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Improving Performance (improving + performance)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting54%

Selected Abstracts

Organic Electronics: High Tg Cyclic Olefin Copolymer Gate Dielectrics for N,N,-Ditridecyl Perylene Diimide Based Field-Effect Transistors: Improving Performance and Stability with Thermal Treatment (Adv. Funct.

ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS, Issue 16 2010
Mater.
Abstract A novel application of ethylene-norbornene cyclic olefin copolymers (COC) as gate dielectric layers in organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) that require thermal annealing as a strategy for improving the OFET performance and stability is reported. The thermally-treated N,N, -ditridecyl perylene diimide (PTCDI-C13)-based n-type FETs using a COC/SiO2 gate dielectric show remarkably enhanced atmospheric performance and stability. The COC gate dielectric layer displays a hydrophobic surface (water contact angle = 95° ± 1°) and high thermal stability (glass transition temperature = 181 °C) without producing crosslinking. After thermal annealing, the crystallinity improves and the grain size of PTCDI-C13 domains grown on the COC/SiO2 gate dielectric increases significantly. The resulting n-type FETs exhibit high atmospheric field-effect mobilities, up to 0.90 cm2 V,1 s,1 in the 20 V saturation regime and long-term stability with respect to H2O/O2 degradation, hysteresis, or sweep-stress over 110 days. By integrating the n-type FETs with p-type pentacene-based FETs in a single device, high performance organic complementary inverters that exhibit high gain (exceeding 45 in ambient air) are realized. [source]

High Tg Cyclic Olefin Copolymer Gate Dielectrics for N,N,-Ditridecyl Perylene Diimide Based Field-Effect Transistors: Improving Performance and Stability with Thermal Treatment

ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS, Issue 16 2010
Jaeyoung Jang
Abstract A novel application of ethylene-norbornene cyclic olefin copolymers (COC) as gate dielectric layers in organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) that require thermal annealing as a strategy for improving the OFET performance and stability is reported. The thermally-treated N,N, -ditridecyl perylene diimide (PTCDI-C13)-based n-type FETs using a COC/SiO2 gate dielectric show remarkably enhanced atmospheric performance and stability. The COC gate dielectric layer displays a hydrophobic surface (water contact angle = 95° ± 1°) and high thermal stability (glass transition temperature = 181 °C) without producing crosslinking. After thermal annealing, the crystallinity improves and the grain size of PTCDI-C13 domains grown on the COC/SiO2 gate dielectric increases significantly. The resulting n-type FETs exhibit high atmospheric field-effect mobilities, up to 0.90 cm2 V,1 s,1 in the 20 V saturation regime and long-term stability with respect to H2O/O2 degradation, hysteresis, or sweep-stress over 110 days. By integrating the n-type FETs with p-type pentacene-based FETs in a single device, high performance organic complementary inverters that exhibit high gain (exceeding 45 in ambient air) are realized. [source]

Creating Early Success in Financial Accounting: Improving Performance on Adjusting Journal Entries,

ACCOUNTING PERSPECTIVES, Issue 2 2010
FRED PHILLIPS
cognition; écritures comptables; formation; intervention Abstract Adjusting journal entries constitute a necessary component of accrual basis accounting and are critical to the accuracy of financial statements. However, accounting students often struggle to comprehend these accounting entries, which is a concern given that failure to understand early topics in accounting courses has been found to impact course performance and selection of undergraduate major. Perceiving accounting as a language, we utilize psycholinguistic theory to understand how an instructor may improve coherence of students' mental structures of accounting problems. We conduct an experiment to investigate the extent to which a simple instructor intervention, requiring that the initial deferral transaction be recorded, is able to improve student performance on the subsequent deferral adjustments, and whether this improvement is consistent across problem sets that differ in task difficulty. Consistent with our theoretical prediction, we find that this intervention results in improved performance. The beneficial effect of the intervention is found to differ across problem-set task difficulty. Implications for accounting education are discussed. Favoriser dès le départ la réussite en comptabilité générale en améliorant la qualité des écritures de régularisation Résumé Les écritures de régularisation font partie intégrante de la comptabilité d'exercice et sont indispensables à l'exactitude des états financiers. Or, les étudiants en comptabilitééprouvent souvent de la difficultéà comprendre ces écritures comptables, observation préoccupante puisque la méconnaissance de notions élémentaires des cours de comptabilité influe, a-t-on constaté, sur la réussite des cours et le choix d'une majeure au premier cycle. Envisageant la comptabilité comme un langage, les auteurs ont recours à la théorie de la psycholinguistique pour déterminer comment un enseignant peut améliorer la cohérence des structures mentales avec lesquelles les étudiants abordent des problèmes comptables. Ils se livrent à une expérience dans laquelle ils analysent dans quelle mesure la simple intervention de l'enseignant, exigeant la comptabilisation initiale d'une opération de report, peut améliorer la performance de l'étudiant en ce qui a trait aux ajustements de report subséquents, et si cette amélioration demeure constante dans des problématiques où la difficulté de la tâche diffère. Conformément à leur prévision théorique, les auteurs constatent que cette intervention entraîne une amélioration de la performance. Ils observent que l'effet bénéfique de cette intervention diffère selon la difficulté de la tâche associée à la problématique. Enfin, ils analysent les conséquences de ces observations pour la formation comptable. [source]

Improving performance through vertical disintegration: evidence from UK manufacturing firms

