Sustainable Business Models – What Do Management Theories Say?

Literature describing the notion and practice of business models has grown considerably over the last few years. Innovative business models appear in every sector of the economy challenging traditional ways of creating and capturing value. However, research describing the theoretical foundations of the field is scarce and many questions still remain. This article examines business models promoting various aspects of sustainable development and tests the explanatory power of two theoretical approaches, namely the resource based view of the firm and transaction cost theory regarding their emergence and successful market performance. Through the examples of industrial ecology and the sharing economy the author shows that a sharp reduction of transaction costs (e.g. in the form of internet based systems) coupled with resources widely available but not utilised before may result in fast growing new markets. This research also provides evidence regarding the notion that these two theoretical approaches can complement each other in explaining corporate behaviour.

Taxonomy of Institutional Issues that Act as Barriers to the Implementation of Pavement Management Systems, 1994

The benefits of pavement management system when fully implemented are well known and the history of successful implementation is rich. Implementation occurs, for purposes of this paper, when the pavement management system is the critical component for making pavement decisions. This paper addresses the issues that act as barriers to full implementation of pavement management systems. Institutional barriers, not technical and financial barriers, are more commonly responsible for a pavement management systems falling short of full implementation. The paper groups these institutional issues into a general taxonomy. In general, more effort needs to be put forth by highway agencies to overcome institutional issues. Most agencies approach pavement management as a technical process, but more commonly, institutional issues become more problematic and thus require more attention paid to institutional issues. The paper concludes by summarizing the implementation process being taken by the Iowa Department of Transportation. The process was designed to overcome institutional barriers and facilitate the complete and full implementation of their pavement management system.

Exploring Habitability Markers, Biosignatures, and Their False Positives Using Spectral Models of Terrestrial Exoplanets

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-08

Models of the user: designers’ perspectives on influencing sustainable behaviour

Influencing more environmentally friendly and sustainable behaviour is a current focus of many projects, ranging from government social marketing campaigns, education and tax structures to designers’ work on interactive products, services and environments. There is a wide variety of techniques and methods used, intended to work via different sets of cognitive and environmental principles. These approaches make different assumptions about ‘what people are like’: how users will respond to behavioural interventions, and why, and in the process reveal some of the assumptions that designers and other stakeholders, such as clients commissioning a project, make about human nature. This paper discusses three simple models of user behaviour – the pinball, the shortcut and the thoughtful – which emerge from user experience designers’ statements about users while focused on designing for behaviour change. The models are characterised using systems terminology and the application of each model to design for sustainable behaviour is examined via a series of examples.

An appraisal of adaptive management planning and implementation in ecological restoration: case studies from the San Francisco Bay Delta, USA

Adaptive management has been defined and redefined in the context of natural resource management, yet there are few examples of its successful application in ecological restoration. Although the 2009 Delta Reform Act now legally requires adaptive management for all restoration efforts in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, in California, USA, projects in this region still encounter problems with implementation. We used a comparative case study analysis to examine adaptive management planning and implementation both in and around the Delta, assessing not only why adaptive management is not yet well implemented, but also what changes can be made to facilitate the adaptive management approach without sacrificing scientific rigor. Adaptive management seems to be directly and indirectly affected by a variety of challenges and convoluted by ambiguity in both planning documents and practitioner’s interpretations of the concept. Addressing these challenges and ambiguities at the project level may facilitate the adaptive management process and help make it more accessible to practitioners.

Do U.S. and Colombian macro factors improve the forecasting ability of unrestricted VAR models of the local term structure of interest rate?

