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The media, private citizens and other stakeholders regularly appraise political negotiations, but the character of these negotiations and the reasons for outcomes are little understood. The purpose of this conceptual paper is to discuss this character and explore its implications.

This is a conceptual paper. The author carried out a literature review and used his experiences in supervising political negotiation simulations.

The author argues that political negotiations have several specific characteristics that distinguish them from other kinds of negotiations. Political negotiations, for instance, tend to address often rather fuzzy public interests, involve value conflicts or are simultaneously performed “on stage” and “behind the scenes.” These characteristics may matter, as they can provide structural disincentives to negotiators, who might be tempted to focus on selling outcomes rather than on improving them (“saleability-oriented negotiating”). Hence, the author argues that political negotiators and their stakeholders face the challenge that political contexts may foster weak negotiation performances.

The author proposes an approach to political negotiations’ training that takes the findings of this paper into consideration.

This paper is the first, to the best of the author’s knowledge, to provide a detailed characterization of political negotiations and to discuss related implications.

The purpose of this paper is to apply Bow-tie methodology, a proactive risk assessment technique based on systemic approach, for prospective analysis of the risks threatening patient safety in intensive care unit (ICU).

Bow-tie methodology was used to manage clinical risks threatening patient safety by a multidisciplinary team in the ICU. The Bow-tie analysis was conducted on incidents related to high-alert medications, ventilator associated pneumonia, catheter-related blood stream infection, urinary tract infection, and unwanted extubation.

In total, 48 potential adverse events were analysed. The causal factors were identified and classified into relevant categories. The number and effectiveness of existing preventive and protective barriers were examined for each potential adverse event. The adverse events were evaluated according to the risk criteria and a set of interventions were proposed with the aim of improving the existing barriers or implementing new barriers. A number of recommendations were implemented in the ICU, while considering their feasibility.

The application of Bow-tie methodology led to practical recommendations to eliminate or control the hazards identified. It also contributed to better understanding of hazard prevention and protection required for safe operations in clinical settings.

The exterior surface of a building -façade- as a communicative ground reflects the burdened meaning of its structure. Besides communicative capacity of façade, its independency, individuality and image dominancy can define exterior surface as an autonomous architectural element in terms of both physical and moral freedom. However, in the twenty-first century, this autonomy has undermined by globalization, technology and communication tools which are among the rapidly increasing activities of the century. Location of architecture in economic transactions and financial market has caused a loss in its internal dynamics and value system. The endeavor of providing the visual appeal only through the façade formation has caused the transformation in the dependency of exterior surface being devoid of content and context. The surfaces have been treated as changeable and renewable advertisement grounds concentrating on the visual appeal of the product, whether the aim is marketing, advertising or commercializing. Thus, the link between architecture and social structures has weakened through the commodification of the end product. In this framework, aim of this paper is (a) to make the description of façade, (b) to define the autonomy of façade through its physical and moral independency by examining cases and (c) to put forward a logical argument on the aspects which make façade an element pursuing only the visual pleasure by oversimplifying its significance in the generation of architectural idea.

Seeking to contribute, from an academic perspective, to the construction of a better tomorrow that leaves no segment of society behind, this final chapter presents arguments for building sustainable futures that are possible through regenerative development. We talk about ‘futures’ in the plural, because there is more than one future that could be sustainable. We explain the importance of prioritising positive values involving the environment, society and markets, ethical considerations of doing no harm and the search for regenerative relationships that lead to collective action. We also explain that regeneration goes beyond restoration. This chapter is divided into four parts. First, we discuss regenerative capitalism. Then, we explain why climate action must be collective and must involve business, governments, academia and civic organisations. The third part presents a concise summary of the findings of the studies presented in this book. Finally, we explain why we need a new social contract to achieve the goal of sustainable futures through regenerative development.

THE Report of the Committee on Libraries, which was issued by the University Grants Committee in the summer of 1967, had for long been called the Parry Report after its Chairman, Dr. Thomas Parry, formerly Librarian of the National Library of Wales and at the time the Principal of University College of Wales in Aberystwyth. When it was first set up in June 1963 the terms of reference were as follows:

The purpose of this paper is to identify the existing literature on the wide range of operations research (OR) studies applied to healthcare, and to classify studies based on application type and on the OR technique employed. The scope of the review is limited to studies which have been undertaken in the UK, and to papers published since the year 2000.

In total, 142 high‐quality journal and conference papers have been identified from ISI Web of Knowledge data base for review and analysis.

The findings categorise the OR techniques employed, and analyse the application type, publication trends, funding, and software packages used in the twenty‐first century in UK healthcare. Publication trends indicate an increasing use of OR techniques in UK healthcare. The findings show that, interestingly, the distribution of the OR techniques employed is not uniform; the majority of studies focus on simulation, either as the only technique employed or as one element of a multi‐method approach.

Several studies have focused on the use of simulation in healthcare modelling, but none has methodologically reviewed the use of the full range of OR techniques. This research is likely to benefit healthcare decision makers since it will provide them with an overview of the different studies that have utilised multiple OR techniques for investigating problems in the stated domain.