Sample records for credit assignment problems

  1. Unifying Temporal and Structural Credit Assignment Problems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Agogino, Adrian K.; Tumer, Kagan

    2004-01-01

    Single-agent reinforcement learners in time-extended domains and multi-agent systems share a common dilemma known as the credit assignment problem. Multi-agent systems have the structural credit assignment problem of determining the contributions of a particular agent to a common task. Instead, time-extended single-agent systems have the temporal credit assignment problem of determining the contribution of a particular action to the quality of the full sequence of actions. Traditionally these two problems are considered different and are handled in separate ways. In this article we show how these two forms of the credit assignment problem are equivalent. In this unified frame-work, a single-agent Markov decision process can be broken down into a single-time-step multi-agent process. Furthermore we show that Monte-Carlo estimation or Q-learning (depending on whether the values of resulting actions in the episode are known at the time of learning) are equivalent to different agent utility functions in a multi-agent system. This equivalence shows how an often neglected issue in multi-agent systems is equivalent to a well-known deficiency in multi-time-step learning and lays the basis for solving time-extended multi-agent problems, where both credit assignment problems are present.

  2. QUICR-learning for Multi-Agent Coordination

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Agogino, Adrian K.; Tumer, Kagan

    2006-01-01

    Coordinating multiple agents that need to perform a sequence of actions to maximize a system level reward requires solving two distinct credit assignment problems. First, credit must be assigned for an action taken at time step t that results in a reward at time step t > t. Second, credit must be assigned for the contribution of agent i to the overall system performance. The first credit assignment problem is typically addressed with temporal difference methods such as Q-learning. The second credit assignment problem is typically addressed by creating custom reward functions. To address both credit assignment problems simultaneously, we propose the "Q Updates with Immediate Counterfactual Rewards-learning" (QUICR-learning) designed to improve both the convergence properties and performance of Q-learning in large multi-agent problems. QUICR-learning is based on previous work on single-time-step counterfactual rewards described by the collectives framework. Results on a traffic congestion problem shows that QUICR-learning is significantly better than a Q-learner using collectives-based (single-time-step counterfactual) rewards. In addition QUICR-learning provides significant gains over conventional and local Q-learning. Additional results on a multi-agent grid-world problem show that the improvements due to QUICR-learning are not domain specific and can provide up to a ten fold increase in performance over existing methods.

  3. Quicker Q-Learning in Multi-Agent Systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Agogino, Adrian K.; Tumer, Kagan

    2005-01-01

    Multi-agent learning in Markov Decisions Problems is challenging because of the presence ot two credit assignment problems: 1) How to credit an action taken at time step t for rewards received at t' greater than t; and 2) How to credit an action taken by agent i considering the system reward is a function of the actions of all the agents. The first credit assignment problem is typically addressed with temporal difference methods such as Q-learning OK TD(lambda) The second credit assi,onment problem is typically addressed either by hand-crafting reward functions that assign proper credit to an agent, or by making certain independence assumptions about an agent's state-space and reward function. To address both credit assignment problems simultaneously, we propose the Q Updates with Immediate Counterfactual Rewards-learning (QUICR-learning) designed to improve both the convergence properties and performance of Q-learning in large multi-agent problems. Instead of assuming that an agent s value function can be made independent of other agents, this method suppresses the impact of other agents using counterfactual rewards. Results on multi-agent grid-world problems over multiple topologies show that QUICR-learning can achieve up to thirty fold improvements in performance over both conventional and local Q-learning in the largest tested systems.

  4. Neural Mechanisms of Credit Assignment in a Multicue Environment

    PubMed Central

    Kolling, Nils; Brown, Joshua W.; Rushworth, Matthew

    2016-01-01

    In complex environments, many potential cues can guide a decision or be assigned responsibility for the outcome of the decision. We know little, however, about how humans and animals select relevant information sources that should guide behavior. We show that subjects solve this relevance selection and credit assignment problem by selecting one cue and its association with a particular outcome as the main focus of a hypothesis. To do this, we examined learning while using a task design that allowed us to estimate the focus of each subject's hypotheses on a trial-by-trial basis. When a prediction is confirmed by the outcome, then credit for the outcome is assigned to that cue rather than an alternative. Activity in medial frontal cortex is associated with the assignment of credit to the cue that is the main focus of the hypothesis. However, when the outcome disconfirms a prediction, the focus shifts between cues, and the credit for the outcome is assigned to an alternative cue. This process of reselection for credit assignment to an alternative cue is associated with lateral orbitofrontal cortex. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Learners should infer which features of environments are predictive of significant events, such as rewards. This “credit assignment” problem is particularly challenging when any of several cues might be predictive. We show that human subjects solve the credit assignment problem by implicitly “hypothesizing” which cue is relevant for predicting subsequent outcomes, and then credit is assigned according to this hypothesis. This process is associated with a distinctive pattern of activity in a part of medial frontal cortex. By contrast, when unexpected outcomes occur, hypotheses are redirected toward alternative cues, and this process is associated with activity in lateral orbitofrontal cortex. PMID:26818500

  5. Prefrontal Neurons Encode a Solution to the Credit-Assignment Problem

    PubMed Central

    Perge, János A.; Eskandar, Emad N.

