Farmers' management of rice varietal diversity in the mid-hills of Nepal: implications for on-farm conservation and crop improvement

Season-long monitoring of on-farm rice (Oryza sativa, L.) plots in Nepal explored farmers' decision-making process on the deployment of varieties to agroecosystems, application of production inputs to varieties, agronomic practices and relationship between economic return and area planted per variety. Farmers deploy varieties [landraces (LRs) and modern varieties (MVs)] to agroecosystems based on their understanding of characteristics of varieties and agroecosystems, and the interaction between them. In marginal growing conditions, LRs can compete with MVs. Within an agroecosystem, economic return and area planted to varieties have positive relationship, but this is not so between agroecosystems. LRs are very diverse on agronomic and economic traits; therefore, they cannot be rejected a priori as inferior materials without proper evaluation. LRs have to be evaluated for useful traits and utilized in breeding programmes to generate farmer-preferred materials for marginal environments and for their conservation on-farm.

Improvement of link failure restoration utilising multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) as a means to maintain quality of service (QOS)

This paper proposes a practical approach to the enhancement of Quality of Service (QoS) routing by means of providing alternative or repair paths in the event of a breakage of a working path. The proposed scheme guarantees that every Protected Node (PN) is connected to a multi-repair path such that no further failure or breakage of single or double repair paths can cause any simultaneous loss of connectivity between an ingress node and an egress node. Links to be protected in an MPLS network are predefined and a Label Switched path (LSP) request involves the establishment of a working path. The use of multi-protection paths permits the formation of numerous protection paths allowing greater flexibility. Our analysis examined several methods including single, double and multi-repair routes and the prioritization of signals along the protected paths to improve the Quality of Service (QoS), throughput, reduce the cost of the protection path placement, delay, congestion and collision. Results obtained indicated that creating multi-repair paths and prioritizing packets reduces delay and increases throughput in which case the delays at the ingress/egress LSPs were low compared to when the signals had not been classified. Therefore the proposed scheme provided a means to improve the QoS in path restoration in MPLS using available network resources. Prioritizing the packets in the data plane has revealed that the amount of traffic transmitted using a medium and low priority Label Switch Paths (LSPs) does not have any impact on the explicit rate of the high priority LSP in which case the problem of a knock-on effect is eliminated.

An improvement in clear-air turbulence forecasting based on spontaneous imbalance theory: the ULTURB algorithm

Recent research has shown that Lighthill–Ford spontaneous gravity wave generation theory, when applied to numerical model data, can help predict areas of clear-air turbulence. It is hypothesized that this is the case because spontaneously generated atmospheric gravity waves may initiate turbulence by locally modifying the stability and wind shear. As an improvement on the original research, this paper describes the creation of an ‘operational’ algorithm (ULTURB) with three modifications to the original method: (1) extending the altitude range for which the method is effective downward to the top of the boundary layer, (2) adding turbulent kinetic energy production from the environment to the locally produced turbulent kinetic energy production, and, (3) transforming turbulent kinetic energy dissipation to eddy dissipation rate, the turbulence metric becoming the worldwide ‘standard’. In a comparison of ULTURB with the original method and with the Graphical Turbulence Guidance second version (GTG2) automated procedure for forecasting mid- and upper-level aircraft turbulence ULTURB performed better for all turbulence intensities. Since ULTURB, unlike GTG2, is founded on a self-consistent dynamical theory, it may offer forecasters better insight into the causes of the clear-air turbulence and may ultimately enhance its predictability.

Improvement of the GenTHREADER method for genomic fold recognition

Motivation: In order to enhance genome annotation, the fully automatic fold recognition method GenTHREADER has been improved and benchmarked. The previous version of GenTHREADER consisted of a simple neural network which was trained to combine sequence alignment score, length information and energy potentials derived from threading into a single score representing the relationship between two proteins, as designated by CATH. The improved version incorporates PSI-BLAST searches, which have been jumpstarted with structural alignment profiles from FSSP, and now also makes use of PSIPRED predicted secondary structure and bi-directional scoring in order to calculate the final alignment score. Pairwise potentials and solvation potentials are calculated from the given sequence alignment which are then used as inputs to a multi-layer, feed-forward neural network, along with the alignment score, alignment length and sequence length. The neural network has also been expanded to accommodate the secondary structure element alignment (SSEA) score as an extra input and it is now trained to learn the FSSP Z-score as a measurement of similarity between two proteins. Results: The improvements made to GenTHREADER increase the number of remote homologues that can be detected with a low error rate, implying higher reliability of score, whilst also increasing the quality of the models produced. We find that up to five times as many true positives can be detected with low error rate per query. Total MaxSub score is doubled at low false positive rates using the improved method.

