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The apparel industry is one of the first industries being criticized and publicly shamed for not taking enough social responsibility for the workers in their supply chain. Today, most of the apparel production takes place in developing countries such as Bangladesh, China, Cambodia and Vietnam. Social issues in the apparel supply chain are often related to health and safety, minimum wages, overtime, child labor and the lack of freedom of association. Controlling these social issues is difficult since the apparel companies and their suppliers are geographically and culturally separated. Furthermore, the production of apparel takes place in countries with weaker legal frameworks not being strict enough to protect the workers' rights. Hence, the apparel companies face major challenges in controlling the fulfillment of international standards from the International Labor Organization and United Nations. There is a lack of research on the topic related to social sustainability practices in the supply chain and researchers state that it requires more attention, by focusing on how companies' code of conducts (CoC) and international standards can be used more effectively in the context of sourcing and social responsibility. To address the research gap, the purpose of the study is to understand how brand-owning apparel companies in Scandinavia control social sustainability in their supplier networks. Based on those findings, we will compare the relation between the empirical data and what theories and international standards illustrate as critical aspects for controlling social sustainability. In the study, we have conducted semi-structured interviews with seven Scandinavian apparel companies. Since social sustainability can be a sensitive topic for companies to share information on, we have also conducted an interview with Nina Wertholz, working at the non-profit organization Fair Action, providing a different perspective. By using a thematic analysis, two main themes have been identified that together answer the research question, namely control measures and factors affecting control. Firstly, control measures relate to what the companies' control consists of and our findings demonstrate risk assessments, code of conduct, audits, and measurement as the main tools. Still, we conclude that these control measures are not sufficient to control social sustainability in the supplier network. Secondly, factors affecting control can explain the outcome of controlling social sustainability. Findings advocate that a good collaboration, providing support and a shared interest can facilitate a higher degree of control. Additionally, our findings shows that companies with smaller order quantities have less influence and control over their supplier's social sustainability practices. We also infer that the number of suppliers and which countries the companies choose to source from will affect the obtained level of control. Furthermore, decisions regarding the supplier base and the sourcing country are active choices made by the companies. Lastly, we conclude that the companies' purchasing behavior can affect the level of control related to wages, incomes, and overtime for the workers in the apparel supply chain.

The Interactive Highway Safety Design Model (IHSDM) is a suite of software developed by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) for monitoring and analyzing two-lane rural highways in the United States. As IHSDM is a fairly "young" program a limited amount of research has been conducted to evaluate its practicability and reliability. To determine if IHSDM can be adopted into the engineering decision making process in Utah, a study was conducted under the supervision of the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) to evaluate its applicability to audit safety of two-lane rural highways in Utah. IHSDM consists of six modules: Policy Review Module (PRM), Crash Prediction Module (CPM), Design Consistency Module (DCM), Traffic Analysis Module (TAM), Intersection Review Module (IRM), and Driver/Vehicle Module (DVM) (still under construction). Among the six modules, two were chosen for evaluation because of their applicability to audit safety of the two-lane rural highways in Utah, namely CPM and IRM. For the evaluation of the CPM, three two-lane rural highway sections were selected. The results of this evaluation show that the CPM can produce reasonably reliable crash predictions if appropriate input data, especially alignment data, reflect the existing conditions at reasonable accuracy and engineering judgment is used. Using crash records available from UDOT's crash database and CPM's crash prediction capability, UDOT's traffic and safety engineers can locate "hot spots" for detailed safety audit, thus making the safety audit task more focused and effective. Unlike the CPM, the outputs of the IRM are qualitative and include primarily suggestions and recommendations. They will help the traffic and safety engineers identify what to look for as they visit the sites, such as a lack of stopping sight distance and a lack of passing sight distance. The interpretation of the IRM requires knowledge of various aspects of highway design, familiarity with A Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), and experience in traffic engineering. Based on the findings of the study, it is concluded that the CPM and IRM of IHSDM could be a useful tool for engineering decision-making during safety audits of two-lane rural highways. But the outputs from these modules demand knowledge and experience in highway design. It is recommended that the other modules of IHSDM be tested to fully appreciate the capability of IHSDM. The software can be a knowledgebased program that can help novice engineers to learn how to design safe two-lane rural highways.

