Responsibility and Well-being: Resource Integration under Responsibilization in Expert Services

Responsibilization, or the shift in functions and risks from providers and producers to the consumer, has become an increasingly common policy in service systems and marketplaces (e.g., financial, health, governmental). Responsibilization is often presented as synonymous with consumer agency and well-being. We take a transformative service research perspective and utilize the resource integration framework to investigate whether responsibilization is truly associated with well-being. We focus on expert services, where responsibilization concerns are particularly salient, and question whether this expanding policy is in the public interest. In the process, we develop a conceptualization of resource integration under responsibilization that includes three levels of actors (consumer, provider and service system), the identification of structural tensions to resource integration and three categories of resource integration practices (access, appropriation and management) necessary to negotiate responsibilization. Our findings have important implications for health care providers, public policy makers, and other service systems, all of which must pay more active attention to the challenges consumers face in negotiating responsibilization and the resulting well-being outcomes.

Bridging Perspectives

People’s ability to change their social and economic circumstances may be constrained by various forms of social, cultural and political domination. Thus to consider a social actor’s particular lifeworld in which the research is embedded assists in the understanding of how and why different trajectories of change occur or are hindered and how those changes fundamentally affect livelihood opportunities and constraints. In seeking to fulfill this condition this thesis adopted an actor-oriented approach to the study of rural livelihoods. A comprehensive livelihoods study requires grasping how social reality is being historically constituted. That means to understand how the interaction of modes of production and symbolical reproduction produces the socio-space. Research is here integrated to action through the facilitation of farmer groups. The overall aim of the groups was to prompt agency, as essential conditions to build more resilient livelihoods. The smallholder farmers in the Mabalane District of Mozambique are located in a remote semi-arid area. Their livelihoods customarily depend at least as much on livestock as on (mostly) rain-fed food crops. Increased climate variability exerts pressure on the already vulnerable production system. An extensive 10-month duration of participant observation divided into 3 periods of fieldwork structured the situated multi-method approach that drew on a set of interview categories. The actor-oriented appraisal of livelihoods worked in building a mutually shared definition of the situation. This reflection process was taken up by the facilitation of the farmer groups, one in Mabomo and one in Mungazi, which used an inquiry iteratively combining individual interviews and facilitated group meetings. Integration of action and reflection was fundamental for group constitution as spaces for communicative action. They needed to be self-organized and to achieve understanding intersubjectively, as well as to base action on cooperation and coordination. Results from this approach focus on how learning as collaboratively generated was enabled, or at times hindered, in (a) selecting meaningful options to test; (b) in developing mechanisms for group functioning; and (c) in learning from steering the testing of options. The study of livelihoods looked at how the different assets composing livelihoods are intertwined and how the increased severity of dry spells is contributing to escalated food insecurity. The reorganization of the social space, as households moved from scattered homesteads to form settlements, further exerts pressure on the already scarce natural resource-based livelihoods. Moreover, this process disrupted a normative base substantiating the way that the use of resources is governed. Hence, actual livelihood strategies and response mechanisms turn to diversification through income-generating activities that further increase pressure on the resource-base in a rather unsustainable way. These response mechanisms are, for example, the increase in small-livestock keeping, which has easier conversion to cash, and charcoal production. The latter results in ever more precarious living and working conditions. In the majority of the cases such responses are short-term and reduce future opportunities in a downward spiral of continuously decreasing assets. Thus, by indicating the failure of institutions in the mediation of smallholders’ adaptive capabilities, the livelihood assessment in Mabomo and Mungazi sheds light on the complex underlying structure of present day social vulnerability, linking the macro-context to the actual situation. To assist in breaking this state of “subordination”, shaped by historical processes, weak institutions and food insecurity, the chosen approach to facilitation of farmer groups puts farmer knowledge at the center of an evolving process of intersubjective co-construction of knowledge towards emancipation.

