Are they Surgeons? or are they Plumbers? Assessing the Role of Private Sector Consultants in Place Branding and Other Place-Based Economic Development Strategies

Public Organization Review - This study takes an in-depth look at the roles and utility of consultants in local economic development, focusing on whether there is ultimately a need for this...     

Activity transitions in the homoeopathic therapeutic encounter

Homoeopathy is one of the most widespread forms of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) currently used in the UK. As an overtly holistic discipline, the homoeopathic consultation process is often regarded as being intrinsically patient-centred. This paper will argue that although an underlying mutualistic or collegial approach is often evident in homoeopathy, there are certain points in a consultation where these types of behaviour are more overt. It is suggested that these points are likely to be located where there is a predictable possibility of misalignment between letting the patient set the agenda, and the practical needs of the consultation process – ie the performance of certain essential consultation 'tasks'. In order to illustrate this, one particular aspect of the homoeopathic consultation will be examined – the 'treatment-giving' phase. Four broad transitional formats will be proposed: categorical ; open ; deferred ; and reversed . The relatively dynamic sequential positioning that the treatment phase occupies in the homoeopathic context will be highlighted, as will the implications that this may have in terms of encouraging patient / practitioner negotiation over treatment decisions.     

Batch process control using QFD matrices and simulation

An intuitive method for providing decision support of production control activities is proposed in which qualitative management information is represented by way of Quality Function Deployment matrices, while quantitative information is collected in the form of a simulation model of the plant. The quantitative-to-qualitative transform is provided by way ofgoal programming and fuzzy decision rules-where the latter naturally complements the symbolic method of representing information.