Catchment phosphorous losses: an export coefficient modelling approach with scenario analysis for water management

This paper presents the development of an export coefficient model to characterise the rates and sources of P export from land to water in four reservoir systems located in a semi-arid rural region in southern of Portugal. The model was developed to enable effective management of these important water resource systems under the EU Water Framework Directive. This is the first time such an approach has been fully adapted for the semi-arid systems typical of Mediterranean Europe. The sources of P loading delivered to each reservoir from its catchment were determined and scenario analysis was undertaken to predict the likely impact of catchment management strategies on the scale of rate of P loading delivered to each water body from its catchment. The results indicate the importance of farming and sewage treatment works/collective septic tanks discharges as the main contributors to the total diffuse and point source P loading delivered to the reservoirs, respectively. A reduction in the total P loading for all study areas would require control of farming practices and more efficient removal of P from human wastes prior to discharge to surface waters. The scenario analysis indicates a strategy based solely on reducing the agricultural P surplus may result in only a slow improvement in water quality, which would be unlikely to support the generation of good ecological status in reservoirs. The model application indicates that a reduction of P-inputs to the reservoirs should first focus on reducing P loading from sewage effluent discharges through the introduction of tertiary treatment (P-stripping) in all major residential areas. The fully calibrated export coefficient modelling approach transferred well to semi-arid regions, with the only significant limitation being the availability of suitable input data to drive the model. Further studies using this approach in semi-arid catchments are now needed to increase the knowledge of nutrient export behaviours in semi-arid regions.

A gestão da informação sob a luz do Enterprise Content Management (ECM): um estudo de caso em uma universidade pública

This work involves the organization and content perspectives on Enterprise Content Management (ECM) framework. The case study at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte was based on ECM model to analyse the information management provided by the three main administrative systems: The Integrated Management of Academic Activities (SIGAA), Integrated System of Inheritance, and Contracts Administration (SIPAC) and the Integrated System for Administration and Human Resources (SIGRH). A case study protocol was designed to provide greater reliability to research process. Four propositions were examined in order to reach the specific objectives of identification and evaluation of ECM components from UFRN perspective. The preliminary phase provided the guidelines for the data collection. In total, 75 individuals were interviewed. Interviews with four managers directly involved on systems design were recorded (average duration of 90 minutes). The 70 remaining individuals were approached in random way in UFRN s units, including teachers, administrative-technical employees and students. The results showed the presence of many ECM elements in the management of UFRN administrative information. The technological component with higher presence was "management of web content / collaboration". But initiatives of other components (e.g. email and document management) were found and are in continuous improvement. The assessment made use of eQual 4.0 to examine the effectiveness of applications under three factors: usability, quality of information and offered service. In general, the quality offered by the systems was very good and walk side by side with the obtained benefits of ECM strategy adoption in the context of the whole institution

Relationship between green management and environmental training in companies located in Brazil: A theoretical framework and case studies

The main objective of this study is to understand the relationship between green management and environmental training in Brazilian companies, underscoring how this relationship takes place and its most important factors. For such, 9 case studies were conducted at large ISO 14001 certified companies, leaders in their market segments. Several interviews were conducted for each case, documents were collected and visits were made for direct observation. The main contributions and results of this study were: (a) a proposal for a theoretical framework relating the evolutionary stages of green management and the characteristics of environmental training; (b) it was ascertained, as per the proposed theoretical framework, that organizational culture and teamwork, top management support and more technical green management practices are the factors that seem to connect and convert environmental training into more proactive green management, especially for companies in the proactive green management stage; (c) the identification of the co-evolution between the companies' stage of green management and their environmental training level, which is the identified relationship mechanism between environmental training and green management. In other words, the higher the level of adoption of activities recommended for green management, the more evolved the green management practiced at the companies tends to be; and (d) identification that the proposed theoretical framework tends to be useful, mainly because it can explain the relationship between green management and environmental training at the company in the proactive stage. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Water management at the river basin level: challenges in Latin America

