LiveDescribe: Can Amateur Describers Create High-Quality Audio Description?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Branje, Carmen J.; Fels, Deborah I.

2012-01-01

Introduction: The study presented here evaluated the usability of the audio description software LiveDescribe and explored the acceptance rates of audio description created by amateur describers who used LiveDescribe to facilitate the creation of their descriptions. Methods: Twelve amateur describers with little or no previous experience with…

Creating Spaces for Children's Agency: "I Wonder…" Formulations in Teacher-Child Interactions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Houen, Sandy; Danby, Susan; Farrell, Ann; Thorpe, Karen

2016-01-01

Affording children's agency is an important pedagogical underpinning of a high-quality early childhood program. Yet little is known about how teachers' interactions create spaces for children's agency. From the perspectives of ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, this paper investigates how teachers and children navigate agency through…

Creating a Statewide Educational Data System for Accountability and Improvement: A Comprehensive Information and Assessment System for Making Evidence-Based Change at School, District, and Policy Levels

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Felner, Robert D.; Bolton, Natalie; Seitsinger, Anne M.; Brand, Stephen; Burns, Amy

2008-01-01

This article reports on one ongoing statewide effort to create a high-quality data reporting and utilization system (i.e., High-Performance Learning Community [HiPlaces] Assessment) to inform educational accountability and improvement efforts system. This effort has undergoing refinement for more than a decade. The article describes the features…

Going to Scale with High-Quality Early Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Christina, Rachel; Nicholson-Goodman, JoVictoria

2005-01-01

This report is an initial effort to describe efforts of a number of states that are seeking to create statewide systems of high-quality pre-kindergarten services, as well as some of the progress they have made in doing so. Focusing on the efforts of a sample of eight U.S. states, it examines the policy choices that states have made when…

Mentoring for Quality Improvement: A Case Study of a Mentor Teacher in the Reform Process

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ryan, Sharon; Hornbeck, Amy

2004-01-01

As qualified teachers are central to children receiving a high-quality preschool education, many policy initiatives aimed at improving program quality are thwarted when insufficient attention is paid to the professional development of the workforce. One response to this issue has been to create teacher leadership roles so that teachers mentor…

Leveraging Quality Charters

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Young, Caprice

2012-01-01

Charter public schools serve a variety of roles in education reform: innovation labs, havens from failing traditional schools; and competitors for pubic resources. Education leaders have the opportunity to use high quality charter schooling to innovate not only in developing transformative schools but, more importantly, in creating great public…

TU-FG-201-12: Designing a Risk-Based Quality Assurance Program for a Newly Implemented Y-90 Microspheres Procedure

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

Vile, D; Zhang, L; Cuttino, L

2016-06-15

Purpose: To create a quality assurance program based upon a risk-based assessment of a newly implemented SirSpheres Y-90 procedure. Methods: A process map was created for a newly implemented SirSpheres procedure at a community hospital. The process map documented each step of this collaborative procedure, as well as the roles and responsibilities of each member. From the process map, different potential failure modes were determined as well as any current controls in place. From this list, a full failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) was performed by grading each failure mode’s likelihood of occurrence, likelihood of detection, and potential severity.more » These numbers were then multiplied to compute the risk priority number (RPN) for each potential failure mode. Failure modes were then ranked based on their RPN. Additional controls were then added, with failure modes corresponding to the highest RPNs taking priority. Results: A process map was created that succinctly outlined each step in the SirSpheres procedure in its current implementation. From this, 72 potential failure modes were identified and ranked according to their associated RPN. Quality assurance controls and safety barriers were then added for failure modes associated with the highest risk being addressed first. Conclusion: A quality assurance program was created from a risk-based assessment of the SirSpheres process. Process mapping and FMEA were effective in identifying potential high-risk failure modes for this new procedure, which were prioritized for new quality assurance controls. TG 100 recommends the fault tree analysis methodology to design a comprehensive and effective QC/QM program, yet we found that by simply introducing additional safety barriers to address high RPN failure modes makes the whole process simpler and safer.« less

Ambiguities: residents' experience of 'nursing home as my home'.

PubMed

Nakrem, Sigrid; Vinsnes, Anne G; Harkless, Gene E; Paulsen, Bård; Seim, Arnfinn

2013-09-01

Residential care in nursing homes continues to be necessary for those individuals who are no longer able to live at home. Uncovering what nursing home residents' view as quality of care in nursing homes will help further understanding of how best to provide high quality, person-centred care. To describe residents' experiences of living in a nursing home related to quality of care. The study utilises a descriptive exploratory design. In-depth interviews were undertaken with 15 residents who were not cognitively impaired, aged 65 and over and living in one of four nursing homes. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed by categorising of meaning. Residents perceived the nursing home as their home, but at the same time not 'a home'. This essential ambiguity created the tension from which the categories of perceptions of quality emerged. Four main categories of quality of care experience were identified: 'Being at home in a nursing home', 'Paying the price for 24-hour care', 'Personal habits and institutional routines', and 'Meaningful activities for a meaningful day'. Ambiguities concerning the nursing home as a home and place to live, a social environment in which the residents experience most of their social life and the institution where professional health service is provided were uncovered. High-quality care was when ambiguities were managed well and a home could be created within the institution. Implication for practice. Achieving quality care in nursing homes requires reconciling the ambiguities of the nursing home as a home. This implies helping residents to create a private home distinct from the professional home, allowing residents' personal habits to guide institutional routines and supporting meaningful activities. Using these resident developed quality indicators is an important step in improving nursing home services. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Creating High Functioning Schools: Practice and Research.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cano, Yvonne, Ed.; Wood, Fred H., Ed.; Simmons, Jan C., Ed.

This book contains 17 papers, chosen from those presented within the last 2 years at the annual National Conference on Creating the Quality School, hosted by the Center for the Study of Small/Rural Schools at the University of Oklahoma. The papers are grouped into three sections: leadership for school improvement; classroom practices for school…

Creating Teacher Incentives for School Excellence and Equity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berry, Barnett; Eckert, Jon

2012-01-01

Ensuring that all students in America's public schools are taught by good teachers is an educational and moral imperative. Teacher incentive proposals are rarely grounded on what high-quality research indicates are the kinds of teacher incentives that lead to school excellence and equity. Few of the current approaches to creating teacher…

Creating a Sustainable and Supportive Teaching Practicum in Rural and Regional Locations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ryan, Josephine; Jones, Melitta; Walta, Caroline

2012-01-01

The study described in this paper Creating an effective practicum model for rural and regional preservice teachers is designed to address the ongoing difficulties experienced by schools and universities as they seek to provide high quality preservice teacher education for individuals in rural areas. Lecturers from the regional campuses of two…

Creating Printed Materials for Mathematics with a Macintosh Computer.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mahler, Philip

This document gives instructions on how to use a Macintosh computer to create printed materials for mathematics. A Macintosh computer, Microsoft Word, and objected-oriented (Draw-type) art program, and a function-graphing program are capable of producing high quality printed instructional materials for mathematics. Word 5.1 has an equation editor…

Image Montaging for Creating a Virtual Pathology Slide: An Innovative and Economical Tool to Obtain a Whole Slide Image

PubMed Central

Pandurangappa, Rohit; Annavajjula, Saileela; Rajashekaraiah, Premalatha Bidadi

2016-01-01

Background. Microscopes are omnipresent throughout the field of biological research. With microscopes one can see in detail what is going on at the cellular level in tissues. Though it is a ubiquitous tool, the limitation is that with high magnification there is a small field of view. It is often advantageous to see an entire sample at high magnification. Over the years technological advancements in optics have helped to provide solutions to this limitation of microscopes by creating the so-called dedicated “slide scanners” which can provide a “whole slide digital image.” These scanners can provide seamless, large-field-of-view, high resolution image of entire tissue section. The only disadvantage of such complete slide imaging system is its outrageous cost, thereby hindering their practical use by most laboratories, especially in developing and low resource countries. Methods. In a quest for their substitute, we tried commonly used image editing software Adobe Photoshop along with a basic image capturing device attached to a trinocular microscope to create a digital pathology slide. Results. The seamless image created using Adobe Photoshop maintained its diagnostic quality. Conclusion. With time and effort photomicrographs obtained from a basic camera-microscope set up can be combined and merged in Adobe Photoshop to create a whole slide digital image of practically usable quality at a negligible cost. PMID:27747147

Image Montaging for Creating a Virtual Pathology Slide: An Innovative and Economical Tool to Obtain a Whole Slide Image.

PubMed

Banavar, Spoorthi Ravi; Chippagiri, Prashanthi; Pandurangappa, Rohit; Annavajjula, Saileela; Rajashekaraiah, Premalatha Bidadi

2016-01-01

Background . Microscopes are omnipresent throughout the field of biological research. With microscopes one can see in detail what is going on at the cellular level in tissues. Though it is a ubiquitous tool, the limitation is that with high magnification there is a small field of view. It is often advantageous to see an entire sample at high magnification. Over the years technological advancements in optics have helped to provide solutions to this limitation of microscopes by creating the so-called dedicated "slide scanners" which can provide a "whole slide digital image." These scanners can provide seamless, large-field-of-view, high resolution image of entire tissue section. The only disadvantage of such complete slide imaging system is its outrageous cost, thereby hindering their practical use by most laboratories, especially in developing and low resource countries. Methods . In a quest for their substitute, we tried commonly used image editing software Adobe Photoshop along with a basic image capturing device attached to a trinocular microscope to create a digital pathology slide. Results . The seamless image created using Adobe Photoshop maintained its diagnostic quality. Conclusion . With time and effort photomicrographs obtained from a basic camera-microscope set up can be combined and merged in Adobe Photoshop to create a whole slide digital image of practically usable quality at a negligible cost.

Phenotypic and molecular variation in 44 vintage tomato varieties

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

An important goal of tomato breeding is to create varieties that will provide high quality product for fresh consumption. Traits such as lycopene, total soluble solids (TSS), vitamin C and titratable acidity (TA) are major components of fruit flavor and quality. Although several-thousand genotypes a...

Air Vehicles Division Computational Structural Analysis Facilities Policy and Guidelines for Users

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-05-01

34 Thermal " as appropriate and the tolerance set to "default". b) Create the model geometry. c) Create the finite elements. d) Create the...linear, non-linear, dynamic, thermal , acoustic analysis. The modelling of composite materials, creep, fatigue and plasticity are also covered...perform professional, high quality finite element analysis (FEA). FE analysts from many tasks within AVD are using the facilities to conduct FEA with

Assessing the Implementation and Cost of High Quality Early Care and Education: A Review of the Literature. OPRE Report 2016-31

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Caronongan, Pia; Kirby, Gretchen; Boller, Kimberly; Modlin, Emily; Lyskawa, Julia

2016-01-01

This report summarizes the findings of a literature review conducted as part of the Assessing the Implementation and Cost of High-Quality Early Care and Education (ECE-ICHQ) project. The project's goal is to create a technically sound and feasible instrument that will provide consistent, systematic measures of the implementation and costs of…

Next level of board accountability in health care quality.

PubMed

Pronovost, Peter J; Armstrong, C Michael; Demski, Renee; Peterson, Ronald R; Rothman, Paul B

2018-03-19

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to offer six principles that health system leaders can apply to establish a governance and management system for the quality of care and patient safety. Design/methodology/approach Leaders of a large academic health system set a goal of high reliability and formed a quality board committee in 2011 to oversee quality and patient safety everywhere care was delivered. Leaders of the health system and every entity, including inpatient hospitals, home care companies, and ambulatory services staff the committee. The committee works with the management for each entity to set and achieve quality goals. Through this work, the six principles emerged to address management structures and processes. Findings The principles are: ensure there is oversight for quality everywhere care is delivered under the health system; create a framework to organize and report the work; identify care areas where quality is ambiguous or underdeveloped (i.e. islands of quality) and work to ensure there is reporting and accountability for quality measures; create a consolidated quality statement similar to a financial statement; ensure the integrity of the data used to measure and report quality and safety performance; and transparently report performance and create an explicit accountability model. Originality/value This governance and management system for quality and safety functions similar to a finance system, with quality performance documented and reported, data integrity monitored, and accountability for performance from board to bedside. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first description of how a board has taken this type of systematic approach to oversee the quality of care.

In-line FINCH super resolution digital holographic fluorescence microscopy using a high efficiency transmission liquid crystal GRIN lens.

PubMed

Brooker, Gary; Siegel, Nisan; Rosen, Joseph; Hashimoto, Nobuyuki; Kurihara, Makoto; Tanabe, Ayano

2013-12-15

We report a new optical arrangement that creates high-efficiency, high-quality Fresnel incoherent correlation holography (FINCH) holograms using polarization sensitive transmission liquid crystal gradient index (TLCGRIN) diffractive lenses. In contrast, current universal practice in the field employs a reflective spatial light modulator (SLM) to separate sample and reference beams. Polarization sensitive TLCGRIN lenses enable a straight optical path, have >90% transmission efficiency, are not pixilated, and are free of many limitations of reflective SLM devices. For each sample point, two spherical beams created by a glass lens in combination with a polarization sensitive TLCGRIN lens interfere and create a hologram and resultant super resolution image.

In-situ quality monitoring during laser brazing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ungers, Michael; Fecker, Daniel; Frank, Sascha; Donst, Dmitri; Märgner, Volker; Abels, Peter; Kaierle, Stefan

Laser brazing of zinc coated steel is a widely established manufacturing process in the automotive sector, where high quality requirements must be fulfilled. The strength, impermeablitiy and surface appearance of the joint are particularly important for judging its quality. The development of an on-line quality control system is highly desired by the industry. This paper presents recent works on the development of such a system, which consists of two cameras operating in different spectral ranges. For the evaluation of the system, seam imperfections are created artificially during experiments. Finally image processing algorithms for monitoring process parameters based the captured images are presented.

Defect Detection in Fuel Cell Gas Diffusion Electrodes Using Infrared Thermography

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

Ulsh, Michael; Porter, Jason M.; Bittinat, Daniel C.

2016-04-01

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells are energy conversion devices that offer high power densities and high efficiencies for mobile and other applications. Successful introduction into the marketplace requires addressing cost barriers such as production volumes and platinum loading. For cost reduction, it is vital to minimize waste and maximize quality during the manufacturing of platinum-containing electrodes, including gas diffusion electrodes (GDEs). In this work, we report on developing a quality control diagnostic for GDEs, involving creating an ex situ exothermic reaction on the electrode surface and using infrared thermography to measure the resulting temperature profile. Experiments with a moving GDEmore » containing created defects were conducted to demonstrate the applicability of the diagnostic for real-time web-line inspection.« less

A six sigma review of miniature optics alignment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tesar, John

2009-08-01

The key to high quality optics is a set of guidelines. Create an understanding of the Criteria for Quality. Focus on understanding and controlling process variation. Examine verification and validation of methods. Take a view of the horizon as well as drilling down so you know when to put down the shovel.

A Face-to-Face Professional Development Model to Enhance Teaching of Online Research Strategies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Terrazas-Arellanes, Fatima E.; Knox, Carolyn; Strycker, Lisa A.; Walden, Emily

2016-01-01

To help students navigate the digital environment, teachers not only need access to the right technology tools but they must also engage in pedagogically sound, high-quality professional development. For teachers, quality professional development can mean the difference between merely using technology tools and creating transformative change in…

Creating quality improvement culture in public health agencies.

PubMed

Davis, Mary V; Mahanna, Elizabeth; Joly, Brenda; Zelek, Michael; Riley, William; Verma, Pooja; Fisher, Jessica Solomon

2014-01-01

We conducted case studies of 10 agencies that participated in early quality improvement efforts. The agencies participated in a project conducted by the National Association of County and City Health Officials (2007-2008). Case study participants included health directors and quality improvement team leaders and members. We implemented multiple qualitative analysis processes, including cross-case analysis and logic modeling. We categorized agencies according to the extent to which they had developed a quality improvement culture. Agencies were conducting informal quality improvement projects (n = 4), conducting formal quality improvement projects (n = 3), or creating a quality improvement culture (n = 4). Agencies conducting formal quality improvement and creating a quality improvement culture had leadership support for quality improvement, participated in national quality improvement initiatives, had a greater number of staff trained in quality improvement and quality improvement teams that met regularly with decision-making authority. Agencies conducting informal quality improvement were likely to report that accreditation is the major driver for quality improvement work. Agencies creating a quality improvement culture were more likely to have a history of evidence-based decision-making and use quality improvement to address emerging issues. Our findings support previous research and add the roles of national public health accreditation and emerging issues as factors in agencies' ability to create and sustain a quality improvement culture.

Using IT to improve quality at NewYork-Presybterian Hospital: a requirements-driven strategic planning process.

PubMed

Kuperman, Gilad J; Boyer, Aurelia; Cole, Curt; Forman, Bruce; Stetson, Peter D; Cooper, Mary

2006-01-01

At NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, we are committed to the delivery of high quality care. We have implemented a strategic planning process to determine the information technology initiatives that will best help us improve quality. The process began with the creation of a Clinical Quality and IT Committee. The Committee identified 2 high priority goals that would enable demonstrably high quality care: 1) excellence at data warehousing, and 2) optimal use of automated clinical documentation to capture encounter-related quality and safety data. For each high priority goal, a working group was created to develop specific recommendations. The Data Warehousing subgroup has recommended the implementation of an architecture management process and an improved ability for users to get access to aggregate data. The Structured Documentation subgroup is establishing recommendations for a documentation template creation process. The strategic planning process at times is slow, but assures that the organization is focusing on the information technology activities most likely to lead to improved quality.

Using IT to Improve Quality at NewYork-Presybterian Hospital: A Requirements-Driven Strategic Planning Process

PubMed Central

Kuperman, Gilad J.; Boyer, Aurelia; Cole, Curt; Forman, Bruce; Stetson, Peter D.; Cooper, Mary

2006-01-01

At NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, we are committed to the delivery of high quality care. We have implemented a strategic planning process to determine the information technology initiatives that will best help us improve quality. The process began with the creation of a Clinical Quality and IT Committee. The Committee identified 2 high priority goals that would enable demonstrably high quality care: 1) excellence at data warehousing, and 2) optimal use of automated clinical documentation to capture encounter-related quality and safety data. For each high priority goal, a working group was created to develop specific recommendations. The Data Warehousing subgroup has recommended the implementation of an architecture management process and an improved ability for users to get access to aggregate data. The Structured Documentation subgroup is establishing recommendations for a documentation template creation process. The strategic planning process at times is slow, but assures that the organization is focusing on the information technology activities most likely to lead to improved quality. PMID:17238381

Using the Community Readiness Model to Examine the Built and Social Environment: A Case Study of the High Point Neighborhood, Seattle, Washington, 2000–2010

PubMed Central

Sharify, Denise Tung; Blake, Bonita; Phillips, Tom; Whitten, Kathleen

2014-01-01

Background Residents of many cities lack affordable, quality housing. Economically disadvantaged neighborhoods often have high rates of poverty and crime, few institutions that enhance the quality of its residents’ lives, and unsafe environments for walking and other physical activity. Deteriorating housing contributes to asthma-related illness. We describe the redevelopment of High Point, a West Seattle neighborhood, to improve its built environment, increase neighborhood physical activity, and reduce indoor asthma triggers. Community Context High Point is one of Seattle’s most demographically diverse neighborhoods. Prior to redevelopment, it had a distressed infrastructure, rising crime rates, and indoor environments that increased asthma-related illness in children and adolescents. High Point residents and partners developed and implemented a comprehensive redevelopment plan to create a sustainable built environment to increase outdoor physical activity and improve indoor environments. Methods We conducted a retrospective analysis of the High Point redevelopment, organized by the different stages of change in the Community Readiness Model. We also examined the multisector partnerships among government and community groups that contributed to the success of the High Point project. Outcome Overall quality of life for residents improved as a result of neighborhood redevelopment. Physical activity increased, residents reported fewer days of poor physical or mental health, and social connectedness between neighbors grew. Asthma-friendly homes significantly decreased asthma-related illness among children and adolescents. Interpretation Providing affordable, quality housing to low-income families improved individual and neighborhood quality of life. Efforts to create social change and improve the health outcomes for entire populations are more effective when multiple organizations work together to improve neighborhood health. PMID:25376016

Using the community readiness model to examine the built and social environment: a case study of the High Point neighborhood, Seattle, Washington, 2000-2010.

PubMed

Buckner-Brown, Joyce; Sharify, Denise Tung; Blake, Bonita; Phillips, Tom; Whitten, Kathleen

2014-11-06

Residents of many cities lack affordable, quality housing. Economically disadvantaged neighborhoods often have high rates of poverty and crime, few institutions that enhance the quality of its residents' lives, and unsafe environments for walking and other physical activity. Deteriorating housing contributes to asthma-related illness. We describe the redevelopment of High Point, a West Seattle neighborhood, to improve its built environment, increase neighborhood physical activity, and reduce indoor asthma triggers. High Point is one of Seattle's most demographically diverse neighborhoods. Prior to redevelopment, it had a distressed infrastructure, rising crime rates, and indoor environments that increased asthma-related illness in children and adolescents. High Point residents and partners developed and implemented a comprehensive redevelopment plan to create a sustainable built environment to increase outdoor physical activity and improve indoor environments. We conducted a retrospective analysis of the High Point redevelopment, organized by the different stages of change in the Community Readiness Model. We also examined the multisector partnerships among government and community groups that contributed to the success of the High Point project. Overall quality of life for residents improved as a result of neighborhood redevelopment. Physical activity increased, residents reported fewer days of poor physical or mental health, and social connectedness between neighbors grew. Asthma-friendly homes significantly decreased asthma-related illness among children and adolescents. Providing affordable, quality housing to low-income families improved individual and neighborhood quality of life. Efforts to create social change and improve the health outcomes for entire populations are more effective when multiple organizations work together to improve neighborhood health.

45 CFR 1388.1 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... resources and funding sources, and their institutional history. These factors converge to create a network.... State-of-the-art means that UAP activities are of high quality (using the latest technology), worthy of...

Managing Diversity: A Key to Building a Quality Work Force. Research and Development Series No. 271.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maxson, Judith; Hair, Billy

Economic changes create stress as U.S. businesses progress toward building a high quality work force for the year 2000. Skills such as critical literacy, communication, writing, math, and interpersonal competence are desired. Critical literacy involves the higher order thinking skills: the ability to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize. In addition,…

Youth Advisory Structures: Listening to Young People to Support Quality Youth Services

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roholt, Ross VeLure; Mueller, Megan

2013-01-01

Creating structures to include young people's opinions and advice has been recognized as important for high-quality youth programs and services. Recent scholarship has begun to learn that most of these efforts are often symbolic rather than substantive. While continually advocated for, the practice is not widespread or well done. Using data…

The Role of Boards in College Access Programs: Creating and Maintaining Quality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis, University of Southern California, 2006

2006-01-01

Access programs are facing increased scrutiny. Not all programs are equally effective. In an environment in which resources are short, funders increasingly require criteria that enable them to make informed decisions about program quality. As elaborated in this report , one role of a high performance board is to help develop benchmarks of…

Computer program CDCID: an automated quality control program using CDC update

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

Singer, G.L.; Aguilar, F.

1984-04-01

A computer program, CDCID, has been developed in coordination with a quality control program to provide a highly automated method of documenting changes to computer codes at EG and G Idaho, Inc. The method uses the standard CDC UPDATE program in such a manner that updates and their associated documentation are easily made and retrieved in various formats. The method allows each card image of a source program to point to the document which describes it, who created the card, and when it was created. The method described is applicable to the quality control of computer programs in general. Themore » computer program described is executable only on CDC computing systems, but the program could be modified and applied to any computing system with an adequate updating program.« less

The Understanding by Design Guide to Advanced Concepts in Creating and Reviewing Units

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McTighe, Jay; Wiggins, Grant

2012-01-01

Regardless of your stage at implementing the design tools and using the improved template for Understanding by Design[R] (UbD), this companion to "The UbD Guide to Creating High-Quality Units" is essential for taking your work to a higher plane. This volume features a set of hands-on modules containing worksheets, models, and self-assessments that…

Creating Quality Improvement Culture in Public Health Agencies

PubMed Central

Mahanna, Elizabeth; Joly, Brenda; Zelek, Michael; Riley, William; Verma, Pooja; Fisher, Jessica Solomon

2014-01-01

Objectives. We conducted case studies of 10 agencies that participated in early quality improvement efforts. Methods. The agencies participated in a project conducted by the National Association of County and City Health Officials (2007–2008). Case study participants included health directors and quality improvement team leaders and members. We implemented multiple qualitative analysis processes, including cross-case analysis and logic modeling. We categorized agencies according to the extent to which they had developed a quality improvement culture. Results. Agencies were conducting informal quality improvement projects (n = 4), conducting formal quality improvement projects (n = 3), or creating a quality improvement culture (n = 4). Agencies conducting formal quality improvement and creating a quality improvement culture had leadership support for quality improvement, participated in national quality improvement initiatives, had a greater number of staff trained in quality improvement and quality improvement teams that met regularly with decision-making authority. Agencies conducting informal quality improvement were likely to report that accreditation is the major driver for quality improvement work. Agencies creating a quality improvement culture were more likely to have a history of evidence-based decision-making and use quality improvement to address emerging issues. Conclusions. Our findings support previous research and add the roles of national public health accreditation and emerging issues as factors in agencies’ ability to create and sustain a quality improvement culture. PMID:24228680

Change IS Possible: Reducing High-Risk Drinking Using a Collaborative Improvement Model.

PubMed

Lanter, Patricia L; Wolff, Kristina B; Johnson, Lisa C; Ercolano, Ellyn M; Kilmer, Jason R; Provost, Lloyd

2015-01-01

To describe the adoption of public health and improvement methodologies to address college students' high-risk drinking behaviors and to aid in prevention efforts. Members of 32 colleges and universities, content experts, and staff members of the National College Health Improvement Program (NCHIP). A 2-year learning collaborative developed by NCHIP trained individuals from 32 different college and universities in using the Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle as a method to create and implement initiatives aimed at reducing students' high-risk drinking behaviors and related harms. Participants experienced success ranging from noteworthy increases in type and amount of interventions directed at reducing high-risk drinking, to creating collaboratives across campus, the local community, and stakeholders. Challenges related to data collection and creating lasting cultural change remain. The use of quality improvement methodologies and creation of a national collaborative successfully effected meaningful change in high-risk drinking behaviors on college campuses.

Simplified Metadata Curation via the Metadata Management Tool

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shum, D.; Pilone, D.

2015-12-01

The Metadata Management Tool (MMT) is the newest capability developed as part of NASA Earth Observing System Data and Information System's (EOSDIS) efforts to simplify metadata creation and improve metadata quality. The MMT was developed via an agile methodology, taking into account inputs from GCMD's science coordinators and other end-users. In its initial release, the MMT uses the Unified Metadata Model for Collections (UMM-C) to allow metadata providers to easily create and update collection records in the ISO-19115 format. Through a simplified UI experience, metadata curators can create and edit collections without full knowledge of the NASA Best Practices implementation of ISO-19115 format, while still generating compliant metadata. More experienced users are also able to access raw metadata to build more complex records as needed. In future releases, the MMT will build upon recent work done in the community to assess metadata quality and compliance with a variety of standards through application of metadata rubrics. The tool will provide users with clear guidance as to how to easily change their metadata in order to improve their quality and compliance. Through these features, the MMT allows data providers to create and maintain compliant and high quality metadata in a short amount of time.

High-quality EuO thin films the easy way via topotactic transformation

DOE PAGES

Mairoser, Thomas; Mundy, Julia A.; Melville, Alexander; ...

2015-07-16

Epitaxy is widely employed to create highly oriented crystalline films. A less appreciated, but nonetheless powerful means of creating such films is via topotactic transformation, in which a chemical reaction transforms a single crystal of one phase into a single crystal of a different phase, which inherits its orientation from the original crystal. Topotactic reactions may be applied to epitactic films to substitute, add or remove ions to yield epitactic films of different phases. Here we exploit a topotactic reduction reaction to provide a non-ultra-high vacuum (UHV) means of growing highly oriented single crystalline thin films of the easily over-oxidizedmore » half-metallic semiconductor europium monoxide (EuO) with a perfection rivalling that of the best films of the same material grown by molecular-beam epitaxy or UHV pulsed-laser deposition. Lastly, as the technique only requires high-vacuum deposition equipment, it has the potential to drastically improve the accessibility of high-quality single crystalline films of EuO as well as other difficult-to-synthesize compounds.« less

R2 REGULATED FACILITIES

EPA Science Inventory

The Facility Registry System (FRS) is a centrally managed database that identifies facilities, sites or places subject to environmental regulations or of environmental interest. FRS creates high-quality, accurate, and authoritative facility identification records through rigorous...

Scalable large format 3D displays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, Nelson L.; Damera-Venkata, Niranjan

2010-02-01

We present a general framework for the modeling and optimization of scalable large format 3-D displays using multiple projectors. Based on this framework, we derive algorithms that can robustly optimize the visual quality of an arbitrary combination of projectors (e.g. tiled, superimposed, combinations of the two) without manual adjustment. The framework creates for the first time a new unified paradigm that is agnostic to a particular configuration of projectors yet robustly optimizes for the brightness, contrast, and resolution of that configuration. In addition, we demonstrate that our algorithms support high resolution stereoscopic video at real-time interactive frame rates achieved on commodity graphics hardware. Through complementary polarization, the framework creates high quality multi-projector 3-D displays at low hardware and operational cost for a variety of applications including digital cinema, visualization, and command-and-control walls.

The impact of working memory and the “process of process modelling” on model quality: Investigating experienced versus inexperienced modellers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martini, Markus; Pinggera, Jakob; Neurauter, Manuel; Sachse, Pierre; Furtner, Marco R.; Weber, Barbara

2016-05-01

A process model (PM) represents the graphical depiction of a business process, for instance, the entire process from online ordering a book until the parcel is delivered to the customer. Knowledge about relevant factors for creating PMs of high quality is lacking. The present study investigated the role of cognitive processes as well as modelling processes in creating a PM in experienced and inexperienced modellers. Specifically, two working memory (WM) functions (holding and processing of information and relational integration) and three process of process modelling phases (comprehension, modelling, and reconciliation) were related to PM quality. Our results show that the WM function of relational integration was positively related to PM quality in both modelling groups. The ratio of comprehension phases was negatively related to PM quality in inexperienced modellers and the ratio of reconciliation phases was positively related to PM quality in experienced modellers. Our research reveals central cognitive mechanisms in process modelling and has potential practical implications for the development of modelling software and teaching the craft of process modelling.

The impact of working memory and the “process of process modelling” on model quality: Investigating experienced versus inexperienced modellers

PubMed Central

Martini, Markus; Pinggera, Jakob; Neurauter, Manuel; Sachse, Pierre; Furtner, Marco R.; Weber, Barbara

2016-01-01

A process model (PM) represents the graphical depiction of a business process, for instance, the entire process from online ordering a book until the parcel is delivered to the customer. Knowledge about relevant factors for creating PMs of high quality is lacking. The present study investigated the role of cognitive processes as well as modelling processes in creating a PM in experienced and inexperienced modellers. Specifically, two working memory (WM) functions (holding and processing of information and relational integration) and three process of process modelling phases (comprehension, modelling, and reconciliation) were related to PM quality. Our results show that the WM function of relational integration was positively related to PM quality in both modelling groups. The ratio of comprehension phases was negatively related to PM quality in inexperienced modellers and the ratio of reconciliation phases was positively related to PM quality in experienced modellers. Our research reveals central cognitive mechanisms in process modelling and has potential practical implications for the development of modelling software and teaching the craft of process modelling. PMID:27157858

The impact of working memory and the "process of process modelling" on model quality: Investigating experienced versus inexperienced modellers.

PubMed

Martini, Markus; Pinggera, Jakob; Neurauter, Manuel; Sachse, Pierre; Furtner, Marco R; Weber, Barbara

2016-05-09

A process model (PM) represents the graphical depiction of a business process, for instance, the entire process from online ordering a book until the parcel is delivered to the customer. Knowledge about relevant factors for creating PMs of high quality is lacking. The present study investigated the role of cognitive processes as well as modelling processes in creating a PM in experienced and inexperienced modellers. Specifically, two working memory (WM) functions (holding and processing of information and relational integration) and three process of process modelling phases (comprehension, modelling, and reconciliation) were related to PM quality. Our results show that the WM function of relational integration was positively related to PM quality in both modelling groups. The ratio of comprehension phases was negatively related to PM quality in inexperienced modellers and the ratio of reconciliation phases was positively related to PM quality in experienced modellers. Our research reveals central cognitive mechanisms in process modelling and has potential practical implications for the development of modelling software and teaching the craft of process modelling.

Providing Rural Students with a High Quality Education: The Rural Perspective on the Concept of Educational Adequacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Malhoit, Gregory C.

2005-01-01

Current means of determining the level of state education funding have denied millions of the nation's children access to a quality education by not providing schools with the resources they need to properly educate all children. It has also created and perpetuated wide gaps in education funding between wealthy and poor school districts. The…

Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts: End of Year Report, 2009-2010

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pennsylvania Department of Education, 2010

2010-01-01

Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts was created to provide research-based, high quality pre-kindergarten opportunities to at-risk children across the commonwealth by leveraging the existing early education services in schools, Keystone STARS child care programs, Head Start, and licensed nursery schools. The standards are high and the accountability…

Preparing Workforce 2000 through Vocational Technical 2+2 Programs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Portland Area Vocational-Technical Education Consortium, OR.

An overview is provided of the 1989 accomplishments of the Portland Area Vocational Technical Education Consortium (PAVTEC), which was created to strengthen partnerships between Portland Community College (PCC) and local high schools to provide high quality articulated vocational-technical programs. The first section looks at the roles of PAVTEC,…

Early Childhood Education: Babies Are Everybody's Business

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cox, Kitt

2009-01-01

A movement is building that favors creating a national network of high-quality early education and care systems that begin at birth. It makes sense. Promoting positive early learning experiences, healthy caregivers, and a connection between families and community resources can reverse rising rates of expulsion, high school dropouts, and the need…

Assessing the Writing Competence of High School Students: Lorain's EECAP, Its History and Implementation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Valentino, Marilyn J.

In response to a nationwide concern for quality education and academic preparedness, the Ohio State Board of Education created in 1983 the Early English Composition Assessment Program (EECAP) for improving the writing competency of exiting high school students. Faculty from more than 15 two- and four-year institutions and many more high schools…

Utilizing Educational Corporate Culture To Create a Quality School.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Osborne, Bill

Strategies for utilizing educational corporate culture to create a quality school are presented in this paper, which argues that the understanding of the shared belief system of organizational members is crucial to the process. Creating a quality school entails moving from a "teach the process" oriented model to one that internalizes the…

Deferred School Maintenance Creates National Crises.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Geiger, Philip E.

2002-01-01

Describes the cost and causes of the school maintenance "crises"; lists seven questions to determine if a school district has a quality maintenance program; describes consequences of deferred school maintenance in Yuma (Arizona) Union High School District. (PKP)

Flip the tip: an automated, high quality, cost-effective patch clamp screen.

PubMed

Lepple-Wienhues, Albrecht; Ferlinz, Klaus; Seeger, Achim; Schäfer, Arvid

2003-01-01

The race for creating an automated patch clamp has begun. Here, we present a novel technology to produce true gigaseals and whole cell preparations at a high rate. Suspended cells are flushed toward the tip of glass micropipettes. Seal, whole-cell break-in, and pipette/liquid handling are fully automated. Extremely stable seals and access resistance guarantee high recording quality. Data obtained from different cell types sealed inside pipettes show long-term stability, voltage clamp and seal quality, as well as block by compounds in the pM range. A flexible array of independent electrode positions minimizes consumables consumption at maximal throughput. Pulled micropipettes guarantee a proven gigaseal substrate with ultra clean and smooth surface at low cost.

Genetic diversity in peach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] at the University of Florida: past present and future

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The University of Florida (UF) stone fruit breeding and genetics program was created in 1952 to develop early ripening stone fruit cultivars with high quality, adaptation to summer rainfall, low chilling requirements, and the ability to withstand high disease pressure. Diverse germplasm sources were...

Evaluating the Long-Term Impact of Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Linn, Genie Bingham; Gill, Peggy; Sherman, Ross; Vaughn, Vance; Mixon, Jason

2010-01-01

The requirement in the USA of the No Child Left Behind Act (2002) that every classroom has a highly qualified teacher, coupled with the current high-stakes testing environment, creates the need for all principals to be knowledgeable about quality staff development systems. One aspect of effective staff development is whether teachers adopt the…

Connections for the Future through Vocational Technical 2 + 2 Programs. Annual Report, April 1989.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Portland Area Vocational-Technical Education Consortium, OR.

The Portland Area Vocational Technical Education Consortium (PAVTEC) was created to enhance and strengthen the working partnerships between Portland Community College and local high schools in order to provide high quality, articulated vocational technical programs. PAVTEC's third annual report highlights activities which have added to the…

High-Alpha Handling Qualities Flight Research on the NASA F/A-18 High Alpha Research Vehicle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wichman, Keith D.; Pahle, Joseph W.; Bahm, Catherine; Davidson, John B.; Bacon, Barton J.; Murphy, Patrick C.; Ostroff, Aaron J.; Hoffler, Keith D.

1996-01-01

A flight research study of high-angle-of-attack handling qualities has been conducted at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center using the F/A-18 High Alpha Research Vehicle (HARV). The objectives were to create a high-angle-of-attack handling qualities flight database, develop appropriate research evaluation maneuvers, and evaluate high-angle-of-attack handling qualities guidelines and criteria. Using linear and nonlinear simulations and flight research data, the predictions from each criterion were compared with the pilot ratings and comments. Proposed high-angle-of-attack nonlinear design guidelines and proposed handling qualities criteria and guidelines developed using piloted simulation were considered. Recently formulated time-domain Neal-Smith guidelines were also considered for application to high-angle-of-attack maneuvering. Conventional envelope criteria were evaluated for possible extension to the high-angle-of-attack regime. Additionally, the maneuvers were studied as potential evaluation techniques, including a limited validation of the proposed standard evaluation maneuver set. This paper gives an overview of these research objectives through examples and summarizes result highlights. The maneuver development is described briefly, the criteria evaluation is emphasized with example results given, and a brief discussion of the database form and content is presented.

The Flow of Higher Qualified New Teachers into Challenging UK High Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, John

2015-01-01

If every child is to have a fairly even chance of a good education, every child must have a fairly even chance of being taught by high-quality teachers. However, high levels of social segregation in UK schools concentrate disadvantaged young people in some schools creating conditions that may deter many teachers. This study investigates whether…

Turning Search into Knowledge Management.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaufman, David

2002-01-01

Discussion of knowledge management for electronic data focuses on creating a high quality similarity ranking algorithm. Topics include similarity ranking and unstructured data management; searching, categorization, and summarization of documents; query evaluation; considering sentences in addition to keywords; and vector models. (LRW)

Teachers Connect "with" Technology: Online Tools Build New Pathways to Collaboration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Phillips, Vicki L.; Olson, Lynn

2013-01-01

Teachers, curriculum experts, and other educators work together using online tools developed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to create high-quality, useful lessons and research-based instructional tools incorporating the Common Core State Standards.

EPA Geospatial Quality Council Strategic and Implementation Plan 2010 to 2015

EPA Science Inventory

The EPA Geospatial Quality Council (GQC) was created to promote and provide Quality Assurance guidance for the development, use, and products of geospatial science. The GQC was created when the gap between the EPA Quality Assurance (QA) and Geospatial communities was recognized. ...

Quality Early Education and Child Care From Birth to Kindergarten.

PubMed

Donoghue, Elaine A

2017-08-01

High-quality early education and child care for young children improves physical and cognitive outcomes for the children and can result in enhanced school readiness. Preschool education can be viewed as an investment (especially for at-risk children), and studies show a positive return on that investment. Barriers to high-quality early childhood education include inadequate funding and staff education as well as variable regulation and enforcement. Steps that have been taken to improve the quality of early education and child care include creating multidisciplinary, evidence-based child care practice standards; establishing state quality rating and improvement systems; improving federal and state regulations; providing child care health consultation; as well as initiating other innovative partnerships. Pediatricians have a role in promoting quality early education and child care for all children not only in the medical home but also at the community, state, and national levels. Copyright © 2017 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Service quality in health care.

PubMed

Kenagy, J W; Berwick, D M; Shore, M F

1999-02-17

Although US health care is described as "the world's largest service industry," the quality of service--that is, the characteristics that shape the experience of care beyond technical competence--is rarely discussed in the medical literature. This article illustrates service quality principles by analyzing a routine encounter in health care from a service quality point of view. This illustration and a review of related literature from both inside and outside health care has led to the following 2 premises: First, if high-quality service had a greater presence in our practices and institutions, it would improve clinical outcomes and patient and physician satisfaction while reducing cost, and it would create competitive advantage for those who are expert in its application. Second, many other industries in the service sector have taken service quality to a high level, their techniques are readily transferable to health care, and physicians caring for patients can learn from them.

Multipurpose electroslag remelting furnace for modern energy and heavy engineering industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dub, A. V.; Dub, V. S.; Kriger, Yu. N.; Levkov, L. Ya.; Shurygin, D. A.; Kissel'man, M. A.; Nekhamin, C. M.; Chernyak, A. I.; Bessonov, A. V.; Kamantsev, S. V.; Sokolov, S. O.

2012-12-01

In 2011, a unique complex based on a multipurpose unit-type electroslag remelting (ESR) furnace is created to meet the demand for large high-quality solid and hollow billets for the products of power, atomic, petrochemical, and heavy machine engineering. This complex has modern low-frequency power supplies with a new control level that ensure a high homogeneity and quality of the billets and an increase in the engineering-and-economical performance of the production. A unique pilot ESR furnace is erected to adjust technological conditions and the main control system elements.

Creating Quality Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

American Association of School Administrators, Arlington, VA.

This booklet presents information on how total quality management can be applied to school systems to create educational improvement. Total quality management offers education a systemic approach and a new set of assessment tools. Chapter 1 provides a definition and historical overview of total quality management. Chapter 2 views the school…

RAVEN Quality Assurance Activities

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

Cogliati, Joshua Joseph

2015-09-01

This report discusses the quality assurance activities needed to raise the Quality Level of Risk Analysis in a Virtual Environment (RAVEN) from Quality Level 3 to Quality Level 2. This report also describes the general RAVEN quality assurance activities. For improving the quality, reviews of code changes have been instituted, more parts of testing have been automated, and improved packaging has been created. For upgrading the quality level, requirements have been created and the workflow has been improved.

Quality Information--Informed Choices: Advancing the Workforce Information System. Secretary of Labor's Workforce Information System Plan for Federal Fiscal Years 2001-2005.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Workforce Information Council (DOL), Washington, DC.

The Workforce Investment Act of 1998 emphasizes the importance of high quality, accessible, and relevant information about the labor market for making sound decisions. In order to help both workers and employers, as well as the government agencies that serve them, the Workforce Information System was created and is being improved. The action plan…

Creating a Highly Reliable Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Through Safer Systems of Care.

PubMed

Panagos, Patoula G; Pearlman, Stephen A

2017-09-01

Neonates requiring intensive care are at high risk for medical errors due to their unique characteristics and high acuity. Designing a safer work environment begins with safe processes. Creating a culture of safety demands the involvement of all organizational levels and an interdisciplinary approach. Adverse events can result from suboptimal communication and lack of a shared mental model. This chapter describes tools to promote better patient safety in the NICU through monitoring adverse events, improving communication and using information technology. Unplanned extubation is an example of a neonatal safety concern that can be reduced by employing quality improvement methodology. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Creating an Overall Environmental Quality Index: Assessing Available Data

EPA Science Inventory

Background and Objectives: The interaction between environmental insults and human health is a complex process. Environmental exposures tend to cluster and disamenities such as landfills or industrial plants are often located in neighborhoods with high a percentage of minority a...

Physician Payment after the SGR--The New Meritocracy.

PubMed

Rosenthal, Meredith B

2015-09-24

With the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System, Medicare shifts from payment based on macroeconomic indicators to relying on physician- or group-level indicators of cost and quality--and could create a large fee differential between high- and low-performing physicians.

A systematic review and quality appraisal of international guidelines for early breast cancer systemic therapy: Are recommendations sensitive to different global resources?

PubMed

Gandhi, S; Verma, S; Ethier, J-L; Simmons, C; Burnett, H; Alibhai, S M H

2015-08-01

The breast cancer incidence in low and middle income countries (LMCs) is increasing globally, and patient outcomes are generally worse in these nations compared to high income countries (HICs). This is partly due to resource constraints associated with implementing recommended breast cancer therapies. Clinical practice guideline (CPG) adherence can improve breast cancer outcomes, however, many CPGs are created in HICs, and include costly recommendations that may not be feasible in LMCs. In addition, the quality of CPGs can be variable. The aim of this study was to perform a systematic review of CPGs on early breast cancer systemic therapy with potential international impact, to evaluate their content, quality, and resource sensitivity. A MEDLINE and gray literature search was completed for English language CPGs published between 2005 and 2010, and then updated to July 2014. Extracted guidelines were evaluated using the AGREE 2 instrument. Guidelines were specifically analyzed for resource sensitivity. Most of the extracted CPGs had similar recommendations with regards to systemic therapy. However, only one, the Breast Health Global Initiative, made recommendations with consideration of different global resources. Overall, the CPGs were of variable quality, and most scored poorly in the quality domain evaluating implementation barriers such as resources. Published CPGs for early breast cancer are created in HICs, have similar recommendations, and are generally resource-insensitive. Given the visibility and influence of these CPGs on LMCs, efforts to create higher quality, resource-sensitive guidelines with less redundancy are needed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Technology in Community-Based Organizations that Serve Older People: High Tech Meets High Touch

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Renold, Carl; Meronk, Cheryl; Kelly, Christopher

2005-01-01

Appropriate implementation of information technology (IT) can help create a more efficient, less costly, and higher-quality service-delivery environment for community-based organizations that serve older people. Relevant studies and reports on technology in healthcare can be compared and applied to these organizations. This study is the result of…

How to Recruit High-Performing Charter Management Organizations to a New Region: Results from the 2015 CMO Survey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, 2016

2016-01-01

Charter Management Organizations (CMOs) are nonprofit entities that manage at least two charter schools. They play an important role in increasing the number of high-quality charter public schools by enabling the replication and expansion of models that work, creating economies of scale, encouraging collaboration, and building support structures…

The Making of Griots: One Black Filmmaker's Journey with Six Teenagers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dowdy, Joanne Kilgour; Reedus, Narcel G.; Anderson-Thompkins, Sibby; Heim, Patricia Lee

2003-01-01

The Media Project was created to facilitate the journey of "inner city" high school students as they learned to make their first short films. Their leader chose to enlist the support of a professional cinematographer, production manager, editor, and director, to see that the final short films are of a high quality. The six teenagers experienced…

United We Learn: Team Effort Builds a Path to Equity and Alignment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kind, Jill

2014-01-01

This article presents a plan to create a united approach to improve high quality instruction in Robbinsdale Cooper High School in New Hope, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. Professional learning communities were in their infancy, conversations around data were about autopsies of annual standardized tests, and there was no description of what…

High reliability and implications for nursing leaders.

