The performance evaluation of corporate universities

The aim of this paper is to illustrate the phenomenon of corporate universities from the perspective of the evaluation of their performance. Corporate universities have a hybrid nature that can be referred to both as a business unit and as a higher education institution. Having reviewed the literature on corporate universities and performance evaluation of these kind of entities, we present the results of a survey on Italian corporate universities. Results shows that an appropriate framework for the evaluation of corporate university performance need to distinguish among the different types of corporate universities that are actually in place according to their mission and degree of openness to the external environment.     

Evaluating the impact of the Erasmus programme: skills and European identity

The primary purpose of this study lies in the evaluation of what students acquire from studies abroad in the context of credit mobility, in terms of competence development and personal growth, compared with that gained by students completing their study or internship in their home country. A pre-post test design, with both an experimental group and a control group, was employed for students participating in the Erasmus programme and those continuing their regular course of study at their home university. The findings obtained suggest that study abroad programmes have a positive impact on the perception of university students. The highest values among Erasmus students in terms of outcomes were attributed to cultural enhancement, personal development and foreign language proficiency. Study abroad has, furthermore, a Europeanising impact inasmuch as it affects the self-identity of students.     

In vitro diagnostic company recalls and medical laboratory practices: an Italian case

Introduction

In vitro human diagnostic (IVD) company recalls are a common practice aimed to either minimize a potential error or eliminate an existing failure. In this case report, we aim to provide a critical analysis of a recent IVD recall and to provide a practical framework about what to do when an IVD company recalls product(s) based on the International Organization for Standardization - ISO 15189:2012 standard.

Case report

In 2014, Abbott Laboratories® (Green Oaks, IL) published an urgent field safety notice regarding a product recall (Architect Intact parathyroid hormone (PTH) Assay List Number 8K25) with immediate action required. The IVD company explained the reasons for the recall as follows: i) Abbott has confirmed that a performance shift in the Architect Intact PTH assay has the potential to generate falsely elevated results on patient samples; ii) results generated with impacted lots may demonstrate a positive shift relative to those generated with previous reagent and/or calibrator lots. This issue may also impact established Architect Intact PTH reference ranges; iii) the magnitude of shift averages approximately 13% to 45%; iv) Abbott Architect Intact PTH controls do not detect the shift; and v) all current reagent, calibrator, and control inventory are impacted. The recall could have resulted in ~40,000 inaccurate laboratory tests reported by 18 laboratories from Italy (Lombardy region).

Conclusion

IVD company recalls have a serious impact on the patient safety and require a thorough investigation and responsible approach to minimize the possible damage. Medical laboratories accredited according to the ISO 15189 standard have procedures in place to manage such situations and ensure that patient safety is maintained when such recalls are issued.Key words: clinical laboratory techniques, patient safety, laboratory variability, reference standards, quality control, parathyroid hormone     

Analysis of named entity recognition and linking for tweets

Applying natural language processing for mining and intelligent information access to tweets (a form of microblog) is a challenging, emerging research area. Unlike carefully authored news text and other longer content, tweets pose a number of new challenges, due to their short, noisy, context-dependent, and dynamic nature. Information extraction from tweets is typically performed in a pipeline, comprising consecutive stages of language identification, tokenisation, part-of-speech tagging, named entity recognition and entity disambiguation (e.g. with respect to DBpedia). In this work, we describe a new Twitter entity disambiguation dataset, and conduct an empirical analysis of named entity recognition and disambiguation, investigating how robust a number of state-of-the-art systems are on such noisy texts, what the main sources of error are, and which problems should be further investigated to improve the state of the art.     

Critical review of the TEMAS: A step within the development of thematic apperception instruments

The TEMAS (acronym for Tell‐Me‐a‐Story)—an objectively scored, projective thematic personality instrument for children and adolescents—is analyzed, reviewed, and critiqued with regard to theoretical underpinnings and rationale for development, administration, scoring, psychometric properties, and research to date. The TEMAS appears to be an improvement over existing projective personality measures used by school psychologists. Although it requires more training than other projective techniques, competency in administration, scoring, and interpretation can be achieved within a one semester course in personality assessment. The test has evidence of reliability and validity, and it is a multicultural alternative to the TAT and other thematic apperception instruments. The use of the TEMAS by psychologists may achieve more accurate assessment of Black and Hispanic children. Limitations include geographically limited standardization samples and little research conducted by individuals other than the authors. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Effect of sex and fatigue on muscle stiffness and musculoarticular stiffness of the knee joint in a young active population

