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This paper aims to examine the regional dynamics that further consolidated Israel’s national security in the Middle East in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, reflecting upon the nuclear challenge between Iran and Israel and Iran's expanding activities in the region.

To prove the central argument, the study uses a conceptual framework that centers on deterrence as the main approach used by states to consolidate their influence in the Middle East region.

Iran's nuclear progress and influence in the region has strengthened Israel’s security and fostered an unprecedented open rapprochement led by USA efforts with the Gulf regimes.

The paper draws particular attention to the Iran–Israel nuclear competency, and the Israeli preferred policy options regarding Iranian activities in the region amid turbulent Middle East. In addition, the paper offers insight to the regional dynamics that further consolidated Israel’s national security in the region while maintaining a status of Arab vulnerability and backwardness.

The aim of this study is to provide energy supply chain in Indonesia. Therefore, the best scenario has been created to fulfill energy scarcity by global supply chain partnership. All impact social-economy will be advantages. The input output analysis has been applied in this paper. The impact of output and impact of job creation are possible to describe, significantly. All barriers and opportunities that can be achieve from the lowest price, efficiency and also to reduce unemployment rate during a decade of building nuclear power plants. This research work can be applicable model for future nuclear power plants construction or other type of energy source construction that give significant impact to the economy and business sustainability. Therefore, by this project plan will cover energy needs for domestics and improve the local corporate productivity, especially for nuclear power plants equipment.

The design, construction, and operation of a nuclear power plant (NPP) pose technological and R&D challenges for the organisations concerned. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the sources of innovation and the technological developments throughout the construction and commissioning processes for Atucha II NPP.

Studying a high-risk organisation that is reliable in practice poses several research questions the authors consider in this work. What kind of R&D processes can take place in a mature industry like the nuclear sector in Argentina? How have technological challenges been overcome since the restart of the completion phase of Atucha II NPP? Primary data were mostly gathered through semi-structured interviews. Grounded theory was the methodological approach adopted.

Multiple sources of technological developments arise, an incremental R&D pattern being the most salient. Atucha II NPP seems to be a case of network innovation in a triple helix innovation scheme led by the Argentinian state. In effect, one of the outcomes of the construction of the Atucha II NPP was the development of the Argentinian nuclear sector together with the development of organisational capabilities. In this sense, the third Argentine NPP follows the socio-technical path of the Argentine nuclear industry.

Too little is known about R&D processes in high reliability organisations (HROs), especially in the nuclear sector of a Latin American country such as Argentina as there seem to be no organisational studies analysing HROs’ impact on innovation, reliability, and economic development.

Diseñar, construir y operar una central nucleoeléctrica plantea desafíos tecnológicos y de innovación a las organizaciones involucradas. Este artículo analiza las fuentes de innovación y los desarrollos tecnológicos del proceso de construcción y puesta en marcha de la central nucleoeléctrica Atucha II.

Abordar el estudio de una organización concebida desde la teoría como altamente riesgosa pero confiable en la práctica plantea múltiples interrogantes. ¿Qué tipo de procesos de I+D se pueden dar en una industria madura como la nuclear civil, en Argentina? ¿Cómo se afrontaron los desafíos tecnológicos a partir de la reactivación de un proyecto abandonado durante más de una década? La entrevista semi-estructurada a interlocutores clave fue el instrumento de intervención predominantemente utilizado. Se adoptó el enfoque metodológico de la teoría fundada.

Del análisis del caso surgen diversas fuentes de desarrollos tecnológicos prevaleciendo un patrón de I+D incremental. Se trata de un caso de innovación en red en el marco de un modelo de triple hélice liderado por el Estado. En efecto, una de las resultantes de la construcción de Atucha II es el desarrollo del entramado del sector nuclear argentino junto con el desarrollo de capacidades organizacionales. En ese sentido, la tercera central nuclear de potencia argentina retoma la trayectoria socio-técnica del sector nuclear argentino.

Resultan escasos los conocimientos sobre los procesos de I+D en organizaciones de alta confiabilidad (HROs), especialmente del sector nuclear de un país latinoamericano como Argentina así como se carece de estudios organizacionales que analicen el impacto de las HROs en la innovación, la confiabilidad y el desarrollo económico.

The purpose of this paper is to propose and test a longitudinal country‐people image effect model involving a significant negative international incident between countries; study how such a model changes over time; and study the extent of image recovery in terms of how the offending country, people, and its products are perceived.

Australian consumers were surveyed before, during, and a decade after the French nuclear testing in the Pacific in 1995. Model testing was conducted using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques.

The model was strongly supported in all three‐time points. During the crisis, negative feelings toward France/French rose and consumers' response to French products dropped. Country‐people competency has risen over country‐people character in explaining product evaluations. In the final period, the Australian views on country‐people character and product response had more than recovered. The country‐people character beliefs now play a significant role in influencing product evaluations after the crisis than before, while the impacts of country‐people competency on product evaluation and response have diminished dramatically. Product evaluation is fairly stable over time.