PubMed

Riley, William

2009-03-01

To review high reliability theory and discuss its implications for the nursing leader. A high reliability organization (HRO) is considered that which has measurable near perfect performance for quality and safety. The author has reviewed the literature, discussed research findings that contribute to improving reliability in health care organizations, and makes five recommendations for how nursing leaders can create high reliability organizations. Health care is not a safe industry and unintended patient harm occurs at epidemic levels. Health care can learn from high reliability theory and practice developed in other high-risk industries. Viewed by HRO standards, unintended patient injury in health care is excessively high and quality is distressingly low. HRO theory and practice can be successfully applied in health care using advanced interdisciplinary teamwork training and deliberate process design techniques. Nursing has a primary leadership function for ensuring patient safety and achieving high quality in health care organizations. Learning HRO theory and methods for achieving high reliability is a foremost opportunity for nursing leaders.

A Delphi Study to Examine the Quality Measurement Standards by Online Instructors Using the Quality Matters™ Rubric as a Basis for Creating Instructional Materials

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robinson, Daniel J.

2017-01-01

Quality measurement tools such as the Rubric for Online Instruction (ROI) and Quality Matters (QM) have developed guidelines by providing research based educational criteria for planning, creating, and implementing quality online education courses. This dissertation reviews QM program standards and identifies the primary characteristics of…

MBGD update 2015: microbial genome database for flexible ortholog analysis utilizing a diverse set of genomic data.

PubMed

Uchiyama, Ikuo; Mihara, Motohiro; Nishide, Hiroyo; Chiba, Hirokazu

2015-01-01

The microbial genome database for comparative analysis (MBGD) (available at http://mbgd.genome.ad.jp/) is a comprehensive ortholog database for flexible comparative analysis of microbial genomes, where the users are allowed to create an ortholog table among any specified set of organisms. Because of the rapid increase in microbial genome data owing to the next-generation sequencing technology, it becomes increasingly challenging to maintain high-quality orthology relationships while allowing the users to incorporate the latest genomic data available into an analysis. Because many of the recently accumulating genomic data are draft genome sequences for which some complete genome sequences of the same or closely related species are available, MBGD now stores draft genome data and allows the users to incorporate them into a user-specific ortholog database using the MyMBGD functionality. In this function, draft genome data are incorporated into an existing ortholog table created only from the complete genome data in an incremental manner to prevent low-quality draft data from affecting clustering results. In addition, to provide high-quality orthology relationships, the standard ortholog table containing all the representative genomes, which is first created by the rapid classification program DomClust, is now refined using DomRefine, a recently developed program for improving domain-level clustering using multiple sequence alignment information. © The Author(s) 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

SU-G-201-09: Evaluation of a Novel Machine-Learning Algorithm for Permanent Prostate Brachytherapy Treatment Planning

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

Nicolae, A; Department of Physics, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON; Lu, L

Purpose: A novel, automated, algorithm for permanent prostate brachytherapy (PPB) treatment planning has been developed. The novel approach uses machine-learning (ML), a form of artificial intelligence, to substantially decrease planning time while simultaneously retaining the clinical intuition of plans created by radiation oncologists. This study seeks to compare the ML algorithm against expert-planned PPB plans to evaluate the equivalency of dosimetric and clinical plan quality. Methods: Plan features were computed from historical high-quality PPB treatments (N = 100) and stored in a relational database (RDB). The ML algorithm matched new PPB features to a highly similar case in the RDB;more » this initial plan configuration was then further optimized using a stochastic search algorithm. PPB pre-plans (N = 30) generated using the ML algorithm were compared to plan variants created by an expert dosimetrist (RT), and radiation oncologist (MD). Planning time and pre-plan dosimetry were evaluated using a one-way Student’s t-test and ANOVA, respectively (significance level = 0.05). Clinical implant quality was evaluated by expert PPB radiation oncologists as part of a qualitative study. Results: Average planning time was 0.44 ± 0.42 min compared to 17.88 ± 8.76 min for the ML algorithm and RT, respectively, a significant advantage [t(9), p = 0.01]. A post-hoc ANOVA [F(2,87) = 6.59, p = 0.002] using Tukey-Kramer criteria showed a significantly lower mean prostate V150% for the ML plans (52.9%) compared to the RT (57.3%), and MD (56.2%) plans. Preliminary qualitative study results indicate comparable clinical implant quality between RT and ML plans with a trend towards preference for ML plans. Conclusion: PPB pre-treatment plans highly comparable to those of an expert radiation oncologist can be created using a novel ML planning model. The use of an ML-based planning approach is expected to translate into improved PPB accessibility and plan uniformity.« less

Computation Methods for NASA Data-streams for Agricultural Efficiency Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shrestha, B.; O'Hara, C. G.; Mali, P.

2007-12-01

Temporal Map Algebra (TMA) is a novel technique for analyzing time-series of satellite imageries using simple algebraic operators that treats time-series imageries as a three-dimensional dataset, where two dimensions encode planimetric position on earth surface and the third dimension encodes time. Spatio-temporal analytical processing methods such as TMA that utilize moderate spatial resolution satellite imagery having high temporal resolution to create multi-temporal composites are data intensive as well as computationally intensive. TMA analysis for multi-temporal composites provides dramatically enhanced usefulness that will yield previously unavailable capabilities to user communities, if deployment is coupled with significant High Performance Computing (HPC) capabilities; and interfaces are designed to deliver the full potential for these new technological developments. In this research, cross-platform data fusion and adaptive filtering using TMA was employed to create highly useful daily datasets and cloud-free high-temporal resolution vegetation index (VI) composites with enhanced information content for vegetation and bio-productivity monitoring, surveillance, and modeling. Fusion of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data created from Aqua and Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) surface-reflectance data (MOD09) enables the creation of daily composites which are of immense value to a broad spectrum of global and national applications. Additionally these products are highly desired by many natural resources agencies like USDA/FAS/PECAD. Utilizing data streams collected by similar sensors on different platforms that transit the same areas at slightly different times of the day offers the opportunity to develop fused data products that have enhanced cloud-free and reduced noise characteristics. Establishing a Fusion Quality Confidence Code (FQCC) provides a metadata product that quantifies the method of fusion for a given pixel and enables a relative quality and confidence factor to be established for a given daily pixel value. When coupled with metadata that quantify the source sensor, day and time of acquisition, and the fusion method of each pixel to create the daily product; a wealth of information is available to assist in deriving new data and information products. These newly developed abilities to create highly useful daily data sets imply that temporal composites for a geographic area of interest may be created for user-defined temporal intervals that emphasize a user designated day of interest. At GeoResources Institute, Mississippi State University, solutions have been developed to create custom composites and cross-platform satellite data fusion using TMA which are useful for National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Rapid Prototyping Capability (RPC) and Integrated System Solutions (ISS) experiments for agricultural applications.

ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY VERIFICATION REPORT: BAGHOUSE FILTRATION PRODUCTS--DONALDSON COMPANY, INC. 6277 FILTRATION MEDIA

EPA Science Inventory

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has created the Environmental Technology Verification Program to facilitate the deployment of innovative or improved environmental technologies through high quality, peer reviewed data on technology performance to those involved in the des...

Center for Clinical Services Research, California.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Findley, Foster

2001-01-01

Highlights Stanford University's 220,000 square-foot Center for Clinical Sciences, the design of which represents a high-quality architectural departure from the old building styles and creates an elegant, solar-protected gathering place for scientists. Includes photographs, sectional drawing, and site plan. (GR)

Western European Art Foundations and Publishing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

King, Lindsay M.; Clement, Russell T.

2011-01-01

Western European art foundations create invaluable opportunities for research and exhibition by artists, curators, and scholars. These activities are often documented and disseminated via high-quality publications. This article highlights an important but under-recognized collecting resource for academic and museum libraries by profiling several…

Unsentimental Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guiney, Anne

2001-01-01

Explains how architect Mathias Klotz skillfully exploited qualities of Santiago, Chile's, urban landscape, including mountains, low buildings, wide streets, modest houses, and cars to create a simple elementary and high school building that provides occupants with a sophisticated and rich environment. Includes nine photographs, three plans, and a…

Creating an Overall Environmental Quality Index to Examine Health Outcomes

EPA Science Inventory

The interaction between environmental conditions and human health transpire from complex processes. Environmental exposures tend to cluster and disamenities such as landfills or industrial plants are often located in areas with high a percentage of minority and poor residents. Wh...

Fundamentals and Methods of High Angle-of-Attack Flying Qualities Research

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-01-01

the subject, Carr sites the work of Ham and Gorelick (1968) (Reference (26)) which showed that additional lift could be created by rapid pitching of...the laminar boundary layer near the leading-edge. Thicker airfoils (t/c > 0. 12), 32 NADC 88020-60 representative of figure 24b, typically create ...lift-curve can result from leading-edge flow separation as shown in figure 24a. An airplance with this type of lift-curve would exhibit little or no

Molecular-beam epitaxy of 7-8 μm range quantum-cascade laser heterostructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Babichev, A. V.; Denisov, D. V.; Filimonov, A. V.; Nevedomsky, V. N.; Kurochkin, A. S.; Gladyshev, A. G.; Karachinsky, L. Ya; Sokolovskii, G. S.; Novikov, I. I.; Bousseksou, A.; Egorov, A. Yu

2017-11-01

The method of molecular beam epitaxy demonstrates the possibility to create high quality heterostructures of quantum cascade lasers in a spectral range of 7-8 μm containing 50 quantum cascades in an active region. Design based on the principle of two-phonon resonant scattering is used. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy experiments confirm high structural properties of the created heterostructures, e.g. the identity of the composition and thickness of epitaxial layers in all 50 cascades. Edge-emitting lasers based on the grown heterostructure demonstrate lasing with threshold current density of 2.8 kA/cm2 at a temperature of 78 K.

Quality Improvement: Creating a Float Pool Specialty Within a New Graduate Residency.

PubMed

Shinners, Jean; Alejandro, John Aldrich N; Frigillana, Vanessa; Desmond, Juliann; LaVigne, Ronda

2016-01-01

Creating new norms is essential for success as acute care leaders seek to redesign care delivery. Through the structures of the registered nurse (RN) residency and utilizing a quality improvement process, new graduate RNs demonstrated success in creating a centralized float pool resource.

The High Flying Leadership Qualities: What Matters the Most

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-04-01

37 MLMs, and 32 SLMs provided valu- able insights in their survey responses. No SLLs participated in this study . Keywords: leadership qualities, DoD...established an eight-step process if the case for change can be made. 1. Establishing a Sense of Urgency 2. Creating the Guiding Coalition 3...deviation below the mean (x - 1σ), without any supporting comments: Credible, Promotes Col laboration a nd Innovation: None given. Various studies

Forensic Science Curriculum for High School Students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burgess, Christiana J.

Over the last several decades, forensic science---the application of science to civil and criminal legal matters---has become of increasing popularity with the public. The range of disciplines within the field is immense, offering individuals the potential for a unique career, regardless of their specific interests or expertise. In response to this growth, many organizations, both public and private, have recognized the need to create forensic science programs that strive to maintain and enhance the quality of forensic science education. Unfortunately, most of the emphasis placed on developing these materials relates to post-secondary education, and creates a significant lack of forensic science educational materials available in the U.S., especially in Oklahoma. The purpose of this project was to create a high school curriculum that provides the foundation for building a broad, yet comprehensive, overview of the field of forensic science and its associated disciplines. The overall goal was to create and provide course materials to high school teachers in order to increase their knowledge of forensic science such that they are able to teach its disciplines effectively and with accuracy. The Forensic Science Curriculum for High School Students includes sample lesson plans, PowerPoint presentations, and lab activities with step-by-step instructions.

Facilitating the openEHR approach - organizational structures for defining high-quality archetypes.

PubMed

Kohl, Christian Dominik; Garde, Sebastian; Knaup, Petra

2008-01-01

Using openEHR archetypes to establish an electronic patient record promises rapid development and system interoperability by using or adopting existing archetypes. However, internationally accepted, high quality archetypes which enable a comprehensive semantic interoperability require adequate development and maintenance processes. Therefore, structures have to be created involving different health professions. In the following we present a model which facilitates and governs distributed but cooperative development and adoption of archetypes by different professionals including peer reviews. Our model consists of a hierarchical structure of professional committees and descriptions of the archetype development process considering these different committees.

Full-color large-scaled computer-generated holograms using RGB color filters.

PubMed

Tsuchiyama, Yasuhiro; Matsushima, Kyoji

2017-02-06

A technique using RGB color filters is proposed for creating high-quality full-color computer-generated holograms (CGHs). The fringe of these CGHs is composed of more than a billion pixels. The CGHs reconstruct full-parallax three-dimensional color images with a deep sensation of depth caused by natural motion parallax. The simulation technique as well as the principle and challenges of high-quality full-color reconstruction are presented to address the design of filter properties suitable for large-scaled CGHs. Optical reconstructions of actual fabricated full-color CGHs are demonstrated in order to verify the proposed techniques.

Pork Production System and its Development in Mainland China

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Livestock production and marketing have been driven by the growing consumer demand for high quality and low cost animal protein. As a result, intensive livestock industries have been rapidly developing globally. International trade creates new opportunities and challenges for U.S. animal agriculture...

Marketing: Educators New Buzz Word.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cotoia, Anthony M.

Many concerned academic administrators are turning to marketing as the cure for shrinking enrollments. These administrators often have unrealistic expectations of what marketing techniques can achieve. Marketing cannot cover up for programs of poor quality, create customers in an over-harvested market, or overcome high attrition when students…

ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY VERIFICATION REPORT: ECR TECHNOLOGIES, INC., EARTHLINKED GROUND-SOURCE HEAT PUMP WATER HEATING SYSTEM

EPA Science Inventory

EPA has created the Environmental Technology Verification program to provide high quality, peer reviewed data on technology performance. This data is expected to accelerate the acceptance and use of improved environmental protection technologies. The Greenhouse Gas Technology C...

We Don't Say "H" Here

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scott Dunda, Jessica Mae

2017-01-01

This article is focused on building interdependence among diverse learners through four specific engagements in the art room: Friend/Family Involvement, Team-Building, Leadership Habits, and Service Learning. These strategies have been beneficial to the author in creating a sustainable model for high-quality visual arts instruction.

Strong Collaborative Relationships for Strong Community Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Daniel, Julia

2017-01-01

Community schools have gained attention as mechanisms to bring about equitable access to high-quality educational resources, extended learning time and opportunities, integrated student supports, and collaborative engaging relationships with parents and communities. In order to effectively create conditions that provide equitable access to such…

Environmental Technology Verification: Baghouse Filtration Products--Sinoma Science & Technology Co. Ltd FT-806 Filtration Media

EPA Science Inventory

EPA created the Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) Program to facilitate the deployment of innovative or improved environmental technologies through performance verification and dissemination of information. It seeks to achieve this goal by providing high-quality, peer r...

Preschool Inclusion Finance Toolkit 2017

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cate, Debbie; Peters, Mary

2017-01-01

This document outlines strategies and guidance on collaborative funding strategies and mechanisms, including braided funding, to create and sustain high-quality inclusive regular early childhood settings that are inclusive of preschool children with disabilities. The use of federal funds is outlined specific to supporting young children with…

Current Challenges for Healthcare Services and the Opportunities Created by the Marketing Abilities

PubMed Central

Purcărea, T; Purcărea, LV; Raţiu, M

2008-01-01

Life is changing dramatically, market position as part of life is becoming more and more important, and marketing, considered a key cultural architect of nowadays that involves voluntary relation exchanges between the communicating partners, is placing the patient in the center of most adequate action towards the medical future which represents his life quality. We think that the moment has come to resort to marketing as a new method to identify innovation opportunities in healthcare services' delivery, considering that the high quality of healthcare services, answering to demands of healthcare systems' consumers, represents a well recognized priority for the European citizens. Consequently, the model of ‘healthcare business’ has to rely on the value for patient by creating competition concerning the results at medical condition level. PMID:20108474

Grand Challenges in Clinical Decision Support v10

PubMed Central

Sittig, Dean F.; Wright, Adam; Osheroff, Jerome A.; Middleton, Blackford; Teich, Jonathan M.; Ash, Joan S.; Campbell, Emily; Bates, David W.

2008-01-01

There is a pressing need for high-quality, effective means of designing, developing, presenting, implementing, evaluating, and maintaining all types of clinical decision support capabilities for clinicians, patients and consumers. Using an iterative, consensus-building process we identified a rank-ordered list of the top 10 grand challenges in clinical decision support. This list was created to educate and inspire researchers, developers, funders, and policy-makers. The list of challenges in order of importance that they be solved if patients and organizations are to begin realizing the fullest benefits possible of these systems consists of: Improve the human-computer interface; Disseminate best practices in CDS design, development, and implementation; Summarize patient-level information; Prioritize and filter recommendations to the user; Create an architecture for sharing executable CDS modules and services; Combine recommendations for patients with co-morbidities; Prioritize CDS content development and implementation; Create internet-accessible clinical decision support repositories; Use freetext information to drive clinical decision support; Mine large clinical databases to create new CDS. Identification of solutions to these challenges is critical if clinical decision support is to achieve its potential and improve the quality, safety and efficiency of healthcare. PMID:18029232

A Structure for Creating Quality Software.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Christensen, Larry C.; Bodey, Michael R.

1990-01-01

Addresses the issue of assuring quality software for use in computer-aided instruction and presents a structure by which developers can create quality courseware. Differences between courseware and computer-aided instruction software are discussed, methods for testing software are described, and human factors issues as well as instructional design…

Hunter New England Training (HNET): how to effect culture change in a psychiatry medical workforce.

PubMed

Cohen, Martin; Llewellyn, Anthony; Ditton-Phare, Philippa; Sandhu, Harsimrat; Vamos, Marina

2011-12-01

It is now recognized that education and training are at the core of quality systems in health care. In this paper we discuss the processes and drivers that underpinned the development of high quality education and training programs and placements for all junior doctors. The early identification and development of doctors interested in psychiatry as a career, engagement and co-operation with the broader junior doctor network and the creation of teaching opportunities for trainees that was linked to their stage of development were identified as key to the success of the program. Targeted, high quality education programs and clinical placements coupled with strategic development of workforce has reduced staff turn over, led to the stabilization of the medical workforce and created a culture where learning and supervision are highly valued.

An assessment of quality of home-based HIV counseling and testing performed by lay counselors in a rural sub-district of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

PubMed

Magasana, Vuyolwethu; Zembe, Wanga; Tabana, Hanani; Naik, Reshma; Jackson, Debra; Swanevelder, Sonja; Doherty, Tanya

2016-12-01

HIV counseling and testing (HCT) has been prioritized as one of the prevention strategies for HIV/AIDS, and promoted as an essential tool in scaling up and improving access to treatment, care and support especially in community settings. Home-based HCT (HBHCT) is a model that has consistently been found to be highly acceptable and has improved HCT coverage and uptake in low- and middle-income countries since 2002. It involves trained lay counselors going door-to-door offering pre-test counseling and providing HCT services to consenting eligible household members. Currently, there are few studies reporting on the quality of HBHCT services offered by lay counselors especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, including South Africa. This is a quantitative descriptive sub-study of a community randomized trial (Good Start HBHCT trial) which describes the quality of HBHCT provided by lay counselors. Quality of HBHCT was measured as scores comparing observed practice to prescribed protocols using direct observation. Data were collected through periodic observations of HCT sessions and exit interviews with clients. Counselor quality scores for pre-test counseling and post-test counseling sessions were created to determine the level of quality. For the client exit interviews a continuous score was created to assess how satisfied the clients were with the counseling session. A total of 196 (3%) observational assessments and 406 (6%) client exit interviews were completed. Overall, median scores for quality of counseling and testing were high for both HIV-negative and HIV-positive clients. For exit interviews all 406 (100%) clients had overall satisfaction with the counseling and testing services they received, however 11% were concerned about the counselor keeping their discussion confidential. Of all 406 clients, 393 (96.8%) intended to recommend the service to other people. In ensuring good quality HCT services, ongoing quality assessments are important to monitor quality of HCT after training.

Glomerular disease: why is there a dearth of high quality clinical trials?

PubMed

Leaf, David E; Appel, Gerald B; Radhakrishnan, Jai

2010-08-01

There is a paucity of high quality clinical trials in glomerular disease, particularly in non-diabetic kidney disease. The aims of this review include quantifying the extent of this problem and exploring reasons for the scarcity of such trials in primary glomerular disease, with an emphasis on immunoglobulin A nephropathy, minimal change disease, focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, and membranous nephropathy in comparison with the more common diseases of diabetic nephropathy and lupus nephritis. Reasons for the dearth of high quality clinical trials in primary glomerular disease include (1) low prevalence of disease; (2) variability in clinical presentation; (3) variability in treatment response; (4) lack of consensus in definitions; (5) difficulty in recruiting patients; (6) high costs of randomized controlled trials; and (7) lack of collaborative efforts. To facilitate greater numbers of high quality clinical trials in glomerular disease, practice guidelines should establish common classification systems of disease and common clinical end points, industry and non-industry sponsored research should find common ground and work together toward advancing science, and national registries should be created to encourage collaborations across institutions and across nations.

Process mapping as a framework for performance improvement in emergency general surgery.

PubMed

DeGirolamo, Kristin; D'Souza, Karan; Hall, William; Joos, Emilie; Garraway, Naisan; Sing, Chad Kim; McLaughlin, Patrick; Hameed, Morad

2017-12-01

Emergency general surgery conditions are often thought of as being too acute for the development of standardized approaches to quality improvement. However, process mapping, a concept that has been applied extensively in manufacturing quality improvement, is now being used in health care. The objective of this study was to create process maps for small bowel obstruction in an effort to identify potential areas for quality improvement. We used the American College of Surgeons Emergency General Surgery Quality Improvement Program pilot database to identify patients who received nonoperative or operative management of small bowel obstruction between March 2015 and March 2016. This database, patient charts and electronic health records were used to create process maps from the time of presentation to discharge. Eighty-eight patients with small bowel obstruction (33 operative; 55 nonoperative) were identified. Patients who received surgery had a complication rate of 32%. The processes of care from the time of presentation to the time of follow-up were highly elaborate and variable in terms of duration; however, the sequences of care were found to be consistent. We used data visualization strategies to identify bottlenecks in care, and they showed substantial variability in terms of operating room access. Variability in the operative care of small bowel obstruction is high and represents an important improvement opportunity in general surgery. Process mapping can identify common themes, even in acute care, and suggest specific performance improvement measures.

Process mapping as a framework for performance improvement in emergency general surgery.

PubMed

DeGirolamo, Kristin; D'Souza, Karan; Hall, William; Joos, Emilie; Garraway, Naisan; Sing, Chad Kim; McLaughlin, Patrick; Hameed, Morad

2018-02-01

Emergency general surgery conditions are often thought of as being too acute for the development of standardized approaches to quality improvement. However, process mapping, a concept that has been applied extensively in manufacturing quality improvement, is now being used in health care. The objective of this study was to create process maps for small bowel obstruction in an effort to identify potential areas for quality improvement. We used the American College of Surgeons Emergency General Surgery Quality Improvement Program pilot database to identify patients who received nonoperative or operative management of small bowel obstruction between March 2015 and March 2016. This database, patient charts and electronic health records were used to create process maps from the time of presentation to discharge. Eighty-eight patients with small bowel obstruction (33 operative; 55 nonoperative) were identified. Patients who received surgery had a complication rate of 32%. The processes of care from the time of presentation to the time of follow-up were highly elaborate and variable in terms of duration; however, the sequences of care were found to be consistent. We used data visualization strategies to identify bottlenecks in care, and they showed substantial variability in terms of operating room access. Variability in the operative care of small bowel obstruction is high and represents an important improvement opportunity in general surgery. Process mapping can identify common themes, even in acute care, and suggest specific performance improvement measures.

Linking nurses' perceptions of patient care quality to job satisfaction: the role of authentic leadership and empowering professional practice environments.

PubMed

Spence Laschinger, Heather K; Fida, Roberta

2015-05-01

A model linking authentic leadership, structural empowerment, and supportive professional practice environments to nurses' perceptions of patient care quality and job satisfaction was tested. Positive work environment characteristics are important for nurses' perceptions of patient care quality and job satisfaction (significant factors for retention). Few studies have examined the mechanism by which these characteristics operate to influence perceptions of patient care quality or job satisfaction. A cross-sectional provincial survey of 723 Canadian nurses was used to test the hypothesized models using structural equation modeling. The model was an acceptable fit and all paths were significant. Authentic leadership had a positive effect on structural empowerment, which had a positive effect on perceived support for professional practice and a negative effect on nurses' perceptions that inadequate unit staffing prevented them from providing high-quality patient care. These workplace conditions predicted job satisfaction. Authentic leaders play an important role in creating empowering professional practice environments that foster high-quality care and job satisfaction.

Development and Validation of a High-Quality Composite Real-World Mortality Endpoint.

PubMed

Curtis, Melissa D; Griffith, Sandra D; Tucker, Melisa; Taylor, Michael D; Capra, William B; Carrigan, Gillis; Holzman, Ben; Torres, Aracelis Z; You, Paul; Arnieri, Brandon; Abernethy, Amy P

2018-05-14

To create a high-quality electronic health record (EHR)-derived mortality dataset for retrospective and prospective real-world evidence generation. Oncology EHR data, supplemented with external commercial and US Social Security Death Index data, benchmarked to the National Death Index (NDI). We developed a recent, linkable, high-quality mortality variable amalgamated from multiple data sources to supplement EHR data, benchmarked against the highest completeness U.S. mortality data, the NDI. Data quality of the mortality variable version 2.0 is reported here. For advanced non-small-cell lung cancer, sensitivity of mortality information improved from 66 percent in EHR structured data to 91 percent in the composite dataset, with high date agreement compared to the NDI. For advanced melanoma, metastatic colorectal cancer, and metastatic breast cancer, sensitivity of the final variable was 85 to 88 percent. Kaplan-Meier survival analyses showed that improving mortality data completeness minimized overestimation of survival relative to NDI-based estimates. For EHR-derived data to yield reliable real-world evidence, it needs to be of known and sufficiently high quality. Considering the impact of mortality data completeness on survival endpoints, we highlight the importance of data quality assessment and advocate benchmarking to the NDI. © 2018 The Authors. Health Services Research published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Health Research and Educational Trust.

Determining the market value of high-rise residential buildings based on evaluation of consumer properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kolobova, Svetlana

2018-03-01

As you know, high-rise construction is an indicator of the practical implementation of advanced innovative technologies in the construction industry of the country. High-rise building inevitably comes to the big cities, in connection with the shortage and value of land. The life cycle of any construction project, including high-rise buildings consists of chains: of engineering survey - design-construction-operation. In the process of operation of a tall building, decisions about major repairs or reconstruction of a building are made for decision-making on further use. This article describes methods of assessing the consumer quality of high-rise residential buildings and the establishment of prices based on consumer characteristics of a tall residential building. It is proposed to assess the premises under their quality characteristics. The study was conducted to establish the influence of individual, comprehensive and integral indicators of comparable quality for effective quality living spaces. Simultaneously, there was established a relationship of quality with the consumer cost of housing, ultimately with the potential needs of owners, tenants of the home, lessor dwelling, or buyers of residential properties and other participants in the residential real estate market. This relationship further creates consumer requirements to quality standard of premises at a certain stage of socio-economic development.

Creating Conventional Soybeans with the High Oleic Acid Seed Oil Trait

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Commodity soybeans are poised to undergo a revolutionary change. Major shifts in market expectations for the nutritional quality of the oil, brought about in part through food labeling requirements and the suitability for biodiesel, are driving the commodity soybean to embrace new seed compositiona...

36 CFR 910.16 - Land use.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

..., entertainment, and residential opportunities, as well as high quality office uses. (b) That portion of the... shall be directly related to creating a lively atmosphere and to promoting an active street life... as important to the commercial life of any inner city, uses that do not generate lively activities...

36 CFR 910.16 - Land use.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

..., entertainment, and residential opportunities, as well as high quality office uses. (b) That portion of the... shall be directly related to creating a lively atmosphere and to promoting an active street life... as important to the commercial life of any inner city, uses that do not generate lively activities...

36 CFR 910.16 - Land use.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

..., entertainment, and residential opportunities, as well as high quality office uses. (b) That portion of the... shall be directly related to creating a lively atmosphere and to promoting an active street life... as important to the commercial life of any inner city, uses that do not generate lively activities...

36 CFR 910.16 - Land use.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

..., entertainment, and residential opportunities, as well as high quality office uses. (b) That portion of the... shall be directly related to creating a lively atmosphere and to promoting an active street life... as important to the commercial life of any inner city, uses that do not generate lively activities...

Using Digital Videos to Enhance Teacher Preparation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dymond, Stacy K.; Bentz, Johnell L.

2006-01-01

The technology to produce high quality, digital videos is widely available, yet its use in teacher preparation remains largely overlooked. A digital video library was created to augment instruction in a special education methods course for preservice elementary education teachers. The videos illustrated effective strategies for working with…

DIY.edu

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Demski, Jennifer

2012-01-01

The publication of Anya Kamenetz's "DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs, and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education" (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2010) caused quite a splash in the higher ed community. If, as she advocates, highly motivated students can access quality online coursework for free--if they can create their own learning paths based on…

Creating a State-Wide Virtual Health Library: The Michigan Experience.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brenneise, Harvey

The AccessMichigan Electronic Community Health Information Initiative (AMECHII) is a response to a recommendation of the Michigan Information Technology Commission Report recommending improved access to high-quality health care information for all Michigan stakeholders. This project is multi-type, including public, general academic, academic…

What We've Learned about Assessing Hands-On Science.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shavelson, Richard J.; Baxter, Gail P.

1992-01-01

A recent study compared hands-on scientific inquiry assessment to assessments involving lab notebooks, computer simulations, short-answer paper-and-pencil problems, and multiple-choice questions. Creating high quality performance assessments is a costly, time-consuming process requiring considerable scientific and technological know-how. Improved…

Creating the Total Quality Effective School.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lezotte, Lawrence W.

This book shows how Deming's Total Quality Management (TQM) theory for organizational management can be integrated with the effective-schools literature. Part 1 compares the 14 principles of TQM with the tenets of effective-schools research. The second part develops a blueprint for creating the total quality effective school. The conceptual…

Quality user support: Supporting quality users

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

Woolley, T.C.

1994-12-31

During the past decade, fundamental changes have occurred in technical computing in the oil industry. Technical computing systems have moved from local, fragmented quantity, to global, integrated, quality. The compute power available to the average geoscientist at his desktop has grown exponentially. Technical computing applications have increased in integration and complexity. At the same time, there has been a significant change in the work force due to the pressures of restructuring, and the increased focus on international opportunities. The profile of the user of technical computing resources has changed. Users are generally more mature, knowledgeable, and team oriented than theirmore » predecessors. In the 1990s, computer literacy is a requirement. This paper describes the steps taken by Oryx Energy Company to address the problems and opportunities created by the explosive growth in computing power and needs, coupled with the contraction of the business. A successful user support strategy will be described. Characteristics of the program include: (1) Client driven support; (2) Empowerment of highly skilled professionals to fill the support role; (3) Routine and ongoing modification to the support plan; (4) Utilization of the support assignment to create highly trained advocates on the line; (5) Integration of the support role to the reservoir management team. Results of the plan include a highly trained work force, stakeholder teams that include support personnel, and global support from a centralized support organization.« less

Monolithic optofluidic ring resonator lasers created by femtosecond laser nanofabrication.

PubMed

Chandrahalim, Hengky; Chen, Qiushu; Said, Ali A; Dugan, Mark; Fan, Xudong

2015-05-21

We designed, fabricated, and characterized a monolithically integrated optofluidic ring resonator laser that is mechanically, thermally, and chemically robust. The entire device, including the ring resonator channel and sample delivery microfluidics, was created in a block of fused-silica glass using a 3-dimensional femtosecond laser writing process. The gain medium, composed of Rhodamine 6G (R6G) dissolved in quinoline, was flowed through the ring resonator. Lasing was achieved at a pump threshold of approximately 15 μJ mm(-2). Detailed analysis shows that the Q-factor of the optofluidic ring resonator is 3.3 × 10(4), which is limited by both solvent absorption and scattering loss. In particular, a Q-factor resulting from the scattering loss can be as high as 4.2 × 10(4), suggesting the feasibility of using a femtosecond laser to create high quality optical cavities.

Algebra? There's an App for That: Florida Goes Online with Math Support for Teachers and Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schackow, Joy Bronston; Cugini, Stephanie

2016-01-01

The transition to Common Core State Standards for Mathematics has created a need for high-quality professional learning on content and pedagogy. This is especially true for algebra 1 teachers in Florida, where students must pass a standards-based exam as a requirement to earning a high school diploma. Time, distance, and cost constraints can get…

Airport databases for 3D synthetic-vision flight-guidance displays: database design, quality assessment, and data generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Friedrich, Axel; Raabe, Helmut; Schiefele, Jens; Doerr, Kai Uwe

1999-07-01

In future aircraft cockpit designs SVS (Synthetic Vision System) databases will be used to display 3D physical and virtual information to pilots. In contrast to pure warning systems (TAWS, MSAW, EGPWS) SVS serve to enhance pilot spatial awareness by 3-dimensional perspective views of the objects in the environment. Therefore all kind of aeronautical relevant data has to be integrated into the SVS-database: Navigation- data, terrain-data, obstacles and airport-Data. For the integration of all these data the concept of a GIS (Geographical Information System) based HQDB (High-Quality- Database) has been created at the TUD (Technical University Darmstadt). To enable database certification, quality- assessment procedures according to ICAO Annex 4, 11, 14 and 15 and RTCA DO-200A/EUROCAE ED76 were established in the concept. They can be differentiated in object-related quality- assessment-methods following the keywords accuracy, resolution, timeliness, traceability, assurance-level, completeness, format and GIS-related quality assessment methods with the keywords system-tolerances, logical consistence and visual quality assessment. An airport database is integrated in the concept as part of the High-Quality- Database. The contents of the HQDB are chosen so that they support both Flight-Guidance-SVS and other aeronautical applications like SMGCS (Surface Movement and Guidance Systems) and flight simulation as well. Most airport data are not available. Even though data for runways, threshold, taxilines and parking positions were to be generated by the end of 1997 (ICAO Annex 11 and 15) only a few countries fulfilled these requirements. For that reason methods of creating and certifying airport data have to be found. Remote sensing and digital photogrammetry serve as means to acquire large amounts of airport objects with high spatial resolution and accuracy in much shorter time than with classical surveying methods. Remotely sensed images can be acquired from satellite-platforms or aircraft-platforms. To achieve the highest horizontal accuracy requirements stated in ICAO Annex 14 for runway centerlines (0.50 meters), at the present moment only images acquired from aircraft based sensors can be used as source data. Still, ground reference by GCP (Ground Control-points) is obligatory. A DEM (Digital Elevation Model) can be created automatically in the photogrammetric process. It can be used as highly accurate elevation model for the airport area. The final verification of airport data is accomplished by independent surveyed runway- and taxiway- control-points. The concept of generation airport-data by means of remote sensing and photogrammetry was tested with the Stuttgart/Germany airport. The results proved that the final accuracy was within the accuracy specification defined by ICAO Annex 14.

Web-Based Quality Assurance Process Drives Improvements in Obstetric Ultrasound in 5 Low- and Middle-Income Countries

PubMed Central

Swanson, Jonathan O; Plotner, David; Franklin, Holly L; Swanson, David L; Lokomba Bolamba, Victor; Lokangaka, Adrien; Sayury Pineda, Irma; Figueroa, Lester; Garces, Ana; Muyodi, David; Esamai, Fabian; Kanaiza, Nancy; Mirza, Waseem; Naqvi, Farnaz; Saleem, Sarah; Mwenechanya, Musaku; Chiwila, Melody; Hamsumonde, Dorothy; McClure, Elizabeth M; Goldenberg, Robert L; Nathan, Robert O

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT High quality is important in medical imaging, yet in many geographic areas, highly skilled sonographers are in short supply. Advances in Internet capacity along with the development of reliable portable ultrasounds have created an opportunity to provide centralized remote quality assurance (QA) for ultrasound exams performed at rural sites worldwide. We sought to harness these advances by developing a web-based tool to facilitate QA activities for newly trained sonographers who were taking part in a cluster randomized trial investigating the role of limited obstetric ultrasound to improve pregnancy outcomes in 5 low- and middle-income countries. We were challenged by connectivity issues, by country-specific needs for website usability, and by the overall need for a high-throughput system. After systematically addressing these needs, the resulting QA website helped drive ultrasound quality improvement across all 5 countries. It now offers the potential for adoption by future ultrasound- or imaging-based global health initiatives. PMID:28031304

High-quality and small-capacity e-learning video featuring lecturer-superimposing PC screen images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nomura, Yoshihiko; Murakami, Michinobu; Sakamoto, Ryota; Sugiura, Tokuhiro; Matsui, Hirokazu; Kato, Norihiko

2006-10-01

Information processing and communication technology are progressing quickly, and are prevailing throughout various technological fields. Therefore, the development of such technology should respond to the needs for improvement of quality in the e-learning education system. The authors propose a new video-image compression processing system that ingeniously employs the features of the lecturing scene. While dynamic lecturing scene is shot by a digital video camera, screen images are electronically stored by a PC screen image capturing software in relatively long period at a practical class. Then, a lecturer and a lecture stick are extracted from the digital video images by pattern recognition techniques, and the extracted images are superimposed on the appropriate PC screen images by off-line processing. Thus, we have succeeded to create a high-quality and small-capacity (HQ/SC) video-on-demand educational content featuring the advantages: the high quality of image sharpness, the small electronic file capacity, and the realistic lecturer motion.

Designing a Clinical Data Warehouse Architecture to Support Quality Improvement Initiatives.

PubMed

Chelico, John D; Wilcox, Adam B; Vawdrey, David K; Kuperman, Gilad J

2016-01-01

Clinical data warehouses, initially directed towards clinical research or financial analyses, are evolving to support quality improvement efforts, and must now address the quality improvement life cycle. In addition, data that are needed for quality improvement often do not reside in a single database, requiring easier methods to query data across multiple disparate sources. We created a virtual data warehouse at NewYork Presbyterian Hospital that allowed us to bring together data from several source systems throughout the organization. We also created a framework to match the maturity of a data request in the quality improvement life cycle to proper tools needed for each request. As projects progress in the Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control stages of quality improvement, there is a proper matching of resources the data needs at each step. We describe the analysis and design creating a robust model for applying clinical data warehousing to quality improvement.

Designing a Clinical Data Warehouse Architecture to Support Quality Improvement Initiatives

PubMed Central

Chelico, John D.; Wilcox, Adam B.; Vawdrey, David K.; Kuperman, Gilad J.

2016-01-01

Clinical data warehouses, initially directed towards clinical research or financial analyses, are evolving to support quality improvement efforts, and must now address the quality improvement life cycle. In addition, data that are needed for quality improvement often do not reside in a single database, requiring easier methods to query data across multiple disparate sources. We created a virtual data warehouse at NewYork Presbyterian Hospital that allowed us to bring together data from several source systems throughout the organization. We also created a framework to match the maturity of a data request in the quality improvement life cycle to proper tools needed for each request. As projects progress in the Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control stages of quality improvement, there is a proper matching of resources the data needs at each step. We describe the analysis and design creating a robust model for applying clinical data warehousing to quality improvement. PMID:28269833

Imprints: Evidence of Our Presence. Annual Report, 2009-2010

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools, 2010

2010-01-01

The goal of the Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools (CYFS) is to the conduct of high-quality interdisciplinary research to promote the intellectual, behavioral and social-emotional development and functioning of individuals across educational, familial and community contexts. The Center creates the context for…

The First Experience of International Travel: Contributing to Global Nursing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith-Stoner, Marilyn; Gonzalez, Evelyn

2011-01-01

Providing experiences for international travel is an important aspect of higher education, and creating high-quality international exchanges can be a challenge. Developing appropriate experiences for nursing students may be especially difficult due to the complexity of regulatory and accreditation requirements. However, it is possible to find…

The Organizational Role of Web Services

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mitchell, Erik

2011-01-01

The workload of Web librarians is already split between Web-related and other library tasks. But today's technological environment has created new implications for existing services and new demands for staff time. It is time to reconsider how libraries can best allocate resources to provide effective Web services. Delivering high-quality services…

36 CFR § 910.16 - Land use.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

..., entertainment, and residential opportunities, as well as high quality office uses. (b) That portion of the... shall be directly related to creating a lively atmosphere and to promoting an active street life... as important to the commercial life of any inner city, uses that do not generate lively activities...

High resolution techno-ecological modeling of a bioenergy landscape to identify climate mitigation opportunities in cellulosic ethanol production

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Meeting current biofuel mandates or creating future carbon-negative biopower systems requires feedstocks be sourced in sufficient quantities at low cost and with minimal environmental impact. Cultivating perennial grasses on low-quality lands is a promising feedstock supply strategy minimizing on-...

Child Advocacy: An Essential Part of School Leadership.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Houston, Paul D.

1997-01-01

Notes school leaders have two jobs: creating and sustaining high-quality schools, and acting as a moral compass for community action in children's behalf. Suggests that since children head no political action committees, administrators must shed their manager image and devise solutions. Introduces six special essays by Robert Coles, Marian Wright…

A Virtual Good Idea

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bolch, Matt

2009-01-01

School districts across the country have always had to do more with less. Funding goes only so far, leaving administrators and IT staff to find innovative ways to save money while maintaining a high level of academic quality. Creating virtual servers accomplishes both tasks, district technology personnel say. Virtual environments not only allow…

How does a traditional state highway department become a true department of transportation : a case study in state DOT organizational change.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2003-10-01

A transformed New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) can better organize work around results that customers consider valuable and concentrate resources on ensuring high-quality results. With the freedom to create new partnerships, NMDOT can ...

South Coast Air Quality Management District Truck Testing | Transportation

Science.gov Websites

movement of cargo containers, also known as drayage, creates substantial air pollution in the vicinity of and U.S. Hybrid Corporation, transport cargo containers between the port complex and local rail yards and distribution centers. Utilizing advanced batteries and high-efficiency components, the electric

Team Building Concepts.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Massachusetts Career Development Inst., Springfield.

This booklet is one of six texts from a workplace literacy curriculum designed to assist learners in facing the increased demands of the workplace. It briefly explains how team building concepts affect businesses in new ways and how they help create an environment that provides job satisfaction for everyone and high-quality products for the…

Survey Design Recommendations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fisher, William P., Jr.

2000-01-01

Presents 17 rules of thumb to create surveys that are likely to provide data of high enough quality to meet the requirements for measurement specified in a probabilistic conjoint measurement model. Use of these steps should allow the survey to be joined with others measuring the same variable to ensure continued equating with a single reference…

Repurposing a bacterial quality control mechanism to enhance enzyme production in living cells

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Heterologous expression of many proteins in bacteria, yeasts, and plants is often limited by low titers of functional protein. To address this problem, we have created a two-tiered directed evolution strategy in Escherichia coli that enables optimization of protein production while maintaining high ...

The Components of Good Acoustics in a High Performance School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stewart, William

2009-01-01

Acoustics has received greater importance in the learning environment in recent years. In August 2000, The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) published the study "Classroom Acoustics: A Resource for Creating Learning Environments with Desirable Listening Conditions" providing a framework for understanding the qualities, descriptors of the…

Irresistible

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Curio, Michele

2005-01-01

One of Michele Curio's favorite art lessons is creating a resist using oil pastels under black tempera paint. The process produces dramatic and creative results with a high success rate even for the most art-challenged students. The artworks have a sophisticated, painterly quality that is achieved with more control and less mess than direct…

Advanced Manufacturing Office Clean Water Processing Technologies

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

None

The DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)’s Advanced Manufacturing Office partners with industry, small business, universities, and other stakeholders to identify and invest in emerging technologies with the potential to create high-quality domestic manufacturing jobs and enhance the global competitiveness of the United States.

High-Quality Preschool: The Socioeconomic Composition of Preschool Classrooms and Children's Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reid, Jeanne L.; Ready, Douglas D.

2013-01-01

Research Findings: As policymakers expand access to preschool, the sociodemographic composition of preschool classrooms will become increasingly important. These efforts may create programs that increase the concentration of children from low-income families or, alternatively, foster the creation of socioeconomically diverse preschool classrooms.…

The Corporate Law Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mofsky, James S.

1976-01-01

On the premise that corporate counsel must be an able diagnostician before he can focus on highly specialized and interrelated issues of business law, the author suggests an approach to corporate law curriculum in which the basic course balances the quality and quantity of material designed to create the needed sensitivity. (JT)

Atom-Photon Coupling from Nitrogen-vacancy Centres Embedded in Tellurite Microspheres

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ruan, Yinlan; Gibson, Brant C.; Lau, Desmond W. M.; Greentree, Andrew D.; Ji, Hong; Ebendorff-Heidepriem, Heike; Johnson, Brett C.; Ohshima, Takeshi; Monro, Tanya M.

2015-06-01

We have developed a technique for creating high quality tellurite microspheres with embedded nanodiamonds (NDs) containing nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centres. This hybrid method allows fluorescence of the NVs in the NDs to be directly, rather than evanescently, coupled to the whispering gallery modes of the tellurite microspheres at room temperature. As a demonstration of its sensing potential, shifting of the resonance peaks is also demonstrated by coating a sphere surface with a liquid layer. This new approach is a robust way of creating cavities for use in quantum and sensing applications.

Fully Convolutional Architecture for Low-Dose CT Image Noise Reduction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Badretale, S.; Shaker, F.; Babyn, P.; Alirezaie, J.

2017-10-01

One of the critical topics in medical low-dose Computed Tomography (CT) imaging is how best to maintain image quality. As the quality of images decreases with lowering the X-ray radiation dose, improving image quality is extremely important and challenging. We have proposed a novel approach to denoise low-dose CT images. Our algorithm learns directly from an end-to-end mapping from the low-dose Computed Tomography images for denoising the normal-dose CT images. Our method is based on a deep convolutional neural network with rectified linear units. By learning various low-level to high-level features from a low-dose image the proposed algorithm is capable of creating a high-quality denoised image. We demonstrate the superiority of our technique by comparing the results with two other state-of-the-art methods in terms of the peak signal to noise ratio, root mean square error, and a structural similarity index.

The Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas: Stewarding Underway Carbon Data from Collection to Archival

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

O'Brien, K.; Smith, K. M.; Pfeil, B.; Landa, C.; Bakker, D. C. E.; Olsen, A.; Jones, S.; Shrestha, B.; Kozyr, A.; Manke, A. B.; Schweitzer, R.; Burger, E. F.

