Livonian and Courlander nobility in Samogitia in the 17th and 18th century

The main issue of this paper is Livonian nobles’ immigration to Lithuania. This topic is very difficult to investigate, because of significant deficiency in sources presenting a registration of estates and real estate transactions from Livonia and Courland. There are no registers of owners, tenants, or pledgees of estates from Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the 16th to the 18th century and therefore primary sources for research presented in the paper are military and tax registers from 1567, 1621, 1667, 1690 and 1765. Unfortunately those registers have many disadvantages, which need to be highlighted. The author of the article analysed transformations of nobles’ surnames. The findings of this analysis show that in the above mentioned period of time several dozens of Livonian and Coulrand noble families settled in Samogitia. Those families were forced to leave Livonia as they remained loyal to the Polish king, although they also wanted to improve their economic status.     The paper was originally published as Inflantczycy i Kurlandczycy na Żmudzi w XVI–XVIII wieku, “Klio” 2015, vol. 35 (4), pp. 45–68; DOI: 10.12775/KLIO.2015.044

Integrated Planning in Hospitals: A Review

Efficient planning of scarce resources in hospitals is a challenging task for which a large variety of Operations Research and Management Science approaches have been developed since the 1950s. While efficient planning of single resources such as operating rooms, beds, or specific types of staff can already lead to enormous efficiency gains, integrated planning of several resources has been shown to hold even greater potential, and a large number of integrated planning approaches have been presented in the literature over the past decades. This paper provides the first literature review that focuses specifically on the Operations Research and Management Science literature related to integrated planning of different resources in hospitals. We collect the relevant literature and analyze it regarding different aspects such as uncertainty modeling and the use of real-life data. Several cross comparisons reveal interesting insights concerning, e.g., relations between the modeling and solution methods used and the practical implementation of the approaches developed. Moreover, we provide a high-level taxonomy for classifying different resource-focused integration approaches and point out gaps in the literature as well as promising directions for future research

Inflantczycy i Kurlandczycy na Żmudzi w XVI–XVIII wieku

W artykule podjęto problem napływu szlachty pochodzenia inflanckiego na ziemie litewskie. Jest on trudny do opracowania z powodu braku źródeł rejestrujących stan posiadania i transakcje majątkowe (ksiąg grodzkich, ziemskich) z terenu Inflant i Kurlandii. Nie ma też wykazów wszystkich właścicieli, dzierżawców i zastawników dóbr w Wielkim Księstwie Litewskim z XVI–XVIII wieku. Podstawą badań są popisy pospolitego ruszenia i rejestry podymnego z lat 1567, 1621, 1667, 1690 i 1765. Są to źródła zawodne, które tylko w pewnym stopniu mogą odzwierciedlać stan zaludnienia kraju, ale nie dysponujemy prawie żadnymi innymi dokumentami. Autor podjął się analizy dostępnych źródeł, zwracając uwagę m.in. na kwestię brzmienia nazwisk szlacheckich. Z przeprowadzonej analizy wynika, że w omawianym okresie na Żmudzi osiedliło się kilkadziesiąt rodzin inflanckich i kurlandzkich, zmuszonych do ucieczki z Inflant, dochowujących wierności królom Polski, ale też poszukujących na ziemiach litewskich łatwiejszego życia

Redesigning the diagnostic pathway for chest pain patients in emergency departments

This is the final version of the article. Available from Wiley via the DOI in this record.Patients presenting with chest pain at an emergency department in the United Kingdom receive troponin tests to assess the likelihood of an acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Until recently, serial testing with two blood samples separated by at least six hours was necessary in order to analyse the change in troponin levels over time. New high-sensitivity troponin tests, however, allow the inter-test time to be shortened from six to three hours. Recent evidence also suggests that the new generation of troponin tests can be used to rule out AMI on the basis of a single test if patients at low risk of AMI present with very low cardiac troponin levels more than three hours after onset of worst pain. This paper presents a discrete event simulation model to assess the likely impact on the number of hospital admissions if emergency departments adopt strategies for serial and single testing based on the use of high-sensitivity troponin. Data sets from acute trusts in the South West of England are used to quantify the resulting benefits.This publication is based on a project funded by the South West Academic Health Science Network (SW AHSN). The work of the authors is also funded by the National Institute for Health (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care South West Peninsula at the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR, the SW AHSN or the Department of Health

