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Background and aims: Considering the important role of nurses in the COVID-19 disease pandemic, determining Corona nursing research priorities can improve the quality of health services. Therefore, this study was conducted to compile nursing research priorities in COVID-19 in Iran by Delphi method. Methods: In this descriptive Delphi study, 55 nursing experts and officials in the field of Corona nursing from all over Iran were purposefully included in the study. Initially, based on scientific documents and experts' opinions, a preliminary questionnaire including Corona nursing research priorities with a score of 1-3 and an open-ended question was sent to the participants in two consecutive stages. In the first stage, 30 and in the second stage, 20 individuals answered. Qualitative data were analyzed by content analysis method and quantitative data were analyzed by calculating the mean and standard deviation of the response score at each stage with SPSS software version 21. Results: Analysis of findings led to the compilation of 77 final priorities in six areas of emotional psychology (8 items), educational research area (16 items), nursing management area (16 items), nursing care area (11 items), prevention area and epidemiology (21 items), and the field of management health technology (6 items) and was agreed upon. Conclusion: The complied research priorities can be a guide for future research activities even in the post-corona period. It can also purposefully target the resources and budgets allocated to research. © 2022 Iran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved.
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PurposeThe emerging markets are facing a lot of risks and disruptions across their supply chains (SCs) due to the deadly coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. To mitigate the significant post-COVID-19 consequences, organizations should modify their existing strategies and focus more on the key flexible sustainable SC (SSC) strategies. Still now, a limited number of studies have highlighted about the flexible strategies what firms should adopt to reduce the rampant effects in the context of emerging markets.Design/methodology/approachThis study presents an integrated approach including Delphi method, Bayesian, and the Best-Worst-Method (BWM) to identify, assess and evaluate the importance of the key flexible SSC strategies for the footwear industry in the emerging market context.FindingsThe results found the manufacturing flexibility through automation integration as the most important flexible SSC strategy to improve the flexibility and sustainability of modern SCs. Also, developing omni-channel distribution and retailing strategies and increasing the level of preparedness by using artificial intelligent are crucial strategies for overcoming the post-COVID-19 impacts.Originality/valueThe novelty of this research is that the research connects a link among flexible strategies, SCs sustainability, and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, the research proposes a novel and intelligent framework based on Delphi and Bayesian-BWM to identify and analyze the key flexible SSC strategies to build up sustainable and robust SCs which can withstand in the post-COVID-19 world.
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BACKGROUND: In recent years, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, awareness of the high level of stress among health care professionals has increased, and research in this area has intensified. Hospital staff members have historically been known to work in an environment involving high emotional demands, time pressure, and workload. Furthermore, the pandemic has increased the strain experienced by health care professionals owing to the high number of people they need to manage and, on many occasions, the limited available resources with which they must carry out their functions. These psychosocial risks are not always well dealt with by the organization or the professionals themselves. Therefore, it is necessary to have tools to assess these psychosocial risks and to optimize the management of this demand from health care professionals. Digital health, and more specifically, mobile health (mHealth), is presented as a health care modality that can contribute greatly to respond to these unmet needs. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to analyze whether mHealth tools can provide value for the study and management of psychosocial risks in health care professionals, and assess the requirements of these tools. METHODS: A Delphi study was carried out to determine the opinions of experts on the relevance of using mHealth tools to evaluate physiological indicators and psychosocial factors in order to assess occupational health, and specifically, stress and burnout, in health care professionals. The study included 58 experts with knowledge and experience in occupational risk prevention, psychosocial work, and health-related technology, as well as health professionals from private and public sectors. RESULTS: Our data suggested that there is still controversy about the roles that organizations play in occupational risk prevention in general and psychosocial risks in particular. An adequate assessment of the stress levels and psychosocial factors can help improve employees' well-being. Moreover, making occupational health evaluations available to the team would positively affect employees by increasing their feelings of being taken into account by the organization. This assessment can be improved with mHealth tools that identify and quickly highlight the difficulties or problems that occur among staff and work teams. However, to achieve good adherence and participation in occupational health and safety evaluations, experts consider that it is essential to ensure the privacy of professionals and to develop feelings of being supported by their supervisors. CONCLUSIONS: For years, mHealth has been used mainly to propose intervention programs to improve occupational health. Our research highlights the usefulness of these tools for evaluating psychosocial risks in a preliminary and essential phase of approaches to improve the health and well-being of professionals in health care settings. The most urgent requirements these tools must meet are those aimed at protecting the confidentiality and privacy of measurements.
