Scaling Issues Research Articles

A Paradigm for Validating Organisational Citizenship Behaviour Scale in Indian Context

Despite the fact that organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) is unprompted by the organisations, it supports the effective running of organisations throughout a discretionary entity of employees’ behaviour. OCB contributes to the organisation in several ways and helps organisations in achieving sustainable competitiveness. Though, owing to individual behaviour and cultural differences, the magnitude of OCB possibly will change across the countries. This research article intends to validate the instrument for assessing OCB in an Indian context. A sample of 549 employees working in public and private organisations situated in the northern part of India was collected. The study has applied a descriptive research design and the quantitative approach. Five constructs for the OCB assessment were selected for their reliability and validity, using first-order and second-order confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Results show that there is no reliability and validity issue in this particular scale, and the confirmatory factor analysis of OCB signified that there was a good fit of CFA model data. Findings of this article add to the theoretical and practical legitimacy of OCB measure from an emerging country context.

Scaling the processes of human resources management of the organisation in the conditions of digital transformation

In the context of the digital transformation of the economy, the processes of managing the human resources of an organisation are of particular importance as the basis for achieving operational efficiency in a highly dynamic business environment. At the same time, the existing practice of human resource management in organisations shows that the human resources management system in the context of digital transformation requires special attention from the standpoint of scaling. This paper discusses the issues of scaling the processes of managing the human resources of an organisation in the context of digital transformation, the analysis and accounting of which will increase, on the one hand, the efficiency of the organisation, on the other hand, the motivation and involvement of employees in the work process. The research paper pays special attention to the Program for the training of management personnel for organisations of the national economy of the Russian Federation from the standpoint of scaling the processes of managing the human resources of an organisation in the context of digital transformation. Systematic studies of the scaling of the organization’s human resources management processes in the view of digital transformation will determine both new approaches and technologies for human resources management and the processes of changing the organisation’s business models.

Uncertainty is more than a number or colour: Involving experts in uncertainty assessments of yield gaps

CONTEXTYield gap analysis plays an important role in determining potential food availability. The Global Yield Gap Atlas maps yield gaps of crops from point to regional scale across the globe. The calculated yield gaps are based on comparisons between modelled potential yields with actual farmers' yields derived from statistical sources. The calculations are subject to uncertainty due to various sources, including measurement errors, modelling limitations, and scaling issues. OBJECTIVESAn important goal of the Atlas is to convey an uncertainty evaluation of the yield gap analysis. The aim of this paper is to provide a practical methodology that can make the assessment of the uncertainty by experts explicit and accessible for users of the Atlas. METHODSWe developed an uncertainty protocol and guidelines listing several sources of uncertainty to be considered by country agronomists who were involved in the calculation of the yield gaps. These experts are asked to score the level of uncertainty of each source, as well as the relative impact of each source. Both scores are combined into uncertainty scores for each source. Aggregated uncertainty scores for yield gaps, potential and actual yields are mapped as colours in the Atlas to indicate ranking. Moreover, experts are encouraged to provide a justification for their scores, which are also made available to users of the Atlas. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONSThe uncertainty protocol was applied to 189 country-crop combinations by fourteen experts. They ranked lack of data for model calibration, model sensitivity to specific conditions, weather data, and the data quality on cropping system as the most important uncertainty sources for potential yields. The quality of yield data was ranked as the highest source of uncertainty for actual yields. The justifications provided by experts suggest which uncertainty sources may be reducible with relatively little effort, while other uncertainty sources may be more difficult or impractical to address. SIGNIFICANCEThe decision making on options to improve food production is better informed when uncertainties are accounted for. The proposed uncertainty protocol allows users to distinguish between different sources of uncertainty as well as their level and relative effect on the end result. The ranking of uncertainty sources suggests a prioritization of future effort to reduce the uncertainty around yield gaps. The justifications given by the experts can provide suggestions for options to reduce uncertainty.

