Work Analyses (work + analysis)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Adapting Work Analysis to a Fast-Paced and Electronic Business World

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SELECTION AND ASSESSMENT, Issue 4 2000
Juan I. Sanchez
The reliance of traditional job analysis on job incumbents as the primary source of work-analytic data is critically examined. It is argued that the sole use of incumbents is practically and theoretically unjustified. The incorporation of non-incumbents to the work analysis process is advocated, especially when abstract human attributes and strategic requirements are evaluated. The time and resource savings afforded by the use of mechanical estimation of work dimensions are also discussed. A revision of traditional formats of data collection in job analysis such as paper-and-pencil surveys and face-to-face interviews is proposed. Instead, the potential work-analytic uses of electronic records of work information nowadays available in electronic performance monitoring systems are outlined. [source]


THE STORM OF NOVEMBER 1826 IN THE CANARY ISLANDS: POSSIBLY A TROPICAL CYCLONE?

GEOGRAFISKA ANNALER SERIES A: PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY, Issue 3 2010
JOSÉ BETHENCOURT-GONZÁLEZ
ABSTRACT. This work analyses a storm that occurred in the Canary Islands early in November 1826. Through a study based on historical climate data, some of the adverse effects of the storm are described and some of the possible causes are discussed. The main goal of this work is to establish an approximate reconstruction of this historical event which will allow us to compare it to a recent meteorological event that had a great impact on the archipelago: "Tropical Storm Delta", in November 2005. Studying and reviewing the origin of the 1826 storm verifies the hypothesis that extremely violent perturbations have not only occurred in the Canaries on other occasions, but that these past events were also more intense and had more serious consequences than Delta. Therefore, the idea that other tropical perturbations have occurred in the region of the Canary Islands before Delta is presented. [source]


Effects of sample and grid size on the accuracy and stability of regression-based snow interpolation methods

HYDROLOGICAL PROCESSES, Issue 14 2010
J. Ignacio López Moreno
Abstract This work analyses the responses of four regression-based interpolation methods for predicting snowpack distribution to changes in the number of data points (sample size) and resolution of the employed digital elevation model (DEM). For this purpose, we used data obtained from intensive and random sampling of snow depth (991 measurements) in a small catchment (6 km2) in the Pyrenees, Spain. Linear regression, classification trees, generalized additive models (GAMs), and a recent method based on a correction made by applying tree classification to GAM residuals were used to calculate snow-depth distribution based on terrain characteristics under different combinations of sample size and DEM spatial resolution (grid size). The application of a tree classification to GAM residuals yielded the highest accuracy scores and the most stable models. The other tested methods yielded scores with slightly lower accuracy and varying levels of robustness under different conditions of grid and sample size. The accuracy of the model predictions declined with decreasing resolution of DEMs and sample size; however, the sensitivities of the models to the number of data points showed threshold values, which has implications (when planning fieldwork) for optimizing the relation between the effort expended in gathering data and the quality of the results. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Effect of incidence angle with wake passing on a film cooled leading edge: A numerical study

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL METHODS IN FLUIDS, Issue 12 2010
F. Montomoli
Abstract This work presents the numerical study of a film-cooled blade under the influence of wake passing at different incidence angles. The film cooling technology has been proven to be effective to increase the blade life of first turbine stages. However, the leading edge is affected by an high heat transfer rate and cooling this region is difficult. Moreover, separated regions downstream the coolant injection increases the local heat transfer coefficient and can have a detrimental effect in terms of airfoil life. This work analyses how the flow field is affected by the wake passing at different incidence angles (,5, 0, 5) and the impact on heat transfer coefficient. The test case is a linear cascade with two rows of cylindrical holes at the leading edge. Two different holes arrangements are compared in terms of film cooling structures, namely AGTB-B1 and AGTB-B2 with 0 and 45, spanwise inclination. The numerical results show a good agreement with the experiments. A deeper investigation is carried out on AGTB-B1. The results obtained show that the wake passing and the incidence angle have a strong effect on coolant jets. In particular, there is a significative impact on coolant redistribution near the leading edge. The wake passing has a stronger effect on pressure side, mainly at negative incidence. The predictive approach is based on an U-RANS in-house CFD solver using a conventional two-equations closure. In order to avoid extra turbulence production, critical in the leading edge region, the turbulence model incorporates an extra algebraic equation that enforces a realizability constraint. The unsteady formulation is based on a dual time stepping approach with a sliding plane between the moving bars and the cascade. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Elastohydrodynamics of tensioned web roll coating process

