Work-Life Balance, Burnout, and Satisfaction of Early Career Pediatricians.

PubMed

Starmer, Amy J; Frintner, Mary Pat; Freed, Gary L

2016-04-01

Data describing factors associated with work-life balance, burnout, and career and life satisfaction for early career pediatricians are limited. We sought to identify personal and work factors related to these outcomes. We analyzed 2013 survey data of pediatricians who graduated residency between 2002 and 2004. Dependent variables included: (1) balance between personal and professional commitments, (2) current burnout in work, (3) career satisfaction, and (4) life satisfaction. Multivariable logistic regression examined associations of personal and work characteristics with each of the 4 dependent variables. A total of 93% of participants completed the survey (n = 840). A majority reported career (83%) and life (71%) satisfaction. Fewer reported current appropriate work-life balance (43%) or burnout (30%). In multivariable modeling, excellent/very good health, having support from physician colleagues, and adequate resources for patient care were all found to be associated with a lower prevalence of burnout and a higher likelihood of work-life balance and career and life satisfaction. Having children, race, and clinical specialty were not found to be significantly associated with any of the 4 outcome measures. Female gender was associated with a lower likelihood of balance and career satisfaction but did not have an association with burnout or life satisfaction. Burnout and struggles with work-life balance are common; dissatisfaction with life and career are a concern for some early career pediatricians. Efforts to minimize these outcomes should focus on encouragement of modifiable factors, including health supervision, peer support, and ensuring sufficient patient care resources. Copyright © 2016 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

System and methods of resource usage using an interoperable management framework

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Heileman, Gregory L.; Jamkhedkar, Pramod A.; Lamb, Christopher C.

Generic rights expression language allowing interoperability across different computing environments including resource usage of different applications. A formal framework for usage management provides scaffolding upon which interoperable usage management systems can be built. Certain features of the framework are standardized, such as the operational semantics, including areas free of standards that necessitate choice and innovation to achieve a balance of flexibility and usability for interoperability in usage management systems.

Balancing tradeoffs in the Denali Wilderness: an expanded approach to normative research using stated choice analysis

Treesearch

Steven R. Lawson; Robert Manning

2002-01-01

Wilderness experiences are thought to be comprised of or defined by three dimensions, including social, resource, and management conditions. Decisions about how to manage wilderness recreation in Denali National Park involve potential tradeoffs among the conditions of resource, social, and managerial attributes of the wilderness experience. This study expands the...

SPATIALLY-BALANCED SAMPLING OF NATURAL RESOURCES

EPA Science Inventory

The spatial distribution of a natural resource is an important consideration in designing an efficient survey or monitoring program for the resource. Generally, sample sites that are spatially-balanced, that is, more or less evenly dispersed over the extent of the resource, will ...

Method and Mchievement of Survey and Evaluation of Groundwater Resources of Guangzhou City

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, J.

2017-12-01

Based on the documents and achievements relevant to hydrogeological surveying and mapping of 1:100000, hydrogeological drilling, pumping test and dynamic monitoring of groundwater level in Guangzhou, considering the hydrogeological conditions of Guangzhou and combining the advanced technologies such as remote sensing, the survey and evaluation of the volume of the groundwater resources of Guangzhou was carried out in plain and mountain areas separately. The recharge method was used to evaluate the volume of groundwater resources in plain areas, meanwhile, the output volume and the storage change volume of groundwater were calculated and the volume of groundwater resources was corrected by water balance analysis; while the discharge method was used to evaluated the volume of groundwater resources in mountain areas. The result of survey and evaluation indicates that: the volume of the natural groundwater resources in Guangzhou City is 1.83 billion m3 of which the groundwater replenishment quantity in plain areas is 510,045,000 m3, with a total output of 509,729,000 m3, an absolute balance difference of 316,000 m3 and a relative balance difference of 0.062%; the volume of groundwater resources in mountain areas is 1,358,208,000 m3 including the river basic flow is 965,054,000 m3; the repetitive counted volume of groundwater resources in both plain areas and mountain areas is 38,839,000 m3. This work was realized by refined means for the first time to entirely find out the volume of groundwater resources of Guangzhou City and the law of their distribution so as to lay an important foundation for the protection and reasonable development and exploration of the groundwater resources of Guangzhou City.

Using a balanced scorecard to improve the performance of an emergency department.

PubMed

Huang, Shu-Hsin; Chen, Ping-Ling; Yang, Ming-Chin; Chang, Wen-Yin; Lee, Haw-Jenn

2004-01-01

The performance of the emergency department significantly improved after implementing the balanced scorecard including hours of continuing education attended by the staff, staff job satisfaction, the rate of incomplete laboratory tests within 30 minutes, the average monthly inappropriate return rate, and hospital profit. The results can assist administrators plan for the future. Although this was a pilot program for implementing a balanced scorecard in an emergency department, the indicators used in this study may also be reasonable for a hospital that has limited resources.

Diet and Nutrition (Parkinson's Disease)

MedlinePlus

... Area Resources & Support PD Library Legal, Financial, & Insurance Matters Blog For Caregivers Living with Parkinson's While living ... into your diet. These include brightly colored and dark fruits and vegetables. Balance the food you eat ...

Nuclear Disarmament.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Christopher

1982-01-01

Material about nuclear disarmament and the arms race should be included in secondary school curricula. Teachers can present this technical, controversial, and frightening material in a balanced and comprehensible way. Resources for instructional materials are listed. (PP)

Measure Guideline. Steam System Balancing and Tuning for Multifamily Residential Buildings

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Choi, Jayne; Ludwig, Peter; Brand, Larry

2013-04-01

This guideline provides building owners, professionals involved in multifamily audits, and contractors insights for improving the balance and tuning of steam systems. It provides readers an overview of one-pipe steam heating systems, guidelines for evaluating steam systems, typical costs and savings, and guidelines for ensuring quality installations. It also directs readers to additional resources for details not included here. Measures for balancing a distribution system that are covered include replacing main line vents and upgrading radiator vents. Also included is a discussion on upgrading boiler controls and the importance of tuning the settings on new or existing boiler controls. Themore » guideline focuses on one-pipe steam systems, though many of the assessment methods can be generalized to two-pipe steam systems.« less

How Resource Dependency Can Influence Social Resilience within a Primary Resource Industry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marshall, N. A.; Fenton, D. M.; Marshall, P. A.; Sutton, S. G.

2007-01-01

Maintaining a healthy balance between human prosperity and environmental integrity is at the core of the principles of Ecological Sustainable Development. Resource-protection policies are frequently implemented so as to regulate the balance between resource access and use, however, they can inadvertently compromise the ability of resource users to…

Evaluation of alternative model-data fusion approaches in water balance estimation across Australia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Dijk, A. I. J. M.; Renzullo, L. J.

2009-04-01

Australia's national agencies are developing a continental modelling system to provide a range of water information services. It will include rolling water balance estimation to underpin national water accounts, water resources assessments that interpret current water resources availability and trends in a historical context, and water resources predictions coupled to climate and weather forecasting. The nation-wide coverage, currency, accuracy, and consistency required means that remote sensing will need to play an important role along with in-situ observations. Different approaches to blending models and observations can be considered. Integration of on-ground and remote sensing data into land surface models in atmospheric applications often involves state updating through model-data assimilation techniques. By comparison, retrospective water balance estimation and hydrological scenario modelling to date has mostly relied on static parameter fitting against observations and has made little use of earth observation. The model-data fusion approach most appropriate for a continental water balance estimation system will need to consider the trade-off between computational overhead and the accuracy gains achieved when using more sophisticated synthesis techniques and additional observations. This trade-off was investigated using a landscape hydrological model and satellite-based estimates of soil moisture and vegetation properties for aseveral gauged test catchments in southeast Australia.

Ramping and Uncertainty Prediction Tool - Analysis and Visualization of Wind Generation Impact on Electrical Grid

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Etingov, Pavel; Makarov, PNNL Yuri; Subbarao, PNNL Kris

RUT software is designed for use by the Balancing Authorities to predict and display additional requirements caused by the variability and uncertainty in load and generation. The prediction is made for the next operating hours as well as for the next day. The tool predicts possible deficiencies in generation capability and ramping capability. This deficiency of balancing resources can cause serious risks to power system stability and also impact real-time market energy prices. The tool dynamically and adaptively correlates changing system conditions with the additional balancing needs triggered by the interplay between forecasted and actual load and output of variablemore » resources. The assessment is performed using a specially developed probabilistic algorithm incorporating multiple sources of uncertainty including wind, solar and load forecast errors. The tool evaluates required generation for a worst case scenario, with a user-specified confidence level.« less

75 FR 70906 - Nominations to the Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-11-19

..., governmental, tribal and consumer groups, and other living marine resource interest groups from a balance of U.S. geographical regions, including Puerto Rico, the Western Pacific, and U.S. Virgin Islands. A...

Keeping Current: Feng Shui and the School Library Media Specialist.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barron, Daniel D.

2000-01-01

Discusses the changing shift in education, including learning resources centers, from a production to a consumer mind-set, focusing on the activity of learning rather than teaching. Highlights include learning communities; personal mastery; developing a vision; the interconnectedness of organizations; harmony and balance, similar to feng shui; and…

30 CFR 817.45 - Hydrologic balance: Sediment control measures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Hydrologic balance: Sediment control measures. 817.45 Section 817.45 Mineral Resources OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING RECLAMATION AND ENFORCEMENT...-UNDERGROUND MINING ACTIVITIES § 817.45 Hydrologic balance: Sediment control measures. (a) Appropriate sediment...

30 CFR 816.45 - Hydrologic balance: Sediment control measures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Hydrologic balance: Sediment control measures. 816.45 Section 816.45 Mineral Resources OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING RECLAMATION AND ENFORCEMENT...-SURFACE MINING ACTIVITIES § 816.45 Hydrologic balance: Sediment control measures. (a) Appropriate sediment...

30 CFR 816.45 - Hydrologic balance: Sediment control measures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Hydrologic balance: Sediment control measures. 816.45 Section 816.45 Mineral Resources OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING RECLAMATION AND ENFORCEMENT...-SURFACE MINING ACTIVITIES § 816.45 Hydrologic balance: Sediment control measures. (a) Appropriate sediment...

30 CFR 817.45 - Hydrologic balance: Sediment control measures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Hydrologic balance: Sediment control measures. 817.45 Section 817.45 Mineral Resources OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING RECLAMATION AND ENFORCEMENT...-UNDERGROUND MINING ACTIVITIES § 817.45 Hydrologic balance: Sediment control measures. (a) Appropriate sediment...

Asia High Mountain Glacier Mass Balance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shum, C. K.; Su, X.; Shang, K.; Cogley, J. G.; Zhang, G.; Howat, I. M.; Braun, A.; Kuo, C. Y.

2015-12-01

The Asian High Mountain encompassing the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau has the largest glaciated regions in the world outside of Greenland and Antarctica. The Tibetan Plateau is the source or headwater of many major river systems, which provide water resources to more than a billion people downstream. The impact of climate change on the Tibetan Plateau physical processes, including mountain glacier wastage, permafrost active layer thickening, the timing and the quantity of the perennial snowpack melt affecting upstream catchments, river runoffs, land-use, have significant effects on downstream water resources. Exact quantification of the Asian High Mountain glacier wastage or its mass balance on how much of the melt water contributes to early 21st century global sea-level rise, remain illusive or the published results are arguably controversial. The recent observed significant increase of freshwater storage within the Tibetan Plateaus remains a limitation to exactly quantify mountain glacier wastage. Here, we provide an updated estimate of Asia high mountain glacier mass balance using satellite geodetic observations during the last decade, accounting for the hydrologic and other processes, and validated against available in situ mass balance data.

Technology Solutions Case Study: Balancing Hydronic Systems in Multifamily Buildings, Chicago, Illinois

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None

2014-09-01

In multifamily building hydronic systems, temperature imbalance may be caused by undersized piping, improperly adjusted balancing valves, inefficient water temperature and flow levels, and owner/occupant interaction with the boilers, distribution and controls. The effects of imbalance include tenant discomfort, higher energy use intensity and inefficient building operation. In this case study , Partnership for Advanced Residential Retrofit and Elevate Energy. explores cost-effective distribution upgrades and balancing measures in multifamily hydronic systems, providing a resource to contractors, auditors, and building owners on best practices to improve tenant comfort and lower operating costs.

IUCN action.

PubMed

1984-01-01

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), cooperates with the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and other agencies to: actively promote policies designed to attain a balance between population and resources, within national conservation strategies and through field activities to preserve nature and natural resources; take into account the fundamental issues of population and resources in its policies, programs, resolutions, and public statements, where appropriate; keep trends in population and resources under review, reporting back to each IUCN General Assembly; encourage nongovernment organizations, including local conservation groups and family planning associations, to work together to spread awareness of the links between population, resources, and the environment; encourage governments to undertake periodic assessments of population trends, natural resources, and likely economic conditions, their interrelationships and the implications for the achievement of national goals; encourage governments to establish a population policy and to consider the special environmental problems of the urban and rural poor and to promote sustainable rural development; encourage nations to take effective action to obtain the basic right of all couples to have access to safe and effective family planning methods, as established in the World Population Plan of Action; and generally encourage national and international development policies which help create the conditions in which human population can successfully be brought into balance with carefully conserved natural resources.

Balancing the Budget through Social Exploitation: Why Hard Times Are Even Harder for Some.

PubMed

Tropman, John; Nicklett, Emily

2012-01-01

In all societies needs and wants regularly exceed resources. Thus societies are always in deficit; demand always exceeds supply and "balancing the budget" is a constant social problem. To make matters somewhat worse, research suggests that need- and want-fulfillment tends to further stimulate the cycle of wantseeking rather than satiating desire. Societies use various resource-allocation mechanisms, including price, to cope with gaps between wants and resources. Social exploitation is a second mechanism, securing labor from population segments that can be coerced or convinced to perform necessary work for free or at below-market compensation. Using practical examples, this article develops a theoretical framework for understanding social exploitation. It then offers case examples of how different segments of the population emerge as exploited groups in the United States, due to changes in social policies. These exploitative processes have been exacerbated and accelerated by the economic downturn that began in 2007.

18 CFR 367.4330 - Account 433, Balance transferred from income.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Account 433, Balance transferred from income. 367.4330 Section 367.4330 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY... GAS ACT Retained Earnings Accounts § 367.4330 Account 433, Balance transferred from income. This...

30 CFR 816.42 - Hydrologic balance: Water quality standards and effluent limitations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Hydrologic balance: Water quality standards and effluent limitations. 816.42 Section 816.42 Mineral Resources OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING RECLAMATION AND... STANDARDS-SURFACE MINING ACTIVITIES § 816.42 Hydrologic balance: Water quality standards and effluent...

18 CFR 367.4330 - Account 433, Balance transferred from income.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Account 433, Balance transferred from income. 367.4330 Section 367.4330 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY... GAS ACT Retained Earnings Accounts § 367.4330 Account 433, Balance transferred from income. This...

30 CFR 817.42 - Hydrologic balance: Water quality standards and effluent limitations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Hydrologic balance: Water quality standards and effluent limitations. 817.42 Section 817.42 Mineral Resources OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING RECLAMATION AND... STANDARDS-UNDERGROUND MINING ACTIVITIES § 817.42 Hydrologic balance: Water quality standards and effluent...

30 CFR 817.42 - Hydrologic balance: Water quality standards and effluent limitations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Hydrologic balance: Water quality standards and effluent limitations. 817.42 Section 817.42 Mineral Resources OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING RECLAMATION AND... STANDARDS-UNDERGROUND MINING ACTIVITIES § 817.42 Hydrologic balance: Water quality standards and effluent...

30 CFR 816.42 - Hydrologic balance: Water quality standards and effluent limitations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Hydrologic balance: Water quality standards and effluent limitations. 816.42 Section 816.42 Mineral Resources OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING RECLAMATION AND... STANDARDS-SURFACE MINING ACTIVITIES § 816.42 Hydrologic balance: Water quality standards and effluent...

Gender Stereotypes in Science Education Resources: A Visual Content Analysis.

PubMed

Kerkhoven, Anne H; Russo, Pedro; Land-Zandstra, Anne M; Saxena, Aayush; Rodenburg, Frans J

2016-01-01

More men are studying and working in science fields than women. This could be an effect of the prevalence of gender stereotypes (e.g., science is for men, not for women). Aside from the media and people's social lives, such stereotypes can also occur in education. Ways in which stereotypes are visible in education include the use of gender-biased visuals, language, teaching methods, and teachers' attitudes. The goal of this study was to determine whether science education resources for primary school contained gender-biased visuals. Specifically, the total number of men and women depicted, and the profession and activity of each person in the visuals were noted. The analysis showed that there were more men than women depicted with a science profession and that more women than men were depicted as teachers. This study shows that there is a stereotypical representation of men and women in online science education resources, highlighting the changes needed to create a balanced representation of men and women. Even if the stereotypical representation of men and women in science is a true reflection of the gender distribution in science, we should aim for a more balanced representation. Such a balance is an essential first step towards showing children that both men and women can do science, which will contribute to more gender-balanced science and technology fields.

Gender Stereotypes in Science Education Resources: A Visual Content Analysis

PubMed Central

Kerkhoven, Anne H.; Land-Zandstra, Anne M.; Saxena, Aayush; Rodenburg, Frans J.

2016-01-01

More men are studying and working in science fields than women. This could be an effect of the prevalence of gender stereotypes (e.g., science is for men, not for women). Aside from the media and people’s social lives, such stereotypes can also occur in education. Ways in which stereotypes are visible in education include the use of gender-biased visuals, language, teaching methods, and teachers’ attitudes. The goal of this study was to determine whether science education resources for primary school contained gender-biased visuals. Specifically, the total number of men and women depicted, and the profession and activity of each person in the visuals were noted. The analysis showed that there were more men than women depicted with a science profession and that more women than men were depicted as teachers. This study shows that there is a stereotypical representation of men and women in online science education resources, highlighting the changes needed to create a balanced representation of men and women. Even if the stereotypical representation of men and women in science is a true reflection of the gender distribution in science, we should aim for a more balanced representation. Such a balance is an essential first step towards showing children that both men and women can do science, which will contribute to more gender-balanced science and technology fields. PMID:27851759

30 CFR 816.57 - Hydrologic balance: Activities in or adjacent to perennial or intermittent streams.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Hydrologic balance: Activities in or adjacent to perennial or intermittent streams. 816.57 Section 816.57 Mineral Resources OFFICE OF SURFACE... PERMANENT PROGRAM PERFORMANCE STANDARDS-SURFACE MINING ACTIVITIES § 816.57 Hydrologic balance: Activities in...

30 CFR 817.57 - Hydrologic balance: Surface activities in or adjacent to perennial or intermittent streams.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Hydrologic balance: Surface activities in or adjacent to perennial or intermittent streams. 817.57 Section 817.57 Mineral Resources OFFICE OF SURFACE... PERMANENT PROGRAM PERFORMANCE STANDARDS-UNDERGROUND MINING ACTIVITIES § 817.57 Hydrologic balance: Surface...

30 CFR 817.57 - Hydrologic balance: Surface activities in or adjacent to perennial or intermittent streams.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Hydrologic balance: Surface activities in or adjacent to perennial or intermittent streams. 817.57 Section 817.57 Mineral Resources OFFICE OF SURFACE... PERMANENT PROGRAM PERFORMANCE STANDARDS-UNDERGROUND MINING ACTIVITIES § 817.57 Hydrologic balance: Surface...

30 CFR 816.57 - Hydrologic balance: Activities in or adjacent to perennial or intermittent streams.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Hydrologic balance: Activities in or adjacent to perennial or intermittent streams. 816.57 Section 816.57 Mineral Resources OFFICE OF SURFACE... PERMANENT PROGRAM PERFORMANCE STANDARDS-SURFACE MINING ACTIVITIES § 816.57 Hydrologic balance: Activities in...

"I Wanted To See If We Could Make It Work": Perspectives on Inclusive Childcare.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Devore, Simone; Hanley-Maxwell, Cheryl

2000-01-01

A study explored how six childcare providers who have included children with special needs are able to provide care on a daily basis. Factors included the providers' commitment, finding the balance between resources and needs, problem-solving with parents, access to emotional support and technical assistance, and access to other supports.…

Peak with Books: An Early Childhood Resource for Balanced Literacy. Third Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nelsen, Marjorie R.; Nelsen-Parish, Jan

This book shows how to use popular children's literature to build reading, writing, and cognitive skills in an inquiry-based environment. This third edition has been expanded to include first and second grades. New features include: (1) new emphasis on culturally diverse storybooks; (2) a description of the experiential learning inquiry process;…

Justification of Filter Selection for Robot Balancing in Conditions of Limited Computational Resources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Momot, M. V.; Politsinskaia, E. V.; Sushko, A. V.; Semerenko, I. A.

2016-08-01

The paper considers the problem of mathematical filter selection, used for balancing of wheeled robot in conditions of limited computational resources. The solution based on complementary filter is proposed.

Education in the imbalance of Nature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shlafman, L. M.; Kontar, V. A.

2013-12-01

There are two concepts understanding of the real Nature: balanced and imbalanced. The traditional balanced concept understanding of Nature was originated in prehistoric times to calm the frightened souls of prehistoric man and manage groups of people. The balanced concept presupposes that Nature is isotropic, balanced, etc. The balanced concept of understanding of Nature gradually has moved to science and technology. The balanced concept of understanding of Nature is dominating from the prehistoric time up to today. But always parallel and opposite was exists the concept imbalanced understanding of Nature, which presupposes that Nature is anisotropy, imbalanced, etc. The balanced concept is much simpler than Imbalanced. The balanced concept has given mankind a lot of rough description of Nature which helped to solve a lot of practical problems but with sufficient accuracy, i.e. approximately, but not with an absolute precision. While people were few, and a lot of resources, person could take from Nature only what Nature gave willingly. During this period, people feared and respected Nature and Nature was able easily compensate the activity of people. The high accuracy of the description of Nature was not needed when resources were plentiful and people were few. But now the situation is completely different. The population has become a very large and growing. Traditional resources are almost run out and the lack of resources escalates. People are not afraid of Nature and bravely try to take by force what Nature does not give voluntarily. People invaded into imbalance Nature, and Nature can no longer compensate activity of people. The era of global change is started, including those that man provokes. In the conditions of global changes is insufficiently of the approximate solutions of the traditional balanced concept. The balanced concept is exhausted, and increasingly misleads people. The balanced concept cannot solve the problems that arise in the global change. The Concept imbalance of Nature is more suitable to solve problems of global change. Many thousands of scientists and practical from around the world are working already in the field of imbalance of Nature. Now is a time when the concept imbalance of Nature should be included into the training programs at universities, colleges and schools. We have experts who can teach students in imbalance of Nature. We have a list of topics for Ph.D. dissertations in field of imbalance of Nature. Now we are preparing the fundamental scientific book on all major issues imbalance of Nature. On the basis of this fundamental scientific work will be prepared the textbooks for students of different levels, non-fiction books, will organized promotion of the imbalance of Nature in the media, social networks, etc. People need to understand the real Nature as it is. This new knowledge will help humanity make the right and safer decisions in the era of global change. We invite the universities, colleges, schools, community organizations, sponsors and just responsible people of any country in the world to take part in this noble and vital issue. Humanity has no choice. Or mankind will have time to learn how to live in the era of global change or perish. The concept imbalance of Nature gives humanity the chance to survive.

Power distribution in complex environmental negotiations: Does balance matter?

USGS Publications Warehouse

Burkardt, N.; Lamb, B.L.; Taylor, J.G.

1997-01-01

We studied six interagency negotiations covering Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) hydroelectric power licenses. Negotiations occurred between state and federal resource agencies and developers over project operations and natural resource mitigation. We postulated that a balance of power among parties was necessary for successful negotiations. We found a complex relationship between balanced power and success and conclude that a balance of power was associated with success in these negotiations. Power played a dynamic role in the bargaining and illuminates important considerations for regulatory design.

Foods, macronutrients and fibre in the diet of blue sheep (Psuedois nayaur) in the Annapurna Conservation Area of Nepal.

PubMed

Aryal, Achyut; Coogan, Sean C P; Ji, Weihong; Rothman, Jessica M; Raubenheimer, David

2015-09-01

Food resources are often critical regulating factors affecting individual fitness and population densities. In the Himalayan Mountains, Bharal "blue sheep" (Pseudois nayaur) are the main food resource for the endangered snow leopard (Panthera uncia), as well as being preyed upon by other predators. Blue sheep, however, may face a number of challenges including food resource competition with other wild and domestic ungulates, and hunting pressure. Here, we characterized the diet of blue sheep in the Annapurna Conservation Area (ACA) of Nepal and conducted proximate nutritional analysis on a limited number of plants identified as foods. Furthermore, we investigated the macronutrient and fiber balance of these plants using nutritional geometry which is a state-space approach to modeling multidimensional and interactive nutritional aspects of foraging. A total of 19 plant species/genera were identified in blue sheep pellets using microhistological analysis. On average, across seasons and regions of the study area, the two most frequently occurring plants in pellets were graminoids: Kobressia sp. and Carex spp. The macronutrient balance of Kobresia sp. was relatively high in carbohydrate and low in protein, while other plants in the diet were generally higher in protein and lipid content. Analysis of fiber balance showed that the two most consumed plants of blue sheep (i.e., Kobresia spp. and Carex spp.) contained the highest concentration of hemicellulose, which is likely digestible by blue sheep. The hemicellulose and lignin balance of plants ranged relatively widely, yet their cellulose contents showed less variation. Foraging by blue sheep may therefore be a balance between consuming highly digestible high-carbohydrate plants and plants less-digestible but higher in protein and/or lipid.

Retaining IT Staff through Effective Institutional Planning and Management.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eleey, Michael

1999-01-01

Recommends a systems approach to ensure a positive working environment for campus information technology professionals to help reduce personnel turnover in this critical area. Guidelines include appropriate compensation, reasonable and effective matching of job scope and resources, problem prevention, and balanced professional development. (DB)

Virtual Events: A Cyberspace Resource for Educators.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McLellan, Hilary

1998-01-01

Discusses how virtual events can be used to enhance education. Topics include balancing virtual and real encounters; finding the best mix of communication options; and finding patterns of interaction that support reflective cognition, knowledge amplification, community-building, learning, and global understanding. GLOBENET 1997, an international…

Toward Sustainability for Missouri Forests

Treesearch

Susan L Flader

2004-01-01

Reviews the nature and history of Missouri forests, private and public, and considers the status and prospects for ecological, watershed, and socioeconomic sustainability, and sustainable balance among timber growth, non-timber resources, harvest, and consumption. Discusses sustainable silviculture, including Pioneer Forest, and trends in demands, citizen attitudes,...

The Miracle of Money! Managing LRC Budgets, Funds and Fund Raising.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McLaren, M. Bruce

1994-01-01

Describes the management of a learning resource center (LRC) budget. Topics discussed include controlling a budget, keeping records, managing grants, managing petty cash, responding to unexpected expenses, managing capital outlay dollars, managing insurance, balancing budgets, budget stretching strategies, and fund raising. (JLB)

Balancing the Budget through Social Exploitation: Why Hard Times Are Even Harder for Some

PubMed Central

Tropman, John; Nicklett, Emily

2013-01-01

In all societies needs and wants regularly exceed resources. Thus societies are always in deficit; demand always exceeds supply and “balancing the budget” is a constant social problem. To make matters somewhat worse, research suggests that need- and want-fulfillment tends to further stimulate the cycle of wantseeking rather than satiating desire. Societies use various resource-allocation mechanisms, including price, to cope with gaps between wants and resources. Social exploitation is a second mechanism, securing labor from population segments that can be coerced or convinced to perform necessary work for free or at below-market compensation. Using practical examples, this article develops a theoretical framework for understanding social exploitation. It then offers case examples of how different segments of the population emerge as exploited groups in the United States, due to changes in social policies. These exploitative processes have been exacerbated and accelerated by the economic downturn that began in 2007. PMID:23936753

Subtypes in clinical burnout patients enrolled in an employee rehabilitation program: differences in burnout profiles, depression, and recovery/resources-stress balance.

PubMed

Bauernhofer, Kathrin; Bassa, Daniela; Canazei, Markus; Jiménez, Paulino; Paechter, Manuela; Papousek, Ilona; Fink, Andreas; Weiss, Elisabeth M

2018-01-17

Burnout is generally perceived a unified disorder with homogeneous symptomatology across people (exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced professional efficacy). However, increasing evidence points to intra-individual patterns of burnout symptoms in non-clinical samples such as students, athletes, healthy, and burned-out employees. Different burnout subtypes might therefore exist. Yet, burnout subtypes based on burnout profiles have hardly been explored in clinical patients, and the samples investigated in previous studies were rather heterogeneous including patients with various physical, psychological, and social limitations, symptoms, and disabilities. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore burnout subtypes based on burnout profiles in clinically diagnosed burnout patients enrolled in an employee rehabilitation program, and to investigate whether the subtypes differ in depression, recovery/resources-stress balance, and sociodemographic characteristics. One hundred three patients (66 women, 37 men) with a clinical burnout diagnosis, who were enrolled in a 5 week employee rehabilitation program in two specialized psychosomatic clinics in Austria, completed a series of questionnaires including the Maslach Burnout Inventory - General Survey (MBI-GS), the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Recovery-Stress-Questionnaire for Work. Cluster analyses with the three MBI-GS subscales as clustering variables were used to identify the burnout subtypes. Subsequent multivariate/univariate analysis of variance and Pearson chi-square tests were performed to investigate differences in depression, recovery/resources-stress balance, and sociodemographic characteristics. Three different burnout subtypes were discovered: the exhausted subtype, the exhausted/cynical subtype, and the burned-out subtype. The burned-out subtype and the exhausted/cynical subtype showed both more severe depression symptoms and a worse recovery/resources-stress balance than the exhausted subtype. Furthermore, the burned-out subtype was more depressed than the exhausted/cynical subtype, but no difference was observed between these two subtypes with regard to perceived stress, recovery, and resources. Sociodemographic characteristics were not associated with the subtypes. The present study indicates that there are different subtypes in clinical burnout patients (exhausted, exhausted/cynical, and burned-out), which might represent patients at different developmental stages in the burnout cycle. Future studies need to replicate the current findings, investigate the stability of the symptom patterns, and examine the efficacy of rehabilitation interventions in different subtypes.

Work-based resources as moderators of the relationship between work hours and satisfaction with work-family balance.

PubMed

Valcour, Monique

2007-11-01

This study reports an investigation of the relationships of work hours, job complexity, and control over work time to satisfaction with work-family balance. Based on data from a sample of 570 telephone call center representatives, a moderated hierarchical regression analysis revealed that work hours were negatively related to satisfaction with work-family balance, consistent with the resource drain perspective. Job complexity and control over work time were positively associated with satisfaction with work-family balance. Control over work time moderated the relationship such that as work hours rose, workers with low control experienced a decline in work-family balance satisfaction, while workers with high control did not. Results encourage greater research attention to work characteristics, such as job complexity and control over work time, and skills that represent resources useful to the successful integration of work and family demands. (c) 2007 APA

Managing ecotourism visitation in protected areas

USGS Publications Warehouse

Marion, J.L.; Farrell, T.A.; Lindberg, Kreg; Wood, Megan Epler; Engeldrum, David

1998-01-01

Ecotourism management seeks to integrate and balance several potentially conflicting objectives: protection of natural and cultural resources, provision of recreation opportunities and generation of economic benefits. In the absence of effective planning and management, ecotourism can lead to significant negative impacts on vegetation, soil, water, wildlife, historic resources, cultures, and visitor experiences. This chapter reviews visitor-related natural resource and experience impacts associated with ecotourism within protected areas. The influence of factors that control the nature and extent of impacts are also reviewed, including type and amount of use, the variable resistance and resilience of environmental attributes such as vegetation and soil types, and the role of management in shaping visitation, resources and facilities to support visitation while minimizing associated impacts. Implications for managing the effects of protected area visitation are highlighted, including carrying capacity decision frameworks and selecting management strategies and tactics.

Costs of defense and a test of the carbon-nutrient balance and growth-differentiation balance hypotheses for two co-occurring classes of plant defense.

PubMed

Massad, Tara Joy; Dyer, Lee A; Vega C, Gerardo

2012-01-01

One of the goals of chemical ecology is to assess costs of plant defenses. Intraspecific trade-offs between growth and defense are traditionally viewed in the context of the carbon-nutrient balance hypothesis (CNBH) and the growth-differentiation balance hypothesis (GDBH). Broadly, these hypotheses suggest that growth is limited by deficiencies in carbon or nitrogen while rates of photosynthesis remain unchanged, and the subsequent reduced growth results in the more abundant resource being invested in increased defense (mass-balance based allocation). The GDBH further predicts trade-offs in growth and defense should only be observed when resources are abundant. Most support for these hypotheses comes from work with phenolics. We examined trade-offs related to production of two classes of defenses, saponins (triterpenoids) and flavans (phenolics), in Pentaclethra macroloba (Fabaceae), an abundant tree in Costa Rican wet forests. We quantified physiological costs of plant defenses by measuring photosynthetic parameters (which are often assumed to be stable) in addition to biomass. Pentaclethra macroloba were grown in full sunlight or shade under three levels of nitrogen alone or with conspecific neighbors that could potentially alter nutrient availability via competition or facilitation. Biomass and photosynthesis were not affected by nitrogen or competition for seedlings in full sunlight, but they responded positively to nitrogen in shade-grown plants. The trade-off predicted by the GDBH between growth and metabolite production was only present between flavans and biomass in sun-grown plants (abundant resource conditions). Support was also only partial for the CNBH as flavans declined with nitrogen but saponins increased. This suggests saponin production should be considered in terms of detailed biosynthetic pathway models while phenolic production fits mass-balance based allocation models (such as the CNBH). Contrary to expectations based on the two defense hypotheses, trade-offs were found between defenses and photosynthesis, indicating that studies of plant defenses should include direct measures of physiological responses.

Water-balance and groundwater-flow estimation for an arid environment: San Diego region, California

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Flint, L. E.; Flint, A. L.; Stolp, B. J.; Danskin, W. R.

2012-03-01

The coastal-plain aquifer that underlies the San Diego City metropolitan area in southern California is a groundwater resource. The understanding of the region-wide water balance and the recharge of water from the high elevation mountains to the east needs to be improved to quantify the subsurface inflows to the coastal plain in order to develop the groundwater as a long term resource. This study is intended to enhance the conceptual understanding of the water balance and related recharge processes in this arid environment by developing a regional model of the San Diego region and all watersheds adjacent or draining to the coastal plain, including the Tijuana River basin. This model was used to quantify the various components of the water balance, including semi-quantitative estimates of subsurface groundwater flow to the coastal plain. Other approaches relying on independent data were used to test or constrain the scoping estimates of recharge and runoff, including a reconnaissance-level groundwater model of the San Diego River basin, one of three main rivers draining to the coastal plain. Estimates of subsurface flow delivered to the coastal plain from the river basins ranged from 12.3 to 28.8 million m3 yr-1 from the San Diego River basin for the calibration period (1982-2009) to 48.8 million m3 yr-1 from all major river basins for the entire coastal plain for the long-term period 1940-2009. This range of scoping estimates represents the impact of climatic variability and realistically bounds the likely groundwater availability, while falling well within the variable estimates of regional recharge. However, the scarcity of physical and hydrologic data in this region hinders the exercise to narrow the range and reduce the uncertainty.

7 CFR 650.3 - Policy.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... AGRICULTURE SUPPORT ACTIVITIES COMPLIANCE WITH NEPA Procedures for NRCS-Assisted Programs § 650.3 Policy. (a... ecological, cultural, natural, physical, social, and economic resources by striving for a balance between use... ecological, cultural, natural, physical, social, and economic resources by striving for a balance between...

18 CFR 367.1240 - Account 124, Other investments.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... investments. 367.1240 Section 367.1240 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY... ACT Balance Sheet Chart of Accounts Other Property and Investments § 367.1240 Account 124, Other investments. (a) This account must include the book cost of investments in securities issued or assumed by non...

76 FR 40887 - Nominations to the Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-07-12

... organizations, academic institutions, governmental, tribal and consumer groups, and other living marine resource interest groups from a balance of U.S. geographical regions, including Puerto Rico, the Western Pacific, and U.S. Virgin Islands. A MAFAC member cannot be a Federal employee, a member of a Regional Fishery...

75 FR 38774 - Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-07-06

... partnership with the goal of engaging in regional protection, and balanced use, of ocean and coastal resources... region's most pressing ocean and coastal issues. NROC's membership includes New England coastal state agencies and federal agencies. The work of the Council focuses primarily on coastal hazards resilience and...

18 CFR 367.1420 - Account 142, Customer accounts receivable.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Account 142, Customer... GAS ACT Balance Sheet Chart of Accounts Current and Accrued Assets § 367.1420 Account 142, Customer accounts receivable. (a) This account must include amounts due from customers for service, and for...

Improving Preservice Teachers' Expression in Read-Alouds

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kerry-Moran, Kelli Jo

2016-01-01

Read-alouds play an important role in young children's literacy development. Teacher education programs include read-alouds as part of balanced literacy instruction and many preservice teachers are required to read aloud to others in their teacher education programs. There are many excellent resources teacher educators may use to help preservice…

Reflections. An Anthology of Selections from the "All Write News," the Newsletter of the Adult Literacy Resource Institute.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reuys, Steve, Ed.

This document is an anthology containing 33 articles originally published in the Boston Adult Literacy Initiative's newsletter, "All Write News" during the past 10 years. The articles were chosen to deal with a wide variety of topics, to balance theory and practice, to include materials from all the years, and to include articles that have not…

Balancing Area Coordination: Efficiently Integrating Renewable Energy Into the Grid, Greening the Grid

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Katz, Jessica; Denholm, Paul; Cochran, Jaquelin

2015-06-01

Greening the Grid provides technical assistance to energy system planners, regulators, and grid operators to overcome challenges associated with integrating variable renewable energy into the grid. Coordinating balancing area operation can promote more cost and resource efficient integration of variable renewable energy, such as wind and solar, into power systems. This efficiency is achieved by sharing or coordinating balancing resources and operating reserves across larger geographic boundaries.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fishkind, H.H.

A wide array of general background information is presented on the Central Florida area in which the eucalyptus energy plantation and methanol refinery will be located. Five counties in Central Florida may be affected by the project, DeSoto, Hardee, Hillsborough, Manatee, and Polk. The human resources of the area are reviewed. Included are overviews of population demographic and economic trends. Land use patterns and the transportation are system described, and the region's archeological and recreational resources are evaluated. The region's air quality is emphasized. The overall climate is described along with noise and air shed properties. An analysis of themore » region's water resources is included. Ground water is discussed first followed by an analysis of surface water. Then the overall quality and water supply/demand balance for the area is evaluated. An overview of the region's biota is presented. Included here are discussions of the general ecosystems in Central Florida, and an analysis of areas with important biological significance. Finally, land resources are examined.« less

30 CFR 817.47 - Hydrologic balance: Discharge structures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Hydrologic balance: Discharge structures. 817...-UNDERGROUND MINING ACTIVITIES § 817.47 Hydrologic balance: Discharge structures. Discharge from sedimentation... the hydrologic balance. Discharge structures shall be designed according to standard engineering...

30 CFR 817.47 - Hydrologic balance: Discharge structures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Hydrologic balance: Discharge structures. 817...-UNDERGROUND MINING ACTIVITIES § 817.47 Hydrologic balance: Discharge structures. Discharge from sedimentation... the hydrologic balance. Discharge structures shall be designed according to standard engineering...

30 CFR 816.47 - Hydrologic balance: Discharge structures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Hydrologic balance: Discharge structures. 816...-SURFACE MINING ACTIVITIES § 816.47 Hydrologic balance: Discharge structures. Discharge from sedimentation... the hydrologic balance. Discharge structures shall be designed according to standard engineering...

30 CFR 816.47 - Hydrologic balance: Discharge structures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Hydrologic balance: Discharge structures. 816...-SURFACE MINING ACTIVITIES § 816.47 Hydrologic balance: Discharge structures. Discharge from sedimentation... the hydrologic balance. Discharge structures shall be designed according to standard engineering...

Load Balancing Strategies for Multiphase Flows on Structured Grids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olshefski, Kristopher; Owkes, Mark

2017-11-01

The computation time required to perform large simulations of complex systems is currently one of the leading bottlenecks of computational research. Parallelization allows multiple processing cores to perform calculations simultaneously and reduces computational times. However, load imbalances between processors waste computing resources as processors wait for others to complete imbalanced tasks. In multiphase flows, these imbalances arise due to the additional computational effort required at the gas-liquid interface. However, many current load balancing schemes are only designed for unstructured grid applications. The purpose of this research is to develop a load balancing strategy while maintaining the simplicity of a structured grid. Several approaches are investigated including brute force oversubscription, node oversubscription through Message Passing Interface (MPI) commands, and shared memory load balancing using OpenMP. Each of these strategies are tested with a simple one-dimensional model prior to implementation into the three-dimensional NGA code. Current results show load balancing will reduce computational time by at least 30%.

30 CFR 872.29 - What are prior balance replacement funds?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false What are prior balance replacement funds? 872... § 872.29 What are prior balance replacement funds? “Prior balance replacement funds” are moneys we must... SMCRA, we distribute prior balance replacement funds to you, the State or Indian tribe, for seven years...

30 CFR 872.29 - What are prior balance replacement funds?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false What are prior balance replacement funds? 872... § 872.29 What are prior balance replacement funds? “Prior balance replacement funds” are moneys we must... SMCRA, we distribute prior balance replacement funds to you, the State or Indian tribe, for seven years...

Frameworks for amending reservoir water management

USGS Publications Warehouse

Mower, Ethan; Miranda, Leandro E.

2013-01-01

Managing water storage and withdrawals in many reservoirs requires establishing seasonal targets for water levels (i.e., rule curves) that are influenced by regional precipitation and diverse water demands. Rule curves are established as an attempt to balance various water needs such as flood control, irrigation, and environmental benefits such as fish and wildlife management. The processes and challenges associated with amending rule curves to balance multiuse needs are complicated and mostly unfamiliar to non-US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) natural resource managers and to the public. To inform natural resource managers and the public we describe the policies and process involved in amending rule curves in USACE reservoirs, including 3 frameworks: a general investigation, a continuing authority program, and the water control plan. Our review suggests that water management in reservoirs can be amended, but generally a multitude of constraints and competing demands must be addressed before such a change can be realized.

Conservation in a World of Six Billion: A Grassroots Action Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hren, Benedict J.

This grassroots action guide features a conservation initiative working to bring the impacts of human population growth, economic development, and natural resource consumption into balance with the limits of nature for the benefit of current and future generations. Contents include information sheets entitled "Six Billion People and Growing,""The…

Seven Factors You'd Better Not Forget when Changing Attendance Boundaries.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hyland, Timothy F.

1989-01-01

Redrawing school attendance boundaries is one of the most sensitive tasks a school board faces. Factors to consider include the following: (1) life span of the change; (2) effective date; (3) racial balance; (4) resource equity; and (5) program, public, and financial impact. Outlines a process for developing redistricting plans. (MLF)

18 CFR 367.1750 - Account 175, Derivative instrument assets.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Account 175, Derivative... GAS ACT Balance Sheet Chart of Accounts Current and Accrued Assets § 367.1750 Account 175, Derivative instrument assets. This account must include the amounts paid for derivative instruments, and the change in...

18 CFR 367.1230 - Account 123, Investment in associate companies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... NATURAL GAS ACT Balance Sheet Chart of Accounts Other Property and Investments § 367.1230 Account 123, Investment in associate companies. (a) This account must include the book cost of investments in securities... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Account 123, Investment...

A holistic water balance of Austria - how does the quantitative proportion of urban water requirements relate to other users?

PubMed

Vanham, D

2012-01-01

Traditional water use statistics only include the blue water withdrawal/consumption of municipalities, industry and irrigated agriculture. When, however, green water use of the agricultural sector is included as well as the virtual water use/water footprint (WF), water use quantity statistics become very different. In common water use statistics, Austria withdraws in total about 2.5 km(3) per year, only 3% of available resources (total discharge 81.4 km(3) = surface and ground water). The total water consumption (0.5 km(3)) is less than 1% of available resources. Urban (municipal) water requirements account for 27% of total withdrawal or 33% of consumption. When agricultural green water use (cropland) is included in statistics, the fraction of municipal water requirements diminishes to 7.6% of total withdrawal and 2.5% of total consumption. If the evapotranspiration of grassland and alpine meadows is also included in agricultural green water use, this fraction decreases to 3.2% and 0.9% respectively. When the WF is assessed as base value for water use in Austria, the municipal water use represents 5.8% of this value. In this globalized world, these traditional water use statistics are no longer recommendable. Only a holistic water balance approach really represents water use statistics.

30 CFR 817.41 - Hydrologic-balance protection.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Hydrologic-balance protection. 817.41 Section... ACTIVITIES § 817.41 Hydrologic-balance protection. (a) General. All underground mining and reclamation activities shall be conducted to minimize disturbance of the hydrologic balance within the permit and...

30 CFR 817.41 - Hydrologic-balance protection.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Hydrologic-balance protection. 817.41 Section... ACTIVITIES § 817.41 Hydrologic-balance protection. (a) General. All underground mining and reclamation activities shall be conducted to minimize disturbance of the hydrologic balance within the permit and...

Busy yet socially engaged: volunteering, work-life balance, and health in the working population.

PubMed

Ramos, Romualdo; Brauchli, Rebecca; Bauer, Georg; Wehner, Theo; Hämmig, Oliver

2015-02-01

To understand the relationship between volunteering and health in the overlooked yet highly engaged working population, adopting a contextualizing balance approach. We hypothesize that volunteering may function as a psychosocial resource, contributing to work-life balance and, ultimately, health. A total of 746 Swiss workers participated in an online survey; 35% (N = 264) were additionally volunteers in a nonprofit organization. We assessed volunteering, work-life balance perceptions, paid job demands, and resources and health outcomes. After controlling for job characteristics, volunteering was associated with less work-life conflict, burnout and stress, and better positive mental health. Results further revealed that balance perceptions partly explained the relationship between volunteering and health. Volunteering, albeit energy and time-consuming, may contribute to a greater sense of balance for people in the workforce, which might, in turn, positively influence health.

Understanding the global land-use marketplace

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belward, Alan

2013-04-01

Over 7 billion humans inhabit Earth and our population increases by more than a hundred per minute. Satisfying the resource demands of seven-plus billion people whilst sustaining the Earth System is a delicate balancing act. We need to balance resource use with regenerative capacity and this balance must avoid tipping points beyond which return and recovery are impossible. Tipping points in the physical, biogeochemical and ecological components of the Earth System have all been proposed - adding the global land-use marketplace to such a list may not be obvious but it undeniably deserves attention. The land is where most humans live most of the time. It meets most food, fuel, freshwater and fibre requirements and shapes Earth's climate. As land is essentially a finite resource this leads to intense competition. Monetizing land resources is nothing new. Choice of agricultural practice has long been governed in part by economics. But in recent years monetization has extended to include new dimensions such as carbon trading and biodiversity offsetting. Our land-use marketplace now has to optimise food, fibre and fuel production whilst maintaining and enhancing land's role as a carbon sink, a hydrologic reservoir and a support for biological diversity. International (and national) environmental policies aim to find a balance between such competing uses. These policies call for accurate, accountable and timely evidence concerning how, when and where land resources are changing. In 2013 the European Space Agency will launch the first of the Copernicus programme's Earth Observing Sentinel satellites. These technologically advanced systems are matched to data acquisition and processing strategies that should provide scientific evidence concerning the land on an unprecedented scale. This paper provides one vision of how Earth science will benefit from the Sentinels and their associated services and how this science will subsequently inform and shape policies, especially those linked to Multilateral Environmental Agreements. Examples will show how the science can promote transparency and good governance, help build knowledge-bases, capacity and markets and illustrates how Copernicus services and the Sentinels are an important component of EU international co-operation.

30 CFR 816.41 - Hydrologic-balance protection.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Hydrologic-balance protection. 816.41 Section... ACTIVITIES § 816.41 Hydrologic-balance protection. (a) General. All surface mining and reclamation activities shall be conducted to minimize disturbance of the hydrologic balance within the permit and adjacent...

30 CFR 816.41 - Hydrologic-balance protection.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Hydrologic-balance protection. 816.41 Section... ACTIVITIES § 816.41 Hydrologic-balance protection. (a) General. All surface mining and reclamation activities shall be conducted to minimize disturbance of the hydrologic balance within the permit and adjacent...

30 CFR 819.15 - Auger mining: Hydrologic balance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Auger mining: Hydrologic balance. 819.15... MINING § 819.15 Auger mining: Hydrologic balance. (a) Auger mining shall be planned and conducted to minimize disturbances of the prevailing hydrologic balance in accordance with the requirements of §§ 816.41...

30 CFR 819.15 - Auger mining: Hydrologic balance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Auger mining: Hydrologic balance. 819.15... MINING § 819.15 Auger mining: Hydrologic balance. (a) Auger mining shall be planned and conducted to minimize disturbances of the prevailing hydrologic balance in accordance with the requirements of §§ 816.41...

Incentives for improving human resource outcomes in health care: overview of reviews.

PubMed

Misfeldt, Renee; Linder, Jordana; Lait, Jana; Hepp, Shelanne; Armitage, Gail; Jackson, Karen; Suter, Esther

2014-01-01

To review the effectiveness of financial and nonfinancial incentives for improving the benefits (recruitment, retention, job satisfaction, absenteeism, turnover, intent to leave) of human resource strategies in health care. Overview of 33 reviews published from 2000 to 2012 summarized the effectiveness of incentives for improving human resource outcomes in health care (such as job satisfaction, turnover rates, recruitment, and retention) that met the inclusion criteria and were assessed by at least two research members using the Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews quality assessment tool. Of those, 13 reviews met the quality criteria and were included in the overview. Information was extracted on a description of the review, the incentives considered, and their impact on human resource outcomes. The information on the relationship between incentives and outcomes was assessed and synthesized. While financial compensation is the best-recognized approach within an incentives package, there is evidence that health care practitioners respond positively to incentives linked to the quality of the working environments including opportunities for professional development, improved work life balance, interprofessional collaboration, and professional autonomy. There is less evidence that workload factors such as job demand, restructured staffing models, re-engineered work designs, ward practices, employment status, or staff skill mix have an impact on human resource outcomes. Overall, evidence of effective strategies for improving outcomes is mixed. While financial incentives play a key role in enhancing outcomes, they need to be considered as only one strategy within an incentives package. There is stronger evidence that improving the work place environment and instituting mechanisms for work-life balance need to be part of an overall strategy to improve outcomes for health care practitioners.

Adaptive dynamics of competition for nutritionally complementary resources: character convergence, displacement, and parallelism.

PubMed

Vasseur, David A; Fox, Jeremy W

2011-10-01

Consumers acquire essential nutrients by ingesting the tissues of resource species. When these tissues contain essential nutrients in a suboptimal ratio, consumers may benefit from ingesting a mixture of nutritionally complementary resource species. We investigate the joint ecological and evolutionary consequences of competition for complementary resources, using an adaptive dynamics model of two consumers and two resources that differ in their relative content of two essential nutrients. In the absence of competition, a nutritionally balanced diet rarely maximizes fitness because of the dynamic feedbacks between uptake rate and resource density, whereas in sympatry, nutritionally balanced diets maximize fitness because competing consumers with different nutritional requirements tend to equalize the relative abundances of the two resources. Adaptation from allopatric to sympatric fitness optima can generate character convergence, divergence, and parallel shifts, depending not on the degree of diet overlap but on the match between resource nutrient content and consumer nutrient requirements. Contrary to previous verbal arguments that suggest that character convergence leads to neutral stability, coadaptation of competing consumers always leads to stable coexistence. Furthermore, we show that incorporating costs of consuming or excreting excess nonlimiting nutrients selects for nutritionally balanced diets and so promotes character convergence. This article demonstrates that resource-use overlap has little bearing on coexistence when resources are nutritionally complementary, and it highlights the importance of using mathematical models to infer the stability of ecoevolutionary dynamics.

Immune defense and host life history.

PubMed

Zuk, Marlene; Stoehr, Andrew M

2002-10-01

Recent interest has focused on immune response in an evolutionary context, with particular attention to disease resistance as a life-history trait, subject to trade-offs against other traits such as reproductive effort. Immune defense has several characteristics that complicate this approach, however; for example, because of the risk of autoimmunity, optimal immune defense is not necessarily maximum immune defense. Two important types of cost associated with immunity in the context of life history are resource costs, those related to the allocation of essential but limited resources, such as energy or nutrients, and option costs, those paid not in the currency of resources but in functional or structural components of the organism. Resource and option costs are likely to apply to different aspects of resistance. Recent investigations into possible trade-offs between reproductive effort, particularly sexual displays, and immunity have suggested interesting functional links between the two. Although all organisms balance the costs of immune defense against the requirements of reproduction, this balance works out differently for males than it does for females, creating sex differences in immune response that in turn are related to ecological factors such as the mating system. We conclude that immune response is indeed costly and that future work would do well to include invertebrates, which have sometimes been neglected in studies of the ecology of immune defense.

Managing Individual and Family Resources. Learning Guide 7. Project Connect. Linking Self-Family-Work.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, Inc., Hartford, CT.

This learning guide is designed to connect personal, family, and job responsibilities for adults and out-of-school youth in economically depressed areas of the state (including transitional ex-offenders and corrections populations) so that these individuals learn to manage and balance these aspects of their lives in order to prepare for or…

78 FR 45971 - Amended Notice of Lodging of Proposed Consent Decree Under the Comprehensive Environmental...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-07-30

... the remaining balance is due 120 days after the effective date and shall include an additional sum for... should be addressed to the Assistant Attorney General, Environment and Natural Resources Division, and... [email protected] . By mail Assistant Attorney General, U.S. DOJ--B ENRD, P.O. Box 7611...

Southeast Asia: A Bibliography for Undergraduate Libraries. Occasional Publication Number Thirteen.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Donald Clay, Ed.; And Others

Southeast Asian library resources primarily for the humanities and social sciences are listed in this bibliography that is one of a series. The volume furnishes a basic and balanced bibliography on all the countries of Southeast Asia, of manageable size for the undergraduate library. Selections include: 1) few works in languages other than…

Balancing feasibility and precision of wildlife habitat analysis in planning for natural resources

Treesearch

Anita T. Morzillo; Joshua S. Halofsky; Jennifer DiMiceli; Blair Csuti; Pamela Comeleo; Miles Hemstrom

2012-01-01

Wildlife conservation often is a central focus in planning for natural resource management. Evaluation of wildlife habitat involves balancing the desire for information about detailed habitat characteristics and the feasibility of completing analyses across large areas. Our objective is to describe tradeoffs made in assessments of wildlife habitat within a multiple-...

Modeling resource basis for social and economic development strategies: Water resource case

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kosolapova, Natalia A.; Matveeva, Ludmila G.; Nikitaeva, Anastasia Y.; Molapisi, Lesego

2017-10-01

The article substantiates that the effectiveness of implementing socio-economic development strategies is to a large extent determined by the adequate provision of basic resources. The key role of water resources in economic strategic development is empirically illustrated. The article demonstrates the practicability of strategic management of water resources based on the principle of a combination of river basin management approaches and the consideration of regional development strategies. The Game Theory technique was used to develop economic and mathematical tools for supporting decision-making in meeting the needs of regional consumers under water balance deficit conditions. The choice of methods was determined from two positions: the methods should allow for the possibility of multi-variant solutions for the selection of optimal options for the distribution of limited water resources between different consumers; the methods should be orientated on the maximum possible harmonization of multidirectional and multi-scale interests of the subjects in the water management system of the different regions (including the state) in order to achieve a balance. The approbation of developing a toolkit for the example of the regions located in the Don and Kuban river basins resulted in the appropriate selection of priority regions for the allocation of water resources in terms of strategic management as well as the determination of measures of ensuring the sustainable use of the river basins under consideration. The proposed tools can be used for coordinating decisions on the water supply of regional economic systems with actual and projected indicators of socio-economic development of the respective regions for a strategic perspective.

