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Systematic Efforts (systematic + effort)
Selected AbstractsA test suite for parallel performance analysis toolsCONCURRENCY AND COMPUTATION: PRACTICE & EXPERIENCE, Issue 11 2007Michael Gerndt Abstract Parallel performance analysis tools must be tested as to whether they perform their task correctly, which comprises at least three aspects. First, it must be ensured that the tools neither alter the semantics nor distort the run-time behavior of the application under investigation. Next, it must be verified that the tools collect the correct performance data as required by their specification. Finally, it must be checked that the tools perform their intended tasks and detect relevant performance problems. Focusing on the latter (correctness) aspect, testing can be done using synthetic test functions with controllable performance properties, possibly complemented by real-world applications with known performance behavior. A systematic test suite can be built from synthetic test functions and other components, possibly with the help of tools to assist the user in putting the pieces together into executable test programs. Clearly, such a test suite can be highly useful to builders of performance analysis tools. It is surprising that, up until now, no systematic effort has been undertaken to provide such a suite. In this paper we describe the APART Test Suite (ATS) for checking the correctness (in the above sense) of parallel performance analysis tools. In particular, we describe a collection of synthetic test functions which allows one to easily construct both simple and more complex test programs with desired performance properties. We briefly report on experience with MPI and OpenMP performance tools when applied to the test cases generated by ATS. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] A species-level phylogenetic supertree of marsupialsJOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY, Issue 1 2004Marcel Cardillo Abstract Comparative studies require information on phylogenetic relationships, but complete species-level phylogenetic trees of large clades are difficult to produce. One solution is to combine algorithmically many small trees into a single, larger supertree. Here we present a virtually complete, species-level phylogeny of the marsupials (Mammalia: Metatheria), built by combining 158 phylogenetic estimates published since 1980, using matrix representation with parsimony. The supertree is well resolved overall (73.7%), although resolution varies across the tree, indicating variation both in the amount of phylogenetic information available for different taxa, and the degree of conflict among phylogenetic estimates. In particular, the supertree shows poor resolution within the American marsupial taxa, reflecting a relative lack of systematic effort compared to the Australasian taxa. There are also important differences in supertrees based on source phylogenies published before 1995 and those published more recently. The supertree can be viewed as a meta-analysis of marsupial phylogenetic studies, and should be useful as a framework for phylogenetically explicit comparative studies of marsupial evolution and ecology. [source] Comparative protein profiling of serum and plasma using an antibody suspension bead array approachPROTEINS: STRUCTURE, FUNCTION AND BIOINFORMATICS, Issue 3 2010Jochen M. Schwenk Abstract In the pursuit towards a systematic analysis of human diseases, array-based approaches within antibody proteomics offer high-throughput strategies to discover protein biomarkers in serum and plasma. To investigate the influence of sample preparation on such discovery attempts, we report on a systematic effort to compare serum and plasma protein profiles determined with an antibody suspension bead array. The intensity levels were used to define protein profiles and no significant differences between serum and plasma were observed for 79% of the 174 antibodies (targeting 156 proteins). By excluding 36 antibodies giving rise to differential intensity levels, cluster analysis revealed donor-specific rather than preparation-dependent grouping. With a cohort from a clinically relevant medical condition, the metabolic syndrome, the influence of the sample type on a multiplexed biomarker discovery approach was further investigated. Independent comparisons of protein profiles in serum and plasma revealed an antibody targeting ADAMTSL-4, a protein that would qualify to be studied further in association with the condition. In general, the preparation type had an impact on the results of the applied antibody suspension bead array, and while the technical variability was equal, plasma offered a greater biological variability and allowed to give rise to more discoveries than serum. [source] Citizen Participation in Budgeting TheoryPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW, Issue 3 2006Carol Ebdon Citizen participation in government budgeting processes is a topic that has received attention for many decades. Despite prescriptive exhortations to cities, research in this area has significant limitations. We identify four elements that are believed to influence the participation process. The variables within each element have received attention in the empirical literature, but no systematic effort has been made to uncover interaction effects and extend theory to make it more robust. We consider the weaknesses of our knowledge, suggest an impact model of citizen participation in budgeting, and identify hypotheses that may be tested in