Abstract not found

This dissertation analyses two different paradigms used for the development of a software product, Operating Systems. The targets of research are two groups that operate in very different ways, Microsoft Corporation and the Linux Community. Through the observation of the strategies and methodologies used by these actors in their work, and taking into account the constraints to which they are subject, assesses, from a dynamic perspective, the relative strengths and weaknesses of their competing paradigms. In the dissertation I will analyse the efficiency of the development processes that they have adopted for the design, improvement and enhancement of their products. A theoretical model based on Giovanni Dosis "Technological Paradigms" framework, incorporating institutional, industrial, social and cultural aspects, is constructed and specifically adapted to the software industry case. The private management of technology issues considered during the analysis of the development processes inside different organisations are linked to questions having to do with the evolution of high technology, networked, markets. This analysis lends to assessment of some rationales and potential strategies for public intervention in the Operating Systems industry, taking into account some relevant concerns that have been raised about competitive issues and dominant position in this market, one of strategic importance for the future development of the Information Society

This report was prepared as the result of work sponsored by the California Energy Commission

Thirty years ago, the fate of migratory deer in the Sierra Nevada was thought to be the major forest wildlife issue. Ten years later, agencies were building the California Wildlife Habitat Relationships System to allow managers to integrate all terrestrial vertebrates with timber management in comprehensive National Forest planning. Another ten years after that, Tom Knudsen wrote his Pulitzer Prize–winning series, “Sierra in Peril, ” describing the complexity of environmental problems. Now, managers are trying to improve the lot of all native species in the Sierra Nevada, address fire hazards and a host of ecological processes, and deal with the complex interactions of people and nature in forest planning. The past three decades have been a turbulent ride for those who work and live with the National Forests of the Sierra Nevada. Why have we not been able to solve the Sierra Nevada’s problems? I propose that it is because we have not been using the right methods for solving such complex problems. Two challenges in managing public natural resources are especially vexing: improving the prudence and sustainability of resource management direction for Federal lands and improving institutional effectiveness in carrying out that direction. On the basis of my firsthand experiences as a regional executive with shared responsibility for guiding the Interior

Not for transmission or reproduction in any form or by any means except by written permission of the authors. Executive Summary The World Commission on Environment and Development introduced the idea of sustainable development as that which “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. At the present time, sustainable development theory, policy and practice present an apparently confusing, diverse range of claims and proposals, even while government agencies and business enterprises move to demonstrate their performance credentials as measured against one or another of these. However, a clear conception of the relevant issues is enabled by taking a “systems approach ” to understanding sustainability and characterising policy development as a systems design problem. This approach shows that despite the diversity of scope and conceptual formulation of sustainability policy, there is a systematic structure to the field worth understanding in its own right. There are three broad conceptions of sustainability namely (1) the reduction of environmental impact, (2) the preservation or enhancement of natural capital and (3) the preservation or enhancement of adaptive capacity (that is, of resilience).

Impact assessments and policy responses to sea-level rise in three US states: An exploration of human-dimension uncertainties