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International audience; Purpose: In addition to create challenging and congruent learning opportunities, it is important for Technical Education providers to create a supportive learning environment to help learners acclimate, connect with others and as well as access well-matched student support services to help them complete their studies and make them employable.Skill building is verycrucial to ensure employability of academia to understand and make sure good jobs. Unfortunately, most of the Technical Education institutes in India have not identified the importance of such services, resulting huge unemployment and dissatisfied students. The purpose of this paper is to highlight supporting and extension services in connection to operating services in Technical Education and students' perception on them. Design methodology: A qualitative research by a survey (through a structured questionnaire) of students who are studying or have studied Technical Education affiliated to the North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon on their perception regarding operating, supporting and extension services offered by TE institutes. Findings: The research revealed that TE institutes, no doubt, are offering good operating services however lags in supporting and extension services. It is also found that students' satisfaction of selecting TE institute is highly associated to supporting and extension service than operating services offered by the institute. Research limitations: The survey is delimited to the Technical Education belonging to North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon and located in Khandesh region of India. Practical implications: India, compared to other nations, lacks formally trained manpower. In Korea, for example, the skilled workforce is 96 per cent, in Japan 80 per cent, in Germany 76 per cent and in Britain 70 per cent but in India it is only 10 per cent.Technical Education Institutes of India, can gain competitive edge in the future, by effective and creative ways to attract, retain and foster stronger relationships with students by interaction and mechanism of the market and industry. This is only possible by lubricating; operating, supporting and extension services, all services combined.

International audience; Healthcare organizations are facing huge daily challenges which led them trying to give the best solutions in order to manage their resources and deliver a best quality of services. The recent adoption of Business Process Management (BPM) in healthcare organizations is dealing with the development of performance indicators in this domain to help healthcare providers structuring the interaction of information between systems and people. Moreover, there are a lot of available methods and tools for BPM that afford different manners to simulate models. Nevertheless in these process models, the resource handling is frequently missing or it is defined in a simplistic way. In this paper, we present the application of BPM in healthcare sector, using the Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN), coupled with a multidimensional Agent Based Model (ABM) of multidimensional organizational network of resources and geographical positioned population on a territory.

This paper deals with the question of the service quality as an important factor of transport companies in the process of improving competitiveness. Due to global competition and great opportunities that are offered to customers, transporting enterprises need to change their current relationship with the end consumer in order to improve the quality of offered services. Traffic enterprises have realized that improvement of the business processes comes with the use of modern ICT solutions and applications that will ensure that protection of the environment has been taken into account and the quality of service improved as well. Domestic traffic enterprises are not yet ready to accept the change of the way of conducting their business, which furtherly affects the quality of services, and they are still not prepared for the arrival of competition in the transport market.

The idea of social inclusion has garnered considerable attention, especially in the context of two recent developments: the Sustainable Development Goals and the heightened attention to inequality. This paper reviews the manner and extent to which social inclusion is addressed in the first 17 Systematic Country Diagnostics (SCDs), which are ex ante, country-level assessments conducted by the World Bank Group, ahead of the preparation of its Country Partnership Frameworks. In addition to this primary purpose, the paper fulfils three other purposes. It allows for a broader reflection on the value of the social inclusion construct in macro-level diagnostics; it takes the opportunity to develop and refine a methodology to assess social inclusion and finally, it positions the narrative on social inclusion into the ongoing discourse on poverty, shared prosperity, inequality and the thinking around the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. It is therefore, a refined articulation of the idea of social inclusion in the context of global epistemological shifts

Vouchers stimulate demand for health care services by giving beneficiaries purchasing power. In turn, health facilities’ claims are reimbursed for providing beneficiaries with improved quality of health care. Efficient strategies to generate demand from new, often poor, users and supply in the form of increased access and expanded scope of services would help move Uganda away from inequity and toward universal health care. A reproductive health voucher program was implemented in 20 western and southwest Ugandan districts from April 2008 to March 2012. Using three years of data, this impact evaluation study employed a quasi-experimental design to examine differences in utilization of health services among women in voucher and nonvoucher villages. Two key findings were a 16-percentage-point net increase in private facility deliveries and a decrease in home deliveries among women who had used the voucher, indicating the project likely made contributions to increase private facility births in villages with voucher clients. No statistically significant difference was seen between respondents from voucher and nonvoucher villages in the use of postnatal care services, or in attending four or more antenatal care visits. A net 33-percentage-point decrease in out-of-pocket expenditure at private facilities in villages with voucher clients was found, and a higher percentage of voucher users came from households in the two poorest quintiles. The greater uptake of facility births by respondents in voucher villages compared with controls indicates that the approach has the potential to accelerate service uptake. A scaled program could help to move the country toward universal coverage of maternal health care.

