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1 – 10 of over 8000Georgios Exarchakos, Nick Antonopoulos and James Salter
The purpose of this paper is to propose a model for sharing network capacity on demand among different underloaded and overloaded P2P ROME‐enabled networks. The paper aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose a model for sharing network capacity on demand among different underloaded and overloaded P2P ROME‐enabled networks. The paper aims to target networks of nodes with highly dynamic workload fluctuations that may experience a burst of traffic and/or massive nodes' failure rates.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper shows that when locally available network capacity is not adequate for the workload requirements, the excessive capacity needs to be sought into other networks with more availability. A random flat P2P overlay of the ROME servers is used for the discovery and movement of nodes between two networks. Centralised or decentralised DHT‐based directories of available nodes cannot cope with high workload fluctuations and frequent join/leave actions of nodes. The paper also introduces semantics to refine the answers to the ones with the most appropriate nodes for the requesting network and to find the requested capacity faster and more efficiently. The behaviour of the model is simulated to evaluate with several experiments the model based on some metrics.
Findings
The paper finds that all the user queries of an overloaded underlying network are dropped if G‐ROME is not used but as G‐ROME overlay satisfies the requested capacity of a ROME server, its Chord ring size increases. In case of uniformly distributed and/or plentiful capacity over the overlay, shallow searches may give very good results. On the contrary, deeper searches are required for scarce capacity but the number of messages increases almost exponentially.
Originality/value
This paper provides a model for moving the required resources to the requesting job environment rather than the job and its context to the resource.
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Stefano Ferracuti, Benedetta Barchielli, Christian Napoli, Anna Maria Giannini and Giovanna Parmigiani
Violence against health-care workers represents a public health issue that affects individuals, organizations and may have legal consequences. In Italy, workplace violence (WPV…
Abstract
Purpose
Violence against health-care workers represents a public health issue that affects individuals, organizations and may have legal consequences. In Italy, workplace violence (WPV) constitutes a “sentinel event”, defined as a particularly serious, potentially avoidable adverse event, which may result in death or serious harm to health-care workers, and which leads to a loss of public confidence in the health-care system. In 2007, the Italian Ministry of Health issued Recommendation No. 8, “Preventing acts of violence against health workers”, inviting each Italian Hospital to develop procedures and guidelines for dealing with and preventing acts of aggression. This study aimed at investigating the appropriateness of the procedures and guidelines developed by the Italian hospitals.
Design/methodology/approach
Procedures on preventing violence against health-care workers published by 29 Italian Hospitals between 2007 and 2020 were collected retrospectively via Web searches and further evaluated according to their compliance with the 2007 Italian ministerial recommendations.
Findings
A total of 9 documents out of 29 were fully compliant with the 2007 Ministerial Recommendation, 18 were partially compliant, while 2 were totally non-compliant. A total of 24 documents explicitly addressed the management of verbal and physical aggression, whereas 20 set appropriate training on de-escalation techniques for nurses and medical staff. Psychological support was fully considered in 11 procedures, partially considered in 14, while not included at all in 4.
Originality/value
Public procedures on preventing violence against health-care workers in Italian hospitals are scarcely compliant with the Ministerial Recommendations. The absence of specific instructions to address the needs at territorial level and the lack of support provided to health-care workers is a weak point in the effective management of WPV.
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Kostas Skliamis and Dirk J. Korf
The purpose of this paper is to: describe and contextualize the aims and distinctive and common characteristics of cannabis festivals in countries with different cannabis…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to: describe and contextualize the aims and distinctive and common characteristics of cannabis festivals in countries with different cannabis policies; assess characteristics of participants; identify reasons to attend cannabis festivals; explore to which extent cannabis festivals contribute to the social and cultural acceptance of cannabis, as perceived by attendees.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach incorporates three methods of data collection in the research design; quantitative research among 1,355 participants, participant observation and interviews with the organizers.
Findings
Cannabis festivals in Amsterdam, Berlin, Rome and Athens have common features but also maintain and reproduce local, social and cultural characteristics. Cannabis festivals, as well as their attendees, represent heterogeneous categories. The style of the festival – music festival or march combined with music – affects the main reason for attendance by the participants. In cannabis festivals more similar to music festivals the majority of the respondents attended for entertainment while at the cannabis festivals in the form of a march combined with music the majority attended for protest. Furthermore, increasing age, residency and the high frequency of cannabis use are factors that led the participants to attend for protest.
