The Canada Not For Profit Corporations Act: Perceived impact on the governance of federal sport organizations

This thesis examined the impact of the Canada Not-for-Profit Corporations Act (2009) on the governance of national sport organizations (NSO). The impact of the legislation was explored through the perceptions of NSO executive leaders and by analyzing the by-laws in effect before the legislation. The legislation was perceived to have the greatest impact on enhancing accountability, specifically affecting membership categories and director selection. The interview data showed that the legislation was necessary to enhance accountability in many NSOs. The Respondents also demonstrated that they understood the goals sought through the legislation. The data also showed that the boards of NSOs were already in alignment with the goals of the legislation. With respect to governance, the data indicated that NSOs rely almost exclusively on their regional sport associations as voting stakeholders. An emerging issue that came out of the results was the role of athletes in the governance of sport organizations.

The municipality and neighborhood associative entities in argentine cities: its resignification after the decentralization of the ���80s A case study: The municipality of R��o Cuarto and their neighborhood associations

In Argentina, the restructuring of the State initially raised as a public policy in the 1980s and in-depth in the ��� 90s under the neoliberal model accentuated - between other processes, of the administrative ��decentralization, which also resulted in new roles awarded to municipalities. That���s how various actors in society charged leadership. The local and urban were the subject of renewed interpretations, ��scenarios where practices more fully participatory citizen could be settled. In the neighborhoods ��of cities, grass-roots organizations cultivated his role as space intermediation. This article discusses ��and reflects on these new roles that launched from the changes in articulation with the municipality ��since the mid-��� 80s and ��� 90s, and problematizes particularly about the contents and scope of participatory practices inside and outside of organizations of civil society in the neo-liberal situation.

Electronic medical record systems, data quality and loss to follow-up: survey of antiretroviral therapy programmes in resource-limited settings

OBJECTIVE: To describe the electronic medical databases used in antiretroviral therapy (ART) programmes in lower-income countries and assess the measures such programmes employ to maintain and improve data quality and reduce the loss of patients to follow-up. METHODS: In 15 countries of Africa, South America and Asia, a survey was conducted from December 2006 to February 2007 on the use of electronic medical record systems in ART programmes. Patients enrolled in the sites at the time of the survey but not seen during the previous 12 months were considered lost to follow-up. The quality of the data was assessed by computing the percentage of missing key variables (age, sex, clinical stage of HIV infection, CD4+ lymphocyte count and year of ART initiation). Associations between site characteristics (such as number of staff members dedicated to data management), measures to reduce loss to follow-up (such as the presence of staff dedicated to tracing patients) and data quality and loss to follow-up were analysed using multivariate logit models. FINDINGS: Twenty-one sites that together provided ART to 50 060 patients were included (median number of patients per site: 1000; interquartile range, IQR: 72-19 320). Eighteen sites (86%) used an electronic database for medical record-keeping; 15 (83%) such sites relied on software intended for personal or small business use. The median percentage of missing data for key variables per site was 10.9% (IQR: 2.0-18.9%) and declined with training in data management (odds ratio, OR: 0.58; 95% confidence interval, CI: 0.37-0.90) and weekly hours spent by a clerk on the database per 100 patients on ART (OR: 0.95; 95% CI: 0.90-0.99). About 10 weekly hours per 100 patients on ART were required to reduce missing data for key variables to below 10%. The median percentage of patients lost to follow-up 1 year after starting ART was 8.5% (IQR: 4.2-19.7%). Strategies to reduce loss to follow-up included outreach teams, community-based organizations and checking death registry data. Implementation of all three strategies substantially reduced losses to follow-up (OR: 0.17; 95% CI: 0.15-0.20). CONCLUSION: The quality of the data collected and the retention of patients in ART treatment programmes are unsatisfactory for many sites involved in the scale-up of ART in resource-limited settings, mainly because of insufficient staff trained to manage data and trace patients lost to follow-up.

