Harmonizing Software Standards with a Semantic Model

The application of standards in the software development process supports interoperability between systems. Maintenance of standards must be guaranteed on the organisational and technical level. The use of semantic technologies can contribute to the standard maintenance process by providing a harmonizing bridge between standards of different knowledge domains and languages and by providing a single point of administration for standard domain concepts. This paper describes a case study of the creation of a semantic layer between software standards for water management systems in The Netherland

Concepts, reflections and applications of social equity: approaches to accessibility to primary goods and services in the region of Flanders, Belgium

Mobility presents a variety of opportunities as it allows users to access locations and services, and to meet people beyond their immediate surroundings. While the concept of mobility primarily focuses on the ease of moving, accessibility delineates the actual potential to participate in out-of-home activities. As a result, accessibility is a complex concept with a multitude of foci. This complexity is presented in the first section, which explains the general concept of accessibility, how it is defined and how it is related to the notion of transport-related exclusion. This section also gives an overview of the body of literature on the measures to determine area-based as well as personal accessibility levels and points out the important contrast between the simple, easy-to-interpret methods, adopted by policy makers and the complex methods preferred by experts. The second section clarifies how the dichotomous relationship between the urban and rural environment is reflected in transport policy that emphasizes on (especially car-based) mobility rather than on accessibility. Furthermore, the environmental and economic points of view are highlighted and the common policy strategies focused on sustainability are illustrated. Subsequently, the shortcomings in the way in which the contemporary debates concerning mobility, sustainability and the social implications of transport planning are conducted, are criticized. Finally, the last part of this section is dedicated to an extensive discussion on the ability of transport policies to, on the one hand, generate spatially as well as temporally uneven accessibility effects that give preference to certain population groups above others, and on the other hand, their ability to strive for a more equitable distribution of transport services amongst the population. The third section proposes two methodologies for measuring transport-related social exclusion implemented in a literature-based case study in Flanders. These studies comprise the following topics: measuring transport gaps by relating the social to the transport disadvantage and measuring modal disparities by comparing accessibility by private and public transport. The former investigates in which areas the provision of the public transport system is not tailored to specific public transport needs. The latter examines the disparity in access by private and public transport in order to highlight the car dependency. Both case studies incorporate the temporal variability in provision through the private and public transport network, as the time-of-day strongly influences accessibility levels

Balancing and integrating basic values in the development of organic regulations and standards: proposal for a procedure using case studies of conflicting areas

The basic aim of the report is to develop a procedure for the integration of the ethical value base of organic farming into standards and regulations. For this it is necessary to identify the core ethical value of organic production, consider their coherence and relate them to existing practice of organic food and farming. Ethical values are per se in need of interpretation. It is therefore also necessary to consider the process of decision-making, when aiming to achieve a coherent integration of such values in the structure of a standard or regulation. In line with the European Action Plan for organic food and farming from 2004 the Project EEC 2092/91 (Organic) Revision supports the idea that delegating a larger role to values and basic principles will help to harmonise the rules, provide room for flexibility in implementation and to simplify the European Regulation for organic production. It is important to include basic values in standards and regulations, because organic farming is value based and all actors/stakeholders have value expectations, including consumers who the regulation wants to protect. Standards and regulations form the basis of a virtual contract between the consumer and the producers. By following the practices set out in the standards, producers give a promise to the consumer to deliver on additional ethical values, beyond the legal minimum standards for conventional agriculture and food. The growing and globalised organic market and the involvement of large companies have resulted in renewed interest in the values and principles of organic farming. There has been concern that the organic food and farming sector is becoming more conventionalised, and has lost touch with its basic values. Thus it will no longer function effectively as a real alternative to general agriculture for consumers, producers and also for policy makers. The report analyses what core ethical value are associated with organic agriculture and should therefore be considered for inclusion in a regulation. This value base is contrasted with the existing Regulation (EEC) 2092/91 and with examples of current practice of organic agriculture in Europe. The implications of including ethical values in the structure of a regulation for decisionmaking are considered. Following on from the European Action Plan a process of total revision of the EU regulation on organic production is underway. A new European Regulation for organic production was adopted by the European Council of Ministers in June 2006 and will come into force in Jan 2009. The text of the near final proposal from December 2006 has been considered in several sections of the report. The report finishes with some conclusions and recommendations for the EU Commission and other standard setting bodies regarding the choice and roles of values in organic standard, the rules for decision-making processes in relation to integrating values, and regarding the ongoing revision of the organic regulation in Europe

Organisational Legitimacy, Capacity and Capacity Development

The European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) has undertaken a study of capacity development, with a focus on organisational change and performance enhancement. Both individual organisations and networks of organisations have been studied with the aim of identifying important relationships among endogenous change factors (e.g. ownership, commitment and managerial style), key internal organisation variables (e.g. structures, procedures, staffing and management systems), performance and sustainability outcomes, and external environmental factors (e.g. policy frameworks, resource availability, politics, stakeholders, governance regimes, etc.).To date, the ECDPM study team has conducted 16 case studies (see Appendix). Among the findings that have emerged from several of the cases is the presence of an organisation's legitimacy as a factor contributing to successful capacity and performance. To delve in more detail into the concept of legitimacy, and to identify the implications for capacity building, ECDPM commissioned a working paper on the topic. This exploratory paper reviews the relevant literature and examines: differing definitions, types and sources of legitimacy; the links between legitimacy and organisational capacity, performance and sustainability; and management strategies for building and maintaining legitimacy. It discusses a selected set of the ECDPM cases in terms of the legitimacy concept