MANAGERIAL AND DECISION ECONOMICS, Issue 5 2009
Panos DesyllasArticle first published online: 24 NOV 200
Unlike previous work on the vertical integration,performance relationship, we investigate the performance consequences of vertical disintegration. We offer a theoretical justification for the disintegration decision and we condition the disintegration effect on performance on the initial degree of firm integration, the timing and the direction of disintegration. Using a sample of UK manufacturing firms and controlling for disintegration endogeneity, we find that disintegration eventually results in improved operating performance, particularly when disintegration occurs as a reaction to poor performance and in cases of forward between-sector disintegration. However, being highly integrated does not guarantee gains from disintegration. The implications of these findings are discussed. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Improving performance in the New Year

PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT, Issue 1 2004
Doug Leigh PhD
No abstract is available for this article. [source]

Cue usage in financial statement fraud risk assessments: effects of technical knowledge and decision aid use

ACCOUNTING & FINANCE, Issue 1 2009
Jean-Lin Seow
M41; M49 Abstract This paper investigates the effects of technical knowledge and decision aid use on financial statement fraud risk assessments made by directors and students. More extreme fraud risk assessments are made when participants identify and process larger (smaller) numbers of diagnostic (non-diagnostic) factors, with technical knowledge driving diagnostic factor identification. Significant decision aid-technical knowledge effects are also found; decision aid use has a detrimental effect on high-knowledge directors while improving performance in inexperienced, low-knowledge students. These results suggest that although decision aids can afford gains in performance in inexperienced users, they can have unintended and/or paradoxical behavioural effects on experienced users. [source]

Blind MIMO equalization with optimum delay using independent component analysis

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADAPTIVE CONTROL AND SIGNAL PROCESSING, Issue 3 2004
Vicente Zarzoso
Abstract Blind space,time equalization of multiuser time-dispersive digital communication channels consists of recovering the users' simultaneously transmitted data free from the interference caused by each other and the propagation effects, without using training sequences. In scenarios composed of mutually independent non-Gaussian i.i.d. users' signals, independent component analysis (ICA) techniques based on higher-order statistics can be employed to refine the performance of conventional linear detectors, as recently shown in a code division multiple access environment (Signal Process 2002; 82:417,431). This paper extends these results to the more general multi-input multi-output (MIMO) channel model, with the minimum mean square error (MMSE) as conventional equalization criterion. The time diversity introduced by the wideband multipath channel enables a reduction of the computational complexity of the ICA post-processing stage while further improving performance. In addition, the ICA-based detector can be tuned to extract each user's signal at the delay which provides the best MMSE. Experiments in a variety of simulation conditions demonstrate the benefits of ICA-assisted MIMO equalization. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Can paying for results help to achieve the Millennium Development Goals?

JOURNAL OF EVIDENCE BASED MEDICINE, Issue 2 2009
Overview of the effectiveness of results-based financing
Abstract Objective Results-based financing and pay-for-performance refer to the transfer of money or material goods conditional on taking a measurable action or achieving a predetermined performance target. Results-based financing is widely advocated for achieving health goals, including the Millennium Development Goals. Methods We undertook an overview of systematic reviews of the effectiveness of RBF. We searched the Cochrane Library, EMBASE, and MEDLINE (up to August 2007). We also searched for related articles in PubMed, checked the reference lists of retrieved articles, and contacted key informants. We included reviews with a methods section that addressed the effects of any results-based financing in the health sector targeted at patients, providers, organizations, or governments. We summarized the characteristics and findings of each review using a structured format. Results We found 12 systematic reviews that met our inclusion criteria. Based on the findings of these reviews, financial incentives targeting recipients of health care and individual healthcare professionals are effective in the short run for simple and distinct, well-defined behavioral goals. There is less evidence that financial incentives can sustain long-term changes. Conditional cash transfers to poor and disadvantaged groups in Latin America are effective at increasing the uptake of some preventive services. There is otherwise very limited evidence of the effects of results-based financing in low- or middle-income countries. Results-based financing can have undesirable effects, including motivating unintended behaviors, distortions (ignoring important tasks that are not rewarded with incentives), gaming (improving or cheating on reporting rather than improving performance), widening the resource gap between rich and poor, and dependency on financial incentives. Conclusion There is limited evidence of the effectiveness of results-based financing and almost no evidence of the cost-effectiveness of results-based financing. Based on the available evidence and likely mechanisms through which financial incentives work, they are more likely to influence discrete individual behaviors in the short run and less likely to create sustained changes. [source]

Engaging client groups differently: A standardized approach to performance improvement

PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT, Issue 9 2009
Timothy E. LaMacchio
Moving clients past counterproductive approaches to improving performance requires performance improvement (PI) professionals to work differently. They must collaboratively engage clients in anticipating and solving problems. It calls for a user-friendly and explicit PI process that drives results. This proactive engagement promotes a shared view and language of the PI process. It enables PI professionals and clients to work jointly with common tools to improve performance, make everyday decisions, and achieve business results. [source]

Models and methods of I improving performance

PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT, Issue 1 2005
Doug Leigh PhD
No abstract is available for this article. [source]

Grade retention: Current decision-making practices and involvement of school psychologists working in public schools

PSYCHOLOGY IN THE SCHOOLS, Issue 5 2009
Britton L. Schnurr
Research examining student outcomes (e.g., achievement, adjustment) after grade retention reveals that it does not result in long-term improvements for students; however, grade retention continues to be used as an intervention. The purpose of this study was to examine retention decision-making practices, as well as school psychologists' knowledge, beliefs, and opinions regarding retention. Actual and ideal roles of school psychologists in grade retention decisions were also examined. Participants included 250 school psychologists randomly selected from the membership of the National Association of School Psychologists. Results revealed that the decision to retain is a subjective one, typically made by a team. Responding school psychologists did not support retention and found the research moderately applicable to practice. However, most school psychologists indicated that they were not centrally involved in decision making. Findings also revealed a desire among school psychologists for increased involvement in developing and/or implementing programs aimed at improving performance and consulting on the effects of retention. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]