The steady increase in project failure rates is leaving businesses searching for better integration techniques to virtualize their project environments. Through virtualization, organizations may have positive impacts on communities across geographical boundaries and resource constraints. The focus of this phenomenological study was to explore, via the experiences of successful project management practitioners, best practice strategies for integrating virtual project teams through data analysis. The conceptual framework included von Bertalanffy's general systems theory, decomposition model of business process and project management frameworks, and the recomposition approach. Twenty-two senior project managers with more than 5 years of experience managing virtual project environments participated in semistructured telephone interviews. The van Kaam process employing normalization and bracketing approaches in data analysis resulted in the emergence of 10 thematic categories. The 10 themes culminated in the identification of strategies for implementing best practices relevant to the integration of successful virtual project teams. The major themes pertained to 3 broad areas: (a) structure that accommodates skills and technology for virtual team success, (b) governance leading to efficient virtual project team management, and (c) collaboration practices across diverse environments. Findings may help leaders improve project management leadership practices involved in adopting a virtual project management framework for business infrastructure. Suggestions for future research include additional attention to virtualization problems with respect to the transferability of the systems theory models.

Healthcare in the US continues to suffer from the poor data quality practices processes that would ensure accuracy of patient health care records and information. A lack of current scholarly research on best practices in data quality and records management has failed to identify potential flaws within the relatively new electronic health records environment that affect not only patient safety but also cost, reimbursements, services, and most importantly, patient safety. The focus of this study was to current best practices using a panel of 25 health care industry data quality experts. The conceptual lens was developed from the International Monetary Fund's Data Quality Management model. The key research question asked how practices contribute to identifying improvements healthcare data, data quality, and integrity. The study consisted of 3 Delphi rounds. Each round was analyzed to identify consensus on proposed data quality strategies from previous rounds that met or exceeded the acceptance threshold to construct subsequent round questions. The 2 best practices identified to improve data collection were user training and clear processes. One significant and unanticipated finding was that the previous gold standard practices have become outdated with technological advances, leading to a higher potential for flawed or inaccurate patient healthcare data. There is an urgent need for health care leaders to maintain heightened awareness of the need to continually evaluate data collection and management policies, particularly as technology advances such as artificial intelligence matures. Developing national standards to address accurate and timely management of patient care data is critical for appropriate health care delivery decisions by health care providers.

Research into the location decision of Australian international firms was primarily directed toward investigating motivations of Australian investors for setting up their foreign direct investments (FDI) in specific foreign countries. Nevertheless, the strategic decision-making process concerning the selection of a beneficial foreign country for either Australian or Western Australian international operations has been neglected in the existing literature; hence, an evident and significant gap was identified. Therefore, the current exploratory investigation used an interpretive paradigm to examine ‘how do Western Australian internationalising firms arrive at a beneficial foreign location choice for their international operations and hence attain successful international expansion. As an attempt to provide rich and deep insights into managerial actions and procedures, as well as critical success factors, that should be considered in effective international location decision-making process to attain a beneficial foreign location choice, five empirical comparative in-depth case studies excluding a pilot case study were purposefully selected from among sixteen potential Western Australian firms which established manufacturing and service operations abroad. Furthermore, seven international location decision-making processes were examined within these five cases through relying on several data sources: in-depth face to face interviews, short telephone and follow-up interviews and questionnaire instrument as primary data sources besides field notes, documents review when available and internet sources as secondary data sources. Two main stages of analysis were undertaken in the current research, namely, within and cross-case analyses. / The empirical findings of the extant research show that a thorough consultative and international experience-based strategic decision process should be considered to attain effective foreign country selection decisions. The consultative decision process encompasses five crucial managerial phases; that is, (1) strategic analysis of internationalisation drivers, (2) strategic searching and development of location factors and alternatives, (3) acquiring of adequate and relevant information about the prospective locations and, hence, strategic assessment for these alternatives, (4) strategic selection of final beneficial foreign location choice, and finally, (5) effective implementation of the selected location choice. Results reveal that the decision process cannot separately lead to the selection of a beneficial foreign location choice in the absence of four critical success factors, i.e., (1) international business experience of the selected location team, (2) the country knowledge about the potential foreign locations, (3) in-house and external consultations with international business experts and (4) identification of a trustworthy and internationally experienced manager or local partner for the international operation. The findings also illustrate that the comprehensive foreign country selection decision process is a multi-stage decision process which incorporates three separate location selection processes, namely, (1) country selection, (2) city selection and (3) site selection process. The current research extends the satisficing or bounded rational decision theory by confirming the appropriateness and the effectiveness of the theory in foreign country selection decisions. / In addition, the earlier critical success factors are adding new and important aspects of knowledge to the existing research on location decision-making process in international business, as well as foreign direct investment decisions. Accordingly, the former management phases and critical success factors were integrated into a conceptual model. The major and the unique contribution of the current thesis to existing theory is the development of a decision model which combines two fields of management research; that is, strategic decision-making and location decision-making in international business. The research provides important methodological contributions to international business research in relation to an effective multiple case study approach to capture elements of the comprehensive and complex international location decision-making process. Finally, the research findings and decision model have practical managerial implications for both international and internationalising firms by assisting them to improve the effectiveness of their foreign country selection decision processes. Further, the findings provide benefits for foreign investment policy-makers as well as local development officials in both home and host countries by assisting them to increase their outward FDI and attract more inward FDI and, consequently, boost the economic development movement in their countries.

