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Eliciting Context-Mechanism-Outcome configurations: Experiences from a realist evaluation investigating the impact of robotic surgery on teamwork in the operating theatre
Get PDFYesThis article recounts our experience of eliciting, cataloguing and prioritizing conjectured Context-Mechanism-Outcome configurations at the outset of a realist evaluation, to provide new insight into how Context-Mechanism-Outcome configurations can be generated and theorized. Our construction of Context-Mechanism-Outcome configurations centred on how, why and in what circumstances teamwork was impacted by robotic surgery, rather than how and why this technology improved surgical outcomes as intended. We found that, as well as offering resources, robotic surgery took away resources from the theatre team, by physically reconfiguring the operating theatre and redistributing the surgical task load, essentially changing the context in which teamwork was performed. We constructed Context-Mechanism-Outcome configurations that explain how teamwork mechanisms were both constrained by the contextual changes, and triggered in the new context through the use of informal strategies. We conclude by reflecting on our application of realist evaluation to understand the potential impacts of robotic surgery on teamwork
Critical success factors of the digital payment infrastructure for developing economies
Get PDFYesThis paper studies the Critical Success Factors’ (CSFs) for the adoption of Digital Payment System in India. There are few studies about the literature on CSFs for the adoption of the digital payment system in the Indian context. This study is an attempt to cover this gap. In this study, we reviewed the theories for adoption model at the individual level used in Information System (IS) and discussed four technology model including “Technology Acceptance Model” (TAM). Ten factors have been identified with extensive literature review and review of selected models namely; Perceived Ease of Use, Perceived functional benefits, Awareness, Availability of Resources, Government as a policy maker, Performance Expectancy, Social Influence, Price Value, Experience & Habit, and Risk-taking ability. An expert from academic industry has been taken as a reviewer or consultant of the selected variables. The CSFs may ensure that they are the predictors and the important factors for adoption of digital payments system in India. The study mainly uses the deductive approach to consider the primary and secondary sources of data. The analyses of these models take into account through Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) methodology and develop a model for effective adoption of Digital Payment System in India. The paper also makes future recommendations for further research studies
Indian Travellers’ Adoption of Airbnb Platform
Get PDFYesMuch of the existing scholarly debate on sharing economy to date has focused on the use of technology in developed countries. However, the recent upsurge of mobile technology adoption in developing countries has provided suitable breeding ground for sharing economy. The lack of native theories in tourism and hospitality sector with scare utilization of unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) provide necessity for this research. This study adapted meta-UTAUT model as theoretical lens and extended the model with hedonic motivation, trust, and self-efficacy. Based on data from 301 potential Indian consumers, the results underscored the central role of attitude that significantly mediated the effects of effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions on consumer intention to use Airbnb. Meanwhile, performance expectancy emerged as significant direct determinant of intention alongside attitude, trust, and self-efficacy. The proposed model explained as much as 65% variance on Indian consumer’s intention to use Airbnb
A comprehensive survey of "metamaterial transmission-line based antennas: design, challenges, and applications"
Get PDFYesIn this review paper, a comprehensive study on the concept, theory, and applications of composite right/left-handed transmission lines (CRLH-TLs) by considering their use in antenna system designs have been provided. It is shown that CRLH-TLs with negative permittivity (ε <; 0) and negative permeability (μ <; 0) have unique properties that do not occur naturally. Therefore, they are referred to as artificial structures called “metamaterials”. These artificial structures include series left-handed (LH) capacitances (C L ), shunt LH inductances (L L ), series right-handed (RH) inductances (LR), and shunt RH capacitances (CR) that are realized by slots or interdigital capacitors, stubs or via-holes, unwanted current flowing on the surface, and gap distance between the surface and ground-plane, respectively. In the most cases, it is also shown that structures based on CRLH metamaterial-TLs are superior than their conventional alternatives, since they have smaller dimensions, lower-profile, wider bandwidth, better radiation patterns, higher gain and efficiency, which make them easier and more cost-effective to manufacture and mass produce. Hence, a broad range of metamaterial-based design possibilities are introduced to highlight the improvement of the performance parameters that are rare and not often discussed in available literature. Therefore, this survey provides a wide overview of key early-stage concepts of metematerial-based designs as a thorough reference for specialist antennas and microwave circuits designers. To analyze the critical features of metamaterial theory and concept, several examples are used. Comparisons on the basis of physical size, bandwidth, materials, gain, efficiency, and radiation patterns are made for all the examples that are based on CRLH metamaterialTLs. As revealed in all the metematerial design examples, foot-print area decrement is an important issue of study that have a strong impact for the enlargement of the next generation wireless communication systems.Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Gobierno de España (MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE) under Grant RTI2018-095499-B-C31, Innovation Programme under Grant H2020-MSCA-ITN-2016 SECRET-722424, UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) under Grant EP/E022936/1
