Importance-performance analysis: Revisiting a tool for the evaluation of clinical services

The importance-performance analysis method (IPA) is used in market research in order to measure the level of customer satisfaction. The aim of this study was to evaluate and highlight the use of IPA as a management tool to measure quality of dental services. We suggest that this method can be easily implemented in a dental educational setting, as a performance outcome measure that includes patient input. The study was conducted in a dental service through a valid questionnaire, SERVQUAL. This instrument explores levels of service quality perceived by patients. It was conducted in four companies in Brazil in 2011 (derived from different industry segments;two from textiles, one from hospital care and the other from the manufacturing industry) in two States (S?o Paulo and Minas Gerais). These companies were covered by the same dental managed care organization which contracted with independent dentists to provide care. The study was divided into two stages: the first, in which beneficiaries answered the questionnaire prior to receiving dental treatment, and the second when the same beneficiaries answered after completing their dental treatment. Data obtained from SERVQUAL generated graphs that were used to characterize the IPA matrix using several dimensions of care. The Assurance Dimension had the highest average in both expectation and perception. The Reliability dimension showed the value of the most negative GAP among the dimensions, and the best value occurred in the Responsiveness dimension. The IPA tool may be effective in Dental Medicine since it highlights the key points to be improved in the delivery of dental services in a clinical setting.

Semantic Social Service Organization Mechanism in Cyber Physical System

Cyber physical system(CPS)provides more powerful service by cyber and physical features through the wireless communication.As a kind of social organized network system,a fundamental question of CPS is to achieve service self-organization with its nodes autonomously working in both physical and cyber environments.To solve the problem,the social nature of nodes in CPS is firstly addressed,and then a formal social semantic descriptions is presented for physical environment,node service and task in order to make the nodes communicate automatically and physical environment sensibly.Further,the Horn clause is introduced to represent the reasoning rules of service organizing.Based on the match function,which is defined for measurement between semantics,the semantic aware measurement is presented to evaluate whether environment around a node can satisfy the task requirement or not.Moreover,the service capacity evaluation method for nodes is addressed to find out the competent service from both cyber and physical features of nodes.According to aforementioned two measurements,the task semantic decomposition algorithm and the organizing matrix are defined and the service self-organizing mechanism for CPS is proposed.Finally,examinations are given to further verify the efficiency and feasibility of the proposed mechanism.

A multidimensional and hierarchical model of library mobile service quality

Purpose:Based on the understanding of the characteristics of mobile services(m-services)provided by libraries,we attempt to develop a multidimensional and hierarchical model and a specifically designed measurement scale for the assessment of libraries' m-service quality.Design/methodology/approach:The research has been conducted sequentially in two stages.At the first stage,a multidimensional and hierarchical model of library m-service quality and a measurement scale are developed through literature review and focus group interviews.At the second stage the model is tested using partial disaggregation technique for an analysis of the data collected from over 400 library users in 3 Chinese universities.Findings:The proposed model is shown to fit the data well.The empirical analysis provides strong support for the model,which includes 4 dimensions(service environment,service interaction,information control and service effect) and 12 corresponding sub-dimensions.Research limitations:The sample size needs to be enlarged and the user types need to be expanded to make the sample more representative.Practical implications:The study provides a conceptual framework and measurement tool that can help library managers understand the users' needs in the context of mobile network environment,and boost their libraries' competitiveness by carrying out better services to meet the user demands.Originality/value:The proposed model and measurement scale specifically designed for the assessment of libraries' m-service quality fully reflect the hierarchical structure of libraries' m-service quality.In addition,by using partial disaggregation technique for model testing,we believe our research can serve as a practical reference to those engaged in the development and examination of a multidimensional and hierarchical model.

