Sustainability of Rural Nonprofit Organizations: Czech Republic and Beyond

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vladislav Valentinov

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Sustainability of nonprofit organizations is a key concern for today’s nonprofit scholars and practitioners. Building upon the nonprofit economics literature, the present paper introduces the distinction between the demand-side and supply-side determinants of nonprofit sustainability and makes the case for the discrepancy between them. This discrepancy presents not only a generic conceptual explanation of the nonprofit sustainability problems but is also applicable to the context of the European rural nonprofit sector. Three arguments are advanced. First, the notorious implementation problems of LEADER partnerships can be explained as a manifestation of the above discrepancy. Second, and related, the rural context implies the tendency of the supply-side determinants of nonprofit sustainability to undermine the demand-side ones. Third, recent empirical findings from the Czech Republic show that this tendency does not necessarily imply the possibility of a clear classification of the demand-side and supply-side sustainability determinants. Rather, those features of rural areas and communities that significantly affect the size of the local nonprofit sector exhibit a controversial entanglement of demand-side and supply-side identities.

Financial Ratio Analysis Comes to Nonprofits.

Science.gov (United States)

Chabotar, Kent John

1989-01-01

To evaluate their financial health, a growing number of colleges, universities, and other nonprofit organizations are using financial ratio analysis, a technique used in business. The strengths and weaknesses of ratio analysis are assessed and suggestions are made on how nonprofits can use it most effectively. (Author/MLW)

Nonprofit brand strength’s moderational role

OpenAIRE

Walter Wymer

2015-01-01

The nature and characteristics of the nonprofit brand strength construct are conceptualized.  Brand strength is defined as a multidimensional construct, composed by brand familiarity, brand remarkability, and brand attitude.  Brand familiarity refers to the level of knowledge the target audience has about the brand object. Brand attitude refers to the degree to which a brand object is perceived favorably by a target group. Brand remarkability refers to the degree to which a brand object is pe...

Adopt-a-Nonprofit: A Project in Persuasion and Collaboration.

Science.gov (United States)

Spears, Lee A.

1996-01-01

Describes a project for professional writing classes that teaches effective persuasive writing, as teams of students research local nonprofit or campus service organizations, design projects to address their groups' main needs, and write solicitation letters for donations or volunteers. Discusses potential problems and how students benefit. (SR)

Start-Up Funding Intentions Among Nascent Nonprofit Entrepreneurs: An Exploratory Investigation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fredrik O. Andersson

2018-04-01

Full Text Available This paper explores the start-up funding intentions of nascent nonprofit entrepreneurs, i.e., individuals in the process of creating a new formal nonprofit organization. The main questions being examined are from which sources nascent nonprofit entrepreneurs anticipate to obtain start-up funding from, how much start-up funding nascent nonprofit entrepreneurs anticipate they will need to formally launch their new nonprofit, and if there are any differences in funding intentions among nascent nonprofit entrepreneurs with and without previous start-up experience. The results from a survey of 103 nascent nonprofit entrepreneurs in Kansas City are presented and contrasted with existing research on funding of new nonprofit organizations. The results show an apparent preference for start-up funding from philanthropic grants and private donations, along with personal contributions of the founder(s.

GROUP POLICY BASED AUTHENTICATION ON INCOMING CALLS FOR ANDROID SMARTPHONES

OpenAIRE

Sunita M. Kumbhar, Prof. Z.M Shaikh

2016-01-01

The numbers of Smartphone users increasing day by day. Hence, there is need to propose advanced Group Policy based Authentication for incoming calls for Android phone. Android platform provides a variety of functions that support the programming of face recognition, as in image processing. Group policy based authentication scheme increases the security which restricts the access of incoming call form un-authorized user. To solve problems, related to face recognition should be applied in the p...

Mobbing calls signal predator category in a kin group-living bird species

Science.gov (United States)

Griesser, Michael

2009-01-01

Many prey species gather together to approach and harass their predators despite the associated risks. While mobbing, prey usually utter calls and previous experiments have demonstrated that mobbing calls can convey information about risk to conspecifics. However, the risk posed by predators also differs between predator categories. The ability to communicate predator category would be adaptive because it would allow other mobbers to adjust their risk taking. I tested this idea in Siberian jays Perisoreus infaustus, a group-living bird species, by exposing jay groups to mounts of three hawk and three owl species of varying risks. Groups immediately approached to mob the mount and uttered up to 14 different call types. Jays gave more calls when mobbing a more dangerous predator and when in the presence of kin. Five call types were predator-category-specific and jays uttered two hawk-specific and three owl-specific call types. Thus, this is one of the first studies to demonstrate that mobbing calls can simultaneously encode information about both predator category and the risk posed by a predator. Since antipredator calls of Siberian jays are known to specifically aim at reducing the risk to relatives, kin-based sociality could be an important factor in facilitating the evolution of predator-category-specific mobbing calls. PMID:19474047

Mobbing calls signal predator category in a kin group-living bird species.

Science.gov (United States)

Griesser, Michael

2009-08-22

Many prey species gather together to approach and harass their predators despite the associated risks. While mobbing, prey usually utter calls and previous experiments have demonstrated that mobbing calls can convey information about risk to conspecifics. However, the risk posed by predators also differs between predator categories. The ability to communicate predator category would be adaptive because it would allow other mobbers to adjust their risk taking. I tested this idea in Siberian jays Perisoreus infaustus, a group-living bird species, by exposing jay groups to mounts of three hawk and three owl species of varying risks. Groups immediately approached to mob the mount and uttered up to 14 different call types. Jays gave more calls when mobbing a more dangerous predator and when in the presence of kin. Five call types were predator-category-specific and jays uttered two hawk-specific and three owl-specific call types. Thus, this is one of the first studies to demonstrate that mobbing calls can simultaneously encode information about both predator category and the risk posed by a predator. Since antipredator calls of Siberian jays are known to specifically aim at reducing the risk to relatives, kin-based sociality could be an important factor in facilitating the evolution of predator-category-specific mobbing calls.

Comparative Corporate Governance of Non-Profit Organizations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thomsen, Steen

2014-01-01

Based on the impressive work of Hopt and von Hippel (2010), I review the comparative corporate governance of non-profit organizations and propose topics for future research. There is evidence of agency problems in non-profit as well as for-profit organizations, but the governance mechanisms...

Nonprofits' Expectations in PR Service-Learning Partnerships

Science.gov (United States)

Rogers, Cathy; Andrews, Valerie

2016-01-01

Little scholarly evidence exists about the communication needs of nonprofit community partners and what they think constitutes an ideal service-learning (SL) relationship. This study seeks to fill this gap by identifying SL projects and relationships that best serve nonprofit community partners with communication needs. The researchers conducted a…

Answering the Call: How Group Mentoring Makes a Difference

Science.gov (United States)

Altus, Jillian

2015-01-01

Mentoring programs answer the call for social justice for many students who are in success-inhibiting environments. This study employed a case study design to investigate the perceived benefits from a group mentoring program. Data was collected from pre- and post-assessments focus groups, and artifacts. Four participant benefits were revealed:…

Nonprofit Management Education in MPA Programs: Lessons for Successful Track Building

Science.gov (United States)

Gerlach, John David

2016-01-01

As the American nonprofit sector continues to grow, so does interest in nonprofit management graduate education. MPA programs play a significant role in preparing students for work in the nonprofit field. This article examines nonprofit management as an area of graduate study, paying particular attention to how NASPAA-accredited MPA programs…

Working on nonprofit boards. Don't assume the shoe fits.

Science.gov (United States)

McFarlan, F W

1999-01-01

Contrary to popular perception, businesspeople can be benevolent. For instance, one recent study notes that four-fifths of all Harvard Business School graduates are involved with nonprofits, with more than half of those serving on boards. Most business professionals will spend some time on a nonprofit board. That's the good news, the author says. The bad news is that the involvement of businesspeople can easily backfire. That's because they often try to take what they have learned from business school and the corporate world and apply it to their duties in the nonprofit sector. On the surface, there are similarities between the for-profit and nonprofit sectors. Both have boards of directors, trustees and chairpeople, regular meetings, and so forth. But the governance of nonprofit organizations is very different from the governance of for-profit businesses in several critical areas, including missions, measurements, and board composition. For instance, the CEO in the nonprofit world must manage a relationship with a nonexecutive board chair. In the for-profit world, the CEO is the chair. Such significant differences make it difficult to transfer ideas and practices between the for-profit and nonprofit worlds. In this article, F. Warren McFarlan describes the main differences between serving on a for-profit board and serving on a nonprofit board. As he points out, understanding the differences will make it easier for businesspeople to move smoothly from one environment to the other and will therefore make their commitments more effective. Nonprofits need businesspeople, but only on the right terms.

Application of relationship marketing in non-profit organisations ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Application of relationship marketing in non-profit organisations involved in the provision of sport and recreational services. ... A variety of factors have over time contributed to a need for marketing in non-profit ... AJOL African Journals Online.

10 CFR 603.620 - Financial management standards for nonprofit participants.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 10 Energy 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Financial management standards for nonprofit participants... Financial Matters § 603.620 Financial management standards for nonprofit participants. So as not to force... organization, expenditure-based TIA requirements for the financial management system of any nonprofit...

Patterns of call communication between group-housed zebra finches change during the breeding cycle.

Science.gov (United States)

Gill, Lisa F; Goymann, Wolfgang; Ter Maat, Andries; Gahr, Manfred

2015-10-06

Vocal signals such as calls play a crucial role for survival and successful reproduction, especially in group-living animals. However, call interactions and call dynamics within groups remain largely unexplored because their relation to relevant contexts or life-history stages could not be studied with individual-level resolution. Using on-bird microphone transmitters, we recorded the vocalisations of individual zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) behaving freely in social groups, while females and males previously unknown to each other passed through different stages of the breeding cycle. As birds formed pairs and shifted their reproductive status, their call repertoire composition changed. The recordings revealed that calls occurred non-randomly in fine-tuned vocal interactions and decreased within groups while pair-specific patterns emerged. Call-type combinations of vocal interactions changed within pairs and were associated with successful egg-laying, highlighting a potential fitness relevance of calling dynamics in communication systems.

Advantages of fund accounting in 'nonprofits'.

Science.gov (United States)

Herzlinger, R E; Sherman, H D

1980-01-01

Motivated by the financial difficulties that have beset city governments and some private nonprofit organizations, the accounting profession and other circles are urging these organizations to conform to business accounting practices. (See Robert N. Anthony's article on p. 83 of this issue.) Fund accounting, these reformers claim, is too complex, too segmented to permit intelligent analysis. The authors of this article demur; not only is it legally and logically necessary to maintain separately the restricted and unrestricted monies received from various sources and spent for designated purposes; also close examination of the financial statements of nonprofit enterprises can provide a very good idea of how well they are doing financially. Furthermore, the authors advocate adoption of certain fund accounting principles for businesses, and they show why they could be helpful. This article is much more than a defense of how nonprofit organizations account for their operations; it is a comprehensive but brief introduction to the subject.

An Experimental Comparison of Remote Procedure Call and Group Communication

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kaashoek, M.F.; Tanenbaum, A.S.; Verstoep, C.

1992-01-01

This paper suggests that a distributed system should support two communication paradigms: Remote Procedure Call (RPC) and group communication. The former is used for point-to-point communication; the latter is used for one-to-many communication. We demonstrate that group communication is an

Budgeting in Nonprofit Organizations.

Science.gov (United States)

Kelly, Lauren

1985-01-01

This description of the role of budgets in nonprofit organizations uses libraries as an example. Four types of budgets--legislative, management, cash, and capital--are critiqued in terms of cost effectiveness, implementation, and facilitation of organizational control and objectives. (CLB)

Child center closures: Does nonprofit status provide a comparative advantage?

Science.gov (United States)

Lam, Marcus; Klein, Sacha; Freisthler, Bridget; Weiss, Robert E.

2013-01-01

Reliable access to dependable, high quality childcare services is a vital concern for large numbers of American families. The childcare industry consists of private nonprofit, private for-profit, and governmental providers that differ along many dimensions, including quality, clientele served, and organizational stability. Nonprofit providers are theorized to provide higher quality services given comparative tax advantages, higher levels of consumer trust, and management by mission driven entrepreneurs. This study examines the influence of ownership structure, defined as nonprofit, for-profit sole proprietors, for-profit companies, and governmental centers, on organizational instability, defined as childcare center closures. Using a cross sectional data set of 15724 childcare licenses in California for 2007, we model the predicted closures of childcare centers as a function of ownership structure as well as center age and capacity. Findings indicate that for small centers (capacity of 30 or less) nonprofits are more likely to close, but for larger centers (capacity 30+) nonprofits are less likely to close. This suggests that the comparative advantages available for nonprofit organizations may be better utilized by larger centers than by small centers. We consider the implications of our findings for parents, practitioners, and social policy. PMID:23543882

Child center closures: Does nonprofit status provide a comparative advantage?

Science.gov (United States)

Lam, Marcus; Klein, Sacha; Freisthler, Bridget; Weiss, Robert E

2013-03-01

Reliable access to dependable, high quality childcare services is a vital concern for large numbers of American families. The childcare industry consists of private nonprofit, private for-profit, and governmental providers that differ along many dimensions, including quality, clientele served, and organizational stability. Nonprofit providers are theorized to provide higher quality services given comparative tax advantages, higher levels of consumer trust, and management by mission driven entrepreneurs. This study examines the influence of ownership structure, defined as nonprofit, for-profit sole proprietors, for-profit companies, and governmental centers, on organizational instability, defined as childcare center closures. Using a cross sectional data set of 15724 childcare licenses in California for 2007, we model the predicted closures of childcare centers as a function of ownership structure as well as center age and capacity. Findings indicate that for small centers (capacity of 30 or less) nonprofits are more likely to close, but for larger centers (capacity 30+) nonprofits are less likely to close. This suggests that the comparative advantages available for nonprofit organizations may be better utilized by larger centers than by small centers. We consider the implications of our findings for parents, practitioners, and social policy.

User-centric technology design for nonprofit and civic engagements

CERN Document Server

Saeed, Saqib

2014-01-01

Due to the increased global political importance of the nonprofit sector, its technological support and organizational characteristics have become important fields of research. In order to conduct effective work, nonprofits need to communicate and coordinate effectively. However, such settings are generally characterized by a lack of resources, an absence of formal hierarchical structures and differences in languages and culture among the activists. Modern technologies could help nonprofit networks in improving their working. In order to design appropriate technological support for such settings, it is important to understand their work practices, which widely differ from traditional business organizations. This book aims to strengthen the body of knowledge by providing user studies and concepts related to user centered technology design process for nonprofit settings. The examination of ethnographic studies and user centered evaluation of IT artifacts in practice will further the understanding of design requ...

Firms, nonprofits, and cooperatives : A theory of organizational choice

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Herbst, Patrick; Prüfer, Jens

We formalize the difference between profit-maximizing firms, nonprofits, and cooperatives and identify optimal organizational choice in a model of quality provision. Firms provide lowest and nonprofits highest levels of quality. Efficiency, however, depends on the competitive environment, the

Firms, Nonprofits, and Cooperatives : A Theory of Organizational Choice

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Herbst, P.; Prüfer, J.

2007-01-01

Abstract This paper formalizes the difference between firms, nonprofits, and cooperatives and identifies optimal organizational choice. In a model of quality provision, we find a clear ranking of quality produced: Firms provide lowest and nonprofits highest levels of quality. Efficiency, however,

37 CFR 201.24 - Warning of copyright for software lending by nonprofit libraries.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... software lending by nonprofit libraries. 201.24 Section 201.24 Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights... copyright for software lending by nonprofit libraries. (a) Definition. A Warning of Copyright for Software... packaging that contains the computer program which is lent by a nonprofit library for nonprofit purposes. (b...

Firms, Nonprofits, and Cooperatives : A Theory of Organizational Choice

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Herbst, P.; Prüfer, J.

2007-01-01

This paper formalizes the difference between firms, nonprofits, and cooperatives and identifies optimal organizational choice. In a model of quality provision, we find a clear ranking of quality produced: Firms provide lowest and nonprofits highest levels of quality. Efficiency, however, depends on

The Influence of Marketing Scholarship’s Legacy on Nonprofit Marketing

OpenAIRE

Wymer, Walter

2013-01-01

This inquiry contributes to the literature on the development of “nonprofit marketing thought” by describing how the field’s early period established a legacy effect on nonprofit marketing scholarship to the present day. This qualitative work uses a wide variety of sources from a protracted historical period in order to more fully inform a perspective on the relevant issues that have influenced the development of nonprofit marketing scholarship. The investigation suggests that, although the d...

Non-Profit Organizations in a Bureaucratic Environment

OpenAIRE

Grout, Paul; Schnedler, Wendelin

2008-01-01

How does the environment of an organization influence whether workers voluntarily provide effort? We study the power relationship between a non-profit unit (e.g. university department, NGO, health trust), where workers care about the result of their work, and a bu- reaucrat, who supplies some input to the non-profit unit, but has opportunity costs in doing so (e.g. Dean of faculty, corrupt representative, government agency). We find that marginal changes in the balance of power eventually hav...

34 CFR 75.51 - How to prove nonprofit status.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... Education Office of the Secretary, Department of Education DIRECT GRANT PROGRAMS General Eligibility for A... a nonprofit organization. (See the definition of nonprofit in 34 CFR 77.1.) (b) An applicant may... Revenue Service currently recognizes the applicant as an organization to which contributions are tax...

Non-profit Drug Research and Development at a Crossroads.

Science.gov (United States)

Jarosławski, Szymon; Toumi, Mondher; Auquier, Pascal; Dussart, Claude

2018-02-07

In wealthy nations, non-profit drug R&D has been proposed to reduce the prices of medicines. We sought to review the ethical and economic issues concerning non-profit drug R&D companies, and the possible impact that their pricing strategy may have on the innovation efforts from for-profit companies targeting the same segment of the pharmaceutical market. There are two possible approaches to pricing drugs developed by non-profit R&D programs: pricing that maximises profits and "affordable" pricing that reflects the cost of manufacturing and distribution, plus a margin that ensures sustainability of the drug supply. Overall, the non-profits face ethical challenges - due to the lack of resources, they are unable to independently commercialize their products on a large scale; however, the antitrust law does not permit them to impose prices on potential licensees. Also, reduced prices for the innovative products may result in drying the for-profit R&D in the area.

Nonprofit to for-profit conversions by hospitals, health insurers, and health plans.

Science.gov (United States)

Needleman, J

1999-01-01

Conversion of hospitals, health insurers, and health plans from nonprofit to for-profit ownership has become a focus of national debate. The author examines why nonprofit ownership has been dominant in the US health system and assesses the strength of the argument that nonprofits provide community benefits that would be threatened by for-profit conversion. The author concludes that many of the specific community benefits offered by nonprofits, such as care for the poor, could be maintained or replaced by adequate funding of public programs and that quality and fairness in treatment can be better assured through clear standards of care and adequate monitoring systems. As health care becomes increasingly commercialized, the most difficult parts of nonprofits' historic mission to preserve are the community orientation, leadership role, and innovation that nonprofit hospitals and health plans have provided out of their commitment to a community beyond those to whom they sell services.

Nonprofit brand strength’s moderational role

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Walter Wymer

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The nature and characteristics of the nonprofit brand strength construct are conceptualized. Brand strength is defined as a multidimensional construct, composed by brand familiarity, brand remarkability, and brand attitude. Brand familiarity refers to the level of knowledge the target audience has about the brand object. Brand attitude refers to the degree to which a brand object is perceived favorably by a target group. Brand remarkability refers to the degree to which a brand object is perceived by a target group to be extraordinary. In the brand management nomological net, brand strength acts as a moderator, influencing the strength of the relationship between marketing tactics (antecedents and marketing outcomes (consequents. Brand strength’s inter-dimensional relationships are conceptualized. A brand strength strategy grid is presented, which informs brand management strategy based on a brand’s current levels of brand familiarity and brand remarkability.

The Role of Local Governmental Funding in Nonprofit Survival

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karl Besel

2001-05-01

Full Text Available Nonprofit social service organizations in America originally relied on private donations and charitable events to sustain their operations. As the number of nonprofit organizations has proliferated over the last few decades, so has nonprofit dependency on governmental and other sources of revenue. A case study design was used to examine factors that have impacted the survival of the original Indiana Youth Service Bureaus. This study highlights salient factors that influence survival and explores the characteristics and circumstances of selected organizations that enhance their sustainability. The findings suggest that social work administrators need to foster long-term relationships with local funders as a means of enhancing organizational survival.

Community benefits: how do for-profit and nonprofit hospitals measure up?

Science.gov (United States)

Nicholson, S; Pauly, M V

The rise of the for-profit hospital industry has opened a debate about the level of community benefits provided by non-profit hospitals. Do nonprofits provide enough community benefits to justify the community's commitment of resources to them, and the tax-exempt status they receive? If nonprofit hospitals convert to for-profit entities, would community benefits be lost in the transaction? This debate has highlighted the need to define and measure community benefits more clearly. In this Issue Brief, the authors develop a new method of identifying activities that qualify as community benefits, and propose a benchmark for the amount of benefit a nonprofit hospital should provide.

Revenue Sources and Social Media Engagement Among Environmentally Focused Nonprofits

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John R. McCaskill

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This study examines social media efforts among environmentally focused nonprofits. A survey of environmentally focused nonprofits revealed that more than half of these organizations receive government funding. Prior research demonstrates social media is an efficient medium in which to simultaneously communicate with multiple stakeholders. However, stakeholder engagement is likely tied with the need to raise funds. From that basis, we discuss social media use among nonprofits and develop hypotheses about differences in social media use among organizations receiving government funds and those not receiving government funds. Our hypotheses are rooted in resource dependency theory (RDT and dialogic communication theory (DCT. We test our hypotheses on data from environmentally focused nonprofits by comparing the levels of social media engagement with varying levels of their total funding provided by government grants to determine if there is a correlation with the level of public engagement via social media. We find the level of engagement on the social media site Facebook is lower for government-funded environmental nonprofits than privately funded ones. The findings of reduced social media engagement and the dependence upon government funding versus private funding supports the precepts of resource dependency theory.

The Influence of Marketing Scholarship’s Legacy on Nonprofit Marketing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Walter Wymer

2013-09-01

Full Text Available This inquiry contributes to the literature on the development of “nonprofit marketing thought” by describing how the field’s early period established a legacy effect on nonprofit marketing scholarship to the present day. This qualitative work uses a wide variety of sources from a protracted historical period in order to more fully inform a perspective on the relevant issues that have influenced the development of nonprofit marketing scholarship. The investigation suggests that, although the debate on whether or not marketing is a science was nominally resolved years ago, the origins of marketing scholarships as an applied business discipline remain influential. The effects on this influence is a body of research that is fragmented, conflicted, sometimes invalid, and has produced few general theories indicative of a social science. Recommendations are offered for improving the quality of nonprofit marketing scholarship.

Competition and Mergers among Nonprofits

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Prüfer, J.

2007-01-01

Should mergers among nonprofit organizations be regulated differently than mergers among for-profit firms? The relevant empirical literature is highly controversial, the theoretical literature is scarce. We analyze the question by modeling duopoly competition with quality-differentiated goods. We

Competition and Mergers among Nonprofits

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Prüfer, J.

2007-01-01

Should mergers among nonprofit organizations be regulated differently than mergers among for-profit firms? The relevant empirical literature is highly controversial, the theoretical literature is scarce. I analyze the question by modeling duopoly competition with quality-differentiated goods. I

Gender, occupation, and promotion to management in the nonprofit sector

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Damman, M.; Heyse, L.; Mills, M.

2014-01-01

Although one can assume the work values within nonprofit organizations promote gender equality in promotion decisions, there is preliminary evidence that in the nonprofit sector women are underrepresented in higher management positions. Whereas the mechanisms resulting in underrepresentation of

The Nonprofit Advantage: Producing Quality in Thick and Thin Child Care Markets

Science.gov (United States)

Cleveland, Gordon; Krashinsky, Michael

2009-01-01

Nonprofit child care centers are frequently observed to produce child care which is, on average, of higher quality than care provided in commercial child care centers. In part, this nonprofit advantage is due to different input choices made by nonprofit centers--lower child--staff ratios, better-educated staff and directors, higher rates of…

Rice University: Building an Academic Center for Nonprofit Education

Science.gov (United States)

Seaworth, Angela

2012-01-01

According to the author, the setting for their nonprofit education center was close to ideal: Support from a dean who cares deeply about nonprofit organizations; encouragement from the university and its renewed focus on reaching beyond its walls on the eve of its centennial; and a generous gift from alumni who have been affiliated with the…

Do Emotional Appeal and Media-context Influence the Effectiveness of TV Commercials for Profit and Non-profit Brands?

OpenAIRE

Roozen, Irene; Claeys, Christel

2009-01-01

This study investigates the impact of emotions, both ad- and context-evoked, on the effectiveness of commercials for non-profit vs. profit brands. Effectiveness is made operational by rational measures, recall and recognition, and by emotional measures, ad likeability and brand attitude. Four different experimental groups were exposed to a sequence of warm and sad commercials for non-profit and profit brands, embedded either in a warm film fragment or a sad one. The results indicate that, ove...

Wolves in sheep's clothing: Is non-profit status used to signal quality?

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Daniel B; Propper, Carol; Smith, Sarah

2017-09-01

Why do many firms in the healthcare sector adopt non-profit status? One argument is that non-profit status serves as a signal of quality when consumers are not well informed. A testable implication is that an increase in consumer information may lead to a reduction in the number of non-profits in a market. We test this idea empirically by exploiting an exogenous increase in consumer information in the US nursing home industry. We find that the information shock led to a reduction in the share of non-profit homes, driven by a combination of home closure and sector switching. The lowest quality non-profits were the most likely to exit. Our results have important implications for the effects of reforms to increase consumer provision in a number of public services. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Social media for non-profit organizations in Vietnam

OpenAIRE

Nguyen, Thy

2016-01-01

The thesis presents about social media in general and social media for non-profit organizations in Vietnam in particular. The writer wanted to explore the disadvantages that non-profits in Vietnam face when using social media and search for recommendations which helps them to use it more efficiently. In the theoretic part, core concepts related to social media were introduced, namely, definition of social media, its types, the popular platforms, situation of social media in Vietnam, pros...

Traditions and Management Perspectives of Community and Non-Profit Organizations in Lithuania

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrius Stasiukynas

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Purpose – To overview the traditions and management perspectives of community and non-profit organizations in Lithuania.Methodology – For the purpose of this research a literature analysis on community and non-profit organization case studies was conducted. The case studies describing stories of success were singled out and leaders of these organizations were interviewed.Findings – The research has showed the growth of the number of community and nonprofit organizations during the last twenty years and the difficulties of collecting the statistical data. This study presupposes the possibility to identify the tendencies of management in community and non-profit organizations, including the following: increasing use of the social networks for communication; proliferation of strategic planning; greater emphasis on educating and empowering new generation of leaders.Research implications – Prior studies in this area in Lithuania have not exhaustively analyzed the components of human resource management of non-profit organizations. An important follow up on this study would be to analyze the human resource management in community organizations.Practical implications – This study covered the management aspects important for the improvement of how community and non-profit organizations work.Originality/Value – This study expands the knowledge on Lithuanian community and non-profit organization development and management.Research type – literature review, research paper.

Public–nonprofit partnership performance in a disaster context: the case of Haiti.

Science.gov (United States)

Nolte, Isabella M; Boenigk, Silke

2011-01-01

During disasters, partnerships between public and nonprofit organizations are vital to provide fast relief to affected communities. In this article, we develop a process model to support a performance evaluation of such intersectoral partnerships. The model includes input factors, organizational structures, outputs and the long-term outcomes of public–nonprofit partnerships. These factors derive from theory and a systematic literature review of emergency, public, nonprofit, and network research. To adapt the model to a disaster context, we conducted a case study that examines public and nonprofit organizations that partnered during the 2010 Haiti earthquake. The case study results show that communication, trust, and experience are the most important partnership inputs; the most prevalent governance structure of public–nonprofit partnerships is a lead organization network. Time and quality measures should be considered to assess partnership outputs, and community, network, and organizational actor perspectives must be taken into account when evaluating partnership outcomes.

How do nonprofit hospitals manage earnings?

Science.gov (United States)

Leone, Andrew J; Van Horn, R Lawrence

2005-07-01

We hypothesize that, unlike for-profit firms, nonprofit hospitals have incentives to manage earnings to a range just above zero. We consider two ways managers can achieve this. They can adjust discretionary spending [Hoerger, T.J., 1991. 'Profit' variability in for-profit and not-for-profit hospitals. Journal of Health Economics 10, 259-289.] and/or they can adjust accounting accruals using the flexibility inherent in Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). To test our hypothesis we use regressions as well as tests of the distribution of earnings by Burgstahler and Dichev [Burgstahler, D., Dichev, I., 1997. Earnings management to avoid earnings decreases and losses. Journal of Accounting and Economics 24, 99-126.] on a sample of 1,204 hospitals and 8,179 hospital-year observations. Our tests support the use of discretionary spending and accounting accrual management. Like Hoerger (1991), we find evidence that nonprofit hospitals adjust discretionary spending to manage earnings. However, we also find significant use of discretionary accruals (e.g., adjustments to the third-party-allowance, and allowance for doubtful accounts) to meet earnings objectives. These findings have two important implications. First, the previous evidence by Hoerger that nonprofit hospitals show less variation in income may at least partly be explained by an accounting phenomenon. Second, our findings provide guidance to users of these financial statements in predicting the direction of likely bias in reported earnings.

Leadership and characteristics of nonprofit mental health peer-run organizations nationwide.

Science.gov (United States)

Ostrow, Laysha; Hayes, Stephania L

2015-04-01

Mental health peer-run organizations are nonprofits providing venues for support and advocacy among people diagnosed as having mental disorders. It has been proposed that consumer involvement is essential to their operations. This study reported organizational characteristics of peer-run organizations nationwide and how these organizations differ by degree of consumer control. Data were from the 2012 National Survey of Peer-Run Organizations. The analyses described the characteristics of the organizations (N=380) on five domains of nonprofit research, comparing results for organizations grouped by degree of involvement by consumers in the board of directors. Peer-run organizations provided a range of supports and educational and advocacy activities and varied in their capacity and resources. Some variation was explained by the degree of consumer control. These organizations seemed to be operating consistently with evidence on peer-run models. The reach of peer-run organizations, and the need for in-depth research, continues to grow.

Development Professionals at Religiously Based Nonprofit Organizations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jim Pinder

2012-09-01

Full Text Available The study of why a fundraising professional would choose to leave his or her employer is critical to the ongoing success of religiously based nonprofit organizations as they work to achieve their mission. Without continuity in the donor relationship, donors will likely leave the organization or become disenfranchised. This study focuses on development professionals at Seventh-Day Adventist institutions across North America. The results of this study are applicable to other religiously based nonprofit organizations. The present article reveals the reasons affecting employee retention and proposes approaches to mitigate the loss of valuable employees. Data were gathered using a structured online survey and analyzed for its descriptive outcomes.

Welcome to Our World: Bridging Youth Development Research in Nonprofit and Academic Communities

Science.gov (United States)

Bialeschki, M. Deborah; Conn, Michael

2011-01-01

This commentary discusses the emergence of youth development research and evaluation in the nonprofit arena over the past 10 to 15 years. Included in this discussion is the establishment of the context for youth development research in nonprofits, a brief description of key examples of research from three youth nonprofits that illustrate the…

Strategies and techniques of communication and public relations applied to non-profit sector

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Ioana – Julieta Josan

2010-05-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to summarize the strategies and techniques of communication and public relations applied to non-profit sector.The approach of the paper is to identify the most appropriate strategies and techniques that non-profit sector can use to accomplish its objectives, to highlight specific differences between the strategies and techniques of the profit and non-profit sectors and to identify potential communication and public relations actions in order to increase visibility among target audience, create brand awareness and to change into positive brand sentiment the target perception about the non-profit sector.

Comparing the Value of Nonprofit Hospitals' Tax Exemption to Their Community Benefits.

Science.gov (United States)

Herring, Bradley; Gaskin, Darrell; Zare, Hossein; Anderson, Gerard

2018-01-01

The tax-exempt status of nonprofit hospitals has received increased attention from policymakers interested in examining the value they provide instead of paying taxes. We use 2012 data from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form 990, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Cost Reports, and American Hospital Association's (AHA) Annual Survey to compare the value of community benefits with the tax exemption. We contrast nonprofit's total community benefits to what for-profits provide and distinguish between charity and other community benefits. We find that the value of the tax exemption averages 5.9% of total expenses, while total community benefits average 7.6% of expenses, incremental nonprofit community benefits beyond those provided by for-profits average 5.7% of expenses, and incremental charity alone average 1.7% of expenses. The incremental community benefit exceeds the tax exemption for only 62% of nonprofits. Policymakers should be aware that the tax exemption is a rather blunt instrument, with many nonprofits benefiting greatly from it while providing relatively few community benefits.

EPA for Businesses and Non-Profits

Science.gov (United States)

Information and links to EPA web pages that are meant to help businesses and non-profits adhere to EPA regulations and otherwise protect the environment, take advantage of opportunities to collaborate with the EPA, and find training EPA training programs.

Factor analysis of financial and operational performance measures of non-profit hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Das, Dhiman

2009-01-01

To understand the important dimensions of the financial and operational performance of non-profit hospitals. Secondary data for non-profit US hospitals between 1996 and 2004. I use iterative principal factor analysis of hospitals' financial and operational ratios for each year of the study. For factor interpretation, I use oblique rotation. Financial ratios were created using cost report data from HCRIS 2552-96 available from the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS). I identify five factors--capital structure, profitability, activity, liquidity, and an operational factor--that explain most of the variation in the performance of non-profit hospitals. I also find that capital structure is more important than profitability in determining the performance of these hospitals. The importance of capital structure highlights a significant shift in the organization of the non-profit hospitals' finances.

Ambidexterity in non-profit, voluntary organizations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aagaard, Peter

Artiklen forbinder organisatorisk læring med strategisk ledelse af nonprofit, frivillige organisationer. Den forklarer hvor de to forbundne strategiske udfordringer – frivilligt engagement og organisatorisk læring kan håndteres ved at anvende indsigt fra litteraturen om udforskning og udnyttelse ...

HealthSouth's inpatient rehabilitation facilities: how does their performance compare with other for-profit and nonprofit inpatient rehabilitation facilities?

Science.gov (United States)

McCue, Michael J; Thompson, Jon M

2010-05-01

To assess the financial and operational differences in freestanding inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) that are operated by HealthSouth Corporation relative to other for-profit and nonprofit system-affiliated ownership groups. Since 2003, when it faced fraud charges and financial penalties, HealthSouth has experienced new management and refocused its business strategy. Because HealthSouth is the largest provider of freestanding IRF services, it is important to understand how their performance may differ relative to other ownership groups. We used the Mann-Whitney U test to assess differences in median values for financial and operational variables of HealthSouth-owned IRFs compared with other for-profit system IRFs and nonprofit system IRFs. System-affiliated freestanding IRFs in the United States. Sixty-four HealthSouth IRFs, 18 nonprofit system-affiliated IRFs, and 18 for-profit system-affiliated IRFs. Not applicable. Net patient revenue per adjusted discharge, operating expense per adjusted discharge, salary expense per full-time equivalent, and cash flow margin. HealthSouth IRFs had significantly lower net patient revenue per adjusted discharge and operating expense per adjusted discharge; however, its cash flow margin was significantly higher than other comparison groups. HealthSouth IRFs treated a higher case mix of patients relative to these comparison groups. The financial and operating performance of HealthSouth IRFs is stronger than other ownership groups. Strong cash flow will enable HealthSouth to pay down long-term debt.

Nonprofit Leadership Capacity Buildings : Sustainability in An Age of Uncertainties

OpenAIRE

Kapucu, Naim; Palabıyık, Hamit; Yuldashev, Ferhod

2008-01-01

Nonprofit organizations are experiencing challenging leadership problems. Especially in this era of highly accelerate baby boom retirement new leaders of the increasingly commercialized nonprofit sector are devoid of the leadership skills necessary to accomplish the mission of an organization. This paper analyzes the problem of leadership planning, training, and development and proposes the ways of mitigating the problem through effective transference of knowledge and skills...

Valuation of Volunteer Work in the Satellite Account of Non-Profit Institutions

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Václav Rybáček

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Volunteer work constitutes an important input into the activities of non-profit institutions. However, in the core system of national accounts, volunteering falls outside the production boundary even if it leads to the production of services. By doing so, national accounts inevitably underestimates the contribution of non-profit institutions to the well-being. This shortcoming is overcome by the Satellite Account of Non-profit Institutions complementing and extending the concept of national accounts chiefly by incorporation of the value of volunteering and by full coverage of non-profit institutions classified in a number of economic sectors. This paper is an attempt to address the key issue that is the way of volunteer work´s valuation for analytical purposes. We will discuss different approaches to the valuation and their impact on key macroeconomic aggregates.

K-12 Education Nonprofit Employees' Perceptions of Strategies for Recruiting and Retaining Employees

Science.gov (United States)

Byrne, Tara Marie

2013-01-01

This qualitative study explored the key reasons individuals who work in K-12 education nonprofit organizations enter the field of K-12 nonprofit education and their motivations for doing so. The purpose of this study was to find new strategies for recruiting and retaining K-12 education nonprofit employees by examining the obstacles that exist to…

Spokespersons in media campaigns of non-profit organizations

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Milovanović Dragana

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The subject of this research is how spokespersons can be used in campaigns of non-profit organizations, with a goal to increase their visibility and gain public support. Namely, many companies employ celebrities for their media campaigns as protagonists and promoters of brand values. With their appearance and engagement, celebrities transfer part of their image and credibility to the brand, which widens and enriches the field of associations which brands trigger in consumers' conscience. Non-profit organizations could get similar benefits out of these campaigns. In a society where there is a certain level of fascination with celebrities, i.e. celebrity culture, their influence can be used not only to attract attention to the goods, but also to ideas. The goal of the paper is to show how spokespersons can influence behavior and attitudes of the public by participating in media campaigns, and also the important aspects of choosing a spokesperson. The paper is supposed to be a starting point for practitioners,so they can design creative ideas based on this technique on the non-profit organizations market, especially in Serbia.

Nonprofit Human Milk Banking in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Updegrove, Kimberly

2013-01-01

Human milk, widely understood to be beneficial for infants, can be lifesaving for preterm neonates, especially in reducing the risk of necrotizing enterocolitis. Donor human milk (DHM) is an option when mothers are unable to provide milk or have an inadequate supply for their infants. Nonprofit donor human milk banks are established to provide safe, processed human milk from milk donated by healthy lactating mothers who have undergone a rigorous screening process. These milk banks, operating under the auspices of the Human Milk Banking Association of North America, obtain, process, and dispense human milk under strict guidelines set by the association. Increasing the supply of donor human milk to meet a dramatic increase in demand poses a significant challenge for nonprofit milk banks. Efforts to increase supply nationwide include education of providers, use of social media to engage potential donors, and outreach to news media. In parallel, milk banks are establishing regional depots to collect donations, and additional milk banks are being developed. This article describes the current nonprofit milk bank industry in the United States, its challenges, and its future prospects. © 2013 by the American College of Nurse‐Midwives.

Grants Management Guidance for Non-Profit Organizations

Science.gov (United States)

This guidance is intended to provide non-profit grant recipients with information to ensure that their organizations remain in compliance with the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Office of Management (OMB) cost principles, and the terms and conditions.

Auditing Government-nonprofit Relations in the Brazilian Post-reformist Context

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Alketa Peci

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Recent decades have been marked by a rising interaction between the State and nonprofits in order to addressincreasingly complex public issues. Government-nonprofit relations were guided by a complex and diverse legal framework, that transformed not only the implementation of public policies, but also the auditing practices and control of such relations. Previous studies have shown the influence of NPM reforms in auditing practices and institutions, of particular interest to this research is the Theory of the Audit Explosion (TEA. This paper analyzes the control of government-nonprofits relations, under the perspective of the TEA, specifically trying to comprehend if there is a causal relationship between the growth of government-nonprofit relations and the audit explosion in the Brazilian context, as predicted by the theory. A field research, based on documentary data and interviews, was undertaken in three Brazilian SAIs. The conclusions highlight the limitations of the explanatory capacity of TEA in Brazil. Although a formal audit explosion was observed, as predicted by TEA, there are substantive barriers to the audit explosion. This is mainly due to the organizational and institutional aspects related to governmental fund transfer entities. Such problems reflect the poor quality of the partnerships themselves and might be a consequence of political variables such as the spurious relationships of some parliamentary members or public employees with partner NGOs.

Understanding the density of nonprofit organizations across Los Angeles neighborhoods: Does concentrated disadvantage and violent crime matter?

Science.gov (United States)

Wo, James C

2018-03-01

Although some urban sociology perspectives suggest how certain sociodeomgraphic characteristics influence nonprofit development, there is a dearth of empirical research to assess neighborhood differences in nonprofit organizations. The goal of the current study is to build upon the extant literature by examining how both concentrated disadvantage and violent crime impact nonprofit density across neighborhoods. Using data from Los Angeles census tracts from 2010 to 2012, I test for linear and nonlinear influences that these two neighborhood factors might exert on nonprofit density. Poisson regression models show that concentrated disadvantage has a nonlinear (U-shaped) effect on all forms of nonprofit density, whereas violent crime has a linear and deleterious effect on all forms of nonprofit density. These results provide important new insights for urban sociology and policy; most importantly, the extent to which neighborhoods with ongoing social problems can later respond to such problems via access to nonprofit organizations. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Micro-Level Interactions in Business-Nonprofit Partnerships

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vock, M.; van Dolen, W.; Kolk, A.

2014-01-01

While most research on business-nonprofit partnerships has focused on macro and meso perspectives, this article pays attention to the micro level. Drawing on various theoretical perspectives from both marketing and management, this study conceptually relates the outcomes of active employee

Micro-Level Interactions in Business-Nonprofit Partnerships

NARCIS (Netherlands)

M. Vock (Marlene); W.M. van Dolen (Willemijn); A. Kolk (Ans)

2013-01-01

textabstractWhile most research on business-nonprofit partnerships has focused on macro and meso perspectives, this paper pays attention to the micro level. Drawing on various theoretical perspectives from both marketing and management, we conceptually relate the outcomes of active employee

Comparing the Value of Nonprofit Hospitals’ Tax Exemption to Their Community Benefits

Science.gov (United States)

Herring, Bradley; Gaskin, Darrell; Zare, Hossein; Anderson, Gerard

2018-01-01

The tax-exempt status of nonprofit hospitals has received increased attention from policymakers interested in examining the value they provide instead of paying taxes. We use 2012 data from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form 990, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Cost Reports, and American Hospital Association’s (AHA) Annual Survey to compare the value of community benefits with the tax exemption. We contrast nonprofit’s total community benefits to what for-profits provide and distinguish between charity and other community benefits. We find that the value of the tax exemption averages 5.9% of total expenses, while total community benefits average 7.6% of expenses, incremental nonprofit community benefits beyond those provided by for-profits average 5.7% of expenses, and incremental charity alone average 1.7% of expenses. The incremental community benefit exceeds the tax exemption for only 62% of nonprofits. Policymakers should be aware that the tax exemption is a rather blunt instrument, with many nonprofits benefiting greatly from it while providing relatively few community benefits. PMID:29436247

Profitable Nonprofits? Reward-Based Crowdfunding in the Czech Republic

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Makýšová Lucia

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This paper deals with crowdfunding as a new and alternative mechanism of nonprofit funding which has thus far attracted little scholarly attention in the Czech context. It focuses on the factors that affect a campaign’s overfunding rate and determines whether these factors are consistent among different forms of project creators. A comprehensive analysis of reward-based crowdfunding in the Czech Republic was conducted based on the data from 617 projects using the Czech crowdfunding platform Hithit that were categorized according to the status of the project creator. Using binary logistic regression, a statistic estimation on an overall sample and on a sample of purely nonprofit projects was executed in order to observe if the outcomes diff er. Th e key empirical finding is that NGOs tend to raise fewer additional funds than other forms of project creators. Except for certain specific factors, the effects of the examined factors were consistent across all samples. Th is new and innovative approach to resource insufficiency by using alternative funding sources presents an important and unexplored research gap in the (post- transitive context of nonprofit sector studies, enabling a view of policy implications for Czech NGOs.

Leading, Following or Complementing in Economic Crisis: A Conceptual Model Illustrating Nonprofit Relationships with Public Schools

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Laurie Paarlberg

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Public and nonprofit organizations, entwined in the delivery of public goods and services, are in the midst of challenging economic times. In these circumstances, sound collaborative leadership may help bridge budget and program service delivery shortfalls. In this paper, we examine the administrative dynamics of mutual reliance between two prominent public and nonprofit organizations: public schools and parent-teacher groups (PTGs. We conclude that the partnership is changing as a result of external, economic forces. In essence, we are seeing a threat-rigidity response. The economic crisis may be responsible for causing PTGs to narrow their range of activities away from broader strategic issues that can be addressed through their confrontation activities and advocacy mission towards a narrower focus on classroom activities that protect core school operations, namely instruction.

Charity and community: the role of nonprofit ownership in a managed health care system.

Science.gov (United States)

Schlesinger, M; Gray, B; Bradley, E

1996-01-01

As American medicine has been transformed by the growth of managed care, so too have questions about the appropriate role of nonprofit ownership in the health care system. The standards for community benefit that are increasingly applied to nonprofit hospitals are, at best, only partially relevant to expectations for nonprofit managed care plans. Can we expect nonprofit ownership to substantially affect the behavior of an increasingly competitive managed care industry dealing with insured populations? Drawing from historical interpretations of tax exemption in health care and from the theoretical literature on the implications of ownership for organizational behavior, we identify five forms of community benefit that might be associated with nonprofit forms of managed care. Using data from a national survey of firms providing third-party utilization review services in 1993, we test for ownership-related differences in these five dimensions. Nonprofit utilization review firms generally provide more public goods, such as information dissemination, and are more "community oriented" than proprietary firms, but they are not distinguishable from their for-profit counterparts in addressing the implications of medical quality or the cost of the review process. However, a subgroup of nonprofit review organizations with medical origins are more likely to address quality issues than are either for-profit firms or other nonprofit agencies. Evidence on responses to information asymmetries is mixed but suggests that some ownership related differences exist. The term "charitable" is thus capable of a definition far broader than merely the relief of the poor. While it is true that in the past Congress and the federal courts have conditioned the hospital's charitable status on the level of free or below cost care that it provided for indigents, there is no authority for the conclusion that the determination of "charitable" status was always so limited. Such an inflexible

Dynamic call center routing policies using call waiting and agent idle times

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Chan, W.; Koole, G.M.; L'Ecuyer, P.

2014-01-01

We study call routing policies for call centers with multiple call types and multiple agent groups. We introduce new weight-based routing policies where each pair (call type, agent group) is given a matching priority defined as an affine combination of the longest waiting time for that call type and

Pricing objectives in nonprofit hospitals.

