The Impact of strategic Agility on the SMEs competitive capabilities in the Kingdom of Bahrain

With a highly uncertain and changing business environment, the typical way of planning a business is not particularly useful in different organizations worldwide. The current literature explores the concept of strategic Agility based on the idea of flexible planning and implementation and can pivot direction at the time of crises. Three main theories underpinning these concepts are contingency-based theory, resource-based theory, and Dynamic capability theory. These theories have one common point of view: enterprises' ability to cope with unexpected changes, survive unprecedented threats from the business environment, and take advantage of changes as opportunities. The literature has identified various variables that impact the adoption of strategic Agility in the organization, including strategic sensitivity, Resource fluidity, and Leadership unity. Some studies in the literature have found these variables as dimensions of strategic Agility. Further, the literature discussed how competitiveness could be achieved through strategic Agility at times of crisis, particularly in SMEs, which are highly prone to external problems due to limited resources and budgets.

Flexible Path Planning Through Vicarious Trial and Error

Flexible planning is necessary for reaching goals and adapting when conditions change. We introduce a biologically plausible path planning model that learns its environment, rapidly adapts to change, and plans efficient routes to goals. Unlike prior models of hippocampal replay, our model addresses the decision-making process when faced with uncertainty. We tested the model in simulations of human and rodent navigation in mazes. Like the human and rat, the model was able to generate novel shortcuts, and take detours when familiar routes were blocked. Similar to rodent hippocampus recordings, the neural activity of the model resembles neural correlates of Vicarious Trial and Error (VTE) during early learning or during uncertain conditions. Similar to rodent studies, after learning, the neural activity resembles forward replay or preplay predicting a future route, and VTE activity decreases. We suggest that VTE, in addition to weighing possible outcomes, is a way in which an organism may gather information for future use.

Spatial-temporal patterns of self-organization: A dynamic 4D model for redeveloping the post-zoning city

Time is the main axis for understanding the functional, economic, and social aspects of self-organized redevelopment. When such processes are intensive and are conducted contemporaneously by large numbers of urban agents on different spatial and temporal scales and as a result of different motivations, urban planning is fragmented into multiple simultaneous and unexpected projects. The post-zoning era in urban planning stemmed from a recognition of this kind of complexity of urban dynamics and the need for a flexible planning system. Web-based geographic information systems (GIS) and planning support systems (PSS) are employed widely as digital tools to support planning practices. Still, the solutions tend to be isolated implementations that do not achieve sophisticated management of the complex temporal-spatial urban dynamics of self-organization. To this end, the article presents a useful set of multidimensional (2D, 3D, and 4D) planning tools that can be implemented by municipal planning departments to improve planning practices with relative ease. This toolbox facilitates the real-time updating of changes to individual buildings and allows all parties to see where delays are occurring, where they are impacting one another, and where environments of accelerated development are evolving in nearby urban plots. Identifying redevelopment clusters enables the formulation of an urban time-based planning policy. Using a spatial-temporal toolbox for planning, we argue, can facilitate recognition of the potential of self-organization as the leading form of contemporary urban planning.

Change the World - How Hard Can that Be? On the Computational Complexity of Fixing Planning Models

Incorporating humans into AI planning is an important feature of flexible planning technology. Such human integration allows to incorporate previously unknown constraints, and is also an integral part of automated modeling assistance. As a foundation for integrating user requests, we study the computational complexity of determining the existence of changes to an existing model, such that the resulting model allows for specific user-provided solutions. We are provided with a planning problem modeled either in the classical (non-hierarchical) or hierarchical task network (HTN) planning formalism, as well as with a supposed-to-be solution plan, which is actually not a solution for the current model. Considering changing decomposition methods as well as preconditions and effects of actions, we show that most change requests are NP-complete though some turn out to be tractable.

Student's Performance Analysis with EDA and Machine Learning Models

Educational data analytics is used to study the data which is available in the educational institutions and bring out the insights from it. Analytics is a process of discovering, analyzing, and interpreting meaningful patterns from large amounts of data. Predictive analytics can help in improving the quality of education by providing right information for decision makers to take better decisions. This paper focuses on the need for implementing the data analytics in educational system, suggests some strategies to use these needs. While implementing any system, the understanding of different components and their functions is necessary. The educational data analytics has potential to discover, analyze and predict meaningful knowledge from educational data which will help to education management system for flexible planning, execution and prediction for future.

