How do policy levers shape the quality of a national health system?

Poor quality of care may have a detrimental effect on access and take-up and can become a serious barrier to the universality of health services. This consideration is of particular interest in view of the fact that health systems in many countries must address a growing public-sector deficit and respond to increasing pressures due to COVID-19 and aging population, among other factors. In line with a rapidly emerging literature, we focus on patient satisfaction as a proxy for quality of health care. Drawing on rich longitudinal and cross-sectional data for Spain and multilevel estimation techniques, we show that in addition to individual level differences, policy levers (such as public health spending and the patient-doctor ratio, in particular) exert a considerable influence on the quality of a health care system. Our results suggest that policymakers seeking to enhance the quality of care should be cautious when compromising the level of health resources, and in particular, health personnel, as a response to economic downturns in a sector that traditionally had insufficient human resources in many countries, which have become even more evident in the light of the current health crisis. Additionally, we provide evidence that the increasing reliance on the private health sector may be indicative of inefficiencies in the public system and/or the existence of features of private insurance which are deemed important by patients.     

Response strategy to environment context factors using a lean and agile approach: Implications for firm performance

Based on the environment-strategy performance perspective and dynamic capabilities framework, we develop a theoretical model and hypotheses specifying how supply chain collaboration as a response to environment context factors – competitive intensity, supply uncertainty, technological turbulence and market turbulence, using a lean and agile strategy may influence firm performance. We test the model using partial least square structural equation modelling on data collected from a field survey with responses from 152 manufacturing firms representing a variety of industries. Empirical findings generally support the relationship between collaboration and firm performance using a lean and agile strategy. Also, for firms in industries that face environments characterised by high supply uncertainty and competitive intensity with, technological turbulence, the study finds evidence of a direct relationship between these environmental factors and supply chain collaboration. The findings provide an initial strategic response framework for appropriately aligning a lean and agile supply chain strategy through collaboration with environment context factors to achieve firm performance improvements.     

Politics in evaluation: Politically responsive evaluation in high stakes environments

The role of politics has often been discussed in evaluation theory and practice. The political influence of the situation can have major effects on the evaluation design, approach and methods. Politics also has the potential to influence the decisions made from the evaluation findings. The current study focuses on the influence of the political context on stakeholder decision making. Utilizing a simulation scenario, this study compares stakeholder decision making in high and low stakes evaluation contexts. Findings suggest that high stakes political environments are more likely than low stakes environments to lead to reduced reliance on technically appropriate measures and increased dependence on measures better reflect the broader political environment.     

Formal governance,interfirm coordination,and performance in partnerships: An empirical investigation of a mediation model

This study investigates the extent to which formal governance mechanisms such as contracts and equity ownership affect interfirm coordination and partnership performance. We analysed data from a survey of 301 Korean firms to show that interfirm coordination partially mediates the relationship between contract completeness, defined as the extent to which a contract specifies task operations and contingencies, and partnership performance. Furthermore, we find that more complete contracts can attenuate the negative effects of equity ownership on coordination, and that this effect is particularly strong when partner tasks are interdependent and relational norms are weak.     

The African Evaluation Guidelines: 2002. A checklist to assist in planning evaluations, negotiating clear contracts, reviewing progress and ensuring adequate completion of an evaluation

A review of the US ‘program evaluation standards’ (PES), undertaken in a series of workshops and meetings of networks of evaluators in Africa, resulted in modifications to those standards. The result was presented to a plenary session of the Inaugural Conference of the African Evaluation Association in September 1999, attended by over 300 evaluators from 35 countries. The AfrEA Conference decided that a systematic effort should be made to produce a list of African evaluation guidelines, similar to the PES, and that this checklist should be reviewed by national evaluation associations and networks in Africa and field tested in several countries. Ten national and regional networks and associations suggested modifications to the text and endorsed the final version of the guidelines.     

高等数学教学中应用CAI尝试

本文阐明了高等数学自测信息反馈系统的理论内涵 ,介绍了基于数理统计原理制定的新的学生考试成绩评定方法与相应成绩管理软件的基本内容及其在教学实践中的应用功效     

汽轮机凝汽器技术状态的故障诊断

介绍了对电站发动机组凝汽器进行状态监测和故障诊断的技术诊断自动化系统的研究和实现，实践证明，开发的系统对改善凝汽器性能、提高电站整体性能具有重要意义。     

缩小城乡差距统筹城乡发展问题研究

笔者系统总结了我国城乡差距、城乡关系失调的具体表现,并进一步分析了城乡发展差距过大对国民经济和社会发展的影响以及统筹城乡发展的现实意义,继而从改革城乡分治的管理体制,加快城镇化进程,推动城乡联动的工业化路线等方面提出了统筹城乡发展的对策建议。     

浅析影响因子的局限性

目前大量的机构用论文的被引用率、期刊的影响因子和被 SCI收录的情况作为评价个人、期刊和科研机构之影响力或水平高低的一个重要指标。但却忽略了不同学科的特殊性以及学科的规模、发展速度等非科学的因素对影响因子的局限 ,这就形成了对许多专业的不公平评价 ,因而必须对普通的影响因子加以修正     

晚唐诗歌否定评价的当代反思

从唐末至今 ,论者对晚唐诗大多持否定态度。反思这种带有明显历史惯性的批评现象 ,不难发现 ,不是晚唐诗缺乏思想价值和艺术魅力 ,而是其出现的异于此前诗坛的人生哲学、生活情趣、审美情趣、艺术思维和艺术风格 ,不仅使那些视文学为伦理、政治奴婢的封建文学观念批评者难以认同 ,也使那些对思想文化史发展缺乏认识和分析的批评者 ,难以理解出现在晚唐诗中的种种变化 ,因而导致千余年来的批评失误