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This paper presents a conceptual framework to store, manage and retrieve facility programming information called a Facility Programming Product Model (FPPM). The FPPM represents an ‘open’ information framework that members of the facility team (owner, planner, designer, constructor and operator) can utilize to satisfy their individual information needs as providers or users of the facility. The FPPM is a systematized approach to creating, organizing, and presenting facility programming information. The framework allows the owner's representative to review the programming product (the programme) for completeness by establishing a structure designed to access programming criteria at varying levels of abstraction, during any phase of the building life cycle. The result is a programme which can be used as a tool to assist decision making and to evaluate objectively performance criteria during the life of a project.

Change in facility design is occurring frequently and designers are having to respond to uncertain requirements. Facility programming is described as one possible solution to the problem, being a structured process of problem solving which allows organised decision making. The five steps which make up the process are described and one result of its use in a recently completed facility in the USA is outlined.

Instructing a robot to perform a task is rarely a simple process, even if the task is straightforward by human standards. One reason for this is that the sub‐task flow into which the human mind naturally breaks the task differs greatly from information a robot needs to perform the task.

First results of a research project at Bolton Institute show advantages in using a text‐based off‐line programmer in conjunction with a low‐cost PC‐based kinematic simulator. The system being developed could mean for small companies an economical alternative to using comprehensive robot simulation packages.

This paper presents an internet‐based decision support system (DSS) conceptual proposal for the appraisal stage of healthcare construction projects. The underlying philosophy of the approach is to integrate architectural space programming and costestimating processes with a risk assessment approach in order to obtain a more accurate inception cost estimate of the healthcare project along with its preliminary space program outline. The system’s main objectives focus on assisting decision makers in the United Arab Emirates in examining different space program alternatives with their associated capital budgets. In addition, the system will assist in reflecting associated risk factors and affecting budget approval decisions in their inception stage. The Internet is utilized as a mechanism for communicating and updating project data and cost information. This paper describes a conceptual design proposal for the system and the proposed strategy for its design and construction.

Community policing has been around for at least two decades now and it is safe to say that it has become, in large part, more about managing disruptive subjects and virtuous citizens than preventing crime or disorder (Crank, 1994; DeLeon-Granados, 1999; Yngvesson, 1993). While the rhetoric of community may be succeeding where the policing policy is failing, the experience has certainly contributed to the growth of homologous efforts that include community prosecution and community correction. We see a criminal justice system pro-actively seeking to blur the boundaries between its institutions and the communities they work within and, all too often, without. In recent years, there has been a rapid growth in justice approaches that turn their attention toward the community. There are literally hundreds of examples of this trend, from offender-victim reconciliation projects in Vermont and Minneapolis to ‘beat probation’ in Madison, Wisconsin; from neighborhood-based prosecution centers in Portland, Oregon, and New York City, to community probation in Massachusetts. Of course, the most well-known version of community justice is community policing, but localized projects involving all components of the justice system have been widely promoted (Clear & Karp, 1998, p. 3).Like community policing and community prosecution, community correction programs generally focus on partnering with service providers and community groups in order to more finely calibrate their service delivery. For community corrections the recent focus has been on delivering re-entry programs and expanding the availability of intermediate sanctioning options. The sheriff (above) focuses on re-entry, to link jails and communities in two ways: extending the correctional continuum into power-poor communities and increasing political support for expanding the criminal justice system in more affluent communities. Even as fiscal stress translates into budget cuts in education, housing, drug treatment, and other services, the reach of the criminal justice system expands outside the fences as new community-based partnerships and inside the fences as an increasingly program-rich environment. These partnerships are, not surprisingly as we shall see, dominated by criminal justice professionals and dependent on coercive control techniques. Further, their budgets are growing with funds in previous eras earmarked for providing many of the same services in a social welfare, rather, than social control, service delivery context. While these budgetary trends map a macro political trend from an old democratic New Deal toward a new republican new deal network of patronage relationships (see Lyons, forthcoming 2004), this paper examines the micro politics of community corrections developing within an increasingly punitive American political-culture.

The Psion organiser is a small hand‐sized computer about the size of a (thick) pocket diary. Despite its size, it is a complete computer by any reasonable definition, with processor, 16–32Kbyte memory, operating system, programming language, resident software, and the ability to communicate with peripherals such as printers and light pens, as well as with other microcomputers. The resident programs are an electronic diary, a personal database system, a calculator, a clock, an alarm facility and a programming facility. The programming facility allows programs to be created, edited, saved, compiled and inserted into the main menu in such a way that they may be run with a single keystroke.

Although child development laboratory programs share a common history and a commitment to a three-part mission of teaching, research, and outreach, they vary in the ways their programs are structured. At the same time, lab schools are being confronted by new challenges that have put many of these programs at-risk for cutbacks in support and/or closure. The diversity that can be found in the structure of lab schools has made it difficult for these programs to collaborate on ways to address the challenges they face on a daily basis. The purpose of this chapter is to present findings from a national survey of lab schools, with a goal of identifying common issues and challenges being faced by programs regardless of their structure. Results are used to identify critical issues lab schools must address in order to continue playing an important role in bridging theory, research, and practice in the field of early childhood education.

Assesses the extent to which corporate organizations in the US have responded to the working mothers and child care issue. Illustrates, through case studies and examples, how organizations have sponsored or offered financial benefits or provisions to workers; to ease the burden of the financial cost of child care and in so doing maintain a competitive edge by retaining skilled workers. The financial and social implications of the corporate organization as “family caretaker” are also raised for the present as well as for the next century.

Improving service quality, student satisfaction and student loyalty is important to higher education institutions’ sustainable growth. The objectives of this study are a twofold: first, the study seeks to determine the dimensions of higher education service quality with a specific focus on Vietnam. Second, it examines how the service quality dimensions impact student satisfaction and student loyalty, with the moderating role of the university image.

This study followed a rigorous procedure, including interviews, a survey, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and reliability analysis to identify higher education service quality dimensions and their measures. After that, using the data obtained from 1,550 university students in Vietnam, confirmatory factor analysis was used to validate the identified dimensions and structural equation modeling was used to test a proposed model explaining the outcomes of higher education service quality.

The findings reveal five dimensions of higher education service quality: academic aspect, nonacademic aspect, programming issues, facilities and industry interaction. Most of these factors have a positive influence on student satisfaction. In addition, the university image moderates the positive relationship between student satisfaction and student loyalty.

This study’s findings highlight the complexity of service quality in the higher education context and encourage higher education institutions to improve their service quality in image to enhance student satisfaction and loyalty.

This study suggests a unique measure of higher education service quality dimensions and provides fresh insights into how they impact student satisfaction and loyalty in Vietnam.