It is important to identify students at-risk for school non-completion as early as possible. Research has demonstrated that data sources such as teacher nomination and individual demographic characteristics are less accurate identification methods of students who are at-risk for not graduating on-time. Instead, the use of early warning systems (EWS) based upon research validated indicators that reliably identify students who are Off-track, or at-risk for not graduating on-time, has been a promising approach. Questions remain though about the relationship of Off-track Status at an earlier time point to Off-track Status at a later time point as well as the relationship between a variety of individual and school-level predictors and Off-track Status. The purpose of this study was to examine student patterns of Off-track (for graduation) Status at two time points each year from sixth grade through the end of 10th grade as determined by a district-implemented EWS. In addition, this study examined factors that were hypothesized to contribute to students becoming off-track for high school graduation and the earliest time that those factors demonstrated influence on an Off-track Status. Individual (e.g., SES Level, Third-Grade Reading scores, etc.) and school-level predictors (e.g., School Rates of Discipline, School Promoting Power, etc.) of Off-track Status were collected through archival data on a cohort of 4,268 sixth-grade students across 15 middle schools and 13 high schools from the 2007/2008 school-year through the 2011/2012 school-year. Significant relationships between individual-level variables (SES Level, Hispanic racial/ethnic designation, Grade Point Average, Office Discipline Referrals and Previous Off-track Status) were found. Implications for research to practice include a focus on early intervention of Off-track Status students and the inclusion of additional variables in a middle and high school EWS. An additional implication for practice is the local customization of EWS through further analyses of predictor sensitivity and specificity as well as examination of specific school-level contributions to increased numbers of Off-track Status students which would allow for refinement of EWS specific to a given population and provide information on schools that may need additional resources to support students.

Economic, environmental, and social components form the structure of sustainable development and characterize the positive or negative trends in sustainability, which are a unique sustainable index. The Kuwait water system is considered a case study in this research to develop a methodology for identifying sustainable water systems, especially in terms of the high water demand per capita and high supply of desalinated water. This research provides certain answers to the following issues: 1) the sustainable water system path for Kuwait is unknown; 2) the low price of water for consumers is a reason for the wastefulness in water consumption in Kuwait; 3) there is no sustainable model for the water infrastructure in Kuwait to control and maintain its system; and 4) building a new desalination plant will put pressure on reducing the oil products' revenues that are export to global market. Sustainable water supply systems must be designed and operated so as to accomplish the following: minimize energy use, maximize efficient use of water as a resource, and limit (or even decrease) the associated environmental impacts of water usage. Increasing the production of water and the associated infrastructure are not necessarily sustainable solutions to the challenges of population growth. Consequently, this research provides the following solutions to work together in parallel: 1) Model Urban City (MUC); 2) Sustainable Water System and Infrastructure of Kuwait (SWSIK); 3) Sustainable Kuwait Index (SKI); and 4) reform the current water price policy in Kuwait. This research is dependent on three foundation--MUC, SWSIK, and SKI--to characterize sustainability in Kuwait and to analyze the environmental and economic impacts under three different water price scenarios during the period of 2013-2017. Numerical modeling, Infowater application, is used to connect the data with Arc GIS software to monitor the progress toward sustainability for 78 areas in the country. The Sustainable Water System and Infrastructure of Kuwait (SWSIK) tool is developed in this study and provides a comprehensive tool that analyzes water consumption due to water price policies to determine the energy needed from fossil fuels, the energy costs, and the environmental impacts. The Sustainable Kuwait Index (SKI) is a unique numeric value of 16 indicators. The sustainability indicators for the Kuwait water system are classified into two main categories: environmental and socio-economic, in which the resources, infrastructure, and capacity are components in the environmental category. SKI is determined for urban areas in Kuwait between 2008 and 2012, characterizing the state of sustainability. Population growth and new urban development push decision makers to find alternative solutions--such as reforming water price policies--to reduce wasteful water consumption in both normal and critical times. Two water price policy scenarios were proposed to be implemented, instead of the current water price policy (0.624 per m³). The first scenario involves a constant price charged for water consumption at $1 per m³. The second scenario involves a different structure to schedule water price: free allowance (150 L/C/day) followed by a constant price charged for water consumption over 150 L at $1.6 per m³. The time frame to test both proposal scenarios is between 2013 and 2017. In order to get water for free, the second proposal scenario encourages consumers to consume water wisely. This proposal scenario is acceptable for both consumers and policymakers, and it provides economic and environment benefits for both sides. The second scenario will postpone the need for new desalination plants until 2023. SKI scores are determined for the three water price scenarios during the proposal time (2013-2017) for 78 urban areas in Kuwait. By applying the first scenario ($1.0 per m³), the Kuwait government will save almost 5 million barrels per year from oil products (crude oil, gas oil, and HFO) and reduce natural gas usage by 31% per year. On the other hand, the second scenario can reduce the usage of oil products and natural gas in desalination plants by 26% per year. CO2, SO2, and NO2 emissions under the first and second scenarios were reduced in the range between 26% and 33% per year. Overall, a shortage will occur in 2014 if the Kuwait government does not change the water price structure. The current water price ($0.624 per m³) gives zero economic value to consumers. As a consequence, water bills were not collected effectively due to the low cost. The first scenario, which charges $1 per m³, might be unacceptable for consumers due to the stigma associated with increasing prices. The second scenario, however, satisfies the sustainability conditions, which are: 1) to save the environment; 2) to reduce costs; 3) to be acceptable to society; and 4) to achieve policymakers' goals. The results obtained in this research are intended to promote water system management and provide sustainable indicators to evaluate the development of a sustainable of water infrastructure in Kuwait. / text

