A Kraft-index – kreatív városok – fenntartható vidék (The KRAFT Index: Creative Cities – Sustainable Regions)

A KRAFT-index: Kreatív városok – fenntartható vidék egy komplex mutatórendszer, amely a fejlődési tendenciát, hálózatosodást, a fontosabb szereplők együttműködési készségét és kapacitását, kreativitási potenciálját, valamint a szereplők szinergiáiból fakadó belső energiákat és lehetőségeiket jelzi. A város- és vidékfejlesztés sikerének zálogaként előtérbe állítja és méri az ún. „puha” tényezőket, úgymint a kreativitást, innovációs képességet, új tudás létrehozását, tudástranszfert, együttműködési készséget, bizalmat, kollektív kompetenciákat. A társadalmi, gazdasági és tudományos kapcsolatok és hálózatok sűrűsége, minősége és dinamizmusa a sikeres fejlődés és fejlesztés kulcsai: ezek ma már fontosabb tényezők, mint a fizikai távolság, az adminisztratív jogi határok vagy az ún. „kemény” indikátorok. Az index értékeli egy térség lehetőségeit arra, hogy az ott élők, dolgozók, alkotók és letelepedni kívánók életminőségét, a vállalatok minőségi munkaerő iránti igényét és a fenntarthatósági szempontokat egyaránt figyelembe véve fejlessze gazdaságát és versenyképességét. Három tulajdonságcsoportot mér: 1. kreativitiási és innovációs potenciál, az új tudás létrehozásának képessége, 2. társadalmi és kapcsolati tőke, hálózati potenciál és „összekapcsoltság”, valamint 3. fenntarthatósági potenciál. _____ The KRAFT Index: Creative Cities – Sustainable Regions is a complex indicator system to measure development tendencies, ‘networkedness’, cooperation inclination and capacity, creativity potential and possibilities arising from the synergies among actors. It highlights and gauges ‘soft’ factors, such as creativity, innovation capacity, knowledge production, knowledge transfer, willingness for cooperation, trust, and collective competences and perceives effective regional cooperation among economic and social actors as the measure of successful urban and rural development. The density, quality and dynamism of social, economic and academic networks are more important factors than physical distance, administrative legal barriers or ‘hard’ indicators. The index evaluates the potential of a region to develop its economy and competitiveness by considering the quality of life of its inhabitants, workers, producers and immigrants, the quality workforce requirements of companies and sustainability. It measures three groups of qualities: 1. creativity and innovation potential, the ability of knowledge production; 2. social and connection capital, network potential and connectedness; and 3. sustainability potential.

New Public Management Reforms: Institutions matter!

New Public Management (NPM) has played a decisive role and has had a radical effect on the productivity and efficiency of the public sector in the Anglo-Saxon countries. However, the effective introduction of the NPM reforms is not an easy task. The scientific community is zealously analyzing the experiences of the developing countries. The stories, they tell, are full of failures, and ineffective reforms. The goal of the current study is to uncover the factors that might influence the successful implementation of the NPM reforms. In our analysis, by relying on the theories of new institutional economics, we developed a model with which we wish to prove that in regards to the success of the reforms the informal and the formal institutions characteristic of the given country are the decisively determining factors. When answering the question, we introduced a new indicator based on public choice theory – the politicians’ interest index – by which we could measure the success of the NPM. We tested our hypothesis by a comparative statistical analysis using the data from 31 countries. Based on our results, we find that informal institutions, the culture shared by the members of society, fundamentally determine the probability of the successful implementation of the NPM reforms, these results having a significant practical relevance.

Organizational ambidexterity as a new research paradigm in strategic management

Long-term survival and growth depends on the firm’s ability to exploit its current competencies while exploring fundamentally new ones. Finding the balance between exploration and exploitation is called ambidexterity in the literature. This paper is a comprehensive review of organizational ambidexterity theory. Creating and maintaining the capacity to simultaneously pursue these contradictory activities is an extremely difficult managerial challenge. Although, several aspects are well-researched, especially structural and leadership solutions in large, multinational enterprises, but little is known about: (1) how ambidexterity forms in earlier growth stages? (2) What are the key drivers and elements of organizational context that makes organizations able to become ambidextrous? (3) What is the role of different managerial levels in this formation process? Reviewing the literature, in this article the author would like to introduce the paradox of exploration and exploitation, the tensions and different aspects of ambidexterity, the fields current stage and some important research gaps.