2016-02-01

The Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (SOCAT, www.socat.info) is a quality controlled, global surface ocean carbon dioxide (CO2) data set gathered on research vessels, SOOP and buoys. To the degree feasible SOCAT is comprehensive; it draws together and applies uniform QC procedures to all such observations made across the international community. The first version of SOCAT (version 1.5) was publicly released September 2011(Bakker et al., 2011) with 6.3 million observations. This was followed by the release of SOCAT version 2, expanded to over 10 million observations, in June 2013 (Bakker et al., 2013). Most recently, in September 2015 SOCAT version 3 was released containing over 14 millions observations spanning almost 60 years! The process of assembling, QC'ing and publishing V1.5 and V2 of SOCAT required an unsustainable level of manual effort. To ease the burden on data managers and data providers, the SOCAT community agreed to embark an automated data ingestion process which would create a streamlined workflow to improve data stewardship from ingestion to quality control and from publishing to archival. To that end, for version 3 and beyond, the SOCAT automation team created a framework which was based upon standards and conventions, yet at the same time allows scientists to work in the data formats they felt most comfortable with (ie, csv files). This automated workflow provides several advantages: 1) data ingestion into uniform and standards-based file formats; 2) ease of data integration into standard quality control system; 3) data ingestion and quality control can be performed in parallel; 4) provides uniform method of archiving carbon data and generation of digital object identifiers (DOI).In this presentation, we will discuss and demonstrate the SOCAT data ingestion dashboard and the quality control system. We will also discuss the standards, conventions, and tools that were leveraged to create a workflow that allows scientists to work in their own formats, yet provides a framework for creating high quality data products on an annual basis, while meeting or exceeding data requirements for access, documentation and archival.

High Quality Facade Segmentation Based on Structured Random Forest, Region Proposal Network and Rectangular Fitting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rahmani, K.; Mayer, H.

2018-05-01

In this paper we present a pipeline for high quality semantic segmentation of building facades using Structured Random Forest (SRF), Region Proposal Network (RPN) based on a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) as well as rectangular fitting optimization. Our main contribution is that we employ features created by the RPN as channels in the SRF.We empirically show that this is very effective especially for doors and windows. Our pipeline is evaluated on two datasets where we outperform current state-of-the-art methods. Additionally, we quantify the contribution of the RPN and the rectangular fitting optimization on the accuracy of the result.

Quality improvement to guide the new health system.

PubMed

Merry, M D

2001-03-01

While there are many areas, such as intensive care treatment and pain management, where great gains in quality improvement can be made, the greatest strides will come as the leaders and trustees in health care organizations begin to create "the industrial revolution" in their organizations by creating cultures of quality. Stephen Shortell recommends the following list of things board members can do to improve quality in their organizations.

Low-cost, high-density sensor network for urban emission monitoring: BEACO2N

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, J.; Shusterman, A.; Lieschke, K.; Newman, C.; Cohen, R. C.

2017-12-01

In urban environments, air quality is spatially and temporally heterogeneous as diverse emission sources create a high degree of variability even at the neighborhood scale. Conventional air quality monitoring relies on continuous measurements with limited spatial resolution or passive sampling with high-density and low temporal resolution. Either approach averages the air quality information over space or time and hinders our attempts to understand emissions, chemistry, and human exposure in the near-field of emission sources. To better capture the true spatio-temporal heterogeneity of urban conditions, we have deployed a low-cost, high-density air quality monitoring network in San Francisco Bay Area distributed at 2km horizontal spacing. The BErkeley Atmospheric CO2 Observation Network (BEACO2N) consists of approximately 50 sensor nodes, measuring CO2, CO, NO, NO2, O­3, and aerosol. Here we describe field-based calibration approaches that are consistent with the low-cost strategy of the monitoring network. Observations that allow inference of emission factors and identification of specific local emission sources will also be presented.

Wellbeing Understanding in High Quality Healthcare Informatics and Telepractice.

PubMed

Fiorini, Rodolfo A; De Giacomo, Piero; L'Abate, Luciano

2016-01-01

The proper use of healthcare informatics technology and multidimensional conceptual clarity are fundamental to create and boost outstanding clinical and telepractice results. Avoiding even terminology ambiguities is mandatory for high quality of care service. For instance, well-being or wellbeing is a different way to write the same concept only, or there is a good deal of ambiguity around the meanings of these terms the way they are written. In personal health, healthcare and healthcare informatics, this kind of ambiguity and lack of conceptual clarity has been called out repeatedly over the past 50 years. It is time to get the right, terse scenario. We present a brief review to develop and achieve ultimate wellbeing understanding for practical high quality healthcare informatics and telepractice application. This article presents an innovative point of view on deeper wellbeing understanding towards its increased clinical effective application.

Creating a culture of innovation in nursing education through shared vision, leadership, interdisciplinary partnerships, and positive deviance.

PubMed

Melnyk, Bernadette Mazurek; Davidson, Sandra

2009-01-01

Although innovation is typically viewed by healthcare and academic institutions, business leaders, entrepreneurs, and private corporations as necessary for continuous improvement, high-quality care, and scientific advancement, barriers in creating and sustaining innovative academic environments abound and require effective leadership to overcome them. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to describe the major barriers and facilitators to innovation in colleges of nursing and healthcare professions along with recommendations for creating a culture of innovation in these academic environments. In addition, key strategies for educational innovation are discussed. Innovations launched by the Arizona State University College of Nursing & Healthcare Innovation are highlighted to provide examples of how a college that established innovation as a top priority in 2005 in its strategic plan created an innovative culture that has led to several successful outcomes.

An official American thoracic society workshop report: developing performance measures from clinical practice guidelines.

PubMed

Kahn, Jeremy M; Gould, Michael K; Krishnan, Jerry A; Wilson, Kevin C; Au, David H; Cooke, Colin R; Douglas, Ivor S; Feemster, Laura C; Mularski, Richard A; Slatore, Christopher G; Wiener, Renda Soylemez

2014-05-01

Many health care performance measures are either not based on high-quality clinical evidence or not tightly linked to patient-centered outcomes, limiting their usefulness in quality improvement. In this report we summarize the proceedings of an American Thoracic Society workshop convened to address this problem by reviewing current approaches to performance measure development and creating a framework for developing high-quality performance measures by basing them directly on recommendations from well-constructed clinical practice guidelines. Workshop participants concluded that ideally performance measures addressing care processes should be linked to clinical practice guidelines that explicitly rate the quality of evidence and the strength of recommendations, such as the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) process. Under this framework, process-based performance measures would only be developed from strong recommendations based on high- or moderate-quality evidence. This approach would help ensure that clinical processes specified in performance measures are both of clear benefit to patients and supported by strong evidence. Although this approach may result in fewer performance measures, it would substantially increase the likelihood that quality-improvement programs based on these measures actually improve patient care.

QSRA: a quality-value guided de novo short read assembler.

PubMed

Bryant, Douglas W; Wong, Weng-Keen; Mockler, Todd C

2009-02-24

New rapid high-throughput sequencing technologies have sparked the creation of a new class of assembler. Since all high-throughput sequencing platforms incorporate errors in their output, short-read assemblers must be designed to account for this error while utilizing all available data. We have designed and implemented an assembler, Quality-value guided Short Read Assembler, created to take advantage of quality-value scores as a further method of dealing with error. Compared to previous published algorithms, our assembler shows significant improvements not only in speed but also in output quality. QSRA generally produced the highest genomic coverage, while being faster than VCAKE. QSRA is extremely competitive in its longest contig and N50/N80 contig lengths, producing results of similar quality to those of EDENA and VELVET. QSRA provides a step closer to the goal of de novo assembly of complex genomes, improving upon the original VCAKE algorithm by not only drastically reducing runtimes but also increasing the viability of the assembly algorithm through further error handling capabilities.

Overcoming systemic roadblocks to sustainability: The evolutionary redesign of worldviews, institutions, and technologies

PubMed Central

Beddoe, Rachael; Costanza, Robert; Farley, Joshua; Garza, Eric; Kent, Jennifer; Kubiszewski, Ida; Martinez, Luz; McCowen, Tracy; Murphy, Kathleen; Myers, Norman; Ogden, Zach; Stapleton, Kevin; Woodward, John

2009-01-01

A high and sustainable quality of life is a central goal for humanity. Our current socio-ecological regime and its set of interconnected worldviews, institutions, and technologies all support the goal of unlimited growth of material production and consumption as a proxy for quality of life. However, abundant evidence shows that, beyond a certain threshold, further material growth no longer significantly contributes to improvement in quality of life. Not only does further material growth not meet humanity's central goal, there is mounting evidence that it creates significant roadblocks to sustainability through increasing resource constraints (i.e., peak oil, water limitations) and sink constraints (i.e., climate disruption). Overcoming these roadblocks and creating a sustainable and desirable future will require an integrated, systems level redesign of our socio-ecological regime focused explicitly and directly on the goal of sustainable quality of life rather than the proxy of unlimited material growth. This transition, like all cultural transitions, will occur through an evolutionary process, but one that we, to a certain extent, can control and direct. We suggest an integrated set of worldviews, institutions, and technologies to stimulate and seed this evolutionary redesign of the current socio-ecological regime to achieve global sustainability. PMID:19240221

The role of learning and customer orientation for delivering service quality to patients.

PubMed

Bellou, Victoria

2010-01-01

This study seeks to investigate the impact that learning orientation, internal and external customer orientation have on quality of care delivered to patients. Additionally, given the differences between managerial and non-managerial employees regarding organizational value perception and focus on the needs of internal customers and patients, the study aims to examine potential variations in these relationships. The study took place in ten out of 31 public hospitals operating in the five largest districts in continental Greece. Hospitals were chosen on a random basis. Out of 800 questionnaires that were personally administered, 499 usable responses were gathered. The extent to which employees create and use knowledge and focus on satisfying the needs of both internal customers and patients is indicative of the quality of care provided. In addition, only managerial employees believe that learning orientation reinforces quality of care. The fact that employees rated quality of care delivered to patients and that most employees had extended tenure should be taken into consideration when interpreting these findings. Top management needs to create a strong and clear culture that emphasizes learning, as well as internal customer and patient orientation, and infuse them among all organizational members. Moreover, human resource management policies should be aligned to meeting or exceeding patients' requests and expectations. The paper enhances existing knowledge with regard to the antecedents of offering medical care of high quality.

Monitoring-well network and sampling design for ground-water quality, Wind River Indian Reservation, Wyoming

USGS Publications Warehouse

Mason, Jon P.; Sebree, Sonja K.; Quinn, Thomas L.

2005-01-01

The Wind River Indian Reservation, located in parts of Fremont and Hot Springs Counties, Wyoming, has a total land area of more than 3,500 square miles. Ground water on the Wind River Indian Reservation is a valuable resource for Shoshone and Northern Arapahoe tribal members and others who live on the Reservation. There are many types of land uses on the Reservation that have the potential to affect the quality of ground-water resources. Urban areas, rural housing developments, agricultural lands, landfills, oil and natural gas fields, mining, and pipeline utility corridors all have the potential to affect ground-water quality. A cooperative study was developed between the U.S. Geological Survey and the Wind River Environmental Quality Commission to identify areas of the Reservation that have the highest potential for ground-water contamination and develop a comprehensive plan to monitor these areas. An arithmetic overlay model for the Wind River Indian Reservation was created using seven geographic information system data layers representing factors with varying potential to affect ground-water quality. The data layers used were: the National Land Cover Dataset, water well density, aquifer sensitivity, oil and natural gas fields and petroleum pipelines, sites with potential contaminant sources, sites that are known to have ground-water contamination, and National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System sites. A prioritization map for monitoring ground-water quality on the Reservation was created using the model. The prioritization map ranks the priority for monitoring ground-water quality in different areas of the Reservation as low, medium, or high. To help minimize bias in selecting sites for a monitoring well network, an automated stratified random site-selection approach was used to select 30 sites for ground-water quality monitoring within the high priority areas. In addition, the study also provided a sampling design for constituents to be monitored, sampling frequency, and a simple water-table level observation well network.

An investigation of turbulence structure in a low-Reynolds-number incompressible turbulent boundary

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

White, B. R.; Strataridakis, C. J.

1987-01-01

An existing high turbulence intensity level (5%) atmospheric boundary-layer wind tunnel has been successfully converted to a relatively low level turbulence (0.3%) wind tunnel through extensive modification, testing, and calibration. A splitter plate was designed, built, and installed into the wind-tunnel facility to create thick, mature, two-dimensional turbulent boundary layer flow at zero pressure gradient. Single and cross hot-wire measurements show turbulent boundary layer characteristics of good quality with unusually large physical size, i.e., viscous sublayer of the order of 1 mm high. These confirm the potential ability of the tunnel to be utilized for future high-quality near-wall turbulent boundary layer measurements. It compares very favorably with many low turbulence research tunnels.

Incorporating educative environments into the holistic care of paediatric patients.

PubMed

Wilks, Susan E; Green, Julie B; Zazryn, Tsharni R

2012-08-01

Hospital settings can, and should, create educative spaces and learning opportunities as part of their holistic care for young patients. The purpose of this paper is to examine the evidence for creating high quality, child-centred learning environments within paediatric settings. We explore the impact of physical spaces on learning; the literature on developmental stages of learning for children and young people as it relates to learning environments; and the literature on learning in out-of-school settings, particularly as this applies to children who are separated from their daily communities. As all paediatric settings can create opportunities for the ongoing educational development of their patients, this paper presents a way forward for this approach to holistic care.

Creating speech-synchronized animation.

PubMed

King, Scott A; Parent, Richard E

2005-01-01

We present a facial model designed primarily to support animated speech. Our facial model takes facial geometry as input and transforms it into a parametric deformable model. The facial model uses a muscle-based parameterization, allowing for easier integration between speech synchrony and facial expressions. Our facial model has a highly deformable lip model that is grafted onto the input facial geometry to provide the necessary geometric complexity needed for creating lip shapes and high-quality renderings. Our facial model also includes a highly deformable tongue model that can represent the shapes the tongue undergoes during speech. We add teeth, gums, and upper palate geometry to complete the inner mouth. To decrease the processing time, we hierarchically deform the facial surface. We also present a method to animate the facial model over time to create animated speech using a model of coarticulation that blends visemes together using dominance functions. We treat visemes as a dynamic shaping of the vocal tract by describing visemes as curves instead of keyframes. We show the utility of the techniques described in this paper by implementing them in a text-to-audiovisual-speech system that creates animation of speech from unrestricted text. The facial and coarticulation models must first be interactively initialized. The system then automatically creates accurate real-time animated speech from the input text. It is capable of cheaply producing tremendous amounts of animated speech with very low resource requirements.

Clinical knowledge governance: the international perspective.

PubMed

Garde, Sebastian

2013-01-01

As a basis for semantic interoperability, ideally, a Clinical Knowledge Resource for a clinical concept should be defined formally and defined once in a way that all clinical professions and all countries can agree on. Clinical Knowledge Governance is required to create high-quality, reusable Clinical Knowledge Resources and achieve this aim. Traditionally, this is a time-consuming and cumbersome process, relying heavily on face-to-face meetings and being able to get sufficient input from clinicians. However, in a national or even international space, it is required to streamline the processes involved in creating Clinical Knowledge Resources. For this, a Web 2.0 tool that supports online collaboration of clinicians during their creation and publishing of Clinical Knowledge Resources has been developed. This tool is named the Clinical Knowledge Manager (CKM) and supports the development, review and publication of Clinical Knowledge Resources. Also, post-publication activities such as adding terminology bindings, translating the Clinical Knowledge Resource into another language and republishing it are supported. The acceptance of Clinical Knowledge Resources depends on their quality and being able to determine their quality, for example it is important to know that a broad umber of reviewers from various clinical disciplines have been involved in the development of the Clinical Knowledge Resource. We are still far from realizing the vision of a global repository of a great number of reusable, high-quality Clinical Knowledge Resources, which can provide the basis for broad semantic interoperability between systems. However progress towards this aim is being made around the world.

Management Models and Cost Analysis for Regional Special Education Programs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Connors, Eugene T.

The implementation of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (PL 94-142) has placed an enormous financial burden on local districts. In order to create special education programs that combine cost effectiveness and high quality, a regional model has been developed. The Therapeutic Residential Experience for Emotional Stability (TREES) in…

From Early Career Researcher to Research Leader: Survival of the Fittest?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Browning, Lynette; Thompson, Kirrilly; Dawson, Drew

2017-01-01

The higher education sector is a dynamic environment where universities compete on a global basis for resources, students, and high-quality staff. The impending retirement of the baby boomer generation will create increased competition for research leaders. One way to address this is to develop research leaders from existing researchers. However,…

ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY VERIFICATION: TEST REPORT OF MOBILE SOURCE EMISSION CONTROL DEVICES--PUREM NORTH AMERICA LLC, PMF GREENTEC 1004205.00.0 DIESEL PARTICULATE FILTER

EPA Science Inventory

The U.S. EPA has created the Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) program to provide high quality, peer reviewed data on technology performance to those involved in the design, distribution, financing, permitting, purchase, and use of environmental technologies. The Air Po...

Creating and Sustaining Inclusive Instructional Settings for English Language Learners: Why, What, and How

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

López, Francesca; Iribarren, Jacqueline

2014-01-01

In this article, we provide an empirically based framework for school leaders to support the replacement of separate means of providing services for English learners (ELs) with more inclusive learning supports. The framework encompasses evidence on cultivating language proficiency, ensuring access to a high-quality curriculum, and promoting…

Identifying Research Priorities for School Improvement in the Developing World

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Read, Robyn; Fernandez-Hermosilla, Magdalena; Anderson, Stephen; Mundy, Karen

2016-01-01

This paper discusses a research agenda setting project conducted for an international non-governmental organization which aims to help create a regionally relevant, high-quality knowledge base on key education issues of policy and practice. Specifically, we illustrate how our team adapted the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative (CHRNI)…

Creating an Information Literate School: Information Literacy in Action.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Batz, Linda; Rosenberg, Harlene

1999-01-01

Describes an award-winning instructional media center (IMC) at a New Jersey high school. The IMC (library) is the school's hub from 7:15 a.m. to 6 p.m., and has dial-in access. This information-literacy program emphasizes total-quality-management principles, ongoing professional development, teacher support, and information skills instruction.…

The Essential Work of Democracy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bush, George W.

2004-01-01

Nothing is more important to America's future than teaching children the skills they need to be successful. Every child must receive a quality education if America is to be a prosperous and hopeful country. The rapidly changing global economy is creating new industries that compete for highly skilled workers from around the world, and young people…

The Origins of Better Jobs Better Care

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stone, Robyn I.; Dawson, Steven L.

2008-01-01

Better Jobs Better Care was the nation's largest single initiative created to reduce the high vacancy and turnover rates of direct care workers and improve workforce quality through both policy and practice changes. In this article, we describe the important role and key characteristics of direct care workers, what motivated the unique partnership…

Bluebonnet Fiber Collages

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sterling, Joan

2009-01-01

This article presents a lesson that uses stitching and applique techniques to create a fiber collage in which every child is successful with high-quality work. This lesson was inspired by Tomie dePaola's "The Legend of the Bluebonnet." The back cover had a lovely illustration of the bluebonnet flower the author thought would translate easily to a…

Partnerships at Work: Lessons Learned from Programs and Practices of Families, Professionals and Communities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bishop, Kathleen Kirk, Ed.; Taylor, Mary Skidmore, Ed.; Arango, Polly, Ed.

Designed to celebrate family/interprofessional collaborative partnerships, this publication describes high-quality examples of how families and professionals at the family, community, state, and national levels have worked together to create programs and practices that are family-friendly and responsive to what families have said they want and…

Race, Choice and Richmond Public Schools: New Possibilities and Ongoing Challenges for Diversity in Urban Districts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Siegel-Hawley, Genevieve

2014-01-01

Several contemporary demographic trends suggest that school systems in America's central cities, typically characterized by high levels of racial and economic isolation, are being presented with new opportunities to create quality, diverse schools. Still, numerous obstacles linger. Using multiple sources of data and innovative mapping tools, this…

Creating Multiple Pathways in the Arts: A New York City Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maguire, Cindy; Mishook, Jacob; Garcia, Ivonne; de Gaillande, Genevieve

2013-01-01

Increasingly, education policy makers understand the importance of students and families having access to a range of high quality educational opportunities inside and outside of school, 365 days a year. This paper explores the concept of multiple pathways in arts education to further conceptualize and build upon such opportunities, inside and…

At Your Service

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Giltner, Terri

2012-01-01

As the number of two- and four-year college options available to community members grows, so too does the competition among institutions of higher education to land new students. Expectations are high. Today's students want more than a quality education. They also want a college with a service culture--one that works with them to create an…

Rethinking Customer Service Training: A Curricular Solution to a Familiar Problem

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Epps, Sharon K.; Kidd, Judith; Negro, Toni; Sayles, Sheridan L.

2016-01-01

High-quality customer service is an important aim of the library experience. Its importance is evidenced by attention given to the topic in scholarly literature and academic conference proceedings. This article describes the challenging process of creating and delivering a blended customer service training curriculum to all library staff working…

Effective Communication and Creating Professional Learning Communities Is a Valuable Practice for Superintendents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hilliard, Ann Toler; Newsome, Edward, Jr.

2013-01-01

As the chief executive officer, the superintendent must demonstrate high quality performance at every level in order to impact student achievement. In order to be an effective superintendent, the individual must have knowledge and skills in educational leadership and be able to articulate information clearly and precisely about the school…

"Service Wars": The Race To Be the Best in Product Service.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Knox, Robert J.; Lorenzo, Albert L.

To meet the price and quality challenges of foreign manufacturers, U.S. industry has had to invest heavily in technology, incorporating it extensively into both the manufacturing process and product. This trend, termed the "New Industrial Revolution" has created a new challenge--educating technicians to service these highly technical,…

Automatic System for Producing and Distributing Lecture Recordings and Livestreams Using Opencast Matterhorn

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jonach, Rafael; Ebner, Martin; Grigoriadis, Ypatios

2015-01-01

Lectures of courses at universities are increasingly being recorded and offered through various distribution channels to support students' learning activities. This research work aims to create an automatic system for producing and distributing high quality lecture recordings. Opencast Matterhorn is an open source platform for automated video…

Toyota/Skyline Technical Education Network. Cooperative Demonstration Program. Final Performance Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Skyline Coll., San Bruno, CA.

A joint project was conducted between Toyota Motor Sales and Skyline College (in the San Francisco, California, area) to create an automotive technician training program that would serve the needs of working adults. During the project, a model high technology curriculum suitable for adults was developed, the quality of instruction available for…

Software Innovations: The Influence of Quality, Diversity and Structure of Network Ties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Singh, Harpeet

2010-01-01

There is high uncertainty associated with the outcomes of Information Technology (IT) investments and innovations. In such environments, IT actors (firm and individuals) are also unsure about their actions and preferences. The social relationships of these actors create substantial value for these actors in multiple ways (e.g. providing social…

Introducing Online Training in an Early Childhood Professional Development System: Lessons Learned in One State

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stone-MacDonald, Angi; Douglass, Anne

2015-01-01

Online educational opportunities provide improved access to high quality professional development for the early education and care workforce. Online and technology mediated learning can create sustainable education and development opportunities for states when face-to-face training is financially prohibitive. This study examined one state's…

Sustainability and the University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clough, G. Wayne; Chameau, Jean-Lou; Carmichael, Carol

2006-01-01

In this article, the authors state that one of the major challenges facing the human race is charting a course for the future that allows economic growth while protecting the fragile planet. The authors discuss the role that higher education must play to help create a vibrant economy and high quality of life, while sustaining natural resources.…

Creating Tech Programs Industry Wants

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Demski, Jennifer

2012-01-01

Community colleges serve on the front line of workforce development. With their focus on applied science associate degrees and technical certificate programs, they provide students with a high-quality, low-cost education that prepares them for careers in one to two years. And for students who can't take time away from their family or work to…

A Peer Assessment System to Improve Student Team Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anson, Robert; Goodman, James A.

2014-01-01

Groups are frequently used in courses, but there is substantial evidence that insufficient attention is paid to creating conditions for successful teamwork. One key condition is high-quality, individual, and team-level feedback. An online peer assessment system and team improvement process was developed for this test case based on three design…

Deletion mutagenesis identifies a haploinsufficient role for gamma-zein in opaque-2 endosperm modification

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Quality Protein Maize (QPM) is a hard kernel variant of the high-lysine mutant, opaque-2. Using gamma irradiation, we created opaque QPM variants to identify opaque-2 modifier genes and to investigate deletion mutagenesis combined with Illumina sequencing as a maize functional genomics tool. A K0326...

Food and Drug Administration: Helping pharmacists ensure that patients receive high-quality medicines.

PubMed

Kremzner, Mary

2016-01-01

Ensuring that the drugs patients take are safe and effective is critical to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) mission and a major reason for testing an active pharmaceutical ingredient or currently marketed drug product. To address gaps in the assessment of drug quality, FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) has created the Office of Pharmaceutical Quality (OPQ). This newly formed "super-office" within CDER launched a concerted new strategy that enhances the surveillance of drug manufacturing and will bring a comprehensive approach to quality oversight. With OPQ and these new performance measures in place, FDA can sharpen its focus on issues critical to quality and can identify and respond to manufacturing issues before they become major systemic problems. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Using social media for knowledge translation, promotion of evidence-based medicine and high-quality information on health.

PubMed

Puljak, Livia

2016-02-02

Knowledge translation activities may be targeted towards all participants in healthcare practices, including patients, consumers, and policy makers. Hereby, use of social media, namely social network Facebook, as a tool for knowledge translation, promotion of evidence-based medicine and high-quality information on health is described. In March 2013, a Facebook page of the Croatian Cochrane Branch was created and its main content are translated plain language summaries (PLS) of the systematic reviews produced by The Cochrane Collaboration. Since the page was created it has gained 1441 followers, mostly from Croatia and neighboring countries with similar language. Most of the page followers are women aged 25 to 44 and the most popular content is related to pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding. Page followers are lay persons, health professionals and journalists, who further disseminate the page content. In summary, social media enables multiple possibilities to engage with target audience and to disseminate the evidence-based medicine content. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Mindtagger: A Demonstration of Data Labeling in Knowledge Base Construction.

PubMed

Shin, Jaeho; Ré, Christopher; Cafarella, Michael

2015-08-01

End-to-end knowledge base construction systems using statistical inference are enabling more people to automatically extract high-quality domain-specific information from unstructured data. As a result of deploying DeepDive framework across several domains, we found new challenges in debugging and improving such end-to-end systems to construct high-quality knowledge bases. DeepDive has an iterative development cycle in which users improve the data. To help our users, we needed to develop principles for analyzing the system's error as well as provide tooling for inspecting and labeling various data products of the system. We created guidelines for error analysis modeled after our colleagues' best practices, in which data labeling plays a critical role in every step of the analysis. To enable more productive and systematic data labeling, we created Mindtagger, a versatile tool that can be configured to support a wide range of tasks. In this demonstration, we show in detail what data labeling tasks are modeled in our error analysis guidelines and how each of them is performed using Mindtagger.

[cDNA library construction from panicle meristem of finger millet].

PubMed

Radchuk, V; Pirko, Ia V; Isaenkov, S V; Emets, A I; Blium, Ia B

2014-01-01

The protocol for production of full-size cDNA using SuperScript Full-Length cDNA Library Construction Kit II (Invitrogen) was tested and high quality cDNA library from meristematic tissue of finger millet panicle (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn) was created. The titer of obtained cDNA library comprised 3.01 x 10(5) CFU/ml in avarage. In average the length of cDNA insertion consisted about 1070 base pairs, the effectivity of cDNA fragment insertions--99.5%. The selective sequencing of cDNA clones from created library was performed. The sequences of cDNA clones were identified with usage of BLAST-search. The results of cDNA library analysis and selective sequencing represents prove good functionality and full length character of inserted cDNA clones. Obtained cDNA library from meristematic tissue of finger millet panicle represents good and valuable source for isolation and identification of key genes regulating metabolism and meristematic development and for mining of new molecular markers to conduct out high quality genetic investigations and molecular breeding as well.

High speed micromachining with high power UV laser

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patel, Rajesh S.; Bovatsek, James M.

2013-03-01

Increasing demand for creating fine features with high accuracy in manufacturing of electronic mobile devices has fueled growth for lasers in manufacturing. High power, high repetition rate ultraviolet (UV) lasers provide an opportunity to implement a cost effective high quality, high throughput micromachining process in a 24/7 manufacturing environment. The energy available per pulse and the pulse repetition frequency (PRF) of diode pumped solid state (DPSS) nanosecond UV lasers have increased steadily over the years. Efficient use of the available energy from a laser is important to generate accurate fine features at a high speed with high quality. To achieve maximum material removal and minimal thermal damage for any laser micromachining application, use of the optimal process parameters including energy density or fluence (J/cm2), pulse width, and repetition rate is important. In this study we present a new high power, high PRF QuasarR 355-40 laser from Spectra-Physics with TimeShiftTM technology for unique software adjustable pulse width, pulse splitting, and pulse shaping capabilities. The benefits of these features for micromachining include improved throughput and quality. Specific example and results of silicon scribing are described to demonstrate the processing benefits of the Quasar's available power, PRF, and TimeShift technology.

Access to What? Creating a Composite Measure of Educational Quantity and Educational Quality for 11 African Countries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spaull, Nicholas; Taylor, Stephen

2015-01-01

The aim of the current study is to create a composite statistic of educational quantity and educational quality by combining household data (Demographic and Health Survey) on grade completion and survey data (Southern and Eastern African Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality) on cognitive outcomes for 11 African countries: Kenya, Lesotho,…

Emerging technology: A key enabler for modernizing pharmaceutical manufacturing and advancing product quality.

PubMed

O'Connor, Thomas F; Yu, Lawrence X; Lee, Sau L

2016-07-25

Issues in product quality have produced recalls and caused drug shortages in United States (U.S.) in the past few years. These quality issues were often due to outdated manufacturing technologies and equipment as well as lack of an effective quality management system. To ensure consistent supply of safe, effective and high-quality drug products available to the patients, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) supports modernizing pharmaceutical manufacturing for improvements in product quality. Specifically, five new initiatives are proposed here to achieve this goal. They include: (i) advancing regulatory science for pharmaceutical manufacturing; (ii) establishing a public-private institute for pharmaceutical manufacturing innovation; (iii) creating incentives for investment in the technological upgrade of manufacturing processes and facilities; (iv) leveraging external expertise for regulatory quality assessment of emerging technologies; and (v) promoting the international harmonization of approaches for expediting the global adoption of emerging technologies. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Monitoring Coral Growth - the Dichotomy Between Underwater Photogrammetry and Geodetic Control Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neyer, F.; Nocerino, E.; Gruen, A.

2018-05-01

Creating 3-dimensional (3D) models of underwater scenes has become a common approach for monitoring coral reef changes and its structural complexity. Also in underwater archeology, 3D models are often created using underwater optical imagery. In this paper, we focus on the aspect of detecting small changes in the coral reef using a multi-temporal photogrammetric modelling approach, which requires a high quality control network. We show that the quality of a good geodetic network limits the direct change detection, i.e., without any further registration process. As the photogrammetric accuracy is expected to exceed the geodetic network accuracy by at least one order of magnitude, we suggest to do a fine registration based on a number of signalized points. This work is part of the Moorea Island Digital Ecosystem Avatar (IDEA) project that has been initiated in 2013 by a group of international researchers (https://mooreaidea.ethz.ch/).

Supporting openEHR Java desktop application developers.

PubMed

Kashfi, Hajar; Torgersson, Olof

2011-01-01

The openEHR community suggests that an appropriate approach for creating a graphical user interface for an openEHR-based application is to generate forms from the underlying archetypes and templates. However, current generation techniques are not mature enough to be able to produce high quality interfaces with good usability. Therefore, developing efficient ways to combine manually designed and developed interfaces to openEHR backends is an interesting alternative. In this study, a framework for binding a pre-designed graphical user interface to an openEHR-based backend is proposed. The proposed framework contributes to the set of options available for developers. In particular we believe that the approach of combining user interface components with an openEHR backend in the proposed way might be useful in situations where the quality of the user interface is essential and for creating small scale and experimental systems.

International educational partnerships for doctors in training: a collaborative framework with the RCP.

PubMed

Thomson, George A; Foster, Matthew; Sheriff, Rezvi; Mendis, Lalitha; Fernando, Devaka J S; Blundell, Caroline; Worrall, Jeffrey; Black, Carol

2005-01-01

The UK offers excellent postgraduate medical education, and overseas doctors in training often covet a period of training in the UK. Some overseas training authorities make UK training mandatory prior to appointment as a consultant. Unfortunately, the organisation of such training often proves to be ad hoc, and may lack educational value. UK training faces challenges as a result of reduced hours of work, more structured and intensive educational needs, and pressures of increasing clinical demand. A plethora of new 'trust' posts have developed, often with limited educational value, creating a risk that training quality for overseas doctors is reduced. Against this background, such posts can be used to create international training partnerships such as that at Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Trust (SFHT), providing high-quality general and specialty training. Given the success of this strategy, it would be desirable for other UK trusts to provide similar schemes offering specialties not covered at SFHT.

[Incorporation of Information and Communication Technologies and quality of primary healthcare in Brazil].

PubMed

Santos, Alaneir de Fátima Dos; Fonseca, Délcio; Araujo, Lucas Lobato; Procópio, Cristiane da Silva Diniz; Lopes, Érica Araújo Silva; Lima, Angela Maria de Lourdes Dayrell de; Reis, Clarice Magalhães Rodrigues Dos; Abreu, Daisy Maria Xavier de; Jorge, Alzira Oliveira; Matta-Machado, Antonio Thomaz

2017-06-05

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are means to handle information, streamline communication, and contribute to patient care. This article describes the incorporation of Information and Communication Technologies in primary care and its association with quality, based on the Brazilian National Program for the Improvement of Access and Quality in Primary Care (PMAQ in portuguese). This was a cross-sectional study with 17,053 teams. An Index of Incorporation of ICTs was created, which included: information infrastructure, systems, and utilization. Regression analysis was used to assess associations. Only 13.5% of the teams had a high degree of ICTs. The strongest association was seen in the utilization of information. ICTs can contribute to improving quality of primary care.

Quality of Care Measures for the Management of Unhealthy Alcohol Use

PubMed Central

Hepner, Kimberly A.; Watkins, Katherine E.; Farmer, Carrie M.; Rubenstein, Lisa; Pedersen, Eric R.; Pincus, Harold Alan

2017-01-01

There is a paucity of quality measures to assess the care for the range of unhealthy alcohol use, ranging from risky drinking to alcohol use disorders. Using a two-phase expert panel review process, we sought to develop an expanded set of quality of care measures for unhealthy alcohol use, focusing on outpatient care delivered in both primary care and specialty care settings. This process generated 25 candidate measures. Eight measures address screening and assessment, 11 address aspects of treatment, and six address follow-up. These quality measures represent high priority targets for future development, including creating detailed technical specifications and pilot testing them to evaluate their utility in terms of feasibility, reliability, and validity. PMID:28340902

Atom–Photon Coupling from Nitrogen-vacancy Centres Embedded in Tellurite Microspheres

PubMed Central

Ruan, Yinlan; Gibson, Brant C.; Lau, Desmond W. M.; Greentree, Andrew D.; Ji, Hong; Ebendorff-Heidepriem, Heike; Johnson, Brett C.; Ohshima, Takeshi; Monro, Tanya M.

2015-01-01

We have developed a technique for creating high quality tellurite microspheres with embedded nanodiamonds (NDs) containing nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centres. This hybrid method allows fluorescence of the NVs in the NDs to be directly, rather than evanescently, coupled to the whispering gallery modes of the tellurite microspheres at room temperature. As a demonstration of its sensing potential, shifting of the resonance peaks is also demonstrated by coating a sphere surface with a liquid layer. This new approach is a robust way of creating cavities for use in quantum and sensing applications. PMID:26095793

Creating and Implementing Practices That Promote and Support Quality Student Affairs Professionals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tyrell, Steve

2014-01-01

In this chapter, the author draws on this volume's chapters to identify prominent issues and challenges facing student affairs professionals. Suggestions for practice are provided that support the work of professionals to create quality educational environments.

Cardiac surgeons and the quality movement: the Michigan experience.

PubMed

Prager, Richard L; Armenti, Frederick R; Bassett, Joseph S; Bell, Gail F; Drake, Daniel; Hanson, Eric C; Heiser, John C; Johnson, Scott H; Plasman, F B; Shannon, Francis L; Share, David; Theurer, Patty; Williams, Jaelene

2009-01-01

The Michigan Society of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons created a voluntary quality collaborative with all the cardiac surgeons in the state and all hospitals doing adult cardiac surgery. Utilizing this collaborative over the last 3 years and creating a unique relationship with a payor, an approach to processes and outcomes has produced improvements in the quality of care for cardiac patients in the state of Michigan.

Joining forces: collaborating internationally to deliver high-quality, online postgraduate education in pain management.

PubMed

Devonshire, Elizabeth; Siddall, Philip

2011-01-01

The effective management of pain is a complex and costly global issue, requiring a range of innovative educational strategies to enable culturally appropriate and high-quality health care provision. In response to this issue, the Pain Management Research Institute at the University of Sydney (Sydney, Australia) has established several strategic alliances with other overseas universities to deliver online postgraduate education in pain management. The present article discusses the rationale for joining forces, and the approach adopted in creating and maintaining these alliances. It also provides insights into the benefits, challenges and opportunities associated with collaborative educational initiatives of this nature, from institutional, academic and student perspectives.

Joining forces: Collaborating internationally to deliver high-quality, online postgraduate education in pain management

PubMed Central

Devonshire, Elizabeth; Siddall, Philip J

2011-01-01

The effective management of pain is a complex and costly global issue, requiring a range of innovative educational strategies to enable culturally appropriate and high-quality health care provision. In response to this issue, the Pain Management Research Institute at the University of Sydney (Sydney, Australia) has established several strategic alliances with other overseas universities to deliver online postgraduate education in pain management. The present article discusses the rationale for joining forces, and the approach adopted in creating and maintaining these alliances. It also provides insights into the benefits, challenges and opportunities associated with collaborative educational initiatives of this nature, from institutional, academic and student perspectives. PMID:22184549

Prototyping of Dental Structures Using Laser Milling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andreev, A. O.; Kosenko, M. S.; Petrovskiy, V. N.; Mironov, V. D.

2016-02-01

The results of experimental studies of the effect of an ytterbium fiber laser radiation parameters on processing efficiency and quality of ZrO2 ceramics widely used in stomatology are presented. Laser operating conditions with optimum characteristics for obtaining high quality final surfaces and rapid material removal of dental structures are determined. The ability of forming thin-walled ceramic structures by laser milling technology (a minimum wall thickness of 50 μm) is demonstrated. The examples of three-dimensional dental structures created in computer 3D-models of human teeth using laser milling are shown.

Integrating High-Reliability Principles to Transform Access and Throughput by Creating a Centralized Operations Center.

PubMed

Davenport, Paul B; Carter, Kimberly F; Echternach, Jeffrey M; Tuck, Christopher R

2018-02-01

High-reliability organizations (HROs) demonstrate unique and consistent characteristics, including operational sensitivity and control, situational awareness, hyperacute use of technology and data, and actionable process transformation. System complexity and reliance on information-based processes challenge healthcare organizations to replicate HRO processes. This article describes a healthcare organization's 3-year journey to achieve key HRO features to deliver high-quality, patient-centric care via an operations center powered by the principles of high-reliability data and software to impact patient throughput and flow.

Hospital-wide education committees and high-quality residency training : A qualitative study.

PubMed

Silkens, Milou E W M; Slootweg, Irene A; Scherpbier, Albert J J A; Heineman, Maas Jan; Lombarts, Kiki M J M H

2017-12-01

High-quality residency training is of utmost importance for residents to become competent medical specialists. Hospital-wide education committees have been adopted by several healthcare systems to govern postgraduate medical education and to support continuous quality improvement of residency training. To understand the functioning and potential of such committees, this study examined the mechanisms through which hospital-wide education committees strive to enable continuous quality improvement in residency training. Focus group studies with a constructivist grounded theory approach were performed between April 2015 and August 2016. A purposeful sample of hospital-wide education committees led to seven focus groups. Hospital-wide education committees strived to enable continuous quality improvement of residency training by the following mechanisms: creating an organization-wide quality culture, an organization-wide quality structure and by collaborating with external stakeholders. However, the committees were first and foremost eager to claim a strategic position within the organization they represent. All identified mechanisms were interdependent and ongoing. From a governance perspective, the position of hospital-wide education committees in the Netherlands is uniquely contributing to the call for institutional accountability for the quality of residency training. When implementing hospital-wide education committees, shared responsibility of the committees and the departments that actually provide residency training should be addressed. Although committees vary in the strategies they use to impact continuous quality improvement of residency training, they increasingly have the ability to undertake supporting actions and are working step by step to contribute to high-quality postgraduate medical education.

The Risk of Bias in Randomized Trials in General Dentistry Journals.

PubMed

Hinton, Stephanie; Beyari, Mohammed M; Madden, Kim; Lamfon, Hanadi A

2015-01-01

The use of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) research design is considered the gold standard for conducting evidence-based clinical research. In this present study, we aimed to assess the quality of RCTs in dentistry and create a general foundation for evidence-based dentistry on which to perform subsequent RCTs. We conducted a systematic assessment of bias of RCTs in seven general dentistry journals published between January 2011 and March 2012. We extracted study characteristics in duplicate and assessed each trial's quality using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool. We compared risk of bias across studies graphically. Among 1,755 studies across seven journals, we identified 67 RCTs. Many included studies were conducted in Europe (39%), with an average sample size of 358 participants. These studies included 52% female participants and the maximum follow-up period was 13 years. Overall, we found a high percentage of unclear risk of bias among included RCTs, indicating poor quality of reporting within the included studies. An overall high proportion of trials with an "unclear risk of bias" suggests the need for better quality of reporting in dentistry. As such, key concepts in dental research and future trials should focus on high-quality reporting.

[Polish adaptation and validation of Health-Related Quality of Life in Childhood Epilepsy Questionnaire].

PubMed

Mathiak, Krystyna A; Karzel, Katarzyna; Mathiak, Klaus; Ostaszewski, Paweł; Luba, Małgorzata; Wolańczyk, Tomasz

2007-01-01

Epilepsy is a frequent chronic disease in children, having a strong impact on a child's psychosocial functioning. Effective therapy must take into account the wide range of physical, psychological and social needs of patients. The importance of assessing patients' quality of life is becoming increasingly acknowledged. In addition to providing better health care, it may reveal how the disease and its psychosocial outcome interact. Quality of life in epilepsy can be assessed most reliably by disease-specific measures. Health-Related Quality of Life in Childhood Epilepsy (QOLCE) is an English parental questionnaire for children aged between 4 and 18 years. It contains 87 questions that fall into five domains: physical function, emotional well-being, cognitive function, social function and behavioural function. The original scale has a well-grounded theoretical background and good psychometric properties. The aim of the study was to create a Polish version of QOLCE and evaluate its psychometric properties. Parents of 87 patients suffering from epilepsy were recruited in neurological clinics in the Warsaw area. Reliability was very high (Cronbach's alpha = 0.97). The construct validity was confirmed by the correlation between subscales of QOLCE and the Child Behaviour Checklist, as well as selected clinical measures of child's health (duration of disease: r=-0.22, p=0.02; duration of treatment: r=-0.20, p=0.04; number of hospitalizations: r=-0.24, p=0.02). All the psychometric properties were similar to those of the original scale. A Polish scale examining the quality of life was created that takes into account a wide range of psychosocial problems. We confirmed very high reliability and good validity, and thus we recommend the inventory for both research on and clinical diagnostics of Polish children with epilepsy.

Patient mobility and health care quality when regions and patients differ in income.

PubMed

Brekke, Kurt R; Levaggi, Rosella; Siciliani, Luigi; Straume, Odd Rune

2016-12-01

We study the effects of cross-border patient mobility on health care quality and welfare when income varies across and within regions. We use a Salop model with a high-, middle-, and low-income region. In each region, a policy maker chooses health care quality to maximise the utility of its residents when health care costs are financed by general income taxation. In equilibrium, regions with higher income offer better quality, which creates an incentive for patient mobility from lower- to higher-income regions. Assuming a prospective payment scheme based on DRG-pricing, we find that lower non-monetary (administrative) mobility costs have (i) no effect on quality or welfare in the high-income region; (ii) a negative effect on quality but a positive effect on welfare for the middle-income region; and (iii) ambiguous effects on quality and welfare for the low-income region. Lower monetary mobility costs (copayments) might reduce welfare in both the middle- and low-income region. Thus, health policies that stimulate cross-border patient mobility can be counterproductive when regions differ in income. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Nanotechnology at the European Patent Office: the photonics perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Verbandt, Y.; Scheu, M.; Trepp, E.; Förster, W.

2006-04-01

The European Patent Office has created a nanotechnology initiative in order to continue to ensure the granting of high-quality patents while coping with the increasing workload and with the multidisciplinarity of the inventions in this area of technology. The classification work in the field of nanotechnology is outlined with special emphasis on the sub-discipline of nanophotonics.

National Board Certification: The Impact on Teaching Practices of Three Elementary Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hall, Amy W.

2012-01-01

During the past century the educational reform movements focused on the need for highly qualified teachers based on research surrounding the effects on student achievement related to the quality of the teacher (Busatto, 2004). The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) was created in 1987 in response to the increasing focus…

Holding the Line: A Slow Movement towards a Critical Professional Development for Community Educators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Neill, Jerry; Cullinane, Susan

2017-01-01

Professional development is a fundamental, if sometimes, overlooked aspect of nurturing high quality adult education. Creating genuine and engaging spaces for such development presents a number of challenges for organisers in any one of Ireland's sixteen Education and Training Board's community education services who work with a tutor body that…

Theory and Practice: How Filming "Learning in the Real World" Helps Students Make the Connection

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Commander, Nannette Evans; Ward, Teresa E.; Zabrucky, Karen M.

2012-01-01

This article describes an assignment, titled "Learning in the Real World," designed for graduate students in a learning theory course. Students work in small groups to create high quality audio-visual films that present "real learning" through interviews and/or observations of learners. Students select topics relevant to theories we are discussing…

A Case Study of Leadership Development in Action: The UJIA Ashdown Fellowship 2000-2007

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Winston, Lira

2009-01-01

Purpose: The United Jewish Israel Appeal Ashdown Fellowship was launched in 2000 with the aim of creating high quality leadership for educational organisations in the British Jewish community. It sought to develop talented and committed people who demonstrated leadership potential. The purpose of this paper is to record the narrative of the…

Preferred features of urban parks and forests

Treesearch

Herbert W. Schroeder

1982-01-01

To make the most efficient use of scarce recreation resources, urban forest managers need to know what features of recreation sites are the most important for creating high-quality recreation environments. In this study, observers viewed photographs of urban forest sites in the Chicago area and described the features of the sites that they liked and disliked. Natural...

The evolution of the natural killer complex; a comparison between mammals using new high-quality genome assemblies and targeted annotation

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Natural killer (NK) cells are a diverse population of lymphocytes with a range of biological roles including essential immune functions. NK cell diversity is created by the differential expression of cell surface receptors which modulate activation and function, including multiple subfamilies of C-t...

