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Long-term Strategy (long-term + strategy)
Selected AbstractsCarbon dioxide emission trading, or not?CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2004An institutional analysis of company behaviour in Sweden The Kyoto Protocol opens up for market based solutions in climate change mitigation. A number of companies in Europe, North America and Asia have already practiced carbon dioxide emission trading. Sweden and Swedish companies have a tradition of being proactive in environmental policy and management. However, Swedish companies are acting reactively or even passively when it comes to emission trading. This paper aims to elucidate and explain the Swedish companies' behaviour on this matter. From our study, which focuses primarily on the energy and forestry sectors, it was found that companies are principally in favour of emission trading, but they have not developed initiatives for emission trading in practice. The study indicates that the institutional arrangements in which companies are situated do not encourage emission trading. Ambiguous government policies are claimed to prevent the companies from making long-term strategies on climate change mitigation in general and emission trading in particular. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source] Reviewing the efficacy of changing prophylactic measures for the prevention of bisphosphonate related osteonecrosis of the jaws (BRONJ) in the management of oral surgery patientsORAL SURGERY, Issue 3 2010C.J. Hanson Abstract Aims:, Many papers postulate treatments for established bisphosphonate related osteonecrosis of the jaws (BRONJ) or advise on ideal long-term strategies to avoid BRONJ. This article demonstrates prophylactic regimes and compares their outcomes when patients' acute symptoms demand active treatments involving bone. It assesses the efficacy of the protocols developed at Dundee Dental Hospital for prophylaxis of BRONJ in the management of patients undergoing oral surgery. Materials and methods:, This prospective study tracked the progress of patients who were treated in the exodontia clinics and had taken, or were taking bisphosphonates. Their consequent recovery was documented over 1, 4, 12 and 24 weeks. The prophylactic protocol followed was recorded. These data were then reviewed for healing, operator, jaw predilection and co-morbidity influences. Results:, In total, 25 patients were treated over the 1 year period of the study 2008,09. This amounted to 33 oral surgery treatments involving 64 extractions. Several protocols had been followed however these were grouped into: antimicrobial or chlorhexidine based protocols. In all cases, complete healing was achieved. Concomitant steroid use and increasing age were the only associated co-morbidities that increased the length of healing time. There were no direct associations of any of the other variables with healing. No prophylactic protocol was superior to another with chlorhexidine rinses proving as efficacious as any of the antibiotic regimes. Conclusion:, For patients taking oral bisphosphonates, simple extractions carried out with minimal trauma by graduate and supervised undergraduate operators with prophylactic chlorhexidine rinses, heal as satisfactorily as those with antibiotic based protocols for prophylaxis. [source] Food Security in Complex Emergencies: Enhancing Food System ResilienceDISASTERS, Issue 2005Prabhu Pingali This paper explores linkages between food security and crisis in different contexts, outlining the policy and institutional conditions needed to manage food security during a crisis and to rebuild the resilience of food systems in periods of relative peace. The paper reviews experiences over the past decade of countries in protracted crisis and draws lessons for national and international policy. It assesses the different alternatives on offer in fragile countries to address, for example, the disruption of institutional mechanisms and the decreasing level of support offered by international donors with respect to longer-term expectations. It proposes a Twin Track Approach to enhance food security resilience through specific policies for protracted crises that link immediate hunger relief interventions with a long-term strategy for sustainable growth. Finally, the article analyses policy options and the implications for both short- and longer-term responses vis-à-vis the three dimensions of food security: availability; access; and stability. [source] The Health Sector Gap in the Southern Africa Crisis in 2002/2003DISASTERS, Issue 4 2004Andre Griekspoor The southern Africa crisis represents the first widespread emergency in a region with a mature HIV/AIDS epidemic. It provides a steep learning curve for the international humanitarian system in understanding and responding to the complex interactions between the epidemic and the causes and the effects of this crisis. It also provoked much debate about the severity and causes of this emergency, and the appropriateness of the response by the humanitarian community. The authors argue that the over-emphasis on food aid delivery occurred at the expense of other public health interventions, particularly preventative and curative health services. Health service needs were not sufficiently addressed despite the early recognition that ill-health related to HIV/AIDS was a major vulnerability