Terms Of Reference Research Articles

Agent Risk Taking and Efforts in the Context of Multiple Heterogeneous References

The purpose of this paper is to discuss agent risk taking and efforts in the context of multiple heterogeneous references. We focus on two key references in terms of performance target and aspiration income. And we also introduce them into the principal-agent model. By the method of numerical simulation, our results show that performance target and the gap of psychological reference income have complex interaction influences on agent risk taking and efforts. In addition, profit-sharing coefficient plays moderating role in these complex relationships. Our results also provide good evidence and supplement to Pepper and Gore’s proposition.

Referential Terms in English News Headlines in the U.S. and Korea

Expressions referring to human entities mirror the interaction between linguistic choices and the consideration of audience in relevant linguistic/cultural communities. Traditionally, referential expressions have been explored with respect to the relationship between an expression and its referent(s) in pragmatics and the philosophy of language, or approached by means of their accessibility to the language users’ cognition. Noticing that little research attention has been focused on how referential terms in the same language are actually used in different linguistic/cultural communities, this paper aims to compare the expressions referring to human entities in English political news headlines published in the U.S. and Korea. For the analysis, 1,000 headlines from major online news sites are collected, the expressions referring to human entities are culled and classified, and the possible reasons for the differences are discussed. The results of the analysis reveal that even when the same language, English, is used, the expressions that refer to human entities in news headlines are constrained by the extra-linguistic factors of the relevant communities, such as the consideration of the audiences and the naming practices.

Citizenship participation in water management plans in the Doce River Basin, Brazil and Catalonia, Spain

Despite the growing literature and empirical research on citizenship participation in the elaboration of water resources plans (WRP), little attention has been paid to the Terms of Reference (ToR) for such plans. Such a technical contract sets the targets, stages and activities to be met as part of the development of the WRP. Thus, any analysis of the participation impacts and results must follow the previously agreed terms but the ToR development may not, in itself, be participative. Examined herein are the ToR for the WRP of the Doce River Basin (Brazil) and the Catalonia Fluvial District (Spain), with focus on (i) proposals for democratising debates and decisions and (ii) the very process of ToR development. Historical and institutional aspects of both regions were analysed, which comprised participation mechanisms established by the corresponding national policies and recommended by the relevant international bodies. Despite the distinct features of the two regions, they both share the challenge of implementing a new governance model involving various stakeholders with the common goal of defining the water usage rights in a sustainable way. A comparative analysis of the two approaches revealed different approaches to tackle this challenge and highlighted advantages and disadvantages of each model.

Нечеткая модель оценки комфортных условий при проектировании систем кондиционирования воздуха

The primary and highly important step in the process of designing individual objects and their systems is developing the Terms of Reference (TOR) for design. The most important requirement for the TOR lies in its completeness. The more detailed information the mechanical engineer obtains, the more certain timeframes and quality of design will be. Today, when designing air conditioning and humidification (CH hence, a fuzzy logic method should be applied. As a result of simulation, a fuzzy model was developed for assessing comfort conditions in living accommodations. Fuzzy model will greatly improve the quality of design works, namely the formation of technical documentation about design objects

ISSUES RELATED TO TRANSPORT SECTOR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESMENTS (EIA)-EXPERIENCE IN SRI LANKA

The objective of an EIA report is to ensure that the development options under consideration areenvironmentally sound and sustainable and environmental consequences are recognized andtaken in to account early in the project design.A number of EIA reports related to transport sector projects have been prepared during the last10 years in Sri Lanka. They cover new expressway Ihighway projects and railway extensions.However, only highway related reports have been opened for public comments and have soughtthe approval of the project-approving agency. A careful evaluation of these reports clearlyindicate that they have not fulfilled the objectives of an EIA even though they appear to satisfythe terms of reference (TOR) given by the project approving agency.There are number of reasons for not achieving the objectives of the EIA exercise. The mainreason is the consideration of the EIA report as the document on which the decision to go aheadwith the project is determined. Therefore, these EIA reports are heavily biased towards thepreferred alternative and report prepareres have tried to justify the project rather than criticallyevaluate the impacts due to the project. This is clearly evident from the selection of alternatives.In many situations the comparison is restricted among the alternatives considered for thefeasibility study and not even the no-option alternative has been considered.Failure to identify the magnitudes and significance of the impacts in a logical manner hasresulted in neglecting the mitigatory measures for some of the important aspects. Lack ofcoordination among the ErA team members and lack of communication between the EIA teamand the project proponent have contributed heavily towards submitting poorly compiled reportswith contradicting statements and irrelevant information, Detailed discussions on insignificantaspects and insufficient material related to significant impacts are very frequent in these reports,Transport related impacts are often neglected due the absence of a transport expert in most of theEIA teams,Not using an appropriate methodology to evaluate and compare the alternatives is anothershortcoming that can be observed. In many situations this has been exploited to justify thepreferred alternative qualitatively.It is very important to emphasis the intended role of an EIA report to the project proponent andto the ElA team so that they are encouraged to properly identify and propose mitigatorymeasures for the anticipated impacts. Additional burden of re-justifying the project should not beentrusted upon the EIA team once the project is selected based on a proper feasibility study.Emphasis should be given to identify and propose suitable mitigatory measures and monitoringmechanism so that the designers and operators are aware of the problems

