what is generally considered to be the first step in a process improvement project
plan
3482737
PDCA PDCA (plan–do–check–act or plan–do–check–adjust) is an iterative four-step management method used in business for the control and continuous improvement of processes and products. It is also known as the Deming circle/cycle/wheel, the Shewhart cycle, the control circle/cycle, or plan–do–study–act (PDSA). Another version of this PDCA cycle is OPDCA. The added "O" stands for "observation" or as some versions say: "Observe the current condition." This emphasis on observation and current condition has currency with the literature on lean manufacturing and the Toyota Production System. The PDCA cycle, with Ishikawa’s changes, can be traced back to S. Mizuno of the Tokyo
PDCA
6307348
for what kind of projects or equipment are to be included and organize a process for developing the plan. What is defined as a capital project or capital purchase may vary from city to county to district to state depending on the size of the local government provisioning the plan. Generally, they will be tangible items that have a life expectancy greater than one year. A local government will also need to forecast where it believes it will face future demands and growth, which will involve an inventory of existing facilities, infrastructure and equipment. In addition, a local government will
Capital improvement plan
8124878
Development Life Cycle. The primary difference is the inclusion of prototyping. The first step in the process is planning. This is where goals are set and aligned with the organizational goals and objectives. A project plan is developed and the proposed system is analyzed to determine if any external support is needed. The project plan lays out the what, when and who of the system. It is the salient piece in ensuring successful completion. The second step is analysis which includes the gathering and analyzing of the basic business requirements. The third step is an extension of the second as
Selfsourcing
12703295
Performance improvement opportunities identified during the “Architect” process are ideally addressed through an agency portfolio of IT investments. This step defines the implementation and funding strategy for individual initiatives in the Enterprise Transition Plan (ETP) and described in the segment architectures. Program management plans are created to implement the individual solutions. Projects are executed and tracked throughout the system development life cycle (SDLC). Achievement of the program / project plan within acceptable variance for schedule and budget is measured and reported through Earned Value Management (EVM) process. Information and information technology, as critical enablers of program performance improvements, must be
Enterprise Architecture Assessment Framework
321159
adequately to estimate the work needed and to effectively manage risk during project execution. As with the Initiation process group, a failure to adequately plan greatly reduces the project's chances of successfully accomplishing its goals. Project planning generally consists of Additional processes, such as planning for communications and for scope management, identifying roles and responsibilities, determining what to purchase for the project and holding a kick-off meeting are also generally advisable. For new product development projects, conceptual design of the operation of the final product may be performed concurrent with the project planning activities, and may help to inform the
Project management
6175424
the circuit later on than it is to put them in. The design process involves moving from the specification at the start, to a plan that contains all the information needed to be physically constructed at the end, this normally happens by passing through a number of stages, although in very simple circuit it may be done in a single step. The process normally begins with the conversion of the specification into a block diagram of the various functions that the circuit must perform, at this stage the contents of each block are not considered, only what each block must
Circuit design
11120531
What the student learns must be procedurally correct and applied the very first time. The instructor must present subject matter in a logical order, step by step, making sure the students have already learned the preceding step. If the task is learned in isolation, is not initially applied to the overall performance, or if it must be relearned, the process can be confusing and time consuming. Preparing and following a lesson plan facilitates delivery of the subject matter correctly the first time. The principle of recency states that things most recently learned are best remembered. Conversely, the further a student
Principles of learning
1985683
Fieldbook", Liker and Meier discuss the kaizen blitz and kaizen burst (or kaizen event) approaches to continuous improvement. A kaizen blitz, or rapid improvement, is a focused activity on a particular process or activity. The basic concept is to identify and quickly remove waste. Another approach is that of the kaizen burst, a specific kaizen activity on a particular process in the value stream. Kaizen facilitators generally go through training and certification before attempting a Kaizen project. In the 1990s, Professor Iwao Kobayashi published his book 20 Keys to Workplace Improvement and created a practical, step-by-step improvement framework called "the
Kaizen
6921463
to clearly articulate the business problem, goal, potential resources, project scope and high-level project timeline. This information is typically captured within project charter document. Write down what you currently know. Seek to clarify facts, set objectives and form the project team. Define the following: The purpose of this step is to objectively establish current baselines as the basis for improvement. This is a data collection step, the purpose of which is to establish process performance baselines. The performance metric baseline(s) from the Measure phase will be compared to the performance metric at the conclusion of the project to determine objectively
DMAIC
6921464
whether significant improvement has been made. The team decides on what should be measured and how to measure it. It is usual for teams to invest a lot of effort into assessing the suitability of the proposed measurement systems. Good data is at the heart of the DMAIC process. The purpose of this step is to identify, validate and select root cause for elimination. A large number of potential root causes (process inputs, X) of the project problem are identified via root cause analysis (for example a fishbone diagram). The top 3-4 potential root causes are selected using multi-voting or
DMAIC
1832593
forgiveness is a process and a number of models describing the process of forgiveness have been published, including one from a radical behavioral perspective. Dr. Robert Enright from the University of Wisconsin–Madison founded the International Forgiveness Institute and is considered the initiator of forgiveness studies. He developed a 20-Step Process Model of Forgiveness. Recent work has focused on what kind of person is more likely to be forgiving. A longitudinal study showed that people who were generally more neurotic, angry, and hostile in life were less likely to forgive another person even after a long time had passed. Specifically, these
Forgiveness
9768257
observation that it seems Le Corbusier's Unite is a volumetric explanation for the space in the Uffizi. The final step was to design the scale models of their housing project, involving all the previous steps in their final designs. What is considered the seventh step in the process is actually the selection of a new project for the following semesters. The students work together with faculty juries in order to select the goals for this project. The project is chosen as a general urban section that each student can contribute to in an individualized manner. They divide up sections of
Bernhard Hoesli
1985673
company. The latter means the improvement of individual workstands. Therefore, improving the way production workers do their job is a part of a process kaizen. The use of the kaizen model for continuous improvement demands that both flow and process kaizens are used, although process kaizens are used more often to focus workers on continuous small improvements. In this model, operators mostly look for small ideas which, if possible, can be implemented on the same day. This is in contrast to traditional models of work improvement, which generally have a long lag between concept development and project implementation. Kaizen is
Kaizen
10719582
