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1 – 6 of 6This paper seeks to argue that the adoption of a “critical futures” approach to management and content of a Think Tank conducted by the Centre for Military and Veterans' Health…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to argue that the adoption of a “critical futures” approach to management and content of a Think Tank conducted by the Centre for Military and Veterans' Health, Australia, resulted in outcomes conducive to deep level change within the organizations and professional groups involved.
Design/methodology/approach
The Think Tank process focused on challenging mind‐sets and entrenched systemic barriers at all organizational levels through: engagement of leadership throughout the process; broad‐based workshops involving management, professional and operational levels; use of causal layered analysis to encourage critical thinking and ideas development; and use of scenarios to imagine the future.
Findings
At the end of the Think Tank's program, a new framework supporting health services delivery had been envisaged, its components described and the cultural and structural changes needed to make this happen had been identified.
Practical implications
The results of the Think Tank program will provide a basis for action to achieve a preferred future over the next two decades. Such action includes research, horizon scanning, adoption of new technologies, better information collection and management, and training and education programs, and most importantly attitudinal and cultural change. A significant indicator of the impact of the Think Tank is that requests for further work using similar methodologies to move towards the preferred future were quickly received from the military and veterans' sectors.
Originality/value
The Think Tank worked alongside a military command control structure to maximize leverage for change, and to encourage critical and futures‐oriented thinking at all organizational levels. The result has been a comprehensive and strategic vision of the future that went well beyond the outcomes envisaged at the beginning of the process. We are unaware of any other such futures projects which have been conducted in the military and veterans' health sector.
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Negar Ashrafpour, Hakimeh Niky Esfahlan, Samad Aali and Houshang Taghizadeh
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the prerequisites of customer online experience and its outcomes in banks. Brand congruity is an important mediating variable in these…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the prerequisites of customer online experience and its outcomes in banks. Brand congruity is an important mediating variable in these connections.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative approach is used to test the model based on the literature review. The subjects are online customers of an Iranian bank, Bank Mellat, in East Azerbaijan Province, which is famous for its e-banking. Data analysis was conducted using structural equation modeling.
Findings
The results suggested that the prerequisites of customer experience affected customer experience, which was, in turn, divided into two components (affective experience and functional experience). Besides, brand congruity played a moderating role in the relationship between prerequisites and consequences.
Research limitations/implications
In the model, brand congruity was the only moderating variable and other moderating variables were excluded. Further, test results were related to a specific brand.
Practical implications
This paper explores how the behaviors of customers could be improved in the online context by concentrating on determinants of customer online experience. The paper offers implications for the improvement of customer online experience in service marketing, especially in banking.
Originality/value
This is the first study in Iran to use brand congruity as a way of surveying the perquisites and outcomes of online experience in banking. The findings expand the importance of brand congruity in online experience to the entire banking sector.
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Niki Kyriakidou and Sofia Triliva
The purpose of this paper is to focus on how mental health professionals involved in the therapeutic treatment of children in public mental health facilities in Greece experience…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to focus on how mental health professionals involved in the therapeutic treatment of children in public mental health facilities in Greece experience and talk about the impact of the socioeconomic crises on the psychotherapeutic process.
Design/methodology/approach
In all, 21 semi-structured interviews were conducted and phenomenologically informed thematic analysis was used in analysing the data.
Findings
The results coalesced into two all-encompassing thematic structures articulating the following: first, the socioeconomic crises have permeated society and therapeutic praxis like a torrential and chronic rain storm. This has resulted in a deluge in demand for therapeutic services within the public mental health sector; second, mental health professionals describe their positioning and work as “a constant tug-of-war” where they are inundated and often overwhelmed with work, find themselves identifying with service users and taking on several roles simultaneously, and being challenged to find solutions often in dire and complex situations. They describe how creativity and flexibility are in demand in their day-to-day interactions and if they are to intervene in place of a health and welfare system that is faltering. Doing therapeutic work under such circumstances appears to be both emotionally onerous and stimulating with regard to conceptualising new ways of intervening in such complex psychosocial situations.