future research. [source] The Effect of "Front-Loading" Problem-Solving on Product Development PerformanceTHE JOURNAL OF PRODUCT INNOVATION MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2000Stefan Thomke In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the link between problem-solving capabilities and product development performance. In this article, the authors apply a problem-solving perspective to the management of product development and suggest how shifting the identification and solving of problems,a concept that they define as front-loading,can reduce development time and cost and thus free up resources to be more innovative in the marketplace. The authors develop a framework of front-loading problem-solving and present related examples and case evidence from development practice. These examples include Boeing's and Chrysler's experience with the use of "digital mock-ups" to identify interference problems that are very costly to solve if identified further downstream,sometimes as late as during or,after first full-scale assembly. In the article, the authors propose that front-loading can be achieved using a number of different approaches, two of which are discussed in detail: (1) project-to-project knowledge transfer,leverage previous projects by transferring problem and solution-specific information to new projects; and (2) rapid problem-solving,leverage advanced technologies and methods to increase the overall rate at which development problems are identified and solved. Methods for improving project-to-project knowledge transfer include the effective use of "postmortems," which are records of post-project learning and thus can be instrumental in carrying forward the knowledge from current and past projects. As the article suggests, rapid problem-solving can be achieved by optimally combining new technologies (such as computer simulation) that allow for faster problem-solving cycles with traditional technologies (such as late stage prototypes), which usually provide higher fidelity. A field study of front-loading at Toyota Motor Corporation shows how a systematic effort to front-load its development process has, in effect, shifted problem-identification and problem-solving to earlier stages of product development. They conclude the article with a discussion of other approaches to front-load problem-solving in product development and propose how a problem-solving perspective can help managers to build capabilities for higher development performance. [source] ,Damsel in distress'- The tale of Miss Kerala, Puntius denisonii (Day), an endemic and endangered cyprinid of the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot (South India)AQUATIC CONSERVATION: MARINE AND FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEMS, Issue 1 2009Rajeev Raghavan Abstract 1.Denison's Barb, Puntius denisonii (Day) is an endemic and endangered cyprinid fish of the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot in peninsular India, which is the focus of an organized yet undocumented fishery targeting juveniles for the international aquarium trade. 2.Research on P. denisonii has been very limited and there has been no systematic effort to assess and monitor their abundance, distribution and populations. 3.Anecdotal and circumstantial evidence indicates a highly restricted distribution, low abundance, declining populations, low catch per unit effort and increasing market prices, providing evidence of an impending conservation crisis and the need for urgent management of wild stocks. 4.This paper reviews current knowledge, provides results from the authors' field study and suggests priorities for conservation and management actions for P. denisonii in the streams of Kerala. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Explaining the Weak Relationship Between Job Performance and Ratings of Job PerformanceINDUSTRIAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 2 2008KEVIN R. MURPHY Ratings of job performance are widely viewed as poor measures of job performance. Three models of the performance,performance rating relationship offer very different explanations and solutions for this seemingly weak relationship. One-factor models suggest that measurement error is the main difference between performance and performance ratings and they offer a simple solution,that is, the correction for attenuation. Multifactor models suggest that the effects of job performance on performance ratings are often masked by a range of systematic nonperformance factors that also influence these ratings. These models suggest isolating and dampening the effects of these nonperformance factors. Mediated models suggest that intentional distortions are a key reason that ratings often fail to reflect ratee performance. These models suggest that raters must be given both the tools and the incentive to perform well as measurement instruments and that systematic efforts to remove the negative consequences of giving honest performance ratings are needed if we hope to use performance ratings as serious measures of job performance. [source] Improving the evidence base for international comparative researchINTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SCIENCE JOURNAL, Issue 193-194 2008Ekkehard Mochmann Industrial societies today produce abundant data fed by the statistical system, social research, market research and administrative data. This is increasingly complemented by processing data produced from sources like commercial transactions. Looking at societies in an international comparative perspective, however, we