    2017-01-01

    To adapt successfully to our environments, we must use the outcomes of our choices to guide future behavior. Critically, we must be able to correctly assign credit for any particular outcome to the causal features which preceded it. In some cases, the causal features may be immediately evident, whereas in others they may be separated in time or intermingled with irrelevant environmental stimuli, creating a potentially nontrivial credit-assignment problem. We examined the neuronal representation of information relevant for credit assignment in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) of two male rhesus macaques performing a task that elicited key aspects of this problem. We found that neurons conveyed the information necessary for credit assignment. Specifically, neuronal activity reflected both the relevant cues and outcomes at the time of feedback and did so in a manner that was stable over time, in contrast to prior reports of representational instability in the dlPFC. Furthermore, these representations were most stable early in learning, when credit assignment was most needed. When the same features were not needed for credit assignment, these neuronal representations were much weaker or absent. These results demonstrate that the activity of dlPFC neurons conforms to the basic requirements of a system that performs credit assignment, and that spiking activity can serve as a stable mechanism that links causes and effects. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Credit assignment is the process by which we infer the causes of our successes and failures. We found that neuronal activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex conveyed the necessary information for performing credit assignment. Importantly, while there are various potential mechanisms to retain a “trace” of the causal events over time, we observed that spiking activity was sufficiently stable to act as the link between causes and effects, in contrast to prior reports that suggested spiking representations were unstable over time. In addition, we observed that this stability varied as a function of learning, such that the neural code was more reliable over time during early learning, when it was most needed. PMID:28634307

  6. Solving the Credit Assignment Problem With the Prefrontal Cortex

    PubMed Central

    Stolyarova, Alexandra

    2018-01-01

    In naturalistic multi-cue and multi-step learning tasks, where outcomes of behavior are delayed in time, discovering which choices are responsible for rewards can present a challenge, known as the credit assignment problem. In this review, I summarize recent work that highlighted a critical role for the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in assigning credit where it is due in tasks where only a few of the multitude of cues or choices are relevant to the final outcome of behavior. Collectively, these investigations have provided compelling support for specialized roles of the orbitofrontal (OFC), anterior cingulate (ACC), and dorsolateral prefrontal (dlPFC) cortices in contingent learning. However, recent work has similarly revealed shared contributions and emphasized rich and heterogeneous response properties of neurons in these brain regions. Such functional overlap is not surprising given the complexity of reciprocal projections spanning the PFC. In the concluding section, I overview the evidence suggesting that the OFC, ACC and dlPFC communicate extensively, sharing the information about presented options, executed decisions and received rewards, which enables them to assign credit for outcomes to choices on which they are contingent. This account suggests that lesion or inactivation/inhibition experiments targeting a localized PFC subregion will be insufficient to gain a fine-grained understanding of credit assignment during learning and instead poses refined questions for future research, shifting the focus from focal manipulations to experimental techniques targeting cortico-cortical projections. PMID:29636659

  7. Maximization of Learning Speed Due to Neuronal Redundancy in Reinforcement Learning

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Takiyama, Ken

    2016-11-01

    Adaptable neural activity contributes to the flexibility of human behavior, which is optimized in situations such as motor learning and decision making. Although learning signals in motor learning and decision making are low-dimensional, neural activity, which is very high dimensional, must be modified to achieve optimal performance based on the low-dimensional signal, resulting in a severe credit-assignment problem. Despite this problem, the human brain contains a vast number of neurons, leaving an open question: what is the functional significance of the huge number of neurons? Here, I address this question by analyzing a redundant neural network with a reinforcement-learning algorithm in which the numbers of neurons and output units are N and M, respectively. Because many combinations of neural activity can generate the same output under the condition of N ≫ M, I refer to the index N - M as neuronal redundancy. Although greater neuronal redundancy makes the credit-assignment problem more severe, I demonstrate that a greater degree of neuronal redundancy facilitates learning speed. Thus, in an apparent contradiction of the credit-assignment problem, I propose the hypothesis that a functional role of a huge number of neurons or a huge degree of neuronal redundancy is to facilitate learning speed.

  8. Neural reactivations during sleep determine network credit assignment

    PubMed Central

    Gulati, Tanuj; Guo, Ling; Ramanathan, Dhakshin S.; Bodepudi, Anitha; Ganguly, Karunesh

    2018-01-01

    A fundamental goal of motor learning is to establish neural patterns that produce a desired behavioral outcome. It remains unclear how and when the nervous system solves this “credit–assignment” problem. Using neuroprosthetic learning where we could control the causal relationship between neurons and behavior, here we show that sleep–dependent processing is required for credit-assignment and the establishment of task-related functional connectivity reflecting the casual neuron-behavior relationship. Importantly, we found a strong link between the microstructure of sleep reactivations and credit assignment, with downscaling of non–causal activity. Strikingly, decoupling of spiking to slow–oscillations using optogenetic methods eliminated rescaling. Thus, our results suggest that coordinated firing during sleep plays an essential role in establishing sparse activation patterns that reflect the causal neuron–behavior relationship. PMID:28692062

  9. Efficient Credit Assignment through Evaluation Function Decomposition

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Agogino, Adrian; Turner, Kagan; Mikkulainen, Risto

    2005-01-01

    Evolutionary methods are powerful tools in discovering solutions for difficult continuous tasks. When such a solution is encoded over multiple genes, a genetic algorithm faces the difficult credit assignment problem of evaluating how a single gene in a chromosome contributes to the full solution. Typically a single evaluation function is used for the entire chromosome, implicitly giving each gene in the chromosome the same evaluation. This method is inefficient because a gene will get credit for the contribution of all the other genes as well. Accurately measuring the fitness of individual genes in such a large search space requires many trials. This paper instead proposes turning this single complex search problem into a multi-agent search problem, where each agent has the simpler task of discovering a suitable gene. Gene-specific evaluation functions can then be created that have better theoretical properties than a single evaluation function over all genes. This method is tested in the difficult double-pole balancing problem, showing that agents using gene-specific evaluation functions can create a successful control policy in 20 percent fewer trials than the best existing genetic algorithms. The method is extended to more distributed problems, achieving 95 percent performance gains over tradition methods in the multi-rover domain.

  10. Navigating complex decision spaces: Problems and paradigms in sequential choice

    PubMed Central

    Walsh, Matthew M.; Anderson, John R.

