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Several Directions (several + direction)
Selected AbstractsService Management,Academic Issues and Scholarly Reflections from Operations Management Researchers,DECISION SCIENCES, Issue 2 2007Richard Metters ABSTRACT Services are now a larger portion of the economy than manufacturing for every nation on Earth, and services are an overwhelming portion of Western economies. While decision-making research has begun responding to this change, much of the scholarly work still addresses manufacturing issues. Particularly revealing is the field of operations management (OM), in which the proportion of manuscripts dedicated to services has been estimated at 3%, 6%, and 7.5% by various authors. We investigate several possible reasons for the neglect of services in research, including the difficulty in defining services, viewing services as derivative activities, a lack of defined processes, a lack of scale in services, and the effect of variability on service performance. We argue that times have changed, and none of these reasons is valid anymore. We sound the warning that failure to emphasize services in our research and teaching may signal the decline of the discipline. We note the proportion of OM faculty in business schools has shrunk in the past 10 years. Finally, we examine a selection of service research agendas and note several directions for high-impact, innovative research to revitalize the decision sciences. With practitioners joining the call for more research in services, the academic community has an exciting opportunity to embrace services and reshape its future. [source] Roles of informal workplace trainers in different organizational contexts: Empirical evidence from Australian companiesHUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY, Issue 2 2006Rob F. Poell Informal workplace trainers help employees learn what they need to know and do in order to get their job done. Little is known about the actions of informal workplace trainers, who may be colleagues or supervisors. This study provides an empirical basis for actions undertaken by informal workplace trainers. A total of 350 Australian enterprises were interviewed by telephone. Actions of informal workplace trainers were measured using a list of thirty-two statements based on prior qualitative research. Three factors were found to describe core role dimensions: support, structure, and performance. Also, three types of informal workplace trainer appeared: some had a passive indifferent role conception, a considerable number had a restricted role conception, and many had a broad, active role conception. Relationships of role dimensions and role conceptions with organizational context variables and characteristics of informal workplace trainers were tested as well. The study proposes several directions for further research. [source] Nutrient Uptake and Mineralization during Leaf Decay in Streams , a Model SimulationINTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF HYDROBIOLOGY, Issue 4 2009J. R. Webster Abstract We developed a stoichiometrically explicit computer model to examine how heterotrophic uptake of nutrients and microbial mineralization occurring during the decay of leaves in streams may be important in modifying nutrient concentrations. The simulations showed that microbial uptake can substantially decrease stream nutrient concentrations during the initial phases of decomposition, while mineralization may produce increases in concentrations during later stages of decomposition. The simulations also showed that initial nutrient content of the leaves can affect the stream nutrient concentration dynamics and determine whether nitrogen or phosphorus is the limiting nutrient. Finally, the simulations suggest a net retention (uptake > mineralization) of nutrients in headwater streams, which is balanced by export of particulate organic nutrients to downstream reaches. Published studies support the conclusion that uptake can substantially change stream nutrient concentrations. On the other hand, there is little published evidence that mineralization also affects nutrient concentrations. Also, there is little information on direct microbial utilization of nutrients contained in the decaying leaves themselves. Our results suggest several directions for research that will improve our understanding of the complex relationship between leaf decay and nutrient dynamics in streams. (© 2009 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source] Stress and elastic-constant analysis by X-ray diffraction in thin filmsJOURNAL OF APPLIED CRYSTALLOGRAPHY, Issue 3-2 2003F. Badawi Residual stresses influence most physical properties of thin films and are closely related to their microstructure. Among the most widely used methods, X-ray diffraction is the only one allowing the determination of both the mechanical and microstructural state of each diffracting phase. Diffracting planes are used as a strain gauge to measure elastic strains in one or several directions of the diffraction vector. Important information on the thin-film microstructure may also be extracted from the width of the diffraction peaks: in particular, the deconvolution of these peaks allows values of coherently diffracting domain size and microdistortions to be obtained. The genesis of residual stresses in thin films results from multiple mechanisms. Stresses may be divided into three major types: epitaxic stresses, thermal stresses and intrinsic