Predicting delay reductions from freeway traffic diversion for incident management

Traffic incidents are a major source of traffic congestion on freeways. Freeway traffic diversion using pre-planned alternate routes has been used as a strategy to reduce traffic delays due to major traffic incidents. However, it is not always beneficial to divert traffic when an incident occurs. Route diversion may adversely impact traffic on the alternate routes and may not result in an overall benefit. This dissertation research attempts to apply Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Support Vector Regression (SVR) techniques to predict the percent of delay reduction from route diversion to help determine whether traffic should be diverted under given conditions. The DYNASMART-P mesoscopic traffic simulation model was applied to generate simulated data that were used to develop the ANN and SVR models. A sample network that comes with the DYNASMART-P package was used as the base simulation network. A combination of different levels of incident duration, capacity lost, percent of drivers diverted, VMS (variable message sign) messaging duration, and network congestion was simulated to represent different incident scenarios. The resulting percent of delay reduction, average speed, and queue length from each scenario were extracted from the simulation output. The ANN and SVR models were then calibrated for percent of delay reduction as a function of all of the simulated input and output variables. The results show that both the calibrated ANN and SVR models, when applied to the same location used to generate the calibration data, were able to predict delay reduction with a relatively high accuracy in terms of mean square error (MSE) and regression correlation. It was also found that the performance of the ANN model was superior to that of the SVR model. Likewise, when the models were applied to a new location, only the ANN model could produce comparatively good delay reduction predictions under high network congestion level.

Organizational culture, organizational climate, and collaborative capacity for planning

The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship of organizational culture and organizational climate on participant perceptions of collaborative capacity for planning, within the context of the Florida School Readiness Coalitions (FSRCs). Three hypotheses were proposed for study: First, that organizational culture would be correlated to organizational climate; second, that organizational culture would be correlated to collaborative capacity for planning; and the third that organizational climate would be correlated to collaborative capacity for planning. ^ A cross-sectional survey research design was used to obtain data from participants in 25 Florida School Readiness Coalitions. Pearson product-moment correlations were used to examine the association between the dependent variable, collaborative capacity for planning, and the independent variables, organizational culture and climate. Bivariate analyses revealed a significant level of association for five culture indicators to collaborative capacity for planning: motivation, interpersonal, service, supportive and individualistic indicators, and four climate indicators: cooperation, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and role clarity. Findings suggest (a) a constructive culture and positive climate were present within the FSRCs during the period of study and (b) participants perceived that the collaborative capacity for planning existed. Hierarchical multiple regression, controlling for effects of participant demographics, were used to examine the degree to which organizational culture and climate predict collaborative capacity. The culture indicators, supportive and individualistic, and the climate indicator job satisfaction accounted for 46% of the variance in collaborative capacity for planning. No other indicators of the independent variables demonstrated significance. The findings suggests that (a) culture and climate should be studied together, (b) culture and climate are two constructs that may provide knowledge about the way community groups work together, and (c) the collaborative capacity of groups planning services such as the FSRCs may benefit through consideration of how culture and climate affect service planners' relationships, communication, and ability to achieve a mission or goal. Culture and climate may offer social workers new information about internal factors affecting the collaborative process. Further investigation of these constructs with other types of groups is warranted. ^

Physiological performance measures and tolerance limits of estuarine indicator species in south Florida

Current water management practices in South Florida have negatively impacted many species inhabiting Florida Bay. Variable and high salinity has been identified as a key stressor in these estuaries. The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) includes water redistribution projects that will restore natural freshwater flows to northeastern Florida Bay. My studies focused on the following central theme and hypotheses: Biological performance measures (i.e., growth, reproduction, survival), behavior (i.e., habitat preference and locomotor behavior) and diversity of estuarine fish will be controlled by changes in salinity and water quality that will occur as a result of the restoration of freshwater flow to the bay. A series of acute and subchronic physiological toxicity studies were conducted to determine the effects of salinity changes on the life stages (embryo/larval, juvenile, adult) and fecundity of four native estuarine fish (Cyprinodon variegatus, Floridichthys carpio, Poecilia latipinna, and Gambusia holbrooki). Fish were exposed to a range of salinity concentrations (freshwater to hypersaline) based on salinity profiles in the study areas. Growth (length, weight) and survival were measured. Salinity trials included both rapid and gradual change events. Results show negative effects of acute, abrupt salinity changes on fish survival, development and reproductive success as a result of salinity stress. Other studies targeted reproduction and critical embryo-larval/neonate development as key areas for detecting long-term population effects of salinity change in Florida Bay. Adults of C. variegates and P. latipinna were also examined for behavioral responses to pulsed salinity changes. These responses include changes in swimming performance, locomotor behavior and zone preference. Finally, an ecological risk assessment was conducted for adverse salinity conditions in northeastern Florida Bay. Using the U.S. EPA's framework, the risk to estuarine fish species diversity was assessed against regional salinity profiles from a 17-year database. Based on the risk assessment, target salinity profiles for these areas are recommended for managers.^