published_or_final_version / Ecology and Biodiversity / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

"Realizing corporate vision through balanced scorecards" Date: May 28, 2015 Level: Bachelor thesis in Business Administration, 15 ECTS Institution: School of Business, Society and Engineering, Mälardalen University Authors: Roman Alam Olof Hällman July 2, 1987 May 11, 1989 Title: Realizing corporate vision through balanced scorecards Supervisor: Magnus Hoppe Keywords: Balanced scorecards, corporate vision, key performance indicators, performance measurement, strategy. Research question: Why are balanced scorecards implemented and how are they adapted and developed? Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to describe what reasons companies claim for implementing balanced scorecards and how these companies adapt and develop the scorecards. Method: To conduct a qualitative research, a literature review, a case study and interviews were carried out to draw the conclusions of the thesis. Conclusion: The study identified industry-, business- and organization-specific adaptations of the balanced scorecard as a performance measurement tool to link strategy and corporate vision to future decisions and actions.

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One of the biggest problems South African banks are experiencing when managing operational risk is the lack of a single definition for operational risk. Operational risk can take many forms; for example computer system failure, the malfunction of an ATM or in same instances the long queues at a bank can be an operational risk It is clear that banks lack sufficient information to distinguish between different operational risk events as well as other risk events like credit risk, market risk, etc. In other words, banks are experiencing great difficulties with the identification of operational risk in South Africa The study therefore aims to determine and construct a single definition of operational risk that will be sufficient for the assessment of operational risk management in South Africa. The study also aims to examine the existing as well as the possible methods to identify, quantify and measure operational risk The main goal of this study is therefore to investigate the feasibility of capital provisions as a way of managing operational risk in South African banks, in other words the viability of the New Basel Capital Accord on South African banks. The methodology used includes a literature review, in-depth interviews and a case study on South African Retail Bank to determine and evaluate some of the most renowned indicators of operational risk in South Africa. The first objective was to determine a single definition of operational risk in South Africa. As mentioned, South African banks are having great difficulties to find a single definition of operational risk and this is causing problems in identifying operational risks in South Africa. It is the view of this study that the Basel Committee's definition is not sufficient enough for operational risk management in South Africa; therefore there is a great need to find a single definition of operational risk in South African banks. The second objective is to provide an overview of the Base1 Committee and its Capital Accord, by focusing on one of the outstanding changes to the existing accord, which is the proposed explicit capital requirement for operational risk. It has been established that the Base1 Capital Accord is widely adopted around the world. Consequently, from the viewpoint of being competitive, it is to the advantage of a bank to adhere to the prescriptions of the Base1 Capital Accord. However, to stay relevant, the Basel Capital Accord was due for a review. The Basel Committee released a proposal to replace the existing Basel Capital Accord with a more. risk sensitive framework. The new framework intends to improve safety and soundness in the financial system by placing more emphasis on banks' own internal control and management, the supervisory review process, and market discipline. The third objective of this research was to present the theory of asset and liability management (ALM) within the unifying theme of operational risk management. It was indicated that capital is used to absorb an operational risk loss. The Asset and Liability Committee (ALCO) is responsible for the strategic management of a bank's balance sheet, therefore also ALM, and as capital forms part of the banks balance sheet, it is also the responsibility of the ALCO to manage the capital that is used as provision for an operational risk. The fourth objective was to determine and evaluate the key risk indicators of operational risk in South Africa theoretically and then also by means of a case study on a South African Retail Bank and then to made some recommendations regarding the effective identification of the key indicators of operational risk in South Africa. It was indicated the challenge in identifying key operational risk indicators is to find indicators that is not only business-specific but are also fm wide indicators of operational risk. Recommendations on the effective identification of key operational risk indicators were made. / Thesis (M.Com. (Economics))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

