1,720,982 research outputs found
Il sistema di controllo manageriale dei programmi comunitari della regione Toscana: meccanismi per superare l’approccio divisionale
No full textNell’ambito delle pubbliche amministrazioni, i sistemi di programmazione e controllo sono stati oggetto di un ampio e continuo processo di cambiamento nell’ottica della maggiore efficienza ed efficacia dell’azione amministrativa. Il presente lavoro intende contribuire alla dottrina che considera il controllo un “pacchetto” di vari meccanismi focalizzandosi, in modo particolare, sul contributo che tale sistema può offrire per favorire il superamento dell’approccio divisionale. A tal fine, oggetto specifico di analisi sarà l’approccio alla gestione dei fondi comunitari adottato nel corso degli ultimi anni dalla regione Toscana.Public administrations have experienced, and still are experiencing, a wide and continuous process
of change of their management control systems aiming at increasing their efficiency and effectiveness. This paper intends to contribute the doctrine that considers the management control systems
as a package of different mechanisms by focusing, in particular, on the contribution that this system
could offer to overcome the divisional approach. To this end, the paper will analyse the approach
adopted by the Tuscan region over the last years for managing its EU funds
PFIs Involving Multiple Public Partners: A Case Study from the Italian Health Care Sector
Full text linkThe financial crisis experienced by many countries since 2008 has given new importance to private finance initiatives (PFIs) for providing public services. This paper analyses the relationships between multiple public and private sector actors participating in a PFI in the healthcare sector in order to better understand the motives and behaviour of public and private sector partners. High levels of trust and the active participation of a regulatory body were found to be significant factors in terms of creating a partnership that benefits all sides
Seeking legitimacy: Social reporting in the healthcare sector
No full textThis study aims to contribute to the legitimacy theory by evaluating the legitimizing capacity of a social reporting practice performed by a healthcare trust. The study is based on an in-depth analysis of a significant case of social reporting by an healthcare trust, using a multi-method research approach.
The study revealed that a social report can provide legitimacy, although a number of factors may impede it. Managing these factors is crucial in order to avoid cynicism from stakeholders. Distrust may emerge when the social report is (mis)used to legitimize the management and the organization instead of the performance achieved
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Reproductive cytotoxic and genotoxic impact of polystyrene microplastic on Paracentrotus lividus spermatozoa
No full textIn recent decades, industrialization, intensive agriculture, and urban development have severely impacted marine environments, compromising the health of aquatic and terrestrial organisms. Inadequate disposal results in hundreds of tons of plastic products released annually into the environment, which degrade into microplastics (MPs), posing health risks due to their ability to biomagnify and bioaccumulate. Among these, polystyrene MPs (PS-MPs) are significant pollutants in marine ecosystems, widely studied for their reproductive toxicological effects. This research aimed to evaluate the reproductive cytotoxic and genotoxic effects of PS-MPs on sea urchin (Paracentrotus lividus) spermatozoa in vitro. Results showed that PS-MPs significantly reduced sperm viability and motility without altering morphology, and induced sperm DNA fragmentation mediated by reactive oxygen species production. Furthermore, head-to-head agglutination of the spermatozoa was observed exclusively in the sample treated with the plastic agents, indicating the ability of microplastics to adhere to the surface of sperm cells and form aggregates with microplastics on other sperm cells, thereby impeding movement and reducing reproductive potential. These findings suggest that PS-MPs can adversely affect the quality of sea urchin sperm, potentially impacting reproductive events
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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