Purpose: To develop and test a mission-oriented and multi-dimensional benchmarking method for a small scale university aiming for internationally first-class basic research.Design/methodology/approach: An individualiz...Purpose: To develop and test a mission-oriented and multi-dimensional benchmarking method for a small scale university aiming for internationally first-class basic research.Design/methodology/approach: An individualized evidence-based assessment scheme was employed to benchmark ShanghaiTech University against selected top research institutions,focusing on research impact and competitiveness at the institutional and disciplinary levels.Topic maps opposing ShanghaiTech and corresponding top institutions were produced for the main research disciplines of ShanghaiTech. This provides opportunities for further exploration of strengths and weakness. Findings: This study establishes a preliminary framework for assessing the mission of the university. It further provides assessment principles, assessment questions, and indicators.Analytical methods and data sources were tested and proved to be applicable and efficient.Research limitations: To better fit the selective research focuses of this university, its schema of research disciplines needs to be re-organized and benchmarking targets should include disciplinary top institutions and not necessarily those universities leading overall rankings.Current reliance on research articles and certain databases may neglect important research output types.Practical implications: This study provides a working framework and practical methods for mission-oriented, individual, and multi-dimensional benchmarking that ShanghaiTech decided to use for periodical assessments. It also offers a working reference for other institutions to adapt. Further needs are identified so that ShanghaiTech can tackle them for future benchmarking.Originality/value: This is an effort to develop a mission-oriented, individually designed,systematically structured, and multi-dimensional assessment methodology which differs from often used composite indices.展开更多
Clinical engineering(CE) has evolved rapidly over the last 25 years in China. Among the 34 provincial-level administrative units within China, the Zhejiang Province is one of the most advanced in terms of healthcare t...Clinical engineering(CE) has evolved rapidly over the last 25 years in China. Among the 34 provincial-level administrative units within China, the Zhejiang Province is one of the most advanced in terms of healthcare technology maintenance and management. In order to determine Zhejiang's current stage of development and opportunities for further improvement, a comparison of the performance of its CE departments was made against hospitals in the USA. Data were collected from 21 Zhejiang hospitals and compared to those from 270 acute-care hospitals in USA collected by Truven Health Analytics. The benchmarking comparison was made in three categories: operational, financial, and productivity. Within the operational category, the following metrics were compared: equipment inventory size/operating beds, annual repairs/inventory size, and annual scheduled maintenance/inventory size. Within the Financial category, the following metrics were compared: total CE expense/operating beds and total CE expense/total hospital expense. Within the Productivity category, the following metrics were compared: total CE full-time equivalent(FTE)/inventory size and total CE FTE/total hospital expense. These comparisons showed that:(1) While the equipment inventory in Zhejiang tends to be much smaller than USA for hospitals of comparable amount of operating beds, the numbers of repairs and scheduled maintenance per inventory size are similar;(2) The total CE expense/total hospital expense ratio is around 1% in both Zhejiang and USA; however, the total CE expense/operating beds and total CE expense/cost of equipment inventory are significantly lower in Zhejiang than USA;(3) The FTE amount in Zhejiang is significantly higher than in USA relative to both inventory size and total hospital operating expense, but significantly lower relative to the number of operating beds. The fact that repairs and scheduled maintenance are similar in Zhejiang and USA shows that CE leaders are managing equipment in comparable manner. Most of the differences found in the comparisons were traced to a few factors. First, the average length of stay in China is substantially higher than USA, which explains why hospitals in Zhejiang tend to have more operating beds but fewer pieces of equipment. Second, labor cost is significantly lower in China than USA, thus allowing Zhejiang hospitals to employ more workers than their American counterparts. Third, there is significantly difference in the cost of living between China and USA; Finally, being public entities Chinese hospitals are managed and operated in a different manner than American hospitals, which are mostly private, albeit nonprofit organizations. Nonetheless, it is interesting to note that hospitals in both areas spend roughly 1% of their total expenditure for CE. The results suggest that CE in Zhejiang is comparable to USA in terms of managerial excellence but there could be some room for improvement in financial management and productivity.展开更多