factor. This neglect occurred because analytical frameworks were too narrowly focused on food security, and large-scale support to health service delivery was seen as a long-term developmental issue that could not easily be dealt with by short-term humanitarian action. Furthermore, there were insufficient countrywide data on acute malnutrition, mortality rates and performance of the public health system to make better-balanced evidence-based decisions. In this crisis, humanitarian organisations providing health services could not assume their traditional roles of short-term assistance in a limited geographical area until the governing authorities resume their responsibilities. However, relegating health service delivery as a long-term developmental issue is not acceptable. Improved multisectoral analytical frameworks that include a multidisciplinary team are needed to ensure all aspects of public health are dealt with in similar future emergencies. Humanitarian organisations must advocate for improved delivery and access to health services in this region. They can target limited geographical areas with high mortality and acute malnutrition rates to deliver their services. Finally, to address the underlying problem of the health sector gap, a long-term strategy to ensure improved and sustainable health sector performance can only be accomplished with truly adequate resources. This will require renewed efforts on part of governments, donors and the international community. Public health interventions, complementing those addressing food insecurity, were and are still needed to reduce the impact of the crisis, and to allow people to re-establish their livelihoods. These will increase the population's resilience to prevent or mitigate future disasters. [source] Ilim Pulp, blending former Russian state enterprises, creates a corporate university to change culture, become an industry leaderGLOBAL BUSINESS AND ORGANIZATIONAL EXCELLENCE, Issue 5 2010Marina O. Latuha This article describes the establishment of a corporate university in a Russian company. Following the economic restructuring of the country, training and personnel development became vital ingredients in the company's long-term strategy. In these turbulent conditions, the company realized that it needed to have the training and personnel development characterized by continuity on the one hand and revolutionary changes in organizational culture on the other. If this could be achieved, it would encourage entrepreneurship, innovation, and change in the internal processes of the organization. The case describes the stages, programs, and basic components of the corporate university model. It not only illustrates the basic issues in the application of corporate training theory, but also analyzes the risks and problems for the company in the project's realization. The article concludes with a description of how the corporate university developed after its initiation, and some conclusions about the overall success of the project. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] ,Carleton and Buckingham: The Quest for Office' RevisitedHISTORY, Issue 289 2003Robert Hill In 1970 John Barcroft produced an influential article in which he claimed that the ambition of Dudley Carleton to attain high office only moved towards fruition after Carleton presented the duke of Buckingham with a massive bribe in the shape of a marble chimneypiece for his principal London residence, York House. This is too simplistic a view, but it serves as a reminder that the role of works of art in the early Stuart patronage system has not so far been the subject of detailed scrutiny. The present article is intended as a case study of a particular instance. It argues that Carleton used works of art as part of a long-term strategy to keep Buckingham aware of his existence, but that he did not become a serious contender for high office until the duke moved towards an anti-Spanish stance that was close to Carleton's own position. In other words, it was changing political circumstances and not the presentation of objets d'art, however welcome these were in their own right, which transformed the ambassador's prospects. [source] Conservation goals and fisheries management units for Atlantic salmon in the Baltic Sea areaJOURNAL OF FISH BIOLOGY, Issue 2001M-L. Koljonen The effective application of genetic information in fisheries management strategies implies political goal setting taking both conservation and fisheries management into account. The concept of sustainable use as set out by the Convention on Biological Diversity offers a valuable starting point in this respect, since the criterion for it is defined as the maintenance of genetic diversity within each species. However, strategic decisions are also needed on the practical level, where the actual genetic information can be taken into account. Genetic factors, such as glacial differentiation, the postglacial genetic structure of populations, gene flow levels and the probability of the existence of adaptive differences, have an effect on the formation of conservation and management units and on the long-term strategy for the sustainable use of aspecies. The Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in the Baltic Sea area is treated here as an example of a complicated management problem with a highly hierarchical genetic structure associated with marked