Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) : A pedagogical guide for decision makers in the public sector

This guide introduces Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), a performance measurement technique, in such a way as to be appropriate to decision makers with little or no background in economics and operational research. The use of mathematics is kept to a minimum. This guide therefore adopts a strong practical approach in order to allow decision makers to conduct their own efficiency analysis and to easily interpret results. DEA helps decision makers for the following reasons: - By calculating an efficiency score, it indicates if a firm is efficient or has capacity for improvement. - By setting target values for input and output, it calculates how much input must be decreased or output increased in order to become efficient. - By identifying the nature of returns to scale, it indicates if a firm has to decrease or increase its scale (or size) in order to minimize the average cost. - By identifying a set of benchmarks, it specifies which other firms' processes need to be analysed in order to improve its own practices.

Guidelines for the clinical management of atrial fibrillation: a practical perspective.

Since the management of atrial fibrillation may be difficult in the individual patient, our purpose was to develop simple clinical recommendations to help the general internist manage this common clinical problem. Systematic review of the literature with evaluation of data-related evidence and framing of graded recommendations. Atrial fibrillation affects some 1% of the population in Western countries and is linked to a significant increase in morbidity and mortality. The management of atrial fibrillation requires individualised evaluation of the risks and benefits of therapeutic modalities, relying whenever possible on simple and validated tools. The two main points requiring a decision in clinical management are 1) whether or not to implement thromboembolic prevention therapy, and 2) whether preference should be given to a "rate control" or "rhythm control" strategy. Thromboembolic prophylaxis should be prescribed after individualised risk assessment: for patients at risk, oral anticoagulation with warfarin decreases the rate of embolic complications by 60% and aspirin by 20%, at the expense of an increased incidence of haemorrhagic complications. "Rate control" and "rhythm control" strategies are probably equivalent, and the choice should also be made on an individualised basis. To assist the physician in making his choices for the care of an atrial fibrillation patient we propose specific tables and algorithms, with graded recommendations. On the evidence of data from the literature we propose simple algorithms and tables for the clinical management of atrial fibrillation in the individual patient.

Application of detection probabilities to the design of amphibian monitoring programs in temporary ponds

Failure to detect a species in an area where it is present is a major source of error in biological surveys. We assessed whether it is possible to optimize single-visit biological monitoring surveys of highly dynamic freshwater ecosystems by framing them a priori within a particular period of time. Alternatively, we also searched for the optimal number of visits and when they should be conducted. We developed single-species occupancy models to estimate the monthly probability of detection of pond-breeding amphibians during a four-year monitoring program. Our results revealed that detection probability was species-specific and changed among sampling visits within a breeding season and also among breeding seasons. Thereby, the optimization of biological surveys with minimal survey effort (a single visit) is not feasible as it proves impossible to select a priori an adequate sampling period that remains robust across years. Alternatively, a two-survey combination at the beginning of the sampling season yielded optimal results and constituted an acceptable compromise between sampling efficacy and survey effort. Our study provides evidence of the variability and uncertainty that likely affects the efficacy of monitoring surveys, highlighting the need of repeated sampling in both ecological studies and conservation management.

Ethical Blindness

Many models of (un)ethical decision making assume that people decide rationally and are in principle able to evaluate their decisions from a moral point of view. However, people might behave unethically without being aware of it. They are ethically blind. Adopting a sensemaking approach, we argue that ethical blindness results from a complex interplay between individual sensemaking activities and context factors.

The First Christian Historian. Writing the "Acts of the Apostles"

As the first historian of Christianity, Luke's reliability is vigorously disputed among scholars. The author of the Acts is often accused of being a biased, imprecise, and anti-Jewish historian who created a distorted portrait of Paul. Daniel Marguerat tries to avoid being caught in this true/false quagmire when examining Luke's interpretation of history. Instead he combines different tools - reflection upon historiography, the rules of ancient historians and narrative criticism - to analyse the Acts and gauge the historiographical aims of their author. Marguerat examines the construction of the narrative, the framing of the plot and the characterization, and places his evaluation firmly in the framework of ancient historiography, where history reflects tradition and not documentation. This is a fresh and original approach to the classic themes of Lucan theology: Christianity between Jerusalem and Rome, the image of God, the work of the Spirit, the unity of Luke and the Acts.