OpenAIRE

Bauerschmidt, A D; Jacobs, P

1985-01-01

This article reports on a survey of 60 financial managers of nonprofit hospitals in the eastern United States relating to the importance of a number of factors which influence their pricing decisions and the pricing objectives which they pursue. Among the results uncovered by the responses: that trustees are the single most important body in the price-setting process (doctors play a relatively unimportant role); that hospital pricing goals are more related to target net revenue than profit ma...

Mobbing in a Non-Profit Organisation

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Kovacic Andrej

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Purpose: The aim of this paper is to analyse mobbing in a large, non-profit, state-owned organization in order to find out to what extent mobbing is present and in what way it takes place. In addition, the purpose of the research is to analyse whether the extent of mobbing is connected to employee’s age, gender and position.

Hospital ownership and medical services: market mix, spillover effects, and nonprofit objectives.

Science.gov (United States)

Horwitz, Jill R; Nichols, Austin

2009-09-01

Hospitals operate in markets with varied demographic, competitive, and ownership characteristics, yet research on ownership tends to examine hospitals in isolation. Here we examine three hospital ownership types -- nonprofit, for-profit, and government -- and their spillover effects. We estimate the effects of for-profit market share in two ways, on the provision of medical services and on operating margins at the three types of hospitals. We find that nonprofit hospitals' medical service provision systematically varies by market mix. We find no significant effect of market mix on the operating margins of nonprofit hospitals, but find that for-profit hospitals have higher margins in markets with more for-profits. These results fit best with theories in which hospitals maximize their own output.

Relevant factors to consider prior to an investor-owned acquisition of a nonprofit healthcare entity.

Science.gov (United States)

Ault, Kelvin; Childs, Brad; Wainright, Charles F; Young, Marilyn

2011-01-01

The purpose of this article is to explore the factors that affect the negotiations for an acquisition of a nonprofit system by an investor-owned entity. The recent economic downturn, accompanying credit crisis, and healthcare reform legislation will likely encourage and accelerate the pace of merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions between investor-owned entities and nonprofit hospitals. As many nonprofits are smaller, more financially vulnerable, and more limited in their access to capital than their investor-owned counterparts, nonprofits could be prime targets for investor-owned acquirers during the healthcare reform implementation period. In M&A transactions of this type, the investor-owned acquirer typically is motivated to pursue an acquisition when the deal promises an acceptable return on investment and decreased operating costs from economies of scale. Alternatively, the nonprofit target is typically seeking funding for upgrades to facilities and information technology systems as well as a continued commitment to charity care and managed-care contracting leverage. A successful acquisition of a nonprofit hospital by an investor-owned company requires a careful analysis of relevant tax, economic, and strategic factors prior to closing the deal. This article lists the most significant factors to consider in these deals and explains how these factors should influence the purchase price and postacquisition cash flow.

Message content of alcohol moderation TV commercials: impact of corporate versus nonprofit sponsorship.

Science.gov (United States)

Lavack, A M

1999-01-01

This content analysis examines a sample of 203 alcohol-related North American TV commercials dealing with alcohol moderation and driving under the influence (DUI), in order to determine whether the type of ad sponsor has an impact on the message content. Corporate sponsors, such as breweries and distillers, are compared to nonprofit sponsors such as governments and nonprofit organizations. Findings show that ads from corporate sponsors are less likely to make mention of threats or negative consequences, and are also less likely to use fear arousal. However, DUI/alcohol moderation ads from corporate sponsors and nonprofit sponsors do not differ in the degree to which they use humor or positive approaches.

Nonprofit Communications from a Corporate Communications Viewpoint

Science.gov (United States)

Cross, Ava

2006-01-01

Nonprofit organizations, such as social service agencies, charities, and hospitals, plan and prepare communications that are vital to their missions. Although not corporations, these organizations produce news releases, newsletters, and annual reports that are similar to those created in the corporate sector. In this research project for a course…

Nonprofit organizations versus government agencies to reduce tobacco use.

Science.gov (United States)

Carver, Vivien; Reinert, Bonita; Range, Lillian M; Campbell, Catherine; Boyd, Nicole

2003-01-01

Tobacco settlement money can be allocated to nonprofit organizations or government agencies. Both have advantages and disadvantages. Nonprofit organizations may have relatively (a) more efficiency/flexibility, but less accountability; (b) narrower focus, but less experience; (c) more ability to advocate, but more obligations; (d) more independence from tobacco industry influence, but less funding; and, (e) more public trust, but less visibility. The present case study of the Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi focuses on six interconnected areas: education (school and community), raising awareness, advocacy, service, enforcement, and research. In 1999 and 2000, tobacco use declined in Mississippi, even compared to neighboring states. This unique partnership's multifaceted approach to social change probably facilitated this decline.

The Quiet Crisis: The Impact of the Economic Downturn on the Nonprofit Sector

Science.gov (United States)

Bridgeland, John M.; McNaught, Mary; Reed, Bruce; Dunkelman, Marc

2009-01-01

This report was written to shine a spotlight on the under-reported plight of America's nonprofit organizations and to make recommendations for how the nation can respond. In the wake of the economic downturn, hospitals, nursing homes, nursery schools, senior centers, soup kitchens, and other nonprofit organizations have been hit by a triple…

32 CFR 37.690 - How are nonprofit participants to manage real property and equipment?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... SECRETARY OF DEFENSE DoD GRANT AND AGREEMENT REGULATIONS TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT AGREEMENTS Award Terms Affecting Participants' Financial, Property, and Purchasing Systems Property § 37.690 How are nonprofit... institution of higher education or in a nonprofit organization whose primary purpose is conducting scientific...

Impact of Sarbanes-Oxley and IRS Form 990 on Nonprofit Organizations in Pennsylvania

Science.gov (United States)

Kisow, Matthew R.

2011-01-01

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, an attempt to reform publicly traded companies that suffered from a series of scandalous failures in the late 1990's, did not apply to nonprofit organizations. Several high-profile scandals which occurred in the nonprofit sector between 1996 and 2002 led lawmakers to make several unsuccessful attempts at mandating that the…

Nonprofit Sector: Workforce Education Needs and Opportunities

Science.gov (United States)

Garvey, David

2009-01-01

When some people think of nonprofit organizations, they think of small charities that are short-staffed, often struggle financially, and provide basic human needs to the most vulnerable in the society. Others think of organizations that support the civic and social infrastructure of communities, states, and nation, and serve as a vital component…

7 CFR Exhibit B to Subpart L of... - Section 515 Nonprofit Set Aside (NPSA)

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... with or controlled by a for-profit organization; and E. May be a consumer cooperative, Indian tribe or... rating/ranking lists. F. Provisions for providing preference to loan requests from nonprofit... qualify for nonprofit preference. VIII. Exception authority. The Administrator, or his/her designee, may...

Digital Technologies as Tools of Engagement and Dissent from the Perspective of Nonprofit Sector

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

LIN Ziying

2017-01-01

The widely spread of the digital technologies, such as laptop and the Internet, have brought out profound changes in the economy as wel as in political and social life and intensified the interactions and communication between the state, civil society, and market. For the time being, it offered opportunities for the nonprofit sector to initiate a brand-new stage. This article aims to explore how the technology connects nonprofit sector to government and civil society and assess the impact of technology in nonprofit sector perspective by taking The Red Cross of Society of China as an example.

32 CFR 37.620 - What financial management standards do I include for nonprofit participants?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false What financial management standards do I include... financial management standards do I include for nonprofit participants? So as not to force system changes..., your expenditure-based TIA's requirements for the financial management system of any nonprofit...

Unwanted horses: The role of nonprofit equine rescue and sanctuary organizations.

Science.gov (United States)

Holcomb, K E; Stull, C L; Kass, P H

2010-12-01

Closure of US equine slaughter facilities in 2007 along with the concomitant economic recession have contributed to a sharp increase in the number of unwanted horses throughout the United States, with estimates totaling 100,000 horses per year. The objective of the study was to obtain comprehensive data regarding nonprofit organizations caring for unwanted horses, along with the characteristics and outcome of horses relinquished to these organizations. Nonprofit organizations that accept relinquished equines were contacted to participate in a 90-question survey. Responding organizations (144 of 326 eligible) in 37 states provided information on 280 cases representative of the 7,990 horses relinquished between 2007 and 2009. Data collected characterized these organizations as being in existence for 6 yr, financially supported through donations and personal funds, dedicated to the care of only 10 to 20 horses on a property of just over 30 acres, and reliant on volunteers for help. Funding was the greatest challenge to continued operation of nonprofit equine organizations, with maintenance costs for the care of a relinquished horse averaging $3,648 per year. Financial hardship, physical inability, or lack of time to care for the horses by owners were the most common reasons for relinquishment, followed by seizure through law enforcement agencies for alleged neglect or abuse. Relinquished horses consisted of mostly light horse breeds (79.3%), with Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses as the most represented breeds. The age of relinquished horses ranged from 3 d to 42 yr old (12.4 ± 0.5 yr). About one-half of the horses entered in the survey were considered unhealthy due to illness, injury, lameness, or poor body condition. For every 4 horses relinquished to a nonprofit organization, only 3 horses were adopted or sold between 2006 and 2009, and many organizations had refused to accept additional horses for lack of resources. The estimated maximum capacity for the 326

The Supply of Charity Services by Nonprofit Hospitals: Motives and Market Structure

OpenAIRE

Richard G. Frank; David S. Salkever

1991-01-01

This article studies provision of charity care by private, nonprofit hospitals. We demonstrate that in the absence of large positive income effects on charity care supply, convex preferences for the nonprofit hospital imply crowding out by other private or government hospitals. Extending our model to include impure altruism (rivalry) provides a possible explanation for the previously reported empirical result that both crowding out and income effects on indigent care supply are often weak or ...

Bridging cultures: Nonprofit, church, and emergency management agency collaboration after the May 2013 Oklahoma tornado outbreak.

Science.gov (United States)

Murphy, Haley; Pudlo, Jason

Community-based organizations, such as nonprofit organizations (NPOs) and churches, play an important role in helping individuals and communities bounce back after a disaster. The nature of disasters requires organizations across sectors to partner together to provide recovery services; however, collaboration is difficult even in times of stability and requires trust and communication to be built through prior collaborative relationships. These prior relationships rarely exist between the majority of the nonprofit sector, churches, and existing emergency management structures. Furthermore, these organizations often have very different cultures, values, and norms that can further hinder successful postdisaster collaboration. The authors use data collected from interviews with nonprofit and church leaders involved in recovery efforts after a series of devastating storms impacted central Oklahoma in 2013 to understand how well nonprofit and church leaders perceive their organizations collaborated with each other and with government and emergency management agencies in response and recovery efforts. Interview data suggest that NPOs and churches without a primary or secondary mission of disaster response and recovery have a difficult time collaborating with organizations involved in existing emergency management structures. The authors suggest that nonprofits with a primary or secondary purpose in disaster response are a potential bridge between other nonprofits and emergency management agencies.

Polish and Silesian Non-Profit Organizations Liquidity Strategies

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Grzegorz Michalski

2011-12-01

Full Text Available The kind of realized mission inflows the sensitivity to risk. Among other factors, the risk results from decision about liquid assets investment level and liquid assets financing. The higher the risk exposure, the higher the level of liquid assets. If the specific risk exposure is smaller, the more aggressive could be the net liquid assets strategy. The organization choosing between various solutions in liquid assets needs to decide what level of risk is acceptable for her owners (or donors and / or capital suppliers. The paper shows how, in authors opinion, decisions, about liquid assets management strategy inflow the risk of the organizations and its economicalresults during realization of main mission. Comparison of theoretical model with empirical data for over 450 Silesian nonprofit organization results suggests that nonprofit organization managing teams choose more risky aggressive liquid assets solutions than for-profit firms.

Effective Social Media Engagement for Nonprofits: What Matters?

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Julia L Carboni

2015-03-01

Full Text Available We employ public management relationship theory to examine how nonprofits can effectively engage social media stakeholders in two-way communication. Though many nonprofit organizations have a social media presence, there is variance in how well organizations use social media to engage stakeholders. Simply having a social media presence is not enough to engage stakeholders.  We examine Facebook posts of a stratified random sample of youth development organizations to determine what predicts stakeholder engagement. We find the type of Facebook post is a significant predictor of stakeholder engagement.  Longer posts also significantly predict increased stakeholder engagement.  At the organizational level, having many posts is a significant negative predictor of stakeholder engagement, indicating that users may feel bombarded and are less likely to engage.  Increased organizational spending on advertising as a proportion of total budget is positively associated with stakeholder engagement. 

Sustainability Perceptions in Romanian Non-Profit Organizations: An Exploratory Study Using Success Factor Analysis

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Sebastian Ion Ceptureanu

2018-01-01

Full Text Available This paper analyses sustainability perceptions in Romanian non-profits by investigating 81 non-profits managers and board members. Using a multidimensional sustainability measurement framework, Success Factor Analysis, as a conceptual model, we measured perceptions on 5 critical sustainability factors: People, Business Model, Operations, Strategy and Culture and concluded that there are significant differences in the perceptions of sustainability depending on respondents’ previous failure experiences. While those which previously experienced failure adopt a long-term approach based on marketization, clear accountability standards and rely on strategy, while the others prefer a short-term approach, focused more on non-profits operations and focus on human resources.

Helping Charity Work: Paid Jobs in Charitable Nonprofits.

Science.gov (United States)

Crosby, Olivia

2001-01-01

Describes five behind-the-scenes occupations found in almost every type of charitable nonprofit organization: manager, fundraisers, foundation program officers, communications directors, and executive directors. Lists the training, employment, and earnings characteristics of people-to-people, food-related, advocacy, and trade occupations in the…

Precarity in the Nonprofit Employment Services Sector.

Science.gov (United States)

Fanelli, Carlo; Rudman, Debbie Laliberté; Aldrich, Rebecca M

2017-08-01

Drawing on interview and focus group data, this article explores research undertaken as part of a larger research project exploring precarity in the nonprofit employment services sector in a mid-sized Canadian city. We critically survey major legislative changes to Canadian employment and income security policies and programs, including the restructuring of work and labor relations, growth of performance-based contracting-out, erosion of intergovernmental transfers, worker stress, and emotional tolls. Our study's results demonstrate how employment precarity in the nonprofit employment services sector is amplified by top-down and centralized relationships with funding partners and policymaking divorced from the employment experiences of frontline staff. We make the case that it is important to work against rising workplace precarity to strengthen organizational and workplace conditions, as well as build environments more supportive of optimal employment support services. En se fondant sur des entretiens et des données découlant de groupes témoins, cet article présente des explorations entreprises dans une recherche plus large étudiant la précarité dans le secteur des emplois de service dans une ville canadienne de taille moyenne. Nous faisons une revue critique de changements importants intervenus dans la législation portant sur l'emploi au Canada et les politiques et programmes de la sécurité du revenu, incluant la restructuration du travail et des relations de travail, l'augmentation de la privatisation se fondant sur la performance, la diminution des transferts intergouvernementaux, le stress au travail et les conséquences émotionnelles. Les résultats de notre recherche démontrent comment la précarité de l'emploi dans les secteurs des services à but non lucratif est amplifiée par des relations allant du haut vers le bas et centralisée avec des partenaires et des politiques séparés de l'expérience des travailleurs sur le terrain. Nous d

Employee motivation in a non-profit organisation: Case Study: Blå Kors

OpenAIRE

Rodrigues, Amanda Deborah Norma; Passos Ruvald, Carolina; Svetleva, Stanimira Nikolaeva

2017-01-01

Non-Profit Organisations are characterised by their dependence on their workforce. The functioning of such organisation commonly leans towards the service sector and so the employees play a vital part in the core function of fundraising, which in turn enables the organisation in furthering its cause. This feature, as well as the popular trait of non-profit organisation’s dependence on voluntary labour, also brings us to the importance of job satisfaction or employee motivation and commitment ...

Nonprofit Organizations in Danish Welfare Provision – Explaining Differences Across Welfare Areas

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thøgersen, Malene

This paper describes and analyzes the large variation in the proportion of non-profit providers across different welfare areas in Denmark with specific focus on two selected areas: Primary schools and care homes for elderly. With inspiration from niche theory, the aim is to get a deeper insight...... in the characteristics of the institutional framework in the two areas. The main argument of the paper is that non-profit welfare providers cannot be lumped together. It is necessary to take a closer look at both the differences and similarities across areas, but also across non-profit providers and their public...... counterparts within the same niche. In the preliminary results a number of explanatory factors are identified and analyzed: Regulative rules, funding issues, norms and expectations and the degree of competition. The analysis show that an indepth analysis of the two selected welfare areas can provide useful...

Are there high-risk groups among physicians that are more vulnerable to on-call work?

Science.gov (United States)

Heponiemi, Tarja; Aalto, Anna-Mari; Pekkarinen, Laura; Siuvatti, Eeva; Elovainio, Marko

2015-05-01

Work done in the emergency departments is one stressful aspect of physicians' work. Numerous previous studies have highlighted the stressfulness of on-call work and especially of night on call. In addition, previous studies suggest that there may be individual differences in adjusting to changes in circadian rhythms and on-call work. The objective of this study was to examine whether physicians' on-call work is associated with perceived work-related stress factors and job resources and whether there are groups that are more vulnerable to on-call work according to sex, age, and specialization status. This was a cross-sectional questionnaire study among 3230 Finnish physicians (61.5% women). The analyses were conducted using analyses of covariance adjusted for sex, age, specialization status, and employment sector. Physicians with on-call duties had more time pressure and stress related to team work and patient information systems compared with those who did not have on-call duties. In addition, they had less job control opportunities and experienced organization as less fair and team climate as worse. Older physicians and specialists seemed to be especially vulnerable to on-call work regarding stress factors, whereas younger and specialist trainees seemed vulnerable to on-call work regarding job resources. Focusing on team issues and resources is important for younger physicians and trainees having on-call duties, whereas for older and specialists, attention should be focused on actual work load and time pressure. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

STARTING DETERMINANTS OF STRATEGIC APPROACH TO MARKETING OF NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS: THEORETICAL ELABORATION

OpenAIRE

Pavičić, Jurica

2001-01-01

Non-profit organizations have remarkably important role in contemporary societies since they participate in solutions of numerous problems which enable or prevent functioning of society in an optimal way. In this, systematic application of marketing influences more efficient activity of non-profit organizations in practice, and by this indirectly contributes to better solution of social problems. If qualitative or systematic application of marketing is observed from the aspect of forming and ...

Altruism, Rivalry and Crowding-Out in the Nonprofit Firm's Supply of Charity Services: The Case of Hospitals

OpenAIRE

Richard G. Frank; David S. Salkever

1988-01-01

This paper extends previous research on Individuals' supply of charitable donations to the behavior of nonprofit firms. Specifically, we study provision of charity care by private, nonprofit hospitals. We demonstrate that In the absence of large positive income effects on charity care supply, convex preferences for the nonprofit hospital imply crowding out by other private or government hospitals. Extending our model to include patient heterogeneity and impure altruism (rivalry) provides a po...

Evidence for contact calls in fish: conspecific vocalisations and ambient soundscape influence group cohesion in a nocturnal species

Science.gov (United States)

van Oosterom, L.; Montgomery, J. C.; Jeffs, A. G.; Radford, C. A.

2016-01-01

Soundscapes provide a new tool for the study of fish communities. Bigeyes (Pempheris adspersa) are nocturnal planktivorous reef fish, feed in loose shoals and are soniferous. These vocalisations have been suggested to be contact calls to maintain group cohesion, however direct evidence for this is absent, despite the fact that contact calls are well documented for many other vertebrates, including marine mammals. For fish, direct evidence for group cohesion signals is restricted to the use of visual and hydrodynamic cues. In support of adding vocalisation as a contributing cue, our laboratory experiments show that bigeyes significantly increased group cohesion when exposed to recordings of ambient reef sound at higher sound levels while also decreasing vocalisations. These patterns of behaviour are consistent with acoustic masking. When exposed to playback of conspecific vocalisations, the group cohesion and vocalisation rates of bigeyes both significantly increased. These results provide the first direct experimental support for the hypotheses that vocalisations are used as contact calls to maintain group cohesion in fishes, making fish the evolutionarily oldest vertebrate group in which this phenomenon has been observed, and adding a new dimension to the interpretation of nocturnal reef soundscapes.

10 CFR 603.665 - Periodic audits of nonprofit participants.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 10 Energy 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Periodic audits of nonprofit participants. 603.665 Section 603.665 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (CONTINUED) ASSISTANCE REGULATIONS TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT AGREEMENTS Award Terms Affecting Participants' Financial, Property, and Purchasing Systems Financial Matters...

Generation and distribution of wealth in Blumenau non-profit social service

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Loriberto Starosky Filho

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Non-profit organizations exist all over the world and they have an important role to the economy. These are not aimed at profits and they appeared to develop initiatives of social aspects. The main goal of this research is to check how the wealth is generated and distributed by the non-profits that are enrolled in the Welfare Assistance Council in Blumenau city. This data was gotten through a qualitative, descriptive and documentary research based on analysis of published financial statements of a sample consisting of  nineteen non-profit Welfare Assistance Organizations. The results showed that: a To maintain their activities most  institutions  rely on resources coming from social grants, partnerships and donations; b The added value distributed represents more than fifty percent of the total proceeds in a large number  of institutions; c in most organizations the biggest share of the wealth distribution was used to the workers payment; d a low percentage of  the wealth is to lenders and government. As a general rule, most organizations presented a very low rate of retentions for themselves because they do not seek profits. Their goals are related to social services activities.

Pricing behaviour of nonprofit insurers in a weakly competitive social health insurance market.

Science.gov (United States)

Douven, Rudy C H M; Schut, Frederik T

2011-03-01

In this paper we examine the pricing behaviour of nonprofit health insurers in the Dutch social health insurance market. Since for-profit insurers were not allowed in this market, potential spillover effects from the presence of for-profit insurers on the behaviour of nonprofit insurers were absent. Using a panel data set for all health insurers operating in the Dutch social health insurance market over the period 1996-2004, we estimate a premium model to determine which factors explain the price setting behaviour of nonprofit health insurers. We find that financial stability rather than profit maximisation offers the best explanation for health plan pricing behaviour. In the presence of weak price competition, health insurers did not set premiums to maximize profits. Nevertheless, our findings suggest that regulations on financial reserves are needed to restrict premiums. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

29 CFR 780.407 - System must be nonprofit or operated on a share-crop basis.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false System must be nonprofit or operated on a share-crop basis... Requirements Under Section 13(b)(12) The Irrigation Exemption § 780.407 System must be nonprofit or operated on... on facilities of any irrigation system unless the ditches, canals, reservoirs, or waterways in...

48 CFR 52.249-5 - Termination for Convenience of the Government (Educational and Other Nonprofit Institutions).

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... Convenience of the Government (Educational and Other Nonprofit Institutions). 52.249-5 Section 52.249-5... Convenience of the Government (Educational and Other Nonprofit Institutions). As prescribed in 49.502(d), insert the following clause: Termination for Convenience of the Government (Educational and Other...

Compensating Controls and Agency Conflicts in the Absence of Owners: The Case of Nonprofit Charter Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Bradley, Jean Ryberg

2017-01-01

This dissertation consists of three essays using publicly reported internal control deficiencies to examine agency conflicts in the unique organizational setting provided by nonprofit charter schools. In my first essay, I find evidence that increased agency conflicts in nonprofit charter schools are "not" associated with increased…

A model to motivate, engage and retain non-profit employees

African Journals Online (AJOL)

kirstam

Key words: intrinsic rewards, intrinsic work motivation, non-profit sector, retention, ..... The process of informed consent was explained in both the e-mail and ..... from working, which causes a positive cycle of emotions whereby their desire to.

Group and Individual Variability in Mouse Pup Isolation Calls Recorded on the Same Day Show Stability

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Terra D. Barnes

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Mice produce ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs in a variety of social situations, and USVs have been leveraged to study many neurological diseases including verbal dyspraxia, depression, autism and stuttering. Pups produce isolation calls, a common USV, spontaneously when they are isolated from their mother during the first 2 weeks of life. Several genetic manipulations affect (and often reduce pup isolation calls in mice. To facilitate the use of this assay as a means of testing whether significant functional differences in genotypes exist instead of contextual differences, we test the variability inherent in many commons measures of mouse vocalizations. Here we use biological consistency as a way of determining which are reproducible in mouse pup vocalizations. We present a comprehensive analysis of the normal variability of these vocalizations in groups of mice, individual mice and different strains of mice. To control for maturation effects, we recorded pup isolation calls in the same group of C57BL/6J 5 days old mice twice, with 1 h of rest in between recordings. In almost all cases, the group averages between the first and second recordings were the same. We also found that there were high correlations in some parameters in individual mice across recording while others were not well correlated. These findings could be replicated for the majority of features in a separate group of C57BL/6J mice and a group of 129/SvEvBrd-C57BL/6J mice. The averages of these mouse USV features are highly consistent and represent a robust assay to test the effects of genetic and other interventions in the experimental setting.

Accountability, efficiency, and the "bottom line" in non-profit organizations.

Science.gov (United States)

Cutt, J

1982-01-01

Financial reporting by non-profit organizations deals only with accountability for propriety and regularity, and ignores output measurement. The development of output measures of a physical or index nature offers a means of relating dollar costs to output in the form of cost-efficiency or cost-effectiveness measures, but does not provide any measure of the absolute value or worthwhileness of such programs. This fundamental absolute value question should be asked of all non-profit programs and documented to the greatest possible extent in budgetary submissions, and subsequent control and audit. In public sector non-profit programs, the posing of this question requires information on consumer demand other than in aggregative and imprecise form through the political process, and much improved information on the cost side. Eliciting demand information is feasible in the case of public programs with separable benefits by the use of a variety of pricing techniques, direct or imputed, whether or not the service in question is ultimately financed on a user-pay basis. The problem of eliciting demand is more difficult in the case of public goods, but improved demand information can be obtained, ideally by an approach such as the use of a Clarke tax. The argument can be extended to encompass questions of income distribution, stabilization, regulation and tax policy. Recent developments in program evaluation in the federal government are important, but remain deficient in failing to address the question of absolute value.

Sports, poverty and the role of the voluntary sector : exploring and explaining nonprofit sports clubs' efforts to facillitate participation of socially disadvantaged people

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vandermeerschen, H.; Meganck, J.; Seghers, J.; Vos, S.B.; Scheerder, J.

2017-01-01

Despite several decades of Sport for All policies, opportunities for sports participation are still unequally divided, with certain socially disadvantaged groups having less access to sports. To reduce this gap, structural efforts are needed. A question that arises is what role nonprofit sports

‘Value for Whom, by Whom’: Investigating Value Constructs in Non-Profit Project Portfolios

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karyne Cheng Siew Ang

2016-11-01

Full Text Available In most non-profit organisations (NPOs, there are multiple programs, projects or initiatives running simultaneously. The management of multiple projects in organisations can be coined as project portfolio management (PPM (Archer & Ghasemzadeh 1999; Pennypacker & Dye 2002.  In any project-based organisation, it is critical that selected projects align with and deliver the organisation’s strategy or mission. Decisions about project funding are strategic decisions, particularly when there are resource limitations. In PPM decision making, the allocation of resources to projects requires a clear judgement of value across multiple perspectives. Value has often been expressed in financial terms, however increasingly research indicates that non-financial considerations are equally important in evaluating value. A key task in project portfolio management is to maximise value across the portfolio.  However, value can be a subjective notion, as each person may have different expectations of what is valuable. The involvement of diverse stakeholder interests could create complexities in decision making in non-profit organisations due to value being interpreted in different ways by the stakeholders. Furthermore in order to achieve its purpose, non-profits depend heavily on donors, patrons and sponsors - stakeholders who contribute to the portfolio but are often not the direct recipients of the services provided by the non-profit organisation (Kaplan 2012. Non-profit portfolios often compete with other initiatives for resources and attention from the same donors and sponsors, and may need to constantly justify the value they provide to these stakeholders. Most research about value in PPM has been conducted in the ‘for-profit’ sector. Recent value-based studies in the project portfolio field stress the importance of considering both commercial and non-commercial value in portfolio decision making (Killen, du Plessis & Young 2012; Kopman 2013; Martinsuo

Mitigating concerns and maximizing returns: social media strategies for injury prevention non-profits.

Science.gov (United States)

McMillan-Cottom, Tressie

2014-08-01

Injury prevention programs can use social media to disseminate information and recruit participants. Non-profit organizations have also used social media for fundraising and donor relationship management. Non-profit organizations (NPOs) with injury prevention missions often serve vulnerable populations. Social media platforms have varied levels of access and control of shared content. This variability can present privacy and outreach challenges that are of particular concern for injury prevention NPOs. This case report of social media workshops for injury prevention NPOs presents concerns and strategies for successfully implementing social media campaigns.

Mitigating Concerns and Maximizing Returns: Social Media Strategies for Injury Prevention Non-profits

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tressie McMillan-Cottom

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Injury prevention programs can use social media to disseminate information and recruit participants. Non-profit organizations have also used social media for fundraising and donor relationship management. Non-profit organizations (NPOs with injury prevention missions often serve vulnerable populations. Social media platforms have varied levels of access and control of shared content. This variability can present privacy and outreach challenges that are of particular concern for injury prevention NPOs. This case report of social media workshops for injury prevention NPOs presents concerns and strategies for successfully implementing social media campaigns.

Not a numbers game : How non-profit organisations measure the impact of social media

OpenAIRE

Nurmi, Kasper

2017-01-01

The thesis explores social media use of Finnish non-profit organisations using the examples of the Finnish Red Cross and the World Wildlife Foundation Finland. Although the field is widely discussed, no previous studies have looked at the measuring of social media communication in the field of Finnish non-profits. In order to assess the impact of their online communication, specifically on social media platforms, organisations have begun to implement various tools for data accumulation and an...

The social media participation framework: studying the effects of social media on nonprofit communities

OpenAIRE

Effing, Robin

2014-01-01

Social media could help nonprofit communities to organize their communication with their members in new and innovative ways. This could contribute to sustaining or improving the participation of members within these communities. Yet little is known of how to measure and understand the offline community effects of social media use. Therefore, the main question of this study is: “How does the use of social media by members of nonprofit communities affect their offline participation?” The Social...

Derivative financial instruments and nonprofit health care providers.

Science.gov (United States)

Stewart, Louis J; Owhoso, Vincent

2004-01-01

This article examines the extent of derivative financial instrument use among US nonprofit health systems and the impact of these financial instruments on their cash flows, reported operating results, and financial risks. Our examination is conducted through a case study of New Jersey hospitals and health systems. We review the existing literature on interest rate derivative instruments and US hospitals and health systems. This literature describes the design of these derivative financial instruments and the theoretical benefits of their use by large health care provider organizations. Our contribution to the literature is to provide an empirical evaluation of derivative financial instruments usage among a geographically limited sample of US nonprofit health systems. We reviewed the audited financial statements of the 49 community hospitals and multi-hospital health systems operating in the state of New Jersey. We found that 8 percent of New Jersey's nonprofit health providers utilized interest rate derivatives with an aggregate principle value of $229 million. These derivative users combine interest rate swaps and caps to lower the effective interest costs of their long-term debt while limiting their exposure to future interest rate increases. In addition, while derivative assets and liabilities have an immaterial balance sheet impact, derivative related gains and losses are a material component of their reported operating results. We also found that derivative usage among these four health systems was responsible for generating positive cash flows in the range of 1 percent to 2 percent of their total 2001 cash flows from operations. As a result of our admittedly limited samples we conclude that interest rate swaps and caps are effective risk management tools. However, we also found that while these derivative financial instruments are useful hedges against the risks of issuing long-term financing instruments, they also expose derivative users to credit, contract

Resistance towards persuasion: differences between non-profit and commercial advertising

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Boogaard, C.R.; Fransen, M.L.; Eisend, M.; Langner, T.

2011-01-01

In the present research we examined a variety of strategies that consumers may use to resist persuasion towards non-profit and commercial advertising. Based on research by Jacks and Cameron (2003), we investigated seven strategies (i.e., attitude bolstering, counter arguing, negative affect,

Leadership in nonprofit organizations of Nicaragua and El Salvador: a study from the social identity theory.

Science.gov (United States)

Moriano León, Juan Antonio; Topa Cantisano, Gabriela; Lévy Mangin, Jean-Pierre

2009-11-01

This study follows the social identity model of leadership proposed by van Knippenberg and Hogg (2003), in order to examine empirically the mediator effect of leadership prototypicality between social identity, extra effort, and perceived effectiveness of group members. The sample consisted of 109 participants who worked in 22 different work-teams of non-profit organizations (NPO) from Nicaragua and El Salvador. The data analysis was performed through structural equation modeling (SEM). The results show that NPO membership is related to a high level of social identity. In addition, the results confirmed that leadership prototypicality has a significant and positive mediator effect in the relationship between the group identification and the group members' extra effort and the perceived effectiveness of leadership.

Policy commercializing nonprofits in health: the history of a paradox from the 19th century to the ACA.

Science.gov (United States)

Fox, Daniel M

2015-03-01

POLICY POINTS: Health policy in the United States has, for more than a century, simultaneously and paradoxically incentivized the growth as well as the commercialization of nonprofit organizations in the health sector. This policy paradox persists during the implementation of the Affordable Care Act of 2010. For more than a century, policy in the United States has incentivized both expansion in the number and size of tax-exempt nonprofit organizations in the health sector and their commercialization. The implementation of the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) began yet another chapter in the history of this policy paradox. This article explores the origin and persistence of the paradox using what many scholars call "interpretive social science." This methodology prioritizes history and contingency over formal theory and methods in order to present coherent and plausible narratives of events and explanations for them. These narratives are grounded in documents generated by participants in particular events, as well as conversations with them, observing them in action, and analysis of pertinent secondary sources. The methodology achieves validity and reliability by gathering information from multiple sources and making disciplined judgments about its coherence and correspondence with reality. A paradox with deep historical roots persists as a result of consensus about its value for both population health and the revenue of individuals and organizations in the health sector. Participants in this consensus include leaders of governance who have disagreed about many other issues. The paradox persists because of assumptions about the burden of disease and how to address it, as well as about the effects of biomedical science that is translated into professional education, practice, and the organization of services for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and management of illness. The policy paradox that has incentivized the growth and commercialization of nonprofits in

The Application of the Sfas No.45 on Financial Reporting in the Non-profit Organization Nurul Huda Mosque Kawangkoan

OpenAIRE

Walandouw, Stanley Kho; Mangkona, Sri Wardana Saleh

2015-01-01

Organization are founded by the public due to the similarity of interests, both in the realization of human nature as well as to meet their needs. Based on the objectives, the organization can be divided into non-profit organizations and commercial organizations. There is a fundamental difference between nonprofit organizations and commercial organizations, the IAI makes SFAS No.45 which regulates the financial statements of non-profit organizations. The purpose of this study is to see whethe...

Overcoming Branding Barriers in Nonprofit, Private Colleges and Universities

Science.gov (United States)

Chyr, Fred

2017-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this Delphi study was to explore the views of experts in the field of nonprofit private colleges and universities in the United States to define branding and identify current barriers to branding, to discover how those barriers can be overcome, and to determine what barriers to branding are likely to occur 5 years in the…

Who does it better? The corporate versus the nonprofit governance model.

Science.gov (United States)

Larson, Laurie

2005-05-01

Weighing the corporate against the nonprofit governance model, the answer may be "neither." Both systems can learn from each other, experts say, and best practices in public companies do not automatically translate to health care boards.

Characteristics of relinquishing and adoptive owners of horses associated with U.S. nonprofit equine rescue organizations.

Science.gov (United States)

Holcomb, Kathryn E; Stull, Carolyn L; Kass, Philip H

2012-01-01

Nonprofit equine rescue organizations in the United States provide care for relinquished horses and may offer adoption programs. With an estimated 100,000 "unwanted" horses per year and few municipal shelters providing wholesale euthanasia, there is a need to minimize the number of unwanted horses and maximize their successful transition to new caregivers. This study's objectives were to characterize the relinquishing and adoptive owners interacting with nonprofit rescue organizations. Nonprofit organizations (n = 144) in 37 states provided information by survey on 280 horses relinquished between 2006 and 2009, from which 73 were adopted. Results show the majority of relinquishing owners were women, whereas adoptive owners were primarily families or couples. Most relinquishing owners had previous equine experience and had owned the horse for 1 to 5 years; about half owned 1 other horse. Three quarters of the adoptive owners possessed additional horses housed on their property. The primary use for rehomed horses was for riding or driving. These findings will serve to help develop effective education programs for responsible horse ownership and optimize acceptance criteria and successful adoption strategies of horses by nonprofit organizations.

Charity care in nonprofit urban hospitals: analysis of the role of size and ownership type in Washington State for 2011.

Science.gov (United States)

Coyne, Joseph S; Ogle, Natalie M; McPherson, Sterling; Murphy, Sean; Smith, Gary J; Davidson, Gregg Agustín

2014-01-01

Nonprofit hospitals are expected to serve their communities as charitable organizations in exchange for the tax exemption benefits they receive. With the passage into law of the Affordable Care Act, additional guidelines were generated in 2010 to ensure nonprofit hospitals are compliant. Nonetheless, the debate continues on whether nonprofit hospitals provide adequate charity care to their patient population. In this study, charity care provided by 29 Washington State nonprofit urban hospitals was examined for 2011 using financial data from the Washington State Department of Health. Charity care levels were compared to both income tax savings and gross revenues to generate two financial ratios that were analyzed according to hospital bed size and nonprofit ownership type. For the first ratio, 97% of the hospitals (28 of 29) were providing charity care in greater amounts than the tax savings they accrued. The average ratio value using total charity care and total income tax savings of all the hospitals in the study was 6.10, and the median value was 3.46. The nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis test results by bed size and nonprofit ownership type indicate that ownership type has a significant effect on charity care to gross revenue ratios (p = .020). Our analysis indicates that church-owned hospitals had higher ratios of charity care to gross revenues than did the other two ownership types--government and voluntary--in this sample. Policy implications are offered and further studies are recommended to analyze appropriate levels of charity care in nonprofit hospitals given new requirements for maintaining a hospital's tax-exempt status.

The Proposal of the Changes in the Taxation of Income of the Non-profit Organizations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Milena Otavová

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The paper is focused on the issue of the taxation of incomes of the non-governmental non-profit organizations, especially the civic associations in the conditions of the Czech Republic and in the selected countries of the European Union (Austria, Slovakia, Germany. The main emphasis is put on the comparison of the corporate income tax of the studied countries. Particularly the tax benefits that are provided to the non-profit organizations in the individual countries are compared here. This paper points to the current situation in the Czech Republic, where there is no clear legislation that would regulate the activities by the studied organizations. Changes in the taxation of the incomes of non-profit organizations are designed to eliminate absences with regard to the simplicity and clarity of the individual provisions, and also to prevent misuse of the benefits and to the speculative behavior of tax entities.

Democracy and non-profit housing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Anne Vorre; Langergaard, Luise Li

2017-01-01

Resident democracy as a special form of participatory democratic set-up is fundamental in the understanding, and self-understanding, of the non-profit housing sector in Denmark. Through a case study, the paper explores how resident democracy is perceived and narrated between residents and employees....... The tensions are related to representative versus participatory democracy; collectivity versus individuality; and service versus welfare. The tensions elucidate how resident democracy is squeezed between different logics, which result in an ambiguous setting for practising democracy. Based on the results...... at a housing association. The study indicates that the meta-story of democracy is disconnected from practice and the lived lives of residents. Three analytical tensions structure the analysis, which relate to the conditions for realizing the democratic ideal embedded in the structure of the sector...

Long Term Recovery in Disaster Response and the Role of Non-Profits

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Victor B Flatt

2013-04-01

Full Text Available The Legal Framework of Disaster Response does not deal as well with long term recovery. In particular, the role of non-profits is unexamined. This paper examines the role of non-profits in disaster recovery and argues for a legal framework acknowledging its important role. El marco legal de las respuestas ante desastres no tiene en cuenta la recuperación a largo plazo. En particular, no se analiza el papel de las organizaciones sin ánimo de lucro. Este artículo estudia el papel de las organizaciones sin ánimo de lucro en la recuperación de desastres, y se muestra a favor de establecer un marco legal que reconozca la importancia de su papel.

CRM Implementation in Nonprofits: An Analysis of the Success Factors

Science.gov (United States)

Grattan, Kelly E.

2012-01-01

Constituent Relationship Management ("CRM") is defined as an organization-wide strategy designed to enable the organization to better manage, track and steward its constituents. CRM has benefited for-profit enterprises for nearly three decades. In the nonprofit sector, the concept of CRM is fairly new. Despite the increase in CRM…

Students Learn How Nonprofits Utilize Volunteers through Inquiry-Based Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Bolton, Elizabeth B.; Brennan, M. A.; Terry, Bryan D.

2009-01-01

This article highlights how undergraduate students implemented inquiry-based learning strategies to learn how nonprofit organizations utilize volunteers. In inquiry-based learning, students begin with a problem or question with some degree of focus or structure provided by the professor. The student inquiry showcased in this article was based on a…

Financial Condition and Tuition in Private Nonprofit Baccalaureate Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Peruso, Dominick F., Jr.

2012-01-01

The rate of tuition inflation at U.S. colleges and universities is alarming and threatens both access and choice. Private nonprofit baccalaureate colleges often possess the highest tuition rates but routinely face financial challenges. This study was designed to better understand the relationship between tuition and financial condition for the…

Perceiving a Calling, Living a Calling, and Job Satisfaction: Testing a Moderated, Multiple Mediator Model

Science.gov (United States)

Duffy, Ryan D.; Bott, Elizabeth M.; Allan, Blake A.; Torrey, Carrie L.; Dik, Bryan J.

2012-01-01

The current study examined the relation between perceiving a calling, living a calling, and job satisfaction among a diverse group of employed adults who completed an online survey (N = 201). Perceiving a calling and living a calling were positively correlated with career commitment, work meaning, and job satisfaction. Living a calling moderated…

Changing behaviour through business-nonprofit collaboration? Consumer responses to social alliances

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vock, M.; van Dolen, W.; Kolk, A.

2013-01-01

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore consumers' responses to social alliances, a specific type of corporate social marketing in which companies cooperate with non-profit organizations. This paper extends previous studies that suggested that a social marketing effort may be a

Resource categories and performance in Portuguese non-profit sports clubs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marco Arraya

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The resource-based view (RBV explores the role of key resources identified as tangible, personnel-based, and intangible resources in creating superior organizational performance. The RBV posits that an organization’s success is mainly driven by resources that possess Barney’s VRIO (valuable, rare, inimitable, and organized framework. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the relationship between the three categories of resources and organizational performance. The data was analyzed with a two-stage structural equation modelling approach. The sample included Portuguese sports management staff from non-profit clubs which composed of 375 men and 102 women. The results of the structural model demonstrated that, intangible resources can significantly influence organizational performance while, personnel-based resources influence tangible and intangible resources. The results show that “staff competence”, “reputation”, and “financial capital” were the most essential resources, and that is core for non-profit clubs and their strategy to recognize, develop, and leverage VRIO resources. These findings also have considerable implications for sport managers, and suggestions for possible future research were given.

Profiles in Organizational Effectiveness for Nonprofits: Improving the Lives of Children, Youth and Families in Kansas City's Urban Core.

Science.gov (United States)

Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Kansas City, MO.

For some time the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation has been studying the attributes that characterize effective nonprofit organizations. These attributes were identified after a review of the literature, discussions with national leaders, meetings with administrators and funders of nonprofit organizations, and the information from case studies by…

32 CFR 37.665 - Must I require nonprofit participants to have periodic audits?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... DEFENSE DoD GRANT AND AGREEMENT REGULATIONS TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT AGREEMENTS Award Terms Affecting Participants' Financial, Property, and Purchasing Systems Financial Matters § 37.665 Must I require nonprofit...

Federal Tax Exemption Status of the Private Nonprofit Art Association.

Science.gov (United States)

Rodriguez, Edward J.

1978-01-01

The question of whether the selling of art by a private nonprofit art association violates the provisions of section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 is considered. Revenue rulings of 1971 and 1976 suggest that any sale of art may render the organization ineligible for tax exemption when private interests are benefited. (JMD)

From "Charity" to "Social Enterprise": Managing Volunteers in Public-Serving Nonprofits.

Science.gov (United States)

Zappala, Gianni

2001-01-01

The changing environment has shifted the model of nonprofit organizations from charity to social enterprise, which emphasizes partnerships with business and government. Approaches to volunteer management, recruitment, retention, and recognition are different in social enterprises, and a move beyond human resource management practices is required.…

Non-profits discover the benefits of using software through the Internet.

Science.gov (United States)

2001-04-01

Many non-profits are looking at ways that they can leverage the Internet to assist in fund raising. Some organizations are using the Internet as a form of e-commerce to accept online gifts, while others are using the immediacy of the Internet for online auctions.

THE THEORY OF NON-PROFIT ALTERNATIVE ECONOMY AS THE BASIS FOR A NEW ECONOMIC OUTLOOK

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V. V. Myamlin

2009-03-01

Full Text Available The conflicts of existing financial-and-economic model of management are revealed. The groundlessness of profit-financial economic model based only on a profit approach is shown. The alienation of this model from general laws of the Nature is demonstrated. As an argument of absence of additional product the scheme of rotation of substances in the Nature is given. It is suggested to build the laws of economics starting not from idea considerations of those or other social groups but from general laws of the Nature. A new basic economic ideology – the theory of non-profitable economy – is proposed.

Why Aren't Evaluations Working and What to Do About It: A Framework for Negotiating Meaningful Evaluation in Nonprofits

Science.gov (United States)

Liket, Kellie C.; Rey-Garcia, Marta; Maas, Karen E. H.

2014-01-01

Nonprofit organizations are under great pressure to use evaluations to show that their programs "work" and that they are "effective." However, empirical evidence indicates that nonprofits struggle to perform useful evaluations, especially when conducted under accountability pressures. An increasing body of evidence highlights…

Effects of Responding to a Name and Group Call on Preschoolers' Compliance

Science.gov (United States)

Beaulieu, Lauren; Hanley, Gregory P.; Roberson, Aleasha A.

2012-01-01

We assessed teacher-child relations with respect to children's name calls, instructions, and compliance in a preschool classroom. The most frequent consequence to a child's name being called was the provision of instructions. We also observed a higher probability of compliance when children attended to a name call. Next, we evaluated the effects…

Win-Win-Win: Reflections from a Work-Integrated Learning Project in a Non-Profit Organization

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Dale C MacKrell

2016-05-01

Full Text Available This paper reports on the educational aspects of an information systems work-integrated learning (WIL capstone project for an organization which operates to alleviate homelessness in the Australian non-profit sector. The methodology adopted for the study is Action Design Research (ADR which draws on action research and design research as a means for framing a project's progress. Reflective insights by the project stakeholders, namely, students, academics, and the non-profit client, reveal a curriculum at work through internal features of the organization; personal features of the participants and features of the external environment. Preliminary findings suggest that students in a WIL project for a non-profit are highly engaged, especially when they become aware of the project’s social value. As well, the improvement of professional skills and emotional intelligence by students is more likely in real-life practice settings than in other less authentic WIL activities, equipping graduates for the workforce with both strong disciplinary and generic skills. Win-win-win synergies through project collaboration represent worthwhile outcomes to education, industry and research.