The Middle East and North Africa region is in turmoil. Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen are in civil war, causing untold damage to human lives and physical infrastructure. Fifteen million people have fled their homes, many to fragile or economically strapped countries such as Jordan, Lebanon, Djibouti and Tunisia, giving rise to the biggest refugee crisis since World War II. Palestinians are reeling from deadly attacks and blockades. With recruits from all over the world, radicalized terrorist groups and sectarian factions like Daesh are spreading violence around the globe, threatening some governments' ability to perform basic functions. Countries undergoing political transitions, such as Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and Jordan, face periodic attacks and political unrest, leading them to address security concerns over inclusive growth. Even relatively peaceful oil exporters, such as Algeria, Iran and the GCC, are grappling with youth unemployment and poor-quality public services, the same problems that contributed to the Arab Spring, alongside low oil prices. Finally, the author will develop and monitor input indicators that are consistent with the theory of change associated with the new strategy. We will have indicators that show whether our interventions are helping to renew the social contract (the use of citizen engagement in projects is an example). Household surveys can tell us whether the welfare of refugees and host communities is improving. Preparedness indicators can be used to inform progress on the recovery and reconstruction pillar. And standard indicators such as the share of electricity production that is traded will be used for the regional integration pillar.

RESUMOO estabelecimento de instrumentos de avaliação institucional, aptos a reconhecer a percepção discente, são de fundamental importância para a adequada prestação de serviços educacionais. Partindo desse princípio, o presente trabalho tem por objetivo verificar, por meio da escala SERVQUAL, a percepção de qualidade dos estudantes de Administração em uma IES particular do Sul de Minas Gerais. Para tanto, foi feita uma pesquisa de natureza descritiva. Os dados foram coletados por meio do questionário SERVQUAL adaptado à avaliação educacional. O universo de pesquisa correspondeu aos alunos do último período do curso de Administração. Estes foram selecionados devido à longevidade de seu contato com o curso e com a instituição. A análise de dados envolveu técnicas descritivas (distribuição de frequências) e multivariadas (análise de conglomerados e discriminante). Em seus resultados o trabalho pôde identificar variáveis bem avaliadas e, também, estruturas, processos e condutas que devem ser aperfeiçoadas. O emprego de técnicas estatísticas permitiu a identificação de dois grupos (denominados de “mais exigentes” e “menos exigentes”) e os atributos responsáveis pelos dissensos, que servirão de parâmetro para a priorização de processos de melhoria. Toda organização possui clientes com diferentes expectativas de qualidade. As instituições de ensino superior não fogem a essa regra. Assim, somente a identificação de atributos-chave para a percepção da qualidade e sua criteriosa análise é que podem dar início a processos efetivos de melhoria.ABSTRACTThe institutional evaluation instruments establishment, able to recognize the student perception, has its role of fundamental importance for the adequate educational services offer. From this principle, this paper aims to verify, through the SERVQUAL, the perceived quality of the administration students in a private school in the South of Minas Gerais. We have performed a descriptive research. Data were collected through the SERVQUAL questionnaire adapted to educational evaluation. The research base corresponded to the students last period of the Administration course. They were selected because of the longevity of their contact with the course and institution. Data analysis involved descriptive techniques (frequency distribution) and multivariate (cluster analysis and discriminating). In its results the work could identify well evaluated variables, also structures, processes and behaviors that must be perfected. The use of statistical techniques allowed the identification of two groups (called "more demanding" and "less demanding") and the attributes responsible for dissent, which serves as a parameter for prioritizing improvement processes. All organization possesses customers with different quality expectations. The higher education institutions are no exception for this rule. Thus, only the identification of key attributes for the perception of the quality and its careful they can initiate analysis an effective processes of improvement.RESUMENDisponer de instrumentos de evaluación institucional, capaces de reconocer la percepción discente, es de fundamental importancia para la adecuada prestación de servicios educativos. A partir de este principio, este trabajo tiene como objetivo verificar, por medio de la escala SERVQUAL, la percepción de la calidad por parte de los estudiantes de Administración, en una IES privada del sur de Minas Gerais. Para ello, se realizó una investigación descriptiva. Los datos fueron recolectados por medio del cuestionario SERVQUAL adaptado a la evaluación educativa. Alumnos del último período del curso de Administración conformaron el universo de la investigación. La selección de los alumnos se realizó por el prolongado tiempo de contacto con el curso y con la institución. El análisis de los datos incluyó técnicas descriptivas (distribución de frecuencias) y multivariables (análisis de conglomerados y discriminante). En los resultados del trabajo se pudieron identificar variables bien evaluadas, y también estructuras, procesos y procedimientos que deben ser mejorados. El uso de técnicas estadísticas permitió identificar dos grupos (denominados: "más exigentes" y "menos exigentes") y los atributos responsables por las disensiones, que servirán de parámetro para dar prioridad a los procesos de mejora. Toda organización tiene clientes con expectativas diferentes de calidad. Las instituciones de educación superior no escapan a esta regla. Por lo tanto, sólo la identificación de los atributos clave para la percepción de la calidad y su meticuloso análisis pueden iniciar procesos efectivos de mejora.

