642 research outputs found
ELECTRON-MICROSCOPIC LOCALIZATION OF F-ACTIN IN ACROSOME REACTED BOAR SPERMATOZOA BY MEANS OF A PHALLOIDIN-FITC COMPLEX
No full text7. L. Castellani Ceresa, M. F. Brivio, G. Radaelli. Electron Microscopic Localization of F actin in Acrosome Reacted Boar Spermatozoa by Means of a Phalloidin FITC Complex. J. Submicrosc. Cytol. Phatol., 23, n°2, 347 349, 1991.An immunocytochemical study at the ultrastructural level has been performed in boar spermatozoa in order to clarify the aggregation state of actin before and after the acrosome reaction. A new phalloidin probe has been used to detect F-actin: a phalloidin derivative conjugated with FITC, followed by incubation with an anti-FITC antibody. The protein A-gold technique was then applied for the localization of the antigenic sites. Gold particles were localized on the sperm surface only after the acrosome reaction which was induced by the ionophore A23187
Innovating Healthcare Delivery: the (un)explained leverage of knowledge sharing
No full textThis paper investigates the factors that might promote or inhibit knowledge sharing among healthcare organisations at the individual level through the lens of the Theory of Planned Behaviour. The study has been set in hospice and palliative care organisations. Results from the survey confirms that knowledge sharing is a major enabler for innovative behaviour and that organisational features and practices are a major leverage for promoting knowledge sharing. The perceived technological control, on the contrary, is not significantly related to the intention to share knowledge
Fusion of CT Angiography or MR Angiography with Unenhanced CBCT and Fluoroscopy Guidance in Endovascular Treatments of Aorto-Iliac Steno-Occlusion : Technical Note on a Preliminary Experience
No full textAim: To evaluate the feasibility of image fusion (IF) of pre-procedural arterial-phase CT angiography or MR angiography with intra-procedural fluoroscopy for road-mapping in endovascular treatment of aorto-iliac steno-occlusive disease. Materials and Methods: Between September and November, 2014, we prospectively evaluated 5 patients with chronic aorto-iliac steno-occlusive disease, who underwent endovascular treatment in the angiography suite. Fusion image road-mapping was performed using angiographic phase CT images or MR images acquired before and intra-procedural unenhanced cone-beam CT. Radiation dose of the procedure, volume of intra-procedural iodinated contrast medium, fluoroscopy time, and overall procedural time were recorded. Reasons for potential fusion imaging inaccuracies were also evaluated. Results: Image co-registration and fusion guidance were feasible in all procedures. Mean radiation dose of the procedure was 60.21 Gycm2 (range 55.02–63.75 Gycm2). The mean total procedure time was 32.2 min (range 27–38 min). The mean fluoroscopy time was 12 min and 3 s. The mean procedural iodinated contrast material dose was 24 mL (range 20–40 mL). Conclusions: IF gives Interventional Radiologists the opportunity to use new technologies in order to improve outcomes with a significant reduction of contrast media administration
Behavioral operations in healthcare organizations
No full textContinuous improvement initiatives have proliferated among manufacturing and services organizations. In this context, knowledge has been claimed to play a key role, as a significant antecedent of an organization’s ability to continuously improve its operations. At the same time, attempts to implement knowledge management initiatives prove fruitless if employees are not fully motivated and engaged, and our present understanding of how to promote and facilitate such behaviors in an operations management (OM) setting remains, as yet, limited.
This study introduces and empirically tests a theoretical model that explains knowledge-sharing behavior among employees, and links it also to their innovative behavior. Building on the well-established Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), we posit that knowledge sharing among employees is a function of their intention and attitude, but also of their subjective norm and perceived behavioral control. A self-compiled survey was used to collect data from 155 employees in three healthcare organizations. The results of our structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis indeed support the notion that knowledge sharing behavior among employees is conducive to innovative behavior, and that attitude and perceived behavioral control are antecedents of knowledge sharing. These findings contribute to the understanding of how behavioral factors operate in OM contexts, highlighting the relevance of a micro-foundation of continuous improvement, and also suggesting some preliminary guidelines that operations managers in healthcare can apply to promote employee knowledge sharing
Innovating Healthcare Operations: Lessons from a micro-level investigation
No full textThe innovation of Healthcare operations requires practitioners’ involvement in the generation, promotion and implementation of novel practices. Practitioners, in fact, are the crucial possessors of the expert knowledge about the needs, opportunities and feasibility of innovation. What affects professionals’ innovative work behaviour is however a matter of concern. Our study addresses this gap by proposing a model which tests the linkage between knowledge assets and individual employees’ innovative work behavior. Results provide empirical support of (a) the differentiated impact of knowledge assets on different forms of knowledge sharing behaviors and innovative behavior; (b) the mediation operated by psychological safety and (c) the appropriateness in studying knowledge sharing and innovative work behavior as composite constructs
Organisation level drivers that promote innovative work behaviour in healthcare delivery: a micro-level perspective
No full textHealthcare has been largely acknowledged as a knowledge-intensive industry. Consequently, healthcare professionals are increasingly pushed to exploit their current knowledge and to develop new knowledge to continuously improve healthcare delivery. Despite this relevance, operations executives of healthcare organizations are experiencing difficulties in leveraging knowledge assets to effectively promote innovative work behaviour.
