Management Assessment of the Public Works Department: City of Lowell, Massachusetts

This report presents the results of the management assessment of the Lowell Public Works Department conducted by the University of Massachusetts Boston’s Collins Center for Public Management. The project team conducted a comprehensive organization and management analysis of the Department\u27s existing operations, service levels, infrostructure management, organizational structures and staffing levels. The analysis was to be fact-based and include all aspects of service provision by the Department

The Application of Soft Systems Methodology for Improving the Agrotechnology Transfer Process Responding to Tree Crop Farming Concerns in Kona, Hawaii

This dissertation applied soft systems methodology for improving the agrotechnology transfer process responding to tree crop farming concerns in Kona, Hawaii. The ten-month study undertook on-site research activities involving randomly selected Kona farmers, leaders of commodity organizations and university staff. The analyst engaged participants in the methodology's seven-stage process. They 1) described non-commodity specific and coffee, macadamia nut and avocado concerns, 2) envisioned improvements, 3) developed models of improved situations, 4) compared these models with the actual situation, 5) debated feasible and desirable changes and 6) implemented agreed-upon changes. Major conclusions of the study were that: 1) soft systems methodology caused change in agrotechnology transfer because it accounted for multiple worldviews affecting the process, 2) the current agrotechnology transfer structure, the Industry Analysis Program, had shortcomings, 3) participants requested soft systems methodology for improving the agrotechnology transfer process and on-farm research activities in Kona for assisting small-scale farmers, and 4) the analyst was a catalyst that assisted community members in bringing changes to the agrotechnology transfer process

Improvement of Tree Crew Deployment Procedure at SavATree - Middleton

This project studied the deployment process of tree care crews at SavATree\u27s branch in Middleton, Massachusettts. Quality management techniques such as the Six Sigma DMAIC framework and Lean Manufacturing analytic diagrams were used to collect information and propose improvements. Crews were found to deploy 35% slower than the company target. The final report provided suggestions for changes to information flow from operations staff to labor, as well as facilities changes, which could result in a 21 - 26% reduction in deployment times

Export commodity production and broad-based rural development: coffee and cocoa in the Dominican Republic

An estimated 80,000-100,000 Dominican farmers produce coffee and cocoa, nearly 40 percent of all agricultural producers. The sectors also provide employment for tens of thousands of field laborers and persons employed in linked economic activities. The majority of coffee and cocoa producers are small-scale and most are located in environmentally sensitive watersheds. Recent trends in international commodity markets have challenged the survival of both sectors. Production is characterized by low yields and uneven quality, while periodic hurricanes have contributed to a lackluster and unstable record of output and exports. Despite these conditions, most experts acknowledge the fact that appropriate agro-ecological conditions exist in Dominican Republic for production of high-quality coffee and cocoa. To be competitive and sustainable, some changes must take place in the coffee and cocoa sectors. The objective of this study is to provide an overview of the coffee and cocoa sectors, to identify major problems, and to suggest possible strategies to deal with these problems. The authors conclude that if the objectives of the government are poverty reduction, environmental protection and overall well-being of rural society, it is critical to move beyond a commodity-specific approach to a broader rural development focus on households, regions and environments where coffee and cocoa are currently being grown.Environmental Economics&Policies,Banks&Banking Reform,Economic Theory&Research,Crops&Crop Management Systems,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Crops&Crop Management Systems,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Banks&Banking Reform,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems

Case studies in coral restoration: assessing life history and longterm survival patterns in restoration outplants of Acropora cervicornis (Staghorn Coral) and Acropora palmata (Elkhorn Coral) in the Florida Keys and Belize

This thesis is composed of two articles. The first is an analysis of long-term survival among A. cervicornis outplants in the Florida Keys, from 2007 to the present. The second is a review of literature that informs coral restoration and guides both restoration practitioners and coral researchers towards greater effectiveness in outplant survival and understanding biological processes involved in restoration. In the first article, despite promising initial evidence of outplant survival and health, the long-term results, using Weibull survival analysis, are discouraging with almost all out planted corals over an 8 year long study exhibiting steep declines in percent live tissue and survival between three and five years. Not only is this 3-5 year collapse apparent in all the outplanted cohorts, but the evidence is highly significant that the length of outplant survival is decreasing with each passing year (diminished resilience). These findings suggest that some shared, likely environmental factor, is increasingly impacting all outplants. Further, no cohorts appear to adapt to the environmental conditions in which these declines are occurring (diminished adaptive capacity), a trend that would be evident if their declines slowed or reversed and Weibull beta-parameterization would show. The second article, reviews several areas of recent study which offer avenues for future research: these include, ecological history and biogeography, developmental pathways of colonial form and function, polarity and symmetry, genetics, wound healing, fecundity, reproduction, sexual maturity and community interactions. The thesis concludes with questions for further research and understanding in the field of coral restoration

