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Nowadays, manufacturing companies face more difficulties than ever. Unrest in global supply chains triggered by fluctuating customer demand, raw material shortages and crises (Covid pandemic, global warming, wars) complicate the utilization of production resources necessary for economic success. Also, the rapidly changing environment causes existing production plans to be adapted, which results in order changes, causing additional costs for manufacturers. One solution to cope with these problems is cooperation and sharing resources: requesting capacity from partners when having shortages and offering them temporarily in case of excess capacity. In this paper, a platform-based resource sharing mechanism is investigated from the economic perspective. In the mechanism, requests and offers are matched by a central platform applying a complex matching logic. The platform provides valid alternatives based on the incoming ordersthat the requesting company can choose from. Companies are rating each other's performance after each interaction based on delivery accuracy;choosing between resource offers is made based on the cumulated rating about the offeror and the price of the offer. Within this paper, the aim is to investigate the resource sharing mechanism from the economic point of view based on an approach to the responsiveness of a supply chain structure to turbulence, to support decision-makers trying to cope with unexpected changes. For this purpose, here the mechanism is briefly introduced, and basic concepts about turbulences in supply chains are also presented. Cost types related to resource sharing manufacturing companies are distinguished, and the model is validated with agent-based simulation. A simulation experiment is performed to investigate the use-case of outsourced jobs having different price levels. Based on the experiment, it can be concluded that there is a price level limit in such a resource sharing federation, under which it is worth it to collaborate with partners by outsourcing certain jobs to them. © 2022 Authors. All rights reserved.
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Amid the recent turbulence in the global economy, it seems very important to continue following the global environmental course. The COVID-19 pandemic, disruptions and overhaul of global supply chains, geopolitical tensions, and energy inflation of 2022 are holding back the progressive development of the world economy, which needs financial resources to continue the energy transition and other sustainable transformations. Green bonds attracted significant funds even before the pandemic. Thus, it seems timely to assess the impact of the main factors of global turbulence on the global green bond market and, based on the available data, predict the probable direction of the development of the global green bond market. The methods of analysis include general scientific, statistical, and econometric methods based on data from the Climate Bond Initiative, the World Bank, and S&P Global—power trend, logarithm, and the least squares method. The analysis showed that the challenges of adapting green bonds to the new global environment are out of the question. During COVID-19, there was a large-scale increase in issues and interest in green bonds caused by government incentives and the global financial market trends during the pandemic. In 2022, additional force majeure and more fundamental factors, such as global inflation and changes in the direction of monetary regulation frameworks in developed countries, have been added to the need to fight global warming. They had the opposite effect. However, econometric modeling shows an upward trend for the global green bond market, at least in the short term. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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Purpose: Firms in the architectural, engineering, construction and operations (AECO) sector continue undertaking projects in a disruptive environment due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This study aims to explore environmental turbulence in the AECO project delivery space and suggest mechanisms for enhancing resilience against future pandemics. Design/methodology/approach: The study adopts the quantitative approach by administering 110 survey questionnaires to participants comprising project managers, site engineers, quantity surveyors, contractors and subcontractors. Findings: The study identifies 24 COVID-19 disruptions linked to environmental turbulence categorised as scheduling, performance and productivity, project budget, supply chain, resource allocation and technological and regulatory. The study suggested resilient mechanisms for surviving in future pandemics. Originality/value: This study enhances the understanding of environmental turbulence from the perspective of COVID-19 disruptions in AECO project delivery, while the implementation of the resilient mechanisms improves capability of AECO firms against future pandemics. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.
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The acronym VUCA as a description of a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous environment, has been gaining increasing relevance as a noun to describe a reality that is complex and turbulent. Besides the healthcare challenges, the COVID-19 pandemic has also caused drastic changes in the management world. Through a systematic literature review of 137 articles published before the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic (between 2009 and March 2020), we develop a conceptual framework that integrates complementary branches of theoretical and empirical research, with the VUCA environment as the central unit of analysis. Our objectives are to unravel how the main theories in this field address essential aspects of management and future study trends, we also propose a conceptualisation of VUCA as an essential element of the current environment and its relationship with the different disciplines in the business world.
