Convergence Of Opinions Research Articles

Validation of Lean Manufacturing Implementation Framework Using Delphi Technique

Lean manufacturing is a proven approach for success in manufacturing industry. However, several organisations failed in their attempt to implement lean manufacturing system. The transition to lean manufacturing requires radical change which involves a total reshaping of purpose, system and culture of the organisation. Therefore, a lean manufacturing implementation framework was developed. This framework is intended to provide practitioners with a better understanding of lean transition and minimize the conflicts of implementing lean manufacturing system. The purpose of this paper is to validate the proposed lean manufacturing implementation framework using Delphi technique. This technique is a process of gathering opinions of experts, which designed to achieve a convergence of opinions on a specific real–world issue. The work continued over two iterative rounds until consensus or stability is reached. Comments and suggestions given by the experts help to further improve and validate the framework. As conclusion, the final framework of lean manufacturing implementation is presented.

Core functions for the public health nutrition workforce in Europe: a consensus study.

To assess and develop a consensus among a European panel of public health nutrition workforce stakeholders (academics and employers) regarding core functions required for effective public health nutrition practice. A modified Delphi study involving data from two rounds of questionnaires administered among a panel of public health nutrition workforce stakeholders. Europe. A panel of fifty-three public health nutrition development stakeholders, including thirty-three academics and twenty employers, sampled from eighteen European countries. Panellists rated 50 % (19/38) of the initially listed functions as core (i.e. without which public health capacity is limited), using a majority cut-off (>50 %). Out of the nineteen core functions seven were categorised under the heading Intervention management, emphasising high agreement on the importance of managing interventions in public health nutrition work. Only one of the identified core public health nutrition functions was rated differently between academics and employers, suggesting consistent identification of core functions between stakeholder groups. This consensus on core functions of the public health nutrition workforce in Europe can be used to promote a consistent understanding of the role and value of public health nutritionists as a discrete disciplinary sub-specialty of the public health workforce. The convergence of opinions of academics and employers, as well as comparison with previous international studies, indicates that there is a set of core public health nutrition functions transferable between countries that can be used as a benchmark to guide further development of the public health nutrition workforce in Europe.

O novo consenso da sociedade brasileira: democracia e igualdade

Este artigo investiga o grau de convergência das opiniões sustentadas pelas elites e pela população brasileira sobre as políticas de redução da desigualdade social e redução da pobreza. A literatura internacional sobre esse tema se divide entre aqueles que vêem uma divisão entre elite e massa em torno dessa questão, e aqueles supõem que as dificuldades enfrentadas pelas novas democracias para garantir o crescimento econômico e desenvolvimento social teriam favorecido a formação de um novo consenso social unindo elites e massas, onde as políticas de redução da pobreza e de desigualdade ocupam um lugar preeminente. Nossa análise comparou os resultados alcançados na pesquisa Estudo Eleitoral Brasileiro (CSES-ESEB) de 2010, com os dados coletados junto a uma amostra da elite brasileira em 2009. Os resultados da análise sustentam a hipótese de que é possível falar em um consenso amplo unindo a elite e a população em torno de uma agenda de políticas voltadas para a diminuição da desigualdade no país e para a erradicação da pobreza.

The effect of mother-intervener opinion divergence on mothers’ attitudes towards interveners

Introduction Several researchers show that the quality of the relationship between therapist and client is related to a wide range of positive results. Aim The aim of this study was to analyze how the opinions of mothers and interveners about handling problems of adolescents influenced the mothers’ attitudes towards the interveners. Methods The methods involved the participation of mothers of adolescents receiving services at the Centre Jeunesse in the Quebec area. Attitudes were measured by a semantic differential and a question. The design included 2 experimental groups divided according to the order of application of the 2 treatments. The condition of convergence or divergence of opinions between a mother and an intervener was forced by an opinion given by the intervener. Results The results demonstrated that the convergence of opinions between mothers and interveners led to more positive attitudes towards the interveners than divergence of opinions. Conclusion This research was the first to be conducted in an applied setting and treatment was adapted to the most important problem that each mother had with her adolescent. Because the mother's opinions were related to her main problem, the attitudinal response elicited by the interveners’ opinion was strong.