Este estudio empírico compara la capacidad de los modelos Vectores auto-regresivos (VAR) sin restricciones para predecir la estructura temporal de las tasas de interés en Colombia -- Se comparan modelos VAR simples con modelos VAR aumentados con factores macroeconómicos y financieros colombianos y estadounidenses -- Encontramos que la inclusión de la información de los precios del petróleo, el riesgo de crédito de Colombia y un indicador internacional de la aversión al riesgo mejora la capacidad de predicción fuera de la muestra de los modelos VAR sin restricciones para vencimientos de corto plazo con frecuencia mensual -- Para vencimientos de mediano y largo plazo los modelos sin variables macroeconómicas presentan mejores pronósticos sugiriendo que las curvas de rendimiento de mediano y largo plazo ya incluyen toda la información significativa para pronosticarlos -- Este hallazgo tiene implicaciones importantes para los administradores de portafolios, participantes del mercado y responsables de las políticas

In vivo models of lung neutrophil activation. Comparison of mice and hamsters

BACKGROUND: Evidence suggests that both the migration and activation of neutrophils into the airway is of importance in pathological conditions such as pulmonary emphysema. In the present study, we describe in vivo models of lung neutrophil infiltration and activation in mice and hamsters. RESULTS: BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice were intranasally treated with lipopolysaccharide (0.3 mg/kg). Twenty-four hours after, animals were treated intranasally with N-Formyl-Met-Leu-Phe (0 to 5 mg/kg). Golden Syrian hamsters were treated intratracheally with 0.5 mg/kg of lipopolysaccharide. Twenty-four hours after, animals were treated intratracheally with 0.25 mg/kg of N-Formyl-Met-Leu-Phe. Both mice and hamster were sacrificed two hours after the N-Formyl-Met-Leu-Phe application. In both BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice, a neutrophil infiltration was observed after the sequential application of lipopolysaccharide and N-Formyl-Met-Leu-Phe. However, 5 times less neutrophil was found in C57BL/6 mice when compared to BALB/c mice. This was reflected in the neutrophil activation parameters measured (myeloperoxidase and elastase activities). Despite the presence of neutrophil and their activation status, no lung haemorrhage could be detected in both strains of mice. When compared with mice, the lung inflammation induced by the sequential application of lipopolysaccharide and N-Formyl-Met-Leu-Phe was much greater in the hamster. In parallel with this lung inflammation, a significant lung haemorrhage was also observed. CONCLUSIONS: Both mouse and hamster can be used for pharmacological studies of new drugs or other therapeutics agents that aimed to interfere with neutrophil activation. However, only the hamster model seems to be suitable for studying the haemorrhagic lung injury process

PROPOSTA DE MODELO DE MEDIÇÕES PARA CONTRATAÇÃO DO GERENCIAMENTO DE PROCESSO DE NEGÓCIO (BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT- BPM)

O Gerenciamento de Processo de Negócio (Business Process Management- BPM) tem sido uma prática adotada pelas organizações públicas e privadas. O BPM possibilita a identificação eficaz das necessidades e das informações necessárias para suportar a operacionalização ou a automatização do processo de negócio. Considerando que as organizações têm necessitado terceirizar esse serviço, o objetivo desse trabalho foi propor um modelo de medição para contratação dos serviços de BPM. Para atender a esse objetivo, o modelo conceitual construído partiu da premissa que a gestão da contratação de um BPM deve fornecer critérios para mensurar a demanda, ou serviço, avaliar a qualidade dos serviços prestados e a qualidade do produto recebido. O estudo adotou como instrumentos de coleta de dados a pesquisa documental e a revisão sistemática. Com base nos objetivos e questões de pesquisa foram identificados os strings para busca, definidas as fontes de busca, critérios de inclusão e exclusão dos resultados. Todos os trabalhos selecionados foram lidos e analisados e foi utilizado um mapa mental para consolidação dos resultados. Foi utilizado o GQM (Goal, Questions, Metrics) para a elaboração das medições e adotado o estudo de caso. Parte das medições propostas foram aplicadas em 13 modelos de processo de negócio do mundo real com o objetivo de verificar sua coerência e comparar os resultados. Foi realizada entrevista com especialista em modelagem de processos de negócios para avaliar os resultados obtidos e, na percepção deste especialista a maior parte das métricas propostas pela pesquisa é adequada à realidade de mercado, considerando o contexto de terceirização desse serviço.

