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1
Shah, Chirag, Chathra Hendahewa, and Roberto González-Ibáñez. "Two ' s company, but three ' s no crowd." Aslib Journal of Information Management 67, no. 6 (November 16, 2015): 636–62. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ajim-05-2015-0082.
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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate when and how people working in collaboration could be benefitted by an exploratory search task, specifically focussing on team size and its effect on the outcomes of such a task. Design/methodology/approach – The paper investigates the effects of team sizes on exploratory search tasks using a lab study involving 68 participants – 12 individuals, ten dyads, and 12 triads. In order to assess various factors during their exploratory search sessions, an evaluation framework is synthesized using relevant literature. The framework consists of measures for five groups of quantities relevant to exploratory search: information exposure, information relevancy, information search, performance, and learning. Findings – The analyses on the user study data using the proposed framework reveals that while individuals working alone cover more information than those working in teams, the teams (dyads and triads) are able to achieve better information coverage and search performance due to their collaborative strategies. In many of the measures, the triads are found to be even better than the dyads, demonstrating the value of adding a collaborator to a search process with multiple facets. Originality/value – The findings shed light on not only how collaborative work could help in achieving better results in exploratory search, but also how team sizes affect specific aspects – information exposure, information relevancy, information search, performance, and learning – of exploratory search. This has implications for system designers, information managers, and educators.
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Sadrija, ThĂ«llĂ«za Latifi. "PERFORMANCE EVALUATION IN KOSOVO ORGANIZATIONS." CBU International Conference Proceedings 5 (September 22, 2017): 269–75. http://dx.doi.org/10.12955/cbup.v5.937.
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The performance means the behavior and the resultant measured based on certain activities and duties. Enterprises performance could be measured thanks to indicators that express the quality of its activities. While, for individuals and groups, it is hard to identify the link between their performance and that of the company. Performance evaluation is an instrument through which the employees within the organization can reflect, discuss and change their work method that influences the organizational effectiveness. The focus of this paper is to argue that effective performance, feedback, and employee training are necessary for the success of an organization, and at the same time the development plan to support the employees in achieving the best possible results is necessary too. The employees’ training in Kosovo’s enterprises is closely related to the organization, and the planning of employees in a way to so they are prepared at a national level and the attempt to exchange employees and train them in international level. This would affect the effective performance and cultures exchanged.
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Remiasa, Marcus, and Shelvy Anggraini Wijaya. "ANALISIS PROSES SUKSESI PERUSAHAAN KELUARGA STUDI PADA PT PUTERASEAN." KINERJA 18, no. 2 (February 21, 2017): 141. http://dx.doi.org/10.24002/kinerja.v18i2.526.
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Family business is a type of business which is most developed and dominant in the era of globalization. Family business becomes one of the factors that affect the economy of a country (Poza, 2010), as the existenceof family business that should be maintained. Most of the family businesses in Indonesia have not planned their succession well. This study aims to determine what processes are carried out by PT. Puterasean for companysuccession and also to find out the performance of the company after the succession. This study uses qualitative methods. The data used is primary data which is obtained through interviews. The data validity is tested usingtriangulation techniques. The results show that PT. Puterasean processes a succession through phases of activity that are: the choice of successor candidates, development, and learning prospective successor, involvingprospective successor in the company’s activities, evaluation and impact on the company’s successor. This study shows that the succession was going well and the involvement of the prospective successor had positiveimpact on the company as evidenced by the wide range of changes and improvement programs as well as increase the company’s revenue.Keywords: the family business, process succession, succession post, ACE MAN
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Shakina, Elena, and Angel Barajas. "The relationship between intellectual capital quality and corporate performance: An empirical study of Russian and European companies." Ekonomski anali 57, no. 192 (2012): 79–97. http://dx.doi.org/10.2298/eka1292079b.
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The purpose of this research is to develop cost-effectiveness tools for the analysis of company?s intellectual resources, in terms of resource-based and value-based approaches. Our study focuses on the evaluation of intellectual capital methods to discover the drivers of company growth. We suppose that the potential effectiveness of intellectual capital resources varies according to different institutional factors. Several statistical methods will be used for the empirical issues in this research, including common cross-sectional and panel data analysis, and the instrumental variables method. The database collected for this purpose will consist of financial and economic indicators underlying the intellectual capital evaluation, such as strategic performance indicators (EVA? and FGV?). The dataset includes companies from different countries and industries according to the Knowledge Economy Index of the World Bank. The industries presented in the dataset are selected according to the predominance of several intellectual capital elements. The database includes financial services, wholesale and retail trade, machinery and equipment manufacture, the chemical industry, and transport and communications. As a result of the empirical research, we expect to answer the following questions: ? Is there a close relationship between intellectual capital quality and company performance? ? What are the external and internal factors affecting this relationship? (country, industry, company size, market dynamics, etc.)
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Zivkovic, Snezana, Ljiljana Takic, and Nenad Zivkovic. "The improvement of environmental performances by applying ISO 14001 standard: A case study." Chemical Industry and Chemical Engineering Quarterly 19, no. 4 (2013): 541–52. http://dx.doi.org/10.2298/ciceq120513088z.
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This paper presents the analysis of the advantages of applying ISO 14001 system in an environmental protection management system. The environmental protection management system which is not licensed, i.e., compatible with the principles and standard pre-conditions considerably increases the plausibility for ecological risk. There are some issues that remain to be solved in the areas which are not expressed by financial values only but also have a non-financial character with the aim of expanding markets, company image improvement and improvement of the environmental performance indicators. By improving a company?s environmental management system efficiency we expect to achieve the minimization and elimination of damaging influences on the environment which are the consequence of company?s activities. A case study in the Oil Refinery Belgrade (RNB) analyses the implementation of the standard ISO 14001:2004 into its environment protection management system, particularly emphasizing the company?s own way of evaluating the environment aspects with the aim of establishing results of ecological performances indicators improvement. The average values of the first ecological indicator of the plant, the total amount of the waste waters in m3 per a ton of product, clearly show the downturn trend, which is confirmed by the proportional reduction of the second ecological plant indicator, that is by the flocculants consumption (Al2(SO4)3, Na2CO3) in kg per m3 of the waste water of the Oil Refinery of Belgrade for the given period 2008-2010. Case study RNB confirms the improvement of environmental performances using the ISO 14001 standard.
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Бор, V. Bor, Соклакова, Irina Soklakova, Макарова, and E. Makarova. "Features Management Effectiveness Evaluation in Modern Organizations." Administration 3, no. 2 (June 17, 2015): 74–79. http://dx.doi.org/10.12737/11514.
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The article deals with the problem of evaluating the effectiveness of management in modern organizations,
highlights the concept of efficiency as a mandatory element of the activities. Currently, the social environment
in which the organization operates has changed substantially. Russia´s transition to market economic
fundamentals could not but affect the forms and methods of management of organizations. The problem of
accurate assessment and management of business performance management has come to dominate the
practice of management development processes of market globalization.
For the smooth operation Organization requires regular monitoring and forecasting of development prospects
of business segments efficiency dynamics to provide managers and businessmen the information they need
to make timely decisions in the field of strategic, tactical and operational business management. Under these
conditions, business analysis becomes vital for building an effective management system based on the
strategic objectives of ensuring the unity of the various functional areas and management horizons.
Monitoring is a specially organized, systematic observation of objects, phenomena and processes for
assessment, control or prediction.
The paper suggests a technique and an algorithm for monitoring the effectiveness and sustainability of
enterprises, providing control of the results of activities and mutually beneficial transactions, thus expanding
the possibilities of effectiveness management and enterprises’ sustainability, serving the best customer
satisfaction.
The authors pay attention to business reputation, which can be regarded as a market indicator of the
company´s position in the business. They describe the role of goodwill in assessing the effectiveness of the
organization´s management, the effects of positive and negative goodwill of the organization.
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Pribadiyono, Pribadiyono. "PEMETAAN (MAPPING) POTENSI DIRI INDIVIDU (PERFORMANCE) DENGAN METODE PRIBADI SPIDER PLOT PADA PEGAWAI PEJABAT STRUKTURAL DAN FUNGSIONAL DI PT.XYZ (BUMN) DAN PEMDA X DI JAWA TIMUR." EKUITAS (Jurnal Ekonomi dan Keuangan) 8, no. 4 (January 1, 2007): 568. http://dx.doi.org/10.24034/j25485024.y2004.v8.i4.2343.
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A Company which focal are efficiency and effectiveness, will make an effort to manage their human resources. Appropriately allocated human resources can be done by means of pronouncing a prerequisite as a standard attribute which should be posses sed by employee applicant. Hence, an evaluation toward individuals 'performance is expected capable to carry out taskfrom the companies.One of latest method which can be used to evaluate sta.fj'pe formance is Pribadi Spider Plot, and resembles a method which illustrate mapping of individual's observation (strength and weaknes ). Generally, Individual's pe fhrmance evaluation based on standard psychological test as a reference to evaluate performance when will be promoted or during .fresh staff recruitment. However, there are another managements attribut es which was not detecLed, where inaccuracy in evaluating Individual 's performance will Lake place. Pribadi Spider PloL Model will complete these inadequacies, where Lhis meLhod will unite psychological test and management test and will be assembled with weighting method. rating and scoring.Through the result of psycho test and management test which conducLed in PT. XYZ Surabaya, as one of Federal Corporation in Indonesia, and District X located around Gerbang Kertosusilo, has not yet been attained companies standard performance score of 313.76 and total rating of 37.-10. Still, the highest total score resulL attained.from psycho Lest and management test conducted in PT XYZ of 268.65 with total ratings of 31.18. Andfrom the District X located around Gerbang Kertosusilo, the highest score result merely of 258.0-1 with tolal ratings of 23.50. By achieving individual's total score and total ratings through psychological and management Test, companies will have capability of accepting or rejecting these staffs. Companies management deparLment will be able toplan their stajj s career, settlemenL or mutation based on their ability and skill.
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Flowerday, A. Bayaga, S., and R. Piderit. "ICT Operational Risk Management (ORM) and Performances of a Financial SME." Pakistan Development Review 52, no. 2 (June 1, 2013): 127–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.30541/v52i2pp.127-138.
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This paper investigates the relationship between ICT operational risk management (ORM) and the performance of an SME. To achieve this, this research investigated five specific elements, namely: the principal causes of ICT ORM failure in an SME; change management requirements; characteristic(s) of business information; challenges posed by new ORM solutions; and evaluation models for understanding the value of ICT ORM in SMEs. Following a literature review, an electronic survey consisting of closed ended questions was developed. This was distributed at a financial company in the Eastern Cape and 107 responses were gathered. Factor analysis was used as a data reduction technique to reduce the large number of related variables to a more manageable number. The empirical evidence presented indicated that a significant proportion of the aforementioned variables have impact on the performance of an SME. Therefore, this paper indicates that there is a strategic impact of ICT ORM on SME performance. Keywords: SME Performance, Operational Risk Management, Information Communication Technology
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Cammarata, Simone, Gabriele Ciarpi, Stefano Faralli, Philippe Velha, Guido Magazzù, Fabrizio Palla, and Sergio Saponara. "Design and Performance Evaluation of Multi-Gb/s Silicon Photonics Transmitters for High Energy Physics." Energies 13, no. 14 (July 10, 2020): 3569. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/en13143569.
