The Prevalence and societal costs of Illinois alcohol abuse in relation to service needs and utilization /

"November 1, 1979."

Le travail des danseuses nues : au-delà du stigmate, une relation de service marchand

Thèse numérisée par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Le travail des danseuses nues : au-delà du stigmate, une relation de service marchand

Thèse numérisée par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Service Experience in an Innovation Context

Service researchers and practitioners have repeatedly claimed that customer service experiences are essential to all businesses. Therefore comprehension of how service experience is characterised in research is an essential element for its further development through research. The importance of greater in-depth understanding of the phenomenon of service experience has been acknowledged by several researchers, such as Carú and Cova and Vargo and Lusch. Furthermore, Service-Dominant (S-D) logic has integrated service experience to value by emphasising in its foundational premises that value is phenomenologically (experientially) determined. The present study analyses how the concept of service experience has been characterised in previous research. As such, it puts forward three ways to characterise it in relation to that research: 1) phenomenological service experience relates to the value discussion in S-D logic and interpretative consumer research, 2) process-based service experience relates to understanding service as a process, and 3) outcome-based service experience relates to understanding service experience as one element in models linking a number of variables or attributes to various outcomes. Focusing on the phenomenological service experience, the theoretical purpose of the study is to characterise service experience based on the phenomenological approach. In order to do so, an additional methodological purpose was formulated: to find a suitable methodology for analysing service experience based on the phenomenological approach. The study relates phenomenology to a philosophical Husserlian and social constructionist tradition studying phenomena as they appear in our experience in a social context. The study introduces Event-Based Narrative Inquiry Technique (EBNIT), which combines critical events with narratives and metaphors. EBNIT enabled the analysis of lived and imaginary service experiences as expressed in individual narratives. The study presents findings of eight case studies within service innovation of Web 2.0, mobile service, location aware service and public service in the municipal sector. Customers’ and service managers’ stories about their lived private and working lifeworld were the foundation for their ideal service experiences. In general, the thesis finds that service experiences are (1) subjective, (2) context-specific, (3) cumulative, (4) partially socially constructed, (5) both lived and imaginary, (6) temporally multiple-dimensional, and (7) iteratively related to perceived value. In addition to customer service experience, the thesis brings empirical evidence of managerial service experience of front-line managers experiencing the service they manage and develop in their working lifeworld. The study contributes to S-D logic, service innovation and service marketing and management in general by characterising service experience based on the phenomenological approach and integrating it to the value discussion. Additionally, the study offers a methodological approach for further exploration of service experiences. The study discusses managerial implications in conjunction with the case studies and discusses them in relation to service innovation.

Service industries and service economy

The study analyses the role of services in modern and less-developed economies. It shows the different meanings of the value, definition and classification of service activities found in economic literature. It discusses the relation between service production growth and economic development observing the role of these activities in the dynamics of economic restructuring. Further, it also examines the differences between private and public sector service restructuring and the consequences of internationalization of services. It concludes that economic restructuring also caused by changes in the nature of goods and services has important regional effects.

Ergo(trans)formação: curtos circuitos entre o trabalhar e os modos de subjetivação

Esta tese se propõe a explorar as possibilidades de lidar com o trabalho enquanto atividade, compreendendo-o, a partir da perspectiva ergológica (SCHWARTZ, 2000), portando um paradoxo ou um tipo de dialética entre o Registro 1 das normas antecedentes que marcam fortemente a antecipação desse trabalho; e o Registro 2 das dimensões singulares do encontro de encontros, que se produz em todo trabalhar. A partir da permanente dialética entre esses dois registros, a perspectiva ergológica vai buscar métodos que sejam capazes de dar visibilidade à dimensão gestionária que atravessa todo trabalhar, para que os protagonistas da atividade possam se apropriar de sua atividade, individual e coletivamente, ampliando seus níveis de autonomia frente ao trabalho e à vida. O termo ergo(trans)formação afirma uma prática de pesquisa-intervenção que se propõe transformadora da realidade, apostando numa intervenção micropolítica no seio da experiência social, conforme Rocha e Aguiar (2003). Este modo de compreensão de pesquisa e de afirmação da produção coletiva do conhecimento pauta-se numa abordagem construtivista onde conhecer não é representar uma realidade pré-existente, mas é um processo de invenção de si e do mundo (KASTRUP, 1999), em um acoplamento direto com a matéria. Enfrentamos o seguinte problema: o trabalho pode ser pensado como invenção de si e do mundo, entrando em curto-circuitagem com as formas de produzir em conformidade com organização formal do trabalho, afirmando o primado do agir próprio do trabalhador como atividade, frente ao acontecimental do trabalho? Para dar conta deste problema, propomos desenvolver uma cartografia, enquanto método de análise da atividade de trabalho, que possibilite acompanhar a curto-circuitagem entre as formas de produzir em conformidade com organização do trabalho e o agir próprio do trabalhador. São apresentadas duas experimentações de ergo(trans)formação desenvolvidas em dois territórios distintos dos mundos do trabalho: o desenvolvimento de uma Oficina de Vendas e a formação de educadores internos, em empresa financeira pública e a possibilidade de formação educacional e profissional de jovens com transtorno mental grave em uma rede de restaurantes que se desdobra na cartografia do trabalho coletivo e do coletivo de trabalho, tendo um jovem portador de síndrome de Down como protagonista da atividade. As escolhas metodológicas se fizeram em duas perspectivas distintas e complementares: (1) o método cartográfico elaborado a partir de Deleuze e Guattari (1995), Guattari e Rolnik (1986), assim como Passos, Kastrup e Escóssia (2009); e (2) o que propõe Schwartz (1999), o Dispositivo Dinâmico de Três Polos (DD3P), incorporando a reformulação conceitual proposta por Athayde e Brito (2003) denominada Comunidade Ampliada de Pesquisa. Como conclusão, refletimos se é possível pensar a atividade inventiva de trabalho, a partir das experimentações de ergo(trans)formação que apresentamos, considerando suas condições e efeitos e, mesmo, se podemos nomeá-las assim, levando-se em conta as diferenças de atividades envolvidas. Estas experimentações nos impuseram pensar o trabalho (enquanto atividade) em sua indissociabilidade com a formação humana e com a produção de subjetividade

