Understanding voluntary organizations : guidelines for donors

Voluntary development organizations have demonstrated substantial comparatiave advantage in developing countries - especially in their ability to innovate, adapt to local conditions, and reach and work with poor and difficult to reach populations. These capabilities are a function of their values, special skills, small size, limited resources, flexibility, and freedom from political constraints. Their weaknesses are a function of many of the same characteristics - particularly their value commitments, small size, independence, and lack of administrative rigidity. The authors explain that the strongest Voluntary Organizations (VOs) and People's Organizations (POs) respond to more than financial incentives. Their strength lies in the fact that they are not the same as government organizations or businesses. At the same time, they are not immune to financial incentives, which if wrongly applied can destroy the voluntarism of all but the most strongly aware of VOs and POs.Environmental Economics&Policies,Early Child and Children's Health,Health Economics&Finance,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Poverty Assessment

Public-private partnerships and sustainable development goals: proposal for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda

The importance of non-governmental organizations of achieving the sustainable development goals: The fight against racial discrimination of Roma in Europe / Cristina Hermida del Llano (pp. 15-26). -- Investiment promotion regimes for least developed countries / María Ángeles Cano Linares (pp. 27-45). -- Alliances with international organizations: How the OSCE has contributed to the SDGs / Elena C. Díaz Galán (pp. 47-58). -- Spanish commitment to official development aid with gender perspective / Diana M. Verdiales López (pp. 59-77). -- Project of entrepreneurship of the Guambiano indigenous community: Public-private alliances in the Republic of Colombia / Cristina del Pardo Higuera (pp. 79-95). -- The contribution of petroleum companies to enviromental protection in a framework of compliance with the 2030 Agenda: a necessary alliance / María Sagrario Morán Blanco (pp. 97-122). -- Public-private partnerships and access to water and sanitation in Latin America (SDG 6) / Manuel Rodríguez Barrigón (123-138). -- The renewed commercial and investment agreements: the progressive incorporation of Human Rights and sustainable development goals / Jorge Urbaneja Cillán (pp. 139-152). -- Towards using data as a development lever for cities: the case of Singapore and the smart nation initiative / Benoît Lopez (pp. 153-162). -- Which access to green technologies for developing countries? / Dayana Morales Mina (pp. 163-172). -- Strenght institutional and normative framework to implement effective capacity building actions: a critical regional analysis / Andrés Bautista-Hernáez (pp. 173-185)

Digital Transformation

The amount of literature on Digital Transformation is staggering—and it keeps growing. Why, then, come out with yet another such document? Moreover, any text aiming at explaining the Digital Transformation by presenting a snapshot is going to become obsolete in a blink of an eye, most likely to be already obsolete at the time it is first published. The FDC Initiative on Digital Reality felt there is a need to look at the Digital Transformation from the point of view of a profound change that is pervading the entire society—a change made possible by technology and that keeps changing due to technology evolution opening new possibilities but is also a change happening because it has strong economic reasons. The direction of this change is not easy to predict because it is steered by a cultural evolution of society, an evolution that is happening in niches and that may expand rapidly to larger constituencies and as rapidly may fade away. This creation, selection by experimentation, adoption, and sudden disappearance, is what makes the whole scenario so unpredictable and continuously changing.The amount of literature on Digital Transformation is staggering—and it keeps growing. Why, then, come out with yet another such document? Moreover, any text aiming at explaining the Digital Transformation by presenting a snapshot is going to become obsolete in a blink of an eye, most likely to be already obsolete at the time it is first published. The FDC Initiative on Digital Reality felt there is a need to look at the Digital Transformation from the point of view of a profound change that is pervading the entire society—a change made possible by technology and that keeps changing due to technology evolution opening new possibilities but is also a change happening because it has strong economic reasons. The direction of this change is not easy to predict because it is steered by a cultural evolution of society, an evolution that is happening in niches and that may expand rapidly to larger constituencies and as rapidly may fade away. This creation, selection by experimentation, adoption, and sudden disappearance, is what makes the whole scenario so unpredictable and continuously changing

Socio-Historical Studies of the National Woman\u27s Party and the National Women\u27s Trade Union League

