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A clinical pathway for patients with acute ischemic stroke was implemented in 2014 by one Italian teaching hospital multidisciplinary team. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether this clinical pathway had a positive effect on patient management by comparing performance data.

Volume, process and outcome indicators were analyzed in a pre-post retrospective observational study. Patients’ (admitted in 2013 and 2015) medical records with International Classification of Diseases, ICD-9 code 433.x (precerebral artery occlusion and stenosis), 434.x (cerebral artery occlusion) and 435.x (transient cerebral ischemia) and registered correctly according to hospital guidelines were included.

An increase context-sensitive in-patient numbers with more severe cerebrovascular events and an increase in patient transfers from the Stroke to Neurology Unit within three days (70 percent, p=0.25) were noted. Clinical pathway implementation led to an increase in patient flow from the Emergency Department to dedicated specialized wards such as the Stroke and Neurology Unit (23.7 percent, p<0.001). Results revealed no statistically significant decrease in readmission rates within 30 days (5.7 percent, p=0.85) and no statistically significant differences in 30-day mortality.

The pre-post retrospective observational study design was considered suitable to evaluate likely changes in patient flow after clinical pathway implementation, even though this design comes with limitations, describing only associations between exposure and outcome.

Clinical pathway implementation showed an overall positive effect on patient management and service efficiency owing to the standardized application in time-dependent protocols and multidisciplinary/integrated care implementation, which improved all phases in acute ischemic stroke care.

Physical education, like most areas of education, is changing and taking on a new look for the 1980s. Physical educators, school administrators, and others making decisions about programs for children and young people are examining both current practices and forecasts for the future in this field. What they decide will profoundly affect the resources that should be a part of library collections for children and youth. Too often librarians and school media specialists have found it difficult to think about the kinds of materials appropriate for such collections because they do not have the knowledge necessary for sound selection. A major reason for this difficulty is that the area of physical education is usually separated from other subject areas in schools. Along with the industrial arts, domestic science, and the fine arts, physical education is categorized as a performative subject area. Classified as such, it is usually not thought of as something you ask young people to think about, talk about, or even read about; but rather, something you ask them to “do.” Yet, upon closer examination, there exists a small wealth of library materials for children.

Youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have co-occurring health care needs and are likely to come into contact with several health care professionals over their lives. At the hospital, youth with ASD may require specialized supports to optimize health care experiences and for medical services to be delivered safely. At present, there is a limited understanding of how to best support this patient population. The purpose of this paper is to develop, implement, and evaluate an online training module for hospital staff about ASD.

To evaluate participants’ perceived utility of the learning tool, a post-module survey was administered.

In all, 102 health care professionals and other hospital staff completed the training and evaluation measure. Majority of participants had prior ASD-focused education (66 percent) and had experience working with at least 20 youths with ASD (57 percent). Majority of participants (88 percent) perceived the information from the module to be helpful in their daily work and reported that they learned something new (63 percent). Participants were interested in receiving additional ASD online module training opportunities on topics including: hands-on behavior management strategies, in-hospital resources, guidance on treatment adherence, and ASD training geared specifically to protection services staff.

The results from this evaluation have important practice implications for hospital staff working with patients with ASD and their families. Evidence-based strategies were easily accessible for staff and the module can be feasibly built upon and expanded as well as disseminated beyond the current hospital setting.

Performing accurate numerical simulations of electrical drives, the precise knowledge of the local magnetic material properties is of utmost importance. Due to the various manufacturing steps, e.g. heat treatment or cutting techniques, the magnetic material properties can strongly vary locally, and the assumption of homogenized global material parameters is no longer feasible. This paper aims to present the general methodology and two different solution strategies for determining the local magnetic material properties using reference and simulation data.

The general methodology combines methods based on measurement, numerical simulation and solving an inverse problem. Therefore, a sensor-actuator system is used to characterize electrical steel sheets locally. Based on the measurement data and results from the finite element simulation, the inverse problem is solved with two different solution strategies. The first one is a quasi Newton method (QNM) using Broyden's update formula to approximate the Jacobian and the second is an adjoint method. For comparison of both methods regarding convergence and efficiency, an artificial example with a linear material model is considered.

The QNM and the adjoint method show similar convergence behavior for two different cutting-edge effects. Furthermore, considering a priori information improved the convergence rate. However, no impact on the stability and the remaining error is observed.

The presented methodology enables a fast and simple determination of the local magnetic material properties of electrical steel sheets without the need for a large number of samples or special preparation procedures.

This paper aims at supporting business process designers in modelling collaborative scenarios in terms of hierarchical BPMN collaboration diagrams, to enforce consistency among different hierarchical levels.

The proposed approach is based on a set of guidelines to apply during the modelling of hierarchical diagrams. These guidelines address consistency issues related to the hiding capability provided by sub-process and call activity elements, which may obscure behaviours at inner levels, especially exchange of messages, that are inconsistent with those in other hierarchical levels. A laboratory experience validates the guidelines' effectiveness.

