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Organizational decision‐makers require information presented in ways that allow them to make informed decisions on the effectiveness of change interventions. Current statistical methods do not provide enough information about the practical value of organizational interventions to decision‐makers. It is proposed that a strong hypothesis testing strategy provides a partial answer to this problem. The hypothesis testing method presented here uses Bayesian statistics to test null hypotheses other than the traditional Ho = 0. A description of the evaluation of a change project in six manufacturing plants of a large United States corporation is provided. The data from this project is used to show how both statistical and practical significance may be tested using this hypothesis testing method. The applicability of the strong hypothesis testing approach to the assessment of organizational change is then discussed, and recommendations are made for evaluations conducted in field settings.

In order to explore the theory of the spatial layout of urban sports facilities, starting with the analysis of theoretical knowledge, the current situation of public sports facilities in the central urban area of Jinan is analyzed, the various factors affecting the planning layout are discussed, and the strategies and methods of the layout planning of public sports facilities in Jinan are summarized. The results show that the layout planning of public sports facilities should follow the corresponding patterns and principles. The layout of public sports facilities at all levels should fully consider the factors of urban public transport, urban management system, urban public functions, and reasonable service radius of public sports facilities. It can be seen that excessive pursuit of efficiency will lead to excessive service radius and poor accessibility of urban public sports facilities; excessive pursuit of fairness will result in a small and scattered layout pattern, which easily leads to idle waste.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the information content of the variables that can help detecting external and internal imbalances in an early stage. The starting point is the Scoreboard, where nine indicators are chosen in order to increase macroeconomic surveillance of all member states.

This paper provides an overview of the variables that could be informative for imbalances by focusing on EU-27 countries over the period 1960-2010. The number of chosen variables is 28, and they are aggregated in six macro-areas. Therefore, once an imbalance is observed in any of those areas, it is possible to detect in a simple way which specific variable is determining such outcome.

In general, this approach provides reliable signal to the policy-makers about the indicators that can drive imbalances within the area, shedding light on the relationship among the variables included in the analysis, too.

In fact, the empirical results underline some well-known critical issue for several countries, and is largely in line with results obtained in a variety of EC and OECD studies.

The main added value of the approach adopted in this paper is the introduction of more variables than those initially proposed by the European Commission in the construction of the Scoreboard. This provides more information about the macroeconomic situation in each country, preserving, however, the simplicity of the analysis as the variables are aggregated by homogeneous areas.

Prediction of increased risk of suicide is difficult. We had the opportunity to follow up 20 patients receiving electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) because of severe depression. They filled in the Antonovsky sense of coherence test (SOC) and Beck depression inventory (BDI) before and after a series of ECT treatments. Seventeen surviving patients had a mean observation time of 20.6 months, whereas the three deceased patients had 11.3 months. There was a lower mean age at onset of illness and a longer mean duration of disease in the deceased. Other clinical parameters did not differ. The surviving patients had a significant decrease on the BDI from 35 to 18 (P<0.001) and an increase on the SOC test after ECT from 2.45 to 3.19 (P<0.001), indicating both less depression and better functioning in life. The deceased had a larger change on the BDI from 32 to 13, not attaining significance because of the low number of deceased. The SOC test, however, did not increase to a purported normal level; that is, from 2.43 to 2.87. Although the SOC scale has been shown to predict mortality in substance abusers, the SOC test has not been part of earlier reviews of predictive power. Tentatively, a low pathological score on the SOC test may indicate low sense of coherence in life that might increase the propensity for suicide. These preliminary results need replication in larger studies.

Digital transformation (DT) is a priority for the healthcare sector. In many countries, it is still considered in the early stages with an underestimation of its benefits and potentiality. Especially in Italy, little is known about the impact of digitalization – particularly of the Internet of Things (IoT) – on the healthcare sector, for example, in terms of clinician's jobs and patient's experience. Drawing from such premises, the paper aims to focus on an overlooked healthcare area related to the chronic heart diseases field and its relationship with DT. The authors aim at exploring and framing the main variables of remote Monitoring (RM) adoption as a specific archetype of healthcare digitalization, both on patients and medical staff level, by shedding some lights on its overall implementation.