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL METHODS IN FLUIDS, Issue 6 2003
M. S. Carvalho
Abstract Coating process is an important step in the manufacturing of different products, such as paper, adhesive and magnetic tapes, photographic films, and many other. The tensioned web roll coating is one the several methods used by different industries. It relies on the elastohydrodynamic action between the fluid and the tensioned substrate for transferring and applying the liquid. The main advantage of this method is its ability to apply very thin liquid layers with less sensitivity to mechanical tolerance at relative small cost. Despite its industrial application, theoretical analysis and fundamental understanding of the process are limited. This work analyses this elastohydrodynamic action by solving the differential equations that govern the liquid flow, described by the Navier,Stokes equation, and the web deformation, modelled by the cylindrical shell approximation. The goal is to determine the operating conditions at which the process is two dimensional and defect free. The equations are discretized by the Galerkin/finite-element method. The resulting non-linear system of equations is solved by Newton's method coupled with pseudo-arc-length continuation in order to obtain solutions around turning points. The theoretical results are used to construct an operating window of the process that is in agreement with limited experimental data. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Contribution of the largest events to suspended sediment transport across the USA

LAND DEGRADATION AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 2 2010
J. C. Gonzalez-Hidalgo
Abstract This work analyses the contribution of the largest events to suspended sediment transport on the continental scale. The analysis is based on the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Suspended Sediment and Ancillary database. Data were obtained from 1314 catchments, comprising more than 2,500,000 daily events. The total number of days in the dataset amounts to 10,000 years. Catchments are of different sizes and belong to distinct climatic environments; they are distributed for the analysis according to USA hydrological divisions (HDs). The main objective of the research is to examine the effect of the n -largest event on the total suspended sediment load over recorded periods, and to discuss different behaviour between HDs. To accomplish this, the daily events at each catchment are ranked by magnitude, and then the percentage represented by the n -largest event (e.g. 3-largest, 5-largest, 10-largest, 15-largest, 20-largest, 25-largest) is calculated from the total accumulated load. Results indicate that suspended sediment transported by the 25-largest events represents on average more than 50,per cent of the total load. The California HD, mostly under Mediterranean climatic conditions, accounts for the highest percentage of sediment transport across conterminous USA, whatever n -largest daily events are selected. There, the 3-largest events contribute, on average, 38,per cent of the total sediment load, the 10-largest events represent 61,per cent and the 25-largest events produce more than 76,per cent of the total sediment transport. Overall, the contribution of largest daily events seems not to depend on the climatic conditions in small catchments (<100,km2) and, in addition, the percentage of suspended sediment increases over all HDs, while, at the same time, the catchment size decreases. Finally, we discuss differences between catchments across the USA, according to climatic and historical (i.e. land use) factors. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Work hard, play hard: selling Kelowna, BC, as year-round playground

THE CANADIAN GEOGRAPHER/LE GEOGRAPHE CANADIEN, Issue 2 2005
Luis L.M. Aguiar
A keen interest in place making and place selling is widespread in contemporary society. While the bulk of academic research has focused on studying the restructuring of large urban conglomerates, places beyond the exploding metropolis, by comparison, have received little attention, especially when it concerns Canadian landscapes. In an attempt to study the particularities of place making in contemporary smaller, more isolated communities,hinterlands,this work analyses the city of Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada. We argue that historically Kelowna, a small rural community specialising in ranching, forestry and fruit production, since the early 1980s, has been re-imagined and re-designed, on the one hand as an all-year playground and as an innovative frontier for high-tech industries; on the other hand, this post-Fordist reinvention contains a discourse of ,whiteness', one that entices by packaging ,place' in terms of ,sameness' and ,familiarity'. In contrast to large cosmopolitan post-industrial cities, hinterland-type cities are invented, sought and lived as geographies cleared from the ,elements' that make cities ,unsafe'. L'étude de la fabrication et de la vente du lieu suscite beaucoup d'intérêt dans la société contemporaine. Alors que la plupart des travaux académiques se sont concentrés sur la restructuration des grandes agglomérations urbaines, leurs périphéries qui font parti du paysage canadien ont reçu peu d'attention. Afin de comprendre les processus qui entre en jeu dans la fabrication du lieu des communautés plus petites et plus isolées de l'arrière-pays, nous avons étudié la ville de Kelowna en Colombie Britannique au Canada. Notre argument est qu'une petite communauté avec un riche passé agricole et une économie basée sur l'exploitation de ressources naturelles, Kelowna s'est re-imaginée et re-définie, dans un premier temps comme site de villégiature toute saison, et aussi comme centre de recherche de haute technologie. Dans un deuxième temps, cette ré-invention post-fordiste contient un discours de ,whiteness, qui encourage la création d'un espace socialement homogène. En contrepartie au post-industrialisme des grands centres métropolitains, les villes de l'arrière-pays sont inventées, recherchées et vécus comme des lieus géographiques où il fait bon vivre, ou les dangers généralement associés aux grandes villes y sont absents. Notre but est donc de comprendre le caractère unique qui contribue à la fabrication du lieu dans les sociétés de l'arrière-pays. [source]