Construindo uma visão geral dos Projetos Especiais de Impacto Urbano de 2º Grau em Porto Alegre

This article presents an overview of the projects approved in Porto Alegre between the years 2010 and 2019, through the city’s Special Projects of Urban Impact (PE) development instrument. The concept of “flexible planning” is presented to explain the type of planning practiced today and to describe the PE instrument as outlined in the Porto Alegre Master Plan. In the article, the PE normative framework is presented, followed by a statistical and socio-spatial description of the projects undertaken. The patterns regarding the socioeconomic and urban requirements are presented, as well as the community contributions or benefits that resulted from these projects. The research reveals that, rather than being exceptions, Special Projects have become the norm for large developments in Porto Alegre, resulting in a shock wave of large real estate developments in the city.

Clinical efficacy of antiangiogenic therapy for diabetic macular edema in real clinical practice (2-year results)

Purpose:to evaluate the clinical efficacy of anti-VEGF therapy of patients with diabetic macular edema (DMO) in T & E regimen for 96 weeks. Materials and methods. The study included 59 patients (101 eyes) with DMO. The average number of intravitreal injections of anti-VEGF agent (IIAVA) — aflibercept given during the whole period was 12.87 ± 3.56, including 7.78 ± 1.20 in the first year, and 4.82 ± 2.66 in the second year. Results.All patients showed an increase in visual functions (+0.33, p < 0.001) with a maximum achieved after 5 injections (+0.24; p = 0.001). Central macular thickness decreased from 397.36 ± 100,00 μm at the initial level to 276.59 ± 52.90 after 5 loading injections (-120.8 μm), to 263.85 ± 45.20 (-133, 91 μm) after 1 year and to 248.6 ± 46.9 (-148.76 μm) after 2 years. A resorption of retinal neuroepithelial detachment was observed in 84.16 % of cases as soon as loading injections were given, and reached 100 % of cases by the 48th week of observation. Strong inverse correlations were revealed between the initial presence of medium and large intraretinal cysts and visual acuity, both initial and final (-0.35 and -0.42, p < 0.01). The disorganization of retina inner layers at the initial level was a predictor of a worse visual outcome at the end of the observation period. By the end of this period, 44 patients (43.5 %) received IIAVA with an interval of 12 weeks, the maximum interval between injections was 16 weeks and was achieved in 19 (28.01 %) eyes. Conclusion.The results of a 2-year retrospective study of the efficacy of aflibercept in DME showed that T&E regimen can be used with highfunctional results. Due to flexible planning of the number of IIAVA in the second year, over-treatment could be avoided without reducing the expected efficacy.

The price we pay for land: The political economy of Pukekohe’s development

Like many other rapidly growing urban centres across the world, Auckland City finds itself caught between the unending demand for land to accommodate new residential and commercial developments, and the need to preserve the agricultural institutions that support dense urban populations. Land at the periphery of Auckland’s urban expansion has become significantly more lucrative when developed for housing and commercial interests than when used to grow food. The question of what farmers, residents, property developers and Council planners value land for is now crucial to preserving Auckland’s food security and food sovereignty in the near future. This article takes Pukekohe – an agricultural powerhouse and soon-to-be new satellite town at the southern periphery of urban Auckland – as a case study for this phenomenon. I first present a discourse analysis of development in government planning documents, demonstrating that discourses of flexible planning and economic opportunity enable the unchecked loss of productive land to ad hoc urban sprawl. I then turn to media interviews and statements from prominent Pukekohe stakeholders and relate their positions to Stephen Gudeman’s theory of the five spheres of economic abstraction, arguing that one’s working relationship to land defines the value it holds for them. Lastly, I take the conclusions drawn from these two approaches to discuss the political economy of Pukekohe’s urban development, detailing the ways in which the patterns of Auckland’s urban growth privilege the short-term generation of revenue over the substantial foundations of our existence. This contradiction has been faced by cities across the planet for much of the course of human history, yet it has never been more relevant than it is today, as the world’s urban population significantly increases and the realities of climate change force us to reconsider the future of global food production.