Submitted by Patrícia Valim Labres de Freitas (patricial) on 2016-03-30T18:16:28Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Roberta dos Santos Barossi_.pdf: 1894288 bytes, checksum: d7367dcd6fac7cb4705b5ace6a2eb3fd (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-30T18:16:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Roberta dos Santos Barossi_.pdf: 1894288 bytes, checksum: d7367dcd6fac7cb4705b5ace6a2eb3fd (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-11-27 Nenhuma Como a inovação em serviços é uma área que vem sendo amplamente pesquisada fora do Brasil, identificou-se a necessidade de aprofundar esta pesquisa na área de serviços educacionais, analisando como a implantação de uma inovação de serviços na área educacional pode impactar na percepção da qualidade de serviços percebida. Para esta pesquisa foram estudados os conceitos de inovação em serviços, inovação em serviços educacionais, coaching, desenvolvimento de carreira e qualidade em serviços. A partir deste aprofundamento nos conceitos, foi realizada uma pesquisa quase experimental em dois estudos distintos: o primeiro foi uma pesquisa de campo em que foi aplicado o processo de coaching para 36 alunos da educação continuada da Unisinos, sendo aplicados questionários antes e após a realização do processo de coaching; após foi feito um estudo de laboratório para 62 alunos, também na educação continuada, em que foi aplicado um questionário referente à implantação da inovação em serviços, mas sem a participação no processo de coaching, como aconteceu no primeiro estudo. Para analisar os dados coletados na pesquisa, foram utilizadas análises estatísticas, através do teste T, ANOVA, médias simples e teste Levene, para mensurar o impacto dos estudos realizados. Como resultado da pesquisa, foi identificado que a implantação de serviços associada à necessidade e expectativa dos alunos pode gerar um impacto positivo na qualidade de serviços percebida. Such as innovation in services is an area that has been widely researched outside Brazil, it identified the need to deepen this research in the area of educational services, analyzing how the implementation of a service innovation in education, can impact the perception of perceived quality of services. For this research studies on the concepts of innovation in services, innovation in educational services, coaching, career development and quality services. From this deepening the concepts, an almost experimental research was conducted in two separate studies: the first was a field research where we applied the coaching process for 36 students of continuing education Unisinos, questionnaires being applied before and after the coaching process; after a laboratory study to 62 Students also in continuing education, where a questionnaire on the implementation of innovation in services, but without participation in the coaching process has been applied, as in the first study. To analyze the data collected in the survey, statistical analyzes were used by the T-test, ANOVA and simple medium and Levene test to measure the impact of the studies. As a result of the research, it was identified that the deployment of services associated with the need and expectation of students, can have a positive impact on quality of service perceived.

Despite progress in economic and social development in the 2000s, there was an increasing dissatisfaction with life among the population of many developing Arab countries. At the end of the decade, these countries ranked among the least happy economies in the world—a situation that fits the so-called “unhappy development” paradox. The paradox is defined as declining levels of happiness at a time of moderate-to-rapid economic development. This paper empirically tests the strength of association of a range of objective and subjective factors with life evaluation in the Middle East and North Africa region in the years immediately preceding the Arab Spring uprisings (2009–10). The findings suggest a significant, negative association between life satisfaction levels in the region during this period and each of the main perceived reasons for the 2011 uprisings—dissatisfaction with the standard of living, poor labor market conditions, and corruption.

El Salvador is the smallest country in Central America, and one of the most densely populated in the world. El Salvador is among the countries most affected by weather-related events and other hazards, incurring annual losses of around 2.5 percent of GDP. Worldwide, it ranks second highest for risk exposure to two or more hazards and highest for the total population at a relatively high risk of mortality. Furthermore, climate change is expected to increase the frequency and severity of weather, related events. The new Administration is committed to making El Salvador more ‘productive, educated, and safe’ by promoting inclusive growth and resilience. The World Bank Group’s (WBG) proposed new CPF intends to promote inclusive growth and to foster resilience, with a focus on policy levers that could contribute to break the vicious circles in a sustainable manner. The proposed CPF is aligned with the Government’s priorities and informed by the WBG’s recent SCD. To strengthen the mutually-reinforcing foundations of inclusive growth, the proposed WBG engagement would support objectives which seek to: (i) build capacity to create safer communities for economic development; (ii) improve secondary-school attainment; (iii) enhance youth employability and skills; and (iv) increase access to finance. To foster sustainability and resilience, the proposed CPF seeks to: (v) promote the efficiency of public spending; and (vi) build capacity to manage disasters and environmental challenges. Taking into account the challenges faced by El Salvador, the WBG wishes to provide a modest but catalytic role through the implementation of these six objectives.

Without appropriate policies to address the expected rise in the care burden, population aging can reduce womens access to economic opportunities and decelerate future growth, thereby threatening the agenda of poverty reduction and shared prosperity in Europe and Central Asia. Based on the analysis of existing and newly collected quantitative and qualitative data, several key policy recommendations can be formulated for policymakers consideration: (a) improvement of the accessibility, affordability, and quality of formal childcare and eldercare options offers a way to address challenges related to excessive reliance on informal care and to capitalize on current opportunities; (b) the design of future demographic, health, and education policy reforms should take into account any potential effects on informal care providers; (c) care leave (both paid and unpaid) can shape families choices about care and market work; (d) flexible work arrangements can function as effective alternatives to unpaid leave; and (e) care-related allowances (both in-kind and cash) aim to promote quality care for children and elders and recognize the work of caregivers but may have negative repercussions on caregivers labor force outcomes. Increased recognition of the critical role of care in aging societies and careful review of the policy environment related to formal and informal care provision can help governments to harness the full potential of demographics, thereby promoting poverty reduction and shared prosperity.

