An institutional perspective on information and communication technologies in governance

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are becoming increasing relevant in policy making and governance activities. However, the broad effects of digital governance have not been adequately conceptualised; conflicting assumptions vary from rather optimistic accounts of empowered citizens to even completely dismissing the potential of engagement through technical means. This research attempts to reposition the impact of ICTs on policy making and political communities. Drawing from institutional studies, an integrated perspective is synthesised to guide case investigations in three main directions: (1) the way influences from the institutional environment are understood and balanced locally, (2) the co-evolution of institutional and technological configurations and (3) the dynamic response of institutional actors to the challenge of online engagement. The empirical part focuses on two different contexts (local government authorities and a trade union federation) that cover the holistic objective of this study. The findings inform on the extent to which ICTs are actually merging with existing governance structures. Both studies show that policy making is fundamentally different from other activities at the general intersection of Internet and politics. Citizens form online communities to organise ad hoc around single issue movements. However, this does not necessarily translate into sustainable and meaningful participation in formal politics. Hence, adapting institutional structures emerges as a complicated challenge beyond fitting technical means into existing engagement activities. On this basis, the thesis questions the extent to which policy making mechanisms are able to enact engagement from the grassroots, as for example encouraged by the social media collaboration philosophy. Implications for practice show how the alignment between new tools and the existing norms has the potential to identify paths of least resistance, and then exploit them to accomplish positives changes whose beneficial effects should not be taken for granted.Department of Information Systems and Computing, Brunel Universit

Democratic Decision-making In The Infomration Society: Exploring Stakeholders’ VIEWS

Exploiting the relationship between democratic decision-making and the underlying technical infrastructure of the Information Society raises important issues of how various stakeholders perceive potential innovations and the role of technology in political activities. The connection between people, technology and politics is a concept usually referred to as eDemocracy. Its practices span from systems developed within the sphere of eGovernment to non-institutional initiatives which emerge through experience and mobilize political expression using ad hoc online means, such as blogs and social networking groups. This paper identifies this diversity and discusses explanatory findings on different perceptions of key stakeholders, examining how the concept of democracy as an online activity is compatible with their experiences and interests. At the next step, it suggests that research should compare and evaluate these diverse practices by importing concepts of stakeholder thinking. The outcome of this research would provide important added value into exploring and balancing different opinions and objectives towards sustainable development of the eDemocracy agenda within Information Society’s policies. We present our ideas by examining the case of a system which has drawn much attention during the last years: the UK Prime Minister’s ePetitions

Η εφαρμογή των Κλειστών Ενοποιημένων Νοσηλίων (KEN-DRGs) σε Ογκολογικά Περιστατικά

Ο βασικός σκοπός της μελέτης ήταν η αξιολόγηση των Κλειστών Ενοποιημένων Νοσήλιων (ΚΕΝ) τα οποία αποτελούν την ελληνική εκδοχή του συστήματος αποζημίωσης DRG, κυρίως μέσα από τη διαδικασία της σύγκρισης των τιμών συγκεκριμένων κωδικών KEN που χρεώθηκαν σε ογκολογικά περιστατικά και ανήκουν επί το πλείστον στην 17η Κύρια Διαγνωστική Κατηγορία των KEN, δηλαδή στις «Νεοπλαστικές δυσλειτουργίες», με το μέσο πραγματικό κόστος των περιστατικών αυτών. Ταυτόχρονα αξιολογήθηκαν και οι διαφορές μεταξύ της προβλεπόμενης ΜΔΝ των κωδικών KEN και της πραγματικής ΜΔΝ των επιλεγμένων περιπτώσεων. Τα δεδομένα της συγκεκριμένης μελέτης, αφορούσαν το σύνολο των ασθενών που νοσηλεύτηκαν στις δύο (2) παθολογικές κλινικές του Γ.Ν.Α. «ΙΠΠΟΚΡΑΤΕΙΟ» για τα έτη 2014 & 2015. Το πρώτο στάδιο της έρευνας ήταν ο κοστολογικός προσδιορισμός του λειτουργικού κόστους των παραπάνω κλινικών του νοσοκομείου μελέτης και του μέσου κόστους ανά ημέρα νοσηλείας αντίστοιχα. Στο επόμενο στάδιο, που είχε σαν βασικό στόχο την αξιολόγηση των τιμών και της μέσης διάρκειας νοσηλείας των ΚΕΝ, επιλέχθηκαν ως στοχευμένο δείγμα για περαιτέρω ανάλυση, τα περιστατικά στα οποία χρεώθηκε ογκολογικό ΚΕΝ το οποίο ανήκει στα πρώτα δεκατρία (13) σε συχνότητα με βάση τα στοιχεία τιμολόγησης των περιστατικών που νοσηλεύτηκαν στις δύο (2) παθολογικές κλινικές για τα έτη 2014 & 2015. Επιπλέον, στο πλαίσιο της παρούσας μελέτης, αναπτύχθηκαν δύο προτεινόμενα μοντέλα επανυπολογισμού των τιμών KEΝ για τους 13 αυτούς κωδικούς, με βάση το μέσο πραγματικό κόστος νοσηλείας των περιστατικών. Τα αποτελέσματα της μελέτης καταδεικνύουν ότι στην πλειονότητά τους οι τιμές των εξεταζόμενων ογκολογικών κωδικών KEN καθώς και η αντίστοιχες ΜΔΝ, υπολείπονται σημαντικά σε σχέση με το μέσο πραγματικό κόστος νοσηλείας και την πραγματική ΜΔΝ για κάθε ομάδα ομοειδών περιπτώσεων του στοχευμένου δείγματος. Συμπερασματικά, όσον αφορά το υφιστάμενο σύστημα αποζημίωσης των ΚΕΝ, μέσα από την παρούσα μελέτη διαφαίνεται η ανάγκη το υπάρχον σύστημα να εξελιχθεί σε ένα ολοκληρωμένο DRG σύστημα, το οποίο να λαμβάνει υπόψη του τα ετήσια κοστολογικά δεδομένα της πλειοψηφίας των Ελληνικών Νοσοκομείων και πιθανώς τις ιδιαιτερότητες του καθενός από αυτά. Επιπλέον, πρέπει να τονιστεί ότι η παρούσα μελέτη, καθώς και άλλες αντίστοιχες, καθιστούν δυνατή την γνώση του πραγματικού κόστους της νοσηλείας και μπορούν να συμβάλουν με την πάροδο του χρόνου στη δημιουργία μιας βάσης δεδομένων κοστολογικών στοιχείων σε επίπεδο νοσοκομείων ή συγκεκριμένων κλινικών.Objectives: The main aim of this study was to evaluate the Greek version of the DRG reimbursement system (KEN-DRG) and to compare the KEN-DRG prices with the average actual cost of each group of study cases. Along with other aspects, the differences between the KEN-DRG average length of stay (ALoS) and the actual ALoS was evaluated in selected cases. Methods: In the first part of the study, the top-down costing approach was selected in order to break down the total operating costs of hospital by hospital department. The aim of this stage was the identification of the total operating costs and the average cost per patient day for each Internal Medicine Department of the “Hippokration” general hospital of Athens during the period 2014-2015. The final cost drivers were identified using the concept of cluster-related incidents in the hospital. In a subsequent stage, the thirteen most frequent oncological KEN-DRG prices charged by Internal Medicine Departments were selected as a sample for further data analysis. Results: With regard to the costing of oncological KEN-DRG, the present study illustrates that a majority of the current reimbursement rates for oncological KEN-DRG codes are under-reimbursed, taking into account the actual costs of hospitalization for each group of cases. The results also reveal that the ALoS of KEN-DRG does not reflect the actual ALoS in the sample of cases examined. In addition, under the scope of this study, two proposed models for KEN-DRG price recalculation were developed, based on the average estimated cost of hospitalization for the sample incidents, which could improve the existing reimbursement system for Greek hospitals in the medium term. Conclusions: The KEN-DRG payment system that was implemented in Greece for the first time in 2012 did not deliver the expected benefits and needs redesign in terms of the true cost of hospital services and the actual cost of each patient’s treatment. With regard to the existing KEN-DRG reimbursement system, the current study suggested the use of a DRG price calculation model that consists of a relative weights factor and a base price, based on a real cost calculation process on an annual basis. Moreover, it should be stressed that the present study, as well as other related studies, make it possible to know the actual cost of hospitalization and can contribute to the creation of a cost database over time at the level of hospitals or specific clinical departments

