Strategic Orientation in the Globalization of Software Firms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dedrick, Jason; Kraemer, Kenneth L.; Carmel, Erran; Dunkle, Debora

In the search for profits, software firms are globalizing their development activities. Some firms achieve greater profits by becoming more efficient, whereas others do so by reaching new markets; some do both. This paper creates an a priori typology of strategies based on the extent to which firms are focused on operational improvement or market access, have a dual focus or are unfocused. We find that firms with these strategies differ in degree of internationalization, organization of offshoring and performance outcomes related to offshoring. Market-oriented firms receive a greater proportion of their total revenue from sales outside the U.S., showing a greater international orientation. They keep more of their offshore development in-house via captive operations. They also are most likely to report increased non-U.S. sales as a result of offshoring. On the other hand, operations-oriented firms have lower levels of international sales, are more likely to go offshore via outsourced software development, and achieve greater costs savings and labor force flexibility as a result of offshoring. Operations-oriented firms also face more obstacles in offshoring, perhaps because of their reliance on outsourcing. Dual focus firms generally achieve some of the best of both strategies, whereas unfocused firms achieve lower cost benefits.

Correlations of oriented ice and precipitation in marine midlatitude low clouds using collocated CloudSat, CALIOP, and MODIS observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ross, Alexa; Holz, Robert E.; Ackerman, Steven A.

2017-08-01

In April 2006, the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) launched aboard the CALIPSO satellite and into the A-Train constellation of satellites with its transmitter pointed near nadir. This proved problematic due to specular reflection from horizontally oriented ice crystals occurring more frequently than expected. Because the specular backscatter from oriented ice crystals has large attenuated backscatter and almost no depolarization, the standard lidar inversions cannot be applied. To mitigate this issue, the CALIOP transmitter was moved to 3° off nadir in November 2007. Though problematic for global CALIOP retrievals, the sensitivity to oriented ice during the first year of observations provides a unique data set to investigate scenes of this ice crystal signature. This study focuses on the CALIOP-oriented signature that occurs in midlatitude ocean regions whose cloud tops are relatively warm and low, existing below 6 km. A significant seasonal dependence is found in the Northern Hemisphere with up to 19% of clouds below 6 km yielding specular reflection by CALIOP during the colder months. In contrast, the Southern Hemisphere lacks such seasonal dependence and sees fewer oriented ice crystals. Using collocated CloudSat observations with both CALIOP and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), we investigate the correlations of the oriented signature with MODIS cloud properties. Comparing with CloudSat precipitation retrievals, we find that the oriented signature is strongly correlated with surface precipitation with 64% of CALIOP-oriented ice crystal cases precipitating compared to 40% for nonoriented cases.

Why education can foster sustainability in the fashion market

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grundmeier, A.-M.

2017-10-01

This project focuses on exploring sustainable-oriented options for young people as they are the primary target group of an accelerating fashion industry. The fast fashion market has major problems along its globally organised supply chain regarding its social and environmental compatibility. The project is conducted within a greater urban area, using the city of Freiburg exemplarily. Pupils of the Staudinger Gesamtschule, the only comprehensive school in Freiburg, engage themselves exploratively in the perspective of sustainability within the fashion market and create a catalogue of measures for sustainable-oriented handling. The main focus of this research project is to evaluate sustainable-oriented course of actions by interviewing selected consumers and active participants as well as protagonists of the fashion market and textile research field. The empirical social research is conducted by using guidelines as an interviewing technique when contacting commercial and product enterprises as well as research institutes and welfare institutions. Explorations and interviews give pupils the opportunity to become familiar with the fields of work and its individual sustainability options within the fashion market. The project is promoted by the programme “Our Common Future” of the Robert Bosch Foundation, Germany.

An Automatic Procedure for Combining Digital Images and Laser Scanner Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moussa, W.; Abdel-Wahab, M.; Fritsch, D.

2012-07-01

Besides improving both the geometry and the visual quality of the model, the integration of close-range photogrammetry and terrestrial laser scanning techniques directs at filling gaps in laser scanner point clouds to avoid modeling errors, reconstructing more details in higher resolution and recovering simple structures with less geometric details. Thus, within this paper a flexible approach for the automatic combination of digital images and laser scanner data is presented. Our approach comprises two methods for data fusion. The first method starts by a marker-free registration of digital images based on a point-based environment model (PEM) of a scene which stores the 3D laser scanner point clouds associated with intensity and RGB values. The PEM allows the extraction of accurate control information for the direct computation of absolute camera orientations with redundant information by means of accurate space resection methods. In order to use the computed relations between the digital images and the laser scanner data, an extended Helmert (seven-parameter) transformation is introduced and its parameters are estimated. Precedent to that, in the second method, the local relative orientation parameters of the camera images are calculated by means of an optimized Structure and Motion (SaM) reconstruction method. Then, using the determined transformation parameters results in having absolute oriented images in relation to the laser scanner data. With the resulting absolute orientations we have employed robust dense image reconstruction algorithms to create oriented dense image point clouds, which are automatically combined with the laser scanner data to form a complete detailed representation of a scene. Examples of different data sets are shown and experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the presented procedures.

Importance And Role Of Competence In Professional Career Of Product Develop Engineers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miltenović, Aleksandar; Banić, Milan; Miltenović, Vojislav

2015-07-01

Product development is a creative task where is systematically created a new product, which makes possible to firms to offer attractive, innovative and market oriented products. In conditions of fierce competition and saturated markets, companies that do not innovate are stagnating and disappear from the market. Innovation is therefore every intervention which can reduce production costs, enables optimum utilization of available human, energy and material resources, improve product quality, improve the placement, which leads to an increase in competitiveness. A prerequisite for fulfillment of the above-mentioned tasks is that the companies have engineers with the appropriate competencies, which are able to, through creativity, innovation and fascinating technique of creating new or improving existing products and lunch it on the market. The paper discusses the role and importance of the competences that are necessary for a successful professional career of product development engineers.

A Performance-Based Comparison of Object-Oriented Simulation Tools

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-04-01

simulation" [Belanger 90a, 90b]. CACI Products Company markets MODSIM II as the commercial version of ModSim, which was created on a US Army contract...aim fprintf (report_file, "Line Statistics\\ nLine teller repoirt.cust interrupts; Lengt~is\

A Multilateral Negotiation Model for Cloud Service Market

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yoo, Dongjin; Sim, Kwang Mong

Trading cloud services between consumers and providers is a complicated issue of cloud computing. Since a consumer can negotiate with multiple providers to acquire the same service and each provider can receive many requests from multiple consumers, to facilitate the trading of cloud services among multiple consumers and providers, a multilateral negotiation model for cloud market is necessary. The contribution of this work is the proposal of a business model supporting a multilateral price negotiation for trading cloud services. The design of proposed systems for cloud service market includes considering a many-to-many negotiation protocol, and price determining factor from service level feature. Two negotiation strategies are implemented: 1) MDA (Market Driven Agent); and 2) adaptive concession making responding to changes of bargaining position are proposed for cloud service market. Empirical results shows that MDA achieved better performance in some cases that the adaptive concession making strategy, it is noted that unlike the MDA, the adaptive concession making strategy does not assume that an agent has information of the number of competitors (e.g., a consumer agent adopting the adaptive concession making strategy need not know the number of consumer agents competing for the same service).

Reaching for the cloud: on the lessons learned from grid computing technology transfer process to the biomedical community.

PubMed

Mohammed, Yassene; Dickmann, Frank; Sax, Ulrich; von Voigt, Gabriele; Smith, Matthew; Rienhoff, Otto

2010-01-01

Natural scientists such as physicists pioneered the sharing of computing resources, which led to the creation of the Grid. The inter domain transfer process of this technology has hitherto been an intuitive process without in depth analysis. Some difficulties facing the life science community in this transfer can be understood using the Bozeman's "Effectiveness Model of Technology Transfer". Bozeman's and classical technology transfer approaches deal with technologies which have achieved certain stability. Grid and Cloud solutions are technologies, which are still in flux. We show how Grid computing creates new difficulties in the transfer process that are not considered in Bozeman's model. We show why the success of healthgrids should be measured by the qualified scientific human capital and the opportunities created, and not primarily by the market impact. We conclude with recommendations that can help improve the adoption of Grid and Cloud solutions into the biomedical community. These results give a more concise explanation of the difficulties many life science IT projects are facing in the late funding periods, and show leveraging steps that can help overcoming the "vale of tears".

Cirrus properties deduced from CO2 lidar observations of zenith-enhanced backscatter from oriented crystals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eberhard, Wynn L.

1993-01-01

Many lidar researchers have occasionally observed zenith-enhanced backscatter (ZEB) from middle and high clouds. The ZEB signature consists of strong backscatter when the lidar is pointed directly at zenith and a dramatic decline in backscatter as the zenith angle dips slightly off zenith. Mirror-like reflection from horizontal facets of oriented crystals (especially plates) is generally accepted as the cause. It was found during a 3-year observation program that approximately 50 percent of ice clouds had ZEB, regardless of cloud height. The orientation of crystals and the ZEB they cause are important to study and understand for several reasons. First, radiative transfer in clouds with oriented crystals is different than if the same particles were randomly oriented. Second, crystal growth depends partly on the orientation of the particles. Third, ZEB measurements may provide useful information about cirrus microphysical and radiative properties. Finally, the remarkable effect of ZEB on lidar signals should be understood in order to properly interpret lidar data.

Application of cellular automata approach for cloud simulation and rendering

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

Christopher Immanuel, W.; Paul Mary Deborrah, S.; Samuel Selvaraj, R.

Current techniques for creating clouds in games and other real time applications produce static, homogenous clouds. These clouds, while viable for real time applications, do not exhibit an organic feel that clouds in nature exhibit. These clouds, when viewed over a time period, were able to deform their initial shape and move in a more organic and dynamic way. With cloud shape technology we should be able in the future to extend to create even more cloud shapes in real time with more forces. Clouds are an essential part of any computer model of a landscape or an animation ofmore » an outdoor scene. A realistic animation of clouds is also important for creating scenes for flight simulators, movies, games, and other. Our goal was to create a realistic animation of clouds.« less

Impact of SES on Estonian Students' Science Achievement across Different Cognitive Domains

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mere, Kristi; Reiska, Priit; Smith, Thomas M.

2006-01-01

As Estonia has moved from a centrally planned towards a market-based economy, there has been a broad-based push to create an "egalitarian but innovative, "future-oriented" system of education, which would help to develop flexible, lifelong learning citizens open to new ideas." A national research and development strategy,…

Dynamic electronic institutions in agent oriented cloud robotic systems.

PubMed

Nagrath, Vineet; Morel, Olivier; Malik, Aamir; Saad, Naufal; Meriaudeau, Fabrice

2015-01-01

The dot-com bubble bursted in the year 2000 followed by a swift movement towards resource virtualization and cloud computing business model. Cloud computing emerged not as new form of computing or network technology but a mere remoulding of existing technologies to suit a new business model. Cloud robotics is understood as adaptation of cloud computing ideas for robotic applications. Current efforts in cloud robotics stress upon developing robots that utilize computing and service infrastructure of the cloud, without debating on the underlying business model. HTM5 is an OMG's MDA based Meta-model for agent oriented development of cloud robotic systems. The trade-view of HTM5 promotes peer-to-peer trade amongst software agents. HTM5 agents represent various cloud entities and implement their business logic on cloud interactions. Trade in a peer-to-peer cloud robotic system is based on relationships and contracts amongst several agent subsets. Electronic Institutions are associations of heterogeneous intelligent agents which interact with each other following predefined norms. In Dynamic Electronic Institutions, the process of formation, reformation and dissolution of institutions is automated leading to run time adaptations in groups of agents. DEIs in agent oriented cloud robotic ecosystems bring order and group intellect. This article presents DEI implementations through HTM5 methodology.

Earth Observation

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-06-24

ISS036-E-011843 (24 June 2013) --- Gravity waves and sunglint on Lake Superior are featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 36 crew member on the International Space Station. From the vantage point of the space station, crew members frequently observe Earth atmospheric and surface phenomena in ways impossible to view from the ground. Two such phenomena?gravity waves and sunglint?are illustrated in this photograph of northeastern Lake Superior. The Canadian Shield of southern Ontario (bottom) is covered with extensive green forest canopy typical of early summer. Offshore, and to the west and southwest of Pukaskwa National Park several distinct sets of parallel cloud bands are visible. Gravity waves are produced when moisture-laden air encounters imbalances in air density, such as might be expected when cool air flows over warmer air; this can cause the flowing air to oscillate up and down as it moves, causing clouds to condense as the air rises (cools) and evaporate away as the air sinks (warms). This produces parallel bands of clouds oriented perpendicular to the wind direction. The orientation of the cloud bands visible in this image, parallel to the coastlines, suggests that air flowing off of the land surfaces to the north is interacting with moist, stable air over the lake surface, creating gravity waves. The second phenomenon?sunglint?effects the water surface around and to the northeast of Isle Royale (upper right). Sunglint is caused by light reflection off a water surface; some of the reflected light travels directly back towards the observer, resulting in a bright mirror-like appearance over large expanses of water. Water currents and changes in surface tension (typically caused by presence of oils or surfactants) alter the reflective properties of the water, and can be highlighted by sunglint. For example, surface water currents are visible to the east of Isle Royale that are oriented similarly to the gravity waves ? suggesting that they too are the product of winds moving off of the land surface.

Implementation of warm-cloud processes in a source-oriented WRF/Chem model to study the effect of aerosol mixing state on fog formation in the Central Valley of California

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, H.-H.; Chen, S.-H.; Kleeman, M. J.; Zhang, H.; DeNero, S. P.; Joe, D. K.

2015-11-01

The source-oriented Weather Research and Forecasting chemistry model (SOWC) was modified to include warm cloud processes and applied to investigate how aerosol mixing states influence fog formation and optical properties in the atmosphere. SOWC tracks a 6-dimensional chemical variable (X, Z, Y, Size Bins, Source Types, Species) through an explicit simulation of atmospheric chemistry and physics. A source-oriented cloud condensation nuclei module was implemented into the SOWC model to simulate warm clouds using the modified two-moment Purdue Lin microphysics scheme. The Goddard shortwave and longwave radiation schemes were modified to interact with source-oriented aerosols and cloud droplets so that aerosol direct and indirect effects could be studied. The enhanced SOWC model was applied to study a fog event that occurred on 17 January 2011, in the Central Valley of California. Tule fog occurred because an atmospheric river effectively advected high moisture into the Central Valley and nighttime drainage flow brought cold air from mountains into the valley. The SOWC model produced reasonable liquid water path, spatial distribution and duration of fog events. The inclusion of aerosol-radiation interaction only slightly modified simulation results since cloud optical thickness dominated the radiation budget in fog events. The source-oriented mixture representation of particles reduced cloud droplet number relative to the internal mixture approach that artificially coats hydrophobic particles with hygroscopic components. The fraction of aerosols activating into CCN at a supersaturation of 0.5 % in the Central Valley decreased from 94 % in the internal mixture model to 80 % in the source-oriented model. This increased surface energy flux by 3-5 W m-2 and surface temperature by as much as 0.25 K in the daytime.

Perceptual market orientation gap and its impact on relationship quality and patient loyalty: the role of internal marketing.

PubMed

Huang, Jin-An; Weng, Rhay-Hung; Lai, Chi-Shiun; Hu, Jer-San

2013-06-01

The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptual market orientation gaps between physician and patients and its impact on relationship quality and patient loyalty, and to verify the critical role of internal marketing on developing market orientation. Self-administered questionnaires were then employed to collect the data. We used a convenience sample of physicians and patients at a medical center in central Taiwan, and 90 usable questionnaires from physicians and 450 usable questionnaires from patients were returned. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to validate the research hypotheses. Physicians' perceptual market orientation had a positive influence on physician-patient relationship quality, hospital-patient relationship quality, and patient loyalty, but the perceptual market orientation gap between physicians and their patients had a direct negative impact on these constructs. Finally, internal marketing was found to have an influence on relationship quality and patient loyalty through the mediation of market orientation. In order to enhance relationship quality and patient loyalty, hospital managers should focus their efforts on improving employees' market orientation and reducing patients' perceptual market orientation gap. In addition, internal marketing was found to be a useful pathway in developing market orientation.

Scattering by randomly oriented ellipsoids: Application to aerosol and cloud problems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Asano, S.; Sato, M.; Hansen, J. E.

1979-01-01

A program was developed for computing the scattering and absorption by arbitrarily oriented and randomly oriented prolate and oblate spheroids. This permits examination of the effect of particle shape for cases ranging from needles through spheres to platelets. Applications of this capability to aerosol and cloud problems are discussed. Initial results suggest that the effect of nonspherical particle shape on transfer of radiation through aerosol layers and cirrus clouds, as required for many climate studies, can be readily accounted for by defining an appropriate effective spherical particle radius.

A Vacuum in Political and Economic Labor Policy?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karasek, Robert A.

2004-01-01

A vacuum is arising in the social policy of advanced countries. It is due to the fact that both of the currently dominant bases for social policy, market-oriented policy, and its presumed antagonist, welfare state policy, have the same and an insufficiently broad production value model at their core. The solution is to create a true new…

Assessing Between-School Variation in Educational Resources and Mathematics and Science Achievement in Bulgaria

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bankov, Kiril; Mikova, Dilyana; Smith, Thomas M.

2006-01-01

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, along with other Central and Eastern European countries, began a transition towards a democratic political system and market-oriented economy. Socio-economic and political changes associated with this transition have created a growing need for a new kind of citizenry, one equipped with flexible…

Implementation of warm-cloud processes in a source-oriented WRF/Chem model to study the effect of aerosol mixing state on fog formation in the Central Valley of California

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Hsiang-He; Chen, Shu-Hua; Kleeman, Michael J.; Zhang, Hongliang; DeNero, Steven P.; Joe, David K.

2016-07-01

The source-oriented Weather Research and Forecasting chemistry model (SOWC) was modified to include warm cloud processes and was applied to investigate how aerosol mixing states influence fog formation and optical properties in the atmosphere. SOWC tracks a 6-D chemical variable (X, Z, Y, size bins, source types, species) through an explicit simulation of atmospheric chemistry and physics. A source-oriented cloud condensation nuclei module was implemented into the SOWC model to simulate warm clouds using the modified two-moment Purdue Lin microphysics scheme. The Goddard shortwave and long-wave radiation schemes were modified to interact with source-oriented aerosols and cloud droplets so that aerosol direct and indirect effects could be studied. The enhanced SOWC model was applied to study a fog event that occurred on 17 January 2011, in the Central Valley of California. Tule fog occurred because an atmospheric river effectively advected high moisture into the Central Valley and nighttime drainage flow brought cold air from mountains into the valley. The SOWC model produced reasonable liquid water path, spatial distribution and duration of fog events. The inclusion of aerosol-radiation interaction only slightly modified simulation results since cloud optical thickness dominated the radiation budget in fog events. The source-oriented mixture representation of particles reduced cloud droplet number relative to the internal mixture approach that artificially coats hydrophobic particles with hygroscopic components. The fraction of aerosols activating into cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) at a supersaturation of 0.5 % in the Central Valley decreased from 94 % in the internal mixture model to 80 % in the source-oriented model. This increased surface energy flux by 3-5 W m-2 and surface temperature by as much as 0.25 K in the daytime.

NEXUS - Resilient Intelligent Middleware

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaveh, N.; Hercock, R. Ghanea

Service-oriented computing, a composition of distributed-object computing, component-based, and Web-based concepts, is becoming the widespread choice for developing dynamic heterogeneous software assets available as services across a network. One of the major strengths of service-oriented technologies is the high abstraction layer and large granularity level at which software assets are viewed compared to traditional object-oriented technologies. Collaboration through encapsulated and separately defined service interfaces creates a service-oriented environment, whereby multiple services can be linked together through their interfaces to compose a functional system. This approach enables better integration of legacy and non-legacy services, via wrapper interfaces, and allows for service composition at a more abstract level especially in cases such as vertical market stacks. The heterogeneous nature of service-oriented technologies and the granularity of their software components makes them a suitable computing model in the pervasive domain.

Effects of health-oriented descriptors on combustible cigarette and electronic cigarette packaging: an experiment among adult smokers in the United States.

PubMed

Sanders-Jackson, Ashley; Tan, Andy S L; Yie, Kyeungyeun

2017-10-05

Certain tobacco companies use health-oriented descriptors (eg, 100% organic) on product packaging and advertising of combustible cigarettes or electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) that create a 'health halo' around smoking and vaping. Previous observational research suggests that such language may be associated with more favourable attitudes and reduced risk perceptions toward these brands compared with others. This study aimed to determine the effects of health-oriented descriptors on smokers' attitude toward the brand, perception of packaging information, comparative harm versus other brands and intention to purchase either combustible cigarettes or e-cigarettes. US adult smokers were randomly assigned to view either a health-oriented language package ('100% organic,' 'all natural' or 'no additives'), traditional marketing language package ('fine quality,' 'premium blend' or '100% original') or a no-language package of a combustible cigarette brand (Study 1, n=405) or an e-cigarette brand (Study 2, n=396) in an experimental design. Study 1: Participants in the health-oriented condition reported more favourable perceptions toward the package information, lower comparative harm and higher intention to purchase combustible cigarettes versus the no language control. In addition, participants in the health-oriented condition reported more positive attitude toward the brand and lower comparative harm versus the traditional marketing condition. Study 2: Compared with the traditional marketing condition, participants in the health-oriented condition reported greater intention to purchase Absolute e-cigarettes. There were no significant differences in attitude toward the brand, perception of packaging information and comparative harm versus other brands across conditions. The effect of health-oriented language was significant for combustible cigarettesand e-cigarette packages. Policies to restrict health-oriented language on cigarette and e-cigarette packaging are recommended. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

The alignment of molecular cloud magnetic fields with the spiral arms in M33.

PubMed

Li, Hua-bai; Henning, Thomas

2011-11-16

The formation of molecular clouds, which serve as stellar nurseries in galaxies, is poorly understood. A class of cloud formation models suggests that a large-scale galactic magnetic field is irrelevant at the scale of individual clouds, because the turbulence and rotation of a cloud may randomize the orientation of its magnetic field. Alternatively, galactic fields could be strong enough to impose their direction upon individual clouds, thereby regulating cloud accumulation and fragmentation, and affecting the rate and efficiency of star formation. Our location in the disk of the Galaxy makes an assessment of the situation difficult. Here we report observations of the magnetic field orientation of six giant molecular cloud complexes in the nearby, almost face-on, galaxy M33. The fields are aligned with the spiral arms, suggesting that the large-scale field in M33 anchors the clouds. ©2011 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved

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

Rudkevich, Aleksandr; Goldis, Evgeniy

This research conducted by the Newton Energy Group, LLC (NEG) is dedicated to the development of pCloud: a Cloud-based Power Market Simulation Environment. pCloud is offering power industry stakeholders the capability to model electricity markets and is organized around the Software as a Service (SaaS) concept -- a software application delivery model in which software is centrally hosted and provided to many users via the internet. During the Phase I of this project NEG developed a prototype design for pCloud as a SaaS-based commercial service offering, system architecture supporting that design, ensured feasibility of key architecture's elements, formed technological partnershipsmore » and negotiated commercial agreements with partners, conducted market research and other related activities and secured funding for continue development of pCloud between the end of Phase I and beginning of Phase II, if awarded. Based on the results of Phase I activities, NEG has established that the development of a cloud-based power market simulation environment within the Windows Azure platform is technologically feasible, can be accomplished within the budget and timeframe available through the Phase II SBIR award with additional external funding. NEG believes that pCloud has the potential to become a game-changing technology for the modeling and analysis of electricity markets. This potential is due to the following critical advantages of pCloud over its competition: - Standardized access to advanced and proven power market simulators offered by third parties. - Automated parallelization of simulations and dynamic provisioning of computing resources on the cloud. This combination of automation and scalability dramatically reduces turn-around time while offering the capability to increase the number of analyzed scenarios by a factor of 10, 100 or even 1000. - Access to ready-to-use data and to cloud-based resources leading to a reduction in software, hardware, and IT costs. - Competitive pricing structure, which will make high-volume usage of simulation services affordable. - Availability and affordability of high quality power simulators, which presently only large corporate clients can afford, will level the playing field in developing regional energy policies, determining prudent cost recovery mechanisms and assuring just and reasonable rates to consumers. - Users that presently do not have the resources to internally maintain modeling capabilities will now be able to run simulations. This will invite more players into the industry, ultimately leading to more transparent and liquid power markets.« less

Students' Intercultural Development through Language Learning in Vietnamese Tertiary Education: A Case Study on the Use of Film as an Innovative Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Truong, Le Bach; Tran, Ly Thi

2014-01-01

Vietnam's open-door policy, its socialist-oriented market economy, recent growth in cross-border education and skills mobility, regionalisation and globalisation have created an increasing demand for Vietnamese graduates to develop not only their English language but also their intercultural competence. This paper discusses the issue of student…

Microwave Polarized Signatures Generated within Cloud Systems: SSM/I Observations Interpreted with Radiative Transfer Simulations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Prigent, Catherine; Pardo, Juan R.; Mishchenko, Michael I.; Rossow, Willaim B.; Hansen, James E. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

Special Sensor Microwave /Imager (SSM/I) observations in cloud systems are studied over the tropics. Over optically thick cloud systems, presence of polarized signatures at 37 and 85 GHz is evidenced and analyzed with the help of cloud top temperature and optical thickness extracted from visible and IR satellite observations. Scattering signatures at 85 GHz (TbV(85) less than or = 250 K) are associated with polarization differences greater than or = 6 K, approx. 50%, of the time over ocean and approx. 40% over land. In addition. over thick clouds the polarization difference at 37 GHz is rarely negligible. The polarization differences at 37 and 85 GHz do not stem from the surface but are generated in regions of relatively homogeneous clouds having high liquid water content. To interpret the observations, a radiative transfer model that includes the scattering by non-spherical particles is developed. based on the T-matrix approach and using the doubling and adding method. In addition to handling randomly and perfectly oriented particles, this model can also simulate the effect of partial orientation of the hydrometeors. Microwave brightness temperatures are simulated at SSM/I frequencies and are compared with the observations. Polarization differences of approx. 2 K can be simulated at 37 GHz over a rain layer, even using spherical drops. The polarization difference is larger for oriented non-spherical particles. The 85 GHz simulations are very sensitive to the ice phase of the cloud. Simulations with spherical particles or with randomly oriented non-spherical ice particles cannot replicate the observed polarization differences. However, with partially oriented non-spherical particles, the observed polarized signatures at 85 GHz are explained, and the sensitivity of the scattering characteristics to the particle size, asphericity, and orientation is analyzed. Implications on rain and ice retrievals are discussed.

Effects of Market, E-Marketing, and Technology Orientations on Innovativeness and Performance in Turkish Health Organizations.

PubMed

Mutlu, Hanifi Murat; Sürer, Atilla

2015-01-01

This article investigates the effects of strategic orientation on innovativeness and performance in health organizations in Turkey. We hypothesize that market, e-marketing, and technology orientations positively affect innovativeness and performance. Market and technology orientations are found not have a significant effect on performance, but e-marketing orientation and innovativeness have a significant and positive effect. We also investigate indirect effects on innovativeness and performance. The analyses of direct and indirect effects are an important contribution to understanding relationships among research variables.

Effects of market, e-marketing, and technology orientations on innovativeness and performance in Turkish health organizations.

PubMed

Mutlu, Hanifi Murat; Sürer, Atilla

2016-01-01

This article investigates the effects of strategic orientation on innovativeness and performance in health organizations in Turkey. We test hypotheses that market, e-marketing, and technology orientations positively affect innovativeness and performance. Market and technology orientations are found not have a significant effect on performance, but e-marketing orientation and innovativeness have a significant and positive effect. We also investigate indirect effects on innovativeness and performance. The analyses of direct and indirect effects are an important contribution to understanding relationships among research variables.

Creating a Rackspace and NASA Nebula compatible cloud using the OpenStack project (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clark, R.

2010-12-01

NASA and Rackspace have both provided technology to the OpenStack that allows anyone to create a private Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) cloud using open source software and commodity hardware. OpenStack is designed and developed completely in the open and with an open governance process. NASA donated Nova, which powers the compute portion of NASA Nebula Cloud Computing Platform, and Rackspace donated Swift, which powers Rackspace Cloud Files. The project is now in continuous development by NASA, Rackspace, and hundreds of other participants. When you create a private cloud using Openstack, you will have the ability to easily interact with your private cloud, a government cloud, and an ecosystem of public cloud providers, using the same API.

Marketing-oriented organizations: an integrated approach.

PubMed

Stensrud, R; Arrington, B

1988-03-01

Organizations can be oriented toward marketing from a production, product, sales, or marketing perspective. Strategies, structures, and cultures, which reflect a company's basic orientation, must be integrated to ensure that marketing efforts communicate a clear corporate position. In a study of 31 hospitals, the Center for Health Services Education Research, St. Louis University, found that no hospital's organization fit neatly into a single category. For example, a hospital may have some service lines that were marketing oriented while other lines were production oriented. The majority of hospitals, however, were product oriented, focusing on productivity and financial performance rather than on market factors. The most effective sales orientation was observed in the for-profits. Their selling efforts, however, tended to be internally focused, with product development activities divorced from the planning and marketing functions. Only the for-profit hospitals showed the beginning of a marketing orientation. Developing a marketing orientation, especially in line divisions, requires a careful, well-orchestrated effort and the presence of several key factors: Access to capital and an emphasis on long-range planning and strategic spending The availability of hospital-specific market research. Key distribution channels. Talented middle managers. Up-to-date systems and structures equipped to serve new values and strategies. Leaders capable of communicating to the organization a vision of its role in the community.

Come on Higher Ed...Get with the Programme! A Study of Market Orientation in International Student Recruitment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ross, Mitchell; Grace, Debra; Shao, Wei

2013-01-01

This paper investigates higher education (HE) student recruitment practices from the standpoint of market orientation. By adopting the well-established market orientation framework of Narver and Slater [1990, The effect of a market orientation on a business profitability. "Journal of Marketing" 54, no. 4: 20-35], we examine the extent to…

Internal marketing, customer orientation, and organizational commitment: moderating effects of work status.

PubMed

Huang, Meiju; Chen, Mei-Yen

2013-08-01

Associations among internal marketing, customer orientation, and organizational commitment were examined, particularly with regard to the moderating effects of work status on the relationships between internal marketing and customer orientation or organizational commitment, in a cross-sectional design with structural equation modeling. Two studies (Ns = 119 and 251) were conducted among full- and part-time service employees at Taipei Sports Centers. Internal marketing was associated with organizational commitment and customer orientation. Customer orientation was associated with organizational commitment and partially mediated the relation between internal marketing and organizational commitment. Furthermore, work status significantly moderated the relationships between internal marketing and customer orientation but not between internal marketing and organizational commitment. Implications and directions for future research were discussed.

Helix Nebula: Enabling federation of existing data infrastructures and data services to an overarching cross-domain e-infrastructure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lengert, Wolfgang; Farres, Jordi; Lanari, Riccardo; Casu, Francesco; Manunta, Michele; Lassalle-Balier, Gerard

2014-05-01

Helix Nebula has established a growing public private partnership of more than 30 commercial cloud providers, SMEs, and publicly funded research organisations and e-infrastructures. The Helix Nebula strategy is to establish a federated cloud service across Europe. Three high-profile flagships, sponsored by CERN (high energy physics), EMBL (life sciences) and ESA/DLR/CNES/CNR (earth science), have been deployed and extensively tested within this federated environment. The commitments behind these initial flagships have created a critical mass that attracts suppliers and users to the initiative, to work together towards an "Information as a Service" market place. Significant progress in implementing the following 4 programmatic goals (as outlined in the strategic Plan Ref.1) has been achieved: × Goal #1 Establish a Cloud Computing Infrastructure for the European Research Area (ERA) serving as a platform for innovation and evolution of the overall infrastructure. × Goal #2 Identify and adopt suitable policies for trust, security and privacy on a European-level can be provided by the European Cloud Computing framework and infrastructure. × Goal #3 Create a light-weight governance structure for the future European Cloud Computing Infrastructure that involves all the stakeholders and can evolve over time as the infrastructure, services and user-base grows. × Goal #4 Define a funding scheme involving the three stake-holder groups (service suppliers, users, EC and national funding agencies) into a Public-Private-Partnership model to implement a Cloud Computing Infrastructure that delivers a sustainable business environment adhering to European level policies. Now in 2014 a first version of this generic cross-domain e-infrastructure is ready to go into operations building on federation of European industry and contributors (data, tools, knowledge, ...). This presentation describes how Helix Nebula is being used in the domain of earth science focusing on geohazards. The so called "Supersite Exploitation Platform" (SSEP) provides scientists an overarching federated e-infrastructure with a very fast access to (i) large volume of data (EO/non-space data), (ii) computing resources (e.g. hybrid cloud/grid), (iii) processing software (e.g. toolboxes, RTMs, retrieval baselines, visualization routines), and (iv) general platform capabilities (e.g. user management and access control, accounting, information portal, collaborative tools, social networks etc.). In this federation each data provider remains in full control of the implementation of its data policy. This presentation outlines the Architecture (technical and services) supporting very heterogeneous science domains as well as the procedures for new-comers to join the Helix Nebula Market Place. Ref.1 http://cds.cern.ch/record/1374172/files/CERN-OPEN-2011-036.pdf

Study of relationship between the organizational structure and market orientation from the viewpoint of nurse managers.

PubMed

Bahadori, Mohammadkarim; Yaghoubi, Maryam; Javadi, Marzieh; Rahimi, Zahreh Agha

2015-01-01

Considering globalization of health care and quality improvement trend to respond to competition and customer orientation, attention to organizational structure and its relationship with market orientation is essential. Therefore, this study reviews the relationship between organizational structure and market orientation in selected hospitals of Isfahan (Iran). This study was a descriptive survey. The study population comprised nurse managers from selected hospitals (n = 80). Data collection tools were two questionnaires (market orientation questionnaire and organizational structure) that the validity and reliability were confirmed (r = 0.83 for market orientation questionnaire and r = 0.87 for organizational structure). SPSS (Ver. 16) software was used for the analyses. The mean score of organizational structure was 65.4 (11.2) and total mean of market orientation was 51.14 (17.6). All aspects of the organizational structure (Organization Centralization, Formalization in Organization, and Organization Complication) and market orientation (responding to competition, accountability, customer satisfaction, intelligent organization)-except by responding to clients with Formalization in Organization-as well as all aspects of the Systemic attitude (the system of internal coordination and communication systems_ and market orientation (responding to competition, accountability, customer satisfaction, intelligent organization), there was a meaningful relationship (P < 0.05). Market orientation and its dimensions have a significant relationship with organizational structure and can lead managers' view to the analysis and recognizing elements of success and achievement to goals. With increasing competition in markets, globalization of health services, and presence in international markets and more attention to patients' satisfaction, hospitals need to understand and use of market orientation in order to promote quality and services in the health care system.

Study of relationship between the organizational structure and market orientation from the viewpoint of nurse managers

PubMed Central

Bahadori, Mohammadkarim; Yaghoubi, Maryam; Javadi, Marzieh; Rahimi, Zahreh Agha

2015-01-01

Background: Considering globalization of health care and quality improvement trend to respond to competition and customer orientation, attention to organizational structure and its relationship with market orientation is essential. Therefore, this study reviews the relationship between organizational structure and market orientation in selected hospitals of Isfahan (Iran). Materials and Methods: This study was a descriptive survey. The study population comprised nurse managers from selected hospitals (n = 80). Data collection tools were two questionnaires (market orientation questionnaire and organizational structure) that the validity and reliability were confirmed (r = 0.83 for market orientation questionnaire and r = 0.87 for organizational structure). SPSS (Ver. 16) software was used for the analyses. Results: The mean score of organizational structure was 65.4 (11.2) and total mean of market orientation was 51.14 (17.6). All aspects of the organizational structure (Organization Centralization, Formalization in Organization, and Organization Complication) and market orientation (responding to competition, accountability, customer satisfaction, intelligent organization)—except by responding to clients with Formalization in Organization—as well as all aspects of the Systemic attitude (the system of internal coordination and communication systems_ and market orientation (responding to competition, accountability, customer satisfaction, intelligent organization), there was a meaningful relationship (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Market orientation and its dimensions have a significant relationship with organizational structure and can lead managers’ view to the analysis and recognizing elements of success and achievement to goals. With increasing competition in markets, globalization of health services, and presence in international markets and more attention to patients’ satisfaction, hospitals need to understand and use of market orientation in order to promote quality and services in the health care system. PMID:25861660

Orientation of airborne laser scanning point clouds with multi-view, multi-scale image blocks.

PubMed

Rönnholm, Petri; Hyyppä, Hannu; Hyyppä, Juha; Haggrén, Henrik

2009-01-01

Comprehensive 3D modeling of our environment requires integration of terrestrial and airborne data, which is collected, preferably, using laser scanning and photogrammetric methods. However, integration of these multi-source data requires accurate relative orientations. In this article, two methods for solving relative orientation problems are presented. The first method includes registration by minimizing the distances between of an airborne laser point cloud and a 3D model. The 3D model was derived from photogrammetric measurements and terrestrial laser scanning points. The first method was used as a reference and for validation. Having completed registration in the object space, the relative orientation between images and laser point cloud is known. The second method utilizes an interactive orientation method between a multi-scale image block and a laser point cloud. The multi-scale image block includes both aerial and terrestrial images. Experiments with the multi-scale image block revealed that the accuracy of a relative orientation increased when more images were included in the block. The orientations of the first and second methods were compared. The comparison showed that correct rotations were the most difficult to detect accurately by using the interactive method. Because the interactive method forces laser scanning data to fit with the images, inaccurate rotations cause corresponding shifts to image positions. However, in a test case, in which the orientation differences included only shifts, the interactive method could solve the relative orientation of an aerial image and airborne laser scanning data repeatedly within a couple of centimeters.

Orientation of Airborne Laser Scanning Point Clouds with Multi-View, Multi-Scale Image Blocks

PubMed Central

Rönnholm, Petri; Hyyppä, Hannu; Hyyppä, Juha; Haggrén, Henrik

2009-01-01

Comprehensive 3D modeling of our environment requires integration of terrestrial and airborne data, which is collected, preferably, using laser scanning and photogrammetric methods. However, integration of these multi-source data requires accurate relative orientations. In this article, two methods for solving relative orientation problems are presented. The first method includes registration by minimizing the distances between of an airborne laser point cloud and a 3D model. The 3D model was derived from photogrammetric measurements and terrestrial laser scanning points. The first method was used as a reference and for validation. Having completed registration in the object space, the relative orientation between images and laser point cloud is known. The second method utilizes an interactive orientation method between a multi-scale image block and a laser point cloud. The multi-scale image block includes both aerial and terrestrial images. Experiments with the multi-scale image block revealed that the accuracy of a relative orientation increased when more images were included in the block. The orientations of the first and second methods were compared. The comparison showed that correct rotations were the most difficult to detect accurately by using the interactive method. Because the interactive method forces laser scanning data to fit with the images, inaccurate rotations cause corresponding shifts to image positions. However, in a test case, in which the orientation differences included only shifts, the interactive method could solve the relative orientation of an aerial image and airborne laser scanning data repeatedly within a couple of centimeters. PMID:22454569

Strategic marketing in the NHS: Kwik-health NHS Trust.

PubMed

Laing, A W; Galbraith, A

1995-01-01

Unlike managers in most service organizations, hospital managers do not have significant control over the shape or cost of the service product or the manner of its delivery. Hence, the crucial issue for hospital management to address is how to develop the marketing of a service the control of which is divorced from those with the strategic market perspective. While the internal management of hospital care in NHS is in its infancy, initial developments such as clinical directorates point the way forward in creating a market orientation within provider units. Ultimately, it must be considered what degree of influence over clinical decisions affecting hospital services is realistic, ethical and desirable for strategic marketing and business services. Arguably there is a case for the adoption of some middle ground, with both sides moving from their present positions but perhaps with the clinicians moving furthest.

The Risk Assessment Study for Electric Power Marketing Competitiveness Based on Cloud Model and TOPSIS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Cunbin; Wang, Yi; Lin, Shuaishuai

2017-09-01

With the rapid development of the energy internet and the deepening of the electric power reform, the traditional marketing mode of electric power does not apply to most of electric power enterprises, so must seek a breakthrough, however, in the face of increasingly complex marketing information, how to make a quick, reasonable transformation, makes the electric power marketing competitiveness assessment more accurate and objective becomes a big problem. In this paper, cloud model and TOPSIS method is proposed. Firstly, build the electric power marketing competitiveness evaluation index system. Then utilize the cloud model to transform the qualitative evaluation of the marketing data into quantitative values and use the entropy weight method to weaken the subjective factors of evaluation index weight. Finally, by TOPSIS method the closeness degrees of alternatives are obtained. This method provides a novel solution for the electric power marketing competitiveness evaluation. Through the case analysis the effectiveness and feasibility of this model are verified.

Ice crystal characterization in cirrus clouds: a sun-tracking camera system and automated detection algorithm for halo displays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Forster, Linda; Seefeldner, Meinhard; Wiegner, Matthias; Mayer, Bernhard

2017-07-01

Halo displays in the sky contain valuable information about ice crystal shape and orientation: e.g., the 22° halo is produced by randomly oriented hexagonal prisms while parhelia (sundogs) indicate oriented plates. HaloCam, a novel sun-tracking camera system for the automated observation of halo displays is presented. An initial visual evaluation of the frequency of halo displays for the ACCEPT (Analysis of the Composition of Clouds with Extended Polarization Techniques) field campaign from October to mid-November 2014 showed that sundogs were observed more often than 22° halos. Thus, the majority of halo displays was produced by oriented ice crystals. During the campaign about 27 % of the cirrus clouds produced 22° halos, sundogs or upper tangent arcs. To evaluate the HaloCam observations collected from regular measurements in Munich between January 2014 and June 2016, an automated detection algorithm for 22° halos was developed, which can be extended to other halo types as well. This algorithm detected 22° halos about 2 % of the time for this dataset. The frequency of cirrus clouds during this time period was estimated by co-located ceilometer measurements using temperature thresholds of the cloud base. About 25 % of the detected cirrus clouds occurred together with a 22° halo, which implies that these clouds contained a certain fraction of smooth, hexagonal ice crystals. HaloCam observations complemented by radiative transfer simulations and measurements of aerosol and cirrus cloud optical thickness (AOT and COT) provide a possibility to retrieve more detailed information about ice crystal roughness. This paper demonstrates the feasibility of a completely automated method to collect and evaluate a long-term database of halo observations and shows the potential to characterize ice crystal properties.

A multidirectional communication model: implications for social marketing practice.

PubMed

Thackeray, Rosemary; Neiger, Brad L

2009-04-01

The landscape of sending and receiving information has changed dramatically in the past 25 years. The communication process is changing from being unidirectional to multidirectional as consumers are becoming active participants by creating, seeking, and sharing information using a variety of channels and devices. The purpose of this article is to describe how this shift in the communication process- where gatekeepers control the creation and content of information and consumers are less active recipients to one that reflects a multidirectional and more dynamic process with participative consumers-will affect the social marketing process. This shift in communication does not represent an option for social marketers so much as a necessity. As professionals respond to this evolving communication model, the practice of social marketing can remain vibrant as a relevant consumer-oriented approach to behavior change.

Customer and Market Orientation within AACSB Member Business Schools: Comparative Views from Three Levels of Administrators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Webster, Robert L.; Hammond, Kevin L.; Rothwell, James C.

2010-01-01

This paper is part of a stream of research dealing with customer and market orientation within higher education, specifically within business schools holding membership in AACSB-International. A market orientation strategy leading to a customer and market-oriented organizational culture is based upon the acceptance and adoption of the marketing…

Digital all-sky polarization imaging of partly cloudy skies.

PubMed

Pust, Nathan J; Shaw, Joseph A

2008-12-01

Clouds reduce the degree of linear polarization (DOLP) of skylight relative to that of a clear sky. Even thin subvisual clouds in the "twilight zone" between clouds and aerosols produce a drop in skylight DOLP long before clouds become visible in the sky. In contrast, the angle of polarization (AOP) of light scattered by a cloud in a partly cloudy sky remains the same as in the clear sky for most cases. In unique instances, though, select clouds display AOP signatures that are oriented 90 degrees from the clear-sky AOP. For these clouds, scattered light oriented parallel to the scattering plane dominates the perpendicularly polarized Rayleigh-scattered light between the instrument and the cloud. For liquid clouds, this effect may assist cloud particle size identification because it occurs only over a relatively limited range of particle radii that will scatter parallel polarized light. Images are shown from a digital all-sky-polarization imager to illustrate these effects. Images are also shown that provide validation of previously published theories for weak (approximately 2%) polarization parallel to the scattering plane for a 22 degrees halo.

Cloud Computing Value Chains: Understanding Businesses and Value Creation in the Cloud

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mohammed, Ashraf Bany; Altmann, Jörn; Hwang, Junseok

Based on the promising developments in Cloud Computing technologies in recent years, commercial computing resource services (e.g. Amazon EC2) or software-as-a-service offerings (e.g. Salesforce. com) came into existence. However, the relatively weak business exploitation, participation, and adoption of other Cloud Computing services remain the main challenges. The vague value structures seem to be hindering business adoption and the creation of sustainable business models around its technology. Using an extensive analyze of existing Cloud business models, Cloud services, stakeholder relations, market configurations and value structures, this Chapter develops a reference model for value chains in the Cloud. Although this model is theoretically based on porter's value chain theory, the proposed Cloud value chain model is upgraded to fit the diversity of business service scenarios in the Cloud computing markets. Using this model, different service scenarios are explained. Our findings suggest new services, business opportunities, and policy practices for realizing more adoption and value creation paths in the Cloud.

A Cloud-Based Scavenger Hunt: Orienting Undergraduates to ACS National Meetings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kubasik, Matthew A.; Van Dyke, Aaron R.; Harper-Leatherman, Amanda S.; Miecznikowski, John R.; Steffen, L. Kraig; Smith-Carpenter, Jillian

2016-01-01

American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meetings are valuable for the development of undergraduate researchers but can be overwhelming for first-time attendees. To orient and engage students with the range of offerings at an ACS meeting, we developed a cloud-based scavenger hunt. Using their mobile devices, teams of undergraduates…

Applying machine learning methods for characterization of hexagonal prisms from their 2D scattering patterns - an investigation using modelled scattering data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salawu, Emmanuel Oluwatobi; Hesse, Evelyn; Stopford, Chris; Davey, Neil; Sun, Yi

2017-11-01

Better understanding and characterization of cloud particles, whose properties and distributions affect climate and weather, are essential for the understanding of present climate and climate change. Since imaging cloud probes have limitations of optical resolution, especially for small particles (with diameter < 25 μm), instruments like the Small Ice Detector (SID) probes, which capture high-resolution spatial light scattering patterns from individual particles down to 1 μm in size, have been developed. In this work, we have proposed a method using Machine Learning techniques to estimate simulated particles' orientation-averaged projected sizes (PAD) and aspect ratio from their 2D scattering patterns. The two-dimensional light scattering patterns (2DLSP) of hexagonal prisms are computed using the Ray Tracing with Diffraction on Facets (RTDF) model. The 2DLSP cover the same angular range as the SID probes. We generated 2DLSP for 162 hexagonal prisms at 133 orientations for each. In a first step, the 2DLSP were transformed into rotation-invariant Zernike moments (ZMs), which are particularly suitable for analyses of pattern symmetry. Then we used ZMs, summed intensities, and root mean square contrast as inputs to the advanced Machine Learning methods. We created one random forests classifier for predicting prism orientation, 133 orientation-specific (OS) support vector classification models for predicting the prism aspect-ratios, 133 OS support vector regression models for estimating prism sizes, and another 133 OS Support Vector Regression (SVR) models for estimating the size PADs. We have achieved a high accuracy of 0.99 in predicting prism aspect ratios, and a low value of normalized mean square error of 0.004 for estimating the particle's size and size PADs.

Helicopter collision avoidance and brown-out recovery with HELLAS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seidel, Christian; Schwartz, Ingo; Kielhorn, Peter

2008-10-01

EADS Germany is the world market leader in commercial and military Helicopter Laser Radar (HELLAS) Obstacle Warning Systems. The HELLAS-Warning System has been introduced into the market in 2000, is in service at German Federal Police and Royal Thai Air Force. HELLAS was also successfully evaluated by the Foreign Comparative Test Program (FCT) of the U.S. Army and other governmental agencies. Currently the successor system for military applications, HELLAS-Awareness, is in qualification phase. It will have extended sensor performance, enhanced real-time data processing capabilities and advanced human machine interface (HMI) features. Flight tests on NH90 helicopter have been successfully performed. Helicopter series integration is scheduled to begin from 2009. We will give an outline of the new sensor unit concerning detection technology and helicopter integration aspects. The system provides a widespread field of view with additional dynamic line of sight steering and a large detection range in combination with a high frame rate. We will show the HMI representations. This HELLAS system is the basis for a 3 dimensional see-and-remember-system for brown-out recovery. When landing in sandy or dusty areas the downwash of the helicopter rotor causes clouds of visually-restrictive material that can completely obstruct the pilot's outside reference, resulting in a complete loss of situational awareness and spatial orientation of the pilot which can end up in total loss of aircraft control and dangerous accidents. The brown-out recovery system presented here creates an augmented enhanced synthetic vision of the landing area with the surrounding which is based on HELLAS range image data as well as altimeter and inertial reference information.

Planck intermediate results: XXXV. Probing the role of the magnetic field in the formation of structure in molecular clouds

DOE PAGES

Ade, P. A. R.; Aghanim, N.; Alves, M. I. R.; ...

2016-02-09

Within ten nearby (d < 450 pc) Gould belt molecular clouds we evaluate in this paper statistically the relative orientation between the magnetic field projected on the plane of sky, inferred from the polarized thermal emission of Galactic dust observed by Planck at 353 GHz, and the gas column density structures, quantified by the gradient of the column density, N H. The selected regions, covering several degrees in size, are analysed at an effective angular resolution of 10' FWHM, thus sampling physical scales from 0.4 to 40 pc in the nearest cloud. The column densities in the selected regions rangemore » from N H≈ 10 21 to10 23 cm -2, and hence they correspond to the bulk of the molecular clouds. The relative orientation is evaluated pixel by pixel and analysed in bins of column density using the novel statistical tool called “histogram of relative orientations”. Throughout this study, we assume that the polarized emission observed by Planck at 353 GHz is representative of the projected morphology of the magnetic field in each region, i.e., we assume a constant dust grain alignment efficiency, independent of the local environment. Within most clouds we find that the relative orientation changes progressively with increasing N H, from mostly parallel or having no preferred orientation to mostly perpendicular. In simulations of magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in molecular clouds this trend in relative orientation is a signature of Alfvénic or sub-Alfvénic turbulence, implying that the magnetic field is significant for the gas dynamics at the scales probed by Planck. Finally, we compare the deduced magnetic field strength with estimates we obtain from other methods and discuss the implications of the Planck observations for the general picture of molecular cloud formation and evolution.« less

Six Facets of the Open COTS Box

DTIC Science & Technology

2000-03-01

customisation of the presentation the package affect me and what interface. Typically, though, they will be used for dependencies does it create? different...types of applications. COTS software is fundamentally oriented to a The approach that will leave the greatest mass market. New releases can serve a number...flexibility for customisation of the look of the of purposes in this environment: presentation interface by individuals will be the ° They are a

Doppler-radar observation of the evolution of downdrafts in convective clouds

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Motallebi, N.

1982-01-01

A detailed analysis of the 20 July 1977 thunderstorm complex which formed and evolve over the South Park region in Central Colorado is presented. The storm was extensively analyzed using multiple Doppler radar and surface mesonet data, developed within an environment having very weak wind shear. The storm owed its intensification to the strength of the downdraft, which was nearly coincident with the region where the cloud had grown. The noteworthy features of this storm were its motion to the right of the cloud-level winds, its multicellular nature and discrete propagation, its north-south orientation, and its relatively large storm size and high reflectivity factor (55 dBZ). This scenario accounts for the observed mesoscale and cloud-scale event. A line of convergence was generated at the interface between the easterly upslope winds and westerly winds. During stage II, the convergence line subsequently propagated down the slopes of the Mosquito Range, and was the main forcing mechanism for the development of updraft on the west flank of the storm. The formation of downdraft on the eastern side of updraft blacked surface inflow, and created a detectable gust front. As the original downdraft intensified, the accumulation of evaporatively-chilled air caused the intensification of the mesohigh, which likely destroyed the earlier convergence line and created a stronger convergence line to the east, which forced up-lifting of the moist, westerly inflow and caused the formation of updraft to the east. An organized downdraft circulation, apparently maintained by precipitation drag and evaporational cooling, was responsible in sustaining a well-defined gust front. The storm attained its highest intensity as a consequence of merging with a neighboring cloud. The interaction of downdrafts or gust fronts from two intense cells appeared to be the primary mechanism of this merging process as suggested by Simpson et al. (1980). The merging process coincided with more rain than occurred in unmerged echoes.

Measuring market orientation: further evidence on Narver and Slater's three-component scale.

PubMed

Chakrabarty, Subhra; Rogé, Joseph N

2003-12-01

A mail survey of a national random sample of 2,000 marketing managers was conducted. The data provided by 222 respondents were analyzed to assess the dimensionality of Narver and Slater's 15-item measure of market orientation. A confirmatory factor analysis, using LISREL 8.53, provided support for each of the separate dimensions of customer orientation, competitor orientation, and interfunctional coordination. However, a combined 3-factor model of market orientation was not supported. Directions for research are suggested.

Automatic extraction of discontinuity orientation from rock mass surface 3D point cloud

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Jianqin; Zhu, Hehua; Li, Xiaojun

2016-10-01

This paper presents a new method for extracting discontinuity orientation automatically from rock mass surface 3D point cloud. The proposed method consists of four steps: (1) automatic grouping of discontinuity sets using an improved K-means clustering method, (2) discontinuity segmentation and optimization, (3) discontinuity plane fitting using Random Sample Consensus (RANSAC) method, and (4) coordinate transformation of discontinuity plane. The method is first validated by the point cloud of a small piece of a rock slope acquired by photogrammetry. The extracted discontinuity orientations are compared with measured ones in the field. Then it is applied to a publicly available LiDAR data of a road cut rock slope at Rockbench repository. The extracted discontinuity orientations are compared with the method proposed by Riquelme et al. (2014). The results show that the presented method is reliable and of high accuracy, and can meet the engineering needs.

The Feasibility of 3d Point Cloud Generation from Smartphones

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alsubaie, N.; El-Sheimy, N.

2016-06-01

This paper proposes a new technique for increasing the accuracy of direct geo-referenced image-based 3D point cloud generated from low-cost sensors in smartphones. The smartphone's motion sensors are used to directly acquire the Exterior Orientation Parameters (EOPs) of the captured images. These EOPs, along with the Interior Orientation Parameters (IOPs) of the camera/ phone, are used to reconstruct the image-based 3D point cloud. However, because smartphone motion sensors suffer from poor GPS accuracy, accumulated drift and high signal noise, inaccurate 3D mapping solutions often result. Therefore, horizontal and vertical linear features, visible in each image, are extracted and used as constraints in the bundle adjustment procedure. These constraints correct the relative position and orientation of the 3D mapping solution. Once the enhanced EOPs are estimated, the semi-global matching algorithm (SGM) is used to generate the image-based dense 3D point cloud. Statistical analysis and assessment are implemented herein, in order to demonstrate the feasibility of 3D point cloud generation from the consumer-grade sensors in smartphones.

Market Orientation in Managing Relationships with Multiple Constituencies of Croatian Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pavicic, Jurica; Alfirevic, Niksa; Mihanovic, Zoran

2009-01-01

In this paper, market orientation in Croatian higher education (HE) is discussed within the context of stakeholder-oriented management. Drawing on existing studies, the "classical" empirical model, describing the market orientation of generic nonprofit organisations, has been adapted to the contingencies of the Croatian HE sector.…

Marketing orientation in hospitals: findings from a multi-phased research study.

PubMed

Wrenn, Bruce

2007-01-01

It is clear from numerous studies conducted over a wide variety of industries that marketing-oriented organizations perform better than those that do not adopt this business philosophy. Recent studies have confirmed this finding in healthcare organizations as well. What is now coming to light is the way in which a marketing orientation does contribute to better performance in hospitals, and the difficulties marketers face in getting recognition of that fact by non-marketers in their organization. This article reports on a multi-phased research study of the implementation of marketing-oriented behaviors in a hospital setting.

Contextual cloud-based service oriented architecture for clinical workflow.

PubMed

Moreno-Conde, Jesús; Moreno-Conde, Alberto; Núñez-Benjumea, Francisco J; Parra-Calderón, Carlos

2015-01-01

Given that acceptance of systems within the healthcare domain multiple papers highlighted the importance of integrating tools with the clinical workflow. This paper analyse how clinical context management could be deployed in order to promote the adoption of cloud advanced services and within the clinical workflow. This deployment will be able to be integrated with the eHealth European Interoperability Framework promoted specifications. Throughout this paper, it is proposed a cloud-based service-oriented architecture. This architecture will implement a context management system aligned with the HL7 standard known as CCOW.

New Stereo Vision Digital Camera System for Simultaneous Measurement of Cloud Base Height and Atmospheric Visibility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Janeiro, F. M.; Carretas, F.; Palma, N.; Ramos, P. M.; Wagner, F.

