1,721,028 research outputs found
ESG performance measures in universities’ strategic plans
No full textStrategic planning has been one of the main pillars of public sector reform, yet it has often focused on a narrow set of concerns and proven unable to capture “what matters” for public sector organizations, such as public universities. This research explores whether current trends towards sustainability practices can contribute to help bring public values back in the strategic objectives of universities, since they lead them to focus on broader social and environmental impacts. The article focuses on the inclusion of environmental, social and governance issues in the strategic plans of 13 Italian public universities. Findings shows that universities mostly incorporate social performance measures, partly disregarding environmental and governance dimensions and that the degree of integration of sustainability measures is mostly influenced by public management policies, mediated by pre-existing arrangements and factors
Using accreditation to leverage innovation in healthcare: Evidence from an oncological centre
No full textInnovations in healthcare help efforts to deliver effective and efficient services, an increasing policy imperative at a time of decreasing financial resources, ageing population and increasing expectations. At the same time, institutions have developed standards to help improve diagnosis, treatment and care. This article explores whether and how accreditation to international standards is used to leverage innovation, what type of change it fosters and what the main issues to be considered are. Evidence was collected from an oncological centre in Italy, a research institute at the forefront of innovation and among the first ones to acquire international recognition
New Atmospheric Pollution Indicators and Tools to Support Policy for Environmental Sustainable Development
No full textAir pollution, in particular high air pollution events, increase the effects of climate change on human health. It is necessary to undertake actions to prevent and minimize these adverse events with the aim of supporting a policy for environmental sustainable development. For this purpose science, industry and institutions became allies through an applied research project in the valley of Biferno on the Adriatic Sea shore in central Italy. The purpose of this project is to search for new atmospheric pollution indicators and tools to support a policy for environmental sustainable development, useful to tackle climate change. The EART (ENEA Atmosphere Research Team) of ENEA (Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development) has, with the cooperation of American, European and Russian research groups leading at the environmental level, investigated an industrial site through the concept of a "meteodiffusivity scenario". Meteodiffusivity is based on a new way to think of air quality, as the result of a strong interaction between emissions and local meteorological climatic factors. The micrometeorological parameters, and especially the Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) depth, modulate the airborne concentration of emissions, causing their build up or dispersion, depending on the atmospheric turbulence. Generally high air pollution events are affected by a low PBL height that prevents pollutant dispersion. High air pollution events frequently occur in anthropogenically polluted areas despite the fact that atmospheric emissions are checked and do not exceed legal limits. The meteodiffusivity method of analysis enables a more accurate interpretation of how the air quality of a place reacts to the pressure caused by anthropogenic activities, in order to try and mitigate the impact on the environment and human health. In fact, the control of local energy flows can reduce the negative effects of air quality on the land and climate. This innovative approach is based on new meteorological indicators and information tools in order to contribute to a development shift, from uncontrolled expansion to sustainability. The case study presented here is a project which was realized in lower Molise in the Biferno Valley, near Termoli (Molise Region, Italy), where a large manufacturing district coexists with a former fishing village that is now a well known tourist resort. The project execution and results were published in a volume entitled "Research on Environmental Management in a Coastal Industrial Area: new indicators and tools for air quality and river investigations" ISBN 9788860818997 and edited by Armando publishers. The book was presented for the first time at the conference NATO ARW "Climate Change, Human Health and National Security" in Dubrovnik from 28 to 30 April 2011. It is also available as a CD ROM. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012
Beyond Coronavirus: the role for knowledge management in schools responses to crisis
No full textThe unprecedented disruptions triggered by the Coronavirus pandemic have emphasised the need for strategies to navigate such large-scale crises and lead to the next normal. In particular, given their stewardship role and their provision of key services, public institutions cannot shut down but must even scale up their activities, while planning for an uncertain future. In order to explore these issues, this article looks at how schools, one of the most impacted services, in Italy, itself one of the first and most affected countries, dealt with lockdown and social distancing measures. By investigating how schools reacted to the crisis and focusing on their knowledge management strategies, the study highlights strategies to help educational institutions deal with large-scale crises and plan the new norm
Evaluation of the Performance of Public Sector Policies: Criteria, Future Evolution and Legal Regulation
No full textDespite the continuous process of public sector reforms, the problem of integrating decisions regarding the use of budget expenditure allocations with the results obtained remains controversial. The need for a greater comprehension of economic and financial performance requires understanding what the possible methods, experiences and most appropriate processes are to achieve strategic and political objectives, to maintain and improve the quality of services on the one hand and to ensure the effectiveness of the administrative function on the other. This paper focuses on deepening the discourse on evaluation process of public spending performance and its legal framework, as it provides insights into the entire process of development of approaches for evaluating performance, as well as for further assessment processes. The paper contributes to extend the debate on the organizational, methodological and legal basis for managing the process of evaluating public spending in terms of performance
Can amalgamations deliver? Barriers to local government mergers from an historical institutionalist perspective
No full textMunicipal amalgamations raise high expectations, but often do not deliver as expected. This paper analyses how pre-existing institutional and service delivery arrangements influence the expected outcomes of amalgamations in terms of cost reductions and service delivery enhancement. In the light of an historical institutionalist background, the authors analyse five cases of voluntary mergers in Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy, between 2014 and 2017. The findings contribute to research on local government consolidation and to the analysis of reform implementation and policy change where intent, process and uncertainty play a crucial role
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
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
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