Training and development in Irish technology companies

The sustained economic growth that has been experienced in the Irish economy in recent years has relied, to a large extent, on the contribution and performance of those industry sectors that possess the ability to provide high-value-added products and services to domestic and international markets. One such contributor has been the Technology sector. However, the performance of this sector relies upon the availability of the necessary capabilities and competencies for Technology companies to remain competitive. The Expert Group on Future Skills Needs have forecasted future skills shortages in this sector. The purpose of this research has been to examine the extent to which Irish Technology companies are taking measures to meet changing skills requirements, through training and development interventions. Survey research methods (in the form of a mail questionnaire, supported by a Web-based questionnaire) have been used to collect information on the expenditure on, and approach to, training and development in these companies, in addition to the methods, techniques and tools/aids that are used to support the delivery of these activities. The contribution of Government intervention has also been examined. The conclusions have been varied. When the activities of the responding companies are considered in isolation, the picture to emerge is primarily positive. Although the expenditure on training and development is slightly lower than that indicated in previous studies, the results vary by company size. Technical employees are clearly the key focus of training provision, while Senior Managers and Directors, Clerical and Administrative staff and Manual workers are a great deal more neglected in training provision. Expenditure on, and use of, computer-based training methods is high, as is the use of most of the specified techniques for facilitating learning. However, when one considers the extent to which external support (in the form of Government interventions and cooperation with other companies and with education and training providers) is integrated into the overall training practices of these companies, significant gaps in practice are identified. The thesis concludes by providing a framework to guide future training and development practices in the Technology sector.

A comparative study in two secondary schools aimed at improving their energy management: Archbishop McHale College Tuam, Coláiste Cholmcille Indreabhánn

Climate change is a crisis that is going to affect all of our lives in the future. Ireland is expected to have increased storms and rain throughout the country. This will affect our lives greatly unless we do something to change it. In an attempt to try and reduce the impacts of climate change, countries across the world met to address the problem. The meeting became known as the Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto protocol set out objectives for each developed country to achieve with regards to carbon emissions to the same levels as 1990 levels. Due to the economy in Ireland being at a low point in 1990, Ireland was given a target of 13% carbon emissions above 1990 levels. In order to meet targets Ireland produced two energy papers, the green paper and the white paper. The green paper identified drivers for energy management and control; they were security of energy supply, economic competitiveness and environmental protection. The white paper produced targets in which we should aim to achieve to try and address the green papers drivers. Within the targets was the plan to reduce energy consumption in the public sector by 33% by 2020 through energy conservation measures. Schools are part of the public sector that has targets to reduce its energy consumption. To help to achieve targets in schools initiatives have been developed by the government for schools. Energy audits should be performed in order to identify areas where the schools can improve their current trends and show where they can invest in the future to save money and reduce the schools overall environmental footprint. Grants are available for the schools for insulation through the energy efficiency scheme and for renewable energy technologies through the ReHeat scheme. The promotion of energy efficient programs in schools can have a positive effect for students to have an understanding. The Display Energy Certificate is a legal document that can be used to understand how each school is performing from an energy perspective. It can help schools to understand why they need to change their current energy management structure. By improving the energy management of the schools they then improve the performance on the Display Energy Certificate. Schools should use these tools wisely and take advantage of the grants available which can in the short to long term help them to save money and reduce their carbon footprint.

Motivating techniques within Irish and American manufacturing and service companies in the Northwest of Ireland

In today’s world, many companies are concentrating on both their technology and human resources to provide them with their competitive advantage. Hence, understanding what motivates people is particularly important for managers in order to develop and sustain a competitive edge. As a result, numerous theories have been advanced to help our understanding of the subject matter and from these theories many motivational methods have evolved to enhance motivation within the workplace. In addition, research has been conducted on the various types of motivational techniques utilised by companies within Ireland. However, very little research has been completed within specific geographical regions in Ireland concerning the types of motivational techniques implemented at different job levels and their impact on employees work performance. Thus the objective of this research was to identify the motivational techniques utilised at different job levels within large manufacturing and service companies in the Northwest of Ireland and examine how these techniques influence the performance levels of employees. Furthermore, the study examined if these companies have changed from traditional ways of motivating employees to newer techniques. The research methodologies used to undertake the research included interviews with the HR managers and questionnaires completed by different employees at various job levels within the participating companies. Overall the conclusions were varied. Many different types of motivation techniques were found within the study’s participating companies. Irish companies are improving their motivational techniques, however most of these techniques are only used within higher job levels. In contrast to their American counterparts, a variety of motivational techniques are utilised and implemented at all job levels. On a more positive note, the majority of these motivational techniques do increase performance levels at all job levels. From the extensive primary and secondary research conducted, the thesis concludes by offering a number of recommendations to assist companies in further development of their motivational techniques for all job levels. These recommendations hope to augment the success of companies through an enhanced motivated workforce.

