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Globalisation and outsourcing have exacerbated the complexity of supply chains (Christopher, 2016). As a result, new business models have emerged to reduce the complexity of the supply chain by utilising supply chain management solutions. These business models serve as links in the supply chain that facilitate the integration of the functions of the primary organisation with those of other organisations. When disruptions occur in the supply chain, several parties are impacted. In this situation, supply chain and risk management methodologies can assist in assessing internal and external aspects during disruptive events. To understand the perspective of logistics service providers, this thesis examines Schenker Dedicated Services and Samskip's perceptions of disruptive events, the effects of these events, and how resilience plans are developed. In this context, a logistics service provider is an underlying link that helps its clients by applying supply chain management strategies such as coordinating, integrating, establishing connections, and cooperating.  We assembled a panel of supply chain practitioners with different roles at third-party and fourth-party logistics companies to investigate these factors. This panel had a role in our qualitative investigation and expressed their perspectives. It was discovered that their views of interruptions in the supply chain are comparable but slightly different. These discrepancies may be attributable to the company's business style, logistical networks, and geographic location. / Globalisering och outsourcing har gjort leveranskedjorna svårare (Christopher, 2016). Följaktligen har det växt fram nya affärsmodeller för att minimera komplexiteten i försörjningskedjan genom försörjningskedjehanterings verktyg. Dessa affärsmodeller fungerar som länkar i försörjningskedjan som i sin tur hjälper till att integrera den primära organisationens funktioner i andra organisationer. När störningar uppstår i försörjningskedjan påverkas många inblandade parter. I detta fall kan tillvägagångssätten för försörjningskedje - och riskhantering hjälpa till att mäta de interna och externa faktorerna under störningar. Schenker Dedicated Services och Samskips utformar den underliggande länken i försörjningskedjan. Detta leder till ett fokus på hanteringen av försörjningskedjan genom att samordna, integrera, upprätta länkar och samarbeta. Genom att undersöka Schenker Dedicated Services och Samskips uppfattning om störande händelser, dess effekter och hur motståndsplaner utformas fastställs logistiktjänsteleverantörernas perspektiv.  För att undersöka dessa faktorer valde vi en grupp av personer som är insatta med roller inom Schenker Dedicated Services som är ett fjärdepartslogistik företag och Samskip som är ett företag med inslag av tredjepartslogistik och fjärdepartslogistiks verksamhet. Gruppen var med i vår kvalitativa studie och delade sina uppfattningar kring ämnet. Det visade sig att de har liknande uppfattningar om störningar i leveranskedjan men med små skillnader. Dessa skillnader kan ha kopplingar till arten av företagets affärsmodell, deras logistiska nätverk såväl som deras geografiska område.

Over the past three decades, obesity rates for children ages 2-5 years have doubled from 5% to 10% and children ages 6-11 years have more than tripled from 4% to over 15%. Adequate amounts of fruits and vegetables in the diet are necessary to reduce increased risks associated with long term inadequate consumption of these foods. Grant recipients received funds to purchase a sectionizer and slicer to prepare more attractive fruits and vegetables for school food service lines. Through the use of a descriptive survey, recipients reported a significant reduction in workload on staff and an increase in the amounts of fruits and vegetables children took from service lines after these foods were prepared using this equipment. Using equipment designed to increase convenience or enhance appearance of fruits and vegetables in school food service operations may increase the consumption of fruits and vegetables provided to children through child nutrition programs.

