Establishing links between organizational climate, employee well-being and historical patient outcomes

This research undertaken in collaboration with Queensland Health analysed the links between dimensions of workplace climate/employee well-being contained in a number of Queensland Health databases, including the Patient Satisfaction Survey, the Clinical Incident database, the compliments and complaints database, the Variable Life Adjusted Display (VLAD) Database and the Better Workplaces Staff Opinion Survey database. Queensland Health sought to identify in what ways workplace climate is related to patient outcomes using existing datasets collected within the Queensland Health Centre for Healthcare Improvement. The process of establishing links involved matching aggregated data for specific facilities (where possible), or failing that, larger facilities (e.g. Hospital), or the Health Service District. Once the datasets had been matched on location or facility, correlations were calculated between the aggregated scores. The results demonstrated links between the data sets. These links showed that a better workplace climate is associated with greater reported numbers of clinical incidents, especially “no harm” clinical incidents. There was also a link between workplace climate and patient compliments/complaints which show that unsolicited compliments received from patients and their families are clearly related to a number of positive aspects of workplace climate (workplace morale, role clarity, and appraisal and recognition) and individual morale. The results linking workplace climate and patient satisfaction showed that there is a strong positive relationship between overall patient satisfaction and role clarity, and a negative relationship between overall patient satisfaction and both workplace distress and excessive work demands. While these results relate to historical data and therefore should not be construed to reflect the current state of operation within Queensland Health, they are still indicative of some very important relationships. This is the first study to demonstrate that more positive clinical management practices, better perceptions of the workplace climate and better employee well-being are a reflection of a better incident reporting and learning culture in a health care organization, ultimately resulting in improved patient outcomes

Classification of scale-free networks

While the emergence of a power law degree distribution in complex networks is intriguing, the degree exponent is not universal. Here we show that the betweenness centrality displays a power-law distribution with an exponent \eta which is robust and use it to classify the scale-free networks. We have observed two universality classes with \eta \approx 2.2(1) and 2.0, respectively. Real world networks for the former are the protein interaction networks, the metabolic networks for eukaryotes and bacteria, and the co-authorship network, and those for the latter one are the Internet, the world-wide web, and the metabolic networks for archaea. Distinct features of the mass-distance relation, generic topology of geodesics and resilience under attack of the two classes are identified. Various model networks also belong to either of the two classes while their degree exponents are tunable.Comment: 6 Pages, 6 Figures, 1 tabl

Enocuraging Participation: Facilitators and Inhibitors of Virtual World Acceptance

Much of the promise implicit in virtual worlds depends on a critical mass of virtual world users, making it important to understand how to encourage individuals to participate in virtual worlds. Therefore, the objective of this study is to propose an integrative and parsimonious theoretical framework that is specific to virtual world acceptance. As many existing technology acceptance models have been focused primarily on utilitarian technologies, these models may not be sufficient to explain individual acceptance of virtual worlds because of their unique nature; specifically, virtual worlds may be viewed as both hedonic and utilitarian technologies. Based upon the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) and a deep literature review of hedonic influences on acceptance, we parsimoniously identify potential constructs influential in virtual world acceptance by analyzing quantitative and qualitative data using a survey research method designed to elicit feedback from potential adopters. Our proposed model extends UTAUT to include hedonic influences as well as integrating an unexpected finding; acknowledging the role of inhibitors in virtual world acceptance

Sandpiles on multiplex networks

We introduce the sandpile model on multiplex networks with more than one type of edge and investigate its scaling and dynamical behaviors. We find that the introduction of multiplexity does not alter the scaling behavior of avalanche dynamics; the system is critical with an asymptotic power-law avalanche size distribution with an exponent $\tau = 3/2$ on duplex random networks. The detailed cascade dynamics, however, is affected by the multiplex coupling. For example, higher-degree nodes such as hubs in scale-free networks fail more often in the multiplex dynamics than in the simplex network counterpart in which different types of edges are simply aggregated. Our results suggest that multiplex modeling would be necessary in order to gain a better understanding of cascading failure phenomena of real-world multiplex complex systems, such as the global economic crisis.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure

Effects of chronic exposure to low doses of trichloroethylene on steroid hormone and insulin levels in normal men.

The aim of this study was to examine the serum levels of insulin and some adrenal steroid hormones in men chronically exposed to low doses of trichloroethylene (TCE). A total of 85 workers participated in this study. Each worker had urine collected and analyzed for trichloroacetic acids (UTCA) on the same day that a blood sample was taken for analyses of serum testosterone, sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), androstenedione, cortisol, aldosterone, and insulin. The mean concentration of environmental TCE was 29.6 ppm and the mean UTCA was 22.4 mg/g creatinine (range 0.8-136.4). TCE exposure did not cause any significant changes to the adrenal steroid hormone productions. The results showed that UTCA was significantly correlated to serum insulin levels. Insulin and SHBG responded in tandem, with the highest levels found in workers exposed to TCE for less than 2 years; levels of both parameters were significantly lowered in those exposed for more than 2 years. A triphasic response in insulin levels to TCE, which depended on the duration of exposure, was noted. Initial exposure caused an acute rise in insulin levels. This was followed by a fall to normal levels in those exposed 2-4 years and then a slight rise in those exposed for more than 6 years. The mechanism for this pattern of response to TCE exposure is yet unknown

Health status of older adults with Type 2 diabetes mellitus after aerobic or resistance training: A randomised trial

10.1186/1477-7525-9-59Health and Quality of Life Outcomes9

Network of Econophysicists: a weighted network to investigate the development of Econophysics

The development of Econophysics is studied from the perspective of scientific communication networks. Papers in Econophysics published from 1992 to 2003 are collected. Then a weighted and directed network of scientific communication, including collaboration, citation and personal discussion, is constructed. Its static geometrical properties, including degree distribution, weight distribution, weight per degree, and betweenness centrality, give a nice overall description of the research works. The way we introduced here to measure the weight of connections can be used as a general one to construct weighted network.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figure