The e-revolution and post-compulsory education: using e-business models to deliver quality education

The best practices of e-business are revolutionising not just technology itself but the whole process through which services are provided; and from which important lessons can be learnt by post-compulsory educational institutions. This book aims to move debates about ICT and higher education beyond a simple focus on e-learning by considering the provision of post-compulsory education as a whole. It considers what we mean by e-business, why e-business approaches are relevant to universities and colleges and the key issues this raises for post-secondary education

Supply chain configuration conundrum: how does the pharmaceutical industry mitigate disturbance factors?

How a supply chain (SC) is configured can have a significant impact on the performance of global firms. More specifically, disturbance factors (i.e. those factors associated with uncertainty and risk) are increasingly important considerations. This paper focuses on endogenous, exogenous and environment-related SC disturbance factors and their relative importance when configuring global SCs. Three alternative scenarios of SC configurations for European-based pharmaceutical firms are identified - insource nearshore, outsource nearshore and outsource offshore. Through a multi-phase, mixed-method approach we find that the top five disturbance factors managers should be aware of while configuring their SCs are quality defects, unforeseen and random interruptions in manufacturing processes, order processing difficulties, untimely delivery of products, and a mismatch between market demand and supplier responsiveness. This study is able to provide insights into the impact of disturbance factors on the SC configuration strategy for Big Pharmas. We show that SC disturbances influenced the decision to bring production back home (reshoring) or to a closer location (near-shoring). To mitigate the effects of disturbances many Big Pharmas recalibrated their SC configurations by insourcing core products, outsourcing non-core products offshore and developing offshore insourcing capabilities through ‘captives’

Knowledge Governance in an Industrial Cluster : the Collaboration between Academia-Industry-Government in Indonesia

The study is situated in the debate about ‘knowledge for development’ by looking at the inter-linkage of academia-industry-government in the Indonesian science system. The research is based on 10 months of fieldwork conducted between 1st of May 2010 to 25th of February 2011 in Jakarta Metropolitan Region (JMR) and in Jababeka Industrial Cluster, Indonesia. It is a participatory, ethnographic and multilevel research, starting with large areas then scaling down to smaller areas and population. Specifically the methods employed during the fieldwork were: (1) participant observations, (2) in-depth interviews, (3) focus group discussions. I complement the analysis further with secondary statistical data. It builds its analysis and field data collection from the extended case method. The main question of the research is how is knowledge produced, shared, and governed between academia, industry and government in Indonesia? The thesis has three key objectives: first is to analyse the science policy in the normative and social facets, and the progression of regional autonomy in the regional facet, second is to examine the existing linkages of knowledge flow and the importance of location for the industrial cluster, third is to observe the academia’s knowledge production and knowledge sharing, including the process of knowledge exchange with industry. The thesis tells the story as to how and why there persists a divergence of the linkage of academia-industry- government in the Indonesian science system. This divergence constrains the capacity of the Indonesian science system in localising the (global, tacit) knowledge from the supply chain linkage. I contend that the science system in Indonesia is centralised. The institutional (normative) space where the state manifests itself depict a control in the grip of the thematic research agenda, fragmentation of policy enabling academia-industry collaboration and active alliance building with other countries, namely Japan, to pursue economic growth. The role of Jakarta as the centre pulling the control is reified in the social space as manifested in the policy as practices. The features are resources (particularly human capital and research funding in the science system) being scattered, the structure reinforces preferences for small projects, cheap labour and natural resources. Jakarta functions as the centre, controlling academia’s production of knowledge. Next, the regional facet analysis of the splitting of the administrative region (or pemekaran) shows how the progression of regional autonomy is enabling the competition of resources among the bureaucratic elites. This brings back the centralisation process in the Indonesian science system. The industrial cluster study reveals how tacit knowledge is governed and the importance of location - all of which are shaped by the supply chain linkage. The Jababeka Industrial Cluster is shaped by the supply chain linkage and thus, lacks the capacity of a knowledge cluster. Despite this, there is an uneven spatial progression forming a core-periphery structure and existence of ‘nested clusters’. As it functions more in terms of its location to facilitate the supply chain, the cluster output is likely not to be new part or product development, but tacit experiential knowledge for the production process. The tacit knowledge for the production process is, by large, controlled by the hierarchical vertical Japanese keiretsu [Keiretsu can be defined as ‘hands interlocked in a complex networked of formal and informal interfirm relationships’ (Hatch Yamamura 1996: 69)] linkage. The horizontal collaboration between academia-industry is restricted and limited. The potential of the cluster rests upon the embedded horizontal linkage among industries in the ‘nested cluster’ in the spatial peripheries. The academia is pulled towards the bureaucratisation and/or liberalisation process. The argument is based on organisational analysis of President University (PU) and ATMI Polytechnic Cikarang – both are located in the Jababeka Industrial Cluster.  The analysis of President University (PU) shows how it has a lack of control over its resources, and second, the emphasis on maintaining academic decorum in the everyday business of running a university. This is the bureaucratisation process. The investigation of the ATMI Polytechnic Cikarang divulges how the intended production-based education system shifts into an education based on the production system. The entrepreneurial facet of the organisation subsumes the logic of the knowledge production and sharing, making it function as an industry. This is the liberalisation process. </div

