PURPOSE: To describe 1) smoking cessation (SC) interventions by Family Practice Nurses (FPN) during prenatal visits, and 2) the predictors and barriers of FPN-provided SC counselling for pregnant women. DESIGN: Non-experimental, descriptive, correlational design. Onetime, cross-sectional questionnaire using a previously validated questionnaire, modified and converted to electronic format. METHODS: Descriptive and multivariable analysis. Predictors investigated included nurses’ age, beliefs about their role in SC, self-efficacy to provide effective counselling, SC training, and interest in updating SC knowledge. PARTICIPANTS: Eighty-nine members of the Ontario Family Practice Nurses’ interest group (18% response rate) working in primary care settings across Ontario. RESULTS: Nearly one quarter (21.5%) of respondents never offer SC counselling to pregnant women. Nurses with higher levels of self-efficacy were more likely to provide SC counselling. Nurses are less likely to provide concrete assistance in the quitting process or arrange follow-up. The most commonly cited barriers included lack of time and cost of medication. CONCLUSIONS: FPNs are not consistently providing evidence-based SC interventions for pregnant women. Training to enhance self-efficacy may increase the frequency, efficiency and quality of FPN-provided SC interventions.

Supply chain management is one of the newest and most fashionable managerial concepts to be sponsored by those organisations responsible for setting the change agenda in the construction sector. Its success elsewhere, its promise of productivity improvement and 'best practice' pedigree form the basis of arguments for its adoption in the construction sector. There are a number of assumptions that underpin this argument that are largely ignored by the promoters of such change and the construction management research community. Most notably, the transferability and utility of supply chain management in the context of organisations competing in the construction sector. However, it is argued in this thesis that these arguments fail to engage with the recursive relationship between context and practice. Managerial practice does not exist in a vacuum. The research therefore sets out to test the theory of supply chain management in the construction sector. In doing so, the research approach is informed by and draws on contextual approaches that are highly sensitive to the recursive relationship between context and practice. A multiple case study research strategy was chosen that sought to provide explanations for how practitioners make sense of supply chain management in the context of their organisations and forms the basis of theory testing. These explanations also provided a wealth of empirical evidence to test the assumptions that underpin calls for change in the construction sector. It is concluded that supply chain management does not make sense in the construction sector and that calls for its adoption lacked intellectual rigour and were indeed acontextual.

The review of the literature and the results gained from this research suggest an important link between the effectiveness of a board, including its corporate governance practices, and organisational effectiveness. This link attests to the importance of a greater focus upon the governance approach used by organisations. There is extensive literature about corporate governance in the business sector and there is emerging research into corporate governance in the Third Sector. However there is very little literature about the community service component on the Third Sector in Australia and none in relation to community service organisations that are incorporated under the Tasmanian Associations Incorporation Act 1964. This thesis aims to discover what is defined as best practice in the area of corporate governance for Tasmanian community service organisations and if selected organisations have adopted that best practice. For this purpose a research problem and three research sub-problems are identified. The research adopts a case study approach as the main research methodology using interviews, document reviews and a short self assessment questionnaire as data collection tools. The researcher approached six incorporated community service organisations funded by the Tasmanian Department of Health and Human Services and they agreed to participate in the research. Following data collection and data analysis the following major findings emerge. Firstly, that case organisations have adopted a range of governance practices. There are significant gaps in some organisations and there is room for improvement in all of the case organisations. Secondly, that some case organisation boards are approaching corporate governance by managing compliance to a minimum standard although others are offering strategic leadership with a commitment to quality and best practice. Thirdly, the research identifies a number of factors that impact upon corporate governance in case organisations. Those factors include the role of the Chief Executive Officer; the quest for competitive advantage; implementation of governance maintenance strategies and the impact of religion for religious-based organisations. Finally, the research also identifies three factors that were not determinative upon case organisations. They are the size of the organisation, the governance model being used, and the influence of the regulator (the Business Affairs Office) and the funding provider (the Department of Health and Human Services). Consequently it is concluded that the principle based approach to corporate governance can be extended to Tasmania. Furthermore the implication of this research for community sector organisations is that they need to implement governance maintenance practices including board training, board performance review and governance review. There is also a call to both the Business Affairs Office and the Department of Health and Human Services to be more proactive in requiring community service organisations to adopt additional corporate governance practices. Hence, based on the literature review and the analysis of the research data, a list of “Best practice features and practices guiding community service organisation governance” has been developed. This list can be used by organisations to provide direction for their approach to corporate governance. Finally, the conclusions provide a solid foundation for further study. This will be useful in order to obtain a broader understanding of the issues involved.

