Application of the Artificial Intelligence Algorithms for System Analysis of Multi Dimension Physiological Data for Developing Polyparametric Information System of Public Health Diagnostics

The polyparametric intelligence information system for diagnostics human functional state in medicine and public health is developed. The essence of the system consists in polyparametric describing of human functional state with the unified set of physiological parameters and using the polyparametric cognitive model developed as the tool for a system analysis of multitude data and diagnostics of a human functional state. The model is developed on the basis of general principles geometry and symmetry by algorithms of artificial intelligence systems. The architecture of the system is represented. The model allows analyzing traditional signs - absolute values of electrophysiological parameters and new signs generated by the model – relationships of ones. The classification of physiological multidimensional data is made with a transformer of the model. The results are presented to a physician in a form of visual graph – a pattern individual functional state. This graph allows performing clinical syndrome analysis. A level of human functional state is defined in the case of the developed standard (“ideal”) functional state. The complete formalization of results makes it possible to accumulate physiological data and to analyze them by mathematics methods.

BPMN Analysis of Public Procurement

ACM Computing Classification System (1998): D.0, D.2.11.

Better queue management in a busy public hospital of a developing country without appointment system::an application using data envelopment analysis

Queuing is a key efficiency criterion in any service industry, including Healthcare. Almost all queue management studies are dedicated to improving an existing Appointment System. In developing countries such as Pakistan, there are no Appointment Systems for outpatients, resulting in excessive wait times. Additionally, excessive overloading, limited resources and cumbersome procedures lead to over-whelming queues. Despite numerous Healthcare applications, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) has not been applied for queue assessment. The current study aims to extend DEA modelling and demonstrate its usefulness by evaluating the queue system of a busy public hospital in a developing country, Pakistan, where all outpatients are walk-in; along with construction of a dynamic framework dedicated towards the implementation of the model. The inadequate allocation of doctors/personnel was observed as the most critical issue for long queues. Hence, the Queuing-DEA model has been developed such that it determines the ‘required’ number of doctors/personnel. The results indicated that given extensive wait times or length of queue, or both, led to high target values for doctors/personnel. Hence, this crucial information allows the administrators to ensure optimal staff utilization and controlling the queue pre-emptively, minimizing wait times. The dynamic framework constructed, specifically targets practical implementation of the Queuing-DEA model in resource-poor public hospitals of developing countries such as Pakistan; to continuously monitor rapidly changing queue situation and display latest required personnel. Consequently, the wait times of subsequent patients can be minimized, along with dynamic staff scheduling in the absence of appointments. This dynamic framework has been designed in Excel, requiring minimal training and work for users and automatic update features, with complex technical aspects running in the background. The proposed model and the dynamic framework has the potential to be applied in similar public hospitals, even in other developing countries, where appointment systems for outpatients are non-existent.

Kiemelt gazdálkodástani kutatások a Public-Private Partnership területén – összehasonlító elemzés = Selected publications on Public-Private Partnership from a business studies perspective – comparative analysis

A tanulmányban összefoglalóan bemutatom a Public_Private Partnership (PPP) gazdálkodástani szempontból releváns kutatói munkáinak fogalomhasználatát, kérdésfeltevéseit, illetve főbb eredményeit. Ezzel betekintést kívánok nyújtani abba, hogy mit kutatnak a PPP területén a kollégák gazdálkodástani szempontból. Láthatóvá szeretném tenni, hogy eszerint melyek a „jelentős” témák és kérdések a tudományos közösség mai felfogása alapján. Az elemzés középpontjában huszonhárom, a Public-Private Partnership gazdálkodástani megközelítéséhez kapcsolódó, konkrét tudományos kutatásra épülő irodalom áll, amelyek láthatóvá teszik a PPP sokféle értelmezését a szerzők által alkalmazott részben eltérő definíciókkal. A többféle szempontból végzett szisztematikus elemzés eredményeképpen látható, hogy noha az írások mondanivalójuk függvényében vagy kiemelik a PPP partneri, kockázatmegosztó jellegét, vagy ezt nem hangsúlyozzák és általánosabb értelmezéssel dolgoznak. A PPP-t leginkább kritikusan bíráló szerzők körében jellemző, hogy a gyakorlati megvalósulás alapján a PPP-nek inkább feladatátadó, semmint partneri, illetve inkább finanszírozási, semmint értéknövelő jellegét hangsúlyozzák. = This working paper summarizes the terminology, research focus and primary results of academic articles on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) from a business studies approach. This is to show what fellow researchers focus on. I mean to highlight the „significant” topics as per the current understanding of the academic community. The analysis focuses on twenty-three academic articles that reveal the various interpretations of PPP, using somewhat different definitions. Analytical results show that the articles do not use a common interpretation, but authors either highlight the partnership, i.e. risk sharing nature of PPP; or it is not emphasized, and they use a more general interpretation instead. Researchers most critical with PPP typically give importance to the outsourcing and financing aspects of PPP in practice, rather than its partnership or value increasing character.