In every society there are individuals or groups of people who have the power to control, or at least direct, various resources. Resources, an ambiguous term, can mean anything from monetary supplies to legislative sanctions to different objects or opportunities.. Just as there will be individuals controlling these assets, there will also be groups perceiving and expressing discontent. For example, these people may be dissatisfied with the power groups\u27 methods of leadership; they may perceive their needs to be neglected and/or they may want to seize control of these assets and channel resources into their own hands for the betterment of their group. One might even understand this inevitable aspect of conflict in society as part of a continuing reinforcement of the status quo which functions to enhance what the particular society has designated as \u27natural\u27. As a society allows people to voice their protests and malcontent, a power structure is in a position to display its strength by repressing their actions and words and then punishing, them by ignoring them or by coopting members of the group or the group\u27s demands into the authority structure. The issue of conflict is essential for an understanding of social organization, for as William Gamson notes, a system cannot function effectively if it must devote too much of its resources to problems of integration and conflict management. Conflict is built into a system which can only handle a certain number of demands; some people will always be dissatisfied. The point then is that there are two vantage points- the perspective from the challenge group which seeks to exert influence and the authority perspective which seeks to contain conflict and maintain a stable society

The Impact Of Organizational Goal Convergence, Information-communication Technology Utilization, And Inter-organizational Trust On Network Formation And Sustainability The Case Of Emergency Management In The United States

With the increase of severity and scope of disasters, collaborative networks have become the main tool to tackle with complex emergencies. Networks, however, are mostly effective to the extent they are maintained over time. This study analyzes whether organizational goal convergence, information-communication technology utilization, and inter-organizational trust impacts network sustainability. The main research questions of the study are: (1) How are organizational goals, technical/technological capacity of organizations, and trust among organizations of a network are related to the sustainability of collaborative network relationships? (2) Which of the above-mentioned factors plays the most significant role in affecting network sustainability? Covering the context of emergency management system in the United States, this study utilized a self-administered survey that was electronically distributed to county emergency managers across the country. The data consisting of 534 complete responses was analyzed in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Inc. software‟s PASW (Predictive Analytics SoftWare) Statistics version 18.0 and transferred to Amos 18.0 software for structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis. The findings suggest that organizational goal convergence, information-communication technology utilization, and inter-organizational trust have positive and statistically significant relationships with network sustainability; and, interorganizational trust is the strongest factor followed by information-communication technology utilization and organizational goal convergence. The study contributes to the literature on network sustainability with specific suggestions for emergency management practitioners

Beyond hairballs: depicting complexity of a kinase-phosphatase network in the budding yeast

