Future Research Agenda (future + research_agenda)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Workshop on Immunizations in Older Adults: Identifying Future Research Agendas

JOURNAL OF AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY, Issue 4 2010
Kevin P. High MD
Goals for immunization in older adults may differ from those in young adults and children, in whom complete prevention of disease is the objective. Often, reduced hospitalization and death but also averting exacerbation of underlying chronic illness, functional decline, and frailty are important goals in the older age group. Because of the effect of age on dendritic cell function, T cell-mediated immune suppression, reduced proliferative capacity of T cells, and other immune responses, the efficacy of vaccines often wanes with advanced age. This article summarizes the discussion and proceedings of a workshop organized by the Association of Specialty Professors, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the American Geriatrics Society, the National Institute on Aging, and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Leading researchers and clinicians in the fields of immunology, epidemiology, infectious diseases, geriatrics, and gerontology reviewed the current status of vaccines in older adults, identified knowledge gaps, and suggest priority areas for future research. The goal of the workshop was to identify what is known about immunizations (efficacy, effect, and current schedule) in older adults and to recommend priorities for future research. Investigation in the areas identified has the potential to enhance understanding of the immune process in aging individuals, inform vaccine development, and lead to more-effective strategies to reduce the risk of vaccine-preventable illness in older adults. [source]


Intelligent interaction design: the role of human-computer interaction research in the design of intelligent systems

EXPERT SYSTEMS, Issue 1 2001
Ann BlandfordArticle first published online: 16 DEC 200
As more intelligent systems are introduced into the marketplace, it is becoming increasingly urgent to consider usability for such systems. Historically, the two fields of artificial intelligence (AI) and human- computer interaction (HCI) have had little in common. In this paper, we consider how established HCI techniques can usefully be applied to the design and evaluation of intelligent systems, and where there is an urgent need for new approaches. Some techniques - notably those for requirements acquisition and empirical evaluation - can usefully be adopted, and indeed are, within many projects. However, many of the tools and techniques developed within HCI to support design and theory-based evaluation cannot be applied in their present forms to intelligent systems because they are based on inappropriate assumptions; there is consequently a need for new approaches. Conversely, there are approaches that have been developed within AI - e.g. in research on dialogue and on ontologies - that could usefully be adapted and encapsulated to respond to this need. These should form the core of a future research agenda for intelligent interaction design. [source]


GOVERNANCE AND CHARITIES: AN EXPLORATION OF KEY THEMES AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF A RESEARCH AGENDA

FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY & MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2009
Noel Hyndman
The concept of governance has been widely discussed in both the business and non-business sectors. The debate has also been entered into within the charity sector, which comprises over 169,000 organizations in the UK. The UK-based Charity Commission, which describes itself as existing to ,promote sound governance and accountability', has taken a lead in this debate by promoting greater regulation and producing numerous recommendations with regard to the proper governance of charitable organizations. However, the concept of what is meant by governance is unclear and a myriad of ideas are placed under the umbrella of ,good governance'. This paper explores the major themes that form the basis of much of this discussion, examining both the theoretical underpinnings and empirical investigations relating to this area (looking from the perspective of the key stakeholders in the charity sector). Based on an analysis of the extant literature, this paper presents a broad definition of governance with respect to charities and outlines a future research agenda for those interested in adding to knowledge in this area [source]


The Business of Temporary Staffing: A Developing Research Agenda

GEOGRAPHY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 8 2010
Neil M. Coe
This paper offers a critical review of the existing literatures on temporary staffing. It argues that while research on both client firm rationales and the experiences and characteristics of temporary agency workers are relatively well advanced, work that explores the temporary staffing industry and its own strategies and expansionary logics is still in its infancy. This is a significant oversight given the increasingly widespread influence of this particular form of labour market intermediary. Grounded in recent work in economic geography, the paper maps a future research agenda. [source]


