Negotiation and Decision Making to Develop a Public-Private-Partnership: A Case-Based Approach

Decision making in practice varies from theoretical models and processes. Unpredictable and ill-structured operating conditions require dynamic resolution approaches underpinned by effective negotiation and decision making strategies to support collaborative work and partnerships. This short paper evaluates negotiation strategies and decision making approaches adopted to reach agreement for a unique Public-Private-Partnership. It examines how decision criteria were formulated and decision rules generated through negotiation process executions, and uncertainties addressed by adopting multi-criteria and evidential reasoning approach. Findings are presented to help improve business performance in future PPPs by making effective decisions based on experience gained through past process execution

A prospective cohort study measuring cost-benefit analysis of the Otago Exercise Programme in Community Dwelling Adults with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Det er en sammenheng mellom bachelorstudentenes karakterpoeng fra videregående skole og resultater til eksamen i anatomi, fysiologi, biokjemi (AFB). Enkelte studenter med lavere opptakskarakterer enn landsgjennomsnittet oppnådde bedre eksamensresultat enn det nasjonale gjennomsnittsresultatet i AFB for 2016. Hensikten med studien var å undersøke hvordan bachelorstudenter i sykepleie med lave opptakspoeng og gode eksamensresultater i AFB lærte og tilegnet seg emnet. Studien har et kvalitativ forskningsdesign og det ble gjennomført semistrukturerte intervju av 12 bachelorstudenter i sykepleie, som ble analysert ved hjelp av innholdsanalyse. Funnene er beskrevet ut fra tre hovedkategorier: A) Relevansen til sykepleieryrket styrker læring, B) tilhørighet har betydning for læring, og C) læring skjer i samarbeid med andre. Vi fant at studentene lærte AFB mer inngående i samhandling med andre studenter. Samlinger på campus er viktig for studenters læring, til tross for at det er stort fokus på fleksible utdanninger og digitale pedagogiske metoder. Selvstendig arbeid kombinert med læring i et sosialt studentfellesskap, oppgis som motivasjonsfaktorer til målrettet arbeid med studiene. Studentene erfarer mestringsforventning, i et miljø som preges av anerkjennelse og samtidig gir opplevelse av tilhørighet. Studentene vektlegger studienes relevans sett i lys av det profesjonsyrket som de utdanner seg til, som en betydningsfull motivasjonsfaktor for læring.publishedVersio

On the Classification of Diagonal Coset Modular Invariants

We relate in a novel way the modular matrices of GKO diagonal cosets without fixed points to those of WZNW tensor products. Using this we classify all modular invariant partition functions of $su(3)_k\oplus su(3)_1/su(3)_{k+1}$ for all positive integer level $k$, and $su(2)_k\oplus su(2)_\ell/su(2)_{k+\ell}$ for all $k$ and infinitely many $\ell$ (in fact, for each $k$ a positive density of $\ell$). Of all these classifications, only that for $su(2)_k\oplus su(2)_1/su(2)_{k+1}$ had been known. Our lists include many new invariants.Comment: 24 pp (plain tex

From “La lucha está aquí!” to “we’re natural diplomats”: Generational change and Hispanic elite engagement with US foreign policy

The Hispanic population is the largest ethnic minority group in the United States and is projected to make up nearly one in three Americans by 2050. While the consequences of this demographic shift continue to be a growing area of interest for researchers of domestic politics, the potential implications for US foreign policy remain relatively overlooked. This paucity of attention is due in part to an assumption that Latino elites are almost exclusively focused on domestic concerns at the expense of foreign policy, evidenced by a lack of observable attempts by Hispanic elites to lobby the US government to influence foreign policy outcomes. This thesis argues that this assumption is misguided as it fails to appreciate the extent to which Hispanic elites engage with US foreign policy where it highlights, advances or compliments their domestic agenda. To demonstrate this point, the thesis examines case studies of foreign policy engagement by three political generations of Hispanic American elites: The Chicano generation in the 1960s and early 1970s, the Exile generation during the 1980s, and the pan-ethnic Latino generation from the 1990s to the present day. Drawing on extensive interviews with foreign diplomats, Latino advocacy organisations and Hispanic Americans working within foreign policy-related careers in the federal government, the thesis demonstrates that when the scope of foreign policy engagement is sufficiently broadened, a history of sophisticated discourse and policy engagement is revealed. The thesis findings therefore offer an original contribution to knowledge through the novelty of its central claim, the inclusion of new empirical evidence, as well as through the presentation of a new analytical framework – that of the political generation as a unit of analysis – with which to study ethnic minority group engagement with US foreign policy

Investigations into ecological and sociological determinants of land-use decisions: a study of inland lake watersheds in northern Michigan

reprinted June l978; Bibliography: p. 251-259.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/49266/2/2194424.0001.001.pd