Oxidative stress parameters during starvation and refeeding periods in Adriatic sturgeon (Acipenser naccarii) and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

AQUACULTURE NUTRITION, Issue 6 2009
M. FURNÉ
Abstract This work analyses the changes in the redox balance in two fish species: Adriatic sturgeon (Acipenser naccarii) and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) during starvation and refeeding period. The starvation period raised the lipid peroxidation (thiobarbituric-acid-reacting substances) levels in liver and blood, while a decline occurred in the antioxidant enzymatic activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPX) and glutathione reductase (GR) in both fish species. In liver, after the refeeding period, SOD activity recovered in both species, whereas CAT activity recovered only in trout. Furthermore, in both tissues of the two species, the lipid peroxidation levels remained high after 2 months of refeeding. In white muscle and heart, the lipid peroxidation levels indicate that these tissues did not undergo oxidative stress during the 72-day period. During starvation, in the muscle of both fish the fall in the lipid peroxidation level coincided with a rise in CAT, GPX and GR. The refeeding period in this tissue raised the lipid peroxidation level, and the enzymatic activities reached the values of the first point of starvation. In heart, no oxidative damage was detected during starvation in either species. The CAT and SOD activities increased during the starvation period only in trout. [source]


THE ORIGIN AND GEOCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF RED OCHRES FROM THE TITO BUSTILLO AND MONTE CASTILLO CAVES (NORTHERN SPAIN)*

ARCHAEOMETRY, Issue 2 2009
E. IRIARTE
Ochres were the most common source materials for pigments used in Palaeolithic rock art paintings. This work analyses the petrographic and geochemical signatures of different ochre samples from outcrops inside Tito Bustillo Cave and the Monte Castillo Caves using the most common techniques (petrography, XRD, SEM,EDS and ICP,MS) in archaeological pigment characterization studies. The results obtained permit the identification and characterization of the different source ochre types and, furthermore, allow the establishment of mineralogical and geochemical proxies for the study of questions related to ochre characterization, formation processes and provenance. [source]


UNCERTAINTY AND CONSUMPTION: NEW EVIDENCE IN OECD COUNTRIES

BULLETIN OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH, Issue 3 2010
Mario Menegatti
D91; E21 ABSTRACT This work analyses the empirical evidence about precautionary saving in OECD countries in the period 1955,2000. Unlike the previous literature, we perform the test using a measure of uncertainty allowing for heterogeneity in stochastic processes which generate data for each country and selecting for each economy the autoregressive moving average process which best describes the series. The results obtained support the main conclusion of precautionary saving theory, showing that a greater degree of uncertainty increases saving. A less clear conclusion is obtained with reference to the effect of uncertainty on consumption growth, which does not seem to be strongly supported by the data. [source]


Class in the consulting room

PSYCHOTHERAPY AND POLITICS INTERNATIONAL, Issue 1 2007
Valerie Walkerdine
Abstract This paper explores the centrality of class in psychoanalytic psychotherapy in the context of the review of Layton, Hollander and Gutwill's Psychoanalysis, Class and Politics (Layton et al., 2006). It reviews a clinical engagement with class, arguing that class has not been absent from the clinical setting, being salient in much social work analysis. The issue of how class enters psychotherapy is brought into salience by Layton's observation of comments made by middle-class therapists about their feelings of comfort in entering shops with ranges of goods and ambiences that can be understood in class terms. The issue of class in relation to identity has been well explored in the social science tradition, particularly in the work of a group of feminist scholars. This paper seeks to bring together insights from both the clinical and social science traditions, so that each may be enriched. It argues that much more dialogue is needed between the two kinds of work in order to think beyond the normative unconscious and the problems of the distinctions between inner and outer worlds. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons. Ltd. [source]


We don't do that here: Using cognitive work analysis to learn about organizational culture

BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY (ELECTRONIC), Issue 1 2006
Doctoral Candidate Patricia Katopol
No abstract is available for this article. [source]