find many incoherent patterns or even white spots on the globe. Nevertheless, we can observe encouraging progress over past decades. The pioneers of the data movement worked towards an international network of data infrastructures that were conceived as building blocks in a system of social observation. Gaps in the statistical data base had to be filled by sample surveys from social research. This resulted in a network of social science data services to preserve and process the data collected to make them available for secondary analysis, and systematic efforts to continuously collect data comparative by design and to make them available as a public good to the scientific community at large. Increasingly we can observe a rapprochement that has been taking place between social policy and social research since the turn of the millennium. Facing the challenges of globalisation we cannot however, overlook the fact that in spite of all progress, social science data have been collected predominantly with a national perspective, are not well integrated and , even if they are technically and legally accessible , do not easily lend themselves to comparison between nations or periods of time. International data programmes may well profit from the methodological standardisation and harmonisation of measurements as well as from technical progress towards the easier access to and interoperability of data bases. These processes will profit much, if growing efforts to agree on data policies and funding perspectives for international and transcontinental cooperation succeed. [source] Generation and validation of affinity reagents on a proteome-wide levelJOURNAL OF MOLECULAR RECOGNITION, Issue 2 2009Mathias Uhlén Abstract There is a need for protein-specific affinity reagents to explore the gene products encoded by the genome. Recently, systematic efforts to generate validated affinity reagents on a whole human proteome level have been initiated. There are several issues for such efforts, including choice of antigen, type of affinity reagent, and the subsequent validation of the generated protein-specific binders. The advantages and disadvantages with the different approaches are discussed and the problems related to quality assessment of antibodies to be used in multi-platform applications are addressed. This review also describes the efforts to create a virtual resource of validated antibodies using a community-based portal and summarizes the status and visions for the publicly available human protein atlas (http://www.proteinatlas.org) showing the human protein profiles in a large number of normal and cancer tissues as well as a large set of human cell lines. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Solution structure of nociceptin peptidesJOURNAL OF PEPTIDE SCIENCE, Issue 9 2002Pietro Amodeo Abstract Peptides embedded in the sequence of pre-pro-nociceptin, i.e. nociceptin, nocistatin and orphanin FQ2, have shed light on the complexity of the mechanisms involving the peptide hormones related to pain and have opened up new perspectives for the clinical treatment of pain. The design of new ligands with high selectivity and bioavailability, in particular for ORL1, is important both for the elucidation and control of the physiological role of the receptor and for their therapeutic importance. The failure to obtain agonists and antagonists when using, for nociceptin, the same substitutions that are successful for opioids, and the conformational flexibility of them all, justify systematic efforts to study the solution conformation under conditions as close as possible to their natural environment. Structural studies of linear peptides in solution are hampered by their high flexibility. A direct structural study of the complex between a peptide and its receptor would overcome this difficulty, but such a study is not easy since opioid receptors are membrane proteins. Thus, conformational studies of lead peptides in solution are still important for drug design. This review deals with conformational studies of natural pre-nociceptin peptides in several solvents that mimic in part the different environments in which the peptides exert their action. None of the structural investigations yielded a completely reliable bioactive conformation, but the global conformation of the peptides in biomimetic environments can shed light on their interaction with receptors. Copyright © 2002 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] State and Local Governance Fifteen Years Later: Enduring and New ChallengesPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW, Issue 2008Frank J. Thompson This article draws on the contributions to this issue and related evidence to assay the extent to which the states and larger local governments have moved in directions endorsed by the Winter Commission in 1993. The commission's recommendations targeted (1) the political context of state and local governance, with a particular focus on executive leadership, campaign finance reform, and citizen engagement; (2) the specifics of public administration, with primary emphasis on empowering managers through internal deregulation and bolstering human resource capacity; and (3) the nature of the relationship between the national government and the states in a key policy arena. Significant changes in the fabric of state and local governance have occurred in each of these three areas over the last 15 years. Many of these modifications are consonant with the thrust of the Winter Commission report, but the evidence also points to the limits of state and