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This paper aims to investigate the potential role of the Emergency Department (ED) layout in enhancing its functionality. It applies a performance-based building design (PBBD) approach to evaluate emergency department functionality and efficiency as the most important criterion behind the success of the hospital service.

A quantitative approach based on space syntax theory was adopted through four syntactic maps (isovist, axial, convex, and visibility graph analysis VGA), to depict three case studies in Erbil city hospitals by analyzing three different layout typologies of ED such as Podular, Ballroom and Linear through measuring wayfinding, accessibility, privacy, visibility, time spend-length of stay and corridor circulation as layout factors.

This paper provides empirical insights on how the ED layout typology factors significantly affect producing functionally efficient EDs, whereas the Ballroom ED layout typology is the most effective compared to others. Given the importance of ED in enhancing a healthy environment for patients and staff, study findings are valuable resource for health designers, who play a critical role in ensuring patients enjoy a healthy and safe environment.

This paper has attempted to identify the appropriate layout of ED for effective functional performance in hospitals. A syntactical analysis between three different ED layout typologies based on the layout variables has been analysed using the PBBD approach. There has been no attempt carried out so far to analyse the functional performance of the PBBD approach in different ED layouts using layout variables.

New Public Management-informed pay-for-performance policies are common in public sectors internationally but can be controversial with delivery agents. More attention is needed on contingent forms of bottom-up implementation of challenging policies, in emerging market economies, for professionals who face tensions between policies and their codes of practice. Street-level bureaucrats (SLBs) mediate policy implementation through discretionary practices; health professionals have enhanced space for discretion based on autonomy derived from professional status. The authors explore policy implementation, adaptation and resistance by physicians, focusing on payments for health workers in Turkey.

The researchers conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews with 12 physicians in Turkish hospitals and thematic analysis of interview transcripts, using a blended (deductive and inductive) approach.

The policy fostered discretionary behaviours such as cherry-picking (high volume, low risk procedures) and pro-social rule-breaking (e.g. “upcoding”), highlighting clinical autonomy to navigate within policy restrictions. Respondents described damage to relationships with patients and colleagues, and dissonance between professional practice and perverse policy incentives, sometimes leading to disengagement from clinical work. Policymakers were perceived to be detached from the realities experienced by SLBs. Tensions between the policy and professional values risked alienating physicians.

This study utilises participant self-reported perceptions of discretionary behaviours. Further work may adopt alternative methods to explore the relationship between self-reporting and observed practice.

The authors contribute to research on differentiated, contingent roles of groups with high scope for discretion in bottom-up implementation, pointing to the potential for policy-professional role conflicts between top-down P4P policies, and the values and codes of practice of professional SLBs.

This paper aims to assess whether incubation affects the technical efficiency of innovative firms after entering the market. The study of efficiency allows firms to understand how well resources have been used in production processes. The research intends to contribute to the literature on the performance of incubated firms.

This study estimates the relative efficiency of innovative firms adopting a DEA-based two-stage semi-parametric method. Incubation, firm age and initial capital are used for explaining the relative performance of previously incubated firms compared to non-incubated ones over a six-year period of activity. This research focuses on Italian innovative firms using a large sample of companies.

Results show that incubators have a positive and significant effect on efficiency for firms that have been in the market for more than two years. Efficiency also improves with age and with the level of initial capital of the firm.

This analysis is limited to the quantitative dimension of inputs as reported in the balance sheets, without qualitative considerations.

Findings enhance firms' understanding of the role of incubators as neutral places to develop a business culture of efficiency. From an empirical standpoint, this study provides useful insights to start-uppers who intend to attend incubation programs. Overall, incubators matter to the extent that they enable new firms, net of those that fail to survive in the first two years of activity, to improve their efficiency in the use of inputs. This research also suggests incubators consider the start-ups’ potential of being efficient.

Findings provide tips to policymakers when they are called upon to propose funding programs to support prominent firms entering the business scalability.