    2015-01-01

    To behave adaptively, we must learn from the consequences of our actions. Doing so is difficult when the consequences of an action follow a delay. This introduces the problem of temporal credit assignment. When feedback follows a sequence of decisions, how should the individual assign credit to the intermediate actions that comprise the sequence? Research in reinforcement learning provides two general solutions to this problem: model-free reinforcement learning and model-based reinforcement learning. In this review, we examine connections between stimulus-response and cognitive learning theories, habitual and goal-directed control, and model-free and model-based reinforcement learning. We then consider a range of problems related to temporal credit assignment. These include second-order conditioning and secondary reinforcers, latent learning and detour behavior, partially observable Markov decision processes, actions with distributed outcomes, and hierarchical learning. We ask whether humans and animals, when faced with these problems, behave in a manner consistent with reinforcement learning techniques. Throughout, we seek to identify neural substrates of model-free and model-based reinforcement learning. The former class of techniques is understood in terms of the neurotransmitter dopamine and its effects in the basal ganglia. The latter is understood in terms of a distributed network of regions including the prefrontal cortex, medial temporal lobes cerebellum, and basal ganglia. Not only do reinforcement learning techniques have a natural interpretation in terms of human and animal behavior, but they also provide a useful framework for understanding neural reward valuation and action selection. PMID:23834192

  11. Credit assignment in movement-dependent reinforcement learning

    PubMed Central

    Boggess, Matthew J.; Crossley, Matthew J.; Parvin, Darius; Ivry, Richard B.; Taylor, Jordan A.

    2016-01-01

    When a person fails to obtain an expected reward from an object in the environment, they face a credit assignment problem: Did the absence of reward reflect an extrinsic property of the environment or an intrinsic error in motor execution? To explore this problem, we modified a popular decision-making task used in studies of reinforcement learning, the two-armed bandit task. We compared a version in which choices were indicated by key presses, the standard response in such tasks, to a version in which the choices were indicated by reaching movements, which affords execution failures. In the key press condition, participants exhibited a strong risk aversion bias; strikingly, this bias reversed in the reaching condition. This result can be explained by a reinforcement model wherein movement errors influence decision-making, either by gating reward prediction errors or by modifying an implicit representation of motor competence. Two further experiments support the gating hypothesis. First, we used a condition in which we provided visual cues indicative of movement errors but informed the participants that trial outcomes were independent of their actual movements. The main result was replicated, indicating that the gating process is independent of participants’ explicit sense of control. Second, individuals with cerebellar degeneration failed to modulate their behavior between the key press and reach conditions, providing converging evidence of an implicit influence of movement error signals on reinforcement learning. These results provide a mechanistically tractable solution to the credit assignment problem. PMID:27247404

  12. Credit assignment in movement-dependent reinforcement learning.

    PubMed

    McDougle, Samuel D; Boggess, Matthew J; Crossley, Matthew J; Parvin, Darius; Ivry, Richard B; Taylor, Jordan A

    2016-06-14

    When a person fails to obtain an expected reward from an object in the environment, they face a credit assignment problem: Did the absence of reward reflect an extrinsic property of the environment or an intrinsic error in motor execution? To explore this problem, we modified a popular decision-making task used in studies of reinforcement learning, the two-armed bandit task. We compared a version in which choices were indicated by key presses, the standard response in such tasks, to a version in which the choices were indicated by reaching movements, which affords execution failures. In the key press condition, participants exhibited a strong risk aversion bias; strikingly, this bias reversed in the reaching condition. This result can be explained by a reinforcement model wherein movement errors influence decision-making, either by gating reward prediction errors or by modifying an implicit representation of motor competence. Two further experiments support the gating hypothesis. First, we used a condition in which we provided visual cues indicative of movement errors but informed the participants that trial outcomes were independent of their actual movements. The main result was replicated, indicating that the gating process is independent of participants' explicit sense of control. Second, individuals with cerebellar degeneration failed to modulate their behavior between the key press and reach conditions, providing converging evidence of an implicit influence of movement error signals on reinforcement learning. These results provide a mechanistically tractable solution to the credit assignment problem.

  13. 12 CFR 567.11 - Reservation of authority.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... assigned risk weight for any asset, or credit equivalent amount or credit conversion factor for any off... require the savings association to apply another risk-weight, credit equivalent amount, or credit..., credit equivalent amount, or credit conversion factor, OTS may assign any risk weight, credit equivalent...

  14. 12 CFR 3.4 - Reservation of authority.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... risk weight for any asset or the credit equivalent amount or credit conversion factor for any off..., if no risk weight, credit equivalent amount, or credit conversion factor is specifically assigned, the OCC may assign any risk weight, credit equivalent amount, or credit conversion factor that the OCC...

  15. Grading Practices--Watching Out for Land Mines.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nottingham, Marv

    1988-01-01

    The A to F grading pattern is a highly subjective practice that demands great expertise and assumes a high degree of test validity. This article discusses the merits of extra credit assignments, homework, and "pop" quizzes; outlines defensible grading procedures; and discusses common grading problems, such as using grades as weapons. (MLH)

  16. The Role of Extra-Credit Assignments in the Teaching of World Languages

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alley, David

    2011-01-01

    The granting of extra credit is a hotly debated topic in all fields of education. Teachers are reluctant to offer extra credit for fear of inflating grades, but students are persistent in their demands for extra-credit points to which they have become accustomed. This article considers extra-credit assignments in the teaching of world languages.…

  17. 12 CFR 701.14 - Change in official or senior executive officer in credit unions that are newly chartered or are...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... means: (i) A federal credit union that has been assigned a 4 or 5 CAMEL composite rating by NCUA; or (ii) A federally insured, state-chartered credit union that has been assigned a 4 or 5 CAMEL composite... union that has been assigned a 4 or 5 CAMEL rating by NCUA; or (ii) A federally insured, state-chartered...

