scholarly journals Barriers to Transnational Passenger Rail Services in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina – A Qualitative Perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 689-703
Author(s):  
Tadej Brezina ◽  
Borna Abramović ◽  
Denis Šipuš ◽  
Takeru Shibayama
Keyword(s):  
Bosnia And Herzegovina ◽  
Performance Indicators ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Positive Development ◽  
Institutional Barriers ◽  
Effect Analysis ◽  
Passenger Rail ◽  
Clear Vision ◽  
Downward Spiral

Railway infrastructures and services in the countries of former Yugoslavia have been in a downward spiral since the early 1990s. There have been scattered investments to lift services up to appealing levels after the war, but a continuous downward trend persists in all important performance indicators. After war-attributed abandonment, numerous lines lost services permanently, numbers of services dwindled, especially across borders, and service speeds decreased. This research takes Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina specifically as survey objects. It aims to identify the barriers in these two countries that withheld passenger rail from a positive development as in other European countries during the same period. For this purpose we carried out 11 interviews with stakeholders in various railway-related institutions. The transcripts are analysed qualitatively with thematic analysis to gain an overview of organisational and institutional barriers for development of railways. This is followed by a cause-effect analysis with Causal Loop Diagramming. The result: ad-hoc decision-making is clearly connected to the insignificance of railways. As immediate measures to counter the downward spiral by means of strategic long term planning, we identify (1) service benchmarking, (2) a clear vision for improvement of service quality, and (3) empowerment of ministries in a long term.

Strategic planning in grassland farming: Principles andapplications

1997 ◽  
pp. 191-197
Author(s):  
W.J. Parker ◽  
N.M. Shadbolt ◽  
D.I. Gray
Keyword(s):  
Strategic Planning ◽  
Performance Indicators ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Key Performance Indicators ◽  
Strategic Plans ◽  
Effective Manner ◽  
Farm Business ◽  
Pastoral Farming ◽  
Financial Environment

Three levels of planning can be distinguished in grassland farming: strategic, tactical and operational. The purpose of strategic planning is to achieve a sustainable long-term fit of the farm business with its physical, social and financial environment. In pastoral farming, this essentially means developing plans that maximise and best match pasture growth with animal demand, while generating sufficient income to maintain or enhance farm resources and improvements, and attain personal and financial goals. Strategic plans relate to the whole farm business and are focused on the means to achieve future needs. They should be routinely (at least annually) reviewed and monitored for effectiveness through key performance indicators (e.g., Economic Farm Surplus) that enable progress toward goals to be measured in a timely and cost-effective manner. Failure to link strategy with control is likely to result in unfulfilled plans. Keywords: management, performance

scholarly journals Public reporting of performance measures in long-term care in Canada: does it make a difference?

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
M Poldrugovac ◽  
J E Amuah ◽  
H Wei-Randall ◽  
P Sidhom ◽  
K Morris ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Performance Measures ◽  
Performance Indicators ◽  
Long Term Care ◽  
Public Reporting ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Care Facilities ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background Evidence of the impact of public reporting of healthcare performance on quality improvement is not yet sufficient to draw conclusions with certainty, despite the important policy implications. This study explored the impact of implementing public reporting of performance indicators of long-term care facilities in Canada. The objective was to analyse whether improvements can be observed in performance measures after publication. Methods We considered 16 performance indicators in long-term care in Canada, 8 of which are publicly reported at a facility level, while the other 8 are privately reported. We analysed data from the Continuing Care Reporting System managed by the Canadian Institute for Health Information and based on information collection with RAI-MDS 2.0 © between the fiscal years 2011 and 2018. A multilevel model was developed to analyse time trends, before and after publication, which started in 2015. The analysis was also stratified by key sample characteristics, such as the facilities' jurisdiction, size, urban or rural location and performance prior to publication. Results Data from 1087 long-term care facilities were included. Among the 8 publicly reported indicators, the trend in the period after publication did not change significantly in 5 cases, improved in 2 cases and worsened in 1 case. Among the 8 privately reported indicators, no change was observed in 7, and worsening in 1 indicator. The stratification of the data suggests that for those indicators that were already improving prior to public reporting, there was either no change in trend or there was a decrease in the rate of improvement after publication. For those indicators that showed a worsening trend prior to public reporting, the contrary was observed. Conclusions Our findings suggest public reporting of performance data can support change. The trends of performance indicators prior to publication appear to have an impact on whether further change will occur after publication. Key messages Public reporting is likely one of the factors affecting change in performance in long-term care facilities. Public reporting of performance measures in long-term care facilities may support improvements in particular in cases where improvement was not observed before publication.

