ENABLING LOCAL GOVERNMENTS TO DESIGN AND IMPLEMENT ANTI-CORRUPTION STRATEGIES THROUGH DYNAMIC PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNANCE. A CASE-STUDY OF AN ITALIAN MUNICIPALITY

Lo scopo principale di questa ricerca è quello di inquadrare le possibili relazioni causali fra corruzione negli approvvigionamenti pubblici e performance delle amministrazioni locali. A tal fine, viene adottato un disegno di ricerca che integra dinamicamente metodi quantitativi e qualitativi in ogni fase del processo di studio. Gli approcci Dynamic Performance Management (DPM) e Governance (DPG), supportati da interviste approfondite non-strutturate, modellazioni formali e simulazioni quantitative, sono qui adottati per analizzare un caso di studio rappresentativo di un piccolo comune italiano in cui si sono verificati alcuni episodi di corruzione nelle attività di approvvigionamento nei primi anni 2000. In particolare, l'Ente locale in questione è stato sciolto due volte per infiltrazioni di stampo mafioso e, attualmente, versa in una situazione di dissesto finanziario. Il lavoro analizza i possibili esiti di tali fatti sulla performance organizzativa dell'Ente nel suo complesso sulla base di tre fonti: dati primari qualitativi generati da interviste frontali convergenti non-strutturate; dati secondari estrapolati da sentenze passate in giudicato e da archivi ad accesso aperto; ed un'ampia rassegna della letteratura. All'inizio, una panoramica della letteratura aiuta il lettore a comprendere i contenuti, le teorie ed i confini della corruzione. Successivamente, viene proposto un esame delle strategie di misurazione e delle misure più diffuse per prevenirla e contrastarla. Nel complesso, una particolare attenzione è riservata agli approvvigionamenti nei contesti pubblici locali. A seguito di una discussione sui possibili vantaggi e svantaggi, in termini di opportunità e deterrenze corruttive, derivanti dall'adozione dei paradigmi di governance nel settore pubblico più diffusi, gli approcci DPM e DPG vengono analizzati per comprendere il loro contributo teorico nel supportare i responsabili politici ed i manager ad arginare i fenomeni di corruzione. Successivamente, sulla base di alcune tecniche di codifica applicate alle interviste frontali non-strutturate svolte con alcuni Pubblici Ufficiali, un approccio esplorativo-descrittivo del caso-studio selezionato consente di comprendere la misura in cui gli eventi corruttivi investigati in questa sede abbiano inciso nel tempo sulla performance complessiva del Comune preso in esame. In seguito, viene adottata una prospettiva sistemica e dinamica di performance management per inquadrare le relazioni di causa-effetto emergenti dal caso di studio. L'assunzione di un approccio DPM consente ai politici ed ai dirigenti pubblici di progettare, implementare e valutare strategie anticorruzione fattibili, efficaci ed efficienti a livello di governo locale. Più precisamente, l'utilizzo, in un grafico DPM, di driver di performance adeguati al rischio di corruzione legato alle sue cause strutturali ed individualistiche può porre rimedio non soltanto alle riconosciute ambiguità e carenze derivanti dall'adozione di “bandiere rosse” nei processi di approvvigionamento pubblico, ma anche ai fallimenti dei controlli direzionali meccanicistici nel rilevare l'effettiva presenza di corruzione, fornendo ai decisori tempestivi segnali derivanti dagli effetti deleteri prodotti da siffatte pratiche clandestine. Inoltre, enfatizzare il ruolo della moralità civica comunitaria a livello di sistema può supportare la comprensione di alcuni risultati controintuitivi della passata ricerca sulla corruzione negli approvvigionamenti pubblici e dedurre in che modo gli investimenti nelle tecnologie dell'informazione e della comunicazione (TIC) e la formazione del personale possano migliorare responsabilità e competenza dei governi locali. Per quanto riguarda la professionalità dei dirigenti e dello staff quale causa individualistica di corruzione, il patronage politico derivante da opportunità legali risulta, per il caso di studio, significativo nello spiegare il cattivo andamento degli approvvigionamenti pubblici nel tempo. All'interno di questo quadro, la visualizzazione DPM consente altresì di distinguere più dettagliatamente la corruzione dallo spreco di risorse dovuto ad azioni non corruttive. In sintesi, un approccio DPM può consentire ai manager pubblici di mantenere i loro “radar cognitivi” costantemente (re)attivi, in modo da: identificare e sopprimere pratiche illecite negli approvvigionamenti pubblici; rilevare illeciti emergenti che potrebbero essere trascurati dai tradizionali approcci diagnostici e interattivi del controllo direzionale; favorire l'apprendimento etico e migliorare il valore pubblico generato. Infine, la prospettiva DPG può essere efficace nel supportare la formulazione e la messa a punto di strategie anticorruzione basate sulla collaborazione multistakeholder, nonché nel sondarne la fattibilità e gli impatti nel tempo all'interno di aree locali caratterizzate da strutture di governance carenti. Pertanto, sulla base di precedenti progetti di successo realizzati da