AP Powerhouse Creates High Expectations for Dallas Students: Spreading the AP Challenge to Students and Teachers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nelson, Colleen McCain

2001-01-01

Describes how veteran teacher Joan Vinson has made Advanced Placement (AP) a "cool thing to do" for minority students. With the help of private funding and a Texas-size enthusiasm, she is also convincing more teachers to take on the AP challenge, with a focus on quality over quantity. (EV)

The Traits of Effective Spanish Writing = Las caracteristicas de la buena escritura en espanol. Second Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flores, Will A.; Arrasmith, Dean G.

This English-Spanish language report includes the rationale for creating an assessment model for Spanish writing, offering an overview of the components of high quality assessment for any subject area, particularly Spanish writing. It presents the characteristics of effective Spanish writing, rubrics for scoring student performance based on the…

Institutional Effectiveness as Process and Practice in the American Community College

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Manning, Terri Mulkins

2011-01-01

The six regional accrediting agencies in the United States have created a set of standards based on best practices in colleges and universities. The evolving perception of an effective institution is one that uses data, assessment, and evaluation results to improve programs and services and strives for a high level of institutional quality. While…

Automatic Domain Adaptation of Word Sense Disambiguation Based on Sublanguage Semantic Schemata Applied to Clinical Narrative

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Patterson, Olga

2012-01-01

Domain adaptation of natural language processing systems is challenging because it requires human expertise. While manual effort is effective in creating a high quality knowledge base, it is expensive and time consuming. Clinical text adds another layer of complexity to the task due to privacy and confidentiality restrictions that hinder the…

Delivery and Evaluation of Synchronous Online Reading Tutoring to Students At-Risk of Reading Failure

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vasquez, Eleazar, III; Forbush, David E.; Mason, Lee L.; Lockwood, April R.; Gleed, Linsey

2011-01-01

In a technological society, demands for higher literacy are ever increasing, creating grievous consequences for those who fail to meet these demands (National Research Council, 1998). Both legislative mandates, such as NCLB, and developments in the provision of reading instruction, such as RtI, have increased the demand for high quality tutoring…

Experts in the Classroom: Fellows Program Connects Teacher Learning to Student Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pett, Kate; Strahan, David; Gates, Carlye

2014-01-01

This article provides snapshots of teacher leadership in action as one result of the Asheville (N.C.) City Schools Foundation Innovation Fellows program, an approach to providing high quality professional learning for the district's best teachers. With start-up funding from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, this program was created to retain great…

Keeping it clean: Creating and maintaining high quality fish data for the U.S. EPA National Rivers and Streams Assessment

EPA Science Inventory

One primary biological indicator of condition used in the National Rivers and Streams Assessment (NRSA) is the fish assemblage. Data for the 2008-2009 assessment were collected on field forms from over 2100 sites. After field forms were scanned into the NRSA database, we develope...

Validation of the Early Childhood Ecology Scale-Revised: A Reflective Tool for Teacher Candidates

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flores, Belinda Bustos; Casebeer, Cindy M.; Riojas-Cortez, Mari

2011-01-01

Given increasing numbers of young culturally and/or linguistically diverse (CLD) children across the United States, it is crucial to prepare early childhood teachers to create high-quality environments that facilitate the development of all children. The Early Childhood Ecology Scale-Revised (ECES-R) has been developed as a reflective tool to help…

Teaching Macroeconomics to the Visually Impaired: New Tactile Methods, Verbal Precision, and Small Groups

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Naples, Michele I.

2017-01-01

Visually-impaired students require tailored pedagogies to ensure their instruction is as high quality as for sighted students. They follow board work during class by referring to typed class notes provided ahead of time via a Braille reader, and in-class small groups solving problems create an inclusive "esprit de corps" and promote…

Doing It for Themselves: Students Creating a High Quality Peer-Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Galloway, Kyle W.; Burns, Simon

2015-01-01

To support our students during their study and exam preparation we have developed a novel synoptic revision exercise using the online PeerWise system. Academic staff involvement was passive after introducing the assignment to the cohort via scaffolding activities, thus generating an entirely student-led peer-learning environment for the task.…

Eat, Drink, Play, Discover: Engaging the Imagination through the Senses to Discover Spanish-Speaking Cultures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lindner, Blue

2010-01-01

At Sonrisas Spanish School, educators are interested in finding ways to teach children in the way children actually learn. Their mission is to create high quality, standards-based Spanish classes and curriculum materials that are both effective for teachers and also provide a positive foreign language learning experience for students. They value…

Creating Better School-Age Care Jobs: Model Work Standards.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haack, Peggy

Built on the premise that good school-age care jobs are the cornerstone of high-quality services for school-age youth and their families, this guide presents model work standards for school-age care providers. The guide begins with a description of the strengths and challenges of the school-age care profession. The model work standards are…

ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY VERIFICATION--TEST REPORT OF MOBILE SOURCE EMISSION CONTROL DEVICES, CUMMINS EMISSION SOLUTIONS AND CUMMINS FILTRATION DIESEL OXIDATION CATALYST AND CLOSED CRANKCASE VENTILATION SYSTEM

EPA Science Inventory

The U.S. EPA has created the Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) Program. ETV seeks to provide high-quality, peer-reviewed data on technology performance. The Air Pollution Control Technology (APCT) Verification Center, a center under the ETV Program, is operated by Res...

Teacherpreneurs: Cultivating and Scaling up a Bold Brand of Teacher Leadership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berry, Barnett

2015-01-01

The prospects for a high-quality public education system for all students hinge on expanded roles for teachers. In particular, districts and states must create hybrid positions for teacherpreneurs: classroom experts who teach students regularly but also have time, space, and reward to spread their ideas and practices to colleagues as well as…

Geoinformatics 2007: data to knowledge

USGS Publications Warehouse

Brady, Shailaja R.; Sinha, A. Krishna; Gundersen, Linda C.

2007-01-01

Geoinformatics is the term used to describe a variety of efforts to promote collaboration between the computer sciences and the geosciences to solve complex scientific questions. It refers to the distributed, integrated digital information system and working environment that provides innovative means for the study of the Earth systems, as well as other planets, through use of advanced information technologies. Geoinformatics activities range from major research and development efforts creating new technologies to provide high-quality, sustained production-level services for data discovery, integration and analysis, to small, discipline-specific efforts that develop earth science data collections and data analysis tools serving the needs of individual communities. The ultimate vision of Geoinformatics is a highly interconnected data system populated with high quality, freely available data, as well as, a robust set of software for analysis, visualization, and modeling.

A Microfluidic Immunostaining System Enables Quality Assured and Standardized Immunohistochemical Biomarker Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kwon, Seyong; Cho, Chang Hyun; Kwon, Youngmee; Lee, Eun Sook; Park, Je-Kyun

2017-04-01

Immunohistochemistry (IHC) plays an important role in biomarker-driven cancer therapy. Although there has been a high demand for standardized and quality assured IHC, it has rarely been achieved due to the complexity of IHC testing and the subjective validation-based process flow of IHC quality control. We present here a microfluidic immunostaining system for the standardization of IHC by creating a microfluidic linearly graded antibody (Ab)-staining device and a reference cell microarray. Unlike conventional efforts, our system deals primarily with the screening of biomarker staining conditions for quantitative quality assurance testing in IHC. We characterized the microfluidic matching of Ab staining intensity using three HER2 Abs produced by different manufacturers. The quality of HER2 Ab was also validated using tissues of breast cancer patients, demonstrating that our system is an efficient and powerful tool for the standardization and quality assurance of IHC.

Image resolution enhancement via image restoration using neural network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Shuangteng; Lu, Yihong

2011-04-01

Image super-resolution aims to obtain a high-quality image at a resolution that is higher than that of the original coarse one. This paper presents a new neural network-based method for image super-resolution. In this technique, the super-resolution is considered as an inverse problem. An observation model that closely follows the physical image acquisition process is established to solve the problem. Based on this model, a cost function is created and minimized by a Hopfield neural network to produce high-resolution images from the corresponding low-resolution ones. Not like some other single frame super-resolution techniques, this technique takes into consideration point spread function blurring as well as additive noise and therefore generates high-resolution images with more preserved or restored image details. Experimental results demonstrate that the high-resolution images obtained by this technique have a very high quality in terms of PSNR and visually look more pleasant.

Quality and safety in pediatric anesthesia: how can guidelines, checklists, and initiatives improve the outcome?

PubMed

Hagerman, Nancy S; Varughese, Anna M; Kurth, C Dean

2014-06-01

Cognitive aids are tangible or intangible instruments that guide users in decision-making and in the completion of a complex series of tasks. Common examples include mnemonics, checklists, and algorithms. Cognitive aids constitute very effective approaches to achieve well tolerated, high quality healthcare because they promote highly reliable processes that reduce the likelihood of failure. This review describes recent advances in quality improvement for pediatric anesthesiology with emphasis on application of cognitive aids to impact patient safety and outcomes. Quality improvement encourages the examination of systems to create stable processes and ultimately high-value care. Quality improvement initiatives in pediatric anesthesiology have been shown to improve outcomes and the delivery of efficient and effective care at many institutions. The use of checklists, in particular, improves adherence to evidence-based care in crisis situations, decreases catheter-associated bloodstream infections, reduces blood product utilization, and improves communication during the patient handoff process. Use of this simple tool has been associated with decreased morbidity, fewer medical errors, improved provider satisfaction, and decreased mortality in nonanesthesia disciplines as well. Successful quality improvement initiatives utilize cognitive aids such as checklists and have been shown to optimize pediatric patient experience and anesthesia outcomes and reduce perioperative complications.

Proteomics Quality Control: Quality Control Software for MaxQuant Results.

PubMed

Bielow, Chris; Mastrobuoni, Guido; Kempa, Stefan

2016-03-04

Mass spectrometry-based proteomics coupled to liquid chromatography has matured into an automatized, high-throughput technology, producing data on the scale of multiple gigabytes per instrument per day. Consequently, an automated quality control (QC) and quality analysis (QA) capable of detecting measurement bias, verifying consistency, and avoiding propagation of error is paramount for instrument operators and scientists in charge of downstream analysis. We have developed an R-based QC pipeline called Proteomics Quality Control (PTXQC) for bottom-up LC-MS data generated by the MaxQuant software pipeline. PTXQC creates a QC report containing a comprehensive and powerful set of QC metrics, augmented with automated scoring functions. The automated scores are collated to create an overview heatmap at the beginning of the report, giving valuable guidance also to nonspecialists. Our software supports a wide range of experimental designs, including stable isotope labeling by amino acids in cell culture (SILAC), tandem mass tags (TMT), and label-free data. Furthermore, we introduce new metrics to score MaxQuant's Match-between-runs (MBR) functionality by which peptide identifications can be transferred across Raw files based on accurate retention time and m/z. Last but not least, PTXQC is easy to install and use and represents the first QC software capable of processing MaxQuant result tables. PTXQC is freely available at https://github.com/cbielow/PTXQC .

Creating Quality Media Materials.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hortin, John A.; Bailey, Gerald D.

1982-01-01

Innovation, imagination, and student creativity are key ingredients in creating quality media materials for the small school. Student-produced media materials, slides without a camera, personalized slide programs and copy work, self-made task cards, self-made overhead transparencies, graphic materials, and utilization of the mass media are some of…

Effects of different drying methods on the product quality and volatile compounds of whole shiitake mushrooms.

PubMed

Tian, Yuting; Zhao, Yingting; Huang, Jijun; Zeng, Hongliang; Zheng, Baodong

2016-04-15

Various drying methods play important roles in the preservation of foods. However, how the different drying methods affect the quality of some foods is not clear. This paper evaluates the effects of hot air, vacuum, microwave, and microwave vacuum drying techniques on important qualities and volatile compounds of whole shiitake (Lentinus edodes) mushrooms. These four drying methods resulted in a significantly (p<0.05) increase in the content of total free amino acids and the relative content of sulfur compounds of dried products. Microwave vacuum drying helped to maintain larger amounts of taste-active amino acids, and improved nutrient retention and color attributes. Furthermore, the uniform honeycomb network created by microwave vacuum drying along with a less collapsed structure of dried samples can be used to explain the observed high rehydration ratio. Therefore, microwave vacuum drying should be a potential method for obtaining high-quality dried mushrooms. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Optimization of a micro-scale, high throughput process development tool and the demonstration of comparable process performance and product quality with biopharmaceutical manufacturing processes.

PubMed

Evans, Steven T; Stewart, Kevin D; Afdahl, Chris; Patel, Rohan; Newell, Kelcy J

2017-07-14

In this paper, we discuss the optimization and implementation of a high throughput process development (HTPD) tool that utilizes commercially available micro-liter sized column technology for the purification of multiple clinically significant monoclonal antibodies. Chromatographic profiles generated using this optimized tool are shown to overlay with comparable profiles from the conventional bench-scale and clinical manufacturing scale. Further, all product quality attributes measured are comparable across scales for the mAb purifications. In addition to supporting chromatography process development efforts (e.g., optimization screening), comparable product quality results at all scales makes this tool is an appropriate scale model to enable purification and product quality comparisons of HTPD bioreactors conditions. The ability to perform up to 8 chromatography purifications in parallel with reduced material requirements per run creates opportunities for gathering more process knowledge in less time. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Presence of indicator plant species as a predictor of wetland vegetation integrity

USGS Publications Warehouse

Stapanian, Martin A.; Adams, Jean V.; Gara, Brian

2013-01-01

We fit regression and classification tree models to vegetation data collected from Ohio (USA) wetlands to determine (1) which species best predict Ohio vegetation index of biotic integrity (OVIBI) score and (2) which species best predict high-quality wetlands (OVIBI score >75). The simplest regression tree model predicted OVIBI score based on the occurrence of three plant species: skunk-cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus), cinnamon fern (Osmunda cinnamomea), and swamp rose (Rosa palustris). The lowest OVIBI scores were best predicted by the absence of the selected plant species rather than by the presence of other species. The simplest classification tree model predicted high-quality wetlands based on the occurrence of two plant species: skunk-cabbage and marsh-fern (Thelypteris palustris). The overall misclassification rate from this tree was 13 %. Again, low-quality wetlands were better predicted than high-quality wetlands by the absence of selected species rather than the presence of other species using the classification tree model. Our results suggest that a species’ wetland status classification and coefficient of conservatism are of little use in predicting wetland quality. A simple, statistically derived species checklist such as the one created in this study could be used by field biologists to quickly and efficiently identify wetland sites likely to be regulated as high-quality, and requiring more intensive field assessments. Alternatively, it can be used for advanced determinations of low-quality wetlands. Agencies can save considerable money by screening wetlands for the presence/absence of such “indicator” species before issuing permits.

Modeling The Atmosphere In The Era Of Big Data From Extremely Wide Field-Of-View Telescopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gonzalez Quiles, Junellie; Nordin, Jakob

2018-01-01

Surveys like the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), Pan-STARRS and the Palomar Transient Factory Survey (PTF) receive large amounts of data, which need to be processed and calibrated in order to correct for various factors. One of the limiting factors in obtaining high quality data is the atmosphere, and it is therefore essential to find the appropriate calibration for the atmospheric extinction. It is to be expected that a physical atmospheric model, compared to a photometric calibration used currently by PTF, is more effective in calibrating for the atmospheric extinction due to its ability to account for rapid atmospheric fluctuation and objects of different colors. We focused on creating tools to model the atmospheric extinction for the upcoming Zwicky Transient Factory Survey (ZTF). In order to model the atmosphere, we created a program that combines input data and catalogue values, and efficiently handles them. Then, using PTF data and the SDSS catalogue, we created several models to fit the data, and tested the quality of the fits by chi-square minimization. This will allow us to optimize atmospheric extinction for the upcoming ZTF in the near future.

Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility

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

Grames, Joseph; Higinbotham, Douglas; Montgomery, Hugh

The Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab) in Newport News, Virginia, USA, is one of ten national laboratories under the aegis of the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). It is managed and operated by Jefferson Science Associates, LLC. The primary facility at Jefferson Lab is the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) as shown in an aerial photograph in Figure 1. Jefferson Lab was created in 1984 as CEBAF and started operations for physics in 1995. The accelerator uses superconducting radio-frequency (srf) techniques to generate high-quality beams of electrons with high-intensity, well-controlled polarization. Themore » technology has enabled ancillary facilities to be created. The CEBAF facility is used by an international user community of more than 1200 physicists for a program of exploration and study of nuclear, hadronic matter, the strong interaction and quantum chromodynamics. Additionally, the exceptional quality of the beams facilitates studies of the fundamental symmetries of nature, which complement those of atomic physics on the one hand and of high-energy particle physics on the other. The facility is in the midst of a project to double the energy of the facility and to enhance and expand its experimental facilities. Studies are also pursued with a Free-Electron Laser produced by an energy-recovering linear accelerator.« less

[Quality criteria in medicine: which limits?].

PubMed

Minvielle, E

2006-06-01

This article aims to develop a critical appraisal of the criteria's development in medicine. The COMPAQH (Coordination for Measuring Performance and Assuring Quality in Hospitals) project (Ministry of Health/ High Authority of Health/ National Institute of Medical Research) helps to support this analysis. This project based on the test of 42 Quality indicators (QI) gives findings not only about the manner to build criteria, but also to interpret and diffuse results among physicians and hospital managers. Criteria must be elaborated in a pragmatic way. They must be in compliance with practice guidelines supported by scientific evidences. The associated risk is to create and develop a normative medicine. Collaboration with professional societies may be useful in preventing this risk.

Big Data and Comparative Effectiveness Research in Radiation Oncology: Synergy and Accelerated Discovery

PubMed Central

Trifiletti, Daniel M.; Showalter, Timothy N.

2015-01-01

Several advances in large data set collection and processing have the potential to provide a wave of new insights and improvements in the use of radiation therapy for cancer treatment. The era of electronic health records, genomics, and improving information technology resources creates the opportunity to leverage these developments to create a learning healthcare system that can rapidly deliver informative clinical evidence. By merging concepts from comparative effectiveness research with the tools and analytic approaches of “big data,” it is hoped that this union will accelerate discovery, improve evidence for decision making, and increase the availability of highly relevant, personalized information. This combination offers the potential to provide data and analysis that can be leveraged for ultra-personalized medicine and high-quality, cutting-edge radiation therapy. PMID:26697409

Big Data and Comparative Effectiveness Research in Radiation Oncology: Synergy and Accelerated Discovery.

PubMed

Trifiletti, Daniel M; Showalter, Timothy N

2015-01-01

Several advances in large data set collection and processing have the potential to provide a wave of new insights and improvements in the use of radiation therapy for cancer treatment. The era of electronic health records, genomics, and improving information technology resources creates the opportunity to leverage these developments to create a learning healthcare system that can rapidly deliver informative clinical evidence. By merging concepts from comparative effectiveness research with the tools and analytic approaches of "big data," it is hoped that this union will accelerate discovery, improve evidence for decision making, and increase the availability of highly relevant, personalized information. This combination offers the potential to provide data and analysis that can be leveraged for ultra-personalized medicine and high-quality, cutting-edge radiation therapy.

Fix These First: How the World's Leading Companies Point the Way Toward High Reliability in the Military Health System.

PubMed

Beauvais, Brad; Richter, Jason; Brezinski, Paul

The 2014 Military Health System Review calls for healthcare system leaders to implement effective strategies used by other high-performing organizations. The authors state, " the [military health system] MHS can create an optimal healthcare environment that focuses on continuous quality improvement where every patient receives safe, high-quality care at all times" (Military Health System, 2014, p. 1). Although aspirational, the document does not specify how a highly reliable health system is developed or what systemic factors are necessary to sustain highly reliable performance. Our work seeks to address this gap and provide guidance to MHS leaders regarding how high-performing organizations develop exceptional levels of performance.The authors' expectation is that military medicine will draw on these lessons to enhance leadership, develop exceptional organizational cultures, onboard and engage employees, build customer loyalty, and improve quality of care. Leaders from other segments of the healthcare field likely will find this study valuable given the size of the military healthcare system (9.6 million beneficiaries), the United States' steady progression toward population-based health, and the increasing need for highly reliable systems and performance.

A practical workflow for making anatomical atlases for biological research.

PubMed

Wan, Yong; Lewis, A Kelsey; Colasanto, Mary; van Langeveld, Mark; Kardon, Gabrielle; Hansen, Charles

2012-01-01

The anatomical atlas has been at the intersection of science and art for centuries. These atlases are essential to biological research, but high-quality atlases are often scarce. Recent advances in imaging technology have made high-quality 3D atlases possible. However, until now there has been a lack of practical workflows using standard tools to generate atlases from images of biological samples. With certain adaptations, CG artists' workflow and tools, traditionally used in the film industry, are practical for building high-quality biological atlases. Researchers have developed a workflow for generating a 3D anatomical atlas using accessible artists' tools. They used this workflow to build a mouse limb atlas for studying the musculoskeletal system's development. This research aims to raise the awareness of using artists' tools in scientific research and promote interdisciplinary collaborations between artists and scientists. This video (http://youtu.be/g61C-nia9ms) demonstrates a workflow for creating an anatomical atlas.

Bull’s-Eye Structure with a Sub-Wavelength Circular Aperture

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-08-30

experimentation. Bull’s-eye structures were fabricated with high precision using a CNC lathe machine and a thermal evaporator. Then, quality of...periodic grooves in the 3-mm-wavelength bull’s-eye structure were created with a CNC lathe on a Teflon or high-density polyethylene (HDPE) substrate... CNC lathe . Figure 26 (far right) shows the cross section of the bull’s-eye structure with six periodic grooves. By clicking on “Preferences” in

Record Charge Carrier Diffusion Length in Colloidal Quantum Dot Solids via Mutual Dot-To-Dot Surface Passivation.

PubMed

Carey, Graham H; Levina, Larissa; Comin, Riccardo; Voznyy, Oleksandr; Sargent, Edward H

2015-06-03

Through a combination of chemical and mutual dot-to-dot surface passivation, high-quality colloidal quantum dot solids are fabricated. The joint passivation techniques lead to a record diffusion length for colloidal quantum dots of 230 ± 20 nm. The technique is applied to create thick photovoltaic devices that exhibit high current density without losing fill factor. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems: An Ethical Leadership Dilemma to Satisfy Patients.

PubMed

Piper, Llewellyn E; Tallman, Erin

2016-01-01

This article examines the parameters and the dynamics of Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) that create an ethical leadership dilemma to satisfy patients in the hospital setting while still ensuring appropriate care for quality clinical outcomes. Under the Affordable Care Act, hospitals and health care systems are in a high-stakes struggle of winners and losers based on HCAHPS scores. This high-stakes struggle creates unintended consequences of an ethical dilemma of doing what is right for the patient versus doing whatever it takes to please the patient in order to achieve high scores of satisfaction that are tied to better reimbursements. This article also reports the results of a national survey of 500 chief executive officers by the authors about the attitudes and frustrations of chief executive officers confronting the wild unrest caused by HCAHPS.

Laser-induced forward transfer for improving fine-line metallization in photovoltaic applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sanchez-Aniorte, M. I.; Mouhamadou, B.; Alloncle, A. P.; Sarnet, T.; Delaporte, P.

2016-06-01

Grand challenges to create new front metallization techniques in photovoltaic focus considerable attention on laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT) approach. This alternative method aims to overcome the limitations of the well-established and mature screen-printing (SP) technique. Such limitations are for instance restrictions in the grid pattern design, high-temperature steps, and limited aspect ratio of the line contact (Poulain et al. in Appl Surf Sci 257:5241-5244, 2011). Although different new front contact metallization concepts have been studied, most of them require a second print step to increase the volume of the contact (Gao et al. in Proceedings of 25th EU PVSEC conference, 2010; Beaucarne and Schubert in Energy Proc 67:2-12, 2015; Lossen and Matusovsky in Energy Proc 67:156-162, 2015; Green in Phys E 14:65-70, 2002; Lennon et al. in Prog Photovolt Res Appl V21:1454-1468, 2012). As a result, it is desirable to find innovative metallization techniques to improve the cell efficiency without significantly increasing the cost. Although many challenges remain before to obtain high-quality, robust, and high-performance LIFT contact formation, it required a fully theoretical and experimental assessment. This paper presents the results of a study of the LIFT technique in picosecond regime and thick silver pastes to create high-quality conductive lines for photovoltaic applications.

Morning-evening type and burnout level as factors influencing sleep quality of shift nurses: a questionnaire study

PubMed Central

Demir Zencirci, Ayten; Arslan, Sümeyye

2011-01-01

Aim To assess the relationship between sleep quality and demographic variables, morning-evening type, and burnout in nurses who work shifts. Methods We carried out a cross-sectional self-administered study with forced choice and open-ended structured questionnaires – Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index, Morningness-eveningness Questionnaire, and Maslach Burnout Inventory. The study was carried out at Gazi University Medicine Faculty Hospital of Ankara on 524 invited nurses from July to September 2008, with a response rate of 89.94% (n = 483). Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied to determine the risk factors of poor sleep quality. Results Most socio-demographic variables did not affect sleep quality. Participants with poor sleep quality had quite high burnout levels. Most nurses who belonged to a type that is neither morning nor evening had poor sleep quality. Nurses who experienced an incident worsening their sleep patterns (P < 0.001) and needlestick or sharp object injuries (P = 0.010) in the last month had poor sleep quality. The subjective sleep quality and sleep latency points of evening types within created models for the effect of burnout dimensions were high. Conclusions Nurses working consistently either in the morning or at night had better sleep quality than those working rotating shifts. Further studies are still needed to develop interventions that improve sleep quality and decrease burnout in nurses working shifts. PMID:21853548

Comparison of High and Low Density Airborne LIDAR Data for Forest Road Quality Assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kiss, K.; Malinen, J.; Tokola, T.

2016-06-01

Good quality forest roads are important for forest management. Airborne laser scanning data can help create automatized road quality detection, thus avoiding field visits. Two different pulse density datasets have been used to assess road quality: high-density airborne laser scanning data from Kiihtelysvaara and low-density data from Tuusniemi, Finland. The field inventory mainly focused on the surface wear condition, structural condition, flatness, road side vegetation and drying of the road. Observations were divided into poor, satisfactory and good categories based on the current Finnish quality standards used for forest roads. Digital Elevation Models were derived from the laser point cloud, and indices were calculated to determine road quality. The calculated indices assessed the topographic differences on the road surface and road sides. The topographic position index works well in flat terrain only, while the standardized elevation index described the road surface better if the differences are bigger. Both indices require at least a 1 metre resolution. High-density data is necessary for analysis of the road surface, and the indices relate mostly to the surface wear and flatness. The classification was more precise (31-92%) than on low-density data (25-40%). However, ditch detection and classification can be carried out using the sparse dataset as well (with a success rate of 69%). The use of airborne laser scanning data can provide quality information on forest roads.

Memory preservation made prestigious but easy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fageth, Reiner; Debus, Christina; Sandhaus, Philipp

2011-01-01

Preserving memories combined with story-telling using either photo books for multiple images or high quality products such as one or a few images printed on canvas or images mounted on acryl to create high-quality wall decorations are gradually becoming more popular than classical 4*6 prints and classical silver halide posters. Digital printing via electro photography and ink jet is increasingly replacing classical silver halide technology as the dominant production technology for these kinds of products. Maintaining a consistent and comparable quality of output is becoming more challenging than using silver halide paper for both, prints and posters. This paper describes a unique approach of combining both desktop based software to initiate a compelling project and the use of online capabilities in order to finalize and optimize that project in an online environment in a community process. A comparison of the consumer behavior between online and desktop based solutions for generating photo books will be presented.

Exploring Local Public Health Workflow in the Context of Automated Translation Technologies

PubMed Central

Mandel, Hannah; Turner, Anne M.

2013-01-01

Despite the growing limited English proficiency (LEP) population in the US, and federal regulations requiring multilingual health information be available for LEP individuals, there is a lack of available high quality multilingual health promotion materials. The costs and personnel time associated with creating high quality translations serve as barriers to their creation, especially in resource limited public health settings. To explore the potential adoption of novel machine translation and document dissemination technologies for improving the creation and sharing of translated public health materials, we interviewed key health department personnel in Washington State. We analyzed translation workflow, elucidated key themes regarding public health translation work, and assessed attitudes towards electronic document exchange and machine translation. Public health personnel expressed the need for human quality assurance and oversight, but appreciated the potential of novel information technologies to assist in the production and dissemination of translated materials for public health practice. PMID:24551385

An Argument for Fewer Clinical Trials.

PubMed

Borgerson, Kirstin

2016-11-01

The volume of clinical research is increasing exponentially-far beyond our ability to process and absorb the results. Given this situation, it may be beneficial to consider reducing the flow at its source. In what follows, I will motivate and critically evaluate the following proposal: researchers should conduct fewer clinical trials. More specifically, I c onsider whether researchers should be permitted to conduct only clinical research of very high quality and, in turn, whether research ethics committees (RECs) should prohibit all other, lower-quality research, even when it might appear to meet some minimal ethical standard. Following a close analysis of the social-value requirement of ethical clinical research, I argue that this proposal is defensible. The problem identified in this paper has two parts, quantity and quality, and some clarification is needed about the latter because "quality" is a highly contested term in the medical literature. When some scholars advocate for high-quality trials, they mean large-scale, simple, explanatory randomized controlled trials. Others, including myself, have defended a different characterization of high-quality research that tends more toward pragmatic trial design and the use of methods other than RCTs. Pragmatic trials aim to provide evidence that directly supports clinical decision-making in "usual" care settings. Unlike explanatory trials, which aim to abstract away from particular settings and patients, in the hopes of creating ideal conditions for the success of an intervention, pragmatic trials deliberately pursue knowledge of high applicability, through the use of representative subjects, clinically important questions, flexible treatment protocols, patient-oriented outcome measures, and so on. I see applicability as a marker of high-quality research. The context in which research is meant to be applied should be the context in which new interventions are evaluated. © 2016 The Hastings Center.

Evaluation and comparison of epidural analgesia in labour related information on French and English-speaking websites.

PubMed

Espitalier, Fabien; De Lamer, Sabine; Barbaz, Mathilde; Laffon, Marc; Remérand, Francis

2018-01-31

The medical information on the Internet is better in English than in other languages. The information about Epidural Analgesia In Labour (EAIL) available on French-speaking websites is of poor quality. The quality of the information about EAIL should be better in English, but there is no comparison available. This study has assessed and compared the quality of the information about EAIL available on French and English-speaking websites. Keywords "epidural", "épidurale" and/or "péridurale" were used in the French, Canadian and American Google ® and Yahoo ® search engines. Two independent assessors assessed the 20 first websites for each engine search. They used an evaluation form created from French, Canadian and American recommendations. This form assessed the structure quality (Structure Score/25) and the medical information quality (Medical Information Score/30) of the websites. The addition of both scores gives the Global Score (/55). Seventy-one websites were assessed, 39 French-speaking and 32 English-speaking websites. Structure, Medical Information and Global Scores (expressed as mean (SD)) were respectively 11 (4), 13 (5), 24 (8) for the French-speaking websites and 11 (4), 12 (4), 23 (7) for the English-speaking websites. There was no statistical significant difference between both languages. Information about EAIL available on French and English-speaking websites is of poor quality and there is no difference in the information quality, whatever the language. A consideration on Internet medical information improvement is needed. A high quality dedicated website should be created and broadcasted. Copyright © 2018 Société française d'anesthésie et de réanimation (Sfar). Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Composite Measures of Health Care Provider Performance: A Description of Approaches

PubMed Central

Shwartz, Michael; Restuccia, Joseph D; Rosen, Amy K

2015-01-01

Context Since the Institute of Medicine’s 2001 report Crossing the Quality Chasm, there has been a rapid proliferation of quality measures used in quality-monitoring, provider-profiling, and pay-for-performance (P4P) programs. Although individual performance measures are useful for identifying specific processes and outcomes for improvement and tracking progress, they do not easily provide an accessible overview of performance. Composite measures aggregate individual performance measures into a summary score. By reducing the amount of data that must be processed, they facilitate (1) benchmarking of an organization’s performance, encouraging quality improvement initiatives to match performance against high-performing organizations, and (2) profiling and P4P programs based on an organization’s overall performance. Methods We describe different approaches to creating composite measures, discuss their advantages and disadvantages, and provide examples of their use. Findings The major issues in creating composite measures are (1) whether to aggregate measures at the patient level through all-or-none approaches or the facility level, using one of the several possible weighting schemes; (2) when combining measures on different scales, how to rescale measures (using z scores, range percentages, ranks, or 5-star categorizations); and (3) whether to use shrinkage estimators, which increase precision by smoothing rates from smaller facilities but also decrease transparency. Conclusions Because provider rankings and rewards under P4P programs may be sensitive to both context and the data, careful analysis is warranted before deciding to implement a particular method. A better understanding of both when and where to use composite measures and the incentives created by composite measures are likely to be important areas of research as the use of composite measures grows. PMID:26626986

Boundary Recovery For Delaunay Tetrahedral Meshes Using Local Topological Transformations

PubMed Central

Ghadyani, Hamid; Sullivan, John; Wu, Ziji

2009-01-01

Numerous high-quality, volume mesh-generation systems exist. However, no strategy can address all geometry situations without some element qualities being compromised. Many 3D mesh generation algorithms are based on Delaunay tetrahedralization which frequently fails to preserve the input boundary surface topology. For biomedical applications, this surface preservation can be critical as they usually contain multiple material regions of interest coherently connected. In this paper we present an algorithm as a post-processing method that optimizes local regions of compromised element quality and recovers the original boundary surface facets (triangles) regardless of the original mesh generation strategy. The algorithm carves out a small sub-volume in the vicinity of the missing boundary facet or compromised element, creating a cavity. If the task is to recover a surface boundary facet, a natural exit hole in the cavity will be present. This hole is patched with the missing boundary surface face first followed by other patches to seal the cavity. If the task was to improve a compromised region, then the cavity is already sealed. Every triangular facet of the cavity shell is classified as an active face and can be connected to another shell node creating a tetrahedron. In the process the base of the tetrahedron is removed from the active face list and potentially 3 new active faces are created. This methodology is the underpinnings of our last resort method. Each active face can be viewed as the trunk of a tree. An exhaustive breath and depth search will identify all possible tetrahedral combinations to uniquely fill the cavity. We have streamlined this recursive process reducing the time complexity by orders of magnitude. The original surfaces boundaries (internal and external) are fully restored and the quality of compromised regions improved. PMID:20305743

Spectral and spatial characterisation of laser-driven positron beams

DOE PAGES

Sarri, G.; Warwick, J.; Schumaker, W.; ...

2016-10-18

The generation of high-quality relativistic positron beams is a central area of research in experimental physics, due to their potential relevance in a wide range of scientific and engineering areas, ranging from fundamental science to practical applications. There is now growing interest in developing hybrid machines that will combine plasma-based acceleration techniques with more conventional radio-frequency accelerators, in order to minimise the size and cost of these machines. Here we report on recent experiments on laser-driven generation of high-quality positron beams using a relatively low energy and potentially table-top laser system. Lastly, the results obtained indicate that current technology allowsmore » to create, in a compact setup, positron beams suitable for injection in radio-frequency accelerators.« less

A Primer for Developing Measures of Science Content Knowledge for Small-Scale Research and Instructional Use

PubMed Central

Bass, Kristin M.; Drits-Esser, Dina; Stark, Louisa A.

2016-01-01

The credibility of conclusions made about the effectiveness of educational interventions depends greatly on the quality of the assessments used to measure learning gains. This essay, intended for faculty involved in small-scale projects, courses, or educational research, provides a step-by-step guide to the process of developing, scoring, and validating high-quality content knowledge assessments. We illustrate our discussion with examples from our assessments of high school students’ understanding of concepts in cell biology and epigenetics. Throughout, we emphasize the iterative nature of the development process, the importance of creating instruments aligned to the learning goals of an intervention or curricula, and the importance of collaborating with other content and measurement specialists along the way. PMID:27055776

Facial expression reconstruction on the basis of selected vertices of triangle mesh

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peszor, Damian; Wojciechowska, Marzena

2016-06-01

Facial expression reconstruction is an important issue in the field of computer graphics. While it is relatively easy to create an animation based on meshes constructed through video recordings, this kind of high-quality data is often not transferred to another model because of lack of intermediary, anthropometry-based way to do so. However, if a high-quality mesh is sampled with sufficient density, it is possible to use obtained feature points to encode the shape of surrounding vertices in a way that can be easily transferred to another mesh with corresponding feature points. In this paper we present a method used for obtaining information for the purpose of reconstructing changes in facial surface on the basis of selected feature points.

Induction of Teachers into 21st Century Learning Communities: Creating the Next Generation of Educational Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carroll, Thomas G.

2005-01-01

Every child deserves a quality education. Providing competent, caring, qualified teachers in schools organized for success is the way to get there, but the devil is in the details. By tinkering on the edges, adopting piecemeal approaches to attracting, supporting, and retaining highly qualified teachers for the students who need them most, the…

Interactive Leadership in Turbulent School Climates. An Exploratory Study of High School Principals from the City of Buenos Aires

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Romero, Claudia; Krichesky, Gabriela

2018-01-01

School leadership has been identified as a key function to assuring quality in education. Principals' leadership can have a direct effect on students' learning by improving teaching, or an indirect effect by creating conditions that foster learning. This exploratory study aims to understand how school principals exercise their leadership and its…

University of Georgia and Clarke County School District: Creating a Dynamic and Sustainable District-Wide Partnership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dresden, Janna; Gilbertson, Erica; Tavernier, Mark

2016-01-01

The UGA/CCSD Professional Development School District (PDSD) partnership began in 2009 with one school, and has grown to serve all schools in the district. The premise of the PDSD is that equity is achieved by providing high quality education for all students through programs and processes that are emergent, organic, dynamic and collaborative. All…

Florida First Start Program: Program Planning and Implementation Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Florida State Dept. of Education, Tallahassee. Office of Early Intervention and School Readiness.

This guide is designed to facilitate the implementation of the Florida First Start (FFS) program, created to help at-risk children from birth to 3 years of age have the best possible start in life and to support parents in their roles as their children's first teachers. Emphasis is on providing early, high-quality education and support services.…

Squeeze Play: How Parents and the Public Look at Higher Education Today. National Center Report #07-4

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Immerwahr, John; Johnson, Jean

2007-01-01

Traditionally, the United States higher education system has been the envy of the world for its high quality, accessibility to millions of Americans, ability to train generations of skilled workers, and its contribution to creating the vast American middle class. Today, however, higher education is experiencing new pressures. A new generation of…

Supporting Our Youngest Children: Early Head Start Programs in 2010. Brief No. 11

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schmit, Stephanie; Ewen, Danielle

2012-01-01

Since 1965, Head Start has provided high quality early education and comprehensive support services to the nation's poorest children from ages 3 through school age. In 1994, the federal Early Head Start (EHS) program was created to address the comprehensive needs of poor children under age 3 and pregnant women. Head Start and Early Head Start's…

Disruptive Innovation? Open Educational Projects Peer 2 Peer University and StraighterLine Take Shape

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Observatory on Borderless Higher Education, 2010

2010-01-01

The pilot phase of Peer 2 Peer University (P2PU), a "grassroots" open educational project aimed at creating a new model for lifelong learning is now underway. Billing itself as an institution which promotes "learning for everyone, by everyone, about almost anything", P2PU is seeking to provide high-quality, low-cost educational opportunities by…

The Power of Story: Using Personal Narrative, Computer Technology and Podcasting with Young Adult English Language Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pierson, Susan Jacques

2014-01-01

One way to ensure a high quality, personalized literacy program for English language learners is to use the learners' own lives and experiences as curriculum. Creating spaces for students to compose and share stories results in a strong sense of community facilitates the development of authentic literacy skills and increases student motivation and…

The GEP: Crowd-Sourcing Big Data Analysis with Undergraduates.

PubMed

Elgin, Sarah C R; Hauser, Charles; Holzen, Teresa M; Jones, Christopher; Kleinschmit, Adam; Leatherman, Judith

2017-02-01

The era of 'big data' is also the era of abundant data, creating new opportunities for student-scientist research partnerships. By coordinating undergraduate efforts, the Genomics Education Partnership produces high-quality annotated data sets and analyses that could not be generated otherwise, leading to scientific publications while providing many students with research experience. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Future of Low-Wage Service Jobs and the Workers That Hold Them. IEE Brief No. 25.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bernhardt, Annette

The business press abounds with examples of innovative companies that have created high-quality jobs; however, low-wage, deskilled jobs filled by contingent workers are equally prevalent. More than one in six U.S. workers currently hold retail jobs. The effect of globalization of trade on the retail industry is unclear. The most significant…

Seedfall, regeneration, and seedling development in group-selection openings

Treesearch

Philip M. McDonald; Celeste S. Abbott

1994-01-01

Forty-eight openings of 30, 60, and 90 feet in diameter were created in previously unmanaged mixed conifer-hardwood stands on a high-quality site in northern California in 1963. They were an attempt to convert an essentially even-aged forest to an uneven-aged arrangement and comprised the initial cut in the group-selection system. Five conifers and three hardwoods...

Database for chemical contents of streams on the White Mountain National Forest.

Treesearch

James W. Hornbeck; Michelle M. Alexander; Christopher Eagar; Joan Y. Carlson; Robert B. Smith

2001-01-01

Producing and protecting high-quality streamwater requires background or baseline data from which one can evaluate the impacts of natural and human disturbances. A database was created for chemical analyses of streamwater samples collected during the past several decades from 446 locations on the White Mountain National Forest (304,000 ha in New Hampshire and Maine)....

Spatial analysis of longleaf pine stand dynamics after 60 years of management

Treesearch

John C. Gilbert; John S. Kush; Rebecca J. Barlow

2012-01-01

There are still many questions and misconceptions about the stand dynamics of naturally-regenerated longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.). Since 1948, the “Farm Forty,” a forty-acre tract located on the USDA Forest Service Escambia Experimental Forest near Brewton, Alabama, has been managed to create high quality wood products, to successfully...

Vocational High School Cooperation with PT Astra Honda Motor to Prepare Skilled Labor in Industries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yoto; Widiyanti

2017-01-01

SMK Nasional as a secondary vocational education institution contribute in creating skilled labor to meet the needs of the industry. Motorcycle Engineering expertise program at the SMK Nasional in improving the graduate's quality carries out industrial class education with PT Astra Honda Motor (PT AHM); it is intended so that there is a link and…

Real-time fusion of endoscopic views with dynamic 3-D cardiac images: a phantom study.

PubMed

Szpala, Stanislaw; Wierzbicki, Marcin; Guiraudon, Gerard; Peters, Terry M

2005-09-01

Minimally invasive robotically assisted cardiac surgical systems currently do not routinely employ 3-D image guidance. However, preoperative magnetic resonance and computed tomography (CT) images have the potential to be used in this role, if appropriately registered with the patient anatomy and animated synchronously with the motion of the actual heart. This paper discusses the fusion of optical images of a beating heart phantom obtained from an optically tracked endoscope, with volumetric images of the phantom created from a dynamic CT dataset. High quality preoperative dynamic CT images are created by first extracting the motion parameters of the heart from the series of temporal frames, and then applying this information to animate a high-quality heart image acquired at end systole. Temporal synchronization of the endoscopic and CT model is achieved by selecting the appropriate CT image from the dynamic set, based on an electrocardiographic trigger signal. The spatial error between the optical and virtual images is 1.4 +/- 1.1 mm, while the time discrepancy is typically 50-100 ms. Index Terms-Image guidance, image warping, minimally invasive cardiac surgery, virtual endoscopy, virtual reality.

Continuous quality improvement programs provide new opportunities to drive value innovation initiatives in hospital-based radiology practices.

PubMed

Steele, Joseph R; Schomer, Don F

2009-07-01

Imaging services constitute a huge portion of the of the total dollar investment within the health care enterprise. Accordingly, this generates competition among medical specialties organized along service lines for their pieces of the pie and increased scrutiny from third-party payers and government regulators. These market and political forces create challenge and opportunity for a hospital-based radiology practice. Clearly, change that creates or builds greater value for patients also creates sustainable competitive advantage for a radiology practice. The somewhat amorphous concept of quality constitutes a significant value driver for innovation in this scenario. Quality initiatives and programs seek to define and manage this amorphous concept and provide tools for a radiology practice to create or build more value. Leadership and the early adoption of these inevitable programs by a radiology practice strengthens relationships with hospital partners and slows the attrition of imaging service lines to competitors.

Managing agricultural emissions to the atmosphere: State of the science, fate and mitigation, and identifying research gaps

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The impact of agriculture on regional air quality creates significant challenges to sustainability of food supplies and to the quality of national resources. Agricultural emissions to the atmosphere can lead to many nuisances, such as smog, haze, or offensive odors. They can also create more seriou...

Mapping Next Generation Learning Spaces as a Designed Quality Enhancement Process

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leonard, Simon N.; Fitzgerald, Robert N.; Bacon, Matt; Munnerley, Danny

2017-01-01

The learning spaces of higher education are changing with collaborative, agile and technology-enabled spaces ever more popular. Despite the massive investment required to create these new spaces, current quality systems are poorly placed to account for the value they create. Such learning spaces are typically popular with students but the impact…

A review of the theory, methods and recent applications of high-throughput single-cell droplet microfluidics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lagus, Todd P.; Edd, Jon F.

2013-03-01

Most cell biology experiments are performed in bulk cell suspensions where cell secretions become diluted and mixed in a contiguous sample. Confinement of single cells to small, picoliter-sized droplets within a continuous phase of oil provides chemical isolation of each cell, creating individual microreactors where rare cell qualities are highlighted and otherwise undetectable signals can be concentrated to measurable levels. Recent work in microfluidics has yielded methods for the encapsulation of cells in aqueous droplets and hydrogels at kilohertz rates, creating the potential for millions of parallel single-cell experiments. However, commercial applications of high-throughput microdroplet generation and downstream sensing and actuation methods are still emerging for cells. Using fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) as a benchmark for commercially available high-throughput screening, this focused review discusses the fluid physics of droplet formation, methods for cell encapsulation in liquids and hydrogels, sensors and actuators and notable biological applications of high-throughput single-cell droplet microfluidics.

Designing at Scale: Lessons in Relevance, Quality, and Equity from ChangeScale, a Bay Area environmental education collaborative

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Babcock, E.

2015-12-01

The best environmental education equips people with the know-how and drive to create healthy communities and a healthy planet. While there are many wonderful organizations providing environmental learning, ensuring quality, cultural relevance and equity of access remains an elusive goal--especially if environmental education organizations work in isolation. Organizations across 12 counties in the Bay Area have come together to create a different model. They have founded ChangeScale, a regional collaborative dedicated to providing high quality environmental education to hundreds of thousands of youth---by working together. ChangeScale's work involves setting up school district-level partnerships, providing technical assistance to local environmental education networks, and training environmental educators across the region. In this talk, the presenter, who is a founding member and steering committee chair for ChangeScale, will outline the challenges of working at a regional scale with dozens of organizations. She will share the processes ChangeScale has used to develop a business plan and build membership. She will conclude by sharing the short term and long term potential impacts of working collectively for environmental literacy in the Bay Area.