How can work be designed to be intrinsically rewarding? Qualitative insights from South African non-profit employees

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Michelle Renard

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Orientation: Intrinsic rewards are personal, psychological responses to the work thatemployees perform, which stem from the manner in which their work is designed. Research purpose: This study sought to discover in what ways non-profit employees arepsychologically rewarded by the nature of their work tasks. The use of a qualitative approachto data collection and analysis ensured that in-depth responses from participants were gained. Motivation for the study: Intrinsic rewards are of particular importance to non-profitemployees, who tend to earn below-market salaries. This implies that their motivationoriginates predominantly from intrinsic as opposed to extrinsic rewards; yet, research into thisarea of rewards is lacking. Research approach, design and method: In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conductedusing a sample of 15 extrinsically rewarded non-profit employees working within South Africa.Thematic analysis was utilised in order to generate codes which led to the formation of fiveintrinsic rewards categories. Main findings: Intrinsic rewards were classified into five categories, namely (1 MeaningfulWork, (2 Flexible Work, (3 Challenging Work, (4 Varied Work and (5 Enjoyable Work.These rewards each comprise of various subcategories, which provide insight into why suchwork is rewarding to non-profit employees. Practical/managerial implications: Traditional performance management systems shouldbe re-evaluated in the non-profit sector to shift focus towards intrinsic rewards, asopposed to focusing only on the use of extrinsic rewards such as incentives to motivateemployees. Contribution/value-add: The study provides a qualitative understanding of how extrinsicallyrewarded non-profit employees perceive their work to be intrinsically rewarding, whichbridges the empirical gap pertaining to intrinsic rewards within this sector.

The Features of Forming and Using the Finansial and Material Resources of Socially Oriented Non-Profit Organizations of Volgograd Region

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Oleynik Olga Stepanovna

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The article deals with the problem of interaction of regional authorities and the institute of socially oriented non-profit organizations that carry out the activity aimed at solving social problems, the development of civil society in Russia. The forms and activities of socially oriented non-profit organizations are systematically presented. The authors reveal the directions and tools for supporting the activities of socially oriented non-profit organizations by public authorities and local self-government bodies. The authors aimed at fixing the peculiarities of organization and conduct of statistical observation over the activity of socially-oriented organizations in Volgograd region. The organizational events were arranged. They were necessary for the conduct of qualitative statistical analysis of the activity of socially oriented organizations. For the first time the official data on the activity of socially oriented non-profit organizations in Volgograd region, including the information on formation and use of money and other property, was received as a result of the statistical observation. The authors focus on the analysis of the sources of money and other property, reveal the composition of income in non-profit organizations of various organizational and legal forms. The forms of work in socially oriented non-profit organizations of Volgograd region and its results as of 2013 are thoroughly studied. The conducted statistical analysis showed that the significant public sector has been established in the region. It provides the necessary public social services, financial or social assistance to the most vulnerable members of society.

75 FR 8390 - Eligibility of a Nonprofit Corporation/Housing Consultant Certification

Science.gov (United States)

2010-02-24

... relationship they have with the sponsor or the mortgagor. HUD uses this information to assure compliance with...-92531. Description of the Need for the Information and Its Proposed Use: Nonprofit organizations provide financial and other information so that HUD can determine that the sponsor and/or mortgagor are truly a...

32 CFR 37.920 - What requirement for access to a nonprofit participant's records do I include in a TIA?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false What requirement for access to a nonprofit participant's records do I include in a TIA? 37.920 Section 37.920 National Defense Department of Defense... What requirement for access to a nonprofit participant's records do I include in a TIA? Your TIA must...

American Cancer Society: the world's wealthiest "nonprofit" institution.

Science.gov (United States)

Epstein, S S

1999-01-01

The American Cancer Society is fixated on damage control--diagnosis and treatment--and basic molecular biology, with indifference or even hostility to cancer prevention. This myopic mindset is compounded by interlocking conflicts of interest with the cancer drug, mammography, and other industries. The "nonprofit" status of the Society is in sharp conflict with its high overhead and expenses, excessive reserves of assets and contributions to political parties. All attempts to reform the Society over the past two decades have failed; a national economic boycott of the Society is long overdue.

Creating Value in Nonprofit-business Collaborations: New Thinking and Practice, by Austin James E. and Seitanidi M. May

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mongelli, Luca; Rullani, Francesco

2017-01-01

Book Review of: Creating Value in Nonprofit-business Collaborations: New Thinking and Practice, by Austin James E. and Seitanidi M. May . San Francisco: John Wiley and Sons, 2014. 320 pp. ISBN: 978-1118531136.......Book Review of: Creating Value in Nonprofit-business Collaborations: New Thinking and Practice, by Austin James E. and Seitanidi M. May . San Francisco: John Wiley and Sons, 2014. 320 pp. ISBN: 978-1118531136....

Gender, Occupation, and Promotion to Management in the Nonprofit Sector : The critical case of Médecins sans Frontières Holland

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Damman, Marleen; Heyse, Liesbet; Mills, Melinda

2014-01-01

Although one can assume the work values within nonprofit organizations promote gender equality in promotion decisions, there is preliminary evidence that in the nonprofit sector women are underrepresented in higher management positions. Whereas the mechanisms resulting in underrepresentation of

Facebook Satisfaction and Its Impacts on Fundraising: A Case Study at a Portuguese Non-Profit Organization

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Raul M. S. Laureano

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Non-profit organizations have invested in the development of content for their Facebook pages, believing be an efficient and effective means to publicize its mission and raising resources, whether monetary or human. The purpose of this study is to assess the satisfaction of the participants with the Facebook page, and how that satisfaction influences the dissemination of the organization through the word-of-mouth and the donations practices. In this context, a questionnaire was administered to 204 participants that were aware of the Portuguese non-profit organization “Leigos para o Desenvolvimento” (People for Development. The results show that the participants are satisfied with Facebook page of the organization, and that there is influence of satisfaction on the word-of-mouth and on the frequency and amount of donations. However, satisfaction with the Facebook, itself, does not appear crucial to the realization of donations, either in the present or in future as intended. The study focuses only on one organization and includes a sample that may not represent all the population extracts and so inhibit the generalization of the findings to other populations. The paper includes implications for the development of an effective use of the Facebook as a digital marketing tool that can contribute to the sustainability of non-profit organizations. The study confirms the importance of the Facebook as a digital marketing tool that can contribute to the sustainability of non-profit organizations.

Evaluating Outsourcing Information Technology and Assurance Expertise by Small Non-Profit Organizations

Science.gov (United States)

Guinn, Fillmore

2013-01-01

Small non-profit organizations outsource at least one information technology or information assurance process. Outsourcing information technology and information assurance processes has increased every year. The study was to determine the key reasons behind the choice to outsource information technology and information assurance processes. Using…

FACILITATORS OF INTERNET PROMOTION (E-BROCHURE ADOPTION BY NON-PROFIT ORGANISATIONS

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Nelson Oly Ndubisi

2005-01-01

Full Text Available Internet promotion, otherwise e-brochure (EB or partial e-commerce adoption by non-profit organisations denotes the use of the Internet to provide business and service related information by academic institutions (as in the present study, non-profit organisations, religious organisations, and government agencies to reduce their expenses or to improve their operations and customer service. A field survey of Malaysian universities was conducted to determine the key factors that facilitate the adoption of non-business EB. Since EB adoption decision is a strategic one, a comprehensive list of potential facilitators for the strategic use of information technology (IT was derived from extant literature and used in collecting data from 65 schools and centres in five public universities in Kota Kinabalu and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The data were factor-analysed to determine the key underlying dimensions of facilitators. On the basis of the resulting five dimensions namely, relative advantage orientation, network orientation, information efficiency orientation, innovativeness orientation, and competitiveness orientation, regression analysis was done to determine the impact of the five dimensions on non-business EB adoption.

The role of private non-profit healthcare organizations in NHS systems: Implications for the Portuguese hospital devolution program.

Science.gov (United States)

Almeida, Álvaro S

2017-06-01

The national health services (NHS) of England, Portugal, Finland and other single-payer universalist systems financed by general taxation, are based on the theoretical principle of an integrated public sector payer-provider. However, in practice one can find different forms of participation of non-public healthcare providers in those NHS, including private for profit providers, but also third sector non-profit organizations (NPO). This paper reviews the role of non-public non-profit healthcare organizations in NHS systems. By crossing a literature review on privatization of national health services with a literature review on the comparative performance of non-profit and for-profit healthcare organizations, this paper assesses the impact of contracting private non-profit healthcare organizations on the efficiency, quality and responsiveness of services, in public universal health care systems. The results of the review were then compared to the existing evidence on the Portuguese hospital devolution to NPO program. The evidence in this paper suggests that NHS health system reforms that transfer some public-sector hospitals to NPO should deliver improvements to the health system with minimal downside risks. The very limited existing evidence on the Portuguese hospital devolution program suggests it improved efficiency and access, without sacrificing quality. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The role and importance of Non-Profit Organizations

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Nicoleta Ciucescu

2009-12-01

Full Text Available In a complex and challenging background of the whole country, and the NGO sector also, the non-profit organizations are established with the aim of providing public services to communities where they operate, making them as an intermediary between citizens and authorities. In any democratic society these organizations are meant to serve different types of needs and interests of the community, from both a strategic perspective and ethics, that those which are not covered by other categories of institutions and organizations, mean time providing a framework for civic participation, where citizens may participate to the public life.

10 CFR 603.685 - Management of real property and equipment by nonprofit participants.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... participants. 603.685 Section 603.685 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (CONTINUED) ASSISTANCE REGULATIONS TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT AGREEMENTS Award Terms Affecting Participants' Financial, Property, and Purchasing Systems... education or in a nonprofit organization whose primary purpose is conducting scientific research, without...

Taxation of Non-profit Organizations in the Selected European Countries: the Proposal of the Changes for the Czech Republic

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Milena Otavová

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The paper is focused on the issue of taxation of income of non-profit organizations, especially to associations (clubs in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the United Kingdom. This paper is part of research, where the main emphasis is placed on the comparison of the tax benefits which are provided to non-profit organizations in different countries. This paper points to the current situation in the Czech Republic where despite the changes that have occurred in connection with the new Civil Code, there is still missing clear legislation that would regulate the activities of the monitored organizations. Changes in the taxation of income of non-profit organizations are designed with regard to the elimination of deficiencies in order to prevent the abuse of the benefits and the speculative behavior of tax entities.

Toward a balanced framework to evaluate and improve the internal functioning of non-profit economic development business incubators : A study in Belgium

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Vanderstraeten, J.; Matthyssens, P.; van Witteloostuijn, A.

2014-01-01

Non-profit organisations, such as economic development incubators, may adapt the balanced scorecard and strategy map in their efforts to improve their internal functioning. In this paper, we employ qualitative research among non-profit economic development incubators in Antwerp, Belgium, to modify

The need for strategic tax planning among nonprofit hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Pamela C

2005-01-01

Strategic tax planning issues are important to the nonprofit health care sector, despite its philanthropic mission. The consolidation of the industry has led management to fight for resources and develop alternative strategies for raising money. When management evaluates alternative collaborative structures to increase efficiency, the impact on governance structures must also be considered. The increased governmental scrutiny of joint ventures within the health care sector warrants management's attention as well. The financial incentives must be considered, along with the various tax policy implications of cross-sector collaborations.

Federal Higher Education Policy and the Profitable Nonprofits. Policy Analysis. No. 678

Science.gov (United States)

Fried, Vance H.

2011-01-01

Undergraduate education is a highly profitable business for nonprofit colleges and universities. They do not show profits on their books, but instead take their profits in the form of spending on some combination of research, graduate education, low-demand majors, low faculty teaching loads, excess compensation, and featherbedding. The industry's…

A mixed-methods approach to conducting Internal Revenue Service-compliant community health needs assessments: a case example for nonprofit hospital leaders

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Oglesby WH

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Willie H Oglesby, Ken Slenkovich Department of Health Policy and Management, College of Public Health, Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA Background: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act created new requirements for nonprofit hospitals to conduct a Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA at least once every 3 years, with a significant tax penalty for noncompliance. While some resources exist to help nonprofit hospital leaders conduct various aspects of a CHNA, few reflect the new Internal Revenue Service requirements. Methods: Many different models of CHNAs have emerged over the years. Although each has its unique features, the essential elements of a CHNA include engaging stakeholders, defining the community, gathering sufficient representative data, prioritizing information, and reporting results. In this paper, we expand upon this basic approach by offering a practical step-by-step guide to conducting CHNAs that meets new Internal Revenue Service regulations. Results: We developed and tested this methodology in partnership with several nonprofit hospital systems in Northeast Ohio, USA. In this paper, we discuss our use of the methodology and identify recommendations for other nonprofit hospital leaders. Conclusion: The methodology presented in this paper is a cost-effective approach to satisfying new CHNA requirements and nonprofit hospital leaders should consider using it or modifying it to fit their unique needs. Keywords: Affordable Care Act, CHNA, community benefit, community hospital

Person-Organization Commitment: Bonds of Internal Consumer in the Context of Non-profit Organizations.

Science.gov (United States)

Juaneda-Ayensa, Emma; Clavel San Emeterio, Mónica; González-Menorca, Carlos

2017-01-01

From an Organizational Behavior perspective, it is important to recognize the links generated between individuals and the organization that encourage a desire for permanence. After more than a half century of research, Organizational Commitment remains one of the open questions in the Psychology of Organizations. It is considered an essential factor for explaining individual behavior in the organization such as satisfaction, turnover intention, or loyalty. In this paper, we analyze different contributions regarding the nature of the bond between the individual and the organization. Taking into account the peculiarities of Non-profit Organizations, we present different interpretation for later validation, comparing results from the Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the four models obtained using exploratory factor analysis, both conducted on a sample of 235 members of Non-profit Organizations.

Legal environment of non-profit organizations in Iceland Réttarumhverfi félagasamtaka á Íslandi

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Hrafn Bragason

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Despite a high number of non-profit organizations and their important social function a comprehensive legislation on their activities does not exist in Iceland, as is the case for most other operating entities. In the article existing rules on non-profit activities in Iceland are analyzed. In addition, the entity, non-profit organizations, is defined, and rules on their establishment, member participation, organization, accountability and obligations are described. The analysis will also focus on current regulation on fundraising, business activities, taxation and income from the government. A comparison of non-profit organizations and foundations is performed.Þrátt fyrir fjölda félagasamtaka og þýðingarmikið samfélagslegt hlutverk þeirra eru ekki í gildi heildarlög á Íslandi um starfsemi þeirra eins og um flest önnur félagaform. Í greininni er fjallað um þær reglur sem þó gilda um starfsemi félagasamtaka eða almennra félaga eins og þau eru nefnd í félagarétti. Auk skilgreiningar á félagaforminu er þeim reglum lýst sem gilda um stofnun þeirra, félagsaðild, skipulag, ábyrgð og skuldbindingar. Einnig er rætt um þá reglu um gjörð sem gildir um tekjuöflun félagasamtaka, atvinnustarfsemi, skattlagningu og fjárveitingar frá hinu opinbera. Gerður er samanburður á félagasamtökum og sjálfseignarstofnunum sem starfa á sambærilegum vettvangi.

Designing and implementing a balanced scorecard: lessons learned in nonprofit implementation.

Science.gov (United States)

Gumbus, Andra; Wilson, Tom

2004-01-01

The balanced scorecard has been referred to as the management innovation of the century, and extensive articles have been written using case studies of organizations that use this performance measurement system. This article addresses the key issues of design and implementation with a step-by-step guide to how to design a balanced scorecard and lessons to avoid implementation problems in government and nonprofit settings.

Impact of changes in Medicare payments on the financial condition of nonprofit hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Das, Dhiman

2013-01-01

This article examines the implications of revenue changes on the financial condition of nonprofit hos pitals. I examine these implications empirically by studying the effect of changes in Medicare payments in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. Using data from the Healthcare Cost Report Information System maintained by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services between 1996 and 2004, I show that even though revenue fell significantly, resulting in a decline in profitability, hospitals did not significantly change their capital structure and use of capital. An important implication of this is a higher cost of borrowing for these hospitals, which can affect future capital accumulation and viability. Nonprofit hospitals are a very important part of the healthcare delivery system in the United States. Medicare patients constitute the single largest segment of their revenue sources. Understanding the consequences of the changes in Medicare reimbursement on hospital finances is useful in framing future revisions of Medicare payments.

Nonprofit, payload process improvement through lean management

Science.gov (United States)

Sampson, Melissa

Organizations that are successful and competitive long-term have learned to efficiently utilize their resources, such as money, people, facilities, and time. Over the last half-century, there have been a variety of theories and techniques put forth on how to do this. One recent theory applied in the aerospace industry is Lean Management (LM), which emphasizes a customer focus and a rigorous elimination of activities that do not add value from the customer's perspective. LM has not, until now, been evaluated for small, nonprofit, one-off production organizations (NOPOs). Previous research on LM focused on for-profit companies and large-scale production organizations, producing relatively similar products repetitively (e.g. automobiles, commercial satellites, aircraft, and launch vehicles). One-off production organizations typically create one-of-a-kind products. The purpose of this research is to examine the applicability of LM to a NOPO. LM will improve resource utilization and thereby competitiveness, as well as exploring a new area of knowledge and research. The research methodology consists of conducting case studies, formal and informal interviews, observation and analysis in order to assess whether and how LM may be beneficial. The research focuses on one particular NOPO, BioServe Space Technologies (BST): a nonprofit, payload development organization. Additional NOPOs were interviewed in order to draw more generalized conclusions about LM benefits. The research demonstrates that LM is applicable to NOPOs, thus providing a tool to improve efficiency and competitiveness. Results from this research are guidelines for payload development organizations to implement LM, and highlighting potential LM weaknesses. A major conclusion is that LM needs some minor modifications to be applicable and useful to NOPOs, particularly in terms of value stream mapping. The LM implementation roadmap developed for NOPOs introduces customized metrics, as well as including standard

Perceiving a calling, living a calling, and job satisfaction: testing a moderated, multiple mediator model.

Science.gov (United States)

Duffy, Ryan D; Bott, Elizabeth M; Allan, Blake A; Torrey, Carrie L; Dik, Bryan J

2012-01-01

The current study examined the relation between perceiving a calling, living a calling, and job satisfaction among a diverse group of employed adults who completed an online survey (N = 201). Perceiving a calling and living a calling were positively correlated with career commitment, work meaning, and job satisfaction. Living a calling moderated the relations of perceiving a calling with career commitment and work meaning, such that these relations were more robust for those with a stronger sense they were living their calling. Additionally, a moderated, multiple mediator model was run to examine the mediating role of career commitment and work meaning in the relation of perceiving a calling and job satisfaction, while accounting for the moderating role of living a calling. Results indicated that work meaning and career commitment fully mediated the relation between perceiving a calling and job satisfaction. However, the indirect effects of work meaning and career commitment were only significant for individuals with high levels of living a calling, indicating the importance of living a calling in the link between perceiving a calling and job satisfaction. Implications for research and practice are discussed. (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved.

Evaluating Performance Measurement Systems in Nonprofit Agencies: The Program Accountability Quality Scale (PAQS).

Science.gov (United States)

Poole, Dennis L.; Nelson, Joan; Carnahan, Sharon; Chepenik, Nancy G.; Tubiak, Christine

2000-01-01

Developed and field tested the Performance Accountability Quality Scale (PAQS) on 191 program performance measurement systems developed by nonprofit agencies in central Florida. Preliminary findings indicate that the PAQS provides a structure for obtaining expert opinions based on a theory-driven model about the quality of proposed measurement…

European Strategy Preparatory Group - CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

CERN Multimedia

2012-01-01

As part of the Update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics, the European Strategy Preparatory Group (ESPG) welcomes submissions on issues related to the strategy from individual physicists, from groups of scientists representing a community (an experiment, a topic of theoretical research, etc.) as well as from Institutions and Organizations (funding agencies, ministries, etc).   These contributions will be discussed at the meetings of the Preparatory Group and during the Open Symposium to be held on 10-12 September 2012 in Cracow, and will be made available to the Strategy Group for drafting the Update of the Strategy. How to submit a contribution? Send your contribution on the scientific issues below using the form under http://indico.cern.ch/event/espg_input (preferably as an attached PDF file): - Accelerator Physics - Astroparticle Physics, Gravitation and Cosmology - Flavour Physics and Symmetries - Physics at High Energy Frontier - Physics of Neutrinos - Strong Interaction Physics...

Individual and contextual variation in Thomas langur male loud calls

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wich, S.A.; Koski, S.; Vries, Han de; Schaik, Carel P. van

2003-01-01

Individual and contextual differences in male loud calls of wild Thomas langurs (Presbytis thomasi) were studied in northern Sumatra, Indonesia. Loud calls were given in the following contexts: morning calls, vocal responses to other groups, between-group encounter calls and alarmcalls. Loud

Financial Management for Nonprofit Organizations: Uses and Applications in a Social Entrepreneurship Curriculum

Science.gov (United States)

Broom, Lowell S.; Thornton, Jeremy P.; Carson, Charles M.

2013-01-01

Social Entrepreneurship (SE) programs have been expanding over the past decade. The emergence of this new discipline can be attributed to two overlapping factors. Students (particularly business students) have expressed an increased desire to blend values, ethics and social causes into their own vocations. At the same time, the nonprofit and…

The engagement and retention of non-profit employees in Belgium and South Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michelle Renard

2016-11-01

Contribution: This study provides insights into the means by which non-profit employees across two nations demonstrate their enthusiasm, pride and involvement in the work that they perform. It moreover sheds light on the factors contributing to such employees intending to leave or stay within the employment of their organisations.

Evolution of public and non-profit funding for mental health research in France between 2007 and 2011.

Science.gov (United States)

Gandré, Coralie; Prigent, Amélie; Kemel, Marie-Louise; Leboyer, Marion; Chevreul, Karine

2015-12-01

Since 2007, actions have been undertaken in France to foster mental health research. Our objective was to assess their utility by estimating the evolution of public and non-profit funding for mental health research between 2007 and 2011, both in terms of total funding and the share of health research budgets. Public and non-profit funding was considered. Core funding from public research institutions was determined through a top-down approach by multiplying their total budget by the ratio of the number of psychiatry-related publications to the total number of publications focusing on health issues. A bottom-up method was used to estimate the amount of project-based grants and funding by non-profit organizations, which were directly contacted to obtain this information. Public and non-profit funding for mental health research increased by a factor of 3.4 between 2007 and 2011 reaching €84.8 million, while the share of health research funding allocated to mental health research nearly doubled from 2.2% to 4.1%. Public sources were the main contributors representing 94% of the total funding. Our results have important implications for policy makers, as they suggest that actions specifically aimed at prioritizing mental health research are effective in increasing research funding. There is therefore an urgent need to further undertake such actions as funding in France remains particularly low compared to the United Kingdom and the United States, despite the fact that the epidemiological and economic burden represented by mental disorders is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. and ECNP. All rights reserved.

Organizational restructuring, government control and loss of legitimacy following an organizational crisis: the case of Israel's nonprofit human services.

Science.gov (United States)

Mano, Rita; Rosenberg, Dennis

2014-01-01

The study explores organizational restructuring following the occurrence of a crisis. Restructuring activities following an intervention are considered here to be indicators of an organization's loss of legitimacy because they have lost their independent status, a basic characteristic of nonprofit human settings. The study shows that according to the Resource Based View of organization restructuring--experienced as downsizing, neglecting and abandoning of projects--organizations are affected by (a) government intervention in decision making; (b) higher demands for accountability; and (c) higher evaluations of performance gaps. On the basis of the study of a sample of 138 Nonprofit Human Services in Israel, the results show that the higher the level of restructuring, the higher the level of legitimacy. However, organization location in metropolitan areas moderates the link between restructuring and legitimacy loss. We conclude that Israel's nonprofit human services being overly dependent on goverhment funding are more prone to restructuring and losing legitimacy following organizational crisis.

Institutional complexity and the construction of collective action in nonprofit fields

OpenAIRE

Healy, John A.

2015-01-01

This dissertation contributes to our understanding of how institutional complexity within fields influences efforts to construct interorganisational collective action. Five cases of efforts to construct collective action in two nonprofit fields are studied. One field is in the Republic of Ireland and the other in South Africa. The institutional logics salient in each field are derived using inductive methods and the processes of how these institutional logics influence the five efforts to con...

Nonprofit financial assessment and research service learning: Evaluating the performance of an animal welfare nonprofit organization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karen A. Maguire

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The objective of this project is to evaluate the current financial and compliance status of an animal welfare nonprofit organization (NPO by: analysis of trends over time using information reported on tax filings (Form 990; vertical and horizontal analyses of financial statements; analysis of trends over time using information from financial statements; reconciliation of financial statements to Form 990; ratio analysis of Form 990 Information; and comparison of reported information to local analogs and national standards. This project is conducted in collaboration with The Chapin Foundation. This research serves as a research service learning project with the participation of Master of Accountancy graduate students at Coastal Carolina University. Once the results are presented, recommendations are given for improving operational efficiency and achieving best practices. These recommendations are presented in the form of both short-term items to be addressed immediately—defined in this study as within 60 days—and long-term items to be undertaken in the future. Resources for applicable standards and requirements are also provided.

The social media participation framework: studying the effects of social media on nonprofit communities

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Effing, Robin

2014-01-01

Social media could help nonprofit communities to organize their communication with their members in new and innovative ways. This could contribute to sustaining or improving the participation of members within these communities. Yet little is known of how to measure and understand the offline

Building stakeholder relations online: How nonprofit organizations use dialogic and relational maintenance strategies on Facebook

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Wissen, N.; Wonneberger, A.

2017-01-01

Although Facebook provides organizations with the opportunity to easily engage with stakeholders online, very little is known about the effectiveness of organizational communication strategies. This study examines how nonprofit organizations (NPOs) use Facebook to engage with stakeholders through

Description of calls from private well owners to a national well water hotline, 2013

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ridpath, Alison; Taylor, Ethel; Greenstreet, Charlene; Martens, Margaret; Wicke, Heather; Martin, Colleen

2016-01-01

Water Systems Council (WSC) is a national, non-profit organization providing education and resources to private household well owners. Since 2003, WSC has provided wellcare®, a toll-free telephone hotline to answer questions from the public regarding well stewardship. In order to identify knowledge gaps regarding well stewardship among private well owners, we obtained data from WSC and reviewed calls made during 2013 to wellcare®. WSC records data from each wellcare® call—including caller information, primary reason for call, main use of well water, and if they were calling about a cistern, private well, shared well, or spring. We searched for calls with key words indicating specific contaminants of interest and reviewed primary reasons for calls. Calls classified as primarily testing-related were further categorized depending on whether the caller asked about how to test well water or how to interpret testing results. During 2013, wellcare® received 1100 calls from private well owners who were residents of 48 states. Among these calls, 87 (8%) mentioned radon, 83 (8%) coliforms, 51 (5%) chemicals related to fracking, 34 (3%) arsenic, and 32 (3%) nitrates key words. Only 38% of private well owners reported conducting any well maintenance activities, such as inspecting, cleaning, repairing the well, or testing well water, during the previous 12 months. The primary reason for calls were related to well water testing (n = 403), general information relating to wells (n = 249), contaminants (n = 229), and well water treatment (n = 97). Among calls related to testing, 319 had questions about how to test their well water, and 33 had questions about how to interpret testing results. Calls from private well owners to the wellcare® Hotline during 2013 identified key knowledge gaps regarding well stewardship; well owners are generally not testing or maintaining their wells, have questions about well water testing treatment, and concerns about well water contaminants

Description of calls from private well owners to a national well water hotline, 2013

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ridpath, Alison, E-mail: etf4@cdc.gov [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Hwy, NE, MS-F-60, Chamblee, GA 30341 (United States); Taylor, Ethel [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Hwy, NE, MS-F-60, Chamblee, GA 30341 (United States); Greenstreet, Charlene; Martens, Margaret; Wicke, Heather [Water Systems Council, 1101 30th St NW, Washington, DC 20007 (United States); Martin, Colleen [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Hwy, NE, MS-F-60, Chamblee, GA 30341 (United States)

2016-02-15

Water Systems Council (WSC) is a national, non-profit organization providing education and resources to private household well owners. Since 2003, WSC has provided wellcare®, a toll-free telephone hotline to answer questions from the public regarding well stewardship. In order to identify knowledge gaps regarding well stewardship among private well owners, we obtained data from WSC and reviewed calls made during 2013 to wellcare®. WSC records data from each wellcare® call—including caller information, primary reason for call, main use of well water, and if they were calling about a cistern, private well, shared well, or spring. We searched for calls with key words indicating specific contaminants of interest and reviewed primary reasons for calls. Calls classified as primarily testing-related were further categorized depending on whether the caller asked about how to test well water or how to interpret testing results. During 2013, wellcare® received 1100 calls from private well owners who were residents of 48 states. Among these calls, 87 (8%) mentioned radon, 83 (8%) coliforms, 51 (5%) chemicals related to fracking, 34 (3%) arsenic, and 32 (3%) nitrates key words. Only 38% of private well owners reported conducting any well maintenance activities, such as inspecting, cleaning, repairing the well, or testing well water, during the previous 12 months. The primary reason for calls were related to well water testing (n = 403), general information relating to wells (n = 249), contaminants (n = 229), and well water treatment (n = 97). Among calls related to testing, 319 had questions about how to test their well water, and 33 had questions about how to interpret testing results. Calls from private well owners to the wellcare® Hotline during 2013 identified key knowledge gaps regarding well stewardship; well owners are generally not testing or maintaining their wells, have questions about well water testing treatment, and concerns about well water contaminants

Qualidade de serviços nas organizações do terceiro setor Service quality in nonprofit organizations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristiano Rocha Heckert

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Este artigo examina a qualidade de serviços nas organizações do terceiro setor. Por meio de revisão da literatura e de um estudo de caso, discutem-se as diferenças na aplicação do conceito de qualidade de serviços (expectativas X percepção dos clientes no terceiro setor em comparação com as empresas de mercado. Conclui-se que as organizações do terceiro setor não apresentam um único tipo de cliente, mas diversos stakeholders que assumem esse papel. Cada um desses atores possui diferentes expectativas com relação à instituição e apresenta diferentes critérios de avaliação da qualidade de seus serviços. Destaca-se, ainda, que, em função de valores como "justiça" e "solidariedade", fundamentais neste tipo de organização, o processo de prestação de serviços assume especial relevância no terceiro setor, sendo muitas vezes tão ou mais importante que os resultados obtidos.This article analyses service quality in nonprofit organizations. Based on a literature review and a case study, it discusses the differences in applying the service quality concept (customer expectations X perception in the nonprofit sector, in comparison to for-profit companies. It concludes that nonprofits don't present a single type of customer, but several stakeholders playing that role. Each of those actors has different expectations towards the organization and presents different criteria when evaluating service quality. It should also be pointed that, due to values such as "justice" and "solidarity", essential in that type of organization, the service deliver process assumes special importance in nonprofits and, sometimes, become as or even more important than the results obtained.

Call Forecasting for Inbound Call Center

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter Vinje

2009-01-01

Full Text Available In a scenario of inbound call center customer service, the ability to forecast calls is a key element and advantage. By forecasting the correct number of calls a company can predict staffing needs, meet service level requirements, improve customer satisfaction, and benefit from many other optimizations. This project will show how elementary statistics can be used to predict calls for a specific company, forecast the rate at which calls are increasing/decreasing, and determine if the calls may stop at some point.

A Guide to Community Shared Solar: Utility, Private, and Non-Profit Project Development (Book)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Coughlin, J.; Grove, J.; Irvine, L.; Jacobs, J. F.; Johnson Phillips, S.; Sawyer, A.; Wiedman, J.

2012-05-01

This guide is organized around three sponsorship models: utility-sponsored projects, projects sponsored by special purpose entities - businesses formed for the purpose of producing community solar power, and non-profit sponsored projects. The guide addresses issues common to all project models, as well as issues unique to each model.

An examination of contemporary financing practices and the global financial crisis on nonprofit multi-hospital health systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Stewart, Louis J; Smith, Pamela C

2011-01-01

This study examines the impact of the 2008 global financial crisis on large US nonprofit health systems. We proceed from an analysis of the contemporary capital financing practices of 25 of the nation's largest nonprofit hospitals and health systems. We find that these institutions relied on operating cash flows, public issues of insured variable rate debt, and accumulated investment to meet their capital financing needs. The combined use of these three financial instruments provided these organizations with $22.4 billion of long-term capital at favorable terms and the lowest interest rates. Our analysis further indicates that the extensive utilization of bond insurance, auction rate debt, and interest rate derivatives created significant risk exposures for these health systems. These risks were realized by the broader global financial crisis of 2008. Findings indicate these health systems incurred large losses from the early retirement of their variable rate debt. In addition, many organizations were forced to post nearly $1 billion of liquid collateral due to the falling values of their interest rate derivatives. Finally, the investment portfolios of these large nonprofit health systems suffered millions of dollars of unrealized capital losses, which may minimize their ability to finance future capital investment requirements.

Call Duration Characteristics based on Customers Location

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Žvinys Karolis

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Nowadays a lot of different researches are performed based on call duration distributions (CDD analysis. However, the majority of studies are linked with social relationships between the people. Therefore the scarcity of information, how the call duration is associated with a user's location, is appreciable. The goal of this paper is to reveal the ties between user's voice call duration and the location of call. For this reason we analyzed more than 5 million calls from real mobile network, which were made over the base stations located in rural areas, roads, small towns, business and entertainment centers, residential districts. According to these site types CDD’s and characteristic features for call durations are given and discussed. Submitted analysis presents the users habits and behavior as a group (not an individual. The research showed that CDD’s of customers being them in different locations are not equal. It has been found that users at entertainment, business centers are tend to talk much shortly, than people being at home. Even more CDD can be distorted strongly, when machinery calls are evaluated. Hence to apply a common CDD for a whole network it is not recommended. The study also deals with specific parameters of call duration for distinguished user groups, the influence of network technology for call duration is considered.

Calling under pressure: short-finned pilot whales make social calls during deep foraging dives.

Science.gov (United States)

Jensen, Frants H; Perez, Jacobo Marrero; Johnson, Mark; Soto, Natacha Aguilar; Madsen, Peter T

2011-10-22

Toothed whales rely on sound to echolocate prey and communicate with conspecifics, but little is known about how extreme pressure affects pneumatic sound production in deep-diving species with a limited air supply. The short-finned pilot whale (Globicephala macrorhynchus) is a highly social species among the deep-diving toothed whales, in which individuals socialize at the surface but leave their social group in pursuit of prey at depths of up to 1000 m. To investigate if these animals communicate acoustically at depth and test whether hydrostatic pressure affects communication signals, acoustic DTAGs logging sound, depth and orientation were attached to 12 pilot whales. Tagged whales produced tonal calls during deep foraging dives at depths of up to 800 m. Mean call output and duration decreased with depth despite the increased distance to conspecifics at the surface. This shows that the energy content of calls is lower at depths where lungs are collapsed and where the air volume available for sound generation is limited by ambient pressure. Frequency content was unaffected, providing a possible cue for group or species identification of diving whales. Social calls may be important to maintain social ties for foraging animals, but may be impacted adversely by vessel noise.

48 CFR 731.770 - OMB Circular A-122, cost principles for nonprofit organizations; USAID implementation.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false OMB Circular A-122, cost principles for nonprofit organizations; USAID implementation. 731.770 Section 731.770 Federal Acquisition Regulations System AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT GENERAL CONTRACTING REQUIREMENTS CONTRACT COST...

Nonprofit Organizations as Ideal Type of Socially Responsible and Impact Investors

OpenAIRE

Fritz, Tizian M.; von Schnurbein, Georg

2015-01-01

Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) as mission-driven organizations could profit from investing in stocks diametrically opposed to their mission, as they serve as a perfect hedge. Earning more income from oil or tobacco companies when there is a greater need for ecological interventions or cancer research might help effectively fighting the cause. We show the flaw in this logic as in its optimal state, this strategy is at most a financial zero-sum game. However, as NPOs strive at creating net valu...

"the other side of the coin": What do business schools teach the typical business undergraduate student about the nonprofit sector? A case study from the Netherlands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

L.C.P.M. Meijs (Lucas); E.M. ten Hoorn (Esther); J.L. Brudney (Jeffrey)

2007-01-01

textabstractThis article focuses on the exposure of the typical undergraduate business student to the nonprofit sector and management, as opposed to focusing on learning opportunities available to interested students in particular, as is typically reviewed in research on nonprofit management

Adult meerkats modify close call rate in the presence of pups

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Megan T.WYMAN; Pearl R.RIVERS; Coline MULLER; Pauline TONI; Marta B.MANSER

2017-01-01

In animals,signaling behavior is often context-dependent,with variation in the probability of emitting certain signals dependent on fitness advantages.Senders may adjust signaling rate depending on receiver identity,presence of audiences,or noise masking the signal,all of which can affect the benefits and costs of signal production.In the cooperative breeding meerkat Suricata suricatta,group members emit soft contact calls,termed as "close calls",while foraging in order to maintain group cohesion.Here,we investigated how the close calling rate during foraging was affected by the presence of pups,that produce continuous,noisy begging calls as they follow older group members.Adults decreased their overall close call rate substantially when pups were foraging with the group in comparison to periods when no pups were present.We suggest this decrease was likely due to a masking effect of the loud begging calls,which makes the close call function of maintaining group cohesion partly redundant as the centrally located begging calls can be used instead to maintain cohesion.There was some support that adults use close calls strategically to attract specific pups based on fitness advantages,that is,as the philopatric sex,females should call more than males and more to female pups than male pups.Dominant females called more than dominant males when a pup was in close proximity,while subordinates showed no sex-based differences.The sex of the nearest pup did not affect the calling rate of adults.The study shows that meerkats modify their close call production depending on benefits gained from calling and provides an example of the flexible use of one calling system in the presence of another,here contact calls versus begging calls,within the same species.

Adult meerkats modify close call rate in the presence of pups.

Science.gov (United States)

Wyman, Megan T; Rivers, Pearl R; Muller, Coline; Toni, Pauline; Manser, Marta B

2017-06-01

In animals, signaling behavior is often context-dependent, with variation in the probability of emitting certain signals dependent on fitness advantages. Senders may adjust signaling rate depending on receiver identity, presence of audiences, or noise masking the signal, all of which can affect the benefits and costs of signal production. In the cooperative breeding meerkat Suricata suricatta , group members emit soft contact calls, termed as "close calls", while foraging in order to maintain group cohesion. Here, we investigated how the close calling rate during foraging was affected by the presence of pups, that produce continuous, noisy begging calls as they follow older group members. Adults decreased their overall close call rate substantially when pups were foraging with the group in comparison to periods when no pups were present. We suggest this decrease was likely due to a masking effect of the loud begging calls, which makes the close call function of maintaining group cohesion partly redundant as the centrally located begging calls can be used instead to maintain cohesion. There was some support that adults use close calls strategically to attract specific pups based on fitness advantages, that is, as the philopatric sex, females should call more than males and more to female pups than male pups. Dominant females called more than dominant males when a pup was in close proximity, while subordinates showed no sex-based differences. The sex of the nearest pup did not affect the calling rate of adults. The study shows that meerkats modify their close call production depending on benefits gained from calling and provides an example of the flexible use of one calling system in the presence of another, here contact calls versus begging calls, within the same species.

Analysis of Funding Sources and Methods of Non-profit Organization%非营利组织筹资渠道与方式探析

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

戚舟波

2011-01-01

Various non-profit organizations have become the important form of social organization. Expanding financing channels, flexibly using various means of financing, and improving their fund-raising capacity is the problem to be solved for non-profit organization. This paper summarizes and analyzes the status and problems of financing of non-profit organization, and proposed countermeasures to expand financing channels and methods for non-profit organizations.%各类非营利组织已成为重要的社会组织形式,拓展筹资渠道,灵活运用各种筹资方式,提高自身筹资能力,是目前大多数非营利组织急待解决的问题.本文在分析总结非营利组织筹资现状和问题的基础上,提出拓展非营利组织筹资渠道与方式的对策措施.

State-Level Community Benefit Regulation and Nonprofit Hospitals' Provision of Community Benefits.

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Simone R; Young, Gary J; Loomer, Lacey; Madison, Kristin

2018-04-01

Do nonprofit hospitals provide enough community benefits to justify their tax exemptions? States have sought to enhance nonprofit hospitals' accountability and oversight through regulation, including requirements to report community benefits, conduct community health needs assessments, provide minimum levels of community benefits, and adhere to minimum income eligibility standards for charity care. However, little research has assessed these regulations' impact on community benefits. Using 2009-11 Internal Revenue Service data on community benefit spending for more than eighteen hundred hospitals and the Hilltop Institute's data on community benefit regulation, we investigated the relationship between these four types of regulation and the level and types of hospital-provided community benefits. Our multivariate regression analyses showed that only community health needs assessments were consistently associated with greater community benefit spending. The results for reporting and minimum spending requirements were mixed, while minimum income eligibility standards for charity care were unrelated to community benefit spending. State adoption of multiple types of regulation was consistently associated with higher levels of hospital-provided community benefits, possibly because regulatory intensity conveys a strong signal to the hospital community that more spending is expected. This study can inform efforts to design regulations that will encourage hospitals to provide community benefits consistent with policy makers' goals. Copyright © 2018 by Duke University Press.

77 FR 59238 - Call for Expert Reviewers to the U.S. Government Review of the Working Group I Contribution to...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-09-26

... expert review process, which occurs in parallel with the U.S. government review. More information on the... DEPARTMENT OF STATE [Public Notice 8042] Call for Expert Reviewers to the U.S. Government Review... both experts and governments. The Second Order Draft of the Working Group I contribution to the 5th...

[NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Report 3:] Technical communications in aeronautics: Results of an exploratory study. An analysis of profit managers' and nonprofit managers' responses

Science.gov (United States)

Pinelli, Thomas E.; Glassman, Myron; Barclay, Rebecca O.; Oliu, Walter E.

1989-01-01

Data collected from an exploratory study concerned with the technical communications practices of aerospace engineers and scientists were analyzed to test the primary assumption that profit and nonprofit managers in the aerospace community have different technical communications practices. Five assumptions were established for the analysis. Profit and nonprofit managers in the aerospace community were found to have different technical communications practices for one of the five assumptions tested. It was, therefore, concluded that profit and nonprofit managers in the aerospace community do not have different technical communications practices.

Determinants of Sustainability and Organisational Effectiveness in Non-Profit Organisations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chux Gervase Iwu

2015-07-01

Full Text Available This case study investigates the criteria for organizational effectiveness in non-profit organizations (NPOs with the aim to determine how the elements of sustainability fit within the criteria. To achieve this, the study utilized the research questions: “what criteria do NPOs use to evaluate their effectiveness?” and “how is sustainability embedded in NPO effectiveness?” The research design was interpretivist, adopting focus group interviews to obtain data. Specifically, two focus group interviews were held with the top management of an NPO which revealed that both financial and non-financial criteria were equally essential for NPO effectiveness. This finding is consistent with the literature, although it contradicts the initial assumption of the study that NPO effectiveness was based more on non-financial criteria than financial criteria. The study also found that the effectiveness of an NPO should be viewed in two ways: firstly, “the full achievement of its mandate” and, secondly, “the ability to run business projects to cover cost.” It also emerged that both the ability to cover costs and the achievement of a mandate should be done in a sustainable manner (a sustainable manner is seen as one that is harmonious with the natural and the socio-political environment. The results of this paper present a practical case for the management of NPOs by reiterating that the full achievement of the NPO mandate and the successful running of social projects to generate funds for sustainability are key elements of effectiveness. Given the essential role that NPOs play in developing countries, this study has provided the foundation for more widespread enquiry into the sustainability and effectiveness of NPOs.

Mind the Gap: A Case Study of Values-Based Decision Making in a Nonprofit Organization

Science.gov (United States)

Craft, Jana L.

2013-01-01

Using an exploratory case study approach, this research examined the consistency between espoused and enacted values within a large nonprofit organization known as an ethical leader in the human services industry. This research explored ethical business culture, ethical decision making, deontological and utilitarian moral paradigms and learning…

Effect of introduction of electronic patient reporting on the duration of ambulance calls.

Science.gov (United States)

Kuisma, Markku; Väyrynen, Taneli; Hiltunen, Tuomas; Porthan, Kari; Aaltonen, Janne

2009-10-01

We examined the effect of the change from paper records to the electronic patient records (EPRs) on ambulance call duration. We retrieved call duration times 6 months before (group 1) and 6 months after (group 2) the introduction of EPR. Subgroup analysis of group 2 was fulfilled depending whether the calls were made during the first or last 3 months after EPR introduction. We analyzed 37 599 ambulance calls (17 950 were in group 1 and 19 649 were in group 2). The median call duration in group 1 was 48 minutes and in group 2 was 49 minutes (P = .008). In group 2, call duration was longer during the first 3 months after EPR introduction. In multiple linear regression analysis, urgency category (P introduction was noticed, reflecting adaptation process to a new way of working.

Time spent for activation of non-profit studies in oncology in Italy.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gianfranco De Feo

Full Text Available AIM: The aim of this paper is to describe the time spent to activate oncological non-profit clinical trials promoted in Italy by the National Cancer Institute of Naples, following the implementation of recent European laws. METHODOLOGY: Data about the process of activation of 5 non-profit multicentre clinical trials were prospectively collected through a web-based system. The impact of European guidelines was assessed by comparing the efficiency of the process between applications started before and after the decree introducing in Italy the Clinical Trial Application form (MD-CTA. Outcomes of the descriptive analyses were the time to EC opinion, the time to administrative agreement signature after a positive EC opinion, and the cumulative percentage of submissions that came to closure (either positive or negative within four subsequent time cohorts. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: From March 2007 to October 2009, 202 applications were submitted to 107 centres. Forty-four (59% applications of those submitted before were successful, compared to 71 (55% of those submitted after MD-CTA. Most of the failures were due to missing EC response (27% and 22% or administrative reasons (10% and 16%, before and after, respectively; very few (4% and 7% were due to EC refusal. The impact of the MD-CTA on time to EC opinion looked positive (median 4.1 vs 2.4 months, before and after, respectively but a subgroup analysis revealed that the impact was limited to a comparison biased by the selection of EC. After a positive EC opinion, there was no difference before and after MD-CTA in the time to administrative agreement signature (median 3.6 and 3.8 months, respectively. A trend to shortening time to closure of the whole submission process over the time was evident, with 58% of the applications coming to closure within 6 months from submission in the most recent cohort. CONCLUSIONS: In our experience there is reassuring evidence of a trend toward shortening the time spent to

34 CFR Appendix B to Subpart L of... - Ratio Methodology for Private Non-Profit Institutions

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 34 Education 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Ratio Methodology for Private Non-Profit Institutions B Appendix B to Subpart L of Part 668 Education Regulations of the Offices of the Department of Education (Continued) OFFICE OF POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION STUDENT ASSISTANCE GENERAL PROVISIONS...