A snapshot of key information systems (IS) issues in Estonian organizations for the 2000s

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to highlight key information system (IS) issues in Estonian organizations for the mid‐2000s. This research is a follow‐up to an initial effort in the country in 1993, in which a similar theme was investigated. The primary objective of this present study was to compare and contrast the findings in the previous study with the present effort.Design/methodology/approachThe Delphi method was used. Viewpoints of both information technology (IT) professionals and non‐IT professionals (business managers) in the country were sought across two rounds of the Delphi method.FindingsThe findings suggest the following: the past decade has produced salient changes in the ranking of key IS issues for Estonia; it appears that there is a convergence of opinions on key IS issues in both the Estonian public and private sectors; and there are significant differences in key IS issues across professional groupings (IT and non‐IT).Research limitations/implicationsThe ranking of issues as opposed to rating issues was used in the data analysis. Ranking items is more challenging to participants and might be a limiting factor. The sample size of this study is small and perhaps a larger sample would yield better insights.Practical implicationsThose in charge of IT resources in Estonian organizations, as well as policy makers in the country, may benefit from the information provided herein. Such insights may facilitate better understanding of current key IS issues in the country.Originality/valueThis research offers a snapshot of key IS issues in Estonian organizations for the mid‐2000s. More importantly, this work complements a prior study on the same topic that was conducted in the country in the 1990s.

Creative accounting practice and business performance: evidence from Pakistan

This paper explores the issue of creative accounting and evidence of its use in Pakistan. The financial characteristics of Pakistani companies, officially or publically identified for using some form of creative accounting are investigated and explored. Through the use of financial ratios and a control sample of companies identified for not having used creative accounting are analysed and compared. Survey results show statistically significant differences in sample-control comparison of ratios and indicate that there appears to be a convergence of opinions on the use of such practices. Further, the findings provide evidence that financial characteristics, as measured by ratios, could be used as a tool to identify companies that are likely to be involved in creative accounting and therefore form a basis for measuring, controlling and influencing how company performance may be perceived.

The New Financial Development Paradigm and Asian Bond Markets

For the better part of the last century, the debate between ‘liberalisers’ and ‘interventionists’ marked thinking about the relationship between finance and development. It has by now been superseded by the emergence of the discourse of financial system development, which links economic growth to the development of the financial sector. As the risks entailed by wholesale financial reform came to the fore in the financial crises of the 1990s and early 2000s, emphasis shifted from liberalising financial markets to building institutional frameworks to accommodate investment. Arguably, the emergence of the financial-system-development discourse occurred within a wider shift in the neoliberal paradigm towards institution building. These changes are particularly pronounced in East and Southeast Asia. This paper argues that a convergence of opinions has occurred between Asian financial policy elites, previously strong supporters of the bank-based developmental state model, and the liberalisers, represented through international financial institutions such as the IMF. This consensus is geared towards the expansion of capital markets and a generally more neoliberal, market-oriented mode of economic governance. To illustrate this claim, this paper traces institutional changes in Asian financial systems since the 1997-98 financial crisis. Although local characteristics remain, a common feature is the more salient role of bond markets in the financial system. This is the result of the conscious and deliberate development of local currency debt markets by policymakers. However, the new consensus narrows down the space in which economic policymaking takes place. Yet, by re-politicising financial system development, this space could be broadened again.

Opinion convergence in location: A spatial version of the Delphi method

This paper proposes a modified version of the Delphi method, starting from the assumption that in many situations the convergence of opinions can be considered in a spatial context. The Spatial Delphi we suggest is based, like the classical Delphi, on the judgments of experts, and it is useful in the consultations for decision and/or forecast purposes, provided that they concern matters of spatial location. The basis for the questionnaire is a map, on which each expert provides, as answer(s), one or more opinion-points, i.e., locations that, according to their opinion, are best for a specific purpose. We propose a method for narrowing the area of convergence along a multi-step procedure so that the final result of the consultation is a small portion of the initial territory with respect to the initial area considered. Besides a simulation study, we report also a prototype application with a panel of twelve experts.