Adoption of AI-powered Industrial Robots in Auto Component Manufacturing Companies
No full textYesThe usage of AI-empowered Industrial Robots (InRos) is booming in the Auto Component Manufacturing Companies (ACMCs) across the globe. Based on a model leveraging the Technology, Organisation, and Environment (TOE) framework, this work examines the adoption of InRos in ACMCs in the context of an emerging economy. This research scrutinizes the adoption intention and potential use of InRos in ACMCs through a survey of 460 senior managers and owners of ACMCs in India. The findings indicate that perceived compatibility, external pressure, perceived benefits and support from vendors are critical predictors of InRos adoption intention. Interestingly, the study also reveals that IT infrastructure and government support do not influence InRos adoption intention. Furthermore, the analysis suggests that perceived cost issues negatively moderate the relationship between the adoption intention and potential use of InRos in ACMCs. This study offers a theoretical contribution as it deploys the traditional TOE framework and discovers counter-intuitively that IT resources are not a major driver of technology adoption: as such, it suggests that a more comprehensive framework than the traditional RBV should be adopted. The work provides managerial recommendations for managers, shedding light on the antecedents of adoption intention and potential use of InRos at ACMCs in a country where the adoption of InRos is in a nascent stage
A need-based, multi-level, cross-sectoral framework to explain variations in satisfaction of care needs among people living with dementia
Get PDFYesProvision of care and support for people with dementia and family carers is complex, given variation in how dementia manifests, progresses and affects people, co-morbidities associated with ageing, as well as individual preferences, needs, and circumstances. The traditional service-led approach, where individual needs are assessed against current service provision, has been recognised as unfit to meet such complexity. As a result, people with dementia and family members often fail to receive adequate support, with needs remaining unmet. Current research lacks a conceptual framework for explaining variation in satisfaction of care needs. This work develops a conceptual framework mapped onto the care delivery process to explain variations in whether, when and why care needs of people with dementia are met and to expose individual-, service-, system-level factors that enable or hinder needs satisfaction. METHODS: Data collected through 24 in-depth interviews and two focus groups (10 participants) with people with dementia and family carers living in the North East of England (UK) were analysed thematically to develop a typology of care needs. The need most frequently reported for people with dementia (i.e. for support to go out and about) was analysed using themes stemming from the conceptual framework which combined candidacy and discrepancy theories. RESULTS: The operationalisation of the framework showed that satisfaction of the need to go out was first determined at the point of service access, affected by issues about navigation, adjudication, permeability, users' resistance to offers, users' appearance, and systems-level operating conditions, and, subsequently, at the point of service use, when factors related to service structure and care process determined (dis)satisfaction with service and, hence, further contributed to met or unmet need. CONCLUSION: The conceptual framework pinpoints causes of variations in satisfaction of care needs which can be addressed when designing interventions and service improvements.We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Health Foundation (grant number 1274233)
Differential moderating effects of strategic and operational reconfiguration on the relationship between open innovation practices and innovation performance
Get PDFYesThis paper examines the relationship between open innovation (OI) practices (inbound and coupled) and innovation performance in service firms. Specifically, it invokes a dynamic capabilities perspective to propose the differential moderating effects of two forms of reconfiguration capabilities, strategic reconfiguration capability (SRC) and operational reconfiguration capability (ORC), on the focal relationship. Based on a sample of service sector firms drawn from the UK Community Innovation Survey, our analysis shows the positive combinative effects of SRC and coupled OI on radical innovation outcomes and those of ORC and coupled OI on incremental innovation outcomes. The findings of differential moderating effects underscore the need to assess the boundary conditions within which OI positively impacts on innovation outcomes and offer insights to managers on the importance of strategic and operational reconfiguration capabilities for achieving better innovation outcomes from OI practices
The significance of ECOWAS Norms and Mechanisms in Conflict Prevention and Security-Building in West Africa since 2000
Get PDFThis thesis examines the roles and significance of ECOWAS (Economic
Community of West Africa States) in conflict prevention, crisis response and
security-building processes in West Africa, particularly since 2000. The
importance of developing regional institutions and capacities for peace and
security-building in Sub-Saharan Africa has been widely recognised since at
least the mid-1990s. Not only has the African Union developed important peace
and security building aims and roles, but so too have several of the sub-regional
organisations in Africa, including ECOWAS in West Africa. In the late 1990s,
ECOWAS Member States achieved a number of noteworthy sub-regional
agreements on ECOWAS norms and mechanisms for conflict prevention, crisis
response, and peace and security –building in West Africa. These agreements
and mechanisms have subsequently been further developed since 2000, in a
dynamic process that was informed by experience with efforts to respond to a
range of crises and conflicts in the region. This thesis critically examines this
process, focussing particularly on the extent to which, and how, ECOWAS
norms, institutions and mechanism have continued not only to develop but also
to be influential in practice.