Implementing food bank and healthcare partnerships: a pilot study of perspectives from charitable food systems in Texas

BackgroundPartnerships between charitable food systems and healthcare systems have been forming across the country to support individuals and families experiencing food insecurity, yet little research has focused on these partnerships, particularly from a food bank perspective. The objective of this exploratory pilot study was to identify implementation challenges and facilitators of charitable food system and healthcare partnerships from the food bank perspective.MethodTexas food banks with existing food bank/healthcare partnerships were identify through website review and support from Feeding Texas. Interview questions were tailored to each interview, but all focused on identify program components of the food bank/healthcare partnership and implementation barriers/facilitators of the partnership. In total, six interviews were conducted with food bank/healthcare partnership leaders (n = 4) and charitable food system experts (n = 2) about their experiences of working with food bank/healthcare partnerships. All interviews were completed via Zoom and took between 30 and 60 min to completed. Detailed notes were taking during each interview, and immediately discussed with the complete research time to formulate broad implementation themes.ResultsInterviews suggest unique implementation challenges exist at all levels of food bank/healthcare partnerships including the partnership, program, and system levels. Partnership-level implementation challenges focused on issues of partnership scale and data collection, sharing, and analysis. Program-level implementation challenges focused on food and produce expectations. Structural-level implementation challenges included issues of food safety, subsidized food regulations, and patient privacy. Implementation facilitators included leadership support, mission compatibility/organizational readiness, food insecurity training, and identify of partnership champions.ConclusionsThis study adds to the growing interest in food bank/healthcare partnership as it highlights unique implementation challenges and facilitators for cross-sector partnerships between healthcare systems and community-based charitable food systems. Ultimately, we believe that collaborative discussion among leaders of charitable food systems and healthcare systems is needed to overcome outlined implementation challenges to better facilitate sustainable, equitable implementation of food bank/healthcare partnerships.

Comment on “Mathematical constraints on the scaling exponents in the inertial range of fluid turbulence” [Phys. Fluids 33(3), 031703 (2021)

The paper [Djenidi et al., Phys. Fluids 33(3), 031703 (2021)] considers a classical issue of an anomalous scaling of velocity structure functions in a high-Reynolds number turbulent flow. The paper offers a mathematical proof of the ground-breaking result: the intermittency is an artifact of the Reynolds number finiteness. However, the proof contains a technical error that makes this conclusion ungrounded.

Tipping the Scales

Research Article| November 01 2021 Tipping the Scales David Szanto David Szanto David Szanto takes an experimental approach to food studies through projects including meal performances, immersive installations, and cross-disciplinary pedagogy. He has taught in Canada and Europe and writes extensively on food, art, and performance. An associate editor with the journal Canadian Food Studies, David is also co-editor of Food Studies: Matter, Meaning & Movement. Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Gastronomica (2021) 21 (4): 72–73. https://doi.org/10.1525/gfc.2021.21.4.72 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation David Szanto; Tipping the Scales. Gastronomica 1 November 2021; 21 (4): 72–73. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/gfc.2021.21.4.72 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter All ContentGastronomica Search Within the many realms that food entangles, the issue of scale plays a critical role. Our food systems encompass the very large and the very intimate, from networks of global markets, trade routes, and national cuisines, to fridges, fermenting crocks, stomachs, and stamens. All of these are connected, parts of an ecology of ecologies, and elements of each bring influences upon the others. Yet when scale is overlooked in our writing, teaching, and research, food issues tend to become siloed, problematizing the outcomes and understandings we produce. Depending on the scaling of time and space that we take, implications of and for “sustainability,” “health,” “culture,” and “justice” become very different. Pull back on a foodscape or research context, and suddenly we see the ways in which food matter and symbolic meaning are co-produced. From a high-level view, a holistic... © 2021 by The Regents of the University of California2021 You do not currently have access to this content.