Cross-laminated timber made of Hungarian raw materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marko, G.; Bejo, L.; Takats, P.

2016-04-01

Cross-laminated timber (CLT), generally made out of softwood, enjoys increasing popularity throughout Europe. This material offers a versatile, eco-friendly technology to create strong, lightweight and energy-efficient buildings. Unfortunately, the sites and climatic conditions in Hungary are not suitable for growing high-quality coniferous trees. Transporting raw materials from other countries (sometimes thousands of kilometres away) negates the environmental advantages of wood-based construction. Local options are definitely preferable from an ecological aspect. Poplar wood (populus spp.) is of great economic importance in Hungary. There are several relatively high density, high strength varieties growing in large quantities in Hungary, that may be used as alternatives to softwood, with comparable properties. There is an increasing interest in using poplar as a construction material, especially in regions were there is a shortage of traditional construction timber. This paper presents the results of a preliminary investigation to create CLT using poplar lumber. Laboratory-scale CLT specimens were created in a hot press, and tested for their loadbearing capacity. The MOR values of poplar CLT are comparable to, albeit somewhat lowerthan those of softwood CLT. Further investigations are required to establish the economic viability and technological conditions for the commercial production of poplar CLT.

Clinical perspective: creating an effective practice peer review process-a primer.

PubMed

Gandhi, Manisha; Louis, Frances S; Wilson, Shae H; Clark, Steven L

2017-03-01

Peer review serves as an important adjunct to other hospital quality and safety programs. Despite its importance, the available literature contains virtually no guidance regarding the structure and function of effective peer review committees. This Clinical Perspective provides a summary of the purposes, structure, and functioning of effective peer review committees. We also discuss important legal considerations that are a necessary component of such processes. This discussion includes useful templates for case selection and review. Proper committee structure, membership, work flow, and leadership as well as close cooperation with the hospital medical executive committee and legal representatives are essential to any effective peer review process. A thoughtful, fair, systematic, and organized approach to creating a peer review process will lead to confidence in the committee by providers, hospital leadership, and patients. If properly constructed, such committees may also assist in monitoring and enforcing compliance with departmental protocols, thus reducing harm and promoting high-quality practice. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Adding Value to Goat Meat: Biochemical and Technological Characterization of Autochthonous Lactic Acid Bacteria to Achieve High-Quality Fermented Sausages

PubMed Central

Nediani, Miriam T.; García, Luis; Saavedra, Lucila; Martínez, Sandra; López Alzogaray, Soledad; Fadda, Silvina

2017-01-01

Quality and safety are important challenges in traditional fermented sausage technology. Consequently, the development of a tailored starter culture based on indigenous microbiota constitutes an interesting alternative. In the present study, spontaneously fermented goat meat sausages were created and analyzed using a physicochemical and microbiological approach. Thereafter 170 lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains were isolated and preliminary characterized by phenotypic assays. The hygienic and technological properties, and growth and fermentative potential of isolates using a goat-meat-based culture medium were evaluated. All strains proved to have bioprotective features due to their acidogenic metabolism. Almost all grew optimally in meat environments. LAB isolates presented proteolytic activity against meat proteins and enriched amino acid contents of the goat-meat-based model. The most efficient strains were four different Lactobacillus sakei isolates, as identified by genotyping and RAPD analysis. L. sakei strains are proposed as optimal candidates to improve the production of fermented goat meat sausages, creating a new added-value fermented product. PMID:28513575

Adding Value to Goat Meat: Biochemical and Technological Characterization of Autochthonous Lactic Acid Bacteria to Achieve High-Quality Fermented Sausages.

PubMed

Nediani, Miriam T; García, Luis; Saavedra, Lucila; Martínez, Sandra; López Alzogaray, Soledad; Fadda, Silvina

2017-05-17

Quality and safety are important challenges in traditional fermented sausage technology. Consequently, the development of a tailored starter culture based on indigenous microbiota constitutes an interesting alternative. In the present study, spontaneously fermented goat meat sausages were created and analyzed using a physicochemical and microbiological approach. Thereafter 170 lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains were isolated and preliminary characterized by phenotypic assays. The hygienic and technological properties, and growth and fermentative potential of isolates using a goat-meat-based culture medium were evaluated. All strains proved to have bioprotective features due to their acidogenic metabolism. Almost all grew optimally in meat environments. LAB isolates presented proteolytic activity against meat proteins and enriched amino acid contents of the goat-meat-based model. The most efficient strains were four different Lactobacillus sakei isolates, as identified by genotyping and RAPD analysis. L. sakei strains are proposed as optimal candidates to improve the production of fermented goat meat sausages, creating a new added-value fermented product.

Blueprint for action: steps toward a high-quality, high-value maternity care system.

PubMed

Angood, Peter B; Armstrong, Elizabeth Mitchell; Ashton, Diane; Burstin, Helen; Corry, Maureen P; Delbanco, Suzanne F; Fildes, Barbara; Fox, Daniel M; Gluck, Paul A; Gullo, Sue Leavitt; Howes, Joanne; Jolivet, R Rima; Laube, Douglas W; Lynne, Donna; Main, Elliott; Markus, Anne Rossier; Mayberry, Linda; Mitchell, Lynn V; Ness, Debra L; Nuzum, Rachel; Quinlan, Jeffrey D; Sakala, Carol; Salganicoff, Alina

2010-01-01

Childbirth Connection hosted a 90th Anniversary national policy symposium, Transforming Maternity Care: A High Value Proposition, on April 3, 2009, in Washington, DC. Over 100 leaders from across the range of stakeholder perspectives were actively engaged in the symposium work to improve the quality and value of U.S. maternity care through broad system improvement. A multi-disciplinary symposium steering committee guided the strategy from its inception and contributed to every phase of the project. The "Blueprint for Action: Steps Toward a High Quality, High Value Maternity Care System", issued by the Transforming Maternity Care Symposium Steering Committee, answers the fundamental question, "Who needs to do what, to, for, and with whom to improve the quality of maternity care over the next five years?" Five stakeholder workgroups collaborated to propose actionable strategies in 11 critical focus areas for moving expeditiously toward the realization of the long term "2020 Vision for a High Quality, High Value Maternity Care System", also published in this issue. Following the symposium these workgroup reports and recommendations were synthesized into the current blueprint. For each critical focus area, the "Blueprint for Action" presents a brief problem statement, a set of system goals for improvement in that area, and major recommendations with proposed action steps to achieve them. This process created a clear sightline to action that if enacted could improve the structure, process, experiences of care, and outcomes of the maternity care system in ways that when anchored in the culture can indeed transform maternity care. Copyright 2010 Jacobs Institute of Women

Perceived image quality for autostereoscopic holograms in healthcare training

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goldiez, Brian; Abich, Julian; Carter, Austin; Hackett, Matthew

2017-03-01

The current state of dynamic light field holography requires further empirical investigation to ultimately advance this developing technology. This paper describes a user-centered design approach for gaining insight into the features most important to clinical personnel using emerging dynamic holographic displays. The approach describes the generation of a high quality holographic model of a simulated traumatic amputation above the knee using 3D scanning. Using that model, a set of static holographic prints will be created varying in color or monochrome, contrast ratio, and polygon density. Leveraging methods from image quality research, the goal for this paper is to describe an experimental approach wherein participants are asked to provide feedback regarding the elements previously mentioned in order to guide the ongoing evolution of holographic displays.

Creating a Framework for Holistic Assessment of Aesthetics: A Response to Nilsson and Axelsson (2015) on Attributes of Aesthetic Quality of Textile Quality1.

PubMed

Carbon, Claus-Christian

2016-02-01

Nilsson and Axelsson (2015) made an important contribution by linking recent scientific approaches from the field of empirical aesthetics with everyday demands of museum conservators of deciding which items to be preserved or not. The authors made an important effort in identifying the valuable candidates of variables - but focused on visual properties only and on quite high-expertise aspects of aesthetic quality based on very sophisticated evaluations. The present article responds to the target paper by developing the outline of a more holistic approach for future research as a kind of framework that should assist a multi-modal approach, mainly including tactile sense. © The Author(s) 2016.

Quality aspects of the Wegener Center multi-satellite GPS radio occultation record OPSv5.6

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Angerer, Barbara; Ladstädter, Florian; Scherllin-Pirscher, Barbara; Schwärz, Marc; Steiner, Andrea K.; Foelsche, Ulrich; Kirchengast, Gottfried

2017-12-01

The demand for high-quality atmospheric data records, which are applicable in climate studies, is undisputed. Using such records requires knowledge of the quality and the specific characteristics of all contained data sources. The latest version of the Wegener Center (WEGC) multi-satellite Global Positioning System (GPS) radio occultation (RO) record, OPSv5.6, provides globally distributed upper-air satellite data of high quality, usable for climate and other high-accuracy applications. The GPS RO technique has been deployed in several satellite missions since 2001. Consistency among data from these missions is essential to create a homogeneous long-term multi-satellite climate record. In order to enable a qualified usage of the WEGC OPSv5.6 data set we performed a detailed analysis of satellite-dependent quality aspects from 2001 to 2017. We present the impact of the OPSv5.6 quality control on the processed data and reveal time-dependent and satellite-specific quality characteristics. The highest quality data are found for MetOp (Meteorological Operational satellite) and GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment). Data from FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC (Formosa Satellite mission-3/Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate) are also of high quality. However, comparatively large day-to-day variations and satellite-dependent irregularities need to be taken into account when using these data. We validate the consistency among the various satellite missions by calculating monthly mean temperature deviations from the multi-satellite mean, including a correction for the different sampling characteristics. The results are highly consistent in the altitude range from 8 to 25 km, with mean temperature deviations less than 0.1 K. At higher altitudes the OPSv5.6 RO temperature record is increasingly influenced by the characteristics of the bending angle initialization, with the amount of impact depending on the receiver quality.

Success factors in technology development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Preston, John T.

1995-01-01

Universities in the U.S. have a significant impact on business through the transfer of technology. This paper describes goals and philosophy of the Technology Licensing Office at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This paper also relates the critical factors for susscessful technology transfer, particularly relating to new business formation. These critical factors include the quality of the technology, the quality of the management, the quality of the investor, the passion for success, and the image of the company. Descriptions of three different levels of investment are also given and the most successful level of investment for starting a new company is reviewed. Licensing to large companies is also briefly reviewed, as this type of licensing requires some different strategies than that of licensing to start-up companies. High quality critical factors and intelligent investment create rewards for the parties and successful ventures.

Simple, inexpensive technique for high-quality smartphone fundus photography in human and animal eyes.

PubMed

Haddock, Luis J; Kim, David Y; Mukai, Shizuo

2013-01-01

Purpose. We describe in detail a relatively simple technique of fundus photography in human and rabbit eyes using a smartphone, an inexpensive app for the smartphone, and instruments that are readily available in an ophthalmic practice. Methods. Fundus images were captured with a smartphone and a 20D lens with or without a Koeppe lens. By using the coaxial light source of the phone, this system works as an indirect ophthalmoscope that creates a digital image of the fundus. The application whose software allows for independent control of focus, exposure, and light intensity during video filming was used. With this app, we recorded high-definition videos of the fundus and subsequently extracted high-quality, still images from the video clip. Results. The described technique of smartphone fundus photography was able to capture excellent high-quality fundus images in both children under anesthesia and in awake adults. Excellent images were acquired with the 20D lens alone in the clinic, and the addition of the Koeppe lens in the operating room resulted in the best quality images. Successful photodocumentation of rabbit fundus was achieved in control and experimental eyes. Conclusion. The currently described system was able to take consistently high-quality fundus photographs in patients and in animals using readily available instruments that are portable with simple power sources. It is relatively simple to master, is relatively inexpensive, and can take advantage of the expanding mobile-telephone networks for telemedicine.

Product development cycle time reduction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Farran, Robin

1992-05-01

We are facing here today the key issues that face us in the competitive environment. North American companies are struggling to compete in the global marketplace. Gone are the days when presence ensured success. Then, sales and earnings were guaranteed. Today the competition is intense. Many manufacturing and service companies are no longer competitive. Traditionally, manufacturing companies have created the most wealth for the community and economy. Losing this ability to create wealth is tragic and unnecessary. A company can only be successful by focusing on customer satisfaction at competitive costs. Revenue growth and earnings growth require a continuous stream of products that anticipate the customers' needs, result from shorter and shorter innovation cycles, continually improve in quality, and are produced at improved costs on each cycle. The best opportunities for increased quality and decreased costs are with new products. Sure, work on quality and costs everyday. The biggest changes, however, will come through the new product development cycle. We must improve our development processes to provide leadership products which result in high levels of customer satisfaction. This is a prerequisite for business success. When presence in the marketplace was a virtual guarantee of success for a North American company, technology tended to drive the products, and the customers bought virtually everything that was produced. Functional excellence was stressed within companies ... and that was enough. Effective planning processes were not a prerequisite for success. Today success demands highly developed business research and planning processes, and functional excellence combined with organizational capabilities that ensure commercialization excellence.

Smartphone adapters for flexible Nasolaryngoscopy: a systematic review.

PubMed

Quimby, A E; Kohlert, S; Caulley, L; Bromwich, M

2018-05-08

Flexible nasolaryngoscopy is an essential component of the otolaryngological physical exam. Historically, the ability to create and share video recordings of these endoscopic exams has been limited by poor mobility of fixed endoscopy towers. The advent of smartphone endoscope adapters has allowed physicians to create and share video recordings of endoscopy in a wide variety of locations that would not have previously been feasible. This paper sought to review the literature on the effect of smartphone endoscope adapters on patient care, patient satisfaction, and resident learning. This systematic review was conducted according to PRISMA guidelines. A systematic literature search was performed for all relevant English language studies (1946-2017) using Ovid MEDLINE, PubMed, and EMBASE. The study protocol was registered with the PROSPERO database. A total of 91 abstracts were identified and screened by two independent reviewers. Based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, three studies were selected and subjected to full-text extraction as well as quality assessment. These studies demonstrated high diagnostic accuracy and quality of smartphone adapter-recorded videos, and a benefit of these devices on resident education. Due to the heterogeneity of included studies' methods and measures, a meta-analysis was not possible, so a qualitative synthesis of the literature results was performed. Despite a paucity of data on the subject, the present study provided a comprehensive review of the literature, and suggested overall high diagnostic accuracy, quality, and enhancement of resident education with the use of smartphone endoscope adapters for flexible nasolaryngoscopy. CRD42018086714.

Novel Nanotube Manufacturing Streamlines Production

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2007-01-01

Nanotubes have novel qualities that make them uniquely qualified for a plethora of uses, including applications in electronics, optics, and other scientific and industrial fields. The NASA process for creating these nanostructures involves using helium arc welding to vaporize an amorphous carbon rod and then form nanotubes by depositing the vapor onto a water-cooled carbon cathode, which then yields bundles, or ropes, of single-walled nanotubes at a rate of 2 grams per hour using a single setup. This eliminates costs associated with the use of metal catalysts, including the cost of product purification, resulting in a relatively inexpensive, high-quality, very pure end product. While managing to be less expensive, safer, and simpler, the process also increases the quality of the nanotubes. Goddard's Innovative Partnerships Program (IPP) Office promoted the technology, and in 2005, Boise-based Idaho Space Materials Inc. (ISM) was formed and applied for a nonexclusive license for the single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) manufacturing technology. ISM commercialized its products, and the inexpensive, robust nanotubes are now in the hands of the scientists who will create the next generation of composite polymers, metals, and ceramics that will impact the way we live. In fact, researchers are examining ways for these newfound materials to be used in the manufacture of transistors and fuel cells, large screen televisions, ultra-sensitive sensors, high-resolution atomic force microscopy probes, supercapacitors, transparent conducting films, drug carriers, catalysts, and advanced composite materials, to name just a few of the myriad technologies to benefit.

Increasing the reliability and quality of important cast products made of chemically active metals and alloys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Varfolomeev, M. S.; Moiseev, V. S.; Shcherbakova, G. I.

2017-01-01

A technology is developed to produce highly thermoresistant ceramic monoxide corundum molds using investment casting and an aluminum-organic binder. This technology is a promising trend in creating ceramic molds for precision complex-shape casting of important ingots made of high-alloy steels, high-temperature and titanium alloys, and refractory metals. The use of the casting molds that have a high thermal and chemical resistance to chemically active metals and alloys under high-temperature casting minimizes the physicochemical interaction and substantially decreases the depth of the hard-to-remove metal oxide layer on important products, which increases their service properties.

Partnering for Preschool: A Study of Center Directors in New Jersey's Mixed-Delivery Abbott Program. Research Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whitebook, Marcy; Ryan, Sharon; Kipnis, Fran; Sakai, Laura

2008-01-01

In a series of New Jersey Supreme Court decisions known as Abbott v. Burke, the 28 (now 31) urban school districts serving the state's poorest students were ordered to create systems of high-quality preschool for all three- and four-year-old children, beginning in the 1999-2000 school year. The Abbott Preschool Program now serves approximately…

Renewable Energy Data, Analysis, and Decisions: A Guide for Practitioners

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

Cox, Sarah L; Lopez, Anthony J; Watson, Andrea C

High-quality renewable energy resource data and other geographic information system (GIS) data are essential for the transition to a clean energy economy that prioritizes local resources, improves resiliency, creates jobs, and promotes energy independence. This guide is intended to support policymakers and planners, as well as technical experts, consultants, and academics in incorporating improved data and analysis into renewable energy decision-making.

Changes in sediment yield and stream morphology in an actively managed forested watershed due to upstream disturbances

Treesearch

Ilkim Cavus; Latif Kalin; Ferhat Kara

2016-01-01

Attaining high quality water has always been a big concern for humankind. Forested watersheds are known to provide the cleanest form of water. However, conversion of forested lands to agricultural and/or urban use, as well as disturbances created in forested watersheds lead to degradation and deterioration of our water resources.

Web-Based Interactive Video Vignettes Create a Personalized Active Learning Classroom for Introducing Big Ideas in Introductory Biology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wright, L. Kate; Newman, Dina L.; Cardinale, Jean A.; Teese, Robert

2016-01-01

The typical "flipped classroom" delivers lecture material in video format to students outside of class in order to make space for active learning in class. But why give students passive material at all? We are developing a set of high-quality online educational materials that promote active, hands-on science learning to aid in teaching…

Plant community development after 28 years in small group-selection openings

Treesearch

Philip M. McDonald; Phillip E. Reynolds

1999-01-01

Thirty openings, 9, 18, and 27 meters in diameter, were created by group-selection harvest on a high quality site in northern California in 1963. In 1991, or 28 years after site preparation, the plant community in the openings had stabilized at 55 species. A major shift was from annuals to perennials. New seedlings of ponderosa and sugar pine were able to become...

Comparison of Leadership Levels of Students at the Faculty of Sport Sciences and Other Faculties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Atan, Tülin; Ünver, Saban; Kaplan, Abdurrahim; Islamoglu, Izzet; Demir, Gül

2018-01-01

Leadership has a great significance in creating high performance and building team loyalty in sport. The purpose of this study is to compare the leadership levels of students studying at the Faculty of Sports Sciences and other faculties. In addition, leadership qualities were examined in terms of the variables of gender and place of stay. A total…

Evaluation Summary of the Expanding Opportunities Interagency Inclusion Initiative: Increasing and Enhancing Access, Participation and Supports for All Children in High Quality Inclusive Programs and Services

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center (NECTAC), 2011

2011-01-01

This paper describes the impetus for creating the Expanding Opportunities Interagency Inclusion Initiative and achievements to date in identifying and implementing effective and efficient inclusion strategies in the participating states. In March 2004, the Child Care Bureau (CCB) (renamed the Office of Child Care) and the Administration on…

Effect of corn processing and wet distiller’s grains with solubles on odorous volatile organic compound emissions from urine and feces of beef cattle

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Wet distiller’s grains with solubles (WDGS) are a common feed ingredient in beef feedlot diets, but the excess nitrogen in these diets creates air quality issues, primarily due to the aromatic compounds emitted during fermentation of excreted protein. Use of high-moisture corn (HMC) instead of dry-r...

JPRS Report, Soviet Union, Political Affairs, Republic Language Legislation.

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-12-05

reference materials ( dictionaries , termi- nology glossaries, phrase books, self-taught books, and so on), and qualified specialists in the field of...textbooks; d) to publish self-taught manuals, phrase books, and explanatory and bilingual dictionaries for the aid of persons desiring to study...Armenian. To create the nec- essary printing facility base to publish high-quality illus- trated dictionaries ; to provide uninterrupted delivery of

A Step in the Right Direction: Learning Walks Build a Bridge between Central Office and Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Deane-Williams, Barbara; Nelms, Shaun; Robinson, Sheila B.

2015-01-01

What does an effective classroom look and sound like? What does it mean to have students engaged in learning? What is high-quality instruction? To answer these questions, the Greece Central School District in New York created a common language around teaching and learning as a way to support student achievement. The district developed a five-year…

Social Disruption and Psychological Stress in an Alaskan Fishing Community: The Impact of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Picou, J. Steven; And Others

Technological accidents such as the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 create man-made disaster situations that threaten community survival and the well-being and quality of life of community residents. This paper focuses on the social and psychological impact of the 1989 oil spill on Cordova, an isolated Alaskan community with high economic…

Cohort profile: the Welsh Geriatric Registrar-Led Research Network (WeGeN): rationale, design and description.

PubMed

Jelley, Benjamin; Long, Sara; Butler, John; Hewitt, Jonathan

2017-02-14

Medical trainees are required to undertake audit and quality improvement projects. They must also have an understanding of the principles of research and are encouraged to participate in research projects. However, the constraints of time, a lack of formal training and rotation between different training posts create barriers to audit cycle completion and pursuing research. This leads to trainees being reluctant to undertake research, facilitates poor quality research and risks incomplete audit. The Welsh Geriatricians Network (WeGeN) has been created with the aims of facilitating collaborative, trainee-led research within Geriatric Medicine in Wales, promoting research engagement and improving the research evidence base for older patients. By coordinating collaborative research projects across different sites within Wales, trainees continue existing projects at new sites, allowing completion of projects and establishing the long-term infrastructure and experienced personnel needed for high-quality research data to be gathered. WeGeN has facilitated 4 national audits, all of which are intended for peer review publication. The first project considers the service provision for the older person in the emergency department, the second Parkinson's disease, the third reviews delirium management and the fourth project considers epidemiology of surgical disease in older people. The objective of this project is to further establish and develop WeGeN as a group which facilitates high-quality research and provides the opportunity for geriatric trainees to engage in research activity. It is anticipated that the establishment of this research platform will provide a blueprint for the development of other such networks in the UK and beyond. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

Assessing Quality of Data Standards: Framework and Illustration Using XBRL GAAP Taxonomy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Hongwei; Wu, Harris

The primary purpose of data standards or metadata schemas is to improve the interoperability of data created by multiple standard users. Given the high cost of developing data standards, it is desirable to assess the quality of data standards. We develop a set of metrics and a framework for assessing data standard quality. The metrics include completeness and relevancy. Standard quality can also be indirectly measured by assessing interoperability of data instances. We evaluate the framework using data from the financial sector: the XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) taxonomy and US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings produced using the taxonomy by approximately 500 companies. The results show that the framework is useful and effective. Our analysis also reveals quality issues of the GAAP taxonomy and provides useful feedback to taxonomy users. The SEC has mandated that all publicly listed companies must submit their filings using XBRL. Our findings are timely and have practical implications that will ultimately help improve the quality of financial data.

A Model for Integrating Ambulatory Surgery Centers Into an Academic Health System Using a Novel Ambulatory Surgery Coordinating Council.

PubMed

Ishii, Lisa; Pronovost, Peter J; Demski, Renee; Wylie, Gill; Zenilman, Michael

2016-06-01

An increasing volume of ambulatory surgeries has led to an increase in the number of ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). Some academic health systems have aligned with ASCs to create a more integrated care delivery system. Yet, these centers are diverse in many areas, including specialty types, ownership models, management, physician employment, and regulatory oversight. Academic health systems then face challenges in integrating these ASCs into their organizations. Johns Hopkins Medicine created the Ambulatory Surgery Coordinating Council in 2014 to manage, standardize, and promote peer learning among its eight ASCs. The Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality provided support and a model for this organization through its quality management infrastructure. The physician-led council defined a mission and created goals to identify best practices, uniformly provide the highest-quality patient-centered care, and continuously improve patient outcomes and experience across ASCs. Council members built trust and agreed on a standardized patient safety and quality dashboard to report measures that include regulatory, care process, patient experience, and outcomes data. The council addressed unintentional outcomes and process variation across the system and agreed to standard approaches to optimize quality. Council members also developed a process for identifying future goals, standardizing care practices and electronic medical record documentation, and creating quality and safety policies. The early success of the council supports the continuation of the Armstrong Institute model for physician-led quality management. Other academic health systems can learn from this model as they integrate ASCs into their complex organizations.

Semi-automated ontology generation within OBO-Edit.

PubMed

Wächter, Thomas; Schroeder, Michael

2010-06-15

Ontologies and taxonomies have proven highly beneficial for biocuration. The Open Biomedical Ontology (OBO) Foundry alone lists over 90 ontologies mainly built with OBO-Edit. Creating and maintaining such ontologies is a labour-intensive, difficult, manual process. Automating parts of it is of great importance for the further development of ontologies and for biocuration. We have developed the Dresden Ontology Generator for Directed Acyclic Graphs (DOG4DAG), a system which supports the creation and extension of OBO ontologies by semi-automatically generating terms, definitions and parent-child relations from text in PubMed, the web and PDF repositories. DOG4DAG is seamlessly integrated into OBO-Edit. It generates terms by identifying statistically significant noun phrases in text. For definitions and parent-child relations it employs pattern-based web searches. We systematically evaluate each generation step using manually validated benchmarks. The term generation leads to high-quality terms also found in manually created ontologies. Up to 78% of definitions are valid and up to 54% of child-ancestor relations can be retrieved. There is no other validated system that achieves comparable results. By combining the prediction of high-quality terms, definitions and parent-child relations with the ontology editor OBO-Edit we contribute a thoroughly validated tool for all OBO ontology engineers. DOG4DAG is available within OBO-Edit 2.1 at http://www.oboedit.org. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

The development of silicon carbide-based power electronics devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hopkins, Richard H.; Perkins, John F.

1995-01-01

In 1989 Westinghouse created an internally funded initiative to develop silicon carbide materials and device technology for a variety of potential commercial and military applications. Westinghouse saw silicon carbide as having the potential for dual use. For space applications, size and weight reductions could be achieved, together with increased reliability. Terrestrially, uses in harsh-temperature environments would be enabled. Theoretically, the physical and electrical properties of silicon carbide were highly promising for high-power, high-temperature, radiation-hardened electronics. However, bulk material with the requisite electronic qualities was not available, and the methods needed to produce a silicon carbide wafer—to fabricate high-quality devices—and to transition these technologies into a commercial product were considered to be a high-risk investment. It was recognized that through a collaborative effort, the CCDS could provide scientific expertise in several areas, thus reducing this risk. These included modeling of structures, electrical contacts, dielectrics, and epitaxial growth. This collaboration has been very successful, with developed technologies being transferred to Westinghouse.

Are physicians' perceptions of healthcare quality and practice satisfaction affected by errors associated with electronic health record use?

PubMed Central

Wright, Adam; Simon, Steven R; Jenter, Chelsea A; Soran, Christine S; Volk, Lynn A; Bates, David W; Poon, Eric G

2011-01-01

Background Electronic health record (EHR) adoption is a national priority in the USA, and well-designed EHRs have the potential to improve quality and safety. However, physicians are reluctant to implement EHRs due to financial constraints, usability concerns, and apprehension about unintended consequences, including the introduction of medical errors related to EHR use. The goal of this study was to characterize and describe physicians' attitudes towards three consequences of EHR implementation: (1) the potential for EHRs to introduce new errors; (2) improvements in healthcare quality; and (3) changes in overall physician satisfaction. Methods Using data from a 2007 statewide survey of Massachusetts physicians, we conducted multivariate regression analysis to examine relationships between practice characteristics, perceptions of EHR-related errors, perceptions of healthcare quality, and overall physician satisfaction. Results 30% of physicians agreed that EHRs create new opportunities for error, but only 2% believed their EHR has created more errors than it prevented. With respect to perceptions of quality, there was no significant association between perceptions of EHR-associated errors and perceptions of EHR-associated changes in healthcare quality. Finally, physicians who believed that EHRs created new opportunities for error were less likely be satisfied with their practice situation (adjusted OR 0.49, p=0.001). Conclusions Almost one third of physicians perceived that EHRs create new opportunities for error. This perception was associated with lower levels of physician satisfaction. PMID:22199017

Restoration of Worn Movable Bridge Props with Use of Bronze Claddings.

PubMed

Viňáš, Ján; Vrabeľ, Marek; Greš, Miroslav; Brezina, Jakub; Sabadka, Dušan; Fedorko, Gabriel; Molnár, Vieroslav

2018-03-21

This article examined the possibility of using CuSn6P claddings in sliding bearing renovation of movable pontoon bridge props. The bronze layer was welded on cylinders of the high-strength steel S355J0WP EN 10155-93, in an inert atmosphere using an automated welding method (gas tungsten arc welding). Pulsed arc welding was used to minimize the effects of heat on the cladding area, while also accounting for the differences in the physical properties of the joined metals. The sliding bearing was created in two layers. The quality of the cladding layer was evaluated by nondestructive and/or destructive tests. The quality of the surface was assessed by visual inspection (visual testing) in accordance with the EN ISO 17637 standard. The quality of the claddings was evaluated by metallographic analysis, performed using light microscopy. The microhardness values of a few weld areas were determined by Vickers tests, performed according to the EN ISO 9015-2 standard. The analyses confirmed that the welding parameters and filler material used resulted in high-quality weld joints with no internal (subsurface) or metallurgical defects.

Restoration of Worn Movable Bridge Props with Use of Bronze Claddings

PubMed Central

Viňáš, Ján; Vrabeľ, Marek; Greš, Miroslav; Brezina, Jakub; Sabadka, Dušan; Fedorko, Gabriel

2018-01-01

This article examined the possibility of using CuSn6P claddings in sliding bearing renovation of movable pontoon bridge props. The bronze layer was welded on cylinders of the high-strength steel S355J0WP EN 10155-93, in an inert atmosphere using an automated welding method (gas tungsten arc welding). Pulsed arc welding was used to minimize the effects of heat on the cladding area, while also accounting for the differences in the physical properties of the joined metals. The sliding bearing was created in two layers. The quality of the cladding layer was evaluated by nondestructive and/or destructive tests. The quality of the surface was assessed by visual inspection (visual testing) in accordance with the EN ISO 17637 standard. The quality of the claddings was evaluated by metallographic analysis, performed using light microscopy. The microhardness values of a few weld areas were determined by Vickers tests, performed according to the EN ISO 9015–2 standard. The analyses confirmed that the welding parameters and filler material used resulted in high-quality weld joints with no internal (subsurface) or metallurgical defects. PMID:29561762

The 3D Elevation Program: summary for Texas

USGS Publications Warehouse

Carswell, William J.

2013-01-01

Elevation data are essential to a broad range of applications, including forest resources management, wildlife and habitat management, national security, recreation, and many others. For the State of Texas, elevation data are critical for natural resources conservation; wildfire management, planning, and response; flood risk management; agriculture and precision farming; infrastructure and construction management; water supply and quality; and other business uses. Today, high-quality light detection and ranging (lidar) data are the source for creating elevation models and other elevation datasets. Federal, State, and local agencies work in partnership to (1) replace data, on a national basis, that are (on average) 30 years old and of lower quality and (2) provide coverage where publicly accessible data do not exist. A joint goal of State and Federal partners is to acquire consistent, statewide coverage to support existing and emerging applications enabled by lidar data. The new 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) initiative, managed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), responds to the growing need for high-quality topographic data and a wide range of other three-dimensional representations of the Nation’s natural and constructed features.

The 3D Elevation Program: summary for Minnesota

USGS Publications Warehouse

Carswell, William J.

2013-01-01

Elevation data are essential to a broad range of applications, including forest resources management, wildlife and habitat management, national security, recreation, and many others. For the State of Minnesota, elevation data are critical for agriculture and precision farming, natural resources conservation, flood risk management, infrastructure and construction management, water supply and quality, coastal zone management, and other business uses. Today, high-quality light detection and ranging (lidar) data are the sources for creating elevation models and other elevation datasets. Federal, State, and local agencies work in partnership to (1) replace data, on a national basis, that are (on average) 30 years old and of lower quality and (2) provide coverage where publicly accessible data do not exist. A joint goal of State and Federal partners is to acquire consistent, statewide coverage to support existing and emerging applications enabled by lidar data. The new 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) initiative, managed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), responds to the growing need for high-quality topographic data and a wide range of other three-dimensional representations of the Nation’s natural and constructed features.

The 3D Elevation Program: summary for Wisconsin

USGS Publications Warehouse

Carswell, William J.

2013-01-01

Elevation data are essential to a broad range of applications, including forest resources management, wildlife and habitat management, national security, recreation, and many others. For the State of Wisconsin, elevation data are critical for agriculture and precision farming, natural resources conservation, flood risk management, infrastructure and construction management, water supply and quality, and other business uses. Today, high-quality light detection and ranging (lidar) data are the sources for creating elevation models and other elevation datasets. Federal, State, and local agencies work in partnership to (1) replace data, on a national basis, that are (on average) 30 years old and of lower quality and (2) provide coverage where publicly accessible data do not exist. A joint goal of State and Federal partners is to acquire consistent, statewide coverage to support existing and emerging applications enabled by lidar data. The new 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) initiative, managed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), responds to the growing need for high-quality topographic data and a wide range of other three-dimensional representations of the Nation’s natural and constructed features.

Organizing the pantry: cache management improves quality of overwinter food stores in a montane mammal

USGS Publications Warehouse

Jakopak, Rhiannon P.; Hall, L. Embere; Chalfoun, Anna D.

2017-01-01

Many mammals create food stores to enhance overwinter survival in seasonal environments. Strategic arrangement of food within caches may facilitate the physical integrity of the cache or improve access to high-quality food to ensure that cached resources meet future nutritional demands. We used the American pika (Ochotona princeps), a food-caching lagomorph, to evaluate variation in haypile (cache) structure (i.e., horizontal layering by plant functional group) in Wyoming, United States. Fifty-five percent of 62 haypiles contained at least 2 discrete layers of vegetation. Adults and juveniles layered haypiles in similar proportions. The probability of layering increased with haypile volume, but not haypile number per individual or nearby forage diversity. Vegetation cached in layered haypiles was also higher in nitrogen compared to vegetation in unlayered piles. We found that American pikas frequently structured their food caches, structured caches were larger, and the cached vegetation in structured piles was of higher nutritional quality. Improving access to stable, high-quality vegetation in haypiles, a critical overwinter food resource, may allow individuals to better persist amidst harsh conditions.

Curatr: a web application for creating, curating and sharing a mass spectral library.

PubMed

Palmer, Andrew; Phapale, Prasad; Fay, Dominik; Alexandrov, Theodore

2018-04-15

We have developed a web application curatr for the rapid generation of high quality mass spectral fragmentation libraries from liquid-chromatography mass spectrometry datasets. Curatr handles datasets from single or multiplexed standards and extracts chromatographic profiles and potential fragmentation spectra for multiple adducts. An intuitive interface helps users to select high quality spectra that are stored along with searchable molecular information, the providence of each standard and experimental metadata. Curatr supports exports to several standard formats for use with third party software or submission to repositories. We demonstrate the use of curatr to generate the EMBL Metabolomics Core Facility spectral library http://curatr.mcf.embl.de. Source code and example data are at http://github.com/alexandrovteam/curatr/. palmer@embl.de. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Water Quality Monitoring

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

With the backing of NASA, researchers at Michigan State University, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Wisconsin have begun using satellite data to measure lake water quality and clarity of the lakes in the Upper Midwest. This false color IKONOS image displays the water clarity of the lakes in Eagan, Minnesota. Scientists measure the lake quality in satellite data by observing the ratio of blue to red light in the satellite data. When the amount of blue light reflecting off of the lake is high and the red light is low, a lake generally had high water quality. Lakes loaded with algae and sediments, on the other hand, reflect less blue light and more red light. In this image, scientists used false coloring to depict the level of clarity of the water. Clear lakes are blue, moderately clear lakes are green and yellow, and murky lakes are orange and red. Using images such as these along with data from the Landsat satellites and NASA's Terra satellite, the scientists plan to create a comprehensive water quality map for the entire Great Lakes region in the next few years. For more information, read: Testing the Waters (Image courtesy Upper Great Lakes Regional Earth Science Applications Center, based on data copyright Space Imaging)

Improving iris recognition performance using segmentation, quality enhancement, match score fusion, and indexing.

PubMed

Vatsa, Mayank; Singh, Richa; Noore, Afzel

2008-08-01

This paper proposes algorithms for iris segmentation, quality enhancement, match score fusion, and indexing to improve both the accuracy and the speed of iris recognition. A curve evolution approach is proposed to effectively segment a nonideal iris image using the modified Mumford-Shah functional. Different enhancement algorithms are concurrently applied on the segmented iris image to produce multiple enhanced versions of the iris image. A support-vector-machine-based learning algorithm selects locally enhanced regions from each globally enhanced image and combines these good-quality regions to create a single high-quality iris image. Two distinct features are extracted from the high-quality iris image. The global textural feature is extracted using the 1-D log polar Gabor transform, and the local topological feature is extracted using Euler numbers. An intelligent fusion algorithm combines the textural and topological matching scores to further improve the iris recognition performance and reduce the false rejection rate, whereas an indexing algorithm enables fast and accurate iris identification. The verification and identification performance of the proposed algorithms is validated and compared with other algorithms using the CASIA Version 3, ICE 2005, and UBIRIS iris databases.

The Emergent Properties of Conspecific Attraction Can Limit a Species' Ability to Track Environmental Change.

PubMed

Stodola, Kirk W; Ward, Michael P

2017-06-01

Multiple biotic, abiotic, and evolutionary constraints interact to determine a species' range. However, most species are not present in all suitable and accessible locations. Dispersal ability may explain why many species do not occupy all suitable habitat, but highly mobile species also exhibit a mismatch. Habitat selection behavior where individuals are site faithful and settle near conspecifics could create a social pressure that make a species' geographic range resistant to change. We investigated this possibility by using an individual-based model of habitat selection where habitat quality moved each year. Our model demonstrated the benefits of conspecific attraction in relatively stable environments and its detrimental influence when habitat quality shifted rapidly. These results were most apparent when adult survival was high, because site fidelity led to more individuals occupying poor-quality habitat areas as habitat quality changed. These individuals attracted other dispersing individuals, thereby decreasing the ability to track shifts in habitat quality, which we refer to as "social inertia." Consequently, social inertia may arise for species that exhibit site fidelity and conspecific attraction, which may have conservation implications in light of climate change and widespread alteration of natural habitats.

Water-quality assessment of the Smith River drainage basin, California and Oregon

USGS Publications Warehouse

Iwatsubo, Rick T.; Washabaugh, Donna S.

1982-01-01

A water-quality assessment of the Smith River drainage basin was made to provide a summary of the water-quality conditions including known or potential water-quality problems. Results of the study showed that the water quality of the Smith River is excellent and generally meets the water-quality objectives for the beneficial uses identified by the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, North Coast Region. Known and potential problems related to water quality include: Sedimentation resulting from both natural erosional processes and land-use activities such as timber harvest, road construction, and mining that accelerate the erosional processes; bacterial contamination of surface and ground waters from inundated septic tanks and drainfields, and grazing activities; industrial spills which have resulted in fish kills and oil residues; high concetrations of iron in ground water; log and debris jams creating fish migration barriers; and pesticide and trace-element contamination from timber-harvest and mining activities, respectively. Future studies are needed to establish: (1) a sustained long-term monitoring program to provide a broad coverage of water-quality conditions in order to define long-term water-quality trends; and (2) interpretive studies to determine the source of known and potential water-quality problems. (USGS)

R2R--software to speed the depiction of aesthetic consensus RNA secondary structures.

PubMed

Weinberg, Zasha; Breaker, Ronald R

2011-01-04

With continuing identification of novel structured noncoding RNAs, there is an increasing need to create schematic diagrams showing the consensus features of these molecules. RNA structural diagrams are typically made either with general-purpose drawing programs like Adobe Illustrator, or with automated or interactive programs specific to RNA. Unfortunately, the use of applications like Illustrator is extremely time consuming, while existing RNA-specific programs produce figures that are useful, but usually not of the same aesthetic quality as those produced at great cost in Illustrator. Additionally, most existing RNA-specific applications are designed for drawing single RNA molecules, not consensus diagrams. We created R2R, a computer program that facilitates the generation of aesthetic and readable drawings of RNA consensus diagrams in a fraction of the time required with general-purpose drawing programs. Since the inference of a consensus RNA structure typically requires a multiple-sequence alignment, the R2R user annotates the alignment with commands directing the layout and annotation of the RNA. R2R creates SVG or PDF output that can be imported into Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape or CorelDRAW. R2R can be used to create consensus sequence and secondary structure models for novel RNA structures or to revise models when new representatives for known RNA classes become available. Although R2R does not currently have a graphical user interface, it has proven useful in our efforts to create 100 schematic models of distinct noncoding RNA classes. R2R makes it possible to obtain high-quality drawings of the consensus sequence and structural models of many diverse RNA structures with a more practical amount of effort. R2R software is available at http://breaker.research.yale.edu/R2R and as an Additional file.

Pediatric laryngeal simulator using 3D printed models: A novel technique.

PubMed

Kavanagh, Katherine R; Cote, Valerie; Tsui, Yvonne; Kudernatsch, Simon; Peterson, Donald R; Valdez, Tulio A

2017-04-01

Simulation to acquire and test technical skills is an essential component of medical education and residency training in both surgical and nonsurgical specialties. High-quality simulation education relies on the availability, accessibility, and reliability of models. The objective of this work was to describe a practical pediatric laryngeal model for use in otolaryngology residency training. Ideally, this model would be low-cost, have tactile properties resembling human tissue, and be reliably reproducible. Pediatric laryngeal models were developed using two manufacturing methods: direct three-dimensional (3D) printing of anatomical models and casted anatomical models using 3D-printed molds. Polylactic acid, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, and high-impact polystyrene (HIPS) were used for the directly printed models, whereas a silicone elastomer (SE) was used for the casted models. The models were evaluated for anatomic quality, ease of manipulation, hardness, and cost of production. A tissue likeness scale was created to validate the simulation model. Fleiss' Kappa rating was performed to evaluate interrater agreement, and analysis of variance was performed to evaluate differences among the materials. The SE provided the most anatomically accurate models, with the tactile properties allowing for surgical manipulation of the larynx. Direct 3D printing was more cost-effective than the SE casting method but did not possess the material properties and tissue likeness necessary for surgical simulation. The SE models of the pediatric larynx created from a casting method demonstrated high quality anatomy, tactile properties comparable to human tissue, and easy manipulation with standard surgical instruments. Their use in a reliable, low-cost, accessible, modular simulation system provides a valuable training resource for otolaryngology residents. N/A. Laryngoscope, 127:E132-E137, 2017. © 2016 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.

Creating dune landscapes for nature and housing - how to assess the designs?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van den Ancker, J.; Jungerius, P. D.; Hartman, J.

2012-04-01

Over the last decades landscape and nature organisations in The Netherlands initiated discussions about safeguarding characteristic historical landscapes, as well as improving nature and landscape quality. In these discussions they were supported by Dutch government agencies and newspapers. As a consequence, architects, landscape architects and building firms in the Netherlands try to upgrade the quality of houses and build-up areas by creating special landscape settings. Dunes are one of the landscapes that appeal to the designers, and several projects make use of dunes to create a quality living environment. Also nature manager construct dunes in what is called 'new nature'. This contribution evaluates several projects creating dune landscapes. Criteria for the evaluation are: - the subsequent geomorphology, - the materials used for construction, - the resulting internal structure, - the soil profile, - the relationship with the vegetation, - the historical integrity of the location. These examples indicate that engaging earth-scientific knowhow would substantially improve the authenticity of the designs.

Understanding Consumer Perceptions and Awareness of Hospital-Based Maternity Care Quality Measures.

PubMed

Maurer, Maureen; Firminger, Kirsten; Dardess, Pam; Ikeler, Kourtney; Sofaer, Shoshanna; Carman, Kristin L

2016-06-01

To explore factors that may influence use of comparative public reports for hospital maternity care. Four focus groups conducted in 2013 with 41 women and preintervention survey data collected in 2014 to 2015 from 245 pregnant women in North Carolina. As part of a larger randomized controlled trial, we conducted qualitative formative research to develop an intervention that will be evaluated through pre- and postintervention surveys. Analysis of focus group transcripts examined participants' perceptions of high-quality maternity care and the importance of different quality measures. Quantitative analysis included descriptive results of the preintervention survey and subgroup analyses to examine the impact of race, education, and being a first-time mom on outcomes. When describing high-quality maternity care, participants focused on interactions with providers, including respect for preferences and communication. The importance of quality measures was influenced by the extent to which they focused on babies' health, were perceived as the hospital's responsibility, and were perceived as representing "standard care." At baseline, 28 percent of survey respondents had used quality information to choose a hospital. Survey respondents were more aware of some quality measures (e.g., breastfeeding support) than others (e.g., episiotomy rates). Public reporting efforts could help increase relevance of maternity care quality measures by creating measures that reflect women's concerns, clearly explaining the hospital's role in supporting quality care, and showing how available quality measures can inform decisions about childbirth. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

Demonstration of a positron beam-driven hollow channel plasma wakefield accelerator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gessner, Spencer; Adli, Erik; Allen, James M.; An, Weiming; Clarke, Christine I.; Clayton, Chris E.; Corde, Sebastien; Delahaye, J. P.; Frederico, Joel; Green, Selina Z.; Hast, Carsten; Hogan, Mark J.; Joshi, Chan; Lindstrøm, Carl A.; Lipkowitz, Nate; Litos, Michael; Lu, Wei; Marsh, Kenneth A.; Mori, Warren B.; O'Shea, Brendan; Vafaei-Najafabadi, Navid; Walz, Dieter; Yakimenko, Vitaly; Yocky, Gerald

2016-06-01

Plasma wakefield accelerators have been used to accelerate electron and positron particle beams with gradients that are orders of magnitude larger than those achieved in conventional accelerators. In addition to being accelerated by the plasma wakefield, the beam particles also experience strong transverse forces that may disrupt the beam quality. Hollow plasma channels have been proposed as a technique for generating accelerating fields without transverse forces. Here we demonstrate a method for creating an extended hollow plasma channel and measure the wakefields created by an ultrarelativistic positron beam as it propagates through the channel. The plasma channel is created by directing a high-intensity laser pulse with a spatially modulated profile into lithium vapour, which results in an annular region of ionization. A peak decelerating field of 230 MeV m-1 is inferred from changes in the beam energy spectrum, in good agreement with theory and particle-in-cell simulations.

