Modern Driver Research Articles

Patient flows as a key driver of university hospital modernisation: Lessons for other transitional countries from the Serbian case

AbstractThis paper describes the planning and implementation of patient flows as a key driver of university hospital modernisation in four large tertiary-care institutions in the Republic of Serbia. The project, supported by EU funding, aims to support the interrelated processes of health service delivery changes and major infrastructure investment. Together, the four clinical centres host over 2 million outpatients, 220,000 inpatients and 120,000 operations each year. All four have complete or partial pavilion (standalone) structure (from ten to more than 30 buildings) and fragmented patient flows (eg interrupted patient flow due to limitations of infrastructure and poor service organisation). A main project goal is to centralise facilities and to separate patient flows into four major patient groups (outpatients, day-patients, emergency patients and inpatients) and patients for surgery/intensive care. This paper will provide insights into the challenges and successes of a major hospital infrastructure i...

Beyond the 'Crisis of Youth'? Mining, farming, and civil society in post-war Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone’s conflict has often been characterized as a ‘crisis of youth’. For some, the post-war resurgence of grassroots associational life represents the unleashing of long-suppressed youth egalitarianism, yet this analysis tends to ignore the role of international aid in providing an economic incentive for impoverished Sierra Leoneans to embrace formal association. Case study evidence also shows that politics of ‘community’ identification and moral economies of patronage continue to affect post-war aid. Evidence of post-war social change can nevertheless be found outside the development sector. Diamond mining has long served as a driver of cultural modernization in Sierra Leone and detailed examination of post-war associational life in Kono District reveals that new foci and techniques of social activism have emerged since the end of the civil war. The decline of artisanal mining, with the expansion of large-scale industrial mining, and renewed interest in farming are driving a parallel resurgence of associational life in rural areas. Given that most Sierra Leoneans continue to depend on farming, this rural resurgence could yet represent the most durable basis for democratic change in Sierra Leone.

Generic Centralized Multi Sensor Data Fusion Based on Probabilistic Sensor and Environment Models for Driver Assistance Systems

Modern driver assistance and safety systems are using a combination of two or more sensors for reliable tracking and classification of relevant road users like vehicles, trucks, cars and others. In these systems, processing and fusion stages are optimized for the properties of the sensor combination and the application requirements. A change of either sensor hardware or application involves expensive redesign and evaluation cycles. In this contribution, we present a multi sensor fusion system which is implemented to be independent of both sensor hardware properties and application requirements. This supports changes in sensor combination or application requirements. Furthermore, the environmental model can be used by more than one application at the same time. A probabilistic approach for this generic fusion system is presented and discussed.

Adopting the instructional science paradigm to encompass training in virtual environments

The science of instruction and training is founded on decades of research and practice. Moreover, the field continues to evolve as new theories, methods and practices emerge. A modern driver for this evolution has been the development of a vast array of instructional technologies. One of the newer technological advances is the use of virtual environments. This article considers how fundamental theories and findings from educational and training psychology may or may not apply in the world of virtual environments. In addition, apparent gaps are highlighted in the current knowledge base in order to foster ideas for future research.

Obstacle detection with a Photonic Mixing Device-camera in autonomous vehicles

In autonomous vehicles as well as in modern driver assistance systems, obstacle detection shows to be the most important task to be achieved. This paper presents a collision avoidance system, based on a modern Time-Of-Flight camera. These cameras allow a 3D perception of the environment, in which obstacles can be detected, independent of special features. Thus, the system is capable of all kinds of objects, including pedestrians as well as bicycles or vehicles. The used Photonic Mixing Device (PMD) camera has a measurement range of up to 50 m. The system is integrated into an autonomous vehicle, on which detected obstacles are investigated in detail. The vehicle steering commands are then generated by a behaviour network, depending on the presence of obstacles in the driving lane.

Is it ‘what works’ that matters? Evaluation and evidence‐based policy‐making

The notion of evidence‐based policy‐making (EBP) has gained renewed currency in the UK in the context of the current Labour Government's commitment to modernise government. Thus, a key driver of modernisation is seen as evidence based policy‐making and service delivery—‘what matters is what works’—in the context of a performance management strategy for regulation of public services. The aim of this paper is to critically examine the assumptions underpinning EBP asking, in particular, the extent to which the increased emphasis on the role of evidence in policy‐making is indicative of instrumental rationality which erodes the normative basis of policy‐making and undermines the capacity for ‘appropriate’ practice. The potential for theory‐based evaluation to deliver on its evidential promise is critically examined and, based upon an expanded notion of ‘practical reason’, it is argued that we need to extend the scope of our concern from ‘what works’ to what is ‘appropriate’ in addressing complex and ambiguous social problems, embracing ethical‐moral concerns.

Electronic Service Delivery – A driver of public sector modernisation

Efforts to improve the delivery of public services with ICT are older than the recent explosion of the Internet and the emergence of the concept of e-Government. Innovative Electronic Service Delivery could well become a driver of the modernisation process in government. The opportunities are still clouded by a lack of clear visions and of generic reference models of Electronic Service Delivery. Also, instead of taking a joined-up approach to citizen services, parochial approaches still prevail in many countries. This contribution deals first with some of the early efforts to create one-stop government services. From there a reference model for electronic services is sketched. It identifies several phases of a typical citizen-government transaction, and it provides a checklist of the various requirements for Electronic Services Delivery. It furthermore comprises an organisational architecture for citizens' services which enables single-window access to all administrative services via targeted front offices.

100 Years of speedometers

On October 7, 1902, the engineer Otto Schulze was granted the patent for an eddy-current speedometer to be used in auto mobiles. Modern driver information has come a very long way since those first beginnings, encompassing a whole history of automobile instrumentation that would be unimaginable without Schulze’s speedometer and its technological successors. A viewback and an outlook from the point of view of driver information pioneer Siemens VDO Automotive.

Making Sense of ‘What Works’: Evidence Based Policy Making as Instrumental Rationality?

The notion of evidence-based policy making (EBP) has gained renewed currency in the UK in the context of the current Labour Government's commitment to modernise government. Thus, a key driver of modernisation is seen as evidence based policy making and service delivery - ‘what matters is what works’. The aim of this article is to critically examine the assumptions underpinning EBP asking, in particular, the extent to which the increased emphasis on the role of evidence in policy making is indicative of ‘technocratic politics’ underpinned by an instrumental rationality which erodes the normative basis of policy making and undermines the capacity for ‘appropriate’ practice. It is argued that the current emphasis on EBP needs to be understood in the context of recent trends in governance processes and the development by New Labour of performance management for public services. The nature of the evidence we can expect from evaluation and the role of evidence in policy-making practice are critically examined. It is argued that we need an expanded notion of ‘practical reason’ to guide ‘appropriate practice’ within the context of a broader framework of ‘responsible government.’

Instructional uses of linear filters and transmission lines

G. W. Stewart was a pioneer in the use of the analogy between lumped parameter electrical circuit theory and acoustical transmission lines and filters. He published a series of papers based on the work of his students and his own studies. Recently about half of these filters were discovered in a storage room at The University of Iowa. The filters were fabricated from standard size brass and copper tubing. Some of the filters will be displayed and demonstrated with modern drivers and detectors. Similar devices could be constructed and used for lecture demonstration, laboratories, and student research.