Scenic Byways: Their Selection, Designation, Protection and Safety, 1992

There is now a nationwide effort (the Scenic Byways Movement) to focus attention on the need to develop scenic byways and on their potential for enhancing tourism and recreation; to create coalitions and strategies to actually develop the byways; and, alternatively, to see that the job gets done. As part of this nationwide effort, the Transportation Departments of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska sponsored this project so they might obtain guidance related to Scenic Byways programs that may be developed in each state. The following issues are addressed in this report: scenic quality, road safety, scenic byway designation, and scenic byway information.

National Level Stakeholders’ Perceptions of Facilitators and Barriers in Utilization of World Health Organizations’ Preventing Early Pregnancy Guidelines in National Level Health Policy Creation

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2016-07

Iowa Scenic/Heritage Byway Evaluation, 2000

This report documents the results of the field inventory and evaluation of the nominated routes. Data is provided describing the visual and heritage character of the nominated routes and locations important to this character. Graphs, displays and maps were produced using the rating system described in the Iowa Scenic Byway Designation Guide. Discussions of specific inventory procedures and evaluation techniques can be found in two reports, Iowa Scenic Byway Evaluation, December 1992, and Iowa Scenic Byway Evaluation, November 1995.

Iowa Scenic/Heritage Byway Evaluation, 2001

This report documents the results of the field inventory and evaluation of the nominated routes. Data is provided describing the visual and heritage character of the nominated routes and locations important to this character. Graphs, displays and maps were produced using the rating system described in the Iowa Scenic Byway Designation Guide. Discussions of specific inventory procedures and evaluation techniques can be found in two reports, Iowa Scenic Byway Evaluation, December 1992, and Iowa Scenic Byway Evaluation, November 1995.

Iowa's "Great River Road" Scenic Byway Evaluation, 1995

In 1993 the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) received funds to pursue designating additional scenic byways in their on-going Scenic Byways Program. The purpose of this project was twofold. First, scenic quality evaluations were to be performed on approximately 1000 miles across Iowa. Second, a scenic quality evaluation was to be conducted on the Great River Road along the Mississippi River in Iowa. This report is an evaluation of the Great River Road segment of the project.

Institutional entrepreneurship and techniques of inclusiveness in the creation of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

This article contributes to understanding the conditions of social-ecological change by focusing on the agency of individuals in the pathways to institutionalization. Drawing on the case of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), it addresses institutional entrepreneurship in an emerging environmental science-policy institution (ESPI) at a global scale. Drawing on ethnographic observations, semistructured interviews, and document analysis, we propose a detailed chronology of the genesis of the IPBES before focusing on the final phase of the negotiations toward the creation of the institution. We analyze the techniques and skills deployed by the chairman during the conference to handle the tensions at play both to prevent participants from deserting the negotiations arena and to prevent a lack of inclusiveness from discrediting the future institution. We stress that creating a new global environmental institution requires the situated exercise of an art of “having everybody on board” through techniques of inclusiveness that we characterize. Our results emphazise the major challenge of handling the fragmentation and plasticity of the groups of interest involved in the institutionalization process, thus adding to the theory of transformative agency of institutional entrepreneurs. Although inclusiveness might remain partly unattainable, such techniques of inclusiveness appear to be a major condition of the legitimacy and success of the institutionalization of a new global ESPI. Our results also add to the literature on boundary making within ESPIs by emphasizing the multiplicity and plasticity of the groups actually at stake.

From Aari to Zulu: Massively Multilingual Creation of Language Tools using Interlinear Glossed Text

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-08

Employability, Skills Development and Enterprise Creation (Momentum, University of Worcester)

Background to the Momentum project : PSS1 (Sept 2014 - July 2016): funded by HEFCE to promote Postgraduate Education and Employability. A discussion of group demographics, student experience, employer feedback, and enterprise creation through the establishment of the University of Worcester Business Incubator. The presentation concludes with a number of lessons learned from the project.

