Search results for "Balance"
showing 10 items of 1379 documents
An evaluation of a model ecosystem with DDT
1980
The reproducibility, variability, and reliability of a simple aquatic-terrtestrial model ecosystem experiment was tested with p,p'-DDT. The variation among the model replicates as well as within the units was studied by using hierarchal analysis of variance. the complete budget of the chemical was calculated and a theoretical transport model was constructed. The degradation and accumulation of DDT was followed by gas chromatographic residue analysis, which showed good reproducibility of the experimental design. The degradation of DDT in the model was similar to that found in the field, but the determination of concentration factors was questionable. The material balance tables revealed that…
On Integrating Action Research and Design Research
2010
IS research has been criticized for having little influence on practice. One approach to achieving more relevance is to conduct research using appropriate research methods that balance the interests of both researchers and practitioners. This chapter examines the similarities between two methods that address this mandate by adopting a proactive stance to investigating information systems in organizations. These two approaches, action research and design research, both directly intervene in “real-world” domains and effect changes in these domains. We investigate these similarities by examining exemplars of each type of research according to the criteria of the other. Our analysis reveals int…
The interrelations of decision‐making rationales around BSC adoptions in Finnish municipalities
2009
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the interrelations of the decision‐making rationales around accounting performance measurement (PM) adoptions in Finnish municipalities. Previous studies informed by new institutional sociology (NIS), have tended to assume that accounting PM adoptions occur because of either “rational” or “institutional” reasons. The accuracy of this “polar” view is empirically analyzed in this paper (as called for by Ribeiro and Scapens).Design/methodology/approachSurvey data (199 responses, 48 per cent response rate) were analyzed with factor analyses using, for example, SPSS and LISREL programs.FindingsThe decision‐making rationales (factors) around Balanced…
SEQUENTIALLY ADJUSTED RANDOMIZATION TO FORCE BALANCE IN CONTROLLED TRIALS WITH UNKNOWN PREVALENCE OF COVARIATES: APPLICATION TO ALCOHOLISM RESEARCH
2005
In treatment outcome studies with small to medium sample sizes (n200), the balance of groups with regard to important factors, which sometimes occur at low prevalence, is indispensable for adequate interpretation. This study tested a method for use in clinical alcoholism research, an uncomplicated procedure for satisfactory randomization of patients to different treatments, taking into account relevant background variables.An easily applicable modification of Efron's biased coin method for the randomization of treatments within strata of unknown but low prevalence was compared with the original approach and alternative methods by computer simulation (10,000 runs). An application example for…
Covariate-constrained Randomization Routine for Achieving Baseline Balance in Cluster-randomized Trials
2017
In cluster-randomized trials, groups or clusters of individuals, rather than individuals themselves, are randomly allocated to intervention or control. In this article, we describe a new command, ccrand, that implements a covariate-constrained randomization procedure for cluster-randomized trials. It can ensure balance of one or more baseline covariates between trial arms by restriction to allocations that meet specified balance criteria. We provide a brief overview of the theoretical background, describe ccrand and its options, and illustrate it using an example.
Measuring Firm Performance: Testing a Proposed Model
2018
Abstract Firm performance is a very complex and exhaustive concept. It can be related to many factors: starting with variables from balance sheet, income statement or cash-flow statement, continuing with research and development expenses or IT competences, and last but not least with intangible assets like human capital, goodwill, or brand value. The purpose of the present paper is to develop and test a model in order to measure firm performance by considering US companies that are ranked into the Global Fortune 500. In this study we used control variables (assets growth rate, net income growth rate and revenue growth rate) and depended variables – return on assets (ROA), debt to equity, re…
Functional Hallmarks of GABAergic Synapse Maturation and the Diverse Roles of Neurotrophins
2011
Functional impairment of the adult brain can result from deficits in the ontogeny of GABAergic synaptic transmission. Gene defects underlying autism spectrum disorders, Rett’s syndrome or some forms of epilepsy, but also a diverse set of syndromes accompanying perinatal trauma, hormonal imbalances, intake of sleep-inducing or mood-improving drugs or, quite common, alcohol intake during pregnancy can alter GABA signaling early in life. The search for therapeutically relevant endogenous molecules or exogenous compounds able to alleviate the consequences of dysfunction of GABAergic transmission in the embryonic or postnatal brain requires a clear understanding of its site- and state-dependent …
Balancing and clustering of words: a combinatorial analysis of the Burrows & Wheeler Transform
2010
The Burrows-Wheeler Transform (denoted by BWT) is a well founded mathematical transformation on sequences introduced in 1994, widely used in the context of Data Compression and recently studied also from a combinatorial point of view. The transformation does not itself compress the data, but it produces a permutation bwt(w) of an input string w that is easier to compress than the original one, with some fast locally-adaptive algorithms, such as Move-to-Front in combination with Huffman or arithmetic coding. It is well-known that in most real texts, characters with the same or similar contexts tend to be the same. So, the BWT tends to group together characters which occur adjacent to similar…
Balance with logic-measuring the performance and sustainable development efforts of an NPO in rural Ethiopia.
2021
The analysis of performance of Not-for-profit organisations (NPOs) is difficult because there are several objectives and perspectives to NPO performance and accountability, especially if considered sustainably and in long term. This suggests that performance analysis and measurement of NPOs might also involve multiple perspectives, such as in Balanced Scorecard (BSC) or in the Logical Framework (LF) models. This article is a case study of analysing the sustainable development and performance of an NPO in rural Ethiopia. We propose the Logic Balanced Scorecard (LBSC) model that combines elements of BSC and LF. This proposal was preliminarily used and tested in a five-year interventionist acc…
Assessing the performance of a large-scale irrigation system by estimations of actual evapotranspiration obtained by Landsat satellite images resampl…
2019
Abstract Remote sensing techniques allow monitoring the Earth surface and acquiring worthwhile information that can be used efficiently in agro-hydrological systems. Satellite images associated to computational models represent reliable resources to estimate actual evapotranspiration fluxes, ETa, based on surface energy balance. The knowledge of ETa and its spatial distribution is crucial for a broad range of applications at different scales, from fields to large irrigation districts. In single plots and/or in irrigation districts, linking water volumes delivered to the plots with the estimations of remote sensed ETa can have a great potential to develop new cost-effective indicators of irr…