Healthcare services managers: what information do they need and use?

Objectives: To gain insight into the information behaviour of healthcare services managers as they draw on information while engaged in decision making unrelated to individual patient care. Objectives – The purpose of this research project was to gain insight into the information behaviour of healthcare services managers as they use information while engaged in decision-making unrelated to individual patient care. Methods – This small-scale, exploratory, multiple case study used the critical incident technique in nineteen semi-structured interviews. Responses were analyzed using ‘Framework,’ a matrix-based content analysis system. Results – This paper presents findings related to the internal information that healthcare services managers need and use. Their decisions are influenced by a wide variety of factors. They must often make decisions without all of the information they would prefer to have. Internal information and practical experience set the context for new research-based information, so they are generally considered first. Conclusions – Healthcare services managers support decisions with both facts and value-based information. These results may inform both delivery of health library services delivery and strategic health information management planning. They may also support librarians who extend their skills beyond managing library collections and teaching published information retrieval skills, to managing internal and external information, teaching information literacy, and supporting information sharing

Age validation, growth, mortality, and demographic modeling of spotted gully shark (Triakis megalopterus) from the southeast coast of South Africa

This study documents validation of vertebral band-pair formation in spotted gully shark (Triakis megalopterus) with the use of fluorochrome injection and tagging of captive and wild sharks over a 21-year period. Growth and mortality rates of T. megalopterus were also estimated and a demographic analysis of the species was conducted. Of the 23 OTC (oxytetracycline) -marked vertebrae examined (12 from captive and 11 from wild sharks), seven vertebrae (three from captive and four from wild sharks) exhibited chelation of the OTC and fluoresced under ultraviolet light. It was concluded that a single opaque and translucent band pair was deposited annually up to at least 25 years of age, the maximum age recorded. Reader precision was assessed by using an index of average percent error calculated at 5%. No significant differences were found between male and female growth patterns (P>0.05), and von Bertalanffy growth model parameters for combined sexes were estimated to be L∞=1711.07 mm TL, k=0.11/yr and t0=–2.43 yr (n=86). Natural mortality was estimated at 0.17/yr. Age at maturity was estimated at 11 years for males and 15 years for females. Results of the demographic analysis showed that the population, in the absence of fishing mortality, was stable and not significantly different from zero and particularly sensitive to overfishing. At the current age at first capture and natural mortality rate, the fishing mortality rate required to result in negative population growth was low at F>0.004/ yr. Elasticity analysis revealed that juvenile survival was the principal factor in explaining variability in population growth rate

Comparative Monte Carlo Efficiency by Monte Carlo Analysis

We propose a modified power method for computing the subdominant eigenvalue $\lambda_2$ of a matrix or continuous operator. Here we focus on defining simple Monte Carlo methods for its application. The methods presented use random walkers of mixed signs to represent the subdominant eigenfuction. Accordingly, the methods must cancel these signs properly in order to sample this eigenfunction faithfully. We present a simple procedure to solve this sign problem and then test our Monte Carlo methods by computing the $\lambda_2$ of various Markov chain transition matrices. We first computed ${\lambda_2}$ for several one and two dimensional Ising models, which have a discrete phase space, and compared the relative efficiencies of the Metropolis and heat-bath algorithms as a function of temperature and applied magnetic field. Next, we computed $\lambda_2$ for a model of an interacting gas trapped by a harmonic potential, which has a mutidimensional continuous phase space, and studied the efficiency of the Metropolis algorithm as a function of temperature and the maximum allowable step size $\Delta$. Based on the $\lambda_2$ criterion, we found for the Ising models that small lattices appear to give an adequate picture of comparative efficiency and that the heat-bath algorithm is more efficient than the Metropolis algorithm only at low temperatures where both algorithms are inefficient. For the harmonic trap problem, we found that the traditional rule-of-thumb of adjusting $\Delta$ so the Metropolis acceptance rate is around 50% range is often sub-optimal. In general, as a function of temperature or $\Delta$, $\lambda_2$ for this model displayed trends defining optimal efficiency that the acceptance ratio does not. The cases studied also suggested that Monte Carlo simulations for a continuum model are likely more efficient than those for a discretized version of the model.Comment: 23 pages, 8 figure

Stochastic population forecasts using functional data models for mortality, fertility and migration