Co-creation and co-destruction: : A practice-theory based study of interactive value formation

Drawing on an empirical study of public transport, this paper studies interactive value formation at the provider—customer interface, from a practice—theory perspective. In contrast to the bulk of previous research, it argues that interactive value formation is not only associated with value co-creation but also with value co-destruction. In addition, the paper also identifies five interaction value practices — informing, greeting, delivering, charging, and helping — and theorizes how interactive value formation takes place as well as how value is intersubjectively assessed by actors at the provider—customer interface. Furthermore, the paper also distinguishes between four types of interactive value formation praxis corresponding with four subject positions which practitioners step into when engaging in interactive value formation.

Skapandet av ett webbaserat ärendehanteringssystem för affärssystemet Pyramid med Scrum : Creation of a web based case management system for the business system Pyramid with Scrum

The business system known as Pyramid does today not provide its user with a reasonable system regarding case management for support issues. The current system in place requires the customer to contact its provider via telephone to register new cases. In addition to this, current system doesn’t include any way for the user to view any of their current cases without contacting the provider.A solution to this issue is to migrate the current case management system from a telephone contact to a web based platform, where customers could easier access their current cases, but also directly through the website create new cases. This new system would reduce the time required to manually manage each individual case, for both customer and provider, resulting in an overall reduction in cost for both parties.The result is a system divided into two different sections, the first one is an API created in Pyramid that acts as a web service, and the second one a website which customers can connect to. The website will allow users to overview their current cases, but also the option to create new cases directly through the site. All the information used to the website is obtained through the web service inside Pyramid. Analyzing the final design of the system, the developers where able to conclude both positive and negative aspects of the systems’ final design. If the platform chosen was the optimal choice or not, and also what can be include if the system is further developed, will be discussed.The development process and the method used during development will also be analyzed and discussed, what positive and negative aspects that where encountered. In addition to this the cause and effect of a development team smaller than the suggested size will also be analyzed. Lastly an analysis of actions that could’ve been made in order to prevent certain issues from occurring will.

Fit in to stand out : An experience perspective on value creation

In order to grow and survive, a firm must create value with consumers in ways that both fit in with consumer demands and stand out from competitors. Focusing on and understanding consumer and firm assessments of value and creation of value has become a central scope in the contemporary strategic management and marketing literature for understanding and explaining firm survival and success. Consequently, the overall aim of this thesis is to provide a conceptually and empirically grounded understanding of consumers’ and managers’ value assessments and behavior in value creation. This thesis draws on a consumer experience perspective and theories on social construction, organizational identity, self-congruence, and the theory of attractive quality, and combines multiple qualitative and quantitative studies. The findings in this thesis shed light on the interplay between consumers, firms, and contextual structures in value creation. Contextual structural, cultural, and political forces are shown to affect and be affected by the shared and individual cognitions of value creation that firms and consumers use in their assessment and creation value. The results of the study enhance the understanding of how firms can adopt various strategic schemas or organizing logics to optimize different types of use value creation when choosing between opposing and contradictive demands in their value creation. Furthermore, the thesis provides a deeper understanding of the hierarchical nature of consumer judgments of value that can be used to enhance the effectiveness of firm prioritizations and as a foundation for future value-creating strategies.

Relating Innovative 2D Ideas into 3D Garments in Terms of Structure, Using ‘Sculptural Form Giving’ as an Intermediate Step in Creation.

This research focuses on finding a fashion design methodology to reliably translate innovative two-dimensional ideas on paper, via a structural design sculpture, into an intermediate model. The author, both as a fashion designer and a researcher, has witnessed the issues which arise, regarding the loss of some of the initial ideas and distortion during the two-dimensional creative sketch to three-dimensional garment transfer process. Therefore, this research is concerned with fashion designers engaged in transferring a two-dimensional sketch through the method ‘sculptural form giving’. This research method applies the ideal model of conceptual sculpture, in the fashion design process, akin to those used in the disciplines of architecture. These parallel design disciplines share similar processes for realizing design ideas. Moreover, this research investigates and formalizes the processes that utilize the measurable space between the garment and the body, to help transfer garment variation and scale. In summation, this research proposition focuses on helping fashion designers to produce a creative method that helps the designer transfer their imaginative concept through intermediate modeling.

