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Roy, S. A. "Future directions in planning in Scotland." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 1985. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.377180.
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Löbler, Helge, Hans Kjellberg, Kaj Storbacka, et al. "Market futures, future markets: research directions in the study of markets." Sage, 2012. https://ul.qucosa.de/id/qucosa%3A15286.
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What do marketing scholars need to know about markets? The quote above places markets at the heart of marketing theory. Yet many commentators have lamented the scant attention paid to markets in marketing and argued for the need to better understand this central facet of the subject (Araujo et al., 2008; Vargo, 2007; Venkatesh et al., 2006). We share this view and outline issues and research opportunities against the backdrop of recent contributions proposing a practice approach to markets (Araujo et al., 2010; Kjellberg and Helgesson, 2007; Storbacka and Nenonen, 2011; Vargo and Lusch, 2011). A central tenet in this tradition is the idea that working markets are always in the making; that they are the continuous results of market practices. Paraphrasing Vargo and Lusch (2004): markets are not, they become. In this process of becoming, markets take on multiple forms as a result of practical efforts by many different actors to shape economic exchanges, establish rules for their performance, and represent such exchanges as markets. The observation that economic theories (including marketing) contribute to shape markets by influencing these practical efforts (Callon, 1998) introduces a complication in our study of markets and presents a reflexive challenge for marketers studying the shaping of markets.
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Taheri-Kadkhoda, Zahra. "Nasopharyngeal carcinoma : past, present and future directions /." Göteborg : Department of Oncology, Institute of Clinical Sciences, Göteborg University, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/2077/8438.
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Facun-Granadozo, Ruth, and T. Ahmed. "Co-planning: Lessons Learned and Future Directions." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2018. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/4325.
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James, Gregory K. "Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and special operations : future directions /." Thesis, Monterey, Calif. : Springfield, Va. : Naval Postgraduate School ; Available from National Technical Information Service, 2000. http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA386387.
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Thesis (M.S. in Defense Analysis (Aeronautics and Astronautics)) Naval Postgraduate School, Dec. 2000.<br>"December 2000." Thesis advisor(s): Gordon H. McCormick. Includes bibliographical references (p. 99-107). Also available online.
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Gray, Pamela Clelland, University of Western Sydney, of Arts Education and Social Sciences College, and School of Humanities. "Public learning and the art museum : future directions." THESIS_CAESS_HUM_Gray_P.xml, 2002. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/354.
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The question of the art museum's failure to engage wider audiences remains relatively unexamined and has neither widely catalysed nor changed professional practice either in curatorial, educational, or public program domains. In this study, the educational aim of the art museum is discussed. The work of Pierre Bourdieu is examined. Bourdieu argues that museum display principles, interpretive strategies, and educational techniques, propagated within the paradigm of modernism, implicitly assume possession of cultural literacy skills which are the sole privilege of the educated.The author concludes that working within and across the curatorial and educational environments of an art museum, while avoiding the pitfalls of the modernist tradition, is also a significant step toward engaging wider audiences than the cultual 'elite' in the development of visual literacy skills.<br>Master of Arts (Hons.)
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Chalmers, Cameron L. "Revisiting Calgary's +15 system, policies and future directions." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2000. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp03/MQ48240.pdf.
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Gray, Pamela Clelland. "Public learning and the art museum : future directions." Thesis, View thesis View thesis, 2002. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/354.
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The question of the art museum's failure to engage wider audiences remains relatively unexamined and has neither widely catalysed nor changed professional practice either in curatorial, educational, or public program domains. In this study, the educational aim of the art museum is discussed. The work of Pierre Bourdieu is examined. Bourdieu argues that museum display principles, interpretive strategies, and educational techniques, propagated within the paradigm of modernism, implicitly assume possession of cultural literacy skills which are the sole privilege of the educated.The author concludes that working within and across the curatorial and educational environments of an art museum, while avoiding the pitfalls of the modernist tradition, is also a significant step toward engaging wider audiences than the cultual 'elite' in the development of visual literacy skills.
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Gray, Pamela Clelland. "Public learning and the art museum : future directions /." View thesis View thesis, 2002. http://library.uws.edu.au/adt-NUWS/public/adt-NUWS20030407.154108/index.html.
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RACCAGNI, DEBORAH CAROLINA. "Collaborative innovation: current findings, conceptualization and future directions." Doctoral thesis, Università Bocconi, 2008. https://hdl.handle.net/11565/4051245.
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Kessler, Ronald C., James C. Anthony, Daniel G. Blazer, et al. "The US National Comorbidity Survey: Overview and future directions." Saechsische Landesbibliothek- Staats- und Universitaetsbibliothek Dresden, 2013. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:14-qucosa-117330.
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This report presents an overview of the results of the US National Comorbidity Survey (NCS) (Kessler et al., 1994) and future directions based on these results. The NCS is a survey that was mandated by the US Congress to study the comorbidity of substance use disorders and nonsubstance psychiatric disorders in the general population of the US. (...)
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Azzouz, Ammar. "Current perspectives and future directions of BIM assessment methods." Thesis, University of Bath, 2018. https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.761047.
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The past century has witnessed significant developments in the field of Performance Measurement Systems (PMSs) in a wide range of disciplines, such as business management, engineering and computer science. Since 2007, PMSs have emerged in the Building Information Modelling (BIM) domain, with at least sixteen BIM Assessment Methods (BIM-AMs) developed to date, in both academia and industry. The need for BIM-AMs has been widely recognised, since they help businesses to track their progress of BIM Implementation and compare their capabilities against other companies. But despite these recent developments, BIM-AMs still face some fundamental challenges, in particular the way most assessments still rely on qualitative and subjective judgements, raising questions over accuracy, practicality and validation. This research presents a new approach to BIM-AMs and combines theory with practice. On the theoretical side, the thesis starts with a comparative overview of current Assessment Methods (AMs) to explore their various characteristic including what they evaluate (projects, organisations, teams or individuals), their range of measures and the way in which they communicate results. On the practical side, three AMs are applied to real case study projects in association with multiple Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) companies. This combination of theory and practice expands and challenges what is currently known about BIM-AMs. It offers a solid foundation to build more in-depth research on BIM measurement. In order to optimise the current AMs, an automated plug-in is developed to measure the Level of Detail of model elements. The automation of BIM assessment is shown to have the potential to deliver less qualitative, more objective and practical approaches of assessment. It has the potential to turn subjective and qualitative measures into quantifiable and objective data and provides fast and user-friendly assessment for the AEC businesses. The positive impact of BIM-AMs has been recognised by academics, professionals and policy-makers. Existing AMs have contributed enormously to the field of BIM assessment, but they will only lead to sharper and more efficient businesses if coupled with automation in evaluation and innovation in choosing appropriate measures.
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Kessler, Ronald C., James C. Anthony, Daniel G. Blazer, et al. "The US National Comorbidity Survey: Overview and future directions." Technische Universität Dresden, 1997. https://tud.qucosa.de/id/qucosa%3A27015.
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This report presents an overview of the results of the US National Comorbidity Survey (NCS) (Kessler et al., 1994) and future directions based on these results. The NCS is a survey that was mandated by the US Congress to study the comorbidity of substance use disorders and nonsubstance psychiatric disorders in the general population of the US. (...)
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McCauley, R. J., A. Lynn Williams, and Sharynne McLeod. "Interventions For Speech Sound Disorders In Children: Future Directions." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2010. https://www.amzn.com/1598570188/.
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Book Summary: With detailed discussion and invaluable video footage of 23 treatment interventions for speech sound disorders (SSDs) in children, this textbook and DVD set should be part of every speech-language pathologist's professional preparation. Focusing on children with functional or motor-based speech disorders from early childhood through the early elementary period, this textbook gives preservice SLPs critical analyses of a complete spectrum of evidence-based phonological and articulatory interventions.
This textbook fully prepares SLPs for practice with a vivid inside look at intervention techniques in action through high-quality DVD clips large and varied collection of intervention approaches with widespread use across ages, severity levels, and populations proven interventions in three categories: direct speech production, broader contexts such as perceptual intervention, and speech movements clear explanations of the evidence behind the approaches so SLPs can evaluate them accurately contributions by well-known experts in SSDs from across the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK
An essential core text for pre-service SLPs—and an important professional resource for practicing SLPs, early interventionists, and special educators—this book will help readers make the best intervention decisions for children with speech sound disorders.
