bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The suitability of care pathways for integrating processes and information systems in healthcare
Authors: Crocker Thomas , Johnson Owen , King Stephen 
Published: July 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the suitability of current care pathway modelling techniques for supporting business improvement and the development of information systems. This is in the light of current UK government policies advocating the use of care pathways as part of the £12.4 billion programme for Information Technology and as a key strategy to reducing waiting times.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative analysis of the variety in purpose, syntax and semantics in a selection of existing care pathways is conducted.FindingsCare pathways are typically modelled in anad hocmanner with little reference to formal syntax or semantics.Research limitations/implicationsThe research reviews a small selection of existing pathways. The feature set used for evaluation could be further refined. Future research should examine the suitability of applying existing process modelling techniques to care pathways and explore the motivations for modelling care pathways in anad hocmanner.Practical implicationsThe development of care pathways can aid process improvement and the integration of information systems. However, while syntax and semantics are not standardised the impact of care pathways in the work of Department of Health agencies, in particular Connecting for Health, is likely to be limited.Originality/valueThe results provide insight into the limitations of the state of the art in care pathway models. This highlights a significant omission in the Department of Health's approach and identifies an important direction for further development that will aid Connecting for Health, healthcare organisations and healthcare professionals to deliver more effective services.
Investigating the importance of factors influencing integration technologies adoption in local government authorities
Authors: Mustafa Kamal Muhammad , Alsudairi Mohamed 
Published: July 2009

PurposeThe application of enterprise application integration (EAI) technologies in integrating heterogeneous information systems (IS) has been pursued by several private and public organisations. However, where EAI has added effectiveness and strengthened the information technology infrastructures in the private domain, local government authorities (LGAs) have been slow in adopting cost‐effective EAI solutions to significantly expand the capabilities of their conventionally inflexible IS. Despite EAI represents an attractive proposition to LGAs and offers the opportunity to leverage the IS into a seamless chain of processes, EAI has not been widely investigated in LGAs. Literature indicates several research studies mainly focusing on a number of different factors (e.g. benefits, barriers) influencing EAI adoption. However, due to plethora of different factors, it may not be sufficient for LGAs to take decisions by merely focusing on factors. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to assess and prioritise the factors influencing EAI adoption in LGAs through the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) technique.Design/methodology/approachTo investigate the less acknowledged phenomena like EAI adoption in LGAs, the author follows an interpretive, qualitative case study approach to conduct this research. This approach will assist in examining the phenomenon in its natural setting, examine the in‐depth complexities and processes, e.g. analysing and prioritising the importance of factors influencing the decision‐making process for EAI adoption, and provide considerable flexibility during interviews and observations.FindingsAccording to the empirical findings, the proposed EAI adoption factors are appropriate for studying the research context. The analysis and study of the factors is made carefully and specifically to fit and be compatible within the context of an LGA. As a result, it is apparent from the empirical findings that most of the factors have influenced the decision‐making process for EAI adoption except two factors that are not tested.Originality/valueThe author takes into consideration the literature void and prioritise the importance the factors by introducing the AHP technique. This technique is substantial as it may enhance the analysis of EAI adoption in LGAs, tests and justifies the feasibility of AHP technique by a case study, and facilitates LGAs in realising the importance of EAI adoption factors. Hence, it significantly contributes to the body of knowledge and practice in this area and providing sufficient support to the management by speeding up the EAI adoption process.
Live or let die: managing safety management system strategies and stakeholders
Authors: Kevin Loebbaka Jon , Lewis Alfred 
Published: July 2009

PurposeSafety management systems are created by firms to insure workplace safety while managing acceptable levels of risk. Global competition and the need to assimilate new processes, materials, and technologies, have imparted a more immediate financial and societal imperative in identifying the firm's safety stakeholders. This research identifies a strategic framework to be used by organizations in managing their safety management systems and stakeholders.Design/methodology/approachManagement's ability to organize stakeholders' demands is central to prioritizing safety knowledge and channeling that knowledge effectively through the organization. Management's safety strategy dilemma can be condensed through the optic of a knowledge‐based decision cycle. The three‐stage decision cycle developed in this research asserts that setting safety strategy is simultaneously a knowledge management challenge for the firm and a process of identifying stakeholder salience.FindingsThe safety management system model presented classifies the organization's stakeholders critical to each stage of the strategy setting process. Clarifying stakeholders' power, legitimacy, and urgency is essential in prioritizing and developing those stakeholders' safety knowledge. This decision model should improve the prospect of managers implementing successful safety management system strategies.Originality/valueThe societal and financial costs of workplace safety management system failures diminish organization's effectiveness. This model provides a new approach to implementing knowledge based safety strategies from the organization's stakeholders.
Leadership and the Great Value Shift©: recognizing and responding to change in a changing world
Authors: Simpkins Robert A. 
Published: July 2009