2013-12-01

Clouds play an important role in many aspects of everyday life. They affect both the local weather as well as the global climate and are an important parameter on climate change studies. Cloud parameters are also important for weather prediction models which make use of actual measurements. It is thus important to have low-cost instrumentation that can be deployed in the field to measure those parameters. This kind of instruments should also be automated and robust since they may be deployed in remote places and be subject to adverse weather conditions. Although clouds are very important in environmental systems, they are also an essential component of airplane safety when visual flight rules (VFR) are enforced, such as in most small aerodromes where it is not economically viable to install instruments for assisted flying. Under VFR there are strict limits on the height of the cloud base, cloud cover and atmospheric visibility that ensure the safety of the pilots and planes. Although there are instruments, available in the market, to measure those parameters, their relatively high cost makes them unavailable in many local aerodromes. In this work we present a new prototype which has been recently developed and deployed in a local aerodrome as proof of concept. It is composed by two digital cameras that capture photographs of the sky and allow the measurement of the cloud height from the parallax effect. The new developments consist on having a new geometry which allows the simultaneous measurement of cloud base height, wind speed at cloud base height and atmospheric visibility, which was not previously possible with only two cameras. The new orientation of the cameras comes at the cost of a more complex geometry to measure the cloud base height. The atmospheric visibility is calculated from the Lambert-Beer law after the measurement of the contrast between a set of dark objects and the background sky. The prototype includes the latest hardware developments that allow its cost to remain low even with its increased functionality. Also, a new control software was also developed to ensure that the two cameras are triggered simultaneously. This is a major requirement that affects the final uncertainty of the measurements due to the constant movement of the clouds in the sky. Since accurate orientation of the cameras can be a very demanding task in field deployments, an automated calibration procedure has been developed, that removes the need for an accurate alignment. It consists on photographing the stars, which do not exhibit parallax due to the long distances involved, and deducing the inherent misalignments of the two cameras. The known misalignments are then used to correct the cloud photos. These developments will be described in the detail, along with an uncertainty analysis of the measurement setup. Measurements of cloud base height and atmospheric visibility will be presented and compared with measurements from other in-situ instruments. This work was supported by FCT project PTDC/CTE-ATM/115833/2009 and Program COMPETE FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-014508

Comparing market orientation culture of businesses and schools of business: an extension and refinement.

PubMed

Webster, Robert L; Hammond, Kevin L; Harmon, Harry A

2005-04-01

This study extends previous work concerning the market orientation culture within specialty businesses and schools of business. Specifically, member schools of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International are separated into public and private universities. Data were collected via a mailed survey to business schools holding membership. 106 public school deans and 35 private school deans responded, for a 23% response rate. Input from the deans was sought on their perceptions of the market orientation culture within the schools. Respondents' perceptions, rated on a 7-point scale, measured four dimensions of market orientation: customer orientation, competitor orientation, organizational coordination, and overall market orientation. Data for specialty businesses were drawn from a previous study. Comparison testing between the public and private business schools' deans and business managers was conducted. Analysis indicated perceived market orientation was significantly higher for deans of private business schools than public business schools. Compared with business managers, private school deans were statistically different on only one of the four dimensions, whereas public business school deans' scores were significantly different from those of business managers on all four. Compared with each other, business school deans were statistically different on three dimensions, with private school deans reporting greater market orientation.

Market orientation: a concept for health libraries.

PubMed

Sen, Barbara

2006-03-01

This paper is the result of exploratory research forming part of ongoing study into the value and relevance of market orientation as a strategic option for library managers. The aim of the study is to gain an understanding of the concept of market orientation relative to the health library sector. A focus group was used to gather data from health librarians working at different levels in the sector. The data was coded and categorized by an expert panel and analysed using a taxonomic map developed during the study. Health library professionals define and understand market orientation in the same way as the concept is defined in the management literature. Their understanding of the concept is developing. A greater emphasis is given to some aspects of market orientation than others. There are implications for further research. Methods used to measure market orientation in other domains are likely to be relevant for libraries. Research should be extended to different sectors to explore any cross-sector differences. Fostering an organizational culture that supports market orientation has implications for service management and development.

Filamentary flow and magnetic geometry in evolving cluster-forming molecular cloud clumps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klassen, Mikhail; Pudritz, Ralph E.; Kirk, Helen

2017-02-01

We present an analysis of the relationship between the orientation of magnetic fields and filaments that form in 3D magnetohydrodynamic simulations of cluster-forming, turbulent molecular cloud clumps. We examine simulated cloud clumps with size scales of L ˜ 2-4 pc and densities of n ˜ 400-1000 cm-3 with Alfvén Mach numbers near unity. We simulated two cloud clumps of different masses, one in virial equilibrium, the other strongly gravitationally bound, but with the same initial turbulent velocity field and similar mass-to-flux ratio. We apply various techniques to analyse the filamentary and magnetic structure of the resulting cloud, including the DISPERSE filament-finding algorithm in 3D. The largest structure that forms is a 1-2 parsec-long filament, with smaller connecting sub-filaments. We find that our simulated clouds, wherein magnetic forces and turbulence are comparable, coherent orientation of the magnetic field depends on the virial parameter. Sub-virial clumps undergo strong gravitational collapse and magnetic field lines are dragged with the accretion flow. We see evidence of filament-aligned flow and accretion flow on to the filament in the sub-virial cloud. Magnetic fields oriented more parallel in the sub-virial cloud and more perpendicular in the denser, marginally bound cloud. Radiative feedback from a 16 M⊙ star forming in a cluster in one of our simulation's ultimately results in the destruction of the main filament, the formation of an H II region, and the sweeping up of magnetic fields within an expanding shell at the edges of the H II region.

Global Measurements of Optically Thin Cirrus Clouds Using CALIOP

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ryan, R. A.; Avery, M. A.; Vaughan, M.

2017-12-01

Optically thin cirrus clouds, defined here as cold clouds consisting of randomly oriented ice crystals and having optical depths (τ) less than 0.3, are difficult to measure accurately. Thin cirrus clouds have been shown to have a net warming effect on the globe but, because passive instruments are not sensitive to optically thin clouds, the occurrence frequency of thin cirrus is greatly underestimated in historical passive sensor cloud climatology. One major strength of Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) is its ability to detect these thin cirrus clouds, thus filling an important missing piece in the historical data record. This poster examines multiple years of CALIOP Level 2 data, focusing on those CALIOP retrievals identified as being optically thin (τ < 0.3), having a cold centroid temperature (TC < -40°C), and consisting solely of randomly oriented ice crystals. Using this definition, thin cirrus are identified and counted globally within each season. By examining the spatial, and seasonal distributions of these thin clouds we hope to gain a better understanding of how thin cirrus affect the atmosphere. Understanding when and where these clouds form and persist in the global atmosphere is the topic and focus of the presented poster.

The Use of Uas for Rapid 3d Mapping in Geomatics Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Teo, Tee-Ann; Tian-Yuan Shih, Peter; Yu, Sz-Cheng; Tsai, Fuan

2016-06-01

With the development of technology, UAS is an advance technology to support rapid mapping for disaster response. The aim of this study is to develop educational modules for UAS data processing in rapid 3D mapping. The designed modules for this study are focused on UAV data processing from available freeware or trial software for education purpose. The key modules include orientation modelling, 3D point clouds generation, image georeferencing and visualization. The orientation modelling modules adopts VisualSFM to determine the projection matrix for each image station. Besides, the approximate ground control points are measured from OpenStreetMap for absolute orientation. The second module uses SURE and the orientation files from previous module for 3D point clouds generation. Then, the ground point selection and digital terrain model generation can be archived by LAStools. The third module stitches individual rectified images into a mosaic image using Microsoft ICE (Image Composite Editor). The last module visualizes and measures the generated dense point clouds in CloudCompare. These comprehensive UAS processing modules allow the students to gain the skills to process and deliver UAS photogrammetric products in rapid 3D mapping. Moreover, they can also apply the photogrammetric products for analysis in practice.

Crowdsourcing Precision Cerebrovascular Health: Imaging and Cloud Seeding A Million Brains Initiative™.

PubMed

Liebeskind, David S

2016-01-01

Crowdsourcing, an unorthodox approach in medicine, creates an unusual paradigm to study precision cerebrovascular health, eliminating the relative isolation and non-standardized nature of current imaging data infrastructure, while shifting emphasis to the astounding capacity of big data in the cloud. This perspective envisions the use of imaging data of the brain and vessels to orient and seed A Million Brains Initiative™ that may leapfrog incremental advances in stroke and rapidly provide useful data to the sizable population around the globe prone to the devastating effects of stroke and vascular substrates of dementia. Despite such variability in the type of data available and other limitations, the data hierarchy logically starts with imaging and can be enriched with almost endless types and amounts of other clinical and biological data. Crowdsourcing allows an individual to contribute to aggregated data on a population, while preserving their right to specific information about their own brain health. The cloud now offers endless storage, computing prowess, and neuroimaging applications for postprocessing that is searchable and scalable. Collective expertise is a windfall of the crowd in the cloud and particularly valuable in an area such as cerebrovascular health. The rise of precision medicine, rapidly evolving technological capabilities of cloud computing and the global imperative to limit the public health impact of cerebrovascular disease converge in the imaging of A Million Brains Initiative™. Crowdsourcing secure data on brain health may provide ultimate generalizability, enable focused analyses, facilitate clinical practice, and accelerate research efforts.

Geometric processing workflow for vertical and oblique hyperspectral frame images collected using UAV

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Markelin, L.; Honkavaara, E.; Näsi, R.; Nurminen, K.; Hakala, T.

2014-08-01

Remote sensing based on unmanned airborne vehicles (UAVs) is a rapidly developing field of technology. UAVs enable accurate, flexible, low-cost and multiangular measurements of 3D geometric, radiometric, and temporal properties of land and vegetation using various sensors. In this paper we present a geometric processing chain for multiangular measurement system that is designed for measuring object directional reflectance characteristics in a wavelength range of 400-900 nm. The technique is based on a novel, lightweight spectral camera designed for UAV use. The multiangular measurement is conducted by collecting vertical and oblique area-format spectral images. End products of the geometric processing are image exterior orientations, 3D point clouds and digital surface models (DSM). This data is needed for the radiometric processing chain that produces reflectance image mosaics and multiangular bidirectional reflectance factor (BRF) observations. The geometric processing workflow consists of the following three steps: (1) determining approximate image orientations using Visual Structure from Motion (VisualSFM) software, (2) calculating improved orientations and sensor calibration using a method based on self-calibrating bundle block adjustment (standard photogrammetric software) (this step is optional), and finally (3) creating dense 3D point clouds and DSMs using Photogrammetric Surface Reconstruction from Imagery (SURE) software that is based on semi-global-matching algorithm and it is capable of providing a point density corresponding to the pixel size of the image. We have tested the geometric processing workflow over various targets, including test fields, agricultural fields, lakes and complex 3D structures like forests.

Research approach and first results on agglomerate compaction in protoplanetary dust simulation in the Cloud Manipulation System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vedernikov, Andrei; Blum, Jurgen; Ingo Von Borstel, Olaf; Schraepler, Rainer; Balapanov, Daniyar; Cecere, Anselmo

2016-07-01

Nanometre and micrometre-sized solid particles are ubiquitous in space and on Earth - from galaxies, interstellar space, protoplanetary and debris disks to planetary rings and atmospheres, planetary surfaces, comets, interplanetary space, Earth's atmosphere. Apparently, the most intriguing problem in the picture of the formation of planets is the transition from individual microscopic dust grains to kilometre-sized planetesimals. Revealing the mechanisms of this transition is one of the main tasks of the European Space Agency's project Interaction in Cosmic and Atmospheric Particle Systems (ICAPS). It was found that Brownian motion driven agglomeration could not provide the transition within reasonable time scale. As a result, at this stage top scientific goals shifted towards forced agglomeration and concentration of particles, targeting revealing the onset of compaction, experimental study of the evolution of fractal dimensions, size and mass distribution, occurrence of bouncing. The main tasks comprise 1) development of the rapid agglomeration model 2) development of the experimental facilities creating big fractal-type agglomerates from 10 to 1000 μm from a cloud of micrometre-size grains; 3) experimental realization of the rapid agglomeration in microgravity and ground conditions; and 4) in situ investigation of the morphology, mobility, mechanical and optical properties of the free-floating agglomerates, including investigation of thermophoresis, photophoresis of the agglomerates and of the two-phase flow phenomena. To solve the experimental part of the tasks we developed a Cloud Manipulation System, realized as a breadboard (CMS BB) for long duration microgravity platforms and a simplified laboratory version (CMS LV) mostly oriented on short duration microgravity and ground tests. The new system is based on the use of thermophoresis, most favourable for cloud manipulation without creating additional particle-particle forces in the cloud with a possibility of growing single agglomerate out of the whole cloud. The cloud manipulation system additionally provides temperature stabilization or, on the contrary, high temperature variation in the observation volume; formation of controlled temperature gradients, intensive three-dimensional periodic shear flow or three-dimensional gas density pulsations of the contraction-expansion type; application of electrostatic gradients including electro dynamic balancing; imposing of photophoretic force, etc. Their choice and/or combination depend upon particular experimental task. Experiments on forced agglomeration in short duration microgravity conditions of the Bremen drop tower succeeded in rapid growth of extended agglomerates, formation of complex three-dimensional cloud patterns, allowed observing controlled cloud displacement, cloud trapping, particle separation with respect to their electrical charge. The breadboard (CMS BB) and the laboratory version of the Cloud Manipulation System (CMS LV) are new types of scientific instrument with high scientific potential. ESA PRODEX program, the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office, DLR project 50WM1223, ZARM Drop Tower Operation and Service Company Ltd. are greatly acknowledged.

Psychological Determinants of Entrepreneurial Success and Life-Satisfaction.

PubMed

Przepiorka, Aneta M

2017-01-01

The presented study focused on different stages of the entrepreneurial process. The first group comprised those starting a new business and the second group those who have been through the whole process of creating a new business and have now been operating in the market. The general aim of the article was to examine the relationship between action orientation, hope, goal commitment, entrepreneurial success, and life satisfaction, and to determine the role of psychological characteristics (hope, action orientation) in the entrepreneurial process. The hypotheses were tested on a sample of 344 potential entrepreneurs in the prelaunch stage and 127 actual entrepreneurs in the post-launch stage. To analyze these relationships, multiple-group analysis was conducted.

77 FR 65177 - Swap Data Repositories: Interpretative Statement Regarding the Confidentiality and...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-10-25

... participation in standard-setting bodies to develop international standards relevant to the swap markets. Cloud Strategix, LLC (``Cloud Strategix''), representing the data hosting and cloud computing industry, in... Roundtable, June 6, 2012; (iii) Cloud Strategix, LLC, June 5, 2012; and (iv) the Depository Trust & Clearing...

Competing strategically through market orientation.

PubMed

Rapert, M I; Yarbrough, L

1997-01-01

As organizations seek to better understand their customers, competitors, and environments, the marketing function effectively serves as the support mechanism for these activities in many industries. Accordingly, in many organizations the marketing concept has been elevated to the stature of a strategic weapon, manifested in the form of market orientation. Market-oriented firms emphasize the collection, organization, and dissemination of information regarding both customers and competitors. This strategy is especially well-suited for the health care industry where customer knowledge is of paramount importance, customer interaction is instantaneous, and customer satisfaction is essential. Results of a national study of general service hospitals suggest that firms which embrace a market orientation benefit through enhanced customer satisfaction and quality.

Optical beams with embedded vortices: building blocks for atom optics and quantum information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chattrapiban, N.; Arakelyan, I.; Mitra, S.; Hill, W. T., III

2006-05-01

Laser beams with embedded vortices, Bessel or Laguerre-Gaussian modes, provide a unique opportunity for creating elements for atom optics, entangling photons and, potentially, mediating novel quantum interconnects between photons and matter. High-order Bessel modes, for example, contain intensity voids and propagate nearly diffraction-free for tens of meters. These vortices can be exploited to produce dark channels oriented longitudinally (hollow beams) or transversely to the laser propagation direction. Such channels are ideal for generating networks or circuits to guide and manipulate cold neutral atoms, an essential requirement for realizing future applications associated with atom interferometry, atom lithography and even some neutral atom-based quantum computing architectures. Recently, we divided a thermal cloud of neutral atoms moving within a blue-detuned beam into two clouds with two different momenta by crossing two hollow beams. In this presentation, we will describe these results and discuss the prospects for extending the process to coherent ensembles of matter.

Organizational Culture in Community Colleges: Connecting Market Orientation, Quality, and Student Engagement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McManimon, Debra J.

2012-01-01

To enhance their competitive advantage in the marketplace, many business leaders develop market orientation strategies designed to increase customer engagement. These market orientation strategies include improvement in service delivery, relationship management, customer satisfaction, and quality control methods. There is a lack of understanding…

Spectral dependence of backscattering coefficient of mixed phase clouds over West Africa measured with two-wavelength Raman polarization lidar: Features attributed to ice-crystals corner reflection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Veselovskii, I.; Goloub, P.; Podvin, T.; Tanre, D.; Ansmann, A.; Korenskiy, M.; Borovoi, A.; Hu, Q.; Whiteman, D. N.

2017-11-01

The existing models predict that corner reflection (CR) of laser radiation by simple ice crystals of perfect shape, such as hexagonal columns or plates, can provide a significant contribution to the ice cloud backscattering. However in real clouds the CR effect may be suppressed due to crystal deformation and surface roughness. In contrast to the extinction coefficient, which is spectrally independent, consideration of diffraction associated with CR results in a spectral dependence of the backscattering coefficient. Thus measuring the spectral dependence of the cloud backscattering coefficient, the contribution of CR can be identified. The paper presents the results of profiling of backscattering coefficient (β) and particle depolarization ratio (δ) of ice and mixed-phase clouds over West Africa by means of a two-wavelength polarization Mie-Raman lidar operated at 355 nm and 532 nm during the SHADOW field campaign. The lidar observations were performed at a slant angle of 43 degree off zenith, thus CR from both randomly oriented crystals and oriented plates could be analyzed. For the most of the observations the cloud backscatter color ratio β355/β532 was close to 1.0, and no spectral features that might indicate the presence of CR of randomly oriented crystals were revealed. Still, in two measurement sessions we observed an increase of backscatter color ratio to a value of nearly 1.3 simultaneously with a decrease of the spectral depolarization ratio δ355/δ532 ratio from 1.0 to 0.8 inside the layers containing precipitating ice crystals. We attribute these changes in optical properties to corner reflections by horizontally oriented ice plates.

Instrument for Aircraft-Icing and Cloud-Physics Measurements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lilie, Lyle; Bouley, Dan; Sivo, Chris

2006-01-01

The figure shows a compact, rugged, simple sensor head that is part of an instrumentation system for making measurements to characterize the severity of aircraft-icing conditions and/or to perform research on cloud physics. The quantities that are calculated from measurement data acquired by this system and that are used to quantify the severity of icing conditions include sizes of cloud water drops, cloud liquid water content (LWC), cloud ice water content (IWC), and cloud total water content (TWC). The sensor head is mounted on the outside of an aircraft, positioned and oriented to intercept the ambient airflow. The sensor head consists of an open housing that is heated in a controlled manner to keep it free of ice and that contains four hot-wire elements. The hot-wire sensing elements have different shapes and sizes and, therefore, exhibit different measurement efficiencies with respect to droplet size and water phase (liquid, frozen, or mixed). Three of the hot-wire sensing elements are oriented across the airflow so as to intercept incoming cloud water. For each of these elements, the LWC or TWC affects the power required to maintain a constant temperature in the presence of cloud water.

Market Orientation and Its Measurement in Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Niculescu, Mihai; Xu, Bing; Hampton, Gerald M.; Peterson, Robin T.

2013-01-01

Historically, the measurement of market orientation has proved to be difficult, due to the low external validity of the concept. Existing scales exhibit acceptable properties in measuring market orientation in business organizations, but are less accurate in the context of higher education institutions. This paper compares the performance of three…

[Empirical study of the market orientation of veterinarians in The Netherlands].

PubMed

Schuurmans, A J; Smidts, A

1990-04-01

Linked to the theoretical framework of marketing in the veterinary practice, as explained in Schuurmans and Smidts (1) pp. 1-10 and Schuurmans and Smidts (2), an empirical research project has been undertaken. This research gives insight into the extent to which practices base their services on a marketing orientation. By means of telephone inquiries among a sample of 166 veterinarians, this was investigated. The research shows that veterinarians think more in a product-oriented way than in a market-oriented way, and they do not use all the opportunities a marketing orientation could bring to their services. This expresses itself, among others by not using market segmentation, by the inadequate use of the marketing mix elements communication and distribution, and by the fact that the opportunities of the marketing information system are hardly applied. By means of further research in individual practices it might be possible to give concrete advise fit for that practice. Research among the clients of the veterinarians might, beside many other kinds of research, also give valuable insights.

The role of social message using norm abstraction level and ecological value orientation to achieve sustainable consumption

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ekasari, A.

2018-01-01

Pro-environmental behavior is one of human activities to achieve sustainability. In order to encourage people to do so, it needs contribution from marketing discipline using social message. The research aims to investigate the effect of social message framed by norm abstraction level and ecological value orientation on attitude and intention to act pro-environmental behavior in the context of littering. This study implemented a 3 (message framing: biospheric/altruistic/egoistic) × 2 (norm abstraction level : abstract/concrete) between subject experimental design to collect the data. An independent sample t test was used to analyze the data. The results indicate that a social message using concrete norm combined with the three ecological value orientation gains more positive response than the use of abstract norm with the same ecological value orientations. Findings of the research are expected to help government or other institutions to create an appropriate social message in anti littering campaign and motivates people to change their behavior in practicing sustainable consumption.

The Physics of Molecular Shocks in Star-Forming Regions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hollenbach, David; Cuzzi, Jeffrey (Technical Monitor)

1996-01-01

Molecular shocks are produced by the impact of the supersonic infall of gas and dust onto protostars and by the interaction of the supersonic outflow from the protostar with the circumstellar material. Infalling gas creates an accretion shock around the circumstellar disk which emits a unique infrared spectrum and which processes the interstellar dust as it enters the disk. The winds and jets from protostars also impact the disk, the infalling material, and the ambient molecular cloud core creating shocks whose spectrum and morphology diagnose the mass loss processes of the protostar and the orientation and structure of the star forming system. We discuss the physics of these shocks, the model spectra derived from theoretical models, and comparisons with observations of H2O masers, H2 emission, as well as other shocks tracers. We show the strong effect of magnetic fields on molecular shock structure, and elucidate the chemical changes induced by the shock heating and compression.

The Adoption of Cloud Computing in the Field of Genomics Research: The Influence of Ethical and Legal Issues

PubMed Central

Charlebois, Kathleen; Palmour, Nicole; Knoppers, Bartha Maria

2016-01-01

This study aims to understand the influence of the ethical and legal issues on cloud computing adoption in the field of genomics research. To do so, we adapted Diffusion of Innovation (DoI) theory to enable understanding of how key stakeholders manage the various ethical and legal issues they encounter when adopting cloud computing. Twenty semi-structured interviews were conducted with genomics researchers, patient advocates and cloud service providers. Thematic analysis generated five major themes: 1) Getting comfortable with cloud computing; 2) Weighing the advantages and the risks of cloud computing; 3) Reconciling cloud computing with data privacy; 4) Maintaining trust and 5) Anticipating the cloud by creating the conditions for cloud adoption. Our analysis highlights the tendency among genomics researchers to gradually adopt cloud technology. Efforts made by cloud service providers to promote cloud computing adoption are confronted by researchers’ perpetual cost and security concerns, along with a lack of familiarity with the technology. Further underlying those fears are researchers’ legal responsibility with respect to the data that is stored on the cloud. Alternative consent mechanisms aimed at increasing patients’ control over the use of their data also provide a means to circumvent various institutional and jurisdictional hurdles that restrict access by creating siloed databases. However, the risk of creating new, cloud-based silos may run counter to the goal in genomics research to increase data sharing on a global scale. PMID:27755563

The Adoption of Cloud Computing in the Field of Genomics Research: The Influence of Ethical and Legal Issues.

PubMed

Charlebois, Kathleen; Palmour, Nicole; Knoppers, Bartha Maria

2016-01-01

This study aims to understand the influence of the ethical and legal issues on cloud computing adoption in the field of genomics research. To do so, we adapted Diffusion of Innovation (DoI) theory to enable understanding of how key stakeholders manage the various ethical and legal issues they encounter when adopting cloud computing. Twenty semi-structured interviews were conducted with genomics researchers, patient advocates and cloud service providers. Thematic analysis generated five major themes: 1) Getting comfortable with cloud computing; 2) Weighing the advantages and the risks of cloud computing; 3) Reconciling cloud computing with data privacy; 4) Maintaining trust and 5) Anticipating the cloud by creating the conditions for cloud adoption. Our analysis highlights the tendency among genomics researchers to gradually adopt cloud technology. Efforts made by cloud service providers to promote cloud computing adoption are confronted by researchers' perpetual cost and security concerns, along with a lack of familiarity with the technology. Further underlying those fears are researchers' legal responsibility with respect to the data that is stored on the cloud. Alternative consent mechanisms aimed at increasing patients' control over the use of their data also provide a means to circumvent various institutional and jurisdictional hurdles that restrict access by creating siloed databases. However, the risk of creating new, cloud-based silos may run counter to the goal in genomics research to increase data sharing on a global scale.

Trends in Arctic Sea Ice Leads Detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ackerman, S. A.; Hoffman, J.; Liu, Y.; Key, J. R.

2016-12-01

Sea ice leads (fractures) play a critical role in the exchange of mass and energy between the ocean and atmosphere in the polar regions, particularly in the Arctic. Leads result in warming water and accelerated melting because leads absorb more solar energy than the surrounding ice. In the autumn, winter, and spring leads impact the local atmospheric structure and cloud properties because of the large flux of heat and moisture into the atmosphere. Given the rapid thinning and loss of Arctic sea ice over the last few decades, changes in the distribution of leads can be expected in response. Leads are largely wind driven, so their distributions will also be affected by the changes in atmospheric circulation that have occurred. From a climate perspective, identifying trends in lead characteristics (width, orientation, and spatial distribution) will advance our understanding of both thermodynamic and mechanical processes. This study presents the spatial and temporal distributions of Arctic sea ice leads since 2002 using a new method to detect and characterize sea ice leads with optical (visible, infrared) satellite data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). Using reflective and emissive channels, ice concentration is derived in cloud-free regions and used to create a mask of potential leads. An algorithm then uses a combination of image processing techniques to identify and characterizes leads. The results show interannual variability of leads positioning as well as parameters such as area, length, orientation and width.

[Application of marketing strategies for the management of public hospitals from the viewpoint of the staff members].

PubMed

Riveros S, Jorge; Berné M, Carmen

2006-03-01

The implementation of the marketing strategies in public hospitals provides management advantages and improves the relationship between customers and staff. To analyze the application of marketing strategies in a public hospital, from the perspective of the staff. A structured survey that asked about perceptions in 50 items about communication between personnel and customers/users, customer satisfaction, participation in the development of new policies and incentives for efficiency was applied to a stratified sample of the staff. Factorial and regression analyses were performed to define the impact of marketing strategies on the degree of preoccupation and orientation of the organization towards the satisfaction of customer needs. The survey was applied to 74 males and 122 females. The survey showed that the orientation of the hospital towards the satisfaction of its beneficiaries basically depends on the generation of an organizational culture oriented towards them and the implementation of adequate policies in staff management and quality of service. These basic aspects can be accompanied with practices associated to the new marketing approaches such as a market orientation, customer orientation and relational marketing. All these factors presented positive and significant relations. New marketing strategies should be applied, to achieve an efficient and customer oriented hospital management.

Point Cloud Generation from Aerial Image Data Acquired by a Quadrocopter Type Micro Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and a Digital Still Camera

PubMed Central

Rosnell, Tomi; Honkavaara, Eija

2012-01-01

The objective of this investigation was to develop and investigate methods for point cloud generation by image matching using aerial image data collected by quadrocopter type micro unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imaging systems. Automatic generation of high-quality, dense point clouds from digital images by image matching is a recent, cutting-edge step forward in digital photogrammetric technology. The major components of the system for point cloud generation are a UAV imaging system, an image data collection process using high image overlaps, and post-processing with image orientation and point cloud generation. Two post-processing approaches were developed: one of the methods is based on Bae Systems’ SOCET SET classical commercial photogrammetric software and another is built using Microsoft®’s Photosynth™ service available in the Internet. Empirical testing was carried out in two test areas. Photosynth processing showed that it is possible to orient the images and generate point clouds fully automatically without any a priori orientation information or interactive work. The photogrammetric processing line provided dense and accurate point clouds that followed the theoretical principles of photogrammetry, but also some artifacts were detected. The point clouds from the Photosynth processing were sparser and noisier, which is to a large extent due to the fact that the method is not optimized for dense point cloud generation. Careful photogrammetric processing with self-calibration is required to achieve the highest accuracy. Our results demonstrate the high performance potential of the approach and that with rigorous processing it is possible to reach results that are consistent with theory. We also point out several further research topics. Based on theoretical and empirical results, we give recommendations for properties of imaging sensor, data collection and processing of UAV image data to ensure accurate point cloud generation. PMID:22368479

Point cloud generation from aerial image data acquired by a quadrocopter type micro unmanned aerial vehicle and a digital still camera.

PubMed

Rosnell, Tomi; Honkavaara, Eija

2012-01-01

The objective of this investigation was to develop and investigate methods for point cloud generation by image matching using aerial image data collected by quadrocopter type micro unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imaging systems. Automatic generation of high-quality, dense point clouds from digital images by image matching is a recent, cutting-edge step forward in digital photogrammetric technology. The major components of the system for point cloud generation are a UAV imaging system, an image data collection process using high image overlaps, and post-processing with image orientation and point cloud generation. Two post-processing approaches were developed: one of the methods is based on Bae Systems' SOCET SET classical commercial photogrammetric software and another is built using Microsoft(®)'s Photosynth™ service available in the Internet. Empirical testing was carried out in two test areas. Photosynth processing showed that it is possible to orient the images and generate point clouds fully automatically without any a priori orientation information or interactive work. The photogrammetric processing line provided dense and accurate point clouds that followed the theoretical principles of photogrammetry, but also some artifacts were detected. The point clouds from the Photosynth processing were sparser and noisier, which is to a large extent due to the fact that the method is not optimized for dense point cloud generation. Careful photogrammetric processing with self-calibration is required to achieve the highest accuracy. Our results demonstrate the high performance potential of the approach and that with rigorous processing it is possible to reach results that are consistent with theory. We also point out several further research topics. Based on theoretical and empirical results, we give recommendations for properties of imaging sensor, data collection and processing of UAV image data to ensure accurate point cloud generation.

Helicopter-based Photography for use in SfM over the West Greenland Ablation Zone

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mote, T. L.; Tedesco, M.; Astuti, I.; Cotten, D.; Jordan, T.; Rennermalm, A. K.

2015-12-01

Results of low-elevation high-resolution aerial photography from a helicopter are reported for a supraglacial watershed in West Greenland. Data were collected at the end of July 2015 over a supraglacial watershed terminating in the Kangerlussuaq region of Greenland and following the Utrecht University K-Transect of meteorological stations. The aerial photography reported here were complementary observations used to support hyperspectral measurements of albedo, discussed in the Greenland Ice sheet hydrology session of this AGU Fall meeting. A compact digital camera was installed inside a pod mounted on the side of the helicopter together with gyroscopes and accelerometers that were used to estimate the relative orientation. Continuous video was collected on 19 and 21 July flights, and frames extracted from the videos are used to create a series of aerial photos. Individual geo-located aerial photos were also taken on a 24 July flight. We demonstrate that by maintaining a constant flight elevation and a near constant ground speed, a helicopter with a mounted camera can produce 3-D structure of the ablation zone of the ice sheet at unprecedented spatial resolution of the order of 5 - 10 cm. By setting the intervalometer on the camera to 2 seconds, the images obtained provide sufficient overlap (>60%) for digital image alignment, even at a flight elevation of ~170m. As a result, very accurate point matching between photographs can be achieved and an extremely dense RGB encoded point cloud can be extracted. Overlapping images provide a series of stereopairs that can be used to create point cloud data consisting of 3 position and 3 color variables, X, Y, Z, R, G, and B. This point cloud is then used to create orthophotos or large scale digital elevation models, thus accurately displaying ice structure. The geo-referenced images provide a ground spatial resolution of approximately 6 cm, permitting analysis of detailed features, such as cryoconite holes, evolving small order streams, and cracks from hydrofracturing.

Architectural Implications of Cloud Computing

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-10-24

Public Cloud Infrastructure-as-a- Service (IaaS) Software -as-a- Service ( SaaS ) Cloud Computing Types Platform-as-a- Service (PaaS) Based on Type of...Twitter #SEIVirtualForum © 2011 Carnegie Mellon University Software -as-a- Service ( SaaS ) Model of software deployment in which a third-party...and System Solutions (RTSS) Program. Her current interests and projects are in service -oriented architecture (SOA), cloud computing, and context

The Impact of Market Orientation on Patient Safety Climate Among Hospital Nurses.

PubMed

Weng, Rhay-Hung; Chen, Jung-Chien; Pong, Li-Jung; Chen, Li-Mei; Lin, Tzu-Chi

2016-03-01

Improving market orientation and patient safety have become the key concerns of nursing management. For nurses, establishing a patient safety climate is the key to enhancing nursing quality. This study explores how market orientation affects the climate of patient safety among hospital nurses. We proposed adopting a cross-sectional research design and using questionnaires to collect responses from nurses working in two Taiwanese hospitals. Three-hundred and forty-three valid samples were obtained. Multiple regression and path analyses were conducted to test the study. Market orientation was defined as the combination of customer orientation, competitor orientation, and interfunctional coordination. Customer orientation directly affects the climate of patient safety. Although the findings only supported Hypothesis 1, competitor orientation and interfunctional coordination positively affected the patient safety climate through the mediating effects of hospital support for staff. Health care managers could encourage nurses to adopt customer-oriented perspectives to enhance their nursing care. In addition, to enhance competitor orientation, interfunctional coordination, and the patient safety climate, hospital managers could strengthen their support for staff members. © The Author(s) 2014.

Propulsion Systems Lab

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-04-14

NASA Glenn’s Propulsion Systems Lab (PSL) is conducting research to characterize ice crystal clouds that can create a hazard to aircraft engines in certain conditions. With specialized equipment, scientists can create a simulated ice crystal cloud with the set of bars in the back spraying out a mist. The red area includes lasers, which measure the intensity of the cloud and a series of probes to measure everything from humidity to air pressure. The isokinetic probe (in gold) samples particles and the robotic arm (in orange) has a test tube on the end that catches ice particles for further measuring. NASA Glenn’s PSL is the only place in the world which can create these kind of ice crystal cloud conditions.

Europe/Latin America Report, Science and Technology

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-01-22

is a market for 900 such aircraft, while in China itself MBB sees a sure need for 250 more. MBB spokesman J . Grendel: "We’d be happy to get Fokker...has been accepted and introduced in a number of places, but today we cannot consider it proper to choose this developmental direction. J . G.: The...At the same time, even in such a hardware oriented solution one cannot do without an operating program. J . G.: We need to create cheap devices

Mission oriented R and D and the advancement of technology: The imapct of NASA contributions, volume 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Robbins, M. D.; Kelley, J. A.; Elliott, L.

1972-01-01

The contributions of NASA to the advancement of major developments in several selected fields of technology are identified. Subjects discussed are: (1) developing new knowledge, (2) developing new technology, (3) demonstrating the application of new technology for the first time, (4) augmenting existing technology, (5) applying existing technology in a new context, (6) stimulating industry to acquire or develop new technology, (7) identifying problem areas requiring further research, and (8) creating new markets.

Agri-Environmental Policy Measures in Israel: The Potential of Using Market-Oriented Instruments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amdur, Liron; Bertke, Elke; Freese, Jan; Marggraf, Rainer

2011-05-01

This paper examines the possibilities of developing agri-environmental policy measures in Israel, focusing on market-oriented instruments. A conceptual framework for developing agri-environmental policy measures is presented, first in very broad lines (mandatory regulations, economic instruments and advisory measures) and subsequently focusing on economic instruments, and specifically, on market-oriented ones. Two criteria of choice between the measures are suggested: their contribution to improving the effectiveness of the policy; and the feasibility of their implementation. This is the framework used for analyzing agri-environmental measures in Israel. Israel currently implements a mix of mandatory regulations, economic instruments and advisory measures to promote the agri-environment. The use of additional economic instruments may improve the effectiveness of the policy. When comparing the effectiveness of various economic measures, we found that the feasibility of implementation of market-oriented instruments is greater, due to the Israeli public's preference for strengthening market orientation in the agricultural sector. Four market-oriented instruments were practiced in a pilot project conducted in an Israeli rural area. We found that in this case study, the institutional feasibility and acceptance by stakeholders were the major parameters influencing the implementation of the market-oriented instruments, whereas the instruments' contribution to enhancing the ecological or economic effectiveness were hardly considered by the stakeholders as arguments in favor of their use.

Agri-environmental policy measures in Israel: the potential of using market-oriented instruments.

PubMed

Amdur, Liron; Bertke, Elke; Freese, Jan; Marggraf, Rainer

2011-05-01

This paper examines the possibilities of developing agri-environmental policy measures in Israel, focusing on market-oriented instruments. A conceptual framework for developing agri-environmental policy measures is presented, first in very broad lines (mandatory regulations, economic instruments and advisory measures) and subsequently focusing on economic instruments, and specifically, on market-oriented ones. Two criteria of choice between the measures are suggested: their contribution to improving the effectiveness of the policy; and the feasibility of their implementation. This is the framework used for analyzing agri-environmental measures in Israel. Israel currently implements a mix of mandatory regulations, economic instruments and advisory measures to promote the agri-environment. The use of additional economic instruments may improve the effectiveness of the policy. When comparing the effectiveness of various economic measures, we found that the feasibility of implementation of market-oriented instruments is greater, due to the Israeli public's preference for strengthening market orientation in the agricultural sector. Four market-oriented instruments were practiced in a pilot project conducted in an Israeli rural area. We found that in this case study, the institutional feasibility and acceptance by stakeholders were the major parameters influencing the implementation of the market-oriented instruments, whereas the instruments' contribution to enhancing the ecological or economic effectiveness were hardly considered by the stakeholders as arguments in favor of their use.

Strategies for cloud-top phase determination: differentiation between thin cirrus clouds and snow in manual (ground truth) analyses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hutchison, Keith D.; Etherton, Brian J.; Topping, Phillip C.

1996-12-01

Quantitative assessments on the performance of automated cloud analysis algorithms require the creation of highly accurate, manual cloud, no cloud (CNC) images from multispectral meteorological satellite data. In general, the methodology to create ground truth analyses for the evaluation of cloud detection algorithms is relatively straightforward. However, when focus shifts toward quantifying the performance of automated cloud classification algorithms, the task of creating ground truth images becomes much more complicated since these CNC analyses must differentiate between water and ice cloud tops while ensuring that inaccuracies in automated cloud detection are not propagated into the results of the cloud classification algorithm. The process of creating these ground truth CNC analyses may become particularly difficult when little or no spectral signature is evident between a cloud and its background, as appears to be the case when thin cirrus is present over snow-covered surfaces. In this paper, procedures are described that enhance the researcher's ability to manually interpret and differentiate between thin cirrus clouds and snow-covered surfaces in daytime AVHRR imagery. The methodology uses data in up to six AVHRR spectral bands, including an additional band derived from the daytime 3.7 micron channel, which has proven invaluable for the manual discrimination between thin cirrus clouds and snow. It is concluded that while the 1.6 micron channel remains essential to differentiate between thin ice clouds and snow. However, this capability that may be lost if the 3.7 micron data switches to a nighttime-only transmission with the launch of future NOAA satellites.

Cloud Computing for radiologists.

PubMed

Kharat, Amit T; Safvi, Amjad; Thind, Ss; Singh, Amarjit

2012-07-01

Cloud computing is a concept wherein a computer grid is created using the Internet with the sole purpose of utilizing shared resources such as computer software, hardware, on a pay-per-use model. Using Cloud computing, radiology users can efficiently manage multimodality imaging units by using the latest software and hardware without paying huge upfront costs. Cloud computing systems usually work on public, private, hybrid, or community models. Using the various components of a Cloud, such as applications, client, infrastructure, storage, services, and processing power, Cloud computing can help imaging units rapidly scale and descale operations and avoid huge spending on maintenance of costly applications and storage. Cloud computing allows flexibility in imaging. It sets free radiology from the confines of a hospital and creates a virtual mobile office. The downsides to Cloud computing involve security and privacy issues which need to be addressed to ensure the success of Cloud computing in the future.

Cloud Computing for radiologists

PubMed Central

Kharat, Amit T; Safvi, Amjad; Thind, SS; Singh, Amarjit

2012-01-01

Cloud computing is a concept wherein a computer grid is created using the Internet with the sole purpose of utilizing shared resources such as computer software, hardware, on a pay-per-use model. Using Cloud computing, radiology users can efficiently manage multimodality imaging units by using the latest software and hardware without paying huge upfront costs. Cloud computing systems usually work on public, private, hybrid, or community models. Using the various components of a Cloud, such as applications, client, infrastructure, storage, services, and processing power, Cloud computing can help imaging units rapidly scale and descale operations and avoid huge spending on maintenance of costly applications and storage. Cloud computing allows flexibility in imaging. It sets free radiology from the confines of a hospital and creates a virtual mobile office. The downsides to Cloud computing involve security and privacy issues which need to be addressed to ensure the success of Cloud computing in the future. PMID:23599560

Application-oriented offloading in heterogeneous networks for mobile cloud computing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tseng, Fan-Hsun; Cho, Hsin-Hung; Chang, Kai-Di; Li, Jheng-Cong; Shih, Timothy K.

2018-04-01

Nowadays Internet applications have become more complicated that mobile device needs more computing resources for shorter execution time but it is restricted to limited battery capacity. Mobile cloud computing (MCC) is emerged to tackle the finite resource problem of mobile device. MCC offloads the tasks and jobs of mobile devices to cloud and fog environments by using offloading scheme. It is vital to MCC that which task should be offloaded and how to offload efficiently. In the paper, we formulate the offloading problem between mobile device and cloud data center and propose two algorithms based on application-oriented for minimum execution time, i.e. the Minimum Offloading Time for Mobile device (MOTM) algorithm and the Minimum Execution Time for Cloud data center (METC) algorithm. The MOTM algorithm minimizes offloading time by selecting appropriate offloading links based on application categories. The METC algorithm minimizes execution time in cloud data center by selecting virtual and physical machines with corresponding resource requirements of applications. Simulation results show that the proposed mechanism not only minimizes total execution time for mobile devices but also decreases their energy consumption.

Magnetic fields in the Perseus Spiral Arm and in Infrared Dark Clouds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoq, Sadia

2017-04-01

The magnetic (B) field is ubiquitous throughout the Milky Way. Several fundamental questions about the B-field in the cool, star-forming interstellar medium (ISM) remain unanswered. In this dissertation, near-infrared (NIR) polarimetric observations are used to study the large-scale Galactic B-field in the cool ISM in a spiral arm and to determine the role of B-fields in the formation of Infrared Dark Clouds (IRDCs). NIR polarimetry of 31 star clusters, located in and around the Perseus spiral arm, were obtained to determine the orientation of the plane-of-sky B-field in the outer Galaxy, and whether the presence of a spiral arm influenced B-field properties. Cluster distances, which provide upper limits to the B-field probed by observations, were estimated by developing a maximum likelihood method to fit theoretical stellar isochrones to stars in cluster color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs). Using the distance estimates, the cluster locations relative to the Perseus arm were found. The cluster polarization percentages and orientations were compared between clusters foreground to the arm and clusters inside or behind the arm. The cluster polarization orientations are predominantly parallel to the Galactic plane. Clusters inside and behind the arm have larger polarization percentages, likely a result of more polarizing material along the line of sight. The cluster polarization data were also compared to optical, inner Galaxy NIR, and Planck submm polarimetry data, and showed agreement with all three data sets. The polarimetric properties of one IRDC, G28.23, were determined using deep NIR observations. The polarization orientations relative to the cloud major axis were found to change directions with distance from the cloud axis. The B-field strength was estimated to be 10 to 100microG. Despite these large inferred B-field strengths, the B-field was found not to be the dominant force in the formation of the IRDC, though the B-field morphology was influenced by the cloud. Using NIR observations, the B-field of 27 IRDCs were studied. The relative polarization orientations with respect to the cloud major axes were found. No preferential relative orientation was found, implying that the B-field did not greatly influence the formation of this sample of IRDCs.

A post-1990s assessment of strategic hospital alliances and their marketplace orientations: time to refocus.

PubMed

Olden, Peter C; Roggenkamp, Susan D; Luke, Roice D

2002-01-01

In past years, many SHAs formed in local urban markets to better compete for managed care contracts. In response to 1990s forces, these SHAs appear to have adapted product, production, and selling orientations to their markets, aimed at large institutional purchasers of health care. However, health care markets have evolved differently than anticipated. SHAs and their hospitals should now adopt the marketing orientation and focus more on patients and enrollees.

[Risks and control of complete market-oriented reforms of medical institutions].

PubMed

Ding, Jiannong; Tian, Yongquan

2014-04-01

Marketization has become the mainstream since the new public management emerges globally in second half of the 20th century. Some countries infuse private capital into medical institutions which used to be managed by the government originally, and cause the medical industry reforms to be market-oriented. Market-oriented reforms of medical institutions may have risks in the following aspects: the risk of uneven distribution of medical resources, the risk of market failure, the moral risk of government renting-seeking and corruption and the decay of social justice values. Measures of controlling these risks include defining the function orientation of the government, completing the institution-building of healthcare system, improving primary medical system and strengthening social consciousness of hospitals.

Performance-oriented: toward a successful strategy.

PubMed

Kumar, K; Subramanian, R; Yauger, C

1997-01-01

Changes in the health care industry have profoundly affected hospital management and have caused severe declines in hospital profitability. In 1993, Health Care Management Review reported that the average operating profit margin, around 2% in 1984, had declined to a 0.2% loss by 1990. In the past, hospitals were buffered by entry regulations and cost reimbursement; thus, they rarely dealt with traditional market pressures. But the changed terrain means that competitive factors now underscore all strategic decisions. This study examines the strategic significance of market orientation in the health care industry. The authors identified forms of market orientation by emphasizing different components, and discovered that hospitals fell into four distinct clusters or groups. They also found a critical relationship between market orientation and performance scores on a number of criteria. Finally, the authors suggest that different forms of market orientation should be employed to target specific performance measures.

Hospital marketing orientation and managed care processes: are they coordinated?

PubMed

White, K R; Thompson, J M; Patel, U B

2001-01-01

The hospital marketing function has been widely adopted as a way to learn about markets, attract sufficient resources, develop appropriate services, and communicate the availability of such goods to those who may be able to purchase such services. The structure, tasks, and effectiveness of the marketing function have been the subject of increased inquiry by researchers and practitioners alike. A specific understanding of hospital marketing in a growing managed care environment and the relationship between marketing and managed care processes in hospitals is a growing concern. Using Kotler and Clarke's framework for assessing marketing orientation, we examined the marketing orientation of hospitals in a single state at two points in time--1993 and 1999. Study findings show that the overall marketing orientation score decreased from 1993 to 1999 for the respondent hospitals. The five elements of the Kotler and Clarke definition of marketing orientation remained relatively stable, with slightly lower scores related to customer philosophy. In addition, we evaluated the degree to which selected managed care activities are carried out as part of its marketing function. A significant (p < .05) decrease in managed care processes coordinated with the formal marketing function was evident from 1993 to 1999. With increasing numbers of managed care plan enrollees, hospitals are likely focusing on organizational buyers as important customers. In order to appeal to organizational buyers, hospital executives may be focusing more on clinical quality and cost efficiency in the production of services, which will improve a hospital's position with organizational buyers.

Photogrammetric 3d Building Reconstruction from Thermal Images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maset, E.; Fusiello, A.; Crosilla, F.; Toldo, R.; Zorzetto, D.

2017-08-01

This paper addresses the problem of 3D building reconstruction from thermal infrared (TIR) images. We show that a commercial Computer Vision software can be used to automatically orient sequences of TIR images taken from an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and to generate 3D point clouds, without requiring any GNSS/INS data about position and attitude of the images nor camera calibration parameters. Moreover, we propose a procedure based on Iterative Closest Point (ICP) algorithm to create a model that combines high resolution and geometric accuracy of RGB images with the thermal information deriving from TIR images. The process can be carried out entirely by the aforesaid software in a simple and efficient way.

Service-oriented Software Defined Optical Networks for Cloud Computing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Yuze; Li, Hui; Ji, Yuefeng

2017-10-01

With the development of big data and cloud computing technology, the traditional software-defined network is facing new challenges (e.g., ubiquitous accessibility, higher bandwidth, more flexible management and greater security). This paper proposes a new service-oriented software defined optical network architecture, including a resource layer, a service abstract layer, a control layer and an application layer. We then dwell on the corresponding service providing method. Different service ID is used to identify the service a device can offer. Finally, we experimentally evaluate that proposed service providing method can be applied to transmit different services based on the service ID in the service-oriented software defined optical network.

Cloud Computing for Mission Design and Operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Arrieta, Juan; Attiyah, Amy; Beswick, Robert; Gerasimantos, Dimitrios

2012-01-01

The space mission design and operations community already recognizes the value of cloud computing and virtualization. However, natural and valid concerns, like security, privacy, up-time, and vendor lock-in, have prevented a more widespread and expedited adoption into official workflows. In the interest of alleviating these concerns, we propose a series of guidelines for internally deploying a resource-oriented hub of data and algorithms. These guidelines provide a roadmap for implementing an architecture inspired in the cloud computing model: associative, elastic, semantical, interconnected, and adaptive. The architecture can be summarized as exposing data and algorithms as resource-oriented Web services, coordinated via messaging, and running on virtual machines; it is simple, and based on widely adopted standards, protocols, and tools. The architecture may help reduce common sources of complexity intrinsic to data-driven, collaborative interactions and, most importantly, it may provide the means for teams and agencies to evaluate the cloud computing model in their specific context, with minimal infrastructure changes, and before committing to a specific cloud services provider.

Potential for using indigenous pigs in subsistence-oriented and market-oriented small-scale farming systems of Southern Africa.

PubMed

Madzimure, James; Chimonyo, Michael; Zander, Kerstin K; Dzama, Kennedy

2013-01-01

Indigenous pigs in South Africa are a source of food and economic autonomy for people in rural small-scale farming systems. The objective of the study was to assess the potential of indigenous pigs for improving communal farmer's livelihoods and to inform policy-makers about the conservation of indigenous pigs. Data were collected from 186 small-scale subsistence-oriented households and 102 small-scale market-oriented households using interviews and direct observations. Ninety-three percent of subsistence-oriented and 82 % of market-oriented households kept indigenous pigs such as Windsnyer, Kolbroek and non-descript crosses with exotic pigs mainly for selling, consumption and investment. Farmers in both production systems named diseases and parasites, followed by feed shortages, inbreeding and abortions as major constraints for pig production. Diseases and parasites were more likely to be a constraint to pig production in subsistence-oriented systems, for households where the head was not staying at home and for older farmers. Market-oriented farmers ranked productive traits such as fast growth rate, good meat quality and decent litter size as most important selection criteria for pig breeding stock, while subsistence-oriented farmers ranked good meat quality first, followed by decent growth rate and by low feed costs. We conclude that there is high potential for using indigenous pigs in subsistence-oriented production systems and for crossbreeding of indigenous pigs with imported breeds in market-oriented systems.

A Cloud Architecture for Teleradiology-as-a-Service.

PubMed

Melício Monteiro, Eriksson J; Costa, Carlos; Oliveira, José L

2016-05-17

Telemedicine has been promoted by healthcare professionals as an efficient way to obtain remote assistance from specialised centres, to get a second opinion about complex diagnosis or even to share knowledge among practitioners. The current economic restrictions in many countries are increasing the demand for these solutions even more, in order to optimize processes and reduce costs. However, despite some technological solutions already in place, their adoption has been hindered by the lack of usability, especially in the set-up process. In this article we propose a telemedicine platform that relies on a cloud computing infrastructure and social media principles to simplify the creation of dynamic user-based groups, opening up opportunities for the establishment of teleradiology trust domains. The collaborative platform is provided as a Software-as-a-Service solution, supporting real time and asynchronous collaboration between users. To evaluate the solution, we have deployed the platform in a private cloud infrastructure. The system is made up of three main components - the collaborative framework, the Medical Management Information System (MMIS) and the HTML5 (Hyper Text Markup Language) Web client application - connected by a message-oriented middleware. The solution allows physicians to create easily dynamic network groups for synchronous or asynchronous cooperation. The network created improves dataflow between colleagues and also knowledge sharing and cooperation through social media tools. The platform was implemented and it has already been used in two distinct scenarios: teaching of radiology and tele-reporting. Collaborative systems can simplify the establishment of telemedicine expert groups with tools that enable physicians to improve their clinical practice. Streamlining the usage of this kind of systems through the adoption of Web technologies that are common in social media will increase the quality of current solutions, facilitating the sharing of clinical information, medical imaging studies and patient diagnostics among collaborators.

Labour-Market Orientation and Approaches to Studying--A Study of the First "Bologna Students" at a Swedish Regional University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nelson, Anders; Sandberg, Mikael

2017-01-01

This study investigated labour-market orientations of students at a Swedish University with a dual/diverse focus on vocational/academic objectives. The aim was to investigate whether and how levels of students' labour-market orientation vary with social background, change during the study period, and are related to approaches to studying and…

Developing Relationships with School Customers: The Role of Market Orientation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Poole, Sonja Martin

2017-01-01

Purpose: While the role of relationship marketing to consumers' overall satisfaction with schools has been discussed in the education management literature, empirical studies on the marketing mechanisms that underpin school-customer relationships are limited. The purpose of this paper is to establish the association between market orientation (MO)…

Benefiting from Customer and Competitor Knowledge: A Market-Based Approach to Organizational Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hoe, Siu Loon

2008-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to review the organizational learning, market orientation and learning orientation concepts, highlight the importance of market knowledge to organizational learning and recommend ways in adopting a market-based approach to organizational learning. Design/methodology/approach: The extant organizational learning…

Export Market Orientation Behavior of Universities: The British Scenario

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Asaad, Yousra; Melewar, T. C.; Cohen, Geraldine

2015-01-01

This study seeks to extend our knowledge of export market orientation (EMO) in the context of British universities with regard to recruitment of international students. Export marketing remains an area of limited focus in the marketization of higher education literature. The study predominantly follows a quantitative research design using survey…

Libraries in the Cloud: Making a Case for Google and Amazon

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buck, Stephanie

2009-01-01

As news outlets create headlines such as "A Cloud & A Prayer," "The Cloud Is the Computer," and "Leveraging Clouds to Make You More Efficient," many readers have been left with cloud confusion. Many definitions exist for cloud computing, and a uniform definition is hard to find. In its most basic form, cloud…

The GCM-Oriented CALIPSO Cloud Product (CALIPSO-GOCCP)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chepfer, H.; Bony, S.; Winker, D.; Cesana, G.; Dufresne, J. L.; Minnis, P.; Stubenrauch, C. J.; Zeng, S.

2010-01-01

This article presents the GCM-Oriented Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) Cloud Product (GOCCP) designed to evaluate the cloudiness simulated by general circulation models (GCMs). For this purpose, Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization L1 data are processed following the same steps as in a lidar simulator used to diagnose the model cloud cover that CALIPSO would observe from space if the satellite was flying above an atmosphere similar to that predicted by the GCM. Instantaneous profiles of the lidar scattering ratio (SR) are first computed at the highest horizontal resolution of the data but at the vertical resolution typical of current GCMs, and then cloud diagnostics are inferred from these profiles: vertical distribution of cloud fraction, horizontal distribution of low, middle, high, and total cloud fractions, instantaneous SR profiles, and SR histograms as a function of height. Results are presented for different seasons (January-March 2007-2008 and June-August 2006-2008), and their sensitivity to parameters of the lidar simulator is investigated. It is shown that the choice of the vertical resolution and of the SR threshold value used for cloud detection can modify the cloud fraction by up to 0.20, particularly in the shallow cumulus regions. The tropical marine low-level cloud fraction is larger during nighttime (by up to 0.15) than during daytime. The histograms of SR characterize the cloud types encountered in different regions. The GOCCP high-level cloud amount is similar to that from the TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder (TOVS) and the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS). The low-level and middle-level cloud fractions are larger than those derived from passive remote sensing (International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project, Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer-Cloud and Earth Radiant Energy System Polarization and Directionality of Earth Reflectances, TOVS Path B, AIRS-Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique) because the latter only provide information on the uppermost cloud layer.