Does management capacity increase organizational performance? An empirical analysis of public housing agencies

Since the 1990s, scholars have paid special attention to public management’s role in theory and research under the assumption that effective management is one of the primary means for achieving superior performance. To some extent, this was influenced by popular business writings of the 1980s as well as the reinventing literature of the 1990s. A number of case studies but limited quantitative research papers have been published showing that management matters in the performance of public organizations. ^ My study examined whether or not management capacity increased organizational performance using quantitative techniques. The specific research problem analyzed was whether significant differences existed between high and average performing public housing agencies on select criteria identified in the Government Performance Project (GPP) management capacity model, and whether this model could predict outcome performance measures in a statistically significant manner, while controlling for exogenous influences. My model included two of four GPP management subsystems (human resources and information technology), integration and alignment of subsystems, and an overall managing for results framework. It also included environmental and client control variables that were hypothesized to affect performance independent of management action. ^ Descriptive results of survey responses showed high performing agencies with better scores on most high performance dimensions of individual criteria, suggesting support for the model; however, quantitative analysis found limited statistically significant differences between high and average performers and limited predictive power of the model. My analysis led to the following major conclusions: past performance was the strongest predictor of present performance; high unionization hurt performance; and budget related criterion mattered more for high performance than other model factors. As to the specific research question, management capacity may be necessary but it is not sufficient to increase performance. ^ The research suggested managers may benefit by implementing best practices identified through the GPP model. The usefulness of the model could be improved by adding direct service delivery to the model, which may also improve its predictive power. Finally, there are abundant tested concepts and tools designed to improve system performance that are available for practitioners designed to improve management subsystem support of direct service delivery.^

``This is your brain on drugs'': The public policy of anti -drug programming. An exploratory analysis of media and other sources of drug information for adolescents

In the 1980s, government agencies sought to utilize research on drug use prevention to design media campaigns. Enlisting the assistance of the national media, several campaigns were designed and initiated to bring anti-drug use messages to adolescents in the form of public service advertising. This research explores the sources of information selected by adolescents in grades 7 through 12 and how the selection of media and other sources of information relate to drug use behavior and attitudes and perceptions related to risk/harm and disapproval of friends' drug-using activities.^ Data collected from 1989 to 1992 in the Miami Coalition School Survey provided a random selection of secondary school studies. The responses of these students were analyzed using multivariate statistical techniques.^ Although many of the students selected media as the source for most of their information on the effects of drugs on the people who use them, the selection of media was found to be positively related to alcohol use and negatively related to marijuana use. The selection of friends, brothers, or sisters was a statistically significant source for adolescents who smoke cigarettes, use alcohol or marijuana.^ The results indicate that the anti-drug use messages received by students may be canceled out by media messages perceived to advocate substance use and that a more persuasive source of information for adolescents may be friends and siblings. As federal reports suggest that the economic costs of drug abuse will reach an estimated $150 billion by 1997 if current trends continue, prevention policy that addresses the glamorization of substance use remains a national priority. Additionally, programs that advocate prevention within the peer cluster must be supported, as peers are an influential source for both inspiring and possibly preventing drug use behavior. ^

Use of public oral health services by the adult population: a multilevel analysis

