Fire in Midwestern ecosystems historically has provided many benefits, including promoting forest succession, maintaining wildlife habitat and reducing fuel loads. The Southeastern Illinois Prescribed Burn Association (SIPBA) is the only association of its kind in southern Illinois, designed to reintroduce prescribed fire to landowners in a practical context. The objectives of this research project were: 1) Interview members and crewpersons to collect data on the formation, maintenance, and future of SIPBA, 2) Outline the most common/salient issues driving landowners and stakeholders concerning the use of prescribed fire on their land in southern Illinois, and 3) Provide a conceptual model of the results to serve as a guide for future development of publicly conducted and implemented prescribed burning activities across southern Illinois and, ultimately, the Midwest. This study was implemented by semi-structured interviews of 28 key members of SIPBA. The responses from this population were collected and coded using NVivo 9 qualitative analysis software (NVivo 9 2011). Results indicate that challenges include stubborn remnants of the "Smokey Bear" attitude from the U.S. Forest Service anti-fire campaign, and that liability for an escaped wildfire is a reality for both the individual and for the association. In spite of these and other challenges identified by participants, landowners see SIPBA as a cost-effective solution to their land management needs. The results were interpreted as guidance for future dialogue between landowners and stakeholders and state and federal agencies in implementing prescribed burning programs. Implications include: "fire sells itself." Relatively little effort is needed to attract interest and recruit membership, and the benefits of a prescribed burn are easily evident. Alleviating concerns of the risks associated with fire is a primary objective for the organization, and there is a feeling of "safety in numbers" among membership. Finally, outside funding appears to be the limiting factor for both the capacity and potentially the longevity of the association, meaning that the development of a sustainable funding scheme could allow prescribed burn associations to remain in the Midwest. This case study of SIPBA membership is intended to facilitate cooperation between landowners and local burn associations, and also to serve as a model for the formation of future associations in similar areas of the Midwest.

Young children in the United States spend a considerable amount of time in preschool settings. Preschool teachers have an opportunity to incorporate nutrition and physical activity into their interactions with these children in order to positively influence the health of the children. This qualitative, case study explored how teachers at a Reggio Emilia inspired preschool integrate nutrition and physical activity into their teaching. The research questions that guided this study included, “In what ways do preschool teachers in a Reggio Emilia inspired preschool in the Midwest incorporate nutrition and physical activity in their classrooms?” and “What influences if and how these preschool teachers specifically teach about these fundamental health aspects?” Data collected through interviews and focus groups were organized into categories, both organizational and substantive, and they were supported by a document analysis. Once the substantive categories were determined, category zooming was used to focus on one aspect that surfaced from the data in order to create themes. Specifically, among other strategies, the teachers in this study use introduction, reinforcement, and encouragement to engage children in nutrition and physical activity. Overall, the teachers expressed that they care about the children’s health and that this is the driving force for incorporating nutrition and physical activity into their interactions with the children in their care.

This Master thesis deals with socioeconomic and environmental aspects of life generally in the country, and with the regional context Strakonicka. In the important empiric part, I focus on to the appreciation changes of life in the small town Katovice, mainly in the period of the First Republic and nowadays. I used a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to compare these. Specifically I used techniques of photo documentation, interviews with local witness and vice chief magistrate, analysis of statistical data and finally a small questionnaire too.

