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1 – 10 of 11Richard E. Poore and Peter B. Kosel
A computer program for the solution of the single carrier semiconductor equations in GaAs has been developed to simulate charge storage and transfer in GaAs charge‐coupled…
Abstract
A computer program for the solution of the single carrier semiconductor equations in GaAs has been developed to simulate charge storage and transfer in GaAs charge‐coupled devices. An uncoupled Newton method is used to solve the steady state problem, and a stable, uncoupled method is used for the transient solution. Using transient simulation, the transfer of a charge packet from well to well can be simulated over time. By comparing the size of the charge packet before and after the transfer, information on the charge transfer inefficency can be derived.
Sallie J. Weaver, Xin Xuan Che, Peter J. Pronovost, Christine A. Goeschel, Keith C. Kosel and Michael A. Rosen
Early writings about teamwork in healthcare emphasized that healthcare providers needed to evolve from a team of experts into an expert team. This is no longer enough. As…
Abstract
Purpose
Early writings about teamwork in healthcare emphasized that healthcare providers needed to evolve from a team of experts into an expert team. This is no longer enough. As patients, accreditation bodies, and regulators increasingly demand that care is coordinated, safe, of high quality, and efficient, it is clear that healthcare organizations increasingly must function and learn not only as expert teams but also as expert multiteam systems (MTSs).
Approach
In this chapter, we offer a portrait of the robust, and albeit complex, multiteam structures that many healthcare systems are developing in order to adapt to rapid changes in regulatory and financial pressures while simultaneously improving patient safety, quality, and performance.
Findings and value
The notion of continuous improvement rooted in continuous learning has been embraced as a battle cry from the boardroom to the bedside, and the MTS concept offers a meaningful lens through which we can begin to understand, study, and improve these complex organizational systems dedicated to tackling some of the most important goals of our time.
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Lawton Robert Burns, Jeff C. Goldsmith and Aditi Sen
Researchers recommend a reorganization of the medical profession into larger groups with a multispecialty mix. We analyze whether there is evidence for the superiority of these…
Abstract
Purpose
Researchers recommend a reorganization of the medical profession into larger groups with a multispecialty mix. We analyze whether there is evidence for the superiority of these models and if this organizational transformation is underway.
Design/Methodology Approach
We summarize the evidence on scale and scope economies in physician group practice, and then review the trends in physician group size and specialty mix to conduct survivorship tests of the most efficient models.
Findings
The distribution of physician groups exhibits two interesting tails. In the lower tail, a large percentage of physicians continue to practice in small, physician-owned practices. In the upper tail, there is a small but rapidly growing percentage of large groups that have been organized primarily by non-physician owners.
Research Limitations
While our analysis includes no original data, it does collate all known surveys of physician practice characteristics and group practice formation to provide a consistent picture of physician organization.
Research Implications
Our review suggests that scale and scope economies in physician practice are limited. This may explain why most physicians have retained their small practices.
Practical Implications
Larger, multispecialty groups have been primarily organized by non-physician owners in vertically integrated arrangements. There is little evidence supporting the efficiencies of such models and some concern they may pose anticompetitive threats.
Originality/Value
This is the first comprehensive review of the scale and scope economies of physician practice in nearly two decades. The research results do not appear to have changed much; nor has much changed in physician practice organization.
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Giuseppe Delmestri and Elizabeth Goodrick
While there has been increased attention to emotions and institutions, the role of denial and repression of emotions has been overlooked. We argue that not only the expression and…
Abstract
While there has been increased attention to emotions and institutions, the role of denial and repression of emotions has been overlooked. We argue that not only the expression and the feeling of emotions, but also their control through denial contribute to stabilize institutional orders. The role denial plays is that of avoiding the emergence of disruptive emotions that might motivate a challenge to the status quo. Reflecting on the example of the livestock industry, we propose a theoretical model that identifies seeds for change in denied emotional contradictions in an integration of the cultural-relational and issue-based conceptions of organizational fields.
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Jing Chen, Lu Zhang and Wenhai Qian
Attentive to task-related information is the prerequisite for task completion. Comparing the cognition between attentive readers (AR) and inattentive readers (IAR) is of great…
Abstract
Purpose
Attentive to task-related information is the prerequisite for task completion. Comparing the cognition between attentive readers (AR) and inattentive readers (IAR) is of great value for improving reading services which has seldom been studied. To explore their cognitive differences, this study investigates the effectiveness, efficiency and cognitive resource allocation strategy by eye-tracking technology.
Design/methodology/approach
A controlled user study of two types of task, fact-finding (FF) and content understanding (CU) tasks was conducted to collect data including answer for task, fixation duration (FD), fixation count (FC), fixation duration proportion (FDP), and fixation count proportion (FCP). 24 participants were placed into AR or IAR group according to their fixation duration on paragraphs related to task.