Age-sex-specific population forecasts are derived through stochastic population renewal using forecasts of mortality, fertility and net migration. Functional data models with time series coefficients are used to model age-specific mortality and fertility rates. As detailed migration data are lacking, net migration by age and sex is estimated as the difference between historic annual population data and successive populations one year ahead derived from a projection using fertility and mortality data. This estimate, which includes error, is also modeled using a functional data model. The three models involve different strengths of the general Box-Cox transformation chosen to minimise out-of-sample forecast error. Uncertainty is estimated from the model, with an adjustment to ensure the one-step-forecast variances are equal to those obtained with historical data. The three models are then used in the Monte Carlo simulation of future fertility, mortality and net migration, which are combined using the cohort-component method to obtain age-specific forecasts of the population by sex. The distribution of forecasts provides probabilistic prediction intervals. The method is demonstrated by making 20-year forecasts using Australian data for the period 1921-2003.Fertility forecasting, functional data, mortality forecasting, net migration, nonparametric smoothing, population forecasting, principal components, simulation.

Mind-reading versus neuromarketing: how does a product make an impact on the consumer?

Purpose – This research study aims to illustrate the mapping of each consumer’s mental processes in a market-relevant context. This paper shows how such maps deliver operational insights that cannot be gained by physical methods such as brain imaging. Design/methodology/approach – A marketed conceptual attribute and a sensed material characteristic of a popular product were varied across presentations in a common use. The relative acceptability of each proposition was rated together with analytical descriptors. The mental interaction that determined each consumer’s preferences was calculated from the individual’s performance at discriminating each viewed sample from a personal norm. These personal cognitive characteristics were aggregated into maps of demand in the market for subpanels who bought these for the senses or for the attribute. Findings – Each of 18 hypothesized mental processes dominated acceptance in at least a few individuals among both sensory and conceptual purchasers. Consumers using their own descriptive vocabulary processed the factors in appeal of the product more centrally. The sensory and conceptual factors tested were most often processed separately, but a minority of consumers treated them as identical. The personal ideal points used in the integration of information showed that consumers wished for extremes of the marketed concept that are technologically challenging or even impossible. None of this evidence could be obtained from brain imaging, casting in question its usefulness in marketing. Research limitations/implications – Panel mapping of multiple discriminations from a personal norm fills three major gaps in consumer marketing research. First, preference scores are related to major influences on choices and their cognitive interactions in the mind. Second, the calculations are completed on the individual’s data and the cognitive parameters of each consumer’s behavior are aggregated – never the raw scores. Third, discrimination scaling puts marketed symbolic attributes and sensed material characteristics on the same footing, hence measuring their causal interactions for the first time. Practical implications – Neuromarketing is an unworkable proposition because brain imaging does not distinguish qualitative differences in behavior. Preference tests are operationally effective when designed and analyzed to relate behavioral scores to major influences from market concepts and sensory qualities in interaction. The particular interactions measured in the reported study relate to the major market for healthy eating. Originality/value – This is the first study to measure mental interactions among determinants of preference, as well as including both a marketed concept and a sensed characteristic. Such an approach could be of great value to consumer marketing, both defensively and creatively

The community health apprentices project-the outcomes of an intermediate labour market project in the community health sector

This paper reports on the outcomes of the Community Health Apprentices Project, an intermediate labour market (ILM) project delivered in two neighbouring areas of Bradford, England. The project was illustrative of current UK policy in its attempt to both address unemployment and health inequalities. The aim of the paper is to improve understanding of the type and range of outcomes that can result from ILM projects based in the community health sector. A qualitative evaluation was undertaken and interviews were carried out with three groups of stakeholders: the community health apprentices, key informants in the placement organisations and the delivery partners. Findings show that both anticipated and unanticipated outcomes occurred in relation to increased skills for work, improved health and well-being and improved organisational capacity. While there are contextual factors which make this project unique, the findings illustrate the potential range of outcomes that can be achieved when social and emotional support is offered in tandem with work experience. The findings further highlight the organisational benefits of investing in local people to deliver community health work. The paper concludes that in order to build an evidence base for ILM approaches, a broader understanding of outcomes needs to be developed, taking into account social and health outcomes as well as economic indicators

Nonlinear microwave response of MgB2

We calculate the intrinsic nonlinear microwave response of the two gap superconductor MgB2 in the clean and dirty limits. Due to the small value of the pi band gap, the nonlinear response at low temperatures is larger than for a single gap Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) s-wave superconductor with a transition temperature of 40 K. Comparing this result with the intrinsic nonlinear d-wave response of YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO) we find a comparable response at temperatures around 20 K. Due to its two gap nature, impurity scattering in MgB2 can be used to reduce the nonlinear response if the scattering rate in the pi band is made larger than the one in the sigma band.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure