The value of trading relationships between buyers and sellers of wine grapes in Australia

The following dissertation uses an exploratory and confirmatory approach to explain relationship value within the grape and wine industry in Australia. Specifically, the research develops and empirically captures and compares buyers’ and sellers’ perceptions pertaining to relationship value. A three phase model was developed from a comprehensive literature review and further enriched through a qualitative field study involving sixteen in-depth interviews with wineries and their grape suppliers in Western Australia. The hypothesised structural equation models were tested using data gathered from a comprehensive survey of 175 wineries and 400 wine grape suppliers located in South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia. Research findings highlight the similarities and differences in relationship value antecedents and outcomes for wineries and grape suppliers. In Phase One, it was evident from the working relationships studied that partner attributes included in the model – conflict resolution, communication, performance satisfaction, trust and cooperation - all made an important contribution towards the realisation of relationship value for both parties. A restrained use of power was found to be critical to avoid a reduction in the ability to resolve conflict, the level of performance satisfaction and trust in the relationship.In Phase Two, profitability benefits were shown to be the strongest predictors of relationship value, whilst the realisation of market and scout benefits strongly assisted firms to innovate. Perceptions of relationship costs were comparatively low for both customers and suppliers. The results of the Phase Three model provide rare empirical evidence which showed that while both parties share these same key relational antecedents and value outcomes (profitability benefits, innovation and market/scout benefits and relationship costs), the means by which relationship value is conferred was significantly different. For customers, satisfaction with a supplier’s performance enhanced perceptions of the value of that relationship due to the potential to increase profitability. Also, customer perceptions of relationship value increased through trust and cooperation. In contrast, suppliers in a trusting and cooperative relationship with a customer have the opportunity to increase the value of their relationships to the extent that they are willing to innovate to build strategic position, reduce costs and improve quality to increase profitability. Cluster analysis revealed there were those firms with a high relational orientation and others with a low relational orientation within both winery and grape supplier groups. Specifically, those wineries and grape suppliers with higher levels of conflict resolution, communication, performance satisfaction, trust and cooperation had corresponding higher levels of relationship value

WE C.A.R.E 2: a parent-child community yoga program that promotes the health and well-being of caregivers and their children autism spectrum disorder

The prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has increased two percent from 2012–2014 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018) and the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has considered ASD to be a major health concern. The demands of caring for a child with developmental disabilities, including ASD can be overwhelming and the caregivers are experiencing heightened levels of stress in comparison to rearing typically developing children (Argumedes, Lanovaz, & Larivée, 2017; Lindo, Kliemann, Combes, & Frank, 2017). There is a need for more family support to implement more effective coping strategies to deal with the maladaptive functioning of the child with ASD (Hall, & Graff, 2011). The WE C.A.R.E. 2 Program is a nine-week evidence-based community pilot program that will provide an inclusive opportunity with additional family support and effective coping strategies e.g., breathing techniques, yoga postures and positive coping cognitions (e.g., positive self-talk and reappraisals) to decrease the stress levels of caregivers and promote healthy behaviors and healthy child development with the support and training from trained facilitators and a network of caregivers. This individualized plan will tailor to the needs of each dyad to create the necessary mechanisms of change (behavior, cognition, physiological, and sensory modulation) among the children and adults in the yoga group. The professional collaboration of different disciplines (occupational therapy, yoga therapist and teacher) will provide the appropriate modifications to the environment and provide the necessary input for the “just right” experience for a positive outcome

Identifying the role of pre-hospital intercostal chest drains in South Africa

Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references

Explaining the Evolution of Domestic Nanotechnology Companies - Survival Patterns of a Young and Emerging Technology

Nanotechnology (NT) is often considered to be the essential technology of the future. Since the economy shapes the competiveness of a country to a great extent, factors fostering or hindering the evolution of NT companies need to be disentangled. This thesis associates the evolution of domestic NT companies to several kinds of knowledge. It provides an empirical investigation using an industry-dynamic and a network-theoretic approach

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse

Examining Paraprofessionals\u27 Use of Video Self-Modeling in Teaching Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders

The number of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) cases has surged in the U.S. educational system since the mid-2000s. At the same, paraprofessionals who work with these students are not being given adequate training, especially in how to implement applied behavior analytic services. To address paraprofessional\u27s inadequate training, new behavioral treatments have surfaced, including Video Self-Modeling (VSM). VSM is an effective intervention tool derived heavily from Bandura\u27s social learning theory. VSM uses edited video clips in which paraprofessionals view him or herself correctly performing target skills. This study used a single-subject, modified multiple baseline design to evaluate whether VSM could improve the accuracy of procedural integrity when implementing DTI. A sample of 5 novice paraprofessionals was used; all participants worked directly with ASD students with 6 months to 2 years experience, supported an ASD student in an inclusive setting for at least 75% of the school day, and had no previous training in DTI. Three of the 5 participants exhibited immediate and significant gains in DTI implementation, and those gains were maintained during follow-up. One participant demonstrated moderate gain during the follow-up. To determine effective significance, visual analysis, combined with level of performance, non-overlapping data points, and effect sizes were used. VSM treatment was rated as an acceptable treatment according to the social validity scale and the Intervention Rating Profile (IRP-15). This study contributes to positive social change by offering a viable treatment approach that can be used to train paraprofessionals who instruct students with ASD

The devil's in the detail: Final report of the independent evaluation of the Summary Care Record and HealthSpace programmes

professionals, NHS staff, service users, citizens, academics and evaluation scholars. It should be read in conjunction with our Year 1 reports on the SCR programme (May 2008) 1 and data quality (May 2008). 2 2. The SCR is an electronic summary of key health data, currently drawn from a patient’s GP-held electronic record and accessible over a secure Internet connection by authorised healthcare staff. It is one of a suite of innovations being introduced as part of the National Programme for IT in the English National Health Service (NHS) and delivered via a central ‘Spine’. Policy documents published in 2005-8 anticipated a number of benefits of the SCR, including: 3-6 a. Better care (i.e. the SCR would improve clinical decision-making); b. Safer care (i.e. the SCR would reduce risk of harm, especially medication errors); c. More efficient care (e.g. the SCR would make consultations quicker); d. More equitable care (i.e. the SCR would be particularly useful in patients unable to communicate or advocate for themselves); e. Reduction in onward referral (e.g. the SCR would avoid unnecessary ambulanc

EMERGENCY CARE: EMOTIONAL CONTROL An exploration of what constitutes emotional labour for a UK paramedic

This thesis draws on a small-scale, mixed-methods study of paramedics working for the North East Ambulance Service NHS Trust in order to extricate whether the performance of emotional labour is significant for the paramedic role. A depth in meaning is created through the development of a generic quadripartite integrated framework of the process of emotional labour contextualised for use by this inquiry through exposure to the prehospital emergency care discourse. This framework explains how performances triggered by antecedents carry consequences that can be mediated through interventions whose significance has previously been overlooked. It transposes into a deductive ‘a priori’ codebook / template within which data stemming from both qualitative and quantitative data streams is both organised and explained. As the voices of the paramedics, released from interview transcripts, mingle with observed scenarios they create a richly layered account highlighted by the judicious use of descriptive statistics offered by two self-reports. In addition to addressing the principal research question that inquires ‘what constitutes emotional labour for the UK paramedic’ this thesis also enlarges the sociological imagination on organisational emotionality by exposing how the framework fuses the interactional demand on a role with the individual process of emotional labour previously theorised separately