The Introduction Of Management By Objectives Into the Buchanan, Michigan, Seventh-day Adventist Church

The most urgent concern of the twentieth-century church is building an effective working team composed of pastor and laymen (or lay people) that will be responsive to the commission of carrying the gospel to the world. Methods must be discovered so that intentional pastors can help bring intentional congregations into being. In the context of management by objectives, self-assessment and goal setting may be the means by which intentional congregations are created. If this is true, the pastor needs to know how to apply the concept of management by objectives to his ministry. To develop guidelines for the introduction of a system of management by objectives into the local church, models have been studied and literature surveyed in the areas of (1 ) theology of the church as an institution in need of management, (2 ) management by objectives in modern profit organizations, (3) management by objectives in non-profit organizations. In addition, surveys were conducted among members of one congregation to discover the degree of change that could be attributed to the introduction into the church of management by objectives. The study of Scripture reveals that the church is an institution in need of organization and management. Literature in the management field was found to be rich in sound theoretical principles that can be adapted to effective management of the church. The management-by-objectives plan introduced into the Buchanan, Michigan, Seventh-day Adventist church sought to implement these principles arid ideals into the everyday life of the church members. The interest and participation of the congregation suggest that the same program could be used with some modification in other congregations. Some areas should be expanded and others shortened or adjusted to include additional strategies. An oral and written survey conducted among the members of the congregation showed generally favorable responses to the facilitative style of church management which is a broad management-by-objectives concept. Church growth, increased attendance, and improved stewardship each attest to the favor with which the project was accepted by the congregation. While a new pastor naturally effects some changes in a congregation, the introduction of a new well-developed plan of management into the church effects greater and more long-range changes. The employment of modified objectives and goals each year using the principles of management by objectives will help the congregation become a better witness to the community in which it lives, and in the process the congregation and pastor become united by their common goals. There was an enthusiastic response when sixty members of the Buchanan congregation met to evaluate the 1978 program and set their goals for 1979. In this meeting laymen led in the goal-setting process and the pastor served as secretary

1861 - Bread and the Newspaper - Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Document citation: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., “Bread and the Newspaper,” Atlantic Monthly (Vol. 8: No. 47), September 1861.https://scholarworks.uni.edu/nhomefront/1011/thumbnail.jp

Principals’ Perception of Information Technology Infrastructure Management Constraints in Enugu State Seconadry Schools

This study investigated Principals’ Perception of Information Technology Infrastructure Management Constraints in Enugu State Secondary Schools. The study adopted survey research design. One research question was answered using mean with standard deviation. One null hypothesis was tested at .05 level of significance using t – test statistic. The population for the study was 291 principals of public secondary schools in Enugu state. A sample of 186 principals was used in analysis drawn through multi stage sampling. Initially, proportionate random sampling technique followed by proportionate stratified random sampling technique and finally simple random technique. Questionnaire constructed by the researcher titled, Principals’ Perception of Information Technology Infrastructure Management Constraints Questionnaire (PPITIMCQ) was used as the instrument for data collection. The reliability coefficient of the questionnaire was calculated using cronbach alpha and was found to be 0.73. Findings from the study show that the principals agreed on six Information Technology Infrastructure Management Constraints and equally agreed that there is no significant difference between the mean ratings of urban and rural school principals on how information technology infrastructure constraints affect management of public schools in Enugu state. Based on this, the study recommended among others; that government should create financial allocation for school IT infrastructure; government should organize  seminars, workshops and conferences on regular basis for teachers on ICT; Principals should encourage school/community relationship and through the help of functional Parent Association procure important information technology infrastructures and fortify security outfits for them; schools wishing to adopt ICT integration in their all round school activities should procure a power generating set as a supplement to Electricity Distribution Company power supply or procure solar system power supply among others. Keywords: Principals’ Perception, Information Technology, Infrastructure Management, Constraints, Secondary School

Systematic development and validation of a predictive model for major postoperative complications in the Peri-operative Quality Improvement Project (PQIP) dataset

