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This paper proposes a new hierarchical approach toward MIS evaluation, which emphasizes the evaluation of the strategic aspects of MIS, as well as the evaluations of the activities of MIS functions and the quality of application systems. Based on the previous studies and the preliminary field survey, concepts and contents of three hierarchical evaluation types such as system‐oriented, function‐oriented and strategy‐oriented evaluations were presented, and four propositions were drawn. The surveys of 130 Korean firms, conducted in 1991 and 1997 successively, show that majority of firms use system‐oriented or function‐oriented evaluation type, although the usage rate of strategy‐oriented type is slightly higher in 1997 than in 1991 and most MIS managers consider the strategy‐oriented evaluation as the ideal one. It is also found that the firms of higher MIS maturity use the strategy‐oriented evaluation type, and the firms with strategy‐oriented evaluation type show a higher MIS performance. Results of this study imply that strategic roles of MIS should be more emphasized and different evaluation types should be used along with MIS maturity. In addition, the design of MIS evaluation framework should be done carefully in the strategic and managerial contexts, because MIS performance can vary with evaluation type. Finally, some limitations of the study and directions for further research were suggested.

The aim is to focus on an automated management and evaluation system to control the operation of community health service (CHS) efficiently.

On the basis of analyzing existing health laws, regulations, CHS work situation, the authors established the execution method and supervision norm of management for CHS. They used Delphi expert consultation activity and analytic hierarchy process to construct weight coefficient allocation list and synthesize evaluation models: GI=∑_I=1^NCiPi. The authors synthesized computer technology to design corresponding software, and then completed the spot usage.

The automated management and evaluation system for CHS has been completed. The system possesses automated management function, automated evaluation function, searching function, the functions of supervision and statistics analysis as well as the feedback. Automated management includes guide and filling‐in, checking‐up, modifying and saving, converging, submitting, examining and approving, receiving, saving to file and issuing formation, etc. Automated evaluation can rank automatically synthesized index or any selected single criterion index in the order of either high to low or low to high. The feedback function is able to be used to convey timely the state of execution, and to offer the bases for further adjustment.

The automated evaluation makes the difficult evaluation work of daily supervision simple and maneuverable.

The systemization and automation of CHS management can control effectively practical operation of CHS.

The study is the first to establish an automated compliance management and evaluation system for Chinese CHS.

The purpose of this paper is to present a degenerated simplex search method to optimize neural network error function. By repeatedly reflecting and expanding a simplex, the centroid property of the simplex changes the location of the simplex vertices. The proposed algorithm selects the location of the centroid of a simplex as the possible minimum point of an artificial neural network (ANN) error function. The algorithm continually changes the shape of the simplex to move multiple directions in error function space. Each movement of the simplex in search space generates local minimum. Simulating the simplex geometry, the algorithm generates random vertices to train ANN error function. It is easy to solve problems in lower dimension. The algorithm is reliable and locates minimum function value at the early stage of training. It is appropriate for classification, forecasting and optimization problems.

Adding more neurons in ANN structure, the terrain of the error function becomes complex and the Hessian matrix of the error function tends to be positive semi‐definite. As a result, derivative based training method faces convergence difficulty. If the error function contains several local minimum or if the error surface is almost flat, then the algorithm faces convergence difficulty. The proposed algorithm is an alternate method in such case. This paper presents a non‐degenerate simplex training algorithm. It improves convergence by maintaining irregular shape of the simplex geometry during degenerated stage. A randomized simplex geometry is introduced to maintain irregular contour of a degenerated simplex during training.

Simulation results show that the new search is efficient and improves the function convergence. Classification and statistical time series problems in higher dimensions are solved. Experimental results show that the new algorithm (degenerated simplex algorithm, DSA) works better than the random simplex algorithm (RSM) and back propagation training method (BPM). Experimental results confirm algorithm's robust performance.

The algorithm is expected to face convergence complexity for optimization problems in higher dimensions. Good quality suboptimal solution is available at the early stage of training and the locally optimized function value is not far off the global optimal solution, determined by the algorithm.

Traditional simplex faces convergence difficulty to train ANN error function since during training simplex can't maintain irregular shape to avoid degeneracy. Simplex size becomes extremely small. Hence convergence difficulty is common. Steps are taken to redefine simplex so that the algorithm avoids the local minimum. The proposed ANN training method is derivative free. There is no demand for first order or second order derivative information hence making it simple to train ANN error function.

The algorithm optimizes ANN error function, when the Hessian matrix of error function is ill conditioned. Since no derivative information is necessary, the algorithm is appealing for instances where it is hard to find derivative information. It is robust and is considered a benchmark algorithm for unknown optimization problems.

Learning is the main‐stream function in the school. Just as the function of teaching is to facilitate learning, the function of administration is to facilitate teaching. Good administration is concerned with stimulating and motivating good teaching. The term “supervision” is commonly used to denote administration of instruction and instructional personnel. A major facet of supervision is that of teacher evaluation—a complex and difficult process in which the establishment of criteria of effectiveness, the development of valid, reliable instruments and techniques and the assessment of cause and effect is invariably influenced by personal perceptions, biases and interpretations. Research on teacher effectiveness, which includes thousands of studies, has produced few, if any, facts to guide us. It is doubtful that visits by an inspector have had much effect in improving teaching. Perhaps too much of our time and resources arc being applied ineffectually. If formal evaluation or rating of teachers must take place it is best performed by supervisors with skills in particular areas. Certainly we should not thrust the task of teacher evaluation on the principal, for whom the task of organizing and overseeing the operation and development of a school is extensive enough to take all his time, ability and effort.

In Part I of this article we examined the conventional strategies which have emerged to cope with crises in methods, utilisation and values in evaluation research and, using “deconstructive” analysis, we questioned their validity and effectiveness. In so doing we argued that the logic of deconstructing evaluation research would suggest that there is no ultimate solution to the crises.

The purpose of this study is to solve the problems of poor stability and high energy consumption of the dynamic window algorithm (DWA) for the mobile robots, a novel enhanced dynamic window algorithm is proposed in this paper.

The novel algorithm takes the distance function as the weight of the target-oriented coefficient, and a new evaluation function is presented to optimize the azimuth angle.

The jitter of the mobile robot caused by the drastic change of angular velocity is reduced when the robot is closer to the target point. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm effectively optimizes the stability of the mobile robot during operation with lower angular velocity dispersion and less energy consumption, but with a slightly higher running time than DWA.

A novel enhanced dynamic window algorithm is proposed and verified. According to the experimental result, the proposed algorithm can reduce the energy consumption of the robot and improves the efficiency of the robot.

Global health challenges and threats could be confronted by collaborative efforts of international community. Governance for global health is a set of formal and informal processes, operating beyond state boundaries, and refers to institutions and mechanisms established at the national, regional and international levels. Nordic countries demonstrated a long-standing commitment to development assistance for health (DAH), and more recently to governance for global health. Governance for global health tools could be used effectively to achieve collective solutions for the maintenance and promotion of health as a common good, could ensure accountability and transparency, and reconcile the interests of different actors on the international and national levels. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of tools and approaches in support of eight sub-functions of governance for global health applied by the Nordic countries. This will help international audience to compare those mechanisms with similar mechanisms that are available or planned in their countries and regions, and may benefit policy scholars and practitioners.

This study uses qualitative review of research literature, policy documents and information available from institutional websites related to the governance of global health in four Nordic countries. In total, 50 selected publications were analyzed using framework synthesis, mapping all findings to 8 dimensions (sub-functions) of governance for global health and related tools.

Review reveals which tools are available, how they have been applied by the Nordic countries and influenced all domains (sub-functions) of governance for global health at different levels: national governments, agencies and networks; bilateral and multilateral partnerships; inter-governmental institutions and international health-related organizations. Common trends and approaches in governance for global health have been formulated.

This study is unique in relation to the prior literature as it looks at the role of Nordic countries in the governance for global health system through the lens of tools applied in support to its sub-functions.

Citations have been used as a common basis to measure the academic accomplishments of scientific books. However, traditional citation analysis ignored content mining and without consideration of citation equivalence, which may lead to the decline of evaluation reliability. Hence, this paper aims to integrate multi-level citation information to conduct multi-dimensional analysis.

In this paper, books’ academic impacts were measured by integrating multi-level citation resources, including books’ citation frequencies and citation-related contents. Specifically, firstly, books’ citation frequencies were counted as the frequency-level metric. Secondly, content-level metrics were detected from multi-dimensional citation contents based on finer-grained mining, including topic extraction on the metadata and citation classification on the citation contexts. Finally, differential metric weighting methods were compared with integrate the multi-level metrics and computing books’ academic impacts.

The experimental results indicate that the integration of multiple citation resources is necessary, as it can significantly improve the comprehensiveness of the evaluation results. Meanwhile, compared with the type differences of books, disciplinary differences need more attention when evaluating the academic impacts of books.

Academic impact assessment of books via integrating multi-level citation information can provide more detailed evaluation information and cover shortcomings of methods based on single citation data. Moreover, the method proposed in this paper is publication independent, which can be used to measure other publications besides books.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the system of factors influencing the efficiency of internal evaluation in Polish secondary schools.

Data collected in interviews with evaluation experts and teachers on the barriers to the efficiency of internal evaluation and their causes were subjected to a qualitative cause-and-effect analysis.

Five barriers to the evaluation efficiency (6B model) and five actions of the school head stopping their impact (6A model) were identified. The latter include selecting the key evaluation function (3KEF model) and ensuring the conditions for efficiency in the improvement loop.

Although the research was carried out in Polish schools, the conclusions indicate regularities affecting organizations throughout the world.

Students’ educational needs may exceed the schools’ ability to meet them at class time mostly due to resource constraints. The implementation of the principle of equal opportunities in education requires continuous improvement of the efficiency of schools’ processes. Evaluation can help qualify tasks for improvement.

The level of engagement (reactive/active) of the school principal and teachers in evaluation and improvement is a crucial factor in overcoming the barriers to the efficiency of the school processes.

The ability to respond to the efficiency gaps of the school processes depends on the choice and efficiency of the KEF. The rationale for selecting the function and the schemes for its implementation have paradigmatic grounds.

Acts of evaluation—the assessment against implicit or explicit criteria of the value of individuals, objects, situations and outcomes—form the core of any high discretion job, where choices have to be made and decisions taken in a world of scarce resources. On a day‐by‐day basis informal evaluations pervade the job of any manager or administrator, but often this is supplemented by formal evaluation research studies—whether technology assessment, investment appraisal, the evaluation of markets and competitors, or in the case of personnel managers—the evaluation of training and development and of organisational change programmes generally. These formal studies include the evaluation studies conducted by “professional” evaluation researchers, such as those engaged in the evaluation of federally funded US social change programmes, those drawn from commercial consultancy agencies or occupying an internal consultant's role within a large company, and those applied social scientists, working in university departments and research institutions interested in issues concerning work system and organisational design . Many articles published in Personnel Review attest to this concern with evaluation research and, indeed, expertise in the conduct of formal evaluation studies has been identified as a major weapon in the armoury of personnel managers who adopt a “conformist innovator” approach to developing their power and influence.