The role of advanced nursing in lung cancer: A framework based development.

PURPOSE: Advanced Practice Lung Cancer Nurses (APLCN) are well-established in several countries but their role has yet to be established in Switzerland. Developing an innovative nursing role requires a structured approach to guide successful implementation and to meet the overarching goal of improved nursing sensitive patient outcomes. The "Participatory, Evidence-based, Patient-focused process, for guiding the development, implementation, and evaluation of advanced practice nursing" (PEPPA framework) is one approach that was developed in the context of the Canadian health system. The purpose of this article is to describe the development of an APLCN model at a Swiss Academic Medical Center as part of a specialized Thoracic Cancer Center and to evaluate the applicability of PEPPA framework in this process. METHOD: In order to develop and implement the APLCN role, we applied the first seven phases of the PEPPA framework. RESULTS: This article spreads the applicability of the PEPPA framework for an APLCN development. This framework allowed us to i) identify key components of an APLCN model responsive to lung cancer patients' health needs, ii) identify role facilitators and barriers, iii) implement the APLCN role and iv) design a feasibility study of this new role. CONCLUSIONS: The PEPPA framework provides a structured process for implementing novel Advanced Practice Nursing roles in a local context, particularly where such roles are in their infancy. Two key points in the process include assessing patients' health needs and involving key stakeholders.

Developing a conceptual framework to analyse professionalisation in sport federations

Existing research on sport organisations is imprecise in the use of the concept 'professionalisation'. Furthermore, we do not know if analytical concepts of professionalisation correspond with the understanding in practice. This study explores the perceptions of practitioners and proposes a framework to analyse professionalisation in national sport federations. Expert interviews were conducted with six key people from Swiss national sport federations and then analysed these for characteristics of professionalisation using a hermeneutic approach. The characteristics were divided into three areas: (1) changed management philosophy, (2) functional differentiation and specialisation, and (3) application of management tools. However, professionalisation is primarily perceived to be a matter of 'professional' attitude that transforms into federation culture. The practitioners disclose an ambivalent view of professionalisation, e.g. business-like culture vs. voluntarism, for-profit vs. non-profit orientation, autonomy vs. control. A framework is developed that synthesises analytical concepts and practitioners' perceptions to support future comprehensive research into causes, forms and consequences of professionalisation in national sport federations.

Defining a framework model to determine total costs of managed desktops using ITIL best practices

In modern day organizations there are an increasing number of IT devices such as computers, mobile phones and printers. These devices can be located and maintained by using specialized IT management applications. Costs related to a single device accumulate from various sources and are normally categorized as direct costs like hardware costs and indirect costs such as labor costs. These costs can be saved in a configuration management database and presented to users using web based development tools such as ASP.NET. The overall costs of IT devices during their lifecycle can be ten times higher than the actual purchase price of the product and ability to define and reduce these costs can save organizations noticeable amount of money. This Master’s Thesis introduces the research field of IT management and defines a custom framework model based on Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) best practices which is designed to be implemented as part of an existing IT management application for defining and presenting IT costs.

Framework for Traffic Pattern Identification: Required Step for Short-term Forecasting

In the world of transport management, the term ‘anticipation’ is gradually replacing ‘reaction’. Indeed, the ability to forecast traffic evolution in a network should ideally form the basis for many traffic management strategies and multiple ITS applications. Real-time prediction capabilities are therefore becoming a concrete need for the management of networks, both for urban and interurban environments, and today’s road operator has increasingly complex and exacting requirements. Recognising temporal patterns in traffic or the manner in which sequential traffic events evolve over time have been important considerations in short-term traffic forecasting. However, little work has been conducted in the area of identifying or associating traffic pattern occurrence with prevailing traffic conditions. This paper presents a framework for detection pattern identification based on finite mixture models using the EM algorithm for parameter estimation. The computation results have been conducted taking into account the traffic data available in an urban network.

Diseño e implementación de un framework de presentación

Análisis, diseño e implementación de un framework de presentación para aplicaciones web 'thin client' desarrolladas en la plataforma Java EE.

Framework J2EE capa de presentación

Treball final de carrera per a la creació d'un nou framework Java fent referència als patrons de disseny.

The Design of a Software Lifecycle Management Framework to a Configuration Management System

Keeping track of software assets and managing software installations in IT environments can be a hard endeavor, especially when the size and diversity of the environment grows. How to install and uninstall software efficiently and cost effectively? Are there too few or too many software licenses purchased? If installed, is the software actually in use? Software Asset Management (SAM) is a process that involves managing and optimizing the purchase, deployment, maintenance, utilization, and disposal of software applications within an organization. This master’s thesis describes a special Software Lifecycle Management Framework to provide solutions to the multitude of challenges within SAM. The main objectives when designing the framework was to provide a set of tools to control the software assets during their entire lifecycle while trying to minimize the costs related to owning and managing them.

Regulatory framework of local citizen participation: Instruments of Direct and Participative Democracy in the Municipal Field

This article focuses on the analysis of the regulatory framework of citizen participation in the local government, which organises direct and participatory democracy at the local level, and identifies the laws and mechanisms through which the constitutional requirements for participation are accomplished. Mu nicipalities, the authority closest to citizens, are the best level of government since they directly involve civil society in the decision-making process experiencing the scope and appropriateness of the instruments by which it is channeled.

