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Solving Problems (solving + problem)
Selected AbstractsThe Sieve Model: An innovative process for identifying alternatives to custody evaluationsCONFLICT RESOLUTION QUARTERLY, Issue 3 2009Robert B. Silver This article reviews the development of the Sieve Model, conceived from dissatisfaction with adversarial processes that encouraged endless destructive fighting and depletion of financial and emotional family resources. Adversarial approaches discourage constructive problem solving and cooperation and are very hard on children. Rather than a piecemeal approach toward divorce, a systemic model was conceived. The Sieve Model is being implemented in the 20th Judicial Circuit of the State of Florida through differentiated case management, after a study revealed that protracted cases primarily involved disputes over children. Families are invited to use pertinent elements in an individualized fashion. Family law professionals are challenged to develop other solution-based efforts akin to mediation to assist families of divorce. The Sieve Model encourages participants to practice solving problems rather than creating them, decreasing divorce brutality and postjudgment conflicts. [source] Engaging client groups differently: A standardized approach to performance improvementPERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT, Issue 9 2009Timothy 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] A new approach to solving problems of multi-state system reliability optimizationQUALITY AND RELIABILITY ENGINEERING INTERNATIONAL, Issue 2 2001Gregory Levitin Abstract Usually engineers try to achieve the required reliability level with minimal cost. The problem of total investment cost minimization, subject to reliability constraints, is well known as the reliability optimization problem. When applied to multi-state systems (MSS), the system has many performance levels, and reliability is considered as a measure of the ability of the system to meet the demand (required performance). In this case, the outage effect will be essentially different for units with different performance rate. Therefore, the performance of system components, as well as the demand, should be taken into account. In this paper, we present a technique for solving a family of MSS reliability optimization problems, such as structure optimization, optimal expansion, maintenance optimization and optimal multistage modernization. This technique combines a universal generating function (UGF) method used for fast reliability estimation of MSS and a genetic algorithm (GA) used as an optimization engine. The UGF method provides the ability to estimate relatively quickly different MSS reliability indices for series-parallel and bridge structures. It can be applied to MSS with different physical nature of system performance measure. The GA is a robust, universal optimization tool that uses only estimates of solution quality to determine the direction of search. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Finding and solving problems in software new product developmentTHE JOURNAL OF PRODUCT INNOVATION MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2002Willow A. Sheremata New product development is notoriously difficult, and software new product development particularly so. Although a great deal of research has investigated new product development, projects developing new software products continue to have problems meeting their goals. In fact, one line of research proposes new product development is difficult because it must solve an ongoing stream of complex problems. I integrate this line of research with two others to develop a conceptual framework of new product development as a process of finding and solving problems. From this framework, I develop four hypotheses that predict the probability projects developing new products will attain their development schedule and product quality goals. More specifically, I hypothesize that projects that generate access to, and integrate, large quantities of creative ideas, in-depth knowledge, and accurate information, should increase their probability of attaining schedule and product quality goals. Projects developing new products should both generate and integrate this "knowledge" to solve the problems that stand between them and their goals. However, how projects find problems also matters. Projects that search to identify problems earlier, rather than later, should also increase their probability of meeting schedule and product quality goals. To test these hypotheses I gathered data on 33 projects that tried to develop new software products from 23 firms, through interviews and questionnaires. Results from regression analyses support three out of four hypotheses. The projects that had high levels of both knowledge generation and integration had a significantly higher probability of attaining their product quality goals, but not their schedule goals. In contrast, projects that merely searched to find problems had a higher probability of attaining both goals. Moreover, projects that not only generated and integrated knowledge to solve problems, but also searched to find them, had the highest probability of attaining their product quality goals. This study illustrates the usefulness of modeling new product development as a bundle of problems to be found and solved. These results suggest that projects that combine practices to implement high levels of both knowledge generation and integration,not just one or the other,increase their chances of meeting product quality goals. This in turn suggests that focus on any single process or practice may be misplaced. Moreover, proactive search for problems may increase projects' chances of meeting both schedule and product quality goals. In fact, search for problems was highly significant in this study, which suggests the way projects identify problems deserves further study. Although these prescriptions are preliminary, this study suggests they can help projects,and their managers,embody their visions in products and deliver those products to market. et. [source] Petroleum hydrocarbon contamination in boreal forest soils: a mycorrhizal ecosystems perspectiveBIOLOGICAL REVIEWS, Issue 2 2007Susan J. Robertson Abstract The importance of developing multi-disciplinary approaches to solving problems relating to anthropogenic pollution is now clearly appreciated by the scientific community, and this is especially evident in boreal ecosystems exposed to escalating threats of petroleum hydrocarbon (PHC) contamination through expanded natural resource extraction activities. This review aims to synthesize information regarding the fate and behaviour of PHCs in boreal forest soils in both ecological and sustainable management contexts. From this, we hope to evaluate potential management strategies, identify gaps in knowledge and guide future research. Our central premise is that mycorrhizal systems, the ubiquitous root symbiotic fungi and associated food-web communities, occupy the structural and functional interface between decomposition and primary production in northern forest ecosystems (i.e. underpin survival and productivity of the ecosystem as a whole), and, as such, are an appropriate focal point for such a synthesis. We provide pertinent basic information about mycorrhizas, followed by insights into the ecology of ecto- and ericoid mycorrhizal systems. Next, we review the fate and behaviour of PHCs in forest soils, with an emphasis on interactions with mycorrhizal fungi and associated bacteria. Finally, we summarize implications for ecosystem management. Although we have gained tremendous insights into understanding linkages between ecosystem functions and the various aspects of mycorrhizal diversity, very little is known regarding rhizosphere communities in PHC-contaminated soils. This makes it difficult to translate ecological knowledge into environmental management strategies. Further research is required to determine which fungal symbionts are likely to survive and compete in various ecosystems, whether certain fungal - plant associations gain in ecological importance following contamination events, and how PHC contamination may interfere with processes of nutrient acquisition and exchange and metabolic processes. Research is also needed to assess whether the metabolic capacity for intrinsic decomposition exists in these ecosystems, taking into account ecological variables such as presence of other organisms (and their involvement in syntrophic biodegradation), bioavailability and toxicity of mixtures of PHCs, and physical changes to the soil environment. [source] | ||||||||||