The Influence of Environmental Factors and Organizational Characteristics on Innovations in Family Medicine Practices in Virginia

Family medicine practices are currently threatened by factors such as poor reimbursement, physician stress, shortage of providers, and difficulties in providing prompt access and reliable continuity of care. The external environment faced by family medicine practices is extremely complex and characterized by high pressure from regulatory sources, decreasing reimbursement levels, an increasing rate of change in technologies and care delivery processes, and increasing patient and community expectations. Over the last several years there have been many efforts in family medicine to respond to the challenges presented by the external environment. The majority of these efforts focus on redesigning the delivery of health care services and improving business functionality at the practice level. These innovations include incorporating a patient-centered team approach to providing care, increasing use of advanced technologies, improving functional office space, emphasizing quality and outcomes, and enhancing practice finances. This study explored innovations in family medicine practices to redesign the delivery of health care services and improve business functionality. This research also examined whether environmental factors and organizational characteristics influence strategies to redesign the practice of family medicine. The study employed an integrated set of theoretical frameworks from organizational sociology in evaluating the environmental influences on innovative efforts. Institutional theory was used to provide a conceptual framework to explain the connection between innovations in family medicine practices and three institutional forces within the environment: coercive forces, mimetic forces, and normative forces. Resource dependency theory was used to explain physician practice motivators for change based on a dependence on scarce financial, human, and information resources. The study utilized multiple secondary data sets to define the external environment and an organizational survey of family medicine practices to understand the utilization of innovations and environmental influences. Descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis were used to reveal innovations and to determine the impact of environmental factors on the implementation of redesign strategies. The study results provide essential information on innovations undertaken by family medicine practices in Virginia and how environmental factors and organizational characteristics influence efforts to redesign

Myth and reality during an era of police accreditation

A qualitative study on the strategic decision processes in law enforcement by examining the reasons why law enforcement executives in the United States choose to either participate or not to participate in national police accreditation, known as CALEA (Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies), for their agencies. Police accreditation was introduced into the United States as part of an overall strategy to raise the professional status of law enforcement agencies by standardizing operating procedures. In 1979, through support from the U.S. Department of Justice four major professional police associations, the International Chiefs of Police Association (IACP), the National Association of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE), the National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA), and the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), created a national accrediting body for the police, CALEA. CALEA subsequently established national police standards for law enforcement agencies in the United States which have continually evolved over the years. After almost forty years, however, only a small percentage of law enforcement agencies in the United States are nationally accredited. In the meantime, research on accreditation in general as well as on police performance and effectiveness suggests that there are few measurable differences between accredited and non-accredited organizations in performance and resource allocation while these studies have provided limited impact on organizational cultures and informal structures. Nonetheless, accreditation’s symbolic value of professionalism as a means to maintain legitimacy and stability for the organization and its leaders in police circles is difficult to quantify and should not be underestimated. There may be hidden benefits with accreditation that are difficult to measure. Thus, they have not yet been realized. The study assesses the role of choices and accountability qualitatively through intensive interviews with twenty-eight law enforcement leaders from both accredited and non-accredited law enforcement agencies of various sizes and type. These are drawn from five geographic areas in the United States and include local police departments, sheriffs’ offices, primary state authorities, transportation police, and campus law enforcement. This study uses an abductive approach to identify and analyze the variables involved in the decisions made about accreditation. The data developed are used to test three relevant theories of organization concerning the relationship between agency and structure in order to provide a more cogent explanation for organizational choices and direction

Aspecte conceptuale si tehnice privind viitoare reglementari contabile pentru IMM-uri in Europa

The economic theories and the accounting regulations deriving from them should be reconsidered for SMEs. At global level, there are accomplishments in this respect – IASB IFRS for SMEs – or intentions – European Commission proposals for certain simplifications of the European directives. However, for these actions to be successful, further investigations concerning the theoretical and technical implications are necessary. In this study, we present our opinion concerning the theoretic influences (reconsideration of the conceptual framework) and the technical influences (change in the disclosure requirements and change in the content of the standards, namely recognition and valuation) implied by a standard for SMEs.SMEs accounting standard, agency theory, shareholder-manager, stakeholders, IFRS for SMEs

Global Competition, Institutions, And The Diffusion Of Organizational Practices: The International Spread Of Iso 9000 Quality Certificates

We use panel data on ISO 9000 quality certification in 85 countries between 1993 and 1998 to better understand, the cross-national diffusion of an organizational practice. Following neoinstitutional theory, we focus on the coercive, normative, and mimetic effects that result from the exposure of firms in a given country to a powerful source of critical resources, a common pool of relevant technical knowledge, and the experiences of firms located in other countries. We use social network theory to develop a systematic conceptual understanding of how firms located in different countries influence each other's rates of adoption as a result of cohesive and equivalent network relationships. Regression results provide support for our predictions that states and foreign multinationals are the key actors responsible for coercive isomorphism, cohesive trade relationships between countries generate coercive and normative effects, and role-equivalent trade relationships result in learning-based and competitive imitation.Business Administratio

Poor Philanthropist II: New approaches to sustainable development

The second title in the Poor Philanthropist Series, this monograph represents the culmination of a six-year journey; a journey characterised in the first three years by in-depth qualitative research which resulted in an understanding of philanthropic traditions among people who are poor in southern Africa and gave rise to new and innovative concepts which formed the focus of the research monograph The Poor Philanthropist: How and Why the Poor Help Each Other, published by the Southern Africa-United States Centre for Leadership and Public Values in 2005