The purpose of this study was to identify any barriers or enablers as influences on wound care self-management by Indigenous people. A qualitative, interpretive study sought to investigate how participants perceived their wounds and their general health, and to identify the influences on them accessing wound care services. There is a dearth of information on culturally appropriate practice in wound management for Indigenous Australians. This research project was therefore significant in attempting to bridge the gap in nursing knowledge of Indigenous clients' perceptions of barriers and enablers for seeking wound care services,especially in relation to lower leg ulcers. The lack of culturally sensitive wound management practices potentially impacts on Indigenous clients' behaviours in seeking treatment from their health service providers. Participant observations and semi-structured interviews with the research participants investigated the management of their wounds, and the ways in which their culture influences wound management. The main aim was to understand participants' comprehension of the importance of wound care through reflection. Understanding the enhancing or obstructive influences on wound management practices was expected to provide a foundation for teaching self care of wounds in Indigenous populations and inform health professionals' approach to health education. The data were analysed using thematic analysis, which generated common themes related to the research questions. These themes are: visibility, of the problem,4 perceived versus actual level of knowledge, acceptance of co-morbid health conditions and pre-determined path of ill health. These findings indicated that in one region, participants' perception of poor health was related to visibility of the problem. Participants chose to have their visible wounds managed by Silver Chain Nursing Association, whereas Diabetes and Hypertension and any other non-visible disorders were seen as appropriate to the Aboriginal Medical Service (AMS). Further to this finding, most participants displayed a sense of helplessness and hopelessness when sharing information about their diagnosis of diabetes, believing this was the norm. Many also believed that having a strong family history of a particular disease resulted in the participants also inheriting the disease. During post interview educational sessions many of the Indigenous participants were surprised by the evidence based-research reported to them by the researcher that diabetes is a manageable disease with life style changes. Another issue highlighted was the perceived level of knowledge the participants had about wound care. Reassurance was given by the participants that their level of knowledge about how to manage their wounds was adequate. However, none of the participants were concerned about the length of time that their wound/s had or were being managed, between 3 months and 5 years. This acceptance that although a wound is not getting any worse and not getting any better was the norm is cause for concern, and indicates a low level of health literacy. This theme was 'perceiving an imbalance in perceptions of wound care knowledge with actual knowledge'. The most important recommendation from the study findings is the need to consider health literacy more carefully in the development of health promotion and health education for Indigenous clients with wounds.

