Suchergebnisse

Increased product shelf-life and globalisation have led to longer and vastly more complicated food chains; potentially presenting greater opportunity for contamination and microbial growth to occur. Modern food safety management systems risk assess hazards (based on current scientific data) and strive to control these, often extensive and convoluted, food production/supply chains through appropriate good hygiene practices (GHP) and HACCP. Contamination of food as a result of human error can undermine even the most carefully prepared and executed HACCP system – culminating in foodborne infection, outbreaks, reputable damage, and erosion of consumer trust. This paper provides a review on the effect of human factors on the food sector in Ireland. Figures on foodborne outbreaks, laboratory analysis of ready-to-eat (RTE) foods, and crude incidence rate (CIR) per 100,000 population of infection were examined; in order to gain insight into the occurrence of food safety breaches in Ireland. Food safety legislative requirements and recommendations for Irish food businesses are considered, along with rates of inspection and enforcement. An average of 86 closure orders are issued in Ireland every year as a result of breaches, which can be generally either partially/fully attributed to human factors. This paper examines the critical role of human factors in safe food production; and includes data from Irish surveys on food safety training (food handlers and trainers) and food safety violations in a selection of Irish food premises. Food business owners need to commit time and resources to identifying, risk assessing, and addressing the potential role of 'human error' in their facility – whether intentional, unintentional, direct, or indirect. Appropriate recognition of the importance of human factors in food safety management, coupled with a high standard of training and appropriate implementation of food safety principles is necessary to safeguard modern food businesses.

Mestrado em Arquitetura Paisagista - Instituto Superior de Agronomia - UL ; This thesis aims to discuss some issues related to the actual situation of suburban sprawl in Europe and focuses on the nature and landscapes. Urbanization is a main topic in EU, since cities are still growing, economy is stabilized, although it faced some challenges during the last decade and the larger part of Europe experiences a long period of time with no war or health epidemic. People have the resources to invest in new housing and in many cases they want to fulfill their dream of a house with garden. But this vision requires a lot of space usage so cities are sometimes spontaneously expanding beyond their borders and sometimes it does not even correspond to state urban policies. Urban sprawl is also a serious issue for European nature that does not have as many space alternatives as for example the USA. There are issues with coastal habitats, landscape fragmentation and loss of natural habitats. Thus, this thesis aims to find the main drivers behind urban sprawl and issues related to them. It analyzes its political, economic or social background and deducts solutions for urban sprawl repair with the help of successful projects or experience of states/cities, that suffered from urban sprawl but managed to find a way how to keep the urban development in balance. In this thesis it is a case of Norway. In practical part of this thesis, two case studies were chosen to represent characteristic problems of urban sprawl. They are from Portugal (regional level) and Czech Republic (community level). Those two cases are analyzed independently on each other and variations of solutions are found for them ; N/A

Identifying which factors influence household water management can help policy makers target interventions to improve drinking water quality for communities that may not receive adequate water quality at the tap. We assessed which perceptional and socio-demographic factors are associated with household drinking water management strategies in rural Puerto Rico. Specifically, we examined which factors were associated with household decisions to boil or filter tap water before drinking, or to obtain drinking water from multiple sources. We find that households differ in their management strategies depending on the institution that distributes water (i.e. government PRASA vs community-managed non-PRASA), perceptions of institutional efficacy, and perceptions of water quality. Specifically, households in PRASA communities are more likely to boil and filter their tap water due to perceptions of low water quality. Households in non-PRASA communities are more likely to procure water from multiple sources due to perceptions of institutional inefficacy. Based on informal discussions with community members, we suggest that water quality may be improved if PRASA systems improve the taste and odor of tap water, possibly by allowing for dechlorination prior to distribution, and if non-PRASA systems reduce the turbidity of water at the tap, possibly by increasing the degree of chlorination and filtering prior to distribution. Future studies should examine objective water quality standards to identify whether current management strategies are effective at improving water quality prior to consumption.

Identifying which factors influence household water management can help policy makers target interventions to improve drinking water quality for communities that may not receive adequate water quality at the tap. We assessed which perceptional and socio-demographic factors are associated with household drinking water management strategies in rural Puerto Rico. Specifically, we examined which factors were associated with household decisions to boil or filter tap water before drinking, or to obtain drinking water from multiple sources. We find that households differ in their management strategies depending on the institution that distributes water (i.e. government PRASA vs community-managed non-PRASA), perceptions of institutional efficacy, and perceptions of water quality. Specifically, households in PRASA communities are more likely to boil and filter their tap water due to perceptions of low water quality. Households in non-PRASA communities are more likely to procure water from multiple sources due to perceptions of institutional inefficacy. Based on informal discussions with community members, we suggest that water quality may be improved if PRASA systems improve the taste and odor of tap water, possibly by allowing for dechlorination prior to distribution, and if non-PRASA systems reduce the turbidity of water at the tap, possibly by increasing the degree of chlorination and filtering prior to distribution. Future studies should examine objective water quality standards to identify whether current management strategies are effective at improving water quality prior to consumption.

