12,409 research outputs found
Climatic variables and transmission of malaria: a 12-year data analysis in Shuchen County, China
No full textOBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to explore the impact of climate variability on the transmission of malaria, a vector-borne disease, in a county of China and provide suggestions to similar regions for disease prevention. METHODS: A time-series analysis was conducted using data on monthly climatic variables and monthly incidence of malaria in Shuchen County, China, for the period 1980-1991. RESULTS: Spearman's correlation analysis showed that monthly mean maximum and minimum temperatures, two measures of monthly mean relative humidity, and monthly amount of precipitation were positively correlated with the monthly incidence of malaria in the county. Regression analysis suggested that monthly mean minimum temperature and total monthly rainfall, with a one-month lagged effect, were significant climatic variables in the transmission of malaria in Shuchen County. Seasonality was also significant in the regression model and there was a declining secular trend in the incidence of malaria. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that climatic variables should be considered as possible predictors for regions with similar geographic, climatic, and socioeconomic conditions to those of Shuchen County.Peng Bi, Shilu Tong, Ken Donald, Kevin A Parton, Jinfa N
Effektiv endringsledelse
No full textBacheloroppgave i Human Resource Management fra Handelshøyskolen BI, 2019Denne oppgaven tar for seg temaet rundt bruken av motivasjon og
kommunikasjon som et virkemiddel for å skape en effektiv endringsledelse. Dette
gjøres ved å gå dypere inn i selvbestemmelsesteorien av Deci & Ryan (1985). På
denne måten skapes det en innsikt i relevante metoder hvor motivasjonsfaktorer
har et innspill. Det har blitt utført et strukturert intervju for ledere og ansatte. I
oppgaven ble det undersøkt om informantene var klare over hva de forskjellige
motivasjonsfaktorene var og hvordan dette hadde en påvirkning på virksomheten.
Oppgaven tar videre for seg temaer som omhandler endringsledelse, motivasjon,
lederens evne, veiledning og oppfølging, kommunikasjon og ulike ledelsesstiler. I
oppgaven blir det utformet et forskningsspørsmål som er basert på
problemstillingen for oppgaven.
Forskningsspørsmålet er grunnlaget for hele analyse-, resultat- og diskusjonsdelen
ved prosjektet. Problemstilling er som følgende:
«Hvordan kan ledere ved bruk av motivasjon, kommunikasjon
og teambuilding skape en effektiv endringsledelse?»
Resultatene indikerer at forskningsspørsmålet har fått frem ulike metoder som
fremmer motivasjon og kommunikasjon ved en arbeidsplass og hvordan ledere
kan implementere disse metodene for å oppnå sine mål. Oppgaven starter med å
anta at menneskene er den viktigste ressursen til en organisasjon. Uten motiverte
mennesker som alltid er ute etter å forbedre hadde ikke en organisasjon eksistert
El Nino-Southern oscillation and vector-borne diseases in Anhui, China
No full textThis paper examines the relationship between monthly Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) and monthly incidences of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) and malaria in Anhui Province, China, over the periods 1971-1992 and 1966-1987, respectively. On the basis of monthly data over a 22-year period, results indicated that there were positive and negative relationships, respectively, between the SOI and monthly incidences of malaria and HFRS. The results suggest that the SOI could be used as an index in the study of the association of climate variability with the transmission of such diseases, particularly over larger areas, such as at a provincial or even state level, where averaging rainfall or temperature data across regions is inappropriateP. Bi, K.A. Parton and S. Tonghttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1601142
Climate variability and the Dengue outbreak in Townsville, Queensland, 1992-93
No full textAlthough Australia is free of local dengue transmission, there have been several outbreaks of dengue in Queensland since 1981 because of importation of dengue cases. This study was conducted on monthly time-series data of the dengue outbreak in Townsville in 1992 and 1993. It used graphic assessment, Spearman correlation, AutoRegressive Integrated Moving Average and Generalised Least Square regression analyses. The results showed that the annual mean minimum temperature in the outbreak years was 0.6°C higher than that in non-outbreak years. Monthly mean maximum and minimum temperatures, total amounts of precipitation and relative humidity four months earlier were significantly correlated with the monthly attack rate of the disease. The regression analysis suggested that monthly mean minimum temperature with a four-month lagged effect was the strongest climatic predictor of the dengue fever outbreak and indicated that it was important in dengue transmission. However, the relationship between climatic variables and dengue fever needs to be viewed within a wider context of other social and environmental factors, such as population growth, human behaviour, house conditions and vector control programs. Vigilance in control and prevention of dengue fever may need to be increased in Australia because of possible climate change with temperature increases.Bi, Peng , Shilu Tong, Ken Donald, Kevin A. Parton and Jack Hobb
Effect of climate change on Australian rural and remote regions: What do we know and what do we need to know?
