Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Impact measuremente'

Mestrado em Desenvolvimento e Cooperação Internacional
Esta dissertação tem o objetivo de compreender o que "impacto" significa quando se fala em investimentos de impacto, focando na sua medição e prática através da indústria. Uma breve revisão de literatura permite entender as principais características da indústria, identificar os atores envolvidos e as últimas iniciativas para a medição de impacto. O estudo de caso com a GoParity, uma start-up portuguesa que atua como intermediadora no mercado de investimentos de impacto, oferece uma perspectiva mais próxima do funcionamento da indústria, particularmente nos desafios que existem para avaliar, monitorar e gerir impacto. As conclusões sugerem que, apesar sde desafios acerca da medição do impacto, uma combinação de ferramentas, vontade organizacional e recursos podem fortalecer a qualidade e escala dos investimentos de impacto para solidificar mudanças sustentáveis na sociedade.
This dissertation aims to comprehend what "impact" means within impact investments, focusing on its measurement and its practice throughout the industry. A brief literature review allows us to understand the main features of the industry, the involved actors and to identify the latest initiatives for impact measurement. The case study of GoParity, a Portuguese start-up acting as an intermediary in the impact investment market, is expected to offer a closer insight into the working of the industry, particularly on the challenges it faces to assess, monitor, and manage impact. The conclusions suggest that despite challenges surrounding measurement, a better built combination of tools, organizational will and resources can strengthen the quality and scale of impact investments to solidify lasting changes in society.
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Social Entrepreneurship and Social Enterprises are an emerging trend. An increasing number of individuals are finding ways to address a social issue through their entrepreneurial skills. As well as increasing number of corporations and investing organizations are looking for ventures that address a social issue to fulfill their social responsibility. Thus, it is increasingly becoming important for the social entrepreneurs to measure and report their impacts to society in an accurate way. This research seeks to find out the challenges faced by social entrepreneurs while setting up social impact measurements in their ventures and the solutions adopted by them. Through a series of semi‐structured interviews with successful social entrepreneurs, this research collects qualitative data that increases the knowledge in this area and contributes in a better understanding of the challenges faced by social entrepreneurs. This research found that Theory Of Change is the most commonly used method and is preferred by practitioners as it is easy to implement. The research summarises the efforts it takes to implement the measurements, recommends best practices or advice to make impact measurement easier and useful. Also, a framework is developed that can be used in setting up measurements in a social venture.

In the remarkable developments that have occurred recently in all sectors of society, e.g. environmental, social, and governance (ESG) integration, responsible investing, social entrepreneurship, and strategic philanthropy, the measurement of extra-financial (or non- financial or external) information remains a key issue. While 'making a difference' is the goal of such developments, no integrated externality measurement framework (IEMF) has been proposed, recognized as a reasonable candidate, or adopted by practitioners. The overall objective of this thesis is to develop such an IEMF which would facilitate meaningful measurements and interpretations of the 'quantum of difference' (e.g. in the context of ESG information) and applications thereof towards resource allocation strategies. The aim is not so much to develop some putative 'perfectly accurate model of reality' but an epistemic framework which would serve as a communicative and organizational anchor. The overall objective derives to five research imperatives, which are responded to by five core chapters in the thesis. The following key findings emerge: Finding 1. The ESG metric landscape exists in a patchwork. In particular, while social impact metrics have proliferated recently, they constitute an incoherent domain of its own, separate from the environmental and governance metric literatures. In devising an IEMF, the key challenges include aggregating disparate metrics and disaggregating causalities. Once such a framework has been devised and adopted by practitioners, one can innovate various resource allocation strategies. Finding 2. The attitudes and approaches toward measurement and metrics can broadly be typologized as being fetishistic, positivistic, cynical, and pragmatic. Taking the pragmatic stance allows us to ascribe an appropriate epistemic status to metrics and calibrates the philosophical proclivity of the culminating IEMF. Finding 3. A geography of philanthropic governance exists. In particular, there are variegated similarities and differences in the perceptions and usage of ecosocial metrics. Significant overlaps in the domain and geographic foci of giving signify the feasibility of meaningful comparison, competition and collaboration among such organizations with metrics at the centrepiece. Finding 4. While best practice benchmarks in the usage of metrics in driving positive tangible changes are rare, a highly innovative integrated rural development program known as Saemaul Undong serves as a solid example. It is possible to maximize the efficiency in resource-deployment, induce participation and competition, and scale a parochial initiative to a national level through the usage of performance metrics. Finding 5. Calibrating appropriate philosophical stance, aggregating widely disparate measuranda, disaggregating casual attribution are among the key challenges towards developing an IEMF. Identifying and adopting appropriate formalisms facilitate addressing such challenges. For adoption in practice, however, one must factor in human expertise and judgements when making resource deployment decisions along with the numbers calculated through such a framework. The findings above constitute a series of 'firsts' of the kind in each relevant bodies of literature, paving the way for further explorations.

This thesis investigates the relationship between organizational size and the decision of using social impact measurements in Swedish socially entrepreneurial organizations, which include organizations and individuals that aim at solving social problems. Data is collected using an online survey, and three different ways to measure organizational size are used and tested whether they have a positive relation-ship with the use of social impact measurement. Organizational size is measured as the yearly turnover, available personnel and the number of members and participants in the organization. The association was analyzed through three different analytical methods, and we also present detailed descriptive statis-tics for the data sample. The results showed significant relationships between available staff as well as members and participants and the use of social impact measurements, while no significant relationship between the yearly turnover and the use of social impact measurements could be confirmed. We suggest a consideration of impact measurements when addressing sustainable organizational development as well as consideration of organizational size for local governments when introducing policies, funding and other support for socially entrepreneurial organizations.

Organizations make large investments in Information Systems (IS) expecting positive impacts to the organisation and its functions. Yet, there exists much controversy surrounding the 'potential' impacts of these systems, with some studies reporting broadly positive impacts of IS across organizations (Barua, Kriebel and Mukhopadhyay 1995; Barua and Lee 1997; Brynjolfsson and Hitt 1996; Lehr and Lichtenberg 1999; Mukherjee, Ray and Miller 2001), while others have shown nil or detrimental impacts (Attewell and Rule 1984; Brynjolfsson and Yang 1996; Cameron and Quinn 1988; Wilson 1993). Various authors have suggested that these conflicting results may be due to poor measurement - E.g. incomplete or inappropriate measures of success (DeLone and McLean 1992; Gable 1996; Melone 1990), lack of theoretical grounding and hence agreement on appropriate measures of success (Bonner 1995; Myers, Kappelman and Prybutok 1998), myopic focus on financial performance indicators (Ballantine, Bonner, Levy, Martin, Munro and Powell 1996; Kaplan and Norton 1996), weaknesses in survey instruments employed (Gable, Sedera and Chan 2003) (e.g., constructs lacking in validity), or (5) inappropriate data collection approach (Seddon, Staples, Patnayakuni and Bowtell 1999; Sedera and Gable 2004) (e.g., asking the wrong people, unrepresentative sample). Enterprise Systems (ES) have over the past decade emerged to be one of the most important developments in the corporate use of information technology. Anecdotal evidence reveals discontent with these large application software packages. Yet Enterprise System investments are seldom systematically evaluated post-implementation; the review process and measures typically being idiosyncratic and lacking credibility. Impacts resulting from 'Enterprise Systems' are particularly difficult to measure, with an Enterprise System entailing many users ranging from top executives to data entry operators; many applications that span the organization; and a diversity of capabilities and functionality. Despite the substantial investments made by organizations and the anecdotal evidence of discontent, systematic attempts to measure their success have been few. The primary objective of this research is to develop and test a standardized instrument for measuring ES-Success. Other related objectives of this research include: (1) to identify the dimensions and measures of ES-Success, (2) to validate a maximally generalizable measurement model and survey instrument for gauging ES-Success; (3) to develop an understanding of the state of Enterprise Systems using descriptive/comparative statistics, and (4) to identify and test an antecedent of ES-Success. With the above objectives, and in attention to the weaknesses identified in past IS-success research, this study follows and extends the 'research cycle' guidelines of Mackenzie and House (1979) and McGrath (1979). The research cycle entails two main phases: (1) an exploratory phase to develop the hypothesized measurement model, and (2) a confirmatory phase, to test the hypothesized measurement model against new data. The two surveys (termed as identification-survey and specification-survey) conducted in the exploratory phase of this research go beyond the activities recommended by Mackenzie and House (1979) and McGrath (1979). A third "confirmation-survey" was completed in the confirmatory phase of the research cycle. The three surveys gathered and analyzed data from six hundred (600) respondents. The purpose of the identification-survey was to discover the salient ES-Success dimensions and measures to include in an a-priori ES-Success model. Data from 137 respondents representing 27 Australian State Government Agencies that had implemented SAP R/3 in the late 1990s were analyzed. The analysis of identification-survey data yielded an a-priori model with 41 measures of 5 dimensions of ES-Success that provide a holistic view across the organization from strategic to operational levels. The specification-survey was employed to validate the a-priori ES-Success measurement model derived in the preceding identification-survey. Employing 310 responses from the same 27 public sector organizations, exploratory data analysis validated 27 measures of success pertaining to the 4 dimensions: information quality, system quality, individual impact and organizational impact. Data for testing the influence of an antecedent of ES-Success was simultaneously gathered during the specification-survey. This analysis, based on the Adaptive Structuration Theory (AST), investigated the influence of Knowledge Management Structures Adequacy (KMSA) on ES-Success. Preliminary results indicate a strong relationship between the Knowledge Management Structures Adequacy and ES-Success. The purpose of the confirmation-survey was to further validate the dimensions and measures of the ES-Success model, using new data, employing confirmatory statistical techniques. Data was gathered from 153 respondents across a large University that had implemented the Oracle Enterprise System, which facilitated further construct validity of the ES-Success measurement instrument was further established using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM).