Complications are common following major surgery and are associated with increased use of healthcare resources, disability and mortality. Continued reliance on mortality estimates risks harming patients and health systems, but existing tools for predicting complications are unwieldy and inaccurate. We aimed to systematically construct an accurate pre-operative model for predicting major postoperative complications; compare its performance against existing tools; and identify sources of inaccuracy in predictive models more generally. Complete patient records from the UK Peri-operative Quality Improvement Programme dataset were analysed. Major complications were defined as Clavien–Dindo grade ≥ 2 for novel models. In a 75% train:25% test split cohort, we developed a pipeline of increasingly complex models, prioritising pre-operative predictors using Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operators (LASSO). We defined the best model in the training cohort by the lowest Akaike's information criterion, balancing accuracy and simplicity. Of the 24,983 included cases, 6389 (25.6%) patients developed major complications. Potentially modifiable risk factors (pain, reduced mobility and smoking) were retained. The best-performing model was highly complex, specifying individual hospital complication rates and 11 patient covariates. This novel model showed substantially superior performance over generic and specific prediction models and scores. We have developed a novel complications model with good internal accuracy, re-prioritised predictor variables and identified hospital-level variation as an important, but overlooked, source of inaccuracy in existing tools. The complexity of the best-performing model does, however, highlight the need for a step-change in clinical risk prediction to automate the delivery of informative risk estimates in clinical systems

Cylindrical surface profile and diameter measuring tool and method

A tool is shown having a cross beam assembly made of beams joined by a center box structure. The assembly is adapted to be mounted by brackets to the outer end of a cylindrical case. The center box structure has a vertical shaft rotatably mounted therein and extending beneath the assembly. Secured to the vertical shaft is a radius arm which is adapted to rotate with the shaft. On the longer end of the radius arm is a measuring tip which contacts the cylindrical surface to be measured and which provides an electric signal representing the radius of the cylindrical surface from the center of rotation of the radius arm. An electric servomotor rotates the vertical shaft and an electronic resolver provides an electric signal representing the angle of rotation of the shaft. The electric signals are provided to a computer station which has software for its computer to calculate and print out the continuous circumference profile of the cylindrical surface, and give its true diameter and the deviations from the ideal circle

Estimated financial returns from two white pine plantations, Station Bulletin, no.496

The Bulletin is a publication of the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station, College of Life Sciences and Agriculture, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire

Predicting Postoperative Morbidity in Adult Elective Surgical Patients using the Surgical Outcome Risk Tool (SORT)

Background: The Surgical Outcome Risk Tool (SORT) is a risk stratification tool that predicts perioperative mortality. We construct a new recalibrated model based on SORT to predict the risk of developing postoperative morbidity. Methods: We analysed prospectively collected data from a single-centre cohort of adult patients undergoing major elective surgery. The data set was split randomly into derivation and validation samples. We used logistic regression to construct a model in the derivation sample to predict postoperative morbidity as defined using the validated Postoperative Morbidity Survey (POMS) assessed at one week after surgery. Performance of this "SORT-morbidity" model was then tested in the validation sample, and compared against the Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity (POSSUM). Results: The SORT-morbidity model was constructed using a derivation sample of 1056 patients, and validated in 527 patients. SORT-morbidity was well-calibrated in the validation sample, as assessed using calibration plots and the Hosmer-Lemeshow Test (χ² = 4.87, p = 0.77). It showed acceptable discrimination by Receiver Operator Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis (Area Under the ROC curve, AUROC = 0.72, 95% CI 0.67–0.77). This compared favourably with POSSUM (AUROC = 0.66, 95% CI 0.60–0.71), while remaining simpler to use. Linear shrinkage factors were estimated, which allow the SORT-morbidity model to predict a range of alternative morbidity outcomes with greater accuracy, including low- and high-grade morbidity, and POMS at later time-points. Conclusions: SORT-morbidity can be used preoperatively, with clinical judgement, to predict postoperative morbidity risk in major elective surgery