Improving publicly funded human services: Incorporating capacity building into the contracting relationship between Children's Services Councils and nonprofit organizations

This qualitative two-site case study examined the capacity building practices that Children’s Services Councils (CSCs), independent units of local government, provide to nonprofit organizations (NPOs) contracted to deliver human services. The contracting literature is replete with recommendations for government to provide capacity building to contracted NPOs, yet there is a dearth of scholarship on this topic. The study’s purpose was to increase the understanding of capacity building provided in a local government contracting setting. Data collection consisted primarily of in-depth interviews and focus groups with 73 staff from two CSCs and 28 contracted NPOs. Interview data were supplemented by participant observation and review of secondary data. The study analyzed capacity building needs, practices, influencing factors, and outcomes. The study identified NPO capacity building needs in: documentation and reporting, financial management, program monitoring and evaluation, participant recruitment and retention, and program quality. Additionally, sixteen different types of CSC capacity building practices were identified. Results indicated that three major factors impacted CSC capacity building: CSC capacity building goals, the relationship between the CSC and NPOs, and the level of NPO participation. Study results also provided insight into the dynamics of the CSC capacity building process, including unique problems, challenges, and opportunities as well as necessary resources. The results indicated that the CSCs’ relational contracting approach facilitated CSC capacity building and that CSC contract managers were central players in the process. The study provided evidence that local government agencies can serve as effective builders of NPO capacity. Additionally, results indicated that much of what is known about capacity building can be applied in this previously unstudied capacity building setting. Finally, the study laid the groundwork for future development of a model for capacity building in a local government contracting setting.

Periphyton as an indicator of restoration in the Everglades

Periphyton communities dominate primary production in much of the Florida Everglades wetland and therefore contribute to soil production, ecosystem metabolism and secondary production as well as the composition of dependent communities. Decades of research in the Everglades have supported research findings from other wetland types that cumulatively show that periphyton communities respond very rapidly to alterations in the two dominant drivers of wetland structure and function—hydrology and water quality. Hydrology controls periphyton productivity and composition by regulating moisture availability, substrate types available for colonization and supply of nutrients. Nutrients, particularly the limiting nutrient in this system, phosphorus (P), control levels of production and community composition. Because periphyton communities are well-established to be related to hydrology and water quality, an indicator was developed based on three periphyton attributes: abundance, quality (i.e., nutrient content) and community composition. This assessment tool offers a qualitative assessment of ecosystem response to potential changes in management activities at a time scale appropriate for active management. An example is provided of how the indicator can be used to assess the current water quality and hydrological conditions from high-density spatial surveys. Detected patterns of deterioration align with expectations derived from model predictions and known sources of nutrients and unnatural hydrologic regimes. If employed adaptively in ecosystem management, this tool can be used to both detect and react to change before the system has been irreparably altered.

Disaster Risk Management Disparity in the Caribbean: Evidence from Barbados, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago

This study on risk and disaster management capacities of four Caribbean countries: Barbados, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago, examines three main dimensions: 1) the impact of natural disasters from 1900 to 2010 (number of events, number of people killed, total number affected, and damage in US$); 2) institutional assessments of disaster risk management disparity; and 3) the 2010 Inter-American Bank for Development (IADB) Disaster Risk and Risk Management indicators for the countries under study. The results show high consistency among the different sources examined, pointing out the need to extend the IADB measurements to the rest of the Caribbean countries. Indexes and indicators constitute a comparison measure vis-à-vis existing benchmarks in order to anticipate a capacity to deal with adverse events and their consequences; however, the indexes and indicators could only be tested against the occurrence of a real event. Therefore, the need exists to establish a sustainable and comprehensive evaluation system after important disasters to assess a country‘s performance, verify the indicators, and gain feedback on measurement systems and methodologies. There is diversity in emergency and preparedness for disasters in the four countries under study. The nature of the event (hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, and seismic activity), especially its frequency and the intensity of the damage experienced, is related to how each has designed its risk and disaster management policies and programs to face natural disasters. Vulnerabilities to disaster risks have been increasing, among other factors, because of uncontrolled urbanization, demographic density and poverty increase, social and economic marginalization, and lack of building code enforcement. The four countries under study have shown improvements in risk management capabilities, yet they are far from being completed prepared. Barbados‘ risk management performance is superior, in comparison, to the majority of the countries of the region. However, is still far in achieving high performance levels and sustainability in risk management, primarily when it has the highest gap between potential macroeconomic and financial losses and the ability to face them. The Dominican Republic has shown steady risk performance up to 2008, but two remaining areas for improvement are hazard monitoring and early warning systems. Jamaica has made uneven advances between 1990 and 2008, requiring significant improvements to achieve high performance levels and sustainability in risk management, as well as macroeconomic mitigation infrastructure. Trinidad and Tobago has the lowest risk management score of the 15 countries in the Latin American and Caribbean region as assessed by the IADB study in 2010, yet it has experienced an important vulnerability reduction. In sum, the results confirmed the high disaster risk management disparity in the Caribbean region.