governi locali di diverse parti del mondo, nell'ultima parte di questa tesi di ricerca viene utilizzato un approccio DPG per delineare e valutare una strategia anticorruzione per il caso in esame secondo un'impostazione di collaborative governance, così da inquadrare possibili sinergie ed interdipendenze tra i soggetti rilevanti, quali leve critiche per contrastare il rischio sistemico di corruzione a livello locale.The main purpose of this research is to frame the possible causal relationships between corruption in public procurement and performance of local governments. With this aim, a fully-integrated research design is adopted to dynamically mix quantitative and qualitative methods at every phase of the research process. The Dynamic Performance Management (DPM) and Governance (DPG) approaches, supported by in-depth interviews, formal modelling and simulations, are here adopted to analyse a representative case-study of an Italian small Municipality, where some corruption episodes in procurement activities occurred in the early 2000s. In particular, the local Authority in question was disbanded twice for mafia-like infiltrations and is currently facing a financial instability. In the light of that, the overall work studies the possible outcomes of those facts on the organisational performance as a whole, based on three sources: qualitative primary data generated by face-to-face convergent interviews; secondary data retrieved from both documents describing legal cases and open-access repositories; an extensive literature review. At the beginning, a broad and composite literature overview helps the reader become aware about the contents, theories and boundaries of corruption. Thereafter, an examination of the most widespread measurement strategies and measures to either prevent or repress it is proposed. Overall, a special focus is set on procurement in local public contexts. Following a discussion on the possible advantages and disadvantages of the most common public sector paradigms in terms of opportunities and constraints for corruption, the DPM and DPG views are explored to understand their theoretical contribution in supporting policy- and decision-makers to curb corruption phenomena in heterogeneous governance contexts. Afterwards, based on coding techniques, an exploratory-descriptive approach of the selected case-study allows for a better understanding of the extent to which the investigated corruption events impacted on the overall performance of the Municipality under scrutiny over time, by means of non-structured face-to-face interviews held with some Public Officials in 2019. Therefore, a system perspective in performance management is adopted to frame the emerging cause-and-effect relationships of the case-study. Assuming a DPM approach allows politicians and public managers to design, implement and assess feasible, effective and efficient anti-corruption strategies at local government level. More precisely, the use in a DPM chart of performance drivers adjusted for the risk of corruption linked to its structural and individualistic causes may not only put right to ambiguities and flaws deriving from the adoption of ‘red-flags’ in public procurement, but also to failures of mechanistical controls in detecting the actual presence of corruption, thus providing decision-makers with prompt signals arising from the emergent effects of clandestine practices. In addition, emphasising the role of community civic morality at system level may back up the understanding of some counterintuitive results in the past research on corruption in public procurement and deduce to what extent investments in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and personnel training may enhance local government accountability and expertise. With regard to managers’ and staff’s professionalism, as individualistic cause of corruption, political patronage stemming from legal opportunities results significant in explaining poor performance in public procurement over time. Within this framework, the DPM view also allows for better singling corruption out from resource waste due to non-corrupt actions. In summary, a DPM approach may lead public managers to constantly maintain their ‘cognitive radar’ reactive, so as to identify and suppress unlawful practices in procurement, detect emerging malfeasances that could be otherwise overlooked by traditional static diagnostical and interactive approaches, foster ethical learning and enhance community outcomes. Finally, the DPG perspective may be effective in supporting formulation and fine-tuning of collaboration-based anti-corruption strategies and probing their feasibility and impacts over time within local areas characterised by poor governance structures. Hence, on the basis of previous successful projects throughout the world, in the last part of this research thesis a DPG approach is used to outline and evaluate an anti-corruption strategy for the case under scrutiny according to collaboration settings, in a way to frame possible synergies and interdependencies among relevant participants as critical levers to hinder systemic risk of corruption at local level

