Employer Pension Plan Inequality in Canada

The purpose of this research paper is to contribute to knowledge regarding employer pension plan (EPP) inequality in Canada. Information on EPP coverage and value is analyzed using the 1999 and 2005 Surveys of Financial Security. The results indicate that women, persons who may live alone, landed immigrants, and language minorities are at a disadvantage in their EPP coverage and accrued value. In addition, age, educational attainment, occupation, industry of employment, union membership, total personal income, province, and size of urban residence figure importantly in EPP coverage. Furthermore, age, educational attainment, industry of employment, total personal income, province and size of urban residence are all-important determinants of the termination value of EPPs. To identify inequalities in EPP coverage among the sub-populations, the researchers use multivariate analysis. This allows an identification of inequalities that are not a direct result of differences in age, gender, level of education, location, or position in the labour market. Findings indicate that differences in EPP coverage for women, persons who may live alone, landed immigrants and language minorities are primarily due to differences in these other characteristics. However, the lower EPP value witnessed by these subpopulations cannot be explained by individual or labour market characteristics.Employer Pension Plans, Registered Pension Plans, coverage, value, inequality, seniors, landed immigrants, gender differences, minority language

Employer Pension Plan Inequality in Canada

The purpose of this research paper is to contribute to knowledge regarding employer pension plan (EPP) inequality in Canada. Information on EPP coverage and value is analyzed using the 1999 and 2005 Surveys of Financial Security. The results indicate that women, persons who may live alone, landed immigrants, and language minorities are at a disadvantage in their EPP coverage and accrued value. In addition, age, educational attainment, occupation, industry of employment, union membership, total personal income, province, and size of urban residence figure importantly in EPP coverage. Furthermore, age, educational attainment, industry of employment, total personal income, province and size of urban residence are all important determinants of the termination value of EPPs. To identify inequalities in EPP coverage among the sub-populations, the researchers use multivariate analysis. This allows an identification of inequalities that are not a direct result of differences in age, gender, level of education, location, or position in the labour market. Findings indicate that differences in EPP coverage for women, persons who may live alone, landed immigrants and language minorities are primarily due to differences in these other characteristics. However, the lower EPP value witnessed by these sub-populations cannot be explained by individual or labour market characteristics.Employer Pension Plans, Registered Pension Plans, coverage, value, inequality, seniors, landed immigrants, gender differences, minority language

A systems approach to evaluate One Health initiatives

Challenges calling for integrated approaches to health, such as the One Health (OH) approach, typically arise from the intertwined spheres of humans, animals, and ecosystems constituting their environment. Initiatives addressing such wicked problems commonly consist of complex structures and dynamics. As a result of the EU COST Action (TD 1404) “Network for Evaluation of One Health” (NEOH), we propose an evaluation framework anchored in systems theory to address the intrinsic complexity of OH initiatives and regard them as subsystems of the context within which they operate. Typically, they intend to influence a system with a view to improve human, animal, and environmental health. The NEOH evaluation framework consists of four overarching elements, namely: (1) the definition of the initiative and its context, (2) the description of the theory of change with an assessment of expected and unexpected outcomes, (3) the process evaluation of operational and supporting infrastructures (the “OH-ness”), and (4) an assessment of the association(s) between the process evaluation and the outcomes produced. It relies on a mixed methods approach by combining a descriptive and qualitative assessment with a semi-quantitative scoring for the evaluation of the degree and structural balance of “OH-ness” (summarised in an OH-index and OH-ratio, respectively) and conventional metrics for different outcomes in a multi-criteria-decision-analysis. Here, we focus on the methodology for Elements (1) and (3) including ready-to-use Microsoft Excel spreadsheets for the assessment of the “OH-ness”. We also provide an overview of Element (2), and refer to the NEOH handbook for further details, also regarding Element (4) (http://neoh.onehealthglobal.net). The presented approach helps researchers, practitioners, and evaluators to conceptualise and conduct evaluations of integrated approaches to health and facilitates comparison and learning across different OH activities thereby facilitating decisions on resource allocation. The application of the framework has been described in eight case studies in the same Frontiers research topic and provides first data on OH-index and OH-ratio, which is an important step towards their validation and the creation of a dataset for future benchmarking, and to demonstrate under which circumstances OH initiatives provide added value compared to disciplinary or conventional health initiatives

Adapting soft systems methodology for strategic information systems planning: An action research study in a non-profit organisation in Australia