The role of knowledge management and renewal in building innovation performance

Tämän työn tavoitteena oli selvittää tietojohtamisen eri käytäntöjen vaikutusta oppimiseen, uudistumiseen sekä yrityksen innovaatiokyvykkyyteen. Työssä on keskitytty erityisesti sellaisiin tietojohtamisen käytäntöihin, jotka edistävät oppimista ja uusiutumista yrityksissä. Työssä on käytetty tilastollisia menetelmiä, muun muassa faktorianalyysia, korrelaatioanalyysia sekä regressiota, analysoitaessa 259 suomalaisesta yrityksestä kerättyä kyselydataa niiden tietojohtamisen käytöntöihin ja aineettomaan pääomaan liittyen. Analyysi osoittaa, että useat tietojohtamisen käytännöt vaikuttavat positiivisesti yrityksen uudistumiseen ja sitä kautta innovaatiokyvykkyyteen. Henkilöstön kouluttaminen sekä parhaiden käytäntöjen kerääminen ja soveltaminen yrityksessä ovat positiivisesti yhteydessä innovaatiokyvykkyyteen. Henkilöstön kouluttamisella on merkittävin suora vaikutus innovaatiokyvykkyyteen ja tässä työssä on esitetty, että koulutuksen tarjoamisen suurin vaikutus on oppimismyönteisen kulttuurin kehittyminen yrityksiin sen sijaan, että koulutuksella pyrittäisiin vain parantamaan tehtäväkenttään liittyviä taitoja ja tietoja. Henkilöstön kouluttaminen, parhaat käytännöt sekä sosialisaatiossa tapahtuva tiedon vaihto ja suhteiden solmiminen vaikuttavat positiivisesti uudistumispääomaan. Työn tulosten perusteella uudistumispääomalla on merkittävä rooli innovaatioiden syntymisessä yrityksissä. Uudistumispääoma medioi koulutuksen, parhaiden käytäntöjen ja mahdollisesti myös sosialisaation vaikutusta innovaatiokyvykkyyteen ja on näin merkittävä osa innovaatioiden syntyä yrityksissä. Innovaatiokyvykkyyden osatekijöiden ymmärtäminen voi auttaa johtajia ja esimiehiä keskittämään huomionsa tiettyihin tietojohtamisen käytäntöihin edistääkseen innovaatioiden syntymistä yrityksessä sen sijaan, että he pyrkisivät vain vaikuttamaan innovaatioprosessiin.

Virtual Enterprise Process Management: An Application to Industrial Maintenance

Part 2: Behaviour and Coordination

Hydrothermal carbonization of lignocellulosic biomass: Effect of process conditions on hydrochar properties

Although hydrothermal carbonization of biomass components is known to be mainly governed by reaction temperature, consistent reports on the effect and statistical significance of process conditions on hydrochar properties are still lacking. The objective of this research was to determine the importance and significance of reaction temperature, retention time and solid load on the properties of hydrochar produced from an industrial lignocellulosic sludge residue. According to the results, reaction temperature and retention time had a statistically significant effect on hydrochar ash content, solid yield, carbon content, O/C-ratio, energy densification and energy yield as reactor solid load was statistically insignificant for all acquired models within the design range. Although statistically significant, the effect of retention time was 3–7 times lower than that of reaction temperature. Predicted dry ash-free solid yields of attained hydrochar decreased to approximately 40% due to the dissolution of biomass components at higher reaction temperatures, as respective oxygen contents were comparable to subbituminous coal. Significant increases in the carbon contents of hydrochar led to predicted energy densification ratios of 1–1.5 with respective energy yields of 60–100%. Estimated theoretical energy requirements of carbonization were dependent on the literature method used and mainly controlled by reaction temperature and reactor solid load. The attained results enable future prediction of hydrochar properties from this feedstock and help to understand the effect of process conditions on hydrothermal treatment of lignocellulosic biomass.