PurposeTo improve the capabilities of senior leadership and operational personnel to recognize internal and external changes that are, and will, impact the success of the organization.Design/methodology/approachObservation, surveys, interviews and measurements.FindingsAll organizations go through specific and measurable stages of value to their stakeholders, associates, departmental managers, and customers. This shift is driven by external environmental change more than changes internally.Practical implicationsOrganizational members will be better able to recognize and measure change to determine what resources are required to reinvent the entity.Originality/valueThis is a completely new model based on earlier works of organizational life cycles. The paper segments the five distinct stages to better align leaders' and associates' planning capabilities.
Public‐private partnership to develop infrastructure and encourage innovation in Mexico
Authors: Garibay Ruiz Julio A. 
Published: July 2009

PurposeThe paper focuses in the innovation strategies and wealth creation in Mexico.Design/methodology/approachThe paper explores the innovation competitiveness process in both the manufacturing and information technology sectors through four research questions.FindingsGiven that the manufacturing sector has been the driver in terms of invention and innovation, it seems logical that Mexico faces a similar parallel. Also, the Mexican information technology sector needs to explore new business opportunities in order to stay profitable in the long term.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper is in an early stage and needs to focus on one policy issue. Moreover, it is not a proper diagnosis of the current situation of the Mexican manufacturing sector. Suggestions for future research include expanding the literature review and including recent reports issued by international organisations (e.g. OECD' Science, Technology & Industry Outlook, UNCTAD's World Investment Report 2008: Transnational Corporations and the Infrastructure Challenge, and the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report). This inputs would help to strengthen the analysis with an international comparative perspective (e.g. what are the relevant gaps between Mexico and competitor Asian economies?). In turn this would provide a more rigorous grounding for recommendations.Practical implicationsThe Mexican economy needs to develop based on infrastructural investment from the Mexican government and the growing private sector (maquiladoras and indigenous Mexican enterprises). Also, Mexico needs to invest heavily in educational enterprise in order to foster an atmosphere of research and discovery to support efforts by the government and private sectors.Originality/valueAdequate investment by the Mexican government and private sector could potentially bring back the manufacturing establishments currently located in Asia to Mexico, given the proximity advantages coupled with the NAFTA agreement.
Performance of open‐ended real estate funds in Germany
Authors: Kurzrock Björn‐Martin , Gläsner Sebastian , Wilke Elaine 
Published: July 2009

