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Design an innovative Flipped classroom’s Delivery through virtual laboratory.

The fundamental framework of the present investigation is a Participatory Action Research (PAR) design. By merging the impetus of “action.” with the inclusiveness of “participation,” PAR establishes a “network” for collaborative teaching or research. PAR is pertinent to our research because it facilitates the participation of infrastructures and individuals in formulating a critical community. This community encourages critical self-reflection, promotes accountability, redistributes authority, and cultivates confidence in research. PAR fosters constructive transformation in educational environments by utilizing participants' combined insights and experiences to establish a structure for substantive dialogue and proactive measures.

As virtual laboratories are becoming essential in 21st-century science education, we found groundbreaking evidence that can support our novel approach to enhance the quality and equity in education. Our results show that virtual labs engage scientific goals and practices, develop scientific literacy, foster scientific inquiry and problem-solving, and promote metacognition. The effects of the virtual laboratory can develop high self-efficacy and positive attitudes among students. It improves students' laboratory performance, which we noted from laboratory activities, simulations, and long exam results.

The study offers groundbreaking account to depict epistemic fluency aided by virtual laboratory.

The Canadian Society for Medical Laboratory Science (CSMLS) Peer Support Project was a formal and virtual peer support group pilot for medical laboratory professionals in Canada to determine its application for CSMLS members and obtain information regarding the current state of medical laboratory professionals’ mental health, well-being and burnout. CSMLS learned what is contributing to stress at work, coping strategies and barriers to accessing support or help for their mental health among medical laboratory professionals.

The qualitative and exploratory pilot study examined medical laboratory professionals from Canada. Two peer support groups were facilitated in April and May 2022 by a trained mental health clinician. Peer support delivery was virtual and delivered via Zoom. The purposive sample featured medical laboratory technologists, Educators and Supervisors/Directors who were CSMLS members. The qualitative analysis was conducted via analytical memos and incorporated both manual and NVivo software analysis.

Overall themes were identified within the data analysis and included barriers to mental health care; increased stigma for mental health; mixed messaging regarding mental health; feeling invisible; medical laboratory professionals would like to manage stress better but their increasing workload demands and challenges with scheduling and staffing add to their stress. Participants also highlighted their role and its context using metaphors such as “the silent firefighters”, and “the Bass Guitar of the Hospital”. Based on the evaluations, the peer support sessions encouraged participants to address their own mental health, validate their experiences and increase their comfort level in discussing mental health.

It identified a potential resource for medical laboratory professionals and determined that further mental health resources would be beneficial for their field. It also identified their strong commitment to patient care and their role as a medical laboratory professional.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to examine peer support as a mental health resource for medical laboratory professionals. Additionally, its focus was on a Canadian population with virtual delivery.

This study aims to dissect the multifaceted impact of ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation, specifically within civil engineering testing and calibration laboratories. To achieve this, it intends to explore several key objectives: identifying the prominent benefits of accreditation to laboratory performance, understanding the advantages conferred through participation in proficiency testing schemes, assessing the role of accreditation in enhancing laboratory competitiveness, examining the primary challenges encountered during the accreditation process, investigating any discernible adverse effects of accreditation on laboratory performance and evaluating whether the financial cost of accreditation justifies the resultant profitability.

This study employs a qualitative approach through semi-structured interviews with 23 industry professionals—including technical managers, quality managers, external auditors and clients. Thematic analysis, guided by Braun and Clarke’s six-stage paradigm, was utilized to interpret the data, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of the accreditation’s impact.

Findings reveal that accreditation significantly enhances operational processes, fosters quality awareness and facilitates continuous improvement, contributing to greater client satisfaction. In addition, standardized operations and rigorous quality controls further result in enhanced performance metrics, such as staff capability and measurement accuracy. However, the study also uncovers the challenges of accreditation, including high resource costs and bureaucratic hurdles that can inhibit innovation and slow routine operations. Importantly, the research underscores that the impact of accreditation on profitability is not universal, but contingent upon various factors like sector-specific regulations and market demand. The study also highlights sector-specific variations in the role of accreditation as a marketing tool and differing perceptions of its value among clients. It further emphasizes the psychological stress of high-stakes evaluations during audits.

This study represents the first in-depth investigation into the impact of ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation on civil engineering testing and calibration laboratories, directly contributing to the enhancement of their quality and operational standards. Providing actionable insights for laboratories, it underscores the importance of weighing accreditation costs and benefits and the necessity for a tailored approach to the unique market and regulatory landscapes they operate in.

This study aims to explore employee green behavior in higher education institution (HEI) laboratories in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

A qualitative approach was used to explore the green behavior experiences of individuals working in HEI laboratories. In-depth interviews were conducted with nine participants selected via purposive sampling. Thematic analysis was performed on the collected data using ATLAS.ti 9 software.