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Drawing upon relational turbulence theory and the experiencing life transitions model, this study examined communication and relationship qualities as married couples experienced work-family changes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sixty-four American married, different-sex partners affected by job-related changes due to COVID-19 reported their relationship qualities and their own and their spouse's engagement in transition processing communication weekly for 10 weeks. Hypotheses addressed associations between relationship qualities and communication experiences both averaged across the 10 weeks and indexed by within-week deviations from those averages, controlling for the previous week's reports. Husbands' and wives' own attempts—and also their perceptions of their spouse's attempts—to increase interaction, promote connection, promote feeling situated, and increase confidence were associated with decreased relationship uncertainty and improved interdependence. Husbands' self-reported relationship qualities demonstrated the strongest associations with averaged reports of relationship-focused communication, whereas wives' relational qualities were more strongly associated with week-to-week fluctuations in relationship-focused communication. © The Author(s) 2023.
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PurposeDrawing on dynamic capability theory, this study investigates how online–offline channel integration (OOCI) affects a firm's supply chain resilience and how such an effect is moderated by market turbulence and regulatory uncertainty.Design/methodology/approachA sample of 273 Chinese firms that conduct online and offline business and hierarchical regression analysis were used to examine the research model.FindingsThe results suggest that the effect of OOCI on supply chain resilience differs in terms of its dimensions (i.e. information integration, transaction integration and service integration). While information integration and service integration were positively associated with supply chain resilience, transaction integration had a non-significant relationship with supply chain resilience. Moreover, market turbulence negatively moderated the effect of transaction integration and positively moderated the effect of service integration. Regulatory uncertainty positively moderated the effect of transaction integration and negatively moderated the effect of service integration. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.Originality/valueThis study examines the effect of OOCI on supply chain resilience. It further explores the influence of market turbulence and regulatory uncertainty on the relationship between OOCI and supply chain resilience.
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The COVID-19 crisis has substantial consequences for entrepreneurs. Specifically, our model assumes that the task environment turbulence – changing employment rates within industries and geographic locations – forces entrepreneurs to adapt and change their work organization which, in turn, increases their stress and reduces their wellbeing. In building on the conservation of resource theory, we posit that resources will have a positive effect on stress and wellbeing, whereas coping strategies will have either positive or negative effects depending on the type of strategy used. We tested our model on a sample of 496 entrepreneurs. Our results demonstrate the strong effect of environmental turbulence on changes in work organization and, ultimately, the stress and wellbeing of entrepreneurs. Avoidance-oriented and task-oriented coping strategies are both important in reducing stress and improving wellbeing, while emotion-oriented coping has a negative impact on stress. Having access to relational resources reduces stress and improves wellbeing, and access to organizational resources reduces stress and positively moderates the negative effect of stress on wellbeing. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
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Existing indoor closed ultraviolet-C (UVC) air purifiers (UVC in a box) have faced technological challenges during the COVID-19 breakout, owing to demands of low energy consumption, high flow rates, and high kill rates at the same time. A new conceptual design of a novel UVC-LED (light-emitting diode) air purifier for a low-cost solution to mitigate airborne diseases is proposed. The concept focuses on performance and robustness. It contains a dust-filter assembly, an innovative UVC chamber, and a fan. The low-cost dust filter aims to suppress dust accumulation in the UVC chamber to ensure durability and is conceptually shown to be easily replaced while mitigating any possible contamination. The chamber includes novel turbulence-generating grids and a novel LED arrangement. The turbulent generator promotes air mixing, while the LEDs inactivate the pathogens at a high flow rate and sufficient kill rate. The conceptual design is portable and can fit into ventilation ducts. Computational fluid dynamics and UVC ray methods were used for analysis. The design produces a kill rate above 97% for COVID and tuberculosis and above 92% for influenza A at a flow rate of 100 L/s and power consumption of less than 300 W. An analysis of the dust-filter performance yields the irradiation and flow fields.