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The assessment process of readiness for adoption an educational system considers the lifeblood of the e-learning system in a particular educational organization and the ability to assess the organization's readiness among the main factors which contributes to the success and progress. The readiness models are instruments that assist educational organizations in measuring their capability level and identifying the gaps to develop a strategy for implementing and adopting e-learning system. Due to the sudden chaos that Iraqi educational institutions have been exposed to the Covid-19 epidemic since the beginning of 2020, the e-learning system has been adopted as a quick alternative educational system for the continuation of the educational process without taking into consideration the readiness of the basic components of the educational process, which comprises the readiness of the infrastructure, human and educational organization to adopt such systems. Despite increased attention by stakeholders and the government with the readiness assessment process recently, there is no comprehensive model for assessing e-learning readiness in Iraqi higher education institutions, the purpose of this study is to design a model of an e-learning readiness assessment for Iraqi universities based on the comparative studies and the experts' views. It is worth to mention that the proposed model has objectively designed according to particular features and local characteristics country. The fuzzy delphi method was utilized for the validation process of the proposed model. The main dimensions and all factors of the proposed model reached the experts' agreement except a number of measures that did not achieve the assessment requirements. The final analysis result indicates that the e-learning readiness assessment model includes 3 main dimensions and 13 factors with 86 measures. Iraqi higher educational institutions can employ the designed model to assess their readiness and identify the areas that need improvement and reduce the gaps failures in e-learning adoption.
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BACKGROUND: Timely access to the operating room for emergency general surgery (EGS) indications remains a challenge across the globe, largely driven by operating room availability and staffing constraints. The "timing in acute care surgery" (TACS) classification was previously published to introduce a new tool to triage the timely and appropriate access of EGS patients to the operating room. However, the clinical and operational effectiveness of the TACS classification has not been investigated in subsequent validation studies. This study aimed to improve the TACS classification and provide further consensus around the appropriate use of the new TACS classification through a standardized Delphi approach with international experts. METHODS: This is a validation study of the new TACS by a selected international panel of experts using the Delphi method. The TACS questionnaire was designed as a web-based survey. The consensus agreement level was established to be ≥ 75%. The collective consensus agreement was defined as the sum of the percentage of the highest Likert scale levels (4-5) out of all participants. Surgical emergency diseases and correlated clinical scenarios were defined for each of the proposed classes. Subsequent rounds were carried out until a definitive level of consensus was reached. Frequencies and percentages were calculated to determine the degree of agreement for each surgical disease. RESULTS: Four polling rounds were carried out. The new TACS classification provides 6 colour-code classes correlated to a precise timing to surgery, defined scenarios and surgical condition. The WHITE colour-code class was introduced to rapidly (within a week) reschedule cancelled or postponed surgical procedures. Haemodynamic stability is the main tool to stratify patients for immediate surgery or not in the presence of sepsis/septic shock. Fifty-one surgical diseases were included in the different colour-code classes of priority. CONCLUSION: The new TACS classification is a comprehensive, simple, clear and reproducible triage system which can be used to assess the severity of the patient and the surgical disease, to reduce the time to access to the operating room, and to manage the emergency surgical patients within a "safe" timeframe. By including well-defined surgical diseases in the different colour-code classes of priority, validated through a Delphi consensus, the new TACS improves communication among surgeons, between surgeons and anaesthesiologists and decreases conflicts and waste and waiting time in accessing the operating room for emergency surgical patients.