stresses. Diffraction methods require the knowledge of the thin-film elastic constants, which may differ from the bulk-material values as a result of the particular microstructure. Combining an X-ray diffractometer with a tensile tester, it is possible to determine X-ray elastic constants of each diffracting phase in a thin-film/substrate system, in particular the Poisson ratio and the Young modulus. It is important to notice that numerous difficulties relative to the application of diffraction methods may arise in the case of thin films. [source] A SURVEY OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE LITERATURE OF FINANCE AND GROWTHJOURNAL OF ECONOMIC SURVEYS, Issue 3 2008James B. Ang Abstract This paper provides a survey of the recent progress in the literature of financial development and economic growth. The survey highlights that most empirical studies focus on either testing the role of financial development in stimulating economic growth or examining the direction of causality between these two variables. Although the positive role of finance on growth has become a stylized fact, there are some methodological reservations about the results from these empirical studies. Several key issues unresolved in the literature are highlighted. The paper also points to several directions for future research. [source] MHC studies in nonmodel vertebrates: what have we learned about natural selection in 15 years?JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, Issue 3 2003L. Bernatchez Abstract Elucidating how natural selection promotes local adaptation in interaction with migration, genetic drift and mutation is a central aim of evolutionary biology. While several conceptual and practical limitations are still restraining our ability to study these processes at the DNA level, genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) offer several assets that make them unique candidates for this purpose. Yet, it is unclear what general conclusions can be drawn after 15 years of empirical research that documented MHC diversity in the wild. The general objective of this review is to complement earlier literature syntheses on this topic by focusing on MHC studies other than humans and mice. This review first revealed a strong taxonomic bias, whereby many more studies of MHC diversity in natural populations have dealt with mammals than all other vertebrate classes combined. Secondly, it confirmed that positive selection has a determinant role in shaping patterns of nucleotide diversity in MHC genes in all vertebrates studied. Yet, future tests of positive selection would greatly benefit from making better use of the increasing number of models potentially offering more statistical rigour and higher resolution in detecting the effect and form of selection. Thirdly, studies that compared patterns of MHC diversity within and among natural populations with neutral expectations have reported higher population differentiation at MHC than expected either under neutrality or simple models of balancing selection. Fourthly, several studies showed that MHC-dependent mate preference and kin recognition may provide selective factors maintaining polymorphism in wild outbred populations. However, they also showed that such reproductive mechanisms are complex and context-based. Fifthly, several studies provided evidence that MHC may significantly influence fitness, either by affecting reproductive success or progeny survival to pathogens infections. Overall, the evidence is compelling that the MHC currently represents the best system available in vertebrates to investigate how natural selection can promote local adaptation at the gene level despite the counteracting actions of migration and genetic drift. We conclude this review by proposing several directions where future research is needed. [source] Orientational analysis of planar fibre systems observed as a Poisson shot-noise processJOURNAL OF MICROSCOPY, Issue 1 2007SALME KÄRKKÄINEN Summary We consider two-dimensional fibrous materials observed as a digital greyscale image. The problem addressed is to estimate the orientation distribution of unobservable thin fibres from a greyscale image modelled by a planar Poisson shot-noise process. The classical stereological approach is not straightforward, because the point intensities of thin fibres along sampling lines may not be observable. For such cases, Kärkkäinen et al. (2001) suggested the use of scaled variograms determined from grey values along sampling lines in several directions. Their method is based on the assumption that the proportion between the scaled variograms and point intensities in all directions of sampling lines is constant. This assumption is proved to be valid asymptotically for Boolean models and dead leaves models, under some regularity conditions. In this work, we derive the scaled variogram and its approximations for a planar Poisson shot-noise process using the modified Bessel function. In the case of reasonable high resolution of the observed image, the scaled variogram has an approximate functional relation to the point intensity, and in the case of high resolution the relation is proportional. As the obtained relations are approximative, they are tested on simulations. The existing orientation analysis method based on the proportional relation is further experimented on images with different resolutions. The new result, the asymptotic proportionality between the scaled variograms and the point intensities for a