Evidence-based intervention approaches—demonstrated in DVD clips—such as: minimal pairs perceptual intervention core vocabulary stimulability treatment intervention for developmental dysarthria the psycholinguistic approach
Interventions for Speech Sound Disorders in Children is a part of the Communication and Language Intervention Series
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Passaris, Constantine E. A. "Canadian immigration and public policy : past, present and future directions." Thesis, University of Leicester, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/2381/30124.
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This research endeavour attempts a critical appraisal of the scope and substance of Canada's immigration policy and program. In a preparatory effort I review the contribution of major economists towards the development of a comprehensive theory of international migration. I conclude that the economic parameters of immigration theory have been a sadly neglected dimension within the historical evolution of mainstream economic theory. In the absence of a conceptual framework for immigration within mainstream economic theory countries of immigration have resorted to short term immigration policies in the reactive mold that are essentially an immediate crises management of demographic factors and labour market requirements. My research analyses the concepts of carrying capacity, optimum population size, absorptive capacity and defines the economic parameters of immigration process through the selective use of Buchanan's theory of clubs. A historical review of Canada's immigration program highlights the paramount role that short term economic considerations have played in influencing the direction and thrust of Canada's immigration policy and legislation. Canadian immigration policy has two principal adjudicative tools at its disposal. These include federal statutes such as Immigration Acts or cabinet directives commonly referred to as immigration regulations which take the form of Orders-in-Council. Over the broad spectrum of Canada's economic history this country's immigration policy has had three major objectives. First, immigration was considered an effective means for expanding Canada's population at a faster rate than would be feasible through sole reliance on the natural increase process. Second, immigration was relied upon to supplement and complement the numerical and/or qualitative dimension of the domestic labour force. Third, immigration was perceived as an effective tool that would facilitate, sustain and enhance the process of economic growth and development. Canada's demographic profile characterized by the end of the baby-boom the decline in fertility rates, the ageing trend in the population and prospects for an absolute decline in the Canadian population shortly after the turn of the century necessitate an enhanced role for immigration to Canada. My research suggests the need for a longer term and more proactive immigration policy. Finally, Canada's recent inflows of multicultural immigration and global demographic trends suggest that future immigration to Canada will be predominantly multicultural and multiracial in composition.
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呂家聯 and Ka-luen Lui. "Review on solid cancer stem cell: overview and future directions." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2009. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B43250920.
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Holland, Verity. "Mindfulness with children and adolescents : current research and future directions." Thesis, University of Southampton, 2012. https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/359646/.
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Mindfulness, “the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment and non judgementally to the unfolding of experience” (Kabat-Zinn, 2003; p.145) is associated with improved well-being, cognitive functioning and distress in a range of chronic disorders in adults and is additionally becoming more prevalent in the treatment of a number of clinical difficulties in young people, such as anxiety and ADHD. Evidence suggests mindfulness may promote young people’s social and emotional functioning and academic performance. This has led to a growing interest in teaching mindfulness in schools to children and adolescents who do not have clinical diagnoses, where it is possible to use mindfulness in a universal, proactive way, to increase well-being and resilience in the face of potential challenges, rather than having a reactive focus on the alleviation of symptoms and problem behaviours. As with any emerging intervention, examining whether it works must be considered alongside the question of why it works. Focusing on mindfulness training delivered in schools, this paper updates a preliminary review (Burke, 2010) examining the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions delivered to children and adolescents, and provides an initial exploration of the possible underlying mechanisms of change facilitated by mindfulness in young people (e.g. relaxation, metacognitive awareness). There is increasing evidence to suggest that mindfulness training has a positive impact on a range of outcomes, however methodological issues remain and outcomes are less well established for some young people, for example adolescents in typical secondary settings. The review is therefore followed by a study that aimed to evaluate the effects of the ‘.b’ (Stop-Breathe-Be) mindfulness course on early adolescents’ well-being and academic functioning. 120 11 to 12 year olds from a mainstream secondary school took part in the intervention or control groups. Following the eight-week ‘.b’ course, as hypothesised, participants in the intervention group (N=72) demonstrated increased resilience and improved experience of stress, as well as improved inattentive behaviour (as rated by teachers) compared to passive control group participants (N=48). There were no significant differences between groups on measures of mindfulness, aggressive behaviour or academic achievement. Implications for teaching mindfulness in schools are discussed.
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Ferrer, Alejandra Judith. "Music Therapy Profession: Current Status, Priorities, and Possible Future Directions." The Ohio State University, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1353945905.
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Lui, Ka-luen. "Review on solid cancer stem cell overview and future directions /." Click to view the E-thesis via HKUTO, 2009. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record/B43250920.
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MANGANO, GIULIO. "Risks in Project Finance Initiatives: Current Trends and Future Directions." Doctoral thesis, Politecnico di Torino, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/11583/2572574.
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This thesis is an analysis of Public Private Partnership (PPP). PPP refers to the provision of public assets and service through the participation of the government, the private sector and the consumers. The purpose is to analyze the main risks involved in a PPP initiative and to understand how they affect its capital structure. To this aim, different datasets have been analyzed in order to trace consistent and coherent lessons. After that, this thesis aims at proposing PPP models for innovative project in the Smart City context, based on the assumption that innovative financial schemes can fit innovative projects. In particular several PPPs for Smart City projects have been analyzed and a Project Finance contract for the replacement of traffic light lamps has been proposed so that the applicability of the financial tool in new fields of application have been tested. The success of a PF initiative is strictly related to a careful analysis of all the risks associated with the project. As a matter of fact, many risks could occur during the life of the project and they can significantly affect its outcomes. For this reason risks have been categorized in sources and associated to their indicators. For each indicator, several parameters have been identified. The main sources of risk are Country, Financial, Market and Construction. First a dataset of worldwide toll road has been analyzed. The private concessionaire that constructs the infrastructure collects revenues generated by users, and the infrastructure by itself represents a solid collateral. The analysis highlights that inflation rate, the investment size, the construction duration, the financial strength of the Special Purpose Vehicle and the number of partners has a significant influence with the share of the equity into the total investment. This study might help the purpose of providing better opportunities for sponsors to improve the equity profitability and for lending agencies to better handle with risks associated with the debt supply.
The analysis has been then focused on the British market, which is one of the most important ones and wherein the Project Finance is actually developed and the legislative context is well defined. Based on the idea that the Unitary Charge (UC) periodically corresponded by the public authority (and in turn the capital structure) is associated with the project risk profile, the study investigates risks that might have significant impacts on the UC of a PF hospital project. The study demonstrates that it is possible to achieve a higher level of Value for Money (VFM) in PF hospital projects within a good economic and political environment. In Italy the PF market has rapidly grown, in light of the need for the public sector to find a feasible way to construct or renovate infrastructures in a context of scarce public finance. Based on past projects developed in Italy an empirical analysis has been carried out in order to identify the main aspects that can impact on the success of a PF initiative. As a matter of fact, evidence has shown that not all the projects appear to fit for PF, and often a project fails to go further out of the early contract procurement phases. Therefore, there is the need to understand what are the key factors affecting the construction of a PF initiative. The study shows that large-sized projects developed in wealthy conditions in terms of political and economic stability and levels of GDP, have good chances to be constructed, especially whenever the time is given to parties to negotiate the contract provision. The analysis provides with a hint for policy makers to learn that PF is a valuable system to be used in stable and developed environments for large projects with little time pressure.
PF mechanism was launched in Italy in 1999 and after ten years the Italian market is the second largest one in Europe, especially in the healthcare sector. However, financially freestanding privately-funded PF hospitals are rare and the capital structure of most projects requires a considerable share of public funding. The most proper amount of money invested by the public authority should cover the non-self-financing (and therefore the riskier ones) of the investment costs, but it often happens that the level of public contribution exceeds this limit. The results of the analysis highlight that the financial strength of the SPV, the number of services that are granted to the private partners, the level of borrowing of the public authority, and the duration of the concession period appear to be significant factors of the public fraction of financing required to deliver the project. These results originate some important considerations about the relevance of risks in the development of PF initiatives. PF better fits in stable politic and economic environments, but at the same time it is largely adopted in emerging countries with large demand of new infrastructures and high level of risk (in terms of level of transparency, corruptions, currency exchange). From a financial perspective a robust SPV is likely to better deal with the project with a positive impact on the capital structure. The market risk is associated with the number of customers that exploit the facility and the number of services that privates manage. If the demand of services is not enough to generate sustainable profits, the public party could reimburse an additional fee, in order to cover for this risk. The project risk is mainly related to the complexity of the project in terms of the number of partners in the SPV and the investment size.