  18. Exploring the Contribution of Extra Credit in Marketing Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Elbeck, Matt; DeLong, Deborah

    2015-01-01

    This study advances the literature on the incidence, attitudes and motivations to complete extra credit assignments. Behavioral feedback from 59 marketing instructors and 43 Principles of Marketing students aligned with reported incidence rates of offering and completing extra credit assignments, respectively. This was followed with open-ended…

  19. Assigning Publication Credit in Collaborative Research.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bridgwater, Carol Austin; And Others

    Publication credit has taken on great significance with the advent of an increasingly competitive academic job market and the decline in federal funds for psychological research. Policies regarding assignment of publication credit help to mold the careers of academic psychologists. A sample of psychologists was asked to endorse what they…

  20. 13 CFR 400.210 - Assignment or transfer of loans.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 13 Business Credit and Assistance 1 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Assignment or transfer of loans. 400.210 Section 400.210 Business Credit and Assistance EMERGENCY STEEL GUARANTEE LOAN BOARD EMERGENCY STEEL GUARANTEE LOAN PROGRAM Steel Guarantee Loans § 400.210 Assignment or transfer of loans. (a...

  1. 13 CFR 400.210 - Assignment or transfer of loans.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 13 Business Credit and Assistance 1 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Assignment or transfer of loans. 400.210 Section 400.210 Business Credit and Assistance EMERGENCY STEEL GUARANTEE LOAN BOARD EMERGENCY STEEL GUARANTEE LOAN PROGRAM Steel Guarantee Loans § 400.210 Assignment or transfer of loans. (a...

  2. 13 CFR 400.210 - Assignment or transfer of loans.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 13 Business Credit and Assistance 1 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Assignment or transfer of loans. 400.210 Section 400.210 Business Credit and Assistance EMERGENCY STEEL GUARANTEE LOAN BOARD EMERGENCY STEEL GUARANTEE LOAN PROGRAM Steel Guarantee Loans § 400.210 Assignment or transfer of loans. (a...

  3. 34 CFR 682.402 - Death, disability, closed school, false certification, unpaid refunds, and bankruptcy payments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... history assigned to the loan. (3) Borrower qualification for discharge. Except as provided in paragraph (d... credit bureaus to which it previously reported the status of the loan delete all adverse credit history... delete all adverse or inaccurate credit history assigned to the loan. (v) Discharge under paragraph (e)(1...

  4. Polytomous versus Dichotomous Scoring on Multiple-Choice Examinations: Development of a Rubric for Rating Partial Credit

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Grunert, Megan L.; Raker, Jeffrey R.; Murphy, Kristen L.; Holme, Thomas A.

    2013-01-01

    The concept of assigning partial credit on multiple-choice test items is considered for items from ACS Exams. Because the items on these exams, particularly the quantitative items, use common student errors to define incorrect answers, it is possible to assign partial credits to some of these incorrect responses. To do so, however, it becomes…

  5. 41 CFR 102-79.40 - Can Federal agencies allot space in Federal buildings to Federal credit unions?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... REGULATION REAL PROPERTY 79-ASSIGNMENT AND UTILIZATION OF SPACE Assignment and Utilization of Space Federal... presently Federal employees or were Federal employees at the time of admission into the credit union, and...

  6. Airborne Assault on Holland

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1992-01-01

    component and the forces it carried perform creditably, but losses were far smaller than anticipated. The units carried out their as- signed missions...problem of navigation was to be made as simple as possible. For security reasons each site was given a code name. Call signs were assigned to the site...boats. Each of these car- ried a Eureka beacon and a green holophane light, sending the as- signed code letter. These boats, serving as definite

  7. 41 CFR 102-79.40 - Can Federal agencies allot space in Federal buildings to Federal credit unions?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... and Property Management Federal Property Management Regulations System (Continued) FEDERAL MANAGEMENT REGULATION REAL PROPERTY 79-ASSIGNMENT AND UTILIZATION OF SPACE Assignment and Utilization of Space Federal... presently Federal employees or were Federal employees at the time of admission into the credit union, and...

  8. Credit assignment between body and object probed by an object transportation task.

    PubMed

    Kong, Gaiqing; Zhou, Zhihao; Wang, Qining; Kording, Konrad; Wei, Kunlin

    2017-10-17

    It has been proposed that learning from movement errors involves a credit assignment problem: did I misestimate properties of the object or those of my body? For example, an overestimate of arm strength and an underestimate of the weight of a coffee cup can both lead to coffee spills. Though previous studies have found signs of simultaneous learning of the object and of the body during object manipulation, there is little behavioral evidence about their quantitative relation. Here we employed a novel weight-transportation task, in which participants lift the first cup filled with liquid while assessing their learning from errors. Specifically, we examined their transfer of learning when switching to a contralateral hand, the second identical cup, or switching both hands and cups. By comparing these transfer behaviors, we found that 25% of the learning was attributed to the object (simply because of the use of the same cup) and 58% of the learning was attributed to the body (simply because of the use of the same hand). The nervous system thus seems to partition the learning of object manipulation between the object and the body.