Non-profit organisations provide a large number of services of public interest and play an important role in the Australian society and economy. These organisations can very often improve or expand the services they provide to the public through the implementation of appropriate information systems and technologies. Effective choice and implementation of IS and IT benefits from undertaking strategic information systems planning (SISP). This study investigates the adaptation and use of Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) to conduct an SISP process in a non-profit organisation. SSM is a flexible methodology, based on systems thinking, which can be adapted to a particular organisational situation and is capable of taking into account the internal and external social and political contexts of an organisation. The study shows that SSM can be successfully adapted to suit the culture and situation of a non-profit organisation. Adaptations made included ways in which the IS planner interacted with organisational stakeholders and the addition of CSF, SWOT, problematiques, use cases, and a specialised form of CATWOE and Root Definitions. The study showed that the adapted form of the SSM for SISP process can be utilised effectively for SISP, was found to be valuable by organisational stakeholders, and provided help in renewing the focus on improving services to the community through the use of technology

Determinants of Mammography Usage across Rural and Urban Regions of Canada

Breast cancer is a leading source of mortality among Canadian women; however early detection via mammography considerably improves survival rates. Accordingly, national guidelines advocate biennial screening for asymptomatic women aged 50 to 69 years. Unfortunately many women do not abide by such recommendations, and there is some evidence that compliance rates are lower in rural areas. This report explores the extent of regional variation within and between Canadian provinces using a new and more detailed set of rural indicators based on economic zones of influence. We find the incidence of ever having a mammogram and screening within the last two years are significantly lower for women most removed from large urban centers. This result is obtained after controlling for demographic and socio-economic characteristics, concentration of physicians and specialists in the local area and whether the woman has a regular family doctor. An important reason for the observed differences across rural and urban areas is found to be awareness of the need for regular screening. We also observe that differences in mammography usage between rural and urban areas vary significantly across Canadian provinces.mammography, cancer screening, rural health, women's health

Automated statistical audit system for a government regulatory authority

Governments all over the world are faced with numerous challenges while running their countries on a daily basis. The predominant challenges which arise are those which involve statistical methodologies. Official statistics to South Africa’s infrastructure are very important and because of this it is important that an effort is made to reduce the challenges that occur during the development of official statistics. For official statistics to be developed successfully quality standards need to be built into an organisational framework and form a system of architecture (Statistics New Zealand 2009:1). Therefore, this study seeks to develop a statistical methodology that is appropriate and scientifically correct using an automated statistical system for audits in government regulatory authorities. The study makes use of Mathematica to provide guidelines on how to develop and use an automated statistical audit system. A comprehensive literature study was conducted using existing secondary sources. A quantitative research paradigm was adopted for this study, to empirically assess the demographic characteristics of tenants of Social Housing Estates and their perceptions towards the rental units they inhabit. More specifically a descriptive study was undertaken. Furthermore, a sample size was selected by means of convenience sampling for a case study on SHRA to assess the respondent’s biographical information. From this sample, a pilot study was conducted investigating the general perceptions of the respondents regarding the physical conditions and quality of their units. The technical development of an automated statistical audit system was discussed. This process involved the development and use of a questionnaire design tool, statistical analysis and reporting and how Mathematica software served as a platform for developing the system. The findings of this study provide insights on how government regulatory authorities can best utilise automated statistical audits for regulation purposes and achieved this by developing an automated statistical audit system for government regulatory authorities. It is hoped that the findings of this study will provide government regulatory authorities with practical suggestions or solutions regarding the generating of official statistics for regulatory purposes, and that the suggestions for future research will inspire future researchers to further investigate automated statistical audit systems, statistical analysis, automated questionnaire development, and government regulatory authorities individually

Improving service delivery in the public sector through strategic cost management: the case of a public private partnership in South Africa

Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references.The key objective involved the research to discover how strategic cost management may improve service delivery. How could strategic cost management support public private partnership initiatives to improve service delivery by the public sector? Thus a detailed review of literature was done, contributing to the debate and better understanding of this specific research question. The objectives are to research what were public private partnerships and how they work so that a contribution could be made to close the gap identified in management practice and inform practitioners how to deal with public private partnerships