Organizations make large investments in Information Systems (IS) expecting positive impacts to the organisation and its functions. Yet, there exists much controversy surrounding the 'potential' impacts of these systems, with some studies reporting broadly positive impacts of IS across organizations (Barua, Kriebel and Mukhopadhyay 1995; Barua and Lee 1997; Brynjolfsson and Hitt 1996; Lehr and Lichtenberg 1999; Mukherjee, Ray and Miller 2001), while others have shown nil or detrimental impacts (Attewell and Rule 1984; Brynjolfsson and Yang 1996; Cameron and Quinn 1988; Wilson 1993). Various authors have suggested that these conflicting results may be due to poor measurement - E.g. incomplete or inappropriate measures of success (DeLone and McLean 1992; Gable 1996; Melone 1990), lack of theoretical grounding and hence agreement on appropriate measures of success (Bonner 1995; Myers, Kappelman and Prybutok 1998), myopic focus on financial performance indicators (Ballantine, Bonner, Levy, Martin, Munro and Powell 1996; Kaplan and Norton 1996), weaknesses in survey instruments employed (Gable, Sedera and Chan 2003) (e.g., constructs lacking in validity), or (5) inappropriate data collection approach (Seddon, Staples, Patnayakuni and Bowtell 1999; Sedera and Gable 2004) (e.g., asking the wrong people, unrepresentative sample). Enterprise Systems (ES) have over the past decade emerged to be one of the most important developments in the corporate use of information technology. Anecdotal evidence reveals discontent with these large application software packages. Yet Enterprise System investments are seldom systematically evaluated post-implementation; the review process and measures typically being idiosyncratic and lacking credibility. Impacts resulting from 'Enterprise Systems' are particularly difficult to measure, with an Enterprise System entailing many users ranging from top executives to data entry operators; many applications that span the organization; and a diversity of capabilities and functionality. Despite the substantial investments made by organizations and the anecdotal evidence of discontent, systematic attempts to measure their success have been few. The primary objective of this research is to develop and test a standardized instrument for measuring ES-Success. Other related objectives of this research include: (1) to identify the dimensions and measures of ES-Success, (2) to validate a maximally generalizable measurement model and survey instrument for gauging ES-Success; (3) to develop an understanding of the state of Enterprise Systems using descriptive/comparative statistics, and (4) to identify and test an antecedent of ES-Success. With the above objectives, and in attention to the weaknesses identified in past IS-success research, this study follows and extends the 'research cycle' guidelines of Mackenzie and House (1979) and McGrath (1979). The research cycle entails two main phases: (1) an exploratory phase to develop the hypothesized measurement model, and (2) a confirmatory phase, to test the hypothesized measurement model against new data. The two surveys (termed as identification-survey and specification-survey) conducted in the exploratory phase of this research go beyond the activities recommended by Mackenzie and House (1979) and McGrath (1979). A third "confirmation-survey" was completed in the confirmatory phase of the research cycle. The three surveys gathered and analyzed data from six hundred (600) respondents. The purpose of the identification-survey was to discover the salient ES-Success dimensions and measures to include in an a-priori ES-Success model. Data from 137 respondents representing 27 Australian State Government Agencies that had implemented SAP R/3 in the late 1990s were analyzed. The analysis of identification-survey data yielded an a-priori model with 41 measures of 5 dimensions of ES-Success that provide a holistic view across the organization from strategic to operational levels. The specification-survey was employed to validate the a-priori ES-Success measurement model derived in the preceding identification-survey. Employing 310 responses from the same 27 public sector organizations, exploratory data analysis validated 27 measures of success pertaining to the 4 dimensions: information quality, system quality, individual impact and organizational impact. Data for testing the influence of an antecedent of ES-Success was simultaneously gathered during the specification-survey. This analysis, based on the Adaptive Structuration Theory (AST), investigated the influence of Knowledge Management Structures Adequacy (KMSA) on ES-Success. Preliminary results indicate a strong relationship between the Knowledge Management Structures Adequacy and ES-Success. The purpose of the confirmation-survey was to further validate the dimensions and measures of the ES-Success model, using new data, employing confirmatory statistical techniques. Data was gathered from 153 respondents across a large University that had implemented the Oracle Enterprise System, which facilitated further construct validity of the ES-Success measurement instrument was further established using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM).

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 30-November 02, 1989 / Town & Country Hotel & Convention Center, San Diego, California
The system measures impact accelerations imparted to a boxer's head during a boxing bout. The system is comprised of three major subsystems: 1) The acceleration data transmitter located on the boxer's body. 2) The receiving and storage subsystem. 3) The data processing subsystem.

Current assessments of research impact have been criticised for capturing what can be easily counted, not what counts. This thesis examines research impact and use in multiple ways, using childhood obesity prevention research and policy conducted and developed in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, between 2000 and 2015, as a case example. A broad systems lens is applied, with sub-studies examining specific aspects of this research-policy system in detail. A mix of quantitative and qualitative methods are used, including: systematic review; bibliometric analysis; citation analysis; document analysis; semi-structured interviews; and case studies. Firstly, the literature on research impact assessment is compared to that measuring policy utilisation of research. Secondly, the knowledge production context, including how and why research was conducted is investigated. Finally, research impact and use are assessed tracing forwards from research and backwards from policy, using a mix of narrow (research projects; policy documents) and broad (policy cases) units of analysis. The comparative approach used, empirically demonstrates how some methods of measuring impact restrict what can be defined and assessed as impact and therefore downplay the diverse ways in which research can influence policy processes. Different methods provide different perspectives of the relationship between research and policy, in terms of causation versus contribution. In addition, they give a different view of what is transferred, knowledge or research. Ultimately assessment needs to go beyond an understanding of research use as instrumental. This view determines the type of research that will be identified as impactful at the expense of other types of research. Looking beyond the efforts of individual researchers and research groups, to examine how systems support policy relevant knowledge production and use, may offer a way forward.

Over the past decade impact investing has gained much traction as a lucrative category of investments that strive for positive social and environmental impact alongside financial gains. Measurement of the intended impacts is gaining importance as this field of investing grows, requiring increased focus on non-financial performance of investment portfolios by impact investors. Improved measurement practises allow impact investors to not only understand and manage the social and environmental impacts effected through conscious intentions, but also provides an opportunity to proliferate existing positive impact. This report provides empirical insight into the impact measurement techniques employed by South African public and private institutional impact investors, using data collected through over 20 semi-structured research interviews, as well as publicly available impact measurement methodologies. In addition, it contributes to a limited collection of impact data and research that is critical in evidencing the most effective impact investments. Growing this area of research aids in the decision-making of development finance capital allocation to the most impactful investments – particularly those significantly contributing to achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the National Development Plan (NDP). A single case-study method was employed in analysing the empirical findings of the primary data sample, with South Africa as the case analysed. The general inductive approach was applied in the analysis of primary and secondary data collected. Categorisations of the data were made using the code-to-theory model. Furthermore, the logic model was employed as a theoretical lens to study the context of the measurement frameworks utilised by participants. The study also investigates the level of transparency in measurement and reporting within South Africa’s growing impact investing industry, for knowledge-sharing and recognition of positive impact. The findings demonstrate that South African impact investors are less inclined to use internationally recognised impact measurement tools such as IRIS and GIIRS rating systems. They currently utilise customised metrics and indicators as well as ESG risk and opportunity identification in measuring and tracking their impact. It also provides evidence of the influence of funders in driving the impact objectives and measurement practises employed by impact investors. The findings further show that there is greater focus on the shorter-term outputs and outcomes of investments, and less consideration of long-term sustainable impact. Recommendations made to South African impact investors include clearly articulating impact goals through application of the theory of change and logic model frameworks, as well as selecting measurement metrics that align closely to the intended short, medium and long-term impact objectives.

This thesis investigates workplace cyberbullying, defined as a situation where over time, an individual is repeatedly subjected to perceived negative acts conducted through technology (for example, phone, email, web sites, social media) which are related to their work context. In this situation the target of workplace cyberbullying has difficulty defending him or herself against these actions. The thesis has two broad aims: (1) to develop a workplace cyberbullying measurement scale; and (2) to investigate the impact of workplace cyberbullying on employees. Workplace cyberbullying is conceptualised in this thesis by drawing on the traditional workplace bullying and cyberbullying literature. A rationale is presented for investigating it as a distinct form of workplace bullying and four separate studies address the development of the workplace cyberbullying measure (WCM). The first study generated measurement items by asking employees to describe cyberbullying behaviours. The behaviours were sorted into categories using content analysis and converted into measurement items. In the second study, the relative severity of each item was assessed so that the measure could be weighted according to severity. In the third study, the 34 item WCM was completed by a sample of 424 employees. A two factor structure (comprising work-related cyberbullying and person-related cyberbullying) was compared to a unidimensional factor structure and the measure was refined into a 17 item instrument. During the fourth study the nomological network of the WCM was constructed and further reliability and validity evidence was obtained. The fifth and final study then used the WCM to investigate the impact of workplace cyberbullying within a theoretical framework. The theoretical and practical contributions of the studies are discussed along with directions for future research.

