Respite Partnership Collaborative (RPC) Innovation Project Evaluation: Final Report

The Mental Health Services Act (MHSA)—funded by Proposition 63—supports five unique components: (1) Community Services and Supports, (2) Prevention and Early Intervention, (3) Workforce Education and Training, (4) Capital Facilities and Technology, and (5) Innovative Programs. In September 2010, the Sacramento County Division of Behavioral Health Services (DBHS) initiated a community planning process to develop Sacramento's first Innovation Project. DBHS convened an Innovation Workgroup that developed the Innovation Plan and the Respite Partnership Collaborative (RPC) Innovation Project.Through a competitive selection process, Sacramento County DBHS awarded Sierra Health Foundation: Center for Health Program Management (the Center) a contract to administer the RPC Innovation Project. The RPC Innovation Project is a public-private partnership of the Sacramento County DBHS and the Center. The Center uses MHSA Innovation funding to support the RPC, whose members are from the community at large. RPC members make recommendations for respite service grants to community organizations. The RPC's goal is to increase local mental health respite service options to offer alternatives to hospitalization for community members experiencing a crisis in Sacramento County.American Institutes for Research (AIR) conducted an evaluation of the RPC Innovation Project from April 2013 through March 2016. Evaluation objectives were to assess the extent to which the RPC Innovation Project achieved the following:1. Promoted successful collaboration between public and private organizations (i.e., DBHS and the Center) in Sacramento County2. Demonstrated a community-driven process3. Improved the quality and outcomes of respite services in Sacramento County This report presents findings from evaluation activities, which included stakeholder interviews, RPC member surveys, and document reviews.This report emphasizes data collected in the third year of the evaluation after June 2015. The report begins with a brief history of the RPC Innovation Project. Next we describe evaluation objectives and methods for conducting the evaluation. Finally, we present findings, organized by evaluation objective

Integrating waste disposal policies into energy studies: The case of landfill gas in South Africa

Current research into the pattern of energy usage in South Africa reveals an extraordinarily heavy reliance on coal-fired electricity, a strategy that is not only unsustainable but which has resulted in serious air pollution problems. The paper argues that this development ought to be seen in the context of South Africa's harmful waste disposal policy. Some 85% of South Africa's municipal solid waste is landfilled, thereby generating a significant volume of landfill gas (LFG), which contains approximately 50% methane (CO3). As a 'greenhouse' gas, CO3 emissions carry serious implications for global warming in the Southern African region. The paper explores the use of LFG as a renewable energy source, and concludes that not only is LFG extraction for energy use technically feasible, but that it is economically feasible as well. By integrating LFG capture as an example of improved waste disposal policies into energy studies, it is possible to initiate a shift in South Africa's energy usage towards renewable energy technologies

Under-representation of males in the early years: the challenges leaders face

This article investigates why there appears to be an under-representation of males in comparison to their female colleagues in the Early Years (EY) sector, and the perception of male teachers progressing more quickly to leadership positions when they do enter this context. Using case studies of final year male students on an Initial Teacher Training (ITT) undergraduate degree course at one university, we attempt to analyse data on male under-representation in Early Years against contemporary theories of identity, power and leadership. Questionnaires and interviews were conducted with the male sample group and male senior leaders in primary schools to gain an overview as to the leadership support they needed and provided. Our tentative findings suggested that male trainees are happy to work in an Early Years context and take leadership positions, but the challenge for leaders is that male trainees require strong leadership mentoring processes to help overcome perceived contextual barriers

Democratising Cultural Studies

A review of John Hartley's A Short History of Cultural Studies (Sage, London, 2003)

Respite Partnership Collaborative (RPC) Innovation Project Evaluation: Report 2

The Mental Health Services Act (MHSA)—funded by Proposition 63—supports five unique components: (1) Community Services and Supports, (2) Prevention and Early Intervention, (3) Workforce Education and Training, (4) Capital Facilities and Technology, and (5) Innovative Programs. In September 2010, the Sacramento County Division of Behavioral Health Services (DBHS) initiated a community planning process to develop Sacramento's first Innovation Project. DBHS convened an Innovation Workgroup that developed the Innovation Plan and the Respite Partnership Collaborative (RPC) Innovation Project. American Institutes for Research (AIR) is conducting an evaluation of the RPC Innovation Project. Evaluation objectives are to assess the extent to which the RPC Innovation Project does the following:Promote successful collaboration between public and private organizations (i.e., DBHS and the Sierra Health Foundation: The Center for Health Program Management [the Center]) in Sacramento CountyDemonstrate a community-driven processImprove the quality and outcomes of respite services in Sacramento CountyTo address the evaluation objectives; the evaluation includes interviews, an RPC survey, a community survey, and a document review. This report presents findings from evaluation activities conducted from June 2014 to April 2015 to DBHS, RPC members, and the Center

D-MOD Dynamic Modelling of Operator Demand: a new simulator module for the evaluation of signaler’s demand