This study contributes to the literature on the relative performance of post-incubated firms, highlighting the efficiency frontier analysis. This methodological approach is relatively new in this field. It allows researchers to study the innovative firms' performance in relative terms, that is with respect to the input level. It integrates the performance-based with efficiency frontier analysis. Also, this study reinforces the idea that incubators prepare start-ups to develop capacities and managerial skills, which will be useful in post-incubation life to improve their cost competitiveness.

This study aims at examining the effect of total quality management (TQM) practices on the financial performance ISO 9001:2008 certified manufacturing companies in Ethiopia with a mediating role of operational performance.

A cross-sectional survey research was conducted to meet the purpose. Data used for the study were solely primary data and were collected from the top and middle-level managers of different departments and senior experts working under the production/operation and quality management units of the target organizations. Data were obtained from 302 participants working in 73 companies using a self-administered questionnaire. Structural equation modelling (SEM) technique was applied to test the hypotheses positing the structural link between TQM practices, operational performance and financial performance.

The findings show that TQM practices had a significant direct and positive effect on both operational performance and financial performance and that operational performance significantly affects financial performance. The bootstrapping output of the mediation analysis also established that operational performance partially mediates the causal link between TQM practices and financial performance.

The empirical evidence provided by the present study provides helpful insights and guidance to managers to make a good deal of investment in maintaining enhanced performance outcomes under the operations stream that eventually would lead to better financial outcome.

Being one of the first attempts to empirically examine the structural linkages among TQM practices, operational performance and financial performance in Ethiopian manufacturing organizations, this paper provides strategic insights on the importance of implementing TQM practices in a holistic manner for the achievement of better performance outcomes.

The purpose of this paper is the dynamic analysis and seismic damage assessment of steel sheet pile quay wall with inelastic behavior underground motions using several accelerograms.

Finite element analysis is conducted using the Plaxis 2D software to generate the numerical model of quay wall. The extension of berth 25 at the port of Bejaia, located in northeastern Algeria, represents a case study. Incremental dynamic analyses are carried out to examine variation of the main response parameters under seismic excitations with increasing Peak ground acceleration (PGA) levels. Two global damage indices based on the safety factor and bending moment are introduced to assess the relationship between PGA and the damage levels.

The results obtained indicate that the sheet pile quay wall can safely withstand seismic loads up to PGAs of 0.35 g and that above 0.45 g, care should be taken with the risk of reaching the ultimate moment capacity of the steel sheet pile. However, for PGAs greater than 0.5 g, it was clearly demonstrated that the excessive deformations with material are likely to occur in the soil layers and in the structural elements.

The main contribution of the present work is a new double seismic damage index for a steel sheet pile supported quay wharf. The numerical modeling is first validated in the static case. Then, the results obtained by performing several incremental dynamic analyses are exploited to evaluate the degradation of the soil safety factor and the seismic capacity of the pile sheet wall. Computed values of the proposed damage indices of the considered quay wharf are a practical helping tool for decision-making regarding the seismic safety of the structure.

While previous operations management literature acknowledges the positive influence of Lean and Industry (I4.0) on performance, recent studies examining the synergy between these two factors have produced inconsistent and contradictory results. Therefore, this study aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the effect of Lean and I4.0 synergy on firm performance.

This study utilised a meta-analysis approach, examining 23 empirical studies exploring multiple effects of the Lean and I4.0 synergy on firm performance. Multiple subgroup analyses were conducted to assess the contradictory outcomes and identify in what conditions such synergy may achieve performance.

The results affirm the prevailing positivist perspective among most scholars regarding the positive influence of the Lean and I4.0 synergy on firm performance. However, the overall effect size derived from the studies indicates a weak relationship, suggesting that this synergy alone is not the sole determinant factor of firm performance. In addition, the subgroup analyses reveal the presence of contingent conditions that may affect the performance outcomes when integrating Lean and I4.0, as most effects exhibit a weak relationship.

This study represents the first meta-analysis investigating the relationship between the Lean and I4.0 synergy on firm performance. By shedding light on the contradictory effects often depicted in the operations management literature, this study provides a critical reflection for researchers who tend to adopt an overly optimistic view of such synergy.