Disater Risk Management Disparity in the Caribbean: Evidence from Barbados, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago

This study on risk and disaster management capacities of four Caribbean countries: Barbados, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago, examines three main dimensions: 1) the impact of natural disasters from 1900 to 2010 (number of events, number of people killed, total number affected, and damage in US$); 2) institutional assessments of disaster risk management disparity; and 3) the 2010 Inter-American Bank for Development (IADB) Disaster Risk and Risk Management indicators for the countries under study. The results show high consistency among the different sources examined, pointing out the need to extend the IADB measurements to the rest of the Caribbean countries. Indexes and indicators constitute a comparison measure vis-à-vis existing benchmarks in order to anticipate a capacity to deal with adverse events and their consequences; however, the indexes and indicators could only be tested against the occurrence of a real event. Therefore, the need exists to establish a sustainable and comprehensive evaluation system after important disasters to assess a country’s performance, verify the indicators, and gain feedback on measurement systems and methodologies. There is diversity in emergency and preparedness for disasters in the four countries under study. The nature of the event (hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, and seismic activity), especially its frequency and the intensity of the damage experienced, is related to how each has designed its risk and disaster management policies and programs to face natural disasters. Vulnerabilities to disaster risks have been increasing, among other factors, because of uncontrolled urbanization, demographic density and poverty increase, social and economic marginalization, and lack of building code enforcement. The four countries under study have shown improvements in risk management capabilities, yet they are far from being completed prepared. Barbados’ risk management performance is superior, in comparison, to the majority of the countries of the region. However, is still far in achieving high performance levels and sustainability in risk management, primarily when it has the highest gap between potential macroeconomic and financial losses and the ability to face them. The Dominican Republic has shown steady risk performance up to 2008, but two remaining areas for improvement are hazard monitoring and early warning systems. Jamaica has made uneven advances between 1990 and 2008, requiring significant improvements to achieve high performance levels and sustainability in risk management, as well as macroeconomic mitigation infrastructure. Trinidad and Tobago has the lowest risk management score of the 15 countries in the Latin American and Caribbean region as assessed by the IADB study in 2010, yet it has experienced an important vulnerability reduction. In sum, the results confirmed the high disaster risk management disparity in the Caribbean region.

Perceptions of the Beach Users: A Case Study of the Coastal Areas of North Cyprus Towards Establishment of a "Carrying Capacity"

Within the main elements of economic sustainability, socio-cultural sustainability, and environmental sustainability, the criteria of 'carrying capacity’ have ben emphasized through residents’ perception analysis to explore practical methods towards the application and implementation of such criteria. As data analysis revealed, the main tourist resources in the case of North Cyprus –the coast and the beach- have a certain capacity to sustain the impact and pressure of tourism. Despite the significance of the indigenous environment and with respect to the residents’ perception of optimum carrying capacity levels, this issue has not been given a due consideration. This has resulted in a process of coastal development which bypasses any measure ore application of a standard to harmonize the degree of physical development and the capacity of the beach. The main objective of this paper is to establish the concept of ‘carrying capacity’ as the means to achieve the reconciliation of environmental impacts with tourism development. The study concludes that, if carrying capacity measurement and its implementation are not incorporated into the planning decision as a clear policy, there will be grave negative consequences for those resources attracting visitors.