The use of supercritical CO2 in deep geothermal reservoirs as a working fluid: Insights from coupled THMC modeling

A coupled THMC (thermal-hydrological-mechanical-chemical) model is developed and applied to explore the potential feasibility of using scCO 2 (supercritical carbon dioxide) as a working fluid in geothermal reservoirs . This is achieved by examining the evolution of the kinetics of mineral precipitation-dissolution and its associated impact on the evolution of the rock permeability and porosity. The pH of the reservoir rapidly reduces from 7 to ∼4.5–5 due to the fast dissolution of calcite . Chemical reactions and mineral dissolution and precipitation near the injector are suppressed by the plug-flow penetration of anhydrous scCO 2 displacing the original pore fluid . A conceptual three-zone model is proposed to illustrate the kinetic process of feldspar dissolution and precipitation depending on timing. The initial high concentration of K + prompts feldspar to precipitate in the first stage by consuming K + until 1 y , Feldspar were dissolved into precipitations of illite , smectite , and siderite at 1-6 y , with albite , muscovite and kaolinite mostly precipitated in the last stage 6–10 y . The precipitations of secondary clay minerals and quartz serve to maintain the integrity of caprock sealing. Continuous scCO 2 injection under fully coupled THMC model shows a 1.4-times enhancement of fracture permeability and 1.2-times enhancement of matrix permeability dominated by chemical dissolution and thermal unloading process. The pronounced thermal drawdown is the principal factor in enhancing permeability and porosity near injection well. Furthermore, the expansive capability of CO 2 provides extra benefits in enhancing formation pressure to ensure consistent high flow rates, while achieving a higher thermal energy extraction efficiency and preventing scaling issues in wellbore . The mass concentration of scCO2 in the production well increased to 0.82 after 1.2 × 10 8 s also leads to the enhancement of fluid enthalpy up to 6.5 × 10 5 J/kg, due to the high heat capacity of scCO 2 . The injected CO 2 are sequestered at ∼2 × 10 7 kg at t = 2 × 10 8 s (6.34 y ) as the solubility trapping mechanism.

A cost-effective method to monitor vegetation changes in steppes ecosystems: A case study on remote sensing of fire and infrastructure effects in eastern Mongolia

Land degradation is a major environmental and social issue in temperate steppes. It is commonly determined from vegetation cover using remote sensing techniques. Steppes in eastern Mongolia are subject to resource extraction activities, such as mining and oil extraction, which affect land degradation. Recent technological progress in remote sensing has facilitated the acquirement of high-resolution data by, for example, the CubeSat satellite or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), providing data for detailed maps of vegetation cover and plant functional groups (PFGs). Traditional methods for monitoring vegetation cover often face typical scale issues, such as the upscaling of vegetation parameters if plot-scale field measurements are integrated to satellite data. Here, we studied the spatial distribution of PFG using machine learning and a combination of field measurements, UAV imagery (spatial resolution: 2 cm), and PlanetScope multi-temporal imagery. We provide two products at two spatial resolutions: one for UAV data, which is restricted to comparatively small areas around field measurements, and one for PlanetScope, which covers large parts of northeastern Mongolia. The results showed that the overall accuracies of UAV classification were 91–95%, whereas those of PlanetScope were 78–95%. In integrating the classified UAV data to the PlaneScope data, our proposed model minimized the scale issue that often impedes classification. Importantly, our findings revealed that the ecological effects of dirt road and railroad extended up to 60–120 m into the adjacent, otherwise less degraded steppe vegetation. A comparison between burned and unburned areas in different years indicates that wildfires affect the composition of PFG in reducing the fractional cover of graminoids and forbs, and that increasing cover of bare ground leads to a distinct and patchy mosaic of different vegetation types.

Safety and efficacy of human juvenile chondrocyte-derived cell sheets for osteochondral defect treatment

Knee cartilage does not regenerate spontaneously after injury, and a gold standard regenerative treatment algorithm has not been established. This study demonstrates preclinical safety and efficacy of scaffold-free, human juvenile cartilage-derived-chondrocyte (JCC) sheets produced from routine surgical discards using thermo-responsive cultureware. JCCs exhibit stable and high growth potential in vitro over passage 10, supporting possibilities for scale-up to mass production for commercialization. JCC sheets contain highly viable, densely packed cells, show no anchorage-independent cell growth, express mesenchymal surface markers, and lack MHC II expression. In nude rat focal osteochondral defect models, stable neocartilage formation was observed at 4 weeks by JCC sheet transplantation without abnormal tissue growth over 24 weeks in contrast to the nontreatment group showing no spontaneous cartilage repair. Regenerated cartilage was safranin-O positive, contained type II collagen, aggrecan, and human vimentin, and lacked type I collagen, indicating that the hyaline-like neocartilage formed originates from transplanted JCC sheets rather than host-derived cells. This study demonstrates the safety of JCC sheets and stable hyaline cartilage formation with engineered JCC sheets utilizing a sustainable tissue supply. Cost-benefit and scaling issues for sheet fabrication and use support feasibility of this JCC sheet strategy in clinical cartilage repair.

