Different Levels Of Performance Research Articles

On the Construction of QoS Based Overlay Architecture for Wireless Local Area Network

Wireless local area network is mostly used in home and office buildings within limited coverage area and for limited users. To increase the coverage range and number of users, we have introduced different types of overlay architectures with the help of controlled load virtual link. This type of virtual links will increase the collision and delay due to heavy traffic. The service overlay network is utilizes more bandwidth that reduces the throughput. To overcome all those issues, we proposed a new architecture as quality of service (QoS) based overlay architecture. This architecture uses the gateway nodes between the overlay nodes that will monitor the status of the channel medium and intimate about the medium to all the overlay nodes to reduce the delay and collision during the high traffic condition. This proposed QoS based overlay architecture increases the throughput and delivery rate. Simulation results analyze the performance of the proposed QoS based overlay architecture by using the QoS parameters. This proposed QoS based overlay architecture increases the overall network performance in different levels of gateway nodes.

Effect of fertigation on growth, yield, fruit quality and leaf nutrients content of strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa) cv Chandler

A field experiment was conducted during 2011-12 to study the performance of different levels of fertigation and soil fertilization on growth, yield, fruit quality and leaf nutrients content of strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.). The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with five fertigation treatments, viz. (T1) recommended dose of NPK through soil, (T2) recommended dose of NPK through drip, (T3) ¾ of recommended dose of NPK through drip, (T4) ½ of recommended dose of NPK through drip and (T5) 1/3 of recommended dose of NPK through drip and each treatment was replicated five times. The healthy runners of cv. Chandler were planted at a spacing of 25 cm × 50 cm in well prepared beds of 2 m × 2 m size in the last week of September 2011 and 2012 as the crop was taken as annual crop. The results revealed that fertigation with recommended dose of NPK gave significantly higher plant height (24.23 cm), leaf area (129.20 cm2), fruit yield (35.64 tonnes/ha) as compared to fertigation with ½ and 1/3 of recommended dose of NPK and soil fertilization, but was found at par with ¾ recommended dose of NPK fertigation treatment. The maximum fruit length (42.49 mm), fruit breadth (31.74 mm) and fruit weight (19.87 g) was also recorded in fertigation with full recommended dose of NPK. The values of TSS (9.88oB), total sugar (9.44%), anthocyanin (0.249 OD) and ascorbic acid (53.39 mg/100g) was significantly higher in fertigation with recommended dose of NPK treatment as compared to lower levels of fertigation and soil fertilization. The plants fertigated with full and ¾ recommended dose of NPK also had higher leaf nutrients content. Fertigation with ¾ of recommended dose of NPK registered 60 per cent higher fertilizer use efficiency over soil fertilization with full recommended dose of NPK and also resulted in 25 per cent saving of fertilizers without any adverse effect on growth, yield and fruit quality.

PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES AND ENERGETICS OF COMPETITIVE GROUP EXERCISE IN FEMALE AEROBIC GYMNASTS WITH DIFFERENT LEVELs OF PERFORMANCE.

This study investigated the aerobic fitness and physiologic and energetic responses during competitive exercise in aerobic gymnasts. The gymnasts performed a graded treadmill test and competitive group exercises. Energetic response was calculated from oxygen uptake and blood lactate changes. Peak oxygen uptake was similar in International (M = 45.4 ml · kg(-1) · min.(-1), SD = 3.9) and National (M = 44.7 ml · kg(-1) · min.(-1), SD = 3.6) level groups. During their competitive routines, total energy and the fractions of aerobic, anaerobic alactic, and anaerobic lactic energy were 1,847.7 (SD = 293.9) and 1,747.3 (SD = 196.7) J · kg(-1), 53.5% (SD = 3.1) and 60.3% (SD = 6.1), 25.4% (SD = 5.9) and 21.4% (SD = 5.2), and 21.1% (SD = 5.8) and 18.3% (SD = 4.5) in international and national level athletes, respectively (p > .05). The contribution of anaerobic energy was higher in the international level group (p = .03). It is concluded that the aerobic fitness and absolute energetic and physiological responses of athletes during competitive activities were not different between the aerobic gymnasts groups with different levels of performance, but a higher relative contribution of anaerobic energy was observed in the group with a higher performance level.

Dynamic and Improvisational Capabilities in Small Service -- Oriented Firms: An Investigation into the Role of IT -- Enabled Innovation

The role of IT-­‐enabled innovation in fostering competitive advantage has been well established in the literature. Firms are leveraging their IT infrastructure that supports their modern IT enabled business processes in order to reconfigure their existing operational process in response to industry turbulence. Through IT-­‐enabled innovation, or the organizational adoption of a new idea or process, firms can reconfigure their existing operational processes better and faster than their competitors and achieve competitive advantage. This multiple-­‐case study of eight small service-­‐oriented companies will examine differences between outsourcing-­‐dependent firms and self-­‐sufficient firms to highlight differences in IT capabilities and how those capabilities produce business value, and its ultimate effect on firm performance. This study will also answer the call for research to examine the impact of dynamic capabilities and improvisation on performance in different levels of environmental turbulence.