Les kinases et les phosphatases (KP) représentent la plus grande famille des enzymes dans la cellule. Elles régulent les unes les autres ainsi que 60 % du protéome, formant des réseaux complexes kinase-phosphatase (KP-Net) jouant un rôle essentiel dans la signalisation cellulaire. Ces réseaux caractérisés d’une organisation de type commandes-exécutions possèdent généralement une structure hiérarchique. Malgré les nombreuse études effectuées sur le réseau KP-Net chez la levure, la structure hiérarchique ainsi que les principes fonctionnels sont toujours peux connu pour ce réseau. Dans ce contexte, le but de cette thèse consistait à effectuer une analyse d’intégration des données provenant de différentes sources avec la structure hiérarchique d’un réseau KP-Net de haute qualité chez la levure, S. cerevisiae, afin de générer des hypothèses concernant les principes fonctionnels de chaque couche de la hiérarchie du réseau KP-Net. En se basant sur une curation de données d’interactions effectuée dans la présente et dans d’autres études, le plus grand et authentique réseau KP-Net reconnu jusqu’à ce jour chez la levure a été assemblé dans cette étude. En évaluant le niveau hiérarchique du KP-Net en utilisant la métrique de la centralisation globale et en élucidant sa structure hiérarchique en utilisant l'algorithme vertex-sort (VS), nous avons trouvé que le réseau KP-Net possède une structure hiérarchique ayant la forme d’un sablier, formée de trois niveaux disjoints (supérieur, central et inférieur). En effet, le niveau supérieur du réseau, contenant un nombre élevé de KPs, était enrichi par des KPs associées à la régulation des signaux cellulaire; le niveau central, formé d’un nombre limité de KPs fortement connectées les unes aux autres, était enrichi en KPs impliquées dans la régulation du cycle cellulaire; et le niveau inférieur, composé d’un nombre important de KPs, était enrichi en KPs impliquées dans des processus cellulaires diversifiés. En superposant une grande multitude de propriétés biologiques des KPs sur le réseau KP-Net, le niveau supérieur était enrichi en phosphatases alors que le niveau inférieur en était appauvri, suggérant que les phosphatases seraient moins régulées par phosphorylation et déphosphorylation que les kinases. De plus, le niveau central était enrichi en KPs représentant des « bottlenecks », participant à plus d’une voie de signalisation, codées par des gènes essentiels et en KPs qui étaient les plus strictement régulées dans l’espace et dans le temps. Ceci implique que les KPs qui jouent un rôle essentiel dans le réseau KP-Net devraient être étroitement contrôlées. En outre, cette étude a montré que les protéines des KPs classées au niveau supérieur du réseau sont exprimées à des niveaux d’abondance plus élevés et à un niveau de bruit moins élevé que celles classées au niveau inférieur du réseau, suggérant que l’expression des enzymes à des abondances élevées invariables au niveau supérieur du réseau KP-Net pourrait être importante pour assurer un système robuste de signalisation. L’étude de l’algorithme VS a montré que le degré des nœuds affecte leur classement dans les différents niveaux d’un réseau hiérarchique sans biaiser les résultats biologiques du réseau étudié. En outre, une analyse de robustesse du réseau KP-Net a montré que les niveaus du réseau KP-Net sont modérément stable dans des réseaux bruités générés par ajout d’arrêtes au réseau KP-Net. Cependant, les niveaux de ces réseaux bruités et de ceux du réseau KP-Net se superposent significativement. De plus, les propriétés topologiques et biologiques du réseau KP-Net étaient retenues dans les réseaux bruités à différents niveaux. Ces résultats indiquant que bien qu’une robustesse partielle de nos résultats ait été observée, ces derniers représentent l’état actuel de nos connaissances des réseaux KP-Nets. Finalement, l’amélioration des techniques dédiées à l’identification des substrats des KPs aideront davantage à comprendre comment les réseaux KP-Nets fonctionnent. À titre d’exemple, je décris, dans cette thèse, une stratégie que nous avons conçu et qui permet à déterminer les interactions KP-substrats et les sous-unités régulatrices sur lesquelles ces interactions dépendent. Cette stratégie est basée sur la complémentation des fragments de protéines basée sur la cytosine désaminase chez la levure (OyCD PCA). L’OyCD PCA représente un essai in vivo à haut débit qui promet une description plus précise des réseaux KP-Nets complexes. En l’appliquant pour déterminer les substrats de la kinase