An improvement in the method of production of embedding ab initio model potentials (AIMP) for embedded cluster calculations in ionic solids is proposed and applied to the oxides CeAlO(3), CeO(2), and UO(2). The improvement affects the calculation of one of the AIMP components, the Pauli repulsion operator, which prevents the cluster electrons from collapsing onto the occupied orbitals of the host in embedded cluster calculations and, so, their over occupancy. The linear constants involved in such operator are proposed to be obtained in embedded cluster calculations in the perfect host, with the requirement that local structures calculated with working embedded clusters of relatively small size agree with those calculated with reference embedded clusters of much larger size.

This study finds a significant difference in the compensation levels of public and private hospital CEOs. The difference, however, is not found to be associated with ownership structure. Rather, it is attributable to hospital characteristics such as size, location, and affiliation with a multihospital chain, and human characteristics such as gender, education, and experience.

Using a Probit regression model, this study examines organizational factors contributing to hospital chief executive officer (CEO) turnover. The study concludes that some organizational environments are more conducive to turnover. Hospitals that are smaller, are on the West Coast, are investor owned, are church related, offer many services, have high service usage, and larger hospitals with female CEOs are more likely to experience turnover.

We have used Bi and Ce L3-edges extended x-ray absorption fine structure measurements to study local structure of CeO(1-x)F(x)BiS2 system as a function of F-substitution. The local structure of both BiS2 active layer and CeOCeO(1-x)F(x)BiS2, that should be important for the understanding of the coexistence of superconductivity and low temperature ferromagnetism in this system.

We consider ourselves to be rational beings. We feel that our choices, decisions, and actions are selected from a flexible array of possibilities, based upon reasons. When we vote for a political candidate, it is because they share our views on certain critical issues. When we hire an individual for a job, it is because they are the best qualified. However, if this is true, why does an analysis of the direction of shift in the timbre of the voice of political candidates during an exchange or debate, predict the winner of American presidential elections? Why is it that while only 3% of the American population consists of white men over 6'4″ tall, 30% of the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies are white men over 6'4″ tall? These are examples of "instinctual biases" affecting or modulating rational thought processes. I argue that existing theories of reasoning cannot substantively accommodate these ubiquitous, real-world phenomena. Failure to recognize and incorporate these types of phenomena into the study of human reasoning results in a distorted understanding of rationality. The goal of this article is to draw attention to these types of phenomena and propose an "adulterated rationality" account of reasoning as a first step in trying to explain them.

Traditionally, corporate boards have left leadership planning and development very much up to their CEOs and human resources departments-primarily because they don't perceive that a lack of leadership development in their companies poses the same kind of threat that accounting blunders or missed earnings do. That's a shortsighted view, the authors argue. Companies whose boards and senior executives fail to prioritize succession planning and leadership development end up experiencing a steady attrition in talent and becoming extremely vulnerable when they have to cope with inevitable upheavals- integrating an acquired company with a different operating style and culture, for instance, or reexamining basic operating assumptions when a competitor with a leaner cost structure emerges. Firms that haven't focused on their systems for building their bench strength will probably make wrong decisions in these situations. In this article, the authors explain what makes a successful leadership development program, based on their research over the past few years with companies in a range of industries. They describe how several forward-thinking companies (Tyson Foods, Starbucks, and Mellon Financial, in particular) are implementing smart, integrated, talent development initiatives. A leadership development program should not comprise stand-alone, ad hoc activities coordinated by the human resources department, the authors say. A company's leadership development processes should align with strategic priorities. From the board of directors on down, senior executives should be deeply involved in finding and growing talent, and line managers should be evaluated and promoted expressly for their contributions to the organization-wide effort. HR should be allowed to create development tools and facilitate their use, but the business units should take responsibility for development activities, and the board should ultimately oversee the whole system.

UNASSIGNED

The transition from a delivery model based on volume to a model based on value is underpinning an unprecedented rate of change in healthcare. Our research identifies academic medical centers that have successfully moved their organizations from a volume-based care delivery model to a model that is based on value, achieving top decile performance in the transition. We asked senior leaders about their key imperatives in achieving system-wide healthcare transformations.Major teaching hospitals were sampled using data envelopment analysis to identify hospitals that produced the best value-based purchasing process of care, Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems scores, and mortality scores with the most efficient utilization of human and financial organizational resources. On-site interviews were conducted with the CEOs of the top-performing hospitals. Content analysis of the transcribed interviews revealed 10 clear imperatives that our sample of CEOs said were essential.