The last part of the thesis is associated to the future and potential scenarios associated to PF and more in general to PPP scheme. In fact the aim is to propose PPP models in the smart city (SC) arena, a promising field of innovation and investments. SC appears to be as a new paradigm to carry out innovation that marks a shift between traditional way of completing technology-push processes and the new approach based on the user’s needs. In this political and economic scenario, the PPP seems to be a solution for the development of smart projects and the design of PPP models should become an integral part of the SC agendas. As demonstrated in the development of traditional infrastructure, the involvement of privates allows to manage more efficiently the project.The analysis shows that PF is more applicable in case of projects with tangible assets, and the main strength of this scheme is the clear separation between the cash flows of the SPV and the cash flows of the investors. On the contrary, PF is more expensive in terms of contractual and transactional costs. These aspects related to PF have fostered to develop a proposal model for the application of this financial scheme in the Municipality of Torino. In particular the project is based on the replacement of the traditional lamps of the traffic lights with new ones exploiting the innovative LED technology that is supposed to guarantee savings in terms of energy consumption and maintenance cost. The project has proved to be bankable and profitable if the Public Authority corresponds a fee that includes both the availability of the lamps and the maintenance costs for ten years. On the contrary the project is only bankable and profits are not guaranteed if the fee paid by the public is only associated with the availability. The findings have validated the applicability of PF even in case of projects without assets systems as collateral and with small-medium investments size. Some first general guidelines for the policy maker are provided in order to foster the development of SC initiative even in a period of financial public shortage. Project Finance, and more in general the PPP, can be the engine of an efficient exploitation of the potentiality offered by the SC.
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Strand, Matthias. "The Business Value of Data Warehouses : Opportunities, Pitfalls and Future Directions." Thesis, University of Skövde, Department of Computer Science, 2000. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:his:diva-490.
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<p>Organisations have spent billions of dollars (USD) on investments in data warehouses. Many have succeeded, but many have also failed. These failures are considered mostly to be of an organisational nature and not of a technological, as one might have expected. Due to the failures, organisations have problems to derive business value from their data warehouse investments. Obtaining business value from data warehouses is necessary, since the investment is of such a magnitude that it is clearly visible in the balance sheet. In order to investigate how the business value may be increased, we have conducted an extensive literature study, aimed at identifying opportunities and future directions, which may alleviate the problem of low return on investment. To balance the work, we have also identified pitfalls, which may hinder organisations to derive business value from their data warehouses.</p><p>Based on the literature survey, we have identified and motivated possible research areas, which we consider relevant if organisations are to derive real business value from their data warehouses. These areas are:</p><p>* Integrating data warehouses in knowledge management.</p><p>* Data warehouses as a foundation for information data super stores.</p><p>* Using data warehouses to predict the need for business change.</p><p>* Aligning data warehouses and business processes.</p><p>As the areas are rather broad, we have also included examples of more specific research problems, within each possible research area. Furthermore, we have given initial ideas regarding how to investigate those specific research problems.</p>
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Marzi, Isabel, and Anne Kerstin Reimers. "Children’s Independent Mobility: Current Knowledge, Future Directions, and Public Health Implications." MDPI AG, 2018. https://monarch.qucosa.de/id/qucosa%3A33155.
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Environmental changes significantly impact health behavior. Active travel behavior is mostly affected by increasing motorization, urban sprawl, and traffic safety. Especially for children, active and independent travel can contribute to physical activity, social and motor development, and other health-related outcomes. A reduced number of children engaging in independent mobility over the last 20 years demanded researchers to further examine the construct of children’s independent mobility. By examining relevant literature, this narrative review aims to provide the current state of knowledge on children’s independent mobility, and identify future directions in research, as well as practical implications. From a public health perspective, considering children’s independent mobility in intervention programs is recommended, since it is associated with numerous health and environmental benefits. To develop interventions, multilevel socio-ecological influences on children’s independent mobility are widely examined; however, evidence is limited due to heterogeneous measurements and a lack of high-quality prospective studies. To oppose the decline in children’s independent mobility, further analysis using comparable measures is needed to understand the determinants of children’s independent mobility and to enable international comparison.
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Polaha, Jodi. "The Primary Care Behavioral Health Model: Current Evidence and Future Directions." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2018. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/6649.
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Somers, Allyson. "Provision of cardiovascular genetic counseling services: current practice and future directions." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1367924189.
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Hilton, Laura A. "Provider Perspectives on Self-Injurious Behavior: Past, Present, and Future Directions." Antioch University / OhioLINK, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1506086380443923.
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Martin, Rhett. "Ecologically sustainable forest management in Victoria : existing regulation and future directions." Thesis, Federation University Australia, 2021. http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/183598.
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The Sustainable Forests (Timber) Act 2004 (Vic) was designed as a framework for ecologically sustainable forest management (ESFM) of Victorian public forestry. It includes the principles of ecologically sustainable development (ESD). These principles are included in a range of natural resource management and conservation Acts around Australia. A separate regulatory framework applied to private forest management is also designed to support sustainable forest management. This study examines both the public and private sector forestry management in Victoria to appreciate the extent to which the existing framework for ESFM addresses the ESD principles. A critical realist research paradigm is adopted via regulatory theory, using four filtering mechanisms to assess the effectiveness of the current framework, including measuring and monitoring, compliance, ESD balance and governance standards. The thesis reports on two studies, that being public and private forestry. Within the two Victorian studies, an organisational perspective is also provided by way of analysis of the strategies and roles of VicForests (public) and Hancock Victorian Plantation Pty Ltd (HVP - the largest private forestry entity in Victoria.) Referring to regulatory theory and empirical evidence, an adapted regulatory mode using a precautionary risk management structure is proposed. This approach required application of sustainability criteria and indicators currently used to meet reporting obligations. The adapted regulation that resulted uses trigger points for an adaptive management response regulatory model. This model identifies the responsible parties for determining sustainability objectives and applying principles of ecologically sustainable development, data collection processes and review of data against criteria in order to activate the trigger and the resultant adaptive response. The end result is to evaluate data in order to determine when and how to activate a trigger for an adaptive response which is proportionate to the level of risk. The adapted model emphasises accountability and transparency, utilising bespoke sustainability criteria and indicators to inform each stage of the regulatory process. This model demonstrates the importance of using criteria and indicators in natural resource regulation, and that simply inserting sustainability principles and objectives into regulation is not sufficient to achieve worthwhile sustainability outcomes. This thesis concludes by evaluating this alternative model for implications to practice, policy and future research and its potential use in other resource sectors. Implications are drawn that this adapted framework could be a transferable template for other forestry jurisdictions and (with modifications) other natural resource sectors<br>Doctor of Philosophy
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Franks, Tom R., C. Garces-Restrepo, and F. Putuhena. "Developing capacity for agricultural water management: Current practice and future directions." Wiley & Sons Ltd, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10454/2783.
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Yes<br>This paper defines concepts of capacity and capacity development for agricultural water management, and particularly the contributions made by ICID in this area in the recent past. Working from a theoretical framework of overlapping domains of capacity development ¿ the enabling environment, the organisational and the individual domains, with knowledge management as a cross-cutting theme ¿ the paper reviews previous work in the field and then summarises a range of case studies from the sector which illuminate key aspects of these different domains.
The paper notes the need to accommodate a rapidly-changing context for agricultural water management to take account of the increasing demand for water resources in all sectors, and the consequent requirement for support of new approaches to capacity development. These new approaches emphasise the growing importance of authentic knowledge, internally-generated learning and self-development, whether at the level of the organisation or the individual. The paper also recognises the need for continuing and long-term support of capacity development, particularly in processes of organisational and institutional change, where there is no single set of guidelines or practices which will fit every situation. Specific directions for future work are suggested, including increased attention to monitoring and evaluation of capacity development, and closer links to emerging work on water governance.<br>None
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Santis, Serena. "Consolidated financial statements in the public sector. Development and future directions." Doctoral thesis, Universita degli studi di Salerno, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10556/2424.
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2015 - 2016<br>In the last decades, on the wave on the new public management philosophy (Christensen and Lægreid, 2002; Gow and Dufour, 2000; Pollitt & Summa, 1997), a profound process of changes has involved the public sector. The increase of inter-municipal collaboration and public-private partnerships can be observed, with the main aim being to improve the quality of services and fulfil the needs of citizens. The main aspect of the decentralization (contracting-out as well as privatization) is that many activities rare frequently managed through controlled entities. In this new context, consolidated financial statements (CFS) are able to ensure a complete picture of the whole group at both central and local levels (Wise, 2006 Newberry, 2007; Grossi and Newberry, 2009) overlapping the limits of the financial statements.