Improvement of 3D protein models using multiple templates guided by single-template model quality assessment

Motivation: Modelling the 3D structures of proteins can often be enhanced if more than one fold template is used during the modelling process. However, in many cases, this may also result in poorer model quality for a given target or alignment method. There is a need for modelling protocols that can both consistently and significantly improve 3D models and provide an indication of when models might not benefit from the use of multiple target-template alignments. Here, we investigate the use of both global and local model quality prediction scores produced by ModFOLDclust2, to improve the selection of target-template alignments for the construction of multiple-template models. Additionally, we evaluate clustering the resulting population of multi- and single-template models for the improvement of our IntFOLD-TS tertiary structure prediction method. Results: We find that using accurate local model quality scores to guide alignment selection is the most consistent way to significantly improve models for each of the sequence to structure alignment methods tested. In addition, using accurate global model quality for re-ranking alignments, prior to selection, further improves the majority of multi-template modelling methods tested. Furthermore, subsequent clustering of the resulting population of multiple-template models significantly improves the quality of selected models compared with the previous version of our tertiary structure prediction method, IntFOLD-TS.

Knowledge-based clinical pathway for medical quality improvement

Clinical pathways have been adopted for various diseases in clinical departments for quality improvement as a result of standardization of medical activities in treatment process. Using knowledge-based decision support on the basis of clinical pathways is a promising strategy to improve medical quality effectively. However, the clinical pathway knowledge has not been fully integrated into treatment process and thus cannot provide comprehensive support to the actual work practice. Therefore this paper proposes a knowledgebased clinical pathway management method which contributes to make use of clinical knowledge to support and optimize medical practice. We have developed a knowledgebased clinical pathway management system to demonstrate how the clinical pathway knowledge comprehensively supports the treatment process. The experiences from the use of this system show that the treatment quality can be effectively improved by the extracted and classified clinical pathway knowledge, seamless integration of patient-specific clinical pathway recommendations with medical tasks and the evaluating pathway deviations for optimization.

Integrated clinical pathway management for medical quality improvement-based on a semiotically inspired systems architecture

Clinical pathway is an approach to standardise care processes to support the implementations of clinical guidelines and protocols. It is designed to support the management of treatment processes including clinical and non-clinical activities, resources and also financial aspects. It provides detailed guidance for each stage in the management of a patient with the aim of improving the continuity and coordination of care across different disciplines and sectors. However, in the practical treatment process, the lack of knowledge sharing and information accuracy of paper-based clinical pathways burden health-care staff with a large amount of paper work. This will often result in medical errors, inefficient treatment process and thus poor quality medical services. This paper first presents a theoretical underpinning and a co-design research methodology for integrated pathway management by drawing input from organisational semiotics. An approach to integrated clinical pathway management is then proposed, which aims to embed pathway knowledge into treatment processes and existing hospital information systems. The capability of this approach has been demonstrated through the case study in one of the largest hospitals in China. The outcome reveals that medical quality can be improved significantly by the classified clinical pathway knowledge and seamless integration with hospital information systems.

Key drivers of frontline employee generation of ideas for customer service improvement

Anchored in the service-dominant logic and service innovation literature, this study investigates the drivers of employee generation of ideas for service improvement (GISI). Employee GISI focuses on customer needs and providing the exact service wanted by customers. GISI should enhance competitive advantage and organizational success (cf. Berry et al. 2006; Wang and Netemeyer 2004). Despite its importance, there is little research on the idea generation stage of the service development process (Chai, Zhang, and Tan 2005). This study contributes to the service field by providing the first empirical evaluation of the drivers of GISI. It also investigates a new explanatory determinant of reading of customer needs, namely, perceived organizational support (POS), and an outcome of POS, in the form of emotional exhaustion. Results show that the major driver of GISI is reading of customer needs by employees followed by affective organizational commitment and job satisfaction. This research provides several new and important insights for service management practice by suggesting that special care should be put into selecting and recruiting employees who have the ability to read customer needs. Additionally, organizations should invest in creating work environments that encourage and reward the flow of ideas for service improvement

Corticospinal tract integrity and lesion volume play different roles in chronic hemiparesis and its improvement through motor practice

