53 research outputs found
Measuring Organizational Performance in Strategic Human Resource Management: Looking Beyond the Lamppost
A major challenge for Strategic Human Resource Management research in the next decade will be to establish a clear, coherent and consistent construct for organizational performance. This paper describes the variety of measures used in current empirical research linking human resource management and organizational performance. Implications for future research are discussed amidst the challenges of construct definition, divergent stakeholder criteria and the temporal dynamics of performance. A model for performance information markets to address these challenges is introduced. The model uses a multi-dimensional weighted performance measurement system and a free information flow exchange mechanism for determining performance achievement criteria
Geometric classification by stress polytopes. Performances and integration
We present in this paper a fast classification operator suitable for image processing,
the performances of this operator as well as its implementation in the form of
an ASIC. In image segmentation and classification in view of defect detection, it is
often impossible to find a reduced set of pertinent characteristic parameters which
allows to distinguish the classes. We propose herein a geometric classification
method by stress polytop training which allows the use of a great number of
parameters and ensures a high decision speed . The decision operator associated
with the classification has been implemented in Standard Cell and Full Custom .
Its ease of use, rapidity, and robustness in classification are the major qualities
which enable it to compete with neural operators .Nous présentons dans cet article un opérateur de classification rapide adapté au traitement d'images, ses performances en classification, ainsi que son intégration dans un circuit ASIC. Pour effectuer une segmentation ou un classement d'images en vue de la détection de défauts, il est souvent impossible de trouver un nombre réduit de paramètres caractéristiques pertinents qui permettent de discriminer les classes. Nous proposons une méthode de classification géométrique par apprentissage de polytopes de contraintes, qui autorise l'utilisation d'un grand nombre de paramètres et assure une vitesse de décision élevée. L'opérateur de décision associé à cette classification a été intégré sous forme de circuit précaractérisé dont la simplicité de mise en œuvre, la rapidité et la robustesse en classification sont des qualités qui lui permettent de rivaliser avec les opérateurs neuronau
Urban Image and Otherness: An investigation through practice of installation art.
This research examines the hypothesis that installation art:
-is not a medium but a mode of address, addressing the world as a multiplicity;
-uses tactics of 'dispersal', which as perceptual gesture is in affinity with notions of multiplicity.
The explanatory framework, which legitimates 'dispersal' as installation's defining tactic, is introduced step by step, through the articulation of certain concepts such as: 'field of activities' (Kaye, 2000), 'intervening screen', (Deleuze, 1968), 'dilation' (Ahearne, 1995), afterwardness' (Laplanche, 1992), 'the knowing not to know' (Derrida, 1992), 'emotion-value' (Barthes, 1977) and 'autopoetics closure' (Luhmann, 2000).
Structured by this framework, the practice for this research addresses, on one hand, the concept of otherness - understood as the infinite learning of 'differential truths' (Ahearne, 1995, p. 192) and on the other hand, a notion of urban image - understood as fragmentary imagery able to accommodate a sense of public space over imprints of experienced time. From the analysis of this practice the research concludes that:
-the employment of 'dispersal' as a defining tactic allows the work to surface into visibility as a sharing of a system of relevance;
-this sharing aims to displace meaning, by pushing it away from an autonomous condition, located on the work's surface;
-meaning, when presented as a sharing of a system of relevance, is relocated throughout different 'levels of immersion' inside the work;
-from this new positioning, meaning will only be retrieved by the work-in-situ of a particular viewer's reading;
-this condition of random retrieval implies that the work will generate meaning as 'differential truth' (Ahearne, 1995, p. 192), which exists outside 'the disease of identity' (Certeau, 1969, p. 179);
-as 'differential truth', meaning becomes a function, not of the authority of a specific voice, but of the ability to respond [a response-ability], exercised by the maker in facing the world, and by the viewer in the face of the work
The usage of MIS applications to raise the efficiency and performance of the telecommunications services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
PhD ThesisThere are different kinds of requirements on an information system. Of particular concern
to this study are non-functional requirements (NFRs). These are aspects of a system.
independent of any technical capabilities that it may have, which form a series of
constraints on how a system will actually perform, and of which an organisation must
take account in order to achieve success.
This thesis studies non-functional requirements with particular reference to those that
support an organisation in the process of structural change. Particular attention is paid to
those non-functional requirements that will be constraints that hinder the performance and
efficiency of any organisation if they are not fully understood and incorporated into the
new information system. The way in which such non-functional requirements should be
handled is illustrated by an extensive case study of the main provider of
telecommunications services in Saudi Arabia.
