Home About us Contact
|
Home About us Contact | ||
|
|
||
Common Goal (common + goal)
Selected AbstractsCommon Interests and Common Goals: Achieving Greater Progress in Preventive Health Through Strategic Collaborations,CA: A CANCER JOURNAL FOR CLINICIANS, Issue 4 2004Dr. Ralph B. Vance MD No abstract is available for this article. [source] An order-based algorithm for implementing multiparty synchronizationCONCURRENCY AND COMPUTATION: PRACTICE & EXPERIENCE, Issue 12 2004José A. Pérez Abstract Multiparty interactions are a powerful mechanism for coordinating several entities that need to cooperate in order to achieve a common goal. In this paper, we present an algorithm for implementing them that improves on previous results in that it does not require the whole set of entities or interactions to be known at compile- or run-time, and it can deal with both terminating and non-terminating systems. We also present a comprehensive simulation analysis that shows how sensitive to changes our algorithm is, and compare the results with well-known proposals by other authors. This study proves that our algorithm still performs comparably to other proposals in which the set of entities and interactions is known beforehand, but outperforms them in some situations that are clearly identified. In addition, these results prove that our algorithm can be combined with a technique called synchrony loosening without having an effect on efficiency. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Healing of Venous Ulcers of Long Duration with a Bilayered Living Skin Substitute: Results from a General Surgery and Dermatology DepartmentDERMATOLOGIC SURGERY, Issue 11 2001Harold Brem MD Background. A laboratory-grown bilayered living skin substitute (LSS) has been shown to accelerate the healing of venous ulcers. However, issues related to optimal wound bed preparation prior to the application of LSS have not been addressed. Objective. When combined with standard compression therapy and near elimination of wound exudate, bioengineered skin can achieve complete closure of venous ulcers which have been present for more than a year and which are difficult to heal. Methods. In the general surgery (center A) and dermatology (center B) departments at two separate medical centers, LSS was used to treat venous ulcers of more than 1 year's duration and which had been unresponsive to conventional therapy. Wound bed preparation at both centers had as common goals the removal of necrotic tissue, optimal formation of granulation tissue, and elimination of wound exudate. Results. There was great comparability between the two centers in the patients being treated, wound size and duration, and number of LSS applications. Both centers achieved a frequency of complete wound closure of greater than 70% within 6 months. Conclusion. At two separate clinical and specialty sites having a common goal of optimal wound preparation, treatment with LSS was associated with a high rate of complete closure of hard to heal venous ulcers. [source] The importance of mangrove forest in tsunami disaster mitigationDISASTERS, Issue 2 2009Rabindra Osti Tsunamis and storm surges have killed more than one million people and some three billion people currently live with a high risk of these disasters, which are becoming more frequent and devastating worldwide. Effective mitigation of such disasters is possible via healthy coastal forests, which can reduce the energy of tsunamis. In recent years, these natural barriers have declined due to adverse human and natural activities. In the past 20 years, the world has lost almost 50 per cent of its mangrove forests, making them one of the most endangered landscapes. It is essential to recover them and to use them as a shield against a tsunami and as a resource to secure optimal socio-economic, ecological and environmental benefits. This paper examines the emerging scenario facing mangrove forests, discusses protection from tsunamis, and proposes a way to improve the current situation. We hope that practical tips will help communities and agencies to work collectively to achieve a common goal. [source] The Learning Region between Pedagogy and EconomyEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, Issue 3 2010ROBERTA PIAZZA Economic growth is stimulated through learning. In ,the learning economies' of those European regions that chose to develop their human and intellectual capital wisely, benefits have been visible. But this is a one-dimensional outlook in a multi-dimensional world. A ,Learning Region' is an entirely different entity, pooling and mobilising its resources from the community, its institutions, culture and heritage, and industry, to mention just a few, for the common, social, economic and ecological good. This article examines and critiques recent ideas and perceptions behind the concept of the learning region and suggests why, in the Italian context, they have not been successful so far in entering the consciousness of regional leaders. It argues that greater individualisation, privatisation and the ascendancy of the market approach to learning are, perhaps paradoxically, barriers to establishing the regional structures that would implement lifelong learning for all and enhance economic and social progress. Cooperation, partnership, sharing and the integration of stakeholders in respecting a common goal are far more difficult to achieve in today's climate. [source] Reciprocal insights into adaptation from agricultural and evolutionary studies in tomatoEVOLUTIONARY APPLICATIONS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 5-6 2010Leonie C. Moyle Abstract Although traditionally separated by different aims and methodologies, research on agricultural and evolutionary problems shares a common goal of understanding the mechanisms underlying functionally important traits. As such, research in both fields offers potential complementary and reciprocal insights. Here, we discuss adaptive stress responses (specifically