Sustainable manufacturing is becoming increasingly important due to scarcity of natural resources, stricter regulations and increasing customer demand for sustainable products. Sustainable manufacturing involves the use of sustainable processes and systems to produce more sustainable products. In order to meet these demands for sustainable products, manufacturing companies have to adopt numerous strategies to achieve sustainable manufacturing. The approach for evaluating sustainable products and processes have been investigated in previous work where product/process sustainability indices were proposed. However, no comprehensive methods are available for sustainable manufacturing performance evaluation at the system level. This work aims to develop two alternate methods for evaluating sustainable manufacturing performance at enterprise, plant and production line levels. First, requirements for a sustainability metrics framework are identified through studying and reviewing existing literature where the three pillars of sustainability, total life-cycle stages, and 6R concepts are concurrently addressed. Then index-and value-based methods are proposed to evaluate sustainable manufacturing performance by conducting assessment on economic, environmental and societal aspects. Finally, the application of these two methods is illustrated for a representative enterprise producing consumer electronics at the enterprise level; a case study for a satellite television dish production is used to demonstrate the application of these methods at the production line level. Results obtained from these two methods are compared and analyzed at the enterprise level. The proposed methods can provide information to a company to identify improvement strategies and for decision making for sustainable development.

Value-based hospital is a concept that is causing a major transformation of hospitals and their information systems. Currently, hospitals are organized by medical units and by specialties that tend to operate as separate silos, without much communication between them. The transitions of care are not optimal for the patients, thus negatively impacting patient outcomes. Value-based hospitals focus on groups of patients with similar conditions, and end-to-end care pathways like Hip & Knee Replacement. They organize service lines that provide end-to-end care for these patient groups through the Emergency Department, Diagnostic Imaging, Lab tests, the surgical procedure in the Operating Room, the stay in the Surgery unit, Rehabilitation, and then discharge from the hospital. To enact such a transformation, hospitals have to redesign their Clinical Operations Management (care processes and organization) and the supporting information systems. Enterprise Architecture is the discipline, defined by international standards bodies, which concerns itself with transformational change of large complex organizations supported by information technology. Model-Driven Engineering is an approach to designing and generating information systems based on models. This thesis proposes an Enterprise Architecture for Model-Driven Clinical Operations Management (COM) to address the required transformation and improvement of clinical information systems to support value-based hospitals. The first thesis contribution is an Enterprise Architecture for Model-Driven COM in value-based hospitals, including COM Models, UML/BPMN/DMN Models, an Architecture and Design for a Clinical Operations Support System (COSS) for COM, and four COM Diagrams and Templates. The COM Models are the Business Architecture of the Enterprise Architecture; they are the foundation of our model-driven transformation approach. The UML/BPMN/DMN Models are derived from the COM Models, and are the Information System Architecture of the Enterprise Architecture. The COSS for COM, generated from the above models, is the Technology Architecture of the Enterprise Architecture. Finally, the COM Diagrams and Templates enable to better communicate the Enterprise Architecture; they are the COM Functions Table, the COM Enterprise Architecture Diagram, the COM Service Line Template, and the COSS Architecture Diagram. A second thesis contribution is the design of two domain-specific model-driven tools, based on the Eclipse environment, which support the design and generation of information systems support of COM in a value-based hospital. The COMP Tools include a Modeling Tool for COM based on a COM Functions Table for Hospitals, a Domain-Specific Modeling Language for COM (COMP: the COM Profile), and its Meta Model. The COSBench software development workbench provides support to the Model-Driven Engineering of information systems for COM. Finally, a third contribution is examples of COM Models for Joint Replacement service line and for Cardiac Procedures service line, used in our case studies to illustrate and validate the approach. There are also examples of COSS Decision Support Systems for patient flow management, operational business intelligence, full-capacity protocol, demand management, and capacity management.

