The conditions under which local government top managers become frustrated with the appfication of computers and electronic data processing (EDP) governmental operations are assessed. Using relative deprivation theory as a Conceptual framework, extensive empirical data are analyzed to explain current frustration with local government ED P. Five streams of explanation are evaluated: the politica...

This exploratory research examines the pharmaceutical inventory control practices of a local area hospital and demonstrates the utility of two alternative quantitative approaches. Pharmaceuticals represent a large cost factor for most hospitals due to the significant costs of these products and the storage and control requirements. The hospital stores drugs in the Central Pharmacy and at variou...

This study investigates how ownership forms affect managerial incentives and pricing in different competitive contexts. We explore how the difference in ownership form between franchised and company-owned units influences the incentives of the managers who take the day-to-day decisions that constitute interfirm rivalry. We argue that chains with company-owned units may restrict decision-making ...

OBJECTIVE this qualitative study aimed to analyze the perceptions of primary health care management nurses on the nursing process. METHOD data were collected through interviews and analyzed by the Content Analysis proposed by Bardin's theoretical framework. RESULTS managers recognize the importance of the nursing process, although its implementation was not a priority at the time of the int...

assignment of additional exploitation of rangelands including ecotourism to the natives in addition to compensation for residents is thought to prevent further destruction of the pastures. in doing so, the local communities are financially supported and so their participation rate will be higher in protecting and restoring of rangelands. lasem watershed is one of iran's rangelands with gre...

There is an increasing awareness among regional natural resource managers of the value of data collected by community groups. This includes monitoring of surface rivers, streams, lakes, reservoirs, wetlands, estuaries, coastal waters and groundwater. Water quality and condition data collected by community groups supplements information collected by state, regional and local resource management ...

Although partially observable Markov decision processes (POMDPs) have shown great promise as a framework for dialog management in spoken dialog systems, important scalability issues remain. This paper tackles the problem of scaling slot-filling POMDP-based dialog managers to many slots with a novel technique called composite point-based value iteration (CSPBVI). CSPBVI creates a “local” POMDP p...

Among the surprising developments during the 2007 year-of-climate-dawning was an abrupt change in the nature of dialog between scientists and natural-resource managers. In previous years the primary communication involved researchers talking with managers about climate change and its impacts on ecosystems. By early 2007 the significance of climate became widely embraced, and the conversation di...

This two-component study (descriptive cross-sectional and qualitative) assessed the availability of contraceptives in primary care clinics in Brazilian municipalities. The family planning program was also analyzed as part of the country's Family Health Strategy. Phone interviews were held with local health managers to obtain information on contraceptive supply in a selected sample of municipali...