Reverse semantic traceability Reverse semantic traceability (RST) is a quality control method for verification improvement that helps to insure high quality of artifacts by backward translation at each stage of the software development process. Each stage of development process can be treated as a series of “translations” from one language to another. At the very beginning a project team deals with customer’s requirements and expectations expressed in natural language. These customer requirements sometimes might be incomplete, vague or even contradictory to each other. The first step is specification and formalization of customer expectations, transition (“translation”) of them into a formal
Reverse semantic traceability
10719573
Reverse semantic traceability Reverse semantic traceability (RST) is a quality control method for verification improvement that helps to insure high quality of artifacts by backward translation at each stage of the software development process. Each stage of development process can be treated as a series of “translations” from one language to another. At the very beginning a project team deals with customer’s requirements and expectations expressed in natural language. These customer requirements sometimes might be incomplete, vague or even contradictory to each other. The first step is specification and formalization of customer expectations, transition (“translation”) of them into a formal
Reverse semantic traceability
10289612
iterative steps in many directions are considered. The step that offers the best improvement of cost (in this case Total Variance) is taken. The process is repeated until one settles at the local minimum, where no further improvement is possible. Applied to the construction of V-optimal histograms, the initial random state would be a set of values representing the bucket boundary placements. The iterative improvement steps would involve moving each boundary until it was at its local minimum, then moving to the next boundary and adjusting it accordingly. A basic explanation of Simulated Annealing is that it is a lot
V-optimal histograms
13376392
grouped into categories such as design, modeling, execution, monitoring, and optimization. Process design encompasses both identification of existing processes and the design of "to-be" processes. Areas of focus include representation of the process flow, the factors within it, alerts and notifications, escalations, standard operating procedures, service level agreements, and task hand-over mechanisms. Whether or not existing processes are considered, the aim of this step is to ensure a correct and efficient new design. The proposed improvement could be in human-to-human, human-to-system or system-to-system workflows, and might target regulatory, market, or competitive challenges faced by the businesses. Existing processes and design
Business process management
12296197
Marketing research process The marketing research process is a six-step process involving the definition of the problem being studied upon, determining what approach to take, formulation of research design, field work entailed, data preparation and analysis, and the generation of reports, how to present these reports, and overall, how the task can be accomplished. The first stage in a marketing research project is to define the problem. In defining the problem, the researcher should take into account the "purpose of the study", "relevant background information and all necessary data", and how the information gathered will be used in decision making.
Marketing research process
12296205
depth interviews (one-on-one interviews which probe the respondents' thoughts in detail). Other exploratory research techniques, such as pilot surveys with small samples of respondents, may also be undertaken. Marketing research process The marketing research process is a six-step process involving the definition of the problem being studied upon, determining what approach to take, formulation of research design, field work entailed, data preparation and analysis, and the generation of reports, how to present these reports, and overall, how the task can be accomplished. The first stage in a marketing research project is to define the problem. In defining the problem, the
Marketing research process
6921467
Amend ways of working; Quantify and sign-off benefits; Track improvement; Officially close the project; Gain approval to release resources. This is additional to the standard DMAIC steps but it should be considered. Think about replicating the changes in other processes. Share your new knowledge within and outside of your organization. It is very important to always provide positive morale support to team members in an effort to maximize the effectiveness of DMAIC. Replicating the improvements, sharing your success and thanking your team members helps build buy-in for future DMAIC or improvement initiatives. Some organizations add a "Recognize" step at the
DMAIC
7205668
three elements: Companies must have an appropriate performance-measurement system to be applied on a regular basis to identify areas to be improved in order to establish a sustainable continuous improvement process. According to Dale and Ritchie, to use self-assessment process is very important. The self-assessment will allow organizations to discern its strengths and gaps, and define improvement actions linked to the business planning process. There are some necessary criteria for a successful self-assessment process: The importance of supply chain and operations audit process which represents a fundamental step to support improvement projects. According to study of Salama, the core element
Demand-chain management
10292124
principles that arose for the first time in previous constitutions. It can be said that the Independence Constitution has evolved from the constitution which preceded it. But one must not ignore the fact that changes have taken place in this process of evolution. The statement that the 1964 constitution is in fact a replica of the 1961 constitution with sovereignty added might be criticised by saying that some factors differ between the two constitutions. The 1964 constitution is not merely what can be defined as an improvement. It is more like another stepping-stone in constitutional history being the final step
Constitution of Malta
12169183
time, the first electricity from the wind farm was planned for 2013 with the project due for completion by 2016. In 2013, Contact announced that it planned to exit the project. In September 2008, the Energy Minister "called in" the project, meaning that instead of going through the standard resource consent process, the decision will be made by an independent board of enquiry. The move is possible if a project is considered to be of "national significance", and is generally (but rarely) used when the decision on an important project might otherwise be held up for a long time due
Hauauru ma raki
20034171
pointsBlow: The first process step in the container production is the loading step. In this step the glass gob delivered from the feeder is moved into the blank mold. This is also the first step in the simulation. The next steps depends on the process type. The last step of the forming simulation is container take out. Figure 1: Steps during Blow&Blow container forming process The geometry of initial gob can be designed without any restrictions. The temperature distribution within the gob is usually homogeneous, but can also be considered as inhomogeneous. The loading position within the blank mold can
Nogrid
2211656
Johansson et al. also include the upstream part of the value chain as a possible recipient of the process output. Summarizing the four definitions above, we can compile the following list of characteristics for a business process: Frequently, identifying a process owner, (i.e., the person responsible for the continuous improvement of the process) is considered as a prerequisite. Sometimes the process owner is the same person who is performing the process. Workflow is the procedural movement of information, material, and tasks from one participant to another. Workflow includes the procedures, people and tools involved in each step of a business
Business process
10500739
Hansei In the "hansei" process, the emphasis is on what went wrong and on creating clear plans for ensuring that it does not reoccur; this is done constantly and consistently. At Toyota, even if you do a project successfully, there is still a "hansei-kai" (reflection meeting) to review what went wrong. If a manager or engineer claims that there were not any problems with the project, they will be reminded that “no problem is a problem” – in other words, you have not objectively and critically evaluated the project to find opportunities for improvement. No problems indicate that you did
Hansei
4993818
