48 research outputs found
Talent Management Practices in the State Health Services Sector in Ghana: a casestudy of nurses in three (3) health institutions
This thesis explores talent management (TM) practices in the state health services sector inGhana (SHSSG) using a case study of nurses in three (3) state healthcare institutions. Theliterature on TM has centred mainly on developed countries and there is not much in-depthresearch work carried out on TM in developing countries. Besides, empirical research on TMmostly focuses on the private sector without much attention to the public sector. This thesis seeksto fill this gap in the literature by focusing on TM strategies in the SHSSG through recruitment,and selection, staff development, promotion, and staff appraisal. A qualitative case study wasadopted for the research. The empirical focus was on three (3) state healthcare institutions at thedistrict, regional, and teaching university levels in the central region of Ghana. Data/evidencewas mainly collected through semi-structured interviews and secondary data sources. The sampleconsisted of fifty (50) respondents made up of policymakers, senior managers, nursemanagers/administrators, and nurse practitioners. The study revealed that those at the districtlevel perceived the process of TM to be effective, and those at the regional and national levelshad a different view and considered TM implementation to be ineffective. The difference inperceptions is a result of insufficient knowledge by senior managers on what happens at thedistrict level. Responses indicate there are gaps between intended TM policy development,formulation, and actual TM implementation and practices at the point of service delivery.Respondents outlined strategies such as career opportunities for staff, improved conditions ofservice, rewards for higher performance, the establishment of welfare schemes, and staffengagement in TM policies design that can constitute an ideal TM programme in the SHSSG.The thesis provides recommendations for both practice and future research on TM in the publicsector in sub-Saharan Africa
Greenwor(l)ds
Greenwor(l)ds rewrites the literary history of Canada from a feminist ecological perspective through a series of essays that examine the lives and work of nine women poets. Using insights from fields of knowledge as disparate as history and biology, physics and philosophy, psychoanalysis and communications studies, these essays reflect the transdisciplinary character of women's studies generally and feminist ecocriticism in particular
History of Psychology
Openly licensed anthology focused on the theme of the History of Psychology. Contains: The Mind and the Brain by Alfred Binet; Dream Psychology: Psychoanalysis for Beginners by Sigmund Freud; The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2) by William James; The Principles of Psychology, Volume 2 (of 2) by William James; Collected Papers on Analytical Psychology by C. G. Jung; Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay; The Psychology of Arithmetic by Edward L. Thorndike
Effectiveness of Simplex: the case of Portuguese social security
Debureaucratization initiatives are usually welcomed due to the anticipation of its benefits. Although such was the case of Simplex, its effectiveness is yet understudied and thus this dissertation aims to make a balance of the implementation of Simplex project. This balance covers both its effectiveness on the specific case of the Portuguese Social Security System as well as its levers and blockages in the ultimate goal of debureaucratize.
The scarcity of information about Simplex impact encouraged this exploratory research as well as the methodological option that backed up a qualitative approach. To meet the study goals, this dissertation also incorporated theoretical elements of the literature review. We selected two Social Security stakeholders as our target groups – accountants and officials. With the former, we conducted individual semi-structured interviews, and with the second, we made focus groups.
Findings suggest Simplex is much more than deadlines and cost decrease, and improving people’s lives. It is not just ICT, administrative simplification and legislative simplification, or as we called it, the triangle of drivers legislation, technology & procedures, but it is much more. Simplex has a 360º impact. It is relationship, communication and information.
To achieve this, measures must be transversal to PA and the private sector, demanding participation, transparency and accountability, valuing the human resources, as the best asset, because it is necessary to guarantee equity and generate trust in citizens in order to uphold the image of Social Security. But this also requires working the culture, in its most diverse facets, all with the political commitment.
Overall, a suitable number of KPI that allow monitoring and the comparability of the results is required as well as identifying constraints and blockages, and implementing corrective measures to reduce the risks of Simplex. In this way can Simplex become a tool of continuous improvement.As iniciativas de desburocratização são geralmente bem-vindas devido à antecipação de seus benefícios. Embora tenha sido esse o caso do Simplex, a sua eficácia tem sido pouco estudada e, por isso, esta dissertação visa fazer um balanço da implementação do projeto Simplex. Este balanço compreende quer a eficácia do Simplex no caso específico do Sistema de Segurança Social Português, quer a identificação de alavancas e bloqueios do Simplex, com o objetivo último de desburocratização.
