Applying balanced scorecard methodology in public sector: The case of a vocational school in Greece

Balanced Scorecard is a very important tool for management and evaluation of the long-term organization strategy, which simultaneously observes the improvements at the efficient function, exploiting the most of the organization’s potentials and diffusing the progress to all the employees. The implementation of Balanced Scorecard took place at the 5th Laboratory Centre (LC) of East Attica during the school year 2016-17, after the goals had been set and the measurement indicators had been defined by the school’s administration stuff (School Head, Deputy School Head, Teachers responsible for LC Sectors, Teachers responsible for Direction Laboratories, Teachers Board). The results indicated that the vision, the objectives and the overall strategy of the organization had been clarified and communicated to all customers. The administrative control of the progress of the procedures was more effective and the daily actions were connected with the objectives of the organization. Also it is important that all employees aligned with the organization's long-term strategy, and, furthermore, redesigning the model was possible. In the long term the appropriate background for the ongoing development of the organization and its effectiveness improvement in a constantly changing environment was created

Applying balanced scorecard methodology in public sector: The case of a vocational school in Greece

Balanced Scorecard is a very important tool for management and evaluation of the long-term organization strategy, which simultaneously observes the improvements at the efficient function, exploiting the most of the organization’s potentials and diffusing the progress to all the employees. The implementation of Balanced Scorecard took place at the 5th Laboratory Centre (LC) of East Attica during the school year 2016-17, after the goals had been set and the measurement indicators had been defined by the school’s administration stuff (School Head, Deputy School Head, Teachers responsible for LC Sectors, Teachers responsible for Direction Laboratories, Teachers Board). The results indicated that the vision, the objectives and the overall strategy of the organization had been clarified and communicated to all customers. The administrative control of the progress of the procedures was more effective and the daily actions were connected with the objectives of the organization. Also it is important that all employees aligned with the organization's long-term strategy, and, furthermore, redesigning the model was possible. In the long term the appropriate background for the ongoing development of the organization and its effectiveness improvement in a constantly changing environment was created

Influenza vaccine effectiveness against influenza-associated hospitalization in children:A systematic review and meta-analysis

Vaccination remains the most effective way to prevent influenza infection, albeit vaccine effectiveness (VE) varies by year. Compared to other age groups, children and elderly adults have the highest risk of developing influenza-related complications and requiring hospitalization. During the last years, “test negative design” (TND) studies have been implemented in order to estimate influenza VE. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to summarize the findings of TND studies reporting influenza VE against laboratory-confirmed influenza-related hospitalization in children aged 6 months to 17 years. We searched the PubMed and Embase databases and identified 2615 non-duplicate studies that required detailed review. Among them, 28 met our inclusion criteria and we performed a random-effects meta-analysis using adjusted VE estimates. In our primary analysis, influenza vaccine offered significant protection against any type influenza-related hospitalization (57.48%; 95% CI 49.46–65.49). When we examined influenza VE per type and strain, VE was higher against H1N1 (74.07%; 95% CI: 54.85–93.30) and influenza B (50.87%; 95% CI: 41.75–59.98), and moderate against H3N2 (40.77%; 95% CI: 25.65–55.89). Notably, influenza vaccination offered higher protection in children who were fully vaccinated (61.79%; 95% CI: 54.45–69.13), compared to those who were partially vaccinated (33.91%; 95% CI: 21.12 – 46.69). Also, influenza VE was high in children less than 5 years old (61.71%; 95% CI: 49.29–74.12) as well as in children 6–17 years old (54.37%; 95% CI: 35.14–73.60). In conclusion, in the pediatric population, influenza vaccination offered significant protection against influenza-related hospitalization and complete annual vaccination should be encouraged

