6,878 research outputs found
Factors Influencing Employer Attitudes towards Vocational Education
This study tested a conceptual model to determine the strengths and directions of relationshzps
between selected predictor variables and the attitude of employers about vocational education.
Personal characteristics of employers and characteristics of the firm served as predictor variables.
Variables significantly related with employer attitude were type of business, employee educational
level, years in business, sex and age. The set of varaibles of personal characteristics and the firm each
uniquely. explained a portion of the variance in employer attitudes. Whether or not the employer
operated a service type of business and the sex of the employer were the two variables which best
predicted employer attitude toward vocational education. Service employers and male employers
possessed the more positive attitude
METHODOLOGY FOR TREND ANALYSIS AND PROJECTION OF PRODUCTION, MARKET SHARES, AND CONSUMPTION
Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,
A KM perspective on implementing an electronic patient record within an NHS hospital
The Electronic Patient Record (EPR) is being developed by many hospitals in the UK and across the globe. We class an EPR system as a type of Knowledge Management System (KMS), in that it is a technological tool developed to support the process of knowledge management (KM). Healthcare organisations aim to use these systems to provide a vehicle for more informed and improved clinical decision making thereby delivering reduced errors and risks, enhanced quality and consequently offering enhanced patient safety. Finding an effective way for a healthcare organisation to practically implement these systems is essential. In this study we use the concept of the business process approach to KM as a theoretical lens to analyse and explore how a large NHS teaching hospital developed, executed and practically implemented an EPR system. This theory advocates the importance of taking into account all organizational activities - the business processes - in considering any KM initiatives. Approaching KM through business processes allows for a more holistic view of the requirements across a process: emphasis is placed on how particular activities are performed, how they are structured and what knowledge demanded and not just supplied across each process. This falls in line with the increased emphasis in healthcare on patient-centred approaches to care delivery. We have found in previous research that hospitals are happy with the delivery of patient care being referred to as their 'business'. A qualitative study was conducted over a two and half year period with data collected from semi-structured interviews with eight members of the strategic management team, 12 clinical users and 20 patients in addition to non- participant observation of meetings and documentary data. We believe that the inclusion of patients within the study may well be the first time this has been done in examining the implementation of a KMS. The theoretical propositions strategy was used as the overarching approach for data analysis. Here Initial theoretical research themes and propositions were used to help shape and organise the case study analysis. This paper will present preliminary findings about the hospital's business strategy and its links to the KMS strategy and process
An Invisible Quantum Tripwire
We present here a quantum tripwire, which is a quantum optical interrogation
technique capable of detecting an intrusion with very low probability of the
tripwire being revealed to the intruder. Our scheme combines interaction-free
measurement with the quantum Zeno effect in order to interrogate the presence
of the intruder without interaction. The tripwire exploits a curious nonlinear
behaviour of the quantum Zeno effect we discovered, which occurs in a lossy
system. We also employ a statistical hypothesis testing protocol, allowing us
to calculate a confidence level of interaction-free measurement after a given
number of trials. As a result, our quantum intruder alert system is robust
against photon loss and dephasing under realistic atmospheric conditions and
its design minimizes the probabilities of false positives and false negatives
as well as the probability of becoming visible to the intruder.Comment: Improved based on reviewers comments; 5 figure
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