Parenting implementation project resource kit

"Parenting Implementation Project [PIP]: Making a Difference Working with local areas to deliver better services for parents and families. Conference: 9th June 2009, Royal Lancaster Hotel, London" - Front Cover

A framework for an Integrated Mining of Heterogeneous data in decision support systems

The volume of information available on the Internet and corporate intranets continues to increase along with the corresponding increase in the data (structured and unstructured) stored by many organizations. Over the past years, data mining techniques have been used to explore large volume of data (structured) in order to discover knowledge, often in form of a decision support system. For effective decision making, there is need to discover knowledge from both structured and unstructured data for completeness and comprehensiveness. The aim of this paper is to present a framework to discover this kind of knowledge and to present a report on the work-in-progress on an on going research work. The proposed framework is composed of three basic phases: extraction and integration, data mining and finally the relevance of such a system to the business decision support system. In the first phase, both the structured and unstructured data are combined to form an XML database (combined data warehouse (CDW)). Efficiency is enhanced by clustering of unstructured data (documents) using SOM (Self Organized Maps) clustering algorithm, extracting keyphrases based on training and TF/IDF (Term Frequency/Inverse Document Frequency) by using the KEA (Keyphrases Extraction Algorithm) toolkit. In the second phase, association rule mining technique is applied to discover knowledge from the combined data warehouse. The final phase reflects the changes that such a system will bring about to the marketing decision support system. The paper also describes a developed system which evaluates the association rules mined from structured data that forms the first phase of the research work. The proposed system is expected to improve the quality of decisions, and this will be evaluated by using standard metrics for evaluating the interestingness of association rule which is based on statistical independence and correlation analysis

Financial interlinkages and risk of contagion in the Finnish interbank market

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Towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC) policy roll-out experience in South Africa : how and why policy-practice gaps come about in a UHC context

All countries world-wide are striving towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC). South Africa embarked on this bold and new direction, piloting National Health Insurance (NHI) in 2011. Two vehicles and strategic interventions selected to reach UHC are Primary Health Care (PHC) re-engineering and NHI. The goal of UHC is to ensure that everyone has access to appropriate, efficient and quality health services without the risk of impoverishment or financial catastrophe. The aim of this thesis was to contribute to a better understanding of policy implementation in a UHC context in one pilot district in South Africa. In order to explain how the policy-practice gap comes about, actor experiences were sought. Utilizing Contextual Interaction Theory (CIT) as a framework for analysis, this thesis sought a more in-depth understanding on 1) What bottlenecks and challenges actors experienced in their current role as a UHC policy maker/ implementer? (Information, motivation, power, resources, interactions and others) 2) how and why policy-practice gaps come about from actors` policy implementation experience and 3) What needs to be done to reach UHC? The study was embedded in a broader project, Universal Coverage in Tanzania and South Africa (UNITAS). A qualitative case study design utilizing a theory of change approach was adopted and data was collected during three phases between 2011 and 2015. Our findings revealed a discrepancy between challenges health workers had on the ground and health systems strengthening initiatives that were being implemented. This is in part due to the non-involvement of front-line staff in policy making. To that end we developed and proposed a Health Systems Strengthening (HSS) Framework to aid the process of identifying needed HSS initiatives in a PHC context that is nurse led. Findings also revealed five groups of factors bringing about policy-practice gaps; (i) Primary factors stemming from a direct lack of a critical component for policy implementation, tangible or intangible (resources, information, motivation, power), (ii) Secondary factors stemming from a lack of efficient processes or systems (budget processes, limited financial delegations, top down directives, communication channels, supply chain processes, ineffective supervision and performance management systems), (iii) Tertiary factors stemming from human factors (perception and cognition) and calculated human responses to a lack of primary, secondary and or extraneous factors, as coping mechanisms (ideal reporting and audit driven compliance with core standards), (iv) Extraneous factors stemming from beyond the health system (national vocational training leading to national shortage of plumbers) and (v) an overall lack of systems thinking. Noteworthy among factors fuelling policy-practice gaps are human factors, perception and responses of actors in the system to a lack of resources, processes and systems, through among others, ideal reporting and audit driven compliance with core standards, bringing about an additional layer of unintended consequences, further widening that gap. Actors identified that current systems e.g. supply chain and supervision are obsolete as they were designed during a different time period demographically, epidemiologically and technologically. Actors are recommending health systems transformation rather than health system strengthening, meaning going back to the drawing board to design systems based on today’s challenges and scenarios. The current lack of progress and stagnation in the health system has been blamed on leadership gaps in all sectors. More research is needed to explore leadership development approaches that produce results on the ground. The findings also revealed that policy implementers do engage with policy upon receipt. They then do a policy-context audit after which they arrive at a decision and act either through policy adaptation, partial implementation to full implementation. In conclusion, this thesis shares some implementation experiences worth taking into consideration when implementing UHC policies. The first one is the role of leadership in implementation; hence we propose adding leadership to the CIT central tenets to become Information, Motivation, Power, Resources, Interactions and Leadership. Leadership was alluded to repeatedly by actors as a critical ingredient. We propose utilizing a systems approach to addressing health system challenges. Factors fuelling policy-practice gaps are multi-faceted and interrelated so much so that dealing with these systemically will go a long way in making UHC a reality

