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Minimal Effort (minimal + effort)
Selected AbstractsScene-Graph-As-Bus: Collaboration between Heterogeneous Stand-alone 3-D Graphical ApplicationsCOMPUTER GRAPHICS FORUM, Issue 3 2000Bob Zeleznik We describe the Scene-Graph-As-Bus technique (SGAB), the first step in a staircase of solutions for sharing software components for virtual environments. The goals of SGAB are to allow, with minimal effort, independently-designed applications to share component functionality; and for multiple users to share applications designed for single users. This paper reports on the SGAB design for transparently conjoining different applications by unifying the state information contained in their scene graphs. SGAB monitors and maps changes in the local scene graph of one application to a neutral scene graph representation (NSG), distributes the NSG changes over the network to remote peer applications, and then maps the NSG changes to the local scene graph of the remote application. The fundamental contribution of SGAB is that both the local and remote applications can be completely unaware of each other; that is, both applications can interoperate without code or binary modification despite each having no knowledge of networking or interoperability. [source] Moral Hazard Contracting and Private Credit MarketsECONOMETRICA, Issue 3 2004In-Uck Park This paper studies the impact of credit markets on optimal contracting, when the agent's "interim preference" over upcoming contracts is private information because personal financial decisions affect it via the wealth effect. The main result is a severe loss of incentive provision: equilibrium contracts invariably cause the agent to shirk (i.e., exert minimal effort) if the agent's private financial decision precedes moral hazard contracting. The basic intuition is that committing on another private variable, other than the effort level, exposes the parties to further exploitation of efficient risk-sharing by relaxing the incentive constraint that was binding ex ante, unless the risk-sharing was fully efficient to begin with. [source] LOVD: Easy creation of a locus-specific sequence variation database using an "LSDB-in-a-box" approach,HUMAN MUTATION, Issue 2 2005Ivo F.A.C. Fokkema Abstract The completion of the human genome project has initiated, as well as provided the basis for, the collection and study of all sequence variation between individuals. Direct access to up-to-date information on sequence variation is currently provided most efficiently through web-based, gene-centered, locus-specific databases (LSDBs). We have developed the Leiden Open (source) Variation Database (LOVD) software approaching the "LSDB-in-a-Box" idea for the easy creation and maintenance of a fully web-based gene sequence variation database. LOVD is platform-independent and uses PHP and MySQL open source software only. The basic gene-centered and modular design of the database follows the recommendations of the Human Genome Variation Society (HGVS) and focuses on the collection and display of DNA sequence variations. With minimal effort, the LOVD platform is extendable with clinical data. The open set-up should both facilitate and promote functional extension with scripts written by the community. The LOVD software is freely available from the Leiden Muscular Dystrophy pages (www.DMD.nl/LOVD/). To promote the use of LOVD, we currently offer curators the possibility to set up an LSDB on our Leiden server. Hum Mutat 26(2), 1,6, 2005. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Verfahren zur vollständigen Ermittlung der R-Abhängigkeit des Rissausbreitungsverhaltens mit nur einer Probe,MATERIALWISSENSCHAFT UND WERKSTOFFTECHNIK, Issue 9 2007A. Tesch Dr. fatigue crack growth; Kmax -tests; threshold; Al 2524-T351 Abstract Ein neues Prüfungskonzept für Ermüdungsrisswachstumsversuche ermöglicht es mit nur einer Probe für den gesamten Bereich des Spannungsverhältnisses von R = 0,9 bis R = -1 Ermüdungsrisswachstumskurven (da/dN-,K-Kurven) für jedes beliebige R-Verhältnis zu erstellen. Zusätzlich erhält man auch die Schwellenwerte der Spannungsintensitätsschwingbreite ,Kth als Funktion von R und Kmax. In Kombination mit einer Methode zur kontinuierlichen Risslängenbestimmung, wie der Gleichstrompotenzialmethode, erfordert dieses Verfahren sehr geringen Personal- und Zeitaufwand. Das Prüfungskonzept besteht aus einer Aneinanderreihung von Kmax -konstant-Versuchen. Da die Kmax -Werte stufenweise ansteigen, sollte es bei diesem Verfahren keine Lastfolgeeffekte geben. Die ermittelten Daten stimmen sehr gut mit Ergebnissen aus da/dN-,K-Versuchen, die nach der ASTM Norm E 647 mit mehreren Proben durchgeführten wurden, überein. Die Versuche erfüllen alle Bedingungen der ASTM E 647. Procedure for the determination of the complete R-dependency of the crack growth behaviour with only one specimen A new concept for fatigue crack propagation tests has been developed. Using a single specimen, it is possible to determine fatigue crack growth curves (da/dN - ,K) for every stress ratio between R = 0.9 and R = -1. Additionally, the new concept also provides threshold values for fatigue crack growth for different values of R and Kmax. In combination with a continuous crack length measurement tool (such as the DC potential drop method) this testing procedure can be performed with minimal effort of personnel and time. The test procedure consists of a sequence of Kmax -constant tests with decreasing crack growth rates. As the applied Kmax is increasing stepwise there should be no load history effects. According to the procedures described in the ASTM Standard E 647, the results using this new testing procedure fit very well to the da/dN - ,K curves generated with different specimens. The tests also fulfil all the requirements of ASTM Standard E 647. [source] Recovery of Bird Species in Minimally Restored Indonesian Tin Strip MinesRESTORATION ECOLOGY, Issue 2 2000Howard D. Passell Abstract Bird species richness and individual abundances were recorded in old, unrestored tin strip mine plots, in mined plots restored 1, 2, and 3 years before the study, and in adjacent, unmined, natural secondary forest plots on the 11,340-km2 Indonesian island of Bangka (2°S, 106°E). The objective was to assess the ecological recovery of unrestored and minimally restored mine plots compared with surrounding reference forest. Unrestored mines had not been mined or used for any other purpose for 14,30 years; plots in their first, second, and third year since restoration were old mines planted with Acacia mangium (Leguminosae) at a density of 400 trees/ha. Natural secondary forest plots 20 or more years since the last disturbance were immediately adjacent to both unrestored and restored plots. Bird surveys on 4-ha plots were performed during the 1995 breeding season. A comparison of data from unrestored plots of widely varying ages showed no significant differences among them for species richness, diversity (Shannon,Wiener index, H,), or individual abundance, indicating that little natural bird community recovery had occurred over time in the plots. However, increases did occur in restored sites over only 3 years for both species richness (r 2= 0.29, p = 0.04) and diversity (r 2= 0.45, p = 0.009). All values for third-year restored plots, however, were still significantly lower than corresponding values for adjacent natural secondary forest plots. The quick return of bird activity on the plots after minimal efforts at restoration supports the idea that simple, inexpensive restoration can be effective for "jump starting" degraded systems at large scales. Such a restoration strategy might be of particular value for degraded land in developing nations, where scientific, professional, and financial resources might be in short supply. Using this strategy, a small number of restoration professionals could mobilize the labor of many local people in many areas, serving to both improve ecological systems and to educate and engage local populations in restoration and conservation projects. [source] | ||||||||||