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Surgeons , Triage , Humans , Delphi Technique , Triage/methods , Consensus , Operating RoomsABSTRACT
Keywords: Organization;Human Capital;Intangible Asset;Model;Specification Introduction Within the framework of regionalist policies, which tend towards protectionism and the stagnation of competitiveness, as well as the multilateralism policies that promote the guidelines of international financial organizations to which the central bank is dependent, the need to study capital human as an intangible asset of entrepreneurial and innovative organizations, therefore, competitive, but without a recipe from the World Bank, the World Trade Organization or the International Monetary Fund [1]. [...]trajectories of dependency relationships were modelled following the principles of complexity in organizations, namely: factuality, fuzziness, chaos and emergency [3]. [...]it is inferred not only who the actors are or who they have been, but who they will be in certain environmental contingencies, organizational cultures and work climates. Isomorphism is inferred when the climate of relationships is in equilibrium with respect to the task climate, that means that demands and resources are also in balance. [...]isomorphism reveals the interrelation between negun tropia and entropy. From the role of the leader, the manager calls for promoting communication and the sense of the objectives that are to be achieved in the immediate future, in the medium and long term. [...]leadership is related to motivate and inspire this transformation and to interact with personal actions and those of teams.
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PurposeThis paper aims to investigate Supply Chain (SC) Performance Measurement Systems (PMSs) (SCPMSs) that are suitable and applicable to evaluate SC performance during unexpected events such as global pandemics. Furthermore, the contribution of Industry 4.0 Disruptive Technologies (IDTs) to implement SCPMSs during such Black Swan events is investigated in this study.Design/methodology/approachThe research methodology is based upon a novel qualitative and quantitative mixed-method. A Systematic Literature Review (SLR) was initially employed to identify two complete lists of SCPMSs and IDTs. Then, a novel Interval-Valued Intuitionistic Hesitant-Fuzzy (IVIHF)-Delphi method was firstly developed in this paper to screen the extracted SCPMSs. Afterward, the Propriety, Economic, Acceptable, Resource, Legal (PEARL) indicator of the Hanlon method was innovatively applied to prioritize the identified IDTs for each finalized SCPMS.FindingsTwo high-score SCPMSs including the SC operations reference (SCOR) model and sustainable SCPMS were recommended to improve measuring the performance of the pharmaceutical SC of emerging economies such as Iran in which the societal, biological and economic issues were undeniable, particularly during unexpected events. Employing nine IDTs such as simulation, big data analytics, cloud technologies, etc., would facilitate implementing sustainable SCPMS from distinct perspectives.Originality/valueThis is one of the first papers to provide in-depth insights into determining the priority of contribution of IDTs in applying different SCPMSs during global pandemics. Proposing a novel multi-layer mixed-methodology involving SLR, IVIHF-Delphi, and the PEARL indicator of the Hanlon method is another originality offered by this paper.
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Purpose - Even with the recognized impact organizational leaders have on the outcome of digital transformation (DT), a comprehensive scholarly understanding of the competencies that leaders must possess to lead a DT to success is lacking. Design/methodology/approach - To derive and list the competencies considered by experts as necessary for managing DT, the authors recruited 18 international senior managers with relevant experience and applied the Delphi method to survey the managers. Upon the completion of three survey rounds and the authors modifying the response list until consensus was reached, 39 items were shortlisted as constituting key competencies for managing DT. Furthermore, the authors engaged in inductive theorizing to derive propositional statements using these findings.Findings - The practitioners agreed on visionary thinking, agility, understanding the value of data, data-driven decision-making, knowledge of strategy and accepting change as the most important requirements for managing DT. Through inductive theorizing, the authors further derived that the seven discovered clusters fell into two broader competencies - behavioral and strategic - and that each behavioral competency would have varying importance depending on the country and industry that the organization operates in.Research limitations/implications - As is typical for Delphi studies that involve multiple survey rounds, the study participant response rate was moderate. The implications of this study, in finding that a variety of leadership competencies are needed to ensure successful DT, validate prior research that people, not technology, drive DT.Practical implications - This study helps mitigate assumptions that successful DT processes are only possible by hiring technological experts, as doing so highlights the importance of behavioral leadership competencies.Originality/value - The study is one of the first to interlink digital leadership with DT by inductively theorizing behavioral and strategic competencies. The authors also establish that contexts are vital in determining which aspects of leadership competencies are deemed most important in driving DT.