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems have been widely implemented by numerous firms throughout the industrial world. While success stories of ERP implementation abound due to its potential in resolving the problem of fragmented information, a substantial number of these implementations fail to meet the goals of the organization. Some are abandoned altogether and others contribute to the failure of an organization. This article seeks to identify the critical factors of ERP implementation and uses statistical analysis to further delineate the patterns of adoption of the various concepts. A cross-sectional mail survey was mailed to business executives who have experience in the implementation of ERP systems. The results of this study provide empirical evidence that the theoretical constructs of ERP implementation are followed at varying levels. It offers some fresh insights into the current practice of ERP implementation. In addition, this study fills the need for ERP implementation constructs that can be utilized for further study of this important topic.

What should the managers of a multibusiness firm do when their company's resources are not used profitably? Research on redeployment proposes that managers should withdraw those resources from the business where they are underutilized and switch them to a business where they can be used more profitably, whereas the literature on divestiture advocates that managers should divest the business containing those resources. In this study, we investigate the factors that lead managers to choose resource redeployment over divestiture as a mode of exit and vice versa. Using a formal model, we establish that the two exit modes act as intertemporal substitutes, whereby redeployment dominates for earlier exits but divestiture dominates for later exits. Although both redeployment and divestiture are inversely related to their implementation costs, redeployment costs amplify the effect of divestiture costs on the likelihood of exit, and divestiture costs amplify the effect of redeployment costs on the likelihood of exit. Finally, we derive a series of results that show that disregarding one of these two exit options as a strategic alternative to the other may lead to misspecifications of empirical models that seek to predict the likelihood of redeployment, divestiture, or exit. Overall, our work contributes to the corporate strategy literature by uniting two streams of research that have largely remained disparate, yet whose insights have significant implications for each other.

This paper analyses factors influencing effective service delivery at the grassroots level in Nepal, through a qualitative field study which includes in-depth interviews with 110 community-based organisations (CBOs) and five focus group discussions. The findings indicate that a wide range of governance arrangements have been deployed in the effort to achieve effective service delivery. However, many CBOs lack a solid governance system for their development undertakings, leading to poor performance and lack of accountability. A number of factors are identified as causing this weak practical application of community governance, notably institutional mechanisms, socio-economic structures, power politics and interests, capacity limitations and resource constraints.

This paper analyses factors influencing effective service delivery at the grassroots level in Nepal, through a qualitative field study which includes in-depth interviews with 110 community-based organisations (CBOs) and five focus group discussions. The findings indicate that a wide range of governance arrangements have been deployed in the effort to achieve effective service delivery. However, many CBOs lack a solid governance system for their development undertakings, leading to poor performance and lack of accountability. A number of factors are identified as causing this weak practical application of community governance, notably institutional mechanisms, socio-economic structures, power politics and interests, capacity limitations and resource constraints.

Economic growth is one of the basic goals that all nations strive to achieve. This achievement can be observed in whatever economic system, regardless of the stage of progress or backwardness reached. However, this is due to its impact on the welfare of the country, the level of its citizens, and its reflection on the progress and strength of the economy. Consequently, this stems from the fact that economic growth is characterized by being the outcome of a complex and interrelated process. Many factors combine to make this process succeed. These factors are economical, social, political, and institutional factors. On the other hand, many internal and external obstacles also hamper it. Many theories have discussed about economic growth. Also, different economic schools have tried to interpret its mechanisms based on variables and factors that affect it. Some economic schools focused on external factors, while others focused on the internal factors. In addition, applied studies included a variety of variables to expand the production functions which were used as a theoretical framework for models of economic growth. Thus, this was according to the nature of the economy and the specificity of the factors that controls its performance. This study aims to analyze the real GDP in Egypt sources, during the period (1977-2012) by determining the contribution of each component of the selected economic factors towards the increase of the GDP. This is with the aim of detecting the importance of each element according to its contribution in GDP. Thus, this helps decision-makers to maximize the benefit from the active growth elements. The study also seeks to predict the size of the GDP and its components during the next four years. It is an important factor to see to how much these values will reach in the future. Subsequently, this helps in shaping the future plan in accordance with the objectives of the required growth and the available possibilities with the quest to improve it.