Fire Safe Use of Wood in Buildings

This book provides guidance on the design of timber buildings for fire safety, developed within the global network Fire Safe Use of Wood (FSUW) and with reference to Eurocode 5 and other international codes. It introduces the behaviour of fires in timber buildings and describes strategies for providing safety if unwanted fires occur. It provides guidance on building design to prevent any fires from spreading while maintaining the load-bearing capacity of structural timber elements, connections and compartmentation. Also included is information on the reaction-to-fire of wood products according to different classification systems, as well as active measures of fire protection, and quality of workmanship and inspection as means of fulfilling fire safety objectives. Presents global guidance on fire safety in timber buildings Provides a wide perspective, covering the whole field of fire safety design Uses the latest scientific knowledge, based on recent analytical and experimental research results Gives practical examples illustrating the importance of good detailing in building design Fire Safe Use of Wood in Buildings is ideal for all involved in the fire safety of buildings, including architects, engineers, firefighters, educators, regulatory authorities, insurance companies and professionals in the building industry

Safety and Reliability - Safe Societies in a Changing World

The contributions cover a wide range of methodologies and application areas for safety and reliability that contribute to safe societies in a changing world. These methodologies and applications include: - foundations of risk and reliability assessment and management - mathematical methods in reliability and safety - risk assessment - risk management - system reliability - uncertainty analysis - digitalization and big data - prognostics and system health management - occupational safety - accident and incident modeling - maintenance modeling and applications - simulation for safety and reliability analysis - dynamic risk and barrier management - organizational factors and safety culture - human factors and human reliability - resilience engineering - structural reliability - natural hazards - security - economic analysis in risk managemen

Developing an outcome measure in temporomandibular disorders / Mohammad Adel Moufti.