Apoio respiratório na voz cantada: perspectiva de professores de canto e fonoaudiólogos

OBJETIVO: analisar a definição de apoio respiratório, assim como as estratégias de trabalho e benefícios de sua aplicação, segundo a perspectiva de professores de canto e fonoaudiólogos. MÉTODOS: seis profissionais com experiência em voz cantada foram entrevistados sobre questões relacionadas ao apoio respiratório no canto. As respostas foram submetidas à análise de conteúdo e definidas quatro categorias: definição de apoio respiratório, tipo de apoio, estratégias e benefícios. RESULTADOS: os aspectos mais mencionados pelos entrevistados foram: a definição de apoio está relacionada com a participação do músculo diafragma e dos intercostais; o tipo de apoio mais adequado é o intercostal e diafragmático; dentre as estratégias de trabalho, utilizadas para a adequação do apoio respiratório, as mais citadas foram propriocepção corporal, conscientização da musculatura envolvida, equilíbrio do fluxo aéreo, alívio de tensões e correção da postura. Há discrepâncias com relação à utilização da contração abdominal, do uso de objetos de apoio, de imagens mentais e realização de vocalizes. Para os entrevistados, o maior benefício do apoio respiratório está no alívio das tensões laríngeas e melhoria na coordenação pneumofonoarticulatória. Houve pouca concordância sobre a ação benéfica do apoio, principalmente quanto à sua melhoria na emissão cantada. CONCLUSÃO: os resultados apontam para uma convergência da maioria dos entrevistados quanto à definição, estratégias de trabalho e benefícios do apoio respiratório, porém ainda sem consenso.

Кто Такой Верующий?”: повседневные типизации cвоих и чужих в православном и мусульманском дискурсах (на примере г. Казани)

SUMMARY: The authors analyze the construction of their imagined communities of believers by the Russian Orthodox and Muslim priesthood of Tatarstan. The discussion is based on a series of interviews conducted with those priests and mullahs in Kazan who exercise authority among their parishioners, are actively engaged in communal work and education, and teach in the religious education establishments. They are characterized in the article as the “opinion leaders,” and their rhetoric of inclusion and exclusion is scrutinized in a comparative perspective. Khodzhaeva and Shumilova demonstrate that ethnic categories are integrated into the studied religious discourses and are used to symbolically broaden the communities of coreligionists. The language of priests and mullahs includes mundane ethnic stereotypes colored by a specific intolerance rooted not in religious but in current social-political discourses and practices. While interreligious dialogue is a steady feature of the Kazan religious environment, the dialogue and the convergence of opinions become most intense when it comes to the construction of common enemies exemplified by Western liberalism, globalization/cosmopolitanism, and cultural unification.

On the Psychology of Pharmaceutical Industry Gifts to Physicians

On the Psychology of Pharmaceutical Industry Gifts to Physicians

A Rawlsian Approach to Distribute Responsibilities in Networks

Due to their non-hierarchical structure, socio-technical networks are prone to the occurrence of the problem of many hands. In the present paper an approach is introduced in which people’s opinions on responsibility are empirically traced. The approach is based on the Rawlsian concept of Wide Reflective Equilibrium (WRE) in which people’s considered judgments on a case are reflectively weighed against moral principles and background theories, ideally leading to a state of equilibrium. Application of the method to a hypothetical case with an artificially constructed network showed that it is possible to uncover the relevant data to assess a consensus amongst people in terms of their individual WRE. It appeared that the moral background theories people endorse are not predictive for their actual distribution of responsibilities but that they indicate ways of reasoning and justifying outcomes. Two ways of ascribing responsibilities were discerned, corresponding to two requirements of a desirable responsibility distribution: fairness and completeness. Applying the method triggered learning effects, both with regard to conceptual clarification and moral considerations, and in the sense that it led to some convergence of opinions. It is recommended to apply the method to a real engineering case in order to see whether this approach leads to an overlapping consensus on a responsibility distribution which is justifiable to all and in which no responsibilities are left unfulfilled, therewith trying to contribute to the solution of the problem of many hands.

