Special Issue Dedication to Stephen H. Schneider

Special Issue

Introduction to Special Issue

Although recent frameworks for test validation have emphasized utilization as a key component (e.g. Bachman & Palmer, 2010; Chapelle, 2012; Kane, 1992), what happens in the sometimes messy contexts where assessments are carried out is often not documented. This is perhaps because test developers are more focused on defining and operationalizing test constructs than on issues of implementation. ...

Stephen H Bryant and Stephen F Altschul

The past two years have seen the rapid development of new recognition methods for protein structure prediction. These algorithms ’thread’ the sequence of one protein through the known structure of another, looking for an alignment that corresponds to an energetically favorable model structure. Because they are based on energy calculation, rather than evolutionary distance, these methods extend ...

Forward to special online issue

The unexpected emergence and subsequent pandemic spread of a unique H1N1 virus in 2009 have had many consequences. In many ways, it has tested our global and national pandemic preparedness planning and questioned the underlying assumptions in plans which had been largely prompted by the ongoing epizootic of H5N1 viruses. Nevertheless, that planning provided both the basis and stimulation for st...

Preface: Introduction to Special Issue

Demands for flexibility, greater variety of products, and advanced production processes complicate the logistics and planning of manufacturing systems; this also increases the number of alternatives that should be formalized in a model. The evaluation of all the possible alternatives of the planning problem is often considered an NP-hard combinatorial problem. Practical problems often contain n...