Around 2.5 million utility works (street works) occurred in England in 2016 with a construction cost of approximately £2 billion. Comparative figures for highway works (road works) are not readily available, but are expected to be similarly significant. Unsurprisingly, the volume of road works and street works (RWSW) activity in urban areas is considered to have a negative impact on the road network causing disruption and premature deterioration, blighting the street scene, damaging local business trade, and significantly increasing social, economic and environmental costs. Indeed the social costs of street works alone are estimated to be around £5.1 billion annually. Despite the economic significance of highway infrastructure, the subject of road works and street works management is under-researched, with greater research emphasis on technology-based, as opposed to policy-based management approaches. Consequently, the aim of this study was to investigate the efficiency and effectiveness of managing the business process of RWSW. Due to limited academic literature in the subject domain, earlier research focused on identifying the industry actors, their motivations, as well as drivers and barriers to RWSW management. Semi-structured interviews with industry stakeholders highlighted the industry s complexity and revealed that several issues contributed to ineffective RWSW management. Principal problems included Street Authorities (SA) failing to take enough ownership of the RWSW coordination process, highway legislation not encouraging joint working due to inherent challenges arising from reinstatement guarantees, and entrenched attitudes and adversarial practices in the construction industry encouraging silo working. The Derby Permit Scheme (legislative tool) was intended to improve RWSW management through giving SAs greater control of highway works. Accordingly, RWSW activity was tested through a statistical time series intervention analysis to separately examine the impacts of the Highway Authority (HA) led works and utility industry led works over 6.5 years. The Permit Scheme was found to reduce utility works durations by around 5.4%; equivalent to 727 days, saving between £2.1 - £7.4 million in construction and societal costs annually. Conversely, the Permit Scheme did not noticeable reduce the HA led works. Instead, the introduction of a works order management system (WOMS) to automate some of the back office road works process was found to reduce works durations by 34%; equivalent to 6519 days and saving between £8.3 - £48.3m per annum. This case study highlighted that more considered practices were required by the HA to reduce RWSW. The stakeholder study and the automated WOMS technology found that well-managed business processes tended to lead to better executed highway works on-site. Informed by these experiences, the sponsor was keen to re-engineer its internal business processes. Business process mapping was adopted to identify inefficient practices and improved coordinated working opportunities on three key internal teams involved in the road works process. Findings revealed that silo working was inherent and that processes were built around fragmented and outdated Information Technology (IT) systems, creating inefficiencies. A subsequent validation exercise found that certain practices, such as restricted data access and hierarchal management styles were culturally embedded and also common across other local authorities. Peer reviewed recommendations to improve working practices were made, such as adopting an integrated Highways Management IT system, vertical integration between the customer relationship management IT system and the Highways IT systems, and the provision of regulatory training. In conclusion, based on the finding of this study, a generic logic map was created with potential to transfer the learning to other local authorities and for their use when evaluating road works administrative processes.

This thesis comprises of four essays on fiscal policy and fiscal policy adjustment. The first of these essays, Chapter 2, reviews a wide range of literature about fiscal policy. This chapter also discusses the sudden stop and fiscal policy during sudden stops episodes. Chapter 3 constructs a simple dynamic deterministic model to study how the speed of adjustment to a sustainable level of debt affects economic welfare. The simulation results in Chapter 3 suggest that in order to bring the level of external debt to a sustainable level as required by foreign lenders, the small open economy will attempt to delay adjustment as long as possible. Chapter 4 uses a Structural Vector Autoregression Model to estimate government consumption multipliers for groups of countries. The empirical results suggest that: (i) The higher degree of financial openness, the larger the government consumption multiplier. (ii) The government consumption multiplier is significantly bigger in countries with higher levels of external debt. (iii) The higher the level of financial development, the smaller the government consumption multiplier. (iv) The government consumption multiplier in countries with fixed exchange rates seems to be bigger than in countries with a flexible exchange rate regime. Chapter 5 of this thesis analyses four case study countries including Greece, Latvia, Pakistan and Turkey. This chapter finds that fiscal policy choice varies across countries because there are many possible determinants for this. It will also be determined that all factors including the level of public debt, level of external debt and monetary policy, especially exchange rate regime, affects the fiscal policy choice of each country. Furthermore, Chapter 5 also points out that political economy can influence fiscal policy directly and indirectly.