No full textThe definitive version may be found at www.wiley.comThis paper addresses a very important issue in Australian rural and remote regions: the effects of climate change on various aspects including natural resources, agricultural activity, population health, and social and economic development. The objective is to briefly characterise the consequences of climate change in rural Australia and what we can do to prevent further impact in our rural communities.Peng Bi and Kevin A. Parto
Climatic, reservoir and occupational variables and the transmission of haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome in China
No full textBACKGROUND: Being a zoonosis, the transmission of haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) is influenced by climatic, reservoir and occupational factors. This paper has quantified the incidence and potential risk factors of HFRS in Yingshang County, a low-lying epidemic focus of the disease in China. METHODS: Correlation and regression analyses were conducted among climatic variables, the density of mice, autumn crop production and annual incidence of HFRS during the autumn-winter seasons in the County over the period 1980-1996. Results Rainfall (r = -0.63, P = 0.009), the density of mice (r = 0.90, P = 0.000) and autumn crop production (r = 0.67, P = 0.01) were statistically correlated with the incidence of HFRS. Multiple regression analysis indicated that these factors are potential predictors for HFRS transmission. CONCLUSIONS: Rainfall, the density of mice and autumn crop production could be used as predictors of HFRS transmission in low-lying epidemic foci.Peng Bi, Shilu Tong, Ken Donald, Kevin Parton and Jinfa N
Iranian hospitality: a hidden treasure
No full textAfter making many field trips to the Islamic Republic of Iran Kevin O'Gorman reflects on the origins of Islamic and Iranian hospitality before highlighting some of the operational complexities of running the one of the highest hotels in the world
A case study of business intelligence applications for business users
No full textThis research is conducted in two parts, with the first part reviewing the standard industry approach to providing organisations with business intelligence (BI) architecture. The discussion begins with a brief history of the evolution of data warehouses and business intelligence (DW/BI) systems. The generic approach to developing a DW/BI is described and the interfaces and features of BI applications are explored as to how they support the various user roles within an organisation e.g. executive, business user and business analyst. The discussion is presented using references to the Zachman Framework. The second part of the research focuses on a case study examining an organisation's implementation of a bespoke BI solution which is supporting its business managers with decision support, reporting and analysis. Where today's business intelligence is about giving business users the tools to get the information they need out of the data warehouse and thus reducing the reliance on IT departments, the bespoke solution studied puts the reliance on IT staff to support their business intelligence requirements. The BI requirements are compared and contrasted against the features of third party BI tools to reach a conclusion as to whether they support the reporting needs of the planning group in the case study or whether their needs are so specific that a bespoke solution is the best option and thus reliance on IT departments is still necessary to support the delivery of business intelligence. The findings from the first part of the research are the view that for the successful development of BI applications the BI user's needs should be addressed from the requirements stage, and the development of BI applications should run as a parallel activity alongside the data warehouse development activities. The BI applications should be developed by BI developers who have knowledge of the business, rather than technical IT staff. This view is supported by leading DW/BI authors such Kimball et al. (2008). The research also found the needs of the BI application users can be analysed by grouping them into one of five classifications of user - Tourists, Farmers, Explorers, Miners and Operators and that different user interfaces are needed to support their needs. The case study in the second part of the research found that the implementation of the DW/BI system in SAP using SAP BEx software fails to provide planning staff with BI applications that meet with all their reporting and analysis needs and has therefore led to the development of bespoke applications. The findings suggest that this may be because the planning staff were not involved at the scoping and planning stage of developing the DW/BI. The investigations found that most of the features in the bespoke BI system could be developed using a third party solution and that they are available in the SAP family of products. The level of expertise needed to develop the features ranged from easy to technical. The adoption of a third party tool could be used to develop the reports by the BI application developers identified by Kimball et al. (2008) and provide the planning managers with an intuitive and flexible user interface that can be easily customised and maintained. It was also found that SAP BusinessObject's Crystal Reports provide a rich user interface that is easy to use to support most of the BI features
Client-consultant interaction practices: Sources of ingenuity, value creation and strategizing
No full textService providers increasingly choose to interact with their clients. Previous studies show that client’s resources and activities can influence the service provider’s ability to create value, to be creative, and to develop competitive strategies. Yet several gaps can be identified in the literature regarding how these abilities are impacted by client-consultant interaction (c-c-i) practices. The purpose of this doctoral thesis is to explain the service providers’ varying ability to offer highly valuable solutions to their clients’ problems, in terms of the practices through which consultants interact with their clients. The main research questions are;
How do client-consultant interaction practices influence a firm’s ability to offer unique value propositions and deliver ingenious solutions, and how do these practices influence the formation of the firm’s strategy? These questions are answered through four papers. Each paper answers a sub-question.