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of sex and fatigue on knee extensor peak torque (PT), muscle stiffness (MS) of the vastus lateralis (VL) and knee joint musculoarticular stiffness (MAS) in young adults. Twenty-two male and 22 female recreational athletes participated. Males were characterised by higher relaxed [pre-: males 364.43 (52.00) N · m^–1, females 270.27 (37.25) N · m^–1; post-: males 446.75 (83.27) N · m^–1, females 307.39 (38.58) N · m^–1] and contracted [pre-: males 495.07 (71.04) N · m^–1, females 332.34 (85.42) N · m^–1; post-: males 546.37 (90.74) N · m^–1, females 349.21 (85.55) N · m^–1] MS of the VL, and knee joint MAS [pre-: males 1450.11 (507.98) N · m^–1, females 1027.99 (227.33) N · m^–1; post-: males 1345.81 (404.90) N · m^–1, females 952.78 (192.38) N · m^–1] than females pre- and post-fatigue. A similar finding was observed in pre-fatigue normalised knee extensor PT [pre-: males 2.77 (0.42) N · m kg^–1, females 2.41 (0.40) N · m kg^–1, post-: males 2.53 (0.54) N · m kg^–1, females 2.26 (0.44) N · m kg^–1]. After the fatigue protocol, normalised knee extensor PT and knee joint MAS decreased, whilst relaxed and contracted MS of the VL increased in both sexes. These observed differences may contribute to the higher risk of knee injury in females and following the onset of fatigue.     

Metrological definition and evaluation of some mechanical properties of post-medieval Neapolitan yellow tuff masonry

The knowledge of the morphological and mechanical properties of masonry walls is very important for the refurbishment of ancient buildings, particularly when the requirements of both structural safety and historical preservation must be fulfilled. The masonry is not of homogenous material: its mechanical properties depend on stones, mortar, and texture which are very variable due to their dependence on the historical periods and the geographical area of the erection. For this reason, a deep knowledge of masonries built in different sites and historical periods is essential in order to evaluate both the capacities of bearing vertical load and the seismic vulnerability of the masonry structure. Three fundamental typologies of tuff masonry have been defined: they are the characteristics of different historical periods from the XVI to the XX century. The models are in full-scale in order to reproduce the three defined chronotypes. Original tuff stones quarried in the corresponding historical period, mortars similar to the original ones, reproduced according to ancient documents and original constructive techniques have been used for the construction of the specimens. Compression tests performed in displacement control have been carried out on the masonry models in order to determine the maximum resistance of the material and the corresponding strain, the ultimate strain and corresponding residual strength. In this paper, the procedure used for making the specimens and for experimentally evaluating the mechanical properties of post-medieval Neapolitan yellow tuff masonry are illustrated and the obtained results, even in terms of plastic capacity of these kinds of masonry, are reported.     

Testing Extension Services through AKAP Models

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of the paper is to analyse the attitude of Italian farms in gaining access to agricultural extension services (AES).

Design/methodology/approach: The ways Italian farms use AES are described through the AKAP (Awareness, Knowledge, Adoption, Product) sequence. This article investigated the AKAP sequence by submitting a questionnaire to a sample of Italian farms, providing questions on each step of the sequence.

Findings: The results confirm the validity of the model and the necessity to evaluate AES in each phase of the sequence, through an in-depth analysis of the possible motivation for not adopting them.

Practical implications: The functional repositioning of agriculture redefines the role of the farm, by introducing new possibilities of production and by fostering multifunctional activities. In this context, new tasks for AES emerge, aiming at sustaining farm development along either sectorial or territorial paths. Difficulties in adopting AES call for both fostering higher levels of access to services on behalf of farms and the adequate supply of services to farms' new needs.

Originality/value: AKAP models have been prevailingly used in developing countries to evaluate the efficacy of extension in increasing agricultural productivity. This article demonstrates how this model could be of help in developed agriculture too in performing new lines of development rooted in the new models of multifunctional agriculture.