The professional identity of career practitioners in the UK has become increasingly challenged in recent decades due to the influence of government policy and the dominance of work-based qualifications. Privatisation, multi-professional working and workforce realignment have all contributed to a reshaping of the career guidance professional. This research examines the views of a group of practitioners all undertaking continuing professional development (CPD) in the form of a postgraduate award. The participants were all UK based practitioners working in a career related role; all were either currently on programme, had completed or stepped off with an interim award within a masters programme. The research explored practitioners’ views at a time of significant upheaval, of themselves as professionals, their professional identity and the extent to which postgraduate CPD contributed to this. The research utilised a case study approach employing document analysis, questionnaire, in-depth interviews and narrative biographies. These tools were specifically selected to enable sequential analysis of data allowing findings from each stage to be rigorously tested out by the next research tool. Applications from potential students were initially analysed helping to establish motivation for undertaking a programme of this type, an on-line survey explored practitioners views of themselves as professionals, motivation for postgraduate study and potential outcomes for themselves, their organisation and their profession. In-depth interviews and narrative biographies provided a voice allowing participants to explore their personal journey with their studies and how this engagement contributed to the establishment, maintenance or enhancement of their practitioner professional identity. Continuing professional development was classified as consisting of three types, operational, experiential and formal. Findings suggested participants predominantly valued formal CPD with operational being perceived as only meeting employer contractual compliance. Postgraduate level CPD contributed to professional identity through engagement with reflection, theory, policy and academic study. Ethics and client focus were central to the professional identity of the career practitioner. Postgraduate study was perceived to empower practitioners and to contribute to the professionalisation of the sector and give parity with other public sector professions. The research contributes to both the limited body of knowledge addressing professional identity within the career guidance context and discourse addressing professionalisation of new professions. It offers a shared professional perspective that can inform the evolving policy debate aiming to professionalise the career and allied workforces. The research offers a unique insight into a profession in transition and the voice of practitioners who have experienced successive waves of government policy, which has been often internalised as de-professionalisation.

Orientador: Orlando Fontes Lima Júnior / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Civil, Arquitetura e Urbanismo / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-17T14:12:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Carvalho_CarolinaCorreade_M.pdf: 3829740 bytes, checksum: fac7bcc71791eaf9213b18db3929f42a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / Resumo: O uso de plataformas logísticas no mundo vem crescendo consideravelmente, mas no Brasil tal prática ainda é incipiente. Face às particularidades locais, os projetos têm que ser bem adaptados para a realidade brasileira, existindo poucos estudos que auxiliem nesta direção. O objetivo deste trabalho é propor uma metodologia para análise de benchmarking de plataformas logísticas e aplicá-la em um caso na Região Metropolitana de Campinas, São Paulo, Brasil. Como base para o estudo foi selecionado vinte e nove plataformas logísticas espalhadas pelo mundo e, por meio de Análise Envoltória de Dados (DEA), foram identificadas as que constituíram benchmarking Mundial para o projeto da plataforma logística de Campinas (PLC). Para esta analise foi adotado o modelo DEA-BCC (Variable Return to Scale- VRS) com os seguintes indicadores de desempenho; áreas das plataformas logísticas, capital investido, número de empresas atraídas e movimentação anual de carga. Após a avaliação inicial das vinte e nove plataformas pelo DEA foram identificadas sete como benchmarks mundiais e deste conjunto três foram apontadas como referências de melhores práticas para a PLC (Atlantic Gateway-Halifax Logistics Park, Canadá; Raritan Center, USA; e Rickenbacker Global Logistics Park USA). Ao mesmo tempo um estudo qualitativo, utilizando o método de estudo de caso múltiplo, identificou outras cinco plataformas européias como referencias para o projeto; a PLAZA (Espanha); Distrito de Nola (Itália); Rugis (França); Bremen GVZ (Alemanha) e Dallas Logistic Hub (Estados Unidos). A partir de uma analise detalhada das plataformas selecionadas foi possível identificar sugestões de melhoria e diretrizes de concepção para a plataforma brasileira. Esta aplicação demonstrou que a estratégia proposta tem grande aplicabilidade e apresenta bons resultados para avaliação de projetos de concepção de plataformas logísticas / Abstract: The use of logistic Platform in the world has grown considerably, but in Brazil, this practice is still incipient. Given local circumstances, projects need to be well adapted to Brazilian reality, there are few studies that help in this direction. The aim of this paper is to suggest guidelines for strategic planning of the new logistics platform to be installed in Campinas, São Paulo. As a starting point of the study were selected twenty-nine logistics platforms around the world and, through Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) have been identified that constitute the global benchmarking and were taken as the base platform design logistics of Campinas (PLC). For this analysis we adopted the DEA-BCC model (Variable Return to Scale-VRS) with the following performance indicators, areas of logistics platforms, the capital invested, number of businesses attracted and annual cargo handling. After the initial assessment of the twenty-nine platforms by DEA were identified seven as global benchmarks and this set three references have been identified as best practices for the PLC (Atlantic Gateway-Halifax Logistics Park, Canada, Raritan Center, USA; Rickenbacker Global Logistics Park and USA). At the same time a qualitative study, using the method of multiple case study, identified five more platforms PLAZA (Span), Distrito de Nola (Italy), Rugis (France) Bremen GVZ (German) e Dallas logistic Hub (USA) that could be included as references for the enterprise. From a detailed analysis of selected platforms were able to identify suggestions for improvements and design guidelines for the Brazilian platform. This application demonstrated that the proposed strategy has wide applicability and gives good results for project evaluation design of logistics platforms / Mestrado / Transportes / Mestre em Engenharia Civil