Reframing the systemic approach to complex organizations as intangible portfolios

The aim of this paper is to pave the way towards the inclusion of mainstream sociological approaches (based on Luhmann’s approach) for the studies of firms-organizations. In social sciences we can observe that the theoretic consequences of a paradigm shift is signiicantly represented by the evolution of systemic thinking from Parsons to Luhmann. This shift implies the change from the vision of systemic organizations as “structures” to that of systemic organizations as “communication flows”. The milestone of systemic approach in management maybe found in the research and applied works of Anthony Staford Beer with his Viable System Model (VSM) that today faced a relevant reconiguration by Golinelli and the Italian school on Viable Systemic Approach (VSA). The paradigm shift in this ield has been smoother than in sociology, and didn’t imply the discard of the concept of organization as a structure. This because, in management sciences, the perspective and, consequently, the subject of study is the organization and its structure. We think this paradigm shift is possible also in management sciences, if we consider the whole organization as a structured information low creating a dematerialized structure. Our research question is: “Is it possible to apply in business sciences the fundamental concepts that caused the paradigm shift in sociology?” To answer to this question we discuss about ontology of the firm and of the concept of value in order to understand to what extent intangible communication lows are called upon to be involved in a new deinition of structure

The Child First Strategy Implementation Project:Translating Strategy Into Practice

The ‘Child First’ guiding principle for practice in the Youth Justice System of England and Wales has a growing international evidence-base and is fully embedded in policy/strategy, yet remains underdeveloped in consistent, coherent practice across local agencies and areas. This raises the potential for a policy–strategy practice implementation gap. Focus-group consultations (n = 11) with professional stakeholder groups (community, custody, strategy, inspectorate, and research) explored perceptions of the practice challenges to understanding, implementing and supporting Child First. Qualitative analysis identified child-centrism, professional relationships and cognisance as pivotal features of the effective realisation of Child First in practice.</p

Lay Faculty\u27s Understanding and Operationalization of Augustinian Core Values in Secondary Education

Augustinian education is a Catholic education offered through an Augustinian lens. This education is rooted in the history and values of the Order of St. Augustine of Hippo carried forth and appropriated to the modern day by those who have steeped themselves in the life and legacy of Augustine of Hippo. This qualitative case study attempts to investigate the lay faculty participants’ understanding of three Augustinian core values and how those values are operationalized in their interaction with students inside and outside the classroom. The study also investigates if there is a perceived need for further professional development in the Augustinian values and the form it should take from the perspective of the lay faculty participants. This study utilizes personal interviews which are then viewed through the lens of interpretive phenomenological analysis. The study findings suggest that the lay faculty participants understand the three Augustinian core values, but there is more work to be done in the way of professional development. The study concludes that future professional development in the person of Augustine of Hippo, the three Augustinian core values, and Augustinian pedagogy should be one that is informative, practical, and dialogical