Towards panel data specifications of efficiency measures for English acute hospitals

This paper reports work undertaken for the Department of Health to explore different approaches of measuring hospital efficiency. The emphasis throughout is on developing adjusted cost-efficiency measures in line with NHS Trusts performance objectives. Previous work described the derivation of three residual-based cost indices (CCI, 2CCI and 3CCI), each with increasing adjustment in terms of case mix, factor prices and environmental factors for a single year’s data (1995/6) (Söderlund & van der Merwe, 1999). This study explores further options based on the previous work by: (1) supplementing hospital level with specialty level data; (2) studying a 4-year panel from 1994/5 to 1997/8; (3) estimating models with non-symmetric error terms and including Trust-specific effects when measuring inefficiency. Although the paper argues that panel data models may have certain advantages over cross-sectional ones, the results suggest that data pooling across years provide robust parameter estimates. Longitudinal fixed effect models may however be useful to construct efficiency indices while stochastic frontier models have the advantage of taking account of random noise. Specialty level models proved inferior to whole hospital estimations. The paper argues that the degree of variation between hospitals in terms of efficiency is not that great and scope for efficiency enhancement is primarily attainable by optimising capacity and activity levels in the long run. Increased activity levels may however have adverse consequences such as increased hospital infection rates, poorer quality of care and a lack of capacity to deal with emergency demand. The paper argues that the Department of Health might consider a shift from the adjusted cost index approach used in this normative benchmarking framework to the more conventional efficiency analysis approach using a total cost function, and more flexible functional forms, allowing for a more defensible interpretation of the residuals as inefficiency.efficiency

Surface-sampled simulations of turbulent flow at high Reynolds number

A new approach to turbulence simulation, based on a combination of large-eddy simulation (LES) for the whole flow and an array of non-space-filling quasi-direct numerical simulations (QDNS), which sample the response of near-wall turbulence to large-scale forcing, is proposed and evaluated. The technique overcomes some of the cost limitations of turbulence simulation, since the main flow is treated with a coarse-grid LES, with the equivalent of wall functions supplied by the near-wall sampled QDNS. Two cases are tested, at friction Reynolds number Re$_\tau$=4200 and 20,000. The total grid node count for the first case is less than half a million and less than two million for the second case, with the calculations only requiring a desktop computer. A good agreement with published DNS is found at Re$_\tau$=4200, both in terms of the mean velocity profile and the streamwise velocity fluctuation statistics, which correctly show a substantial increase in near-wall turbulence levels due to a modulation of near-wall streaks by large-scale structures. The trend continues at Re$_\tau$=20,000, in agreement with experiment, which represents one of the major achievements of the new approach. A number of detailed aspects of the model, including numerical resolution, LES-QDNS coupling strategy and sub-grid model are explored. A low level of grid sensitivity is demonstrated for both the QDNS and LES aspects. Since the method does not assume a law of the wall, it can in principle be applied to flows that are out of equilibrium.Comment: Author accepted version. Accepted for publication in the International Journal for Numerical Methods in Fluids on 26 April 201

Scholarly communication the information chain and technology: analyses and reflexions

It is no longer easy to adopt deterministic explanations of scholarly communication, technology or the information chain. Complex and reflexive relations have built up between the substantive and methodological literatures relevant to these topics. This thesis aims to explore these relations with reference to two sets of interviews, one with academicr esearchersa nd the other with information professionals. These interviews were conducted in 1998-9 during the FIDDO Project, a part of the UK Joint Information Systems Committee `Electronic Libraries Programme'. Two major theoretical perspectives are employed to support two analytic methodologies. The first is social constructivism, which is representedm ethodologically in the thesis by discourse analysis. The second is actor-network theory, which is represented methodologically by co-word analysis. Both of these approaches are engaged in questions of relativism and realism in social explanation. The implementation of each of the methodologies involves innovative moves. The discourse analysis is focused on personal deixis (self-reference) located by pronoun-use, and on interest management. The co-word analysis is adapted from a scientometric technique and supplemented by the use of categorical definitions of the three topics. Each methodology is employed to analyse both sets of interviews. The four resulting sets of findings are presented in terms of the boundaries apparent between the three topical concepts. The boundaries between scholarly communication, technology and the information chain are found to vary, for example according to the identities of the interviewees responsible for the data. They also vary according to the methodology employed. Discourse analysis of interviews with information professionals suggests that the idea of technology is deployed as a dual repertoire, consisting of empowerment and automation, and that the pattern of this deployment is one constituent of the contested boundaries between the three topics. Co-word analysis of the same interviews suggests that an important focus of the boundaries is around the idea of electronic journals. Discourse analysis of interviews with academicr esearchersa lso reveals use of the dual technology repertoire, but in addition suggests that the category of formal scholarly communication acts to legitimate the interests of researchers. Co-word analysis of the same interviews suggests that a number of models of document access were in play, including those based on the library, on paper and on documents. The implications of these substantive analyses include that studies based on `user needs' or the `impact of technology' could benefit from an analysis of how such topics are constructed in particular accounts. Finally, the question is addressed as to the extent that the results of the discourse and the co-word analyses (of the same data) are compatible so that they can be meaningfully synthesised. That is, do the two approaches give rise to outcomes that have similar epistemological status? The question is answered `empirically' with reference to the issueo f reflexivity as it is configured in the two approachesa, nd it is confirmed that the two types of outcome are not compatible due to profound differences in the positions adopted by their respective informing theories. The methodological implications of this include that those engaged in relativist research practice need to be aware the ways in which epistemological and reflexive issues are relevant to their actions

Digital research policies in the UK

Presentation given at the PASTEUR4OA conference - Green Light for Open Access: Aligning Europe’s OA Policies, Amsterdam, 17th-18th May 2016