Severe acute respiratory syndrome, tourism and the media

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM RESEARCH, Issue 1 2005
Peter Mason
Abstract There has been an assumption, based on trends from the last two decades of the twentieth century, that global tourism will continue to grow. A number of events in the early twenty first century, however, have called this into question. Some of these have been natural occurrences, others anthropogenic, such as the terrorist attacks in New York in 2001, which indirectly affected global tourism, and that in Bali in 2002, where tourists were the major target. The outbreak of the disease severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in early 2003 had direct and significant impacts on global tourism. This article provides an overview of the SARS outbreak and its impact on global tourism, and focuses on the role of the media in relation to the disease outbreak. Eighteen months on from the height of the outbreak, SARS appeared to have been checked, but there have a number of subsequent cases and of particular concern, it has been predicted that the disease will return on a large scale, and therefore a future research agenda is also presented. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Strategy Research in Emerging Economies: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom*

JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, Issue 1 2005
Mike Wright
ABSTRACT This review and introduction to the Special Issue on ,Strategy Research in Emerging Economies' considers the nature of theoretical contributions thus far on strategy in emerging economies. We classify the research through four strategic options: (1) firms from developed economies entering emerging economies; (2) domestic firms competing within emerging economies; (3) firms from emerging economies entering other emerging economies; and (4) firms from emerging economies entering developed economies. Among the four perspectives examined (institutional theory, transaction cost theory, resource-based theory, and agency theory), the most dominant seems to be institutional theory. Most existing studies that make a contribution blend institutional theory with one of the other three perspectives, including seven out of the eight papers included in this Special Issue. We suggest a future research agenda based around the four strategies and four theoretical perspectives. Given the relative emphasis of research so far on the first and second strategic options, we believe that there is growing scope for research that addresses the third and fourth. [source]


Contractual Limitations on the Auditor's Liability: An Uneasy Combination of Law and Accounting

THE MODERN LAW REVIEW, Issue 4 2009
Article first published online: 1 JUL 200, P. E. Morris
Operative as from 6 April 2008, sections 532,538 of the Companies Act 2006 create a new liability limitation regime in contractual relationships between audit firms and companies in relation to the statutory audit function which overturns an almost eighty years old fundamental principle of company law. This new regime is the product of continuing pressure by the audit profession for liability reform and concern by Government regarding the market structure for audit services. This commentary critically evaluates the regime from law and accounting perspectives. It concludes by reflecting on its longer term implications for audit quality, perceptions of the audit profession and the evolution of a future research agenda. [source]


Group Well-Being: Morale from a Positive Psychology Perspective

APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 2008
Christopher Peterson
What makes life most worth living? The simplest summary of findings from the new field of positive psychology is that other people matter. It is within groups that we live, work, love, and play, and groups should therefore be a primary focus of researchers interested in health and well-being. In the present article, we propose morale as an important indicator of group well-being. We survey what is known about overall morale across a variety of groups: its meaning, measurement, enabling factors, and putative consequences. We sketch a future research agenda that would examine morale in multidimensional terms at both the individual and group levels and would pay particular attention to the positive outcomes associated with morale. Qu'est-ce qui fait que la vie vaut le plus la peine d'être vécue? Réduire à leur plus simple expression les résultats de ce nouveau domaine qu'est la psychologie positive revient à mentionner l'importance d'autrui. C'est dans des groupes que nous vivons, travaillons, aimons et jouons, et les groupes devraient donc être une préoccupation première pour les chercheurs concernés par la santé et le bien-être. Dans cet article, on avance l'idée que le moral est un indicateur majeur du bien-être des groupes. On recense ce qui est connu sur le moral en général dans divers types de groupes: sa signification, sa mesure, ses antécédents et ses conséquences supposées. On esquisse un futur programme de recherche qui appréhenderait le moral de façon multidimensionnelle aux niveaux à la fois individuel et groupal et accorderait une attention particulière aux retombées positives relevant du moral. [source]