The researcher first took an interest in the Saudi telecommunications industry as a result
of the recent moves to transform the country's telecommunications service from the
traditional structure to a new system by the introduction of privatisation. The new
modified system is called the Saudi Telecom Company (STC), though it is at present still
under the effective control of the Saudi Ministry of Post, Telephone and Telegraph
(MoPTT), the previous telecommunications service provider. The Saudi
telecommunications service has been a monopoly managed through traditional public
management systems, typically influenced by a dominant bureaucracy. The researcher's
concern has been to study and describe the current management, structure, and operations
(in particular the information systems) of the MoPTT in order to identifY key issues and
potential areas for development which will help the MoPTT, as the STC, to offer a quality
telecommunications service in the new competitive market.
The researcher sets the telecommunications industry in Saudi Arabia in its national
context by providing the political, cultural and economic background to the Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia. This is of particular importance in view of the significance discovered by
his study of non-technical environmental factors in the performance of the
telecommunications service in the country.
Using a combination of the qualitative and quantitative research approaches, the
researcher examined the literature relevant to his topic and undertook a fieldtrip to Saudi
Arabia, when he conferred extensively with MoPTI management and staff, observed
MoPTI structures and operations, and consulted other experts in telecommunications.
Reflection on the literature along with extensive fieldtrip consultation and observation
reveal that a full account of the operations and potential of the Saudi telecommunications
system cannot be provided by a consideration of its technical functions and processes
alone. Due recognition must be given to the peculiarly Saudi setting of the service, and in
particular attention must be paid to non-functional aspects, such requirements and
constraints related to the environment in which the system has to operate.
Culturally related non-functional requirements are of particular interest, and the case of
Internet access in Saudi Arabia is examined, since it provides an especially good example
of a non-functional requirement which is undergoing change, while still acting as a
constraint on telecommunications usage. The case is related to a new conception of
Saudisation, whereby Saudi personnel are no longer simply taking over and imitating
western skills, but where they are providing Saudi solutions to Saudi questions.
Using information gathered largely during his fieldtrip, the researcher provides a
comprehensive description and discussion of the current MoPTT business areas,
organisational structures, and information systems. Not only the commercial and
technical features of these operations are examined, but also the extent to which they
succeed in fulfilling or operating within the non-functional requirements and constraints,
especially those of particularly Saudi origin, imposed upon them. Where appropriate,
potential new approaches and directions for the MoPTI in relation to handling issues are
indicated.
Employing techniques developed by Dr. Michael Porter of Harvard University, an
analysis has been provided of the of the MoPTI's enterprise strategy, since it is this
which ultimately drives all the operations of the MoPTI, and upon which the MoPTI's
telecommunications service will depend for commercial success in the new postprivatisation
market. Based upon this analysis, the researcher has put forward explicit
operational, managerial, and business proposals which should allow the MoPTT to seize the opportunities offered by privatisation, and to achieve success in both the domestic and
the international telecommunications market.
The researcher has felt able to identifY a number of specific factors within the MoPTr
which might receive particular attention for revision and improvement, as they impact on
all MoPTT operations and are of critical importance for its commercial success. These
areas are strategic planning, marketing, training, customer relations, an integrated
information system, and workforce management.
As a result of his investigation into the operations of the MoPTT the researcher has been
able to identify a new approach to the future of telecommunications in Saudi Arabia. He
has designed an information architecture within which the MoPTT information systems
might operate, and which takes full account of the role of non-functional aspects in the
degree of success of such a complex operation. He offers a comprehensive description of
the basis, operational details, and advantages of the implementation of this architecture
for the MoPTT's information system operations.
The particular benefits of Saudisation are stressed. It became clear during the research
that the concept of Saudisation simply as the taking over and imitation of tasks previously
carried out by non-Saudis (because they had the training and experience) was now
inadequate. Saudisation has now to be understood as a cultural as well as a technical or
business transformation, a dynamic concept relating both to enduring Saudi cultural
values and to changing social attitudes and practices.