European carriers have been experiencing rail freight transport stagnation despite the fact that it has a solid position in the transport market. The future development of rail transport volumes will be significantly affected by various approaches from the side of carriers also within the framework of quality management. Facing tough competition from other means of transport, rail carriers should be able to provide their customers with a full range of well-prepared transport services. This article is focused on various views on modern management approaches that should be applied within rail freight transport for supporting its competitiveness in the transport market. It emphasises the importance of their using and permanent monitoring of quality services.

The incentives of politicians to provide broad public goods and reduce poverty vary across countries. Even in democracies, politicians often have incentives to divert resources to political rents and private transfers that benefit a few citizens at the expense of many. These distortions can be traced to imperfections in political markets that are greater in some countries than in others. This article reviews the theory and evidence on the impact on political incentives of incomplete information for voters, the lack of credibility of political promises, and social polarization. The analysis has implications for policy and for reforms to improve public goods provision and reduce poverty.

La existencia de destinos turísticos maduros, como Canarias, con una creciente globalización de la oferta turística y con la emergencia de un número considerable de destinos de sol y playa ubicados en países menos desarrollados altamente competitivos en precios, hace que la mejora de la calidad en la prestación de los servicios turísticos se haya convertido, para mercados maduros, en una necesidad defensiva. Este trabajo, se basa en una encuesta realizada en la isla de La Palma a una muestra representativa de los visitantes de la isla donde, partiendo de una definición previa del concepto de calidad aplicada al producto turístico, se analiza tanto la expectativa del turista como la consonancia con la misma de calidad en la prestación de los servicios recibidos, utilizando como instrumento de medición la escala SERVQUAL. Mature tourist destinations, such as Canary Islands, have been obliged by an increasing globalization of tourist offer destinations, located in non developed countries which are highly pricecompetitive, to improve the quality of their tourist services in self-defence. This work is based on an inquiry carried out in La Palma Island. This research took a representative sample of the visitors in the island. Starting from a previous definition of the quality concept applied to the tourist product, we analyzed tourists’ expectations as well as its assembly to the quality of the services tourists received, using SERVQUAL as measure scale.

Starting from the aggregate, this report first describes how Pernambuco has fared with respect to the rest of Brazil, both in terms of economic and social welfare performance, over the last decade (2001-2012). In a context of widespread economic growth, Pernambuco has done particularly well in recent years, similar to or above the national average. A key challenge concerns the longer-term, where – notwithstanding the positive performance of recent years-the same level of growth may not be as easily sustained. The solid economic performance has been reflected in an improvement of social indicators, also associated with the governments interiorizacao strategy, a policy developed explicitly to increase the coverage of public services in underserved areas, with a focus on the interior of the state. The decline in poverty rates displays a trajectory towards convergence with Brazil and recently, a faster than national decline of the Gini has brought Pernambucos income inequality below the national and Northeast level.

Os números recentes da educação no Brasil revelam desempenhos ruins dos estudantes nos níveis de educação elementar e básica, que constituem o alicerce da educação superior. Esse cenário foi o principal motivador para o desenvolvimento da abordagem exploratória apresentada no presente artigo. Fundamentada em dimensões e critérios presentes em estudos científicos e no emprego de um método de apoio à decisão (ELECTRE TRI) e da análise dos Quartis, a abordagem proposta buscou avaliar e classificar a qualidade de uma Instituição de Ensino Médio (IEM), segundo a percepção do corpo docente e discente. Por meio de um estudo realizado em um campus de um Instituto Federal de Educação Tecnológica, o coeficiente alfa de Cronbach (1951) foi utilizado para medir a confiabilidade dos questionários, enquanto a análise dos Quartis foi utilizada para determinar os itens mais críticos. Os resultados indicam que os questionários são válidos e confiáveis. Déficit de aprendizado acumulado pelos alunos em níveis anteriores de ensino, o desinteresse na participação das aulas e no aprofundamento do conteúdo das disciplinas e a falta de estudos em casa são alguns itens mais críticos, segundo a percepção dos docentes. Por outro lado, a falta de clareza na explicação da disciplina, a falta de domínio da turma e a frequência de uso de laboratórios e recursos audiovisuais são alguns dos itens mais críticos, segundo a percepção dos discentes. Ao desenvolver essa abordagem exploratória para avalição e diagnóstico de IEM, espera-se contribuir com os gestores dessas instituições para que ações precisas com relação à melhoria da qualidade do ensino médio possam planejadas e executadas pelos órgãos oficiais. The recent figures of education in Brazil reveal poor student performance in primary and secondary education, which are the foundation of higher education. This scenario was the main motivation for the development of the exploratory approach presented in this article. Based on dimensions and criteria present in scientific studies and on the use of a method of decision support (ELECTRE TRI) and Quartiles analysis, the proposed approach aimed to evaluate and rank the quality of an institution of secondary education, according to the perceptions of faculty and students. Through a study carried out in a campus of a Federal Institute of Technology Education, Cronbach's alpha coefficient (1951) was used to measure the reliability of the questionnaires, and the Quartiles analysis was used to determine the most critical items. The results indicate that the questionnaires are valid and reliable. The learning deficit accumulated by students at previous levels of education, lack of interest in participating in classes and in deeply understanding the content of disciplines, as well as lack of homework completion are some critical items perceived by teachers. On the other hand, lack of clarity in the explanation of content of disciplines, lack of control of the class and the frequency of use of laboratories and audiovisual resources are some of the most critical items perceived by students. In developing this exploratory approach to the evaluation and diagnosis of secondary education institutes, we hope to contribute with the managers of such institutions so that precise actions to improve the quality of secondary education can be planned and carried out by official bodies.