A Medical Home for Children With Insulin-Dependent Diabetes: Comanagement by Primary and Subspecialty Physicians—Convergence and Divergence of Opinions

The purpose of this work was to examine pediatricians' and endocrinologists' views about management for routine preventive and acute care, diabetes-specific care, and family education and care coordination for children with insulin-dependent diabetes. We conducted a mixed-mode survey of all of the pediatricians in 1 medicaid managed care network and all of the pediatric and adult endocrinologists who treat children with diabetes in North Carolina. Of the 201 pediatricians surveyed, 132 responded (65%). Among the 61 endocrinologists who treat children, 59% replied. Nearly all of the respondents agreed that primary care physicians should have responsibility for routine primary care (eg, well-child checkups, treating minor illnesses or injuries, and immunizations). Likewise, large majorities favored endocrinologists as leads for diabetes-specific care (eg, 94% for training in use of an insulin pump and 82% for training in use of a glucometer). Many generalists and subspecialists reported that specific aspects of diabetes care should be comanaged (eg, 31% for tracking of hemoglobin A1c). However, large proportions of pediatricians and endocrinologists expressed differing opinions about the primary responsibility for family education and care coordination and for specific diabetes services. For example, 80% of endocrinologists saw subspecialists as leads for monitoring blood sugar levels, whereas 52% of pediatricians favored comanagement. An effective medical home model of care depends on establishing clear lines of responsibility between the primary care physician and subspecialist. Our findings suggest that primary care physicians and subspecialists agree on who should lead most aspects of care for patients with insulin-dependent diabetes and that some aspects of care should be comanaged. However, primary care physicians and subspecialists did not agree either between or within disciplines on who should be more responsible for the basic aspect of monitoring of blood sugar levels. Approaches that recognize the appropriate division of care between primary care physicians and subspecialists, facilitate comanagement when it is needed, and reward the collaboration required to provide medical homes for patients should be investigated as models of care.

Radical prostatectomy specimen processing: A critical appraisal of sampling methods

Radical prostatectomy gives the most accurate and detailed information available for determining prognosis and deciding about adjuvant therapy for prostate cancer. The consistency and reproducibility of observations from these specimens requires a standardised protocol for tissue fixation, sampling, embedding and processing. Although the publication of processing protocols in recent years has led to a convergence of opinions, differences still exist in methods of handling, sampling and processing specimens. In this review article, we incorporate the processing methods for radical prostatectomy addressed in the previous reports and propose a comprehensively standardised approach to evaluate radical prostatectomy specimens.

The State of the Art in Evaluating the Performance of Department Chairs and Division Heads

This study explores the little understood process of evaluating the performance of department chairs/division heads in dental schools. Specifically, this research aimed to elucidate the methods, processes, and outcomes related to the job performance of department chairs/division heads. Forty-three deans and 306 chairs completed surveys with both close-ended and open-ended questions. In addition, ten deans and ten chairs were interviewed. Results indicate that 80 to 90 percent of department chairs are formally evaluated, although as many as 50 percent may lack job descriptions. Recommended best practices for performance appraisal--such as having at least yearly appraisals, holding face-to-face meetings, and setting specific, personal performance objectives/benchmarks for chairs--are being used in most schools. Still, there is much room to improve appraisals by incorporating other recommended practices. Overall high levels of satisfaction were reported by both chairs and deans for the process and outcomes of appraisals. Qualitative data showed some convergence of opinions about appraisals with the notable exception of informal feedback. We explore some implications of these results, especially as they relate to improving performance appraisals.