Tutte le organizzazioni hanno un impatto che riguarda l'economia, la società e l'ambiente naturale. Gli studi accademici di diversi filoni di ricerca (ad business and society studies, accounting, strategic management) propongono diverse definizioni di "impatto sociale" (Latane, 1981; Burdge & Vanclay, 1996;. Emerson et al, 2000;. Clark et al, 2004 ). Tutte queste definizioni descrivono, in modo più o meno esplicito, il concetto di "cambiamento", essendo basati sulla “teoria del cambiamento” (Weiss, 1972; Anderson, 2004) - vale a dire, il cambiamento che un'organizzazione può produrre nel modo di vivere delle persone, nella cultura, personale nelle aspirazioni, ma anche rispetto alla comunità, ai sistemi politici, l'ambiente, la salute e il benessere. La misurazione dell’impatto sociale conduce l'organizzazione a considerare i cambiamenti prodotti sugli stakeholders come risultato di una serie di rapporti causa-effetto proposteidalla teoria del cambiamento. L'obiettivo della misurazione dell’impatto sociale è quindi di capire, in termini sociali, ambientali ed economici, i cambiamenti che si sono verificati nella vita delle parti interessate, a causa di attività di organizzazioni, al fine di comunicarlo (Nicholls et al, 2009). Nonostante il crescente interesse sulla misurazione dell'impatto sociale, la produzione accademica sull'argomento è ancora scarsa. La presente tesi contribuisce alla discussione in corso, concentrandosi sulla teoria, i concetti e strumenti per misurare l'impatto sociale. In particolare, due contesti di analisi sono presi in considerazione: la finanza etica e l'educazione all'imprenditorialità. La tesi si compone di tre articoli. La prima ricerca vuole fornire una revisione della letteratura sul tema della misurazione dell'impatto sociale nel contesto della finanza etica, il secondo articolo è una ricerca-azione su una metodologia per misurare l'impatto sociale delle banche etiche sviluppata attraverso lo studio del caso estremo di Banca Popolare Etica, e la terza ricerca riguarda il contesto della formazione imprenditoriale e mira a studiare l'impatto di un programma MBA sugli antecedenti dell’intenzione all'imprenditorialità di studenti in Ghana. Più in dettaglio, il primo documento è intitolato " Review of impact assessment methodologies for ethical finance ". Questo documento fornisce una rassegna completa della letteratura sulla misurazione dell'impatto sociale nelle banche etiche. In particolare, si discute l'approccio delle banche etiche all’impatto sociale e alla misurazione dell'impatto sociale considerando diversi studi e analisi, poi proponendo un elenco di indicatori e outcomes da utilizzare per evidenziare l'impatto sociale delle attività delle banche etiche. Si segnalano, inoltre, alcune lacune nella letteratura che abbiamo posto come questioni aperte per la ricerca futura. La ricerca è stata portata avanti con due partner: la Fédération Européenne des Banques et Ethiques Alternative (FEBEA) e l’Institute of Social banks (ISB). Il titolo della seconda ricerca è: " Measurement of social impact in financial institutions: the case of Banca Popolare Etica ". Si tratta di una ricerca-azione su una metodologia per misurare l'impatto sociale delle banche etiche, fondata sul caso di studio di Banca Popolare Etica. Usiamo un set di dati composto da 1.385 organizzazioni e 1324 individui, beneficiari dei finanziamenti, per studiare la misurazione dell'impatto sociale dei progetti finanziati. Integrando in un unico processo di valutazione (sia quantitative che qualitative) diverse metodologie generalmente utilizzate singolarmente per la misurazione di impatto sociale (Social Return on Investment (SROI), Impact Reporting Investment Standards (IRIS) e storytelling), il caso mostra come i limiti tradizionali di metodologie per misurare l'impatto sociale possono essere superati. Il terzo e ultimo studio è intitolato " Does entrepreneurial education impact on antecedents of entrepreneurial intention? An analysis of an Entrepreneurship MBA in Ghana". Questo studio ha lo scopo di analizzare gli effetti di un programma di educazione all'imprenditorialità, sugli antecedenti dell'intenzione imprenditoriale di studenti in un paese in via di sviluppo. Lo studio analizza i risultati di una ricerca di impatto eseguita con partecipanti di uno specifico programma di formazione all'imprenditorialità: il "E4impact MBA", tenuto dal l'Istituto Cattolico di Business and Technology - CIBT in Accra, Ghana. Il metodo misto impiegato, era un approccio esplicativo (Creswell, Plano Clark et al, 2003), con un disegno quasi-sperimentale (Cohen e Manion, 1989) con test pre e post e misure di cambiamento auto-percepito. Abbiamo valutato i cambiamenti nelle caratteristiche psicologiche imprenditoriali (Need for achievement, Self-efficacy, Locus of control; Risk taking propensity; Tolerance for ambiguity) e competenze e conoscenze personali (Creatività, Conoscenza, Flessibilità, Networking e analisi) sul modello esteso della Teoria del Comportamento Pianificato. L'analisi mostra che il programma di educazione all'imprenditorialità ha un forte impatto sugli antecedenti psicologici e cognitivi delle intenzioni imprenditoriali. Quindi, la partecipazione al programma di educazione all'imprenditorialità può influenzare positivamente le intenzioni imprenditoriali degli studenti e il controllo comportamentale percepito sostenendo l'idea che le università hanno un ruolo fondamentale nel plasmare e promuovere le intenzioni imprenditoriali e le abilità attraverso programmi di formazione all'imprenditorialità.
All organizations have impacts that affect economy, society and the natural environment. Academics from different streams of research (i.e. business and society studies, accounting, strategic management) propose several definitions of “social impact” (Latané, 1981; Burdge & Vanclay, 1996; Emerson et al., 2000; Clark et al., 2004). All these definitions describe, more or less explicitly, the concept of “change”, being each one based on the Theory of Change (Weiss, 1972; Anderson, 2004) – i.e., the change that an organization can produce in people’s way of life, culture, personal and property rights, fears and aspirations, but also with respect to community, political systems, environment, health and wellbeing. The measurement of social impact leads the organization to consider the changes on stakeholders as a result of the set of cause-effect relations proposed by the theory of change. The objective of social impact measurement thus is to understand, in social, environmental and economic terms, changes that have occurred in stakeholders’ lives because of organizations activities, in order to communicate it (Nicholls et al, 2009). Despite a growing interest on social impact measurement, academic production in the topic is still scarce. The present Ph.D. thesis contributes to the ongoing discussion by focusing on the theory, concepts and tools to measure social impact. In particular, two context of analysis are at issue: ethical finance and entrepreneurship education. The work consists of three papers. The first research wants to provide a review of the literature on the issue of measuring the social impact in the context of ethical finance, the second paper is an action research on a methodology for measuring the social impact of ethical banks developed through the extreme case study of Banca Popolare Etica, and the third research concerns the context of entrepreneurial education and aims at studying the impact of an MBA program on the antecedents of entrepreneurship intention of students in Ghana. More in details, the first paper is entitled “Review of impact assessment methodologies for ethical finance”. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the literature on measuring the social impact in ethical banks. Specifically, we discuss the approach of ethical banks to social impact and social impact measurement considering several studies and frameworks of analysis, then proposing a list of indicators and outcomes to be used to highlight the social impact of ethical banks’ activities. We also point out some gaps in the literature that we left as questions open for future research. The research was carried on with two partners: the Fédération Européenne des Banques Ethiques et Alternatives (FEBEA) and the Institute of Social banks (ISB). The title of the second paper is: “Measurement of social impact in financial institutions: the case of Banca Popolare Etica”. This is an action research on a methodology for measuring the social impact of ethical banks, grounded on the case study of Banca Popolare Etica. We use a dataset of 1,385 organizations and 1,324 individuals, recipients of funding, to study the measurement of the social impact of the projects funded. Integrating in a single assessment process (both quantitative and qualitative) various methodologies generally singularly used for the measurement of social impact (Social Return on Investment (SROI), Impact Reporting Investment Standards (IRIS) and storytelling), the case shows how the traditional limitations of methodologies to measure social impact can be overcome. The third and last study is entitled “Does entrepreneurial education impact on antecedents of entrepreneurial intention? An analysis of an Entrepreneurship MBA in Ghana”. This study has the aim to analyze the effects of an entrepreneurship education program, on the antecedents of entrepreneurial intention of students in a developing country. The study analyzes the results of an impact research conducted with participants to a specific entrepreneurship education program: the “E4impact MBA”, held by the Catholic Institute of Business and Technology – CIBT in Accra, Ghana. The mixed method design employed, was an explanatory approach (Creswell, Plano Clark et al., 2003) with a quasi-experimental design (Cohen and Manion, 1989) featuring both pre-post tests and self-perceived change measures. We assessed changes in entrepreneurial psychological characteristics (Need for achievement, Self-efficacy, Locus of control; Risk taking propensity; Tolerance for ambiguity) and personal skills and knowlwdge (Creativity, Knowledge, Flexibility, Networking and Analysis) following the extended model of the Theory of Planned Behaviour. The analysis shows that the entrepreneurship education program has a strong impact on psychological and cognitive antecedents of entrepreneurial intentions. That is, participation in entrepreneurship education program can positively influence students’ entrepreneurial intentions and perceived behavioral control supporting the idea that universities have a key role in shaping and fostering entrepreneurial intentions and abilities through entrepreneurship education program.

