17,415 research outputs found
All that Glitters: A Review of Payments for Watershed Services in Developing Countries
This report reviews the current status of payments for watershed services in developing countries. It highlights the main trends in the evolution of these schemes, synthesising the available evidence on their environmental and social impacts, and drawing lessons for the design of future initiatives. The interest in payments for watershed services (PWS) as a tool for watershed management in developing countries is growing, despite major setbacks. This review identified 50 ongoing schemes, 8 advanced proposals and 37 preliminary proposals for PWS. A previous review published by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) on markets and payments for environmental services (Silver Bullet or Fools' Gold? (Landell-Mills and Porras 2002)) identified just 41 proposed and ongoing PWS schemes in developing countries, which suggests a considerable growth in interest in this approach
Increasing Food Safety Compliance With Online Resources
Presented to the Faculty
of the University of Alaska Anchorage
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of
MASTER OF SCIENCEFood-borne illness is a top concern for public policy and public health in the U.S.,
causing nearly 48 million incidents yearly. The number of confirmed food-borne illness
outbreaks has declined over recent years as regulation and control measures of the Food and
Drug Administration have increased. However, despite increased regulations and decreased
outbreaks, there are still a large number of food safety violations, and it is imperative that food
service employers continue to encourage good food safety practices. Mandated training has
produced varying results on the improved inspection scores of restaurant establishments, but
understanding the barriers to food safety and employing food safety intervention measures has
had positive results on improving the employeesâ food safety compliance behaviors. There is an
opportunity to explore new interventions and mediums to increase safe food handling behaviors.
This project describes the development of a food safety resource, FoodSafetyKmowledge.org.
The site exists as a singular location for managers to find all of the necessary safety and
sanitation resources in one accessible and convenient place. The discussion and analysis includes
feedback from other food service professionals, and I offer recommendations to improve the site
for future use.Signature Page / Title Page / Abstract / List of Figures / Acknowledgements / Introduction / Literature Review / Method / Discussion / Conclusion / Reference
Emerging Perspectives on Self Service Technologies in Retail Banking
This paper attempts to critically examine the available literature on the subject, discuss a model that provides a managerial framework for analyzing the variables associated with customer value, and to identify potential research areas. The discussion draws conceptual impetus from new technologies in banking services through self service technologies in banking as a tool for optimizing profit. The discussion in the paper also analyzes the main criteria for successful internet-banking strategy and brings out benefits of e-banking from the point of view of banks, their technology and customer values and tentatively concludes that there is increasing returns to scale in the bank services in relation to the banking products, new technology and customer value.Self service technology, retail banking, customer value, profit optimization
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Academic Resilience and Achievement
This study uses narrative analysis to understand the ways in which Mexican university faculty members used their self-motivational resources to persist in an instructional technology training program within adverse work conditions. The methodology included interviews and participant observation. Findings suggest that facultyâs academic resilience was based on facultyâs self-definition as permanent learners and innovators, the perception of instruction as a field of reflection-in-action and systematization, and the caring instructional approach used by training instructors
Preparing millennials as digital citizens and socially and environmentally responsible business professionals in a socially irresponsible climate
As of 2015, a millennial born in the 1990's became the largest population in
the workplace and are still growing. Studies indicate that a millennial is tech
savvy but lag in the exercise of digital responsibility. In addition, they are
passive towards environmental sustainability and fail to grasp the importance
of social responsibility. This paper provides a review of such findings
relating to business communications educators in their classrooms. The
literature should enable the development of a millennial as an excellent global
citizen through business communications curricula that emphasizes digital
citizenship, environmental sustainability and social responsibility. The
impetus for this work is to provide guidance in the development of courses and
teaching strategies customized to the development of each millennial as a
digital, environmental and socially responsible global citizen
Factors relating to the uptake of interventions for smoking cessation amongst pregnant women: a systematic review and qualitative synthesis
Introduction
The review had the aim of investigating factors enabling or discouraging the uptake of smoking cessation services by pregnant women smokers.
Methods
The literature was searched for papers relating to the delivery of services to pregnant or recently pregnant women who smoke. No restrictions were placed on study design. A qualitative synthesis strategy was adopted to analyse the included papers.
Results
Analysis and synthesis of the 23 included papers suggested ten aspects of service delivery that may have an influence on the uptake of interventions. These were: whether or not the subject of smoking is broached by a health professional; the content of advice and information provided; the manner of communication; having service protocols; follow-up discussion; staff confidence in their skills; the impact of time and resource constraints; staff perceptions of ineffectiveness; differences between professionals; and obstacles to accessing interventions.
Discussion
The findings suggest variation in practice between services and different professional groups, in particular regarding the recommendation of quitting smoking versus cutting down, but also in regard to procedural aspects such as recording status and repeat advice giving. These differences offer the potential for a pregnant woman to receive contradicting advice. The review suggests a need for greater training in this area and the greater use of protocols, with evidence of a perception of ineffectiveness/pessimism towards intervention amongst some service providers
Drug Cartels and Apartheid: Critical Study of Nation Branding in Developing Countries Burdened by Stigmatizations
Nation branding is gaining increasing importance between both scholars and practitioners. Although, research in this field seems to focus mainly on developed economies, developing countries are affected by a âlabel effectâ of being categorized as âdevelopingâ which generates tacit social stigmatizations. Hence, their attempts to craft a desirable brand image to attract investment, tourism and human resources must deal with these stigmas. In this thesis we explore the effort of two developing countries, Mexico and South Africa, in crafting a desirable and compelling nation brand. In order to accomplish this purpose we employ a semiotic analysis of four video campaigns (targeted to internal and external audiences) and a lexical semantic analysis of brand perceptions from an online community
Discourses Across Periods of Time
This literature review explores the revolutionary effect of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality (VR) on digital art history, specifically concentrating on their capacity to enable dialogical exchanges with historical figures and deepen the understanding of artworks. This study considers the current state of research, detecting key methodologies, areas of improvement, and possible challenges and ethical concerns. The example historical figure used in this analysis is the iconic Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Kahloâs refusal to correspond to a specific artistic style makes her an ideal subject for generative AI and VR-based investigation, offering fresh insights into her work. The incorporation of generative artificial intelligence and virtual reality technologies in humanities education, particularly in digital art history, has grown meaningful interest such as virtual museum exhibits and interactive art history course assignments offered in some universities. These tools allow immersive learning encounters, permitting students to become involved with art in advanced methods by using devices like Oculus VR. Text-based and image-based generative AI adds significantly to digital art history by producing new perceptions, depictions, and realizations from immense datasets. Additionally, the combination of generative AI and VR opens doors to vivid interactions with historical figures aided by natural language processing algorithms. While this tactic enhances historical and art history education, the following paper acknowledges the obstacles of artificial intelligence reproductions in presenting truthful responses. The paper addresses the ethical concerns linked to generative AI, stressing the importance of responsible usage in art history research. Ultimately, generative AI and VR integration promises to unlock new aspects of knowledge and understanding, further improving language learning, literature study, and cultural examination within the digital humanities
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