Strategic management of population programs

Formal strategic planning and management appear to contribute to organizational effectiveness. The author surveys the literature on strategic management in private/for-profit organizations and applies lessons from that literature to population programs. Few would argue that population programs would not benefit from strategic planning and management, but it would be inadvisable to initiate the process when the organization is faced with a short-term crisis; during or immediately before a change in leadership; or when implementation is unlikely. Public sector programs seem to have the latitude to manage strategically. Models available for adoption include life-cycle models, strategic issues management, stakeholder analysis, and portfolio analysis. The model selected may be a function of: (1) who will use it (life-cycle/evolutionary models may be well-suited to the planning needs of donors); (2) the presence of challenges to the survival of the program or to key components of it (stakeholder analysis would find ready application in those circumstances); and (3) the relative success and stability of the program (portfolio analysis may help a program balance its activities in a stable environment whereas strategic issues management is useful in responding to a dynamic environment.) It is important to marshall top-level support, designatewho will do the leg work, analyze the organization's history and current situation, assess internal strengths and weaknesses and external threats and opportunities, and summarize critical issues facing the program. Then a strategy may be developed. Among the available approaches are: (1) scenario developments (useful for a program that senses a need to change its approach to clients); (2) critical issues analysis (useful for refining successful programs); and (3) a goal approach (useful for programs with diffuse, ill-defined objectives). There are no short-cuts, it is argued. A strategic plan typically contains: (1) a mission statement that describes the social need to be addressed, what is unique about the organization, what its values are, and who the principal stakeholders are; (2) a statement of the population to be served and goals for service delivery and quality standards; (3) a service delivery strategy; (4) a financial strategy; (5) a marketing strategy; and (6) support strategies. Most organizations will find that there is no ideal structure - all require tradeoffs - and that attention should focus on eliminating patently dysfunctional aspects of the structure.Health Monitoring&Evaluation,ICT Policy and Strategies,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Educational Sciences,Enterprise Development&Reform

A comparative study assessing the wear behaviour of different ceramic die materials during superplastic forming

Superplastic forming (SPF) is an advanced manufacturing process where metallic sheets are heated to their superplastic region to be blow formed within a die set. The process allows for the forming of complex parts but it is typically restricted to low volume and high value products. Ceramic dies are a developing technology in the SPF domain as they offer lower production costs and shorter lead times than conventional metallic dies, thus reducing process costs. Ceramic dies, however, are limited for SPF applications due to their brittle nature. This paper presents a method to assess ceramic die wear which is based on a novel test rig developed at the Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC) where SPF die-blank interaction was replicated at laboratory scale. Controllable normal load and twist compression tests on different ceramic materials were carried out with a view to understanding their wear mechanisms and to ultimately identify methods to improve their wear resistance

Oxidation resistance of ODS alloy PM2000 from 880°C to 1400°C

Oxidation resistance of ODS alloy PM2000 from 880°C to 1400°

Coupled visco-mechanical and diffusion void growth modelling during composite curing

Most critical processing step during long fiber reinforced epoxy matrix composite laminate manufacturing is the polymerization stage. If not optimized, it gives birth to defects in the bulk material, such as voids. These defects are considered as possible sources of damage in the composite parts. The aim of this work is to model the evolution of void growth in thermoset composite laminates after ply collation (autoclave processes) or resin impregnation (RTM, LCM process). A coupled mechanical and diffusion model is presented to better predict the final void size at the end of polymerization. Amongst the parameter investigated, onset of pressure application and diffusive species concentration where found to have a major effect on void size evolution during curing process

Electro-impulse de-icing testing analysis and design

Electro-Impulse De-Icing (EIDI) is a method of ice removal by sharp blows delivered by a transient electromagnetic field. Detailed results are given for studies of the electrodynamic phenomena. Structural dynamic tests and computations are described. Also reported are ten sets of tests at NASA's Icing Research Tunnel and flight tests by NASA and Cessna Aircraft Company. Fabrication of system components are described and illustrated. Fatigue and electromagnetic interference tests are reported. Here, the necessary information for the design of an EIDI system for aircraft is provided

A finite dimensional approximation for pricing moving average options

We propose a method for pricing American options whose pay-off depends on the moving average of the underlying asset price. The method uses a finite dimensional approximation of the infinite-dimensional dynamics of the moving average process based on a truncated Laguerre series expansion. The resulting problem is a finite-dimensional optimal stopping problem, which we propose to solve with a least squares Monte Carlo approach. We analyze the theoretical convergence rate of our method and present numerical results in the Black-Scholes framework

Quantification 2-D et 3-D de la porosité par analyse d’images dans les matériaux composites stratifiés aéronautiques = 2-D and 3-D void quantification with image analyses in aeronautic composite laminates

L'élaboration de structures primaires en matériau composite destinées à la production d'aéronefs est soumise à un contrôle qualité strict (contrôles non destructifs sur pièces et destructifs sur éprouvettes représentatives). Cette étape permet de valider le matériau mis en oeuvre ainsi que le bon déroulement du processus de moulage. Pour ce faire, il existe plusieurs méthodes d’analyse, chacune d'elles présente un certain nombre d’avantages mais aussi des inconvénients. Après avoir fait un rapide état de l'art des méthodes actuellement utilisées, d'une part par les industriels, et d'autre part par les laboratoires d'expertises, cette étude a pour objectif de développer un protocole expérimental simple d'application, permettant d'évaluer rapidement et le plus précisément possible le taux volumique de porosités contenu dans des plaques épaisses en carbone/époxy. L'analyse d'image sera utilisée pour quantifier les taux surfaciques de porosité. Puis, à l'aide de la stéréologie et sous certaines conditions, ces résultats 2D seront extrapolés à la troisième dimension. Les taux volumiques ainsi obtenus seront discutés et comparés à ceux déterminés via l'attaque à l’acide sulfurique

Optimal strategies for a game on amenable semigroups

The semigroup game is a two-person zero-sum game defined on a semigroup S as follows: Players 1 and 2 choose elements x and y in S, respectively, and player 1 receives a payoff f(xy) defined by a function f from S to [-1,1]. If the semigroup is amenable in the sense of Day and von Neumann, one can extend the set of classical strategies, namely countably additive probability measures on S, to include some finitely additive measures in a natural way. This extended game has a value and the players have optimal strategies. This theorem extends previous results for the multiplication game on a compact group or on the positive integers with a specific payoff. We also prove that the procedure of extending the set of allowed strategies preserves classical solutions: if a semigroup game has a classical solution, this solution solves also the extended game.Comment: 17 pages. To appear in International Journal of Game Theor

Effect of top reinforcing on the fire performance of continuous reinforced concrete beams

This paper examines the behaviour of continuous reinforced concrete beams exposed to fire on three sides, in order to investigate the effect of different lengths of the top reinforcing bars over the supports. The study was performed with 2D finite element analysis using SAFIR. The effect of continuity was investigated with rectangular crosssection beams spanning over two and three bays subjected to the ISO 834 fire. Compared to a single span beam, the continuous beams resisted the fire exposure for a longer period of time. It was found that different lengths of the top reinforcing bars resulted in different failure mechanisms, but did not greatly affect the fire resistance of the beams . The influence of the full process of fire development was analysed using the ISO fire for 30, 60 and 90 minutes followed by a decay phase. Structural failure only occurred if the fully developed phase of the fire continued until very close to the failure time reached with no decay phase