Tutte le organizzazioni hanno un impatto che riguarda l'economia, la società e l'ambiente naturale. Gli studi accademici di diversi filoni di ricerca (ad business and society studies, accounting, strategic management) propongono diverse definizioni di "impatto sociale" (Latane, 1981; Burdge & Vanclay, 1996;. Emerson et al, 2000;. Clark et al, 2004 ). Tutte queste definizioni descrivono, in modo più o meno esplicito, il concetto di "cambiamento", essendo basati sulla “teoria del cambiamento” (Weiss, 1972; Anderson, 2004) - vale a dire, il cambiamento che un'organizzazione può produrre nel modo di vivere delle persone, nella cultura, personale nelle aspirazioni, ma anche rispetto alla comunità, ai sistemi politici, l'ambiente, la salute e il benessere. La misurazione dell’impatto sociale conduce l'organizzazione a considerare i cambiamenti prodotti sugli stakeholders come risultato di una serie di rapporti causa-effetto proposteidalla teoria del cambiamento. L'obiettivo della misurazione dell’impatto sociale è quindi di capire, in termini sociali, ambientali ed economici, i cambiamenti che si sono verificati nella vita delle parti interessate, a causa di attività di organizzazioni, al fine di comunicarlo (Nicholls et al, 2009). Nonostante il crescente interesse sulla misurazione dell'impatto sociale, la produzione accademica sull'argomento è ancora scarsa. La presente tesi contribuisce alla discussione in corso, concentrandosi sulla teoria, i concetti e strumenti per misurare l'impatto sociale. In particolare, due contesti di analisi sono presi in considerazione: la finanza etica e l'educazione all'imprenditorialità. La tesi si compone di tre articoli. La prima ricerca vuole fornire una revisione della letteratura sul tema della misurazione dell'impatto sociale nel contesto della finanza etica, il secondo articolo è una ricerca-azione su una metodologia per misurare l'impatto sociale delle banche etiche sviluppata attraverso lo studio del caso estremo di Banca Popolare Etica, e la terza ricerca riguarda il contesto della formazione imprenditoriale e mira a studiare l'impatto di un programma MBA sugli antecedenti dell’intenzione all'imprenditorialità di studenti in Ghana. Più in dettaglio, il primo documento è intitolato " Review of impact assessment methodologies for ethical finance ". Questo documento fornisce una rassegna completa della letteratura sulla misurazione dell'impatto sociale nelle banche etiche. In particolare, si discute l'approccio delle banche etiche all’impatto sociale e alla misurazione dell'impatto sociale considerando diversi studi e analisi, poi proponendo un elenco di indicatori e outcomes da utilizzare per evidenziare l'impatto sociale delle attività delle banche etiche. Si segnalano, inoltre, alcune lacune nella letteratura che abbiamo posto come questioni aperte per la ricerca futura. La ricerca è stata portata avanti con due partner: la Fédération Européenne des Banques et Ethiques Alternative (FEBEA) e l’Institute of Social banks (ISB). Il titolo della seconda ricerca è: " Measurement of social impact in financial institutions: the case of Banca Popolare Etica ". Si tratta di una ricerca-azione su una metodologia per misurare l'impatto sociale delle banche etiche, fondata sul caso di studio di Banca Popolare Etica. Usiamo un set di dati composto da 1.385 organizzazioni e 1324 individui, beneficiari dei finanziamenti, per studiare la misurazione dell'impatto sociale dei progetti finanziati. Integrando in un unico processo di valutazione (sia quantitative che qualitative) diverse metodologie generalmente utilizzate singolarmente per la misurazione di impatto sociale (Social Return on Investment (SROI), Impact Reporting Investment Standards (IRIS) e storytelling), il caso mostra come i limiti tradizionali di metodologie per misurare l'impatto sociale possono essere superati. Il terzo e ultimo studio è intitolato " Does entrepreneurial education impact on antecedents of entrepreneurial intention? An analysis of an Entrepreneurship MBA in Ghana". Questo studio ha lo scopo di analizzare gli effetti di un programma di educazione all'imprenditorialità, sugli antecedenti dell'intenzione imprenditoriale di studenti in un paese in via di sviluppo. Lo studio analizza i risultati di una ricerca di impatto eseguita con partecipanti di uno specifico programma di formazione all'imprenditorialità: il "E4impact MBA", tenuto dal l'Istituto Cattolico di Business and Technology - CIBT in Accra, Ghana. Il metodo misto impiegato, era un approccio esplicativo (Creswell, Plano Clark et al, 2003), con un disegno quasi-sperimentale (Cohen e Manion, 1989) con test pre e post e misure di cambiamento auto-percepito. Abbiamo valutato i cambiamenti nelle caratteristiche psicologiche imprenditoriali (Need for achievement, Self-efficacy, Locus of control; Risk taking propensity; Tolerance for ambiguity) e competenze e conoscenze personali (Creatività, Conoscenza, Flessibilità, Networking e analisi) sul modello esteso della Teoria del Comportamento Pianificato. L'analisi mostra che il programma di educazione all'imprenditorialità ha un forte impatto sugli antecedenti psicologici e cognitivi delle intenzioni imprenditoriali. Quindi, la partecipazione al programma di educazione all'imprenditorialità può influenzare positivamente le intenzioni imprenditoriali degli studenti e il controllo comportamentale percepito sostenendo l'idea che le università hanno un ruolo fondamentale nel plasmare e promuovere le intenzioni imprenditoriali e le abilità attraverso programmi di formazione all'imprenditorialità.
All organizations have impacts that affect economy, society and the natural environment. Academics from different streams of research (i.e. business and society studies, accounting, strategic management) propose several definitions of “social impact” (Latané, 1981; Burdge & Vanclay, 1996; Emerson et al., 2000; Clark et al., 2004). All these definitions describe, more or less explicitly, the concept of “change”, being each one based on the Theory of Change (Weiss, 1972; Anderson, 2004) – i.e., the change that an organization can produce in people’s way of life, culture, personal and property rights, fears and aspirations, but also with respect to community, political systems, environment, health and wellbeing. The measurement of social impact leads the organization to consider the changes on stakeholders as a result of the set of cause-effect relations proposed by the theory of change. The objective of social impact measurement thus is to understand, in social, environmental and economic terms, changes that have occurred in stakeholders’ lives because of organizations activities, in order to communicate it (Nicholls et al, 2009). Despite a growing interest on social impact measurement, academic production in the topic is still scarce. The present Ph.D. thesis contributes to the ongoing discussion by focusing on the theory, concepts and tools to measure social impact. In particular, two context of analysis are at issue: ethical finance and entrepreneurship education. The work consists of three papers. The first research wants to provide a review of the literature on the issue of measuring the social impact in the context of ethical finance, the second paper is an action research on a methodology for measuring the social impact of ethical banks developed through the extreme case study of Banca Popolare Etica, and the third research concerns the context of entrepreneurial education and aims at studying the impact of an MBA program on the antecedents of entrepreneurship intention of students in Ghana. More in details, the first paper is entitled “Review of impact assessment methodologies for ethical finance”. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the literature on measuring the social impact in ethical banks. Specifically, we discuss the approach of ethical banks to social impact and social impact measurement considering several studies and frameworks of analysis, then proposing a list of indicators and outcomes to be used to highlight the social impact of ethical banks’ activities. We also point out some gaps in the literature that we left as questions open for future research. The research was carried on with two partners: the Fédération Européenne des Banques Ethiques et Alternatives (FEBEA) and the Institute of Social banks (ISB). The title of the second paper is: “Measurement of social impact in financial institutions: the case of Banca Popolare Etica”. This is an action research on a methodology for measuring the social impact of ethical banks, grounded on the case study of Banca Popolare Etica. We use a dataset of 1,385 organizations and 1,324 individuals, recipients of funding, to study the measurement of the social impact of the projects funded. Integrating in a single assessment process (both quantitative and qualitative) various methodologies generally singularly used for the measurement of social impact (Social Return on Investment (SROI), Impact Reporting Investment Standards (IRIS) and storytelling), the case shows how the traditional limitations of methodologies to measure social impact can be overcome. The third and last study is entitled “Does entrepreneurial education impact on antecedents of entrepreneurial intention? An analysis of an Entrepreneurship MBA in Ghana”. This study has the aim to analyze the effects of an entrepreneurship education program, on the antecedents of entrepreneurial intention of students in a developing country. The study analyzes the results of an impact research conducted with participants to a specific entrepreneurship education program: the “E4impact MBA”, held by the Catholic Institute of Business and Technology – CIBT in Accra, Ghana. The mixed method design employed, was an explanatory approach (Creswell, Plano Clark et al., 2003) with a quasi-experimental design (Cohen and Manion, 1989) featuring both pre-post tests and self-perceived change measures. We assessed changes in entrepreneurial psychological characteristics (Need for achievement, Self-efficacy, Locus of control; Risk taking propensity; Tolerance for ambiguity) and personal skills and knowlwdge (Creativity, Knowledge, Flexibility, Networking and Analysis) following the extended model of the Theory of Planned Behaviour. The analysis shows that the entrepreneurship education program has a strong impact on psychological and cognitive antecedents of entrepreneurial intentions. That is, participation in entrepreneurship education program can positively influence students’ entrepreneurial intentions and perceived behavioral control supporting the idea that universities have a key role in shaping and fostering entrepreneurial intentions and abilities through entrepreneurship education program.

The impact of a firm’s internationalisation efforts on its performance is a core concern in the field of international business research. The question concerning the relationship between these two variables follows explicitly or implicitly as a corollary to the various established international business theories that seek to explain the motives, determinants and processes of firm internationalisation. In a real sense the predicted performance impact of internationalisation serves not only to inform strategic decision-making on the different aspects of the internationalisation process but also to rationalise the very endeavour of firm internationalisation itself. Indeed, benefits from internationalisation are expected to accrue to the firm and be reflected in some manner on a key performance indicator (or set of performance indicators), serving as an incentive (or disincentive) for the firm to embark on the process of internationalisation and absorb all its inherent costs and risks. Thus, the centrality of the relationship between internationalisation and performance in the field of international business firmly establishes it as a, if not the, “big question” in international business research (Peng, 2004). It is implicit in all endeavours under the international business research umbrella (Glaum & Oesterle, 2007), and certainly explicit in all international strategic management decision-making. Unfortunately, however, more than 50 years of research in international business and close to 40 years of research specifically focused on the relationship between internationalisation and performance have consistently yielded inconsistent results. An examination of the internationalisation-performance studies conducted over the past 40 years yields critical clues to the sources of the persistent disagreement in the literature. This thesis specifically highlights one specific factor that can contribute to explaining the inconsistencies in the literature thus far: that is, the fundamental lack of agreement on the appropriate internationalisation and performance measures to employ. The current study thus comprehensively evaluates the various internationalisation and performance measures in the extant internationalisation-performance literature, representing research conducted over 40 years in the field of international business. Finding the extant measures to be wanting, the study then proceeds to propose the Internationalisation Coefficient (IC) as a more theoretically grounded measure of firm internationalisation that better captures the conceptualisation of the firm and of the phenomenon of internationalisation in international business theories. Unlike extant measures of firm internationalisation, the proposed IC brings to light both firm-specific attributes and international environment-specific attributes and compares the locational dispersal of these two attributes. It is suggested that the truly global or international firm will exhibit a close match between the locational dispersal of firm-specific attributes and international-environment attributes. This is because the truly global firm must be able to effectively overcome its liability of foreignness in order to exploit its advantages in other markets or harness location-specific advantages in certain international locations. The thesis then employs the IC along with other extant measures of internationalisation to re-examine the degree of internationalisation of a sample of the Fortune Global 500 firms over a 5-year period from 2005 to 2009. The empirical analysis confirms that the IC is a new and statistically distinct measure of internationalisation, capable of providing fresh and deep insights on the internationalisation patterns of firms with significant results. The analysis likewise confirms that the employment of different measures of internationalisation will result in different conclusions regarding the degree of internationalisation of the same set of firms, given that the different measures capture different dimensions of the internationalisation phenomenon. The thesis further explores the impact of employing various measures on the resulting nature and shape of the internationalisation-performance relationship. The same sample of Fortune Global 500 firms is utilised, and the relationship is longitudinally analysed over the period from 2005 to 2009 and over a shorter period from 2005 to 2007, with both sets of regressions yielding significant results. The thesis confirms that employing different measures of both internationalisation and performance result in different conclusions regarding the nature and shape of the internationalisation-performance relationship. The results confirm the importance of the IC in offering deeper and richer insights regarding firm internationalisation, and lend support to the argument that the key to productively challenging the frontiers of the internationalisation-debate is in the employment of appropriate measures designed to truly capture the theoretical essence of the constructs involved. The results further provide some empirical support to Hennart’s interpretation of the transaction cost/ internalisation theories of international business (2007), which predicts the internationalisation patterns of firms and the resulting impact on performance. The results also provide partial support to the multi-stage relationship between internationalisation and performance (Contractor, 2007). The thesis primarily makes a contribution to the internationalisation-performance literature, extending the frontiers of the debate by approaching it from the angle of measurement. Notably, it proposes a theoretically and statistically robust measure of firm internationalisation that can be employed in a flexible manner to test and revisit international business theories. The implications for international business research and theory development are significant, and are discussed in the concluding chapter.

Society needs information and communication technology (ICT) hardware to produce, process and store highly valuable information. This hardware, of course, affects the environment throughout its whole life cycle, starting with manufacturing, where the necessary scarce and precious resources (e.g. rare earth metals) are often mined under miserable environmental conditions. This leads to pollution of soil, water and air in the present as well as for the future. During the use phase of ICT hardware, energy consumption impacts the environment. At the end of life of ICT hardware, recycling, disposing as e-waste in landfills or disassembling are additional impacts that affect the environment. More and more producers and users, especially companies, want to measure these impacts, which is a complex task. However, approaches to measure the impacts are at hand, either as single indicators, measuring one specific impact, or as composed indicators, combining different single indicators into one "summarizing" indicator. However, collection of data, measurement, assessment and interpretation are challenging. Unfortunately, guidelines for those who want to measure the impact of ICT hardware are rare. With our research, we aim to shed light on the various approaches to measure impacts of ICT hardware as well as their application in practice. Based on a literature review, we identified different indicators and them to the attention of experts from companies to assess these approaches in terms of practicability, significance and value for practice. The results show that research investigates and proposes a variety of different more or less complex indicators. However, business prefers single indicators, which are easy to measure and understand.