Background It is important to assess context to explain inequalities in oral health, particularly with regard to the type of service used; thus, this study aimed to identify the social determinants of public dental service use by adults and to assess whether, beyond the level individual, existing inequalities are also expressed in the context in which individuals are embedded. Methods A multilevel analysis with three levels of aggregation of variables was performed. The individual variables were derived from the database of the SB Minas Gerais project—a survey of oral health status of the population of Minas Gerais, a state of the Brazilian Southeast region. The variable at the neighborhood level came from the Census of 2010. The variables at the municipal level were obtained from available public databases relating to oral health services. At the municipal level, the Human Development Index (HDI) variable was chosen to represent quality of life in the municipalities. Results In the final model, the following individual variables were associated with greater use of public dental services: lower income (PR = 1.98, 95% CI = 1.53; 2.58), higher number of residents at home (PR = 1.37, 95% CI = 1.11; 1.68) and higher number of teeth requiring treatment (PR = 1.49, 95% CI = 1.20; 1.84). With regard to context variables, a poorer infrastructure (PR = 0.62, 95% CI = 0.40; 0.96) leads to a lower use of public services. Conclusion The use of public services is associated with family income, how this income is divided in households, the need for treatment presented by the individual and the organization of the existing oral health service infrastructure in the municipality.

A critical discourse analysis on the (self) representation of Hillary R. Clinton in public discourse

El rol de la mujer dentro de la sociedad ha sido y aún es un tema de mucha controversia. Incluso en nuestra sociedad, se suscitan debates sobre si les está permitido a las mujeres ocupar ciertos ámbitos laborales que han estado siempre dominados por una fuerte presencia masculina, como es el caso del ámbito político. Además, en muchos países aún ni siquiera están reconocidos los derechos de las mujeres, y mientras que, en otras culturas, a pesar de que la ley vela por los derechos humanos sin importar la raza, la religión o el género, la realidad es que incluso en las culturas más desarrolladas existe desigualdad de género y estereotipos que afectan el desenvolvimiento de la mujer. Sin embargo, a pesar de que aun la desigualdad de género está presente en la sociedad, es innegable que la situación actual es mucho más positiva para la implicación de las mujeres incluso dentro de ámbitos de la sociedad, que décadas atrás sería impensable, como la política. En esta línea, toda esta situación ha suscitado el interés de muchos investigadores y lingüistas, que han dedicado tiempo a investigaciones sobre las relaciones entre discurso y género, y sobre la representación mediática de mujeres que tienen cierta influencia en el ámbito público, y cómo la desigualdad de género afecta su imagen pública. Si bien es cierto, durante mucho tiempo el ámbito de la política ha estado dominado por presencia masculina, ahora la situación ha cambiado. En las últimas décadas, se ha hecho evidente una gran presencia de mujeres dentro de la política, mujeres que a comparación de la situación vivida décadas atrás, ahora tienen la posibilidad de presentarse incluso como candidatas a la presidencia, como es el caso de Hillary Clinton. En este sentido muchas corrientes feministas han contribuido en gran medida a esta nueva situación. Ahora bien, en vista de toda esta situación, el presente estudio de investigación intentará dar respuesta a las siguientes preguntas. ¿Hasta qué punto los estereotipos de género están aún presentes en la sociedad? ¿La representación mediática de una figura política está realmente basada en su conducta y en su actividad discursiva, o está influida por esquemas e ideas preconcebidas de género? Teniendo en cuenta que hoy en día hay una mayor presencia femenina dentro del ámbito político, una de mis hipótesis iniciales es que la situación de los estereotipos de género ha disminuido. Además, se espera que la forma en la que Hillary Clinton se representa a sí misma como una mujer y como una política esté menos perjudicada por estos esquemas. El objetivo de este estudio es, primeramente, llevar a cabo un análisis sobre diez discursos de Hillary Clinton, desde el 15 de junio de 2015, fecha en la que Hillary Clinton lanzo su candidatura a la presidencia, hasta el 26 de abril de 2016, para a través de este análisis poder identificar como Hillary Clinton se caracteriza a sí misma en sus discursos políticos, y asimismo identificar si los esquemas convencionales sobre género afectan su auto representación. Con este objetivo, el enfoque de este estudio se va a centrar en análisis cuantitativos y cualitativos sobre la frecuencia de palabras, seguido de un análisis crítico del discurso sobre la auto representación de Hillary en sus discursos. Además, siguiendo la línea de investigación de Tannen (1996), se realizará un análisis sobre los usos de los pronombres “nosotros” y “yo”, para adquirir una mayor perspectiva sobre esta situación. Seguidamente, teniendo en cuenta que los medios de comunicación reflejan ideologías sociales, este estudio ha sido también diseñado para analizar diez artículos de noticias sobre los discursos previamente analizados de Hillary Clinton. De esta manera, se examinará si los estereotipos de género están presentes en la representación mediática de Hillary Clinton, para seguidamente analizar si la interpretación mediática de la candidata a la presidencia está realmente relacionada con los discursos analizados o, si por lo contrario están influidos por estereotipos y esquemas de género. Para cumplir con este objetivo, los datos recopilados para este corpus consisten en exactamente diez artículos que reporten sobre los discursos estudiados en el primer análisis, y la actuación de Hillary Clinton. Estos artículos fueron recogidos de cuatro de los periódicos más importantes de los Estados Unidos, que son New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles times y The Washington Post. En este caso el análisis estará centrado en la frecuencia de palabras y en el uso de reporting verbs, siguiendo la línea de investigación de Caldas – Coulthard (1995). Se espera que el presente estudio pueda servir para mayores investigaciones sobre cuestiones de género, y de esta manera contribuir a la creación de teorías que puedan explicar mejor la situación de las mujeres dentro de la política. Para finalizar, aún queda mucho que investigar en esta disciplina, e incluso más por descubrir