A escassez de informação sobre o impacto do Simplex motivou a realização desta investigação exploratória, bem como a opção metodológica que se ancorou numa abordagem qualitativa. Para atender aos objetivos do estudo, esta dissertação também incorporou elementos teóricos da revisão da literatura. Selecionámos dois stakeholders da Segurança Social como grupos-alvo – contabilistas e funcionários públicos. Com o primeiro, realizámos entrevistas individuais semiestruturadas e, com o segundo, construímos grupos de discussão.
Os resultados sugerem que o Simplex é muito mais do que redução de prazos e de custos, e melhoria da vida das pessoas. Não é apenas tecnologias da informação e da comunicação, simplificação administrativa e simplificação legislativa, ou como designámos, o triângulo de drivers legislação, tecnologia e procedimentos; é muito mais do que isso. O Simplex tem um impacto 360º. Ele é relacionamento, comunicação e informação.
Para tal, as medidas devem ser transversais à Administração Pública e ao setor privado, exigindo participação, transparência e responsabilização, valorizando os recursos humanos, como o melhor ativo, porque é preciso garantir equidade e gerar confiança nos cidadãos a fim de defender a imagem da Segurança Social. Mas isso também requer trabalhar a cultura, nas suas facetas mais diversas, tudo com o compromisso político.
No geral, é necessário estabelecer um número adequado de KPI que permitam a monitorização e a comparabilidade dos resultados, bem como identificar os constrangimentos e bloqueios, e implementar medidas corretivas para reduzir os riscos do Simplex. Desta forma, o Simplex pode tornar-se numa ferramenta de melhoria contínua
Development of a suite of bioinformatics tools for the analysis and prection of membrane protein structure.
This thesis describes the development of a novel approach for prediction of the three-dimensional structure of transmembrane regions of membrane proteins directly from amino acid sequence and basic transmembrane region topology.The development rationale employed involved a knowledge-based approach. Based on determined membrane protein structures, 20x20 association matrices were generated to summarise the distance associations between amino acid side chains on different alpha helical transmembrane regions of membrane proteins. Using these association matrices, combined with a knowledge-based scale for propensity for residue orientation in transmembrane segments (kPROT) (Pilpel et al., 1999), the software predicts the optimal orientations and associations of transmembrane regions and generates a 3D structural model of a given membrane protein, based on the amino acid sequence composition of its transmembrane regions. During the development, several structural and biostatistical analyses of determined membrane protein structures were undertaken with the aim of ensuring a consistent and reliable association matrix upon which to base the predictions. Evaluation of the model structures obtained for the protein sequences of a dataset of 17 membrane proteins of determined structure based on cross-validated leave-one-out testing revealed general1y high accuracy of prediction, with over 80% of associations between transmembrane regions being correctly predicted. These results provide a promising basis for future development and refinement of the algorithm, and to this end, work is underway using evolutionary computing approaches. As it stands, the approach gives scope for significant immediate benefit to researchers as a valuable starting point in the prediction of structure for membrane proteins of hitherto unknown structure.Tese (Doutorado em Filosofia) - University of Bedfordshire
Recommended from our members
What factors determine the success and failure of innovation in China? A systemic study of the Chinese mining industry
China's economy has enjoyed rapid development in recent decades. Its achievements in
innovation, however, are far from satisfactory. So why is it the case that innovation has
not followed? The mining industry is chosen as the research target. Above all, it is
indispensable for China's future energy security and some materials can be used and
have no replacement for the manufacture of a constellation of high-tech products.
Secondly, mining is a difficult case for the study of innovation. Finally, this study is
located at the overlap between development studies and political economy.