Every society is based on humans, being also essential factors of the social responsibility (SR), which is an important predecessor of the organizational performance. SR supports informal systemic behavior aimed at requisite holism of behavior of influential persons and their organizations; it leads towards creativity‐based well‐being (CBWB) of humans in organizations and in society. This matters: people with CBWB live and work better. Links between CBWB, SR and human resource management (HRM) and the influence of SR and HRM on organizational performance from aspects of growth, development and finances are demonstrated empirically. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In the past decade, Tanzania has experienced high economic growth and it is in the global limelight as a recent success story in Africa. A variety of factors have contributed to this success, including liberalized policies and reforms, infusion of external capital from development partners and the private sector, debt cancellation, and a strong performance by emerging sectors such as mining, tourism, and fisheries. Its social policies, largely influenced by the First President Julius Kambarage Nyerere, including a single national language and relative political stability have contributed to a strong sense of nationhood, which sets it apart from many of its neighbors and has provided an unusual degree of stability that has facilitated major economic transformation without a significant social backlash.

In response to the aging society, community care centers have been widely established in Taiwan to take care of the elderly. However, these centers are primarily managed by nonprofit organizations that rely on government subsidies, thus, they lack managerial autonomy. By investigating the key factors influencing the sustainability of community care centers, this study aimed to assist organizations with reducing the risk of managerial uncertainty and promoting the sustainable development of the aging ecosystem. The modified Delphi method and fuzzy analytic hierarchy process were used to construct the key sustainable factors and rank their importance. Four major dimensions, which were management capability, financial and other resource utilization capability, professional care service capability, and customer value creation, along with 21 criteria, were summarized. Management capability had the greatest influence, followed by financial and other resource utilization capability; financial soundness occupied first place in the overall ranking among the criteria. Based on this study's results, it is recommended that when evaluating the units managing the community care centers, their management capability and financial and other resource utilization capability should be evaluated first to reduce the dependence on the government and achieve the goal of sustainability.

AbstractUsing the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), we examined the impact of age on entrepreneurial intention, with special focus on seniors. Using samples from France reflecting a broad age range, a negative relationship involving age and entrepreneurial intent was found. Consistent with TPB, attitude, social norms, and perceived behavioural control were all significantly associated with intent. Importantly however, the relative weight seniors gave these components differed from that of prime age participants. For seniors, the belief that they had the requisite competencies and resources needed to own a business was especially important. Seniors also expressed greater relative interest in social entrepreneurship. The implications of these findings for both researchers and public policy makers are considered. Copyright © 2015 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Abstract— Study of socio-economic factors affecting fish farmers in Aba state, Nigeria was carried out between January, 2017 to January, 2018 with the aim of identifying socio-economic factors affecting fish farming in the area and proffer solutions for potential government support towards aquaculture development in Abia State as well as to recommend ways fish farming can be improved and promoted. Abia State was visited through the assistant of the staffs of their various ministries of agriculture and natural resources as well as those from agricultural development programmes. Identified farmers were subsequently counted according to their fish farm circles, blocks, and agricultural zones in their respective states. The population sample comprised of sixty four (64) fish farmers that were randomly selected within the farm circles, blocks and agricultural zones of the states through Taro Yamani formula. Questionnaires, interviews, field observations, visits to some fish farms were photographs were taken where all used during data collection. Questionnaires used were divided into five sections that covered the objectives of the study. Data collected were then analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, mean, etc.), inferential statistics and SPSS version 2020 were all used. The study revealed that majority of the fish farmers were males(76.9%),who were married (64.1%) with an average age that ranged between 41—50 years (37.9%), with a low level of education mainly primary education (39.1%) and a household size of 4—6 persons (50.9%). They used mainly family labour (60.0%) with a relative low level of production 4—5 ponds (46.6%) and an average annual income that ranges between N100, 000 --- N500, 000 (60.0%) among them. Marketing constraints was noticed to be among the most ranked major constraints faced by these fish farmers, it was also noticed that there were no government support towards fish farming activities in the state. Consequently, the study recommended that fish farmers in the States ...

To establish a general purpose foreign trade zone (FTZ), a 'public or public-type' organization identifies an appropriate site, typically a commercial/industrial park near an airport or a water port, and carries out the complex application procedure. FTZ status renders the site not part of the US for customs purposes, making it more attractive to foreign firms and to U.S. firms that import or export. (PAS)