Simulation of the water balance of boreal watersheds of northeastern British Columbia, Canada using MIKE SHE, an integrated hydrological model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abadzadesahraei, S.; Déry, S.; Rex, J. F.

2016-12-01

Northeastern British Columbia (BC) is undergoing rapid development for oil and gas extraction, largely depending on subsurface hydraulic fracturing (fracking), which relies on available freshwater. Even though this industrial activity has made substantial contributions to regional and provincial economies, it is important to ensure that sufficient and sustainable water supplies are available for all those dependent on the resource, including ecological systems. Further, BC statistics predict that the northeastern region's population will increase by 30% over the next 25 years, thereby amplifying the demands of domestic and industrial water usage. Hence, given the increasing demands for surface water in the complex wetlands of northeastern BC, obtaining accurate long-term water balance information is of vital importance. Thus, this study aims to simulate the 1979-2014 water balance at two boreal watersheds using the MIKE SHE model. More specifically, this research intends to quantify the historical, and regional, water budgets and their associated hydrological processes at two boreal watersheds—the Coles Lake and Tsea Lake watersheds—in northeastern BC. The development of coupled groundwater and surface water model of these watersheds are discussed. The model setup, calibration process, and results are presented, focusing on the water balance of boreal watersheds. Hydrological components within these watersheds are quantified through a combination of intensive fieldwork, observational data, analysis and numerical modeling. The output from the model provides important information for decision makers to manage water resources in northeastern BC. Keywords: Northeastern BC; boreal watershed; water balance; MIKE SHE hydrological model.

Hydrogeology of the Ramapo River-Woodbury Creek valley-fill aquifer system and adjacent areas in eastern Orange County, New York

USGS Publications Warehouse

Heisig, Paul M.

2015-01-01

Valley-fill aquifers are modest resources within the area, as indicated by the common practice of completing supply wells in the underlying bedrock rather than the overlying glacial deposits. Groundwater turbidity problems curtail use of the resource. However, additional groundwater resources have been identified by test drilling, and there are remaining untested areas. New groundwater supplies that stress localized aquifer areas will alter the groundwater flow system. Considerations include potential water-quality degradation from nearby land use(s) and, where withdrawals induce infiltration of surface-water, balancing withdrawals with flow requirements for downstream users or for maintenance of stream ecological health.

Resource management and fertility in Mexico’s Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve: Campos, cash, and contraception in the lobster-fishing village of Punta Allen

PubMed Central

Carr, David L.

2009-01-01

This case study examines the link between marine resource management, and the universal contraceptive use among married couples in the lobster- fishing village of Punta Allen, located in the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve, Quintana Roo, Mexico. Several reasons appear to contribute to small desired and actual family sizes. Some of these include a medical clinic staff effective in promoting family planning, cooperative and private resource ownership, changing cultural attitudes, geographical limitations to population and economic growth, and a desire to conserve the environment for aesthetic and economic motives. Lastly, families desired to preserve a sustained balance between benefiting from lobster harvests today and safeguarding this marine resource for their children in the future. PMID:19672473

River Basin Water Assessment and Balance in fast developing areas in Viet Nam

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Le, Van Chin; Ranzi, Roberto

2010-05-01

Uneven precipitation in space and time together with mismanagement and lack of knowledge about quantity and quality of water resources, have caused water shortages for water supply to large cities and irrigation areas in many regions of Viet Nam in the dry season. The rainy season (from June to October) counts for 80% of the total annual rainfall, while the water volume of dry season (from November to May of the following year) accounts for 20% only. Lack of sufficient water volumes occurs in some areas where the pressure of a fast increasing population (1.3% per year on average in the last decade in Viet Nam), intensive agricultural and industrial uses is one of the major problems facing sustainable development. For those areas an accurate water assessment and balance at the riverbasin scale is needed to manage the exploitation and appropriate use of water resources and plan future development. The paper describes the preliminary phase of the pilot development of the river basin water balance for the Day River Basin in the Red River delta in Viet Nam. The Day river basin includes a 7,897 km² area in the south-western part of the Red River in Viet Nam. The total population in the Day river basin exceeds 8 millions inhabitants, including the Hanoi capital, Nam Dinh and other large towns. Agricultural land covered 390,294 ha in 2000 and this area is going to be increased by 14,000 ha in 2010 due to land reclamation and expansion toward the sea. Agricultural uses exploit about 90% of surface water resources in the Day river basin but have to compete with industrial and civil needs in the recent years. At the background of the brief characterization of the Day River Basin, we concentrate on the application of a water balance model integrated by an assessment of water quality after consumptive uses for civil, agricultural and industrial needs to assist water management in the basin. In addition, future development scenarios are taken into account, considering less water-demanding crops, water treatment and recycling and other ‘best water management' practices.

Analysis of the balancing of the wind and solar energy resources in Andalusia (Southern Spain)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santos-Alamillos, F. J.; Pozo-Vazquez, D.; Lara-Fanego, V.; Ruiz-Arias, J. A.; Hernandez-Alvaro, J.; Tova-Pescador, J.

2010-09-01

A higher penetration of the renewable energy in the electric system in the future will be conditioned to a reduction of the uncertainty of the yield. A way to obtain this goal is to analyze the balancing between the productions of different sources of renewable energy, trying to combine these productions. In this work we analyze, from a meteorological point of view, the balancing between wind and solar energy resources in Andalusia (southern Iberian Peninsula). To this end, wind speed and global radiation data corresponding to an one year integration of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) model were analyzed. Two method of analysis were used: a point correlation analysis and a Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA). Results from these analyses allow obtaining, eventually, areas of local and distributed balancing between the wind and solar energy resources. The analysis was carried out separately for the different seasons of the year. Results showed, overall, a considerable balancing effect between the wind and solar resources in the mountain areas of the interior of the region, along the coast of the central part of the region and, specially, in the coastal area near the Gibraltar strait. Nevertheless, considerable differences were found between the seasons of the year, which may lead to compensating effects. Autumn proved to be the season with the most significant results.

Department of Defense Civilian Human Resources Strategic Plan

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-04-01

the strategic plan. A balanced scorecard approach was used to build the strategic plan. The balanced scorecard is a strategic management tool that...in the balanced scorecard format. Details of how the balanced scorecard addresses the DoD Human Capital Initiative are outlined in the Office of...mission- ready civilian workforce 8 GOALS AND OBJECTIVES The balanced scorecard approach reflects the changes the Department is undergoing and

Shift work to balance everyday life - a salutogenic nursing perspective in home help service in Sweden.

PubMed

Agosti, Madelaine Törnquist; Andersson, Ingemar; Ejlertsson, Göran; Janlöv, Ann-Christin

2015-01-01

Nurses in Sweden have a high absence due to illness and many retire before the age of sixty. Factors at work as well as in private life may contribute to health problems. To maintain a healthy work-force there is a need for actions on work-life balance in a salutogenic perspective. The aim of this study was to explore perceptions of resources in everyday life to balance work and private life among nurses in home help service. Thirteen semi-structured individual interviews and two focus group interviews were conducted with home help service nurses in Sweden. A qualitative content analysis was used for the analyses. In the analyses, six themes of perceptions of recourses in everyday life emerged; (i) Reflecting on life. (ii) Being healthy and taking care of yourself. (iii) Having a meaningful job and a supportive work climate. (iv) Working shifts and part time. (v) Having a family and a supporting network. (vi) Making your home your castle. The result points out the complexity of work-life balance and support that the need for nurses to balance everyday life differs during different phases and transitions in life. In this salutogenic study, the result differs from studies with a pathogenic approach. Shift work and part time work were seen as two resources that contributed to flexibility and a prerequisite to work-life balance. To have time and energy for both private life and work was seen as essential. To reflect on and discuss life gave inner strength to set boundaries and to prioritize both in private life and in work life. Managers in nursing contexts have a great challenge to maintain and strengthen resources which enhance the work-life balance and health of nurses. Salutogenic research is needed to gain an understanding of resources that enhance work-life balance and health in nursing contexts.

Rethinking traditional methods for measuring intellectual capital.

PubMed

Corso, John A

2007-01-01

Historically, approaches to measuring intellectual capital have included both conventional accounting-based measures, such as variants of the market-to-book ratio, and more progressive measures, such as the measurement of intangible assets found in approaches such as the Balanced Scorecard and Human Resource Accounting. As greater emphasis is placed on intellectual capital and its various aspects in the continually growing service and knowledge economy, the use of assessment instruments to inventory the alignment, balance, and variety of intellectual capacities and metrics that assess the effectiveness of succession planning may represent new directions in which organizations can head in the measurement of this important construct.

Current Practices in Runway Configuration Management (RCM) and Arrival/Departure Runway Balancing (ADRB)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lohr, Gary W.; Williams, Daniel M.

2008-01-01

Significant air traffic increases are anticipated for the future of the National Airspace System (NAS). To cope with future traffic increases, fundamental changes are required in many aspects of the air traffic management process including the planning and use of NAS resources. Two critical elements of this process are the selection of airport runway configurations, and the effective management of active runways. Two specific research areas in NASA's Airspace Systems Program (ASP) have been identified to address efficient runway management: Runway Configuration Management (RCM) and Arrival/Departure Runway Balancing (ADRB). This report documents efforts in assessing past as well as current work in these two areas.

An Analysis of Current Operational Contract Support Planning Doctrine

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-09-01

P). This project argues for the balanced development of OCS planning acquisition and non-acquisition focused resources to effectively integrate this...planning guidance developed is appropriate for initial entry operations applicable to various levels of theater maturity. 14. SUBJECT TERMS...balanced development of OCS planning acquisition and non- acquisition focused resources to effectively integrate this function across disciplines. The

USGS world petroleum assessment 2000; new estimates of undiscovered oil and natural gas, including reserve growth, outside the United States

USGS Publications Warehouse

,

2000-01-01

Oil and natural gas account for approximately 63 percent of the world’s total energy consumption. The U.S. Geological Survey periodically estimates the amount of oil and gas remaining to be found in the world. Since 1981, each of the last four of these assessments has shown a slight increase in the combined volume of identified reserves and undiscovered resources. The latest assessment estimates the volume of technically recoverable conventional oil and gas that may be added to the world's reserves, exclusive of the United States, in the next 30 years. The USGS World Petroleum Assessment 2000 reports an increase in global petroleum resources, including a 20-percent increase in undiscovered oil and a 14-percent decrease in undiscovered natural gas compared to the previous assessment (table 1). These results have important implications for energy prices, policy, security, and the global resource balance.

Solar radiation as a forest management tool: a primer of principles and application

Treesearch

Howard G. Halverson; James L. Smith

1979-01-01

Forests are products of solar radiation use. The sun also drives the hydrologic cycle on forested watersheds. Some basic concepts of climatology and solar radiation are summarized in including earth-sun relations, polar tilt, solar energy, terrestrial energy, energy balance, and local energy. An example shows how these principles can be applied in resource management....

Solid domestic wastes as a renewable resource: European experience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fridland, V. S.; Livshits, I. M.

2011-01-01

Ways in which different types of solid domestic wastes, such as wastepaper, crushed glass, plastics and worn-out tires, can be efficiently included into the production, raw-material, and energy balances of the national economy are shown taking Germany and other European countries an example. Methods for recycling these solid domestic wastes and application fields of the obtained products are discussed.

Ground-Water Availability Assessment for the Columbia Plateau Regional Aquifer System, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho

USGS Publications Warehouse

,

2008-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is assessing the availability and use of the Nation's water resources to gain a clearer understanding of the status of our water resources and the land-use, water-use, and climatic trends that affect them. The goal of the National assessment is to improve our ability to forecast water availability for future economic and environmental uses. Assessments will be completed for regional aquifer systems across the Nation to help characterize how much water we have now, how water availability is changing, and how much water we can expect to have in the future (Reilly and others, 2008). Water availability is a function of many factors, including the quantity and quality of water, and the laws, regulations, economics, and environmental factors that control its use. The focus of the Columbia Plateau regional ground-water availability assessment is to improve fundamental knowledge of the ground-water balance of the region, including the flows, storage, and ground-water use by humans. An improved quantitative understanding of the region's water balance not only provides key information about water quantity, but also can serve as a fundamental basis for many analyses of water quality and ecosystem health.

Study on Cloud Water Resources and Precipitation Efficiency Characteristic over China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Y., Sr.; Cai, M., Jr.

2017-12-01

The original concept and quantitative assessment method of cloud water resource and its related physical parameters are proposed based on the atmospheric water circulation and precipitation enhancement. A diagnosis method of the three-dimensional (3-D) cloud and cloud water field are proposed , based on cloud observation and atmospheric reanalysis data. Furthermore, using analysis data and precipitation products, Chinese cloud water resources in 2008-2010 are assessed preliminarily. The results show that: 1. Atmospheric water cycle and water balance plays an important part of the climate system. Water substance includes water vapor and hydrometeors, and the water cycle is the process of phase transition of water substances. Water vapor changes its phase into solid or liquid hydrometeors by lifting and condensation, and after that, the hydrometeors grow lager through cloud physical processes and then precipitate to ground, which is the mainly resource of available fresh water .Therefore, it's far from enough to only focus on the amount of water vapor, more attention should be transfered to the hydrometeors (cloud water resources) which is formed by the process of phase transition including lifting and condensation. The core task of rainfall enhancement is to develop the cloud water resources and raise the precipitation efficiency by proper technological measures. 2. Comparing with the water vapor, the hydrometeor content is much smaller. Besides, the horizontal delivery amount also shows two orders of magnitude lower than water vapor. But the update cycle is faster and the precipitation efficiency is higher. The amount of cloud water resources in the atmosphere is determined by the instantaneous quantity, the advection transport, condensation and precipitation from the water balance.The cloud water resources vary a lot in different regions. In southeast China, hydrometeor has the fastest renewal cycle and the highest precipitation efficiency. The total amount of hydrometeor in the northwest China is relatively small, but it still has some development potential due to the low precipitation efficiency. 3. The accuracy of the assessment results can be improved and the estimation error can be reduced by using higher-resolution reanalysis data or combining of observational diagnosis and numerical model.

Social Resource Correlates of Levels and Time-to-Death-Related Changes in Late-Life Affect

PubMed Central

Windsor, Tim D.; Gerstorf, Denis; Luszcz, Mary A.

2016-01-01

Little is known regarding how well psychosocial resources that promote well-being continue to correlate with affect into very late life. We examined social resource correlates of levels and time-to-death related changes in affect balance (an index of affective positivity) over 19 years among 1,297 by now deceased participants (aged 69 to 103 at first assessment, M = 80 years; 36% women) from the Australian Longitudinal Study of Aging. A steeper decline in affect balance was evident over a time-to-death metric compared with chronological age. Separating time-varying social resource predictors into between- and within-person components revealed several associations with level of affect balance, controlling for age at death, gender, functional disability and global cognition. Between-person associations revealed that individuals who were more satisfied with family, and more socially active, expressed greater positivity compared with those who were less satisfied, and less socially active. Within-person associations indicated that participants reported higher positivity on occasions when they were more socially active. In addition, lower affect balance was associated with more frequent contact with children. Our results suggest that social engagement and satisfying relationships confer benefits for affective well-being that are retained into late life. However our findings do not provide evidence to indicate that social resources protect against terminal decline in well-being. PMID:25621743

Resource allocation in neural networks for motor control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Milton, J.; Cummins, J.; Gunnoe, J.; Tollefson, M.; Cabrera, J. L.; Ohira, T.

2006-03-01

Multiplicative noise plays an important part of a non-predictive control mechanism for stick balancing at the fingertip. However, intentionally-directed movements are also used in stick balancing, particularly by beginners. The interplay between intentional and non-predictive control mechanisms for stick balancing was assessed using two dual task paradigms: the subject was asked to either move one of their legs rhythmically or to imagine moving their leg while balancing a stick (55.4 cm, 35 g) at their fingertip. Performance was measured by determining the stick survival function, i.e. the fraction of trials (total >=25) for which the stick remained balanced at time t as a function of t. Performance was increased by concurrent rhythmic leg movements (50% survival time shifted from 8-9s to 15s in a typical subject). Imagined movements resulted in a similar improvement (50% survival time of 20s for the above subject) suggesting that this enhancement is not simply related to mechanical vibrations of the fingertip induced by leg movement. These observations emphasize the importance of the development of mathematical models for neural control of skilled motor movements that take into resource allocation of limited resources, such as intention.

The cumulative effects of life event, personal and social resources on subjective well-being of elderly widowers.

PubMed

Balaswamy, S; Richardson, V E

2001-01-01

A multidimensional Life Stress Model was used to test the independent contributions of background characteristics, personal resources, life event, and environmental influences on 200 widowers' levels of well-being, measured by the Affect Balance Scale. Stepwise regression analyses revealed that environmental resources were unrelated to negative affect which is influenced more by the life event and personal resource variables. The environmental resource variables, particularly interactions with friends and neighbors, mostly influenced positive affect. The explanatory model for well-being included multiple variables and explained 33 percent of the variance. Although background characteristics had the greatest impact, absence of hospitalization, higher mastery, higher self-esteem, contacts with friends, and interaction with neighbors enhanced well-being. The results support previous speculations on the importance of positive exchanges for positive affect. African-American widowers showed higher levels of well-being than Caucasian widowers did. The results advance knowledge about differences among elderly men.

Response Surface Methodology Using a Fullest Balanced Model: A Re-Analysis of a Dataset in the Korean Journal for Food Science of Animal Resources.

PubMed

Rheem, Sungsue; Rheem, Insoo; Oh, Sejong

2017-01-01

Response surface methodology (RSM) is a useful set of statistical techniques for modeling and optimizing responses in research studies of food science. In the analysis of response surface data, a second-order polynomial regression model is usually used. However, sometimes we encounter situations where the fit of the second-order model is poor. If the model fitted to the data has a poor fit including a lack of fit, the modeling and optimization results might not be accurate. In such a case, using a fullest balanced model, which has no lack of fit, can fix such problem, enhancing the accuracy of the response surface modeling and optimization. This article presents how to develop and use such a model for the better modeling and optimizing of the response through an illustrative re-analysis of a dataset in Park et al. (2014) published in the Korean Journal for Food Science of Animal Resources .

Alignment of University Information Technology Resources with the Malcolm Baldrige Results Criteria for Performance Excellence in Education: A Balanced Scorecard Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beard, Deborah F.; Humphrey, Roberta L.

2014-01-01

The authors suggest using a balanced scorecard (BSC) approach to evaluate information technology (IT) resources in higher education institutions. The BSC approach illustrated is based on the performance criteria of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in Education. This article suggests areas of potential impact of IT on BSC measures in…

Design, implementation and scaling up of the balanced scorecard for hospitals in Lebanon: policy coherence and application lessons for low and middle income countries.

PubMed

El-Jardali, Fadi; Saleh, Shadi; Ataya, Nour; Jamal, Diana

2011-12-01

This paper describes the development and implementation of the first national hospital performance indicators in Lebanon including its institutionalization within existing policy framework and the initiation of independent governance structure for sustainability. Guided by the Ontario Acute Care Balanced Scorecard framework, a step-wise approach was used. Guiding principles were non-punitive reporting, anonymity, voluntary participation, stakeholder involvement, consensus and feasibility. Modified Delphi technique was used, readiness assessment surveys in 52 hospitals were conducted, pilot testing and evaluation were completed in 14 hospitals. Initial balanced set of 21 indicators were selected. Findings showed wide variations in indicators' measurement in hospitals including formulas and tools. Barriers to measurement included lack of quality culture, physician resistance and resources. A gradual implementation strategy was developed and selected indicators were divided into two levels. Most piloted indicators proved to be valid, feasible and reliable. The initiative was linked to the national hospital accreditation system resulting in a balanced set of 40 indicators. An independent, not-for-profit, arm's-length organization was established. This is among the first attempts made in the East Mediterranean Region to adapt the BSC approach and translate the experience of its development to addresses local needs and contextual reality. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

A De-centralized Scheduling and Load Balancing Algorithm for Heterogeneous Grid Environments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Arora, Manish; Das, Sajal K.; Biswas, Rupak

2002-01-01

In the past two decades, numerous scheduling and load balancing techniques have been proposed for locally distributed multiprocessor systems. However, they all suffer from significant deficiencies when extended to a Grid environment: some use a centralized approach that renders the algorithm unscalable, while others assume the overhead involved in searching for appropriate resources to be negligible. Furthermore, classical scheduling algorithms do not consider a Grid node to be N-resource rich and merely work towards maximizing the utilization of one of the resources. In this paper, we propose a new scheduling and load balancing algorithm for a generalized Grid model of N-resource nodes that not only takes into account the node and network heterogeneity, but also considers the overhead involved in coordinating among the nodes. Our algorithm is decentralized, scalable, and overlaps the node coordination time with that of the actual processing of ready jobs, thus saving valuable clock cycles needed for making decisions. The proposed algorithm is studied by conducting simulations using the Message Passing Interface (MPI) paradigm.

A De-Centralized Scheduling and Load Balancing Algorithm for Heterogeneous Grid Environments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Arora, Manish; Das, Sajal K.; Biswas, Rupak; Biegel, Bryan (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

In the past two decades, numerous scheduling and load balancing techniques have been proposed for locally distributed multiprocessor systems. However, they all suffer from significant deficiencies when extended to a Grid environment: some use a centralized approach that renders the algorithm unscalable, while others assume the overhead involved in searching for appropriate resources to be negligible. Furthermore, classical scheduling algorithms do not consider a Grid node to be N-resource rich and merely work towards maximizing the utilization of one of the resources. In this paper we propose a new scheduling and load balancing algorithm for a generalized Grid model of N-resource nodes that not only takes into account the node and network heterogeneity, but also considers the overhead involved in coordinating among the nodes. Our algorithm is de-centralized, scalable, and overlaps the node coordination time of the actual processing of ready jobs, thus saving valuable clock cycles needed for making decisions. The proposed algorithm is studied by conducting simulations using the Message Passing Interface (MPI) paradigm.

Using GIS to generate spatially balanced random survey designs for natural resource applications.

PubMed

Theobald, David M; Stevens, Don L; White, Denis; Urquhart, N Scott; Olsen, Anthony R; Norman, John B

2007-07-01

Sampling of a population is frequently required to understand trends and patterns in natural resource management because financial and time constraints preclude a complete census. A rigorous probability-based survey design specifies where to sample so that inferences from the sample apply to the entire population. Probability survey designs should be used in natural resource and environmental management situations because they provide the mathematical foundation for statistical inference. Development of long-term monitoring designs demand survey designs that achieve statistical rigor and are efficient but remain flexible to inevitable logistical or practical constraints during field data collection. Here we describe an approach to probability-based survey design, called the Reversed Randomized Quadrant-Recursive Raster, based on the concept of spatially balanced sampling and implemented in a geographic information system. This provides environmental managers a practical tool to generate flexible and efficient survey designs for natural resource applications. Factors commonly used to modify sampling intensity, such as categories, gradients, or accessibility, can be readily incorporated into the spatially balanced sample design.

30 CFR 872.30 - How does OSM distribute and award prior balance replacement funds?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false How does OSM distribute and award prior balance... AND INDIAN TRIBES § 872.30 How does OSM distribute and award prior balance replacement funds? (a) We distribute prior balance replacement funds to you as follows: (1) In an amount equal to the aggregate...

30 CFR 872.31 - Are there any restrictions on how you may use prior balance replacement funds?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... prior balance replacement funds? 872.31 Section 872.31 Mineral Resources OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING... ELIGIBLE STATES AND INDIAN TRIBES § 872.31 Are there any restrictions on how you may use prior balance replacement funds? (a) Yes. If you are certified under section 411(a) of SMCRA, you may only use prior balance...

30 CFR 872.31 - Are there any restrictions on how you may use prior balance replacement funds?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... prior balance replacement funds? 872.31 Section 872.31 Mineral Resources OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING... ELIGIBLE STATES AND INDIAN TRIBES § 872.31 Are there any restrictions on how you may use prior balance replacement funds? (a) Yes. If you are certified under section 411(a) of SMCRA, you may only use prior balance...

30 CFR 872.30 - How does OSM distribute and award prior balance replacement funds?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false How does OSM distribute and award prior balance... AND INDIAN TRIBES § 872.30 How does OSM distribute and award prior balance replacement funds? (a) We distribute prior balance replacement funds to you as follows: (1) In an amount equal to the aggregate...

Helping nurses cope with grief and compassion fatigue: an educational intervention.

PubMed

Houck, Dereen

2014-08-01

Oncology nurses may experience intense physical and emotional exhaustion, identified in the literature as symptoms of cumulative grief and compassion fatigue, with significant consequences for both nurses and organizations. The first step in preventing these consequences is recognition. Organizations should provide nurses with resources including education, counseling, and opportunities to grieve. Nurses need to learn the importance of work-life balance, self-care strategies, and communication skills. Using recommendations from the literature, an educational intervention was designed with the purpose of providing nurses with knowledge, skills, and resources to practice effective self-care and recognize when assistance is needed. The program's objective was to help nurses develop the coping skills and inner resources necessary to maintain their emotional and physical health.

Future directions: Integrated resource planning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bauer, D. C.; Eto, J.

Integrated resource planning or IRP is the process for integrating supply- and demand-side resources to provide energy services at a cost that balances the interests of all stakeholders. It now is the resource planning process used by electric utilities in over 30 states. The goals of IRP have evolved from least cost planning and encouragement of demand-side management to broader, more complex issues including core competitive business activity, risk management and sharing, accounting for externalities, and fuel switching between gas and electricity. IRP processes are being extended to other interior regions of the country, to non-investor owned utilities, and to regional (rather than individual utility) planning bases, and to other fuels (natural gas). The comprehensive, multi-valued, and public reasoning characteristics of IRP could be extended to applications beyond energy, e.g., transportation, surface water management, and health care in ways suggested.

Consequences of declining snow accumulation for water balance of mid-latitude dry regions

USGS Publications Warehouse

Schlaepfer, Daniel R.; Lauenroth, William K.; Bradford, John B.

2012-01-01

Widespread documentation of positive winter temperature anomalies, declining snowpack and earlier snow melt in the Northern Hemisphere have raised concerns about the consequences for regional water resources as well as wildfire. A topic that has not been addressed with respect to declining snowpack is effects on ecosystem water balance. Changes in water balance dynamics will be particularly pronounced at low elevations of mid-latitude dry regions because these areas will be the first to be affected by declining snow as a result of rising temperatures. As a model system, we used simulation experiments to investigate big sagebrush ecosystems that dominate a large fraction of the semiarid western United States. Our results suggest that effects on future ecosystem water balance will increase along a climatic gradient from dry, warm and snow-poor to wet, cold and snow-rich. Beyond a threshold within this climatic gradient, predicted consequences for vegetation switched from no change to increasing transpiration. Responses were sensitive to uncertainties in climatic prediction; particularly, a shift of precipitation to the colder season could reduce impacts of a warmer and snow-poorer future, depending on the degree to which ecosystem phenology tracks precipitation changes. Our results suggest that big sagebrush and other similar semiarid ecosystems could decrease in viability or disappear in dry to medium areas and likely increase only in the snow-richest areas, i.e. higher elevations and higher latitudes. Unlike cold locations at high elevations or in the arctic, ecosystems at low elevations respond in a different and complex way to future conditions because of opposing effects of increasing water-limitation and a longer snow-free season. Outcomes of such nonlinear interactions for future ecosystems will likely include changes in plant composition and productivity, dynamics of water balance, and availability of water resources.

Mathematical model of the competition life cycle under limited resources conditions: Problem statement for business community

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shelomentsev, A. G.; Medvedev, M. A.; Berg, D. B.; Lapshina, S. N.; Taubayev, A. A.; Davletbaev, R. H.; Savina, D. V.

2017-12-01

Present study is devoted to the development of competition life cycle mathematical model in the closed business community with limited resources. Growth of each agent is determined by the balance of input and output resource flows: input (cash) flow W is covering the variable V and constant C costs and growth dA/dt of the agent's assets A. Value of V is proportional to assets A that allows us to write down a first order non-stationary differential equation of the agent growth. Model includes the number of such equations due to the number of agents. The amount of resources that is available for agents vary in time. The balances of their input and output flows are changing correspondingly to the different stages of the competition life cycle. According to the theory of systems, the most complete description of any object or process is the model of its life cycle. Such a model describes all stages of its development: from the appearance ("birth") through development ("growth") to extinction ("death"). The model of the evolution of an individual firm, not contradicting the economic meaning of events actually observed in the market, is the desired result from modern AVMs for applied use. With a correct description of the market, rules for participants' actions, restrictions, forecasts can be obtained, which modern mathematics and the economy can not give.

30 CFR 250.101 - Authority and applicability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... mineral resources of the OCS to: (1) Make resources available to meet the Nation's energy needs; (2) Balance orderly energy resource development with protection of the human, marine, and coastal environments... 250.101 Mineral Resources BUREAU OF OCEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT, REGULATION, AND ENFORCEMENT, DEPARTMENT...

VARIANCE ESTIMATION FOR SPATIALLY BALANCED SAMPLES OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES

EPA Science Inventory

The spatial distribution of a natural resource is an important consideration in designing an efficient survey or monitoring program for the resource. We review a unified strategy for designing probability samples of discrete, finite resource populations, such as lakes within som...

Population-based learning of load balancing policies for a distributed computer system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mehra, Pankaj; Wah, Benjamin W.

1993-01-01

Effective load-balancing policies use dynamic resource information to schedule tasks in a distributed computer system. We present a novel method for automatically learning such policies. At each site in our system, we use a comparator neural network to predict the relative speedup of an incoming task using only the resource-utilization patterns obtained prior to the task's arrival. Outputs of these comparator networks are broadcast periodically over the distributed system, and the resource schedulers at each site use these values to determine the best site for executing an incoming task. The delays incurred in propagating workload information and tasks from one site to another, as well as the dynamic and unpredictable nature of workloads in multiprogrammed multiprocessors, may cause the workload pattern at the time of execution to differ from patterns prevailing at the times of load-index computation and decision making. Our load-balancing policy accommodates this uncertainty by using certain tunable parameters. We present a population-based machine-learning algorithm that adjusts these parameters in order to achieve high average speedups with respect to local execution. Our results show that our load-balancing policy, when combined with the comparator neural network for workload characterization, is effective in exploiting idle resources in a distributed computer system.

Work-Life Balance: Beyond the Rhetoric. IES Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kodz, J.; Harper, H.; Dench, S.

The current status of British policy and practice related to work-life balance was examined through case studies of six organizations identified as having well-developed work-life balance and flexible working practices. Interviews were conducted with human resource (HR) managers at all six organizations, and interviews and focus group discussions…

Global modeling of withdrawal, allocation and consumptive use of surface water and groundwater resources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wada, Y.; Wisser, D.; Bierkens, M. F. P.

2013-02-01

To sustain growing food demand and increasing standard of living, global water withdrawal and consumptive water use have been increasing rapidly. To analyze the human perturbation on water resources consistently over a large scale, a number of macro-scale hydrological models (MHMs) have been developed over the recent decades. However, few models consider the feedback between water availability and water demand, and even fewer models explicitly incorporate water allocation from surface water and groundwater resources. Here, we integrate a global water demand model into a global water balance model, and simulate water withdrawal and consumptive water use over the period 1979-2010, considering water allocation from surface water and groundwater resources and explicitly taking into account feedbacks between supply and demand, using two re-analysis products: ERA-Interim and MERRA. We implement an irrigation water scheme, which works dynamically with daily surface and soil water balance, and include a newly available extensive reservoir data set. Simulated surface water and groundwater withdrawal show generally good agreement with available reported national and sub-national statistics. The results show a consistent increase in both surface water and groundwater use worldwide, but groundwater use has been increasing more rapidly than surface water use since the 1990s. Human impacts on terrestrial water storage (TWS) signals are evident, altering the seasonal and inter-annual variability. The alteration is particularly large over the heavily regulated basins such as the Colorado and the Columbia, and over the major irrigated basins such as the Mississippi, the Indus, and the Ganges. Including human water use generally improves the correlation of simulated TWS anomalies with those of the GRACE observations.

Managing patients with behavioral health problems in acute care: balancing safety and financial viability.

PubMed

Rape, Cyndy; Mann, Tammy; Schooley, John; Ramey, Jana

2015-01-01

With a recent decrease in community resources for the mental health population, acute care facilities must seek creative, cost-effective ways to protect and care for these vulnerable individuals. This article describes 1 facility's journey to maintaining patient and staff safety while reducing cost. Success factors of this program include staff engagement, environmental modifications, and a nurse-driven, sitter-reduction process.

Balancing Ground-Water Withdrawals and Streamflow in the Hunt-Annaquatucket-Pettaquamscutt Basin, Rhode Island

USGS Publications Warehouse

Barlow, Paul M.; Dickerman, David C.

2001-01-01

Ground water withdrawn for water supply reduces streamflow in the Hunt-Annaquatucket-Pettaquamscutt Basin in Rhode Island. These reductions may adversely affect aquatic habitats. A hydrologic model was prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Rhode Island Water Resources Board, Town of North Kingstown, Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, and Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation to aid water-resource planning in the basin. Results of the model provide information that helps water suppliers and natural-resource managers evaluate strategies for balancing ground-water development and streamflow reductions in the basin.

A randomised controlled trial among cleaners--effects on strength, balance and kinesiophobia.

PubMed

Jørgensen, Marie Birk; Ektor-Andersen, John; Sjøgaard, Gisela; Holtermann, Andreas; Søgaard, Karen

2011-10-10

Cleaners constitute a job group with poor health and low socioeconomic resources. Therefore, there is a great need for scientifically documented health promoting initiatives for cleaners. However, both workplace initiatives and high quality intervention studies are lacking. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a 3-month workplace trial with interventions to improve physical or cognitive behavioural resources among cleaners. A cluster randomised controlled trial was conducted among 294 female cleaners from 9 workplaces. The participants were allocated to three groups: Physical coordination training (PCT, n = 95), Cognitive behavioural theory-based training (CBTr, n = 99) and Reference group (REF, n = 100). Interventions were conducted during work hours for an average of 1 hour/week. Muscle strength was measured by maximal voluntary contractions in trunk/extension, and shoulder abduction/elevation. Postural balance was measured on a force platform. Kinesiophobia was measured with Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia. Test and questionnaires were completed at baseline and at 3-month follow-up and analyses followed the intention-to-treat (ITT) principle with last observation carried forward in case of missing data at follow-up. Reports and analyses are given on true observations as well. ITT-analyses revealed that PCT improved strength of the trunk (p < .05) and postural balance (p < .05) compared to CBTr and REF. Based on true observations the strength and balance improvements corresponded to ~20% and ~16%, respectively. ITT-analyses showed that CBTr reduced kinesiophobia compared to PCT and REF (p < .05). Based on true observations, the improvement corresponded to a ~16% improvement. This workplace-based intervention study including PCT and CBTr among cleaners improved strength and postural balance from PCT, and kinesiophobia from CBTr. The improved strength, postural balance and kinesiophobia may improve the cleaners' tolerance for high physical work demands. Future studies should investigate the potential in the combination of PCT and CBTr in a workplace intervention. Current controlled trials ISRCTN96241850.

Assessing the Value of Regulation Resources Based on Their Time Response Characteristics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Makarov, Yuri V.; Lu, Shuai; Ma, Jian

2008-06-01

Fast responsive regulation resources are potentially more valuable as a power system regulation resource (more efficient) because they allow applying controls at the exact moment and in the exact amount as needed. Faster control is desirable because it facilitates more reliable compliance with the NERC Control Performance Standards at relatively lesser regulation capacity procurements. The current California ISO practices and markets do not provide a differentiation among the regulation resources based on their speed of response (with the exception of some minimum ramping capabilities). Some demand response technologies, including some generation and energy storage resources, can provide quicker control actions.more » California ISO practices and markets could be updated to welcome more fast regulation resources into the California ISO service area. The project work reported in this work was pursuing the following objectives: • Develop methodology to assess the relative value of generation resources used for regulation and load following California ISO functions • This assessment should be done based on physical characteristics including the ability to quickly change their output following California ISO signals • Evaluate what power is worth on different time scales • Analyze the benefits of new regulation resources to provide effective compliance with the mandatory NERC Control Performance Standards • Evaluate impacts of the newly proposed BAAL and FRR standards on the potential value of fast regulation and distributed regulation resources • Develop a scope for the follow-up projects to pave a road for the new efficient types of balancing resources in California. The work included the following studies: • Analysis of California ISO regulating units characteristics • California ISO automatic generation system (AGC) analysis • California ISO regulation procurement and market analysis • Fast regulation efficiency analysis • Projection of the California ISO load following and regulation requirements into the future • Value of fast responsive resources depending on their ramping capability • Potential impacts of the balancing authority area control error limit (BAAL), which is a part of the newly proposed NERC standard “Balancing Resources and Demand” • Potential impacts of the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) frequency responsive reserve (FRR) standard • Recommendations for the next phase of the project. The following main conclusions and suggestions for the future have been made: • The analysis of regulation ramping requirements shows that the regulation system should be able to provide ramps of at least 40-60 MW per minute for a period up to 6 minutes. • Evaluate if changes are needed in the California ISO AGC system to effectively accommodate new types of fast regulation resources and minimize the California ISO regulation procurement. • California ISO may consider creating better market opportunities for and incentives for fast responsive resources. • An additional study of low probability high ramp events can be recommended to the California ISO. • The California ISO may be willing to consider establishing a more relaxed target CPS2 compliance level. • A BAAL-related study can be recommended for the California ISO as soon as more clarity is achieved concerning the actual enforcement of the BAAL standard and its numerical values for the California ISO. The study may involve an assessment of advantages of the distributed frequency-based control for the California ISO system. The market-related issues that arise in this connection can be also investigated. • A FRR-related study can be recommended for the California ISO as soon as more clarity is achieved concerning the actual enforcement of the FRR standard and its numerical values for the California ISO.« less

Resource Planning Model | Energy Analysis | NREL

Science.gov Websites

balancing authority. An image of a overlapping circles labelled Resource, Technical, Economic, and Market competing electricity technologies. An image of a overlapping circles labelled Resource, Technical, Economic ; Federal Resource Planning. Volume 1: Sectoral, Technical, and Economic Trends, NREL Technical Report (2016

An Evaluation Tool for CONUS-Scale Estimates of Components of the Water Balance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saxe, S.; Hay, L.; Farmer, W. H.; Markstrom, S. L.; Kiang, J. E.

2016-12-01

Numerous research groups are independently developing data products to represent various components of the water balance (e.g. runoff, evapotranspiration, recharge, snow water equivalent, soil moisture, and climate) at the scale of the conterminous United States. These data products are derived from a range of sources, including direct measurement, remotely-sensed measurement, and statistical and deterministic model simulations. An evaluation tool is needed to compare these data products and the components of the water balance they contain in order to identify the gaps in the understanding and representation of continental-scale hydrologic processes. An ideal tool will be an objective, universally agreed upon, framework to address questions related to closing the water balance. This type of generic, model agnostic evaluation tool would facilitate collaboration amongst different hydrologic research groups and improve modeling capabilities with respect to continental-scale water resources. By adopting a comprehensive framework to consider hydrologic modeling in the context of a complete water balance, it is possible to identify weaknesses in process modeling, data product representation and regional hydrologic variation. As part of its National Water Census initiative, the U.S. Geological survey is facilitating this dialogue to developing prototype evaluation tools.

How much spare capacity is necessary for the security of resource networks?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Qian-Chuan; Jia, Qing-Shan; Cao, Yang

2007-01-01

The balance between the supply and demand of some kind of resource is critical for the functionality and security of many complex networks. Local contingencies that break this balance can cause a global collapse. These contingencies are usually dealt with by spare capacity, which is costly especially when the network capacity (the total amount of the resource generated/consumed in the network) grows. This paper studies the relationship between the spare capacity and the collapse probability under separation contingencies when the network capacity grows. Our results are obtained based on the analysis of the existence probability of balanced partitions, which is a measure of network security when network splitting is unavoidable. We find that a network with growing capacity will inevitably collapse after a separation contingency if the spare capacity in each island increases slower than a linear function of the network capacity and there is no suitable global coordinator.

Detecting frail, older adults and identifying their strengths: results of a mixed-methods study.

PubMed

Dury, Sarah; Dierckx, Eva; van der Vorst, Anne; Van der Elst, Michaël; Fret, Bram; Duppen, Daan; Hoeyberghs, Lieve; De Roeck, Ellen; Lambotte, Deborah; Smetcoren, An-Sofie; Schols, Jos; Kempen, Gertrudis; Zijlstra, G A Rixt; De Lepeleire, Jan; Schoenmakers, Birgitte; Verté, Dominique; De Witte, Nico; Kardol, Tinie; De Deyn, Peter Paul; Engelborghs, Sebastiaan; De Donder, Liesbeth

2018-01-30

The debate on frailty in later life focuses primarily on deficits and their associations with adverse (health) outcomes. In addition to deficits, it may also be important to consider the abilities and resources of older adults. This study was designed to gain insights into the lived experiences of frailty among older adults to determine which strengths can balance the deficits that affect frailty. Data from 121 potentially frail community-dwelling older adults in Flemish-speaking Region of Belgium and Brussels were collected using a mixed-methods approach. Quantitative data were collected using the Comprehensive Frailty Assessment Instrument (CFAI), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), and numeric rating scales (NRS) for quality of life (QoL), care and support, meaning in life, and mastery. Bivariate analyses, paired samples t-tests and means were performed. Qualitative data on experiences of frailty, frailty balance, QoL, care and support, meaning in life, and mastery were collected using semi-structured interviews. Interviews were subjected to thematic content analysis. The "no to mild frailty" group had higher QoL, care and support, meaning in life, and mastery scores than the "severe frailty" group. Nevertheless, qualitative results indicate that, despite being classified as frail, many older adults experienced high levels of QoL, care and support, meaning in life, and mastery. Respondents mentioned multiple balancing factors for frailty, comprising individual-level circumstances (e.g., personality traits, coping strategies, resilience), environmental influences (e.g., caregivers, neighborhood, social participation), and macro-level features (e.g., health literacy, adequate financial compensation). Respondents also highlighted that life changes affected their frailty balance, including changes in health, finances, personal relationships, and living situation. The findings indicate that frailty among older individuals can be considered as a dynamic state and, regardless of frailty, balancing factors are important in maintaining a good QoL. The study investigated not only the deficits, but also the abilities, and resources of frail, older adults. Public policymakers and healthcare organizations are encouraged to include these abilities, supplementary or even complementary to the usual focus on deficits.

Across the continuum of satisfaction with work-family balance: Work hours, flexibility-fit, and work-family culture.

PubMed

McNamara, Tay K; Pitt-Catsouphes, Marcie; Matz-Costa, Christina; Brown, Melissa; Valcour, Monique

2013-03-01

This study investigated the association between hours worked per week and satisfaction with work-family balance, using data from a 2007-2008 survey of employees nested within organizations. We tested hypotheses informed by the resource drain and resources-and-demands perspectives using quantile regression. We found that the negative association between hours worked per week and satisfaction with work-family balance was significantly stronger at the 25th percentile, as compared to at the 75th percentile, of satisfaction with work-family balance. Further, there was some evidence that perceived flexibility-fit (i.e., the fit between worker needs and flexible work options available) and supportive work-family culture attenuated the relationship between hours worked and satisfaction with work-family balance. The results suggest that analyses focusing on the average relationship between long work hours (such as those using ordinary least squares regression) and satisfaction with work-family balance may underestimate the importance of long work hours for workers with lower satisfaction levels. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

On the predictability of protein database search complexity and its relevance to optimization of distributed searches.

PubMed

Deciu, Cosmin; Sun, Jun; Wall, Mark A

2007-09-01

We discuss several aspects related to load balancing of database search jobs in a distributed computing environment, such as Linux cluster. Load balancing is a technique for making the most of multiple computational resources, which is particularly relevant in environments in which the usage of such resources is very high. The particular case of the Sequest program is considered here, but the general methodology should apply to any similar database search program. We show how the runtimes for Sequest searches of tandem mass spectral data can be predicted from profiles of previous representative searches, and how this information can be used for better load balancing of novel data. A well-known heuristic load balancing method is shown to be applicable to this problem, and its performance is analyzed for a variety of search parameters.

Recommendations for a barrier island breach management plan for Fire Island National Seashore, including the Otis Pike High Dune Wilderness Area, Long Island, New York

USGS Publications Warehouse

Williams, S. Jeffress; Foley, Mary K.

2007-01-01

4. Economic costs and benefits of artificial closure. This report for breach management presents protocols which specify when breach closures within the FIIS might be desirable and necessary, as well as provides recommendations for structural breach closure engineering operations which are indented to minimize negative impacts to the natural wilderness values and cultural resources within the FIIS, particularly the Otis Pike Wilderness Area. The goal of the plan is to strike a balance between protecting natural resources and allowing natural processes to operate and avoiding loss of life and excessive property damage.

Evaluation of the Display of Cognitive State Feedback to Drive Adaptive Task Sharing

PubMed Central

Dorneich, Michael C.; Passinger, Břetislav; Hamblin, Christopher; Keinrath, Claudia; Vašek, Jiři; Whitlow, Stephen D.; Beekhuyzen, Martijn

2017-01-01

This paper presents an adaptive system intended to address workload imbalances between pilots in future flight decks. Team performance can be maximized when task demands are balanced within crew capabilities and resources. Good communication skills enable teams to adapt to changes in workload, and include the balancing of workload between team members This work addresses human factors priorities in the aviation domain with the goal to develop concepts that balance operator workload, support future operator roles and responsibilities, and support new task requirements, while allowing operators to focus on the most safety critical tasks. A traditional closed-loop adaptive system includes the decision logic to turn automated adaptations on and off. This work takes a novel approach of replacing the decision logic, normally performed by the automation, with human decisions. The Crew Workload Manager (CWLM) was developed to objectively display the workload between pilots and recommend task sharing; it is then the pilots who “close the loop” by deciding how to best mitigate unbalanced workload. The workload was manipulated by the Shared Aviation Task Battery (SAT-B), which was developed to provide opportunities for pilots to mitigate imbalances in workload between crew members. Participants were put in situations of high and low workload (i.e., workload was manipulated as opposed to being measured), the workload was then displayed to pilots, and pilots were allowed to decide how to mitigate the situation. An evaluation was performed that utilized the SAT-B to manipulate workload and create workload imbalances. Overall, the CWLM reduced the time spent in unbalanced workload and improved the crew coordination in task sharing while not negatively impacting concurrent task performance. Balancing workload has the potential to improve crew resource management and task performance over time, and reduce errors and fatigue. Paired with a real-time workload measurement system, the CWLM could help teams manage their own task load distribution. PMID:28400716

Evaluation of the Display of Cognitive State Feedback to Drive Adaptive Task Sharing.

PubMed

Dorneich, Michael C; Passinger, Břetislav; Hamblin, Christopher; Keinrath, Claudia; Vašek, Jiři; Whitlow, Stephen D; Beekhuyzen, Martijn

2017-01-01

This paper presents an adaptive system intended to address workload imbalances between pilots in future flight decks. Team performance can be maximized when task demands are balanced within crew capabilities and resources. Good communication skills enable teams to adapt to changes in workload, and include the balancing of workload between team members This work addresses human factors priorities in the aviation domain with the goal to develop concepts that balance operator workload, support future operator roles and responsibilities, and support new task requirements, while allowing operators to focus on the most safety critical tasks. A traditional closed-loop adaptive system includes the decision logic to turn automated adaptations on and off. This work takes a novel approach of replacing the decision logic, normally performed by the automation, with human decisions. The Crew Workload Manager (CWLM) was developed to objectively display the workload between pilots and recommend task sharing; it is then the pilots who "close the loop" by deciding how to best mitigate unbalanced workload. The workload was manipulated by the Shared Aviation Task Battery (SAT-B), which was developed to provide opportunities for pilots to mitigate imbalances in workload between crew members. Participants were put in situations of high and low workload (i.e., workload was manipulated as opposed to being measured), the workload was then displayed to pilots, and pilots were allowed to decide how to mitigate the situation. An evaluation was performed that utilized the SAT-B to manipulate workload and create workload imbalances. Overall, the CWLM reduced the time spent in unbalanced workload and improved the crew coordination in task sharing while not negatively impacting concurrent task performance. Balancing workload has the potential to improve crew resource management and task performance over time, and reduce errors and fatigue. Paired with a real-time workload measurement system, the CWLM could help teams manage their own task load distribution.

SPATIALLY-BALANCED SAMPLING OF NATURAL RESOURCES IN THE PRESENCE OF FRAME IMPERFECTIONS

EPA Science Inventory

The spatial distribution of a natural resource is an important consideration in designing an efficient survey or monitoring program for the resource. Generally, samples that are more or less evenly dispersed over the extent of the resource will be more efficient than simple rando...

Assessing Gale Crater as an Exploration Zone for the First Human Mission to Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Calef, A. F. J., III; Archer, D.; Clark, B.; Day, M.; Goetz, W.; Lasue, J.; Martin-Torres, J.; Zorzano-Mier, M.; Navarro-Gonzalez, R.

2016-01-01

Mars is the "horizon goal" for human space flight [1]. Towards that endeavor, one must consider several factors in regards to choosing a landing site suitable for a human-rated mission including: entry, descent, and landing (EDL) characteristics, scientific diversity, and possible insitu resources [2]. Selecting any one place is a careful balance of reducing risks and increasing scientific return for the mission.

Global Climate Change - U.S. Economic and National Security Opportunity

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-03-20

The most recent findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) state that the current trajectory of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions...challenges and opportunities for the United States as they balance national security and economic interests. The effects of climate change could act as a...are various opportunities associated with climate change including opening arctic navigational channels and the vast oil and natural gas resources

Digging Our Own Holes: Institutional Perspectives on Seismic Hazards

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stein, S.; Tomasello, J.

2005-12-01

It has been observed that there are no true students of the earth; instead, we each dig our own holes and sit in them. A similar situation arises in attempts to assess the hazards of earthquakes and other natural disasters and to develop strategies to mitigate them. Ideally, we would like to look at the interests of society as a whole and develop strategies that best balance hazard mitigation with alternative uses of resources. Doing so, however, is difficult for several reasons. First, estimating seismic hazards requires assumptions about the size, recurrence, and shaking from future earthquakes, none of which are well known. Second, we have to chose a definition of seismic hazard, which is even more arbitrary and at least as significant about future earthquakes. Third, mitigating the risks involves economic and policy issues as well as the scientific one of estimating the hazard itself and the engineering one of designing safe structures. As a result, different public and private organizations with different institutional perspectives naturally adopt different approaches. Most organizations have a single focus. For example, those focusing on economic development tend to discount hazards, whereas emergency management groups tend to accentuate them. Organizations with quasi-regulatory duties (BSSC, FEMA, USGS) focus on reducing losses in future earthquakes without considering the cost of mitigation measures or how this use of resources should be balanced with alternative uses of resources that could mitigate other losses. Some organizations, however, must confront these tradeoffs directly because they allocate resources internally. Hence hospitals implicitly trade off more earthquake resistant construction with treating uninsured patients, highway departments balance stronger bridges with other safety improvements, and schools balance safer buildings with after school programs. These choices are complicated by the fact that such infrastructure typically has longer life than normal commercial or residential buildings, and the direct and indirect losses resulting from their failure can be much larger. Hence the issue is balancing mitigating large losses in infrequent disasters with smaller but steady losses that may over time be greater. Finally, there has been little investigation of the benefits of mitigation regulations on the private sector relative to their consequences, which may significantly increase building costs, require seismic retrofits, and cause difficulties in securing loans and insurance. Possible outcomes include reduced economic activity (firms don't build or build elsewhere), job loss (or reduced growth), and the resulting reduction in tax revenue and thus public services. Given these complexities, organizations should be encouraged to examine broader societal issues beyond their institutional perspectives, and significant efforts should be made to develop a more integrated approach.

IATUL Conference 1985.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Information Services and Use, 1985

1985-01-01

Summarizes presentations at conference on theme "The future of information resources for science and technology and role of libraries": industrial and commercial use of national, regional, and university resources; balance between public- and private-sector resources; local access in national and regional context; access to information…

Spatially balanced survey designs for natural resources

EPA Science Inventory

Ecological resource monitoring programs typically require the use of a probability survey design to select locations or entities to be physically sampled in the field. The ecological resource of interest, the target population, occurs over a spatial domain and the sample selecte...

Integrating clinical and economic evidence in clinical guidelines: More needed than ever!

PubMed

Knies, Saskia; Severens, Johan L; Brouwer, Werner B F

2018-04-26

In recent years, several expensive new health technologies have been introduced. The availability of those technologies intensifies the discussion regarding the affordability of these technologies at different decision-making levels. On the meso level, both hospitals and clinicians are facing budget constraints resulting in a tension to balance between different patients' interests. As such, it is crucial to make optimal use of the available resources. Different strategies are in place to deal with this problem, but decisions on a macro level on what to fund or not can limit the role and freedom of clinicians in their decisions on a micro level. At the same time, without central guidance regarding such decisions, micro level decisions may lead to inequities and undesirable treatment variation between clinicians and hospitals. The challenge is to find instruments that can balance both levels of decision making. Clinicians are becoming increasingly aware that their decisions to spend more resources (like time and budget) on 1 particular patient group reduce the resources available to other patients. Involving clinicians in thinking about the optimal use of limited resources, also in an attempt to bridge the world of economic reasoning and clinical practice, is crucial therefore. We argue that clinical guidelines may prove a clear vehicle for this by including both clinical and economic evidence to support the recommendations made. The development of such guidelines requires cooperation of clinicians, and health economists are cooperating with each other. The development of clinical guidelines which combine economic and clinical evidence should be stimulated, to balance central guidance and uniformity while maintaining necessary decentralized freedom. This is an opportunity to combine the reality of budgets and opportunity costs with clinical practice. Missing this opportunity risks either variation and inequity or central and necessarily crude measures. © 2018 The Authors Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A Theoretical and Clinical Framework for Parental Burnout: The Balance Between Risks and Resources (BR2)

PubMed Central

Mikolajczak, Moïra; Roskam, Isabelle

2018-01-01

Parental burnout is a specific syndrome resulting from enduring exposure to chronic parenting stress. But why do some parents burn out while others, facing the same stressors, do not? The main aim of this paper was to propose a theory of parental burnout capable of predicting who is at risk of burnout, explaining why a particular parent burned out and why at that specific point in time, and providing directions for intervention. The secondary goal was to operationalize this theory in a tool that would be easy to use for both researchers and clinicians. The results of this two-wave longitudinal study conducted on 923 parents suggest that the Balance between Risks and Resources (BR2) theory proposed here is a relevant framework to predict and explain parental burnout. More specifically, the results show that (1) the BR2 instrument reliably measures parents' balance between risks (parental stress-enhancing factors) and resources (parental stress-alleviating factors), (2) there is a strong linear relationship between BR2 score and parental burnout, (3) parental burnout results from a chronic imbalance of risks over resources, (4) BR2 predicts parental burnout better than job burnout and (5) among the risk and resource factors measured in BR2, risks and resources non-specific to parenting (e.g., low stress-management abilities, perfectionism) equally predict parental and job burnout, while risks and resources specific to parenting (e.g., childrearing practices, coparenting) uniquely predict parental burnout. PMID:29946278

Optimal Management of Geothermal Heat Extraction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patel, I. H.; Bielicki, J. M.; Buscheck, T. A.

2015-12-01

Geothermal energy technologies use the constant heat flux from the subsurface in order to produce heat or electricity for societal use. As such, a geothermal energy system is not inherently variable, like systems based on wind and solar resources, and an operator can conceivably control the rate at which heat is extracted and used directly, or converted into a commodity that is used. Although geothermal heat is a renewable resource, this heat can be depleted over time if the rate of heat extraction exceeds the natural rate of renewal (Rybach, 2003). For heat extraction used for commodities that are sold on the market, sustainability entails balancing the rate at which the reservoir renews with the rate at which heat is extracted and converted into profit, on a net present value basis. We present a model that couples natural resource economic approaches for managing renewable resources with simulations of geothermal reservoir performance in order to develop an optimal heat mining strategy that balances economic gain with the performance and renewability of the reservoir. Similar optimal control approaches have been extensively studied for renewable natural resource management of fisheries and forests (Bonfil, 2005; Gordon, 1954; Weitzman, 2003). Those models determine an optimal path of extraction of fish or timber, by balancing the regeneration of stocks of fish or timber that are not harvested with the profit from the sale of the fish or timber that is harvested. Our model balances the regeneration of reservoir temperature with the net proceeds from extracting heat and converting it to electricity that is sold to consumers. We used the Non-isothermal Unconfined-confined Flow and Transport (NUFT) model (Hao, Sun, & Nitao, 2011) to simulate the performance of a sedimentary geothermal reservoir under a variety of geologic and operational situations. The results of NUFT are incorporated into the natural resource economics model to determine production strategies that maximize net present value given the performance of the geothermal resource.