L'automatisation de la numérisation est une étape indispensable au développement de la mesure tridimensionnelle, et ce, dans différents domaines :<br />- en milieu industriel, afin d'accélérer les procédures de contrôle de pièces,<br />- en archéologie et en biologie, pour l'étude de collections de plusieurs centaines voire milliers d'objets (dont l'acquisition est pour le moment impossible en raison du temps nécessaire, et donc du coût).<br />Dans ce mémoire, nous détaillons tout d'abord les différents systèmes d'acquisition et de positionnement existants, en détaillant les avantages et inconvénients de chaque système. Nous présentons ensuite la méthodologie mise en place pour guider l'opérateur dans ces choix ainsi que l'outil d'aide mis en place afin de formaliser cette méthodologie. Puis nous argumenterons de la nécessité de l'automatisation de la numérisation 3D en illustrant les limites et les contraintes des solutions actuellement en place. Des exemples d'application de la méthodologie sont décrits à travers différentes études de cas, mettant en évidence le temps d'intervention de l'opérateur. Ensuite, les méthodes d'automatisation de l'acquisition existantes sont décrites, en expliquant leurs limites face à notre problématique. Deux méthodes sont ensuite proposées : la première définit une planification de vues hors-ligne à partir d'un modèle de référence tandis que la seconde calcule la meilleure position suivante sans aucune information a priori sur l'objet. Ces deux méthodes permettent une numérisation complète d'un objet sans intervention d'un opérateur. Afin de tester ces méthodes, un environnement de simulation a été implémenté, ainsi qu'un prototype. Enfin, les résultats obtenus sont présentés et comparés à une numérisation manuelle.

<p>De största konsekvenserna av föräldrarnas beslut att gå skilda vägar bär tredje part i familjen – barnen. Samtidigt är det de som har rätt till en trygg uppväxt och utveckling som skall tillgodoses av föräldrarna. Hur kan barnperspektiv framhållas och inte hamna i skuggan av de vuxnas perspektiv? Finns det klara linjer för hur barnperspektiv ska framhållas? Av vem kan barnen förvänta sig stöd under den svåra tiden? Hur kan den laddade situationen mellan föräldrarna som utspelas i vårdnads, boende och umgängestvister minskas? Syftet med uppsatsen är att utreda vilken ställning barn som grupp har efter lagändringarna i föräldrabalken (FB) 1 juli 2006 i frågor/tvister rörande dem själva gällande vårdnad, boende och umgänge. I samband med det syftar jag också att utreda vem som ger familjen inklusive barnen stöd under den jobbiga perioden och vad som är de yrkesprofessionellas åsikter. Rätten till båda sina föräldrar, genom gemensam vårdnad eller växelvis boende, var och är en del av offentliga retoriken om barns uppväxt. Forskningsresultaten tvingar oss att inse att barn inte mår bra av att vara underställda föräldrarnas rättigheter framför deras skyldigheter och domstolsbeslut, på grund av att barn och föräldrarnas oenighet inte synliggörs och barn har ingen yttranderätt i civilrättsliga mål om vårdnad, boende och umgänge. Jag har valt en kvalitativ design och ett icke- sannolikhets, målinriktad urval, halvstrukturerade intervju med yrkesprofessionella för att undersöka uppsatsens frågor.  Jag har använt rationell val teorin, kognitiva teorin, Meads rollövertagande teori och social konstruktivism teorin för resultatanalys. Man kan konstatera att barn som grupp fick mer inflytande efter lagändringar i FB 1 juli 2006 i frågor/tvister rörande dem själva om vårdnad, boende och umgänge, men detta inflytande är inte tillräckligt för att barnperspektivet inte riskerar att underställas de vuxnas perspektiv. För att förebygga detta behövs först och främst en tydlig definition av barns bästa och riktlinjer för att tolka denna. Tolkning är ett viktigt moment och omfattar barns rättsäkerhet. Tolkningen ska sammanfalla med barns bästa i slutändan men så är det inte alltid idag. Stödet från samhället för kärnfamiljer inklusive barn räcker inte till som både min studie och tidigare forskning har visat.</p> / <p>The biggest consequence of the parents’ decision to go separate ways bears the third part of the family- the children. Still it is they who have the right to a safe upbringing and development that should be satisfied by their parents. How can children's perspectives be stressed and not end up in the shadow of the parents perspective? Are there clear lines of how the child's perspective should be emphasized?  By whom can the children expect support during the difficult time? How can the ill-tempered situation between the parents concerning custody, housing and socializing disputes be reduced? The purpose of the paper is to investigate the status of children as a group, after legislative changes in the “Föräldrabalken” (FB) July 1, 2006 on matters /disputes relating to concerning custody, housing and socializing. In that context I also aims to investigate who gives the family (including children) support during the hard period and what are the opinion of the professionals. The right of both parents, joint custody and alternately living was and is a part of the public rhetoric about children's upbringing. The results of the research forces us to recognize that children do not feel well to be subject to the rights of parents over their obligations and court decisions, because the children and parents' disagreement is not visible and there are no rights for children to speak in civil cases concerning the custody, housing, socializing. I chose a qualitative design and a non-probability, purposeful sampling, semi-structured interview with professionals to examine the paper’s issues. I have used rational choice theory, cognitive theory, Meads taking over the role theory and social constructionist theory for performance analysis. It can be noted that children as a group had more influences after the legislative changes in “FB” July 1, 2006 in matters /disputes relating them about custody, housing and socializing, but this influence is not sufficient so the child's perspective will not likely to be overran by the adults perspective. To prevent this we first and foremost need a clear definition of the child's best and guidelines who to interpret it. Interpretation is an important moment, and includes children's legal rights. Interpretation should coincide with the children's best in the end, but it is not always the case today. The support today from society to families (including children) is not enough and that is shown both in my study and in previous research.</p>

