Schematic Representation of Case Study Research Designs

Aim. The paper is a report of a study to demonstrate how the use of schematics can provide procedural clarity and promote rigour in the conduct of case study research. Background. Case study research is a methodologically flexible approach to research design that focuses on a particular case – whether an individual, a collective or a phenomenon of interest. It is known as the 'study of the particular' for its thorough investigation of particular, real-life situations and is gaining increased attention in nursing and social research. However, the methodological flexibility it offers can leave the novice researcher uncertain of suitable procedural steps required to ensure methodological rigour. Method. This article provides a real example of a case study research design that utilizes schematic representation drawn from a doctoral study of the integration of health promotion principles and practices into a palliative care organization. Discussion. The issues discussed are: (1) the definition and application of case study research design; (2) the application of schematics in research; (3) the procedural steps and their contribution to the maintenance of rigour; and (4) the benefits and risks of schematics in case study research. Conclusion. The inclusion of visual representations of design with accompanying explanatory text is recommended in reporting case study research methods.

Methodological challenges when estimating the effects of season and seasonal exposures on birth outcomes

Background Many previous studies have found seasonal patterns in birth outcomes, but with little agreement about which season poses the highest risk. Some of the heterogeneity between studies may be explained by a previously unknown bias. The bias occurs in retrospective cohorts which include all births occurring within a fixed start and end date, which means shorter pregnancies are missed at the start of the study, and longer pregnancies are missed at the end. Our objective was to show the potential size of this bias and how to avoid it. Methods To demonstrate the bias we simulated a retrospective birth cohort with no seasonal pattern in gestation and used a range of cohort end dates. As a real example, we used a cohort of 114,063 singleton births in Brisbane between 1 July 2005 and 30 June 2009 and examined the bias when estimating changes in gestation length associated with season (using month of conception) and a seasonal exposure (temperature). We used survival analyses with temperature as a time-dependent variable. Results We found strong artificial seasonal patterns in gestation length by month of conception, which depended on the end date of the study. The bias was avoided when the day and month of the start date was just before the day and month of the end date (regardless of year), so that the longer gestations at the start of the study were balanced by the shorter gestations at the end. After removing the fixed cohort bias there was a noticeable change in the effect of temperature on gestation length. The adjusted hazard ratios were flatter at the extremes of temperature but steeper between 15 and 25°C. Conclusions Studies using retrospective birth cohorts should account for the fixed cohort bias by removing selected births to get unbiased estimates of seasonal health effects.

Weighted rank regression for clustered data analysis

We consider ranked-based regression models for clustered data analysis. A weighted Wilcoxon rank method is proposed to take account of within-cluster correlations and varying cluster sizes. The asymptotic normality of the resulting estimators is established. A method to estimate covariance of the estimators is also given, which can bypass estimation of the density function. Simulation studies are carried out to compare different estimators for a number of scenarios on the correlation structure, presence/absence of outliers and different correlation values. The proposed methods appear to perform well, in particular, the one incorporating the correlation in the weighting achieves the highest efficiency and robustness against misspecification of correlation structure and outliers. A real example is provided for illustration.

Realisation of University-Industry Collaboration through Industry-Based Learning at Indonesian Higher Education

The collaboration between universities and industries has become increasingly important for the development of Science and Technology. This is particularly more prominent in the Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Literature suggest that the key element of University-Industry Partnership (UIP) is the exchange of knowledge that is mutually beneficial for both parties. One real example of the collaborations is Industry-Based Learning (IBL) in which university students are coming into industries to experience and learn how the skills and knowledge acquired in the classroom are implemented in work places. This paper investigate how the University-Industry Collaboration program is implemented though Industry-Based Learning (IBL) at Indonesian Universities. The research findings offer useful insights and create a new knowledge in the field of STEM education and collaborative learning. The research will contribute to existing knowledge by providing empirical understanding of this topic. The outcomes can be used to improve the quality of University-Industry Partnership programs at Indonesian Universities and inform Indonesian higher education authorities and their industrial partners of an alternative approach to enhance their IBL programs.