Improving IT process management through value stream mapping approach: A case study

Value-Stream mapping (VSM) is a helpful tool to identify waste and improvement areas. It has emerged as a preferred way to support and implement the lean approach. While lean principles are well-established and have broad applicability in manufacturing, their extension to information technology is still limited. Based on a case study approach, this paper presents the implementation of VSM in an IT firm as a lean IT improvement initiative. It involves mapping the current activities of the firm and identifying opportunities for improvement. After several interviews with employees who are currently involved in the process, current state map is prepared to describe the existing problem areas. Future state map is prepared to show the proposed improvement action plans. The achievements of VSM implementation are reduction in lead time, cycle time and resources. Our finding indicates that, with the new process change, total lead time can be reduced from 20 days to 3 days – 92% reduction in overall lead time for database provisioning process.

Integration of process planning and scheduling using mobile-agent based approach in a networked manufacturing environment

Effective and efficient implementation of intelligent and/or recently emerged networked manufacturing systems require an enterprise level integration. The networked manufacturing offers several advantages in the current competitive atmosphere by way to reduce, by shortening manufacturing cycle time and maintaining the production flexibility thereby achieving several feasible process plans. The first step in this direction is to integrate manufacturing functions such as process planning and scheduling for multi-jobs in a network based manufacturing system. It is difficult to determine a proper plan that meets conflicting objectives simultaneously. This paper describes a mobile-agent based negotiation approach to integrate manufacturing functions in a distributed manner; and its fundamental framework and functions are presented. Moreover, ontology has been constructed by using the Protégé software which possesses the flexibility to convert knowledge into Extensible Markup Language (XML) schema of Web Ontology Language (OWL) documents. The generated XML schemas have been used to transfer information throughout the manufacturing network for the intelligent interoperable integration of product data models and manufacturing resources. To validate the feasibility of the proposed approach, an illustrative example along with varied production environments that includes production demand fluctuations is presented and compared the proposed approach performance and its effectiveness with evolutionary algorithm based Hybrid Dynamic-DNA (HD-DNA) algorithm. The results show that the proposed scheme is very effective and reasonably acceptable for integration of manufacturing functions.

Occurrence and abundance models of threatened plant species: Applications to mitigate the impact of hydroelectric power dams

Species occurrence and abundance models are important tools that can be used in biodiversity conservation, and can be applied to predict or plan actions needed to mitigate the environmental impacts of hydropower dams. In this study our objectives were: (i) to model the occurrence and abundance of threatened plant species, (ii) to verify the relationship between predicted occurrence and true abundance, and (iii) to assess whether models based on abundance are more effective in predicting species occurrence than those based on presence–absence data. Individual representatives of nine species were counted within 388 randomly georeferenced plots (10 m × 50 m) around the Barra Grande hydropower dam reservoir in southern Brazil. We modelled their relationship with 15 environmental variables using both occurrence (Generalised Linear Models) and abundance data (Hurdle and Zero-Inflated models). Overall, occurrence models were more accurate than abundance models. For all species, observed abundance was significantly, although not strongly, correlated with the probability of occurrence. This correlation lost significance when zero-abundance (absence) sites were excluded from analysis, but only when this entailed a substantial drop in sample size. The same occurred when analysing relationships between abundance and probability of occurrence from previously published studies on a range of different species, suggesting that future studies could potentially use probability of occurrence as an approximate indicator of abundance when the latter is not possible to obtain. This possibility might, however, depend on life history traits of the species in question, with some traits favouring a relationship between occurrence and abundance. Reconstructing species abundance patterns from occurrence could be an important tool for conservation planning and the management of threatened species, allowing scientists to indicate the best areas for collection and reintroduction of plant germplasm or choose conservation areas most likely to maintain viable populations.

Self-bound models of compact stars and recent mass-radius measurements

The exact composition of a specific class of compact stars, historically referred to as ""neutron stars,'' is still quite unknown. Possibilities ranging from hadronic to quark degrees of freedom, including self-bound versions of the latter, have been proposed. We specifically address the suitability of strange star models (including pairing interactions) in this work, in the light of new measurements available for four compact stars. The analysis shows that these data might be explained by such an exotic equation of state, actually selecting a small window in parameter space, but still new precise measurements and also further theoretical developments are needed to settle the subject.