Governing Boards and Profound Organizational Change in Hospitals

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/69047/2/10.1177_107755878904600204.pd

Safety vs. reputation: risk controversies in emerging policy networks regarding school safety in the Netherlands

This article deals with risk controversies in emerging policy networks regarding school safety in the Netherlands. It offers a grounded account of the interpretations of school risks and safety measures by the various stakeholders of the policy network, in particular, schools, local government and the police. Theoretically, policy networks are conceived as mediating between the structural conditions of the risk-society and the culture of fear on the one hand and the institution of safety standards on the organizational level of schools on the other hand. It is argued that in the low-risk context of schools, it is particularly important to take into account the soft, cultural side of safety next to the hard, material side of safety. This distinction also accounts for the ambiguities and controversies over school risks. A further conclusion is that in this network a lack of local leadership seems to hinder the development of firm safety measures. Overall, this article highlights the paradox between a concern for safety and a concern for a schools reputation. © 2012 Taylor & Francis

Evidence in action: a Thompsonian perspective on evidence-based decision-making in social work

Evidence-based practice presupposes evidence-based decision-making. In the debate it is argued that a social work fashioned after evidence should be more rational, less authoritarian and built on scientific knowledge, respect and ethics. Yet the empirical evidence that this idea works is weak. In fact the difficulties met during efforts to implement evidence could be a sound reaction. Indeed difficulties experienced could be a defensive organizational reaction to a new, disturbing technology. In this article James D. Thompson’s classical study Organizations in Action from 1967 is applied to evidence-based decision-making in social work. It shows to date that many problems have been given, at best, tenuous attention. It is argued that a focus on evidence will raise ambiguity and complexity levels within organizations and that new professional specialists will emerge. Further, new constellations of power will appear, leading to a change of balance within the domains of social work

Complementary impact of copepods and cladocerans on phytoplankton

The differences in the impact of two major groups of herbivorous zooplankton (Cladocera and Copepoda) on summer phytoplankton in a mesotrophic lake were studied. Field experiments were performed in which phytoplankton were exposed to different densities of two major types of herbivorous zooplankton, cladocerans and copepods. Contrary to expectation, neither of the two zooplankton groups significantly reduced phytoplankton biomass. However, there were strong and contrasting impacts on phytoplankton size structure and on individual taxa. Cladocerans suppressed small phytoplankton, while copepods suppressed large phytoplankton. The unaffected size classes compensated for the loss of those affected by enhanced growth. After contamination of the copepod mesocosms with the cladoceran Daphnia, the combined impact of both zooplankton groups caused a decline in total phytoplankton biomass

The Effect of The Eye’s Chromatic Aberration on Coaxial Photorefractive Patterns: A Geometrical Optical Analysis

Photorefractive methods provide rapid photographic measures of the refractive and accommodative states of infants and young children whose brief attention spans and limited cooperation reduce the effectiveness of more traditional methods such as retinoscopy and autorefraction. Three photographic methods have been designed: orthogonal1,2, isotropic2,3 and eccentric4,5,6. In all three methods, light from a small flash source set near the aperture of a camera lens is reflected from the eye and photographed as a pattern of light whose extent varies with the refractive error and pupil size of the eye. In the past, complicated ray traces, using detailed optical specifications of the camera system, were required to determine the theoretical relationship between the blur size and the refractive error. The authors have developed a novel geometrical optical analysis for all three methods in which the pattern is defined at the plane of focus of the camera. Because this plane is conjugate with the detector plane of the camera, the predicted size of the pattern can be determined simply by measuring the magnification of an object located at the camera’s plane of focus. This does not require knowledge of the optical design of the camera lens.</jats:p