Usage analysis of tier 2 public computers: Perkins & Bostock libraries first floor - May 2016

A spring 2016 report about public computer usage on the first floor of Perkins and Bostock libraries. This report includes data from survey questions, an observational study, and transaction logs. The report also includes recommendations for changes based on the data collected.

Realisable climate change narratives in public discourse: an East/West comparative analysis of environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) as a response to global climate change

This thesis looks at how non-experts develop an opinion on climate change, and how those opinions could be changed by public discourse. I use Hubert Dreyfus’ account of skill acquisition to distinguish between experts and non-experts. I then use a combination of Walter Fisher’s narrative paradigm and the hermeneutics of Paul Ricœur to explore how non-experts form opinions, and how public narratives can provide a point of critique. In order to develop robust narratives, they must be financially realistic. I therefore consider the burgeoning field of environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) analysis as a way of informing realistic public narratives. I identify a potential problem with this approach: the Western assumptions of ESG analysis might make for public narratives that are not convincing to a non-Western audience. I then demonstrate how elements of the Chinese tradition, the Confucian, Neo-Confucian, and Daoist schools, as presented by David Hall and Roger Ames, can provide alternative assumptions to ESG analysis so that the public narratives will be more culturally adaptable. This research contributes to the discipline by bringing disparate traditions together in a unique way, into a practical project with a view towards applications. I conclude by considering avenues for further research.

Policy Transfer and the Sustainability of Public Private Partnership in Ireland::A conceptual analysis

There has been private sector involvement in the delivery of public services in the Irish State since its foundation. This involvement was formalised in 1998 when Public Private Partnership (PPP) was officially introduced. Ireland is a latecomer to PPP and, prior to the credit crisis, was seen as a ‘rapid follower’ relying primarily on the UK PPP model in the procurement of infrastructure in transport, education, housing/urban regeneration and water/wastewater.  PPP activity in Ireland stalled during the credit crisis, and some projects were cancelled, but it has taken off again recently with part of the Infrastructure and Capital Investment Plan 2016 – 2021 to be delivered through PPP showing continuing political commitment to PPP.  Ireland’s interest in PPP cannot be explained by economic rationale alone, as PPP was initiated during a period of prosperity. We consider three alternative explanations: voluntary adoption – where the UK model was closely followed; coercive adoption – where PPP policy was forced upon Ireland; and institutional isomorphism – where institutional creation and change was promoted to aid public sector organisations in gaining institutional legitimacy. We find evidence of all three patterns, with coercive adoption becoming more relevant in recent years. Ireland’s rapid uptake of PPP differs from other European countries, mostly because when PPP was introduced in 1998, the Irish State was in an economic position where it could have directly procured necessary infrastructure. This paper therefore asks why PPP was adopted and how this adoption pattern has affected the sustainability of PPP in Ireland.  This paper defines PPP; examines the background to the PPP approach adopted in Ireland; outlines the theoretical framework of the paper: transfer theory and institutional theory; discusses the methodology; reports on findings and gives conclusions.   