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In the case of such a very special building project, the crucial stake for sustainable development is the fact that space systems are extreme cases of environmental constraints. In- deed, they constitute an interesting model as an analogy can be made between Martian utmost conditions and some of the possible extreme one's that Earth might soon face. The didactic ob- jective of the project is to use the context of a building on Mars to teach an approach which raises the students awareness to design and plan all steps of a building in a sustainable way, i.e. build, with the available resources, living spaces that satisfy human needs and leave as intact as possible the external environment. The paper presents the approach and the feedback of this student project, more specifically ENAC Learning Unit", which involved 17 students from envi- ronmental, civil engineering and architecture sections from EPFL. All the same, it involved pro- fessors from all three domains, as well as aerospace and Mars specialists, which gave seminars during the course of the semester. The students were separated in groups, and the project con- sisted of two phases: 1) analysis of the context and resources, 2) project design and critic. Both organisational, technical and pedagogical aspects of the experience are presented. The outcome was very positive, with students experiencing for their first time multidisciplinary work and the iterative process of design under multiple constraints.

The nature of leadership

With contributions from leading authors in the most important areas of current research, this book provides insight into the streams that are driving leadership theory and practice today. The Nature of Leadership, Second Edition provides students with an updated and complete yet concise handbook that solidifies and integrates the vast and disparate leadership literature.Key Features of the Second Edition· Provides contributions from twenty-three subject-matter experts-ranging from the eminent to the up-and-coming-giving students an unsurpassed breadth of knowledge and perspective· Organizes the material into the three key thematic areas of Leadership-Science, Nature, and Nurture; the Major Schools of Leadership; and Leadership and Special Domains· Includes nine brand new chapters that provide students with the state-of-the-art of leadership theory and practice such as evolutionary and biological perspectives, individual differences, and shared leadership· Updates the content of seven retained chapters, with reference to recent research and developments in the field· Adds pedagogical features, including discussion questions, a list of practice-focused supplemental readings, and references to case studies

Religions in Play. Games, Rituals, and Virtual Worlds

Often dismissed as "not serious," the notion of play has nevertheless been at the center of classical theories of religion and ritual (Huizinga, Caillois, Turner, Staal, etc.). What can be retained of these theories for the contemporary study of religions? Can a study of "play" or "game" bring new perspectives for the study of religions? The book deals with the history of games and their relation to religions, the links between divination and games, the relations between sport and ritual, the pedagogical functions of games in religious education, and the interaction between games, media and religions. Richly illustrated, the book contributes to the study of religions, to ritual, game and media studies, and addresses an academic as well as a general public.

Documenting a time-bound, circular view of hierarchies: a microanalysis of parent-infant dyadic interaction.

This article presents a new theory that separates the levels of communication and relates them circularly, namely, by separating time from space/meaning variables. Documenting this proposition requires sequential microdescriptions--a far-out project in the field of family therapy. In an extensive study of clinical and nonclinical families, starting with available microanalytic data on nonverbal parent-infant dialogue, distinct time organizations have been found to modify the degree of circularity between the levels of interaction according to the observed types of engagement, that is, consensual, conflictual, and paradoxical. The double description of the dyad as a totality versus the dyad as a framing/developing organization imparts crucial information on how development proceeds in dyadic, co-evolutive systems, and presumably in larger ones too. In this perspective, a model is elaborated and then applied to a case description in our therapeutic consultation.

Evaluation of an online, case-based interactive approach to teaching pathophysiology

AIM: The aim of this study was to evaluate a new pedagogical approach in teaching fluid, electrolyte and acid-base pathophysiology in undergraduate students. METHODS: This approach comprises traditional lectures, the study of clinical cases on the web and a final interactive discussion of these cases in the classroom. When on the web, the students are asked to select laboratory tests that seem most appropriate to understand the pathophysiological condition underlying the clinical case. The percentage of students having chosen a given test is made available to the teacher who uses it in an interactive session to stimulate discussion with the whole class of students. The same teacher used the same case studies during 2 consecutive years during the third year of the curriculum. RESULTS: The majority of students answered the questions on the web as requested and evaluated positively their experience with this form of teaching and learning. CONCLUSIONS: Complementing traditional lectures with online case-based studies and interactive group discussions represents, therefore, a simple means to promote the learning and the understanding of complex pathophysiological mechanisms. This simple problem-based approach to teaching and learning may be implemented to cover all fields of medicine.