Econometric Analysis of the Factors of Long-term Unemployment in Poland

Long-term unemployment that is lasting more than twelve months,a phenomenon described by the theory of economics as a manifestation of a permanentimbalance between labor supply and demand for labor. In fact, it bringsthe same negative effects both in terms of economic, social and individual sphere.As a result, it leads to the formation of pejorative phenomena and behavior. Tocounter these negative phenomena, public employment services in its terms ofreference have the early detection of people at risk of long-term unemployment andto take preventive measures.The purpose of this article is to present logit econometric models defining thefactors which have a significant impact on long-term unemployment. These modelscan be used to predict the probability of long-term unemployment at the microlevel, ie for a single person. Due to the fact that the survey methodology are two definitions of unemployment – the first by the methodology of the Labour ForceSurvey, the second according to the law on employment promotion and labor marketinstitutions, one presented two models describing the probability of long-termunemployment and a comparative analysis.

Processes and outcomes for a successful engagement between a medical school and a remote Indigenous community in North Queensland, Australia

Medical students should be equipped with the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes to engage with local communities on placement, and later act as agents of change in addressing health system priorities and inequities. Determining what are the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes requires the medical school to collect input from the local communities they serve. This study describes the steps taken by the James Cook University (JCU) School of Medicine & Dentistry (SMD) to develop a systematic process for collecting input from a local Indigenous community. This 2011 study utilised a participatory action research design. An Indigenous Reference Group (IRG) consisting of 13 local Indigenous people including health professionals, Elders and community members was established by the JCU SMD in the North Queensland town of Mount Isa. 'Yarning Circle' discussions between SMD representatives and the IRG developed a Terms of Reference (ToR) to guide the engagement process, and negotiated reciprocal benefits to compensate participants for time involved in consultations and to promote sustainability. A framework for engaging with the Mount Isa Indigenous community was developed. Benefits for the SMD included a list of the good and bad engagement strategies with the local Indigenous community. Benefits for the IRG members included assistance with grant applications, media skills and organizing a community-wide health event. Successful and sustainable community partnerships between a medical school and an Indigenous community can be achieved, with Indigenous researchers and community members guiding the engagement process, and for stakeholders to follow through in providing the negotiated reciprocal benefits. Having an established IRG should increase Indigenous input and participation into the medical curriculum, and into future research and community activities to improve the health of the Indigenous people.

On the Truth-Conditional Relevance of Modes of Presentation

Abstract Anne Bezuidenhout 1996 presents an argument for the claim that modes of presentation associated with referential terms are truth-conditionally relevant. I argue that her argument is flawed in light of the very same view on the interplay between reference and pragmatics she endorses.

Risk assessment of biological hazards for consumer protection

EFSA's scientific Panel on Biological Hazards (BIOHAZ Panel) provides independent scientific advice on biological hazards in relation to food safety and food-borne diseases. This covers food-borne zoonoses, food microbiology, food hygiene, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (BSE/TSEs) and associated waste management issues. Most of the activities of the BIOHAZ Panel focus on human health and the whole food chain and on science-based interventions to lower the risk to consumers. In the future, food-borne disease burden estimations are foreseen to become increasingly relevant. The risk assessments done by the BIOHAZ Panel are in line with the EU (European Union) strategy of one health, include a farm to fork approach and in many cases have a high multidisciplinary component. Whenever possible, the Panel applies this risk assessment framework developed by Codex Alimentarius as a basis for their work on food safety. The outcomes of some of the activities during the last three to four years are presented. From these examples of recent BIOHAZ opinions it can be seen that the work covers different approaches, ranging from quantitative risk assessments over structured qualitative risk assessment/risk ranking to opinions with short deadlines summarising existence knowledge from scientific literature. The approach taken depends on both the terms of reference (ToR) as received from the EC (European Commission), the available data and resources, and last but not least the time frame for the work following the risk managers’ needs.

