There are many cognitive training tests purporting to both measure older people’s cognitive performance, several of which come with associated training that are deemed to improve…
Abstract
There are many cognitive training tests purporting to both measure older people’s cognitive performance, several of which come with associated training that are deemed to improve cognition. This chapter describes cognitive tests that have been claimed to be linked to driver behaviour, and that training on them could improve driver behaviour. Of special interest are tests that could be completed at home on a computer, as it is suggested this could capture many individuals who are worried about attending a driver assessment centre and are not likely to be referred. Findings suggest that UFOV (Useful Field of View) Time Making Trail (A and B) and Dual N have research suggesting that training on them could improve driver performance for older drivers. However, the robustness of the research is debateable. There are also two physiological tests – a neck and shoulder and a general fitness test that also show promising results for improving driver performance. In addition, education and training is purported to improve driver behaviour, but although there is positive feedback from older people who attend and some short-term improvements, research on long-term improvements on driver behaviour are not yet evident. Overall, there are promising results from individual cognitive, physiological tests and from education and training suggesting that reflection on action and feedback from the task is important to improving driver performance but more research is needed.
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A systems engineer looking at information sees informatics. That means ‘the design, construction, evaluation, use and maintenance of information processing systems including…
Abstract
A systems engineer looking at information sees informatics. That means ‘the design, construction, evaluation, use and maintenance of information processing systems including hardware, software, organizational and human aspects as well as the complex of their industrial, commercial, administrative, social and political impact’. (The 1978 IBI‐UNESCO Conference on ‘Strategies and Policies for Information’).
An enterprise exists as a congress of information and knowledge: it is the knowledge embedded in it, and the processing of information throughout it, that lead to the strategy…
Abstract
An enterprise exists as a congress of information and knowledge: it is the knowledge embedded in it, and the processing of information throughout it, that lead to the strategy, change and action that convert the enterprise into a dynamic reality. Management, however else it may be defined, is also the process that ensures that information and knowledge are effectively deployed in an enterprise's interests. In this the manager is joined by all the knowledge workers in the organization—the designers, researchers, engineers, trainers, administrators, accountants — who provide the enterprise with its collective brainpower. That brainpower, focused on the wellbeing and success of the enterprise, is the true generator of value added and must therefore be the chief asset of any business or institution.
Marilei Osinski, Paulo Mauricio Selig, Florinda Matos and Darlan José Roman
The competitive model has changed. In this context, society entered into an era in which intangible assets are the greatest assets of a company. However, some gaps and…
Abstract
Purpose
The competitive model has changed. In this context, society entered into an era in which intangible assets are the greatest assets of a company. However, some gaps and uncertainties are presented in the literature as to understand the value of a company based on knowledge intensive activities. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the methods of evaluation of intangible assets in the context of business, economic and strategic management.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a qualitative research. This research is characterized as descriptive, bibliographic, inductive.
Findings
The main results of this research can highlight the existence of valuation methods of intangible assets intended for specific industries, as public and/or private, that can be better aligned to the context of business; economic and/or strategic management.
Originality/value
It was found that intangible assets are a current topic and increasingly addressed in the literature.
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Sean Murphy, Daniel Friesner and Robert Rosenman
The purpose of this article is to analyze the effects patients' socioeconomic characteristics, along with hospital size and location, had on the initial treatment choice for…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to analyze the effects patients' socioeconomic characteristics, along with hospital size and location, had on the initial treatment choice for individuals with hypertension with complications and secondary hypertension.
Design/method/approach
The analysis uses retrospective data and binary logistic regression to analyze treatment choice determinants. Initial diagnostic and/or therapeutic procedures were categorized as invasive or non‐invasive, which served as the dependent variable.
Findings
Uninsured people were more likely to get less expensive non‐invasive treatment. Medicare patients were approximately twice as likely to receive an invasive procedure as individuals with private insurance, even after controlling for age and other socioeconomic characteristics. Minorities and males were also more likely to receive an invasive primary procedure. Significant treatment variations across States were also found.
Research limitations/implications
There were insufficient observations to look at variability within patients treated by a single physician. Future research could tie this information into a simultaneous equation system in order to determine whether patients who received one treatment type versus another were better off.
Practical implications
Finding that characteristics other than morbidity affect the type of treatment received indicates that public policy could improve care. Most important, the ability to pay, type of insurance, geographic location and race influence whether patients receive invasive or non‐invasive treatment upon hospitalization for hypertension, indicating that policies prescribing treatment alternatives that remove non‐medical issues from calculation may improve overall outcomes.
Originality/value
Comprehensive treatment‐choice analyzes have been largely overlooked in the hypertension literature. Additionally, few studies analyze choice using data from such a diverse array of geographic areas and socio‐economic strata.