Findings
Two types of cognitive resource allocation strategies, question-oriented (QO) and navigation-assistant (NA) were identified according to the differences in FDP and FCP. In FF task, although QO strategy was applied by the two groups, AR group was significantly more effective and efficient. In CU task, although the two groups were similar in effectiveness and efficiency, AR group promoted their strategies to NA while IAR group sticked to applying QO strategy. Furthermore, an interesting phenomenon “win by uncertainty”, which implies IAR group may get correct answer through uncertain means, such as clue, domain knowledge or guess, rather than task-related information, was observed.
Originality/value
This study takes a deep insight into cognition from the prospect of attentive and inattentive to task-related information. Identifying indicators about cognition helps to distinguish attentive and inattentive readers in various tasks automatically. The cognitive resource allocation strategy applied by readers sheds new light on reading skill training. A typical reading phenomenon “win by uncertainty” was found and defined. Understanding the phenomenon is of great value for satisfying reader information need and enhancing their deep learning.
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The purpose of this paper is to present an algorithm for global optimization of high‐dimensional real‐parameter cost functions.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present an algorithm for global optimization of high‐dimensional real‐parameter cost functions.
Design/methodology/approach
This optimization algorithm, called differential ant‐stigmergy algorithm (DASA), based on a stigmergy observed in colonies of real ants. Stigmergy is a method of communication in decentralized systems in which the individual parts of the system communicate with one another by modifying their local environment.
Findings
The DASA outperformed the included differential evolution type algorithm in convergence on all test functions and also obtained better solutions on some test functions.
Practical implications
The DASA may find applications in challenging real‐life optimization problems such as maximizing the empirical area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of glycomics mass spectrometry data and minimizing the logistic leave‐one‐out calculation measure for the gene‐selection criterion.
Originality/value
The DASA is one of the first ant‐colony optimization‐based algorithms proposed for global optimization of the high‐dimensional real‐parameter problems.
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Peter J. Pronovost, Sally J. Weaver, Sean M. Berenholtz, Lisa H. Lubomski, Lisa L. Maragakis, Jill A. Marsteller, Julius Cuong Pham, Melinda D. Sawyer, David A. Thompson, Kristina Weeks and Michael A. Rosen
The purpose of this paper is to provide a practical framework that health care organizations could use to decrease preventable healthcare-acquired harms.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a practical framework that health care organizations could use to decrease preventable healthcare-acquired harms.
Design/methodology/approach
An existing theory of how hospitals succeeded in reducing rates of central line-associated bloodstream infections was refined, drawing from the literature and experiences in facilitating improvement efforts in thousands of hospitals in and outside the USA.
Findings
The following common interventions were implemented by hospitals able to reduce and sustain low infection rates. Hospital and intensive care unit (ICU) leaders demonstrated and vocalized their commitment to the goal of zero preventable harm. Also, leaders created an enabling infrastructure in the way of a coordinating team to support the improvement work to prevent infections. The team of hospital quality improvement and infection prevention staff provided project management, analytics, improvement science support, and expertise on evidence-based infection prevention practices. A third intervention assembled Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program teams in ICUs to foster local ownership of the improvement work. The coordinating team also linked unit-based safety teams in and across hospital organizations to form clinical communities to share information and disseminate effective solutions.
Practical implications
This framework is a feasible approach to drive local efforts to reduce bloodstream infections and other preventable healthcare-acquired harms.
Originality/value
Implementing this framework could decrease the significant morbidity, mortality, and costs associated with preventable harms.
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Aims to examine a negotiation‐oriented and partly web‐based game “Surfing Global Change” (SGC) invented by the author based on didactics of self‐managed learning and successfully…
Abstract
Purpose
Aims to examine a negotiation‐oriented and partly web‐based game “Surfing Global Change” (SGC) invented by the author based on didactics of self‐managed learning and successfully implemented in WebCT.
Design/methodology/approach
Along three historic generations of web‐based teaching (WBT), the key functionalities of any platform (content, discussion and evaluation) are perceived to be utilized in a characteristic way depending on the prevalent didactic concepts. The changing roles of teacher and students are highlighted using the example of SGC Level 3, where students assess one another's competence, each trying to outdo the others in controversial arguments
Findings
The outlay of Surfing Global Change aims at accomplishing sustainable results for complex themes. Thus SGC sets out to weigh out competition vs consensus, self‐study vs team work, emphasizing one's own standpoint vs readiness to compromise, differentiation into details vs integration into a whole. SGC hence wants to mirror professional realities along five interactive game levels: learn content and pass quizzes; write and reflect a personal standpoint; win with a team in a competitive discussion; negotiate a complex consensus between teams; integrate views when recognizing and analyzing global long‐term trends.
Research limitations/implications
Some interactive assessment functionalities are still missing in current platforms.
Practical implications
In advanced university courses the negotiation game SGC was repeatedly used as a procedural shell for interdisciplinary themes.
Originality/value
The paper shows that a “communicative space” is created by utilising mainstream web platform technology, capable of transposing visions of “progressive education”. The definition of three generations of WBT allows for a functional differentiation in the styles of using web‐based tools.
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