The labor productivity of construction projects is low. This urges construction companies to increase their labor efficiency, particularly when demands grow and labor is scarce. This blog introduces an overview that helps practitioners identify causes of low productivity to find and eliminate the root causes.
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Reporting of research findings is often selective. This threatens the validity of the published body of knowledge if the decision to report depends on the nature of the results. The evidence derived from studies on causes and mechanisms underlying selective reporting may help to avoid or reduce reporting bias. Such research should be guided by a theoretical framework of possible causal pathways that lead to reporting bias. We build upon a classification of determinants of selective reporting that we recently developed in a systematic review of the topic. The resulting theoretical framework features four clusters of causes. There are two clusters of necessary causes: (A) motivations (e.g. a preference for particular findings) and (B) means (e.g. a flexible study design). These two combined represent a sufficient cause for reporting bias to occur. The framework also features two clusters of component causes: (C) conflicts and balancing of interests referring to the individual or the team, and (D) pressures from science and society. The component causes may modify the effect of the necessary causes or may lead to reporting bias mediated through the necessary causes. Our theoretical framework is meant to inspire further research and to create awareness among researchers and end-users of research about reporting bias and its causes.
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Overtourism is a much-debated topic in academic literature and among policy makers. The discussions have led to insights into the different aspects of overtourism, but the focus has largely remained on finding solutions for the direct, and often short-term, effects of (over)tourism faced by cities "in general", rather than identifying and solving the underlying causes and tensions. To take this needed step, it is essential to be aware that the causes, tensions and impacts related to (over)tourism, the interaction between the city's stakeholders as well as the issues outside tourism that a city is facing are all context specific. A way to identify the underlying causes and tensions in a specific city is to utilize the Smart City Hospitality Framework. The framework, which merges the concepts of sustainable development and city hospitality, provides a diversity of lenses to frame specific tensions that fit within a local context and, as a result, support a contextualized analysis of impacts and intervention strategies of city tourism. In this chapter we utilize the framework to analyse the role of tourism in three European cities (Gothenburg, Darmstadt and Warsaw), each with a different relation to tourism. A deliberate choice was made here to not focus on major tourism cities that are commonly associated with overtourism, to highlight how tensions related to overtourism are also appearing in cities where "in general" there still seems to be room for an increase in tourism numbers. The cases make clear that, also in these cities, the problematic relationship between tourism and the liveability of cities for local stakeholders, as well as the lack of equality with regard to the distribution of benefits and disadvantages, (start to) harm the sustainability of urban tourism development. The cases also highlight the disillusionment of people with the extent to which their voice is heard and taken seriously. In the discussion we identify a number of avenues for further research and experimentation.
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BACKGROUND/AIMS: Higher interdialytic weight gain (IDWG) is associated with higher predialysis blood pressure and increased mortality. IDWG is also increasingly being recognized as an indicator of nutritional status. We studied in detail the associations of various patient factors and nutritional parameters with IDWG.METHODS: We collected data during one week for IDWG and hemodynamic parameters in 138 prevalent adult haemodialysis patients on a thrice-weekly haemodialysis schedule. A multivariate linear regression analysis was employed to identify factors that are associated with IDWG.RESULTS: The mean (±SD) age was 62.5 (±18.2) years, 36% were female, 36% had diuresis, and 23% had diabetes. Patients in the highest IDWG tertile were significantly younger, more frequently male, and had a significantly higher subjective global assessment score (SGA). A higher IDWG as a percentage of body weight (%IDWG) was associated with a younger age, greater height and weight, absence of diuresis, and lower postdialysis plasma sodium levels. The model with these five parameters explained 37% of the variance of %IDWG. Predialysis, intradialysis, and postdialysis diastolic blood pressure was significantly higher in the highest tertile of IDWG.CONCLUSION: The most important associations of %IDWG are age, height, weight, diuresis, and postdialysis sodium. Patients with the highest IDWG have significantly higher diastolic blood pressures.