PurposeIn Germany, open‐ended funds represent the prevailing form of indirect real estate investment for retail and institutional investors. The purpose of this paper is to address whether significant performance differences occur between retail and institutional funds.Design/methodology/approachThe relative fund performance of 137 funds investing in Germany and abroad are each measured against tailored Investment Property Databank performance benchmarks of direct property investments. Such benchmarks shall mimic the asset allocation of any particular fund. Data on retail fund performance are retrieved from the fund association BVI, the data on institutional fund performance are derived from the individual statements of accounts for each fund.FindingsGerman open‐ended funds show significant differences in mean relative returns. The differences are mainly driven by the respective asset allocation of the funds, although relative returns against tailored benchmarks as dependent variables are supposed to offset country‐specific return fluctuations. Institutional investors tend to be better‐off than retail investors.Research limitations/implicationsLiquidity holdings are not (and can not be) extracted from fund performance with the given data. In this regard, it must be acknowledged that retail funds by nature are induced to carry more liquidity. Second, the high significance of the factor asset allocation may indicate that country‐specific benchmarks could still be tailored more effectively. However, the conclusions from this paper remain unaffected. Ex post variations in the grouping of funds explain additional fund performance variance. In particular, it would be interesting to analyze the performance patterns of single‐investor funds and the influence or control that is being exercised by single‐investors in institutional funds.Originality/valueResults give new insights into the performance of open‐ended real estate funds. The analysis helps explaining performance patterns and contributes to an improved understanding of the German indirect real estate investment market.
Climate change and tourism: the implications for the Caribbean
Authors: Clayton Anthony 
Published: July 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the role of travel and tourism industry in climate change and to consider the implications of climate change for the travel and tourism industry.Design/methodology/approachThe paper outlines why the Caribbean is currently the most tourism‐dependent region in the world and profiles the reasons why the island economies of the Caribbean are so vulnerable to climate change.FindingsThe paper advocates action based on the available evidence and the fact that most of the essential infrastructure for tourism is located at or near the shoreline, in areas that will be vulnerable to sea‐level rise and storm surge. This combination of dependency and vulnerability makes the Caribbean a particularly pertinent and poignant example of how countries can come to rely on an industry that might prove to contain the seed of not only its own destruction, but also that of some vulnerable host economies.Originality/valueThis paper provides a comprehensive summary of the key evidence relating to the growing threat of climate change to the Caribbean.
Preparing for a rainy day
Authors: Attzs Marlene 
Published: July 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explain the vital economic role of the travel and tourism industry in the Caribbean.Design/methodology/approachThis paper reviews the literature on climate change impacts in small island developing states. Two key challenges to the development of a sustainable tourism industry in the region are discussed: managing tourism development within the socio‐cultural, ecological carrying capacity of the region and anticipating and adapting to the impacts of climate change on the Caribbean.FindingsClimate change has significant implications for both rainfall and saline intrusion in ground water, which could directly threaten both the tourism industry and other local livelihoods. Water shortages will be particularly critical in the Caribbean islands that are already water‐stressed; at or near the limits of their available supplies.Originality/valueThis paper focuses particularly on the impact of hurricanes on the sustainability of regional tourism and the related socioeconomic consequences. Provides policy recommendations on the way forward to ensure the sustainable development of Caribbean region tourism.
Climate change implications for water resource management in Caribbean tourism
Authors: Emmanuel Kwame , Spence Balfour 
Published: July 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the climate change implications for both rainfall and saline intrusion in ground water, which could directly threaten both the tourism industry and other local livelihoods in the Caribbean. Water shortages will be particularly critical in the locations that are already water‐stressed; at or near the limits of their available supplies.Design/methodology/approachThe paper focuses on Barbados as the island exhibits four critical factors that make it particularly sensitive and potentially vulnerable to water shortages. Barbados is relatively small and flat, and has limited water flow. Second, it is the most densely populated country in the Caribbean. Third, the economy is primarily driven by tourism, and has prospered as a result; Fourth, Barbados is characterized as “absolute water scarce” on the Falkenmark scale because of a per capita availability of freshwater per year of less than 500 cubic meters.FindingsThe paper observes that Barbados has a water availability of just 306 cubic metres per capita per year, which makes Barbados the 15th most water‐scarce nation in the world. Thus, Barbados is critically dependent on a water‐intensive industry, has limited options to expand the supply of the key resource, and now finds that the availability of this key resource might decline in future as a result of climate change.Originality/valueThe paper provides data, case studies and analysis to demonstrate the significant threat to tourism from water shortages relating to climate change.
The adaptation of water law to climate change
Authors: Hurlbert Margot 
Published: July 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to focus on the adaptive capacity of the institution of water law in two provinces of Canada, Alberta, and Saskatchewan, through the examination of several water conflict case studies in the last decade. By examining outcomes in cases of water shortage, legal mechanisms promoting adaptation can be identified and suggestions made for improving those which potentially increase vulnerability.Design/methodology/approachThis paper explores several case studies situated in Western Canada, identified during interviews relating to a broader theme of water governance adaptation as part of the Institutional Adaptation to Climate Change (IACC) Project as well as other case studies carried out in the larger IACC project relating to the institutional adaptation to climate change in Canada and Chile. The outcomes of these case studies are examined in relation to their effect on vulnerability and their inter‐relationship to established principles of water law.FindingsThis examination provides insight into the actual workings of water law in resolving water conflicts and important modifications in the institution of water law which will increase adaptive capacity. These cases illustrate that legal provisions which facilitate timely engagement of civil society to water shortages in an all inclusive participatory process provides optimal conflict resolution.Originality/valueThese case studies provide important insights for the development of law and policy which reduces vulnerability and assists people in adapting to climate change in a resilient, effective manner.
Observing novel soil conditioners for carbon emissions mitigation
Authors: Coles A.J.C. , Lewis K.A. , Sims R.E. 
Published: July 2009