local reform. Further reform initiatives should be built on systematic efforts to advance knowledge concerning the origins, nature, and outcomes of the array of institutions and processes present at the state and local levels. [source] Principles of robust design methodologyQUALITY AND RELIABILITY ENGINEERING INTERNATIONAL, Issue 1 2008Martin Arvidsson Abstract The literature on robust design has focused chiefly on the development of methods for identifying robust design solutions. In this paper we present a literature review of conflicts and agreements on the principles of robust design. Through this review four central principles of robust design are identified: awareness of variation, insensitivity to noise factors, application of various methods, and application in all stages of a design process. These principles are comprised into the following definition of robust design methodology: Robust design methodology means systematic efforts to achieve insensitivity to noise factors. These efforts are founded on an awareness of variation and can be applied in all stages of product design. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Intermediate-term variations in solar radius during solar cycle 23ASTRONOMISCHE NACHRICHTEN, Issue 4 2009H. Kiliç Abstract In this study, we look for the mid-term variations in the daily average data of solar radius measurements made at the Solar Astrolabe Station of TUBITAK National Observatory (TUG) during solar cycle 23 for a time interval from 2000 February 26 to 2006 November 15. Due to the weather conditions and seasonal effect dependent on the latitude, the data series has the temporal gaps. For spectral analysis of the data series, thus, we use the Date Compensated Discrete Fourier Transform (DCDFT) and the CLEANest algorithm, which are powerful methods for irregularly spaced data. The CLEANest spectra of the solar radius data exhibit several significant mid-term periodicities at 393.2, 338.9, 206.5, 195.2, 172.3 and 125.4 days which are consistent with periods detected in several solar time series by several authors during different solar cycles. The knowledge relating to the origin of solar radius variations is not yet present. To see whether these variations will repeat in next cycles and to understand how the amplitudes of such variations change with different phases of the solar cycles, we need more systematic efforts and the long-term homogeneous data. Since most of the periodicities detected in the present study are frequently seen in solar activity indicators, it is thought that the physical mechanisms driving the periodicities of solar activity may also be effective in solar radius variations (© 2009 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source] Use of the Kidcope to identify socio-economically diverse Spanish school-age children's stressors and coping strategiesCHILD: CARE, HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 6 2009N. Pereda Abstract Background The process by which children cope with stressful events is a very relevant topic. However, few systematic efforts have been made to design age-specific measures. Methods This study examined problems commonly experienced by children, ages between 7 and 12 years, from two different sources: a primary school mainly enrolling families of medium socio-economic status, and an after-school social care centre from a socially and economically deprived neighbourhood. Data were obtained using the younger version of the Kidcope. Results Almost 55% of the sample reported a problem related to others with no differences observed in age, gender or school group. The strategies that children considered the most effective were ,social support' (35%), ,emotional regulation' (33%) and ,wishful thinking' (32%). The children from disadvantaged backgrounds reported different problems mainly related with ,victimization and violence', ,moving house' and conflicts with ,norms and rules' and tended to use avoidant strategies to face them, which could be related to the perception of uncontrollability of these stressors. Conclusions This study reported the first descriptive results in the type of problems and coping strategies of two different social groups of Spanish children using the Kidcope. The Kidcope can be useful to screen children for coping abilities at an early age living under stressful conditions in underprivileged sectors of society. [source] Putting Science to Work: A Statewide Attempt to Identify and Implement Effective InterventionsCLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY: SCIENCE AND PRACTICE, Issue 2 2002Peter S. Jensen Few systematic efforts have been undertaken to identify and deploy evidence-based interventions at a statewide level. Moreover, no previous attempts have attempted to delineate criteria for judging the effectiveness of evidence-based interventions, and then to apply these criteria to the existing evidence base to evaluate interventions for children's behavioral and emotional disorders. Chorpita and their colleagues are to be commended for addressing these much-needed issues, and systematically attempting to close the gaps between "what we know" versus "what we do." While their work represents an important step forward, further evaluation of its impact will be needed. Nonetheless, in the hope that they will succeed, other groups of scientists, parents, providers, and policy-makers should consider such strategic approaches in closing the gaps between optimal, evidence-based treatments and current treatment practices. [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||