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Optical links are rapidly becoming pervasive in the readout chains of particle physics detector systems. Silicon photonics (SiPh) stands as an attractive candidate to sustain the radiation levels foreseen in the next-generation experiments, while guaranteeing, at the same time, multi-Gb/s and energy-efficient data transmission. Integrated electronic drivers are needed to enable SiPh modulators’ deployment in compact on-detector front-end modules. A current-mode logic-based driver harnessing a pseudo-differential output stage is proposed in this work to drive different types of SiPh devices by means of the same circuit topology. The proposed driver, realized in a 65 nm bulk technology and already tested to behave properly up to an 8 MGy total ionizing dose, is hybridly integrated in this work with a lumped-element Mach–Zehnder modulator (MZM) and a ring modulator (RM), both fabricated in a 130 nm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) process. Bit-error-rate (BER) performances confirm the applicability of the selected architecture to either differential and single-ended loads. A 5 Gb/s data rate, in line with the current high energy physics requirements, is achieved in the RM case, while a packaging-related performance degradation is captured in the MZM-based system, confirming the importance of interconnection modeling.
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Jafari, Davoud, and Mehrzad Lohrasbi. "Performance Measurement and Ranking Organization’s Suppliers Based on Risk Factors Using a Hybrid Approach of FMEA and Multi-Criteria Decision Making Techniques: A Case Study." Modern Applied Science 12, no. 10 (September 29, 2018): 149. http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/mas.v12n10p149.
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Risk occurance in the supply chain is unavoidable. Basically, a great portion of these risks comes from suppliers. Timely identification of the risks and using appropriate preventive actions to reduce the probability and impact of their occurrence play a significant role in increasing organizational efficiency, improving product quality and satisfying customers. Developing a systematic and efficient mechanism is a prerequisite for properly identifying and assessing the supply chain risks and making correct decision. Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is a known engineering technique and risk assessment tool to define, identify, and eliminate potential failures and errors in the products, processes, projects, and services. In this paper, FMEA approach is combined with multi-criteria decision-making techniques to make a systematic mechanism for assessing supply chain risks and prioritizing candidate flour suppliers in Sahar bread industrial group. In the proposed model, Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is used to determine the risk’s weights and VIKOR method is applied for assessing and ranking the suppliers. Results shew that among the identified risks, “cost risk group” with the weight "0.43" is the most important. Therefor the company officials have to adopt appropriate policies, carefully, to deal with this risk. Moreover, final evaluation of flour suppliers in the company indicates that according to all criteria, the fourth supplier achieves the highest priority and it is selected as the most qualified flour supplier for the company.
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Marsheilla, Marsheilla, and Marsheilly Marsheilly. "Perancangan Sistem Penjadwalan Dan Pengontrolan Produksi Perusahaan Padupadan." Jurnal Akuntansi Maranatha 11, no. 2 (October 22, 2019): 358–78. http://dx.doi.org/10.28932/jam.v11i2.1928.
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The development of garment industry, especially for export, may bring certain challenges to Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME). The company that export its products has to handle its production carefully, in particular for the export deadline. When the company fail to deliver its products on time, a high amount of fine, approximately 30% of total production cost, will be faced. Padupadan is a garment focusing on local product. To be competitive, it needs to improve its quality in both scheduling and production control. Orders has been accepted without actual information status of running order which cause delay and low product quality. Due to that situation, this company needs a system that assist decision making relating to controlling orders and performance of any parties in production process.Case study was used as method of this explanatory research. Data were analyzed using MIT 90’s Framework and Data Flow Diagram. Design of Padupadan production system is related with 9 analyzed activities, namely marketing, sales order, production scheduling, human resource management, purchasing, receiving, warehouse (raw material), production, and warehouse (finished goods) which will be structured and standardized for the company. This system provides assistance in determining production scheduling target, system to control production that will help owner in evaluating employees, performance of production department and categorized supplier. Owner provides positive respon on the design since it can assist the company for future advance.
Keywords: Scheduling System Control; Production Control
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Pribadiyono, Pribadiyono. "PEMETAAN (MAPPING) POTENSI DIRI INDIVIDU (PERFORMANCE) DENGAN METODE PRIBADI SPIDER PLOT PADA PEGAWAI PEJABAT STRUKTURAL DAN FUNGSIONAL DI PT. XYZ (BUMN) DAN PEMDA X DI JAWA TIMUR." EKUITAS (Jurnal Ekonomi dan Keuangan) 8, no. 4 (September 25, 2018): 568–90. http://dx.doi.org/10.24034/j25485024.y2004.v8.i4.360.
Full textAbstract:
A Company which focal are efficiency and effectiveness, will make an effort to manage their human resources. Appropriately allocated human resources can be done by means of pronouncing a prerequisite as a standard attribute which should be possesed by employee applicant. Hence, an evaluation toward individuals 'performance is expected capable to carry out task from the companies.One of latest method which can be used to evaluate staff 'performance is Pribadi Spider Plot, and resembles a method which illustrate mapping of individual's observation (strength and weaknes). Generally, Individual's performance evaluation based on standard psychological test as a reference to evaluate performance when will be promoted or during fresh staff recruitment. However, there are another managements attribut es which was not detected, where inaccuracy in evaluating Individual 's performance will Lake place. Pribadi Spider Plot Model will complete these inadequacies, where Lhis method will unite psychological test and management test and will be assembled with weighting method rating and scoring.Through the result of psycho test and management test which conducted in PT. XYZ Surabaya, as one of Federal Corporation in Indonesia, and District X located around Gerbang Kertosusilo, has not yet been attained companies standard performance score of 313.76 and total rating of 37.40. Still, the highest total score result attained from psycho Lest and management test conducted in PT XYZ of 268.65 with total ratings of 31.18. Andfrom the District X located around Gerbang Kertosusilo, the highest score result merely of 258.04 with tolal ratings of 23.50. By achieving individual's total score and total ratings through psychological and management Test, companies will have capability of accepting or rejecting these staffs. Companies management department will be able to plan their staff’s career, settlement or mutation based on their ability and skill.
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Sugawara, Takeshi. "Hardware Performance Evaluation of Authenticated Encryption SAEAES with Threshold Implementation." Cryptography 4, no. 3 (August 9, 2020): 23. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cryptography4030023.
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SAEAES is the authenticated encryption algorithm instantiated by combining the SAEB mode of operation with AES, and a candidate of the NIST’s lightweight cryptography competition. Using AES gives the advantage of backward compatibility with the existing accelerators and coprocessors that the industry has invested in so far. Still, the newer lightweight block cipher (e.g., GIFT) outperforms AES in compact implementation, especially with the side-channel attack countermeasure such as threshold implementation. This paper aims to implement the first threshold implementation of SAEAES and evaluate the cost we are trading with the backward compatibility. We design a new circuit architecture using the column-oriented serialization based on the recent 3-share and uniform threshold implementation (TI) of the AES S-box based on the generalized changing of the guards. Our design uses 18,288 GE with AES’s occupation reaching 97% of the total area. Meanwhile, the circuit area is roughly three times the conventional SAEB-GIFT implementation (6229 GE) because of a large memory size needed for the AES’s non-linear key schedule and the extended states for satisfying uniformity in TI.
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Bartnicka, Joanna, Patrycja Kabiesz, Dorota Palka, Paulina Gajewska, Ejaz Ul Islam, and Damian Szymanek. "Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Employers and H&S Services in Relation to the COVID-19 System in Polish Manufacturing Companies." International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18, no. 17 (September 3, 2021): 9302. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18179302.
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With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, companies had to adapt quickly to survive in the market. During this time, employers played a key role, along with employees involved in Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) activities, as they were responsible for implementing the recommendations of the European Commission. There is no unambiguous definition of OHS in Polish legislation. It is assumed that it is a set of rules defining the manner of performing work, and above all, a method of providing employees with working conditions so that their performance is safe and hygienic. Responsibility for the health and safety in the workplace is imposed on the employer by the legislature. Thus, effective health and safety training is an essential element of the success of any properly operating company. In the literature, no studies have been identified that evaluate the effectiveness of actions during the COVID-19 outbreak. The aim of the article is to present the actions of Polish employers along with their effectiveness assessment related to the protection of employees during the COVID-19 outbreak. The article presents a proposal for conducting remote OHS (Occupational Health and Safety) training using the platform Moodle. The created course was implemented during OHS training conducted in a selected manufacturing company. At its end, an evaluation of the course was carried out, and the collected opinions of training participants allowed the formulation of interesting conclusions, which became the contribution of this paper. The authors pay special attention to three main points of the work. The first is the form of training, which gives the possibility to conduct training at a distance while maintaining its effectiveness. The second important point is the mandatory feedback of the trainees, ensuring the possibility of continuous improvement and quality enhancement of both the program and the form of training. The evaluation was developed on the basis of the extended Kirkpatrick model, which is a completely new approach to OHS training evaluation. The third point emphasized by the authors is the possibility of precise adaptation of the training to other plants and even industries. Therefore, it can be concluded that the course developed by the authors is a very interesting and practical didactic tool with great implementation potential.
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Alberghini, Elena, Livio Cricelli, and Michele Grimaldi. "A methodology to manage and monitor social media inside a company: a case study." Journal of Knowledge Management 18, no. 2 (April 7, 2014): 255–77. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jkm-10-2013-0392.
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Purpose – This paper aims to discuss the individual participation and involvement affecting the user engagement in social media and to answer the following research questions: Is it possible to measure the individual participation and involvement of social media within organizations? Which factors should be analysed in order to increase the individual participation in social media? Which KPIs should be selected in order to increase the user ' s engagement and increase individual participation in social media? Can social media in a company be measured in terms of their impact on KM? Design/methodology/approach – This paper presents a case study that describes how Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are used to monitor and manage the applications of social technologies, which include many tools facilitating the participation and collaboration on the web. The case study was applied to the information and communication technology area of Eni S.p.A., which is an integrated energy company active in over 70 countries in the world. Findings – Based on the indications obtained from the case study, a methodology is proposed to select and develop the appropriate KPIs in order to manage and monitor the application of social technologies. The methodology turned out to be able to monitor collaboration and knowledge sharing activities among employees and to incentivize participation and involvement of employees who use the company ' s social media. Practical implications – Organizations can use the suggested methodology as a guideline for managing and monitoring social media inside a company. The possibility of continuously modifying the adopted social media tool by means of corrective actions together with the possibility of adapting the KPIs to new situations make the present methodology an efficient management approach to take on the multifaceted activities of a social media environment. Originality/value – Few case studies dealing with the applications regarding the implementation and management of social technologies within organizations have been carried out. Similarly, even if some empirical studies have been proposed to analyse what motivates and prevents employees from sharing their knowledge through social media, there appears to be a lack of studies which have taken into consideration the evaluation of the actual benefits in terms of individual involvement and participation, knowledge sharing and increase in performance.
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Rao, T. V. "Lessons from Experience: A New Look at Performance Management Systems." Vikalpa: The Journal for Decision Makers 33, no. 3 (July 2008): 1–16. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0256090920080301.