Poisson shot-noise process, completes the earlier results for the Boolean models and for the dead leaves models. [source] Radiation damage in protein crystals examined under various conditions by different methodsJOURNAL OF SYNCHROTRON RADIATION, Issue 2 2009Elspeth F. Garman Investigation of radiation damage in protein crystals has progressed in several directions over the past couple of years. There have been improvements in the basic procedures such as calibration of the incident X-ray intensity and calculation of the dose likely to be deposited in a crystal of known size and composition with this intensity. There has been increased emphasis on using additional techniques such as optical, Raman or X-ray spectroscopy to complement X-ray diffraction. Apparent discrepancies between the results of different techniques can be explained by the fact that they are sensitive to different length scales or to changes in the electronic state rather than to movement of atoms. Investigations have been carried out at room temperature as well as cryo-temperatures and, in both cases, with the introduction of potential scavenger molecules. These and other studies are leading to an overall description of the changes which can occur when a protein crystal is irradiated with X-rays at both cryo- and room temperatures. Results from crystallographic and spectroscopic radiation-damage experiments can be reconciled with other studies in the field of radiation physics and chemistry. [source] Process orientation through enterprise resource planning (ERP): a review of critical issues,KNOWLEDGE AND PROCESS MANAGEMENT: THE JOURNAL OF CORPORATE TRANSFORMATION, Issue 3 2001Majed Al-Mashari The significant development in global information technologies and the ever-intensifying competitive market climate have both pushed many companies to transform their businesses. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is seen as one of the most recently emerging process-orientation tools that can enable such a transformation. Its development has presented both researchers and practitioners with new challenges and opportunities. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the state of research in the ERP field relating to process management, organizational change and knowledge management. It surveys current practices, research and development, and suggests several directions for future investigation. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Multiple Constraints and Hicksian Complementarity: A Generalization and an Application to Portfolio ChoiceMETROECONOMICA, Issue 1 2003Christian E. WeberArticle first published online: 19 MAR 200 Ian Steedman (Consumption Takes Time: Implications for Economic Theory, Routledge, London, 2001) has shown, among other things, that when a household chooses amounts of time to allocate to competing consumption activities subject to both a money income constraint and a time constraint, at least two consumption activities must have at least one compensated complement each. This paper generalizes Steedman's result in several directions and uses the generalized version to study compensated complementarity among state,dependent consumption levels and asset purchases in a model of portfolio choice under uncertainty. [source] Examining predictors and consequences of information seeking in close relationshipsPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS, Issue 4 2004Walid A. Afifi The management of information in close relationships plays a critical role in our well-being (e.g., S. Petronio, 2002). Since relational partners often desire to be "in the know" about one another, the relative absence of inquiry into the process of information seeking in close relationships is puzzling. Recently, W. Ickes, J. W. Dugosh, J. A. Simpson, and C. L. Wilson (2003) examined that process and showed important ways in which the motivation to acquire relationship-threatening information may be harmful to relationships. We extend their work and apply the newly developed Theory of Motivated Information Management (W. A. Afifi, & Weiner, 2004) to close relationships. In addition, we test the consequences of information seeking for short-term changes in relationship commitment. Two hundred and twenty-two participants thought of something that their relational partner did or said for which they wanted more information, then completed 2 surveys, 3 weeks apart, measuring cognitive and behavioral factors related to the information-management process. Results reveal several factors that influence the seeking of information in close relationships (e.g., issue importance, anxiety, expected outcomes, and perceived efficacy), show benefits of an indirect search for information in the face of negative expectancies, and suggest several directions for future research. [source] Some notes on poisson limits for empirical point processesTHE CANADIAN JOURNAL OF STATISTICS, Issue 3 2009André Dabrowski Abstract The authors define the scaled empirical point process. They obtain the weak limit of these point processes through a novel use of a dimension-free method based on the convergence of compensators of multiparameter martingales. The method extends previous results in several directions. They obtain limits at points where the density may be zero, but has regular variation. The joint limit of the empirical process evaluated at distinct points is given by independent Poisson processes. They provide applications both to nearest-neighbour density estimation