Originality/value
The research on cannabis festivals is limited. This paper not only explores the aims of cannabis festivals in four capital cities of Europe and the characteristics of their attendees including motivations, but also offers interesting insights for understanding the ways in which political and social constructions like cannabis festivals shape attitudes, perception and behaviors around cannabis use.
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Avant d'examiner les aspects essentiels du mouvement touristique à Rome, ainsi que de l'ensemble des activités et des organisations qui s'y rattachent, nous devons considérer…
Abstract
Avant d'examiner les aspects essentiels du mouvement touristique à Rome, ainsi que de l'ensemble des activités et des organisations qui s'y rattachent, nous devons considérer rapidement la nature particulière des attraits touristiques de la ville. En effet, chaque centre touristique a sa physionomie particulière, en fonction de laquelle devront être étudiés les aspects et les éléments permettant de formuler de nouveaux programmes et de nouvelles initiatives en vue d'une plus vaste mise en valeur de son potentiel. Il y a des localités à caractère essentiellement climatique, des localités panoramiques, des localités artistiques, historiques ou thermales et ainsi de suite. Leur importance s'accroît tout naturellement, lorsque deux ou plusieurs de ces caractéristiques s'additionnent.
The Roman Empire illustrates how change occurs in complex social systems. An analysis of: the effects of transformational leadership and transactional leadership styles in complex…
Abstract
The Roman Empire illustrates how change occurs in complex social systems. An analysis of: the effects of transformational leadership and transactional leadership styles in complex social systems; and the relationship between leadership style and the social context is conducted. Julius Caesar is shown to have failed to create a new method of governing Rome. Augustus Caesar, however, created the basis for the Roman Empire. Their careers show that change which is incremental and does not violate the core culture of a system is more likely to transform a social system than more radical, transformational methods.
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Domenico Campisi, Paolo Mancuso, Stefano Luigi Mastrodonato and Donato Morea
Within the service sectors, Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS) play an important role in local and regional economies as sources of competitive advantages and providing…
Abstract
Purpose
Within the service sectors, Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS) play an important role in local and regional economies as sources of competitive advantages and providing knowledge-intensive inputs to the business process of small and medium-sized enterprises. This study aims to analyze the changes in financial performance of KIBS industry in Italy over the period from 2012 to 2017.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper examines the efficiency of the KIBS firms by applying data envelopment analysis (DEA) to compute the Malmquist Productivity Index for the period under investigation. The DEA-based Malmquist productivity analysis is applied at firm level using a sample consisting 1.674 companies, representative of the Italian KIBS sector and related to three different NACE activity code (72-computing services; 73-research and development; 74 other professional business activities). The efficiency measures are then used to characterize KIBS firm financial performance through the analysis of average productivity patterns grouped by Italian geographical regions. The Malmquist productivity measures are decomposed into two components: efficiency change and technical change index. The overall analysis is coupled with a financial ratio analysis approach, selecting return on equity (ROE) and leverage ratio as descriptor to validate the results and better characterize differences in efficiency patterns among geographic-based groups of KIBS companies.
Findings
Over the period 2015-2017, the results show that the average annual growth of the overall Malmquist productivity index was positive in nine Italian regions that represent only 17 per cent of the total KIBS firms selected. On the other side, a decrease of the average performance measure is observed for the five geographic areas that contribute to 75.7 per cent of the total sample. In general, the technological change component, as a measure of innovation, strongly limits the productivity growth behavior of KIBS industry for all geographic regions. The use of selected financial ratio does not provide additional insight to the performance investigation and further in-depth studies are needed to better evaluate the correlation between average productivity results and regional business dynamics.
Practical implications
The study investigates the applicability of DEA-based Malmquist indices to the analysis of the productivity behavior of KIBS industry at regional level. It will be of value to provide first evidence to the policymakers to understand industry growth pattern in time frame selected and relate them to additional business factors to detect specific industry constraints.
Originality/value
The analysis in this paper contributes to the existing body of knowledge on industry performance measurement by applying specific analytical techniques to the productivity of Italian KIBS companies. The paper also contributes to the limited body of academic literature investigating KIBS industry at national level proposing a methodological framework that constitutes a first attempt to track average productivity behavior at regional level.
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Antonio Maone, Rossella Berardi and Olga Spagnuolo
The rigid linear model of community mental health care in specialist temporary accommodation in Rome failed to deliver the progress in service user outcomes. A radical review and…
Abstract
The rigid linear model of community mental health care in specialist temporary accommodation in Rome failed to deliver the progress in service user outcomes. A radical review and co‐production exercise by staff, service users and relatives commissioned a flexible recovery‐based model that better met the needs of people in Rome.