A new real-time non-coherent to coherent light image converter - The hybrid field effect liquid crystal light valve

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Grinberg, J.; Jacobson, A.; Bleha, W.; Miller, L.; Fraas, L.; Boswell, D.; Myer, G.

1975-01-01

A new, high-performance device has been developed for application to real-time coherent optical data processing. The new device embodies a CdS photoconductor, a CdTe light-absorbing layer, a dielectric mirror, and a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between indium-tin-oxide transparent electrodes deposited on optical quality glass flats. The noncoherent image is directed onto the photoconductor; this reduces the impedance of the photoconductor, thereby switching the ac voltage that is impressed across the electrodes onto the liquid crystal to activate the device. The liquid crystal is operated in a hybrid field effect mode. It utilizes the twisted nematic effect to create a dark off-state and the optical birefringence effect to create the bright on-state. The liquid crystal modulates the polarization of the coherent read-out light so an analyzer must be used to create an intensity modulated output beam.

Demonstration of a positron beam-driven hollow channel plasma wakefield accelerator

PubMed Central

Gessner, Spencer; Adli, Erik; Allen, James M.; An, Weiming; Clarke, Christine I.; Clayton, Chris E.; Corde, Sebastien; Delahaye, J. P.; Frederico, Joel; Green, Selina Z.; Hast, Carsten; Hogan, Mark J.; Joshi, Chan; Lindstrøm, Carl A.; Lipkowitz, Nate; Litos, Michael; Lu, Wei; Marsh, Kenneth A.; Mori, Warren B.; O'Shea, Brendan; Vafaei-Najafabadi, Navid; Walz, Dieter; Yakimenko, Vitaly; Yocky, Gerald

2016-01-01

Plasma wakefield accelerators have been used to accelerate electron and positron particle beams with gradients that are orders of magnitude larger than those achieved in conventional accelerators. In addition to being accelerated by the plasma wakefield, the beam particles also experience strong transverse forces that may disrupt the beam quality. Hollow plasma channels have been proposed as a technique for generating accelerating fields without transverse forces. Here we demonstrate a method for creating an extended hollow plasma channel and measure the wakefields created by an ultrarelativistic positron beam as it propagates through the channel. The plasma channel is created by directing a high-intensity laser pulse with a spatially modulated profile into lithium vapour, which results in an annular region of ionization. A peak decelerating field of 230 MeV m−1 is inferred from changes in the beam energy spectrum, in good agreement with theory and particle-in-cell simulations. PMID:27250570

Instructional Quality Features in Videotaped Biology Lessons: Content-Independent Description of Characteristics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dorfner, Tobias; Förtsch, Christian; Boone, William; Neuhaus, Birgit J.

2017-09-01

A number of studies on single instructional quality features have been reported for mathematics and science instruction. For summarizing single instructional quality features, researchers have created a model of three basic dimensions (classroom management, supportive climate, and cognitive activation) of instructional quality mainly through observing mathematics instruction. Considering this model as valid for all subjects and as usable for describing instruction, we used it in this study which aimed to analyze characteristics of instructional quality in biology lessons of high-achieving and low-achieving classes, independently of content. Therefore, we used the data of three different previous video studies of biology instruction conducted in Germany. From each video study, we selected three high-achieving and three low-achieving classes (N = 18 teachers; 35 videos) for our multiple-case study, in which conspicuous characteristics of instructional quality features were qualitatively identified and qualitatively analyzed. The amount of these characteristics was counted in a quantitative way in all the videos. The characteristics we found could be categorized using the model of three basic dimensions of instructional quality despite some subject-specific differences for biology instruction. Our results revealed that many more characteristics were observable in high-achieving classes than in low-achieving classes. Thus, we believe that this model could be used to describe biology instruction independently of the content. We also make the claims about the qualities for biology instruction—working with concentration in a content-structured environment, getting challenged in higher order thinking, and getting praised for performance—that could have positive influence on students' achievement.

Functional and anatomic results after creation of a neovagina according to Wharton-Sheares-George in patients with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome-long-term follow-up.

PubMed

Walch, Katharina; Kowarik, Eleen; Leithner, Katharina; Schätz, Theresa; Dörfler, Daniela; Wenzl, René

2011-08-01

To evaluate the long-term outcomes and degree of satisfaction after neovaginoplasty according to Wharton-Sheares-George in women with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome. Open, monocentric follow-up study. University hospital and referral center for pediatric and adolescent gynecology. Ten patients with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome with neovaginas created according to Wharton-Sheares-George 3 to 77 months ago. Gynecologic follow-up examination, including vaginal swab, bacterial culture, Papanicolaou smear, hybrid capture test for human papillomavirus typing, biopsy, pelvic ultrasound, and 2 questionnaires concerning global quality of life and degree of sexual satisfaction. Satisfaction with sexual function, quality of life, length and width of neovagina, structure of vaginal epithelium, and type of bacterial colonization. Functional long-term follow-up results showed a high subjective degree of general well-being and sexual satisfaction in affected women. A satisfactory neovaginal length (mean, 8.3 ± 1.06 cm; range, 7-10 cm) and width (mean, 3.3 ± 0.5 cm; range, 2.5-4 cm) was obtained. As revealed by smears and biopsy, the neovagina resembled a natural vagina with regard to type of bacterial colonization and structure of epithelium. The goal of any method of creating a neovagina is to provide the patient the possibility to have satisfactory sexual intercourse and to enhance well-being and quality of life. These aims can be achieved by creating a neovagina according to Wharton-Sheares-George. Copyright © 2011 American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Student Interactives--A new Tool for Exploring Science.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Turner, C.

2005-05-01

Science NetLinks (SNL), a national program that provides online teacher resources created by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), has proven to be a leader among educational resource providers in bringing free, high-quality, grade-appropriate materials to the national teaching community in a format that facilitates classroom integration. Now in its ninth year on the Web, Science NetLinks is part of the MarcoPolo Consortium of Web sites and associated state-based training initiatives that help teachers integrate Internet content into the classroom. SNL is a national presence in the K-12 science education community serving over 700,000 teachers each year, who visit the site at least three times a month. SNL features: High-quality, innovative, original lesson plans aligned to Project 2061 Benchmarks for Science Literacy, Original Internet-based interactives and learning challenges, Reviewed Web resources and demonstrations, Award winning, 60-second audio news features (Science Updates). Science NetLinks has an expansive and growing library of this educational material, aligned and sortable by grade band or benchmark. The program currently offers over 500 lessons, covering 72% of the Benchmarks for Science Literacy content areas in grades K-12. Over the past several years, there has been a strong movement to create online resources that support earth and space science education. Funding for various online educational materials has been available from many sources and has produced a variety of useful products for the education community. Teachers, through the Internet, potentially have access to thousands of activities, lessons and multimedia interactive applications for use in the classroom. But, with so many resources available, it is increasingly more difficult for educators to locate quality resources that are aligned to standards and learning goals. To ensure that the education community utilizes the resources, the material must conform to a format that allows easy understanding, evaluation and integration. Science NetLinks' material has been proven to satisfy these criteria and serve thousands of teachers every year. All online interactive materials that are created by AAAS are aligned to AAAS Project 2061 Benchmarks, which mirror National Science Standards, and are developed based on a rigorous set of criteria. For the purpose of this forum we will provide an overview that explains the need for more of these materials in the earth and space education, a review of the criteria for creating these materials and show examples of online materials created by AAAS that support earth and space science.

Developing and Implementing a Quality Assurance Strategy for Electroconvulsive Therapy.

PubMed

Hollingsworth, Jessa; Baliko, Beverly; McKinney, Selina; Rosenquist, Peter

2018-04-17

The literature provides scant guidance in effective quality assurance strategies concerning the use of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) for the treatment of psychiatric conditions. Numerous guidelines are published that provide guidance in the delivery of care; however, little has been done to determine how a program or facility might ensure compliance to best practice for safety, tolerability, and efficacy in performing ECT. The objective of this project was to create a quality assurance strategy specific to ECT. Determining standards for quality care and clarifying facility policy were key outcomes in establishing an effective quality assurance strategy. An audit tool was developed utilizing quality criteria derived from a systematic review of ECT practice guidelines, peer review, and facility policy. All ECT procedures occurring over a 2-month period of May to June 2017 were retrospectively audited and compared against target compliance rates set for the facility's ECT program. Facility policy was adapted to reflect quality standards, and audit findings were used to inform possible practice change initiatives, were used to create benchmarks for continuous quality monitoring, and were integrated into regular hospital quality meetings. Clarification on standards of care and the use of clinical auditing in ECT was an effective starting point in the development of a quality assurance strategy. Audit findings were successfully integrated into the hospital's overall quality program, and recognition of practice compliance informed areas for future quality development and policy revision in this small community-based hospital in the southeastern United States. This project sets the foundation for a quality assurance strategy that can be used to help monitor procedural safety and guide future improvement efforts in delivering ECT. Although it is just the first step in creating meaningful quality improvement, setting clear standards and identifying areas of greatest clinical need were crucial beginning for this hospital's growing program.

Creating a safer operating room: Groups, team dynamics and crew resource management principles.

PubMed

Wakeman, Derek; Langham, Max R

2018-04-01

The operating room (OR) is a special place wherein groups of highly skilled individuals must work in a coordinated and harmonious fashion to deliver optimal patient care. Team dynamics and human factors principles were initially studied by the aviation industry to better understand and prevent airline accidents. As a result, crew resource management (CRM) training was designed for all flight personnel to create a highly reliable industry with a commitment to a culture of safety. CRM has since been adapted to health care, resulting in care improvement and harm reduction across a wide variety of medical specialties. When implemented in the OR, CRM has been shown not only to improve communication and morale for OR staff, but also reduce morbidity and mortality for patients. As increasing focus is placed on quality, safety, and high-reliability, surgeons will be expected to participate and lead efforts to facilitate a team approach in this new era of patient care. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Impact of Uncoordinated Plug-in Electric Vehicle Charging on Residential Power Demand

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

Muratori, Matteo

Electrification of transport offers opportunities to increase energy security, reduce carbon emissions, and improve local air quality. Plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) are creating new connections between the transportation and electric sectors, and PEV charging will create opportunities and challenges in a system of growing complexity. Here, I use highly resolved models of residential power demand and PEV use to assess the impact of uncoordinated in-home PEV charging on residential power demand. While the increase in aggregate demand might be minimal even for high levels of PEV adoption, uncoordinated PEV charging could significantly change the shape of the aggregate residential demand,more » with impacts for electricity infrastructure, even at low adoption levels. Clustering effects in vehicle adoption at the local level might lead to high PEV concentrations even if overall adoption remains low, significantly increasing peak demand and requiring upgrades to the electricity distribution infrastructure. This effect is exacerbated when adopting higher in-home power charging.« less

Impact of uncoordinated plug-in electric vehicle charging on residential power demand

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muratori, Matteo

2018-03-01

Electrification of transport offers opportunities to increase energy security, reduce carbon emissions, and improve local air quality. Plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) are creating new connections between the transportation and electric sectors, and PEV charging will create opportunities and challenges in a system of growing complexity. Here, I use highly resolved models of residential power demand and PEV use to assess the impact of uncoordinated in-home PEV charging on residential power demand. While the increase in aggregate demand might be minimal even for high levels of PEV adoption, uncoordinated PEV charging could significantly change the shape of the aggregate residential demand, with impacts for electricity infrastructure, even at low adoption levels. Clustering effects in vehicle adoption at the local level might lead to high PEV concentrations even if overall adoption remains low, significantly increasing peak demand and requiring upgrades to the electricity distribution infrastructure. This effect is exacerbated when adopting higher in-home power charging.

Molray--a web interface between O and the POV-Ray ray tracer.

PubMed

Harris, M; Jones, T A

2001-08-01

A publicly available web-based interface is presented for producing high-quality ray-traced images and movies from the molecular-modelling program O [Jones et al. (1991), Acta Cryst. A47, 110-119]. The interface allows the user to select O-plot files and set parameters to create standard input files for the popular ray-tracing renderer POV-Ray, which can then produce publication-quality still images or simple movies. To ensure ease of use, we have made this service available to the O user community via the World Wide Web. The public Molray server is available at http://xray.bmc.uu.se/molray.

From Empiricism to Total Quality Management in Greek Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karavasilis, Ioannis; Samoladas, Ioannis; Nedos, Apostolos

Nowadays the education system in Greece moves towards democratization and decentralization. School unit is the cell and the base of the education system. Principal's role is highly demanding, multi-dimensional, and a critical determinant of school performance and effectiveness. The paper proposes an effective organizational plan of school units in Primary Education based on basic administration processes and Total Quality Management. Using theory of emotional intelligence and Blake-Mouton's grid it emphasizes the impact of Principal's leadership on democratizing the school unit, on creating a safe and secure environment and positive school climate and motivating teachers committee to participate in the decision making process.

Development of Scintillators in Nuclear Medicine.

PubMed

Khoshakhlagh, Mohammad; Islamian, Jalil Pirayesh; Abedi, Seyed Mohammad; Mahmoudian, Babak

2015-01-01

High-quality image is necessary for accurate diagnosis in nuclear medicine. There are many factors in creating a good image and detector is the most important one. In recent years, several detectors are studied to get a better picture. The aim of this paper is comparison of some type of these detectors such as thallium activated sodium iodide bismuth germinate cesium activated yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG: Ce) YAP: Ce "lutetium aluminum garnet activated by cerium" CRY018 "CRY019" lanthanum bromide and cadmium zinc telluride. We studied different properties of these crystals including density, energy resolution and decay times that are more important factors affecting the image quality.

Development of Scintillators in Nuclear Medicine

PubMed Central

Khoshakhlagh, Mohammad; Islamian, Jalil Pirayesh; Abedi, Seyed Mohammad; Mahmoudian, Babak

2015-01-01

High-quality image is necessary for accurate diagnosis in nuclear medicine. There are many factors in creating a good image and detector is the most important one. In recent years, several detectors are studied to get a better picture. The aim of this paper is comparison of some type of these detectors such as thallium activated sodium iodide bismuth germinate cesium activated yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG: Ce) YAP: Ce “lutetium aluminum garnet activated by cerium” CRY018 “CRY019” lanthanum bromide and cadmium zinc telluride. We studied different properties of these crystals including density, energy resolution and decay times that are more important factors affecting the image quality. PMID:26420984

Honing process optimization algorithms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kadyrov, Ramil R.; Charikov, Pavel N.; Pryanichnikova, Valeria V.

2018-03-01

This article considers the relevance of honing processes for creating high-quality mechanical engineering products. The features of the honing process are revealed and such important concepts as the task for optimization of honing operations, the optimal structure of the honing working cycles, stepped and stepless honing cycles, simulation of processing and its purpose are emphasized. It is noted that the reliability of the mathematical model determines the quality parameters of the honing process control. An algorithm for continuous control of the honing process is proposed. The process model reliably describes the machining of a workpiece in a sufficiently wide area and can be used to operate the CNC machine CC743.

A high-throughput system for high-quality tomographic reconstruction of large datasets at Diamond Light Source

PubMed Central

Atwood, Robert C.; Bodey, Andrew J.; Price, Stephen W. T.; Basham, Mark; Drakopoulos, Michael

2015-01-01

Tomographic datasets collected at synchrotrons are becoming very large and complex, and, therefore, need to be managed efficiently. Raw images may have high pixel counts, and each pixel can be multidimensional and associated with additional data such as those derived from spectroscopy. In time-resolved studies, hundreds of tomographic datasets can be collected in sequence, yielding terabytes of data. Users of tomographic beamlines are drawn from various scientific disciplines, and many are keen to use tomographic reconstruction software that does not require a deep understanding of reconstruction principles. We have developed Savu, a reconstruction pipeline that enables users to rapidly reconstruct data to consistently create high-quality results. Savu is designed to work in an ‘orthogonal’ fashion, meaning that data can be converted between projection and sinogram space throughout the processing workflow as required. The Savu pipeline is modular and allows processing strategies to be optimized for users' purposes. In addition to the reconstruction algorithms themselves, it can include modules for identification of experimental problems, artefact correction, general image processing and data quality assessment. Savu is open source, open licensed and ‘facility-independent’: it can run on standard cluster infrastructure at any institution. PMID:25939626

Developing Quality Schools: A Handbook.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barlosky, Martin; Lawton, Stephen

This handbook combines the outcomes of the "Symposium on Quality Schools" (April 14, 15 and June 2, 3, 1994, Toronto, Canada) with a continuing presentation of the quality philosophy. It is designed to guide the development and implementation of quality-driven educational programs. Quality schools are committed to creating enhanced…

RootJS: Node.js Bindings for ROOT 6

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beffart, Theo; Früh, Maximilian; Haas, Christoph; Rajgopal, Sachin; Schwabe, Jonas; Wolff, Christoph; Szuba, Marek

2017-10-01

We present rootJS, an interface making it possible to seamlessly integrate ROOT 6 into applications written for Node.js, the JavaScript runtime platform increasingly commonly used to create high-performance Web applications. ROOT features can be called both directly from Node.js code and by JIT-compiling C++ macros. All rootJS methods are invoked asynchronously and support callback functions, allowing non-blocking operation of Node.js applications using them. Last but not least, our bindings have been designed to platform-independent and should therefore work on all systems supporting both ROOT 6 and Node.js. Thanks to rootJS it is now possible to create ROOT-aware Web applications taking full advantage of the high performance and extensive capabilities of Node.js. Examples include platforms for the quality assurance of acquired, reconstructed or simulated data, book-keeping and e-log systems, and even Web browser-based data visualisation and analysis.

Medicaid program choice, inertia and adverse selection.

PubMed

Marton, James; Yelowitz, Aaron; Talbert, Jeffery C

2017-12-01

In 2012, Kentucky implemented Medicaid managed care statewide, auto-assigned enrollees to three plans, and allowed switching. Using administrative data, we find that the state's auto-assignment algorithm most heavily weighted cost-minimization and plan balancing, and placed little weight on the quality of the enrollee-plan match. Immobility - apparently driven by health plan inertia - contributed to the success of the cost-minimization strategy, as more than half of enrollees auto-assigned to even the lowest quality plans did not opt-out. High-cost enrollees were more likely to opt-out of their auto-assigned plan, creating adverse selection. The plan with arguably the highest quality incurred the largest initial profit margin reduction due to adverse selection prior to risk adjustment, as it attracted a disproportionate share of high-cost enrollees. The presence of such selection, caused by differential degrees of mobility, raises concerns about the long run viability of the Medicaid managed care market without such risk adjustment. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Super Resolution Algorithm for CCTVs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gohshi, Seiichi

2015-03-01

Recently, security cameras and CCTV systems have become an important part of our daily lives. The rising demand for such systems has created business opportunities in this field, especially in big cities. Analogue CCTV systems are being replaced by digital systems, and HDTV CCTV has become quite common. HDTV CCTV can achieve images with high contrast and decent quality if they are clicked in daylight. However, the quality of an image clicked at night does not always have sufficient contrast and resolution because of poor lighting conditions. CCTV systems depend on infrared light at night to compensate for insufficient lighting conditions, thereby producing monochrome images and videos. However, these images and videos do not have high contrast and are blurred. We propose a nonlinear signal processing technique that significantly improves visual and image qualities (contrast and resolution) of low-contrast infrared images. The proposed method enables the use of infrared cameras for various purposes such as night shot and poor lighting environments under poor lighting conditions.

Preventing falls in assisted living: Results of a quality improvement pilot study.

PubMed

Zimmerman, Sheryl; Greene, Angela; Sloane, Philip D; Mitchell, Madeline; Giuliani, Carol; Nyrop, Kirsten; Walsh, Edith

Residents of assisted living (AL) communities are at high risk for falls, which result in negative outcomes and high health care costs. Adapting effective falls prevention programs for AL quality improvement (QI) has the potential to reduce falls, improve resident quality of life, and reduce costs. This project tested the feasibility and outcomes of an evidence-based multi-component QI program, the Assisted Living Falls Prevention and Monitoring Program (AL-FPMP). Resident posture and gait improved, likely due to exercise and/or physical therapy. Effective falls prevention QI programs can be implemented in AL, and are advised to (1) establish and maintain a falls team to create a culture focused on the reduction of falls risk; (2) teach staff to assess residents using the Morse Falls Scale to increase their awareness of residents' falls risk and improvement; and (3) modify existing exercise programs to address balance and lower body strength. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Regression-Based Family of Measures for Full-Reference Image Quality Assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oszust, Mariusz

2016-12-01

The advances in the development of imaging devices resulted in the need of an automatic quality evaluation of displayed visual content in a way that is consistent with human visual perception. In this paper, an approach to full-reference image quality assessment (IQA) is proposed, in which several IQA measures, representing different approaches to modelling human visual perception, are efficiently combined in order to produce objective quality evaluation of examined images, which is highly correlated with evaluation provided by human subjects. In the paper, an optimisation problem of selection of several IQA measures for creating a regression-based IQA hybrid measure, or a multimeasure, is defined and solved using a genetic algorithm. Experimental evaluation on four largest IQA benchmarks reveals that the multimeasures obtained using the proposed approach outperform state-of-the-art full-reference IQA techniques, including other recently developed fusion approaches.

Improvement of the System of Training of Specialists by University for Coal Mining Enterprises

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mikhalchenko, Vadim; Seredkina, Irina

2017-11-01

In the article the ingenious technique of the Quality Function Deployment with reference to the process of training of specialists with higher education by university is considered. The method is based on the step-by-step conversion of customer requirements into specific organizational, meaningful and functional transformations of the technological process of the university. A fully deployed quality function includes four stages of tracking customer requirements while creating a product: product planning and design, process design, production design. The Quality Function Deployment can be considered as one of the methods for optimizing the technological processes of training of specialists with higher education in the current economic conditions. Implemented at the initial stages of the life cycle of the technological process, it ensures not only the high quality of the "product" of graduate school, but also the fullest possible satisfaction of consumer's requests and expectations.

The Effect of Expertise-Based Training on the Quality of Digital Stories Created to Teach Mathematics to Young Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sancar-Tokmak, Hatice; Incikabi, Lutfi

2013-01-01

This study investigated the effect of expertise-based training (XBT) on the quality of digital stories created by early childhood education (ECE) pre-service teachers. The participants of the study were 69 pre-service teachers from the ECE Department. The study was experimental, utilizing a static-group pre-test/post-test design, supported with…

Quality of USMC Officers: Buildup Vs. Reduction in Forces

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-03-01

the system and difficult to remove. Bacolod (2007), analyzes the decline in teacher quality due to expanded access to professional jobs for women ...the drawdown is to reduce accessions, create stricter retention policies, and entice members to leave the service through voluntary measures. This...approach during the drawdown is to reduce accessions, create stricter retention policies, and entice members to leave the service through voluntary

Agile Airmen: Developing the Capacity to Quickly Create Innovative Ideas

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-03-23

economic growth.26 In contrast, a 2008 statistical analysis finds a high correlation to economic growth. Eric Hanushek and Ludger Woessmann studied... Hanushek and Woessmann analysis identified STEM leaders as vital to America‟s long-term prosperity, but having quality teachers who can teach STEM...accessed November 10, 2010). 27 Eric A. Hanushek & Ludger Woessmann, "Do Better Schools Lead to More Growth? Cognitive Skills, Economic Outcomes

smwrGraphs—An R package for graphing hydrologic data, version 1.1.2

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lorenz, David L.; Diekoff, Aliesha L.

2017-01-31

This report describes an R package called smwrGraphs, which consists of a collection of graphing functions for hydrologic data within R, a programming language and software environment for statistical computing. The functions in the package have been developed by the U.S. Geological Survey to create high-quality graphs for publication or presentation of hydrologic data that meet U.S. Geological Survey graphics guidelines.

Overview of microoptics: Past, present, and future

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Veldkamp, Wilfrid B.

1993-01-01

Through advances in semiconductor miniaturization technology, microrelief patterns, with characteristic dimensions as small as the wavelength of light, can now be mass reproduced to form high-quality and low-cost optical components. In a unique example of technology transfer, from electronics to optics, this capability is allowing optics designers to create innovative optical components that promise to solve key problems in optical sensors, optical communication channels, and optical processors.

Translations on Environmental Quality, Number 127

DTIC Science & Technology

1976-12-29

first cleansing is done "by the highly effective method of electrocoagulation . It is "based on the passage of a constant electric flow with a voltage of...chemical rea- gents and becomes suitable for repeated use in industry. With the aid of iod- exchange devices electrocoagulation is supplemented with... electrocoagulation method, it is creating unified devices for the various substances contained in water and is improving plant design. All this will guarantee

Aircraft Maneuvers for the Evaluation of Flying Qualities and Agility. Volume 3: Simulation Data

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-08-01

as far as what you can do. If you’re flying a T- 38, it ain’t going to happen. You know some airplanc like that is going to wing rock or you’re...rating. In high gain inputs you create an oscillation that is unpredictable in magnitude and is roughly out of phase with the stick. You are sacrificing

A Noble Bet in Early Care and Education: Lessons from One Community’s Experience

DTIC Science & Technology

2002-01-01

Finally, the RAND study team explored existing empirical literature on ECE. Although ECI led to the establishment of new , high-quality ECE ser...objectives and articulates the breadth of the initiative’s ambition to create a comprehensive new system for delivering ECE to low-income chil- dren in...70 Incentives to Neighborhood Agencies .............. 71 Who Would Provide ECI Services? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 New Providers and

User’s manual for the Automated Data Assurance and Management application developed for quality control of Everglades Depth Estimation Network water-level data

USGS Publications Warehouse

Petkewich, Matthew D.; Daamen, Ruby C.; Roehl, Edwin A.; Conrads, Paul

2016-09-29

The generation of Everglades Depth Estimation Network (EDEN) daily water-level and water-depth maps is dependent on high quality real-time data from over 240 water-level stations. To increase the accuracy of the daily water-surface maps, the Automated Data Assurance and Management (ADAM) tool was created by the U.S. Geological Survey as part of Greater Everglades Priority Ecosystems Science. The ADAM tool is used to provide accurate quality-assurance review of the real-time data from the EDEN network and allows estimation or replacement of missing or erroneous data. This user’s manual describes how to install and operate the ADAM software. File structure and operation of the ADAM software is explained using examples.

Evaluation of Knowledge Development in a Healthcare Setting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schaffer, Scott P.

Healthcare organizations worldwide have recently increased efforts to improve performance, quality, and knowledge transfer using information and communication technologies. Evaluation of the effectiveness and quality of such efforts is challenging. A macro and micro-level system evaluation conducted with a 14000 member US hospital administrative services organization examined the appropriateness of a blended face-to-face and technology-enabled performance improvement and knowledge development system. Furthermore, a successful team or microsystem in a high performing hospital was studied in-depth. Several types of data methods including interview, observation, and questionnaire were used to address evaluation questions within a knowledge development framework created for the study. Results of this preliminary study focus on how this organization attempted to organize clinical improvement efforts around quality and performance improvement processes supported by networked technologies.

Educational transformation in upper-division physics: The Science Education Initiative model, outcomes, and lessons learned

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chasteen, Stephanie V.; Wilcox, Bethany; Caballero, Marcos D.; Perkins, Katherine K.; Pollock, Steven J.; Wieman, Carl E.

2015-12-01

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Upper Division Physics Courses.] In response to the need for a scalable, institutionally supported model of educational change, the Science Education Initiative (SEI) was created as an experiment in transforming course materials and faculty practices at two institutions—University of Colorado Boulder (CU) and University of British Columbia. We find that this departmentally focused model of change, which includes an explicit focus on course transformation as supported by a discipline-based postdoctoral education specialist, was generally effective in impacting courses and faculty across the institution. In CU's Department of Physics, the SEI effort focused primarily on upper-division courses, creating high-quality course materials, approaches, and assessments, and demonstrating an impact on student learning. We argue that the SEI implementation in the CU Physics Department, as compared to that in other departments, achieved more extensive impacts on specific course materials, and high-quality assessments, due to guidance by the physics education research group—but with more limited impact on the departmental faculty as a whole. We review the process and progress of the SEI Physics at CU and reflect on lessons learned in the CU Physics Department in particular. These results are useful in considering both institutional and faculty-led models of change and course transformation.

Clinical implementation of 3D printing in the construction of patient specific bolus for electron beam radiotherapy for non-melanoma skin cancer.

PubMed

Canters, Richard A; Lips, Irene M; Wendling, Markus; Kusters, Martijn; van Zeeland, Marianne; Gerritsen, Rianne M; Poortmans, Philip; Verhoef, Cornelia G

2016-10-01

Creating an individualized tissue equivalent material build-up (i.e. bolus) for electron beam radiation therapy is complex and highly labour-intensive. We implemented a new clinical workflow in which 3D printing technology is used to create the bolus. A patient-specific bolus is designed in the treatment planning system (TPS) and a shell around it is created in the TPS. The shell is printed and subsequently filled with silicone rubber to make the bolus. Before clinical implementation we performed a planning study with 11 patients to evaluate the difference in tumour coverage between the designed 3D-print bolus and the clinically delivered plan with manually created bolus. For the first 15 clinical patients a second CT scan with the 3D-print bolus was performed to verify the geometrical accuracy. The planning study showed that the V85% of the CTV was on average 97% (3D-print) vs 88% (conventional). Geometric comparison of the 3D-print bolus to the originally contoured bolus showed a high similarity (DSC=0.89). The dose distributions on the second CT scan with the 3D print bolus in position showed only small differences in comparison to the original planning CT scan. The implemented workflow is feasible, patient friendly, safe, and results in high quality dose distributions. This new technique increases time efficiency. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Neuroradiology Using Secure Mobile Device Review.

PubMed

Randhawa, Privia A; Morrish, William; Lysack, John T; Hu, William; Goyal, Mayank; Hill, Michael D

2016-04-05

Image review on computer-based workstations has made film-based review outdated. Despite advances in technology, the lack of portability of digital workstations creates an inherent disadvantage. As such, we sought to determine if the quality of image review on a handheld device is adequate for routine clinical use. Six CT/CTA cases and six MR/MRA cases were independently reviewed by three neuroradiologists in varying environments: high and low ambient light using a handheld device and on a traditional imaging workstation in ideal conditions. On first review (using a handheld device in high ambient light), a preliminary diagnosis for each case was made. Upon changes in review conditions, neuroradiologists were asked if any additional features were seen that changed their initial diagnoses. Reviewers were also asked to comment on overall clinical quality and if the handheld display was of acceptable quality for image review. After the initial CT review in high ambient light, additional findings were reported in 2 of 18 instances on subsequent reviews. Similarly, additional findings were identified in 4 of 18 instances after the initial MR review in high ambient lighting. Only one of these six additional findings contributed to the diagnosis made on the initial preliminary review. Use of a handheld device for image review is of adequate diagnostic quality based on image contrast, sharpness of structures, visible artefacts and overall display quality. Although reviewers were comfortable with using this technology, a handheld device with a larger screen may be diagnostically superior.

Land cover change mapping using MODIS time series to improve emissions inventories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

López-Saldaña, Gerardo; Quaife, Tristan; Clifford, Debbie

2016-04-01

MELODIES is an FP7 funded project to develop innovative and sustainable services, based upon Open Data, for users in research, government, industry and the general public in a broad range of societal and environmental benefit areas. Understanding and quantifying land surface changes is necessary for estimating greenhouse gas and ammonia emissions, and for meeting air quality limits and targets. More sophisticated inventories methodologies for at least key emission source are needed due to policy-driven air quality directives. Quantifying land cover changes on an annual basis requires greater spatial and temporal disaggregation of input data. The main aim of this study is to develop a methodology for using Earth Observations (EO) to identify annual land surface changes that will improve emissions inventories from agriculture and land use/land use change and forestry (LULUCF) in the UK. First goal is to find the best sets of input features that describe accurately the surface dynamics. In order to identify annual and inter-annual land surface changes, a times series of surface reflectance was used to capture seasonal variability. Daily surface reflectance images from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) at 500m resolution were used to invert a Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) model to create the seamless time series. Given the limited number of cloud-free observations, a BRDF climatology was used to constrain the model inversion and where no high-scientific quality observations were available at all, as a gap filler. The Land Cover Map 2007 (LC2007) produced by the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH) was used for training and testing purposes. A land cover product was created for 2003 to 2015 and a bayesian approach was created to identified land cover changes. We will present the results of the time series development and the first exercises when creating the land cover and land cover changes products.

Functional description of the ISIS system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Berman, W. J.

1979-01-01

Development of software for avionic and aerospace applications (flight software) is influenced by a unique combination of factors which includes: (1) length of the life cycle of each project; (2) necessity for cooperation between the aerospace industry and NASA; (3) the need for flight software that is highly reliable; (4) the increasing complexity and size of flight software; and (5) the high quality of the programmers and the tightening of project budgets. The interactive software invocation system (ISIS) which is described is designed to overcome the problems created by this combination of factors.

Development of soil properties and nitrogen cycling in created wetlands

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wolf, K.L.; Ahn, C.; Noe, G.B.

2011-01-01

Mitigation wetlands are expected to compensate for the loss of structure and function of natural wetlands within 5–10 years of creation; however, the age-based trajectory of development in wetlands is unclear. This study investigates the development of coupled structural (soil properties) and functional (nitrogen cycling) attributes of created non-tidal freshwater wetlands of varying ages and natural reference wetlands to determine if created wetlands attain the water quality ecosystem service of nitrogen (N) cycling over time. Soil condition component and its constituents, gravimetric soil moisture, total organic carbon, and total N, generally increased and bulk density decreased with age of the created wetland. Nitrogen flux rates demonstrated age-related patterns, with younger created wetlands having lower rates of ammonification, nitrification, nitrogen mineralization, and denitrification potential than older created wetlands and natural reference wetlands. Results show a clear age-related trajectory in coupled soil condition and N cycle development, which is essential for water quality improvement. These findings can be used to enhance N processing in created wetlands and inform the regulatory evaluation of mitigation wetlands by identifying structural indicators of N processing performance.

Virtual non-contrast dual-energy CT compared to single-energy CT of the urinary tract: a prospective study.

PubMed

Lundin, Margareta; Lidén, Mats; Magnuson, Anders; Mohammed, Ahmed Abdulilah; Geijer, Håkan; Andersson, Torbjörn; Persson, Anders

2012-07-01

Dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) has been shown to be useful for subtracting bone or calcium in CT angiography and gives an opportunity to produce a virtual non-contrast-enhanced (VNC) image from a series where contrast agents have been given intravenously. High noise levels and low resolution have previously limited the diagnostic value of the VNC images created with the first generation of DECT. With the recent introduction of a second generation of DECT, there is a possibility of obtaining VNC images with better image quality at hopefully lower radiation dose compared to the previous generation. To compare the image quality of the single-energy series to a VNC series obtained with a two generations of DECT scanners. CT of the urinary tract was used as a model. Thirty patients referred for evaluation of hematuria were examined with an older system (Somatom Definition) and another 30 patients with a new generation (Somatom Definition Flash). One single-energy series was obtained before and one dual-energy series after administration of intravenous contrast media. We created a VNC series from the contrast-enhanced images. Images were assessed concerning image quality with a visual grading scale evaluation of the VNC series with the single-energy series as gold standard. The image quality of the VNC images was rated inferior to the single-energy variant for both scanners, OR 11.5-67.3 for the Definition and OR 2.1-2.8 for the Definition Flash. Visual noise and overall quality were regarded as better with Flash than Definition. Image quality of VNC images obtained with the new generation of DECT is still slightly inferior compared to native images. However, the difference is smaller with the new compared to the older system.

Patient Experience and Satisfaction with Inpatient Service: Development of Short Form Survey Instrument Measuring the Core Aspect of Inpatient Experience

PubMed Central

Wong, Eliza L. Y.; Coulter, Angela; Hewitson, Paul; Cheung, Annie W. L.; Yam, Carrie H. K.; Lui, Siu fai; Tam, Wilson W. S.; Yeoh, Eng-kiong

2015-01-01

Patient experience reflects quality of care from the patients’ perspective; therefore, patients’ experiences are important data in the evaluation of the quality of health services. The development of an abbreviated, reliable and valid instrument for measuring inpatients’ experience would reflect the key aspect of inpatient care from patients’ perspective as well as facilitate quality improvement by cultivating patient engagement and allow the trends in patient satisfaction and experience to be measured regularly. The study developed a short-form inpatient instrument and tested its ability to capture a core set of inpatients’ experiences. The Hong Kong Inpatient Experience Questionnaire (HKIEQ) was established in 2010; it is an adaptation of the General Inpatient Questionnaire of the Care Quality Commission created by the Picker Institute in United Kingdom. This study used a consensus conference and a cross-sectional validation survey to create and validate a short-form of the Hong Kong Inpatient Experience Questionnaire (SF-HKIEQ). The short-form, the SF-HKIEQ, consisted of 18 items derived from the HKIEQ. The 18 items mainly covered relational aspects of care under four dimensions of the patient’s journey: hospital staff, patient care and treatment, information on leaving the hospital, and overall impression. The SF-HKIEQ had a high degree of face validity, construct validity and internal reliability. The validated SF-HKIEQ reflects the relevant core aspects of inpatients’ experience in a hospital setting. It provides a quick reference tool for quality improvement purposes and a platform that allows both healthcare staff and patients to monitor the quality of hospital care over time. PMID:25860775

The American College of Surgeons: an enduring commitment to quality and patient care.

PubMed

Hoyt, David B; Schneidman, Diane S

2015-03-01

This paper describes the American College of Surgeons' 100-plus-year commitment to improving quality and patient care. It summarizes programs that the College established a century ago to improve patient care, including the Hospital Standardization Program, and new initiatives, such as the ACS National Surgical Quality Improvement Program. The College's longstanding experience with quality improvement programs is enabling the organization to play a critical and influential role in helping to ensure that health care reforms, including those in the Affordable Care Act, are implemented in a way that best serves that interests of the surgical patient. Through a combination of these data analysis systems and the application of a finely tuned set of values, the College has become a respected voice in quality and patient safety. The ultimate goal is to create an environment where high value and high reliability take precedence over high volume and where all health care professionals play an active leadership role in delivering optimal, coordinated care. This article further describes how the surgical culture can be reshaped to meet these evolving needs and demands. The American College of Surgeons (ACS) has a longstanding commitment to improving the quality of surgical care through outcome measurement, standards setting, accreditation, and educational activities. This legacy has enabled the ACS to play an influential role in recent developments related to implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Medicare physician payment reform. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

77 FR 70786 - Request for Information Regarding Health Care Quality for Exchanges

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-11-27

...] Request for Information Regarding Health Care Quality for Exchanges AGENCY: Centers for Medicare... Quality Improvement in Health Care (National Quality Strategy) to create national aims and priorities that would guide local, state, and national efforts to improve the quality of health care in the United...

The Fifth Annual NASA/Contractors Conference on Quality and Productivity. Quality: A Commitment to the Future

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1989-01-01

The report is a summary of the 5th NASA/Contractors Conference on Quality and Productivity. The theme was 'Quality - A Commitment to the Future'. The summary report highlights the key points: commitment to quality, strategic and long-range planning, quality commitment, risk management, teaming, quality measurement, creating a quality environment, contract incentives, software quality and reliability.

Does autonomization of public hospitals and exposure to market pressure complement or debilitate social health insurance systems? Evidence from a low-income country.

PubMed

Sepehri, Ardeshir

2014-01-01

Granting public hospitals greater autonomy and creating organizational arrangements that mimic the private sector and encourage competition is often promoted as a way to increase efficiency and public accountability and to improve quality of care at these facilities. The existence of good-quality health infrastructure, in turn, encourages the population to join and support the social health insurance system and achieve universal coverage. This article provides a critical review of hospital autonomization, using Vietnam's experience to assess the influence of hospital autonomy on the sustainability of Vietnam's social health insurance. The evidence suggests that a reform process based on greater autonomy of resource mobilization and on the retention and use of own-source revenues can create perverse incentives among managers and health care providers, leading to the development of a two-tiered provision of clinical care, provider-induced supply of an inefficient service mix, a high degree of duplication, wasteful investment, and cost escalation. Rather than complementing social health insurance and helping the country to achieve universal coverage, granting public hospitals greater autonomy that mimics the private sector may indeed undermine the legitimacy and sustainability of social health insurance as health care costs escalate and higher quality of care remains elusive.

US EPA GEOSPATIAL QUALITY COUNCIL: ENSURING QUALITY IN GEOPSPATIAL SOLUTIONS

EPA Science Inventory

In 1999, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Research and Development, Environmental Sciences Division, created the EPA Geospatial Quality Council (GQC) to fill the gap between the EPA Quality Assurance (QA) and Geospatial communities. GQC participants inclu...

Objective Evaluation Tool for Texture-Modified Food (OET-TMF): Development of the Tool and Validation.

PubMed

Calleja-Fernández, Alicia; Pintor-de-la-Maza, Begoña; Vidal-Casariego, Alfonso; Cano-Rodríguez, Isidoro; Ballesteros-Pomar, María D

2016-06-01

Texture-modified diets (TMDs) should fulfil nutritional goals, guarantee homogenous texture, and meet food safety regulations. The food industry has created texture-modified food (TMF) that meets the TMD requirements of quality and safety for inpatients. To design and develop a tool that allows the objective selection of foodstuffs for TMDs that ensures nutritional requirements and swallowing safety of inpatients in order to improve their quality of life, especially regarding their food satisfaction. An evaluation tool was designed to objectively determine the adequacy of food included in the TMD menus of a hospital. The "Objective Evaluation Tool for Texture-Modified Food" (OET-TMF) consists of seven items that evaluate the food's nutritional quality (energy and protein input), presence of allergens, texture and viscosity, cooking, storage type, useful life, and patient acceptance. The total score ranged from 0 to 64 and was divided into four categories: high quality, good quality, medium quality, and low quality. Studying four different commercial TMFs contributed to the validation of the tool. All the evaluated products scored between high and good regarding quality. There was a tendency (p = 0.077) towards higher consumption and a higher overall quality of the product obtained with the OET-TMF. The product that scored highest with the tool was the best accepted; the product with the lowest score had the highest rate of refusal. The OET-TMF allows for the objective discrimination of the quality of TMF. In addition, it shows a certain relationship between the observed and assessed quality intake.

Data Quality Assurance for Supersonic Jet Noise Measurements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brown, Clifford A.; Henderson, Brenda S.; Bridges, James E.

2010-01-01

The noise created by a supersonic aircraft is a primary concern in the design of future high-speed planes. The jet noise reduction technologies required on these aircraft will be developed using scale-models mounted to experimental jet rigs designed to simulate the exhaust gases from a full-scale jet engine. The jet noise data collected in these experiments must accurately predict the noise levels produced by the full-scale hardware in order to be a useful development tool. A methodology has been adopted at the NASA Glenn Research Center s Aero-Acoustic Propulsion Laboratory to insure the quality of the supersonic jet noise data acquired from the facility s High Flow Jet Exit Rig so that it can be used to develop future nozzle technologies that reduce supersonic jet noise. The methodology relies on mitigating extraneous noise sources, examining the impact of measurement location on the acoustic results, and investigating the facility independence of the measurements. The methodology is documented here as a basis for validating future improvements and its limitations are noted so that they do not affect the data analysis. Maintaining a high quality jet noise laboratory is an ongoing process. By carefully examining the data produced and continually following this methodology, data quality can be maintained and improved over time.

Molecular Breeding to Create Optimized Crops: From Genetic Manipulation to Potential Applications in Plant Factories.

PubMed

Hiwasa-Tanase, Kyoko; Ezura, Hiroshi

2016-01-01

Crop cultivation in controlled environment plant factories offers great potential to stabilize the yield and quality of agricultural products. However, many crops are currently unsuited to these environments, particularly closed cultivation systems, due to space limitations, low light intensity, high implementation costs, and high energy requirements. A major barrier to closed system cultivation is the high running cost, which necessitates the use of high-margin crops for economic viability. High-value crops include those with enhanced nutritional value or containing additional functional components for pharmaceutical production or with the aim of providing health benefits. In addition, it is important to develop cultivars equipped with growth parameters that are suitable for closed cultivation. Small plant size is of particular importance due to the limited cultivation space. Other advantageous traits are short production cycle, the ability to grow under low light, and high nutriculture availability. Cost-effectiveness is improved from the use of cultivars that are specifically optimized for closed system cultivation. This review describes the features of closed cultivation systems and the potential application of molecular breeding to create crops that are optimized for cost-effectiveness and productivity in closed cultivation systems.

Molecular Breeding to Create Optimized Crops: From Genetic Manipulation to Potential Applications in Plant Factories

PubMed Central

Hiwasa-Tanase, Kyoko; Ezura, Hiroshi

2016-01-01

Crop cultivation in controlled environment plant factories offers great potential to stabilize the yield and quality of agricultural products. However, many crops are currently unsuited to these environments, particularly closed cultivation systems, due to space limitations, low light intensity, high implementation costs, and high energy requirements. A major barrier to closed system cultivation is the high running cost, which necessitates the use of high-margin crops for economic viability. High-value crops include those with enhanced nutritional value or containing additional functional components for pharmaceutical production or with the aim of providing health benefits. In addition, it is important to develop cultivars equipped with growth parameters that are suitable for closed cultivation. Small plant size is of particular importance due to the limited cultivation space. Other advantageous traits are short production cycle, the ability to grow under low light, and high nutriculture availability. Cost-effectiveness is improved from the use of cultivars that are specifically optimized for closed system cultivation. This review describes the features of closed cultivation systems and the potential application of molecular breeding to create crops that are optimized for cost-effectiveness and productivity in closed cultivation systems. PMID:27200016

GoPro Hero Cameras for Creation of a Three-Dimensional, Educational, Neurointerventional Video.

PubMed

Park, Min S; Brock, Andrea; Mortimer, Vance; Taussky, Philipp; Couldwell, William T; Quigley, Edward

2017-10-01

Neurointerventional education relies on an apprenticeship model, with the trainee observing and participating in procedures with the guidance of a mentor. While educational videos are becoming prevalent in surgical cases, there is a dearth of comparable educational material for trainees in neurointerventional programs. We sought to create a high-quality, three-dimensional video of a routine diagnostic cerebral angiogram for use as an educational tool. A diagnostic cerebral angiogram was recorded using two GoPro HERO 3+ cameras with the Dual HERO System to capture the proceduralist's hands during the case. This video was edited with recordings from the video monitors to create a real-time three-dimensional video of both the actions of the neurointerventionalist and the resulting wire/catheter movements. The final edited video, in either two or three dimensions, can serve as another instructional tool for the training of residents and/or fellows. Additional videos can be created in a similar fashion of more complicated neurointerventional cases. The GoPro HERO 3+ camera and Dual HERO System can be used to create educational videos of neurointerventional procedures.

The professional quality criteria of Italian breast screening radiologists: results from a national survey comparing the programmes started in 2000-2012 versus the ones started in 1990-1999.