life to the improvement of mathematics education." Many students and educators in the United States now use the word "FOIL" as a verb meaning "to expand the product of two binomials". This neologism has not gained widespread acceptance in the mathematical community. The method is most commonly used to multiply linear binomials. For example, If either binomial involves subtraction, the corresponding terms must be negated. For example, The FOIL method is equivalent to a two-step process involving the distributive law: In the first step, the () is distributed over the addition in first binomial. In the second step, the distributive
FOIL method
8753409
Phase I ESA. The Phase I ESA is generally considered the first step in the process of environmental due diligence. Standards for performing a Phase I site assessment have been promulgated by the US EPA and are based in part on ASTM in Standard E1527-13. If a site is considered contaminated, a Phase II environmental site assessment may be conducted, ASTM test E1903, a more detailed investigation involving chemical analysis for hazardous substances and/or petroleum hydrocarbons. As early as the 1970s specific property purchasers in the United States undertook studies resembling current Phase I ESAs, to assess risks of ownership
Phase I environmental site assessment
9543252
Security Administration regulations specify a five-step process for making the decision. A modified process is used in the case of children for whom Supplemental Security Income benefits are being claimed (as children are not expected to work). For adults, part of the disability-determination process involves assessing the applicant's "residual functional capacity": what the applicant can do in spite of the disability. Factors that may be considered in determining the "residual functional capacity" may include the following: Contrary to what many think, simply "being disabled" by any definition does not alone qualify one to automatically be approved. While one who is
Disability Determination Services
10500741
humility. To stop "hansei," means to stop learning. With "hansei," one never becomes convinced of one's own superiority, and feels that there is always more room, or need, for further improvement. Hansei In the "hansei" process, the emphasis is on what went wrong and on creating clear plans for ensuring that it does not reoccur; this is done constantly and consistently. At Toyota, even if you do a project successfully, there is still a "hansei-kai" (reflection meeting) to review what went wrong. If a manager or engineer claims that there were not any problems with the project, they will be
Hansei
3576536
ISO/IEC 15504 can be used to perform process improvement within a technology organization. Process improvement is always difficult, and initiatives often fail, so it is important to understand the initial baseline level (process capability level), and to assess the situation after an improvement project. ISO 15504 provides a standard for assessing the organization's capacity to deliver at each of these stages. In particular, the reference framework of ISO/IEC 15504 provides a structure for defining objectives, which facilitates specific programs to achieve these objectives. Process improvement is the subject of "part 4" of ISO/IEC 15504. It specifies requirements for improvement programmes
ISO/IEC 15504
11006013
looks like. Defining the desired condition provides an overall vision for the process or product. It makes clear the purpose for initiating the improvement project and the goals that it is meant to accomplish. Another important function of the problem statement is to be used as a communication device. It helps with obtaining buy-in from those involved in the project. Before the project begins, the stakeholders verify the problem and goals are accurately described in the problem statement. Once this approval is received, the project team reviews it to ensure everyone understands the issue at hand and what they are
Problem statement
7911784
Maturity Grid, in a 14-step quality improvement program, and in the concept of the "Absolutes of Quality Management". The quality improvement program incorporated ideas developed or popularized by others (for example, cost of quality (step 4), employee education (step 8), and quality councils (step 13)) with the core motivation techniques of booklets, films, posters, speeches, and the "ZD Day" centerpiece. According to Crosby, there are four Absolutes: Newcomers to manufacturing bring their own vague impressions of what quality involves. But in order to tackle quality-related problems, there must be widespread agreement on the specifics of what quality means for a
Zero Defects
344603
form when creative works are considered both the research and the object of research itself. It is the debatable body of thought which offers an alternative to purely scientific methods in research in its search for knowledge and truth. Generally, research is understood to follow a certain structural process. Though step order may vary depending on the subject matter and researcher, the following steps are usually part of most formal research, both basic and applied: A common misconception is that a hypothesis will be proven (see, rather, null hypothesis). Generally, a hypothesis is used to make predictions that can be
Research
19050148
interview process, candidates are generally asked to arrange reference calls with their previous bosses. Reference call interviews are the final aspect of the topgrading interview process. Candidates are asked to arrange reference calls with their previous bosses, peers, subordinates, customers, and others to verify the veracity of the candidate's statements during the interview process. According to the methodology, those who are "chronic" B or C Players should not be hired. Individuals who effectively pass through the 12-step topgrading process are often considered A Players and should be given consideration. Theoretically, companies that employ the topgrading process could have an employee
Topgrading
20021703
under the First Amendment. v While the court held that the tattoo itself may be considered as protected speech, the physical process of tattooing was distinct and one step removed from the finished product. Past tattoo cases show that courts within the United States have traditionally found the process of tattooing to fall outside the protection of the First Amendment. The County of Los Angeles generally permits tattooing within its jurisdiction. However, the city of Hermosa Beach, located within Los Angeles County, banned tattoo parlors within its city limits. The Hermosa Beach Municipal Code § 17.06.070 stated: "Except as provided
Anderson v. City of Hermosa Beach
17830201
Improvement Improvement is the process of a thing moving from one state to a state considered to be better, usually through some action intended to bring about that better state. The concept of improvement is important to governments and businesses, as well as to individuals. The term "improvement" in general means "gradual, piecemeal, but cumulative betterment", which can refer to both individuals and societies as a whole. The term "improvement" historically referred to land improvement, the process of making wild land more suitable for human uses, particularly the cultivation of crops. Agricultural writers contrasted "improvement" with the traditional custom that
Improvement
18107218
the first place. Rather, it develops an essence through successive forms. This means that at any moment on the path of historical change, there is a contradiction between what exists and what is in the process of coming-to-be. The realization of a natural thing like a tree is a process that by and large points back toward itself: every step of the process takes place in order to reproduce the genus. In the historical process, however, what exists, what is actual, is imperfect. It is inimical to the potential. What is trying to come into existence - freedom - inherently
Marxist philosophy
19776567
Process management (Project Management) Process management in civil engineering and project management is the management of "systematic series of activities directed towards causing an end result such that one or more inputs will be acted upon to create one or more outputs." Process management offers project organizations a means of applying the same quality improvement and defect reduction techniques used in business and manufacturing processes by taking a process view of project activity; modeling discrete activities and high-level processes. The term "process management" usually refers to the management of engineering processes and project management processes where a "process" is a
Process management (Project Management)
9899667
of the Last Planner system is PPC. This measures the "Percentage of Promises Completed" on time. As PPC increases. project productivity and profitability increase, with step changes at around 70% and 85%. This score is measured site-wide and displayed around the site. Weekly measures are used by the project and by individual suppliers as the basis for learning how to improve the predictability of the work programme and hence the PPC scores. A key part of the continual improvement process is a study of the reasons why tasks promised in the WWP are delivered late. The following chart shows typical
