Public Health Informatics in Local and State Health Agencies: An Update From the Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey

OBJECTIVE: To characterize public health informatics (PHI) specialists and identify the informatics needs of the public health workforce. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: US local and state health agencies. PARTICIPANTS: Employees from state health agencies central office (SHA-COs) and local health departments (LHDs) participating in the 2017 Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS). We characterized and compared the job roles for self-reported PHI, "information technology specialist or information system manager" (IT/IS), "public health science" (PHS), and "clinical and laboratory" workers. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Descriptive statistics for demographics, income, education, public health experience, program area, job satisfaction, and workplace environment, as well as data and informatics skills and needs. RESULTS: A total of 17 136 SHA-CO and 26 533 LHD employees participated in the survey. PHI specialist was self-reported as a job role among 1.1% and 0.3% of SHA-CO and LHD employees. The PHI segment most closely resembled PHS employees but had less public health experience and had lower salaries. Overall, fewer than one-third of PHI specialists reported working in an informatics program area, often supporting epidemiology and surveillance, vital records, and communicable disease. Compared with PH WINS 2014, current PHI respondents' satisfaction with their job and workplace environment moved toward more neutral and negative responses, while the IT/IS, PHS, and clinical and laboratory subgroups shifted toward more positive responses. The PHI specialists were less likely than those in IT/IS, PHS, or clinical and laboratory roles to report gaps in needed data and informatics skills. CONCLUSIONS: The informatics specialists' role continues to be rare in public health agencies, and those filling that role tend to have less public health experience and be less well compensated than staff in other technically focused positions. Significant data and informatics skills gaps persist among the broader public health workforce

Management development and retention programs in U.S. third-party logistics firms

To provide quality logistics services, it is essential for third-party logistics (3PL) firms to develop an effective human resource program that ensures successful development and retention of qualified managers. By reporting the results of a survey of current U.S. 3PL firm development and retention practices and experiences regarding junior managers, this article provides a benchmark for 3PL firm managers who seek to improve management development and retention programs. Efforts to improve human resource programs should focus on improving orientation programs, mentoring, job enrichment, formal career planning, job relocation assignments, educational support, training and compensation

Carrier scorecarding: purposes, processes, and benefits

Carrier scorecarding programs (CSP’s) provide a formal, quantitative mechanism for use in assessing carrier performance. Such programs provide valuable input for carrier rationalization and contract development initiatives and can also serve as a key component of a Six Sigma program. In this study, the overall goal was to address three research questions. First, why are organizations adopting CSP’s? Second, how are organizations using carrier scorecarding to select and manage carriers? Finally, how does carrier scorecarding impact organizational performance? These questions were used to develop the set of research propositions that formed the basis for the investigation. In-depth case studies of six organizations were conducted to generate the evidence necessary to support or refute the research propositions. Carrier scorecarding was found to be an objective, process-oriented approach that improves the ability of the transportation buyer to realize significant improvements in customer service while strengthening internal cost control. In the current industry environment of intense competition, narrow margins, pressure for shorter cycle times and improved supply chain efficiency, carrier scorecarding is rapidly gaining recognition as a valuable tool for use in carrier selection, evaluation and retention

U.S. Firm outsourcing/offshoring practices and plans: an update

A study of U.S. firm outsourcing and offshoring practices and future plans regarding supply chain activities provides an update for supply chain managers. Specifically, the reported information provides supply chain managers of manufacturing/ merchandising firms with a competitive benchmark; facilitates third party logistics manager strategic planning efforts and provides an input to U.S. transportation planners who determine future transport and infrastructure requirements. The study reports the responses of 151 Chief Purchasing Officers from U.S. firms. Firms are benefiting from outsourcing logistics and production activities and over one-third of the firms plan to increase outsourcing spend. In addition, 60 percent of firms outsource offshore, and of these firms, 41 percent will increase their offshore spending, some by more than 50 percent

Technology based supply chain training: its use and effectiveness

Employee training is a huge business in the United States with spending in the neighborhood of $51 billion dollars. Over the last five years a growing proportion of training dollars have been committed to technology based training involving distance learning and e-learning. This article reports on the use of these innovative training methods in supply chain management and their impact on organizations in terms of cost effectiveness, time efficiency, skill development, and return on investment

