Category-theoretic fibration as an abstraction mechanism in information systems

This paper examines the problem of establishing a formal relationship of abstraction and refinement between abstract enterprise models and the concrete information systems which implement them. It introduces and justifies a number of reasonableness requirements, which turn out to justify the use of category theoretic concepts, particularly fibrations, to precisely specify a semantics for enterprise models which enables them to be considered as abstractions of the conceptual models from which the implementing information systems are built. The category-theoretic concepts are developed towards the problem of testing whether a system satisfies the fibration axioms, and are applied to case studies to demonstrate their practicability.

Domestic objects and the taste epiphany - A resource for consumption methodology

The presentation of an aesthetic identity involves the accomplishment of a coherent, plausible narrative which links one's choices to desired characteristics of the self. As symbolic evidence of a person's taste, material culture is a vital component of a successful narrative. Via case studies of pivotal household objects, this paper uses face-to-face interview data as a way of investigating processes of aesthetic choice. Household objects are interpreted as material elements imbricated in the presentation of a socially plausible and internally consistent aesthetic self. Narrative analysis, and the concept of the epiphany-object, are proposed as useful ways of accounting for tastes in domestic material culture. Methodological questions of truth-telling and authenticity in the face-to-face context are considered, and the sociological problem of taste is scrutinized in light of ideas about social accountability and textual identity.

Breeding for low input conditions and consequences for participatory plant breeding: Examples from tropical maize and wheat

Participatory plant breeding (PPB) has been suggested as an effective alternative to formal plant breeding (FPB) as a breeding strategy for achieving productivity gains under low input conditions. With genetic progress through PPB and FPB being determined by the same genetic variables, the likelihood of success of PPB approaches applied in low input target conditions was analyzed using two case studies from FPB that have resulted in significant productivity gains under low input conditions: (1) breeding tropical maize for low input conditions by CIMMYT, and (2) breeding of spring wheat for the highly variable low input rainfed farming systems in Australia. In both cases, genetic improvement was an outcome of long-term investment in a sustained research effort aimed at understanding the detail of the important environmental constraints to productivity and the plant requirements for improved adaptation to the identified constraints, followed up by the design and continued evaluation of efficient breeding strategies. The breeding strategies used differed between the two case studies but were consistent in their attention to the key determinants of response to selection: (1) ensuring adequate sources of genetic variation and high selection pressures for the important traits at all stages of the breeding program, (2) use of experimental procedures to achieve high levels of heritability in the breeding trials, and (3) testing strategies that achieved a high genetic correlation between performance of germplasm in the breeding trials and under on-farm conditions. The implications of the outcomes from these FPB case studies for realizing the positive motivations for adopting PPB strategies are discussed with particular reference for low input target environment conditions.

A multiple-outgroup approach to resolving division-level phylogenetic relationships using 16S rDNA data

The 16S rRNA gene (16S rDNA) is currently the most widely used gene for estimating the evolutionary history of prokaryotes, To date, there are more than 30 000 16S rDNA sequences available from the core databases, GenBank, EMBL and DDBJ, This great number may cause a dilemma when composing datasets for phylogenetic analysis, since the choice and number of reference organisms are known to affect the resulting tree topology. A group of sequences appearing monophyletic in one dataset may not be so in another. This can be especially problematic when establishing the relationships of distantly related sequences at the division (phylum) level. In this study, a multiple-outgroup approach to resolving division-level phylogenetic relationships is suggested using 16S rDNA data. The approach is illustrated by two case studies concerning the monophyly of two recently proposed bacterial divisions, OP9 and OP10.

Advances in application of climate prediction in agriculture

Agricultural ecosystems and their associated business and government systems are diverse and varied. They range from farms, to input supply businesses, to marketing and government policy systems, among others. These systems are dynamic and responsive to fluctuations in climate. Skill in climate prediction offers considerable opportunities to managers via its potential to realise system improvements (i.e. increased food production and profit and/or reduced risks). Realising these opportunities, however, is not straightforward as the forecasting skill is imperfect and approaches to applying the existing skill to management issues have not been developed and tested extensively. While there has been much written about impacts of climate variability, there has been relatively little done in relation to applying knowledge of climate predictions to modify actions ahead of likely impacts. However, a considerable body of effort in various parts of the world is now being focused on this issue of applying climate predictions to improve agricultural systems. In this paper, we outline the basis for climate prediction, with emphasis on the El Nino-Southern Oscillation phenomenon, and catalogue experiences at field, national and global scales in applying climate predictions to agriculture. These diverse experiences are synthesised to derive general lessons about approaches to applying climate prediction in agriculture. The case studies have been selected to represent a diversity of agricultural systems and scales of operation. They also represent the on-going activities of some of the key research and development groups in this field around the world. The case studies include applications at field/farm scale to dryland cropping systems in Australia, Zimbabwe, and Argentina. This spectrum covers resource-rich and resource-poor farming with motivations ranging from profit to food security. At national and global scale we consider possible applications of climate prediction in commodity forecasting (wheat in Australia) and examine implications on global wheat trade and price associated with global consequences of climate prediction. In cataloguing these experiences we note some general lessons. Foremost is the value of an interdisciplinary systems approach in connecting disciplinary Knowledge in a manner most suited to decision-makers. This approach often includes scenario analysis based oil simulation with credible models as a key aspect of the learning process. Interaction among researchers, analysts and decision-makers is vital in the development of effective applications all of the players learn. Issues associated with balance between information demand and supply as well as appreciation of awareness limitations of decision-makers, analysts, and scientists are highlighted. It is argued that understanding and communicating decision risks is one of the keys to successful applications of climate prediction. We consider that advances of the future will be made by better connecting agricultural scientists and practitioners with the science of climate prediction. Professions involved in decision making must take a proactive role in the development of climate forecasts if the design and use of climate predictions are to reach their full potential. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Information internalisation in internationalising the firm

Internationalisation occurs when the firm expands its selling, production, or other business activities into international markets. Many enterprises, especially small- and medium-size firms (SMEs), are internationalising today at an unprecedented rate. Managers are strategically using information to achieve degrees of internationalisation previously considered the domain of large firms. We extend existing explanations of firm internationalisation by examining the nature and fundamental, antecedent role of internalising appropriate information and translating it into relevant knowledge. Based on case studies of internationalising firms, we advance a conceptualisation of information internalisation and knowledge creation within the firm as it achieves internationalisation readiness. In the process, we offer several propositions intended to guide future research. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.

Strategic maintenance management

The approach to maintenance management has changed over the last one hundred years. Over the last few years, the Reliability Engineering and Risk Management Group (RERMG) at the University of Queensland has developed an approach called the strategic maintenance management (SMM) approach. The paper outlines the approach and contrasts it with the current approaches. It then discusses the industry-university partnership in the implementation of this approach and the current activities at the University of Queensland to assist industry in the implementation of the SMM approach.

Up close and personal on physical education teachers' identity: Is conflict an issue?

Much of the research on teachers' work is informed by role theory, that assumes teachers' identity is largely ascribed. When there are inconsistencies in teachers' and others' expectations for different occupational roles such as physical education teacher and sports coach, 'role conflict' is said to occur. This stud), sought to investigate if role conflict was a major concern for Australian physical education teacher/coaches. Findings, informed by case studies with five teacher/coaches, challenge the assumption that moving between professional responsibilities causes role conflict. Rather, in moving across contexts, the physical education teachers managed inconsistencies in ways that resulted in positive and rawarding work experiences.

Supply chain management as beyond operational efficiency

The orthodoxy of supply chain management (SCM) emphasises competitive advantage through increased operational efficiency and market responsiveness from production and distribution processes into the hands of consumers. It anticipates that future competition will be between chains rather than between firms. While well established in other industry sectors, the SCM concept is newly developed in the Australian agri-food sector. Critical review of the concept has identified key issues of power among channel members, processes of chain initiation and innovation, and the inability of SCM to offer a viable business strategy for some firms. Building on those insights, this paper examines the supply chain concept for horticulture. Horticultural products are characterised by perishability, heterogeneity and lags in production response to market signals. Producers’ profits are vulnerable to quantity, timing of supply and product specification. Many supply chains in smaller industries are loose, fragmented, interwoven, unstable and unique! Firms operating within these environments need an astute understanding of the chains, the hierarchy of channel members and their relative position. Effective business strategies – for individual firms and supply chains - need to be developed and redeveloped to accommodate the dynamic nature of horticulture. Two case studies are discussed as contributions to this early stage of the theoretical development of supply chain management. The SCM concept also has implications for horticultural researchers, involving a wider range of industry stakeholders, technical problems and research skills. As for business management, the usefulness of the concept will depend on its capacity to increase responsiveness to customers’ preferences and customer value.

Review of Voices from the shopfloor: Dramas of the employment relationship,/by Anne-Marie Greene. Aldershot : Ashgate, 2001

This research monograph seeks, as the author puts it, ‘to demonstrate the utility of ethnographic research methods to industrial relations in the developing world’. To this end, the author provides case studies of two lock factories in the West Midlands of England, with data sourced from interviews and observations by the author during a period of two decades in the case of one, and a rather shorter period in the case of the other. The insights gleaned from these two case studies are then considered in the light of the ethnographic literature on industrial relations in the developing world. The body of the book comprises three main chapters which successively examine the issues of paternalism, gender and family, and collective action in the two factories.

The variety of variables in automated real-time refinement

The refinement calculus is a well-established theory for deriving program code from specifications. Recent research has extended the theory to handle timing requirements, as well as functional ones, and we have developed an interactive programming tool based on these extensions. Through a number of case studies completed using the tool, this paper explains how the tool helps the programmer by supporting the many forms of variables needed in the theory. These include simple state variables as in the untimed calculus, trace variables that model the evolution of properties over time, auxiliary variables that exist only to support formal reasoning, subroutine parameters, and variables shared between parallel processes.