This research adopts a qualitative method. Its aim is to find the mechanism through
which innovation outcomes can be determined as the qualitative method can be
beneficial in presenting such a mechanism clearly. The data is collected mainly through
interviews. This research is first illuminated by System of Innovation(SI) theory. SI views
concrete innovations as the outcome of a System. This research adopts the Triple Helix
approach to organise interviews and conduct fieldwork. This approach focuses upon the
interaction of universities, governments and industries. The Innovation Ecosystem is
also utilised to produce systemic research results.
The empirical finding of the research recognises that, compared with the prospecting
and manufacturing stages, the mining and mineral processing stages are more
innovative. One theoretical finding is that the triple helix displays in different forms
under different circumstances.
More work ought to be done to further discern and update the evolution of a
Chinese National System of Innovation and a comparison of the different forms of
Triple Helix is also a rich vein for scholars
Agent-Based Overlapping Generations Modeling for Educational Policy Analysis
Educational systems are complex adaptive systems (CAS). The macroeffects of an educational policy emerge from and depend on individual students\u27 reactions to the policy. However, educational policymakers traditionally rely on equation-based models, which are deficient in reflecting the work of microbehaviors. Using inappropriate tools to make policies may be a reason why there were many unintended educational consequences in history. A proper methodology to design and analyze policies for complex educational systems is agent-based modeling (ABM). Grounded in the theories of CAS and computational irreducibility, ABM is capable of connecting microbehaviors with macropatterns. The purpose of this study was to contribute to the application of ABM in educational policy analysis by constructing an agent-based overlapping generations model with hypothesized inputs to qualitatively represent the environment of the Taipei School District. Four research questions explored the effects of Taipei\u27s 2016 student-assignment mechanism and its free tuition policy on educational opportunity and school quality under different assumptions of students\u27 school-choice strategies. The simulated outputs were analyzed using descriptive statistics and paired samples t tests. The findings, which could hardly be revealed by traditional models, showed that the effects were complex and depended on students\u27 strategies along with the number of choices students were allowed to make; the assignment outcomes for elite students were robust to the mechanism, and the free tuition policy worsened school quality. Although exploratory, these findings can serve as hypotheses and a guide for Taipei\u27s policymakers to collect empirical data in evaluating their 2016 mechanism and tuition policy
A design space for social object labels in museums
Taking a problematic user experience with ubiquitous annotation as its point of departure, this thesis defines and explores the design space for Social Object Labels (SOLs), small interactive displays aiming to support users' in-situ engagement with digital annotations of physical objects and places by providing up-to-date information before, during and after interaction.
While the concept of ubiquitous annotation has potential applications in a wide range of domains, the research focuses in particular on SOLs in a museum context, where they can support the institution's educational goals by engaging visitors in the interpretation of exhibits and providing a platform for public discourse to complement official interpretations provided on traditional object labels.
The thesis defines and structures the design space for SOLs, investigates how they can support social interpretation in museums and develops empirically validated design recommendations. Reflecting the developmental character of the research, it employs Design Research as a methodological framework, which involves the iterative development and evaluation of design artefacts together with users and other stakeholders.
The research identifies the particular characteristics of SOLs and structures their design space into ten high-level aspects, synthesised from taxonomies and heuristics for similar display concepts and complemented with aspects emerging from the iterative design and evaluation of prototypes. It presents findings from a survey exploring visitors' mental models, preferences and expectations of commenting in museums and translates them into requirements for SOLs. It reports on scenario-based design activities, expert interviews with museum professionals, formative user studies and co-design sessions, and two empirical evaluations of SOL prototypes in a gallery environment. Pulling together findings from these research activities it then formulates design recommendations for SOLs and supports them with related evidence and implementation examples.
The main contributions are (i) to delineate and structure the design space for SOLs, which helps to ground SOLs in the literature and understand them as a distinct display concept with its own characteristics; (ii) to explore, for the first time, a visitor perspective on commenting in museums, which can inform research, development and policies on user-generated content in museums and the wider cultural heritage sector; (iii) to develop empirically validated design recommendations, which can inform future research and development into SOLs and related display concept.
The thesis concludes by summarising findings in relation to its stated research questions, restating its contributions from ubiquitous computing, domain and methodology perspectives, and discussing open issues and future work