This Diploma Thesis focuses on comparison of organisational culture in state-controlled, commercial and non-profit organisations in the area of pre-school education. It is based on the Competing Values Framework developed by Cameron and Quinn, according to whom there are four types of organisational culture. The goal of this Thesis is to identify and describe the culture types in organisations in the above-mentioned three sectors, and to subsequently compare these types so that their similarities and differences can be revealed. The chosen method of research is a case study; the data was collected by a questionnaire survey among employees and by analysis of documents used in the organisations. My research has indicated that the organisational culture in the three sectors is similar in certain elements, but different in others. An established similarity is the presence of the clan culture, which is a friendly and informal working environment. Regarding the differences, the culture is more bureaucratic and hierarchic in a state-controlled organisation, while more dynamic and focused on innovations in commercial and non-profit ones.

Since a large number of polar and often ionizable anthropogenic organic trace compounds, such as pharmaceutical residues, can be detected in various stages of the water cycle, there is a need to elucidate the effects and behavior of such substances in the aquatic environment. Despite the fact that numerous studies on the sorption behavior of ionizable organic trace compounds have already been carried out, reliable sorption models, which allow a sufficiently accurate prediction of the sorption of organic cations, are not yet available. For this reason, the general objective of this thesis was to improve the fundamental process understanding of the interactions between dissolved cationic organic substances and solid surfaces including relevant influence parameters. The investigations were based on a differentiated process consideration in order to ultimately provide the essential prerequisites for a future reliable prediction of the sorption behavior of cationic organic compounds. Due to the complex superposition of several mechanisms, the basic relationships cannot be clearly elucidated with heterogeneous sorbents. Therefore, it was consciously worked with largely homogeneous, synthetic sorbents. The use of well-defined sorbents with different properties as well as the variation of background electrolyte concentration and the targeted use of different sorbates were the 'tools' that were used to identify and to separate the underlying sorption processes. / Da eine Vielzahl polarer und oftmals ionisierbarer anthropogener organischer Spurenstoffe, wie z. B. Pharmakarückstände, in verschiedenen Bereichen des Wasserkreislaufes nachweisbar ist, besteht die Notwendigkeit die Wirkung und das Verhalten solcher Spurenstoffe in der Umwelt näher aufzuklären. Trotz der Tatsache, dass bereits zahlreiche Untersuchungen zum Sorptionsverhalten ionisierbarer organischer Spurenstoffe bestehen, sind zuverlässige prognosefähige Sorptionsmodelle, welche eine ausreichend genaue Vorhersage der Sorption von organischen Kationen ermöglichen, zurzeit noch nicht verfügbar. Das generelle Ziel dieser Arbeit bestand daher darin, das grundlegende Prozessverständnis der Wechselwirkungen zwischen gelösten kationischen organischen Substanzen und festen Oberflächen einschließlich relevanter Einflussgrößen zu verbessern. Die Untersuchungen basierten auf einer differenzierten Prozessbetrachtung, um letztlich die wesentlichen Voraussetzungen für eine zukünftig zuverlässige Prognose des Sorptionsverhaltens kationischer organischer Verbindungen zu liefern. Aufgrund der komplexen Überlagerung mehrerer Mechanismen können die grundlegenden Zusammenhänge mit heterogen zusammengesetzten natürlichen Sorbentien nicht eindeutig aufgeklärt werden. Daher wurde bewusst mit weitgehend homogenen, synthetischen Sorbentien gearbeitet. Die Verwendung wohldefinierter Sorbentien mit unterschiedlichen Eigenschaften sowie die Variation der Elektrolytkonzentration und der gezielte Einsatz verschiedener Sorptive waren die 'Werkzeuge', die verwendet wurden, um die zugrunde liegenden Sorptionsprozesse zu identifizieren und zu separieren.

I varje organisation existerar det en kultur, organisationskultur, som är unik just för företaget och inom den kan det finnas variationer. Kunskap om hur organisationskulturen ser ut, vilka variationer som finns, vad de beror på och hur de kan komma till uttryck är en styrka för organisationen och ger den en stor fördel i dess utveckling samt kan vara avgörande för organisationens överlevnad. Ett sätt att få kunskap om sin organisationskultur kan vara att mäta den. Denna studie syftade till att få en fördjupad förståelse av organisationskultur och, med mätinstrumentet OCAI, utröna hur den såg ut för två enheter (butik och HR) i en organisation. Genom en kombinerad studie genomfördes en enkät och en gruppintervju som besvarade frågeställningarna. Frågorna som användes för att besvara syftet innefattade hur organisationskulturen såg ut i respektive enhets Nuläge och Önskat läge, samsynen mellan enheterna och hur de betraktade utfallet av enkäten. De centrala resultat som framkom i studien var att de två enheterna hade, vid mätning av deras Nuläge, skattat sin organisationskultur lika. Klankultur är den kultur som domineras och delas av båda enheterna. Det rådde inte lika hög kongruens i enheternas skattning för Önskat läge; HR önskade större förändringar än butiken. Framförallt var det hierarki och marknadskulturen som HR ville minska medan butiken inte ville ha någon större förändring från Nuläget. De marginella skillnaderna butiken önskade var att minska hierarkin och öka adhokratin. Vid gruppintervjun uttryckte deltagarna en igenkänning i resultatet och att OCAI fyller ett glapp genom att kunna vara ett komplement till den årliga medarbetarundersökningen. Organisationen arbetade aktivt med sin organisationskultur och resultatet skulle kunna tyda på att kulturen genomsyrade hela företaget men en vidare undersökning behöver genomföras innan det går att konstatera.