Dealing with Uncertainty in Water Management: Finding the Right Balance Between Risk and Opportunity to Build Trust and Create Value

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Islam, S.; Susskind, L.

2012-12-01

Most difficulties in water management are the product of rigid assumptions about how water ought to be allocated in the face of ever-increasing demand and growing uncertainty. When stakeholders face contending water claims, one of the biggest obstacles to reaching agreement is uncertainty. Specifically, there are three types of uncertainty that need to be addressed: uncertainty of information, uncertainty of action and uncertainty of perception. All three shape water management decisions. Contrary to traditional approaches, we argue that management of uncertainty needs to include both risks and opportunities. When parties treat water as a flexible rather than a fixed resource, opportunities to create value can be invented. When they use the right processes and mechanisms to enhance trust, even parties in conflict can reach agreements that satisfy their competing water needs and interests simultaneously. Using examples from several boundary crossing water cases we will show how this balance between risks and opportunities can be found to manage water resources for an uncertain future.

15 CFR 971.420 - Resource conservation requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... opportunity for the commercial recovery of the unrecovered balance of the hard mineral resources in the... THE ENVIRONMENTAL DATA SERVICE DEEP SEABED MINING REGULATIONS FOR COMMERCIAL RECOVERY PERMITS Issuance...

"Pushing the Limits": Rethinking Motor and Cognitive Resources After a Highly Challenging Balance Training Program for Parkinson Disease.

PubMed

Leavy, Breiffni; Roaldsen, Kirsti Skavberg; Nylund, Kamilla; Hagströmer, Maria; Franzén, Erika

2017-01-01

There is growing evidence for the positive effects of exercise training programs on balance control in Parkinson disease (PD). To be effective, balance training needs to be specific, progressive, and highly challenging. Little evidence exists, however, for how people with PD-related balance impairments perceive highly challenging and progressive balance training programs with dual-task components. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe perceptions of a highly challenging balance training program among people with mild to moderate PD. This study was qualitative in nature. In-depth interviews were conducted with 13 individuals with mild to moderate PD who had participated in a highly challenging balance training program. Interview transcripts were analyzed using qualitative content analysis, with an inductive approach. The analysis revealed 3 subthemes concerning participants' perceptions of highly challenging and progressive balance training: (1) movement to counter the disease, (2) dual-task training in contrast to everyday strategies, and (3) the struggle to maintain positive effects. The first subtheme reflects how physical activity was used as a short-term and long-term strategy for counteracting PD symptoms and their progression. The second subtheme incorporates the described experiences of being maximally challenged in a secure and supportive group environment, circumstances that stood in contrast to participants' everyday lives. The third subtheme describes participants' long-term struggle to maintain program effects on cognitive and physical function in the face of disease progression. Interpretation of the underlying patterns of these subthemes resulted in one overarching theme: training at the limits of balance capacity causes a rethinking motor and cognitive resources. The findings of this study cannot be considered to reflect the beliefs of those with weaker or negative beliefs concerning physical activity or be transferred to those at more severe stages of the disease. Findings from this study suggest that being pushed to the limits of balance capacity provoked people with mild to moderate PD to rethink their individual motor and cognitive resources, a process that was further enabled by the PD-specific group setting. © 2017 American Physical Therapy Association

Balancing the risks and the benefits.

PubMed

Klopack

2000-04-01

Pharmaceutical research organizations can benefit from outsourcing discovery activities that are not core competencies of the organization. The core competencies for a discovery operation are the expertise and systems that give the organization an advantage over its competition. Successful outsourcing ventures result in cost reduction, increased operation efficiency and optimization of resource allocation. While there are pitfalls to outsourcing, including poor partner selection and inadequate implementation, outsourcing can be a powerful tool for enhancing drug discovery operations.

Quantitative performance targets by using balanced scorecard system: application to waste management and public administration.

PubMed

Mendes, Paula; Nunes, Luis Miguel; Teixeira, Margarida Ribau

2014-09-01

This article demonstrates how decision-makers can be guided in the process of defining performance target values in the balanced scorecard system. We apply a method based on sensitivity analysis with Monte Carlo simulation to the municipal solid waste management system in Loulé Municipality (Portugal). The method includes two steps: sensitivity analysis of performance indicators to identify those performance indicators with the highest impact on the balanced scorecard model outcomes; and sensitivity analysis of the target values for the previously identified performance indicators. Sensitivity analysis shows that four strategic objectives (IPP1: Comply with the national waste strategy; IPP4: Reduce nonrenewable resources and greenhouse gases; IPP5: Optimize the life-cycle of waste; and FP1: Meet and optimize the budget) alone contribute 99.7% of the variability in overall balanced scorecard value. Thus, these strategic objectives had a much stronger impact on the estimated balanced scorecard outcome than did others, with the IPP1 and the IPP4 accounting for over 55% and 22% of the variance in overall balanced scorecard value, respectively. The remaining performance indicators contribute only marginally. In addition, a change in the value of a single indicator's target value made the overall balanced scorecard value change by as much as 18%. This may lead to involuntarily biased decisions by organizations regarding performance target-setting, if not prevented with the help of methods such as that proposed and applied in this study. © The Author(s) 2014.

30 CFR 250.101 - Authority and applicability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

...: (1) Make resources available to meet the Nation's energy needs; (2) Balance orderly energy resource development with protection of the human, marine, and coastal environments; (3) Ensure the public receives a...

Effects of Land Cover / Land Use, Soil Texture, and Vegetation on the Water Balance of Lake Chad Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Babamaaji, R. A.; Lee, J.

2013-12-01

Lake Chad Basin (LCB) has experienced drastic changes of land cover and poor water management practices during the last 50 years. The successive droughts in the 1970s and 1980s resulted in the shortage of surface water and groundwater resources. This problem of drought has a devastating implication on the natural resources of the Basin with great consequence on food security, poverty reduction and quality of life of the inhabitants in the LCB. Therefore, understanding the effects of land use / land cover must be a first step to find how they disturb cycle especially the groundwater in the LCB. The abundance of groundwater is affected by the climate change through the interaction with surface water, such as lakes and rivers, and disuse recharge through an infiltration process. Quantifying the impact of climate change on the groundwater resource requires reliable forecasting of changes in the major climatic variables and other spatial variations including the land use/land cover, soil texture, topographic slope, and vegetation. In this study, we employed a spatially distributed water balance model WetSpass to simulate a long-term average change of groundwater recharge in the LCB of Africa. WetSpass is a water balance-based model to estimate seasonal and spatial distribution of surface runoff, interception, evapotranspiration, and groundwater recharge. The model is especially suitable for studying the effect of land use/land cover change on the water regime in the LCB. The present study describes the concept of the model and its application to the development of recharge map of the LCB. The study shows that major role in the water balance of LCB. The mean yearly actual evapotranspiration (ET) from the basin range from 60mm - 400 mm, which is 90 % (69mm - 430) of the annual precipitation from 2003 - 2010. It is striking that about 50 - 60 % of the total runoff is produced on build-up (impervious surfaces), while much smaller contributions are obtained from vegetated, bare soil and open water surfaces. The result of this study also shows that runoff is high in the clay, clay loam and sandy-clay loam due to the lack of infiltration process in clay soil from capping or crusting or sealing of the soil pores, therefore this situation will aid runoff. The application of the WetSpass model shows that precipitation, soil texture and land use / land cover are three controlling factors affecting the water balance in the LCB. Key words: Groundwater recharge, surface runoff, evapotranspiration, water balance, meteorological, draught, Landuse changes, climate changes, WetSpass, GIS.

Diet and nutrient balance of red panda in Nepal.

PubMed

Panthi, Saroj; Coogan, Sean C P; Aryal, Achyut; Raubenheimer, David

2015-10-01

We identified the winter plant species consumed by red panda in the Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve of eastern Nepal and compared this to the early-summer diet which was determined previously by Panthi et al. (2012). In addition, we estimated the proximate nutritional content of the leaves identified in red panda diet for both seasons, and we used nutritional geometry to explore macronutrient balance of leaves from the two different sampling periods. We identified six different plants in winter scats, which were the same as found in the previously determined early-summer diet. Arundinaria spp. bamboos were the main species found (82.1 % relative frequency), followed by Acer spp. (6.3 %), Betula utilis (4.6 %), Quercus semicarpifolia (3.7 %), Berberis spp. (1.3 %), and lichens (1.0 %), leaving 2.0 % unidentified. Geometric analysis suggested that the macronutrient balance of seasonal diets were similar in nutrient balance to the most frequently consumed Arundinaria spp. Differences in macronutrient balance may indicate seasonal nutrient preferences, such as increased carbohydrate intake in winter for thermogenesis, and increased protein and lipid intake in early summer to support reproduction and lactation; however, these differences may also indicate differences in resource availability. Habitat conserved for red panda in the region should include sufficient Arundinaria spp. as well as lesser consumed plants which may serve as complimentary foods.

Diet and nutrient balance of red panda in Nepal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Panthi, Saroj; Coogan, Sean C. P.; Aryal, Achyut; Raubenheimer, David

2015-10-01

We identified the winter plant species consumed by red panda in the Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve of eastern Nepal and compared this to the early-summer diet which was determined previously by Panthi et al. (2012). In addition, we estimated the proximate nutritional content of the leaves identified in red panda diet for both seasons, and we used nutritional geometry to explore macronutrient balance of leaves from the two different sampling periods. We identified six different plants in winter scats, which were the same as found in the previously determined early-summer diet. Arundinaria spp. bamboos were the main species found (82.1 % relative frequency), followed by Acer spp. (6.3 %), Betula utilis (4.6 %), Quercus semicarpifolia (3.7 %), Berberis spp. (1.3 %), and lichens (1.0 %), leaving 2.0 % unidentified. Geometric analysis suggested that the macronutrient balance of seasonal diets were similar in nutrient balance to the most frequently consumed Arundinaria spp. Differences in macronutrient balance may indicate seasonal nutrient preferences, such as increased carbohydrate intake in winter for thermogenesis, and increased protein and lipid intake in early summer to support reproduction and lactation; however, these differences may also indicate differences in resource availability. Habitat conserved for red panda in the region should include sufficient Arundinaria spp. as well as lesser consumed plants which may serve as complimentary foods.

Renewable Substitutability Index: Maximizing Renewable Resource Use in Buildings

EPA Science Inventory

In order to achieve a material and energy balance in buildings that is sustainable in the long run, there is an urgent need to assess the renewable and non-renewable resources used in the manufacturing process and to progressively replace non-renewable resources with renewables. ...

15 CFR 971.420 - Resource conservation requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... opportunity for the commercial recovery of the unrecovered balance of the hard mineral resources in the... 15 Commerce and Foreign Trade 3 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Resource conservation requirements. 971.420 Section 971.420 Commerce and Foreign Trade Regulations Relating to Commerce and Foreign Trade...

The Concept of Ecologically Oriented Progress and Natural Resource Preservation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gasanov, M. A.; Kolotov, K. A.; Demidenko, K. A.; Podgornaya, E. A.; Kadnikova, O. V.

2017-01-01

The most important issue of scientific and technological progress is considering the environment challenges of industrial development. It means that the progress must be ecologically oriented and environmentally friendly. The most adequate concept for the approach to the issue of “man - society - nature” relations is the ontology of the noosphere - the idea of a common space for human beings and nature. It presents an ideal example of an optimistic attitude towards the coordination between accelerating the scientific and technological development and natural resource saving. However, to maintain the balance between human needs and environmental processes determined by this concept, it is essential to include the lean production training into technological development of society.

Interorganizational networks: fundamental to the Accreditation Canada program.

PubMed

Mitchell, Jonathan I; Nicklin, Wendy; MacDonald, Bernadette

2014-01-01

Within the Canadian healthcare system, the term population-accountable health network defines the use of collective resources to optimize the health of a population through integrated interventions. The leadership of these networks has also been identified as a critical factor, highlighting the need for creative management of resources in determining effective, balanced sets of interventions. In this article, using specific principles embedded in the Accreditation Canada program, the benefits of a network approach are highlighted, including knowledge sharing, improving the consistency of practice through standards, and a broader systems-and-population view of healthcare delivery across the continuum of care. The implications for Canadian health leaders to leverage the benefits of interorganizational networks are discussed.

Working With LGBT Baby Boomers and Older Adults: Factors That Signal a Welcoming Service Environment.

PubMed

Croghan, Catherine F; Moone, Rajean P; Olson, Andrea M

2015-01-01

Many providers recognize the importance of creating culturally competent services for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) older adults. Although multiple resources list steps to make professional practices more LGBT-welcoming, these resources provide no empirical data to support their recommendations. LGBT older adults (N = 327) were asked to describe what signals that a provider is LGBT-welcoming. Six of the top 10 signals related to provider behavior and suggest the importance of staff training; the balance included display of signage and rainbow flags, use of inclusive language on forms and the presence of LGBT-identified staff. Results provide evidence-based recommendations for working with LGBT older adults.

30 CFR 250.101 - Authority and applicability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... energy needs; (2) Balance orderly energy resource development with protection of the human, marine, and coastal environments; (3) Ensure the public receives a fair and equitable return on the resources of the...

30 CFR 250.101 - Authority and applicability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... energy needs; (2) Balance orderly energy resource development with protection of the human, marine, and coastal environments; (3) Ensure the public receives a fair and equitable return on the resources of the...

30 CFR 250.101 - Authority and applicability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... energy needs; (2) Balance orderly energy resource development with protection of the human, marine, and coastal environments; (3) Ensure the public receives a fair and equitable return on the resources of the...

Interactive energy atlas for Colorado and New Mexico: an online resource for decisionmakers and the public

USGS Publications Warehouse

Carr, N.B.; Babel, N.; Diffendorfer, J.; Ignizio, D.; Hawkins, S.; Latysh, N.; Leib, K.; Linard, J.; Matherne, A.

2012-01-01

Throughout the western United States, increased demand for energy is driving the rapid development of oil, gas (including shale gas and coal-bed methane), and uranium, as well as renewable energy resources such as geothermal, solar, and wind. Much of the development in the West is occurring on public lands, including those under Federal and State jurisdictions. In Colorado and New Mexico, these public lands make up about 40 percent of the land area. Both states benefit from the revenue generated by energy production, but resource managers and other decisionmakers must balance the benefits of energy development with the potential consequences for ecosystems, recreation, and other resources. Although a substantial amount of geospatial data on existing energy development and energy potential is available, much of this information is not readily accessible to natural resource decisionmakers, policymakers, or the public. Furthermore, the data often exist in varied formats, requiring considerable processing before these datasets can be used to evaluate tradeoffs among resources, compare development alternatives, or quantify cumulative impacts. To allow for a comprehensive evaluation among different energy types, an interdisciplinary team of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists has developed an online Interactive Energy Atlas for Colorado and New Mexico. The Energy and Environment in the Rocky Mountain Area (EERMA) interdisciplinary team includes investigators from several USGS science centers1. The purpose of the EERMA Interactive Energy Atlas is to facilitate access to geospatial data related to energy resources, energy infrastructure, and natural resources that may be affected by energy development. The Atlas is designed to meet the needs of various users, including GIS analysts, resource managers, policymakers, and the public, who seek information about energy in the western United States. Currently, the Atlas has two primary capabilities, a GIS data viewer and an interactive map gallery.

[Simulation for balanced effect of soil and water resources on cultivated land in Naoli River Basin, Northeast China under the RCPs climate scene].

PubMed

Zhou, Hao; Lei, Guo Ping; Yang, Xue Xin; Zhao, Yu Hui; Zhang, Ji Xin

2018-04-01

Under the scenarios of climate change, balancing the land and water resources is one of the key problems needed to be solved in land development. To reveal the water dynamics of the cultivated land in Naoli River Basin, we simulated the future scenarios by using the future land use simulation model based on Landsat Satellite images, the DEM data and the meteorological data. Results showed that the growth rate of cultivated land gradually decreased. It showed different changing characteristics in different time periods, which led to different balancing effect between land and water resources. In 1990, the water dynamics of the cultivated land resources was in good state, At the same time, the adjustment of crops structure caused the paddy fields increased dramatically. During 2002 to 2014, the cultivated land that in moderate and serious moisture shortage state increased slightly, the water deficit was deteriorating to a certain degree, and maintained sound development of water profit and loss situation gradually. By comparing the simulation accuracy with different spatial resolutions and time scales, we selected 200 m as the spatial resolution of the simulation, and simulated the land use status in 2038. The simulation results showed that the cultivated land's water profit and loss degree in the river basin showed significant polarization characteristic, in that the water profit and loss degree of the cultivated land would be further intensified, the area with the higher grades of moisture profit and loss degree would distribute more centralized, and partially high evaluated grades for the moisture shortage would expand. It is needed to develop the cultivated land irrigation schemes and adjust the cultivated land in Naoli River Basin to balance soil and water resources.

Linking economic water use, freshwater ecosystem impacts, and virtual water trade in a Great Lakes watershed

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mubako, S. T.; Ruddell, B. L.; Mayer, A. S.

2013-12-01

The impact of human water uses and economic pressures on freshwater ecosystems is of growing interest for water resource management worldwide. This case study for a water-rich watershed in the Great Lakes region links the economic pressures on water resources as revealed by virtual water trade balances to the nature of the economic water use and the associated impacts on the freshwater ecosystem. A water accounting framework that combines water consumption data and economic data from input output tables is applied to quantify localized virtual water imports and exports in the Kalamazoo watershed which comprises ten counties. Water using economic activities at the county level are conformed to watershed boundaries through land use-water use relationships. The counties are part of a region implementing the Michigan Water Withdrawal Assessment Process, including new regulatory approaches for adaptive water resources management under a riparian water rights framework. The results show that at local level, there exists considerable water use intensity and virtual water trade balance disparity among the counties and between water use sectors in this watershed. The watershed is a net virtual water importer, with some counties outsourcing nearly half of their water resource impacts, and some outsourcing nearly all water resource impacts. The largest virtual water imports are associated with agriculture, thermoelectric power generation and industry, while the bulk of the exports are associated with thermoelectric power generation and commercial activities. The methodology is applicable to various spatial levels ranging from the micro sub-watershed level to the macro Great Lakes watershed region, subject to the availability of reliable water use and economic data.

Preliminary research on quantitative methods of water resources carrying capacity based on water resources balance sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Yanqiu; Huang, Xiaorong; Gao, Linyun; Guo, Biying; Ma, Kai

2018-06-01

Water resources are not only basic natural resources, but also strategic economic resources and ecological control factors. Water resources carrying capacity constrains the sustainable development of regional economy and society. Studies of water resources carrying capacity can provide helpful information about how the socioeconomic system is both supported and restrained by the water resources system. Based on the research of different scholars, major problems in the study of water resources carrying capacity were summarized as follows: the definition of water resources carrying capacity is not yet unified; the methods of carrying capacity quantification based on the definition of inconsistency are poor in operability; the current quantitative research methods of water resources carrying capacity did not fully reflect the principles of sustainable development; it is difficult to quantify the relationship among the water resources, economic society and ecological environment. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a better quantitative evaluation method to determine the regional water resources carrying capacity. This paper proposes a new approach to quantifying water resources carrying capacity (that is, through the compilation of the water resources balance sheet) to get a grasp of the regional water resources depletion and water environmental degradation (as well as regional water resources stock assets and liabilities), figure out the squeeze of socioeconomic activities on the environment, and discuss the quantitative calculation methods and technical route of water resources carrying capacity which are able to embody the substance of sustainable development.

75 FR 48742 - Renewal of the Regional Resource Stewardship Council Charter

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-08-11

... its natural resource stewardship activities through a balanced and broad range of diverse views and... for public input regarding stewardship issues. Dated: July 26, 2010. Anda A. Ray, Senior Vice...

Future Achievements, Passion and Motivation in the Transition from Junior-to-Senior Sport in Spanish Young Elite Soccer Players.

PubMed

Chamorro, José L; Torregrosa, Miquel; Sánchez Oliva, David; García Calvo, Tomás; León, Benito

2016-10-20

Within the context of the transition from junior-to-senior sport, this study aims in first place to explore differences in young Spanish elite soccer players based on the importance given to getting different achievements in their future (including sport, studies and private life) and, in second place, to explore differences among those players in levels of passion, motivation and basic psychological need. 478 elite youth soccer filled out a questionnaire based on the presented theoretical models. A cluster analysis shows a sport oriented group (N = 98) only interested in becoming a professional, a life spheres balance group (N = 288) characterized by balancing the importance of achievements in the sport sphere, as well as in education and a private life and a group (N = 91) only interested in private life achievements. The life spheres balance group shows higher levels of harmonious passion (η2 = .06, F(2, 475) = 9.990, p < .001) than the players of the other groups. The life spheres balance group shows higher levels of autonomous motivation (η2 = .10, F(2, 475) = 13.597, p < .001), autonomy (η2 = .07, F(2, 475) = 6.592, p < .01) and relatedness satisfaction (η2 = .07, F(2, 475) = 5.603, p < .01) than the sport oriented group as well as lower levels of amotivation (η2 = .04, F(2, 475) = 6.665, p < .01) than the private life oriented group. This study suggests players who perceive equal future importance in their life spheres appear to be more resourceful than the other two groups regarding athletes' internal resources, such as passion and motivation, to cope with the transition to professional soccer.

Balancing competition for resources with multiple pest regulation in diversified agroecosystems: a process-based approach to reconcile diversification and productivity.

PubMed

Poeydebat, Charlotte; Carval, Dominique; de Lapeyre de Bellaire, Luc; Tixier, Philippe

2016-12-01

Agroecosystem plant diversification can enhance pest biological regulation and is a promising alternative to pesticide application. However, the costs of competition for resources between plants may exceed the benefits gained by pest regulation. To disentangle the interactions between pest regulation and competition, we developed a generic process-based approach that accounts for the effects of an associated plant and leaf and root pests on biomass production. We considered three crop-plant associations that differ in competition profiles, and we simulated biomass production under wide ranges of both pest regulation rates and resources' availability. We analyzed outputs to quantify the pest regulation service level that would be required to attain monoculture yield and other production goals. Results showed that pest regulation requirements were highly dependent on the profile of resource interception of the associated plant and on resources' availability. Pest regulation and the magnitude of competition between plants interacted in determining the balance between nitrogen and radiation uptake by the crop. Our findings suggest that productivity of diversified agroecosystems relative to monoculture should be optimized by assembling plants whose characteristics balance crops' resource acquisition. The theoretical insights from our study draw generic rules for vegetation assemblage to optimize trade-offs between pest regulation and production. Our findings and approach may have implications in understanding, theorizing and implementing agroecosystem diversification. By its generic and adaptable structure, our approach should be useful for studying the effects of diversification in many agroecosystems.

Quantifying Tropical Glacier Mass Balance Sensitivity to Climate Change Through Regional-Scale Modeling and The Randolph Glacier Inventory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malone, A.

2017-12-01

Quantifying mass balance sensitivity to climate change is essential for forecasting glacier evolution and deciphering climate signals embedded in archives of past glacier changes. Ideally, these quantifications result from decades of field measurement, remote sensing, and a hierarchy modeling approach, but in data-sparse regions, such as the Himalayas and tropical Andes, regional-scale modeling rooted in first principles provides a first-order picture. Previous regional-scaling modeling studies have applied a surface energy and mass balance approach in order to quantify equilibrium line altitude sensitivity to climate change. In this study, an expanded regional-scale surface energy and mass balance model is implemented to quantify glacier-wide mass balance sensitivity to climate change for tropical Andean glaciers. Data from the Randolph Glacier Inventory are incorporated, and additional physical processes are included, such as a dynamic albedo and cloud-dependent atmospheric emissivity. The model output agrees well with the limited mass balance records for tropical Andean glaciers. The dominant climate variables driving interannual mass balance variability differ depending on the climate setting. For wet tropical glaciers (annual precipitation >0.75 m y-1), temperature is the dominant climate variable. Different hypotheses for the processes linking wet tropical glacier mass balance variability to temperature are evaluated. The results support the hypothesis that glacier-wide mass balance on wet tropical glaciers is largely dominated by processes at the lowest elevation where temperature plays a leading role in energy exchanges. This research also highlights the transient nature of wet tropical glaciers - the vast majority of tropical glaciers and a vital regional water resource - in an anthropogenic warming world.

30 CFR 872.35 - When will OSM reduce the amount of prior balance replacement funds or certified in lieu funds...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false When will OSM reduce the amount of prior balance replacement funds or certified in lieu funds distributed to you? 872.35 Section 872.35 Mineral... the amount of prior balance replacement funds or certified in lieu funds distributed to you? (a) In...

30 CFR 872.35 - When will OSM reduce the amount of prior balance replacement funds or certified in lieu funds...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false When will OSM reduce the amount of prior balance replacement funds or certified in lieu funds distributed to you? 872.35 Section 872.35 Mineral... the amount of prior balance replacement funds or certified in lieu funds distributed to you? (a) In...

Sustainable Hydro Assessment and Groundwater Recharge Projects (SHARP) in Germany - Water Balance Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Niemand, C.; Kuhn, K.; Schwarze, R.

2010-12-01

SHARP is a European INTERREG IVc Program. It focuses on the exchange of innovative technologies to protect groundwater resources for future generations by considering the climate change and the different geological and geographical conditions. Regions involved are Austria, United Kingdom, Poland, Italy, Macedonia, Malta, Greece and Germany. They will exchange practical know-how and also determine know-how demands concerning SHARP’s key contents: general groundwater management tools, artificial groundwater recharge technologies, groundwater monitoring systems, strategic use of groundwater resources for drinking water, irrigation and industry, techniques to save water quality and quantity, drinking water safety plans, risk management tools and water balance models. SHARP Outputs & results will influence the regional policy in the frame of sustainable groundwater management to save and improve the quality and quantity of groundwater reservoirs for future generations. The main focus of the Saxon State Office for Environment, Agriculture and Landscape in this project is the enhancement and purposive use of water balance models. Already since 1992 scientists compare different existing water balance models on different scales and coupled with groundwater models. For example in the KLIWEP (Assessment of Impacts of Climate Change Projections on Water and Matter Balance for the Catchment of River Parthe in Saxony) project the coupled model WaSiM-ETH - PCGEOFIM® has been used to study the impact of climate change on water balance and water supplies. The project KliWES (Assessment of the Impacts of Climate Change Projections on Water and Matter Balance for Catchment Areas in Saxony) still running, comprises studies of fundamental effects of climate change on catchments in Saxony. Project objective is to assess Saxon catchments according to the vulnerability of their water resources towards climate change projections in order to derive region-specific recommendations for management actions. The model comparisons within reference areas showed significant differences in outcome. The values of water balance components calculated with different models partially fluctuate by a multiple of their value. The SHARP project was prepared in several previous projects that were testing suitable water balance models and is now able to assist the knowledge transfer.

Using Forecasting to Predict Long-Term Resource Utilization for Web Services

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yoas, Daniel W.

2013-01-01

Researchers have spent years understanding resource utilization to improve scheduling, load balancing, and system management through short-term prediction of resource utilization. Early research focused primarily on single operating systems; later, interest shifted to distributed systems and, finally, into web services. In each case researchers…

Closing the loop: integrating human impacts on water resources to advanced land surface models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zaitchik, B. F.; Nie, W.; Rodell, M.; Kumar, S.; Li, B.

2016-12-01

Advanced Land Surface Models (LSMs), including those used in the North American Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS), offer a physically consistent and spatially and temporally complete analysis of the distributed water balance. These models are constrained both by physically-based process representation and by observations ingested as meteorological forcing or as data assimilation updates. As such, they have become important tools for hydrological monitoring and long-term climate analysis. The representation of water management, however, is extremely limited in these models. Recent advances have brought prognostic irrigation routines into models used in NLDAS, while assimilation of Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) derived estimates of terrestrial water storage anomaly has made it possible to nudge models towards observed states in water storage below the root zone. But with few exceptions these LSMs do not account for the source of irrigation water, leading to a disconnect between the simulated water balance and the observed human impact on water resources. This inconsistency is unacceptable for long-term studies of climate change and human impact on water resources in North America. Here we define the modeling challenge, review instances of models that have begun to account for water withdrawals (e.g., CLM), and present ongoing efforts to improve representation of human impacts on water storage across models through integration of irrigation routines, water withdrawal information, and GRACE Data Assimilation in NLDAS LSMs.

Improving Agricultural Water Resources Management Using Ground-based Infrared Thermometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taghvaeian, S.

2014-12-01

Irrigated agriculture is the largest user of freshwater resources in arid/semi-arid parts of the world. Meeting rapidly growing demands in food, feed, fiber, and fuel while minimizing environmental pollution under a changing climate requires significant improvements in agricultural water management and irrigation scheduling. Although recent advances in remote sensing techniques and hydrological modeling has provided valuable information on agricultural water resources and their management, real improvements will only occur if farmers, the decision makers on the ground, are provided with simple, affordable, and practical tools to schedule irrigation events. This presentation reviews efforts in developing methods based on ground-based infrared thermometry and thermography for day-to-day management of irrigation systems. The results of research studies conducted in Colorado and Oklahoma show that ground-based remote sensing methods can be used effectively in quantifying water stress and consequently triggering irrigation events. Crop water use estimates based on stress indices have also showed to be in good agreement with estimates based on other methods (e.g. surface energy balance, root zone soil water balance, etc.). Major challenges toward the adoption of this approach by agricultural producers include the reduced accuracy under cloudy and humid conditions and its inability to forecast irrigation date, which is a critical knowledge since many irrigators need to decide about irrigations a few days in advance.

Why Excess Immigration Damages the Environment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Population-Environment Balance

1992-01-01

Explores the relationship between excessive immigration and environmental degradation. Explains the position that a stable United States population size is essential in prevention further deterioration of the natural resource base. Maintains that balancing immigration and emigration will be instrumental in balancing population with environment.…

Ethnic differences in geoscience attitudes of college students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Whitney, David J.; Behl, Richard J.; Ambos, Elizabeth L.; Francis, R. Daniel; Holk, Gregory; Larson, Daniel O.; Lee, Christopher T.; Rodrique, Christine M.; Wechsler, Suzanne P.

While a gender balance remains elusive in the geosciences [de Wet et al., 2002], the underrepresentation of ethnic minorities in these fields is at least as great a concern.A number of cultural and social factors have been proposed to explain the poor ethnic minority representation in the geosciences, including limited exposure to nature, deficient academic preparation, inadequate financial resources to pursue higher education, ignorance of career opportunities in the geosciences, insufficient family support, and misconceptions of the field.

Latent Profiles of Perceived Time Adequacy for Paid Work, Parenting, and Partner Roles

PubMed Central

Lee, Soomi; Almeida, David M.; Davis, Kelly D.; King, Rosalind B.; Hammer, Leslie B.; Kelly, Erin L.

2015-01-01

This study examined feelings of having enough time (i.e., perceived time adequacy) in a sample of employed parents (N=880) in information technology and extended-care industries. Adapting a person-centered latent profile approach, we identified three profiles of perceived time adequacy for paid work, parenting, and partner roles: Family Time Protected, Family Time Sacrificed, and Time Balanced. Drawing upon the Conservation of Resources theory (Hobfòll, 1989), we examined the associations of stressors and resources with the time adequacy profiles. Parents in the Family Time Sacrificed profile were more likely to be younger, women, have younger children, work in the extended-care industry, and have nonstandard work schedules compared to those in the Family Time Protected profile. Results from multinomial logistic regression analyses revealed that, with the Time Balanced profile as the reference group, having fewer stressors and more resources in the family context (less parent-child conflict and more partner support), work context (longer company tenure, higher schedule control and job satisfaction), and work-family interface (lower work-to-family conflict) was linked to a higher probability of membership in the Family Time Protected profile. By contrast, having more stressors and fewer resources, in the forms of less partner support and higher work-to-family conflict, predicted a higher likelihood of being in the Family Time Sacrificed profile. Our findings suggest that low work-to-family conflict is the most critical predictor of membership in the Family Time Protected profile, whereas lack of partner support is the most important factor to be included in the Family Time Sacrificed profile. PMID:26075739

Soil carbon and soil respiration in conservation agriculture with vegetables in Siem Reap, Cambodia

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

A balance between food production and environmental protection is required to sustainably feed a growing population. The resource saving concept of conservation agriculture aims to achieve this balance through implementing simultaneously three conservation practices; no-till, continuous soil cover, ...

Using TSP to Improve Performance

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-11-13

Carnegie Mellon University Using TSP to Improve Performance 46 Work - Life Balance People are your most important resource. Finding and retaining good people...is critical to long-term success. Intuit found that TSP improved work - life balance , a key factor in job satisfaction. Source: Intuit © 2008 Carnegie...Mellon University Using TSP to Improve Performance 47 Intuit TSP Survey Results Improved work - life balance with TSP is reflected in job satisfaction

The Limits of Offshore Balancing

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-09-01

believe, is to adopt a minimalist approach referred to as “offshore balancing.” Briefly stated, offshore balancing envisions a dramatic reduction in...behavior from allies and adversaries alike. The proper response to this situation, they believe, is to adopt a minimalist approach usually referred to as...as a minimalist , or free-hand strategy, because it asserts that America can attain that goal while also shedding obligations and resources.30 Indeed

A study of water balances over the Tigris-Euphrates watershed

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kavvas, M. L.; Chen, Z. Q.; Anderson, M. L.; Ohara, N.; Yoon, J. Y.; Xiang, Fu

Tigris-Euphrates watershed was considered as one hydrologic unit, and a scientific assessment of its water resources was performed. Accordingly, (a) an inventory of land use/land cover, vegetation, soils, and existing hydraulic structures in the watershed was performed; (b) a regional hydroclimate model, RegHCM-TE, of the watershed was developed, and used to reconstruct historical precipitation data, to perform land hydrologic water balance computations for infiltration, soil water storage, actual evapotranspiration, direct runoff as input for streamflow computations, and to estimate irrigation water demands; and (c) a hydrologic model was developed to route streamflows within the river network of the watershed. Also, an algorithm for operating the reservoirs within the watershed was developed, and utilized to perform dynamic water balance studies under various water supply/demand scenarios to establish efficient utilization of the watershed’s water resources to meet the water demands of the riparian countries in the basin. Within this dynamic water balance framework, it is possible to assess and quantify the effect of sequential river flows on the chronologically sequential water balances over the watershed. The water balance study for the natural flow conditions prior to the development of large dams within TE basin, during the 1957-1969 critical period is presented.

Quasi-dynamic Material Flow Analysis applied to the Austrian Phosphorus cycle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zoboli, Ottavia; Rechberger, Helmut

2013-04-01

Phosphorus (P) is one of the key elements that sustain life on earth and that allow achieving the current high levels of food production worldwide. It is a non-renewable resource, without any existing substitute. Because of its current dissipative use by mankind and to its very slow geochemical cycle, this resource is rapidly depleting and it is strongly connected to the problem of ensuring food security. Moreover P is also associated to important environmental problems. Its extraction often generates hazardous wastes, while its accumulation in water bodies can lead to eutrophication, with consequent severe ecological damages. It is therefore necessary to analyze and understand in detail the system of P, in regard to its use and management, to identify the processes that should be targeted in order to reduce the overall consumption of this resource. This work aims at establishing a generic quasi-dynamic model, which describes the Austrian P-budget and which allows investigating the trends of P use in the past, but also selected future scenarios. Given the importance of P throughout the whole anthropogenic metabolism, the model is based on a comprehensive system that encompasses several economic sectors, from agriculture and animal husbandry to industry, consumption and waste and wastewater treatment. Furthermore it includes the hydrosphere, to assess the losses of P into water bodies, due to the importance of eutrophication problems. The methodology applied is Material Flow Analysis (MFA), which is a systemic approach to assess and balance the stocks and flows of a material within a system defined in space and time. Moreover the model is integrated in the software STAN, a freeware tailor-made for MFA. Particular attention is paid to the characteristics and the quality of the data, in order to include data uncertainty and error propagation in the dynamic balance.

Toward a Multilevel Perspective on the Allocation of Educational Resources.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Monk, David H.

1981-01-01

The importance of the following is demonstrated: (1) striking a balance between the attention given to resource allocation practices at macro compared to microlevels of decision making; and (2) learning more about how resource allocation decisions made at one level affect practices at other levels of the educational system. (Author/GK)

Compartmentalization, resource allocation, and wood quality

Treesearch

Kevin T. Smith

2015-01-01

The concept of a trade-off of tree resources between growth and defense is readily grasped. The most detailed development of the concept is for the growth-differentiation balance hypothesis that predicts that resources for normal growth and primary metabolism are diverted to support plant defense and secondary or stress metabolism. This hypothesis has been applied to...

The resource and the storyline: an interpretive balancing act

Treesearch

Wilbur K. LaPage

1995-01-01

The long era of "protection of natural resources through acquisition" is gradually drawing to a close. The budget-busting era of "protection through management" is forcing us to look for new funding mechanisms. But the idea of facilitating protection through enlightened self-interest is ripe for growth. Resource interpreters can provide the link...

Two-stage stochastic unit commitment model including non-generation resources with conditional value-at-risk constraints

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Huang, Yuping; Zheng, Qipeng P.; Wang, Jianhui

2014-11-01

tThis paper presents a two-stage stochastic unit commitment (UC) model, which integrates non-generation resources such as demand response (DR) and energy storage (ES) while including riskconstraints to balance between cost and system reliability due to the fluctuation of variable genera-tion such as wind and solar power. This paper uses conditional value-at-risk (CVaR) measures to modelrisks associated with the decisions in a stochastic environment. In contrast to chance-constrained modelsrequiring extra binary variables, risk constraints based on CVaR only involve linear constraints and con-tinuous variables, making it more computationally attractive. The proposed models with risk constraintsare able to avoid over-conservative solutions butmore » still ensure system reliability represented by loss ofloads. Then numerical experiments are conducted to study the effects of non-generation resources ongenerator schedules and the difference of total expected generation costs with risk consideration. Sen-sitivity analysis based on reliability parameters is also performed to test the decision preferences ofconfidence levels and load-shedding loss allowances on generation cost reduction.« less

Compression-based integral curve data reuse framework for flow visualization

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hong, Fan; Bi, Chongke; Guo, Hanqi

Currently, by default, integral curves are repeatedly re-computed in different flow visualization applications, such as FTLE field computation, source-destination queries, etc., leading to unnecessary resource cost. We present a compression-based data reuse framework for integral curves, to greatly reduce their retrieval cost, especially in a resource-limited environment. In our design, a hierarchical and hybrid compression scheme is proposed to balance three objectives, including high compression ratio, controllable error, and low decompression cost. Specifically, we use and combine digitized curve sparse representation, floating-point data compression, and octree space partitioning to adaptively achieve the objectives. Results have shown that our data reusemore » framework could acquire tens of times acceleration in the resource-limited environment compared to on-the-fly particle tracing, and keep controllable information loss. Moreover, our method could provide fast integral curve retrieval for more complex data, such as unstructured mesh data.« less

Effect of Yoga practice on reducing cognitive-motor interference for improving dynamic balance control in healthy adults.

PubMed

Subramaniam, Savitha; Bhatt, Tanvi

2017-02-01

The purpose of our study was to investigate the effects of Yoga on reducing cognitive-motor interference (CMI) for maintaining balance control during varied balance tasks. Yoga (N=10) and age-similar non-practitioners (N=10) performed three balance tasks including the Limits of Stability test (LOS - Intentional balance), Motor Control test (MCT - Reactive balance), and Sensory Organization Test (SOT -condition 6: inducing both somatosensory and visual conflicts) under single-task (ST) and dual-task (DT, addition of a cognitive working memory task) conditions. The motor performance was assessed by recording the response time (RT) and movement velocity (MV) of the center of pressure (CoP) on LOS test, weight symmetry (WS) of CoP on the MCT test and equilibrium (EQ) of CoP on the SOT test. Cognitive performance was recorded as the number of correct responses enumerated in sitting (ST) and under DT conditions. The Motor cost (MC) and cognitive cost (CC) were computed using the formula ([ST-DT]/ST)*100 for all the variables. Greater cost indicates lower performance under DT versus ST condition. The Yoga group showed a significantly lesser MC for both MCT and SOT tests (p<0.05) in comparison to their counterparts. The CC were significantly lower on LOS and MCT test for the Yoga group (p<0.05). Results suggest that Yoga practice can significantly reduce CMI by improving allocation and utilization of attentional resources for both balance control and executive cognitive functioning; thus resulting in better performance under DT conditions. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Application of an energy balance method for estimating evapotranspiration in cropping systems

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Accurate quantification of evapotranspiration (ET, consumptive water use) from planting through harvest is critical for managing the limited water resources for crop irrigation. Our objective was to develop and apply an improved land-crop surface residual energy balance (EB) method for quantifying E...

Resource Balancing Control Allocation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Frost, Susan A.; Bodson, Marc

2010-01-01

Next generation aircraft with a large number of actuators will require advanced control allocation methods to compute the actuator commands needed to follow desired trajectories while respecting system constraints. Previously, algorithms were proposed to minimize the l1 or l2 norms of the tracking error and of the control effort. The paper discusses the alternative choice of using the l1 norm for minimization of the tracking error and a normalized l(infinity) norm, or sup norm, for minimization of the control effort. The algorithm computes the norm of the actuator deflections scaled by the actuator limits. Minimization of the control effort then translates into the minimization of the maximum actuator deflection as a percentage of its range of motion. The paper shows how the problem can be solved effectively by converting it into a linear program and solving it using a simplex algorithm. Properties of the algorithm are investigated through examples. In particular, the min-max criterion results in a type of resource balancing, where the resources are the control surfaces and the algorithm balances these resources to achieve the desired command. A study of the sensitivity of the algorithms to the data is presented, which shows that the normalized l(infinity) algorithm has the lowest sensitivity, although high sensitivities are observed whenever the limits of performance are reached.

Load Balancing in Cloud Computing Environment Using Improved Weighted Round Robin Algorithm for Nonpreemptive Dependent Tasks.

PubMed

Devi, D Chitra; Uthariaraj, V Rhymend

2016-01-01

Cloud computing uses the concepts of scheduling and load balancing to migrate tasks to underutilized VMs for effectively sharing the resources. The scheduling of the nonpreemptive tasks in the cloud computing environment is an irrecoverable restraint and hence it has to be assigned to the most appropriate VMs at the initial placement itself. Practically, the arrived jobs consist of multiple interdependent tasks and they may execute the independent tasks in multiple VMs or in the same VM's multiple cores. Also, the jobs arrive during the run time of the server in varying random intervals under various load conditions. The participating heterogeneous resources are managed by allocating the tasks to appropriate resources by static or dynamic scheduling to make the cloud computing more efficient and thus it improves the user satisfaction. Objective of this work is to introduce and evaluate the proposed scheduling and load balancing algorithm by considering the capabilities of each virtual machine (VM), the task length of each requested job, and the interdependency of multiple tasks. Performance of the proposed algorithm is studied by comparing with the existing methods.

Load Balancing in Cloud Computing Environment Using Improved Weighted Round Robin Algorithm for Nonpreemptive Dependent Tasks

PubMed Central

Devi, D. Chitra; Uthariaraj, V. Rhymend

2016-01-01

Cloud computing uses the concepts of scheduling and load balancing to migrate tasks to underutilized VMs for effectively sharing the resources. The scheduling of the nonpreemptive tasks in the cloud computing environment is an irrecoverable restraint and hence it has to be assigned to the most appropriate VMs at the initial placement itself. Practically, the arrived jobs consist of multiple interdependent tasks and they may execute the independent tasks in multiple VMs or in the same VM's multiple cores. Also, the jobs arrive during the run time of the server in varying random intervals under various load conditions. The participating heterogeneous resources are managed by allocating the tasks to appropriate resources by static or dynamic scheduling to make the cloud computing more efficient and thus it improves the user satisfaction. Objective of this work is to introduce and evaluate the proposed scheduling and load balancing algorithm by considering the capabilities of each virtual machine (VM), the task length of each requested job, and the interdependency of multiple tasks. Performance of the proposed algorithm is studied by comparing with the existing methods. PMID:26955656

Battery cycle life balancing in a microgrid through flexible distribution of energy and storage resources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khasawneh, Hussam J.; Illindala, Mahesh S.

2014-09-01

In this paper, a microgrid consisting of four fuel cell-battery hybrid Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) is devised for an industrial crusher-conveyor load. Each fuel cell was accompanied by a Li-ion battery to provide energy storage support under islanded condition of the microgrid since the fuel cells typically have poor transient response characteristics. After carrying out extensive modeling and analysis in MATLAB®, the battery utilization was found to vary significantly based on the DER's 'electrical' placement within the microgrid. This paper presents, under such conditions, a variety of battery life balancing solutions through the use of the new framework of Flexible Distribution of EneRgy and Storage Resources (FDERS). It is based on an in-situ reconfiguration approach through 'virtual' reactances that help in changing the 'electrical' position of each DER without physically displacing any component in the system. Several possible approaches toward balancing the battery utilization are compared in this paper taking advantage of the flexibility that FDERS offers. It was observed that the estimated battery life is dependent on factors such as cycling sequence, pattern, and occurrence.

Carrying capacity of water resources in Bandung Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marganingrum, D.

2018-02-01

The concept of carrying capacity is widely used in various sectors as a management tool for sustainable development processes. This idea has also been applied in watershed or basin scale. Bandung Basin is the upstream of Citarum watershed known as one of the national strategic areas. This area has developed into a metropolitan area loaded with various environmental problems. Therefore, research that is related to environmental carrying capacity in this area becomes a strategic issue. However, research on environmental carrying capacity that has been done in this area is still partial either in water balance terminology, land suitability, ecological footprint, or balance of supply and demand of resources. This paper describes the application of the concept of integrated environmental carrying capacity in order to overcome the increasing complexity and dynamic environmental problems. The sector that becomes the focus of attention is the issue of water resources. The approach method to be carried out is to combine the concept of maximum balance and system dynamics. The dynamics of the proposed system is the ecological dynamics and population that cannot be separated from one another as a unity of the Bandung Basin ecosystem.

Collectives for Multiple Resource Job Scheduling Across Heterogeneous Servers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tumer, K.; Lawson, J.

2003-01-01

Efficient management of large-scale, distributed data storage and processing systems is a major challenge for many computational applications. Many of these systems are characterized by multi-resource tasks processed across a heterogeneous network. Conventional approaches, such as load balancing, work well for centralized, single resource problems, but breakdown in the more general case. In addition, most approaches are often based on heuristics which do not directly attempt to optimize the world utility. In this paper, we propose an agent based control system using the theory of collectives. We configure the servers of our network with agents who make local job scheduling decisions. These decisions are based on local goals which are constructed to be aligned with the objective of optimizing the overall efficiency of the system. We demonstrate that multi-agent systems in which all the agents attempt to optimize the same global utility function (team game) only marginally outperform conventional load balancing. On the other hand, agents configured using collectives outperform both team games and load balancing (by up to four times for the latter), despite their distributed nature and their limited access to information.

The U.S. Geological Survey Federal-State cooperative water-resources program

USGS Publications Warehouse

Gilbert, Bruce K.; Buchanan, Thomas J.

1981-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey Federal-State Cooperative Water Resources Program is a partnership between the Geological Survey and State and local agencies for the collection of the hydrologic information needed for the continuing determination and evaluation of the quantity, quality, and use of the Nation 's water resources. The Cooperative Program has served the Nation for more than 80 years, and in 1981 more than 800 State and local agencies have cooperative programs with the Geological Survey with total funding over $80 million. The process of project selection in the Cooperative Water Resources Program is a mutual effort in which Geological Survey represents national interests, including the needs of other Federal agencies, and the cooperator represents State and local interests. The result is a balanced program that involves careful evaluation of needs, priorities, and resources. The cost sharing ratio of 50-50 is examined and determined to be the best ratio to effectively assess the Nation 's water resources. The Cooperative Program is and has been relevant to the problems of the day. Much of the current technology in ground-water management, ground-water quality, and flood-plain management--to name a few--was developed as part of the Cooperative Program. (USGS)

Probabilistic Reasoning for Robustness in Automated Planning

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schaffer, Steven; Clement, Bradley; Chien, Steve

2007-01-01

A general-purpose computer program for planning the actions of a spacecraft or other complex system has been augmented by incorporating a subprogram that reasons about uncertainties in such continuous variables as times taken to perform tasks and amounts of resources to be consumed. This subprogram computes parametric probability distributions for time and resource variables on the basis of user-supplied models of actions and resources that they consume. The current system accepts bounded Gaussian distributions over action duration and resource use. The distributions are then combined during planning to determine the net probability distribution of each resource at any time point. In addition to a full combinatoric approach, several approximations for arriving at these combined distributions are available, including maximum-likelihood and pessimistic algorithms. Each such probability distribution can then be integrated to obtain a probability that execution of the plan under consideration would violate any constraints on the resource. The key idea is to use these probabilities of conflict to score potential plans and drive a search toward planning low-risk actions. An output plan provides a balance between the user s specified averseness to risk and other measures of optimality.

Customization of a hydrological model for the estimation of water resources in an alpine karstified catchment with sparse data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kauzlaric, Martina; Schädler, Bruno; Weingartner, Rolf

2014-05-01

The main objective of the MontanAqua transdisciplinary project is to develop strategies moving towards a more sustainable water resources management in the Crans-Montana-Sierre region (Valais, Switzerland) in view of global change. Therefore, a detailed assessment of the available water resources in the study area today and in the future is needed. The study region is situated in the inner alpine zone, with strong altitudinal precipitation gradients: from the precipitation rich alpine ridge down to the dry Rhône plain. A typical plateau glacier on top of the ridge is partly drained through the karstic underground formations and linked to various springs to either side of the water divide. The main anthropogenic influences on the system are reservoirs and diversions to the irrigation channels. Thus, the study area does not cover a classical hydrological basin as the water flows frequently across natural hydrographic boundaries. This is a big challenge from a hydrological point of view, as we cannot easily achieve a closed, measured water balance. Over and above, a lack of comprehensive historical data in the catchment reduces the degree of process conceptualization possible, as well as prohibits usual parameter estimation procedures. The Penn State Integrated Hydrologic Model (PIHM) (Kumar, 2009) has been selected to estimate the available natural water resource for the whole study area. It is a semi-discrete, physically-based model which includes: channel routing, overland flow, subsurface saturated and unsaturated flow, rainfall interception, snow melting and evapotranspiration. Its unstructured mesh decomposition offers a flexible domain decomposition strategy for efficient and accurate integration of the physiographic, climatic and hydrographic watershed. The model was modified in order to be more suitable for a karstified mountainous catchment: it now includes the possibility to punctually add external sources, and the temperature-index approach for estimating melt was adjusted to include the influence of solar radiation. No parameter calibration in a classical sense was used as sufficient observations are missing. Hence, parameters are estimated with values obtained from the literature, catchment boundaries were determined basing on tracer experiments, as well as the relationship between precipitation, spring- and river-discharge. Historical data such as river discharge, infiltration experiments and snow and glacier mass balance measurements were used to validate simulations. Here some case studies are presented, illustrating the difficulty of estimating snowmelt and icemelt parameters, of judging their correctness, as well as the consequent sensitivity of the regional water balance. REFERENCES Kumar, M. 2009: Toward a hydrologic modeling system. PhD Thesis, Departement of civil and Environmental engineering, Pennsylvania State University, USA.

Seeking a Balance in International Trade: Pacific Rim Import-Export Transactions. Grade 12 Lesson. Schools of California Online Resources for Education (SCORE): Connecting California's Classrooms to the World.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Connor, Robert

In this lesson, student teams roleplay an import-export company's purchasing department. Students consider the reasons for the U.S. trade deficit and develop a plan to help their company achieve an import-export balance. Teams will research international trade and economic issues that impact trade balance. Students are provided with background…

ISS Regenerative Life Support: Challenges and Success in the Quest for Long-Term Habitability in Space

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bazley, Jesse A.

2011-01-01

This presentation will discuss the International Space Station s (ISS) Regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) operations with discussion of the on-orbit lessons learned, specifically regarding the challenges that have been faced as the system has expanded with a growing ISS crew. Over the 10 year history of the ISS, there have been numerous challenges, failures, and triumphs in the quest to keep the crew alive and comfortable. Successful operation of the ECLSS not only requires maintenance of the hardware, but also management of the station resources in case of hardware failure or missed re-supply. This involves effective communication between the primary International Partners (NASA and Roskosmos) and the secondary partners (JAXA and ESA) in order to keep a reserve of the contingency consumables and allow for re-supply of failed hardware. The ISS ECLSS utilizes consumables storage for contingency usage as well as longer-term regenerative systems, which allow for conservation of the expensive resources brought up by re-supply vehicles. This long-term hardware, and the interactions with software, was a challenge for Systems Engineers when they were designed and require multiple operational workarounds in order to function continuously. On a day-to-day basis, the ECLSS provides big challenges to the on console controllers. Main challenges involve the utilization of the resources that have been brought up by the visiting vehicles prior to undocking, balance of contributions between the International Partners for both systems and resources, and maintaining balance between the many interdependent systems, which includes providing the resources they need when they need it. The current biggest challenge for ECLSS is the Regenerative ECLSS system, which continuously recycles urine and condensate water into drinking water and oxygen. These systems were brought to full functionality on STS-126 (ULF-2) mission. Through system failures and recovery, the ECLSS console has learned how to balance the water within the systems, store and use water for contingencies, and continue to work with the International Partners for short-term failures. Through these challenges and the system failures, the most important lesson learned has been the importance of redundancy and operational workarounds. It is only because of the flexibility of the hardware and the software that flight controllers have the opportunity to continue operating the system as a whole for mission success.

ISS Commercial Cargo Service: Requirements and Constraints Summary

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thorn, Valin; Lemmons, Neil; Scheutz, Matt

2005-01-01

A viewgraph presentation describing the fundamental requirements and constraints necessary to begin the acquisition of an International Space Station commercial cargo service is presented. The topics include: 1) Background; 2) Philosophy; 3) Cargo Balance; 4) Cargo Types; 5) ICCS Flight Rate; 6) Late and Early Access; 7) Power to Payloads; 8) Mating Locatin Options; 9) ISS Docking and Berthing; 10) Vehicle Stay Time; 11) ISS Resource Availability; 12) Robotic and EVA Compatability; 13) Return Cargo; and 14) Key Requirements Summary.

Upper Mississippi River Land Use Allocation Plan. Master Plan for Public Use Development and Resource Management. Parts 1 and 2.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-09-01

many broad-based and long- associated with the Upper Mississippi les of such problems include increasing water quality issues, balancing growth 1...farther west. In the pioneer the end of the St. Paul District portion sites (disturbed sites without previous growth where Mississippi River. species of...have a high water table in lower areas. The percolation rate is generally less than 10 minutes per inch. These *soils tend to be acid and low in

Life cycle inventory and mass-balance of municipal food waste management systems: Decision support methods beyond the waste hierarchy.