Improving resource management in virtualized data centers using application performance models

The rapid growth of virtualized data centers and cloud hosting services is making the management of physical resources such as CPU, memory, and I/O bandwidth in data center servers increasingly important. Server management now involves dealing with multiple dissimilar applications with varying Service-Level-Agreements (SLAs) and multiple resource dimensions. The multiplicity and diversity of resources and applications are rendering administrative tasks more complex and challenging. This thesis aimed to develop a framework and techniques that would help substantially reduce data center management complexity.^ We specifically addressed two crucial data center operations. First, we precisely estimated capacity requirements of client virtual machines (VMs) while renting server space in cloud environment. Second, we proposed a systematic process to efficiently allocate physical resources to hosted VMs in a data center. To realize these dual objectives, accurately capturing the effects of resource allocations on application performance is vital. The benefits of accurate application performance modeling are multifold. Cloud users can size their VMs appropriately and pay only for the resources that they need; service providers can also offer a new charging model based on the VMs performance instead of their configured sizes. As a result, clients will pay exactly for the performance they are actually experiencing; on the other hand, administrators will be able to maximize their total revenue by utilizing application performance models and SLAs. ^ This thesis made the following contributions. First, we identified resource control parameters crucial for distributing physical resources and characterizing contention for virtualized applications in a shared hosting environment. Second, we explored several modeling techniques and confirmed the suitability of two machine learning tools, Artificial Neural Network and Support Vector Machine, to accurately model the performance of virtualized applications. Moreover, we suggested and evaluated modeling optimizations necessary to improve prediction accuracy when using these modeling tools. Third, we presented an approach to optimal VM sizing by employing the performance models we created. Finally, we proposed a revenue-driven resource allocation algorithm which maximizes the SLA-generated revenue for a data center.^

The Use of Thermal Capacity in Measuring the Effectiveness of Meals on Wheels Transport Containers

The Meals on Wheels (MOW) program is designed to help combat hunger in persons needing assistance. MOW has a duty not only to provide food but also to ensure that it reaches eligible clients safely. Given the population that MOW serves, transporting food safely takes on increased importance. This experiment focused on the major food safety issue of maintaining temperature integrity through the use of transport containers. For containers that did not contain electric heating elements, several factors influenced how fast the food temperature fell. Those factors included the U-value and size of the container as well as how many meals were in the container. As predicted, the smaller the U-value, the longer it took the temperature to fall. Larger containers did better at maintaining food temperatures, provided they were fully loaded. In general, fully loaded small and medium containers were better at maintaining food temperatures than larger containers loaded with the same number of meals.

Fair and QoS-oriented resource management in heterogeneous networks

In this paper, a heterogeneous network composed of femtocells deployed within a macrocell network is considered, and a quality-of-service (QoS)-oriented fairness metric which captures important characteristics of tiered network architectures is proposed. Using homogeneous Poisson processes, the sum capacities in such networks are expressed in closed form for co-channel, dedicated channel, and hybrid resource allocation methods. Then a resource splitting strategy that simultaneously considers capacity maximization, fairness constraints, and QoS constraints is proposed. Detailed computer simulations utilizing 3GPP simulation assumptions show that a hybrid allocation strategy with a well-designed resource split ratio enjoys the best cell-edge user performance, with minimal degradation in the sum throughput of macrocell users when compared with that of co-channel operation.

Managing small-scale commercial fisheries for adaptive capacity: Insights from dynamic social-ecological drivers of change in Monterey Bay

Globally, small-scale fisheries (SSFs) are driven by climate, governance, and market factors of social-ecological change, presenting both challenges and opportunities. The ability of small-scale fishermen and buyers to adapt to changing conditions allows participants to survive economic or environmental disturbances and to benefit from optimal conditions. This study presented here identifies key large-scale factors that drive SSFs in California to shift focus among targets and that dictate long-term trends in landings. We use Elinor Ostrom’s Social-Ecological System (SES) framework to apply an interdisciplinary approach when identifying potential factors and when understanding the complex dynamics of these fisheries. We analyzed the interactions among Monterey Bay SSFs over the past four decades since the passage of the Magnuson Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act of 1976. In this region, the Pacific sardine (Sardinops sagax), northern anchovy (Engraulis mordax), and market squid (Loligo opalescens) fisheries comprise a tightly linked system where shifting focus among fisheries is a key element to adaptive capacity and reduced social and ecological vulnerability. Using a cluster analysis of landings, we identified four modes from 1974 to 2012 that were dominated by squid, sardine, anchovy, or lacked any dominance, enabling us to identify external drivers attributed to a change in fishery dominance during seven distinct transition points. Overall, we show that market and climate factors drive the transitions among dominance modes. Governance phases most dictated long-term trends in landings and are best viewed as a response to changes in perceived biomass and thus a proxy for biomass. Our findings suggest that globally, small-scale fishery managers should consider enabling shifts in effort among fisheries and retaining existing flexibility, as adaptive capacity is a critical determinant for social and ecological resilience.