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The concept of performance appraisal has changed over the years. Performance has been usually equated with annual appraisals which measure the entire year's effort of an employee in terms of numbers. This paper points out the flaws in this system and suggests its replacement with the Performance Management Systems (PMS), offering a set of changes to make PMS more effective. Drawing from his own experiences of designing Integrated HRD systems for various companies, the author stresses upon the importance of understanding the nature, potential, and complexities of performance management systems (PMS). Evaluating an employee�s performance on the basis of numbers assigned by another appraiser without an awareness of the context in which the ratings are assigned could inflict serious injustice to the performer. The outlook has to shift from an annual exercise to the on-going activities. Appraisal focuses on ratings while improvements focus on work, stakeholders, service levels, productivity, motivation effort and all such performance-related variables. Following changes are suggested in order to improve PMS as a system: Change from ‘Appraisal’ to ‘Management’ and focus on “Contributions and Improvement” Recognize the comprehensiveness of PMS as a system Recognize the complexities of the multi-dimensional PMS Allocate adequate time and legislate the same and if required plan it into the company calendar Take HR managers out of PMS, decentralize and shift PMS to Performance Managers developed from line jobs Make PMS a part of the budgeting process and integrate with other systems of the company Create a new Index—“Performance Index”—for each employee and make it quarterly and annual Use technology to support your work Implement PMS rigorously and give it the seriousness it deserves. A questionnaire survey on a number of managers from three organizations: an MNC, a family- owned business, and a professionally managed company from abroad clearly indicated the potential use of PMS for performance enhancements and a similarity in the implementation of PMS in all these organizations. The author discusses how these insights helped him in designing the programme, popularly known as “Invest Twenty and Direct 2,000 to 20,000™.” The line managers and top management are being told that their managers can learn to direct 2,000 hours of their performance time to 20,000 hours of their junior�s performance time by merely investing 20 hours of their time for planning their own and their juniors' work. PMS can be a great tool if designed comprehensively and implemented in all earnestness, the author affirms.
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Hendron, Robert, Mark Eastment, Ed Hancock, Greg Barker, and Paul Reeves. "Evaluation of a High-Performance Solar Home in Loveland, Colorado." Journal of Solar Energy Engineering 129, no. 2 (August 8, 2006): 226–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.1115/1.2710248.
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Building America (BA) partner McStain Neighborhoods built the Discovery House in Loveland, CO, with an extensive package of energy-efficient features, including a high-performance envelope, efficient mechanical systems, a solar water heater integrated with the space-heating system, a heat-recovery ventilator (HRV), and ENERGY STAR appliances. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Building Science Consortium conducted short-term field-testing and building energy simulations to evaluate the performance of the house. These evaluations are utilized by BA to improve future prototype designs and to identify critical research needs. The Discovery House building envelope and ducts were very tight under normal operating conditions. The HRV provided fresh air at a rate of about 35L∕s(75cfm), consistent with the recommendations of ASHRAE Standard 62.2. The solar hot water system is expected to meet the bulk of the domestic hot water (DHW) load (>83%), but only about 12% of the space-heating load. DOE-2.2 simulations predict whole-house source energy savings of 54% compared to the BA Benchmark (Hendron, R., 2005 NREL Report No. 37529, NREL, Golden, CO). The largest contributors to energy savings beyond McStain’s standard practice are the solar water heater, HRV, improved air distribution, high-efficiency boiler, and compact fluorescent lighting package.
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Rahmanidoust, Mohammad, and Jianguo Zheng. "Evaluation of Factors Affecting Employees' Performance Using Artificial Neural Networks Algorithm: The Case Study of Fajr Jam." International Business Research 12, no. 10 (September 26, 2019): 86. http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ibr.v12n10p86.
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Human resources are the most valuable assets of any organization. Therefore, human resources performance has the greatest impact on the organization's performance and its ability to operate. Many factors affect the performance of employees in organizations. In this research, we seek to evaluate the factors affecting the performance of Fajr Jam refinery employees. For this purpose, firstly, the literature of the research, the indicators affecting the performance of employees were identified and the conceptual model of the problem was formed. Then, the required data were collected using a standard questionnaire based on the conceptual model of the problem among employees of FJG Company. After assessing the validity and reliability of the collected data, it is time to evaluate the performance of the indicators. For this purpose, an artificial neural network algorithm was used to estimate the efficiency boundary values. After calculating the efficiency values in the presence of all the indices, each indices were eliminated from the conceptual model and again the efficiency values were estimated. Now, by comparing the performance statistics in the state before and after the removal of each indicator from the conceptual model, the degree and the mode of its effect are determined. The results of this study indicate that the "payroll" indicators, "environmental conditions" and "reporting culture" are the strengths of the system under review, and are now at an appropriate level. Also, the results indicate a negative impact on the indicators of "awareness", "system planning and preparation for critical situations," "amenities," "training," and "job security" in the system under review.
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Kaur, K. P., and T. Upadhyaya. "Performance Evaluation of Wide-Angle Ultrathin Microwave Metamaterial Absorber with Polarization Independence." Advanced Electromagnetics 7, no. 4 (August 31, 2018): 71–77. http://dx.doi.org/10.7716/aem.v7i4.761.
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A novel dual-band wide-angle ultra-thin absorber composed of dual closed-concentric ten-point stars with polarization independence is presented in this article. The ten-point stars formed resonators are engraved on low cost FR4 substrate. The EM absorber performance is studied in terms of electrical and physical parameters. The polarization independence is practically demonstrated using waveguide measurement method. The measured results are in good agreement with simulated results. The absorbance values of 99.37% and 97.18% are achieved at 2.13 GHz and 2.52 GHz, respectively. The presented absorber design is wide-angle RF absorber with high absorbance values of about 80% up to 60° under TE mode and 87% up to 75° of oblique incidence angle for TM mode excitations. The experimental results demonstrate the absorption effectiveness of the proposed design to be utilized in RF energy harvester modules for capturing ambient UMTS band signals and in RF absorber applications for S band radar systems. The presented absorber unit cell is ultrathin and compact with the thickness and size less than λ/56 mm and λ/5 mm, respectively, at lowest absorption frequency.
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Teoh, Teoh Yeon Kin, Suzanawati Abu Hasan, and Siti Nur Atikah Zahari. "Data Envelopment Analysis for Malaysia Courier Services Performance and Customer Satisfaction." Journal of Computing Research and Innovation 5, no. 3 (October 21, 2020): 25–33. http://dx.doi.org/10.24191/jcrinn.v5i3.135.
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One of the key issues of the current courier services in Malaysia is the efficiency of the courier itself. In today's competition, many factors have recognized that influence the efficiency of courier services. Hence, numbers of analytical models and formu las were introduced to measure the efficiency of courier service. This paper presents a practical approach for identifying the level of customers’ satisfaction towards courier service companies using Data Envelopment Analysis and four courier services whic h were Poslaju, City - Link Express , J&T Expres s, and GD Express in Hulu Terengganu were selected. Data Envelopment Analysis is chosen in this study because it can deal with complex connections between several inputs and outputs on performance evaluation iss ues. The input criteria considered in this study are assurance, empathy, reliability, responsiveness, tangibility, and price. Meanwhile, customer satisfaction is chosen as the output criteria. The results showed that Poslaju is ranked as the most efficient company, followed by City - Link Express in second and J&T Express as the third. The least efficiency score obtained makes GD Express as the last ranked courier service among these four courier services. Furthermore, the results are mainly influenced by the input criteria of assurance, empathy, and tangibility. This study helps the customer to select the most efficient courier service that can save their time, money, and energy. Finally, this study also can guide courier services to decide on which criteria are effective to be improved to enhance their business performance.
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Cooke, Anne-Karin, Cédric Champollion, and Nicolas Le Moigne. "First evaluation of an absolute quantum gravimeter (AQG#B01) for future field experiments." Geoscientific Instrumentation, Methods and Data Systems 10, no. 1 (March 24, 2021): 65–79. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/gi-10-65-2021.
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Abstract. Quantum gravimeters are a promising new development allowing for continuous absolute gravity monitoring while remaining user-friendly and transportable. In this study, we present experiments carried out to assess the capacity of the AQG#B01 in view of future deployment as a field gravimeter for hydrogeophysical applications. The AQG#B01 is the field version follow-up of the AQG#A01 portable absolute quantum gravimeter developed by the French quantum sensor company Muquans. We assess the instrument's performance in terms of stability (absence of instrumental drift) and sensitivity in relation to other gravimeters. No significant instrumental drift was observed over several weeks of measurement. We discuss the observations concerning the accuracy of the AQG#B01 in comparison with a state-of-the-art absolute gravimeter (Micro-g-LaCoste, FG5#228). We report the repeatability to be better than 50 nm s−2. This study furthermore investigates whether changes in instrument tilt and external temperature and a combination of both, which are likely to occur during field campaigns, influence the measurement of gravitational attraction. We repeatedly tested external temperatures between 20 and 30 ∘C and did not find any significant effect. As an example of a geophysical signal, a 100 nm s−2 gravity change is detected with the AQG#B01 after a rainfall event at the Larzac geodetic observatory (southern France). The data agreed with the gravity changes measured with a superconducting relative gravimeter (GWR, iGrav#002) and the expected gravity change simulated as an infinite Bouguer slab approximation. We report 2 weeks of stable operation under semi-terrain conditions in a garage without temperature-control. We close with operational recommendations for potential users and discuss specific possible future field applications. While not claiming completeness, we nevertheless present the first characterization of a quantum gravimeter carried out by future users. Selected criteria for the assessment of its suitability in field applications have been investigated and are complemented with a discussion of further necessary experiments.
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Terán, César. "Impactos sociales del espárrago en Perú: Identificación y evaluación de impactos sociales en la etapa de procesamiento del espárrago blanco fresco en La Libertad (Perú), mediante la técnica Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA)." LALCA: Revista Latino-Americana em Avaliação do Ciclo de Vida 2, no. 1 (October 3, 2018): 60–90. http://dx.doi.org/10.18225/lalca.v2i1.3780.
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A pesquisa apresenta um estudo de caso de identificação e avaliação de impactos sociais na produção de aspargos brancos frescos no Peru, com a participação de uma empresa líder do setor de agroexportação. A técnica utilizada foi a Avaliação do Ciclo de Vida Social (S-LCA), considerando apenas a etapa de processamento, em que várias atividades são concluídas para transformar a matéria-prima em produto acabado. Desta forma, a equipe de pesquisa definiu três categorias de atores, 15 subcategorias e 67 indicadores específicos, para os quais foram coletadas informações de fontes primárias e secundárias. Uma metodologia existente, baseada na avaliação do desempenho e na avaliação do impacto de cada subcategoria, foi adaptada para a avaliação de impacto. Os resultados da avaliação determinam que a empresa demonstre níveis satisfatórios de responsabilidade social corporativa, gerando, na maioria dos casos, impactos positivos sobre seus stakeholders. Palavras-chave: Avaliação do Ciclo de Vida Social (S-LCA). Avaliação de Impacto Social. Aspargos.ResumenLa investigación presenta un caso de estudio de identificación y evaluación de impactos sociales en la producción del espárrago blanco fresco en Perú, contando com la participación de una empresa representativa del rubro agroexportador. Se utilizo la técnica Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA), considerando solamente la etapa de procesamiento, en la cual se presentan diversas actividades orientadas a transformar la materia prima en producto terminado. En ese sentido, se definieron 3 categorías de stakeholders, 15 subcategorías y 67 indicadores específicos, para los cuales se recolectó información de fuentes secundarias y primarias. Para la evaluación de impactos se adaptó una metodología existente, basada en la evaluación del desempeño y la evaluación de impactos de cada subcategoría. Los resultados de análisis determinan que la empresa muestra niveles satisfactorios en materia de responsabilidad social empresarial, generando, en la mayoría de casos, impactos positivos en sus grupos de interés. Palabras clave: Análisis del Ciclo de Vida Social (S-ACV). Evaluación de Impactos Sociales. Espárrago.AbstractThe research presents a case study of identification and evaluation of social impacts in the production of fresh white asparagus in Peru, with the participation of a leader company of the agro-export sector. The technique used was Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA), considering only the processing stage, in which several activities are completed in order to transform the raw material into finished product. Accordingly, the research team defined 3 categories of stakeholders, 15 subcategories and 67 specific indicators, for which information was collected from secondary and primary sources. An existing methodology, based on performance evaluation and impact assessment of each subcategory, was adapted for the impact assessment. The results of the assessment determine that the company shows satisfactory levels of corporate social responsibility, generating, in most cases, positive impacts on its stakeholders.Keywords: Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA). Social Impact Assessment. Asparagus.