Lean construction
16441470
VNS does not render good solution, there are several steps which could be helped in process, such as comparing first and best improvement strategies in local search, reducing neighborhood, intensifying shaking, adopting VND, adopting FSS, and experimenting with parameter settings. The Basic VNS (BVNS) method ("Handbook of Metaheuristics", 2010) combines deterministic and stochastic changes of neighbourhood. Its steps are given in Algorithm 4. Often successive neighbourhoods formula_26 will be nested. Observe that point x' is generated at random in Step 4 in order to avoid cycling, which might occur if a deterministic rule were applied. In Step 5, the best
Variable neighborhood search
4744472
management. One group describes processes (including ISO/IEC 12207 and ISO/IEC 15288) and another describes process assessment and improvement ISO 15504. The Software Engineering Institute has its own process assessment and improvement methods, called CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration) and IDEAL respectively. Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) is a process improvement training and appraisal program and service administered and marketed by Carnegie Mellon University and required by many DOD and U.S. Government contracts, especially in software development. Carnegie Mellon University claims CMMI can be used to guide process improvement across a project, division, or an entire organization. Under the CMMI methodology,
Quality management
874004
smoke. In 1603, Hugh Plat suggested that coal might be charred in a manner analogous to the way charcoal is produced from wood. This process was not employed until 1642, when coke was used for roasting malt in Derbyshire; previously, brewers had used wood, as uncoked coal cannot be used in brewing because its sulfurous fumes would impart a foul taste to the beer. It was considered an improvement in quality, and brought about an "alteration which all England admired"—the coke process allowed for a lighter roast of the malt, leading to the creation of what by the end of
Coke (fuel)
6031489
employer wishes to hire the services of the foreign worker on a permanent basis, however, a complex sponsorship process for the green card begins, a process that can take years. Generally (although not always) the first step in that process is labor certification. Labor certification is a process of proving that there are no qualified US workers for the position being offered. If there are qualified US workers - in fact, even generally speaking if there are even "minimally qualified" US workers - then the foreign worker cannot be offered the position on a permanent basis. This does not necessarily
Labor certification
19776573
is concurrent or simultaneously executing can be termed a thread. ISO 9000 promotes the process approach to managing an organization. improving the effectiveness of a quality management system, to enhance customer satisfaction by meeting customer requirements. Process management (Project Management) Process management in civil engineering and project management is the management of "systematic series of activities directed towards causing an end result such that one or more inputs will be acted upon to create one or more outputs." Process management offers project organizations a means of applying the same quality improvement and defect reduction techniques used in business and manufacturing
Process management (Project Management)
2748194
was US$88,395. Counseling psychologists are interested in answering a variety of research questions about counseling process and outcome. Counseling "process" refers to how or why counseling happens and progresses. Counseling "outcome" addresses whether or not counseling is effective, under what conditions it is effective, and what outcomes are considered effective—such as symptom reduction, behavior change, or quality of life improvement. Topics commonly explored in the study of counseling process and outcome include therapist variables, client variables, the counseling or therapeutic relationship, cultural variables, process and outcome measurement, mechanisms of change, and process and outcome research methods. Classic approaches appeared early
Counseling psychology
547695
Invention An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition or process. The invention process is a process within an overall engineering and product development process. It may be an improvement upon a machine or product or a new process for creating an object or a result. An invention that achieves a completely unique function or result may be a radical breakthrough. Such works are novel and not obvious to others skilled in the same field. An inventor may be taking a big step in success or failure. Some inventions can be patented. A patent legally protects the intellectual
Invention
2092115
the 131 seats in the National Assembly. The alliance established an effective majority with cooperating with a group of 25 independent and officially non-affiliated members of the parliament, sympathetic to the Sargsyan-Demirchyan coalition. The electoral process "generally showed an improvement over the [previous] flawed elections, but ODIHR said they were "not an adequate basis for comparison." ODIHR's final report described the election as "a step towards compliance with OSCE Commitments" and claimed that, along with improvements to the electoral framework and the political environment, serious issues remained. The Council of Europe also suggested "considerable improvement" from the past elections. The
Vazgen Sargsyan
18716706
own bedroom with double bed, dining/living area and fully functional shower. On most flights within or between the United States (including Alaska but not Hawaii), Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean – what is normally regarded as regional business class or premium economy in the rest of the world is branded as "domestic first class" by US airlines. The service is generally a step below long haul international business class. US territories in the Western Pacific (Guam and the CNMI) and sometimes Hawaii are considered international for service purposes and generally feature long haul business class. However, "domestic first class" does
First class (aviation)
11639789
cohesion that will drive tri-directional communication channels throughout the business components. The process of corporate profiling ensures that all factors are considered, thereby significantly reducing the opportunity for Information technology Project Failure. Corporate Profiling is the first step to undertaking an IT implementation. Corporate profiling Corporate profiling is a process that delivers an in-depth blueprint of the organizational structure, its technology, people, processes, up-stream and down-stream customers and their relationships. Using this process, organizations are able to identify where the interlinked relationships occur. Profiling also identifies any common or causal factors between corporate, business and Information technology and more significantly,
Corporate profiling
19776569
management as defined to deliver consistent performance, it requires definition, elimination of non-Value added activities, continuous improvement, project stakeholder focus and team based approach. Mitchell (2016) notes that managing processes across divisional and organizational boundaries requires a more flexible management strategy as well as close cooperation among managers in diverse functional and operational units to ensure that the process flow is not interrupted by conflicts over lines of authority. <br> Process management originated as part of the manufacturing-based application of statistical quality control movement in the late 1920s and early 1930s. What is relatively new, however, is the transition of
Process management (Project Management)
20723112
20% of the reads larger than 20 kb. Data were assembled using PacBio’s hierarchical genome assembly process (HGAP), and showed that long-read assemblies revealed a 63-fold improvement in contig size over an Illumina-only assembly. Another plant genome that was recently published that used long reads in combination with short reads is the improved assembly of the apple genome. In this project a hybrid approach was used, combining different data types from sequencing technologies. The sequences used came from: PacBio RS II, Illumina paired-end reads (PE) and Illumina mate- pair reads (MP). As a first step an assembly from Illumina paired-end
Plant genome assembly
16360409