A Downward Spiral? A Panel Study of Misinformation and Media Trust in Chile

2021 ◽  
pp. 194016122110252
Author(s):  
Sebastián Valenzuela ◽  
Daniel Halpern ◽  
Felipe Araneda
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Panel Survey ◽  
Downward Spiral ◽  
The Media ◽  
Media Trust ◽  
People’S Attitudes ◽  
Over Time

Despite widespread concern, research on the consequences of misinformation on people's attitudes is surprisingly scant. To fill in this gap, the current study examines the long-term relationship between misinformation and trust in the news media. Based on the reinforcing spirals model, we analyzed data from a three-wave panel survey collected in Chile between 2017 and 2019. We found a weak, over-time relationship between misinformation and media skepticism. Specifically, initial beliefs on factually dubious information were negatively correlated with subsequent levels of trust in the news media. Lower trust in the media, in turn, was related over time to higher levels of misinformation. However, we found no evidence of a reverse, parallel process where media trust shielded users against misinformation, further reinforcing trust in the news media. The lack of evidence of a downward spiral suggests that the corrosive effects of misinformation on attitudes toward the news media are less serious than originally suggested. We close with a discussion of directions for future research.

No Longer Disabled: The Legal Impact of the New Social Construction of HIV

1997 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-43
Author(s):  
Wendy E. Parmet ◽  
Daniel J. Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Chronic Disease ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
Social Problem ◽  
Positive Development ◽  
Hiv Disease ◽  
Term Survival ◽  
Medical Interventions ◽  
Terminal Disease ◽  
Hiv Epidemic

The second social construction of HIV disease has begun. In the first fifteen years of the HIV epidemic, many viewed the disease “as the modern plague.” Now, as the epidemic matures and new “miracle treatments" are heralded, the disease is beginning to conjure a very different set of images. Where once AIDS was dreaded as the inexplicable cataclysm of the end of the millennium, now, as the virus appears amenable to treatment, we are beginning to see the disease as something both preventable and controllable, no longer beyond human direction. And, where the disease was once synonymous with death, disability, and decline, we now witness stories of miracle recoveries and long-term survival. In the minds of many, the terminal disease has become the chronic disease; the dreaded plague has become but another social problem.In most respects, the new social construction of HIV, emerging from the advent of potentially effective medical interventions, is a positive development.

BUSINESS-LEVEL STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT IN CROATIAN TOURISM

2003 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-78
Author(s):  
Vinka Cetinski ◽  
Slobodan Ivanović
Keyword(s):  
Strategic Management ◽  
Management System ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Positive Development ◽  
Capital Investments ◽  
Strategic Decisions ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Tourist Destinations ◽  
Management Concept