The aim of this research is to investigate the development of the CFS in the public sector highlighting why the importance of this tool is growing, what role CFS play in different contexts, what issues are mainly investigated and what are the future directions of the research in this field.
The first step of the research is an overview of the state of the art on the topic, consisting of a structured literature review on public sector CFS. The aim is to clarify what it has been done as well as the future research agenda. In particular, this step of the thesis concentrates on how the CFS literature is developing, pointed out its focus as well as the future of CFS research within the public sector. The main findings emphasize that previous literature has largely investigated technical issues, paying less attention on theoretical issues. Additionally, previous studies are largely based on qualitative methodology. Finally, a dichotomy between private vs. public sector accounting standards and, more generally, rules and criteria (relating to several issues, especially the definition of the consolidation area) emerge.
Focusing on this last point, the second step concentrates on a particular technical aspect: the definition of consolidation area by International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB). The literature has highlighted that the public sector international standards follow the private sector rules, defining similar criteria. Previous literature has largely debated this issue. More specifically, in order to understand the appropriateness of the “control approach” for the definition of consolidation area within the public sector, the different approaches have been investigated through an analysis of the comment letters submitted by the respondents of the Exposure Draft no. 49, which will replace the current IPSAS 6 in the new IPSAS 35. In fact, the IPSASB has recently published three new Exposure Drafts, among them, the ED no. 49 on consolidated financial statements. The focus is specifically on the assessment of control based on three key elements: “Power over the other entity”; “Exposure, or rights, to variable benefits from its involvement with the other entity”; and “The ability to use its power over the other entity to affect the nature or amount of the benefits from its involvement with the other entity”. The main findings of the research concern both the acceptance of the alignment between the proposed new standard and the IFRS 10 and the key role played by the control approach in contrast to other alternative approaches (such as the budgetary one).
The third step is based on a simple consideration: in several countries, public sector CFS are not mandatory; therefore, this tool is frequently implemented on a voluntary basis. Accordingly, this step of the thesis investigates the reasons underlined this voluntary implementation of CFS. In accordance with the legitimacy and institutional theory perspectives, this step explains the voluntary implementation of CFS in accordance with the aim of legitimating the deployment of a LG towards citizens as well as of achieving conformity with the institutional environment. The research focuses on the Italian context because, recently, local government can decide to prepare CFS adhering experimental period defined by Decree no. 118/2011. A questionnaire was sent to both
the Financial Councillor and the Chief Financial Manager, and with a principal component analyses and a regression model, the principal findings are that the choice to use the CFS is supported by both by strategic and technical reasons. [edited by author]<br>Negli ultimi anni, le riforme del New Public Management (Christensen e Lægreid, 2002; Gow e Dufour, 2000; Pollitt & Summa, 1997), hanno radicalmente modificato il settore pubblico prevedendo l’introduzione di strumenti mutuati dalle realtà di impresa finalizzata al miglioramento della funzionalità dei processi gestionali e organizzativi e l’adozione di nuove logiche gestionali improntate a criteri di efficacia strategica ed efficienza operativa.
In particolare, gli obiettivi principali hanno riguardato il soddisfacimento delle esigenze dei cittadini mediante il miglioramento della qualità dei servizi resi e una maggiore flessibilità operativa nell’erogazione di tali servizi che ha comportato la decentralizzazione di numerose attività e la nascita di molte collaborazioni e partenariati tra soggetti pubblici e soggetti pubblici e privati. In questo nuovo contesto di gruppo, il bilancio consolidato ha assunto un rilievo crescente inteso quale adeguato strumento in grado di assicurare un quadro completo di tutto il gruppo sia a livello centrale che locale (Wise 2006 Newberry, 2007; Grossi e Newberry, 2009), superando i limiti inerenti alla rappresentazione delle informazioni economico-patrimoniali nell’ambito del bilancio d’esercizio riferibile alla singola entità pubblica.
Lo scopo della ricerca è di analizzare l’evoluzione degli studi sul bilancio consolidato nell’ambito del settore pubblico, evidenziando sia il ruolo assunto da tale strumento sia le diverse problematiche inerenti il suo utilizzo nell’ambito dei diversi livelli di governo cercando di delineare le future direttrici della ricerca
La prima fase della ricerca si sostanzia in una ricognizione dello stato dell'arte in tema di bilancio consolidato nel settore pubblico, mediante un’analisi dettagliata della letteratura esistente impiegando a livello metodologico, una structured literature review. L’obiettivo perseguito in questa fase si riconduce alla descrizione sistematica dell’evoluzione in letteratura sul topic evidenziando quali sono i filoni della ricerca principalmente dibattuti e le future direttrici della ricerca.
I principali risultati sottolineano che la letteratura ha indagato prevalentemente questioni tecniche come ad esempio l’adeguatezza degli International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) per il contesto pubblico, considerando che tali principi sono conformi agli standards utilizzati nel settore privato; le regole e
2
i criteri per la determinazione dell’area di consolidamento e l’impiego del bilancio consolidato. Sulla base di tali risultati, procedono i successivi step.
La seconda fase della ricerca si focalizza sulla definizione dell’area di consolidamento così come stabilita dai principi contabili internazionali del settore pubblico. Recentemente, l’International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) nel modificare il principio IPSAS 6 (ora IPSAS 35) riguardante il Bilancio consolidato, ha emanato l’Exposure Draft n.49. In particolare, al fine di comprendere l’adeguatezza del concetto di “controllo” (basato sui seguenti elementi chiave “Power over the other entity”; “Exposure, or rights, to variable benefits from its involvement with the other entity”; e “The ability to use its power over the other entity to affect the nature or amount of the benefits from its involvement with the other entity), sono stati analizzati i contenuti delle “lettere di commento” pervenute a tale Exposure Draft.
I principali risultati della ricerca riguardano sia l’accettazione dell’allineamento tra il nuovo standard proposto (ED. 49 in seguito statuito quale IPSAS 35) e l’IFRS 10 (riguardante il settore privato), sia il ruolo chiave svolto dal “metodo di controllo” a differenza di altri approcci alternativi (come l’approccio di budget) per la definizione dell’area di consolidamento.
La terza fase della ricerca si sofferma sull’impiego del bilancio consolidato; in particolare, considerando che nel panorama internazionale, alcuni Paesi utilizzano da molti anni tale strumento in via obbligatoria; altri Paesi, invece, lo hanno implementato solo di recente e su base volontaria, è risultato interessante indagare le ragioni che sottendono alla implementazione volontaria del bilancio consolidato in conformità con le prospettive di legittimità (la volontà di evidenziare una gestione legittima nei confronti degli stakeholder) e con la teoria istituzionale (la volontà di essere conforme con le regole definite a livello centrale, nonché la possibilità di comprendere lo strumento in maniera preventiva). In questa prospettiva, la ricerca si sofferma sul contesto italiano, poiché recentemente, gli enti locali italiani potevano decidere di implementare il bilancio consolidato in via volontaria, aderendo alla sperimentazione promossa dal Decreto legislativo n. 118/2011. Attraverso una survey, si sono investigate le ragioni che hanno spinto gli enti locali ad aderire alla sperimentazione ed in particolare alla redazione del bilancio consolidato. I principali risultati mostrano che la scelta di implementare il bilancio consolidato è supportata sia da ragioni strategiche che tecniche. [a cura dell'autore]<br>XV n.s.
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Rocheleau, Genevieve. "HIV genomics : trends in antiretroviral resistance and future directions for pharmacogenetic testing." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/63579.
