A Performance Evaluation of Introducing Balanced Scorecard to High-tech Related Industries in Taiwan

Balanced Scorecard (BSC) has become the most desirable performance evaluation tool for industries in Taiwan; however, difficulty or bad performance of system introduction has occurred due to an incomplete understanding of the implementation approaches and correct objectives of the BSC system, causing the risk of cost loss. Two domestic high-tech companies in the high-tech related industry were served as the object of study in this research. The contents of four perspectives of the BSC were converted to twenty key performance evaluation indicators in terms of modern business administration as the variables in the research. Based on the DMAIC model, the importance and satisfaction of BSC implementation factors in high-tech related industry are defined first. The performance indices of satisfaction and importance of implementing BSC are standardized by fuzzy methods for evaluation and a performance matrix with the target line and upper and lower performance control lines are established. Management can analyze the performance level and compare the performance indices and matrixes of two companies after introducing BSC according to the coordinates of satisfaction and importance of implementation factors in the matrixes. These two-dimension matrices will then be converted to one-dimension coordinates for cross performance matrices of four quadrants. Next, performance improvement strategies will be devised in accordance with the aspects of the theory of constraints. After carrying out improvement strategies, the cross performance matrix will be constructed to verify the effect and ascertain the factors of bad performance. In this way, improvement strategies can be re-devised and the most appropriate distribution of resources will be made to sustain the optimum state of ability and cost during the process of introducing the BSC system. Requirements for a short period of time and low cost to evaluate the performance of BSC introduction can be met via this simple and convenient evaluation model presented in this research. Resources will be invested to enhance satisfaction for the implementation factors of high importance and low satisfaction. Likewise, resources will be adjusted to reduce the cost of system introduction for the implementation factors of low importance and high satisfaction. As a result, the time efficiency of introducing the BSC system will be promoted effectively

On the harmonic measure of stable processes

Using three hypergeometric identities, we evaluate the harmonic measure of a finite interval and of its complementary for a strictly stable real L{\'e}vy process. This gives a simple and unified proof of several results in the literature, old and recent. We also provide a full description of the corresponding Green functions. As a by-product, we compute the hitting probabilities of points and describe the non-negative harmonic functions for the stable process killed outside a finite interval

Interaction protocols for cross-organisational workflows

Workflow technologies are widely used in industry and commerce to assist in the specification, execution and completion of well defined processes within organisations. As industrial and commercial relations have evolved, based on advances on information and communications technologies, cross-organisational workflow integration has become an important issue. Since organisations can have very different workflows, the creation of compatible workflows so that organisations can collaborate and/or carry out mutual transactions automatically in an integrated fashion can be a very complex and time consuming process. As a consequence, the development of technologies to support the creation and execution of compatible workflows is a most relevant issue. In the present article we introduce the JamSession coordination platform as a tool to implement cross-organisational workflow integration. JamSession is declarative and based on algebraic specification methods, and therefore workflow integration implemented using this platform can profit from formal behavioural analysis, based on which desired features and properties can be verified and/or obtained

Anisotropic effect on two-dimensional cellular automaton traffic flow with periodic and open boundaries

By the use of computer simulations we investigate, in the cellular automaton of two-dimensional traffic flow, the anisotropic effect of the probabilities of the change of the move directions of cars, from up to right ($p_{ur}$) and from right to up ($p_{ru}$), on the dynamical jamming transition and velocities under the periodic boundary conditions in one hand and the phase diagram under the open boundary conditions in the other hand. However, in the former case, the first order jamming transition disappears when the cars alter their directions of move ($p_{ur}\neq 0$ and/or $p_{ru}\neq 0$). In the open boundary conditions, it is found that the first order line transition between jamming and moving phases is curved. Hence, by increasing the anisotropy, the moving phase region expand as well as the contraction of the jamming phase one. Moreover, in the isotropic case, and when each car changes its direction of move every time steps ($p_{ru}=p_{ur}=1$), the transition from the jamming phase (or moving phase) to the maximal current one is of first order. Furthermore, the density profile decays, in the maximal current phase, with an exponent $\gamma \approx {1/4}$.}Comment: 13 pages, 22 figure

Mother-in-law childcare and perinatal depression in rural Pakistan

Background: Mothers-in-law often provide key childcare support to daughters-in-law during the perinatal period that may enhance maternal mental health. Yet, poor mother-in-law/daughter-in-law relationships may be associated with maternal depression. The extent to which mother-in-law childcare involvement affects perinatal depression may differ across contexts of family conflict. Objective: We explored the relationship between mother-in-law childcare and daughter-in-law perinatal depression in rural Pakistan across contexts of family conflict. Methods: Data on 783 women came from the Bachpan Cohort, a birth cohort in Pakistan. Maternally-reported mother-in-law childcare was assessed at 3 and 12 months postpartum using a 24-h recall and categorized into no, low, and high involvement. Major depression was captured at 3 and 12 months using the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV. Family conflict was captured using three items from the Life Events Checklist. Log-Poisson models were used to estimate cross-sectional associations between mother-in-law childcare and perinatal depression, stratified by family conflict. Results: Mother-in-law childcare was common in the first year postpartum. The association between mother-in-law childcare and perinatal depression differed by the presence of family conflict and postpartum timing. At 3?months postpartum, low and high mother-in-law childcare (vs no involvement) were associated with a lower prevalence of depression regardless of family conflict. At 12?months postpartum, among families with no conflict, low mother-in-law childcare (vs no involvement) was associated with lower perinatal depression; however, among families with conflict, high mother-in-law childcare was associated with increased perinatal depression. Conclusion: Our findings highlight the complexities of associations between mother-in-law childcare support and perinatal depression in the first year after birth. Mother-in-law childcare in the immediate postpartum period was beneficial for mothers. Understanding the source, amount, timing, and context of social support is necessary to inform research and interventions that aim to improve maternal mental health