The role of emotions in value creation for families in pediatric health care

The purpose of this study was to analyze emotions related to a child’s critical illness from the perspective of the family and discuss the link those emotions might form with value creation. High quality service is of paramount importance in hospital care, especially when a child is diagnosed with critical illness. Through the analysis of patient family emotions and their triggers, the study was aiming to deepen the understanding of value creation for customer. Therefore, the research sought to find answers to the following three sub-questions: 1. What are the emotions experienced? 2. What triggers them? 3. How are the emotions linked to amelioration or aggravation of value for patient and family? The theoretical background of this research is built on two core concepts: emotions and value creation. As both concepts are wide and multifaceted, the research concentrates on viewing emotions from the applicable cognitive angle, identifying and categorizing emotions in a general level. Value creation is studied from the service perspective, discussing the possible relations between emotions and value creation. Moreover, the suitability of views regarding customer value co-creation to health care encounters is analyzed. Qualitative approach was selected as the most appropriate methodology for conducting the empirical research. The empirical data was collected from public blogs, for which a total of 18 blogs were reviewed. Five blogs were selected for the analysis, which had the intent of identifying the emotions experienced by patient families and deepening the knowledge of their role in value creation during health care service encounters. The empirical study of this research discovered a wide range of positive and negative emotions, which denotes that a severe life situation does not prevent the feeling of positive emotions. Furthermore, by combining the empirical findings to the theoretical background, this study concludes that recognizing and treating the patient family as a partner and value creator is essential. The high quality technical aspect of care is vital, but it is not the sole attribute for service quality, as the interpersonal communication plays a large role in the customer’s overall assessment of the health care performance. The patients and their families largely evaluate the service encounter based on their perceptions, thus emotions play a significant role. Depending on the service experience, value maybe created or destructed. Hence, this study posits emotion at the core of the service encounter, indicating towards the importance of active assessment of customer perceptions and the recognition of the emotional states

Building bridges between user and designer: co-creation, immersion and perspective taking

Designing for users rather than with users is still a common practice in technology design and innovation as opposed to taking them on board in the process. Design for inclusion aims to define and understand end-users, their needs, context of use, and, by doing so, ensure that end-users are catered for and included, while the results are geared towards universality of use. We describe the central role of end-user and designer participation, immersion and perspective to build user-driven solutions. These approaches provided a critical understanding of the counterpart role. Designer(s) could understand what the user’s needs were, experience physical impairments, and see from other’s perspective the interaction with the environment. Users could understand challenges of designing for physical impairments, build a sense of ownership with technology and explore it from a creative perspective. The understanding of the peer’s role (user and designer), needs and perspective enhanced user participation and inclusion.

Assessing a Methodological Proposal for the Design, Creation and Evaluation of Learning Objects Oriented to Educators with Diverse Educational and Technological Competencies

This paper describes a methodological proposal for the design, creation and evaluation of Learning Objects (LOs). This study arises from the compilation and analysis of several LO design methodologies currently used in Ibero-America. This proposal, which has been named DICREVOA, defines five different phases: analysis, design (instructional and multimedia), implementation (LO and metadata), evaluation (from the perspective of both the producer and the consumer of the LO), and publishing. The methodology focuses not only on the teaching inexperienced, but also on those having a basic understanding of the technological and educational aspects related to LO design; therefore, the study emphasizes LO design activities centered around the Kolb cycle and the use of the ExeLearning tool in order to implement the LO core. Additionally, DICREVOA was used in a case study, which demonstrates how it provides a feasible mechanism for LO design and implementation within different contexts. Finally, DICREVOA, the case study to which it was applied, and the results obtained are presented