Full textAbstract:
Antiretroviral drugs are fundamental to the treatment of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), effectively inhibiting viral replication, the emergence of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), and subsequent mortality. Combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) is the cornerstone of HIV treatment, and has been adopted by agencies around the world. An estimated 18.2 million individuals accessed cART worldwide in 2016. However, HIV drug resistance to cART leads to ineffective HIV treatment, is associated with AIDS-related morbidity and mortality, and the potential onward transmission of drug resistant HIV strains. Since cART became available in BC in the mid-1990s, antiretroviral drugs and clinical guidelines for HIV management have evolved to reflect best practices. Over the past two decades, genetic testing for HIV drug resistance has become an important tool for HIV care. Next generation massively parallel sequencing has proven to be a powerful sequencing tool rivaling the gold standard Sanger sequencing method, however it is not yet widely adopted for HIV-related genetic testing in BC. There are three primary objectives discussed in this thesis: 1) identification of long-term trends in transmitted and acquired HIV drug resistance in BC, Canada; 2) determination of sociodemographic covariates of drug resistance development and testing uptake; and 3) validation and application of an HIV-related next generation sequencing (NGS) assay for abacavir hypersensitivity screening. Prevalence data of acquired and transmitted drug resistance over the past two decades are presented. Acquired resistance was examined in further detail in order to assess the effect of therapy duration on drug resistance, as well as temporal effects and other factors. Covariates of acquired drug resistance were also examined over calendar time, with a particular focus on adherence to treatment regimens, including sociodemographic predictive factors, as well as sociodemographic covariates of resistance testing uptake. After characterizing historical trends of drug resistance, a glimpse at the future of HIV-related genetic testing is presented: an NGS assay for abacavir hypersensitivity screening was validated and applied as a proof of principle on the Illumina MiSeq platform. This assay was shown to be highly accurate and reliable, providing higher resolution sequencing compared to currently used methods, and expediting testing.<br>Medicine, Faculty of<br>Experimental Medicine, Division of<br>Medicine, Department of<br>Graduate
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Ziolkowski, Richard, and n/a. "A re-examination of corporate governance: concepts, models, theories and future directions." University of Canberra. Law, 2005. http://erl.canberra.edu.au./public/adt-AUC20060411.150123.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis represents a scholarly journey towards an understanding of
corporate governance. Unlike the vast majority of writings on governance, this
work attempts to take a step back, and to consider why and how we should
study corporate governance. These critical questions have been largely
ignored during the frenzy of governance research in the past few decades.
The thesis argues that corporate governance theory and practice reflects a
Tower of Academic Babel¹ reality as writers from diverse backgrounds use
different approaches, invent terminology and proclaim a new 'theory'. The
thesis analyses the extent of this conceptual confusion about corporate
governance and why this arises. It also considers some possible reasons for
the increasing disillusionment with the legal, ethical, cultural, institutional,
regulatory and other contexts of corporate governance.
The corporate governance literature indicates that much uncertainty has
arisen over the nature of corporate governance. Both, denotative and
connotative meanings of corporate governance have been ambiguous, often
because of poorly defined concepts. This ambiguity is compounded by
confusion over methodological concepts such as "paradigm", "system",
"model" and "theory", the key constructs employed by many legal, and other,
writers. Moreover, much of the literature on corporate governance is founded
on ethnocentric concepts that are often "chauvinistic in the extreme".² This
confusion has been intensified by the added complexity of unique
phenomenology, demonstrated by numerous writers with "scholarship and
advocacy that is culturally and economically insensitive"³
This thesis argues that the search for corporate efficiency and effectiveness
is often misguided, both because of biased performance criteria and a lack of
a clear conceptual domain. Consequently, the corporate governance
discourse fails meaningfully to address the enigma of what is the range of
corporate governance influence on corporate activities? The overarching
argument made in this thesis is that our understanding of corporate
governance requires a clarification of methodological approach and a
comparative perspective.
By recasting corporate governance research within consistent models,
theories and applications this thesis lays the foundation for future research by
which we may investigate the causal relationships that determine corporate
efficiency, effectiveness and the optimum structures for good corporate
governance.
practitioners from most cultures.
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Tansley, Robert, Mick Bass, and MacKenzie Smith. "DSpace as an Open Archival Information System: Current Status and Future Directions." Springer-Verlag GmbH, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/29464.
Full textAbstract:
As more and more output from research institutions is born digital, a means for capturing and preserving the results of this investment is required. To begin to understand and address the problems surrounding this task, Hewlett-Packard Laboratories collaborated with MIT Libraries over two years to develop DSpace, an open source institutional repository software system. This paper describes DSpace in the context of the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) reference model. Particular attention is given to the preservation aspects of DSpace, and the current status of the DSpace system with respect to addressing these aspects. The reasons for various design decisions and trade-offs that were necessary to develop the system in a timely manner are given, and directions for future development are explored. While DSpace is not yet a complete solution to the problem of preserving digital research output, it is a production-capable system, represents a significant step forward, and is an excellent platform for future research and development.
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Singh, M. "Aspects of cooperation in air navigation services : current status and future directions." Thesis, Cranfield University, 2006. http://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/10733.
Full textAbstract:
Cooperation has been identified as an essential requirement for the strategic
performance of air transport organisations. From an academic perspective, the debate on
theory and practice of such cooperation mainly centres on questions regarding aspects
of the
increasingly strategic alliances among airlines. Recent developments in the air
navigation service (ANS) industry, point towards a new organisational philosophy for
ANS
provision, which would incorporate the concept of international cooperation.
This research shifts the focus and
expands the growing body of knowledge in air
transport cooperation, by exploring comprehensively, from ~a strategic management
perspective, the area of cooperation involving air-navigation service providers (ANSPS),
which potentially could improve service provision and reduce costs -in the future.
The research
presented in this thesis follows a conceptual path, beginning with, an
analysis of air transport cooperation literature in great detail, to extract lessons
applicable for ANSPS in their quest to cooperate. The ANS business model and its a
international
regulatory environment are .examined comprehensively to get an overview
of how these are
evolving and discover the underlying traits. From a empirical
perspective, findings of two consecutive questionnaire surveys performed on ANSPs are
presented, to develop insights into and understanding of, the current status and the
future direction of
cooperation in the key areas of ANS and cooperation between
ANSPs and their
industry partners. Having identified the future direction of
cooperation, together with a critical review of the associated drivers and barriers to
cooperation, enables the research, to develop solution methods in the form of
recommendations to the stakeholders on how to enhance cooperation in ANS.
The
findings indicate conclusively that future progress is dependent on the scale and
dynamics of the ANS industry, including the strategies ANSPs employ to interact with
the
regulatory and public bodies. Furthermore, cooperation to date has been driven by
operational requirements to improve operational efficiency. Strategic cooperation does
not come
naturally° but is now being driven by commercialisation objectives -and is
supported in 'Europe by changes in the regulatory framework. Where cooperation is
likely to significantly impact the core business there are still significant issues outside
the control of the ANSPS, and which require intervention from political and other
stakeholders to
collectively devise a outcome. This research highlights that
standardisation is
a key strategic issue for the industry as' more benefits and intense'
cooperation can be expected, after standardisation is achieved in procedures,
technology, air traffic control training content and safety management system product.
To
investigate another interesting aspect of this research, the European air traffic
management (ATM) was examined in order to compare it with the South East (SE) Asia
ATM situation. To
support the point, that cross border rationalisation initiatives require
a related business case as a
complementary planning tool to build an economic
argument against political barriers, this research developed a comprehensive sample
business case methodology incorporating a quantitative cost benefit analysis which was
used to validate the recommendation that SE Asian ANSPS consolidate the entire
regions CNS infrastructure into a Regional CNS Organisation.
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Singh, Manjit. "Aspects of cooperation in air navigation services : current status and future directions." Thesis, Cranfield University, 2006. http://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/10733.
