Possible Opportunities in Face Mask Manufacturing During the COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 has been primarily regarded as a respiratory disease, and until a safer and effective treatment or vaccine becomes available, the prevention of COVID-19 may continue through interventions based on non-pharmaceutical measures such as maintaining of physical distances and use of personal protective equipment like facemasks, etc. Therefore, an attempt was made in this study to explore the drawbacks with the presently available facemasks for protection from COVID-19 viruses in the state of Odisha in India, and also to explore the possible opportunities for further development of these facemasks. The associated discomforts; strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis of existing facemasks in Odisha; possible opportunities for “Make in India” of these facemasks; along with safer use have been analyzed with the help of interpretive structural modelling (ISM) approach followed by MICMAC analysis.

Modelling the abstract knots in supply chains using interpretive structural modelling (ISM) approaches: a review-based comprehensive toolkit

PurposeThis study endeavours to (a) develop a comprehensive interpretive structural modelling (ISM) toolkit containing sufficient details about the suitability and procedural aspects of each ISM approach and offer points of reference for budding researchers, (b) highlight the compatibility of ISM approaches with other qualitative and quantitative approaches, and (c) chalk-out an agenda for future research.Design/methodology/approachThis study is based on an extensive review of 74 studies where researchers have used one or more ISM approaches. These studies span across the different industry sectors.FindingsThere exists a huge void in terms of the methodological synthesis of ISM approaches. ISM approaches are frequently used in sync with other qualitative and quantitative approaches. Furthermore, it highlights the need of improving the robustness of the proposed ISM models by sharing the critical details of research process.Research limitations/implicationsBeing a review-based work, it could not illustrate the discussed ISM approaches with real data. However, it offers a research agenda for the prospective researchers.Practical implicationsThe prerequisites, pitfalls, suitability and the procedural aspects of various ISM approaches contained in this toolkit are equally useful for the academicians as well as practitioners.Originality/valueIn the absence of a synthesized framework, this study contributes a comprehensive ISM toolkit which will help the researchers to choose a suitable ISM approach in a given case.

Sustainability Factors Affecting the Implementation of Design for Dis-assembly and Re-manufacturing Principles in Automobile Sector Using ISM

With the automobile sector pacing the tracks among their competitors to lead the market and adopting eco-friendly technologies, a much economic and vital field of making use of the manufactured product beyond its useful life span is widely neglected. This paper throws light on the necessity for implementing and highlights the various reasons for which these guidelines have not come to the attention of the responsible organizations including law making agencies, automobile manufacturers and as well the consumers. An interpretive structural modelling analysis is made to point out ten driving factors in consultation with various experts from the relevant fields and the results provide guidance to how far the idea of design for dis-assembly and re-manufacturing has sought the world for the sustainability of the automobile manufacturers in the industry, for the days to come.

Pembangunan model penilaian Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) untuk bahasa Arab di Institusi Pengajian Tinggi

Platform Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) merupakan salah satu platform pembelajaran dalam talian yang sedang popular digunakan di pelusuk dunia terutamanya dalam Institut Pengajian Tinggi. Ia telah dijadikan salah satu platform utama sebagai proses pengajaran dan pembelajaran (PdP) di IPT Malaysia ketika pandemik covid-19 yang telah menular di seluruh dunia sejak Disember 2019. Walaupun begitu, terdapat beberapa pensyarah menyuarakan kebimbangan mereka dalam melaksanakan penilaian dalam MOOC khususnya untuk pembelajaran bahasa Arab. Justeru itu, pembangunan model penilaian MOOC untuk bahasa Arab boleh dijadikan sebagai salah satu alternatif penyelesaian. Artikel ini bertujuan untuk merungkaikan permasalahan yang kompleks, menganalisis struktur dan elemen penting untuk diterapkan dalam model penilaian MOOC. Model ini dibangunkan berpandukan kepada kesepakatan pakar seramai tujuh orang. Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) diaplikasikan dalam pembangunan model ini. Enam langkah utama yang terlibat dalam pembangunan model adalah bermula dengan mengenal pasti elemen-elemen yang berkaitan, mewujudkan hubungan antara pemboleh ubah, membangunkan matriks struktur interaksi kendiri (SSIM), penjanaan model daripada pendekatan ISM, pembentangan model kajian dan langkah terakhir melibatkan persembahan serta pindaan model akhir kajian. Sebanyak tujuh elemen dikenal pasti oleh barisan pakar bagi pelaksanaan penilaian MOOC untuk bahasa Arab. Elemen yang menjadi keutamaan adalah elemen menentukan jenis pentaksiran (penilaian kendiri, rakan sebaya, penilaian sumatif, formatif) bagi mengukur prestasi pelajar dan di akhiri dengan elemen menentukan syarat pensijilan bagi pelajar menamatkan kursus.

