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The purpose of this paper is to present a systematic literature review of empirical studies into online platforms for political participation. The objective was to diagnose the relationship between different types of digital participatory platforms, the real possibilities of participation generated by those initiatives and the impact of such participation on the decision-making process of governmental representatives.

A systematic literature review was conducted using pre-defined terms, expressions and criteria. A total of 434 articles from 1995 to 2015 were gathered from the Web of Science database. And, 32 studies were selected from those articles for meta-synthesis, and the cases investigated were evaluated according to the e-participation ladder model (Smyth, 2001).

The results indicated that online political participation worldwide remains timid both in quantity and quality. We have witnessed the growth of a kind of “rhetorical participation” promoted by policy-makers and the rise of a “participatory despotism”, in which only the privileged partake, while the majority remains silent.

The solutions found to promote increased participation and ensure its effectiveness ranged from shaping the platform design in accordance with citizens’ capacities and interests to a need for profound political–administrative change, which includes the world’s public agencies adopting a more transparent, inclusive and collaborative approach to decision-making.

This paper proposes a systematic review, mapping the studies on online platforms for political participation, analysing the questions, methods and conclusions found by the authors and evaluating each case study with a participation ladder.

The purpose of this paper is to describe how frequent attenders (FAs), divided into different profiles, use of primary care, emergency care and specialised medical care and which social services have been granted to them.

The present study utilises previous research of FAs and their identification of four profiles. The data were acquired from three data registries in Finland. Analysis of the FAs (n = 56) data was undertaken using descriptive statistics methods and qualitative analysis.

Patients with multiple problems used primary care, emergency care and specialized medical care frequently, and they had the highest number of appointments with doctors and nurses. Social services were required mostly social work. Visits made by patients with an impaired capacity caused by substance abuse were mainly targeted at appointments and mental health care services to a nurse in primary care. The required types of social services were often rehabilitative work experience. For mothers requiring support, the most frequently used services in primary were the child health and maternity clinic. The social services granted were mostly social work. Children and adolescents who are burdened by everyday concerns visits were mainly focused on primary to the child health and maternity clinic. Use of social services often entailed the supervision of contact sessions between parents and children’s.

The study confirmed that there is a need for increase knowledge of FAs. The service needs of FAs should be understood multi-dimensionally and the research results justify the individualised integration of social and health services for FAs.

The research results justify the individualised integration of social and health services for FAs.

Evaluating project success within the construction industry presents challenges due to the unique characteristics of the sector, the complexity of projects, and the involvement of diverse stakeholders. Conducting a bibliometric analysis, this paper aims to unravel the major research themes and methodologies utilised by researchers in studying the critical success criteria for construction projects, as well as extracting these success criteria.

The researchers systematically searched and screened 95 papers from Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) databases. This study conducted research focus parallelship network (RFPN) analysis and keywords co-occurrence network (KCON) analysis using BibExcel and Gephi to cluster the papers, illuminate the relationships among keywords within each cluster, and identify the primary research directions.

Using the RFPN analysis, this study classified the papers into three distinct clusters: infrastructure and public projects success, risk and knowledge management, and contractors and procurement management. Statistical techniques such as structural equation modelling (SEM) and multi-criteria decision-making methods such as analytic hierarchy process (AHP) have been used to analyse project success in the construction industry.

Considering the intensified demand for streamlined digital interactions and the increasing emphasis on sustainability and safety performance, construction companies are recommended to allocate greater investments toward the automation and digitisation of their products and processes. Prioritising modular construction and embracing transformative technologies alongside data science is crucial for enabling well-informed decision-making, and enhancing project success.

This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by conducting a quantitative and systematic evaluation of the literature on project success criteria in the construction industry and uncovering key research areas. It addresses the pressing need to understand the complexities of construction projects amidst evolving industry dynamics and emerging disruptions. Moreover, by highlighting the implications of digital innovations and modular construction, this study urges deeper exploration into their impact on project performance and stakeholder satisfaction. This research sets a comprehensive framework for investigating the interplay between project complexity, technological advancements, and sustainable practices in the construction sector, paving the way for strategic advancements in the field.

This chapter presents a comparative study of the trends and patterns of communication and tourism research in Brazil and the United States over the last 20 years. Through a bibliometric analysis of the CAPES and EBSCO databases, the study identifies the main theoretical and methodological references, classifies the fundamental themes in the area, and describes the role of communication for tourism. The results indicate the predominance in North American scientific literature of research related to the image and the brand of the tourist destinations, as well as the measurement and the evaluation of the communicative strategies. On the other hand, Brazilian research presents a greater diversity of approaches: destination image studies, tourism consumption, tourist narrative analysis, identities, social networks, community-based tourism, sports, and ecological tourism, with an explicit recognition of the dangers of sexual objectification and dehumanization within tourism. The survey showed that the scientific community has a strong interest in this area, signaling a search for knowledge to deepen the conceptual understanding of the subject. Thus, this chapter provides insights regarding the opportunities and directions for the next decades of research in this field of study.

The past few decades have produced a number of investigations into the correlation between project managers’ competencies and project success. As a result, competencies lists have become extensive “shopping lists.” The purpose of this paper is to define the most important competencies to project success and investigate their correlations.

The authors surveyed project managers on the importance of 28 project manager competencies to project success. Data were analyzed using univariate and multivariate procedures.

Data show that communication, commitment and leadership appear as the three most relevant aspects. Multivariate analysis identified seven groups of competencies: leadership, self-management, interpersonal, communication, technical, productivity and managerial.