Indeed this concept of Saudisation would repay further investigation as a suitable topic
for future academic research, and the researcher makes this recommendation. He does so
principally because the traditional understanding of the concept now seems inadequate
and therefore a factor likely to inlnbit the truly indigenous development industry and
services within Saudi ArabiaThe Government of Saudi Arabia:
King AbdulAziz University
Can the Good Man Be Happy? The Production of Beyond Memory
This paper details the production of the short film Beyond Memory from conception through completion. Particular attention is paid to the application of Deleuze’s time-image and film noir as a genre
A Matter of Life and Def: Poetic Knowledge and the Organic Intellectuals in Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry
This dissertation unpacks the poetry, performances, and the production of Def Poetry Jam to explore how a performative art embodied and confronted racial discourses, including stereotypes and also, addressed the racism, patriotism, and imperialist discourses that circulated after 9/11. Def Poetry Jam contributes to the intellectual capacity of spoken word and performance poetry, and poets as intellectuals, where poets produce and disseminate knowledge, ideas, and data, in the form of narratives, that contribute to critical consciousness. The effectiveness of the series lay in the consistent blurring of entertainment, knowledge, anti-capitalism, and capitalism. This research demonstrates how Def Poetry Jam provided organic intellectuals, through poetry, a space to name the pain of history, demonstrate pleasure amid structural inequality, and to imagine themselves in liberatory ways.
The following questions guided this exploration of Def Poetry Jam: from which poetic traditions did Def Poetry Jam originate and thus represent to television audiences; how did the on-screen representation of performers and poetry contribute to the production of cultural consciousnesses; and finally, how did Def Poetry Jam offer an archive of knowledge about the United States, particularly those experiences of African-Americans and people of color, in the early twenty-first century? Following a content analysis of the three hundred ninety-four performances on the series, supplemented by interviews with talent coordinators as well as poets, this research found Def Poetry Jam, as a commercial project, negotiated cultural resistance within the controlling images of Black bodies and people of color on television
The potential use of smart cards in vehicle management with particular reference to the situation in Western Australia
Vehicle management may be considered to consist of traffic management, usage control, maintenance, and security. Various regulatory authorities undertake the first aspect, fleet managers will be concerned with all aspects, and owner-drivers will be interested mainly in maintenance and security. Car theft poses a universal security problem. Personalisation, including navigational assistance, might be achieved as a by-product of an improved management system. Authorities and fleet managers may find smartcards to be key components of an improved system, but owners may feel that the need for improved security does not justify its cost. This thesis seeks to determine whether smartcards may be used to personalise vehicles in order to improve vehicle management within a forseeable time and suggest when it might happen. In the process four broad questions are addressed. • First, what improvements in technology are needed to make any improved scheme using smartcards practicable, and what can be expected in the near future? • Second, what problems and difficulties may impede the development of improved management? • Third, what non-vehicle applications might create an environment in which a viable scheme could emerge? • Finally, is there a perceived need for improved vehicle management? The method involved a literature search, the issue of questionnaires to owner drivers and fleet managers, discussions with fleet managers, the preparation of data-flow and state diagrams, and the construction of a simulation of a possible security approach. The study concludes that although vehicle personalisation is possible- and desirable it is unlikely to occur within the next decade because the environment needed to make it practicable will not emerge until a number of commercial and standardisation problems that obstruct all smartcard applications have been solved
Character and concept : how conceptual blending constrains situationism
This thesis is an attempt to defend the notion of character from concerns raised recently by situationists (namely, John Doris & Gilbert Harman). Situationism attempts to undermine the concept of character used to support most versions of virtue ethics by appealing to research in the social sciences. More specifically, both John Doris and Gilbert Harman are global character trait eliminativists who take the social-psychological research to warrant the abandonment of the concept of character. This thesis draws heavily upon the mental space mapping theory known as conceptual blending developed by Gilles Fauconnier and Mark Turner. I make use of the insights provided by conceptual blending theory in an attempt to disarm the situationists\u27 character eliminativist position by showing how entrenched and useful is the notion of character to our common understandings and interpretations of ourselves and others
Creating from the Margins: Exploring the Role of Art in Asian American Activism
This project explores the role of art (in particular, visual art and poetry) in contemporary Asian-American activism. Can art be considered a form of activism? How are artists and activists pushing back against the stereotype of Asian-Americans as the passive, apolitical, “model minority”? By interviewing contemporary Asian-American artists whose work has a political focus, as well as conducting my own in-depth analyses of poetry and visual art by these same artists, I will explore the relationship between art and activism for AsianAmericans today. I will also contextualize the current wave of Asian-American activism within the history of Asian-American identity and the Asian-American movement that began in the 1960s
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