Cloud Physics Test in the Space Power Chamber

NASA Image and Video Library

1975-09-21

A researcher sets up equipment in the Space Power Chamber at National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Plum Brook Station to study the effects of contaminants on clouds. Drs. Rosa and Jorge Pena of Pennsylvania State University's Department of Meteorology initiated the program in an effort to develop methods of creating stable, long-lasting clouds in a test chamber in order to study their composition and formation. The researchers then wanted to use the artificially-created clouds to determine how they were affected by pollution. The 100-foot diameter and 122-foot high Space Power Chamber is the largest vacuum chamber in the world. The researchers covered the circular walls with muslin. A recirculating water system saturated the cloth. The facility engineers then reduced the chamber’s pressure which released the water from the muslin and generated a cloud. The researchers produced five different clouds in this first portion of this study. They discovered that they could not create stable clouds because of the heat generated by the water-pumping equipment. Nonetheless, they felt confident enough to commence planning the second phase of the program using a heat exchanger to cool the equipment.

Creating cloud-free Landsat ETM+ data sets in tropical landscapes: cloud and cloud-shadow removal

Treesearch

Sebastián Martinuzzi; William A. Gould; Olga M. Ramos Gonzalez

2007-01-01

Clouds and cloud shadows are common features of visible and infrared remotelysensed images collected from many parts of the world, particularly in humid and tropical regions. We have developed a simple and semiautomated method to mask clouds and shadows in Landsat ETM+ imagery, and have developed a recent cloud-free composite of multitemporal images for Puerto Rico and...

An OAIS-Based Hospital Information System on the Cloud: Analysis of a NoSQL Column-Oriented Approach.

PubMed

Celesti, Antonio; Fazio, Maria; Romano, Agata; Bramanti, Alessia; Bramanti, Placido; Villari, Massimo

2018-05-01

The Open Archive Information System (OAIS) is a reference model for organizing people and resources in a system, and it is already adopted in care centers and medical systems to efficiently manage clinical data, medical personnel, and patients. Archival storage systems are typically implemented using traditional relational database systems, but the relation-oriented technology strongly limits the efficiency in the management of huge amount of patients' clinical data, especially in emerging cloud-based, that are distributed. In this paper, we present an OAIS healthcare architecture useful to manage a huge amount of HL7 clinical documents in a scalable way. Specifically, it is based on a NoSQL column-oriented Data Base Management System deployed in the cloud, thus to benefit from a big tables and wide rows available over a virtual distributed infrastructure. We developed a prototype of the proposed architecture at the IRCCS, and we evaluated its efficiency in a real case of study.

Estimation of cylinder orientation in three-dimensional point cloud using angular distance-based optimization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Su, Yun-Ting; Hu, Shuowen; Bethel, James S.

2017-05-01

Light detection and ranging (LIDAR) has become a widely used tool in remote sensing for mapping, surveying, modeling, and a host of other applications. The motivation behind this work is the modeling of piping systems in industrial sites, where cylinders are the most common primitive or shape. We focus on cylinder parameter estimation in three-dimensional point clouds, proposing a mathematical formulation based on angular distance to determine the cylinder orientation. We demonstrate the accuracy and robustness of the technique on synthetically generated cylinder point clouds (where the true axis orientation is known) as well as on real LIDAR data of piping systems. The proposed algorithm is compared with a discrete space Hough transform-based approach as well as a continuous space inlier approach, which iteratively discards outlier points to refine the cylinder parameter estimates. Results show that the proposed method is more computationally efficient than the Hough transform approach and is more accurate than both the Hough transform approach and the inlier method.

Putting Order Into the Cloud: Object-oriented UML-based Rule Enforcement for Document and Application Organization

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-09-01

Cloud computing describes a new distributed computing paradigm for IT data and services that involves over-the-Internet provision of dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources. While cost reduction and flexibility in storage, services, and maintenance are important considerations when deciding on whether or how to migrate data and applications to the cloud, large organizations like the Department of Defense need to consider the organization and structure of data on the cloud and the operations on such data in order to reap the full benefit of cloud

Factors Influencing the Adoption of Cloud Computing by Decision Making Managers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ross, Virginia Watson

2010-01-01

Cloud computing is a growing field, addressing the market need for access to computing resources to meet organizational computing requirements. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the factors that influence an organization in their decision whether to adopt cloud computing as a part of their strategic information technology planning.…

Marketing foods to children through product packaging: prolific, unhealthy and misleading.

PubMed

Mehta, Kaye; Phillips, Clare; Ward, Paul; Coveney, John; Handsley, Elizabeth; Carter, Patricia

2012-09-01

To investigate marketing techniques used on the packaging of child-oriented products sold through supermarkets. Food and beverage products which met criteria for 'marketed to children' were recorded as child-oriented. The products were analysed for food categories, nutritional value, and type and extent of marketing techniques used. A major supermarket chain in Adelaide, South Australia. Child-oriented food and beverage products. One hundred and fifty-seven discrete products were marketed to children via product packaging; most (75·2 %) represented non-core foods, being high in fat or sugar. Many marketing techniques (more than sixteen unique marketing techniques) were used to promote child-oriented food products. Claims about health and nutrition were found on 55·5 % of non-core foods. A median of 6·43 marketing techniques per product was found. The high volume and power of marketing non-core foods to children via product packaging in supermarkets should be of concern to policy makers wanting to improve children's diet for their health and to tackle childhood obesity. Claims about health or nutrition on non-core foods deserve urgent attention owing to their potential to mislead and confuse child and adult consumers.

The three-dimensional structure of cumulus clouds over the ocean. 1: Structural analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kuo, Kwo-Sen; Welch, Ronald M.; Weger, Ronald C.; Engelstad, Mark A.; Sengupta, S. K.

1993-01-01

Thermal channel (channel 6, 10.4-12.5 micrometers) images of five Landsat thematic mapper cumulus scenes over the ocean are examined. These images are thresholded using the standard International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) thermal threshold algorithm. The individual clouds in the cloud fields are segmented to obtain their structural statistics which include size distribution, orientation angle, horizontal aspect ratio, and perimeter-to-area (PtA) relationship. The cloud size distributions exhibit a double power law with the smaller clouds having a smaller absolute exponent. The cloud orientation angles, horizontal aspect ratios, and PtA exponents are found in good agreement with earlier studies. A technique also is developed to recognize individual cells within a cloud so that statistics of cloud cellular structure can be obtained. Cell structural statistics are computed for each cloud. Unicellular clouds are generally smaller (less than or equal to 1 km) and have smaller PtA exponents, while multicellular clouds are larger (greater than or equal to 1 km) and have larger PtA exponents. Cell structural statistics are similar to those of the smaller clouds. When each cell is approximated as a quadric surface using a linear least squares fit, most cells have the shape of a hyperboloid of one sheet, but about 15% of the cells are best modeled by a hyperboloid of two sheets. Less than 1% of the clouds are ellipsoidal. The number of cells in a cloud increases slightly faster than linearly with increasing cloud size. The mean nearest neighbor distance between cells in a cloud, however, appears to increase linearly with increasing cloud size and to reach a maximum when the cloud effective diameter is about 10 km; then it decreases with increasing cloud size. Sensitivity studies of threshold and lapse rate show that neither has a significant impact upon the results. A goodness-of-fit ratio is used to provide a quantitative measure of the individual cloud results. Significantly improved results are obtained after applying a smoothing operator, suggesting the eliminating subresolution scale variations with higher spatial resolution may yield even better shape analyses.

Building Reflection with Word Clouds for Online RN to BSN Students.

PubMed

Volkert, Delene R

Reflection allows students to integrate learning with their personal context, developing deeper knowledge and promoting critical thinking. Word clouds help students develop themes/concepts beyond traditional methods, introducing visual aspects to an online learning environment. Students created word clouds and captions, then responded to those created by peers for a weekly discussion assignment. Students indicated overwhelming support for the use of word clouds to develop deeper understanding of the subject matter. This reflection assignment could be utilized in asynchronous, online undergraduate nursing courses for creative methods of building reflection and developing knowledge for the undergraduate RN to BSN student.

Stampless fabrication of sheet bars using disposable templates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smolentsev, V. P.; Safonov, S. V.; Smolentsev, E. V.; Fedonin, O. N.

2016-04-01

The article is devoted to the new method of small-scale fabrication of sheet bars. The procedure is performed by using disposable overlay templates, or those associated with a sheet, which parameters are obtained directly from the drawing. The proposed method used as a substitution of die cutting enables to intensify the preparatory technological process, which is particularly effective when launching the market-oriented items into production. It significantly increases the competitiveness of mechanical engineering and creates the conditions for technical support of present-day flexible production systems.

Health care report cards: what about consumers' perspectives?

PubMed

McGee, J; Knutson, D

1994-10-01

Though the report card style is seen by many as a way to create better-informed consumers, very little is actually known about how consumers will respond to health care report cards. Report cards are only one of many factors that influence health care decision making. Much consumer-oriented effort and fine-tuning will be required to make report cards effective. Using the approach called "social marketing" as a framework, specific examples are used to outline some ideas for more intensive pursuit of consumers' perspectives in the design and distribution of report cards.

Web-Based Media Contents Editor for UCC Websites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Seoksoo

The purpose of this research is to "design web-based media contents editor for establishing UCC(User Created Contents)-based websites." The web-based editor features user-oriented interfaces and increased convenience, significantly different from previous off-line editors. It allows users to edit media contents online and can be effectively used for online promotion activities of enterprises and organizations. In addition to development of the editor, the research aims to support the entry of enterprises and public agencies to the online market by combining the technology with various UCC items.

Cloud-Induced Uncertainty for Visual Navigation

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-12-26

images at the pixel level. The result is a method that can overlay clouds with various structures on top of any desired image to produce realistic...cloud-shaped structures . The primary contribution of this research, however, is to investigate and quantify the errors in features due to clouds. The...of clouds types, this method does not emulate the true structure of clouds. An alternative popular modern method of creating synthetic clouds is known

A taxonomy of green supply chain management capability among electronics-related manufacturing firms in Taiwan.

PubMed

Shang, Kuo-Chung; Lu, Chin-Shan; Li, Shaorui

2010-05-01

This study investigated crucial green supply chain management (GSCM) capability dimensions and firm performance based on electronics-related manufacturing firms in Taiwan. On the basis of a factor analysis, six green supply chain management dimensions were identified: green manufacturing and packaging, environmental participation, green marketing, green suppliers, green stock, and green eco-design. According to their factor scores in the GSCM dimensions, a cluster analysis subsequently assigned responding firms into four groups, namely, the weak GSCM oriented group, the green marketing oriented group, the green supplier oriented group, and the green stock oriented group. Differences in firm performance and GSCM dimensions among groups were examined. Results indicated that the green marketing oriented group performed best. Based on the resource-based view (RBV), the capability of the green marketing oriented group was considered to be the deployment of a collection of resources that enables it to successfully compete against rivals. The importance of green marketing as a GSCM capability and strategic asset/critical resources for electronics-related manufacturing firms to obtain a competitive edge is therefore highlighted in this study. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Motion/imagery secure cloud enterprise architecture analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

DeLay, John L.

2012-06-01

Cloud computing with storage virtualization and new service-oriented architectures brings a new perspective to the aspect of a distributed motion imagery and persistent surveillance enterprise. Our existing research is focused mainly on content management, distributed analytics, WAN distributed cloud networking performance issues of cloud based technologies. The potential of leveraging cloud based technologies for hosting motion imagery, imagery and analytics workflows for DOD and security applications is relatively unexplored. This paper will examine technologies for managing, storing, processing and disseminating motion imagery and imagery within a distributed network environment. Finally, we propose areas for future research in the area of distributed cloud content management enterprises.

Training needs analysis for engineering technicians in Oman

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Al-Mughairi, Abdulkarim Sultan

This thesis examines the transition from the Omani Colleges of Technology (CT) to employment of its engineering graduates. It arises out of concerns that the transition to the labour market for engineering graduate is problematical. The research was carried out to identify the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA) of engineering technicians required in the Omani market place. The aim is to provide local curriculum designers in the Colleges of Technology with sufficient information about the required KSA in order to create and enhance the engineering curriculum so that it has greater capacity to meet the needs of a variety of stakeholders and of employers in particular. This in turn has the potential to bridge the gap between what is presently taught and what the workplace demands. Personnel psychologists identify views concerning the skills that are required for different jobs. One of these is based on the assumption that quite different skills are required in different jobs (SCANS, 1990). This view generates approaches within job analysis: the worker-oriented and the task-oriented approaches. This research uses Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ), which is a worker-oriented job analysis instrument, to investigate the KSA required to perform some of the engineering technician jobs in Omani industries. In addition, semi-structured interviews were used to investigate the factors that either hinder or entirely prevent the new graduates from Colleges of Technology from being accepted in the workforce pool. The major research findings concern the dimensions of knowledge, skills, and abilities of six engineering technician job titles and the major factors that hinder or (prevent) the technical college graduates from being accepted in the market place in Oman. These findings would definitely help design better transition route and bridge the gap between the CT technicians engineering programmes and the workplace demands.

Assessing the Relationships among Cloud Adoption, Strategic Alignment and Information Technology Effectiveness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chebrolu, Shankar Babu

2010-01-01

Against the backdrop of new economic realities, one of the larger forces that is affecting businesses worldwide is cloud computing, whose benefits include agility, time to market, time to capability, reduced cost, renewed focus on the core and strategic partnership with the business. Cloud computing can potentially transform a majority of the…

[Use of social marketing in population health programs (literature review)].

PubMed

Kholmogorova, G T; Gladysheva, N V

1991-01-01

At present health education programmes abroad make wide use of social marketing strategy. Unlike commercial marketing whose purpose is competition and struggle for the expansion of commodity markets, social marketing is aimed at disseminating certain ideas or introducing certain practices, using largely the technological base and strategy of commercial marketing. The authors give 8 fundamental principles of social marketing (consumer orientation, the theory of barter, the analysis of audience and segmentation, special surveys to detect the orientation of population, the choice of channels for information transmission application of "marketing mixture", control of ongoing programme and marketing management). Application fields of social marketing in public health are discussed.

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

Marathe, Aniruddha P.; Harris, Rachel A.; Lowenthal, David K.

The use of clouds to execute high-performance computing (HPC) applications has greatly increased recently. Clouds provide several potential advantages over traditional supercomputers and in-house clusters. The most popular cloud is currently Amazon EC2, which provides fixed-cost and variable-cost, auction-based options. The auction market trades lower cost for potential interruptions that necessitate checkpointing; if the market price exceeds the bid price, a node is taken away from the user without warning. We explore techniques to maximize performance per dollar given a time constraint within which an application must complete. Specifically, we design and implement multiple techniques to reduce expected cost bymore » exploiting redundancy in the EC2 auction market. We then design an adaptive algorithm that selects a scheduling algorithm and determines the bid price. We show that our adaptive algorithm executes programs up to seven times cheaper than using the on-demand market and up to 44 percent cheaper than the best non-redundant, auction-market algorithm. We extend our adaptive algorithm to incorporate application scalability characteristics for further cost savings. In conclusion, we show that the adaptive algorithm informed with scalability characteristics of applications achieves up to 56 percent cost savings compared to the expected cost for the base adaptive algorithm run at a fixed, user-defined scale.« less

The Use of Computer Vision Algorithms for Automatic Orientation of Terrestrial Laser Scanning Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Markiewicz, Jakub Stefan

2016-06-01

The paper presents analysis of the orientation of terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) data. In the proposed data processing methodology, point clouds are considered as panoramic images enriched by the depth map. Computer vision (CV) algorithms are used for orientation, which are applied for testing the correctness of the detection of tie points and time of computations, and for assessing difficulties in their implementation. The BRISK, FASRT, MSER, SIFT, SURF, ASIFT and CenSurE algorithms are used to search for key-points. The source data are point clouds acquired using a Z+F 5006h terrestrial laser scanner on the ruins of Iłża Castle, Poland. Algorithms allowing combination of the photogrammetric and CV approaches are also presented.

The Problem of a Market-Oriented University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hayrinen-Alestalo, Marja; Peltola, Ulla

2006-01-01

Economy- and technology-driven theories dominate current explanations of social change. The political orientations of the European Union and many of its member states are increasingly based on the idea of knowledge economy where public organisations move towards market-orientation. Among the other producers of knowledge, universities are expected…

Filtering and Gridding Satellite Observations of Cloud Variables to Compare with Climate Model Output

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pitts, K.; Nasiri, S. L.; Smith, N.

2013-12-01

Global climate models have improved considerably over the years, yet clouds still represent a large factor of uncertainty for these models. Comparisons of model-simulated cloud variables with equivalent satellite cloud products are the best way to start diagnosing the differences between model output and observations. Gridded (level 3) cloud products from many different satellites and instruments are required for a full analysis, but these products are created by different science teams using different algorithms and filtering criteria to create similar, but not directly comparable, cloud products. This study makes use of a recently developed uniform space-time gridding algorithm to create a new set of gridded cloud products from each satellite instrument's level 2 data of interest which are each filtered using the same criteria, allowing for a more direct comparison between satellite products. The filtering is done via several variables such as cloud top pressure/height, thermodynamic phase, optical properties, satellite viewing angle, and sun zenith angle. The filtering criteria are determined based on the variable being analyzed and the science question at hand. Each comparison of different variables may require different filtering strategies as no single approach is appropriate for all problems. Beyond inter-satellite data comparison, these new sets of uniformly gridded satellite products can also be used for comparison with model-simulated cloud variables. Of particular interest to this study are the differences in the vertical distributions of ice and liquid water content between the satellite retrievals and model simulations, especially in the mid-troposphere where there are mixed-phase clouds to consider. This presentation will demonstrate the proof of concept through comparisons of cloud water path from Aqua MODIS retrievals and NASA GISS-E2-[R/H] model simulations archived in the CMIP5 data portal.

Analysis of 20 magnetic clouds at 1 AU during a solar minimum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gulisano, A. M.; Dasso, S.; Mandrini, C. H.; Démoulin, P.

We study 20 magnetic clouds, observed in situ by the spacecraft Wind, at the Lagrangian point L1, from 22 August, 1995, to 7 November, 1997. In previous works, assuming a cylindrical symmetry for the local magnetic configuration and a satellite trajectory crossing the axis of the cloud, we obtained their orientations using a minimum variance analysis. In this work we compute the orientations and magnetic configurations using a non-linear simultaneous fit of the geometric and physical parameters for a linear force-free model, including the possibility of a not null impact parameter. We quantify global magnitudes such as the relative magnetic helicity per unit length and compare the values found with both methods (minimum variance and the simultaneous fit). FULL TEXT IN SPANISH

Midlatitude Cirrus Clouds Derived from Hurricane Nora: A Case Study with Implications for Ice Crystal Nucleation and Shape.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sassen, Kenneth; Arnott, W. Patrick; O'C. Starr, David; Mace, Gerald G.; Wang, Zhien; Poellot, Michael R.

2003-04-01

Hurricane Nora traveled up the Baja Peninsula coast in the unusually warm El Niño waters of September 1997 until rapidly decaying as it approached southern California on 24 September. The anvil cirrus blowoff from the final surge of tropical convection became embedded in subtropical flow that advected the cirrus across the western United States, where it was studied from the Facility for Atmospheric Remote Sensing (FARS) in Salt Lake City, Utah, on 25 September. A day later, the cirrus shield remnants were redirected southward by midlatitude circulations into the southern Great Plains, providing a case study opportunity for the research aircraft and ground-based remote sensors assembled at the Clouds and Radiation Testbed (CART) site in northern Oklahoma. Using these comprehensive resources and new remote sensing cloud retrieval algorithms, the microphysical and radiative cloud properties of this unusual cirrus event are uniquely characterized.Importantly, at both the FARS and CART sites the cirrus generated spectacular halos and arcs, which acted as a tracer for the hurricane cirrus, despite the limited lifetimes of individual ice crystals. Lidar depolarization data indicate widespread regions of uniform ice plate orientations, and in situ particle replicator data show a preponderance of pristine, solid hexagonal plates and columns. It is suggested that these unusual aspects are the result of the mode of cirrus particle nucleation, presumably involving the lofting of sea salt nuclei in strong thunderstorm updrafts into the upper troposphere. This created a reservoir of haze particles that continued to produce halide-salt-contaminated ice crystals during the extended period of cirrus cloud maintenance. The inference that marine microbiota are embedded in the replicas of some ice crystals collected over the CART site points to the longevity of marine effects. Various nucleation scenarios proposed for cirrus clouds based on this and other studies, and the implications for understanding cirrus radiative properties on a global scale, are discussed.

Midlatitude Cirrus Clouds Derived from Hurricane Nora: A Case Study with Implications for Ice Crystal Nucleation and Shape

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sassen, Kenneth; Arnott, W. Patrick; OCStarr, David; Mace, Gerald G.; Wang, Zhien; Poellot, Michael R.

2002-01-01

Hurricane Nora traveled up the Bala Peninsula coast in the unusually warm El Nino waters of September 1997, until rapidly decaying as it approached Southern California on 24 September. The anvil cirrus blowoff from the final surge of tropical convection became embedded in subtropical flow that advected the cirrus across the western US, where it was studied from the Facility for Atmospheric Remote Sensing (FARS) in Salt Lake City, Utah. A day later, the cirrus shield remnants were redirected southward by midlatitude circulations into the Southern Great Plains, providing a case study opportunity for the research aircraft and ground-based remote sensors assembled at the Clouds and Radiation Testbed (CART) site in northern Oklahoma. Using these comprehensive resources and new remote sensing cloud retrieval algorithms, the microphysical and radiative cloud properties of this unusual cirrus event are uniquely characterized. Importantly, at both the FARS and CART sites the cirrus generated spectacular optical displays, which acted as a tracer for the hurricane cirrus, despite the limited lifetimes of individual ice crystals. Lidar polarization data indicate widespread regions of uniform ice plate orientations, and in situ particle masticator data show a preponderance of pristine, solid hexagonal plates and columns. It is suggested that these unusual aspects are the result of the mode of cirrus particle nucleation, presumably involving the lofting of sea-salt nuclei in thunderstorm updrafts into the upper troposphere. This created a reservoir of haze particles that continued to produce halide-saltcontaminated ice crystals during the extended period of cirrus cloud maintenance. The reference that marine microliters are embedded in the replicas of ice crystals collected over the CART site points to the longevity of marine effects. Various nucleation scenarios proposed for cirrus clouds based on this and other studies, and the implications for understanding cirrus radiative properties or a global scale, are discussed.

Circumstellar Disks and Outflows in Turbulent Molecular Cloud Cores: Possible Formation Mechanism for Misaligned Systems

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

Matsumoto, Tomoaki; Machida, Masahiro N.; Inutsuka, Shu-ichiro, E-mail: matsu@hosei.ac.jp

2017-04-10

We investigate the formation of circumstellar disks and outflows subsequent to the collapse of molecular cloud cores with the magnetic field and turbulence. Numerical simulations are performed by using an adaptive mesh refinement to follow the evolution up to ∼1000 years after the formation of a protostar. In the simulations, circumstellar disks are formed around the protostars; those in magnetized models are considerably smaller than those in nonmagnetized models, but their size increases with time. The models with stronger magnetic fields tend to produce smaller disks. During evolution in the magnetized models, the mass ratios of a disk to amore » protostar is approximately constant at ∼1%–10%. The circumstellar disks are aligned according to their angular momentum, and the outflows accelerate along the magnetic field on the 10–100 au scale; this produces a disk that is misaligned with the outflow. The outflows are classified into two types: a magnetocentrifugal wind and a spiral flow. In the latter, because of the geometry, the axis of rotation is misaligned with the magnetic field. The magnetic field has an internal structure in the cloud cores, which also causes misalignment between the outflows and the magnetic field on the scale of the cloud core. The distribution of the angular momentum vectors in a core also has a non-monotonic internal structure. This should create a time-dependent accretion of angular momenta onto the circumstellar disk. Therefore, the circumstellar disks are expected to change their orientation as well as their sizes in the long-term evolutions.« less

Developing national on-line services to annotate and analyse underwater imagery in a research cloud

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Proctor, R.; Langlois, T.; Friedman, A.; Davey, B.

2017-12-01

Fish image annotation data is currently collected by various research, management and academic institutions globally (+100,000's hours of deployments) with varying degrees of standardisation and limited formal collaboration or data synthesis. We present a case study of how national on-line services, developed within a domain-oriented research cloud, have been used to annotate habitat images and synthesise fish annotation data sets collected using Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) and baited remote underwater stereo-video (stereo-BRUV). Two developing software tools have been brought together in the marine science cloud to provide marine biologists with a powerful service for image annotation. SQUIDLE+ is an online platform designed for exploration, management and annotation of georeferenced images & video data. It provides a flexible annotation framework allowing users to work with their preferred annotation schemes. We have used SQUIDLE+ to sample the habitat composition and complexity of images of the benthos collected using stereo-BRUV. GlobalArchive is designed to be a centralised repository of aquatic ecological survey data with design principles including ease of use, secure user access, flexible data import, and the collection of any sampling and image analysis information. To easily share and synthesise data we have implemented data sharing protocols, including Open Data and synthesis Collaborations, and a spatial map to explore global datasets and filter to create a synthesis. These tools in the science cloud, together with a virtual desktop analysis suite offering python and R environments offer an unprecedented capability to deliver marine biodiversity information of value to marine managers and scientists alike.

The monopolistic integrated model and health care reform: the Swedish experience.

PubMed

Anell, A

1996-07-01

This article reviews recent reforms geared to creating internal markets in the Swedish health-care sector. The main purpose is to describe driving forces behind reforms, and to analyse the limitations of reforms oriented towards internal markets within a monopolistic integrated health-care model. The principal part of the article is devoted to a discussion of incentives within Swedish county councils, and of how these incentives have influenced reforms in the direction of more choices for consumers and a separation between purchasers and providers. It is argued that the current incentives, in combination with criticism against county council activities in the early 1990's, account for the present inconsistencies as regards reforms. Furthermore, the article maintains that a weak form of separation between purchasers and providers will lead to distorted incentives, restricting innovative behaviour and structural change. In conclusion, the process of reforming the Swedish monopolistic integrated health-care model in the direction of some form of internal market is said to rest on shaky ground.

Stochastic cellular automata model for stock market dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bartolozzi, M.; Thomas, A. W.

2004-04-01

In the present work we introduce a stochastic cellular automata model in order to simulate the dynamics of the stock market. A direct percolation method is used to create a hierarchy of clusters of active traders on a two-dimensional grid. Active traders are characterized by the decision to buy, σi (t)=+1 , or sell, σi (t)=-1 , a stock at a certain discrete time step. The remaining cells are inactive, σi (t)=0 . The trading dynamics is then determined by the stochastic interaction between traders belonging to the same cluster. Extreme, intermittent events, such as crashes or bubbles, are triggered by a phase transition in the state of the bigger clusters present on the grid, where almost all the active traders come to share the same spin orientation. Most of the stylized aspects of the financial market time series, including multifractal proprieties, are reproduced by the model. A direct comparison is made with the daily closures of the S&P500 index.

Distributional Orientation and Health Outcomes in OECD Countries.

PubMed

Safaei, Jalil

2015-01-01

This study uses data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries over the 2008-2010 period to construct indicators of "pro-primary" and "pro-secondary" distributions. The former is concerned with the original distribution of income through the market, whereas the latter is concerned with the redistribution efforts of the government. The study ranks these countries along these dimensions to create a distributional orientation map for such countries. It finds that the Scandinavian countries occupy the top rankings in terms of equity in pro-primary distribution, followed by countries with a Bismarckian welfare state regime. The Scandinavian countries also rank very high on equity in pro-secondary distribution, along with some of the top-ranking Bismarckian countries. More significantly, the study finds that the countries' health outcomes are associated more strongly with the pro-primary distributional stance than with the pro-secondary distributional stance. A key policy implication is that to achieve better and more equitable health, it is more effective to design a level playing field for market participants in the first place, than to try to mend inequities after the fact through remedial social policy. © The Author(s) 2015.

Critical analysis of valuation and strategical orientation of merger and acquisition deals in the pharmaceutical industry.

PubMed

Dierks, Raphaela Marie Louisa; Bruyère, Olivier; Reginster, Jean-Yves

2018-04-01

The pharmaceutical industry is undergoing major shifts due to changing macro and micro factors. As the industry is highly capital intensive and patents are expiring, the outlook is on generating inorganic growth, mainly through M&A. Using the income valuation approach, one analyses two completed deals in 2016 above 1bn USD. Thereafter one outlines the main motives behind M&A deals and concluded by discussing whether M&A harms medical innovations. Areas covered: The paper is based on empirical study questioning existing literature in order to critically analyse valuation and the strategical orientation of pharmaceutical companies Expert commentary: Pharmaceutical companies understand the changing market conditions and favour their expertise. The restructuring of the industry moves to small niche companies (I.e. Biopharma or biotech companies) researching key innovations and big companies purchasing them to develop them, create clinical trials and distribute them as this is a costly manner Conclusion: One can expect more M&A deals during the next years focusing on value rather than volume. Pharmaceutical players resilient to the market changes may survive if they change their business model from a traditional vertical one to outsourcing and diversification including external players.

Evolving the Land Information System into a Cloud Computing Service

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

Houser, Paul R.

The Land Information System (LIS) was developed to use advanced flexible land surface modeling and data assimilation frameworks to integrate extremely large satellite- and ground-based observations with advanced land surface models to produce continuous high-resolution fields of land surface states and fluxes. The resulting fields are extremely useful for drought and flood assessment, agricultural planning, disaster management, weather and climate forecasting, water resources assessment, and the like. We envisioned transforming the LIS modeling system into a scientific cloud computing-aware web and data service that would allow clients to easily setup and configure for use in addressing large water management issues.more » The focus of this Phase 1 project was to determine the scientific, technical, commercial merit and feasibility of the proposed LIS-cloud innovations that are currently barriers to broad LIS applicability. We (a) quantified the barriers to broad LIS utility and commercialization (high performance computing, big data, user interface, and licensing issues); (b) designed the proposed LIS-cloud web service, model-data interface, database services, and user interfaces; (c) constructed a prototype LIS user interface including abstractions for simulation control, visualization, and data interaction, (d) used the prototype to conduct a market analysis and survey to determine potential market size and competition, (e) identified LIS software licensing and copyright limitations and developed solutions, and (f) developed a business plan for development and marketing of the LIS-cloud innovation. While some significant feasibility issues were found in the LIS licensing, overall a high degree of LIS-cloud technical feasibility was found.« less

Sun tracker for clear or cloudy weather

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Scott, D. R.; White, P. R.

1979-01-01

Sun tracker orients solar collector so that they absorb maximum possible sunlight without being fooled by bright clouds, holes in cloud cover, or other atmospheric conditions. Tracker follows sun within 0.25 deg arc and is accurate within + or - 5 deg when sun is hidden.

Cloud computing can simplify HIT infrastructure management.

PubMed

Glaser, John

2011-08-01

Software as a Service (SaaS), built on cloud computing technology, is emerging as the forerunner in IT infrastructure because it helps healthcare providers reduce capital investments. Cloud computing leads to predictable, monthly, fixed operating expenses for hospital IT staff. Outsourced cloud computing facilities are state-of-the-art data centers boasting some of the most sophisticated networking equipment on the market. The SaaS model helps hospitals safeguard against technology obsolescence, minimizes maintenance requirements, and simplifies management.

Implementation of cloud computing in higher education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Asniar; Budiawan, R.

2016-04-01

Cloud computing research is a new trend in distributed computing, where people have developed service and SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) based application. This technology is very useful to be implemented, especially for higher education. This research is studied the need and feasibility for the suitability of cloud computing in higher education then propose the model of cloud computing service in higher education in Indonesia that can be implemented in order to support academic activities. Literature study is used as the research methodology to get a proposed model of cloud computing in higher education. Finally, SaaS and IaaS are cloud computing service that proposed to be implemented in higher education in Indonesia and cloud hybrid is the service model that can be recommended.

The Development of an Educational Cloud for IS Curriculum through a Student-Run Data Center

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hwang, Drew; Pike, Ron; Manson, Dan

2016-01-01

The industry-wide emphasis on cloud computing has created a new focus in Information Systems (IS) education. As the demand for graduates with adequate knowledge and skills in cloud computing is on the rise, IS educators are facing a challenge to integrate cloud technology into their curricula. Although public cloud tools and services are available…

Nutritional quality and child-oriented marketing of breakfast cereals in Guatemala.

PubMed

Soo, J; Letona, P; Chacon, V; Barnoya, J; Roberto, C A

2016-01-01

Food marketing has been implicated as an important driver of obesity. However, few studies have examined food marketing in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This study documents the prevalence of advertising on cereal boxes in Guatemala and examines associations between various marketing strategies and nutritional quality. One box from all available cereals was purchased from a supermarket located in an urban area in Guatemala City, Guatemala. A content analysis was performed to document child-oriented marketing practices, product claims and health-evoking images. The Nutrient Profile Model (NPM) was used to calculate an overall nutrition score for each cereal (the higher the score, the lower the nutritional quality). In all, 106 cereals were purchased, and half of the cereals featured child-oriented marketing (54, 50.9%). Cereals had a mean (±s.d.) of 5.10±2.83 product claims per cereal, and most cereals (102, 96.2%) contained health-evoking images. Child-oriented cereals had, on average, higher NPM scores (13.0±0.55 versus 7.90±0.74, P<0.001) and sugar content (10.1±0.48 versus 6.19±0.50 g/30 g, P<0.001) compared with non-child oriented cereals. Cereals with health claims were not significantly healthier than those without claims. In Guatemala, cereals targeting children were generally of poor nutritional quality. Cereals displaying health claims were also not healthier than those without such claims. Our findings support the need for regulations restricting the use of child-oriented marketing and health claims for certain products.

All-sky photogrammetry techniques to georeference a cloud field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crispel, Pierre; Roberts, Gregory

2018-01-01

In this study, we present a novel method of identifying and geolocalizing cloud field elements from a portable all-sky camera stereo network based on the ground and oriented towards zenith. The methodology is mainly based on stereophotogrammetry which is a 3-D reconstruction technique based on triangulation from corresponding stereo pixels in rectified images. In cases where clouds are horizontally separated, identifying individual positions is performed with segmentation techniques based on hue filtering and contour detection algorithms. Macroscopic cloud field characteristics such as cloud layer base heights and velocity fields are also deduced. In addition, the methodology is fitted to the context of measurement campaigns which impose simplicity of implementation, auto-calibration, and portability. Camera internal geometry models are achieved a priori in the laboratory and validated to ensure a certain accuracy in the peripheral parts of the all-sky image. Then, stereophotogrammetry with dense 3-D reconstruction is applied with cameras spaced 150 m apart for two validation cases. The first validation case is carried out with cumulus clouds having a cloud base height at 1500 m a.g.l. The second validation case is carried out with two cloud layers: a cumulus fractus layer with a base height at 1000 m a.g.l. and an altocumulus stratiformis layer with a base height of 2300 m a.g.l. Velocity fields at cloud base are computed by tracking image rectangular patterns through successive shots. The height uncertainty is estimated by comparison with a Vaisala CL31 ceilometer located on the site. The uncertainty on the horizontal coordinates and on the velocity field are theoretically quantified by using the experimental uncertainties of the cloud base height and camera orientation. In the first cumulus case, segmentation of the image is performed to identify individuals clouds in the cloud field and determine the horizontal positions of the cloud centers.

Using PVDF to locate the debris cloud impact position

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pang, Baojun; Liu, Zhidong

2010-03-01

With the increase of space activities, space debris environment has deteriorated. Space debris impact shields of spacecraft creates debris cloud, the debris cloud is a threat to module wall. In order to conduct an assessment of spacecraft module wall damage impacted by debris cloud, the damage position must be known. In order to design a light weight location system, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) has been studied. Hyper-velocity impact experiments were conducted using two-stage light gas gun, the experimental results indicate that: the virtual wave front location method can be extended to debris cloud impact location, PVDF can be used to locate the damage position effectively, the signals gathered by PVDF from debris cloud impact contain more high frequency components than the signals created by single projectile impact event. The results provide a reference for the development of the sensor systems to detect impacts on spacecraft.

Market Orientation in University: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuster, Ines; Aviles-Valenzuela, Maria Elena

2010-01-01

Purpose: The paper aims to analyse the relationship between market orientation (MO) and results in the field of higher education, considering the importance of university teaching staff MO in relation to satisfaction and establishing that this orientation is directly and positively affected by the MO of the upper hierarchical levels. The focus is…

Cloud computing security.

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

Shin, Dongwan; Claycomb, William R.; Urias, Vincent E.

Cloud computing is a paradigm rapidly being embraced by government and industry as a solution for cost-savings, scalability, and collaboration. While a multitude of applications and services are available commercially for cloud-based solutions, research in this area has yet to fully embrace the full spectrum of potential challenges facing cloud computing. This tutorial aims to provide researchers with a fundamental understanding of cloud computing, with the goals of identifying a broad range of potential research topics, and inspiring a new surge in research to address current issues. We will also discuss real implementations of research-oriented cloud computing systems for bothmore » academia and government, including configuration options, hardware issues, challenges, and solutions.« less

Enabling Big Geoscience Data Analytics with a Cloud-Based, MapReduce-Enabled and Service-Oriented Workflow Framework

PubMed Central

Li, Zhenlong; Yang, Chaowei; Jin, Baoxuan; Yu, Manzhu; Liu, Kai; Sun, Min; Zhan, Matthew

2015-01-01

Geoscience observations and model simulations are generating vast amounts of multi-dimensional data. Effectively analyzing these data are essential for geoscience studies. However, the tasks are challenging for geoscientists because processing the massive amount of data is both computing and data intensive in that data analytics requires complex procedures and multiple tools. To tackle these challenges, a scientific workflow framework is proposed for big geoscience data analytics. In this framework techniques are proposed by leveraging cloud computing, MapReduce, and Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). Specifically, HBase is adopted for storing and managing big geoscience data across distributed computers. MapReduce-based algorithm framework is developed to support parallel processing of geoscience data. And service-oriented workflow architecture is built for supporting on-demand complex data analytics in the cloud environment. A proof-of-concept prototype tests the performance of the framework. Results show that this innovative framework significantly improves the efficiency of big geoscience data analytics by reducing the data processing time as well as simplifying data analytical procedures for geoscientists. PMID:25742012

Enabling big geoscience data analytics with a cloud-based, MapReduce-enabled and service-oriented workflow framework.

PubMed

Li, Zhenlong; Yang, Chaowei; Jin, Baoxuan; Yu, Manzhu; Liu, Kai; Sun, Min; Zhan, Matthew

2015-01-01

Geoscience observations and model simulations are generating vast amounts of multi-dimensional data. Effectively analyzing these data are essential for geoscience studies. However, the tasks are challenging for geoscientists because processing the massive amount of data is both computing and data intensive in that data analytics requires complex procedures and multiple tools. To tackle these challenges, a scientific workflow framework is proposed for big geoscience data analytics. In this framework techniques are proposed by leveraging cloud computing, MapReduce, and Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). Specifically, HBase is adopted for storing and managing big geoscience data across distributed computers. MapReduce-based algorithm framework is developed to support parallel processing of geoscience data. And service-oriented workflow architecture is built for supporting on-demand complex data analytics in the cloud environment. A proof-of-concept prototype tests the performance of the framework. Results show that this innovative framework significantly improves the efficiency of big geoscience data analytics by reducing the data processing time as well as simplifying data analytical procedures for geoscientists.

Mobilization and Defense Management Technical Reports Series. A Framework for Increasing Defense Production by Reducing Perceived Opportunity Costs.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-05-01

advertising. Traditionally defense marketing and advertising focused on decision makers within the defense conuunity and Congress. While it appears that...focus may be- starting to change, marketing and advertising remain highly directed and concentrated in defense oriented media. marketing was oriented to

Minorities in the Labor Market. Volume II: Orientals in the American Labor Market.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilber, George L.; And Others

The major task of this report is to describe and evaluate the participation and status achievements of Orientals in the labor market, with particular attention to factors affecting such participation and whether differences in participation as compared to that of whites reflect discrimination. Inequalities and discrimination are examined in terms…

The cloud services innovation platform- enabling service-based environmental modelling using infrastructure-as-a-service cloud computing

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Service oriented architectures allow modelling engines to be hosted over the Internet abstracting physical hardware configuration and software deployments from model users. Many existing environmental models are deployed as desktop applications running on user's personal computers (PCs). Migration ...

Transparency of a magnetic cloud boundary for cosmic rays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petukhov, I. S.; Petukhov, S. I.

2013-02-01

We have suggested a model of magnetic cloud presented as a torus with magnetic flux rope structure situated inside the interplanetary corona mass ejecta expanding radially away from the Sun through the interplanetary medium. The magnetic field of the torus changing during its propagation has been obtained. The magnetic cloud — solar wind boundary transparency for cosmic rays with different energies depending on the cloud orientation and properties of the torus magnetic field has been determined by means of calculation of the particle trajectories at the boundary.

Comparison of prestellar core elongations and large-scale molecular cloud structures in the Lupus I region

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

Poidevin, Frédérick; Ade, Peter A. R.; Hargrave, Peter C.

2014-08-10

Turbulence and magnetic fields are expected to be important for regulating molecular cloud formation and evolution. However, their effects on sub-parsec to 100 parsec scales, leading to the formation of starless cores, are not well understood. We investigate the prestellar core structure morphologies obtained from analysis of the Herschel-SPIRE 350 μm maps of the Lupus I cloud. This distribution is first compared on a statistical basis to the large-scale shape of the main filament. We find the distribution of the elongation position angle of the cores to be consistent with a random distribution, which means no specific orientation of themore » morphology of the cores is observed with respect to the mean orientation of the large-scale filament in Lupus I, nor relative to a large-scale bent filament model. This distribution is also compared to the mean orientation of the large-scale magnetic fields probed at 350 μm with the Balloon-borne Large Aperture Telescope for Polarimetry during its 2010 campaign. Here again we do not find any correlation between the core morphology distribution and the average orientation of the magnetic fields on parsec scales. Our main conclusion is that the local filament dynamics—including secondary filaments that often run orthogonally to the primary filament—and possibly small-scale variations in the local magnetic field direction, could be the dominant factors for explaining the final orientation of each core.« less

Platform for High-Assurance Cloud Computing

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-06-01

to create today’s standard cloud computing applications and services. Additionally , our SuperCloud (a related but distinct project under the same... Additionally , our SuperCloud (a related but distinct project under the same MRC funding) reduces vendor lock-in and permits application to migrate, to follow...managing key- value storage with strong assurance properties. This first accomplishment allows us to climb the cloud technical stack, by offering

An ARM data-oriented diagnostics package to evaluate the climate model simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, C.; Xie, S.

2016-12-01

A set of diagnostics that utilize long-term high frequency measurements from the DOE Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program is developed for evaluating the regional simulation of clouds, radiation and precipitation in climate models. The diagnostics results are computed and visualized automatically in a python-based package that aims to serve as an easy entry point for evaluating climate simulations using the ARM data, as well as the CMIP5 multi-model simulations. Basic performance metrics are computed to measure the accuracy of mean state and variability of simulated regional climate. The evaluated physical quantities include vertical profiles of clouds, temperature, relative humidity, cloud liquid water path, total column water vapor, precipitation, sensible and latent heat fluxes, radiative fluxes, aerosol and cloud microphysical properties. Process-oriented diagnostics focusing on individual cloud and precipitation-related phenomena are developed for the evaluation and development of specific model physical parameterizations. Application of the ARM diagnostics package will be presented in the AGU session. This work is performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344, IM release number is: LLNL-ABS-698645.

Development of voluntary private health insurance in Nordic countries - An exploratory study on country-specific contextual factors.

PubMed

Tynkkynen, Liina-Kaisa; Alexandersen, Nina; Kaarbøe, Oddvar; Anell, Anders; Lehto, Juhani; Vrangbӕk, Karsten

2018-03-16

The Nordic countries are healthcare systems with tax-based financing and ambitions for universal access to comprehensive services. This implies that distribution of healthcare resources should be based on individual needs, not on the ability to pay. Despite this ideological orientation, significant expansion in voluntary private health insurance (VPHI) contracts has occurred in recent decades. The development and role of VPHIs are different across the Nordic countries. Complementary VPHI plays a significant role in Denmark and in Finland. Supplementary VPHI is prominent in Norway and Sweden. The aim of this paper is to explore drivers behind the developments of the VPHI markets in the Nordic countries. We analyze the developments in terms of the following aspects: the performance of the statutory system (real or perceived), lack of coverage in certain areas of healthcare, governmental interventions or inability to reform the system, policy trends and the general socio-cultural environment, and policy responses to voting behavior or lobbying by certain interest groups. It seems that the early developments in VPHI markets have been an answer to the gaps in the national health systems created by institutional contexts, political decisions, and cultural interpretations on the functioning of the system. However, once the market is created it introduces new dynamics that have less to do with gaps and inflexibilities and more with cultural factors. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Higher Education and the Labour Market in the Federal Republic of Germany.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Teichler, Ulrich; Sanyal, Bikas C.

Reviewing the trends in employment statistics and higher educational planning in postwar Western Germany, the authors emphasize the role of political policy as they trace the development of the mixed use of both market-orientation and the more traditional research-orientation in preparing higher education students for the job market. After a…

"Drenched in the Past:" the Evolution of Market-Oriented Reforms in New Orleans

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jabbar, Huriya

2015-01-01

As the city with the largest charter-school market share in the United States, New Orleans, Louisiana exemplifies market-oriented models in education. For a city that is so "drenched in the past," the reform movement in New Orleans typically neglects historical context, often dismissing the education system pre-Katrina as simply corrupt…

Food Marketing to Children Online: A Content Analysis of Food Company Websites.

PubMed

Hurwitz, Lisa B; Montague, Heather; Wartella, Ellen

2017-03-01

Since 2006, many U.S. food and beverage companies have pledged to market healthier foods to children to help combat the childhood obesity epidemic. Despite this, companies' expenditures on online advertising have increased of late. To explore this seemingly contradictory situation, the authors conducted a content analysis of approximately 100 food and beverage brand websites, examining a multitude of online marketing practices across a variety of different products, as well as the relationship between marketing techniques and the nutritional profile of promoted foods. This is the first study to examine if nutrition varied by marketing technique. Few brands maintained child-oriented websites, but the brands that did have child-oriented websites included a large number of games promoting particularly obesogenic food products. Somewhat surprisingly, games with many brand identifiers were paired with slightly less obesogenic foods. These findings present a mixed picture of the threat posed by online child-oriented food marketing.

Exploiting Redundancy and Application Scalability for Cost-Effective, Time-Constrained Execution of HPC Applications on Amazon EC2

DOE PAGES

Marathe, Aniruddha P.; Harris, Rachel A.; Lowenthal, David K.; ...

2015-12-17

The use of clouds to execute high-performance computing (HPC) applications has greatly increased recently. Clouds provide several potential advantages over traditional supercomputers and in-house clusters. The most popular cloud is currently Amazon EC2, which provides fixed-cost and variable-cost, auction-based options. The auction market trades lower cost for potential interruptions that necessitate checkpointing; if the market price exceeds the bid price, a node is taken away from the user without warning. We explore techniques to maximize performance per dollar given a time constraint within which an application must complete. Specifically, we design and implement multiple techniques to reduce expected cost bymore » exploiting redundancy in the EC2 auction market. We then design an adaptive algorithm that selects a scheduling algorithm and determines the bid price. We show that our adaptive algorithm executes programs up to seven times cheaper than using the on-demand market and up to 44 percent cheaper than the best non-redundant, auction-market algorithm. We extend our adaptive algorithm to incorporate application scalability characteristics for further cost savings. In conclusion, we show that the adaptive algorithm informed with scalability characteristics of applications achieves up to 56 percent cost savings compared to the expected cost for the base adaptive algorithm run at a fixed, user-defined scale.« less

A technique for determining cloud free versus cloud contaminated pixels in satellite imagery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wohlman, Richard A.

1994-01-01

Weather forecasting has been called the second oldest profession. To do so accurately and with some consistency requires an ability to understand the processes which create the clouds, drive the winds, and produce the ever changing atmospheric conditions. Measurement of basic parameters such as temperature, water vapor content, pressure, windspeed and wind direction throughout the three dimensional atmosphere form the foundation upon which a modern forecast is created. Doppler radar, and space borne remote sensing have provided forecasters the new tools with which to ply their trade.

7 CFR 160.14 - Opaque rosin.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing Practices), DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (CONTINUED) NAVAL STORES REGULATIONS AND... resulting when rosin undergoes internal modification indicated by a turbid, clouded, or opaque appearance...

CloudSat Reflectivity Data Visualization Inside Hurricanes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Suzuki, Shigeru; Wright, John R.; Falcon, Pedro C.

2011-01-01

Animations and other outreach products have been created and released to the public quickly after the CloudSat spacecraft flew over hurricanes. The automated script scans through the CloudSat quicklook data to find significant atmospheric moisture content. Once such a region is found, data from multiple sources is combined to produce the data products and the animations. KMZ products are quickly generated from the quicklook data for viewing in Google Earth and other tools. Animations are also generated to show the atmospheric moisture data in context with the storm cloud imagery. Global images from GOES satellites are shown to give context. The visualization provides better understanding of the interior of the hurricane storm clouds, which is difficult to observe directly. The automated process creates the finished animation in the High Definition (HD) video format for quick release to the media and public.

Vertical Optical Scanning with Panoramic Vision for Tree Trunk Reconstruction

PubMed Central

Berveglieri, Adilson; Liang, Xinlian; Honkavaara, Eija

2017-01-01

This paper presents a practical application of a technique that uses a vertical optical flow with a fisheye camera to generate dense point clouds from a single planimetric station. Accurate data can be extracted to enable the measurement of tree trunks or branches. The images that are collected with this technique can be oriented in photogrammetric software (using fisheye models) and used to generate dense point clouds, provided that some constraints on the camera positions are adopted. A set of images was captured in a forest plot in the experiments. Weighted geometric constraints were imposed in the photogrammetric software to calculate the image orientation, perform dense image matching, and accurately generate a 3D point cloud. The tree trunks in the scenes were reconstructed and mapped in a local reference system. The accuracy assessment was based on differences between measured and estimated trunk diameters at different heights. Trunk sections from an image-based point cloud were also compared to the corresponding sections that were extracted from a dense terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) point cloud. Cylindrical fitting of the trunk sections allowed the assessment of the accuracies of the trunk geometric shapes in both clouds. The average difference between the cylinders that were fitted to the photogrammetric cloud and those to the TLS cloud was less than 1 cm, which indicates the potential of the proposed technique. The point densities that were obtained with vertical optical scanning were 1/3 less than those that were obtained with TLS. However, the point density can be improved by using higher resolution cameras. PMID:29207468

Vertical Optical Scanning with Panoramic Vision for Tree Trunk Reconstruction.

PubMed

Berveglieri, Adilson; Tommaselli, Antonio M G; Liang, Xinlian; Honkavaara, Eija

2017-12-02

This paper presents a practical application of a technique that uses a vertical optical flow with a fisheye camera to generate dense point clouds from a single planimetric station. Accurate data can be extracted to enable the measurement of tree trunks or branches. The images that are collected with this technique can be oriented in photogrammetric software (using fisheye models) and used to generate dense point clouds, provided that some constraints on the camera positions are adopted. A set of images was captured in a forest plot in the experiments. Weighted geometric constraints were imposed in the photogrammetric software to calculate the image orientation, perform dense image matching, and accurately generate a 3D point cloud. The tree trunks in the scenes were reconstructed and mapped in a local reference system. The accuracy assessment was based on differences between measured and estimated trunk diameters at different heights. Trunk sections from an image-based point cloud were also compared to the corresponding sections that were extracted from a dense terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) point cloud. Cylindrical fitting of the trunk sections allowed the assessment of the accuracies of the trunk geometric shapes in both clouds. The average difference between the cylinders that were fitted to the photogrammetric cloud and those to the TLS cloud was less than 1 cm, which indicates the potential of the proposed technique. The point densities that were obtained with vertical optical scanning were 1/3 less than those that were obtained with TLS. However, the point density can be improved by using higher resolution cameras.

Using a Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) to analyze the stability of a natural rock slope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salvini, Riccardo; Esposito, Giuseppe; Mastrorocco, Giovanni; Seddaiu, Marcello

2016-04-01

This paper describes the application of a rotary wing RPAS for monitoring the stability of a natural rock slope in the municipality of Vecchiano (Pisa, Italy). The slope under investigation is approximately oriented NNW-SSE and has a length of about 320 m; elevation ranges from about 7 to 80 m a.s.l.. The hill consists of stratified limestone, somewhere densely fractured, with dip direction predominantly oriented in a normal way respect to the slope. Fracture traces are present in variable lengths, from decimetre to metre, and penetrate inward the rock versant with thickness difficult to estimate, often exceeding one meter in depth. The intersection between different fracture systems and the slope surface generates rocky blocks and wedges of variable size that may be subject to phenomena of gravitational instability (with reference to the variation of hydraulic and dynamic conditions). Geometrical and structural info about the rock mass, necessary to perform the analysis of the slope stability, were obtained in this work from geo-referenced 3D point clouds acquired using photogrammetric and laser scanning techniques. In particular, a terrestrial laser scanning was carried out from two different point of view using a Leica Scanstation2. The laser survey created many shadows in the data due to the presence of vegetation in the lower parts of the slope and limiting the feasibility of geo-structural survey. To overcome such a limitation, we utilized a rotary wing Aibotix Aibot X6 RPAS geared with a Nikon D3200 camera. The drone flights were executed in manual modality and the images were acquired, according to the characteristics of the outcrops, under different acquisition angles. Furthermore, photos were captured very close to the versant (a few meters), allowing to produce a dense 3D point cloud (about 80 Ma points) by the image processing. A topographic survey was carried out in order to guarantee the necessary spatial accuracy to the process of images exterior orientation. The coordinates of GCPs were calculated through the post-processing of data collected by using two GPS receivers, operating in static modality, and a Total Station. The photogrammetric processing of image blocks allowed us to create the 3D point cloud, DTM, orthophoto, and 3D textured model with high level of cartographic detail. Discontinuities were deterministically characterized in terms of attitude, persistence, and spacing. Moreover, the main discontinuity sets were identified through a density analysis of attitudes in stereographic projection. In addition, the size and shape of potentially unstable blocks identified along the rock slope were measured. Finally, using additional data from traditional engineering-geological surveys executed in accessible outcrops, the kinematic and dynamic stability analysis of the rocky slope was performed. Results from this step have indicated the deterministic safety factors of rock blocks and wedges, and will be used by local Authorities to plan the protection works for safety guarantee. Results from this application show the great advantage of modern RPAS that can be successfully applied for the analysis of sub-vertical rocky slopes, especially in areas either difficult to access with traditional techniques or masked by the presence of vegetation. KEY WORDS: 3D point cloud, RPAS photogrammetry, Terrestrial laser scanning, Rock slope, Fracture mapping, Stability analysis

Towards a Service-Oriented Enterprise: The Design of a Cloud Business Integration Platform in a Medium-Sized Manufacturing Enterprise

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stamas, Paul J.

2013-01-01

This case study research followed the two-year transition of a medium-sized manufacturing firm towards a service-oriented enterprise. A service-oriented enterprise is an emerging architecture of the firm that leverages the paradigm of services computing to integrate the capabilities of the firm with the complementary competencies of business…

Are stock market returns related to the weather effects? Empirical evidence from Taiwan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, Tsangyao; Nieh, Chien-Chung; Yang, Ming Jing; Yang, Tse-Yu

2006-05-01

In this study, we employ a recently developed econometric technique of the threshold model with the GJR-GARCH process on error terms to investigate the relationships between weather factors and stock market returns in Taiwan using daily data for the period of 1 July 1997-22 October 2003. The major weather factors studied include temperature, humidity, and cloud cover. Our empirical evidence shows that temperature and cloud cover are two important weather factors that affect the stock returns in Taiwan. Our empirical findings further support the previous arguments that advocate the inclusion of economically neutral behavioral variables in asset pricing models. These results also have significant implications for individual investors and financial institutions planning to invest in the Taiwan stock market.

Environmental economics reality check: a case study of the Abanico Medicinal Plant and Organic Agriculture Microenterprise Project.

PubMed

Isla, Ana; Thompson, Shirley

2003-01-01

This paper presents a case study of the Abanico Medicinal Plant and Organic Agriculture Microenterprise Project in the Arenal Conservation Area, Costa Rica. Microenterprise is the Sustainable Development and the Women in Development model for gender equity and environment of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and large non-government organizations, like the World Wildlife Fund-Canada. The authors of this paper argue that debt-for-nature investment in microenterprise and ecological economic models are not distinct from neoclassical economic and development models that created the environmental, social and cultural crises in the first place. This case study shows that the world market accommodates only one model of development: unsustainable export-oriented production based on flexible labour markets, low wages, indebtedness and low cost production. Working standards in those micro-enterprises are eroded due to many factors,including indebtedness. What happened at a national level in non-industrial countries with the international debt crisis is now mirrored in individual indebtedness through microenterprise. Is current development policy creating a new form of indentured servitude? Medicinal plants, prior to commodification, were a source of women's power and upon commodification in international development projects, are the source of their exploitation.

3D Reconstruction of Static Human Body with a Digital Camera

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Remondino, Fabio

2003-01-01

Nowadays the interest in 3D reconstruction and modeling of real humans is one of the most challenging problems and a topic of great interest. The human models are used for movies, video games or ergonomics applications and they are usually created with 3D scanner devices. In this paper a new method to reconstruct the shape of a static human is presented. Our approach is based on photogrammetric techniques and uses a sequence of images acquired around a standing person with a digital still video camera or with a camcorder. First the images are calibrated and orientated using a bundle adjustment. After the establishment of a stable adjusted image block, an image matching process is performed between consecutive triplets of images. Finally the 3D coordinates of the matched points are computed with a mean accuracy of ca 2 mm by forward ray intersection. The obtained point cloud can then be triangulated to generate a surface model of the body or a virtual human model can be fitted to the recovered 3D data. Results of the 3D human point cloud with pixel color information are presented.

