Getting Human Resource Information Systems Right: A Case Presentation of Uganda

BackgroundHuman resources information systems (HRIS) are a key tool for collecting and analyzing health workforce data at the country level and the specific focus of milestones 4.1 and 4.2 of the Global Strategy on Human Resources for Health (HRH). Yet documentation on the capabilities of HRIS in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is limited. Vital Wave, with IntraHealth International and Cooper/Smith, conducted a targeted scan of the HRIS landscape in 20 countries and “deep-dive” assessments in Burkina Faso, Mozambique, and Uganda. Here we present the case of Uganda’s workforce information ecosystem. Case PresentationSince 2006, Uganda has seen investment in HRIS from different donors, overseen by the Ministry of Health (MOH) and accompanied by the rollout of IntraHealth’s open-source iHRIS software. Despite this history of investment, mapping of the country’s multiple information systems revealed uneven adoption and engagement nationally and sub-nationally, with high levels of data fragmentation due to lack of interoperability and data-sharing practices. We also mapped the administrative processes and data flows for three priority use cases: recruitment and deployment, salary payments, and performance management. What emerges is a complex, decentralized information ecosystem driven by years of donor investment, but one that still sees uneven ownership and data use across the health system. Challenges include:· Limited interoperability between systems, specifically payroll, iHRIS, and the district health information system (DHIS2)· Complex HRH planning and management policy context, with variable implementation of numerous policies and no single reference to guide investments and implementation· Limited visibility into the private and community health workforce. ConclusionsUganda’s progress in developing its HRH information ecosystem underscores the importance of continuously aligning system capabilities, incentives, and motivations to an ever-evolving country context. However, as evidenced in Uganda and our broader assessment findings, robustness of the information ecosystem itself is insufficient to making substantive strides toward the Global Strategy’s milestones 4.1 and 4.2—governance oversight and ownership are critical to success. With a better understanding of what good looks like in terms of HRIS functionality in LMICs and ensuring interventions are addressing the causal issues, there can be many pathways to making systems work.

Advancement of the Entrepreneurial Mindset as a Driving Force for the Creation of a Successful Born Global Strategy

The Doctoral Thesis is devoted to the field of entrepreneurial mindset and its interaction with the process of the creation of a successful born global strategy. Entrepreneurial mindset is the research object of the Doctoral Thesis, it refers to a specific state of mind, which orientates a human towards entrepreneurial activities and outcomes. Successful born global strategy is considered as the outcome of the dynamic process of entrepreneurial mindset. The present Doctoral Thesis covers research on the role of the individual level characteristics of entrepreneurial mindset as basis for running born global companies.

Methodological substantiation of the spheral approach to the training of specialists in the social sphere

The activities of specialists in the social sphere are aimed at creating conditions for the successful development of society as a whole and the welfare and prosperity of each of its members. At the same time, the quality of training of such specialists does not always correlate with the expected results. The reason for this discrepancy lies in the absence of a clearly expressed methodological strategy for training specialists in the social sphere. This article is devoted to the substantiation of the spheral approach to the training of specialists in the social sphere, which serves as a kind of methodological guideline, since the social sphere itself is a kind of springboard that launches this process. The study confirmed the assumption of the spheral approach as a global strategy, following which it is possible to predict with a certain accuracy the results aimed at transforming both the social sphere itself and the social institutions that make up it.

The EU Global Strategy – 5 Years After. The Appropriateness in Face of the Dynamic Strategic Realities

The objective of the article is to verify to what extent the European Union Global Strategy (EUGS) keeps up with the main global trends (at the level of international order as well as in relation to the global distribution of power) and the processes shaping the EU member states security environment of a regional scale which are perceptible from the perspective of five years following the EUGS adoption. This is also what the main research question concerns – to what extent do the diagnosis and postulates formulated inside the discussed document follow such processes in relation to the 2016–2021 period? For this reason too, the key research approach employed within the study is a critical analysis of source material. The EU Global Strategy mostly appropriately diagnoses and interprets the realities affecting the member states security – especially when it comes to enduring processes of a global scale regarding the erosion of the liberal international order as well as the roots of possible threats for international security in its military dimension – and formulates the postulates that are pragmatic and detailed. At the same time the document underestimates some of important occurrences or even does not refer to them at all. Examples of such omissions were given in the paper.

La ricezione delle opere di Giorgio Bassani in Slovenia

The article examines the reception of Giorgio Bassani’s works in Slovenia. The current state of translations of Bassani’s works into Slovene is characteristic of the availability of Slovene editions of Italian authors, which often seems desultory despite the relatively high number of literary translations from Italian published after World War II. In the past, the translations were typically published later than the original texts and without a global strategy. This situation partly persists to the present day: whilst the translations of some authors are sufficiently present, others continue to be absent, which is probably due to the limitations of the Slovene book market. As few as three of Bassani’s texts have been translated into Slovene, namely the novel Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini (1978), translated by Stabej, excerpts from the short story Una lapide in via Mazzini (1994), translated by Ožbot, and a selection of poems from In rima e senza (2008), translated by Dekleva. Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini, the only text to have been translated in an unabridged version, was also the subject of linguistic research by Miklič and Premrl. Whilst no doubt interesting for specialists, the results of their research most likely did not reach a wider public. Even though the translation of Bassani’s novel was followed by the release of the film adaptation, whilst the poetry collection received critical acclaim, Bassani remains a relatively little-known author in Slovenia to this day. Moreover, as many as thirteen years have passed since the publication of the last translation.

Global Strategy and Multinational Corporation Capabilities

Strategy in a global setting involves competition in industries that extend across national boundaries and among firms with different national home bases that may tap into strategic resources in more than one location. The resources that the firm accesses from its home country provide it with international competitive advantage only if they are relevant in other markets, if the value they create is appropriable, and if they are transferable to those markets (RAT), These resources include tangible assets and factors of production, but, importantly, also the capabilities the firm develops. Similarly, the resources that it taps from other contexts provide it with further competitive advantage only if these resources are complementary to the firm’s existing resources, appropriable, and transferable to the locations where it can exploit them (CAT). These two sets of factors—RAT and CAT—provide a framework for international strategic decisions that emphasizes developing, acquiring, and transferring capabilities.

A Review of the Recent Progress in the Development of Nanocomposites Based on Poly(ether-block-amide) Copolymers as Membranes for CO2 Separation

An inspiring challenge for membrane scientists is to exceed the current materials’ performance while keeping the intrinsic processability of the polymers. Nanocomposites, as mixed-matrix membranes, represent a practicable response to this strongly felt need, since they combine the superior properties of inorganic fillers with the easy handling of the polymers. In the global strategy of containing the greenhouse effect by pursuing a model of sustainable growth, separations involving CO2 are some of the most pressing topics due to their implications in flue gas emission and natural gas upgrading. For this purpose, Pebax copolymers are being actively studied by virtue of a macromolecular structure that comprises specific groups that are capable of interacting with CO2, facilitating its transport with respect to other gas species. Interestingly, these copolymers show a high versatility in the incorporation of nanofillers, as proved by the large number of papers describing nanocomposite membranes based on Pebax for the separation of CO2. Since the field is advancing fast, this review will focus on the most recent progress (from the last 5 years), in order to provide the most up-to-date overview in this area. The most recent approaches for developing Pebax-based mixed-matrix membranes will be discussed, evidencing the most promising filler materials and analyzing the key-factors and the main aspects that are relevant in terms of achieving the best effectiveness of these multifaceted membranes for the development of innovative devices.