loss of naturally reproductive stocks, extensive hatchery production and an effective international offshore fishery. The implications of genetic factors for the conservation and management strategy of the Baltic salmon is discussed in the light of the goals set by the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks Agreement, the Habitats Directive of the European Union and the International Baltic Sea Fishery Commission. [source] The production of provitamin A-rich vegetables in home-gardens as a means of addressing vitamin A deficiency in rural African communitiesJOURNAL OF THE SCIENCE OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURE, Issue 3 2007Mieke Faber Abstract Vitamin A deficiency remains a public health problem in the developing world. The highest prevalence of vitamin A deficiency is in Africa and Asia (>30%). Dietary modification, a long-term strategy to address vitamin A deficiency, complements food fortification and vitamin A supplementation programmes. Provitamin A carotenoids from foods of plant origin are more affordable than preformed vitamin A from animal foods, and many resource-poor households rely on yellow/orange-fleshed vegetables and fruits and dark-green leafy vegetables as their main source of vitamin A. The provitamin A carotenoid content in plant foods varies widely and differences among cultivars of the same food exist. Several factors influence the bioavailability of provitamin A carotenoids. The potential contribution of plant foods to vitamin A status depends on the retention of provitamin A carotenoids after storage, preparation and processing. Home-gardens can provide households with direct access to provitamin A-rich vegetables that are not readily available or within their financial reach. The components and critical issues of home-garden projects are described. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry [source] Review article: infliximab therapy for inflammatory bowel disease , seven years onALIMENTARY PHARMACOLOGY & THERAPEUTICS, Issue 4 2006P. RUTGEERTS Summary Infliximab, the chimeric monoclonal IgG1 antibody to tumour necrosis factor, is indicated for refractory luminal and fistulizing Crohn's disease and extra-intestinal manifestations of inflammatory bowel disease. Recently, the active ulcerative colitis trials (ACT) studies have shown that infliximab is also efficacious to treat ulcerative colitis resistant to standard therapy. Induction with 5 mg/kg infliximab at weeks 0, 2 and 6 is advocated. The response to infliximab is improved when concomitant immunosuppressive therapy is given. As the majority of patients will relapse if not retreated, a long-term strategy is necessary. Although episodic therapy can be used, the optimal strategy is systematic maintenance treatment with 5 mg/kg intravenous (i.v.) every 8 weeks. Long-term maintenance therapy with infliximab results in a reduction of the rate of complications, hospitalizations and surgeries associated with Crohn's disease. Safety problems with the monoclonal antibody infliximab treatment mainly concern the formation of antibodies to infliximab, which may lead to infusion reactions, loss of response and serum sickness-like delayed infusion reactions. Latent tuberculosis needs to be screened for. The rate of other opportunistic infections is slightly increased mainly in patients treated concomitantly with immunosuppression. There is no evidence that malignancy rates in patients treated with antitumour necrosis factor strategies are increased. [source] Mediterranean commercial sponges: over 5000 years of natural history and cultural heritageMARINE ECOLOGY, Issue 2 2008Roberto Pronzato Abstract This paper deals with the history of the exploitation of a natural resource made up of various types of Mediterranean horny sponges. It also provides an update on trends in the trade of these sponges. The distribution and taxonomic status of Mediterranean species of commercial interest belonging to the genera Spongia and Hippospongia are reported upon and partly emended by (i) the selection of neotypes for Spongia mollissima, Hippospongia communis, and Spongia agaricina from the Indo-Pacific Ocean versus the Mediterranean Spongia lamella, and (ii) the discussion regarding the problematic status of Spongia zimocca. Attention is also focused upon species that have been of recent commercial interest as sources of metabolites with biomedical potential, such as Dysidea avara, which is considered endangered due to a pressing demand for the industrial extraction of chemicals it produces (e.g. Avarol). The wild harvesting of new target sponges is also discussed, together with a proposal for a rational, sustainable, long-term strategy for Mediterranean sponge management. Sponge culture in situ is suggested as a useful approach that may allow eco-compatible management and conservation of this natural resource. [source] The harsh life on the 15th century Croatia-Ottoman Empire military border: Analyzing and identifying the reasons for the massacre in ,epinAMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 3 2010Mario Abstract Excavation of the historic period cemetery in ,epin, Croatia revealed the presence of a large number of perimortem injuries distributed among males, females, and subadults. Archaeological and historical data suggest these individuals were victims of a raid carried out by Turkish akinji light cavalry in 