DESENVOLVIMENTO DE UM TERMO DE REFERÊNCIA PARA O GERENCIAMENTO DE PROJETOS INTEGRADOS EM UMA INSTITUIÇÃO PÚBLICA

O presente trabalho contribui com a discussão sobre o processo de projeto de edifícios, no âmbito de uma instituição financeira pública contratante das atividades de projeto. Com a participação de diversos agentes em cada projeto desenvolvido pela instituição surgem problemas advindos da falta de organização do processo de projeto e do fluxo de informação entre seus intervenientes, como retrabalhos, atrasos nos prazos contratuais e baixa qualidade do produto final. Em função da complexidade do processo de projeto procurou-se na modelagem de processos uma alternativa valida para preencher esta lacuna. Foi desenvolvido um Termo de Referência como resultado da modelagem do processo de projeto da instituição, através da sistematização de soluções desenvolvidas por outros pesquisadores. O termo proposto explicita o processo, auxilia no entendimento e na prática do mesmo, fornece um plano geral e estabelece uma visão detalhada e integrada do trabalho realizado para todos os agentes envolvidos. A pesquisa foi conduzida pela implantação desse Termo de Referência em dois processos de projeto na instituição. São discutidos os principais aspectos dessa implantação, e os principais resultados obtidos, dos quais se destacam uma melhoria das relações entre contratante e contratada, redução dos prazos contratuais, maior troca de informações, integração das equipes de projetistas, fornecedores e outros agentes envolvidos no empreendimento.

A tale of three cities; benchmarking Clinical Ethics Services (CES) in three continents

<h3>Aims</h3> Cinical Ethics Services (CESs) provide advice, support and training for those facing ethical dilemmas in clinical practice. Whilst benchmarks for CESs in adult medicine exist, those for paediatrics are less well reviewed and no national comparisons have been made. We therefore examined CESs at 3 specialist children9s hospitals in US, UK. Australia (Aus) to determine how they conformed to established benchmarks or set standards for practice. <h3>Methods</h3> Review of terms of reference (ToR), operating procedures, activity data: semi-structured interview with service leads: comparison with published benchmarks/standards <h3>Results</h3> Demographics Hospitals were comparable in size, complexity and activity; CESs had evolved from clinical ethics committees that remained integral to service. More ethicist [and administrator] time was funded in the US than in Aus or UK (3WTE vs i.2 and 0.3 respectively) <h3>Functions</h3> All ToR reflected national adult standards and provided:- acute case consultations, reflective case analysis, education of professionals, input to institutional policy-making. Case consultations All CESs had procedural rules for making referrals and convening, recording and reporting discussions. Normal practice involved small CES member-led group discussions. In the US consultations were often 2-staged with families and professionals attending separately; this was not standard in UK or usual in Aus. Activity profiles were similar for numbers of cases (16-&gt;40 pa) and issues raised (end-of life decision-making, treatment requests/refusals, resource-usage). <h3>Education and training</h3> Additional to that delivered incase discussions was more formally organised in the US and Aus, with funded academic support. Many CES members had publications in clinical ethics even in the absence of formal research projects. Policy development all CESs had contributed to policies that had national or federal impact as well as for the home institution eg end of life care (all), organ donation (US), compassionate therapy (UK), gender identity disorder (Aus). <h3>Conclusions</h3> Paediatric CESs in children9s hospitals in the US, UK and Australia adhere to adult benchmarks for providing clinical ethics support and also set standards. Despite similar activity profiles, financial and administrative support for CESs and formal funded academic links appears to be greater in the US and Australia than in the UK. Active participation of families in case discussions should be addressed by both Australian and UK CESs if ethical support is to be provided fairly to all involved.