This research study focuses on investigating the seismic performance of non-straight beams in steel structures and exploring the mechanism by which plastic hinges are formed within these beams. The findings contribute to the understanding of their behaviour under seismic loads and offer insights into their potential for enhancing the lateral resistance of the structure. The abstract of the study highlights the significance of corners in structural plans, where non-coaxial columns, diagonal elements or beams deviating from a straight path are commonly observed. Typically, these non-straight beams are connected to the columns using pinned connections, despite their unknown seismic behaviour. Recognizing the importance of generating plastic hinges in special moment resisting frames and the lack of previous research on the involvement of these non-straight beams, this study aims to address this knowledge gap.

This study examines the seismic behaviour and plastic hinge formation of non-straight beams in steel structures. Non-straight beams are beams that connect non-coaxial columns and diagonal elements, or deviate from a linear path. They are usually pinned to the columns, and their seismic contribution is unknown. A critical case with a 12-m non-straight beam is analysed using Abaqus software. Different models are created with varying cross-section shapes and connection types between the non-straight beams. The models are subjected to lateral monotonic and cyclic loads in one direction. The results show that non-straight beams increase the lateral stiffness, strength and energy dissipation of the models compared to disconnected beams that act as two cantilevers.

The analysis results reveal several key findings. The inclusion of non-straight beams in the models leads to increased lateral stiffness, strength and energy dissipation compared to the scenario where the beams are disconnected and act as two cantilever beams. Plastic hinges are formed at both ends of the non-straight beam when a 3% drift is reached, contributing to energy damping and introducing plasticity into the structure. These results strongly suggest that non-straight beams play a significant role in enhancing the lateral resistance of the system. Based on the seismic analysis results, this study recommends the utilization of non-straight beams in special moment frames due to the formation of plastic hinges within these beams and their effective participation in resisting lateral seismic loads. This research fills a critical gap in understanding the behaviour of non-straight beams and provides valuable insights for structural engineers involved in the design and analysis of steel structures.

The authors believe that this research will greatly contribute to the knowledge and understanding of the seismic performance of non-straight beams in steel structures.

This study explores the critical success factors (CSFs) for Security Education, Training and Awareness (SETA) program effectiveness. The questionable effectiveness of SETA programs at changing employee behavior and an absence of empirical studies on the CSFs for SETA program effectiveness is the key motivation for this study.

This exploratory study follows a systematic inductive approach to concept development. The methodology adopts the “key informant” approach to give voice to practitioners with SETA program expertise. Data are gathered using semi-structured interviews with 20 key informants from various geographic locations including the Gulf nations, Middle East, USA, UK and Ireland.

In this study, the analysis of these key informant interviews, following an inductive open, axial and selective coding approach, produces 11 CSFs for SETA program effectiveness. These CSFs are mapped along the phases of a SETA program lifecycle (design, development, implementation and evaluation) and nine relationships identified between the CSFs (within and across the lifecycle phases) are highlighted. The CSFs and CSFs' relationships are visualized in a Lifecycle Model of CSFs for SETA program effectiveness.

This research advances the first comprehensive conceptualization of the CSFs for SETA program effectiveness. The Lifecycle Model of CSFs for SETA program effectiveness provides valuable insights into the process of introducing and sustaining an effective SETA program in practice. The Lifecycle Model contributes to both theory and practice and lays the foundation for future studies.

This paper aims to focus on solving the path optimization problem by modifying the probabilistic roadmap (PRM) technique as it suffers from the selection of the optimal number of nodes and deploy in free space for reliable trajectory planning.

Traditional PRM is modified by developing a decision-making strategy for the selection of optimal nodes w.r.t. the complexity of the environment and deploying the optimal number of nodes outside the closed segment. Subsequently, the generated trajectory is made smoother by implementing the modified Bezier curve technique, which selects an optimal number of control points near the sharp turns for the reliable convergence of the trajectory that reduces the sum of the robot’s turning angles.

The proposed technique is compared with state-of-the-art techniques that show the reduction of computational load by 12.46%, the number of sharp turns by 100%, the number of collisions by 100% and increase the velocity parameter by 19.91%.

The proposed adaptive technique provides a better solution for autonomous navigation of unmanned ground vehicles, transportation, warehouse applications, etc.