The Incorporation of Market Orientation in the School Culture: An Essential Aspect of School Marketing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oplatka, Izhar; Hemsley-Brown, Jane

2007-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present the major features of market orientation (MO) and its benefits for schools, suggests an inventory to measure the degree of MO in a school, and provides strategies to incorporate elements of MO into the school culture. Design/methodology/approach: An instructional, technical approach which is based…

North American oriented strand board markets, arbitrage activity, and market price dynamics: A smooth transition approach

Treesearch

Barry Goodwin; Matthew Holt; Jeffrey P. Prestemon

2011-01-01

Price dynamics for North American oriented strand board markets are examined. The role of transactions costs are explored vis-à-vis the law of one price. Nonlinearities induced by unobservable transactions costs are modeled by estimating time-varying smooth transition autoregressions (TV-STARs). Results indicate that nonlinearity and structural change are important...

Consumer choice among Mutual Healthcare Purchasers: a feasible option for China?

PubMed

Xu, Weiwei; van de Ven, Wynand P M M

2013-11-01

In its 2009 blue print of healthcare reform, the Chinese government aimed to create a competitive health insurance market in order to increase efficiency in the health insurance sector. A major advantage of a competitive health insurance market is that insurers are stimulated to act as well-motivated prudent purchasers of healthcare on behalf of their enrolees, and that consumers can choose among these purchasers. To emphasize the insurers' role of purchasers of care we denote them, as well as other entities that can fulfil this role (e.g. fundholding community health centres), as 'Mutual Healthcare Purchasers' (MHPs). As feasible proposals for creating competition in China's health insurance sector have yet to be made, we suggest two potential approaches to create competition among MHPs: (1) separating finance and operation of social health insurance and allowing consumer choice among operators of social health insurance schemes; (2) allowing consumer choice among fund-holding community health centres. Although the benefits of competition are widely accepted in China, the problematic consequences of a free competitive health insurance market - especially in relation to affordability and accessibility - are generally neglected. To solve the problems of lack of affordability and inaccessibility that would occur in the case of unregulated competition among MHPs, at least the following regulations are proposed to the Chinese policy makers: a 'standard benefit package' for basic health insurance, a 'risk-equalization scheme', and 'open enrolment'. Potential obstacles for implementing a risk equalization scheme are examined based on theoretical arguments and international experiences. We conclude that allowing consumer choice among MHPs and implementing a risk equalization scheme in China is politically and technically complex. Therefore, the Chinese government should prepare carefully for a market-oriented reform in its healthcare sector and adopt a strategic approach in the implementation procedure. Crown Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cloud manufacturing: from concept to practice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ren, Lei; Zhang, Lin; Tao, Fei; Zhao, Chun; Chai, Xudong; Zhao, Xinpei

2015-02-01

The concept of cloud manufacturing is emerging as a new promising manufacturing paradigm, as well as a business model, which is reshaping the service-oriented, highly collaborative, knowledge-intensive and eco-efficient manufacturing industry. However, the basic concepts about cloud manufacturing are still in discussion. Both academia and industry will need to have a commonly accepted definition of cloud manufacturing, as well as further guidance and recommendations on how to develop and implement cloud manufacturing. In this paper, we review some of the research work and clarify some fundamental terminologies in this field. Further, we developed a cloud manufacturing systems which may serve as an application example. From a systematic and practical perspective, the key requirements of cloud manufacturing platforms are investigated, and then we propose a cloud manufacturing platform prototype, MfgCloud. Finally, a public cloud manufacturing system for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) is presented. This paper presents a new perspective for cloud manufacturing, as well as a cloud-to-ground solution. The integrated solution proposed in this paper, including the terminology, MfgCloud, and applications, can push forward this new paradigm from concept to practice.

Cloud-Based Technologies: Faculty Development, Support, and Implementation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Diaz, Veronica

2011-01-01

The number of instructional offerings in higher education that are online, blended, or web-enhanced, including courses and programs, continues to grow exponentially. Alongside the growth of e-learning, higher education has witnessed the explosion of cloud-based or Web 2.0 technologies, a term that refers to the vast array of socially oriented,…

Hurricane Hector in the Eastern Pacific

NASA Image and Video Library

2006-08-17

Infrared, microwave, and visible/near-infrared images of Hurricane Hector in the eastern Pacific were created with data from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) on NASA's Aqua satellite on August 17, 2006. The infrared AIRS image shows the temperature of the cloud tops or the surface of the Earth in cloud-free regions. The lowest temperatures (in purple) are associated with high, cold cloud tops that make up the top of the hurricane. The infrared signal does not penetrate through clouds. Where there are no clouds the AIRS instrument reads the infrared signal from the surface of the Earth, revealing warmer temperatures (red). At the time the data were taken from which these images were made, Hector is a well organized storm, with the strongest convection in the SE quadrant. The increasing vertical wind shear in the NW quadrant is appearing to have an effect. Maximum sustained winds are at 85 kt, gusts to 105 kt. Estimated minimum central pressure is 975 mbar. The microwave image is created from microwave radiation emitted by Earth's atmosphere and received by the instrument. It shows where the heaviest rainfall is taking place (in blue) in the storm. Blue areas outside of the storm where there are either some clouds or no clouds, indicate where the sea surface shines through. The "visible" image is created from data acquired by the visible light/near-infrared sensor on the AIRS instrument. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA00507

Forest on the edge: Seasonal cloud forest in Oman creates its own ecological niche

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hildebrandt, Anke; Eltahir, Elfatih A. B.

2006-06-01

Cloud forests usually grow in the moist tropics where water is not a limiting factor to plant growth. Here, for the first time, we describe the hydrology of a water limited seasonal cloud forest in the Dhofar mountains of Oman. This ecosystem is under significant stress from camels feeding on tree canopies. The Dhofar forests are the remnants of a moist vegetation belt, which once spread across the Arabian Peninsula. According to our investigation the process of cloud immersion during the summer season creates within this desert a niche for moist woodland vegetation. Woodland vegetation survives in this ecosystem, sustained through enhanced capture of cloud water by their canopies (horizontal precipitation). Degraded land lacks this additional water source, which inhibits re-establishment of trees. Our modeling results suggest that cattle feeding may lead to irreversible destruction of one of the most diverse ecosystems in Arabia.

Using alcohol to sell cigarettes to young adults: a content analysis of cigarette advertisements.

PubMed

Belstock, Sarah A; Connolly, Gregory N; Carpenter, Carrie M; Tucker, Lindsey

2008-01-01

Advertising influences the health-related behaviors of college-aged individuals. Cigarette manufacturers aggressively market to young adults and may exploit their affinity for alcohol when creating advertisements designed to increase cigarettes' appeal. Internal tobacco industry documents reveal that cigarette manufacturers understood the popularity of alcohol among young adults and sought to produce pertinent marketing strategies. The authors conducted a content analysis of cigarette and alcohol advertisements in young adult-oriented magazines to investigate portrayed associations between cigarettes and alcohol. The content analysis revealed that 32 of 114 cigarette advertisements referenced alcohol and that those advertisements were more likely than others to portray active smoking. Conversely, 0 of 317 alcohol advertisements referenced cigarettes, and alcohol advertisements were only slightly more likely than cigarette advertisements to feature alcohol-related settings. Such advertising may detrimentally affect smoking patterns of college students. An understanding of these strategies can benefit on-campus tobacco control efforts.

West Europe report: Science and technology. FRG: Concept paper on microelectronics, communications technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

1984-07-01

Precisely because the Federal Republic of Germany is a nation with a strong export orientation the capability to develop and apply, with an eye to the market, modern information and communication technologies and microelectronics which provides the basis for them has a very important bearing on the nations competitive position. To attain a leadership position in information technology, the men and women of the FRG must take up the challenge of this technology in terms of training and continuing education as well as in the media and in public life. Industry must agressively seek out markets and engage in international competition and the state must remove existing obstacles and create the kind of conditions that will make its assistance programs most effective. Programs which reflect the government's resolve to meet the challenge of information technology and to help improve the FRG's competitive position in this field are outlined.

On Cloud Nine

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCrea, Bridget; Weil, Marty

2011-01-01

Across the U.S., innovative collaboration practices are happening in the cloud: Sixth-graders participate in literary salons. Fourth-graders mentor kindergarteners. And teachers use virtual Post-it notes to advise students as they create their own television shows. In other words, cloud computing is no longer just used to manage administrative…

Editorial.

PubMed

Evers, B

1993-10-01

This editorial introduces an issue of a journal which contains articles on the themes of 1) macroeconomic policy and gender relations and 2) income generation projects and empowerment. The opening paper dispels the myth that economic policies are gender-neutral. Another article uses the effects of structural adjustment policies in the Caribbean to illustrate how such policies increase women's burdens because of cuts in social services and pressures on women to provide cheap labor to create export goods. A third article depicts the adverse consequences of a macroeconomic policy in India which favors exports over domestic production. This theme is developed in a paper which challenges the notion that export-oriented development strategies provide a "trickle down" benefit to the poor. Specific reversals in development advances in Tanzania are linked to the adjustment experience, and the policy of debt repayment at all costs in the Philippines is shown to have an adverse effect on the poor. Other papers from Albania, India, Tanzania, Chile, and Bangladesh highlight how market-oriented reforms have created conditions which are detrimental to women's health. Further research reveals that the touted "feminization of employment" has actually turned out to be a "feminization of unemployment" as gender discrimination in the labor market continues. Papers on income-generating projects spotlight what has been learned about developing a successful income-generation project which recognizes women's "reproductive labor" time demands. Other articles explore barriers faced by women to access to finance and entrepreneurship. By looking beyond economic jargon and false assumptions, the authors of these papers explore how gender relationships are shaped by economic policies and affect policy outcomes and how women are organizing to improve their lives and the health of their communities.

Control oriented concentrating solar power (CSP) plant model and its applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luo, Qi

Solar receivers in concentrating solar thermal power plants (CSP) undergo over 10,000 start-ups and shutdowns, and over 25,000 rapid rate of change in temperature on receivers due to cloud transients resulting in performance degradation and material fatigue in their expected lifetime of over 30 years. The research proposes to develop a three-level controller that uses multi-input-multi-output (MIMO) control technology to minimize the effect of these disturbances, improve plant performance, and extend plant life. The controller can be readily installed on any vendor supplied state-of-the-art control hardware. We propose a three-level controller architecture using multi-input-multi-output (MIMO) control for CSP plants that can be implemented on existing plants to improve performance, reliability, and extend the life of the plant. This architecture optimizes the performance on multiple time scalesreactive level (regulation to temperature set points), tactical level (adaptation of temperature set points), and strategic level (trading off fatigue life due to thermal cycling and current production). This controller unique to CSP plants operating at temperatures greater than 550 °C, will make CSPs competitive with conventional power plants and contribute significantly towards the Sunshot goal of 0.06/kWh(e), while responding with agility to both market dynamics and changes in solar irradiance such as due to passing clouds. Moreover, our development of control software with performance guarantees will avoid early stage failures and permit smooth grid integration of the CSP power plants. The proposed controller can be implemented with existing control hardware infrastructure with little or no additional equipment. In the thesis, we demonstrate a dynamics model of CSP, of which different components are modelled with different time scales. We also show a real time control strategy of CSP control oriented model in steady state. Furthermore, we shown different controllers design for disturbance rejection and reference tracking to handle complex receiver dynamics under system disturbance and measurement noise. At last, we show different applications of this control oriented CSP model including life cycle enhancement and electricity load forecasting using both neural network and regression tree.

Automated extraction and analysis of rock discontinuity characteristics from 3D point clouds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bianchetti, Matteo; Villa, Alberto; Agliardi, Federico; Crosta, Giovanni B.

2016-04-01

A reliable characterization of fractured rock masses requires an exhaustive geometrical description of discontinuities, including orientation, spacing, and size. These are required to describe discontinuum rock mass structure, perform Discrete Fracture Network and DEM modelling, or provide input for rock mass classification or equivalent continuum estimate of rock mass properties. Although several advanced methodologies have been developed in the last decades, a complete characterization of discontinuity geometry in practice is still challenging, due to scale-dependent variability of fracture patterns and difficult accessibility to large outcrops. Recent advances in remote survey techniques, such as terrestrial laser scanning and digital photogrammetry, allow a fast and accurate acquisition of dense 3D point clouds, which promoted the development of several semi-automatic approaches to extract discontinuity features. Nevertheless, these often need user supervision on algorithm parameters which can be difficult to assess. To overcome this problem, we developed an original Matlab tool, allowing fast, fully automatic extraction and analysis of discontinuity features with no requirements on point cloud accuracy, density and homogeneity. The tool consists of a set of algorithms which: (i) process raw 3D point clouds, (ii) automatically characterize discontinuity sets, (iii) identify individual discontinuity surfaces, and (iv) analyse their spacing and persistence. The tool operates in either a supervised or unsupervised mode, starting from an automatic preliminary exploration data analysis. The identification and geometrical characterization of discontinuity features is divided in steps. First, coplanar surfaces are identified in the whole point cloud using K-Nearest Neighbor and Principal Component Analysis algorithms optimized on point cloud accuracy and specified typical facet size. Then, discontinuity set orientation is calculated using Kernel Density Estimation and principal vector similarity criteria. Poles to points are assigned to individual discontinuity objects using easy custom vector clustering and Jaccard distance approaches, and each object is segmented into planar clusters using an improved version of the DBSCAN algorithm. Modal set orientations are then recomputed by cluster-based orientation statistics to avoid the effects of biases related to cluster size and density heterogeneity of the point cloud. Finally, spacing values are measured between individual discontinuity clusters along scanlines parallel to modal pole vectors, whereas individual feature size (persistence) is measured using 3D convex hull bounding boxes. Spacing and size are provided both as raw population data and as summary statistics. The tool is optimized for parallel computing on 64bit systems, and a Graphic User Interface (GUI) has been developed to manage data processing, provide several outputs, including reclassified point clouds, tables, plots, derived fracture intensity parameters, and export to modelling software tools. We present test applications performed both on synthetic 3D data (simple 3D solids) and real case studies, validating the results with existing geomechanical datasets.

Power laws for the backscattering matrices in the case of lidar sensing of cirrus clouds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kustova, Natalia V.; Konoshonkin, Alexander V.; Borovoi, Anatoli; Okamoto, Hajime; Sato, Kaori; Katagiri, Shuichiro

2017-11-01

The data bank for the backscattering matrixes of cirrus clouds that was calculated earlier by the authors and was available in the internet for free access has been replaced in the case of randomly oriented crystals by simple analytic equations. Four microphysical ratios conventionally measured by lidars have been calculated for different shapes and the effective size of the crystals. These values could be used for retrieving shapes of the crystals in cirrus clouds.

Nocturnal bird migration in opaque clouds

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Griffin, D. R.

1972-01-01

The use of a tracking radar to measure the flight paths of migrating birds on nights with opaque clouds is discussed. The effects of wind and lack of visual references are examined. The limitations of the radar observations are described, and samples of tracks obtained during radar observations are included. It is concluded that nonvisual mechanisms of orientation make it possible for birds to migrate in opaque clouds, but the exact nature of the sensory information cannot be determined by radar observations.

Using Word Clouds to Develop Proactive Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miley, Frances; Read, Andrew

2011-01-01

This article examines student responses to a technique for summarizing electronically available information based on word frequency. Students used this technique to create word clouds, using those word clouds to enhance personal and small group study. This is a qualitative study. Small focus groups were used to obtain student feedback. Feedback…

Aerosol-Induced Changes of Convective Cloud Anvils Produce Strong Climate Warming

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Koren, I.; Remer, L. A.; Altaratz, O.; Martins, J. V.; Davidi, A.

2010-01-01

The effect of aerosol on clouds poses one of the largest uncertainties in estimating the anthropogenic contribution to climate change. Small human-induced perturbations to cloud characteristics via aerosol pathways can create a change in the top-of-atmosphere radiative forcing of hundreds of Wm(exp-2) . Here we focus on links between aerosol and deep convective clouds of the Atlantic and Pacific Intertropical Convergence Zones, noting that the aerosol environment in each region is entirely different. The tops of these vertically developed clouds consisting of mostly ice can reach high levels of the atmosphere, overshooting the lower stratosphere and reaching altitudes greater than 16 km. We show a link between aerosol, clouds and the free atmosphere wind profile that can change the magnitude and sign of the overall climate radiative forcing. We find that increased aerosol loading is associated with taller cloud towers and anvils. The taller clouds reach levels of enhanced wind speeds that act to spread and thin the anvi1 clouds, increasing areal coverage and decreasing cloud optical depth. The radiative effect of this transition is to create a positive radiative forcing (warming) at top-of-atmosphere. Furthermore we introduce the cloud optical depth (r), cloud height (Z) forcing space and show that underestimation of radiative forcing is likely to occur in cases of non homogenous clouds. Specifically, the mean radiative forcing of towers and anvils in the same scene can be several times greater than simply calculating the forcing from the mean cloud optical depth in the scene. Limitations of the method are discussed, alternative sources of aerosol loading are tested and meteorological variance is restricted, but the trend of taller clouds; increased and thinner anvils associated with increased aerosol loading remains robust through all the different tests and perturbations.

[Drug advertising to the general public: conceptual parameters of a risk producer practice].

PubMed

Nascimento, Alvaro César

2010-11-01

This article analyzes some concepts relating to marketing, advertising, medications, regulation and manipulation. It discusses ethical and health surveillance parameters of drugs advertising for the general public. The focus of this work is the analysis of contradictions from a conceptual point of view between the practice of pharmaceutical advertising as a tool for the increase of sales and the conquest of markets versus the policy of rational use of medicines. Academic studies and monitoring of drugs advertising conducted by the National Health Surveillance Agency show that the contents of the advertising pieces oriented towards the general public overestimate the - sometimes dubious - qualities of their medication, focusing almost exclusively on the benefits and put them in a central position in the therapeutic process. They also fail to mention the risks inherent in their use. Rather than focusing on regulatory proposals aimed at creating constraints to this practice, this article discusses the impossibility, considering the interests of public health, of the coexistence of marketing with the policies for the correct, rational and safe use of drugs.

Forests of hope: Costa Rica. Restoring hope in the clouds.

PubMed

Bowen, L

1996-01-01

The rapid population growth in Central America has created pressure on the largest tract of cloud forest spanning the Talamanca Mountains in Costa Rica and Panama. Of immediate concern is restoring hope in the forest and improving the standard of living among local people. Such is the goal of the Amistad Conservation and Development (AMISCONDE) project in the communities of Cerro Punta, Panama, and San Rafael in Costa Rica. Through agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, environmental education, and community development, AMISCONDE aims to restore the degraded lands in the reserve's buffer zone and improve the income of the people. All the local people, the farmers, women and children have benefited from the project. Some of the activities carried out to meet its objectives include helping the farmers improve the productivity and marketability of their products by teaching them new technologies and giving agricultural credits to farmers, women, and youth groups. In addition, AMISCONDE conducts training courses to address the economic, social and educational needs of women and communities. It is assured that the community and the group will be prepared to continue on their own after the official AMISCONDE office is gone.

Modeling the Infrared Reverberation Response of the Circumnuclear Dusty Torus in AGNs: The Effects of Cloud Orientation and Anisotropic Illumination

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

Almeyda, Triana; Robinson, Andrew; Richmond, Michael

The obscuring circumnuclear torus of dusty molecular gas is one of the major components of active galactic nuclei (AGN). The torus can be studied by analyzing the time response of its infrared (IR) dust emission to variations in the AGN continuum luminosity, a technique known as reverberation mapping. The IR response is the convolution of the AGN ultraviolet/optical light curve with a transfer function that contains information about the size, geometry, and structure of the torus. Here, we describe a new computer model that simulates the reverberation response of a clumpy torus. Given an input optical light curve, the codemore » computes the emission of a 3D ensemble of dust clouds as a function of time at selected IR wavelengths, taking into account light travel delays. We present simulated dust emission responses at 3.6, 4.5, and 30 μ m that explore the effects of various geometrical and structural properties, dust cloud orientation, and anisotropy of the illuminating radiation field. We also briefly explore the effects of cloud shadowing (clouds are shielded from the AGN continuum source). Example synthetic light curves have also been generated, using the observed optical light curve of the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 6418 as input. The torus response is strongly wavelength-dependent, due to the gradient in cloud surface temperature within the torus, and because the cloud emission is strongly anisotropic at shorter wavelengths. Anisotropic illumination of the torus also significantly modifies the torus response, reducing the lag between the IR and optical variations.« less

Marketing: Today's imperative. Marketing must be seen as the process by which a company creates, satisfies, and keeps customers. at a profit

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

Murray, W.R.

While utilities are now much more market-oriented than in the past, marketing and sales budgets are still under attack at many gas and electric companies. Moreover, the marketing process is not being organized or managed for optimal effectiveness. To make the changes necessary to improve their competitive position, most utilities still need to address a variety of issues, such as: (1) Taking a more integrated, holistic approach to managing the various elements of the marketing process and achieving a position of competitive advantage; (2) Understanding customer/segment and product/service profitability; (3) Linking marketing plans and budgets with the utility's financial andmore » strategic plans, and using this to drive appropriate resource allocation decisions based on fact rather than guess; (4) Making the Marketing Department accountable for profit, not just sales; (5) Developing information-gathering capabilities and databases on customers, markets, and competitors that can be used to shape marketing strategies and tactics; and (6) Developing the analytical skill needed to understand differences in customer needs, buying economics, and ways a utility can effectively, efficiently, and profitably serve its customers. In the past, changes of this type would have been seen as unnecessary, perhaps even dangerous. However, until these actions are taken it will be difficult, if not impossible, for utilities to implement the new marketing imperative. Companies in other industries that have experienced similar regulatory changes have had to adapt in these ways to compete successfully, In general, the companies that took the lead have fared better than those that found themselves playing catch-up. It will be no different for utilities.« less

Intelligent cloud computing security using genetic algorithm as a computational tools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Razuky AL-Shaikhly, Mazin H.

2018-05-01

An essential change had occurred in the field of Information Technology which represented with cloud computing, cloud giving virtual assets by means of web yet awesome difficulties in the field of information security and security assurance. Currently main problem with cloud computing is how to improve privacy and security for cloud “cloud is critical security”. This paper attempts to solve cloud security by using intelligent system with genetic algorithm as wall to provide cloud data secure, all services provided by cloud must detect who receive and register it to create list of users (trusted or un-trusted) depend on behavior. The execution of present proposal has shown great outcome.

Determinants of choice of market-oriented indigenous Horo cattle production in Dano district of western Showa, Ethiopia.

PubMed

Alemayehu, Befikadu; Bogale, Ayalneh; Wollny, Clemens; Tesfahun, Girma

2010-12-01

Based on a survey data collected from 150 farming households in Dano district of western Showa of Ethiopia, this paper analyzes determinants of smallholders' choice for market oriented indigenous Horo cattle production and tries to suggest policy alternatives for sustainable use of animal genetic resource in the study area. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic model were employed to analyze the data. Eight explanatory variables including age of the household head, size of the grazing land, total size of cultivated land, farmer's experience in indigenous cattle production, farmer's attitude towards productivity of local breed, off-farm income, fattening practice, and availability of information and training of the head of the household regarding conservation, management and sustainable use indigenous cattle were found to be statistically significant variables to explain farmers' choice for market oriented indigenous cattle production activities. Besides, possible policy implications were made in order to improve conservation, management and sustainable use of market oriented indigenous cattle genetic resources.

What's in a Name? Impact of marketing different course titles on enrollment for online classes.

PubMed

Kemper, Kathi J; Woods, Charles; McBride, Allison

2008-12-01

Little is known about the impact of different marketing strategies on enrollment of online courses for health professionals. The authors compared one aspect of marketing, course titles, for online classes about herbs and dietary supplements (HDS). The authors marketed two titles-one knowledge-oriented, the other behavior-oriented-for each of seven online HDS classes. The two titles were (1) "Introduction to topic" (Knowledge) and (2) "Talking with patients about topic" (Behavior). The seven classes were two general (introduction and safety) and five specialty (women, children, the elderly, depression, and gastrointestinal) topics. The Area Health Education Center in northwest North Carolina marketed the classes. Altogether, 195 clinicians enrolled in an average of 7.6 classes per enrollee (1,487 total). For every class, enrollment was higher for knowledge-oriented than behavior-oriented titled classes (average of 124 versus 89 enrollees per class, P < .01). Enrollment, combining the two general classes, was also significantly higher for general than specialty classes (266 versus 191 enrollees per class, P < .01). Differences in titles and levels of generality significantly impacted enrollment rates in these online classes on an unfamiliar topic. Additional marketing research is needed to inform efforts to enroll clinicians into courses on more familiar topics.

Child-oriented marketing techniques in snack food packages in Guatemala.

PubMed

Chacon, Violeta; Letona, Paola; Barnoya, Joaquin

2013-10-18

Childhood overweight in Guatemala is now becoming a public health concern. Child-oriented marketing contributes to increase children's food preference, purchase and consumption. This study sought to assess the availability of child-oriented snack foods sold in school kiosks and convenience stores near public schools in Guatemala, to identify the marketing techniques used in child-oriented snack food packages and to classify the snacks as "healthy" or "less-healthy". We purchased all child-oriented snacks found in stores inside and within 200 square meters from four schools in an urban community. Snacks were classified as child-oriented if the package had any promotional characters, premium offers, children's television/movie tie-ins, sports references, or the word "child". We used a checklist to assess child-oriented references and price. Snacks were classified as "healthy" or "less-healthy" according to the UK standards for the Nutritional Profiling Model. We analyzed 106 packages found in 55 stores. The most commonly used technique was promotional characters (92.5%) of which 32.7% were brand-specific characters. Premium offers were found in 34% of packages and were mostly collectibles (50%). Most marketing techniques were located on the front and covered nearly 25% of the package surface. Median (interquartile range) price was US$ 0.19 (0.25). Nutrition labels were found in 91 (86%) packages and 41% had a nutrition related health claim. Most snacks (97.1%) were classified as "less-healthy". In Guatemala, the food industry targets children through several marketing techniques promoting inexpensive and unhealthy snacks in the school environment. Evidence-based policies restricting the use of promotional characters in unhealthy snack food packages need to be explored as a contributing strategy to control the obesity epidemic.

Child-oriented marketing techniques in snack food packages in Guatemala

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Childhood overweight in Guatemala is now becoming a public health concern. Child-oriented marketing contributes to increase children’s food preference, purchase and consumption. This study sought to assess the availability of child-oriented snack foods sold in school kiosks and convenience stores near public schools in Guatemala, to identify the marketing techniques used in child-oriented snack food packages and to classify the snacks as “healthy” or “less-healthy”. Methods We purchased all child-oriented snacks found in stores inside and within 200 square meters from four schools in an urban community. Snacks were classified as child-oriented if the package had any promotional characters, premium offers, children′s television/movie tie-ins, sports references, or the word “child”. We used a checklist to assess child-oriented references and price. Snacks were classified as “healthy” or “less-healthy” according to the UK standards for the Nutritional Profiling Model. Results We analyzed 106 packages found in 55 stores. The most commonly used technique was promotional characters (92.5%) of which 32.7% were brand-specific characters. Premium offers were found in 34% of packages and were mostly collectibles (50%). Most marketing techniques were located on the front and covered nearly 25% of the package surface. Median (interquartile range) price was US$ 0.19 (0.25). Nutrition labels were found in 91 (86%) packages and 41% had a nutrition related health claim. Most snacks (97.1%) were classified as “less-healthy”. Conclusion In Guatemala, the food industry targets children through several marketing techniques promoting inexpensive and unhealthy snacks in the school environment. Evidence-based policies restricting the use of promotional characters in unhealthy snack food packages need to be explored as a contributing strategy to control the obesity epidemic. PMID:24139325

Towards an Approach of Semantic Access Control for Cloud Computing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, Luokai; Ying, Shi; Jia, Xiangyang; Zhao, Kai

With the development of cloud computing, the mutual understandability among distributed Access Control Policies (ACPs) has become an important issue in the security field of cloud computing. Semantic Web technology provides the solution to semantic interoperability of heterogeneous applications. In this paper, we analysis existing access control methods and present a new Semantic Access Control Policy Language (SACPL) for describing ACPs in cloud computing environment. Access Control Oriented Ontology System (ACOOS) is designed as the semantic basis of SACPL. Ontology-based SACPL language can effectively solve the interoperability issue of distributed ACPs. This study enriches the research that the semantic web technology is applied in the field of security, and provides a new way of thinking of access control in cloud computing.

On the Large-Scaling Issues of Cloud-based Applications for Earth Science Dat

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hua, H.

2016-12-01

Next generation science data systems are needed to address the incoming flood of data from new missions such as NASA's SWOT and NISAR where its SAR data volumes and data throughput rates are order of magnitude larger than present day missions. Existing missions, such as OCO-2, may also require high turn-around time for processing different science scenarios where on-premise and even traditional HPC computing environments may not meet the high processing needs. Additionally, traditional means of procuring hardware on-premise are already limited due to facilities capacity constraints for these new missions. Experiences have shown that to embrace efficient cloud computing approaches for large-scale science data systems requires more than just moving existing code to cloud environments. At large cloud scales, we need to deal with scaling and cost issues. We present our experiences on deploying multiple instances of our hybrid-cloud computing science data system (HySDS) to support large-scale processing of Earth Science data products. We will explore optimization approaches to getting best performance out of hybrid-cloud computing as well as common issues that will arise when dealing with large-scale computing. Novel approaches were utilized to do processing on Amazon's spot market, which can potentially offer 75%-90% costs savings but with an unpredictable computing environment based on market forces.

Evaluation of Methods for Coregistration and Fusion of Rpas-Based 3d Point Clouds and Thermal Infrared Images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoegner, L.; Tuttas, S.; Xu, Y.; Eder, K.; Stilla, U.

2016-06-01

This paper discusses the automatic coregistration and fusion of 3d point clouds generated from aerial image sequences and corresponding thermal infrared (TIR) images. Both RGB and TIR images have been taken from a RPAS platform with a predefined flight path where every RGB image has a corresponding TIR image taken from the same position and with the same orientation with respect to the accuracy of the RPAS system and the inertial measurement unit. To remove remaining differences in the exterior orientation, different strategies for coregistering RGB and TIR images are discussed: (i) coregistration based on 2D line segments for every single TIR image and the corresponding RGB image. This method implies a mainly planar scene to avoid mismatches; (ii) coregistration of both the dense 3D point clouds from RGB images and from TIR images by coregistering 2D image projections of both point clouds; (iii) coregistration based on 2D line segments in every single TIR image and 3D line segments extracted from intersections of planes fitted in the segmented dense 3D point cloud; (iv) coregistration of both the dense 3D point clouds from RGB images and from TIR images using both ICP and an adapted version based on corresponding segmented planes; (v) coregistration of both image sets based on point features. The quality is measured by comparing the differences of the back projection of homologous points in both corrected RGB and TIR images.

Multidimensional Environmental Data Resource Brokering on Computational Grids and Scientific Clouds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Montella, Raffaele; Giunta, Giulio; Laccetti, Giuliano

Grid computing has widely evolved over the past years, and its capabilities have found their way even into business products and are no longer relegated to scientific applications. Today, grid computing technology is not restricted to a set of specific grid open source or industrial products, but rather it is comprised of a set of capabilities virtually within any kind of software to create shared and highly collaborative production environments. These environments are focused on computational (workload) capabilities and the integration of information (data) into those computational capabilities. An active grid computing application field is the fully virtualization of scientific instruments in order to increase their availability and decrease operational and maintaining costs. Computational and information grids allow to manage real-world objects in a service-oriented way using industrial world-spread standards.

Florida's "truth" campaign: a counter-marketing, anti-tobacco media campaign.

PubMed

Zucker, D; Hopkins, R S; Sly, D F; Urich, J; Kershaw, J M; Solari, S

2000-05-01

The "truth" campaign was created to change youth attitudes about tobacco and to reduce teen tobacco use throughout Florida by using youth-driven advertising, public relations, and advocacy. Results of the campaign include a 92 percent brand awareness rate among teens, a 15 percent rise in teens who agree with key attitudinal statements about smoking, a 19.4 percent decline in smoking among middle school students, and a 8.0 percent decline among high school students. States committed to results-oriented youth anti-tobacco campaigns should look to Florida's "truth" campaign as a model that effectively places youth at the helm of anti-tobacco efforts.

The GridEcon Platform: A Business Scenario Testbed for Commercial Cloud Services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Risch, Marcel; Altmann, Jörn; Guo, Li; Fleming, Alan; Courcoubetis, Costas

Within this paper, we present the GridEcon Platform, a testbed for designing and evaluating economics-aware services in a commercial Cloud computing setting. The Platform is based on the idea that the exact working of such services is difficult to predict in the context of a market and, therefore, an environment for evaluating its behavior in an emulated market is needed. To identify the components of the GridEcon Platform, a number of economics-aware services and their interactions have been envisioned. The two most important components of the platform are the Marketplace and the Workflow Engine. The Workflow Engine allows the simple composition of a market environment by describing the service interactions between economics-aware services. The Marketplace allows trading goods using different market mechanisms. The capabilities of these components of the GridEcon Platform in conjunction with the economics-aware services are described in this paper in detail. The validation of an implemented market mechanism and a capacity planning service using the GridEcon Platform also demonstrated the usefulness of the GridEcon Platform.

Cavitation clouds created by shock scattering from bubbles during histotripsy

PubMed Central

Maxwell, Adam D.; Wang, Tzu-Yin; Cain, Charles A.; Fowlkes, J. Brian; Sapozhnikov, Oleg A.; Bailey, Michael R.; Xu, Zhen

2011-01-01

Histotripsy is a therapy that focuses short-duration, high-amplitude pulses of ultrasound to incite a localized cavitation cloud that mechanically breaks down tissue. To investigate the mechanism of cloud formation, high-speed photography was used to observe clouds generated during single histotripsy pulses. Pulses of 5−20 cycles duration were applied to a transparent tissue phantom by a 1-MHz spherically focused transducer. Clouds initiated from single cavitation bubbles that formed during the initial cycles of the pulse, and grew along the acoustic axis opposite the propagation direction. Based on these observations, we hypothesized that clouds form as a result of large negative pressure generated by the backscattering of shockwaves from a single bubble. The positive-pressure phase of the wave inverts upon scattering and superimposes on the incident negative-pressure phase to create this negative pressure and cavitation. The process repeats with each cycle of the incident wave, and the bubble cloud elongates toward the transducer. Finite-amplitude propagation distorts the incident wave such that the peak-positive pressure is much greater than the peak-negative pressure, which exaggerates the effect. The hypothesis was tested with two modified incident waves that maintained negative pressure but reduced the positive pressure amplitude. These waves suppressed cloud formation which supported the hypothesis. PMID:21973343

The Marketing of Public Library Services.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dragon, Andrea C.

1983-01-01

Defines the concept of marketing and relates models involving the exchanges and transactions of markets and charities to services offered by libraries. Market segmentation, understanding the behavior of markets, competition, and movement toward a market-oriented library are highlighted. Nineteen references are cited. (EJS)

Cloud Computing and Validated Learning for Accelerating Innovation in IoT

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Suciu, George; Todoran, Gyorgy; Vulpe, Alexandru; Suciu, Victor; Bulca, Cristina; Cheveresan, Romulus

2015-01-01

Innovation in Internet of Things (IoT) requires more than just creation of technology and use of cloud computing or big data platforms. It requires accelerated commercialization or aptly called go-to-market processes. To successfully accelerate, companies need a new type of product development, the so-called validated learning process.…

D Modeling of Components of a Garden by Using Point Cloud Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumazakia, R.; Kunii, Y.

2016-06-01

Laser measurement is currently applied to several tasks such as plumbing management, road investigation through mobile mapping systems, and elevation model utilization through airborne LiDAR. Effective laser measurement methods have been well-documented in civil engineering, but few attempts have been made to establish equally effective methods in landscape engineering. By using point cloud data acquired through laser measurement, the aesthetic landscaping of Japanese gardens can be enhanced. This study focuses on simple landscape simulations for pruning and rearranging trees as well as rearranging rocks, lanterns, and other garden features by using point cloud data. However, such simulations lack concreteness. Therefore, this study considers the construction of a library of garden features extracted from point cloud data. The library would serve as a resource for creating new gardens and simulating gardens prior to conducting repairs. Extracted garden features are imported as 3ds Max objects, and realistic 3D models are generated by using a material editor system. As further work toward the publication of a 3D model library, file formats for tree crowns and trunks should be adjusted. Moreover, reducing the size of created models is necessary. Models created using point cloud data are informative because simply shaped garden features such as trees are often seen in the 3D industry.

Comparison of 3D point clouds produced by LIDAR and UAV photoscan in the Rochefort cave (Belgium)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Watlet, Arnaud; Triantafyllou, Antoine; Kaufmann, Olivier; Le Mouelic, Stéphane

2016-04-01

Amongst today's techniques that are able to produce 3D point clouds, LIDAR and UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) photogrammetry are probably the most commonly used. Both methods have their own advantages and limitations. LIDAR scans create high resolution and high precision 3D point clouds, but such methods are generally costly, especially for sporadic surveys. Compared to LIDAR, UAV (e.g. drones) are cheap and flexible to use in different kind of environments. Moreover, the photogrammetric processing workflow of digital images taken with UAV becomes easier with the rise of many affordable software packages (e.g. Agisoft, PhotoModeler3D, VisualSFM). We present here a challenging study made at the Rochefort Cave Laboratory (South Belgium) comprising surface and underground surveys. The site is located in the Belgian Variscan fold-and-thrust belt, a region that shows many karstic networks within Devonian limestone units. A LIDAR scan has been acquired in the main chamber of the cave (~ 15000 m³) to spatialize 3D point cloud of its inner walls and infer geological beds and structures. Even if the use of LIDAR instrument was not really comfortable in such caving environment, the collected data showed a remarkable precision according to few control points geometry. We also decided to perform another challenging survey of the same cave chamber by modelling a 3D point cloud using photogrammetry of a set of DSLR camera pictures taken from the ground and UAV pictures. The aim was to compare both techniques in terms of (i) implementation of data acquisition and processing, (ii) quality of resulting 3D points clouds (points density, field vs cloud recovery and points precision), (iii) their application for geological purposes. Through Rochefort case study, main conclusions are that LIDAR technique provides higher density point clouds with slightly higher precision than photogrammetry method. However, 3D data modeled by photogrammetry provide visible light spectral information for each modeled voxel and interpolated vertices that can be a useful attributes for clustering during data treatment. We thus illustrate such applications to the Rochefort cave by using both sources of 3D information to quantify the orientation of inaccessible geological structures (e.g. faults, tectonic and gravitational joints, and sediments bedding), cluster these structures using color information gathered from UAV's 3D point cloud and compare these data to structural data surveyed on the field. An additional drone photoscan was also conducted in the surface sinkhole giving access to the surveyed underground cavity to seek geological bodies' connections.

Evaluating Market Orientation of an Executive MBA Program.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dubas, Khalid M.; Ghani, Waqar I.; Davis, Stanley; Strong, James T.

1998-01-01

A study assessed the market orientation of the executive Master's in Business Administration (MBA) program at Saint Joseph's University (Pennsylvania) in terms of 12 skills and knowledge areas that reflect effective managerial performance and the student-executives' perceptions of program strengths and weaknesses in delivering these skills.…

Different Research Markets: A Disciplinary Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ylijoki, Oili-Helena; Lyytinen, Anu; Marttila, Liisa

2011-01-01

Drawing upon the notions of academic capitalism and the transformation of academic research from traditional academic orientation into market orientation, the paper sets out to empirically scrutinize the changing nature of academic research, focusing especially on disciplinary differences. The paper is based on a survey of heads of departments and…

Tropical Depression 6 (Florence) in the Atlantic

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2006-01-01

[figure removed for brevity, see original site] [figure removed for brevity, see original site] Microwave ImageVisible Light Image

These infrared, microwave, and visible images were created with data retrieved by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) on NASA's Aqua satellite.

Infrared Image Because infrared radiation does not penetrate through clouds, AIRS infrared images show either the temperature of the cloud tops or the surface of the Earth in cloud-free regions. The lowest temperatures (in purple) are associated with high, cold cloud tops that make up the top of the storm. In cloud-free areas the AIRS instrument will receive the infrared radiation from the surface of the Earth, resulting in the warmest temperatures (orange/red).

Microwave Image AIRS data used to create the microwave images come from the microwave radiation emitted by Earth's atmosphere which is then received by the instrument. It shows where the heaviest rainfall is taking place (in blue) in the storm. Blue areas outside of the storm, where there are either some clouds or no clouds, indicate where the sea surface shines through.

Vis/NIR Image The AIRS instrument suite contains a sensor that captures light in the visible/near-infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. These 'visible' images are similar to a snapshot taken with your camera.

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder Experiment, with its visible, infrared, and microwave detectors, provides a three-dimensional look at Earth's weather. Working in tandem, the three instruments can make simultaneous observations all the way down to the Earth's surface, even in the presence of heavy clouds. With more than 2,000 channels sensing different regions of the atmosphere, the system creates a global, 3-D map of atmospheric temperature and humidity and provides information on clouds, greenhouse gases, and many other atmospheric phenomena. The AIRS Infrared Sounder Experiment flies onboard NASA's Aqua spacecraft and is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., under contract to NASA. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

On transferring the grid technology to the biomedical community.

PubMed

Mohammed, Yassene; Sax, Ulrich; Dickmann, Frank; Lippert, Joerg; Solodenko, Juri; von Voigt, Gabriele; Smith, Matthew; Rienhoff, Otto

2010-01-01

Natural scientists such as physicists pioneered the sharing of computing resources, which resulted in the Grid. The inter domain transfer process of this technology has been an intuitive process. Some difficulties facing the life science community can be understood using the Bozeman's "Effectiveness Model of Technology Transfer". Bozeman's and classical technology transfer approaches deal with technologies that have achieved certain stability. Grid and Cloud solutions are technologies that are still in flux. We illustrate how Grid computing creates new difficulties for the technology transfer process that are not considered in Bozeman's model. We show why the success of health Grids should be measured by the qualified scientific human capital and opportunities created, and not primarily by the market impact. With two examples we show how the Grid technology transfer theory corresponds to the reality. We conclude with recommendations that can help improve the adoption of Grid solutions into the biomedical community. These results give a more concise explanation of the difficulties most life science IT projects are facing in the late funding periods, and show some leveraging steps which can help to overcome the "vale of tears".

Relationships between Personal Traits, Emotional Intelligence, Internal Marketing, Service Management, and Customer Orientation in Korean Outpatient Department Nurses.

PubMed

Kim, Bogyun; Lee, Jia

2016-03-01

Current increase and complexity of medical tests and surgical procedures at outpatient department (OPD) require OPD nurses to have customer orientation focusing on various customers' interests and needs. The purpose of this study was to identify the factors associated with customer orientation in nurses working at OPD of hospitals. The study used a descriptive correlational design with cross-sectional survey. The study settings were four general hospitals in Seoul and its metropolitan area. Data were collected from 138 OPD nurses from general hospitals. Study variables were personal traits, emotional intelligence, internal marketing, service management and customer orientation. Factors associated with customer orientation were identified as conscientiousness from personal traits (β = .37, p < .001), emotional intelligence from individual characteristics (β = .21, p = .032), and internal marketing from environmental characteristics (β = .21, p = .001). Hospital administrators should support OPD nurses to cultivate sincere and sociable personal traits and emotional intelligence, and to consider employees as internal customers to improve patient-oriented services and satisfaction. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Bigdata Driven Cloud Security: A Survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raja, K.; Hanifa, Sabibullah Mohamed

2017-08-01

Cloud Computing (CC) is a fast-growing technology to perform massive-scale and complex computing. It eliminates the need to maintain expensive computing hardware, dedicated space, and software. Recently, it has been observed that massive growth in the scale of data or big data generated through cloud computing. CC consists of a front-end, includes the users’ computers and software required to access the cloud network, and back-end consists of various computers, servers and database systems that create the cloud. In SaaS (Software as-a-Service - end users to utilize outsourced software), PaaS (Platform as-a-Service-platform is provided) and IaaS (Infrastructure as-a-Service-physical environment is outsourced), and DaaS (Database as-a-Service-data can be housed within a cloud), where leading / traditional cloud ecosystem delivers the cloud services become a powerful and popular architecture. Many challenges and issues are in security or threats, most vital barrier for cloud computing environment. The main barrier to the adoption of CC in health care relates to Data security. When placing and transmitting data using public networks, cyber attacks in any form are anticipated in CC. Hence, cloud service users need to understand the risk of data breaches and adoption of service delivery model during deployment. This survey deeply covers the CC security issues (covering Data Security in Health care) so as to researchers can develop the robust security application models using Big Data (BD) on CC (can be created / deployed easily). Since, BD evaluation is driven by fast-growing cloud-based applications developed using virtualized technologies. In this purview, MapReduce [12] is a good example of big data processing in a cloud environment, and a model for Cloud providers.

Curious Clouds

NASA Image and Video Library

2006-06-13

Saturn atmosphere produces beautiful and sometimes perplexing features. Is the bright feature below center a rare crossing of a feature from a zone to a belt, or is it an illusion created by different cloud layers at different levels?

Spontaneous Ad Hoc Mobile Cloud Computing Network

PubMed Central

Lacuesta, Raquel; Sendra, Sandra; Peñalver, Lourdes

2014-01-01

Cloud computing helps users and companies to share computing resources instead of having local servers or personal devices to handle the applications. Smart devices are becoming one of the main information processing devices. Their computing features are reaching levels that let them create a mobile cloud computing network. But sometimes they are not able to create it and collaborate actively in the cloud because it is difficult for them to build easily a spontaneous network and configure its parameters. For this reason, in this paper, we are going to present the design and deployment of a spontaneous ad hoc mobile cloud computing network. In order to perform it, we have developed a trusted algorithm that is able to manage the activity of the nodes when they join and leave the network. The paper shows the network procedures and classes that have been designed. Our simulation results using Castalia show that our proposal presents a good efficiency and network performance even by using high number of nodes. PMID:25202715

Spontaneous ad hoc mobile cloud computing network.

PubMed

Lacuesta, Raquel; Lloret, Jaime; Sendra, Sandra; Peñalver, Lourdes

2014-01-01

Cloud computing helps users and companies to share computing resources instead of having local servers or personal devices to handle the applications. Smart devices are becoming one of the main information processing devices. Their computing features are reaching levels that let them create a mobile cloud computing network. But sometimes they are not able to create it and collaborate actively in the cloud because it is difficult for them to build easily a spontaneous network and configure its parameters. For this reason, in this paper, we are going to present the design and deployment of a spontaneous ad hoc mobile cloud computing network. In order to perform it, we have developed a trusted algorithm that is able to manage the activity of the nodes when they join and leave the network. The paper shows the network procedures and classes that have been designed. Our simulation results using Castalia show that our proposal presents a good efficiency and network performance even by using high number of nodes.

Stratus Cloud Radiative Effects from Cloud Processed Bimodal CCN Distributions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Noble, S. R., Jr.; Hudson, J. G.

2016-12-01

Inability to understand cloud processes is a large component of climate uncertainty. Increases in cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations are known to increase cloud droplet number concentrations (Nc). This aerosol-cloud interaction (ACI) produces greater Nc at smaller sizes, which brightens clouds. A lesser understood ACI is cloud processing of CCN. This improves CCN that then more easily activate at lower cloud supersaturations (S). Bimodal CCN distributions thus ensue from these evaporated cloud droplets. Hudson et al. (2015) related CCN bimodality to Nc. In stratus clouds, bimodal CCN created greater Nc whereas in cumulus less Nc. Thus, CCN distribution shape influences cloud properties; microphysics and radiative properties. Measured uni- and bimodal CCN distributions were input into an adiabatic droplet growth model using various specified vertical wind speeds (W). Bimodal CCN produced greater Nc (Fig. 1a) and smaller mean diameters (MD; Fig. 1b) at lower W typical of stratus clouds (<70 cm/s). Improved CCN (low critical S) were more easily activated at the lower S of stratus from low W, thus, creating greater Nc. Competition for condensate thus reduced MD and drizzle. At greater W, typical of cumulus clouds (>70 cm/s), bimodal CCN made lower Nc with larger MD thus enhancing drizzle whereas unimodal CCN made greater Nc with smaller MD, thus reducing drizzle. Thus, theoretical predictions of Nc and MD for uni- and bimodal CCN agree with the sense of the observations. Radiative effects were determined using a cloud grown to a 250-meter thickness. Bimodal CCN at low W reduced cloud effective radius (re), made greater cloud optical thickness (COT), and made greater cloud albedo (Fig. 1c). At very low W changes were as much as +9% for albedo, +17% for COT, and -12% for re. Stratus clouds typically have low W and cover large areas. Thus, these changes in cloud radiative properties at low W impact climate. Stratus cloud susceptibility to CCN distribution thus requires further investigation to determine their impact on ACI. Hudson et al. (2015), JGRA, 120, 3436-3452.

Detection of defects in formed sheet metal using medial axis transformation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murmu, Naresh C.; Velgan, Roman

2003-05-01

In the metal forming processes, the sheet metals are often prone to various defects such as thinning, dents, wrinkles etc. In the present manufacturing environments with ever increasing demand of higher quality, detecting the defects of formed sheet metal using an effective and objective inspection system is the foremost norm to remain competitive in market. The defect detection using optical techniques aspire to satisfy its needs to be non-contact and fast. However, the main difficulties to achieve this goal remain essentially on the development of efficient evaluation technique and accurate interpretation of extracted data. The defect like thinning is detected by evaluating the deviations of the thickness in the formed sheet metal against its nominal value. The present evaluation procedure for determination of thickness applied on the measurements data is not without deficiency. To improve this procedure, a new evaluation approach based on medial axis transformation is proposed here. The formed sheet metals are digitized using fringe projection systems in different orientations, and afterwards registered into one coordinate frame. The medial axis transformation (MAT) is applied on the point clouds, generating the point clouds of MAT. This data is further processed and medial surface is determined. The thinning defect is detected by evaluating local wall thickness and other defects like wrinkles are determined using the shape recognition on the medial surface. The applied algorithm is simple, fast and robust.

Marketing Human Resource Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frank, Eric, Ed.

1994-01-01

Describes three human resource development activities: training, education, and development. Explains marketing from the practitioners's viewpoint in terms of customer orientation; external and internal marketing; and market analysis, research, strategy, and mix. Shows how to design, develop, and implement strategic marketing plans and identify…

Marketing University Education: The Southern African Experience.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maringe, Felix; Foskett, Nick

2002-01-01

Examined the perceptions of university marketers in southern Africa. Found a varying awareness of the significance of marketing, with more mature institutions exhibiting more developed marketing orientations. Strategies ranged from marketing as public relations to marketing as sales, with universities in South Africa the only ones demonstrating a…

Direct Microtubule-Binding by Myosin-10 Orients Centrosomes toward Retraction Fibers and Subcortical Actin Clouds.

PubMed

Kwon, Mijung; Bagonis, Maria; Danuser, Gaudenz; Pellman, David

2015-08-10

Positioning of centrosomes is vital for cell division and development. In metazoan cells, spindle positioning is controlled by a dynamic pool of subcortical actin that organizes in response to the position of retraction fibers. These actin "clouds" are proposed to generate pulling forces on centrosomes and mediate spindle orientation. However, the motors that pull astral microtubules toward these actin structures are not known. Here, we report that the unconventional myosin, Myo10, couples actin-dependent forces from retraction fibers and subcortical actin clouds to centrosomes. Myo10-mediated centrosome positioning requires its direct microtubule binding. Computational image analysis of large microtubule populations reveals a direct effect of Myo10 on microtubule dynamics and microtubule-cortex interactions. Myo10's role in centrosome positioning is distinct from, but overlaps with, that of dynein. Thus, Myo10 plays a key role in integrating the actin and microtubule cytoskeletons to position centrosomes and mitotic spindles. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Those Important Things: What Every College President Needs to Know About Marketing and Student Recruitment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sevier, Robert A.

1996-01-01

College presidents are offered nine key suggestions for marketing and student recruitment: beginning with vision; defining marketing broadly; creating institutional image; understanding how students make decisions; creating familiarity; competitive positioning; market segmentation; choosing a marketing champion respected by the college community;…

Magnet Marketing: Drawing Prospects to Your Center Until They Enroll.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wassom, Julie

1999-01-01

The key to achieving effective marketing of centers and services is to make messages creative, consistent, and continual. Creative marketing involves creating an awareness of the program. A consistent, identifiable image will create program recognition. Effective, continual marketing utilizes a mix of marketing methods on an ongoing basis to…

Easy, Collaborative and Engaging--The Use of Cloud Computing in the Design of Management Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schneckenberg, Dirk

2014-01-01

Background: Cloud computing has recently received interest in information systems research and practice as a new way to organise information with the help of an increasingly ubiquitous computer infrastructure. However, the use of cloud computing in higher education institutions and business schools, as well as its potential to create novel…

Rapid EHR development and implementation using web and cloud-based architecture in a large home health and hospice organization.

PubMed

Weaver, Charlotte A; Teenier, Pamela

2014-01-01

Health care organizations have long been limited to a small number of major vendors in their selection of an electronic health record (EHR) system in the national and international marketplace. These major EHR vendors have in common base systems that are decades old, are built in antiquated programming languages, use outdated server architecture, and are based on inflexible data models [1,2]. The option to upgrade their technology to keep pace with the power of new web-based architecture, programming tools and cloud servers is not easily undertaken due to large client bases, development costs and risk [3]. This paper presents the decade-long efforts of a large national provider of home health and hospice care to select an EHR product, failing that to build their own and failing that initiative to go back into the market in 2012. The decade time delay had allowed new technologies and more nimble vendors to enter the market. Partnering with a new start-up company doing web and cloud based architecture for the home health and hospice market, made it possible to build, test and implement an operational and point of care system in 264 home health locations across 40 states and three time zones in the United States. This option of "starting over" with the new web and cloud technologies may be posing a next generation of new EHR vendors that retells the Blackberry replacement by iPhone story in healthcare.

Ship Tracks

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2013-04-19

... into a moist layer of atmosphere. The particles become cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), which may either produce new cloud particles where ... visualization of the vertical structure of the condensation trails. It was created using a combination of red band data from ...

Innovating in the Cloud: Exploring Cloud Computing to Solve IT Challenges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sheard, Reed

2010-01-01

When the author was brought on as CIO of Westmont College in October 2008, the president, Board of Trustees, and campus environment made it clear that technology needed a major overhaul to meet the college's growing requirements. Also, these changes needed to happen without significantly increasing the IT budget or staff. Marketing Charts…

Finding Relevant Data in a Sea of Languages

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-04-26

full machine-translated text , unbiased word clouds , query-biased word clouds , and query-biased sentence...and information retrieval to automate language processing tasks so that the limited number of linguists available for analyzing text and spoken...the crime (stock market). The Cross-LAnguage Search Engine (CLASE) has already preprocessed the documents, extracting text to identify the language

Accounting Department Chairpersons' Perceptions of Business School Performance Using a Market Orientation Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Webster, Robert L.; Hammond, Kevin L.; Rothwell, James C.

2013-01-01

This manuscript is part of a stream of continuing research examining market orientation within higher education and its potential impact on organizational performance. The organizations researched are business schools and the data collected came from chairpersons of accounting departments of AACSB member business schools. We use a reworded Narver…

Market Orientation in Universities: A Comparative Study of Two National Higher Education Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hemsley-Brown, Jane; Oplatka, Izhar

2010-01-01

Purpose: The paper's purpose is to test: whether there are significant differences between England and Israel, in terms of perceptions of market orientation (MO) in higher education (HE); which MO dimensions (student, competition, intra-functional) indicate more positive attitudes and whether the differences are significant; and the reliability of…

A cloud computing based platform for sleep behavior and chronic diseases collaborative research.

PubMed

Kuo, Mu-Hsing; Borycki, Elizabeth; Kushniruk, Andre; Huang, Yueh-Min; Hung, Shu-Hui

2014-01-01

The objective of this study is to propose a Cloud Computing based platform for sleep behavior and chronic disease collaborative research. The platform consists of two main components: (1) a sensing bed sheet with textile sensors to automatically record patient's sleep behaviors and vital signs, and (2) a service-oriented cloud computing architecture (SOCCA) that provides a data repository and allows for sharing and analysis of collected data. Also, we describe our systematic approach to implementing the SOCCA. We believe that the new cloud-based platform can provide nurse and other health professional researchers located in differing geographic locations with a cost effective, flexible, secure and privacy-preserved research environment.

Institute Effectiveness through Marketing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cameron, B. J.