Our research demonstrates that the ECOWAS agreements and norms
established by 2000 have continued subsequently to be dynamically developed
and used by ECOWAS member states and West African networks, in close
interaction with several international partners. It argues that these norms and
mechanisms have played significant roles in influencing actual policies,
practices and missions. They have therefore proved to be more than shallow symbolic or paper agreements, despite the political fragility and divisions of the
region and most of its states. We argue that this cannot be adequately
understood using single explanatory frameworks, such as Nigeria’s hegemonic
influence or instrumental influence of external Actors such as UN, EU or USA,
as has often been suggested. Adequate explanations need to combine these
factors with others, including relatively consistent investment in regional norms
and institutions by coalitions of some West African states (including Ghana,
Senegal and Nigeria) together with civil society and parliamentary networks.
Our research then examines in detail the extent to which, and how, ECOWAS
norms and mechanisms on conflict prevention, crisis response and security
sector reform were significant and influential in ECOWAS’ responses to the
crises and conflicts in Cote D’Ivoire, Mali and to a lesser extent in Gambia since 2003; and also how these crises were in turn influential in the further
development of ECOWAS norms in these areas. We demonstrate numerous
weaknesses in the implementation and effectiveness in these norms; and
limitations in their diffusion and influence. However, we argue that such
weaknesses and limitations are typical of regional peace and security norms
everywhere, including much more stable and developed regions. Equally
significant is that substantial coalitions exist between ECOWAS member states
and stakeholders. Despite obvious tensions, ECOWAS, AU, UN and other
countries such as France continue to work to address inherent tensions and
develop mutually beneficial collaborations that enhance effective conflict
prevention in the sub-region. The study draws on the knowledge created within
this this thesis to propose a framework for conflict intervention.Allan & Nesta Foundatio
Advantage of preserving bi-orientation structure of isotactic polypropylene through die drawing
No full textYesThe isotactic polypropylene (iPP) usually shows a unique parent-daughter lamellae structure in which the parent and daughter lamellae are against each other with a near perpendicular angle (80° or 100°). Inducing a high fraction of oriented cross-hatched structure in iPP during processing is desirable for designing the bi-oriented iPP products. We processed a commercial iPP via tensile-stretching and die-drawing to evaluate the structural evolution of oriented parent-daughter lamellae. It turned out that the die-drawing process had an advantage in attaining a high fraction of oriented cross-hatched structure of iPP, as compared to the free tensile stretching. Besides, the presence of α-nucleating agents affected the formation of oriented parent-daughter lamellae in the die-drawn samples whereas such influence diminished in the free stretched ones. It was found that the confined deformation inside the die led to the well-preserved oriented cross-hatched structure in the die-drawn iPP.National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21704102, U1832186, and 51525305), Newton Advanced Fellowship of the Royal Society, United Kingdom (No. NA150222) and ExxonMobil Asia Pacific Research & Development Co., Lt
Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on information management research and practice: transforming education, work and life
Get PDFYesThe COVID-19 pandemic has forced many organisations to undergo significant transformation, rethinking key elements of their business processes and use of technology to maintain operations whilst adhering to a changing landscape of guidelines and new procedures. This study offers a collective insight to many of the key issues and underlying complexities affecting organisations and society from COVID-19, through an information systems and technological perspective. The views of 12 invited subject experts are collated and analysed where each articulate their individual perspectives relating to: online learning, digital strategy, artificial intelligence, information management, social interaction, cyber security, big data, blockchain, privacy, mobile technology and strategy through the lens of the current crisis and impact on these specific areas. The expert perspectives offer timely insight to the range of topics, identifying key issues and recommendations for theory and practice