Inclusive innovation seeks to expand access to essential goods and services, thereby improving quality of life, and enhancing economic empowerment through knowledge creation, acquisition, adaption, absorption, and deployment efforts targeted directly at the needs of excluded populations. Inclusive innovation is of high relevance for the Chinese authorities, but the concept is new to the Chinese government from both conceptual and policy perspective. So far China has emphasized frontier innovation, yet has recognized the importance of inclusive innovation in addressing increasing disparity between the rich and poor. In China many efforts are being made in the domain of inclusive innovation, but there is no clear strategy and implementation plan. This report aims to help build awareness and set the stage for the potential implementation and operationalization of inclusive innovation policy in China and possibly in other countries. This report is presented in four Chapters and an Executive Summary. Chapter I presents the concept of inclusive innovation and why it is relevant for China. Chapter II discusses the current landscape for inclusive innovation in China. Chapter III presents international experience and examples. Chapter IV outlines some policy options for consideration by the Chinese authorities.

This thesis investigates whether ISO 9001 certification by banks affects customers’ perceptions of e-service quality and recovery (and hence customer satisfaction, value and loyalty) in online banking services. In pursuit of this objective this thesis holistically undertake a comprehensive review of the current state of the E-S-QUAL scale including methodology used, suggestions, and limitations associated with the adoption of the scale. Thereafter, this thesis proposed and applied scales to measure service quality and service recovery in the setting of electronic banking (e-banking). At that juncture, the thesis further developed and empirically tested a model and different sub-models that considers perceived online service quality and online service recovery as antecedents to online satisfaction and value to investigate factors that might influence customer satisfaction, value and loyalty and the possible mediating/moderating effects of customer satisfaction and value on the relationship between service quality, recovery and customer loyalty. Findings are discussed and management implications presented., Aquesta tesis doctoral investiga si la implantació de sistemes d’assegurament de la qualitat segons la norma ISO 9001 als serveis bancaris per internet, afecta a la satisfacció del servei per part dels clients d’aquesta. En aquest sentit, ha calgut analitzar l’escala de mesura de la qualitat dels serveis per internet E-S-QUAL, per tal d’adaptar-la als serveis bancaris, incloent-hi una mesura de la satisfacció en els casos on hi ha hagut reclamacions. D’aquesta forma, la tesis ha aportat un model, testejat empíricament, on es determinen quines son les causes que afecten a una bona satisfacció del servei per part del client, i a un augment de la lleialtat dels clients per part de l’empresa; tan pels clients que han realitzat reclamacions en el servei com als que no.

The human resource department plays an important role in the tourism industry since tourism activities are characterised by an intense involvement of human capital to ensure high quality services [6] ; from this perspective, human resource management quality is crucial for success or failure of tourism businesses.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the user's assessment of the level of quality of the library services of the Portuguese University of Trás‐os‐Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD) in order to identify its potential improvement. Design/methodology/approach – Following a literature review on library service quality assessment focusing on the ServQual, Lib Qual, or Biqual conceptual tools, a survey was designed and applied to a sample of the UTAD library's users, and then subjected to statistical analysis. Findings – The literature review on library quality service assessment points out an array of dimensions that must be taken into account. The conceptual tools recently developed for that assessment showed that the services provided by the UTAD library needed to be redefined in order to enhance its user's autonomy. The results of the survey follow the findings of the literature review and, in particular, show that for the UTAD case study: gender is an important variable to take into account; the access to new technologies and to its convenient use is of the outmost importance; and face to face relation between users and service providers must be deepened. Practical implications – The data survey clearly indicates the areas in which UTAD library has to direct its efforts in order to improve the quality of its services and meet users' expectations. Originality/value – The results opened up the way to future comparative investigations with other services provided by other university libraries.

