Identifying Adoption Barriers in Organizational Rhetoric: A Response to the Strategic Plan for the National Animal Identification System

This study analyzes an organization’s predisposition to accept or reject an argument for change. Specifically, an analysis of the North Dakota Stockmen’s Association’s (NDSA) official response to the Strategic Plan for the National Animal Identification System revealed key themes attributing to NDSA’s perceived inadequacy of the plan. This study contends change agents who recognize the role of rhetoric in the diffusion process will be more effective if they are able to identify the discursive justifications needed to rationalize and legitimize the adoption of an innovation. Based on the literature reviewed and the analysis in this study, these justifications can be identified by analyzing organizational rhetoric and determining the influence of organizational leadership as an opinion leader in the diffusion process

FORCES ON THE LUMBAR SPINE DURING THE PARALLEL SQUAT

INTRODUCTION The benefits of the parallel squat include enhanced lower body musculature, the development of explosive strength, and an increase in ligament and tendon strength. These benefits tend to overshadow the fact that squatting places excessive stress on the musculoskeletal system (Shirazi-Adl, 1994). The purpose of this study was to determine the compression, torsion, and shear forces on the lumbar spine during the patallel squat for experienced and recreational weight men. llventy male subjects were divided into two groups based on experience with the parallel squat. Each subject was f h e d lifting 5 repetitions of 4 weight loads (45 lbs, 225 lbs, body weight (BW), 1.25xBW). The last repetition for each weight load was digitized. A MANOVA was used to determine differences (

Monitoring the degree of implementation of an integrated delivery system

INTRODUCTION: The aim of the study was to develop a method to measure the implementation of specific components of an Integrated Service Delivery system for the frail elderly. The system includes six mechanisms and tools: (1) coordination of all organizations involved in delivering health and social services, (2) a single entry point, (3) case management, (4) a single assessment tool with a case-mix classification system, (5) an individualized service plan, and (6) a computerized clinical chart. METHOD: Focus groups of researchers, clinicians, managers and policy-makers identified quantitative indicators for each component. The six components were weighted according to their relative importance in order to generate a total score. Data were collected every six months over 30 months to establish the implementation degree in the three experimental areas: Sherbrooke, Granit and Coaticook in the Province of Quebec, Canada. RESULTS: After 30 months, coordination is the most developed component in the three experimental areas. Overall, in July 2003, the Integrated Service Delivery system was implemented at the rate of 73%, 71% and 70% in Sherbrooke, Granit and Coaticook, respectively. DISCUSSION: This type of quantitative assessment provides data for managers and researchers to monitor the implementation. Moreover, when there is an outcome study, the results of the outcome study can be correlated with the degree of implementation, thus allowing for dose-response analyzes and helping to decrease the “black box” effect

Bringing Home the Crisis: How US Evening News Framed the 2011 Japan Nuclear Crisis

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/112264/1/jccm12068.pd

Session 2A: \u3cem\u3ePanel Discussion: Developing Post-Incident Risk Communication Guidelines for Intentional Water Contamination Events\u3c/em\u3e

This panel will discuss emerging findings from a US EPA-funded research project intended to improve risk communication for post-incident decontamination and clearance activities associated with intentional contamination of a water system. The session will center around Phase II of the study, which focuses on extending the Phase I case study findings that were presented at last year’s KWRRI Symposium, to identify ways in which disparate stakeholder groups in metropolitan areas differentially perceive risk and subsequent risk communication efforts

Information on commercial disposal facilities that may have received offshore drilling wastes.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is developing regulations that would establish requirements for discharging synthetic-based drill cuttings from offshore wells into the ocean. Justification for allowing discharges of these cuttings is that the environmental impacts from discharging drilling wastes into the ocean may be less harmful than the impacts from hauling them to shore for disposal. In the past, some onshore commercial facilities that disposed of these cuttings were improperly managed and operated and left behind environmental problems. This report provides background information on commercial waste disposal facilities in Texas, Louisiana, California, and Alaska that received or may have received offshore drilling wastes in the past and are now undergoing cleanup

Session 2A: \u3cem\u3eDeveloping Post-Incident Risk Communication Guidelines for Intentional Water Contamination Events\u3c/em\u3e

This panel will discuss a US EPA-funded research project intended to improve risk communication for post-incident decontamination and clearance activities associated with intentional contamination of a water system. The study incorporates two complementary methods conducted in successive phases. The recently-completed first phase included robust case study analyses of risk communication related to recent and significant contamination incidents. The second phase, which is currently underway, will identify ways in which disparate stakeholder groups in a metropolitan area differentially perceive risk and subsequent risk communication efforts

Risk-shifting Through Issuer Liability and Corporate Monitoring

This article explores how issuer liability re-allocates fraud risk and how risk allocation may reduce the incidence of fraud. In the US, the apparent absence of individual liability of officeholders and insufficient monitoring by insurers under-mine the potential deterrent effect of securities litigation. The underlying reasons why both mechanisms remain ineffective are collective action problems under the prevailing dispersed ownership structure, which eliminates the incentives to moni-tor set by issuer liability. This article suggests that issuer liability could potentially have a stronger deterrent effect when it shifts risk to individuals or entities holding a larger financial stake. Thus, it would enlist large shareholders in monitoring in much of Europe. The same risk-shifting effect also has implications for the debate about the relationship between securities litigation and creditor interests. Credi-tors’ claims should not be given precedence over claims of defrauded investors (e.g., because of the capital maintenance principle), since bearing some of the fraud risk will more strongly incentivise large creditors, such as banks, to monitor the firm in jurisdictions where corporate debt is relatively concentrated