2,691 research outputs found
Aligning Employees Through \u3ci\u3eLine of Sight\u3c/i\u3e
Aligning employees with the firm’s larger strategic goals is critical if organizations hope to manage their human capital effectively and ultimately attain strategic success. An important component of attaining and sustaining this alignment is whether employees have “line of sight” to the organization’s strategic objectives. We illustrate how the translation of strategic goals into tangible results requires that employees not only understand the organization’s strategy, they must accurately understand what actions are aligned with realizing that strategy. Using recent empirical evidence, theoretical insights, and tangible examples of exemplary firm practices, we provide thought-leaders with a comprehensive view of LOS, how it is created, how it can be enhanced or stifled, and how it can be effectively managed. We integrate LOS with current thinking on employee alignment to help managers more effectively benefit from understanding human capital potential
The Case for an Army Stability Professional
The US Army is unprepared to occupy and stabilize territory because it does not adequately educate active-duty officers to do so. One way to professionalize the Army’s ability to carry out military government and stability operations is to develop active-duty functional area officers who can advise commanders and integrate staff planning for these operations. This article analyzes case studies, doctrine, and commentary to envision specialized staff officers with foreign language proficiency, cultural skills, advanced academic abilities, and a strong professional ethic. These officers would enhance the Army’s competence in stabilizing territory to achieve American policy objectives
Can remifentanil use in obstetrics be improved by optimal patient-controlled analgesia bolus timing?
Background The safety of patient-controlled i.v. analgesia (PCA) with remifentanil for obstetrical analgesia remains a matter of concern. The efficacy of remifentanil bolus application, that is, the coincidence between pain and remifentanil effect-site concentration, may be improved by forecasting contractions, but it is not known whether such a technique would also improve safety. Methods We recorded pain intensity during labour continuously using a handheld dynamometer in 43 parturients. Using these data, we compared different models in their ability to predict future contractions. In addition, we modelled remifentanil effect-site concentration using three simulated modes of bolus administration, with and without prediction of future contractions. Results The average duration of pain during contractions recorded by the dynamometer was 45 [14 standard deviation (sd)] s. The time interval between painful contractions was highly variable, with a mean of 151 (31 sd) s during the first and 154 (52 sd) s during the second recording. Using a simple algorithm (three-point moving average), the sd of the difference between predicted and observed inter-contraction intervals can be reduced from 0.95 to 0.79 min. However, the coincidence between remifentanil concentration and pain during contraction is not substantially improved when using these models to guide remifentanil bolus application. Conclusions Because of the large variability of inter-contraction intervals, the use of prediction models will not influence the mean remifentanil concentration in-between contractions. Using models predicting future contractions to improve the timing of remifentanil PCA bolus administration will not diminish the need of continuous clinical surveillance and other safety measure
Haemophilia
Although the nature of haemophilia has been understood for thousands of years, knowledge of its molecular genetics is recent. These X-linked bleeding disorders have diverse underlying DNA defects and, in 1992, DNA inversion within the X chromosome was found to explain half of the most
serious cases of haemophilia A. The life-span and quality of-life for patients with haemophilia had improved steadily throughout the early 1980s but the principal cause of death remained intracranial haemorrhage until the epidemic of HIV infection due to contaminated factor concentrates. Infection with hepatitis C virus is almost universal for
patients treated with clotting factors before 1985. No curative treatment is available for hepatitis C at present. Knowledge of the transmission of viruses in concentrates has led to important developments in processing techniques to eliminate them. Recombinant technology has produced factor VIII and, more recently, factor IX concentrate which is likely to be very safe. Development of inhibitors to factor concentrates (especially factor VIII) remains one of the most serious complications of haemophilia. The variety of treatments available testifies to the lack of a single universally efficacious one. The use of prophylactic treatment has been conclusively demonstrated to result in a preservation of joint function in severely affected patients
who might otherwise develop significant joint problems. The many facets of the care of patients with severe haemophilia, ranging from dental care to genetic counselling, can be advantageously co-ordinated in a haemophilia comprehensive care centre
Recommended from our members
Development Of Third Harmonic Generation As A Short Pulse Probe Of Shock Heated Material
We are studying high-pressure laser produced shock waves in silicon (100). To examine the material dynamics, we are performing pump-probe style experiments utilizing 600 ps and 40 fs laser pulses from a Ti:sapphire laser. Two-dimensional interferometry reveals information about the shock breakout, while third harmonic light generated at the rear surface is used to infer the crystalline state of the material as a function of time. Sustained third harmonic generation (THG) during a similar to 100 kbar shock breakout indicate that the rear surface remains crystalline for at least 3 ns. However, a decrease in THG during a similar to 300 kbar shock breakout suggests a different behavior, which could include a change in crystalline structure.Mechanical Engineerin