Implementation of the I.S. EN 16001:2009 energy management standard into GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Ltd, Cork

As manufacturers face an increasingly competitive environment, they seek out opportunities to reduce production costs without negatively affecting the yield or the quality of their finished products. The challenge of maintaining high product quality while simultaneously reducing production costs can often be met through investments in energy efficient technologies and energy efficiency practices. Energy management systems can offer both technological and best practice efficiencies in order to achieve substantial savings. A strong energy management system provides a solid foundation for an organisation to reduce production costs and improve site efficiency. The I.S EN16001 energy management standard specifies the requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining and improving an energy management system and represents the latest best practice for energy management in Ireland. The objective of the energy management system is to establish a systematic approach for improving energy performance continuously. The I.S EN16001 standard specifies the requirements for continuous improvement through using energy more efficiently. The author analysed how GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Cork implemented the I.S. EN16001 energy management system model, and defined how energy saving opportunities where identified and introduced to improve efficiency performance. The author performed an extensive literature research in order to determine the current status of the pharmaceutical industry in Ireland, the processes involved in pharmaceutical manufacturing, the energy users required for pharmaceutical manufacturing and the efficiency measures that can be applied to these energy users in order to reduce energy consumption. The author then analysed how energy management standards are introduced to industry and critically analysed the driving factors for energy management performance in Ireland through case studies. Following an investigation as to how the I.S. EN16001 energy management standard is operated in GSK, a critical analysis of the performance achieved by the GSK energy management system is undertaken in order to determine if implementing the I.S EN16001 standard accelerates achieving energy savings. Since its introduction, the I.S. EN16001 model for energy management has enabled GSK to monitor, target and identify energy efficiency opportunities throughout the site. The model has put in place an energy management system that is continuously reviewed for improvement and to date has reduced GSK’s site operations cost by over 30% through technical improvements and generating energy awareness for smarter energy consumption within the GSK Cork site. Investment in I.S. EN16001 has proved to be a sound business strategy for GSK especially in today's manufacturing environment.

Financial structure choice in owner-managed firms : entrepreneurial characteristics, utility of control, and the competitive context

Magdeburg, Univ., Fak. für Wirtschaftswiss., Diss., 2011

Improving Post-Discharge Medication Adherence in Patients with CVD: A Pilot Randomized Trial

Background:Effective interventions to improve medication adherence are usually complex and expensive.Objective:To assess the impact of a low-cost intervention designed to improve medication adherence and clinical outcomes in post-discharge patients with CVD.Method:A pilot RCT was conducted at a teaching hospital. Intervention was based on the four-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-4). The primary outcome measure was medication adherence assessed using the eight-item MMAS at baseline, at 1 month post hospital discharge and re-assessed 1 year after hospital discharge. Other outcomes included readmission and mortality rates.Results:61 patients were randomized to intervention (n = 30) and control (n = 31) groups. The mean age of the patients was 61 years (SD 12.73), 52.5% were males, and 57.4% were married or living with a partner. Mean number of prescribed medications per patient was 4.5 (SD 3.3). Medication adherence was correlated to intervention (p = 0.04) and after 1 month, 48.4% of patients in the control group and 83.3% in the intervention group were considered adherent. However, this difference decreased after 1 year, when adherence was 34.8% and 60.9%, respectively. Readmission and mortality rates were related to low adherence in both groups.Conclusion:The intervention based on a validated patient self-report instrument for assessing adherence is a potentially effective method to improve adherent behavior and can be successfully used as a tool to guide adherence counseling in the clinical visit. However, a larger study is required to assess the real impact of intervention on these outcomes.

integrated method for improving risk analysis using human factors methods and virtual reality

Magdeburg, Univ., Fak. für Informatik, Diss., 2009

Improving TCP Performance on CSMA/CA Connections

In IP networks, most of packets, that have been dropped, are recovered after the expiration of retransmission timeouts. These can result in unnecessary retransmissions and needless reduction of congestion window. An inappropriate retransmission timeout has a huge impact on TCP performance. In this paper we have proved that CSMA/CA mechanism can cause TCP retransmissions due to CSMA/CA effects. For this we have observed three wireless connections that use CSMA/CA: with good link quality, poor link quality and in presence of cross traffic. The measurements have been performed using real devices. Through tracking of each transmitted packet it is possible to analyze the relation between one-way delay and packet loss probability and the cumulative distribution of distances between peaks of OWDs. The distribution of OWDs and the distances between peaks of OWDs are the most important parameters of tuning TCP retransmission timeout on CSMA/CA networks. A new perspective through investigating the dynamical relation between one-way delay and packet loss ratio depending on the link quality to enhance the TCP performance has been provided.

