Thirty-eight clinicians were surveyed regarding their current clinical practices in assessing, tracking treatment and determining discharge criteria for clients with resonance disorders. When these results were compared with recommendations from the literature for best practices, it was found that: (a) most clinicians were using low-tech assessment tools (such as perceptual assessment) at least some of the time, (b) many clinicians were not using high-tech assessment tools (such as videofluoroscopy) simply because they lacked access to such tools, and (c) clinicians are remarkably similar in their clinical practices across a wide variety of circumstances (such as age, and employment setting). The primary recommendation accruing from these findings was that more high-tech assessment tools should be routinely available to clinicians practicing in this area. More consistent use of sophisticated assessment devices would exemplify contemporary thinking about transfer of knowledge to practice in the area of resonance disorders assessment and improve patient outcomes.

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This body of research explores the barriers that exist to the introduction of best practice models for dietetics services in rural areas of Australia. Best practice in this thesis refers to workforce staffing and organisational best practice, rather than clinical best practice. For the purpose of this thesis a best practice dietetic service has been defined as a timely, accessible, up-to-date nutrition and dietetic service that is effective in meeting the identified needs of the community based on a quality health service definition (Halton 2005). There is no known previous research that has investigated the elements of a best practice dietetics staffing model and the factors that support or inhibit the development of a best practice dietetic service model in rural areas. A review of the literature was conducted to determine the potential features of a best practice dietetic service for rural areas and the factors that are known to affect the development of a best practice service. A theoretical model of best practice dietetic services for rural areas was tested using a series of case studies. An exploratory sequential mixed methods approach has been used in six case study sites to investigate the barriers to best practice using rural sites in northern New South Wales (NSW), Australia as the setting. The mixed method multiple case study investigated the dietetics workforce characteristics and development in the study sites. Best practice dietetic service delivery was tested with cancer patients using the implementation and evaluation of best practice dietetic clinical guidelines in a rural setting. Key findings from this research include: retention issues related to a lack of management support, limited career pathways and professional isolation. Key drivers for the creation of dietetics positions included the actions of champions and the support of management. The main barriers to the creation of positions included a general lack of funds and competing priorities. The outcomes of this research are important for future workforce planning for dietitians in rural areas.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 178-186).

Regensburg, Univ., Diss., 2008

Thesis (M.S.)--Portland State University, 1993. / Computer-produced typeface. "Technical report EWR-003-93."--Cover. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 75-76). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis--University of Michigan. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [638]-644).

abstract: The price based marketplace has dominated the construction industry. The majority of owners use price based practices of management (expectation and decision making, control, direction, and inspection.) The price based/management and control paradigm has not worked. Clients have now been moving toward the best value environment (hire contractors who know what they are doing, who preplan, and manage and minimize risk and deviation.) Owners are trying to move from client direction and control to hiring an expert and allowing them to do the quality control/risk management. The movement of environments changes the paradigm for the contractors from a reactive to a proactive, from a bureaucratic/non-accountable to an accountable position, from a relationship based/non-measuring to a measuring entity, and to a contractor who manages and minimizes the risk that they do not control. Years of price based practices have caused poor quality and low performance in the construction industry. This research identifies what is a best value contractor or vendor, what factors make up a best value vendor, and the methodology to transform a vendor to a best value vendor. It will use deductive logic, a case study to confirm the logic and the proposed methodology. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Engineering 2011

abstract: This thesis presents a literature research analyzing the cost overrun of the construction industry worldwide, exploring documented causes for cost overrun, and documented parties responsible for the inefficiency. The analysis looks at a comparison between the metrics of construction projects in different continents and regions. Multiple publication databases were used to look into over 300 papers. It is shown that although construction demands are increasing, cost overrun on these projects is not decreasing at the same rate around the world. This thesis also presents a possible solution to improve cost overrun in the construction industry, through the use of the Best Value Performance Information Procurement System (BV PIPS). This is a system that has been utilized in various countries around the world, and has documented evidence that it may be able to alleviate the overrun occurring in the construction industry. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Construction 2017

Background Loss to follow-up from randomised trials (RCTs) can affect the reliability of results. Objectives To quantify the effect of strategies to improve retention in RCTs, explore their use, and develop best practice guidance. Methods Systematic review: including retention RCTs nested in RCTs. Qualitative study: in-depth interviews with RCT personnel. Consensus development: workshops with RCT personnel. Results Systematic review: 38 RCTs evaluated RCT retention strategies. Most aimed to improve questionnaire response. Questionnaire response was improved by: adding monetary incentives (RR 1.18;1.09-1.28), higher value monetary incentives (RR 1.12;1.04-1.22) and offering monetary incentives (RR 1.25;1.14-1.38). There is some evidence that recorded delivery (RR 2.08;1.11-3.87), a specialised postal strategy (RR 1.43;1.22-1.67) and an open RCT design (RR 1.37;1.16-1.63) also improve questionnaire response. There is no clear evidence that, when compared to usual follow-up procedures, questionnaire response / retention is improved by: sending questionnaires early, more disease-relevant questionnaires, shorter, or long and clear questionnaires, offering charity donations, giving or offering gifts, "enhanced" letters, priority post, additional reminders, questionnaire order, reminders to sites, behavioural or case management strategies. There was no clear effect for monetary incentives when compared to offering entry into a prize draw, or telephone surveys when compared to a monetary incentive with a questionnaire. Qualitative study: Communication and incentive strategies are routinely used to improve retention / response. There was uncertainty about their effectiveness. Non-monetary incentives, although used, were not thought to be effective. Efforts are made to improve questionnaire layout. Other strategies are seldom used. Factors thought to impact upon retention were identified. Consensus development: Best practice guidance was agreed for monetary incentives and postage. Conclusion Giving and offering small monetary incentives can be used to improve questionnaire response in RCTs. Second class postage can also be used. Application of the results would depend on RCT context and follow-up procedures.

This thesis attempts to explore and analyses environmental training (ET) in Malaysia, Singapore and the United Kingdom. It discusses the relationships of ET with environmental education, human resource development, learning, training and strategic planning. The main goal of the research was to assess which were the most commonly used ET protocols or 'best practices' that can be used and adapted in a variety of organisations. The research was based on a detailed literature survey and drew on the results from a postal questionnaire survey of 94 different organisations of varying size, age and having a variety of quality accreditations. The respondents were mostly from the 36-45 age group, males, first degree holders, specialised in business administration, middle managers and had spent 1-5 years in their organisation. A total of 28 variables were analysed using Chi-Square and Spearman Correlation and are discussed in the text. The 'best practices' of ET in organisations surveyed were identified as: those possessing environmental policies and training policies; conducting training needs assessments using a combination of methods such as discrepancy, democratic, diagnostic and analytic; including ET in their human resource development plan; delivering ET by external consultants and involving trainees in their environmental management system. In addition, these organisations delivered at least 1-5 ET courses per year, used in house courses and lectures, conducted ET evaluations and are committed to ET in the near future. From the 'best practices' identified by the research and face to face interviews with the staff of the Department of Wildlife and National Parks, Peninsular Malaysia, a SWOT analysis, Objective Oriented Project Planning and a Logical Framework (LOGFRAME) were used to formulate a strategic human resource development plan for the Department.