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Reducing Complexity (reducing + complexity)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Humanities and Social Sciences	50%

Selected Abstracts

Reducing Complexity in the Industrial Policy Debate

DEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 4 2007
Hubert Schmitz
A central concern of industrial policy is how to configure the relationship with the global economy. The manifold choices and pressures make this a difficult task for policy-makers. This article suggests a way of framing discussions between policy-makers, advisers and researchers, to help reduce complexity and find common ground. It demonstrates how different constellations of low/high challenge and support bring out the essence of different policy regimes, and how different constellations of narrow/wide technology and marketing gaps help identify the most plausible way forward. [source]

Reducing complexity in Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA): Remote and proximate factors and the consolidation of democracy

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL RESEARCH, Issue 5 2006
CARSTEN Q. SCHNEIDER
However, real-world research situations might make the application of fs/QCA difficult in two respects , namely, the complexity of the results and the phenomenon of limited diversity. We suggest a two-step approach as one possibility to mitigate these problems. After introducing the difference between remote and proximate factors, the application of a two-step fs/QCA approach is demonstrated analyzing the causes of the consolidation of democracy. We find that different paths lead to consolidation, but all are characterized by a fit of the institutional mix chosen to the societal context in terms of power dispersion. Hence, we demonstrate that the application of fs/QCA in a two-step manner helps to formulate and test equifinal and conjunctural hypotheses in medium-size N comparative analyses, and thus to contribute to an enhanced understanding of social phenomena. [source]

Multistage designs in the genomic era: Providing balance in complex disease studies

GENETIC EPIDEMIOLOGY, Issue S1 2007
Marie-Pierre Dubé
Abstract In this summary paper, we describe the contributions included in the Multistage Design group (Group 14) at the Genetic Analysis Workshop 15, which was held during November 12,14, 2006. Our group contrasted and compared different approaches to reducing complexity in a genetic study through implementation of staged designs. Most groups used the simulated dataset (problem 3), which provided ample opportunities for evaluating various staged designs. A wide range of multistage designs that targeted different aspects of complexity were explored. We categorized these approaches as reducing phenotypic complexity, model complexity, analytic complexity or genetic complexity. In general we learned that: (1) when staged designs are carefully planned and implemented, the power loss compared to a single-stage analysis can be minimized and study cost is greatly reduced; (2) a joint analysis of the results from each stage is generally more powerful than treating the second stage as a replication analysis. Genet. Epidemiol. 31 (Suppl. 1):S118,S123, 2007. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]

A combined proteomic and transcriptomic approach to the study of stage differentiation in Leishmania infantum

PROTEINS: STRUCTURE, FUNCTION AND BIOINFORMATICS, Issue 12 2006
François McNicoll
Abstract Protozoan parasites of the genus Leishmania are found as promastigotes in the sandfly vector and as amastigotes in mammalian macrophages. Mechanisms controlling stage-regulated gene expression in these organisms are poorly understood. Here, we applied a comprehensive approach consisting of protein prefractionation, global proteomics and targeted DNA microarray analysis to the study of stage differentiation in Leishmania. By excluding some abundant structural proteins and reducing complexity, we detected and identified numerous novel differentially expressed protein isoforms in L.,infantum. Using 2-D gels, over 2200,protein isoforms were visualized in each developmental stage. Of these, 6.1% were strongly increased or appeared unique in the promastigote stage, while the relative amounts of 12.4% were increased in amastigotes. Amastigote-specific protein isoform and mRNA expression trends correlated modestly (53%), while no correlation was found for promastigote-specific spots. Even where direction of regulation was similar, fold-changes were more modest at the RNA than protein level. Many proteins were present in multiple spots, suggesting that PTM is extensive in this organism. In several cases, different isoforms appeared to be specific to different life stages. Our results suggest that post-transcriptional controls at translational and post-translational levels could play major roles in differentiation in Leishmania parasites. [source]