The analysis of the collected data identified five themes related to the green behavior in HEI laboratories. These themes, ranked in descending order of frequency, are conserving, avoiding harm, transforming, influencing others and taking initiative. The conserving theme accounted for one-third of the subcodes, as did the avoiding harm theme. The final one-third of subcodes was distributed among the remaining three themes.

This study conducted virtual interviews and coincidentally interviewed only female participants. The findings contribute to the existing literature on the themes of green behavior among laboratory staff in HEIs and provide valuable insights for university managers and sustainability coordinators in shaping policies to promote environmentally friendly practices and address negative practices.

Despite existing studies on environmental practices in various workplace settings, the exploration of green behavior in HEI laboratories in the Kingdom of Bahrain from the employee perspective remains limited. This study presents a significant opportunity for researchers to explore sustainability in HEI laboratories and for policymakers to develop corresponding strategies.

The paper develops a model for enhancing R&D productivity for Indian public funded laboratories. The paper utilizes the productivity data of five Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) laboratories for analysis and to form the constructs of the model.

The weighted average method was employed for analyzing the rankings of survey respondents pertaining to the significant measures enhancing R&D involvement of researchers and significant non-R&D jobs. The authors have proposed a model of productivity. Various individual, organizational and environmental constructs related to the researchers working in the CSIR laboratories have been outlined that can enhance R&D productivity of researchers in Indian R&D laboratories. Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to find the predictability of the productivity model.

The organizational factors have a crucial role in enhancing the R&D outputs of CSIR laboratories. The R&D productivity of researchers can be improved through implementing the constructs of the proposed model of productivity.

The R&D productivity model can be adapted by the R&D laboratories to enhance researchers’ R&D involvement, increased R&D outputs and achieving self-sustenance in long run.

The R&D laboratories can initiate exercises to explore the most relevant factors and measures to enhance R&D productivity of their researchers. The constructs of the model can function as a guideline to introduce the most preferable research policies in the laboratory for overall mutual growth of laboratory and the researchers.

Hardly any studies have been found that have focused on finding the measures of enhancing R&D involvement of researchers and the influence of significant time-intensive jobs on researchers’ productivity.

This paper shows how Bruno Latour’s novel work and methodological approach can enrich management and organization studies, accounting and science and technology studies on what it takes to redesign sustainable societal infrastructures. Latour’s notions of trials of strength, macro-actor and design as redesign are used in a case study to describe and analyse how the laboratory becomes decisive in negotiating the bridge design and project budget to the benefit of a more sustainable transport infrastructure.

Latour’s notion of the detective-author is used to research and write a longitudinal qualitative case study that reconstructs the project processes and chain of related events by following the actors/actants.

The case analysis shows how a project design becomes an emerging powerful macro-actor through the mobilization of laboratory simulations and calculations. The role of the project budget changes; from a strong supporting role as input to a decision option in favour of a cheaper stayed bridge to a weak role as an output from a process of redesign supporting a much larger, costlier and more sustainable suspension bridge.

We use Latour’s methodological approach to engage primarily in detailed process descriptions to go beyond the often-pointless call for further theory development and to rather account for what is at work in specific situations. Latour’s notions of redesign as an outcome from trials of strength, we consider a useful approach to further our understanding since it also takes account of the distributed knowledge production that is integral to the actors’ cognitions and recognitions. Relatedly, the specific Latourian notion of redesign opens up new avenues for researching the more or less powerful role accounting devices such as a project budget can play in valuing, supporting and/or undermining the design of sustainable societal infrastructures.

The learning objectives have been prepared following Bloom’s taxonomy (Bloom et al., 1956). After completing the case study, the students will be able to identify and recall the prerequisites necessary for establishing a pathology laboratory. (knowledge); analyze the micro- and macroenvironmental factors considered by Mr Sabihul Haque in the development of the strategic plan for Healthcare Laboratories (HCL) (knowledge and application); explain the key components of the Porter’s value chain and their significance in the operation of HCL (comprehension and evaluation); use the TOWS analysis to map the internal strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of HCL (application and synthesis); and analyze the challenges faced by protagonist in managing HCL and generate suggestions for addressing the challenges (analysis and synthesis).

