124,518 research outputs found

    Simple identification tools in FishBase

    Get PDF
    Simple identification tools for fish species were included in the FishBase information system from its inception. Early tools made use of the relational model and characters like fin ray meristics. Soon pictures and drawings were added as a further help, similar to a field guide. Later came the computerization of existing dichotomous keys, again in combination with pictures and other information, and the ability to restrict possible species by country, area, or taxonomic group. Today, www.FishBase.org offers four different ways to identify species. This paper describes these tools with their advantages and disadvantages, and suggests various options for further development. It explores the possibility of a holistic and integrated computeraided strategy

    What can management theories offer evidence-based practice? A comparative analysis of measurement tools for organisational context

    Get PDF
    Background: Given the current emphasis on networks as vehicles for innovation and change in health service delivery, the ability to conceptualise and measure organisational enablers for the social construction of knowledge merits attention. This study aimed to develop a composite tool to measure the organisational context for evidence-based practice (EBP) in healthcare. Methods: A structured search of the major healthcare and management databases for measurement tools from four domains: research utilisation (RU), research activity (RA), knowledge management (KM), and organisational learning (OL). Included studies were reports of the development or use of measurement tools that included organisational factors. Tools were appraised for face and content validity, plus development and testing methods. Measurement tool items were extracted, merged across the four domains, and categorised within a constructed framework describing the absorptive and receptive capacities of organisations. Results: Thirty measurement tools were identified and appraised. Eighteen tools from the four domains were selected for item extraction and analysis. The constructed framework consists of seven categories relating to three core organisational attributes of vision, leadership, and a learning culture, and four stages of knowledge need, acquisition of new knowledge, knowledge sharing, and knowledge use. Measurement tools from RA or RU domains had more items relating to the categories of leadership, and acquisition of new knowledge; while tools from KM or learning organisation domains had more items relating to vision, learning culture, knowledge need, and knowledge sharing. There was equal emphasis on knowledge use in the different domains. Conclusion: If the translation of evidence into knowledge is viewed as socially mediated, tools to measure the organisational context of EBP in healthcare could be enhanced by consideration of related concepts from the organisational and management sciences. Comparison of measurement tools across domains suggests that there is scope within EBP for supplementing the current emphasis on human and technical resources to support information uptake and use by individuals. Consideration of measurement tools from the fields of KM and OL shows more content related to social mechanisms to facilitate knowledge recognition, translation, and transfer between individuals and groups

    Creating a culture for radical innovation in a small mature business

    Get PDF
    This article describes an approach in organizational development to develop an innovation culture for radical product development in a small mature engineering company. The research took place in a business based in the United Kingdom that designed and manufactured instrumentation and specialized packing machines. An initial study within the company’s new product development team identified key aspects that influenced a radical innovation culture. Nine key themes were found to be pertinent, following an iterative process with the development team. These themes were triangulated using the established Organization Culture Assessment Instrument and the Creative Climate Assessment Tool. A third assessment was developed that gauged the development team culture proximity to an ideal position. Seven interventions were developed in conjunction with the company development team, senior managers, the analysis of previous empirical case research and dialogue with UK companies that promote discontinuous innovation. The results of the interventions were evaluated 4 years after implementation. The culture was re-assessed using the same assessment tools and the changes were identified. The outcomes are described and they indicate the success of the company’s attempt to embed a sustainable radical innovation culture into the product development area

    Labor-Management-Community Collaboration in Springfield Public Schools

    Get PDF
    Few people hail teachers' unions as leaders of education reform. Teachers' unions are routinely characterized as part of the problem, protecting the interests of members at the expense of quality instruction and exercising unchecked political power. School districts fare little better in the public eye; they are often perceived as large, ineffective bureaucracies which perpetuate under-performance among low-income and minority students. Furthermore, community involvement in public education reform, though a widespread phenomenon, is largely unrecognized in the national policy debate about the future of schools. Given this, it is difficult to imagine three less likely partners in education reform than a local teachers' union (labor), district leaders (management), and local organizations and foundations (community). Yet the work of some education and community leaders has shown that collaboration between labor, management, and community has the potential to build capacity and improve student learning

    Green Pathways Out of Poverty: Workforce Development Initiatives

    Get PDF
    Workforce development practitioners face a set of common questions about services, partnerships, curriculum, certifications, links to employers, funding and measuring their results. On March 30 and 31, 2009, Green For All convened a working group of practitioners focused on providing green pathways out of poverty to start developing shared answers to these shared questions. Participants spent the two days connecting with each other, sharing expertise, and collaborating in order to produce new knowledge that will advance the field. This group began to identify the best practices and resources that make effective workforce development projects in green jobs. By the end of the two-day meeting, it had identified five keys to success for green workforce development. These keys, when combined with effective leadership and staff, help these programs serve the workers the programs train, the businesses and industry they support, and the environment they aim to protect. This document is a product of that two-day meeting and links to resources recommended by Community of Practice members. It is meant to guide and support anyone seeking to create pathways out of poverty through green job training

    Grounding semantic web services with rules

    Get PDF
    Semantic web services achieve effects in the world through web services, so the connection to those services - the grounding - is of paramount importance. The established technique is to use XML-based translations between ontologies and the SOAP message formats of the services, but these mappings cannot address the growing number of non-SOAP services, and step outside the ontological world to describe the mapping. We present an approach which draws the service's interface into the ontology: we define ontology objects which represent the whole HTTP message, and use backward-chaining rules to translate between semantic service invocation instances and the HTTP messages passed to and from the service. We present a case study using Amazon's popular Simple Storage Service

    THE ACTIVITY OF ORDER TAKER IN HOUSEKEEPING DEPARTMENT AT AGAS INTERNATIONAL HOTEL SOLO

    Get PDF
    One of the important elements for the Hotel’s operational activities, is Housekeeping Department. Housekeeping Department in Agas International Hotel Solo which has a vital function in providing service to the guests especially those related to sophisticated service, attractiveness, completeness, cleaning service and other public services in order to guarantee satisfaction and comfort for all guests and employees. This final project report was written based on the job training in Agas International Hotel Solo. The objectives of this final reports is to describe the activity of order taker in Housekeeping Department at Agas International Hotel Solo. And the benefits of this final reports is the writer can get supporting point in the hotel industry, add more experience and knowledge about the hotel field as a skill to enter the field work. The data for this report were taken from the interview with Housekeeping crews at Agas International Hotel Solo and from the observation of the activities of the Order Taker at Agas International Hotel Solo. The duties of Order Taker is reporting the most actual condition of room status to Front Office department, making the “housekeeping report” then reporting them to related section, informing to room attendant if there is any room check in or check out, and handling the housekeeping administration. This final project report also has purpose to describe the problems and the solution for problems that are faced by Housekeeping Department in Agas International Hotel Solo

    Face-to-face leadership support for primary headteachers: lessons from the Greater Manchester Challenge

    Get PDF
    • …
    corecore