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This study proposes targeted modernization of the Department of Defense (DoD's) Joint Forces Ammunition Logistics information system by implementing the optimized innovative information technology open architecture design and integrating Radio Frequency Identification Device data technologies and real-time optimization and control mechanisms as the critical technology components of the solution. The innovative information technology, which pursues the focused logistics, will be deployed in 36 months at the estimated cost of $568 million in constant dollars. We estimate that the Systems, Applications, Products (SAP)-based enterprise integration solution that the Army currently pursues will cost another $1.5 billion through the year 2014; however, it is unlikely to deliver the intended technical capabilities.

Historically, the World Bank has been the largest external financier of education in the world, committing a peak amount of just over $5 billion in Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 through both its Education Sector projects and multisector projects managed by other sectors (World Bank, 2010b). The World Bank also hosts the Education for All-Fast Track Initiative (EFA FTI). Launched in 2002, EFA FTI is a partnership of governments, civil society organizations, and multilateral agencies such as United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the World Bank, which provides grant funding and technical assistance to implement the basic education components of national education strategies. By providing significant funding for education in low-income countries (LICs) through its own International Development Association (IDA) and by managing the majority of EFA FTI grant funding, the World Bank has a major impact on the direction of education development around the world.

In 2011 the Bank released a new Education Sector Strategy, Learning for All, which sets out the World Bank Education Sector's approach to education development over the coming decade. The analysis in this chapter examines the role of the EFA FTI and the growth of World Bank education operations managed outside the World Bank Education Sector, as well as their influence on Bank education lending objectives in sub-Saharan Africa. We examine trends in World Bank and EFA FTI basic education financing in sub-Saharan African countries that have joined the EFA FTI partnership to compare these two sources of financing for primary education and analyze the extent to which the World Bank is substituting its primary education lending with grants from the EFA FTI. We also assess the results frameworks of 10 multisector operations managed by noneducation sectors (Economic Management and Poverty Reduction; Urban Development; Rural Sector; Population, Health, and Nutrition; and Social Protection) to ascertain the extent to which they include education objectives and indicators. The chapter focuses its research around two questions:1.Is there evidence that financing from the EFA FTI is substituting World Bank financing for education in sub-Saharan Africa?2.Are World Bank multisector operations well designed to achieve education objectives in sub-Saharan Africa?

The research finds that the EFA FTI has almost certainly impacted the demand for IDA financing for basic education development. The comparison of IDA and EFA FTI primary education financing shows country-level substitution is occurring in a number of sub-Saharan African countries, with at least 13 out of 18 EFA FTI grant recipients in sub-Saharan Africa receiving a declining share of IDA financing for primary education since joining the EFA FTI.

Second, multisector operations now account for one-third of Bank education lending and have increased to comprise half of all new education commitments in sub-Saharan Africa. The research finds that multisector operations with education components are not as effective or accountable for education outcomes as those managed by the Education Sector, unless they are explicitly linked to national education plans. Given the disconnect between Education Sector managed education lending, and financing for education managed by other Bank sectors, it is unclear how the latter will be guided by the Bank's Education Sector Strategy, which will only apply to half of all Bank education lending for sub-Saharan Africa. Currently, there is no guarantee that both EFA FTI funding and noneducation sector managed lending will be measured against World Bank education strategy standards, and yet the Education Sector Strategy 2020 does little to address these challenges.

Prior research suggests that managers engage in classification shifting using discontinued operations as an earnings management tool. The authors investigate the role of managerial ability in this type of classification shifting because prior research links high ability managers to reduced levels of earnings management. Using a large sample from 1988 to 2014, the authors find that more-able managers better mitigate the extent of classification shifting using discontinued operations. The authors also find that our results are mainly driven by firms with income-decreasing discontinued operations.

Clinical front-line staff are best positioned within the organizations to identify patient safety problems and craft solutions. However, in traditional models, safety committees are led by senior executives who are not clinically responsible for patients. This top-down approach can result in missed opportunities to address patient-centered challenges and better manage the health of the defined populations served by these organizations.

To foster teamwork, enhance empowerment, and improve the patient care environment, Operations Councils led by trained front-line staff were deployed in 15 clinical areas at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (OSUWMC) as a performance improvement tool.

Standardized training of Council facilitators was designed and implemented to guide the performance improvement process. Balanced scorecards were developed in each Council based on the risks and concerns of that particular clinical area. After initial implementation of the Operations Councils, patient safety events declined and team engagement improved by over 34% across the medical center; the highest changes were seen in areas where Operations Councils had been deployed. Additionally, outcome metrics including area-specific and system-wide mortality and readmissions improved after implementation.

We suggest that this type of approach may be an appropriate strategy to consider in other health care organizations as such institutions are challenged to better manage the health of their defined patient populations.