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Graduation qualification work (master's thesis) is devoted to the study of the effectiveness of the control activities of tax authorities through the organization of cameral tax audits. The subject of the research is the economic relations arising in the process of evaluating the effectiveness of cameral tax audits on the example of the inter-district tax inspection of Russia No. 24 in the Sverdlovsk region. The purpose of the research is to study the theoretical positions and develop practical recommendations for improving the effectiveness of tax control. During the writing of the thesis: the basic concepts characterizing tax administration as part of the tax policy of the state are given, the mechanism for improving the control activities of tax authorities is reviewed, the problems of organizing control activities are identified, ways to solve them are proposed, and the economic efficiency of the measures proposed by the author is calculated. / Выпускная квалификационная работа (магистерская диссертация) посвящена исследованию вопросов эффективности контрольной деятельности налоговых органов через организацию камеральных налоговых проверок. Предметом исследования выступают экономические отношения, возникающие в процессе оценки результативности камеральных налоговых проверок на примере межрайонной ИФНС России №24 по Свердловской области. Целью исследовательской работы является изучение теоретических положений и разработка практических рекомендаций по повышению результативности налогового контроля. В ходе написания диссертационной работы: даны основные понятия, характеризующие налоговое администрирование как часть налоговой политики государства, рассмотрен механизм совершенствования контрольной деятельности налоговых органов, выявлены проблемы организации контрольной деятельности, предложены пути их решения и рассчитана экономическая эффективность предложенных автором мероприятий.

Wastewater treatment facilities around the world use significant amount of energy which contributes to large quantities of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. According to the U.S.EPA, nearly 3% of the USA's energy is used to treat wastewater. This consumption is increasing at faster rates with increase in population and regulations. Wastewater facilities use large number of pumps in their transfer stations, treatment plants, and effluent pump stations. All these pumps consume considerable amounts of energy. This study presents a preliminary energy inspection of two facilities from Louisiana. This audit provides an inventory of the energy consumed for various activities like pumping, treatment, and discharge. This analysis helps the operators to identify the potential power consuming areas and optimize by adopting several energy conservation measures (ECMs). This study also involves the quantification of GHG emissions based on the energy consumption. The benefits of the study include minimizing energy and GHG emission.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-02T21:42:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marco Antonio.pdf: 1023589 bytes, checksum: cc0f116e441f67641b5a13b39e467be2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-08-19 / This work aims to present and develop the roll of on the strategic management of people within a vision that covers the inter-organizational relationships outside the old-fashioned boundaries that involve an organization. This study establishes both the importance and the systematic of the management on the HR activities shared with the external value chain by analyzing the practices carried out by the suppliers, competitors and costumers. This organizational area is named by the author as SRM Strategic Relationships Management. Based on a research carried out before 26 companies, grounded on a group of 5 axle-companies and its distributors, in which was used a research poll with a Likert scale and semi-structured personal interviews with managers and professionals in many areas as well as the static treatment of the data with SPSS program, pointing out the confirmation of the questions of the research regarding the SRM as a proposition for the expansion of the HR activities.The SRM includes a leadership proposal focusing in how one can and must deliver value for the organization, for the strategic partners, for the investors and specially for the clients in a sustainable and innovative way.(AU) / Este trabalho pretende apresentar e compreender o papel da gestão estratégica de pessoas, dentro de uma visão que contempla as relações interorganizacionais fora dos limites tradicionais de seu escopo nas empresas e expandidas além das dimensões formais e fronteiras que permeiam uma organização. Este estudo estabelece a importância e sistemáticas da gestão de atividades de RH, compartilhadas com a cadeia de valor externa, analisando-as nas práticas com os canais de distribuição junto aos clientes. Esta área organizacional é denominada pelo autor de GRE - Gestão das Relações Estratégicas. Baseando-se em uma pesquisa exploratória em 26 empresas, organizada a partir de cinco empresas nodais e seus canais de distribuição, utilizou-se a aplicação de um questionário de pesquisa com escala Likert e entrevistas pessoais semi-estruturadas junto aos gestores e profissionais de diversas áreas, bem como o tratamento estatístico dos dados com o programa SPSS, indicando a confirmação das questões de pesquisa relativas a GRE como sendo uma proposta de expansão das atividades do RH, focando em como se pode e devem entregar valor para a organização, para os aliados estratégicos, os investidores e fundamentalmente para os clientes.(AU)