Submitted by Irene Nascimento (irene.kessia@ufpe.br) on 2017-03-23T18:16:57Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) AVALIAÇÃO DOS RESULTADOS DO PACTO PELA VIDA E A DINÂMICA DOS HOMICÍDIOS NOS MUNICÍPIOS DE PERNAMBUCO.pdf: 813607 bytes, checksum: 175b7201c79201fa8956106cc562ac43 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-23T18:16:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) AVALIAÇÃO DOS RESULTADOS DO PACTO PELA VIDA E A DINÂMICA DOS HOMICÍDIOS NOS MUNICÍPIOS DE PERNAMBUCO.pdf: 813607 bytes, checksum: 175b7201c79201fa8956106cc562ac43 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-08-29 / CNPQ / A segurança pública tem se tornado um assunto relevante para a sociedade, dado o aumento das taxas de criminalidade em geral, e dos homicídios em particular, em todo o Brasil desde 1980. Inicialmente, a literatura nacional buscou explicar o fenômeno através de variáveis socioeconômicas, como o aumento da pobreza e da desigualdade social. Posteriormente, variáveis do sistema de segurança pública, como o aprisionamento e o gasto em segurança pública, foram incluídos nas análises. Nos últimos anos, tem crescido a posição que atribui a redução dos homicídios em alguns estados da federação à implantação de políticas de segurança pública. Contudo, estudos de avaliação dessas políticas ainda são escassos. Neste trabalho, buscamos avaliar os resultados alcançados pela política de segurança pública Pacto Pela Vida, implementada no estado de Pernambuco desde o ano de 2007. Inicialmente, fazemos uma exposição das explicações do crime e da segurança pública no Brasil. Apresentamos aspectos gerais da avaliação de políticas públicas e apresentamos o Pacto Pela Vida de Pernambuco: seu histórico, características e resultados alcançados a nível do estado. Posteriormente, analisamos descritivamente a dinâmica dos homicídios nos municípios de Pernambuco. Empregamos um modelo de regressão linear múltipla para testar as relações de associação das variáveis socioeconômicas com a taxa de homicídios. As variáveis socioeconômicas são o Índice Firjan de Desenvolvimento Municipal em suas três dimensões (Emprego&Renda, Educação e Saúde), o log do PIB per capita municipal e o log da densidade populacional. A variável dependente é a taxa de homicídios bayesiana empírica por cem mil habitantes dos municípios de Pernambuco. Testamos a hipótese de que haveria uma associação negativa entre as variáveis socioeconômicas e a taxa de homicídios. Encontramos, na realidade, associação positiva entre as variáveis socioeconômicas e a taxa de homicídios, à exceção do IFDM Educação, que apresentou associação negativa. Descritivamente, observamos a diminuição do número de roubo de automóveis em Pernambuco, assim como a diminuição da taxa de homicídios, embora essa última redução possa ser explicada, parcialmente, pelo aumento dos homicídios ocultos. Nas considerações finais, fazemos uma revisão dos resultados encontrados e apontamos possibilidades de pesquisas futuras. / Public security has become an important issue for society, given the increase in crime rates in general, and in particular homicides in Brazil since 1980. Initially, the national literature sought to explain the phenomenon by socioeconomic variables, such as increased poverty and social inequality. Subsequently, variables of the public security system, such as imprisonment and spending on public safety, were included in the analysis. In recent years, it has grown to position attributed the reduction of homicides in some states of the federation to the implementation of public security policies. However, these policy evaluation studies are still scarce. In this work, we evaluate the results achieved by the public security policy Pact for Life, implemented in the state of Pernambuco since 2007. Initially, we present an exposition