2,149 research outputs found
Modelling Fresh Strawberry Supply "From-Farm-to-Fork" as a Complex Adaptive Network
The purpose of this study is to model and thereby enable simulation of the complete business entity of fresh food supply. A case narrative of fresh strawberry supply provides basis for this modelling. Lamming et al. (2000) point to the importance of discerning industry-specific product features (or particularities) regarding managing supply networks when discussing elements in "an initial classification of a supply network" while Fisher (1997) and Christopher et al. (2006, 2009) point to the lack of adopting SCM models to variations in products and market types as an important source of SCM failure. In this study we have chosen to move along a research path towards developing an adapted approach to model end-to-end fresh food supply influenced by a combination of SCM, system dynamics and complex adaptive network thinking...
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Requirements Engineering as Creative Problem Solving: A Research Agenda for Idea Finding
This vision paper frames requirements engineering as a creative problem solving process. Its purpose is to enable requirements researchers and practitioners to recruit relevant theories, models, techniques and tools from creative problem solving to understand and support requirements processes more effectively. It uses 4 drivers to motivate the case for requirements engineering as a creative problem solving process. It then maps established requirements activities onto one of the longest-established creative problem solving processes, and uses these mappings to locate opportunities for the application of creative problem solving in requirements engineering. The second half of the paper describes selected creativity theories, techniques, software tools and training that can be adopted to improve requirements engineering research and practice. The focus is on support for problem and idea finding - two creative problem solving processes that our investigation revealed are poorly supported in requirements engineering. The paper ends with a research agenda to incorporate creative processes, techniques, training and tools in requirements projects
Evaluating prediction models for electricity consumption
This paper presents a system for visualizing electricity consumptiondata along with the implementation of a pattern recognition approach for peakprediction. Various classification algorithms and machine learning techniques aretested and discussed; in particular, Support Vector Machine (SVM), GaussianMixture Model (GMM) and hierarchical classifiers. Most notably, the bestalgorithms are able to detect 70% of the peaks occurring within the next 24 hours.Also, various ways of correlating energy consumption are considered in the presentcontext. Finally, a few directions for future work are discussed
The discontinuous Galerkin method for fractional degenerate convection-diffusion equations
We propose and study discontinuous Galerkin methods for strongly degenerate
convection-diffusion equations perturbed by a fractional diffusion (L\'evy)
operator. We prove various stability estimates along with convergence results
toward properly defined (entropy) solutions of linear and nonlinear equations.
Finally, the qualitative behavior of solutions of such equations are
illustrated through numerical experiments
The Cocktail Party Listener
A complex computational model of the human ability to listen to certain signals in preference of others, also called the cocktail party phenomenon, is built on the basis of surveys into the relevant psychological, DSP, and neural network literature. This model is basically binaural and as such it makes use of both spectral data and spatial data in determining which speaker to listen to. The model uses two neural networks for filtering and speaker identification. Results from some experimentation with type and architecture of these networks are presented along with the results of the model. These results indicate that the model has a distinctive ability to focus on a particular speaker of choice
Factors perceived to influence exercise adherence in women with breast cancer participating in an exercise programme during adjuvant chemotherapy: a focus group study
Aims and objectives. To explore factors influencing exercise adherence among women with breast cancer while following an exercise programme.
Background. Earlier research shows that women with breast cancer decrease physical activity following the cancer diagnosis and that adhering to exercise interventions can be a challenge. Research is needed to identify motivational factors and barriers for exercise adherence among women during treatment for
breast cancer.
Design. This was a qualitative study to explore patient’s perceptions of the challenges to exercise adherence during a randomised, controlled trial.
Methods. Twenty-seven women with early-stage breast cancer were purposively sampled for focus group interviews during 2011–2012 from their participation in the exercise intervention group during 2010–2012. Five focus groups were performed,
and data analysis was completed using the systematic text condensation method.
Results. During the focus group study, five main themes were identified, which described factors participants perceived to influence their adherence to exercise during chemotherapy: ‘side effects of breast cancer treatment as a barrier to exercise’, ‘restoring and maintaining normality in daily life motivates exercise’, ‘other valued activities compete with exercise’, ‘constructive support enhances exercise’ and ‘positive beliefs about efficacy and outcomes motivate exercise’.
Conclusion. Adherence to exercise in women with breast cancer is challenged by internal and external conditions and may be improved by attention to the impact of treatment side effects and by supporting patient self-efficacy towards changing
health behaviour.
Relevance to clinical practice. Nurses should be aware that exercise adherence could be a challenge among women with breast cancer. They should help identify obstacles to exercise for women and ways to overcome them, as well as support them in their beliefs that they are capable of changing their health behaviou
Exercise: a path to wellness during adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer?
Background: Breast cancer treatment can represent a threat to a patient’s wellness. The role of exercise in perceived wellness in women with breast cancer merits further study.
Objective: The objective of this study was to describe how
exercise is perceived by women to influence their physical and psychosocial wellness at the time they were receiving chemotherapy.
Methods: Five focus group interviews with a total of 27 women with early-stage breast cancer were conducted. Prior to the focus groups, the women had participated in an exercise intervention during chemotherapy treatment.
Results: Three themes emerged from the analysis: exercise shapes feelings of psychological wellness; exercise stimulates feelings of physical wellness; and exercise influences social wellness. The women reported feeling stronger in a psychological sense after exercising, that the strength exercise
improved their upper-limb functioning, and that engaging in exercise triggered social support and interactions.
Conclusions: Exercise during breast cancer treatment is perceived to enhance the patients’ wellness on several dimensions and in particular psychological wellness. Exercise might support the patients’ efforts to restore their sense of wellness and enhance their level of daily life functioning.
Implications for Practice: Cancer nurses should promote exercise as a wellness-fostering intervention during chemotherapy treatment. Focusing on how
exercise can contribute to feelings of wellness may help women with breast cancer choose exercise as a health-promoting activity that contributes to their recovery
On Nonlinear Stochastic Balance Laws
We are concerned with multidimensional stochastic balance laws. We identify a
class of nonlinear balance laws for which uniform spatial bounds for
vanishing viscosity approximations can be achieved. Moreover, we establish
temporal equicontinuity in of the approximations, uniformly in the
viscosity coefficient. Using these estimates, we supply a multidimensional
existence theory of stochastic entropy solutions. In addition, we establish an
error estimate for the stochastic viscosity method, as well as an explicit
estimate for the continuous dependence of stochastic entropy solutions on the
flux and random source functions. Various further generalizations of the
results are discussed
Polynomial Cointegration among Stationary Processes with Long Memory
n this paper we consider polynomial cointegrating relationships among
stationary processes with long range dependence. We express the regression
functions in terms of Hermite polynomials and we consider a form of spectral
regression around frequency zero. For these estimates, we establish consistency
by means of a more general result on continuously averaged estimates of the
spectral density matrix at frequency zeroComment: 25 pages, 7 figures. Submitted in August 200
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