Search results

The purpose of this paper is to pilot‐test the feasibility and impact of protocol‐driven point‐of‐care HbA1c testing on levels of glycemic control and on rates of diabetic regimen intensification in an urban community health center serving low‐income patients.

The paper suggests a primary care process re‐design, using point of care finger‐stick HbA1c testing under a standing order protocol that provided test results to the provider at patient visit.

The paper finds that the protocol was well received by both nurses and physicians. HbA1c testing rates increased from 73.6 percent to 86.8 percent (p=0.40, n=106). For the 69 patients who had both pre‐ and post‐intervention results, HbA1c levels decreased significantly from 8.55 to 7.84 (p=0.004, n=69). At baseline, the health center as a system was relatively ineffective in responding to elevated HbA1c levels. An opportunity to intensify, i.e. a face‐to‐face visit with lab results available, occurred for only 68.6 percent of elevated HbA1c levels before the intervention, vs. 100 percent post‐intervention (p<0.001). Only 28.6 percent of patients with HbA1c levels >8.0 had their regimens intensified in the pre‐intervention phase, compared with 53.8 percent in the post‐intervention phase (p=0.03).

This was a pilot‐study in one urban health center. Larger group‐randomized controlled trials are needed.

The health center's performance as a system, improved significantly as a way of intensifying diabetic regimens thereby achieving improved glycemic control.

This intervention is feasible, replicable and scalable and does not rely on changing physician behaviors to improve primary care diabetic outcomes.

The purpose of this paper is to detail a holistic practice based guiding framework for improving customer retention, which helps companies instil a customer service culture through encouraging them to concentrate on the three key areas of culture, continuous improvement (CI) and customer service.

The Delphi technique, using three rounds of hour long in-depth semi-structured interviews at director level across a range of industries. This was done with nine directors, totalling over 30 hours of data requiring in excess of 200 hours to transcribe.

In order to achieve customer retention, a holistic company approach underpinned by senior management buy-in is critical, with open communication, employee empowerment, and employing “the right” personnel. The framework is viable with specific organisation input and supplementation with ongoing customer research.

The framework has only been tested with the companies in the study, and requires testing in practice. As such, it has not covered the ability of companies to change, but has simply developed a framework to assist in identifying the areas that need to be reviewed when considering changing to focus on the customer.

To use this approach to customer retention requires companies to amalgamate culture, customer service and CI equally alongside customer focussed leadership, as an underpinning for the ethos of the business.

The Delphi technique in an in-depth systemised approach with directors revealed unanticipated and significant insights regarding the benefits of amalgamating and devoting equal weight to the three areas of culture, customer service and CI to improve quality in all these areas

Public services can be modelled, analysed and implemented using notations and tools for the business process (BP) abstraction. Applying such an explicit approach public administrations (PAs) can better react to the undergoing transformation in service provisioning and they can continuously improve service quality in order to satisfy citizens and business requests, while coping with decreasing budgets. The purpose of this paper is to discuss these issues.

The proposed approach relies on using formal methods, in particular unfolding to analyse the correctness of BP. The paper also compares and selects mapping rules from semi-formal to formal modelling languages; these techniques are presented in the context of the BP Modelling Languages and Petri Net (PN).

Main aim of this paper is to raise the need for formal verification of BP governing the interactions among PAs, which more and more need to be supported by ICT mechanisms, and then are not so much tolerant to errors and imperfections in the process specification. The paper illustrates the main motivations of such a work and it introduces a verification technique of a BP using a mapping of a high-level notation (such as BPMN 2.0) to a formal notation (such as PNs) for which formal analysis techniques can be adopted. In particular the verification step is implemented using an unfolding-based technique.

The paper answers a call for further development of the body of knowledge on effective analysis of BPs, a rapidly emerging field of interest for large and ultra large scenarios, where a clear gap in literature exists. Than the paper shows that formal techniques are mature enough to be applied on real scenarios.

The aim of this paper is to develop a balanced scorecard (BSC) model delimited for research and development (R&D) performance measurement.

A research methodology that is a combination of literature analysis, Delphi technique and case study‐based research was adopted. Specifically, starting from the analysis of the literature about performance measurement and metrics in general, and applied to R&D environment in particular, the relevant indicators (both financial and non‐financial) suitable to be used for the R&D activities were identified. These indicators were then submitted to a panel of experts, which, following the Delphi technique, determined the final list of indicators and the final BSC model. Finally, in order to validate the BSC model obtained, it was tested on a company operating in the automotive industry.

The preliminary result obtained from this case study, that is a BSC model suitable for R&D, helps in the development of a general BSC model to be tested on a wide sample of firms that actively operate in the R&D field.