of explanations of crime and public security in Brazil. We present general aspects of evaluation of public policies and present the Pact for the Pernambuco life: its history, characteristics and results achieved at the state level. Later, descriptively analyze the dynamics of homicide in the municipalities of Pernambuco. We use a multiple linear regression model to test the association relationship of socioeconomic variables with the homicide rate. Socioeconomic variables are the Municipal Development FIRJAN Index in its three dimensions (Employment & Income, Education and Health), the log of GDP per capita municipal and the log of population density. The dependent variable is the rate of empirical Bayes homicides per hundred thousand inhabitants of the municipalities of Pernambuco. We tested the hypothesis that there would be a negative association between socioeconomic variables and the homicide rate. We find, in fact, a positive association between socioeconomic variables and the homicide rate, except for FMDI Education, which presented a negative association. Descriptively, we observed a decrease in auto theft number in Pernambuco, as well as reducing the homicide rate, although the latter reduction can be explained partly by the increase in hidden homicides. In the final considerations, we review of the results and point out future research possibilities.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-11T13:55:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao-Paula Suellen de Melo.pdf: 839461 bytes, checksum: 1790bbb7f5a1b549a805c8d6340dbdc6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-05-24 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / As políticas públicas para juventude, a partir da década de 90, conquistaram significativos avanços, dentre os quais podemos pontuar a variedade de programas setoriais existentes em nível federal, a exemplo o ProJovem Urbano. Este trabalho analisa o processo de implementação do 1º ciclo de atividades do ProJovem Urbano no município de Iranduba/AM em 2009. E, para tal objetivou: conhecer as ações desenvolvidas pelos educadores e coordenadores na implementação do programa; verificar como as várias instâncias e atores dos programas se articulam para a implementação do currículo integrado no ProJovem Urbano; e investigar a visão dos usuários sobre a implementação das dimensões de cidadania, educação e qualificação profissional. Os espaços delimitados para realização da pesquisa foram: os dois núcleos de atividades em Iranduba; a Secretaria Estadual de Juventude, Esporte e Lazer/SEJEL; e o Sistema de Monitoramento e Avaliação/ SMA ProJovem Urbano. A coleta de dados, feita no período de outubro/2009 a janeiro/2010, esteve compreendida na aplicação de 04 instrumentos de pesquisa, a saber: roteiro de entrevista estruturada junto aos Coordenadores Executivo Estadual e Local do programa, roteiro de entrevista estruturada, distintos, com 06 educadores e 02 aplicadoras fixas do SMA do ProJovem Urbano, além de um formulário com perguntas abertas e fechadas junto a 28 alunos. As principais conclusões desta pesquisa estão centradas em duas perspectivas. A primeira refere-se às ações desenvolvidas pelo programa, as quais são implementadas em parceria com os três níveis federativos Nacional, Estadual e Municipal - a saber: aulas teóricas das três dimensões que compõe o Currículo Integrado Ensino Fundamental, Qualificação Profissional e Participação Cidadã; pagamento do benefício; aulas de informática e à realização esporádica de atividades extraclasse. A segunda retrata a questão dos usuários do programa, os quais afirmam que as aulas de Qualificação Profissional e Participação Cidadã, bem como a infra-estrutura dos núcleos necessitam ser revistas, a fim de favorecer a realização de aulas práticas, o bem estar e o protagonismo juvenil.