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Coussement, Kristof. "Improving customer retention management through cost-sensitive learning." European Journal of Marketing 48, no. 3/4 (April 8, 2014): 477–95. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ejm-03-2012-0180.
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Purpose – Retailers realize that customer churn detection is a critical success factor. However, no research study has taken into consideration that misclassifying a customer as a non-churner (i.e. predicting that (s)he will not leave the company, while in reality (s)he does) results in higher costs than predicting that a staying customer will churn. The aim of this paper is to examine the prediction performance of various cost-sensitive methodologies (direct minimum expected cost (DMECC), metacost, thresholding and weighting) that incorporate these different costs of misclassifying customers in predicting churn. Design/methodology/approach – Cost-sensitive methodologies are benchmarked on six real-life churn datasets from the retail industry. Findings – This article argues that total misclassification cost, as a churn prediction evaluation measure, is crucial as input for optimizing consumer decision making. The practical classification threshold of 0.5 for churn probabilities (i.e. when the churn probability is greater than 0.5, the customer is predicted as a churner, and otherwise as a non-churner) offers the worst performance. The provided managerial guidelines suggest when to use each cost-sensitive method, depending on churn levels and the cost level discrepancy between misclassifying churners versus non-churners. Practical implications – This research emphasizes the importance of cost-sensitive learning to improve customer retention management in the retail context. Originality/value – This article is the first to use the concept of misclassification costs in a churn prediction setting, and to offer recommendations about the circumstances in which marketing managers should use specific cost-sensitive methodologies.
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Fowdur, Jaya Shradha, Marcus Baum, and Frank Heymann. "Real-World Marine Radar Datasets for Evaluating Target Tracking Methods." Sensors 21, no. 14 (July 6, 2021): 4641. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s21144641.
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As autonomous navigation is being implemented in several areas including the maritime domain, the need for robust tracking is becoming more important for traffic situation awareness, assessment and monitoring. We present an online repository comprising three designated marine radar datasets from real-world measurement campaigns to be employed for target detection and tracking research purposes. The datasets have their respective reference positions on the basis of the Automatic Identification System (AIS). Together with the methods used for target detection and clustering, a novel baseline algorithm for an extended centroid-based multiple target tracking is introduced and explained. We compare the performance of our algorithm to its standard version on the datasets using the AIS references. The results obtained and some initial dataset specific analysis are presented. The datasets, under the German Aerospace Centre (DLR)’s terms and agreements, can be procured from the company website’s URL provided in the article.
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Fayyaz, Muhammad, and Agha Ammad Nabi. "Financial Ratios Impact on Financial Performance of Textile Industry a case." Journal of Economic Info 3, no. 2 (April 30, 2016): 1–7. http://dx.doi.org/10.31580/jei.v3i2.88.
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The aim of performing this research is to find out financial ratios impact on financial performance of GATM and NML to evaluate which company is performing better.. This research was important because of the problems, they both are competitors and the investor should what are their positions and performance it is important for the companies too through which they can identify which ratios to be considered while evaluating financial performance. For the purpose of this research, I collected the data of 2 companies GATM and NML from Standard capital security website and from firm’s annual reports for the period starting from 2003 to 2017. Furthermore, I considered two measures of financial performance, which are return on asset. and return on equity. I also considered liquidity position which is measured by current ratio, quick ratio, total asset turnover, fixed asset turnover, inventory turnover) and solvency position by debt to equity debt to total asset and interest coverage ratio, which according to previous researches and conditional theories have adequate impact on financial performance. The findings of this research suggest that current ratio, quick ratio and inventory were the major determinant of liquidity and for no determinant has significant impact and the researches should consider other variable than studied for solvency. The result also shows that both companies are performing better but NML liquidity position is better than NML also both companies ROE and fixed asset turnover shows insignificant difference rest are significant.
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Riquelme, Hernan Eduardo, Rosa E. Rios, and Akram S. Gadallah. "The influence of servant leadership on an organization’s serving-driven capabilities in a Kuwaiti bank environment." International Journal of Bank Marketing 38, no. 3 (December 11, 2019): 692–717. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ijbm-08-2019-0280.
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Purpose The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to test the direct influence of servant leadership (SL) on an organization’s serving-driven capabilities (S-DC). Second, to test the indirect effect of SL on employee customer-service behaviors and identification with their branch. Third, to determine the direct effect of an organization’s S-DC on employee customer-service behaviors and identification with the branch. Thus, the authors provide evidence of how SL influence serving-driven interaction capabilities that are later deployed to execute customer-oriented behaviors. Design/methodology/approach Survey data were obtained from a sample of 36 bank branches of one bank in the Middle East. Employees evaluated their manager’s SL behaviors, the six S-DC and their identification with the organization. In turn, managers assessed their employees on customer-service behaviors. Partial least squares path analysis was used to model the relationships. Findings Results indicate servant leaders’ behaviors are example, motivator and determinant of an organization’s S-DC. Employees not only adopt the S-DC by imitation but also as a mean to reciprocate the leader: serve your customers like the leader serves you. Other results and implications for managers are presented. Research limitations/implications The study is of a cross-sectional nature therefore a causal effect of SL on S-DC cannot be determined. Second, the study is limited to one bank although several branches were randomly sampled. Third, the evaluations of the S-DC have been done by the employees rather than customers. Practical implications The S-DC concept provides ample opportunities for managers to enhance their interactions with employees and customers to improve their performance by identifying which capabilities to develop. Specifically, interactions that promote ethical, empowering, developmental relationships and that encourage genuine two-way communication and responds to individual needs. Originality/value The study is original in testing the mediating effect of a S-DC. The focus on individual and organizational capabilities is relevant because they have been touted as among the most important factors to explain the differences of company performances and competitive advantages
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Zhou, Ming, Jianyong Cao, Fulin Yu, and Xia Wei. "Evaluation of Magnesium Extrusion Production." Materials Science Forum 488-489 (July 2005): 483–86. http://dx.doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/msf.488-489.483.
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Compared with any other pressure processing methods, extrusion is more prone to develop the plasticity of the metal. Extrusions have much better size precision and surface quality than products by rolling and forging. As one-shot molding process, extrusion can eliminate some machining. In addition, extrusions have very high strengths and elongations because of their compact interior structures and fine grains. This paper summarizes some experiences and plans in extrusion production of CQMST(Chongqing Magnesium Science & Technology Co.Ltd). Magnesium, a plentiful element with density of 1.78g/cm3，2/3 of aluminum and 1/4 of steel, is characterized by its high specific strength and toughness, good dumping performance, thermal conductivity and electromagnetism shielding as well as recyclability. Following the advancing technologies of magnesium smelting, high pressure processing, surface treatment and soldering since 1990’s, the prices of magnesium and its ingot stepped down. As an important light engineering material, magnesium application is growing at annual speed of 15%, much higher than aluminum, copper, zinc, nickel and steel. In China, magnesium and magnesium alloy development, application and industrialization has been placed on the National “Tenth Five-year Plans” and the National “863” Scheme, which indicated the coming of new age for magnesium and magnesium alloy development and application in China. In the past, most of the magnesium products were produced by casting, especially die casting and thixomolding. It’s always considered that the crystal structure of magnesium is hexagonal close-packed, and only two slip planes exist at room temperature, so compared with other alloys, it’s very difficult to produce magnesium parts by forging, rolling or extrusion. Nevertheless, practice showed that if heated to a certain temperature, magnesium extrusion may not be hard work, and even easier than 5056 and 2024 aluminum. When extruded with distributary die, magnesium alloy can have better soldering performance than aluminum alloys mentioned above, just because new slip system forms along with increasing temperature (>225°C) and accordingly increases the plasticity of magnesium.
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Liang, Yuxian Eugene, and Soe-Tsyr Daphne Yuan. "Predicting investor funding behavior using crunchbase social network features." Internet Research 26, no. 1 (February 1, 2016): 74–100. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/intr-09-2014-0231.
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Purpose – What makes investors tick? Largely counter-intuitive compared to the findings of most past research, this study explores the possibility that funding investors invest in companies based on social relationships, which could be positive or negative, similar or dissimilar. The purpose of this paper is to build a social network graph using data from CrunchBase, the largest public database with profiles about companies. The authors combine social network analysis with the study of investing behavior in order to explore how similarity between investors and companies affects investing behavior through social network analysis. Design/methodology/approach – This study crawls and analyzes data from CrunchBase and builds a social network graph which includes people, companies, social links and funding investment links. The problem is then formalized as a link (or relationship) prediction task in a social network to model and predict (across various machine learning methods and evaluation metrics) whether an investor will create a link to a company in the social network. Various link prediction techniques such as common neighbors, shortest path, Jaccard Coefficient and others are integrated to provide a holistic view of a social network and provide useful insights as to how a pair of nodes may be related (i.e., whether the investor will invest in the particular company at a time) within the social network. Findings – This study finds that funding investors are more likely to invest in a particular company if they have a stronger social relationship in terms of closeness, be it direct or indirect. At the same time, if investors and companies share too many common neighbors, investors are less likely to invest in such companies. Originality/value – The author’s study is among the first to use data from the largest public company profile database of CrunchBase as a social network for research purposes. The author ' s also identify certain social relationship factors that can help prescribe the investor funding behavior. Authors prediction strategy based on these factors and modeling it as a link prediction problem generally works well across the most prominent learning algorithms and perform well in terms of aggregate performance as well as individual industries. In other words, this study would like to encourage companies to focus on social relationship factors in addition to other factors when seeking external funding investments.
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Li, Jiayin, Yin Wang, Ziyan Chen, Fang Cheng, and Qing Yu. "A Compact Linear Ultrasonic Motor Composed by Double Flexural Vibrator." Micromachines 12, no. 8 (August 13, 2021): 958. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/mi12080958.
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A minimized linear ultrasonic motor was proposed, and two flexural bimorph vibrators were utilized to form its stator. The construction of the linear ultrasonic motor and its operation principle was introduced. Two working modes with the same local deformation distribution were chosen on the basis of Finite Element Analysis (FEA). To obtain its optimized structural parameters, sensitivities on frequency difference were calculated, and a way of decreasing the frequency difference of two working modes was introduced. A prototype of the optimized model was made. The modal testing of the stator and its performance evaluation was conducted. The modal testing results were in good agreement with that of the simulation. The maximum speed of the prototype is 245 mm/s, and its maximum thrust is 1.6 N.