The research methodology adopted has, on the one hand, the advantage that allows the study in depth of a specific issue (the BSC) and, on the other, the results presented are not suitable to be generalized or extended to other contexts, although some extrapolations can be made.

The paper provides a structured performance measurement system designed for R&D that may be used as a reference for companies where R&D activities are the core activities, to establish applicable performance appraisal indicators.

The approach used here to the study of philsophical influences on educational administration is an examination of case studies of administrative decisions in educational organizations where the decisions are considered as dependent variables, and the value and/or fact bases of the decisions are considered as independent variables. Nine such case studies are summarized. Decision‐making which deals with educational purpose is viewed as one significant area in educational administration where philosophical consideration can be studied. The study of correlations between administrative decisions and the value and factual bases should make contributions toward the prediction of administrative decisions. Additional significance of this study should focus on the development of strategies to influence or change administrative decisions.

In this chapter we detail our understandings of inclusive pedagogical practices that enable all students to assemble complex literate repertoires. We discuss generative concepts from international related literature (e.g. Au, Dyson, Janks, Luke, McNaughton, Moll, Thomson). We then present descriptions of two lessons as examples of how inclusive pedagogical practices might look in primary and secondary classrooms. The focus will be on how texts work to represent the world in particular ways and not others – and the implications of this for the inclusion of diverse student cohorts in developing complex literate repertoires.

Purpose – To assess the potential significance of the gravesites of Canadian residential schools to criminology.

Methodology/Approach – The current state of criminological theory with respect to crimes against humanity committed by the state is assessed, particularly with reference to any insights it may offer on the gravesites.

Findings – Denunciation of crimes against humanity is the one facet of successful prosecutions that would have value for residential school survivors. The current state of criminological theory for crimes by the state against humanity is inadequate for analyzing how and why those crimes are committed by democratic countries. The capacity of prosecutions by themselves to address the underlying social problems that fuel human rights abuses is limited. There is a need to explore how multi-faceted resolutions can both provide accountability for crimes against humanity and pursue long-standing solutions against further human rights abuses.

Originality/Value – Gaps in criminology with respect to analyzing crimes against humanity committed by the state that are in need of further exploration and study are identified. There is a need to develop methodologies for analyzing crimes against humanity committed by democracies. Further study would have significance not only for Indigenous peoples, but also more broadly for racial minorities who are victimized in democracies. Denunciation of crimes against humanity is the only realistic benefit of prosecution. There is therefore a need to explore multi-faceted and enduring resolutions that are not limited to punishment.

This paper aims to analyse the evolution, current challenges, best practices, and trends in the international hotel industry.

The foundation for this paper was laid during a well‐attended Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes (WHATT) roundtable discussion between industry leaders and hospitality educators in May 2012. International hoteliering is discussed in the context of the theme for the 2012 Canadian WHATT roundtable and the strategic question: “What innovations are needed in the Canadian hotel industry and how might they be implemented to secure the industry's future?”

Through analysis of past and present trends, the paper predicts that current challenges such as labour shortages will continue to affect the industry in the near future.

In the conclusion the paper advocates innovative approaches for hospitality education, and states that Canada should learn from international trends and become more innovative and competitive if it is to secure the industry's future.

The paper draws on the vast experience in international hotel management of the co‐authors. As the team of authors represents both industry and academia, this paper will be of immense value to students, educators, researchers as well as managers. The co‐authors include a former president of the world's largest professional association for hotel managers (HCIMA/Institute of Hospitality) and a former CEO of the world's largest trade association for hotel managers (International Hotel and Restaurant Association).

In Sri Lanka women make up the majority of the country's population. However, there is a concern that many women are subjected to any form of violence at home which is known as family violence, or in Sri Lanka which is identified as domestic violence. As such domestic violence is one of the topics that have gained attention in Sri Lanka under the major topic of gender-based violence (GBV). Sri Lanka also imposed prolonged lockdowns, travel/mobility restrictions, social distancing, and other health measures/restrictions to control the speedy spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a consequence, the life of women was unfavorably impacted. A increase in the number of domestic violence cases against women during public emergencies – here referred to COVID-19 – is one of such negative impacts. Therefore, this study intends to examine the adequacy of the existing laws of prevention of domestic violence in Sri Lanka and investigate the appropriateness of the available judicial mechanism including its preparedness in achieving the proper protection support for the women victims of domestic violence during public emergencies. To reach that goal this doctrinal research study heavily engages in a descriptive and detailed analysis of legal rules found in primary sources such as domestic statutes, international treaties, statistics, government circulars and regulations and case law, etc., in respect of the issue of domestic violence against women during public emergencies with specific reference to Sri Lanka. Secondary resources such as print and electronic text material are also utilized in the completion of this study.