Full textAbstract:
Cooperation has been identified as an essential requirement for the strategic performance of air transport organisations. From an academic perspective, the debate on theory and practice of such cooperation mainly centres on questions regarding aspects of the increasingly strategic alliances among airlines. Recent developments in the air navigation service (ANS) industry, point towards a new organisational philosophy for ANS provision, which would incorporate the concept of international cooperation. This research shifts the focus and expands the growing body of knowledge in air transport cooperation, by exploring comprehensively, from ~a strategic management perspective, the area of cooperation involving air-navigation service providers (ANSPS), which potentially could improve service provision and reduce costs -in the future. The research presented in this thesis follows a conceptual path, beginning with, an analysis of air transport cooperation literature in great detail, to extract lessons applicable for ANSPS in their quest to cooperate. The ANS business model and its a international regulatory environment are .examined comprehensively to get an overview of how these are evolving and discover the underlying traits. From a empirical perspective, findings of two consecutive questionnaire surveys performed on ANSPs are presented, to develop insights into and understanding of, the current status and the future direction of cooperation in the key areas of ANS and cooperation between ANSPs and their industry partners. Having identified the future direction of cooperation, together with a critical review of the associated drivers and barriers to cooperation, enables the research, to develop solution methods in the form of recommendations to the stakeholders on how to enhance cooperation in ANS. The findings indicate conclusively that future progress is dependent on the scale and dynamics of the ANS industry, including the strategies ANSPs employ to interact with the regulatory and public bodies. Furthermore, cooperation to date has been driven by operational requirements to improve operational efficiency. Strategic cooperation does not come naturally° but is now being driven by commercialisation objectives -and is supported in 'Europe by changes in the regulatory framework. Where cooperation is likely to significantly impact the core business there are still significant issues outside the control of the ANSPS, and which require intervention from political and other stakeholders to collectively devise a outcome. This research highlights that standardisation is a key strategic issue for the industry as' more benefits and intense' cooperation can be expected, after standardisation is achieved in procedures, technology, air traffic control training content and safety management system product. To investigate another interesting aspect of this research, the European air traffic management (ATM) was examined in order to compare it with the South East (SE) Asia ATM situation. To support the point, that cross border rationalisation initiatives require a related business case as a complementary planning tool to build an economic argument against political barriers, this research developed a comprehensive sample business case methodology incorporating a quantitative cost benefit analysis which was used to validate the recommendation that SE Asian ANSPS consolidate the entire regions CNS infrastructure into a Regional CNS Organisation.
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Schintler, Laurie A., and Manfred M. Fischer. "Big Data and Regional Science: Opportunities, Challenges, and Directions for Future Research." WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, 2018. http://epub.wu.ac.at/6122/1/Fischer_etal_2018_Big%2Ddata.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
Recent technological, social, and economic trends and transformations are contributing to the production of what is usually referred to as Big Data. Big Data, which is typically defined by four dimensions -- Volume, Velocity, Veracity, and Variety -- changes the methods and tactics for using, analyzing, and interpreting data, requiring new approaches for data provenance, data processing, data analysis and modeling, and knowledge representation. The use and analysis of Big Data involves several distinct stages from "data acquisition and recording" over "information extraction" and "data integration" to "data modeling and analysis" and "interpretation", each of which introduces challenges that need to be addressed. There also are cross-cutting challenges, which are common challenges that underlie many, sometimes all, of the stages of the data analysis pipeline. These relate to "heterogeneity", "uncertainty", "scale", "timeliness", "privacy" and "human interaction". Using the Big Data analysis pipeline as a guiding framework, this paper examines the challenges arising in the use of Big Data in regional science. The paper concludes with some suggestions for future activities to realize the possibilities and potential for Big Data in regional science.<br>Series: Working Papers in Regional Science
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Cragin, Casey A. "Early Psychosis and Trauma-Related Disorders: Clinical Practice Guidelines and Future Directions." Antioch University / OhioLINK, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1490872798406533.
Full text
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Ragàs, Amalrich Xavier. "Singlet Oxygen in Antimicrobial Photodynamic Therapy: Biological effects, Mechanistic Studies and Future Directions." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Ramon Llull, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/9302.
Full textAbstract:
En aquesta tèsi s'ha avaluat l'ús de la teràpia fotodinàmica antimicrobiana (APDT) com a alternativa als antibiòtics. Inicialment, s'ha demostrat in vitro i en un model de cremades en ratolins el potencial de les fenotiazines, i més concretament del nou blau de metilè, per inactivar un bacteri resistent a antibiòtics com Acinetobacter baumanii. A més, també s'ha investigat el potencial dels porficens aril catiònics com a agents fotosensibilitzadors per a APDT in vitro i in vivo, inactivant exitosament diferents tipus de bacteris gram positius i negatius, així com fongs. <br/><br/>Per altra banda, s'han estudiat les cinètiques de formació i decaïment d'oxigen singlet (1O2) en E. coli mitjançant un espectrofotòmetre ultrasensible a l'infraroig proper amb resolució temporal per sota del microsegon. Els resultats ens permeten profunditzar en el mecanisme de l'APDT, és a dir, en la localització del fotosensibilitzador (PS) en el bacteri i la reactivitat de l'1O2. Per un costat, l'entorn del PS canvia quan la distribució de les càrregues catiòniques varia. Per l'altre, en funció del lloc de formació, l'1O2 reacciona amb l'entorn proper o és capaç d'escapar fora de les cèl·lules. <br/><br/>En tercer lloc, també s'ha estudiat, mitjançant sondes fluorescents i tècniques amb resolució temporal, l'habilitat d'una proteïna fluorescent per produir espècies reactives d'oxigen, actuant com a agents fotosensibilitzadors genèticament codificats. Així, s'ha calculat per primera vegada el rendiment quàntic de formació d'1O2 obtenint un valor similar al del cromòfor sintètic de les GFPs. <br/>Finalment, s'ha investigat mitjançant l'espectrofotòmetre en l'infraroig proper l'efecte plasmó produït per films d'illes de plata sobre l'1O2, demostrant un increment màxim en la luminescència d'1O2 a 1270 nm al voltant de 30 vegades en alguns casos.<br>En esta tesis se ha evaluado el uso la terapia fotodinámica antimicrobiana (APDT) como alternativa a los antibióticos. Inicialmente, se ha demostrado, in vitro y en un modelo de quemaduras en ratón, el potencial de las fenotiazinas, y más concretamente del nuevo azul de metileno, para inactivar una bacteria resistente a antibióticos como Acinetobacter baumanii. Además, también se ha investigado el potencial de los porficenos aril catiónicos como agentes fotosensibilizadores para APDT in vitro e in vivo, inactivando exitosamente distintos tipos de bacterias gram positivas y negativas, así como hongos. <br/><br/>Por otro lado, se ha estudiado las cinéticas de formación y decaimiento de oxígeno singlete (1O2) en E. coli mediante un espectrofotómetro ultrasensible en el infrarrojo cercano con resolución temporal por debajo del microsegundo. Los resultados nos permiten profundizar en el mecanismo de la APDT, es decir, en la localización del fotosensibilizador (PS) en la bacteria y la reactividad del 1O2. Por un lado, el entorno del PS cambia cuando la distribución de las cargas catiónicas varía. Por otro lado, en función del lugar de formación, el 1O2 reacciona con el entorno cercano o es capaz de escapar fuera de las células. <br/><br/>En tercer lugar, también se ha estudiado, mediante sondas fluorescentes y técnicas con resolución temporal, la habilidad de una proteína fluorescente para producir especies reactivas de oxígeno, actuando pues como agentes fotosensibilizadores genéticamente codificados. Así, se ha calculado por primera vez el rendimiento cuántico de formación de 1O2 mostrando un valor similar al del cromóforo sintético de las GFP. <br/>Finalmente, se ha investigado mediante el espectrofotómetro en el infrarojo cercano el efecto plasmon producido por films de islas de plata sobre 1O2, observando un incremento máximo de la luminiscencia de 1O2 a 1270 nm alrededor de 30 veces en algunos casos.<br>In this thesis, the use of antimicrobial photodynamic therapy as alternative to antibiotics has been assessed. First, the potential of phenothiazinium dyes, and specifically new methylene blue, to inactivate multidrug-resistant strains has been demonstrated against Acinetobacter baumanii in vitro and in a mouse burn model. In this regard, it also has been investigated the potential of aryl cationic porphycenes as photosensitizing drugs in APDT in vitro and in vivo, successfully inactivating different gram-positive and negative bacteria, and fungal cells.<br/>Second, the kinetics of singlet oxygen (1O2) production and fate in E. coli have been investigated by means of an ultrasensitive near-infrared spectrometer with submicrosecond time resolution. The results allowed us to gain insight into the mechanism of APDT, i.e., the localization of the photosensitiser (PS) in the bacteria and the reactivity of 1O2. On one hand, the microenvironment of the PS changes when the distribution of the cationic charges changes. On the other hand, depending on the site of production, 1O2 reacts with the nearest microenvironment or is able to escape out of the cells. <br/>Third, the ability of fluorescent proteins (GFPs), as genetically-encoded photosensitisers, to produce reactive oxygen species has been studied by means of fluorescent probes and time-resolved techniques. Thus, for the first time, the quantum yield of 1O2 production of some of the studied proteins has been calculated showing a value similar to that of the synthetic GFP chromophore.<br/>Finally, the plasmonic effect of silver island films on 1O2 has been investigated using the near-infrared spectrometer, demonstrating a maximum enhancement of the 1O2 luminescence signal at 1270 nm ca. 30-fold in some cases.