28 CFR 58.15 - Qualifications for approval as a nonprofit budget and credit counseling agency.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... Qualifications for approval as a nonprofit budget and credit counseling agency. (a) Definition of agency. As used... representations and statements contained therein are true and correct to the best of such individual's knowledge... customer service audits; (ii) Cooperating with the United States Trustee and the EOUST in timely responding...

Aplication`s Aspects Of Public Relations By Nonprofit Organizations. Case Study Albania

OpenAIRE

Xhiliola Agaraj(Shehu); Merita Murati; Valbona Gjini

2011-01-01

The traditional public relations manager is usually responsible for maintaining and enhancing the reputation of the organization among key publics. While the principal focus of this effort is on support publics, it is quite clearly recognized that an organization's image has important effects on its own employees, its donors and volunteers, and its clients. The aim of paper is to define application`s aspects of public relations media and tools by nonprofit organizations in Albanian reality. A...

Academic and Non-Profit Accessibility to Commercial Remote Sensing Software

Science.gov (United States)

O'Connor, A. S.; Farr, B.

2013-12-01

Remote Sensing as a topic of teaching and research at the university and college level continues to increase. As more data is made freely available and software becomes easier to use, more and more academic and non-profits institutions are turning to remote sensing to solve their tough and large spatial scale problems. Exelis Visual Information Solutions (VIS) has been supporting teaching and research endeavors for over 30 years with a special emphasis over the last 5 years with scientifically proven software and accessible training materials. The Exelis VIS academic program extends to US and Canadian 2 year and 4 year colleges and universities with tools for analyzing aerial and satellite multispectral and hyperspectral imagery, airborne LiDAR and Synthetic Aperture Radar. The Exelis VIS academic programs, using the ENVI Platform, enables labs and classrooms to be outfitted with software and makes software accessible to students. The ENVI software provides students hands on experience with remote sensing software, an easy teaching platform for professors and allows researchers scientifically vetted software they can trust. Training materials are provided at no additional cost and can either serve as a basis for course curriculum development or self paced learning. Non-profit organizations like The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and CGIAR have deployed ENVI and IDL enterprise wide licensing allowing researchers all over the world to have cost effective access COTS software for their research. Exelis VIS has also contributed licenses to the NASA DEVELOP program. Exelis VIS is committed to supporting the academic and NGO community with affordable enterprise licensing, access to training materials, and technical expertise to help researchers tackle today's Earth and Planetary science big data challenges.

Strategic Marketing as Solution for Growing Uncertainties among National Non-Profit Sports Federations in the Netherlands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Marije van 't Verlaat

2007-01-01

Today, Dutch National Non-profit Sports Organizations (NNSFs) experience financial pressures. Two indications for this are described in this paper i.e. increased competition in the sports sector and changes in subsidy division. Decreasing incomes from subsidies can be compensated with either

Long-distance calls in Neotropical primates

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oliveira Dilmar A.G.

2004-01-01

Full Text Available Long-distance calls are widespread among primates. Several studies concentrate on such calls in just one or in few species, while few studies have treated more general trends within the order. The common features that usually characterize these vocalizations are related to long-distance propagation of sounds. The proposed functions of primate long-distance calls can be divided into extragroup and intragroup ones. Extragroup functions relate to mate defense, mate attraction or resource defense, while intragroup functions involve group coordination or alarm. Among Neotropical primates, several species perform long-distance calls that seem more related to intragroup coordination, markedly in atelines. Callitrichids present long-distance calls that are employed both in intragroup coordination and intergroup contests or spacing. Examples of extragroup directed long-distance calls are the duets of titi monkeys and the roars and barks of howler monkeys. Considerable complexity and gradation exist in the long-distance call repertoires of some Neotropical primates, and female long-distance calls are probably more important in non-duetting species than usually thought. Future research must focus on larger trends in the evolution of primate long-distance calls, including the phylogeny of calling repertoires and the relationships between form and function in these signals.

Enhancing the Understanding of Government and Nonprofit Accounting with THE PUZZLE GAME: A Pilot Study

Science.gov (United States)

Elson, Raymond J.; Ostapski, S. Andrew; O'Callaghan, Susanne; Walker, John P.

2012-01-01

Nontraditional teaching aids such as crossword puzzles have been successfully used in the classroom to enhance student learning. Government and nonprofit accounting is a confusing course for students since it has strange terminologies and contradicts the accounting concepts learned in other courses. As such, it is an ideal course for a…

The Effect of Gendered Communication on Women's Behavioral Intentions Regarding Nonprofit and For-Profit Entrepreneurship

Science.gov (United States)

Iffert, Audrey

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to measure the effect of gendered communication on women's behavioral intentions regarding nonprofit and for-profit entrepreneurship. Women represent half of the U.S. workforce, but only about one third of all American entrepreneurs are women. Feminists have argued that because entrepreneurship is largely understood…

The "common sense" of the nonprofit hospital tax exemption: a policy analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Sanders, S M

1995-01-01

Although rarely discussed prior to the 1985 Utah Supreme Court ruling against Intermountain Health Care Inc., the question of whether to grant tax exemptions to nonprofit hospitals is currently being debated by federal, state, and local legislators, and by the courts. Changes to current policy seem likely. This policy analysis: (1) presents the historical and legal background; (2) examines the economic, political, and organizational implications of current tax-exemption policy; and (3) offers three alternatives to this current policy. The analysis indicates that the current policy provides little incentive for nonprofit hospitals to make contributions of charity care. Of the alternatives, eliminating the exemption is not politically feasible at this time; regulating hospital operations and outputs portends an implementation nightmare; and tying tax subsidy levels to output levels of charity care--perhaps the strongest and most efficient incentive--would require an unlikely political consensus on what constitute valid and reliable measures of charity care. If there is a movement toward subsidies, then linking subsidy amounts to levels of charity care will depend on whether policy analysts can design satisfactory empirical measures. With the advent of universal health coverage, the demand for charity care will decrease. The problem for tax-exempt hospitals will then become justifying the exemption by demonstrating the extent to which they generate community benefits at no or reduced cost to society.

76 FR 32377 - Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organizations; OMB Circular A-133 Compliance...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-06-06

... --a Federal E-Government Web site that allows the public to find, review, and submit comments on... OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organizations... CFDA 84.938, [[Page 32378

Do non-profit sport organisations innovate? Types and preferences of service innovation within regional sport federations

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Winand, M.; Scheerder, J.; Vos, S.B.; Zint, T.

2016-01-01

Little is known about innovation in the non-profit sport sector. The current research addresses this gap by questioning whether and to what extent sport federations innovate. It aims to identify types of innovation implemented by sport federations and their attitude and preferences towards

Applying the prudence principle in non-profit organizations and financial institutions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Milena Otavová

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The paper describes in detail the accounting principle of prudence in non-profit organizations and financial institutions. It defines its application in such organizations and based on comparison it evaluates the practical use of the prudence principle and its reflection in the accounting books. The main focus is on differences in applying the prudence principle that result from differences in the purpose activities and methods of asset management in these organizations. The practical application of the prudence principle in accounting consists mainly in the creation and use of provisions and impairments. These methods are defined by the Implementing Regulation to the Accounting Act No. 563/1991. The paper also provides tables where the creation and use of impairments and provisions in the above-mentioned organizations is compared with how business companies proceed in creating impairments and provisions. The key legislation standardizing accounting in the Czech Republic is the Accounting Act No. 563/1991, as amended, which stipulates the general accounting principles, the so-called accounting philosophy. The accounting is built around the general accounting principles, which are perceived as the pillars of accounting. Even though they are not stipulated in any particular law, they are legally enforceable and their ignorance can be sanctioned. The general accounting principles represent a set of rules to be observed in keeping the accounting books, preparing the accounting reports and submitting the accounting reports to users. The keystone accounting principle is the principle of true and fair refl ection of facts the essential goal of which is to report in the fi nancial statement actual assets and the fi nancial position of the accounting unit with an essential focus on reporting events that occurred during the accounting period with respect to their content.

Breaking Down the Door: A Nonprofit Model Creating Pathways for Non-Traditional STEM Student Engagement

Science.gov (United States)

Pelaez, C.; Pelaez, J.

2015-12-01

Blueprint Earth was created as a nonprofit scientific research organization dedicated to conducting micro-scale interdisciplinary environmental investigations to generate macroscopic, system-level environmental understanding. The field data collection and analysis process was conceived to be dependent on student participation and collaboration with more senior scientists, effecting knowledge transfer and emphasizing the critical nature of interdisciplinary research in investigating complex, macroscopic questions. Recruiting for student volunteer researchers is conducted in academic institutions, and to date has focused primarily on the Los Angeles area. Self-selecting student participation has run contrary to traditional STEM demographics. The vast majority of research participants in Blueprint Earth's work are female and/or from a minority (non-white) background, and most are first-generation college students or from low-income, Pell grant-eligible households. Traditional field research programs for students often come at a high cost, creating barriers to access for field-based STEM opportunities. The nonprofit model employed by Blueprint Earth provides zero-cost access to opportunity for students that the STEM world is currently targeting for future professional development.

Public and nonprofit funding for research on mental disorders in France, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Chevreul, Karine; McDaid, David; Farmer, Carrie M; Prigent, Amélie; Park, A-La; Leboyer, Marion; Kupfer, David J; Durand-Zaleski, Isabelle

2012-07-01

To document the investments made in research on mental disorders by both government and nonprofit nongovernmental organizations in France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. An exhaustive survey was conducted of primary sources of public and nonprofit organization funding for mental health research for the year 2007 in France and the United Kingdom and for fiscal year 2007-2008 in the United States, augmented with an examination of relevant Web sites and publications. In France, all universities and research institutions were identified using the Public Finance Act. In the United Kingdom, we scrutinized Web sites and hand searched annual reports and grant lists for the public sector and nonprofit charitable medical research awarding bodies. In the United States, we included the following sources: the National Institutes of Health, other administrative entities within the Department of Health and Human Services (eg, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), the Department of Education, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense, and the National Science Foundation and, for nonprofit funding, The Foundation Center. We included research on all mental disorders and substance-related disorders using the same keywords. We excluded research on mental retardation and dementia and on the promotion of mental well-being. We used the same algorithm in each country to obtain data for only mental health funding in situations in which funding had a broader scope. France spent $27.6 million (2%) of its health research budget on mental disorders, the United Kingdom spent $172.6 million (7%), and the United States spent $5.2 billion (16%). Nongovernmental funding ranged from 1% of total funding for mental health research in France and the United States to 14% in the United Kingdom. Funding for research on mental disorders accounts for low proportions of research budgets compared with funding levels for research on other major health problems, whereas

Strategic management and performance differences: nonprofit versus for-profit health organizations.

Science.gov (United States)

Reeves, Terrie C; Ford, Eric W

2004-01-01

Despite mixed and contradictory findings, for-profits (FPs) and nonprofits (NPs) are assumed to be similar health services organizations (HSOs). In this study, a fifteen-item scale assessing HSOs' strategic management capacity was developed and tested using fifty-seven FP and twenty NP organizations. Then, using item response theory, the items were hierarchically profiled to produce two strategic profile models, a general and an FP anchored model. We find that deviation from the general profile, but not capability attainment level, is related to two of three financial measures. We conclude that studying FPs and NPs together is appropriate.

An Analysis of the Social Meanings of Conflict in Nonprofit Organizations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mikkelsen, Elisabeth Naima

2013-01-01

This ethnographic study illustrates how staff and management’s sensemaking in conflict in a clerical unit in a Scandinavian nonprofit organization is shaped by institutionalized meanings. Staff and management draw on three institutionalized frameworks when making sense of conflict: The defective...... nonconfrontation as a main strategy in processes of conflict management. Despite the organization’s strong commitment to egalitarianism, the clerical workers view status inequality as the origin of many conflicts and they thereby draw from the same institutionalized meanings of political economy of distributional...... conflicts that the organization was founded to change. Implications for theory and practice are discussed....

Steps and Types: How the MBTI Helped a Treatment Non-Profit Develop an Effective Volunteer Program.

Science.gov (United States)

Henderson-Loney, Jane

1996-01-01

An urban nonprofit residential treatment program for chemically dependent teenagers uses the Myers Briggs Type Indicator as a team-building tool for volunteers sponsoring teens through the 12-step recovery process. Training in team building and personality types increases understanding of communication style differences and conflict management.…

External GSM phone calls now made simpler

CERN Multimedia

2007-01-01

On 2 July, the IT/CS Telecom Service introduced a new service making external calls from CERN GSM phones easier. A specific prefix is no longer needed for calls outside CERN. External calls from CERN GSM phones are to be simplified. It is no longer necessary to use a special prefix to call an external number from the CERN GSM network.The Telecom Section of the IT/CS Group is introducing a new system that will make life easier for GSM users. It is no longer necessary to use a special prefix (333) to call an external number from the CERN GSM network. Simply dial the number directly like any other Swiss GSM customer. CERN currently has its own private GSM network with the Swiss mobile operator, Sunrise, covering the whole of Switzerland. This network was initially intended exclusively for calls between CERN numbers (replacing the old beeper system). A special system was later introduced for external calls, allowing them to pass thr...

Nutritional effects on male calling behaviour in the variable field cricket.

Science.gov (United States)

Wagner; Hoback

1999-01-01

In the variable field cricket, Gryllus lineaticeps, females prefer higher chirp rates and longer chirp durations in male calling song. Higher chirp rates are energetically more expensive to produce, but the energetic cost of calling does not vary with chirp duration. We tested the hypothesis that nutrition affects male chirp rate and chirp duration. Full-sibling brothers of similar age were placed on high- and low-nutrition feeding regimes. There was no effect of feeding regime on male weight; neither group showed a significant change in weight, and the two groups did not differ from each other in weight change. However, males on the high-nutrition feeding regime both called more frequently and called at higher chirp rates when they did call. The two groups did not differ in chirp duration, the duration of pulses within chirps or chirp dominant frequency. These results suggest that females select mates based on one nutrition-dependent call character (chirp rate) and one nutrition-independent call character (chirp duration). In addition, because males in the two groups did not show significant differences in weight change, and because males on the high-nutrition feeding regime engaged in energetically more expensive calling, these results suggest that males invest any excess energy above their basic maintenance requirements in the production of call types that increase their attractiveness to females. The absence of a relationship between body condition and calling song structure for males in the field may be a consequence of this pattern of energy allocation. Copyright 1999 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.

Using creative problem solving (CPS) to improve leadership in a non-profit organization

OpenAIRE

Sousa, Fernando; Castelão, Paula; Monteiro, Ileana Pardal; Pellissier, René

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Creative Problem Solving (CPS) method in improving the leadership process in a non-profit organization. The research was designed around an intervention and structured in three stages (pre-consult, intervention and follow-up), with a team designated by management, in order to bring leadership cohesion to both departments of the organization and also between the board and executive management. The results, expressed in the task...

Characteristics of Part-Time Online Instructors: A Comparison of For-Profit to Nonprofit Faith-Based Institutions

Science.gov (United States)

Starcher, Keith O.

2017-01-01

As the for-profit business model and a reliance on adjunct faculty continues to grow among faith-based institutions, little research exists on the differences in the characteristics of part-time online faculty in for-profit versus nonprofit environments that could provide guidance to administrators. This study utilized a descriptive,…

Factors associated with financial distress of nonprofit hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Tae Hyun

2010-01-01

Financial distress can have a detrimental influence on the performance of hospitals. Hospital management needs to monitor potential financial distress effectively and know how it will respond depending on the severity of the circumstances. This study examined the multiple factors that may explain the financial distress of nonprofit hospitals during 1998 to 2001 and discussed their importance. To obtain more robust results, financial distress was assessed in 2 ways: first, financial strength index was used to incorporate 4 financial dimensions including profitability, liquidity, leverage, and physical facilities; second, cash flow (CF) was used to address the issues of accrual-based accounting in hospitals. This study finds that decrease in occupancy rate and increase in Medicaid payer mix, health maintenance organization penetration, market competition, physician supply, and percentage of the elderly are associated with increased likelihood of financial distress of urban hospitals. Increases in both Medicare and Medicaid payer mix, however, are related to higher likelihood of financial distress of rural hospitals.

Multiple Comorbidities and Interest in Research Participation Among Clients of a Nonprofit Food Distribution Site.

Science.gov (United States)

Higashi, Robin T; Craddock Lee, Simon J; Leonard, Tammy; Cuate, Erica L; Cole, Jay; Pruitt, Sandi L

2015-10-01

Persons accessing food from nonprofit distribution sites face numerous challenges and typically have significant unmet health needs. However, given limited and intermittent healthcare system engagement, this vulnerable population is underrepresented in clinical research. We sought to better understand the health needs of a nonclinical population to inform future research and interventions. Focus groups were conducted in English (n = 4) and Spanish (n = 4) with clients of Crossroads Community Services (CCS), the largest distributor of North Texas Food Bank. Discussions probed participants' health status, healthcare utilization, understanding and utilization of mammography, and attitudes toward participation in research. Participants included 42 CCS clients, primarily Hispanic or African American women. Participants reported multiple comorbid conditions among household members, yet utilization of health services was often limited by cost. The majority expressed interest in participating in research to communicate their health concerns and obtain emotional support. CCS clients represent a high-need, under-reached population willing to engage in health-related research that affords them opportunity to connect with peers in group settings and obtain information to improve management of daily life challenges. The Community Assistance Research (CARe) Initiative, a community-academic collaboration, establishes a much-needed opportunity for ongoing clinical research and intervention among this underserved population. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

78 FR 41424 - Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organizations; OMB Circular A-133 Compliance...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-07-10

... OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organizations... Management and Budget. ACTION: Notice of availability of the 2013 OMB Circular A-133 Compliance Supplement...--National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent (SMART) Grants (SMART Grants) CFDA 84.390...

75 FR 44814 - Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organizations; Circular A-133 Compliance...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-29

..., Washington, DC 20503. Comments may also be sent to via http://www.regulations.gov --a Federal E-Government... OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organizations... CFDA 93.794 program is no longer active (i.e., no funds are being spent by recipients), and it has been...

Lunar phases and crisis center telephone calls.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, J E; Tobacyk, J J

1990-02-01

The lunar hypothesis, that is, the notion that lunar phases can directly affect human behavior, was tested by time-series analysis of 4,575 crisis center telephone calls (all calls recorded for a 6-month interval). As expected, the lunar hypothesis was not supported. The 28-day lunar cycle accounted for less than 1% of the variance of the frequency of crisis center calls. Also, as hypothesized from an attribution theory framework, crisis center workers reported significantly greater belief in lunar effects than a non-crisis-center-worker comparison group.

TPMG Northern California appointments and advice call center.

Science.gov (United States)

Conolly, Patricia; Levine, Leslie; Amaral, Debra J; Fireman, Bruce H; Driscoll, Tom

2005-08-01

Kaiser Permanente (KP) has been developing its use of call centers as a way to provide an expansive set of healthcare services to KP members efficiently and cost effectively. Since 1995, when The Permanente Medical Group (TPMG) began to consolidate primary care phone services into three physical call centers, the TPMG Appointments and Advice Call Center (AACC) has become the "front office" for primary care services across approximately 89% of Northern California. The AACC provides primary care phone service for approximately 3 million Kaiser Foundation Health Plan members in Northern California and responds to approximately 1 million calls per month across the three AACC sites. A database records each caller's identity as well as the day, time, and duration of each call; reason for calling; services provided to callers as a result of calls; and clinical outcomes of calls. We here summarize this information for the period 2000 through 2003.

State directed hybridity? : the relationship between non-profit housing organizations and the state in three national contexts

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mullins, David; Milligan, Vivienne; Nieboer, N.E.T.

2017-01-01

This paper presents results from the first international comparative study of non-profit housing organizations in Australia, England and the Netherlands to engage with panels of organizational leaders. The study uses a ‘modified Delphi method’ with Likert-type scaled surveys, followed by in-depth

48 CFR 915.404-4-70-5 - Special considerations-contracts with nonprofit organizations (other than educational institutions).

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... TYPES CONTRACTING BY NEGOTIATION Contract Pricing 915.404-4-70-5 Special considerations—contracts with... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Special considerations-contracts with nonprofit organizations (other than educational institutions). 915.404-4-70-5 Section 915.404...

Organizational resilience: Sustained institutional effectiveness among smaller, private, non-profit US higher education institutions experiencing organizational decline.

Science.gov (United States)

Moran, Kenneth A

2016-06-04

analysis was used to examine the direct and interaction effects between organizational decline, organizational rigidity response, organizational resilience response, and institutional effectiveness, controlling for age of institution and level of endowment. The study validated previous threat-rigidity response findings that organizational decline alone does not adversely impact institutional effectiveness. The direct effect of Goal-Directed Solution Seeking and Role Dependency organizational resilience factors had a positive, significant correlation with the Student Personal Development institutional effectiveness factor. The interactive effect of Goal-Directed Solution Seeking organizational resilience factor during organizational decline had a positive, significant correlation with the Professional Development and Quality of Faculty institutional effectiveness factor. The interactive effect of Avoidance during organizational decline had a positive, significant correlation with the Faculty and Administrator Employment Satisfaction institutional effectiveness factor. The interactive effect of Diminished Innovation, Morale, and Leader Credibility rigidity response factor and Avoidance organizational resilience factor during organizational decline had a positive, significant correlation with the Professional Development and Quality of Faculty institutional effectiveness factor. Lastly, the interactive effect of Increased Scapegoating of Leaders, Interest group Activities, and Conflict rigidity response factor and Avoidance organizational resilience factor during organizational decline had a positive, significant correlation with the Faculty and Administrator Employment Satisfaction institutional effectiveness factor. Factors of organizational resilience were found to have a positive effect among smaller, private non-profit higher educational institutions associated with this study toward sustaining institutional effectiveness during organizational decline. Specifically, the

Legitimacy, trustee incentives, and board processes: the case of public and private non-profit nursing homes.

Science.gov (United States)

Dewaelheyns, Nico; Eeckloo, Kristof; Van Hulle, Cynthia

2011-01-01

Using a unique data set, this study explores how type of ownership (government/private) is related to processes of governance. The findings suggest that the neo-institutional perspective and the self-interest rationale of the agency perspective are helpful in explaining processes of governance in both government- and privately owned non-profit organizations. Due to adverse incentives and the quest for legitimacy, supervising governance bodies within local government-owned non-profit institutions pay relatively less attention to the development of high quality supervising bodies and delegate little to management. Our findings also indicate that governance processes in private institutions are more aligned with the business model and that this alignment is likely driven by a concern to improve decision making. By contrast, our data also suggest that in local government-owned institutions re-election concerns of politicians-trustees are an important force in the governance processes of these institutions. In view of these adverse incentives - in contrast to the case of private organizations - a governance code is unlikely to entail much improvement in government-owned organizations. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Heart rate variability changes in physicians working on night call.

Science.gov (United States)

Malmberg, Birgitta; Persson, Roger; Flisberg, Per; Ørbaek, Palle

2011-03-01

Adverse effects by night-call duty have become an important occupational health issue. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the heart rate variability (HRV) differed during recovery from day work and night-call duty between distinct physician specialities. We studied the impact of a 16-h night-call duty on autonomic balance, measured by HRV, among two physician groups differing with respect to having to deal with life-threatening conditions while on call. Nineteen anaesthesiologists (ANEST) and 16 paediatricians and ear, nose and throat surgeons (PENT) were monitored by ambulatory digital Holter electrocardiogram (ECG). Heart rate variability was analysed between 21:00 and 22:00 after an ordinary workday, on night call and in the evening post-call. Absolute and normalized high-frequency power (HF, HFnu) were the main outcome variables, expressing parasympathetic influence on the heart. ANEST had lower HF power than PENT while on night call and post-daytime work (p work compared with post-night-call duty (p balance and did not differ between specialities. However, the less dynamic HRV after daytime work and during night-call duty in the ANEST group may indicate a higher physiological stress level. These results may contribute to the improvement of night-call schedules within the health care sector.

Reducing juvenile delinquency with automated cell phone calls.

Science.gov (United States)

Burraston, Bert O; Bahr, Stephen J; Cherrington, David J

2014-05-01

Using a sample of 70 juvenile probationers (39 treatment and 31 controls), we evaluated the effectiveness of a rehabilitation program that combined cognitive-behavioral training and automated phone calls. The cognitive-behavioral training contained six 90-min sessions, one per week, and the phone calls occurred twice per day for the year following treatment. Recidivism was measured by whether they were rearrested and the total number of rearrests during the 1st year. To test the impact of the phone calls, those who received phone calls were divided into high and low groups depending on whether they answered more or less than half of their phone calls. Those who completed the class and answered at least half of their phone calls were less likely to have been arrested and had fewer total arrests.

Digital marketing plan for a non-profit organization. Case: Nordic ASEAN Business Forum Ry

OpenAIRE

Ngo, Chi

2017-01-01

The Internet is changing people’s lives as well as the way organizations operate. In fact, digitalization and digital marketing are considered essential in organization’s operations. In this context, the capability to facilitate and master digital marketing becomes a key asset of an organization to stay competitive. This project-based thesis was commissioned by Nordic ASEAN Business Forum (NABF), a non-profit organization based in Helsinki, Finland. The need for the thesis comes from the ...

Zebra finch mates use their forebrain song system in unlearned call communication.

Science.gov (United States)

Ter Maat, Andries; Trost, Lisa; Sagunsky, Hannes; Seltmann, Susanne; Gahr, Manfred

2014-01-01

Unlearned calls are produced by all birds whereas learned songs are only found in three avian taxa, most notably in songbirds. The neural basis for song learning and production is formed by interconnected song nuclei: the song control system. In addition to song, zebra finches produce large numbers of soft, unlearned calls, among which "stack" calls are uttered frequently. To determine unequivocally the calls produced by each member of a group, we mounted miniature wireless microphones on each zebra finch. We find that group living paired males and females communicate using bilateral stack calling. To investigate the role of the song control system in call-based male female communication, we recorded the electrical activity in a premotor nucleus of the song control system in freely behaving male birds. The unique combination of acoustic monitoring together with wireless brain recording of individual zebra finches in groups shows that the neuronal activity of the song system correlates with the production of unlearned stack calls. The results suggest that the song system evolved from a brain circuit controlling simple unlearned calls to a system capable of producing acoustically rich, learned vocalizations.

Strategic Planning: Contextual Factors that Facilitated and/or Challenged the Implementation of Strategic Planning in Two Nonprofit Organizations

Science.gov (United States)

Masilamony, Davadhasan

2010-01-01

As the nonprofit sector continues to grow in size and importance in American society, successful organizations proactively initiate strategic planning so they can be more responsive to changing circumstances, underlying trends, and shifting demands. At times, however, organizations develop elaborate plans that are never implemented. Unfortunately,…

Non-specific alarm calls trigger mobbing behavior in Hainan gibbons (Nomascus hainanus).

Science.gov (United States)

Deng, Huaiqing; Gao, Kai; Zhou, Jiang

2016-09-30

Alarm calls are important defensive behaviors. Here, we report the acoustic spectrum characteristics of alarm calls produced by Hainan gibbons (Nomascus hainanus) inhabiting Bawangling National Nature Reserve in Hainan, China. Analysis of call data collected from 2002-2014 shows that alarm calls are emitted by all family group members, except infants. Alarm behavior included simple short alarming calls (7-10 min) followed by longer variable-frequency mobbing calls lasting 5-12 min. The duration of individual alarming and mobbing calls was 0.078 ± 0.014 s and 0.154 ± 0.041 s at frequency ranges of 520-1000 Hz and 690-3920 Hz, respectively. Alarming call duration was positively associated with group size. The alarm calls can trigger mobbing behavior in Hainan gibbons; this is a defense way of social animals, and first report among the primates' species. The system of vocal alarm behavior described in this critically endangered species is simple and effective.

Adapting Nonprofit Resources to New Social Demands: The Food Banks in Spain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jorge Coque

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Food banks make up an increasing phenomenon of nonprofit organizations answering to new social needs related to the global socioeconomic crisis. In order to explore if they are suitably adapting to their environments in Spain, one of the countries most seriously affected by the crisis in South Europe, this work assumes a hybrid qualitative–quantitative structure composed of an exploratory case study based on semi-structured interviews followed by a survey addressed to all the Spanish food banks. Much of the academic literature has concerned the appropriateness of food banks as a delivery mechanism in the context of welfare state withdrawal. This paper takes this in a different direction by examining Spanish food banks from an organizational management point of view. Wary of concerns about the institutionalization of food charity, on the one hand, and recognizing the escalating daily reliance on food banks, on the other, this paper seeks to address potential technical supply problems and challenges food banks face and open debate about the organizational networks of food banks more generally. The results show nonprofit entities based on a voluntary workforce who run supply chains in order to join both social and business targets. Their situation, performance, resources, mutual relationships and the links with other entities are described, paying special attention to the changes induced by the latest contextual changes. In short, food banks are efficiently organized and well established in their territories as a coherent social movement, although they should improve in their strategic view, coordination, resources and sources of these, to satisfy more adequately their increasingly complex demands.

Glasbury Bridge 1: The Jumper. Close Call.

Science.gov (United States)

Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Leadership, 1994

1994-01-01

Describes an incident in which a group of 10th-grade students in a 1-week outdoor residential program in the Wye Valley (Great Britain) defied program rules, drank alcohol, and had a close call with a near-drowning. Discusses five strategies for dealing with such groups coalesced around a rebellious leader. (SV)

From Financialization to Low and Non-Profit: Emerging Media Models for Freedom

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nuria Almiron-Roig

2011-01-01

Full Text Available In the midst of what is probably the worst economic and financial crisis the capitalist world has ever experienced, professional journalistic structures and news organizations are disintegrating. While mainstream current economic and media gurus –and the whole media executive class around the globe– are claiming for a business model change that allows them to go on making lots of money, many voices have been raised in unison to ask for a true radical change: money cannot be the first goal, but rather public interest. This paper presents the outcome of a research on the non-profit alternatives currently under debate destined to help journalism survive.

Call for an Agenda and Center for GIS Education Research

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, Thomas R.; Kerski, Joseph J.; Huynh, Niem Tu; Viehrig, Kathrin; Bednarz, Sarah W.

2012-01-01

Despite nearly 20 years of intensive investment by higher education, industry, primary and secondary teachers, youth and community leaders, government agencies, and non-profits organizations in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in education around the world, a GIS education research agenda has yet to be developed. This paper provides a…

A new species of the Boophis rappiodes group (Anura, Mantellidae) from the Sahamalaza Peninsula, northwest Madagascar, with acoustic monitoring of its nocturnal calling activity.

Science.gov (United States)

Penny, Samuel G; Andreone, Franco; Crottini, Angelica; Holderied, Marc W; Rakotozafy, Lovasoa Sylviane; Schwitzer, Christoph; Rosa, Gonçalo M

2014-01-01

A new species of treefrog of the Boophis rappiodes group (Anura, Mantellidae) is described from the Sahamalaza - Iles Radama National Park in northwest Madagascar. This new species is green in colour with bright red speckling across its head and dorsum; similar in morphology to other species of this group including: B. bottae, B. rappiodes, B. erythrodactylus and B. tasymena. The new species can be distinguished by its advertisement call and by a genetic divergence of more than 4.9% in the analysed mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene fragment. Its call consists of two note types: a trill and a click; although similar sounding to B. bottae, the trill note of the new species has a faster pulse rate while the click note is predominantly two-pulsed rather than three. All individuals were detected from the banks of two streams in Ankarafa Forest. The new species represents the only member of the B. rappiodes group endemic to Madagascar's western coast, with the majority of other members known from the eastern rainforest belt. Despite its conspicuous call, it has not been detected from other surveys of northwest Madagascar and it is likely to be a local endemic to the peninsula. The ranges of two other amphibian species also appear restricted to Sahamalaza, and so the area seems to support a high level of endemicity. Although occurring inside a National Park, this species is highly threatened by the continuing decline in the quality and extent of its habitat. Due to these threats it is proposed that this species should be classified as Critically Endangered according to the IUCN Red List criteria.

Ethical climates in for-profit, nonprofit, and government skilled nursing facilities: managerial implications for partnerships.

Science.gov (United States)

Filipova, Anna A

2011-01-01

This study investigates ethical climates in government, nonprofit, and for-profit nursing homes and determines their similarities and differences. Surveys were collected from 656 (21.4%) licensed nurses who worked in 100 skilled nursing facilities in one Midwestern state. Shared law and code and caring ethical climates were identified across the 3 sector nursing homes. Those climates were also polarized. Important implications were drawn for consideration of ethical perceptions of each sector during negotiations and contract management.

Blended call center with idling times during the call service

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Legros, Benjamin; Jouini, Oualid; Koole, Ger

We consider a blended call center with calls arriving over time and an infinitely backlogged amount of outbound jobs. Inbound calls have a non-preemptive priority over outbound jobs. The inbound call service is characterized by three successive stages where the second one is a break; i.e., there is

Called to do meaningful work : A blessing or a curse?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Vuuren, Hubrecht A.

2017-01-01

Two groups of people are particularly inclined to mention a calling when talking about their work motivation: those who are spiritual (because the concept of calling originated in the religious realm) and those in serving occupations (such as hospitals, schools, and nongovernmental organizations).

Analysis of potential self-guarantee tests for demonstrating financial assurance by non-profit colleges, universities, and hospitals and by business firms that do not issue bonds

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bailey, P.; Dean, C.; Collier, J.; Dasappa, V.; Goldberg, W. [ICF, Inc., Fairfax, VA (United States)

1997-06-01

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on December 29, 1993, promulgated self-guarantee requirements that materials licensees may use to demonstrate financial assurance for decommissioning costs. However, nonprofit colleges and universities, nonprofit hospitals, and for-profit firms that do not issue bonds are currently precluded, by their unique accounting and financial reporting systems, or by other features of their business practices, from using the financial tests for self-guarantors adopted by the NRC. This Report evaluates several alternative financial tests that might serve as the basis for self-guarantee by these three categories of licensees.

Analysis of potential self-guarantee tests for demonstrating financial assurance by non-profit colleges, universities, and hospitals and by business firms that do not issue bonds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bailey, P.; Dean, C.; Collier, J.; Dasappa, V.; Goldberg, W.

1997-06-01

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on December 29, 1993, promulgated self-guarantee requirements that materials licensees may use to demonstrate financial assurance for decommissioning costs. However, nonprofit colleges and universities, nonprofit hospitals, and for-profit firms that do not issue bonds are currently precluded, by their unique accounting and financial reporting systems, or by other features of their business practices, from using the financial tests for self-guarantors adopted by the NRC. This Report evaluates several alternative financial tests that might serve as the basis for self-guarantee by these three categories of licensees

Financial controlling in non-profit organizations. The case of Slovak Republic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gabriela Vaceková

2013-06-01

Full Text Available The aim of financial controlling is to secure liquidity and financial stability of an organization. It is very important especially for NPOs. They are not founded primarily for the purpose of making profit, so their financial policy gives priority to continuously provide liquidity. The paper presents partial results of a pilot primary research of utilization of financial controlling tools in governmental and nongovernmental non-profit organizations in the conditions of Slovak Republic. Primary data were obtained by the sociological method of a structured questionnaire. The analysis was carried out by adequate mathematical and statistical methods for processing qualitative data and ordinal variables. The presented paper provides a new insight into the studied problem while generating a primary information basis for further scientific study and research work in this field.

A renewed Medication Adherence Alliance call to action: harnessing momentum to address medication nonadherence in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Zullig, Leah L; Granger, Bradi B; Bosworth, Hayden B

2016-01-01

Nonadherence to prescription medications is a common and costly problem with multiple contributing factors, spanning the dimensions of individual behavior change, psychology, medicine, and health policy, among others. Addressing the problem of medication nonadherence requires strategic input from key experts in a number of fields. The Medication Adherence Alliance is a group of key experts, predominately from the US, in the field of medication nonadherence. Members include representatives from consumer advocacy groups, community health providers, nonprofit groups, the academic community, decision-making government officials, and industry. In 2015, the Medication Adherence Alliance convened to review the current landscape of medication adherence. The group then established three working groups that will develop recommendations for shifting toward solutions-oriented science. From the perspective of the Medication Adherence Alliance, the objective of this commentary is to describe changes in the US landscape of medication adherence, framing the evolving field in the context of a recent think tank meeting of experts in the field of medication adherence.

Sleep and recovery in physicians on night call: a longitudinal field study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Malmberg Birgitta

2010-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background It is well known that physicians' night-call duty may cause impaired performance and adverse effects on subjective health, but there is limited knowledge about effects on sleep duration and recovery time. In recent years occupational stress and impaired well-being among anaesthesiologists have been frequently reported for in the scientific literature. Given their main focus on handling patients with life-threatening conditions, when on call, one might expect sleep and recovery to be negatively affected by work, especially in this specialist group. The aim of the present study was to examine whether a 16-hour night-call schedule allowed for sufficient recovery in anaesthesiologists compared with other physician specialists handling less life-threatening conditions, when on call. Methods Sleep, monitored by actigraphy and Karolinska Sleep Diary/Sleepiness Scale on one night after daytime work, one night call, the following first and second nights post-call, and a Saturday night, was compared between 15 anaesthesiologists and 17 paediatricians and ear, nose, and throat surgeons. Results Recovery patterns over the days after night call did not differ between groups, but between days. Mean night sleep for all physicians was 3 hours when on call, 7 h both nights post-call and Saturday, and 6 h after daytime work (p Conclusions Despite considerable sleep loss during work on night call, and unexpectedly short sleep after ordinary day work, the physicians' self-reports indicate full recovery after two nights' sleep. We conclude that these 16-hour night duties were compatible with a short-term recovery in both physician groups, but the limited sleep duration in general still implies a long-term health concern. These results may contribute to the establishment of safe working hours for night-call duty in physicians and other health-care workers.

“We’re Part of the Solution”: Evolution of the Food and Beverage Industry’s Framing of Obesity Concerns Between 2000 and 2012

Science.gov (United States)

Mejia, Pamela; Cheyne, Andrew; Wilking, Cara; Dorfman, Lori; Daynard, Richard

2015-01-01

We investigated how industry claim-makers countered concerns about obesity and other nutrition-related diseases in newspaper coverage from 2000, the year before the US Surgeon General’s Call to Action on obesity, through 2012. We found that the food and beverage industry evolved in its response. The defense arguments were made by trade associations, industry-funded nonprofit groups, and individual companies representing the packaged food industry, restaurants, and the nonalcoholic beverage industry. Individual companies used the news primarily to promote voluntary self-regulation, whereas trade associations and industry-supported nonprofit groups directly attacked potential government regulations. There was, however, a shift away from framing obesity as a personal issue toward an overall message that the food and beverage industry wants to be “part of the solution” to the public health crisis. PMID:26378841

"We're Part of the Solution": Evolution of the Food and Beverage Industry's Framing of Obesity Concerns Between 2000 and 2012.

Science.gov (United States)

Nixon, Laura; Mejia, Pamela; Cheyne, Andrew; Wilking, Cara; Dorfman, Lori; Daynard, Richard

2015-11-01

We investigated how industry claim-makers countered concerns about obesity and other nutrition-related diseases in newspaper coverage from 2000, the year before the US Surgeon General's Call to Action on obesity, through 2012. We found that the food and beverage industry evolved in its response. The defense arguments were made by trade associations, industry-funded nonprofit groups, and individual companies representing the packaged food industry, restaurants, and the nonalcoholic beverage industry. Individual companies used the news primarily to promote voluntary self-regulation, whereas trade associations and industry-supported nonprofit groups directly attacked potential government regulations. There was, however, a shift away from framing obesity as a personal issue toward an overall message that the food and beverage industry wants to be "part of the solution" to the public health crisis.

Calling under pressure: Short-finned pilot whales make social calls during deep foraging dives

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Frants Havmand; Marrero Perez, Jacobo; Johnson, Mark

2011-01-01

Toothed whales rely on sound to echolocate prey and communicate with conspecifics, but little is known about how extreme pressure affects pneumatic sound production in deep-diving species with a limited air supply. The short-finned pilot whale (Globicephala macrorhynchus) is a highly social species...... among the deep-diving toothed whales, in which individuals socialize at the surface but leave their social group in pursuit of prey at depths of up to 1000 m. To investigate if these animals communicate acoustically at depth and test whether hydrostatic pressure affects communication signals, acoustic...... DTAGs logging sound, depth and orientation were attached to 12 pilot whales. Tagged whales produced tonal calls during deep foraging dives at depths of up to 800 m. Mean call output and duration decreased with depth despite the increased distance to conspecifics at the surface. This shows...

Postsecondary Education: Student Outcomes Vary at For-Profit, Nonprofit, and Public Schools. Report to Congressional Requesters. GAO-12-143

Science.gov (United States)

Scott, George A.

2011-01-01

To respond to Congress' interest in student outcomes at different types of schools, this report addresses the following questions: (1) What does research show about graduation rates, employment outcomes, student loan debts, and default rates for students at for-profit schools compared to those at nonprofit and public schools, taking differences in…

Economic characteristic of non-profit sport clubs and their relations with municipalities and sport federations

OpenAIRE

Marek Pavlik

2013-01-01

There is a running discussion about the system of financing sport from public budgets and there are opinions that the sport is not sufficiently supported. We know surprisingly little about the situation of non-profit sport clubs and to find a better support system we have to gather information about the environment of sport clubs. What do we know about relations of sport clubs with public authorities and their own sport union/federation and why do we need to know? The aim of this paper is to ...

Effect of bystander CPR initiation prior to the emergency call on ROSC and 30day survival-An evaluation of 548 emergency calls.

Science.gov (United States)

Viereck, Søren; Palsgaard Møller, Thea; Kjær Ersbøll, Annette; Folke, Fredrik; Lippert, Freddy

2017-02-01

This study aimed at evaluating if time for initiation of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) - prior to the emergency call (CPR prior ) versus during the emergency call following dispatcher-assisted CPR (CPR during ) - was associated with return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) and 30-day survival. The secondary aim was to identify predictors of CPR prior . This observational study evaluated out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) occurring in the Capital Region of Denmark from 01.01.2013 to 31.12.2013. OHCAs were linked to emergency medical dispatch centre records and corresponding emergency calls were evaluated. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were applied to evaluate the association between time for initiation of bystander CPR, ROSC, and 30-day survival. Univariable logistic regression analyses were applied to identify predictors of CPR prior . The study included 548 emergency calls for OHCA patients receiving bystander CPR, 34.9% (n=191) in the CPR prior group and 65.1% (n=357) in the CPR during group. Multivariable analyses showed no difference in ROSC (OR=0.88, 95% CI: 0.56-1.38) or 30-day survival (OR=1.14, 95% CI: 0.68-1.92) between CPR prior and CPR during . Predictors positively associated with CPR prior included witnessed OHCA and healthcare professional bystanders. Predictors negatively associated with CPR prior included residential location, solitary bystanders, and bystanders related to the patient. The majority of bystander CPR (65%) was initiated during the emergency call, following dispatcher-assisted CPR instructions. Whether bystander CPR was initiated prior to emergency call versus during the emergency call following dispatcher-assisted CPR was not associated with ROSC or 30-day survival. Dispatcher-assisted CPR was especially beneficial for the initiation of bystander CPR in residential areas. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Leveraging management information in improving call centre productivity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Manthisana Mosese

2016-04-01

Objectives: This research explored the use of management information and its impact on two fundamental functions namely, improving productivity without compromising the quality of service, in the call centre of a well-known South African fashion retailer, Edcon. Following the implementation of the call centre technology project the research set out to determine how Edcon can transform their call centre to improve productivity and customer service through effective utilisation of their management information. Method: Internal documents and reports were analysed to provide the basis of evaluation between the measures of productivity prior to and post the implementation of a technology project at Edcon’s call centre. Semi-structured in-depth and group interviews were conducted to establish the importance and use of management information in improving productivity and customer service. Results: The results indicated that the availability of management information has indeed contributed to improved efficiency at the Edcon call centre. Although literature claims that there is a correlation between a call centre technology upgrade and improvement in performance, evident in the return on investment being realised within a year or two of implementation, it fell beyond the scope of this study to investigate the return on investment for Edcon’s call centre. Conclusion: Although Edcon has begun realising benefits in improved productivity in their call centre from their available management information, information will continue to play a crucial role in supporting management with informed decisions that will improve the call centre operations. [pdf to follow

Facebook satisfaction and its impacts on fundraising: a case study at a Portuguese non-profit organization

OpenAIRE

Laureano, R. M. S.; Fernandes, A. L.; Hassamo, S.; Alturas, B.

2018-01-01

Non-profit organizations have invested in the development of content for their Facebook pages, believing be an efficient and effective means to publicize its mission and raising resources, whether monetary or human. The purpose of this study is to assess the satisfaction of the participants with the Facebook page, and how that satisfaction influences the dissemination of the organization through the word-of-mouth and the donations practices. In this context, a questionnaire was administered t...

Nonprofit pharma: solutions to what ails the industry.

Science.gov (United States)

Moos, W H; Kodukula, K

2011-01-01

Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) play an increasingly important role providing solutions to the significant challenges faced today by both large pharmaceutical and smaller biotechnology companies, not to mention academia. NPOs chartered for the public benefit are common in the USA and in selected other parts of the world. SRI International, originally founded as the Stanford Research Institute in 1946, is one of the largest and most successful independent NPOs. To provide a perspective on NPO business models, a number of SRI case studies spanning a broad range of technical and business initiatives will be summarized, including basic and contract research, discovery and development of new drugs and biologics, pharmaceutical and biotech research and development and contract services, technology pivots, company spin-ins and spin-outs, and the creation of new NPOs. How to bridge the National Institute of Health's "Valley of Death" and how to navigate the Food and Drug Administration's "Critical Path" will be discussed. We conclude with lessons learned about collaborations and routes to commercialization, along with food for thought for bioscience companies and outsourcing participants. Throughout, we attempt to explain why the role of NPOs is important to both the scientific and business communities and to patients and caregivers.

Building a Sustainable Global Surgery Nonprofit Organization at an Academic Institution.

Science.gov (United States)

Frisella, Margaret M

Surgical Outreach for the Americas is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization providing surgical care to those in need in developing countries of the Western Hemisphere. Every year since its inception in 2008, teams of surgeons, nurses, and allied health professionals have traveled to areas of need and performed primarily hernia repair surgeries for those without access to affordable health care. Surgical Outreach for the Americas (SOfA) began as a general concept based on World Health Organization statistics claiming that 11% of the global burden of disease can be resolved via surgery. Armed with this information, a group of compassionate and selfless health care professionals planned the first trip, to the Dominican Republic, in January 2009. Building on what was first just an ambition to help others, we now also train surgeons, surgery residents, and nurses in the countries we serve. To date, SOfA has successfully treated 734 patients, with 899 total surgical procedures performed (693 of these under general anesthesia). These procedures include inguinal hernia, umbilical hernia, testicular masses, orchiectomies, and various general surgical procedures. Through the efforts of a great many talented individuals and robust fundraising efforts, the SOfA message continues to gain momentum. SOfA not only considers the health and well-being of the disadvantaged through capacity-building efforts but strives to educate and improve the skills of health care professionals in the countries we visit. Our goal is to increase the number of missions each year and begin a 2-fold educational program that (a) provides surgical resident education through participation in mission work and (b) provides local surgeon education in the areas served. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Inc.

