Community Wind 101: A Primer for Policymakers

Provides an overview of a model for wind power development based on local ownership. Reviews innovative examples, economic benefits for the community, benefits for clean energy development, obstacles, and state and federal policy options to address them

Contracting with General Dental Services: a mixed-methods study on factors influencing responses to contracts in English general dental practice

Background: Independent contractor status of NHS general dental practitioners (GDPs) and general medical practitioners (GMPs) has meant that both groups have commercial as well as professional identities. Their relationship with the state is governed by a NHS contract, the terms of which have been the focus of much negotiation and struggle in recent years. Previous study of dental contracting has taken a classical economics perspective, viewing practitioners’ behaviour as a fully rational search for contract loopholes. We apply institutional theory to this context for the first time, where individuals’ behaviour is understood as being influenced by wider institutional forces such as growing consumer demands, commercial pressures and challenges to medical professionalism. Practitioners hold values and beliefs, and carry out routines and practices which are consistent with the field’s institutional logics. By identifying institutional logics in the dental practice organisational field, we expose where tensions exist, helping to explain why contracting appears as a continual cycle of reform and resistance. Aims: To identify the factors which facilitate and hinder the use of contractual processes to manage and strategically develop General Dental Services, using a comparison with medical practice to highlight factors which are particular to NHS dental practice. Methods: Following a systematic review of health-care contracting theory and interviews with stakeholders, we undertook case studies of 16 dental and six medical practices. Case study data collection involved interviews, observation and documentary evidence; 120 interviews were undertaken in all. We tested and refined our findings using a questionnaire to GDPs and further interviews with commissioners. Results: We found that, for all three sets of actors (GDPs, GMPs, commissioners), multiple logics exist. These were interacting and sometimes in competition. We found an emergent logic of population health managerialism in dental practice, which is less compatible than the other dental practice logics of ownership responsibility, professional clinical values and entrepreneurialism. This was in contrast to medical practice, where we found a more ready acceptance of external accountability and notions of the delivery of ‘cost-effective’ care. Our quantitative work enabled us to refine and test our conceptualisations of dental practice logics. We identified that population health managerialism comprised both a logic of managerialism and a public goods logic, and that practitioners might be resistant to one and not the other. We also linked individual practitioners’ behaviour to wider institutional forces by showing that logics were predictive of responses to NHS dental contracts at the dental chair-side (the micro level), as well as predictive of approaches to wider contractual relationships with commissioners (the macro level) . Conclusions: Responses to contracts can be shaped by environmental forces and not just determined at the level of the individual. In NHS medical practice, goals are more closely aligned with commissioning goals than in general dental practice. The optimal contractual agreement between GDPs and commissioners, therefore, will be one which aims at the ‘satisfactory’ rather than the ‘ideal’; and a ‘successful’ NHS dental contract is likely to be one where neither party promotes its self-interest above the other. Future work on opportunism in health care should widen its focus beyond the self-interest of providers and look at the contribution of contextual factors such as the relationship between the government and professional bodies, the role of the media, and providers’ social and professional networks. Funding: The National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research programme

Case Studies of Strategic Alliances in U.S. Beef Production

Calf marketing, commercial beef carcass, and natural/implant-free beef strategic alliances were examined via case study to determine alliance structure and whether each addressed risk, transaction costs, capital availability, and other concerns. All alliances were structured differently through vertical or horizontal coordination, and each had been established within the past 12 years. Alliance administrators reported that an advantage to cow-calf producers was higher cattle prices received relative to producers outside the alliances. The alliances reduced transaction costs and increased information flow among segments. Alliances did not specifically address risk or increased access to capital for technology adoption or expansion purposes.cattle industry, industry structure, risk, strategic alliances, transaction costs, Agribusiness, Livestock Production/Industries,

Information Transmission in Cattle Markets: A Case Study of the Chariton Valley Beef Alliance

The declining share of beef in total U.S. meat consumption has motivated industry-wide efforts to improve average beef quality through more effective coordination among the various market participants. Increased use of explicit grid pricing mechanisms over the last decade represents initial efforts at improved coordination. More recent efforts include animal-specific carcass data collection, with subsequent transmission to feeders and the relevant cow/calf operations, and improved source verification procedures aimed at (among other things) reducing the overall cost of medical treatment for live animals. None of these organizational innovations is costless, and indeed a number of significant barriers must be overcome before more widespread adoption of such practices takes place. This paper takes a detailed look at one organization’s attempts to overcome some of these barriers, and provides a qualitative assessment of this and other potential organizational responses.cattle and beef markets, information transmission, producer alliance, Livestock Production/Industries, Marketing,

Querying Large Physics Data Sets Over an Information Grid

Optimising use of the Web (WWW) for LHC data analysis is a complex problem and illustrates the challenges arising from the integration of and computation across massive amounts of information distributed worldwide. Finding the right piece of information can, at times, be extremely time-consuming, if not impossible. So-called Grids have been proposed to facilitate LHC computing and many groups have embarked on studies of data replication, data migration and networking philosophies. Other aspects such as the role of 'middleware' for Grids are emerging as requiring research. This paper positions the need for appropriate middleware that enables users to resolve physics queries across massive data sets. It identifies the role of meta-data for query resolution and the importance of Information Grids for high-energy physics analysis rather than just Computational or Data Grids. This paper identifies software that is being implemented at CERN to enable the querying of very large collaborating HEP data-sets, initially being employed for the construction of CMS detectors.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Quality Management and Information Transmission in Cattle Markets: A Case Study of the Chariton Valley Beef Alliance

The declining share of beef in total U.S. meat consumption has motivated industry-ï¾­wide efforts to improve average beef quality through more effective coordination among the various market participants. Increased use of explicit "grid" pricing mechanisms over the last decade represents initial efforts at improved coordination. More recent efforts include animalï¾­specific carcass data collection, with subsequent transmission to feeders and the relevant cowï¾­calf operations, and improved "source verification" procedures aimed at (among other things) reducing the overall cost of medical treatment for live animals. None of these organizational innovations is costless; indeed, a number of significant barriers must be overcome before such practices can be adopted more widely. In this paper, we take a detailed look at one organization's attempts to overcome some of these barriers and provide an assessment of the costs and benefits of doing so. Keywords: cattle markets, information transmission, source verification.

Strategic focus areas and emerging trade arrangements in the South African agricultural industry since the demise of the marketing boards

This paper investigates the responses of agribusiness managers to drastic changes in the policy and marketing environment of South African agriculture. The process of deregulation and liberalisation of agricultural markets exposed agribusiness managers to international trends, which required new institutions and relationships. Based on a survey conducted among business managers, we explored emerging growth strategies, strategic focus areas and coordination preferences. Results suggest that managers prefer a growth strategy based on market penetration and market development. Important strategic drivers are value-adding and power drive. Managers expressed their preference for increased coordination and cooperation resulting in relation-based contracts and equity-based alliances.agribusiness, strategic focus areas, institutional arrangements, South Africa, Agribusiness,