Analysis of Responses to Public Consultation - Policy for the Provision and Management of Cleaning Services in the Health and Social Care Sector (PDF 496KB)

Analysis of Responses to Public Consultation - DHSSPS Cleaning Services Policy in the Health and Social Care Sector

Power relations and good governance: a social network analysis of the evolution of the integrity in public office act in the Commonwealth of Dominica

La Banque mondiale propose la bonne gouvernance comme la stratégie visant à corriger les maux de la mauvaise gouvernance et de faciliter le développement dans les pays en développement (Carayannis, Pirzadeh, Popescu & 2012; & Hilyard Wilks 1998; Leftwich 1993; Banque mondiale, 1989). Dans cette perspective, la réforme institutionnelle et une arène de la politique publique plus inclusive sont deux stratégies critiques qui visent à établir la bonne gouvernance, selon la Banque et d’autres institutions de Bretton Woods. Le problème, c’est que beaucoup de ces pays en voie de développement ne possèdent pas l’architecture institutionnelle préalable à ces nouvelles mesures. Cette thèse étudie et explique comment un état en voie de développement, le Commonwealth de la Dominique, s’est lancé dans un projet de loi visant l’intégrité dans la fonction publique. Cette loi, la Loi sur l’intégrité dans la fonction publique (IPO) a été adoptée en 2003 et mis en œuvre en 2008. Cette thèse analyse les relations de pouvoir entre les acteurs dominants autour de évolution de la loi et donc, elle emploie une combinaison de technique de l’analyse des réseaux sociaux et de la recherche qualitative pour répondre à la question principale: Pourquoi l’État a-t-il développé et mis en œuvre la conception actuelle de la IPO (2003)? Cette question est d’autant plus significative quand nous considérons que contrairement à la recherche existante sur le sujet, l’IPO dominiquaise diverge considérablement dans la structure du l’IPO type idéal. Nous affirmons que les acteurs "rationnels," conscients de leur position structurelle dans un réseau d’acteurs, ont utilisé leurs ressources de pouvoir pour façonner l’institution afin qu’elle serve leurs intérêts et ceux et leurs alliés. De plus, nous émettons l’hypothèse que: d’abord, le choix d’une agence spécialisée contre la corruption et la conception ultérieure de cette institution reflètent les préférences des acteurs dominants qui ont participé à la création de ladite institution et la seconde, notre hypothèse rivale, les caractéristiques des modèles alternatifs d’institutions de l’intégrité publique sont celles des acteurs non dominants. Nos résultats sont mitigés. Le jeu de pouvoir a été limité à un petit groupe d’acteurs dominants qui ont cherché à utiliser la création de la loi pour assurer leur légitimité et la survie politique. Sans surprise, aucun acteur n’a avancé un modèle alternatif. Nous avons conclu donc que la loi est la conséquence d’un jeu de pouvoir partisan. Cette recherche répond à la pénurie de recherche sur la conception des institutions de l’intégrité publique, qui semblent privilégier en grande partie un biais organisationnel et structurel. De plus, en étudiant le sujet du point de vue des relations de pouvoir (le pouvoir, lui-même, vu sous l’angle actanciel et structurel), la thèse apporte de la rigueur conceptuelle, méthodologique, et analytique au discours sur la création de ces institutions par l’étude de leur genèse des perspectives tant actancielles que structurelles. En outre, les résultats renforcent notre capacité de prédire quand et avec quelle intensité un acteur déploierait ses ressources de pouvoir.

No Joke: Understanding Public Sentiment Toward Selling and Salespeople Through Cartoon Analysis

Unflattering representations of salesmanship in mass media exist in abundance. In order to gauge the depiction of selling in mass media, this article explores the nature and public perceptions of salesmanship using editorial cartoons. A theory of cartooning suggests that editorial cartoons reflect public sentiment toward events and issues and therefore provide a useful way of measuring and tracking such sentiment over time. The criteria of narrative, location, binary struggle, normative transference, and metaphor were used as a framework to analyze 286 cartoons over a 30-year period from 1983 to 2013. The results suggest that while representations of the characteristics and behaviors of salespeople shifted very little across time periods, changes in public perceptions of seller–buyer conflict, the role of the customer, and selling techniques were observed, thus indicating that cartoons are sensitive enough to measure the portrayal of selling.