BackgroundDespite the widespread use of accreditation in many countries, and prevailing beliefs that accreditation is associated with variables contributing to clinical care and organisational ...outcomes, little systematic research has been conducted to examine its validity as a predictor of healthcare performance.ObjectiveTo determine whether accreditation performance is associated with self-reported clinical performance and independent ratings of four aspects of organisational performance.DesignIndependent blinded assessment of these variables in a random, stratified sample of health service organisations.SettingsAcute care: large, medium and small health-service organisations in Australia.Study participantsNineteen health service organisations employing 16 448 staff treating 321 289 inpatients and 1 971 087 non-inpatient services annually, representing approximately 5% of the Australian acute care health system.Main measuresCorrelations of accreditation performance with organisational culture, organisational climate, consumer involvement, leadership and clinical performance.ResultsAccreditation performance was significantly positively correlated with organisational culture (rho=0.618, p=0.005) and leadership (rho=0.616, p=0.005). There was a trend between accreditation and clinical performance (rho=0.450, p=0.080). Accreditation was unrelated to organisational climate (rho=0.378, p=0.110) and consumer involvement (rho=0.215, p=0.377).ConclusionsAccreditation results predict leadership behaviours and cultural characteristics of healthcare organisations but not organisational climate or consumer participation, and a positive trend between accreditation and clinical performance is noted.
We study the ionic conductivity
versus temperature and frequency of large Na
2S single crystals by using a calibrated impedance apparatus. The experimental setup used for the ionic conductivity ...measurements up to 1350 K and its calibration are described. The apparatus allows to measure complex impedances between 0.1 Ω and 10 GΩ. The high temperature conductivity data were analyzed in terms of the conventional Frenkel defect model. We assume that cation vacancies and cation interstitials are the dominant intrinsic defects. The energy of motion was found to be 0.61 ± 0.05 eV for a cation vacancy. The energy of formation of a Frenkel defect pair is 2.51 ± 0.05 eV. Results are given that show clear evidence of a superionic behaviour close to the melting point, similar to the one found in alkaline earth fluorides and several halides. Furthermore, X-ray diffraction experiments on a high optical quality single crystal were performed. The cell parameter and the population parameter of Na
+ were accurately determined (6.5373 Å and 0.988, respectively).
Chemical protein synthesis is important for dissecting the molecular basis of protein function. Here we advance its scope by demonstrating the significant improvement of the multifaceted ...pharmaceutical profile of small proteins exclusively via a chemical-based approach. The focus of this work centered on CCL-5 (RANTES) derivatives with potent anti-HIV activity. The overall chemical strategy involved a combination of coded and noncoded amino acid mutagenesis, peptide backbone engineering, and site-specific polymer attachment. The ability to alter specific protein residues, as well as precise control of the position and type of polymer attachment, allows for the exploration of specific molecular designs and resulted in novel CCL-5 analogues with significant differences in their respective biochemical and pharmaceutical properties. Using this approach, the complex-interplay of variables contributing to the noncovalent self-association (aggregation) state, CCR-5 specificity, in vivo elimination half-life, and anti-HIV activity of CCL-5-based protein analogues could be empirically evaluated via total chemical synthesis. This work has led to the identification of potent (sub-nanomolar) anti-HIV proteins with significantly improved pharmaceutical profiles, and illustrates the increasing value of protein chemical synthesis in contemporary therapeutic discovery. These antiviral molecules provide a novel mechanism of action for the development of a new generation of anti-HIV therapeutics which are still desperately needed.
The {\alpha}-formalism is a common way to parametrize the common envelope interaction between a giant star and a more compact companion. The {\alpha} parameter describes the fraction of orbital ...energy released by the companion that is available to eject the giant star's envelope. By using new, detailed stellar evolutionary calculations we derive a user-friendly prescription for the {\lambda} parameter and an improved approximation for the envelope binding energy, thus revising the {\alpha} equation. We then determine {\alpha} both from simulations and observations in a self consistent manner. By using our own stellar structure models as well as population considerations to reconstruct the primary's parameters at the time of the common envelope interaction, we gain a deeper understanding of the uncertainties. We find that systems with very low values of q (the ratio of the companion's mass to the mass of the primary at the time of the common envelope interaction) have higher values of {\alpha}. A fit to the data suggests that lower mass companions are left at comparable or larger orbital separations to more massive companions. We conjecture that lower mass companions take longer than a stellar dynamical time to spiral in to the giant's core, and that this is key to allowing the giant to use its own thermal energy to help unbind its envelope. As a result, although systems with light companions might not have enough orbital energy to unbind the common envelope, they might stimulate a stellar reaction that results in the common envelope ejection.
In coastal management under climatic pressures, the final aim of vulnerability assessments, system thinking or scenario planning exercises is to inform the identification of the most appropriate ...adaptation options for communities under risk of coastal hazards and climate change. In this paper we show how we combined these techniques for coastal settlements adaptation in South East Queensland, one of the most populated Australian regions, including: (i) the use of suburb-level mapping and numerical modelling to identify and assess vulnerability hotspots (ii) the development and testing of systems thinking and bayesian modelling techniques to explore adaptation pathways and the adaptive capacity of coastal communities and (iii) the use of scenario planning techniques to test adaptation options in an uncertain future. We show how these outcomes were used to develop a range of research-based adaptation policies, programs and actions and to inform the preparation of practical guidance for councils across Queensland.
Book reviews Hart, Susan J.; Baker, M.J.; Donaldson, Bill ...