The Epidemiology of Hearing Loss Study (EHLS) conducted in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, was a population-based study that focused on the prevalence of hearing loss among 3,753 participants between 1993 and 1995. This article reports the results of several auditory measures from 999 veteran and 590 nonveteran males 48 to 92 years of age included in the EHLS. The auditory measures included pure tone thresholds, tympanometry and acoustic reflexes, word recognition in quiet and in competing message, and the Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly-Screening (HHIE-S) version. Hearing loss in the auditory domains of pure tone thresholds, word recognition in quiet, and word recognition in competing message increased with age but were not significantly different for the veterans and nonveterans. No significant differences were found between participant groups on the HHIE-S; however, regarding hearing aid usage, mixed differences were found.

Syfte: Att med fokus på obalans och balans öka förståelsen för hur konkurrerande logiker hanteras i styrningen av kriminalvården i Sverige. Metod: Den kvalitativa studien genomfördes med en hermeneutisk utgångspunkt där 7 semi-strukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med öppna frågor, där den enskilde individen har fått beskriva sin upplevelse av straff och vård. Uppsatsen har en abduktiv ansats då en kontinuerlig växelverkan mellan teori och empiri har gjorts. En analys har sedan genomförts, baserat på det empiriska resultatet och den teoretiska referensramen. Resultat & slutsats: Ur organisationens perspektiv, uppnås balans mellan de konkurrerande logikerna straff och vård genom att anstalten försöker motivera klienterna till förändring i tankesätt och handlingsmönster, och erbjuder klienterna arbete, programverksamhet, utbildning, fritidsaktiviteter, och har samarbetsavtal med externa organisationer inför frihetsförberedande åtgärder som permissioner och utsluss. Uppsatsens bidrag: Studien har bidragit till ökad förståelse hur de konkurrerande logikerna straff och vård hanteras med hjälp av styrmedel, med fokus på obalans och balans. Ur studien framkom att den öppna anstalten omfattas av styrmedel som påverkar balansen mellan straff och vård, där obalans är dominerat av straff, balans mer balans mellan straff och vård. Studien kartlagde styrmedel som påverkar balansen mellan obalans eller balans, styrmedel som orsakar obalans, och styrmedel för att uppnå balans. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: En fördjupad studie hur styrmedel hanteras på en anstalt av högre säkerhetsklass med fokus på obalans och balans mellan de konkurrerande logikerna straff och vård, och jämföra med de resultat som framkommit i denna studie / Aim: Focusing at imbalance and balance increase the understanding of how competing logics is managed in the management by the correctional care in Sweden. Method: The qualitative study was made with a hermeneutic starting, with 7 semistructured interviews which were made, and where the individual respondents described their own experience of punishment and care. The paper uses an abductive approach where a continuous interaction between theory and empirical data has been used. The analysis was based on the empirical result and the theoretical frame of reference. Result & Conclusion: From the perspective of the organization, balance is achieved between the two competing logics “punishment” and “care” thanks to the prison trying to motivate the prisoners to change their thoughts and behaviours, and to offer the client work, different programs, education, leisure activity, and to have cooperation contracts with external organizations before freedom preparing actions like permissions. Contribution of thesis: The study has contributed to an increased understanding how the competing logics punishment and care manages with help by controls, focusing at imbalance and balance. Out of the study it emerged that the low-risk prison comprises by controls like affect the balance between punishment and care, where imbalance is dominated by punishment, balance more balance between punishment and care. The study maped controls which affect the balance between imbalance and balance, controls which cause imbalance, and controls to reach balance. Suggestions for future research: Further study would be how controls managing at a prison of higher security focusing on imbalance and balance between the competing logics of punishment and care, and compare the results with the results from this study.