The good and bad of group conformity: a call for a new programme of research in medical education.

Science.gov (United States)

Beran, Tanya N; Kaba, Alyshah; Caird, Jeff; McLaughlin, Kevin

2014-09-01

Given that a significant portion of medical education occurs in various social settings (small groups, large classes, clinical environments), it is critical to examine how group members interact. One type of influence on these interactions is conformity, whereby an individual changes his or her own behaviour to match incorrect responses of others in a group. Conformity to peer pressure has been replicated in experimental research conducted in many countries over the last 60 years. There is newly emerging empirical evidence of this effect in medical education, suggesting that subtle motivations and pressures within a group may prevent students from challenging or questioning information that seems incorrect. This narrative review aims to present an overview of theory and findings in research into conformity in the fields of social psychology, business, sociology and aviation theory to demonstrate its direct relevance to medical education and the health professions. We searched online databases (MEDLINE, PubMed, PsycINFO and ProQuest) from the University of Calgary catalogue. We also searched citations in articles reviewed and references provided by colleagues. We limited our narrative review to publications released between 1950 and 2012. Group conformity behaviour may be one of a number of communication challenges associated with interprofessional care, and may represent a factor contributing to the burden of adverse events. This paper calls for a new programme of research into conformity in medical education that provides systematic empirical evidence of its relevance and applications in education, health care and practice. This review reveals decades of anecdotal and empirical evidence that conformity is a pervasive phenomenon across disciplines. Further research is needed to elucidate which situations pose the greatest risk for the occurrence of conformity, how to manage it in practice and its implications for patient safety. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Health issues amongst call center employees, an emerging occupational group in India.

Science.gov (United States)

Raja, Jeyapal Dinesh; Bhasin, Sanjiv Kumar

2014-07-01

Call center sector in India is a relatively new industry and one of the fastest growing sectors driving employment and growth in modern India today. While employment in the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector has meant that young adults are reaching their career milestones and financial goals much earlier than before, surveys and anecdotal evidence show that workers in the BPO sector experience high levels of stress and its related disorders, primarily due to its contemporary work settings. Safeguarding the health of youngsters employed in this new, growing economy becomes an occupational health challenge to public health specialists.

Health issues amongst call center employees, an emerging occupational group in India

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jeyapal Dinesh Raja

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Call center sector in India is a relatively new industry and one of the fastest growing sectors driving employment and growth in modern India today. While employment in the business process outsourcing (BPO sector has meant that young adults are reaching their career milestones and financial goals much earlier than before, surveys and anecdotal evidence show that workers in the BPO sector experience high levels of stress and its related disorders, primarily due to its contemporary work settings. Safeguarding the health of youngsters employed in this new, growing economy becomes an occupational health challenge to public health specialists.

Environmental constraints and call evolution in torrent-dwelling frogs.

Science.gov (United States)

Goutte, Sandra; Dubois, Alain; Howard, Samuel D; Marquez, Rafael; Rowley, Jodi J L; Dehling, J Maximilian; Grandcolas, Philippe; Rongchuan, Xiong; Legendre, Frédéric

2016-04-01

Although acoustic signals are important for communication in many taxa, signal propagation is affected by environmental properties. Strong environmental constraints should drive call evolution, favoring signals with greater transmission distance and content integrity in a given calling habitat. Yet, few empirical studies have verified this prediction, possibly due to a shortcoming in habitat characterization, which is often too broad. Here we assess the potential impact of environmental constraints on the evolution of advertisement call in four groups of torrent-dwelling frogs in the family Ranidae. We reconstruct the evolution of calling site preferences, both broadly categorized and at a finer scale, onto a phylogenetic tree for 148 species with five markers (∼3600 bp). We test models of evolution for six call traits for 79 species with regard to the reconstructed history of calling site preferences and estimate their ancestral states. We find that in spite of existing morphological constraints, vocalizations of torrent-dwelling species are most probably constrained by the acoustic specificities of torrent habitats and particularly their high level of ambient noise. We also show that a fine-scale characterization of calling sites allows a better perception of the impact of environmental constraints on call evolution. © 2016 The Author(s). Evolution © 2016 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

Establishment path and management innovation of mutually beneficial nonprofit organization (MBNPO: A study based on integrated marketing communications (IMC theory

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Kwang-yong Shin

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Purpose - Research about the modern mutually beneficial nonprofit organizations (MBNPOs has great value because of the increasingly important role that the MBNPO plays in society. The establishment and management of MBNPOs are critical for its development. Design/methodology/approach - Integrated marketing communications (IMC theory is applied to the research on establishment and management innovation. The establishment of MBNPOs needs four sequential steps: identifying the target group, providing services to meet the demand of stakeholders, designing appropriate communication tactics and deploying proper organizational structure to accomplish efficient communication. Findings - Three types of approach enable traditional enterprises to transform into MBNPOs: product innovation, operational innovation and synergetic development. The application of IMC theory accomplishes management innovation of MBNPOs in three aspects: leading market-orientation specific to stakeholder-orientation, making management innovation systematic in MBNPOs and clarifying targets of management innovation in MBNPOs. Originality/value - This is one of the first examinations of establishment path and management innovation of MBNPO based on IMC theory.

Virtual Mentoring for Volunteer Leadership Development

OpenAIRE

Guloy, Sheryl

2015-01-01

Calls to investigate leadership development in the nonprofit and voluntary sector have been put forth as concerns about leadership succession have increased. To respond to this call to investigate this under-researched area, this design-based, multiple case study provides rich, thick descriptions of the development of the mentoring relationships, between mentor and mentee pairs, over the course of a virtual mentoring program for volunteer leadership development, in a Catholic nonprofit. I exp...

Responses of male cricket frogs (Acris crepitans) to attenuated and degraded advertisement calls.

Science.gov (United States)

Venator, Kurt R; Ryan, Michael J; Wilczynski, Walter

2017-05-01

We examined the vocal and non-vocal responses of male cricket frogs ( Acris crepitans ) to conspecific advertisement calls that had been attenuated or degraded by reducing the depth of amplitude modulation (AM). Both are characteristic of changes to the call as it is transmitted through natural habitats. As stimulus calls became more intense or less degraded, male cricket frogs gradually decreased their call rate and increased the number of call groups and pulse groups in their calls, changes indicative of increased aggressive interactions. At the higher intensities and lower degradation levels, the probability that males would shift to one of two non-vocal behavioral responses, attacking the perceived intruder or ceasing calling and abandoning the call site, gradually increased. The results show that differences in signal attenuation and AM degradation levels are perceived by males and trigger both vocal and non-vocal behavioral responses consistent with their use in evaluating the distance to a challenging male. Furthermore, the results indicate that the male responses are graded, increasing as intensity rises and degradation falls, and hierarchical, with vocal responses preceding behavioral responses over the range of intensities and degradation levels presented.

Stretching and joint mobilization exercises reduce call-center operators' musculoskeletal discomfort and fatigue

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Denise Helena de Castro Lacaze

2010-01-01

Full Text Available AIM: We sought to evaluate musculoskeletal discomfort and mental and physical fatigue in the call-center workers of an airline company before and after a supervised exercise program compared with rest breaks during the work shift. INTRODUCTION: This was a longitudinal pilot study conducted in a flight-booking call-center for an airline in São Paulo, Brazil. Occupational health activities are recommended to decrease the negative effects of the call-center working conditions. In practice, exercise programs are commonly recommended for computer workers, but their effects have not been studied in call-center operators. METHODS: Sixty-four call-center operators participated in this study. Thirty-two subjects were placed into the experimental group and attended a 10-min daily exercise session for 2 months. Conversely, 32 participants were placed into the control group and took a 10-min daily rest break during the same period. Each subject was evaluated once a week by means of the Corlett-Bishop body map with a visual analog discomfort scale and the Chalder fatigue questionnaire. RESULTS: Musculoskeletal discomfort decreased in both groups, but the reduction was only statistically significant for the spine and buttocks (p=0.04 and the sum of the segments (p=0.01 in the experimental group. In addition, the experimental group showed significant differences in the level of mental fatigue, especially in questions related to memory Rienzo, #181ff and tiredness (p=0.001. CONCLUSIONS: Our preliminary results demonstrate that appropriately designed and supervised exercise programs may be more efficient than rest breaks in decreasing discomfort and fatigue levels in call-center operators.

47 CFR 22.921 - 911 call processing procedures; 911-only calling mode.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... programming in the mobile unit that determines the handling of a non-911 call and permit the call to be... CARRIER SERVICES PUBLIC MOBILE SERVICES Cellular Radiotelephone Service § 22.921 911 call processing procedures; 911-only calling mode. Mobile telephones manufactured after February 13, 2000 that are capable of...

Age differences in career activities among higher-level employees in the Netherlands: a comparison between profit sector and non-profit sector staff

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Heijden, Beatrice

2006-01-01

The present study describes age differences in the occurrence of career activities among profit sector and non-profit sector employees in the Netherlands. Three different types of variables have been studied, i.e. individual, job-related and organizational variables. Hypotheses have been tested with

Public – private 'partnerships' in health – a global call to action

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nishtar Sania

2004-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract The need for public-private partnerships arose against the backdrop of inadequacies on the part of the public sector to provide public good on their own, in an efficient and effective manner, owing to lack of resources and management issues. These considerations led to the evolution of a range of interface arrangements that brought together organizations with the mandate to offer public good on one hand, and those that could facilitate this goal though the provision of resources, technical expertise or outreach, on the other. The former category includes of governments and intergovernmental agencies and the latter, the non-profit and for-profit private sector. Though such partnerships create a powerful mechanism for addressing difficult problems by leveraging on the strengths of different partners, they also package complex ethical and process-related challenges. The complex transnational nature of some of these partnership arrangements necessitates that they be guided by a set of global principles and norms. Participation of international agencies warrants that they be set within a comprehensive policy and operational framework within the organizational mandate and involvement of countries requires legislative authorization, within the framework of which, procedural and process related guidelines need to be developed. This paper outlines key ethical and procedural issues inherent to different types of public-private arrangements and issues a Global Call to Action.

Contested spacing: International non-profit organizations and the mobility of asylum seekers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Albu, Oana Brindusa

The importance of examining space from an organizational standpoint is timely, not the least because the use of this concept has critical and often unintended social, and political effects (Mengis, Nicolini & Gorli, 2016). The global refugee crisis following the post-2015 Syrian conflict is perhaps...... one indicative situation of the highly contested ways in which international non-profit organizations (INGOs) create spaces for their organizational activities (e.g., build informal settlements to provide emergency aid), and thus affect how individuals (e.g., asylum seekers) get re-settled, confined...... to, or even restricted from living in such spaces. These matters are relevant since in the contexts where both the opportunities to move freely and being at peace are challenged, space is not only a neutral structure in which such contested organizing takes place (Mengis et al., 2016). Rather...

A new species of the Boophis rappiodes group (Anura, Mantellidae from the Sahamalaza Peninsula, northwest Madagascar, with acoustic monitoring of its nocturnal calling activity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Samuel Penny

2014-08-01

Full Text Available A new species of treefrog of the Boophis rappiodes group (Anura, Mantellidae is described from the Sahamalaza – Iles Radama National Park in northwest Madagascar. This new species is green in colour with bright red speckling across its head and dorsum; similar in morphology to other species of this group including: B. bottae, B. rappiodes, B. erythrodactylus and B. tasymena. The new species can be distinguished by its advertisement call and by a genetic divergence of more than 4.9% in the analysed mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene fragment. Its call consists of two note types: a trill and a click; although similar sounding to B. bottae, the trill note of the new species has a faster pulse rate while the click note is predominantly two-pulsed rather than three. All individuals were detected from the banks of two streams in Ankarafa Forest. The new species represents the only member of the B. rappiodes group endemic to Madagascar’s western coast, with the majority of other members known from the eastern rainforest belt. Despite its conspicuous call, it has not been detected from other surveys of northwest Madagascar and it is likely to be a local endemic to the peninsula. The ranges of two other amphibian species also appear restricted to Sahamalaza, and so the area seems to support a high level of endemicity. Although occurring inside a National Park, this species is highly threatened by the continuing decline in the quality and extent of its habitat. Due to these threats it is proposed that this species should be classified as Critically Endangered according to the IUCN Red List criteria.

International group calls for new nuclear 'bargain of confidence'

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1980-01-01

A report published by the International Consultative Group on Nuclear Energy on 17 January 1980 concluded that the option of expanding nuclear power supply will not be available for the long term unless its development is carefully sustained during the intervening period. Quotations from the report are given on world energy supplies, establishing nuclear options, nuclear safety and the public interest, and nuclear trade and nuclear proliferation. (UK)

Perceptions of stakeholder groups about the participation of African American family forest landowners in federal landowner assistance programs

Science.gov (United States)

Puneet Dwivedi; Arundhati Jagadish; John Schelhas

2016-01-01

This study examines perceptions of three stakeholder groups (African American Family Forest Landowner, Government Agency, and Nonprofit) regarding federal landowner assistance programs in the southern United States by combining a SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat) analysis with the AHP (analytical hierarchy process). Factors with the highest priority...

The Use of Life History Collage to Explore Learning Related to the Enactment of Social Consciousness in Female Nonprofit Leaders

Science.gov (United States)

Seymour, Susan R.

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to consider the development of social consciousness in female nonprofit leaders. The problem undergirding the study is that we do not know enough about social consciousness to know how it is learned, if it can be taught, if it is stable over a lifetime, and what factors and life events shape its unique expression. A…

Fiscal Fitness for Non-Profits: Project Puts Chicago After-School Programs and Funders through a Financial Workout. Stories from the Field

Science.gov (United States)

Field, Anne

2011-01-01

Strengthening after-school programming for city youngsters has long been an objective of The Wallace Foundation, a national philanthropy based in New York City. In its work over the years, Wallace has found that weak financial management of the nonprofits running many high-quality programs hampers their ability to improve and expand. In 2009,…

The advertisement call of Ameerega pulchripecta (Silverstone, 1976)(Anura, Dendrobatidae).

Science.gov (United States)

Costa-Campos, Carlos Eduardo; Lima, Albertina Pimentel; Amézquita, Adolfo

2016-07-06

The name Ameerega picta was once used to denote a lineage of poison frogs (Dendrobatidae) distributed throughout most of the Amazon basin (Silverstone 1976); more recently, to describe a phenetic group involving at least 18 species, Lötters et al. (2007) pointed out that some of the lineages were indeed derived from the former A. picta. Among them, the nominal species with the widest distribution is A. hahneli (Haddad & Martins 1994; Twomey & Brown 2008), also an alleged complex of poorly defined species (Grant et al. 2006; Fouquet et al. 2007; Roberts et al. 2007). The mate-recognition signal, the advertisement call, was part of the evidence used to revalidate A. hahneli as a different species from A. picta. Although the advertisement call has been described for one or few individuals of other species in the group (Haddad & Martins 1994; Costa et al. 2006; Twomey & Brown 2008; Lötters et al. 2009), namely A. flavopicta, A. braccata and A. boehmei, and A. hahneli, we still lack a formal description for A. pulchripecta, the sister taxon of A. hahneli (Twomey & Brown 2008). Its call has been qualitatively described as similar to A. hahneli's call, but "deeper-voiced" (Lötters et al. 2007).

Marketing neziskové organizace

OpenAIRE

Kabíčková, Edita

2012-01-01

The topic of the thesis is Marketing for non-profit organizations. In the first part, the basic theoretical background of marketing and non-profit organizations will be introduced and subsequently, the chosen non-profit organization called "Můj nový život" Project will be characterized. The main aim of the thesis is to analyze the marketing strategy of this particular non- profit organization and to highlight its strengths and weaknesses. In conclusion, the recommendations for improvement of ...

Nonprofit health insurers: the story Wall Street doesn't tell.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Susan R

2003-01-01

For several years, Wall Street investment firms have campaigned for conversion of nonprofit health insurers to investor ownership, arguing that an infusion of equity capital is critical to insurers' survival. However, closer examination of the financial performance and capital position of not-for-profit health plans shows that: The lower operating margins reported by not-for-profit health plans very likely reflect the organizations' corporate missions to serve their communities by minimizing the cost of coverage and their ability to invest all gains back into the company for the future benefit of their customers. Their investor-owned counterparts must generate higher margins to give shareholders a return on their investment. Compared with investor-owned insurers, not-for-profit health plans use a significantly higher percentage of the customers' premium dollar to pay health care claims. A lower percentage goes for administrative expenses. Over the past 10 years, not-for-profit health plans have succeeded in using operational and investment gains to build and retain a strong capital position--stronger than that of investor-owned companies--while investing heavily in infrastructure, product development, and market growth.

Does the Structure of Female Rhesus Macaque Coo Calls Reflect Relatedness and/or Familiarity?

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Dana Pfefferle

Full Text Available In social animals, kin relations strongly shape the social structure of a group. In female-bonded species, maternal relatedness is likely to be mediated via familiarity, but evidence is accumulating that non-human primates are able to recognize kin that they are not familiar with and adjust their behavior accordingly. In playback experiments, female rhesus macaques showed increased interest in 'coo' calls produced by unfamiliar paternal half-sisters compared to 'coo' calls produced by unfamiliar unrelated females, suggesting that these calls should have some common structural characteristics that facilitate the discrimination of kin from non-kin. Here we analyzed 'coo' calls of 67 adult female rhesus macaques from four groups and seven matrilines living on the island of Cayo Santiago (Puerto Rico. We tested whether the call structure of closely maternal and/or paternal related females, as determined from extensive pedigree data, differed from the call structure of unrelated females, while controlling for familiarity (i.e., group-matrilineal membership and age difference of subjects. In contrast to our expectation, kinship did not predict similarities in 'coo' call structure, whereas 'coo' structure was more similar when produced by females of similar age as well as by females with higher familiarity, suggesting that experience is more decisive than genetic background. The high number of individuals in the analysis and the high accuracy of the assignment of calls to individuals render a lack of power as an unlikely explanation. Thus, based on the results of this study, kin recognition in rhesus monkeys does neither appear to be based on the assessment of self-similarity, nor on the comparison among related subjects (i.e., acoustic phenotype matching, but appears to be mediated by different or multiple cues. Furthermore, the results support the notion that frequent social interactions result in increasing acoustic similarity within largely innate

Partnership in civil society : a case of building trust between non-profit associations and international NGOs in Lao PDR

OpenAIRE

Purdin, Sky

2015-01-01

The purpose of this Master's thesis is to develop a context-specific substantive theory of trust building based on the experiences of development workers in Laos, as well as the methods they identify as keys to a better partnership. The research material is based on eleven interviews with civil society development workers in Vientiane, Laos. The study context is partnerships between in-country International Non-Governmental Organizations and local Non-Profit Associations. ...

A Strategic Analysis of Investment Opportunities within British Columbia's Private Healthcare Sector for a Non-Profit Genomics Research Organization

OpenAIRE

Barclay, John W.

2010-01-01

Advances in the genome sciences are leading to the development of new healthcare innovations relevant to the principles of personalized medicine. Genome BC, a non-profit research organization, invests in projects that will help facilitate the integration of these innovations into the delivery of healthcare. This analysis assesses the strategic positioning of private healthcare firms in BC to be early users of such innovations. The analysis assesses the suitability of investment from Genome BC...

Call Center Capacity Planning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Thomas Bang

in order to relate the results to the service levels used in call centers. Furthermore, the generic nature of the approximation is demonstrated by applying it to a system incorporating a dynamic priority scheme. In the last paper Optimization of overflow policies in call centers, overflows between agent......The main topics of the thesis are theoretical and applied queueing theory within a call center setting. Call centers have in recent years become the main means of communication between customers and companies, and between citizens and public institutions. The extensively computerized infrastructure...... in modern call centers allows for a high level of customization, but also induces complicated operational processes. The size of the industry together with the complex and labor intensive nature of large call centers motivates the research carried out to understand the underlying processes. The customizable...

Managing Competency in Non-Profit Organization: Experience with a European University

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Mostaq M. Hussain

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Competence Management (CM has been discussed in contemporary academic and practitioner literature as a managing tool of Core Competences. Most of the studies of CM deal with manufacturing sector and profit organizations. Very little is known about CM in services and almost nothing in not-for profit organization. No research report has yet been found in educational institutions. Although, CM is not only important in manufacturing and profit organizations but also important in non-profit, like educational institutions, in order to meet the required quality and competitiveness of 21st century's education. Thus, an attempt has been made in this research to study CM in the administration of one the top ranking University in a Nordic country. The result results reveal that competencies had been defined in individual, network and unit level, but lack of integration of a comprehensive CM framework unable the higher educational institution to achieve the benefits of core competence. Based on the empirical findings, some policy and research directions are given at the end of the research.

Calle Blanco

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Gonzalo Cerda Brintrup

1988-06-01

Full Text Available Importante arteria, que comunica el sector del puerto con la plaza. Las más imponentes construcciones se sucedían de un modo continuo, encaramándose a ambos lados de la empinada calle. Antes del gran incendio de 1936 grandes casonas de madera destacaban en calle Irarrázabal y en la esquina de ésta con calle Blanco, la más hermosa construcción pertenecía a don Alberto Oyarzún y la casa vecina hacia Blanco era de don Mateo Miserda, limitada por arriba con la casa de don Augusto Van Der Steldt y ésta era seguida de la casa de don David Barrientos provista de cuatro cúpulas en las esquinas y de un amplio corredor en el frontis. Todas estas construcciones de madera fueron destruidas en el gran incendio de 1936.

Assessment of a tool for measuring non-profit advocacy efforts in India, Uganda and Yemen.

Science.gov (United States)

Lalwani, Tanya; Rajaratnam, Julie Knoll; McOwen, Jordan; Gordis, Deborah J; Bowen, Lisa A; Bernson, Jeff

2016-03-01

To improve maternal and child health, the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood (WRA) implemented an innovative policy advocacy project in India, Uganda and Yemen from 2009 to 2011. PATH assisted WRA in designing an approach to measure the short- and long-term results of WRA's advocacy efforts.Expert rating instruments have been widely used since 1970s to track country-level program efforts focusing on family planning, maternal and neonatal health, and HIV/AIDS. This article assesses and establishes the strength and applicability of an expert rating tool, the Maternal Health Policy Score (MHPS), in measuring and guiding a non-profit's advocacy efforts.The tool was assessed using five criteria: validity of results, reproducibility of results, acceptability to respondents, internal consistency and cost. The tool proved effective for measuring improvements in the policy environment at both the national and subnational levels that the non-profit intended to effect and useful for identifying strong and weak policy domains. The results are reproducible, though ensuring fidelity in implementation during different rounds of data collection may be difficult. The acceptability of the tool was high among respondents, and also among users of the information.MHPS provides a quick, low-cost method to measure overall changes in the policy environment, giving advocacy organizations and grant makers timely information to gauge the influence of their work and take corrective action. WRA demonstrated the use of MHPS at multiple points in the project: at the onset of a project to identify and strategize around policy domains that need attention, during and at the end of the project to monitor progress made and redirect efforts. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Cause Related Marketing: Consumers Perceptions and Benefits for Profit and Non-Profits Organisations

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Francisca Farache

2008-07-01

Full Text Available This study is an attempt to understand consumers’ perceptions regarding Cause Related Marketing [CRM]. The research findings were based on a survey of 200 consumers in the Brighton area and published data. The research aim was focused on the consumers’ perception of the alliance between corporations and non-profit organisations. The research found that consumers have a better perception of firms that work with charities and good causes than those that do not. They believe that the partnership between corporations and charities has an impact on the good of society. However, they are aware that corporations themselves benefit from this partnership. Concerning good causes, consumers prefer to support those related to Children. The researchers noticed that an individual connection with a cause might have considerable influence on consumer attitudes and behaviour in relation to a specific cause.

Building sustainable neuroscience capacity in Africa: the role of non-profit organisations.

Science.gov (United States)

Karikari, Thomas K; Cobham, Ansa E; Ndams, Iliya S

2016-02-01

While advances in neuroscience are helping to improve many aspects of human life, inequalities exist in this field between Africa and more scientifically-advanced continents. Many African countries lack the infrastructure and appropriately-trained scientists for neuroscience education and research. Addressing these challenges would require the development of innovative approaches to help improve scientific competence for neuroscience across the continent. In recent years, science-based non-profit organisations (NPOs) have been supporting the African neuroscience community to build state-of-the-art scientific capacity for sustainable education and research. Some of these contributions have included: the establishment of training courses and workshops to introduce African scientists to powerful-yet-cost-effective experimental model systems; research infrastructural support and assistance to establish research institutes. Other contributions have come in the form of the promotion of scientific networking, public engagement and advocacy for improved neuroscience funding. Here, we discuss the contributions of NPOs to the development of neuroscience in Africa.

Analytical Call Center Model with Voice Response Unit and Wrap-Up Time

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Petr Hampl

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The last twenty years of computer integration significantly changed the process of service in a call center service systems. Basic building modules of classical call centers – a switching system and a group of humans agents – was extended with other special modules such as skills-based routing module, automatic call distribution module, interactive voice response module and others to minimize the customer waiting time and wage costs. A calling customer of a modern call center is served in the first stage by the interactive voice response module without any human interaction. If the customer requirements are not satisfied in the first stage, the service continues to the second stage realized by the group of human agents. The service time of second stage – the average handle time – is divided into a conversation time and wrap-up time. During the conversation time, the agent answers customer questions and collects its requirements and during the wrap-up time (administrative time the agent completes the task without any customer interaction. The analytical model presented in this contribution is solved under the condition of statistical equilibrium and takes into account the interactive voice response module service time, the conversation time and the wrap-up time.

Agency theory in a nonprofit organization Teoria de agência em uma organização sem fins lucrativos

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Ivan Luiz Ecco

2010-10-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to analyze, based on the agency theory, the existence of agency conflicts in management by results in a professional education nonprofit organization. For the program, the case study method was used in a nonprofit professional education organization, located in the state of Santa Catarina. The study examined the contract between the Headquarters of the Organization (which represents in this study, according to theory of agency, the principal and its School Units (representing, the agents to accomplish goals. The results show that the asymmetry of information and organizational culture are factors that contribute to the problem of agency and the determination of an optimal contract should take into consideration such situations. The main conclusion is that agency problems are also present in nonprofit organizations, even when an instrument for the management by results is implemented.O objetivo deste artigo é analisar, à luz da teoria da agência, a existência de conflitos de agência, em uma gestão por resultados, de uma organização educacional sem fins lucrativos. Para sua realização utilizou-se o método de estudo de caso em uma organização de educação profissional sem fins lucrativos, situada no Estado de Santa Catarina. O estudo analisou o contrato celebrado entre a Sede da Organização (que representa neste estudo, segundo a teoria da agência, o principal e suas Unidades Escolares (consideradas os agentes para o cumprimento de metas. Os resultados demonstram que a assimetria de informação e a cultura organizacional são fatores quecontribuem para que o problema de agência ocorra e a determinação de um contrato ótimo deveria levar em consideração tais situações. A principal conclusão é de que os problemas de agência também estão presentes nas organizações sem fins lucrativos, mesmo quando se implanta um instrumento para realizar a gestão por resultados.

Decision making in a non-profit engineering environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Christensen, D.C.

1997-06-01

A conceptual management framework is developed and applied in a science and engineering organization located within a non-profit, public institution. The goal of this research is to select a set of projects whose combined contributions to the organization's strategic interests satisfy sponsor desires and can be completed within existing time and resource constraints. The development of the rationale for project selection and implementation within the plutonium facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory is studied. This includes the integration of prioritization decision tools, optimization techniques, and advanced planning and scheduling tools. The Nuclear Materials Technology Division is the custodian of the plutonium facility, whose mission is to develop, demonstrate, and deploy technologies necessary to address the nation's and world's plutonium problems. This includes management of nuclear weapon stockpile components, stabilization of plutonium residues, clean-up of contaminated soils and facilities, support to non-proliferation and arms control initiatives, and the eventual disposition of surplus plutonium. In this study, projects are evaluated against selection criteria deemed to be of critical program importance. The Analytic Hierarchy Process is used to evaluate and rank the importance of the suite of candidate projects. Because individual projects may be of interest to a number of business sectors and sponsors, the approach must be capable of using funding sources in an integrated manner in order to meet overall facility and program strategies. Finally, project planning and scheduling tools are integrated into the decision network in order to ensure that appropriate resource leveling occurs and that the actual project selection takes into account the temporal relationships among available resources

The Salience of a Career Calling among College Students: Exploring Group Differences and Links to Religiousness, Life Meaning, and Life Satisfaction

Science.gov (United States)

Duffy, Ryan D.; Sedlacek, William E.

2010-01-01

The authors examined the degree to which 1st-year college students endorse a career calling and how levels of calling differ across demographic variables and religiousness, life meaning, and life satisfaction. Forty-four percent of students believed that having a career calling was mostly or totally true of them, and 28% responded to searching for…

Behavioral Preferences for Individual Securities : The Case for Call Warrants and Call Options

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ter Horst, J.R.; Veld, C.H.

2002-01-01

Since 1998, large investment banks have flooded the European capital markets with issues of call warrants.This has led to a unique situation in the Netherlands, where now call warrants, traded on the stock exchange, and long-term call options, traded on the options exchange, exist.Both entitle their

Bank foundation – a symbiotic legal institution at the crossroad of banking system and non-profit sector

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Magdalena CATARGIU

2012-12-01

Full Text Available In the context of the development and omnipresence, in Europe, of the non-profit sector and due to the diversification of the legal entities that are involved in the configuration of the third sector, an legal analysis of the foundation of banking origins, is very appealing. Throughout this study we aim to point out key moments in the evolution of this particular figure, mainly in the Italian legislation. Nevertheless, we intend to identify the legal nature of the foundation of banking origins in order to draw a line between banking and philanthropic activities.

Degradation characteristics of golden lion tamarin Leontopithecus rosalia two-phrase long calls

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sabatini, Vera; Ruiz-Miranda, Carlos R.; Dabelsteen, Torben

2011-01-01

Neotropical primates have evolved long calls, which have a role in spacing and cohesion of groups. Detection and "reading" of long calls as well as ranging of calling individuals seem essential for this role. This study used sound propagation experiments to investigate habitat caused degradation...... of long calls of the Golden Lion Tamarin Leontopithecus rosalia and its implications for "reading" and ranging long calls of calling tamarins. The experiments were made in lowland, evergreen forest in Brazil. Synthesized copies of natural sounds were broadcast and re-recorded using different combinations...... effective sound propagation at 2.0 m (below the canopy and in the upper part of the dense undergrowth where they forage) facilitates reading of the information content of the long calls and hence their use for communication during foraging. Although the high degradation of the long calls with distance...

The Adoption of Social Media in Nonprofit Organizations : The Case Study of the United Nations Country Team in Thailand

OpenAIRE

Panyam, Sinta

2014-01-01

The study examines the role of social media in non-profit organizations using the case study from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Thailand Country office. As Social media become a significant channel to raise the visibility and promote the work of the organization. The focus of this research examines what drives organizations adopting social media through a model built round four key factors, 1.) The importance of social media, 2.) The impact to image of the organization, 3...

Dream Catchers: "Margin Call," "Boss," and Climbing the Beanstalk

Science.gov (United States)

Beck, Bernard

2012-01-01

Two recent popular entertainments, "Margin Call" (Barnum, Dodson, Jenckes, Moosa, Quinto & Chandor, 2011) and "Boss" (Safinia, 2011), depict powerful and successful groups of bosses confronting sudden, extreme threats. They are forced to react quickly and sacrifice important values to achieve survival of their organizations. In these emergencies,…

Calling Where It Counts: Subordinate Pied Babblers Target the Audience of Their Vocal Advertisements.

Science.gov (United States)

Humphries, David J; Finch, Fiona M; Bell, Matthew B V; Ridley, Amanda R

2015-01-01

For territorial group-living species, opportunities to reproduce on the natal territory can be limited by a number of factors including the availability of resources within a territory, access to unrelated individuals, and monopolies on reproduction by dominant group members. Individuals looking to reproduce are therefore faced with the options of either waiting for a breeding opportunity to arise in the natal territory, or searching for reproductive opportunities in non-natal groups. In the cooperatively breeding Southern pied babbler, Turdoides bicolor, most individuals who achieve reproductive success do so through taking up dominant breeding positions within non-natal groups. For subordinate pied babblers therefore, searching for breeding opportunities in non-natal groups is of primary importance as this represents the major route to reproductive success. However, prospecting (where individuals leave the group to search for reproductive opportunities within other groups) is costly and individuals rapidly lose weight when not part of a group. Here we demonstrate that subordinate pied babblers adopt an alternative strategy for mate attraction by vocal advertisement from within their natal territories. We show that subordinates focus their calling efforts on the edges of their territory, and specifically near boundaries with neighbouring groups that have potential breeding partners (unrelated individuals of the opposite sex). In contrast to prospecting, calling individuals showed no body mass loss associated with this behaviour, suggesting that calling from within the group may provide a 'cheap' advertisement strategy. Additionally, we show that subordinates use information regarding the composition of neighbouring groups to target the greatest number of potential mating partners.

NONPROFIT MARKETING IN KOPAČKI RIT NATURE PARK AS TOURIST DESTINATION

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Vesna Vučemilović

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Eastern part of the Republic of Croatia as a tourist destination is not fully valorized yet, despite its natural values and rich cultural heritage. Stronger contribution to touristic development could be ensured by Kopački rit Nature Park as potentially great tourist attractor. Its flora and fauna attract people for educational and tourist reasons. Tourism in nature parks has certain limitations due to primary goals which are protection and preservation of nature together with sustainable management of nature resources and ensuring an undisturbed course of natural processes. The aim of this research is to emphasize importance of marketing tools implementation in process of tourist activities development. Through application of marketing techniques and especially nonprofit marketing, primary goals related to nature protection can be harmonized with development of self-financing through tourism activities. Research was conducted by using case study methodology. Relevant persons for the topic were interviewed and from collected information SWOT analysis was made which may be used for policy suggestions in process of creation adequate tourist products and services together with ensuring quality education for visitors and minimizing visitors influence on natural resources.

Distress Calls of a Fast-Flying Bat (Molossus molossus Provoke Inspection Flights but Not Cooperative Mobbing.

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Gerald Carter

Full Text Available Many birds and mammals produce distress calls when captured. Bats often approach speakers playing conspecific distress calls, which has led to the hypothesis that bat distress calls promote cooperative mobbing. An alternative explanation is that approaching bats are selfishly assessing predation risk. Previous playback studies on bat distress calls involved species with highly maneuverable flight, capable of making close passes and tight circles around speakers, which can look like mobbing. We broadcast distress calls recorded from the velvety free-tailed bat, Molossus molossus, a fast-flying aerial-hawker with relatively poor maneuverability. Based on their flight behavior, we predicted that, in response to distress call playbacks, M. molossus would make individual passing inspection flights but would not approach in groups or approach within a meter of the distress call source. By recording responses via ultrasonic recording and infrared video, we found that M. molossus, and to a lesser extent Saccopteryx bilineata, made more flight passes during distress call playbacks compared to noise. However, only the more maneuverable S. bilineata made close approaches to the speaker, and we found no evidence of mobbing in groups. Instead, our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that single bats approached distress calls simply to investigate the situation. These results suggest that approaches by bats to distress calls should not suffice as clear evidence for mobbing.

Distress Calls of a Fast-Flying Bat (Molossus molossus) Provoke Inspection Flights but Not Cooperative Mobbing

Science.gov (United States)

Carter, Gerald; Schoeppler, Diana; Manthey, Marie; Knörnschild, Mirjam; Denzinger, Annette

2015-01-01

Many birds and mammals produce distress calls when captured. Bats often approach speakers playing conspecific distress calls, which has led to the hypothesis that bat distress calls promote cooperative mobbing. An alternative explanation is that approaching bats are selfishly assessing predation risk. Previous playback studies on bat distress calls involved species with highly maneuverable flight, capable of making close passes and tight circles around speakers, which can look like mobbing. We broadcast distress calls recorded from the velvety free-tailed bat, Molossus molossus, a fast-flying aerial-hawker with relatively poor maneuverability. Based on their flight behavior, we predicted that, in response to distress call playbacks, M. molossus would make individual passing inspection flights but would not approach in groups or approach within a meter of the distress call source. By recording responses via ultrasonic recording and infrared video, we found that M. molossus, and to a lesser extent Saccopteryx bilineata, made more flight passes during distress call playbacks compared to noise. However, only the more maneuverable S. bilineata made close approaches to the speaker, and we found no evidence of mobbing in groups. Instead, our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that single bats approached distress calls simply to investigate the situation. These results suggest that approaches by bats to distress calls should not suffice as clear evidence for mobbing. PMID:26353118

Distress Calls of a Fast-Flying Bat (Molossus molossus) Provoke Inspection Flights but Not Cooperative Mobbing.

Science.gov (United States)

Carter, Gerald; Schoeppler, Diana; Manthey, Marie; Knörnschild, Mirjam; Denzinger, Annette

2015-01-01

Many birds and mammals produce distress calls when captured. Bats often approach speakers playing conspecific distress calls, which has led to the hypothesis that bat distress calls promote cooperative mobbing. An alternative explanation is that approaching bats are selfishly assessing predation risk. Previous playback studies on bat distress calls involved species with highly maneuverable flight, capable of making close passes and tight circles around speakers, which can look like mobbing. We broadcast distress calls recorded from the velvety free-tailed bat, Molossus molossus, a fast-flying aerial-hawker with relatively poor maneuverability. Based on their flight behavior, we predicted that, in response to distress call playbacks, M. molossus would make individual passing inspection flights but would not approach in groups or approach within a meter of the distress call source. By recording responses via ultrasonic recording and infrared video, we found that M. molossus, and to a lesser extent Saccopteryx bilineata, made more flight passes during distress call playbacks compared to noise. However, only the more maneuverable S. bilineata made close approaches to the speaker, and we found no evidence of mobbing in groups. Instead, our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that single bats approached distress calls simply to investigate the situation. These results suggest that approaches by bats to distress calls should not suffice as clear evidence for mobbing.

Meerkat close calling patterns are linked to sex, social category, season and wind, but not fecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jelena Mausbach

Full Text Available It is well established that animal vocalizations can encode information regarding a sender's identity, sex, age, body size, social rank and group membership. However, the association between physiological parameters, particularly stress hormone levels, and vocal behavior is still not well understood. The cooperatively breeding African meerkats (Suricata suricatta live in family groups with despotic social hierarchies. During foraging, individuals emit close calls that help maintain group cohesion. These contact calls are acoustically distinctive and variable in rate across individuals, yet, information on which factors influence close calling behavior is missing. The aim of this study was to identify proximate factors that influence variation in call rate and acoustic structure of meerkat close calls. Specifically, we investigated whether close calling behavior is associated with sex, age and rank, or stress hormone output (i.e., measured as fecal glucocorticoid metabolite (fGCM concentrations as individual traits of the caller, as well as with environmental conditions (weather and reproductive seasonality. To disentangle the effects of these factors on vocal behavior, we analyzed sound recordings and assessed fGCM concentrations in 64 wild but habituated meerkats from 9 groups during the reproductive and non-reproductive seasons. Dominant females and one-year old males called at significantly higher rates compared to other social categories during the reproductive season. Additionally, dominant females produced close calls with the lowest mean fundamental frequencies (F0 and the longest mean pulse durations. Windy conditions were associated with significantly higher call rates during the non-reproductive season. Fecal GCM concentrations were unrelated to close calling behavior. Our findings suggest that meerkat close calling behavior conveys information regarding the sex and social category of the caller, but shows no association with f

Not for the Profit, but for the Training? Gender Differences in Training in the For-Profit and Non-Profit Sectors

OpenAIRE

Dostie, Benoît; Javdani, Mohsen

2017-01-01

We use Canadian linked employer-employee data to examine gender differences in probability, duration, and intensity of firm-sponsored training. We find that women in the for-profit sector are less likely to receive classroom training, and receive shorter classroom training courses. However, we find the reverse in the non-profit sector, with women being more likely to receive both classroom and on-the-job training, and also receiving longer classroom training courses. Our results suggest that ...

Challenges posed by alien culture diffusion for employees of call centers in Mumbai

OpenAIRE

Hegde, Sandeep

2016-01-01

Since the last decade, there has been a tremendous growth in the call center businesses in several metropolitan and urban cities in India. Mumbai city is no exception to this sudden boom. The call center businesses employ over 500,000 nascent employees in the age group of 18-28 yrs in Mumbai. The nature of outsourced work along with the odd working hours in this industry leads to high employee attrition in the call centers. Job satisfaction, high levels of stress, health issues, employee safe...

NASA Earth Science Partnerships - The Role and Value of Commercial and Non-Profit Partnerships with Government in the Earth Sciences

Science.gov (United States)

Favors, J.; Cauffman, S.; Ianson, E.; Kaye, J. A.; Friedl, L.; Green, D. S.; Lee, T. J.; Murphy, K. J.; Turner, W.

2017-12-01

NASA's Earth Science Division (ESD) seeks to develop a scientific understanding of the Earth as a dynamic, integrated system of diverse components that interact in complex ways - analogous to the human body. The Division approaches this goal through a coordinated series of satellite and airborne missions, sponsored basic and applied research, and technology development. Integral to this approach are strong collaborations and partnerships with a spectrum of organizations with technical and non-technical expertise. This presentation will focus on a new commercial and non-profit partnership effort being undertaken by ESD to integrate expertise unique to these sectors with expertise at NASA to jointly achieve what neither group could alone. Highlights will include case study examples of joint work with perspectives from both NASA and the partner, building interdisciplinary teams with diverse backgrounds but common goals (e.g., economics and Earth observations for valuing natural capital), partnership successes and challenges in the co-production of science and applications, utilizing partner networks to amplify project outcomes, and how involving partners in defining the project scope drives novel and unique scientific and decision-making questions to arise.

An analysis of the value of marketing to non-profit organizations: the case of child safety.

Science.gov (United States)

Razis, V; Razis, N

1993-01-01

This paper considers a broad spectrum of literature concerning the limitations and value of applying marketing management principles from the private sector to public or non-profit organizations. The Child Accident Prevention Foundation of Southern Africa is used as a principle case-study. The authors conclude that there is much to be gained from applying a more systematic approach, providing one adapts business strategies to more complex social environments and objectives. Since both marketing and social issues share the challenge of 'sensitivity serving and satisfying human needs,' (Kotler, 1983 p 272) there are also some instances where business can learn from the experience of social organizations in attempts to influence human behavior.

Exploring Reasons for the Resistance to Sustainable Management within Non-Profit Organizations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Claus-Heinrich Daub

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The numerous empirical and conceptual studies that have been conducted over recent years concerning the social responsibility of enterprises and their contributions towards sustainable development have given very little consideration to non-profit organizations (NPOs. This is surprising, because NPOs are confronted with very similar challenges to profit-orientated enterprises regarding their evolution into sustainable organizations. This paper is a preliminary conceptual study and explores the question of why the corporate social responsibility, or corporate sustainability, of NPOs has to date been both neglected by research establishments and also extensively ignored by the NPOs during their day-to-day practical management. The example of church and pastoral institutions in Germany is used to demonstrate the extent to which they take account of ecological and social aspects in their management systems and processes and, thus, implement sustainable management within their day-to-day practice. The paper concludes with some proposals for further empirical and conceptual research projects, which are designed to analyze developments within NPOs with relation to the integration of sustainability into their management systems and processes.

Social mobbing calls in common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus): effects of experience and associated cortisol levels.

Science.gov (United States)

Clara, Elena; Tommasi, Luca; Rogers, Lesley J

2008-04-01

We compared the mobbing response to model snakes of two groups of captive-born common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) differing in genetic relatedness, age and past experience. Mobbing vocalisations (tsik calls), other mobbing behaviour and attention to the stimulus were recorded for 2 min. intervals pre-exposure, during exposure to various stimuli and post-exposure. Marmosets in one group were vocally reactive to all stimuli, although more so to one particular stimulus resembling rearing snakes and modified images of it, whereas the marmosets in a younger and genetically unrelated group attended to the stimuli but made very few mobbing calls. The parent stock of the first group had suffered stress in early life and had developed a phobic response to a specific stimulus, which they had transmitted to their offspring. A third group, matching the older group in age range but genetically unrelated, was also found to be unresponsive to the stimulus that elicited the strongest response in the first group. Cortisol levels in samples of hair were assayed and a significant negative correlation was found between the number of tsik calls made during presentation of the stimuli and the cortisol level, showing that mobbing behaviour/behavioural reactivity is associated with low levels of physiological stress.

Call Centre- Computer Telephone Integration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dražen Kovačević

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Call centre largely came into being as a result of consumerneeds converging with enabling technology- and by the companiesrecognising the revenue opportunities generated by meetingthose needs thereby increasing customer satisfaction. Regardlessof the specific application or activity of a Call centre, customersatisfaction with the interaction is critical to the revenuegenerated or protected by the Call centre. Physical(v, Call centreset up is a place that includes computer, telephone and supervisorstation. Call centre can be available 24 hours a day - whenthe customer wants to make a purchase, needs information, orsimply wishes to register a complaint.

Study on the relationship between project management and organizational efficacy in nonprofit organizations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kao I-Chan

2018-01-01

Full Text Available This study treats the members in nonprofit organizations (NPOs as subjects, and explores the origination, planning, control, and completion of project management in NPOs, as well as the general performance of organizational efficacy, such as environmental satisfaction, organizational atmosphere, operational performance, job engagement, and work quality. It also probes into the relationship and effect. By various research methods, such as literature review and questionnaire survey, this study attempts to determine if project management in NPOs can significantly enhance organizational efficacy. This study finds that different NPOs have significant differences in the general performance of project management and organizational efficacy. When the performance of project management in NPOs is more significant, organizational efficacy is higher. Project management in NPOs has a significant path relationship to organizational efficacy; therefore, reinforcement of vocational training in the project management of NPOs could improve performance, which would have significant effect on enhancing organizational efficacy.

THEORIZING HYBRIDITY: INSTITUTIONAL LOGICS, COMPLEX ORGANIZATIONS, AND ACTOR IDENTITIES: THE CASE OF NONPROFITS

Science.gov (United States)

SKELCHER, CHRIS; SMITH, STEVEN RATHGEB

2015-01-01

We propose a novel approach to theorizing hybridity in public and nonprofit organizations. The concept of hybridity is widely used to describe organizational responses to changes in governance, but the literature seldom explains how hybrids arise or what forms they take. Transaction cost and organizational design literatures offer some solutions, but lack a theory of agency. We use the institutional logics approach to theorize hybrids as entities that face a plurality of normative frames. Logics provide symbolic and material elements that structure organizational legitimacy and actor identities. Contradictions between institutional logics offer space for them to be elaborated and creatively reconstructed by situated agents. We propose five types of organizational hybridity – segmented, segregated, assimilated, blended, and blocked. Each type is theoretically derived from empirically observed variations in organizational responses to institutional plurality. We develop propositions to show how our approach to hybridity adds value to academic and policy-maker audiences. PMID:26640298

THEORIZING HYBRIDITY: INSTITUTIONAL LOGICS, COMPLEX ORGANIZATIONS, AND ACTOR IDENTITIES: THE CASE OF NONPROFITS.