  9. Determinants of Default in P2P Lending

    PubMed Central

    2015-01-01

    This paper studies P2P lending and the factors explaining loan default. This is an important issue because in P2P lending individual investors bear the credit risk, instead of financial institutions, which are experts in dealing with this risk. P2P lenders suffer a severe problem of information asymmetry, because they are at a disadvantage facing the borrower. For this reason, P2P lending sites provide potential lenders with information about borrowers and their loan purpose. They also assign a grade to each loan. The empirical study is based on loans’ data collected from Lending Club (N = 24,449) from 2008 to 2014 that are first analyzed by using univariate means tests and survival analysis. Factors explaining default are loan purpose, annual income, current housing situation, credit history and indebtedness. Secondly, a logistic regression model is developed to predict defaults. The grade assigned by the P2P lending site is the most predictive factor of default, but the accuracy of the model is improved by adding other information, especially the borrower’s debt level. PMID:26425854

  10. Determinants of Default in P2P Lending.

    PubMed

    Serrano-Cinca, Carlos; Gutiérrez-Nieto, Begoña; López-Palacios, Luz

    2015-01-01

    This paper studies P2P lending and the factors explaining loan default. This is an important issue because in P2P lending individual investors bear the credit risk, instead of financial institutions, which are experts in dealing with this risk. P2P lenders suffer a severe problem of information asymmetry, because they are at a disadvantage facing the borrower. For this reason, P2P lending sites provide potential lenders with information about borrowers and their loan purpose. They also assign a grade to each loan. The empirical study is based on loans' data collected from Lending Club (N = 24,449) from 2008 to 2014 that are first analyzed by using univariate means tests and survival analysis. Factors explaining default are loan purpose, annual income, current housing situation, credit history and indebtedness. Secondly, a logistic regression model is developed to predict defaults. The grade assigned by the P2P lending site is the most predictive factor of default, but the accuracy of the model is improved by adding other information, especially the borrower's debt level.

  11. Motivating Students to Do Homework

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kontur, Frederick J.; Terry, Nathan B.

    2014-05-01

    How do you motivate students to do their homework? Some instructors make students' homework scores a significant percentage of the final course grade. In that case, how much course credit is required? Some instructors do not grade homework at all, instead relying on students' intrinsic motivation to learn the course material. Will this actually work? Some instructors might motivate students by having quiz and/or exam problems closely match the assigned homework problems. In this article, we report on the effectiveness of grade incentives, homework-based quiz problems, and intrinsic motivation for 16 semesters of introductory mechanics and introductory electricity and magnetism (E&M) courses at the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) between fall 2008 and spring 2012.

  12. 41 CFR 109-38.801 - Obtaining SF 149, U.S. Government National Credit Card.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    .... Government National Credit Card. 109-38.801 Section 109-38.801 Public Contracts and Property Management..., U.S. Government National Credit Card § 109-38.801 Obtaining SF 149, U.S. Government National Credit Card. DOE offices electing to use national credit cards shall request the assignment of billing address...

  13. 41 CFR 109-38.801 - Obtaining SF 149, U.S. Government National Credit Card.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    .... Government National Credit Card. 109-38.801 Section 109-38.801 Public Contracts and Property Management..., U.S. Government National Credit Card § 109-38.801 Obtaining SF 149, U.S. Government National Credit Card. DOE offices electing to use national credit cards shall request the assignment of billing address...

  14. 41 CFR 109-38.801 - Obtaining SF 149, U.S. Government National Credit Card.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    .... Government National Credit Card. 109-38.801 Section 109-38.801 Public Contracts and Property Management..., U.S. Government National Credit Card § 109-38.801 Obtaining SF 149, U.S. Government National Credit Card. DOE offices electing to use national credit cards shall request the assignment of billing address...

  15. 41 CFR 109-38.801 - Obtaining SF 149, U.S. Government National Credit Card.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    .... Government National Credit Card. 109-38.801 Section 109-38.801 Public Contracts and Property Management..., U.S. Government National Credit Card § 109-38.801 Obtaining SF 149, U.S. Government National Credit Card. DOE offices electing to use national credit cards shall request the assignment of billing address...

  16. 41 CFR 109-38.801 - Obtaining SF 149, U.S. Government National Credit Card.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    .... Government National Credit Card. 109-38.801 Section 109-38.801 Public Contracts and Property Management..., U.S. Government National Credit Card § 109-38.801 Obtaining SF 149, U.S. Government National Credit Card. DOE offices electing to use national credit cards shall request the assignment of billing address...

  17. Pueblo Community College, Dual Credit Handbook, 1998-99.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Griffith, Mary

    This Dual Credit Handbook from Pueblo Community College (CO) provides information and guidelines to assist instructors in meeting their assignment. These guidelines apply to dual credit courses offered to high school students during their regular school hours, for which students receive high school- and college-level credit simultaneously. This…

  18. Loss Aversion in the Classroom: A Nudge towards a Better Grade?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Grijalva, Therese; Koford, Brandon C.; Parkhurst, Gregory

    2018-01-01

    Using data from 499 students over 12 sections, 2 courses, and 3 instructors, we estimate the effect of loss aversion on the probability of turning in extra credit assignments and the effect on the overall grade. Regression results indicate no effect of loss aversion on the probability of turning in extra credit assignments and no effect on a…