Background. Initial evidence suggests that the integrity of the ipsilesional corticospinal tract (CST) after stroke is strongly related to motor function in the chronic state but not the treatment gain induced by motor rehabilitation. Objective. We examined the association of motor status and treatment benefit by testing patients with a wide range of severity of hemiparesis of the left and right upper extremity. Method. Diffusion tensor imaging was performed in 22 patients beyond 12 months after onset of stroke with severe to moderate hemiparesis. Motor function was tested before and after 2 weeks of modified constraint-induced movement therapy. Results. CST integrity, but not lesion volume, correlated with the motor ability measures of the Wolf Motor Function Test and the Motor Activity Log. No differences were found between left and right hemiparesis. Motor performance improved significantly with the treatment regime, and did so equally for patients with left and right arm paresis. However, treatment benefit was not associated with either CST integrity or lesion volume. Conclusion. CST integrity correlated best in this small trial with chronic long-term status but not treatment-induced improvements. The CST may play a different role in the mechanisms mediating long-term outcome compared to those underlying practice-induced gains after a chronic plateau in motor function.

Nature of autobiographical memory that facilitates improvement of negative moods

Sakaki, M. (2005). Persons in negative moods often recall their positive experiences to alleviate their affective states. This study investigated the nature of autobiographical memories that facilitate improvement of negative moods. More specifically, it examined the relations between participants' subjective moods and the three natures of recalled memories (the current positivity, the past positivity, and the importance). After 67 participants were induced either negative or neutral moods, they were asked to recall five positive experiences and to rate their affective states. Results indicated that the more important memories participants recalled, the more positive moods they reported after recollection, and that these effects of the importance of autobiographical memories were observed in both negative and neutral moods. In contrast, neither the current positivity of memories nor the past positivity of memories significantly influenced participant's moods in both negative and neutral moods. The mechanism by which the importance of autobiographical memory affects moods was discussed.

Knowledge intensive processes characteristics and improvement: a banking best practice example

This paper identifies characteristics of knowledge intensive processes and a method to improve their performance based on analysis of investment banking front office processes. The inability to improve these processes using standard process improvement techniques confirmed that much of the process was not codified and depended on tacit knowledge and skills. This led to the use of a semi-structured analysis of the characteristics of the processes via a questionnaire to identify knowledge intensive processes characteristics that adds to existing theory. Further work identified innovative process analysis and change techniques that could generate improvements based on an analysis of their properties and the issue drivers. An improvement methodology was developed to harness a number of techniques that were found to effective in resolving the issue drivers and improving these knowledge intensive processes.

The STEP scale: a measure of short-term export performance improvement

This article is a direct response to a recent observation in the literature that managers appear to be short-term oriented in their assessment of the performance of an export venture (Madsen 1998). On the basis of a cross-national survey of exporting firms, the authors present a three-dimensional scale for assessing managerial judgment of short-term export performance (i.e., the STEP scale). The three dimensions are (1) satisfaction with short-term performance improvement, (2) short-term exporting intensity improvement, and (3) expected short-term performance improvement. The scale presents evidence of reliability as well as convergent, discriminant, and nomological validity, and it reveals factorial similarity and factorial equivalence across both samples. The authors outline managerial and public policy implications that stem from the scale and identify avenues for further export marketing research.

Patient and public involvement in healthcare quality improvement: how organizations can help patients and professionals to collaborate

Citizens across the world are increasingly called upon to participate in healthcare improvement. It is often unclear how this can be made to work in practice. This 4- year ethnography of a UK healthcare improvement initiative showed that patients used elements of organizational culture as resources to help them collaborate with healthcare professionals. The four elements were: (1) organizational emphasis on nonhierarchical, multidisciplinary collaboration; (2) organizational staff ability to model desired behaviours of recognition and respect; (3) commitment to rapid action, including quick translation of research into practice; and (4) the constant data collection and reflection process facilitated by improvement methods.

Designing care bundle documentation to support the recognition and treatment of acute kidney injury: a route to quality improvement

The chapter describes development of care bundle documentation, through an iterative, user-centred design process, to support the recognition and treatment of acute kidney injury (AKI). The chapter details stages of user and stakeholder consultation, employed to develop a design response that was sensitive to user experience and need, culminating in simulation testing of a near final prototype. The development of supplementary awareness-raising materials, relating to the main care bundle tool is also discussed. This information design response to a complex clinical decision-making process is contrasted to other approaches to promoting AKI care. The need for different but related approaches to the working tool itself and the tool’s communication are discussed. More general recommendations are made for the development of communication tools to support complex clinical processes.