Demographic change as well as pressure from the European Union and national government are forcing organisations to change age-discriminatory Human Resource Management (HRM) approaches. Based on a qualitative analysis of eight British and German organisations, we found that commitment, scope, coverage and implementation of age management differ due to country-specific institutions, particularly government, in nudging employers and unions to preferred age practices. This confirms the path-dependency concept suggested by institutional theory. Nevertheless, we also found that industry-specific factors mediate the implementation of age management, leading to some convergence across countries. This indicates that organisations deviate from the institutional path to implement practices that they deem important. (authors' abstract)

In this study, we investigate how lead time is affected during development of a large-scale telecom product. We collected raw data from the product’s Gerrit repository which were later processed with statistical analysis. When we analysed the various areas, we concluded that a method to divide the lead time into different sequences would be the preferred method. We therefore chose to analyse lead time for different parts of the development. We found that on average lead time is roughly 3,4 days for the areas we investigate. The results indicated that lead time for reviewing increases with the years. The results also indicated that the lead time decreases for developers as they become more familiar with the product however the overall lead time for implementation did not. This can be as developers switch tasks internally or decides to change employment. The results also indicated that there is no relation between the amount of submitted LOC and lead time.

Proceedings of the European Conference on Knowledge Management, ECKMVolume 2, 2017, Pages 730-74118th European Conference on Knowledge Management, ECKM 2017; International University of CataloniaBarcelona; Spain; 7 September 2017 through 8 September 2017. / Universities' knowledge management processes are critical to accomplishing their role of integrating individuals and countries in the competitive global knowledge economy through teaching, research and technology transfer (Sam and Van der Sijde, 2014; Welch, 2011). This role is particularly critical for universities in emerging economies, like Peru, that seek to integrate into this knowledge economy by diversifying their economies and reducing dependence on raw materials exports (Ministerio de la Producción del Perú, 2014). To do so, the article proposes an academic knowledge management model for Peruvian universities that integrates their processes and key actors. The authors analyzed current academic knowledge management models at five Peruvian universities using multiple case study methodology. The universities are among the highest ranked Peruvian universities in the QS University Rankings: Latin America (2016), such that the resulting model is applicable to universities in Peru and other emerging economies. The data collection protocol was validated by experts using the Delphi method and pilot tested at a sixth university. The results indicate that knowledge at these universities is managed intuitively or by tradition, not in a way that systematically integrates processes and participants. The critical success factors to managing academic knowledge effectively were identified as qualified staff, responsible and committed to research; engagement and commitment from senior management; an organizational culture that encourages knowledge creation, sharing and use; and staff attitude and learning ability. The research also identified criteria that measure the model impact in terms of its stages (creation, exchange and use) and university processes (teaching and learning, research, and transfer of services to society). The article concludes that the model is applicable to the current knowledge management practices identified in the case study and includes basic components (planning, management processes, principles, methods, technologies, etc.) in a system whose indicators fulfill the university mission and goals.