PubMed

Morrone, Doralba; Giordano, Livia; Artuso, Franca; Bernardi, Daniela; Fedato, Chiara; Frigerio, Alfonso; Giorgi, Daniela; Naldoni, Carlo; Saguatti, Gianni; Severi, Daniela; Taffurelli, Mario; Terribile, Daniela; Ventura, Leonardo; Bucchi, Lauro

2017-01-01

In Italy, due to increasing healthcare budget and staff shortages, the recently created regional mammography screening programmes were established under worse radiology practice quality criteria than the previously created programmes. Using available data from a national questionnaire survey conducted at the end of 2013 and involving 222 responder radiologists, we compared the main professional quality standards of radiologists working in the screening programmes established during the period 2000-2012 with those working in the screening programmes created from 1990 to 1999. The former reported more years of clinical experience in breast imaging and a greater clinical mammogram reading volume than the latter. Conversely, they dedicated less working time to breast imaging, were less likely to participate in the diagnostic assessment of screen-detected lesions, to work in large-staffed screening centres, and to have a screening and a total mammogram reading volume (SMRV and TMRV) ≥ 5000 per year. The level of most professional quality criteria of Italian mammography screening radiologists has decreased over time. As SMRV and TMRV are important predictors of diagnostic accuracy, we can expect a lower interpretation performance of radiologists working in the recently created screening programmes.

[Certified medical centers--A measurable benefit to patients?!].

PubMed

Eberlein-Gonska, Maria; Schellong, Sebastian; Baumann, Michael

2007-01-01

The establishment of medical centers should meet the high requirements of the healthcare system. They should provide innovative solutions for a number of problems, e.g. the interdisciplinary collaboration of various health departments with due regard to their autonomy. This is reminiscent of the implementation and advancement of a quality management system required by law where a clear idea of how to manage the organizational and procedural structures as an integral part of the management concept implemented is missing. The genuine efforts to implement and advance interdisciplinary medical centers are up against "bogus models" created out of sheer marketing interests. The term "medical center" has so far not been protected under trademark law, leaving patients, relatives or even the referring physicians unsure about how to judge a medical center's actual performance. The same is true of certified centers. Their numbers are growing, but not so the transparency about the amount of measurable, traceable and understandable benefits that a certified center provides to the patient. Therefore clear demands need to be placed on certified centers, especially with regard to the implementation of a concept that provides interdisciplinarity and process-oriented transparent structures and defines quality ratios and quality objectives. This includes providing resources for the continuous collection and evaluation of hard and soft data as well as deriving improvement measures. The three centers of the University Hospital Dresden--the University Cancer Center, the University Vascular Center and the University Pain Center--fulfil this high demand. They have created fundamentals for measurable improvement of patient care and are able to present first results.

Optimization of Spiral-Based Pulse Sequences for First Pass Myocardial Perfusion Imaging

PubMed Central

Salerno, Michael; Sica, Christopher T.; Kramer, Christopher M.; Meyer, Craig H.

2010-01-01

While spiral trajectories have multiple attractive features such as their isotropic resolution, acquisition efficiency, and robustness to motion, there has been limited application of these techniques to first pass perfusion imaging because of potential off-resonance and inconsistent data artifacts. Spiral trajectories may also be less sensitive to dark-rim artifacts (DRA) that are caused, at least in part, by cardiac motion. By careful consideration of the spiral trajectory readout duration, flip angle strategy, and image reconstruction strategy, spiral artifacts can be abated to create high quality first pass myocardial perfusion images with high SNR. The goal of this paper was to design interleaved spiral pulse sequences for first-pass myocardial perfusion imaging, and to evaluate them clinically for image quality and the presence of dark-rim, blurring, and dropout artifacts. PMID:21590802

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Hi-GAL. inner Milky Way: +68>=l>=70 (Molinari+, 2016)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Molinari, S.; Schisano, E.; Elia, D.; Pestalozzi, M.; Traficante, A.; Pezzuto, S.; Swinyard, B. M.; Noriega-Crespo, A.; Bally, J.; Moore, T. J. T.; Plume, R.; Zavagno, A.; di Giorgio A. M.; Liu, S. J.; Pilbratt, G. L.; Mottram, J. C.; Russeil, D.; Piazzo, L.; Veneziani, M.; Benedettini, M.; Calzoletti, L.; Faustini, F.; Natoli, P.; Piacentini, F.; Merello, M.; Palmese, A.; Del Grande, R.; Polychroni, D.; Rygl, K. L. J.; Polenta, G.; Barlow, M. J.; Bernard, J.-P.; Martin, P. G.; Testi, L.; Ali, B.; Andre, P.; Beltran, M. T.; Billot, N.; Carey, S.; Cesaroni, R.; Compiegne, M.; Eden, D.; Fukui, Y.; Garcia-Lario, P.; Hoare, M. G.; Huang, M.; Joncas, G.; Lim, T. L.; Lord, S. D.; Martinavarro-Armengol, S.; Motte, F.; Paladini, R.; Paradis, D.; Peretto, N.; Robitaille, T.; Schilke, P.; Schneider, N.; Schulz, B.; Sibthorpe, B.; Strafella, F.; Thompson, M. A.; Umana, G.; Ward-Thompson, D.; Wyrowski, F.

2016-08-01

This is the first public data release of high-quality products from the Herschel Hi-GAL survey. The release comes two years after the end of the Herschel observing campaign and is the result of extensive testing of the data reduction and extraction procedures created by members of the Hi-GAL consortium. The complexity and the large variation of the background conditions in all Herschel wavelength bands makes source extraction on the Galactic plane a challenging task. With Hi-GAL DR1, we provide access (http://vialactea.iaps.inaf.it) through a cutout service to high-quality images and compact source catalogues for the Galactic plane at 70, 160, 250, 350, and 500um in the region 68°>=l>=-70° and |b|<= 1°. (6 data files).

Language-Based Inequity in Health Care: Who Is the "Poor Historian"?

PubMed

Green, Alexander R; Nze, Chijioke

2017-03-01

Patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) are among the most vulnerable populations. They experience high rates of medical errors with worse clinical outcomes than English-proficient patients and receive lower quality of care by other metrics. However, we have yet to take the issue of linguistic inequities seriously in the medical system and in medical education, tacitly accepting that substandard care is either unavoidable or not worth the cost to address. We argue that we have a moral imperative to provide high-quality care to patients with LEP and to teach our medical trainees that such care is both expected and feasible. Ultimately, to achieve linguistic equity will require creating effective systems for medical interpretation and a major culture shift not unlike what has happened in patient safety. © 2017 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.

WATER QUALITY AND ASSOCIATIONS WITH GASTROINTESTINAL CONDITIONS

EPA Science Inventory

Water quality is quantified using several measures, available from various data sources. These can be combined to create a single index of overall water quality which can be used for health research. We developed a water quality index for all United States counties and assessed a...

Creating Cartoons to Promote Leaderships Skills and Explore Leadership Qualities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Latisha L.; Clausen, Courtney K.; Teske, Jolene K.; Ghayoorrad, Maryam; Gray, Phyllis; Al Subia, Sukainah; Atwood-Blaine, Dana; Rule, Audrey C.

2015-01-01

This document describes a strategy for increasing student leadership and creativity skills through the creation of cartoons. Creating cartoons engages students in divergent thinking and cognitive processes, such as perception, recall, and mental processing. When students create cartoons focused on a particular topic, they are making connections to…

Citizen Science: Broadening Access and Engagement Through Community Partnerships, Aerospace Education and Water Quality Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, M. A.

2016-12-01

We applied a new approach to the design and development of citizen science learning opportunities to enhance outreach to diverse student populations, while advancing water quality research and aerospace education. This collaborative approach to informal science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and aerospace education required innovative partnerships between private general aviation pilots, researchers, teachers, and students. This research explored the development of active partnerships required to facilitate community engaged science, with an emphasis on increased participation of women and girls and people of color, while creating new exploratory pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences. We developed an outreach program through collaborative planning with local schools to create new STEM learning experiences based upon basic aerospace education concepts and an existing water quality research project designed to track harmful algal blooms (HAB) that can produce toxins called cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, which can impact drinking, fishing, and recreational waters. General aviation pilots functioning as citizen scientists obtained high-resolution aerial images while flying over potentially impacted waters. Aerial data was made available to teachers and students, as well as researchers participating in the existing water quality program lead by NASA Glenn Research Center. Teachers used the images and results to educate in climate change and the dangers of HAB. Students were able to compare aerial data with their own observations, and also gained experience in aeronautical science through field trips to local airports, hands-on experience with private research aircraft, specialized equipment used for data collection, and advanced ground instruction from research pilots. As a result of reaching out to local educators serving diverse student populations and facilitating collaborative planning, we successfully created new educational opportunities with active partnerships between formal educational institutions and informal citizen science research programs, which broadened access to and engagement in aerospace education and STEM learning experiences in our local community.

Video streaming in nursing education: bringing life to online education.

PubMed

Smith-Stoner, Marilyn; Willer, Ann

2003-01-01

Distance education is a standard form of instruction for many colleges of nursing. Web-based course and program content has been delivered primarily through text-based presentations such as PowerPoint slides and Web search activities. However, the rapid pace of technological innovation is making available more sophisticated forms of delivery such as video streaming. High-quality video streams, created at the instructor's desktop or in basic recording studios, can be produced that build on PowerPoint or create new media for use on the Web. The technology required to design, produce, and upload short video-streamed course content objects to the Internet is described. The preparation of materials, suggested production guidelines, and examples of information presented via desktop video methods are presented.

Vortex rings from Sphagnum moss capsules

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Whitaker, Dwight; Strassman, Sam; Cha, Jung; Chang, Emily; Guo, Xinyi; Edwards, Joan

2010-11-01

The capsules of Sphagnum moss use vortex rings to disperse spores to suitable habitats many kilometers away. Vortex rings are created by the sudden release of pressurized air when the capsule ruptures, and are an efficient way to carry the small spores with low terminal velocities to heights where they can be carried by turbulent wind currents. We will present our computational model of these explosions, which are carried out using a 2-D large eddy simulation (LES) on FLUENT. Our simulations can reproduce the observed motion of the spore clouds observed from moss capsules with high-speed videos, and we will discuss the roles of bursting pressure, cap mass, and capsule morphology on the formation and quality of vortex rings created by this plant.

Using Google Earth as an innovative tool for community mapping.

PubMed

Lefer, Theodore B; Anderson, Matthew R; Fornari, Alice; Lambert, Anastasia; Fletcher, Jason; Baquero, Maria

2008-01-01

Maps are used to track diseases and illustrate the social context of health problems. However, commercial mapping software requires special training. This article illustrates how nonspecialists used Google Earth, a free program, to create community maps. The Bronx, New York, is characterized by high levels of obesity and diabetes. Residents and medical students measured the variety and quality of food and exercise sources around a residency training clinic and a student-run free clinic, using Google Earth to create maps with minimal assistance. Locations were identified using street addresses or simply by pointing to them on a map. Maps can be shared via e-mail, viewed online with Google Earth or Google Maps, and the data can be incorporated into other mapping software.

Pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement in China: When the whole is less than the sum of its parts.

PubMed

Hu, Jia; Mossialos, Elias

2016-05-01

In recent years, there has been rapid growth in pharmaceutical spending in China. In addition, the country faces many challenges with regards to the quality, pricing and affordability of drugs. Pricing and reimbursement are important aspects of pharmaceutical policy that must be prioritised in order to address the many challenges. This review draws on multiple sources of information. A review of the academic and grey literature along with official government statistics were combined with information from seminars held by China's State Council Development Research Center to provide an overview of pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement in China. Pricing and reimbursement policy were analysed through a framework that incorporates supply-side policies, proxy-demand policies and demand-side policies. China's current pharmaceutical policies interact in such a way to create dysfunction in the form of high prices, low drug quality, irrational prescribing and problems with access. Finally, the country's fragmented regulatory environment hampers pharmaceutical policy reform. The pricing and reimbursement policy landscape can be improved through higher drug quality standards, greater market concentration, an increase in government subsidies, quality-oriented tendering, wider implementation of the zero mark-up policy, through linking reimbursement with rational prescribing, and the promotion of health technology assessment and comparative effectiveness research. Addressing broader issues of regulatory fragmentation, the lack of transparency and corruption will help ensure that policies are created in a coherent, evidence-based fashion. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

40 CFR 1515.2 - About the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... Quality (CEQ). 1515.2 Section 1515.2 Protection of Environment COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT PROCEDURES Organization of Ceq § 1515.2 About the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). The Council on Environmental Quality (“CEQ” or “the Council”) was created by the National Environmental Policy...

40 CFR 1515.2 - About the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... Quality (CEQ). 1515.2 Section 1515.2 Protection of Environment COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT PROCEDURES Organization of Ceq § 1515.2 About the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). The Council on Environmental Quality (“CEQ” or “the Council”) was created by the National Environmental Policy...

40 CFR 1515.2 - About the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... Quality (CEQ). 1515.2 Section 1515.2 Protection of Environment COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT PROCEDURES Organization of Ceq § 1515.2 About the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). The Council on Environmental Quality (“CEQ” or “the Council”) was created by the National Environmental Policy...

40 CFR 1515.2 - About the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... Quality (CEQ). 1515.2 Section 1515.2 Protection of Environment COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT PROCEDURES Organization of Ceq § 1515.2 About the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). The Council on Environmental Quality (“CEQ” or “the Council”) was created by the National Environmental Policy...

Harsh voice quality and its association with blackness in popular American media.

PubMed

Moisik, Scott Reid

2012-01-01

Performers use various laryngeal settings to create voices for characters and personas they portray. Although some research demonstrates the sociophonetic associations of laryngeal voice quality, few studies have documented or examined the role of harsh voice quality, particularly with vibration of the epilaryngeal structures (growling). This article qualitatively examines phonetic properties of vocal performances in a corpus of popular American media and evaluates the association of voice qualities in these performances with representations of social identity and stereotype. In several cases, contrasting laryngeal states create sociophonetic contrast, and harsh voice quality is paired with the portrayal of racial stereotypes of black people. These cases indicate exaggerated emotional states and are associated with yelling/shouting modes of expression. Overall, however, the functioning of harsh voice quality as it occurs in the data is broader and may involve aggressive posturing, comedic inversion of aggressiveness, vocal pathology, and vocal homage. © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Silver Wings, Golden Valor: The USAF Remembers Korea

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-01-01

better high-speed qualities and a better flight control system than the MiG-15. The Sabre jet came to be considered one of the greatest fighter...the advent of fully hydraulic flight control systems with various forms of stability augmentation led to the reintroduction of the slab tail. The...Calif.: Empire Interactive, 1999) designed for use on a Windows 95/98 CD-ROM operating system . This game, one of the finest flight simulations creat

Method for producing high quality oxide films on substrates

DOEpatents

Ruckman, Mark W.; Strongin, Myron; Gao, Yong L.

1993-01-01

A method for providing an oxide film of a material on the surface of a substrate using a reactive deposition of the material onto the substrate surface in the presence of a solid or liquid layer of an oxidizing gas. The oxidizing gas is provided on the substrate surface in an amount sufficient to dissipate the latent heat of condensation occurring during deposition as well as creating a favorable oxidizing environment for the material.

High quality oxide films on substrates

DOEpatents

Ruckman, Mark W.; Strongin, Myron; Gao, Yong L.

1994-01-01

A method for providing an oxide film of a material on the surface of a substrate using a reactive deposition of the material onto the substrate surface in the presence of a solid or liquid layer of an oxidizing gas. The oxidizing gas is provided on the substrate surface in an amount sufficient to dissipate the latent heat of condensation occurring during deposition as well as creating a favorable oxidizing environment for the material.

SASS measurements of the Ku-band radar signature of the ocean

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schroeder, L. C.; Grantham, W. L.; Mitchell, J. L.; Sweet, J. L.

1982-01-01

SeaSat-A Satellite Scatterometer (SASS) measurements of normalized radar cross section (NRCS) have been merged with high quality surface-wind fields based on in situ, to create a large data base of NRCS-wind signature data. These data are compared to the existing NRCS-wind model used by the SASS to infer winds. Falso-color maps of SASS NRCS and ocean winds from multiple orbits show important synoptic trends.

Using a crowdsourced approach for monitoring water level in a remote Kenyan catchment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weeser, Björn; Jacobs, Suzanne; Rufino, Mariana; Breuer, Lutz

2017-04-01

Hydrological models or effective water management strategies only succeed if they are based on reliable data. Decreasing costs of technical equipment lower the barrier to create comprehensive monitoring networks and allow both spatial and temporal high-resolution measurements. However, these networks depend on specialised equipment, supervision, and maintenance producing high running expenses. This becomes particularly challenging for remote areas. Low income countries often do not have the capacity to run such networks. Delegating simple measurements to citizens living close to relevant monitoring points may reduce costs and increase the public awareness. Here we present our experiences of using a crowdsourced approach for monitoring water levels in remote catchments in Kenya. We established a low-cost system consisting of thirteen simple water level gauges and a Raspberry Pi based SMS-Server for data handling. Volunteers determine the water level and transmit their records using a simple text message. These messages are automatically processed and real-time feedback on the data quality is given. During the first year, more than 1200 valid records with high quality have been collected. In summary, the simple techniques for data collecting, transmitting and processing created an open platform that has the potential for reaching volunteers without the need for special equipment. Even though the temporal resolution of measurements cannot be controlled and peak flows might be missed, this data can still be considered as a valuable enhancement for developing management strategies or for hydrological modelling.

Developing an Acoustic Sensing Yarn for Health Surveillance in a Military Setting.

PubMed

Hughes-Riley, Theodore; Dias, Tilak

2018-05-17

Overexposure to high levels of noise can cause permanent hearing disorders, which have a significant adverse effect on the quality of life of those affected. Injury due to noise can affect people in a variety of careers including construction workers, factory workers, and members of the armed forces. By monitoring the noise exposure of workers, overexposure can be avoided and suitable protective equipment can be provided. This work focused on the creation of a noise dosimeter suitable for use by members of the armed forces, where a discrete dosimeter was integrated into a textile helmet cover. In this way the sensing elements could be incorporated very close to the ears, providing a highly representative indication of the sound level entering the body, and also creating a device that would not interfere with military activities. This was achieved by utilising commercial microelectromechanical system microphones integrated within the fibres of yarn to create an acoustic sensing yarn. The acoustic sensing yarns were fully characterised over a range of relevant sound levels and frequencies at each stage in the yarn production process. The yarns were ultimately integrated into a knitted helmet cover to create a functional acoustic sensing helmet cover prototype.

Developing an Acoustic Sensing Yarn for Health Surveillance in a Military Setting

PubMed Central

Dias, Tilak

2018-01-01

Overexposure to high levels of noise can cause permanent hearing disorders, which have a significant adverse effect on the quality of life of those affected. Injury due to noise can affect people in a variety of careers including construction workers, factory workers, and members of the armed forces. By monitoring the noise exposure of workers, overexposure can be avoided and suitable protective equipment can be provided. This work focused on the creation of a noise dosimeter suitable for use by members of the armed forces, where a discrete dosimeter was integrated into a textile helmet cover. In this way the sensing elements could be incorporated very close to the ears, providing a highly representative indication of the sound level entering the body, and also creating a device that would not interfere with military activities. This was achieved by utilising commercial microelectromechanical system microphones integrated within the fibres of yarn to create an acoustic sensing yarn. The acoustic sensing yarns were fully characterised over a range of relevant sound levels and frequencies at each stage in the yarn production process. The yarns were ultimately integrated into a knitted helmet cover to create a functional acoustic sensing helmet cover prototype. PMID:29772756

Strategies for medical data extraction and presentation part 2: creating a customizable context and user-specific patient reference database.

PubMed

Reiner, Bruce

2015-06-01

One of the greatest challenges facing healthcare professionals is the ability to directly and efficiently access relevant data from the patient's healthcare record at the point of care; specific to both the context of the task being performed and the specific needs and preferences of the individual end-user. In radiology practice, the relative inefficiency of imaging data organization and manual workflow requirements serves as an impediment to historical imaging data review. At the same time, clinical data retrieval is even more problematic due to the quality and quantity of data recorded at the time of order entry, along with the relative lack of information system integration. One approach to address these data deficiencies is to create a multi-disciplinary patient referenceable database which consists of high-priority, actionable data within the cumulative patient healthcare record; in which predefined criteria are used to categorize and classify imaging and clinical data in accordance with anatomy, technology, pathology, and time. The population of this referenceable database can be performed through a combination of manual and automated methods, with an additional step of data verification introduced for data quality control. Once created, these referenceable databases can be filtered at the point of care to provide context and user-specific data specific to the task being performed and individual end-user requirements.

A comparison between cobalt and linear accelerator-based treatment plans for conformal and intensity-modulated radiotherapy.

PubMed

Adams, E J; Warrington, A P

2008-04-01

The simplicity of cobalt units gives them the advantage of reduced maintenance, running costs and downtime when compared with linear accelerators. However, treatments carried out on such units are typically limited to simple techniques. This study has explored the use of cobalt beams for conformal and intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT). Six patients, covering a range of treatment sites, were planned using both X-ray photons (6/10 MV) and cobalt-60 gamma rays (1.17 and 1.33 MeV). A range of conformal and IMRT techniques were considered, as appropriate. Conformal plans created using cobalt beams for small breast, meningioma and parotid cases were found to compare well with those created using X-ray photons. By using additional fields, acceptable conformal plans were also created for oesophagus and prostate cases. IMRT plans were found to be of comparable quality for meningioma, parotid and thyroid cases on the basis of dose-volume histogram analysis. We conclude that it is possible to plan high-quality radical radiotherapy treatments for cobalt units. A well-designed beam blocking/compensation system would be required to enable a practical and efficient alternative to multileaf collimator (MLC)-based linac treatments to be offered. If cobalt units were to have such features incorporated into them, they could offer considerable benefits to the radiotherapy community.

Using an evaluative tool to develop effective mathscasts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Galligan, Linda; Hobohm, Carola; Peake, Katherine

2017-09-01

This study is situated in a course designed for both on-campus and online pre-service and in-service teachers, where student-created mathscasts provide a way for university lecturers to assess students' quality of teaching, and understanding of mathematics. Teachers and pre-service teachers, in a university course with 90% online enrolment, were asked to create mathscasts to explain mathematics concepts at middle school level. This paper describes the process of developing and refining a tool for the creation and evaluation of quality student-produced mathscasts. The study then investigates the usefulness of the tool within the context of pedagogy and mathematical understanding. Despite an abundance of mathscasts already available on the web, there is merit in creating mathscasts, not only as a tool for teaching, but also as a means of learning by doing. The premise for creating student-produced mathscasts was to capture the creators' mathematical understanding and pedagogical approach to teaching a mathematical concept, which were then peer-assessed and graded. The analysis included surveys, practice mathscasts with peer- and self-reviews, and students' final assessed mathscasts. The results indicate that the use of the evaluative tool resulted in an improvement in quality of student-created mathscasts and critiques thereof. The paper concludes with a discussion on future directions of student-produced mathscasts.

Improvement of quality of 3D printed objects by elimination of microscopic structural defects in fused deposition modeling.

PubMed

Gordeev, Evgeniy G; Galushko, Alexey S; Ananikov, Valentine P

2018-01-01

Additive manufacturing with fused deposition modeling (FDM) is currently optimized for a wide range of research and commercial applications. The major disadvantage of FDM-created products is their low quality and structural defects (porosity), which impose an obstacle to utilizing them in functional prototyping and direct digital manufacturing of objects intended to contact with gases and liquids. This article describes a simple and efficient approach for assessing the quality of 3D printed objects. Using this approach it was shown that the wall permeability of a printed object depends on its geometric shape and is gradually reduced in a following series: cylinder > cube > pyramid > sphere > cone. Filament feed rate, wall geometry and G-code-defined wall structure were found as primary parameters that influence the quality of 3D-printed products. Optimization of these parameters led to an overall increase in quality and improvement of sealing properties. It was demonstrated that high quality of 3D printed objects can be achieved using routinely available printers and standard filaments.

Creating a Connected Community: Lessons Learned from the Western New York Beacon Community

PubMed Central

Maloney, Nancy; Heider, Arvela R.; Rockwood, Amy; Singh, Ranjit

2014-01-01

Introduction: Secure exchange of clinical data among providers has the potential to improve quality, safety, efficiency, and reduce duplication. Many communities are experiencing challenges in building effective health information exchanges (HIEs). Previous studies have focused on financial and technical issues regarding HIE development. This paper describes the Western New York (WNY) HIE growth and lessons learned about accelerating progress to become a highly connected community. Methods: HEALTHeLINK, with funding from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) under the Beacon Community Program, expanded HIE usage in eight counties. The communitywide transformation process used three main drivers: (1) a communitywide Electronic Health Record (EHR) adoption program; (2) clinical transformation partners; and (3) HIE outreach and infrastructure development. Results: ONC Beacon Community funding allowed WNY to achieve a new level in the use of interoperable HIE. Electronic delivery of results into the EHR expanded from 23 practices in 2010 to 222 practices in 2013, a tenfold increase. There were more than 12.5 million results delivered electronically (HL7 messages) to 222 practices’ EHRs via the HIE in 2013. Use of a secure portal and Virtual Health Record (VHR) to access reports (those not delivered directly to the EHR) also increased significantly, from 13,344 report views in 2010 to over 600,000 in 2013. Discussion and Conclusion: The WNY Beacon successfully expanded the sharing of clinical information among different sources of data and providers, creating a highly connected community to improve the quality and continuity of care. Technical, organizational, and community lessons described in this paper should prove beneficial to others as they pursue efforts to create connected communities. PMID:25848618

Annual land cover change mapping using MODIS time series to improve emissions inventories.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

López Saldaña, G.; Quaife, T. L.; Clifford, D.

2014-12-01

Understanding and quantifying land surface changes is necessary for estimating greenhouse gas and ammonia emissions, and for meeting air quality limits and targets. More sophisticated inventories methodologies for at least key emission source are needed due to policy-driven air quality directives. Quantifying land cover changes on an annual basis requires greater spatial and temporal disaggregation of input data. The main aim of this study is to develop a methodology for using Earth Observations (EO) to identify annual land surface changes that will improve emissions inventories from agriculture and land use/land use change and forestry (LULUCF) in the UK. First goal is to find the best sets of input features that describe accurately the surface dynamics. In order to identify annual and inter-annual land surface changes, a times series of surface reflectance was used to capture seasonal variability. Daily surface reflectance images from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) at 500m resolution were used to invert a Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) model to create the seamless time series. Given the limited number of cloud-free observations, a BRDF climatology was used to constrain the model inversion and where no high-scientific quality observations were available at all, as a gap filler. The Land Cover Map 2007 (LC2007) produced by the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH) was used for training and testing purposes. A prototype land cover product was created for 2006 to 2008. Several machine learning classifiers were tested as well as different sets of input features going from the BRDF parameters to spectral Albedo. We will present the results of the time series development and the first exercises when creating the prototype land cover product.

Mothers' work–family conflict and enrichment: associations with parenting quality and couple relationship

PubMed Central

Cooklin, A R; Westrupp, E; Strazdins, L; Giallo, R; Martin, A; Nicholson, J M

2015-01-01

Background Employment participation of mothers of young children has steadily increased in developed nations. Combining work and family roles can create conflicts with family life, but can also bring enrichment. Work–family conflict and enrichment experienced by mothers may also impact children's home environments via parenting behaviour and the couple relationship, particularly in the early years of parenting when the care demands for young children is high. Methods In order to examine these associations, while adjusting for a wide range of known covariates of parenting and relationship quality, regression models using survey data from 2151 working mothers of 4- to 5-year-old children are reported. Results/Conclusion Results provided partial support for the predicted independent relationships between work–family conflict, enrichment and indicators of the quality of parenting and the couple relationship. PMID:24673505

Economical analysis of saturation mutagenesis experiments

PubMed Central

Acevedo-Rocha, Carlos G.; Reetz, Manfred T.; Nov, Yuval

2015-01-01

Saturation mutagenesis is a powerful technique for engineering proteins, metabolic pathways and genomes. In spite of its numerous applications, creating high-quality saturation mutagenesis libraries remains a challenge, as various experimental parameters influence in a complex manner the resulting diversity. We explore from the economical perspective various aspects of saturation mutagenesis library preparation: We introduce a cheaper and faster control for assessing library quality based on liquid media; analyze the role of primer purity and supplier in libraries with and without redundancy; compare library quality, yield, randomization efficiency, and annealing bias using traditional and emergent randomization schemes based on mixtures of mutagenic primers; and establish a methodology for choosing the most cost-effective randomization scheme given the screening costs and other experimental parameters. We show that by carefully considering these parameters, laboratory expenses can be significantly reduced. PMID:26190439

Pay for performance in orthopaedic surgery.

PubMed

Pierce, Read G; Bozic, Kevin J; Bradford, David S

2007-04-01

In recent decades American medicine has undergone tremendous changes. Numerous reimbursement and systems approaches to controlling medical inflation and improving quality have failed to provide cost-effective, high-quality health care in most circumstances. Public and private payers are currently implementing pay for performance, a new reimbursement method linking physician pay to evidence of adherence to performance measures, to constrain costs, encourage efficiency, and maximize value for health care dollars. High-quality research regarding pay for performance and its impact is scarce, particularly in orthopaedic surgery. Although supporters argue pay for performance will remedy the fragmented, costly delivery of health services in the United States, skeptics raise concerns about disagreement over quality guidelines, financial implications for providers and hospitals, inadequate infrastructure, public reporting, system gaming, and physician support. Our survey of orthopaedic surgeons reveals limited understanding of pay for performance, marked skepticism of nonphysician stakeholders' intentions, and a strong desire for greater clinician involvement in shaping the pay for performance movement. As pay for performance will likely be a long-term change that will have an impact on every orthopaedic surgeon, clinician awareness and participation will be fundamental in creating successful pay for performance programs.

40 CFR 230.53 - Aesthetics.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... aquatic ecosystems apply to the quality of life enjoyed by the general public and property owners. (b... ecosystems by degrading water quality, creating distracting disposal sites, inducing inappropriate... quality, disrupt natural substrate and vegetational characteristics, deny access to or visibility of the...

40 CFR 230.53 - Aesthetics.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... aquatic ecosystems apply to the quality of life enjoyed by the general public and property owners. (b... ecosystems by degrading water quality, creating distracting disposal sites, inducing inappropriate... quality, disrupt natural substrate and vegetational characteristics, deny access to or visibility of the...

40 CFR 230.53 - Aesthetics.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... aquatic ecosystems apply to the quality of life enjoyed by the general public and property owners. (b... ecosystems by degrading water quality, creating distracting disposal sites, inducing inappropriate... quality, disrupt natural substrate and vegetational characteristics, deny access to or visibility of the...

40 CFR 230.53 - Aesthetics.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... aquatic ecosystems apply to the quality of life enjoyed by the general public and property owners. (b... ecosystems by degrading water quality, creating distracting disposal sites, inducing inappropriate... quality, disrupt natural substrate and vegetational characteristics, deny access to or visibility of the...

40 CFR 230.53 - Aesthetics.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... aquatic ecosystems apply to the quality of life enjoyed by the general public and property owners. (b... ecosystems by degrading water quality, creating distracting disposal sites, inducing inappropriate... quality, disrupt natural substrate and vegetational characteristics, deny access to or visibility of the...

Creating an Overall Environmental Quality Index - Technical Report

EPA Science Inventory

A better estimate of overall environmental quality is needed to improve our understanding of the relationship between environmental conditions and humanhealth. Described in this report is the effort to construct an environmental quality index representing multiple domains of the ...

Quantifying The Water Quality Services Of Wetlands

EPA Science Inventory

Wetlands are well recognized for their potential for providing a wide range of important ecological services including their ability to provide water quality protection. Watershed-scale water quality trading could create market driven incentives to restore and construct wetlands...

Generation and characterization of a perfect vortex beam with a large topological charge through a digital micromirror device.

PubMed

Chen, Yue; Fang, Zhao-Xiang; Ren, Yu-Xuan; Gong, Lei; Lu, Rong-De

2015-09-20

Optical vortices are associated with a spatial phase singularity. Such a beam with a vortex is valuable in optical microscopy, hyper-entanglement, and optical levitation. In these applications, vortex beams with a perfect circle shape and a large topological charge are highly desirable. But the generation of perfect vortices with high topological charges is challenging. We present a novel method to create perfect vortex beams with large topological charges using a digital micromirror device (DMD) through binary amplitude modulation and a narrow Gaussian approximation. The DMD with binary holograms encoding both the spatial amplitude and the phase could generate fast switchable, reconfigurable optical vortex beams with significantly high quality and fidelity. With either the binary Lee hologram or the superpixel binary encoding technique, we were able to generate the corresponding hologram with high fidelity and create a perfect vortex with topological charge as large as 90. The physical properties of the perfect vortex beam produced were characterized through measurements of propagation dynamics and the focusing fields. The measurements show good consistency with the theoretical simulation. The perfect vortex beam produced satisfies high-demand utilization in optical manipulation and control, momentum transfer, quantum computing, and biophotonics.

New Paradigms for Creating Quality Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greene, Brad

The Quality Schools movement combines the principles of control theory with Edward Deming's principles of total quality management. The outcome is a school environment in which the focus is on quality work, discipline is maintained without coercion, and students continuously evaluate their own work. This book describes the application of Quality…

43 CFR 414.5 - Water quality.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 43 Public Lands: Interior 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Water quality. 414.5 Section 414.5 Public... OFFSTREAM STORAGE OF COLORADO RIVER WATER AND DEVELOPMENT AND RELEASE OF INTENTIONALLY CREATED UNUSED APPORTIONMENT IN THE LOWER DIVISION STATES Water Quality and Environmental Compliance § 414.5 Water quality. (a...

43 CFR 414.5 - Water quality.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 43 Public Lands: Interior 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Water quality. 414.5 Section 414.5 Public... OFFSTREAM STORAGE OF COLORADO RIVER WATER AND DEVELOPMENT AND RELEASE OF INTENTIONALLY CREATED UNUSED APPORTIONMENT IN THE LOWER DIVISION STATES Water Quality and Environmental Compliance § 414.5 Water quality. (a...

43 CFR 414.5 - Water quality.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 43 Public Lands: Interior 1 2012-10-01 2011-10-01 true Water quality. 414.5 Section 414.5 Public... OFFSTREAM STORAGE OF COLORADO RIVER WATER AND DEVELOPMENT AND RELEASE OF INTENTIONALLY CREATED UNUSED APPORTIONMENT IN THE LOWER DIVISION STATES Water Quality and Environmental Compliance § 414.5 Water quality. (a...

43 CFR 414.5 - Water quality.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 43 Public Lands: Interior 1 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Water quality. 414.5 Section 414.5 Public... OFFSTREAM STORAGE OF COLORADO RIVER WATER AND DEVELOPMENT AND RELEASE OF INTENTIONALLY CREATED UNUSED APPORTIONMENT IN THE LOWER DIVISION STATES Water Quality and Environmental Compliance § 414.5 Water quality. (a...

43 CFR 414.5 - Water quality.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 43 Public Lands: Interior 1 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Water quality. 414.5 Section 414.5 Public... OFFSTREAM STORAGE OF COLORADO RIVER WATER AND DEVELOPMENT AND RELEASE OF INTENTIONALLY CREATED UNUSED APPORTIONMENT IN THE LOWER DIVISION STATES Water Quality and Environmental Compliance § 414.5 Water quality. (a...

Assessing Quality in Home Visiting Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Korfmacher, Jon; Laszewski, Audrey; Sparr, Mariel; Hammel, Jennifer

2013-01-01

Defining quality and designing a quality assessment measure for home visitation programs is a complex and multifaceted undertaking. This article summarizes the process used to create the Home Visitation Program Quality Rating Tool (HVPQRT) and identifies next steps for its development. The HVPQRT measures both structural and dynamic features of…

Bulk crystalline optomechanics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Renninger, W. H.; Kharel, P.; Behunin, R. O.; Rakich, P. T.

2018-06-01

Control of long-lived, high-frequency phonons using light offers a path towards creating robust quantum links, and could lead to tools for precision metrology with applications to quantum information processing. Optomechanical systems based on bulk acoustic-wave resonators are well suited for this goal in light of their high quality factors, and because they do not suffer from surface interactions as much as their microscale counterparts. However, so far these phonons have been accessible only electromechanically, using piezoelectric interactions. Here, we demonstrate customizable optomechanical coupling to macroscopic phonon modes of a bulk acoustic-wave resonator at cryogenic temperatures. These phonon modes, which are formed by shaping the surfaces of a crystal into a plano-convex phononic resonator, yield appreciable optomechanical coupling rates, providing access to high acoustic quality factors (4.2 × 107) at high phonon frequencies (13 GHz). This simple approach, which uses bulk properties rather than nanostructural control, is appealing for the ability to engineer optomechanical systems at high frequencies that are robust against thermal decoherence. Moreover, we show that this optomechanical system yields a unique form of dispersive symmetry-breaking that enables phonon heating or cooling without an optical cavity.

Creating Opportunities for Organizational Leadership (COOL): Creating a culture and curriculum that fosters psychiatric leadership development and quality improvement.

PubMed

Dickey, Chandlee; Dismukes, Rodney; Topor, David

2014-06-01

The authors describe the Harvard South Shore Psychiatry Residency Training Program curriculum "Creating Opportunities for Organizational Leadership," an innovative, multitiered, resident-driven, outcome-focused set of experiences designed to develop residents' leadership skills in personal leadership, organizational leadership, negotiation, strategic thinking, and systems redesign.

High-molecular-weight glutenin subunit-deficient mutants induced by ion beam and the effects of Glu-1 loci deletion on wheat quality properties.

PubMed

Zhang, Lujun; Chen, Qiufang; Su, Mingjie; Yan, Biao; Zhang, Xiangqi; Jiao, Zhen

2016-03-15

High-molecular-weight glutenin subunits (HMW-GSs) play a critical role in determining the viscoelastic properties of wheat. Mutations induced by ion beam radiation have been applied to improve the yield and quality of crop. In this study, HMW-GS-deficient mutant lines were selected and the effects of Glu-1 loci deletion on wheat quality properties were illustrated according to the analysis of dry seeds of common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Xiaoyan 81 treated with a nitrogen ion beam. Three HMW-GS-deficient mutant lines were obtained and then detected by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Large-chromosome-fragment deletion resulted in specific deficiencies, and the deleted region sizes were determined using molecular markers. Agronomic characters, quantity and proportion of glutenins and dough microstructure of the deletion lines all proved to be quite different from those of wild-type Xiaoyan 81. Analysis of quality properties suggested that GluA1(-) had superior property parameters, while GluB1(-) and GluD1(-) both showed a significant decrease in quality properties compared with Xiaoyan 81. The effects of the three Glu-1 loci on flour and dough quality-related parameters should be Glu-D1 > Glu-B1 > Glu-A1. Ion beam radiation can be used as a mutagen to create new crop mutants. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry.

Working toward quality in obstetric anesthesia: a business approach.

PubMed

Lynde, Grant C

2017-06-01

Physicians are increasingly required to demonstrate that they provide quality care. How does one define quality? A significant body of literature in industries outside of health care provides guidance on how to define appropriate metrics, create teams to troubleshoot problem areas, and sustain those improvements. The modern quality movement in the United States began in response to revolutionary gains in both quality and productivity in Japanese manufacturing in the 1980's. Applying these lessons to the healthcare setting has been slow. Hospitals are only now introducing tools such as failure mode and effect analysis, Lean and Six Sigma into their quality divisions and are seeing significant cost reductions and outcomes improvements. The review will discuss the process for creating an effective quality program for an obstetric anesthesia division. Sustainable improvements in delivered care need to be based on an evaluation of service line needs, defining appropriate metrics, understanding current process flows, changing and measuring those processes, and developing mechanisms to ensure the new processes are maintained.

Incentives for cooperation in quality improvement among hospitals--the impact of the reimbursement system.

PubMed

Kesteloot, K; Voet, N

1998-12-01

Up to now, few analytical models have studied the incentives for cooperation in quality improvements among hospitals. Only those dealing with reimbursement systems have shown that, from the point of view of individual or competing hospitals, retrospective reimbursement is more likely to encourage quality improvements than prospective financing, while the reverse holds for efficiency improvements. This paper studies the incentives to improve the quality of hospital care, in an analytical model, taking into account the possibility of cooperative agreements, price besides non-price (quality) competition and quality improvements that may simultaneously increase demand, increase or reduce costs and spill over to rival hospitals. In this setting quality improvement efforts rise with the rate of prospective reimbursement, while the impact of the rate of retrospective reimbursement is ambiguous, but likely to be negative for quality improvements that are highly cost-reducting and create large spillovers. Cooperation may lead to more or less quality improvement than non-cooperative conduct, depending on the magnitude of spillovers and the degree of product market competition, relative to the net effect of quality on profits and the share of costs that is reimbursed retrospectively. Finally, the stability of cooperative agreements, supported by grim trigger strategies, is shown to depend upon exactly the opposite interaction between these factors.

Assessing Faculty Experiences with and Perceptions of an Internal Quality Assurance Process for Undergraduate Distributed Learning Courses: A Pilot Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rucker, Ryan; Edwards, Karen; Frass, Lydia R.

2015-01-01

To ensure that online courses match traditional classes' quality, some institutions are implementing internal standards for online course design and quality review. The University of South Carolina created the Distributed Learning Quality Review program, based on "Quality Matters'" standards. It was designed to be faculty-guided, as…

A constrained Delaunay discretization method for adaptively meshing highly discontinuous geological media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Yang; Ma, Guowei; Ren, Feng; Li, Tuo

2017-12-01

A constrained Delaunay discretization method is developed to generate high-quality doubly adaptive meshes of highly discontinuous geological media. Complex features such as three-dimensional discrete fracture networks (DFNs), tunnels, shafts, slopes, boreholes, water curtains, and drainage systems are taken into account in the mesh generation. The constrained Delaunay triangulation method is used to create adaptive triangular elements on planar fractures. Persson's algorithm (Persson, 2005), based on an analogy between triangular elements and spring networks, is enriched to automatically discretize a planar fracture into mesh points with varying density and smooth-quality gradient. The triangulated planar fractures are treated as planar straight-line graphs (PSLGs) to construct piecewise-linear complex (PLC) for constrained Delaunay tetrahedralization. This guarantees the doubly adaptive characteristic of the resulted mesh: the mesh is adaptive not only along fractures but also in space. The quality of elements is compared with the results from an existing method. It is verified that the present method can generate smoother elements and a better distribution of element aspect ratios. Two numerical simulations are implemented to demonstrate that the present method can be applied to various simulations of complex geological media that contain a large number of discontinuities.

Do highly ornamented and less parasitized males have high quality sperm? – an experimental test for parasite-induced reproductive trade-offs in European minnow (Phoxinus phoxinus)

PubMed Central

Kekäläinen, Jukka; Pirhonen, Juhani; Taskinen, Jouni

2014-01-01

Parasites take their resources from hosts and thus directly reduce available resources for hosts’ own body functions, such as growth and reproduction. Furthermore, parasite infections cause significant indirect costs to their hosts in terms of increased investments on immune defense. In this study, we investigated the impact of parasite infection on the sperm quality and expression of secondary sexual ornamentation (saturation of the red abdominal colouration and number of breeding tubercles) in the Eurasian minnow (Phoxinus phoxinus). We exposed minnows to a high and low dose of common nonspecific fish ectoparasite, the glochidia larvae of duck mussel (Anodonta anatina) and tested whether parasite infection leads to trade-off in sperm quality and/or ornamental expression. We found that glochidia infection reduces the curvature of the sperm swimming trajectory, number of breeding tubercles, and possibly male competitive ability, but does not affect expression of male color ornamentation. Furthermore, glochidia infection was found to reduce sperm motility, but only when all the noninfected individuals were excluded from the model. Supporting one of the predictions by phenotype-linked fertility hypothesis both in high-infection and low-infection group male breeding colouration was positively associated with sperm quality. Our results suggest that although glochidia infection may have negative impact on male reproductive success, parasite-induced costs may not create strong trade-off between breeding colouration and sperm quality or that such trade-off become detectable only in resource-limited conditions. PMID:25540686

Air Quality Improvements of Increased Integration of Renewables: Solar Photovoltaics Penetration Scenarios

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duran, P.; Holloway, T.; Brinkman, G.; Denholm, P.; Littlefield, C. M.

2011-12-01

Solar photovoltaics (PV) are an attractive technology because they can be locally deployed and tend to yield high production during periods of peak electric demand. These characteristics can reduce the need for conventional large-scale electricity generation, thereby reducing emissions of criteria air pollutants (CAPs) and improving ambient air quality with regard to such pollutants as nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides and fine particulates. Such effects depend on the local climate, time-of-day emissions, available solar resources, the structure of the electric grid, and existing electricity production among other factors. This study examines the air quality impacts of distributed PV across the United States Eastern Interconnection. In order to accurately model the air quality impact of distributed PV in space and time, we used the National Renewable Energy Lab's (NREL) Regional Energy Deployment System (ReEDS) model to form three unique PV penetration scenarios in which new PV construction is distributed spatially based upon economic drivers and natural solar resources. Those scenarios are 2006 Eastern Interconnection business as usual, 10% PV penetration, and 20% PV penetration. With the GridView (ABB, Inc) dispatch model, we used historical load data from 2006 to model electricity production and distribution for each of the three scenarios. Solar PV electric output was estimated using historical weather data from 2006. To bridge the gap between dispatch and air quality modeling, we will create emission profiles for electricity generating units (EGUs) in the Eastern Interconnection from historical Continuous Emissions Monitoring System (CEMS) data. Via those emissions profiles, we will create hourly emission data for EGUs in the Eastern Interconnect for each scenario during 2006. Those data will be incorporated in the Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) model using the Sparse Matrix Operator Kernel Emissions (SMOKE) model. Initial results indicate that PV penetration significantly reduces conventional peak electricity production and that, due to reduced emissions during periods of extremely active photochemistry, air quality could see benefits.

Interventional Radiology Clinical Practice Guideline Recommendations for Neurovascular Disorders Are Not Based on High-Quality Systematic Reviews.

PubMed

Chong, A B; Taylor, M; Schubert, G; Vassar, M

2017-04-01

In recent years, clinical practice guidelines have been criticized for biased interpretations of research evidence, and interventional radiology is no exception. Our aim was to evaluate the methodologic quality and transparency of reporting in systematic reviews used as evidence in interventional radiology clinical practice guidelines for neurovascular disorders from the Society of Interventional Radiology. Our sources were 9 neurovascular disorder clinical practice guidelines from the Society of Interventional Radiology. We selected 65 systematic reviews and meta-analyses. A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) tools were used to assess the methodologic quality and reporting transparency of systematic reviews. Radial plots were created on the basis of average scores for PRISMA and AMSTAR items. On the basis of AMSTAR scores, 3 (4.62%) reviews were high-quality, 28 reviews (43.08%) were moderate-quality, and 34 reviews (52.31%) were low-quality, with an average quality score of 3.66 (34.32%; minimum, 0%; maximum, 81.82%). The average PRISMA score was 18.18 (69.41%). We were unable to obtain previous versions for 8 reviews, 7 of which were from the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. The methodologic quality of systematic reviews needs to be improved. Although reporting clarity was much better than the methodologic quality, it still has room for improvement. The methodologic quality and transparency of reporting did not vary much among clinical practice guidelines. This study can also be applied to other medical specialties to examine the quality of studies used as evidence in their own clinical practice guidelines. © 2017 by American Journal of Neuroradiology.