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A random-effects meta-analysis was conducted to examine proposition 2 of relational turbulence theory, that interference from a partner heightens affective arousal toward the partner. The meta-analysis revealed a positive average correlation between interference from a partner and anger toward that partner (k = 15, N = 6114, r =.419 [95% CI:.376,.459]) with a prediction interval ranging from.264 to.553. Upon uncovering heterogeneity, study moderators were examined to explain variability in study effect sizes including (a) dating versus married samples, (b) average length of romantic relationship, (c) percent of female participants in the study, (d) average age of participants, (e) author research teams, (f) before COVID-19 versus during COVID-19 data collections, and (g) discrete anger measurements versus anger subsumed in negative affect measurements. These study moderators were unable to explain heterogeneity in effect sizes. The computed summary effect and prediction interval support the theoretical logic of proposition 2 from relational turbulence theory. © 2023 Eastern Communication Association.
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Indoor air quality (IAQ) is a significant concern that affects our health. Recent studies show how poor IAQ amplifies the effects of airborne viruses, which endanger the health of the population relative to the COVID-19. This study aims to find the relationship among IAQ, the location of the air outlet valve and the behavior of the IAQ indicators in the cardiac care unit (CCU) at Namazi Hospital, Shiraz, Iran. In this context, the condition of the air outlet valve can play an important part in preparing a better IAQ. To test the hypothesis, articles based on IAQ guidelines have been studied. Also, certain emissions (CO2, CO, PM2.5 and PM10) have been measured, and the relationship between IAQ, the location of the air outlet valve and the behavior of these emissions in the patient's room at Namazi Hospital. This room has been analyzed using computational fluid dynamics for the prediction of the specification of incoming air flow particles. Also, a Eulerian–Lagrangian model was used. In constant, the turbulence model (realizable k–ԑ) and discrete particle model were employed. The results show that when the outlet valve is placed on the wall at 20 cm, it decreased particle deposition in the room, and as a result, IAQ will be improved and at the same time, the chances of transmitting infectious diseases will be reduced. It is also indicated that a higher amount of particle deposition fraction (ca. 0.71) obtains when the outlet valve is located on the top of the wall. © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
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The current trend of global development is the strengthening of economic and geopolitical influence of countries that control transnational digital infrastructure. The claims of the United States and China to dominate the global economy are a challenge not only for Russia, but also for other countries that are not devoid of ambitions. Achieving digital sovereignty figures is among the goals of the European Union. India is striving to overcome digital colonization, the technological hegemony of the West and China. The article presents how the European Union and India move towards technological sovereignty. Since this sovereignty differs from autarky, it is an urgent task to develop a policy of participation in global value chains. Findings provided by METRO model (an OECD tool for analyzing global markets) focus on a broad diversification of foreign economic relations. The results of the shock test of the countries by the COVID-19 pandemic show that, although the countries with the largest income per capita are characterized by a high level of foreign trade activity, it is not a guarantee of sustainable economic development. National economy can be strongly negatively affected by supply chain disruptions. To resist foreign pressure, Russia needs to control a number of macro technologies that will dominate in the XXI century. Such general-purpose technology as artificial intelligence is beginning to play a significant role at that. © В.Е. Дементьев, 2023
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This cross-sectional study sought to understand how emerging adult college students currently in relationships experienced and dealt with COVID-19 stress during a key time for romantic relationship development. Using a relational turbulence theory (RTT) framework, we examined romantic relationship narratives in three different groups of students for indicators of uncertainty (break-up anxiety [BUA]), interference (conflict and negative emotion), facilitation (support), and coping strategies. Of particular interest was whether these indicators would vary as a function of when the stress of the pandemic was assumed to be more compared to less disruptive to relationships (Group 1 Fall 2020 and Group 2 Spring 2021, off campus/unvaccinated;Group 3 Fall 2021, on campus/vaccinated). As expected, students interviewed during periods when pandemic stress was assumed to be higher showed more break-up anxiety, increased conflict, and angry word use to describe conflict events. However, contrary to expectations, sad emotions and support did not vary as a function of when students were interviewed. Regardless of when students were interviewed, there were several strategies they used to cope with the stresses of COVID-19. The most frequent strategies students described were using technology/media to stay connected and taking steps to keep themselves and their families healthy. © 2023 International Association for Relationship Research.