Conference name: WISS'10 Proceedings of the 2010 international conference on Web information systems engineering Date of Conference: 12 - 14 December, 2010 Despite the help of search engines and Web directories, identifying high quality content becomes increasingly difficult as the Internet gets ever more crowded with information. Prior approaches for filtering and searching content with respect to user-specific preferences do exist: Recommendation engines employ collaborative filtering to support subjective selection, (semi-)automatic page ranking algorithms utilize the hypertext link structure of the World Wide Web to assess page importance, and trust-based systems employ social network analysis to determine the most suitable Web pages. The use of implicit and explicit user feedback, however, is often either ignored or its exploitation is limited to isolated Web sites. We thus propose a quality overlay framework that enables the collection and processing of user-feedback, and the subsequent presentation of quality-enabled content for any Web-site. We present the quality overlay framework, propose an architecture for its realization, and validate our approach by scenarios and a detailed design with sample implementation. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.

This series is produced by the Health, Nutrition, and Population family (HNP) of the World Bank's Human Development Network (HDN). The papers in this series aim to provide a vehicle for publishing preliminary and unpolished results on HNP topics to encourage discussion and debate. The cost of a health insurance program will largely be determined by the size and composition of the covered population, the benefit package, cost sharing arrangements, the current and future supply of health care providers and facilities, and the provider payment mechanisms used. This note summarizes in broad strokes the subset of the possible Universal Coverage (UC) transition scenarios and their related costs in Indonesia. These scenarios were selected based on initial discussions with key stakeholders, and further broad-based discussion with stakeholders will be needed to finalize the design, financing and transition options. This note shows how decisions regarding the transition steps, benefit package and the choice of eligible population affect public Health Insurance (HI) expenditures as Indonesia transitions to UC. This work follows closely the earlier World Bank report health financing in Indonesia; a road map for reform.

This report discusses selected issues regarding accountability in public services. The introduction discusses the accountability framework that will be used for the report. Chapter 1 assesses South Africa's progress on service access and quality, and summarizes recent policy initiatives. Chapters 2, 3, and 4 describe the international and South African experience with mechanisms that seek to improve accountability - public sector reform, citizen report cards, and others - and posits hypotheses to be explored in the following chapters. Chapter 5 applies the World Bank's accountability framework to a participatory assessment of services in six municipalities in South Africa. Chapters 6 and 7 apply the framework to the education and water and sanitation sectors. Chapter 8 explains why community-driven development does not factor in any main South African development programs. Chapter 9 explains the continuing learning practices pioneered in the manufacturing sector and addresses how these practices might be used by the South African government to effect change. Chapter 10 summarizes the conclusions, translates these into main hypotheses to be tested in future work, and formulates a number of policy recommendations for public debate.

As gains in basic health care increase life expectancy, more people live past the age of 65, a time when the risk of dementia and other degenerative diseases is higher and people are more likely to require long-term care (LTC) services. Whether at home or in an institution, such care is an important way to protect the lives and dignity of a country's elderly citizens. Unfortunately, the cost of LTC, especially in institutions, can be catastrophic for families. Without public social protection systems many people cannot afford the care they need or the high cost of care sends them and their families into poverty. Thus, LTC is not only a health issue, but also a fiscal issue and as the European population ages, it is crucial for states to develop comprehensive LTC systems that address this interrelated issue. The next section explores the demographic background of the Bulgarian population, which is one of the fastest aging in Europe. This is followed by s short-description of the macro-economic and fiscal framework in post-crisis Bulgaria. Next, an overview of LTC service provisions is given, followed by a section on financing of LTC services. The last section concludes by introducing some guiding principles for future policy reforms.

Backed by sound economic policies and until the global crisis, a buoyant global economy, many developing countries made significant movement toward achieving the 2015millennium Development Goals (MDGs), particularly those for poverty reduction, gender parity in education, and reliable access to safe water. But even before the global economic crisis, progress in achieving some MDGs, especially those on child and maternal mortality, primary school completion, hunger, and sanitation, was lagging. The global food, fuel and economic crises have set back progress to the MDGs. An estimated 64 million more people are living on less than $1.25/day than there would have been without the crisis. The challenges ahead are achieving the MDGs requires a vibrant global economy, powered by strong, sustainable, multi-polar growth, underpinned by sound policies and reform at the country level; improving access for the poor to health, education, affordable food, trade, finance, and basic infrastructure is key to accelerating progress to the MDGs; developing countries need to continue to strengthen resilience to global volatility in order to protect gains and sustain progress toward the MDGs; the international community must renew its commitment to reach the 'bottom billion', particularly those in fragile and conflict-affected countries; and global support for a comprehensive development agenda including through the G20 process is critical. In the wake of recent global crises, and with the 2015 deadline approaching, business as usual is not enough to meet the MDGs.