in high dimensions, and to the asymptotic behaviour of multivariate extremes such as those arising from bivariate normal copulas. The Canadian Journal of Statistics 37: 347,360; 2009 © 2009 Statistical Society of Canada Les auteurs définissent un processus ponctuel empirique normalisé. Ils obtiennent une limite faible de ces processus ponctuels grâce à l'utilisation novatrice d'une méthode indépendante de la dimension basée sur la convergence des compensateurs de martingales à plusieurs paramètres. La méthode généralise des résultats précédents de différentes façons. Ils obtiennent des limites à des points où la densité peut être égale à 0, mais qui est à variation régulière. La limite conjointe du processus empirique évalué à des points distincts est représentée par des processus de Poisson indépendants. Les auteurs présentent deux applications, l'une sur l'estimation de densité de dimension élevée basée sur le plus proche voisin et l'autre sur le comportement asymptotique des extrêmes multidimensionnels provenant de copules normales bidimensionnelles. La revue canadienne de statistique 37: 347,360; 2009 © 2009 Société statistique du Canada [source] Beyond Transactions: On the Interpersonal Dimension of Economic RealityANNALS OF PUBLIC AND COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS, Issue 2 2000Benedetto Gui The paper investigates the interpersonal dimension of economic reality,i.e. the reciprocal influences between interpersonal phenomena of a communicative\affective nature and usual economic phenomena. A face-to-face interaction, or ,encounter', is depicted as a special productive process in which agents,besides exchanging ordinary goods or delivering services,create and simultaneously consume ,relational goods'. Inputs include ,relational assets',;e.g. relation-specific information, or the social climate of a workshop,;which in turn are affected by encounters. Consideration of relational goods and assets broadens the economists' perspective in several directions. [source] Geochemistry as an aid in archaeological prospection and site interpretation: current issues and research directionsARCHAEOLOGICAL PROSPECTION, Issue 1 2009S. Oonk Abstract Human habitation may significantly affect the chemical soil composition leading to enrichments and depletions of specific chemical elements and the formation of archaeological soils. Prospection and interpretation of sites by means of element analysis of soils requires appropriate and well-tested geochemical methodologies. In this paper element analysis in archaeological prospection and site interpretation is briefly reviewed and three major unresolved issues are discussed: (i) how to distinguish archaeological chemical signals in soils from modern and geogenic signals; (ii) what role do geochemical processes play in the formation of archaeological soils; (iii) how to implement geochemical methods in archaeological research programmes. These issues are addressed with reference to the geochemical literature on retention and sequestration pathways of presumed anthropogenic elements in soils and analytical procedures. Based on the acquired knowledge, several directions for future research are proposed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Opening up the secret city of Stepnogorsk: biological weapons in the Former Soviet UnionAREA, Issue 1 2010Caitríona McLeish For almost 30 years, the Soviet government hid a large part of its biological weapons programme behind the façade of a network of civilian bio-technology facilities, called the All-Union Production Association Biopreparat, which were established to overcome deficiencies in molecular biology and genetics research. This paper, which is developed from a presentation given during an ESRC-sponsored seminar series, ,Locating Technoscience: The Geographies of Science, Technology and Politics', details the secret geography of one of those Biopreparat facilities located in Stepnogorsk, Kazakhstan. In doing this the paper illustrates how secret geographies can operate simultaneously, and at multiple scales. In the case of the Soviet bio-weapons programme, enacting secrecy at these multiple scales was made possible by the purposeful exploitation of ,dual use' technologies. By recounting a trip made to the Kazak facility, and using personal communications with UK and US experts involved with uncovering the Soviet bio-warfare programme, the author addresses some of the methodological challenges involved with researching secret geographies. This case study therefore looks in several directions , to work on the geographies of scale, research on the geographies of knowledge and work on secrecy in science and technology studies. [source] The Prevention of Extramarital Involvement: Steps Toward "Affair Proofing" MarriageCLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY: SCIENCE AND PRACTICE, Issue 2 2005Howard J. Markman In this paper I provide comments on the Allen et al. paper (this issue). I note that it provides the first critical, comprehensive, and integrative review of extramarital involvement (EMI) to appear in the literature, and I summarize some of its major contributions to the field. I then focus on how the review stimulated my thinking about current and future best practices in marriage education for the prevention of EMI. I conclude by suggesting several directions for future research and practice. Key words: affair prevention, infidelity, couples. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||