In this chapter, six cases are presented, four from Poland and two from Hungary. The Polish cases are Partec Rockwool, PLM, Bulten Tools, and Vattenfall, while Svedala and Getinge belong to Hungary.

The cases have been described in different phases following the conceptual framework, developed in chapter six. All cases we present in three phases except Svedala where there are two phases. In the later case, neither the alliance nor the partners could be traced. Among the cases, level of performance varied. Getinge is the only case where the partners continued with the same alliance and the ownership structure remained unchanged. In Partec, the foreign partner acquired the local shares to establish a wholly owned subsidiary, and in Bulten Tool, the foreign partner became the major owner to have control over the company. Partec Rockwool and Vattenfall had been sold to other companies after amicable settlement between the partners.

Rolling out lean operations practices in MNCs’ plants is a complex knowledge transfer process whose design and implementation, though critical to operations performance, to date has not been investigated by operations management, international business, strategy, and organizational design research. Applying conceptual tools drawn from various theoretical approaches to knowledge management, transfer and diffusion, this exploratory study: (a) classifies and interprets lean roll-out processes in MNCs, framing them in terms of (i) knowledge replication strategies (template vs. principles-based), (ii) decentralization of decision making (degree of plant autonomy), and (iii) type of organizational ambidexterity (structural vs. contextual) underlying the process; (b) develops, through seven case studies of lean roll-outs in MNCs’ plants, three testable propositions about what might enhance the lean roll-out process performance, arguing about the individual and combined effect of the three above mentioned dimensions on lean roll-out effectiveness and efficiency. We posit that an approach characterized by principles-based knowledge replication, larger decentralization, and prevalence of contextual ambidexterity positively impacts on roll-out process performance.

Fuzzy numbers are often used to represent non-probabilistic uncertainty in engineering, decision-making and control system applications. In these applications, fuzzy arithmetic operations are frequently used for solving mathematical equations that contain fuzzy numbers. There are two approaches proposed in the literature for implementing fuzzy arithmetic operations: the α-cut approach and the extension principle approach using different t-norms. Computational methods for the implementation of fuzzy arithmetic operations in different applications are also proposed in the literature; these methods are usually developed for specific types of fuzzy numbers. This chapter discusses existing methods for implementing fuzzy arithmetic on triangular fuzzy numbers using both the α-cut approach and the extension principle approach using the min and drastic product t-norms. This chapter also presents novel computational methods for the implementation of fuzzy arithmetic on triangular fuzzy numbers using algebraic product and bounded difference t-norms. The applicability of the α-cut approach is limited because it tends to overestimate uncertainty, and the extension principle approach using the drastic product t-norm produces fuzzy numbers that are highly sensitive to changes in the input fuzzy numbers. The novel computational methods proposed in this chapter for implementing fuzzy arithmetic using algebraic product and bounded difference t-norms contribute to a more effective use of fuzzy arithmetic in construction applications. This chapter also presents an example of the application of fuzzy arithmetic operations to a construction problem. In addition, it discusses the effects of using different approaches for implementing fuzzy arithmetic operations in solving practical construction problems.

Since the democratic transition in 1986, the Philippines has made considerable progress in re-establishing the legal/constitutional basis of civilian supremacy. Legislative control over the military's budget and appointment as well as the use of paramilitary units were re-instituted. Congress also assigned civilian court jurisdiction over human rights cases involving state security forces. An independent human rights commission was given power to investigate allegations of abuses. Constitutional limits were written into the President's ability to mobilize and deploy the military during emergency situations. Notwithstanding, the present structure of the Philippine security forces remains problematic. Of the three services, the army is primarily focused on counterinsurgency (COIN) operations, with the police and paramilitary providing support. The army relies on large formations for its COIN operations and less on Special Forces, which owing to historical interventionist and coup-plotting proclivities, has been numerically emasculated.

Using a case study method, the chapter probes how local civilian authorities in Leon, Iloilo (a town in central Philippines) are able to monitor, supervise or control security sector activities within their area of jurisdiction. A considerable gap exists between each force's understanding of its functions and what they actually do in relation to other state security forces. The army performs mostly non-combat tasks in line with COIN as well as non-traditional tasks. The police are involved mostly in law enforcement and provide augmentation force to army-led COIN operations, but greatly handicapped in detection and investigation matters. The paramilitary is utilized primarily for COIN as territorial defense forces but not for other emergency tasks as envisioned in the law. A tighter relationship exists on the ground between the army unit and the paramilitary, whereas a gap is evident between the army and the police regarding the geographic scope of response to rebel threat. The local government played no significant role in the peace initiative brokered in the 1990s nor has the town peace and order council been the framework of choice in seeking more constructive engagements between the civilian authorities and security forces.