Theoretical aspects of multicomponent superconductivity and systemswith competing interactions are studied using Monte Carlo techniques.Motivated by recent experimental and theoretical results of complex struc-ture formation of vortices in multicomponent systems, possible vortex struc-ture formations due to vortex interactions that are not purely attractive orrepulsive are considered. Vortex structures such as clusters, superclusters,hierarchical structure formation, stripes, gossamer patters, glassy phases, aswell as checkerboard lattices and loops are demonstrated to be possible.The order of the superconducting phase transition is considered for multi-component lattice London superconductors. The phase transition is demon-strated to be either rst-order or continuous depending on the strength of asymmetry-breaking Josephson intercomponent interaction. It is argued thatthe rst-order phase transition is caused by a vortex phase separation due toa uctuation-induced attractive interaction between vortex lines. / <p>QC 20151117</p>

With the increase in health system Mergers and Acquisitions (MandA’s) since the Affordable Care Act [Brown TC, Werling KA, Walker BC, et al. Current trends in hospital mergers and acquisitions. Healthc Financ Manage. March, 2012], health systems must carefully weigh and measure the current organizational culture prior to the consummation of the merger, seeking to understand differentiation within and between the merging organizations, and requires that the organization be analyzed by employee levels or tiers. This study seeks to understand the organizational culture of two merging partners before the merger is consummated, identifying levels of differentiation among employee tiers. Cultural domination from an acquiring organization is also considered. The cultures are analyzed utilizing the Competing Values Framework (CVF). The population included all employees of both health systems with the survey respondent sample stratified by the following employee types: (Tier 1), entry-level employee; (Tier 2), supervisory level, and, (Tier 3), executive level. Statistical procedures included independent t tests and indicated a statistically significant difference between the current cultures of the health systems prior to the merger with significant differences in the cultural perceptions of Tier 1 employees and Tier 2 employees.