Model based integration of management systems (MSs) – case study

Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a case study regarding the deployment of a previously developed model for the integration of management systems (MSs). The case study is developed at a manufacturing site of an international enterprise. The implementation of this model in a real business environment is aimed at assessing its feasibility. Design/methodology/approach – The presented case study takes into account different management systems standards (MSSs) progressively implemented, along the years, independently. The implementation of the model was supported by the results obtained from an investigation performed according to a structured diagnosis that was conducted to collect information related to the organizational situation of the enterprise. Findings – The main findings are as follows: a robust integrated management system (IMS), objectively more lean, structured and manageable was found to be feasible; this study provided an holistic view of the enterprise’s global management; clarifications of job descriptions and boundaries of action and responsibilities were achieved; greater efficiency in the use of resources was attained; more coordinated management of the three pillars of sustainability – environmental, economic and social, as well as risks, providing confidence and added value to the company and interested parties was achieved. Originality/value – This case study is pioneering in Portugal in respect to the implementation, at the level of an industrial organization, of the model previously developed for the integration of individualized MSs. The case study provides new insights regarding the implementation of IMSs including the rationalization of several resources and elimination of several types of organizational waste leveraging gains of efficiency. Due to its intrinsic characteristics, the model is able to support, progressively, new or revised MSSs according to the principles of annex SL (normative) – proposals for MSSs – of the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission, that the industrial organization can adopt beyond the current ones.

Expanding a Global Company Management System to An Integrated Coverage of Several Standards

This Master’s thesis examines the implementation of management system standard requirements as integrated in the organization. The aim is to determine how requirements from management system standards ISO 14001:2015 and ISO 9001:2015 can be integrated and implemented into the existing ISO 9001:2008 compliant management system. Research was executed as action research by utilizing an operating model about the integrated use of management system standards created by the International Organization for Standardization. Phases of the operating model were applied to the target organization. The similarity and integration potential of relevant standards were assessed by using comparative matrices. Allocation of the requirements and conformity assessment of the processes was executed by gap analysis. The main results indicate that the requirements of the relevant standards are principally equivalent or have the same kind of purpose. The results also show the most important processes of the target organization in terms of requirement compliance, as well as the requirements which affect the process the most. Prioritizing the compliance achievement of the most important processes and implementation of those requirements that have the most effect create an opportunity for organizations to implement the integrated requirements effectively.

Assessing the resilience of a real-world social-ecological system: lessons from a multidisciplinary evaluation of a South African pastoral system

In the past decades, social-ecological systems (SESs) worldwide have undergone dramatic transformations with often detrimental consequences for livelihoods. Although resilience thinking offers promising conceptual frameworks to understand SES transformations, empirical resilience assessments of real-world SESs are still rare because SES complexity requires integrating knowledge, theories, and approaches from different disciplines. Taking up this challenge, we empirically assess the resilience of a South African pastoral SES to drought using various methods from natural and social sciences. In the ecological subsystem, we analyze rangelands’ ability to buffer drought effects on forage provision, using soil and vegetation indicators. In the social subsystem, we assess households’ and communities’ capacities to mitigate drought effects, applying agronomic and institutional indicators and benchmarking against practices and institutions in traditional pastoral SESs. Our results indicate that a decoupling of livelihoods from livestock-generated income was initiated by government interventions in the 1930s. In the post-apartheid phase, minimum-input strategies of herd management were adopted, leading to a recovery of rangeland vegetation due to unintentionally reduced stocking densities. Because current livelihood security is mainly based on external monetary resources (pensions, child grants, and disability grants), household resilience to drought is higher than in historical phases. Our study is one of the first to use a truly multidisciplinary resilience assessment. Conflicting results from partial assessments underline that measuring narrow indicator sets may impede a deeper understanding of SES transformations. The results also imply that the resilience of contemporary, open SESs cannot be explained by an inward-looking approach because essential connections and drivers at other scales have become relevant in the globalized world. Our study thus has helped to identify pitfalls in empirical resilience assessment and to improve the conceptualization of SES dynamics.

Automated generic integration of flight logbook data into aircraft maintenance systems

The automated transfer of flight logbook information from aircrafts into aircraft maintenance systems leads to reduced ground and maintenance time and is thus desirable from an economical point of view. Until recently, flight logbooks have not been managed electronically in aircrafts or at least the data transfer from aircraft to ground maintenance system has been executed manually. Latest aircraft types such as the Airbus A380 or the Boeing 787 do support an electronic logbook and thus make an automated transfer possible. A generic flight logbook transfer system must deal with different data formats on the input side – due to different aircraft makes and models – as well as different, distributed aircraft maintenance systems for different airlines as aircraft operators. This article contributes the concept and top level distributed system architecture of such a generic system for automated flight log data transfer. It has been developed within a joint industry and applied research project. The architecture has already been successfully evaluated in a prototypical implementation.