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The modern business environment in which the world economy operates brings increasing unpredictability, which makes it difficult to plan and implement business continuity management. Recent examples are the emergence and spread of the corona virus and the war in Ukraine. Market-oriented economies are characterized by a reduction in the life cycle of companies and competition in saturated industrial sectors. Integration processes, takeovers and mergers, represent one of the ways of implementing development strategies of organizations and most often take place in waves and in crisis periods due to economic shocks and the influence of internal and external factors on the organization. Mentioned strategy is used by companies in order to acquire the necessary capital and resources in an effort to establish their position on the market more quickly and efficiently and to carry out activities of greater volume and income for the purpose of survival and faster progress. Due to the trends of M&A and the growing inconsistency and uncertainty in business, the aim of this paper is to highlight the consequences that M&A brings when it comes to managing the business continuity of a "newly integrated" organization. The impact on employees, business processes and general functioning and management of business continuity during and especially after integration will be observed. In order to fulfill the objective of the paper, the empirical part of the paper uses the Delphi method, in which the source of data is based on statistical collection and then the interpretation of the answers to the set questionnaire from a number of experts in the field of business continuity management, the banking sector, auditing and several business units that have recently passed M&A activities in order to consolidate attitudes about the consequences that integration processes bring for business continuity management and the organization as a whole. The paper will analyze the consequences of mergers and acquisitions for the management of business continuity, identify its advantages and disadvantages, and present recommendations for future such processes in the concluding remarks.
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PurposeThe purpose of this study is to propose a framework comprising supply chain (SC) resilience strategies to handle low-frequency high impact disruptive events. This study also evaluates the impact of SC resilience strategies' implementation on the triple bottom line of SC sustainability.Design/methodology/approachA hybrid three-phased method is proposed to meet the research objectives of this study. In the first phase, this study uses the Delphi technique to select SC resilience strategies and SC sustainability dimensions. In the second phase, the best–worst method is used to assess the relative weights of resilience strategies. Finally, in the third stage, summative Likert scoring is used to understand the impact of SC resilience strategies on the SC sustainability triple bottom line.FindingsThe outcomes reveal that firms give due importance to inter-organizational relationships and supplier nearness for supply continuity. In the sustainability context, the obtained scores proved that resilience strategies have the maximum impact on economic sustainability, followed by environmental sustainability.Research limitations/implicationsTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that examines aspects of SC resilience strategies and quantifies their impact on the triple bottom line of SC sustainability. This study is specific to the automobile sector;sectoral diversity may expose similarities and dissimilarities in the approach.Practical implicationsThe outcome establishes that supplier–manufacturer relationships need to be strengthened further to tackle any future uncertainties. Besides, supplier location decisions may also be revisited. The strategies proposed will aid SC managers to make informed decisions to prepare for uncertain events.Originality/valueIn the face of uncertain events, often SCs trade-off sustainability in pursuit of resilience. It manifests that resilience is a prerequisite for SC sustainability. While planning SCs, organizations often choose either sustainability or resilience. Thus, this study acknowledges the need to develop effective SC resilience strategies that are in harmony with the sustainability agenda.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has affected health, economic, and social factors and harmed the distribution and sales of agricultural products. It has become a crucial factor in agricultural development. The purpose of the present study is to design a sustainable development model in the agricultural sector under circuital circumstances (i.e., the COVID-19 pandemic). To achieve this goal of used a combined methodology of grounded theory, the Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM), the Fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (FDEMATEL) method, and the Fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory-based analytic network process (FDANP) method. The criteria of higher importance were identified using grounded theory and FDM. Then, the fuzzy DEMATEL method was carried out to identify internal relationships, effects, and dependencies of the main criteria. Finally, the