While new road lighting technologies, either LED or adaptive road lighting systems, offer a wide range of unique potential benefits (mainly in terms of energy savings), it is necessary to evaluate the safety impacts of these technologies on road users. The literature survey shows that providing light on previous unlit roads has a positive effect on traffic safety. Reducing the amount of light has the opposite effect. These studies are usually conducted by using crash numbers, which makes it impossible to draw conclusions on changes in driving behaviour. Driving behaviour analyses need special approaches and indicators. Therefore indirect indicators such as speed and safety relationship, jerky driving and traffic conflict parameters are presented. The individual character of such data is difficult to deal with and limits big scale analyses. In order to have a practical example of such indicators a case study is conducted. Floating car data collected in Vienna is used to analyse travel speeds of taxi drivers at two LED test sites. A simple before-after analysis is used with data from January 2011 to May 2012 in order to examine an expected increase in speed due to a better visual performance of LED light. However the results show either no changes at all or a trend in speed reduction of 1km/h in average. Unfavourable test site locations might limit the significance of the results.

Bakalauro darbe pritaikomi įvairūs bankroto prognozavimo modeliai bei apskaičiuoti bankrotą labiausiai įtakojantys finansiniai santykiniai rodikliai. Pirmojoje darbo dalyje analizuojama bankroto esmė, požymiai, priežastys ir pasekmės, daugėlis bankroto prognozavimo modelių, santykinių rodiklių sistemos prognozuojant bankroto tikimybę. Antroje darbo dalyje analizuojamos pirmoje dalyje pateiktų: Altman, G. Springate, R. Liss, R. Taffler ir H. Tisshaw, J. Fulmer ir Ca – Score bankroto prognozavimo modelių pritaikymo skirtinguose sektoriuose veikiančioms įmonėms galimybės, įvertinta pelningumo ir mokumo santykinių rodiklių ryšys su bankroto prognozavimo modeliais. Apskaičiuotas koreliacinis ryšys tarp pelningumo ir mokumo rodiklių bei bankroto prognozavimo modelių. / Bachelor of science in a variety of bankruptcy prediction at work everyday, and calculate the bankruptcy of most models affecting financial relatives. The first part examines the essence of the work of the bankruptcy, symptoms, causes and consequences of bankruptcy prediction models, daugėlis, relative indicators system for predicting the likelihood of bankruptcy. The second part of the first part of the work is analyzed by the following: E. Altman, G. Springate, R. Liss, R. Taffler and H. Tisshaw, J. Fulmer and CA-Score bankruptcy prediction models for the adaptation of undertakings active in the different sectors, estimated profitability and solvency relative indicators in relation to the bankruptcy prediction models. Estimated correlation link between profitability and solvency of indicators and bankruptcy prediction models.

Summary Appropriate, timely, and effective control of sterilisation ranks among the most relevant objectives and aims of a personal healthcare institution. Implementation and evaluation of sterilisation control is one of the ways to ensure quality and safety of medicine. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the sterilisation process using biological indicators, and to verify the implementation of the biological control of sterilizers. The methods of the study. The retrospective analysis of the data of biological control of sterilisation performed in 2003 and 2004. The study evaluated the performance of biological control of the effectiveness of 81 (2003) saturated steam and 76 (2004) dry heat sterilizers. The obtained findings were evaluated according to the requirements of 2003 and 2004 set by the legislation and the internal control of the institution. Results was analysed using Epi info, MS Excel, SPSS statistical programs. Results. In 2003, the number of performed biological inspection of sterilisation was by 1.37 times lesser than that indicated in the legislation. In 2004, this number increased by 1.56 times, and by 1.27 times exceeded the frequency of biological control indicated in the legislation. In 2003, the mean frequency of biological control for one sterilizer was 5.43 cases per year, and in 2004 – 8.82 cases per year. During 2003, correct (meeting all requirements) biological control was performed in 16 (19.75%) sterilizers, and in 2004... [to full text]