We reported a novel and facile approach to fabricate self-assembled CeO2 nanocube-based resistive-switching memory device. The device was found to exhibit excellent bipolar resistive-switching characteristics with a high resistance state (HRS/OFF) to low resistance state (LRS/ON) ratio of 10(4), better uniformity, and stability up to 480 K. The presence of oxygen vacancies and their role was discussed to explain the resistive-switching phenomenon in the fabricated devices. Further, the effect of the film thickness on carrier concentrations and estimated electric field strength with the switching (OFF/ON) ratio were also discussed.

OBJECTIVE

This paper aims to assess the impact of the leadership traits of chief executive officers (CEOs) on hospital performance in the USA. The effectiveness and efficiency of the CEO is of critical importance to the performance of any organization, including hospitals. Management systems and manager behaviours (traits) are of crucial importance to any organization because of their connection with organizational performance. To identify key factors associated with the quality of care delivered by hospitals, the authors gathered perceptions of manager traits from chief executive officers (CEOs) and followers in three groups of US hospitals delivering different levels of quality of care performance.

METHODS

Three high- and three low-performing hospitals were selected from the top and bottom 20th percentiles, respectively, using a national hospital ranking system based on standard quality of care performance measures. Three lean hospitals delivering intermediate performance were also selected. A survey was used to gather perceptions of manager traits (providing a modern or lean management system inclination) from CEOs and their followers in the three groups, which were compared.

RESULTS

Four traits were found to be significantly different (alpha < 0.05) between lean (intermediate-) and low-performing hospitals. The different perceptions between these two hospital groups were all held by followers in the low-performing hospitals and not the CEOs, and all had a modern management inclination. No differences were found between lean (intermediate-) and high-performing hospitals, or between high- and low-performing hospitals.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings support a need for hospital managers to acquire appropriate traits to achieve lean transformation, support a benefit of measuring manager traits to assess progress towards lean transformation and lend weight to improved quality of care that can be delivered by hospitals adopting a lean system of management.

When going from periodic surfaces to isolated clusters or nanoparticles, there is a big increase in the reactivity of Au and Cu toward SO(2). Density functional calculations indicate that the enhancement in the SO(2) adsorption energy is due to the presence of corner sites (i.e., metal atoms with a low coordination number) and the fluxionality of the nanoparticles. Therefore, small Au particles bind SO(2) stronger than a periodic Au(100) surface. However, the S <->> Au and O <->> Au interactions are not strong enough to induce the rupture of the S-O bonds. In contrast, the dissociation of SO(2) on Cu particles is a very exothermic process, even more exothermic than on a periodic Cu(100) surface. Experiments of synchrotron-based high-resolution photoemission and X-ray absorption spectroscopy show big differences in the DeSOx activity of Au and Cu nanoparticles dispersed on MgO(100) and CeO(2)(111). The heat of adsorption of the SO(2) on Au nanoparticles supported on MgO(100) or CeO(2)(111) was 0.2 to 0.4 eV larger than on Au(100) with negligible dissociation of the molecule. The full decomposition of SO(2) was observed only after O vacancies were introduced in the ceria support. The O vacancies in ceria either played a direct role in the dissociation of SO(2) (cracking of the molecule at the oxide-metal interface) or enhanced the chemical activity of the supported Au nanoparticles. The addition of Cu particles to MgO(100) or CeO(2)(111) generates systems that are extremely active for the destruction of SO(2). At 100-150 K, the SO(2) adsorbs molecularly on the supported Cu particles. Heating to temperatures above 200 K leads to massive dissociation of the SO(2). A comparison of the behavior of SO(2) on Cu/MgO(100) and Cu/CeO(2-x)(111) shows how important the reducibility of the oxide support in DeSOx operations can be.