  19. Delay Banking for Managing Air Traffic

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Green, Steve

    2008-01-01

    Delay banking has been invented to enhance air-traffic management in a way that would increase the degree of fairness in assigning arrival, departure, and en-route delays and trajectory deviations to aircraft impacted by congestion in the national airspace system. In delay banking, an aircraft operator (airline, military, general aviation, etc.) would be assigned a numerical credit when any of their flights are delayed because of an air-traffic flow restriction. The operator could subsequently bid against other operators competing for access to congested airspace to utilize part or all of its accumulated credit. Operators utilize credits to obtain higher priority for the same flight, or other flights operating at the same time, or later, in the same airspace, or elsewhere. Operators could also trade delay credits, according to market rules that would be determined by stakeholders in the national airspace system. Delay banking would be administered by an independent third party who would use delay banking automation to continually monitor flights, allocate delay credits, maintain accounts of delay credits for participating airlines, mediate bidding and the consumption of credits of winning bidders, analyze potential transfers of credits within and between operators, implement accepted transfers, and ensure fair treatment of all participating operators. A flow restriction can manifest itself in the form of a delay in assigned takeoff time, a reduction in assigned airspeed, a change in the position for the aircraft in a queue of all aircraft in a common stream of traffic (e.g., similar route), a change in the planned altitude profile for an aircraft, or change in the planned route for the aircraft. Flow restrictions are typically imposed to mitigate traffic congestion at an airport or in a region of airspace, particularly congestion due to inclement weather, or the unavailability of a runway or region of airspace. A delay credit would be allocated to an operator of a flight that has accepted, or upon which was imposed, a flow restriction. The amount of the credit would increase with the amount of delay caused by the flow restriction, the exact amount depending on which of several candidate formulas is eventually chosen. For example, according to one formula, there would be no credit for a delay smaller than some threshold value (e.g., 30 seconds) and the amount of the credit for a longer delay would be set at the amount of the delay minus the threshold value. Optionally, the value of a delay credit could be made to decay with time according to a suitable formula (e.g., an exponential decay). Also, optionally, a transaction charge could be assessed against the value of a delay credit that an operator used on a flight different from the one for which the delay originated or that was traded with a different operator. The delay credits accumulated by a given airline could be utilized in various ways. For example, an operator could enter a bid for priority handling in a new flow restriction that impacts one or more of the operator s flights; if the bid were unsuccessful, all or a portion of the credit would be returned to the bidder. If the bid pertained to a single aircraft that was in a queue, delay credits could be consumed in moving the aircraft to an earlier position within the queue. In the case of a flow restriction involving a choice of alternate routes, planned altitude profile, aircraft spacing, or other non-queue flow restrictions, delay credits could be used to bid for an alternative assignment.

  20. 32 CFR 231.8 - Procedures-overseas credit unions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... geographic franchise. (2) The extension of credit union service overseas is encouraged consistent with the... geographic franchise with a specific field of membership, the Secretary of the Military Department (or... geographic franchises assigned to credit unions serving DoD overseas installations. (ii) Where there is no Do...

  1. 32 CFR 231.8 - Procedures-overseas credit unions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... geographic franchise. (2) The extension of credit union service overseas is encouraged consistent with the... geographic franchise with a specific field of membership, the Secretary of the Military Department (or... geographic franchises assigned to credit unions serving DoD overseas installations. (ii) Where there is no Do...

  2. 32 CFR 231.8 - Procedures-overseas credit unions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... geographic franchise. (2) The extension of credit union service overseas is encouraged consistent with the... geographic franchise with a specific field of membership, the Secretary of the Military Department (or... geographic franchises assigned to credit unions serving DoD overseas installations. (ii) Where there is no Do...

  3. 32 CFR 231.8 - Procedures-overseas credit unions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... geographic franchise. (2) The extension of credit union service overseas is encouraged consistent with the... geographic franchise with a specific field of membership, the Secretary of the Military Department (or... geographic franchises assigned to credit unions serving DoD overseas installations. (ii) Where there is no Do...

  4. 32 CFR 231.8 - Procedures-overseas credit unions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... geographic franchise. (2) The extension of credit union service overseas is encouraged consistent with the... geographic franchise with a specific field of membership, the Secretary of the Military Department (or... geographic franchises assigned to credit unions serving DoD overseas installations. (ii) Where there is no Do...

  5. 12 CFR 615.5210 - Risk-adjusted assets.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... appropriate credit conversion factor in § 615.5212, is assigned to one of the risk categories specified in... risk-based capital requirement for the credit-enhanced assets, the risk-based capital required under..., determine the appropriate risk weight for any asset or credit equivalent amount that does not fit wholly...

  6. 12 CFR 567.6 - Risk-based capital credit risk-weight categories.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... strips receivable, other than credit-enhancing interest-only strips; (N)-(O) [Reserved] (P) That portion...'s risk management system that explicitly incorporates the full range of risks arising from the... management or loan review personnel to assign or review the credit risk ratings; (7) Include an internal...

  7. 12 CFR 390.466 - Risk-based capital credit risk-weight categories.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... receivable, other than credit-enhancing interest-only strips; (N)-(O) [Reserved] (P) That portion of equity... integral part of the State savings association's risk management system that explicitly incorporates the... subjective factors; (6) Employ independent credit risk management or loan review personnel to assign or...

  8. 12 CFR 567.6 - Risk-based capital credit risk-weight categories.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... strips receivable, other than credit-enhancing interest-only strips; (N)-(O) [Reserved] (P) That portion...'s risk management system that explicitly incorporates the full range of risks arising from the... management or loan review personnel to assign or review the credit risk ratings; (7) Include an internal...

  9. Consumer Education Resources: Credit, Credit Problems, Home Mortgages & Equity Loans.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Eastern Michigan Univ., Ypsilanti. National Inst. for Consumer Education.

    This document contains five lists of consumer resources pertaining to credit, credit problems, and home mortgages and equity loans. The first list, targeted at adults, provides information on general credit, applying for credit and contracts, seniors and women and credit, credit options and costs, credit protection, credit reports and bureaus, and…

  10. 2 CFR 417.222 - How would the exclusions from coverage for USDA's export credit guarantee and direct credit...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... USDA's export credit guarantee and direct credit programs apply? 417.222 Section 417.222 Grants and... DEBARMENT AND SUSPENSION Covered Transactions § 417.222 How would the exclusions from coverage for USDA's... guarantee issued by the USDA to a U.S. exporter. The U.S. exporter usually assigns the guarantee to a U.S...

  11. 2 CFR 417.222 - How would the exclusions from coverage for USDA's export credit guarantee and direct credit...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... USDA's export credit guarantee and direct credit programs apply? 417.222 Section 417.222 Grants and... DEBARMENT AND SUSPENSION Covered Transactions § 417.222 How would the exclusions from coverage for USDA's... guarantee issued by the USDA to a U.S. exporter. The U.S. exporter usually assigns the guarantee to a U.S...