Development of irrigation infrastructure and its efficient management is the primary concern for sustainable food production. The assessment of irrigation infrastructure creation, its utilization, diagnostic evaluatio...Development of irrigation infrastructure and its efficient management is the primary concern for sustainable food production. The assessment of irrigation infrastructure creation, its utilization, diagnostic evaluation of the various performance indices (monitoring) are important to measure the efficiency. Benchmarking of Irrigation Systems (BIS) is for the diagnostic analysis of irrigation performance indicators comprising of Irrigation Infrastructure System (IIS), Agricultural System (AS), Water Delivery Dynamics (WDD). Since, the performance of an irrigation command varies with space and time, utilization of spatial information technologies viz. Remote Sensing (RS), Geographical Information Systems (GIS), Global Positioning Systems (GPS) useful to provide spatial information on several indices in the process of benchmarking (BM). Information requirements for BIS at different stages, utilization of spatial information technologies to derive irrigation performance indicators was discussed with suitable examples and demonstrated in this study. The studies carried out indicates that the geospatial approach for BIS enabled the improvements in data collection methods, diagnostic analysis, spatio-temporal visualisation of BM indicators at disaggregated canal level which would be useful for decision support during the corrective management measures. The conjunctive use of multi-date (medium resolution) satellite data, high spatial resolution data, field data on water deliveries was found to be an alternative to the conventional non-spatial approaches for BIS and thereby better water resources planning and management.展开更多
To detect security vulnerabilities in a web application,the security analyst must choose the best performance Security Analysis Static Tool(SAST)in terms of discovering the greatest number of security vulnerabilities ...To detect security vulnerabilities in a web application,the security analyst must choose the best performance Security Analysis Static Tool(SAST)in terms of discovering the greatest number of security vulnerabilities as possible.To compare static analysis tools for web applications,an adapted benchmark to the vulnerability categories included in the known standard Open Web Application Security Project(OWASP)Top Ten project is required.The information of the security effectiveness of a commercial static analysis tool is not usually a publicly accessible research and the state of the art on static security tool analyzers shows that the different design and implementation of those tools has different effectiveness rates in terms of security performance.Given the significant cost of commercial tools,this paper studies the performance of seven static tools using a new methodology proposal and a new benchmark designed for vulnerability categories included in the known standard OWASP Top Ten project.Thus,the practitioners will have more precise information to select the best tool using a benchmark adapted to the last versions of OWASP Top Ten project.The results of this work have been obtaining using widely acceptable metrics to classify them according to three different degree of web application criticality.展开更多
AIM:To describe baseline data of the optimal type2 diabetes management including benchmarking and standard treatment(OPTIMISE)study in Greece.METHODS:"Benchmarking"is the process of receiving feedback compar...AIM:To describe baseline data of the optimal type2 diabetes management including benchmarking and standard treatment(OPTIMISE)study in Greece.METHODS:"Benchmarking"is the process of receiving feedback comparing one’s performance with that of others.The OPTIMISE(NCT00681850)study is a multinational,multicenter study assessing,at a primary care level,whether using"benchmarking"can help to improve the quality of patient care,compared with a set of guideline-based reference values("non-benchmarking").In the Greek region,797 outpatients(457men,mean age 63.8 years)with type 2 diabetes were enrolled by 84 office-based physicians.Baseline characteristics of this population are presented.RESULTS:Hypertension was the most prevalent concomitant disorder(77.3%)and coronary heart disease was the most frequent macrovascular complication of diabetes(23.8%).Most patients were overweight or obese(body mass index 29.6±5 kg/m2),exhibiting mostly abdominal obesity(waist circumference102.6±13.6 cm).Biguanides were the most prevalent prescribed drugs for the management of diabetes(70.1%of all prescriptions),whereas statins(93.5%of all prescriptions)and angiotensin receptor blockers(55.8%of all prescriptions)were the most prevalent prescribed drugs for hyperlipidemia and hypertension,respectively.Only 37.4%of patients were on aspirin.Despite treatment,pre-defined targets for fasting plasma glucose(<110 mg/dL),glycated hemoglobin(<7%),systolic blood pressure(<130 mmHg and<125mmHg for patients with proteinuria)and low density lipoprotein cholesterol levels(<100 mg/dL and<70mg/dL for patients with coronary heart disease)were reached in a relatively small proportion of patients(29%,53%,27%and 31%,respectively).In a Greek population with type 2 diabetes,the control of glycemia or concomitant disorders which increase cardiovascular risk remains poor.CONCLUSION:Despite relevant treatment,there is a poor control of diabetes,hypertension and hyperlipidemia in Greek outpatients with type 2 diabetes.展开更多