yes / Background/Aims: Personalised nutrition has potential to revolutionise dietary health promotion if accepted by the general public. We studied trust and preferences regarding personalised nutrition services, how they influence intention to adopt these services, and cultural and social differences therein. Methods: A total of 9381 participants were quota sampled to be representative for each of nine EU countries (Germany, Greece, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Netherlands, UK, Norway) and surveyed by questionnaire assessing their intention to adopt personalised nutrition, trust in service regulators and information sources, and preferences for service providers and information channels. Results: Trust and preferences significantly predicted intention to adopt personalised nutrition. Higher trust in the local department of healthcare was associated with lower intention to adopt personalised nutrition. General practitioners were the most trusted of service regulators, except for in Portugal, where consumer organisations and universities were most trusted. In all countries, family doctors were the most trusted information providers. Trust in the National Health Service as service regulator and information source showed high variability across countries. Despite its highest variability across countries, personal meeting was the preferred communication channel except in Spain (where an automated internet service was preferred). General practitioners were the preferred service providers, except in Poland, where dietitians and nutritionists were preferred. The preference for dietitians and nutritionists as service providers highly varied across countries. Conclusion: These results may assist in informing local initiatives to encourage acceptance and adoption of country specific tailored personalised nutrition services therefore benefiting individual and public health.

There are distinctions noted in mental healthcare service uptake based on immigration status among racialized immigrants in Canada. Research focused on understanding mental healthcare disparities in accessing care within this broad population group often attends to individual-level drivers, which detracts from how systemic factors play a role in producing disparities. Through a three project study, this dissertation aims to explore how access to mental healthcare services among this broad population is influenced by different factors. First, a scoping review aimed to identify barriers and facilitators encountered by racialized immigrants when accessing mental healthcare services across Canada. Second, a qualitative descriptive study explored 16 racialized immigrants’ experiences of accessing mental health services in Ontario, Canada. Third, a qualitative descriptive study centred on the perspectives of both 16 service users and 10 mental healthcare service providers to explore how the immigration and mental healthcare systems coalesce together and play a role in shaping access to services. The findings from all three studies demonstrate how individual and systemic-level factors produce certain inequities for racialized immigrants when accessing mental healthcare services in Ontario. Improving access to mental healthcare services for this broad population group requires attention to how service delivery exists and is shaped by macro-level factors. By highlighting legal status as a starting point for interrogation related to understanding disparities in access, a more nuanced understanding can be gained to pinpoint drivers contributing to the issue. There also needs to be an emphasis on situating how the existing mental healthcare infrastructure plays a role, specifically how access is mediated through one’s legal status. Racialized immigrants are not a monolithic group and therefore, development of equitable policies, programs, and service delivery related to mental health should account this complexity rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Racialized immigrants in Canada experience barriers when accessing mental healthcare services. While there is research that documents these barriers, there is a lack of focus on understanding how this large population’s experiences can be shaped by their legal status. The goal of this dissertation was to understand factors that influence racialized immigrants’ access to mental healthcare services in Ontario, Canada. To explore this issue, this was done through a scoping review and interviews with 16 service users and 10 mental healthcare providers. The findings point to gaps in mental healthcare services that are driven by both system and individual level factors. Meaning changes to improve services must start at the top, specifically changes to policies that limit access to care. However, it is important to not use a blanket approach in developing solutions for this broad population because it will limit how services can be adapted to their unique needs.

Yes / For years, humankind has been facing various disasters of which logistics has a crucial role for alleviating sufferings of vulnerable people, who are isolated and in need of basic supplies. Owing to the increasing importance of logistics in humanitarian operations, logistics service providers (LSPs) have recently become more prominent. Yet, only a few LSPs have the capabilities and mechanisms to offer operational solutions for humanitarian relief. Also, the conducted extensive literature review makes evident that the existence of a limited number of normative research reveals a barrier about what LSPs can bring into the humanitarian field. Accordingly, why LSPs are particularly important in the humanitarian supply chain and how LSPs manage their activities and resources in humanitarian operations become the main questions to be addressed. Thus, this study seeks to explore humanitarian operations of LSPs from different dimensions, enabled by Business Model Canvas (BMC). In this sense, the obtained findings clarify both similar and different viewpoints of diverse LSPs when mapped against the BMC. Consequently, the categorised interrelated information presented through the cross-case synthesis provide novelty to advance insights both on strategic missions of LSPs in humanitarian relief operations and on the usage of BMC beyond its common commercial implementations.