IntelliChair: a non-intrusive sitting posture and sitting activity recognition system

Current Ambient Intelligence and Intelligent Environment research focuses on the interpretation of a subject’s behaviour at the activity level by logging the Activity of Daily Living (ADL) such as eating, cooking, etc. In general, the sensors employed (e.g. PIR sensors, contact sensors) provide low resolution information. Meanwhile, the expansion of ubiquitous computing allows researchers to gather additional information from different types of sensor which is possible to improve activity analysis. Based on the previous research about sitting posture detection, this research attempts to further analyses human sitting activity. The aim of this research is to use non-intrusive low cost pressure sensor embedded chair system to recognize a subject’s activity by using their detected postures. There are three steps for this research, the first step is to find a hardware solution for low cost sitting posture detection, second step is to find a suitable strategy of sitting posture detection and the last step is to correlate the time-ordered sitting posture sequences with sitting activity. The author initiated a prototype type of sensing system called IntelliChair for sitting posture detection. Two experiments are proceeded in order to determine the hardware architecture of IntelliChair system. The prototype looks at the sensor selection and integration of various sensor and indicates the best for a low cost, non-intrusive system. Subsequently, this research implements signal process theory to explore the frequency feature of sitting posture, for the purpose of determining a suitable sampling rate for IntelliChair system. For second and third step, ten subjects are recruited for the sitting posture data and sitting activity data collection. The former dataset is collected byasking subjects to perform certain pre-defined sitting postures on IntelliChair and it is used for posture recognition experiment. The latter dataset is collected by asking the subjects to perform their normal sitting activity routine on IntelliChair for four hours, and the dataset is used for activity modelling and recognition experiment. For the posture recognition experiment, two Support Vector Machine (SVM) based classifiers are trained (one for spine postures and the other one for leg postures), and their performance evaluated. Hidden Markov Model is utilized for sitting activity modelling and recognition in order to establish the selected sitting activities from sitting posture sequences.2. After experimenting with possible sensors, Force Sensing Resistor (FSR) is selected as the pressure sensing unit for IntelliChair. Eight FSRs are mounted on the seat and back of a chair to gather haptic (i.e., touch-based) posture information. Furthermore, the research explores the possibility of using alternative non-intrusive sensing technology (i.e. vision based Kinect Sensor from Microsoft) and find out the Kinect sensor is not reliable for sitting posture detection due to the joint drifting problem. A suitable sampling rate for IntelliChair is determined according to the experiment result which is 6 Hz. The posture classification performance shows that the SVM based classifier is robust to “familiar” subject data (accuracy is 99.8% with spine postures and 99.9% with leg postures). When dealing with “unfamiliar” subject data, the accuracy is 80.7% for spine posture classification and 42.3% for leg posture classification. The result of activity recognition achieves 41.27% accuracy among four selected activities (i.e. relax, play game, working with PC and watching video). The result of this thesis shows that different individual body characteristics and sitting habits influence both sitting posture and sitting activity recognition. In this case, it suggests that IntelliChair is suitable for individual usage but a training stage is required.

The Design and Implementation of a SD Card File System

SD card (Secure Digital Memory Card) is widely used in portable storage medium. Currently, latest researches on SD card, are mainly SD card controller based on FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array). Most of them are relying on API interface (Application Programming Interface), AHB bus (Advanced High performance Bus), etc. They are dedicated to the realization of ultra high speed communication between SD card and upper systems. Studies about SD card controller, really play a vital role in the field of high speed cameras and other sub-areas of expertise. This design of FPGA-based file systems and SD2.0 IP (Intellectual Property core) does not only exhibit a nice transmission rate, but also achieve the systematic management of files, while retaining a strong portability and practicality. The file system design and implementation on a SD card covers the main three IP innovation points. First, the combination and integration of file system and SD card controller, makes the overall system highly integrated and practical. The popular SD2.0 protocol is implemented for communication channels. Pure digital logic design based on VHDL (Very-High-Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language), integrates the SD card controller in hardware layer and the FAT32 file system for the entire system. Secondly, the document management system mechanism makes document processing more convenient and easy. Especially for small files in batch processing, it can ease the pressure of upper system to frequently access and process them, thereby enhancing the overall efficiency of systems. Finally, digital design ensures the superior performance. For transmission security, CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) algorithm is for data transmission protection. Design of each module is platform-independent of macro cells, and keeps a better portability. Custom integrated instructions and interfaces may facilitate easily to use. Finally, the actual test went through multi-platform method, Xilinx and Altera FPGA developing platforms. The timing simulation and debugging of each module was covered. Finally, Test results show that the designed FPGA-based file system IP on SD card can support SD card, TF card and Micro SD with 2.0 protocols, and the successful implementation of systematic management for stored files, and supports SD bus mode. Data read and write rates in Kingston class10 card is approximately 24.27MB/s and 16.94MB/s.

