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Effective Level (effective + level)
Selected AbstractsMore Powerful Communication: From the Language of Prizes and Praising to the Language of Ongoing RegardGLOBAL BUSINESS AND ORGANIZATIONAL EXCELLENCE, Issue 3 2001Robert Kegan The management literature is replete with exhortations to managers to praise good workers. And, while praise may well beat the no-news-is-good-news management style, there is a more effective level of communication. The authors explain and illustrate here the way direct, specific, and nonattributive communications empower both the receiver and the giver. © 2001 by the authors. Reprinted by permission of Jossey-Bass, Inc., a subsidiary of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. [source] Multilayered antimicrobial polyethylene films applied to the packaging of ground beefPACKAGING TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE, Issue 2 2001Jung-Uk Ha Abstract A natural antimicrobial agent, grapefruit seed extract (GFSE), was incorporated in a 0.5% or 1.0% concentration on the food-contact surface of multilayered polyethylene (PE) film by a co-extrusion or solution-coating process. The fabricated films were tested in their antimicrobial activity against several food spoilage microorganisms, and then applied to the packaging of ground beef. During the storage of the packaged beef at 3°C, changes in microbial counts, pH, TBA value and meat colour were monitored in order to see the effect of the packaging film on meat quality changes. Coating the PE film with GFSE with the aid of a polyamide binder resulted in a more effective level of antimicrobial activity on the agar plate medium than did its incorporation by a co-extrusion process. The film co-extruded with a 1.0% GFSE layer showed antimicrobial activity only against Micrococcus flavus ATCC 10240, while the film coated with 1.0% GFSE showed activity against several microorganisms, such as Escherichia coli IFO 3301, Staphylococcus aureus IFO 3060 and Bacillus subtilis IFO 12113. Both types of GFSE-incorporated multilayer PE films contributed to a reduction of the growth rates of aerobic and coliform bacteria on the ground beef, when compared to plain PE film. The film coated with a higher concentration (1.0%) of GFSE had a more pronounced effect than did the other films in inhibiting spoilage bacterial growth. They could also slow down chemical changes of the packaged beef. The GFSE-coated film was more effective in preserving beef quality, but the level of GFSE addition did not affect the quality changes of the beef. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Library analysis of SCHEMA-guided protein recombinationPROTEIN SCIENCE, Issue 8 2003Michelle M. Meyer Abstract The computational algorithm SCHEMA was developed to estimate the disruption caused when amino acid residues that interact in the three-dimensional structure of a protein are inherited from different parents upon recombination. To evaluate how well SCHEMA predicts disruption, we have shuffled the distantly-related ,-lactamases PSE-4 and TEM-1 at 13 sites to create a library of 214 (16,384) chimeras and examined which ones retain lactamase function. Sequencing the genes from ampicillin-selected clones revealed that the percentage of functional clones decreased exponentially with increasing calculated disruption (E = the number of residue,residue contacts that are broken upon recombination). We also found that chimeras with low E have a higher probability of maintaining lactamase function than chimeras with the same effective level of mutation but chosen at random from the library. Thus, the simple distance metric used by SCHEMA to identify interactions and compute E allows one to predict which chimera sequences are most likely to retain their function. This approach can be used to evaluate crossover sites for recombination and to create highly mosaic, folded chimeras. [source] From experience: leading dispersed teamsTHE JOURNAL OF PRODUCT INNOVATION MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2002Preston G. Smith Although management can gain great performance benefit from colocating cross-functional product development teams, colocation is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve as companies globalize and form alliances. Consequently, this article offers guidance to keep your development team functioning effectively even though it may be dispersed across town or around the world. We aim our suggestions at the team leader, but both team members and managers will find helpful ideas and become sensitive to critical issues. For example, management often underestimates the loss in team performance as the team disperses and incorrectly assumes that communication technologies alone will largely overcome the complications of distance. An effective team depends on open, effective communication, which in turn depends on trust among members. Thus, trust is the foundation, but it is also the very quality that is most difficult to build at a distance. For this reason and for several others that occur in the very front of the project, we suggest that if you can get your team together face-to-face at any time during the project, do it at the beginning. You can establish trust while you are planning the project together, writing the product specification, formulating working approaches, and creating communication protocols (for example, how long before an e-mail must be answered?). Likewise, the most important maintenance activity during the middle of the project is retaining an effective level of trust, which is far easier than having to rebuild trust. In part, you accomplish this by "humanizing" the project: sharing team member biographical information, telling an occasional good-natured joke, and knowing when a colleague's family member is in the hospital. We also cover communication technologies,which ones to select and why you need a variety of media. Although such technologies are necessary for running a dispersed team, they are not nearly as sufficient as many technology suppliers suggest. Another complication is that differences in culture tend to grow as the team spreads over greater distances, encountering different time zones, languages, ethnic groups, and thus corresponding values. Although such differences place challenges before the team, diversity also offers advantages to those who are sensitive to the facets of culture. Consequently, we break culture down into its components and suggest ways of working with each one. Although we tend to underestimate the complications