The authors empirically inquiry the RM adoption within the context of the Cardiology Department of the Casilino General Hospital of Rome. To answer our research question, the authors reconstruct the salient information by using induction-type reasoning, direct observation and interviewees with 12 key informants, as well as secondary sources analysis related to the hospital (internal documentation, presentations and technical reports).

According to a socio-technical framework, the authors build a model composed of five main variables related to medical staff and patients. The authors classify such variables into an input-process-output (I-P-O) model. RM adoption driver represents the input; cultural digital divide, structure flexibility and reaction to change serve the process and finally, RM outcome stands for the output. All these factors, interacting together, contribute to understanding the RM adoption process for chronic disease management.

The authors' research presents two main limitations. The first one is related to using a qualitative method, which is less reliable in terms of replication and the interpretive role of researchers. The second limitation, connected to the first one, is related to the study's scale level, which focuses on a mono-centric consistent level of analysis.

The paper offers a clear understanding of the RM attributes and a comprehensive view for improving the overall quality management of chronic diseases by suggesting that clinicians carefully evaluate both hard and soft variables when undertaking RM adoption decisions.

RM technologies could impact on society both in ordinary situations, by preventing patient mobility issues and transport costs, and in extraordinary times (such as a pandemic), where telemedicine contributes to supporting hospitals in swapping in-person visits with remote controls, in order to minimize the risk of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) contagion or the spread of the virus.

The study enriches the knowledge and understanding of RM adoption within the healthcare sector. From a theoretical perspective, the authors contribute to the healthcare DT adoption debate by focusing on the main variables contributing to the DT process by considering both medical staff and patient's role. From a managerial perspective, the authors highlight the main issues for RM of chronic disease management to enable the transition toward its adoption. Such issues range from the need for awareness of the medical staff about RM advantages to the need for adapting the organizational structure and the training and education process of the patients.

SINCE the year 1940, there have appeared two major reports on the Public Library system in Great Britain. The first, “The public library system of Great Britain: a report on its present condition, with proposals for post‐war re‐organisation” by Lionel R. McColvin, appeared in 1942. It suggested sweeping changes in the organisation of the public library system, more radical and far‐reaching than those embodied in the recent recommendations of the Library Association for local government reform. On library co‐operation, the report was equally radical, though certain similarities with the recommendations of the second report are apparent.

Based on the belief that it is behaviour which constitutes risk rather than procedures, the paper focuses on the awareness of behavioural aspects in risk management techniques and the consequences that arise out of this awareness. It questions the traditional thinking that risk management is predominantly a set of procedures in the control of risk. The paper also considers the part played by public policy in managing risk and changing behaviour. The paper concludes that it is behaviour, and not the set of procedures, which is the risky factor; therefore in risk management there is need to focus on developing human behaviour that is capable of being flexible in an event.

This paper develops more specific details on how natural mental‐function might evolve within a wholly‐material brain system, depending entirely on “self‐organization” operating within á reasonably consistent environment. It is assumed that mental development can, in principle, be explained in detailed mechanistic terms. The attempt is then made to give the outlines of such an explanation, drawing on existing physiological knowledge, and considerations of the practical “design” difficulties which such a system would necessarily have to face. RNA‐like codeable strings are seen as the basic memory elements (rather than adaptable synapses). “Concepts” are explained as Piagetian mental models, built up in explained stages due to interaction with the real object, and encoded on the linear elements. Coordination between these elements is seen as biochemical but with the added available intermediary of electrically mediated signals, allowing coordination at a distance. The likelihood that subsequent developmental periods may recapitulate the same overall strategy is considered.