The humanizing in delivery: the bibliographyc study

This is a bibliographic study in papers of nursing of 2000 to 2005 which objective was to analysis the scientific production in nursing about humanization in delivery. It was researched seven brazilian magazines in nursing with international classification using the descriptors humanization in delivery and pain in delivery. Overall were found 16 articles which were submitted to content analysis. We highlight the core of senses that were grouped forming the categories: the rescue of historicity of delivery; the medicalization and use of technologies in delivery; humanization in delivery and methods of care to woman. The studies shown convergence of opinions about the institution of delivery and technologic interventions that get far of humanized conducts. Thus, the reversion of this phenomena occurs with respect to privacity and woman autonomy. There is need to new studies about the theme, deeming the complexity of aspects that involves the humanization in delivery.

The humanizing in delivery: the bibliographyc study

This is a bibliographic study in papers of nursing of 2000 to 2005 which objective was to analysis the scientific production in nursing about humanization in delivery. It was researched seven brazilian magazines in nursing with international classification using the descriptors humanization in delivery and pain in delivery. Overall were found 16 articles which were submitted to content analysis. We highlight the core of senses that were grouped forming the categories: the rescue of historicity of delivery; the medicalization and use of technologies in delivery; humanization in delivery and methods of care to woman. The studies shown convergence of opinions about the institution of delivery and technologic interventions that get far of humanized conducts. Thus, the reversion of this phenomena occurs with respect to privacity and woman autonomy. There is need to new studies about the theme, deeming the complexity of aspects that involves the humanization in delivery.

Key Information Systems Management Issues in Estonia for the 2000s and A Comparative Analysis

This study reports key information system (IS) management issues in Estonia, for a second time since 1993. The study enlists the views of knowledgeable practitioners from both the information technology (IT) and non-IT (business managers) fields. The primary objective was to compare and contrast the findings in the previous study with the present effort. Other secondary objectives included investigating the views across professional classifications and sectors. Further, a comparison between Estonia (an emerging economy) and Norway (a developed country) was made. The findings of the study indicate the following: 1) the past decade has produced salient changes in the ranking of key IS issues for Estonia, 2) there are significant differences in key IS issues across professional groupings (IT and non-IT), 3) a convergence of opinions regarding key IS issues seems to be noticeable in Estonian public and private sectors, and 4) there is a significant difference in the ranking of comparable issues between Estonia and Norway. The implications of the study for both research and practice are discussed.

Structuring objectives to facilitate convergence of divergent opinion in hydrogen production decisions

Achieving a sustainable energy system obviously is an important goal of all societies. However, achieving that goal is complicated by multiple players with divergent interests promoting their views in the context of numerous complex technological considerations. The research described in this paper provides insights gained from the development of a multiple criteria decision-aiding process to aid such decisions and from an evaluation of convergence in decision maker opinion achievable using the process. The ability of an interactive multicriteria decision-aiding tool to facilitate convergence of decision maker opinions was tested in three phases: (1) development of an objectives hierarchy, (2) definitional clarifications, and (3) elicitation and refinement of criteria weights using shared judgment rationales. Each of these phases was conducted via repeated interactions among a disparate group of experts. Contrary to initial expectations of greatest convergence during the second and third phases of definitional clarification and weight elicitation and refinement, it was found that most convergence occurred during the initial objectives hierarchy development phase. This result demonstrates the value of structured thinking and interaction among decision makers. The structure of the exploratory model developed in this research and the insights gained may be useful for a wide range of real-world issues.

Accessibility to Health Care Facilities: A Panacea for Sustainable Rural Development in Osun State Southwestern, Nigeria

Accessibility to health care facilities has been identified as a major indicator of development. The importance of adequate health care facilities in providing sustainable rural development can therefore not be over-emphasized. Convergence of opinions agreed that lack of basic health care facilities have led to inefficiency in production declining productivity reduced life expectance and increased infant mortality rate. In this paper we examine accessibility of people to healthcare facility especially in rural areas. Our findings indicate that the available healthcare facilities are grossly inadequate and their distribution depicts serious inequality. We conclude that there is an urgent need for serious intervention on the part of the government in the provision of health care facilities in the state focused on equitable distribution and accessibility to enhance sustainable rural development. (authors)