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Communication Performance (communication + performance)
Selected AbstractsPerformance and scalability of MPI on PC clustersCONCURRENCY AND COMPUTATION: PRACTICE & EXPERIENCE, Issue 1 2004Glenn R. Luecke Abstract The purpose of this paper is to compare the communication performance and scalability of MPI communication routines on a Windows Cluster, a Linux Cluster, a Cray T3E-600, and an SGI Origin 2000. All tests in this paper were run using various numbers of processors and two message sizes. In spite of the fact that the Cray T3E-600 is about 7 years old, it performed best of all machines for most of the tests. The Linux Cluster with the Myrinet interconnect and Myricom's MPI performed and scaled quite well and, in most cases, performed better than the Origin 2000, and in some cases better than the T3E. The Windows Cluster using the Giganet Full Interconnect and MPI/Pro's MPI performed and scaled poorly for small messages compared with all of the other machines. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] The Great Non-Communicator?JCMS: JOURNAL OF COMMON MARKET STUDIES, Issue 5 2004The Mass Communication Deficit of the European Parliament, its Press Directorate This article was prompted by the poor turnout for the 1999 European Parliament elections and the failure of MEPs since to address effectively key causes of electoral apathy. It focuses on the extent to which the Parliament's press and information directorate, DG-III, and to a lesser extent, MEPs, are successful in handling their relationships with the mass media, given that the latter is a crucial means of communicating images of the Parliament to the electorate. Having unearthed serious inadequacies in the communication performance of the Parliament, the article investigates the causes of these and the likelihood of their being addressed. The article largely reflects the situation with regard to press and information policy as far as it could be discerned up and until March 2002 (with the exception of the website and external office updates which were undertaken during 2003). Among other things, it paves the way for further studies of the relationship between the European Parliament and the media which will focus on the recent 2004 elections. [source] Relationship of resident characteristics, attitudes, prior training and clinical knowledge to communication skills performanceMEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 1 2006Toni Suzuki Laidlaw Purpose, A substantial body of literature demonstrates that communication skills in medicine can be taught and retained through teaching and practice. Considerable evidence also reveals that characteristics such as gender, age, language and attitudes affect communication skills performance. Our study examined the characteristics, attitudes and prior communication skills training of residents to determine the relationship of each to patient,doctor communication. The relationship between communication skills proficiency and clinical knowledge application (biomedical and ethical) was also examined through the use of doctor-developed clinical content checklists, as very little research has been conducted in this area. Methods, A total of 78 first- and second-year residents across all departments at Dalhousie Medical School participated in a videotaped 4-station objective structured clinical examination presenting a range of communication and clinical knowledge challenges. A variety of instruments were used to gather information and assess performance. Two expert raters evaluated the videotapes. Results, Significant relationships were observed between resident characteristics, prior communication skills training, clinical knowledge and communication skills performance. Females, younger residents and residents with English as first language scored significantly higher, as did residents with prior communication skills training. A significant positive relationship was found between the clinical content checklist and communication performance. Gender was the only characteristic related significantly to attitudes. Conclusions, Gender, age, language and prior communication skills training are related to communication skills performance and have implications for resident education. The positive relationship between communication skills proficiency and clinical knowledge application is important and should be explored further. [source] Physicians' communication with a cancer patient and a relativeCANCER, Issue 11 2005A randomized study assessing the efficacy of consolidation workshops Abstract BACKGROUND Although patients with cancer are often accompanied by a relative during medical interviews, to the authors' knowledge little is known regarding the efficacy of communication skills training programs on physicians' communication skills in this context. The objective of the current study was to assess the efficacy of 6 consolidation workshops, 3 hours in length, that were conducted after a 2.5-day basic training program. METHODS After attending the basic training program, physicians were assigned randomly to consolidation workshops or to a waiting list. Training efficacy was assessed through simulated and actual interviews that were recorded on an audio tape at baseline, after consolidation workshops for the consolidation-workshops group, and 5 months after the end of basic training for the waiting-list group. Communication skills were assessed according to the Cancer Research Campaign Workshop Evaluation Manual. Patients' and relatives' perceptions of and satisfaction with physicians' communication performance were assessed using a 15-item questionnaire. RESULTS Sixty-two physicians completed the training program. Compared with physicians who participated to the basic training program, when addressing the patient, physicians who were randomized to the consolidation workshops used more open, open directive, and screening questions (P = 0.011 in simulated patient interviews and P = 0.005 in actual patient interviews) and elicited and clarified psychologic concerns more often (P = 0.006 in simulated patient interviews and P < 0.001 in actual patient interviews). When they addressed the relative, physicians who were randomized to the consolidation workshops gave less premature information (P = 0.032 in simulated patient interviews and P < 0.001 in actual patient interviews). When they addressed the patient and the relative simultaneously, physicians who were randomized to the consolidation workshops used more empathy, educated guesses, alerting to reality, confronting, negotiating, and summarizing (P = 0.003 in simulated patient interviews and P = 0.024 in actual patient interviews). Patients, but not relatives, who interacted with physicians in the consolidation-workshops group were more satisfied globally with the interviews (P = 0.022). CONCLUSIONS Six 3-hour consolidation workshops resulted in improved communication skills addressed to patients and to relatives. The current results showed that the transfer of skills addressing relatives' concerns remained limited and that consolidation workshops should focus even more systematically on the practice of three-person interviews. Cancer 2005. © 2005 American Cancer Society. [source] Ritualized Transmission of Social Norms Through Wedding PhotographyCOMMUNICATION THEORY, Issue 1 2006Michele M. Strano This article explores the applicability of ritual theory to social norms research. Wedding photography is used as a test case to demonstrate how gender norms are perpetuated and resisted through ritualized communication practices. The author concludes that looking at social norms transmission through the lens of ritual performance brings to light three theoretical approaches that might be usefully applied to future social norms research. First, the transmission of social norms may be perpetuated and contested through the conventions associated with ritualized communication performances, rather than through the simple communication of information from one person to another. Second, since ritual performance allows or requires a degree of distancing from the ideal, individuals may resist or play with notions of injunctive norms, perhaps embracing opposing descriptive norms. Finally, since ritual communication is performative, evidence of compliance with social norms may occur symbolically rather than literally. [source] Adaptive coding and modulation scheme for satellite-UMTS TDD systems based on a photogrammetric channel estimation methodINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS AND NETWORKING, Issue 1 2006Hsin-Piao Lin Abstract The conventional wireless communication systems are designed to overcome the worst-case channel, using the huge amount of redundant bits to assure communications performance and quality of services. Those systems cannot achieve the optimum spectrum and power efficiency. This paper presents an adaptive coding and modulation scheme used in the user terminals of the third-generation satellite communication system. A three-state photogrammetric channel estimation method is introduced for tracing the variations of large-scale environments. The mobile user terminal dynamically switches the suitable coding and modulation schemes according to the result of photogrammetric channel estimator in order to maximize the power efficiency and data throughput. The real measurement data were used to validate our proposed method. The results show that the proposed method not only reduces the system complexity, but also mitigates the power control requirements and increases the data throughput for the land mobile satellite personal communication systems. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | |||||||||||||