Open Workflows: Context-Dependent Construction and Execution in Mobile Wireless Settings

Existing workflow middleware executes tasks orchestrated by rules defined in a carefully handcrafted static graph. Workflow management systems have proved effective for service-oriented business automation in stable, wired infrastructures. We introduce a radically new paradigm for workflow construction and execution called open workflow to support goal-directed coordination among physically mobile people and devices that form a transient community over an ad hoc wireless network. The quintessential feature of the open workflow paradigm is dynamic construction and execution of custom, context-specific workflows in response to unpredictable and evolving circumstances by exploiting the knowledge and services available within a given spatiotemporal context. This work introduces the open workflow approach, surveys open research challenges in this promising new field, and presents algorithmic, architectural, and evaluation results for the first practical realization of an open workflow management system

Organization and management of natural resources and environmental research

1998 Fall.Includes bibliographical references.The organization and management of research lacks a unifying theoretical foundation. A post-reformative theory of research management is based on six cornerstones: 1) the research enterprise consists of multiple dimensions and this multiformity is potentially synergistic; 2) knowledge is gained incrementally throughout the research process; 3) research is a form of societal investment possessing both risks and potential gains; 4) research organizations are inherently self-organizing and dynamic; 5) research is increasingly pluralistic and heterogeneous; and 6) research evaluations must focus on processes, outcomes, or overall effectiveness, in terms of both intrascientific and extra scientific contributions. Based on observations of 14 environmental research groups at six environmental research laboratories, group research organizes naturally and informally in environmental research settings primarily because of the interdisciplinary nature of environmental research. Groups were not necessarily identifiable in organizational charts. Often they were spontaneously occurring dyads or clusters of individuals with similar interests or interdependent skills. A formal division and branch structure hinders group research because of fiefdom attitudes of branch chiefs. Epistemological differences exist within research groups and may present obstacles or result in dysfunctional groups. Research groups must spend considerable time on problem definition, problem analysis. Working towards a group goal, and developing a common system of inquiry. Perceived performance did not correlate well with measured performance. If perceived performance is a part of research evaluation, perceptions of performance must be specific as to performance criteria. For the research groups studied, member-perceived publication quality was not well correlated with measured publication quality. Director-perceived performance did not reflect measured performance. Goal congruence between group leaders and members was high in the case of the fourteen research groups. However, communication about expectations and performance broke down between laboratory directors and research groups. The dynamic constellation, an organizational model stressing a flexible, organic, group oriented structure and integrator and boundary-spanner roles, is recommended for natural resource and environmental research organizations. A multidimensional research portfolios suggested as a management approach. Managing research portfolios in a pluralistic and heterogeneous environment involves a large number of essential tensions, but these tensions also become an effective management tool

Oregon Department of Forestry's Landscape Resiliency Program : assessing implementation and outcomes for the 2021-2023 biennium

41 pagesThe Oregon Department of Forestry’s (ODF) Landscape Resiliency Program (LRP) is a grant program to support cross-boundary restoration of landscape resiliency and fuels reduction within Oregon. In fall 2021, ODF requested the Ecosystem Workforce Program (EWP) at the University of Oregon (UO) to devise and carry out a plan for monitoring investments and outcomes of the LRP. The LRP monitoring plan focused on three stages: Project Selection, Implementation, and Outcomes. The purpose of this working paper is to report the results of the Implementation and Outcomes monitoring phases. This report presents 1) an overview of selected projects, 2) project participants' experiences with project implementation successes, challenges, and lessons learned, 3) on-the-ground accomplishments of LRP projects, and 4) an assessment of the economic aspects of LRP.Funding for this study was provided by the Oregon Department of Forestry to the University of Oregon’s Ecosystem Workforce Program (Agreement number M0177, Task order #5)