1984-01-01

An institution with a marketing orientation can (1) recognize shifts in the market and in perceptions of activities of significant markets or competing institutions and (2) respond to them. Institutions with strategic marketing may be better able to predict or influence market shifts and be judged as effective in the areas it prefers. (MSE)

Integration of hybrid wireless networks in cloud services oriented enterprise information systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Shancang; Xu, Lida; Wang, Xinheng; Wang, Jue

2012-05-01

This article presents a hybrid wireless network integration scheme in cloud services-based enterprise information systems (EISs). With the emerging hybrid wireless networks and cloud computing technologies, it is necessary to develop a scheme that can seamlessly integrate these new technologies into existing EISs. By combining the hybrid wireless networks and computing in EIS, a new framework is proposed, which includes frontend layer, middle layer and backend layers connected to IP EISs. Based on a collaborative architecture, cloud services management framework and process diagram are presented. As a key feature, the proposed approach integrates access control functionalities within the hybrid framework that provide users with filtered views on available cloud services based on cloud service access requirements and user security credentials. In future work, we will implement the proposed framework over SwanMesh platform by integrating the UPnP standard into an enterprise information system.

Investigation of mesoscale cloud features viewed by LANDSAT

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sherr, P. E. (Principal Investigator); Feteris, P. J.; Lisa, A. S.; Bowley, C. J.; Fowler, M. G.; Barnes, J. C.

1976-01-01

The author has identified the following significant results. Some 50 LANDSAT images displaying mesoscale cloud features were analyzed. This analysis was based on the Rayleigh-Kuettner model describing the formation of that type of mesoscale cloud feature. This model lends itself to computation of the average wind speed in northerly flow from the dimensions of the cloud band configurations measured from a LANDSAT image. In nearly every case, necessary conditions of a curved wind profile and orientation of the cloud streets within 20 degrees of the direction of the mean wind in the convective layer were met. Verification of the results by direct observation was hampered, however, by the incompatibility of the resolution of conventional rawinsonde observations with the scale of the banded cloud patterns measured from LANDSAT data. Comparison seems to be somewhat better in northerly flows than in southerly flows, with the largest discrepancies in wind speed being within 8m/sec, or a factor of two.

Comparison of computation time and image quality between full-parallax 4G-pixels CGHs calculated by the point cloud and polygon-based method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nakatsuji, Noriaki; Matsushima, Kyoji

2017-03-01

Full-parallax high-definition CGHs composed of more than billion pixels were so far created only by the polygon-based method because of its high performance. However, GPUs recently allow us to generate CGHs much faster by the point cloud. In this paper, we measure computation time of object fields for full-parallax high-definition CGHs, which are composed of 4 billion pixels and reconstruct the same scene, by using the point cloud with GPU and the polygon-based method with CPU. In addition, we compare the optical and simulated reconstructions between CGHs created by these techniques to verify the image quality.

Orbital Debris Shape and Orientation Effects on Ballistic Limits

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Evans, Steven W.; Williamsen, Joel E.

2005-01-01

The SPHC hydrodynamic code was used to evaluate the effects of orbital debris particle shape and orientation on penetration of a typical spacecraft dual-wall shield. Impacts were simulated at near-normal obliquity at 12 km/sec. Debris cloud characteristics and damage potential are compared with those from impacts by spherical projectiles. Results of these simulations indicate the uncertainties in the predicted ballistic limits due to modeling uncertainty and to uncertainty in the impactor orientation.

MR-based detection of individual histotripsy bubble clouds formed in tissues and phantoms.

PubMed

Allen, Steven P; Hernandez-Garcia, Luis; Cain, Charles A; Hall, Timothy L

2016-11-01

To demonstrate that MR sequences can detect individual histotripsy bubble clouds formed inside intact tissues. A line-scan and an EPI sequence were sensitized to histotripsy by inserting a bipolar gradient whose lobes bracketed the lifespan of a histotripsy bubble cloud. Using a 7 Tesla, small-bore scanner, these sequences monitored histotripsy clouds formed in an agar phantom and in vitro porcine liver and brain. The bipolar gradients were adjusted to apply phase with k-space frequencies of 10, 300 or 400 cm -1 . Acoustic pressure amplitude was also varied. Cavitation was simultaneously monitored using a passive cavitation detection system. Each image captured local signal loss specific to an individual bubble cloud. In the agar phantom, this signal loss appeared only when the transducer output exceeded the cavitation threshold pressure. In tissues, bubble clouds were immediately detected when the gradients created phase with k-space frequencies of 300 and 400 cm -1 . When the gradients created phase with a k-space frequency of 10 cm -1 , individual bubble clouds were not detectable until many acoustic pulses had been applied to the tissue. Cavitation-sensitive MR-sequences can detect single histotripsy bubble clouds formed in biologic tissue. Detection is influenced by the sensitizing gradients and treatment history. Magn Reson Med 76:1486-1493, 2016. © 2015 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. © 2015 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

Observations of specular reflective particles and layers in crystal clouds.

PubMed

Balin, Yurii S; Kaul, Bruno V; Kokhanenko, Grigorii P; Penner, Ioganes E

2011-03-28

In the present article, results of observations of high crystal clouds with high spatial and temporal resolution using the ground-based polarization LOSA-S lidar are described. Cases of occurrence of specularly reflective layers formed by particles oriented predominantly in the horizontal plane are demonstrated. Results of measuring echo-signal depolarization are compared for linear and circular polarization states of the initial laser beam.

Fantastic Striations and Where to Find Them: The Origin of Magnetically Aligned Striations in Interstellar Clouds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Che-Yu; Li, Zhi-Yun; King, Patrick K.; Fissel, Laura M.

2017-10-01

Thin, magnetically aligned striations of relatively moderate contrast with the background are commonly observed in both atomic and molecular clouds. They are also prominent in MHD simulations with turbulent converging shocks. The simulated striations develop within a dense, stagnated sheet in the midplane of the post-shock region where magnetically induced converging flows collide. We show analytically that the secondary flows are an inevitable consequence of the jump conditions of oblique MHD shocks. They produce the stagnated, sheet-like sub-layer through a secondary shock when, roughly speaking, the Alfvénic speed in the primary converging flows is supersonic, a condition that is relatively easy to satisfy in interstellar clouds. The dense sub-layer is naturally threaded by a strong magnetic field that lies close to the plane of the sub-layer. The substantial magnetic field makes the sheet highly anisotropic, which is the key to the striation formation. Specifically, perturbations of the primary inflow that vary spatially perpendicular to the magnetic field can easily roll up the sheet around the field lines without bending them, creating corrugations that appear as magnetically aligned striations in column density maps. On the other hand, perturbations that vary spatially along the field lines curve the sub-layer and alter its orientation relative to the magnetic field locally, seeding special locations that become slanted overdense filaments and prestellar cores through enhanced mass accumulation along field lines. In our scenario, the dense sub-layer, which is unique to magnetized oblique shocks, is the birthplace for both magnetically aligned diffuse striations and massive star-forming structures.

A Guide to Establishing and Directing a Family Oriented Structured Preschool Activity.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maethner, Judith A.

This is the teacher's manual of the Family Oriented Structured Preschool Activity, a Title III Elementary and Secondary Education Act Developer/Demonstration Project in Saint Cloud, Minnesota. The program attempts to mold the expertise of the parent with the expertise of the professional educator in order to enhance the child's development. It is…

The reorientation of market-oriented reforms in Swedish health-care.

PubMed

Harrison, M I; Calltorp, J

2000-01-01

Sweden was an important pioneer of market-oriented reform in publicly funded health-care systems. Yet by the mid-1990s the county councils, which fund and manage most health-care, had substantially scaled back reforms based on provider competition while continuing to constrain health budgets. As policy makers faced new issues, they turned increasingly to longer-term and more cooperative contracts to define relations between hospitals and the county councils. Growing regionalization of government and hospital mergers further reconfigured acute care and limited opportunities for competition between hospitals. We seek to explain this reorientation of market-oriented reforms between 1989 and 1996 in terms of shifts in the positions taken by powerful policy actors, and in particular by county council politicians. During this period, elections moved liberal and conservative politicians, who were the most enthusiastic supporters of market-oriented reform, in and out of control of most county governments. Meanwhile many Social Democratic politicians gradually turned from initial support of competitive reform toward opposition. Politicians and county administrators from all parties were particularly concerned about controlling health expenditures during a period of recession. In addition, the public, politicians in the counties and municipalities, and health professionals resisted steps that threatened health sector employment and would have allowed market mechanisms, rather than governments, to determine the prices and distribution of health services. During the years under study Sweden's market-oriented reforms followed a course of development similar to that taken by other management and policy fashions (Abrahamson E. Management fashion, Academy of Management Review 1996;21: 254-85). At first the reforms enjoyed uncritical support by a broad spectrum of stakeholders. Gradually participants in the reform process recognized inherent tensions among the goals of the reform, conflicts between reform programs and fundamental social and political values, unrealistic assumptions about the effects of competition, technical and organizational obstacles to implementation, and threats to interest groups. Since 1998, there have been indications that Sweden may be entering yet another stage of experimentation with market-oriented reform.

Toward ubiquitous healthcare services with a novel efficient cloud platform.

PubMed

He, Chenguang; Fan, Xiaomao; Li, Ye

2013-01-01

Ubiquitous healthcare services are becoming more and more popular, especially under the urgent demand of the global aging issue. Cloud computing owns the pervasive and on-demand service-oriented natures, which can fit the characteristics of healthcare services very well. However, the abilities in dealing with multimodal, heterogeneous, and nonstationary physiological signals to provide persistent personalized services, meanwhile keeping high concurrent online analysis for public, are challenges to the general cloud. In this paper, we proposed a private cloud platform architecture which includes six layers according to the specific requirements. This platform utilizes message queue as a cloud engine, and each layer thereby achieves relative independence by this loosely coupled means of communications with publish/subscribe mechanism. Furthermore, a plug-in algorithm framework is also presented, and massive semistructure or unstructured medical data are accessed adaptively by this cloud architecture. As the testing results showing, this proposed cloud platform, with robust, stable, and efficient features, can satisfy high concurrent requests from ubiquitous healthcare services.

A New Algorithm for Detecting Cloud Height using OMPS/LP Measurements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chen, Zhong; DeLand, Matthew; Bhartia, Pawan K.

2016-01-01

The Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite Limb Profiler (OMPS/LP) ozone product requires the determination of cloud height for each event to establish the lower boundary of the profile for the retrieval algorithm. We have created a revised cloud detection algorithm for LP measurements that uses the spectral dependence of the vertical gradient in radiance between two wavelengths in the visible and near-IR spectral regions. This approach provides better discrimination between clouds and aerosols than results obtained using a single wavelength. Observed LP cloud height values show good agreement with coincident Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) measurements.

Interplay of dust alignment, grain growth, and magnetic fields in polarization: lessons from the emission-to-extinction ratio

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fanciullo, L.; Guillet, V.; Boulanger, F.; Jones, A. P.

2017-06-01

Context. Polarized extinction and emission from dust in the interstellar medium (ISM) are hard to interpret, as their dependence on dust optical properties, grain alignment, and magnetic field orientation is complex. This is particularly true in molecular clouds. The aforementioned phenomena are usually considered independently in polarization studies, while it is likely that they all contribute and their effects have yet to be disentangled. Aims: The data available today are not yet used to their full potential. The combination of emission and extinction, in particular, provides information not available from either of them alone. We combine data from the scientific literature on polarized dust extinction with Planck data on polarized emission, and we use them to constrain the possible variations in dust and environmental conditions inside molecular clouds, and especially translucent lines of sight, taking the magnetic field orientation into account. Methods: We focused on the dependence between λmax (the wavelength of maximum polarization in extinction) and other observables such as the extinction polarization, the emission polarization, and the ratio between the two. We set out to reproduce these correlations using Monte Carlo simulations in which we varied the relevant quantities in a dust model, which are grain alignment, size distribution, and magnetic field orientation, to mimic the diverse conditions that are expected inside molecular clouds. Results: None of the quantities we chose can explain the observational data on their own: the best results are obtained when all quantities vary significantly across and within clouds. However, some of the data, most notably the stars with a low ratio of polarization in emission to polarization in extinction, are not reproduced by our simulation. Conclusions: Our results suggest not only that dust evolution is necessary to explain polarization in molecular clouds, but that a simple change in size distribution is not sufficient to explain the data. Our results also point the way for future and more sophisticated models.

On the Modeling and Management of Cloud Data Analytics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Castillo, Claris; Tantawi, Asser; Steinder, Malgorzata; Pacifici, Giovanni

A new era is dawning where vast amount of data is subjected to intensive analysis in a cloud computing environment. Over the years, data about a myriad of things, ranging from user clicks to galaxies, have been accumulated, and continue to be collected, on storage media. The increasing availability of such data, along with the abundant supply of compute power and the urge to create useful knowledge, gave rise to a new data analytics paradigm in which data is subjected to intensive analysis, and additional data is created in the process. Meanwhile, a new cloud computing environment has emerged where seemingly limitless compute and storage resources are being provided to host computation and data for multiple users through virtualization technologies. Such a cloud environment is becoming the home for data analytics. Consequently, providing good performance at run-time to data analytics workload is an important issue for cloud management. In this paper, we provide an overview of the data analytics and cloud environment landscapes, and investigate the performance management issues related to running data analytics in the cloud. In particular, we focus on topics such as workload characterization, profiling analytics applications and their pattern of data usage, cloud resource allocation, placement of computation and data and their dynamic migration in the cloud, and performance prediction. In solving such management problems one relies on various run-time analytic models. We discuss approaches for modeling and optimizing the dynamic data analytics workload in the cloud environment. All along, we use the Map-Reduce paradigm as an illustration of data analytics.

Decision-Making Processes of SME in Cloud Computing Adoption to Create Disruptive Innovation: Mediating Effect of Collaboration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sonthiprasat, Rattanawadee

2014-01-01

THE PROBLEM. The purpose of this quantitative correlation study was to assess the relationship between different Cloud service levels of effective business innovation for SMEs. In addition, the new knowledge gained from the benefits of Cloud adoption with knowledge sharing would enhance the decision making process for businesses to consider the…

Creation of a Unified Educational Space within a SLA University Classroom Using Cloud Storage and On-Line Applications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karabayeva, Kamilya Zhumartovna

2016-01-01

In the present article the author gives evidence of effective application of cloud storage and on-line applications in the educational process of the higher education institution, as well as considers the problems and prospects of using cloud technologies in the educational process, when creating a unified educational space in the foreign language…

Studying the Relationship between High-Latitude Geomagnetic Activity and Parameters of Interplanetary Magnetic Clouds with the Use of Artificial Neural Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barkhatov, N. A.; Revunov, S. E.; Vorobjev, V. G.; Yagodkina, O. I.

2018-03-01

The cause-and-effect relations of the dynamics of high-latitude geomagnetic activity (in terms of the AL index) and the type of the magnetic cloud of the solar wind are studied with the use of artificial neural networks. A recurrent neural network model has been created based on the search for the optimal physically coupled input and output parameters characterizing the action of a plasma flux belonging to a certain magnetic cloud type on the magnetosphere. It has been shown that, with IMF components as input parameters of neural networks with allowance for a 90-min prehistory, it is possible to retrieve the AL sequence with an accuracy to 80%. The successful retrieval of the AL dynamics by the used data indicates the presence of a close nonlinear connection of the AL index with cloud parameters. The created neural network models can be applied with high efficiency to retrieve the AL index, both in periods of isolated magnetospheric substorms and in periods of the interaction between the Earth's magnetosphere and magnetic clouds of different types. The developed model of AL index retrieval can be used to detect magnetic clouds.

Dismissive and deceptive car dealerships create barriers to electric vehicle adoption at the point of sale

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zarazua de Rubens, Gerardo; Noel, Lance; Sovacool, Benjamin K.

2018-06-01

As most consumers do not have pre-existing knowledge of electric vehicles (EVs), and current market conditions favour petrol and diesel vehicles, car dealership experiences may strongly influence EV purchasing decisions. Here, we show that car dealerships pose a significant barrier at the point of sale due to a perceived lack of business case viability in relation to petrol and diesel vehicles. In 126 shopping experiences at 82 car dealerships across Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, we find that dealers were dismissive of EVs, misinformed shoppers on vehicle specifications, omitted EVs from the sales conversation and strongly oriented customers towards petrol and diesel vehicle options. Dealers' technological orientation, willingness to sell and displayed knowledge of EVs were the main contributors to likely purchase intentions. These findings combined with expert interviews suggest that government and industry signalling affect sales strategies and purchasing trends. Policy and business strategies that address barriers at the point of sale are needed to accelerate EV adoption.

Multi-hybrid instrumentations with smartphones and smartpads for innovative in-field and POC diagnostics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hofmann, Dietrich; Dittrich, Paul-Gerald; Gärtner, Claudia; Klemm, Richard

2013-03-01

Aim of the paper is the orientation of research and development on a completely new approach to innovative in-field and point of care diagnostics in industry, biology and medicine. Central functional modules are smartphones and/or smart pads supplemented by additional hardware apps and software apps. Specific examples are given for numerous practical applications concerning optodigital instrumentations. The methodical classification distinguishes between different levels for combination of hardware apps (hwapps) and software apps (swapps) with smartphones and/or smartpads. These methods are fundamental enablers for the transformation from stationary conventional laboratory diagnostics into mobile innovative in-field and point of care diagnostics. The innovative approach opens so far untapped enormous markets due to the convenience, reliability and affordability of smartphone and/or smartpad instruments. A highly visible advantage of smartphones and/or smartpads is the huge number of their distribution, their worldwide connectivity via cloud services and the experienced capability of their users for practical operations.

Accuracy Assessment of a Complex Building 3d Model Reconstructed from Images Acquired with a Low-Cost Uas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oniga, E.; Chirilă, C.; Stătescu, F.

2017-02-01

Nowadays, Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs) are a wide used technique for acquisition in order to create buildings 3D models, providing the acquisition of a high number of images at very high resolution or video sequences, in a very short time. Since low-cost UASs are preferred, the accuracy of a building 3D model created using this platforms must be evaluated. To achieve results, the dean's office building from the Faculty of "Hydrotechnical Engineering, Geodesy and Environmental Engineering" of Iasi, Romania, has been chosen, which is a complex shape building with the roof formed of two hyperbolic paraboloids. Seven points were placed on the ground around the building, three of them being used as GCPs, while the remaining four as Check points (CPs) for accuracy assessment. Additionally, the coordinates of 10 natural CPs representing the building characteristic points were measured with a Leica TCR 405 total station. The building 3D model was created as a point cloud which was automatically generated based on digital images acquired with the low-cost UASs, using the image matching algorithm and different software like 3DF Zephyr, Visual SfM, PhotoModeler Scanner and Drone2Map for ArcGIS. Except for the PhotoModeler Scanner software, the interior and exterior orientation parameters were determined simultaneously by solving a self-calibrating bundle adjustment. Based on the UAS point clouds, automatically generated by using the above mentioned software and GNSS data respectively, the parameters of the east side hyperbolic paraboloid were calculated using the least squares method and a statistical blunder detection. Then, in order to assess the accuracy of the building 3D model, several comparisons were made for the facades and the roof with reference data, considered with minimum errors: TLS mesh for the facades and GNSS mesh for the roof. Finally, the front facade of the building was created in 3D based on its characteristic points using the PhotoModeler Scanner software, resulting a CAD (Computer Aided Design) model. The results showed the high potential of using low-cost UASs for building 3D model creation and if the building 3D model is created based on its characteristic points the accuracy is significantly improved.

The hardwood chip market in 2004 : up in the North/Down in the South : so what's up?

Treesearch

Peter J. Ince

2005-01-01

The hardwood chip market gained some stability in the first half of 2004 with a modest upturn in hardwood pulp production and as timber supply emerged from the dampening clouds of unusually wet weather that prevailed throughout the Eastern United States in 2003. Although U.S. pulp production and exports increased in 2004, the hardwood pulp market began to show signs of...

A Multi-Variable Approach to Diagnosing the Monthly Covariability of the Amazonian Radiative and Convective Diurnal Cycles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dodson, J. B.; Taylor, P. C.

2016-12-01

The diurnal cycle of convection (CDC) greatly influences the water, radiative, and energy budgets in convectively active regions. For example, previous research of the Amazonian CDC has identified significant monthly covariability between the satellite-observed radiative and precipitation diurnal and multiple reanalysis-derived atmospheric state variables (ASVs) representing convective instability. However, disagreements between retrospective analysis products (reanalyses) over monthly ASV anomalies create significant uncertainty in the resulting covariability. Satellite observations of convective clouds can be used to characterize monthly anomalies in convective activity. CloudSat observes multiple properties of both deep convective cores and the associated anvils, and so is useful as an alternative to the use of reanalyses. CloudSat cannot observe the full diurnal cycle, but it can detect differences between daytime and nighttime convection. Initial efforts to use CloudSat data to characterize convective activity showed that the results are highly dependent on the choice of variable used to characterize the cloud. This is caused by a series of inverse relationships between convective frequency, cloud top height, radar reflectivity vertical profile, and other variables. A single, multi-variable index for convective activity based on CloudSat data may be useful to clarify the results. Principal component analysis (PCA) provides a method to create a multivariable index, where the first principal component (PC1) corresponds with convective instability. The time series of PC1 can then be used as a proxy for monthly variability in convective activity. The primary challenge presented involves determining the utility of PCA for creating a robust index for convective activity that accounts for the complex relationships of multiple convective cloud variables, and yields information about the interactions between convection, the convective environment, and radiation beyond the previous single-variable approaches. The choice of variables used to calculate PC1 may influence any results based on PC1, so it is necessary to test the sensitivity of the results to different variable combinations.

Molecular clouds toward three Spitzer bubbles S116, S117, and S118: Evidence for a cloud-cloud collision which formed the three H II regions and a 10 pc scale molecular cavity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fukui, Yasuo; Ohama, Akio; Kohno, Mikito; Torii, Kazufumi; Fujita, Shinji; Hattori, Yusuke; Nishimura, Atsushi; Yamamoto, Hiroaki; Tachihara, Kengo

2018-05-01

We carried out a molecular-line study toward the three Spitzer bubbles S116, S117, and S118, which show active formation of high-mass stars. We found molecular gas consisting of two components with a velocity difference of ˜5 km s-1. One of them, the small cloud, has a typical velocity of -63 km s-1 and the other, the large cloud, has one of -58 km s-1. The large cloud has a nearly circular intensity depression, the size of which is similar to that of the small cloud. We present an interpretation that its cavity was created by a collision between the two clouds and that this collision compressed the gas into a dense layer elongating along the western rim of the small cloud. In this scenario, the O stars including those in the three Spitzer bubbles were formed in the interface layer compressed by the collision. Assuming that the relative motion of the clouds has a tilt of 45° to the line of sight, we estimate that the collision continued for the last 1 Myr at a relative velocity of ˜10 km s-1. In the S116-S117-S118 system the H II regions are located outside of the cavity. This morphology is ascribed to the density-bound distribution of the large cloud which caused the H II regions to expand more easily toward the outer part of the large cloud than towards the inside of the cavity. The present case proves that a cloud-cloud collision creates a cavity without the action of O-star feedback, and suggests that the collision-compressed layer is highly filamentary.

Speeding Clouds May Reveal Invisible Black Holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kohler, Susanna

2017-07-01

Several small, speeding clouds have been discovered at the center of our galaxy. A new study suggests that these unusual objects may reveal the lurking presence of inactive black holes.Peculiar Cloudsa) Velocity-integrated intensity map showing the location of the two high-velocity compact clouds, HCN0.0090.044 and HCN0.0850.094, in the context of larger molecular clouds. b) and c) Latitude-velocity and longitude-velocity maps for HCN0.0090.044 and HCN0.0850.094, respectively. d) and e) spectra for the two compacts clouds, respectively. Click for a closer look. [Takekawa et al. 2017]Sgr A*, the supermassive black hole marking the center of our galaxy, is surrounded by a region roughly 650 light-years across known as the Central Molecular Zone. This area at the heart of our galaxy is filled with large amounts of warm, dense molecular gas that has a complex distribution and turbulent kinematics.Several peculiar gas clouds have been discovered within the Central Molecular Zone within the past two decades. These clouds, dubbed high-velocity compact clouds, are characterized by their compact sizes and extremely broad velocity widths.What created this mysterious population of energetic clouds? The recent discovery of two new high-velocity compact clouds, reported on in a paper led by Shunya Takekawa (Keio University, Japan), may help us to answer this question.Two More to the CountUsing the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii, Takekawa and collaborators detected the small clouds near the circumnuclear disk at the centermost part of our galaxy. These two clouds have velocity spreads of -80 to -20 km/s and -80 to 0 km/s and compact sizes of just over 1 light-year. The clouds similar appearances and physical properties suggest that they may both have been formed by the same process.Takekawa and collaborators explore and discard several possible origins for these clouds, such as outflows from massive protostars (no massive, luminous stars have been detected affiliated with these clouds), interaction with supernova remnants (no supernova remnants have been detected toward the clouds), and cloudcloud collisions (such collisions leave other signs, like cavities in the parent cloud, which are not detected here).Masses and velocities of black holes that could create the two high-velocity compact clouds fall above the red and blue lines here. [Takekawa et al. 2017]Revealed on the PlungeAs an alternative explanation, Takekawa and collaborators propose that these two small,speeding cloudswere each created when a massive compact object plunged into a nearby molecular cloud. Since we dont seeany luminous stellar counterparts to the high-velocity compact clouds, this suggests that the responsibleobjects were invisible black holes. As each black hole tore through a molecular cloud, it dragged some of the clouds gas along behind it to form the high-velocity compact cloud.Does this explanation make sense statistically? The authors point out that the number of black holes predicted to silently lurk in the central 30 light-years of the Milky Way is around 10,000. This makes it entirely plausible that we could have caught sight of two of them as they revealed their presence while plunging through molecular clouds.If the authors interpretation is correct, then high-velocity compact clouds provide an excellent opportunity: we can search for these speeding bodiesto potentially discover inactive black holes that would otherwise go undetected.CitationShunya Takekawa et al 2017 ApJL 843 L11. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/aa79ee

Creating an effective marketing team. Six leading healthcare marketers offer their perspectives. Interview by Richard D. Stier.

PubMed

Bernstein, N D; Dorothy, J; Flexner, W A; Ireland, R C; Newbold, P A; Rice, A

1989-01-01

Richard D. Stier, senior vice president and chief marketing officer, Adventist Health System, Shawnee Mission, Kansas, asked six top healthcare marketers to assume they had just been appointed vice president and chief marketing officer for a medium-sized, 300-bed, not-for-profit community hospital. Their mission: Create the most effective, powerhouse marketing team in the country.

Exploring a Customer Orientation: Free-Market Logic and College Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saunders, Daniel B.

2014-01-01

This article provides a synthesis of literature on the conceptualization of students as customers and connects the rise of this understanding of students to the expansion of free-market logic into higher education. It details the ways in which the customer orientation appears to be incongruent with the educational lives of college students, and…

Antecedents to the Export Market Orientation of Hungarian Higher Education Institutions, and Their Export Performance Consequences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nagy, Gabor; Beracs, Jozsef

2012-01-01

Research into the international competitiveness of the higher education sector has shown that the approaches which management literature has introduced into the business sphere during the last half-century are being more and more frequently applied by successful universities as well. The authors extend the theory of export market orientation to…

Vocational Training in Chile: A Decentralized and Market Oriented System. Training Policy Study No. 8.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Espinoza, Eduardo Martinez

From 1976 to 1983 major reforms were enacted in Chile in the vocational training systems, based on four principles: decentralization, integration, diversification, and participation. The vocational training system in Chile is a legally established, market-oriented system in which many private training agencies compete to sell their services to…

Mediating Role of Organizational Learning on the Relationship between Market Orientation and Innovativeness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Raj, Rahul; Srivastava, Kailash B. L.

2016-01-01

Purpose: This paper has three purposes--first, to establish the direction of relationship between market orientation (MO) and organizational learning (OL); second, to assess the effect of MO and OL on organizational innovativeness (OI); and third, to examine the mediating role of OL on the relationship between MO and innovativeness.…

Market Orientation Effects on Business School Performance: Views from inside and outside the Business School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Webster, Robert L.; Hammond, Kevin L.; Rothwell, James C.

2014-01-01

In the world of higher education, organizational strategies may take the form of a research, teaching, student-centered, comprehensive, or international strategy, just to name a few. This manuscript reports the results of a national survey examining the possible impacts of employing a market orientation strategy within schools of business and its…

Socioeconomic School Segregation in a Market-Oriented Educational System. The Case of Chile

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Valenzuela, Juan Pablo; Bellei, Cristian; de los Ríos, Danae

2014-01-01

This paper presents an empirical analysis of the socioeconomic status (SES) school segregation in Chile, whose educational system is regarded as an extreme case of a market-oriented education. The study estimated the magnitude and evolution of the SES segregation of schools at both national and local levels, and it studied the relationship between…

'It'll Look Good on Your Personal Statement': Self-Marketing amongst University Applicants in the United Kingdom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shuker, Lucie

2014-01-01

"Selling yourself" through personal statements and interviews is now a standard practice for university applicants. This article draws on a multi-case-study research project to report on the self-marketing orientations of students within three 16-19 institutions in England. These orientations (active/passive; internal/external;…

Quasi-Regulation and Principal-Agent Relationships: Secondary School Admissions in London, England

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

West, Anne; Pennell, Hazel; Hind, Audrey

2009-01-01

Market-oriented reforms and school choice policies have had a high political profile in a number of developed countries. This article examines the issue of school choice through the lens of the English market-oriented reforms; it focuses on the quasi-regulation and regulation of admissions to publicly funded secondary schools. It examines…

Toward a Big Data Science: A challenge of "Science Cloud"

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murata, Ken T.; Watanabe, Hidenobu

2013-04-01

During these 50 years, along with appearance and development of high-performance computers (and super-computers), numerical simulation is considered to be a third methodology for science, following theoretical (first) and experimental and/or observational (second) approaches. The variety of data yielded by the second approaches has been getting more and more. It is due to the progress of technologies of experiments and observations. The amount of the data generated by the third methodologies has been getting larger and larger. It is because of tremendous development and programming techniques of super computers. Most of the data files created by both experiments/observations and numerical simulations are saved in digital formats and analyzed on computers. The researchers (domain experts) are interested in not only how to make experiments and/or observations or perform numerical simulations, but what information (new findings) to extract from the data. However, data does not usually tell anything about the science; sciences are implicitly hidden in the data. Researchers have to extract information to find new sciences from the data files. This is a basic concept of data intensive (data oriented) science for Big Data. As the scales of experiments and/or observations and numerical simulations get larger, new techniques and facilities are required to extract information from a large amount of data files. The technique is called as informatics as a fourth methodology for new sciences. Any methodologies must work on their facilities: for example, space environment are observed via spacecraft and numerical simulations are performed on super-computers, respectively in space science. The facility of the informatics, which deals with large-scale data, is a computational cloud system for science. This paper is to propose a cloud system for informatics, which has been developed at NICT (National Institute of Information and Communications Technology), Japan. The NICT science cloud, we named as OneSpaceNet (OSN), is the first open cloud system for scientists who are going to carry out their informatics for their own science. The science cloud is not for simple uses. Many functions are expected to the science cloud; such as data standardization, data collection and crawling, large and distributed data storage system, security and reliability, database and meta-database, data stewardship, long-term data preservation, data rescue and preservation, data mining, parallel processing, data publication and provision, semantic web, 3D and 4D visualization, out-reach and in-reach, and capacity buildings. Figure (not shown here) is a schematic picture of the NICT science cloud. Both types of data from observation and simulation are stored in the storage system in the science cloud. It should be noted that there are two types of data in observation. One is from archive site out of the cloud: this is a data to be downloaded through the Internet to the cloud. The other one is data from the equipment directly connected to the science cloud. They are often called as sensor clouds. In the present talk, we first introduce the NICT science cloud. We next demonstrate the efficiency of the science cloud, showing several scientific results which we achieved with this cloud system. Through the discussions and demonstrations, the potential performance of sciences cloud will be revealed for any research fields.

A Constructivist Cloud Lab.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Emery, Dave

1996-01-01

Describes a lab involving a cloud formation activity that uses the constructivist learning model to get students more involved in creating the lab. Enables students to develop a greater understanding of the concepts involved and more interest in the lab's outcomes. (JRH)

The President As Marketer

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bickford, Robert I.

1978-01-01

Advocates a marketing orientation to community college management as demonstrated by the successful implementation of four-state (service, promotion, delivery, and evaluation) marketing plan at Prince George's Community College in Washington D.C. (TP)

Reducing Information Gap and Increasing Market Orientation in the Agribusiness Sector: Some Evidences from Apulia Region.

PubMed

Contò, Francesco; Santini, Cristina; La Sala, Piermichele; Fiore, Mariantonietta

2016-01-01

Market orientation plays a crucial role in reinforcing firm's competitive advantage; nevertheless, marketing myopia can negatively affect a clear perception of the market. An organization that defines itself by product rather than by market terms is probably affected by marketing myopia, a narrowness of mind towards any newness - newness respect to firms' convincement and routines - coming from the external environment. In that context some scientific relevant developments that comes from recent patents have been considered. This paper explores the determinants of marketing myopia in the Apulia wine business (South Italy). The aim of this paper is to describe how experiential research based on Consumer Science research tools, can facilitate a better market knowledge. Experimental sessions carried out in 2013 in Apulia with a group of professionals from the oil and wine sectors clearly demonstrate how country of origin effect can improve marketing myopia. Through a protocol based on an "academicians - practitioners" model, professionals can be facilitated in their strategy formulation.

[Control of health care by the economist?].

PubMed

Henke, K D

2000-12-01

Although the health care system has to deal with huge financial problems one cannot neglect that this labour-intensive service branch creates the most jobs with social security obligations. Corrective strategies will have to increase the orientation of health care to patients' needs which requires better information and more decision-making autonomy for the insured people as well as a maximising of efficiency. Competition needs to be strengthened in order to improve quality and reduce costs. This requires more contractual freedom for insurance funds and a dismantling of the current monopolistic structures. Finally, adequate remuneration schedules and patients' individual responsibility play a major role to meet the future challenges in the European internal market.

Cloud detection algorithm comparison and validation for operational Landsat data products

USGS Publications Warehouse

Foga, Steven Curtis; Scaramuzza, Pat; Guo, Song; Zhu, Zhe; Dilley, Ronald; Beckmann, Tim; Schmidt, Gail L.; Dwyer, John L.; Hughes, MJ; Laue, Brady

2017-01-01

Clouds are a pervasive and unavoidable issue in satellite-borne optical imagery. Accurate, well-documented, and automated cloud detection algorithms are necessary to effectively leverage large collections of remotely sensed data. The Landsat project is uniquely suited for comparative validation of cloud assessment algorithms because the modular architecture of the Landsat ground system allows for quick evaluation of new code, and because Landsat has the most comprehensive manual truth masks of any current satellite data archive. Currently, the Landsat Level-1 Product Generation System (LPGS) uses separate algorithms for determining clouds, cirrus clouds, and snow and/or ice probability on a per-pixel basis. With more bands onboard the Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI)/Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) satellite, and a greater number of cloud masking algorithms, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is replacing the current cloud masking workflow with a more robust algorithm that is capable of working across multiple Landsat sensors with minimal modification. Because of the inherent error from stray light and intermittent data availability of TIRS, these algorithms need to operate both with and without thermal data. In this study, we created a workflow to evaluate cloud and cloud shadow masking algorithms using cloud validation masks manually derived from both Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM +) and Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS data. We created a new validation dataset consisting of 96 Landsat 8 scenes, representing different biomes and proportions of cloud cover. We evaluated algorithm performance by overall accuracy, omission error, and commission error for both cloud and cloud shadow. We found that CFMask, C code based on the Function of Mask (Fmask) algorithm, and its confidence bands have the best overall accuracy among the many algorithms tested using our validation data. The Artificial Thermal-Automated Cloud Cover Algorithm (AT-ACCA) is the most accurate nonthermal-based algorithm. We give preference to CFMask for operational cloud and cloud shadow detection, as it is derived from a priori knowledge of physical phenomena and is operable without geographic restriction, making it useful for current and future land imaging missions without having to be retrained in a machine-learning environment.

Social marketing: a tool not a solution.

PubMed

Montazeri, A

1997-04-01

There is a longstanding debate on the contribution of social marketing to public health in general, and to health education and health promotion in particular. This paper presents further discussion from a public health point of view and concludes that priority should be given to health-oriented approaches rather than market-oriented strategies. It is argued that, at best, social marketing is a tool not a solution for health education's and health promotion's problems. To communicate health education messages effectively and efficiently, health needs assessment is recommended as a way forward. It is a public health approach and contains a range of flexible methods in the implementation of health education/promotion programmes.

Creation of system of computer-aided design for technological objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zubkova, T. M.; Tokareva, M. A.; Sultanov, N. Z.

2018-05-01

Due to the competition in the market of process equipment, its production should be flexible, retuning to various product configurations, raw materials and productivity, depending on the current market needs. This process is not possible without CAD (computer-aided design). The formation of CAD begins with planning. Synthesizing, analyzing, evaluating, converting operations, as well as visualization and decision-making operations, can be automated. Based on formal description of the design procedures, the design route in the form of an oriented graph is constructed. The decomposition of the design process, represented by the formalized description of the design procedures, makes it possible to make an informed choice of the CAD component for the solution of the task. The object-oriented approach allows us to consider the CAD as an independent system whose properties are inherited from the components. The first step determines the range of tasks to be performed by the system, and a set of components for their implementation. The second one is the configuration of the selected components. The interaction between the selected components is carried out using the CALS standards. The chosen CAD / CAE-oriented approach allows creating a single model, which is stored in the database of the subject area. Each of the integration stages is implemented as a separate functional block. The transformation of the CAD model into the model of the internal representation is realized by the block of searching for the geometric parameters of the technological machine, in which the XML-model of the construction is obtained on the basis of the feature method from the theory of image recognition. The configuration of integrated components is divided into three consecutive steps: configuring tasks, components, interfaces. The configuration of the components is realized using the theory of "soft computations" using the Mamdani fuzzy inference algorithm.

Cloud GIS Based Watershed Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bediroğlu, G.; Colak, H. E.

2017-11-01

In this study, we generated a Cloud GIS based watershed management system with using Cloud Computing architecture. Cloud GIS is used as SAAS (Software as a Service) and DAAS (Data as a Service). We applied GIS analysis on cloud in terms of testing SAAS and deployed GIS datasets on cloud in terms of DAAS. We used Hybrid cloud computing model in manner of using ready web based mapping services hosted on cloud (World Topology, Satellite Imageries). We uploaded to system after creating geodatabases including Hydrology (Rivers, Lakes), Soil Maps, Climate Maps, Rain Maps, Geology and Land Use. Watershed of study area has been determined on cloud using ready-hosted topology maps. After uploading all the datasets to systems, we have applied various GIS analysis and queries. Results shown that Cloud GIS technology brings velocity and efficiency for watershed management studies. Besides this, system can be easily implemented for similar land analysis and management studies.

A Five-Stage Marketing Typology for Community Colleges.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dollar, Douglas O.

Drawing from a review of pertinent marketing literature and observations of how selected colleges undertake marketing efforts, this paper presents a five-stage typology of community colleges according to their marketing orientation. For the five stages, each representing an increasingly integrated approach to marketing, the paper analyzes how…

[Clinical orientation and thought on several problems in post-marketed reassessment of traditional Chinese medicine].

PubMed

Wang, Xin; Su, Xia; Yu, Jie; Xie, Yanming; Wang, Yongyan

2011-10-01

The post-marketed reassessment is an important link to ensure the safety and effectiveness of traditional chinese medicine. It is also the expansion and stretch of new drug evaluation. Through the systematic, standard, rigorous post-marketed reassessment, the enterprise can full access to drugs after listing the efficacy and safety information, evaluate the interests and risk of the drug and provide the scientific basis for the drug use. It can also provide timely, scientific technology basis for government health decisions, the enterprise marketing decision and public health security. This paper mainly discussed the thought on clinical orientation of traditional chinese medicine in the post-marketed reassessment and how to reach the goal through systematic consideration and overall plan.

Food marketing targeting children: unveiling the ethical perspectives in the discourse on self-regulation.

PubMed

Silva, Dillian Adelaine Cesar da; Cunha, Antonio Carlos Rodrigues da; Cunha, Thiago Rocha da; Rosaneli, Caroline Filla

2017-07-01

When it comes to food marketing, children are one of the major targets. Regulatory actions can play a strategic role in health protection. The objective of this research was to characterize the ethical perspective in the discourse against state regulatory actions on food marketing directed at children, aiming to understand the context of the discourse's production and how it creates meaning. The methodology adopted was qualitative, with documentary analysis and use of concepts and procedures from Discourse Analysis. The work of Hans Jonas, specifically his Responsibility Principle, and Garrafa and Port's Intervention Bioethics oriented the analysis. The self-regulation discourse analysis showed an ethical perspective in which relations of consumption predominate over the children´s vulnerability. The rhetorical excess is constant, as well as the use of resources like naturalization, untruthfulness, ideological dissimulation and euphemism. An erasure of social conflicts takes place, and an ahistorical perspective is present. The discourse does not align with Jonas´ Responsibility Principle, nor those of Intervention Bioethics. Lastly, the ethical perspective of the discourse represents a double paradox, because it is a business discourse that hides its competitive roots and metamorphoses into an ethical one.

Clear-sky remote sensing in the vicinity of clouds: what can be learned about aerosol changes?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marshak, Alexander; Varnai, Tamas; Wen, Guoyong

2010-05-01

Studies on aerosol direct and indirect effects require a precise separation of cloud-free and cloudy air. However, separation between cloud-free and cloudy areas from remotely-sensed measurements is ambiguous. The transition zone in the regions around clouds often stretches out tens of km, which are neither precisely clear nor precisely cloudy. We study the transition zone between cloud-free and cloudy air using MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) measurements. Both instruments show enhanced clear-sky reflectance (MODIS) and clear-sky backscatterer (CALIPSO) near clouds. Analyzing a large dataset of MODIS observations we examine the effect of three-dimensional (3D) radiative interactions between clouds and cloud-free areas, also known as a cloud adjacency effect. Comparing with CALIPSO clear-sky backscatterer measurements, we show that the cloud adjacency effect may be responsible for a large portion of the enhanced clear sky reflectance observed by MODIS. While aerosol particles are responsible for a large part of the near-cloud enhancements in CALIPSO observations, misidentified or undetected cloud particles are also likely to contribute. As a result, both the nature of these particles (cloud vs. aerosol) and the processes creating them need to be clarified using a quantitative assessment of remote sensing limitations in particle detection and identification. The width and ubiquity of the transition zone near clouds imply that studies of aerosol-cloud interactions and aerosol direct radiative effects need to account for aerosol changes near clouds. Not accounted, these changes can cause systematic biases toward smaller aerosol radiative forcing. On the other hand, including aerosol products near clouds despite their uncertainties may overestimate aerosol radiative forcing. Therefore, there is an urgent need for developing methods that can assess and account for remote sensing challenges and thus allow for including the transition zone into the study. We describe a simple model that estimates the cloud-induced enhanced reflectances of cloud-free areas in the vicinity of clouds. The model assumes that the enhancement is due entirely to Rayleigh scattering and is therefore bigger at shorter wavelengths, thus creating a so-called apparent "bluing" of aerosols in remote sensing retrievals.

Clear-sky remote sensing in the vicinity of clouds: what we learned from MODIS and CALIPSO

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marshak, Alexander; Varnai, Tamas; Wen, Guoyong; Cahalan, Robert

Studies on aerosol direct and indirect effects require a precise separation of cloud-free and cloudy air. However, separation between cloud-free and cloudy areas from remotely-sensed measurements is ambiguous. The transition zone in the regions around clouds often stretches out tens of km, which are neither precisely clear nor precisely cloudy. We study the transition zone between cloud-free and cloudy air using MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) measurements. Both instruments show enhanced clear-sky reflectance (MODIS) and clear-sky backscatterer (CALIPSO) near clouds. Analyzing a large dataset of MODIS observations we examine the effect of three-dimensional (3D) radiative interactions between clouds and cloud-free areas, also known as a cloud adjacency effect. Comparing with CALIPSO clear-sky backscatterer measurements, we show that the cloud adjacency effect may be responsible for a large portion of the enhanced clear sky reflectance observed by MODIS. While aerosol particles are responsible for a large part of the near-cloud enhancements in CALIPSO observations, misidentified or undetected cloud particles are also likely to contribute. As a result, both the nature of these particles (cloud vs. aerosol) and the processes creating them need to be clarified using a quantitative assessment of remote sensing limitations in particle detection and identification. The width and ubiquity of the transition zone near clouds imply that studies of aerosol-cloud interactions and aerosol direct radiative effects need to account for aerosol changes near clouds. Not accounted, these changes can cause systematic biases toward smaller aerosol radiative forcing. On the other hand, including aerosol products near clouds despite their uncertainties may overestimate aerosol radiative forcing. Therefore, there is an urgent need for developing methods that can assess and account for remote sensing challenges and thus allow for including the transition zone into the study. We describe a simple model that estimates the cloud-induced enhanced reflectances of cloud-free areas in the vicinity of clouds. The model assumes that the enhancement is due entirely to Rayleigh scattering and is therefore bigger at shorter wavelengths, thus creating a so-called apparent "bluing" of aerosols in remote sensing retrievals.

Effects of overcast and foggy conditions on transpiration rates of Pinus patula trees along a chronosequence within the cloud belt of the Sierra madre Oriental, central Veracrusz, Mexico

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Pinus patula is a native tree species of the montane cloud belt of central Veracruz, Mexico, and one of the most popular species for regional reforestation efforts, both within and outside its natural range of occurrence. Projected regional climate change is likely to cause a rise in the average clo...

Retrieving microphysics of cirrus clouds from data measured with raman lidar ramses and a tilted ceilometer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Borovoi, Anatoli; Reichardt, Jens; Görsdorf, Ulrich; Wolf, Veronika; Konoshonkin, Alexander; Shishko, Victor; Kustova, Natalia

2018-04-01

To develop a microphysical model of cirrus clouds, data obtained by Raman lidar RAMSES and a tilted ceilometer are studied synergistically. The measurements are interpreted by use of a data archive containing the backscattering matrixes as well as the depolarization, color and lidar ratios of ice crystals of different shapes, sizes and spatial orientations calculated within the physical-optics approximation.

Compensation for fluctuations in crosswind drift without stationary landmarks in butterflies migrating over seas.

PubMed

Srygley, Robert B.

2001-01-01

Migrating insects may fly over large bodies of water that lack landmarks, but little is known about their ability to navigate in such a fluid environment. Using boat navigation instruments to measure compensation for fluctuations in crosswind drift, I investigated the ability of butterflies (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae, Nymphalidae and Pieridae) to orient with and without landmarks as they migrated naturally over the Caribbean Sea. I used the presence or absence of landmarks or clouds to evaluate their use by the butterflies as guides for compensation. Forty-one per cent of the butterflies compensated for crosswind drift, whereas only 16% did not compensate. No conclusion could be drawn for the remainder. Without landmarks or clouds, butterflies were significantly less likely to compensate for drift than when these local cues were present. Butterflies were more likely to compensate fully in the presence of a landmark than when only clouds were present. Phoebis sennae butterflies drifted in the morning and overcompensated for drift in the afternoon, a pattern found both within and between individuals independent of landmarks. Although I cannot exclude the use of clouds, this would probably result in undercompensation. Hence, a ground reference in conjunction with a sun or magnetic compass is the most likely orientation cue. In the absence of clouds, one butterfly compensated, at least in part, indicating that it was using ripples on the sea surface as a ground reference in conjunction with a sun or magnetic compass. Copyright 2001 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.

Revealing Layers of Pristine Oriented Crystals Embedded Within Deep Ice Clouds Using Differential Reflectivity and the Copolar Correlation Coefficient

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keat, W. J.; Westbrook, C. D.

2017-11-01

Pristine ice crystals typically have high aspect ratios (≫ 1), have a high density and tend to fall preferentially with their major axis aligned horizontally. Consequently, they can, in certain circumstances, be readily identified by measurements of differential reflectivity (ZDR), which is related to their average aspect ratio. However, because ZDR is reflectivity weighted, its interpretation becomes ambiguous in the presence of even a few, larger aggregates or irregular polycrystals. An example of this is in mixed-phase regions that are embedded within deeper ice cloud. Currently, our understanding of the microphysical processes within these regions is hindered by a lack of good observations. In this paper, a novel technique is presented that removes this ambiguity using measurements from the 3 GHz Chilbolton Advanced Meteorological Radar in Southern England. By combining measurements of ZDR and the copolar correlation coefficient (ρhv), we show that it is possible to retrieve both the relative contribution to the radar signal and "intrinsic" ZDR (ZDRIP) of the pristine oriented crystals, even in circumstances where their signal is being masked by the presence of aggregates. Results from two case studies indicate that enhancements in ZDR embedded within deep ice clouds are typically produced by pristine oriented crystals with ZDRIP values between 3 and 7 dB (equivalent to 5-9 dB at horizontal incidence) but with varying contributions to the radar reflectivity. Vertically pointing 35 GHz cloud radar Doppler spectra and in situ particle images from the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements BAe-146 aircraft support the conceptual model used and are consistent with the retrieval interpretation.

Report of the 1982 Marketing Committee.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carling, Philip C., Ed.; Ryan, G. Jeremiah, Ed.

Recommendations for marketing policies, goals, objectives, and activities are presented in this report as proposed by Brookdale Community College's (BCC's) marketing committee. First, introductory material clarifies the marketing orientation and philosophical platform of the college. Next, the recommendations are presented in four categories: (1)…

Cloud-property retrieval using merged HIRS and AVHRR data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baum, Bryan A.; Wielicki, Bruce A.; Minnis, Patrick; Parker, Lindsay

1992-01-01

A technique is developed that uses a multispectral, multiresolution method to improve the overall retrieval of mid- to high-level cloud properties by combining HIRS sounding channel data with higher spatial resolution AVHRR radiometric data collocated with the HIRS footprint. Cirrus cloud radiative and physical properties are determined using satellite data, surface-based measurements provided by rawinsondes and lidar, and aircraft-based lidar data collected during the First International Satellite Cloud Climatology Program Regional Experiment in Wisconsin during the months of October and November 1986. HIRS cloud-height retrievals are compared to ground-based lidar and aircraft lidar when possible. Retrieved cloud heights are found to have close agreement with lidar for thin cloud, but are higher than lidar for optically thick cloud. The results of the reflectance-emittance relationships derived are compared to theoretical scattering model results for both water-droplet spheres and randomly oriented hexagonal ice crystals. It is found that the assumption of 10-micron water droplets is inadequate to describe the reflectance-emittance relationship for the ice clouds seen here. Use of this assumption would lead to lower cloud heights using the ISCCP approach. The theoretical results show that use of hexagonal ice crystal phase functions could lead to much improved results for cloud retrieval algorithms using a bispectral approach.

Marketing NASA Langley Polymeric Materials

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Flynn, Diane M.

1995-01-01

A marketing tool was created to expand the knowledge of LaRC developed polymeric materials, in order to facilitate the technology transfer process and increase technology commercialization awareness among a non-technical audience. The created brochure features four materials, LaRC-CP, LaRC-RP46, LaRC-SI, and LaRC-IA, and highlights their competitive strengths in potential commercial applications. Excellent opportunities exist in the $40 million per year microelectronics market and the $6 billion adhesives market. It is hoped that the created brochure will generate inquiries regarding the use of the above materials in markets such as these.

Why We Need Marketing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harper, Nancy

1984-01-01

An interview with Philip Kotler, the Harold T. Martin Professor of Marketing at Northwestern University, is presented. Three approaches to marketing are identified: product-oriented, hard-sell, and building satisfaction in a long-term clientele. (MLW)

An efficient framework for modeling clouds from Landsat8 images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuan, Chunqiang; Guo, Jing

2015-03-01

Cloud plays an important role in creating realistic outdoor scenes for video game and flight simulation applications. Classic methods have been proposed for cumulus cloud modeling. However, these methods are not flexible for modeling large cloud scenes with hundreds of clouds in that the user must repeatedly model each cloud and adjust its various properties. This paper presents a meteorologically based method to reconstruct cumulus clouds from high resolution Landsat8 satellite images. From these input satellite images, the clouds are first segmented from the background. Then, the cloud top surface is estimated from the temperature of the infrared image. After that, under a mild assumption of flat base for cumulus cloud, the base height of each cloud is computed by averaging the top height for pixels on the cloud edge. Then, the extinction is generated from the visible image. Finally, we enrich the initial shapes of clouds using a fractal method and represent the recovered clouds as a particle system. The experimental results demonstrate our method can yield realistic cloud scenes resembling those in the satellite images.

Engaging western landowners in climate change mitigation: a guide to carbon-oriented forest and range management and carbon market opportunities

Treesearch

David D. Diaz; Susan Charnley; Hannah Gosnell

2009-01-01

There are opportunities for forest owners and ranchers to participate in emerging carbon markets and contribute to climate change mitigation through carbon oriented forest and range management activities. These activities often promote sutainable forestry and ranching and broader conservation goals while having the potential to provide a new income stream for...

International migration of health professionals and the marketization and privatization of health education in India: from push-pull to global political economy.

PubMed

Walton-Roberts, Margaret

2015-01-01

Health worker migration theories have tended to focus on labour market conditions as principal push or pull factors. The role of education systems in producing internationally oriented health workers has been less explored. In place of the traditional conceptual approaches to understanding health worker, especially nurse, migration, I advocate global political economy (GPE) as a perspective that can highlight how educational investment and global migration tendencies are increasing interlinked. The Indian case illustrates the globally oriented nature of health care training, and informs a broader understanding of both the process of health worker migration, and how it reflects wider marketization tendencies evident in India's education and health systems. The Indian case also demonstrates how the global orientation of education systems in source regions is increasingly central to comprehending the place of health workers in the global and Asian rise in migration. The paper concludes that Indian corporate health care training systems are increasingly aligned with the production of professionals orientated to globally integrated health human resource labour markets, and our conceptual analysis of such processes must effectively reflect these tendencies. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

7 CFR 1486.100 - What is the Emerging Markets Program?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... include activities such as feasibility studies, market research, sector assessments, orientation visits... 7 Agriculture 10 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false What is the Emerging Markets Program? 1486.100... CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE LOANS, PURCHASES, AND OTHER OPERATIONS EMERGING MARKETS PROGRAM General...

7 CFR 1486.100 - What is the Emerging Markets Program?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... include activities such as feasibility studies, market research, sector assessments, orientation visits... 7 Agriculture 10 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false What is the Emerging Markets Program? 1486.100... CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE LOANS, PURCHASES, AND OTHER OPERATIONS EMERGING MARKETS PROGRAM General...

Attitudes vs. Purchase Behaviors as Experienced Dissonance: The Roles of Knowledge and Consumer Orientations in Organic Market.

PubMed

Hidalgo-Baz, María; Martos-Partal, Mercedes; González-Benito, Óscar

2017-01-01

This research focuses on the incongruity between positive attitudinal responses but a lack of purchase behavior in organic markets. According to cognitive dissonance theory, consumer orientations toward the benefits attributed to organic products (environmental protection, health, hedonic) relieve the dissonance that results from this attitude-behavior incongruity. Knowledge also functions as a transmitter, from positive attitudes to purchase behaviors, thereby reducing the incongruity. Using quota sampling in a survey study, this paper tests the hypotheses from linear regression models. The results show that orientations and knowledge improve the congruity between attitudes and purchase behaviors toward organic products. Moreover, interaction effects arise between the environmental protection orientation and knowledge and between the hedonic orientation and knowledge. Increasing knowledge mitigates the difference between attitudes and purchase behaviors, especially for consumers with environmental protection or hedonic orientations. These findings have several important implications for research and practice.

Attitudes vs. Purchase Behaviors as Experienced Dissonance: The Roles of Knowledge and Consumer Orientations in Organic Market

PubMed Central

Hidalgo-Baz, María; Martos-Partal, Mercedes; González-Benito, Óscar

2017-01-01

This research focuses on the incongruity between positive attitudinal responses but a lack of purchase behavior in organic markets. According to cognitive dissonance theory, consumer orientations toward the benefits attributed to organic products (environmental protection, health, hedonic) relieve the dissonance that results from this attitude–behavior incongruity. Knowledge also functions as a transmitter, from positive attitudes to purchase behaviors, thereby reducing the incongruity. Using quota sampling in a survey study, this paper tests the hypotheses from linear regression models. The results show that orientations and knowledge improve the congruity between attitudes and purchase behaviors toward organic products. Moreover, interaction effects arise between the environmental protection orientation and knowledge and between the hedonic orientation and knowledge. Increasing knowledge mitigates the difference between attitudes and purchase behaviors, especially for consumers with environmental protection or hedonic orientations. These findings have several important implications for research and practice. PMID:28286489

Final Technical Report for "High-resolution global modeling of the effects of subgrid-scale clouds and turbulence on precipitating cloud systems"

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

Larson, Vincent

2016-11-25

The Multiscale Modeling Framework (MMF) embeds a cloud-resolving model in each grid column of a General Circulation Model (GCM). A MMF model does not need to use a deep convective parameterization, and thereby dispenses with the uncertainties in such parameterizations. However, MMF models grossly under-resolve shallow boundary-layer clouds, and hence those clouds may still benefit from parameterization. In this grant, we successfully created a climate model that embeds a cloud parameterization (“CLUBB”) within a MMF model. This involved interfacing CLUBB’s clouds with microphysics and reducing computational cost. We have evaluated the resulting simulated clouds and precipitation with satellite observations. Themore » chief benefit of the project is to provide a MMF model that has an improved representation of clouds and that provides improved simulations of precipitation.« less

Ice Crystal Cloud Research

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-07-11

NASA Glenn’s Propulsion Systems Lab (PSL) is conducting research to characterize ice crystal clouds that can create a hazard to aircraft engines under certain conditions. The isokinetic probe (in gold) samples particles and another series of probes can measure everything from humidity to air pressure.