cycline-dépendante de type 1 (Cdk1, appelée aussi Cdc28) chez la levure et l’implication des cyclines dans la phosphorylation de ces substrats par Cdk1, l’essai OyCD PCA a montré un comportement compensatoire collectif des cyclines pour la majorité des substrats. De plus, cet essai a montré que la tubuline- γ est phosphorylée spécifiquement par Clb3-Cdk1, établissant ainsi le moment pendant lequel cet événement contrôle l'assemblage du fuseau mitotique.Kinases and phosphatases (KP) form the largest family of enzymes in living cells. They regulate each other and 60 % of the proteome forming complex kinase-phosphatase networks (KP-Net) essential for cell signaling. Such networks having the command-execution aspect tend to have a hierarchical structure. Despite the extensive study of the KP-Net in the budding yeast, the hierarchical structure as well as the functional principles of this network are still not known. In this context, this thesis aims to perform an integrative analysis of multi-omics data with the hierarchical structure of a bona fide KP-Net in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, in order to generate hypotheses about the functional principles of each layer in the KP-Net hierarchy. Based on a literature curation effort accomplished in this and in other studies, the largest bona fide KP-Net of the S. cerevisiae known to date was assembled in this thesis. By assessing the hierarchical level of the KP-Net using the global reaching centrality and by elucidating the its hierarchical structure using the vertex-sort (VS) algorithm, we found that the KP-Net has a moderate hierarchical structure made of three disjoint layers (top, core and bottom) resembling a bow tie shape. The top layer having a large size was found enriched for signaling regulation; the core layer made of few strongly connected KPs was found enriched mostly for cell cycle regulation; and the bottom layer having a large size was found enriched for diverse biological processes. On overlaying a wide range of KP biological properties on top of the KP-Net hierarchical structure, the top layer was found enriched for and the bottom layer was found depleted for phosphatases, suggesting that phosphatases are less regulated by phosphorylation and dephosphoryation interactions (PDI) than kinases. Moreover, the core layer was found enriched for KPs representing bottlenecks, pathway-shared components, essential genes and for the most tightly regulated KPs in time and space, implying that KPs playing an essential role in the KP-Net should be firmly controlled. Interestingly, KP proteins in the top layer were found more abundant and less noisy than those of the bottom layer, suggesting that availability of enzymes at invariable protein expression level at the top of the network might be important to ensure a robust signaling. Analysis of the VS algorithm showed that node degrees affect their classification in the different layers of a network hierarchical structure without biasing biological results of the sorted network. Robustness analysis of the KP-Net showed that KP-Net layers are moderately stable in noisy networks generated by adding edges to the KP-Net. However, layers of these noisy overlap significantly with those of the KP-Net. Moreover, topological and biological properties of the KP-Net were retained in the noisy networks to different levels. These findings indicate that despite the observed partial robustness of our results, they mostly represent our current knowledge about KP-Nets. Finally, enhancement of techniques dedicated to identify KPs substrates will enhance our understanding about how KP-Nets function. As an example, I describe here a strategy that we devised to help in determining KP-substrate interactions and the regulatory subunits on which these interactions depend. The strategy is based on a protein-fragment complementation assay based on the optimized yeast cytosine deaminase (OyCD PCA). The OyCD PCA represents a large scale in vivo screen that promises a substantial improvement in delineating the complex KP-Nets. We applied the strategy to determine substrates of the cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (Cdk1; also called Cdc28) and cyclins implicated in phosphorylation of these substrates by Cdk1 in S. cerevisiae. The OyCD PCA showed a wide compensatory behavior of cyclins for most of the substrates and the phosphorylation of γ-tubulin specifically by Clb3-Cdk1, thus establishing the timing of the latter event in controlling assembly of the mitotic spindle