who are required to sign-off the internal control report, typically became more deeply involved in the control self-assessment process as it facilitated their later review of the internal control report. In the United Kingdom in 2011 the Financial Services Authority recognised in its recommendations for the improvement of operational risk management that the assessment of risks through a control self-assessment may be an important means of identifying risks. It also noted that for the assessment to be fully effective it had to be fully integrated into the financial organisation's risk-management process. The first step in control self-assessment is to document
Control self-assessment
6921462
DMAIC DMAIC (an acronym for "Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control") (pronounced "də-MAY-ick") refers to a data-driven improvement cycle used for improving, optimizing and stabilizing business processes and designs. The DMAIC improvement cycle is the core tool used to drive Six Sigma projects. However, DMAIC is not exclusive to Six Sigma and can be used as the framework for other improvement applications. DMAIC is an abbreviation of the five improvement steps it comprises: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control. All of the DMAIC process steps are required and always proceed in the given order. The purpose of this step is
DMAIC
17830208
improvement of processes or areas. In some places a business improvement district or tourism improvement district may be incorporated into urban zoning, with the enactment of laws intended to benefit businesses that are established in the area. An improvement trust, a type of legal trust created for the improvement of something, may be settled for the benefit of a municipal area. http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/education/210847-to-improve-education-improvements-needed-inside-and-outside-the Improvement Improvement is the process of a thing moving from one state to a state considered to be better, usually through some action intended to bring about that better state. The concept of improvement is important to governments
Improvement
12283707
produce good results but may not be appropriate when the complexity of the agents, in terms of social relations and interaction increases, becomes too restrictive. The exploration of new possibilities should be considered and, for example, there should be a merging of cognitive approaches with game theoretical ones. Apart from that, more trust evidence should be considered, as well as time-sensitive trust metrics. represent the first step to encourage the improvement of computational trust. An important issue in modeling trust is represented by the transferability of trust judgements by different agents. Social scientists agree to consider unqualified trust values as
Computational trust
7486969
of tin glazes may differ in different sites and periods, the process of the production of tin glazes is similar. Generally speaking, the first step of the production of tin glazes is to mix tin and lead in order to form oxides, which was then added to a glaze matrix (alkali-silicate glaze, for example) and heated. After the mixture cooled, the tin oxide crystallises as what has been mentioned above, therefore generates the so-called white tin-opacified glazes. Besides, the body of tin-opacified wares is generally calcareous clays containing 15-25% CaO, of which the thermal expansion coefficient is close to that
Tin-glazing
10921458
project one of the "Roads of National Significance". Crucially, this step allowed the application to be considered by a new governmental body, the Environmental Protection Authority, a fast-track process which bypasses normal resource consent and Environment Court processes, in favour of a fixed 9-month process led by a "Board of Enquiry", whose decision cannot be appealed except on points of law. The decision to fast-track was cited as to avoid approval delays which had held up other projects for over 15 years, though local groups were pessimistic about their chance to achieve fair mitigation within the tight process. The tunnel
Waterview Connection
11098767
Continual improvement process A continual improvement process, also often called a continuous improvement process (abbreviated as CIP or CI), is an ongoing effort to improve products, services, or processes. These efforts can seek "incremental" improvement over time or "breakthrough" improvement all at once. Delivery (customer valued) processes are constantly evaluated and improved in the light of their efficiency, effectiveness and flexibility. Some see CIPs as a meta-process for most management systems (such as business process management, quality management, project management, and program management). W. Edwards Deming, a pioneer of the field, saw it as part of the 'system' whereby feedback
Continual improvement process
5897444
Match" available through NRMP Website Many residency programs use a "cutoff" score for Step 1, below which applicants are unlikely to be considered, although in some cases individuals with significantly higher Step 2 CK scores may still receive further consideration. The NRMP Residency Program Director survey contains more information, both overall and by specialty, regarding "cutoff" scores (i.e., scores below which programs generally do not grant interviews). USMLE Step 1 The USMLE Step 1 (more commonly just Step 1 or colloquially, The Boards) is the first part of the United States Medical Licensing Examination. It aims to assess whether medical
USMLE Step 1
10079543
Essential Unified Process The Essential Unified Process for software development, or EssUP, was invented by Ivar Jacobson as an improvement on the Rational Unified Process. It identifies "practices", such as use cases, iterative development, architecture driven development, team practices and process practices, which are borrowed from RUP, CMMI and agile development. The idea is that you can pick those practices that are applicable to your situation and combine them into your own process. This is considered an improvement with respect to RUP, because with RUP the practices are all intertwined and cannot be taken in isolation. EssUP is supported by
Essential Unified Process
19408714
similarly, Zhizha is essential for a traditional Taoist funeral. Since the Chinese generally believe in an afterlife, anything needed for the deceased to enjoy their afterlives, such as houses, furniture, food, gadgets and even servants will be made into Zhizha models and burned as offerings to them. Bamboo and colored paper are used to prepare Zhizha. The manufacturing process of different offerings are similar, but for large and complex Zhizha, the production process is more time-consuming and more complicated. Generally, to create a Zhiza, the first step is to draft the appearance on a graph. Then, the paper is cut
Zhizha
1615563
of a fast path case improvement when the objects are equal and use the same reference.) Interning is generally only useful for immutable objects. Immutable objects can be useful in multi-threaded applications. Multiple threads can act on data represented by immutable objects without concern of the data being changed by other threads. Immutable objects are therefore considered more "thread-safe" than mutable objects. Immutability does not imply that the object as stored in the computer's memory is unwriteable. Rather, immutability is a compile-time construct that indicates what a programmer can do through the normal interface of the object, not necessarily what
Immutable object
3274032
Information cascade Informational (or information) cascades happen when Internet users start passing on information they assume to be true, but cannot know to be true, based on information on what other users are doing. Information cascades can be accelerated by search engines' ranking technologies and their tendency to return results relevant to a user's previous interests. This type of information spreading is hard to stop. Information cascades over social media and the Internet may also be harmless, and may contain truthful information. An information cascade is generally accepted as a two-step process. For a cascade to begin an individual must
Information cascade
5014585
pathways may be in play. Another key step in the Wacker process is the migration of the hydrogen from oxygen to chloride and formation of the C-O double bond. This step is generally thought to proceed through a so-called β-hydride elimination with a cyclic four-membered transition state: In silico studies argue that the transition state for this reaction step is unfavorable and an alternative reductive elimination reaction mechanism is in play. The proposed reaction steps are likely assisted by water molecule in solution acting as a catalyst. Two routes are commercialized for the production of acetaldehyde: one-stage process and two-stage.
