Critical path scheduling : a preliminary literature search /

Includes index.

Critical path scheduling : a preliminary literature search /

Includes index.

Production and body composition traits of broilers in relation to breast weight evaluated by path analysis

Breast weight has great economic importance in poultry industry, and may be associated with other variables. This work aimed to estimate phenotypic correlations between performance (live body weight at 7 and 28 days, and at slaughter, and depth of the breast muscle measured by ultrasonography), carcass (eviscerated body weight and leg weight) and body composition (heart, liver and abdominal fat weight) traits in a broiler line, and quantify the direct and indirect influence of these traits on breast weight. Path analysis was used by expanding the matrix of partial correlation in coefficients which give the direct influence of one trait on another, regardless the effect of the other traits. The simultaneous maintenance of live body weight at slaughter and eviscerated body weight in the matrix of correlations might be harmful for statistical analysis involving systems of normal equations, like path analysis, due to the observed multicollinearity. The live body weight at slaughter and the depth of the breast muscle as measured by ultrasonography directly affected breast weight and were identified as the most responsible factors for the magnitude of the correlation coefficients obtained between the studied traits and breast weight. Individual pre-selection for these traits could favor an increased breast weight in the future reproducer candidates of this line if the broilers' environmental conditions and housing are maintained, since the live body weight at slaughter and the depth of breast muscle measured by ultrasonography were directly related to breast weight.

Does using stepwise variable selection to build sequential path analysis models make sense?

Causal inference methods - mainly path analysis and structural equation modeling - offer plant physiologists information about cause-and-effect relationships among plant traits. Recently, an unusual approach to causal inference through stepwise variable selection has been proposed and used in various works on plant physiology. The approach should not be considered correct from a biological point of view. Here, it is explained why stepwise variable selection should not be used for causal inference, and shown what strange conclusions can be drawn based upon the former analysis when one aims to interpret cause-and-effect relationships among plant traits.

Phenotypic correlations and path analysis for plant architecture traits and grain production in three generations of cowpea

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to analyze the phenotypic correlation and path analysis of traits related to plant architecture, earliness and grain yield in F2, BC1 and BC2 generations, from crosses between cowpea cultivars BRS Carijó and BR14 Mulato. Most phenotypic correlations of the examined traits were concordant in statistical significance, with approximate values ​​among the examined generations. For the trait seed weight, significant and positive phenotypic correlations were observed in the three generations only for the trait number of secondary branches. The values ​​of the direct effects were in agreement with the values ​​of the phenotypic correlations, which indicate true association by the phenotypic correlation among the traits of grain yield examined. Path analysis indicated that the selection of productive plants will result in early plants and an increased number of secondary branches. In F2, plants with shorter length of the main branch and shorter length of secondary branches can be obtained. The causal model explained 15 to 30% of the total variation in grain weight in relation to the traits examined. The analyses indicated the possibility of selecting plants with a higher and early grain yield, shorter length of primary branches and lower number of nodes, which are important variables for mechanical or semi-mechanical harvesting.

Determination of the most suitable oil pipeline route using GIS least cost path analysis

The Keystone XL has a big role for transforming Canadian oil to the USA. The function of the pipeline is decreasing the dependency of the American oil industry on other countries and it will help to limit external debt. The proposed pipeline seeks the most suitable route which cannot damage agricultural and natural water recourses such as the Ogallala Aquifer. Using the Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques, the suggested path in this study got extremely high correct results that will help in the future to use the least cost analysis for similar studies. The route analysis contains different weighted overlay surfaces, each, was influenced by various criteria (slope, geology, population and land use). The resulted least cost path routes for each weighted overlay surface were compared with the original proposed pipeline and each displayed surface was more effective than the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.

Media(ted) discourse and society: rethinking the framework of critical discourse analysis

The analysis of journalistic discourse and its social embeddedness has known significant advances in the last two decades, especially due to the emergence and development of Critical Discourse Analysis. However, three important aspects remain under-researched: the time plane in discourse analysis, the discursive strategies of social actors, and the extra- and supra-textual effects of mediated discourse. Firstly, understanding the biography of public matters requires a longitudinal examination of mediated texts and their social contexts but most forms of analysis of journalistic discourse do not account for the time sequence of texts and its implications. Secondly, as the media representation of social issues is, to a large extent, a function of the discursive construction of events, problems and positions by social actors, the discursive strategies that they employ in a variety of arenas and channels ‘‘before’’ and ‘‘after’’ journalistic texts need to be examined. Thirdly, the fact that many of the modes of operation of discourse are extra- or supra-textual calls for a consideration of various social processes ‘‘outside’’ the text. This paper aims to produce a theoretical and methodological contribution to the integration of these issues in discourse analysis by proposing a framework that combines a textual dimension with a contextual one

Identifying the Role of Final Consumption in Structural Path Analysis: An Application to Water Uses

The complexity of the connexions within an economic system can only be reliably reflected in academic research if powerful methods are used. Researchers have used Structural Path Analysis (SPA) to capture not only the linkages within the production system but also the propagation of the effects into different channels of impacts. However, the SPA literature has restricted itself to showing the relations among sectors of production, while the connections between these sectors and final consumption have attracted little attention. In order to consider the complete set of channels involved, in this paper we propose a structural path method that endogenously incorporates not only sectors of production but also the final consumption of the economy. The empirical application comprises water usages, and analyses the dissemination of exogenous impacts into various channels of water consumption. The results show that the responsibility for water stress is imputed to different sectors and depends on the hypothesis used for the role played by final consumption in the model. This highlights the importance of consumers’ decisions in the determination of ecological impacts. Keywords: Input-Output Analysis, Structural Path Analysis, Final Consumption, Water uses.