of working at a distance today, in time, teams will learn the skills needed. In the meantime, the perceptive manager and team leader will pay special attention to building these skills. [source] Principal Stratification Designs to Estimate Input Data Missing Due to DeathBIOMETRICS, Issue 3 2007Constantine E. Frangakis Summary We consider studies of cohorts of individuals after a critical event, such as an injury, with the following characteristics. First, the studies are designed to measure "input" variables, which describe the period before the critical event, and to characterize the distribution of the input variables in the cohort. Second, the studies are designed to measure "output" variables, primarily mortality after the critical event, and to characterize the predictive (conditional) distribution of mortality given the input variables in the cohort. Such studies often possess the complication that the input data are missing for those who die shortly after the critical event because the data collection takes place after the event. Standard methods of dealing with the missing inputs, such as imputation or weighting methods based on an assumption of ignorable missingness, are known to be generally invalid when the missingness of inputs is nonignorable, that is, when the distribution of the inputs is different between those who die and those who live. To address this issue, we propose a novel design that obtains and uses information on an additional key variable,a treatment or externally controlled variable, which if set at its "effective" level, could have prevented the death of those who died. We show that the new design can be used to draw valid inferences for the marginal distribution of inputs in the entire cohort, and for the conditional distribution of mortality given the inputs, also in the entire cohort, even under nonignorable missingness. The crucial framework that we use is principal stratification based on the potential outcomes, here mortality under both levels of treatment. We also show using illustrative preliminary injury data that our approach can reveal results that are more reasonable than the results of standard methods, in relatively dramatic ways. Thus, our approach suggests that the routine collection of data on variables that could be used as possible treatments in such studies of inputs and mortality should become common. [source] Restoration of genetic connectivity among Northern Rockies wolf populationsMOLECULAR ECOLOGY, Issue 20 2010MARK HEBBLEWHITE Probably no conservation genetics issue is currently more controversial than the question of whether grey wolves (Canis lupus) in the Northern Rockies have recovered to genetically effective levels. Following the dispersal-based recolonization of Northwestern Montana from Canada, and reintroductions to Yellowstone and Central Idaho, wolves have vastly exceeded population recovery goals of 300 wolves distributed in at least 10 breeding pairs in each of Wyoming, Idaho and Montana. With >1700 wolves currently, efforts to delist wolves from endangered status have become mired in legal battles over the distinct population segment (DPS) clause of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and whether subpopulations within the DPS were genetically isolated. An earlier study by vonHoldt et al. (2008) suggested Yellowstone National Park wolves were indeed isolated and was used against delisting in 2008. Since then, wolves were temporarily delisted, and a first controversial hunting season occurred in fall of 2009. Yet, concerns over the genetic recovery of wolves in the Northern Rockies remain, and upcoming District court rulings in the summer of 2010 will probably include consideration of gene flow between subpopulations. In this issue of Molecular Ecology, vonHoldt et al. (2010) conduct the largest analysis of gene flow and population structure of the Northern Rockies wolves to date. Using an impressive sampling design and novel analytic methods, vonHoldt et al. (2010) show substantial levels of gene flow between three identified subpopulations of wolves within the Northern Rockies, clarifying previous analyses and convincingly showing genetic recovery. [source] Gene therapy for HIV infection: what does it need to make it work?THE JOURNAL OF GENE MEDICINE, Issue 6 2006Dorothee von Laer Abstract The efficacy of antiviral drug therapy for HIV infection is limited by toxicity and viral resistance. Thus, alternative therapies need to be explored. Several gene therapeutic strategies for HIV infection have been developed, but in clinical testing therapeutically effective levels of the transgene product were not achieved. This review focuses on the determinants of therapeutic efficacy and discusses the potential and also the limits of current gene therapy approaches for HIV infection. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Prophylaxis of posttraumatic endophthalmitisACTA OPHTHALMOLOGICA, Issue 2009A ABU EL ASRAR Infectious endophthalmitis is a devastating complication of open globe injuries. The incidence of culture-positive endophthalmitis after open globe injuries varies between 0.5% and 17%. Several reports have demonstrated that delayed primary repair, dirty wound, breach of lens capsule, retained intraocular foreign body (IOFB), grade 4 injury (presenting visual acuity of worse than 5/200 to light perception), placement of primary intraocular lens, and rural setting are associated with an increased risk of posttraumatic endophthalmitis. Posttraumatic endophthalmitis is associated with its own microbiologic spectrum which is distinct from other subgroups of exogenous endophthalmitis. Posttraumatic endophthalmitis still carries a poor prognosis. Reasons for guarded prognosis include polymicrobial infection and the virulence of the infecting microorganisms. In addition, concomitant injuries may directly result in ocular damage that limits ultimate visual recovery. Because of the substantial incidence of endophthalmitis after open globe injuries, careful consideration should be given to the use of prophylactic antimicrobial therapy. The purpose of prophylaxis is to provide effective antibiotic levels as rapidly as possible against a broad range of organisms. Good coverage for most organisms is obtained with intravenous vancomycin coupled with a third generation cephalosporin, such as ceftazidime, which can penetrate the vitreous cavity in effective levels in inflamed aphakic experimental eyes. Recently, the use of prophylactic intravitreal antibiotic administration in high-risk cases was recommended. [source] | |||||||||||||