Urban development will continue to increase in Texas because of population growth and urban sprawl. Despite the desire for urbanization and expansion of the economy, this growth increases the amount of construction, which, if not properly managed, can increase non-point source pollution and threaten surface water quality. Therefore, Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has approved and promoted the use of compost as a stormwater best management practice (BMP) during highway construction. The objectives of this study were to construct and calibrate an indoor rainfall simulator and to determine the effectiveness of using compost rather than conventional hydroseeding or topsoil to reduce erosion from disturbed soils. Runoff rates, interrill erosion, and interrill erodibility were determined and compared across five compost treatments following TxDOT specifications for compost applied as an erosion control and two control treatments of topsoil (TS) and hydroseeding (HS) applied at 5 cm depth. The simulator produced 89% uniformity using ten Veejet 80100 nozzles at a target rate of 100 mm h-1. The surface runoff was collected after 5 minutes of rainfall (first flush) and during the last 30 minutes of rainfall (steady-state). The first flush mean runoff for GUC-5 treatment was significantly higher than all other treatments. All other treatments; 50% woodchips and 50% compost blend (ECC-1.3, ECC-5), and hydroseeding (HS) had significantly lower runoff and erosion rates compared to topsoil (TS) and compost manufactured topsoil (CMT) at first flush and steady-state. Furthermore, there were no performance differences between 1.3 cm and 5 cm compost applications at first flush or steady-state. The results of this project indicate that particle size, soil moisture capabilities, and time at which rainfall is applied affect surface runoff. TxDOT specification of using ECC at 5 cm depth on a max of 3:1 slope should be reconsidered. An ECC application depth of 1.3 cm was effective in reducing first flush runoff and interrill erosion rates.