Oral Reading Fluency as a Predictor of Silent Reading Fluency at Secondary and Postsecondary Levels

This research investigated oral reading fluency as a predictor of silent reading fluency at the secondary and postsecondary levels. Several measures were used, including the Gray Oral Reading Test, the Test of Silent Word Reading Fluency, the Test of Silent Contextual Reading Fluency, and the Reading Observation Scale. A total of 223 students participated in the research, 63.2% at the postsecondary and 36.8% at the high school level. Among them, 17.5% had reading disabilities. We sought to identify performance-level differences between the two groups, students with and without reading disabilities; specifically, silent reading fluency test results of students with reading disabilities vs. students without reading disabilities and the oral reading fluency as a predictor of silent reading fluency proficiency levels. An independent-samples t test, correlations, and hierarchical regression analyses were employed. The results indicated that the relationships between oral reading fluency and silent reading fluency were statistically significant.

Considerations for Equating Alternate Assessments: Two Case Studies of Alternate Assessments Based on Alternate Achievement Standards

The development of alternate assessments for students with disabilities plays a pivotal role in state and national accountability systems. An important assumption in the use of alternate assessments in these accountability systems is that scores are comparable on different test forms across diverse groups of students over time. The use of test equating is a common way that states attempt to establish score comparability on different test forms. However, equating presents many unique, practical, and technical challenges for alternate assessments. This article provides case studies of equating for two alternate assessments in Michigan and an approach to determine whether or not equating would be preferred to not equating on these assessments. This approach is based on examining equated score and performance-level differences and investigating population invariance across subgroups of students with disabilities. Results suggest that using an equating method with these data appeared to have a minimal impact on proficiency classifications. The population invariance assumption was suspect for some subgroups and equating methods with some large potential differences observed.

Comparison of aerobic capacity and heart rate variability between elite and college soccer players

Aerobic capacity and heart rate variability (HRV) reflect a player's level of the cardiopulmonary fitness and could be used as indicators for predicting the outcome of a player's performance. In this study, we aimed to investigate the differences of aerobic capacity and HRV between the elite and college soccer players. The male elite (n=8) and college (n=18) soccer players, aged from 18 to 25 years, were recruited in this study. Aerobic capacity was determined by the incremental treadmill exercise test. HRV was measured by the short‐range radio telemetry by Polar Electro S810. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Taipei Physical Education College, and the informed consent was obtained from all subjects. The body mass index, body fat, and muscular strength were not significantly different between the two groups. The maximal oxygen consumption of the elite players was significantly higher than the college players (p<0.05). Also, the time of 3000 meters running was significantly shorter in the elite group (p<0.05). HRV measures showed that no significant difference of the interbeat interval variability was found between the two groups, but low‐frequency power was lower in the elite players. Our results may provide useful information for assessing the exercise performance in different levels of soccer players.

Formation of the Vilsmeier-Haack complex: the performance of different levels of theory

Because of discrepancies in the available experimental data, an extensive theoretical investigation of the formation of the Vilsmeier-Haack (VH) complex has been carried out. The barriers to complex formation calculated using eight different density functional methods (BLYP, B2-PLYP, B3LYP, B3PW91, MPW1K, M06-2X, and PBE1PBE), MP2, and extrapolation techniques (CBS-QB3, G3B3) with several basis sets (6 - 31 + G, 6 - 311++G, 6 - 311 + (3df,2p), aug-cc-pVDZ, and aug-cc-pVTZ) were compared with experimental data. For the overall reaction, MP2/aug-cc-pVDZ and M06-2X/6-31 + G(d,p) perform best compared to the CBS techniques. The results help clarify some open mechanistic questions.

Exploring links between publishing performance in different levels of marketing journals

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine relationships in publishing performance by utilizing data from three sets of journals – A*, A, and B ranked – as defined by the Australian Government's Excellence in Research rankings in Australia. Comparisons in publishing performance across these three types of journals are examined for academics around the globe, as well as for those in the Asia‐Pacific region.Design/methodology/approachThe study involves a content analysis of the authors' details from those who published in eight journals between 1998 and 2007. Correlation analysis is then used to identify pair‐wise relationships in publishing across the three sets of journals, which is also supported by regression analysis.FindingsThe findings suggest that there is a positive publishing performance relationship for A and B journals when compared on a global basis as well as within Asia‐Pacific. There is also a positive relationship between publishing in the A* and A journals, but only for the global sample and not for academics within Asia‐Pacific. Globally, a regression analysis identified that A* are positively impacted by A publications, but negatively affected by B journals, with a positive interaction for A and B publications. The interaction suggests that for universities with low levels of A's, there is a significant difference in regard to B publications' impact on A*. The regression focusing on universities within the Asia‐Pacific was insignificant in terms of how A and B publications impact on A* output.Originality/valueThe research is valuable in understanding that there are some synergies in publishing between research areas, although they are less extensive within the Asia‐Pacific. It is also valuable in light of the upcoming Excellence in Research for Australia exercise in Australia, which focuses on comparing research performance between institutions.