Context. Global Software Development is software work undertaken at geographically separated locations across national boundaries in a coordinated fashion involving real time or asynchronous interaction. Distributed Agile Development aims at the benefits of both Agile Software Development and Global Software Development aiding the distributed teams to overcome the challenges brought by the distribution. Objectives. In this study the author investigates whether a globally distributed company is prepared to be agile, determining hindrances for agile and providing recommendations to mitigate or overcome the detected hindrances. Methods. In this case study, surveys and interviews were used to study the hindrances for agile and literature was used to provide the recommendations towards the detected hindrances. Results. 4 hindrances were detected. Only 1 was justified as necessary for the good performance of the distributed company. Several recommendations to overcome the hindrances were proposed. Both hindrances and proposed solutions were validated by the company representative. Conclusions. We conclude that the studied individuals are willing to be agile. As agile is built bottom-up, the company is prepared to be agile. However, they will not be able to be agile until they overcome or mitigate the detected challenges. In the study, several solutions for it are proposed.

Depuis une trentaine d’années, des recherches en linguistique et en psycholinguistique ont permis de mieux comprendre l’appropriation de la langue écrite par le jeune enfant. De façon complémentaire, des travaux, à visée didactique, ont questionné les pratiques d’enseignement afin de mettre au jour celles qui sont le plus favorables à l’appropriation de l’écriture. Plusieurs études concluent que les activités d’écriture approchée, par la résolution de problèmes graphiques, suivie d’un entretien métagraphique et accompagnée d’un étayage serré de l’enseignant, facilitent la conceptualisation de la langue écrite dans les premières années de l’apprentissage. Notre recherche s’inscrit dans ces différents paradigmes. Ainsi, notre analyse met en regard l’évolution des compétences scripturales et métalinguistiques des élèves et les pratiques observées d’enseignement de l’écriture mises en œuvre par leurs enseignants. A cette fin, deux classes, de 23 élèves, âgés de 5 à 8 ans, ont été suivis du milieu de la dernière année de maternelle à la fin de la 2ème primaire et régulièrement soumis à des épreuves évaluant leurs compétences d’écriture, de lecture et leurs compétences métagraphiques. Nous nous appuyons plus particulièrement sur les résultats obtenus par 15 élèves, issus des deux groupes, qui ont participé à l’ensemble des évaluations, menées aux 7 moments de la recherche. L’analyse de deux pratiques d’enseignement de l’écriture, observées en début, milieu et fin de 1ère primaire, est croisée avec les résultats longitudinaux obtenus par les 15 élèves de notre échantillon. L’étude de cas confirme les bénéfices de la pratique régulière d’écriture approchée sur le développement des compétences évaluées chez les élèves. Moyennant certains aménagements, les grilles d'analyse élaborées pour cette étude (analyse des compétences de scripteur, des verbalisations métagraphiques et des actions d’enseignement de l’écriture) pourront être utilisées en formation d'enseignants. / The researches led in linguistics and in psycholinguistics since thirty years enabled to understand better the appropriation of written language by young children. In a complementary way, works, with didactic aims, questioned teaching practices to bring to light those who are the most favorable to the appropriation of spelling. Several studies conclude that invented spelling activities, including the resolution of orthographic problems, followed by a metagraphic interview and along with a tight feedback of the teacher, facilitate the conceptualization of written language in the first years of the learning. Our research joins in these various paradigms. To understand the essence of young writers’ written productions, our analysis looks simultaneously at the evolution of the students’ scriptural and metalinguistic skills and at the observed practices of teaching to spell implemented by their teachers. To this aim, two groups of 23 pupils, from 5 to 8 years old, were followed from the middle of the last year of kindergarten to the end of the 2nd year of primary school. The pupils were regularly submitted to tests to assess their spelling and reading skills and their metagraphic skills. We lean more particularly on the results of 15 students, from both groups, which participated in all the assessments, led at the 7 moments of the research. The analysis of two practices of teaching to spell, observed at three moments (at the beginning, middle and at the end) of the 1st year of primary school, is crossed with the longitudinal results obtained by the 15 students of our sample. The case study confirms the benefits of the regular practice of invented spellings on the development of the assessed skills. The methodological tools of analysis developed for this study (analysis grid of writer’s skills, of metagraphic verbalizations and of actions of teaching to spell) can be used in teachers' training, under some adjustments.