Scientific statistics and graphics on the Macintosh

The personal computer has become commonplace on the desk of most scientists. As hardware costs have plummeted, software capabilities have expanded enormously, permitting the scientist to examine extremely large datasets in novel ways. Advances in networking now permit rapid transfer of large datasets, which can often be used unchanged from one machine to the next. In spite of these significant advances, many scientists still use their personal computers only for word processing or e-mail, or as "dumb terminals". Many are simply unaware of the richness of software now available to statistically analyze and display scientific data in highly innovative ways. This paper presents several examples drawn from actual climate data analysis that illustrate some novel and practical features of several widely-used software packages for Macintosh computers.

Catalogue of EAFFRO scientific archives

Besides the formal publications held in the library (books, annual reports. Journals and reprints) a considerable quantity of unpublished Information on subjects relevant to freshwater fisheries in East Africa is held on various departmental files, etc.in Jinja. This material is extremely valuable: firstly because it is usually of immediate reference to current research work at EAFFRO, and secondly because it usually exists only as original material: no other copies are available elsewhere.

A survey of research and scientific services in East Africa, 1947-56

This "Survey of Research and Scientific Services in East Arica 1947-1956" has been prepared by Dr. E. B. Worthington, who held the post of Scientific Secretary in the Office of the Chief Secretary to the East African Governor's Conference and subsequently in the Administrator's Office of the East Mrica High Commission during the period January, 1947-May, 1951. Dr. Worthington is now Secretary General of the Scientific Council for, Arica South of the Sahara

How to avoid the problems of target-setting

Purpose: Advocates and critics of target-setting in the workplace seem unable to reach beyond their own well-entrenched battle lines. While the advocates of goal-directed behaviour point to what they see as demonstrable advantages, the critics of target-setting highlight equally demonstrable disadvantages. Indeed, the academic literature on this topic is currently mired in controversy, with neither side seemingly capable of envisaging a better way forward. This paper seeks to break the current deadlock and move thinking forward in this important aspect of performance measurement and management by outlining a new, more fruitful approach, based on both theory and practical experience. Design/methodology/approach: The topic was approached in three phases: assembling and reading key academic and other literature on the subject of target-setting and goal-directed behaviour, with a view to understanding, in depth, the arguments advanced by the advocates and critics of target-setting; comparing these published arguments with one's own experiential findings, in order to bring the essence of disagreement into much sharper focus; and then bringing to bear the academic and practical experience to identify the essential elements of a new, more fruitful approach offering all the benefits of goal-directed behaviour with none of the typical disadvantages of target-setting. Findings: The research led to three key findings: the advocates of goal-directed behaviour and critics of target-setting each make valid points, as seen from their own current perspectives; the likelihood of these two communities, left to themselves, ever reaching a new synthesis, seems vanishingly small (with leading thinkers in the goal-directed behaviour community already acknowledging this); and, between the three authors, it was discovered that their unusual combination of academic study and practical experience enabled them to see things differently. Hence, they would like to share their new thinking more widely. Research limitations/implications: The authors fully accept that their paper is informed by extensive practical experience and, as yet, there have been no opportunities to test their findings, conclusions and recommendations through rigorous academic research. However, they hope that the paper will move thinking forward in this arena, thereby informing future academic research. Practical implications: The authors hope that the practical implications of the paper will be significant, as it outlines a novel way for organisations to capture the benefits of goal-directed behaviour with none of the disadvantages typically associated with target-setting. Social implications: Given that increased efficiency and effectiveness in the management of organisations would be good for society, the authors think the paper has interesting social implications. Originality/value: Leading thinkers in the field of goal-directed behaviour, such as Locke and Latham, and leading critics of target-setting, such as Ordóñez et al. continue to argue with one another - much like, at the turn of the nineteenth century, proponents of the "wave theory of light" and proponents of the "particle theory of light" were similarly at loggerheads. Just as this furious scientific debate was ultimately resolved by Taylor's experiment, showing that light could behave both as a particle and wave at the same time, the authors believe that the paper demonstrates that goal-directed behaviour and target-setting can successfully co-exist. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Quantifying the uncertainties in life cycle greenhouse gas emissions for UK wheat ethanol

Biofuels are increasingly promoted worldwide as a means for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from transport. However, current regulatory frameworks and most academic life cycle analyses adopt a deterministic approach in determining the GHG intensities of biofuels and thus ignore the inherent risk associated with biofuel production. This study aims to develop a transparent stochastic method for evaluating UK biofuels that determines both the magnitude and uncertainty of GHG intensity on the basis of current industry practices. Using wheat ethanol as a case study, we show that the GHG intensity could span a range of 40-110 gCO2e MJ-1 when land use change (LUC) emissions and various sources of uncertainty are taken into account, as compared with a regulatory default value of 44 gCO2e MJ-1. This suggests that the current deterministic regulatory framework underestimates wheat ethanol GHG intensity and thus may not be effective in evaluating transport fuels. Uncertainties in determining the GHG intensity of UK wheat ethanol include limitations of available data at a localized scale, and significant scientific uncertainty of parameters such as soil N2O and LUC emissions. Biofuel polices should be robust enough to incorporate the currently irreducible uncertainties and flexible enough to be readily revised when better science is available. © 2013 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Intelligence in Scientific Computing

Combining numerical techniques with ideas from symbolic computation and with methods incorporating knowledge of science and mathematics leads to a new category of intelligent computational tools for scientists and engineers. These tools autonomously prepare simulation experiments from high-level specifications of physical models. For computationally intensive experiments, they automatically design special-purpose numerical engines optimized to perform the necessary computations. They actively monitor numerical and physical experiments. They interpret experimental data and formulate numerical results in qualitative terms. They enable their human users to control computational experiments in terms of high-level behavioral descriptions.

Compiling Scientific Code Using Partial Evaluation

Scientists are faced with a dilemma: either they can write abstract programs that express their understanding of a problem, but which do not execute efficiently; or they can write programs that computers can execute efficiently, but which are difficult to write and difficult to understand. We have developed a compiler that uses partial evaluation and scheduling techniques to provide a solution to this dilemma.