The review of the literature and the results gained from this research suggest an important link between the effectiveness of a board, including its corporate governance practices, and organisational effectiveness. This link attests to the importance of a greater focus upon the governance approach used by organisations. There is extensive literature about corporate governance in the business sector and there is emerging research into corporate governance in the Third Sector. However there is very little literature about the community service component on the Third Sector in Australia and none in relation to community service organisations that are incorporated under the Tasmanian Associations Incorporation Act 1964. This thesis aims to discover what is defined as best practice in the area of corporate governance for Tasmanian community service organisations and if selected organisations have adopted that best practice. For this purpose a research problem and three research sub-problems are identified. The research adopts a case study approach as the main research methodology using interviews, document reviews and a short self assessment questionnaire as data collection tools. The researcher approached six incorporated community service organisations funded by the Tasmanian Department of Health and Human Services and they agreed to participate in the research. Following data collection and data analysis the following major findings emerge. Firstly, that case organisations have adopted a range of governance practices. There are significant gaps in some organisations and there is room for improvement in all of the case organisations. Secondly, that some case organisation boards are approaching corporate governance by managing compliance to a minimum standard although others are offering strategic leadership with a commitment to quality and best practice. Thirdly, the research identifies a number of factors that impact upon corporate governance in case organisations. Those factors include the role of the Chief Executive Officer; the quest for competitive advantage; implementation of governance maintenance strategies and the impact of religion for religious-based organisations. Finally, the research also identifies three factors that were not determinative upon case organisations. They are the size of the organisation, the governance model being used, and the influence of the regulator (the Business Affairs Office) and the funding provider (the Department of Health and Human Services). Consequently it is concluded that the principle based approach to corporate governance can be extended to Tasmania. Furthermore the implication of this research for community sector organisations is that they need to implement governance maintenance practices including board training, board performance review and governance review. There is also a call to both the Business Affairs Office and the Department of Health and Human Services to be more proactive in requiring community service organisations to adopt additional corporate governance practices. Hence, based on the literature review and the analysis of the research data, a list of “Best practice features and practices guiding community service organisation governance” has been developed. This list can be used by organisations to provide direction for their approach to corporate governance. Finally, the conclusions provide a solid foundation for further study. This will be useful in order to obtain a broader understanding of the issues involved.

abstract: Alternative Project Delivery Methods (APDMs), namely Design Build (DB) and Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR), grew out of the need to find a more efficient project delivery approach than the traditional Design Bid Build (DBB) form of delivery. After decades of extensive APDM use, there have been many studies focused on the use of APDMs and project outcomes. Few of these studies have reached a level of statistical significance to make conclusive observations about APDMs. This research effort completes a comprehensive study for use in the horizontal transportation construction market, providing a better basis for decisions on project delivery method selection, improving understanding of best practices for APDM use, and reporting outcomes from the largest collection of APDM project data to date. The study is the result of an online survey of project owners and design teams from 17 states representing 83 projects nationally. Project data collected represents almost six billion US dollars. The study performs an analysis of the transportation APDM market and answers questions dealing with national APDM usage, motivators for APDM selection, the relation of APDM to pre-construction services, and the use of industry best practices. Top motivators for delivery method selection: the project schedule or the urgency of the project, the ability to predict and control cost, and finding the best method to allocate risk, as well as other factors were identified and analyzed. Analysis of project data was used to compare to commonly held assumptions about the project delivery methods, confirming some assumptions and refuting others. Project data showed that APDM projects had the lowest overall cost growth. DB projects had higher schedule growth. CMAR projects had low design schedule growth but high construction schedule growth. DBB showed very little schedule growth and the highest cost growth of the delivery methods studied. Best practices in project delivery were studied: team alignment, front end planning, and risk assessment were identified as practices most critical to project success. The study contributes and improves on existing research on APDM project selection and outcomes and fills many of the gaps in research identified by previous research efforts and industry leaders. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Civil Engineering 2014