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Lin, Chen-Hung, Chen-Xuan Wang, and Cheng-Kai Lu. "LDPC Decoder Design Using Compensation Scheme of Group Comparison for 5G Communication Systems." Electronics 10, no. 16 (August 19, 2021): 2010. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/electronics10162010.
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This paper presents a dual-mode low-density parity-check (LDPC) decoding architecture that has excellent error-correcting capability and a high parallelism design for fifth-generation (5G) new-radio (NR) applications. We adopted a high parallelism design using a layered decoding schedule to meet the high throughput requirement of 5G NR systems. Although the increase in parallelism can efficiently enhance the throughput, the hardware implementation required to support high parallelism is a significant hardware burden. To efficiently reduce the hardware burden, we used a grouping search rather than a sorter, which was used in the minimum finder with decoding performance loss. Additionally, we proposed a compensation scheme to improve the decoding performance loss by revising the probabilistic second minimum of a grouping search. The post-layout implementation of the proposed dual-mode LDPC decoder is based on the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) 40 nm complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology, using a compensation scheme of grouping comparison for 5G communication systems with a working frequency of 294.1 MHz. The decoding throughput achieved was at least 10.86 Gb/s without evaluating early termination, and the decoding power consumption was 313.3 mW.
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Moryoussef, Frederick, Sarah Leblanc, Alice Bertucat, Arthur Laquiere, Emmanuel Coron, Luigi Mangialavori, Jean-Christophe Duchmann, Yann Le Baleur, and Frederic Prat. "Comparative evaluation of two porcine ex vivo models for training in endoscopic ultrasound-guided drainage of pancreatic fluid collections." Endoscopy International Open 05, no. 10 (October 2017): E1020—E1026. http://dx.doi.org/10.1055/s-0043-117945.
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Abstract Introduction EUS-guided cystoenterostomy (EUCE), a technique used for the drainage of pancreatic pseudocysts and peri-enteric collections, requires specific skills for which dedicated models are needed. Based on a compact EASIE model (Erlangen Active Simulator for Interventional Endoscopy), we developed two ex vivo porcine models of retrogastric cysts and evaluated learning performance within the frame of a structured training program. Material and methods The first model was made of porcine colon (i. e. “natural cyst”), the second one with an ostomy bag (i. e. “artificial cyst”). All procedures were achieved with an EUS scope under fluoroscopy. Both models were evaluated prospectively over a 2-day session involving 14 students and five experts. The primary end point was overall satisfaction with each model. Results The “natural cyst” and “artificial cyst” were prepared within 10 and 16.5 minutes (P = 0.78), respectively. Model grading showed a non-significant trend for overall satisfaction in favor of the artificial model (P = 0.06). As secondary end points, difference was not significant for impression of realism (P = 0.75) whereas the “artificial cyst” was graded significantly better by experts and students in terms of ability to teach procedural steps (P = 0.01) and ease of puncture (P = 0.03). Moreover, experts considered the ability to improve students’ proficiency to be superior with the “artificial cyst” (P = 0.008). Conclusion Both “artificial” and “natural cysts” are efficient for EUCE training in terms of overall satisfaction. However, the “artificial cyst” model appears to make the procedure easier with a higher ability to teach procedural steps and improve the students’ proficiency. Larger applications of this model are needed to validate as a standard of training.
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Boyar, Lee B., and Paquita Davis-Friday. "Assessing a golden opportunity: CEO performance at McDonald’s." CASE Journal 15, no. 5 (March 30, 2019): 397–415. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/tcj-12-2017-0118.
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Theoretical basis Financial accounting to assess stewardship: the case requires students to evaluate Thompson’s stewardship of McDonald’s, in part based on the company’s financial accounting information. Financial reporting performs an important societal role by helping control agency problems that arise from the separation of ownership and management. Since external stakeholders cannot “observe directly the extent and quality of managerial effort on their behalf […] the manager may be tempted to shirk […] blaming any deterioration of firm performance on factors beyond his/her control” (Scott, 2014, p. 23). However, although financial reporting helps hold managers accountable to shareholders, accounting information is not fully informative about managerial effort. For example, while net income provides useful information regarding the CEO’s stewardship, it is also “noisy,” due to recognition lags and other factors (Scott, 2014, p. 364). Efforts undertaken by Thompson in a particular period, such as marketing expenditures, might reduce current earnings, yet boost future profitability. Additionally, Thompson’s predecessor’s past efforts might have positive or negative effects on current earnings. Evaluating stewardship effectively involves considerable judgment, in addition to knowledge of financial accounting. The implication of poor firm performance is that the CEO is ineffective at formulating and implementing strategies and policies to enhance firm value (Dikolli et al., 2014). Specifically, it appears that missing earnings benchmarks matter more for relatively inexperienced CEOs. Don Thompson’s tenure of 33 months at McDonalds is 42 percent lower than median CEO tenure documented in academic research, where the median tenure of chief executives documented in large sample empirical studies is about 57 months (Dikolli et al., 2014). The evidence suggests that the longer a CEO serves, the less likely he is to be dismissed for performance-related reasons. This appears to be the result of the resolution of uncertainty about CEO’s ability and leads to subsequent declines in the level of monitoring by the Board of Directors. Performance evaluation and bias: a significant body of research explores the extent to which female managers are assessed differently than their male counterparts (Powell and Butterfield, 2002). For example, female CEOs face more threats from activist investors than male CEOs. Therefore, even after women achieve the highest managerial rank, they experience more professional challenges than their male counterparts (Gupta et al., 2018). However, the question of whether black CEOs are assessed differently is more challenging to answer empirically as a result of a smaller sample size (only one percent of S&P 500 companies are run by black CEOs). Our case attempts to develop the inference that if female CEOs are subject to bias, analogous forces are likely at work when black CEOs are assessed. Recent evidence further suggests that business students sometimes demonstrate bias in making assessments (Mengel et al., 2018). The authors discuss these findings – as well as strategies for including them in the case discussion – in the “Teaching Strategy” section herein below. Research methodology The case was written from the public record surrounding the appointment of Don Thompson and McDonald’s company filings. The record includes articles from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, as well as local and industry publications. Case overview/synopsis The case examines the role of financial accounting in evaluating CEO performance in the context of the appointment of McDonald’s first African-American chief executive and his subsequent two-and-a-half years on the job. The case deepens students’ understanding of the link between financial reporting and stewardship, while highlighting the subjectivity inherent in assessing managerial performance, particularly over relatively short time periods. As students analyze the case, they must consider the extent to which a firm’s results are attributable to luck vs skill. We use “skill” to refer to CEO effort and other controllable factors, while “luck” refers to exogenous factors, such as macroeconomic conditions. Assessing stewardship is of practical significance. It allows pay to be better aligned with performance and empowers stakeholders to identify when a change of leadership may be warranted. The case may also be used to spur reflection, in an applied context, on the importance of being alert to unconscious bias, even when evaluating seemingly objective financial reporting data. Recent research, discussed herein, suggests that business students sometimes exhibit bias when making assessments. Complexity academic level The case should be included in discussions of corporate governance, executive compensation and the role of accounting information in efficient contracting. It is appropriate in intermediate financial accounting courses for undergraduates, introductory graduate accounting courses, or other courses with an element of financial statement analysis. Standard introductory accounting textbooks offer helpful supplementary reading for students. Horngren et al.’s (2014) book, Introduction to Financial Accounting (12th ed.), Pearson, London, provides an overview of the income statement and its role in assessing performance (see Chapter 2) as well as a useful discussion on evaluating the components and trends of a business (see Chapter 12). More advanced students may benefit from the in-depth discussion of earnings quality, operating income and non-operating income found in Chapter 4 of Intermediate Accounting (9th ed.), McGraw Hill Education, New York by Spiceland et al. (2018).
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Haynes, V. S., J. Curtis, F. Xie, I. Lipkovich, H. Zhao, C. L. Kannowski, J. L. Poon, et al. "FRI0018 USING SELF-REPORTED OUTCOMES TO DETECT NEW-ONSET FLARE IN A REAL-WORLD STUDY OF PARTICIPANTS WITH RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS - INTERIM RESULTS FROM THE DIGITAL TRACKING OF ARTHRITIS LONGITUDINALLY (DIGITAL) STUDY." Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases 79, Suppl 1 (June 2020): 580–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/annrheumdis-2020-eular.1446.
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Background:Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) experience fluctuating symptoms, increased pain, decreased function and variable quality of life; such changes often occur between visits to clinicians. Digital Tracking of Arthritis Longitudinally (DIGITAL) study2is evaluating the use of electronically captured patient-reported outcomes (ePRO) and passive data collection from a Fitbit device to identify disease worsening in a real-world study of participants (pts) with RA.Objectives:Evaluate agreement between self-reported new-onset flare and ePROs in an interim analysis from DIGITAL using a classification model.Methods:Members of the ArthritisPower registry with RA were invited to participate in DIGITAL. Pts who successfully completed a two-week Lead-in period entered the Main Study in which they wore a smartwatch and provided daily (pain and fatigue numeric rating scales (NRS)) and weekly ePROs, including the OMERACT RA Flare Questionnaire (FLARE) and PROMIS measures. This interim analysis is of ePRO data from pts who completed at least 30 days of the Main Study. A “Yes” response to the FLARE item, “Are you having a flare now?” identified flare. For modeling association between new-onset flare and ePRO, the dataset was split into training (the first 30 days of the Main Study) and test data (Day 31 and following). Within each dataset, repeated binary outcomes (Flare/No Flare) per pt were defined each week. To focus on new-onset flare, within each dataset, outcomes for patient weeks for which flare was present in the previous week were excluded.Candidate variables for the model included baseline and current FLARE score (0-50 scale) and each of its 5 items, daily pain, daily fatigue, and several PROMIS weekly instruments and their lagged values (last week or last 6 days for daily). ‘Baseline’ was calculated in non-flare weeks. Training data was used for logistic regression model selection combining clinical expertise with backward elimination. Performance of the final model was evaluated using test data.Results:The training data was composed of outcomes from 128 pts who reported 388 weekly flare assessments as no flare or onset flare over 2800 days during the first month of the Main Study. Of pts in the training dataset, 92.2% were female, 87.5% white, with mean age (SD) 52.7 (11.0) and years since RA diagnosis 10.4 (10.3); 62.5% were on a biologic. Among those in the training dataset, 58 flare outcomes occurred in 50 (39.1%) unique pts.The test data comprised outcomes from 123 pts who reported 442 weekly flare assessments as no flare or onset flare over 3366 days in which 64 flare outcomes occurred, and primarily included continued observations from pts who contributed to the training dataset.The best-performing model to classify flare in training data included the current and baseline FLARE instrument activity question (i.e. “Considering how active your rheumatoid arthritis has been, how much difficulty have you had when taking part in activities such as work, family life, social events that are typical for you during the last week”), current daily pain, and baseline daily pain average and standard deviation. In test data, this model had an area under the receiver operator curve of 0.81 (Figure). At a cut point requiring specificity to be ≥0.80, sensitivity to detect flare was 0.62 and overall accuracy was 0.78.Conclusion:New-onset flare is common among RA patients, and the FLARE instrument and daily pain scores appear effective to classify it. Evaluation of passive data as a proxy for self-reported new-onset flare is ongoing.References:[1]Bartlett SJ, et al. JRheumatol, 2017;44:1536-43.[2]Nowell WB, et al. JMIR Res Protoc, 2019;8:e14665.Disclosure of Interests:Virginia S. Haynes Shareholder of: Eli Lilly and Company, Employee of: Eli Lilly and Company, Jeffrey Curtis Grant/research support from: AbbVie, Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Corrona, Janssen, Lilly, Myriad, Pfizer, Regeneron, Roche, UCB, Consultant of: AbbVie, Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Corrona, Janssen, Lilly, Myriad, Pfizer, Regeneron, Roche, UCB, Fenglong Xie: None declared, Ilya Lipkovich Shareholder of: Eli Lilly and Company, Employee of: Eli Lilly and Company, Hong Zhao: None declared, Carol L. Kannowski Shareholder of: Eli Lilly and Company, Employee of: Eli Lilly and Company, Jiat-Ling Poon Shareholder of: Eli Lilly and Company, Employee of: Eli Lilly and Company, Kelly Gavigan: None declared, David Curtis: None declared, Sandra K. Nolot Shareholder of: Eli Lilly and Company, Employee of: Eli Lilly and Company, W. Benjamin Nowell: None declared
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Alkahtani, Hend K. "Safeguarding the Information Systems in an Organization through Different Technologies, Policies, and Actions." Computer and Information Science 12, no. 2 (April 30, 2019): 117. http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/cis.v12n2p117.
