Capacity planning in hospital nursing: a model for minimum staff calculation

An aging population, emerging technology, heightening patient expectations, rising health care costs, shorter patient stays, and growing pressure to improve quality have made the management of nursing resources even more critical today. While approaching a model for staffing levels, the authors considered factors such as patient acuity, work redesign, and minimum quality standards. The methodology for analysis included estimating the time needed to complete nursing tasks and calculating the average number of tasks per patient. With respect to nursing quality measures, the study examined the adequacy of nursing documentation including admission history, assessments, nursing procedures, and discharge report as well as nursing-driven outcomes such as fall and phlebitis rates. Lastly, the authors determined the theoretical number of staff needed to provide nursing care according to quality standards.     

The determinants of migrating with a pre-arranged job and of the initial duration of urban unemployment: an analysis based on Indian data on rural-to-urban migrants

"Based on survey data on 1,400 rural migrants in Delhi, this paper examines within a multivariate context the determinants of migrating with a pre-arranged job and of the initial duration of urban unemployment. The results show that the probability of moving with a pre-arranged job increases with education and with age, and is higher for those who seek non-manual jobs. For migrants who arrive in the city without a pre-arranged job, unemployment duration depends on marital status, premigration information on urban employment opportunities, and on the reliance on contacts for job search."     

What every leader needs to know about followers

Countless studies, workshops, and books have focused on leaders--the charismatic ones, the retiring ones, even the crooked ones. Virtually no literature exists about followers, however, and the little that can be found tends to depict subordinates as an amorphous group or explain their behavior in the context of leaders' development. Some works even fail to sufficiently distinguish among varying types of followers--barely registering the fact that those who tag along mindlessly are a breed apart from those who are deeply devoted and consciously, actively involved. These distinctions have critical implications for the way leaders should lead and managers should manage, according to Kellerman, a professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. Additionally, today's followers are influenced by a range of cultural and technological changes that have affected what they want and how they view and communicate with their ostensible leaders. In this article, Kellerman explores the evolving dynamic between leaders and subordinates and offers a typology that managers can use to determine and appreciate how their followers are different from one another. Using the level of engagement with a leader or group as a defining factor, the author segments followers into five types: Isolates are completely detached; they passively support the status quo with their inaction. Bystanders are free riders who are somewhat detached, depending on their self-interests. Participants are engaged enough to invest some of their own time and money to make an impact. Activists are very much engaged, heavily invested in people and process, and eager to demonstrate their support or opposition. And diehards are so engaged they're willing to go down with the ship--or throw the captain overboard.     

尼日利亚农户的生产效率：中北部稻农的案例分析

本文对尼日利亚中北部样本农户生产效率进行了研究。论文运用随机效率分解的前沿分析方法，分别推导了高地和低地地区水稻生产的技术、经济和分配效率。分析表明：高地和低地水稻生产的平均技术效率分别为83．1％和77．6％，因此，可以看出高地农户比低地农户的生产更有效率；高地和低地水稻生产的平均经济效率分别为51．9％和55．4％，这表明在技术不变的情况下，高地和低地稻农都可以通过更好地使用可能的资源，以显著地提高生产效率。在尼日利亚，由于人口的不断增加，对大米的需求也呈现强劲的增长，因此劳动生产率的提高对于尼日利亚人来讲将日益重要。虽然，对于效率而言，社会经济因素在检验中都很显著，但并没有明确的策略可以促进它们之间的关系。对于这一结果的可能的解释是：存在着一个发展的界限，低于该界限时社会经济因素和生产力之间没有一致的关系。我们的研究表明，尼日利亚的稻农仍然可以达到这一界限。因此，在进行额外的人力资本投资和改善其他因素之外，有必要通过采用优良的水稻品种以及改善教育水平，从而超越这一界限。     

低噪声微波管和固态装置的噪声频谱特性

本文给出了多普勒雷达中采用的低噪声微波管,“固态速调管”,以及各种类型的固态倍频链的调频和调幅噪声的试验数据。管子的类型包括磁控管、速调管和三极管。还列出了由高频晶体控制晶体管振荡噐,高频晶体管放大噐及变容二极管倍频噐构成的固态倍频键的数据。指出了固态倍频链的频谱形状与这些微波管和“固态速调管”频谱形状的不同。对各种噐件进行了比较。