Studies to date have focused on country image at a point in time in relatively stable environmental conditions. The proposed model is helpful in understanding the processes of country‐product image effects through the study of all attitude components and through differentiation of beliefs about country and people production‐related and non‐production related characteristics. The cross‐temporal validation of the model indicates its usefulness for general applicability in country image effects research.

The purpose of this paper can be encapsulated in the following points: identify the research papers published on the topic: competencies and skills necessary for critical infrastructure (CI) cyber-security (CS) protection; determine main focus areas within the identified literature and evaluate the dependency or lack thereof between them: make recommendations for future research.

This study is based on a systematic literature review conducted to identify scientific papers discussing and evaluating competencies, skills and essential attributes needed by the CI workforce for CS and preparedness to attacks and incidents.

After a comparative analysis of the articles reviewed in this study, a variety of skills and competencies was found to be necessary for CS assurance in CIs. These skills have been grouped into four categories, namely, technical, managerial, implementation and soft skills. Nonetheless, there is still a lack of agreement on which skills are the most critical and further research should be conducted on the relation between specific soft skills and CS assurance.

Investigation of which skills are required by industry for specific CS roles, by conducting interviews and sending questionnaire\surveys, would allow consolidating whether literature and industry requirements are equivalent.

Findings from this literature review suggest that more effort should be taken to conciliate current CS curricula in academia with the skills and competencies required for CS roles in the industry.

This study provides a previously lacking current mapping and review of literature discussing skills and competencies evidenced as critical for CS assurance for CI. The findings of this research are useful for the development of comprehensive solutions for CS awareness and training.

The post-Cold War period allowed the U.S. nuclear legacy of ecocide to be declassified and made public. The policy of nuclear secrecy, evident in Russia (see Mironova et al., this volume), was not merely an eastern practice. Western nuclear releases were kept equally under wraps. In England, for example, the Windscale disaster was not fully disclosed until 1987.¹ Likewise, releases from the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, in Washington State, and other U.S. nuclear sites were kept undercover until the same period. The irony was that Americans learned of many of the nuclear skeletons in their closet around the time that Russians learned of theirs (see Mironova et al., this volume). It would appear that glasnost was contagious.

The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the importance of human skills in project management success and the apparent emphasis placed on this within the context of university education.

An investigation into the effectiveness of a British Project Management Professional Development Programme (PMPDP) case study is reported. Using as a benchmark, the core behavioural competencies outlined in the International Project Management Association (IPMA) International Competence Baseline version 3, the paper investigates the extent to which the knowledge gained from the PMPDP effects the behaviours of delegates and graduates. The soft skills of a control group are also explored.

The results deal with certain improvements in most of the behavioural competencies of delegates and graduates which the control group could not develop in the same way.

The sample is drawn from the PMPDP consortium comprising companies from the UK aerospace, infrastructure, oil and gas, nuclear and information technology sectors. It would not be valid to generalise the effects of the case study programme on other industries (i.e. automobile, health, retail and insurance) without considering the unique character of that particular industry pertaining to the management of projects.

The research, by demonstrating the effectiveness of continuing professional development programmes, has significant implications for the UK organisations which are eagerly interested to know how their investments into project management education are benefiting the companies.

The link between education, competence development and corporate performance seems tenuous. This research, by spitting out the soft benefits of CPD programmes, reasonably contributes in providing businesses a case to justify training and education investments.

This paper aims to analyse the necessity and sufficiency of researchers’ and engineers’ competencies in the area of science and technology, given oncoming technological changes. Five key questions are addressed concerning the skills and abilities of PhD holders: What competencies do researchers have at present? What competencies are currently used? How valuable are they at the present time? Will they be in demand in 10-15 years? And how relevant are these competencies for working on projects in priority areas of science and technology development?

The analysis was based on data collected by two empirical studies conducted in 2010-2013. A survey of researchers and engineers described the issues with competencies related to the areas of science, technology and innovation. Study among 1,884 PhD holders employed in research institutes, universities and enterprises was carried out. In addition, 30 in-depth interviews were also conducted with experts representing the most promising areas of science and technology development in Russia – nanotechnology, biotechnology and the power engineering sectors.

The results from quantitative and qualitative analyses indicate that general competencies such as fundamental theoretical knowledge, ability to work on projects, teamwork and creativity will be in demand in 10-15 years, rather than highly specialized skills. Employers tend to develop needed skills of researchers involved in innovations directly on the workplace, during the realization of a project.

This is the first paper to use solid broad statistical evidence to outline a clear idea of the technological and scientific research competencies that would be required in the future.

Presents a perspective on vocational learning that proposes that vocational competence is dependent upon dispositional development, which in turn, results in moves towards maturation. Reports research with unemployed adults engaging in vocational training and resulting in four findings. First, while training packages describe assessable outcomes in competency‐referenced terms, trainees describe learning outcomes in non‐competency referenced terms. Second, vocational trainees describe their learning in terms of dispositional outcomes; that is, in terms of values, interests and attitudes. Third, dispositions can be categorised in terms of maturational concepts. Fourth, trainees made moves towards maturation as a result of CBT/NEIS training over the six‐week period of the course. The findings have important ramifications for all future VET/CBT trainees since it is the researcher's formative theory that maturation is a subset of competence in every vocational skill domain.