Adaptation to Climate Change in the UK Wine Sector

This research contributes to literature on private sector adaptation, examining business-level adaptation to climate change in the UK wine sector. The research adopts a temporal and relational view of adaptation, through a sector-wide, value chain lens and through considering adaptation to both climate variability and longer-term change. Using the lens of ‘a good year’ and ‘a bad year’ in the sector, we consider the role of extreme events in adaptation decision-making and learning. We focus, unusually, on both opportunities and risks of climate change. Results show businesses increasingly see climate change as an opportunity for the UK wine sector. Yet climate risks remain and propagate along value chains, through supply and demand. This produces winners and losers in ‘good years’ and ‘bad years’, as well as over longer timescales. We find businesses along the value chain take steps to engage in extensive proactive adaptation behaviour, often right from business design and development. Business relationships condition climate risk exposure and adaptive capacity and adaptation decisions within one business can influence risks and opportunities throughout the value chain. Our results also reflect organisational adaptation theories. We find businesses continually refine their adaptation strategies in response to climate variability and extreme events. They enhance adaptation learning by experimenting with new technologies and strategies. Irregular and extreme events can become important focal or tipping points in creative iteration and innovation of adaptation strategies, including for longer-term climate change. Our results stand in contrast to earlier literatures which suggest that businesses consider climate change to be too uncertain, or long-term, to engage in adaptation. Instead, climate change has become a master-narrative within the wine industry, through which sector actors often interpret their experiences and orient their business design and activities. Results indicate a strong dependence on own experience in adaptation decision making, that risks creating adaptation lock-in. We propose a typology of proactive private sector adaptation responses

The Grizzly, March 23, 1979

Decision is not up to Students: Council Mailroom Recommendations Disregarded • Meistersingers Return From Spring Tour • College Dismisses 2 For Theft • The Pervasive Power of ETS • Campus Consumerism • Letters to the Editor: WRUC replies (again); Grizzly applauded • Roving Reporter: Greek life beneficial? • Scotland Calls • Ursinus News In Brief: U.C. grad to attend Olympic academy; Pi Nu Epsilon holds Spring induction; Origin of life forum; Williams wins business award • Summer evening school offerings • Regional Rhythm • Twelfth Night • The Deer Hunter • Bob Welch: Three Hearts A Winner • Muds Capture \u2779 Intramural Title • Tennis Team Hoping to Ace Foeshttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1016/thumbnail.jp

pdx-1 function is specifically required in embryonic β cells to generate appropriate numbers of endocrine cell types and maintain glucose homeostasis

AbstractThe pdx1 gene is essential for pancreatic organogenesis in humans and mice; pdx1 mutations have been identified in human diabetic patients. Specific inactivation of pdx1 in adult β cells revealed that this gene is required for maintenance of mature β cell function. In the following study, a Cre-lox strategy was used to remove pdx1 function specifically from embryonic β cells beginning at late-gestation, prior to islet formation. Animals in which pdx1 is lost in insulin-producing cells during embryogenesis had elevated blood glucose levels at birth and were overtly diabetic by weaning. Neonatal and adult mutant islets showed a dramatic reduction in the number of insulin+ cells and an increase in both glucagon+ and somatostatin+ cells. Lineage tracing revealed that excess glucagon+ and somatostatin+ cells did not arise by interconversion of endocrine cell types. Examination of mutant islets revealed a decrease in proliferation of insulin-producing cells just before birth and a concomitant increase in proliferation of glucagon-producing cells. We propose that pdx1 is required for proliferation and function of the β cells generated at late gestation, and that one function of normal β cells is to inhibit the proliferation of other islet cell types, resulting in the appropriate numbers of the different endocrine cell types

Study protocol: NITric oxide during cardiopulmonary bypass to improve Recovery in Infants with Congenital heart defects (NITRIC trial): a randomised controlled trial

Introduction Congenital heart disease (CHD) is a major cause of infant mortality. Many infants with CHD require corrective surgery with most operations requiring cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). CPB triggers a systemic inflammatory response which is associated with low cardiac output syndrome (LCOS), postoperative morbidity and mortality. Delivery of nitric oxide (NO) into CPB circuits can provide myocardial protection and reduce bypass-induced inflammation, leading to less LCOS and improved recovery. We hypothesised that using NO during CPB increases ventilator-free days (VFD) (the number of days patients spend alive and free from invasive mechanical ventilation up until day 28) compared with standard care. Here, we describe the NITRIC trial protocol. Methods and analysis The NITRIC trial is a randomised, double-blind, controlled, parallel-group, two-sided superiority trial to be conducted in six paediatric cardiac surgical centres. One thousand three-hundred and twenty infants <2 years of age undergoing cardiac surgery with CPB will be randomly assigned to NO at 20 ppm administered into the CPB oxygenator for the duration of CPB or standard care (no NO) in a 1:1 ratio with stratification by age (<6 and ≥6 weeks), single ventricle physiology (Y/N) and study centre. The primary outcome will be VFD to day 28. Secondary outcomes include a composite of LCOS, need for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation or death within 28 days of surgery; length of stay in intensive care and in hospital; and, healthcare costs. Analyses will be conducted on an intention-to-treat basis. Preplanned secondary analyses will investigate the impact of NO on host inflammatory profiles postsurgery. Ethics and dissemination The study has ethical approval (HREC/17/QRCH/43, dated 26 April 2017), is registered in the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12617000821392) and commenced recruitment in July 2017. The primary manuscript will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. Trial registration number ACTRN12617000821392.</p