The results confirm a growing trend toward soft skills and reinforce the need for an update on project management education to fill the gap between theory and practice.

Project manager competencies lists have become too extensive, and the field is in constant change; therefore, this study updates the discussion and downsizes the number of competencies to fewer, more relevant items.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effect of different times and freezing temperatures on the antioxidant activity of raw human milk (HM) and the impact of light by different packaging on retinol level and the antioxidant activity of pasteurized HM.

Donor milks were homogenized to form the pool of the experimental study characterized by the evaluation of the effects of time (0, 2, 4, 8 and 15 days) freezing temperatures (−3°C, −8°C and −18°C) and the interference of the type of packaging on the antioxidant activity and retinol levels of HM.

The existing studies do not reveal the real impact of HM storage conditions adopted by human milk banks (HMB) in Brazil on their compounds, mainly in relation to the effects of temperature and freezing time and the incidence of light on retinol levels and antioxidant activity. In view of the already documented importance of these compounds for the growth, development and health of children, it is extremely important to assess their stability according to the procedures adopted by the banks. It has been observed in this study that lower freezing temperatures (−18°C) further preserve the antioxidant activity. It was found that the amber and transparent vials wrapped with aluminum foil allowed for greater retinol stability of HM, with values of 2.501±0.757 µmol/L and 4.991±0.825 µmol/L, respectively. On the contrary, there was no significant influence on antioxidant activity.

It is suggested that HMB store milk at lower temperatures and use glass jars that block the passage of light.

The purpose of this article is to develop and empirically test an extension to the three‐column format SERVQUAL instrument to evaluate passenger rail service quality.

This article combines the literatures of service quality and rail transport quality to develop the conceptual framework. Three new transport dimensions (comfort, connection, and convenience) are added to the original five SERVQUAL dimensions (assurance, empathy, reliability, responsiveness, and tangibles). The instrument was tested on a passenger line in Wellington, New Zealand. Valid responses to 340 questionnaires were statistically analyzed.

High Cronbach alpha values supported the reliability of the instrument. Content and construct validity are demonstrated also. Regression analysis identified assurance, responsiveness and empathy as the quality factors that had significant effects on overall service quality. In addition, customers indicated that reliability and convenience were also very important factors. Service quality “zones of tolerance” were identified for each dimension and attribute.

There are not many published studies to confirm or compare the results of the three‐column SERVQUAL instrument, either in the general service literature or in the rail passenger literature. Although the five original SERVQUAL dimensions have been tested quite extensively, the three new rail transport dimensions require further development and testing, particularly since the sample was drawn from a single passenger line in New Zealand. More development and empirical testing are required to refine this measure.

Based on the eight dimensions, the practical use of the “zones of tolerance” for identifying areas of quality shortfall and managing quality are illustrated in this paper.

This paper provides one of the few empirical applications of the three‐column SERVQUAL instrument and extends it to make it more suitable for evaluating rail passenger service quality.

The global construction industry has a history of poor project success, with evident and frequent overruns in cost and schedule. This industry is a highly interconnected and complex system in which the components, i.e. suppliers, contractors, end-users, and stakeholders, are delicately linked to each other, the community, and the environment. Therefore, defining and measuring project success can be challenging for sponsors, contractors, and the public. To address this issue, this study develops and analyzes a more comprehensive set of success criteria for medium and large construction projects.

After reviewing the existing literature, this study identified 19 success criteria for medium and large construction projects, which were categorized into five groups. The fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (fuzzy DEMATEL) method was used to gain further insight into the interrelationships between these categories and explain the cause-and-effect relationships among them. Next, this study applied the modified logarithmic least squares method to determine the importance weight of these criteria using the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process.

28 project managers working in the construction industries in Australia and New Zealand participated in this study. Results suggest that “project efficiency” and “impacts on the project team” are cause criteria that affect “business success,” “impacts on stakeholders,” and “impacts on end-users.” Effective risk management emerged as the most crucial criterion in project efficiency, while customer satisfaction and return on investment are top criteria in “impacts on end-users” and “business success.”

Although numerous studies have been conducted on project success criteria, multicriteria analyses of success criteria are rare. This paper presents a comprehensive set of success criteria tailored to medium and large construction projects. The aim is to analyze their interrelationships and prioritize them thoroughly, which will aid practitioners in focusing on the most important criteria for achieving higher success rates.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the theory and practice of supply chain management in terms of how an organisation should structure its supply base to be resilient to supply uncertainties and disruptions. An empirical assessment of supplier response diversity is demonstrated, and the following research question posed: Is response diversity of suppliers positively associated with supply chain resilience, more positively than mere supplier diversity is?

Resilience is operationalised as the maintenance of sales of two food products in 27 southern Finnish retail stores during two distinct disruptions. Response diversity is operationalised as 1) diversity in the personnel sizes of slaughterhouse suppliers of pork under domestic strikes and as 2) evenness in the proportions of imports and domestic supply of food oil under global price volatility. A five-step quantitative assessment is performed.

Response diversity is positively related to the maintenance of sales, more positively than diversity of individual suppliers is.

Response diversity is an advancement to the theory of supply chain resilience and supply base management, and access to big data increases practical potential.

Empirical assessments of response diversity of suppliers provide buyer companies an effective means to enhance their supply base management for resilience.

The proposed approach is useful for teaching and for authorities to enhance food security.

This first assessment of response diversity of supply chain operations presents an important advancement in the theory and practice of supply base management for resilience.