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Exploring the impact of Kaizen practices on ESG performance in manufacturing : the role of digital technologies and organizational culture
No full textThis study investigates how Kaizen operational practices contribute to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance in manufacturing companies and develops an integrative conceptual explanation of this relationship. Moving beyond the traditional view of Kaizen as an efficiency-oriented improvement approach, the study conceptualizes Kaizen as a socio-technical system through which operational routines, people engagement, and learning mechanisms generate sustainability-oriented outcomes. The findings reveal that Kaizen practices systematically support environmental performance through resource optimization, waste reduction, and emission control, and strengthen governance performance by enhancing transparency, accountability, and participatory decision-making structures. In contrast, social outcomes—particularly those related to employee well-being, inclusiveness, and equity—emerge as more contingent, depending strongly on organizational context and managerial intent. Crucially, the study identifies digital technologies—such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data Analytics, and Artificial Intelligence—and organizational culture as key mediating mechanisms that shape the effectiveness of Kaizen–ESG integration. Digital technologies enable real-time monitoring, data-driven problem-solving, and measurable ESG performance tracking, while a participatory and learning-oriented culture amplifies Kaizen’s social and governance effects. Based on qualitative content analysis of semi-structured interviews with experienced Kaizen practitioners across multiple manufacturing sectors, the study proposes a conceptual mechanism explaining how Kaizen practices influence ESG outcomes through the joint mediation of digital transformation and organizational culture. This contribution advances theory by integrating Kaizen, ESG, and Industry 4.0 within a single analytical framework and offers actionable guidance for managers and policymakers seeking to operationalize sustainable excellence through continuous improvement
The influence of institutional forces on the formalization of artisan entrepreneurship in Egypt
No full textPurpose: This study examines how artisan entrepreneurs develop motivation to formalize their 8 informal businesses.
Methodology: This is a qualitative study where data was collected using semi-structured 14 interviews with 40 owners and co-owners of artisanal ventures operating in Egypt.
Findings: Our findings identify three key drivers for formalizing existing informal artisanal 16 enterprises in Egypt: Institutional drivers (the need for artisanal hubs, promoting international 18 visibility), Operational drivers (access to government loans, digital access for artisans, expanding 19 market reach), and Developmental drivers (customized artisan education, enhancing artisan 20 prestige).
Originality/value: This study contributes to understanding artisan entrepreneurship in Egypt, 23 addressing a gap in MENA-focused research (Mousa et al., 2025a; Mousa et al., 2024a). By 24 examining institutional challenges, it extends Institutional Theory, highlighting the tension 25 between entrepreneurial ambitions and structural barriers. The study also identifies the benefits of 26 formal registration and mechanisms for formalizing informal artisanal activities, offering practical 27 guidance for policymakers (Mousa et al., 2025b). Formalizing these activities could boost national 28 economic performance and artisan productivity, providing a framework applicable to similar 30 African contexts
Experiences and perceptions of care for medications with a risk of dependence : insights from patients and healthcare professionals
Full text linkBackground.
Medications with a risk of dependence are widely prescribed but have been associated with a poor experience of care for patients. This study aimed to understand patient and healthcare staff perspectives in the prescription, management, and deprescription of benzodiazepines, z-drugs, opioids for chronic noncancer pain, gabapentinoids, and antidepressants.
Methods.
Online semistructured interviews were conducted with 20 patients and 15 healthcare professionals from five different GP practices. Data were analyzed using codebook thematic analysis.
Results.
Patients and healthcare professionals shared concerns about medications with a risk of dependence and described deprescription as a challenging and complex process. While the value of providing patients with detailed medication-related information was recognized by healthcare professionals, patients felt that more information was needed. The use of regular, personalized medication reviews was seen as important for patient care and medication management, but patients felt this was lacking from current care.
Conclusion.