Yes / The developments brought by Industry 4.0 have spread to various components in a supply chain, where logistics is of utmost importance due to the intermediate role of logistics service providers (LSPs) operating among different actors. Despite such a vital role, the extant literature lacks from the extensive analysis of Industry 4.0 implementations in the logistics industry, particularly for LSPs. Accordingly, this study sets out to investigate, comprehensively, Industry 4.0 projections in logistics and their reflections on LSPs by adopting a multidimensional approach. In this respect, the key themes influenced by Industry 4.0 developments are initially determined through a structured survey conducted in the Turkish logistics industry. Then, in the same industry, both the probabilities and the impacts of Industry 4.0-focused thematic statements are examined through an integrative interview survey, which also incorporates ‘why-type’ of questions. Consequently, this study offers academic implications in terms of demonstrating possible changes in the logistics industry from the operational, financial, and human resources aspects. Additionally, the findings serve as a reference for logistics professionals while fostering their competitive Industry 4.0 initiatives and facilitating their strategic decisions.

O segmento das comunicações, já há alguns anos, vem passando por significativas transformações exigindo a interação entre ambientes tecnológicos convergentes heterogêneos, com qualidade na continuidade de serviços, para se manter competitivo, pois é este mercado que exige, constantemente, que mais recursos tecnológicos lhe sejam colocados à disposição. O ineditismo da proposta desenvolvida neste trabalho é a elaboração de um modelo para assegurar a continuidade da qualidade de serviço percebida pelo usuário final através de handover (ou handoff) vertical, o que caracteriza-se como uma necessidade de solução global, isto é, o modelo é genérico e independente da tecnologia, o que permite sua adoção em qualquer ambiente de rede existente aproveitando a capilaridade já disponível das redes legadas. É analisada também a situação na qual um usuário final esteja acessando simultaneamente serviços gerenciados por Provedores de Serviço distintos, o que conduz a duas situações possíveis: a) o usuário está acessando serviços distintos contratados a Provedores de Serviço diferentes; b) o usuário está acessando o mesmo serviço contratado a Provedores de Serviço distintos. Nesta última situação pode surgir a necessidade de disparar um processo de handover exigindo a decisão de qual dos Provedores o executará, de acordo com o SPHDA Service Providers Handover Decision Agreement. A metodologia adotada para o desenvolvido do modelo foi a RM-ODP - Reference Model for Open Distributed Processing, por abranger todos os aspectos técnicos e comerciais necessários à sua construção. / The sector of communications, for some years, has undergone significant changes requiring interaction between converging heterogeneous technology environments, with quality and continuity of services to stay competitive, because this market is that requires constantly more technological resources available. The novelty of the proposal developed in this work is the development of a model to ensure the continued quality of service perceived by end users via vertical handover (or handoff), which characterizes itself as a need for a global solution, i.e., the model is generic and technology independent, allowing its adoption in any network environment taking advantage of the capillary already available from legacy networks. It is also analyzed the situation in which an end user is simultaneously accessing services managed by different Service Providers, which leads to two possible situations: a) the user is accessing different services contracted to different Service Providers; b) the user is accessing the same service contracted to different Service Providers. In this last situation may be necessary to trigger a handover process requiring the decision of which the Providers shall execute it in accordance with the SPHDA - Service Providers Handover Decision Agreement. The methodology adopted for the model development was the RM-ODP - Reference Model for Open Distributed Processing, as it includes all technical and commercial aspects necessary for its construction.