Paper 1 focuses on the impact of c-c-i practices on the service providers’ ingenuity capabilities. The paper asks how project teams shatter constraints in ill-structured problem-solving situations, and what implications this finding has for the understanding of creative action in organizations. This paper sheds light on the c-c-i practices through which project teams shatter their constraints and create ingenious solutions.
Paper 2 focuses on the creative aspects of c-c-i practices and presents the experiences of service providers who have been successful in capitalizing on the creative resources provided by their clients.
Paper 3 is an inquiry into the relationship between c-c-i practices and the service providers’ ability to offer unique value propositions. The paper provides a model to define and assess value created through c-c-i practices. The findings of this paper show that value creation is maximized through c-c-i practices that provide access to various forms of capital and practice that enable capital exploitation. Unique value offerings can be developed from knowing what c-c-i practices to enact in different circumstances.
Paper 4 focuses on the implications of c-c-i practices for the emergence of new strategies. The findings show that mundane business operations can be the locus of strategizing, and that clients can play a role in emergent strategy formation. Theoretical resources for this research are drawn from literature on practice theory, strategy, organizational creativity, and value creation. An explorative research design is used and qualitative data are gathered from 30 cases through extensive field work. Both in-depth and comparative case analyses are performed
Effective email marketing: an empirical study of the impact of personalized communication on customer engagement and purchase decisions
No full textMasteroppgave(MSc) in Master of Science in Business, Marketing - Handelshøyskolen BI, 2019This study investigates the impact of behavior-based personalization on
customer engagement and purchase behavior in the context of email marketing. For
this purpose, the author reviews and combines the following research streams in the
literature: email marketing, personalization of marketing communication, and
customer engagement.
To answer the research question at hand, the author designs a field study in
collaboration with Kahoot! AS, a fast-growing Norwegian start-up company
operating in the education technology industry. Kahoot!’s game-based learning and
trivia platform is used in multiple settings – school and university classrooms,
business training and presentations, social, cultural, and other events (retrieved
from kahoot.com). By leveraging marketing automation technology, which
Kahoot! uses for the email campaigns’ creation and management, the author sets
up and runs the experiment. Findings of the study provide marketing managers with
useful insights on the effectiveness of behavior-based personalization in the email
marketing context as well as contribute to the ongoing academic discussion about
personalized marketing communication and customer engagement.
The results reveal that email communication has a significant positive effect
on customer engagement irrespective of behavior-based personalization. This
proves that email is an effective marketing communication channel, and it should,
therefore, remain a key part of the digital media mix used by marketers. However,
based on the lack of a significant difference in the effectiveness of personalized and
non-personalized email campaigns, the author recommends focusing more on highquality
generic content and the design of the email messages. Furthermore,
consistent with the viewpoints of researchers in the field, the study confirms that
customer engagement is a significant predictor of customer purchases, leading to
the conclusion that firms should invest in customer engagement marketing
initiatives to ultimately achieve better firm performance
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