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Background: Information system use has substantially increased among the organization based on its effective integration of the resources and improved performance. The increasing reliance on the information system serves as a great security threat for the firms. Objective: The study intends to evaluate the security of the information system in the organization located in the region of Saudi Arabia, concerning the user’s awareness level. Methods: The quantitative design of the study is adopted which uses the survey approach. A close-ended questionnaire is used for evaluating the awareness level among the individuals. A total of 109 participants (males and females) in the Saudi Company were recruited for the study. Results: Despite the implementation of the policy, employees were unaware of it. The study highlights that the development of the firm’s information security policy requires the firm to make employees aware of the significance of the information security. Conclusion: The study concludes that the organization needs to educate the workforce of the information security policy and develop their necessary understanding of the information security system. This allows the employees to identify and report security threats and risks which helps in the improvement of information security awareness.
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Angga, Anggara Trisna Nugraha, Muhammad Syahid Messiah, Dimas Rinaldi, Moch Fadhil Ramadhan, and Muhammad Jafar Shiddiq. "Solutions For Growing the Power Factor Prevent A Reactive Electricity Tariff And Decrease Warmth On Installation With Bank Capacitors." Applied Technology and Computing Science Journal 4, no. 1 (July 31, 2021): 35–46. http://dx.doi.org/10.33086/atcsj.v4i1.2090.
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PT. Intan Ustrix that's placed at Jl. Raya Roomo No.425, Sekarsore, Roomo, Kec. Manyar, Kabupaten Gresik Indonesia is a company engaged in the paper and cardboard business, and has many machines used in the manufacturing process. The load of the induction motor will make the cost lower, thereby increasing the current cost through the device inside the carton production unit. Fixing the cost of cos is a great way to solve this problem. In this case, it is very important to install a capacitor bank to recover the charge. By installing a capacitor bank will affect the overall performance of the motor used. The cause of this research is the increasing cost of boarding at the cardboard production unit of PT. Intan Ustrix. As an evaluation, capacitor banks are installed on the H200, AFG, 6PA, FM, and 6PS buses so that low cos costs can be increased. The final result of this charge shows that increasing the cos cost at full load of 325 KW from 0.716 to 0.872 can reduce the actual power cost (S) from 396 KVA to 329 KVA, which can maintain 65 KVA and today's decrease (I) from 498 A to 410 A, the lower the current consumption price of the motor used can increase the resistance of the device to the carton production unit.
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Ali, Osama, Saqer Al-tahat, Khaleel Al-Duleemi, Dr Jamal Al-Afeef, and Dr Hamza Al-hawamdah. "The Impact of the Decisions of the COBIT 5 Committee on the Effectiveness of the Internal Control Systems in the Jordanian Industrial Joint Stock Companies." Journal of Social Sciences Research, no. 511 (November 5, 2019): 1587–99. http://dx.doi.org/10.32861/jssr.511.1587.1599.
Full textAbstract:
The objective of this study was to identify the impact of IT governance under the COBIT5 framework on the effectiveness of internal control systems in Jordanian industrial companies. In order to achieve the objectives of this study, the descriptive and analytical methodology was used. The study society is composed of the accounting and financial departments, the number of (65) questionnaires were distributed to each company from the study sample of (43) companies, the researchers retrieved (97) questionnaires. After reviewing the retrieved questionnaires it was found that there are (4) questionnaires that are not valid for the statistical analysis. And thus the suitable number of questionnaires for analysis is (93). In order to analyze the study data and test hypotheses, the SPSS program was used in the various statistical analyzes, descriptive statistics and the internal consistency coefficient (Kronbach Alpha). The multiple linear correlation test was also used using the Pearson correlation coefficient and the variance inflation coefficient, Analysis of simple and multiple linear regression. The study reached several results, the most important of which was the existence of a strong and statistically significant relationship between the implementation of COBIT5’s decisions (planning and organization, acquisition and implementation, service provision and support, evaluation and observation). The study concluded with several recommendations, the most important of which was the increase in the degree of companies’ use of the pioneering brainstorming method in the qualification of employees within the companies and evaluating their performance according to the COBIT framework.5 In addition to the need for companies To develop future plans to activate the concept of control and auditing in the environment of the computer and the gradual transition to modern control methods, including automatic control under the COBIT5 framework.
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Girish, B. S., K. S. Srivani, Ravi Subrahmanyan, N. Udaya Shankar, Saurabh Singh, T. Jishnu Nambissan, Mayuri Sathyanarayana Rao, R. Somashekar, and A. Raghunathan. "SARAS CD/EoR Radiometer: Design and Performance of the Digital Correlation Spectrometer." Journal of Astronomical Instrumentation 09, no. 02 (June 2020): 2050006. http://dx.doi.org/10.1142/s2251171720500063.
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In the currently accepted model for cosmic baryon evolution, Cosmic Dawn (CD) and the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) are significant times when first light from the first luminous objects emerged, transformed and subsequently ionized the primordial gas. The 21[Formula: see text]cm (1420[Formula: see text]MHz) hyperfine transition of neutral hydrogen, redshifted from these cosmic times to a frequency range of 40[Formula: see text]MHz to 200[Formula: see text]MHz, has been recognized as an important probe of the physics of CD/EoR. The global 21[Formula: see text]cm signal is predicted to be a spectral distortion of a few 10’s to a few 100’s of mK, which is expected to be present in the cosmic radio background as a trace additive component. Shaped Antenna measurement of the background RAdio Spectrum (SARAS) is a spectral radiometer purpose designed to detect the weak 21[Formula: see text]cm signal from CD/EoR. An important subsystem of the radiometer, the digital correlation spectrometer, is developed around a high-speed digital signal processing platform called pSPEC. pSPEC is built around two quad 10-bit analog-to-digital converters (EV10AQ190) and a Virtex 6 (XC6VLX240T) field programmable gate array, with provision for multiple Gigabit Ethernet and 4.5[Formula: see text]Gbps fiber-optic interfaces. Here, we describe the system design of the digital spectrometer, the pSPEC board, and the adaptation of pSPEC to implement a high spectral resolution (61[Formula: see text]kHz), high dynamic range ([Formula: see text]:1) correlation spectrometer covering the entire CD/EoR band. As the SARAS radiometer is required to be deployed in remote locations where terrestrial radio frequency interference (RFI) is a minimum, the spectrometer is designed to be compact, portable and operating off internal batteries. The paper includes an evaluation of the spectrometer’s susceptibility to RFI and capability to detect signals from CD/EoR.
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Zimková, Emília. "Technical Efficiency and Super-efficiency of the Insurance Sector in Slovakia." Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis 63, no. 6 (2015): 2205–11. http://dx.doi.org/10.11118/actaun201563062205.
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In this paper, the technical efficiency and the super-efficiency of a representative sample of insurance institutions in Slovakia is analyzed with the aid of data envelopment analysis (DEA). This paper differs from the so far published literature, as it extends the application of radial DEA models (the CCR model of Charnes, Cooper and Rodes; the BCC model of Banker, Charnes and Cooper) by a non-radial model (the SBM model of Tone) and a super-efficiency model. The supper-efficiency can be used either to rank efficient units or to indicate outliers in the analyzed group of decision making units. Achieved results also reveal that in the year 2013, among 13 Slovak insurance companies under evaluation, the AXA poisťovňa, a. s. was the super-efficient insurance company. The implications of gained results are then drawn for managerial and regulatory purposes. Firstly, it is shown how the management of the insurance institutions with the poorest performances should change their managerial procedures and adopt enhanced-incentive policy. Secondly, the regulatory body of the insurance institutions should utilize the gained technical efficiency of the analyzed institutions for the prediction of their competitiveness in the long run.
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Orta-Guzmán, Vanessa Natalie, Jorge Aurelio Lois-Correa, Miguel Antonio Domínguez-Crespo, Joel Pineda-Pineda, Aidé Minerva Torres-Huerta, Adela Eugenia Rodríguez-Salazar, and Ángeles Iveth Licona-Aguilar. "Evaluation of Sugarcane Agroindustrial Wastes as Substrate in Soilless Cultivation of Tomato (S. lycopersicum Linnaeus): Effect of Substrate Composition on Yield Production." Agronomy 11, no. 2 (January 22, 2021): 206. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11020206.
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Traditionally, biochar is generally proposed to substitute Canadian Sphagnum peat moss. Sugarcane bagasse, filter press mud and sugarcane bagasse ash were mixed in different ratios and proposed as an alternative to substitute commercial Sphagnum peat moss (SPM) for the soilless cultivation of tomato (S. lycopersicum Linnaeus). The choice of the agroindustrial waste ratio was performed from physical-chemical sample characterization. During vegetable production, an adequate ratio was evaluated based on plant height, substrate pH, number of leaves, yield, and fruit size. The addition of essential macro- and micro-nutrients was performed manually. The results show that as-received materials contain different minerals with a structure that corresponds to the quartz, cristobalite, and feldspar phases. A morphology composed of lamellate structures was observed for sugarcane bagasse, whereas the filter press mud and the sugarcane bagasse ash presented compact agglomerates with a surface area of 1.60, 3.78, and 1.07 m2 g−1, respectively. The properties of each component promote the water adsorption, retention and releasing capacity. Important differences were observed as the quantity of filter press mud increased, but also it is required an amount of sugarcane bagasse above of 18 wt% to reach a superior performance. This work demonstrated that, in adequate quantities, agroindustrial wastes can be used as a soilless substrate for growing tomatoes in greenhouse, reducing their disposal problems.
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Grossi, José Antonio Saraiva, H. Brent Pemberton, and Harvey J. Lang. "Influence of Cultivar and Seasonal Growing Environment on Growth and Postharvest Characteristics of Single-shoot Pot Rose Plants." HortScience 39, no. 1 (February 2004): 138–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.21273/hortsci.39.1.138.