Numerical Simulation of Transient Thermal Field in Laser Melting Process

Numerical simulation of thermal field was studied in laser processing. The 3-D finite element model of transient thermal calculation is given by thermal conductive equation. The effects of phase transformation latent are considered. Numerical example is given to verify the model. Finally the real example of transient thermal field is given.

Implementing Integrated Water Resources Management in the Ebro River Basin: From Theory to Facts

JA-925

Product intelligence in warehouse management: A case study

The need for more flexible, adaptable and customer-oriented warehouse operations has been increasingly identified as an important issue by today's warehouse companies due to the rapidly changing preferences of the customers that use their services. Motivated by manufacturing and other logistics operations, in this paper we argue on the potential application of product intelligence in warehouse operations as an approach that can help warehouse companies address these issues. We discuss the opportunities of such an approach using a real example of a third-party-logistics warehouse company and we present the benefits it can bring in their warehouse management systems. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.

Temporal aggregation and bandwidth selection in estimating long memory

This paper reinterprets results of Ohanissian et al (2003) to show the asymptotic equivalence of temporally aggregating series and using less bandwidth in estimating long memory by Geweke and Porter-Hudak’s (1983) estimator, provided that the same number of periodogram ordinates is used in both cases. This equivalence is in the sense that their joint distribution is asymptotically normal with common mean and variance and unity correlation. Furthermore, I prove that the same applies to the estimator of Robinson (1995). Monte Carlo simulations show that this asymptotic equivalence is a good approximation in finite samples. Moreover, a real example with the daily US Dollar/French Franc exchange rate series is provided.

A construção e estruturação do território comercial no bairro Alecrim Natal/RN

The study done has as objective the comprehension of the constructed territorial spaces through the commercial perspective, because it is a social practice which enables the dynamic of the space and the appearing of territories. Related to the territory, we emphasized the interest for the idea of used territory treated by Milton Santos, because we agreed with him believing that is the use of the territory which warrants its legitimacy. Then, the spatial dimension chose concentrates itself into the district of Alecrim, localized at the east zone of Natal/RN, where it is recognized by its strong commercial dynamic which was built during years, facing some events which happened in the context of the city. However, this dynamic counts with a hard dichotomy which involves as the considered by the State formal activities, as the informal one. About the commerce of the district, it has characteristics into its activities whose make him to be considered popular, as by the existing products, as by the strong presence of informal workers that constitutes the district s landscape. The informal workers practice expresses one of the multiples constructed alternative territorialities. We believe that this fact has direct relation with the growing process of the exclusion from the formal jobs market. Still talking about the spatial dimension, this real example of the Alecrim district shows how the techniques changes, together with the capitalism process, may influence one entire spatial dynamic across years, involving many agents, since the transient people from somewhere, until the State. Shall the Geography understand the multiple forms from the space, face to the relations that occur into it and also how new territories have been built

A Generalized Log-Normal Model for Grouped Survival Data

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Reliability assessment of energy limited systems using sequential montecarlo simulation

This paper explains why the reliability assessment of energy limited systems requires more detailed models for primary generating resources availability, internal and external generating dispatch and customer demand than the ones commonly used for large power systems and presents a methodology based on the full sequential Montecarlo simulation technique with AC power flow for their long term reliability assessment which can properly include these detailed models. By means of a real example, it is shown how the simplified modeling traditionally used for large power systems leads to pessimistic predictions if it is applied to an energy limited system and also that it cannot predict all the load point adequacy problems. © 2006 IEEE.

