Laboratory accreditation based on ISO 15189, landed in Latin America in 2003. Spanish translations of this standard became national but voluntary standards. Later on, accreditation bodies created ...working groups in laboratory accreditation, which are now committees. Professionals with expertise in different fields of laboratory sciences became technical assessors for the accreditation bodies in Latin America. The Inter-American Accreditation Committee (IAAC) has full and associated members from several countries in the region, and it has been in charge to develop memorandum of understanding (MOU) to recognize the work done in laboratory accreditation regionwise. In 2014, the Chilean Society of Clinical Chemistry initiated a collaboration among professional societies in clinical biochemistry and laboratory sciences, accreditation bodies and metrology institutes in the region, with the aim to let everyone know the specifics of the ISO 15189 standard, and its interpretation. A group of peer review experts were invited to participate, to explain some of the requirements of the standard, including topics such as management, quality assurance, pre and post analytical phase, trazability, certified reference materials, among others. The success of this collaboration allowed all three organizations first of all to meet, to learn from each other, to question the standard, to suggest changes to the standard, and to motivate all those involved to coordinate efforts for the implementation of ISO 1589 in the region. Surveys were sent, questions were reviewed, a better understanding of the state-of-the-art standard was achieved by 2018. This effort has become an initiative of the Latin American Confederation of Clinical Biochemistry (COLABLIOCLI) with the auspices of the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC) and for the benefit of the patient.
The present work is motivated by the need for robust, large-scale coherent states that can play possible roles as quantum resources. A challenge is that large, complex systems tend to be fragile. ...However, emergent phenomena in classical systems tend to become more robust with scale. Do these classical systems inspire ways to think about robust quantum networks? This question is studied by characterizing the complex quantum states produced by mapping interactions between a set of qubits from structure in graphs. We focus on maps based on k-regular random graphs where many edges were randomly deleted. We ask how many edge deletions can be tolerated. Surprisingly, it was found that the emergent coherent state characteristic of these graphs was robust to a substantial number of edge deletions. The analysis considers the possible role of the expander property of k-regular random graphs.
We examine the factors influencing the extent to which finance employees of an accounting and transactions unit utilize Robotic Process Automation (RPA) in a large industrial firm. We identify the ...challenges in motivating employees to request RPA support and to use robots. Employees are reluctant to seek RPA support from a dedicated support team when they see no benefits, doubt the quality, lack time, are not incentivized, or fear an impact on their jobs. On the other hand, users of RPA experience direct benefits in their daily work and are positive about the interaction with the RPA developers. Improving the use of RPA involves demonstrating how robots enhance employees’ job effectiveness, alleviating concerns about job loss.
Objective: The aim of this study is to improve the effectiveness of training in putting on and removing personal protective equipment (PPE) during COVID-19. Methods: An ...infonnation-motivation-behavioral skills (IMB) model intervention team was established with the adoption of the IMB model to intervene in putting on and removing PPE by medical staff during COVID-19. Specifically, the information intervention was strengthened through the formulation of the hospital manual for PPE application. In the present study's five-stage motivational interview, the personal motivation and social motivation of medical staff were deeply understood, helping the medical staff to improve their belief in the importance of correct PPE application and to establish the correct attitude toward PPE application. In terms of behavioral skills, there are numerous issues that could interfere with the establishment of proper PPE application, including material supply, double duty, simultaneous supervision of entering and leaving, continuous supervision, video supervision, and nosocomial infection inspection. The scores relating to PPE application knowledge and self-efficacy as well as the PPE usage qualification rate were calculated in the control group and the IMB intervention group and subsequently compared. Results: For the control group and the IMB intervention group, the scores for PPE application knowledge were 87.78 + or - 10.46 and 95.56 + or - 9.06 points, respectively. For self-efficacy, the scores were 25.19 + or - 0.97 and 33.79 + or - 2.05 points, and the PPE usage qualification rates were 64.8% and 90.0%, respectively. The differences in all the scores were statistically significant between the two groups. Conclusion: The application of the IMB model could improve the relevant knowledge relating to PPE application, strengthen the belief in the importance of and motivation for correct PPE application, improve the qualification rate for PPE application, and provide a theoretical and practical basis for reducing the occurrence of nosocomial infection. Keywords: information-motivation-behavioral skills model, COVID-19, personal protective equipment
Behavioral economics suggests that people do not always decide rationally but are even predictably irrational. This gives rise to the concept of nudge, which creates an architecture of choices that ...encourages people to behave as they wish. Loss aversion is one of the best-known phenomena in behavioral economics and a central notion of the prospect theory. The main idea behind this phenomenon is that losses hurt more than gains feel good. The framing effect is a bias where people choose some options differently, depending on whether they are presented as a gain or a loss. In this quasi-experimental study, the authors examine the role of loss aversion and framing effects on students' engagement and academic success. This study aims to test the hypothesis that students will have a stronger reaction to the reduction of awarded points, as opposed to an increase of awarded points, as they progress through the course. This will motivate them to work harder and achieve better academic success. The results show significant differences between the two groups in favor of the group being graded using the point reduction grading scheme. This suggests that the power of loss aversion can be exploited to increase students' engagement and academic success. The existence of framing effect in this case has been demonstrated, which shows it might be possible to use the choice architecture to improve the student results.