No Brasil, pesquisas sobre a situação nutricional apontam para a redução da prevalência de desnutrição no país, mas se observa o aumento da prevalência de sobrepeso e de obesidade. Apesar do diagnóstico nutricional positivo, alguns problemas estruturais permanecem, como a elevada concentração de renda, os altos níveis de analfabetismo funcional, a discriminação social e racial e a prevalência de Insegurança Alimentar e Nutricional (INSAN). Está em curso um processo de legitimação e de exigibilidade do Direito Humano a Alimentação Adequada, no Brasil. A própria constituição federal e a Lei Orgânica de SAN (LOSAN), sancionada em 2006, integram um conjunto de regras de ordenamento jurídico do país que, em tese, garantiria uma alimentação saudável e adequada a todos os brasileiros, em consonância com as Diretrizes Voluntárias da FAO e com os tratados internacionais de direitos humanos, aos quais o Brasil é signatário. O objetivo geral do presente estudo é analisar a Política de Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional (PNSAN) em construção no Brasil, discutindo o seu arranjo institucional e a alocação de recursos. A metodologia da pesquisa foi baseada na análise de dados secundários, de documentos oficiais, e na legislação pertinente envolvendo o período de 2003 ao final do ano de 2008. A análise teve como suporte teórico os ensinamentos da Economia Institucional e de Finanças Públicas. Entre os principais resultados destaca-se a conclusão de que a Política de Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional brasileira está constituída. Com as Leis que a embasam tornou-se uma política de Estado e não mais de um Governo, entretanto, um dos tripés de sua “institucionalidade”, a Câmara Interministerial criada em 2007, peça-chave no processo de articulação da PNSAN, por sua natureza intersetorial, é, sem dúvida, o órgão mais precário do SISAN. Apesar dessa falha institucional, a política tem recebido apoio econômico substantivo, contudo os recursos estão concentrados em um único programa, importante, mas não estruturante. Programas que garantam o emprego e a produção, passando por qualificação, educação e assistência técnica são inequivocamente essenciais para a garantia do Direito Humano a Alimentação Adequada a todos os brasileiros e portanto deveriam receber maiores quantidades de recursos orçamentários. / In Brazil, research on the nutritional situation shows the reduction of the prevalence of malnutrition in the country, but reveals the increased prevalence of overweight and obesity. Although the positive nutritional diagnosis, structural problems remain, such as high income concentration, high levels of functional illiteracy, social and racial discrimination and the prevalence of Food and Nutrition Insecurity. There is an ongoing process of legitimation and enforceability of the Human Right to Adequate Food in Brazil. The federal constitution and the Food and Nutritional Security Law, published in 2006, incorporate a set of rules that, in theory, ensure a healthy and adequate diet to all Brazilians, in line with the FAO Voluntary Guidelines and the international human rights treaties to which Brazil is signatory. The general objective of this study is to analyze the Food and Nutritional Security Policy under construction in Brazil, discussing its institutional arrangement and allocation of resources. The methodology of the research was based on the analysis of secondary data, from official documents, and legislation involving the period of 2003 to 2008. The theoretical analysis was based on the teachings of Institutional Economics and Public Finance. Among the main results there is a conclusion that the Brazilian Food and Nutritional Security Policy is established, with Laws that makes it as a State Policy rather than a government. However, one of the tripods of its \"institutions\", the \"Câmara terministerial\" established in 2007, a key element in the articulation of this Policy, is without doubt the most precarious element of the Food and Nutritional Policy system. Despite this institutional failure, the policy has received substantial economic support, however the resources are concentrated in a single program, an important one, but not structural. Programs made to ensure employment and production, through skills, education and technical assistance are clearly essential to ensure the human right to adequate food to all Brazilians and therefore should receive higher amounts of budgetary resources.

Esta dissertação busca contribuir para a reflexão a cerca da produção habitacional autogestionária voltada para a população de baixa renda. Para desenvolver essa discussão, primeiro construímos uma abordagem histórica da trajetória do movimento de moradia em torno da apropriação do princípio da autogestão, a partir da política habitacional do Regime Militar ao Governo Lula. Partimos do pressuposto de que o desenho das políticas públicas, particularmente a habitacional, é resultado da disputa de interesses e da interação entre Estado, mercado e sociedade civil. E que a partir dessa interação o movimento popular se formou, amadureceu e passou a interferir na formulação das políticas habitacionais. Assim, o processo de criação do Programa Crédito Solidário, parte integrante da atual Política Nacional de Habitação, não é uma simples reivindicação pontual, mas um passo na trajetória decorrente dessa interação. Ao analisarmos os processos de pleito, elaboração, operacionalização e implementação do Programa Crédito Solidário, definido como o instrumento de análise para compreender qual a importância da autogestão na política habitacional do Governo Lula, foi possível verificar os limites e potencialidades para a efetivação do princípio da autogestão na atual ação pública habitacional. / The present dissertation is a reflection about the selfmanagement housing production directed towards the low income population in Brazil. To achieve our objective, we first devoted our research to a historical reconstruction of the popular housing movement trajectory and its relation to the selfmanagement principle, inside the national housing policies, from the Military Regime until the President Lulas Government. In this context, we assume that the construction of any public policy, and especially the housing one, is a result of the natural dispute of interests between the Government, the market, and the civil society. Furthermore, we believe that the popular housing movement is a result of this interaction, where it grew, matured, and started to interfere in the housing policies formulation. Therefore, the creation of the Program of Support Credit, as part of the National Housing Policy, is not a simple punctual claim, but another step in the trajectory resulted from this interaction. In the process of analysis of the of election, elaboration, operation, and implementation of the Program of Support Credit defined as our instrument of analysis to understand the importance of selfmanagement in the Housing Policy of Lulas Government we verified the limits and potentialities for an effective use of the selfmanagement principle in the current public housing action.