Целью работы является разработка методического инструментария и практических рекомендаций для повышения эффективности службы внутреннего аудита. В основе лежит разработка алгоритма проведения аудиторских проверок на основе внедрения автоматизированных процессов и увеличения роли сторонних подразделений и авторской методики определения экономической эффективности внутреннего аудита на базе введения индивидуального коэффициента как для оценки отдельных составляющих бизнеса, так и в целом. Разработанный инструментарий развивает методические основы и принципы проведения внутреннего аудита, что позволяет улучшить финансовое положение и повысить точность определения инвестиционной привлекательности предприятий. / The purpose of the work is to develop methodical tools and practical recommendations to improve the efficiency of the internal audit service. It is based on the development of an audit algorithm based on the introduction of automated processes and an increase in the role of third-party departments and the author's methodology for determining the economic efficiency of internal audit based on the introduction of an individual coefficient both for evaluating individual components of the business and as a whole. The developed tools develop the methodological foundations and principles of internal audit, which makes it possible to improve the financial situation and increase the accuracy of determining the investment attractiveness of enterprises.

In this study, the utilization of palliative care services, acute care services, and location of death for clients who were palliative and receiving services from Champlain Community Care Access Centre (CCAC) in Ontario during their last month of life were investigated. An adaptation of Andersen?s Behavioral Model of Health Services Utilization provided context and structure to this study. This is an historical, quantitative descriptive study using chart audits for data collection. The data on CCAC clients who were palliative and who died during the month of July 2009 were tracked during their last month of life. Collection of socio-demographic data, services provided through CCAC, emergency department visits, hospital admissions, and location of death provided the data for this study. The clients who died at home used more CCAC services than those who died at other locations and frequently community palliative care physicians provided their medical care. The findings of this study included: 1) The majority of the clients, who expressed a preference, died in their preferred location. 2) The role of community palliative care physicians was an important component of the services that supported the clients to die in their location of choice. 3) Over 25% of the study sample died in a hospital and the clients used a large number of in-patient hospital days with one quarter of the hospital deaths taking place in an emergency department or an intensive care unit. 4) During the last month of life, 25% of the clients received chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy. 5) The clients who died at home used more CCAC services than those who died in other locations and who used institutional resources. The implications for practice, policy, research, and education are discussed.

In this study, the utilization of palliative care services, acute care services, and location of death for clients who were palliative and receiving services from Champlain Community Care Access Centre (CCAC) in Ontario during their last month of life were investigated. An adaptation of Andersen?s Behavioral Model of Health Services Utilization provided context and structure to this study. This is an historical, quantitative descriptive study using chart audits for data collection. The data on CCAC clients who were palliative and who died during the month of July 2009 were tracked during their last month of life. Collection of socio-demographic data, services provided through CCAC, emergency department visits, hospital admissions, and location of death provided the data for this study. The clients who died at home used more CCAC services than those who died at other locations and frequently community palliative care physicians provided their medical care. The findings of this study included: 1) The majority of the clients, who expressed a preference, died in their preferred location. 2) The role of community palliative care physicians was an important component of the services that supported the clients to die in their location of choice. 3) Over 25% of the study sample died in a hospital and the clients used a large number of in-patient hospital days with one quarter of the hospital deaths taking place in an emergency department or an intensive care unit. 4) During the last month of life, 25% of the clients received chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy. 5) The clients who died at home used more CCAC services than those who died in other locations and who used institutional resources. The implications for practice, policy, research, and education are discussed.