Estimating signaler demand is critical for ensuring signaling workstations are both feasible to run, and acceptable to staff. While human factors tools exist, they are typically manual, time consuming and rely of the skill of an expert. One solution, explored in this paper, is to use signaling simulators to assist in the estimation of demand. Full fidelity signaling simulators are already widely used in the UK. Simulators give the ability to ensure a consistent standard of competency ranging from normal routine tasks to abnormal situations (e.g. faults and failures) monitored by an experienced trainer/assessor. Whilst the original aim of full fidelity simulators was to support training and assessment of signalers, the requirement for an accurate timetable and infrastructure model, and of a realistic workstation Human Machine Interface (HMI), opens up other applications. The aim of the Dynamic Modelling of Operator Demand (DMOD) project is to use the Hitachi Information Control System’s simulation environment (TREsim signaling simulator) to deliver a workstation evaluation tool. The paper will present how the existing elements of simulator have been expanded and utilized for demand modelling, covering the architecture of D-MOD, the process of selecting and developing demand metrics, and the design of an HMI to deliver a working proof of concept

Leadership, diversity and decision making

This working paper reports on leadership decision making in the UK Further Education (FE) sector drawing on the Integrating Diversity in Leadership project funded by the Centre for Excellence in Leadership (CEL). The project was undertaken by a team from the University of Southampton and Oxford Brookes University. The Full Report is available at: http://www.lums.lancs.ac.uk/leadership/cel/ The focus on leadership decision making arises from a conviction that increasing staff and student diversity in the sector brings unprecedented challenges and implications for leading and managing learning, learners and the learning community (Lumby with Coleman, 2007). Among the wide ranging challenges is that of enabling groups and teams to deliver ‘quality decisions’ (Hoffberg and Korver, 2006:2). The paper investigates the extent to which the increasing diversity in colleges impacts on the decision making capacity of leadership teams and groups within the sector. Our focus on this aspect of decision making is based on three key assumptions

D-MOD Dynamic Modelling of Operator Demand: a new simulator module for the evaluation of signaler’s demand

Estimating signaler demand is critical for ensuring signaling workstations are both feasible to run, and acceptable to staff. While human factors tools exist, they are typically manual, time consuming and rely of the skill of an expert. One solution, explored in this paper, is to use signaling simulators to assist in the estimation of demand. Full fidelity signaling simulators are already widely used in the UK. Simulators give the ability to ensure a consistent standard of competency ranging from normal routine tasks to abnormal situations (e.g. faults and failures) monitored by an experienced trainer/assessor. Whilst the original aim of full fidelity simulators was to support training and assessment of signalers, the requirement for an accurate timetable and infrastructure model, and of a realistic workstation Human Machine Interface (HMI), opens up other applications. The aim of the Dynamic Modelling of Operator Demand (DMOD) project is to use the Hitachi Information Control System’s simulation environment (TREsim signaling simulator) to deliver a workstation evaluation tool. The paper will present how the existing elements of simulator have been expanded and utilized for demand modelling, covering the architecture of D-MOD, the process of selecting and developing demand metrics, and the design of an HMI to deliver a working proof of concept

Propuesta Técnica-Económica para el Lanzamiento de un Kit de Productos Químico Industrial para la limpieza del Hogar en la Empresa Aseos S.A, en el periodo comprendido de Agosto a Diciembre del Año 2015

Aseos S.A es una empresa que brinda servicios de limpieza a diferentes sectores; para esto utilizan equipos, mechas de lampazo, utensilios y productos químicos industriales los cuales son elaborados por ellos mismos, esto significa que aplican estrategias verticales hacia atrás ya que utilizan lo que producen para abastecerse al momento de limpiar. La empresa actualmente está bien posicionada en el sector limpieza, ya que en el país existen pocas empresas del mismo giro; los productos químicos industriales solo están destinados para el consumo interno, garantizando la inocuidad de los proyectos que ellos mismos limpian como: centros comerciales, hospitales, mataderos, etc.; por lo tanto solamente tienen la necesidad de envasar sus productos químicos industriales en presentaciones de un galón o más. El envasado de los productos es a granel por este motivo tienen pocos clientes externos que compran esporádicamente, además la publicidad que se les da es nula, por tal razón se encuentra una oportunidad para comercializar sus productos químicos industriales dirigido al consumo masivo, en presentaciones de 1 litro, llegando así a un mercado mucho más grande. Se buscó establecer la posible entrada a un segmento de mercado ya establecido y delimitado, teniendo como idea central juntar 5 productos químicos a manera de kit que juntos garanticen una limpieza integral del área de la casa que el cliente prefiera, por tal razón se estandarizó mediante un análisis de mercado, proceso, distribución de planta y económico financiero; donde resultaron 123118.60 unidades vendidas en promedio durante cinco años respecto a esto se evaluó el flujo neto de efectivo con y sin financiamiento resultando un VPN de $226,604.98 y$159,631.02 respectivamente, con respecto a la tasa interna de rendimiento resulto 251% con financiamiento y 83% sin financiamiento; esto significa que el proyecto es viable económicamente para ser ejecutad