PubMed

Edwards, Joel; Othman, Maazuza; Crossin, Enda; Burn, Stewart

2017-11-01

When assessing the environmental and human health impact of a municipal food waste (FW) management system waste managers typically rely on the principles of the waste hierarchy; using metrics such as the mass or rate of waste that is 'prepared for recycling,' 'recovered for energy,' or 'sent to landfill.' These metrics measure the collection and sorting efficiency of a waste system but are incapable of determining the efficiency of a system to turn waste into a valuable resource. In this study a life cycle approach was employed using a system boundary that includes the entire waste service provision from collection to safe end-use or disposal. A life cycle inventory of seven waste management systems was calculated, including the first service wide inventory of FW management through kitchen in-sink disposal (food waste disposer). Results describe the mass, energy and water balance of each system along with key emissions profile. It was demonstrated that the energy balance can differ significantly from its' energy generation, exemplified by mechanical biological treatment, which was the best system for generating energy from waste but only 5 th best for net-energy generation. Furthermore, the energy balance of kitchen in-sink disposal was shown to be reduced because 31% of volatile solids were lost in pre-treatment. The study also confirmed that higher FW landfill diversion rates were critical for reducing many harmful emissions to air and water. Although, mass-balance analysis showed that the alternative end-use of the FW material may still contain high impact pollutants. Crown Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Delivering Training Strategies: The Balanced Scorecard at Work

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baraldi, Stefano; Cifalinò, Antonella

2015-01-01

Aligning the value of training to organizational goals is an emerging need in human resource management. This study, aiming at expanding the research on training evaluation from a strategic management perspective, examines whether the use of the Balanced Scorecard approach can enable an effective delivery of training strategies, thus strengthening…

Spousal Support and Work--Family Balance in Launching a Family Business

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gudmunson, Clinton G.; Danes, Sharon M.; Werbel, James D.; Loy, Johnben Teik-Cheok

2009-01-01

This study examines whether emotional spousal support contributes to business owners' perceived work-family balance while launching a family business. Hobfoll's Conservation of Resources theory of stress is applied to 109 family business owners and their spouses. Results from structural equation models support several hypotheses. First, reports of…

Work, work environments and other factors influencing nurse faculty intention to remain employed: a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Tourangeau, Ann; Saari, Margaret; Patterson, Erin; Ferron, Era Mae; Thomson, Heather; Widger, Kimberley; MacMillan, Kathleen

2014-06-01

Given the role nurse faculty have in educating nurses, little is known about what influences their intention to remain employed (ITR) in academic settings. Findings from a nurse faculty survey administered to test a conceptual model of factors hypothesized as influencing nurse faculty ITR are reported. A cross-sectional survey design was employed. We included colleges and universities in Ontario, Canada. The population of Ontario nurse faculty who reported being employed as nurse faculty with the College of Nurses of Ontario (Canada) was included. Of the 1328 nurse faculty who were surveyed, 650 participated. Participants completed a questionnaire with measures of work, work environment, job satisfaction, burnout and ITR. Regression analyses were conducted to test the model. Ten of 26 independent variables explained 25.4% of variance in nurse faculty ITR for five years. These variables included: proximity to retirement, quality of relationships with colleagues, being employed full time, having dependents, satisfaction with work-life balance, quality of education, satisfaction with job status, access to financial support for education from organization, access to required human resources and being unionized. Although not all influencing factors are modifiable, academic leadership should develop strategies that encourage nurse faculty ITR. Strategies that support collegial relationships among faculty, increase the number of full time positions, promote work-life balance, engage faculty in assessing and strengthening education quality, support faculty choice between full-time and part-time work, and ensure adequate human resources required to teach effectively will lead to heightened nurse faculty ITR. © 2013.

Paving the Way for the 21st Century: The Human Factor in Higher Education Financial Management.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ginsburg, Sigmund G., Ed.

This book presents human resources issues that will affect the financial management of colleges and universities as they move into the 21st century. It examines how business managers and human resources managers must balance human resources management policies and practices against the financial demands on the institution. It discusses the…

Resource Delivery and Teaching in Live Chat Reference: Comparing Two Libraries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dempsey, Paula R.

2017-01-01

This study investigates how reference staff at two libraries balance teaching with resource delivery in live chat reference. Analysis of 410 transcripts from one week shows that one library tends to deliver more resources from a wider range of database suggestions, to take more time in chat interactions, and to incorporate more teaching behavior…

The balancing act: experts' opinions about the relative resourcing of tobacco control efforts for the general population versus disadvantaged populations.

PubMed

Paul, Christine Louise; Bonevski, Billie; Turon, Heidi Erin; Bryant, Jamie

2012-07-01

Despite the persistent socioeconomic gradient associated with smoking, little is known about how to 'close the gap'. There is a debate regarding the implications of directing resources away from general population efforts towards disadvantaged groups. The study explored views of those with expertise in tobacco control about the appropriate balance of tobacco control resourcing between the general population and disadvantaged groups. A Web-based survey of 192 respondents (response rate 65%) working in tobacco control in Australia and New Zealand was completed. Respondents were sampled from the Australian and New Zealand Tobacco Control Contact List and a literature search. Respondents were asked to allocate a hypothetical budget for: (a) anti-tobacco mass media campaigns; and (b) tobacco control research. The vast majority (93%) of respondents believed that some tobacco control resources should be specifically directed towards disadvantaged groups. Respondents believed up to half of mass media resources should be directed towards disadvantaged groups. In the case of tobacco control research, the median allocation to the general population was approximately one-third of a hypothetical research budget. It appears there is a desire among the Australian and New Zealand tobacco control community for substantial effort to be directed towards disadvantaged groups. It is important to develop an evidence base to ensure an efficient and equitable approach to balancing the potentially competing demands of general population versus disadvantaged group activities in relation to tobacco control. © 2012 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.

Accounting for Depletion of Oil and Gas Resources in Malaysia

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Othman, Jamal, E-mail: jortman@ukm.my; Jafari, Yaghoob, E-mail: yaghoob.jafari@gmail.com

2012-12-15

Since oil and gas are non-renewable resources, it is important to identify the extent to which they have been depleted. Such information will contribute to the formulation and evaluation of appropriate sustainable development policies. This paper provides an assessment of the changes in the availability of oil and gas resources in Malaysia by first compiling the physical balance sheet for the period 2000-2007, and then assessing the monetary balance sheets for the said resource by using the Net Present Value method. Our findings show serious reduction in the value of oil reserves from 2001 to 2005, due to changes inmore » crude oil prices, and thereafter the depletion rates decreased. In the context of sustainable development planning, albeit in the weak sustainability sense, it will be important to ascertain if sufficient reinvestments of the estimated resource rents in related or alternative capitals are being attempted by Malaysia. For the study period, the cumulative resource rents were to the tune of RM61 billion. Through a depletion or resource rents policy, the estimated quantum may guide the identification of a reinvestment threshold (after considering needed capital investment for future development of the industry) in light of ensuring the future productive capacity of the economy at the time when the resource is exhausted.« less

The Future Role of Information Technology in Erosion Modelling

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Natural resources management and decision-making is a complex process requiring cooperation and communication among federal, state, and local stakeholders balancing biophysical and socio-economic concerns. Predicting soil erosion is common practice in natural resource management for assessing the e...

Pollution Prevention

Science.gov Websites

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Teaching for a World Conservation Strategy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kirk, John J.

1982-01-01

The World Conservation Strategy calls upon international, national, and regional efforts to balance development with conservation of the world's living resources (e.g., forests, water, farmland, coastal resources). Environmental educators must inform themselves, establish adequate teacher training programs, and develop curriculum materials to…

Organizational and Systems Theory: An Integrated Review

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-09-30

and flexibility as it copes with its environ- ment, attempts to maintain a relatively steady state or balance , and utilizes its resources to grow in...to its adaptation and flexibility as it • =• •-•:’•1copes with its environment, attempts to maintain a relative steady state " or balance , and...damper or suppressor on GNS. Simultaneously, the supra-system’s principal interests are toward increasing FA, while the work group provides a balancing

National Conference on Integrated Resource Planning: Proceedings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Until recently, state regulators have focused most of their attention on the development of least-cost or integrated resource planning (IRP) processes for electric utilities. A number of commissions are beginning to scrutinize the planning processes of local gas distribution companies (LDCs) because of the increased control that LDCs have over their purchased gas costs (as well as the associated risks) and because of questions surrounding the role and potential of gas end-use efficiency options. Traditionally, resource planning (LDCs) has concentrated on options for purchasing and storing gas. Integrated resource planning involves the creation of a process in which supply-side and demand-side options are integrated to create a resource mix that reliably satisfies customers' short-term and long-term energy service needs at the lowest cost. As applied to gas utilities, an integrated resource plan seeks to balance cost and reliability, and should not be interpreted simply as the search for lowest commodity costs. The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners' (NARUC) Energy Conservation committee asked Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL) to survey state PUCs to determine the extent to which they have undertaken least cost planning for gas utilities. The survey included the following topics: status of state PUC least-cost planning regulations and practices for gas utilities; type and scope of natural gas DSM programs in effect, including fuel substitution; economic tests and analysis methods used to evaluate DSM programs; relationship between prudency reviews of gas utility purchasing practices and integrated resource planning; and key regulatory issues facing gas utilities during the next five years.

Balancing energy consumption with hybrid clustering and routing strategy in wireless sensor networks.

PubMed

Xu, Zhezhuang; Chen, Liquan; Liu, Ting; Cao, Lianyang; Chen, Cailian

2015-10-20

Multi-hop data collection in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is a challenge issue due to the limited energy resource and transmission range of wireless sensors. The hybrid clustering and routing (HCR) strategy has provided an effective solution, which can generate a connected and efficient cluster-based topology for multi-hop data collection in WSNs. However, it suffers from imbalanced energy consumption, which results in the poor performance of the network lifetime. In this paper, we evaluate the energy consumption of HCR and discover an important result: the imbalanced energy consumption generally appears in gradient k = 1, i.e., the nodes that can communicate with the sink directly. Based on this observation, we propose a new protocol called HCR-1, which includes the adaptive relay selection and tunable cost functions to balance the energy consumption. The guideline of setting the parameters in HCR-1 is provided based on simulations. The analytical and numerical results prove that, with minor modification of the topology in Sensors 2015, 15 26584 gradient k = 1, the HCR-1 protocol effectively balances the energy consumption and prolongs the network lifetime.

Latent profiles of perceived time adequacy for paid work, parenting, and partner roles.

PubMed

Lee, Soomi; Almeida, David M; Davis, Kelly D; King, Rosalind B; Hammer, Leslie B; Kelly, Erin L

2015-10-01

This study examined feelings of having enough time (i.e., perceived time adequacy) in a sample of employed parents (N = 880) in information technology and extended-care industries. Adapting a person-centered latent profile approach, we identified 3 profiles of perceived time adequacy for paid work, parenting, and partner roles: family time protected, family time sacrificed, and time balanced. Drawing upon the conservation of resources theory (Hobfòll, 1989), we examined the associations of stressors and resources with the time adequacy profiles. Parents in the family time sacrificed profile were more likely to be younger, women, have younger children, work in the extended-care industry, and have nonstandard work schedules compared to those in the family time protected profile. Results from multinomial logistic regression analyses revealed that, with the time balanced profile as the reference group, having fewer stressors and more resources in the family context (less parent-child conflict and more partner support), work context (longer company tenure, higher schedule control and job satisfaction), and work-family interface (lower work-to-family conflict) was linked to a higher probability of membership in the family time protected profile. By contrast, having more stressors and fewer resources, in the forms of less partner support and higher work-to-family conflict, predicted a higher likelihood of being in the family time sacrificed profile. Our findings suggest that low work-to-family conflict is the most critical predictor of membership in the family time protected profile, whereas lack of partner support is the most important factor to be included in the family time sacrificed profile. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Balanced Development for Provincial-Level Coordination and Higher Vocational Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Po, Yang; Yunbo, Liu

2017-01-01

In the rapid development of Chinese higher vocational education, large gaps have appeared in the scale of development and resource generation among the provinces, among regions in the provinces, and among higher education institutions in the provinces. Balanced regional development and provincial-level coordination have become policy focal points,…

76 FR 59682 - Desert Southwest Customer Service Region-Western Area Lower Colorado Balancing Authority-Rate...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-09-27

... percentage of metered generation, since there is no load. 2. Intermittent resources are exempt from the outer...--Western Area Lower Colorado Balancing Authority--Rate Order No. WAPA-151 AGENCY: Western Area Power... Services Formula Rates. SUMMARY: The Deputy Secretary of Energy has confirmed and approved Rate Order No...

Work and Family Balance: How Community College Faculty Cope

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sallee, Margaret W.

2008-01-01

Although work-family balance policies are slowly becoming the norm at four-year institutions, they are not equally common at community colleges. In part, this discrepancy is due to the cost of providing assistance to faculty. Unlike community colleges, research institutions tend to have sufficient resources to offer accommodations for faculty,…

Introducing a balanced scorecard management system in a university anesthesiology department.

PubMed

Zbinden, Alex M

2002-12-01

The study goal was to show how Balanced Scorecard, a modern management tool based on score numbers, can efficiently be applied to a university anesthesiology department. Nineteen score numbers were established in four perspectives. Meaningful results were obtained with limited resources to support a process of innovation and improvement.

Western Juniper Field Guide: Asking the Right Questions to Select Appropriate Management Actions

USGS Publications Warehouse

Miller, R.F.; Bates, J.D.; Svejcar, T.J.; Pierson, F.B.; Eddleman, L.E.

2007-01-01

Introduction Strong evidence indicates that western juniper has significantly expanded its range since the late 1800s by encroaching into landscapes once dominated by shrubs and herbaceous vegetation (fig. 1). Woodland expansion affects soil resources, plant community structure and composition, water, nutrient and fire cycles, forage production, wildlife habitat, and biodiversity. Goals of juniper management include an attempt to restore ecosystem function and a more balanced plant community that includes shrubs, grasses, and forbs, and to increase ecosystem resilience to disturbances. Developing a management strategy can be a difficult task due to uncertainty about how vegetation, soils, hydrologic function, and wildlife will respond to treatments.

Pulmonary Rehabilitation With Balance Training for Fall Reduction in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial

PubMed Central

Beauchamp, Marla K; Ellerton, Cindy; Lee, Annemarie; Alison, Jennifer; Camp, Pat G; Dechman, Gail; Haines, Kimberley; Harrison, Samantha L; Holland, Anne E; Marques, Alda; Moineddin, Rahim; Skinner, Elizabeth H; Spencer, Lissa; Stickland, Michael K; Xie, Feng; Goldstein, Roger S

2017-01-01

Background Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. A growing body of evidence shows that individuals with COPD have important deficits in balance control that may be associated with an increased risk of falls. Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is a key therapeutic intervention for individuals with COPD; however, current international guidelines do not include balance training and fall prevention strategies. Objective The primary aim of this trial is to determine the effects of PR with balance training compared to PR with no balance training on the 12-month rate of falls in individuals with COPD. Secondary aims are to determine the effects of the intervention on balance, balance confidence, and functional lower body strength, and to estimate the cost-effectiveness of the program. Methods A total of 400 individuals from nine PR centers across Canada, Europe, and Australia will be recruited to participate in a randomized controlled trial. Individuals with COPD who have a self-reported decline in balance, a fall in the last 2 years, or recent near fall will be randomly assigned to an intervention or control group. The intervention group will undergo tailored balance training in addition to PR and will receive a personalized home-based balance program. The control group will receive usual PR and a home program that does not include balance training. All participants will receive monthly phone calls to provide support and collect health care utilization and loss of productivity data. Both groups will receive home visits at 3, 6, and 9 months to ensure proper technique and progression of home exercise programs. The primary outcome will be incidence of falls at 12-month follow-up. Falls will be measured using a standardized definition and recorded using monthly self-report fall diary calendars. Participants will be asked to record falls and time spent performing their home exercise program on the fall diary calendars. Completed calendars will be returned to the research centers in prepaid envelopes each month. Secondary measures collected by a blinded assessor at baseline (pre-PR), post-PR, and 12-month follow-up will include clinical measures of balance, balance confidence, functional lower body strength, and health status. The cost-effectiveness of the intervention group compared with the control group will be evaluated using the incremental cost per number of falls averted and the incremental cost per quality-adjusted life years gained. Results Recruitment for the study began in January 2017 and is anticipated to be complete by December 2019. Results are expected to be available in 2020. Conclusions Findings from this study will improve our understanding of the effectiveness and resource uses of tailored balance training for reducing falls in individuals with COPD. If effective, the intervention represents an opportunity to inform international guidelines and health policy for PR in individuals with COPD who are at risk of falling. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02995681; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02995681 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6ukhxgAsg) PMID:29158206

Resource Allocation with the Use of the Balanced Scorecard and the Triple Bottom Line in Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nguyen, Chi Hong

2007-01-01

In terms of the economic bottom line, effective school leaders are now supposed to pay close attention to two central tasks which involve managing resources and devising operational strategies in their action plans. Taking a postmodern viewpoint, the first part of this paper aims to discuss the significance of resource allocation in education and…

Human Needs and Nature's Balance: Population, Resources, and the Environment. A Population Learning Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crews, Kimberly A.

One of the challenges that face humanity is how to manage resource and environmental endowments in a way that will guarantee continued survival and ensure the well-being of future generations. Those resources most important to human survival are food, water, and energy. When the population of the world reached 5 billion in 1987, approximately 87…

Assessing the urban water balance: the Urban Water Flow Model and its application in Cyprus.

PubMed

Charalambous, Katerina; Bruggeman, Adriana; Lange, Manfred A

2012-01-01

Modelling the urban water balance enables the understanding of the interactions of water within an urban area and allows for better management of water resources. However, few models today provide a comprehensive overview of all water sources and uses. The objective of the current paper was to develop a user-friendly tool that quantifies and visualizes all water flows, losses and inefficiencies in urban environments. The Urban Water Flow Model was implemented in a spreadsheet and includes a water-savings application that computes the contributions of user-selected saving options to the overall water balance. The model was applied to the coastal town of Limassol, Cyprus, for the hydrologic years 2003/04-2008/09. Data were collected from the different authorities and hydrologic equations and estimations were added to complete the balance. Average precipitation was 363 mm/yr, amounting to 25.4 × 10(6)m(3)/yr, more than double the annual potable water supply to the town. Surface runoff constituted 29.6% of all outflows, while evapotranspiration from impervious areas was 21.6%. Possible potable water savings for 2008/09 were estimated at 5.3 × 10(3) m(3), which is 50% of the total potable water provided to the area. This saving would also result in a 6% reduction of surface runoff.

Comparison of tropical and subtropical glacier surface energy balance in Africa and South America

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nicholson, L.; Prinz, R.; Kinnard, C.; Mölg, T.; Winkler, M.; Kaser, G.

2010-05-01

Tropical glaciers exist only at high altitude, and meteorological and surface energy balance studies of these glaciers can tell us much about the conditions and changes occurring in the mid troposphere. Understanding the surface energy balance and resultant mass balance regime of tropical glaciers is prerequisite to predicting glacier evolution, and future meltwater contributions to local hydrological resources, in response to future climate scenarios. Tropical glacier mass balance variability is strongly linked to precipitation and, via this, to multi-annual climate oscillations such as ENSO and IOZM, so it is useful to understand what role these differing regional influences play in comparison to the similarities imposed by the overarching tropical climate conditions and seasonality. New surface energy balance and mass balance data is available from Lewis glacier (Kenya, 0°09' S; 37°18' E), and here we use an energy and mass balance model to determine the surface energy flux characteristics at this site through a wet and dry season. Results are compared with those from Kersten glacier (Tanzania, 3°04' S; 37°21' E) to understand how conditions at these two glaciers compare and thus what coherent and contrasting climatic information glaciological records from these two sites can be expected to deliver. Meteorological data available from glacier stations on Antizana (Ecuador, 0°25' S; 78°09' W), Artesonraju (Peru, 8°28' S; 77°38' W) Zongo (Bolivia, 16°39' S; 67°47' W) and Guanaco (Chile, 29°20' S; 70°00' W) glaciers in South America offer the opportunity to examine how the surface fluxes and seasonal variability of the energy balance compares to those of the African glaciers. We include the extra-tropical Chilean example for comparison with the similarly high altitude, cold ice of Kersten glacier.

Technology and the hydra of terrorism?

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

LePoire, D. J.; Glenn, J. C.; Environmental Assessment

2007-02-01

In the application of new technologies that address the terrorism problem, an objective is to ensure that the technology does not cause more problems than it solves. Potential new technologies, including convergences of genomics, robotics, information technology, and nanotechnology, might rapidly develop. As with any technological advance, each of these offers a mixture of benefits and risks. At first, a direct approach is reviewed by looking at how these technologies might deter the motive, means, and opportunity for terrorist activities. While there are many potential deterrence applications, other issues are identified that might cause unintended problems in the system. Somemore » of these problems include the possible contribution to terrorist motives by increasing stresses toward divisiveness in society, terrorist means through the development of dual-use technologies, or terrorist opportunities by further developing technological vulnerabilities. Next, a more systemic approach is taken by reviewing a wider range of issues, such as resource availability, management of science and technology, and general societal trends. The balance between technological change and social response is important in realizing benefits while mitigating unintended consequences such as harmful uses through terrorist actions. To explore issues concerning this balance, possible technological development scenarios are reviewed, including the possibility of accelerating or slowing technological development. Some recent recommendations are considered within this context. The need for a balance between technological and social response in this asymmetric situation suggests that the benefits of a rapid technological response against terrorism might not be as large as those observed during World War II.« less

Dynamic virtual machine allocation policy in cloud computing complying with service level agreement using CloudSim

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aneri, Parikh; Sumathy, S.

2017-11-01

Cloud computing provides services over the internet and provides application resources and data to the users based on their demand. Base of the Cloud Computing is consumer provider model. Cloud provider provides resources which consumer can access using cloud computing model in order to build their application based on their demand. Cloud data center is a bulk of resources on shared pool architecture for cloud user to access. Virtualization is the heart of the Cloud computing model, it provides virtual machine as per application specific configuration and those applications are free to choose their own configuration. On one hand, there is huge number of resources and on other hand it has to serve huge number of requests effectively. Therefore, resource allocation policy and scheduling policy play very important role in allocation and managing resources in this cloud computing model. This paper proposes the load balancing policy using Hungarian algorithm. Hungarian Algorithm provides dynamic load balancing policy with a monitor component. Monitor component helps to increase cloud resource utilization by managing the Hungarian algorithm by monitoring its state and altering its state based on artificial intelligent. CloudSim used in this proposal is an extensible toolkit and it simulates cloud computing environment.

Employee, Retiree Resources

Science.gov Websites

Hire Payroll, Taxes Retirees Travel Verification of Employment Life at the Lab Career Stories Dual Careers Inclusion & Diversity Work-Life Balance Career Resources Apply for a Job Postdocs Students Employees (need password) Dual Career Services Educational Assistance, Scholarships Housing Life at the Lab

Art to science: Tools for greater objectivity in resource monitoring

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The earliest inventories of western US rangelands were “ocular” estimates. Now, objective data consistent with formal scientific inquiry is needed to support management decisions that sustain the resource while balancing numerous competing land uses and sometimes-vociferous stakeholders. Yet, the co...

Sustainability initiatives in agriculture: The role of science

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

A sustainable society is one that can meet its needs while preserving natural resources for future generations. Key components of this goal are production of a robust food supply while protecting human health and the environment, conserving precious resources, and balancing economic viability. Rapid...

Environmental Flow Modeling Challenges for Rapidly Urbanizing Watersheds

EPA Science Inventory

It is a challenge for land use planners and water resource managers to balance water needs that support urban growth and economic development of a growing population and yet maintain ecological flow needs. Urban growth and the associated water resources development in a watershed...

Balancing influence between actors in healthcare decision making.

PubMed

Kaplan, Robert M; Babad, Yair M

2011-04-19

Healthcare costs in most developed countries are not clearly linked to better patient and public health outcomes, but are rather associated with service delivery orientation. In the U.S. this has resulted in large variation in healthcare availability and use, increased cost, reduced employer participation in health insurance programs, and reduced overall population health outcomes. Recent U.S. healthcare reform legislation addresses only some of these issues. Other countries face similar healthcare issues. A major goal of healthcare is to enhance patient health outcomes. This objective is not realized in many countries because incentives and structures are currently not aligned for maximizing population health. The misalignment occurs because of the competing interests between "actors" in healthcare. In a simplified model these are individuals motivated to enhance their own health; enterprises (including a mix of nonprofit, for profit and government providers, payers, and suppliers, etc.) motivated by profit, political, organizational and other forces; and government which often acts in the conflicting roles of a healthcare payer and provider in addition to its role as the representative and protector of the people. An imbalance exists between the actors, due to the resources and information control of the enterprise and government actors relative to the individual and the public. Failure to use effective preventive interventions is perhaps the best example of the misalignment of incentives. We consider the current Pareto efficient balance between the actors in relation to the Pareto frontier, and show that a significant change in the healthcare market requires major changes in the utilities of the enterprise and government actors. A variety of actions are necessary for maximizing population health within the constraints of available resources and the current balance between the actors. These actions include improved transparency of all aspects of medical decision making, greater involvement of patients in shared medical decision making, greater oversight of guideline development and coverage decisions, limitations on direct to consumer advertising, and the need for an enhanced role of the government as the public advocate.

A Water Balance Approach to Characterizing the Hydroclimatology of a Mountainous Semi-arid Catchment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chauvin, G.; Flerchinger, G.; Marks, D.; Link, T.

2004-12-01

A long-term water balance is needed to understand the hydrology of mountainous semi-arid catchments, which exhibit considerable interannual variability in precipitation and temperature as well as spatial variation in snow accumulation, soils, and vegetation. Long-term data sets reduce the uncertainty associated with estimating water balance quantities that are difficult to measure in practice. In this study, the data required to compute a long-term water balance are assembled from on-site and nearby locations to create a continuous 21-year hourly record of precipitation, meteorological parameters, and streamflow for the Upper Sheep Creek (USC) catchment, a 26 ha, snow-fed, semi-arid rangeland headwater drainage within the Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed in southwestern Idaho, USA. This study will allow us to extend a previous 10-year water balance (water years 1985-1994) computed for the USC catchment, enabling a more thorough consideration of climate variability including periods of drought and flood. It also sets the stage for analyzing the hydrologic response of the USC catchment to a prescribed fire planned for 2006. Statistical correlations between on-site and nearby meteorological stations were used to develop a complete 21-year hourly data set (water years 1984-2004) of climate and precipitation records. These data will be used to drive the Simultaneous Heat and Water (SHAW) model to simulate evaporation and transpiration, precipitation, storage, and stream discharge. Water balance quantities will be computed for separate landscape units and then aggregated for the overall watershed. This research will improve our ability to manage water resources in semi-arid mountain regions.

Incorporating permaculture and strategic management for sustainable ecological resource management.

PubMed

Akhtar, Faiza; Lodhi, Suleman A; Khan, Safdar Shah; Sarwar, Farhana

2016-09-01

Utilization of natural assets to the best efficient level without changing natural balance has become a critical issue for researchers as awareness on climate change takes central position in global debate. Conventional sustainable resource management systems are based on neoclassical economic approach that ignores the nature's pattern and therefore are not actually capable of sustainable management of resources. Environmentalists are lately advocating incorporation of Permaculture as holistic approach based on ethics, equitable interaction with eco-systems to obtain sustainability. The paper integrates philosophy of permaculture with strategic management frameworks to develop a pragmatic tool for policy development. The policy design tool augments management tasks by integrating recording of natural assets, monitoring of key performance indicators and integration of sectorial policies in real time, bringing out policy as a truly live document. The tool enhances the edifice process, balancing short term viewpoints and long term development to secure renewability of natural resources. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Demand Response Compensation Methodologies: Case Studies for Mexico

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gagne, Douglas A; Settle, Donald E; Aznar, Alexandra Y

This report examines various compensation methodologies for demand response programs in Mexico. This report presents three case studies, including New England, California, and Hawaii. Demand response (DR) can refer to a variety of approaches to changing the amount and timing of customers' electricity use, allowing the electricity supplier to more easily balance electricity supply and demand. The level of compensation for a DR program will depend greatly upon both the regulatory context of the electricity supplier, as well as the economic circumstances of the DR providers. For a regulated utility, a proposed compensation level may need to pass regulatory approval.more » To determine the value of DR resources, a regulatory body typically seeks to determine the costs that the utility would avoid if demand-side resources 'produce' energy.« less

Draft genome sequence of chickpea (Cicer arietinum) provides a resource for trait improvement.

PubMed

Varshney, Rajeev K; Song, Chi; Saxena, Rachit K; Azam, Sarwar; Yu, Sheng; Sharpe, Andrew G; Cannon, Steven; Baek, Jongmin; Rosen, Benjamin D; Tar'an, Bunyamin; Millan, Teresa; Zhang, Xudong; Ramsay, Larissa D; Iwata, Aiko; Wang, Ying; Nelson, William; Farmer, Andrew D; Gaur, Pooran M; Soderlund, Carol; Penmetsa, R Varma; Xu, Chunyan; Bharti, Arvind K; He, Weiming; Winter, Peter; Zhao, Shancen; Hane, James K; Carrasquilla-Garcia, Noelia; Condie, Janet A; Upadhyaya, Hari D; Luo, Ming-Cheng; Thudi, Mahendar; Gowda, C L L; Singh, Narendra P; Lichtenzveig, Judith; Gali, Krishna K; Rubio, Josefa; Nadarajan, N; Dolezel, Jaroslav; Bansal, Kailash C; Xu, Xun; Edwards, David; Zhang, Gengyun; Kahl, Guenter; Gil, Juan; Singh, Karam B; Datta, Swapan K; Jackson, Scott A; Wang, Jun; Cook, Douglas R

2013-03-01

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) is the second most widely grown legume crop after soybean, accounting for a substantial proportion of human dietary nitrogen intake and playing a crucial role in food security in developing countries. We report the ∼738-Mb draft whole genome shotgun sequence of CDC Frontier, a kabuli chickpea variety, which contains an estimated 28,269 genes. Resequencing and analysis of 90 cultivated and wild genotypes from ten countries identifies targets of both breeding-associated genetic sweeps and breeding-associated balancing selection. Candidate genes for disease resistance and agronomic traits are highlighted, including traits that distinguish the two main market classes of cultivated chickpea--desi and kabuli. These data comprise a resource for chickpea improvement through molecular breeding and provide insights into both genome diversity and domestication.

A novel communication mechanism based on node potential multi-path routing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bu, Youjun; Zhang, Chuanhao; Jiang, YiMing; Zhang, Zhen

2016-10-01

With the network scales rapidly and new network applications emerge frequently, bandwidth supply for today's Internet could not catch up with the rapid increasing requirements. Unfortunately, irrational using of network sources makes things worse. Actual network deploys single-next-hop optimization paths for data transmission, but such "best effort" model leads to the imbalance use of network resources and usually leads to local congestion. On the other hand Multi-path routing can use the aggregation bandwidth of multi paths efficiently and improve the robustness of network, security, load balancing and quality of service. As a result, multi-path has attracted much attention in the routing and switching research fields and many important ideas and solutions have been proposed. This paper focuses on implementing the parallel transmission of multi next-hop data, balancing the network traffic and reducing the congestion. It aimed at exploring the key technologies of the multi-path communication network, which could provide a feasible academic support for subsequent applications of multi-path communication networking. It proposed a novel multi-path algorithm based on node potential in the network. And the algorithm can fully use of the network link resource and effectively balance network link resource utilization.

Water Quality and Sustainable Environmental Health

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Setegn, S. G.

2014-12-01

Lack of adequate safe water, the pollution of the aquatic environment and the mismanagement of resources are major causes of ill-health and mortality, particularly in the developing countries. In order to accommodate more growth, sustainable fresh water resource management will need to be included in future development plans. One of the major environmental issues of concern to policy-makers is the increased vulnerability of ground water quality. The main challenge for the sustainability of water resources is the control of water pollution. To understand the sustainability of the water resources, one needs to understand the impact of future land use and climate changes on the natural resources. Providing safe water and basic sanitation to meet the Millennium Development Goals will require substantial economic resources, sustainable technological solutions and courageous political will. A balanced approach to water resources exploitation for development, on the one hand, and controls for the protection of health, on the other, is required if the benefits of both are to be realized without avoidable detrimental effects manifesting themselves. Meeting the millennium development goals for water and sanitation in the next decade will require substantial economic resources, sustainable technological solutions and courageous political will. In addition to providing "improved" water and "basic" sanitation services, we must ensure that these services provide: safe drinking water, adequate quantities of water for health, hygiene, agriculture and development and sustainable sanitation approaches to protect health and the environment.

Spatiotemporal Assessment of Groundwater Resources in the South Platte Basin, Colorado

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ruybal, C. J.; McCray, J. E.; Hogue, T. S.

2015-12-01

The South Platte Basin is one of the most economically diverse and fastest growing basins in Colorado. Strong competition for water resources in an over-appropriated system brings challenges to meeting future water demands. Balancing the conjunctive use of surface water and groundwater from the South Platte alluvial aquifer and the Denver Basin aquifer system is critical for meeting future demands. Over the past decade, energy development in the basin has added to the competition for water resources, highlighting the need to advance our understanding of the availability and sustainability of groundwater resources. Current work includes evaluating groundwater storage changes and recharge regimes throughout the South Platte Basin under competing uses, e.g. agriculture, oil and gas, urban, recreational, and environmental. The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellites in conjunction with existing groundwater data is used to evaluate spatiotemporal variability in groundwater storage and identify areas of high water stress. Spatiotemporal data will also be utilized to develop a high resolution groundwater model of the region. Results will ultimately help stakeholders in the South Platte Basin better understand groundwater resource challenges and contribute to Colorado's strategic future water planning.

Minerals, lands, and geology for the common defence and general welfare, Volume 1, Before 1879 : A history of public lands, federal science and mapping policy, and development of mineral resources in the United States

USGS Publications Warehouse

Rabbitt, Mary C.

1979-01-01

This volume, the first of a four-volume study, is concerned with events in the United States before the establishment of the U.S. Geological Survey, during the years in which geology evolved as a science and began to influence economic development and national policy. Subsequent volumes continue the story but focus on the Survey and its role in the events and developments of later years. The method of analysis demonstrates that knowledge of the Earth and its history, processes, and resources has provided a basis for intelligent economic development; also that geologists very soon realized that uncontrolled development of the land and other natural resources could not continue, that some limitations must be made on man's use of the Earth. The Geological Survey was established when public awareness of the need for balance between development and conservation of our resources was becoming evident. That balance is even more necessary now and in the future for the "general welfare" and "common defence" of the Nation. We can be grateful for the wisdom of our Founding Fathers in providing for publicly supported studies in earth science and engineering by well-trained and motivated scientists and engineers. Such studies, undertaken objectively in the search for facts, can continue to be of great value in the formulation and execution of wise policies to protect our environment and to maintain that balance between development and conservation of the natural resources.

A single-stage optical load-balanced switch for data centers.

PubMed

Huang, Qirui; Yeo, Yong-Kee; Zhou, Luying

2012-10-22

Load balancing is an attractive technique to achieve maximum throughput and optimal resource utilization in large-scale switching systems. However current electronic load-balanced switches suffer from severe problems in implementation cost, power consumption and scaling. To overcome these problems, in this paper we propose a single-stage optical load-balanced switch architecture based on an arrayed waveguide grating router (AWGR) in conjunction with fast tunable lasers. By reuse of the fast tunable lasers, the switch achieves both functions of load balancing and switching through the AWGR. With this architecture, proof-of-concept experiments have been conducted to investigate the feasibility of the optical load-balanced switch and to examine its physical performance. Compared to three-stage load-balanced switches, the reported switch needs only half of optical devices such as tunable lasers and AWGRs, which can provide a cost-effective solution for future data centers.

Towards balanced development in Pakistan.

PubMed

Pyatt, G

1992-01-01

Pakistan is a country whose economic growth is surprising in light of its social indicators. The aim of this article is to examine why conditions are such and to develop a framework for understanding the issues as an aid to redesigning policies. 5 sections are devoted to a summary of the main findings, the diagnosis of development and the impact on social sectors, a proposal for balanced development, and implications for policy changes. A sound macro economic context is needed with reforms economically in price and incentive systems, institutionally, and in the law and order sector. Public administration needs to be improved and individual opportunities need to be expanded. Internal security needs to be secured, so that law and order are restored. Economic growth has been high between 1960 and 1988, due to exploitation of natural resources and cheap unskilled labor, expansion of irrigated land, and growth of the unregulated informal sector. The major constraints on economic growth will come from a lack of fiscal discipline. 40% of government revenues are consumed by the military and 20% for servicing debt. Other constraints are the population growth rate in excess of 3%/year, an urban bias in allocation of resources, neglected primary education, and gender bias in education. There has been little incentive for provincial governments to balance budgets, and civil service has become disorganized. Balanced development entails recognizing human capital, natural resources, and infrastructure; accepting the status quo; and creating and maintaining an institutional framework to correct market failures and promote individual opportunities. The environmental polluter must pay. Income must be increased through higher wages, increasing the demand for labor, and transfers to households in the form of food rations, schooling, and medical care. Investment in women will increase household earnings, and improve living conditions and the health of themselves and their children. Balanced development must alleviate poverty. Policies can be evaluated in terms of access, delivery, training, and financing; discussion follows on the failings of and needs for family planning, health, and education, and the implications for institutional policy. Balanced development as optimum use of existing resources and investment in areas with the highest return is movement in the right direction, assumes equality of opportunity, but does not provide social security.

Environmental sustainability control by water resources carrying capacity concept: application significance in Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Djuwansyah, M. R.

2018-02-01

This paper reviews the use of Water Resources carrying capacity concept to control environmental sustainability with the particular note for the case in Indonesia. Carrying capacity is a capability measure of an environment or an area to support human and the other lives as well as their activities in a sustainable manner. Recurrently water-related hazards and environmental problems indicate that the environments are exploited over its carrying capacity. Environmental carrying capacity (ECC) assessment includes Land and Water Carrying Capacity analysis of an area, suggested to always refer to the dimension of the related watershed as an incorporated hydrologic unit on the basis of resources availability estimation. Many countries use this measure to forecast the future sustainability of regional development based on water availability. Direct water Resource Carrying Capacity (WRCC) assessment involves population number determination together with their activities could be supported by available water, whereas indirect WRCC assessment comprises the analysis of supply-demand balance status of water. Water resource limits primarily environmental carrying capacity rather than the land resource since land capability constraints are easier. WRCC is a crucial factor known to control land and water resource utilization, particularly in a growing densely populated area. Even though capability of water resources is relatively perpetual, the utilization pattern of these resources may change by socio-economic and cultural technology level of the users, because of which WRCC should be evaluated periodically to maintain usage sustainability of water resource and environment.

Probabilistic modelling and uncertainty analysis of flux and water balance changes in a regional aquifer system due to coal seam gas development.

PubMed

Sreekanth, J; Cui, Tao; Pickett, Trevor; Rassam, David; Gilfedder, Mat; Barrett, Damian

2018-09-01

Large scale development of coal seam gas (CSG) is occurring in many sedimentary basins around the world including Australia, where commercial production of CSG has started in the Surat and Bowen basins. CSG development often involves extraction of large volumes of water that results in depressurising aquifers that overlie and/or underlie the coal seams thus perturbing their flow regimes. This can potentially impact regional aquifer systems that are used for many purposes such as irrigation, and stock and domestic water. In this study, we adopt a probabilistic approach to quantify the depressurisation of the Gunnedah coal seams and how this impacts fluxes to, and from the overlying Great Artesian Basin (GAB) Pilliga Sandstone aquifer. The proposed method is suitable when effects of a new resource development activity on the regional groundwater balance needs to be assessed and account for large scale uncertainties in the groundwater flow system and proposed activity. The results indicated that the extraction of water and gas from the coal seam could potentially induce additional fluxes from the Pilliga Sandstone to the deeper formations due to lowering pressure heads in the coal seams. The median value of the rise in the maximum flux from the Pilliga Sandstone to the deeper formations is estimated to be 85ML/year, which is considered insignificant as it forms only about 0.29% of the Long Term Annual Average Extraction Limit of 30GL/year from the groundwater management area. The probabilistic simulation of the water balance components indicates only small changes being induced by CSG development that influence interactions of the Pilliga Sandstone with the overlying and underlying formations and with the surface water courses. The current analyses that quantified the potential maximum impacts of resource developments and how they influences the regional water balance, would greatly underpin future management decisions. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Apples to Apples: Equivalent-Reliability Power Systems Across Diverse Resource Mix Scenarios

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Stephen, Gordon W; Frew, Bethany A; Sigler, Devon

Electricity market research is highly price sensitive, and prices are strongly influenced by balance of supply and demand. This work looks at how to combine capacity expansion models and reliability assessment tools to assess equivalent-reliability power systems across diverse resource mix scenarios.

USING GIS TO GENERATE SPATIALLY-BALANCED RANDOM SURVEY DESIGNS FOR NATURAL RESOURCE APPLICATIONS

EPA Science Inventory

Sampling of a population is frequently required to understand trends and patterns in natural resource management because financial and time constraints preclude a complete census. A rigorous probability-based survey design specifies where to sample so that inferences from the sam...

Beyond Strategic Planning: Tailoring District Resources to Needs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bollin, Thomas D.; Eadie, Douglas C.

1991-01-01

The strategic management process tries to create and maintain a dynamic balance between an organization's vision, mission, goals, strategies, and resources and its external environment. One Ohio school district's strategic management process succeeded resulting from a highly committed school board, a strong board-superintendent partnership, active…

Investing in Equal Opportunity: What Would It Take to Build the Balance Wheel?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rice, Jennifer King

2015-01-01

More than 150 years ago Horace Mann persuasively reasoned that education is the "balance wheel" of the social structure. He argued that education should be free and universal. While much progress has been made in establishing a universal education system since Mann spoke those words, substantial disparities in educational resources,…

Application of remote sensing-based two-source energy balance model for mapping field surface fluxes with composite and component surface temperatures

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Operational application of a remote sensing-based two source energy balance model (TSEB) to estimate evaportranspiration (ET) and the components evaporation (E), transpiration (T) at a range of space and time scales is very useful for managing water resources in arid and semiarid watersheds. The TSE...

Effect of balanced information on attitudes towards open ocean aquaculture development in New England

Treesearch

Robert A. Robertson; Erika L. Carlsen

2001-01-01

Assessing public support for natural resource management initiatives requires an understanding of how information will affect public attitudes. Using the development of marine aquaculture in New England as a case study, an experimental design was used to investigate the effects of balanced information on attitudes. The moderating effects of familiarity on attitudes...

A Look at Constitutional Checks and Balances: Study Sheets for U.S. History.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scott, Nancy

This document is intended as a resource guide for teachers to use in helping students to understand how the United States system of government operates. It examines the background, historical application, and current debate concerning the principle of checks and balances. Ten study sheets feature various figures and episodes prominently associated…

HARVEST: linking timber harvesting strategies to landscape patterns

Treesearch

Eric J. Gustafson; Thomas R. Crow

1999-01-01

Providing a balance among the various benefits and values derived from forest lands has always been a challenge for managers. Determining this balance will be an even greater challenge in the future as increasing human populations consume greater amounts of natural resources from a decreasing land base. Obviously, not all multiple uses are compatible. Past attempts to...

A toolkit modeling approach for sustainable forest management planning: achieving balance between science and local needs

Treesearch

Brian R. Sturtevant; Andrew Fall; Daniel D. Kneeshaw; Neal P. P. Simon; Michael J. Papaik; Kati Berninger; Frederik Doyon; Don G. Morgan; Christian Messier

2007-01-01

To assist forest managers in balancing an increasing diversity of resource objectives, we developed a toolkit modeling approach for sustainable forest management (SFM). The approach inserts a meta-modeling strategy into a collaborative modeling framework grounded in adaptive management philosophy that facilitates participation among stakeholders, decision makers, and...

Native American Women Leaders' Use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for Work-Life Balance (WLB) and Capacity Building

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jensen, Crystal C.

2013-01-01

Native American women's leadership, information communication technologies (ICTs), work-life balance (WLB) and human capacity building (HCB) are grounded in social justice issues due to their long history of overall cultural decimation, inequitable access to technology, monetary resources, and social power (agency), and influence. Currently, there…

Land and people: finding a balance

USGS Publications Warehouse

,

1998-01-01

Land and People: Finding a Balance is an environmental study project that engages high school students in studying earth science resource issues. The project focuses on the interaction between people and the environment in three regions of the United States: Cape Cod, Los Angeles, and the Everglades. Each section of this project is devoted to one of the three regions.

Hillslope hydrology and stability

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lu, Ning; Godt, Jonathan

2012-01-01

Landslides are caused by a failure of the mechanical balance within hillslopes. This balance is governed by two coupled physical processes: hydrological or subsurface flow and stress. The stabilizing strength of hillslope materials depends on effective stress, which is diminished by rainfall. This book presents a cutting-edge quantitative approach to understanding hydro-mechanical processes across variably saturated hillslope environments and to the study and prediction of rainfall-induced landslides. Topics covered include historic synthesis of hillslope geomorphology and hydrology, total and effective stress distributions, critical reviews of shear strength of hillslope materials and different bases for stability analysis. Exercises and homework problems are provided for students to engage with the theory in practice. This is an invaluable resource for graduate students and researchers in hydrology, geomorphology, engineering geology, geotechnical engineering and geomechanics and for professionals in the fields of civil and environmental engineering and natural hazard analysis.

More quality measures versus measuring what matters: a call for balance and parsimony

PubMed Central

Nelson, Eugene C; Pryor, David B; James, Brent; Swensen, Stephen J; Kaplan, Gary S; Weissberg, Jed I; Bisognano, Maureen; Yates, Gary R; Hunt, Gordon C

2012-01-01

External groups requiring measures now include public and private payers, regulators, accreditors and others that certify performance levels for consumers, patients and payers. Although benefits have accrued from the growth in quality measurement, the recent explosion in the number of measures threatens to shift resources from improving quality to cover a plethora of quality-performance metrics that may have a limited impact on the things that patients and payers want and need (ie, better outcomes, better care, and lower per capita costs). Here we propose a policy that quality measurement should be: balanced to meet the need of end users to judge quality and cost performance and the need of providers to continuously improve the quality, outcomes and costs of their services; and parsimonious to measure quality, outcomes and costs with appropriate metrics that are selected based on end-user needs. PMID:22893696

Learning in the tutorial group: a balance between individual freedom and institutional control.

PubMed

McAllister, Anita; Aanstoot, Janna; Hammarström, Inger Lundeborg; Samuelsson, Christina; Johannesson, Eva; Sandström, Karin; Berglind, Ulrika

2014-01-01

The study investigates factors in problem-based learning tutorial groups which promote or inhibit learning. The informants were tutors and students from speech-language pathology and physiotherapy programmes. Semi-structured focus-group interviews and individual interviews were used. Results revealed three themes: Responsibility. Time and Support. Under responsibility, the delicate balance between individual and institutional responsibility and control was shown. Time included short and long-term perspectives on learning. Under support, supporting documents, activities and personnel resources were mentioned. In summary, an increased control by the program and tutors decreases student's motivation to assume responsibility for learning. Support in tutorial groups needs to adapt to student progression and to be well aligned to tutorial work to have the intended effect. A lifelong learning perspective may help students develop a meta-awareness regarding learning that could make tutorial work more meaningful.

More quality measures versus measuring what matters: a call for balance and parsimony.

PubMed

Meyer, Gregg S; Nelson, Eugene C; Pryor, David B; James, Brent; Swensen, Stephen J; Kaplan, Gary S; Weissberg, Jed I; Bisognano, Maureen; Yates, Gary R; Hunt, Gordon C

2012-11-01

External groups requiring measures now include public and private payers, regulators, accreditors and others that certify performance levels for consumers, patients and payers. Although benefits have accrued from the growth in quality measurement, the recent explosion in the number of measures threatens to shift resources from improving quality to cover a plethora of quality-performance metrics that may have a limited impact on the things that patients and payers want and need (ie, better outcomes, better care, and lower per capita costs). Here we propose a policy that quality measurement should be: balanced to meet the need of end users to judge quality and cost performance and the need of providers to continuously improve the quality, outcomes and costs of their services; and parsimonious to measure quality, outcomes and costs with appropriate metrics that are selected based on end-user needs.

Coastal estuaries and lagoons: The delicate balance at the edge of the sea

USGS Publications Warehouse

Conrads, Paul A.; Rodgers, Kirk D.; Passeri, Davina L.; Prinos, Scott T.; Smith, Christopher; Swarzenski, Christopher M.; Middleton, Beth A.

2018-04-19

Coastal communities are increasingly concerned about the dynamic balance between freshwater and saltwater because of its implications for societal, economic, and ecological resources. While the mixing of freshwater and saltwater sources defines coastal estuaries and lagoons, sudden changes in this balance can have a large effect on critical ecosystems and infrastructure. Any change to the delivery of water from either source has the potential to affect the health of both humans and natural biota and also to damage coastal infrastructure. This fact sheet discusses the potential of major shifts in the dynamic freshwater-saltwater balance to alter the environment and coastal stability.

Interactive energy atlas for Colorado and New Mexico: an online resource for decisionmakers

USGS Publications Warehouse

Carr, Natasha B.; Ignizio, Drew A.; Diffendorfer, James E.; Latysh, Natalie; Matherne, Ann Marie; Linard, Joshua I.; Leib, Kenneth J.; Hawkins, Sarah J.

2013-01-01

Throughout the western United States, increased demand for energy is driving the rapid development of nonrenewable and renewable energy resources. Resource managers must balance the benefits of energy development with the potential consequences for ecological resources and ecosystem services. To facilitate access to geospatial data related to energy resources, energy infrastructure, and natural resources that may be affected by energy development, the U.S. Geological Survey has developed an online Interactive Energy Atlas (Energy Atlas) for Colorado and New Mexico. The Energy Atlas is designed to meet the needs of varied users who seek information about energy in the western United States. The Energy Atlas has two primary capabilities: a geographic information system (GIS) data viewer and an interactive map gallery. The GIS data viewer allows users to preview and download GIS data related to energy potential and development in Colorado and New Mexico. The interactive map gallery contains a collection of maps that compile and summarize thematically related data layers in a user-friendly format. The maps are dynamic, allowing users to explore data at different resolutions and obtain information about the features being displayed. The Energy Atlas also includes an interactive decision-support tool, which allows users to explore the potential consequences of energy development for species that vary in their sensitivity to disturbance.

Challenges of work-life balance for women physicians/mothers working in leadership positions.

PubMed

Schueller-Weidekamm, Claudia; Kautzky-Willer, Alexandra

2012-08-01

Female leadership in medicine is still disproportionately small, which might be due to the barriers of combining work and family. The aim of this study was, first, to perform a strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis and, second, to create a strategic concept for career development. In this study, all women in leadership positions in the health care system in Vienna, Austria, with at least 1 child (n = 8), were interviewed about the advantages and disadvantages of gender with regard to career development, the strengths and weaknesses of female leadership, and their work-life balance. Different factors that influenced the work-life balance were specified, and career strategies to realize adequate solutions were developed. The sporadic focus on career advancement, time-consuming child care, responsibility for family life, and a woman's tendency toward understatement were barriers to career development. Work-family enrichment has a positive spillover effect that spreads positive energy and helps to balance the work-life relationship. For each individual, the allocation and interaction of different resources such as time, money, scope of decision making, and physical, emotional, and social resources, were essential to maintain the individual work-life balance. In addition to the existing "glass ceiling," the predominant responsibility for child care is still borne by the woman. However, mentoring programs, coaching, networking, and support of the partner or of other people help to strengthen female "soft" skills and achieve a work-life balance. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier HS Journals, Inc. All rights reserved.

The demographic dynamics of small island societies.

PubMed

Cruz, M; D'ayala, P G; Marcus, E; Mcelroy, J L; Rossi, O

1987-01-01

Small islands and microstates have demonstrated a unique demographic pattern, including cycles of swift population increases or decreases well beyond natural birth and death rate balances. These demographic fluctuations have been produced largely by rises or declines in market opportunities. The process of taking advantage of favorable opportunities is always followed by a specialization in the given activity, without regard to environmental protection issues or a longterm strategy for economic development and resource diversification. The population growth phase is associated with increasing fragility of the economic base, whether because of the external dangers of overspecialization or induced internal dysfunctions such as disease and resource depletion. Eventually complete collapse results, causing chronic outmigration or even depopulation. Case histories of maritime basins in the Mediterranean, Caribbean, and Pacific show that the demographic structure of small islands has been particularly sensitive to changing economic opportunities, the vagaries of market forces, and cataclysmic natural events. Experience in these areas suggests that balanced economic development of small islands should be based on diversification of activities, thus ensuring a relatively stable pattern of growth, sound environmental management, and control of dangerous demographic fluctuations. Special attention should be given to the development of broad-based research and cooperation to integrate specific island opportunities within a regional network.

clubber: removing the bioinformatics bottleneck in big data analyses.

PubMed

Miller, Maximilian; Zhu, Chengsheng; Bromberg, Yana

2017-06-13

With the advent of modern day high-throughput technologies, the bottleneck in biological discovery has shifted from the cost of doing experiments to that of analyzing results. clubber is our automated cluster-load balancing system developed for optimizing these "big data" analyses. Its plug-and-play framework encourages re-use of existing solutions for bioinformatics problems. clubber's goals are to reduce computation times and to facilitate use of cluster computing. The first goal is achieved by automating the balance of parallel submissions across available high performance computing (HPC) resources. Notably, the latter can be added on demand, including cloud-based resources, and/or featuring heterogeneous environments. The second goal of making HPCs user-friendly is facilitated by an interactive web interface and a RESTful API, allowing for job monitoring and result retrieval. We used clubber to speed up our pipeline for annotating molecular functionality of metagenomes. Here, we analyzed the Deepwater Horizon oil-spill study data to quantitatively show that the beach sands have not yet entirely recovered. Further, our analysis of the CAMI-challenge data revealed that microbiome taxonomic shifts do not necessarily correlate with functional shifts. These examples (21 metagenomes processed in 172 min) clearly illustrate the importance of clubber in the everyday computational biology environment.

clubber: removing the bioinformatics bottleneck in big data analyses

PubMed Central

Miller, Maximilian; Zhu, Chengsheng; Bromberg, Yana

2018-01-01

With the advent of modern day high-throughput technologies, the bottleneck in biological discovery has shifted from the cost of doing experiments to that of analyzing results. clubber is our automated cluster-load balancing system developed for optimizing these “big data” analyses. Its plug-and-play framework encourages re-use of existing solutions for bioinformatics problems. clubber’s goals are to reduce computation times and to facilitate use of cluster computing. The first goal is achieved by automating the balance of parallel submissions across available high performance computing (HPC) resources. Notably, the latter can be added on demand, including cloud-based resources, and/or featuring heterogeneous environments. The second goal of making HPCs user-friendly is facilitated by an interactive web interface and a RESTful API, allowing for job monitoring and result retrieval. We used clubber to speed up our pipeline for annotating molecular functionality of metagenomes. Here, we analyzed the Deepwater Horizon oil-spill study data to quantitatively show that the beach sands have not yet entirely recovered. Further, our analysis of the CAMI-challenge data revealed that microbiome taxonomic shifts do not necessarily correlate with functional shifts. These examples (21 metagenomes processed in 172 min) clearly illustrate the importance of clubber in the everyday computational biology environment. PMID:28609295

Engineering sustainable development

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Prendergast, J.

1993-10-01

This article discusses sustainable development, a policy which attempts to balance environmental preservation and economic growth, and promises a way to provide a decent life for Earth's human inhabitants without destroying the global ecosystem. Sustainable development is an effort to use technology to help clean up the mess it helped make, and engineers will be central players in its success or failure. Key aspects include more efficient energy use through conservation measures and switching to renewable sources, waste minimization, much greater recycling and reuse of materials, more comprehensive economic/environmental assessments employing life-cycle analyses, and better management of resources.

Application of CFD in aeronautics at NASA Ames Research Center

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maksymiuk, Catherine M.; Enomoto, Francis Y.; Vandalsem, William R.

1995-03-01

The role of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) at Ames Research Center has expanded to address a broad range of aeronautical problems, including wind tunnel support, flight test support, design, and analysis. Balancing the requirements of each new problem against the available resources - software, hardware, time, and expertise - is critical to the effective use of CFD. Several case studies of recent applications highlight the depth of CFD capability at Ames, the tradeoffs involved in various approaches, and lessons learned in the use of CFD as an engineering tool.

Finance leadership imperatives in clinical redesign.

PubMed

Harris, John; Holm, Craig E; Inniger, Meredith C

2015-03-01

As physicians embrace their roles in managing healthcare costs and quality, finance leaders should seize the opportunity to engage physicians in clinical care redesign to ensure both high-quality performance and efficient resource use. Finance leaders should strike a balance between risk and reward to achieve a portfolio of clinical initiatives that is organizationally sustainable and responsive to current external drivers of payment changes. Because these initiatives should be driven by physicians, the new skill set of finance leaders should include an emphasis on relationship building to achieve consensus and drive change across an organization.