NPOs and their funders are increasingly drawn to the Social Return on Investment (SROI) method to evaluate the social impact of programs, organizations or organization networks. While many claims about the benefits of SROI have been expressed, various points of criticism have also been raised. On the basis of both current research and our own experience in conducting SROI analyses, we develop a comprehensive assessment of this method, which is structured along two dimensions: the observer's paradigmatic perspective, on the one hand, and positive or negative valuation, on the other. We identify two major merits: SROI analysis can provide legitimacy to NPOs or their funders, and it can assist in allocating resources. We identify limitations from three perspectives: From an interpretative-sociological perspective, criticism of commensuration and utilitarianism calls the method as a whole into question. From a technical-instrumental perspective, there are a number of difficulties that could however be overcome as the method matures. From an intermediary perspective, a number of limitations become apparent that, while inherent to SROI analysis, are no reason for abandoning it, as long as they are thoroughly understood. We conclude by providing suggestions for the responsible use of SROI analysis.

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This research aims to study private equity impact investments based on a comparative analysis of different private equity funds practices. In particular, it examines how the requirements of impact investing are encompassed in private equity investment processes. First, a literature review was conducted to better define impact investing and assess the complementarity of private equity with impact investing. Secondly, a qualitative study was pursued based on a panel of interviews. Interviewees are investment professionals working for private equity firms with interests in impact investing. The analysis of the interviews indicates a certain commonality of the investment methods between the funds paneled whether they are pure player private equity impact investors or traditional private equity firms investing for impact. Beyond the proximity between investment strategies, the research also shows a strong focus on in-house impact targeting and measurement, with little resort to external tools. Such flexibility negatively affects the readability of impact performance from a market perspective. The research concludes impact investing still has to go through a standardization process to gain global recognition as a private equity segment.
Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo de estudar os investimentos de impacto de private equity com a base de uma análise comparativa de diferentes práticas de fundos de private equity. Em particular, examina como os requisitos de investimento de impacto estão abrangidos nos processos de investimento em private equity. Em primeiro lugar, uma revisão da literatura foi feita para melhor definir o investimento de impacto e avaliar a complementaridade do private equity com os investimentos de impacto. Em segundo lugar, um estudo qualitativo foi realizado com base de um painel de entrevistas. Os entrevistados são profissionais de investimento que trabalham para empresas de private equity com interesses em investimentos de impacto. A análise das entrevistas indica uma certa semelhança dos métodos de investimento entre os fundos estudados que eles sejam unicamente investidos em impacto o que sejam fundos de private equity que fazem investimentos de impacto além de investimentos tradicionais. Além da proximidade entre as estratégias de investimento, a pesquisa também mostra um forte foco em processos de segmentação e de medida do impacto internos, com pouco recurso para ferramentas externas. Essa flexibilidade afeta negativamente a legibilidade da realização do impacto por parte do mercado. A pesquisa conclui que os investimentos em impacto ainda precisam passar por um processo de padronização para obter reconhecimento global como um segmento de private equity.

Rising rates of obesity among children have become one of the most pressing issues in modern public health. Childhood obesity threatens both the mental and physical well-being of children. Attempts to halt the rise in obesity take many forms, but one of them is the recent implementation of a programme of measurement of primary children at reception and in year 6, with results being fed back to parents. This National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) is controversial and has been criticised in some quarters as unethical, in being a form of screening programme with no clear or effective interventions available for those detected as having a problem. Study aims and objectives The main aim of the study was to explore the relationship between weight status and children’s mental wellbeing, especially in the context of the NCMP. Within this overall aim, key specific objectives of the study were: i) to investigate the association between weight status of 10-11 year old school children and their mental well-being; ii) to assess the impact on the mental wellbeing of children, of participating in the NCMP; and iii) to collect information about parents’/guardians’ and children’s reaction to the NCMP, with particular interest in identifying whether parents/guardians and their children found the feedback useful in moving towards the adoption of a healthy lifestyle. Methods The study was undertaken in primary schools in the catchment area of Gateshead Primary Care Trust (PCT). The overall study used a mixed methods study design. The study involved administering a questionnaire prior to NCMP measurement to a total sample of 264 children, sampled using a proportionate stratified random sampling technique. One-to-one semi-structured interviews were also conducted post measurement with 21 children purposively sub-sampled from the larger group, and with 16 parents/guardians. Results Prior to measurement, most children misclassified their weight status. About 1 in 10 children who were of ideal weight perceived themselves as overweight. Over three quarters of overweight children perceived themselves to be of ideal weight. There was no significant relationship between any of the indicators of mental wellbeing and actual weight status of children. However, there was very strong evidence for a Preface xxv significant relationship between perceived weight status and mental wellbeing among children. Seven major themes emerged from the post measurement interview data, but perhaps the most intriguing was the cycle of emotional reaction of families to the NCMP and weight feedback. Discussion The reactions of parents/guardians whose children are indicated to have weight problems follow a sequence of behaviours ranging from shock, disgust with the programme, through denial and self-blame to acceptance, worry and help seeking. Reasons for these responses relate in many cases to the way the weight problem is portrayed to the parents. While health authorities are keen to portray this problem as a medical one, parents/guardians see it as social one. The roots of overeating and lack of exercise are seen as lying in the complex social and cultural milieu in which this sample of people live. Consequently, associating this problem in feedback letters with dangerous diseases like cancer, and advising parents to visit GPs to resolve child weight issues, seems inappropriate to the recipients and causes controversy and anger. Conclusion The NCMP’s routine feedback could potentially induce families into the state of readiness to change lifestyle behaviours; however, given the reactions described in this study, it seems critical to avoid placing blame on individuals but rather to acknowledge the influence of the environment surrounding families and to provide non-medical support aimed at bringing families on board to support interventions for combating child weight problems.

Cette thèse porte sur la mesure de l'inégalité d'opportunité et son effet sur la croissance économique. Le Chapitre 1 étudie les propriétés axiomatiques de deux approches de mesure concurrentes. Dans les deux cas, la population est partitionnée en groupes rassemblant des personnes partageant les mêmes circonstances, ces déterminants de revenu que les individus ne peuvent choisir (ex. sexe ou milieu familial). L'inégalité d'opportunité est alors mesurée comme celle présente au sein d'une distribution contrefactuelle où chacun se voit attribuer le revenu représentatif de son groupe. La première approche considère la moyenne arithmétique comme revenu représentatif. Lorsque le nombre de groupes est grand et que leur taille est petite, ces moyennes sont peu précisément estimées. Afin de d'atténuer ce problème, la seconde approche, dite paramétrique, suppose que les circonstances n'ont pas d'effet d'interaction et remplace la moyenne arithmétique par la prédiction OLS du revenu régressé sur les circonstances. Le Chapitre 1 montre que la méthode paramétrique est faible d'un point de vue axiomatique. En particulier, elle ne respecte pas une version «entre­-groupes» du principe des transferts. Le Chapitre 2 propose une méthodologie afin de contourner le manque actuel de micro-données sur les circonstances parentales, un déterminant majeur de l'inégalité d'opportunité. L'idée est d'utiliser 1 structure des enquêtes démographiques organisées autour de foyers afin de retrouver les circonstances parentales des adultes vivant avec leurs parents, puis d'utiliser une méthode d'ajustement statistique -l'imputation multiple -afin d'obtenir une mesure d'inégalité d'opportunité représentative de la population adulte dans son ensemble. Celle-ci est proche de la« vraie» inégalité d'opportunité, qui repose sur des questions directes à propos du milieu parental contenue dans l'enquête brésilienne du PNAD 1996. Le Chapitre 3 étudie empiriquement une récente explication quant au caractère peu concluant de la littérature empirique sur l'inégalité et la croissance: ce n'est pas l'inégalité de revenus qui compte pour la croissance mais ses deux composantes, à savoir l'inégalité d'opportunité et la composante résiduelle qu'est l'inégalité d'effort. Cette explication est validée au Brésil au niveau municipal durant la période 1980-2010, où le: inégalités d'opportunité et d'effort sont respectivement préjudiciables et bénéfiques à la croissance économique future, comme attendu. Leurs effets sont robustes et significatifs, contrairement à celui de l'inégalité total de revenus
This thesis is about the measurement of inequality of opportunity and its impact on economic growth. Chapter 1 studies the axiomatic properties of two prominent measurement approaches. In both cases, the population is partitioned into groups of people sharing the same circumstances, those income determinants that are beyond individual control (e.g. sex or parental background) and that shape one's opportunities. Inequality of opportunity is then measured by applying a1 inequality index over a counterfactual distribution where each individual is attributed the representative income of his group. The first approach takes the representative income of a group to be its arithmetic mean. When a large number of small-sized groups are considered, these means can be poorly estimated. To mitigate this issue, the second approach, called parametric, assumes that circumstances have no interaction effect and takes this representative income to be the OLS predicted value of income regressed on circumstances. Chapter I shows that the parametric approach has poor axiomatic properties, especially with respect to a between-group version of the transfer principle. Chapter 2 provides a methodology to circumvent the current lack of microdata on parental background circumstances, a major driver of inequality of oppo1tunity. The idea is to retrieve the parental background of adults living with their parents thanks to the structure of household survey data, and then to apply a missing data procedure -multiple imputation -to obtain estimate of inequality of opportunity that are representative of the overall adult population. These estimates are shown to be close to their "true" counterpa1ts, based on direct questions about parental background contained in the Brazilian PNAD 1996 survey. Chapter 3 empirically investigates a recent and promising explanation for the inconclusiveness of traditional growth-inequality literature: income inequality does not matter for growth while its components -inequality of opportunity and the residual one, inequality of effort -do. This explanation is validated in Brazil at the municipality level over the period 1980-20 l 0, where inequalities of opportunity and effort are respectively detrimental and beneficial to subsequent growth, as expected. Their effects are robust and significant, in contrast to that of total income inequality

Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) have alternatively been portrayed as a promising tool to improve the functioning of welfare systems, or as an instrument of neoliberalism that threatens to undermine them. Recently, a more nuanced understanding of the promises as well as pitfalls of SIBs has developed, as both practical experiences and published empirical evidence about implemented SIBs have increased in number. We aim to contribute to the development of such an understanding by means of a combination of qualitative and quantitative text analysis. In doing so, we analyse a comprehensive sample of 51 practitioner reports on SIBs. We identify two key paradoxes of SIBs. These paradoxes centre on statements that cannot both hold true for the very same SIB: (1) flexible but evidence-based services and (2) cost-saving risk transfer to private investors. We conclude by discussing how those paradoxes have been resolved in existing SIBs so far, which strategies of de-paradoxification may turn out paramount in future, and how positive aspects of SIBs can be preserved while defusing their more problematic ones.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University
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The purposes of this study were to describe the relationship of sociodemographic and biomedical characteristics to health perceptions among individuals with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and to identify which functional measures are associated with one's health perceptions. Data were extracted on 395 individuals with classical or definite RA for a secondary data analysis. These data had been collected between 1978 and 1982 using the Arthritis Impact Measurement Scales (AIMS), a reliable and valid self-administered questionnaire on health status. Sociodemographic information included age, sex, current marital status, occupation, income, and engagement in a productive role. Biomedical data included a respondent's disease duration, disease severity, and comorbid conditions. A dependent variable which classified health perceptions (HP) was constructed from two AIMS questions concerning self-assessed current health and belief in the ability to resist illness. Using subjects' sociodemographic characteristics and biomedical indicators as determinants of health perception classifications (HPC), repondents were grouped into nodes through a recursive partitioning technique (CART). Income, disease activity, current marital status, age, and comorbidity were identified by CART as important and interactive determinants of HPC. In the second phase of analysis, differences in function between HP groups on the nine AIMS scales were explored using subjects' self-assigned HP groups, while controlling for sociodemographic and biomedical characteristics and their potential interactive effects as they had been identified by the CART algorithm. Analysis of these differences demonstrated that the explanatory sociodemographic and biomedical variables used in this study both explained and masked significant differences between HP groups on certain functional measures. Finally, the analysis determined which functional measures were most associated with self-assigned HP using a stepwise logistic regression model. Anxiety, physical activity and household activity formed an overall explanatory model of HP. Physical activity and depression were associated with current health perceptions. Perceived resistance to illness was related to subjects' levels of anxiety and household activity.
2031-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine if a difference existed between student learning, using the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP), and Professional Learning Community (PLC) implementation within fifth-grade populations in the state of Missouri. The following research questions were utilized to drive the research: What is the difference in MAP communication arts scores for fifth-grade students in Missouri districts that have adopted the Missouri PLC model as compared to those that have not adopted the Missouri PLC model? What is the difference in MAP math scores for fifth-grade students in Missouri districts that have adopted the Missouri PLC model as compared to those that have not adopted the Missouri PLC model? What are the perceptions of administrators of Missouri PLC districts regarding the Missouri PLC program and student achievement? Three years of math and communication arts data were analyzed in this study. Yearly mean scores were compared by applying a t-test to determine if a statistical significance existed between PLC implementation and student learning. Missouri PLC exemplary schools' data were analyzed and compared to data of like-demographic, non-PLC implementing schools. The data revealed, in the area of communication arts, no statistical significant difference in student achievement between PLC exemplary schools and non-PLC schools. These findings led to the decision to not reject the null hypothesis and not support the alternative hypothesis. A statistical significant difference was found in the area of math, and an overall conclusion was drawn that supported the alternate hypothesis and rejected the null hypothesis. In addition, interviews were conducted with Missouri PLC exemplary school administrators to gain perspectives into the daily successful workings and effect of the Missouri PLC model on student achievement. Administrators from the PLC exemplary schools attributed gains in student achievement to PLC implementation.

In recent years a new risk for Earth-orbiting spacecraft started to emerge: space debris. This term describes any man-made object in orbit around Earth that no longer has a useful purpose. The present work describes measurement techniques for assessing and reducing the risk posed by Micrometeoroid and Orbital Debris (MMOD) to space vehicles. The main research areas are: • Impacts phenomenology, risk assessment methodology, and design methods; • Experimental methods (i.e. acceleration techniques and diagnostic instrumentation); • Engineering models (i.e. measurements of the effects of the MMOD and derivation of damage equations). Related to these areas, the objectives and personal contributions are presented regarding: • Hypervelocity facility developments, i.e. improvements of the CISAS (Center of Studies and Activities for Space) ‘G. Colombo’ two stage light gas gun (LGG) and a design study about 2 single stage LGGs, for the CISAS HVI (hypervelocity impacts) facility and for the Cranfield University, UK; • Experimental activity for impacts’ study, where instruments for the ejecta characterization and the primary impact detection were developed; • Derivation of damage equations, this led to the definition of new Ballistic Limit Equations statistically based that give a new scenario for MMOD shields’ design in the future. These equations are developed to define impact conditions (i.e. particle size, particle density, impact velocity, and impact angle) that result in threshold failure of specific spacecraft components or subsystems. The main objectives of the research were met and they led to the: • Gasdynamical study and sabot stopping system design for a new CISAS single stage Light Gas Gun; • Impact chamber and sabot stopping system design for the Cranfield University (UK) single stage LGG; • High pressure section and supporting structure design for a new CISAS two stage LGG; • Design and evolution of an instrument for ejecta characterization; • Design of an instrument for primary impact measurements; • Development of a methodology to derive damage predictor equations statistically based for Cosmo-Skymed satellites ; • Development of a methodology to derive ballistic limit equations statistically based for inflatable structures.
Negli ultimi anni un nuovo rischio ha iniziato ad emergere per i veicoli spaziali orbitanti attorno alla Terra: i detriti spaziali. Questo termine descrive oggetti di origine umana in orbita attorno alla Terra che non hanno più uno scopo utile. Il presente lavoro descrive tecniche di misura per stimare e ridurre il rischio creato da micrometeoriti e detriti spaziali (MMOD) ai veicoli spaziali. Le principali aree di ricerca sono: • Fenomenologia dell’impatto, metodologia per la stima del rischio, metodi di progettazione; • Metodi sperimentali (ossia tecniche di accelerazione e strumentazione per la diagnostica); • Modelli ingegneristici (ossia misure degli effetti dei MMOD e derivazione delle equazioni di danno). Gli obiettivi e i contributi personali legati a queste aree di ricerca sono presentati relativamente a: • Sviluppo della strumentazione del laboratorio per la simulazione di impatti iperveloci presso il CISAS (Centro Interdipartimentale Studi ed Attività Spaziali) “G. Colombo”, ossia evoluzione del cannone bistadio a gas leggero e progettazione relativa a componenti di due cannoni monostadio a gas leggero, uno per il CISAS e uno per la Cranfield University, UK; • Attività sperimentale relativa allo studio degli impatti, dove sono stati sviluppati strumenti per la caratterizzazione di ejecta e per il rilevamento di impatti primari; • Derivazione delle equazioni di danno, questo ha portato allo sviluppo di nuove Equazioni di Limite Balistico, aventi base statistica e che forniscono un nuovo scenario riguardo il futuro della progettazione di scudi per i MMOD. Queste equazioni sono sviluppate per definire le condizioni di impatto (ossia diametro e densità del detrito, velocità e angolo di impatto) che risultano per il valore di soglia relativo al fallimento di uno specifico componente o sottosistema di un veicolo spaziale. I principali obiettivi di questa ricerca sono stati raggiunti e hanno portato a: • Studio gasdinamico e progettazione del sistema ferma sabot per un nuovo cannone monostadio a gas leggero per il laboratorio per impatti iperveloci presso il CISAS; • Progettazione della camera per gli impatti e del sistema ferma sabot per il cannone monostadio a gas leggero presso la Cranfield University, UK; • Progettazione della sezione ad alta pressione e della struttura di supporto per il nuovo cannone bistadio a gas leggero presso il CISAS; • Progettazione ed evoluzione di uno strumento per la caratterizzazione di ejecta; • Progettazione di uno strumento per misure relative a impatti primari; • Sviluppo di una metodologia per derivare equazioni di danno su base statistica per i satelliti Cosmo-Skymed; • Sviluppo di una metodologia per derivare equazioni di limite balistico su base statistica per strutture inflatable.

Ce travail porte sur le développement d'une technique expérimentale qui peut aider à définir les paramètres clefs du comportement après impact de panneaux composites stratifiés. Pour cela, des modèles éléments finis ont été construits pour inclure des délaminages à partir d'observations de CT-scans d'échantillons impactés. Les résultats de ces modèles ont été comparés à des mesures expérimentales obtenues par une technique de mesure de champs de pentes : la déflectométrie. Ce travail présente aussi un nouvel indicateur d'endommagement basé sur l'application de la méthode des champs virtuels à l'évaluation d'écarts locaux à l'équilibre. Cette procédure d'abord détaillée est ensuite appliquée à des échantillons de types poutres et plaques. Les résultats expérimentaux illustrent la remarquable sensibilité de cette technique de mesure : elle permet de capturer les effets de très faibles endommagements. Aussi, cette technique montre que les modèles numériques assez simples présentés dans ce travail nécessitent des améliorations pour se rapprocher des données expérimentales. L'indicateur d'écart à l'équilibre a détecté correctement le contour des zones endommagées quand suffisamment d'information spatiale était disponible. Poursuivre ce travail permettrait de créer un outil précieux aidant la conception de pièces en composites
This work focuses on the development of an experimental technique which can help to define the key parameters for post-impact behaviour of laminated composite panels. To address this issue, finite element models were built to represent delaminations based on the observations of CT-scans of impacted samples. The results of these models have been correlated to experimental data obtained using a slope fullfield measurement technique: deflectometry. This work also develops a new damage indicator based on the application of the virtual fields method to compute a local equilibrium gap. The procedure is first presened and then applied to beam and plate samples. The experimental results illustrate the remarkable sensitivity of this measurement method as it captures the effect of very small amount of damage and shows that the simple numerical models need to be refined to present a better correlation to experimental results. The damage indicator successfully detects contours of damaged areas when sufficient spatial information is available. It is believed that pursuing the present work could lead to an invaluable tool to help design engineers

An increased share of construction with timber is one possible way of achieving more sustainable and energy-efficient life cycles of buildings. The main reason is that wood is a renewable material and buildings require a large amount of resources. Timber buildings taller than two storeys were prohibited in Europe until the 1990s due to fire regulations. In 1994, this prohibition was removed in Sweden.     Some of the early multi-storey timber buildings were associated with more complaints due to impact sound than concrete buildings with the same measured impact sound class rating. Research in later years has shown that the frequency range used for rating has not been sufficiently low in order to include all the sound characteristics that are important for subjective perception of impact sound in light weight timber buildings. The AkuLite project showed that the frequency range has to be extended down to 20 Hz in order to give a good quality of the rating. This low frequency range of interest requires a need for knowledge of the sound field distribution, how to best measure the sound, how to predict the sound transmission levels and how to correlate numerical predictions with measurements.     Here, the goal is to improve the knowledge and methodology concerning measurements and predictions of low frequency impact sound in light weight timber buildings. Impact sound fields are determined by grid measurements in rooms within timber buildings with different designs of their joist floors. The measurements are used to increase the understanding of impact sound and to benchmark different field measurement methods. By estimating transfer functions, from impact forces to vibrations and then sound pressures in receiving rooms, from vibrational test data, improved possibilities to correlate the experimental results to numerical simulations are achieved. A number of excitation devices are compared experimentally to evaluate different characteristics of the test data achieved. Further, comparisons between a timber based hybrid joist floor and a modern concrete floor are made using FE-models to evaluate how stiffness and surface mass parameters affect the impact sound transfer and the radiation.     The measurements of sound fields show that light weight timber floors in small rooms tend to have their highest sound levels in the low frequency region, where the modes are well separated, and that the highest levels even can occur below the frequency of the first room mode of the air. In rooms with excitation from the floor above, the highest levels tend to occur at the floor levels and in the floor corners, if the excitation is made in the middle of the room above. Due to nonlinearities, the excitation levels may affect the transfer function in low frequencies which was shown in an experimental study. Surface mass and bending stiffness of floor systems are shown, by simulations, to be important for the amount of sound radiated.     By applying a transfer function methodology, measuring the excitation forces as well as the responses, improvements of correlation analyses between measurements and simulations can be achieved
ProWood
Silent Timber Build
Urban Tranquility
BioInnovation FBBB