PhD ThesisAssessment of treatment outcome in clinical trials of temporomandibular disorders (TMD) lacks validated patient-based measures of the condition and its improvement. Such measures are questionnaire-based. The questions need to be chosen and framed appropriately. In line with the guidelines of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence in the U. K., this project aimed to start the development of a patient-derived quality of life instrument to measure TMD treatment outcome. Three studies were conducted for this purpose. Study One aimed to establisht he optimal time to assesstr eatmento utcomef or TMD (the Review Period), and the best Reference Period to determine the time-frame of questions. Data consisted of daily diaries of pain intensity from 72 patients who had participated in a clinical trial of conservative TMD treatment. The study involved two stages. The first aimed to identify patientsr espondingto treatment,s o-called" Improvers" andt o excludet he "Non- Improvers" whosed atam ight dilute the results.T his was accomplishedin two ways: firstly by visually assessingin dividual plots of pain versust ime; secondlyb y mathematicallyc alculating the reduction of pain scores during treatment. Criteria for improvement were set and tested for both methods.D efinite improvers were selectedi f they met criteria of both assessmentsIn. the second stage, only improvers' data were examined to analyse the general trend of improvement and establish the review and reference periods. Study One determined 15 weeks as the best review period and four weeks as the best referencep eriod when assessinga commonly used TMD treatment. Study Two was intended to triangulate with Study One and had the same aim. Study Two explored, using a qualitative approach, patients' perception of improvement of TMD symptoms and rates of their recovery. Ten TMD patients showing improvement to conservativet reatmentw ere interviewed. Data were collected using a pre-designedt opic guide and analysed using the Framework approach. The interviewees consistently reported that pain was the symptom with the most impact on their quality of life, and the one to which improvement was linked the most. Other TMD symptoms were also important, but were less linked to patients' suffering and to perceived improvement. Different symptoms followed various rates of recovery. It was not possible to determine a definite time when all symptoms are considered improved. This study confirmed that the approach used in Study One, i. e. assessing TMD recovery based on measurement of pain intensity, was reasonable. It also confirmed that sufficient time (in a frame of some months) is needed before outcome for TMD conservative treatment can be assessed meaningfully. In addition, this study identified important new themes related to patient's journey throughout illness and their perception of received care. Study Three was the core study in this project. It aimed to establish a quality of life measure of TMD treatment outcome using the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP) as a starting point, using the reference period identified in studies one and two. A short form of OHIP was derived by identifying OHIP items with the largest impact on TMD patients' quality of life. A case-control design was used and 110 patients (PG) undergoing a variety of conservative treatments and matching controls (CG) were included. Candidate questions (items) for the intendeds hort form (OHIP/TMD-I) were selectedb asedo n three criteria: 1- showings tatistical differencesb etweenP G and CG; 2- showing largests cored ifference (PG:C G) as measuredb y four analysesM: ean, Median, Prevalencea ndI tem-Impact;3 - representinga ll domainso f OHIP's theoretical framework. This was followed by testing aspects of validity and reliability of the short form and comparing them to those of the full OHIP. Twenty items were identified. Their psychometric properties were comparable or better than those of the mother instrument. Future work is neededt o analyset he responsivenestso changew ith treatmento f the short form, to investigatew hetheri temso utwith OHIP aren eededto furnisht he intendedT M) outcome instrument, and to test the psychometric properties of the final instrument in a new sample.Damascus Universit