HCL, an enterprise established in 2018 in Sahdeo Khap, Gaya, Bihar, India, aims to provide high-quality pathological diagnostic services in semi-urban and rural areas. This health-care initiative is pioneering, offering pathology services to make high-quality, low-cost diagnostic services accessible in rural India. In rural settings, numerous health-care hurdles make it challenging for individuals to access the care they need. Since its inception, HCL has expanded its reach to connect more areas, facilitating diagnostic services for people in remote regions. The establishment of laboratories in semi-urban areas aims to reduce patient travel time, costs and health risks by bringing services directly to their doorstep. Haque, the chief executive officer of the lab, grappled with multiple challenges, including selecting an appropriate location for the lab, recruiting and retaining skilled workforce, managing logistics supply, collaborating with local health-care providers, dispelling the stigma among the population that superior services are only available in cities and enhancing health literacy in rural communities. Following numerous meetings with Ms Ummati Naiyyer, head of operations, they worked collaboratively to address these challenges, developing a blueprint and future plan to operate services in rural areas. This case study provides insights into the obstacles faced by HCL striving for success in rural areas. It elucidates the beneficial application of the Porter’s value chain, along with an analysis of macro- and microenvironmental factors. Unique challenges such as societal stigma and mistrust are specifically emphasized. Students engaging with this case study will enhance their problem-solving skills through brainstorming and providing recommendations, contributing to potential solutions for HCL’s difficulties.

The teaching notes for the HCL case is designed to enhance the learning experience of undergraduate and graduate students within the context of the course. This case study serves as a valuable teaching tool, allowing students to apply theoretical knowledge to real-world scenarios in the health-care industry. The notes provide a framework for instructors to facilitate discussions, encourage critical thinking and promote a deeper understanding of key concepts related to establishing diagnostic laboratories in rural areas.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS3: Entrepreneurship.

The purpose of this study is to consider the potential use of social marketing to enhance safety compliance in a biomedical research laboratory.

This project used focus group discussions (n = 32) and semi-structured interviews (n = 10) to gather information on occupational health and safety professionals’ perceptions of safety culture, knowledge of barriers and facilitators of safety at the worksite and insights on how to effectively communicate safety information to employees through a campaign effort.

Results outlined the barriers (e.g. structural obstacles, lack of awareness of policies, perception of occupational safety and health professionals as safety police) and facilitators (e.g. rapport building, partnering with formal leadership and demonstrating the value of services) of safety and safety communication.

Results from this work add to theoretical and practical knowledge regarding how risk may be effectively addressed by using social marketing and health behavior theories to promote voluntary adherence to existing rules and recommendations.

The durability of concrete containing recycled aggregates, sourced from concrete specimens that have been tested in laboratory testing facilities, remains understudied. This paper aims to present the results of experiments investigating the effect of incorporating such type of concrete waste on the strength and durability-related properties of concrete.

A total of 77 concrete cylinders sized Ø100 × 200 mm with varying amount of recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) (0%–100% by volume, at 25% increments) and maximum aggregate size (12.5, 19.0 and 25.0 mm) were fabricated and tested for slump, compressive strength, sorptivity and electrical resistivity. Disk-shaped specimens, 50-mm thick, were cut from the original cylinders for sorptivity and resistivity tests. Analysis of variance and post hoc test were conducted to detect statistical variability among the data.

Compared to regular concrete, a reduction of slump (by 18.6%), strength (15.1%), secondary sorptivity (31.5%) and resistivity (17.0%) were observed from concrete containing 100% RCA. Statistical analyses indicate that these differences are significant. In general, an aggregate size of 19 mm was found to produce the optimum value of slump, compressive strength and sorptivity in regular and RCA-added concrete.

The results of this study suggest that comparable properties of normal concrete were still achieved by replacing 25% of coarse aggregate volume with 19-mm RCA, which was processed from laboratory-tested concrete samples. Therefore, such material can be considered as a potential and sustainable alternative to crushed gravel for use in light or nonstructural concrete construction.

To plan the future university campus, campus executives need decision-making support from theory and practice. Matching the static campus (supply) with the dynamic (demand) - while safeguarding spatial quality and sustainability - requires management information from similar organizations. This study presents an evidence-based briefing approach to support decision-makers of individual universities with management information when making decisions for their future campus.

For the proposed evidence-based briefing approach, the continuous Designing an Accommodation Strategy (DAS) framework is used in a mixed-method research design to evaluate the past to plan for the future. Five campus themes and three campus models (solid, liquid, and gas) are introduced to describe the development and diversification of university campuses and their impact across different university building types. Based on this theoretical framework, first, qualitative interview data are analyzed to understand which standards campus managers expect; second, a quantitative project database is used to demonstrate what is actually realized.

The findings demonstrate that remote working and online education will become more common. Academic workplaces and learning environments are more adaptive to changes than laboratory spaces. The analyses reveal different effective space use strategies to meet the current demand: they include space-efficient mixed-use buildings, and mono-functional generic educational and office spaces. These results show that operationalized evidence-based briefing can help design the future campus.

The study adds knowledge during a critical (post-COVID) period when decision-makers need evidence from others to adapt their campus management strategies to hybrid and sustainable ambitions.