Reviewing an integrated MBA core course: Working paper series--03-16

Entering the new century, business education must respond to changes in the work environment. The traditional job as we have known it is rapidly becoming rarer, and students find themselves in an environment of higher complexity, more competition, and faster change. Employers state that students are often unprepared to meet challenges of the new work environment. In response to these influences, a team of educators at Northern Arizona University's College of Business Administration redesigned their MBA program. Based on surveys of employers, alumni and others, core courses of the MBA program became functionally integrated, cross-disciplinary, more outcome-oriented, and more rigorous. The program core was integrated in its entirety; then, components of the core were "chunked" to fit traditional time slots for administrative reasons. This paper describes design and implementation efforts for one MBA core component: Individuals, Teams, and Careers. This component presents students with an integrated view of their own strengths and weaknesses as they relate to personal, team, and career issues for students' pursuit of careers after graduation. Course content is strongly based on self-evaluations by students, then moves into group interaction strategies and skills, and finally focuses on reciprocal interactions of the person and the work environment. The multiple foci of this component include students' careers as future managers, management of their own careers and career mentorship of subordinates. Content development for the MBA program core, and thus for this component was a team effort, negotiated among the MBA redesign team. Six team members represented traditional functional areas of economics, finance, accounting, marketing, management, and computer information systems. Development and implementation of Individuals, Teams, and Careers fell to the authors as members of the MBA core faculty representing the management area. Course topics were team-taught by two management faculty members, as well as by economics, marketing, business law, and human resources faculty. In addition, guest presenters included specialists in leadership, arbitration, and a retired career manager who had been President of IBM's General Products Division. In its first iteration, the Individuals, Teams, and Careers component was presented during semester break between the first and second semesters of the MBA program. With this medial position in the core, much of the team content was based on students' retrospective views of team interaction and performance during the first half of the program. The course has since been moved to the beginning of the course sequence. In this current position, this "chunk" appears as one of two initial program components and fulfills the socialization and expectations-setting function for individual and team performance in the program, as well as addressing career management at the start of the program. This paper describes the integrated content of this MBA program component, including its multiple focus and its outcome orientation. In addition, dimensions of the team-teaching experience in this course component are examined. Finally, students' responses to this component are reported, relative to content and pedagogy. We expect other educators will benefit from seeing Northern Arizona University's response to the dramatically changing environment of the 21st century

Super-orbital re-entry in Australia - laboratory measurement, simulation and flight observation

There are large uncertainties in the aerothermodynamic modelling of super-orbital re-entry which impact the design of spacecraft thermal protection systems (TPS). Aspects of the thermal environment of super-orbital re-entry flows can be simulated in the laboratory using arc- and plasma jet facilities and these devices are regularly used for TPS certification work [5]. Another laboratory device which is capable of simulating certain critical features of both the aero and thermal environment of super-orbital re-entry is the expansion tube, and three such facilities have been operating at the University of Queensland in recent years[10]. Despite some success, wind tunnel tests do not achieve full simulation, however, a virtually complete physical simulation of particular re-entry conditions can be obtained from dedicated flight testing, and the Apollo era FIRE II flight experiment [2] is the premier example which still forms an important benchmark for modern simulations. Dedicated super-orbital flight testing is generally considered too expensive today, and there is a reluctance to incorporate substantial instrumentation for aerothermal diagnostics into existing missions since it may compromise primary mission objectives. An alternative approach to on-board flight measurements, with demonstrated success particularly in the ‘Stardust’ sample return mission, is remote observation of spectral emissions from the capsule and shock layer [8]. JAXA’s ‘Hayabusa’ sample return capsule provides a recent super-orbital reentry example through which we illustrate contributions in three areas: (1) physical simulation of super-orbital re-entry conditions in the laboratory; (2) computational simulation of such flows; and (3) remote acquisition of optical emissions from a super-orbital re entry event

Nitrogen fixation by the savanna tree Philenoptera violacea (Klotzsch) Schrire (Apple leaf) of different ages in a semi-arid riparian landscape

AbstractThe acquisition of nitrogen for growth and maintenance is essential for plants, and having multiple strategies for that acquisition is especially important for those colonizing nutrient poor substrates. Philenoptera violacea (Apple leaf) is a prominent tree in nutrient poor savanna and alluvial soils near rivers in southern Africa, where nutrient availabilities are highly variable in space and time. We investigated nitrogen fixation in P. violacea within riparian corridors flanking the Sabie River in Kruger National Park (KNP) in the Lowveld in northeastern South Africa using the natural 15N abundance technique. Results indicated that P. violacea fixes atmospheric nitrogen and this varies with life history stage. We found that foliar δ15N levels were significantly lower in all life stage classes of P. violacea compared with the reference plant D. mespiliformis growing in open riparian forest. In addition δ15N values were significantly different within the different life stages of P. violacea with the leaves of saplings and juvenile plants having significantly lower δ15N levels than mature plants. While δ15N values increased with age, foliar nitrogen concentration values declined, with leaves from sapling P. violacea having significantly higher total nitrogen than adults and juveniles, which were in turn significantly higher than juvenile D. mespiliformis. However, foliar δ15N levels in seedlings of P. violacea growing in a high nutrient environment in flood debris piles did not differ from levels recorded in seedlings of the reference tree. This study confirms that P. violacea is able to fix nitrogen, but it is dependant on soil conditions and the life stage of the trees

Juries in U.S. Patent Cases: A Comparative Portrait of the Boundaries of Democracy

“It is clear that juries will necessarily differ in ‘competence,’ but it is at best incongruous to suggest that a society that sends its citizens routinely into space could never produce a jury competent to determine a case some judge might consider too ‘complex’ for people with ‘common experience’ to decide.