to water stress) as an example of potentially fruitful research reciprocity, where agricultural research has clearly produced advances that could benefit evolutionary studies, while evolutionary studies offer approaches and insights underexplored in crop studies. We focus on research on Solanum species that include the domesticated tomato and its wild relatives. Integrated approaches to understanding ecological adaptation are particularly attractive in tomato and its wild relatives: many presumptively adaptive phenotypic differences characterize wild species, and the physiological and mechanistic basis of many relevant traits and environmental responses has already been examined in the context of cultivated tomato and some wild species. We highlight four specific instances where these reciprocal insights can be combined to better address questions that are fundamental both to agriculture and evolution. [source] Adaptive management of an environmental watering event to enhance native fish spawning and recruitmentFRESHWATER BIOLOGY, Issue 1 2010A. J. KING Summary 1. A common goal of many environmental flow regimes is to maintain and/or enhance the river's native fish community by increasing the occurrence of successful spawning and recruitment events. However, our understanding of the flow requirements of the early life history of fish is often limited, and hence predicting their response to specific managed flow events is difficult. To overcome this uncertainty requires the use of adaptive management principles in the design, implementation, monitoring and adjustment of environmental flow regimes. 2. The Barmah-Millewa Forest, a large river red gum forest on the Murray River floodplain, south-east Australia, contains a wide variety of ephemeral and permanent aquatic habitats suitable for fish. Flow regulation of the Murray River has significantly altered the natural flood regime of the Forest. In an attempt to alleviate some of the effects of river regulation, the Forest's water regime is highly managed using a variety of flow control structures and also receives targeted Environmental Water Allocations (EWA). In 2005, the largest environmental flow allocated to date in Australia was delivered at the Forest. 3. This study describes the adaptive management approach employed during the delivery of the 2005 EWA, which successfully achieved multiple ecological goals including enhanced native fish spawning and recruitment. Intensive monitoring of fish spawning and recruitment provided invaluable real-time and ongoing management input for optimising the delivery of environmental water to maximise ecological benefits at Barmah-Millewa Forest and other similar wetlands in the Murray-Darling Basin. 4. We discuss possible scenarios for the future application of environmental water and the need for environmental flow events and regimes to be conducted as rigorous, large-scale experiments within an adaptive management framework. [source] Genome-wide association analyses of quantitative traits: the GAW16 experienceGENETIC EPIDEMIOLOGY, Issue S1 2009Saurabh GhoshArticle first published online: 18 NOV 200 Abstract The group that formed on the theme of genome-wide association analyses of quantitative traits (Group 2) in the Genetic Analysis Workshop 16 comprised eight sets of investigators. Three data sets were available: one on autoantibodies related to rheumatoid arthritis provided by the North American Rheumatoid Arthritis Consortium; the second on anthropometric, lipid, and biochemical measures provided by the Framingham Heart Study (FHS); and the third a simulated data set modeled after FHS. The different investigators in the group addressed a large set of statistical challenges and applied a wide spectrum of association methods in analyzing quantitative traits at the genome-wide level. While some previously reported genes were validated, some novel chromosomal regions provided significant evidence of association in multiple contributions in the group. In this report, we discuss the different strategies explored by the different investigators with the common goal of improving the power to detect association. Genet. Epidemiol. 33 (Suppl. 1):S13,S18, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Fact, Truth, and Text: The Quest for a Firm Basis for Historical Knowledge Around 1900HISTORY AND THEORY, Issue 3 2003Rolf Torstendahl The object of this essay is to discuss two problems and to present solutions to them, which do not quite agree with what is generally said of them. The first problem concerns the history of methods for reaching firm historical knowledge. In three methodological manuals for historians, written by J. G. Droysen, E. Bernheim, and C.-V. Langlois and C. Seignobos and first published in the late nineteenth century, the task of the historian was said to be how to obtain firm knowledge about history. The question is how this message should be understood. The second problem concerns the differences between the three manuals. If their common goal is firm historical knowledge, are there any major differences of opinion? The answer given in this article is yes, and the ground is sought in their theories of truth. [source] Phospho-proteomic immune analysis by flow cytometry: from mechanism to translational medicine at the single-cell levelIMMUNOLOGICAL REVIEWS, Issue 1 2006Omar D. Perez Summary:, Understanding a molecular basis for cellular function is a common goal of biomedicine. The complex and dynamic cellular processes underlying physiological processes become subtly or grossly perturbed in human disease. A primary objective is to demystify this complexity by creating and establishing relevant model systems to study important aspects of human disease. Although significant technological advancements over the last decade in both genomic and proteomic arenas have enabled progress, accessing the complexity of cellular interactions that occur in vivo has been a difficult arena in which to make progress. Moreover, there