There are few activities so susceptible to the impacts of the macro environment as tourism. In conditions of growing uncertainty, the importance of strategic management is steadily increasing. By studying the environment, by anticipating the future development and implication of trends on enterprises, and by developing appropriate strategies at a number of levels, strategic management seeks to actively influence the increase o f competitive advantages o f both the tourist destinations and tourist enterprises. The term “strategic management” implies a set of management decisions and actions that determine the long-term operations o f enterprises within the management system of tourism: guiding the enterprise by anticipating crucial environmental impacts and internal factors. This management concept is based on the assumption that making properly oriented strategic decisions minimizes the negative effects of the environment and creates strategic advantages for enterprises that can be capitalised only in the medium and long term (Čizmar S. (2001) Strateško upravljanje u funkciji učinkovitog razvoja turističkog ugostiteljstva u Hrvatskoj, doctoral dissertation, University o f Zagreb, Faculty of Economics, Zagreb, p. 3). It represents an integrated approach to strategic management that is the most acceptable for the development of Croatian tourism, as long-term positive results, in both market and financial terms, can be achieved by enterprises within the tourism management system of Croatia only by applying an integrated approach to strategic management, by horizontally and vertically linking the elements of all subsystems of the entire management system and by creating partnering relationships. The Croatian model of strategic management should involve the economic optimisation of all subsystems and systems by establishing efficiency not only across all subsystem elements, but through the system as a whole as well. The level of growth in entrepreneurship and innovations will determine the intensity and speed of positive development changes. These changes will also depend on establishing management responsibilities throughout all segments and managements levels of all subsystems, as well as tourism as an integral system. This paper deals with the issues of strategic management at a micro level with special emphasis on the development of responsibility for managing performance and capital investments.

Bildungsgerechtigkeit in der Krise: Welche potenziellen Auswirkungen hat die Corona-Pandemie auf die frühe Bildung?

2021 ◽  
Vol 70 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 419-435
Author(s):  
Susanne Lochner ◽  
Katharina Kopp
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Educational Inequality ◽  
Educational Equality ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Care Facilities ◽  
Frühe Bildung ◽  
The One

Die Maßnahmen zur Eindämmung der Covid-19-Pandemie trafen Familien mit kleinen Kindern besonders hart: Ausgangsbeschränkungen, die Abriegelung von Spielplätzen und allem voran die Schließungen von Kinderbetreuungseinrichtungen stellten nicht nur den familiären Alltag auf den Kopf, sondern haben möglicherweise auch langfristige Folgen für die altersgerechte Entwicklung und den Kompetenzerwerb von Kindern. Dieser Beitrag widmet sich der Frage, welche Auswirkungen sich aus den Einschränkungen des Kita-­Betriebs in der Corona-Pandemie auf die Bildungsgerechtigkeit in der frühen Kindheit ergeben können. Da keine vergleichbaren historischen Ereignisse zur Prognose von potenziellen Auswirkungen herangezogen werden können, werden zum einen die Ergebnisse von Wirksamkeitsstudien zu institutionalisierter früher Bildung aufbereitet und zum anderen erste Befunde aus ad-hoc Erhebungen des ersten Lockdowns im Frühjahr 2020 analysiert. Bilanzierend werden aus den Befunden mögliche kurz-, mittel- und langfristige Auswirkungen abgeleitet, die Bildungsungerechtigkeit bereits in der frühen Kindheit verstärken können. Abstract: Educational Equality in the Crisis: What Impact does the Corona Pandemic have on Early Childhood Education? The actions taken to contain the Covid-19 pandemic hit families with young children particularly hard. Social restrictions, the closure of playgrounds and, above all, the lockdown of day-care facilities did not only turn everyday family life upside down, but could also have long-term consequences for child development and acquisition of skills. This article is devoted to the question of what effects the measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic can have on educational equality in early childhood. Since no comparable historical events can be used to forecast potential impacts, the results of efficacy studies on institutionalized early education are reported on the one hand and initial findings from ad-hoc surveys conducted during the first lockdown in spring 2020 are ana­lyzed on the other. The findings suggest short, middle and long-term effects of the corona measures taken that can intensify educational inequality in early childhood.