Research limitations/implications
The study is limited in that only mental health professionals presented their experiences and service users were not included. The findings do highlight how severe austerity policies impact mental health services and peoples’ lives.
Practical implications
The study has implications for policy regarding the provision and organisation of mental health services in contexts where crises and economic turmoil prevail.
Social implications
The results associate severe austerity with major changes in family and community life.
Originality/value
The paper provides insights and implications on how mental health services are impacted by socioeconomic conditions.
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Judith Samuel and Marie Pritchard
This paper describes how one specialist learning disability health service has attempted to increase its focus on meeting the complex needs of people with profound learning…
Abstract
This paper describes how one specialist learning disability health service has attempted to increase its focus on meeting the complex needs of people with profound learning disability (PLD) both with and without additional physical, sensory and medical impairment. Through individual assessment and intervention, carer consultation, training and supervision, research, and audit and advice to management, a multi‐disciplinary group has influenced the development of more proactive community teams for people with learning disability. This is in the context of both the publication of Signposts for Success (NHSE, 1998) and of a changing organisational culture which has embraced essential lifestyle planning, person‐centred teams, supported living and direct payments. The challenge remains of ring‐fencing sufficient resources (of time, skill and equipment), given the high‐profile and competing demands of people with milder learning disabilities but with complex mental health needs and/or challenging behaviour.
LILLEMOR WIDGREN, TERRY HANSTOCK, SHEILA CORRALL, MILDA MALAKUNAS, EDWIN FLEMING, ALLAN BUNCH and WILFRED ASHWORTH
A reference stand among regular stalls offering fruit and vegetables was to be seen in the market‐place of a small town during the library week in Sweden last October. The local…
Abstract
A reference stand among regular stalls offering fruit and vegetables was to be seen in the market‐place of a small town during the library week in Sweden last October. The local public library was marketing its reference service, using reference books as well as a terminal for on‐line searching.
Yushan Gao, Ping Zhang and Shihui Huo
Regeneratively cooled thrust chamber is a key component of reusable liquid rocket engines. Subjected to cyclic thermal-mechanical loadings, its failure can seriously affect the…
Abstract
Purpose
Regeneratively cooled thrust chamber is a key component of reusable liquid rocket engines. Subjected to cyclic thermal-mechanical loadings, its failure can seriously affect the service life of engines. QCr0.8 copper alloy is widely used in thrust chamber walls due to its excellent thermal conductivity, and its mechanical and fatigue properties are essential for the evaluation of thrust chamber life. This paper contributes to the understanding of the damage mechanism and material selection of regeneratively cooled thrust chambers for reusable liquid rocket engines.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, tensile and low-cycle fatigue (LCF) tests were conducted for QCr0.8 alloy, and a Chaboche combined hardening model was established to describe the elastic-plastic behavior of QCr0.8 at different temperatures and strain levels. In addition, an LCF life prediction model was established based on the Manson–Coffin formula. The reliability and accuracy of models were then verified by simulations in ABAQUS. Finally, the service life was evaluated for a regenerative cooling thrust chamber, under the condition of cyclic startup and shutdown.
Findings
In this paper, a Chaboche combined hardening model was established to describe the elastoplastic behavior of QCr0.8 alloy at different temperatures and strain levels through LCF experiments. The parameters of the fitted Chaboche model were simulated in ABAQUS, and the simulation results were compared with the experimental results. The results show that the model has high reliability and accuracy in characterizing the viscoplastic behavior of QCr0.8 alloy.
Originality/value
(1)The parameters of a Chaboche combined hardening constitutive model and LCF life equation were optimized by tensile and strain-controlled fatigue tests of QCr0.8 copper alloy. (2) Based on the Manson–Coffin formula, the reliability and accuracy of constitutive model were then verified by simulations in ABAQUS. (3)Thermal-mechanical analysis was carried out for regeneratively cooled thrust chamber wall of a reusable liquid rocket engine, and the service life considering LCF, creep and ratcheting damage was analyzed.
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