  12. 2 CFR 417.222 - How would the exclusions from coverage for USDA's export credit guarantee and direct credit...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... USDA's export credit guarantee and direct credit programs apply? 417.222 Section 417.222 Grants and... DEBARMENT AND SUSPENSION Covered Transactions § 417.222 How would the exclusions from coverage for USDA's... guarantee issued by the USDA to a U.S. exporter. The U.S. exporter usually assigns the guarantee to a U.S...

  13. 2 CFR 417.222 - How would the exclusions from coverage for USDA's export credit guarantee and direct credit...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... USDA's export credit guarantee and direct credit programs apply? 417.222 Section 417.222 Grants and... DEBARMENT AND SUSPENSION Covered Transactions § 417.222 How would the exclusions from coverage for USDA's... guarantee issued by the USDA to a U.S. exporter. The U.S. exporter usually assigns the guarantee to a U.S...

  14. 48 CFR 9904.412-60 - Illustrations.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... is being amortized over 30 years. The absolute value of the resultant net amortization credit is... limitation had been greater than zero, the assignable cost credit of $200,000 would have carried-forward and...

  15. Measuring Behavioral Learnings: A Study in Consumer Credits.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Anderson, C. Raymond

    A social simulation game, Consumer, was used to study the effectiveness of simulation in teaching facts about: (1) installment buying; (2) how to compare available sources of credit; and (3) how to recognize the best credit contract. The entire twelfth grade at one high school participated in the study. Ten class sections were assigned to…

  16. Credit Assignment in a Motor Decision Making Task Is Influenced by Agency and Not Sensory Prediction Errors.

    PubMed

    Parvin, Darius E; McDougle, Samuel D; Taylor, Jordan A; Ivry, Richard B

    2018-05-09

    Failures to obtain reward can occur from errors in action selection or action execution. Recently, we observed marked differences in choice behavior when the failure to obtain a reward was attributed to errors in action execution compared with errors in action selection (McDougle et al., 2016). Specifically, participants appeared to solve this credit assignment problem by discounting outcomes in which the absence of reward was attributed to errors in action execution. Building on recent evidence indicating relatively direct communication between the cerebellum and basal ganglia, we hypothesized that cerebellar-dependent sensory prediction errors (SPEs), a signal indicating execution failure, could attenuate value updating within a basal ganglia-dependent reinforcement learning system. Here we compared the SPE hypothesis to an alternative, "top-down" hypothesis in which changes in choice behavior reflect participants' sense of agency. In two experiments with male and female human participants, we manipulated the strength of SPEs, along with the participants' sense of agency in the second experiment. The results showed that, whereas the strength of SPE had no effect on choice behavior, participants were much more likely to discount the absence of rewards under conditions in which they believed the reward outcome depended on their ability to produce accurate movements. These results provide strong evidence that SPEs do not directly influence reinforcement learning. Instead, a participant's sense of agency appears to play a significant role in modulating choice behavior when unexpected outcomes can arise from errors in action execution. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT When learning from the outcome of actions, the brain faces a credit assignment problem: Failures of reward can be attributed to poor choice selection or poor action execution. Here, we test a specific hypothesis that execution errors are implicitly signaled by cerebellar-based sensory prediction errors. We evaluate this hypothesis and compare it with a more "top-down" hypothesis in which the modulation of choice behavior from execution errors reflects participants' sense of agency. We find that sensory prediction errors have no significant effect on reinforcement learning. Instead, instructions influencing participants' belief of causal outcomes appear to be the main factor influencing their choice behavior. Copyright © 2018 the authors 0270-6474/18/384521-10$15.00/0.

  17. 12 CFR 750.1 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... Federally insured credit union has been assigned: (1) In the case of a Federal credit union, 4 or 5 CAMEL... equivalent 4 or 5 CAMEL composite rating by the state supervisor; or (3) In the case of a Federally insured state chartered credit union in a state that does not use the CAMEL system, a 4 or 5 CAMEL composite...

  18. 12 CFR 750.1 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... Federally insured credit union has been assigned: (1) In the case of a Federal credit union, 4 or 5 CAMEL... equivalent 4 or 5 CAMEL composite rating by the state supervisor; or (3) In the case of a Federally insured state chartered credit union in a state that does not use the CAMEL system, a 4 or 5 CAMEL composite...

  19. 77 FR 6533 - Information Collection Request; Assignment and Joint Payment Elections

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-02-08

    ... Act of 1995, the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) and Farm Service Agency (FSA) are seeking comments... assign a cash payment made by FSA or CCC to a third party. In addition, a payment recipient may...). SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title: CCC-36, ``Assignment of Payment'', CCC-37, ``Joint Payment Authorization...

  20. Asymptotic traveling wave solution for a credit rating migration problem

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liang, Jin; Wu, Yuan; Hu, Bei

    2016-07-01

    In this paper, an asymptotic traveling wave solution of a free boundary model for pricing a corporate bond with credit rating migration risk is studied. This is the first study to associate the asymptotic traveling wave solution to the credit rating migration problem. The pricing problem with credit rating migration risk is modeled by a free boundary problem. The existence, uniqueness and regularity of the solution are obtained. Under some condition, we proved that the solution of our credit rating problem is convergent to a traveling wave solution, which has an explicit form. Furthermore, numerical examples are presented.

  1. 78 FR 25101 - Credit Ratings Roundtable

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-04-29

    ... examine issues in connection with the possibility of developing a credit rating assignment system. The second panel will discuss the effectiveness of the Commission's current system under the Securities... focus on other potential alternatives to the current issuer pay business model. The roundtable...

  2. Whole earth modeling: developing and disseminating scientific software for computational geophysics.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kellogg, L. H.