The effects of V and Ce concentrations (each varying in the 0-100% range) in vanadia-ceria multiphase systems are investigated for synthesis gas production via thermochemical redox cycles of CO₂ and H₂O splitting coupled to methane partial oxidation reactions. The oxidation of prepared oxygen carriers is performed by separate and sequential CO₂ and H₂O splitting reactions. Structural and chemical analyses of the mixed-metal oxides revealed important information about the Ce and V interactions affecting their crystal phases and redox characteristics. Pure CeO₂ and pure V₂O₅ are found to offer the lowest and highest oxygen exchange capacities and syngas production performance, respectively. The mixed-oxide systems provide a balanced performance: their oxygen exchange capacity is up to 5 times higher than that of pure CeO₂ while decreasing the extent of methane cracking. The addition of 25% V to CeO₂ results in an optimum mixture of CeO₂ and CeVO₄ for enhanced CO₂ and H₂O splitting. At higher V concentrations, cyclic carbide formation and oxidation result in a syngas yield higher than that for pure CeO₂.

Integrated delivery systems (IDSs) recently have invested substantial financial resources in information technology (IT) initiatives. But the return on that investment for many IDSs in terms of improved productivity and reduced costs has been less than anticipated. Therefore, to improve or enhance the success of IT initiatives, some IDSs have sought to encourage more physician support of such efforts by creating a new executive position--director of medical informatics--designed to be filled by physician leaders who have knowledge and skill in managing information systems. The director of medical informatics, who typically reports to the CEO or CIO, coordinates IT initiatives that address physician concerns and promotes physician buy-in.

BACKGROUND

One of the ways to improve the quality of services in the health system is through clinical governance. This method aims to create a framework for clinical services providers to be accountable in return for continuing improvement of quality and maintaining standards of services.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the success rate of clinical governance implementation in Kerman teaching hospitals based on 9 steps of Karsh's Model.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2015 on 94 people including chief executive officers (CEOs), nursing managers, clinical governance managers and experts, head nurses and nurses. The required data were collected through a researcher-made questionnaire containing 38 questions with three-point Likert Scale (good, moderate, and weak). The Karsh's Model consists of nine steps including top management commitment to change, accountability for change, creating a structured approach for change, training, pilot implementation, communication, feedback, simulation, and end-user participation. Data analysis using descriptive statistics and Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon test was done by SPSS software version 16.

RESULTS

About 81.9 % of respondents were female and 74.5 have a Bachelor of Nursing (BN) degree. In general, the status of clinical governance implementation in studied hospitals based on 9 steps of the model was 44 % (moderate). A significant relationship was observed among accountability and organizational position (p=0.0012) and field of study (p=0.000). Also, there were significant relationships between structure-based approach and organizational position (p=0.007), communication and demographic characteristics (p=0.000), and end-user participation with organizational position (p=0.03).

CONCLUSIONS

Clinical governance should be implemented by correct needs assessment and participation of all stakeholders, to ensure its enforcement in practice, and to enhance the quality of services.

Research overwhelmingly shows that facial appearance predicts leader selection. However, the evidence on the relevance of faces for actual leader ability and consequently performance is inconclusive. By using a state-of-the-art, objective measure for face recognition, we test the predictive value of CEOs' faces for firm performance in a large sample of faces. We first compare the faces of Fortune500 CEOs with those of US citizens and professors. We find clear confirmation that CEOs do look different when compared to citizens or professors, replicating the finding that faces matter for selection. More importantly, we also find that faces of CEOs of top performing firms do not differ from other CEOs. Based on our advanced face recognition method, our results suggest that facial appearance matters for leader selection but that it does not do so for leader performance.

It's hard for chief executives to trust their chief information officers. Blame technophobia or just bad experiences. But now that information technology has become the linchpin for an organization's success, CEOs and CIOs are asking, "How do we make this work?"

In 1989 the Catholic Health Association, in conjunction with the University of Iowa Center for Health Services Research, surveyed chief executive officers (CEOs) of rural hospitals regarding their hospital's viability and strategic behaviors and orientations. An extensive questionnaire was sent to the CEOs of all Catholic, all other religious not-for-profit, and all investor-owned rural hospitals, as well as to a 50 percent random sample of government and other not-for-profit rural hospitals. CEOs on average perceived that their hospital's viability relative to that of other rural hospitals was higher in 1989 than it had been in 1987. Ninety-four percent of hospitals whose CEOs perceived an increase in viability had been medium- or low-viability hospitals two years earlier. Thus, despite reports of deteriorating conditions for rural hospitals, rural hospital CEOs appeared to be relatively optimistic regarding their institution's viability. Changes in strategic direction accompanied these perceived increases in viability. The predominant strategic orientation adopted by rural hospitals in 1987 was that of the defender, but many hospitals that used this approach switched to the analyzer orientation by 1989. Significant shifts also occurred toward the reactor orientation from the analyzer and defender orientations. A greater percentage of hospitals with a perceived increase in viability between 1987 and 1989 altered their organizational role. The most common change for these hospitals was from limited care to basic care.