The findings of this study provide new insights into how medications with a risk of dependence are managed and how care is experienced by patients. The findings have clear implications for improving patient experience, which is a key aspect of quality care
A comparative study of AI-driven regression testing techniques of integrated circuit design
No full textVLSI design verification has become extremely complex and resource-intensive due to the system’s requirements to perform ever more complex functionalities than before. To this end, design verification has come under the AI/ML spotlight for faster and more efficient verification of these complex systems. Hence, there is a pressing need for a comprehensive analysis of various AI/ML techniques for this purpose. This paper is focused on experimental evaluation of multiple techniques that utilise AI/ML for test selection: smart regression test flow that utilise k-nearest Neighbors (KNN) algorithm, graph neural network (GNN) assisted smart regression and test selection with reinforcement learning (RL). We performed a detailed analysis on coverage achieved, coverage points achieved, execution time, training time and model re-usability. This analysis aims in providing valuable insights on how artificial intelligence techniques can be applied to IC verification and identify the most effective technique to optimise the regression testing of an IC design. This experimental evaluation is performed under the same conditions for a 28 nm technology node with up to 10 functional blocks. Overall, 19k test cases were considered in order to perform these experiments. The findings of this paper provide practical guidance for modern verification flows, making the decision to select the most appropriate technique for a test scenario and helping future research
Education for problems of sustainable development
Full text linkThe Cynefin framework for decision-making categorizes problem environments into simple (known knowns), complicated (known unknowns), complex (unknown unknowns), and chaotic (unknowables). Simple and complicated problem environments enable best and good solutions, but complex and chaotic problem environments require emergent and novel solutions. Arguing that sustainability problems are complex and chaotic, this study applies the Cynefin framework of decision-making in complex and chaotic problem environments as a lens for sensemaking and reframing of sustainability competencies, resulting in proposing a suite of sustainability competencies to address complex and chaotic problems. Five competencies are proposed and defined, including: reflective action, critical systems thinking, boundary spanning, active empathy, and pathfinding. These are the first suite of sustainability competencies that are problem-based, processual, and integrated in nature, involving a sequential relationship between the competencies grounded on the Cynefin problem-solving steps. This enables systematic learning of these competencies in a single instructional project, hence facilitating deep relational learning. Furthermore, the study proposes an instructional design that situates learning of these competencies in human cognitive architecture to reduce extraneous cognitive load on the limited working memory and encourage long-term memory construction. The study hypothesizes that each competence is best learned through a tailored set of the nine human intelligences identified by the theory of multiple intelligences. For example, the competence of critical systems thinking, defined as the ability to account for known, unknown, and unknowable relationships in a problem context, is best learned through logical-mathematical intelligence and spatial intelligence—which help analyze known problem relationships, naturalistic intelligence—which helps reflect on unknown problem relationships, and existential intelligence which helps consider unknowable problem relationships
Opportunities and access to nursing careers through pre-nursing vocational education and training schemes : a scoping review
No full textRecruitment in nursing is in a global crisis exacerbated by attrition in pre-registration nursing programmes. Pre-nursing vocational and educational training for young adults aged 16-18 may provide early exposure and qualifications to enter nursing pathways. We aimed to address a knowledge gap concerning how the schemes are experienced. provide access to opportunities for nursing careers. This scoping review followed the JBI manual of evidence synthesis.The critical information sources were healthcare and education database selection, including Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Emerald, Education Research Information Centre, British Education Index, Psych-info, British Nursing Database, and ProQuest from inception until April 2024. Data was mapped into descriptive themes.The review included 15 research papers with a population of 5171 pre-nursing participants from international contexts, including the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Canada, Finland, Norway, and Switzerland. Three broad themes emerged: ' student experience', 'preparation for nursing careers', and 'accessibility’.Pre-nursing vocational education can enable progression into future nursing pathways. However, there is scant evidence of the impact on widening participation, ongoing or future career trajectories, or learners' academic confidence. Further research is needed to understand the educational and longer-term socio-economic benefits and recruitment to nursing from such programmes.
Keywords: Vocational education and training; pre-nursing; access; recruitment; nursing careers
Biases and heuristics in chatbot enabled everyday fashion rental in the UK
No full textPurpose: This research presents a novel theoretical framework by examining chatbots in an under-explored context of everyday clothing rental. We apply an interdisciplinary lens, behavioural economics theory, nudge theory and choice architecture, to a marketing exploration, to simplify consumers’ decision-making.
Design/Methodology/Approach: Three focus groups and 28 interviews were conducted with UK consumers across two qualitative phases.
Findings: As shown in Figure 2, identifying rental barriers and drivers led to the development of four digital, four green nudges, boosts, and sludges. This choice architecture is specifically designed to steer consumer behaviour toward everyday renting.
Practical implications: This study provides managerial implications for circular and non-profit companies by leveraging green and digital nudges to enhance choice architecture and consumer footfall. Policy implications suggest reforms for UK consumer laws, specifically proposing a 'consumer warrant' to enforce sustainability transparency.
Originality/Value: This paper offers novel insights into using nudge theory to shape consumer heuristics and decisions regarding everyday clothing rentals via chatbots. It introduces specific digital and green nudges designed to transform the consumer choice environment
Lethal effects of ivermectin structures on malaria vectors and in silico analysis of interactions with their glutamate-gated chloride ion channels
No full textIvermectin is lethal to Anopheles mosquitoes making it a possible malaria control intervention. The primary mode of action of ivermectin occurs when it binds to the glutamate-gated chloride channel (GluCl), allowing for continuous flow of chloride leading to flaccid paralysis and death of the mosquito. In Caenorhabditis elegans, ivermectin is thought to open the GluCl channel when the M2-M3 loop forms Van der Waals bonds with the first sugar ring and aglycone structure of ivermectin. Here we investigate in Anopheles dirus and Anopheles minimus the mosquito-lethal effect of ivermectin (both sugar rings), monosaccharide (one sugar ring), and aglycone (no sugar rings) demonstrating full, partial, and no effect, respectively. The Anopheles GluCl protein sequences were determined and used to a create 3-D structural docking models. The docking models identified new binding interactions with a hydrogen bond forming between the second sugar ring hydroxyl group (4”-OH) and THR304 of the Anopheles GluCl M2-M3 loop. This hydrogen bond is possible due to a single substitution in the M2-M3 loop from C. elegans ILE273 to Anopheles THR304. The work presented here improves our understanding of Anopheles GluCl-ivermectin interactions as well as how ivermectin resistance could arise in the future.
WFPC4001IPC Principles of Commissioning Programme Handbook
No full textPrinciples of Commissioning Programme Handbook 2025/2