Journal of Marketing Management,
19/1/1/, Letnik:
4, Številka:
3
Book Review
Recenzirano
THE SECRETS OF EFFECTIVE DIRECT MAIL by John Fraser-Robinson (McGraw-Hill, 1989), £25.00 hardback. ISBN 0-07-707058-2.
TROJAN HORSE: THE ULTIMATE JAPANESE CHALLENGE TO WESTERN INDUSTRY by Barrie G. ...James, (Mercury Books, 1989). ISBN 1-85251-091-9.
PRACTICAL SALES FORECASTING by E. J. Davis (McGraw-Hill, Maidenhead, 1988), 291 pages, £16.50. ISBN 9-07-707080-1.
HANDBOOK OF RETAILING edited by A. West (Gower, 1988), 347 pages, £35.00. ISBN 0-566-027-763.
SUCCESSFUL SPONSORSHIP by Victor Head (Fitzwilliam Publishing, Cambridge, 1981), 133 pages, £25. ISBN 1-870555-08-2.
THE COUNTIES AND REGIONS OF THE UK: ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL TRENDS IN LOCAL AUTHORITY AREAS, University of Warwick Business Information Service (Gower, 1988), 213 pages, £27.50. ISBN 0-566-02755-0.
LIFESTYLE TRENDS IN THE UK (J. Walter Thompson Company Limited, London), 235 pages, £95.00.
HOW TO MARKET PROFESSIONAL SERVICES by Bernard Katz (Gower, 1988), 208 pages, £22.50 hardback. ISBN 0-566-02705-4.
MULTINATIONAL SERVICE FIRMS by Peter Enderwick (Routledge, London, 1989), 288 pages, £40.00, hardback. ISBN 0-415-00395-4.
THE NEW MARKETING by Richard W. Brookes (Gower, 1988), 297 pages, £22.50. ISBN 0-566-02677-5.
MANAGEMENT IN MARKETING CHANNELS by Louis W. Stern, Adel I. El-Ansary and James R. Brown (Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1989), 528 pages. 0-13-551482-7.
Book reviews Schak, David C.; van Crevel, Maghiel; Clark, John ...
Asian Studies Review,
19/3/1/, Letnik:
23, Številka:
1
Book Review
Recenzirano
CHINA
SOW-THENG LEONG.
Migration and Ethnicity in Chinese History: Hakkas, Pengmin, and their Neighbors.
Tim Wright, ed., G. William Skinner, Maps and introduction. Illustrations, maps, tables, ...index, character list. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997. xxiii, 236 pp. A$69.95, hardcover.
BONNIE S. McDOUGALL and KAM LOUIE.
The Literature of China in the Twentieth Century.
London: Hurst, 1997; Gosford: Bushbooks, 1998. Acknowledgments, introduction, further reading, glossary, index, vi, 504 pp. A$39.95, paper.
XIAOBO LU and ELIZABETH J. PERRY (eds).
Danwei: the Changing Chinese Workplace in Historical and Comparative Perspective
. Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1997. 270 pp. US$72.95, hardcover; US$34.95, paper.
JAPAN, KOREA
SYDNEY GIFFARD.
Japan Among the Powers, 1890-1990.
New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994, 1997. xxii, 218 pp. Abbreviations, introduction, author's note, glossary, index. US$35.00, hardcover; US$15.00, paper.
KATHERINE H. S. MOON.
Sex Among Allies: military Prostitution in U.S.-Korea Relations.
New York: Columbia University Press, 1997. xiii, 240 pp. Preface, acknowledgments, abbreviations, appendices, notes, bibliography, index. US$47.50, hardcover; US$16.50, paper.
SOUTH ASIA
JAMAL J. ELLAS (trans and intro).
Death Before Dying. The Sufi Poems of Sultan Bahu.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998. 145 pp. Acknowledgments, introduction, bibliography, index of first lines. US$45.00, hardcover; US$14.95, paper.
AJIT K. NEOGY.
Decolonization of French India: liberation Movement and Indo-French Relations 1947-1954.
Pondicherry: French Institute of Pondicherry, 1997. xxviii, 299 pp. Foreword, preface, endnotes, appendixes, bibliography, index, resume. US$37.00, paper.
SURESHCHANDRA SHUKLA and REHKLA KAUL (eds).
Education, Development and Underdevelopment.
New Delhi: Sage, 1998. US$39.95, hardcover.
EMMA TARLO.
Clothing Matters: dress and Identity in India
London: Hurst & Company, 1996. xxi, 360 pp. Illustrations. £40.00, hardcover; £19.95, paper.
SOUTHEAST ASIA
KEVIN Y. L. TAN and LAM PENG ER (eds).
Managing Political Change in Singapore.
London: Routledge, 1997. xii, 228 pp. £45.00, hardcover.
SHARIFAH ZALEHA SYED HASSAN and SVEN CEDERROTH.
Managing Marital Disputes in Malaysia: Islamic Mediators and Conflict Resolution in the Syariah Courts.
£40.00, hardcover; £15.99, paper.
KEVIN HEWISON (ed).
Political Change in Thailand: democracy and Participation.
London and New York: Routledge, 1997. xv, 301 pp. US$29.99, paper.
ANN KUMAR.
Java and Modern Europe: ambiguous Encounters.
Richmond: Curzon Press, 1997. viii, 472 pp. US$52.00, hardcover.
MARTIN STUART-FOX.
A History of Laos.
Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 1997. A$80.00, hardcover; A$24.95, paper.
MARTIN STUART-FOX.
The Lao Kingdom of Lan Xang: rise and Decline.
Bangkok: White Lotus Press, 1998. A$22.50, paper.
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