The paper points out the issues of hierarchical diagrams, and the lack of support in this context from the existing BPMN modelling tools. Moreover, through a laboratory experience, the paper shows the benefits carried by the proposed guidelines concerning the quality of the modelled diagrams.

The proposed guidelines have been implemented in a consistency checking tool that avoids consistency errors during the modelling activity. To foster its usage, the tool has been integrated into the Eclipse BPMN modelling environment.

The paper, employing consistency guidelines, provides a novel solution to the weaknesses of hierarchical modelling.

The first-aid courses organized by the Youth Red Cross Carinthia (Austria) had a quality problem, necessitating a professionalization in teaching and time structure. This research aimed to enhance the quality and effectiveness of these courses by implementing modified lesson studies with non-professional trainers. The paper presents the realization process, empirical research and results obtained by applying the first-aid curriculum.

Around 22 lesson study first-aid courses (14 classes with 2 cycles, 8 with 3 cycles) were conducted and evaluated in different Austrian school types. An observation sheet was created to evaluate attention and competencies. Interviews were conducted with both teachers and students to validate the results.

The research findings demonstrate that lesson studies can significantly enhance the quality and effectiveness of first-aid courses. Inexperienced and experienced first-aid teachers significantly improved their teaching skills. Newly educated first-aid teachers showed substantial improvement, leading to the introduction of an induction period and coaching opportunity within the Youth Red Cross Carinthia.

This is the first lesson study conducted in a non-academic context. It highlights the adaptation process of Carinthian first-aid courses. It illustrates how lesson studies impact lesson clarity, instructional variety, student engagement in the learning process, student outcome, student feedback and teaching effectiveness in a non-academic context. It contributes to the literature on the application of lesson study in first-aid education and provides insight into the benefits of this approach in enhancing the quality of first-aid training.

Pat Allatt is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Teesside, U.K.Tim Dant is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of East Anglia, U.K.Carolyn Dixon is a researcher and an independent artist.John Donnelly is Senior Lecturer in the Sociology and Criminology Division at the University of Northumbria, U.K.Alan Felstead is Professor of Employment Studies at the Centre for Labour Market Studies at the University of Leicester, U.K.Barbara Harrison is Professor of Sociology at the University of East London, U.K.Rosalind Hurworth is Director of the Centre for Program Evaluation within the Faculty of Education at the University of Melbourne, Australia.Nick Jewson is Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Labour Market Studies at the University of Leicester, U.K.John Martin is Principal Lecturer in Economic and Social History at De Montfort University, U.K.Ruth Martin was the Research Assistant for the “Asian Leicester” project.Sarah Pink is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Loughborough, U.K.Christopher Pole is a Reader in the Department of Sociology at the University of Leicester, U.K.Andrea Raggl is a Research Assistant in the Department of Teacher Education and School Research at the University of Innsbruck, Austria.Michael Schratz is Professor of Education at the Department of Teacher Education and School Research of the University of Innsbruck, Austria.Matt Smith is a Lecturer in the Sociology and Criminology Division at the University of Northumbria, U.K.Sally Walters is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Labour Market Studies at the University of Leicester, U.K.

This study aims to look at the changing way in which the Information Services Office (ISO) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) provides services to NIST scientific and technical staff throughout their research and publishing cycles. These services include the more traditional services of a research library and publishing NIST technical reports and The Journal of Research of NIST and preserving and exhibiting scientific instruments and other artifacts. ISO has always prided itself on having a close relationship with its customers, providing a high level of service and developing new services to stay in front of NIST researcher needs. Through a concerted, strategic effort since the late 1990s, ISO has developed and promoted relationships with its key customers through its Lab Liaison Program.

This paper discusses the relationship ISO has developed with the Office of Data and Informatics (ODI), how this relationship was forged and how this collaboration will serve as a model for working with the other labs and programs at NIST. It will also discuss the risks and opportunities of this new collaborative service model, how ISO positioned itself to become an equal partner with ODI in the exploration of solutions to data management issues and the benefits of the relationship from ODI’s perspective.

A pattern of strategic changes to the services and activities offered by the Lab Liaison program has put ISO in the position to collaborate as peers with researchers at NIST.

This study provides an overview of how ISO made strategic decisions to incorporate non-traditional services to support data management at NIST.

The purpose of this paper is to review key points about the radio frequency identification (RFID) and the fundamental concepts of supply chain management (SCM). To understand important supply chain (SC) strategies for a complete success, main strategies are identified. Some applications of RFID in SC are briefly reviewed and three large cases of RFID implementation in SC are discussed.

Provides key elements of SCM, a brief background on RFID, and the integration of SC and RFID to generate new systems with higher level of profitability and efficiency. Three cases using computer simulation techniques for system evaluation are reviewed.

The paper finds that to make the SCM functional and successfully operational, management must be committed to high standard of performance including competitive lead times to customers, significantly reduced inventories, world‐class product quality, and reduced process and product complexity.

Owing to the fact that a better management of a production system is related to the full understanding of the technologies implemented and the system under consideration, sufficient background on the RFID technology is provided and a SCM system including its appropriate strategies are discussed.