Gender-Fair Language in Organizations: Attracting Potential Leaders and Promoting the Organizational Image of Gender Equality

In many languages, masculine generics are the traditional way of referring to women and men. However, gender-fair forms (e.g., feminine-masculine word pairs) can enhance gender equality: for instance, they counteract male biases in mental associations (Stahlberg et al., 2007) and evoke more neutral perceptions of gender-stereotypical professions (Merkel et al., 2013). Compared to masculine forms, use of gender-fair language in advertisements for leadership positions also helps to achieve gender equality in hiring decisions (e.g., use of German Gesch��ftsf��hrerin/Gesch��ftsf��hrer 'CEO fem/masc' instead of Gesch��ftsf��hrer 'CEO masc', cf. Horvath & Sczesny, 2012). The present research investigates how potential applicants react to the use of gender-fair vs. masculine forms in German job ads for leadership positions (Study 1) and how the respective organization is perceived in response to these forms (Study 2). In Study 1, 251 participants showed higher intentions to apply for a leadership position when it was advertised with a feminine-masculine word pair instead of a masculine form; this was mediated by job appeal and organizational attraction. In Study 2, 154 participants perceived the organization as more discriminatory when masculine forms were used. This was mediated by the organizational image of gender equality. Thus, gender-fair language affects the social perception of a job and the respective organization and can impact social behavior in an organizational context.

Cooperative marketing makes steady growth. Agricultural marketing act helps farmers in developing local, regional and national producer owned and controlled organizations.

"Cooperative marketing publications": p. 62.

Formal organizations: a comparative approach,

Includes bibliography.

Guide to subversive organizations and publications, and appendix.

Supplement, May 14, 1951. Washington, United States, Govt. Print. Off. [19]51. ii, 13 pages 24 cm.

The public interest of sports at non-pro��� t sports organizations that are supported by the government

This paper analyses the concept of public interest in sport and the criteria that must be taken into consideration in terms of Government support to clubs and sports associations. The data was collected through semi structured interviews that were applied to nine sports directors with board responsibilities: seven of them from sport clubs and sport associations, and two of them from public administration. The directors pointed out that sport is considered to be of public interest when: it is developed in the concept of ���sport for all���, provides health bene��� ts and serves as a means of education and social development. Regarding advantages used with public utility status, tax bene��� ts and partnerships with the sports system organizations were the most mentioned aspects. Given a better use of ��� nancial resources provided by public administration to clubs and associations, sport directors believe that the Government should have a strategy focused on setting priorities and ranking ��� nancing criteria for sport. If the government had that strategy, the development of sports results would be much better. The participants also suggest that the Government should conduct an assessment of the social role of sport clubs and associations, according to the public and social interest of sport. In conclusion, sport and physical activity should be considered as public interest activities, provided that: are able to ensure positive effects on health plans and wellness, provide a qualitative and sustainable sport development, improve economic and social development of a population.

Parametric building development during early design stage

Objectives The objectives of this project were two-fold: ��� Assess the ease with which current architectural CAD systems supported the use ofparametric descriptions in defining building shape, engineering system performance and cost at the early stages of building design; ��� Assess the feasibility of implementing a software decision support system that allowed designers to trade-off the characteristics and configuration of various engineering systems to move towards a ���global optimum��� rather than considering each system in isolation and expecting humans to weigh up all of the costs and benefits. The first stage of the project consisted of using four different CAD systems to define building shells (envelopes) with different usages. These models were then exported into a shared database using the IFC information exchange specifications. The second stage involved the implementation of small computer programs that were able to estimate relevant system parameters based on performance requirements and the constraints imposed by the other systems. These are presented in a unified user interface that extracts the appropriate building shape parameters from the shared database Note that the term parametric in this context refers to the relationships among and between ���all elements of the building model - not just geometric associations - which will enable the desired coordination.

The Queensland study of melanoma : Environmental and genetic associations (Q-MEGA); Study design, baseline characteristics, and repeatability of phenotype and sun exposure measures

Cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) is a major health issue in Queensland, Australia, which has the world���s highest incidence. Recent molecular and epidemiologic studies suggest that CMM arises through multiple etiological pathways involving gene-environment interactions. Understanding the potential mechanisms leading to CMM requires larger studies than those previously conducted. This article describes the design and baseline characteristics of Q-MEGA, the Queensland Study of Melanoma: Environmental and Genetic Associations, which followed up 4 population-based samples of CMM patients in Queensland, including children, adolescents, men aged over 50, and a large sample of adult cases and their families, including twins. Q-MEGA aims to investigate the roles of genetic and environmental factors, and their interaction, in the etiology of melanoma. Three thousand, four hundred and seventy-one participants took part in the follow-up study and were administered a computer-assisted telephone interview in 2002-2005. Updated data on environmental and phenotypic risk factors, and 2777 blood samples were collected from interviewed participants as well as a subset of relatives. This study provides a large and well-described population-based sample of CMM cases with follow-up data. Characteristics of the cases and repeatability of sun exposure and phenotype measures between the baseline and the follow-up surveys, from 6 to 17 years later, are also described.