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The world of student associations, is not all what it seems to be. Here, like in the corporate boardroom, we find a world of personal ambition that drive unproductive acquisitions and other unwanted managerial behavior. Agency problems as studied by Jensen & Meckling (1976) and eloquently summarized by Gordon Gekko (1987) are major causes of the credit crisis of 2008.
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Echinoderm mass mortality events shape marine ecosystems by altering the dynamics among major benthic groups. The sea urchin Diadema antillarum, virtually extirpated in the Caribbean in the early 1980s by an unknown cause, recently experienced another mass mortality beginning in January 2022. We investigated the cause of this mass mortality event through combined molecular biological and veterinary pathologic approaches comparing grossly normal and abnormal animals collected from 23 sites, representing locations that were either affected or unaffected at the time of sampling. Here, we report that a scuticociliate most similar to Philaster apodigitiformis was consistently associated with abnormal urchins at affected sites but was absent from unaffected sites. Experimentally challenging naïve urchins with a Philaster culture isolated from an abnormal, field-collected specimen resulted in gross signs consistent with those of the mortality event. The same ciliate was recovered from treated specimens postmortem, thus fulfilling Koch’s postulates for this microorganism. We term this condition D. antillarum scuticociliatosis.
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Recent research has indicated an increase in the likelihood and impact of tree failure. The potential for trees to fail relates to various biomechanical and physical factors. Strikingly, there seems to be an absence of tree risk assessment methods supported by observations, despite an increasing availability of variables and parameters measured by scientists, arborists and practitioners. Current urban tree risk assessments vary due to differences in experience, training, and personal opinions of assessors. This stresses the need for a more objective method to assess the hazardousness of urban trees. The aim of this study is to provide an overview of factors that influence tree failure including stem failure, root failure and branch failure. A systematic literature review according to the PRISMA guidelines has been performed in databases, supported by backward referencing: 161 articles were reviewed revealing 142 different factors which influenced tree failure. A meta-analysis of effect sizes and p-values was executed on those factors which were associated directly with any type of tree failure. Bayes Factor was calculated to assess the likelihood that the selected factors appear in case of tree failure. Publication bias was analysed visually by funnel plots and results by regression tests. The results provide evidence that the factors Height and Stem weight positively relate to stem failure, followed by Age, DBH, DBH squared times H, and Cubed DBH (DBH3) and Tree weight. Stem weight and Tree weight were found to relate positively to root failure. For branch failure no relating factors were found. We recommend that arborists collect further data on these factors. From this review it can further be concluded that there is no commonly shared understanding, model or function available that considers all factors which can explain the different types of tree failure. This complicates risk estimations that include the failure potential of urban trees.
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Evidence-based insertion and maintenance strategies for neonatal vascular access devices (VAD) exist to reduce the causes of VAD failure and complications in neonates. Peripheral intravenous catheter failure and complications including, infiltration, extravasation, phlebitis, dislodgement with/without removal, and infection are majorly influenced by catheter securement methods.
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Purpose: Intellectual capital theory and practice predominantly focus on measuring and managing intangible assets. However, if we want to balance the intellectual capital books (Harvey and Lusch, 1999), we should recognize both intellectual assets and intellectual liabilities (Caddy, 2000). Therefore, the purpose of this article is to present a theoretical framework for measuring intellectual liabilities. Design: Identifying intangible liabilities is identifying the risk of decline and fall of organizations. One of the first extensive studies related to causes of decline and fall is Gibbon‟s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Gibbon, 2003 [original publication 1776]). It seems as if the main lessons that were drawn from this study are also applicable to today‟s business environment. Therefore, the framework that is developed in this article is not only based on intellectual capital literature, but also on Gibbon‟s study into the causes of decline and fall of the Roman Empire. Findings: The findings are combined in a framework for measuring intellectual liabilities. The main distinction within the proposed framework is the distinction between internal and external liabilities. Internal liabilities refer to the causes of deterioration that arise from the sources of value creation within the organization. External liabilities refer to the causes of deterioration that come from outside and are beyond control of the organization. Originality: This article explores a relatively new topic (intellectual liabilities) from a perspective (historical sciences) that is hardly used in management science.
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