Wacker process
8787323
into account the pros and cons of implementing those ideas. This stage of a project is done to minimize the likelihood of error, manage costs, assess risks, and evaluate the potential success of the intended project. In any event, once an engineering issue or problem is defined, potential solutions must be identified. These solutions can be found by using ideation, the mental process by which ideas are generated. In fact, this step is often termed Ideation or "Concept Generation." The following are widely used techniques: Various generated ideas must then undergo a concept evaluation step, which utilizes various tools to
Engineering design process
13454839
energy consumption by 46 percent. STEP was designed according to electrical, air conditioning and process steam loads already established by the knitwear factory, which began operations during STEP’s design phase. These parameters, which represent the facility’s relatively constant peak load profile, were used for system design. Solar Total Energy Project The Solar Total Energy Project (STEP) was the world’s first and largest solar thermal cogeneration project having an industrial application. Built and operated during the 1980s in Coweta County, Georgia, STEP used solar energy to provide electricity and process heat to a manufacturing facility. Developed as part of the National
Solar Total Energy Project
8644961
individual line item on a customer slip from a retail store”. To clarify what the grain means, you should pick the central process and describe it with one sentence. Furthermore, the grain (sentence) is what you are going to build your dimensions and fact table from. You might find it necessary to go back to this step to alter the grain due to new information gained on what your model is supposed to be able to deliver. The third step in the design process is to define the dimensions of the model. The dimensions must be defined within the grain
Dimensional modeling
15535319
ISO/IEC 15504, also known as SPICE. The software is available in English and German and has more than 34,000 registered users worldwide. In-Step BLUE supports process-based IT-project management with these features: Version 1.0 of the process and configuration management software in-Step was launched in 1997. Since many companies introduced process-based management according to the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) to improve their software development, the tool was designed to assist project teams in complying with process-based project management. Especially users of the standard for German federal administration and defense, the V-Modell 97, took up the software. In 2002 in-Step integrated core
In-Step BLUE
8565042
Closing (sales) Closing is a sales term which refers to the process of making a sale. The sales sense springs from real estate, where closing is the final step of a transaction. In sales, it is used more generally to mean achievement of the desired outcome, which may be an exchange of money or acquiring a signature. Salespeople are often taught to think of targets not as strangers, but rather as prospective customers who already want or need what is being sold. Such prospects need only be "closed." "Closing" is distinguished from ordinary practices such as explaining a product's benefits
Closing (sales)
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stature or PROM. Historically, disability sports classification has not been open specifically to people with transplants, diabetics and epileptics. This is because disabilities need to be permanent in nature. Classification for disability sports generally has three or four steps. The first step is generally a medical assessment. The second is generally a functional assessment. This may involve two parts: first observing a sportspeople in training and then involving observing sportspeople in competition. There are a number of people involved in this process beyond the sportsperson including individual classifiers, medical classifiers, technical classifiers, a chief classifer, a head of classification, a
Disability sport classification
6921466
solutions to eliminate the key root causes in order to fix and prevent process problems. Use brainstorming or techniques like Six Thinking Hats and Random Word. Some projects can utilize complex analysis tools like DOE (Design of Experiments), but try to focus on obvious solutions if these are apparent. However, the purpose of this step can also be to find solutions without implementing them. The purpose of this step is to embed the changes and ensure sustainability, this is sometimes referred to as making the change 'stick'. Control is the final stage within the DMAIC improvement method. In this step;
DMAIC
7154491
place. The festival would become a major political and cultural event in Portugal and is still held yearly, as of 2006. The eighth congress was held in Lisbon from November 11–14. The congress mainly stated the need to continue the quest for Socialism in Portugal and the need to defend the achievements of the Revolution against what the party considered to be a political step backward, led by a coalition of the Socialist Party and the right-wing Centro Democrático Social, who were opposed to the Agrarian Reform process. In December, in the first local election, the party, in coalition with
History of the Portuguese Communist Party
11098770
in the process to meet changing needs. The CIP-concept is also used in environmental management systems (EMS), such as ISO 14000 and EMAS. The term "continual improvement", not "continuous improvement", is used in ISO 14000, and is understood to refer to an ongoing series of small or large-scale improvements which are each done discretely, i.e. in a step-wise fashion. Several differences exist between the CIP concept as it is applied in quality management and environmental management. CIP in EMS aims to improve the natural consequences of products and activities, not the products and activities as such. Secondly, there is no
Continual improvement process
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or "women's" history but American history.'" In the 2009 "Contemporary Authors" feature on Hearth's career, she explained her writing process: To me, the first step in the creation of an oral history is developing a relationship of trust with my subject. Then it is a matter of complete immersion in my subject's world, listening with an almost other-worldly intensity, asking the perfect questions, and being extremely sensitive to the nuances of what the person is telling me. While it goes without saying that I do scrupulous research and fact-checking for each project, what makes my books special, I think, is
Amy Hill Hearth
11015555
