Developing Performance-Centered Systems for Higher Education

The experience in developing performance-centered systems for higher education has improved significantly, and practitioners have made considerable progress in elaborating a methodology. This paper discusses the convergence of thinking among various disciplines in analysis and design methodologies, and describes the key elements of the new-emerged performance support engineering development methodology. These are important for designing web-based systems, information systems, and knowledge management systems in higher education.performance-centered systems, web-besd systems, information systems, knowledge management systems, methodology, higher education

Outsourcing the Business Services

The nowadays international market of outsourcing services is relatively mature and with age comes wisdom ... Thus, on a grown market, choosing to outsource services can not only be justified by the strive to reduce costs but it aims to meeting more advanced objectives as accurate alignment with business strategies of the enterprise. As a result, outsourcing has reached new forms of expression that can help the enterprises to gain competitive advantage. In the context of a grown market, a new concept appears, namely the multisourcing which it refers to the outsourcing model of the future [1] that businesses must prepare to accept and use. This concept or model of the future refers to working with several suppliers, which are competitors in a spirit of trust and teamwork, in a collaborative process to maximize the benefits associated with outsourcing process.Business Outsourcing, Audit, Economic and Financial Analysis, Information Technology Outsourcing

On testing global optimization algorithms for space trajectory design

In this paper we discuss the procedures to test a global search algorithm applied to a space trajectory design problem. Then, we present some performance indexes that can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of global optimization algorithms. The performance indexes are then compared highlighting the actual significance of each one of them. A number of global optimization algorithms are tested on four typical space trajectory design problems. From the results of the proposed testing procedure we infer for each pair algorithm-problem the relation between the heuristics implemented in the solution algorithm and the main characteristics of the problem under investigation. From this analysis we derive a novel interpretation of some evolutionary heuristics, based on dynamical system theory and we significantly improve the performance of one of the tested algorithms

Therapeutic challenges in a case of psoriasis with nail onset

Nail psoriasis affects a large number of patients with psoriasis and has a major psychosocial impact. Furthermore, it may be regarded as a predictor of more severe forms of psoriasis and early sign of psoriatic arthritis. The clinical presentations vary depending on the structure affected (nail matrix or nail bed), the nail lesions may range from minor to severe, but they are not specific. Treatment is a challenge, in most cases the lesions being resistant to therapy. We present a rare case of psoriasis with nail onset in a 59-year-old woman. The nail involvement confined to the fingernails was severe, with significant impairment of the patient’s quality of life. Conventional therapies failed to improve the nail lesions, but a marked improvement was achieved under etanercept therapy

Diagnostic challenges and treatment difficulties in a patient with excoriated acne conglobata

Acne conglobata is a rare and severe form of acne vulgaris, characterized by the presence of comedones, papules, pustules, nodules and sometimes hematic or meliceric crusts. Acne excoriée is a form of self-inflicted skin condition in which the patient picks on imaginary or real acne lesions. We report the case of a 16 year old Caucasian female patient from the urban area who addressed our dermatology department for erythematous, edematous plaques covered by pustules and crusts, located on the face. The anamnesis revealed that during the last weeks she had had a depressive mood after ending a relationship with her boyfriend and started scratching and picking on the lesions. The patient\u27s depressive mood prior to the worsening of the disease was probably aggravated by the condition. This might have determined the picking of the skin which could have impeded the response to standard treatment. The self-excoriative behavior could also be regarded as an appeal for help

The current treatment of erectile dysfunction

Erectile dysfunction (ED) is the inability to achieve and maintain an erection sufficient for satisfactory sexual intercourse. It is the most frequent sexual dysfunction in elderly men and its prevalence increases with age. Ever since ED was recognized as a real health problem, several treatment options became available and some of them proved to be very efficient. PDE5 inhibitors are the mainstay treatment of ED. However, other treatment options such as intracorporal injections, surgery, vacuum devices and prosthesis are also available for patients who are unresponsive to PDE5 inhibitors. Since none of the treatment options available so far has proven ideal, research in the field of sexual medicine continues. The aim of this paper is to review the most advances in the treatment of ED

Controlling the Local Spin-Polarization at the Organic-Ferromagnetic Interface

By means of ab initio calculations and spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy experiments we show how to manipulate the local spin-polarization of a ferromagnetic surface by creating a complex energy dependent magnetic structure. We demonstrate this novel effect by adsorbing organic molecules containing pi(pz)-electrons onto a ferromagnetic surface, in which the hybridization of the out-of-plane pz atomic type orbitals with the d-states of the metal leads to the inversion of the spin-polarization at the organic site due to a pz - d Zener exchange type mechanism. As a key result, we demonstrate that it is possible to selectively inject spin-up and spin-down electrons from the same ferromagnetic surface, an effect which can be exploited in future spintronic devices