Analyzing Carbon Trade Permits in Optimization Framework

The threats caused by global warming motivate different stake holders to deal with and control them. This Master's thesis focuses on analyzing carbon trade permits in optimization framework. The studied model determines optimal emission and uncertainty levels which minimize the total cost. Research questions are formulated and answered by using different optimization tools. The model is developed and calibrated by using available consistent data in the area of carbon emission technology and control. Data and some basic modeling assumptions were extracted from reports and existing literatures. The data collected from the countries in the Kyoto treaty are used to estimate the cost functions. Theory and methods of constrained optimization are briefly presented. A two-level optimization problem (individual and between the parties) is analyzed by using several optimization methods. The combined cost optimization between the parties leads into multivariate model and calls for advanced techniques. Lagrangian, Sequential Quadratic Programming and Differential Evolution (DE) algorithm are referred to. The role of inherent measurement uncertainty in the monitoring of emissions is discussed. We briefly investigate an approach where emission uncertainty would be described in stochastic framework. MATLAB software has been used to provide visualizations including the relationship between decision variables and objective function values. Interpretations in the context of carbon trading were briefly presented. Suggestions for future work are given in stochastic modeling, emission trading and coupled analysis of energy prices and carbon permits.

Does human capital stimulate investment in physical capital? Evidence from a cost system framework

The direct effect of human capital on economic growth has been widely analysed in the economic literature. This paper, however, focuses on its indirect effect as a stimulus for private investment in physical capital. The methodological framework used is the duality theory, estimating a cost system aggregated with human capital. Empirical evidence is given for Spain for the period 1980-2000. We provide evidence on the indirect effect of human capital in making private capital investment more attractive. Among the main explanations for this process, we observe that higher worker skill levels enable higher returns to be extracted from investment in physical capital.

Optimización del framework de paralelización de tareas COMPSs

El propósito de este trabajo es optimizar el sistema de gestión de workflows COMPSs caracterizando el comportamiento de diferentes dispositivos de memoria a nivel de consumo energético y tiempo de ejecución. Para llevar a cabo este propósito, se ha implementado un servicio de caché para COMPSs para conseguir que sea consciente de la jerarquía de memoria y se han realizado múltiples experimentos para caracterizar los dispositivos de memoria y las mejoras en el rendimiento.

RTOS Framework for Real-Time Control System

This thesis is done as a complementary part for the active magnet bearing (AMB) control software development project in Lappeenranta University of Technology. The main focus of the thesis is to examine an idea of a real-time operating system (RTOS) framework that operates in a dedicated digital signal processor (DSP) environment. General use real-time operating systems do not necessarily provide sufficient platform for periodic control algorithm utilisation. In addition, application program interfaces found in real-time operating systems are commonly non-existent or provided as chip-support libraries, thus hindering platform independent software development. Hence, two divergent real-time operating systems and additional periodic extension software with the framework design are examined to find solutions for the research problems. The research is discharged by; tracing the selected real-time operating system, formulating requirements for the system, and designing the real-time operating system framework (OSFW). The OSFW is formed by programming the framework and conjoining the outcome with the RTOS and the periodic extension. The system is tested and functionality of the software is evaluated in theoretical context of the Rate Monotonic Scheduling (RMS) theory. The performance of the OSFW and substance of the approach are discussed in contrast to the research theme. The findings of the thesis demonstrates that the forged real-time operating system framework is a viable groundwork solution for periodic control applications.

The methodological criteria of counterpropositions within the Roman social legal framework

Partiendo de la difundida distinción, entre unos ordenamientos jurídicos abiertos, como el derecho inglés y el anglo americano, que se vinculan en el pasado al Derecho Romano, y otros cerrados o codificados, como los derechos del continente europeo, y tras detenernos en el origen terminológico de ambos sistemas y en su rígida contraposición, se procura destacar en este trabajo que Roma y su Derecho tampoco abrazan en toda su pureza, un sistema abierto.

Managing through measurement : A framework for successful operative level performance measurement

The research around performance measurement and management has focused mainly on the design, implementation and use of performance measurement systems. However, there is little evidence about the actual impacts of performance measurement on the different levels of business and operations of organisations, as well as the underlying factors that lead to a positive impact of performance measurement. The study thus focuses on this research gap, which can be considered both important and challenging to cover. The first objective of the study was to examine the impacts of performance measurement on different aspects of management, leadership and the quality of working life, after which the factors that facilitate and improve performance and performance measurement at the operative level of an organisation were examined. The second objective was to study how these factors operate in practice. The third objective focused on the construction of a framework for successful operative level performance measurement and the utilisation of the factors in the organisations. The research objectives have been studied through six research papers utilising empirical data from three separate studies, including two sets of interview data and one of quantitative data. The study applies mainly the hermeneutical research approach. As a contribution of the study, a framework for successful operative level performance measurement was formed by matching the findings of the current study and performance measurement theory. The study extents the prior research regarding the impacts of performance measurement and the factors that have a positive effect on operative level performance and performance measurement. The results indicate that under suitable circumstances, performance measurement has positive impacts on different aspects of management, leadership, and the quality of working life. The results reveal that for example the perception of the employees and the management of the impacts of performance measurement on leadership style differ considerably. Furthermore, the fragmented literature has been reorganised into six factors that facilitate and improve the performance of the operations and employees, and the use of performance measurement at the operative level of an organisation. Regarding the managerial implications of the study, managers who operate around performance measurement can utilise the framework for example by putting the different phases of the framework into practice.