic status (SES). Our mediation analyses suggest that blacks may exhibit poorer physical health than whites because they tend to embody higher levels of cadmium.

Research limitations include cross-sectional data and restricted indicators of SES.

This study contributes to previous work by bridging the fields of social epidemiology and environmental inequality and by formally testing established theoretical models.

Construction is a project‐oriented industry that benefits from both the technical and interpersonal skills that a project manager has to offer. Increasingly, project management is viewed as being an integrated process relevant throughout the project lifecycle, which necessarily draws upon a broad range of knowledge and abilities. It is imperative that project managers, therefore, have ready access to education and training programmes that enable them to update their skills. This paper compares a new distance learning project management educational software application with a traditional multiple‐media resource and a well‐established postgraduate module delivered in part‐time mode to establish the pedagogic effectiveness of distributed interactive multimedia. An analysis of quantitative data generated over a two‐year period finds that whilst learning and confidence gains occur in all delivery modes, there is no significant difference in the academic performance of students between the traditional control and distance learning experimental groups.