Multiple and variable target visual tracking for video-surveillance applications

Visual detection and tracking are interdisciplinary tasks which are oriented at estimating the state of one or multiple moving objects in a video sequence. This is one of the first tasks in processing video systems which try to describe human behaviour in different contexts, such as video-surveillance, sport technique analysis. This work presents a multiple object tracking system which properly hybridizes particle filters and memetic algorithms to produce a more reliable and efficient tracking algorithm. The system has been tested on synthetic and real image sequences, with the aim of describing their performance for different levels of noise, occlusions, a variable number of objects, etc. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed system accurately tracks multiple objects in the scene, by grouping and ungrouping them when necessary, while keeping their identities during the sequence of images. Moreover, the performance of the proposed system is not strongly affected by the increase in the number of objects, maintaining computational load and precision in proper balance.

The QM‐MM interface for CHARMM‐deMon

We present a new QM/MM interface for fast and efficient simulations of organic and biological molecules. The CHARMM/deMon interface has been developed and tested to perform minimization and atomistic simulations for multi-particle systems. The current features of this QM/MM interface include readability for molecular dynamics, tested compatibility with Free Energy Perturbation simulations (FEP) using the dual topology/single coordinate method. The current coupling scheme uses link atoms, but further extensions of the code to incorporate other available schemes are planned. We report the performance of different levels of theory for the treatment of the QM region, while the MM region was represented by a classical force-field (CHARMM27) or a polarizable force-field based on a simple Drude model. The current QM/MM implementation can be coupled to the dual-thermostat method and the VV2 integrator to run molecular dynamics simulations.

Language morphology offset: Text classification on a Croatian–English parallel corpus

We investigate how, and to what extent, morphological complexity of the language influences text classification using support vector machines (SVM). The Croatian–English parallel corpus provides the basis for direct comparison of two languages of radically different morphological complexity. We quantified, compared, and statistically tested the effects of morphological normalisation on SVM classifier performance based on a series of parallel experiments on both languages, carried over a large scale of different feature subset sizes obtained by different feature selection methods, and applying different levels of morphological normalisation. We also quantified the trade-off between feature space size and performance for different levels of morphological normalisation, and compared the results for both languages. Our experiments have shown that the improvements in SVM classifier performance is statistically significant; they are greater for small and medium number of features, especially for Croatian, whereas for large number of features the improvements are rather small and may be negligible in practice for both languages.

Discussion of Board Share‐Ownership and Takeover Performance

It has long been suggested that one of the principal motivations for takeovers is for shareholder principles to exert control over managerial agents by encouraging the removal of underperforming directors through takeover. Outside shareholders can also try to align interests by encouraging high levels of equity ownership by the directors. With takeover waves during the 1980s and 1990s, and every sign that another sizeable increase in activity is upon us, the Cosh, Guest and Hughes (CGH) (2006) paper is timely. They seek to position the paper in terms of corporate governance issues and investigate acquiring company shareholder and accounting performance for different levels of board and CEO ownership. Essentially, the authors are testing whether board, CEO and outside shareholder wealth creation interests are aligned, so that greater levels of board and CEO share-ownership provide superior corporate performance, and, secondly, if there is a board and CEO ownership point at which improvements cease or diminish as boards and CEOs seek to satisfy other non-shareholder wealth benefits for themselves. The literature is well stocked with theoretical and empirical contributions to this debate within the takeover arena and more generally. Unfortunately, the results in most of the empirical studies are inconsistent. CGH cite seven US studies between 1968 and 1981 which find insignificant shareholder performance differences between high board shareholder and low board shareholder groups. In studies which do find a relationship between board ownership and performance, some studies find one turning point and others two. Often, the turning points are at different levels of board ownership. The US findings are echoed in UK studies and in studies which look specifically at ownership, takeovers and performance. CGH summarise that ‘these [studies] provide mixed evidence in identifying significant ownership impacts.’ So, two worrying possibilities emerge from this. First, the multitude of conflicting results may have led to theory development which suggests alignment and entrenchment to explain an empirical phenomenon which is only found in a minority of studies. Second, the mixed evidence suggests

Calculations of the third-order nonlinear optical responses in push–pull chromophores with a time-dependent density functional theory

The third-order resonant and static nonlinear optical polarizabilities of the donor–donor and donor–acceptor substituted π conjugated molecules are calculated using the third-order response formalism in combination with time-dependent Hartree–Fock (TD-HF) and density functional theory (TD-DFT) methods. Performance of different levels of theory for excited state structure and nonlinear optical responses has been analyzed. Since the exact computations are fairly expensive, and only a few components of the cubic polarizability (corresponding to the Liouville space paths) are important, numerically efficient approximations are suggested.

