Application Areas of the Shared Service Concept within the Romanian Health System

The Romanian healthcare system can be characterized by chronic under financing, leading to poor services towards the patients, corruption and high debts of the public institutions towards their suppliers. In order to cope with the situation, the Romanian state approved in 2010 the emergency ordinance 48/2010 on the decentralization of the health systems. Due to this legislation more than 370 hospitals across the country had been transferred under the administration of local public administration officials, whereas only roundabout 60 hospitals remained under the control of the Ministry of Health. As a consequence, local authorities have to familiarize themselves with questions concerning the proper management of the assigned hospitals. The present paper explores the different application areas of the shared service concept and the benefits this concept can add to the healthcare system. Three areas from the administration and from the operative function of the hospitals had exemplarily been selected in order to demonstrate the potential of shared services in terms of reducing the existing costs, while increasing the quality and performance of the services in question. In order to provide a holistic picture, possible disadvantages are highlighted and explained. The paper concludes that the benefits of the shared service concept can counterbalance the possible negative aspects and support the Romanian health system in overcoming this crisis and improve overall performance.Healthcare, Local Public Services, Shared Services, Contracting out, Privatization

Visual slant underestimation

Observers frequently underestimate the in-depth slant of rectangles under reduction conditions. This also occurs for slanted rectangles depicted on a flat display medium. Perrone (1982) provides a model for judged slant based upon properties of the 2-D trapezoidal projection of the rectangle. Two important parameters of this model are the angle of convergence of the sides of the trapezoid and the projected length of the trapezoid. This model was tested using a range of stimulus rectangles and found that the model failed to predict some of the major trends in the data. However, when the projected width of the base of the trapezoid projection was used in the model, instead of the projected length, excellent agreement between the theoretical and obtained slant judgements resulted. The good fit between the experimental data and the new model predictions indicates that perceived slant estimates are highly correlated with specifiable features in the stimulus display

Sharp peaks in the conductance of double quantum dot and quantum dot spin-valve systems at high temperatures: A hierarchical quantum master equation approach

We study sharp peaks in the conductance-voltage characteristics of a double quantum dot and a quantum dot spin-valve that are located around zero bias. The peaks share similarities with a Kondo peak but can be clearly distinguished, in particular as they occur at high temperatures. The underlying physical mechanism is a strong current suppression that is quenched in bias-voltage dependent ways by exchange interactions. Our theoretical results are based on the quantum master equation methodology, including the Born-Markov approximation and a numerically exact, hierarchical scheme, which we extend here to the spin-valve case. The comparison of exact and approximate results allows us to reveal the underlying physical mechanisms, the role of first-, second- and beyond-second-order processes and the robustness of the effect.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figures, revised versio

Influence of surface-related strain and electric field on acceptor wave functions in Zincblende semiconductors

The spatial distribution of the local density of states (LDOS) at Mn acceptors near the (110) surface of p-doped InAs is investigated by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM). The shapes of the acceptor contrasts for different dopant depths under the surface are analyzed. Acceptors located within the first ten subsurface layers of the semiconductor show a lower symmetry than expected from theoretical predictions of the bulk acceptor wave function. They exhibit a (001) mirror asymmetry. The degree of asymmetry depends on the acceptor atoms' depths. The measured contrasts for acceptors buried below the 10th subsurface layer closely match the theoretically derived shape. Two effects are able to explain the symmetry reduction: the strain field of the surface relaxation and the tip-induced electric field.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

Coastal and estuarine applications of multispectral photography

An evaluation of multispectral photographic techniques for optical penetration of water in the northeastern United States and the Gulf of Mexico coastal waters is presented. The spectral band (493 to 543 nanom), when exposed to place the water mass at about unit density on the photographic emulsion, was found to provide the best water penetration, independent of altitude or time of day, as long as solar glitter from the surface of the water is avoided. An isoluminous color technique was perfected, which eliminates the dimension of brightness from a multispectral color presentation

Multispectral photography for earth resources

A guide for producing accurate multispectral results for earth resource applications is presented along with theoretical and analytical concepts of color and multispectral photography. Topics discussed include: capabilities and limitations of color and color infrared films; image color measurements; methods of relating ground phenomena to film density and color measurement; sensitometry; considerations in the selection of multispectral cameras and components; and mission planning

Investigation of unconventional reconstruction and electronic properties on the Na2IrO3 surface

Na2IrO3 is an intriguing material for which spin-orbit coupling plays a key role. Theoretical predictions, so far unverified, have been made that the surface of Na2IrO3 should exhibit a clear signature of the quantum spin Hall effect. We studied the surface of Na2IrO3 using scanning tunneling microscopy and density-functional theory calculations. We observed atomic level resolution of the surface and two types of terminations with different surface periodicity and Na content. By comparing bias-dependent experimental topographic images to simulated images, we determined the detailed atomistic structure of both observed surfaces. One of these reveals a strong relaxation to the surface of Na atoms from the subsurface region two atomic layers below. Such dramatic structural changes at the surface cast doubt on any prediction of surface properties based on bulk electronic structure. Indeed, using spatially resolved tunneling spectroscopy we found no indication of the predicted quantum spin Hall behavior

A first study of the galaxy HRG 2304 and its companion AM 1646-795 (NED01)

Aims. We report the first study of the peculiar ring-like galaxy HRG 2304 (NED02),which was previously classified as a ring galaxy with an elliptical smooth ring. This object was selected to prove that it is a candidate for the Solitaire-type ring galaxies in an early stage of ring formation. The main goal of this work is to provide the spectral characteristics of the current object and its companion AM 1646-795 (NED01). Methods. The study is based on spectroscopic observations in the optical band to highlight the characteristics of this interacting galaxy. To investigate the star formation history of HRG 2304 we used the stellar population synthesis code STARLIGHT. The direct V and B broad band images were used to enhance some fine structures. Results. Along the entire long-slit signal, the spectra of HRG 2304 and its companion resemble that of an early-type galaxy. We estimated a heliocentric systemic redshift of z = 0.0415, corresponding to heliocentric velocities of 12449 km s-1 for HRG 2304 (NED02) and 12430 km s-1 for AM1646-795 (NED01). The spatial variation in the contribution of the stellar population components for both objects are dominated by an old stellar population 2x10^9 < t < 13x10^9 yr. The observed radial-velocity distribution and the fine structures around HRG 2304 suggest an ongoing tidal interaction of both galaxies. Conclusions.The spectroscopic results and the morphological peculiarities of HRG 2304 can be adequately interpreted as an ongoing interaction with the companion galaxy. Both galaxies are early-type, the companion is elliptical, and the smooth distribution of the material around HRG 2304 and its off-center nucleus in the direction of AM1646-795 (NED01) characterize HRG 2304 as a Solitaire-type galaxy candidate in an early stage of ring formation.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics, 9 pages, 10 figures and 3 table