Ecosystem service values of gardens in the Yellow River Basin,China

Studies on the ecosystem service value(ESV)of gardens are critical for informing evidence-based land management practices based on an understanding of the local ecosystem.By analyzing equivalent value factors(EVFs),this paper evaluated the values of 11 ecosystem services of gardens in the Yellow River Basin of China in 2019.High-precision land use survey data were used to improve the accuracy of the land use classification,garden areas,and spatial distribution of the ESVs of gardens.The results showed that garden ecosystem generally had high ESVs,especially in terms of the ESV of food production,which is worthy of further research and application to the practice of land use planning and management.Specifically,the value of one standard EVF of ecosystem services in 2019 was 3587.04 CNY/(hm^(2)·a),and the ESV of food production of gardens was much higher than that of croplands.Garden ecosystem provided an ESV of 1348.66×10^(8)CNY/a in the Yellow River Basin.The areas with the most concentrated ESVs of gardens were located in four regions:downstream in the Shandong-Henan zone along the Yellow River,mid-stream in the Shanxi-Shaanxi zone along the Yellow River,the Weihe River Basin,and upstream in the Qinghai-Gansu-Ningxia-Inner Mongolia zone along the Yellow River.The spatial correlation of the ESVs in the basin was significant(global spatial autocorrelation index Moran's I=0.464),which implied that the characteristics of high ESVs adjacent to high ESVs and low ESVs adjacent to low ESVs are prominent.In the Yellow River Basin,the contribution of the ESVs of gardens to the local environment and economy varied across regions.We also put forward some suggestions for promoting the construction of ecological civilization in the Yellow River Basin.The findings of this study provide important contributions to the research of ecosystem service evaluation in the Yellow River Basin.

The Role of Health Inequality in the Maternal Health Services Provided by Public Institutions in Mexico

This work aims to determine the role of inequality in the provision of maternal health services among five regions in Mexico (northwest, northeast, central, the Mexico City-State of Mexico region and the south). We consider the most important service providers corresponding to the main health institutions in Mexico (IMSS, ISSSTE, SESAS, IMSS-Oportunidades). Therefore, a cross-sectional prospective study was conducted to analyze eight intervention packages (Prenatal Care, Syphilis, Influenza, Obstetric Urgent Care, HIV in pregnancy, delivery care, neonatal care and accessibility) offered by the Maternal and Perinatal Health (MPH) program. A quantitative analysis demonstrates low to marginal performance of the MPH program in three regions (South, Mexico City-State of Mexico and the Northwest) and marginal in two other regions (Central and Northeast). Furthermore, four of the intervention packages presented the lowest performance in the South (Prenatal Care, Syphilis, Influenza and Obstetric Urgent Care), as did the average of the total of the MPH packages. The performance of HIV in Pregnancy package was marginal in the Southern and Mexico City-State of Mexico regions and Neonatal Care was low in the Northwest. The assessment of the MPH intervention packages allows us to identify their strengths and weaknesses. This information allows us to identify similarities and differences among the geographical regions in order to describe and analyze the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the current system and hence to improve the decision making regarding the Maternal and Perinatal Health Programs in Mexico. The results suggest that a homogenization has taken place in terms of the low quality of the services.

Longitudinal Care Evaluation in Child Healthcare

Objective: To evaluate the essential attribute of Primary Health Care, longitudinal care, care directed at children from birth to two years old. Methods: This is a descriptive and exploratory study of evaluative character and quantitative approach, conducted with parents/caregivers of 186 children, younger than two years old, patients of primary health care services in the city of Santa Cruz/RN, Brazil. For data collection, the instrument Primary Care Assessment Tools (PCA Tools) was used, and the results of the questions dealing with longitudinal attribute were evaluated. The data were stored and processed in Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Health Sciences School of Trairí, under number 348896. Results: The mean age of children in months was 8.21;84.4% (n = 157) were assisted by the same doctor/nurse every time;in 81.7% (n = 152) of cases the doctor/nurse know the full medical history of the child;73.7% (n = 137) answered that the professional know their child more as a person than just as someone with a health problem;48.9% (n = 91) stated that the doctor/nurse do not know their family very well;86.6% (n = 161) reported finding the doctor/nurse understands what is saying or questioning;96.2 (n = 179) of respondents said the doctor/nurse answers the questions so that they understand;96.2% (n = 179) of the interviewed said they feel comfortable telling the concerns or problems of their child to the doctor/nurse;66.7% (n = 124) claimed that they would not change the service/doctor/nurse to another health service. Conclusion: It is concluded that the attribute was well rated by the mothers of children seen in primary health care services and that they can establish good communication and relationship with the health professionals who treat their children.