Cerrado e plantas medicinais: algumas reflexões sobre o uso e a conservação

Cerrado is the second biggest biome of Brazil. The broadest floristic diversity includes many species with medicinal properties. First, in this study was highlighted some important aspects that known Cerrado at Brazilian environmental sitting and main problems of impacts at the biome by the inside of our country. Second, a bibliographic search was presented to point uses and importance of plants at treatments, setting some examples of Cerrado’s species that has medicinal properties. Then, a reflection about the relation of use, popular knowledge and the local communities participation at the construction of conservationist and sustainable thoughts. Finally, a real example of conservation based on traditional knowledge in a riverain population.

Design and implementation of an anonymous peer-to-peer iaas cloud

Cloud services are becoming ever more important for everyone's life. Cloud storage? Web mails? Yes, we don't need to be working in big IT companies to be surrounded by cloud services. Another thing that's growing in importance, or at least that should be considered ever more important, is the concept of privacy. The more we rely on services of which we know close to nothing about, the more we should be worried about our privacy. In this work, I will analyze a prototype software based on a peer to peer architecture for the offering of cloud services, to see if it's possible to make it completely anonymous, meaning that not only the users using it will be anonymous, but also the Peers composing it will not know the real identity of each others. To make it possible, I will make use of anonymizing networks like Tor. I will start by studying the state of art of Cloud Computing, by looking at some real example, followed by analyzing the architecture of the prototype, trying to expose the differences between its distributed nature and the somehow centralized solutions offered by the famous vendors. After that, I will get as deep as possible into the working principle of the anonymizing networks, because they are not something that can just be 'applied' mindlessly. Some de-anonymizing techniques are very subtle so things must be studied carefully. I will then implement the required changes, and test the new anonymized prototype to see how its performances differ from those of the standard one. The prototype will be run on many machines, orchestrated by a tester script that will automatically start, stop and do all the required API calls. As to where to find all these machines, I will make use of Amazon EC2 cloud services and their on-demand instances.

The Learning of the subject Biology in a Master in Biomedical Physics

BIOLOGY is a dynamic and fascinating science. The study of this subject is an amazing trip for all the students that have a first contact with this subject. Here, we present the development of the study and learning experience of this subject belonging to an area of knowledge that is different to the training curriculum of students who have studied Physics during their degree period. We have taken a real example, the “Elements of Biology” subject, which is taught as part of the Official Biomedical Physics Master, at the Physics Faculty, of the Complutense University of Madrid, since the course 2006/07. Its main objective is to give to the student an understanding how the Physics can have numerous applications in the Biomedical Sciences area, giving the basic training to develop a professional, academic or research career. The results obtained when we use new virtual tools combined with the classical learning show that there is a clear increase in the number of persons that take and pass the final exam. On the other hand, this new learning strategy is well received by the students and this is translated to a higher participation and a decrease of the giving the subject up

Seguimiento geométrico de terraplenes mediante líneas continuas de asiento en la Vega Baja del Segura, Alicante

La Vega Baja del Segura (Alicante) se caracteriza por la baja resistencia portante de los suelos y en consecuencia por las grandes deformaciones que sufren las construcciones que sobre ellos se levantan. La gran demanda turística de vías de comunicación con la costa sur de la provincia de Alicante ha obligado a construir diversas carreteras cuyos terraplenes alcanzan alturas superiores a los 8 m, así como deformaciones decimétricas y en algunos casos excepcionales de magnitud métrica. Las líneas continuas de asiento es una técnica innovadora que se lleva utilizando durante algunos años en la Vega Baja y que evita los laboriosos procedimientos de auscultación topográfica, sirviendo de instrumento de seguimiento geométrico de los mismos y permitiendo la representación gráfica del terraplén original y de su deformada. Esta técnica permite además a la Administración establecer los volúmenes de tierra necesarios para compensar el hundimiento de los terraplenes de forma exacta. Con el presente trabajo se pretende dar a conocer la metodología de las líneas continuas de asientos, así como mostrar algún ejemplo real de aplicación de las mismas, mostrando la evolución geométrica del terraplén en el tiempo y mostrando el procedimiento de cálculo de volúmenes.