Disentangling the effects of cognitive development and linguistic expertise: A longitudinal study of the acquisition of English in internationally-adopted children

Early language development is characterized by predictable changes in the words children produce and the complexity of their utterances. In infants, these changes could reflect increasing linguistic expertise or cognitive maturation and development. To disentangle these factors, we compared the acquisition of English in internationally-adopted preschoolers and internationally-adopted infants. Parental reports and speech samples were collected for 1year. Both groups showed the qualitative shifts that characterize first-language acquisition. Initially, they produced single-word utterances consisting mostly of nouns and social words. The appearance of verbs, adjectives and multiword utterances was predicted by vocabulary size in both groups. Preschoolers did learn some words at an earlier stage than infants, specifically words referring to the past or future and adjectives describing behavior and internal states. These findings suggest that cognitive development plays little role in the shift from referential terms to predicates but may constrain children’s ability to learn some abstract words.

Adequacy of the follow-up process in India and barriers to its effective implementation

This paper examines the effectiveness of EIA procedures in India in terms of the follow-up process. It provides an insight into the legal framework, roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders and the focus of Terms of Reference (TOR) provided for the follow-up. A ‘practice analysis’ was carried out to assess actual enforcement and implementation of environmental stipulations, based on information derived from the official records of regulatory authorities for the industrial estate of Haldia. The analysis was further substantiated through discussions with various stakeholders and personal observations. Several inadequacies were observed during the implementation of the process, in terms of ambiguous conditions, ineffective measures to ensure compliance, vested interests of industrial units, lack of co-ordination and inadequate resources available with implementing agencies. In order to ascertain effective follow-up practice, integrated efforts, i.e. focused and elaborated Terms of Reference (TOR), better monitoring support, extended legal powers, co-ordination among regulators for timely action, self-regulation among proponents and the involvement of local people, are essential.

What is nonconceptualism in Kant’s philosophy?

The aim of this paper is to critically review several interpretations of Kantian sensible intuition. The first interpretation is the recent construal of Kantian sensible intuition as a mental analogue of a direct referential term. The second is the old, widespread assumption that Kantian intuitions do not refer to mind-independent entities, such as bodies and their physical properties, unless they are brought under categories. The third is the assumption that, by referring to mind-independent entities, sensible intuitions represent objectively in the sense that they represent in a relative, perspective-independent manner. The fourth is the construal of Kantian sensible intuitions as non-conceptual content. In this paper, I support the alternative view that Kantian sensible representation is to be seen as iconic de re presentation of objects without representational content.

Talking to Angels; Talking of Angels: Constructing the Angelology of the Book of Mormon

AbstractVision narratives report experiences that cannot be confirmed because they cannot be shared. Those who see angels can only receive confirmation and reassurance from the way that their testimony is accepted by others. Taking the publication of the vision reports found in theBook of Mormon(1830) as an example of a visionary’s concern for validation, the paper shows how Joseph Smith, Jr. (the book’s “author and translator”) could rely on his readers confirming – by their tacit assent to what they read – the truth of what he held to be his own revelatory experience. However, as Smith thought of the ministry of angels as a relational rather than a referential term, and brought all instances of revelation under this heading, there could be a difference between what was described (and assented to) and what was experienced.

Reference to numbers in natural language

A common view is that natural language treats numbers as abstract objects, with expressions like the number of planets, eight, as well as the number eight acting as referential terms referring to numbers. In this paper I will argue that this view about reference to numbers in natural language is fundamentally mistaken. A more thorough look at natural language reveals a very different view of the ontological status of natural numbers. On this view, numbers are not primarily treated abstract objects, but rather 'aspects' of pluralities of ordinary objects, namely number tropes, a view that in fact appears to have been the Aristotelian view of numbers. Natural language moreover provides support for another view of the ontological status of numbers, on which natural numbers do not act as entities, but rather have the status of plural properties, the meaning of numerals when acting like adjectives. This view matches contemporary approaches in the philosophy of mathematics of what Dummett called the Adjectival Strategy, the view on which number terms in arithmetical sentences are not terms referring to numbers, but rather make contributions to generalizations about ordinary (and possible) objects. It is only with complex expressions somewhat at the periphery of language such as the number eight that reference to pure numbers is permitted.