O segmento das comunicações, já há alguns anos, vem passando por significativas transformações exigindo a interação entre ambientes tecnológicos convergentes heterogêneos, com qualidade na continuidade de serviços, para se manter competitivo, pois é este mercado que exige, constantemente, que mais recursos tecnológicos lhe sejam colocados à disposição. O ineditismo da proposta desenvolvida neste trabalho é a elaboração de um modelo para assegurar a continuidade da qualidade de serviço percebida pelo usuário final através de handover (ou handoff) vertical, o que caracteriza-se como uma necessidade de solução global, isto é, o modelo é genérico e independente da tecnologia, o que permite sua adoção em qualquer ambiente de rede existente aproveitando a capilaridade já disponível das redes legadas. É analisada também a situação na qual um usuário final esteja acessando simultaneamente serviços gerenciados por Provedores de Serviço distintos, o que conduz a duas situações possíveis: a) o usuário está acessando serviços distintos contratados a Provedores de Serviço diferentes; b) o usuário está acessando o mesmo serviço contratado a Provedores de Serviço distintos. Nesta última situação pode surgir a necessidade de disparar um processo de handover exigindo a decisão de qual dos Provedores o executará, de acordo com o SPHDA Service Providers Handover Decision Agreement. A metodologia adotada para o desenvolvido do modelo foi a RM-ODP - Reference Model for Open Distributed Processing, por abranger todos os aspectos técnicos e comerciais necessários à sua construção. / The sector of communications, for some years, has undergone significant changes requiring interaction between converging heterogeneous technology environments, with quality and continuity of services to stay competitive, because this market is that requires constantly more technological resources available. The novelty of the proposal developed in this work is the development of a model to ensure the continued quality of service perceived by end users via vertical handover (or handoff), which characterizes itself as a need for a global solution, i.e., the model is generic and technology independent, allowing its adoption in any network environment taking advantage of the capillary already available from legacy networks. It is also analyzed the situation in which an end user is simultaneously accessing services managed by different Service Providers, which leads to two possible situations: a) the user is accessing different services contracted to different Service Providers; b) the user is accessing the same service contracted to different Service Providers. In this last situation may be necessary to trigger a handover process requiring the decision of which the Providers shall execute it in accordance with the SPHDA - Service Providers Handover Decision Agreement. The methodology adopted for the model development was the RM-ODP - Reference Model for Open Distributed Processing, as it includes all technical and commercial aspects necessary for its construction.

The use of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) by governments on all continents has been rapidly growing as government departments and their agencies continue to look for improvised means of providing high quality services. In South Africa, the demand for the replacement of the aging government infrastructure has led to the increase in the use of PPPs. The PPPs are not only used for the improvement of roads, but also in the provision of social services and many other services that are traditionally a responsibility of government. Government institutions typically enter into relationships with PPPs to address their needs and to meet specific objectives. It is, therefore, up to these institutions to choose an ideal model of procurement that best addresses their objectives of delivering effective services (Palmer, 2009:Online). Government institutions will, however, only enter into relationship with PPPs if the services can be transferred in a responsible way and if the risks for failure are limited. Inefficiencies in the disbursement of social assistance grants by the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) has received much attention and criticism from the stakeholders as the company contracted to perform the work on behalf of SASSA continues to provide poor quality services. In assessing a PPP, countries providing social security transfers need to take into consideration a partner that will assist in establishing and implementing the payment design and distribution mechanism that is capable of facilitating the cost effective, reliable and practical delivery of cash to the grant beneficiaries. A comprehensive review of literature and empirical investigation was carried out to respond to the research study’s set objectives. The study explored a wide-ranging survey of PPP projects in developed and developing countries focusing on the use of the PPP model in the South African context with specific reference to the disbursement of social grants by the SASSA. Alternative procurement methodologies in government were also reviewed. An analysis of relevant procurement theories was undertaken to form the basis of the research study. The mini-dissertation explores if there are any advantages for the government, and more specifically the SASSA, in using PPPs as opposed to traditional procurement methods. The study attempts to establish if a private partner can be encouraged to provide long-term investment in terms of expertise; well qualified staff; technology; infrastructure; and creation of an environment conducive for highly effective service delivery where the return on such investment is not guaranteed. / MA (Public Administration), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015