This study explores the emergence of changing values associated with heritage in postapartheid South Africa, expressed as a shift from tangible to intangible heritage values. Central to the study is an understanding of the evolutionary construction of changing values in a rooted heritage community within the urban historic environment of Bo-Kaap, the oldest residential suburb of Cape Town. Exploring changing values in Bo-Kaap, where tangible and intangible heritage intersect in the contemporary moment, showcases how heritage ably and fluidly adapts and transforms as an ever-shifting cultural process, and forges new, or altered, modes of identity construction. Bo-Kaap, as the case study, is a significant historic urban environment of Cape Town's central city with a vibrant community having cultural rootedness in place, in slave ancestral heritage, and existing living heritage deserving of protection. It is examined against a backdrop of the localised political, governance and civic agency milieu. The study follows the narrative of Bo-Kaap from its origins as a residential quarter of the early Cape colonial settlement, through the mid twentieth century when Bo-Kaap became largely fashioned and formed into an ethnically defined 'Malay' quarter, conforming to essentialised notions of race and ethnicity dominant in nationalist ideology, through the apartheid regime and the penetrating effects of Group Areas on the social and physical fabric of the area, until the present day where we are witness to a sea-change in outlook of the public on the very meaning and purpose of heritage. Heritage claims and heritage activism entered the realm of active public discourse in 2019 in response to free-market developmental pressures in Bo-Kaap, with inflections of social justice touching the edges of the heritage debate, and invited a broadening of the outermost limits of heritage discourse. Integral to this story is how heritage systems have been shaped by the past and colonial histories, new systems of governance post 1994, and a culture of intensifying identity politics. Following the arc of time illuminates the complex interrelatedness of heritage values with social, historical, and political trajectories, and aims to examine just how dynamically heritage values arise, merge and shift within the inter-relational temporal space; what activates them, who activates them, and to what end; and how they have entered into a space of heritage activism and public discourse. I suggest that this present change in discourse and the display of emerging sets of heritage values requires a highly critical reflexivity on the part of heritage structures and the profession, to look at what these changes mean for heritage praxis and governance and, more importantly, how to advance the relevance of heritage to a sector of South African society advocating for a decolonised heritage value framework.

This dissertation explores the place that jus cogens occupies in contemporary international legal thought and practice. More specifically it looks at the place that the concept occupies within the discourse surrounding constitutionalism in international law. The question is asked whether it is viable to posit a specific constitutional structure for international law and whether such structure can be legitimized by the existence of certain values that are held in common by the international community. Both structural and value-based approaches posit a place for norms of jus cogens as possibly being seen as constitutional norms to some extent. Jus cogens as a now widely accepted concept in international law, continues to be the subject of much contemporary debate. The nature and function of the concept as proposed by various authors is looked at and the problematic aspects set out. Although there is a large amount of literature acknowledging the existence and importance of jus cogens, this has not been supported by international judicial practice. It seems that it is the practical difficulties surrounding the functioning of normative hierarchy that is the main reason for this. Chapter 1 introduces the approaches to the constitutionalism debate that have posited a legitimate place for norms of jus cogens. It also provides an introduction to the concept of jus cogens within contemporary international law. Chapter 2 starts out by defining certain concepts involved in the discourse surrounding constitutionalism. The strands of thought involved in the constitutionalism debate are then set out in order to provide the context for the placements of jus cogens posited by various authors. Chapter 3 looks at the evolution of the concept of jus cogens and the limited practical effect that has been given to the concept in international judicial practice. The main consideration here is the perceived inapplicability of jus cogens within cases concerning jurisdictional immunity. It therefore seems that jus cogens is, in general, limited to application against rules directly contradicting the substance of the jus cogens norm. Chapter 4 provides a critique of normative hierarchy theory, which is a main aspect dealt with in much constitutionalist thought. The chapter shows how the proposed functionality of normative hierarchy theory is unconvincing as only negative prohibitions can function as jus cogens under this construction. This further limits the instances where jus cogens can be seen as effective under constitutional thought. Chapter 5 concludes that under a strict conception of normative hierarchy, jus cogens is unlikely to receive much practical legal effect. This is due to the inapplicability of jus cogens in procedural matters and the limited number of norms that can function as jus cogens under normative hierarchy. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Public Law / unrestricted

In today’s world, change is faster than ever with rapid technological development and increasing global competition. The effects of globalization have led to more intense international competition when competitors originate from different parts of the world. Thanks to the use of new information technology, transparency has increased and made it possible for customers to compare products and prices between suppliers and prices in different markets and also buy cross-border. This puts pressure on companies to differentiate and develop their competitive advantage. Pricing could be such an advantage. Organizations need to develop pricing strategies well adapted to meet these external changes and remain profitable. Value-based pricing strategy has proven to help companies to move away from discussions about pricing and instead focus on the unique value the company’s offerings can provide the customers. This is also the pricing strategy that creates the best opportunities to maximize the profit in every sales situation. Therefore, this study has investigated how OEMs work with value-based pricing strategy and pricing processes in the context of globalization and ICT.   This has been done by conducting a case study at the company Atlas Copco in Sickla, Sweden, that is market leader within sustainable production solutions. The case study consisted of interviews with, and a questionnaire sent out to, managers at Atlas Copco, Industrial Technique, General Industry, involved in the pricing process.   The results indicate that Atlas Copco strive to work with value-based pricing and are somewhat taken into consideration global trends affecting pricing and working internally with factors affecting pricing. Furthermore, the findings suggest that in order to use value-based pricing in the context of globalization, the company should state and implement a clear pricing strategy, decentralize pricing authority, provide the sales organizations with guidelines, training and communication platforms and work to move away from commodities.   The findings of this study have implication both in a theoretical and industrial aspect. From the theoretical aspect, the findings contributes to the existing research about value-based pricing, a research area which is usually fragmented and mostly describes what value-based pricing is, not how it is used, especially not in a global context. This study contributes with a case showing how OEMs are working with value-based pricing, taking into consideration both global trends and internal factors. From the industrial aspect, the results from this study give OEMs competitive advantage through following the findings about what internal and external factors to consider when working with their pricing strategy.