Repeatability, correlation and path analysis of physical and chemical characteristics of peach fruits

This study aimed to determine the number of measurements necessary to evaluate physical and chemical characteristics of peach fruits, study the relationships between them and their direct and indirect effects on the content of ascorbic acid and total carotenoids. The characteristics skin and pulp color, fruit weight, suture, equatorial and polar diameters, firmness, soluble solids (SS), titratable acidity (TA), SS/TA ratio, ascorbic acid and total carotenoids were evaluated in 39 cultivars of peach and 3 cultivars of nectarine from the orchard of the Universidade Federal de Viçosa. The repeatability coefficient was estimated by ANOVA and CPCOR. Phenotypic correlation coefficients (rf) were estimated and, after the multicollinearity diagnostics, they were unfolded to direct and indirect effects of the explanatory variables on the response variable using path analysis. There was agreement on the magnitude of repeatability coefficients obtained by the two methods; however, they varied among the 14 characteristics. The highest correlations were found between FW, SD, ED and PD. Seven fruits are sufficient to evaluate the physical and chemical characteristics of peach with a correlation coefficient of 90%. The characteristics considered in the path diagrams (b* skin, hº skin, b* pulp, hº pulp, ED, PD, FIR, SS, SS/AT and TC) are not the main determinants of the ascorbic acid. The yellow hue of the pulp (hº pulp) has the potential to be used in indirect selection for total carotenoids.

Representations of work and worker in the three generations of knowledge management. Critical Discourse Analysis of selected texts.

The thesis studies the representations of different elements of contemporary work as present in Knowledge Management (KM). KM is approached as management discourse that is seen to affect and influence managerial practices in organizations. As representatives of KM discourse four journal articles are analyzed, using the methodology of Critical Discourse Analysis and the framework of Critical Management Studies, with a special emphasis on the question of structure and agency. The results of the analysis reveal that structural elements such as information technology and organizational structures are strongly present in the most influential KM representations, making their improvement also a desirable course of action for managers. In contrast agentic properties are not in a central role, they are subjugated to structural constraints of varying kind and degree. The thesis claims that one such constraint is KM discourse itself, influencing managerial and organizational choices and decision making. The thesis concludes that the way human beings are represented, studied and treated in management studies such as KM needs to be re-examined. Pro gradu-tutkielmassa analysoidaan työhön ja sen tekijään liittyviä representaatioita Tietojohtamisen kirjallisuudessa. Tietojohtamista tarkastellaan liikkeenjohdollisena diskurssina, jolla nähdään olevan vaikutus organisaatioiden päätöksentekoon ja toimintaan. Tutkielmassa analysoidaan neljä Tietojohtamisen tieteellistä artikkelia, käyttäen metodina kriittistä diskurssianalyysiä. Tutkielman viitekehyksenä on kriittinen liikkeenjohdon tutkimus. Lisäksi työssä pohditaan kysymystä rakenteen ja toimijan välisestä vuorovaikutuksesta. Tutkielman analyysi paljastaa, että tietojohtamisen vaikutusvaltaisimmat representaatiot painottavat rakenteellisia tekijöitä, kuten informaatioteknologiaa ja organisaatiorakenteita. Tämän seurauksena mm. panostukset em. tekijöihin nähdään organisaatioissa toivottavana toimintana. Vastaavasti representaatiot jotka painottavat yksilöitä ja toimintaa ovat em. tekijöille alisteisessa asemassa. Tapaa, jolla yksilöitä kuvataan ja käsitellään Tietojohtamisen diskurssissa, tulisikin laajentaa ja monipuolistaa.

Tracing the associations between sex, the atypical and the combined atypical-melancholic depression subtypes: A path analysis.

BACKGROUND: Numerous studies have examined determinants leading to preponderance of women in major depressive disorder (MDD), which is particularly accentuated for the atypical depression subtype. It is thus of interest to explore the specific indirect effects influencing the association between sex and established depression subtypes. METHODS: The data of 1624 subjects with a lifetime diagnosis of MDD derived from the population-based PsyCoLaus data were used. An atypical (n=256), a melancholic (n=422), a combined atypical and melancholic features subtype (n=198), and an unspecified MDD group (n=748) were constructed according to the DSM-IV specifiers. Path models with direct and indirect effects were applied to the data. RESULTS: Partial mediation of the female-related atypical and combined atypical-melancholic depression subtypes was found. Early anxiety disorders and high emotion-orientated coping acted as mediating variables between sex and the atypical depression subtype. In contrast, high Body Mass Index (BMI) served as a suppression variable, also concerning the association between sex and the combined atypical-melancholic subtype. The latter association was additionally mediated by an early age of MDD onset and early/late anxiety disorders. LIMITATIONS: The use of cross-sectional data does not allow causal conclusions. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study that provides evidence for a differentiation of the general mechanisms explaining sex differences of overall MDD by depression subtypes. Determinants affecting the pathways begin early in life. Since some of them are primarily of behavioral nature, the present findings could be a valuable target in mental health care.