文摘Purpose: To develop and test a mission-oriented and multi-dimensional benchmarking method for a small scale university aiming for internationally first-class basic research.Design/methodology/approach: An individualized evidence-based assessment scheme was employed to benchmark ShanghaiTech University against selected top research institutions,focusing on research impact and competitiveness at the institutional and disciplinary levels.Topic maps opposing ShanghaiTech and corresponding top institutions were produced for the main research disciplines of ShanghaiTech. This provides opportunities for further exploration of strengths and weakness. Findings: This study establishes a preliminary framework for assessing the mission of the university. It further provides assessment principles, assessment questions, and indicators.Analytical methods and data sources were tested and proved to be applicable and efficient.Research limitations: To better fit the selective research focuses of this university, its schema of research disciplines needs to be re-organized and benchmarking targets should include disciplinary top institutions and not necessarily those universities leading overall rankings.Current reliance on research articles and certain databases may neglect important research output types.Practical implications: This study provides a working framework and practical methods for mission-oriented, individual, and multi-dimensional benchmarking that ShanghaiTech decided to use for periodical assessments. It also offers a working reference for other institutions to adapt. Further needs are identified so that ShanghaiTech can tackle them for future benchmarking.Originality/value: This is an effort to develop a mission-oriented, individually designed,systematically structured, and multi-dimensional assessment methodology which differs from often used composite indices.
文摘Clinical engineering(CE) has evolved rapidly over the last 25 years in China. Among the 34 provincial-level administrative units within China, the Zhejiang Province is one of the most advanced in terms of healthcare technology maintenance and management. In order to determine Zhejiang's current stage of development and opportunities for further improvement, a comparison of the performance of its CE departments was made against hospitals in the USA. Data were collected from 21 Zhejiang hospitals and compared to those from 270 acute-care hospitals in USA collected by Truven Health Analytics. The benchmarking comparison was made in three categories: operational, financial, and productivity. Within the operational category, the following metrics were compared: equipment inventory size/operating beds, annual repairs/inventory size, and annual scheduled maintenance/inventory size. Within the Financial category, the following metrics were compared: total CE expense/operating beds and total CE expense/total hospital expense. Within the Productivity category, the following metrics were compared: total CE full-time equivalent(FTE)/inventory size and total CE FTE/total hospital expense. These comparisons showed that:(1) While the equipment inventory in Zhejiang tends to be much smaller than USA for hospitals of comparable amount of operating beds, the numbers of repairs and scheduled maintenance per inventory size are similar;(2) The total CE expense/total hospital expense ratio is around 1% in both Zhejiang and USA; however, the total CE expense/operating beds and total CE expense/cost of equipment inventory are significantly lower in Zhejiang than USA;(3) The FTE amount in Zhejiang is significantly higher than in USA relative to both inventory size and total hospital operating expense, but significantly lower relative to the number of operating beds. The fact that repairs and scheduled maintenance are similar in Zhejiang and USA shows that CE leaders are managing equipment in comparable manner. Most of the differences found in the comparisons were traced to a few factors. First, the average length of stay in China is substantially higher than USA, which explains why hospitals in Zhejiang tend to have more operating beds but fewer pieces of equipment. Second, labor cost is significantly lower in China than USA, thus allowing Zhejiang hospitals to employ more workers than their American counterparts. Third, there is significantly difference in the cost of living between China and USA; Finally, being public entities Chinese hospitals are managed and operated in a different manner than American hospitals, which are mostly private, albeit nonprofit organizations. Nonetheless, it is interesting to note that hospitals in both areas spend roughly 1% of their total expenditure for CE. The results suggest that CE in Zhejiang is comparable to USA in terms of managerial excellence but there could be some room for improvement in financial management and productivity.