An examination of the impacts of transportation management systems

There is a great deal of research regarding Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Logistics Information Systems (LIS). However, there has not been a recent examination of the current state ofTransportation Management Systems (TMS). This article provides an overview of the previous research and examines the current state of TMS and the relationships between these systems and other information systems in general. The results of over twenty years of LIS and TMS data are presented to highlight potential information gaps and significant relationships between TMS and other functions

Cd3As2 is Centrosymmetric

This is a revised version of a manuscript that was originally posted here in February of 2014. It has been accepted at the journal Inorganic Chemistry after reviews that included those of two crystallographers who made sure all the t's were crossed and the i's were dotted. The old work (from 1968) that said that Cd3As2 was noncentrosymmetric was mistaken, with the authors of that study making a type of error that in the 1980s became infamous in crystallography. As a result of the increased scrutiny of the issue of centrosymmetricity of the 1980's, there are now much better analysis tools to resolve the issue fully, and its important to understand that not just our crystals are centrosymmetric, even the old guy's crystals were centrosymmetric (and by implication everyone's are). There is no shame in having made that error back in the day and those authors would not find the current centrosymmetric result controversial; their paper is excellent in all other aspects. This manuscript describes how the structure is determined, explains the structure schematically, calculates the electronic structure based on the correct centrosymmetric crystal structure, and gives the structural details that should be used for future analysis and modeling.Comment: Accepted by ACS Inorganic Chemistr

Using active learning to enhance supply chain knowledge

The constantly evolving logistics discipline confronts practitioners with the challenge of keeping pace with the many advancements in the field. The authors examine ways in which logistics trainers may be able to improve their ability to effectively convey knowledge to logistics practitioners by supplementing the traditional lecture-based approaches with active learning exercises. The results of a recently conducted survey detailing current usage levels and approaches of active learning exercises, specifically simulations, by logistics educators is then presented. The paper also summarizes comments from individual simulation participants after they have completed a training experience designed to immerse them in a real world supply chain scenario. The article concludes by providing suggestions and managerial implications

Logistics and supply chain job placement: the 2007 perspective

The development of an effective recruitment strategy that attracts and secures entry-level logistics talent is essential to maintain corporate performance. A critical aspect of job placement involves understanding the preferences of students and employers. This research presents results of parallel surveys of U.S. undergraduate logistics, transportation and supply chain student and employer preferences and perceptions regarding employment. Results provided include a demographic respondent profile, their organization /functional area preferences and their perspectives on selected entry-level employment issues. These research results are intended to provide employers, educators and students with information that can be used to improve job placement success

Comparison of Pulsed Electroacoustic Measurements and AF-NUMIT3 Modeling of Polymers Irradiated With Monoenergetic Electrons

Successful spacecraft design and charging mitigation techniques require precise and accurate knowledge of charge deposition profiles. This paper compares models of charge deposition and transport using a venerable deep dielectric charging code, AF-NUMIT3, with direct measurements of charge profiles via pulsed electroacoustic (PEA) measurements. Eight different simulations were performed for comparison to PEA experiments of samples irradiated by 50 or 80 keV monoenergetic electrons in vacuum and at room temperature. Two materials, polyether-ether ketone (PEEK) and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), were chosen for their very low conductivities so that minimal charge migration would occur between irradiation and PEA measurements. PEEK was found to have low acoustic attenuation, while PTFE has high acoustic attenuation through the sample thicknesses of 125 and 250 μm for each material. The measurements were directly compared to AF-NUMIT3 simulations to validate aspects of the code and to investigate the importance of various simulation options, as well as to characterize the PEA instrumentation, measurement methods, and signal processing used. The measurement and simulation values for magnitude of charge deposition, penetration depth, and charge deposition spatial profiles are largely in agreement, though spatial and temporal distributions in incident electron flux and effects of radiation-induced conductivity (RIC) and delayed RIC during the deposition process complicate the process. This work provides an experimental validation of the AF-NUMIT3 deep dielectric charging code and insight into the accuracy and precision of the PEA method