Point Cloud Analysis for Uav-Borne Laser Scanning with Horizontally and Vertically Oriented Line Scanners - Concept and First Results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weinmann, M.; Müller, M. S.; Hillemann, M.; Reydel, N.; Hinz, S.; Jutzi, B.

2017-08-01

In this paper, we focus on UAV-borne laser scanning with the objective of densely sampling object surfaces in the local surrounding of the UAV. In this regard, using a line scanner which scans along the vertical direction and perpendicular to the flight direction results in a point cloud with low point density if the UAV moves fast. Using a line scanner which scans along the horizontal direction only delivers data corresponding to the altitude of the UAV and thus a low scene coverage. For these reasons, we present a concept and a system for UAV-borne laser scanning using multiple line scanners. Our system consists of a quadcopter equipped with horizontally and vertically oriented line scanners. We demonstrate the capabilities of our system by presenting first results obtained for a flight within an outdoor scene. Thereby, we use a downsampling of the original point cloud and different neighborhood types to extract fundamental geometric features which in turn can be used for scene interpretation with respect to linear, planar or volumetric structures.

A hurricane modification process, applying a new technology tested for warm cloud seeding to produce artificial rains

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Imai, T.; Martin, I.; Iha, K.

A Hurricane Modification Process with application of a new clean technology attested for seeding warm clouds with collector pure water droplets of controlled size to produce artificial rains in warm clouds is proposed to modify the hurricanes in order to avoid their formation or to modify the trajectory or to weaken hurricanes in action The Process is based on the time-dependent effects of cloud droplets microphysical processes for the formation and growth of the natural water droplets inside the clouds releasing large volumes of Aeolian energy to form the strong rotative upside air movements A new Paradigm proposed explain the strong and rotative winds created with the water droplets formation and grow process releasing the rotative Aeolian Energy in Tornados and Hurricanes This theory receive the Gold Medal Award of the Water Science in the 7th International Water Symposium 2005 in France Artificial seeding in the Process studies condensing a specified percentage of the water vapor to liquid water droplets where we observe the release of larges intensity of the Aeolian energy creates the hurricanes producing appreciable perturbations With they rotating strong wind created by the water droplets releasing Aeolian energy The Amplitudes of these winds are comparable to natural disasters Once this natural thermal process is completely understood artificial process to modify the hurricanes become scientifically possible to avoid them to happen or to deviate their trajectory or to weaken the already formed hurricanes In this work

Virtual Business Operating Environment in the Cloud: Conceptual Architecture and Challenges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nezhad, Hamid R. Motahari; Stephenson, Bryan; Singhal, Sharad; Castellanos, Malu

Advances in service oriented architecture (SOA) have brought us close to the once imaginary vision of establishing and running a virtual business, a business in which most or all of its business functions are outsourced to online services. Cloud computing offers a realization of SOA in which IT resources are offered as services that are more affordable, flexible and attractive to businesses. In this paper, we briefly study advances in cloud computing, and discuss the benefits of using cloud services for businesses and trade-offs that they have to consider. We then present 1) a layered architecture for the virtual business, and 2) a conceptual architecture for a virtual business operating environment. We discuss the opportunities and research challenges that are ahead of us in realizing the technical components of this conceptual architecture. We conclude by giving the outlook and impact of cloud services on both large and small businesses.

Modular Research-Based Composably Trustworthy Mission-Oriented Resilient Clouds (MRC2)

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-02-01

obtain in this way, encapsulation is a very promising technique to apply to larger cloud components. For example, ‘ big data ’ processing systems, such...UNITED STATES AIR FORCE  ROME, NY 13441 AIR FORCE MATERIEL COMMAND NOTICE AND SIGNATURE PAGE Using Government drawings, specifications, or other data ...Government formulated or supplied the drawings, specifications, or other data does not license the holder or any other person or corporation; or convey

Mangrove classification through the use of object oriented classification and support vector machine of lidar datasets: a case study in Naawan and Manticao, Misamis Oriental, Philippines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jalbuena, Rey L.; Peralta, Rudolph V.; Tamondong, Ayin M.

2016-10-01

Mangroves are trees or shrubs that grows at the surface between the land and the sea in tropical and sub-tropical latitudes. Mangroves are essential in supporting various marine life, thus, it is important to preserve and manage these areas. There are many approaches in creating Mangroves maps, one of which is through the use of Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR). It is a remote sensing technique which uses light pulses to measure distances and to generate three-dimensional point clouds of the Earth's surface. In this study, the topographic LiDAR Data will be used to analyze the geophysical features of the terrain and create a Mangrove map. The dataset that we have were first pre-processed using the LAStools software. It is a software that is used to process LiDAR data sets and create different layers such as DSM, DTM, nDSM, Slope, LiDAR Intensity, LiDAR number of first returns, and CHM. All the aforementioned layers together was used to derive the Mangrove class. Then, an Object-based Image Analysis (OBIA) was performed using eCognition. OBIA analyzes a group of pixels with similar properties called objects, as compared to the traditional pixel-based which only examines a single pixel. Multi-threshold and multiresolution segmentation were used to delineate the different classes and split the image into objects. There are four levels of classification, first is the separation of the Land from the Water. Then the Land class was further dived into Ground and Non-ground objects. Furthermore classification of Nonvegetation, Mangroves, and Other Vegetation was done from the Non-ground objects. Lastly Separation of the mangrove class was done through the Use of field verified training points which was then run into a Support Vector Machine (SVM) classification. Different classes were separated using the different layer feature properties, such as mean, mode, standard deviation, geometrical properties, neighbor-related properties, and textural properties. Accuracy assessment was done using a different set of field validation points. This workflow was applied in the classification of Mangroves to a LiDAR dataset of Naawan and Manticao, Misamis Oriental, Philippines. The process presented in this study shows that LiDAR data and its derivatives can be used in extracting and creating Mangrove maps, which can be helpful in managing coastal environment.

Situational Marketing: Application for Higher Education Institutions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, Raymond E.; Reed, Rosetta R.

1995-01-01

Marketing higher education has been criticized for its consumer (interpreted as student) orientation. An alternative concept, situational marketing, considers the student as one of a number of environmental forces on which the marketing mix focuses. Other forces include funding and regulatory agencies, businesses, alumni, faculty, parents, the…

Assessment of physical server reliability in multi cloud computing system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kalyani, B. J. D.; Rao, Kolasani Ramchand H.

2018-04-01

Business organizations nowadays functioning with more than one cloud provider. By spreading cloud deployment across multiple service providers, it creates space for competitive prices that minimize the burden on enterprises spending budget. To assess the software reliability of multi cloud application layered software reliability assessment paradigm is considered with three levels of abstractions application layer, virtualization layer, and server layer. The reliability of each layer is assessed separately and is combined to get the reliability of multi-cloud computing application. In this paper, we focused on how to assess the reliability of server layer with required algorithms and explore the steps in the assessment of server reliability.

A Synthesis Model of Sustainable Market Orientation: Conceptualization, Measurement, and Influence on Academic Accreditation--A Case Study of Egyptian-Accredited Faculties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abou-Warda, Sherein H.

2014-01-01

Higher education institutions are increasingly concerned about accreditation. Although sustainable market orientation (SMO) bears on academic accreditation, to date, no study has developed a valid scale of SMO or assessed its influence on accreditation. The purpose of this paper is to construct and validate an SMO scale that was developed in…

On-Farm Crop Species Richness Is Associated with Household Diet Diversity and Quality in Subsistence- and Market-Oriented Farming Households in Malawi.

PubMed

Jones, Andrew D

2017-01-01

On-farm crop species richness (CSR) may be important for maintaining the diversity and quality of diets of smallholder farming households. The objectives of this study were to 1) determine the association of CSR with the diversity and quality of household diets in Malawi and 2) assess hypothesized mechanisms for this association via both subsistence- and market-oriented pathways. Longitudinal data were assessed from nationally representative household surveys in Malawi between 2010 and 2013 (n = 3000 households). A household diet diversity score (DDS) and daily intake per adult equivalent of energy, protein, iron, vitamin A, and zinc were calculated from 7-d household consumption data. CSR was calculated from plot-level data on all crops cultivated during the 2009-2010 and 2012-2013 agricultural seasons in Malawi. Adjusted generalized estimating equations were used to assess the longitudinal relation of CSR with household diet quality and diversity. CSR was positively associated with DDS (β: 0.08; 95% CI: 0.06, 0.12; P < 0.001), as well as daily intake per adult equivalent of energy (kilocalories) (β: 41.6; 95% CI: 20.9, 62.2; P < 0.001), protein (grams) (β: 1.78; 95% CI: 0.80, 2.75; P < 0.001), iron (milligrams) (β: 0.30; 95% CI: 0.16, 0.44; P < 0.001), vitamin A (micrograms of retinol activity equivalent) (β: 25.8; 95% CI: 12.7, 38.9; P < 0.001), and zinc (milligrams) (β: 0.26; 95% CI: 0.13, 0.38; P < 0.001). Neither proportion of harvest sold nor distance to nearest population center modified the relation between CSR and household diet diversity or quality (P ≥ 0.05). Households with greater CSR were more commercially oriented (least-squares mean proportion of harvest sold ± SE, highest tertile of CSR: 17.1 ± 0.52; lowest tertile of CSR: 8.92 ± 1.09) (P < 0.05). Promoting on-farm CSR may be a beneficial strategy for simultaneously supporting enhanced diet quality and diversity while also creating opportunities for smallholder farmers to engage with markets in subsistence agricultural contexts. © 2017 American Society for Nutrition.

Focus on the Library Customer: Revelation, Revolution, or Redundancy?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Diane Tobin

1995-01-01

By examining organizational objectives, the choices librarians make about marketing and customer focus become clearer. Ideas from social marketing reveal that adopting a customer orientation toward marketing may not be right for some libraries. (AEF)

Automated Detection and Closing of Holes in Aerial Point Clouds Using AN Uas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fiolka, T.; Rouatbi, F.; Bender, D.

2017-08-01

3D terrain models are an important instrument in areas like geology, agriculture and reconnaissance. Using an automated UAS with a line-based LiDAR can create terrain models fast and easily even from large areas. But the resulting point cloud may contain holes and therefore be incomplete. This might happen due to occlusions, a missed flight route due to wind or simply as a result of changes in the ground height which would alter the swath of the LiDAR system. This paper proposes a method to detect holes in 3D point clouds generated during the flight and adjust the course in order to close them. First, a grid-based search for holes in the horizontal ground plane is performed. Then a check for vertical holes mainly created by buildings walls is done. Due to occlusions and steep LiDAR angles, closing the vertical gaps may be difficult or even impossible. Therefore, the current approach deals with holes in the ground plane and only marks the vertical holes in such a way that the operator can decide on further actions regarding them. The aim is to efficiently create point clouds which can be used for the generation of complete 3D terrain models.

Different structures formed at HII boundaries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miao, Jingqi; Cornwall, Paul; Kinnear, Tim

2015-03-01

Hydrodynamic simulations on the evolution of molecular clouds (MCs) at HII boundaries are used to show that radiation driven implosion (RDI) model can create almost all of the different morphological structures, such as a single bright-rimmed cloud (BRC), fragment structure and multiple elephant trunk (ET) structures.

eLearning in the Cloud

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sclater, Niall

2010-01-01

Elearning has grown rapidly in importance for institutions and has been largely facilitated through the "walled garden" of the virtual learning environment. Meanwhile many students are creating their own personal learning environments by combining the various Web 2.0 services they find most useful. Cloud computing offers new…

The Confinement and Breakout of Protostellar Winds: Time-Dependent Solution

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wilkin, F.; Stahler, S.

2000-01-01

Jets from embedded young stars may be collimated by the anisotropic infall of their cloud envelopes. To model this effect, we have followed numerically the motion of the shocked shell created by the impact of a spherical wind and a rotating, collapsing cloud.

How the clear-sky angle of polarization pattern continues underneath clouds: full-sky measurements and implications for animal orientation.

PubMed

Pomozi, I; Horváth, G; Wehner, R

2001-09-01

One of the biologically most important parameters of the cloudy sky is the proportion P of the celestial polarization pattern available for use in animal navigation. We evaluated this parameter by measuring the polarization patterns of clear and cloudy skies using 180 degrees (full-sky) imaging polarimetry in the red (650 nm), green (550 nm) and blue (450 nm) ranges of the spectrum under clear and partly cloudy conditions. The resulting data were compared with the corresponding celestial polarization patterns calculated using the single-scattering Rayleigh model. We show convincingly that the pattern of the angle of polarization (e-vectors) in a clear sky continues underneath clouds if regions of the clouds and parts of the airspace between the clouds and the earth surface (being shady at the position of the observer) are directly lit by the sun. The scattering and polarization of direct sunlight on the cloud particles and in the air columns underneath the clouds result in the same e-vector pattern as that present in clear sky. This phenomenon can be exploited for animal navigation if the degree of polarization is higher than the perceptual threshold of the visual system, because the angle rather than the degree of polarization is the most important optical cue used in the polarization compass. Hence, the clouds reduce the extent of sky polarization pattern that is useful for animal orientation much less than has hitherto been assumed. We further demonstrate quantitatively that the shorter the wavelength, the greater the proportion of celestial polarization that can be used by animals under cloudy-sky conditions. As has already been suggested by others, this phenomenon may solve the ultraviolet paradox of polarization vision in insects such as hymenopterans and dipterans. The present study extends previous findings by using the technique of 180 degrees imaging polarimetry to measure and analyse celestial polarization patterns.

Numerical simulation of a radially injected barium cloud

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Swift, D. W.; Wescott, E. M.

1981-01-01

Electrostatic two-dimensional numerical simulations of a radially symmetric barium injection experiment demonstrate that ions created by solar UV irradiation are electrostatically bound to the electrons which remain tied to the field lines on which they are created. Two possible instabilities are identified, but neither of them causes the barium plasma cloud to polarize in a way that would permit the plasma to keep up with the neutrals. In a second model, the velocity of the neutrals is allowed to be a function of the azimuthal angle. Here, a portion of the cloud does polarize in a way that allows a portion of the plasma to detach and move outward at the approximate speed of the neutrals. No rapid detachment is found when only the density of the neutrals is given an azimuthal asymmetry.

Calibration of Kinect for Xbox One and Comparison between the Two Generations of Microsoft Sensors

PubMed Central

Pagliari, Diana; Pinto, Livio

2015-01-01

In recent years, the videogame industry has been characterized by a great boost in gesture recognition and motion tracking, following the increasing request of creating immersive game experiences. The Microsoft Kinect sensor allows acquiring RGB, IR and depth images with a high frame rate. Because of the complementary nature of the information provided, it has proved an attractive resource for researchers with very different backgrounds. In summer 2014, Microsoft launched a new generation of Kinect on the market, based on time-of-flight technology. This paper proposes a calibration of Kinect for Xbox One imaging sensors, focusing on the depth camera. The mathematical model that describes the error committed by the sensor as a function of the distance between the sensor itself and the object has been estimated. All the analyses presented here have been conducted for both generations of Kinect, in order to quantify the improvements that characterize every single imaging sensor. Experimental results show that the quality of the delivered model improved applying the proposed calibration procedure, which is applicable to both point clouds and the mesh model created with the Microsoft Fusion Libraries. PMID:26528979

Calibration of Kinect for Xbox One and Comparison between the Two Generations of Microsoft Sensors.

PubMed

Pagliari, Diana; Pinto, Livio

2015-10-30

In recent years, the videogame industry has been characterized by a great boost in gesture recognition and motion tracking, following the increasing request of creating immersive game experiences. The Microsoft Kinect sensor allows acquiring RGB, IR and depth images with a high frame rate. Because of the complementary nature of the information provided, it has proved an attractive resource for researchers with very different backgrounds. In summer 2014, Microsoft launched a new generation of Kinect on the market, based on time-of-flight technology. This paper proposes a calibration of Kinect for Xbox One imaging sensors, focusing on the depth camera. The mathematical model that describes the error committed by the sensor as a function of the distance between the sensor itself and the object has been estimated. All the analyses presented here have been conducted for both generations of Kinect, in order to quantify the improvements that characterize every single imaging sensor. Experimental results show that the quality of the delivered model improved applying the proposed calibration procedure, which is applicable to both point clouds and the mesh model created with the Microsoft Fusion Libraries.

One Size (Never) Fits All: Segment Differences Observed Following a School-Based Alcohol Social Marketing Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dietrich, Timo; Rundle-Thiele, Sharyn; Leo, Cheryl; Connor, Jason

2015-01-01

Background: According to commercial marketing theory, a market orientation leads to improved performance. Drawing on the social marketing principles of segmentation and audience research, the current study seeks to identify segments to examine responses to a school-based alcohol social marketing program. Methods: A sample of 371 year 10 students…

Key Elements of a Successful Drive toward Marketing Strategy Making

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cann, Cynthia W.; George, Marie A.

2003-01-01

A conceptual model is presented that depicts the relationship between an internal marketing function and an organization's readiness to learn. Learning and marketing orientations are identified as components to marketing strategy making. Key organizational functions, including communication and decision-making, are utilized in a framework for…

Student Target Marketing Strategies for Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lewison, Dale M.; Hawes, Jon M.

2007-01-01

As colleges and universities adopt marketing orientations to an ever-increasing extent, the relative merits of mass marketing and target marketing must also be explored. Researchers identify buyer types as potential students focused on quality, value or economy. On the other axis, learner types are described as those who focus on career,…

Polar Winds

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-04-05

This VIS image shows 'streamers' of clouds created by katabatic winds at the north polar cap. Katabatic winds are created by cold air sinking at the pole and then speeding along the ice surface towards the edge of the polar cap. When the winds enter troughs the wind regime changes from laminar flow to choatic and clouds of ice particles and/or dust are visible. This wind activity peaks at the start of northern hemisphere summer. Orbit Number: 53942 Latitude: 86.8433 Longitude: 99.3149 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2014-02-10 10:50 https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22362

Marketing to the consumer: perspectives from the pharmaceutical industry.

PubMed

David, C

2001-01-01

Individualized health management is one of the most exciting challenges facing health care marketing today. Greater access to health information has empowered consumers to take more control of their health needs, creating a whole new landscape for marketers, manufacturers, and service providers. Customization is the key to creating marketing campaigns that successfully target today's health-conscious consumers. Drawing on individualized market intelligence and available genetic information, pharmaceutical companies are learning to tailor products to meet the needs of this growing market.

The Hall effect in star formation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Braiding, C. R.; Wardle, M.

2012-05-01

Magnetic fields play an important role in star formation by regulating the removal of angular momentum from collapsing molecular cloud cores. Hall diffusion is known to be important to the magnetic field behaviour at many of the intermediate densities and field strengths encountered during the gravitational collapse of molecular cloud cores into protostars, and yet its role in the star formation process is not well studied. We present a semianalytic self-similar model of the collapse of rotating isothermal molecular cloud cores with both Hall and ambipolar diffusion, and similarity solutions that demonstrate the profound influence of the Hall effect on the dynamics of collapse. The solutions show that the size and sign of the Hall parameter can change the size of the protostellar disc by up to an order of magnitude and the protostellar accretion rate by 50 per cent when the ratio of the Hall to ambipolar diffusivities is varied between -0.5 ≤ηH/ηA≤ 0.2. These changes depend upon the orientation of the magnetic field with respect to the axis of rotation and create a preferred handedness to the solutions that could be observed in protostellar cores using next-generation instruments such as ALMA. Hall diffusion also determines the strength and position of the shocks that bound the pseudo and rotationally supported discs, and can introduce subshocks that further slow accretion on to the protostar. In cores that are not initially rotating (not examined here), Hall diffusion can even induce rotation, which could give rise to disc formation and resolve the magnetic braking catastrophe. The Hall effect clearly influences the dynamics of gravitational collapse and its role in controlling the magnetic braking and radial diffusion of the field merits further exploration in numerical simulations of star formation.

Fantastic Striations and Where to Find Them: The Origin of Magnetically Aligned Striations in Interstellar Clouds

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

Chen, Che-Yu; Li, Zhi-Yun; King, Patrick K.

2017-10-01

Thin, magnetically aligned striations of relatively moderate contrast with the background are commonly observed in both atomic and molecular clouds. They are also prominent in MHD simulations with turbulent converging shocks. The simulated striations develop within a dense, stagnated sheet in the midplane of the post-shock region where magnetically induced converging flows collide. We show analytically that the secondary flows are an inevitable consequence of the jump conditions of oblique MHD shocks. They produce the stagnated, sheet-like sub-layer through a secondary shock when, roughly speaking, the Alfvénic speed in the primary converging flows is supersonic, a condition that is relativelymore » easy to satisfy in interstellar clouds. The dense sub-layer is naturally threaded by a strong magnetic field that lies close to the plane of the sub-layer. The substantial magnetic field makes the sheet highly anisotropic, which is the key to the striation formation. Specifically, perturbations of the primary inflow that vary spatially perpendicular to the magnetic field can easily roll up the sheet around the field lines without bending them, creating corrugations that appear as magnetically aligned striations in column density maps. On the other hand, perturbations that vary spatially along the field lines curve the sub-layer and alter its orientation relative to the magnetic field locally, seeding special locations that become slanted overdense filaments and prestellar cores through enhanced mass accumulation along field lines. In our scenario, the dense sub-layer, which is unique to magnetized oblique shocks, is the birthplace for both magnetically aligned diffuse striations and massive star-forming structures.« less

A descriptive narrative of healthy eating: a social marketing approach using psychographics in conjunction with interpersonal, community, mass media and new media activities.

PubMed

Dutta-Bergman, Mohar J

2003-01-01

This paper explores the profile of healthy and unhealthy eating consumers in terms of demographic, psychographic and communicative variables. Data from 3,388 respondents to the 1999 DDB Needham Life Style Study were analyzed. The results show the healthy eaters to be environmentally conscious and health-oriented, suggesting an underlying theme of personal and social responsibility. The communicative activities of healthy eaters demonstrate an information orientation while unhealthy eaters are more entertainment oriented. Practical and social implications are discussed for social marketers regarding target segmentation and message design.

Globules and pillars in Cygnus X. I. Herschel far-infrared imaging of the Cygnus OB2 environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schneider, N.; Bontemps, S.; Motte, F.; Blazere, A.; André, Ph.; Anderson, L. D.; Arzoumanian, D.; Comerón, F.; Didelon, P.; Di Francesco, J.; Duarte-Cabral, A.; Guarcello, M. G.; Hennemann, M.; Hill, T.; Könyves, V.; Marston, A.; Minier, V.; Rygl, K. L. J.; Röllig, M.; Roy, A.; Spinoglio, L.; Tremblin, P.; White, G. J.; Wright, N. J.

2016-06-01

The radiative feedback of massive stars on molecular clouds creates pillars, globules and other features at the interface between the H II region and molecular cloud. Optical and near-infrared observations from the ground as well as with the Hubble or Spitzer satellites have revealed numerous examples of such cloud structures. We present here Herschel far-infrared observations between 70 μm and 500 μm of the immediate environment of the rich Cygnus OB2 association, performed within the Herschel imaging survey of OB Young Stellar objects (HOBYS) program. All of the observed irradiated structures were detected based on their appearance at 70 μm, and have been classified as pillars, globules, evaporating gasous globules (EGGs), proplyd-like objects, and condensations. From the 70 μm and 160 μm flux maps, we derive the local far-ultraviolet (FUV) field on the photon dominated surfaces. In parallel, we use a census of the O-stars to estimate the overall FUV-field, that is 103-104 G0 (Habing field) close to the central OB cluster (within 10 pc) and decreases down to a few tens G0, in a distance of 50 pc. From a spectral energy distribution (SED) fit to the four longest Herschel wavelengths, we determine column density and temperature maps and derive masses, volume densities and surface densities for these structures. We find that the morphological classification corresponds to distinct physical properties. Pillars and globules are massive (~500 M⊙) and large (equivalent radius r ~ 0.6 pc) structures, corresponding to what is defined as "clumps" for molecular clouds. EGGs and proplyd-likeobjects are smaller (r ~ 0.1 and 0.2 pc) and less massive (~10 and ~30 M⊙). Cloud condensations are small (~0.1 pc), have an average mass of 35 M⊙, are dense (~6 × 104 cm-3), and can thus be described as molecular cloud "cores". All pillars and globules are oriented toward the Cyg OB2 association center and have the longest estimated photoevaporation lifetimes, a few million years, while all other features should survive less than a million years. These lifetimes are consistent with that found in simulations of turbulent, UV-illuminated clouds. We propose a tentative evolutionary scheme in which pillars can evolve into globules, which in turn then evolve into EGGs, condensations and proplyd-like objects. Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA.

Transit Marketing : A Program of Research, Demonstration and Communication

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1985-04-01

This report recommends a five-year program of research, demonstration, and communication to improve the effectiveness of marketing practice in the U.S. transit industry. The program is oriented toward the development of improved market research tools...

Supply side management innovation: —Analysis on Enterprises in Scientific Industry Park Based on Market Orientation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Xing; Mao, Fenlan; Lin, Mian; Yadi, Nan

2017-12-01

This research presents a conceptual framework for incorporating organizational learning and innovations as the mediating variables between market orientation and organizational performance. The samples of this study include 145 companies from the information technology industry in the Scientific Industry Parks. The global model fit is acceptable. This empirical result supports the constructs mentioned above. 1. Market orientation has a positive and direct impact on organizational learning, administrative and technical innovation. 2. Organizational learning has a positive and direct impact on administrative and technical innovation, but with no statistically significant direct impact on performance. 3. Organizational learning does have a positive and indirect impact on performance by means of organizational innovations. 4. It is not statistically significant that the impact of the two innovation types (both administrative and technical) interact with each other.

A Review Study on Cloud Computing Issues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kanaan Kadhim, Qusay; Yusof, Robiah; Sadeq Mahdi, Hamid; Al-shami, Sayed Samer Ali; Rahayu Selamat, Siti

2018-05-01

Cloud computing is the most promising current implementation of utility computing in the business world, because it provides some key features over classic utility computing, such as elasticity to allow clients dynamically scale-up and scale-down the resources in execution time. Nevertheless, cloud computing is still in its premature stage and experiences lack of standardization. The security issues are the main challenges to cloud computing adoption. Thus, critical industries such as government organizations (ministries) are reluctant to trust cloud computing due to the fear of losing their sensitive data, as it resides on the cloud with no knowledge of data location and lack of transparency of Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) mechanisms used to secure their data and applications which have created a barrier against adopting this agile computing paradigm. This study aims to review and classify the issues that surround the implementation of cloud computing which a hot area that needs to be addressed by future research.

76 FR 16811 - Notice of Realty Action: Application for a Recordable Disclaimer of Interest in Land; Wyoming

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-25

... in the County. The cloud on the title for these parcels was created by the Snake River RMP which... interest in the above described land and issuance of the proposed disclaimer would help remove the cloud on...

Open Source Cloud-Based Technologies for Bim

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Logothetis, S.; Karachaliou, E.; Valari, E.; Stylianidis, E.

2018-05-01

This paper presents a Cloud-based open source system for storing and processing data from a 3D survey approach. More specifically, we provide an online service for viewing, storing and analysing BIM. Cloud technologies were used to develop a web interface as a BIM data centre, which can handle large BIM data using a server. The server can be accessed by many users through various electronic devices anytime and anywhere so they can view online 3D models using browsers. Nowadays, the Cloud computing is engaged progressively in facilitating BIM-based collaboration between the multiple stakeholders and disciplinary groups for complicated Architectural, Engineering and Construction (AEC) projects. Besides, the development of Open Source Software (OSS) has been rapidly growing and their use tends to be united. Although BIM and Cloud technologies are extensively known and used, there is a lack of integrated open source Cloud-based platforms able to support all stages of BIM processes. The present research aims to create an open source Cloud-based BIM system that is able to handle geospatial data. In this effort, only open source tools will be used; from the starting point of creating the 3D model with FreeCAD to its online presentation through BIMserver. Python plug-ins will be developed to link the two software which will be distributed and freely available to a large community of professional for their use. The research work will be completed by benchmarking four Cloud-based BIM systems: Autodesk BIM 360, BIMserver, Graphisoft BIMcloud and Onuma System, which present remarkable results.

LUPUS I observations from the 2010 flight of the Balloon-borne large aperture submillimeter telescope for polarimetry

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

Matthews, Tristan G.; Chapman, Nicholas L.; Novak, Giles

2014-04-01

The Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope for Polarimetry (BLASTPol) was created by adding polarimetric capability to the BLAST experiment that was flown in 2003, 2005, and 2006. BLASTPol inherited BLAST's 1.8 m primary and its Herschel/SPIRE heritage focal plane that allows simultaneous observation at 250, 350, and 500 μm. We flew BLASTPol in 2010 and again in 2012. Both were long duration Antarctic flights. Here we present polarimetry of the nearby filamentary dark cloud Lupus I obtained during the 2010 flight. Despite limitations imposed by the effects of a damaged optical component, we were able to clearly detect submillimeter polarizationmore » on degree scales. We compare the resulting BLASTPol magnetic field map with a similar map made via optical polarimetry. (The optical data were published in 1998 by J. Rizzo and collaborators.) The two maps partially overlap and are reasonably consistent with one another. We compare these magnetic field maps to the orientations of filaments in Lupus I, and we find that the dominant filament in the cloud is approximately perpendicular to the large-scale field, while secondary filaments appear to run parallel to the magnetic fields in their vicinities. This is similar to what is observed in Serpens South via near-IR polarimetry, and consistent with what is seen in MHD simulations by F. Nakamura and Z. Li.« less

Perceptions of Ebola virus disease in Nigeria: Understanding the influence of imagination on health orientation.

PubMed

Oduyemi, Rachael O; Ayegboyin, Matthew; Salami, Kabiru K

2016-06-01

The 2014 Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak was officially declared in the West Africa region by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 23 March 2014. This first episode of EVD in Nigeria on 20 July 2014 raised more intense panic globally than the seven occurrences of the disease in Zaire. Although Nigeria was declared Ebola free by the WHO within 3 months, it is imperative to understand people's perceptions of the disease in the country. A discussion of peoples' perception of EVD in Nigeria is the aim of this article. This discussion paper complements secondary data with grey literature to explore how peoples' imagination and personification of thoughts influence their health orientation. Data are sourced from secondary information compiled from 'The Nation Newspaper, 2014'; 'Nairaland online forum, 2014' and 'Giftedgreen online magazine, 2014'. Ebola virus disease was perceived as a spiritual manipulation of witchcraft activities and described as biological terrorism and a means of creating a drug market, among other issues, in the country. Public health professionals should consider the sociocultural milieu to understand and offer health-care services in epidemics. Public health orientation work is urgently required in Nigeria to forestall future occurrence of EVD and other highly infectious diseases. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

Cloud detection method for Chinese moderate high resolution satellite imagery (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhong, Bo; Chen, Wuhan; Wu, Shanlong; Liu, Qinhuo

2016-10-01

Cloud detection of satellite imagery is very important for quantitative remote sensing research and remote sensing applications. However, many satellite sensors don't have enough bands for a quick, accurate, and simple detection of clouds. Particularly, the newly launched moderate to high spatial resolution satellite sensors of China, such as the charge-coupled device on-board the Chinese Huan Jing 1 (HJ-1/CCD) and the wide field of view (WFV) sensor on-board the Gao Fen 1 (GF-1), only have four available bands including blue, green, red, and near infrared bands, which are far from the requirements of most could detection methods. In order to solve this problem, an improved and automated cloud detection method for Chinese satellite sensors called OCM (Object oriented Cloud and cloud-shadow Matching method) is presented in this paper. It firstly modified the Automatic Cloud Cover Assessment (ACCA) method, which was developed for Landsat-7 data, to get an initial cloud map. The modified ACCA method is mainly based on threshold and different threshold setting produces different cloud map. Subsequently, a strict threshold is used to produce a cloud map with high confidence and large amount of cloud omission and a loose threshold is used to produce a cloud map with low confidence and large amount of commission. Secondly, a corresponding cloud-shadow map is also produced using the threshold of near-infrared band. Thirdly, the cloud maps and cloud-shadow map are transferred to cloud objects and cloud-shadow objects. Cloud and cloud-shadow are usually in pairs; consequently, the final cloud and cloud-shadow maps are made based on the relationship between cloud and cloud-shadow objects. OCM method was tested using almost 200 HJ-1/CCD images across China and the overall accuracy of cloud detection is close to 90%.

Pose estimation and tracking of non-cooperative rocket bodies using Time-of-Flight cameras

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gómez Martínez, Harvey; Giorgi, Gabriele; Eissfeller, Bernd

2017-10-01

This paper presents a methodology for estimating the position and orientation of a rocket body in orbit - the target - undergoing a roto-translational motion, with respect to a chaser spacecraft, whose task is to match the target dynamics for a safe rendezvous. During the rendezvous maneuver the chaser employs a Time-of-Flight camera that acquires a point cloud of 3D coordinates mapping the sensed target surface. Once the system identifies the target, it initializes the chaser-to-target relative position and orientation. After initialization, a tracking procedure enables the system to sense the evolution of the target's pose between frames. The proposed algorithm is evaluated using simulated point clouds, generated with a CAD model of the Cosmos-3M upper stage and the PMD CamCube 3.0 camera specifications.

Implementation of Virtualization Oriented Architecture: A Healthcare Industry Case Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rao, G. Subrahmanya Vrk; Parthasarathi, Jinka; Karthik, Sundararaman; Rao, Gvn Appa; Ganesan, Suresh

This paper presents a Virtualization Oriented Architecture (VOA) and an implementation of VOA for Hridaya - a Telemedicine initiative. Hadoop Compute cloud was established at our labs and jobs which require a massive computing capability such as ECG signal analysis were submitted and the study is presented in this current paper. VOA takes advantage of inexpensive community PCs and provides added advantages such as Fault Tolerance, Scalability, Performance, High Availability.

Band registration of tuneable frame format hyperspectral UAV imagers in complex scenes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Honkavaara, Eija; Rosnell, Tomi; Oliveira, Raquel; Tommaselli, Antonio

2017-12-01

A recent revolution in miniaturised sensor technology has provided markets with novel hyperspectral imagers operating in the frame format principle. In the case of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) based remote sensing, the frame format technology is highly attractive in comparison to the commonly utilised pushbroom scanning technology, because it offers better stability and the possibility to capture stereoscopic data sets, bringing an opportunity for 3D hyperspectral object reconstruction. Tuneable filters are one of the approaches for capturing multi- or hyperspectral frame images. The individual bands are not aligned when operating a sensor based on tuneable filters from a mobile platform, such as UAV, because the full spectrum recording is carried out in the time-sequential principle. The objective of this investigation was to study the aspects of band registration of an imager based on tuneable filters and to develop a rigorous and efficient approach for band registration in complex 3D scenes, such as forests. The method first determines the orientations of selected reference bands and reconstructs the 3D scene using structure-from-motion and dense image matching technologies. The bands, without orientation, are then matched to the oriented bands accounting the 3D scene to provide exterior orientations, and afterwards, hyperspectral orthomosaics, or hyperspectral point clouds, are calculated. The uncertainty aspects of the novel approach were studied. An empirical assessment was carried out in a forested environment using hyperspectral images captured with a hyperspectral 2D frame format camera, based on a tuneable Fabry-Pérot interferometer (FPI) on board a multicopter and supported by a high spatial resolution consumer colour camera. A theoretical assessment showed that the method was capable of providing band registration accuracy better than 0.5-pixel size. The empirical assessment proved the performance and showed that, with the novel method, most parts of the band misalignments were less than the pixel size. Furthermore, it was shown that the performance of the band alignment was dependent on the spatial distance from the reference band.

Using Prediction Markets to Track Information Flows: Evidence from Google

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cowgill, Bo; Wolfers, Justin; Zitzewitz, Eric

Since 2005, Google has conducted the largest corporate experiment with prediction markets we are aware of. In this paper, we illustrate how markets can be used to study how an organization processes information. We show that market participants are not typical of Google’s workforce, and that market participation and success is skewed towards Google’s engineering and quantitatively oriented employees.

Building a Semantic Framework for eScience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Movva, S.; Ramachandran, R.; Maskey, M.; Li, X.

2009-12-01

The e-Science vision focuses on the use of advanced computing technologies to support scientists. Recent research efforts in this area have focused primarily on “enabling” use of infrastructure resources for both data and computational access especially in Geosciences. One of the existing gaps in the existing e-Science efforts has been the failure to incorporate stable semantic technologies within the design process itself. In this presentation, we describe our effort in designing a framework for e-Science built using Service Oriented Architecture. Our framework provides users capabilities to create science workflows and mine distributed data. Our e-Science framework is being designed around a mass market tool to promote reusability across many projects. Semantics is an integral part of this framework and our design goal is to leverage the latest stable semantic technologies. The use of these stable semantic technologies will provide the users of our framework the useful features such as: allow search engines to find their content with RDFa tags; create RDF triple data store for their content; create RDF end points to share with others; and semantically mash their content with other online content available as RDF end point.

Clouds and hazes in exoplanets and brown dwarfs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morley, Caroline Victoria

The formation of clouds significantly alters the spectra of cool substellar atmospheres from terrestrial planets to brown dwarfs. In cool planets like Earth and Jupiter, volatile species like water and ammonia condense to form ice clouds. In hot planets and brown dwarfs, iron and silicates instead condense, forming dusty clouds. Irradiated methane-rich planets may have substantial hydrocarbon hazes. During my dissertation, I have studied the impact of clouds and hazes in a variety of substellar objects. First, I present results for cool brown dwarfs including clouds previously neglected in model atmospheres. Model spectra that include sulfide and salt clouds can match the spectra of T dwarf atmospheres; water ice clouds will alter the spectra of the newest and coldest brown dwarfs, the Y dwarfs. These sulfide/salt and ice clouds potentially drive spectroscopic variability in these cool objects, and this variability should be distinguishable from variability caused by hot spots. Next, I present results for small, cool exoplanets between the size of Earth and Neptune. They likely have sulfide and salt clouds and also have photochemical hazes caused by stellar irradiation. Vast resources have been dedicated to characterizing the handful of super Earths and Neptunes accessible to current telescopes, yet of the planets smaller than Neptune studied to date, all have radii in the near-infrared consistent with being constant in wavelength, likely showing that these small planets are consistently enshrouded in thick hazes and clouds. For the super Earth GJ 1214b, very thick, lofted clouds of salts or sulfides in high metallicity (1000x solar) atmospheres create featureless transmission spectra in the near-infrared. Photochemical hazes also create featureless transmission spectra at lower metallicities. For the Neptune-sized GJ 436b, its thermal emission and transmission spectra combine indicate a high metallicity atmosphere, potentially heated by tides and affected by disequilibrium chemistry. I show that despite the challenges, there are promising avenues for understanding small planets: by observing thermal emission and reflected light, we can break the degeneracies and con- strain the atmospheric compositions. These future observations will provide rich diagnostics of molecules and clouds in small planets.

The Impact of Clouds and Hazes in Substellar Atmospheres

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morley, Caroline; Fortney, Jonathan J.; Marley, Mark S.

2016-01-01

The formation of clouds significantly alters the spectra of cool substellar atmospheres from terrestrial planets to brown dwarfs. In cool planets like Earth and Jupiter, volatile species like water and ammonia condense to form ice clouds. In hot planets and brown dwarfs, iron and silicates instead condense, forming dusty clouds. Irradiated methane-rich planets may have substantial hydrocarbon hazes. During my thesis, I have studied the impact of clouds and hazes in a variety of substellar objects. First, I present results for cool brown dwarfs including clouds previously neglected in model atmospheres. Model spectra that include sulfide and salt clouds can match the spectra of T dwarf atmospheres; water ice clouds will alter the spectra of the newest and coldest brown dwarfs, the Y dwarfs. These sulfide/salt and ice clouds potentially drive spectroscopic variability in these cool objects, and this variability should be distinguishable from variability caused by hot spots.Next, I present results for small, cool exoplanets between the size of Earth and Neptune, so-called super Earths. They likely have sulfide and salt clouds and also have photochemical hazes caused by stellar irradiation. Vast resources have been dedicated to characterizing the handful of super Earths accessible to current telescopes, yet of the planets smaller than Neptune studied to date, all have radii in the near-infrared consistent with being constant in wavelength, likely showing that these small planets are consistently enshrouded in thick hazes and clouds. Very thick, lofted clouds of salts or sulfides in high metallicity (1000× solar) atmospheres create featureless transmission spectra in the near-infrared. Photochemical hazes with a range of particle sizes also create featureless transmission spectra at lower metallicities. I show that despite these challenges, there are promising avenues for understanding this class of small planets: by observing the thermal emission and reflectivity of small planets, we can break the degeneracies and better constrain the atmospheric compositions. These observations may provide rich diagnostics of molecules and clouds in small planets, in contrast to the limited success to date.

Data in the Cloud

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bull, Glen; Garofalo, Joe

2010-01-01

The ability to move from one representation of data to another is one of the key characteristics of expert mathematicians and scientists. Cloud computing will offer more opportunities to create and display multiple representations of data, making this skill even more important in the future. The advent of the Internet led to widespread…

To the Cloud! A Grassroots Proposal to Accelerate Brain Science Discovery

PubMed Central

Vogelstein, Joshua T.; Mensh, Brett; Hausser, Michael; Spruston, Nelson; Evans, Alan; Kording, Konrad; Amunts, Katrin; Ebell, Christoph; Muller, Jeff; Telefont, Martin; Hill, Sean; Koushika, Sandhya P.; Cali, Corrado; Valdés-Sosa, Pedro Antonio; Littlewood, Peter; Koch, Christof; Saalfeld, Stephan; Kepecs, Adam; Peng, Hanchuan; Halchenko, Yaroslav O.; Kiar, Gregory; Poo, Mu-Ming; Poline, Jean-Baptiste; Milham, Michael P.; Schaffer, Alyssa Picchini; Gidron, Rafi; Okano, Hideyuki; Calhoun, Vince D; Chun, Miyoung; Kleissas, Dean M.; Vogelstein, R. Jacob; Perlman, Eric; Burns, Randal; Huganir, Richard; Miller, Michael I.

2018-01-01

The revolution in neuroscientific data acquisition is creating an analysis challenge. We propose leveraging cloud-computing technologies to enable large-scale neurodata storing, exploring, analyzing, and modeling. This utility will empower scientists globally to generate and test theories of brain function and dysfunction. PMID:27810005

Can You Hear Me Now? Marketing Essentials for Audiologists in a Noisy Health Care World

PubMed Central

Rudden, DAnne

2016-01-01

Audiologists, even those with a strong acumen for business, are not traditionally taught the basics of creating a robust practice identity and dynamic marketing plan. This activity will teach learners how to create a distinct brand that separates them from others in a competitive and distracted marketplace. Additionally, learners will gain an understanding for how to blend traditional marketing tools with more modern online options and social media. Upon completion, learners will be familiar with the skills necessary to actively create, implement, and track the effectiveness of their marketing strategy using proven methodologies. PMID:28028325

Can You Hear Me Now? Marketing Essentials for Audiologists in a Noisy Health Care World.

PubMed

Rudden, DAnne

2016-11-01

Audiologists, even those with a strong acumen for business, are not traditionally taught the basics of creating a robust practice identity and dynamic marketing plan. This activity will teach learners how to create a distinct brand that separates them from others in a competitive and distracted marketplace. Additionally, learners will gain an understanding for how to blend traditional marketing tools with more modern online options and social media. Upon completion, learners will be familiar with the skills necessary to actively create, implement, and track the effectiveness of their marketing strategy using proven methodologies.

Is the Marketing Concept Unacceptable for Application in the Classroom?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bruner, Gordon C. II

1993-01-01

It is argued that the marketing concept should be applied to the student-teacher interaction in colleges and universities, focusing on marketing's consumer orientation, whereby the exchange process is driven by the desire of one party to satisfy the needs of the other. Relevant marketing mix variables are outlined. (MSE)

Decision Support for Personalized Cloud Service Selection through Multi-Attribute Trustworthiness Evaluation

PubMed Central

Ding, Shuai; Xia, Chen-Yi; Zhou, Kai-Le; Yang, Shan-Lin; Shang, Jennifer S.

2014-01-01

Facing a customer market with rising demands for cloud service dependability and security, trustworthiness evaluation techniques are becoming essential to cloud service selection. But these methods are out of the reach to most customers as they require considerable expertise. Additionally, since the cloud service evaluation is often a costly and time-consuming process, it is not practical to measure trustworthy attributes of all candidates for each customer. Many existing models cannot easily deal with cloud services which have very few historical records. In this paper, we propose a novel service selection approach in which the missing value prediction and the multi-attribute trustworthiness evaluation are commonly taken into account. By simply collecting limited historical records, the current approach is able to support the personalized trustworthy service selection. The experimental results also show that our approach performs much better than other competing ones with respect to the customer preference and expectation in trustworthiness assessment. PMID:24972237

Decision support for personalized cloud service selection through multi-attribute trustworthiness evaluation.

PubMed

Ding, Shuai; Xia, Cheng-Yi; Xia, Chen-Yi; Zhou, Kai-Le; Yang, Shan-Lin; Shang, Jennifer S

2014-01-01

Facing a customer market with rising demands for cloud service dependability and security, trustworthiness evaluation techniques are becoming essential to cloud service selection. But these methods are out of the reach to most customers as they require considerable expertise. Additionally, since the cloud service evaluation is often a costly and time-consuming process, it is not practical to measure trustworthy attributes of all candidates for each customer. Many existing models cannot easily deal with cloud services which have very few historical records. In this paper, we propose a novel service selection approach in which the missing value prediction and the multi-attribute trustworthiness evaluation are commonly taken into account. By simply collecting limited historical records, the current approach is able to support the personalized trustworthy service selection. The experimental results also show that our approach performs much better than other competing ones with respect to the customer preference and expectation in trustworthiness assessment.

Evaluation of the Huawei UDS cloud storage system for CERN specific data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zotes Resines, M.; Heikkila, S. S.; Duellmann, D.; Adde, G.; Toebbicke, R.; Hughes, J.; Wang, L.

2014-06-01

Cloud storage is an emerging architecture aiming to provide increased scalability and access performance, compared to more traditional solutions. CERN is evaluating this promise using Huawei UDS and OpenStack SWIFT storage deployments, focusing on the needs of high-energy physics. Both deployed setups implement S3, one of the protocols that are emerging as a standard in the cloud storage market. A set of client machines is used to generate I/O load patterns to evaluate the storage system performance. The presented read and write test results indicate scalability both in metadata and data perspectives. Futher the Huawei UDS cloud storage is shown to be able to recover from a major failure of losing 16 disks. Both cloud storages are finally demonstrated to function as back-end storage systems to a filesystem, which is used to deliver high energy physics software.

Exploring structures of the Rochefort Cave (Belgium) with 3D models from LIDAR scans and UAV photoscans.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Watlet, A.; Triantafyllou, A.; Kaufmann, O.; Le Mouelic, S.

2016-12-01

Amongst today's techniques that are able to produce 3D point clouds, LIDAR and UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) photogrammetry are probably the most commonly used. Both methods have their own advantages and limitations. LIDAR scans create high resolution and high precision 3D point clouds, but such methods are generally costly, especially for sporadic surveys. Compared to LIDAR, UAV (e.g. drones) are cheap and flexible to use in different types of environments. Moreover, the photogrammetric processing workflow of digital images taken with UAV becomes easier with the rise of many affordable software packages (e.g., Agisoft PhotoScan, MicMac, VisualSFM). In this canvas, we present a challenging study made at the Rochefort Cave Laboratory (South Belgium) comprising surface and underground surveys. The main chamber of the cave ( 10000 m³) was the principal target of the study. A LIDAR scan and an UAV photoscan were acquired underground, producing respective 3D models. An additional 3D photoscan was performed at the surface, in the sinkhole in direct connection with the main chamber. The main goal of the project is to combine this different datasets for quantifying the orientation of inaccessible geological structures (e.g. faults, tectonic and gravitational joints, and sediments bedding), and for comparing them to structural data surveyed on the field. To go through structural interpretations, we used a subsampling method merging neighboured model polygons that have similar orientations, allowing statistical analyses of polygons spatial distribution. The benefit of this method is to verify the spatial continuity of in-situ structural measurements to larger scale. Roughness and colorimetric/spectral analyses may also be of great interest for several geosciences purposes by discriminating different facies among the geological beddings. Amongst others, this study was helpful to precise the local petrophysical properties associated with particular geological layers, what improved interpreting results from an ERT monitoring of the karst hydrological processes in terms of groundwater content.

Assimilation of Satellite to Improve Cloud Simulation in Wrf Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, Y. H.; Pour Biazar, A.; McNider, R. T.

2012-12-01

A simple approach has been introduced to improve cloud simulation spatially and temporally in a meteorological model. The first step for this approach is to use Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) observations to identify clouds and estimate the clouds structure. Then by comparing GOES observations to model cloud field, we identify areas in which model has under-predicted or over-predicted clouds. Next, by introducing subsidence in areas with over-prediction and lifting in areas with under-prediction, erroneous clouds are removed and new clouds are formed. The technique estimates a vertical velocity needed for the cloud correction and then uses a one dimensional variation schemes (1D_Var) to calculate the horizontal divergence components and the consequent horizontal wind components needed to sustain such vertical velocity. Finally, the new horizontal winds are provided as a nudging field to the model. This nudging provides the dynamical support needed to create/clear clouds in a sustainable manner. The technique was implemented and tested in the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) Model and resulted in substantial improvement in model simulated clouds. Some of the results are presented here.

The registration of non-cooperative moving targets laser point cloud in different view point

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Shuai; Sun, Huayan; Guo, Huichao

2018-01-01

Non-cooperative moving target multi-view cloud registration is the key technology of 3D reconstruction of laser threedimension imaging. The main problem is that the density changes greatly and noise exists under different acquisition conditions of point cloud. In this paper, firstly, the feature descriptor is used to find the most similar point cloud, and then based on the registration algorithm of region segmentation, the geometric structure of the point is extracted by the geometric similarity between point and point, The point cloud is divided into regions based on spectral clustering, feature descriptors are created for each region, searching to find the most similar regions in the most similar point of view cloud, and then aligning the pair of point clouds by aligning their minimum bounding boxes. Repeat the above steps again until registration of all point clouds is completed. Experiments show that this method is insensitive to the density of point clouds and performs well on the noise of laser three-dimension imaging.

Creating a Market.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kazimirski, J.; And Others

The second in a series of programmed books, "Creating a Market" is published by the International Labour Office as a manual for persons studying marketing. This manual was designed to meet the needs of the labor organization's technical cooperation programs and is primarily concerned with consumer goods industries. Using a fill-in-the-blanks and…

The Role of Networks in Cloud Computing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Geng; Devine, Mac

The confluence of technology advancements and business developments in Broadband Internet, Web services, computing systems, and application software over the past decade has created a perfect storm for cloud computing. The "cloud model" of delivering and consuming IT functions as services is poised to fundamentally transform the IT industry and rebalance the inter-relationships among end users, enterprise IT, software companies, and the service providers in the IT ecosystem (Armbrust et al., 2009; Lin, Fu, Zhu, & Dasmalchi, 2009).

ScipionCloud: An integrative and interactive gateway for large scale cryo electron microscopy image processing on commercial and academic clouds.

PubMed

Cuenca-Alba, Jesús; Del Cano, Laura; Gómez Blanco, Josué; de la Rosa Trevín, José Miguel; Conesa Mingo, Pablo; Marabini, Roberto; S Sorzano, Carlos Oscar; Carazo, Jose María

2017-10-01

New instrumentation for cryo electron microscopy (cryoEM) has significantly increased data collection rate as well as data quality, creating bottlenecks at the image processing level. Current image processing model of moving the acquired images from the data source (electron microscope) to desktops or local clusters for processing is encountering many practical limitations. However, computing may also take place in distributed and decentralized environments. In this way, cloud is a new form of accessing computing and storage resources on demand. Here, we evaluate on how this new computational paradigm can be effectively used by extending our current integrative framework for image processing, creating ScipionCloud. This new development has resulted in a full installation of Scipion both in public and private clouds, accessible as public "images", with all the required preinstalled cryoEM software, just requiring a Web browser to access all Graphical User Interfaces. We have profiled the performance of different configurations on Amazon Web Services and the European Federated Cloud, always on architectures incorporating GPU's, and compared them with a local facility. We have also analyzed the economical convenience of different scenarios, so cryoEM scientists have a clearer picture of the setup that is best suited for their needs and budgets. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An Efficient Method to Create Digital Terrain Models from Point Clouds Collected by Mobile LiDAR Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gézero, L.; Antunes, C.

2017-05-01

The digital terrain models (DTM) assume an essential role in all types of road maintenance, water supply and sanitation projects. The demand of such information is more significant in developing countries, where the lack of infrastructures is higher. In recent years, the use of Mobile LiDAR Systems (MLS) proved to be a very efficient technique in the acquisition of precise and dense point clouds. These point clouds can be a solution to obtain the data for the production of DTM in remote areas, due mainly to the safety, precision, speed of acquisition and the detail of the information gathered. However, the point clouds filtering and algorithms to separate "terrain points" from "no terrain points", quickly and consistently, remain a challenge that has caught the interest of researchers. This work presents a method to create the DTM from point clouds collected by MLS. The method is based in two interactive steps. The first step of the process allows reducing the cloud point to a set of points that represent the terrain's shape, being the distance between points inversely proportional to the terrain variation. The second step is based on the Delaunay triangulation of the points resulting from the first step. The achieved results encourage a wider use of this technology as a solution for large scale DTM production in remote areas.

Cloud-Resolving Model Simulations of Aerosol-Cloud Interactions Triggered by Strong Aerosol Emissions in the Arctic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, H.; Kravitz, B.; Rasch, P. J.; Morrison, H.; Solomon, A.

2014-12-01

Previous process-oriented modeling studies have highlighted the dependence of effectiveness of cloud brightening by aerosols on cloud regimes in warm marine boundary layer. Cloud microphysical processes in clouds that contain ice, and hence the mechanisms that drive aerosol-cloud interactions, are more complicated than in warm clouds. Interactions between ice particles and liquid drops add additional levels of complexity to aerosol effects. A cloud-resolving model is used to study aerosol-cloud interactions in the Arctic triggered by strong aerosol emissions, through either geoengineering injection or concentrated sources such as shipping and fires. An updated cloud microphysical scheme with prognostic aerosol and cloud particle numbers is employed. Model simulations are performed in pure super-cooled liquid and mixed-phase clouds, separately, with or without an injection of aerosols into either a clean or a more polluted Arctic boundary layer. Vertical mixing and cloud scavenging of particles injected from the surface is still quite efficient in the less turbulent cold environment. Overall, the injection of aerosols into the Arctic boundary layer can delay the collapse of the boundary layer and increase low-cloud albedo. The pure liquid clouds are more susceptible to the increase in aerosol number concentration than the mixed-phase clouds. Rain production processes are more effectively suppressed by aerosol injection, whereas ice precipitation (snow) is affected less; thus the effectiveness of brightening mixed-phase clouds is lower than for liquid-only clouds. Aerosol injection into a clean boundary layer results in a greater cloud albedo increase than injection into a polluted one, consistent with current knowledge about aerosol-cloud interactions. Unlike previous studies investigating warm clouds, the impact of dynamical feedback due to precipitation changes is small. According to these results, which are dependent upon the representation of ice nucleation processes in the employed microphysical scheme, Arctic geoengineering/shipping could have substantial local radiative effects, but is unlikely to be effective as the sole means of counterbalancing warming due to climate change.

Marketing Nature-Oriented Tourism or Rural Development and Wildlands Management in Developing Countries: A Bibliography

Treesearch

C. Denise Ingram; Patrick B. Durst

1987-01-01

Annotated bibliography that specifically links tourism marketing and wildlands management. The bibliography is divided into five sections: Information Sources, Wildlands Management, Planning and Development, Tourism Impacts, Marketing and Promotion.Indexed by author and geographical location.

Ice particle morphology and microphysical properties of cirrus clouds inferred from combined CALIOP-IIR measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saito, Masanori; Iwabuchi, Hironobu; Yang, Ping; Tang, Guanglin; King, Michael D.; Sekiguchi, Miho

2017-04-01

Ice particle morphology and microphysical properties of cirrus clouds are essential for assessing radiative forcing associated with these clouds. We develop an optimal estimation-based algorithm to infer cirrus cloud optical thickness (COT), cloud effective radius (CER), plate fraction including quasi-horizontally oriented plates (HOPs), and the degree of surface roughness from the Cloud Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) and the Infrared Imaging Radiometer (IIR) on the Cloud Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) platform. A simple but realistic ice particle model is used, and the relevant bulk optical properties are computed using state-of-the-art light-scattering computational capabilities. Rigorous estimation of uncertainties related to surface properties, atmospheric gases, and cloud heterogeneity is performed. The results based on the present method show that COTs are quite consistent with other satellite products and CERs essentially agree with the other counterparts. A 1 month global analysis for April 2007, in which CALIPSO off-nadir angle is 0.3°, shows that the HOP has significant temperature-dependence and is critical to the lidar ratio when cloud temperature is warmer than -40°C. The lidar ratio is calculated from the bulk optical properties based on the inferred parameters, showing robust temperature dependence. The median lidar ratio of cirrus clouds is 27-31 sr over the globe.