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Rooted liners of pot rose (Rosa L.) cultivars Meiferjac, Meigagul, Meighivon, Meishulo, Ruijef, Ruidodo, and Ruirosora were used to study the influence of cultivar and seasonal growing environment on growth and postharvest performance. Single-shoot plants were grown in controlled environment chambers simulating summer (30 °C day/21 °C night cycle with a 14-hour photoperiod) and winter (21 °C day/16 °C night cycle with a 10-hour photoperiod) greenhouse growing conditions. At flower developmental stage 2 (showing color, calyx reflexing, no petals reflexed), the plants were placed in a continuously lighted simulated interior evaluation room at 21 ± 1 °C under 15 μmol·m-2·s-1 photosynthetic photon flux from cool-white fluorescent lamps for postharvest evaluations. Plants had quicker flowering, smaller flower diameter, more compact growth, and smaller leaf area when grown under the summer environment compared to the winter environment. Most cultivars exhibited greater flower longevity on summer-grown plants when compared to winter-grown ones. `Ruirosora' did not exhibit this difference due to exceptional longevity on winter-grown plants. Also, the use of single-shoot plants was shown to be a potentially useful way to increase replication in small growing environments such as growth chambers.
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Pennisi, Bodie V. "EFFECTS OF FLURPRIMIDOL AND ANCYMIDOL ON GROWTH AND POSTHARVEST PERFORMANCE OF Geogenanthus undatus `INCA'." HortScience 40, no. 3 (June 2005): 892e—892. http://dx.doi.org/10.21273/hortsci.40.3.892e.
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Geogenanthus Ínca' is a new cultivar introduced the foliage plant industry which shows promise in interior plantscaping. The objectives of this study were twofold; to examine the effects of ancymidol and flurprimidol on G. `Inca' growth and determine if plant growth retardant (PGR) application could improve postharvest performance. Four weeks before attaining marketable sizes, the plants were drenched with ancymidol or flurprimidol at 0.0, 0.5, 1.0, or 1.5 mg (a.i.). Plants were then placed in interior-evaluation rooms under 12 μmol·m–2·s–1. Ancymidol or flurprimidol reduced plant height, width, growth index and total leaf area, total dry weight and shoot to root ratio of Geogenathus `Inca'. Flurprimidol increased the deposition of insoluble carbohydrates (starch) and altered the pattern of starch deposition; higher starch content was found in stem tissue compared to foliage tissue. The effects of ancymidol or flurprimidol persisted in the postharvest environment. After 4 months under low irradiance, PGR-treated plants exhibited higher quality, i.e., compact stature and reduced leaf and shoot necrosis. This research has potential significance for the foliage plant industry and it showed that a single drench application at label recommended rates of ancymidol or flurprimidol late in the production cycle can produce desired growth control of Geogenanthus `Inca' in the postharvest environment. Plants retain aesthetic characteristics for extended period thus necessitating lower replacement rate.
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Zhang, Runhua, Jo E. Sias, Eshan V. Dave, and Reyhaneh Rahbar-Rastegar. "Impact of Aging on the Viscoelastic Properties and Cracking Behavior of Asphalt Mixtures." Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board 2673, no. 6 (May 8, 2019): 406–15. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0361198119846473.
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Aging can significantly affect the viscoelastic properties and cracking behavior of asphalt mixtures, causing increase in stiffness, reduction in relaxation capability, and increase in brittleness. Eleven mixtures are evaluated using different laboratory conditioning protocols to evaluate how the properties of asphalt mixtures, including viscoelastic properties, fatigue, and fracture behavior will change over time. Comparisons between different aging levels and mixtures are conducted by using complex modulus (E*) (field cores are included), simplified viscoelastic continuum damage (S-VECD) approach, semi-circular bending (SCB), and disk shaped compact tension (DCT) fracture tests. The climatic aging index developed by the NCHRP 09-54 project is utilized in this study to calculate the appropriate field aging duration corresponding to the different laboratory aging protocols. Pavement evaluation tools FlexPAVETM and IlliTC are also used to predict and compare the fatigue and thermal cracking performance of these mixtures. The results of E* and S-VECD tests indicate that the mixtures are more prone to fatigue cracking with aging, and the two long-term conditioning protocols induce statistically similar changes in linear viscoelastic and fatigue properties. However, prediction of fatigue performance from FlexPAVE TM does not show a consistent trend once pavement structure and traffic are considered. Fracture tests and IlliTC predictions show the virgin mixtures and those with soft base binders will have better capability to resist cracking after long-term aging. In this study, the two mixtures with the largest difference between high and low temperature performance grade (PG) show the largest change in fracture and fatigue properties with aging.
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Giavarina, Davide, Mariarosa Carta, Alessandro Fabbri, Jacopo Manfredi, Edoardo Gasparotto, and Giuliano Soffiati. "Monitoring high-dose heparin levels by ACT and HMT during extracorporeal circulation: diagnostic accuracy of three compact monitors." Perfusion 17, no. 1 (January 2002): 23–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1191/0267659102pf530oa.
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The correct monitoring of heparin therapy and its reversal determines the successful conduct of cardiovascular surgery with extracorporeal circulation (ECC). The activated coagulation time (ACT) and the heparin management test (HMT) are the most frequently used tests in the operating room. Three compact monitors for ACT or HMT are here evaluated. Forty samples were obtained, at 10-min intervals, from eight patients during ECC. The ACT or HMT was immediately performed using: Hemochron Junior™ ACT, CoaguCeck™ Pro (ACT) and Rapid Point Coag (HMT). Data were compared between them and with the heparin levels, measured as anti-Xa. The simple least squares linear regression among, respectively, Hemochron Junior ACT, CoaguCeck Pro ACT, Rapid Point Coag HMT and anti-Xa activity were i= 452.3, s= 15.2, Sy/x= 37.5, r= 0.18; i= 411.9, s= 22.1, Sy/x= 48.7, r= 0.21 and i= 479.4, s= 9.0, Sy/x= 9.3; r= 0.41. CoaguCeck Pro ACT results were above the upper detection limit (500 s) in 37 of 40 determinations. The comparison between ACT Hemocron and HMT Rapid Point Coag shows i= 35.7, s= 0.9, Sy/x= 35.4, r= 0.68, with a bias of 29.0 s (CI: 17.9-40.1), 95% of agreement between -41.5 s (CI: -60.7 to -22.3) and 99.5 s (CI: 80.4-118.7). Taking a concentration of 2.0 U/ml of heparin to discriminate between high- and low-risk conditions, receiver-operator characteristic (ROC) curve was used to rank the performance of the methods. Areas under the ROC curve± SE for Hemochron Junior ACT and Rapid Point Coag HMT were 0.629± 0.097 and 0.543± 0.096. The results obtained by HMT appear similar to those obtained by the ACT for monitoring high-dose heparin therapy in patients undergoing ECC. HMT appeared to perform better than ACT in measuring the heparin effect, while the ROC analysis gives a little more accuracy for ACT. Neither of the two methods is able to achieve enough evidence of diagnostic accuracy. Since these tests are widely used, and there are no laboratory alternatives, a real comparison with the outcome of the patients should be helpful for an evidence-based evaluation of these point-of-care tests.
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Armghan, Ammar. "Complementary Metaresonator Sensor with Dual Notch Resonance for Evaluation of Vegetable Oils in C and X Bands." Applied Sciences 11, no. 12 (June 21, 2021): 5734. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/app11125734.
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This paper investigates the effect of complementary metaresonator for evaluation of vegetable oils in C and X bands. Tremendously increasing technology demands the exploration of complementary metaresonators for high performance in the related bands. This research probes the complementary mirror-symmetric S resonator (CMSSR) that can operate in two bands with compact size and high sensitivity features. The prime motivation behind the proposed technique is to utilize the dual notch resonance to estimate the dielectric constant of the oil under test (OUT). The proposed sensor is designed on a compact 30×25 mm2 and 1.6 mm thick FR-4 substrate. A 50 Ω microstrip transmission line is printed on one side, while a unit cell of CMSSR is etched on the other side of the substrate to achieve dual notch resonance. A Teflon container is attached to CMSSR in the ground plane to act as a pool for the OUT. According to the simulated transmission spectrum, the proposed design manifested dual notch resonance precisely at 7.21 GHz (C band) and 8.97 GHz (X band). A prototype of complementary metaresonator sensor is fabricated and tested using CEYEAR AV3672D vector network analyzer. The comparison of measured and simulated data shows that the difference between the first resonance frequency is 0.01 GHz and the second is 0.04 GHz. Furthermore, a mathematical model is developed for the complementary metaresonator sensor to evaluate dielectric constant of the OUT in terms of the relevant, resonant frequency.
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Zheng, Youbin, Ping Zhang, and Mike Dixon. "Evaluation of Four Lamp Types for the Production of Tomato Plants in Controlled Environments." HortTechnology 15, no. 3 (January 2005): 646–52. http://dx.doi.org/10.21273/horttech.15.3.0646.
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To evaluate the performance of four newly developed high-intensity-discharge lamp types on plant growth and production, tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum cv. Tradiro F1) plants were grown indoors under 100% artificial lighting for 17 weeks. The four lamp types were: high-pressure sodium high output [HPS(HO)], high-pressure sodium standard [HPS(STD)], metal halide warm deluxe [MH(WDX)] and metal halide cool deluxe [MH(CDX)]. All the lamps tested were 1000 W. HPS(HO) had the highest electrical energy use efficiency (EUE) (0.98 μmol·m–2·s–1·W–1 at 40 cm directly under the lamp); HPS(STD), MH(WDX) and MH(CDX) had 93%, 72% and 61% of the EUE of the HPS(HO), respectively. The photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) outputs of different lamp types had the following order: HPS(HO) > HPS(STD) > MH(WDX) > MH(CDX). The percentage red of PAR of the four tested lamp types had the same order as above, but the percentage blue of PAR of these lamp types had exactly the opposite order. As a result, plants growing under the two HPS lamp types were taller and flowered and fruited earlier than plants under the two MH lamp types. Chlorophyll content index was generally greater in leaves under MH lamps than in leaves under HPS lamps. We recommend that the HPS lamp be used for flowering and fruiting crops and the MH lamp would be better used for foliar and compact crops.
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Ye, Weilin, Zihan Tu, Xupeng Xiao, Alessandro Simeone, Jingwen Yan, Tao Wu, Fupei Wu, Chuantao Zheng, and Frank K. Tittel. "A NDIR Mid-Infrared Methane Sensor with a Compact Pentahedron Gas-Cell." Sensors 20, no. 19 (September 23, 2020): 5461. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s20195461.
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In order to improve the performance of the large divergence angle mid-infrared source in gas sensing, this paper aims at developing a methane (CH4) sensor with non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) technology using a compact pentahedron gas-cell. A paraboloid concentrator, two biconvex lenses and five planar mirrors were used to set up the pentahedron structure. The gas cell is endowed with a 170 mm optical path length with a volume of 19.8 mL. The mathematical model of the cross-section and the three-dimension spiral structure of the pentahedron gas-cell were established. The gas-cell was integrated with a mid-infrared light source and a detector as the optical part of the sensor. Concerning the electrical part, a STM32F429 was employed as a microcontroller to generate the driving signal for the IR source, and the signal from the detector was sampled by an analog-to-digital converter. A static volumetric method was employed for the experimental setup, and 20 different concentration CH4 samples were prepared to study the sensor’s evaluation, which revealed a 1σ detection limit of 2.96 parts-per-million (ppm) with a 43 s averaging time.