Dentists have traditionally been the sole gatekeepers to the delivery of primary care dental services. Direct Access, a measure that allows Dental Care Professionals to see patients without a referral from a Dentist, is a fundamental change to this long-standing principle. This thesis systematically explores the attitudes of stakeholders across the micro, meso and macro levels of dentistry towards Direct Access in two distinct health care systems, the Netherlands and the UK.Direct Access was introduced in the Netherlands in 2006 and subsequently introduced in the UK in 2013. This study uses a qualitative approach to explore the attitudes towards the introduction of Direct Access in both of these states. It presents the results of semi-structured interviews with 74 participants (individually or as part of a group) including Students, Dental Care Professionals and Dentists at the micro-level, representatives of Professional Associations, Insurers and Dental Schools at the meso-level and Policy Makers at the macro-level. The results of this study show a significant range of attitudes towards Direct Access, but reveal a degree of consensus within individual stakeholder groups towards the reform’s introduction and impact. Dental Care Professionals interpret the introduction of Direct Access as recognition of their capabilities and expect it to primarily benefit patients through access to care and expertise. Dentists were more likely to view the introduction of Direct Access in terms of competition or professional persecution, with the impacts considered from a professional or financial viewpoint. Policy Makers saw potential for Direct Access to realign dental workforces and services to contemporary care needs. Attitudes at the meso level demonstrated the greatest variety and were more influenced by the idiosyncrasies of their respective health care system. In comparing the attitudes towards Direct Access in the Netherlands and the UK there were several differences, such as in the support of the Direct Access by Principal Dentists, however many of these can be explained by differences in healthcare funding and the time difference between the two reforms. Despite these differences stakeholders in both states felt that while Direct Access had the potential to create significant impacts on a range of issues (including professional competition, patient access to care, the reduction of care costs to patients and the state, the redistribution of dental tasks and the remodelling of the dental workforce) it was unlikely to do so in either the Netherlands or the UK. Flaws in the Direct Access regulations, legal obstructions to crucial procedures and imbalances in street-level professional power were perceived to obstruct Direct Access. Rather than revolutionising dental services Direct Access has been implemented selectively in the interest of dental practices.

This theses focuses on evaluation of major developments in czech economic policy since 1997 - financial crises in 1997, inflation targeting, incentives and foreign direct investments in CZ and problems of czech public finances.

The aim of this thesis is to map and subsequently analyse and evaluate all the processes that are going on in the Ponrepo cinema. Even though it is an archive cinema it is currently participating in more complex and broader activities than just film screenings. Therefore, this thesis deals with the processes associated with traditional function as an intermediary of collections of the National Film Archive to the public and the processes associated with the new mission as a creative centre or platform for film education.

Due to its fragile position in the international community, Taiwan has used soft power projection and public diplomacy tools to present its values and to enforce its national interests. This work identifies and examines principal sources and instruments of soft power implemented in Taiwan's diplomatic practice. Taiwan is attractive to other countries especially for its values, culture and economic strength. It currently enhances its influence mainly via cultural projects, educational programs, foreign policy practice, economic soft power, gastrodiplomacy and media, specifically focusing on development and humanitarian aid, active participation in international bodies and clarifying its standpoint towards PRC, celebrity diplomacy, and on publishing foreign language books and informational texts about the country. It will be crucial for the future of Taiwan's public diplomacy to either focus on areas that have not been attractive so far, or to use the strategy of niche diplomacy. With better institutional coordination, well-targeted public diplomacy strategy and national brand making, Taiwan can continue in making its world image better.