Le mouvement peut-il guérir? : histoire de l'engagement des médecins français dans l'élaboration de l'éducation physique (1741-1888)

Résumé : Cette recherche doctorale analyse l'engagement des médecins français autour de l'éducation physique entre 1741 et 1888. Basé sur un travail prosopographique d'identification des médecins qui ont participé à l'élaboration de l'éducation physique, ce travail repose sur une mise en dialogue de leurs prises de position respectives. Pour réaliser cette enquête, nous avons compulsé un large corpus de sources primaires, composé des ouvrages consacrés à la gymnastique médicale mais aussi une très large portion de la production d'imprimés touchant à l'anatomie, l'hygiène, la thérapeutique, la physiologie, l'orthopédie, etc. Le corpus contient également des articles des principaux dictionnaires médicaux de la période et des principales revues médicales du XIXe siècle. Avec une approche critique de l'historiographie et à partir de ce corpus, nous avons travaillé dans le cadre de contextes définis pour saisir au plus près les logiques sociales et scientifiques amenant les médecins auprès de l'éducation physique. Trois conjonctures successives structurent l'engagement médical. Entre 1741 et 1817, la thèse retrace l'émergence d'un questionnement ; les années 1817-1847 constituent un « moment orthopédique » dans la formulation de la gymnastique ; et finalement entre 1847 et 1888, on observe une diversification des voies de légitimation médicale des exercices du corps. Ces trois moments de l'histoire des « discours gymniques médicaux » proposent un certain nombre de convergences : la prégnance de l'orthopédie, une certaine concentration autour de la santé des corps féminins, l'inclusion dans un « projet hygiéniste » ; mais aussi des divergences et des singularités : relatives à la progressive structuration en cours du champ médical, à l'implication progressive du politique (surtout après 1845/1850), aux transformations des pathologies/doctrines médicales « dominantes », ainsi qu'à l'importance plus ou moins forte de l'une ou l'autre des facettes de l'éducation physique (militaire, athlétique, « médicinale » ou pédagogique). Le processus est aussi celui de l'expérimentation de la curation de certaines pathologies (scolioses, affections nerveuses), dans des configurations idéologiques/scientifiques marquées par la « dégénération » (XVIIIe siècle), l'anatomie pathologique (début du XIXe siècle) et plus tard la « dégénérescence » et les affections nerveuses (après 1850). Dans le cadre d'une dynamique d'inspiration « foucaldienne », ces recommandations évoluent d'une anatomopolitique - caractérisée par un essor de discours empreints d'anatomie au XVIIIe siècle - vers une biopolitique - caractérisée par l'engagement de l'Etat qui fait de la gymnastique une discipline d'enseignement, pensée à des fins hygiéniques dans la seconde moitié du XIXe - où le processus réside en fait dans une biologisation progressive des recommandations pratiques. Observée à l'aune de la formulation médicale de l'éducation physique, la biopolitique n'est pas réalisée dans la seconde moitié du XVIIIe, elle se compose lentement aux marges de l'institution scolaire et des gymnastiques pédagogico-militaires pour constituer un projet thérapeutique et hygiénique plus construit après 1850. Abstract : This dissertation analyzes French doctor's involvement in debates and initiatives concerning physical education between 1741 and 1888. Based on a prosopographic inventory of those physicians who participated in the development of physical education, it explores the variety of their discourses with respect to the practice of physical exercises. This investigation relies on a large selection of primary sources: works devoted to medical gymnastic, but also medical treatises related to anatomy, hygiene, therapeutics, physiology, orthopedics, etc. The sources also include articles from the major medical dictionaries and journals of the nineteenth century. These documents are used to explore the socio-scientific mechanisms that underlay physicians' commitment to physical education. Three chronological periods structure medical engagement in the area of physical education. Between 1741 and 1817 the thesis traces the emergence of a questioning; the years 1817 to 1847 represent an « orthopedic moment » in the development of gymnastics; finally between 1847 and 1888, one witnesses a diversification of the legitimation process between medicine and gymnastics. These three moments in the history of « medical and gymnastic discourses » offer a number of similarities: the weight of orthopedics, the ongoing focus on the health of the female body, and the association of these discourses with a « hygienic project ». But differences also distinguish these periods as the medical field became more structured and new medical doctrines became dominant, with the increasing involvement of politics (especially after 1850), and with the changing weight of priorities within physical education (military, athletic, « medical » or pedagogic). Medical discourses centered on the curing of certain diseases (scoliosis or nervous disorders) are analyzed within an ideological configuration marked by the idea of « degeneration » (in the eighteenth century), « pathological anatomy » (in the early nineteenth century) and later « dégénérescence » associated with nervous disorders (after 1850). The dissertation draws on Foucault's historical epistemology to understand how medical recommendations evolve from an anatomopolitics - characterized by a surge in anatomical discourses - toward a biopolitics - characterized by the commitment of the State to introduce gymnastics for hygienic purposes into schools in the second half of the nineteenth century. This process reveals a progressive "biologization" of practical recommendations. The medical discourses about physical education show that Foucault's biopolitical power is not achieved in the second half of the eighteenth century, but develops slowly at the margins of the school system and of pedagogical and military gymnastic, becoming a veritable hygienic and therapeutic project only after 1850.