Physics of the Atmosphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caballero, Rodrigo

2014-11-01

With the increasing attention paid to climate change, there is ever-growing interest in atmospheric physics and the processes by which the atmosphere affects Earth's energy balance. This self-contained text, written for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in physics or meteorology, assumes no prior knowledge apart from basic mechanics and calculus and contains material for a complete course. Augmented with worked examples, the text considers all aspects of atmospheric physics except dynamics, including moist thermodynamics, cloud microphysics, atmospheric radiation and remote sensing, and will be an invaluable resource for students and researchers.

ASC FY17 Implementation Plan, Rev. 1

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hamilton, P. G.

The Stockpile Stewardship Program (SSP) is an integrated technical program for maintaining the safety, surety, and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile. The SSP uses nuclear test data, computational modeling and simulation, and experimental facilities to advance understanding of nuclear weapons. It includes stockpile surveillance, experimental research, development and engineering programs, and an appropriately scaled production capability to support stockpile requirements. This integrated national program requires the continued use of experimental facilities and programs, and the computational capabilities to support these programs. The Advanced Simulation and Computing Program (ASC) is a cornerstone of the SSP, providing simulation capabilities and computationalmore » resources that support annual stockpile assessment and certification, study advanced nuclear weapons design and manufacturing processes, analyze accident scenarios and weapons aging, and provide the tools to enable stockpile Life Extension Programs (LEPs) and the resolution of Significant Finding Investigations (SFIs). This requires a balance of resources, including technical staff, hardware, simulation software, and computer science solutions.« less

Parenting and female dermatologists' perceptions of work-life balance.

PubMed

Mattessich, S; Shea, K; Whitaker-Worth, D

2017-09-01

Women in medicine may feel pressure to choose between the competing demands of career goals and being a dedicated spouse and parent. The purpose of this survey study is to report on the current opinions of female dermatologists with regard to family planning, maternity leave, and career success. We surveyed 183 members of the Women's Dermatologic Society using a 13-question survey that was approved for distribution by the institutional review board committee of the University of Connecticut Health Center. We found that women were most likely to have children while they were residents (51%), despite the fact that residents were more likely to report barriers to childbearing at this career stage. These barriers included length of maternity leave, appearing less committed to residency responsibilities compared with peers, and inadequate time and privacy to breast feed. Strategies to achieve a work-life balance included hiring in-home help and working part-time. Of note, many women commented on the need for more family planning resources at work. Thought should be given to future administrative strategies that can lessen the burden of parents who are dermatologists and have academic ambitions.

Review: Balancing Limiting Factors and Economic Drivers to Achieve Sustainable Midwestern US Agricultural Residue Feedstock Supplies

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wally W. Wilhelm; J. Richard Hess; Douglas L. Karlen

2010-10-01

Advanced biofuels will be developed using cellulosic feedstock rather than grain or oilseed crops that can also be used for food and feed. To be sustainable, these new agronomic production systems must be economically viable without degrading soil resources. This review examines six agronomic factors that collectively define many of the limits and opportunities for harvesting crop residue for biofuel feedstock. These six “limiting factors” are discussed in relationship to economic drivers associated with harvesting corn (Zea mays L.) stover as a potential cellulosic feedstock. The limiting factors include soil organic carbon, wind and water erosion, plant nutrient balance, soilmore » water and temperature dynamics, soil compaction, and off-site environmental impacts. Initial evaluations using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation 2.0 (RUSLE2) show that a single factor analysis based on simply meeting tolerable soil loss might indicate stover could be harvested sustainably, but the same analysis based on maintaining soil organic carbon shows the practice to be non-sustainable. Modifying agricultural management to include either annual or perennial cover crops is shown to meet both soil erosion and soil carbon requirements. The importance of achieving high yields and planning in a holistic manner at the landscape scale are also shown to be crucial for balancing limitations and drivers associated with renewable bioenergy production.« less

Predictive mapping of seabirds, pinnipeds and cetaceans off the Pacific Coast of Washington

USGS Publications Warehouse

Menza, Charles; Leirness, Jeffery B.; White, Tim; Winship, Arliss; Kinlan, Brian P.; Kracker, Laura; Zamon, Jeannette E.; Ballance, Lisa; Becker, Elizabeth; Forney, Karin A.; Barlow, Jay; Adams, Josh; Pereksta, David; Pearson, Scott; Pierce, John; Jeffries, Steven J.; Calambokidis, John; Douglas, Annie; Hanson, Bradford C.; Benson, Scott R.; Antrim, Liam

2016-01-01

This research supports the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Coastal Zone Management Program, a voluntary partnership between the federal government and U.S. coastal and Great Lakes states and territories authorized by the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) of 1972 to address national coastal issues. The act provides the basis for protecting, restoring, and responsibly developing our nation’s diverse coastal communities and resources. To meet the goals of the CZMA, the national program takes a comprehensive approach to coastal resource management – balancing the often competing and occasionally conflicting demands of coastal resource use, economic development, and conservation. A wide range of issues are addressed through the program, including coastal development, water quality, public access, habitat protection, energy facility siting, ocean governance and planning, coastal hazards, and climate change. Accurate maps of seabird and marine mammal distributions are an important tool for making informed management decisions that affect all of these issues. 

Application of the resource-based relative value scale system to pediatrics.

PubMed

Gerstle, Robert S; Molteni, Richard A; Andreae, Margie C; Bradley, Joel F; Brewer, Eileen D; Calabrese, Jamie; Krug, Steven E; Liechty, Edward A; Linzer, Jeffrey F; Pillsbury, Julia M; Tuli, Sanjeev Y

2014-06-01

The majority of public and private payers in the United States currently use the Medicare Resource-Based Relative Value Scale as the basis for physician payment. Many large group and academic practices have adopted this objective system of physician work to benchmark physician productivity, including using it, wholly or in part, to determine compensation. The Resource-Based Relative Value Scale survey instrument, used to value physician services, was designed primarily for procedural services, leading to current concerns that American Medical Association/Specialty Society Relative Value Scale Update Committee (RUC) surveys may undervalue nonprocedural evaluation and management services. The American Academy of Pediatrics is represented on the RUC, the committee charged with maintaining accurate physician work values across specialties and age groups. The Academy, working closely with other primary care and subspecialty societies, actively pursues a balanced RUC membership and a survey instrument that will ensure appropriate work relative value unit assignments, thereby allowing pediatricians to receive appropriate payment for their services relative to other services.

Land Use, Land Conservation, and Wind Energy Development Outcomes in New England

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weimar, William Cameron

This dissertation provides three independent research inquiries. The first examines how inter-governmental policy, site-specific, and social factors lead to the success, prolonged delay, or failure of inland wind power projects in New England. The three case studies examined include the 48 megawatt Glebe Mountain Wind Farm proposal in southern Vermont, the 30 megawatt Hoosac Wind Farm in western Massachusetts, and the 24 megawatt Lempster Wind Farm in southern New Hampshire. To ascertain why the project outcomes varied, 45 semi-structured interviews were conducted with a range of stakeholders, including wind development firms, utility companies, state regulatory agencies, regional planning commissions, town officials, land conservation organizations, and opposition groups. The second study establishes a comprehensive set of thirty-seven explanatory variables to determine the amount of suitable land and the corresponding electricity generation potential within the prime wind resource areas of Western Massachusetts. The explanatory variables are incorporated into Boolean GIS suitability models which represent the two divergent positions towards wind power development in Massachusetts, and a third, balanced model. The third study determines that exurban residential development is not the only land use factor that reduces wind power development potential in Western Massachusetts. A set of Boolean GIS models for 1985 and 2009 find the onset of conservation easements on private lands having the largest impact. During this 25 year period a combination of land use conversion and land conservation has reduced the access to prime wind resource areas by 18% (11,601 hectares), an equivalent loss of 5,800--8,700 GWh/year of zero carbon electricity generation. The six main findings from this research are: (1) Visual aesthetics remain the main factor of opposition to specific projects; (2) The Not-in-my Backyard debate for wind power remains unsettled; (3) Widespread support exists for regional land use energy plans; (4) The wind resources of Western Massachusetts can significantly contribute to the state's current renewable portfolio standard while balancing conservation and renewable energy development objectives; However, (5) a combination of exurban residential development and conservation easements significantly reduces wind power development potential over time; and (6) a need exists to legally define wind as a publicly beneficial resource.

National Laboratory Planning: Developing Sustainable Biocontainment Laboratories in Limited Resource Areas.

PubMed

Yeh, Kenneth B; Adams, Martin; Stamper, Paul D; Dasgupta, Debanjana; Hewson, Roger; Buck, Charles D; Richards, Allen L; Hay, John

2016-01-01

Strategic laboratory planning in limited resource areas is essential for addressing global health security issues. Establishing a national reference laboratory, especially one with BSL-3 or -4 biocontainment facilities, requires a heavy investment of resources, a multisectoral approach, and commitments from multiple stakeholders. We make the case for donor organizations and recipient partners to develop a comprehensive laboratory operations roadmap that addresses factors such as mission and roles, engaging national and political support, securing financial support, defining stakeholder involvement, fostering partnerships, and building trust. Successful development occurred with projects in African countries and in Azerbaijan, where strong leadership and a clear management framework have been key to success. A clearly identified and agreed management framework facilitate identifying the responsibility for developing laboratory capabilities and support services, including biosafety and biosecurity, quality assurance, equipment maintenance, supply chain establishment, staff certification and training, retention of human resources, and sustainable operating revenue. These capabilities and support services pose rate-limiting yet necessary challenges. Laboratory capabilities depend on mission and role, as determined by all stakeholders, and demonstrate the need for relevant metrics to monitor the success of the laboratory, including support for internal and external audits. Our analysis concludes that alternative frameworks for success exist for developing and implementing capabilities at regional and national levels in limited resource areas. Thus, achieving a balance for standardizing practices between local procedures and accepted international standards is a prerequisite for integrating new facilities into a country's existing public health infrastructure and into the overall international scientific community.

15 CFR 970.519 - Resource conservation requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... prevention of waste and the future opportunity for the commercial recovery of the unrecovered balance of the... 15 Commerce and Foreign Trade 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Resource conservation requirements. 970.519 Section 970.519 Commerce and Foreign Trade Regulations Relating to Commerce and Foreign Trade...

15 CFR 970.519 - Resource conservation requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... prevention of waste and the future opportunity for the commercial recovery of the unrecovered balance of the... 15 Commerce and Foreign Trade 3 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Resource conservation requirements. 970.519 Section 970.519 Commerce and Foreign Trade Regulations Relating to Commerce and Foreign Trade...

18 CFR 367.1310 - Account 131, Cash.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... THE PUBLIC UTILITY HOLDING COMPANY ACT OF 2005, FEDERAL POWER ACT AND NATURAL GAS ACT Balance Sheet... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Account 131, Cash. 367.1310 Section 367.1310 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION...

EFFECT OF URBANIZATION ON SUSTAINABILITY OF WATER RESOURCES IN THE POCONO CREEK WATERSHED

EPA Science Inventory

Understanding the effects of population growth and urbanization on the hydrologic balance of the watershed is of paramount importance for sustainable water resources management. The 120 km² Pocono Creek watershed in Eastern Pennsylvania that drains into one of the main...

Multi-criteria decision models for forestry and natural resources management: an annotated bibliography

Treesearch

Joseph E. de Steiguer; Leslie Liberti; Albert Schuler; Bruce Hansen

2003-01-01

Foresters and natural resource managers must balance conflicting objectives when developing land-management plans. Conflicts may encompass economic, environmental, social, cultural, technical, and aesthetic objectives. Selecting the best combination of management uses from numerous objectives is difficult and challenging. Multi-Criteria Decision Models (MCDM) provide a...

Developing Human Resources through Actualizing Human Potential

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clarken, Rodney H.

2012-01-01

The key to human resource development is in actualizing individual and collective thinking, feeling and choosing potentials related to our minds, hearts and wills respectively. These capacities and faculties must be balanced and regulated according to the standards of truth, love and justice for individual, community and institutional development,…

The effects of moderate fatigue on dynamic balance control and attentional demands.

PubMed

Simoneau, Martin; Bégin, François; Teasdale, Normand

2006-09-28

During daily activities, the active control of balance often is a task per se (for example, when standing in a moving bus). Other constraints like fatigue can add to the complexity of this balance task. In the present experiment, we examined how moderate fatigue induced by fast walking on a treadmill challenged dynamic balance control. We also examined if the attentional demands for performing the balance task varied with fatigue. Subjects (n = 10) performed simultaneously a dynamic balance control task and a probe reaction time task (RT) (serving as an indicator of attentional demands) before and after three periods of moderate fatigue (fast walking on a treadmill). For the balance control task, the real-time displacement of the centre of pressure (CP) was provided on a monitor placed in front of the subject, at eye level. Subjects were asked to keep their CP within a target (moving box) moving upward and downward on the monitor. The tracking performance was measured (time spent outside the moving box) and the CP behavior analyzed (mean CP speed and mean frequency of the CP velocity). Moderate fatigue led to an immediate decrement of the performance on the balance control task; increase of the percentage of time spent outside the box and increase of the mean CP speed. Across the three fatigue periods, subjects improved their tracking performance and reduced their mean CP speed. This was achieved by increasing their frequency of actions; mean frequency of the CP velocity were higher for the fatigue periods than for the no fatigue periods. Fatigue also induced an increase in the attentional demands suggesting that more cognitive resources had to be allocated to the balance task with than without fatigue. Fatigue induced by fast walking had an initial negative impact on the control of balance. Nonetheless, subjects were able to compensate the effect of the moderate fatigue by increasing the frequency of actions. This adaptation, however, required that a greater proportion of the cognitive resources be allocated to the active control of the balance task.

Wind Energy Management System Integration Project Incorporating Wind Generation and Load Forecast Uncertainties into Power Grid Operations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Makarov, Yuri V.; Huang, Zhenyu; Etingov, Pavel V.

2010-09-01

The power system balancing process, which includes the scheduling, real time dispatch (load following) and regulation processes, is traditionally based on deterministic models. Since the conventional generation needs time to be committed and dispatched to a desired megawatt level, the scheduling and load following processes use load and wind power production forecasts to achieve future balance between the conventional generation and energy storage on the one side, and system load, intermittent resources (such as wind and solar generation) and scheduled interchange on the other side. Although in real life the forecasting procedures imply some uncertainty around the load and windmore » forecasts (caused by forecast errors), only their mean values are actually used in the generation dispatch and commitment procedures. Since the actual load and intermittent generation can deviate from their forecasts, it becomes increasingly unclear (especially, with the increasing penetration of renewable resources) whether the system would be actually able to meet the conventional generation requirements within the look-ahead horizon, what the additional balancing efforts would be needed as we get closer to the real time, and what additional costs would be incurred by those needs. In order to improve the system control performance characteristics, maintain system reliability, and minimize expenses related to the system balancing functions, it becomes necessary to incorporate the predicted uncertainty ranges into the scheduling, load following, and, in some extent, into the regulation processes. It is also important to address the uncertainty problem comprehensively, by including all sources of uncertainty (load, intermittent generation, generators’ forced outages, etc.) into consideration. All aspects of uncertainty such as the imbalance size (which is the same as capacity needed to mitigate the imbalance) and generation ramping requirement must be taken into account. The latter unique features make this work a significant step forward toward the objective of incorporating of wind, solar, load, and other uncertainties into power system operations. In this report, a new methodology to predict the uncertainty ranges for the required balancing capacity, ramping capability and ramp duration is presented. Uncertainties created by system load forecast errors, wind and solar forecast errors, generation forced outages are taken into account. The uncertainty ranges are evaluated for different confidence levels of having the actual generation requirements within the corresponding limits. The methodology helps to identify system balancing reserve requirement based on a desired system performance levels, identify system “breaking points”, where the generation system becomes unable to follow the generation requirement curve with the user-specified probability level, and determine the time remaining to these potential events. The approach includes three stages: statistical and actual data acquisition, statistical analysis of retrospective information, and prediction of future grid balancing requirements for specified time horizons and confidence intervals. Assessment of the capacity and ramping requirements is performed using a specially developed probabilistic algorithm based on a histogram analysis incorporating all sources of uncertainty and parameters of a continuous (wind forecast and load forecast errors) and discrete (forced generator outages and failures to start up) nature. Preliminary simulations using California Independent System Operator (California ISO) real life data have shown the effectiveness of the proposed approach. A tool developed based on the new methodology described in this report will be integrated with the California ISO systems. Contractual work is currently in place to integrate the tool with the AREVA EMS system.« less

Specific balance training included in an endurance-resistance exercise program improves postural balance in elderly patients undergoing haemodialysis.

PubMed

Frih, Bechir; Mkacher, Wajdi; Jaafar, Hamdi; Frih, Ameur; Ben Salah, Zohra; El May, Mezry; Hammami, Mohamed

2018-04-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of 6 months of specific balance training included in endurance-resistance program on postural balance in haemodialysis (HD) patients. Forty-nine male patients undergoing HD were randomly assigned to an intervention group (balance training included in an endurance-resistance training, n = 26) or a control group (resistance-endurance training only, n = 23). Postural control was assessed using six clinical tests; Timed Up and Go test, Tinetti Mobility Test, Berg Balance Scale, Unipodal Stance test, Mini-Balance Evaluation Systems Test and Activities Balance Confidence scale. All balance measures increased significantly after the period of rehabilitation training in the intervention group. Only the Timed Up and Go, Berg Balance Scale, Mini-Balance Evaluation Systems Test and Activities Balance Confidence scores were improved in the control group. The ranges of change in these tests were greater in the balance training group. In HD patients, specific balance training included in a usual endurance-resistance training program improves static and dynamic balance better than endurance-resistance training only. Implications for rehabilitation Rehabilitation using exercise in haemodialysis patients improved global mobility and functional abilities. Specific balance training included in usual endurance resistance training program could lead to improved static and dynamic balance.

On the Water-Food Nexus: an Optimization Approach for Water and Food Security

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mortada, Sarah; Abou Najm, Majdi; Yassine, Ali; Alameddine, Ibrahim; El-Fadel, Mutasem

2016-04-01

Water and food security is facing increased challenges with population increase, climate and land use change, as well as resource depletion coupled with pollution and unsustainable practices. Coordinated and effective management of limited natural resources have become an imperative to meet these challenges by optimizing the usage of resources under various constraints. In this study, an optimization model is developed for optimal resource allocation towards sustainable water and food security under nutritional, socio-economic, agricultural, environmental, and natural resources constraints. The core objective of this model is to maximize the composite water-food security status by recommending an optimal water and agricultural strategy. The model balances between the healthy nutritional demand side and the constrained supply side while considering the supply chain in between. It equally ensures that the population achieves recommended nutritional guidelines and population food-preferences by quantifying an optimum agricultural and water policy through transforming optimum food demands into optimum cropping policy given the water and land footprints of each crop or agricultural product. Through this process, water and food security are optimized considering factors that include crop-food transformation (food processing), water footprints, crop yields, climate, blue and green water resources, irrigation efficiency, arable land resources, soil texture, and economic policies. The model performance regarding agricultural practices and sustainable food and water security was successfully tested and verified both at a hypothetical and pilot scale levels.

Pulmonary Rehabilitation With Balance Training for Fall Reduction in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

PubMed

Beauchamp, Marla K; Brooks, Dina; Ellerton, Cindy; Lee, Annemarie; Alison, Jennifer; Camp, Pat G; Dechman, Gail; Haines, Kimberley; Harrison, Samantha L; Holland, Anne E; Marques, Alda; Moineddin, Rahim; Skinner, Elizabeth H; Spencer, Lissa; Stickland, Michael K; Xie, Feng; Goldstein, Roger S

2017-11-20

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. A growing body of evidence shows that individuals with COPD have important deficits in balance control that may be associated with an increased risk of falls. Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is a key therapeutic intervention for individuals with COPD; however, current international guidelines do not include balance training and fall prevention strategies. The primary aim of this trial is to determine the effects of PR with balance training compared to PR with no balance training on the 12-month rate of falls in individuals with COPD. Secondary aims are to determine the effects of the intervention on balance, balance confidence, and functional lower body strength, and to estimate the cost-effectiveness of the program. A total of 400 individuals from nine PR centers across Canada, Europe, and Australia will be recruited to participate in a randomized controlled trial. Individuals with COPD who have a self-reported decline in balance, a fall in the last 2 years, or recent near fall will be randomly assigned to an intervention or control group. The intervention group will undergo tailored balance training in addition to PR and will receive a personalized home-based balance program. The control group will receive usual PR and a home program that does not include balance training. All participants will receive monthly phone calls to provide support and collect health care utilization and loss of productivity data. Both groups will receive home visits at 3, 6, and 9 months to ensure proper technique and progression of home exercise programs. The primary outcome will be incidence of falls at 12-month follow-up. Falls will be measured using a standardized definition and recorded using monthly self-report fall diary calendars. Participants will be asked to record falls and time spent performing their home exercise program on the fall diary calendars. Completed calendars will be returned to the research centers in prepaid envelopes each month. Secondary measures collected by a blinded assessor at baseline (pre-PR), post-PR, and 12-month follow-up will include clinical measures of balance, balance confidence, functional lower body strength, and health status. The cost-effectiveness of the intervention group compared with the control group will be evaluated using the incremental cost per number of falls averted and the incremental cost per quality-adjusted life years gained. Recruitment for the study began in January 2017 and is anticipated to be complete by December 2019. Results are expected to be available in 2020. Findings from this study will improve our understanding of the effectiveness and resource uses of tailored balance training for reducing falls in individuals with COPD. If effective, the intervention represents an opportunity to inform international guidelines and health policy for PR in individuals with COPD who are at risk of falling. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02995681; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02995681 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6ukhxgAsg). ©Marla K Beauchamp, Dina Brooks, Cindy Ellerton, Annemarie Lee, Jennifer Alison, Pat G Camp, Gail Dechman, Kimberley Haines, Samantha L Harrison, Anne E Holland, Alda Marques, Rahim Moineddin, Elizabeth H Skinner, Lissa Spencer, Michael K Stickland, Feng Xie, Roger S Goldstein. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (http://www.researchprotocols.org), 20.11.2017.

Estimation of water and energy fluxes over complex landscapes. Two Source Energy Balance modelling using very high resolution thermal and optical imagery in vineyards and wooded rangelands

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Modelling the water and energy balance at the land surface is a crucial task for many applications related to crop production, water resources management, climate change studies, weather forecasting, and natural hazards assessment. To improve the modelling of evapotranspiration (ET) over structurall...

Higher Education in Southeast Asia: Blurring Borders, Changing Balance. Routledge Research on Public and Social Policy in Asia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Welch, Anthony

2011-01-01

This is the first book to systematically chart and comparatively assess the trend towards private higher education in South East Asia. Caught between conflicting imperatives of spiralling demand, and limited resources, the balance between public and private higher education systems in South East, South, and East Asia has shifted markedly. The…

A Sampling-Based Bayesian Approach for Cooperative Multiagent Online Search With Resource Constraints.

PubMed

Xiao, Hu; Cui, Rongxin; Xu, Demin

2018-06-01

This paper presents a cooperative multiagent search algorithm to solve the problem of searching for a target on a 2-D plane under multiple constraints. A Bayesian framework is used to update the local probability density functions (PDFs) of the target when the agents obtain observation information. To obtain the global PDF used for decision making, a sampling-based logarithmic opinion pool algorithm is proposed to fuse the local PDFs, and a particle sampling approach is used to represent the continuous PDF. Then the Gaussian mixture model (GMM) is applied to reconstitute the global PDF from the particles, and a weighted expectation maximization algorithm is presented to estimate the parameters of the GMM. Furthermore, we propose an optimization objective which aims to guide agents to find the target with less resource consumptions, and to keep the resource consumption of each agent balanced simultaneously. To this end, a utility function-based optimization problem is put forward, and it is solved by a gradient-based approach. Several contrastive simulations demonstrate that compared with other existing approaches, the proposed one uses less overall resources and shows a better performance of balancing the resource consumption.

Wind Energy Management System EMS Integration Project: Incorporating Wind Generation and Load Forecast Uncertainties into Power Grid Operations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Makarov, Yuri V.; Huang, Zhenyu; Etingov, Pavel V.

2010-01-01

The power system balancing process, which includes the scheduling, real time dispatch (load following) and regulation processes, is traditionally based on deterministic models. Since the conventional generation needs time to be committed and dispatched to a desired megawatt level, the scheduling and load following processes use load and wind and solar power production forecasts to achieve future balance between the conventional generation and energy storage on the one side, and system load, intermittent resources (such as wind and solar generation), and scheduled interchange on the other side. Although in real life the forecasting procedures imply some uncertainty around the loadmore » and wind/solar forecasts (caused by forecast errors), only their mean values are actually used in the generation dispatch and commitment procedures. Since the actual load and intermittent generation can deviate from their forecasts, it becomes increasingly unclear (especially, with the increasing penetration of renewable resources) whether the system would be actually able to meet the conventional generation requirements within the look-ahead horizon, what the additional balancing efforts would be needed as we get closer to the real time, and what additional costs would be incurred by those needs. To improve the system control performance characteristics, maintain system reliability, and minimize expenses related to the system balancing functions, it becomes necessary to incorporate the predicted uncertainty ranges into the scheduling, load following, and, in some extent, into the regulation processes. It is also important to address the uncertainty problem comprehensively by including all sources of uncertainty (load, intermittent generation, generators’ forced outages, etc.) into consideration. All aspects of uncertainty such as the imbalance size (which is the same as capacity needed to mitigate the imbalance) and generation ramping requirement must be taken into account. The latter unique features make this work a significant step forward toward the objective of incorporating of wind, solar, load, and other uncertainties into power system operations. Currently, uncertainties associated with wind and load forecasts, as well as uncertainties associated with random generator outages and unexpected disconnection of supply lines, are not taken into account in power grid operation. Thus, operators have little means to weigh the likelihood and magnitude of upcoming events of power imbalance. In this project, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), a framework has been developed for incorporating uncertainties associated with wind and load forecast errors, unpredicted ramps, and forced generation disconnections into the energy management system (EMS) as well as generation dispatch and commitment applications. A new approach to evaluate the uncertainty ranges for the required generation performance envelope including balancing capacity, ramping capability, and ramp duration has been proposed. The approach includes three stages: forecast and actual data acquisition, statistical analysis of retrospective information, and prediction of future grid balancing requirements for specified time horizons and confidence levels. Assessment of the capacity and ramping requirements is performed using a specially developed probabilistic algorithm based on a histogram analysis, incorporating all sources of uncertainties of both continuous (wind and load forecast errors) and discrete (forced generator outages and start-up failures) nature. A new method called the “flying brick” technique has been developed to evaluate the look-ahead required generation performance envelope for the worst case scenario within a user-specified confidence level. A self-validation algorithm has been developed to validate the accuracy of the confidence intervals.« less

[Medical ethics and economics in the era of insufficient resources].

PubMed

Bin Nun, Gabi; Afek, Arnon

2009-03-01

During the Golden Age of Medicine (20th Century), scientific and technological breakthroughs enabled physicians to cure people's illnesses. The idealist, romantic approach of medical practice believed in the right of every human being to receive the best treatment possible, regardless of cost. However, the rise in health care expenditure at the end of the 20th Century made this impossible, therefore other approaches were adopted. The aim of this study is to investigate the causes of the change in medical approaches while distinguishing between the different methods practiced by nations in order to deal with the disparity created by ethical dilemmas caused by scare resources and delivery of medical treatment. This study is based on the evaluation of macro economic data and the comparison of international health data. Special emphasis was given to the evaluation of Israeli health economics since the National Health Insurance Act (1995). The study shows two different approaches to the problem of scarce resources: the liberal approach, as practiced in the USA, and the Social Democratic approach which is common in many European countries, including Israel. The Social Democratic ideology believes in public financing of defined health care services to all citizens. This method implies rationing and managed care in order to absorb medical expenses. The ethical dilemmas arising from the necessity to add economic considerations to a physician's care of his patient, demand that any given healthcare system find the right equilibrium. This balance between clinical, social, and economical considerations is not easily achieved. Only dialogue within the health care system itself, and with the public, can achieve the best possible balance.

Ecohydrology of a Tropical Landscape: Hydrological Regimes and Implications for Water Resources and Ecological Dynamics in the Talgua Watershed, Honduras

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reyes, W. M.; Jass, T. L.; Emanuel, R. E.

2016-12-01

The tropics play a central role in regulating Earth's environmental systems, not only cycling more water than any other region in the world but also influencing global biogeochemical and energy balances. Increasing and widespread deforestation, climate change, and other disturbances are rapidly altering Earth system processes in the tropics, yet our understanding of these processes and their implications is limited for certain locations. Honduras, located within the Mesoamerican region, is one such location. A combination of rapid land use change (including deforestation at 3% y-1), hurricanes, droughts, poor access to drinking water, and poverty place Honduras among the most environmentally vulnerable countries in the world. However, these factors also create an ideal scenario for understanding complex human-environment interactions and their effects on tropical eco-hydrological systems. To this end, we collected and analyzed hydrological and meteorological data from the upper Talgua River, a forested, montane catchment in the headwaters of Honduras' Patuca River, during 2015 and 2016. We characterized the water balance and basic water quality relationships for the Talgua River, an important accomplishment for such a data-sparse region. We place our results in the context of coupled human-water dynamics in this region of Mesoamerica and discuss implications for water resources and other environmental services. Our analyses, embedded research infrastructure, and long-term partnerships with local institutions help provide valuable insights that narrow the existing knowledge gap in tropical ecohydrology and related socio-environmental dynamics. Our work also helps local communities and governments plan and make well-informed decisions about water and related resources.

Forward surgery.

PubMed

Clasper, J C; Midwinter, M J

2007-09-01

Deployment of Forward Surgery is a balance of risk and benefit. The resources will clearly be less than at a more major facility and so care may be compromised. Equally the tactical situation may be non-permissive and limb and life saving intervention required before the movement is possible. However, in order to provide satisfactory care at a forward location sufficient resources to deliver the full requirements of DCR & DCS must be met, which would limit manoeuvrability. This would include large volumes of blood and blood products, critical care and experienced personnel. The later will need to be some of the most senior medical staff as the decision to not operate, if intervention is unnecessary as the patient could wait or intervention would be futile, is one that requires experience. The deployment of these personnel would need to be balanced with the depletion of the experience from the major facility. Forward surgery may be appropriate in the build up phase, establishing a first surgical foot print to develop into a more capable facility (26) or wind down as the major facility is dismantled to be relocated at an alternative location. Ultimately the deployment of forward surgery hinges on the tactical assessment and the ability to evacuate casualties in a timely fashion to the best equipped and resourced facility possible. This decision must be informed by the limitations this may impose on the management of the majority casualties who do not require forward surgery. Forward surgery should only be deployed as part of an overall trauma system with continuous assessment of outcomes. The goal remains "the right patient, right place at the right time".

Temporal and spatial variation of potassium balance in agricultural land at national and regional levels in China

PubMed Central

Liu, Yingxia; Ma, Jinchuan; Ding, Wencheng; He, Wentian; Lei, Qiuliang; Gao, Qiang

2017-01-01

Linking potassium (K) balance to soil fertility creates a valuable indicator for sustainability assessment in agricultural land-use systems. It is crucial for the efficient use of K resources, food security and resource sustainability to realize soil K balance status in China. Therefore, temporal and spatial changes of K balance for farmland in China from 1980 to 2015 were analyzed at national and regional levels using statistical data and related parameters. At the national scale, K input increased from 6.78 Mt K2O in 1980 to 23.44 Mt K2O in 2015 with an average annual increment of 0.48 Mt K2O, and output changed from 8.10 Mt in 1980 to 21.31 Mt in 2015 with an average annual increment of 0.38 Mt K2O as well. On average, K balance was -24.17, -5.92, 21.31 and 19.50 kg K2O ha-1 in 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s, respectively. Moreover, the average balance of six regions was considerably different which were -21.37, 1.25, 13.70, -22.79, 99.22 and 7.18 kg K2O ha-1 from 1980 to 2015. The potassium use efficiency (KUE) decreased with time which were 127.09, 104.35, 87.69 and 89.69% in 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s, respectively, and the decline of slope could also reflect the variation tendency of KUE. Great variation of K balance across different regions demonstrated that fertilizer application and management practices need to be adjusted to local conditions. PMID:28873448

Yeast Interspecies Comparative Proteomics Reveals Divergence in Expression Profiles and Provides Insights into Proteome Resource Allocation and Evolutionary Roles of Gene Duplication*

PubMed Central

Kito, Keiji; Ito, Haruka; Nohara, Takehiro; Ohnishi, Mihoko; Ishibashi, Yuko; Takeda, Daisuke

2016-01-01

Omics analysis is a versatile approach for understanding the conservation and diversity of molecular systems across multiple taxa. In this study, we compared the proteome expression profiles of four yeast species (Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Saccharomyces mikatae, Kluyveromyces waltii, and Kluyveromyces lactis) grown on glucose- or glycerol-containing media. Conserved expression changes across all species were observed only for a small proportion of all proteins differentially expressed between the two growth conditions. Two Kluyveromyces species, both of which exhibited a high growth rate on glycerol, a nonfermentative carbon source, showed distinct species-specific expression profiles. In K. waltii grown on glycerol, proteins involved in the glyoxylate cycle and gluconeogenesis were expressed in high abundance. In K. lactis grown on glycerol, the expression of glycolytic and ethanol metabolic enzymes was unexpectedly low, whereas proteins involved in cytoplasmic translation, including ribosomal proteins and elongation factors, were highly expressed. These marked differences in the types of predominantly expressed proteins suggest that K. lactis optimizes the balance of proteome resource allocation between metabolism and protein synthesis giving priority to cellular growth. In S. cerevisiae, about 450 duplicate gene pairs were retained after whole-genome duplication. Intriguingly, we found that in the case of duplicates with conserved sequences, the total abundance of proteins encoded by a duplicate pair in S. cerevisiae was similar to that of protein encoded by nonduplicated ortholog in Kluyveromyces yeast. Given the frequency of haploinsufficiency, this observation suggests that conserved duplicate genes, even though minor cases of retained duplicates, do not exhibit a dosage effect in yeast, except for ribosomal proteins. Thus, comparative proteomic analyses across multiple species may reveal not only species-specific characteristics of metabolic processes under nonoptimal culture conditions but also provide valuable insights into intriguing biological principles, including the balance of proteome resource allocation and the role of gene duplication in evolutionary history. PMID:26560065

Yeast Interspecies Comparative Proteomics Reveals Divergence in Expression Profiles and Provides Insights into Proteome Resource Allocation and Evolutionary Roles of Gene Duplication.

PubMed

Kito, Keiji; Ito, Haruka; Nohara, Takehiro; Ohnishi, Mihoko; Ishibashi, Yuko; Takeda, Daisuke

2016-01-01

Omics analysis is a versatile approach for understanding the conservation and diversity of molecular systems across multiple taxa. In this study, we compared the proteome expression profiles of four yeast species (Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Saccharomyces mikatae, Kluyveromyces waltii, and Kluyveromyces lactis) grown on glucose- or glycerol-containing media. Conserved expression changes across all species were observed only for a small proportion of all proteins differentially expressed between the two growth conditions. Two Kluyveromyces species, both of which exhibited a high growth rate on glycerol, a nonfermentative carbon source, showed distinct species-specific expression profiles. In K. waltii grown on glycerol, proteins involved in the glyoxylate cycle and gluconeogenesis were expressed in high abundance. In K. lactis grown on glycerol, the expression of glycolytic and ethanol metabolic enzymes was unexpectedly low, whereas proteins involved in cytoplasmic translation, including ribosomal proteins and elongation factors, were highly expressed. These marked differences in the types of predominantly expressed proteins suggest that K. lactis optimizes the balance of proteome resource allocation between metabolism and protein synthesis giving priority to cellular growth. In S. cerevisiae, about 450 duplicate gene pairs were retained after whole-genome duplication. Intriguingly, we found that in the case of duplicates with conserved sequences, the total abundance of proteins encoded by a duplicate pair in S. cerevisiae was similar to that of protein encoded by nonduplicated ortholog in Kluyveromyces yeast. Given the frequency of haploinsufficiency, this observation suggests that conserved duplicate genes, even though minor cases of retained duplicates, do not exhibit a dosage effect in yeast, except for ribosomal proteins. Thus, comparative proteomic analyses across multiple species may reveal not only species-specific characteristics of metabolic processes under nonoptimal culture conditions but also provide valuable insights into intriguing biological principles, including the balance of proteome resource allocation and the role of gene duplication in evolutionary history. © 2016 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

The balanced scorecard: an integrative approach to performance evaluation.

PubMed

Oliveira, J

2001-05-01

In addition to strict financial outcomes, healthcare financial managers should assess intangible assets that affect the organization's bottom line, such as clinical processes, staff skills, and patient satisfaction and loyalty. The balanced scorecard, coupled with data-warehousing capabilities, offers a way to measure an organization's performance against its strategic objectives while focusing on building capabilities to achieve these objectives. The balanced scorecard examines performance related to finance, human resources, internal processes, and customers. Because the balanced scorecard requires substantial amounts of data, it is a necessity to establish an organizational data warehouse of clinical, operational, and financial data that can be used in decision support. Because it presents indicators that managers and staff can influence directly by their actions, the balanced-scorecard approach to performance measurement encourages behavioral changes aimed at achieving corporate strategies.

Groundwater nitrate pollution and climate change: learnings from a water balance-based analysis of several aquifers in a western Mediterranean region (Catalonia).

PubMed

Mas-Pla, Josep; Menció, Anna

2018-04-11

Climate change will affect the dynamics of the hydrogeological systems and their water resources quality; in particular nitrate, which is herein taken as a paradigmatic pollutant to illustrate the effects of climate change on groundwater quality. Based on climatic predictions of temperature and precipitation for the horizon of 2021 and 2050, as well as on land use distribution, water balances are recalculated for the hydrological basins of distinct aquifer systems in a western Mediterranean region as Catalonia (NE Spain) in order to determine the reduction of available water resources. Besides the fact that climate change will represent a decrease of water availability, we qualitatively discuss the modifications that will result from the future climatic scenarios and their impact on nitrate pollution according to the geological setting of the selected aquifers. Climate effects in groundwater quality are described according to hydrological, environmental, socio-economic, and political concerns. Water reduction stands as a major issue that will control stream-aquifer interactions and subsurface recharge, leading to a general modification of nitrate in groundwater as dilution varies. A nitrate mass balance model provides a gross estimation of potential nitrate evolution in these aquifers, and it points out that the control of the fertilizer load will be crucial to achieve adequate nitrate content in groundwater. Reclaimed wastewater stands as local reliable resource, yet its amount will only satisfy a fraction of the loss of available resources due to climate change. Finally, an integrated management perspective is necessary to avoid unplanned actions from private initiatives that will jeopardize the achievement of sustainable water resources exploitation under distinct hydrological scenarios.

An Economic Evaluation of Resistance Training and Aerobic Training versus Balance and Toning Exercises in Older Adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment

PubMed Central

Davis, Jennifer C.; Bryan, Stirling; Marra, Carlo A.; Sharma, Devika; Chan, Alison; Beattie, B. Lynn; Graf, Peter; Liu-Ambrose, Teresa

2013-01-01

Background Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) represents a critical window to intervene against dementia. Exercise training is a promising intervention strategy, but the efficiency (i.e., relationship of costs and consequences) of such types of training remains unknown. Thus, we estimated the incremental cost-effectiveness of resistance training or aerobic training compared with balance and tone exercises in terms of changes in executive cognitive function among senior women with probable MCI. Methods Economic evaluation conducted concurrently with a six-month three arm randomized controlled trial including eighty-six community dwelling women aged 70 to 80 years living in Vancouver, Canada. Participants received twice-weekly resistance training (n = 28), twice weekly aerobic training (n = 30) or twice-weekly balance and tone (control group) classes (n = 28) for 6 months. The primary outcome measure of the Exercise for Cognition and Everyday Living (EXCEL) study assessed executive cognitive function, a test of selective attention and conflict resolution (i.e., Stroop Test). We collected healthcare resource utilization costs over six months. Results Based on the bootstrapped estimates from our base case analysis, we found that both the aerobic training and resistance training interventions were less costly than twice weekly balance and tone classes. Compared with the balance and tone group, the resistance-training group had significantly improved performance on the Stroop Test (p = 0.04). Conclusions Resistance training and aerobic training result in health care cost saving and are more effective than balance and tone classes after only 6 months of intervention. Resistance training is a promising strategy to alter the trajectory of cognitive decline in seniors with MCI. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00958867. PMID:23690976

Assessing Portuguese Guadiana Basin water management impacts under climate change and paleoclimate variability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maia, Rodrigo; Oliveira, Bruno; Ramos, Vanessa; Brekke, Levi

2014-05-01

The water balance in each reservoir and the subsequent, related, water resource management decisions are, presently, highly information dependent and are therefore often limited to a reactive response (even if aimed towards preventing future issues regarding the water system). Taking advantage of the availability of scenarios for climate projections, it is now possible to estimate the likely future evolution of climate which represents an important stepping stone towards proactive, adaptative, water resource management. The purpose of the present study was to assess the potential effects of climate change in terms of temperature, precipitation, runoff and water availability/scarcity for application in water resource management decisions. The analysis here presented was applied to the Portuguese portion of the Guadiana River Basin, using a combination of observed climate and runoff data and the results of the Global Climate Models. The Guadiana River Basin was represented by its reservoirs on the Portuguese portion of the basin and, for the future period, an estimated value of the inflows originating in the Spanish part of the Basin. The change in climate was determined in terms of relative and absolute variations of climate (precipitation and temperature) and hydrology (runoff and water balance related information). Apart from the previously referred data, an hydrological model and a water management model were applied so as to obtain an extended range of data regarding runoff generation (calibrated to observed data) and water balance in the reservoirs (considering the climate change impacts in the inflows, outflows and water consumption). The water management model was defined in order to represent the reservoirs interaction including upstream to downstream discharges and water transfers. Under the present climate change context, decision-makers and stakeholders are ever more vulnerable to the uncertainties of climate. Projected climate in the Guadiana basin indicates an increase in temperatures and a reduction of the precipitation values which go well beyond the observed values and, therefore, must be forcefully included in any realistic proactive water resource management decision. Using the results of this study it is possible to estimate future water availability and consumption satisfaction allowing for the elaboration of informed management decisions. In this study, the CMIP 3 Global Climate Models were considered for the definition of the effects of climate change, using the median and extreme tendencies based on the range of variation of the multiple climate projection scenarios. The observed climate variability, along with these model-derived tendencies, were used to inform the hydrology and water management models for the historical and future periods, respectively. Additionally, for a more comprehensive analysis on climate variability, a stochastic model was implemented based on the paleoclimate variability obtained from tree-ring records.

Future of Alpine Water Resources : Uncertainty from Trees and Glaciers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ceperley, N. C.; Beria, H.; Michelon, A.; Schaefli, B.

2016-12-01

Alpine water resources are particularly susceptible to climate change, which presents a high risk to many of the ecologic and economic roles played by mountain environments. In Switzerland, water from glacier-fed catchments provides a large portion of hydroelectric power and water supply as well as a multitude of services including the creation and maintenance of biological communities and the physical landscape. Loss of glaciers will also pose indirect consequences, such as changing the hydrologic, biologic, and physical environment, for example opening up new surfaces for vegetation growth and forestation. Hydrologic models are a primary tool to predict these consequences. Quantifying evaporation is an on-going challenge for modeling, and changes in the partition between transpiration and evaporation from bare ground or sublimation from glaciers is a larve source of uncertainty in the alpine water balance. We just began an intensive monitoring program of hydrological processes in the Vallon de Nant, Switzerland (area of 14 km², altitude ranging from 1200 to 3051 m). This site is both a karst system and a protected area, making it a particularly interesting site to study eco-hydrologic processes. Monitoring of stable isotopes (δO18 and δD) in water combines with measurements of climate and hydrologic parameters to quantify flows through the components of the water balance and assess their certainty. Additionally, we are observing water use by trees at the upper limit of their habitat range. Our presentation will highlight the importance of in situ measurements to quantify the spatial and temporal variations in the water balance. We will discuss the innovative measurement techniques that we are deploying, the uncertainty from each component, and show the first results of our work.

Balancing shifting cultivation and forest conservation: lessons from a "sustainable landscape" in southeastern Mexico.

PubMed

Dalle, Sarah Paule; Pulido, María T; de Blois, Sylvie

2011-07-01

Shifting cultivation is often perceived to be a threat to forests, but it is also central to the culture and livelihoods of millions of people worldwide. Balancing agriculture and forest conservation requires knowledge of how agricultural land uses evolve in landscapes with forest conservation initiatives. Based on a case study from Quintana Roo, Mexico, and remote sensing data, we investigated land use and land cover change (LUCC) in relation to accessibility (from main settlement and road) in search of evidence for agricultural expansion and/or intensification after the initiation of a community forestry program in 1986. Intensification was through a shortening of the fallow period. Defining the sampling space as a function of human needs and accessibility to agricultural resources was critical to ensure a user-centered perspective of the landscape. The composition of the accessible landscape changed substantially between 1976 and 1997. Over the 21-year period studied, the local population saw the accessible landscape transformed from a heterogeneous array of different successional stages including mature forests to a landscape dominated by young fallows. We detected a dynamic characterized by intensification of shifting cultivation in the most accessible areas with milpas being felled more and more from young fallows in spite of a preference for felling secondary forests. We argue that the resulting landscape provides a poorer resource base for sustaining agricultural livelihoods and discuss ways in which agricultural change could be better addressed through participatory land use planning. Balancing agricultural production and forest conservation will become even more important in a context of intense negotiations for carbon credits, an emerging market that is likely to drive future land changes worldwide.

Balancing Hydronic Systems in Multifamily Buildings

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ruch, R.; Ludwig, P.; Maurer, T.

2014-07-01

In multifamily hydronic systems, temperature imbalance may be caused by undersized piping, improperly adjusted balancing valves, inefficient water temperature and flow levels, and owner/occupant interaction with the boilers, distribution and controls. The effects of imbalance include tenant discomfort, higher energy use intensity and inefficient building operation. This paper explores cost-effective distribution upgrades and balancing measures in multifamily hydronic systems, providing a resource to contractors, auditors, and building owners on best practices to improve tenant comfort and lower operating costs. The research was conducted by The Partnership for Advanced Residential Retrofit (PARR) in conjunction with Elevate Energy. The team surveyed existingmore » knowledge on cost-effective retrofits for optimizing distribution in typical multifamily hydronic systems, with the aim of identifying common situations and solutions, and then conducted case studies on two Chicago area buildings with known balancing issues in order to quantify the extent of temperature imbalance. At one of these buildings a booster pump was installed on a loop to an underheated wing of the building. This study found that unit temperature in a multifamily hydronic building can vary as much as 61 degrees F, particularly if windows are opened or tenants use intermittent supplemental heating sources like oven ranges. Average temperature spread at the building as a result of this retrofit decreased from 22.1 degrees F to 15.5 degrees F.« less

Building America Case Study: Balancing Hydronic Systems in Multifamily Buildings, Chicago, Illinois (Fact Sheet)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

2014-09-01

In multifamily hydronic systems, temperature imbalance may be caused by undersized piping, improperly adjusted balancing valves, inefficient water temperature and flow levels, and owner/occupant interaction with the boilers, distribution and controls. The effects of imbalance include tenant discomfort, higher energy use intensity and inefficient building operation. This paper explores cost-effective distribution upgrades and balancing measures in multifamily hydronic systems, providing a resource to contractors, auditors, and building owners on best practices to improve tenant comfort and lower operating costs. The research was conducted by The Partnership for Advanced Residential Retrofit (PARR) in conjunction with Elevate Energy. The team surveyed existingmore » knowledge on cost-effective retrofits for optimizing distribution in typical multifamily hydronic systems, with the aim of identifying common situations and solutions, and then conducted case studies on two Chicago area buildings with known balancing issues in order to quantify the extent of temperature imbalance. At one of these buildings a booster pump was installed on a loop to an underheated wing of the building. This study found that unit temperature in a multifamily hydronic building can vary as much as 61 degrees F, particularly if windows are opened or tenants use intermittent supplemental heating sources like oven ranges. Average temperature spread at the building as a result of this retrofit decreased from 22.1 degrees F to 15.5 degrees F.« less

Balancing investments in Federally Qualified Health Centers and Medicaid for improved access and coverage in Pennsylvania.

PubMed

Griffin, Paul M; Lee, Hyunji; Scherrer, Christina; Swann, Julie L

2014-12-01

Two common health disparities in the US include a lack of access to care and a lack of insurance coverage. To help address these disparities, healthcare reform will provide $11B to expand Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) over the next 5 years. In 2014, Medicaid rules will be modified so that more people will become eligible. There are, however, important tradeoffs in the investment in these two programs. We find a balanced investment between FQHC expansion and relaxing Medicaid eligibility to improve both access (by increasing the number of FQHCs) and coverage (by FQHC and Medicaid expansion) for the state of Pennsylvania. The comparison is achieved by integrating multi-objective mathematical models with several public data sets that allow for specific estimations of healthcare need. Demand is estimated based on current access and coverage status in order to target groups to be considered preferentially. Results show that for Pennsylvania, FQHCs are more cost effective than Medicaid if we invest all of the resources in just one policy. However, we find a better investment point balancing those two policies. This point is approximately where the additional expenses incurred from relaxing Medicaid eligibility equals the investment in FQHC expansion.

Social values and the limits to growth

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Christensen, B.L.; Norgard, J.S.

1974-01-01

A system dynamics method and the discipline of cultural sociology are applied to the argument for limiting growth by changing social values and life styles in order to balance human needs with finite materials and resources. Focus is on the U.S., where values and life styles, which have shaped technological development as well as capitalism, now threaten the basic needs they originally helped to meet. Basic needs considered are physical needs, security, human relations, and a balance between rest and activity. Values include rest and activity, achievement, rationalism, individualism, freedom, hierarchy, material comfort, work, and efficiency. Conflicts occur when onemore » value is over-emphasized rather than balanced by trade-offs. Changes in attitude do not need to be from one extreme to another, e.g., from conspicuous consumption to deprivation, but compromises can be accomplished through education and information. Primary socialization of children, which in the U.S. is a period of anxiety, should be a stabilizing time of close relationship with parents and a few adults and will require a major change in the way we value the family and establish work patterns. (42 references) (DCK)« less

Nutrient-sensing nuclear receptors PPARα and FXR control liver energy balance.

PubMed

Preidis, Geoffrey A; Kim, Kang Ho; Moore, David D

2017-04-03

The nuclear receptors PPARα (encoded by NR1C1) and farnesoid X receptor (FXR, encoded by NR1H4) are activated in the liver in the fasted and fed state, respectively. PPARα activation induces fatty acid oxidation, while FXR controls bile acid homeostasis, but both nuclear receptors also regulate numerous other metabolic pathways relevant to liver energy balance. Here we review evidence that they function coordinately to control key nutrient pathways, including fatty acid oxidation and gluconeogenesis in the fasted state and lipogenesis and glycolysis in the fed state. We have also recently reported that these receptors have mutually antagonistic impacts on autophagy, which is induced by PPARα but suppressed by FXR. Secretion of multiple blood proteins is a major drain on liver energy and nutrient resources, and we present preliminary evidence that the liver secretome may be directly suppressed by PPARα, but induced by FXR. Finally, previous studies demonstrated a striking deficiency in bile acid levels in malnourished mice that is consistent with results in malnourished children. We present evidence that hepatic targets of PPARα and FXR are dysregulated in chronic undernutrition. We conclude that PPARα and FXR function coordinately to integrate liver energy balance.

Estimation of evapotranspiration rate in irrigated lands using stable isotopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Umirzakov, Gulomjon; Windhorst, David; Forkutsa, Irina; Brauer, Lutz; Frede, Hans-Georg

2013-04-01

Agriculture in the Aral Sea basin is the main consumer of water resources and due to the current agricultural management practices inefficient water usage causes huge losses of freshwater resources. There is huge potential to save water resources in order to reach a more efficient water use in irrigated areas. Therefore, research is required to reveal the mechanisms of hydrological fluxes in irrigated areas. This paper focuses on estimation of evapotranspiration which is one of the crucial components in the water balance of irrigated lands. Our main objective is to estimate the rate of evapotranspiration on irrigated lands and partitioning of evaporation into transpiration using stable isotopes measurements. Experiments has done in 2 different soil types (sandy and sandy loam) irrigated areas in Ferghana Valley (Uzbekistan). Soil samples were collected during the vegetation period. The soil water from these samples was extracted via a cryogenic extraction method and analyzed for the isotopic ratio of the water isotopes (2H and 18O) based on a laser spectroscopy method (DLT 100, Los Gatos USA). Evapotranspiration rates were estimated with Isotope Mass Balance method. The results of evapotranspiration obtained using isotope mass balance method is compared with the results of Catchment Modeling Framework -1D model results which has done in the same area and the same time.

Balancing antagonistic time and resource utilization constraints in over-subscribed scheduling problems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Stephen F.; Pathak, Dhiraj K.

1991-01-01

In this paper, we report work aimed at applying concepts of constraint-based problem structuring and multi-perspective scheduling to an over-subscribed scheduling problem. Previous research has demonstrated the utility of these concepts as a means for effectively balancing conflicting objectives in constraint-relaxable scheduling problems, and our goal here is to provide evidence of their similar potential in the context of HST observation scheduling. To this end, we define and experimentally assess the performance of two time-bounded heuristic scheduling strategies in balancing the tradeoff between resource setup time minimization and satisfaction of absolute time constraints. The first strategy considered is motivated by dispatch-based manufacturing scheduling research, and employs a problem decomposition that concentrates local search on minimizing resource idle time due to setup activities. The second is motivated by research in opportunistic scheduling and advocates a problem decomposition that focuses attention on the goal activities that have the tightest temporal constraints. Analysis of experimental results gives evidence of differential superiority on the part of each strategy in different problem solving circumstances. A composite strategy based on recognition of characteristics of the current problem solving state is then defined and tested to illustrate the potential benefits of constraint-based problem structuring and multi-perspective scheduling in over-subscribe scheduling problems.

Community structure of vascular plants, arthropods, amphibians, and mollusks in managed forests of the Pacific Northwest (USA)

Treesearch

Stephanie J. Wessell-Kelly; Deanna H. Olson

2013-01-01

Increasing global demands on forest resources are driving large-scale shifts toward plantation forestry. Simultaneously balancing resource extraction and ecological sustainability objectives in plantation forests requires the incorporation of innovative silvicultural strategies such as leave islands (green-tree retention clusters). Our primary research goal was to...

Renewable Energy Deployment in Colorado and the West: Extended Policy Sensitivities

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Barrows, Clayton P.; Stoll, Brady; Mooney, Meghan E.

The Resource Planning Model is a capacity expansion model designed for a regional power system, such as a utility service territory, state, or balancing authority. We apply a geospatial analysis to Resource Planning Model renewable energy capacity expansion results to understand the likelihood of renewable development on various lands within Colorado.

Our Crowded Shores: Balancing Growth and Resource Protection. [CD-ROM].

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (DOC), Washington, DC. Environmental Data Service.

This interactive educational CD-ROM is designed for the general public and examines the extent of coastal population growth and development and their impact on coastal resources. High schools will find it a useful complement to environmental sciences curricula while science and visitors centers, museums, and aquariums will discover it to be a…

Balance, Diversity and Ethics in Public Policy Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thompson, Paul B.

Public policy for agriculture and natural resources must change as farming and the use of resources change, but policy also changes to reflect new understandings. The new understandings that will shape future agricultural policy may not come from food producers or agricultural scientists, and may not assume that expanding production is the primary…

18 CFR 367.2330 - Account 233, Notes payable to associate companies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... POWER ACT AND NATURAL GAS ACT Balance Sheet Chart of Accounts Current and Accrued Liabilities § 367.2330... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Account 233, Notes payable to associate companies. 367.2330 Section 367.2330 Conservation of Power and Water Resources...