Software Engineering Laboratory Series: Proceedings of the Twenty-Second Annual Software Engineering Workshop

The Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) is an organization sponsored by NASA/GSFC and created to investigate the effectiveness of software engineering technologies when applied to the development of application software. The activities, findings, and recommendations of the SEL are recorded in the Software Engineering Laboratory Series, a continuing series of reports that includes this document

Employee Creativity and Culture. Evidence from an examination of culture's influence on perceived employee's creativity in Spanish organizations

La creativitat és considerada un ingredient fonamental de la innovació, un recurs altament valorat per a la competitivitat sostenible i l’èxit a llarg termini de les empreses. Per això, líders de negoci, així com investigadors acadèmics i estaments polítics, han donat una atenció creixent a aquest tema. La investigació sobre la creativitat és un camp multifacètic i en creixement continuat. Degut a una falta de consens en la definició de la creativitat, aquest camp d’investigació s’ha anat ampliant al llarg de dècades, arribant als nostres dies amb una gran varietat d’aproximacions al seu estudi des de diferents disciplines, tals com la psicologia, sociologia, antropologia, neurologia o economia entre altres. No obstant, la perspectiva cultural aplicada a l’estudi de la creativitat ha estat relativament inferior. Malgrat algunes Formulacions teòriques, aquesta aproximació roman un pas per darrere en termes de recerca empírica. La present tesi es planteja la pregunta d’investigació de en quina mesura la cultura influència la creativitat de l'empleat en els seus llocs de treball, cosa que també es podria conceptualitzar com la influència de la cultura en el domini de coneixement de la creativitat en les organitzacions. Aquesta tesi proporciona evidència empírica a partir de 198 empleats de 10 organitzacions espanyoles, amb respecte a la relació entre cultura i creativitat en el treball. Es proposa que la cultura té una influència significativa a la creativitat de l'empleat. L'efecte de la cultura sobre aquesta creativitat s’estudia aplicant un model multidimensional de la creativitat de l'empleat percebuda, tenint en compte l’impacte cultural a un nivell individual d’anàlisi en tres dimensions diferents: cultura nacional, cultura organitzacional i valors individuals independents. En aquest model la creativitat de l’empleat es percebuda per ell mateix, i també (a mode de punt de validació) pel cap de l’empleat. Mentre la majoria de les eines i teories de la creativitat han estat desenvolupades a l’entorn de la cultura Anglo-Saxona, aquesta tesi es focalitza a la creativitat de l’empleat en el si d'organitzacions d'Espanya, una societat mediterrània que representa un espai cultural relativament poc investigat fins al moment. Entre les principals contribucions, els resultats empírics suggereixen un procés diferent procés social de creativitat en les organitzacions participants en aquest estudi, i una inesperada diferent percepció sobre la creativitat de l'empleat, en funció del punt d'observació. En resum, el propòsit d’aquesta tesi és la d'estudiar l'efecte de la cultura a la creativitat de l'empleat percebuda, en tres diferents dimensions d'anàlisi: la cultura nacional, la cultura organitzacional i els valors individuals independents.La creatividad es considerada un ingrediente fundamental de la innovación, un recurso altamente preciado para la competitividad sostenible y el éxito a largo plazo de las empresas. Por ello, líderes de negocios, así como investigadores académicos y estamentos políticos, han prestado una atención creciente a este tema. La investigación sobre la creatividad es un campo multifacético y en continuo crecimiento. Debido a una falta de consenso en la definición de la creatividad, este campo de investigación se ha ido ampliando a lo largo de décadas, llegando a nuestros días con una gran variedad de aproximaciones a su estudio desde diferentes disciplinas, tales como psicología, sociología, antropología, neurología, o economía, entre otros. Sin embargo, la perspectiva cultural aplicada al estudio de la creatividad ha sido relativamente menor. A pesar de algunas formulaciones teóricas, esta aproximación permanece un paso por detrás en términos de investigación empírica. La presente tesis se plantea la pregunta de investigación de en qué medida la cultura influencia la creatividad del empleado en sus puestos de trabajo, lo que también se podría conceptualizar como la influencia de la cultura en el dominio de conocimiento de la creatividad en las organizaciones. Esta tesis proporciona evidencia empírica a partir de 198 empleados de 10 organizaciones españolas, con respecto a la relación entre cultura y creatividad en el trabajo. Se propone que la cultura tiene una influencia significativa en la creatividad del empleado. El efecto de la cultura sobre dicha creatividad se estudia aplicando un modelo multidimensional de la creatividad del empleado percibida, teniendo en cuenta el impacto cultural a un nivel individual de análisis, en tres dimensiones distintas: cultura nacional, cultura organizacional, y valores individuales independientes. En este modelo la creatividad del empleado es percibida por él mismo, y también (a modo de punto de validación) por el jefe del empleado. Mientras la mayoría de las herramientas y teorías de la creatividad han sido desarrolladas en el entorno de la cultura Anglo-Sajona, esta tesis se focaliza en la creatividad del empleado en el seno de organizaciones de España, una sociedad mediterránea que representa un espacio cultural relativamente poco investigado hasta el momento. Entre las principales contribuciones, los resultados empíricos sugieren un diferente proceso social de creatividad en las organizaciones participantes en el estudio, y una inesperada diferente percepción sobre la creatividad del empleado, en función del punto de observación. En resumen, el propósito de esta tesis es la de estudiar el efecto de la cultura en la creatividad del empleado percibida, en tres distintas dimensiones de analisis: la cultura nacional, la cultura organizacional y los valores individuales independientes.Creativity is considered as a key ingredient of innovation, a highly praised resource for sustainable competitiveness and long term business success. As such, business leaders but also academic researchers and policy makers have paid increased attention to the subject. Creativity research is an ever-growing and multifaceted field of enquiry. Despite a lack of consensus regarding how to define creativity, this field of research has grown over the decades and today it includes a wide variety of approaches from diverse disciplines such as psychology, sociology, anthropology, neurology, economy, among others. The cultural approach to the study of creativity has been relatively understudied. Although there are some theoretical formulations, this stream of research lags behind in terms of empirical research. The current dissertation addresses the research question in relation to what extent culture affects the creativity of employees at work, that might also be conceptualized as the effect of culture on the knowledge domain of organizational creativity. This dissertation provides empirical evidence from a sample of 198 employees from 10 Spanish organizations, regarding the relationship between culture and creativity at work. It is maintained that culture has a significant influence on the employee creativity. The effect of culture on employee creativity is examined employing a multidimensional model, of the perceived employee creativity, that takes into account culture’s imprints at an individual level of analysis, at three distinct dimensions: national culture, organizational culture and individual stand-alone values. In this model the employee’s creativity is perceived by the employee himself, and also (as a validation point) by the employee’s manager. While most of creativity tools and theories have been developed within an Anglo-Saxon culture, this dissertation is focused on employee creativity in organizations belonging to Spain, a Mediterranean society and a cultural space that is relatively under-examined by previous research. Among the main contributions, empirical findings suggest a potential different social process of creativity in the organizations under study, and an unexpected different perception of employees’ creativity depending on the observation point. In summary, the purpose of this study is to examine the effect of culture on perceived employees' creativity, at three distinct dimensions: national culture, organizational culture and individual stand-alone values