Developing an outcome measure in temporomandibular disorders

Assessment of treatment outcome in clinical trials of temporomandibular disorders (TMD) lacks validated patient-based measures of the condition and its improvement. Such measures are questionnaire-based. The questions need to be chosen and framed appropriately. In line with the guidelines of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence in the U. K., this project aimed to start the development of a patient-derived quality of life instrument to measure TMD treatment outcome. Three studies were conducted for this purpose. Study One aimed to establisht he optimal time to assesstr eatmento utcomef or TMD (the Review Period), and the best Reference Period to determine the time-frame of questions. Data consisted of daily diaries of pain intensity from 72 patients who had participated in a clinical trial of conservative TMD treatment. The study involved two stages. The first aimed to identify patientsr espondingto treatment,s o-called" Improvers" andt o excludet he "Non- Improvers" whosed atam ight dilute the results.T his was accomplishedin two ways: firstly by visually assessingin dividual plots of pain versust ime; secondlyb y mathematicallyc alculating the reduction of pain scores during treatment. Criteria for improvement were set and tested for both methods.D efinite improvers were selectedi f they met criteria of both assessmentsIn. the second stage, only improvers' data were examined to analyse the general trend of improvement and establish the review and reference periods. Study One determined 15 weeks as the best review period and four weeks as the best referencep eriod when assessinga commonly used TMD treatment. Study Two was intended to triangulate with Study One and had the same aim. Study Two explored, using a qualitative approach, patients' perception of improvement of TMD symptoms and rates of their recovery. Ten TMD patients showing improvement to conservativet reatmentw ere interviewed. Data were collected using a pre-designedt opic guide and analysed using the Framework approach. The interviewees consistently reported that pain was the symptom with the most impact on their quality of life, and the one to which improvement was linked the most. Other TMD symptoms were also important, but were less linked to patients' suffering and to perceived improvement. Different symptoms followed various rates of recovery. It was not possible to determine a definite time when all symptoms are considered improved. This study confirmed that the approach used in Study One, i. e. assessing TMD recovery based on measurement of pain intensity, was reasonable. It also confirmed that sufficient time (in a frame of some months) is needed before outcome for TMD conservative treatment can be assessed meaningfully. In addition, this study identified important new themes related to patient's journey throughout illness and their perception of received care. Study Three was the core study in this project. It aimed to establish a quality of life measure of TMD treatment outcome using the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP) as a starting point, using the reference period identified in studies one and two. A short form of OHIP was derived by identifying OHIP items with the largest impact on TMD patients' quality of life. A case-control design was used and 110 patients (PG) undergoing a variety of conservative treatments and matching controls (CG) were included. Candidate questions (items) for the intendeds hort form (OHIP/TMD-I) were selectedb asedo n three criteria: 1- showings tatistical differencesb etweenP G and CG; 2- showing largests cored ifference (PG:C G) as measuredb y four analysesM: ean, Median, Prevalencea ndI tem-Impact;3 - representinga ll domainso f OHIP's theoretical framework. This was followed by testing aspects of validity and reliability of the short form and comparing them to those of the full OHIP. Twenty items were identified. Their psychometric properties were comparable or better than those of the mother instrument. Future work is neededt o analyset he responsivenestso changew ith treatmento f the short form, to investigatew hetheri temso utwith OHIP aren eededto furnisht he intendedT M) outcome instrument, and to test the psychometric properties of the final instrument in a new sample.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceDamascus UniversityGBUnited Kingdo

An empirical evaluation of the advance pricing agreement process in the UK

Tax planning and compliance in transfer pricing are sensitive issues that potentially affect the level of world trade. Advance pricing agreements (APAs) are intended to prevent disputes between fiscal authorities and multinational enterprises (MNEs) but to date the benefits and costs of applying for an APA are under-specified. From a theoretical perspective, foreign direct investment FDI) theories tend to provide strong support for the view that MNEs utilize international transfer pricing (ITP) as a means of ensuring the exploitation of FDI market imperfections. MNEs, however, presently find it difficult to achieve this objective given the need for them to demonstrate compliance with the arm’s length principle (ALP) in their transfer pricing operations. The APA serves as one obvious avenue to overcome this tension. Normally, an APA is formally initiated by a taxpayer and requires negotiations between the taxpayer, one or more related-party entities, and the tax administration(s) of one or more nation states. Given the critical need for MNEs to manage their transfer pricing risk in modern times, the APA programme should have been popular with many MNE taxpayers. However, recent statistics showed that this is not the case,especially in the UK where Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) have operated the APA programme since 1999. Some researchers have attempted to examine the reasons for the non-popularity of the APA programme. This study, however, goes beyond the traditional mono-method approach usually adopted by such authors. This study adopts a mixed-method methodological choice to examine the APA process. A sample of MNEs based in the UK was investigated and also their reasons for applying or not applying for an APA, particularly with HMRC in the UK. Together with the uniqueness of the methodological approach adopted, the study provides a clearer lens through which the topic of APAs can be explored and understood better. The study uncovers the confusion faced by MNEs in understanding the role being played by fiscal authorities in relation to the APA process. MNEs also face uncertainties in distinguishing between the benefits of an APA when compared with the cost of undergoing a transfer pricing audit as typically conducted by HMRC. The study concludes that three key themes (i.e., Cost and Benefit of an APA, Clarification of APA Guidelines and Generic APA Process) are critical to the MNEs’ decision on whether or not to apply for APAs. There is a need to address these issues in order to improve the UK APA process in general