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de Aguillar Pinho, Maria Luiza Carvalho, Angela Maria Cavalcanti da Rocha, Celso Roberto de Aguillar Pinho, and Cristiane Junqueira Giovannini. "“Monica and Friends”: the challenge to internationalize." Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies 7, no. 2 (June 22, 2017): 1–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/eemcs-06-2016-0139.
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Subject area International business or International marketing. Study level/applicability The case is recommended for undergraduate and graduate courses in the fields of international business and international marketing. The aim is to show students the problems that a family business in the animation industry faces while growing and internationalizing. Specifically, the case discusses the entry mode selection and market selection challenges faced by an emerging market company in the comic book and animation industry to operate overseas and compete with entertainment giants such as Disney and DC Comics. The case enables the instructor to discuss international market selection theories and evaluate entry modes. For graduate students, the international market selection can be further developed by using more robust concepts such as psychic and cultural distance. Case overview This case examines the trajectory of a pioneering company in the comic book and animation industries, and in the licensing of trademarks in Brazil. Mauricio de Sousa Productions was founded in 1959 and is considered to be one of the most successful cultural producers in the country. According to a leading Brazilian public opinion research agency, 97 per cent of Brazilian children and 96 per cent of their parents are familiar with the Monica and Friends characters. As one of the main players in the publishing market, with 86 per cent of market share, Mauricio de Sousa Productions has a product portfolio that goes beyond Monica and Friends comic strips: the company’s show on the Cartoon Network ranks third in audience viewing in the country and the company has produced animated movies, books, shows and games. However, despite its experience in publishing comic books in several countries, Mauricio de Sousa Productions (MSP)’s worldwide operations have not been as profitable and sustainable as expected. Aiming at expanding its global presence, MSP’s top management decided in 2014 to review the company’s internationalization strategy and operations to enhance the firm’s performance. Expected learning outcomes The case highlights the key factors facing firms when expanding from an emerging markets. Students are expected to discuss and evaluate options, thus developing their knowledge and decision processes related to family-owned business challenges and opportunities, international market selection theories and international market entry mode. Developing strategies to face challenges as those presented by competitors such as Disney should bring opportunities to students to think outside models and weigh risks. Finally, the case gives students opportunity to base their decision processes and evaluations on logistics problems as well as psychic and cultural distances. It also compels the students to appreciate the various challenges involved in exploiting international market with animation content and intellectual properties as a service. Supplementary materials Company presentation to use in the discussion introduction can be found in: www.monicaandfriends.com/content/video.php Subject code CSS 5: International business.
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Rytlewski, Julie, Deepu Madduri, Jaymes Fuller, Timothy B. Campbell, Afshin Mashadi-Hossein, Ethan G. Thompson, Yue Jiang, et al. "Effects of Prior Alkylating Therapies on Preinfusion Patient Characteristics and Starting Material for CAR T Cell Product Manufacturing in Late-Line Multiple Myeloma." Blood 136, Supplement 1 (November 5, 2020): 7–8. http://dx.doi.org/10.1182/blood-2020-134369.
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Introduction: Identifying prior therapy exposures that affect the patient or their peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) material is one strategy to optimize outcomes to CAR T cell therapy. Alkylating agents commonly used in multiple myeloma management, such as cyclophosphamide, have been reported to impair the proliferative capacity of T lymphocytes and to blunt their functional activity (Ercolini et al. J Exp Med. 2005;201:1591; Banissi et al. Cancer Immunol Immunother. 2009;58:1627; Litterman et al. J Immunol. 2013;190:6259). In the pivotal phase 2 KarMMa trial (NCT03361748) investigating the BCMA-directed CAR T cell therapy idecabtagene vicleucel (ide-cel, bb2121) in triple-class exposed patients with RRMM, 80% of patients had a history of prior anticancer treatment with ≥1 alkylating agents. In this retrospective analysis, patient and PBMC characteristics associated with time from last dose of alkylating agent(s) until apheresis of PBMCs for CAR T cell manufacture were identified. Methods: PBMCs isolated from patient apheresis material, which serves as starting material for CAR T cell manufacturing, were immunophenotyped by polychromatic flow cytometry for markers associated with T cell differentiation, memory, senescence, and exhaustion. Data from relevant prespecified clinical and exploratory endpoints were collected, and a novel implementation of left-censored time-to-event analysis (Ware et al. Biometrics. 1976;32:459) was used to identify statistically significant relationships between washout time after prior alkylator exposure (encompassing 14 individual drugs) and patient and PBMC variables. Dose intensity of prior alkylators was not considered due to sparse annotations in the patient histories. Optimal cutpoints were identified for each variable that maximized the proportional hazard of receiving an alkylator between patients above and below the cutpoint, and P values were adjusted for testing multiple cutpoints. Relationships were verified by nonparametric correlation, in which alkylator washout was encoded as 1/log(−washout). Results: More recent exposure to an alkylating agent (after diagnosis but before apheresis) was associated with patients receiving more prior therapies per year to manage their disease (hazard ratio [HR]=2.63, ρ=−0.54, P<0.0001), having a lower body mass index (HR=0.93, ρ=0.27, P=0.0021), and having higher ferritin levels at baseline (log-scaled HR=1.33, ρ=−0.31, P=0.0004). Patients with more recent alkylator exposure also had fewer T cells in their PBMC material (HR=2.28, ρ=0.24, P=0.0068; Figure) along with more CD8+ TEM (CCR7−/CD45RA−) and fewer CD8+ TEMRA (CCR7−/CD45RA+) T cells (HR=1.02 and 0.98, ρ=−0.2 and 0.21, P=0.023 and 0.016, respectively). A 50% reduction in the median CD3+ T cell composition of patient PBMCs was detectable up to 9 months after the last dose of alkylator, relative to patients who never received this drug class. In a multivariate model evaluating the correlation between the T cell fraction in PBMCs and number of therapies per year and alkylator washout period, number of therapies per year did not significantly improve model performance compared with the null model including alkylator washout alone. Conclusions: Associations between patient characteristics and alkylator washout suggest that patients who more recently received alkylating agents to manage their myeloma had a more aggressive disease course, having progressed more quickly through prior regimens, and had lower weight and elevated systemic inflammation. Although these factors suggest a suboptimal patient profile, the depletion of T cells by alkylator therapy may be especially disadvantageous for autologous CAR T cell therapies (Wang et al. Mol Ther Oncolytics. 2016;3:16015; Perica et al. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. 2018;24:1135). Our analysis found that the use of alkylators prior to CAR T cell therapy exhibits a detrimental effect on the apheresis PBMC material up to 6-9 months after the last dose. Figure 1 Disclosures Rytlewski: Adaptive Biotechnologies: Current equity holder in publicly-traded company; Bristol Myers Squibb: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company. Madduri:Kinevant: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Speaking Engagement, Speakers Bureau; Legend: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Speaking Engagement, Speakers Bureau; GSK: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Speaking Engagement, Speakers Bureau; Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria; Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria; Celgene: Consultancy, Honoraria; AbbVie: Consultancy, Honoraria; Foundation Medicine: Consultancy, Honoraria. Fuller:BMS: Current Employment. Campbell:Bristol-Myers Squibb: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company. Mashadi-Hossein:Bristol Myers Squibb: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company; NanoString Technologies: Ended employment in the past 24 months. Thompson:Bristol-Myers Squibb: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company. Jiang:Bristol Myers Squibb: Current equity holder in publicly-traded company; Juno Therapeutics, a Bristol Myers Squibb company: Current Employment. Martin:BMS: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company. Sangurdekar:bluebird bio: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company; Biogen: Ended employment in the past 24 months. Finney:bluebird bio: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company; Seattle Childrens Research Institute: Ended employment in the past 24 months. Bitter:Novartis: Ended employment in the past 24 months; Novartis AG: Patents & Royalties; bluebird bio: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company; F Hofmann-La Roche: Patents & Royalties; Predicant Biosciences: Patents & Royalties; Biospect: Patents & Royalties. Agarwal:BMS: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company. Kaiser:BMS: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company. Hege:Arcus Biosciences (Former Board of Directors): Divested equity in a private or publicly-traded company in the past 24 months; Mersana Therapeutics: Current equity holder in publicly-traded company, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Celgene (acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb): Ended employment in the past 24 months; Bristol Myers Squibb: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company, Other: TRAVEL, ACCOMMODATIONS, EXPENSES (paid by any for-profit health care company), Patents & Royalties: numerous, Research Funding. Hause:Bristol Myers Squibb: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company.
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Liu, Hui Qing, and Yu Yuan Zhong. "Application of Organic Inclusion in Hydrocarbon Exploration." Advanced Materials Research 424-425 (January 2012): 545–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.424-425.545.
Full textAbstract:
Inclusion as a research method was mainly applied in the study of mineral deposit geology in the beginning. In recent years, organic inclusion research has become one of the important means in hydrocarbon exploration. The study of the inclusion can determine the role of diagenesis and reservoir of time and temperature, infer hydrocarbon migration, tectonic movement and paleo-heat flow history, in order to better guide hydrocarbon exploration. This paper mainly discussed research method of hydrocarbon inclusions type and oil and gas inclusion, and summarizes the inclusion of the fracture structure used to study and hydrocarbon accumulation relations, determines the gas accumulation time, evaluate hydrocarbon, calculate fluid potential, predict oil and gas accumulation zones, and other aspects of the role. Inclusions found early, at first is mainly applied in the study of mineral deposit geology. Since Marray (1957) discovered larger hydrocarbon inclusions in quartz especially[1], in the 70 s, with the development of oil geochemical, the minerals fluid inclusions in the oil field geological research has been widely used. G. m. Gigashvili and v. p. Kalish in 1977 are the first to report the use of mineral inclusions as the hydrocarbons containing hydrocarbon migration of physical and chemical condition of fluid of the index. At the beginning of the 80's, the technology has already been foreign research institutions and oil company are widely used in reservoir the diagenesis of research and oil and gas exploration [2,3,4]. China has begun to set up in the 1960 s, the early main inclusions laboratory to research various metal hydrothermal ore deposits in the ore-forming temperature and the composition of the ore-forming fluid. ShiJiXi (1985,1987) will fluid inclusions method is used to study the carbonate formation of China and the thermal evolution degree, division of hydrocarbon generation evolutionary stages, according to package the body type, distribution, homogenization temperature, salinity, gas organic composition various inclusions observation and analysis data put forward the carbonate hydrocarbon source rocks and oil and gas reservoir has performance evaluation method and hydrocarbon index[2,5,6]. In petroleum exploration, through[[ First Author: Huiqing Liu (1980－), male, doctoral students, Major: mineralogy petrology mineralogy,E-mail:liu8935959@163.com]] the study of the sandstone reservoir formation of diagenetic minerals fluid inclusions, and combining with the chip observation to judge whether have oil and gas migration to reservoir, and oil and gas accumulation of time, ancient geothermal, formation water such as the salinity has a very important significance
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Narkunienė, Judita, and Aurelija Ulbinaitė. "Comparative analysis of company performance evaluation methods." Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues 6, no. 1 (September 30, 2018): 125–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.9770/jesi.2018.6.1(10).
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