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Jean L. Freeman, Robert Fetter, Robert Nowbold and Jean‐Marie Rodrigues
In October 1983, a new hospital payment system was introduced in the United States which was a radical departure from traditional methods of reimbursement. Concern over continuing…
Abstract
In October 1983, a new hospital payment system was introduced in the United States which was a radical departure from traditional methods of reimbursement. Concern over continuing increases in expenditures for hospital care caused Medicare to replace its ‘cost based’ reimbursement system, in which hospital payments were based on the actual costs incurred in treating patients, with a system that pays hospitals a fixed price per case. If a patient's treatment plan costs less than the fixed rate, the hospital may keep the difference; but if its costs in providing services exceed the rate, the hospital must absorb the loss.
Fabio Fiano, Jens Mueller, Niccolò Paoloni, Massimiliano Farina Briamonte and Domitilla Magni
The purpose of this paper is to enrich the scientific and managerial debate on intangibles by placing the concept of key money within the broader concept of Intellectual Capital…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to enrich the scientific and managerial debate on intangibles by placing the concept of key money within the broader concept of Intellectual Capital, and by proposing an evaluation approach for a portion of the latter, focusing the analysis on fashion retailers.
Design/methodology/approach
This research focuses on the fashion industry, given that key money gains particular significance and accounted for in fashion retailers' financial statements. A comparative case study is presented with regard to the application of two evaluation methods proposed to some fashion retailers operating in Italy.
Findings
This paper defines a suitable placement for key money within the vast structure of intellectual capital. The research shows that the two methods give “very close” key money values, thus laying the foundations for a theoretical articulation of interest to be further explored in future researches.
Originality/value
The document represents a first in-depth examination regarding the evaluation and inclusion of key money in the intellectual capital. A further element of originality lies in having interpreted the key money in a perspective closer to the world of intangibles and competitive strategies, to the detriment of the previous (meagre) settings that placed it within the real estate branches of study.
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Peter O’Meara, Gary Wingrove and Michael Nolan
In North America, delegated practice “medical direction” models are often used as a proxy for clinical quality and safety in paramedic services. Other developed countries favor a…
Abstract
Purpose
In North America, delegated practice “medical direction” models are often used as a proxy for clinical quality and safety in paramedic services. Other developed countries favor a combination of professional regulatory boards and clinical governance frameworks that feature paramedics taking lead clinician roles. The purpose of this paper is to bring together the evidence for medical direction and clinical governance in paramedic services through the prism of paramedic self-regulation.
Design/methodology/approach
This narrative synthesis critically examines the long-established North American Emergency Medical Services medical direction model and makes some comparisons with the UK inspired clinical governance approaches that are used to monitor and manage the quality and safety in several other Anglo-American paramedic services. The databases searched were CINAHL and Medline, with Google Scholar used to capture further publications.
Findings
Synthesis of the peer-reviewed literature found little high quality evidence supporting the effectiveness of medical direction. The literature on clinical governance within paramedic services described a systems approach with shared responsibility for quality and safety. Contemporary paramedic clinical leadership papers in developed countries focus on paramedic professionalization and the self-regulation of paramedics.
Originality/value
The lack of strong evidence supporting medical direction of the paramedic profession in developed countries challenges the North American model of paramedics practicing as a companion profession to medicine under delegated practice model. This model is inconsistent with the international vision of paramedicine as an autonomous, self-regulated health profession.
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Robert Feagan and Katherine Rossiter
The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of popular theatre (PT) as a pedagogical tool around which a community service learning (CSL) senior undergraduate course was…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of popular theatre (PT) as a pedagogical tool around which a community service learning (CSL) senior undergraduate course was oriented, specifically assessing the university student learning experience from this work relative to PT processes and CSL objectives.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents a case study based on participant observations made by the course instructor, and reflective journal entries written by the university student participants.
Research limitations/implications
Educational partnership efforts of this nature require that they be tailored to contingent circumstances: locale, time constraints, spaces of interaction, willingness, effort and abilities of the group partners, and other particularities of community. Given this, we see learning outcomes as replicable, though shaped in various ways by the circumstances of specific situations.
Practical implications
The paper demonstrates that by recognizing and relying upon the often unnoticed and neglected, strengths of differently‐abled community members – both students from the university, and the clients from the partner social agency – this kind of community service learning team project transforms and enriches traditional academic outcomes.
Findings
This paper reports on the outcomes of this experience from the student perspective, and highlights themes of boundary‐breaking, pedagogical risk‐taking and changes in understanding of community through the analysis of the student service‐learning diaries and instructor participation. It also highlights some specific difficulties regarding group dynamics and student concerns that can emerge under learning environments like this, where course expectations, direction and outcomes may not be clearly defined at the outset.
Originality/value
This paper describes a unique fusion of two alternative teaching and learning methods: CSL and PT. This fusion contributed significantly to student creativity and innovation, to their sense of accomplishment and confidence, and especially to their understanding of diversity and connection to community, all of which they take into the world beyond the university. This fusion of pedagogies is seen as a fruitful direction for institutions of higher education seeking innovative paths to learning, while noting that facilitators need to pay close attention to the unique dynamics of such learning environments.