1441. Comparisons with the frequencies of perimortem trauma in 12 other, temporally congruent skeletal series from the Balkans (n = 2,123 skeletons) support this assumption. The role of the akinji in the Ottoman army was twofold: to supply war captives, and to terrorize and disperse local populations before the advance of regular troops. This article tests the hypothesis that the purpose of the 1441 raid was the latter. To accomplish this, perimortem trauma in the series were analyzed by sex, age, location, and depth of the injury. A total of 82 perimortem injuries were recorded in 12 males, 7 females, and 3 subadults. The demographic profile of the victims suggests that young adults were specifically targeted in the attack. Significant sex differences are noted in the number, distribution, and pattern of perimortem trauma. Females exhibit significantly more perimortem injuries per individual, and per bone affected, than males. The morphology and pattern of perimortem trauma in females is suggestive of gratuitous violence. Cumulatively, analysis of the osteological data suggest that the objective of the 1441 akinji raid was to spread terror and panic in the ,epin area, either as revenge for recent military setbacks, or as part of a long-term strategy intended to depopulate the area around Osijek. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2010. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Transforming the Delivery of Rural Health Care in Georgia: State Partnership Strategy for Developing Rural Health NetworksTHE JOURNAL OF RURAL HEALTH, Issue 5 2003Karen J. Minyard PhD ABSTRACT: Since 1996, 19 networks covering 74 of the 127 rural counties in Georgia have emerged. This grassroots transformation of rural health care occurred through a series of partnerships launched by state government officials. These partnerships brought together national and state organizations to pool resources for investment in an evolving long-term strategy to develop rural health care networks. The strategy leveraged resources from partners, resulting in greater impact. Change was triggered and accelerated using an intensive, flexible technical assistance effort amplified by developmental grants to communities. These grants were made available for structural and organizational change in the community that would eventually lead to improved access and health status. Georgia's strategy for developing rural health networks consisted of 3 elements: a clear state vision and mission; investment partnerships; and proactive, flexible technical assistance. Retrospectively, it seems that the transformation occurred as a result of 5 phases of investment by state government and its partners. The first 2 phases involved data gathering as well as the provision of technical assistance to individual communities. The next 3 phases moved network development to a larger scale by working with multiple counties to create regional networks. The 5 phases represent increasing knowledge about and commitment to the vision of access to care and improved health status for rural populations. [source] BK-Virus and the Impact of Pre-Emptive Immunosuppression Reduction: 5-Year ResultsAMERICAN JOURNAL OF TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 2 2010K. L. Hardinger A 1-year, single-center, randomized trial demonstrated that the calcineurin inhibitor or adjuvant immunosuppression, independently, does not affect BK-viruria or viremia and that monitoring and pre-emptive withdrawal of immunosuppression was associated with resolution of BK-viremia and absence of clinical BK-nephropathy without acute rejection or graft loss. A retrospective 5-year review of this trial was conducted. In cases of BK viremia, the antimetabolite was withdrawn and for sustained viremia, the calcineurin inhibitor was minimized. Five-year follow-up was available on 97% of patients. Overall 5-year patient survival was 91% and graft survival was 84%. There were no differences in patient-survival by immunosuppressive regimen or presence of BK-viremia. Immunosuppression and viremia did not influence graft survival. Acute rejection occurred in 12% by 5-years after transplant, was less common with tacrolimus versus cyclosporine (9% vs. 18%; p = 0.082), and was lowest with the tacrolimus-azathioprine regimen (5%, p = 0.127). Tacrolimus was associated with better renal function at 5-years (eGFR 63 FK vs. 52 CsA mL/min, p = 0.001). Minimization of immunosuppression upon detection of BK-viremia was associated with excellent graft survival at 5-years, low rejection rates and excellent renal function. It is a safe, short and long-term strategy that resulted in freedom from clinically evident BK-virus nephropathy. [source] The Role of Short-Termism in Financial Market CrisesAUSTRALIAN ACCOUNTING REVIEW, Issue 4 2009John Nesbitt The purpose of this paper is to examine the contribution short-termist behaviours have had in various financial market crises. The early warning signs and drivers of short-termism are investigated, as well as ways to mitigate short-termist behaviour and consequences in the future. Short-termism as defined for the purposes of this paper is the excessive focus on short-term performance, earnings and other metrics at the expense of attention being given to the development of a long-term strategy that promotes sustainable long-term value creation. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||