are extensive challenges in translating research tools to clinical applications. Flow cytometry, over the course of the last 40 years, has revolutionized the field of immunology, in both the basic science and clinical settings, as well as having been instrumental to new and exciting areas of discovery such as stem cell biology. Multiparameter machinery and systems exist now to access the heterogeneity of cellular subsets and enable phenotypic characterization and functional assays to be performed on material from both animal models and humans. This review focuses primarily on the development and application of using activation-state readouts of intracellular activity for phospho-epitopes. We present recent work on how a flow cytometric platform is used to obtain mechanistic insight into cellular processes as well as highlight the clinical applications that our laboratory has explored. Furthermore, this review discusses the challenges faced with processing high-content multidimensional and multivariate data sets. Flow cytometry, as a platform that is well situated in both the research and clinical settings, can contribute to drug discovery as well as having utility for both biomarker and patient-stratification. [source] A confusing world: what to call histology of three-dimensional tumour margins?JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN ACADEMY OF DERMATOLOGY & VENEREOLOGY, Issue 5 2007M Moehrle Abstract Complete three-dimensional histology of excised skin tumour margins has a long tradition and, unfortunately, a multitude of names as well. Mohs, who introduced it, called it ,microscopically controlled surgery'. Others have described it as ,micrographic surgery', ,Mohs' micrographic surgery', or simply ,Mohs' surgery'. Semantic confusion became truly rampant when variant forms, each useful in its own way for detecting subclinical outgrowths of malignant skin tumours, were later introduced under such names as histographic surgery, systematic histologic control of the tumour bed, histological control of excised tissue margins, the square procedure, the perimeter technique, etc. All of these methods are basically identical in concept. All involve complete, three-dimensional histological visualization and evaluation of excision margins. Their common goal is to detect unseen tumour outgrowths. For greater clarity, the authors of this paper recommend general adoption of ,3D histology' as a collective designation for all the above methods. As an added advantage, 3D histology can also be used in other medical disciplines to confirm true R0 resection of, for example, breast cancer or intestinal cancer. [source] Politics and Economic Development: Why Governments Adopt Different Strategies to Induce Economic GrowthPOLICY STUDIES JOURNAL, Issue 2 2001Martin Sail This article assesses the forces that drive governments to engage in economic development activity and attempts to explain why communities adopt different strategies to bring about the common goal of economic well-being. I address this issue at the state policy level by assessing the relationship between economic development strategy and theories of policy adoption in a pooled times series analysis using indicators of interstate competition, fiscal stress, and state ideology collected between 1983 and 1994. I find that economic development strategy choices are largely a function of interjurisdictional competition. The implications of my findings are discussed. [source] Woody Encroachment Removal from Midwestern Oak Savannas Alters Understory Diversity across Space and TimeRESTORATION ECOLOGY, Issue 1 2010Lars A. Brudvig Recovering biodiversity is a common goal during restoration; however, for many ecosystems, it is not well understood how restoration influences species diversity across space and time. I examined understory species diversity and composition after woody encroachment removal in a large-scale savanna restoration experiment in central Iowa, United States. Over a 4-year time series, restoration had profound effects across space and time, increasing richness at local and site-level scales. Restoration sites had increased , (within sample) Simpson's diversity and , and , (site level) species richness relative to control sites, although , and , (among sample) Simpson's diversity, , richness, and , species evenness were not affected. Changes in richness were driven by graminoids at the , and , scales and woody species (and some evidence for forbs) at the , scale. Interestingly, indicator species analysis revealed that at least some species from all functional groups were promoted by restoration, although no species were significant indicators of pre-treatment or control sites. Both savanna and nonsavanna species were indicators of restored sites. Restoration promoted exotic species at both scales, although species with spring phenologies were unaffected. Woody encroachment removal may be a means to promote species establishment in savannas; however, in this study, it resulted in establishment and proliferation of native and exotic and savanna and nonsavanna species. Future work might consider reintroduction of key savanna species to supplement those that have established. Work like this demonstrates the utility of restoration experiments for conducting research on large- and multiscale processes, such as species diversity. [source] Healing of Venous Ulcers of Long Duration with a Bilayered Living Skin Substitute: Results from a General Surgery and Dermatology DepartmentDERMATOLOGIC SURGERY, Issue 11 2001Harold Brem MD Background. A laboratory-grown bilayered living skin substitute (LSS) has been shown to accelerate the healing of venous ulcers. However, issues related to optimal wound bed preparation prior to the application of LSS have not been addressed. Objective. When combined with standard compression therapy and near elimination of wound exudate, bioengineered skin can achieve complete closure of venous ulcers which have been present for