37
Robson, Kathryn Mary, and Kathryn robson@rmit edu au. "An analysis of future directions for victorian coastal residential property - exploring the myths." RMIT University. Property, Construction and Project Management, 2008. http://adt.lib.rmit.edu.au/adt/public/adt-VIT20080721.122915.
Full textAbstract:
This research provides an analysis of the disparate notions and ideas, to form an overview of the possible trends in residential property for the Victorian coastal areas of the Surf Coast and the Bellarine Peninsula. It examines the interaction of the consumers, space producers and infrastructure providers as they are influenced by the three key determinants of the market, the demographic factors, economic conditions and statutory factors. While examining the patterns of urban development on coastal Victoria over the next 20 years, the research also investigates the validity of myths that have emerged concerning the Sea Change experience, the investment market in coastal areas and the adequacy of the relevant infrastructure. The qualitative data used in this research comes from both primary and secondary sources. The primary qualitative and quantitative data was developed on the basis of the responses to a mail out questionnaire to residents from seven towns on the Bellarine Peninsula and the Surf Coast and from a number of interviews with local property experts from these areas. The secondary qualitative and quantitative data came from the results of various government surveys, demographers, the press and the census. The main thrust of this research is to answer the question
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Cannon, Melissa Lynn. "Challenges, Experiences, and Future Directions of Senior Centers Serving the Portland Metropolitan Area." Thesis, Portland State University, 2015. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3712154.
Full textAbstract:
<p> A growing body of research emphasizes the development of an understanding of the relationship between older adults and their physical and social environments (Wahl & Weisman, 2003). Researchers, planners, policymakers, and community residents have been increasingly interested in shaping urban environments as places that foster active aging and independence among older adults. Senior centers have served a critical role in their communities as focal points for older adults, as individuals or in groups, to participate in services and activities that support their independence and encourage their involvement in and with the community (NCOA, 1979). The aging of the population and influx of baby boomers into the older demographic, along with declines in participation rates and funding, are challenging senior center staff to be innovative and adaptive in order to demonstrate senior centers’ relevance to future older adults while maintaining the programming and services for their current participants. This research is a multiple-case study of five unique senior centers located throughout the Portland metropolitan area in Oregon. Different types and models of senior centers are represented by the selected cases, as they operate under different governance structures and vary in aspects such as administration, funding, participant characteristics, community partnerships, transportation options, physical environments, and range of services and programs offered. This study aims to better understand challenges, strengths, and future directions for different types of senior centers serving a metropolitan area. Data collection at each site included interviews with staff as well as focus groups with senior center participants. Interviews with key informants enriched the findings and provided outside perspectives of senior center experiences. Data analysis revealed challenges and strengths that were common across and unique to the different senior centers in this study. This research contributes to the literature in urban studies, community development, and gerontology by exploring potential opportunities for urban senior centers to adapt and continue to serve older adults. Recommendations were developed for how senior centers might capitalize on these opportunities and for how their communities might provide mechanisms of support to facilitate the continuation and contributions of senior centers in metropolitan areas.</p>
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O'Dochartaigh, Aideen. "The possible role of business organisations in sustainable development : approaches, boundaries, future directions." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/5900.
Full textAbstract:
It is increasingly evident that human development is proceeding in an unsustainable manner, and that large business organisations are significantly complicit in this process. In this context, the purpose of this study is to explore the possibilities by which business organisations could come to support sustainable development, with a particular focus on related barriers and how they may be overcome. Literature on business and sustainable development is dominated by managerialist, organisation-centric perspectives, where the focus is on business profitability rather than planetary sustainability. This study seeks to challenge this mainstream literature, engaging with more critical perspectives and exploring the subtleties of the contradictory arguments presented by these two literatures. Empirical investigation involved two major steps. First the thesis employs a) a content analysis and b) a “close reading” of corporate public utterances on sustainability. Secondly, and more substantively, the thesis comprises a series of semi-structured interviews with individuals in organisations. To obtain a range of perspectives on the sustainable development-business relationship, a number of “different types” of organisation are sampled, in the form of social enterprises, large PLCs, SMEs and co-owned businesses. Based on the research findings, it is argued that the most significant barriers within the business-sustainable development relationship in fact concern the nature of modern international financial capitalism, and the nature of business itself. Certain characteristics, such as growth, competition and self-interest, essential to both the nature of the “system” and the nature of business, are fundamentally incompatible with sustainable development. In recognising this dissonance, a blank canvas is created where new imaginings of “sustainable business” can begin to take place. Through detailed engagement with the critical and managerialist literatures, and drawing insight from the different types of organisations sampled, the thesis identifies a number of characteristics, such as collaboration, compromise and consideration of the common good, which may have the potential to enable an alternative, more “human”, and ultimately more “sustainable” form of business organisation.
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Bellak, Christian. "Multinational enterprises and their domestic counterparts. Past research, current issues and future directions." Inst. für Volkswirtschaftstheorie und -politik, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, 2001. http://epub.wu.ac.at/1332/1/document.pdf.
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This paper reviews and summarises the results of selected empirical studies on performance gaps between multinational enterprises and their domestic counterparts. Performance gaps arise in such fields as productivity, profitability, wages, skills, factor intensity and growth. Of central interest is the question to what extent is foreign ownership an explanatory factor of performance gaps? Empirical evidence supports the existence of performance gaps between foreign and domestic firms, yet foreign ownership is a much less important explanatory factor than normally assumed. Structural factors like industry, size and multi-nationality per se are more important. It is argued that such results are broadly consistent with those derived in the literatures on ownership change, on foreign entry and on spillovers. The concluding section discusses the normative issue whether there is a case for investment promotion policies to discriminate between firms on the basis of performance gaps by ownership.<br>Series: Working Papers Series "Growth and Employment in Europe: Sustainability and Competitiveness"
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Wallace, Anthony G. "Future directions in leadership - implications for the selection and development of senior leaders." Thesis, Monterey, Calif. : Springfield, Va. : Naval Postgraduate School ; Available from National Technical Information Service, 2003. http://library.nps.navy.mil/uhtbin/hyperion-image/03Mar%5FWallace.pdf.
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Seavey, Charles A. "Future Directions in L&IS Education: Research Areas of Current Ph.D. Students." Association for Library and Information Science Education, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/105178.
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This presentation was given in Session 3.1 on Wednesday, January 7, entitled "Forecasting the Future and Formulating Strategy", at the ALISE 2004 Conference in San Diego, CA.
It contains a survey on PhD students in some LIS programs. The research analyzes the population of the students being surveyed: their background before entering a PhD program, their concentrations of research in the program, and their expectations for a job in varied fields. It finds that most of the students are not library science focused. Hopefully, the survey will be able to provide suggestions for LIS programs to reconsider their curricula and training strategies.
Two files are presented here. The Powerpoint file (20 slides) is a concise version of the Word file.
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CALABRO', ANDREA. "Governance structures and mechanisms in public service organizations: theories, evidence and future directions." Doctoral thesis, Università degli Studi di Roma "Tor Vergata", 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/2108/1291.
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Public services play a central role in the well-being, sustainability and growth of
communities, cities and nations. However, globally, public services have emerged from
a period of considerable criticism. This period of challenge to public services was
generated by the rise of neo-liberal ideologies in the 1980s and 1990s (Hartely et al., 2008). During this period market solutions were implemented instead of State
provisions. Privatizations and disinvestments played a central role in that process (Cafferata, 1993) taken place on the grounds that management is underpinned by certain general principles and practices (New Public Management) which can be applied across a range of businesses, organizations and sectors (Pollit and Bouckaert, 2004).
The current situation is characterized by new forms of relationships between State and
society. The role of both government and public services are considered fundamental in
order to create stable social and economic conditions by actively involving citizens and
community organizations. Therefore, the inter-relationships between the public, the
private and the voluntary sectors in the design and provision of public services are
increased (Ferlie et al., 2005).
In recent years, two seem to be the key questions: how are public service organizations governed? And, are we asking the right questions? These questions arise from the fact that nowadays, the public sector has differences among countries and many actors are producing and providing public services through different modes of governance.