Mostly-automated verification of low-level programs in computational separation logic

Several recent projects have shown the feasibility of verifying low-level systems software. Verifications based on automated theorem-proving have omitted reasoning about first-class code pointers , which is critical for tasks like certifying implementations of threads and processes. Conversely, verifications that deal with first-class code pointers have featured long, complex, manual proofs. In this paper, we introduce the Bedrock framework, which supports mostly-automated proofs about programs with the full range of features needed to implement, e.g., language runtime systems. The heart of our approach is in mostly-automated discharge of verification conditions inspired by separation logic. Our take on separation logic is computational , in the sense that function specifications are usually written in terms of reference implementations in a purely functional language . Logical quantifiers are the most challenging feature for most automated verifiers; by relying on functional programs (written in the expressive language of the Coq proof assistant), we are able to avoid quantifiers almost entirely. This leads to some dramatic improvements compared to both past work in classical verification, which we compare against with implementations of data structures like binary search trees and hash tables; and past work in verified programming with code pointers, which we compare against with examples like function memoization and a cooperative threading library.

Involving Developing Countries in the Evaluation of Development Cooperation: The Case of a Joint Evaluation of Development Cooperation between Ghana and Denmark

Joint evaluation of development cooperation is becoming more imperative within the framework of the Paris Declaration. It has, however, been noted that the documentation of practical experience with evaluations conducted in a joint fashion is missing. This article seeks to contribute to the debate on the practical implications of conducting joint evaluations. The model adopted involves one donor (Denmark) and one recipient country (Ghana) working as equal partners in drafting the terms of reference (ToR) for the evaluation, procuring consultants, managing the entire process and reviewing the draft reports prepared by the consultants. Principal lessons include: (a) early involvement of the recipient country in the joint evaluation is essential, (b) joint development of the ToR ensures mutual benefits, (c) a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) strengthens the collaboration, (d) the use of reference groups ensures that the evaluation results are relevant and (e) the use of new communication technologies can help facilitate joint evaluation management. The article concludes that engagement in a joint evaluation is time- and resource-demanding and requires a strong commitment from both sides.

Perry on Reference and Reflexive Contents

John Perry has devoted most of his recent work to the development of what he calls a reflexive–referential theory of utterance content. The theory has two main motivations. The primary purpose of the theory was to offer a new solution in the old controversy between referentialists and descriptivists. The second application of the theory, emphasized in the recent collaboration with Kepa Korta, is to yield a satisfactory compromise in the contemporary debate between minimalists and contextualists. The key idea is that, by acknowledging that any utterance conveys not a single content but a plurality of contents, we can do justice to the intuitions and arguments put forward by all descriptivists, referentialists, minimalists and contextualists at once. The theory recognizes two different kinds of contents, referential and reflexive. The referential content of an utterance u containing a proper name or an indexical expression involves an individual, as the referentialist urges; and, as the contextualist claims, usually that referential content plays the role of what is said by u. In addition to this referential content, u also conveys a variety of other contents: reflexive contents. Each of these corresponds to a different content about u itself, given different facts about u. Perry treats the various reflexive contents of u as descriptive contents, and argues, on behalf of the descriptivist, that some of these capture the cognitive value of utterances like u containing referential terms. Finally, and to pacify the minimalist, one of the reflexive contents of u corresponds to a minimal content, determined independently of context, in virtue of linguistic conventions alone. This paper offers a critical survey of the reflexive–referential theory, highlights its merits, and also points to some of its potential weaknesses.

Referring expressions in English and Korean political news

Referring expressions have been a topic of debate in the philosophy of language and in pragmatics, and numerous research studies have been put forward on the basis of constructed texts or naturally occurring discourses. Nevertheless, not much attention has been paid to uncover how referential terms are deployed in written media discourse, including news articles, particularly from a contrastive perspective. Political news articles provide a suitable starting point for a discussion of referring expressions, as public figures are deemed the most prominent news actors. This paper investigates what types of referring expressions are used in English and Korean political news and how they are related to the activation or accessibility of the entities to which they are intended to refer. For this purpose, two sets of data are sampled from several online news sites, and referring expressions in the data are extracted for the analysis. The results of the analysis suggest that the use of the referential terms in the two languages conform to the memory activation or accessibility scale theories. In addition, the varying range of deployed referential terms in the two languages is accounted for in terms of different discursive conventions in the two linguistic communities.