more than a year and which are difficult to heal. Methods. In the general surgery (center A) and dermatology (center B) departments at two separate medical centers, LSS was used to treat venous ulcers of more than 1 year's duration and which had been unresponsive to conventional therapy. Wound bed preparation at both centers had as common goals the removal of necrotic tissue, optimal formation of granulation tissue, and elimination of wound exudate. Results. There was great comparability between the two centers in the patients being treated, wound size and duration, and number of LSS applications. Both centers achieved a frequency of complete wound closure of greater than 70% within 6 months. Conclusion. At two separate clinical and specialty sites having a common goal of optimal wound preparation, treatment with LSS was associated with a high rate of complete closure of hard to heal venous ulcers. [source] Trust, collaboration, e-learning and organisational transformationINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 4 2003Jon Mason While theoretically distinct, learning and knowing are meshed in practice. This paper builds on this observation and argues that organisational transformation and the development of best practices in e-learning share some similar context. This is particularly evident when knowledge management perspectives are considered. Specifically, trust and collaboration are shown to be common enablers of both activities. A range of interrelated models is introduced with trust identified as prominent within a complex mix of processes and outputs that can be described in terms of interoperability. Collaboration and interoperability are identified as key organising principles in information-based and knowledge-based economies. Through collaboration common goals and mutual benefit are discerned and pursued; duplication of effort is minimised; innovation is stimulated. Achieving technical interoperability demands use of networks in ways that harness the aggregate capacity of disparate systems, applications and services. The resulting infrastructure matches requirements of both e-learning and organisational transformation. [source] Space and terrestrial photovoltaics: synergy and diversity,PROGRESS IN PHOTOVOLTAICS: RESEARCH & APPLICATIONS, Issue 6 2002Sheila G. Bailey A historical view of the research and development in photovoltaics from the perspective of both the terrestrial and the space communities is presented from the early days through the 1970s and 1980s, 1990s and beyond. The synergy of both communities, both at the beginning and in the present, and hopefully in the future, are highlighted, with examples of the important features in each program. The space community which was impressed by the light weight and reliability of photovoltaics drove much of the early development. Even today, nearly every satellite and other scientific space probe that has been launched has included some solar power. However, since the cost of these power systems was only a small fraction of the satellite and launch cost, the use of much of this technology in the terrestrial marketplace was not feasible. It was clear that the focus of the terrestrial community would be best served by reducing costs. This would include addressing a variety of manufacturing issues and raising the rate of production. Success in these programs and a resulting globalization of effort resulted in major strides in the reduction of PV module costs and increased production. Although, the space community derived benefit from some of these advances, its focus was on pushing the envelope with regard to cell efficiency. The gap between theoretical efficiencies and experimental efficiencies for silicon, gallium arsenide and indium phosphide became almost nonexistent. Recent work by both communities have focused on the development thin-film cells of amorphous silicon, CuInSe2 and CdTe. These cells hold the promise of lower costs for the terrestrial community as well as possible flexible substrates, better radiation resistance, and higher specific power for the space community. It is predicted that future trends in both communities will be directed toward advances through the application of nanotechnology. A picture is emerging in which the space and terrestrial solar cell communities shall once again share many common goals and, in fact, companies may manufacture both space and terrestrial solar cells in III,V materials and thin-film materials. Basic photovoltaics research, including these current trends in nanotechnology, provides a valuable service for both worlds in that fundamental understanding of cell processes is still vitally important, particularly with new materials or new cell structures. It is entirely possible that one day we might have one solar array design that will meet the criteria for success in both space and on the Earth or perhaps the Moon or Mars. Published in 2002 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Data Envelopment Analysis: A Practical Tool to Measure PerformanceAUSTRALIAN ACCOUNTING REVIEW, Issue 2 2010Paul Rouse This paper describes a productivity method, data envelopment analysis (DEA), and how it can be used to measure performance using multiple performance measures. DEA compares organisations or parts of organisations that share common goals and use similar resources to produce similar products, and calculates the technical efficiency with which firms convert bundles of inputs into bundles of outputs. DEA has been used in both public and private settings, and the paper describes some of its applications within Australasia. A case study of New Zealand dairy farms is used to demonstrate the benchmarking capability of DEA. While built upon solid theoretical foundations, DEA is essentially a practical tool that can be used by academics for research as well as by managers and practitioners for improved performance measurement and accountability. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||