weight of the main criteria of the model has been calculated with the Fuzzy DANP method. According to the results of the Fuzzy DEMATEL method, Critical circumstances (COVID-19), environmental factors, educational factors, health factors, and economic factors had the highest effects. The critical circumstances criterion (COVID-19) had the largest effect and strongest relationship with the other criteria. On the other hand, the results of the Fuzzy DANP method show that environmental factors (MC7), social factors (MC2), critical circumstances (COVID-19) (MC5), health factors (MC1), entrepreneurial factors (MC8), are the most important criteria of the sustainable development model of the agricultural sector under critical circumstances. Therefore, to move on the path of sustainable development in the agricultural sector, one should focus on the factors that have a higher influence and importance. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Iranian Journal of Fuzzy Systems is the property of University of Sistan & Baluchestan and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)
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This study contributes to the complex adaptive system theory by offering a valid hierarchical model to evaluate the theory's important features related to resilience. The garment industry in Bangladesh encountered disruption in the supply chain during the COVID-19 pandemic and the supply chain competencies played a vital role in overcoming the crisis. Limited studies are built on a solid theoretical foundation and considered supply chain competencies in assessing supply chain resilience. This study aims to develop a multi-criteria hierarchical measurement structure by considering the supply chain competencies to evaluate supply chain resilience. Fuzzy Delphi method and Fuzzy importance and performance analysis approach were applied for the study purpose. Findings reveal health and safety management, information management system, business intelligence, innovation capabilities management, technological innovation, and artificial intelligence as critical criteria, and data, information, and computing, technological innovation and adaptation are critical aspects that require improvement. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Industrial & Production Engineering is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)
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The purpose of this study is to validate the role of social media among peers in a virtual community of practice, VCoP, by applying the Delphi technique of data collection and analysis. The study adopts the Grounded Theory methodology to identify the theoretical frame that is developed from the data analysis. The research design identified the areas of social and professional support from Maslow's hierarchy of human needs from the faculty members' responses that were chosen by "purposive sampling” rather than random sampling The qualitative data collection took three months, wherein 26 faculty members interacting on WhatsApp during COVID-19 were identified as experts: one of the corner elements of the Delphi technique. The thematic analysis of the results indicated that fulfilling Maslow's needs was an integral component of social media VCoP. However, unlike Maslow's model, expressions of the need for safety, belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualization took turns as the most important need depending on changing context, gender, and individual preferences. The answer to the research questions, thus, becomes embedded in the research methodology that involves instructors' perceptions as a validating element of the findings. The main recommendation is to replicate the study in various contexts to monitor faculty well-being to reach a sustainable educational environment. © 2023 by the authors.
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Consumer demands and current legislation require intensive greenhouse horticulture to be sustainable. This poses the challenge of how to teach the concept of sustainable horticulture to all professionals involved in farming. The province of Almeria, in the south-east of Spain, is one of the major horticulture greenhouse areas in Europe, and an expert panel of relevant stakeholders was invited to look into the best pedagogical practices and methods to transfer technology and knowledge, with the goal of improving the sustainability of greenhouse horticulture. A combination of an online questionnaire, a Delphi method, and desk research was, therefore, used as the strategy to collect the data and implement the research design during 2021. On-farm/business demonstrations, virtual education, and classroom education were common pedagogical methods used. On-farm/business demonstrations, participatory education, and co-learning were identified as the best pedagogical methods to use in sustainable agriculture/horticulture training. The expert panel also concluded that participatory education and co-learning should be further explored whereas virtual and classroom education should play a less dominant role in the training activities. This knowledge can help training organizations and designers to avoid common mistakes, tailor their training activities, and be mindful of common barriers and (mis)conceptions. © 2023 by the authors.