Past research supports the idea that knowledge assets can produce significant changes once they are able to modify knowledge-related behaviours at the individual level, and in particular to facilitate knowledge sharing. While previous contributions have already investigated the antecedents of employees’ knowledge sharing behaviour in the OM context, the way in which knowledge assets and knowledge sharing affect individual innovative work behaviour has remained largely unexplored.
The objective of our study is to narrow this gap. To this end, two main research questions are addressed. Which are the main drivers that promote knowledge sharing among health professionals and innovative behaviour in current practice? Should hospital managers leverage on these factors to promote innovative behaviour and thus continuous improvement
Promoting professionals’ innovative behavior through knowledge sharing: the moderating role of social capital
No full textPurpose: This study offers new insights to further our understanding on the relevance of engaging employees in knowledge sharing behaviours in order to improve current operations.
Methodology: Our conceptual model proposes a direct relationship between knowledge sharing behaviours and employees’ innovative behaviour, moderated by employees’ perception of social capital. Six hypotheses were developed from the literature-grounded and tested among 198 employees of four hospices and palliative care organisations (H&PCOs) for dying cancer patients. All constructs were measured using multiple-item scales that were adapted from previous related studies. Our hypotheses were tested using Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR).
Findings: Our study has three main results. First, we found a positive role of knowledge sharing behaviours in affecting sharers’ innovativeness, in terms of propensity and capacity to promote and implement new ideas. Second, sharing best practices and sharing mistakes are two distinct drivers of individuals’ innovativeness. Third, individuals’ perception of social capital have a relevant moderation effect on the linkage between knowledge sharing and innovative behaviour.
Originality: Past research posited that knowledge sharing is convenient for others, and possibly at the expense of sharers’ best interest. Our research was grounded on a different notion of knowledge sharing as (i) a self-interested behaviour, which individuals deploy to generate a norm of reciprocity among knowledge recipients, which might create future benefits in the short term; and (ii) an improvement process, which individuals can use to translate new ideas into workable innovations
Intellectual Capital and Innovative Work Behaviour: Opening the Black Box
No full textContinuous improvement initiatives have proliferated among manufacturing and services
organizations. In this context, knowledge has been claimed to play a key role, as a significant antecedent of
an organization’s ability to continuously improve its performance. At the same time, attempts to implement knowledge management initiatives prove fruitless if employees are not fully motivated and engaged, and our present understanding of how to promote and facilitate such behaviours remains limited. This study introduces and empirically tests a theoretical model that links intellectual capital dimensions to employees innovative work behaviour and specifically suggests knowledge sharing behaviour among employees as a key mediator. A survey was used to collect data from 135 employees in three healthcare organizations. The results of our structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis indeed support the notion that intellectual capital is conducive to innovative behaviour by means of knowledge sharing among employees. These findings contribute to the understanding of how behavioural factors operate in
organizations, highlighting the relevance of a microfoundation of continuous improvement, and also
suggesting some preliminary guidelines that managers in healthcare organizations can apply to promote employee innovative work behaviour
Intellectual capital and knowledge sharing: the mediating role of organisational knowledge-sharing climate
No full textHealthcare organisations are facing the constant trade off to contain expenditures without sacrificing the quality of patient’s care. This challenge to do ‘more with less’ induced healthcare executives to heavily invest in innovations activities in order to increase the efficiency of their organisations.
By taking an individual-level perspective, our study focuses on knowledgesharing behaviour among healthcare practitioners as a critical element to continuously improve the performance of healthcare organisations. Specifically we explore the effect of intellectual capital on practitioners’ knowledge sharing
behaviour, and propose organisational knowledge-sharing climate
as mediator. We conducted a survey on three healthcare organisations. Our results substantiate the positive link between intellectual capital and knowledge-sharing behaviour, and reveal that organisational knowledge-sharing climate fully mediates this relationship. These findings provide hospital managers with key implications for the management of intellectual capital as a lever to improve the sharing and the diffusion of knowledge among practitioners
Intellectual capital and performance improvement in healthcare. Opening the black box
No full textAgeing and recession are scaring health policy makers worldwide in terms of sustainability of healthcare expenditure over the next decade. Since healthcare is heavily labour-intensive, only a radical change of healthcare professionals’ behaviour can boost productivity over time. During the last decades, a number of researchers started to investigate how to improve performance of healthcare organisations and deliver more for less. Many of them argumented that healthcare organisations are knowledge-intensive organisations and thus improved knowledge assets dynamics could enable performance improvement (e.g. Hansen, 1999). Despite this interest, the present understanding of the modalities by which intellectual capital enables performance improvement in healthcare organisations is still “a black box”. This paper aims to shed first light on how knowledge assets are a source of performance improvement in healthcare organisations. In particular, this linkage has been investigated through knowledge sharing behaviours among health practitioners
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