PurposeThe New Zealand (NZ) Government's commitment to a sustainable, low emissions energy future may be met, in part, by expanding bioenergy systems fuelled by short rotation forestry through utilising lower quality land affecting soil organic matter content and soil CO2 flux. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the carbon sequestration potential of a range of soil conditioners in order to minimise or offset carbon emissions due to ground disturbance.Design/methodology/approachSeven soil conditioners are evaluated using incubation chambers to measure the affect of their incorporation within three NZ soil types on soil respiration.FindingsCharcoal is found to produce a distinct and significant carbon sequestering trend, as do newspaper and whey. Conversely, vegetable oil, paper mill pulp, biodiesel and methanol showed overall carbon emitting trends.Research limitations/implicationsThe research is limited as only CO2 is monitored within the incubation chambers rather than the whole gaseous carbon profile. No microbial observations are conducted.Practical implicationsThe investigation concluded that of the conditioners observed, charcoal, newspaper and whey warrant further observation as carbon sequestration soil conditioners.Originality/valueThe paper forms part of the foundations within the development of soil conditioners specifically designed for carbon sequestration.
No evidence of abnormal regulation of antibody response to coxsackievirus B4 antigen in prediabetic children
Authors: Heino L , Lönnrot M , Knip M , Kupila A , Erkkilä S , Toivonen A , Vähäsalo P , Ilonen J , Simell O , Hyöty H 
Published: July 2009

SummaryEnterovirus infections are a potential environmental trigger of the autoimmune process leading to clinical type 1 diabetes. It has been suggested that the risk of virus-induced beta-cell damage might be connected with a defect in humoral immune responsiveness to enteroviruses. In the present study we assessed whether such a defect in IgG responsiveness to coxsackievirus B4 antigen existed in young children who developed diabetes-associated autoantibodies during prospective observation from birth until the age of 18 months. IgG levels and maturation of antibody avidity were analysed in 21 children with autoantibodies and 41 control children who had experienced an equal number of enterovirus infections and were additionally matched for age, sex and HLA-DQB1 risk alleles for type 1 diabetes but had not produced diabetes-associated autoantibodies. IgG levels to coxsackievirus B4 were high in cord serum reflecting the presence of maternal antibodies. Mean IgG levels gradually decreased but began to increase after the age of 6 months, showing no significant difference between autoantibody positive and control children. The avidity of antibodies was strong in cord serum and decreased gradually during the first year of life when maternal antibodies disappeared. The avidity indices, which varied considerably from child to child, did not differ between the autoantibody-positive and -negative subjects. In conclusion, our data suggest that children affected by a beta-cell damaging autoimmune process show normal responses to coxsackievirus B4 antigens.
Four different NCF2 mutations in six families from Turkey and an overview of NCF2 gene mutations
Authors: Köker M. Y. , Sanal Ö. , Van Leeuwen K. , De Boer M. , Metin A. , Patıroğlu T. , Özgür T. T. , Tezcan I. , Roos D. 
Published: July 2009

AbstractBackground  One of the rarest forms of autosomal recessive chronic granulomatous disease (AR‐CGD) is attributable to mutations in the NCF2 gene, which encodes the polypeptide p67phox, a key cytoplasmic protein in the phagocyte NADPH oxidase system. NCF2 is localized on chromosome 1q25, encompasses 40 kb and contains 16 exons.Materials and methods  We report here the clinical and molecular characterization of six patients with CGD from six consanguineous Turkish families. The ages of the five female patients were between 3 and 22 years and a male patient was 2 years old; all patients showed clear clinical symptoms of CGD.Results  The mothers of the patients did not show a bimodal histogram pattern specific for X‐CGD in the dihydrorhodamine‐1,2,3 (DHR) assay. Moreover, p67phox protein expression was not detectable using flow cytometric analysis of the patients’ neutrophils except in those from patient 6, which had a diminished expression. Mutation analysis of NCF2 revealed four different homozygous mutations: a novel nonsense mutation in exon 3 c.229C>T, p.Arg77X; a novel missense mutation in exon 4 c.279C>G, p.Asp93Glu; a nonsense mutation in exon 4 c.304C>T, p.Arg102X; and a novel missense mutation in exon 6 c.605C>T, p.Ala202Val. The parents were found to be heterozygotes for these mutations.Conclusions  The prevalence of NCF2 mutant families is approximately 15% in our series of 40 CGD families. This high incidence of A67 CGD in Turkey is undoubtedly caused by the high incidence of consanguineous marriages. We found three new mutations in NCF2 and one previously described. These are presented together with an overview of all NCF2 mutations now known.