18 CFR 367.2430 - Account 243, Obligations under capital leases-Current.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... POWER ACT AND NATURAL GAS ACT Balance Sheet Chart of Accounts Current and Accrued Liabilities § 367.2430... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Account 243, Obligations under capital leases-Current. 367.2430 Section 367.2430 Conservation of Power and Water Resources...

18 CFR 367.1460 - Account 146, Accounts receivable from associate companies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... POWER ACT AND NATURAL GAS ACT Balance Sheet Chart of Accounts Current and Accrued Assets § 367.1460... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Account 146, Accounts receivable from associate companies. 367.1460 Section 367.1460 Conservation of Power and Water Resources...

18 CFR 367.1740 - Account 174, Miscellaneous current and accrued assets.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... POWER ACT AND NATURAL GAS ACT Balance Sheet Chart of Accounts Current and Accrued Assets § 367.1740... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Account 174, Miscellaneous current and accrued assets. 367.1740 Section 367.1740 Conservation of Power and Water Resources...

18 CFR 367.1890 - Account 189, Unamortized loss on reacquired debt.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... POWER ACT AND NATURAL GAS ACT Balance Sheet Chart of Accounts Deferred Debits § 367.1890 Account 189... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Account 189, Unamortized loss on reacquired debt. 367.1890 Section 367.1890 Conservation of Power and Water Resources...

18 CFR 367.2340 - Account 234, Accounts payable to associate companies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... POWER ACT AND NATURAL GAS ACT Balance Sheet Chart of Accounts Current and Accrued Liabilities § 367.2340... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Account 234, Accounts payable to associate companies. 367.2340 Section 367.2340 Conservation of Power and Water Resources...

18 CFR 367.1450 - Account 145, Notes receivable from associate companies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... POWER ACT AND NATURAL GAS ACT Balance Sheet Chart of Accounts Current and Accrued Assets § 367.1450... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Account 145, Notes receivable from associate companies. 367.1450 Section 367.1450 Conservation of Power and Water Resources...

A Balancing Act: School Budgeting and Resource Allocation on a New Dual Language Campus

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Knight, David S.; Izquierdo, Elena; DeMatthews, David E.

2016-01-01

Dual language instructional models have great potential to create inclusive learning environments for traditional under-served students and boost student outcomes. However, principals face many barriers to implementation. One of the key challenges is aligning resources to ensure that the school has (a) an appropriate number of certificated…

Children's Cooperative and Competitive Interactions in Limited Resource Situations: A Literature Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Green, Vanessa A.; Rechis, Ruth

2006-01-01

The ability to balance cooperative and competitive behaviors has important implications for a child's overall development. While socially competent children appear to learn highly successful strategies for entering peer groups and negotiating access to limited resources, the development of this level of social competence can be challenging for…

78 FR 78466 - Meeting of the Regional Energy Resource Council

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-12-26

.... Public Comments 5. Council Discussion on the balancing of TVA's business objectives during Integrated Resource Planning. The RERC will hear opinions and views of citizens by providing a public comment session. The public comment session will be held at 10:00 a.m. EST, on January 23. Persons wishing to speak are...

Oral health-related resources - a salutogenic perspective on Swedish 19-year-olds.

PubMed

Lindmark, U; Abrahamsson, K H

2015-02-01

The aim was to explore health-oriented resources among 19-year-olds and, specifically, how these resources interact with oral health-related attitudes and behaviour. To represent individuals with various psychosocial environments and socioeconomic areas, the participants were selected from different geographical locations of the Public Dental Service clinics in the county of Jönköping, Sweden. A structured questionnaire was distributed, including the instrument 'sense of coherence', for description of the study group, followed by a semi-structured thematized interview. The qualitative method used for sampling and analyses was grounded theory. Data sampling and analysis were performed in parallel procedures and ended up in a sample of ten informants (five women). In the analysis of interview data, a core category was identified, 'Resources of Wealth and Balance in Life - a Foundation for Healthy Choices', describing the central meaning of the informants' perceptions of resources with an essential beneficial impact on oral health. The core category was built on five themes, which in turn had various subthemes, describing different dimensions of resources interacting with beneficial oral health-related attitudes and behaviour: 'Security-building Resources and Support', 'Driving force and Motivation', 'Maturity and Insight', 'Health Awareness' and 'Environmental influences.' The results elucidate personal and environmental health-oriented resources with influence on oral health-related attitudes and behaviours of young individuals. Such beneficial recourses should be recognized by dental personnel to promote oral health. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Shifting Sands: Balancing U.S. Interests in the Middle East. Teacher's Resource Book [and Student Text]. Public Policy Debate in the Classroom. Choices for the 21st Century.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blackadar, Andy

This teacher's resource book and student text are part of a continuing series on current and historical international issues, placing special emphasis on the importance of educating students in their participatory role as citizens. For the U.S. population, the oil resources of the Persian Gulf, attachment to Israel, and fears about terrorism and…

Challenging the Sacred Assumption: A Call for a Systemic Review of Army Aviation Maintenance

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-05-25

structure , training, equipping and sustainment. Each study intends to optimize the force structure to achieve a balance between the modernization and...operational budgets. Since 1994, Army Aviation force structures , training resources, available equipment and aircraft have changed significantly. Yet...and are focused on force structure , training, equipping and sustainment. Each study intends to optimize the force structure to achieve a balance

Evapotranspiration management based on the application of SWAT for balancing water consumption: A case study in Guantao, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Bin; Gan, Hong

2018-06-01

Rapid social and economic development results in increased demand for water resources. This can lead to the unsustainable development and exploitation of water resources which in turn causes significant environmental problems. Conventional water resource management approaches, such as supply and demand management strategies, frequently fail to restore regional water balance. This paper introduces the concept of water consumption balance, the balance between actual evapotranspiration (ET) and target ET, and establishes a framework to realize regional water balance. The framework consists of three stages: (1) determination of target ET and actual ET; (2) quantification of the water-saving requirements for the region; and (3) reduction of actual ET by implementing various water saving management strategies. Using this framework, a case study was conducted for Guantao County, China. The SWAT model was utilized to aid in the selection of the best water saving management strategy by comparing the ET of different irrigation methods and crop pattern adjustments. Simulation results revealed that determination of SWAT model parameters using remote sensing ET is feasible and that the model is a valuable tool for ET management. Irrigation was found to have a greater influence on the ET of winter wheat as compared to that of maize, indicating that reduction in winter wheat cultivation is the most effective way to reduce regional ET. However, the effect of water-saving irrigation methods on the reduction of ET was not obvious. This indicates that it would be difficult to achieve regional ET reduction using water-saving irrigation methods only. Furthermore, selecting the best water saving management strategy by relying solely on the amount of reduced ET was insufficient, because it ignored the impact of water conservation measures on the livelihood of the agricultural community. Incorporating these considerations with our findings, we recommend changing the current irrigation method to sprinkler irrigation and replacing 20% of the winter wheat-maize cultivated area with cotton, as the best strategy to achieve water balance in the study area.

NREL Integrate: RCS-4-42326

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hudgins, Andrew P.; Waight, Jim; Grover, Shailendra

OMNETRIC Corp., Duke Energy, CPS Energy, and the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) created a project team to execute the project 'OpenFMB Reference Architecture Demonstration.' The project included development and demonstration of concepts that will enable the electric utility grid to host larger penetrations of renewable resources. The project concept calls for the aggregation of renewable resources and loads into microgrids and the control of these microgrids with an implementation of the OpenFMB Reference Architecture. The production of power from the renewable resources that are appearing on the grid today is very closely linked to the weather. Themore » difficulty of forecasting the weather, which is well understood, leads to difficulty in forecasting the production of renewable resources. The current state of the art in forecasting the power production from renewables (solar PV and wind) are accuracies in the range of 12-25 percent NMAE. In contrast the demand for electricity aggregated to the system level, is easier to predict. The state of the art of demand forecasting done, 24 hours ahead, is about 2-3% MAPE. Forecasting the load to be supplied from conventional resources (demand minus generation from renewable resources) is thus very hard to forecast. This means that even a few hours before the time of consumption, there can be considerable uncertainty over what must be done to balance supply and demand. Adding to the problem of difficulty of forecasting, is the reality of the variability of the actual production of power from renewables. Due to the variability of wind speeds and solar insolation, the actual output of power from renewable resources can vary significantly over a short period of time. Gusts of winds result is variation of power output of wind turbines. The shadows of clouds moving over solar PV arrays result in the variation of power production of the array. This compounds the problem of balancing supply and demand in real time. Establishing a control system that can manage distribution systems with large penetrations of renewable resources is difficult due to two major issues: (1) the lack of standardization and interoperability between the vast array of equipment in operation and on the market, most of which use different and proprietary means of communication and (2) the magnitude of the network and the information it generates and consumes. The objective of this project is to provide the industry with a design concept and tools that will enable the electric power grid to overcome these barriers and support a larger penetration of clean energy from renewable resources.« less

The Watershed and River Systems Management Program: Decision Support for Water- and Environmental-Resource Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leavesley, G.; Markstrom, S.; Frevert, D.; Fulp, T.; Zagona, E.; Viger, R.

2004-12-01

Increasing demands for limited fresh-water supplies, and increasing complexity of water-management issues, present the water-resource manager with the difficult task of achieving an equitable balance of water allocation among a diverse group of water users. The Watershed and River System Management Program (WARSMP) is a cooperative effort between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) to develop and deploy a database-centered, decision-support system (DSS) to address these multi-objective, resource-management problems. The decision-support system couples the USGS Modular Modeling System (MMS) with the BOR RiverWare tools using a shared relational database. MMS is an integrated system of computer software that provides a research and operational framework to support the development and integration of a wide variety of hydrologic and ecosystem models, and their application to water- and ecosystem-resource management. RiverWare is an object-oriented reservoir and river-system modeling framework developed to provide tools for evaluating and applying water-allocation and management strategies. The modeling capabilities of MMS and Riverware include simulating watershed runoff, reservoir inflows, and the impacts of resource-management decisions on municipal, agricultural, and industrial water users, environmental concerns, power generation, and recreational interests. Forecasts of future climatic conditions are a key component in the application of MMS models to resource-management decisions. Forecast methods applied in MMS include a modified version of the National Weather Service's Extended Streamflow Prediction Program (ESP) and statistical downscaling from atmospheric models. The WARSMP DSS is currently operational in the Gunnison River Basin, Colorado; Yakima River Basin, Washington; Rio Grande Basin in Colorado and New Mexico; and Truckee River Basin in California and Nevada.

Balance Problems

MedlinePlus

... Other Resources Caregiving How To's Tools & Tips Latest Research Related Topics Arthritis Cataracts Fainting (Syncope) Falls Prevention Hearing Loss Macular Degeneration Physical Activity Related News Older Adults’ Use of Mobility ...

When time matters.

PubMed

Theadore, Jason C

2011-01-01

The most important organizational resource is energy. The most important resource in time management is energy. Managing energy, not time, can help create encouraging time management skills and appropriate work life balance. Once a leader understands that time should be spent on things that are important instead of everything that is urgent, you can begin to develop a balance that will support your values, your family, and your organization. When leaders find meaningful ways to add a sense of purpose to their work they can personally improve themselves and their organizations. If your personal values do not align with the values of your organization you will never work with a true sense of purpose. Make the time to manage your energy. You will be surprised how much free time you find.

National Laboratory Planning: Developing Sustainable Biocontainment Laboratories in Limited Resource Areas

PubMed Central

Adams, Martin; Stamper, Paul D.; Dasgupta, Debanjana; Hewson, Roger; Buck, Charles D.; Richards, Allen L.; Hay, John

2016-01-01

Strategic laboratory planning in limited resource areas is essential for addressing global health security issues. Establishing a national reference laboratory, especially one with BSL-3 or -4 biocontainment facilities, requires a heavy investment of resources, a multisectoral approach, and commitments from multiple stakeholders. We make the case for donor organizations and recipient partners to develop a comprehensive laboratory operations roadmap that addresses factors such as mission and roles, engaging national and political support, securing financial support, defining stakeholder involvement, fostering partnerships, and building trust. Successful development occurred with projects in African countries and in Azerbaijan, where strong leadership and a clear management framework have been key to success. A clearly identified and agreed management framework facilitate identifying the responsibility for developing laboratory capabilities and support services, including biosafety and biosecurity, quality assurance, equipment maintenance, supply chain establishment, staff certification and training, retention of human resources, and sustainable operating revenue. These capabilities and support services pose rate-limiting yet necessary challenges. Laboratory capabilities depend on mission and role, as determined by all stakeholders, and demonstrate the need for relevant metrics to monitor the success of the laboratory, including support for internal and external audits. Our analysis concludes that alternative frameworks for success exist for developing and implementing capabilities at regional and national levels in limited resource areas. Thus, achieving a balance for standardizing practices between local procedures and accepted international standards is a prerequisite for integrating new facilities into a country's existing public health infrastructure and into the overall international scientific community. PMID:27559843

Preservation and Conservation of Information Resources in the University of Zambia Library

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kanyengo, Christine Wamunyima

2009-01-01

Preservation and conservation of library materials is an important aspect of library and information management. Their importance and necessity are more paramount in countries where resources are limited and libraries need to balance them with the needs of an ever increasing number of students hoping to use them. This article reports on the…

The timber resources of the Olympic Peninsula, Washington.

Treesearch

C.L. Bolsinger

1969-01-01

The fourth inventory of the timber resources of the Olympic Peninsula shows a total of 3,105,000 acres of commercial forest land and 81,464 million board feet (International 114-inch scale) of sawtimber volume. Total timber volume has remained about the same for the past 12 years, and cut and growth currently are nearly in balance.

Dynamic Transfers Of Tasks Among Computers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liu, Howard T.; Silvester, John A.

1989-01-01

Allocation scheme gives jobs to idle computers. Ideal resource-sharing algorithm should have following characteristics: Dynamics, decentralized, and heterogeneous. Proposed enhanced receiver-initiated dynamic algorithm (ERIDA) for resource sharing fulfills all above criteria. Provides method balancing workload among hosts, resulting in improvement in response time and throughput performance of total system. Adjusts dynamically to traffic load of each station.

Allocation of Public Resources for Psychological Therapy between Types of Mental Health Condition: Towards Structural Balance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tustin, Don

2009-01-01

This paper addresses issues of allocating public resources efficiently between mental health conditions that are associated with different levels of disability, and presents an adaptation of an established framework to help decision-making in this area. The adapted framework refers to psychological interventions that are universal, indicated,…

18 CFR 367.2250 - Account 225, Unamortized premium on long-term debt.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... POWER ACT AND NATURAL GAS ACT Balance Sheet Chart of Accounts Long-Term Debt § 367.2250 Account 225... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Account 225, Unamortized premium on long-term debt. 367.2250 Section 367.2250 Conservation of Power and Water Resources...

Renewable Energy Deployment in Colorado and the West: A Modeling Sensitivity and GIS Analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Barrows, Clayton; Mai, Trieu; Haase, Scott

2016-03-01

The Resource Planning Model is a capacity expansion model designed for a regional power system, such as a utility service territory, state, or balancing authority. We apply a geospatial analysis to Resource Planning Model renewable energy capacity expansion results to understand the likelihood of renewable development on various lands within Colorado.

Two Studies of the Empirical Basis of Two Learning Resource-Oriented Motivational Strategies for Gifted Educators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vladut, Anamaria; Vialle, Wilma; Ziegler, Albert

2016-01-01

Two learning resource-oriented motivational strategies for gifted educators are introduced: a homeostatic orientation that aims for balance and an allostatic orientation that aims at growth. In order to establish the empirical basis of these motivational strategies, two studies were conducted with samples of students from a specialized…

75 FR 4842 - Notice of Availability of Record of Decision for the Yuma Field Office Resource Management Plan...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-01-29

... Conservation Service; the Yuma County Department of Public Works; the city of Yuma; the U.S. Army Yuma Proving..., recreational, geological, educational, scientific, and scenic values that balance multiple uses of the BLM... cultural resources for which the area is designated; (2) Recreation facilities are limited to projects that...

76 FR 75556 - Notice of Availability of the Proposed Resource Management Plan and Final Environmental Impact...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-12-02

... within 30 days of the date that the Environmental Protection Agency publishes this Notice in the Federal... call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1- (800) 877-8339 to contact the above individuals...; Alternative A, the Proposed RMP, which strives to balance resource uses with protections; Alternative B, which...

Burnout of Radiologists: Frequency, Risk Factors, and Remedies: A Report of the ACR Commission on Human Resources.

PubMed

Harolds, Jay A; Parikh, Jay R; Bluth, Edward I; Dutton, Sharon C; Recht, Michael P

2016-04-01

Burnout is a concern for radiologists. The burnout rate is greater among diagnostic radiologists than the mean for all physicians, while radiation oncologists have a slightly lower burnout rate. Burnout can result in unprofessional behavior, thoughts of suicide, premature retirement, and errors in patient care. Strategies to reduce burnout include addressing the sources of job dissatisfaction, instilling lifestyle balance, finding reasons to work other than money, improving money management, developing a support group, and seeking help when needed. Copyright © 2016 American College of Radiology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Algorithm of Development the World Ocean Mining of the Industry During the Global Crisis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nyrkov, Anatoliy; Budnik, Vladislav; Sokolov, Sergei; Chernyi, Sergei

2016-08-01

In the article reviewed extraction effect of hydrocarbons on the general country's developing, under the impact of economical, demographical and technological factors, as well as it's future role in the world energy balance. Also adduced facts which designate offshore and deep water production of unconventional and conventional hydrocarbons including mining of marine mineral resources as perspective area of development in the future, despite all the difficulties of this sector. In the article considered the state and prospects of the Russian continental shelf, in consideration of its geographical location and its all existing problems.

The Supreme Court, the commerce clause, and natural resources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matthews, Olen Paul

1988-07-01

The Supreme Court's interpretation of the commerce clause controls the balance of power between state and federal governments in the United States. An understanding of the relationship between the different government levels is essential for resource managers concerned with resource and environmental issues. This study examines selected Supreme Court decisions between 1976 and 1988 to answer three questions raised by the commerce clause: (1) Is the regulated item an article of commerce? (2) Do state laws burden interstate commerce? (3) Is federal commerce regulation limited? The balance of power among the justices and the commerce clause theories affecting the federal role in resource management are also examined. Since ratification of the Constitution, the Supreme Court has continuously increased federal power, but states have power to act independently as long as contradictory federal laws do not exist and state law does not impermissively affect commerce. If Congress regulates an individual's use of resources, their power is unquestioned. Future Court decisions will not significantly reduce the federal role in resource management even if the Court's membership changes. Even the supporters of states' rights on the Court realize increased federal power is a necessary part of the country's evolution. The purpose of the commerce clause is to create a national economic unit with free location principles. The Court supports this purpose today and will in the future.

Integrated urban water management for residential areas: a reuse model.

PubMed

Barton, A B; Argue, J R

2009-01-01

Global concern over growing urban water demand in the face of limited water resources has focussed attention on the need for better management of available water resources. This paper takes the "fit for purpose" concept and applies it in the development of a model aimed at changing current practices with respect to residential planning by integrating reuse systems into the design layout. This residential reuse model provides an approach to the design of residential developments seeking to maximise water reuse. Water balance modelling is used to assess the extent to which local water resources can satisfy residential demands with conditions based on the city of Adelaide, Australia. Physical conditions include a relatively flat topography and a temperate climate, with annual rainfall being around 500 mm. The level of water-self-sufficiency that may be achieved within a reuse development in this environment is estimated at around 60%. A case study is also presented in which a conventional development is re-designed on the basis of the reuse model. Costing of the two developments indicates the reuse scenario is only marginally more expensive. Such costings however do not include the benefit to upstream and downstream environments resulting from reduced demand and discharges. As governments look to developers to recover system augmentation and environmental costs the economics of such approaches will increase.

A short-term operating room surgery scheduling problem integrating multiple nurses roster constraints.

PubMed

Xiang, Wei; Yin, Jiao; Lim, Gino

2015-02-01

Operating room (OR) surgery scheduling determines the individual surgery's operation start time and assigns the required resources to each surgery over a schedule period, considering several constraints related to a complete surgery flow and the multiple resources involved. This task plays a decisive role in providing timely treatments for the patients while balancing hospital resource utilization. The originality of the present study is to integrate the surgery scheduling problem with real-life nurse roster constraints such as their role, specialty, qualification and availability. This article proposes a mathematical model and an ant colony optimization (ACO) approach to efficiently solve such surgery scheduling problems. A modified ACO algorithm with a two-level ant graph model is developed to solve such combinatorial optimization problems because of its computational complexity. The outer ant graph represents surgeries, while the inner graph is a dynamic resource graph. Three types of pheromones, i.e. sequence-related, surgery-related, and resource-related pheromone, fitting for a two-level model are defined. The iteration-best and feasible update strategy and local pheromone update rules are adopted to emphasize the information related to the good solution in makespan, and the balanced utilization of resources as well. The performance of the proposed ACO algorithm is then evaluated using the test cases from (1) the published literature data with complete nurse roster constraints, and 2) the real data collected from a hospital in China. The scheduling results using the proposed ACO approach are compared with the test case from both the literature and the real life hospital scheduling. Comparison results with the literature shows that the proposed ACO approach has (1) an 1.5-h reduction in end time; (2) a reduction in variation of resources' working time, i.e. 25% for ORs, 50% for nurses in shift 1 and 86% for nurses in shift 2; (3) an 0.25h reduction in individual maximum overtime (OT); and (4) an 42% reduction in the total OT of nurses. Comparison results with the real 10-workday hospital scheduling further show the advantage of the ACO in several measurements. Instead of assigning all surgeries by a surgeon to only one OR and the same nurses by traditional manual approach in hospital, ACO realizes a more balanced surgery arrangement by assigning the surgeries to different ORs and nurses. It eventually leads to shortening the end time within the confidential interval of [7.4%, 24.6%] with 95% confidence level. The ACO approach proposed in this paper efficiently solves the surgery scheduling problem with daily nurse roster while providing a shortened end time and relatively balanced resource allocations. It also supports the advantage of integrating the surgery scheduling with the nurse scheduling and the efficiency of systematic optimization considering a complete three-stage surgery flow and resources involved. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Balancing: a basic process in end-of-life cancer care.

PubMed

Thulesius, Hans; Håkansson, Anders; Petersson, Kerstin

2003-12-01

In this grounded theory study, the authors interviewed caregivers and patients in end-of-life cancer care and found Balancing to be a fundamental process explaining the problem-solving strategies of most participants and offering a comprehensive perspective on both health care in general and end-of-life cancer care in particular. Balancing stages were Weighing--sensing needs and wishes signaled by patients, gauging them against caregiver resources in diagnosing and care planning; Shifting--breaking bad news, changing care places, and treatments; and Compensating--controlling symptoms, educating and team-working, prioritizing and "stretching" time, innovating care methods, improvising, and maintaining the homeostasis of hope. The Balancing outcome is characterized by Compromising, or "Walking a fine line," at best an optimized situation, at worst a deceit.

Entanglement of Multi-qudit States Constructed by Linearly Independent Coherent States: Balanced Case

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Najarbashi, G.; Mirzaei, S.

2016-03-01

Multi-mode entangled coherent states are important resources for linear optics quantum computation and teleportation. Here we introduce the generalized balanced N-mode coherent states which recast in the multi-qudit case. The necessary and sufficient condition for bi-separability of such balanced N-mode coherent states is found. We particularly focus on pure and mixed multi-qubit and multi-qutrit like states and examine the degree of bipartite as well as tripartite entanglement using the concurrence measure. Unlike the N-qubit case, it is shown that there are qutrit states violating monogamy inequality. Using parity, displacement operator and beam splitters, we will propose a scheme for generating balanced N-mode entangled coherent states for even number of terms in superposition.

Local Residents Perception of Benefits and Losses From Protected Areas in India and Nepal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karanth, Krithi K.; Nepal, Sanjay K.

2012-02-01

High densities of people living around protected areas (PAs) in South Asia require management strategies to balance conservation goals and livelihood needs. Based on a survey of 777 households around five PAs in India and Nepal, this paper provides a comparative perspective of Indian and Nepali households' views of protected area benefits and costs, their attitude toward conservation in general, and attitude toward protected area staff. Results indicate mixed responses towards tourism, varying from very favorable in Nepal to less favorable in India. The majority (81%) held positive attitudes towards the existence and importance of PAs but had negative perceptions of PA staff (69%). Most residents perceived benefits from access to fuel wood, fodder and other PA resources including benefits from tourism, while crop and livestock losses from wildlife were the main costs. Households overall positive attitudes towards the PAs and conservation despite high losses from living around PAs suggests that local residents may support conservation if their livelihood needs are met. Comparisons of household attitudes and perceptions suggest that locally based strategies rather than top-down approaches are likely to be more effective. Extending PA benefits to smaller landholders, households that are highly resource-dependent or experiencing higher income losses from human-wildlife conflicts, and less educated residents are particularly important to balance costs and losses from living around protected areas.

Local residents perception of benefits and losses from protected areas in India and Nepal.

PubMed

Karanth, Krithi K; Nepal, Sanjay K

2012-02-01

High densities of people living around protected areas (PAs) in South Asia require management strategies to balance conservation goals and livelihood needs. Based on a survey of 777 households around five PAs in India and Nepal, this paper provides a comparative perspective of Indian and Nepali households' views of protected area benefits and costs, their attitude toward conservation in general, and attitude toward protected area staff. Results indicate mixed responses towards tourism, varying from very favorable in Nepal to less favorable in India. The majority (81%) held positive attitudes towards the existence and importance of PAs but had negative perceptions of PA staff (69%). Most residents perceived benefits from access to fuel wood, fodder and other PA resources including benefits from tourism, while crop and livestock losses from wildlife were the main costs. Households overall positive attitudes towards the PAs and conservation despite high losses from living around PAs suggests that local residents may support conservation if their livelihood needs are met. Comparisons of household attitudes and perceptions suggest that locally based strategies rather than top-down approaches are likely to be more effective. Extending PA benefits to smaller landholders, households that are highly resource-dependent or experiencing higher income losses from human-wildlife conflicts, and less educated residents are particularly important to balance costs and losses from living around protected areas.

A Total Management Measurement Model for the Naval Weapons Center

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-02-01

Efficiency Productivity Public safety Employee safety Safety’Sccurity Customer safety Product security _ Quality of worklife Corporate Concern for...3 Corporate-ievel measures should represent a balance of in-house expertise; types of customers; and issues that surpass the customers’ I expertise...consideration. Examining the balance of distribution of these resources is also important. Addressing these issues would link the best potential to the most

Defense Departmental Reporting System-Budgetary Was Not Effectively Implemented for the Army General Fund

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-05-31

or events. Unsupported journal vouchers increase the risk of materially misstated balances reported on the AGF financial statements. DFAS...with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles and that the Army automated systems did not support material amounts on the financial statements...files, abnormal balance detection , journal vouchers, and reconciliations between Army and OMB SF 133s and the Statements of Budgetary Resources

Specific interference between a cognitive task and sensory organization for stance balance control in healthy young adults: visuospatial effects.

PubMed

Chong, Raymond K Y; Mills, Bradley; Dailey, Leanna; Lane, Elizabeth; Smith, Sarah; Lee, Kyoung-Hyun

2010-07-01

We tested the hypothesis that a computational overload results when two activities, one motor and the other cognitive that draw on the same neural processing pathways, are performed concurrently. Healthy young adult subjects carried out two seemingly distinct tasks of maintaining standing balance control under conditions of low (eyes closed), normal (eyes open) or high (eyes open, sway-referenced surround) visuospatial processing load while concurrently performing a cognitive task of either subtracting backwards by seven or generating words of the same first letter. A decrease in the performance of the balance control task and a decrement in the speed and accuracy of responses were noted during the subtraction but not the word generation task. The interference in the subtraction task was isolated to the first trial of the high but not normal or low visuospatial conditions. Balance control improvements with repeated exposures were observed only in the low visuospatial conditions while performance in the other conditions remained compromised. These results suggest that sensory organization for balance control appear to draw on similar visuospatial computational resources needed for the subtraction but not the word generation task. In accordance with the theory of modularity in human performance, the contrast in results between the subtraction and word generation tasks suggests that the neural overload is related to competition for similar visuospatial processes rather than limited attentional resources. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evaluating Educational Resources for Inclusion in the Dig Texas Instructional Blueprints for Earth & Space Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jacobs, B. E.; Bohls-Graham, E.; Martinez, A. O.; Ellins, K. K.; Riggs, E. M.; Serpa, L. F.; Stocks, E.; Fox, S.; Kent, M.

2014-12-01

Today's instruction in Earth's systems requires thoughtful selection of curricula, and in turn, high quality learning activities that address modern Earth science. The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), which are intended to guide K-12 science instruction, further demand a discriminating selection process. The DIG (Diversity & Innovation in Geoscience) Texas Instructional Blueprints attempt to fulfill this practice by compiling vetted educational resources freely available online into units that are the building blocks of the blueprints. Each blueprint is composed of 9 three-week teaching units and serves as a scope and sequence for teaching a one-year Earth science course. In the earliest stages of the project, teams explored the Internet for classroom-worthy resources, including laboratory investigations, videos, visualizations, and readings, and submitted the educational resources deemed suitable for the project into the project's online review tool. Each team member evaluated the educational resources chosen by fellow team members according to a set of predetermined criteria that had been incorporated into the review tool. Resources rated as very good or excellent by all team members were submitted to the project PIs for approval. At this stage, approved resources became candidates for inclusion in the blueprint units. Team members tagged approved resources with descriptors for the type of resource and instructional strategy, and aligned these to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Earth and Space Science and the Earth Science Literacy Principles. Each team then assembled and sequenced resources according to content strand, balancing the types of learning experiences within each unit. Once units were packaged, teams then considered how they addressed the NGSS and identified the relevant disciplinary core ideas, crosscutting concepts, and science and engineering practices. In addition to providing a brief overview of the project, this presentation will detail the intensive review process educators utilized to determine the viability of the resources included in the blueprints. A short summary of first-year implementation results will be shared, along with the second year now in progress.

Sustaining the rural workforce: nursing perspectives on worklife challenges.

PubMed

Hunsberger, Mabel; Baumann, Andrea; Blythe, Jennifer; Crea, Mary

2009-01-01

Concerns have been raised about the sustainability of health care workforces in rural settings. According to the literature, rural nurses' work satisfaction varies with the resources and supports available to respond to specific challenges. Given the probable effects of stressors on retention, it is essential to understand the unique requirements of nurses in rural practice environments. To investigate whether nurses receive the resources and supports necessary to meet the challenges of rural practice. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 managers and 44 staff nurses in 19 selected rural hospitals in Ontario, Canada. The interviews were taped and transcripts interpreted through a thematic analysis. Major worklife themes were identified and analyzed within a healthy work environment model based on the work of Kristensen. Three interrelated dimensions of the model were relevant to workforce sustainability: the balance between demands and the resources of the person, the level of social support, and the degree of influence. The availability of resources and supports affected whether the nurses perceived challenges as stimulating or overwhelming. Deficits interfered with practice and the well-being of the nurses and patients. The nurses felt frustrated and powerless when they lacked resources, support, and influence to manage negative situations. Strategies to achieve workforce sustainability include resources to reduce stress in the workplace, education to meet the needs of new and experienced nurses, and offering of employment preferences to the workforce. Addressing resources, support, and influence of rural nurses is essential to alleviate workplace challenges and sustain the rural nursing workforce.

Building a safety culture in global health: lessons from Guatemala.

PubMed

Rice, Henry E; Lou-Meda, Randall; Saxton, Anthony T; Johnston, Bria E; Ramirez, Carla C; Mendez, Sindy; Rice, Eli N; Aidar, Bernardo; Taicher, Brad; Baumgartner, Joy Noel; Milne, Judy; Frankel, Allan S; Sexton, J Bryan

2018-01-01

Programmes to modify the safety culture have led to lasting improvements in patient safety and quality of care in high-income settings around the world, although their use in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) has been limited. This analysis explores (1) how to measure the safety culture using a health culture survey in an LMIC and (2) how to use survey data to develop targeted safety initiatives using a paediatric nephrology unit in Guatemala as a field test case. We used the Safety, Communication, Operational Reliability, and Engagement survey to assess staff views towards 13 health climate and engagement domains. Domains with low scores included personal burnout, local leadership, teamwork and work-life balance. We held a series of debriefings to implement interventions targeted towards areas of need as defined by the survey. Programmes included the use of morning briefings, expansion of staff break resources and use of teamwork tools. Implementation challenges included the need for education of leadership, limited resources and hierarchical work relationships. This report can serve as an operational guide for providers in LMICs for use of a health culture survey to promote a strong safety culture and to guide their quality improvement and safety programmes.

Building a safety culture in global health: lessons from Guatemala

PubMed Central

Rice, Henry E; Lou-Meda, Randall; Saxton, Anthony T; Johnston, Bria E; Ramirez, Carla C; Mendez, Sindy; Rice, Eli N; Aidar, Bernardo; Taicher, Brad; Baumgartner, Joy Noel; Milne, Judy; Frankel, Allan S; Sexton, J Bryan

2018-01-01

Programmes to modify the safety culture have led to lasting improvements in patient safety and quality of care in high-income settings around the world, although their use in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) has been limited. This analysis explores (1) how to measure the safety culture using a health culture survey in an LMIC and (2) how to use survey data to develop targeted safety initiatives using a paediatric nephrology unit in Guatemala as a field test case. We used the Safety, Communication, Operational Reliability, and Engagement survey to assess staff views towards 13 health climate and engagement domains. Domains with low scores included personal burnout, local leadership, teamwork and work–life balance. We held a series of debriefings to implement interventions targeted towards areas of need as defined by the survey. Programmes included the use of morning briefings, expansion of staff break resources and use of teamwork tools. Implementation challenges included the need for education of leadership, limited resources and hierarchical work relationships. This report can serve as an operational guide for providers in LMICs for use of a health culture survey to promote a strong safety culture and to guide their quality improvement and safety programmes. PMID:29607099

Distributed Coordination of Energy Storage with Distributed Generators

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yang, Tao; Wu, Di; Stoorvogel, Antonie A.

2016-07-18

With a growing emphasis on energy efficiency and system flexibility, a great effort has been made recently in developing distributed energy resources (DER), including distributed generators and energy storage systems. This paper first formulates an optimal coordination problem considering constraints at both system and device levels, including power balance constraint, generator output limits, storage energy and power capacity and charging/discharging efficiencies. An algorithm is then proposed to dynamically and automatically coordinate DERs in a distributed manner. With the proposed algorithm, the agent at each DER only maintains a local incremental cost and updates it through information exchange with a fewmore » neighbors, without relying on any central decision maker. Simulation results are used to illustrate and validate the proposed algorithm.« less

Mentoring SFRM: A New Approach to International Space Station Flight Control Training

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Huning, Therese; Barshi, Immanuel; Schmidt, Lacey

2009-01-01

The Mission Operations Directorate (MOD) of the Johnson Space Center is responsible for providing continuous operations support for the International Space Station (ISS). Operations support requires flight controllers who are skilled in team performance as well as the technical operations of the ISS. Space Flight Resource Management (SFRM), a NASA adapted variant of Crew Resource Management (CRM), is the competency model used in the MOD. ISS flight controller certification has evolved to include a balanced focus on development of SFRM and technical expertise. The latest challenge the MOD faces is how to certify an ISS flight controller (Operator) to a basic level of effectiveness in 1 year. SFRM training uses a twopronged approach to expediting operator certification: 1) imbed SFRM skills training into all Operator technical training and 2) use senior flight controllers as mentors. This paper focuses on how the MOD uses senior flight controllers as mentors to train SFRM skills.

Mass loss on Himalayan glacier endangers water resources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kehrwald, Natalie M.; Thompson, Lonnie G.; Tandong, Yao; Mosley-Thompson, Ellen; Schotterer, Ulrich; Alfimov, Vasily; Beer, Jürg; Eikenberg, Jost; Davis, Mary E.

2008-11-01

Ice cores drilled from glaciers around the world generally contain horizons with elevated levels of beta radioactivity including 36Cl and 3H associated with atmospheric thermonuclear bomb testing in the 1950s and 1960s. Ice cores collected in 2006 from Naimona'nyi Glacier in the Himalaya (Tibet) lack these distinctive marker horizons suggesting no net accumulation of mass (ice) since at least 1950. Naimona'nyi is the highest glacier (6050 masl) documented to be losing mass annually suggesting the possibility of similar mass loss on other high-elevation glaciers in low and mid-latitudes under a warmer Earth scenario. If climatic conditions dominating the mass balance of Naimona'nyi extend to other glaciers in the region, the implications for water resources could be serious as these glaciers feed the headwaters of the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra Rivers that sustain one of the world's most populous regions.

NASA strategic plan

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1994-01-01

The NASA Strategic Plan is a living document. It provides far-reaching goals and objectives to create stability for NASA's efforts. The Plan presents NASA's top-level strategy: it articulates what NASA does and for whom; it differentiates between ends and means; it states where NASA is going and what NASA intends to do to get there. This Plan is not a budget document, nor does it present priorities for current or future programs. Rather, it establishes a framework for shaping NASA's activities and developing a balanced set of priorities across the Agency. Such priorities will then be reflected in the NASA budget. The document includes vision, mission, and goals; external environment; conceptual framework; strategic enterprises (Mission to Planet Earth, aeronautics, human exploration and development of space, scientific research, space technology, and synergy); strategic functions (transportation to space, space communications, human resources, and physical resources); values and operating principles; implementing strategy; and senior management team concurrence.

Communities that care for families: the LINC Model for enhancing individual, family, and community resilience.

PubMed

Landau, Judith

2010-10-01

The resilience of families and communities is inextricably linked. Their healthy functioning relies on a balance of stressors and resources. Both can be jeopardized by major challenges such as socioeconomic change or natural and man-made disasters. Such events can cause increased incidences of physical and mental problems such as addiction, posttraumatic stress syndrome, and heart disease. Trauma breeds marginalization, abuse of power, and prejudice. How these stressors are handled is profoundly influenced by the degree of connectedness-attachment-to family and culture of origin. Connectedness can be enhanced by mobilizing support systems, facilitating access to resources, strengthening family, community and cultural ties, and fostering resilience. The LINC Model increases connectedness at the individual, family, and community levels. This article includes methods for designing interventions, studies and clinical vignettes that illustrate the application of the LINC Model, and examples of communities that have overcome major stress. © 2010 American Orthopsychiatric Association.

Performance of distributed multiscale simulations

PubMed Central

Borgdorff, J.; Ben Belgacem, M.; Bona-Casas, C.; Fazendeiro, L.; Groen, D.; Hoenen, O.; Mizeranschi, A.; Suter, J. L.; Coster, D.; Coveney, P. V.; Dubitzky, W.; Hoekstra, A. G.; Strand, P.; Chopard, B.

2014-01-01

Multiscale simulations model phenomena across natural scales using monolithic or component-based code, running on local or distributed resources. In this work, we investigate the performance of distributed multiscale computing of component-based models, guided by six multiscale applications with different characteristics and from several disciplines. Three modes of distributed multiscale computing are identified: supplementing local dependencies with large-scale resources, load distribution over multiple resources, and load balancing of small- and large-scale resources. We find that the first mode has the apparent benefit of increasing simulation speed, and the second mode can increase simulation speed if local resources are limited. Depending on resource reservation and model coupling topology, the third mode may result in a reduction of resource consumption. PMID:24982258

Assessment of Seasonal Water Balance Components over India Using Macroscale Hydrological Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Joshi, S.; Raju, P. V.; Hakeem, K. A.; Rao, V. V.; Yadav, A.; Issac, A. M.; Diwakar, P. G.; Dadhwal, V. K.

2016-12-01

Hydrological models provide water balance components which are useful for water resources assessment and for capturing the seasonal changes and impact of anthropogenic interventions and climate change. The study under description is a national level modeling framework for country India using wide range of geo-spatial and hydro-meteorological data sets for estimating daily Water Balance Components (WBCs) at 0.15º grid resolution using Variable Infiltration Capacity model. The model parameters were optimized through calibration of model computed stream flow with field observed yielding Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency between 0.5 to 0.7. The state variables, evapotranspiration (ET) and soil moisture were also validated, obtaining R2 values of 0.57 and 0.69, respectively. Using long-term meteorological data sets, model computation were carried to capture hydrological extremities. During 2013, 2014 and 2015 monsoon seasons, WBCs were estimated and were published in web portal with 2-day time lag. In occurrence of disaster events, weather forecast was ingested, high surface runoff zones were identified for forewarning and disaster preparedness. Cumulative monsoon season rainfall of 2013, 2014 and 2015 were 105, 89 and 91% of long period average (LPA) respectively (Source: India Meteorological Department). Analysis of WBCs indicated that corresponding seasonal surface runoff was 116, 81 and 86% LPA and evapotranspiration was 109, 104 and 90% LPA. Using the grid-wise data, the spatial variation in WBCs among river basins/administrative regions was derived to capture the changes in surface runoff, ET between the years and in comparison with LPA. The model framework is operational and is providing periodic account of national level water balance fluxes which are useful for quantifying spatial and temporal variation in basin/sub-basin scale water resources, periodical water budgeting to form vital inputs for studies on water resources and climate change.

Balancing the seen and unseen: Nurse educator as role model for critical thinking.

PubMed

Raymond, Christy; Profetto-McGrath, Joanne; Myrick, Florence; Strean, William B

2018-05-04

Critical thinking is an important indicator of student learning and is an essential outcome of baccalaureate nursing education. The role of nurse educators in the development of students' critical thinking has been overlooked despite the importance of their actions to facilitate critical thinking in nursing education. We used a constructivist grounded theory approach within a larger mixed methods triangulation study to explore how nurse educators revealed their critical thinking in practice. From the grounded theory approach, a model emerged from our research, outlining the important aspects of nurse educators' critical thinking and how it is revealed in the clinical setting. The important categories of this model include: a) fostering the student-educator relationship; b) role modeling critical thinking; c) mobilizing and operationalizing resources; as well as d) balancing factors that impact nurse educators' critical thinking. Our findings inform what is known about nurse educators' critical thinking and how it can be implemented in nurse educators' teaching practice. Given our findings, we offer recommendations for future nursing education practice and research, including the need to apply our findings in additional settings and further develop nurse educators' awareness of their own critical thinking. Crown Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Salt and its Role in Health and Disease Prevention from the Perspectives of Iranian Medicine and Modern Medicine.

PubMed

Mokhtari, Masoud; Vahid, Hamide

2016-05-01

Salt in Iranian medical sources is mentioned as Malh and has a special place in people's nutrition. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of correct use of salt on health and disease prevention in the context of Iranian medicine and its comparison with modern medicine. This article reviews Iranian medicine references on the usage of salt and its benefits. Additionally, modern medicine references were searched to identify the dos and don'ts of salt consumption. Then the results from both approaches were compared and analyzed. The main application salt in Iranian medical resources includes usage in latif supplier, solvent, dryer, laxative of phlegm and melancholy, slimy moisture body repellent, opening obstruction of liver and spleen, aid in digestion, beneficial for seeds and corruption of foods, appetizing, cold foods reformer and improving the flavor of foods. On the other hand, the major benefits of salt according to modern medicine resources are; aiding the balance of electrolytes and fluids, carry nutrients into cells, regulation of acid-base balance, support transfer of nerve impulses, regulate blood pressure, and secretion of gastric acid. According to the Iranian medicine, the amount and type of salt to maintain health and prevent diseases is determined based on factors such as temperament, age, health and disease, season, and location. While a unique approach is not prescribed for every individual, in modern medicine resources, a fixed set of guidelines is recommended for all healthy individuals. Consequently, the modern medicine pays less attention to physiological, structural, and genetic issues. Considering the importance of salt and its undeniable impact on human health, it is apparent that additional research is required to determine factors affecting the actual amount of salt per person.

Soil-Water Balance (SWB) model estimates of soil-moisture variability and groundwater recharge in the South Platte watershed, Colorado

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anderson, A. M.; Walker, E. L.; Hogue, T. S.; Ruybal, C. J.

2015-12-01

Unconventional energy production in semi-arid regions places additional stress on already over-allocated water systems. Production of shale gas and oil resources in northern Colorado has rapidly increased since 2010, and is expected to continue growing due to advances in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. This unconventional energy production has implications for the availability of water in the South Platte watershed, where water demand for hydraulic fracturing of unconventional shale resources reached ~16,000 acre-feet in 2014. Groundwater resources are often exploited to meet water demands for unconventional energy production in regions like the South Platte basin, where surface water supply is limited and allocated across multiple uses. Since groundwater is often a supplement to surface water in times of drought and peak demand, variability in modeled recharge estimates can significantly impact projected availability. In the current work we used the Soil-Water Balance Model (SWB) to assess the variability in model estimates of actual evapotranspiration (ET) and soil-moisture conditions utilized to derive estimates of groundwater recharge. Using both point source and spatially distributed data, we compared modeled actual ET and soil-moisture derived from several potential ET methods, such as Thornthwaite-Mather, Jense-Haise, Turc, and Hargreaves-Samani, to historic soil moisture conditions obtained through sources including the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE). In addition to a basin-scale analysis, we divided the South Platte watershed into sub-basins according to land cover to evaluate model capabilities of estimating soil-moisture parameters with variations in land cover and topography. Results ultimately allow improved prediction of groundwater recharge under future scenarios of climate and land cover change. This work also contributes to complementary subsurface groundwater modeling and decision support modeling in the South Platte.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Capece, John

The survival of Florida’s biodiversity and economy is dependent on finding ways to balance farm economics with proper management of water and other natural resources. Taking on this challenge of maximizing the delivery of ecosystems services from agricultural production systems is the mandate of the Hendry County Sustainable Biofuels Center. Given that sea level rise is the overarching, long-term threat to the south Florida and its ecosystems, the most valuable ecosystems services for the state of Florida are those that mitigate climate change. Biofuels are put forward as one approach to forestalling climate change, but its value as an industrymore » in providing this and other ecosystem services is unproven. The Sustainable Biofuels Center has developed a set of programs to both document and enhance the ecosystems services values of the evolving Florida biofuels industry. The Center engages in agricultural systems evaluation, sustainability indexing and sustainability research. Methods employed for documenting ecosystems services and costs include Life Cycle Assessment, Emergy Analysis, and optimization of cost-benefit functions. Radically new farming and economic compensation systems must be created and implemented if we are to achieve a successful agricultural business model built upon balanced revenue streams from these varied services. Accordingly, the Center also supports field research and demonstration projects to document the capacity for innovative farming systems to deliver ecosystems services such as water storage. To help promote the inclusion of ecosystems services considerations in farm operations, the program includes curriculum development at both the K-12 and college level, as well as programs to bring diverse stakeholders in to collaborative visioning process. Lastly, since county governments are often the level where new industry seek entry to the landscape, the Center is also developing metrics and tools through which economic development officers can evaluate business developer requests for tax breaks, land use changes and various other permissions and incentives against the economic and ecological benefits as well as any natural resource costs. Solving the underlying problem requires that agricultural lands provide society with a more balanced set of values in the form of food, energy, and ecosystem services through proper water, nutrient, and soil management. County-level programs can help realize that vision.« less

Balancing influence between actors in healthcare decision making

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Healthcare costs in most developed countries are not clearly linked to better patient and public health outcomes, but are rather associated with service delivery orientation. In the U.S. this has resulted in large variation in healthcare availability and use, increased cost, reduced employer participation in health insurance programs, and reduced overall population health outcomes. Recent U.S. healthcare reform legislation addresses only some of these issues. Other countries face similar healthcare issues. Discussion A major goal of healthcare is to enhance patient health outcomes. This objective is not realized in many countries because incentives and structures are currently not aligned for maximizing population health. The misalignment occurs because of the competing interests between "actors" in healthcare. In a simplified model these are individuals motivated to enhance their own health; enterprises (including a mix of nonprofit, for profit and government providers, payers, and suppliers, etc.) motivated by profit, political, organizational and other forces; and government which often acts in the conflicting roles of a healthcare payer and provider in addition to its role as the representative and protector of the people. An imbalance exists between the actors, due to the resources and information control of the enterprise and government actors relative to the individual and the public. Failure to use effective preventive interventions is perhaps the best example of the misalignment of incentives. We consider the current Pareto efficient balance between the actors in relation to the Pareto frontier, and show that a significant change in the healthcare market requires major changes in the utilities of the enterprise and government actors. Summary A variety of actions are necessary for maximizing population health within the constraints of available resources and the current balance between the actors. These actions include improved transparency of all aspects of medical decision making, greater involvement of patients in shared medical decision making, greater oversight of guideline development and coverage decisions, limitations on direct to consumer advertising, and the need for an enhanced role of the government as the public advocate. PMID:21504599

Integrating Solar PV in Utility System Operations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mills, A.; Botterud, A.; Wu, J.

2013-10-31

This study develops a systematic framework for estimating the increase in operating costs due to uncertainty and variability in renewable resources, uses the framework to quantify the integration costs associated with sub-hourly solar power variability and uncertainty, and shows how changes in system operations may affect these costs. Toward this end, we present a statistical method for estimating the required balancing reserves to maintain system reliability along with a model for commitment and dispatch of the portfolio of thermal and renewable resources at different stages of system operations. We estimate the costs of sub-hourly solar variability, short-term forecast errors, andmore » day-ahead (DA) forecast errors as the difference in production costs between a case with “realistic” PV (i.e., subhourly solar variability and uncertainty are fully included in the modeling) and a case with “well behaved” PV (i.e., PV is assumed to have no sub-hourly variability and can be perfectly forecasted). In addition, we highlight current practices that allow utilities to compensate for the issues encountered at the sub-hourly time frame with increased levels of PV penetration. In this analysis we use the analytical framework to simulate utility operations with increasing deployment of PV in a case study of Arizona Public Service Company (APS), a utility in the southwestern United States. In our analysis, we focus on three processes that are important in understanding the management of PV variability and uncertainty in power system operations. First, we represent the decisions made the day before the operating day through a DA commitment model that relies on imperfect DA forecasts of load and wind as well as PV generation. Second, we represent the decisions made by schedulers in the operating day through hour-ahead (HA) scheduling. Peaking units can be committed or decommitted in the HA schedules and online units can be redispatched using forecasts that are improved relative to DA forecasts, but still imperfect. Finally, we represent decisions within the operating hour by schedulers and transmission system operators as real-time (RT) balancing. We simulate the DA and HA scheduling processes with a detailed unit-commitment (UC) and economic dispatch (ED) optimization model. This model creates a least-cost dispatch and commitment plan for the conventional generating units using forecasts and reserve requirements as inputs. We consider only the generation units and load of the utility in this analysis; we do not consider opportunities to trade power with neighboring utilities. We also do not consider provision of reserves from renewables or from demand-side options. We estimate dynamic reserve requirements in order to meet reliability requirements in the RT operations, considering the uncertainty and variability in load, solar PV, and wind resources. Balancing reserve requirements are based on the 2.5th and 97.5th percentile of 1-min deviations from the HA schedule in a previous year. We then simulate RT deployment of balancing reserves using a separate minute-by-minute simulation of deviations from the HA schedules in the operating year. In the simulations we assume that balancing reserves can be fully deployed in 10 min. The minute-by-minute deviations account for HA forecasting errors and the actual variability of the load, wind, and solar generation. Using these minute-by-minute deviations and deployment of balancing reserves, we evaluate the impact of PV on system reliability through the calculation of the standard reliability metric called Control Performance Standard 2 (CPS2). Broadly speaking, the CPS2 score measures the percentage of 10-min periods in which a balancing area is able to balance supply and demand within a specific threshold. Compliance with the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) reliability standards requires that the CPS2 score must exceed 90% (i.e., the balancing area must maintain adequate balance for 90% of the 10-min periods). The combination of representing DA forecast errors in the DA commitments, using 1-min PV data to simulate RT balancing, and estimates of reliability performance through the CPS2 metric, all factors that are important to operating systems with increasing amounts of PV, makes this study unique in its scope.« less

Identifying community healthcare supports for the elderly and the factors affecting their aging care model preference: evidence from three districts of Beijing.

PubMed

Liu, Tianyang; Hao, Xiaoning; Zhang, Zhenzhong

2016-11-15

The Chinese tradition of filial piety, which prioritized family-based care for the elderly, is transitioning and elders can no longer necessarily rely on their children. The purpose of this study was to identify community support for the elderly, and analyze the factors that affect which model of old-age care elderly people dwelling in communities prefer. We used the database "Health and Social Support of Elderly Population in Community". Questionnaires were issued in 2013, covering 3 districts in Beijing. A group of 1036 people over 60 years in age were included in the study. The respondents' profile variables were organized in Andersen's Model and community healthcare resource factors were added. A multinomial logistic model was applied to analyze the factors associated with the desired aging care models. Cohabiting with children and relying on care from family was still the primary desired aging care model for seniors (78 %), followed by living in institutions (14.8 %) and living at home independently while relying on community resources (7.2 %). The regression result indicated that predisposing, enabling and community factors were significantly associated with the aging care model preference. Specifically, compared with those who preferred to cohabit with children, those having higher education, fewer available family and friend helpers, and shorter distance to healthcare center were more likely to prefer to live independently and rely on community support. And compared with choosing to live in institutions, those having fewer available family and friend helpers and those living alone were more likely to prefer to live independently and rely on community. Need factors (health and disability condition) were not significantly associated with desired aging care models, indicating that desired aging care models were passive choices resulted from the balancing of family and social caring resources. In Beijing, China, aging care arrangement preference is the result of balancing family care resources, economic and social status, and the accessibility of community resources. Community facilities and services supporting elderly were found to be insufficient. For China's future health system, efforts should be made to improve community capacity to provide integrated services to senior citizens.

Groundwater discharge to the Mississippi River and groundwater balances for the Interstate 94 Corridor surficial aquifer, Clearwater to Elk River, Minnesota, 2012–14

USGS Publications Warehouse

Smith, Erik A.; Lorenz, David L.; Kessler, Erich W.; Berg, Andrew M.; Sanocki, Chris A.

2017-12-13

The Interstate 94 Corridor has been identified as 1 of 16 Minnesota groundwater areas of concern because of its limited available groundwater resources. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, completed six seasonal and annual groundwater balances for parts of the Interstate 94 Corridor surficial aquifer to better understand its long-term (next several decades) sustainability. A high-precision Mississippi River groundwater discharge measurement of 5.23 cubic feet per second per mile was completed at low-flow conditions to better inform these groundwater balances. The recharge calculation methods RISE program and Soil-Water-Balance model were used to inform the groundwater balances. For the RISE-derived recharge estimates, the range was from 3.30 to 11.91 inches per year; for the SWB-derived recharge estimates, the range was from 5.23 to 17.06 inches per year.Calculated groundwater discharges ranged from 1.45 to 5.06 cubic feet per second per mile, a ratio of 27.7 to 96.4 percent of the measured groundwater discharge. Ratios of groundwater pumping to total recharge ranged from 8.6 to 97.2 percent, with the longer-term groundwater balances ranging from 12.9 to 19 percent. Overall, this study focused on the surficial aquifer system and its interactions with the Mississippi River. During the study period (October 1, 2012, through November 30, 2014), six synoptic measurements, along with continuous groundwater hydrographs, rainfall records, and a compilation of the pertinent irrigation data, establishes the framework for future groundwater modeling efforts.

Spatial Irrigation Management Using Remote Sensing Water Balance Modeling and Soil Water Content Monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barker, J. Burdette

Spatially informed irrigation management may improve the optimal use of water resources. Sub-field scale water balance modeling and measurement were studied in the context of irrigation management. A spatial remote-sensing-based evapotranspiration and soil water balance model was modified and validated for use in real-time irrigation management. The modeled ET compared well with eddy covariance data from eastern Nebraska. Placement and quantity of sub-field scale soil water content measurement locations was also studied. Variance reduction factor and temporal stability were used to analyze soil water content data from an eastern Nebraska field. No consistent predictor of soil water temporal stability patterns was identified. At least three monitoring locations were needed per irrigation management zone to adequately quantify the mean soil water content. The remote-sensing-based water balance model was used to manage irrigation in a field experiment. The research included an eastern Nebraska field in 2015 and 2016 and a western Nebraska field in 2016 for a total of 210 plot-years. The response of maize and soybean to irrigation using variations of the model were compared with responses from treatments using soil water content measurement and a rainfed treatment. The remote-sensing-based treatment prescribed more irrigation than the other treatments in all cases. Excessive modeled soil evaporation and insufficient drainage times were suspected causes of the model drift. Modifying evaporation and drainage reduced modeled soil water depletion error. None of the included response variables were significantly different between treatments in western Nebraska. In eastern Nebraska, treatment differences for maize and soybean included evapotranspiration and a combined variable including evapotranspiration and deep percolation. Both variables were greatest for the remote-sensing model when differences were found to be statistically significant. Differences in maize yield in 2015 were attributed to random error. Soybean yield was lowest for the remote-sensing-based treatment and greatest for rainfed, possibly because of overwatering and lodging. The model performed well considering that it did not include soil water content measurements during the season. Future work should improve the soil evaporation and drainage formulations, because of excessive precipitation and include aerial remote sensing imagery and soil water content measurement as model inputs.