Le climat organisationnel (ci-après, CO) a des effets notables sur les attitudes et comportements au travail. Or, son opérationnalisation demeure un enjeu non résolu au sein de la communauté scientifique. Les cadres théoriques limités, voire absents, pour orienter l’opérationnalisation du CO ainsi que l’utilisation de nombreux instruments de mesure ne reposant pas sur un processus de validation complet exacerbe cet état de fait. Pour combler ces manques, des chercheurs ont suggéré de considérer les valeurs organisationnelles comme bases conceptuelles du CO. De ce fait, certains chercheurs ont orienté leur attention sur le Competing Values Framework (ci-après, CVF; Quinn et Rohrbaugh, 1983), un cadre théorique issu de la littérature sur la culture organisationnelle. Toutefois, à notre connaissance, aucune étude ne démontre pleinement l’adéquation conceptuelle entre les dimensions du CO et les quadrants du CVF pour en justifier l’application. De plus, une analyse critique des instruments du CO, dont ceux basés sur le CVF, démontre plusieurs lacunes importantes de ces derniers, notamment quant à leur processus de création et de validation. Cette thèse vise à traiter de ce manque conceptuel et psychométrique en offrant une conceptualisation et une opérationnalisation du CO arrimées et cohérentes avec le CVF, en suivant les meilleures pratiques de validation. Le premier article de la thèse consiste en une étude conceptuelle qualitative, qui cherche à concrétiser un alignement conceptuel entre les dimensions du CO et les quatre quadrants du CVF. Pour ce faire, une revue de la documentation portant sur les dimensions du CO utilisées à travers la documentation scientifique fut réalisée. Une première analyse qualitative de contenu a permis de regrouper 403 dimensions du CO en 24 regroupements conceptuels différents. Une seconde étape d’analyse de contenu a permis d’évaluer l’adéquation entre ces regroupements et chacun des quatre quadrants du CVF. Cette première démarche a permis de démontrer que le CVF est un modèle théorique approprié pour opérationnaliser le CO. Le deuxième article de la thèse consiste en l’élaboration et la validation d’un nouvel instrument du CO basé sur le CVF, le Questionnaire multifacettes du climat organisationnel (QMCO), et ce, à partir des 24 regroupements formés lors du premier article. Deux études quantitatives constituent cet article. Suivant un processus rigoureux de création d’items, l’étude 1 (n = 151 travailleurs canadiens francophones) a permis de dégager une structure factorielle préliminaire pour la version expérimentale du QMCO par le biais d’analyses factorielles exploratoires, tout en offrant des preuves pour soutenir la validité convergente, divergente et critériée. Par la suite, l’étude 2 (n = 304 travailleurs canadiens francophones) a permis de confirmer l’adéquation de cette structure aux données, par le biais d’analyses factorielles confirmatoires. Cette étude a aussi permis d’étayer la validité convergente, divergente et critériée du QMCO. Les résultats des deux études suggèrent une structure à sept facteurs : 1) Les récompenses basées sur la contribution individuelle, 2) La performance et la profitabilité organisationnelle, 3) La formalisation des règlements et des attentes des employés, 4) La gestion de la rétroaction, 5) Le changement, l’innovation et la prise de risque, 6) L’orientation envers les employés, et 7) La latitude décisionnelle. Cette thèse contribue à répondre à plusieurs critiques et limites des études antérieures portant sur le CO en proposant à la communauté scientifique un cadre théorique applicable au CO et un questionnaire aux propriétés psychométriques clairement explicitées qui démontre un potentiel, avec des raffinements nécessaires. / Research has stated that organizational climate (OC) has notable effects on organizational attitudes and behaviours. However, the scientific community still struggles with its operationalization. The limited use or absence of theoretical frameworks to guide the operationalization of OC, as well as the use of many OC instruments that lack formal validation processes to support their use exacerbate this struggle. To fill these gaps, researchers have brought their attention to organizational values as a conceptual foundation for understanding OC, thus bringing their attention to the use of the Competing Values Framework (CVF), a theoretical framework which stems from organizational culture. Still, to our knowledge, studies have yet to fully demonstrate the conceptual fit between OC dimensions and the CVF’s quadrants to justify the use of this framework. Furthermore, a critical analysis of OC instruments based on the CVF reveals important limitations, namely in regards to the creation and validation processes employed. This thesis aims to address these conceptual and psychometric gaps by offering a conceptualization and operationalization of OC that are coherent with the CVF, by following best practices in scale validation. The first article of this thesis consists of a conceptual qualitative study which aims to provide a conceptual alignment between OC dimensions and the four CVF quadrants. To do so, we carried out a literature review of OC dimensions used across the OC body of literature. A first qualitative content analysis grouped 403 OC dimensions into 24 different clusters. A second step of qualitative content analysis allowed us to evaluate the fit between these clusters and each of the four CVF quadrants. This article demonstrates that the CVF is an appropriate theoretical model to operationalize OC. The second thesis article consists of the creation and validation of a new CVF-based OC instrument, the Multifaceted Organizational Climate Questionnaire (MOCQ), based on the 24 clusters from the first thesis article. Two quantitative studies constitute this article. By following a rigorous item creation process, Study 1 (n = 151 French-speaking Canadian workers) revealed a preliminary factor structure for the experimental version of the MOCQ with the use of exploratory factor analyses, all while offering proof of convergent, divergent and criterion validity. Next, Study 2 (n = 304 French-speaking Canadian workers) confirmed the established structure of Study 1 with the use of confirmatory factor analyses. Furthermore, the convergent, divergent and criterion validity of the MOCQ was established. Results of both these studies suggest the following seven-factor structure: 1) Rewards Based on Individual Contribution, 2) Organizational Performance and Profitability, 3) Formalization of Rules and Expectations of Employees, 4) Feedback Management, 5) Change, Innovation, and Risk-Taking, 6) Employee Orientation and 7) Decision-Making Latitude. This thesis contributes to addressing several criticisms and limitations highlighted in past OC studies by proposing to the scientific community a theoretical framework applicable to OC, as well as a questionnaire with psychometric properties that are clearly stated and that demonstrates clear potential, notwithstanding the necessary refinements.

No description available.

<p>Recently, the Conway-Maxwell Poisson (COM-Poisson) cure rate model has been proposed which includes as special cases some of the well-known cure rate models discussed in the literature. Data obtained from cancer clinical trials are often right censored and the expectation maximization (EM) algorithm can be efficiently used for the determination of the maximum likelihood estimates (MLEs) of the model parameters based on right censored data.</p> <p>By assuming the lifetime distribution to be exponential, lognormal, Weibull, and gamma, the necessary steps of the EM algorithm are developed for the COM-Poisson cure rate model and some of its special cases. The inferential method is examined by means of an extensive simulation study. Model discrimination within the COM-Poisson family is carried out by likelihood ratio test as well as by information-based criteria. Finally, the proposed method is illustrated with a cutaneous melanoma data on cancer recurrence. As the lifetime distributions considered are not nested, it is not possible to carry out a formal statistical test to determine which among these provides an adequate fit to the data. For this reason, the wider class of generalized gamma distributions is considered which contains all of the above mentioned lifetime distributions as special cases. The steps of the EM algorithm are then developed for this general class of distributions and a simulation study is carried out to evaluate the performance of the proposed estimation method. Model discrimination within the generalized gamma family is carried out by likelihood ratio test and information-based criteria. Finally, for the considered cutaneous melanoma data, the two-way flexibility of the COM-Poisson family and the generalized gamma family is utilized to carry out a two-way model discrimination to select a parsimonious competing cause distribution along with a suitable choice of a lifetime distribution that provides the best fit to the data.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)