Includes bibliography

Potential and limits of health management reform in Chile

Includes bibliography

Investing better in order to invest more. Finance and management of education in Latin America and the Caribbean

Includes bibliography

Oportunidades e desafios para lidar com as barreiras à adoção de práticas de green supply chain management: guidelines à luz de um estudo de múltiplos casos no Brasil

This article aims to discuss how leading companies of the automotive battery industry installed in Brazil are dealing with barriers to the adoption of green supply chain management (GSCM) practices. From these discussions, we list the opportunities and challenges to the automotive battery sector in incorporating GSCM actions. We conducted a multiple-case study with the top five companies in this sector. The highlight factors are “organizational values” and “human resources” for internal barriers, and “suppliers” and “consumers” for external barriers.

Knowledge management in health: a systematic literature review

Knowledge has been used as a resource for intelligent and effective action planning in organizations. Interest in research on knowledge management processes has intensified in different areas. A systematic literature review was accomplished, based on the question: what are the contributions of Brazilian and international journal publications on knowledge management in health? The sample totaled 32 items that complied with the inclusion criteria. The results showed that 78% of journals that published on the theme are international, 77% of researchers work in higher education and 65% have a Ph.D. The texts gave rise to five thematic categories, mainly: development of knowledge management systems in health (37.5%), discussion of knowledge management application in health (28.1%) and nurses' function in knowledge management (18.7%).

aXess: an authoring tool for XML content management

The use of XML for representation of eLearning-content and for automatic generation of different kinds of teaching media from this material is with all its advantages nowadays stateof-the-art. In the last years there have been numerous projects that leveraged XML-based production environments. At the end of the financial advancement the created materials have to be maintained with limited (human) resources. In the majority of cases this is only possible, if the authors care for their teaching material without extensive IT-support. From our point of view there has so far been a lack of intuitive usable XML editors. The prototype of such an XML editor “aXess” is introduced with the intention to encourage a broad discussion about the required features to manage the content of eLearning-materials.

Diagnosing Causes of Water Scarcity in Complex Water Resources Systems and Identifying Risk Management Actions

From the water management perspective, water scarcity is an unacceptable risk of facing water shortages to serve water demands in the near future. Water scarcity may be temporary and related to drought conditions or other accidental situation, or may be permanent and due to deeper causes such as excessive demand growth, lack of infrastructure for water storage or transport, or constraints in water management. Diagnosing the causes of water scarcity in complex water resources systems is a precondition to adopt effective drought risk management actions. In this paper we present four indices which have been developed to evaluate water scarcity. We propose a methodology for interpretation of index values that can lead to conclusions about the reliability and vulnerability of systems to water scarcity, as well as to diagnose their possible causes and to propose solutions. The described methodology was applied to the Ebro river basin, identifying existing and expected problems and possible solutions. System diagnostics, based exclusively on the analysis of index values, were compared with the known reality as perceived by system managers, validating the conclusions in all cases

Relationships with citizens in public management: a study at the largest Spanish Town Halls

This paper provides an analysis of the relationships existing between citizen participation and satisfaction levels within the framework of Spanish local administrations, additionally paying attention to the links between organisational size and the said participation and satisfaction levels. The results of a survey questionnaire answered by 388 Human Resources (HR) managers from the largest Spanish Town Halls were examined for these purposes. A claim is made both to increase the degree of citizen participation in public decision-making and to ensure the delivery of efficient and effective public services that can really meet citizens’ needs in Spanish town Halls.

Management workshop for alcohol safety action project leaders. Proceedings.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Office of Alcohol Countermeasures, Washington, D.C.

Report digest management audit Department of Human Services' Early Intervention Program /

"The audit was conducted pursuant to Legislative Audit Commission Resolution Number 122, which was adopted on June 26, 2001. This audit was conducted in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards and the audit standards promulgated by the Office of the Auditor General at 74 Ill. Adm. Code-420-310. The audit report is transmitted in conformance with Section 3-14 of the Illinois State Auditing Act."--Cover letter.

Social Security could improve its management and detection of postentitlement changes by using postadjudication appraisal data /

"January 20, 1984."