Changing Public Service Organizations: Current Perspectives and Future Prospects

BRITISH JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, Issue 2003
Ewan Ferlie
As governments and public service organizations across the globe engage in strategies of institutional and organizational change, it is timely to examine current developments and a future research agenda for public governance and management. The paper commences with reflections on the state of the field, based on an analysis of papers published in the British Journal of Management over the last decade. While there was some variation apparent across the set, the ,typical' article was found to be influenced by the discipline of organizational behaviour, set within the health-care sector, using case-study methods within field-based studies, and investigating shifts in roles and relationships and the management of change. It has also in the past been UK-centric, though the journal editorial policy and our own article call for a stronger international and comparative focus in the future. The second section of the article summarizes the articles and themes contained in this collection of papers on public service organizations. The third section explores a possible research agenda for the future, arguing for the significance of public sector research for the understanding of management more generally, and for examining the interface between private and public organizations (an increasingly common phenomenon). We suggest the need to set public services research in policy and political contexts, and suggest this may reveal organizational processes of wide interest. We call for a wider set of disciplines to engage in public management research, and to engage in moving the agenda from the study of efficiency to effectiveness as defined by a variety of stakeholders. We address the issue of how far public management researchers should become directly engaged with the world of policy and suggest that whether researchers engage in Mode 1 or Mode 2 research, their work would benefit from a stronger theoretical base. [source]


Factors that contribute to high turnover among residential child care staff

CHILD & FAMILY SOCIAL WORK, Issue 2 2007
Matthew Colton
ABSTRACT In this paper we draw on our own empirical research and that of others to consider the factors that contribute to high staff turnover in residential child care. First, we focus on the problem of retaining staff in children's services. Second, we turn our attention to the factors that contribute to staff turnover in residential care: namely, perceptions of the service; of children and young people; and of human resource issues. Third, we attempt to draw out the implications of high turnover for policy and practice. The negative image of residential care has persisted in the wake of a plethora of abuse scandals. The increasing emotional and behavioural problems presented by the children cared for, and the violence and verbal abuse directed at staff are key retention issues. Moreover, poor conditions of employment contribute to staff perceptions of the work as a short-term career choice only. The potential means of resolving these problems are explored, and the future research agenda highlighted. [source]


Wanted: A Mid-Range Theory of International Peacekeeping,

INTERNATIONAL STUDIES REVIEW, Issue 3 2007
Oldrich Bures
This essay provides a critical review of the existing scholarly attempts to conceptualize and theorize about peacekeeping operations. It reveals that even though studies of such operations are increasing, most of the available literature is idiosyncratic and atheoretical. Moreover, although a number of authors have recently begun to utilize conflict resolution and international relations concepts in their analyses, these theories are not yet fully integrated into the study of peacekeeping. After inspecting the future research agendas outlined by the leading experts in the field, the author critiques the recent calls for a "macrotheory" of international peacekeeping and concludes by making the case for the development of a "mid-range" theory that can more firmly place international relations, conflict resolution, and peace studies scholarship into the study of peacekeeping. [source]


Uncertainty as Environmental Education

POLICY STUDIES JOURNAL, Issue 3 2000
Walter A. Rosenbaum
Here we focus particularly upon some implications of the symposium articles for future research agendas and priorities in environmental policy. First, however, we return to the central question posed by this symposium: "How can environmental policies achieve a combination of democracy with legitimacy and adequacy with effectiveness under conditions of great uncertainty?" In different ways, all articles addressed this problem in reconciling democracy with competent environmental management under conditions of uncertainty. Together, they provide the rudiments of an answer. [source]


Optimism, Pessimism, and Coalitional Presidentialism: Debating the Institutional Design of Brazilian Democracy

BULLETIN OF LATIN AMERICAN RESEARCH, Issue 1 2010
TIMOTHY J. POWER
Research on Brazil's political institutions has gone through several phases since democratisation in 1985. In the early years of democracy, pessimism prevailed with regard to governability. This view gave way in the mid-1990s to a more optimistic view that stressed two innovations of the Constitution of 1988: enhanced presidential power and centralised legislative procedure. In recent years, a third phase of research has shifted attention to the crucial role of inter-party alliances. These analytical approaches have converged into an emerging research programme on ,coalitional presidentialism', which places executive-legislative relations at the centre stage of macropolitical analysis. This article reviews the three phases of the debate and reflects on future research agendas. [source]