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Background/Purpose: Relational turbulence theory suggests that changes in and around relationships create the potential for relational turbulence when everyday routines and scripts are upended and communication becomes polarized. In turn, perceptions of a romantic relationship as chaotic or tumultuous can influence a person's engagement with their social network. Alternately, previous research also suggests that engagement with friends and family has the potential to influence married partner's relationship quality. Research Design: This study examined these propositions among a sample of married couples (N = 64, 128 individuals) whose daily experiences and relationship dynamics changed during the COVID-19 lockdown period. Results/Conclusions: Based on a 10-week, weekly diary repeated measures design, results suggest that relational turbulence and the valence of social network engagement may be mutually influential, such that (a) relational turbulence may influence the way in which married partners interpret communication with social network members and (b) the valence of communication with social network members may influence experiences of relational turbulence.
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The abstract should summarize the contents of the paper in short terms, i.e. 150–250 words. The economic and financial crises of the last decade, respectively the subprime crisis from the year 2008–2009 with the edge of the current situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have generated threats for many organizations around the world. It was created the premises for intensifying research on the resilience of organizations in order to understand in depth the concept itself, to establish the ability of businesses to adapt to various threats and disruptive factors. The concept of resilience is very complex and has an interdisciplinary nature, with a multitude of definitions and approaches in various areas of research. Through this study, a bibliometric analysis of the literature dealing with the concept of resilience was performed, using the WebOfScience scientific database for the period 1979–2021. The aim of the research is to evaluate the scientific output on resilience in order to have a deeper vision for the future directions of research in correlation with the evolution of economic phenomena worldwide. The general objectives are to identify the research directions of the publications in the mentioned database, to identify the articles and authors relevant for the research in the case and to map the countries that have contributed in the development of the scientific production specific to the concept. The results consist in identifying the relevant scientific production so far and the future research directions in studying the resilience of organizations for detecting their weaknesses but also the potential to return in case of a crisis or unforeseen event with major impact on the economy. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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Ventilation in confined spaces is essential to reduce the airborne transmission of viruses responsible for respiratory diseases such as COVID-19. Mechanical ventilation using purifiers is an interesting solution for elevator cabins to reduce the risk of infection and improve the air quality. In this work, the optimal position and blowing direction of these devices to maximize ventilation and minimize the residence time of the air inside two cabins (large and small) is studied. Special attention is devoted to idle periods when the cabin is not used by the passengers, in order to keep the cabin ambient safe and clean, avoiding that the trapped air in the cabin (after its use) could suppose a reservoir for contaminants. CFD numerical models of two typical cabin geometries, including the discretization of small slots and grilles for infiltration, have been developed. A full 3D URANS approach with a k-epsilon RNG turbulence model and a non-reactive scalar to compute the mean age of air (MAA) was employed. The CFD results have been also validated with experimental measurements from a home-made 1:4 small-scale mock-up. The optimal position of the purifier is on the larger sidewall of the cabins for a downward blowing direction (case 1 of the database). Flow rates in the range of 0.4–0.6 m3/min, depending on the size of the cabin, are sufficient to assure a correct ventilation. Upward blowing may be preferable only if interaction of the jet core with the ceiling or other flow deflecting elements are found. In general, the contribution of infiltrations (reaching values of up to 10%), and how these secondary flows interact with the main flow pattern driven by the purifier, is relevant and not considered previously in the literature. Though an optimal position can improve ventilation considerably, it has been proven that a good choice of the purification flow rate is more critical to ensure an adequate air renewal. © 2022 The Authors
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This paper discusses an application of air curtain for reduction of virus-laden droplets transmission from an infected host to other passengers in a small aircraft cabin. The study is restricted to respiratory droplets emitted during coughing. Discrete Particle Method introduced for violent respiratory events (VRE) captured in detail the movement of coughing puff inside the cabin and allowed to study the interaction of droplets with the air curtain's stream and the surrounding air. The results show that the application of the air curtain inhibits the transmission process of small droplets (diameters ranging from 10 to 40 mu m). The air curtain supplied with a limited air mass flow cannot alter the multiphase puff dynamics, but it can be utilized to deflect the virus droplets with lower momentum away from the neighboring passenger. Improved removal efficiency of virus-laden droplets has been achieved owing to the application of the air curtain together with supplementary suction surfaces introduced on the front seat backrest. The virus (SARS-CoV-2) transmission process was also analyzed by means of mass concentration of CO2 exhaled by the infected host, used as a contamination tracker. This part of the work aims at assessment of an applicability of CO2 tracer gas in analysis of virus transmission. Results show that CO2 tracer gas can only be employed for the study of small size droplets dispersion (diameter less or equal to 40 mu m).