Evolutionary morphology: beyond the analogous, the anecdotal, and the ad hoc

Paleobiology ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel C. Fisher
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Reproductive Potential ◽  
Context Dependency ◽  
Evolutionary Morphology ◽  
Structured Design ◽  
Behavioral System ◽  
Essential Components ◽  
History Of

Many questions have emerged recently regarding the importance and methodology of analysis of adaptation. Divergent views reflect both problems of definition and more substantive issues of interpretation. Defining the state of adaptation in terms of its contribution to current fitness, rather than origin by natural selection, is essential if natural selection is to be considered anexplanationof adaptation. The context dependency and relativity of fitness apply also to adaptation. Design criteria are essential components of adaptation, but only to the extent that they are subsumed as elements of the causal interactions determining relative reproductive potential. The local, relational, contingent character of adaptation supports only limited reference to improvement. Most long-term patterns of change can be better described as diffusion within a structured design-space than as progressive improvement of design. The analysis of adaptation is part of a broader inquiry into the processes and constraints that control form and the history of changing form. It offers one perspective on how organisms operate on ecological time scales and how their configurations might be maintained or transformed over evolutionary time. Hypotheses concerning adaptation are sometimes tested by reference to predictions concerning the central tendency or trend of some aspect of an anatomical-behavioral system. These can be interpreted with minimal reference to assumptions of optimality if the analysis is viewed in terms of Bayesian inference. However, an alternative and frequently preferable approach to testing relies on limit-oriented predictions. Analysis of adaptation can be visualized as inferring the pattern and nature of interactions comprising the causal plexus that determines fitness. A comprehensive understanding of form and form-change requires that this be integrated with the perspective offered by studies of development, genetics, phylogenetic history, and external perturbations acting on the system.

scholarly journals Establishing an ad hoc COVID-19 mortality surveillance during the first epidemic wave in Belgium, 1 March to 21 June 2020

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (48) ◽  
Author(s):  
Françoise Renard ◽  
Aline Scohy ◽  
Johan Van der Heyden ◽  
Ilse Peeters ◽  
Sara Dequeker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Participation Rate ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Data Flows ◽  
Care Facilities ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
High Level ◽  
Mortality Surveillance ◽  
Related Mortality

Background COVID-19-related mortality in Belgium has drawn attention for two reasons: its high level, and a good completeness in reporting of deaths. An ad hoc surveillance was established to register COVID-19 death numbers in hospitals, long-term care facilities (LTCF) and the community. Belgium adopted broad inclusion criteria for the COVID-19 death notifications, also including possible cases, resulting in a robust correlation between COVID-19 and all-cause mortality. Aim To document and assess the COVID-19 mortality surveillance in Belgium. Methods We described the content and data flows of the registration and we assessed the situation as of 21 June 2020, 103 days after the first death attributable to COVID-19 in Belgium. We calculated the participation rate, the notification delay, the percentage of error detected, and the results of additional investigations. Results The participation rate was 100% for hospitals and 83% for nursing homes. Of all deaths, 85% were recorded within 2 calendar days: 11% within the same day, 41% after 1 day and 33% after 2 days, with a quicker notification in hospitals than in LTCF. Corrections of detected errors reduced the death toll by 5%. Conclusion Belgium implemented a rather complete surveillance of COVID-19 mortality, on account of a rapid investment of the hospitals and LTCF. LTCF could build on past experience of previous surveys and surveillance activities. The adoption of an extended definition of ‘COVID-19-related deaths’ in a context of limited testing capacity has provided timely information about the severity of the epidemic.

scholarly journals Fiskalni multiplikatori i tranzicijske zemlje

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 83
Author(s):  
Željko Marić
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Bosnia And Herzegovina ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Public Spending ◽  
The State ◽  
Fiscal Multipliers ◽  
The Public ◽  
Main Driver ◽  
Keynesian Economic

Bosnia and Herzegovina is in a state of long-term recession. Under these conditions, the State would have to apply the Keynesian economic policy instead of the neoclassical free market policy. This means that the State should take on the role of the main driver of economic development by increasing public spending and the fiscal consolidation. In doing so, it is very important to understand and evaluate the fiscal multipliers, as the successful application of the Keynesian policy depends exclusively on them. The aim of this paper is, after conducting an analysis of determinants and limitations of the fiscal multipliers within the conditions present in transition countries, to provide guidance on how to conduct the public spending policy, together with the monetary policy and structural reforms which would reduce the possible limitations regarding the effect of fiscal multipliers, thus increasing their impact on economic development. The analysis will be conducted on the example of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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