Pedagogy of regulation: Strategies and instruments to supervise learning from adverse events

Diverse scholars have argued that standards and performance measurements are “instruments of control” that have a profound influence on the day‐to‐day lives of individuals and organizations, causing constitutive effects. Regulatory bodies increasingly use standards to oversee and monitor the regulated. This paper discusses the Dutch Health and Youth Care Inspectorate's use of both standards and a performance measurement system introduced to monitor how Dutch hospitals investigate and learn from serious adverse events. Rather than focusing on how standards affect regulated practices and organizations, our study examines how the use of these instruments affects the standard maker, that is, the Inspectorate. We explore how the Inspectorate's work practices, standards, and coupled performance measurement system influence its regulatory pedagogy, reviewing practices, and decisionmaking. We conclude that standards and performance measurement systems are not by definition “instruments of control” as their constitutive effects are (under)determined by the relationships in which they are enacted.     

Understanding institutional change: Fast-moving and slow-moving institutions

Studies in Comparative International Development - This article proposes a classification of ‘slow-moving” and “fast-moving” institutions, and discusses the potential...     

L‘évaluation: un moment de vérité dans le développement de l'enseignement collégial

Sommaire: Dans cet article sur l'évaluation, l'auteur constate d'abord que les organismes conseils en éducation dénoncent chacun à leur manière l'absence d'évaluation dans les établissements scolaires. Il présente ensuite les conditions selon lesquelles l'évaluation peut éclore et se développer: la restauration du sens de I'institution; la recherche de l'excellence; le dépassement des idéologies; l'élimination des rapports conflictuels. L'auteur aborde dans une deuxième partie le champ d'application de l'évaluation scolaire: I'évaluation des apprentissages; l'évaluation des enseignants; l'évaluation de la gestion administrative. Finalement, l'auteur propose à la réflexion les pistes suivantes: l'évaluation, c'est d'abord le pari de l'excellence; l'èvaluation ne peut se faire sans un changement des mentalités; l'évaluation exige l'ouverture vers I'extéieur. Enfin, I'auteur dénonce la culture de la peur que les détracteurs de l'évaluátion entretiennent volontiers pour retarder l'action et il incite les administrateurs scolaires à mener de façon concrète et active leur intervention dans ce domaine. Abstract: In this paper on evaluation or assessment, the author first notes that educational organizations all criticize, in their own way, the lack of evaluation in school establishments. He then specifies the conditions under which such evaluation may emerge and develop: the sense of purpose of the institution must be restored; there must be a search for excellence; one must go beyond ideology; conflict relationships must be eliminated. In part two, the author deals with the fields of application of school evaluation: assessing trainee programs; evaluating teachers; assessing administrative management, The author then suggests the following matters for thought: to evaluate is first of all to search for excellence; no assessment can be made without changes in mentality; and assessment requires an open outlook. Lastly, the author decries the fact that the detractors of evaluation resort to fear as a dilatory measure against action. He urges school administrators to define, in a concrete, active manner, their role in this area.     

Swabs as DNA Collection Devices for Sampling Different Biological Materials from Different Substrates

Currently, there is a variety of swabs for collection of biological evidence from crime scenes, but their comparative efficiency is unknown. Here, we report the results of an investigation into the efficiency of different swab types to collect blood, saliva and touch DNA from a range of substrates. The efficiency of extracting blood and saliva from each swab type was also tested. Some swabs were significantly more effective than others for sampling biological materials from different substrates. Swabs with the highest sampling efficiency, however, often did not have the highest extraction efficiency. Observations were recorded regarding practicality of each swab in a variety of situations. Our study demonstrates that selection of sampling device impacts greatly upon successful collection and extraction of DNA. We present guidelines to assist in evaluation of swab choice.     

Social darwinism and the taylor system: a missing link in the evolution of management?

Whereas linkages between Social Darwinism and Frederick Taylor's system of Scientific Management have been noted, there has been little elaboration on the relationship. In this paper, the parallels between the Social Darwinist theory of Herbert Spencer and the major tenets of Taylorism are explored. By the early 20th Century, members of the business community and leaders of organized labor had developed very different attitudes toward the principle of “survival of the fittest.” These opinions, informed by the prevailing ethos of society, appear to have colored business's and labor's reactions to Taylor's Scientific Management system. In addition, management historians may have developed different views concerning the strength of the relationship between Social Darwinism and Scientific Management because of the various forms of Social Darwinist theory.     

Comparison of two whole genome amplification methods for STR genotyping of LCN and degraded DNA samples

The analysis of LCN or highly degraded DNA samples presents a challenge for forensic science. Improving the quantity and/or quality of samples would greatly increase the profiling success rate from LCN and degraded samples. Whole genome amplification (WGA) is one method that has such potential. Two commercially available WGA kits, GenomePlex and GenomiPhi, were investigated for use on LCN and degraded DNA samples. Both kits amplified genomic DNA, producing microgram quantities from sub-nanogram templates. Profiling success of LCN DNA samples was increased, with improvements of over 700% from 10pg template DNA compared to non-WGA-amplified control samples. The amplification success with degraded DNA was also improved by WGA. Degraded DNA was simulated using restriction enzymes to demonstrate that the application of WGA can result in the typing of STR loci that could not previously be amplified. An increase in artefacts, such as stutter alleles and amplification biases, were observed in many samples. Results show that WGA is capable of increasing both the quality and quantity of DNA, and has the potential to improve profiling success from difficult samples in forensic casework.     

Staff growth in international organizations: A principal-agent problem? An empirical analysis

The analysis covers 27 international organizations in the years 1950–2001. From the first to the last year, staff increased at a compound average rate of 3.2% per annum, while the number of member states rose by only 2.5%. The pooled analysis of 817 observations (including task proxies and organization dummies) reveals that (i) the elasticity of staff to membership is much larger than unity (1.36), (ii) United Nations organizations have significantly more staff, (iii) international organizations in the United States and Switzerland have significantly less staff, (iv) heterogeneity in terms of per capita income limits the size of an international organization and that (v) its staff is larger if its membership comprises many industrial or (former) communist countries. In a reduced sample, the financing share of the largest contributor in combination with the party or programmatic orientation of its government has a significantly negative effect on staff because the size of the largest financing share determines the incentive to monitor. U.S. exit from an international organization reduces its staff significantly. Most of these results depend on the condition that the non-stationary component of staff size is not taken account of by time dummies or trends.