Age Constraints on Brane Models of Dark Energy

Inspired by recent developments in particle physics, the so-called brane world cosmology seems to provide an alternative explanation for the present dark energy problem. In this paper, we use the estimated age of high-$z$ objects to constrain the value of the cosmological parameters in some particular scenarios based on this large scale modification of gravity. We show that such models are compatible with these observations for values of the crossover distance between the 4 and 5 dimensions of the order of $r_c \leq 1.67H_o^{-1}$.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, 1 table, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Secondary education reform in Lesotho and Zimbabwe and the needs of rural girls: Pronouncements, policy and practice

Analysis of the educational needs of rural girls in Lesotho and Zimbabwe suggests a number of shortcomings in the current form of secondary education, and ways in which it might be modified so as to serve this sizeable group of students better. Several of the shortcomings, notably in relation to curricular irrelevance and excessive focus on examinations, have long been recognised, including by politicians. Yet political pronouncements are seldom translated into policy, and even where policy is formulated, reforms are seldom implemented in schools. This paper makes use of interviews with educational decision-makers in the two southern African countries and a range of documentary sources to explore why, despite the considerable differences between the two contexts, much needed educational reforms have been implemented in neither

Cognitive Ability and Cardiovascular Control in Intellectually and Developmentally Disabled People

Earlier, we examined positive effects of hyperoxic air on the cognitive ability of intellectually and developmentally disabled people (IDDP). In this study, correlation between cognitive performance in the visual matching task and heart rate (HR) was investigated under normal air conditions. Eighteen men (mean age 28.7 ± 5.0 year) and 22 women (mean age 35.5 ± 6.9 year) with an assessed disability level of 2.3 ± 0.6 participated. The experiment consisted of three phases, a total of 7 min, including the rest (3 min), control (2 min), and visual matching task 2 min phases. The HR in visual matching task phase increased, compared to those in the rest and control phases. The cognitive ability in the visual matching task correlated with the HR values; the response time showed a negative correlation with HR, while the accuracy rate showed a positive correlation. Thus, adaptive changes in cardiovascular regulation probably related to cognitive efforts and emotional excitation should be considered a noticeable factor influencing brain supply with oxygen in IDDP (similarly to healthy people). The result of this study agrees with the earlier obtained indications that hyperoxic air can positively affect the cognitive performance in IDDP.Раніше ми вивчали позитивні впливи повітря, збагаченого киснем, на когнітивні здатності людей з недостатнім інтелектуальним розвитком (НІР). У нашій роботі ми досліджували кореляцію між показниками когнітивної активності в тесті візуальної відповідності та частотою серцевих скорочень (ЧСС) у таких суб’єктів в умовах дихання нормальним повітрям. У тестах брали участь 18 чоловіків (середній вік 28.7 ± 5.0 року) та 22 жінки (35.5 ± 6.9 року) з оцінкою рівня інтелектуального розвитку 2.3 ± 0.6. Експеримент (загальна тривалість 7 хв) складався з трьох фаз: стан розслаблення (3 хв), контроль (2 хв) та тест візуальної відповідності (2 хв). Величини ЧСС у межах цього тесту порівняно з величинами в умовах розслаблення й контролю зростали. Показники когнітивних здібностей корелювали з величинами ЧСС; кореляція часу відповіді була негативною, а точності відповіді – позитивною. Отже, адаптивні зміни регуляції серцево-судинної системи, мабуть, пов’язані з когнітивними зусиллями та емоційним збудженням, є істотним фактором, який впливає на постачання мозку киснем у людей із НІР (як і у здорових людей). Результати нашої роботи узгоджуються з отриманими раніше свідоцтвами про те, що дихання повітрям, збагаченим киснем, позитивно впливає на когнітивні можливості людей із НІР

Kernel Spectral Clustering and applications

In this chapter we review the main literature related to kernel spectral clustering (KSC), an approach to clustering cast within a kernel-based optimization setting. KSC represents a least-squares support vector machine based formulation of spectral clustering described by a weighted kernel PCA objective. Just as in the classifier case, the binary clustering model is expressed by a hyperplane in a high dimensional space induced by a kernel. In addition, the multi-way clustering can be obtained by combining a set of binary decision functions via an Error Correcting Output Codes (ECOC) encoding scheme. Because of its model-based nature, the KSC method encompasses three main steps: training, validation, testing. In the validation stage model selection is performed to obtain tuning parameters, like the number of clusters present in the data. This is a major advantage compared to classical spectral clustering where the determination of the clustering parameters is unclear and relies on heuristics. Once a KSC model is trained on a small subset of the entire data, it is able to generalize well to unseen test points. Beyond the basic formulation, sparse KSC algorithms based on the Incomplete Cholesky Decomposition (ICD) and $L_0$, $L_1, L_0 + L_1$, Group Lasso regularization are reviewed. In that respect, we show how it is possible to handle large scale data. Also, two possible ways to perform hierarchical clustering and a soft clustering method are presented. Finally, real-world applications such as image segmentation, power load time-series clustering, document clustering and big data learning are considered.Comment: chapter contribution to the book "Unsupervised Learning Algorithms