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South African women remain vulnerable to gender-based violence, including femicide. Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a major and very complex public concern in the country currently. This makes IPV the most widespread method by which men perpetrate violence against women. It is not clear if women are empowered with IPV Information, Motivation and Behavior skills (IBM) to protect themselves against IPV occurrences. This article presents the developed PreCCL (prevention, community-based, corrective and law enforcement) strategies to empower women against intimate partner violence in Limpopo Province, South Africa. PreCCL strategies were developed based on qualitative and quantitative IBM (Information, Motivation and Behaviour) of IPV results as well as evidence-based information from the review of literature. Delphi technique was used to organize one stakeholder engagement meeting with a panel of 38 experts knowledgeable regarding Vhembe district IPV issues (namely managers from Vhembe Thohoyandou victim empowerment centre, members of the Executive council of the 6th administration of Limpopo provincial Legislatures, heads of departments or directors from the department of health, social development and community safety and security, chairperson of gender equity, TVEP managers, as well as women who were victims from Vhembe where the study was conducted, and chairperson of gender equity, disability women and children). The purpose of the stakeholder engagement meeting was consultation and buy-in of experts in the field regarding feasible and practical evidence-based intervention strategies for local communities. The setting for stakeholder engagement meeting was Vhembe District Tshifulanani at Munnandinnyi and Hadumasi the Victorious Community offices. However, due to COVID-19 regulations other stakeholders failed to attend, and the rating scales were emailed to them together with the PreCCL strategies. The participants were asked to rate the PreCCL strategies on a given Likert scale in terms of relevance, importance, potential effectiveness and recommendation for adoption. The 0.67 Cronbach Alpha reliability score of the Likert scale was found acceptable for this study. Of the 65 questionnaires sent out, only 38 were returned, which was 58.5% response rate. Data were analyzed quantitatively using SPSS. The strategies were rated relevant in addressing IPV in the district by most (n = 36;97,4%;Mean ± SD = 3.0 ± 0.7) of the stakeholder, whereby (n= 6;15.8%;Mean ± SD=3.8 ±1.2) strongly agreed and (n =30;78,9%) agreed. In terms of importance, most (n = 32;84.3%) of the respondents rated the strategies very important in addressing IPV in the communities. The strategies were rated potentially effective in addressing IPV by most (n =34;89.5%;Mean ± SD (3.2 ± 0.6) of the stakeholder. The majority (n = 34;89.6%) of the stakeholders recommended the adoption of the developed strategies in current state. Conclusion: PreCCL strategies to empower women against IPV occurrences, which were developed based on IBM qualitative and quantitative results as well as review of literature are considered relevant and potentially effective by stakeholder who recommend their adoption by the Department of Social Development, Limpopo Province.
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PurposeIn the context of new workplace environment, this study aims to study and generate insights about artificial intelligence (AI) adoption in hiring process of firms. It is very relevant when AI is dramatically reshaping hiring function in the changing scenario.Design/methodology/approachThe objectives are achieved with the help of three studies involving Delphi method to explore the criteria for AI adoption decision. Followed by two multi criteria decision-making techniques, i.e. analytic hierarchy process to identify weights of the criteria and fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution to assess the extent of AI adoption in hiring.FindingsThe findings reveal that information security and return on investment are considered two very important criteria by human resources managers while contemplating the adoption of AI in hiring process. It was found that AI adoption will be suitable at the sourcing and initial screening stages of hiring. And the suitability of the hiring stage where AI can be applied has been found to have changed from before and after the onset of COVID-19 pandemic situation. The findings and its discussion assist and enhance better decisions about AI adoption in hiring processes of firms amid changing scenario – external and internal to a firm.Research limitations/implicationsFindings also highlight research implications for future research studies in this emerging area.Practical implicationsResults act as a starting point for other human resources managers, who are still pondering over the idea of adopting AI in hiring in future.Originality/valueThis paper through a systematic approach contributes by identifying important evaluation criteria influencing AI adoption in firms and extent of its application in the stages of hiring. It makes a substantial contribution to the under-developed yet emerging paradigm of AI based hiring in practice and research.