This dissertation makes contributions in topics related to mechanism design and learn-ing in game theoretic environments through three essays. The rst essay deals withthe question of mechanism design in the principal-agent model. The main contribu-tion of this essay is in extending the work by Piketty (1993). It prescribes a mechanismin incomplete informational settings where the principal is able to implement rst-best contracts while extracting the entire surplus. Importantly, the mechanism issuch that the desired outcome can be uniquely obtained when agents play the actionthat survives iterative elimination of dominated strategies. Furthermore, given themechanism, the desired outcome is shown to be a truth-revealing Nash equilibriumwhich is also Pareto-ecient. It is shown that the proposed mechanism also has thefeature that none of the agents prefer any of the other possible Nash Equilibria tothe status quo. It thus gives insights into possible mechanisms in nite agent settingsthat could improve upon the traditional second-best results.In the second essay, a model of sophisticated learning is developed where itassumes that a fraction of the population is sophisticated while the rest are adaptive learners. Sophisticated learners in the model try to maximize their cumulative payoin the entire length of the repeated game and are aware of the way adaptive learnerslearn. Sophisticated learning contrasts other models of learning which typically tendto maximize the payo for the next period by extrapolating the history of play.The sophisticated learning model is estimated on data of experiments on repeatedcoordination games where it provides evidence of such learning behavior.The third essay deals with the optimal pricing policy for a rm in an oligopolythat is uncertain about the demand it faces. The demand facing the oligopoly, whichcan be learned through their pricing policy, changes over time in a Markovian fashion.It also deduces the conditions in which learning (experimentation) is not achievableand outlines the dierent learning policies that are possible in other settings. Themodel combines the monopoly learning literature with that of the literature on pric-ing behavior of rms over business cycles. The model has interesting insights onthe pricing behavior over business cycles. It predicts that prices jump as the beliefof a possible future boom rises over a certain threshold. The model also predictscompetition to be quite vigorous following a boom while rms are predicted not toexperiment with their (pricing) policies for many periods following a bust.

The power dynamics of consumerism is an important aspect of contemporary consumer culture. Within the field of marketing and consumption, consumer culture theory (CCT) tends to understand power in terms of agency, the ability of consumers to emancipate from a market infused by the culture of consumerism. As such, CCT assumes a repressive hypothesis of power, as if consumerism was an external reality from which agentic consumers can escape by acts of dialectical opposition. In contrast, through a Foucauldian approach, the present study emphasizes the productive side of power, arguing that consumerism operates beyond dialectical oppositions to constitute consumption at different levels of scale – at the macro, meso and micro levels. More specifically, through qualitative data generated from official documents and interviews with state agency officials, consumers, and food manufacturers and retailers, the study undertakes a discourse analysis of date labeling in the food market. In accounting for the regulative, organizational and performative dimensions of consumption, the case of date labeling makes it possible to study consumerism at the intersection of the state, business and consumers. The study argues that consumption is constituted through a multiplicity of mundane power struggles that arise in the wake of date labeling. As such, it extends previous approaches by suggesting an extra-dialectical theory of consumer culture. Further, it argues that date labeling reinforces the mind/body dualism of consumerism by privileging cognition and choice at the cost of the human embodiment and sensory perception. It concludes that empowered performativity does not represent a negation of power, but that it emerges as a product of power and the consumerist attempt to constitute effective, predictable, responsible and controlled consumption. However, future research should continue studying the dominant institutional conditions of particular consumption contexts.

Although the demand for public presentations exists, barriers prevent many Master Gardener Volunteers from participating in speaking events. This study identifies the perspectives of both County Extension Agents and Master Gardener Volunteers on effective Master Gardener Speakers Bureaus. Characteristics and best practices of successful Speakers Bureaus are identified as well as barriers to their development and growth. A parallel mixed method study was designed to simultaneously gather qualitative and quantitative data. The results conclude for Master Gardener Speakers Bureaus to be successful, both agents and volunteers need to have a positive attitude and be support of the Speakers Bureau’s efforts. Utilizing volunteer leadership and offering training are the two best practices that emerged from the data and are recommended to overcome the barriers for Master Gardener Speakers Bureaus.