Design, modelling, simulation and integration of cyber physical systems: methods and applications

The main drivers for the development and evolution of Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) are the reduction of development costs and time along with the enhancement of the designed products. The aim of this survey paper is to provide an overview of different types of system and the associated transition process from mechatronics to CPS and cloud-based (IoT) systems. It will further consider the requirement that methodologies for CPS-design should be part of a multi-disciplinary development process within which designers should focus not only on the separate physical and computational components, but also on their integration and interaction. Challenges related to CPS-design are therefore considered in the paper from the perspectives of the physical processes, computation and integration respectively. Illustrative case studies are selected from different system levels starting with the description of the overlaying concept of Cyber Physical Production Systems (CPPSs). The analysis and evaluation of the specific properties of a sub-system using a condition monitoring system, important for the maintenance purposes, is then given for a wind turbine.

Medisuite + Iplate Integration EAFIT & Ilimitada S.A.

Force plate or pressure plate analysis came as an innovative tool to biomechanics and sport medicine -- This allows engineers, scientists and doctors to virtually reconstruct the way a person steps while running or walking using a measuring system and a computer -- With this information they can calculate and analyze a whole set of variables and factors that characterize the step -- Then they are able to make corrections and/or optimizations, designing appropriate shoes and insoles for the patient -- The idea is to study and understand all the hardware and software implications of this process and all the components involved, and then propose an alternative solution -- This solution should have at least similar performance to existing systems -- It should increase the accuracy and/or the sampling frequency to obtain better results -- By the end, there should be a working prototype of a pressure measuring system and a mathematical model to govern it -- The costs of the system have to be lower than most of the systems in the market

Qualidade física e matéria orgânica do solo em sistema de integração lavoura - pecuária submetido a doses de nitrogênio

The animal trampling favors the soil compaction process in sheep raising and crop production integrated systems. This compression has negative effects, hindering the development of roots, the availability of nutrients, water and aeration, causing production losses, making it essential for the assessment of soil physical attributes for monitoring soil quality. Soil organic matter can be used to assess the quality of the soil, due to its relationship with the chemical, physical and biological soil properties. Conservation management system with tillage, along with systems integration between crops and livestock are being used to maintain and even increase the levels of soil organic matter. For that, a field experiment was carried out over a Oxisol clayey Alic in Guarapuava, PR, from de 2006 one. experiment sheep raising and crop production integrated systems The climate classified as Cfb .. The study was to evaluate the soil physical properties and quantify the stock of soil organic carbon and its compartmentalization in system integration crop - livestock with sheep under four nitrogen rates (0, 75, 150 and 225 kg ha-1) in the winter pasture, formed by the consortium oat (Avena strigosa) and ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) and the effect of grazing (with and without). The soil samples blades density evaluations, total porosity, macro and micro, aggregation and carbon stocks were held in two phases: Phase livestock (after removal of the animals of the area) and phase crop (after maize cultivation). The collection of soil samples were carried out in layers of 0-0.5, 0.05-0.10, 0.10-0.20 and m. Data were subjected to analysis of variance and the hypotheses tested by the F test (p <0.05). For the quantitative effect data regression and the qualitative effect used the test medium. In non-significant regressions used the average and standard deviation treatments. The animal trampling caused an increase in bulk density in the 0.10-0.20 m layer. The dose of 225 kg N ha-1 in winter pasture increased total soil porosity at 8% compared to dose 0 kg N ha-1 in the crop stage. The grazing had no effect on soil macroporosity. GMD of aggregates in the phase after grazing the surface layer was damaged by grazing. Nitrogen rates used in the winter pasture and grazing not influence the total organic carbon stocks. The TOC is not influenced by nitrogen fertilization on grassland. The grazing increases the stock of POC in the 0.10-0.20 m layer livestock phase and cause the stock of POC in the 0-0.5 m layer in the crop stage. The MAC is not influenced by N rates applied in the pasture or by grazing.