Mestrado em Gestão: variante Gestão Pública e Autárquica O nosso trabalho versa sobre a importância da qualidade de uma organização específica, a biblioteca de um estabelecimento de ensino superior, da Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro. Concebendo-a como um serviço público integrado num organismo de ensino e aprendizagem superior, pretendemos, através de uma análise por inquéritos, aferir o grau de percepção dos seus frequentadores acerca da qualidade da prestação de serviços, para optimizarmos os procedimentos e maximizarmos os recursos, indo ao encontro das suas necessidades. A qualidade é um conceito cujo significado é em grande medida determinável pela sua inscrição espaço – temporal e aferido por critérios que variam em função de diferentes sistemas de valores e de múltiplas percepções subjectivas. Enquanto termo substantivo implicando não propriamente uma propriedade ou condição, mas uma aferição ou atribuição de valor, a sua pertinência é de âmbito multidimensional e, portanto, aplicável ao funcionamento das organizações. Tornar as Bibliotecas da Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro num serviço público de qualidade em linha com as modernas formas gestionárias da Nova Administração Pública – assentes numa clara definição de objectivos e resultados a alcançar, em metodologias de trabalho em rede e de participação activa, colaborativa eficiente, célere, simplificada, transparente, e centradas na satisfação e proximidade do cliente-utilizador – é esse, em suma, o propósito central que está na base desta reflexão. The main focus of our study is on the quality assessment of a particular organization, the library of a Portuguese higher education institution, the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD). In order to optimize procedures and maximize resources, our aim is to assess the quality of its services, by means of a survey analysis on the degree of awareness of their users. Quality is a concept whose meaning is largely determined by its space and time location and measured by criteria that vary according to different value systems and multiple subjective perceptions. It is a term not exactly implying a property but rather meaning a process, and in its multidimensional scope is therefore applied to the functioning of organizations. To provide the libraries of the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD) with higher quality services, in accordance with modern managing policies – based on a clear definition of targets, on methodologies for networking and focused on customer satisfaction – that is, in short, the main subject of this thesis.

La acreditación internacional de laboratorios clínicos es un proceso que contribuye a la mejora Continua de la calidad de sus servicios y tiene como misión mejorar la seguridad y la calidad de la atención en salud de la comunidad a través de la disponibilidad de educación, publicaciones, consultoría, y evaluación de los servicios. La participación en los procesos de acreditación internacional es decisión de la dirección de cada laboratorio y debe ser accesible a todos los establecimientos que estén debidamente registrados y habilitados por las autoridades nacionales del país, aplicándose tanto a modelos del sector público como al sector privado que cuenta con procedimientos efectivos de control externo de calidad en forma de programas de acreditación de instituciones de salud. Es un proceso voluntario por el cual una organización internacional concede el reconocimiento a los Laboratorios Clínicos que cumplen con los estándares evaluados por dicha institución acreditadora. Instituto de Ciencias de la Salud CES INTRODUCCION 4 2. Objetivos 5 2.1 Objetivo General 5 2.2 Objetivos Específicos 5 3. Metodología 5 3.1 Tipo de estudio 5 4. Marco conceptual 6 4.1 Joint commission international (JCI) 6 4.1.1 Acreditación según la JCI 6 4.1.2 Desarrollo de los estándares de la JCI 7 4.1.3 Agrupación de los estándares de la JCI 8 4.1.4 Utilización del manual de estándares de la JCI 8 4.1.5 Elementos medibles de los estándares de la JCI 9 4.1.6 Frecuencia de actualización de los estándares de la JCI 9 4.1.7 Preparación para la acreditación con la JCI 9 4.1.8 Estándares de la Joint Commission International 10 4.1.8.1 Gestión y Liderazgo (MGT) 10 4.1.8.2 Desarrollo y Control de Políticas y Procedimientos(DCP) 13 4.1.8.3 Gestión de los recursos y del Medio Ambiente del Laboratorio (RSM) 14 4.1.8.4 Procesos de control de calidad (QCP) 17 4.2 Acreditación en Colombia 20 4.3 Sistema Único de acreditación (SUA) 20 4.4 Instituto Colombiano de Normas Técnicas y Certificación (ICONTEC) 21 4.4.1 Acreditación en salud según ICONTEC 22 4.4.2 Proceso de acreditación ICONTEC 22 4.4.3 Acreditación del Laboratorio Clínico por ICONTEC 24 4.5 Manual de estándares de acreditación para los laboratorios clínicos 25 4.5.1 Estándares del Proceso de Atención al Cliente-asistencial 25 4.5.2 Direccionamiento 34 4.5.3 Gerencia 35 4.5.4 Gerencia del Recurso Humano 37 4.5.5 Gerencia del Ambiente Físico 38 4.5.6 Gerencia de Sistemas de Información 39 4.5.7 Gestión de Tecnología 41 4.5.8 Estándares Específicos para sedes ambulatorias integradas en red. 42 5.0. CONCLUSIONES 45 BIBLIOGRAFIA 47 ANEXOS 49 Especialización The international accreditation of clinical laboratories is a process that contributes to the continuous improvement of the quality of its services and its mission is to improve the safety and quality of community health care through the availability of education, publications, consultancy , and evaluation of services. Participation in international accreditation processes is the decision of the management of each laboratory and must be accessible to all establishments that are duly registered and authorized by the national authorities of the country, applying both models of the public sector and the private sector that has with effective external quality control procedures in the form of accreditation programs for health institutions. It is a voluntary process by which an international organization grants recognition to Clinical Laboratories that comply with the standards evaluated by said accrediting institution.