Science.gov (United States)

Skelcher, Chris; Smith, Steven Rathgeb

2015-06-01

We propose a novel approach to theorizing hybridity in public and nonprofit organizations. The concept of hybridity is widely used to describe organizational responses to changes in governance, but the literature seldom explains how hybrids arise or what forms they take. Transaction cost and organizational design literatures offer some solutions, but lack a theory of agency. We use the institutional logics approach to theorize hybrids as entities that face a plurality of normative frames. Logics provide symbolic and material elements that structure organizational legitimacy and actor identities. Contradictions between institutional logics offer space for them to be elaborated and creatively reconstructed by situated agents. We propose five types of organizational hybridity - segmented, segregated, assimilated, blended, and blocked. Each type is theoretically derived from empirically observed variations in organizational responses to institutional plurality. We develop propositions to show how our approach to hybridity adds value to academic and policy-maker audiences.

Consumer concerns about paracetamol: a retrospective analysis of a medicines call centre.

Science.gov (United States)

Lau, Stephanie M; McGuire, Treasure M; van Driel, Mieke L

2016-06-08

To identify consumer information needs about paracetamol, the most commonly used analgesic and antipyretic worldwide. Retrospective analysis of medicines questions from the public. Australian consumer medicines call centre. Callers to National Prescribing Service Medicines Line between September 2002 and June 2010 (n=123 217). Enquiry profile: demographics, enquiry type and concurrent medicines included in paracetamol calls; question themes derived from subset of call narratives. Paracetamol comprised part of the enquiry in 5.2% of calls (n=6367). The caller age distribution for paracetamol calls was skewed towards a younger cohort, with 45.2% made by those aged 25-44 vs 37.5% in 'rest of calls'. Significantly more paracetamol-related calls were made for a child (23.7%) compared with 'rest of calls' (12.7%, pConsumers have many concerns about the use of paracetamol that may be under-recognised by healthcare providers, with the nature of enquiries differing across life stages. These concerns are not adequately addressed by available consumer information. Improving access to targeted information about paracetamol would promote the safe and effective use of this common medicine. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

The Capacity Development of Non-Profit Organizations in the Growth Stage (An Action Research Based on the SSM

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Harry Nenobais

2017-06-01

Full Text Available This research aims in analyzing the capacity development of non-profit organizations in the growth stage through six internal components and four external components at Papuan Pesat Foundation. The approach used in the research is the action research based on the soft systems methodology that consists of two activities that had been done simultaneously, which are the research interest and the problem solving interest (McKay and Marshall, 2001. It fulfills criteria that are systematically desirable and culturally feasible (Flood an Jackson, 1991. Whilst the theory used is according to Brothers and Sherman (2012 that states that there are six internal components that should be strengthened in the growth stage, which are the leadership, the organization’s culture, the role of the board, programs’ extension, the management and infrastructure, the financial sustainable.  Afterwards, according to De Vita, et. al. (2001 there are four organization’s external components that should be maintained, which are the social demographic, the economy/market, the politic and values, and the norms. The result of this research shows the research interest, that the organization needs to be equipped with the transformational leadership, the simple structure design, and the improvement of the role of the board. For the problem solving interest, it needs the working programs’ extension through the correct formulation process, the human resources management, the organization’s financial sustainability. Then the external components which need to be formed are the collaboration among the non-profit organizations, the local government, the private sectors, business activities, politic participations and the public relation.

Male blue monkeys alarm call in response to danger experienced by others

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Papworth, Sarah; Böse, Anne-Sophie; Barker, Jessie

2008-01-01

Male blue monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis stuhlmanni) of Budongo Forest, Uganda, produce two acoustically distinct alarm calls: hacks to crowned eagles (Stephanoaetus coronatus) and pyows to leopards (Panthera pardus) and a range of other disturbances. In playback experiments, males responded...... to leopard growls exclusively with a series of pyows and to eagle shrieks predominantly with hacks. Responses to playbacks of these alarm call series matched the responses to the corresponding predators, suggesting that the calls conveyed something about the nature of the threat. When responding to a series...... of hacks, indicating an eagle, males responded predominately with hacks, but produced significantly more calls if their group members were close to the playback stimulus than far away, regardless of their own position. When responding to a series of pyows, indicating a range of disturbances, males...

Uniquely Strongly Clean Group Rings

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

WANG XIU-LAN

2012-01-01

A ring R is called clean if every element is the sum of an idempotent and a unit,and R is called uniquely strongly clean (USC for short) if every element is uniquely the sum of an idempotent and a unit that commute.In this article,some conditions on a ring R and a group G such that RG is clean are given.It is also shown that if G is a locally finite group,then the group ring RG is USC if and only if R is USC,and G is a 2-group.The left uniquely exchange group ring,as a middle ring of the uniquely clean ring and the USC ring,does not possess this property,and so does the uniquely exchange group ring.

Meaningful call combinations and compositional processing in the southern pied babbler

Science.gov (United States)

Engesser, Sabrina; Ridley, Amanda R.; Townsend, Simon W.

2016-01-01

Language’s expressive power is largely attributable to its compositionality: meaningful words are combined into larger/higher-order structures with derived meaning. Despite its importance, little is known regarding the evolutionary origins and emergence of this syntactic ability. Although previous research has shown a rudimentary capability to combine meaningful calls in primates, because of a scarcity of comparative data, it is unclear to what extent analog forms might also exist outside of primates. Here, we address this ambiguity and provide evidence for rudimentary compositionality in the discrete vocal system of a social passerine, the pied babbler (Turdoides bicolor). Natural observations and predator presentations revealed that babblers produce acoustically distinct alert calls in response to close, low-urgency threats and recruitment calls when recruiting group members during locomotion. On encountering terrestrial predators, both vocalizations are combined into a “mobbing sequence,” potentially to recruit group members in a dangerous situation. To investigate whether babblers process the sequence in a compositional way, we conducted systematic experiments, playing back the individual calls in isolation as well as naturally occurring and artificial sequences. Babblers reacted most strongly to mobbing sequence playbacks, showing a greater attentiveness and a quicker approach to the loudspeaker, compared with individual calls or control sequences. We conclude that the sequence constitutes a compositional structure, communicating information on both the context and the requested action. Our work supports previous research suggesting combinatoriality as a viable mechanism to increase communicative output and indicates that the ability to combine and process meaningful vocal structures, a basic syntax, may be more widespread than previously thought. PMID:27155011

Cultural challenges and essential factors in the implementation of IS in a non-profit organisation in a developing country

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kastrup Nielsen, Sebastian; Svejvig, Per

2013-01-01

collaboration. Cultural dimensions from Hofstede and other researchers are examined to take spe-cific actions to reduce the cultural gap between developed and developing countries. The culture also affects the implementation process, which this paper has found an appropriate solution for. This, together......This paper seeks to describe some of the challenges in the implementation of IS in a non-profit or-ganization in a developing country. When people from developed countries assist in the process of making requirements specification, an understanding of local culture is essential for a successful...

[Bioacoustic of the advertisement call of Ceratophrys cranwelli (Anura: Ceratophryidae)].

Science.gov (United States)

Valetti, Julián Alonso; Salas, Nancy Edith; Martino, Adolfo Ludovico

2013-03-01

The advertisement call plays an important role in the life history of anuran amphibians, mainly during the breeding season. Call features represent an important character to discriminate species, and sound emissions are very effective to assure or reinforce genetic incompatibility, especially in the case of sibling species. Since frogs are ectotherms, acoustic properties of their calls will vary with temperature. In this study, we described the advertisement call of C. cranwelli, quantifying the temperature effect on its components. The acoustic emissions were recorded during 2007 using a DAT record Sony TCD-100 with stereo microphone ECM-MS907 Sony and tape TDK DAT-RGX 60. As males emit their calls floating in temporary ponds, water temperatures were registered after recording the advertisement calls with a digital thermometer TES 1300+/-0.1 degreeC. Altogether, 54 calls from 18 males were analyzed. The temporal variables of each advertisement call were measured using oscillograms and sonograms and the analyses of dominant frequency were performed using a spectrogram. Multiple correlation analysis was used to identify the temperature-dependent acoustic variables and the temperature effect on these variables was quantified using linear regression models. The advertisement call of C. cranwelli consists of a single pulse group. Call duration, Pulse duration and Pulse interval decreased with the temperature, whereas the Pulse rate increased with temperature. The temperature-dependent variables were standardized at 25 degreeC according to the linear regression model obtained. The acoustic variables that were correlated with the temperature are the variables which emissions depend on laryngeal muscles and the temperature constraints the contractile properties of muscles. Our results indicated that temperature explains an important fraction of the variability in some acoustic variables (79% in the Pulse rate), and demonstrated the importance of considering the effect of

Call cultures in orang-utans?

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Serge A Wich

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Several studies suggested great ape cultures, arguing that human cumulative culture presumably evolved from such a foundation. These focused on conspicuous behaviours, and showed rich geographic variation, which could not be attributed to known ecological or genetic differences. Although geographic variation within call types (accents has previously been reported for orang-utans and other primate species, we examine geographic variation in the presence/absence of discrete call types (dialects. Because orang-utans have been shown to have geographic variation that is not completely explicable by genetic or ecological factors we hypothesized that this will be similar in the call domain and predict that discrete call type variation between populations will be found. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We examined long-term behavioural data from five orang-utan populations and collected fecal samples for genetic analyses. We show that there is geographic variation in the presence of discrete types of calls. In exactly the same behavioural context (nest building and infant retrieval, individuals in different wild populations customarily emit either qualitatively different calls or calls in some but not in others. By comparing patterns in call-type and genetic similarity, we suggest that the observed variation is not likely to be explained by genetic or ecological differences. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: These results are consistent with the potential presence of 'call cultures' and suggest that wild orang-utans possess the ability to invent arbitrary calls, which spread through social learning. These findings differ substantially from those that have been reported for primates before. First, the results reported here are on dialect and not on accent. Second, this study presents cases of production learning whereas most primate studies on vocal learning were cases of contextual learning. We conclude with speculating on how these findings might

Two-state Markov-chain Poisson nature of individual cellphone call statistics

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Zhi-Qiang; Xie, Wen-Jie; Li, Ming-Xia; Zhou, Wei-Xing; Sornette, Didier

2016-07-01

Unfolding the burst patterns in human activities and social interactions is a very important issue especially for understanding the spreading of disease and information and the formation of groups and organizations. Here, we conduct an in-depth study of the temporal patterns of cellphone conversation activities of 73 339 anonymous cellphone users, whose inter-call durations are Weibull distributed. We find that the individual call events exhibit a pattern of bursts, that high activity periods are alternated with low activity periods. In both periods, the number of calls are exponentially distributed for individuals, but power-law distributed for the population. Together with the exponential distributions of inter-call durations within bursts and of the intervals between consecutive bursts, we demonstrate that the individual call activities are driven by two independent Poisson processes, which can be combined within a minimal model in terms of a two-state first-order Markov chain, giving significant fits for nearly half of the individuals. By measuring directly the distributions of call rates across the population, which exhibit power-law tails, we purport the existence of power-law distributions, via the ‘superposition of distributions’ mechanism. Our findings shed light on the origins of bursty patterns in other human activities.

Acceptance factors for the use of video call via smartphone by blind people

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tamanit Chanjaraspong

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Using video call via smartphones is a new technology for blind people which can be applied to facilitate their daily lives. This video call technology is different from old technology and the technology acceptance has changed users' behavior in society, culture, and especially attitude toward using new technology. This research studied the intention and the need to use video call via smartphone by blind people according to the Technology Acceptance Model, a famous and widely-accepted theory for the indication of the intention to use technology. The survey data collected from a sample of 30 blind people who lived in the Bangkok Metropolitan Region and used smartphones in their daily life were analyzed using Pearson's Correlation Coefficient. The results found the perceived ease of use factor and the perceived usefulness factor have similar direction and relation. These two factors also have similar roles and relation to the attitude toward using and behavioral intention to use video call via smartphone in the daily life of blind people. The group of blind people who had not experienced using video call via smartphone had similar direction and relation in technology acceptance at a higher level than the group of blind people who had experienced except for the relation between the attitude toward using factor and the behavioral intention to use factor.

Campbell's monkeys concatenate vocalizations into context-specific call sequences

Science.gov (United States)

Ouattara, Karim; Lemasson, Alban; Zuberbühler, Klaus

2009-01-01

Primate vocal behavior is often considered irrelevant in modeling human language evolution, mainly because of the caller's limited vocal control and apparent lack of intentional signaling. Here, we present the results of a long-term study on Campbell's monkeys, which has revealed an unrivaled degree of vocal complexity. Adult males produced six different loud call types, which they combined into various sequences in highly context-specific ways. We found stereotyped sequences that were strongly associated with cohesion and travel, falling trees, neighboring groups, nonpredatory animals, unspecific predatory threat, and specific predator classes. Within the responses to predators, we found that crowned eagles triggered four and leopards three different sequences, depending on how the caller learned about their presence. Callers followed a number of principles when concatenating sequences, such as nonrandom transition probabilities of call types, addition of specific calls into an existing sequence to form a different one, or recombination of two sequences to form a third one. We conclude that these primates have overcome some of the constraints of limited vocal control by combinatorial organization. As the different sequences were so tightly linked to specific external events, the Campbell's monkey call system may be the most complex example of ‘proto-syntax’ in animal communication known to date. PMID:20007377

Call for new OWSD Fellowships for Early Career Women Scientists ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

2018-05-03

May 3, 2018 ... Call for new OWSD Fellowships for Early Career Women Scientists now open ... or mathematics; and employed at an academic or scientific research ... research groups that will attract international visitors; and to develop links with ... opportunity to support Canadian-African research teams studying Ebola.

Creating new library services through collaboration with resident groups : Aimimg at human resource development and information literacy education in ways only libraries can do : Study on activities of an NPO called Ueda Library Club

Science.gov (United States)

Morita, Utako

Creating new library services through collaboration with resident groups : Aimimg at human resource development and information literacy education in ways only libraries can do : Study on activities of an NPO called Ueda Library Club

The difficult medical emergency call

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Møller, Thea Palsgaard; Kjærulff, Thora Majlund; Viereck, Søren

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND: Pre-hospital emergency care requires proper categorization of emergency calls and assessment of emergency priority levels by the medical dispatchers. We investigated predictors for emergency call categorization as "unclear problem" in contrast to "symptom-specific" categories and the ......BACKGROUND: Pre-hospital emergency care requires proper categorization of emergency calls and assessment of emergency priority levels by the medical dispatchers. We investigated predictors for emergency call categorization as "unclear problem" in contrast to "symptom-specific" categories...... and the effect of categorization on mortality. METHODS: Register-based study in a 2-year period based on emergency call data from the emergency medical dispatch center in Copenhagen combined with nationwide register data. Logistic regression analysis (N = 78,040 individuals) was used for identification...

BUSINESS MODELS FOR EXTENDING OF 112 EMERGENCY CALL CENTER CAPABILITIES WITH E-CALL FUNCTION INSERTION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pop Dragos Paul

2010-12-01

Full Text Available The present article concerns present status of implementation in Romania and Europe of eCall service and the proposed business models regarding eCall function implementation in Romania. eCall system is used for reliable transmission in case of crush between In Vehicle System and Public Service Answering Point, via the voice channel of cellular and Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN. eCall service could be initiated automatically or manual the driver. All data presented in this article are part of researches made by authors in the Sectorial Contract Implementation study regarding eCall system, having as partners ITS Romania and Electronic Solution, with the Romanian Ministry of Communication and Information Technology as beneficiary.

Detailed temporal structure of communication networks in groups of songbirds.

Science.gov (United States)

Stowell, Dan; Gill, Lisa; Clayton, David

2016-06-01

Animals in groups often exchange calls, in patterns whose temporal structure may be influenced by contextual factors such as physical location and the social network structure of the group. We introduce a model-based analysis for temporal patterns of animal call timing, originally developed for networks of firing neurons. This has advantages over cross-correlation analysis in that it can correctly handle common-cause confounds and provides a generative model of call patterns with explicit parameters for the influences between individuals. It also has advantages over standard Markovian analysis in that it incorporates detailed temporal interactions which affect timing as well as sequencing of calls. Further, a fitted model can be used to generate novel synthetic call sequences. We apply the method to calls recorded from groups of domesticated zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) individuals. We find that the communication network in these groups has stable structure that persists from one day to the next, and that 'kernels' reflecting the temporal range of influence have a characteristic structure for a calling individual's effect on itself, its partner and on others in the group. We further find characteristic patterns of influences by call type as well as by individual. © 2016 The Authors.

The Use of Life History Collage to Explore Learning Related to the Enactment of Social Consciousness in Female Nonprofit Leaders

OpenAIRE

Seymour, Susan R.

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to consider the development of social consciousness in female nonprofit leaders. The problem undergirding the study is that we do not know enough about social consciousness to know how it is learned, if it can be taught, if it is stable over a lifetime, and what factors and life events shape its unique expression. A further concern is understanding how people come to enact caring about social justice causes and why they enacted caring about certain causes but not...

Non-profit organisations and government’s pro-poor spending: the case of health and development in Gauteng

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L B Mzini

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Globally, there is growing recognition of participatory public expenditure management (PPEM. PPEM is seen as the process whereby citizens and civil society organisations participate in the management of public expenditures. The adoption of PPEM is aimed at ensuring greater transparency, better targeting and tracking of resources, and increased overall responsiveness. The Gauteng Department of Health and Social Development (GDHSD is committed to co-operative governance; this includes working with different spheres of government and civil society or non-profit organisations (NPOs. NPOs are required to have a governing committee to manage funds allocated by GDHSD. The committee has the capacity to hold the NPO management accountable for the resources (financial and material entrusted to it by the GDHSD. The effectiveness of NPOs is challenged by poor attendance of board members at meetings, poor understanding of the board’s mandate and responsibilities and lack of experience amongst members. The paradigm of PPEM is still faced with challenges to ensure that significant flows of revenue are accounted for and used effectively for growth and poverty reduction. This study is divided into three components. The first section focuses on the background, the introduction and the conceptual framework. The second part focuses on the empirical study for deriving a benchmark for the South African NPO sector. The third section highlights good practices as well as governance-related challenges. Finally, for further consideration by the GDHSD, a series of recommendations is provided, focusing on how key domestic stakeholders can better contribute to successful participatory budgeting programmes. Keywords: Participatory public expenditure management, non-profit organisations, pro-poor spending, public finance, public financial management, early childhood development.  Disciplines: Public Management and Administration, Public Financial Management

A Sectarian Group Called Israel

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lemche, Niels Peter

2017-01-01

En diskussion af navnet "Israel" set i et historisk perspektiv , hvor der mellem 822 f.Kr. og 1948 eft Kr. ikke eksisterede en historisk satstslig organisation ved navn Israel.......En diskussion af navnet "Israel" set i et historisk perspektiv , hvor der mellem 822 f.Kr. og 1948 eft Kr. ikke eksisterede en historisk satstslig organisation ved navn Israel....

Assessing call centers’ success:

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hesham A. Baraka

2013-07-01

This paper introduces a model to evaluate the performance of call centers based on the Delone and McLean Information Systems success model. A number of indicators are identified to track the call center’s performance. Mapping of the proposed indicators to the six dimensions of the D&M model is presented. A Weighted Call Center Performance Index is proposed to assess the call center performance; the index is used to analyze the effect of the identified indicators. Policy-Weighted approach was used to assume the weights with an analysis of different weights for each dimension. The analysis of the different weights cases gave priority to the User satisfaction and net Benefits dimension as the two outcomes from the system. For the input dimensions, higher priority was given to the system quality and the service quality dimension. Call centers decision makers can use the tool to tune the different weights in order to reach the objectives set by the organization. Multiple linear regression analysis was used in order to provide a linear formula for the User Satisfaction dimension and the Net Benefits dimension in order to be able to forecast the values for these two dimensions as function of the other dimensions

78 FR 76218 - Rural Call Completion

Science.gov (United States)

2013-12-17

... calls to rural areas, and enforce restrictions against blocking, choking, reducing, or restricting calls... to alert the Commission of systemic problems receiving calls from a particular originating long... associated with completing calls to rural areas. These rules will also enhance our ability to enforce...

The strategic marketing reaction of conventional nonprofit hospitals to the market entry of alternative care provider organizations.

Science.gov (United States)

Schul, P L; Remington, S J; Planchon, J M

1994-01-01

A study was conducted examining the competitive reaction of incumbent firms to the market entry of new form competition in the health care services industry. Specifically, the study addressed the relative impact of both objective and perceptual characteristics of the threat potential posed by the entrance of alternative care facilities (ACF's) into markets previously dominated by nonprofit hospital organizations. The results showed that incumbent hospitals tend to rely most extensively on limited, low-risk market differentiation when responding to the threat posed by ACF entrants. Objective characteristics reflective of the structural complexity of the threat were found to be less important in influencing incumbent reaction than were administrators' perceptions of new entrant threat.

Healthcare public key infrastructure (HPKI) and non-profit organization (NPO): essentials for healthcare data exchange.

Science.gov (United States)

Takeda, Hiroshi; Matsumura, Yasushi; Nakagawa, Katsuhiko; Teratani, Tadamasa; Qiyan, Zhang; Kusuoka, Hideo; Matsuoka, Masami

2004-01-01

To share healthcare information and to promote cooperation among healthcare providers and customers (patients) under computerized network environment, a non-profit organization (NPO), named as OCHIS, was established at Osaka, Japan in 2003. Since security and confidentiality issues on the Internet have been major concerns in the OCHIS, the system has been based on healthcare public key infrastructure (HPKI), and found that there remained problems to be solved technically and operationally. An experimental study was conducted to elucidate the central and the local function in terms of a registration authority and a time stamp authority by contracting with the Ministry of Economics and Trading Industries in 2003. This paper describes the experimental design with NPO and the results of the study concerning message security and HPKI. The developed system has been operated practically in Osaka urban area.

Non-Profit Ecological Organizations in the Function of the Realization of the Right to Freedom of Association and the Development of Civil Environmental Liability in Kazakhstan

Science.gov (United States)

Aitimov, Bolat Zh.; Dussipov, Erkin Sh.; Altynbekkyzy, Alua; Ashimova, Dinara I.; Nurbek, Dana T.; Urazymbetov, Talgat E.

2016-01-01

Environmental issues have become a central issue, which is considered not only at the state level, but also in the international arena. At the moment the main initiators of drawing attention to the environment are the environmental non-profit organizations. In developed countries, these organizations provide full support to the government and…

Sleep Quality of Call Handlers Employed in International Call Centers in National Capital Region of Delhi, India.

Science.gov (United States)

Raja, J D; Bhasin, S K

2016-10-01

Call center sector in India is a relatively new and fast growing industry driving employment and growth in modern India today. Most international call centers in National Capital Region (NCR) of Delhi operate at odd work hours corresponding to a time suitable fortheir international customers. The sleep quality of call handlers employed in these call centers is in jeopardy owing to their altered sleep schedule. To assess the sleep quality and determine its independent predictors among call handlers employed in international call centers in NCR of Delhi. A cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was conducted on 375 call handlers aged 18-39 years employed in international call centers in NCR of Delhi. Sleep quality was assessed using Athens Insomnia scale along with a pre-tested, structured questionnaire. The mean age of respondents was 24.6 (SD 2.4) years. 78% of participants were male. 83.5% of respondents were unmarried. 44.3% of call handlers were cigarette smokers. Physical ailments were reported by 37% call handlers. 77.6% of call handlers had somesuspicion of insomnia or suspected insomnia; the rest had no sleep problem. Smoking, poor social support, heavy workload, lack of relaxation facility at office, and prolonged travel time to office were independent predictors of sleep quality (pSafeguarding their health becomes an occupational health challenge to public health specialists.

Grooming-at-a-distance by exchanging calls in non-human primates.

Science.gov (United States)

Arlet, Malgorzata; Jubin, Ronan; Masataka, Nobuo; Lemasson, Alban

2015-10-01

The 'social bonding hypothesis' predicts that, in large social groups, functions of gestural grooming should be partially transferred to vocal interactions. Hence, vocal exchanges would have evolved in primates to play the role of grooming-at-a-distance in order to facilitate the maintenance of social cohesion. However, there are few empirical studies testing this hypothesis. To address this point, we compared the rate of contact call exchanges between females in two captive groups of Japanese macaques as a function of female age, dominance rank, genetic relatedness and social affinity measured by spatial proximity and grooming interactions. We found a significant positive relationship between the time spent on grooming by two females and the frequency with which they exchanged calls. Our results conform to the predictions of the social bonding hypothesis, i.e. vocal exchanges can be interpreted as grooming-at-a-distance. © 2015 The Author(s).

Callings and Organizational Behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Elangovan, A. R.; Pinder, Craig C.; McLean, Murdith

2010-01-01

Current literature on careers, social identity and meaning in work tends to understate the multiplicity, historical significance, and nuances of the concept of calling(s). In this article, we trace the evolution of the concept from its religious roots into secular realms and develop a typology of interpretations using occupation and religious…

Uncertain call likelihood negatively affects sleep and next-day cognitive performance while on-call in a laboratory environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Sprajcer, Madeline; Jay, Sarah M; Vincent, Grace E; Vakulin, Andrew; Lack, Leon; Ferguson, Sally A

2018-05-11

On-call working arrangements are employed in a number of industries to manage unpredictable events, and often involve tasks that are safety- or time-critical. This study investigated the effects of call likelihood during an overnight on-call shift on self-reported pre-bed anxiety, sleep and next-day cognitive performance. A four-night laboratory-based protocol was employed, with an adaptation, a control and two counterbalanced on-call nights. On one on-call night, participants were instructed that they would definitely be called during the night, while on the other on-call night they were told they may be called. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory form x-1 was used to investigate pre-bed anxiety, and sleep was assessed using polysomnography and power spectral analysis of the sleep electroencephalographic analysis. Cognitive performance was assessed four times daily using a 10-min psychomotor vigilance task. Participants felt more anxious before bed when they were definitely going to be called, compared with the control and maybe conditions. Conversely, participants experienced significantly less non-rapid eye movement and stage two sleep and poorer cognitive performance when told they may be called. Further, participants had significantly more rapid eye movement sleep in the maybe condition, which may be an adaptive response to the stress associated with this on-call condition. It appears that self-reported anxiety may not be linked with sleep outcomes while on-call. However, this research indicates that it is important to take call likelihood into consideration when constructing rosters and risk-management systems for on-call workers.

Calling at the highway: The spatiotemporal constraint of road noise on Pacific chorus frog communication.

Science.gov (United States)

Nelson, Danielle V; Klinck, Holger; Carbaugh-Rutland, Alexander; Mathis, Codey L; Morzillo, Anita T; Garcia, Tiffany S

2017-01-01

Loss of acoustic habitat due to anthropogenic noise is a key environmental stressor for vocal amphibian species, a taxonomic group that is experiencing global population declines. The Pacific chorus frog ( Pseudacris regilla ) is the most common vocal species of the Pacific Northwest and can occupy human-dominated habitat types, including agricultural and urban wetlands. This species is exposed to anthropogenic noise, which can interfere with vocalizations during the breeding season. We hypothesized that Pacific chorus frogs would alter the spatial and temporal structure of their breeding vocalizations in response to road noise, a widespread anthropogenic stressor. We compared Pacific chorus frog call structure and ambient road noise levels along a gradient of road noise exposures in the Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA. We used both passive acoustic monitoring and directional recordings to determine source level (i.e., amplitude or volume), dominant frequency (i.e., pitch), call duration, and call rate of individual frogs and to quantify ambient road noise levels. Pacific chorus frogs were unable to change their vocalizations to compensate for road noise. A model of the active space and time ("spatiotemporal communication") over which a Pacific chorus frog vocalization could be heard revealed that in high-noise habitats, spatiotemporal communication was drastically reduced for an individual. This may have implications for the reproductive success of this species, which relies on specific call repertoires to portray relative fitness and attract mates. Using the acoustic call parameters defined by this study (frequency, source level, call rate, and call duration), we developed a simplified model of acoustic communication space-time for this species. This model can be used in combination with models that determine the insertion loss for various acoustic barriers to define the impact of anthropogenic noise on the radius of communication in threatened species

Care and calls

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Paasch, Bettina Sletten

-centred care through the use of tactile resources and embodied orientations while they attend to the phone call. Experienced nurses Thus perform multiactivity by distributing attention towards both the patient and the phone, and the analysis shows that their concrete ways of doing so depend on the complex...... they are telephoned during interactions with patients are not universal. Indeed different strategies have evolved in other hospital departments. Not only does this thesis contribute insights into the way nurses manage phone calls during interactions with patients, but by subscribing to a growing body of embodied...... of human interaction....

A complete classification of minimal non-PS-groups

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Abstract. Let G be a finite group. A subgroup H of G is called s-permutable in G if it permutes with every Sylow subgroup of G, and G is called a PS-group if all minimal subgroups and cyclic subgroups with order 4 of G are s-permutable in G. In this paper, we give a complete classification of finite groups which are not ...

Generalized quantum groups

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leivo, H.P.

1992-01-01

The algebraic approach to quantum groups is generalized to include what may be called an anyonic symmetry, reflecting the appearance of phases more general than ±1 under transposition. (author). 6 refs

Group cohesion in foraging meerkats: follow the moving 'vocal hot spot'.

Science.gov (United States)

Gall, Gabriella E C; Manser, Marta B

2017-04-01

Group coordination, when 'on the move' or when visibility is low, is a challenge faced by many social living animals. While some animals manage to maintain cohesion solely through visual contact, the mechanism of group cohesion through other modes of communication, a necessity when visual contact is reduced, is not yet understood. Meerkats ( Suricata suricatta ), a small, social carnivore, forage as a cohesive group while moving continuously. While foraging, they frequently emit 'close calls', soft close-range contact calls. Variations in their call rates based on their local environment, coupled with individual movement, produce a dynamic acoustic landscape with a moving 'vocal hotspot' of the highest calling activity. We investigated whether meerkats follow such a vocal hotspot by playing back close calls of multiple individuals to foraging meerkats from the front and back edge of the group simultaneously. These two artificially induced vocal hotspots caused the group to spatially elongate and split into two subgroups. We conclude that meerkats use the emergent dynamic call pattern of the group to adjust their movement direction and maintain cohesion. Our study describes a highly flexible mechanism for the maintenance of group cohesion through vocal communication, for mobile species in habitats with low visibility and where movement decisions need to be adjusted continuously to changing environmental conditions.

Relationship between burnout and PTSD symptoms in firefighters: the moderating effects of a sense of calling to firefighting.

Science.gov (United States)

Jo, Insung; Lee, Songhee; Sung, Gyhye; Kim, Minkyoung; Lee, Sanghyuk; Park, Jooeon; Lee, Kangsoo

2018-01-01

Firefighting has been reported to lead to burnout and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, burnout and PTSD symptoms may vary depending on personal characteristics, such as having a sense of calling. This study examined the role of calling in the association between burnout and PTSD symptoms. We hypothesized that burnout would be associated with more severe PTSD symptoms and calling would buffer the relationship between burnout and PTSD symptoms. The Korean version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey, Sense of Calling Subscale of the Professionalism Scale, and the Impact of Event Scale-Revised-Korean version were used to measure burnout, calling, and PTSD symptoms. Data from 109 of 127 firefighters from Gyeonggi-do, South Korea were analyzed using hierarchical linear regression. Burnout was a significant predictor of PTSD symptoms. Furthermore, the interaction term between burnout and calling accounted for a significant variance in PTSD symptoms. Higher burnout was associated with severe PTSD symptoms, but this relationship differed by the level of calling. The increase in PTSD symptoms due to increased burnout in the high calling group was relatively higher than in the low and average calling groups. Calling, though perceived as a positive variable, can be hazardous to exhausted people. A sense of calling as part of one's job identity should not be encouraged until personal circumstances and characteristics, such burnout symptoms, are evaluated. Identifying context and variables associated with PTSD for interventions with firefighters and persons in other dangerous occupations should aid in their recovery from trauma exposure.

Call for information on coastal energy facility siting: an analysis of responses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1977-01-01

The Call for Information issued by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection in December 1975 consisted of an eight page questionnaire which was sent to industries, government agencies, and private organizations. Its objective was to seek the help of these groups in plans for the siting of energy facilities in the coastal zone. Potential development of oil and gas from the Baltimore Canyon region adjacent to New Jersey has made planning for energy facilities a priority issue both at the state and federal level. The Call for Information invited government and the energy industry to submit (a) suggested criteria for locating energy and energy-related facilities within the New Jersey coastal zone, (b) analyses by governmental and private agencies or groups of the need to locate energy facilities in specific sites within New Jersey's coastal zone, or in generalized portions thereof, and (c) identification of the land-use parameters, appropriate to the various types of facilities which may be proposed, now or later, for coastal siting. The findings obtained from the draft call and the final call issued seven months later are presented. The results of the industries' responses show that the electric and gas utilities gave some useful information while this was true of only a few of the oil companies. The reluctance to give informatign was perhaps aggravated by lack of clear state and federal policies. The appendices illustrate specific information on manpower, cost and facility requirements to develop oil refineries, establish a gas processing plant as well as information from the US Coast Guard and the Environmental Protection Agency. There is also a listing of the companies that bid in the August 1976 lease sale indicating which bids were accepted, a map of the offshore tracts, and a list of which companies responded to the Call for Information

JPEG XS call for proposals subjective evaluations

Science.gov (United States)

McNally, David; Bruylants, Tim; Willème, Alexandre; Ebrahimi, Touradj; Schelkens, Peter; Macq, Benoit

2017-09-01

In March 2016 the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), formally known as ISO/IEC SC29 WG1, issued a call for proposals soliciting compression technologies for a low-latency, lightweight and visually transparent video compression scheme. Within the JPEG family of standards, this scheme was denominated JPEG XS. The subjective evaluation of visually lossless compressed video sequences at high resolutions and bit depths poses particular challenges. This paper describes the adopted procedures, the subjective evaluation setup, the evaluation process and summarizes the obtained results which were achieved in the context of the JPEG XS standardization process.

How to call the Fire Brigade

CERN Multimedia

2003-01-01

The telephone numbers for the CERN Fire Brigade are: 74444 for emergency calls 74848 for other calls Note The number 112 will stay in use for emergency calls from "wired" telephones, however, from mobile phones it leads to non-CERN emergency services.

Precise image-guided irradiation of small animals: a flexible non-profit platform

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tillner, Falk; Thute, Prasad; Löck, Steffen; Dietrich, Antje; Fursov, Andriy; Haase, Robert; Lukas, Mathias; Krause, Mechthild; Baumann, Michael; Bütof, Rebecca; Enghardt, Wolfgang; Rimarzig, Bernd; Sobiella, Manfred

2016-01-01

Preclinical in vivo studies using small animals are essential to develop new therapeutic options in radiation oncology. Of particular interest are orthotopic tumour models, which better reflect the clinical situation in terms of growth patterns and microenvironmental parameters of the tumour as well as the interplay of tumours with the surrounding normal tissues. Such orthotopic models increase the technical demands and the complexity of preclinical studies as local irradiation with therapeutically relevant doses requires image-guided target localisation and accurate beam application. Moreover, advanced imaging techniques are needed for monitoring treatment outcome. We present a novel small animal image-guided radiation therapy (SAIGRT) system, which allows for precise and accurate, conformal irradiation and x-ray imaging of small animals. High accuracy is achieved by its robust construction, the precise movement of its components and a fast high-resolution flat-panel detector. Field forming and x-ray imaging is accomplished close to the animal resulting in a small penumbra and a high image quality. Feasibility for irradiating orthotopic models has been proven using lung tumour and glioblastoma models in mice. The SAIGRT system provides a flexible, non-profit academic research platform which can be adapted to specific experimental needs and therefore enables systematic preclinical trials in multicentre research networks. (paper)

Using Semantic Similarity In Automated Call Quality Evaluator For Call Centers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ria A. Sagum

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Conversation between the agent and client are being evaluated manually by a quality assurance officer QA. This job is only one of the responsibilities being done by a QA and particularly eat ups a lot of time for them which lead to late evaluation results that may cause untimely response of the company to concerns raised by their clients. This research developed an application software that automates and evaluates the quality assurance in business process outsourcing companies or customer service management implementing sentence similarity. The developed system includes two modules speaker diarization which includes transcription and question and answer extraction and similarity checker which checks the similarity between the extracted answer and the answer of the call center agent to a question. The system was evaluated for Correctness of the extracted answers and accurateness of the evaluation for a particular call. Audio conversations were tested for the accuracy of the transcription module which has an accuracy of 27.96. The Precision Recall and F-measure of the extracted answer was tested as 78.03 96.26 and 86.19 respectively. The Accuracy of the system in evaluating a call is 70.

Vocal communication in a complex multi-level society: constrained acoustic structure and flexible call usage in Guinea baboons.

Science.gov (United States)

Maciej, Peter; Ndao, Ibrahima; Hammerschmidt, Kurt; Fischer, Julia

2013-09-23

To understand the evolution of acoustic communication in animals, it is important to distinguish between the structure and the usage of vocal signals, since both aspects are subject to different constraints. In terrestrial mammals, the structure of calls is largely innate, while individuals have a greater ability to actively initiate or withhold calls. In closely related taxa, one would therefore predict a higher flexibility in call usage compared to call structure. In the present study, we investigated the vocal repertoire of free living Guinea baboons (Papio papio) and examined the structure and usage of the animals' vocal signals. Guinea baboons live in a complex multi-level social organization and exhibit a largely tolerant and affiliative social style, contrary to most other baboon taxa. To classify the vocal repertoire of male and female Guinea baboons, cluster analyses were used and focal observations were conducted to assess the usage of vocal signals in the particular contexts. In general, the vocal repertoire of Guinea baboons largely corresponded to the vocal repertoire other baboon taxa. The usage of calls, however, differed considerably from other baboon taxa and corresponded with the specific characteristics of the Guinea baboons' social behaviour. While Guinea baboons showed a diminished usage of contest and display vocalizations (a common pattern observed in chacma baboons), they frequently used vocal signals during affiliative and greeting interactions. Our study shows that the call structure of primates is largely unaffected by the species' social system (including grouping patterns and social interactions), while the usage of calls can be more flexibly adjusted, reflecting the quality of social interactions of the individuals. Our results support the view that the primary function of social signals is to regulate social interactions, and therefore the degree of competition and cooperation may be more important to explain variation in call usage

Calling in Work: Secular or Sacred?

Science.gov (United States)

Steger, Michael F.; Pickering, N. K.; Shin, J. Y.; Dik, B. J.

2010-01-01

Recent scholarship indicates that people who view their work as a calling are more satisfied with their work and their lives. Historically, calling has been regarded as a religious experience, although modern researchers frequently have adopted a more expansive and secular conceptualization of calling, emphasizing meaning and personal fulfillment…

Hornbills can distinguish between primate alarm calls.

Science.gov (United States)

Rainey, Hugo J.; Zuberbühler, Klaus; Slater, Peter J. B.

2004-01-01

Some mammals distinguish between and respond appropriately to the alarm calls of other mammal and bird species. However, the ability of birds to distinguish between mammal alarm calls has not been investigated. Diana monkeys (Cercopithecus diana) produce different alarm calls to two predators: crowned eagles (Stephanoaetus coronatus) and leopards (Panthera pardus). Yellow-casqued hornbills (Ceratogymna elata) are vulnerable to predation by crowned eagles but are not preyed on by leopards and might therefore be expected to respond to the Diana monkey eagle alarm call but not to the leopard alarm call. We compared responses of hornbills to playback of eagle shrieks, leopard growls, Diana monkey eagle alarm calls and Diana monkey leopard alarm calls and found that they distinguished appropriately between the two predator vocalizations as well as between the two Diana monkey alarm calls. We discuss possible mechanisms leading to these responses. PMID:15209110

From nestling calls to fledgling silence: adaptive timing of change in response to aerial alarm calls.

Science.gov (United States)

Magrath, Robert D; Platzen, Dirk; Kondo, Junko

2006-09-22

Young birds and mammals are extremely vulnerable to predators and so should benefit from responding to parental alarm calls warning of danger. However, young often respond differently from adults. This difference may reflect: (i) an imperfect stage in the gradual development of adult behaviour or (ii) an adaptation to different vulnerability. Altricial birds provide an excellent model to test for adaptive changes with age in response to alarm calls, because fledglings are vulnerable to a different range of predators than nestlings. For example, a flying hawk is irrelevant to a nestling in a enclosed nest, but is dangerous to that individual once it has left the nest, so we predict that young develop a response to aerial alarm calls to coincide with fledging. Supporting our prediction, recently fledged white-browed scrubwrens, Sericornis frontalis, fell silent immediately after playback of their parents' aerial alarm call, whereas nestlings continued to calling despite hearing the playback. Young scrubwrens are therefore exquisitely adapted to the changing risks faced during development.

Staffing to Maximize Profit for Call Centers with Impatient and Repeat-Calling Customers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jun Gong

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Motivated by call center practice, we study the optimal staffing of many-server queues with impatient and repeat-calling customers. A call center is modeled as an M/M/s+M queue, which is developed to a behavioral queuing model in which customers come and go based on their satisfaction with waiting time. We explicitly take into account customer repeat behavior, which implies that satisfied customers might return and have an impact on the arrival rate. Optimality is defined as the number of agents that maximize revenues net of staffing costs, and we account for the characteristic that revenues are a direct function of staffing. Finally, we use numerical experiments to make certain comparisons with traditional models that do not consider customer repeat behavior. Furthermore, we indicate how managers might allocate staffing optimally with various customer behavior mechanisms.

A group's physical attractiveness is greater than the average attractiveness of its members : The group attractiveness effect

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Osch, Y.M.J.; Blanken, Irene; Meijs, Maartje H. J.; van Wolferen, Job

2015-01-01

We tested whether the perceived physical attractiveness of a group is greater than the average attractiveness of its members. In nine studies, we find evidence for the so-called group attractiveness effect (GA-effect), using female, male, and mixed-gender groups, indicating that group impressions of

The Role of Grunt Calls in the Social Dominance Hierarchy of the White-Lipped Peccary (Mammalia, Tayassuidae.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Selene S C Nogueira

Full Text Available Grunt-like calls are present in the vocal repertoire of many group-living mammals and seem to facilitate social interactions between lower and higher-ranking members. The white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari lives in stable hierarchical mixed-sex groups and like non-human primates, usually emits grunt-like calls following aggressive interactions, mainly during feeding contexts. We investigated the possible functions of peccaries' grunt-like calls and their relationship to the individuals' social rank, identity, and sexual dimorphism. We observed that low-ranking individuals emitted grunt-like calls more often than high-ranking ones, and that the alpha male never emitted this vocalization. Moreover, the mean minimum frequency of grunt-like calls decreased as the peccary's rank increased. The findings revealed differences among individual grunts, but the low accuracy of cross-validation (16% suggests that individual recognition in peccaries may be less important than an honest signal of individual social status. In addition, the absence of differences in the acoustic parameters of grunt-like calls between males and females points to the lack of sexual dimorphism in this species. We verified that after hearing grunt calls, dominant opponents were more likely to cease attacking a victim, or at least delay the continuation of conflict, probably decreasing the severity of agonistic interactions. Our findings are particularly important to improve the current understanding of the role of grunt-like calls in herd-living mammals with linear dominant hierarchies, and strongly suggest that they are involved in the maintenance of herd social stability and cohesion.

The Role of Grunt Calls in the Social Dominance Hierarchy of the White-Lipped Peccary (Mammalia, Tayassuidae).

Science.gov (United States)

Nogueira, Selene S C; Caselli, Christini B; Costa, Thaise S O; Moura, Leiliany N; Nogueira-Filho, Sérgio L G

2016-01-01

Grunt-like calls are present in the vocal repertoire of many group-living mammals and seem to facilitate social interactions between lower and higher-ranking members. The white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari) lives in stable hierarchical mixed-sex groups and like non-human primates, usually emits grunt-like calls following aggressive interactions, mainly during feeding contexts. We investigated the possible functions of peccaries' grunt-like calls and their relationship to the individuals' social rank, identity, and sexual dimorphism. We observed that low-ranking individuals emitted grunt-like calls more often than high-ranking ones, and that the alpha male never emitted this vocalization. Moreover, the mean minimum frequency of grunt-like calls decreased as the peccary's rank increased. The findings revealed differences among individual grunts, but the low accuracy of cross-validation (16%) suggests that individual recognition in peccaries may be less important than an honest signal of individual social status. In addition, the absence of differences in the acoustic parameters of grunt-like calls between males and females points to the lack of sexual dimorphism in this species. We verified that after hearing grunt calls, dominant opponents were more likely to cease attacking a victim, or at least delay the continuation of conflict, probably decreasing the severity of agonistic interactions. Our findings are particularly important to improve the current understanding of the role of grunt-like calls in herd-living mammals with linear dominant hierarchies, and strongly suggest that they are involved in the maintenance of herd social stability and cohesion.

Inbound Call Centers and Emotional Dissonance in the Job Demands - Resources Model.

Science.gov (United States)

Molino, Monica; Emanuel, Federica; Zito, Margherita; Ghislieri, Chiara; Colombo, Lara; Cortese, Claudio G

2016-01-01

Emotional labor, defined as the process of regulating feelings and expressions as part of the work role, is a major characteristic in call centers. In particular, interacting with customers, agents are required to show certain emotions that are considered acceptable by the organization, even though these emotions may be different from their true feelings. This kind of experience is defined as emotional dissonance and represents a feature of the job especially for call center inbound activities. The present study was aimed at investigating whether emotional dissonance mediates the relationship between job demands (workload and customer verbal aggression) and job resources (supervisor support, colleague support, and job autonomy) on the one hand, and, on the other, affective discomfort, using the job demands-resources model as a framework. The study also observed differences between two different types of inbound activities: customer assistance service (CA) and information service. The study involved agents of an Italian Telecommunication Company, 352 of whom worked in the CA and 179 in the information service. The hypothesized model was tested across the two groups through multi-group structural equation modeling. Analyses showed that CA agents experience greater customer verbal aggression and emotional dissonance than information service agents. RESULTS also showed, only for the CA group, a full mediation of emotional dissonance between workload and affective discomfort, and a partial mediation of customer verbal aggression and job autonomy, and affective discomfort. This study's findings contributed both to the emotional labor literature, investigating the mediational role of emotional dissonance in the job demands-resources model, and to call center literature, considering differences between two specific kinds of inbound activities. Suggestions for organizations and practitioners emerged in order to identify practical implications useful both to support

Effect of two 12-minute culturally targeted films on intent to call 911 for stroke.