Advance care planning is a conversation about personal values, future treatment choices, and designation of a surrogate decision-maker, that someone has in advance of a health crisis. Most existing studies on advance care planning have taken place outside of home health among populations with HIV/AIDS, cancer, dementia, and end stage renal disease. The U.S. home health population is living longer with chronic conditions such as pulmonary and cardiovascular illnesses, and hospitalization is a poor outcome. In 2016, Medicare implemented the Home Health Value-Based Purchasing Model, in which reimbursement rates for agencies in 9 regionally representative states were dependent on quantitative measures of quality performance. Part of the program was a process-level mandate requiring agencies to report on advance care planning. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship of home health advance care planning protocols with hospitalization rates. Descriptive and regression analyses were conducted on survey data of protocols and agency data of demographics and outcomes. Statistical significance was found in the positive correlation between advance care planning protocols and hospitalization. Recommendations are made for broadening the scope of evaluation of quality in home health to include goal-concordant care and transitions to appropriate services.

Background: Home health is the fastest-growing healthcare setting in the country. Through Home Health Value-Based Purchasing (HHVBP), the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) provides incentives or penalties to HHAs based on outcomes. Hospitalization and emergency department use are weighted heaviest as poor outcomes. HHVBP requires HHAs to report on whether they are engaging in advance care planning (ACP) conversations. For this study, ACP was defined as a conversation held in advance of a medical crisis with a loved one and/or a health care provider about goals; values; preferences for future medical treatments; and choice of a surrogate decision-maker. Purpose: to determine whether the proportion of Black patients was correlated with robustness of HHAs’ ACP protocols and levels of acute care services use. Methods: A cross-sectional, quasi-interventional design was used. The sample size was n = 89. Electronic surveys about ACP protocols were distributed to HHAs. Existing data about demographics and acute care services use were accessed via CMS websites. Spearman’s correlation coefficient was used. Results: No relationship was found between robustness of ACP protocols and the proportion of Black population per agency. No relationship was found between overall acute care services use rates proportion of Black patients. However, a trend was found: The greater proportion of Black patients, the greater the tendency for an agency to have a higher hospitalization rate. Discussion: Results are compared to current literature and to a CMS-commissioned study’s discussion about the potential for value-based purchasing programs to exacerbate health disparities in vulnerable populations.

Medicare paid $388.7 billion to acute care hospitals in 2014 representing the largest portion of the health care sector in the United States. Medicare implemented an innovative reimbursement model called Value Based Purchasing (VBP) to ensure hospitals provide quality care for the dollars spent. This correlation study used the VBP theoretical framework developed by Dudley as the foundation for the reimbursement model implemented by Medicare in 2013. The data used for this study came from the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid, as well as from Guidestar. The data focused on acute care, nonprofit hospitals located in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. Data trending and scatter plot graphs were used to analyze trends and basic correlation. Pearson correlation coefficient tests were performed to confirm correlation. The results showed no statistically significant relationship between program service revenue and the VBP domains for years 2013 and 2015. A weak positive relationship existed between 2014 program service revenue and the process of care domain; however, no statistically significant relationship existed between the remaining domains. The results from this study showed that quality metrics for acute care hospitals did not improve as the VBP criteria from Medicare expanded across the institutions included in the study. Hospital quality metrics are publicly accessible to everyone and allows patients to see actual results rather than the only resource being positive marketing campaigns. Accessibility to actual data has a positive influence on social change because patients can make informed choices for their personal health care needs.

In today's schools, gender equality is a widely discussed topic among pedagogues. During our internship we had a differencing experience regarding the equality work done by each school. The aim of this study is to investigate how pedagogues teach gender equality in primary school and what difficulties that brings to the educational process. This was approached by gathering information from various papers published online in databases made available to us by Malmö University. We chose to restrict the search parameters to include mostly Swedish research as it’s mostly relevant for our line of work. The result shows research about how Swedish and some international schools work with gender equality. Most of the papers also include difficulties when teaching gender equality. The conclusion of the discussion is that pedagogues use different methods when teaching about the topic. For example value transmission, equality work is not included in regular teaching and to use books in gender equality work. Some difficulties have occurred. For example lack of competence, lack of time, a feeling that the assignment is difficult to interpret and that books contain the traditional gender roles, which complicates gender equality work. We have come up with how to further research the values.

No description available.