Streamlining pathways for minor injuries in emergency departments through radiographer-led discharge

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via the DOI in this record.Diagnostic imaging services are essential to the diagnosis pathway for many patients arriving at hospital emergency departments with a suspected fracture. Commonly, these patients need to be seen again by a doctor or emergency nurse practitioner after an X-ray image has been taken in order to finalise the diagnosis and determine the next stage in the patients’ pathway. Here, significant waiting times can accrue for these follow-up consultations after radiographic imaging although the vast majority of patients are discharged. Research evidence from pilot studies suggests that patients with minor appendicular injuries could be safely discharged by a suitably qualified radiographer directly after imaging thereby avoiding queues for repeated consultation. In this study, we model patient pathways through an emergency department (ED) at a hospital in the South West of England using process mapping, interviews with ED staff and discrete event simulation (DES). The DES model allowed us to compare the current practice at the hospital with scenarios using radiographer-led discharge of patients directly after imaging and assess the reduction in patients’ length of stay in ED. We also quantified trade-offs between the provision of radiographer-led discharge and its effects, i.e. reduction in waiting times and ED workload. Finally, we discuss how this decision support tool can be used to support understanding for patients and members of staff.Part of this research, i.e. the work of Martin Pitt and Sebastian Rachuba, was supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care South West Peninsula (NIHR CLAHRC South West Peninsula)

Integrated Planning in Hospitals:A Review

Efficient planning of scarce resources in hospitals is a challenging task for which a large variety of Operations Research and Management Science approaches have been developed since the 1950s. While efficient planning of single resources such as operating rooms, beds, or specific types of staff can already lead to enormous efficiency gains, integrated planning of several resources has been shown to hold even greater potential, and a large number of integrated planning approaches have been presented in the literature over the past decades.This paper provides the first literature review that focuses specifically on the Operations Research and Management Science literature related to integrated planning of different resources in hospitals. We collect the relevant literature and analyze it regarding different aspects such as uncertainty modeling and the use of real-life data. Several cross comparisons reveal interesting insights concerning, e.g., relations between the modeling and solution methods used and the practical implementation of the approaches developed. Moreover, we provide a high-level taxonomy for classifying different resource-focused integration approaches and point out gaps in the literature as well as promising directions for future research

After the Wall: Cinema and the Memory of Communist Repression in the Reunified Germany

As German reunification continues into its third decade, ever-­‐fewer Germans can claim direct historical memory of life under the dictatorship that once ruled the country’s east. German society’s understanding of this painful segment of its past is increasingly second-­‐hand; and the cultural work of portraying and remembering the shadowy regime of the German Democratic Republic is beginning to fall on mass media and entertainment. Film, literature, and popular culture, rather than personal memory, inform how modern Germans perceive the old regime in the east: which elements are most important and memorable, and whose stories are told. Film, by providing a direct visual rendering of the lost world of German communism, affords a crucial glimpse into modern Germany’s understanding of the Stasi tyranny that once ruled much of the country. The messages, tropes, and stories told in cinema mold the image younger generations hold of the former East Germany. The cosmopolitan, diverse, and socially conscious but market-­‐capitalist Federal Republic stands in stark contrast to the repressive and secretive Soviet-­‐bloc regime that once stood in the east. Understanding the image modern Germans hold of the defunct Stasi state is enlightening not just for the purposes of exploring modern German society and culture, but in learning how human beings cope through art with immense oppression and terror after-­‐the-­‐fact. By examining three separate pieces of film art from the post-­‐Wende era, this thesis will endeavor to glean how Germany in the 21st century remembers the struggle(s) against, and perpetration of, the repressive regime of the former East Germany. As with any artistic work, the particulars of various films about the subject will differ with the director—but the presence of overarching, common themes in the post-­‐reunification cinema of East Germany helps reveal modern German understandings of the country’s Cold War past. How and why were individuals targeted by state violence? How did individuals survive and resist tyrant? How is guilt assigned for the regime’s crimes against its targets? The issue of complicity—the overlap between victim and perpetrator, and the grey area surrounding those who were both tacitly involved in state repression but also victimized thereby—is another key element of post-­‐reunification GDR cinema. In such an authoritarian and conformist society, some individuals inevitably were caught in the regime’s crosshairs. What forms of resistance did they undertake, and how did they persevere in the face of sometimes crushing oppression?Bachelor of Art