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Olajide; Leighton-Herrmann, Ellyn; DeSorbo, Alexandra; Eimicke, Joseph; Abel-Bey, Amparo; Valdez, Lenfis; Noble, James; Gordillo, Madeleine; Ravenell, Joseph; Ramirez, Mildred; Teresi, Jeanne A; Jean-Louis, Girardin; Ogedegbe, Gbenga

2016-05-24

We assessed the behavioral effect of two 12-minute culturally targeted stroke films on immediately calling 911 for suspected stroke among black and Hispanic participants using a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design. We enrolled 102 adult churchgoers (60 black and 42 Hispanic) into a single viewing of one of the 2 stroke films-a Gospel musical (English) or Telenovela (Spanish). We measured intent to immediately call 911 using the validated 28-item Stroke Action Test in English and Spanish, along with related variables, before and immediately after the intervention. Data were analyzed using repeated-measures analysis of variance. An increase in intent to call 911 was seen immediately following the single viewing. Higher self-efficacy for calling 911 was associated with intent to call 911 among Hispanic but not black participants. A composite measure of barriers to calling 911 was not associated with intent to call 911 in either group. A significant association was found between higher stroke symptom knowledge and intent to call 911 at baseline, but not immediately following the intervention. No sex associations were found; however, being older was associated with greater intent to call 911. The majority of participants would strongly recommend the films to others. One participant appropriately called 911 for a real-life stroke event. Narrative communication in the form of tailored short films may improve intent to call 911 for stroke among the black and Hispanic population. © 2016 American Academy of Neurology.

Peafowl antipredator calls encode information about signalers.

Science.gov (United States)

Yorzinski, Jessica L

2014-02-01

Animals emit vocalizations that convey information about external events. Many of these vocalizations, including those emitted in response to predators, also encode information about the individual that produced the call. The relationship between acoustic features of antipredator calls and information relating to signalers (including sex, identity, body size, and social rank) were examined in peafowl (Pavo cristatus). The "bu-girk" antipredator calls of male and female peafowl were recorded and 20 acoustic parameters were automatically extracted from each call. Both the bu and girk elements of the antipredator call were individually distinctive and calls were classified to the correct signaler with over 90% and 70% accuracy in females and males, respectively. Females produced calls with a higher fundamental frequency (F0) than males. In both females and males, body size was negatively correlated with F0. In addition, peahen rank was related to the duration, end mean frequency, and start harmonicity of the bu element. Peafowl antipredator calls contain detailed information about the signaler and can potentially be used by receivers to respond to dangerous situations.

Caller Characteristics, Call Contents, and Types of Assistance Provided by Caller Sex and Age Group in a Canadian Inuit Crisis Line in Nunavut, 1991-2001

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Josephine C. H.; Maranzan, Kathryn Amanda; Boone, Margaret; Vander Velde, John; Levy, Sheila

2012-01-01

Analysis of calls made to a northern Canadian Inuit crisis line in the territory of Nunavut between 1991 and 2001 revealed that the majority of users were adult females who called to discuss problems primarily related to relationships and loneliness/boredom. Younger callers tended to make prank calls. The volunteer staff used mostly empathetic…

BUFO PARDALIS (ANURA: BUFONIDAE): MATING CALL AND ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

the calls of one of these species, Bufo pardalis. Hewitt, were not analysed by Tandy & Keith. (1972). Furthennore there is some confusion in the literature regarding the mating call of this species. For these reasons this mating call is here clarified. The mating call of B. pardaiis was first described by Ranger (in Hewitt 1935) as ...

Impact of mobility on call block, call drops and optimal cell size in small cell networks

OpenAIRE

Ramanath , Sreenath; Voleti , Veeraruna Kavitha; Altman , Eitan

2011-01-01

We consider small cell networks and study the impact of user mobility. Assuming Poisson call arrivals at random positions with random velocities, we discuss the characterization of handovers at the boundaries. We derive explicit expressions for call block and call drop probabilities using tools from spatial queuing theory. We also derive expressions for the average virtual server held up time. These expressions are used to derive optimal cell sizes for various profile of velocities in small c...

Advertisement call of Scinax littoralis and S. angrensis (Amphibia: Anura: Hylidae, with notes on the reproductive activity of S. littoralis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michel V. Garey

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Scinax littoralis and S. angrensis are poorly known Atlantic forest endemic species from the Scinax catharinae group, which is known from southern and southeastern Brazil. Herein, we describe the advertisement calls of these two species and compare them to other species within the S. catharinae group. Additionally, we provide information on breeding sites, and calling activity in S. littoralis. Advertisement calls of S. angrensis and S. littoralis are composed of multi-pulsed notes with multiple frequency bands and frequency modulation. Scinax littoralis has a higher minimum and maximum frequency, and lower dominant frequency than S. angrensis, while Scinax littoralis has a longer call. Scinax littoralis appears to be a habitat generalist, occurring from secondary to mature forests, and breeding both in temporary and in permanent ponds. Male S. littoralis were usually observed calling perched on shrub stems, and displayed satellite behavior when the male density was high.

A renewed Medication Adherence Alliance call to action: harnessing momentum to address medication nonadherence in the United States

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zullig LL

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Leah L Zullig,1,2 Bradi B Granger,3 Hayden B Bosworth,1–4 On behalf of the Medication Adherence Alliance 1Center for Health Services Research in Primary Care, Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 2Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Duke University, 3Duke Heart Center Nursing Research Program, School of Nursing, Duke University, 4Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA The problem: Nonadherence to prescription medications is a common and costly problem with multiple contributing factors, spanning the dimensions of individual behavior change, psychology, medicine, and health policy, among others. Addressing the problem of medication nonadherence requires strategic input from key experts in a number of fields.Meeting of experts: The Medication Adherence Alliance is a group of key experts, predominately from the US, in the field of medication nonadherence. Members include representatives from consumer advocacy groups, community health providers, nonprofit groups, the academic community, decision-making government officials, and industry. In 2015, the Medication Adherence Alliance convened to review the current landscape of medication adherence. The group then established three working groups that will develop recommendations for shifting toward solutions-oriented science.Commentary of expert opinion: From the perspective of the Medication Adherence Alliance, the objective of this commentary is to describe changes in the US landscape of medication adherence, framing the evolving field in the context of a recent think tank meeting of experts in the field of medication adherence. Keywords: medication adherence, health planning recommendations, chronic disease

Dealing with Parasites in Group Projects.

Science.gov (United States)

Carter, Judy H.

While it is generally accepted that people working in groups can accomplish more than people working individually, it is equally accepted that parasites will attempt to feed on the other group members. Group work has been called by several names--group learning, cooperative learning, collaborative learning--all of which carry slightly different…

Sharing programming resources between Bio* projects through remote procedure call and native call stack strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

Prins, Pjotr; Goto, Naohisa; Yates, Andrew; Gautier, Laurent; Willis, Scooter; Fields, Christopher; Katayama, Toshiaki

2012-01-01

Open-source software (OSS) encourages computer programmers to reuse software components written by others. In evolutionary bioinformatics, OSS comes in a broad range of programming languages, including C/C++, Perl, Python, Ruby, Java, and R. To avoid writing the same functionality multiple times for different languages, it is possible to share components by bridging computer languages and Bio* projects, such as BioPerl, Biopython, BioRuby, BioJava, and R/Bioconductor. In this chapter, we compare the two principal approaches for sharing software between different programming languages: either by remote procedure call (RPC) or by sharing a local call stack. RPC provides a language-independent protocol over a network interface; examples are RSOAP and Rserve. The local call stack provides a between-language mapping not over the network interface, but directly in computer memory; examples are R bindings, RPy, and languages sharing the Java Virtual Machine stack. This functionality provides strategies for sharing of software between Bio* projects, which can be exploited more often. Here, we present cross-language examples for sequence translation, and measure throughput of the different options. We compare calling into R through native R, RSOAP, Rserve, and RPy interfaces, with the performance of native BioPerl, Biopython, BioJava, and BioRuby implementations, and with call stack bindings to BioJava and the European Molecular Biology Open Software Suite. In general, call stack approaches outperform native Bio* implementations and these, in turn, outperform RPC-based approaches. To test and compare strategies, we provide a downloadable BioNode image with all examples, tools, and libraries included. The BioNode image can be run on VirtualBox-supported operating systems, including Windows, OSX, and Linux.

The mediating effect of calling on the relationship between medical school students' academic burnout and empathy.

Science.gov (United States)

Chae, Su Jin; Jeong, So Mi; Chung, Yoon-Sok

2017-09-01

This study is aimed at identifying the relationships between medical school students' academic burnout, empathy, and calling, and determining whether their calling has a mediating effect on the relationship between academic burnout and empathy. A mixed method study was conducted. One hundred twenty-seven medical students completed a survey. Scales measuring academic burnout, medical students' empathy, and calling were utilized. For statistical analysis, correlation analysis, descriptive statistics analysis, and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted. For qualitative approach, eight medical students participated in a focus group interview. The study found that empathy has a statistically significant, negative correlation with academic burnout, while having a significant, positive correlation with calling. Sense of calling proved to be an effective mediator of the relationship between academic burnout and empathy. This result demonstrates that calling is a key variable that mediates the relationship between medical students' academic burnout and empathy. As such, this study provides baseline data for an education that could improve medical students' empathy skills.

Terms and conditions for Diesel Emissions Reduction Act Smartway financing projects where an eligible nonprofit grantee is implementing a loan program and loan Recipients will use the loan funds for activities that trigger Davis Bacon

Science.gov (United States)

Use this T&C for DERA Smartway financing projects where an eligible nonprofit grantee is implementing a loan program and loan Recipients will use the loan funds for activities that trigger Davis Bacon.

Minimal generating sets of groups, rings, and fields | Halbeisen ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

A subset X of a group (or a ring, or a field) is called generating, if the smallest subgroup (or subring, or subfield) containing X is the group (ring, field) itself. A generating set X is called minimal generating, if X does not properly contain any generating set. The existence and cardinalities of minimal generating sets of various ...

Pairing call-response surveys and distance sampling for a mammalian carnivore

Science.gov (United States)

Hansen, Sara J. K.; Frair, Jacqueline L.; Underwood, Harold B.; Gibbs, James P.

2015-01-01

Density estimates accounting for differential animal detectability are difficult to acquire for wide-ranging and elusive species such as mammalian carnivores. Pairing distance sampling with call-response surveys may provide an efficient means of tracking changes in populations of coyotes (Canis latrans), a species of particular interest in the eastern United States. Blind field trials in rural New York State indicated 119-m linear error for triangulated coyote calls, and a 1.8-km distance threshold for call detectability, which was sufficient to estimate a detection function with precision using distance sampling. We conducted statewide road-based surveys with sampling locations spaced ≥6 km apart from June to August 2010. Each detected call (be it a single or group) counted as a single object, representing 1 territorial pair, because of uncertainty in the number of vocalizing animals. From 524 survey points and 75 detections, we estimated the probability of detecting a calling coyote to be 0.17 ± 0.02 SE, yielding a detection-corrected index of 0.75 pairs/10 km2 (95% CI: 0.52–1.1, 18.5% CV) for a minimum of 8,133 pairs across rural New York State. Importantly, we consider this an index rather than true estimate of abundance given the unknown probability of coyote availability for detection during our surveys. Even so, pairing distance sampling with call-response surveys provided a novel, efficient, and noninvasive means of monitoring populations of wide-ranging and elusive, albeit reliably vocal, mammalian carnivores. Our approach offers an effective new means of tracking species like coyotes, one that is readily extendable to other species and geographic extents, provided key assumptions of distance sampling are met.

Care and Calls

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Paasch, Bettina Sletten

on the enactment of care but also on patient safety. Nurses working in various hospital departments have developed different strategies for handling mobile phone calls when with a patient. Additional research into the ways nurses successfully or unsuccessfully enact care and ensure patient safety when they answer......In Danish hospitals, nurses have been equipped with a mobile work phone to improve their availability and efficiency. On the phones nurses receive internal and external phone conversations, patient calls, and alarms from electronic surveillance equipment. For safety reasons the phones cannot...... be switched off or silenced; they consequently ring during all activities and also during interactions with patients. A possible tension thus arises when nurses have to be both caring and sensitive towards the patient and simultaneously be efficient and available and answer their phone. The present paper...

Do market participants learn from conference calls?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Roelofsen, E.; Verbeeten, F.; Mertens, G.

2014-01-01

We examine whether market participants learn from the information that is disseminated during the Q-and-A section of conference calls. Specifically, we investigate whether stock prices react to information on intangible assets provided during conference calls, and whether conference calls

Individual killer whale vocal variation during intra-group behavioral dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Grebner, Dawn M.

The scientific goal of this dissertation was to carefully study the signal structure of killer whale communications and vocal complexity and link them to behavioral circumstances. The overall objective of this research sought to provide insight into killer whale call content and usage which may be conveying information to conspecifics in order to maintain group cohesion. Data were collected in the summers of 2006 and 2007 in Johnstone Strait, British Columbia. For both individuals and small groups, vocalizations were isolated using a triangular hydrophone array and the behavioral movement patterns were captured by a theodolite and video camera positioned on a cliff overlooking the hyrophone locations. This dissertation is divided into four analysis chapters. In Chapter 3, discriminant analysis was used to validate the four N04 call subtypes which were originally parsed due to variations in slope segments. The first two functions of the discriminant analysis explained 97% of the variability. Most of the variability for the N04 call was found in the front convex and the terminal portions of the call, while very little variability was found in the center region of the call. This research revealed that individual killer whales produced multiple subtypes of the N04 call. No correlations of behaviors to acoustic parameters obtained were found. The aim of the Chapter 4 was to determine if killer whale calling behavior varied prior to and after the animals had joined. Pulsed call rates were found to be greater pre- compared to post-joining events. Two-way vocal exchanges were more common occurring 74% of the time during pre-joining events. In Chapter 5, initiated and first response to calls varied between age/sex class groups when mothers were separated from an offspring. Solo mothers and calves initiated pulsed calls more often than they responded. Most of the no vocal responses were due to mothers who were foraging. Finally, observations of the frequency split in N04

Quality of life and educational benefit among orthopedic surgery residents: a prospective, multicentre comparison of the night float and the standard call systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Zahrai, Ali; Chahal, Jaskarndip; Stojimirovic, Dan; Schemitsch, Emil H; Yee, Albert; Kraemer, William

2011-02-01

Given recent evolving guidelines regarding postcall clinical relief of residents and emphasis on quality of life, novel strategies are required for implementing call schedules. The night float system has been used by some institutions as a strategy to decrease the burden of call on resident quality of life in level-1 trauma centres. The purpose of this study was to determine whether there are differences in quality of life, work-related stressors and educational experience between orthopedic surgery residents in the night float and standard call systems at 2 level-1 trauma centres. We conducted a prospective cohort study at 2 level-1 trauma hospitals comprising a standard call (1 night in 4) group and a night float (5 14-hour shifts [5 pm-7 am] from Monday to Friday) group for each hospital. Over the course of a 6-month rotation, each resident completed 3 weeks of night float. The remainder of the time on the trauma service consists of clinical duties from 6:30 am to 5:30 pm on a daily basis and intermittent coverage of weekend call only. Residents completed the Short Form-36 (SF-36) general quality-of-life questionnaire, as well as questionnaires on stress level and educational experience before the rotation (baseline) and at 2, 4 and 6 months. We performed an analysis of covariance to compare between-group differences using the baseline scores as covariates and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests (nonparametric) to determine if the residents' SF-36 scores were different from the age- and sex-matched Canadian norms. We analyzed predictors of resident quality of life using multivariable mixed models. Seven residents were in the standard call group and 9 in the night float group, for a total of 16 residents (all men, mean age 35.1 yr). Controlling for between-group differences at baseline, residents on the night float rotation had significantly lower role physical, bodily pain, social function and physical component scale scores over the 6-month observation period. Compared

Study protocol of the YOU CALL - WE CALL TRIAL: impact of a multimodal support intervention after a "mild" stroke

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bravo Gina

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background More than 60% of new strokes each year are "mild" in severity and this proportion is expected to rise in the years to come. Within our current health care system those with "mild" stroke are typically discharged home within days, without further referral to health or rehabilitation services other than advice to see their family physician. Those with mild stroke often have limited access to support from health professionals with stroke-specific knowledge who would typically provide critical information on topics such as secondary stroke prevention, community reintegration, medication counselling and problem solving with regard to specific concerns that arise. Isolation and lack of knowledge may lead to a worsening of health problems including stroke recurrence and unnecessary and costly health care utilization. The purpose of this study is to assess the effectiveness, for individuals who experience a first "mild" stroke, of a sustainable, low cost, multimodal support intervention (comprising information, education and telephone support - "WE CALL" compared to a passive intervention (providing the name and phone number of a resource person available if they feel the need to - "YOU CALL", on two primary outcomes: unplanned-use of health services for negative events and quality of life. Method/Design We will recruit 384 adults who meet inclusion criteria for a first mild stroke across six Canadian sites. Baseline measures will be taken within the first month after stroke onset. Participants will be stratified according to comorbidity level and randomised to one of two groups: YOU CALL or WE CALL. Both interventions will be offered over a six months period. Primary outcomes include unplanned use of heath services for negative event (frequency calendar and quality of life (EQ-5D and Quality of Life Index. Secondary outcomes include participation level (LIFE-H, depression (Beck Depression Inventory II and use of health services for

HOW TO CALL THE CERN FIRE BRIGADE

CERN Multimedia

2002-01-01

The telephone numbers of the CERN Fire Brigade are: 74444 for emergency calls 74848 for other calls Note The number 112 will stay in use for emergency calls from 'wired' telephones, however, from mobile phones it leads to non-CERN emergency services.  

HOW TO CALL THE CERN FIRE BRIGADE

CERN Multimedia

2002-01-01

The telephone numbers of the CERN Fire Brigade are: 74444 for emergency calls 74848 for other calls Note The number 112 will stay in use for emergency calls from 'wired' telephones, however, from mobile phones it leads to non-CERN emergency services.

HOW TO CALL THE CERN FIRE BRIGADE

CERN Multimedia

2001-01-01

The telephone numbers of the CERN Fire Brigade are: 74444 for emergency calls 74848 for other calls Note The number 112 will stay in use for emergency calls from 'wired' telephones, however, from mobile phones it leads to non-CERN emergency services.

HOW TO CALL THE CERN FIRE BRIGADE

CERN Multimedia

2001-01-01

The telephone numbers of the CERN Fire Brigade are: 74444 for emergency calls 74848 for other calls Note: the number 112 will stay in use for emergency calls from 'wired' telephones, however, from mobile phones it leads to non-CERN emergency services.

A critique of social marketing in the non-profit development sector

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L.M. Fourie

2009-07-01

Full Text Available In its struggle to find funding, non-profit organisations world-wide are increasingly using social marketing strategies. This approach potentially influences non governmental organisations (NGOs and community based organisations (CBOs in their communication with their “clients”, i.e. those persons and com-munities in need of development. Marketing strategies con-sequently become instruments in achieving social development, with as main premise that behaviour could be changed by means of persuasive, top-down communication. Social marketing, with its roots in marketing, has a strong focus on persuasion and favours top-down communication rather than dialogical communication strategies suggested by the par-ticipatory development communication approach. It is also questionable whether social marketing can be equated with the principles of a Biblically informed approach to communication. With these questions in mind, this article discusses Biblical views on communication and the participatory development communication approach. A critique of the social marketing approach is then offered. It is argued here that there is no clear-cut answer as to whether social marketing could be described as participatory. What is clear is that there are many different views on social marketing, as is the case with participatory approaches. It would thus seem more correct to place social marketing on a participation continuum, rather than to define it as being participatory and thus per definition ethical or not. Finally, a number of suggestions are made which could bring it more in line with the participatory communication approach as well as Biblical principles on com-munication.

Multiple sexual signals: Calls over colors for mate attraction in an aposematic, color-diverse poison frog

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Corinna Eva Dreher

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Sexual signals indicate species identity and mate quality, and their importance for mate attraction is largely recognized. Recently, research in animal communication has started to integrate multiple signal modalities and evaluate their interactions. However, mate choice experiments across animal taxa have been limited to laboratory conditions, and assessments of multiple sexual signals under field conditions are still lacking. We take advantage of the divergence in visual and acoustic signals among populations of the Neotropical poison frog Oophaga pumilio to evaluate the importance of male advertisement calls and color patterns in female mate selection. Previous mate choice experiments in this species suggested color-assortative female mate preferences across many populations. Nevertheless, acoustic signals are crucial for sexual selection in frogs, and males of O. pumilio use advertisement calls to attract females. We hypothesize that both advertisement calls and coloration affects female mate selection in O.pumilio. To test this hypothesis we tested 452 receptive females from six populations in Costa Rica and Panama in their natural home ranges for preferences regarding local vs. non-local advertisement calls and color patterns. Overall, the calls overrode the effect of coloration, whereby most females preferred local over non-local calls. We found a tendency to prefer brighter (but not necessarily local males in two populations. Furthermore the strength of preferences varied geographically, and thus might be involved in prezygotic isolation among populations. The stronger effect of calls on mate attraction is associated with acoustic divergence between genetic groups in the species, while colour pattern diversity is mostly located within one genetic group, i.e. not linked to large-scale population structure. Finally our data highlights the importance to consider an array of signal modalities in multiple wild populations in studies of

Telephone calls by individuals with cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Flannery, Marie; McAndrews, Leanne; Stein, Karen F

2013-09-01

To describe symptom type and reporting patterns found in spontaneously initiated telephone calls placed to an ambulatory cancer center practice. Retrospective, descriptive. Adult hematology oncology cancer center. 563 individuals with a wide range of oncology diagnoses who initiated 1,229 telephone calls to report symptoms. Raw data were extracted from telephone forms using a data collection sheet with 23 variables obtained for each phone call, using pre-established coding criteria. A literature-based, investigator-developed instrument was used for the coding criteria and selection of which variables to extract. Symptom reporting, telephone calls, pain, and symptoms. A total of 2,378 symptoms were reported by telephone during the four months. At least 10% of the sample reported pain (38%), fatigue (16%), nausea (16%), swelling (12%), diarrhea (12%), dyspnea (10%), and anorexia (10%). The modal response was to call only one time and to report only one symptom (55%). Pain emerged as the symptom that most often prompted an individual to pick up the telephone and call. Although variation was seen in symptom reporting, an interesting pattern emerged with an individual reporting on a solitary symptom in a single telephone call. The emergence of pain as the primary symptom reported by telephone prompted educational efforts for both in-person clinic visit management of pain and prioritizing nursing education and protocol management of pain reported by telephone. Report of symptoms by telephone can provide nurses unique insight into patient-centered needs. Although pain has been an important focus of education and research for decades, it remains a priority for individuals with cancer. A wide range in symptom reporting by telephone was evident.

Outsourcing an Effective Postdischarge Call Program

Science.gov (United States)

Meek, Kevin L.; Williams, Paula; Unterschuetz, Caryn J.

2018-01-01

To improve patient satisfaction ratings and decrease readmissions, many organizations utilize internal staff to complete postdischarge calls to recently released patients. Developing, implementing, monitoring, and sustaining an effective call program can be challenging and have eluded some of the renowned medical centers in the country. Using collaboration with an outsourced vendor to bring state-of-the-art call technology and staffed with specially trained callers, health systems can achieve elevated levels of engagement and satisfaction for their patients postdischarge. PMID:29494453

Calling to Nursing: Concept Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Emerson, Christie

The aims of this article are (a) to analyze the concept of a calling as it relates nursing and (b) to develop a definition of calling to nursing with the detail and clarity needed to guide reliable and valid research. The classic steps described by Walker and Avant are used for the analysis. Literature from several disciplines is reviewed including vocational psychology, Christian career counseling, sociology, organizational management, and nursing. The analysis provides an operational definition of a calling to nursing and establishes 3 defining attributes of the concept: (a) a passionate intrinsic motivation or desire (perhaps with a religious component), (b) an aspiration to engage in nursing practice, as a means of fulfilling one's purpose in life, and (c) the desire to help others as one's purpose in life. Antecedents to the concept are personal introspection and cognitive awareness. Positive consequences to the concept are improved work meaningfulness, work engagement, career commitment, personal well-being, and satisfaction. Negative consequences of having a calling might include willingness to sacrifice well-being for work and problems with work-life balance. Following the concept analysis, philosophical assumptions, contextual factors, interdisciplinary work, research opportunities, and practice implications are discussed.

Inbound Call Centers and Emotional Dissonance in the Job Demands – Resources Model

Science.gov (United States)

Molino, Monica; Emanuel, Federica; Zito, Margherita; Ghislieri, Chiara; Colombo, Lara; Cortese, Claudio G.

2016-01-01

Background: Emotional labor, defined as the process of regulating feelings and expressions as part of the work role, is a major characteristic in call centers. In particular, interacting with customers, agents are required to show certain emotions that are considered acceptable by the organization, even though these emotions may be different from their true feelings. This kind of experience is defined as emotional dissonance and represents a feature of the job especially for call center inbound activities. Aim: The present study was aimed at investigating whether emotional dissonance mediates the relationship between job demands (workload and customer verbal aggression) and job resources (supervisor support, colleague support, and job autonomy) on the one hand, and, on the other, affective discomfort, using the job demands-resources model as a framework. The study also observed differences between two different types of inbound activities: customer assistance service (CA) and information service. Method: The study involved agents of an Italian Telecommunication Company, 352 of whom worked in the CA and 179 in the information service. The hypothesized model was tested across the two groups through multi-group structural equation modeling. Results: Analyses showed that CA agents experience greater customer verbal aggression and emotional dissonance than information service agents. Results also showed, only for the CA group, a full mediation of emotional dissonance between workload and affective discomfort, and a partial mediation of customer verbal aggression and job autonomy, and affective discomfort. Conclusion: This study’s findings contributed both to the emotional labor literature, investigating the mediational role of emotional dissonance in the job demands-resources model, and to call center literature, considering differences between two specific kinds of inbound activities. Suggestions for organizations and practitioners emerged in order to identify

EMERGENCY CALLS

CERN Multimedia

Medical Service

2001-01-01

IN URGENT NEED OF A DOCTOR GENEVA EMERGENCY SERVICES GENEVA AND VAUD 144 FIRE BRIGADE 118 POLICE 117 CERN FIREMEN 767-44-44 ANTI-POISONS CENTRE Open 24h/24h 01-251-51-51 Patient not fit to be moved, call family doctor, or: GP AT HOME, open 24h/24h 748-49-50 Association Of Geneva Doctors Emergency Doctors at home 07h-23h 322 20 20 Patient fit to be moved: HOPITAL CANTONAL CENTRAL 24 Micheli-du-Crest 372-33-11 ou 382-33-11 EMERGENCIES 382-33-11 ou 372-33-11 CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL 6 rue Willy-Donzé 372-33-11 MATERNITY 32 bvd.de la Cluse 382-68-16 ou 382-33-11 OPHTHALMOLOGY 22 Alcide Jentzer 382-33-11 ou 372-33-11 MEDICAL CENTRE CORNAVIN 1-3 rue du Jura 345 45 50 HOPITAL DE LA TOUR Meyrin EMERGENCIES 719-61-11 URGENCES PEDIATRIQUES 719-61-00 LA TOUR MEDICAL CENTRE 719-74-00 European Emergency Call 112 FRANCE EMERGENCY SERVICES 15 FIRE BRIGADE 18 POLICE 17 CERN FIREMEN AT HOME 00-41-22-767-44-44 ANTI-POISONS CENTRE Open 24h/24h 04-72-11-69-11 All doctors ...

Learning Performance Enhancement Using Computer-Assisted Language Learning by Collaborative Learning Groups

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ya-huei Wang

2017-08-01

Full Text Available This study attempted to test whether the use of computer-assisted language learning (CALL and innovative collaborative learning could be more effective than the use of traditional collaborative learning in improving students’ English proficiencies. A true experimental design was used in the study. Four randomly-assigned groups participated in the study: a traditional collaborative learning group (TCLG, 34 students, an innovative collaborative learning group (ICLG, 31 students, a CALL traditional collaborative learning group (CALLTCLG, 32 students, and a CALL innovative collaborative learning group (CALLICLG, 31 students. TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication listening, reading, speaking, and writing pre-test and post-test assessments were given to all students at an interval of sixteen weeks. Multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA, and analysis of variance (ANOVA were used to analyze the data. The results revealed that students who used CALL had significantly better learning performance than those who did not. Students in innovative collaborative learning had significantly better learning performances than those in traditional collaborative learning. Additionally, students using CALL innovative collaborative learning had better learning performances than those in CALL collaborative learning, those in innovative collaborative learning, and those in traditional collaborative learning.

Evolution of advertisement calls in African clawed frogs

Science.gov (United States)

Tobias, Martha L.; Evans, Ben J.; Kelley, Darcy B.

2014-01-01

Summary For most frogs, advertisement calls are essential for reproductive success, conveying information on species identity, male quality, sexual state and location. While the evolutionary divergence of call characters has been examined in a number of species, the relative impacts of genetic drift or natural and sexual selection remain unclear. Insights into the evolutionary trajectory of vocal signals can be gained by examining how advertisement calls vary in a phylogenetic context. Evolution by genetic drift would be supported if more closely related species express more similar songs. Conversely, a poor correlation between evolutionary history and song expression would suggest evolution shaped by natural or sexual selection. Here, we measure seven song characters in 20 described and two undescribed species of African clawed frogs (genera Xenopus and Silurana) and four populations of X. laevis. We identify three call types — click, burst and trill — that can be distinguished by click number, call rate and intensity modulation. A fourth type is biphasic, consisting of two of the above. Call types vary in complexity from the simplest, a click, to the most complex, a biphasic call. Maximum parsimony analysis of variation in call type suggests that the ancestral type was of intermediate complexity. Each call type evolved independently more than once and call type is typically not shared by closely related species. These results indicate that call type is homoplasious and has low phylogenetic signal. We conclude that the evolution of call type is not due to genetic drift, but is under selective pressure. PMID:24723737

The mediating effect of calling on the relationship between medical school students’ academic burnout and empathy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Su Jin Chae

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Purpose This study is aimed at identifying the relationships between medical school students’ academic burnout, empathy, and calling, and determining whether their calling has a mediating effect on the relationship between academic burnout and empathy. Methods A mixed method study was conducted. One hundred twenty-seven medical students completed a survey. Scales measuring academic burnout, medical students’ empathy, and calling were utilized. For statistical analysis, correlation analysis, descriptive statistics analysis, and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted. For qualitative approach, eight medical students participated in a focus group interview. Results The study found that empathy has a statistically significant, negative correlation with academic burnout, while having a significant, positive correlation with calling. Sense of calling proved to be an effective mediator of the relationship between academic burnout and empathy. Conclusion This result demonstrates that calling is a key variable that mediates the relationship between medical students’ academic burnout and empathy. As such, this study provides baseline data for an education that could improve medical students’ empathy skills.

Interspecific semantic alarm call recognition in the solitary Sahamalaza sportive lemur, Lepilemur sahamalazensis.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Melanie Seiler

Full Text Available As alarm calls indicate the presence of predators, the correct interpretation of alarm calls, including those of other species, is essential for predator avoidance. Conversely, communication calls of other species might indicate the perceived absence of a predator and hence allow a reduction in vigilance. This "eavesdropping" was demonstrated in birds and mammals, including lemur species. Interspecific communication between taxonomic groups has so far been reported in some reptiles and mammals, including three primate species. So far, neither semantic nor interspecific communication has been tested in a solitary and nocturnal lemur species. The aim of this study was to investigate if the nocturnal and solitary Sahamalaza sportive lemur, Lepilemur sahamalazensis, is able to access semantic information of sympatric species. During the day, this species faces the risk of falling prey to aerial and terrestrial predators and therefore shows high levels of vigilance. We presented alarm calls of the crested coua, the Madagascar magpie-robin and aerial, terrestrial and agitation alarm calls of the blue-eyed black lemur to 19 individual Sahamalaza sportive lemurs resting in tree holes. Songs of both bird species' and contact calls of the blue-eyed black lemur were used as a control. After alarm calls of crested coua, Madagascar magpie-robin and aerial alarm of the blue-eyed black lemur, the lemurs scanned up and their vigilance increased significantly. After presentation of terrestrial alarm and agitation calls of the blue-eyed black lemur, the animals did not show significant changes in scanning direction or in the duration of vigilance. Sportive lemur vigilance decreased after playbacks of songs of the bird species and contact calls of blue-eyed black lemurs. Our results indicate that the Sahamalaza sportive lemur is capable of using information on predator presence as well as predator type of different sympatric species, using their referential

29 CFR 785.17 - On-call time.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... On-call time. An employee who is required to remain on call on the employer's premises or so close... employee who is not required to remain on the employer's premises but is merely required to leave word at his home or with company officials where he may be reached is not working while on call. (Armour & Co...

Online and call center referral for endocrine surgical pathology within institutions.

Science.gov (United States)

Dhillon, Vaninder K; Al Khadem, Mai G; Tufano, Ralph P; Russell, Jonathon O

2017-10-08

We hypothesized that self-referred patients to academic centers will be equally distributed between general surgery and otolaryngology departments that perform thyroid surgery. We sought to quantify disparities in the assignment of these self-referred patients who may reach an institution through call centers or online pathways. Cross-sectional survey. Key words "thyroid surgery" and "thyroid cancer" were used along with the name of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-listed otolaryngology program in both Google and Bing search engines. The top three search results for departments were reviewed, and a tally was given to general surgery (GS), otolaryngology-head and neck surgery (OLHNS), or neither. A multidisciplinary center with both GS and OLHNS was recorded as "equitable." Telephone calls were tallied if they were directed to GS or OLHNS. Out of 400 program tallies, 117 (29.25%) patients were directed to GS and 50 (12.5%) were directed to OLHNS. An additional 181 (45.25%) were directed to neither group ("neither") (P call survey had 62 patients (62%) assigned to a general surgeon, as opposed to 38 (38%) for OLHNS (P < .05). Five institutions offered a multidisciplinary group when searching with Bing, and 11 were found by searching with Google. There is not an equal distribution of self-referred patients with thyroid surgical pathology. It may be important to increase the online presence of OLHNS surgeons who perform thyroid surgery at academic medical institutions. Multidisciplinary centers focused on thyroid and parathyroid surgical disease represents one model of assigning self-referred patients. NA Laryngoscope, 2017. © 2017 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.

CALLING AQUARIUM LOVERS...

CERN Multimedia

2002-01-01

CERN's anemones will soon be orphans. We are looking for someone willing to look after the aquarium in the main building, for one year. If you are interested, or if you would like more information, please call 73830. (The anemones living in the aquarium thank you in anticipation.)

Calling 911! What role does the pediatrician play?

Science.gov (United States)

Grossman, Devin; Kunkov, Sergey; Kaplan, Carl; Crain, Ellen F

2013-06-01

The objective of this study was to compare admission rates and medical interventions among children whose caregivers called their child's primary care provider (PCP) before taking an ambulance to the pediatric emergency department (PED) versus those who did not. This was a prospective cohort study of patients brought to an urban, public hospital PED via emergency medical system (EMS). Children were included if the caregiver called 911 to have them transported via EMS and was present in the PED. The main variable was whether the child's PCP was called before EMS utilization. Study outcomes were medical interventions, such as intravenous line insertion or laboratory tests, and hospital admission. χ Test and logistic regression were used to evaluate the relationship of the main variable to the study outcomes. Six hundred fourteen patients met inclusion criteria and were enrolled. Five hundred eighty-five patients (95.3%) were reported to have a PCP. Seventy-four caregivers (12.1%) called their child's PCP before calling EMS. Two hundred seventy-seven patients (45.1%) had medical interventions performed; of these, 42 (15.2%) called their PCP (P = 0.03). Forty-two patients (6.8%) were admitted; among these, 14 (33.3%) called their PCP (P < 0.01). Adjusting for triage level, patients whose caregiver called the PCP before calling EMS were 3.2 times (95% confidence interval, 1.9-5.2 times) more likely to be admitted and 1.7 times (95% confidence interval, 1.1-2.9 times) more likely to have a medical intervention compared with patients whose caregivers did not call their child's PCP. Children were more likely to be admitted or require a medical intervention if their caregiver called their PCP before calling EMS. The availability of a PCP for telephone triage may help to optimize EMS utilization.

Sharing programming resources between Bio* projects through remote procedure call and native call stack strategies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Prins, Pjotr; Goto, Naohisa; Yates, Andrew

2012-01-01

Open-source software (OSS) encourages computer programmers to reuse software components written by others. In evolutionary bioinformatics, OSS comes in a broad range of programming languages, including C/C++, Perl, Python, Ruby, Java, and R. To avoid writing the same functionality multiple times...... for different languages, it is possible to share components by bridging computer languages and Bio* projects, such as BioPerl, Biopython, BioRuby, BioJava, and R/Bioconductor. In this chapter, we compare the two principal approaches for sharing software between different programming languages: either by remote...... procedure call (RPC) or by sharing a local call stack. RPC provides a language-independent protocol over a network interface; examples are RSOAP and Rserve. The local call stack provides a between-language mapping not over the network interface, but directly in computer memory; examples are R bindings, RPy...

Indico CONFERENCE: Define the Call for Abstracts

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva; Ferreira, Pedro

2017-01-01

In this tutorial, you will learn how to define and open a call for abstracts. When defining a call for abstracts, you will be able to define settings related to the type of questions asked during a review of an abstract, select the users who will review the abstracts, decide when to open the call for abstracts, and more.

Call for Research

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Marie-Isabelle Beyer

2014-10-03

Oct 3, 2014 ... 5.Submission process. 6.Eligibility criteria. 7.Selection Process. 8. Format and requirements. 9.Evaluation criteria. 10.Country clearance requirements. 11. .... It is envisaged that through this call a single consortium will undertake 6-8 projects within a total budget of up to ... principle qualify for IDRC's support.

The function of migratory bird calls

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Reichl, Thomas; Andersen, Bent Bach; Larsen, Ole Næsbye

The function of migratory bird calls: do they influence orientation and navigation?   Thomas Reichl1, Bent Bach Andersen2, Ole Naesbye Larsen2, Henrik Mouritsen1   1Institute of Biology, University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, D-26111 Oldenburg, Germany 2Institute of Biology, University of Southern...... migration and to stimulate migratory restlessness in conspecifics. We wished to test if conspecific flight calls influence the flight direction of a nocturnal migrant, the European Robin (Erithacus rubecula), i.e. if flight calls help migrants keeping course. Wild caught birds showing migratory restlessness...... the experimental bird could be activated successively to simulate a migrating Robin cruising E-W, W-E, S-N or N-S at a chosen height (mostly about 40 m), at 10 m/s and emitting Robin flight calls of 80 dB(A) at 1 m. The simulated flight of a "ding" sound served as a control. During an experiment the bird was first...

An empirical analysis of the corporate call decision

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carlson, M.D.

1998-01-01

An economic study of the the behaviour of financial managers of utility companies was presented. The study examined whether or not an option pricing based model of the call decision does a better job of explaining callable preferred share prices and call decisions compared to other models. In this study, the Rust (1987) empirical technique was extended to include the use of information from preferred share prices in addition to the call decisions. Reasonable estimates were obtained from data of shares of the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PGE) for the transaction costs associated with a call. It was concluded that the managers of the PGE clearly take into account the value of the option to delay the call when making their call decisions

Perceived Calling and Work Engagement Among Nurses.

Science.gov (United States)

Ziedelis, Arunas

2018-03-01

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship of perceived calling and work engagement in nursing over and above major work environment factors. In all, 351 nurses from various health care institutions completed the survey. Data were collected about the most demanding aspects of nursing, major job resources, the degree to which nursing is perceived as a meaningful calling, work engagement, and main demographic information. Hierarchical linear regression was applied to assess the relation between perceived calling and work engagement, while controlling for demographic and work environment factors, and perceived calling was significantly related to two out of three components of nurses' work engagement. The highest association was found with dedication component, and vigor component was related insignificantly. Results have shown that perceived calling might motivate nurses to engage in their work even in burdensome environment, although possible implications for the occupational well-being of nurses themselves remains unclear.

Small Group Multitasking in Literature Classes

Science.gov (United States)

Baurain, Bradley

2007-01-01

Faced with the challenge of teaching American literature to large, multilevel classes in Vietnam, the writer developed a flexible small group framework called "multitasking". "Multitasking" sets up stable task categories which rotate among small groups from lesson to lesson. This framework enabled students to work cooperatively…

On-call work and health: a review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Botterill Jackie S

2004-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Many professions in the fields of engineering, aviation and medicine employ this form of scheduling. However, on-call work has received significantly less research attention than other work patterns such as shift work and overtime hours. This paper reviews the current body of peer-reviewed, published research conducted on the health effects of on-call work The health effects studies done in the area of on-call work are limited to mental health, job stress, sleep disturbances and personal safety. The reviewed research suggests that on-call work scheduling can pose a risk to health, although there are critical gaps in the literature.

Systems configured to distribute a telephone call, communication systems, communication methods and methods of routing a telephone call to a service representative

Science.gov (United States)

Harris, Scott H.; Johnson, Joel A.; Neiswanger, Jeffery R.; Twitchell, Kevin E.

2004-03-09

The present invention includes systems configured to distribute a telephone call, communication systems, communication methods and methods of routing a telephone call to a customer service representative. In one embodiment of the invention, a system configured to distribute a telephone call within a network includes a distributor adapted to connect with a telephone system, the distributor being configured to connect a telephone call using the telephone system and output the telephone call and associated data of the telephone call; and a plurality of customer service representative terminals connected with the distributor and a selected customer service representative terminal being configured to receive the telephone call and the associated data, the distributor and the selected customer service representative terminal being configured to synchronize, application of the telephone call and associated data from the distributor to the selected customer service representative terminal.

THE MARKETING MENTALITY WITHIN THE ORGANIZATION - A COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN COMPANIES AND NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN ROMANIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pop Nicolae Al.

2015-07-01

Full Text Available In contemporary Marketing theory and practice, debates regarding the role and place of the homonymous activity within the company are frequent. The development of a marketing mentality, as specialists state, allows the implementation of a marketing vision in all the organization’s departments, regardless of the activities performed. The economic theory enunciates all the more the existence of a marketing doctrine urged to ensure the methodological frame of the organization regarding market and consumer orientation. Based upon two selective exploratory market research performed among the major distributors of electro-technical materials and electro-technical solutions integrators, respectively among some public faculties’ management the authors want to examine the existence and the decision makers’ responsiveness regarding the implementation of a marketing mentality in one’s organization. The conclusions concern both business environment and academic non-profit organizations’ activity. The connection between the marketing mentality as an essential premise for the development of the entrepreneurial university concept is also emphasized.

No Call for Action? Why There Is No Union (Yet in Philippine Call Centers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Niklas Reese

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This contribution presents findings from a qualitative study which focused on young urban professionals in the Philippines who work(ed in international call centers – workplaces usually characterized by job insecurity and other forms of precarity, factory-like working conditions, and disembeddedness. Nevertheless, trade unions in these centers have not come into existence. Why collective action is not chosen by call center agents as an option to tackle the above mentioned problems – this is what the research project this article is based on tried to understand. After outlining some workrelated problems identified by Filipino call center agents, the article will focus on the strategies the agents employ to counter these problems (mainly accommodation and everyday resistance. By highlighting five objective and five subjective reasons (or reasons by circumstances and reasons by framing, we conclude that it is not repressive regulation policies, but rather the formative power and the internalization of discourses of rule within individual life strategies that are preventing the establishment of unions and other collective action structures.

A Substance Called Food: Long-Term Psychodynamic Group Treatment for Compulsive Overeating.

Science.gov (United States)

Schwartz, Deborah C; Nickow, Marcia S; Arseneau, Ric; Gisslow, Mary T

2015-07-01

Obesity has proven difficult to treat. Many approaches neglect to address the deep-rooted underlying psychological issues. This paper describes a psychodynamically oriented approach to treating compulsive overeating as an addiction. Common to all addictions is a compulsion to consume a substance or engage in a behavior, a preoccupation with using behavior and rituals, and a lifestyle marked by an inability to manage the behavior and its harmful consequences. The approach represents a shift away from primarily medical models of intervention to integrated models focusing on the psychological underpinnings of obesity. Long-term psychodynamic group psychotherapy is recommended as a primary treatment.

Effectiveness of the Call in Beach Volleyball Attacking Play

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Künzell Stefan

2014-12-01

Full Text Available In beach volleyball the setter has the opportunity to give her or his hitter a “call”. The call intends that the setter suggests to her or his partner where to place the attack in the opponent’s court. The effectiveness of a call is still unknown. We investigated the women’s and men’s Swiss National Beach Volleyball Championships in 2011 and analyzed 2185 attacks. We found large differences between female and male players. While men called in only 38.4% of attacks, women used calls in 85.5% of attacks. If the male players followed a given call, 63% of the attacks were successful. The success rate of attacks without any call was 55.8% and 47.6% when the call was ignored. These differences were not significant (χ2(2 = 4.55, p = 0.103. In women’s beach volleyball, the rate of successful attacks was 61.5% when a call was followed, 35% for attacks without a call, and 42.6% when a call was ignored. The differences were highly significant (χ2(2 = 23.42, p < 0.0005. Taking into account the findings of the present study, we suggested that the call was effective in women’s beach volleyball, while its effect in men’s game was unclear. Considering the quality of calls we indicate that there is a significant potential to increase the effectiveness of a call.

Call for volunteers

CERN Document Server

2008-01-01

CERN is calling for volunteers from all members of the Laboratory for organizing the two exceptional Open days.CERN is calling for volunteers from all members of the Laboratory’s personnel to help with the organisation of these two exceptional Open Days, for the visits of CERN personnel and their families on the Saturday and above all for the major public Open Day on the Sunday. As for the 50th anniversary in 2004, the success of the Open Days will depend on a large number of volunteers. All those working for CERN as well as retired members of the personnel can contribute to making this event a success. Many guides will be needed at the LHC points, for the activities at the surface and to man the reception and information points. The aim of these major Open Days is to give the local populations the opportunity to discover the fruits of almost 20 years of work carried out at CERN. We are hoping for some 2000 volunteers for the two Open Days, on the Saturday from 9 a.m. to ...

Using direct-to-consumer marketing strategies with obsessive-compulsive disorder in the nonprofit sector.

