Recommendations for a New Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Program In Illinois

The Chicago Jobs Council has prepared this "tool" to guide our Governor-Elect, transition team members, legislators, and a new Department of Human Services administration in the transformation of the TANF program in Illinois. The tool articulates six goals with specific recommendations to develop a TANF program focused on poverty reduction and workforce development that will benefit both low-income families as well as employers and the Illinois economy. It also identifies actions required to achieve each recommendation to help prioritize work for a short-term and long-term plan. Actions include: 1) implement current policy, where proper implementation is lacking, 2) sub-regulatory change, 3) regulatory change, and 4) legislative change

Safety-related challenges and opportunities for GPUs in the automotive domain

GPUs have been shown to cover the computing performance needs of autonomous driving (AD) systems. However, since the GPUs used for AD build on designs for the mainstream market, they may lack fundamental properties for correct operation under automotive's safety regulations. In this paper, we analyze some of the main challenges in hardware and software design to embrace GPUs as the reference computing solution for AD, with the emphasis in ISO 26262 functional safety requirements.Authors would like to thank Guillem Bernat from Rapita Systems for his technical feedback on this work. The research leading to this work has received funding from the European Re-search Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 772773). This work has also been partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation under grant TIN2015-65316-P and the HiPEAC Network of Excellence. Jaume Abella has been partially supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under Ramon y Cajal postdoctoral fellowship number RYC-2013-14717. Carles Hernández is jointly funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and FEDER funds through grant TIN2014-60404-JIN.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

The South African Regulatory System: Past, Present, and Future

The drive for improved regulatory systems and the establishment of a more effective regulatory framework in South Africa has been evident for the past two decades but despite political intentions and legislative revisions success has been limited to date. Efforts to address the increasing volume of applications that have been received have to date failed and resources have been stretched to capacity resulting in the development of a significant backlog and extended timelines for product registration. The promulgation of the recently amended Medicines and Related Substance Act of 1965 triggered the establishment of the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) as a separate juristic person outside of the National Department of Health to replace the former medicine regulatory authority the Medicines Control Council (MCC). The aim of this review is to provide the historical context supporting the new regulatory environment in South Africa and the transition from the MCC to SAHPRA. Key recommendations to SAHPRA to ensure the full potential of the new regulatory environment in South Africa include: establishing a quality management system to safeguard accountability, consistency and transparency and to streamline the implementation of good review practices including quality decisionmaking practices and benefit-risk assessment; the measurement and monitoring of regulatory performance, targets for overall approval time and key review milestones to instill a culture of accurate metrics collection and measurement of key performance indicators and their continuous improvement and the employment of a risk-based approach to the evaluation of medical products and codify the use of facilitated regulatory pathways in policy and culture. The application of a risk-based approach to regulatory review commensurate with a product’s risk to patients will facilitate the application of increased resources for pharmacovigilance activities and to support the reliance and recognition of reference agencies.Peer reviewe

Food security, risk management and climate change

This report identifies major constraints to the adaptive capacity of food organisations operating in Australia. This report is about food security, climate change and risk management. Australia has enjoyed an unprecedented level of food security for more than half a century, but there are new uncertainties emerging and it would be unrealistic – if not complacent – to assume the same level of food security will persist simply because of recent history. The project collected data from more than 36 case study organisations (both foreign and local) operating in the Australian food-supply chain, and found that for many businesses,  risk management practices require substantial improvement to cope with and exploit the uncertainties that lie ahead. Three risks were identified as major constraints to adaptive capacity of food organisations operating in Australia:  risk management practices; an uncertain regulatory environment – itself a result of gaps in risk management; climate change uncertainty and projections about climate change impacts, also related to risk management

DevOps in an ISO 13485 Regulated Environment: A Multivocal Literature Review

Background: Medical device development projects must follow proper directives and regulations to be able to market and sell the end-product in their respective territories. The regulations describe requirements that seem to be opposite to efficient software development and short time-to-market. As agile approaches, like DevOps, are becoming more and more popular in software industry, a discrepancy between these modern methods and traditional regulated development has been reported. Although examples of successful adoption in this context exist, the research is sparse. Aims: The objective of this study is twofold: to review the current state of DevOps adoption in regulated medical device environment; and to propose a checklist based on that review for introducing DevOps in that context. Method: A multivocal literature review is performed and evidence is synthesized from sources published between 2015 to March of 2020 to capture the opinions of experts and community in this field. Results: Our findings reveal that adoption of DevOps in a regulated medical device environment such as ISO 13485 has its challenges, but potential benefits may outweigh those in areas such as regulatory, compliance, security, organizational and technical. Conclusion: DevOps for regulated medical device environments is a highly appealing approach as compared to traditional methods and could be particularly suited for regulated medical development. However, an organization must properly anchor a transition to DevOps in top-level management and be supportive in the initial phase utilizing professional coaching and space for iterative learning; as such an initiative is a complex organizational and technical task.Comment: ACM / IEEE International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement (ESEM '20), October 8--9, 2020, Bari, Ital

Challenges and opportunities managing “Breenfield” Assets – A case study from Norwegian Continental Shelf

This thesis examines the challenges and opportunities in managing "Breenfield" offshore energy assets during Mergers and Acquisitions in the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS). The study aims to analyze the dynamics of managing these assets based on existing standards, evaluate the challenges specific to the NCS, and explore methods to address these challenges during mergers and acquisitions. Key findings reveal that organizational aspects, personnel competence, and cultural differences are the primary challenges in the O&M context. Successful integration requires careful planning, consistent governance, standardization, and effective communication. Addressing personnel and organizational aspects, rather than relying solely on technology, is very important for a smooth transitioning. In addition, challenges include managing organizational changes, regulatory compliance, and harmonizing operational practices, necessitating effective communication, change management, and risk assessment. This research contributes to asset management by uncovering challenges and opportunities in managing "Breenfield" assets, filling a literature gap in offshore energy asset management during mergers and acquisitions. It also identifies best practices for future scenarios, promoting successful outcomes and a sustainable energy industry. Despite its contributions, this study has limitations, including limited relevant literature, a focus solely on the NCS offshore energy industry, confidentiality constraints, and a narrow focus on "Breenfield" assets. The research employed qualitative methods, including case study research, literature review, and report analysis. Overall, this thesis provides insights into managing "Breenfield" assets during offshore energy mergers and acquisitions. It aims to enhance asset management practices, improve efficiency, and facilitate successful integration in the energy sector, benefiting professionals, decision-makers, and future researchers

Environmental Management Information Systems (EMIS) for Sustainable Development: A Conceptual Overview

Environmental management information systems (EMIS) is defined as \u27organizational-technical systems for systematically obtaining, processing, and making available relevant environmental information available in companies\u27. Such systems evolved out of a growing need to manage environmental information in response to internal and external pressures such as regulations, consumers, stockholders, and changes in the business environments. While over the past decade EMIS have proliferated in the corporate landscape, these systems have received little attention within the information systems research community as whole. The objective of this paper is to serve as a tutorial providing a conceptual overview of EMIS, highlighting organizational and technical issues, as well as research opportunities. In this paper we suggest that there are significant and relatively untapped research synergies existing between information systems and environmental management for sustainable development at the organizational and technical levels