文摘Development of irrigation infrastructure and its efficient management is the primary concern for sustainable food production. The assessment of irrigation infrastructure creation, its utilization, diagnostic evaluation of the various performance indices (monitoring) are important to measure the efficiency. Benchmarking of Irrigation Systems (BIS) is for the diagnostic analysis of irrigation performance indicators comprising of Irrigation Infrastructure System (IIS), Agricultural System (AS), Water Delivery Dynamics (WDD). Since, the performance of an irrigation command varies with space and time, utilization of spatial information technologies viz. Remote Sensing (RS), Geographical Information Systems (GIS), Global Positioning Systems (GPS) useful to provide spatial information on several indices in the process of benchmarking (BM). Information requirements for BIS at different stages, utilization of spatial information technologies to derive irrigation performance indicators was discussed with suitable examples and demonstrated in this study. The studies carried out indicates that the geospatial approach for BIS enabled the improvements in data collection methods, diagnostic analysis, spatio-temporal visualisation of BM indicators at disaggregated canal level which would be useful for decision support during the corrective management measures. The conjunctive use of multi-date (medium resolution) satellite data, high spatial resolution data, field data on water deliveries was found to be an alternative to the conventional non-spatial approaches for BIS and thereby better water resources planning and management.
文摘To detect security vulnerabilities in a web application,the security analyst must choose the best performance Security Analysis Static Tool(SAST)in terms of discovering the greatest number of security vulnerabilities as possible.To compare static analysis tools for web applications,an adapted benchmark to the vulnerability categories included in the known standard Open Web Application Security Project(OWASP)Top Ten project is required.The information of the security effectiveness of a commercial static analysis tool is not usually a publicly accessible research and the state of the art on static security tool analyzers shows that the different design and implementation of those tools has different effectiveness rates in terms of security performance.Given the significant cost of commercial tools,this paper studies the performance of seven static tools using a new methodology proposal and a new benchmark designed for vulnerability categories included in the known standard OWASP Top Ten project.Thus,the practitioners will have more precise information to select the best tool using a benchmark adapted to the last versions of OWASP Top Ten project.The results of this work have been obtaining using widely acceptable metrics to classify them according to three different degree of web application criticality.
文摘AIM:To describe baseline data of the optimal type2 diabetes management including benchmarking and standard treatment(OPTIMISE)study in Greece.METHODS:"Benchmarking"is the process of receiving feedback comparing one’s performance with that of others.The OPTIMISE(NCT00681850)study is a multinational,multicenter study assessing,at a primary care level,whether using"benchmarking"can help to improve the quality of patient care,compared with a set of guideline-based reference values("non-benchmarking").In the Greek region,797 outpatients(457men,mean age 63.8 years)with type 2 diabetes were enrolled by 84 office-based physicians.Baseline characteristics of this population are presented.RESULTS:Hypertension was the most prevalent concomitant disorder(77.3%)and coronary heart disease was the most frequent macrovascular complication of diabetes(23.8%).Most patients were overweight or obese(body mass index 29.6±5 kg/m2),exhibiting mostly abdominal obesity(waist circumference102.6±13.6 cm).Biguanides were the most prevalent prescribed drugs for the management of diabetes(70.1%of all prescriptions),whereas statins(93.5%of all prescriptions)and angiotensin receptor blockers(55.8%of all prescriptions)were the most prevalent prescribed drugs for hyperlipidemia and hypertension,respectively.Only 37.4%of patients were on aspirin.Despite treatment,pre-defined targets for fasting plasma glucose(<110 mg/dL),glycated hemoglobin(<7%),systolic blood pressure(<130 mmHg and<125mmHg for patients with proteinuria)and low density lipoprotein cholesterol levels(<100 mg/dL and<70mg/dL for patients with coronary heart disease)were reached in a relatively small proportion of patients(29%,53%,27%and 31%,respectively).In a Greek population with type 2 diabetes,the control of glycemia or concomitant disorders which increase cardiovascular risk remains poor.CONCLUSION:Despite relevant treatment,there is a poor control of diabetes,hypertension and hyperlipidemia in Greek outpatients with type 2 diabetes.