Endogenous integration and welfare in complementary goods markets

This paper analyzes the strategic decision to integrate by firms that produce complementary products. Integration entails bundling pricing. We find out that integration is privately profitable for a high enough degree of product differentiation, that profits of the non-integrated firms decrease, and that consumer surplus need not necessarily increase when firms integrate despite the fact that prices diminish. Thus, integration of a system is welfare-improving for a high enough degree of product differentiation combined with a minimum demand advantage relative to the competing system. Overall, and from a number of extensions undertaken, we conclude that bundling need not be anti-competitive and that integration should be permitted only under some circumstances.

Internship report: improving asymmetric term extraction from bilingual text

Estudi elaborat a partir d’una estada a Xerox Research Centre Europe a Grenoble, França,entre juny i desembre del 2006. El projecte tradueïx termes tècnics anglesos a noruec. És asimètric perquè no tenim recursos lingüístics per a la llengua noruega, però solament per a l'anglès. S’ha desenvolupat i posat en pràctica mètodes que comprovaven contigüitat ("local reordering" i permutació selectiva) per a millorar el funcionament d’una eina anterior. Contigüitat és quan una paraula es traduïx en paraules múltiples, aquestes paraules han de ser adjacents en l'oració. A més, s’ha construït una taula de les operacions de recerca per als termes tècnics i s’ha integrat aquesta taula en un programa de demostració.

New field observations on the competitive displacement between two species of planorbid snails inhabiting Northeastern Brasil

Observations reported in the present paper have shown that Biomphalaria glabrata is being gradually displaced by B. straminea in coastal areas of two counties on the state of Pernambuco, Brazil, confirming former observations made in the same region.

Competitive interactions between species of freshwater snails: I. Laboratory: Ia. General methodology

For the development of laboratory experiments on the competitive interacitons between freshwater snail populations, special snail rooms were set up in the main building of the Research Center "Aggeu Magalhães". In the current paper, the first of a series on this subject, the general methodology of the laboratory work is described in detail. Using indoor cement channels in which a uniform seminatural environment was created, interactions of freshwater snail populations can be studied with minimal interference of the usual variables. Controlled indoor environmental techniques, as described in the current paper, may also be utilized in different types of experiments in malacology, and represent a substantial technical advance in malacological work.

Competitive interactions between species of freshwater snails. I. Laboratory studies: Ib. Comparative studies of the dispersal and the vagility capabilities of Biomphalaria glabrata and Biomphalaria straminea

Experiments reported in the current paper, carried out under semi-field conditions created in the laboratory, have shown that b. straminea has competitive superiority when compared with B. glabrata. The former species has shown higher capabilities of both dispersal and vagility. In addition, B. straminea was able to compete sucessfully with B. glabrata.

Improving the risk concept: a revision of Arrow-Pratt theory in the context of controlled dynamic stochastic environments

In the literature on risk, one generally assume that uncertainty is uniformly distributed over the entire working horizon, when the absolute risk-aversion index is negative and constant. From this perspective, the risk is totally exogenous, and thus independent of endogenous risks. The classic procedure is "myopic" with regard to potential changes in the future behavior of the agent due to inherent random fluctuations of the system. The agent's attitude to risk is rigid. Although often criticized, the most widely used hypothesis for the analysis of economic behavior is risk-neutrality. This borderline case must be envisaged with prudence in a dynamic stochastic context. The traditional measures of risk-aversion are generally too weak for making comparisons between risky situations, given the dynamic �complexity of the environment. This can be highlighted in concrete problems in finance and insurance, context for which the Arrow-Pratt measures (in the small) give ambiguous.

Pareto-improving optimal capital and labor taxes

We show a standard model where the optimal tax reform is to cut labor taxes and leave capital taxes very high in the short and medium run. Only in the very long run would capital taxes be zero. Our model is a version of Chamley??s, with heterogeneous agents, without lump sum transfers, an upper bound on capital taxes, and a focus on Pareto improving plans. For our calibration labor taxes should be low for the first ten to twenty years, while capital taxes should be at their maximum. This policy ensures that all agents benefit from the tax reform and that capital grows quickly after when the reform begins. Therefore, the long run optimal tax mix is the opposite from the short and medium run tax mix. The initial labor tax cut is financed by deficits that lead to a positive long run level of government debt, reversing the standard prediction that government accumulates savings in models with optimal capital taxes. If labor supply is somewhat elastic benefits from tax reform are high and they can be shifted entirely to capitalists or workers by varying the length of the transition. With inelastic labor supply there is an increasing part of the equilibrium frontier, this means that the scope for benefitting the workers is limited and the total benefits from reforming taxes are much lower.