abstract: Effective collection and dissemination of project information, including best practices, help increase the likelihood of project performance and are vital to organizations in the architecture-engineering-construction (AEC) industry. Best practices can help improve project performance, yet these practices are not universally implemented and used in the industry, due to the following: 1) not all practices are applicable to every project or organization, 2) knowledge lost in organizational turnover which leads to inconsistent collection and implementation of best practices and 3) the lack of standardized processes for best practice management in an organization. This research, sponsored by National Academy of Construction, the Construction Industry Institute and Arizona State University, used structured interviews, a Delphi study and focus groups to explore: 1) potential benefit and industry interest in an open repository of best practices and 2) important elements of a framework/model that guides the creation, management and sustainment of an open repository of best practices. This dissertation presents findings specifically exploring the term "Practices for Excellence", its definition, elements that hinder implementation, the potential value of an open online repository for such practices and a model to develop an open repository. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Engineering 2014

abstract: This study sought to analyze the messages being conveyed through the discourse utilized in presenting the public face of The Arizona Early Childhood Development and Health Board, popularly known as First Things First (FTF) and to reveal how the different discourses and ideologies within FTF have been in the past and currently are "contending and struggling for dominance (Wodak, 2007)." FTF is located within the policy realm of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC). The people and the system have been very influential in guiding the course and policies set forth in Arizona since the citizen initiative, Proposition 203, passed in 2006, which allowed for the creation of the Early Childhood Development and Health Board. Lakoff's techniques for analyzing frames of discourse were utilized in conjunction with critical discourse analysis in order to tease out frames of reference, shifts in both discourse and frames, specific modes of messaging, and consistencies and inconsistencies within the public face presented by FTF. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Curriculum and Instruction 2013

PURPOSE: To describe 1) smoking cessation (SC) interventions by Family Practice Nurses (FPN) during prenatal visits, and 2) the predictors and barriers of FPN-provided SC counselling for pregnant women. DESIGN: Non-experimental, descriptive, correlational design. Onetime, cross-sectional questionnaire using a previously validated questionnaire, modified and converted to electronic format. METHODS: Descriptive and multivariable analysis. Predictors investigated included nurses’ age, beliefs about their role in SC, self-efficacy to provide effective counselling, SC training, and interest in updating SC knowledge. PARTICIPANTS: Eighty-nine members of the Ontario Family Practice Nurses’ interest group (18% response rate) working in primary care settings across Ontario. RESULTS: Nearly one quarter (21.5%) of respondents never offer SC counselling to pregnant women. Nurses with higher levels of self-efficacy were more likely to provide SC counselling. Nurses are less likely to provide concrete assistance in the quitting process or arrange follow-up. The most commonly cited barriers included lack of time and cost of medication. CONCLUSIONS: FPNs are not consistently providing evidence-based SC interventions for pregnant women. Training to enhance self-efficacy may increase the frequency, efficiency and quality of FPN-provided SC interventions.

The master's thesis "Evaluation of good and bad practices in the management process of a specific project" aims to analyse and evaluate the good and bad practice in the project of "Contract compliance" in the company SAP. The first part of the thesis is focused on theoretical and methodological basis of project management and its processes. The second part of the thesis characterises the company SAP and the selected project as well as analyses and evaluates good and bad practices. Furthermore, the findings are summarised in the Lessons Learned document and preventive measures for the identified bad practice are proposed. This creates a learning material for future project management in the company.

The aim of this thesis is to define the audit issues regarding IS/ICT sector, creating a summary of standards, frameworks and best practices in IS/ICT - usable for IS auditing and mutual mapping of selected standards to the chosen reference framwork of ICT and following related goal is to make a procedure for the mapping of IT processes on standards in the field of IS/ICT. The aim of this thesis is description and mapping of the most important methodologies, standards and best practices related to the management and audit of IS/ICT and following related goal is building a procedure that allows the company to assess readiness for the certification of any of the selected standards, implement an alternative methodology for IT management or audit IS/ICT. First, the notion of audit is defined and discussed, followed by the discussion of the issue of IT audit, together with the financial audit. This is followed by a description of the different methodologies and approaches, which I used in my work. The chapter continues the description of methodology section that describes the mapping results. The actual mapping is in a separate Excel file and is part of this thesis. In the next chapter there is a procedure for mapping of business processes to different methodologies and standards used for management and audit of IS / ICT, which was created by myself.