Reproductive investment when mate quality varies: differential allocation versus reproductive compensation.

PubMed

Harris, W Edwin; Uller, Tobias

2009-04-27

Reproductive investment decisions form an integral part of life-history biology. Selection frequently favours plasticity in investment that can generate maternal effects on offspring development. For example, if females differentially allocate resources based on mate attractiveness or quality, this can create a non-genetic link between mate attractiveness and offspring fitness with potential consequences for ecological and evolutionary dynamics. It is therefore important to understand under what conditions differential investment into offspring in relation to male quality is expected to occur and the direction of the effect. Two opposite predictions, increased investment into offspring produced with high-quality mates (differential allocation (DA)) and increased investment with low-quality males (reproductive compensation (RC)) have been suggested but no formal theoretical treatment justifying the assumptions underlying these two hypotheses has been conducted to date. Here, we used a state-based approach to investigate the circumstances under which the variation in mate quality results in differential female investment into offspring and how this interacts with female energetic resource levels. We found that a pattern of increased investment when mating with high-quality mates (i.e. DA) was the most common optimal investment strategy for females in our model. By contrast, increased investment when mating with low-quality mates (i.e. RC) was predicted only when the relative impact of parental investment on offspring quality was low. Finally, we found that the specific pattern of investment in relation to male quality depends on female energetic state, the likelihood for future mating opportunities and the expected future distribution of mate quality. Thus, the female's age and body condition should be important factors mediating DA and RC, which may help to explain the equivocal results of empirical studies.

Emission Reduction Potential of the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-05-19

The Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program (CMAQ) provides : funds to states for projects designed to help attain and maintain the national : ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) set under the Clean Air Act (CAA). CMAQ : was creat...

John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Awards.

PubMed

2009-12-01

The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety is honored to publish articles on the recipients of the annual John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Awards. This year, a new category was created: individual achievement at the international level.

The Impact of Teacher Quality Grants on Long-Term Professional Development of Physical Science Teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Urquhart, Mary L.; Bober, Kendra M.

2006-02-01

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Teacher Quality Grants, supported through No Child Left Behind, are intended to ensure that secondary teachers of specific subjects are "highly qualified". Now in their third year, these grants have done much to shape long-term professional development for teachers in the physical sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD). The grants have also created a suite of challenges and benefits for the UTD Science Education M.A.T. program. Teacher Quality Grants are based on the No Child Left Behind framework that requires teachers to be "highly qualified" as defined by the state. Recruitment is required to be targeted at teachers who are uncertified or teach one or more classes out of their content area and who work in high needs local school districts. Many of the students brought into our program through these grants have incoming content knowledge in physics similar to that typical of undergraduate non-majors, and a large percentage are uncomfortable with basic mathematics as well. How and what we teach has been dramatically impacted by the Teacher Quality Grants, as have our assessments and evaluations. An ongoing challenge has been to implement a Physics Education Research (PER)-based course design while meeting the specific requirements of the Teacher Quality Grant program. The Teacher Quality Grants have also provided a great deal of opportunity to new and existing teachers in our program. A barrier to our teachers, rising tuition costs, has been removed and as a result a mandate has become a doorway of opportunity for physical science teachers.

Performance management excellence among the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Winners in Health Care.

PubMed

Duarte, Neville T; Goodson, Jane R; Arnold, Edwin W

2013-01-01

When carefully constructed, performance management systems can help health care organizations direct their efforts toward strategic goals, high performance, and continuous improvement needed to ensure high-quality patient care and cost control. The effective management of performance is an integral component in hospital and health care systems that are recognized for excellence by the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in Health Care. Using the framework in the 2011-2012 Health Care Criteria for Performance Excellence, this article identifies the best practices in performance management demonstrated by 15 Baldrige recipients. The results show that all of the recipients base their performance management systems on strategic goals, outcomes, or competencies that cascade from the organizational to the individual level. At the individual level, each hospital or health system reinforces the strategic direction with performance evaluations of leaders and employees, including the governing board, based on key outcomes and competencies. Leader evaluations consistently include feedback from internal and external stakeholders, creating a culture of information sharing and performance improvement. The hospitals or health care systems also align their reward systems to promote high performance by emphasizing merit and recognition for contributions. Best practices can provide a guide for leaders in other health systems in developing high-performance work systems.

Demonstration of a positron beam-driven hollow channel plasma wakefield accelerator

DOE PAGES

Gessner, Spencer; Adli, Erik; Allen, James M.; ...

2016-06-02

Plasma wakefield accelerators have been used to accelerate electron and positron particle beams with gradients that are orders of magnitude larger than those achieved in conventional accelerators. In addition to being accelerated by the plasma wakefield, the beam particles also experience strong transverse forces that may disrupt the beam quality. Hollow plasma channels have been proposed as a technique for generating accelerating fields without transverse forces. In this study, we demonstrate a method for creating an extended hollow plasma channel and measure the wakefields created by an ultrarelativistic positron beam as it propagates through the channel. The plasma channel ismore » created by directing a high-intensity laser pulse with a spatially modulated profile into lithium vapour, which results in an annular region of ionization. A peak decelerating field of 230 MeV m -1 is inferred from changes in the beam energy spectrum, in good agreement with theory and particle-in-cell simulations.« less

Creating Shape Templates for Patient Specific Biventricular Modeling in Congenital Heart Disease

PubMed Central

Gilbert, Kathleen; Farrar, Genevieve; Cowan, Brett R.; Suinesiaputra, Avan; Occleshaw, Christopher; Pontré, Beau; Perry, James; Hegde, Sanjeet; Marsden, Alison; Omens, Jeff; McCulloch, Andrew; Young, Alistair A.

2018-01-01

Survival rates for infants with congenital heart disease (CHD) are improving, resulting in a growing population of adults with CHD. However, the analysis of left and right ventricular function is very time-consuming owing to the variety of congenital morphologies. Efficient customization of patient geometry and function depends on high quality shape templates specifically designed for the application. In this paper, we combine a method for creating finite element shape templates with an interactive template customization to patient MRI examinations. This enables different templates to be chosen depending on patient morphology. To demonstrate this pipeline, a new biventricular template with 162 elements was created and tested in place of an existing 82-element template. The method was able to provide fast interactive biventricular analysis with 0.31 sec per edit response time. The new template was customized to 13 CHD patients with similar biventricular topology, showing improved performance over the previous template and good agreement with clinical indices. PMID:26736353

Utilization of different waste proteins to create a novel PGPR-containing bio-organic fertilizer

PubMed Central

Huang, Yan; Sun, Li; Zhao, Jianshu; Huang, Rong; Li, Rong; Shen, Qirong

2015-01-01

High-quality bio-organic fertilizers (BIOs) cannot be produced without the addition of some proteins, while many waste proteins are haphazardly disposed, causing serious environmental pollution. In this study, several waste proteins were used as additives to assist with the reproduction of the functional microbe (Bacillus amyloliquefaciens SQR9) inoculated into matured composts to produce BIOs. An optimized composition of solid-state fermentation (SSF) raw materials was predicted by response surface methodology and experimental validation. The results showed that 7.61% (w/w, DW, the same below) rapeseed meal, 8.85% expanded feather meal, 6.47% dewatered blue algal sludge and 77.07% chicken compost resulted in maximum biomass of strain SQR-9 and the maximum amount of lipopeptides 7 days after SSF. Spectroscopy experiments showed that the inner material structural changes in the novel SSF differed from the control and the novel BIO had higher dissolved organic matter. This study offers a high value-added utilization of waste proteins for producing economical but high-quality BIO. PMID:25586328

Geoinformatics 2008 - Data to Knowledge

USGS Publications Warehouse

Brady, Shailaja R.; Sinha, A. Krishna; Gundersen, Linda C.

2008-01-01

Geoinformatics is the term used to describe a variety of efforts to promote collaboration between the computer sciences and the geosciences to solve complex scientific questions. It refers to the distributed, integrated digital information system and working environment that provides innovative means for the study of the Earth systems, as well as other planets, through use of advanced information technologies. Geoinformatics activities range from major research and development efforts creating new technologies to provide high-quality, sustained production-level services for data discovery, integration and analysis, to small, discipline-specific efforts that develop earth science data collections and data analysis tools serving the needs of individual communities. The ultimate vision of Geoinformatics is a highly interconnected data system populated with high quality, freely available data, as well as, a robust set of software for analysis, visualization, and modeling. This volume is a collection of extended abstracts for oral papers presented at the Geoinformatics 2008 conference, June 11 and 13, 2008, in Potsdam, Germany.

Utilization of different waste proteins to create a novel PGPR-containing bio-organic fertilizer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Yan; Sun, Li; Zhao, Jianshu; Huang, Rong; Li, Rong; Shen, Qirong

2015-01-01

High-quality bio-organic fertilizers (BIOs) cannot be produced without the addition of some proteins, while many waste proteins are haphazardly disposed, causing serious environmental pollution. In this study, several waste proteins were used as additives to assist with the reproduction of the functional microbe (Bacillus amyloliquefaciens SQR9) inoculated into matured composts to produce BIOs. An optimized composition of solid-state fermentation (SSF) raw materials was predicted by response surface methodology and experimental validation. The results showed that 7.61% (w/w, DW, the same below) rapeseed meal, 8.85% expanded feather meal, 6.47% dewatered blue algal sludge and 77.07% chicken compost resulted in maximum biomass of strain SQR-9 and the maximum amount of lipopeptides 7 days after SSF. Spectroscopy experiments showed that the inner material structural changes in the novel SSF differed from the control and the novel BIO had higher dissolved organic matter. This study offers a high value-added utilization of waste proteins for producing economical but high-quality BIO.

Evaluation of Various Radar Data Quality Control Algorithms Based on Accumulated Radar Rainfall Statistics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Robinson, Michael; Steiner, Matthias; Wolff, David B.; Ferrier, Brad S.; Kessinger, Cathy; Einaudi, Franco (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

The primary function of the TRMM Ground Validation (GV) Program is to create GV rainfall products that provide basic validation of satellite-derived precipitation measurements for select primary sites. A fundamental and extremely important step in creating high-quality GV products is radar data quality control. Quality control (QC) processing of TRMM GV radar data is based on some automated procedures, but the current QC algorithm is not fully operational and requires significant human interaction to assure satisfactory results. Moreover, the TRMM GV QC algorithm, even with continuous manual tuning, still can not completely remove all types of spurious echoes. In an attempt to improve the current operational radar data QC procedures of the TRMM GV effort, an intercomparison of several QC algorithms has been conducted. This presentation will demonstrate how various radar data QC algorithms affect accumulated radar rainfall products. In all, six different QC algorithms will be applied to two months of WSR-88D radar data from Melbourne, Florida. Daily, five-day, and monthly accumulated radar rainfall maps will be produced for each quality-controlled data set. The QC algorithms will be evaluated and compared based on their ability to remove spurious echoes without removing significant precipitation. Strengths and weaknesses of each algorithm will be assessed based on, their abilit to mitigate both erroneous additions and reductions in rainfall accumulation from spurious echo contamination and true precipitation removal, respectively. Contamination from individual spurious echo categories will be quantified to further diagnose the abilities of each radar QC algorithm. Finally, a cost-benefit analysis will be conducted to determine if a more automated QC algorithm is a viable alternative to the current, labor-intensive QC algorithm employed by TRMM GV.

Which practice characteristics are associated with the quality of cardiovascular disease prevention in European primary care?

PubMed

Ludt, Sabine; Campbell, Stephen M; Petek, Davorina; Rochon, Justine; Szecsenyi, Joachim; van Lieshout, Jan; Wensing, Michel; Ose, Dominik

2013-03-09

Prevention of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) is a major health issue worldwide. Primary care plays an important role in cardiovascular risk management (CVRM). Guidelines and quality of care measures to assess CVRM in primary care practices are available. In this study, we assessed the relationship between structural and organisational practice characteristics and the quality of care provided in individuals at high risk for developing CVD in European primary care. An observational study was conducted in 267 general practices from 9 European countries. Previously developed quality indicators were abstracted from medical records of randomly sampled patients to create a composite quality measure. Practice characteristics were collected by a practice questionnaire and face to face interviews. Data were aggregated using factor analysis to four practice scores representing structural and organisational practice features. A hierarchical multilevel analysis was performed to examine the impact of practice characteristics on quality of CVRM. The final sample included 4223 individuals at high risk for developing CVD (28% female) with a mean age of 66.5 years (SD 9.1). Mean indicator achievement was 59.9% with a greater variation between practices than between countries. Predictors at the patient level (age, gender) had no influence on the outcome. At the practice level, the score 'Preventive Services' (13 items) was positively associated with clinical performance (r = 1.92; p = 0.0058). Sensitivity analyses resulted in a 5-item score (PrevServ_5) that was also positively associated with the outcome (r = 4.28; p < 0.0001). There was a positive association between the quality of CVRM in individuals at high risk for developing CVD and the availability of preventive services related to risk assessment and lifestyle management supported by information technology.

Which practice characteristics are associated with the quality of cardiovascular disease prevention in European primary care?

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Prevention of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) is a major health issue worldwide. Primary care plays an important role in cardiovascular risk management (CVRM). Guidelines and quality of care measures to assess CVRM in primary care practices are available. In this study, we assessed the relationship between structural and organisational practice characteristics and the quality of care provided in individuals at high risk for developing CVD in European primary care. Methods An observational study was conducted in 267 general practices from 9 European countries. Previously developed quality indicators were abstracted from medical records of randomly sampled patients to create a composite quality measure. Practice characteristics were collected by a practice questionnaire and face to face interviews. Data were aggregated using factor analysis to four practice scores representing structural and organisational practice features. A hierarchical multilevel analysis was performed to examine the impact of practice characteristics on quality of CVRM. Results The final sample included 4223 individuals at high risk for developing CVD (28% female) with a mean age of 66.5 years (SD 9.1). Mean indicator achievement was 59.9% with a greater variation between practices than between countries. Predictors at the patient level (age, gender) had no influence on the outcome. At the practice level, the score ‘Preventive Services’ (13 items) was positively associated with clinical performance (r = 1.92; p = 0.0058). Sensitivity analyses resulted in a 5-item score (PrevServ_5) that was also positively associated with the outcome (r = 4.28; p < 0.0001). Conclusions There was a positive association between the quality of CVRM in individuals at high risk for developing CVD and the availability of preventive services related to risk assessment and lifestyle management supported by information technology. PMID:23510482

The link between leadership and safety outcomes in hospitals.

PubMed

Squires, Mae; Tourangeau, Ann; Spence Laschinger, Heather K; Doran, Diane

2010-11-01

To test and refine a model examining relationships among leadership, interactional justice, quality of the nursing work environment, safety climate and patient and nurse safety outcomes. The quality of nursing work environments may pose serious threats to patient and nurse safety. Justice is an important element in work environments that support safety initiatives yet little research has been done that looks at how leader interactional justice influences safety outcomes. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 600 acute care registered nurses (RNs) to test and refine a model linking interactional justice, the quality of nurse leader-nurse relationships, work environment and safety climate with patient and nurse outcomes. In general the hypothesized model was supported. Resonant leadership and interactional justice influenced the quality of the leader-nurse relationship which in turn affected the quality of the work environment and safety climate. This ultimately was associated with decreased reported medication errors, intentions to leave and emotional exhaustion. Quality relationships based on fairness and empathy play a pivotal role in creating positive safety climates and work environments. To advocate for safe work environments, managers must strive to develop high-quality relationships through just leadership practices. © 2010 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Some far-field acoustics characteristics of the XV-15 tilt-rotor aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Golub, Robert A.; Conner, David A.; Becker, Lawrence E.; Rutledge, C. Kendall; Smith, Rita A.

1990-01-01

Far-field acoustics tests have been conducted on an instrumented XV-15 tilt-rotor aircraft. The purpose of these acoustic measurements was to create an encompassing, high confidence (90 percent), and accurate (-1.4/ +1/8 dB theoretical confidence interval) far-field acoustics data base to validate ROTONET and other current rotorcraft noise prediction computer codes. This paper describes the flight techniques used, with emphasis on the care taken to obtain high-quality far-field acoustic data. The quality and extensiveness of the data base collected are shown by presentation of ground acoustic contours for level flyovers for the airplane flight mode and for several forward velocities and nacelle tilts for the transition mode and helicopter flight mode. Acoustic pressure time-histories and fully analyzed ensemble averaged far-field data results (spectra) are shown for each of the ground contour cases.

Perovskite Solar Cells: From the Atomic Level to Film Quality and Device Performance.

PubMed

Saliba, Michael; Correa-Baena, Juan-Pablo; Grätzel, Michael; Hagfeldt, Anders; Abate, Antonio

2018-03-01

Organic-inorganic perovskites have made tremendous progress in recent years due to exceptional material properties such as high panchromatic absorption, charge carrier diffusion lengths, and a sharp optical band edge. The combination of high-quality semiconductor performance with low-cost deposition techniques seems to be a match made in heaven, creating great excitement far beyond academic ivory towers. This is particularly true for perovskite solar cells (PSCs) that have shown unprecedented gains in efficiency and stability over a time span of just five years. Now there are serious efforts for commercialization with the hope that PSCs can make a major impact in generating inexpensive, sustainable solar electricity. In this Review, we will focus on perovskite material properties as well as on devices from the atomic to the thin film level to highlight the remaining challenges and to anticipate the future developments of PSCs. © 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

sbv IMPROVER: Modern Approach to Systems Biology.

PubMed

Guryanova, Svetlana; Guryanova, Anna

2017-01-01

The increasing amount and variety of data in biosciences call for innovative methods of visualization, scientific verification, and pathway analysis. Novel approaches to biological networks and research quality control are important because of their role in development of new products, improvement, and acceleration of existing health policies and research for novel ways of solving scientific challenges. One such approach is sbv IMPROVER. It is a platform that uses crowdsourcing and verification to create biological networks with easy public access. It contains 120 networks built in Biological Expression Language (BEL) to interpret data from PubMed articles with high-quality verification available for free on the CBN database. Computable, human-readable biological networks with a structured syntax are a powerful way of representing biological information generated from high-density data. This article presents sbv IMPROVER, a crowd-verification approach for the visualization and expansion of biological networks.

Frontline nurse managers' confidence and self-efficacy.

PubMed

Van Dyk, Jennifer; Siedlecki, Sandra L; Fitzpatrick, Joyce J

2016-05-01

This study was focused on determining relationships between confidence levels and self-efficacy among nurse managers. Frontline nurse managers have a pivotal role in delivering high-quality patient care while managing the associated costs and resources. The competency and skill of nurse managers affect every aspect of patient care and staff well-being as nurse managers are largely responsible for creating work environments in which clinical nurses are able to provide high-quality, patient-centred, holistic care. A descriptive, correlational survey design was used; 85 nurse managers participated. Years in a formal leadership role and confidence scores were found to be significant predictors of self-efficacy scores. Experience as a nurse manager is an important component of confidence and self-efficacy. There is a need to develop educational programmes for nurse managers to enhance their self-confidence and self-efficacy, and to maintain experienced nurse managers in the role. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Reduced Fat Food Emulsions: Physicochemical, Sensory, and Biological Aspects.

PubMed

Chung, Cheryl; Smith, Gordon; Degner, Brian; McClements, David Julian

2016-01-01

Fat plays multiple important roles in imparting desirable sensory attributes to emulsion-based food products, such as sauces, dressings, soups, beverages, and desserts. However, there is concern that over consumption of fats leads to increased incidences of chronic diseases, such as obesity, coronary heart disease, and diabetes. Consequently, there is a need to develop reduced fat products with desirable sensory profiles that match those of their full-fat counterparts. The successful design of high quality reduced-fat products requires an understanding of the many roles that fat plays in determining the sensory attributes of food emulsions, and of appropriate strategies to replace some or all of these attributes. This paper reviews our current understanding of the influence of fat on the physicochemical and physiological attributes of food emulsions, and highlights some of the main approaches that can be used to create high quality emulsion-based food products with reduced fat contents.

Flexible and stretchable electronics for biointegrated devices.

PubMed

Kim, Dae-Hyeong; Ghaffari, Roozbeh; Lu, Nanshu; Rogers, John A

2012-01-01

Advances in materials, mechanics, and manufacturing now allow construction of high-quality electronics and optoelectronics in forms that can readily integrate with the soft, curvilinear, and time-dynamic surfaces of the human body. The resulting capabilities create new opportunities for studying disease states, improving surgical procedures, monitoring health/wellness, establishing human-machine interfaces, and performing other functions. This review summarizes these technologies and illustrates their use in forms integrated with the brain, the heart, and the skin.

High quality oxide films on substrates

DOEpatents

Ruckman, M.W.; Strongin, M.; Gao, Y.L.

1994-02-01

A method is described for providing an oxide film of a material on the surface of a substrate using a reactive deposition of the material onto the substrate surface in the presence of a solid or liquid layer of an oxidizing gas. The oxidizing gas is provided on the substrate surface in an amount sufficient to dissipate the latent heat of condensation occurring during deposition as well as creating a favorable oxidizing environment for the material. 4 figures.

Method for producing high quality oxide films on substrates

DOEpatents

Ruckman, M.W.; Strongin, M.; Gao, Y.L.

1993-11-23

A method is described for providing an oxide film of a material on the surface of a substrate using a reactive deposition of the material onto the substrate surface in the presence of a solid or liquid layer of an oxidizing gas. The oxidizing gas is provided on the substrate surface in an amount sufficient to dissipate the latent heat of condensation occurring during deposition as well as creating a favorable oxidizing environment for the material. 4 figures.

Differential impacts of wildfire on the population dynamics of an old-forest species.

PubMed

Rockweit, Jeremy T; Franklin, Alan B; Carlson, Peter C

2017-06-01

Ecological disturbances shape and maintain natural communities, but climate change and human land use can alter disturbance regimes and affect population persistence and vital rates in unpredictable ways. Species inhabiting landscapes shaped by wildfire have evolved mechanisms allowing them to persist under this dynamic disturbance type, which creates habitats of varying quality for these species. We utilized data from a 26-yr demographic study of northern spotted owls to analyze the influence of wildfire on apparent survival and recruitment rates. Wildfires occurred across different years and affected different spotted owl territories, which allowed us to implement a retrospective Before-After-Control-Impact (BACI) analysis and model the potential effect of wildfire extent and severity. Our results indicated that mixed-severity fires that burned at predominantly low-severity had little effect on survival and recruitment while fires characterized by more medium to high burn severities negatively affected spotted owl survival, with varying effects on recruitment. Reduced survival and increased recruitment rates on some territories affected by medium to high severity fires suggested that post-fire habitat quality was reduced resulting in territories that were marginally capable of supporting owls. We hypothesize these territories may have represented "sinks" that were supported by nearby "source" territories in a spatially heterogeneous landscape created by the mixed-severity fire regime of the region. © 2017 by the Ecological Society of America.

Preventive care quality of Medicare Accountable Care Organizations: Associations of organizational characteristics with performance

PubMed Central

Albright, Benjamin B.; Lewis, Valerie A.; Ross, Joseph S.; Colla, Carrie H.

2015-01-01

Background Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) are a delivery and payment model aiming to coordinate care, control costs, and improve quality. Medicare ACOs are responsible for eight measures of preventive care quality. Objectives To create composite measures of preventive care quality and examine associations of ACO characteristics with performance. Design Cross-sectional study of Medicare Shared Savings Program and Pioneer participants. We linked quality performance to descriptive data from the National Survey of ACOs. We created composite measures using exploratory factor analysis, and used regression to assess associations with organizational characteristics. Results Of 252 eligible ACOs, 246 reported on preventive care quality, 177 of which completed the survey (response rate=72%). In their first year, ACOs lagged behind PPO performance on the majority of comparable measures. We identified two underlying factors among eight measures and created composites for each: disease prevention, driven by vaccines and cancer screenings, and wellness screening, driven by annual health screenings. Participation in the Advanced Payment Model, having fewer specialists, and having more Medicare ACO beneficiaries per primary care provider were associated with significantly better performance on both composites. Better performance on disease prevention was also associated with inclusion of a hospital, greater electronic health record capabilities, a larger primary care workforce, and fewer minority beneficiaries. Conclusions ACO preventive care quality performance is related to provider composition and benefitted by upfront investment. Vaccine and cancer screening quality performance is more dependent on organizational structure and characteristics than performance on annual wellness screenings, likely due to greater complexity in eligibility determination and service administration. PMID:26759974

Preventive Care Quality of Medicare Accountable Care Organizations: Associations of Organizational Characteristics With Performance.

PubMed

Albright, Benjamin B; Lewis, Valerie A; Ross, Joseph S; Colla, Carrie H

2016-03-01

Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) are a delivery and payment model aiming to coordinate care, control costs, and improve quality. Medicare ACOs are responsible for 8 measures of preventive care quality. To create composite measures of preventive care quality and examine associations of ACO characteristics with performance. This is a cross-sectional study of Medicare Shared Savings Program and Pioneer participants. We linked quality performance to descriptive data from the National Survey of ACOs. We created composite measures using exploratory factor analysis, and used regression to assess associations with organizational characteristics. Of 252 eligible ACOs, 246 reported on preventive care quality, 177 of which completed the survey (response rate=72%). In their first year, ACOs lagged behind PPO performance on the majority of comparable measures. We identified 2 underlying factors among 8 measures and created composites for each: disease prevention, driven by vaccines and cancer screenings, and wellness screening, driven by annual health screenings. Participation in the Advanced Payment Model, having fewer specialists, and having more Medicare ACO beneficiaries per primary care provider were associated with significantly better performance on both composites. Better performance on disease prevention was also associated with inclusion of a hospital, greater electronic health record capabilities, a larger primary care workforce, and fewer minority beneficiaries. ACO preventive care quality performance is related to provider composition and benefitted by upfront investment. Vaccine and cancer screening quality performance is more dependent on organizational structure and characteristics than performance on annual wellness screenings, likely due to greater complexity in eligibility determination and service administration.

Teams in Education: Creating an Integrated Approach.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arcaro, Jerome S.

This handbook is designed to help educational professionals develop cross-functional or departmental quality teams. Nine chapters focus on: (1) the concept of Total Quality Management (TQM) and 14 points for quality in education; (2) team goals and formation; (3) stages of successful team building; (4) the development of quality task teams; (5)…

EPA GEOSPATIAL QUALITY COUNCIL

EPA Science Inventory

The EPA Geospatial Quality Council (previously known as the EPA GIS-QA Team - EPA/600/R-00/009 was created to fill the gap between the EPA Quality Assurance (QA) and Geospatial communities. All EPA Offices and Regions were invited to participate. Currently, the EPA Geospatial Q...

Using Interactive eBooks To Educate Children About Sub-seafloor Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kurtz, K.

2016-02-01

Sub-seafloor scientific research has the power to spark the imaginations of elementary age children with its mysterious nature, cutting-edge research, and its connections to kid friendly science topics, such as volcanoes, the extinction of dinosaurs and the search for extraterrestrial life. These factors have been utilized to create two interactive eBooks for elementary students and teachers, integrating high quality science information, highly engaging and age-appropriate illustrations, and rhyming text. The first eBook introduces children to the research and discoveries of the JOIDES Resolution research vessel. The creators were able to build-on the knowledge gained in creating the first eBook to create a second eBook that focuses on the discoveries of microbial life in the sub-seafloor. The eBooks present information as traditional, linear, illustrated children's books, but the eBook format allows the book to be available online for free to anyone and allows teachers to project the book on a classroom screen so all students can easily see the illustrations. The iPad versions also provide an interactive, learner-led educational experience, where cognitively appropriate videos, photos and other forms of information can be accessed with the tap of a finger to answer reader questions and enrich their learning experience. These projects provide an example and model of the products that can result from high level and meaningful partnerships between scientists, educators, artists and writers.

Partnerships for Quality: A Statewide Plan for Developing and Implementing a Total Quality Curriculum Delivered through Oregon's Community Colleges.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oregon State Economic Development Dept., Salem.

The Oregon Advanced Technology Consortium (OATC) created the Partnerships for Quality Project (PQP) to improve Oregon's community colleges by developing a total quality curriculum (TQC) based on the beliefs and practices of total quality management (TQM). This report summarizes the recommendations of the PQP and presents a plan of action for the…

Massive Open Online Grants (MOOG's): Connecting hundreds of thousands with ocean science by allowing the public to vote on research grants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McNeil, B.

2016-02-01

We know that universities who host Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC's) are driving deep global engagement by allowing the public to enrol in open and free quality course online. At thinkable.org, we have pioneered the development of 'Massive Open Online Grants or MOOG's, which allow research organizations & societies to host open grants, prizes & contests that allows the public to vote, connect & engage with high quality research for the first time. In order to reach a wide audience, researchers create short video summaries of their work that allows anyone to learn, vote, share and connect with research important to them. We have found this to help both research organizations and researchers reach a wide audience to demonstrate public impact & innovation, drive collaborative partnerships and raise public funding for their research. In this talk, I will outline our experience in developing MOOG's and the immense future opportunities to revolutionize how high-quality research engages with society by using technology to empower deep connections between ocean researchers & the wider public.

The 3D Elevation Program: summary for California

USGS Publications Warehouse

Carswell, William J.

2013-01-01

Elevation data are essential to a broad range of applications, including forest resources management, wildlife and habitat management, national security, recreation, and many others. For the State of California, elevation data are critical for infrastructure and construction management; natural resources conservation; flood risk management; wildfire management, planning, and response; agriculture and precision farming; geologic resource assessment and hazard mitigation; and other business uses. Today, high-quality light detection and ranging (lidar) data are the sources for creating elevation models and other elevation datasets. Federal, State, and local agencies work in partnership to (1) replace data, on a national basis, that are (on average) 30 years old and of lower quality and (2) provide coverage where publicly accessible data do not exist. A joint goal of State and Federal partners is to acquire consistent, statewide coverage to support existing and emerging applications enabled by lidar data. The new 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) initiative, managed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), responds to the growing need for high-quality topographic data and a wide range of other three-dimensional representations of the Nation’s natural and constructed features.

The 3D Elevation Program: summary for Virginia

USGS Publications Warehouse

Carswell, William J.

2013-01-01

Elevation data are essential to a broad range of applications, including forest resources management, wildlife and habitat management, national security, recreation, and many others. For the Commonwealth of Virginia, elevation data are critical for urban and regional planning, natural resources conservation, flood risk management, agriculture and precision farming, resource mining, infrastructure and construction management, and other business uses. Today, high-quality light detection and ranging (lidar) data are the sources for creating elevation models and other elevation datasets. Federal, State, and local agencies work in partnership to (1) replace data, on a national basis, that are (on average) 30 years old and of lower quality and (2) provide coverage where publicly accessible data do not exist. A joint goal of State and Federal partners is to acquire consistent, statewide coverage to support existing and emerging applications enabled by lidar data. The new 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) initiative, managed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), responds to the growing need for high-quality topographic data and a wide range of other three-dimensional representations of the Nation’s natural and constructed features.

The 3D Elevation Program: summary for Rhode Island

USGS Publications Warehouse

Carswell, William J.

2013-01-01

Elevation data are essential to a broad range of applications, including forest resources management, wildlife and habitat management, national security, recreation, and many others. For the State of Rhode Island, elevation data are critical for flood risk management, natural resources conservation, coastal zone management, sea level rise and subsidence, agriculture and precision farming, and other business uses. Today, high-quality light detection and ranging (lidar) data are the sources for creating elevation models and other elevation datasets. Federal, State, and local agencies work in partnership to (1) replace data, on a national basis, that are (on average) 30 years old and of lower quality and (2) provide coverage where publicly accessible data do not exist. A joint goal of State and Federal partners is to acquire consistent, statewide coverage to support existing and emerging applications enabled by lidar data. The new 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) initiative (Snyder, 2012a,b), managed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), responds to the growing need for high-quality topographic data and a wide range of other three-dimensional representations of the Nation’s natural and constructed features.

Three-dimensional interactive and stereotactic atlas of head muscles and glands correlated with cranial nerves and surface and sectional neuroanatomy.

PubMed

Nowinski, Wieslaw L; Chua, Beng Choon; Johnson, Aleksandra; Qian, Guoyu; Poh, Lan Eng; Yi, Su Hnin Wut; Bivi, Aminah; Nowinska, Natalia G

2013-04-30

Three-dimensional (3D) relationships between head muscles and cranial nerves innervating them are complicated. Existing sources present these relationships in illustrations, radiologic scans, or autopsy photographs, which are limited for learning and use. Developed electronic atlases are limited in content, quality, functionality, and/or presentation. We create a truly 3D interactive, stereotactic and high quality atlas, which provides spatial relationships among head muscles, glands and cranial nerves, and correlates them to surface and sectional neuroanatomy. The head muscles and glands were created from a 3T scan by contouring them and generating 3D models. They were named and structured according to Terminologia anatomica. The muscles were divided into: extra-ocular, facial, masticatory and other muscles, and glands into mouth and other glands. The muscles, glands (and also head) were placed in a stereotactic coordinate system. This content was integrated with cranial nerves and neuroanatomy created earlier. To explore this complex content, a scalable user interface was designed with 12 modules including central nervous system (cerebrum, cerebellum, brainstem, spinal cord), cranial nerves, muscles, glands, arterial system, venous system, tracts, deep gray nuclei, ventricles, white matter, visual system, head. Anatomy exploration operations include compositing/decompositing, individual/group selection, 3D view-index mapping, 3D labeling, highlighting, distance measuring, 3D brain cutting, and axial/coronal/sagittal triplanar display. To our best knowledge, this is the first truly 3D, stereotactic, interactive, fairly complete atlas of head muscles, and the first attempt to create a 3D stereotactic atlas of glands. Its use ranges from education of students and patients to research to potential clinical applications. Crown Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Transforming communication and safety culture in intrapartum care: a multi-organization blueprint.

PubMed

Lyndon, Audrey; Johnson, M Christina; Bingham, Debra; Napolitano, Peter G; Joseph, Gerald; Maxfield, David G; O'Keeffe, Daniel F

2015-01-01

Effective, patient-centered communication facilitates interception and correction of potentially harmful conditions and errors. All team members, including women, their families, physicians, midwives, nurses, and support staff, have a role in identifying the potential for harm during labor and birth. However, the results of collaborative research studies conducted by organizations that represent professionals who care for women during labor and birth indicate that health care providers may frequently witness, but may not always report, problems with safety or clinical performance. Some of these health care providers felt resigned to the continuation of such problems and fearful of retribution if they tried to address them. Speaking up to address safety and quality concerns is a dynamic social process. Every team member must feel empowered to speak up about concerns without fear of put-downs, retribution, or receiving poor-quality care. Patient safety requires mutual accountability: individuals, teams, health care facilities, and professional associations have a shared responsibility for creating and sustaining environments of mutual respect and engaging in highly reliable perinatal care. Defects in human factors, communication, and leadership have been the leading contributors to sentinel events in perinatal care for more than a decade. Organizational commitment and executive leadership are essential to creating an environment that proactively supports safety and quality. The problem is well-known; the time for action is now. © 2015 by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Transforming communication and safety culture in intrapartum care: a multi-organization blueprint.

PubMed

Lyndon, Audrey; Johnson, M Christina; Bingham, Debra; Napolitano, Peter G; Joseph, Gerald; Maxfield, David G; OʼKeeffe, Daniel F

2015-05-01

Effective, patient-centered communication facilitates interception and correction of potentially harmful conditions and errors. All team members, including women, their families, physicians, midwives, nurses, and support staff, have a role in identifying the potential for harm during labor and birth. However, the results of collaborative research studies conducted by organizations that represent professionals who care for women during labor and birth indicate that health care providers may frequently witness, but may not always report, problems with safety or clinical performance. Some of these health care providers felt resigned to the continuation of such problems and fearful of retribution if they tried to address them. Speaking up to address safety and quality concerns is a dynamic social process. Every team member must feel empowered to speak up about concerns without fear of put-downs, retribution, or receiving poor-quality care. Patient safety requires mutual accountability: individuals, teams, health care facilities, and professional associations have a shared responsibility for creating and sustaining environments of mutual respect and engaging in highly reliable perinatal care. Defects in human factors, communication, and leadership have been the leading contributors to sentinel events in perinatal care for more than a decade. Organizational commitment and executive leadership are essential to creating an environment that proactively supports safety and quality. The problem is well-known; the time for action is now.

Transforming communication and safety culture in intrapartum care: a multi-organization blueprint.

PubMed

Lyndon, Audrey; Johnson, M Christina; Bingham, Debra; Napolitano, Peter G; Joseph, Gerald; Maxfield, David G; O'Keeffe, Daniel F

2015-01-01

Effective, patient-centered communication facilitates interception and correction of potentially harmful conditions and errors. All team members, including women, their families, physicians, midwives, nurses, and support staff, have roles in identifying the potential for harm during labor and birth. However, the results of collaborative research studies conducted by organizations that represent professionals who care for women during labor and birth indicate that health care providers may frequently witness, but may not always report, problems with safety or clinical performance. Some of these health care providers felt resigned to the continuation of such problems and fearful of retribution if they tried to address them. Speaking up to address safety and quality concerns is a dynamic social process. Every team member must feel empowered to speak up about concerns without fear of put-downs, retribution, or receiving poor-quality care. Patient safety requires mutual accountability: individuals, teams, health care facilities, and professional associations have a shared responsibility for creating and sustaining environments of mutual respect and engaging in highly reliable perinatal care. Defects in human factors, communication, and leadership have been the leading contributors to sentinel events in perinatal care for more than a decade. Organizational commitment and executive leadership are essential to creating an environment that proactively supports safety and quality. The problem is well-known; the time for action is now. © 2015 AWHONN, the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses.

Image-Processing Techniques for the Creation of Presentation-Quality Astronomical Images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rector, Travis A.; Levay, Zoltan G.; Frattare, Lisa M.; English, Jayanne; Pu'uohau-Pummill, Kirk

2007-02-01

The quality of modern astronomical data and the agility of current image-processing software enable the visualization of data in a way that exceeds the traditional definition of an astronomical image. Two developments in particular have led to a fundamental change in how astronomical images can be assembled. First, the availability of high-quality multiwavelength and narrowband data allow for images that do not correspond to the wavelength sensitivity of the human eye, thereby introducing ambiguity in the usage and interpretation of color. Second, many image-processing software packages now use a layering metaphor that allows for any number of astronomical data sets to be combined into a color image. With this technique, images with as many as eight data sets have been produced. Each data set is intensity-scaled and colorized independently, creating an immense parameter space that can be used to assemble the image. Since such images are intended for data visualization, scaling and color schemes must be chosen that best illustrate the science. A practical guide is presented on how to use the layering metaphor to generate publication-ready astronomical images from as many data sets as desired. A methodology is also given on how to use intensity scaling, color, and composition to create contrasts in an image that highlight the scientific detail. Examples of image creation are discussed.

Mobile Applications Improve Quality of Life on Citizens with Disorientation: The 'NeverLost App' Paradigm.

PubMed

Fotiou, Sotirios; Vlamos, Panayiotis

2017-01-01

Mobile technology has been evolved as an important tool in healthcare. Mobile applications are being designed in order to assist patients in their everyday life and also to play a vital role on the improvement of their everyday activities and quality of life. Meanwhile students use advanced techniques in order to design and implement high quality applications that aim to introduce them to the advantages of the mobile technology. In this paper we present the steps for the creation of the application NeverLost that was inspired, designed, created and tested by students of the Secondary Education. NeverLost is an Android application that helps individuals (mainly children) with disabilities, as well as older patients with lack of orientation manage their day-to-day activities. A research of the general benefits that students using this app is presented, as well as their future proposals for the evolution of the app in other aspects of healthcare and quality of life of senior citizens or patients with neurodegenerative diseases.

Facial appearance affects science communication.

PubMed

Gheorghiu, Ana I; Callan, Mitchell J; Skylark, William J

2017-06-06

First impressions based on facial appearance predict many important social outcomes. We investigated whether such impressions also influence the communication of scientific findings to lay audiences, a process that shapes public beliefs, opinion, and policy. First, we investigated the traits that engender interest in a scientist's work, and those that create the impression of a "good scientist" who does high-quality research. Apparent competence and morality were positively related to both interest and quality judgments, whereas attractiveness boosted interest but decreased perceived quality. Next, we had members of the public choose real science news stories to read or watch and found that people were more likely to choose items that were paired with "interesting-looking" scientists, especially when selecting video-based communications. Finally, we had people read real science news items and found that the research was judged to be of higher quality when paired with researchers who look like "good scientists." Our findings offer insights into the social psychology of science, and indicate a source of bias in the dissemination of scientific findings to broader society.

Nanopatterning of Crystalline Silicon Using Anodized Aluminum Oxide Templates for Photovoltaics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chao, Tsu-An

A novel thin film anodized aluminum oxide templating process was developed and applied to make nanopatterns on crystalline silicon to enhance the optical properties of silicon. The thin film anodized aluminum oxide was created to improve the conventional thick aluminum templating method with the aim for potential large scale fabrication. A unique two-step anodizing method was introduced to create high quality nanopatterns and it was demonstrated that this process is superior over the original one-step approach. Optical characterization of the nanopatterned silicon showed up to 10% reduction in reflection in the short wavelength range. Scanning electron microscopy was also used to analyze the nanopatterned surface structure and it was found that interpore spacing and pore density can be tuned by changing the anodizing potential.

Creating technological boundaries to protect bedtime: examining work-home boundary management, psychological detachment and sleep.

PubMed

Barber, Larissa K; Jenkins, Jade S

2014-08-01

This study examined the mechanism by which information and communication technology (ICT) use at home for work purposes may affect sleep. In this investigation, data from 315 employees were used to examine the indirect effect of ICT use at home on sleep outcomes through psychological detachment, and how boundary creation may moderate this effect. Results revealed the indirect effect of increased work-home boundary crossing on sleep (quantity, quality and consistency) through psychological detachment occurred only among individuals with low boundaries around ICT use and not among those with high boundaries. These results suggest that creating boundaries around work-relevant ICT use while at home is beneficial to sleep as a recovery process through being able to psychologically disengage from work. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Limb Correction of Individual Infrared Channels Used in RGB Composite Products

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Elmer, Nicholas J.; Berndt, Emily; Jedlovec, Gary J.; Lafontaine, Frank J.

2015-01-01

This study demonstrates that limb-cooling can be removed from infrared imagery using latitudinally and seasonally dependent limb correction coefficients, which account for an increasing optical path length as scan angle increases. Furthermore, limb-corrected RGB composites provide multiple advantages over uncorrected RGB composites, including increased confidence in the interpretation of RGB features, improved situation awareness for operational forecasters, seamless transition between overlaid RGB composites, easy comparison of RGB products from different sensors, and the availability of high quality proxy products for the GOES-R era, as demonstrated by the case examples presented in Section 3. This limb correction methodology can also be applied to additional infrared channels used to create other RGB products, including those created from other satellite sensors, such as Suomi NPP Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS).

Multiferroics and magnetoelectrics: thin films and nanostructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martin, L. W.; Crane, S. P.; Chu, Y.-H.; Holcomb, M. B.; Gajek, M.; Huijben, M.; Yang, C.-H.; Balke, N.; Ramesh, R.

2008-10-01

Multiferroic materials, or materials that simultaneously possess two or more ferroic order parameters, have returned to the forefront of materials research. Driven by the desire to achieve new functionalities—such as electrical control of ferromagnetism at room temperature—researchers have undertaken a concerted effort to identify and understand the complexities of multiferroic materials. The ability to create high quality thin film multiferroics stands as one of the single most important landmarks in this flurry of research activity. In this review we discuss the basics of multiferroics including the important order parameters and magnetoelectric coupling in materials. We then discuss in detail the growth of single phase, horizontal multilayer, and vertical heterostructure multiferroics. The review ends with a look to the future and how multiferroics can be used to create new functionalities in materials.

R2R - software to speed the depiction of aesthetic consensus RNA secondary structures

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background With continuing identification of novel structured noncoding RNAs, there is an increasing need to create schematic diagrams showing the consensus features of these molecules. RNA structural diagrams are typically made either with general-purpose drawing programs like Adobe Illustrator, or with automated or interactive programs specific to RNA. Unfortunately, the use of applications like Illustrator is extremely time consuming, while existing RNA-specific programs produce figures that are useful, but usually not of the same aesthetic quality as those produced at great cost in Illustrator. Additionally, most existing RNA-specific applications are designed for drawing single RNA molecules, not consensus diagrams. Results We created R2R, a computer program that facilitates the generation of aesthetic and readable drawings of RNA consensus diagrams in a fraction of the time required with general-purpose drawing programs. Since the inference of a consensus RNA structure typically requires a multiple-sequence alignment, the R2R user annotates the alignment with commands directing the layout and annotation of the RNA. R2R creates SVG or PDF output that can be imported into Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape or CorelDRAW. R2R can be used to create consensus sequence and secondary structure models for novel RNA structures or to revise models when new representatives for known RNA classes become available. Although R2R does not currently have a graphical user interface, it has proven useful in our efforts to create 100 schematic models of distinct noncoding RNA classes. Conclusions R2R makes it possible to obtain high-quality drawings of the consensus sequence and structural models of many diverse RNA structures with a more practical amount of effort. R2R software is available at http://breaker.research.yale.edu/R2R and as an Additional file. PMID:21205310

Do the stars align? Distribution of high-quality ratings of healthcare sectors across US markets.

PubMed

Figueroa, Jose; Feyman, Yevgeniy; Blumenthal, Daniel; Jha, Ashish

2018-04-01

The US government created five-star rating systems to evaluate hospital, nursing homes, home health agency and dialysis centre quality. The degree to which quality is a property of organisations versus geographical markets is unclear. To determine whether high-quality healthcare service sectors are clustered within US healthcare markets. Using data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Hospital, Dialysis, Nursing Home and Home Health Compare databases, we calculated the mean star ratings of four healthcare sectors in 304 US hospital referral regions (HRRs). For each sector, we ranked HRRs into terciles by mean star rating. Within each HRR, we assessed concordance of tercile rank across sectors using a multirater kappa. Using t-tests, we compared characteristics of HRRs with three to four top-ranked sectors, one to two top-ranked sectors and zero top-ranked sectors. Six HRRs (2.0% of HRRs) had four top-ranked healthcare sectors, 38 (12.5%) had three top-ranked health sectors, 71 (23.4%) had two top-ranked sectors, 111 (36.5%) had one top-ranked sector and 78 (25.7%) HRRs had no top-ranked sectors. A multirater kappa across all sectors showed poor to slight agreement (K=0.055). Compared with HRRs with zero top-ranked sectors, those with three to four top-ranked sectors had higher median incomes, fewer black residents, lower mortality rates and were less impoverished. Results were similar for HRRs with one to two top-ranked sectors. Few US healthcare markets exhibit high-quality performance across four distinct healthcare service sectors, suggesting that high-quality care in one sector may not be dependent on or improve care quality in other sectors. Policies that promote accountability for quality across sectors (eg, bundled payments and shared quality metrics) may be needed to systematically improve quality across sectors. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.