ReBankment: displacing embankment lines from roads and rivers with a least squares adjustment

ABSTRACT While the recent progress on automated generalisation helped National Mapping Agencies to derive topographic maps more and more quickly, there are still practical cartographic issues that require attention. For instance, embankments are represented with line symbols showing the slope of the embankment. This paper proposes an automated algorithm called ReBankment that displaces the embankment lines from the roads and rivers that overlap the embankment symbol. ReBankment is based on a triangulation to identify neighbourhoods, and on a least squares adjustment to displace and distort the embankment line while preserving its shape. This paper also proposes how to handle complex cases and scaling issues. ReBankment is tested on real data from a 1:25k scale topographic map.

Scaling, Complexity, and Design Aspects in Computational Fluid Dynamics

With the availability of more and more efficient and sophisticated Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tools, engineering designs are also becoming more and more software driven. Yet, the insights in temporal and spatial scaling issues are still with us and very often imbedded in complexity and many design aspects. In this paper, with a revisit to a so-called leakage issue in sucker rod pumps prevalent in petroleum industries, the author would like to demonstrate the need to use perturbation approaches to circumvent the multi-scale challenges in CFD with extreme spatial aspect ratios and temporal scales. In this study, the gap size between the outer surface of the plunger and the inner surface of the barrel is measured with a mill (one thousandth of an inch) whereas the plunger axial length is measured with inches or even feet. The temporal scales, namely relaxation times, are estimated with both expansions in Bessel functions for the annulus flow region and expansions in Fourier series when such a narrow circular flow region is approximated with a rectangular one. These engineering insights derived from the perturbation approaches have been confirmed with the use of full-fledged CFD analyses with sophisticated computational tools as well as experimental measurements. With these confirmations, new perturbation studies on the sucker rod leakage issue with eccentricities have been presented. The volume flow rate or rather leakage due to the pressure difference is calculated as a quadratic function with respect to the eccentricity, which matches with the early prediction and publication with comprehensive CFD studies. In short, a healthy combination of ever more powerful modeling tools along with the physics, mathematics, and engineering insights with dimensionless numbers and classical perturbation approaches may provide a balanced and more flexible and efficient strategy in complex engineering designs with the consideration of parametric and phase spaces.

Building an IoT Platform Based on Service Containerisation.

IoT platforms have become quite complex from a technical viewpoint, becoming the cornerstone for information sharing, storing, and indexing given the unprecedented scale of smart services being available by massive deployments of a large set of data-enabled devices. These platforms rely on structured formats that exploit standard technologies to deal with the gathered data, thus creating the need for carefully designed customised systems that can handle thousands of heterogeneous data sensors/actuators, multiple processing frameworks, and storage solutions. We present the SCoT2.0 platform, a generic-purpose IoT Platform that can acquire, process, and visualise data using methods adequate for both real-time processing and long-term Machine Learning (ML)-based analysis. Our goal is to develop a large-scale system that can be applied to multiple real-world scenarios and is potentially deployable on private clouds for multiple verticals. Our approach relies on extensive service containerisation, and we present the different design choices, technical challenges, and solutions found while building our own IoT platform. We validate this platform supporting two very distinct IoT projects (750 physical devices), and we analyse scaling issues within the platform components.

DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF THE PSYCHOSOCIAL ISSUES OF HYSTERECTOMY CANCER PATIENT SCALE

This research was aimed to develop a measure of Psychosocial Issues of Hysterectomy Cancer Patient Scale. For this purpose, psychosocial issues were explored from 160 ovarian cancer patients using mix method research design (both quantitative and qualitative) was used to explore the mental health functioning emotional, psychological and psycho-social concerns, behavioral changes, material relationship within the context of Pakistani society. A list of 27 items was converted into a self-report measure psychosocial issue of hysterectomy. Factor analysis was applied to collected data of 160 participants. KMO was found to be 0.87 whereas Bartlett’s test of sphericity was significant at .000 level and found out to have acceptable psychometric properties. KEYWORDS: Psychosocial Issues, Cancer, Scale Development, Hysterectomy

A Systematic Review of Spatial-Temporal Scale Issues in Sociohydrology

Sociohydrology is a recent effort to integrate coupled human-water systems to understand the dynamics and co-evolution of the system in a holistic sense. However, due to the complexity and uncertainty involved in coupled human-water systems, the feedbacks and interactions are inherently difficult to model. Part of this complexity is due to the multi-scale nature across space and time at which different hydrologic and social processes occur and the varying scale at which data is available. This systematic review seeks to comprehensively collect those documents that conduct analysis within the sociohydrology framework to quantify the spatial-temporal scale(s) and the types of variables and datasets that were used. Overall, a majority of sociohydrology studies reviewed were primarily published in hydrological journals and contain more established hydrological, rather than social, models. The spatial extents varied by political and natural boundaries with the most common being cities and watersheds. Temporal extents also varied from event-based to millennial timescales where decadal and yearly were the most common. In addition to this, current limitations of sociohydrology research, notably the absence of an interdisciplinary unity, future directions, and implications for scholars doing sociohydrology are discussed.

Audit Efficiency and Influence of Environmental Factors to State Bodies: Evidence of Kazakhstan

Research and assessment of the public sector debt management system and the development of audit methods based on them will improve the process of monitoring the effectiveness of the formation, management and assessment of public debt.
 In accordance with the provided data of the audit of the audit of the effectiveness of the formation and management of debt of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan, an assessment of the state of the state and state-guaranteed debt was carried out. A negative trend in the growth of public debt and the lack of control and management of public and guaranteed public debt, which is reflected in the growth of both nominal and percentage ratio of debt to GDP, are noted, as well as trends in environmental and social issues of both global and regional scale, which are possible to solve only on condition of creating a new type of ecological culture, greening education in accordance with the actual needs of the individual and civil society.

Determining Community-level Carnivore Response to Landscape Factors in Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park, Sumatra, Indonesia.

Researchers are challenged to understand the distribution of biodiversity on the landscape or determine if community-level assemblages respond to landscape variability. Canonical ordinations and multispecies occupancy modeling are often utilized and differ in their analytical scale and technique. Community-level data for carnivores (n=18) from camera trapping data (n=60) were tested for their collective response to covariates (distance to villages, roads, plantations, streams, and also topographic variables for elevation and slope) in Bukit Barsan Selatan National Park. Redundancy analysis (RDA) results confirmed that the carnivore community responded to the anthropogenic covariates, with carnivore detections being higher in areas at a high distance from roads and plantations medium distance villages. Then, multispecies occupancy models (MSOM), a comparatively finer temporal scale analysis that incorporated imperfect detections, were compared to RDA. We fit four models (full, anthropogenic, natural, and null) that were mainly inconclusive. In some MSOM models, the carnivore community did respond to environmental covariates, although the coefficients did not show a consistent response between seasons or years. These results indicate that RDA was able to detect broad-scale covariate effects that were not able to be modeled by MSOM and that these scaling and imperfect detection issues should be considered when attempting to understand landscape community diversity.

Different Models, Different Outcomes? A Comparison of Approaches to Land Use Modeling in the Dutch Limes

Current advances in spatial simulation bring unprecedented possibilities for spatio-temporal modeling. In this paper, we focus on modeling the impact of settlement on land use in the Roman period in the Dutch river area, on the northern frontier of the Roman Empire. During this period, the area witnessed a strong population increase that put more demands on the available land to produce food, not only for the local population, but also for the soldiers stationed on the frontier and the citizens of the newly founded towns. We compare an agent-based model (ABM) of agricultural production in the region (ROMFARMS), and a model using the Past Land Use Scanner (PLUS. Both were used to estimate the effects of increased agricultural demand through simulations of food production, taking into account the available workforce and the productivity and availability of suitable land. However, how should we evaluate the model outcomes? What are the advantages and limitations of each? We discuss issues of scale, temporal resolution and model inputs, together with questions of technical implementation and validation. In this way, we aim to point the way to future researchers to implement these approaches effectively in other contexts.