On the Properties of Plastic Ablators in Laser-Driven Material Dynamics Experiments
Radiation hydrodynamics simulations were used to study the effect of plastic
ablators in laser-driven shock experiments. The sensitivity to composition and
equation of state was found to be 5-10% in ablation pressure. As was found for
metals, a laser pulse of constant irradiance gave a pressure history which
decreased by several percent per nanosecond. The pressure history could be made
more constant by adjusting the irradiance history. The impedance mismatch with
the sample gave an increase o(100%) in the pressure transmitted into the
sample, for a reduction of several tens of percent in the duration of the peak
load applied to the sample, and structured the release history by adding a
release step to a pressure close to the ablation pressure. Algebraic relations
were found between the laser pulse duration, the ablator thickness, and the
duration of the peak pressure applied to the sample, involving quantities
calculated from the equations of state of the ablator and sample using shock
dynamics.Comment: Typos fixe
Control Of Norway Rats In Sewer And Utility Systems Using Pulsed Baiting Methods
There were 1,288 sewer and 235 other utility manholes baited to control Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus) populations in downtown Boston using pulsed-baiting methods. About 15% of all sewer, 18% of phone, and 26% of electric manholes had rat activity. Sewer populations were most associated with residential areas with low flow, small diameter (\u3c61 cm) brick sewers; in those circumstances, up to 38% of manholes had rat activity. Bait consumption in sewers (high risk areas) was 91 % below baseline, five months after the fourth baiting period. Bait consumption and the number of active sewer holes were 96% and 87% below baseline, respectively, when seasonal maintenance baiting was last initiated. Reinfestation of phone/electric manholes was so minimal that maintenance baiting was not necessary or cost-effective. Subsurface baiting should be an integral part of urban rodent control programs
LEXICAL AND SYNTACTIC PREDICTION WITHIN A NOISY CHANNEL MODEL OF LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION
The present paper explored adaptation of prediction within a noisy channel framework of language comprehension. Three experiments examined whether adaptation of reliance on lexical and/or syntactic predictive cues occurs across contexts in which there is a change in the informativity of these cues. Within a single experimental session (Exp. 1, n=44) and across experiments (Exp. 2, n= 45; Exp. 3, n= 92), there was no evidence that participants adapted their reliance on a lexical cue, as subjects predicted specific words within highly-constraining sentences at an equal rate across contexts which supported and violated this expectation. Furthermore, it was found that participants only adapted and relied less on a syntactic cue in the violating context within Experiment 3, in which a stronger violating cue was used for the expectation of an either...or sentence structure than the violating cue used in the first two experiments. Results suggest that the combination of a strong predictive cue and a strong violation of that cue is necessary to elicit adaptation. Further research is needed to investigate how and when readers adapt their prediction during language comprehension
Recommended from our members
Coping with crowding in backcountry recreation areas : Studies of two Oregon rivers
Studies of crowding in backcountry recreation areas
have generally shown that only a minor part of the total
variance in perceived crowding is explained by density and
interaction. This suggests that users of backcountry areas have
learned ways of coping with people in these settings, where one
of the major goals is often experiencing solitude. Three
strategies are used by individuals to cope with crowding. Behavioral
coping mechanisms are actions taken by individuals to
avoid others. Cognitive coping is a reappraisal of the situation
so the higher interaction level is no longer inappropriate.
Perceptual coping focuses one's attention on other non-density
related features, giving less attention to other people in the
environment. Coping with crowding is hypothesized to occur in
backcounry areas as users encounter more and more other people;
that is, they will use the three strategies outlined above to
reduce the impact of seeing "too many" people. Data are from
crowding studies of two whitewater rivers in Oregon, the Rogue
and the Illinois. Behavioral and cognitive coping data come
from Interview and questionnaire responses of 251 commercial float trip passengers on the Rogue and 255 commercial and private
floaters on the Illinois. Perceptual coping data are from
records of trained observers who accompanied commercial trips on
the Rogue; in this case, comparative data from a study of
floaters on the Colorado River in Grand Canyon are also used.
Results show the existence of behavioral and cognitive coping.
However, perceptual coping results are ambiguous. Implications
are discussed
Quiescent consistency: Defining and verifying relaxed linearizability
Concurrent data structures like stacks, sets or queues need to be highly optimized to provide large degrees of parallelism with reduced contention. Linearizability, a key consistency condition for concurrent objects, sometimes limits the potential for optimization. Hence algorithm designers have started to build concurrent data structures that are not linearizable but only satisfy relaxed consistency requirements. In this paper, we study quiescent consistency as proposed by Shavit and Herlihy, which is one such relaxed condition. More precisely, we give the first formal definition of quiescent consistency, investigate its relationship with linearizability, and provide a proof technique for it based on (coupled) simulations. We demonstrate our proof technique by verifying quiescent consistency of a (non-linearizable) FIFO queue built using a diffraction tree. © 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
- …