Using the flexibility index to compare batch and continuous activated sludge processes

This paper considers the question of which is better: the batch or the continuous activated sludge processes? It is an important question because dissension still exists in the wastewater industry as to the relative merits of each of the processes. A review of perceived differences in the processes from the point of view of two related disciplines, process engineering and biotechnology, is presented together with the results of previous comparative studies. These reviews highlight possible areas where more understanding is required. This is provided in the paper by application of the flexibility index to two case studies. The flexibility index is a useful process design tool that measures the ability of the process to cope with long term changes in operation.

API documentation with executable examples

The rise of component-based software development has created an urgent need for effective application program interface (API) documentation. Experience has shown that it is hard to create precise and readable documentation. Prose documentation can provide a good overview but lacks precision. Formal methods offer precision but the resulting documentation is expensive to develop. Worse, few developers have the skill or inclination to read formal documentation. We present a pragmatic solution to the problem of API documentation. We augment the prose documentation with executable test cases, including expected outputs, and use the prose plus the test cases as the documentation. With appropriate tool support, the test cases are easy to develop and read. Such test cases constitute a completely formal, albeit partial, specification of input/output behavior. Equally important, consistency between code and documentation is demonstrated by running the test cases. This approach provides an attractive bridge between formal and informal documentation. We also present a tool that supports compact and readable test cases; and generation of test drivers and documentation, and illustrate the approach with detailed case studies. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.

The Lake Tekapo experiment (LTEX): An investigation of atmospheric boundary layer processes in complex terrain

A research program on atmospheric boundary layer processes and local wind regimes in complex terrain was conducted in the vicinity of Lake Tekapo in the southern Alps of New Zealand, during two 1-month field campaigns in 1997 and 1999. The effects of the interaction of thermal and dynamic forcing were of specific interest, with a particular focus on the interaction of thermal forcing of differing scales. The rationale and objectives of the field and modeling program are described, along with the methodology used to achieve them. Specific research aims include improved knowledge of the role of surface forcing associated with varying energy balances across heterogeneous terrain, thermal influences on boundary layer and local wind development, and dynamic influences of the terrain through channeling effects. Data were collected using a network of surface meteorological and energy balance stations, radiosonde and pilot balloon soundings, tethered balloon and kite-based systems, sodar, and an instrumented light aircraft. These data are being used to investigate the energetics of surface heat fluxes, the effects of localized heating/cooling and advective processes on atmospheric boundary layer development, and dynamic channeling. A complementary program of numerical modeling includes application of the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS) to case studies characterizing typical boundary layer structures and airflow patterns observed around Lake Tekapo. Some initial results derived from the special observation periods are used to illustrate progress made to date. In spite of the difficulties involved in obtaining good data and undertaking modeling experiments in such complex terrain, initial results show that surface thermal heterogeneity has a significant influence on local atmospheric structure and wind fields in the vicinity of the lake. This influence occurs particularly in the morning. However, dynamic channeling effects and the larger-scale thermal effect of the mountain region frequently override these more local features later in the day.

On measuring quality of a probabilistic commodity forecast for a system that incorporates seasonal climate forecasts

Regional commodity forecasts are being used increasingly in agricultural industries to enhance their risk management and decision-making processes. These commodity forecasts are probabilistic in nature and are often integrated with a seasonal climate forecast system. The climate forecast system is based on a subset of analogue years drawn from the full climatological distribution. In this study we sought to measure forecast quality for such an integrated system. We investigated the quality of a commodity (i.e. wheat and sugar) forecast based on a subset of analogue years in relation to a standard reference forecast based on the full climatological set. We derived three key dimensions of forecast quality for such probabilistic forecasts: reliability, distribution shift, and change in dispersion. A measure of reliability was required to ensure no bias in the forecast distribution. This was assessed via the slope of the reliability plot, which was derived from examination of probability levels of forecasts and associated frequencies of realizations. The other two dimensions related to changes in features of the forecast distribution relative to the reference distribution. The relationship of 13 published accuracy/skill measures to these dimensions of forecast quality was assessed using principal component analysis in case studies of commodity forecasting using seasonal climate forecasting for the wheat and sugar industries in Australia. There were two orthogonal dimensions of forecast quality: one associated with distribution shift relative to the reference distribution and the other associated with relative distribution dispersion. Although the conventional quality measures aligned with these dimensions, none measured both adequately. We conclude that a multi-dimensional approach to assessment of forecast quality is required and that simple measures of reliability, distribution shift, and change in dispersion provide a means for such assessment. The analysis presented was also relevant to measuring quality of probabilistic seasonal climate forecasting systems. The importance of retaining a focus on the probabilistic nature of the forecast and avoiding simplifying, but erroneous, distortions was discussed in relation to applying this new forecast quality assessment paradigm to seasonal climate forecasts. Copyright (K) 2003 Royal Meteorological Society.