Interannual variability of the global net radiation balance and its consequence on global energy transport

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Eric A.; Sohn, B. J.

1990-01-01

Global cloudiness and radiation budget data from Nimbus 6 and 7 are used to investigate the role of cloud and surface radiative forcing and elements of the earth's general circulation. Although globally integrated cloud forcing is nearly zero, there are large regional imbalances and well regulated processes in the shortwave and longwave spectrum that control the meridional gradient structure of the net radiation balance and the factors modulating the east-west oriented North Africa-western Pacific energy transport dipole. The analysis demonstrates that clouds play a dual role in both the shortwave and longwave spectra in terms of tropical and midlatitude east-west gradients. The key result is that cloud forcing, although not always the principle regulator of interannual variability of the global climate, serves to reinforce the basic three-cell meridional circulation.

Design of exploration and minerals-data-collection programs in developing areas

USGS Publications Warehouse

Attanasi, E.D.

1981-01-01

This paper considers the practical problem of applying economic analysis to designing minerals exploration and data collection strategies for developing countries. Formal decision rules for the design of government exploration and minerals-data-collection programs are derived by using a minerals-industry planning model that has been extended to include an exploration function. Rules derived are applicable to centrally planned minerals industries as well as market-oriented minerals sectors. They pertain to the spatial allocation of exploration effort and to the allocation of activities between government and private concerns for market-oriented economies. Programs characterized by uniform expenditures, uniform information coverage across regions, or uniform-density grid drilling progrmas are shown to be inferior to the strategy derived. Moreover, for market-oriented economies, the economically optimal mix in exploration activities between private and government data collection would require that only private firms assess local sites and that government agencies carry out regional surveys. ?? 1981.

Investigation into Cloud Computing for More Robust Automated Bulk Image Geoprocessing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brown, Richard B.; Smoot, James C.; Underwood, Lauren; Armstrong, C. Duane

2012-01-01

Geospatial resource assessments frequently require timely geospatial data processing that involves large multivariate remote sensing data sets. In particular, for disasters, response requires rapid access to large data volumes, substantial storage space and high performance processing capability. The processing and distribution of this data into usable information products requires a processing pipeline that can efficiently manage the required storage, computing utilities, and data handling requirements. In recent years, with the availability of cloud computing technology, cloud processing platforms have made available a powerful new computing infrastructure resource that can meet this need. To assess the utility of this resource, this project investigates cloud computing platforms for bulk, automated geoprocessing capabilities with respect to data handling and application development requirements. This presentation is of work being conducted by Applied Sciences Program Office at NASA-Stennis Space Center. A prototypical set of image manipulation and transformation processes that incorporate sample Unmanned Airborne System data were developed to create value-added products and tested for implementation on the "cloud". This project outlines the steps involved in creating and testing of open source software developed process code on a local prototype platform, and then transitioning this code with associated environment requirements into an analogous, but memory and processor enhanced cloud platform. A data processing cloud was used to store both standard digital camera panchromatic and multi-band image data, which were subsequently subjected to standard image processing functions such as NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), NDMI (Normalized Difference Moisture Index), band stacking, reprojection, and other similar type data processes. Cloud infrastructure service providers were evaluated by taking these locally tested processing functions, and then applying them to a given cloud-enabled infrastructure to assesses and compare environment setup options and enabled technologies. This project reviews findings that were observed when cloud platforms were evaluated for bulk geoprocessing capabilities based on data handling and application development requirements.

Measuring Filament Orientation: A New Quantitative, Local Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Green, C.-E.; Dawson, J. R.; Cunningham, M. R.; Jones, P. A.; Novak, G.; Fissel, L. M.

2017-09-01

The relative orientation between filamentary structures in molecular clouds and the ambient magnetic field provides insight into filament formation and stability. To calculate the relative orientation, a measurement of filament orientation is first required. We propose a new method to calculate the orientation of the one-pixel-wide filament skeleton that is output by filament identification algorithms such as filfinder. We derive the local filament orientation from the direction of the intensity gradient in the skeleton image using the Sobel filter and a few simple post-processing steps. We call this the “Sobel-gradient method.” The resulting filament orientation map can be compared quantitatively on a local scale with the magnetic field orientation map to then find the relative orientation of the filament with respect to the magnetic field at each point along the filament. It can also be used for constructing radial profiles for filament width fitting. The proposed method facilitates automation in analyses of filament skeletons, which is imperative in this era of “big data.”

LSAH: a fast and efficient local surface feature for point cloud registration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, Rongrong; Zhu, Feng; Wu, Qingxiao; Kong, Yanzi

2018-04-01

Point cloud registration is a fundamental task in high level three dimensional applications. Noise, uneven point density and varying point cloud resolutions are the three main challenges for point cloud registration. In this paper, we design a robust and compact local surface descriptor called Local Surface Angles Histogram (LSAH) and propose an effectively coarse to fine algorithm for point cloud registration. The LSAH descriptor is formed by concatenating five normalized sub-histograms into one histogram. The five sub-histograms are created by accumulating a different type of angle from a local surface patch respectively. The experimental results show that our LSAH is more robust to uneven point density and point cloud resolutions than four state-of-the-art local descriptors in terms of feature matching. Moreover, we tested our LSAH based coarse to fine algorithm for point cloud registration. The experimental results demonstrate that our algorithm is robust and efficient as well.

Optical polarimetry and molecular line studies of L1157 dark molecular cloud

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharma, Ekta; Soam, Archana; Gopinathan, Maheswar

2018-04-01

Filaments are omnipresent in molecular clouds which are believed to fragment into cores. The detailed process of the evolution from filaments to cores depends critically on the physical conditions in the star forming region. This study aims at characterising gas motions using velocity structure and finding the dynamical importance of magnetic fields in the filament morphology. The plane-of-the-sky component of the magnetic field has been measured using optical polarization of the background stars. The orientation is found to be almost perpendicular to the filament implying its dynamical importance in the evolution of the cloud. Optical polarimetric results match very well with the sub millimetre polarization angles obtained in the inner core regions. The magnetic fields are found to have an orientation of 130° east with respect to north. The angular offset between the outflow axis and the magnetic field direction is found to be 25°. Values for parameters like the excitation temperature, optical depth and column densities have been derived using molecular lines. Optically thick lines show non-gaussian features. The non-thermal widths tell about the presence of turbulent motions whereas the C180 lines follow Gaussian features almost at all the locations observed in the filament.

ULF geomagnetic activity effects on tropospheric temperature, specific humidity, and cloud cover in Antarctica, during 2003-2010

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Regi, Mauro; Redaelli, Gianluca; Francia, Patrizia; De Lauretis, Marcello

2017-06-01

In the present study we investigated the possible relationship between the ULF geomagnetic activity and the variations of several atmospheric parameters. In particular, we compared the ULF activity in the Pc1-2 frequency band (100 mHz-5 Hz), computed from geomagnetic field measurements at Terra Nova Bay in Antarctica, with the tropospheric temperature T, specific humidity Q, and cloud cover (high cloud cover, medium cloud cover, and low cloud cover) obtained from reanalysis data set. The statistical analysis was conducted during the years 2003-2010, using correlation and Superposed Epoch Analysis approaches. The results show that the atmospheric parameters significantly change following the increase of geomagnetic activity within 2 days. These changes are evident in particular when the interplanetary magnetic field Bz component is oriented southward (Bz<0) and the By component duskward (By>0). We suggest that both the precipitation of electrons induced by Pc1-2 activity and the intensification of the polar cap potential difference, modulating the microphysical processes in the clouds, can affect the atmosphere conditions.

Brute Force Matching Between Camera Shots and Synthetic Images from Point Clouds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boerner, R.; Kröhnert, M.

2016-06-01

3D point clouds, acquired by state-of-the-art terrestrial laser scanning techniques (TLS), provide spatial information about accuracies up to several millimetres. Unfortunately, common TLS data has no spectral information about the covered scene. However, the matching of TLS data with images is important for monoplotting purposes and point cloud colouration. Well-established methods solve this issue by matching of close range images and point cloud data by fitting optical camera systems on top of laser scanners or rather using ground control points. The approach addressed in this paper aims for the matching of 2D image and 3D point cloud data from a freely moving camera within an environment covered by a large 3D point cloud, e.g. a 3D city model. The key advantage of the free movement affects augmented reality applications or real time measurements. Therefore, a so-called real image, captured by a smartphone camera, has to be matched with a so-called synthetic image which consists of reverse projected 3D point cloud data to a synthetic projection centre whose exterior orientation parameters match the parameters of the image, assuming an ideal distortion free camera.

Research You Can Use: Marketing to Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walter, Virginia A.

1994-01-01

Examines marketing literature for profit-oriented organizations and discusses how those principles can be applied to public library services for children. Topics addressed include children as a source of revenue; market research; product development; promotion; retailing; and implications for public libraries, including population trends and…

Higher Education Markets and Public Policy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dill, David D.

1997-01-01

This paper explores the nature of markets in higher education, the policy mechanisms related to their implementation, and questions regarding their impact. Various forms of market-oriented policy instruments now employed in many countries are reviewed including taxes, subsidies, and regulations. Potential problems limiting the impact of…

Does Your Library Have an Attitude Problem towards "Marketing"? Revealing Inter-Relationship between Marketing Attitudes and Behaviour

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Singh, Rajesh

2009-01-01

This paper attempts to find if there is any connection between the marketing attitudes and behaviour of librarians in thirty-three different libraries of Finland. Based on market-oriented behaviour, three kinds of libraries were found: "strong," "medium" and "weak." The findings indicate a positive relation between…

Market segmentation and analysis of Japan's residential post and beam construction market.

Treesearch

Joseph A. Roos; Ivan L. Eastin; Hisaaki Matsuguma

2005-01-01

A mail survey of Japanese post and beam builders was conducted to measure their level of ethnocentrism, market orientation, risk aversion, and price consciousness. The data were analyzed utilizing factor and cluster analysis. The results showed that Japanese post and beam builders can be divided into three distinct market segments: open to import...

The Wretched Refuse of a Teeming Shore? A Critical Examination of the Quality of Undergraduate Marketing Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aggarwal, Praveen; Vaidyanathan, Rajiv; Rochford, Linda

2007-01-01

What is the quality of students attracted to the marketing major relative to other business majors? Although some anecdotal evidence suggests that undergraduate marketing students are less quantitatively oriented, there has been no comprehensive assessment of the overall quality of marketing students relative to other business students. Using a…

Arctic PBL Cloud Height and Motion Retrievals from MISR and MINX

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wu, Dong L.

2012-01-01

How Arctic clouds respond and feedback to sea ice loss is key to understanding of the rapid climate change seen in the polar region. As more open water becomes available in the Arctic Ocean, cold air outbreaks (aka. off-ice flow from polar lows) produce a vast sheet of roll clouds in the planetary boundary layer (PBl). The cold air temperature and wind velocity are the critical parameters to determine and understand the PBl structure formed under these roll clouds. It has been challenging for nadir visible/IR sensors to detect Arctic clouds due to lack of contrast between clouds and snowy/icy surfaces. In addition) PBl temperature inversion creates a further problem for IR sensors to relate cloud top temperature to cloud top height. Here we explore a new method with the Multiangle Imaging Spectro-Radiometer (MISR) instrument to measure cloud height and motion over the Arctic Ocean. Employing a stereoscopic-technique, MISR is able to measure cloud top height accurately and distinguish between clouds and snowy/icy surfaces with the measured height. We will use the MISR INteractive eXplorer (MINX) to quantify roll cloud dynamics during cold-air outbreak events and characterize PBl structures over water and over sea ice.

Evaluating the feasibility of global climate models to simulate cloud cover effect controlled by Marine Stratocumulus regime transitions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goren, Tom; Muelmenstaedt, Johannes; Rosenfeld, Daniel; Quaas, Johannes

2017-04-01

Marine stratocumulus clouds (MSC) occur in two main cloud regimes of open and closed cells that differ significantly by their cloud cover. Closed cells gradually get cleansed of high CCN concentrations in a process that involves initiation of drizzle that breaks the full cloud cover into open cells. The drizzle creates downdrafts that organize the convection along converging gust fronts, which in turn produce stronger updrafts that can sustain more cloud water that compensates the depletion of the cloud water by the rain. In addition, having stronger updrafts allow the clouds to grow relatively deep before rain starts to deplete its cloud water. Therefore, lower droplet concentrations and stronger rain would lead to lower cloud fraction, but not necessary also to lower liquid water path (LWP). The fundamental relationships between these key variables derived from global climate model (GCM) simulations are analyzed with respect to observations in order to determine whether the GCM parameterizations can represent well the governing physical mechanisms upon MSC regime transitions. The results are used to evaluate the feasibility of GCM's for estimating aerosol cloud-mediated radiative forcing upon MSC regime transitions, which are responsible for the largest aerosol cloud-mediated radiative forcing.

Elves and associated electron density changes due to cloud-to-ground and in-cloud lightning discharges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marshall, R. A.; Inan, U. S.; Glukhov, V. S.

2010-04-01

A 3-D finite difference time domain model is used to simulate the lightning electromagnetic pulse (EMP) and its interaction with the lower ionosphere. Results agree with the frequently observed, doughnut-shaped optical signature of elves but show that the structure exhibits asymmetry due to the presence of Earth's ambient magnetic field. Furthermore, in-cloud (horizontal) lightning channels produce observable optical emissions without the doughnut shape and, in fact, produce a much stronger optical output for the same channel current. Electron density perturbations associated with elves are also calculated, with contributions from attachment and ionization. Results presented as a function of parameters such as magnetic field direction, dipole current orientation, altitude and amplitude, and ambient ionospheric density profile demonstrate the highly nonlinear nature of the EMP-ionosphere interaction. Ionospheric effects of a sequence of in-cloud discharges are calculated, simulating a burst of in-cloud lightning activity and resulting in large density changes in the overlying ionosphere.

Creating a 21st-century intelligent health system.

PubMed

Newt, Gingrich; Nancy, Desmond

2008-02-01

In most areas of life, Americans enjoy the ease and convenience offered by advances in technology, communications, and transportation. Every day we experience the 21st-century model of America, which is one of effectiveness, accuracy, speed, flexibility, efficiency, lower cost, more choices, and greater achievement. We can shop online, compare prices for goods and services, and when decisions need to be made, we have access to a wide array of information sources to assist in making those decisions. In short, Americans enjoy great latitude in our power to determine what is best for us. This is not, however, the case when it comes to health and healthcare. In our current healthcare system, individuals are dependent on a structure that has resisted the natural progress and modernization achieved by market-oriented, 21st-century industries. The information age has been leaving health behind. Although it is the nature of a science- and technology-based entrepreneurial free market to provide more choices of higher quality at lower cost, in the healthcare sector, prices continue to rise, quality is inconsistent, and individuals lack the information, incentives, and power to make choices.

Geocoding and social marketing in Alabama's cancer prevention programs.

PubMed

Miner, Julianna W; White, Arica; Lubenow, Anne E; Palmer, Sally

2005-11-01

The Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) is collaborating with the National Cancer Institute to develop detailed profiles of underserved Alabama communities most at risk for cancer. These profiles will be combined with geocoded data to create a pilot project, Cancer Prevention for Alabama's Underserved Populations: A Focused Approach. The project's objectives are to provide the ADPH's cancer prevention programs with a more accurate and cost-effective means of planning, implementing, and evaluating its prevention activities in an outcomes-oriented and population-appropriate manner. The project links geocoded data from the Alabama Statewide Cancer Registry with profiles generated by the National Cancer Institute's cancer profiling system, Consumer Health Profiles. These profiles have been successfully applied to market-focused cancer prevention messages across the United States. The ADPH and the National Cancer Institute will evaluate the efficacy of using geocoded data and lifestyle segmentation information in strategy development and program implementation. Alabama is the first state in the nation not only to link geocoded cancer registry data with lifestyle segmentation data but also to use the National Cancer Institute's profiles and methodology in combination with actual state data.

Using a Cloud-Based Computing Environment to Support Teacher Training on Common Core Implementation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robertson, Cory

2013-01-01

A cloud-based computing environment, Google Apps for Education (GAFE), has provided the Anaheim City School District (ACSD) a comprehensive and collaborative avenue for creating, sharing, and editing documents, calendars, and social networking communities. With this environment, teachers and district staff at ACSD are able to utilize the deep…

Mobile Documentation with Smartphone and Cloud in an Emergent Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lim, Seongmi

2017-01-01

The goal of this study was to explore the lived experience of kindergarten teachers with mobile documentation designed to support their tracking of children's learning activities in an emergent curriculum. A structure for mobile documentation was created with the smartphone and cloud system. The phenomenological approach used in this study showed…

Metabolizing Data in the Cloud.

PubMed

Warth, Benedikt; Levin, Nadine; Rinehart, Duane; Teijaro, John; Benton, H Paul; Siuzdak, Gary

2017-06-01

Cloud-based bioinformatic platforms address the fundamental demands of creating a flexible scientific environment, facilitating data processing and general accessibility independent of a countries' affluence. These platforms have a multitude of advantages as demonstrated by omics technologies, helping to support both government and scientific mandates of a more open environment. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Computational biology in the cloud: methods and new insights from computing at scale.

PubMed

Kasson, Peter M

2013-01-01

The past few years have seen both explosions in the size of biological data sets and the proliferation of new, highly flexible on-demand computing capabilities. The sheer amount of information available from genomic and metagenomic sequencing, high-throughput proteomics, experimental and simulation datasets on molecular structure and dynamics affords an opportunity for greatly expanded insight, but it creates new challenges of scale for computation, storage, and interpretation of petascale data. Cloud computing resources have the potential to help solve these problems by offering a utility model of computing and storage: near-unlimited capacity, the ability to burst usage, and cheap and flexible payment models. Effective use of cloud computing on large biological datasets requires dealing with non-trivial problems of scale and robustness, since performance-limiting factors can change substantially when a dataset grows by a factor of 10,000 or more. New computing paradigms are thus often needed. The use of cloud platforms also creates new opportunities to share data, reduce duplication, and to provide easy reproducibility by making the datasets and computational methods easily available.

Climbing the Slope of Enlightenment during NASA's Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Griffith, P. C.; Hoy, E.; Duffy, D.; McInerney, M.

2015-12-01

The Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) is a new field campaign sponsored by NASA's Terrestrial Ecology Program and designed to improve understanding of the vulnerability and resilience of Arctic and boreal social-ecological systems to environmental change (http://above.nasa.gov). ABoVE is integrating field-based studies, modeling, and data from airborne and satellite remote sensing. The NASA Center for Climate Simulation (NCCS) has partnered with the NASA Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems Office (CCEO) to create a high performance science cloud for this field campaign. The ABoVE Science Cloud combines high performance computing with emerging technologies and data management with tools for analyzing and processing geographic information to create an environment specifically designed for large-scale modeling, analysis of remote sensing data, copious disk storage for "big data" with integrated data management, and integration of core variables from in-situ networks. The ABoVE Science Cloud is a collaboration that is accelerating the pace of new Arctic science for researchers participating in the field campaign. Specific examples of the utilization of the ABoVE Science Cloud by several funded projects will be presented.

Clouds and more: ARM climate modeling best estimate data: A new data product for climate studies

DOE PAGES

Xie, Shaocheng; McCoy, Renata B.; Klein, Stephen A.; ...

2010-01-01

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program (www.arm.gov) was created in 1989 to address scientific uncertainties related to global climate change, with a focus on the crucial role of clouds and their influence on the transfer of radiation atmosphere. Here, a central activity is the acquisition of detailed observations of clouds and radiation, as well as related atmospheric variables for climate model evaluation and improvement.

Using polarimetry to retrieve the cloud coverage of Earth-like exoplanets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rossi, L.; Stam, D. M.

2017-11-01

Context. Clouds have already been detected in exoplanetary atmospheres. They play crucial roles in a planet's atmosphere and climate and can also create ambiguities in the determination of atmospheric parameters such as trace gas mixing ratios. Knowledge of cloud properties is required when assessing the habitability of a planet. Aims: We aim to show that various types of cloud cover such as polar cusps, subsolar clouds, and patchy clouds on Earth-like exoplanets can be distinguished from each other using the polarization and flux of light that is reflected by the planet. Methods: We have computed the flux and polarization of reflected starlight for different types of (liquid water) cloud covers on Earth-like model planets using the adding-doubling method, that fully includes multiple scattering and polarization. Variations in cloud-top altitudes and planet-wide cloud cover percentages were taken into account. Results: We find that the different types of cloud cover (polar cusps, subsolar clouds, and patchy clouds) can be distinguished from each other and that the percentage of cloud cover can be estimated within 10%. Conclusions: Using our proposed observational strategy, one should be able to determine basic orbital parameters of a planet such as orbital inclination and estimate cloud coverage with reduced ambiguities from the planet's polarization signals along its orbit.

Student Orientation in Higher Education: Development of the Construct

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alnawas, Ibrahim

2015-01-01

This paper argues that student orientation (SO) is a high order construct that should be measured formatively rather than reflectively. Using a discovery-oriented approach, conducted by supplementing educational and marketing literatures with in depth interviews from 23 academic staff in seven different universities, the authors identified three…

Deep Clouds

NASA Image and Video Library

2008-05-27

Bright puffs and ribbons of cloud drift lazily through Saturn's murky skies. In contrast to the bold red, orange and white clouds of Jupiter, Saturn's clouds are overlain by a thick layer of haze. The visible cloud tops on Saturn are deeper in its atmosphere due to the planet's cooler temperatures. This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from about 18 degrees above the ringplane. Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this natural color view. The images were acquired with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on April 15, 2008 at a distance of approximately 1.5 million kilometers (906,000 miles) from Saturn. Image scale is 84 kilometers (52 miles) per pixel. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA09910

Cafe: A Generic Configurable Customizable Composite Cloud Application Framework

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mietzner, Ralph; Unger, Tobias; Leymann, Frank

In this paper we present Cafe (Composite Application Framework) an approach to describe configurable composite service-oriented applications and to automatically provision them across different providers. Cafe enables independent software vendors to describe their composite service-oriented applications and the components that are used to assemble them. Components can be internal to the application or external and can be deployed in any of the delivery models present in the cloud. The components are annotated with requirements for the infrastructure they later need to be run on. Providers on the other hand advertise their infrastructure services by describing them as infrastructure capabilities. The separation of software vendors and providers enables end users and providers to follow a best-of-breed strategy by combining arbitrary applications with arbitrary providers. We show how such applications can be automatically provisioned and present an architecture and a prototype that implements the concepts.

Community Cloud Computing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marinos, Alexandros; Briscoe, Gerard

Cloud Computing is rising fast, with its data centres growing at an unprecedented rate. However, this has come with concerns over privacy, efficiency at the expense of resilience, and environmental sustainability, because of the dependence on Cloud vendors such as Google, Amazon and Microsoft. Our response is an alternative model for the Cloud conceptualisation, providing a paradigm for Clouds in the community, utilising networked personal computers for liberation from the centralised vendor model. Community Cloud Computing (C3) offers an alternative architecture, created by combing the Cloud with paradigms from Grid Computing, principles from Digital Ecosystems, and sustainability from Green Computing, while remaining true to the original vision of the Internet. It is more technically challenging than Cloud Computing, having to deal with distributed computing issues, including heterogeneous nodes, varying quality of service, and additional security constraints. However, these are not insurmountable challenges, and with the need to retain control over our digital lives and the potential environmental consequences, it is a challenge we must pursue.

Organization culture and the marketing concept: diagnostic keys for hospitals.

PubMed

Arnold, D R; Capella, L M; Sumrall, D A

1987-03-01

For successful adaptation to changing environmental conditions, hospital organizational cultures must incorporate the marketing concept to enhance flexibility and orientation toward the external environment. The authors propose procedures for diagnosing a hospital's culture and determining how well it has adopted and implemented the marketing concept.

Historical Perspectives in Marketing Education: Justification and Implementation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Petkus, Ed, Jr.

2010-01-01

This article provides a justification and an implementation plan for the establishment of a historical orientation across the undergraduate marketing curriculum. The justification for the historical perspective addresses three areas: tapping into the extensive body of knowledge in marketing history, practical implications, and critical thinking.…

Marketing and Community Mental Health Centers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ferniany, Isaac W.; Garove, William E.

1983-01-01

Suggests that a marketing approach can be applied to community mental health centers. Marketing is a management orientation of providing services for, not to, patients in a systematic manner, which can help mental health centers improve services, strengthen community image, achieve financial independence and aid in staff recruitment. (Author)

Use of Field Observations for Understanding Controls of Polar Low Cloud Microphysical Properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McFarquhar, G. M.

2016-12-01

Although arctic clouds have a net warming effect on the Arctic surface, their radiative effect is sensitive to cloud microphysical properties, namely the sizes, phases and shapes of cloud particles. Such cloud properties are influenced by the numbers, compositions and sizes of aerosols, meteorological conditions, and surface characteristics. Uncertainty in representing cloud-aerosol interactions in varying environmental conditions and associated feedbacks is a major cause in our lack of understanding of why the Arctic is warming faster than the rest of the Earth. Here, the understanding of cloud-aerosol interactions gained from past arctic field experiments is reviewed. Such studies have characterized the structure of single-layer mixed phase clouds that are ubiquitous in the Arctic and investigated different aerosol indirect effect mechanisms acting in these clouds. But, it is still unknown what controls the amount of supercooled water in arctic clouds (especially in complex frequently occurring multi-layer clouds), how probability distributions of cloud properties and radiative heating and their subsequent impact on temperature profiles and underlying snow and sea ice cover vary with aerosol loading and composition in different surface and meteorological conditions, how the composition and concentration of arctic aerosols and cloud microphysical properties vary annually and interannually, and how cloud-aerosol-radiative interactions can be better represented in models with varying temporal and spatial scales. These needs can be addressed in two ways. First, there is a need for comprehensive and routine aircraft, UAV and tethered balloon measurements in the presence of ground, air or space-based remote sensors over a variety of surface and meteorological conditions. Second, planned observational campaigns (the Measurements of Aerosols Radiation and Clouds over the Southern Oceans MARCUS and the Southern Oceans Cloud Radiation Transport Experimental Study SOCRATES) should provide cloud, aerosol, radiative and precipitation observations over the pristine and continually cloudy Southern Oceans that are remote from natural and continental anthropogenic aerosol sources should provide a process-oriented understanding of cloud-aerosol interactions in liquid and ice clouds.

A survey of laser lightning rod techniques

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barnes, Arnold A., Jr.; Berthel, Robert O.

1991-01-01

The work done to create a laser lightning rod (LLR) is discussed. Some ongoing research which has the potential for achieving an operational laser lightning rod for use in the protection of missile launch sites, launch vehicles, and other property is discussed. Because of the ease with which a laser beam can be steered into any cloud overhead, an LLR could be used to ascertain if there exists enough charge in the clouds to discharge to the ground as triggered lightning. This leads to the possibility of using LLRs to test clouds prior to launching missiles through the clouds or prior to flying aircraft through the clouds. LLRs could also be used to probe and discharge clouds before or during any hazardous ground operations. Thus, an operational LLR may be able to both detect such sub-critical electrical fields and effectively neutralize them.

Altitude-dependent Drift of a Chemical Release Cloud at Middle Latitudes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pedersen, T.; Holmes, J. M.; Sutton, E. K.

2017-12-01

A chemical release experiment conducted at the White Sands Missile Range in February 2015 consisted of firing of three identical canisters at different altitudes along a near-vertical trajectory, creating a large structured cloud after diffusion and expansion of the three initial dispersals. Dedicated optical observations from near the launch site and a remote site allow determination of the position and motion of the extended optical cloud as a function of time, while photographs captured and posted by members of the general public provide additional look angles to constrain the cloud shape in more detail. We compare the observed drift and evolution of the cloud with empirical and theoretical models of the neutral winds to examine the altitudinal shear in the neutral winds and their effects on the motion and shape of the extended optical cloud.

Markets and morals: an experimental survey study.

PubMed

Elias, Julio J; Lacetera, Nicola; Macis, Mario

2015-01-01

Most societies prohibit some market transactions based on moral concerns, even when the exchanges would benefit the parties involved and would not create negative externalities. A prominent example is given by payments for human organs for transplantation, banned virtually everywhere despite long waiting lists and many deaths of patients who cannot find a donor. Recent research, however, has shown that individuals significantly increase their stated support for a regulated market for human organs when provided with information about the organ shortage and the potential beneficial effects a price mechanism. In this study we focused on payments for human organs and on another "repugnant" transaction, indoor prostitution, to address two questions: (A) Does providing general information on the welfare properties of prices and markets modify attitudes toward repugnant trades? (B) Does additional knowledge on the benefits of a price mechanism in a specific context affect attitudes toward price-based transactions in another context? By answering these questions, we can assess whether eliciting a market-oriented approach may lead to a relaxation of moral opposition to markets, and whether there is a cross-effect of information, in particular for morally controversial activities that, although different, share a reference to the "commercialization" of the human body. Relying on an online survey experiment with 5,324 U.S. residents, we found no effect of general information about market efficiency, consistent with morally controversial markets being accepted only when they are seen as a solution to a specific problem. We also found some cross-effects of information about a transaction on the acceptance of the other; however, the responses were mediated by the gender and (to a lesser extent) religiosity of the respondent--in particular, women exposed to information about legalizing prostitution reduced their stated support for regulated organ payments. We relate these findings to prior research and discuss implications for public policy.

Markets and Morals: An Experimental Survey Study

PubMed Central

Elias, Julio J.; Lacetera, Nicola; Macis, Mario

2015-01-01

Most societies prohibit some market transactions based on moral concerns, even when the exchanges would benefit the parties involved and would not create negative externalities. A prominent example is given by payments for human organs for transplantation, banned virtually everywhere despite long waiting lists and many deaths of patients who cannot find a donor. Recent research, however, has shown that individuals significantly increase their stated support for a regulated market for human organs when provided with information about the organ shortage and the potential beneficial effects a price mechanism. In this study we focused on payments for human organs and on another “repugnant” transaction, indoor prostitution, to address two questions: (A) Does providing general information on the welfare properties of prices and markets modify attitudes toward repugnant trades? (B) Does additional knowledge on the benefits of a price mechanism in a specific context affect attitudes toward price-based transactions in another context? By answering these questions, we can assess whether eliciting a market-oriented approach may lead to a relaxation of moral opposition to markets, and whether there is a cross-effect of information, in particular for morally controversial activities that, although different, share a reference to the “commercialization” of the human body. Relying on an online survey experiment with 5,324 U.S. residents, we found no effect of general information about market efficiency, consistent with morally controversial markets being accepted only when they are seen as a solution to a specific problem. We also found some cross-effects of information about a transaction on the acceptance of the other; however, the responses were mediated by the gender and (to a lesser extent) religiosity of the respondent—in particular, women exposed to information about legalizing prostitution reduced their stated support for regulated organ payments. We relate these findings to prior research and discuss implications for public policy. PMID:26030927

Creating the Market University: How Academic Science Became an Economic Engine

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berman, Elizabeth Popp

2012-01-01

American universities today serve as economic engines, performing the scientific research that will create new industries, drive economic growth, and keep the United States globally competitive. But only a few decades ago, these same universities self-consciously held themselves apart from the world of commerce. "Creating the Market University" is…

Accurate single-scattering simulation of ice cloud using the invariant-imbedding T-matrix method and the physical-geometric optics method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, B.; Yang, P.; Kattawar, G. W.; Zhang, X.

2017-12-01

The ice cloud single-scattering properties can be accurately simulated using the invariant-imbedding T-matrix method (IITM) and the physical-geometric optics method (PGOM). The IITM has been parallelized using the Message Passing Interface (MPI) method to remove the memory limitation so that the IITM can be used to obtain the single-scattering properties of ice clouds for sizes in the geometric optics regime. Furthermore, the results associated with random orientations can be analytically achieved once the T-matrix is given. The PGOM is also parallelized in conjunction with random orientations. The single-scattering properties of a hexagonal prism with height 400 (in units of lambda/2*pi, where lambda is the incident wavelength) and an aspect ratio of 1 (defined as the height over two times of bottom side length) are given by using the parallelized IITM and compared to the counterparts using the parallelized PGOM. The two results are in close agreement. Furthermore, the integrated single-scattering properties, including the asymmetry factor, the extinction cross-section, and the scattering cross-section, are given in a completed size range. The present results show a smooth transition from the exact IITM solution to the approximate PGOM result. Because the calculation of the IITM method has reached the geometric regime, the IITM and the PGOM can be efficiently employed to accurately compute the single-scattering properties of ice cloud in a wide spectral range.

Alternative Approaches to Modeling the Individual Enlistment Decision: A Literature Review

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-05-01

particular competitive environment (Johnson, 1974, p. 121). Most marketing research is oriented toward consumers. Speci- fically, considerable interest...technique and its application in marketing research . A discussion of conjoint measurement (or multidimensional scaling) use in the marketing...among cognitions, affect, intentions, and behavior. Journal of Marketing Research , 19, 562-584. Bagozzi, R. P. & Burnkrant, R.,(1979). Attitude

The utilization of satellite data and dynamics in understanding and predicting global weather phenomena

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shirer, H. N. (Editor); Dutton, J. A. (Editor)

1985-01-01

A two layer spectral quasi-geostrophic model is used to simulate the effects of topography on the equilibria, the stability, and the long term evaluation of incipient unstable waves. The flow is forced by latitudinally dependent radiational heating. The nature of the form drag instability of high index equilibria is investigated. The proximity of the equilibrium shear to a resonant value is essential for the instability, provided the equilibrium occurs at a slightly stronger shear than resonance. The properties of the steady Hadley and Rossby required for a thermally forced rotating fluid on a sphere are further explained. An objective parameterization technique is developed for general nonlinear hydrodynamical systems. The typical structure is one in which the rates of change of the dependent variables depend on homogeneous quadratic and linear forms, as well as on inhomogeneous forcing terms. Also documented is a steady, axisymmetric model of the general circulation developed as a basis for climate stability studies. The model includes the effects of heating, rotation, and internal friction, but neglects topography. Included is further research on cloud street phenomena. Orientation angles and horizontal wavelengths of boundary layer rolls and cloud streets are determined from an analysis of a truncated spectral model of three dimensional shallow moist Boussinesq convection in a shearing environment is further explained. Relatively broadly spaced roll clouds have orientations for which the Fourier component of the roll perpendicular shear is nearly zero, but the second corresponds to narrowly spaced rolls having orientations for which the Fourier coefficients of both the perpendicular and the parallel components of the shear are nearly equal.

A Cloud-enabled Service-oriented Spatial Web Portal for Facilitating Arctic Data Discovery, Integration, and Utilization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

dias, S. B.; Yang, C.; Li, Z.; XIA, J.; Liu, K.; Gui, Z.; Li, W.

2013-12-01

Global climate change has become one of the biggest concerns for human kind in the 21st century due to its broad impacts on society and ecosystems across the world. Arctic has been observed as one of the most vulnerable regions to the climate change. In order to understand the impacts of climate change on the natural environment, ecosystems, biodiversity and others in the Arctic region, and thus to better support the planning and decision making process, cross-disciplinary researches are required to monitor and analyze changes of Arctic regions such as water, sea level, biodiversity and so on. Conducting such research demands the efficient utilization of various geospatially referenced data, web services and information related to Arctic region. In this paper, we propose a cloud-enabled and service-oriented Spatial Web Portal (SWP) to support the discovery, integration and utilization of Arctic related geospatial resources, serving as a building block of polar CI. This SWP leverages the following techniques: 1) a hybrid searching mechanism combining centralized local search, distributed catalogue search and specialized Internet search for effectively discovering Arctic data and web services from multiple sources; 2) a service-oriented quality-enabled framework for seamless integration and utilization of various geospatial resources; and 3) a cloud-enabled parallel spatial index building approach to facilitate near-real time resource indexing and searching. A proof-of-concept prototype is developed to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed SWP, using an example of analyzing the Arctic snow cover change over the past 50 years.

Average value of the shape and direction factor in the equation of refractive index

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Tao

2017-10-01

The theoretical calculation of the refractive indices is of great significance for the developments of new optical materials. The calculation method of refractive index, which was deduced from the electron-cloud-conductor model, contains the shape and direction factor 〈g〉. 〈g〉 affects the electromagnetic-induction energy absorbed by the electron clouds, thereby influencing the refractive indices. It is not yet known how to calculate 〈g〉 value of non-spherical electron clouds. In this paper, 〈g〉 value is derived by imaginatively dividing the electron cloud into numerous little volume elements and then regrouping them. This paper proves that 〈g〉 = 2/3 when molecules’ spatial orientations distribute randomly. The calculations of the refractive indices of several substances validate this equation. This result will help to promote the application of the calculation method of refractive index.

The Nature of Stakeholder Satisfaction with Marketing Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, Steven A.; Judson, Kim

2014-01-01

The current article represents a cautionary tale in continuing emerging marketization practices as the dominant form of marketing with higher education. Specifically, a review of three important emerging literature streams (i.e., quality-of-life, service-dominant logic, and stakeholder orientation) all appear to support calls for moving beyond…

Dislocated Workers and Midcareer Retraining in Other Industrial Nations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bendick, Marc, Jr.

Market-oriented industrial nations other than the United States have experienced rapid structural changes in their economies and reemployment problems among dislocated midcareer workers. The Swedish active labor market approach is a socialized one. This system has been criticized for excessive reliance on microeconomic labor market programs to…

Marketing: Key to Institutional Survival and Success.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grossman, Robert J.

1987-01-01

The marketing concept holds that the primary task of an institution is to determine the needs, wants, and values of its target constituencies and to adapt itself to delivering desired satisfactions more effectively and efficiently than its competitors. Student orientation, marketing research, mission and goals, and institutional commitment are…

Determinant of hospital marketing effectiveness: the importance of conflict.

PubMed

Bonnici, J L; Pavia, G

1990-01-01

As hospitals and health organizations become more marketing oriented, and more interwoven into the environment, the more they face internal resistance. The careful handling of conflict not only helps the health care marketer to overcome hostility and antagonism, but also rewards the health care institution with the "productivity of confrontation."

Education, Markets and the Contradictions of Asia-Australia Relations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alexander, Don; Rizvi, Fazal

1993-01-01

The cultural politics of the export of educational services by Australia to Asia are examined, focusing on tension between the persistent economic development perspective and an emerging market ideology that sees education as a commodity. Issues of postcolonialism, globalization, educational traditions vs. market orientation, educational aid and…

India and the United States: Should the United States Provide Security Assistance to its new Strategic Partner

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-06-15

Markets for US Products and Services ..............................................................67 Indian Interests...Willingness to Implement Market Oriented Reforms70 US Weaknesses...because it amounts to simple supply and demand in the global market for energy. This study will omit discussion of Indian relations with southeast

Prevalence of child-directed and general audience marketing strategies on the front of beverage packaging: the case of Chile.

PubMed

Mediano Stoltze, Fernanda; Barker, Joshua O; Kanter, Rebecca; Corvalán, Camila; Reyes, Marcela; Taillie, Lindsey Smith; Dillman Carpentier, Francesca R

2018-02-01

Front-of-package (FOP) marketing strategies of a wide variety of beverages were catalogued to examine the prevalence of each strategy prior to a sweeping Chilean restriction of child-directed marketing aimed at reducing obesity-related disease among Chile's youth. Photographs of 1005 beverage packages were quantitatively content-analysed to code whether a variety of child-directed, health-oriented and other marketing strategies (e.g. sales promotions) were present on each product's FOP. Strategies were then analysed based on beverages' product category, total sugar, energy and tax status (beverages with added sugars are taxed at different rates). Photographs were taken in six urban supermarkets in Santiago, Chile, representing five different supermarket chains. Beverages using child-directed characters or nature/fruit references were higher in total sugar and beverages with child-directed characters or childhood/family references were higher in energy than beverages without these respective strategies. Of the beverages taxed at the highest rate (greatest amount of added sugars), 49 % used nutrition and health appeals and 80 % used nature or fruit appeals. Plain waters and plain milks were less likely than other selected product categories to use health-oriented appeals or multiple FOP strategies in combination. FOP marketing on beverages varied according to the nutritional quality of the product, with heavier use of health-oriented and child-directed strategies in less healthy products. Marketing activities warrant continued observation to evaluate how industry responds to new marketing restrictions as these restrictions are evaluated in the light of existing taxes and other regulatory efforts to improve diets and reduce obesity-related disease.

Towards a Confucian virtue bioethics: reframing Chinese medical ethics in a market economy.

PubMed

Fan, Ruiping

2006-01-01

This essay addresses a moral and cultural challenge facing health care in the People's Republic of China: the need to create an understanding of medical professionalism that recognizes the new economic realities of China and that can maintain the integrity of the medical profession. It examines the rich Confucian resources for bioethics and health care policy by focusing on the Confucian tradition's account of how virtue and human flourishing are compatible with the pursuit of profit. It offers the Confucian account of the division of labor and the financial inequalities this produces with special attention to China's socialist project of creating the profession of barefoot doctors as egalitarian peasant physicians and why this project failed. It then further develops the Confucian acknowledgement of the unequal value of different services and products and how this conflicts with the current system of payment to physicians which has led to the corruption of medical professionalism through illegal supplementary payments. It further gives an account the oblique intentionality of Confucian moral psychology that shows how virtuous persons can pursue benevolent actions while both foreseeing profit and avoiding defining their character by greed. This account of Confucian virtue offers the basis for a medical professionalism that can function morally within a robustly profit-oriented market economy. The paper concludes with a summary of the characteristics of Confucian medical professionalism and of how it places the profit motive within its account of virtue ethics.

A cloud-based multimodality case file for mobile devices.

PubMed

Balkman, Jason D; Loehfelm, Thomas W

2014-01-01

Recent improvements in Web and mobile technology, along with the widespread use of handheld devices in radiology education, provide unique opportunities for creating scalable, universally accessible, portable image-rich radiology case files. A cloud database and a Web-based application for radiologic images were developed to create a mobile case file with reasonable usability, download performance, and image quality for teaching purposes. A total of 75 radiology cases related to breast, thoracic, gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal, and neuroimaging subspecialties were included in the database. Breast imaging cases are the focus of this article, as they best demonstrate handheld display capabilities across a wide variety of modalities. This case subset also illustrates methods for adapting radiologic content to cloud platforms and mobile devices. Readers will gain practical knowledge about storage and retrieval of cloud-based imaging data, an awareness of techniques used to adapt scrollable and high-resolution imaging content for the Web, and an appreciation for optimizing images for handheld devices. The evaluation of this software demonstrates the feasibility of adapting images from most imaging modalities to mobile devices, even in cases of full-field digital mammograms, where high resolution is required to represent subtle pathologic features. The cloud platform allows cases to be added and modified in real time by using only a standard Web browser with no application-specific software. Challenges remain in developing efficient ways to generate, modify, and upload radiologic and supplementary teaching content to this cloud-based platform. Online supplemental material is available for this article. ©RSNA, 2014.

Indirect Tire Monitoring System - Machine Learning Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Svensson, O.; Thelin, S.; Byttner, S.; Fan, Y.

2017-10-01

The heavy vehicle industry has today no requirement to provide a tire pressure monitoring system by law. This has created issues surrounding unknown tire pressure and thread depth during active service. There is also no standardization for these kind of systems which means that different manufacturers and third party solutions work after their own principles and it can be hard to know what works for a given vehicle type. The objective is to create an indirect tire monitoring system that can generalize a method that detect both incorrect tire pressure and thread depth for different type of vehicles within a fleet without the need for additional physical sensors or vehicle specific parameters. The existing sensors that are connected communicate through CAN and are interpreted by the Drivec Bridge hardware that exist in the fleet. By using supervised machine learning a classifier was created for each axle where the main focus was the front axle which had the most issues. The classifier will classify the vehicles tires condition and will be implemented in Drivecs cloud service where it will receive its data. The resulting classifier is a random forest implemented in Python. The result from the front axle with a data set consisting of 9767 samples of buses with correct tire condition and 1909 samples of buses with incorrect tire condition it has an accuracy of 90.54% (0.96%). The data sets are created from 34 unique measurements from buses between January and May 2017. This classifier has been exported and is used inside a Node.js module created for Drivecs cloud service which is the result of the whole implementation. The developed solution is called Indirect Tire Monitoring System (ITMS) and is seen as a process. This process will predict bad classes in the cloud which will lead to warnings. The warnings are defined as incidents. They contain only the information needed and the bandwidth of the incidents are also controlled so incidents are created within an acceptable range over a period of time. These incidents will be notified through the cloud for the operator to analyze for upcoming maintenance decisions.

Enhanced clear sky reflectance near clouds: What can be learned from it about aerosol properties?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marshak, A.; Varnai, T.; Wen, G.; Chiu, J.

2009-12-01

Studies on aerosol direct and indirect effects require a precise separation of cloud-free and cloudy air. However, separation between cloud-free and cloudy areas from remotely-sensed measurements is ambiguous. The transition zone in the regions around clouds often stretches out tens of km, which are neither precisely clear nor precisely cloudy. We study the transition zone between cloud-free and cloudy air using MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) measurements. Both instruments show enhanced clear-sky reflectance (MODIS) and clear-sky backscatterer (CALIPSO) near clouds. Analyzing a large dataset of MODIS observations, we examine the effect of three-dimensional radiative interactions between clouds and cloud-free areas, also known as a cloud adjacency effect. The cloud adjacency effect is well observed in MODIS clear-sky data in the vicinity of clouds. Comparing with CALIPSO clear-sky backscatterer measurements, we show that this effect may be responsible for a large portion of the enhanced clear-sky reflectance observed by MODIS. Finally, we describe a simple model that estimates the cloud-induced enhanced reflectances of cloud-free areas in the vicinity of clouds. The model assumes that the enhancement is due entirely to Rayleigh scattering and is therefore bigger at shorter wavelengths, thus creating a so-called apparent “bluing” of aerosols in remote sensing retrievals.

Cliff Collapse Hazard from Repeated Multicopter Uav Acquisitions: Return on Experience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dewez, T. J. B.; Leroux, J.; Morelli, S.

2016-06-01

Cliff collapse poses a serious hazard to infrastructure and passers-by. Obtaining information such as magnitude-frequency relationship for a specific site is of great help to adapt appropriate mitigation measures. While it is possible to monitor hundreds-of-meter-long cliff sites with ground based techniques (e.g. lidar or photogrammetry), it is both time consuming and scientifically limiting to focus on short cliff sections. In the project SUAVE, we sought to investigate whether an octocopter UAV photogrammetric survey would perform sufficiently well in order to repeatedly survey cliff face geometry and derive rock fall inventories amenable to probabilistic rock fall hazard computation. An experiment was therefore run on a well-studied site of the chalk coast of Normandy, in Mesnil Val, along the English Channel (Northern France). Two campaigns were organized in January and June 2015 which surveyed about 60 ha of coastline, including the 80-m-high cliff face, the chalk platform at its foot, and the hinterland in a matter of 4 hours from start to finish. To conform with UAV regulations, the flight was flown in 3 legs for a total of about 30 minutes in the air. A total of 868 and 1106 photos were respectively shot with a Sony NEX 7 with fixed focal 16mm. Three lines of sight were combined: horizontal shots for cliff face imaging, 45°-oblique views to tie plateau/platform photos with cliff face images, and regular vertical shots. Photogrammetrically derived dense point clouds were produced with Agisoft Photoscan at ultra-high density (median density is 1 point every 1.7cm). Point cloud density proved a critical parameter to reproduce faithfully the chalk face's geometry. Tuning down the density parameter to "high" or "medium", though efficient from a computational point of view, generated artefacts along chalk bed edges (i.e. smoothing the sharp gradient) and ultimately creating ghost volumes when computing cloud to cloud differences. Yet, from a hazard point of view, this is where small rock fall will most likely occur. Absolute orientation of both point clouds proved unsufficient despite the 30 black and white quadrants ground control point DGPS surveyed. Additional ICP was necessary to reach centimeter-level accuracy and segment rock fall scars corresponding to the expected average daily rock fall volume (ca. 0.013 m3).

Women's labor force participation in later life: the effects of early work and family experiences.

PubMed

Pienta, A M; Burr, J A; Mutchler, J E

1994-09-01

The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a model of labor force participation among a group of older women in the United States. A comprehensive measure of women's combined work and family experiences across the adult life course was created. Employing data from the 1984 Survey of Income and Program Participation, we applied multinomial logistic regression techniques to examine the association between work-family experiences and later life labor supply. Our findings generally support an attachment hypothesis, showing that women who were the most work-oriented throughout the life course were more likely than women who experienced family-related spells of nonlabor-market activity to participate in the labor force, either full-time or part-time, later in life.

Encourage Students to Read through the Use of Data Visualization

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bandeen, Heather M.; Sawin, Jason E.

2012-01-01

Instructors are always looking for new ways to engage students in reading assignments. The authors present a few techniques that rely on a web-based data visualization tool called Wordle (wordle.net). Wordle creates word frequency representations called word clouds. The larger a word appears within a cloud, the more frequently it occurs within a…

Exploring point-cloud features from partial body views for gender classification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fouts, Aaron; McCoppin, Ryan; Rizki, Mateen; Tamburino, Louis; Mendoza-Schrock, Olga

2012-06-01

In this paper we extend a previous exploration of histogram features extracted from 3D point cloud images of human subjects for gender discrimination. Feature extraction used a collection of concentric cylinders to define volumes for counting 3D points. The histogram features are characterized by a rotational axis and a selected set of volumes derived from the concentric cylinders. The point cloud images are drawn from the CAESAR anthropometric database provided by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Human Effectiveness Directorate and SAE International. This database contains approximately 4400 high resolution LIDAR whole body scans of carefully posed human subjects. Success from our previous investigation was based on extracting features from full body coverage which required integration of multiple camera images. With the full body coverage, the central vertical body axis and orientation are readily obtainable; however, this is not the case with a one camera view providing less than one half body coverage. Assuming that the subjects are upright, we need to determine or estimate the position of the vertical axis and the orientation of the body about this axis relative to the camera. In past experiments the vertical axis was located through the center of mass of torso points projected on the ground plane and the body orientation derived using principle component analysis. In a natural extension of our previous work to partial body views, the absence of rotational invariance about the cylindrical axis greatly increases the difficulty for gender classification. Even the problem of estimating the axis is no longer simple. We describe some simple feasibility experiments that use partial image histograms. Here, the cylindrical axis is assumed to be known. We also discuss experiments with full body images that explore the sensitivity of classification accuracy relative to displacements of the cylindrical axis. Our initial results provide the basis for further investigation of more complex partial body viewing problems and new methods for estimating the two position coordinates for the axis location and the unknown body orientation angle.

Haze, clouds and limited sky visibility: polarotactic orientation of crickets under difficult stimulus conditions.

PubMed

Henze, Miriam J; Labhart, Thomas

2007-09-01

Field crickets (Gryllus campestris L.) are able to detect the orientation of the electric vector (e-vector) of linearly polarized light. They presumably use this sense to exploit the celestial polarization pattern for course control or navigation. Polarization vision in crickets can be tested by eliciting a spontaneous polarotactic response. Previously, wide and 100% polarized stimuli were employed to induce this behavior. However, field crickets live on meadows where the observation of the sky is strongly limited by surrounding vegetation. Moreover, degrees of polarization (d) in the natural sky are much lower than 100%. We have therefore investigated thresholds for the behavioral response to polarized light under conditions mimicking those experienced by the insects in the field. We show that crickets are able to rely on polarized stimuli of just 1 degrees diameter. We also provide evidence that they exploit polarization down to an (average) polarization level of less than 7%, irrespective of whether the stimulus is homogeneous, such as under haze, or patched, such as a sky spotted by clouds. Our data demonstrate that crickets can rely on skylight polarization even under unfavorable celestial conditions, emphasizing the significance of polarized skylight orientation for insects.

Can CFMIP2 models reproduce the leading modes of cloud vertical structure in the CALIPSO-GOCCP observations?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Fang; Yang, Song

2018-02-01

Using principal component (PC) analysis, three leading modes of cloud vertical structure (CVS) are revealed by the GCM-Oriented CALIPSO Cloud Product (GOCCP), i.e. tropical high, subtropical anticyclonic and extratropical cyclonic cloud modes (THCM, SACM and ECCM, respectively). THCM mainly reflect the contrast between tropical high clouds and clouds in middle/high latitudes. SACM is closely associated with middle-high clouds in tropical convective cores, few-cloud regimes in subtropical anticyclonic clouds and stratocumulus over subtropical eastern oceans. ECCM mainly corresponds to clouds along extratropical cyclonic regions. Models of phase 2 of Cloud Feedback Model Intercomparison Project (CFMIP2) well reproduce the THCM, but SACM and ECCM are generally poorly simulated compared to GOCCP. Standardized PCs corresponding to CVS modes are generally captured, whereas original PCs (OPCs) are consistently underestimated (overestimated) for THCM (SACM and ECCM) by CFMIP2 models. The effects of CVS modes on relative cloud radiative forcing (RSCRF/RLCRF) (RSCRF being calculated at the surface while RLCRF at the top of atmosphere) are studied in terms of principal component regression method. Results show that CFMIP2 models tend to overestimate (underestimated or simulate the opposite sign) RSCRF/RLCRF radiative effects (REs) of ECCM (THCM and SACM) in unit global mean OPC compared to observations. These RE biases may be attributed to two factors, one of which is underestimation (overestimation) of low/middle clouds (high clouds) (also known as stronger (weaker) REs in unit low/middle (high) clouds) in simulated global mean cloud profiles, the other is eigenvector biases in CVS modes (especially for SACM and ECCM). It is suggested that much more attention should be paid on improvement of CVS, especially cloud parameterization associated with particular physical processes (e.g. downwelling regimes with the Hadley circulation, extratropical storm tracks and others), which may be crucial to reduce the CRF biases in current climate models.

Strategic relatedness in mergers and financial performance: the case of the health maintenance organization industry in the United States.

PubMed

Weech-Maldonado, Robert

2002-11-01

Knowledge and identification of strategic factors associated with favourable post-acquisition performance can be of benefit to both managers and shareholders. From a management perspective, the identification of contextual factors that can influence postmerger performance is 'strategic' in nature, and should be considered in the analysis of future acquisitions. Within the context of the health maintenance organization (HMO) industry, this study examines the impact of strategic relatedness on postmerger financial performance. Strategic relatedness is conceptualized as similarity between the acquirer and target HMOs in terms of operational efficiency, marketing orientation, organizational structure and profit orientation. Regression analysis showed that similarity in operational efficiency and similarity in HMO structure were associated with better postmerger financial performance. However, marketing orientation similarity and profit orientation similarity were not significantly related to postmerger performance. This finding suggests that HMO mergers involving firms with similar strategic orientations and similar approaches to the delivery of care have greater strategic fit and experience better financial performance.

Enhancing the Capacity to Create Behavior Change: Extension Key Leaders' Opinions about Social Marketing and Evaluation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Warner, Laura A.

2014-01-01

Extension educators endeavor to create and measure outcomes beyond knowledge gain. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the role of social marketing as a method for creating behavior change within the University of Florida Extension system through key leader opinions. Additionally, the study sought to identify perceptions about…

Sensitizing Black Adult and Youth Consumers to Targeted Food Marketing Tactics in Their Environments.

PubMed

Isselmann DiSantis, Katherine; Kumanyika, Shiriki; Carter-Edwards, Lori; Rohm Young, Deborah; Grier, Sonya A; Lassiter, Vikki

2017-10-29

Food marketing environments of Black American consumers are heavily affected by ethnically-targeted marketing of sugar sweetened beverages, fast foods, and other products that may contribute to caloric overconsumption. This qualitative study assessed Black consumers' responses to targeted marketing. Black adults (2 mixed gender groups; total n = 30) and youth (2 gender specific groups; total n = 35) from two U.S. communities participated before and after a sensitization procedure-a critical practice used to understand social justice concerns. Pre-sensitization focus groups elicited responses to scenarios about various targeted marketing tactics. Participants were then given an informational booklet about targeted marketing to Black Americans, and all returned for the second (post-sensitization) focus group one week later. Conventional qualitative content analysis of transcripts identified several salient themes: seeing the marketer's perspective ("it's about demand"; "consumers choose"), respect for community ("marketers are setting us up for failure"; "making wrong assumptions"), and food environments as a social justice issue ("no one is watching the door"; "I didn't realize"). Effects of sensitization were reflected in participants' stated reactions to the information in the booklet, and also in the relative occurrence of marketer-oriented themes and social justice-oriented themes, respectively, less and more after sensitization.

Laboratory simulations show diabatic heating drives cumulus-cloud evolution and entrainment

PubMed Central

Narasimha, Roddam; Diwan, Sourabh Suhas; Duvvuri, Subrahmanyam; Sreenivas, K. R.; Bhat, G. S.