Modulation of working memory load distinguishes individuals with and without balance impairments following mild traumatic brain injury.

PubMed

Woytowicz, Elizabeth J; Sours, Chandler; Gullapalli, Rao P; Rosenberg, Joseph; Westlake, Kelly P

2018-01-01

Balance and gait deficits can persist after mild traumatic brain injury (TBI), yet an understanding of the underlying neural mechanism remains limited. The purpose of this study was to investigate differences in attention network modulation in patients with and without balance impairments 2-8 weeks following mild TBI. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we compared activity and functional connectivity of cognitive brain regions of the default mode, central-executive and salience networks during a 2-back working memory task in participants with mild TBI and balance impairments (n = 7, age 47 ± 15 years) or no balance impairments (n = 7, age 47 ± 15 years). We first identified greater activation in the lateral occipital cortex in the balance impaired group. Second, we observed stronger connectivity of left pre-supplementary motor cortex in the balance impaired group during the working memory task, which was related to decreased activation of regions within the salience and central executive networks and greater suppression of the default mode network. Results suggest a link between impaired balance and modulation of cognitive resources in patients in mTBI. Findings also highlight the potential importance of moving beyond traditional balance assessments towards an integrative assessment of cognition and balance in this population.

Management of the water balance and quality in mining areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pasanen, Antti; Krogerus, Kirsti; Mroueh, Ulla-Maija; Turunen, Kaisa; Backnäs, Soile; Vento, Tiia; Veijalainen, Noora; Hentinen, Kimmo; Korkealaakso, Juhani

2015-04-01

Although mining companies have long been conscious of water related risks they still face environmental management problems. These problems mainly emerge because mine sites' water balances have not been adequately assessed in the stage of the planning of mines. More consistent approach is required to help mining companies identify risks and opportunities related to the management of water resources in all stages of mining. This approach requires that the water cycle of a mine site is interconnected with the general hydrologic water cycle. In addition to knowledge on hydrological conditions, the control of the water balance in the mining processes require knowledge of mining processes, the ability to adjust process parameters to variable hydrological conditions, adaptation of suitable water management tools and systems, systematic monitoring of amounts and quality of water, adequate capacity in water management infrastructure to handle the variable water flows, best practices to assess the dispersion, mixing and dilution of mine water and pollutant loading to receiving water bodies, and dewatering and separation of water from tailing and precipitates. WaterSmart project aims to improve the awareness of actual quantities of water, and water balances in mine areas to improve the forecasting and the management of the water volumes. The study is executed through hydrogeological and hydrological surveys and online monitoring procedures. One of the aims is to exploit on-line water quantity and quality monitoring for the better management of the water balances. The target is to develop a practical and end-user-specific on-line input and output procedures. The second objective is to develop mathematical models to calculate combined water balances including the surface, ground and process waters. WSFS, the Hydrological Modeling and Forecasting System of SYKE is being modified for mining areas. New modelling tools are developed on spreadsheet and system dynamics platforms to systematically integrate all water balance components (groundwater, surface water, infiltration, precipitation, mine water facilities and operations etc.) into overall dynamic mine site considerations. After coupling the surface and ground water models (e.g. Feflow and WSFS) with each other, they are compared with Goldsim. The third objective is to integrate the monitoring and modelling tools into the mine management system and process control. The modelling and predictive process control can prevent flood situations, ensure water adequacy, and enable the controlled mine water treatment. The project will develop a constantly updated management system for water balance including both natural waters and process waters.

Balancing act: approaches to healthy eating and physical activity among Boston public housing residents.

PubMed

Scammell, Madeleine Kangsen; Torres, Shioban; Wayman, Julie; Greenwood, Nechama; Thomas, Gerry; Kozlowski, Lauren; Bowen, Deborah

2015-01-01

Boston public housing residents are more likely to report fair or poor health status, been diagnosed with obesity, and to be physically inactive compared with other Boston residents (Digenis-Bury, Brooks, Chen, Ostrem, & Horsburgh, 2008 ). Little is known about perceptions of and opportunities for healthy eating and physical activity in this population. We conducted eight focus groups at public housing developments to explore residents' views regarding opportunities and barriers to healthy eating and physical activity. Sixty-seven English- and Spanish-speaking residents participated. Transcripts were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. All residents described the challenge of balancing considerations of food quality, access, and affordability. Other findings included underutilized nutritional resources; abundant availability of unhealthy food; and economic and structural barriers to exercise. Transportation-related challenges were a dominant theme. Building opportunities for physical activity and providing access to affordable and quality food choices may be important interventions for promoting health among public housing residents.

Distributed storage and cloud computing: a test case

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Piano, S.; Delia Ricca, G.

2014-06-01

Since 2003 the computing farm hosted by the INFN Tier3 facility in Trieste supports the activities of many scientific communities. Hundreds of jobs from 45 different VOs, including those of the LHC experiments, are processed simultaneously. Given that normally the requirements of the different computational communities are not synchronized, the probability that at any given time the resources owned by one of the participants are not fully utilized is quite high. A balanced compensation should in principle allocate the free resources to other users, but there are limits to this mechanism. In fact, the Trieste site may not hold the amount of data needed to attract enough analysis jobs, and even in that case there could be a lack of bandwidth for their access. The Trieste ALICE and CMS computing groups, in collaboration with other Italian groups, aim to overcome the limitations of existing solutions using two approaches: sharing the data among all the participants taking full advantage of GARR-X wide area networks (10 GB/s) and integrating the resources dedicated to batch analysis with the ones reserved for dynamic interactive analysis, through modern solutions as cloud computing.

77 FR 14832 - Plumchoice, Inc., Including On-Site Leased Workers From Balance Staffing, Insight Global Staffing...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-03-13

...., Including On-Site Leased Workers From Balance Staffing, Insight Global Staffing, and Technisource..., 2012, applicable to workers of PlumChoice, Inc., including on-site leased workers from Balance Staffing... leased workers from Balance Staffing, Insight Global Staffing, and Technisource, Scarborough, Maine, who...

Distributed modelling of water resources in the Lower Jordan River Basin - from present day variability to suitability for new water sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gunkel, Anne; Lange, Jens

2010-05-01

The Middle East is characterized by a high temporal and spatial variability of rainfall. As a result, water resources are not reliable and severe drought events are frequent, worsening the natural water scarcity. Single high magnitude events may dominate the water balance of entire seasons - a fact that is poorly represented in the assessments of available water resources that are normally based on long term averages. Therefore, a distributed hydrological model with a high temporal and spatial resolution is applied to the Lower Jordan River basin (LJRB). The focus is hereby to capture the variability of rainfall and to investigate how this signal is amplified in the hydrological cycle in this arid and semi arid environment. Rainfall variability is addressed through a volume scanning rainfall radar providing precipitation data with a resolution of 5 minutes for entire seasons that serves as input to a conceptual hydrological model. The raw radar data recorded by a C-Band system was pre-corrected by a multiple regression approach prior to regionalization to the LJRB, ground truthing with rainfall station data and conditional merging. Despite certain uncertainties, the data documents the accentuated rainfall variability in the entire LJRB. In order to include the full range of present rainfall variability, one average and two extreme seasons (wet and dry) are studied. Hydrological modelling is undertaken with a new modelling tool created by coupling two hydrological models, TRAIN and ZIN, complementing each other in respect to the addressed processes and water fluxes. The resulting modelling tool enables conceptual modelling of the processes relevant for semi-arid / arid environments with a high temporal and spatial resolution. The model is applied to the large scale LJRB (16,000 km²) in order to simulate all components of the water balance for three rainy seasons representing the present climate variability. Under given conditions of low data availability, the results give a basin wide view on the availability of surface water resources without human intervention with a high resolution in time (5 min) and space (up to 250 x 250 m²). The scarcity of water resources in many areas within the region is illustrated and detailed maps of the water balance components reveal spatial pattern of water availability characterizing the different potentials of regions or sub basins for water management options. Moreover, comparing different climate conditions provides valuable information for water management, including insights into the relation between green and blue water. For instance, runoff generation and percolation react stronger to changes in precipitation than evapotranspiration and the changes in runoff and percolation are considerably higher than the differences in rainfall between the three years. This amplification of rainfall variability by the hydrological cycle is significant for water management. Based on the results for current conditions, the impact of different scenarios and management options is analyzed, e.g. the effect of land use changes or the suitability of different regions for rainwater harvesting, one of the urgently needed new water sources.

Idaho National Laboratory Cultural Resource Management Plan

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Julie Braun Williams

As a federal agency, the U.S. Department of Energy has been directed by Congress, the U.S. president, and the American public to provide leadership in the preservation of prehistoric, historic, and other cultural resources on the lands it administers. This mandate to preserve cultural resources in a spirit of stewardship for the future is outlined in various federal preservation laws, regulations, and guidelines such as the National Historic Preservation Act, the Archaeological Resources Protection Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act. The purpose of this Cultural Resource Management Plan is to describe how the Department of Energy, Idaho Operations Officemore » will meet these responsibilities at Idaho National Laboratory in southeastern Idaho. The Idaho National Laboratory is home to a wide variety of important cultural resources representing at least 13,500 years of human occupation in the southeastern Idaho area. These resources are nonrenewable, bear valuable physical and intangible legacies, and yield important information about the past, present, and perhaps the future. There are special challenges associated with balancing the preservation of these sites with the management and ongoing operation of an active scientific laboratory. The Department of Energy, Idaho Operations Office is committed to a cultural resource management program that accepts these challenges in a manner reflecting both the spirit and intent of the legislative mandates. This document is designed for multiple uses and is intended to be flexible and responsive to future changes in law or mission. Document flexibility and responsiveness will be assured through regular reviews and as-needed updates. Document content includes summaries of Laboratory cultural resource philosophy and overall Department of Energy policy; brief contextual overviews of Laboratory missions, environment, and cultural history; and an overview of cultural resource management practices. A series of appendices provides important details that support the main text.« less

Storing and sharing water in sand rivers: a water balance modelling approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Love, D.; van der Zaag, P.; Uhlenbrook, S.

2009-04-01

Sand rivers and sand dams offer an alternative to conventional surface water reservoirs for storage. The alluvial aquifers that make up the beds of sand rivers can store water with minimal evaporation (extinction depth is 0.9 m) and natural filtration. The alluvial aquifers of the Mzingwane Catchment are the most extensive of any tributaries in the Limpopo Basin. The lower Mzingwane aquifer, which is currently underutilised, is recharged by managed releases from Zhovhe Dam (capacity 133 Mm3). The volume of water released annually is only twice the size of evaporation losses from the dam; the latter representing nearly one third of the dam's storage capacity. The Lower Mzingwane valley currently support commercial agro-businesses (1,750 ha irrigation) and four smallholder irrigation schemes (400 ha with provision for a further 1,200 ha). In order to support planning for optimising water use and storage over evaporation and to provide for more equitable water allocation, the spreadsheet-based balance model WAFLEX was used. It is a simple and userfriendly model, ideal for use by institutions such as the water management authorities in Zimbabwe which are challenged by capacity shortfalls and inadequate data. In this study, WAFLEX, which is normally used for accounting the surface water balance, is adapted to incorporate alluvial aquifers into the water balance, including recharge, baseflow and groundwater flows. Results of the WAFLEX modelling suggest that there is surplus water in the lower Mzingwane system, and thus there should not be any water conflicts. Through more frequent timing of releases from the dam and maintaining the alluvial aquifers permanently saturated, less evaporation losses will occur in the system and the water resources can be better shared to provide more irrigation water for smallholder farmers in the highly resource-poor communal lands along the river. Sand dams are needed to augment the aquifer storage system and improve access to water. An alternative to the current scenario was modelled in WAFLEX: making fuller use of the alluvial aquifers upstream and downstream of Zhovhe Dam. These alluvial aquifers have an estimated average water storage capacity of 0.37 Mm3 km

Resources, Environment, and Population: The Nature of Future Limits. Population Bulletin, Vol. 34, No. 3, August 1979.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ridker, Ronald G.; Cecelski, Elizabeth W.

To determine the current status and possible trends in the balance between global population growth and natural resources, the bulletin examines demands presented by population and economic growth at various periods throughout history. Periods examined are the recent past, the present to the year 2025, and the long term. Factors focused upon…

Experiences of Latina First Generation College Students: Exploring Resources Supporting the Balancing of Academic Pursuits and Family Life

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Corona-Ordonez, Hercilia B.

2013-01-01

This study used a qualitative interview approach and thematic analysis (Braune and Clark, 2006) to interview first generation college student Latinas, exploring their experiences with higher education, their navigation/negotiation of resources for academic success and for wellness of self and family, and barriers they face as they attempt to both…

Growth, Technology, Planning, and Geographic Education in Central Florida: Images and Encounters. Pathways in Geography Resource Publication: No. 16.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oldakowski, Ray, Ed.; Molina, Laurie, Ed.; Purdum, Betsy, Ed.

This guide presents examples of Florida's unique natural environments, its attempts to preserve natural areas, and to perform the careful balancing act required to encourage development for its ever growing transient and permanent resident populations without destroying valuable natural resources. The volume offers a look at some of the less…

Investigating Teachers' Exploration of a Professional Development Website: An Innovative Approach to Understanding the Factors that Motivate Teachers to Use Internet-Based Resources

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beach, Pamela; Willows, Dale

2014-01-01

This qualitative study examined an innovative methodology, combining screen capture technology and a retrospective think aloud, for exploring the use of Internet-based resources by elementary teachers. Pre-service and in-service teachers explored "The Balanced Literacy Diet," a free, interactive, and evidenced-informed professional…

Downsizing a long-term precipitation network: Using a quantitative approach to inform difficult decisions

Treesearch

Mark B. Green; John L. Campbell; Ruth D. Yanai; Scott W. Bailey; Amey S. Bailey; Nicholas Grant; Ian Halm; Eric P. Kelsey; Lindsey E. Rustad

2018-01-01

The design of a precipitation monitoring network must balance the demand for accurate estimates with the resources needed to build and maintain the network. If there are changes in the objectives of the monitoring or the availability of resources, network designs should be adjusted. At the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire, USA, precipitation has been...

Water Resources for our Cities. Resource Papers for College Geography No. 78-2.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baumann, Duane D.; Dworkin, Daniel

This paper argues that a re-examination of current goals and methodologies and modifications to management practices are necessary if urban water crises are to be minimized. Three problem areas are focused on: (1) the projection of demand and the estimation of supply; (2) the alternatives for balancing demand and supply; and (3) the management of…

Ecosystem Modelling for Impact Assessment of Possible Methane Leakage during Methane Hydrate Utilization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yamazaki, T.; Nakano, Y.; Monoe, D.; Oomi, T.; Doi, T.; Nakata, K.; Fukushima, T.

2005-05-01

Natural methane hydrate has been scientifically studied as a carbon reservoir globally. However, in Japan, the potential for energy resource has been industrially highlighted. There is less domestic oil and natural gas resources in Japan, but many potential deposition areas for methane hydrate in ocean around Japan are the reasons. Less CO2 discharge from methane compared with coal, oil and conventional natural gas when the same calorie value we get is considered as the advantage for energy resource. However, because methane hydrate distributes in shallower sediment layer in ocean floor, accidental leakage of methane may occur while we utilize methane hydrate. Methane itself has 21-times impact on the greenhouse effect, if it reaches the atmosphere. Therefore, it is necessary to estimate the behavior in the environment after the leakage, if we want to use methane hydrate as energy resource. The mass balance after leakage of methane on seafloor and in water column is numerically studied through the analyses of methane emissions from natural cold seepages and hydrothermal activities in this research. The outline structure of mass balance ecosystem model creating is introduced and some preliminary examination results from the test calculation are discussed.

Dynamic optical resource allocation for mobile core networks with software defined elastic optical networking.

PubMed

Zhao, Yongli; Chen, Zhendong; Zhang, Jie; Wang, Xinbo

2016-07-25

Driven by the forthcoming of 5G mobile communications, the all-IP architecture of mobile core networks, i.e. evolved packet core (EPC) proposed by 3GPP, has been greatly challenged by the users' demands for higher data rate and more reliable end-to-end connection, as well as operators' demands for low operational cost. These challenges can be potentially met by software defined optical networking (SDON), which enables dynamic resource allocation according to the users' requirement. In this article, a novel network architecture for mobile core network is proposed based on SDON. A software defined network (SDN) controller is designed to realize the coordinated control over different entities in EPC networks. We analyze the requirement of EPC-lightpath (EPCL) in data plane and propose an optical switch load balancing (OSLB) algorithm for resource allocation in optical layer. The procedure of establishment and adjustment of EPCLs is demonstrated on a SDON-based EPC testbed with extended OpenFlow protocol. We also evaluate the OSLB algorithm through simulation in terms of bandwidth blocking ratio, traffic load distribution, and resource utilization ratio compared with link-based load balancing (LLB) and MinHops algorithms.

Gait and balance in the aging population: Fall prevention using innovation and technology.

PubMed

Khanuja, Kavisha; Joki, Jaclyn; Bachmann, Gloria; Cuccurullo, Sara

2018-04-01

On a global basis, adults 65 years of age and older experience falls more frequently than younger individuals, and these often result in severe injuries as well as increased healthcare costs. Gait and balance disorders in this population are among the most common causes of falls and negatively influence quality of life and survivorship. Although falls are a major public health problem and guidelines/recommendations are available to physicians, many are fully aware of different assessments, tools, and resources available for intervention. Given the risk for potentially devastating outcomes if severe injuries occur secondary to a fall, fall prevention strategies in clinical offices is a timely consideration in today's health care landscape. This paper presents a three-tier model, comprising assessment, prevention, and intervention, to highlight methods, proactive programs, and innovative tools and technology that have been developed for fall prevention. Awareness of these resources will enhance the clinician's ability to accurately assess balance and gait, which can improve physical function, and decrease the risk of falls for both average-risk and high-risk older adults. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Water Balance Portal in Saxony - An interactive web application concerning the impact of climate change on the water balance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hauffe, Corina; Schwarze, Robert; Röhm, Patric; Müller, Ruben; Dröge, Werner; Gurova, Anastasia; Winkler, Peter; Baldy, Agnes

2016-04-01

Changes in weather and climate lead to increasing discussions about reasons and possible future impacts on the hydrological cycle. The question of a changed distribution of water also concerns the federal state of Saxony in the eastern part of Germany. Especially with a look at the different and increased requirements for water authorities, water economy and the public. To define and prepare these future requirements estimations of the future development of the natural water resources are necessary. Therefore data, information, and forecast concerning the development of the several components of the water balance are needed. And to make the obtained information easily available for experts and the public, tools like the internet have to be used. Under these frame conditions the water balance portal Saxony (www.wasserhaushaltsportal.sachsen.de) was developed within the project KliWES. The overall approach of the project was devided into the so-called „3 pillars".The first pillar focused on the evaluation of the status quo water balance from 1951-2005 by using a complex area-wide analysis of measured data. Also it contained the generating of a database and the development of a physically based parameter model. Furthermore an extensive model evaluation has been conducted with a number of objective assessment criteria, to select an appropriate model for the project. The second pillar included the calibration of the water balance model and the impact study of climate and land use change (1961-2100) on the water balance of Saxonian catchments. In this context 13 climate scenarios and three land use scenarios were simulated. The web presence of these two pillars represents a classical information service, which provides finalized results at the spatial resolution of sub-catchments using GIS-based webpages. The third pillar focused on the development of an interactive expert system. It allows the user (public, officials and consulting engineers) to simulate the water balance with user defined catchment parameters for catchments in Saxony under recent climatic und climate change conditions.

Strategic Passages.

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-01-01

politically unstable * the multilateral set of military and economvicpoe Third World areas. balances existing today, and The mnaritime strategN features...col-e. international stability through support of regional balances Of course, dispersing our resources increase o’ir i:-k ;I of power. The more...The central por- This pasac etends ,othes from thle F-a- tnti i , ’iIn c speriences dAilk double tides, anid the Go! lfe de Saint to the Sea of I

General Purpose Force Capability; the Challenge of Versatility and Achieving Balance Along the Widest Possible Spectrum of Conflict

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-04-01

billion dollar systems and platforms. In the looming era of limited resources for defense spending, military and civilian leaders light of recent...conventional systems .”28 Finding the Proper Balance Abandoning our military superiority in conventional warfare would b On the other hand, swinging...Defense Strategy published in March 2005. The 2005 version of the National Defense Strategy recognized that, “we are confronting fundamentally

Grid Integration | Water Power | NREL

Science.gov Websites

deployment planning and commercialization process. Variable and weather-dependent resources can create /generation balancing, and planning for reserves. NREL has conducted extensive in-depth wind and solar

Measuring business performance using indicators of ecologically sustainable organizations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Snow, Charles G., Jr.; Snow, Charles C.

2001-02-01

The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of ecology-based performance measures as a way of augmenting the Balanced Scorecard approach to organizational performance measurement. The Balanced Scorecard, as proposed by Kaplan and Norton, focuses on four primary dimensions; financial, internal-business-process, customer, and learning and growth perspectives. Recently, many 'green' organizational theorists have developed the concept of "Ecologically Sustainable Organizations" or ESOs, a concept rooted in open systems theory. The ESO is called upon to consider resource use and conservation as a strategy for long-term viability. This paper asserts that in order to achieve ESO status, an organization must not only measure but also reward resource conservation measures. Only by adding a fifth perspective for ecological dimensions will the entity be truly motivated toward ESO status.

Alternatives to current HIV/AIDS policies and practices in South African prisons.

PubMed

Goyer, K C; Gow, Jeff

2002-01-01

Prisoners in South Africa face problems of overcrowding, violence and poor nutrition. Added to this burden in recent times is the increased threat from HIV. The HIV epidemic has been relatively late in coming to South Africa but infection rates are now 20% in the adult population. However, there is no data available on the level of HIV infection in the prison population. Overseas studies suggest that the characteristics of prisoners place them at much greater risk of HIV infection. Factors which contribute to increased levels of HIV infection include poor health care facilities, lack of condoms and lack of disinfectants. Current policies and practices on HIV in prison attempt to balance the constraints of limited resources with the need to preserve prisoner human rights. The outcomes include: mass testing not freely available, HIV education is limited, and early release of prisoners with advanced AIDS is not allowed. Constraints on the implementation of effective HIV prevention strategies include: bureaucratic inefficiency, lack of resources, and a reluctance by prison authorities to address the issue of HIV in prison. These problems can possibly be overcome by addressing the issue from both management and prisoner perspectives. On the management side, increased resources, increased training of prison officials, and increased political commitment to address the issue are required. Outside partnerships are probably required for an effective response. Prisoners require better nutrition, better living conditions, better health care, freely available condoms and disinfectants.

Effect of crop rotation on soil nutrient balance and weediness in soddy podzolic organic farming fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zarina, Livija; Zarina, Liga

2017-04-01

The nutrient balance in different crop rotations under organic cropping system has been investigated in Latvia at the Institute of Agricultural Resources and Economics since 2006. Latvia is located in a humid and moderate climatic region where the rainfall exceeds evaporation (soil moisture coefficient > 1) and the soil moisture regime is characteristic with percolation. The average annual precipitation is 670-850 mm. The average temperature varies from -6.7° C in January to 16.5 °C in July. The growing season is 175 - 185 days. The most widespread are podzolic soils and mainly they are present in agricultural fields in all regions of Latvia. In a wider sense the goal of the soil management in organic farming is a creation of the biologically active flora and fauna in the soil by maintaining a high level of soil organic matter which is good for crops nutrient balance. Crop rotation is a central component of organic farming systems and has many benefits, including growth of soil microbial activity, which may increase nutrient availability. The aim of the present study was to calculate nutrient balance for each crop in the rotations and average in each rotation. Taking into account that crop rotations can limit build-up of weeds, additionally within the ERA-net CORE Organic Plus transnational programs supported project PRODIVA the information required for a better utilization of crop diversification for weed management in North European organic arable cropping systems was summarized. It was found that the nutrient balance was influenced by nutrients uptake by biomass of growing crops in crop rotation. The number of weeds in the organic farming fields with crop rotation is dependent on the cultivated crops and the succession of crops in the crop rotation.

Strategies used by women workers to reconcile family responsibilities with atypical work schedules in the service sector.

PubMed

Barthe, B; Messing, K; Abbas, L

2011-01-01

Workers' attempts to accommodate family needs may be considered illegitimate in the paid work sphere. Their attempts at work-family balancing (WFB) in that sphere can remain invisible, even when those attempts require considerable energy. Since identification of WFB strategies can potentially lead to suggestions to improve management practices, we report an attempt to find them in the work sphere. 14 care aides in a Québec residence for seniors and 2~schedule managers were recruited. Qualitative ergonomic analysis was employed. 24 hours observation; interviews of nursing and human resources staff; qualitative ergonomic analysis by two researchers; feedback collected from meetings with management and union. Strategies for schedule choice were compared between care aides with heavier vs. lighter family responsibilities. For workers with heavier family responsibilities, choice of work schedules was almost entirely conditioned by family considerations, leaving little leeway to manage workers' own health protection. Family constraints affected activity at work, and strategies for handling family constraints could potentially be affected by changes in work organization. Managers should encourage full discussion of work-family balancing strategies if they wish to adapt their working conditions to the workers, and ergonomists should include this balancing as a facet of work activity, despite possible negative consequences.

How fear of falling can increase fall-risk in older adults: applying psychological theory to practical observations.

PubMed

Young, William R; Mark Williams, A

2015-01-01

It is widely reported that fear of falling (FOF) has a profound and largely detrimental effect on balance performance in older adults. However, the mechanisms by which FOF influence postural stability are poorly understood. In the current article, we use psychological theory to explain FOF-related changes to postural control. First, we review literature describing associations between FOF and the 'stiffening' strategies observed during control of posture, including observations of eye and head movements. Second, we present a framework illustrating the interactions between increased age, FOF, and altered attentional processes, which in turn influence balance performance and fall-risk. Psychological theory predicts that anxiety can cause attentional bias for threatening and task-irrelevant stimuli and compromise the efficiency of working memory resources. We argue that while the adoption of stiffening strategies is likely to be beneficial in avoiding a loss of balance during simple postural tasks, it will ultimately compromise performance in dynamic and highly demanding functional tasks. The adoption of stiffening strategies leads to inadequate acquisition of the sensory information necessary to plan and execute dynamic and interactive movements. We conclude with some suggestions for future research. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Bounding the Resource Availability of Partially Ordered Events with Constant Resource Impact

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Frank, Jeremy

2004-01-01

We compare existing techniques to bound the resource availability of partially ordered events. We first show that, contrary to intuition, two existing techniques, one due to Laborie and one due to Muscettola, are not strictly comparable in terms of the size of the search trees generated under chronological search with a fixed heuristic. We describe a generalization of these techniques called the Flow Balance Constraint to tightly bound the amount of available resource for a set of partially ordered events with piecewise constant resource impact We prove that the new technique generates smaller proof trees under chronological search with a fixed heuristic, at little increase in computational expense. We then show how to construct tighter resource bounds but at increased computational cost.

Molecular genetics research in ADHD: ethical considerations concerning patients' benefit and resource allocation.

PubMed

Rothenberger, Lillian Geza

2012-12-01

Immense resource allocations have led to great data output in genetic research. Concerning ADHD resources spent on genetic research are less than those spent on clinical research. But there are successful efforts made to increase support for molecular genetics research in ADHD. Concerning genetics no evidence based conclusive results have significant impact on prevention, diagnosis or treatment yet. With regard to ethical aspects like the patients' benefit and limited resources the question arises if it is indicated to think about a new balance of resource allocation between molecular genetics and non-genetics research in ADHD. An ethical reflection was performed focusing on recent genetic studies and reviews based on a selective literature search. There are plausible reasons why genetic research results in ADHD are somehow disappointing for clinical practice so far. Researchers try to overcome these gaps systematically, without knowing what the potential future benefits for the patients might be. Non-genetic diagnostic/therapeutic research may lead to clinically relevant findings within a shorter period of time. On the other hand, non-genetic research in ADHD may be nurtured by genetic approaches. But, with the latter there exist significant risks of harm like stigmatization and concerns regarding data protection. Isolated speeding up resources of genetic research in ADHD seems questionable from an ethical point of view. There is a need to find a new balance of resource allocation between genetic and non-genetic research in ADHD, probably by integrating genetics more systematically into clinical research. A transdisciplinary debate is recommended. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Balancing Detection and Eradication for Control of Epidemics: Sudden Oak Death in Mixed-Species Stands

PubMed Central

Ndeffo Mbah, Martial L.; Gilligan, Christopher A.

2010-01-01

Culling of infected individuals is a widely used measure for the control of several plant and animal pathogens but culling first requires detection of often cryptically-infected hosts. In this paper, we address the problem of how to allocate resources between detection and culling when the budget for disease management is limited. The results are generic but we motivate the problem for the control of a botanical epidemic in a natural ecosystem: sudden oak death in mixed evergreen forests in coastal California, in which species composition is generally dominated by a spreader species (bay laurel) and a second host species (coast live oak) that is an epidemiological dead-end in that it does not transmit infection but which is frequently a target for preservation. Using a combination of an epidemiological model for two host species with a common pathogen together with optimal control theory we address the problem of how to balance the allocation of resources for detection and epidemic control in order to preserve both host species in the ecosystem. Contrary to simple expectations our results show that an intermediate level of detection is optimal. Low levels of detection, characteristic of low effort expended on searching and detection of diseased trees, and high detection levels, exemplified by the deployment of large amounts of resources to identify diseased trees, fail to bring the epidemic under control. Importantly, we show that a slight change in the balance between the resources allocated to detection and those allocated to control may lead to drastic inefficiencies in control strategies. The results hold when quarantine is introduced to reduce the ingress of infected material into the region of interest. PMID:20856850

Water resource management: an Indian perspective.

PubMed

Khadse, G K; Labhasetwar, P K; Wate, S R

2012-10-01

Water is precious natural resource for sustaining life and environment. Effective and sustainable management of water resources is vital for ensuring sustainable development. In view of the vital importance of water for human and animal life, for maintaining ecological balance and for economic and developmental activities of all kinds, and considering its increasing scarcity, the planning and management of water resource and its optimal, economical and equitable use has become a matter of the utmost urgency. Management of water resources in India is of paramount importance to sustain one billion plus population. Water management is a composite area with linkage to various sectors of Indian economy including the agricultural, industrial, domestic and household, power, environment, fisheries and transportation sector. The water resources management practices should be based on increasing the water supply and managing the water demand under the stressed water availability conditions. For maintaining the quality of freshwater, water quality management strategies are required to be evolved and implemented. Decision support systems are required to be developed for planning and management of the water resources project. There is interplay of various factors that govern access and utilization of water resources and in light of the increasing demand for water it becomes important to look for holistic and people-centered approaches for water management. Clearly, drinking water is too fundamental and serious an issue to be left to one institution alone. It needs the combined initiative and action of all, if at all we are serious in socioeconomic development. Safe drinking water can be assured, provided we set our mind to address it. The present article deals with the review of various options for sustainable water resource management in India.

Groundwater-flow model of the northern High Plains aquifer in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming

USGS Publications Warehouse

Peterson, Steven M.; Flynn, Amanda T.; Traylor, Jonathan P.

2016-12-13

The High Plains aquifer is a nationally important water resource underlying about 175,000 square miles in parts of eight states: Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming. Droughts across much of the Northern High Plains from 2001 to 2007 have combined with recent (2004) legislative mandates to elevate concerns regarding future availability of groundwater and the need for additional information to support science-based water-resource management. To address these needs, the U.S. Geological Survey began the High Plains Groundwater Availability Study to provide a tool for water-resource managers and other stakeholders to assess the status and availability of groundwater resources.A transient groundwater-flow model was constructed using the U.S. Geological Survey modular three-dimensional finite-difference groundwater-flow model with Newton-Rhapson solver (MODFLOW–NWT). The model uses an orthogonal grid of 565 rows and 795 columns, and each grid cell measures 3,281 feet per side, with one variably thick vertical layer, simulated as unconfined. Groundwater flow was simulated for two distinct periods: (1) the period before substantial groundwater withdrawals, or before about 1940, and (2) the period of increasing groundwater withdrawals from May 1940 through April 2009. A soil-water-balance model was used to estimate recharge from precipitation and groundwater withdrawals for irrigation. The soil-water-balance model uses spatially distributed soil and landscape properties with daily weather data and estimated historical land-cover maps to calculate spatial and temporal variations in potential recharge. Mean annual recharge estimated for 1940–49, early in the history of groundwater development, and 2000–2009, late in the history of groundwater development, was 3.3 and 3.5 inches per year, respectively.Primary model calibration was completed using statistical techniques through parameter estimation using the parameter estimation suite of software with Tikhonov regularization. Calibration targets for the groundwater model included 343,067 groundwater levels measured in wells and 10,820 estimated monthly stream base flows at streamgages. A total of 1,312 parameters were adjusted during calibration to improve the match between calibration targets and simulated equivalents. Comparison of calibration targets to simulated equivalents indicated that, at the regional scale, the model correctly reproduced groundwater levels and stream base flows for 1940–2009. This comparison indicates that the model can be used to examine the likely response of the aquifer system to potential future stresses.Mean calibrated recharge for 1940–49 and 2000–2009 was smaller than that estimated with the soil-water-balance model. This indicated that although the general spatial patterns of recharge estimated with the soil-water-balance model were approximately correct at the regional scale of the Northern High Plains aquifer, the soil-water-balance model had overestimated recharge, and adjustments were needed to decrease recharge to improve the match of the groundwater model to calibration targets. The largest components of the simulated groundwater budgets were recharge from precipitation, recharge from canal seepage, outflows to evapotranspiration, and outflows to stream base flow. Simulated outflows to irrigation wells increased from 7 percent of total outflows in 1940–49 to 38 percent of 1970–79 total outflows and 49 percent of 2000–2009 total outflows.

A Greedy Double Auction Mechanism for Grid Resource Allocation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ding, Ding; Luo, Siwei; Gao, Zhan

To improve the resource utilization and satisfy more users, a Greedy Double Auction Mechanism(GDAM) is proposed to allocate resources in grid environments. GDAM trades resources at discriminatory price instead of uniform price, reflecting the variance in requirements for profits and quantities. Moreover, GDAM applies different auction rules to different cases, over-demand, over-supply and equilibrium of demand and supply. As a new mechanism for grid resource allocation, GDAM is proved to be strategy-proof, economically efficient, weakly budget-balanced and individual rational. Simulation results also confirm that GDAM outperforms the traditional one on both the total trade amount and the user satisfaction percentage, specially as more users are involved in the auction market.

A Balanced Approach to Funding Homeland Security

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-12-01

73 1. Informed Culture ...74 2. Reporting Culture ........................................................................75 3. Just Culture ... Cultural Resources Risk Management for Protection Programs and Activities Mass Care Services Screening, Search, and Detection Mass Search and

Depressed mood and self-esteem in young Asian, black, and white women in America.

PubMed

Woods, N F; Lentz, M; Mitchell, E; Oakley, L D

1994-01-01

During the last two decades, investigators have explored the relationship between women's life conditions and their mental health. Some have related women's socially disadvantaged status, or their socialization to a traditional feminine role, to depression and low self-esteem. Others have emphasized the consequences of women's roles, or the balance of social demands and resources, on their well-being. More recently, feminist scholars have proposed a developmental account of depression. We tested a model comparing the effects of personal resources, social demands and resources, socialization, and women's roles, on self-esteem and depressed mood in young adult Asian, Black, and White women in America. Women who resided in middle-income and racially mixed neighborhoods were interviewed in their homes. Personal resources were indicated by education and income and social resources by unconflicted network size as measured by Barrera's (1981) Arizona Social Support Interview Schedule. Social demands were assessed by conflicted network size as measured by the Barrera scale and by the Positive Life Events and Negative Life Events scales from Norbeck's (1984) revision of the Sarason Life Events Scale. Women's roles included employment, parenting, and partnership with an adult (e.g., marriage). Self-esteem was assessed with the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965) and depressed mood with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale (Radloff, 1977). Although models for Asian, Black, and White women differed, social network and social demands as well as personal resources were common to each group as predictors of self-esteem and depression.

Canute Rules the Waves?: Hope for E-Library Tools Facing the Challenge of the "Google Generation"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Myhill, Martin

2007-01-01

Purpose: To consider the findings of a recent e-resources survey at the University of Exeter Library in the context of the dominance of web search engines in academia, balanced by the development of e-library tools such as the library OPAC, OpenURL resolvers, metasearch engines, LDAP and proxy servers, and electronic resource management modules.…

National Air Transportation Inspection Program, Federal Aviation Administration, March 4 - June 5, 1984.

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-01-01

base . During the conference, decisions were made concerning the direction of resources and effort for the balance of the NATI program (sixty days... IMPROVING COMPLIANCE AND PROMOTING SAFETY ........ 15 EFFECT ON FAA RESOURCES ........................ 17 ACCUMULATION OF INFORMATION...easily resolved; compliance, in general, appeared to improve luring the NATI; the size of effort to accomplish NATI resulted in deferment of other FAA

Integrated Water Resources Planning and Management in Arid/Semi-arid Regions: Data, Modeling, and Assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gupta, H.; Liu, Y.; Wagener, T.; Durcik, M.; Duffy, C.; Springer, E.

2005-12-01

Water resources in arid and semi-arid regions are highly sensitive to climate variability and change. As the demand for water continues to increase due to economic and population growth, planning and management of available water resources under climate uncertainties becomes increasingly critical in order to achieve basin-scale water sustainability (i.e., to ensure a long-term balance between supply and demand of water).The tremendous complexity of the interactions between the natural hydrologic system and the human environment means that modeling is the only available mechanism for properly integrating new knowledge into the decision-making process. Basin-scale integrated models have the potential to allow us to study the feedback processes between the physical and human systems (including institutional, engineering, and behavioral components); and an integrated assessment of the potential second- and higher-order effects of political and management decisions can aid in the selection of a rational water-resources policy. Data and information, especially hydrological and water-use data, are critical to the integrated modeling and assessment for water resources management of any region. To this end we are in the process of developing a multi-resolution integrated modeling and assessment framework for the south-western USA, which can be used to generate simulations of the probable effects of human actions while taking into account the uncertainties brought about by future climatic variability and change. Data are being collected (including the development of a hydro-geospatial database) and used in support of the modeling and assessment activities. This paper will present a blueprint of the modeling framework, describe achievements so far and discuss the science questions which still require answers with a particular emphasis on issues related to dry regions.

Balancing water resource conservation and food security in China

PubMed Central

Dalin, Carole; Qiu, Huanguang; Hanasaki, Naota; Mauzerall, Denise L.; Rodriguez-Iturbe, Ignacio

2015-01-01

China’s economic growth is expected to continue into the next decades, accompanied by sustained urbanization and industrialization. The associated increase in demand for land, water resources, and rich foods will deepen the challenge of sustainably feeding the population and balancing agricultural and environmental policies. We combine a hydrologic model with an economic model to project China’s future food trade patterns and embedded water resources by 2030 and to analyze the effects of targeted irrigation reductions on this system, notably on national agricultural water consumption and food self-sufficiency. We simulate interprovincial and international food trade with a general equilibrium welfare model and a linear programming optimization, and we obtain province-level estimates of commodities’ virtual water content with a hydrologic model. We find that reducing irrigated land in regions highly dependent on scarce river flow and nonrenewable groundwater resources, such as Inner Mongolia and the greater Beijing area, can improve the efficiency of agriculture and trade regarding water resources. It can also avoid significant consumption of irrigation water across China (up to 14.8 km3/y, reduction by 14%), while incurring relatively small decreases in national food self-sufficiency (e.g., by 3% for wheat). Other researchers found that a national, rather than local, water policy would have similar effects on food production but would only reduce irrigation water consumption by 5%. PMID:25825748

Balancing water resource conservation and food security in China.

PubMed

Dalin, Carole; Qiu, Huanguang; Hanasaki, Naota; Mauzerall, Denise L; Rodriguez-Iturbe, Ignacio

2015-04-14

China's economic growth is expected to continue into the next decades, accompanied by sustained urbanization and industrialization. The associated increase in demand for land, water resources, and rich foods will deepen the challenge of sustainably feeding the population and balancing agricultural and environmental policies. We combine a hydrologic model with an economic model to project China's future food trade patterns and embedded water resources by 2030 and to analyze the effects of targeted irrigation reductions on this system, notably on national agricultural water consumption and food self-sufficiency. We simulate interprovincial and international food trade with a general equilibrium welfare model and a linear programming optimization, and we obtain province-level estimates of commodities' virtual water content with a hydrologic model. We find that reducing irrigated land in regions highly dependent on scarce river flow and nonrenewable groundwater resources, such as Inner Mongolia and the greater Beijing area, can improve the efficiency of agriculture and trade regarding water resources. It can also avoid significant consumption of irrigation water across China (up to 14.8 km(3)/y, reduction by 14%), while incurring relatively small decreases in national food self-sufficiency (e.g., by 3% for wheat). Other researchers found that a national, rather than local, water policy would have similar effects on food production but would only reduce irrigation water consumption by 5%.

Balancing Work Responsibilities and Family Needs: The Federal Civil Service Response. A Report Concerning Significant Actions of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. A Report to the President and the Congress of the United States.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Merit Systems Protection Board, Washington, DC.

This report examines actions of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management in providing leadership to several of the government's human resource management programs in the work and family benefits area. It reviews employee benefit programs that help civilian federal workers balance their work responsibilities and personal needs. Programs reviewed are…

Using the balanced scorecard to mobilize human resources in organizational transformation.

PubMed

Tsasis, Peter; Harber, Bruce

2008-05-01

Traditionally, the balanced scorecard (BSC) has been an effective tool in linking measurement to strategy. However, what is least understood is how the BSC can be used to redefine organizational relationships, re-engineer fundamental processes and transform organizational culture, for superior performance in an organization with the same people, services and technology that previously delivered dismal performance. This paper highlights the process and uses York Central Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada as an illustrative example.

Launching an Academic Career: On the Cutting Edge Resources for Geoscience Graduate Students, Post-doctoral Fellows, and Early Career Faculty

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Richardson, R. M.; Ormand, C. J.; MacDonald, H.; Dunbar, R. W.; Allen-King, R. M.; Manduca, C. A.

2010-12-01

Launching an academic career presents a number of challenges. A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education depicts academia as an “ivory sweatshop,” citing rising standards for tenure. Most graduate programs provide minimal training for life beyond graduate school. The professional development program “On the Cutting Edge” fills this gap by providing workshops and web resources on academic careers for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and early career faculty. These workshops and web resources address a wide range of topics related to teaching, research, and managing one’s career, tailored for each group. The Preparing for an Academic Career in the Geosciences workshop to help graduate students and postdoctoral fellows make the transition into an academic career has been offered annually since 2003. It provides a panel on academic careers in different institutional settings, sessions on research on learning, various teaching strategies, design of effective teaching activities, moving research forward to new settings, effective teaching and research statements, the job search process, negotiation, and presenting oneself to others. Complementary online resources (http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/careerprep/index.html) focus on these topics. The workshops and web resources offer guidance for each step of the job search process, for developing and teaching one’s own courses, and for making the transition from being a research student to being in charge of a research program. Online resources also include case studies of successful dual career couples, documenting their job search strategies. A four-day workshop for Early Career Geoscience Faculty: Teaching, Research, and Managing Your Career, offered annually since 1999, provides sessions on teaching strategies, course design, developing a strategic plan for research, supervising student researchers, navigating departmental and institutional politics, preparing for tenure, time and task management, and more. Complementary online resources (http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/earlycareer/index.html) also address these topics. The workshops and web resources offer guidance for becoming an efficient and effective teacher, for developing a thriving research program, for staying on track for tenure, and for managing a balance of one’s personal and professional lives. Online resources feature a collection of successful grant proposals, profiles of successful researchers and their collaborations with their students, and profiles of geoscience faculty from a variety of institutions describing how they achieve balance in their lives. Participants in both workshops overwhelmingly report that the workshop met or exceeded their expectations, that they feel much better prepared to move forward in their careers as a result of the workshops, and that they will use the website in the future. The two sets of web pages receive more than 7,000 visitors each month.

Antibiotic effectiveness: balancing conservation against innovation.

PubMed

Laxminarayan, Ramanan

2014-09-12

Antibiotic effectiveness is a natural societal resource that is diminished by antibiotic use. As with other such assets, keeping it available requires both conservation and innovation. Conservation encompasses making the best use of current antibiotic effectiveness by reducing demand through vaccination, infection control, diagnostics, public education, incentives for clinicians to prescribe fewer antibiotics, and restrictions on access to newer, last-resort antibiotics. Innovation includes improving the efficacy of current drugs and replenishing effectiveness by developing new drugs. In this paper, I assess the relative benefits and costs of these two approaches to maintaining our ability to treat infections. Copyright © 2014, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Artificial Immune Algorithm for Subtask Industrial Robot Scheduling in Cloud Manufacturing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suma, T.; Murugesan, R.

2018-04-01

The current generation of manufacturing industry requires an intelligent scheduling model to achieve an effective utilization of distributed manufacturing resources, which motivated us to work on an Artificial Immune Algorithm for subtask robot scheduling in cloud manufacturing. This scheduling model enables a collaborative work between the industrial robots in different manufacturing centers. This paper discussed two optimizing objectives which includes minimizing the cost and load balance of industrial robots through scheduling. To solve these scheduling problems, we used the algorithm based on Artificial Immune system. The parameters are simulated with MATLAB and the results compared with the existing algorithms. The result shows better performance than existing.

Environmental sustainability assessments of pharmaceuticals: an emerging need for simplification in life cycle assessments.

PubMed

De Soete, Wouter; Debaveye, Sam; De Meester, Steven; Van der Vorst, Geert; Aelterman, Wim; Heirman, Bert; Cappuyns, Philippe; Dewulf, Jo

2014-10-21

The pharmaceutical and fine chemical industries are eager to strive toward innovative products and technologies. This study first derives hotspots in resource consumption of 2839 Basic Operations in 40 Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient synthesis steps through Exergetic Life Cycle Assessment (ELCA). Second, since companies are increasingly obliged to quantify the environmental sustainability of their products, two alternative ways of simplifying (E)LCA are discussed. The usage of averaged product group values (R(2) = 3.40 × 10(-30)) is compared with multiple linear regression models (R(2) = 8.66 × 10(-01)) in order to estimate resource consumption of synthesis steps. An optimal set of predictor variables is postulated to balance model complexity and embedded information with usability and capability of merging models with existing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) data systems. The amount of organic solvents used, molar efficiency, and duration of a synthesis step were shown to be the most significant predictor variables. Including additional predictor variables did not contribute to the predictive power and eventually weakens the model interpretation. Ideally, an organization should be able to derive its environmental impact from readily available ERP data, linking supply chains back to the cradle of resource extraction, excluding the need for an approximation with product group averages.

Psychological resilience, pain catastrophizing, and positive emotions: perspectives on comprehensive modeling of individual pain adaptation.

PubMed

Sturgeon, John A; Zautra, Alex J

2013-03-01

Pain is a complex construct that contributes to profound physical and psychological dysfunction, particularly in individuals coping with chronic pain. The current paper builds upon previous research, describes a balanced conceptual model that integrates aspects of both psychological vulnerability and resilience to pain, and reviews protective and exacerbating psychosocial factors to the process of adaptation to chronic pain, including pain catastrophizing, pain acceptance, and positive psychological resources predictive of enhanced pain coping. The current paper identifies future directions for research that will further enrich the understanding of pain adaptation and espouses an approach that will enhance the ecological validity of psychological pain coping models, including introduction of advanced statistical and conceptual models that integrate behavioral, cognitive, information processing, motivational and affective theories of pain.

Financial management and dental school equity, Part II: Tactics.

PubMed

Chambers, David W; Bergstrom, Roy

2004-04-01

Financial management includes all processes that build organizations' equity through accumulating assets in strategically important areas. The tactical aspects of financial management are budget deployment and monitoring. Budget deployment is the process of making sure that costs are fairly allocated. Budget monitoring addresses issues of effective uses and outcomes of resources. This article describes contemporary deployment and monitoring mechanisms, including revenue positive and marginal analysis, present value, program phases, options logic, activity-based costing, economic value added, cost of quality, variance reconciliation, and balanced scorecards. The way financial decisions are framed affects comparative decision-making and even influences the arithmetic of accounting. Familiarity with these concepts should make it possible for dental educators to more fully participate in discussions about the relationships between budgeting and program strategy.

Ethical Questions about Platelet Transfusions at the End of Life.

PubMed

Sherbeck, John P; Boss, Renee D

2016-08-01

This case of platelet transfusion in palliative care illustrates a common dilemma in transfusion medicine: approval of the use of a scarce, yet potentially life-saving, resource. As in this case, these decisions often involve seriously ill patients with acute needs and evolving goals of care. The use of resources to treat the patient at hand must be balanced against maintaining adequate resources to treat future patients. In this setting, the ethical principles of beneficence and social justice are in conflict. © 2016 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.

Studying the Earth from space

USGS Publications Warehouse

,

1977-01-01

Pictures of the Earth's surface obtained from satellites are providing scientists with new tools to investigate the Earth and its environment. At the same time, a growing population and an ever-expanding technology place unprecedented demands on natural resources. Man can no longer treat his resources strictly according to immediate economic dictates; a balance must be struck between the short-term demands of technological and industrial development and the long-term effects on the environment. Intelligent development, management, and conservation of resources are goals that represent a challenge in the acquisition and use of information.

Studying the Earth from space

USGS Publications Warehouse

,

1974-01-01

Pictures of the Earth's surface obtained from satellites are providing scientists with new tools to investigate tne Earth and its environment. A growing population and an everexpanding technology place demands on our natural resources. However, man can no longer treat his resources strictly according to immediate economic dictates; a balance must be struck between the short-term demands of technological and industrial development and the long-term effects on the environment. Intelligent development, management, and conservation of resources are goals that represent an unprecedented challenge in the acquisition and use of information.

A Performance Analysis of Public Expenditure on Maternal Health in Mexico.

PubMed

Servan-Mori, Edson; Avila-Burgos, Leticia; Nigenda, Gustavo; Lozano, Rafael

2016-01-01

We explore the relationship between public expenditure, coverage of adequate ANC (including timing, frequent and content), and the maternal mortality ratio--adjusted by coverage of adequate ANC--observed in Mexico in 2012 at the State level. Additionally, we examine the inequalities and concentration of public expenditure between populations with and without Social Security. Results suggest that in the 2003-2011 period, the public expenditure gap between women with and without Social Security decreased 74%, however, the distribution is less equitable among women without Social Security, across the States. Despite high levels of coverage on each dimension of ANC explored, coverage of adequate ANC was lower among Social Security than non-Social Security women. This variability results in differences up to 1.5 times in State-adjusted maternal mortality rate at the same level of expense and maternal mortality rate, respectively. The increase in the economic resources is only a necessary condition for achieving improved health outcomes. Providing adequate health services and achieving efficient, effective and transparent use of resources in health, are critical elements for health systems performance. The attainment of universal effective coverage of maternal health and reducing maternal mortality in Mexico, requires the adjustment of policy innovations including the rules of allocation and execution of health resources. Health policies should be designed on a more holistic view promoting a balance between accessibility, effective implementation and rigorous stewardship.

A Performance Analysis of Public Expenditure on Maternal Health in Mexico

PubMed Central

Servan-Mori, Edson; Avila-Burgos, Leticia; Nigenda, Gustavo; Lozano, Rafael

2016-01-01

We explore the relationship between public expenditure, coverage of adequate ANC (including timing, frequent and content), and the maternal mortality ratio -adjusted by coverage of adequate ANC- observed in Mexico in 2012 at the State level. Additionally, we examine the inequalities and concentration of public expenditure between populations with and without Social Security. Results suggest that in the 2003–2011 period, the public expenditure gap between women with and without Social Security decreased 74%, however, the distribution is less equitable among women without Social Security, across the States. Despite high levels of coverage on each dimension of ANC explored, coverage of adequate ANC was lower among Social Security than non-Social Security women. This variability results in differences up to 1.5 times in State-adjusted maternal mortality rate at the same level of expense and maternal mortality rate, respectively. The increase in the economic resources is only a necessary condition for achieving improved health outcomes. Providing adequate health services and achieving efficient, effective and transparent use of resources in health, are critical elements for health systems performance. The attainment of universal effective coverage of maternal health and reducing maternal mortality in Mexico, requires the adjustment of policy innovations including the rules of allocation and execution of health resources. Health policies should be designed on a more holistic view promoting a balance between accessibility, effective implementation and rigorous stewardship. PMID:27043819

Romania Country Analysis Brief

EIA Publications

2014-01-01

Romania’s energy strategy is to secure supply through both fuel imports and domestic supplies and maintain a balanced energy resource portfolio by promoting clean coal technologies, nuclear energy, renewable energy expansion, and shale gas development.

Challenge theme 2: assuring water availability and quality in the 21st century: Chapter 4 in United States-Mexican Borderlands: Facing tomorrow's challenges through USGS science

USGS Publications Warehouse

Callegary, James; Langeman, Jeff; Leenhouts, Jim; Martin, Peter

2013-01-01

Along the United States–Mexican border, the health of communities, economies, and ecosystems is inextricably intertwined with the availability and quality of water, but effective water management in the Borderlands is complicated. Water users compete for resources, and their needs are increasing. Managers are faced with issues such as finding a balance between agriculture and rapidly growing cities or maintaining public supplies while ensuring sufficient resources for aquatic ecosystems. In addition to human factors, the dry climate of the Borderlands, as compared to more temperate regions, also increases the challenge of balancing water supplies between humans and ecosystems. Warmer, drier, and more variable conditions across the southwestern United States—the projected results of climate change (Seager and others, 2007)—would further stress water supplies.

The supportive spouse at work: Does being work-linked help?

PubMed

Ferguson, Merideth; Carlson, Dawn; Kacmar, K Michele; Halbesleben, Jonathon R B

2016-01-01

Using a sample of 639 dual-career couples, we examined the role of work-related spousal support on work-family balance and subsequent outcomes for both the job incumbent as well as his or her spouse. We further investigated whether the resource of work-related spousal support contributed to greater balance for those couples who were work-linked (work in same organization, same occupation, or both) and those who were not. We found work-related spousal support contributed to work-family balance and subsequent improved family satisfaction and job satisfaction of the job incumbent. Furthermore, support crossed over to the spouse through increased work-family balance to decrease stress transmission to enhance family satisfaction and reduce relationship tension of the spouse. Implications for researchers and organizational leaders are discussed. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Reduced Cognitive-Motor Interference on Voluntary Balance Control in Older Tai Chi Practitioners.