appears to be the need for a referendum such as this to be done as a two-step process, in which the first step is to ask whether a change is considered desirable and the second step involves the choice of a specific model, as was done successfully in New Zealand under the 1992/93 referendum. Otherwise, a bias is created because some people will vote against the proposed because they would prefer something somewhat different. 2005 Prince Edward Island electoral reform referendum A referendum was held in the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island on November 28, 2005 to determine whether
2005 Prince Edward Island electoral reform referendum
18322752
a sound SWOT analysis as part of the assessment process for process improvement. - TIPA is provided with an exhaustive toolbox that provides templates and tools for every single step of the assessment process. It can be customized to any application domain. Definition phase During the definition phase, the main objectives are to define the scope of the assessment, to identify the key actors, to agree on a service offer and to agree on the assessment scope agreement. Preparation phase In this phase, the objective is to discover the organizational context, and then to do an assessment planning and define
Tudor IT Process Assessment
4780236
Zairi (2000) suggest that BPR involves changes in people behavior and culture, processes, and technology. As a result, there are many factors that prevent the effective implementation of BPR and hence restrict innovation and continuous improvement. Change management, which involves all human and social related changes and cultural adjustment techniques needed by management to facilitate the insertion of newly designed processes and structures into working practice and to deal effectively with resistance, is considered by many researchers to be a crucial component of any BPR effort.One of the most overlooked obstacles to successful BPR project implementation is resistance from those
Business process reengineering
7344055
in order to produce quality products or services. The information may be key to quality performance, but it may also be totally incorrect. Unlike similar forms of artisan intelligence, tribal knowledge can be converted into company property. It is often a good source of test factors during improvement efforts. Tribal Knowledge is a term often associated with a process step of the Six Sigma process. It is often referred to as knowledge 'known' yet undocumented, such as information that has been handed down generation to generation with no documentation. It is knowledge contained within a group that is assumed to
Tribal knowledge
3588576
Home improvement The concept of home improvement, home renovation, or remodelling is the process of renovating or making additions to one's home. Home improvement can be projects that upgrade an existing home interior (such as electrical and plumbing), exterior (masonry, concrete, siding, roofing), or other improvements to the property (i.e. garden work or garage maintenance/additions). While "home improvement" often refers to building projects that alter the structure of an existing home, it can also include improvements to lawns, gardens, and outdoor structures, such as gazebos and garages. It also encompasses maintenance, repair, and general servicing tasks. Home improvement projects generally
Home improvement
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an applicant will not be a criterion considered in the admissions process. When she first became President, Hill made clear that of her priorities for Vassar's future, a robust financial aid program would be paramount. Hill announced the decision to go need-blind during her remarks at Vassar's 2007 Commencement ceremony. Under Hill's leadership, Vassar has also replaced loans with grants in financial aid for low-income families, in further efforts to increase access to higher education. Hill announced in late March 2016 that she intended to step down from the presidency after the 2016–2017 academic year. Near the start of what
Catharine Bond Hill
9135358
than mere usability. It provides key research findings which inform the improvement of systems for the people. Human-computer interaction extends its study towards more integrated interactions, such as tangible interactions, which is generally not covered in the practice of user experience. User experience cannot be manufactured or designed; it has to be incorporated in the design. Understanding the user's emotional quotient plays a key role while designing a user experience. The first step while designing the user experience is determining the reason a visitor will be visiting the website or use the application in question. Then the user experience can
User experience design
15204380
are two approaches that can be taken: The 'management overhead' describes the ratio between the effort required to document or manage a process and the eventual outcome of a project. With large-scale project methodologies the quality management is an important part of a project's process and aims to provide for continual improvement and a project output that meets the requirements of the end user. On small-scale projects it is not always possible to use standard quality management approaches due to limitations of time, budget and resources. There is still however a need to be creative and innovative while maintaining quality
Small-scale project management
3855169
domain from which the data to be stored is drawn e.g. financial information, biological information etc. Therefore, the data to be stored in the database must be determined in cooperation with a person who does have expertise in that domain, and who is aware of what data must be stored within the system. This process is one which is generally considered part of requirements analysis, and requires skill on the part of the database designer to elicit the needed information from those with the domain knowledge. This is because those with the necessary domain knowledge frequently cannot express clearly what
Database design
20036834
as a two step process. In Schedule 2, it lists a set of "matters" - these are considerations that determine which rating units will be liable for, and which rating units will not be liable for a particular rate. In Schedule 3, it lists a set of "factors" - these are considerations that determine how and what amounts will be payable. There are nine matters that can be considered, for example, where the land is located, or the use to which the land is put. There are twelve factors that can be used in calculating rates, for example, the area
Local Government (Rating) Act 2002
19088058
Federal Circuit’s analysis fundamentally misunderstands what it means to infringe a method patent." The Court insisted that Akamai's view "would deprive § 271(b) of ascertainable standards." The Court explained: If a defendant can be held liable under § 271(b) for inducing conduct that does not constitute infringement, then how can a court assess when a patent holder’s rights have been invaded? What if a defendant pays another to perform just one step of a 12¬step process, and no one performs the other steps, but that one step can be viewed as the most important step in the process? In that
Akamai Techs., Inc. v. Limelight Networks, Inc.