Varying Vaccination Rates Among Patients Seeking Care for Acute Respiratory Illness:A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Background: Complications following influenza infection are a major cause of morbidity and mortality, and the Centers for Disease Control Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommends universal annual vaccination. However, vaccination rates have remained significantly lower than the Department of Health and Human Services goal. The aim of this work was to assess the vaccination rate among patients who present to health care providers with influenza-like illness and identify groups with lower vaccination rates. Methods: We performed a systematic search of the PubMed and EMBASE databases with a time frame of January 1, 2010, to March 1, 2019 and focused on the vaccination rate among patients seeking care for acute respiratory illness in the United States. A random effects meta-analysis was performed to estimate the pooled seasonal influenza vaccination rate, and we used a time trend analysis to identify differences in annual vaccination over time. Results: The overall pooled influenza vaccination rate was 48.61% (whites: 50.87%; blacks: 36.05%; Hispanics: 41.45%). There was no significant difference among gender groups (men: 46.43%; women: 50.11%). Interestingly, the vaccination rate varied by age group and was significantly higher among adults aged >65 (78.04%) and significantly lower among children 9-17 years old (36.45%). Finally, we found a significant upward time trend in the overall influenza vaccination rate among whites (coef. = .0107; P = .027). Conclusions: In conclusion, because of the significantly lower influenza vaccination rates in black and Hispanic communities, societal initiatives and community outreach programs should focus on these populations and on children and adolescents aged 9-17 years

Reference Correlation of the Viscosity of Squalane from 273 to 373 K at 0.1 MPa

International audienceThe paper presents a new reference correlation for the viscosity of squalane at 0.1 MPa. The correlation should be valuable as it is the first to cover a moderately high viscosity range, from 3 to 118 mPa s. It is based on new viscosity measurements carried out for this work, as well as other critically evaluated experimental viscosity data from the literature. The correlation is valid from 273 to 373 K at 0.1 MPa. The average absolute percentage deviation of the fit is 0.67, and the expanded uncertainty, with a coverage factor k = 2, is 1.5%

Benevolent characteristics promote cooperative behaviour among humans

Cooperation is fundamental to the evolution of human society. We regularly observe cooperative behaviour in everyday life and in controlled experiments with anonymous people, even though standard economic models predict that they should deviate from the collective interest and act so as to maximise their own individual payoff. However, there is typically heterogeneity across subjects: some may cooperate, while others may not. Since individual factors promoting cooperation could be used by institutions to indirectly prime cooperation, this heterogeneity raises the important question of who these cooperators are. We have conducted a series of experiments to study whether benevolence, defined as a unilateral act of paying a cost to increase the welfare of someone else beyond one's own, is related to cooperation in a subsequent one-shot anonymous Prisoner's dilemma. Contrary to the predictions of the widely used inequity aversion models, we find that benevolence does exist and a large majority of people behave this way. We also find benevolence to be correlated with cooperative behaviour. Finally, we show a causal link between benevolence and cooperation: priming people to think positively about benevolent behaviour makes them significantly more cooperative than priming them to think malevolently. Thus benevolent people exist and cooperate more

A Model for the Development of the Rhizobial and Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Symbioses in Legumes and Its Use to Understand the Roles of Ethylene in the Establishment of these two Symbioses

We propose a model depicting the development of nodulation and arbuscular mycorrhizae. Both processes are dissected into many steps, using Pisum sativum L. nodulation mutants as a guideline. For nodulation, we distinguish two main developmental programs, one epidermal and one cortical. Whereas Nod factors alone affect the cortical program, bacteria are required to trigger the epidermal events. We propose that the two programs of the rhizobial symbiosis evolved separately and that, over time, they came to function together. The distinction between these two programs does not exist for arbuscular mycorrhizae development despite events occurring in both root tissues. Mutations that affect both symbioses are restricted to the epidermal program. We propose here sites of action and potential roles for ethylene during the formation of the two symbioses with a specific hypothesis for nodule organogenesis. Assuming the epidermis does not make ethylene, the microsymbionts probably first encounter a regulatory level of ethylene at the epidermis–outermost cortical cell layer interface. Depending on the hormone concentrations there, infection will either progress or be blocked. In the former case, ethylene affects the cortex cytoskeleton, allowing reorganization that facilitates infection; in the latter case, ethylene acts on several enzymes that interfere with infection thread growth, causing it to abort. Throughout this review, the difficulty of generalizing the roles of ethylene is emphasized and numerous examples are given to demonstrate the diversity that exists in plants