A full identification system for a tactile fingerprint sensor

International audience

Optimization of aeroponic technology for future integration in quality potato seed production systems in tropical environments

Virus and soil borne pathogens negatively impact on the production of potatoes in tropical highland and sub-tropical environments, limiting supply of an increasingly popular and important vegetable in these regions. It is common for latent disease infected seed tubers or field grown cuttings to be used as potato planting material. We utilised an International Potato Centre technique, using aeroponic technology, to produce low cost mini-tubers in tropical areas. The system has been optimised for increased effectiveness in tropical areas. High numbers of seed tubers of cultivar Sebago (630) and Nicola per m2 (>900) were obtained in the first generation, and the system is capable of producing five crops of standard cultivars in every two years. Initial results indicate that quality seed could be produced by nurseries and farmers, therefore contributing to the minimisation of soil borne diseases in an integrated management plan. This technology reduces seed production costs, benefiting seed and potato growers. © ISHS.

Estudo da prevalência e da gravidade da dermatite de contacto em 'frango do campo'

O sector avícola enfrenta atualmente dois desafios muito estimulantes. O primeiro decorre do aumento, que se prevê continuar a crescer, nos níveis de procura de carne de aves no mercado interno e internacional; o segundo decorre do facto da criação avícola ter adotado métodos de produção mais intensivos (kg peso vivo/m2/ano) e em maior escala, i.e. com maior concentração animal na mesma exploração. Este carácter vincadamente “industrial” tem merecido uma natural atenção das sociedades e das autoridades pecuárias no sentido desta economia de escala passar a ter num conjunto de instrumentos legais e técnicos o devido contrapeso para a salvaguarda das aves enquanto ser vivo. O presente trabalho tem como ponto de partida a Directiva 2007/43/CE do Conselho de 28 de Junho, relativa ao estabelecimento de regras mínimas para a proteção de frangos de carne. Em virtude de não existir ainda informação suficiente sobre a forma como a qualidade do maneio animal pode ser monitorizada, ao nível do abate, por médicos veterinários e auxiliares oficiais, em frangos de criação especial segundo os modelos definidos no Regulamento (CE) n.º 543/2008, urge realizar estudos neste domínio. O principal objetivo da realização do presente trabalho de campo foi o estudo da ocorrência das dermatites de contacto plantar (pododermatites) e da bolsa sinovial préesternal em frangos produzidos em sistemas de produção considerados “protetores” do bem-estar animal, designadamente os seguintes: i) ar livre; e, ii) extensivo de interior. O estudo foi efetuado num centro de abate de frangos do campo, em Oliveira de Frades, entre Maio de 20012 e Março de 2013. Os animais abatidos foram criados em explorações com contratos de integração situadas no Distrito de Viseu. Os dados foram recolhidos em 39 bandos diferentes da espécie Gallus domesticus, dos quais 1021 carcaças foram avaliadas após evisceração, o que correspondeu ao exame de uma a cada quinze aves da linha de abate. Para a avaliação da pododermatite foi utilizado o método adaptado pela DGAV, enquanto para a avaliação da bursite esternal foi efetuada tendo em conta o modelo aplicado em perus por Berk em 2002. Apesar do modelo estatístico desenvolvido para a análise dos resultados obtidos no presente trabalho exigir um maior número de observações, foi possível identificar com grande precisão alguns fatores de risco que devem ser realçados pela sua relevância no contexto dos sistemas produtivos escrutinados ou no mecanismo fisiopatológico da dermatite de contacto, nomeadamente os seguintes: (i) a idade das aves que, apesar de não ter sido identificada uma relação directa com os scores de pododermatite e bursite, verificou-se que a idade elevada que os animais tipicamente atingem nos sistemas de produção extensivos está associada a uma taxa superior de rejeições pela inspecção sanitária; (ii) o peso pré-abate que, independentemente da inconsistência defendida por diversos autores em relação à influência do peso vivo do frango industrial sobre a dermatite de contacto, nos animais produzidos em regime extensivo, esta variável pode desempenhar um fator chave para a ocorrência desta lesão. De facto, há que realçar que o peso destes animais tem uma importância fulcral na modelação da biomecânica da ave, incluindo na pressão exercida sobre a superfície plantar; (iii) o tipo de sistema de abeberamento, tendo ficado demonstrado que a selecção do tipo de bebedouro tem uma importância peculiar sobre a ocorrência de pododermatite em “frango de campo”, algo que está provavelmente relacionado com a influência exercida sobre o teor de humidade da cama. Globalmente, as frequências de pododermatite e bursite apuradas neste trabalho devem ser consideradas inquietantes. Esta preocupação eleva-se quando se toma consciência que as aves provieram de regimes considerados “amigáveis” e “sustentáveis”, pelo que urge monitorizar adequadamente aqueles sistemas produtivos, melhorar as suas condições e reanalisar os benefícios ao nível do bem-estar animal.