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Daniel J. Svyantek, Kevin T. Mahoney and Linda L. Brown
This paper takes the stance that there are two criteria for evaluation of diversity in organizations. These criteria are (a) competition with other organizations and (b) the…
Abstract
This paper takes the stance that there are two criteria for evaluation of diversity in organizations. These criteria are (a) competition with other organizations and (b) the maintenance of the organization across time. Organizations which seek diversity without considering its effects on competitive and maintenance goals place themselves at a disadvantage vis‐a‐vis their competitors. Two case examples, the Persian and Roman Empires, are used to show how different diversity management practices affect organizations. Differences between the two empires are related to the degree to which they allowed for inclusion of diverse cultural groups. The Persian Empire was exclusionary. The Roman Empire was inclusionary. Roman inclusionary practices were based on merit. Inclusion by merit is shown to lead to increased organizational effectiveness primarily in terms of increased organizational resiliency across time.
Paola Maria Anna Paniccia, Gianpaolo Abatecola and Silvia Baiocco
How does the interaction between time and knowledge affect the evolution of organizations? Past research in organizational evolution has mostly investigated time and knowledge as…
Abstract
Purpose
How does the interaction between time and knowledge affect the evolution of organizations? Past research in organizational evolution has mostly investigated time and knowledge as two separate variables. In contrast, theoretical perspectives integrating these variables are still seemingly scant. The authors believe that filling this literature gap needs attention. Thus, this study aims to contribute by developing a conceptual framework.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a conceptual study. The framework is centred on the concept of “co-evolutionary time”, which the authors explain through a business example from the tourism industry. Supported by a narrative-based style, from a methodological point of view the framework is featured by the attempt to synthesize specific, extant literature into new theoretical development.
Findings
As its main theoretical contribution, the co-evolutionary time suggests how firms can adapt in a way that, from an evolutionary perspective, proves fitting both in terms of contents and methods, thus opening possibilities for new long-term social construction and reconstruction. As its main practical contribution, co-evolutionary time can constitute not only a temporary source of organizational success and competitive advantage but also an agent of enduring change and long-term business survival.
Originality/value
As its main novelty, the framework is developed through merging two literature streams. In particular, the authors first consider the literature about time, with a focus on its objective and subjective dimensions. The authors then consider the literature about organizational evolution, with a focus on the co-evolutionary nature of the firm/environment relationship.
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Paola Paoloni, Antonietta Cosentino, Simona Arduini and Martina Manzo
This study aims to explore how knowledge management (KM) influences the intellectual capital (IC) of organizations operating in health care and how IC and knowledge-sharing (KS…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore how knowledge management (KM) influences the intellectual capital (IC) of organizations operating in health care and how IC and knowledge-sharing (KS) can contribute to the achievement of sustainable development in health systems. Notably, this study focuses on telemedicine, investigating how relational capital contributes to KS in the context of remote care services.
Design/methodology/approach
To comply with the paper’s aim, the authors use a qualitative research method based on a polar case study suitable for IC in health-care studies. More precisely, this study analyzes a nonprofit organization that, for over 15 years, has offered a free multispecialist teleconsultation service to answer medical questions from the most disadvantaged places in the world.
Findings
The findings show that the KM significantly contributes to the IC of organizations. Indeed, it improves the data management and transmission system, it increases performance flexibility in times of resource scarcity without compromising business objectives and it can attract new human resources even when not motivated by selfish goals (volunteer physicians).
Research limitations/implications
This research contributes to studies on IC in health care by focusing on the contribution of telemedicine to the creation of IC. In particular, this work emphasizes the ability of telemedicine to develop and share knowledge in disadvantaged areas of the world. Moreover, in the current context, still strongly permeated by the health emergency generated by the pandemic and recently by the war in Eastern Europe, the importance of such assistance and diagnosis grows.
Practical implications
The conclusions the research findings lead may guide policymakers toward a policy supporting telemedicine. It would alleviate general health-care costs and completely revolutionize light health care’s role. Moreover, reducing socioeconomic distances, improving access to care and applying innovative technologies for sharing outcomes foster balanced socioeconomic development and knowledge dissemination.
Originality/value
This research has shown how telemedicine represents a new successful business model even in times of crisis. The organizational model makes it possible to offer cutting-edge specialized care, contain costs, easily reach disadvantaged areas of the planet, strengthen the skills and autonomy of the most backward countries through a process of KS and push the structures operating there to interact with those in advanced countries.
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