Actually, it is possible that public private partnerships (hereafter denoted as PPPs)
(Klijn, 2008), outsourcing, state owned companies, municipal corporations (Grossi and
Mussari, 2009; Grossi e Reichard, 2008), third sector and voluntary organizations,
citizens, etc. might coexist. However, many issues may arise, for example, from the use
of PPPs, co-production with civil society organizations, and other new governance
arrangements. These developments open up questions about the extent to which such
new organizational forms deliver benefits of innovation, efficiency and responsiveness,
as well as their impact on processes of steering and accountability in a democratic
context. Even if this fragmented reality gives more challenges to the provision and production of public services and goods to citizens however it raises many
accountability problems due to the overlapping of roles and responsibility (Skelcher, 2010). This is the major concern of a networked public sector (Rhodes, 2007) and therefore analyses of public service organizations’ (hereafter PSOs) governance systems are needed.
Managing those complex inter-relationships can be harnessed to improve a range of
public services by examining them through different theoretical perspectives (e.g.
network theories, agency theory, resource and knowledge based theories, political
power theories, innovation and change theories, performance and management theories, governance theories, etc.). By using this approach it will be possible to definitely advance both theory and practice, beyond the traditional model of Public
Administration (hereafter denoted as PA) and New Public Management (hereafter
denoted as NPM), by considering the existence of networked forms of governance, thus arriving at the acceptance of the New Public Governance (hereafter denoted as NPG) as the steering theoretical framework (Osborne, 2006; 2009).
These aspects are in line with the new awareness of the social, economic, and cultural contribution of public services, public organizations and government has resulted in a significant period of reform and experimentation (Hinna et al., 2006). Besides, at the heart of these initiatives is the idea that improvements to the ways in which public services can be governed, managed and delivered will produce improved outcomes for citizens (Brandsen and Pestoff, 2006; Pestoff, 2009).
The purpose of this thesis, therefore, is a new understanding of public service
organizations’ (hereafter denoted as PSOs) governance and management. This is done
by using a multidisciplinary approach to explore governance structures and
mechanisms, management, innovation, and performance of PSOs. Moreover, the study
fills the gap of quantitative analysis to be tested and explored for their meanings and
contextual influences by undertaking case studies, and for case studies to generate
propositions to be tested with large datasets. Finally, questions of when, how and why governance structures and mechanisms matter to public service performance and
accountability, are addressed.
The role of governing bodies and internal governance mechanisms seems to be
especially important for understanding the dynamics and the processes that in turn affect the overall value creation capacity of PSOs. In this respect, it is important to underline that PSOs primarily aim to produce not profit or market positioning but “public value” (Moore, 1995; 2005; Bozeman, 2009). Public value means what is added to the public sphere and this may be social or economic, or it may be political, environmental or even more broadly about the quality of life. Indeed, a public value perspective requires examining the impact of public services on “costumers” and “users” but also the impact on them as “citizens”.
Only by taking into account all these issues and the inherent complexity of the analyzed
phenomenon, through this study it becomes possible to investigate the governance
structures and mechanisms of PSOs from different angles and “regimes”, with emphasis
on differences among national contexts, theoretical frameworks, and methods of
analysis.
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Tushi, Bonny Tuskeen. "An archival analysis of green information technology: The current state and future directions." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2015. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/84897/4/Bonny_Tushi_Thesis.pdf.
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This thesis provides a review of 199 papers published on Green IT/IS between 2007−2014, in order to present taxonomy of segments in Green IT/IS publications, where the segments are later used for multiple analyses to facilitate future research and to provide a retrospective analysis of existing knowledge and gaps thereof. This research also attempts to make a unique contribution to our understanding of Green IT/IS, by consolidating papers it observes current patterns of literature through approach analysis and segmentation, as well as allocating studies to the technology, process, or outcome (TPO) stage. Highlighting the necessity of a consolidated approach, these classification systems have been combined into a TPO matrix so that the studies could be arranged according to which stage of the Green IT/IS cycle they were focused on. We believe that these analyses will provide a solid platform from which future Green IT/IS research can be launched.
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Dewberry, Emma Louise. "Ecodesign : present attitudes and future directions ; studies of UK company and design consultancy practice." n.p, 1996. http://oro.open.ac.uk/19845/.
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Davies, Sydney Henare. "Kaum tuatanga the changing roles of kaum tua in Ng ti Rehua: Future directions." The University of Waikato, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10289/2257.
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This study looks at the roles of kaum tua and investigates how these roles have changed over time. With the ageing Māori population and the reported importance of kaum tua roles in the wellbeing of Māori communities, the findings of this study provide an insight into the possible future direction of these roles. The study was conducted with the assistance of members of one hapu (N=47) that were 65 years of age and over. The study was by interview, utilising a semi-structured questionnaire with both open ended and closed questions. Narratives from participants was analysed and compared to the roles of kaum tua that were found in the literature, namely; Leadership, cultural knowledge, dispute resolution, protection and nurturing of young, provide spiritual and other guidance, social control, provide rituals, preserve te reo Māori and live active and healthy lives. Findings of this research supported the roles found in the literature. The roles of kaum tua still exist but may have diminished over time. The change in roles is in the adaptation to meet the needs of the time period while maintaining the core values of each role and providing a continuation of practices.
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Gürtürk, Anil [Verfasser]. "Integrated reporting and sustainability-related assurance : Effects, current practice and future directions / Anil Gürtürk." Kassel : Kassel University Press, 2017. http://d-nb.info/1130663671/34.
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Ebrahim, Rafia Zafir. "The theory and practice of social casework: future directions for practice in Hong Kong." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1990. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31976232.
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Koch, Andrew J., and Eric D. Anderson. "The effects of labor force, demographic, and social trends on future military manpower directions." Thesis, Monterey, California: Naval Postgraduate School, 1990. http://hdl.handle.net/10945/27614.
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Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.<br>The lessening of tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union have brought about projected reductions in defense spending and attendant manpower drawdowns. However, manpower analysts and policymakers in the Department of Defense and the services' secretariates are faced with frequent changes in world events that portend threats to the interests of the United States. At the same time, the supply and demographic complexion of American youth that is available to fill manpower needs is changing. This thesis examines changing labor force, demographic, and social trends into the early 21st century, focusing on 18 to 24 year-olds-the military's traditional source of accessions. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics and Defense Manpower Data Center statistics are used, along with recent legislation, to make projections concerning the availability of quality youth for the services' recruiting efforts. Recommendations are made concerning policies to continue attracting and retaining quality personnel for the 'high tech' military of the future.
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Nind, Alexander David. "A technoeconomic risk assessment of conventional aero-gas turbines : technological limits and future directions." Thesis, Cranfield University, 2016. http://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/11220.
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Increasing environmental awareness, uncertain economic climates and fluctuating fuel prices have led to airlines investigating the means to lower aircraft fuel burn, emissions and noise, while maintaining the highest possible safety standards. This is done in order to reduce operating costs as well as a desire to offer customers more environmentally responsible transport options. The jet engine has been a fundamental part of passenger aircraft travel and has evolved to become more efficient and quiet. With an aim to improve the overall efficiency of the gas turbine, the industry has consistently sought to improve thermal and propulsive efficiency. Higher thermal efficiencies have been achieved through increased overall pressure ratios and the turbine entry temperatures, while higher propulsive efficiencies has been achieved through increase in bypass ratios. Conventional technology is however reaching the limits of any further improvements. This study seeks to investigate these design limits for the conventional aero gas turbine and focusses on the propulsion system of short to medium range jet aircraft, specifically catering to low cost airline operations in Europe. A techno-economic risk analysis approach was followed through the utilisation of a flexible multi-disciplinary framework. This allows a multitude of critical parameters and factors to be investigated and their effects established. Some of the key parameters investigated include the effect of design optimisation on SFC, mission fuel burn, engine sizes and weights. By first quantifying the current design parameters and associated constraints for the selected conventional propulsion system, an optimisation study is carried out to identify the possible design limits to which the conventional technology may be pushed. It is therefore possible to then quantify the maximum benefit available to this mature technology and also to further identify which future technologies may offer the most benefits for a particular airline market strategy. The key contribution to knowledge from this study is to therefore provide a techno-economic risk assessment of an optimised conventional high bypass ratio turbofan and establish the design limits that may be needed to achieve further benefits from conventional designs. The study is undertaken from an operator/airline perspective and further quantifies the point at which the investment opportunity of a novel technology justifies the risks associated with it. This study has shown that there is still potential for fuel burn improvement from the evolution of the conventional turbofan. This improvement could be up to 15-20% when compared to technology of the year 2000. This is shown to be achieved through improvement material and design of the high pressure compressor spool, aimed at essentially reducing weight and diameters. The study also includes a qualitative discussion on novel, disruptive technologies, and the risks associated with their introduction as future propulsion systems.