PubMed

Varghese, Rini; Hui-Chan, Christina W Y; Bhatt, Tanvi

2016-01-01

Recent dual-task studies suggest that Tai Chi practitioners displayed better control of standing posture and maintained a quicker response time of postural muscle activation during a stepping down activity. Whether this effect extends to voluntary balance control, specifically the limits of excursion of the center of pressure, remains to be examined. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the cognitive-motor interference pattern by examining the effects of a concurrently performed cognitive task on attention of voluntary balance control in older adults who are long-term practitioners of Tai Chi. Ten older Tai Chi practitioners and 10 age-matched nonpractitioners performed a voluntary balance task that required them to shift their weight to reach a preset target in the forward and backward directions, with (single task, ST) and without (dual task, DT) a secondary cognitive task, which was the counting backward task. The counting backward task required the individual to compute and verbalize a series of arithmetic differences between a given pair of randomly generated numbers. The cognitive task was also performed independently (cognitive-ST). All trials were performed in a random order. Balance outcomes included reaction time, movement velocity, and maximal excursion of the center of pressure provided by the NeuroCom system. Cognitive outcome was the number of correct responses generated within the 8-second trial during the ST and DT conditions. Outcome variables were analyzed using a 2-factor, group by task, analysis of variance. DT costs for the variables were calculated as the relative difference between ST and DT conditions and were compared between the 2 groups using independent t tests. Tai Chi practitioners displayed shorter reaction times (P < .001) and faster movement velocities (P < .05) of their center of pressure than older nonpractitioners for both directions; however, no difference was found between the maximal excursions of the 2 groups. Cost analyses revealed that reaction time and cognitive costs were significantly lower in the Tai Chi practitioners for both forward and backward directions (P < .05); however, similar findings for movement velocity costs were significant only in the backward direction (P < .05). Our results suggest that Tai Chi practitioners expended fewer motor and cognitive resources than older nonpractitioners during a fairly complex (dynamic) postural equilibrium task while performing a verbal working memory task. They exhibited lesser cognitive-motor interference and thus better allocation of attentional resources toward the voluntary balance control task. Given that dynamic balance is a crucial prerequisite for walking and dual-tasking ability is considered to be a significant predictor of falls in older adults, our results might point at the possible long-term benefits of Tai Chi practice to counteract age-related decline in dual-tasking ability. Findings present preliminary data for further investigation, especially related to potential benefits in fall prevention.

Balancing water resources development and environmental sustainability in Africa: a review of recent research findings and applications.

PubMed

McClain, Michael E

2013-09-01

Sustainable development in Africa is dependent on increasing use of the continent's water resources without significantly degrading ecosystem services that are also fundamental to human wellbeing. This is particularly challenging in Africa because of high spatial and temporal variability in the availability of water resources and limited amounts of total water availability across expansive semi-arid portions of the continent. The challenge is compounded by ambitious targets for increased water use and a rush of international funding to finance development activities. Balancing development with environmental sustainability requires (i) understanding the boundary conditions imposed by the continent's climate and hydrology today and into the future, (ii) estimating the magnitude and spatial distribution of water use needed to meet development goals, and (iii) understanding the environmental water requirements of affected ecosystems, their current status and potential consequences of increased water use. This article reviews recent advancements in each of these topics and highlights innovative approaches and tools available to support sustainable development. While much remains to be learned, scientific understanding and technology should not be viewed as impediments to sustainable development on the continent.

The ethics of health service delivery: a challenge to public health leadership.

PubMed

DeLuca, D M

1989-01-01

The ethical distribution of health care is a central issue now that AIDS has started to be a drain on health care resources. If the worst predictions are true, the next half century will be capitalized by a great stress of the health care delivery system in the Pacific. The critical challenges that face the current leadership are: sustaining commitment to all levels of administration to reduce social and health inequities; making sound decisions on policies, priorities and goals that are based on valid information; strengthen health infrastructure, based on the principle of primary health care, including appropriate distribution of staffing, skills, technology and resources. The goals of the Pacific Health Promotion and Development center must not focus exclusively on AIDs. Hepatitis B control measures, hypertension and diabetes, primary care in remote areas, and rehabilitation initiatives must be kept in place. Humanitarian interests for AIDs patients must be balanced with the pragmatic reality of saving children's hearing, or extending useful lives. The attributes of respect, accountability, leadership, judgement, fairness, integrity and honesty controlled by principles of social justice must be part of the administrative decision making process. The 2 major issues facing public health professional are: (1) the financial considerations involved with increasingly expensive technology, services and research, contrasted against the need to prioritize their use and development; (2) pragmatic and ideological needs must be balanced to maximize preventative and curative services and make them available to those who can benefit from them.

Soil phosphorus - new insights into a critical cycle across many soil functions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leinweber, Peter; Zimmer, Dana

2017-04-01

The fate of phosphorus (P-) compounds in the soil - plant - water - system is linked with most soil functions such as productivity for agricultural crops, reactor for nutrient cycling, filter and buffer for water, and biodiversity. The P-compounds, mostly phosphates in a multitude of chemical bonds, may have contradicting influences on soil functions. For instance, P-concentrations may be suboptimal for crop yields but at the same time exceeding the soil filter/buffer capacity for water resources. Modern agriculture has increased this misbalance. Therefore, a better soil P management that balances all soil functions requires a deeper understanding of the P-cycling in the environment. The collaborative project "InnoSoilPhos" in the frame of the BonaRes-program of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) aims at disclosing the chemical composition, biogeochemical transformations and microbiological fundamentals of P-cycling and P-transport processes across all relevant scales from atomic to catchment and landscapes. The contribution will give an overview on the project and some examples for the latest findings on P-reactions at mineral surfaces (experimental and theoretical), microorganism diversity involved in soil P-transformations, crop yield responses to P-fertilizer regimes (including new P-recycling products) and, finally, hot spots and hot moments of P-release from soils into adjoining freshwater systems. These findings allow some preliminary demands and frame conditions for an improved soil P management to better balance the soil functions and safe the global mineable P resources.

Clinical measures of balance in people with type two diabetes: A systematic literature review.

PubMed

Dixon, C J; Knight, T; Binns, E; Ihaka, B; O'Brien, D

2017-10-01

Approximately 422 million people have diabetes mellitus worldwide, with the majority diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The complications of diabetes mellitus include diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) and retinopathy, both of which can lead to balance impairments. Balance assessment is therefore an integral component of the clinical assessment of a person with T2DM. Although there are a variety of balance measures available, it is uncertain which measures are the most appropriate for this population. Therefore, the aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review on clinical balance measures used with people with T2DM and DPN. Databases searched included: CINAHL plus, MEDLINE, SPORTDiscus, Dentistry and Oral Sciences source, and SCOPUS. Key terms, inclusion and exclusion criteria were used to identify appropriate studies. Identified studies were critiqued using the Downs and Black appraisal tool. Eight studies were included, these studies incorporated a total of ten different clinical balance measures. The balance measures identified included the Dynamic Balance Test, balance walk, tandem and unipedal stance, Functional Reach Test, Clinical Test of Sensory Interaction and Balance, Berg Balance Scale, Tinetti Performance-Oriented Mobility Assessment, Activity-Specific Balance Confidence Scale, Timed Up and Go test, and the Dynamic Gait Index. Numerous clinical balance measures were used for people with T2DM. However, the identified balance measures did not assess all of the systems of balance, and most had not been validated in a T2DM population. Therefore, future research is needed to identify the validity of a balance measure that assesses these systems in people with T2DM. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Using Mosix for Wide-Area Compuational Resources

USGS Publications Warehouse

Maddox, Brian G.

2004-01-01

One of the problems with using traditional Beowulf-type distributed processing clusters is that they require an investment in dedicated computer resources. These resources are usually needed in addition to pre-existing ones such as desktop computers and file servers. Mosix is a series of modifications to the Linux kernel that creates a virtual computer, featuring automatic load balancing by migrating processes from heavily loaded nodes to less used ones. An extension of the Beowulf concept is to run a Mosixenabled Linux kernel on a large number of computer resources in an organization. This configuration would provide a very large amount of computational resources based on pre-existing equipment. The advantage of this method is that it provides much more processing power than a traditional Beowulf cluster without the added costs of dedicating resources.

Load Balancing in Multi Cloud Computing Environment with Genetic Algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vhansure, Fularani; Deshmukh, Apurva; Sumathy, S.

2017-11-01

Cloud is a pool of resources that is available on pay per use model. It provides services to the user which is increasing rapidly. Load balancing is an issue because it cannot handle so many requests at a time. It is also known as NP complete problem. In traditional system the functions consist of various parameter values to maximise it in order to achieve best optimal individualsolutions. Challenge is when there are many parameters of solutionsin the system space. Another challenge is to optimize the function which is much more complex. In this paper, various techniques to handle load balancing virtually (VM) as well as physically (nodes) using genetic algorithm is discussed.

Research on a Method of Geographical Information Service Load Balancing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Heyuan; Li, Yongxing; Xue, Zhiyong; Feng, Tao

2018-05-01

With the development of geographical information service technologies, how to achieve the intelligent scheduling and high concurrent access of geographical information service resources based on load balancing is a focal point of current study. This paper presents an algorithm of dynamic load balancing. In the algorithm, types of geographical information service are matched with the corresponding server group, then the RED algorithm is combined with the method of double threshold effectively to judge the load state of serve node, finally the service is scheduled based on weighted probabilistic in a certain period. At the last, an experiment system is built based on cluster server, which proves the effectiveness of the method presented in this paper.

Developing a healthy web-based cookbook for pediatric cancer patients and survivors: rationale and methods.

PubMed

Li, Rhea; Raber, Margaret; Chandra, Joya

2015-03-31

Obesity has been a growing problem among children and adolescents in the United States for a number of decades. Childhood cancer survivors (CCS) are more susceptible to the downstream health consequences of obesity such as cardiovascular disease, endocrine issues, and risk of cancer recurrence due to late effects of treatment and suboptimal dietary and physical activity habits. The objective of this study was to document the development of a Web-based cookbook of healthy recipes and nutrition resources to help enable pediatric cancer patients and survivors to lead healthier lifestyles. The Web-based cookbook, named "@TheTable", was created by a committee of researchers, a registered dietitian, patients and family members, a hospital chef, and community advisors and donors. Recipes were collected from several sources including recipe contests and social media. We incorporated advice from current patients, parents, and CCS. Over 400 recipes, searchable by several categories and with accompanying nutritional information, are currently available on the website. In addition to healthy recipes, social media functionality and cooking videos are integrated into the website. The website also features nutrition information resources including nutrition and cooking tip sheets available on several subjects. The "@TheTable" website is a unique resource for promoting healthy lifestyles spanning pediatric oncology prevention, treatment, and survivorship. Through evaluations of the website's current and future use, as well as incorporation into interventions designed to promote energy balance, we will continue to adapt and build this unique resource to serve cancer patients, survivors, and the general public.

Developing a Healthy Web-Based Cookbook for Pediatric Cancer Patients and Survivors: Rationale and Methods

PubMed Central

Raber, Margaret

2015-01-01

Background Obesity has been a growing problem among children and adolescents in the United States for a number of decades. Childhood cancer survivors (CCS) are more susceptible to the downstream health consequences of obesity such as cardiovascular disease, endocrine issues, and risk of cancer recurrence due to late effects of treatment and suboptimal dietary and physical activity habits. Objective The objective of this study was to document the development of a Web-based cookbook of healthy recipes and nutrition resources to help enable pediatric cancer patients and survivors to lead healthier lifestyles. Methods The Web-based cookbook, named “@TheTable”, was created by a committee of researchers, a registered dietitian, patients and family members, a hospital chef, and community advisors and donors. Recipes were collected from several sources including recipe contests and social media. We incorporated advice from current patients, parents, and CCS. Results Over 400 recipes, searchable by several categories and with accompanying nutritional information, are currently available on the website. In addition to healthy recipes, social media functionality and cooking videos are integrated into the website. The website also features nutrition information resources including nutrition and cooking tip sheets available on several subjects. Conclusions The “@TheTable” website is a unique resource for promoting healthy lifestyles spanning pediatric oncology prevention, treatment, and survivorship. Through evaluations of the website’s current and future use, as well as incorporation into interventions designed to promote energy balance, we will continue to adapt and build this unique resource to serve cancer patients, survivors, and the general public. PMID:25840596

Investigating the Financial Performance of Universities of Medical Science and Health Services in Iran, Using Data Envelopment Analysis.

PubMed

Nasiripour, Amir Ashkan; Toloie-Ashlaghy, Abbas; Ta-Bibi, Seyed Jamaleddin; Maleki, Mohammad Reza; Gorji, Hassan Abolghasem

2014-01-01

Universities of Medical Science and Health Services (UMSHSs) are among the main organizations in Iran's health-care section. Improving their efficiency in financial resource management through creating an appropri-ate coordination between consumption and resources is strategically vital. Investigating the financial performance as well as ranking the Iranian UMSHSs is the research objective. The study is of descriptive and applied type. The study population includes the UMSHSs of Iran (n=42) among which 24 UMSHSs are selected. DEA is used with the aim to model and assess the financial performance in-cluding 4 inputs and 3 outputs. Also, linear regression is applied to determine the effectiveness of the applied indices as well as the level of the financial performance. Data are obtained from the Budgeting Center in the Ministry of Health and Medical Education, during 2010 mainly through forms designed based on the available balance sheets. The average score of financial performance assessment for UMSHSs based on the DEA of input-oriented data is 0.74, assuming a constant scale of DEA-CRS. Thus, approximately 25% of the studied UMSHSs have maxi-mum relative performance and totally, there is about a 30% capacity to increase the financial performance in these UMSHSs. Most Iranian UMSHSs do not have high financial performance. This can be due to problems in financial resource management especially in asset combining. Therefore, compilation and execution of a comprehensive pro-gram for organizational change and agility with the aim to create a kind of optimized combination of resources and assets is strongly recommended.

Northern Peatland Shifts Under Changing Climate and Their Impact on Permafrost

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shur, Y.; Jorgenson, T.; Kanevskiy, M. Z.

2014-12-01

Formation of peatlands depends primarily on climate and its interactions with hydrology, soil thermal regimes, plant composition, and nutrients. A water balance with precipitation exceeding evaporation is necessary for their formation. The rate of peat accumulation also greatly depends on thermal resources. The prominent impact of the water balance and temperature on peatland formation is evident in the West Siberia Lowland. The rate of peat accumulation steadily increases from arctic tundra to moss tundra, to forest tundra, to northern taiga, and to southern taiga. This increase is a result in increase in air temperature and length of the growing season because all of these zones have water balance favorable for peat formation. Further to south, evaporation prevails over precipitation and peat formation occurs only in isolated areas. Climate change will redefine geographical distribution of climatic and vegetation zones. It is predicted that in arctic and subarctic regions the difference between precipitation and evaporation will increase and as a result these regions will remain favorable to peat accumulation. With increase of thermal resources, the rate of peat accumulation will also increase. The Alaska Arctic Coastal Plain is of a special interest because it has thousands of shallow lakes, which due to warming climate would shift from open waterbodies to peatlands through shoreline paludification and infilling. The accumulation of organic matter will likely turn open water into shore fens and bogs, and eventually to peat plateaus, as is occurring in many boreal landscapes. Expected impact on permafrost in arctic and subarctic regions will include rise of the permafrost table, thickening of the ice-rich intermediate layer with ataxitic (suspended) cryostructure, and replacement of frost boils with earth hummocks. In the contemporary continuous permafrost zone, permafrost formed as climate-driven will be transformed into climate-driven ecosystem protected. Sphagnum mosses, which grow better under warm climates, is a dominant factor in this transformation. Terrestrialization of numerous shallow lakes on the Arctic Coastal Plain of Alaska will lower permafrost temperatures beneath them and in surrounding areas.

'Moving on' Violence, wellbeing and questions about violence in antenatal care encounters. A qualitative study with Somali-born refugees in Sweden.

PubMed

Byrskog, Ulrika; Essén, Birgitta; Olsson, Pia; Klingberg-Allvin, Marie

2016-09-01

Somali-born women constitute one of the largest groups of childbearing refugee women in Sweden after more than two decades of political violence in Somalia. In Sweden, these women encounter antenatal care that includes routine questions about violence being asked. The aim of the study was to explore how Somali-born women understand and relate to violence and wellbeing during their migration transition and their views on being approached with questions about violence in Swedish antenatal care. Qualitative interviews (22) with Somali-born women (17) living in Sweden were conducted and analysed using thematic analysis. A balancing act between keeping private life private and the new welfare system was identified, where the midwife's questions about violence were met with hesitance. The midwife was, however, considered a resource for access to support services in the new society. A focus on pragmatic strategies to move on in life, rather than dwelling on potential experiences of violence and related traumas, was prominent. Social networks, spiritual faith and motherhood were crucial for regaining coherence in the aftermath of war. Dialogue and mutual adjustments were identified as strategies used to overcome power tensions in intimate relationships undergoing transition. If confidentiality and links between violence and health are explained and clarified during the care encounter, screening for violence can be more beneficial in relation to Somali-born women. The focus on "moving on" and rationality indicates strength and access to alternative resources, but needs to be balanced against risks for hidden needs in care encounters. A care environment with continuity of care and trustful relationships enhances possibilities for the midwife to balance these dual perspectives and identify potential needs. Collaborations between Somali communities, maternity care and social service providers can contribute with support to families in transition and bridge gaps to formal social and care services. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Survival Skills for the Principalship: A Treasure Chest of Time-Savers, Short-Cuts, and Strategies to Help You Keep a Balance in Your Life

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blaydes, John

2004-01-01

Today's principals face unique challenges--demands of time, knowledge, and organization which take their toll on even the most flexible leader. This compilation of resources offers practical, ready-to-use solutions to the issues and dilemmas facing principals every day. These valuable resources can be consulted for years to come as a long-term…

Risk, Reliability and Resilience: Phytolith Evidence for Alternative ‘Neolithization’ Pathways at Kharaneh IV in the Azraq Basin, Jordan

PubMed Central

Ramsey, Monica N.

2016-01-01

‘Neolithization’ pathway refers to the development of adaptations that characterized subsequent Neolithic life, sedentary occupations, and agriculture. In the Levant, the origins of these human behaviors are widely argued to have emerged during the Early Epipaleolithic (ca. 23 ka cal BP). Consequently, there has been a pre-occupation with identifying and modeling the dietary shift to cereal and grains during this period, which is considered to have been a key development that facilitated increasing sedentism and, eventually, agriculture. Yet, direct evidence of plant use in the form of macrobotanical remains is extremely limited at Epipaleolithic sites and the expected ‘Neolithization’ pathway has not been robustly demonstrated. However, new direct microbotanical phytolith evidence from the large aggregation site of Kharaneh IV, in the Azraq Basin, suggests that increasingly settled occupation was not the result of wild grass and cereal use, but rather the result of a typical hunter-gatherer balance, based on the use of mostly reliable resources supplemented by some risky resources. Moreover, and illustrating this balance, the direct botanical evidence emphases the importance of the wetlands as an under-recognized reliable plant resource. Significantly, the use of these reliable wetland plant resources at Kharaneh IV represents an unexpected ‘Neolithization’ pathway. PMID:27760164

Digitally balanced detection for optical tomography.

PubMed

Hafiz, Rehan; Ozanyan, Krikor B

2007-10-01

Analog balanced Photodetection has found extensive usage for sensing of a weak absorption signal buried in laser intensity noise. This paper proposes schemes for compact, affordable, and flexible digital implementation of the already established analog balanced detection, as part of a multichannel digital tomography system. Variants of digitally balanced detection (DBD) schemes, suitable for weak signals on a largely varying background or weakly varying envelopes of high frequency carrier waves, are introduced analytically and elaborated in terms of algorithmic and hardware flow. The DBD algorithms are implemented on a low-cost general purpose reconfigurable hardware (field-programmable gate array), utilizing less than half of its resources. The performance of the DBD schemes compare favorably with their analog counterpart: A common mode rejection ratio of 50 dB was observed over a bandwidth of 300 kHz, limited mainly by the host digital hardware. The close relationship between the DBD outputs and those of known analog balancing circuits is discussed in principle and shown experimentally in the example case of propane gas detection.

Cooperative network clustering and task allocation for heterogeneous small satellite network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qin, Jing

The research of small satellite has emerged as a hot topic in recent years because of its economical prospects and convenience in launching and design. Due to the size and energy constraints of small satellites, forming a small satellite network(SSN) in which all the satellites cooperate with each other to finish tasks is an efficient and effective way to utilize them. In this dissertation, I designed and evaluated a weight based dominating set clustering algorithm, which efficiently organizes the satellites into stable clusters. The traditional clustering algorithms of large monolithic satellite networks, such as formation flying and satellite swarm, are often limited on automatic formation of clusters. Therefore, a novel Distributed Weight based Dominating Set(DWDS) clustering algorithm is designed to address the clustering problems in the stochastically deployed SSNs. Considering the unique features of small satellites, this algorithm is able to form the clusters efficiently and stably. In this algorithm, satellites are separated into different groups according to their spatial characteristics. A minimum dominating set is chosen as the candidate cluster head set based on their weights, which is a weighted combination of residual energy and connection degree. Then the cluster heads admit new neighbors that accept their invitations into the cluster, until the maximum cluster size is reached. Evaluated by the simulation results, in a SSN with 200 to 800 nodes, the algorithm is able to efficiently cluster more than 90% of nodes in 3 seconds. The Deadline Based Resource Balancing (DBRB) task allocation algorithm is designed for efficient task allocations in heterogeneous LEO small satellite networks. In the task allocation process, the dispatcher needs to consider the deadlines of the tasks as well as the residue energy of different resources for best energy utilization. We assume the tasks adopt a Map-Reduce framework, in which a task can consist of multiple subtasks. The DBRB algorithm is deployed on the head node of a cluster. It gathers the status from each cluster member and calculates their Node Importance Factors (NIFs) from the carried resources, residue power and compute capacity. The algorithm calculates the number of concurrent subtasks based on the deadlines, and allocates the subtasks to the nodes according to their NIF values. The simulation results show that when cluster members carry multiple resources, resource are more balanced and rare resources serve longer in DBRB than in the Earliest Deadline First algorithm. We also show that the algorithm performs well in service isolation by serving multiple tasks with different deadlines. Moreover, the average task response time with various cluster size settings is well controlled within deadlines as well. Except non-realtime tasks, small satellites may execute realtime tasks as well. The location-dependent tasks, such as image capturing, data transmission and remote sensing tasks are realtime tasks that are required to be started / finished on specific time. The resource energy balancing algorithm for realtime and non-realtime mixed workload is developed to efficiently schedule the tasks for best system performance. It calculates the residue energy for each resource type and tries to preserve resources and node availability when distributing tasks. Non-realtime tasks can be preempted by realtime tasks to provide better QoS to realtime tasks. I compared the performance of proposed algorithm with a random-priority scheduling algorithm, with only realtime tasks, non-realtime tasks and mixed tasks. It shows the resource energy reservation algorithm outperforms the latter one with both balanced and imbalanced workloads. Although the resource energy balancing task allocation algorithm for mixed workload provides preemption mechanism for realtime tasks, realtime tasks can still fail due to resource exhaustion. For LEO small satellite flies around the earth on stable orbits, the location-dependent realtime tasks can be considered as periodical tasks. Therefore, it is possible to reserve energy for these realtime tasks. The resource energy reservation algorithm preserves energy for the realtime tasks when the execution routine of periodical realtime tasks is known. In order to reserve energy for tasks starting very early in each period that the node does not have enough energy charged, an energy wrapping mechanism is also designed to calculate the residue energy from the previous period. The simulation results show that without energy reservation, realtime task failure rate can reach more than 60% when the workload is highly imbalanced. In contrast, the resource energy reservation produces zero RT task failures and leads to equal or better aggregate system throughput than the non-reservation algorithm. The proposed algorithm also preserves more energy because it avoids task preemption. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.).

National parks and protected areas: Appoaches for balancing social, economic, and ecological values

USGS Publications Warehouse

Prato, Tony; Fagre, Daniel B.

2005-01-01

National Parks and Protected Areas: Approaches for Balancing Social, Economic and Ecological Values is peerless in its unified treatment of the issues surrounding this subject. From decision-making for planning and management to the principles of ecology and economics, this text examines the analytical methods, information technologies, and planning and management problems associated with protected area planning and management. Protected area managers and students in undergraduate and graduate courses in natural resource management will appreciate this highly readable book.

5 CFR 841.605 - Interest included in the unexpended balance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... balance. 841.605 Section 841.605 Administrative Personnel OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT (CONTINUED) CIVIL... Interest § 841.605 Interest included in the unexpended balance. (a) Interest on each Individual Retirement Record is computed separately. (b) For determining the amount of interest in the unexpended balance when...

5 CFR 841.605 - Interest included in the unexpended balance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... balance. 841.605 Section 841.605 Administrative Personnel OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT (CONTINUED) CIVIL... Interest § 841.605 Interest included in the unexpended balance. (a) Interest on each Individual Retirement Record is computed separately. (b) For determining the amount of interest in the unexpended balance when...

A Descriptive Study of Television News Coverage of Tobacco in the United States: Frequency of Topics, Frames, Exemplars, and Efficacy

PubMed Central

BLAKE, KELLY D.; KAUFMAN, ANNETTE R.; LORENZO, JOSHUA; AUGUSTSON, ERIK M.

2015-01-01

There is a positive correlation between recall of tobacco-related television news and perceived risks of smoking and thoughts about quitting. The authors used Cision US, Inc., to create a sampling frame (N =61,027) of local and national television news coverage of tobacco from October 1, 2008, to September 30, 2009, and to draw a nationally representative sample (N =730) for content analysis. The authors conducted a descriptive study to determine the frequency and proportion of stories containing specified tobacco topics, frames, sources, and action messages, and the valence of the coverage. Valence was generally neutral; 68% of stories took a balanced stance, with 26% having a tenor supportive of tobacco control and 6% opposing tobacco control. The most frequently covered topics included smoking bans (n =195) and cessation (n =156). The least covered topics included hookah (n =1) and menthol (n =0). The majority of coverage lacked quoting any source (n =345); government officials (n =144) were the most quoted sources. Coverage lacked action messages or resources; 29 stories (<4%) included a message about cessation or advocacy, and 8 stories (1%) contained a resource such as a quitline. Television news can be leveraged by health communication professionals to increase awareness of underrepresented topics in tobacco control. PMID:26176379

The Nutritional Geometry of Resource Scarcity: Effects of Lean Seasons and Habitat Disturbance on Nutrient Intakes and Balancing in Wild Sifakas

PubMed Central

Irwin, Mitchell T.; Raharison, Jean-Luc; Raubenheimer, David R.; Chapman, Colin A.; Rothman, Jessica M.

2015-01-01

Animals experience spatial and temporal variation in food and nutrient supply, which may cause deviations from optimal nutrient intakes in both absolute amounts (meeting nutrient requirements) and proportions (nutrient balancing). Recent research has used the geometric framework for nutrition to obtain an improved understanding of how animals respond to these nutritional constraints, among them free-ranging primates including spider monkeys and gorillas. We used this framework to examine macronutrient intakes and nutrient balancing in sifakas (Propithecus diadema) at Tsinjoarivo, Madagascar, in order to quantify how these vary across seasons and across habitats with varying degrees of anthropogenic disturbance. Groups in intact habitat experience lean season decreases in frugivory, amounts of food ingested, and nutrient intakes, yet preserve remarkably constant proportions of dietary macronutrients, with the proportional contribution of protein to the diet being highly consistent. Sifakas in disturbed habitat resemble intact forest groups in the relative contribution of dietary macronutrients, but experience less seasonality: all groups’ diets converge in the lean season, but disturbed forest groups largely fail to experience abundant season improvements in food intake or nutritional outcomes. These results suggest that: (1) lemurs experience seasonality by maintaining nutrient balance at the expense of calories ingested, which contrasts with earlier studies of spider monkeys and gorillas, (2) abundant season foods should be the target of habitat management, even though mortality might be concentrated in the lean season, and (3) primates’ within-group competitive landscapes, which contribute to variation in social organization, may vary in complex ways across habitats and seasons. PMID:26061401

Development and implementation of a balanced scorecard in an academic hospitalist group.

PubMed

Hwa, Michael; Sharpe, Bradley A; Wachter, Robert M

2013-03-01

Academic hospitalist groups (AHGs) are often expected to excel in multiple domains: quality improvement, patient safety, education, research, administration, and clinical care. To be successful, AHGs must develop strategies to balance their energies, resources, and performance. The balanced scorecard (BSC) is a strategic management system that enables organizations to translate their mission and vision into specific objectives and metrics across multiple domains. To date, no hospitalist group has reported on BSC implementation. We set out to develop a BSC as part of a strategic planning initiative. Based on a needs assessment of the University of California, San Francisco, Division of Hospital Medicine, mission and vision statements were developed. We engaged representative faculty to develop strategic objectives and determine performance metrics across 4 BSC perspectives. There were 41 metrics identified, and 16 were chosen for the initial BSC. It allowed us to achieve several goals: 1) present a broad view of performance, 2) create transparency and accountability, 3) communicate goals and engage faculty, and 4) ensure we use data to guide strategic decisions. Several lessons were learned, including the need to build faculty consensus, establish metrics with reliable measureable data, and the power of the BSC to drive goals across the division. We successfully developed and implemented a BSC in an AHG as part of a strategic planning initiative. The BSC has been instrumental in allowing us to achieve balanced success in multiple domains. Academic groups should consider employing the BSC as it allows for a data-driven strategic planning and assessment process. Copyright © 2013 Society of Hospital Medicine.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pennock, Kenneth; Makarov, Yuri V.; Rajagopal, Sankaran

The need for proactive closed-loop integration of uncertainty information into system operations and probability-based controls is widely recognized, but rarely implemented in system operations. Proactive integration for this project means that the information concerning expected uncertainty ranges for net load and balancing requirements, including required balancing capacity, ramping and ramp duration characteristics, will be fed back into the generation commitment and dispatch algorithms to modify their performance so that potential shortages of these characteristics can be prevented. This basic, yet important, premise is the motivating factor for this project. The achieved project goal is to demonstrate the benefit of suchmore » a system. The project quantifies future uncertainties, predicts additional system balancing needs including the prediction intervals for capacity and ramping requirements of future dispatch intervals, evaluates the impacts of uncertainties on transmission including the risk of overloads and voltage problems, and explores opportunities for intra-hour generation adjustments helping to provide more flexibility for system operators. The resulting benefits culminate in more reliable grid operation in the face of increased system uncertainty and variability caused by solar power. The project identifies that solar power does not require special separate penetration level restrictions or penalization for its intermittency. Ultimately, the collective consideration of all sources of intermittency distributed over a wide area unified with the comprehensive evaluation of various elements of balancing process, i.e. capacity, ramping, and energy requirements, help system operators more robustly and effectively balance generation against load and interchange. This project showed that doing so can facilitate more solar and other renewable resources on the grid without compromising reliability and control performance. Efforts during the project included developing and integrating advanced probabilistic solar forecasts, including distributed PV forecasts, into closed –loop decision making processes. Additionally, new uncertainty quantifications methods and tools for the direct integration of uncertainty and variability information into grid operations at the transmission and distribution levels were developed and tested. During Phase 1, project work focused heavily on the design, development and demonstration of a set of processes and tools that could reliably and efficiently incorporate solar power into California’s grid operations. In Phase 2, connectivity between the ramping analysis tools and market applications software were completed, multiple dispatch scenarios demonstrated a successful reduction of overall uncertainty and an analysis to quantify increases in system operator reliability, and the transmission and distribution system uncertainty prediction tool was introduced to system operation engineers in a live webinar. The project met its goals, the experiments prove the advancements to methods and tools, when working together, are beneficial to not only the California Independent System Operator, but the benefits are transferable to other system operators in the United States.« less

Estimation of Actual Crop ET of Paddy Using the Energy Balance Model SMARET and Validation with Field Water Balance Measurements and a Crop Growth Model (ORYZA)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nallasamy, N. D.; Muraleedharan, B. V.; Kathirvel, K.; Narasimhan, B.

2014-12-01

Sustainable management of water resources requires reliable estimates of actual evapotranspiration (ET) at fine spatial and temporal resolution. This is significant in the case of rice based irrigation systems, one of the major consumers of surface water resources and where ET forms a major component of water consumption. However huge tradeoff in the spatial and temporal resolution of satellite images coupled with lack of adequate number of cloud free images within a growing season act as major constraints in deriving ET at fine spatial and temporal resolution using remote sensing based energy balance models. The scale at which ET is determined is decided by the spatial and temporal scale of Land Surface Temperature (LST) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), which form inputs to energy balance models. In this context, the current study employed disaggregation algorithms (NL-DisTrad and DisNDVI) to generate time series of LST and NDVI images at fine resolution. The disaggregation algorithms aimed at generating LST and NDVI at finer scale by integrating temporal information from concurrent coarse resolution data and spatial information from a single fine resolution image. The temporal frequency of the disaggregated images is further improved by employing composite images of NDVI and LST in the spatio-temporal disaggregation method. The study further employed half-hourly incoming surface insolation and outgoing long wave radiation obtained from the Indian geostationary satellite (Kalpana-1) to convert the instantaneous ET into daily ET and subsequently to the seasonal ET, thereby improving the accuracy of ET estimates. The estimates of ET were validated with field based water balance measurements carried out in Gadana, a subbasin predominated by rice paddy fields, located in Tamil Nadu, India.

Energy Balance of Rural Ecosystems In India

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chhabra, A.; Madhava Rao, V.; Hermon, R. R.; Garg, A.; Nag, T.; Bhaskara Rao, N.; Sharma, A.; Parihar, J. S.

2014-11-01

India is predominantly an agricultural and rural country. Across the country, the villages vary in geographical location, area, human and livestock population, availability of resources, agricultural practices, livelihood patterns etc. This study presents an estimation of net energy balance resulting from primary production vis-a-vis energy consumption through various components in a "Rural Ecosystem". Seven sites located in different agroclimatic regions of India were studied. An end use energy accounting "Rural Energy Balance Model" is developed for input-output analysis of various energy flows of production, consumption, import and export through various components of crop, trees outside forest plantations, livestock, rural households, industry or trade within the village system boundary. An integrated approach using field, ancillary, GIS and high resolution IRS-P6 Resourcesat-2 LISS IV data is adopted for generation of various model inputs. The primary and secondary field data collection of various energy uses at household and village level were carried out using structured schedules and questionnaires. High resolution multi-temporal Resourcesat-2 LISS IV data (2013-14) was used for generating landuse/landcover maps and estimation of above-ground Trees Outside Forests phytomass. The model inputs were converted to energy equivalents using country-specific energy conversion factors. A comprehensive geotagged database of sampled households and available resources at each study site was also developed in ArcGIS framework. Across the study sites, the estimated net energy balance ranged from -18.8 Terra Joules (TJ) in a high energy consuming Hodka village, Gujarat to 224.7 TJ in an agriculture, aquaculture and plantation intensive Kollaparru village, Andhra Pradesh. The results indicate that the net energy balance of a Rural Ecosystem is largely driven by primary production through crops and natural vegetation. This study provides a significant insight to policy relevant recommendations for Energy Sustainable Rural India.

Lockheed Martin Idaho Technologies Company information management technology architecture

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hughes, M.J.; Lau, P.K.S.

1996-05-01

The Information Management Technology Architecture (TA) is being driven by the business objectives of reducing costs and improving effectiveness. The strategy is to reduce the cost of computing through standardization. The Lockheed Martin Idaho Technologies Company (LMITCO) TA is a set of standards and products for use at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL). The TA will provide direction for information management resource acquisitions, development of information systems, formulation of plans, and resolution of issues involving LMITCO computing resources. Exceptions to the preferred products may be granted by the Information Management Executive Council (IMEC). Certain implementation and deployment strategies aremore » inherent in the design and structure of LMITCO TA. These include: migration from centralized toward distributed computing; deployment of the networks, servers, and other information technology infrastructure components necessary for a more integrated information technology support environment; increased emphasis on standards to make it easier to link systems and to share information; and improved use of the company`s investment in desktop computing resources. The intent is for the LMITCO TA to be a living document constantly being reviewed to take advantage of industry directions to reduce costs while balancing technological diversity with business flexibility.« less

Intra-Hour Dispatch and Automatic Generator Control Demonstration with Solar Forecasting - Final Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Coimbra, Carlos F. M.

2016-02-25

In this project we address multiple resource integration challenges associated with increasing levels of solar penetration that arise from the variability and uncertainty in solar irradiance. We will model the SMUD service region as its own balancing region, and develop an integrated, real-time operational tool that takes solar-load forecast uncertainties into consideration and commits optimal energy resources and reserves for intra-hour and intra-day decisions. The primary objectives of this effort are to reduce power system operation cost by committing appropriate amount of energy resources and reserves, as well as to provide operators a prediction of the generation fleet’s behavior inmore » real time for realistic PV penetration scenarios. The proposed methodology includes the following steps: clustering analysis on the expected solar variability per region for the SMUD system, Day-ahead (DA) and real-time (RT) load forecasts for the entire service areas, 1-year of intra-hour CPR forecasts for cluster centers, 1-year of smart re-forecasting CPR forecasts in real-time for determination of irreducible errors, and uncertainty quantification for integrated solar-load for both distributed and central stations (selected locations within service region) PV generation.« less

Assessment of urban sustainability efficiency based on general data envelopment analysis: a case study of two cities in western and eastern China.

PubMed

Yan, Yan; Shan, Peng; Wang, Chenxing; Quan, Yuan; Wu, Di; Zhao, Chunli; Wu, Gang; Deng, Hongbing

2017-04-01

Sustainable urban development focuses on enhancing urban well-being, while also balancing the demands of urban social and economic development, natural resource consumption, and environmental pollution. This work used general data envelopment analysis to assess the urban sustainability efficiency (USE) and sustainability potential (SP) in Lanzhou and Xiamen, two cities that are characteristic of urban areas in western and eastern China. The assessment indicator system included important natural and urban welfare factors as input and output indices, respectively. The results showed that overall urban sustainability efficiency increased in Lanzhou and Xiamen from 1985 to 2010, but that the sustainability of natural resources clearly decreased. The urban sustainability efficiency of Xiamen was higher than that of Lanzhou, and the sustainability potential of Xiamen was lower than that of Lanzhou; this indicates that Xiamen performed better in terms of urban sustainable development. The urban sustainability efficiency in Xiamen has increased with increasing urban population, and the rate and scale of economic development have been higher than in Lanzhou. The assessment and analysis performed in this study show that cities with different natural resources and development characteristics have different forms, patterns, and trajectories of sustainable development.

The effectiveness of virtual reality interventions in improving balance in adults with impaired balance compared to standard or no treatment: A systematic review.

PubMed

Booth, Vicky; Masud, Tahir; Bath-Hextall, Fiona

Balance impairment can result in falls and reduced activities of daily living and function. Virtual reality and interactive gaming systems provide a novel and potentially environmentally flexible treatment option to improve postural stability and reduce falls in balance impaired populations. There are no existing systematic reviews in this topic area. To search, critically appraise and synthesise the best available evidence on whether virtual reality interventions, including interactive gaming systems, are effective at improving balance in adults with impaired balance. Adults with impaired, altered or reduced balance identified either through reduced balance outcome measure score or increased risk or incidence of falls.Types of interventions:Any virtual reality or interactive gaming systems used within a rehabilitative setting.The primary outcome was an objective measure of balance (i.e. balance outcome measure such as Berg Balance Score) or number and/or incidence of falls. Secondary outcome measures of interest included any adverse effects experienced, an outcome measure indicating functional balance (i.e. walking speed), quality of life (through use of an objective measure i.e. EuroQOL), and number of days in hospital due to falls.Types of studies:Randomised controlled trials (RCT). A three-stage strategy searched the following electronic databases: The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE, EMBASE, AMED, CINAHL, PsycINFO, PsycBITE, OTseeker, Ei Compendex, Inspec, Current Controlled Trials, and the National Institute of Health Clinical Trials Database. The methodological quality of each included study was independently assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute Meta Analysis of Statistics Assessment and Review Instrument (JBI-MAStARI) to systematically comment on influence of bias. Data was individually extracted from the included studies using the standardised JBI data extraction tool from JBI-MAStARI. Data was analysed using Review Manager 5 software. Results were expressed as mean difference (MD) with 95% confidence intervals for continuous outcomes. Meta-analysis was not possible due to the variation of the interventions given and small number of included trials; hence, a description of the results was given. Four studies were included in the systematic review. All the included studies used different types of virtual reality or interactive gaming interventions. Two of the included studies used the same balance outcome measure. There was a notable inconsistency of balance outcome measurement between all the included studies. No data was given regarding falls in any of the studies. A secondary outcome, the 10m walk test, was recorded in two of the studies. The four included studies had small sample sizes and poor methodological quality. Despite the presentation of statistically significant results, the clinical significance is questionable. The review can not recommend the inclusion of virtual reality or interactive gaming systems into the rehabilitation of balance impairment based on the results of the four included studies. Further investigation in this topic area is required.

mGrid: A load-balanced distributed computing environment for the remote execution of the user-defined Matlab code

PubMed Central

Karpievitch, Yuliya V; Almeida, Jonas S

2006-01-01

Background Matlab, a powerful and productive language that allows for rapid prototyping, modeling and simulation, is widely used in computational biology. Modeling and simulation of large biological systems often require more computational resources then are available on a single computer. Existing distributed computing environments like the Distributed Computing Toolbox, MatlabMPI, Matlab*G and others allow for the remote (and possibly parallel) execution of Matlab commands with varying support for features like an easy-to-use application programming interface, load-balanced utilization of resources, extensibility over the wide area network, and minimal system administration skill requirements. However, all of these environments require some level of access to participating machines to manually distribute the user-defined libraries that the remote call may invoke. Results mGrid augments the usual process distribution seen in other similar distributed systems by adding facilities for user code distribution. mGrid's client-side interface is an easy-to-use native Matlab toolbox that transparently executes user-defined code on remote machines (i.e. the user is unaware that the code is executing somewhere else). Run-time variables are automatically packed and distributed with the user-defined code and automated load-balancing of remote resources enables smooth concurrent execution. mGrid is an open source environment. Apart from the programming language itself, all other components are also open source, freely available tools: light-weight PHP scripts and the Apache web server. Conclusion Transparent, load-balanced distribution of user-defined Matlab toolboxes and rapid prototyping of many simple parallel applications can now be done with a single easy-to-use Matlab command. Because mGrid utilizes only Matlab, light-weight PHP scripts and the Apache web server, installation and configuration are very simple. Moreover, the web-based infrastructure of mGrid allows for it to be easily extensible over the Internet. PMID:16539707

mGrid: a load-balanced distributed computing environment for the remote execution of the user-defined Matlab code.

PubMed

Karpievitch, Yuliya V; Almeida, Jonas S

2006-03-15

Matlab, a powerful and productive language that allows for rapid prototyping, modeling and simulation, is widely used in computational biology. Modeling and simulation of large biological systems often require more computational resources then are available on a single computer. Existing distributed computing environments like the Distributed Computing Toolbox, MatlabMPI, Matlab*G and others allow for the remote (and possibly parallel) execution of Matlab commands with varying support for features like an easy-to-use application programming interface, load-balanced utilization of resources, extensibility over the wide area network, and minimal system administration skill requirements. However, all of these environments require some level of access to participating machines to manually distribute the user-defined libraries that the remote call may invoke. mGrid augments the usual process distribution seen in other similar distributed systems by adding facilities for user code distribution. mGrid's client-side interface is an easy-to-use native Matlab toolbox that transparently executes user-defined code on remote machines (i.e. the user is unaware that the code is executing somewhere else). Run-time variables are automatically packed and distributed with the user-defined code and automated load-balancing of remote resources enables smooth concurrent execution. mGrid is an open source environment. Apart from the programming language itself, all other components are also open source, freely available tools: light-weight PHP scripts and the Apache web server. Transparent, load-balanced distribution of user-defined Matlab toolboxes and rapid prototyping of many simple parallel applications can now be done with a single easy-to-use Matlab command. Because mGrid utilizes only Matlab, light-weight PHP scripts and the Apache web server, installation and configuration are very simple. Moreover, the web-based infrastructure of mGrid allows for it to be easily extensible over the Internet.

Physician anger: Leggo dem managed care blues--leadership beyond the era of managed cost.

PubMed

Kirz, H L

1999-01-01

While managed care has caused great disruption, it has also provided physician executives with a natural leadership raison d'être. Managed care, with all its pros and cons, is largely a response to certain unrelenting trends. The core functions of leaders comprise the stewardship of organizations and colleagues in response to these trends. Four trends are explored: (1) The demise of open-ended funding of American health care; (2) continued competition for health care resources; (3) thriving pluralism; and (4) patients continually adjusting to assure themselves of appropriate health care access, quality, and service. In the 21st century, the industry will need a new brand of leader, one capable of balancing the needs of the professionals with the business and accountability requirements of a permanently competitive and resource-constrained service industry. The keys to successful leadership in the future include: (1) Clear service differentiation and a compelling vision to match it; (2) recruiting and retaining top clinical talent, including the required return to physician self-direction and governance; (3) successful partnerships with others outside your organization; and (4) a steady focus on performance in all its dimensions.

A Green Prison: The Santa Rita Jail Campus Microgrid

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Marnay, Chris; DeForest, Nicholas; Lai, Judy

2012-01-22

A large microgrid project is nearing completion at Alameda County’s twenty-two-year-old 45 ha 4,000-inmate Santa Rita Jail, about 70 km east of San Francisco. Often described as a green prison, it has a considerable installed base of distributed energy resources (DER) including an eight-year old 1.2 MW PV array, a five-year old 1 MW fuel cell with heat recovery, and considerable efficiency investments. A current US$14 M expansion adds a 2 MW-4 MWh Li-ion battery, a static disconnect switch, and various controls upgrades. During grid blackouts, or when conditions favor it, the Jail can now disconnect from the grid andmore » operate as an island, using the on-site resources described together with its back-up diesel generators. In other words, the Santa Rita Jail is a true microgrid, or μgrid, because it fills both requirements, i.e. it is a locally controlled system, and it can operate both grid connected and islanded. The battery’s electronics includes Consortium for Electric Reliability Technology (CERTS) Microgrid technology. This enables the battery to maintain energy balance using droops without need for a fast control system.« less

Review of Variable Generation Integration Charges

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Porter, K.; Fink, S.; Buckley, M.

2013-03-01

The growth of wind and solar generation in the United States, and the expectation of continued growth of these technologies, dictates that the future power system will be operated in a somewhat different manner because of increased variability and uncertainty. A small number of balancing authorities have attempted to determine an 'integration cost' to account for these changes to their current operating practices. Some balancing authorities directly charge wind and solar generators for integration charges, whereas others add integration charges to projected costs of wind and solar in integrated resource plans or in competitive solicitations for generation. This report reviewsmore » the balancing authorities that have calculated variable generation integration charges and broadly compares and contrasts the methodologies they used to determine their specific integration charges. The report also profiles each balancing authority and how they derived wind and solar integration charges.« less

Cognition-Action Trade-Offs Reflect Organization of Attention in Infancy.

PubMed

Berger, Sarah E; Harbourne, Regina T; Horger, Melissa N

2018-01-01

This chapter discusses what cognition-action trade-offs in infancy reveal about the organization and developmental trajectory of attention. We focus on internal attention because this aspect is most relevant to the immediate concerns of infancy, such as fluctuating levels of expertise, balancing multiple taxing skills simultaneously, learning how to control attention under variable conditions, and coordinating distinct psychological domains. Cognition-action trade-offs observed across the life span include perseveration during skill emergence, errors and inefficient strategies during decision making, and the allocation of resources when attention is taxed. An embodied cognitive-load account interprets these behavioral patterns as a result of limited attentional resources allocated across simultaneous, taxing task demands. For populations where motor errors could be costly, like infants and the elderly, attention is typically devoted to motor demands with errors occurring in the cognitive domain. In contrast, healthy young adults tend to preserve their cognitive performance by modifying their actions. © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Land use change around protected areas: management to balance human needs and ecological function.

PubMed

DeFries, Ruth; Hansen, Andrew; Turner, B L; Reid, Robin; Liu, Jianguo

2007-06-01

Protected areas throughout the world are key for conserving biodiversity, and land use is key for providing food, fiber, and other ecosystem services essential for human sustenance. As land use change isolates protected areas from their surrounding landscapes, the challenge is to identify management opportunities that maintain ecological function while minimizing restrictions on human land use. Building on the case studies in this Invited Feature and on ecological principles, we identify opportunities for regional land management that maintain both ecological function in protected areas and human land use options, including preserving crucial habitats and migration corridors, and reducing dependence of local human populations on protected area resources. Identification of appropriate and effective management opportunities depends on clear definitions of: (1) the biodiversity attributes of concern; (2) landscape connections to delineate particular locations with strong ecological interactions between the protected area and its surrounding landscape; and (3) socioeconomic dynamics that determine current and future use of land resources in and around the protected area.

Work family conflict in its relations to perceived working situation and work engagement.

PubMed

Mache, Stefanie; Bernburg, Monika; Groneberg, David A; Klapp, Burghard F; Danzer, Gerhard

2016-02-15

These days physicians' work is characterized by an increase in economic demands, pressure and challenges in establishing a balance between work and family life. The current study investigates the relationship between physicians' job demands and resources, perceived job stress, work-family conflict, work engagement and job satisfaction. 564 clinicians specialising in different medical fields participated in the cross-sectional study. Self-administered questionnaires, including the COPSOQ and the UWES- Scale were administered. Our results illustrated significant relationships between physicians' work engagement and their job satisfaction as well as between job stress and work family conflict. Moreover, perceived job stress moderated the effect of high job demands on work family conflict. In addition, significant gender differences have been found in perceived stress levels, work family conflict and work engagement. This study proves and verified associations between work engagement, work-family conflict, job demands and resources that may influence employees' satisfaction. Implications for both working physicians and hospital management are given.

Visitor evaluations of management actions at a highly impacted Appalachian Trail camping area.

PubMed

Daniels, Melissa L; Marion, Jeffrey L

2006-12-01

Protected area management involves balancing environmental and social objectives. This is particularly difficult at high-use/high-impact recreation sites, because resource protection objectives may require substantial site management or visitor regulation. This study examined visitors' reactions to both of these types of actions at Annapolis Rocks, Maryland, a popular Appalachian Trail camping area. We surveyed visitors before and after implementation of camping policies that included shifting camping to designated newly constructed campsites and prohibiting campfires. Survey results reveal that visitors were more satisfied with all social and environmental indicators after the changes were enacted. An Importance-Performance analysis also determined that management actions improved conditions for factors of greatest concern to campers prior to the changes. Posttreatment visitors were least satisfied with factors related to reduced freedom and to some characteristics of the constructed campsites. Although there was evidence of visitor displacement, the camping changes met management goals by protecting the camping area's natural resources and improving social conditions.

Visitor evaluations of management actions at a highly impacted Appalachian Trail camping area

USGS Publications Warehouse

Daniels, M.L.; Marion, J.L.

2006-01-01

Protected area management involves balancing environmental and social objectives. This is particularly difficult at high-use/high-impact recreation sites, because resource protection objectives may require substantial site management or visitor regulation. This study examined visitors? reactions to both of these types of actions at Annapolis Rocks, Maryland, a popular Appalachian Trail camping area. We surveyed visitors before and after implementation of camping policies that included shifting camping to designated newly constructed campsites and prohibiting campfires. Survey results reveal that visitors were more satisfied with all social and environmental indicators after the changes were enacted. An Importance-Performance analysis also determined that management actions improved conditions for factors of greatest concern to campers prior to the changes. Posttreatment visitors were least satisfied with factors related to reduced freedom and to some characteristics of the constructed campsites. Although there was evidence of visitor displacement, the camping changes met management goals by protecting the camping area?s natural resources and improving social conditions.

Factors associated with inadequate work ability among women in the clothing industry.

PubMed

Augusto, Viviane Gontijo; Sampaio, Rosana Ferreira; Ferreira, Fabiane Ribeiro; Kirkwood, Renata Noce; César, Cibele Comini

2015-01-01

Work ability depends on a balance between individual resources and work demands. This study evaluated factors that are associated with inadequate work ability among workers in the clothing industry. We conducted a cross-sectional observational study of 306 workers in 40 small and medium-sized enterprises. We assessed work ability, individual resources, physical and psychosocial demands, and aspects of life outside work using a binary logistic regression model with hierarchical data entry. The mean work ability was 42.5 (SD=3.5); when adjusted for age, only 11% of the workers showed inadequate work ability. The final model revealed that smoking, high isometric physical load, and poor physical environmental conditions were the most significant predictors of inadequate work ability. Good working conditions and worker education must be implemented to eliminate factors that can be changed and that have a negative impact on work ability. These initiatives include anti-smoking measures, improved postures at work, and better physical environmental conditions.

Scheduling based on a dynamic resource connection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nagiyev, A. E.; Botygin, I. A.; Shersntneva, A. I.; Konyaev, P. A.

2017-02-01

The practical using of distributed computing systems associated with many problems, including troubles with the organization of an effective interaction between the agents located at the nodes of the system, with the specific configuration of each node of the system to perform a certain task, with the effective distribution of the available information and computational resources of the system, with the control of multithreading which implements the logic of solving research problems and so on. The article describes the method of computing load balancing in distributed automatic systems, focused on the multi-agency and multi-threaded data processing. The scheme of the control of processing requests from the terminal devices, providing the effective dynamic scaling of computing power under peak load is offered. The results of the model experiments research of the developed load scheduling algorithm are set out. These results show the effectiveness of the algorithm even with a significant expansion in the number of connected nodes and zoom in the architecture distributed computing system.

Visitor Evaluations of Management Actions at a Highly Impacted Appalachian Trail Camping Area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Daniels, Melissa L.; Marion, Jeffrey L.

2006-12-01

Protected area management involves balancing environmental and social objectives. This is particularly difficult at high-use/high-impact recreation sites, because resource protection objectives may require substantial site management or visitor regulation. This study examined visitors’ reactions to both of these types of actions at Annapolis Rocks, Maryland, a popular Appalachian Trail camping area. We surveyed visitors before and after implementation of camping policies that included shifting camping to designated newly constructed campsites and prohibiting campfires. Survey results reveal that visitors were more satisfied with all social and environmental indicators after the changes were enacted. An Importance-Performance analysis also determined that management actions improved conditions for factors of greatest concern to campers prior to the changes. Posttreatment visitors were least satisfied with factors related to reduced freedom and to some characteristics of the constructed campsites. Although there was evidence of visitor displacement, the camping changes met management goals by protecting the camping area’s natural resources and improving social conditions.

Elemental Analysis of the JSC Mars-1 Soil Simulant using Laser Ablation and Magnetic Separation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nasab, Ahab S.

2005-01-01

Future long-duration missions to Mars require capabilities in terms of manufacture of structures and chemical compounds essential for human habitat and exploratory activities. Currently, it is not feasible to import all the required raw and finished materials from Earth. In fact, essential items such as structural members as well as various gases for human consumption and material processing need to be largely extracted from the available planetary resources. The resources on Mars include its soil and rocks, its atmosphere and the polar caps. Mars atmosphere consists of 95% carbon dioxide and the balance contains small percentages of oxygen, nitrogen, and argon. The Mars regolith contains many metal oxides in various mineralogical forms. Presently, Martian soil samples are not available. However, a closely matched Martian soil simulant developed by the Johnson Space Center has been available for scientific research and engineering studies. The chemical makeup of this simulant is compared with the data from Viking Lander and Path Finder missions are shown..

Resource constrained flux balance analysis predicts selective pressure on the global structure of metabolic networks.

PubMed

Abedpour, Nima; Kollmann, Markus

2015-11-23

A universal feature of metabolic networks is their hourglass or bow-tie structure on cellular level. This architecture reflects the conversion of multiple input nutrients into multiple biomass components via a small set of precursor metabolites. However, it is yet unclear to what extent this structural feature is the result of natural selection. We extend flux balance analysis to account for limited cellular resources. Using this model, optimal structure of metabolic networks can be calculated for different environmental conditions. We observe a significant structural reshaping of metabolic networks for a toy-network and E. coli core metabolism if we increase the share of invested resources for switching between different nutrient conditions. Here, hub nodes emerge and the optimal network structure becomes bow-tie-like as a consequence of limited cellular resource constraint. We confirm this theoretical finding by comparing the reconstructed metabolic networks of bacterial species with respect to their lifestyle. We show that bow-tie structure can give a system-level fitness advantage to organisms that live in highly competitive and fluctuating environments. Here, limitation of cellular resources can lead to an efficiency-flexibility tradeoff where it pays off for the organism to shorten catabolic pathways if they are frequently activated and deactivated. As a consequence, generalists that shuttle between diverse environmental conditions should have a more predominant bow-tie structure than specialists that visit just a few isomorphic habitats during their life cycle.