Barriers to the Adoption of Urban Living Labs for NBS Implementation: A Systemic Perspective

Urban Living Labs (ULLs) are widely believed to provide a safe environment for experimentation, co-creation and evaluation of innovations in real-life settings. A growing number of cities have been adopting ULLs to co-create and test Nature-Based Solutions (NBS). However, many of these cities have been facing major barriers in trying to adopt the ULL approach for implementing NBS. In this study, we seek to identify these barriers and provide a systemic understanding. Barriers are identified by means of workshops and interviews. Subsequently, interpretive structural modelling serves to identify the interdependencies among the barriers, resulting in a structural model of barriers in adopting ULLs for NBS. Our results show that political and institutional barriers are significantly limiting the adoption of ULLs. Moreover, knowledge brokers and other intermediaries, as well as cross-sectoral collaboration, play a key role in getting ULLs adopted. The findings from this study can help cities to develop strategies that overcome the main barriers for ULL adoption in the context of nature-based solutions.

Antecedents and enablers of supply chain reconfigurability and its effect on performance

The reconfiguration of supply chain is becoming a crucial concept used to deal with market disruptions and changes such as COVID 19 pandemic, demand uncertainty, new technologies, etc. It can be defined as the ability of the supply chain to change its structure and functions in order to adapt to new changes. Its assessment requires an understanding of its quantitative factors to provide indicators that are easy to interpret. Effective reconfigurability assessment can be achieved by measuring quantitatively its six characteristics (modularity, integrability, convertibility, diagnosability, scalability and customization). This paper aims at identifying the quantitative factors of each characteristic and their inter-relationships by using Total Interpretive Structural Modelling (TISM). The structural model obtained by TISM is applied to understand the dependency quantitative factors. Based on TISM results, a classification of quantitative factors is determined using « Matrice d'Impacts Croisés, Multiplication Appliquée à un Classement » (MICMAC) analysis. This paper may be helpful to understand the previously mentioned characteristics of reconfigurable supply chain in order to facilitate the measuring and the assessment of reconfigurability.

An Evaluation of Project Risk Dynamics in Sino-Africa Public Infrastructure Delivery; A Causal Loop and Interpretive Structural Modelling Approach (ISM-CLD)

Africa’s growth in public infrastructure provision has been fueled by the collective effort of the government authority and foreign private investors. China, through state-owned corporations, has become one of the leading infrastructure financier springing up numerous projects in transport, energy, oil and gas, water, and sewage sectors in Africa. Infrastructure procurement in developing countries comes with complexities and uncertainties. While Sino-Africa transnational public–private partnerships (TPPP) are becoming an increasingly popular route for public infrastructure procurement, their specific project risks and dynamics are not yet fully understood due to the typical assessment of risk autonomously. This paper identifies pertinent project risks in Sino-Africa TPPPs and applies system thinking in evaluating their behaviour and dynamics. An extensive review of literature and expert opinion employing semi-structured interviews was adopted in the identification and assessment of risk factors. Additionally, the study applied causal loop and interpretive structural modelling as an integrated approach in the assessment of risk behaviour from a systems perspective. Results indicate that risk factors associated with Sino-Africa TPPPs are interactive and portray curious systemic behaviour. Risk factors like force majeure and others associated with the governance structure and stability of the host African country are most influential, and their occurrence could inhibit project success. The study recommends that in conjunction with the conventional risk assessment by impact, systems thinking can be adopted to evaluate and comprehend the dynamics and interactions amongst the risk factors. This will improve risk assessment efficiency and fair allocation and treatment of risks as a conduit for project success and promote a win–win partnership for project actors.