Map4Scrutiny – a linked open data solution for politicians interest registers

Dissertação de mestrado em Sistemas de InformaçãoO trabalho desenvolvido no âmbito desta dissertação descreve o processo de recolha, uniformização e transformação de dados abertos em formato de texto e tabelas (CSV) para dados abertos ligados (Linked Open Data). Especificamente, dados sobre os registos de interesses dos deputados à assembleia da república portuguesa e contratação pública, ligados pelas organizações que são mencionadas em ambos. O estado da arte inclui uma análise de fundo aos conceitos de corrupção, transparência, dados abertos, e dados abertos ligados, tal como a projetos de dados abertos e dados abertos ligados relevantes. A seleção dos dados a utilizar, com respeito aos tópicos de conjuntos de dados relevantes e ao interesse público, o desenho da solução proposta e a seleção de ferramentas, métodos e processos, seguiu a proposta de três ciclos de Hevner para uma abordagem ao desenho de investigação na ciência. O processo de implementação é iniciado com a recolha de dados das fontes utilizando bibliotecas Python para web Scraping e a transformação dos mesmos em tabelas (CSV). Estes dados são depois limpos e uniformizados com auxílio do OpenRefine. Esta ferramenta é também usada para mapear os dados da tabela para triples que são exportados em ficheiros Turtle. Este mapeamento foi previamente desenhado num perfil de aplicação que serviu de base para a criação das formas dos dados (ShExC) usadas para conduzir o processo de validação nos ficheiros Turtle. Esta validação assegura que os ficheiros gerados pelo OpenRefine são conformes com o perfil de aplicação. Para descrever adequadamente os dados foram usados vocabulários já existentes complementados, quando necessário, com a criação de novas classes, propriedades e valores. Este processo está também descrito e os vocabulários estão disponíveis para consulta e reutilização. Por fim, foram feitas consultas modelo em SPARQL para ilustrar a diferença entre os dados originais e o conjunto de dados transformado. O objetivo deste trabalho é contribuir para as áreas de dados abertos ligados e dados abertos para a transparência e escrutínio público. Os contributos principais para o primeiro são um novo esquema de dados e a descrição de todos os passos do processo de transformação. Para o segundo o contributo que se destaca é mais uma implementação que demonstra o potencial do escrutínio de dados no aumento da transparência através da comparação entra as consultas possíveis aos conjuntos de dados originais e ao resultante da solução proposta. O processo de implementação está documentado abaixo e os ficheiros resultantes disponibilizados para consulta.The work developed in the scope of this dissertation describes the process of sourcing, uniformizing, and transforming text and tabular (CSV) open data to linked open data. More exactly, data on Portuguese parliamentarians’ interest registers and public procurement, linked by the organisations mentioned in both. The state of the art presented includes a background analysis on the concepts of corruption, transparency, open data, and linked open data and an analysis of relevant open data and linked open data projects. The research was conducted using Hevner’s three-cycle design science research approach which led to the definition of the data scope concerning relevant dataset topics and the public’s interest, the design of the proposed solution, and the selected tools, methods, and processes. The implementation process starts with Scraping the data from the sources with the aid of python libraries and generating tabular (CSV) outputs. These are cleaned and uniformized in OpenRefine. OpenRefine is also the tool used to map the data on the tables into triples and generate outputs in Turtle. The map was designed in an application profile that also served as a base for writing the shapes (in ShExC) and conducting validation on the exported Turtle files. This validation ensures that the data is conformant with the application profile. To successfully describe the data in triples, on top of the external vocabularies used, new classes, properties and values had to be created. This process is also thoroughly described, and the outputs are open to access and reuse. Finally, sample SPARQL queries were made to showcase the difference between the sourced data and the resulting dataset. The goal is to contribute to the field of linked open data and open data for transparency and public scrutiny. The main contributions to the first are a new data scheme and the description of every step in the transformation process, while to the latter the contribution is a further implementation showcasing the scrutiny potential of data in improving transparency by comparing the querying possibilities of the final dataset with the originals. Every step taken is documented below and the resulting outputs of the different stages are available for consultation

Current Usage and Future Potential for SISTeM\u27s Tools in IS Evaluation

This paper explores, through a short case study, the utility of the Soft Information Systems Technology Methodology (SISTeM) and its expressive and matrix models in supporting evaluation of IS applications as part of a procurement process. In addition the potential of these tools in evaluating RAD based, ‘time-box’, contingency approaches to IS development is examined. This suggests a future research agenda for exploring and further development of SISTeM’s modeling tools in support of the evaluation of compartmentalized information systems development and its resultant organizational benefits