Motor vehicle crashes in New York State: importance of accounting for emergency department deaths when assessing differences in in-hospital mortality by level of care.

Motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) are one of the leading causes of death in the nation and in New York State, particularly among younger adult males. It is important to study how to reduce mortality from MVCs. Hospitalized victims of motor vehicle crashes in the 1994-1995 New York State Trauma Registry were identified for the study. A statistical model was used to calculate risk-adjusted mortality rates for groups of hospitals constituting each level of care (regional trauma center, area trauma center, noncenter). Levels of care were also compared with respect to the location of deaths in the hospital (emergency department, inpatient), and the time between emergency department admission and death for patients dying in the hospital. The risk-adjusted mortality rate for MVCs in patients in regional centers was higher, although not significantly higher (6.91%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 6.18%-7.70%) than for area centers (5.53%; 95% CI, 4.43%-6.82%) or for noncenters (5.83%; 95% CI, 4.70%-7.15%). However, regional centers admitted seriously injured trauma patients from the emergency department much more quickly than other levels of care. Whereas only 18% of all in-hospital deaths occurred in emergency departments of regional centers, the comparable percentages for area centers and noncenters were 39% and 46%, respectively. Also, 43% of all deaths in regional centers occurred within 24 hours of presentation to the emergency department, compared with 15% in area centers and 21% in noncenters. Risk-adjusted inpatient mortality rates for victims of MVCs may not yield a fair comparison of performance for different levels of care or for different hospitals because of differences in how quickly emergency department patients are admitted to the hospital. A more equitable way to assess hospital mortality rates may be to include emergency department deaths in addition to inpatient deaths.

Effects of restructuring on the performance of microbiology laboratories in Alberta.

To evaluate the error rates of organism identification and antibiotic susceptibility proficiency testing challenges before, during, and after microbiology laboratory restructuring in Alberta. Alberta Health substantially reduced and redistributed laboratory funds to the regional health authorities in 1995, forcing a dramatic restructure of services. Many rural hospitals expanded their microbiology test menus, and urban centers consolidated microbiology testing into a centralized high-volume laboratory. The Laboratory Proficiency Testing Program of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta mailed regular test profile surveys to microbiology laboratories during the restructure period to determine the type and extent of changes in services. Based on the types of tests and the extent of analysis being done, most rural B-level and some C-level laboratories were reclassified to the A level. The Laboratory Proficiency Testing Program reviewed the error rates of proficiency challenges based on the performance of different levels of laboratories before and after the period of restructure. Overall performance has improved according to the number of errors documented on identification and susceptibility challenges for laboratories that remained at the same classification (ie, A or C). The number of major identification errors for laboratories that were reclassified increased, but the rate of major susceptibility errors decreased. More reclassified laboratories do not have dedicated registered technologist(s) who perform microbiology testing and are not supervised by an on-site pathologist and/or medical microbiologist compared with laboratories that remained at the same classification. Microbiology laboratory restructuring will have adverse effects on the quality of complex testing if experienced technologists are not retained and services are not medically supervised.

Response of growing-finishing swine to different levels and methods of feeding chlortetracycline.

The effect on performance of different levels of chlortetracycline in growing-finishing swine rations was observed over a 13-year period. In 21 drylot comparisons conducted in the same feeding unit, antibiotic significantly (P<.01) increased daily gain only from weaning to a live weight of 54 kg. Response in rate of gain did not decrease significantly with time, and the effectiveness of antibiotic supplementation decreased only when measured as the amount of feed saved per unit of gain from 54 kg. to market weight. The daily gain of control pigs significantly (P<.01) decreased with time, and, while the beneficial effect of antibiotic on efficiency of feed conversion appeared to decline, there was a concomitant increase (P<.01) in the efficiency of control pigs. During periods when the efficiency of feed conversion of control pigs was poorer, antibiotic supplementation resulted in a greater amount of feed saved. In five trials the immediate and long-term effect of intermittent supplementation of chlortetracycline was observed. Supplementation ranged from every other week to as infrequently as 1 week out of 8. The addition of 22 mg. of CTC per kg. of feed during alternate 1- or 2-week periods significantly (P<.05) increased rate of gain over the entire feeding period, and performance was not significantly different from that of continuous supplementation at the same level. Levels of 44 mg. per kg. every fourth week or 88 mg. per kg. of feed every eighth week exerted an effect on performance similar to that which resulted from continuous intake of feed containing 11 mg. of CTC per kg.