Tema diplomske naloge je usmerjena k analizi karakteristik kakovosti promotorke oziroma promotorja. Želimo ugotoviti katere karakteristike kakovosti so kupcem pri promotorki najbolj in katere najmanj pomembne, da bi bilo izvajanje promocije kar najbolj kakovostno in usmerjeno predvsem h kupčevim potrebam in željam. Raziskovali smo pomembnost primernega odnosa in komunikacije promotorke do kupca, kakšne naj bi bile njene osebne lastnosti, zunanja podoba, obleka in primeren čas ter kraj, kjer naj bi se promocijska dejavnost odvijala. Rezultat raziskave so ugotovljene karakteristike kakovosti, ki so kupcem pri promotorki in izvajanju njene dejavnosti najpomembnejše: primerna in vljudna komunikacija, znanje in strokovnost ter prijaznost. Rezultati kažejo, da so promotorke dobro sprejete, saj so pri kupcih zaželene in se jih na prodajnih mestih ne izogibajo. Ugotovljene karakteristike kakovosti lahko služijo kot smernice, ki naj bi jih imela promotorka za kakovostno delovanje. To pa bi bilo usmerjeno k željam kupca ter učinkovitejšim prodajnim rezultatom, v korist tako promotorke kot podjetja. Tako bi podjetje z upoštevanjem rezultatov, pridobljenih v raziskavi, s kakovostno storitvijo promocije na trgu ponujalo nekaj več ter obenem zadovoljilo tako potrebe kupcev kot lasten interes. V današnjem času, kjer se vsakodnevno srečujemo z novimi izdelki, pa je lahko dodatna kakovostna storitev, ki ustreza kupčevim željam, velik korak pred konkurenco. ABSTRACT The subject of this Diploma Thesis is focused on the quality characteristics analysis of a promoter. Our aim is to establish which quality characteristics of a promoter are more and which less important for customers, so that the performing of this service would be of the best quality and aimed mainly at the customers’ needs and desires. Our research was based mainly on the importance of a promoter’s appropriate attitude and communication to a customer, the establishing of a promoter’s personal characteristics, appearance, clothing and the appropriate time and location of a promotional activity. The result of the Diploma Thesis would be the outlined quality characteristics, which are thought by the customers to be the most important in a promoter and the performance of the activity: appropriate and polite communication, knowledge, expertise and kindness. The results show that promoters are in general well accepted, since they are welcomed among customers and are not being avoided in sales places by them. The established quality characteristics can serve as guidelines which the promoter should have for performing a quality activity. This would be aimed at customers’ desires and more effective sales results benefiting promoters as well as companies. With an additional quality service on the market, a company would, considering the results acquired in the research, offer a little more and at the same time satisfy customers’ needs as well as its personal interest. Today, as we meet new products on a daily basis, an additional quality service meeting customers’ needs can be a big step ahead of the competition.

This monograph probes the role of information in service delivery by focusing on key sectors in Kenya and Ethiopia. Findings from comparative studies done in 2005-06 in the health, education, and water and sanitation sectors plus public and private partnerships (PPPs) illustrate the significance of information access to delivery of quality services. Linking information access to service delivery is instructive to deepen institutional reforms around transparency and governance. This volume contends that three constraints-governance, trust, and technology deficits-impede information flows for service delivery in Ethiopia and Kenya. Although these constraints are formidable, the cases reveal that reforms in the governance arena have began to make a difference in the domain of service delivery. Using local researchers for this study has contributed to the World Bank's vision and mission of strengthening knowledge production by local institutions, particularly in Africa, where the low rate of the input of indigenous voices in the development debates is a growing concern. Augmenting the corpus of knowledge about African issues by Africans also fits into the objective of capacity building: providing local experts the opportunities to research and highlight experiences on the ground. As more countries embark on public sector reforms that deepen transparent information mechanisms and better service delivery, the need for more of these studies will increase. What the authors of this study have articulated is a rich research agenda that ties information access and service provision-research that should help advance policy dialogue with actors involved in public sector and governance reforms.

This article presents an approach to public policy in health that comes directly from the literature on public economics. It identifies two characteristic market failures in health. The first is the existence of large externalities in the control of many infectious diseases that are mostly addressed by standard public health interventions. The second is the widespread breakdown of insurance markets that leave people exposed to catastrophic financial losses. Other essential considerations in setting priorities in health are the degree to which policies address poverty and inequality and the practicality of implementing policies given limited administrative capacities. Priorities based on these criteria tend to differ substantially from those commonly prescribed by the international community.

Measuring customer satisfaction can be considered a tool for monitoring, evaluation and quality improvement processes and internal activities, to reflect the degree to which organizations achieve their objectives and goals. The quality of management and the quality of various products have become critical coordinates of the competitiveness, so that the firms are determined to use the methods and techniques of quality management as their economic development engines. Customer’ satisfaction has become one of the most important goals for companies operating in the Romanian market. It is also a necessary tool for providing information about customer’s needs and behavior. Talking of satisfaction, the consumer always seeks to compare the performance of the product, with certain standards and they have required to inform themselves and to reflect upon purchasing the product. To a better analyze of the degree of satisfaction, we implemented a model based on a questionnaire that allows us to detect and evaluatee the reasons for the satisfaction / dissatisfaction of the consumers in terms of quality regarding Dacia cars on the Romanian market.