Science.gov (United States)

Szymanski, Jeff

2012-06-01

Three to four million individuals struggle with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in the United States at any given time. OCD can be a debilitating disorder associated with significant quality-of-life and occupational impairment. First-line treatments for OCD (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and exposure and response prevention therapy) have been shown to be effective; yet, many individuals suffering from OCD experience multiple barriers to accessing these treatments. In fact, it can take as many as 17 years from onset of symptoms to effective treatment. Given the need to increase access to and utilization of effective treatments, direct-to-consumer marketing in the context of OCD appears crucial. The International OCD Foundation (formerly the Obsessive Compulsive Foundation) was established as a nonprofit organization with a mission to educate the public and mental health professionals about appropriate practice guidelines, raise awareness of the disorder, and ensure that individuals looking for treatment find the necessary resources. This paper reviews the obstacles those struggling with OCD face in their attempts to alleviate suffering, as well as the direct-to-consumer strategies and tactics used by the International OCD Foundation to improve access to empirically supported, effective treatment. Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Inbound Call Centers and Emotional Dissonance in the Job Demands – Resources Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Monica Molino

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Background: Emotional labor, defined as the process of regulating feelings and expressions as part of the work role, is a major characteristic in call centers. In particular, interacting with customers, agents are required to show certain emotions that are considered acceptable by the organization, even though these emotions may be different from their true feelings. This kind of experience is defined as emotional dissonance and represents a feature of the job especially for call center inbound activities. Aim: The present study was aimed at investigating whether emotional dissonance mediates the relationship between job demands (workload and customer verbal aggression and job resources (supervisor support, colleague support and job autonomy on the one hand, and, on the other, affective discomfort, using the job demands-resources model as a framework. The study also observed differences between two different types of inbound activities: customer assistance service and information service.Method: The study involved agents of an Italian Telecommunication Company, 352 of whom worked in the customer assistance service and 179 in the information service. The hypothesized model was tested across the two groups through multi-group structural equation modeling.Results: Analyses showed that customer assistance service agents experience greater customer verbal aggression and emotional dissonance than information service agents. Results also showed, only for the customer assistance service group, a full mediation of emotional dissonance between workload and affective discomfort, and a partial mediation of customer verbal aggression and job autonomy, and affective discomfort.Conclusion: This study’s findings contributed both to the emotional labor literature, investigating the mediational role of emotional dissonance in the job demands-resources model, and to call center literature, considering differences between two specific kinds of inbound activities

Perpetual Cancellable American Call Option

OpenAIRE

Emmerling, Thomas J.

2010-01-01

This paper examines the valuation of a generalized American-style option known as a Game-style call option in an infinite time horizon setting. The specifications of this contract allow the writer to terminate the call option at any point in time for a fixed penalty amount paid directly to the holder. Valuation of a perpetual Game-style put option was addressed by Kyprianou (2004) in a Black-Scholes setting on a non-dividend paying asset. Here, we undertake a similar analysis for the perpetua...

Relationship between tobacco control policies and the delivery of smoking cessation services in nonprofit HMOs.

Science.gov (United States)

Stevens, Victor J; Solberg, Leif I; Quinn, Virginia P; Rigotti, Nancy A; Hollis, Jack A; Smith, K Sabina; Zapka, Jane G; France, Eric; Vogt, Thomas; Gordon, Nancy; Fishman, Paul; Boyle, Raymond G

2005-01-01

This project examined tobacco policies and delivery of cessation services in nonprofit HMOs that collectively provide comprehensive medical care to more than 8 million members. Three annual surveys with health plan managers showed that all of these health plans had written tobacco control guidelines that became more comprehensive over the span of this study. We also surveyed a random sample of 4207 current smokers who had attended a primary care visit in the past year (399-528 at each of nine health plans). Of these smokers, 71% reported advice to quit, 56% were asked about their willingness to quit, 49% were provided some assistance in quitting (mostly self-help material or information about classes or counseling), and 9% were offered some kind of follow-up. Smokers receiving assistance in quitting reported higher satisfaction with their care. In general, health plans with the most comprehensive policies also showed higher rates of implementing tobacco treatment programs in primary care. Compared with tobacco control efforts of a decade or more ago, considerable progress has been made. However, there is still room for improvement in the proportion of smokers who receive the most effective forms of assistance in quitting.

Smart Grid Technology and Consumer Call Center Readiness

OpenAIRE

Schamber, Kelsey L.

2010-01-01

The following reasearch project deals with utility call center readiness to address customer concerns and questions about the Smart Grid and smart meter technology. Since consumer engagement is important for the benefits of the Smart Grid to be realized, the readiness and ability of utilities to answer consumer questions is an important issue. Assessing the readiness of utility call centers to address pertinant customer concerns was accomplished by calling utility call centers with Smart Grid...

Mobile telephones: a comparison of radiated power between 3G VoIP calls and 3G VoCS calls.

Science.gov (United States)

Jovanovic, Dragan; Bragard, Guillaume; Picard, Dominique; Chauvin, Sébastien

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study is to assess the mean RF power radiated by mobile telephones during voice calls in 3G VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) using an application well known to mobile Internet users, and to compare it with the mean power radiated during voice calls in 3G VoCS (Voice over Circuit Switch) on a traditional network. Knowing that the specific absorption rate (SAR) is proportional to the mean radiated power, the user's exposure could be clearly identified at the same time. Three 3G (High Speed Packet Access) smartphones from three different manufacturers, all dual-band for GSM (900 MHz, 1800 MHz) and dual-band for UMTS (900 MHz, 1950 MHz), were used between 28 July and 04 August 2011 in Paris (France) to make 220 two-minute calls on a mobile telephone network with national coverage. The places where the calls were made were selected in such a way as to describe the whole range of usage situations of the mobile telephone. The measuring equipment, called "SYRPOM", recorded the radiation power levels and the frequency bands used during the calls with a sampling rate of 20,000 per second. In the framework of this study, the mean normalised power radiated by a telephone in 3G VoIP calls was evaluated at 0.75% maximum power of the smartphone, compared with 0.22% in 3G VoCS calls. The very low average power levels associated with use of 3G devices with VoIP or VoCS support the view that RF exposure resulting from their use is far from exceeding the basic restrictions of current exposure limits in terms of SAR.

Group Inquiry Techniques for Teaching Writing.

Science.gov (United States)

Hawkins, Thom

The small size of college composition classes encourages exciting and meaningful interaction, especially when students are divided into smaller, autonomous groups for all or part of the hour. This booklet discusses the advantages of combining the inquiry method (sometimes called the discovery method) with a group approach and describes specific…

Homological functor of a torsion free crystallographic group of dimension five with a nonabelian point group

Science.gov (United States)

Ting, Tan Yee; Idrus, Nor'ashiqin Mohd.; Masri, Rohaidah; Sarmin, Nor Haniza; Hassim, Hazzirah Izzati Mat

2014-06-01

Torsion free crystallographic groups, called Bieberbach groups, appear as fundamental groups of compact, connected, flat Riemannian manifolds and have many interesting properties. New properties of the group can be obtained by, not limited to, exploring the groups and by computing their homological functors such as nonabelian tensor squares, the central subgroup of nonabelian tensor squares, the kernel of the mapping of nonabelian tensor squares of a group to the group and many more. In this paper, the homological functor, J(G) of a centerless torsion free crystallographic group of dimension five with a nonabelian point group which is a dihedral point group is computed using commutator calculus.

Managing corporate identities of non-profit organisations in the social welfare sector

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lida Holtzhausen

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Present-day South Africa is characterised by many societal and developmental issues, such as HIV awareness and prevention, child-headed households, environmental protection, poverty alleviation, violence and victim aid. However, it is widely acknowledged that government alone cannot address these issues effectively. The role of non-profit organisations (NPOs in addressing social and development issues is increasingly emphasised. NPOs work at grass-roots level and they can therefore, on the whole, identify societal vulnerabilities and risks earlier than the government sector. However, due to the economic recession, NPOs operate in a competitive environment where an increasing number of NPOs rely on a small number of donors and other resources. NPOs should therefore differentiate themselves from the competition in order to obtain public legitimacy and funding. Corporate identity management is important for NPOs to fulfil their role in social welfare and thus contribute to disaster risk reduction. The exploratory nature of this study dictates a qualitative research approach. Semi-structured interviews with management of five NPOs in the social welfare sector were conducted in order to provide an answer to the study’s research question: ‘To what extent do NPOs in the social welfare sector practise corporate identity management, in order to prevent and address social welfare risks?’ The research found that NPOs do not realise the full potential of managing their corporate identities. NPOs therefore do not take advantage of a strong and distinct corporate identity which would allow them to ensure their ability to assess, address, reduce and/or alleviate vulnerabilities and disaster risks.

The Wireless Nursing Call System

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Casper Bruun

2006-01-01

This paper discusses a research project in which social scientists were involved both as analysts and supporters during a pilot with a new wireless nursing call system. The case thus exemplifies an attempt to participate in developing dependable health care systems and offers insight into the cha......This paper discusses a research project in which social scientists were involved both as analysts and supporters during a pilot with a new wireless nursing call system. The case thus exemplifies an attempt to participate in developing dependable health care systems and offers insight...

Integrating heterogeneous healthcare call centers.

Science.gov (United States)

Peschel, K M; Reed, W C; Salter, K

1998-01-01

In a relatively short period, OHS has absorbed multiple call centers supporting different LOBs from various acquisitions, functioning with diverse standards, processes, and technologies. However, customer and employee satisfaction is predicated on OHS's ability to thoroughly integrate these heterogeneous call centers. The integration was initiated and has successfully progressed through a balanced program of focused leadership and a defined strategy which includes site consolidation, sound performance management philosophies, and enabling technology. Benefits have already been achieved with even more substantive ones to occur as the integration continues to evolve.

The renewal of hydroelectric concessions in competitive call

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2013-01-01

This document discusses various issues associated with the planned competitive call on the French hydraulic power plants. The principles of this competitive call for hydroelectric concessions are first addressed: administrative regime of concessions, competitive call process, criteria of selection of the concession holder, case of 'concession of valleys', potential competitors. It outlines and discusses the difficulties of this competitive call: France is the single country to implement this procedure; it concerns a national asset; it questions the guarantee of a future use of equipment at best for the energy benefits of French consumers; the competitive call is a nice idea indeed but extremely complex. A note discusses the profitability aspects of Plants for Transfer of Energy by Pumping

Impact of late-to-refill reminder calls on medication adherence in the Medicare Part D population: evaluation of a randomized controlled study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Taitel MS

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Michael S Taitel, Ying Mu, Angshuman Gooptu, Youbei Lou Health Analytics, Research & Reporting, Walgreen Co., Deerfield, IL, USA Objectives: This study evaluates a nationwide pharmacy chain’s late-to-refill (LTR reminder program that entails local pharmacists placing reminder calls to Medicare Part D patients. Methods: We conducted a randomized controlled study among 735,218 patients who exhibited nonadherent behavior by not refilling a maintenance medication 3 days from an expected refill date. Patients were randomly assigned to an intervention group who received LTR reminder calls or to a control group. We used Walgreens pharmaceutical claims data from 2015 to estimate the impact of LTR calls on short-term and annual adherence. Results: The initial refill rate within the first 14 days of the expected refill date significantly increased in the intervention group by 22.8% (6.09 percentage points compared to the control group (P<0.001. The proportion of days covered (PDC in the intervention group increased significantly by 1.5% (0.856 percentage points relative to the control group (P<0.001 over 365 days. Patients in the intervention group were significantly more adherent (PDC ≥80% by 3% (0.97 percentage points compared to the control group (P<0.001. Over a 270-day follow-up period, persistence significantly increased by 2.15 days in the intervention group (P<0.001. Conclusion: Results from this study suggest that LTR reminder calls increased adherence for Medicare Part D patients who are late in refilling their medications and therefore have the potential to reduce their risk for hospitalization and health care costs. Additionally, the intervention increased the number of patients with PDC ≥80% by ~3%, positively impacting Medicare Part D plan quality rating. Keywords: reminder system, tailored intervention, Medicare Part D, adherence, persistence

Similarities and differences in philanthropic and federal support for medical research in the United States: an analysis of funding by nonprofits in 2006-2008.

Science.gov (United States)

Myers, Elizabeth R; Alciati, Marianne H; Ahlport, Kathryn N; Sung, Nancy S

2012-11-01

The medical community currently has no detailed source of information on philanthropic research funding. The authors sought to identify trends in research funding by members of the Health Research Alliance (HRA), a consortium of nonprofit funders of biomedical research, and compare findings with research support from the federal government. Thirty-two HRA members uploaded information about grants with start dates in 2006, 2007, and 2008. Data were collected about each grant, investigator, and recipient institution. Disease categorization codes were assigned by a computer process similar to that used by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In the three years under study, HRA members awarded 9,934 grants, totaling $2,712,418,254 in research and training support. Grant funding increased by 26% between 2006 and 2008. In contrast, NIH research spending increased by only 3% over the same time. Fifty-six percent of HRA grant dollars supported research projects, whereas 30% supported career development and training. During the same period, more than two-thirds of NIH grant dollars supported research projects, although NIH invested proportionally less in career development and training (7%). The largest proportion of HRA grant dollars addressed cancer, followed by diabetes and genetics. Sixty-three percent of HRA-supported investigators were men and 36% were women; 66% of investigators were white, 32% Asian, and fewer than 2% black. These results indicate that nonprofit organizations play an important role in developing careers and advancing research in significant disease areas such as cancer and diabetes, and in basic science areas such as genetics.

Summer 2012 Colorado Wildfire Non-Profit Sector Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

2012-11-01

Heights, but no structure burns. Local economist says region could lose “millions” a day from lost business. 1100-1300 Most gas stations in...Fire crew at the Flying W Ranch punches through the fire line and calls for hand crews — a big offensive move. Two C-130s with the 302nd Airlift...Incident Command System (ICS) Joint Information Center (JIC) Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories (LLNL) Multi-Agency Coordination ( MAC

Linking Calling Orientations to Organizational Attachment via Organizational Instrumentality

Science.gov (United States)

Cardador, M. Teresa; Dane, Erik; Pratt, Michael G.

2011-01-01

Despite an emerging interest in callings, researchers know little about whether calling orientations matter in the workplace. We explore the under-examined relationship between a calling orientation and employees' attachment to their organizations. Although some theory suggests that callings may be negatively related to organizational attachment,…

The Influence of Judgment Calls on Meta-Analytic Findings.

Science.gov (United States)

Tarrahi, Farid; Eisend, Martin

2016-01-01

Previous research has suggested that judgment calls (i.e., methodological choices made in the process of conducting a meta-analysis) have a strong influence on meta-analytic findings and question their robustness. However, prior research applies case study comparison or reanalysis of a few meta-analyses with a focus on a few selected judgment calls. These studies neglect the fact that different judgment calls are related to each other and simultaneously influence the outcomes of a meta-analysis, and that meta-analytic findings can vary due to non-judgment call differences between meta-analyses (e.g., variations of effects over time). The current study analyzes the influence of 13 judgment calls in 176 meta-analyses in marketing research by applying a multivariate, multilevel meta-meta-analysis. The analysis considers simultaneous influences from different judgment calls on meta-analytic effect sizes and controls for alternative explanations based on non-judgment call differences between meta-analyses. The findings suggest that judgment calls have only a minor influence on meta-analytic findings, whereas non-judgment call differences between meta-analyses are more likely to explain differences in meta-analytic findings. The findings support the robustness of meta-analytic results and conclusions.

Optimal scheduling in call centers with a callback option

OpenAIRE

Legros , Benjamin; Jouini , Oualid; Koole , Ger

2016-01-01

International audience; We consider a call center model with a callback option, which allows to transform an inbound call into an outbound one. A delayed call, with a long anticipated waiting time, receives the option to be called back. We assume a probabilistic customer reaction to the callback offer (option). The objective of the system manager is to characterize the optimal call scheduling that minimizes the expected waiting and abandonment costs. For the single-server case, we prove that ...

Flight calls and orientation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Ole Næsbye; Andersen, Bent Bach; Kropp, Wibke

2008-01-01

flight calls was simulated by sequential computer controlled activation of five loudspeakers placed in a linear array perpendicular to the bird's migration course. The bird responded to this stimulation by changing its migratory course in the direction of that of the ‘flying conspecifics' but after about......  In a pilot experiment a European Robin, Erithacus rubecula, expressing migratory restlessness with a stable orientation, was video filmed in the dark with an infrared camera and its directional migratory activity was recorded. The flight overhead of migrating conspecifics uttering nocturnal...... 30 minutes it drifted back to its original migration course. The results suggest that songbirds migrating alone at night can use the flight calls from conspecifics as additional cues for orientation and that they may compare this information with other cues to decide what course to keep....

Minerva: using a software program to improve resident performance during independent call

Science.gov (United States)

Itri, Jason N.; Redfern, Regina O.; Cook, Tessa; Scanlon, Mary H.

2010-03-01

We have developed an application called Minerva that allows tracking of resident discrepancy rates and missed cases. Minerva mines the radiology information system (RIS) for preliminary interpretations provided by residents during independent call and copies both the preliminary and final interpretations to a database. Both versions are displayed for direct comparison by Minerva and classified as 'in agreement', 'minor discrepancy' or 'major discrepancy' by the resident program director. Minerva compiles statistics comparing minor, major and total discrepancy rates for individual residents relative to the overall group. Discrepant cases are categorized according to date, modality and body part and reviewed for trends in missed cases. The rate of minor, major and total discrepancies for residents on-call at our institution was similar to rates previously published, including a 2.4% major discrepancy rate for second year radiology residents in the DePICTORS study and a 2.6% major discrepancy rate for resident at a community hospital. Trend analysis of missed cases was used to generate a topic-specific resident missed case conference on acromioclavicular (AC) joint separation injuries, which resulted in a 75% decrease in the number of missed cases related to AC separation subsequent to the conference. Using a software program to track of minor and major discrepancy rates for residents taking independent call using modified RadPeer scoring guidelines provides a competency-based metric to determine resident performance. Topic-specific conferences using the cases identified by Minerva can result in a decrease in missed cases.

CW-FIT: Group Contingency Effects across the Day

Science.gov (United States)

Wills, Howard P.; Iwaszuk, Wendy M.; Kamps, Debra; Shumate, Emily

2014-01-01

This study explored the effects of a group-contingency intervention on student behavior across academic instructional periods. Research suggests group contingencies are evidence-based practices, yet calls for investigation to determine the best conditions and groups suited for this type of intervention. CW-FIT (Class-Wide Function-related…

Correlates of Gay-Related Name-Calling in Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Slaatten, Hilde; Hetland, Jørn; Anderssen, Norman

2015-01-01

The aim of this study was to examine whether attitudes about gay-related name-calling, social norms concerning gay-related name-calling among co-students, teacher intervention, and school-related support would predict whether secondary school pupils had called another pupil a gay-related name during the last month. A total of 921 ninth-grade…

47 CFR 90.241 - Radio call box operations.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... remains on for a period in excess of three minutes. The automatic cutoff system must be designed so the... Public Safety Pool for highway call box systems subject to the following requirements: (1) Call box... effective radiated power (ERP). (3) The height of a call box antenna may not exceed 6.1 meters (20 feet...

Assessing communication skills of clinical call handlers working at an out-of-hours centre: development of the RICE rating scale.

Science.gov (United States)

Derkx, Hay P; Rethans, Jan-Joost E; Knottnerus, J André; Ram, Paul M

2007-05-01

Out-of-hours centres provide telephone support to patients with medical problems. In most of these centres specially-trained nurses handle incoming telephone calls. They assess patients' needs, the degree of urgency, and determine the level of care required. Assessment of the medical problem and the quality of 'care-by-phone' depend on the medical and communication skills of the call handlers. To develop a valid, reliable, and practical rating scale to evaluate the communication skills of call handlers working at an out-of-hours centre and to improve quality of communication. Qualitative study with focus groups followed by validation of the rating scale and measurement of reliability (internal consistency). Out-of-hours centres in the Netherlands. A focus group developed the rating scale. Experts with experience in training and evaluating communication skills of medical students and GPs commented on the scale to ensure content validity. The reliability of the rating scale was tested in a pilot in which ten specially-trained assessors scored six telephone calls each. The scale, known as the RICE rating scale, has 17 items divided over four different phases of the telephone consultation: Reason for calling; Information gathering; Conclusion; and Evaluation (RICE). Content validity of the scale was assessed by two experts. Reliability of the scale tested in the pilot was 0.73 (Cronbach's alpha). Establishing a rating scale to assess the communication skills of call handlers which meets common scientific demands, such as content validity and reliability, proved successful. This instrument can be used to give feedback to call handlers.

Coaching "Callings" throughout the Adult Life Cycle.

Science.gov (United States)

Hudson, Frederic M.

2001-01-01

The process of "callings" continues throughout life. Coaching can connect the present to the future in a meaningful way. Callings represent a value shift requiring revision of the nature and scope of one's central purpose in life and meaningful activities. (JOW)

Performance indicators for call centers with impatience

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jouini, O.; Koole, G.M.; Roubos, A.

2013-01-01

An important feature of call center modeling is the presence of impatient customers. This article considers single-skill call centers including customer abandonments. A number of different service-level definitions are structured, including all those used in practice, and the explicit computation of

Calling, is there anything special about it?

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2016-07-15

Jul 15, 2016 ... when a pastor is installed or a new candidate is ordained, 'The one who calls you is faithful .... extension to secular work of the dignity of a calling' (Fowler ... For Luther, therefore, the private life of devotion exercised in the.

Ultrasound call detection in capybara

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Selene S.C. Nogueira

2012-07-01

Full Text Available The vocal repertoire of some animal species has been considered a non-invasive tool to predict distress reactivity. In rats ultrasound emissions were reported as distress indicator. Capybaras[ vocal repertoire was reported recently and seems to have ultrasound calls, but this has not yet been confirmed. Thus, in order to check if a poor state of welfare was linked to ultrasound calls in the capybara vocal repertoire, the aim of this study was to track the presence of ultrasound emissions in 11 animals under three conditions: 1 unrestrained; 2 intermediately restrained, and 3 highly restrained. The ultrasound track identified frequencies in the range of 31.8±3.5 kHz in adults and 33.2±8.5 kHz in juveniles. These ultrasound frequencies occurred only when animals were highly restrained, physically restrained or injured during handling. We concluded that these calls with ultrasound components are related to pain and restraint because they did not occur when animals were free of restraint. Thus we suggest that this vocalization may be used as an additional tool to assess capybaras[ welfare.

Post discharge issues identified by a call-back program: identifying improvement opportunities.

Science.gov (United States)

Ojeda, Patricia I; Kara, Areeba

2017-12-01

The period following discharge from the hospital is one of heightened vulnerability. Discharge instructions serve as a guide during this transition. Yet, clinicians receive little feedback on the quality of this document that ties into the patients' experience. We reviewed the issues voiced by discharged patients via a call-back program and compared them to the discharge instructions they had received. At our institution, patients receive an automated call forty-eight hours following discharge inquiring about progress. If indicated by the response to the call, they are directed to a nurse who assists with problem solving. We reviewed the nursing documentation of these encounters for a period of nine months. The issues voiced were grouped into five categories: communication, medications, durable medical equipment/therapies, follow up and new or ongoing symptoms. The discharge instructions given to each patient were reviewed. We retrieved data on the number of discharges from each specialty from the hospital over the same period. A total of 592 patients voiced 685 issues. The numbers of patients discharged from medical or surgical services identified as having issues via the call-back line paralleled the proportions discharged from medical and surgical services from the hospital during the same period. Nearly a quarter of the issues discussed had been addressed in the discharge instructions. The most common category of issues was related to communication deficits including missing or incomplete information which made it difficult for the patient to enact or understand the plan of care. Medication prescription related issues were the next most common. Resource barriers and questions surrounding medications were often unaddressed. Post discharge issues affect patients discharged from all services equally. Data from call back programs may provide actionable targets for improvement, identify the inpatient team's 'blind spots' and be used to provide feedback to clinicians.

Relabeling the Medications We Call Antidepressants

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Antonuccio

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This paper raises the question about whether the data on the medications we call antidepressants justify the label of antidepressant. The authors argue that a true antidepressant should be clearly superior to placebo, should offer a risk/benefit balance that exceeds that of alternative treatments, should not increase suicidality, should not increase anxiety and agitation, should not interfere with sexual functioning, and should not increase depression chronicity. Unfortunately, these medications appear to fall short on all of these dimensions. Many of the “side effects” of these medications have larger effect sizes than the antidepressant effect size. To call these medications antidepressants may make sense from a marketing standpoint but may be misleading from a scientific perspective. Consumers deserve a label that more accurately reflects the data on the largest effects and helps them understand the range of effects from these medications. In other words, it may make just as much sense to call these medications antiaphrodisiacs as antidepressants because the negative effects on libido and sexual functioning are so common. It can be argued that a misleading label may interfere with our commitment to informed consent. Therefore, it may be time to stop calling these medications antidepressants.

The Barbados Emergency Ambulance Service: High Frequency of Nontransported Calls

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sherwin E. Phillips

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Objectives. There are no published studies on the Barbados Emergency Ambulance Service and no assessment of the calls that end in nontransported individuals. We describe reasons for the nontransport of potential clients. Methods. We used the Emergency Medical Dispatch (Medical Priority Dispatch System instrument, augmented with five local call types, to collect information on types of calls. The calls were categorised under 7 headings. Correlations between call types and response time were calculated. Results. Most calls were from the category medical (54%. Nineteen (19% percent of calls were in the non-transported category. Calls from call type Cancelled accounted for most of these and this was related to response time, while Refused service was inversely related (. Conclusions. The Barbados Ambulance Service is mostly used by people with a known illness and for trauma cases. One-fifth of calls fall into a category where the ambulance is not used often due to cancellation which is related to response time. Other factors such as the use of alternative transport are also important. Further study to identify factors that contribute to the non-transported category of calls is necessary if improvements in service quality are to be made.

Make a 21st century phone call

CERN Multimedia

Katarina Anthony

2014-01-01

Want to avoid roaming charges? Click to call anyone at CERN? How about merging your CERN landline with your existing smartphone? That's all easily done with Lync, CERN's new opt-in service that can take your calls to the next level.   The Lync application on Windows (left) and iPhone (right). Lync unites CERN's traditional telephone service with the digital sphere. "Lync gives you the gift of mobility, by letting you access your CERN landline on the go," explains Pawel Grzywaczewski, service manager of the Lync system. "Once you've registered your CERN telephone with the service, you can run the Lync application and make calls from a range of supported devices. No matter where you are in the world - be it simply out to lunch or off at an international conference - you can make a CERN call as though you were in the office. All you need is an Internet connection!" Following a recent upgrade, CERN's Lync service now has...

Permutation 2-groups I: structure and splitness

OpenAIRE

Elgueta, Josep

2013-01-01

By a 2-group we mean a groupoid equipped with a weakened group structure. It is called split when it is equivalent to the semidirect product of a discrete 2-group and a one-object 2-group. By a permutation 2-group we mean the 2-group $\\mathbb{S}ym(\\mathcal{G})$ of self-equivalences of a groupoid $\\mathcal{G}$ and natural isomorphisms between them, with the product given by composition of self-equivalences. These generalize the symmetric groups $\\mathsf{S}_n$, $n\\geq 1$, obtained when $\\mathca...

Arithmetic fundamental groups and moduli of curves

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Makoto Matsumoto

2000-01-01

This is a short note on the algebraic (or sometimes called arithmetic) fundamental groups of an algebraic variety, which connects classical fundamental groups with Galois groups of fields. A large part of this note describes the algebraic fundamental groups in a concrete manner. This note gives only a sketch of the fundamental groups of the algebraic stack of moduli of curves. Some application to a purely topological statement, i.e., an obstruction to the subjectivity of Johnson homomorphisms in the mapping class groups, which comes from Galois group of Q, is explained. (author)

Sleep Quality of Call Handlers Employed in International Call Centers in National Capital Region of Delhi, India

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

JD Raja

2016-10-01

suspicion of insomnia or suspected insomnia; the rest had no sleep problem. Smoking, poor social support, heavy workload, lack of relaxation facility at office, and prolonged travel time to office were independent predictors of sleep quality (p<0.05. Conclusion: Call handlers have to compromise upon their sleep owing to the contemporary work settings in call centers. Safeguarding their health becomes an occupational health challenge to public health specialists.

Consumer Experiences Calling Toll-Free Corporate Hotlines.

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, Charles L.; Smart, Denise T.

1994-01-01

Finds that dimensions that contribute to caller satisfaction (of toll-free corporate hotlines) included operator characteristics such as knowledge, courtesy, and interest; specific behaviors such as apologizing for a problem, thanking the consumer for calling, and encouraging them to call again; and reducing time placed on "hold." (SR)

Call center performance with direct response advertising

NARCIS (Netherlands)

M. Kiygi Calli (Meltem); M. Weverbergh (Marcel); Ph.H.B.F. Franses (Philip Hans)

2017-01-01

textabstractThis study investigates the manpower planning and the performance of a national call center dealing with car repairs and on the road interventions. We model the impact of advertising on the capacity required. The starting point is a forecasting model for the incoming calls, where we take

Group foliation of finite difference equations

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, Robert; Valiquette, Francis

2018-06-01

Using the theory of equivariant moving frames, a group foliation method for invariant finite difference equations is developed. This method is analogous to the group foliation of differential equations and uses the symmetry group of the equation to decompose the solution process into two steps, called resolving and reconstruction. Our constructions are performed algorithmically and symbolically by making use of discrete recurrence relations among joint invariants. Applications to invariant finite difference equations that approximate differential equations are given.

Advertisement call of Scinax camposseabrai (Bokermann, 1968) (Anura: Hylidae), with comments on the call of three species of the Scinax ruber clade.

Science.gov (United States)

Novaes, Gabriel; Zina, Juliana

2016-02-25

Scinax camposseabrai was allocated into the Scinax ruber clade by Caramaschi & Cardoso (2006) by overall similarities as snout not pointed, breeding in open areas, and an advertisement calls with multipulsed notes. This assumption about the call was based solely on an onomatopoeia provided by Bokermann (1968). Herein we provide a formal description of the advertisement call of S. camposseabrai and compare it with described calls of other S. ruber clade species. Additionally, we provide descriptions of the advertisement calls of three sympatric species of the S. ruber clade: S. eurydice (Bokermann), S. pachycrus (Miranda-Ribeiro) and S. cf. x-signatus.

Attitude of Farmers towards Kisan Call Centres

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shely Mary Koshy

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The present study was conducted to measure the attitude of farmers in Kerala, India towards Kisan Call Centre (KCC. Kisan Call Centre provides free agricultural advisory services to every citizen involved in agriculture through a toll free number. One hundred and fifty farmers who have utilized the Kisan Call Centre service were selected from the database of KCC. The results showed that the respondents had moderately favourable attitude towards KCC followed by highly favourable attitude. The variables digital divide, temporal awareness on KCC, satisfaction towards KCC and utilization of KCC were found to have a positive correlation with the attitude of respondents towards KCC.

How the group affects the mind : A cognitive model of idea generation in groups

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nijstad, Bernard A.; Stroebe, Wolfgang

2006-01-01

A model called search for ideas in associative memory (SIAM) is proposed to account for various research findings in the area of group idea generation. The model assumes that idea generation is a repeated search for ideas in associative memory, which proceeds in 2 stages (knowledge activation and

Partitioning a call graph

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bisseling, R.H.; Byrka, J.; Cerav-Erbas, S.; Gvozdenovic, N.; Lorenz, M.; Pendavingh, R.A.; Reeves, C.; Röger, M.; Verhoeven, A.; Berg, van den J.B.; Bhulai, S.; Hulshof, J.; Koole, G.; Quant, C.; Williams, J.F.

2006-01-01

Splitting a large software system into smaller and more manageable units has become an important problem for many organizations. The basic structure of a software system is given by a directed graph with vertices representing the programs of the system and arcs representing calls from one program to

Too close to call

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kurrild-Klitgaard, Peter

2012-01-01

a number of other frequent explanations and is found to be quite robust. When augmented with approval ratings for incumbent presidents, the explanatory power increases to 83 pct. and only incorrectly calls one of the last 15 US presidential elections. Applied to the 2012 election as a forecasting model...

A call for surveys

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bernstein, Philip A.; Jensen, Christian S.; Tan, Kian-Lee

2012-01-01

The database field is experiencing an increasing need for survey papers. We call on more researchers to set aside time for this important writing activity. The database field is growing in population, scope of topics covered, and the number of papers published. Each year, thousands of new papers ...

Call centers with a postponed callback offer

NARCIS (Netherlands)

B. Legros (Benjamin); S. Ding (Sihan); R.D. van der Mei (Rob); O. Jouini (Oualid)

2017-01-01

textabstractWe study a call center model with a postponed callback option. A customer at the head of the queue whose elapsed waiting time achieves a given threshold receives a voice message mentioning the option to be called back later. This callback option differs from the traditional ones found in

The advertisement call of Proceratophrys branti Brandão, Caramaschi, Vaz-Silva Campos, 2013 (Amphibia, Anura, Odontophrynidae).

Science.gov (United States)

De Andrade, Sheila Pereira; Rocha, Cezar Filho; Vaz-Silva, Wilian

2018-02-15

Proceratophrys Miranda-Ribeiro, 1920 currently comprises 40 species (Frost 2017) of which 15 are allocated into the Proceratophrys cristiceps species group (sensu Brandão et al. 2013). The species in this group are characterized by the absence of postocular swellings and, except for P. concavitympanum, are found in seasonally open habitats in Brazilian Cerrado and Caatinga morphoclimatic domains (Giaretta et al. 2000; Ávila et al. 2012; Teixeira Jr. et al. 2012; Brandão et al. 2013). Information on advertisement calls is available for 11 species of the group (Eterovick Sazima 1998; Nunes Juncá 2006; Brasileiro et al. 2008; Santana et al. 2010; Ávila et al. 2012; Martins Giaretta 2011; 2012; 2013; Ferreira et al. 2016). Proceratophrys branti Brandão, Carmaschi, Vaz-Silva Campos, 2013 has been recently described and allocated in the P. cristiceps species group. The species occurs in open areas in the north-central portion of the Brazilian Cerrado, in the states of Goiás, Minas Gerais and Tocantins (Brandão et al. 2013). Herein we describe for the first time its advertisement call, based on recordings made in an area of Cerrado biome in the state of Tocantins.

A clarion call for aeolian research to engage with global land degradation and climate change

Science.gov (United States)

Chappell, Adrian; Lee, Jeffrey A.; Baddock, Matthew; Gill, Thomas E.; Herrick, Jeffrey E.; Leys, John F.; Marticorena, Beatrice; Petherick, Lynda; Schepanski, Kerstin; Tatarko, John; Telfer, Matt; Webb, Nicholas P.

2018-06-01

This editorial represents a clarion call for the aeolian research community to provide increased scientific input to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and an invitation to apply for ISAR funding to organize a working group to support this engagement.

The advertisement call, color patterns and distribution of Ischnocnema izecksohni (Caramaschi and Kisteumacher, 1989 (Anura, Brachycephalidae

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pedro P. G. Taucce

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Ischnocnema izecksohni inhabits the gallery forests from the Quadrilátero Ferrífero, Southern Espinhaço range, state of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil, and it is considered endemic to this region. Its closest related species is I. nasuta according to the original description. We describe the advertisement call of I. izecksohni based on specimens recorded and collected at the municipality of Nova Lima, state of Minas Gerais, distant about 10 km straight line from its type locality. The advertisement call consists of a group of notes emitted sporadically without a regular interval between the calls. Call duration (n = 36 calls in four individuals ranged from 1.03 to 1.85 s (= 1.52 ± 0.21 s and the call rise time from 0.66 to 1.52 s (= 1.16 ± 0.25 s, with 34-57 notes per call (= 47.42 ± 6.03. Peak frequency ranged from 2250 to 2625 Hz, the dominant frequency from 1317.8 to 3128.0 Hz and interval between notes from 22.00 to 41.00 ms (= 28.63 ± 0.03 ms. From the examination of herpetological collections, morphological and bioacoustical data we extended the species known distribution ca. 200 km eastward, to ten new localities, all of them outside the Quadrilátero Ferrífero region, at the Mantiqueira mountain range. We analyzed color patterns and we find some dorsal patterns not described at the original description of I. izecksohni. We also make some comments concerning the taxonomic status of I. izecksohni and I. nasuta.

Acoustic structure of male loud-calls support molecular phylogeny of Sumatran and Javanese leaf monkeys (genus Presbytis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Meyer Dirk

2012-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The degree to which loud-calls in nonhuman primates can be used as a reliable taxonomic tool is the subject of ongoing debate. A recent study on crested gibbons showed that these species can be well distinguished by their songs; even at the population level the authors found reliable differences. Although there are some further studies on geographic and phylogenetic differences in loud-calls of nonhuman primate species, it is unclear to what extent loud-calls of other species have a similar close relation between acoustic structure, phylogenetic relatedness and geographic distance. We therefore conducted a field survey in 19 locations on Sumatra, Java and the Mentawai islands to record male loud-calls of wild surilis (Presbytis, a genus of Asian leaf monkeys (Colobinae with disputed taxanomy, and compared the structure of their loud-calls with a molecular genetic analysis. Results The acoustic analysis of 100 surili male loud-calls from 68 wild animals confirms the differentiation of P.potenziani, P.comata, P.thomasi and P.melalophos. In a more detailed acoustic analysis of subspecies of P.melalophos, a further separation of the southern P.m.mitrata confirms the proposed paraphyly of this group. In concordance with their geographic distribution we found the highest correlation between call structure and genetic similarity, and lesser significant correlations between call structure and geographic distance, and genetic similarity and geographic distance. Conclusions In this study we show, that as in crested gibbons, the acoustic structure of surili loud-calls is a reliable tool to distinguish between species and to verify phylogenetic relatedness and migration backgrounds of respective taxa. Since vocal production in other nonhuman primates show similar constraints, it is likely that an acoustic analysis of call structure can help to clarify taxonomic and phylogenetic relationships.

The Role of Analyst Conference Calls in Capital Markets

NARCIS (Netherlands)

E.M. Roelofsen (Erik)

2010-01-01

textabstractMany firms conduct a conference call with analysts shortly after the quarterly earnings announcement. In these calls, management discusses the completed quarter, and analysts can ask questions. Due to SEC requirements, conference calls in the United States are virtually always live

Group normalization for genomic data.

Science.gov (United States)

Ghandi, Mahmoud; Beer, Michael A

2012-01-01

Data normalization is a crucial preliminary step in analyzing genomic datasets. The goal of normalization is to remove global variation to make readings across different experiments comparable. In addition, most genomic loci have non-uniform sensitivity to any given assay because of variation in local sequence properties. In microarray experiments, this non-uniform sensitivity is due to different DNA hybridization and cross-hybridization efficiencies, known as the probe effect. In this paper we introduce a new scheme, called Group Normalization (GN), to remove both global and local biases in one integrated step, whereby we determine the normalized probe signal by finding a set of reference probes with similar responses. Compared to conventional normalization methods such as Quantile normalization and physically motivated probe effect models, our proposed method is general in the sense that it does not require the assumption that the underlying signal distribution be identical for the treatment and control, and is flexible enough to correct for nonlinear and higher order probe effects. The Group Normalization algorithm is computationally efficient and easy to implement. We also describe a variant of the Group Normalization algorithm, called Cross Normalization, which efficiently amplifies biologically relevant differences between any two genomic datasets.

Alpha Group: The Behemoth Apteryx. Final design proposal

Science.gov (United States)

1991-01-01

The participation of the University of Notre Dame's Alpha Design Group in the NASA/Universities Space Research Association (USRA) University Advanced Design Program for the 1990 to 1991 academic year is presented. Alpha Design Group presented a design for an aircraft called The Behemoth Apteryx.

Help Options in CALL: A Systematic Review

Science.gov (United States)

Cardenas-Claros, Monica S.; Gruba, Paul A.

2009-01-01

This paper is a systematic review of research investigating help options in the different language skills in computer-assisted language learning (CALL). In this review, emerging themes along with is-sues affecting help option research are identified and discussed. We argue that help options in CALL are application resources that do not only seem…

The Call to Teach and Teacher Hopefulness

Science.gov (United States)

Bullough, Robert V., Jr.; Hall-Kenyon, Kendra M.

2011-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to explore teacher motivation and well-being. Our analysis focuses on two central concepts, the notion of a "calling to teach" and of teacher "hopefulness." Data from 205 preservice and inservice teachers were collected to determine teachers' sense of calling and level of hope. Results indicate that overwhelmingly,…

Examining calling as a double-edged sword for employability

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lysova, Evgenia I.; Jansen, Paul G.W.; Khapova, Svetlana N.; Plomp, Judith; Tims, Maria

2018-01-01

Using a two-study design (total N = 1232), this paper examines the relationship between calling and employability. We suggest that, on the one hand, calling can positively relate to employability due to individuals’ engagement in proactive professional development (PPD). On the other hand, calling

Using Group Communication to Implement a Fault-Tolerant Directory Service

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kaashoek, M.F.; Tanenbaum, A.S.; Verstoep, C.

1993-01-01

Group communication is an important paradigm for building distributed applications. This paper discusses a fault-tolerant distributed directory service based on group communication, and compares it with the previous design and implementation based on remote procedure call. The group directory

Renormalization Group and Phase Transitions in Spin, Gauge, and QCD Like Theories

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liu, Yuzhi [Univ. of Iowa, Iowa City, IA (United States)

2013-08-01

In this thesis, we study several different renormalization group (RG) methods, including the conventional Wilson renormalization group, Monte Carlo renormalization group (MCRG), exact renormalization group (ERG, or sometimes called functional RG), and tensor renormalization group (TRG).

Identification of sympatric bat species by the echolocation calls

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

2008-01-01

One hundred and thirty-eight echolocation calls of 63 free-flying individuals of five bat species (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum,Myotis formosus,Myotis ikonnikovi,Myotis daubentoni and Murina leucogaster)were recorded (by ultrasonic bat detector (D980)) in Zhi'an village of Jilin Province,China.According to the frequency-time spectra,these calls were categorized into two types:FM/CF (constant frequency) / FM (R.ferrumequinum) and FM (frequency modulated)(M.formosus,M.ikonnikovi,M.daubentoni and M.leucogaster).Sonograms of the calls of R.ferrumequinum could easily be distinguished from those of the other four species.For the calls of the remaining four species,six echolocation call parameters,including starting frequency,ending frequency,peak frequency duration,longest inter-pulse interval and shortest inter-pulse interval,were examined by stepwise discriminant analysis.The results show that 84.1% of calls were correctly classified,which indicates that these parameters of echolocation calls play an important role in identifying bat species.These parameters can be used to test the accuracy of general predictions based on bats' morphology in the same forest and can provide essential information for assessing patterns of bat habitat use.

Strategic Planning at The State’s Education Instutitions Serving “Open And Distance Education”, Which Are of Nonprofit Concern

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ali Riza ERDEM

2007-01-01

Full Text Available In conventional education process, there have always been certain obstacles throughout the human history. From that point of view, “Open and Distance Education” are the ones which are much more sensitive to quality and to the dissemination of knowledge to society as well as having certain advantages in getting over matters rather than in-class processes. In our country, for public institutions, the vitality of “strategic planning” has recently been recognized and established as a legal substructure. Besides, organizations and educational institutions of the government, which legally offers “Open and Distance Education” without any profit concern, are also responsible for creating a strategic guide-line. A process established by Bryson for public institutions, “A Ten-Step Strategic Planning Process” could be used in those strategic planning of the educational institutions of the government, which are of nonprofit concern, to ease strategic thought and organizational momentum by their administrators in on attendant, careful, and logical way.

Customized Assessment Group Initiative: A Complementary Approach to Students' Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Akindayomi, Akinloye

2015-01-01

This study, conducted in a US setting, examines the importance of group dynamics that emphasize cooperative team building through the proposed grouping strategy called Customized Assessment Group Initiative (CAGI). CAGI is a student grouping strategy designed to operationalize the mutual accountability concept central to the definition of teams by…

Wyoming's Early Settlement and Ethnic Groups, Unit IV.

Science.gov (United States)

Robinson, Terry

This unit on Wyoming's early settlement and ethnic groups provides concepts, activities, stories, charts, and graphs for elementary school students. Concepts include the attraction Wyoming held for trappers; the major social, economic, and religious event called "The Rendezvous"; the different ethnic and religious groups that presently…

Teaching Small Group Communication: The Do Good Project

Science.gov (United States)

Minei, Elizabeth M.

2016-01-01

This paper focuses on the parameters of a semester-long project called the "Do Good" project, geared towards developing small group communication skills in undergraduate students. This project highlights participation in a social engagement project that allows students to bridge concepts learned in small group communication lectures…

Frogs Call at a Higher Pitch in Traffic Noise

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kirsten M. Parris

2009-06-01

Full Text Available Male frogs call to attract females for mating and to defend territories from rival males. Female frogs of some species prefer lower-pitched calls, which indicate larger, more experienced males. Acoustic interference occurs when background noise reduces the active distance or the distance over which an acoustic signal can be detected. Birds are known to call at a higher pitch or frequency in urban noise, decreasing acoustic interference from low-frequency noise. Using Bayesian linear regression, we investigated the effect of traffic noise on the pitch of advertisement calls in two species of frogs, the southern brown tree frog (Litoria ewingii and the common eastern froglet (Crinia signifera. We found evidence that L. ewingii calls at a higher pitch in traffic noise, with an average increase in dominant frequency of 4.1 Hz/dB of traffic noise, and a total effect size of 123 Hz. This frequency shift is smaller than that observed in birds, but is still large enough to be detected by conspecific frogs and confer a significant benefit to the caller. Mathematical modelling predicted a 24% increase in the active distance of a L. ewingii call in traffic noise with a frequency shift of this size. Crinia signifera may also call at a higher pitch in traffic noise, but more data are required to be confident of this effect. Because frog calls are innate rather than learned, the frequency shift demonstrated by L. ewingii may represent an evolutionary adaptation to noisy conditions. The phenomenon of frogs calling at a higher pitch in traffic noise could therefore constitute an intriguing trade-off between audibility and attractiveness to potential mates.

New degradation call admission control for increasing WCDMA system capacity

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Liu Ningqing; Lu Zhi; Gu Xuemai

2006-01-01

Propose a new degradation call admission control(DCAC)scheme, which can be used in wideband code division multiple access communication system. So-called degradation is that non-real time call has the characteristic of variable bit rate, so decreasing its bit rate can reduce the load of the system, consequently the system can admit new call which should be blocked when the system is close to full load, therefore new call's access probability increases. This paper brings forward design project and does system simulation, simulation proves that DCAC can effectively decrease calls' blocking probability and increase the total number of the on-line users.

Larval morphology and advertisement call of Phyllodytes acuminatus Bokermann, 1966 (Anura: Hylidae) from Northeastern Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)

Campos, Thamires F; De Lima, Marcelo G; Do Nascimento, Filipe Augusto C; Dos Santos, Ednilza M

2014-03-13

This paper describes the tadpole and advertisement call of Phyllodytes acuminatus, based on specimens from the Parque Nacional do Catimbau, in the municipality of Buíque, State of Pernambuco, Northeastern Brazil. The overall morphology of P. acuminatus tadpole is similar to that of most species of the genus. The presence of a double row of marginal papillae surrounding all the oral apparatus (except on most of the upper labium which has a dorsal gap) was a characteristic that differentiate P. acuminatus from the other species of the genus. Furthermore, the call structure of the species (unpulsed notes with harmonic structure) fits it in the group composed of P. kautskyi and P. melanomystax.

Measuring Group Care Worker Interventions in Residential Youth Care

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bastiaanssen, I.L.W.; Kroes, G.; Nijhof, K.S.; Delsing, M.J.M.H.; Engels, R.C.M.E.; Veerman, J.W.

2012-01-01

Background By interacting with children, group care workers shape daily living environments to influence treatment. Current literature provides little knowledge about the content of youth residential care. Objective In this study, a questionnaire called the Group care worker Intervention

The Role of Calling in Military Engagement