Making sure the relative roles of the board and management are clear and agreed upon is becoming more important as market and regulatory forces compel boards to govern at levels of detail once considered micromanagement, but are now required and necessary in the current environment of heightened governance accountability. A clear understanding of each other's roles and responsibilities is step one in building a solid partnership between the board and chief executive. A second element of building a strong foundation for the board-CEO relationship is taking time early on to establish mutual expectations about working together. The board's responsibilities in CEO performance management and compensation include setting performance expectations and goals that are clear and measurable and coaching and motivating the CEO. When a CEO fails, one of the most important steps for the board to take is to look in the mirror and commit to the rigorous due diligence needed to avoid future mistakes. Boards should always have CEO succession on their agenda.

OBJECTIVE

To document the roles, the perceived skills and attributes and experience required of Medical Administrators in contemporary public hospitals.

METHODS

Interviews with Directors of Medical Services (DMS) from Victorian metropolitan public hospitals between March 2005 and May 2005.

RESULTS

A total of 14 of the 21 DMS in Victoria were interviewed. Key roles: Managing Medical Staff; Clinical Governance and Quality Improvement; Strategy and Service development; and Medical advisor to CEO. Key attributes and skills aligned with roles. Most respondents hold Fellowship of Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators (FRACMA) with over half employed for less than 2 years.

CONCLUSIONS

Core roles identified mirrored in key international literature. Recommendations for further study includes systematic review of literature; the influence of the medically-trained Chief Executive on roles; and further analysis of high turnover.

CONCLUSIONS

This study clarifies the roles undertaken and skills required by Medical Administrators in contemporary public hospitals, providing: (1) role benchmarking for Chief Executives; (2) reduced ambiguity among the broader medical staff of the roles, to assist those who may need Medical Administrator assistance with providing patient care; (3) assisting the Medical Administration profession and RACMA to provide tailored education and training; and (4) to inform aspiring future Medical Administrators of the broad nature of such roles.

Healthcare CEOs recognize that managers are under increasing pressure to work smarter and more efficiently with fewer available resources. Jobs in the healthcare industry are in a constant state of change, requiring a workforce that is not only prepared to adjust quickly to the changing environment but to simultaneously maintain or improve overall organizational performance. Traditionally, trainers were viewed as the people with the primary responsibility for improving organizational performance. Today some CEOs believe healthcare managers should own that responsibility, and other CEOs believe the responsibility should be shared among healthcare managers and trainers. This shift in how accountability is viewed poses at least two important questions. Are managers aware of the various roles they need to enact to achieve successful organizational performance improvement? Do managers possess the competencies associated with those roles? The seven most contemporary trainer roles, now referred to as workplace learning and performance roles, are examined in this article to help managers increase their knowledge of the roles, competencies, and outputs expected of them. Based on findings of a study conducted to examine CEO's perceptions of managers' roles in the performance improvement process, this article provides theoretical backgrounds, includes verbatim study comments, and offers practical recommendations or tips for managers.

Empirical evidence is scarce on chief executive officer (CEO) turnover in U.S. hospitals, with potentially serious implications for many of these organizations. This study, based on a nationwide survey of CEOs at non-federal general surgical and medical community hospitals conducted in the spring of 2004, reports the perceptions of hospital CEOs regarding the circumstances and impact of CEO turnover on U.S. hospitals. In the opinion of the respondents, the impact includes competitors taking advantage of turnover by luring employees and physicians away from the target hospital, significantly increasing the likelihood of other senior executives leaving the hospital, and many of the important strategic activities being delayed or cancelled altogether. Interestingly, the perceptions of CEOs regarding the effects of turnover do not seem to differ regardless of voluntary or involuntary circumstances of turnover. However, there is a notable bias in emphasizing the perceived negative implications of respondents' own departures and allegedly positive effects of their predecessors' departures.