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This paper examines the role of Intellectual Capital (IC) and its contribution to Business Sustainability (BS) among Large Manufacturing Firms (LMF) in Malaysia. It seeks to explain the relationship between them under turbulent market conditions. The study used the survey method to collect data from 203 large companies, and the hypotheses were tested using Partial-Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling. Based on the findings, two dimensions of IC, namely Human capital (HC) and Structural Capital (SC), had a significant effect on business sustainability, but Relational Capital (RC) did not. Also results indicate that Market Turbulence (MT) moderates the relationship between two IC dimensions, HC and RC but not that between SC and BS. The study findings can be used as guidelines by CEOs of LMFs, policy makers and researchers to comprehend positive the influence of MT and IC on BS. © 2022
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Creating a circle from the August 2017 Rohingya eviction from Myanmar into Bangladesh to a possible return to Rakhine, this chapter contains narratives from three junctures: pre-camp, camp, and post-camp. Whereas the first traces the Rohingya origin, thus dwelling upon history, discrimination, religion, and the relevant external context permitting internal ethnic cleansing/genocide, the second explores camp dynamics, unraveling new forms of intersectionality, gender vulnerability-and-balancing actions, and COVID responses, leaving the post-camp section to evaluate the rudderless human security ship, humanitarian innovations redressing camp exigencies and possibly benefiting civil society, as well as imparting global education against local needs, to find out what role inherent/tainted memory will play in jump-starting relocated lives. How that circle triumphs against a looming dead-end leaves food for thought for interim rehabilitation/relocation purposes. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
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This study examined how increased stress during the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to relational turbulence and undermined dyadic coping. Using longitudinal data, this study also explored how enacting communal coping mitigates stress and conditions of relational turbulence over time. A sample of 151 U.S. dyads (302 individuals) completed online surveys about their relationship once per week for four weeks during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were analyzed using multilevel modeling. Consistent with hypotheses, stress was positively associated with the relationship conditions that give rise to relational turbulence and heightened relational turbulence was negatively associated with communal coping. Longitudinal analyses revealed that communal coping enacted in one week was associated with decreased stress and improved relationship quality in subsequent weeks. The findings are discussed in terms of their practical implications and contributions to theory.
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Creating a circle from the August 2017 Rohingya eviction from Myanmar into Bangladesh to a possible return to Rakhine, this chapter contains narratives from three junctures: pre-camp, camp, and post-camp. Whereas the first traces the Rohingya origin, thus dwelling upon history, discrimination, religion, and the relevant external context permitting internal ethnic cleansing/genocide, the second explores camp dynamics, unraveling new forms of intersectionality, gender vulnerability-and-balancing actions, and COVID responses, leaving the post-camp section to evaluate the rudderless human security ship, humanitarian innovations redressing camp exigencies and possibly benefiting civil society, as well as imparting global education against local needs, to find out what role inherent/tainted memory will play in jump-starting relocated lives. How that circle triumphs against a looming dead-end leaves food for thought for interim rehabilitation/relocation purposes. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.