Social networking for membership engagement in nonprofit organisations: a trade union study

Similar to the majority of public authorities internationally, many non-profit organisations are considering using Web 2.0tools to establish online interactions with their members. However, such organisations encounter practical difficulties withassessing the impact of Web 2.0 tools and aligning them with the expectations of their audience. The limited availability ofrelevant empirical work provides the motivation to reflect on the findings of a research survey conducted with the membersof a Greek trade union organisation. Guided by the survey results, union officials are able to better consider an onlineengagement strategy. For example, contrasting preliminary expectations, most union members did anticipate benefits fromthe union’s presence on Facebook and appeared willing not to draw fixed boundaries between their personal and workinglife. The study illustrates how research and continuous monitoring can contribute to realising the value of networkingtechnologies within the naturally complicated socio-political environment of such organisations

SPORTS: SOCIAL INCLUSION OR RACISM AND XENOPHOBIA?

ABSTRACT included in article. Additionally, 2007 conference presentation paper also attached

VITALAS at TRECVID-2008

In this paper, we present our experiments in TRECVID 2008 about High-Level feature extraction task. This is the first year for our participation in TRECVID, our system adopts some popular approaches that other workgroups proposed before. We proposed 2 advanced low-level features NEW Gabor texture descriptor and the Compact-SIFT Codeword histogram. Our system applied well-known LIBSVM to train the SVM classifier for the basic classifier. In fusion step, some methods were employed such as the Voting, SVM-base, HCRF and Bootstrap Average AdaBoost(BAAB)

An institutional perspective on information and communication technologies in governance

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are becoming increasing relevant in policy making and governance activities. However, the broad effects of digital governance have not been adequately conceptualised; conflicting assumptions vary from rather optimistic accounts of empowered citizens to even completely dismissing the potential of engagement through technical means. This research attempts to reposition the impact of ICTs on policy making and political communities. Drawing from institutional studies, an integrated perspective is synthesised to guide case investigations in three main directions: (1) the way influences from the institutional environment are understood and balanced locally, (2) the co-evolution of institutional and technological configurations and (3) the dynamic response of institutional actors to the challenge of online engagement. The empirical part focuses on two different contexts (local government authorities and a trade union federation) that cover the holistic objective of this study. The findings inform on the extent to which ICTs are actually merging with existing governance structures. Both studies show that policy making is fundamentally different from other activities at the general intersection of Internet and politics. Citizens form online communities to organise ad hoc around single issue movements. However, this does not necessarily translate into sustainable and meaningful participation in formal politics. Hence, adapting institutional structures emerges as a complicated challenge beyond fitting technical means into existing engagement activities. On this basis, the thesis questions the extent to which policy making mechanisms are able to enact engagement from the grassroots, as for example encouraged by the social media collaboration philosophy. Implications for practice show how the alignment between new tools and the existing norms has the potential to identify paths of least resistance, and then exploit them to accomplish positives changes whose beneficial effects should not be taken for granted.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo