Purpose
Social procurement (SP) is a complicated and risky innovation, the adoption of which needs to be accompanied by complementary process and organizational change. To date, however, there has ...been little empirical evidence explaining whether and how different sorts of external pressures affect the level of SP adoption in the construction sector. Drawing on institutional theory, this study aims to analyze how three types of isomorphic pressures (i.e. coercive, mimetic and normative pressures) influence the adoption of SP in the construction sector.
Design/methodology/approach
The impacts of these pressures are empirically tested with survey data collected from 134 construction firms in the Chinese construction industry.
Findings
The findings show that both coercive and mimetic pressures have a considerable impact on the adoption of SP. However, there is little evidence in this study that normative demands had a major impact on SP.
Practical implications
This research is a useful instrument for promoting a favorable social attitude regarding construction procurement. Through socioeconomic regeneration and development, procurement can be considered as a significant route for social transformation, economic development and poverty reduction.
Originality/value
This study addresses the paucity of research into SP in the construction industry by establishing the institutional drivers to procuring services and products from a social enterprise perspective. Findings from this study extend the frontiers of existing knowledge on SP in the construction industry.
PurposeThe study exemplifies authentic leadership (AL) and relates it to project success (PS) with the mediating variables of organizational learning (OL) and organizational innovation (OL). None of ...the existing studies on AL and PS have worked on the mediation of OL and OI on these factors. So far, this paper tries to fill gap between these factors.Design/methodology/approachThe study is done by testing the hypothesis by utilizing the approach of deduction. The tool of data collection utilized is a survey. The methods of data collection involved qualitative techniques as primary approaches of investigation. The study population involves multinational and national companies/organizations working directly or indirectly for CPEC projects. A total of 295 questionnaires were used to gather data from top-level and middle–level management from private or government sector companies working individually or collaboratively on CPEC projects. Out of 295 questionnaires, 35 were rejected for being incomplete, and 260 were further analyzed for research purposes. SPSS and AMOS-21 statistical packages were used for analysis or correlation among variables.FindingsThis study claims the positive impact of AL on PS while the OI and OL play a mediating role.Practical implicationsThis study will add significant literature related to project management. These outcomes gave data on the primary systems of project management that are utilized in the projects or in various organizations to assess the accomplishment of the project with AL, OL and OI.Originality/valueIt has gained popularity in the world of management researchers due to its uniqueness and desirability. This study of AL and PS has been comprehensively deliberate to find the variables that affect them. The idea is to analyze the possible effects of OL and innovation on authentic leaders and the overall PS in the China–Pakistan economic corridor (CPEC).
Urbanization, climate change, and irresponsible resource management exacerbate the global water crisis. The necessity for water resilience, the capacity of systems and communities to adjust and ...flourish in the face of water shocks and pressures, has been brought to light by these critical issues. Water resilience enables Global Value Chains (GVCs) to survive scarcity, pollution, and flooding, ensuring sustainability and service delivery. Current service excellence models focus on stakeholder satisfaction, punctuality, and reliability over water resilience. This oversight may limit GVC growth and flexibility, reducing sector services. As recommended service excellence models focus on satisfaction, punctuality and reliability among stakeholders but water resilience is not considered. This can create issues for the growth and flexibility of GVCs which could cut back on services sector. This research is examined a complex relationship between service quality and water resilience to improve the GVCs in China regions especially Guangdong Province, Shanghai Municipality, and Beijing Municipality. By using multiple regression, GVCs service quality and water resilience is analyzed in the existence of Service Excellence Model. The study used 15 years (2009–2023) secondary data to measure how water resilience and GVCs services quality affect each other in Chinese regions. The results show that water resilience strategies can strengthen global production networks, optimize resource usage, and enhance service excellence. Chinese GVCs can produce a water-resilient service economy, enlightening service quality and preserving competitiveness in rapidly changing global markets.
•Provides pathway for the Chinees GVCs on water resilience and water service excellence models.•Water resilience strategies on strengthen global production networks, optimize resource usage, and enhance service excellence.•Statistics settings of water resilience model for water footprints.•Providing pathway for water scarcity challenges with proactive, sector-specific solutions.
Objective: The objective isto assess the effects of lockdown on mental health of medical students of a Private medical college in Lahore.
Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study has been ...conducted to assess the mental health status of medical students during lockdown using the designed scale DASS 21. The reliability of scale was tested using Cronbach alpha. The scale is based on 3 sub-scales used to measure depression, anxiety and stress. A sample of size 230 students from different years of MBBS is used. The data was analyzed using SPSS 21.0
Results & Discussion:The proportion of females participated in study was comparatively higher. The females were observed as more depressive. As observed 62.6% of medical students suffered from mild to very severe depression during the lockdown period.Anxiety was observed among 52% of the students. More than half dealt with various levels of anxiety and faced stress.
Conclusion: COVID-19 has caused extensive distress in the lives and mental health of millions of medical students. The findings of this study indicate that depression, anxiety and stress are common morbidities amongst medical students, particularly those in their clinical training years.
Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol.20(5) 2021 p.125-130
In this article, we demonstrate single-layered, "microfluidic drifting" based three-dimensional (3D) hydrodynamic focusing devices with particle/cell focal positioning approaching submicron precision ...along both lateral and vertical directions. By systematically optimizing channel geometries and sample/sheath flow rates, a series of "microfluidic drifting" based 3D hydrodynamic focusing devices with different curvature angles are designed and fabricated. Their performances are then evaluated using confocal microscopy, fast camera imaging, and side-view imaging techniques. Using a device with a curvature angle of 180°, we have achieved a standard deviation of ±0.45 μm in particle focal position and a coefficient of variation (CV) of 2.37% in flow cytometric measurements. To the best of our knowledge, this is the best CV that has been achieved using a microfluidic flow cytometry device. Moreover, the device showed the capability to distinguish 8 peaks when subjected to a stringent 8-peak rainbow calibration test, signifying the ability to perform sensitive, accurate tests similar to commercial flow cytometers. We have further tested and validated our device by detection of HEK-293 cells. With its advantages in simple fabrication (i.e., single-layered device), precise 3D hydrodynamic focusing (i.e., submicrometer precision along both lateral and vertical directions), and high detection resolution (i.e., low CV), our method could serve as an important basis for high-performance, mass-producible microfluidic flow cytometry.
Analysis of chemical or biomolecular contents in a tiny amount of specimen presents a significant challenge in many biochemical studies and diagnostic applications. In this work, we present a ...single-layer, optofluidic device for real-time, high-throughput, quantitative analysis of droplet contents. Our device integrates an optical fiber-based, on-chip detection unit with a droplet-based microfluidic unit. It can quantitatively analyze the contents of individual droplets in real-time. It also achieves a detection throughput of 2000 droplets per second, a detection limit of 20 nM, and an excellent reproducibility in its detection results. In a proof-of-concept study, we demonstrate that our device can be used to perform detection of DNA and its mutations by monitoring the fluorescent signal changes of the target DNA/molecular beacon complex in single droplets. Our approach can be immediately extended to a real-time, high-throughput detection of other biomolecules (such as proteins and viruses) in droplets. With its advantages in throughput, functionality, cost, size, and reliability, the droplet-based optofluidic device presented here can be a valuable tool for many medical diagnostic applications.
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•Biofuels persuading the CO2 emissions / circular economy.•Investigate the relationship between economic growth and CO2 emissions by green energy projects.•Green energy projects ...decrease CO2 emissions while other energy projects increase CO2 emissions.•Panel co-reconciliation test verifies significance of long-run equilibrium correlation in their relationships.
Green energy projects (including wind, solar, biomass, hydro projects) are the major constituents of biofuel projects and primary need of global world which are directly concerned with economic growth and gross domestic products (GDP) development. In last few decades, fossil fuel consumption and carbon dioxide (CO2) emission have been increased due to more economic growth and growing population. Moreover, the objective of this research is to assess the consequence of biofuel including natural gas, environmentally friendly power projects (renewable-energy), and thermal power utilization on financial turn of events including GDP and CO2 in ten top countries. Multivariate climate countries with ubiquitous CO2 emission during the period of 1990–2018 were selected to examine the long-run flexibility as well as the path of causality between different variables, the panel co-integration test, panel heterogonous Dumitrescu and Hurlin causality evaluation and panel completely modified ordinary least squares were employed. The panel co-reconciliation test verify that variables have a long-run equilibrium correlation in their relationships. Long haul versatility and causality tests show that natural gas doesn't add to financial development or CO2 decreases. According to this present study, results can help to develop conservative policies regarding long-run and sustainable energy and design in energy development.
In this work, we demonstrate an integrated, single-layer, miniature flow cytometry device that is capable of multi-parametric particle analysis. The device integrates both particle focusing and ...detection components on-chip, including a “microfluidic drifting” based three-dimensional (3D) hydrodynamic focusing component and a series of optical fibers integrated into the microfluidic architecture to facilitate on-chip detection. With this design, multiple optical signals (i.e., forward scatter, side scatter, and fluorescence) from individual particles can be simultaneously detected. Experimental results indicate that the performance of our flow cytometry chip is comparable to its bulky, expensive desktop counterpart. The integration of on-chip 3D particle focusing with on-chip multi-parametric optical detection in a single-layer, mass-producible microfluidic device presents a major step towards low-cost flow cytometry chips for point-of-care clinical diagnostics.
In this work we present an acoustofluidic approach for rapid, single-shot characterization of enzymatic reaction constants K(m) and k(cat). The acoustofluidic design involves a bubble anchored in a ...horseshoe structure which can be stimulated by a piezoelectric transducer to generate vortices in the fluid. The enzyme and substrate can thus be mixed rapidly, within 100 ms, by the vortices to yield the product. Enzymatic reaction constants K(m) and k(cat) can then be obtained from the reaction rate curves for different concentrations of substrate while holding the enzyme concentration constant. We studied the enzymatic reaction for β-galactosidase and its substrate (resorufin-β-D-galactopyranoside) and found K(m) and k(cat) to be 333 ± 130 μM and 64 ± 8 s(-1), respectively, which are in agreement with published data. Our approach is valuable for studying the kinetics of high-speed enzymatic reactions and other chemical reactions.
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