Adaptive Spiking Sensor System Based on CMOS Memristors Emulating Long and Short-Term Plasticity of Biological Synapses for Industry 4.0 Applications

Abstract A conventional analog to digital converter (ADC) faces many issues with leading-edge technologies due to noise, manufacturing deviations, signal swings, etc. Thus, we pursue to design an adaptive spiking neural ADC (SN-ADC) with promising features, e.g., robust to noise, low-power, technology scaling issues, and low-voltage operation. Therefore, our approach promises to be technology agnostic, i.e., effectively translatable to aggressive new technologies. It supports machine learning and self-x (self-calibration, self-healing) that needs for industry 4.0 and the internet of things (IoTs). In this work, we design an adaptive spike-to-rank coding (ASRC), which is the main part of the spiking neural ADC. The ASRC is based on CMOS memristors emulating short-term plasticity (STP) and long-term plasticity (LTP) biological synapses. The proposed ASRC compensates deviations by adapting the weights of the synapses. Also, ASRC is designed using XFAB 0.35 μm CMOS technology and Cadence design tools. In addition, ASRC is simulated to test its performance in the temperature range (−40°C to 85°C).

Numerical Investigation of the Performance of a Submersible Pump: Prediction of Recirculation, Vortex Formation, and Swirl Resulting from Off-Design Operating Conditions

Like any other turbomachinery, it is essential that the hydraulic behavior and performance of mixed-flow pumps are evaluated way in advance prior to manufacturing. Pump performance relies heavily on the proper design of the intake structure. Intake structures should be accurately designed in order to minimize and avoid unnecessary swirl and vortex formations. Ensuring the optimum performance condition as well as predicting how a particular intake structure affects the efficiency of the pump often requires either physical model studies or theoretical evaluations. Unfortunately, physical models are costly, time-consuming, and site-specific. Conversely, design and performance predictions using a theoretical approach merely gives performance values or parameters, which are usually unable to determine the root cause of poor pump performance. This study evaluates the viability of using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) as an alternative tool for pump designers and engineers in evaluating pump performance. A procedure for conducting CFD simulations to verify pump characteristics such as head, efficiency, and flow as an aid for preliminary pump design is presented. Afterwards, a multiphase simulation using the VOF approach is applied to compare the fluid dynamics between four different pump intake structures. A full-sized CFD model of the pump sump complete with the pump’s active components was used for the intake structure analysis in order to avoid scaling issues encountered during the reduced-scale physical model test. The results provided a clear illustration of the hydraulic phenomena and characteristic curves of the pump. A performance drop in terms of reduction in TDH was predicted across the various intake structure designs. The CFD simulation of intake structure provided a clear insight on the varying degree of swirl, flow circulation, and effect on pump efficiency between all four cases.

Downscaling a national hydrological model to subgrid scale

The resolution of nation scale hydrological models is often considered a limitation with respect to providing useful management information on local scale issues. Use of these coarse scale models to inform both the structure and parameterisation of local scale models could potentially enhance their utility and in some cases provide initial estimates to local scale water resource issues such as nitrate transport. This study explores whether a finer resolution model, whose conceptualization and parameterisation are based upon a nation scale model, can replicate local scale water balance observations and in this way expand the utility of large-scale models. We use the Danish National Water Resources model (DK-model) as a template to model a small 5 km2 subcatchment in Denmark and compare the flows at four transect locations to those observed in a previous field investigation. The resolution of the DK-model is 500 m, and this model was refined to create four additional models of the subcatchment with 100 m, 50 m, 20 m, and 10 m resolutions. Results suggest that none of the refined models could accurately capture the daily overland and groundwater flow conditions. However, for the finer resolution models (10 m and 20 m), the annual overland and groundwater flows agreed well with the observed flows.