Le drame social du travail d'escorte indépendante à Montréal

Ce mémoire vise à retracer les carrières des escortes indépendantes montréalaises et les tensions qui les traversent, afin de rendre compte de la complexité du « drame social » que constitue cette activité. Nos résultats montrent que cette profession présente de nombreuses similarités avec d’autres professions, en même temps que sa position particulière dans une matrice sociale stigmatisante et dans une relation de service intime lui confère toute sa singularité. Partie de la question « Comment commence-t-on et poursuit-on dans l’activité d’escorte, alors que celle-ci est stigmatisée ? », nous avons réalisé une enquête de terrain auprès d’escortes indépendantes, composée essentiellement de sept entrevues approfondies et de l’observation de leur environnement professionnel informatisé. Nous avons décidé de nous écarter du débat actuel, tant scientifique que militant, qui divise sur le sujet du travail du sexe. Notre cadre conceptuel est, dans un perspective interactionniste, à la croisée des sociologies des professions, de la déviance et du stigmate. Nous rendons compte de nos résultats sous la forme de quatre actes, afin de poursuivre la métaphore théâtrale engagée par Hughes, qui suivent les étapes d’une carrière d’escorte et qui mettent l’accent sur leur complexité intrinsèque. Ces étapes sont ancrées dans une ambivalence entre un effort de professionnalisation de leur pratique et une tentative de rester dans la norme en se distanciant de cette activité. Cette ambivalence, causée par la matrice sociale dans laquelle évoluent ces escortes et à l’intimité des relations de service, contribue à la pérennité de la stigmatisation de cette activité.

AquaLog : an ontology-driven question answering system for organizational semantic intranets

The semantic web vision is one in which rich, ontology-based semantic markup will become widely available. The availability of semantic markup on the web opens the way to novel, sophisticated forms of question answering. AquaLog is a portable question-answering system which takes queries expressed in natural language and an ontology as input, and returns answers drawn from one or more knowledge bases (KBs). We say that AquaLog is portable because the configuration time required to customize the system for a particular ontology is negligible. AquaLog presents an elegant solution in which different strategies are combined together in a novel way. It makes use of the GATE NLP platform, string metric algorithms, WordNet and a novel ontology-based relation similarity service to make sense of user queries with respect to the target KB. Moreover it also includes a learning component, which ensures that the performance of the system improves over the time, in response to the particular community jargon used by end users.

AquaLog : an ontology-driven question answering system to interface the semantic web

The semantic web (SW) vision is one in which rich, ontology-based semantic markup will become widely available. The availability of semantic markup on the web opens the way to novel, sophisticated forms of question answering. AquaLog is a portable question-answering system which takes queries expressed in natural language (NL) and an ontology as input, and returns answers drawn from one or more knowledge bases (KB). AquaLog presents an elegant solution in which different strategies are combined together in a novel way. AquaLog novel ontology-based relation similarity service makes sense of user queries.

Letters from the Secretary of War to the Committee of Ways and Means, in relation to the number of Militia called into the public service in 1813, to a provision for paying the bounties and premiums to soldiers lately authorized, and to the strength of the army.--

At head of title: [78].

Laws of the United States, in relation to the navy and marine corps; to the close of the second session of the Twenty-sixth Congress. Together with the acts and resolutions of Congress, granting medals, swords and votes of thanks, or having reference to special objects: also private acts, for the relief of individuals, alphabetically arranged: and a table of appropriations and expenditures, for the naval service, from 1791 to 1840, both years inclusive. To which are prefixed the Constitution of the United States, and a synopsis of the legislation of Congress, respecting naval affairs, during the revolutionary war /

Mode of access: Internet.