Necessity, nice idea or nuissance? an exploration of clinical psychologists’ beliefs about, and uses of, diagnostically driven Nice guidelines

Section A is a scoping review, exploring UK clinical psychologists’ beliefs about psychiatric diagnosis. Reviewed beliefs are considered in relation to associated leadership documents. Most literature critiqued the practice of diagnosis. However, some clinical psychologists considered diagnosis a helpful practice. This perspective was unrepresented in recent leadership publications. For many, the debate was not binary; empirical literature suggested clinical psychologists had concerns with diagnosis but considered complete withdrawal from diagnostic practices unfeasible. The review suggests that more empirical literature is needed to understand clinical psychologists’ beliefs and practices regarding diagnostic practices in routine NHS work. Section B presents the findings of a mixed-methodological investigation of clinical psychologists’ (n = 55) beliefs about, and uses of diagnostically driven NICE guidelines. An integrated thematic map was produced, entitled: Threat, useful guide and vital manual: the shades of grey within and between clinical psychologists’ beliefs about, and uses of, NICE guidelines. Participants were concerned about the medical-model basis of NICE guidelines and their implementation as ‘rules’, and managed these concerns in various ways. Some worried the guidelines threatened clinical psychologists’ skills and jobs. A minority fully endorsed NICE guidelines. The need for clinical psychologists to feel safe to use their skills transparently is highlighted

Development of a Bayesian calibration framework for archetype-based housing stock models of summer indoor temperature

Adverse effects to health and wellbeing from increased exposure to heat at home has been repeatedly identified as a major climate change adaptation risk in the United Kingdom by the Climate Change Committee and others. Despite recent progress, policy gaps in the adaptation of the housing stock exist. The development of such policies can be guided by housing stock models, that enable the assessment of the impact of climate change adaptation and energy efficiency measures on building performance under different climate scenarios. To ensure well-informed decision-making, uncertainties in these models should be considered. Motivated by the lack of work on this topic, this thesis aims to quantify and reduce uncertainties of archetype-based housing stock models of summer indoor temperature through a Bayesian calibration framework. The framework includes the data-driven classification of dwellings into homogeneous groups, the characterisation of model input uncertainty in the form of probability distributions – which can be used as calibration priors – and their reduction through Bayesian inference. The framework’s implementation was demonstrated using the ‘UK Housing Stock Model’ (a bottom-up model based on EnergyPlus), the 2011 English Housing Survey and Energy Follow-Up Survey (EHS-EFUS), and the 2009 4M survey in Leicester. The model’s root-mean-square error reduced from 2.5 ⁰C (pre-calibration) to 0.6 ⁰C (post-calibration), while input and structural uncertainties were quantified. This work offers several novel contributions, including a modular framework that can be adapted for the improvement of other archetype-based housing stock models, an open-source method for identifying model input probability distributions, and an alternative formulation of Gaussian processes that substantially reduces the computational cost of Bayesian calibration. Learnings from this first calibration of its type can inform future academic research. Finally, the analysis of 2011 EHS-EFUS provides evidence to building designers and policymakers on the dwelling and household characteristics associated with high summer indoor temperatures