5,056 research outputs found
E-democracy: exploring the current stage of e-government
Governments around the world have been pressured to implement e-Government programs in order to improve the government-citizen dialogue. The authors of this article review prior literature on such efforts to find if they lead to increased democratic participation ("e-Democracy") for the affected citizens, with a focus on the key concepts of transparency, openness, and engagement. The authors find that such efforts are a starting point toward e-Democracy, but the journey is far from complete
Fracture clinic redesign reduces the cost of outpatient orthopaedic trauma care
Objectives: “Virtual fracture clinics” have been reported as a safe and effective alternative to the traditional fracture clinic. Robust protocols are used to identify cases that do not require further review, with the remainder triaged to the most appropriate subspecialist at the optimum time for review. The objective of this study was to perform a “top-down” analysis of the cost effectiveness of this virtual fracture clinic pathway.
Methods: National Health Service financial returns relating to our institution were examined for the time period 2009 to 2014 which spanned the service redesign.
Results: The total staffing costs rose by 4% over the time period (from £1 744 933 to £1 811 301) compared with a national increase of 16%. The total outpatient department rate of attendance fell by 15% compared with a national fall of 5%. Had our local costs increased in line with the national average, an excess expenditure of £212 705 would have been required for staffing costs.
Conclusions: The virtual fracture clinic system was associated with less overall use of staff resources in comparison to national cost data. Adoption of this system nationally may have the potential to achieve significant cost savings
Sudden Collapse of a Granular Cluster
Single clusters in a vibro-fluidized granular gas in N connected compartments
become unstable at strong shaking. They are experimentally shown to collapse
very abruptly. The observed cluster lifetime (as a function of the driving
intensity) is analytically calculated within a flux model, making use of the
self-similarity of the process. After collapse, the cluster diffuses out into
the uniform distribution in a self-similar way, with an anomalous diffusion
exponent 1/3.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Figure quality has been reduced in order to
decrease file-siz
Non-continuous Froude number scaling for the closure depth of a cylindrical cavity
A long, smooth cylinder is dragged through a water surface to create a cavity
with an initially cylindrical shape. This surface void then collapses due to
the hydrostatic pressure, leading to a rapid and axisymmetric pinch-off in a
single point. Surprisingly, the depth at which this pinch-off takes place does
not follow the expected Froude power-law. Instead, it displays two
distinct scaling regimes separated by discrete jumps, both in experiment and in
numerical simulations (employing a boundary integral code). We quantitatively
explain the above behavior as a capillary waves effect. These waves are created
when the top of the cylinder passes the water surface. Our work thus gives
further evidence for the non-universality of the void collapse
Modeling Transverse Cracking in Laminates With a Single Layer of Elements Per Ply
The objective of the present paper is to investigate the ability of mesolevel X-FEM models with a single layer of elements per ply to capture accurately all aspects of matrix cracking. In particular, we examine whether the model can predict the insitu ply thickness effect on crack initiation and propagation, the crack density as a function of strain, the strain for crack saturation, and the interaction between delamination and transverse cracks. Results reveal that the simplified model does not capture correctly the shear-lag relaxation of the stress field on either side of a crack, which leads to an overprediction of the crack density. It is also shown, however, that after onset of delamination many of the inserted matrix cracks close again, and that the density of open cracks becomes similar to the density predicted by the detailed model. The degree to which the spurious cracks affect the global response is quantified and the reliability of the mesolevel approach with a single layer of elements per ply is discussed
Social simulation and polycentric policy making: ex ante assessment of administrative reform in the region Rotterdam
Administrative reform is often practiced as solution for perceived
problems. However, frequently results are disappointing. The authors
relate this phenomenon to the multi-centered nature of administrative
processes and propose a social simulation method to gain more insight in
potential impact of administrative reforms considered by ex ante
assessment. Their analysis is supported by a specific example
The anaesthesist as determinant factor of quality of surgical antimicrobial prophylaxis. A survey in a university hospital
Contains fulltext :
4898.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access
Continent of pessimism or continent of realism? A multilevel study into the impact of macro-economic outcomes and political institutions on societal pessimism, European Union 2006-2012
The often-posed claim that Europe is a pessimistic continent is not unjustified. In 2012, 53 percent of European Union (EU) citizens were pessimistic about their country. Surprisingly, however, societal pessimism has received very little scientific attention. In this article, we examine to what extent political and economic factors drive societal pessimism. In terms of political factors, we expect that supranationalization, political instability, and corruption increase societal pessimism, as they diminish national political power and can inspire collective powerlessness. Economically, we expect that the retrenchment of welfare state provisions and economic decline drive societal pessimism, as these developments contribute to socioeconomic vulnerability. We assess the impact of these political and economic factors on the level of societal pessimism in the EU, both cross-nationally and over time, through multilevel analyses of Eurobarometer data (13 waves between 2006 and 2012 in 23 EU countries). Our findings show that the political factors (changes in government, corruption) primarily explain cross-national differences in societal pessimism, while the macro-economic context (economic growth, unemployment) primarily explains longitudinal trends within countries. These findings demonstrate that, to a large extent, societal pessimism cannot be viewed separately from its political and economic context
Teaching and learning reflection in MPA programs: towards a strategy
__Abstract__
Reflection is an essential ingredient of academic education in PublicAdministration, both for
an academic and a professional career. Making a distinction between reflectivity and
reflexivity we identify 30 foci of reflection. The main question of the article is how these
forms of reflection can be taught and learned in PA programs, especially in post-experience
PAprograms. To answer this question,westudied de programand interviewed the teaching
staff op the post-experienceMPA program at Erasmus University in Rotterdamto describe
what is actually done in the to teach students reflection competences and to identify success
and limitations of these efforts. We present our findings and describe how we, in consultation
with the teaching staff, developed a number of feasible options for improvement.
We discuss these options and present a strategy to actually get these implemented
Longtitudinal electron beam diagnostics via upconversion of THz to visible radiation
Longitudinal electro-optic electron bunch diagnostics has been successfully applied at several accelerators. The electro-optic effect can be seen as an upconversion of the Coulomb field of the relativistic electron bunch (THz radiation) to the visible spectral range, where a variety of standard diagnostic tools are available. Standard techniques to characterise femtosecond optical laser pulses (auto- and cross-correlators) have led to the schemes that can measure electron bunch profiles with femtosecond resolution. These techniques require, however, well synchronized femtosecond laser pulses, in order to obtain the desired temporal resolution. Currently, we are exploring other electro-optic variants which require less advanced laser systems and will be more amenable to beam based longitudinal feedback applications. The first results of one such new scheme will be presented in this paper
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