This thesis consists of a series of papers relating to the nature, purpose and measurement of social impact. Paper 1 makes an empirical contribution to the understanding of firm incentives to be perceived as social, and finds that even quite distinct variants of social enterprises can nevertheless benefit form a strategic use of social responsibility. Paper 2 relates to the theoretical prediction that non-profits will deliver higher standards of quality in markets where this quality is hard to observe, and tests this, possibly for the first time in the literature, in the case of unemployment support services. In contrast to existing literature, we do not find strong evidence of for-profit vs. non-profit differentials in product quality, be it observed or unobserved. The immediate focus of Paper 3 and Paper 4 is on the role of access to light in the socio-economic transformation and growth of rural communities in the developing world, which partly constitutes a second strand of this thesis. Using a randomised controlled trial, Paper 3 identifies strong evidence of a causal link between access to light and educational attainment. Through a further randomised controlled trial, Paper 4 finds that access to light contributes to a diversification in household livelihoods from agricultural to non-farm economic activities. To our knowledge, this constitutes the first robust evidence that small-scale lighting sources can help stimulate the very first steps in the direction of economic transformation. Importantly, Paper 3 and Paper 4 also speak to the questions of measurement of social impact evoked in Papers 1 and 2 and some of the practical challenges typically faced in this pursuit. Bringing these various threads together, these papers contribute to our understanding of contemporary social enterprise, with a particular focus on the role of information and its measurement in tightly linking social enterprise with genuine social impact.

Testing is one of the most important aspects in the development of new products. There are different types of testing a product can undergo, either hardware durability tests or software tests. Embedded systems are closely related to hardware and a key feature of them is the reliability and dependability. In order to assure that these features will remain intact no matter where the embedded systems operate it is very important to conduct standardized testing and give validation. The purpose of this thesis is to research the temperature testing procedure and develop a measurement guideline based on several key moments. The guideline is closely related to the standards and due to this reason some of the most frequently used standards are taken in consideration. The temperature measurement technology involves different tools or equipment. One interesting technology used for this purpose is the infrared technology through the investigation provided by the IR cameras. It is benefcial to integrate this technology in the contact measurements because it describes the temperature variation by colors, information which is very important in the first steps of the test procedure.

This thesis explores how performance measurement in organisations is effected by the human value systems of those concerned with measurement. Its origins lie in the observation that despite many efforts to devise useful measures of performance, problems continued to exist. It was subsequently hypothesised that problems are generic rather than job specific. This led to research in four very different organisations and the consequent exploration of human values theory in a systemic context. For the purpose of this thesis performance measurement is taken to be any form of assessment of organisation or individual accomplishment. Such measures may stand alone, be combined with others or checked against a pre-set standard When combined they are often referred to as performance indicators or league tables. Values are beliefs about what seems right and important; they are not necessarily virtues. People, families, societal and work organisations all possess value systems. Values are inculcated early in the life of both humans and organisations and are reinforced over time and experience. Both individuals and groups typically hold more than one value, usually they have combinations that form value systems. Human values theory is linked to systems science by investigating the behaviour of groups of values. It is argued that value systems have the emergent properties of attitudes and behaviours. These are essentially a response to other values and value systems. This emergence is likely to be unpredictable when faced with unfamiliar, cogent or inflexible norms. Consequently it is not only important to be clear about the value systems embodied in performance measurement but also those rated highly by those being measured This thesis concludes that performance measurement needs to be more closely matched to the values of the people being measured if it is to be successful. It is argued that singling out individual values is not the most useful way of applying values theory as changes occur swiftly and subconsciously in human activity systems. Instead it is proposed that statements representing world-views give a better picture of the environment into which performance measurement might be introduced. A selection of such value statements are suggested here but it is stressed that these need to be adapted to the organisation concerned in order to be most useful. These can be used to assess priorities but should at all times be considered in combination with other values so that emergence is not ignored.

Ce travail se concentre sur le développement d'une procédure expérimentale d’essai mécanique à haute vitesse de déformation de matériaux. La nouveauté de ce travail est l'utilisation de champs d’accélération mesurés comme cellule de force, évitant la nécessité des mesures des forces externes. Pour identifier les paramètres constitutifs des matériaux testés à partir des mesures de champs, la méthode champs virtuels (MCV) basé sur le principe des puissances virtuelles (PPV) est utilisée. En dynamique, avec la MCV, il est possible de définir des champs virtuels qui mettent à zéro les puissances virtuelles des forces externes. Au lieu de cela, l'accélération obtenue grâce à une double dérivation temporelle des déplacements peut être utilisée comme une cellule de force. Enfin, les paramètres élastiques peuvent être identifiés directement à partir d’un système linéaire qui se construit en réécrivant le PPV avec autant de champs virtuels indépendants que d’inconnues à identifier. Cette procédure est d'abord validée numériquement par des simulations éléments finis puis mise en œuvre expérimentalement en utilisant deux configurations d’impact différentes. Les résultats confirment que effets inertiels peuvent être utilisés pour identifier les paramètres des matériaux sans la nécessité de mesurer la force d’impact, et sans exigence de déformations uniformes comme dans les procédures actuelles basées sur le montage de barres d’Hopkinson. Ces nouveaux développement ont le potentiel de mener à de nouveaux essais standards en dynamique rapide
This work focuses on the development of a novel experimental procedure for high strain rate testing of materials. The underpinning novelty of this work is the use of the full-field acceleration maps as a volume distributed load cell, avoiding the need for impact force measurement. To identify the constitutive parameters of materials from the full-field data, the Virtual Fields Method (VFM) based on the principle of virtual work is used here. In dynamics, using the VFM, it is possible to define particular virtual fields which can zero out the virtual work of the external forces. Instead, the acceleration obtained through second order temporal differentiation from displacement can be used as a load cell. Finally, the elastic parameters can be identified directly from a linear system which is built up through rewriting the principle of virtual work with as many independent virtual fields as unknowns. Thus, external force measurement is avoided, which is highly beneficial as it is difficult to measure in dynamics. This procedure is first numerically validated through finite element simulations and then experimentally implemented using different impact setups. Both results confirm that inertial effects can be used to identify the material parameters without the need for impact force measurements, also relieving the usual requirements for uniform/uniaxial stress in SHPB like test configurations. This exciting development has the potential to lead to new standard testing techniques at high strain rates

Multiple scales of beach morphodynamic processes ranging from those of wave-breaking induced turbulence, individual wave, storm, seasonal, to inter-annual are examined in this dissertation based on both laboratory and field data. These processes were simulated using process-based numerical models and data-driven models. At a microscale, separating turbulence from orbital motion under breaking waves in the surf zone is essential to understanding wave-energy dissipation. Velocity data under monochromatic and random waves in the large-scale sediment transport facility (LSTF) were analyzed. Moving averaging provides a simple method for extracting turbulence from velocity measurements under random breaking waves collected at a reasonably high frequency. Various moving averaging time intervals were examined. An optimum moving averaging interval of approximately 30° to 42° phase angle (relative to peak wave period) allows a reasonable extraction of turbulence. An adaptive moving averaging with variable averaging time at wave crest and trough are proposed to improve the effect of turbulence extraction. At a mesoscale, hydrodynamic conditions associated with onshore migration of a sandbar and the subsequent equilibrium state of a stable bar were examined in the LSTF. Wave and near bottom velocity across the surf zone were measured during the onshore sandbar migration. The near-bottom velocity skewness indicates that before the sandbar reached equilibrium, the velocity was skewed offshore in the nearshore region, and skewed onshore seaward of the bar. The velocity skewness pattern reversed when the beach profile reached equilibrium and the sandbar became stable. The peak onshore directed acceleration was greater than the peak offshore directed acceleration throughout the surf zone during the periods of both onshore migrating and stable sandbar. The macroscale portion of the study examines the beach processes, particularly the morphodynamics of nearshore bar, at storm and seasonal scales. The bar height and bar position were extracted from bimonthly surveyed beach-profiles spaced at 300 m along the 22-km long Sand Key barrier island, West-Central Florida from October 2010 to August 2015. Seasonal beach cycle in the study area is illustrated by onshore sandbar migration during the summer and offshore sandbar migration during the winter, while subaerial beach remains rather stable. Alongshore variations of onshore and offshore sandbar migration were observed over storm events. The water depth over the pre-storm sandbar crest, or the bar crest elevation, is a major factor controlling the onshore or offshore sandbar movement. The offshore moving sandbar tends to have a shallower pre-storm bar crest, while the onshore moving sandbar tends to have a deeper pre-storm bar crest. A dynamic equilibrium bar height of 0.5 m for the study area was identified. The sandbar tends to evolve toward this equilibrium height during the seasonal cycle. The energetic conditions associated with Tropical Storm Debby caused a deviation from the above dynamic equilibrium conditions. The sandbar at most of the profile locations became higher than the pre-storm bar height regardless of the initial height of being greater or less than 0.5 m. After the storm, the higher and shallower bar experienced substantial erosion, the eroded sand was deposited in the trough landward. This resulted in a lower sandbar height, returning to the dynamic equilibrium height of 0.5 m. The Unibest-TC model (Walstra et al., 2012) is able to capture the measured trend of bar migration. The Modelling results suggest that offshore bar migration is dominated by suspended sediment transport. While onshore bar migration is driven mainly by bedload transport. At megascale, a data-driven model was developed to predict beach-profile evolution at multiple-annual scale. Empirical Orthogonal Function analysis was conducted on a time-series beach profile (R61) to identify temporal and spatial trends. Trends in the temporal EOF are modeled using a simple curve fitting. In this case, logarithmic and linear trends were identified. After the trend in temporal EOF values are identified, the curve fitting can be calibrated with 14-month data. The calibrated temporal EOF curve yielded accurate reproduction of profiles. The close examination of multiple scales of beach processes provides a comprehensive understanding of nearshore morphodynamics.

The split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) continues to be one of the most common methods of testing materials at medium rates of strain. Elevated rates of strain, such as those found in impact and explosive applications, have been shown to induce phenomena such as strain hardening and phase transitions that can significantly affect the strength of most materials [14]. Due to its relative simplicity and robustness, the SHPB remains one of the preferred platforms for evaluating mechanical properties of materials at rates of strain up to approximately 104 in/in-s (s-1). At the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD), research has been conducted in which a semiconductor laser diode has been used to measure the radial strain of a plastically deforming cylindrical test specimen in the SHPB. The SHPB consists of two long, slender cylindrical bars, denoted input and output bars, that "sandwich" a cylindrical test specimen. Utilizing a high-pressure gas gun, a third cylindrical steel bar, known as the striker bar, is fired at the input bar, causing a compressive stress wave to travel through the input bar to the input bar - test specimen interface. At this interface, a portion of the stress wave propagates through the test specimen while the remainder of the pulse reflects back through the input bar as a tensile stress wave. The non-reflected portion of the stress pulse transmits through the test specimen and into the output bar causing the specimen to deform both elastically and plastically. Strain gages mounted to the input and output pressure bars measure both the incident, transmitted and reflected pulses. Specimen stress can be calculated using the transmitted strain signal while specimen strain and strain rate can be computed using the reflected strain pulse. In order to measure the specimen strain directly, a 670-nm wavelength semiconductor laser diode was affixed to the SHPB such that a vertical line of light approximately 250 micrometer (µm) wide was generated across the diameter of the test specimen. A collector lens located aft of the specimen was positioned to collate the light not occluded by the diameter of the specimen and refocus the light to be collected by a 25 MHz photodetector. Thus, changes in specimen diameter due to the impact event would result in more light being occluded by the specimen and less spectral energy being collected by the photodetector. The light collected by the photodetector is then converted to a voltage output before being recorded by a digital storage oscilloscope. With a known voltage-to-diameter calibration relationship, medium strain rate compressive tests were conducted to compare the optically measured strain results with the data gathered with the existing strain gages. It was found that the optical measurement system provided increased bandwidth and greater resolution than the conventional strain gage instrumentation while generating strain and strain rate results within 6.7% of corresponding strain gage data. This increased bandwidth and resolution allows the identification of both the elastic and plastic behavior of the specimen. In addition, the loading and unloading of the specimen can be clearly seen in the optical strain signal. These phenomena are evident in the peak diameter and strain achieved by the specimen, data not previously available with strain gage instrumentation. The plastic modulus, the theoretical relationship between the stress and strain in the plastic regime, also exhibits a significant increase in magnitude due to this ability to measure peak rather than average strain. Finally, by ridding the experiment of the input bar strain gage, input bar dispersion and the electrical and mechanical errors associated with the input bar strain gage were nullified. These conclusions will be validated through the presentation of several sets of experimental data correlated to data gathered previously.
Master of Science

This thesis concerns research into the environmental aspects of the photochemical machining (PCM) industry, involving measurement, analysis, benchmarking, and reducing adverse environmental impacts. The environmental audit of a PCM company found that the likely significant environmental impacts are the use of ferric chloride etchant, solvents and water. A comparison of the environmental performance of two UK PCM companies showed that there were big contrasts in etchant utilisation and solvent and water consumption, indicating that steps could be taken to reduce these impacts. A study to assess the feasibility of using laser direct imaging (LDI), a cleaner technology in photoresist imaging, found that LDI could meet the technical requirements of the PCM industry. For LDI to be economically feasible, the reliability has to be high and maintenance cost has to be low. Audit surveys of PCM companies world-wide regarding etchant utilisation and solvent consumption indicated that: (1) There is a vast difference between the performance of companies and companies that regenerate etchants were more efficient in their FeCl3 utilisation. The industrial best practice for FeCl3 utilisation is 837%. (2) Chlorination was the most popular regeneration method but most companies would use a more environment-friendly system at a higher overall cost. Regarding waste disposal, most companies sent liquid waste etchant for reclaim or recycle. (3) Half of the PCM companies no longer use solvents, and with the development of liquid aqueous-based resists, it is envisaged that PCM practitioners could eliminate the use of solvents in the near future. Lastly, an investigation into the feasibility of using oxygen gas in regenerating FeCI3 showed that the regenerated etchant could produce good quality etchings. This system is also the second cheapest. Therefore, it is a good option for the PCM companies as the cost of regeneration is not too expensive and it is environment-friendly.

Changes in personality following brain injury are common. Five of the most frequently reported changes are disinhibition, increased impulsivity, poor social perception, poor emotional regulation and low motivation. A review of the literature suggests a lack of measures for these changes and little information on either their conceptual nature of their impact on long term outcome. Part 1 of this study involved developing self and informant versions of five new questionnaires to measure these changes. Seventy two participants with a severe acquired brain injury were recruited through five brain injury rehabilitation services. They and a close relative were asked to complete a battery of tests at Time 1 and again at Time 2, one year later, including the new questionnaires. All five new questionnaires demonstrated excellent test-retest, split-half and inter-rater reliability. Internal consistencies for all five questionnaires were also high. Concurrent and construct validity were assessed against existing measures. Comparisons with neuropsychological tests revealed few significant relationships, suggesting that these changes may often be overlooked . Inter correlations between the five variables suggested strong relationships between all five changes. Part 2 of the study employed the new questionnaires to assess the impact of the five changes on outcome at one year follow-up. Results suggested that four of the five personality changes were able to predict outcome to a greater extent than cognitive ability. Severity of injury was not found to be a significant predictor. Motivation was the strongest predictor, which together with cognitive ability accounted for 41% of variance in outcome on an independently rated measure. Results suggest that changes in personality are important determinants of outcome for brain injury survivors. With further refinement these new questionnaires could become clinically useful assessment tools, which could help guide rehabilitation and offer more accurate long term prognoses.

This thesis is a study of why and how social impact measurement (SIM) is being adopted within the social housing sector. Driven by the need to demonstrate accountability, it is seen as a problematic undertaking. An original contribution is made by extending components within the concept of institutional work whilst working with an original nested theoretical framework with agency and institutions at its core. The exploratory, interpretivist and reflexive way in which this research was undertaken allowed issues of importance to the interviewees to emerge inductively. This approach was wholly necessary due to the embryonic nature of the agenda and the underlying contested concept of social value. A question arose as to whether the SIM output was an appropriate mechanism to provide such accountability. The research revealed macro level support for SIM through the analysis of institutional logics. Below this, within the organisational field, lies weak and contested logics at the meso level and a lack of informing logics at the micro level. A more specific understanding of SIM as a concept and the methodological choices may increase utilisation of SIM outputs and aid in clarifying the concept of social value, its creation and measurement.

This thesis examines some of the measurement, conceptual, predictive, and intervention issues surrounding transformational leadership theory. Chapter 1 reviews the research literature on transformational leadership as it relates to the above issues. This review identifies several questions worthy of future investigation: (1) How should transformational leadership be conceptualised and measured? (2) What exactly do transformational leaders provide their followers with? (3) To what extent are the different transformational leader behaviours modifiable? and (4) Do transformational leadership interventions result in high levels of follower and organizational outcomes? Chapter 2 contains two studies that explore a differentiated conceptualisation of transformational leadership, the predictive qualities of the different transformational behaviours, and the extent to which the different transformational leader behaviours are malleable. A total of 636 participants (Royal Marine Commando recruits undergoing basic training) took part in these studies. Specifically, Study 1 used a correlational design to identify an appropriate measurement model and what the important transformational leader behaviours were, i.e., the behaviours that were significant predictors of successful completion of training (contingent reward, fosters acceptance of group goals, appropriate role modelling, inspirational motivation, and individual consideration). This information (as well as the level of use of the different behaviours) was then used to inform the intervention in Study 2. Study 2 used a mixed model design to assess the efficacy of a differentiated transformational leadership intervention. The results revealed that, in comparison to the control group, the intervention group's followers rated their leader as being higher in three of the four behaviours that were identified in Study 1 as being important (fosters acceptance of group goals, individual consideration, and contingent reward). The recruit self-report variables of self-confidence, resilience, and satisfaction were also higher in the experimental group compared to the control group. Unfortunately, for various reasons objective performance data was not available. Chapter 3 describes a large scale longitudinal experimental study that included objective performance/outcome data. A total of 3468 participants (Infantry recruits undergoing basic training) took part in this study. Chapter 3 was an organisation wide study where approximately half the organisation formed the intervention group and the other half formed the control group. Study 1 identified the important leader behaviours in Infantry recruit training (contingent reward, inspirational motivation, fostering acceptance of group goals, and individual consideration). Study 2 then sought to increase the important behaviours that were identified in Study 1. The results of the intervention study revealed that six of the seven leadership behaviours examined were positively affected by the intervention (high performance expectations was not targeted or impacted by the intervention). Follower outcomes (self-confidence, resilience, satisfaction, and group cohesion) and organizational outcomes (as time pass rates, total pass rates, and remedial pass rates) were also positively affected by the intervention. Chapter 4 contained three studies that examined the proposition that transformational leaders provide their followers with vision, support, and challenge. A total of 1212 participants (Infantry recruits undergoing basic training) took part in this study. Studies 1 and 2 explored the theoretical rationale and internal validity of the proposed model. Study 3 then tested the predictive validity of the vision, support, and challenge model. The results revealed that vision, support, and challenge demonstrated acceptable levels of internal consistency and differentially predicted the outcomes included in the study (leader inspires extra effort, satisfaction, self-confidence, and performance). The final chapter discusses the findings of the thesis and provides suggestions for future research.

This study is within the field of impact investments. Impact investors relates to a twofold requirement of both financial return and positive impact from investments. The purpose of this study is to investigate how impact investors assess impact in their investment evaluation processes and how impact is aligned with the requirement on financial return. Literature have addressed the problem of assessing and quantifying impact, but it fails to tell us how impact is incorporated in the pre-investment evaluation of different investment opportunities. The field of impact investments is increasing in popularity among investors and through a qualitative study based on eight semi-structured interviews with impact investors in Sweden, we try to gain insight in how they address the twofold incentive of both financial return and impact.Our findings show that impact investors apply similar evaluation processes as mainstream venture capitalists with the additional assessment of social impact. We find that investors approach the impact assessment in different ways and that there are split views on the ability of measuring impact in the pre-investment phase. The task of combining the financial measurements with impact is found to be challenging due to the contradicting characteristics of the two, as well as the difficulty of measuring social impact. Often the impact aspect is integrated as a pre-investment evaluation “gate”, where a subjective assessment is central. We contribute to literature by addressing the identified research gap and we aim to contribute to social entrepreneurs’ understanding of how investors relate to impact in their investment decision making processes.