BCSE:Blockchain-Based Trusted Service Evaluation Model over Big Data

The blockchain,with its key characteristics of decentralization,persistence,anonymity,and auditability,has become a solution to overcome the overdependence and lack of trust for a traditional public key infrastructure on third-party institutions.Because of these characteristics,the blockchain is suitable for solving certain open problems in the service-oriented social network,where the unreliability of submitted reviews of service vendors can cause serious security problems.To solve the unreliability problems of submitted reviews,this paper first proposes a blockchain-based identity authentication scheme and a new trusted service evaluation model by introducing the scheme into a service evaluation model.The new trusted service evaluation model consists of the blockchain-based identity authentication scheme,evaluation submission module,and evaluation publicity module.In the proposed evaluation model,only users who have successfully been authenticated can submit reviews to service vendors.The registration and authentication records of users’identity and the reviews for service vendors are all stored in the blockchain network.The security analysis shows that this model can ensure the credibility of users’reviews for service vendors,and other users can obtain credible reviews of service vendors via the review publicity module.The experimental results also show that the proposed model has a lower review submission delay than other models.

Profile of People Living with HIV/AIDS in a Large Municipality of Sao Paulo State, Brazil （2012-2013）

HIV/AIDS has brought to light the challenge of incorporating the many influences between living conditions, social characteristics and health services performance to an adequate care for PLWHA （people living with AIDS）. Vulnerability of these populations is under the responsibility of specialized care units whose assistance does not always occur according to their real needs and demands. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze demographic, social and clinical profiles of PLWHA, as well as their follow-up in SS （Specialized Health Services） in Ribeir^o Preto, Brazil. It is a descriptive study conducted by the application of structured questionnaires to 253 patients with HIV/AIDS in follow-up during the years of 2012-2013. Variables were analyzed by descriptive statistics procedures. The findings pointed out gender parity, aging population, low education and economic predominance of class C. Regarding clinical characteristics, there was a predominance of asymptomatic individuals, with no clinical manifestations of AIDS or major comorbidities. The main mode of transmission was through sexual contact. The results led to the need of adequating the assistance provided to the specificities inherent to PLWHA. The care provision should cross an interdisciplinary perspective, targeting recognition of problems and ensuring comprehensive health care adequate to users＇ needs and demands.

FEWSS-FRAMEWORK TO EVALUATE THE SERVICE SUITABILITY AND PRIVACY IN A DISTRIBUTED WEB SERVICE ENVIRONMENT

This paper focuses on addressing the problem of web service monitoring by evaluating its suitability and privacy in a distributed web service environment(DWS).The need for web services monitoring and evaluation is necessary because the quantity and quality of retrieved web services generally does not fulfill the demands or requirements of the web service requesters.In the literature,many authors proposed suitable solutions for checking the quality of web service in an ad hoc scenario but there is no available testbed for this purpose.In this work,it is proposed to develop a framework as a testbed for evaluating the web service for its suitability and privacy.In order to verify,the retrieved web services fulfill the demands and requirements of the requester in a DWS environment.The Framework to Evaluate the Web Service Suitability(FEWSS)supports service providers in modeling the services with testbed and to design service behavior to comply the service suitability.It generates run-time instances of web services,client’s requests,service registries and other entities in order to emulate realistic SOA environments.By generating a real testbed,our approach assists in runtime test for provider system/services.Particular focus has been put on the privacy policy extensibility to allow the service providers and users in a complex environment.FEWSS also provides an intuitive interface for testing all services under SOA control.

The Service Utility Model in Service Management

Aiming to provide a measurable service Quality of Service （ QoS） evaluating method for service inventory management, this paper proposes a new mobile Service Utility Model （SUM）, considers the service and business layer elements into the service utility influence profile, and proposes an self-adaptive service inventory management algorithm as a QoS control scheme based on SUM. It can be concluded from the simulation result that the service inventory utility can be fully reflected by SUM and the whole system efficiency is greatly increased by using SUM as the adaptive rule.