10903729
Supplier evaluation Supplier evaluation and supplier appraisal are terms used in business and refer to the process of evaluating and approving potential suppliers by quantitative assessment. The aim of the process is to ensure a portfolio of best-in-class suppliers is available for use. Supplier evaluation can also be applied to current suppliers in order to measure and monitor their performance for the purposes of ensuring contract compliance, reducing costs, mitigating risk and driving continuous improvement. Supplier evaluation and take-on is a continual process within purchasing departments, and forms part of the pre-qualification step within the purchasing process, although in many
Supplier evaluation
16086445
skills in athletics, such as running, jumping or throwing. A determination is then made as to what classification an athlete should compete in. Classifications may be Confirmed or Review status. For athletes who do not have access to a full classification panel, Provisional classification is available; this is a temporary Review classification, considered an indication of class only, and generally used only in lower levels of competition. While some people in this class may be ambulatory, they generally go through the classification process while using a wheelchair. This is because they often compete from a seated position. Failure to do
T44 (classification)
19637832
such as running, jumping or throwing. A determination is then made as to what classification an athlete should compete in. Classifications may be Confirmed or Review status. For athletes who do not have access to a full classification panel, Provisional classification is available; this is a temporary Review classification, considered an indication of class only, and generally used only in lower levels of competition. While some people in this class may be ambulatory, they generally go through the classification process while using a wheelchair. This is because they often compete from a seated position. Failure to do so could result
F55 (classification)
16086272
determination is then made as to what classification an athlete should compete in. Classifications may be Confirmed or Review status. For athletes who do not have access to a full classification panel, Provisional classification is available; this is a temporary Review classification, considered an indication of class only, and generally used only in lower levels of competition. While some people in this class may be ambulatory, they generally go through the classification process while using a wheelchair. This is because they often compete from a seated position. Failure to do so could result in them being classified as an ambulatory
T33 (classification)
7925554
74-month low in April 2013, with 144,790 properties with foreclosure filings. Although still about twice as high as the average 75,000 per month in 2005, it was 60 percent below the monthly peak of more than 367,000 in March 2010., with about one of every 100 U.S. households at some stage of the foreclosure process, according to the latest numbers from data aggregator RealtyTrac. Real estate investing Real estate investing involves the purchase, ownership, management, rental and/or sale of real estate for profit. Improvement of realty property as part of a real estate investment strategy is generally considered to be
Real estate investing
3810081
Group continued to invest in listed companies that are regarded to have better futures, either because their current management is in the process of improving the company's operation, or because new shareholders are expected to step in to instigate improvement. Among the companies, which Baugur Group has invested in on these premises are the Big Food Group, House of Fraser, and Somerfield. On the other hand, Baugur Group has formed a strategy to take part in management takeovers. These companies control strong brand names and are considered to have substantial opportunities for growth, show a net profit, and management has
Baugur Group
9399762
a long history in Japan. Public toplessness was generally considered acceptable as well until the post-WWII US occupation when General Douglas MacArthur passed edicts requiring women to cover their breasts and banning pornography that contained close-up shots of genitalia. Public nudity was quite normal and commonplace in Japan until the Meiji Restoration. Commodore Matthew Perry's interpreter Rev. S. Well Williams wrote "Modesty, judging from what we see, might be said to be unknown, for the women make no attempt to hide the bosom, and every step shows the leg above the knee; while men generally go with the merest bit
History of nudity
6429694
sanitation, drying of sewage sludge from sewage treatment plants, fecal sludge or feces collected in urine-diverting dry toilets (UDDT) is a common method to achieve pathogen kill, as pathogens can only tolerate a certain dryness level. In addition, drying is required as a process step if the excreta based materials are meant to be incinerated. Drying Drying is a mass transfer process consisting of the removal of water or another solvent by evaporation from a solid, semi-solid or liquid. This process is often used as a final production step before selling or packaging products. To be considered "dried", the final
Drying
16441471
improvement local search (Algorithm 1) is usually adopted. However, it can be replaced with first improvement (Algorithm 2). The basic VNS is a best improvement descent method with randomization. Without much additional effort, it can be transformed into a descent-ascent method: in NeighbourhoodChange() function, replace also x by x" with some probability, even if the solution is worse than the incumbent. It can also be changed into a first improvement method. Another variant of the basic VNS can be to find a solution x' in the “Shaking” step as the best among b (a parameter) randomly generated solutions from the
Variable neighborhood search
6366036
can move uniformly without the benefit of either a heterogeneous nucleation or screw dislocation mechanism. What constitutes a sufficiently large driving force depends upon the diffuseness of the interface, so that for extremely diffuse interfaces, this critical driving force will be so small that any measurable driving force will exceed it. Alternatively, for sharp interfaces, the critical driving force will be very large, and most growth will occur by the lateral step mechanism. Note that in a typical solidification or crystallization process, the thermodynamic driving force is dictated by the degree of supercooling. It is generally believed that the mechanical
Crystal growth
20950973
Stibinin Stibinin, also known as Stibabenzene., is an organic chemical compound. Stibinin has the chemical formula CHSb (MW: 186.86 g/mol). The molecule, stibinin, is a derivative of benzene, with one of the carbon atoms in the 6-membered ring replaced by an antimony (Sb) atom. Stibinin is a molecule that is considered to be an organoantimony compound due to it containing carbon, hydrogen, and antimony atoms. The synthesis of stibinin can be accomplished in a three step process. The final product can be isolated, even though the molecule is highly labile. The first step of this synthesis involves the treatment of
Stibinin
5098262
The building of temples at shrines produced shrine-temple complexes, which in turn accelerated the amalgamation process. As a result of the creation of shrine-temple complexes, many shrines that had until then been just an open-air site became Buddhist style groupings of buildings. At the end of the same century, in what is considered the second stage of the amalgamation, the kami Hachiman was declared a dharmapala and, later, a bodhisattva. Shrines for him started to be built at temples (the so-called "temple-shrines"), marking an important step ahead in the process of amalgamation of kami and Buddhism. When the great buddha
Shinbutsu-shūgō
7632583
useful in iron deficiency anemia associated with autoimmune gastritis and "Helicobacter pylori" gastritis, where it generally has satisfactory effect. Since iron stores in the body are generally depleted, and there is a limit to what the body can process (about 2–6 mg/kg of body mass per day; i.e. for a 100 kg/220 lb man this is equal to a maximum dose of 200–600 mg/per day) without iron poisoning, this is a chronic therapy which may take 3–6 months. Due to the frequent intolerance of oral iron and the slow improvement, parenteral iron is recommended in many indications. Iron therapy (intravenously
Iron supplement
15096753
Salt extraction process The salt extraction process is an electrolytic method which may be used to extract valuable metals from slag, low-grade ores, or other materials by using molten salts. This method was developed by S. Seetharaman, O. Grinder, L. Teng and X. Ge at the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden as part of a large Steel Eco-Cycle Project in 2005. In the first step of this process, the slag or other raw materials containing metal values of interest, e.g. chromium, is dissolved into the molten salt phase at a suitable temperature. A suitable flux must be found in
Salt extraction process
15151747
accounting & financial reporting with the FASB & IASB, The Boardroom Project identified the need for an industry-level authority to establish standards and ensure their continuing relevancy. They considered that the development of generally accepted common standards for measurement and measurement processes would enhance the credibility of the marketing profession, improve the effectiveness and efficiency of marketing activities, guide continuous improvement, and enable marketing to move from discretionary business expense to board-level strategic investment. The Mission of MASB is to “Establish marketing measurement and accountability standards across industry and domain for continuous improvement in financial performance and for the guidance
Marketing Accountability Standards Board