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To prevent the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, governments have been forced to stop offering educational services directly on campus. Thus, education has moved towards a new path;homes have been transformed into online educational classes through Learning Management Systems (LMS). Despite the many advantages of LMS such as availability, accessibility, and usability, which helps to monitor student learning and manage synchronous and asynchronous learning tools, there are many challenges facing students of applied disciplines such as sciences, engineering, and technology. Among these challenges are the following: how can laboratory experiments be conducted from a distance? How can students' achievement be measured while conducting their scientific experiment tasks? The current study aimed to reach design criteria for a new system for managing a virtual learning laboratory system (LLS). The Delphi method was used to obtain the opinions of experts and those interested in the field of e-learning design. The responses of (31) experts were analyzed using NVivo software, then the results were analyzed using statistical methods to rank them according to importance through three rounds. The results revealed that the criteria for applying artificial intelligence mechanisms, content management systems through virtual machine, assessment, and accessibility through cloud computing are among the key criteria for designing LLS for science, engineering, and technology disciplines. © 2022 IEEE.
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PurposeThe present study aims to identify and evaluate the socioeconomic barriers to effective COVID-19 pandemic transmission control in Pakistan.Design/methodology/approachThe study identifies multiple socio-economic barriers through an extensive literature review. The preliminary analysis unveiled 15 socio-economic barriers. Nine experts were contacted to collect data and finalize the most prominent barriers to COVID-19 transmission control using the DELPHI method. The Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method was used to process and interpret the data collected and a cause–effect relationship was established among the barriers.FindingsThe finalized barriers to effective COVID-19 pandemic transmission control were evaluated using DEMATEL which grouped criteria into two grouped criteria – cause and effect. The DEMATEL analysis shows that poor safety culture, lack of strategy and goal setting, lack of resources, late realization and recognition of the pandemic problem and lack of expertise and capacity in disaster and risk management fall into the cause group. These factors are critical as they directly affect the remaining barriers identified in the study.Originality/valueDespite the collective global efforts, the national economies have been struggling to completely control COVID-19 transmission control. Pakistan's economy has been facing the third wave of the pandemic. It is mandatory to identify the barriers and evaluate them to develop a comprehensive strategy ensuring that there would be no fourth wave. The study identifies and evaluates the barriers to COVID-19 transmission control in Pakistan using the integrated DELPHI-DEMATEL framework. The findings would help the government, experts and strategists to develop a comprehensive disaster and risk management strategy.
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Sudden shocks, disturbances, and changes in today's and the future's operating environment call for a more resilient food system. COVID-19 and Russia's latest war in Ukraine have revealed that rapid shocks and disturbances in global social-ecological systems can affect societies and pose various risks to food security. The discussion of food security and especially food supply security under uncertain changes has therefore been highlighted. In this study, food system resilience and the driving forces and current trends affecting it were evaluated in an expert panel study. We used the Delphi technique for the data collection, which included several rounds of iterative evaluation of future food system development up to 2030. We analysed the results using cluster analysis. Based on the results, three clusters were identified which weigh different points within the development foci of food system resilience, namely: (1) the lack of efficient and consensual global crisis preparedness, (2) looking after domestic food production, and (3) trusting the current good efforts in resilience building. The key resilience determinants in each cluster and their importance analysis are presented. We also present enablers and barriers from techno-economic, politico-institutional, and socio-cognitive perspectives that hinder or support resilience building. © 2023, The Author(s).
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AIM: The aim of this study was to establish an infection prevention and control strategy for nursing managements during surgical operations in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. DESIGN: A Delphi method. METHODS: Between November 2021 and March 2022, we first formulated a preliminary infection prevention and control strategy based on the literature review and institutional experience. Then, we applied Delphi method and performed expert surveys to reach a final strategy for nursing managements during surgical operations in COVID-19 patients. RESULTS: The strategy included seven dimensions with 34 items. The positive coefficients of Delphi experts in both surveys were 100%, indicating a high coordination among experts. The degree of authority and expert coordination coefficient were 0.91 and 0.097-0.213. After the second expert survey, value assignments for importance of each dimension and item were 4.21-5.00 and 4.21-4.76 points, respectively. The coefficients of variation for dimension and item were 0.09-0.19 and 0.05-0.19, respectively. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: Except the medical experts and research personnel, there was no other patient or public contribution involved in the study.