2011-01-01

Clouds are the largest source of uncertainty in climate science, and remain a weak link in modeling tropical circulation. A major challenge is to establish connections between particulate microphysics and macroscale turbulent dynamics in cumulus clouds. Here we address the issue from the latter standpoint. First we show how to create bench-scale flows that reproduce a variety of cumulus-cloud forms (including two genera and three species), and track complete cloud life cycles—e.g., from a “cauliflower” congestus to a dissipating fractus. The flow model used is a transient plume with volumetric diabatic heating scaled dynamically to simulate latent-heat release from phase changes in clouds. Laser-based diagnostics of steady plumes reveal Riehl–Malkus type protected cores. They also show that, unlike the constancy implied by early self-similar plume models, the diabatic heating raises the Taylor entrainment coefficient just above cloud base, depressing it at higher levels. This behavior is consistent with cloud-dilution rates found in recent numerical simulations of steady deep convection, and with aircraft-based observations of homogeneous mixing in clouds. In-cloud diabatic heating thus emerges as the key driver in cloud development, and could well provide a major link between microphysics and cloud-scale dynamics. PMID:21918112

Cloud Properties of CERES-MODIS Edition 4 and CERES-VIIRS Edition 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sun-Mack, Sunny; Minnis, Patrick; Chang, Fu-Lung; Hong, Gang; Arduini, Robert; Chen, Yan; Trepte, Qing; Yost, Chris; Smith, Rita; Brown, Ricky;

Partnership for Healthier Asians: Disseminating Evidence-Based Practices in Asian-American Communities Using a Market-Oriented and Multilevel Approach.

PubMed

Kim, Karen; Quinn, Michael; Chandrasekar, Edwin; Patel, Reena; Lam, Helen

2016-06-16

One of the greatest challenges facing health promotion and disease prevention is translating research findings into evidence-based practices (EBP). There is currently a limited research base to inform the design of dissemination action plans, especially within medically underserved communities. The objective of this paper is to describe an innovative study protocol to disseminate colorectal cancer (CRC) screening guidelines in seven Asian subgroups. This study integrated a market-oriented Push-Pull-Infrastructure Model, Diffusion of Innovation Theory, and community-based participatory research approach to create a community-centered dissemination framework. Consumer research, through focus groups and community-wide surveys, was centered on the adopters to ensure a multilevel intervention was well designed and effective. Collaboration took place between an academic institution and eight community-based organizations. These groups worked together to conduct thorough consumer research. A sample of 72 Asian Americans participated in 8 focus groups, and differences were noted across ethnic groups. Furthermore, 464 community members participated in an Individual Client Survey. Most participants agreed that early detection of cancer was important (434/464, 93.5%), cancer could happen to anyone (403/464, 86.9%), CRC could be prevented (344/464, 74.1%), and everyone should screen for CRC (389/464, 83.8%). However, 35.8% (166/464) of participants also felt that people were better off not knowing it they had cancer, and 45.5% (211/464) would screen only when they had symptoms. Most participants indicated that they would screen upon their doctor's recommendation, but half reported that they only saw a doctor when they were sick. Data collection currently is underway for a multilevel intervention (community health advisor and social marketing campaign) and will conclude March 2016. We expect that analysis and results will be available by June 2016. This study outlines a complementary role for researchers and community organizations in disseminating EBP, and incorporates social interactions and influences to move individuals from simple awareness to decisions towards positive action.

Privacy authentication using key attribute-based encryption in mobile cloud computing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mohan Kumar, M.; Vijayan, R.

2017-11-01

Mobile Cloud Computing is becoming more popular in nowadays were users of smartphones are getting increased. So, the security level of cloud computing as to be increased. Privacy Authentication using key-attribute based encryption helps the users for business development were the data sharing with the organization using the cloud in a secured manner. In Privacy Authentication the sender of data will have permission to add their receivers to whom the data access provided for others the access denied. In sender application, the user can choose the file which is to be sent to receivers and then that data will be encrypted using Key-attribute based encryption using AES algorithm. In which cipher created, and that stored in Amazon Cloud along with key value and the receiver list.

Outer satellite atmospheres: Their nature and planetary interactions. [atmospheric models for Amalthea, Ganymede, Callisto, and Titan are presented

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smyth, W. H.

1978-01-01

Results show that Amalthea is likely to form a tightly-bound partial toroidal-shaped hydrogen cloud about its planet, while Ganymede, Callisto and Titan may have rather large, complete and nearly symmetric toroidal-shaped clouds. The toroidal cloud for Amalthea compares favorably with spacecraft data of Pioneer 10 for a satellite escape flux of order 10 to the 11th power atoms/sq cm/sec. Model results for Ganymede, Callisto and Titan suggest that these extended hydrogen atmospheres are likely to be detected by the Voyager spacecrafts and that Titan's cloud might also be detected by the Pioneer 11 spacecraft. Ions created because of atoms lost through ionization processes from these four extended hydrogen atmospheres and from the sodium cloud of Io are discussed.

Cloud Computing with iPlant Atmosphere.

PubMed

McKay, Sheldon J; Skidmore, Edwin J; LaRose, Christopher J; Mercer, Andre W; Noutsos, Christos

2013-10-15

Cloud Computing refers to distributed computing platforms that use virtualization software to provide easy access to physical computing infrastructure and data storage, typically administered through a Web interface. Cloud-based computing provides access to powerful servers, with specific software and virtual hardware configurations, while eliminating the initial capital cost of expensive computers and reducing the ongoing operating costs of system administration, maintenance contracts, power consumption, and cooling. This eliminates a significant barrier to entry into bioinformatics and high-performance computing for many researchers. This is especially true of free or modestly priced cloud computing services. The iPlant Collaborative offers a free cloud computing service, Atmosphere, which allows users to easily create and use instances on virtual servers preconfigured for their analytical needs. Atmosphere is a self-service, on-demand platform for scientific computing. This unit demonstrates how to set up, access and use cloud computing in Atmosphere. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

The application of cloud computing to scientific workflows: a study of cost and performance.

PubMed

Berriman, G Bruce; Deelman, Ewa; Juve, Gideon; Rynge, Mats; Vöckler, Jens-S

2013-01-28

The current model of transferring data from data centres to desktops for analysis will soon be rendered impractical by the accelerating growth in the volume of science datasets. Processing will instead often take place on high-performance servers co-located with data. Evaluations of how new technologies such as cloud computing would support such a new distributed computing model are urgently needed. Cloud computing is a new way of purchasing computing and storage resources on demand through virtualization technologies. We report here the results of investigations of the applicability of commercial cloud computing to scientific computing, with an emphasis on astronomy, including investigations of what types of applications can be run cheaply and efficiently on the cloud, and an example of an application well suited to the cloud: processing a large dataset to create a new science product.

The influence of a market-oriented primary care reform on family physicians' working conditions: A qualitative study in Turkey.

PubMed

Çiçeklioğlu, Meltem; Öcek, Zeliha Aslı; Turk, Meral; Taner, Şafak

2015-06-01

Turkey has undergone a 'Health transformation programme' putting emphasis on the reorganization of primary care (PC) services towards a more market-oriented system. To obtain a deep understanding of how family physicians (FPs) experienced the process of the reforms by focusing on working conditions. This phenomenological and qualitative research used maximum variation sampling and 51 FPs were interviewed in 36 in-depth and four focus-group interviews. Thematic analysis of interviews provided seven themes: (1) change in the professional identity of PC physicians (physician as businessperson); (2) transformation of the physician-patient relationship in PC (into a provider-customer relationship); (3) job description and workload; (4) interpersonal relationships; (5) remuneration of FPs, (6) uncertainty about the future and (7) exhaustion. Most FPs felt that the Family medicine model (FMM) placed more emphasis on the business function of family practice and this conflicted with their professional characteristics as physicians. FPs complained that some of their patients behaved as extremely demanding consumers. Continuously increasing responsibilities and extremely high workload were commonly reported problems. Most participants described the negative incentives in the performance scheme as a degrading method of punishment. The main factor was job insecurity caused by contract-based employment. FPs described the point at which they are with terms such as exhaustion. By increasing workload and creating uncertainty about the future and about income, the PC reforms have led to working conditions, which has led to changes in the professional attitudes of physicians and their practice of medicine.

Radio Emission from a Young Supernova Remnant Interacting with an Interstellar Cloud: Magnetohydrodynamic Simulation with Relativistic Electrons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jun, Byung-Il; Jones, T. W.

1999-02-01

We present two-dimensional MHD simulations of the evolution of a young Type Ia supernova remnant (SNR) during its interaction with an interstellar cloud of comparable size at impact. We include for the first time in such simulations explicit relativistic electron transport. This was done using a simplified treatment of the diffusion-advection equation, thus allowing us to model injection and acceleration of cosmic-ray electrons at shocks and their subsequent transport. From this information we also model radio synchrotron emission, including spectral information. The simulations were carried out in spherical coordinates with azimuthal symmetry and compare three different situations, each incorporating an initially uniform interstellar magnetic field oriented in the polar direction on the grid. In particular, we modeled the SNR-cloud interactions for a spherical cloud on the polar axis, a toroidal cloud whose axis is aligned with the polar axis, and, for comparison, a uniform medium with no cloud. We find that the evolution of the overrun cloud qualitatively resembles that seen in simulations of simpler but analogous situations: that is, the cloud is crushed and begins to be disrupted by Rayleigh-Taylor and Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities. However, we demonstrate here that, in addition, the internal structure of the SNR is severely distorted as such clouds are engulfed. This has important dynamical and observational implications. The principal new conclusions we draw from these experiments are the following. (1) Independent of the cloud interaction, the SNR reverse shock can be an efficient site for particle acceleration in a young SNR. (2) The internal flows of the SNR become highly turbulent once it encounters a large cloud. (3) An initially uniform magnetic field is preferentially amplified along the magnetic equator of the SNR, primarily because of biased amplification in that region by Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities. A similar bias produces much greater enhancement to the magnetic energy in the SNR during an encounter with a cloud when the interstellar magnetic field is partially transverse to the expansion of the SNR. The enhanced magnetic fields have a significant radial component, independent of the field orientation external to the SNR. This leads to a strong equatorial bias in synchrotron brightness that could easily mask any enhancements to electron-acceleration efficiency near the magnetic equator of the SNR. Thus, to establish the latter effect, it will be essential to establish that the magnetic field in the brightest regions are actually tangential to the blast wave. (4) The filamentary radio structures correlate well with ``turbulence-enhanced'' magnetic structures, while the diffuse radio emission more closely follows the gas-density distribution within the SNR. (5) At these early times, the synchrotron spectral index due to electrons accelerated at the primary shocks should be close to 0.5 unless those shocks are modified by cosmic-ray proton pressures. While that result is predictable, we find that this simple result can be significantly complicated in practice by SNR interactions with clouds. Those events can produce regions with significantly steeper spectra. Especially if there are multiple cloud encounters, this interaction can lead to nonuniform spatial spectral distributions or, through turbulent mixing, produce a spectrum that is difficult to relate to the actual strength of the blast wave. (6) Interaction with the cloud enhances the nonthermal electron population in the SNR in our simulations because of additional electron injection taking place in the shocks associated with the cloud. Together with point 3, this means that SNR-cloud encounters can significantly increase the radio emission from the SNR.

Thunderstorm intensity as determined from satellite data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Adler, R. F.; Fenn, D. D.

1979-01-01

Digital infrared data from SMS 2 obtained on May 6, 1975 are used to study thunderstorm vertical growth rates and cloud top structure in relation to the occurrence of severe weather (tornadoes, hail, and high wind) on the ground. All thunderstorms from South Dakota to Texas along a N-S oriented cold front were monitored for a 4 h period with 5 min interval data. Thunderstorm growth rate, as determined by the rate of blackbody temperature isotherm expansion and minimum cloud top temperature, are shown to be correlated with reports of severe weather on the ground.

The marketing concept applied to an education program.

PubMed

Parks, S C; Moody, D L; Barbrow, E P

1984-09-01

Dietetic education programs seeking to maintain their enrollment levels may find it necessary to adopt more sophisticated marketing strategies. This article describes the application of the marketing process to an extended degree dietetic program that serves a national audience. It also presents a strategy for initiating a marketing study and marketing orientation by analyzing its internal program data. The article discusses the specific market characteristics of the program's primary market segments, and it presents further implications for dietitians at work in health care facilities, in businesses, or in private practice.

Restructuring opens new doors. Business ventures redirect deflected revenue.

PubMed

Moore, R F

1989-01-01

To fulfill its mission of caring for the sick and the poor while remaining competitive, St. Vincent's Medical Center, Jacksonville, FL, underwent corporate restructuring in 1983. Three existing entities--the medical center, a skilled nursing facility, and a fund-raising foundation--incorporated under St. Vincent dePaul Community Stewardship Services, Inc. One of the goals was to make optimal use of existing facilities and expertise while also creating channels to redirect deflected revenue to the corporate mission of service to the poor. Among its projects St. Vincent's established 12 ambulatory care facilities; offered use of its laboratory to physicians' offices, nursing homes, and other entities needing fast, high-quality service; developed a mobile magnetic resonance imaging service; created a nurse staffing business; and entered into services-oriented, price-competitive, for-profit operations. By assuming some of the broad-based responsibilities for planning, financing, marketing, and providing administrative and legal support, the parent company has freed the entities under it to concentrate on the jobs they do best: the delivery of healthcare products and services and the generation of referrals to the medical staff and, in turn, to the medical center.

Characterization of Ze and LDR of nonspherical and inhomogeneous ice particles for 95-GHz cloud radar: Its implication to microphysical retrievals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sato, Kaori; Okamoto, Hajime

2006-11-01

Effect of density, shape, and orientation on radar reflectivity factor (Ze) and linear depolarization ratio (LDR) at 95 GHz are investigated by using the discrete dipole approximation (DDA) for ice cloud studies. We consider hexagonal plate, hollow hexagonal column, and hollow bullet rosette in horizontal (2-D) or three-dimensional (3-D) random orientation. We first validate a widely used method to take into account the density and shape effects by the combinational use of Mie theory with the Maxwell-Garnett mixing rule (the MG-Mie method). It is found that the MG-Mie method underestimates Ze and its applicability is limited to sizes smaller than 40 μm. On the basis of the DDA, it is possible to separately treat density, aspect ratio, orientation, and shape. Effect of density turns out to be minor. Orientation and shape are the major controlling factors for Ze especially at effective radius reff > 100 μm and LDR except for very large sizes where the effect of orientation in LDR diminishes. Comparison between the DDA results and the analytical solution for 3-D Rayleigh spheroids show that LDR in the small size range is characterized by the target boundary and aspect ratio. In the large size range, LDR reveals features of a single target element; for example, LDR of bullet rosette is similar to that of a single branch of the particle. Combinational use of Ze and LDR is effective in microphysics retrieval for LDR < -23 dB. For LDR > -23 dB, additional information such as Doppler velocity is required.

Toward Global Harmonization of Derived Cloud Products

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wu, Dong L.; Baum, Bryan A.; Choi, Yong-Sang; Foster, Michael J.; Karlsson, Karl-Goeran; Heidinger, Andrew; Poulsen, Caroline; Pavolonis, Michael; Riedi, Jerome; Roebeling, Robert

2017-01-01

Formerly known as the Cloud Retrieval Evaluation Workshop (CREW; see the list of acronyms used in this paper below) group (Roebeling et al. 2013, 2015), the International Cloud Working Group (ICWG) was created and endorsed during the 42nd Meeting of CGMS. The CGMS-ICWG provides a forum for space agencies to seek coherent progress in science and applications and also to act as a bridge between space agencies and the cloud remote sensing and applications community. The ICWG plans to serve as a forum to exchange and enhance knowledge on state-of-the-art cloud parameter retrievals algorithms, to stimulate support for training in the use of cloud parameters, and to encourage space agencies and the cloud remote sensing community to share knowledge. The ICWG plans to prepare recommendations to guide the direction of future research-for example, on observing severe weather events or on process studies-and to influence relevant programs of the WMO, WCRP, GCOS, and the space agencies.

Team Collectivist Culture: A Remedy for Creating Team Effectiveness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McAtavey, Jean; Nikolovska, Irena

2010-01-01

This article provides a review of literature on collective orientation and effective teams by theoretically elucidating the relationship between these two constructs. The relationship between these two constructs is found by identifying the elements that go into creating an effective team, which are also found in a collectivist orientation. As…

Visualizing Cloud Properties and Satellite Imagery: A Tool for Visualization and Information Integration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chee, T.; Nguyen, L.; Smith, W. L., Jr.; Spangenberg, D.; Palikonda, R.; Bedka, K. M.; Minnis, P.; Thieman, M. M.; Nordeen, M.

2017-12-01

Providing public access to research products including cloud macro and microphysical properties and satellite imagery are a key concern for the NASA Langley Research Center Cloud and Radiation Group. This work describes a web based visualization tool and API that allows end users to easily create customized cloud product and satellite imagery, ground site data and satellite ground track information that is generated dynamically. The tool has two uses, one to visualize the dynamically created imagery and the other to provide access to the dynamically generated imagery directly at a later time. Internally, we leverage our practical experience with large, scalable application practices to develop a system that has the largest potential for scalability as well as the ability to be deployed on the cloud to accommodate scalability issues. We build upon NASA Langley Cloud and Radiation Group's experience with making real-time and historical satellite cloud product information, satellite imagery, ground site data and satellite track information accessible and easily searchable. This tool is the culmination of our prior experience with dynamic imagery generation and provides a way to build a "mash-up" of dynamically generated imagery and related kinds of information that are visualized together to add value to disparate but related information. In support of NASA strategic goals, our group aims to make as much scientific knowledge, observations and products available to the citizen science, research and interested communities as well as for automated systems to acquire the same information for data mining or other analytic purposes. This tool and the underlying API's provide a valuable research tool to a wide audience both as a standalone research tool and also as an easily accessed data source that can easily be mined or used with existing tools.

Analysis of the Metal Oxide Space Clouds (MOSC) HF Propagation Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jackson-Booth, N.; Selzer, L.

2015-12-01

Artificial Ionospheric Modification (AIM) attempts to modify the ionosphere in order to alter the high frequency (HF) propagation environment. It can be achieved through injections of aerosols, chemicals or radio (RF) signals into the ionosphere. The Metal Oxide Space Clouds (MOSC) experiment was undertaken in April/May 2013 to investigate chemical AIM. Two sounding rockets were launched from the Kwajalein Atoll (part of the Marshall Islands) and each released a cloud of vaporized samarium (Sm). The samarium created a localized plasma cloud, with increased electron density, which formed an additional ionospheric layer. The ionospheric effects were measured by a wide range of ground based instrumentation which included a network of high frequency (HF) sounders. Chirp transmissions were made from three atolls and received at five sites within the Marshall Islands. One of the receive sites consisted of an 18 antenna phased array, which was used for direction finding. The ionograms have shown that as well as generating a new layer the clouds created anomalous RF propagation paths, which interact with both the cloud and the F-layer, resulting in 'ghost traces'. To fully understand the propagation environment a 3D numerical ray trace has been undertaken, using a variety of background ionospheric and cloud models, to find the paths through the electron density grid for a given fan of elevation and azimuth firing angles. Synthetic ionograms were then produced using the ratio of ray path length to speed of light as an estimation of the delay between transmission and observation for a given frequency of radio wave. This paper reports on the latest analysis of the MOSC propagation environment, comparing theory with observations, to further understanding of AIM.

Mobility Management And Market Oriented Local Transportation

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1991-03-01

THE URBAN MASS TRANSPORTATION ADMINISTRATION HAS SINCE THE EARLY 1970'S FOSTERED ATTEMPTS TO MAKE GREATER USE OF MARKET MECHANISMS IN ORGANIZING, FINANCING, AND DELIVERING -PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SERVICES. UMTA'S MOST RECENT VENTURE IN THIS AREA OCCUR...

NH4SH and cloud cover in the atmospheres of the giant planets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ibragimov, K. Iu.; Solodovnik, A. A.

1991-02-01

The probability of the formation of NH4SH and (NH4)2S is examined on the basis of the Le Chatelier principle. It is shown that it is very doubtful if NH4SH can be created in the atmospheres of the giant planets in quantities sufficient for cloud formation. Thus (NH4)2S is considered as a more likely candidate for cloud formation in the atmospheres of these planets, inasmuch as the conditions for its production there are more favorable.

Studies of extra-solar Oort Clouds and the Kuiper disk

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stern, S. Alan

1992-01-01

In 1991 we detected extended 1.1 mm emission around Fomalhaut (alpha PsA) at distances in order of magnitude beyond previous detections. This emission is plausibly related to the presence of an extended comet cloud, like our Oort Cloud, and may therefore represent indirect evidence for the formation of a planetary system at Fomalhaut. We propose now to extend this work to create a map of the angular and spatial extent of this emission. Fomalhaut is the only known main-sequence, submm-resolved IR excess source besides beta Pic.

Improving Marketing Intelligence through Learning Systems and Knowledge Communities in Not-for-Profit Workplaces

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murray, Peter; Carter, Leanne

2005-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to illustrate how marketing intelligence might be improved when an organisation's learning capacity is integrated and incorporated in well-defined organisational subsystems in a not-for-profit context. Design/methodology/approach: First, given that market orientation is primarily concerned with gathering and…

School Reforms in Ontario: The "Marketization of Education" and the Resulting Silence on Equity.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dei, George J. Sefa; Karumanchery, Leeno L.

1999-01-01

Critically examines recent market-oriented educational reforms in Ontario and their impact on socially disadvantaged groups. Argues that current trends lead toward a "marketization" of education in Ontario, as the rhetoric of cost-effectiveness and bureaucratic efficiency shifts the official agenda of educational reform away from equity…

The Market Transformation of the System of Education in Russia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lukashenko, M.

2004-01-01

The market of educational services represents a socially oriented mechanism that ensures a constant link between the producers and consumers of economic goods in the sphere of education. For the purpose of guarding against negative effects of a purely market mechanism, it is supplemented by elements of state regulation. In other countries, the…

The Collegiate Student Orientation Scale (CSOS): Application of the Marketing Concept to Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bristow, Dennis N.; Schneider, Kenneth C.

2002-01-01

Today's administrators in higher education face a dynamic marketplace that offers students an array of educational options and alternatives. Much like organizations more traditionally associated with marketing strategies and tactics, colleges and universities are gradually moving towards and embracing the marketing concept and a focus on consumer…

Prestige-Oriented Market Entry Strategy: The Case of Australian Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tayar, Mark; Jack, Robert

2013-01-01

Through an exploratory case study of four Australian universities this article finds that foreign market entry strategies are shaped by prestige-seeking motivations and a culture of risk aversion. From the market selection, entry mode and higher education literature, a conceptual model, embedded with four propositions, is presented. The model sees…

Educational Choice and Marketization in Hong Kong: The Case of Direct Subsidy Scheme Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhou, Yisu; Wong, Yi-Lee; Li, Wei

2015-01-01

Direct subsidy scheme (DSS) schools are a product of Hong Kong's market-oriented educational reform, mirroring global reform that champions parental choice and school marketization. Such schools have greater autonomy in matters of curricula, staffing, and student admission. Although advocates of the DSS credit it with increasing educational…

Discovering the influential users oriented to viral marketing based on online social networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Zhiguo

2013-08-01

The target of viral marketing on the platform of popular online social networks is to rapidly propagate marketing information at lower cost and increase sales, in which a key problem is how to precisely discover the most influential users in the process of information diffusion. A novel method is proposed in this paper for helping companies to identify such users as seeds to maximize information diffusion in the viral marketing. Firstly, the user trust network oriented to viral marketing and users’ combined interest degree in the network including isolated users are extensively defined. Next, we construct a model considering the time factor to simulate the process of information diffusion in viral marketing and propose a dynamic algorithm description. Finally, experiments are conducted with a real dataset extracted from the famous SNS website Epinions. The experimental results indicate that the proposed algorithm has better scalability and is less time-consuming. Compared with the classical model, the proposed algorithm achieved a better performance than does the classical method on the two aspects of network coverage rate and time-consumption in our four sub-datasets.

Exploring the cross-level impact of market orientation on nursing innovation in hospitals.

PubMed

Weng, Rhay-Hung; Huang, Ching-Yuan; Lin, Tzu-En

2013-01-01

Recently, many hospitals have been enthusiastically encouraging nurses to pursue nursing innovation to improve health care quality and increase nursing productivity by proposing innovative training methods, products, services, care skills, and care methods. This study tried to explore the cross-level impact of market orientation on nursing innovation. In our study, 3 to 7 nurses and 1 manager were selected from each nursing team to act as respondents. The questionnaire survey began after the managers of each nursing team and the nurses had been anonymously coded and paired up in Taiwan in 2009-2010. A total of 808 valid questionnaires were collected, including 172 valid teams. Hierarchical linear modeling was used for the analysis. Nursing innovation is the sum of knowledge creation, innovation behavior, and innovation diffusion displayed by the nurses during nursing care. The level of knowledge creation, as perceived by the nurses, was the highest, whereas the level of innovation diffusion was the lowest. Results of hierarchical linear modeling showed that only competitor orientation yielded a significant positive influence on knowledge creation, innovation behavior, or innovation diffusion. The r values were 0.53, 0.49, and 0.61, respectively. Customer orientation and interfunctional coordination did not have significant effects on nursing innovation. Hospital nurses exhibited better performance in knowledge creation than in innovation behavior and diffusion. Only competitor orientation had a significantly positive and cross-level influence on nursing innovation. However, competitor orientation was observed to be the lowest dimension of market orientation, which indicates that this factor should be the focus when improving nursing innovations in the future. Therefore, managers should continually understand the strategies, advantages, and methods of their competitors.

Measuring Filament Orientation: A New Quantitative, Local Approach

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

Green, C.-E.; Cunningham, M. R.; Jones, P. A.

The relative orientation between filamentary structures in molecular clouds and the ambient magnetic field provides insight into filament formation and stability. To calculate the relative orientation, a measurement of filament orientation is first required. We propose a new method to calculate the orientation of the one-pixel-wide filament skeleton that is output by filament identification algorithms such as filfinder. We derive the local filament orientation from the direction of the intensity gradient in the skeleton image using the Sobel filter and a few simple post-processing steps. We call this the “Sobel-gradient method.” The resulting filament orientation map can be compared quantitativelymore » on a local scale with the magnetic field orientation map to then find the relative orientation of the filament with respect to the magnetic field at each point along the filament. It can also be used for constructing radial profiles for filament width fitting. The proposed method facilitates automation in analyses of filament skeletons, which is imperative in this era of “big data.”.« less

Thinking on Sichuan-Chongqing gas pipeline transportation system reform under market-oriented conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duan, Yanzhi

2017-01-01

The gas pipeline networks in Sichuan and Chongqing (Sichuan-Chongqing) region have formed a fully-fledged gas pipeline transportation system in China, which supports and promotes the rapid development of gas market in Sichuan-Chongqing region. In the circumstances of further developed market-oriented economy, it is necessary to carry out further the pipeline system reform in the areas of investment/financing system, operation system and pricing system to lay a solid foundation for improving future gas production and marketing capability and adapting itself to the national gas system reform, and to achieve the objectives of multiparty participated pipeline construction, improved pipeline transportation efficiency and fair and rational pipeline transportation prices. In this article, main thinking on reform in the three areas and major deployment are addressed, and corresponding measures on developing shared pipeline economy, providing financial support to pipeline construction, setting up independent regulatory agency to enhance the industrial supervision for gas pipeline transportation, and promoting the construction of regional gas trade market are recommended.

Business oriented EU human cell and tissue product legislation will adversely impact Member States' health care systems.

PubMed

Pirnay, Jean-Paul; Vanderkelen, Alain; De Vos, Daniel; Draye, Jean-Pierre; Rose, Thomas; Ceulemans, Carl; Ectors, Nadine; Huys, Isabelle; Jennes, Serge; Verbeken, Gilbert

2013-12-01

The transplantation of conventional human cell and tissue grafts, such as heart valve replacements and skin for severely burnt patients, has saved many lives over the last decades. The late eighties saw the emergence of tissue engineering with the focus on the development of biological substitutes that restore or improve tissue function. In the nineties, at the height of the tissue engineering hype, industry incited policymakers to create a European regulatory environment, which would facilitate the emergence of a strong single market for tissue engineered products and their starting materials (human cells and tissues). In this paper we analyze the elaboration process of this new European Union (EU) human cell and tissue product regulatory regime-i.e. the EU Cell and Tissue Directives (EUCTDs) and the Advanced Therapy Medicinal Product (ATMP) Regulation and evaluate its impact on Member States' health care systems. We demonstrate that the successful lobbying on key areas of regulatory and policy processes by industry, in congruence with Europe's risk aversion and urge to promote growth and jobs, led to excessively business oriented legislation. Expensive industry oriented requirements were introduced and contentious social and ethical issues were excluded. We found indications that this new EU safety and health legislation will adversely impact Member States' health care systems; since 30 December 2012 (the end of the ATMP transitional period) there is a clear threat to the sustainability of some lifesaving and established ATMPs that were provided by public health institutions and small and medium-sized enterprises under the frame of the EUCTDs. In the light of the current economic crisis it is not clear how social security systems will cope with the inflation of costs associated with this new regulatory regime and how priorities will be set with regard to reimbursement decisions. We argue that the ATMP Regulation should urgently be revised to focus on delivering affordable therapies to all who are in need of them and this without necessarily going to the market. The most rapid and elegant way to achieve this would be for the European Commission to publish an interpretative document on "placing on the market of ATMPs," which keeps tailor-made and niche ATMPs outside of the scope of the medicinal product regulation.

A portable magneto-optical trap with prospects for atom interferometry in civil engineering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hinton, A.; Perea-Ortiz, M.; Winch, J.; Briggs, J.; Freer, S.; Moustoukas, D.; Powell-Gill, S.; Squire, C.; Lamb, A.; Rammeloo, C.; Stray, B.; Voulazeris, G.; Zhu, L.; Kaushik, A.; Lien, Y.-H.; Niggebaum, A.; Rodgers, A.; Stabrawa, A.; Boddice, D.; Plant, S. R.; Tuckwell, G. W.; Bongs, K.; Metje, N.; Holynski, M.

2017-06-01

The high precision and scalable technology offered by atom interferometry has the opportunity to profoundly affect gravity surveys, enabling the detection of features of either smaller size or greater depth. While such systems are already starting to enter into the commercial market, significant reductions are required in order to reach the size, weight and power of conventional devices. In this article, the potential for atom interferometry based gravimetry is assessed, suggesting that the key opportunity resides within the development of gravity gradiometry sensors to enable drastic improvements in measurement time. To push forward in realizing more compact systems, techniques have been pursued to realize a highly portable magneto-optical trap system, which represents the core package of an atom interferometry system. This can create clouds of 107 atoms within a system package of 20 l and 10 kg, consuming 80 W of power. This article is part of the themed issue 'Quantum technology for the 21st century'.

A portable magneto-optical trap with prospects for atom interferometry in civil engineering

PubMed Central

Perea-Ortiz, M.; Winch, J.; Briggs, J.; Freer, S.; Moustoukas, D.; Powell-Gill, S.; Squire, C.; Lamb, A.; Rammeloo, C.; Stray, B.; Voulazeris, G.; Zhu, L.; Kaushik, A.; Lien, Y.-H.; Niggebaum, A.; Rodgers, A.; Stabrawa, A.; Boddice, D.; Plant, S. R.; Tuckwell, G. W.; Bongs, K.; Metje, N.; Holynski, M.

2017-01-01

The high precision and scalable technology offered by atom interferometry has the opportunity to profoundly affect gravity surveys, enabling the detection of features of either smaller size or greater depth. While such systems are already starting to enter into the commercial market, significant reductions are required in order to reach the size, weight and power of conventional devices. In this article, the potential for atom interferometry based gravimetry is assessed, suggesting that the key opportunity resides within the development of gravity gradiometry sensors to enable drastic improvements in measurement time. To push forward in realizing more compact systems, techniques have been pursued to realize a highly portable magneto-optical trap system, which represents the core package of an atom interferometry system. This can create clouds of 107 atoms within a system package of 20 l and 10 kg, consuming 80 W of power. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Quantum technology for the 21st century’. PMID:28652493

A portable magneto-optical trap with prospects for atom interferometry in civil engineering.

PubMed

Hinton, A; Perea-Ortiz, M; Winch, J; Briggs, J; Freer, S; Moustoukas, D; Powell-Gill, S; Squire, C; Lamb, A; Rammeloo, C; Stray, B; Voulazeris, G; Zhu, L; Kaushik, A; Lien, Y-H; Niggebaum, A; Rodgers, A; Stabrawa, A; Boddice, D; Plant, S R; Tuckwell, G W; Bongs, K; Metje, N; Holynski, M

2017-08-06

The high precision and scalable technology offered by atom interferometry has the opportunity to profoundly affect gravity surveys, enabling the detection of features of either smaller size or greater depth. While such systems are already starting to enter into the commercial market, significant reductions are required in order to reach the size, weight and power of conventional devices. In this article, the potential for atom interferometry based gravimetry is assessed, suggesting that the key opportunity resides within the development of gravity gradiometry sensors to enable drastic improvements in measurement time. To push forward in realizing more compact systems, techniques have been pursued to realize a highly portable magneto-optical trap system, which represents the core package of an atom interferometry system. This can create clouds of 10 7 atoms within a system package of 20 l and 10 kg, consuming 80 W of power.This article is part of the themed issue 'Quantum technology for the 21st century'. © 2017 The Author(s).

Transcending functional boundaries: the cultural, strategic, and tactical domains of marketing.

PubMed

Rapert, M I; Babakus, E; Olson, J

1997-01-01

While debate in the health care literature continues with respect to the role of marketing, many industries are adopting a broadened perspective which recognizes the comprehensive role which marketing may assume at a variety of levels within the organization: marketing as culture, marketing as strategy, and marketing as tactics. A national study of general service hospitals suggests that, in many hospitals, the marketing function is indeed transcending its functional boundaries through enculturation of a marketing orientation, involvement in the strategic process of the organization, and expansion of tactical marketing activities. Hospitals which adopt and support this broadened role of marketing are witnessing a positive effect on performance.

Methodology for cloud-based design of robots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ogorodnikova, O. M.; Vaganov, K. A.; Putimtsev, I. D.

2017-09-01

This paper presents some important results for cloud-based designing a robot arm by a group of students. Methodology for the cloud-based design was developed and used to initiate interdisciplinary project about research and development of a specific manipulator. The whole project data files were hosted by Ural Federal University data center. The 3D (three-dimensional) model of the robot arm was created using Siemens PLM software (Product Lifecycle Management) and structured as a complex mechatronics product by means of Siemens Teamcenter thin client; all processes were performed in the clouds. The robot arm was designed in purpose to load blanks up to 1 kg into the work space of the milling machine for performing student's researches.

Hospital successes and failures indicate change in hospital marketing.

PubMed

Krampf, R F; Miller, D W

1993-01-01

Marketing has become an essential management function for hospitals during the past decade. A number of changes have occurred in hospital marketing as they have progressed through the marketing adoption process. A survey of Hospital CEOs reporting hospital successes and failures in the area of marketing have recently placed emphasis on sales and advertising based upon marketing research programs thus indicating entrance into the "Integrated Tactical Marketing" phase. This study also indicates that a few hospitals have entered the "Strategic Marketing Orientation" phase while future plans reported by the CEOs provide evidence that this trend is likely to continue.

Smoke and Clouds over Russia

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2001-01-01

Several mountain ranges and a portion of the Amur River are visible in this set of MISR images of Russia's far east Khabarovsk region. The images were acquired on May 13, 2001 during Terra orbit 7452. The view from MISR's 70-degree forward-looking camera is at the top left; the 26-degree forward-looking view is at the top right. The larger image at the bottom is a stereo 'anaglyph' created using the cameras at two intermediate angles. To view the stereo image in 3-D you need red/blue glasses with the red filter placed over your left eye. All of the images are oriented with north to the left to facilitate stereo viewing. Each image covers an area about 345 kilometers x 278 kilometers.

The Amur River, in the upper right, and Lake Bolon, at the top center, are most prominent in the 26-degree view due to sunglint (mirror-like reflection of the Sun's rays by the water). The Amur River valley is a primary breeding ground for storks and cranes and a stopover for large numbers of migratory birds. About 20% of the Amur wetlands are protected by official conservation measures, but human development has converted large portions to agricultural uses. Other notable features in these images are several mountain chains, including the Badzhal'skiy to the left of center and the Bureiskiy in the lower left.

Smoke plumes from several forest fires can be seen. They are especially apparent in the 70-degree view where the smoke's visibility is accentuated, in part, by the long slant path through the atmosphere. The largest plumes are in the lower left and upper right, with some smaller plumes above and to the right of the image centers. In the upper images the hazy region in the vicinity of these smaller plumes has the appearance of low-altitude smoke, but depth perception provided by the stereo anaglyph shows that it is actually a distinct layer of high-altitude cirrus clouds. Whether the cirrus is related to the fires is uncertain. It is possible, however, for the fires have to have heated the lower atmosphere enough to create bubbles of hot air. As such bubbles rise, they can force stable, nearly saturated air above to move even higher, triggering the formation of ice clouds. Visualization of other three-dimensional characteristics of the scene, such as the intermediate-altitude layer of cumulus clouds along the left side, is made possible by the stereo imagery.

MISR was built and is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, for NASA's Office of Earth Science, Washington, DC. The Terra satellite is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology.

On the Life Orientations of the Young People of the Volga Region

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Iavon, S. V.

2011-01-01

Social and economic transformations in Russia have had an influence on all spheres of society. The value orientations of young people have been influenced by the market economy, and this has led to a new type of adaptive behavior, in which preference is given to material value orientations, growth of individualism, pragmatism, and hedonistic…

Antarctic Temperature Extremes from MODIS Land Surface Temperatures: New Processing Methods Reveal Data Quality Puzzles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grant, G.; Gallaher, D. W.

2017-12-01

New methods for processing massive remotely sensed datasets are used to evaluate Antarctic land surface temperature (LST) extremes. Data from the MODIS/Terra sensor (Collection 6) provides a twice-daily look at Antarctic LSTs over a 17 year period, at a higher spatiotemporal resolution than past studies. Using a data condensation process that creates databases of anomalous values, our processes create statistical images of Antarctic LSTs. In general, the results find few significant trends in extremes; however, they do reveal a puzzling picture of inconsistent cloud detection and possible systemic errors, perhaps due to viewing geometry. Cloud discrimination shows a distinct jump in clear-sky detections starting in 2011, and LSTs around the South Pole exhibit a circular cooling pattern, which may also be related to cloud contamination. Possible root causes are discussed. Ongoing investigations seek to determine whether the results are a natural phenomenon or, as seems likely, the results of sensor degradation or processing artefacts. If the unusual LST patterns or cloud detection discontinuities are natural, they point to new, interesting processes on the Antarctic continent. If the data artefacts are artificial, MODIS LST users should be alerted to the potential issues.

Automatic Registration of TLS-TLS and TLS-MLS Point Clouds Using a Genetic Algorithm

PubMed Central

Yan, Li; Xie, Hong; Chen, Changjun

2017-01-01

Registration of point clouds is a fundamental issue in Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) remote sensing because point clouds scanned from multiple scan stations or by different platforms need to be transformed to a uniform coordinate reference frame. This paper proposes an efficient registration method based on genetic algorithm (GA) for automatic alignment of two terrestrial LiDAR scanning (TLS) point clouds (TLS-TLS point clouds) and alignment between TLS and mobile LiDAR scanning (MLS) point clouds (TLS-MLS point clouds). The scanning station position acquired by the TLS built-in GPS and the quasi-horizontal orientation of the LiDAR sensor in data acquisition are used as constraints to narrow the search space in GA. A new fitness function to evaluate the solutions for GA, named as Normalized Sum of Matching Scores, is proposed for accurate registration. Our method is divided into five steps: selection of matching points, initialization of population, transformation of matching points, calculation of fitness values, and genetic operation. The method is verified using a TLS-TLS data set and a TLS-MLS data set. The experimental results indicate that the RMSE of registration of TLS-TLS point clouds is 3~5 mm, and that of TLS-MLS point clouds is 2~4 cm. The registration integrating the existing well-known ICP with GA is further proposed to accelerate the optimization and its optimizing time decreases by about 50%. PMID:28850100

Automatic Registration of TLS-TLS and TLS-MLS Point Clouds Using a Genetic Algorithm.

PubMed

Yan, Li; Tan, Junxiang; Liu, Hua; Xie, Hong; Chen, Changjun

2017-08-29

Registration of point clouds is a fundamental issue in Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) remote sensing because point clouds scanned from multiple scan stations or by different platforms need to be transformed to a uniform coordinate reference frame. This paper proposes an efficient registration method based on genetic algorithm (GA) for automatic alignment of two terrestrial LiDAR scanning (TLS) point clouds (TLS-TLS point clouds) and alignment between TLS and mobile LiDAR scanning (MLS) point clouds (TLS-MLS point clouds). The scanning station position acquired by the TLS built-in GPS and the quasi-horizontal orientation of the LiDAR sensor in data acquisition are used as constraints to narrow the search space in GA. A new fitness function to evaluate the solutions for GA, named as Normalized Sum of Matching Scores, is proposed for accurate registration. Our method is divided into five steps: selection of matching points, initialization of population, transformation of matching points, calculation of fitness values, and genetic operation. The method is verified using a TLS-TLS data set and a TLS-MLS data set. The experimental results indicate that the RMSE of registration of TLS-TLS point clouds is 3~5 mm, and that of TLS-MLS point clouds is 2~4 cm. The registration integrating the existing well-known ICP with GA is further proposed to accelerate the optimization and its optimizing time decreases by about 50%.

GES DISC Data Recipes in Jupyter Notebooks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, A.; Banavige, B.; Garimella, K.; Rice, J.; Shen, S.; Liu, Z.

2017-12-01

The Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS) Project manages twelve Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs) which are geographically dispersed across the United States. The DAACs are responsible for ingesting, processing, archiving, and distributing Earth science data produced from various sources (satellites, aircraft, field measurements, etc.). In response to projections of an exponential increase in data production, there has been a recent effort to prototype various DAAC activities in the cloud computing environment. This, in turn, led to the creation of an initiative, called the Cloud Analysis Toolkit to Enable Earth Science (CATEES), to develop a Python software package in order to transition Earth science data processing to the cloud. This project, in particular, supports CATEES and has two primary goals. One, transition data recipes created by the Goddard Earth Science Data and Information Service Center (GES DISC) DAAC into an interactive and educational environment using Jupyter Notebooks. Two, acclimate Earth scientists to cloud computing. To accomplish these goals, we create Jupyter Notebooks to compartmentalize the different steps of data analysis and help users obtain and parse data from the command line. We also develop a Docker container, comprised of Jupyter Notebooks, Python library dependencies, and command line tools, and configure it into an easy to deploy package. The end result is an end-to-end product that simulates the use case of end users working in the cloud computing environment.

75 FR 64772 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; NASDAQ OMX BX, Inc.; Notice of Designation of a Longer Period for...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-10-20

..., Secretary, Commission, from Michael R. Trocchio, Bingham McCutchen LLP, on behalf of Pink OTC Markets Inc... Rule Change To Create a Listing Market on the Exchange October 14, 2010. On August 20, 2010, NASDAQ OMX... thereunder,\\3\\ a proposed rule change to create a listing market, which will be called ``BX.'' The proposed...

ATLAS Cloud R&D

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Panitkin, Sergey; Barreiro Megino, Fernando; Caballero Bejar, Jose; Benjamin, Doug; Di Girolamo, Alessandro; Gable, Ian; Hendrix, Val; Hover, John; Kucharczyk, Katarzyna; Medrano Llamas, Ramon; Love, Peter; Ohman, Henrik; Paterson, Michael; Sobie, Randall; Taylor, Ryan; Walker, Rodney; Zaytsev, Alexander; Atlas Collaboration

2014-06-01

The computing model of the ATLAS experiment was designed around the concept of grid computing and, since the start of data taking, this model has proven very successful. However, new cloud computing technologies bring attractive features to improve the operations and elasticity of scientific distributed computing. ATLAS sees grid and cloud computing as complementary technologies that will coexist at different levels of resource abstraction, and two years ago created an R&D working group to investigate the different integration scenarios. The ATLAS Cloud Computing R&D has been able to demonstrate the feasibility of offloading work from grid to cloud sites and, as of today, is able to integrate transparently various cloud resources into the PanDA workload management system. The ATLAS Cloud Computing R&D is operating various PanDA queues on private and public resources and has provided several hundred thousand CPU days to the experiment. As a result, the ATLAS Cloud Computing R&D group has gained a significant insight into the cloud computing landscape and has identified points that still need to be addressed in order to fully utilize this technology. This contribution will explain the cloud integration models that are being evaluated and will discuss ATLAS' learning during the collaboration with leading commercial and academic cloud providers.

Biotechnology software in the digital age: are you winning?

PubMed

Scheitz, Cornelia Johanna Franziska; Peck, Lawrence J; Groban, Eli S

2018-01-16

There is a digital revolution taking place and biotechnology companies are slow to adapt. Many pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and industrial bio-production companies believe that software must be developed and maintained in-house and that data are more secure on internal servers than on the cloud. In fact, most companies in this space continue to employ large IT and software teams and acquire computational infrastructure in the form of in-house servers. This is due to a fear of the cloud not sufficiently protecting in-house resources and the belief that their software is valuable IP. Over the next decade, the ability to quickly adapt to changing market conditions, with agile software teams, will quickly become a compelling competitive advantage. Biotechnology companies that do not adopt the new regime may lose on key business metrics such as return on invested capital, revenue, profitability, and eventually market share.

Performance testing of 3D point cloud software

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Varela-González, M.; González-Jorge, H.; Riveiro, B.; Arias, P.

2013-10-01

LiDAR systems are being used widely in recent years for many applications in the engineering field: civil engineering, cultural heritage, mining, industry and environmental engineering. One of the most important limitations of this technology is the large computational requirements involved in data processing, especially for large mobile LiDAR datasets. Several software solutions for data managing are available in the market, including open source suites, however, users often unknown methodologies to verify their performance properly. In this work a methodology for LiDAR software performance testing is presented and four different suites are studied: QT Modeler, VR Mesh, AutoCAD 3D Civil and the Point Cloud Library running in software developed at the University of Vigo (SITEGI). The software based on the Point Cloud Library shows better results in the loading time of the point clouds and CPU usage. However, it is not as strong as commercial suites in working set and commit size tests.

Market-based control mechanisms for patient safety

PubMed Central

Coiera, E; Braithwaite, J

2009-01-01

A new model is proposed for enhancing patient safety using market-based control (MBC), inspired by successful approaches to environmental governance. Emissions trading, enshrined in the Kyoto protocol, set a carbon price and created a carbon market—is it possible to set a patient safety price and let the marketplace find ways of reducing clinically adverse events? To “cap and trade,” a regulator would need to establish system-wide and organisation-specific targets, based on the cost of adverse events, create a safety market for trading safety credits and then police the market. Organisations are given a clear policy signal to reduce adverse event rates, are told by how much, but are free to find mechanisms best suited to their local needs. The market would inevitably generate novel ways of creating safety credits, and accountability becomes hard to evade when adverse events are explicitly measured and accounted for in an organisation’s bottom line. PMID:19342522

Distributed Hydrologic Modeling Apps for Decision Support in the Cloud

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Swain, N. R.; Latu, K.; Christiensen, S.; Jones, N.; Nelson, J.

2013-12-01

Advances in computation resources and greater availability of water resources data represent an untapped resource for addressing hydrologic uncertainties in water resources decision-making. The current practice of water authorities relies on empirical, lumped hydrologic models to estimate watershed response. These models are not capable of taking advantage of many of the spatial datasets that are now available. Physically-based, distributed hydrologic models are capable of using these data resources and providing better predictions through stochastic analysis. However, there exists a digital divide that discourages many science-minded decision makers from using distributed models. This divide can be spanned using a combination of existing web technologies. The purpose of this presentation is to present a cloud-based environment that will offer hydrologic modeling tools or 'apps' for decision support and the web technologies that have been selected to aid in its implementation. Compared to the more commonly used lumped-parameter models, distributed models, while being more intuitive, are still data intensive, computationally expensive, and difficult to modify for scenario exploration. However, web technologies such as web GIS, web services, and cloud computing have made the data more accessible, provided an inexpensive means of high-performance computing, and created an environment for developing user-friendly apps for distributed modeling. Since many water authorities are primarily interested in the scenario exploration exercises with hydrologic models, we are creating a toolkit that facilitates the development of a series of apps for manipulating existing distributed models. There are a number of hurdles that cloud-based hydrologic modeling developers face. One of these is how to work with the geospatial data inherent with this class of models in a web environment. Supporting geospatial data in a website is beyond the capabilities of standard web frameworks and it requires the use of additional software. In particular, there are at least three elements that are needed: a geospatially enabled database, a map server, and geoprocessing toolbox. We recommend a software stack for geospatial web application development comprising: MapServer, PostGIS, and 52 North with Python as the scripting language to tie them together. Another hurdle that must be cleared is managing the cloud-computing load. We are using HTCondor as a solution to this end. Finally, we are creating a scripting environment wherein developers will be able to create apps that use existing hydrologic models in our system with minimal effort. This capability will be accomplished by creating a plugin for a Python content management system called CKAN. We are currently developing cyberinfrastructure that utilizes this stack and greatly lowers the investment required to deploy cloud-based modeling apps. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1135482

Object-oriented numerical computing C++

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vanrosendale, John

1994-01-01

An object oriented language is one allowing users to create a set of related types and then intermix and manipulate values of these related types. This paper discusses object oriented numerical computing using C++.

Sensitizing Black Adult and Youth Consumers to Targeted Food Marketing Tactics in Their Environments

PubMed Central

Isselmann DiSantis, Katherine; Kumanyika, Shiriki; Rohm Young, Deborah; Grier, Sonya A.; Lassiter, Vikki

2017-01-01

Food marketing environments of Black American consumers are heavily affected by ethnically-targeted marketing of sugar sweetened beverages, fast foods, and other products that may contribute to caloric overconsumption. This qualitative study assessed Black consumers’ responses to targeted marketing. Black adults (2 mixed gender groups; total n = 30) and youth (2 gender specific groups; total n = 35) from two U.S. communities participated before and after a sensitization procedure—a critical practice used to understand social justice concerns. Pre-sensitization focus groups elicited responses to scenarios about various targeted marketing tactics. Participants were then given an informational booklet about targeted marketing to Black Americans, and all returned for the second (post-sensitization) focus group one week later. Conventional qualitative content analysis of transcripts identified several salient themes: seeing the marketer’s perspective (“it’s about demand”; “consumers choose”), respect for community (“marketers are setting us up for failure”; “making wrong assumptions”), and food environments as a social justice issue (“no one is watching the door”; “I didn’t realize”). Effects of sensitization were reflected in participants’ stated reactions to the information in the booklet, and also in the relative occurrence of marketer-oriented themes and social justice-oriented themes, respectively, less and more after sensitization. PMID:29109377

Proceedings of the Fourth International Workshop on a Research Agenda for Maintenance and Evolution of Service-Oriented Systems (MESOA 2010)

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-09-01

service -oriented systems • Software -as-a- Service ( SaaS ) • social network infrastructures • Internet marketing • mobile computing • context awareness...Maintenance and Evolution of Service -Oriented Systems (MESOA 2010), organized by members of the Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute’s...CMU/SEI-2011-SR-008 | 1 1 Workshop Introduction The Software Engineering Institute (SEI) started developing a service -oriented architecture

Teacher's Guide to Occupational Orientation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Evaluation Systems, Inc., Amherst, MA.

This guide is specifically designed to accompany materials developed for occupational orientation (particularly in Illinois) in the following five cluster areas: Applied biological and agricultural occupations; personal and public service occupations; health occupations; business, marketing, and management occupations; and industrial oriented…

A service brokering and recommendation mechanism for better selecting cloud services.

PubMed

Gui, Zhipeng; Yang, Chaowei; Xia, Jizhe; Huang, Qunying; Liu, Kai; Li, Zhenlong; Yu, Manzhu; Sun, Min; Zhou, Nanyin; Jin, Baoxuan

2014-01-01

Cloud computing is becoming the new generation computing infrastructure, and many cloud vendors provide different types of cloud services. How to choose the best cloud services for specific applications is very challenging. Addressing this challenge requires balancing multiple factors, such as business demands, technologies, policies and preferences in addition to the computing requirements. This paper recommends a mechanism for selecting the best public cloud service at the levels of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS). A systematic framework and associated workflow include cloud service filtration, solution generation, evaluation, and selection of public cloud services. Specifically, we propose the following: a hierarchical information model for integrating heterogeneous cloud information from different providers and a corresponding cloud information collecting mechanism; a cloud service classification model for categorizing and filtering cloud services and an application requirement schema for providing rules for creating application-specific configuration solutions; and a preference-aware solution evaluation mode for evaluating and recommending solutions according to the preferences of application providers. To test the proposed framework and methodologies, a cloud service advisory tool prototype was developed after which relevant experiments were conducted. The results show that the proposed system collects/updates/records the cloud information from multiple mainstream public cloud services in real-time, generates feasible cloud configuration solutions according to user specifications and acceptable cost predication, assesses solutions from multiple aspects (e.g., computing capability, potential cost and Service Level Agreement, SLA) and offers rational recommendations based on user preferences and practical cloud provisioning; and visually presents and compares solutions through an interactive web Graphical User Interface (GUI).

A Success-Oriented Framework to Enable Co-Created e-Services

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCormick, Thomas J.

2010-01-01

This dissertation establishes a novel framework and the implementation steps necessary to guide the acceleration of economic growth through the transformation from a product-based orientation to co-created e-Services. Co-creation promotes the sharing of innovation in the development and delivery of services in a close partnership between end users…

Cloud-Based NoSQL Open Database of Pulmonary Nodules for Computer-Aided Lung Cancer Diagnosis and Reproducible Research.

PubMed

Ferreira Junior, José Raniery; Oliveira, Marcelo Costa; de Azevedo-Marques, Paulo Mazzoncini

2016-12-01

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the world, and its main manifestation is pulmonary nodules. Detection and classification of pulmonary nodules are challenging tasks that must be done by qualified specialists, but image interpretation errors make those tasks difficult. In order to aid radiologists on those hard tasks, it is important to integrate the computer-based tools with the lesion detection, pathology diagnosis, and image interpretation processes. However, computer-aided diagnosis research faces the problem of not having enough shared medical reference data for the development, testing, and evaluation of computational methods for diagnosis. In order to minimize this problem, this paper presents a public nonrelational document-oriented cloud-based database of pulmonary nodules characterized by 3D texture attributes, identified by experienced radiologists and classified in nine different subjective characteristics by the same specialists. Our goal with the development of this database is to improve computer-aided lung cancer diagnosis and pulmonary nodule detection and classification research through the deployment of this database in a cloud Database as a Service framework. Pulmonary nodule data was provided by the Lung Image Database Consortium and Image Database Resource Initiative (LIDC-IDRI), image descriptors were acquired by a volumetric texture analysis, and database schema was developed using a document-oriented Not only Structured Query Language (NoSQL) approach. The proposed database is now with 379 exams, 838 nodules, and 8237 images, 4029 of them are CT scans and 4208 manually segmented nodules, and it is allocated in a MongoDB instance on a cloud infrastructure.

Study on ice cloud optical thickness retrieval with MODIS IR spectral bands

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Hong; Li, Jun

2005-01-01

The operational Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) products for cloud properties such as cloud-top pressure (CTP), effective cloud amount (ECA), cloud particle size (CPS), cloud optical thickness (COT), and cloud phase (CP) have been available for users globally. An approach to retrieve COT is investigated using MODIS infrared (IR) window spectral bands (8.5 mm, 11mm, and 12 mm). The COT retrieval from MODIS IR bands has the potential to provide microphysical properties with high spatial resolution during night. The results are compared with those from operational MODIS products derived from the visible (VIS) and near-infrared (NIR) bands during day. Sensitivity of COT to MODIS spectral brightness temperature (BT) and BT difference (BTD) values is studied. A look-up table is created from the cloudy radiative transfer model accounting for the cloud absorption and scattering for the cloud microphysical property retrieval. The potential applications and limitations are also discussed. This algorithm can be applied to the future imager systems such as Visible/Infrared Imager/Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) and Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) on the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-R.

Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) Science Cloud

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duffy, D.; Schnase, J. L.; McInerney, M.; Webster, W. P.; Sinno, S.; Thompson, J. H.; Griffith, P. C.; Hoy, E.; Carroll, M.

2014-12-01

The effects of climate change are being revealed at alarming rates in the Arctic and Boreal regions of the planet. NASA's Terrestrial Ecology Program has launched a major field campaign to study these effects over the next 5 to 8 years. The Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) will challenge scientists to take measurements in the field, study remote observations, and even run models to better understand the impacts of a rapidly changing climate for areas of Alaska and western Canada. The NASA Center for Climate Simulation (NCCS) at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) has partnered with the Terrestrial Ecology Program to create a science cloud designed for this field campaign - the ABoVE Science Cloud. The cloud combines traditional high performance computing with emerging technologies to create an environment specifically designed for large-scale climate analytics. The ABoVE Science Cloud utilizes (1) virtualized high-speed InfiniBand networks, (2) a combination of high-performance file systems and object storage, and (3) virtual system environments tailored for data intensive, science applications. At the center of the architecture is a large object storage environment, much like a traditional high-performance file system, that supports data proximal processing using technologies like MapReduce on a Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS). Surrounding the storage is a cloud of high performance compute resources with many processing cores and large memory coupled to the storage through an InfiniBand network. Virtual systems can be tailored to a specific scientist and provisioned on the compute resources with extremely high-speed network connectivity to the storage and to other virtual systems. In this talk, we will present the architectural components of the science cloud and examples of how it is being used to meet the needs of the ABoVE campaign. In our experience, the science cloud approach significantly lowers the barriers and risks to organizations that require high performance computing solutions and provides the NCCS with the agility required to meet our customers' rapidly increasing and evolving requirements.