    2016-12-01

    Historically, a great deal of specialized scientific software for modeling and data analysis has been developed by individual researchers or small groups of scientists working on their own specific research problems. As the magnitude of available data and computer power has increased, so has the complexity of scientific problems addressed by computational methods, creating both a need to sustain existing scientific software, and expand its development to take advantage of new algorithms, new software approaches, and new computational hardware. To that end, communities like the Computational Infrastructure for Geodynamics (CIG) have been established to support the use of best practices in scientific computing for solid earth geophysics research and teaching. Working as a scientific community enables computational geophysicists to take advantage of technological developments, improve the accuracy and performance of software, build on prior software development, and collaborate more readily. The CIG community, and others, have adopted an open-source development model, in which code is developed and disseminated by the community in an open fashion, using version control and software repositories like Git. One emerging issue is how to adequately identify and credit the intellectual contributions involved in creating open source scientific software. The traditional method of disseminating scientific ideas, peer reviewed publication, was not designed for review or crediting scientific software, although emerging publication strategies such software journals are attempting to address the need. We are piloting an integrated approach in which authors are identified and credited as scientific software is developed and run. Successful software citation requires integration with the scholarly publication and indexing mechanisms as well, to assign credit, ensure discoverability, and provide provenance for software.

  3. [The ethics of ethnography revisited: learning from documentaries].

    PubMed

    Weber, Florence

    2011-01-01

    This article offers a comparison of the legal suits filed by the interviewees against the director of the documentary Être et avoir (to have and to be) with the rights of interviewees in ethnographic investigations, focusing particularly on image copyrights and labor law. To say that interviewees contribute to such investigations in anonymity does not solve the main problem - they are crucial to the investigation, marginal to the analysis, and then are assigned no publication credits. While information about the interviewees should remain confidential, this article argues, that contribution and role in the making of a publication should not be ignored.

  4. Credit risk identification and suggestions of electricity market

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    He, Chuan; Wang, Haichao; Chen, Zhongyuan; Hao, Yuxing; Jiang, Hailong; Qian, Hanhan; Wang, Meibao

    2018-03-01

    The power industry has a long history of credit problems, and the power industry has credit problems such as power users defaulting on electricity bills before the new electricity reform. With the reform of the power system, the credit problems in the power industry will be more complicated. How to effectively avoid the risk factors existing in the course of market operation and how to safeguard the fairness and standardization of market operation is an urgent problem to be solved. This paper first describes the credit risk in power market, and analyzes the components of credit risk identification in power market, puts forward suggestions on power market risk management.

  5. 7 CFR 1450.9 - Assignments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 10 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Assignments. 1450.9 Section 1450.9 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) COMMODITY CREDIT CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE LOANS, PURCHASES, AND OTHER OPERATIONS BIOMASS CROP ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (BCAP) Common Provisions...

  6. 7 CFR 1450.9 - Assignments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 10 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Assignments. 1450.9 Section 1450.9 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) COMMODITY CREDIT CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE LOANS, PURCHASES, AND OTHER OPERATIONS BIOMASS CROP ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (BCAP) Common Provisions...

  7. 7 CFR 1450.9 - Assignments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 10 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Assignments. 1450.9 Section 1450.9 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) COMMODITY CREDIT CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE LOANS, PURCHASES, AND OTHER OPERATIONS BIOMASS CROP ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (BCAP) Common Provisions...

  8. 7 CFR 1450.9 - Assignments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 10 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Assignments. 1450.9 Section 1450.9 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) COMMODITY CREDIT CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE LOANS, PURCHASES, AND OTHER OPERATIONS BIOMASS CROP ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (BCAP) Common Provisions...

  9. 13 CFR 117.20 - Supervision and coordination.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 13 Business Credit and Assistance 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Supervision and coordination. 117.20 Section 117.20 Business Credit and Assistance SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION NONDISCRIMINATION IN... AMENDED § 117.20 Supervision and coordination. The Administrator may from time to time assign to officials...

  10. 13 CFR 117.20 - Supervision and coordination.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 13 Business Credit and Assistance 1 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Supervision and coordination. 117.20 Section 117.20 Business Credit and Assistance SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION NONDISCRIMINATION IN... AMENDED § 117.20 Supervision and coordination. The Administrator may from time to time assign to officials...

  11. 13 CFR 117.20 - Supervision and coordination.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 13 Business Credit and Assistance 1 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Supervision and coordination. 117.20 Section 117.20 Business Credit and Assistance SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION NONDISCRIMINATION IN... AMENDED § 117.20 Supervision and coordination. The Administrator may from time to time assign to officials...

  12. 13 CFR 117.20 - Supervision and coordination.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 13 Business Credit and Assistance 1 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Supervision and coordination. 117.20 Section 117.20 Business Credit and Assistance SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION NONDISCRIMINATION IN... AMENDED § 117.20 Supervision and coordination. The Administrator may from time to time assign to officials...

  13. 13 CFR 117.20 - Supervision and coordination.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 13 Business Credit and Assistance 1 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Supervision and coordination. 117.20 Section 117.20 Business Credit and Assistance SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION NONDISCRIMINATION IN... AMENDED § 117.20 Supervision and coordination. The Administrator may from time to time assign to officials...

  14. 28 CFR 345.51 - Inmate pay.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... (highest). (b) Eligibility. (1) An inmate shall accrue vacation time, longevity service credit, and shall receive holiday pay for the period of time the inmate is officially assigned to the Industries work detail... escape is not entitled to credit for time spent in Industries prior to said program failure. This rule...

  15. Teaching Staff Advanced Training: European Experience

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kovalchuk, Vasyl

    2015-01-01

    The issue of teaching staff advanced training is paid much attention in many countries. In the Republic of Moldova progressive professional credits system is used. Credits are scored not only in assigning teaching degrees or issuing a certificate of continuing professional education, but also for teachers' evaluation at the educational…

  16. 5 CFR 430.208 - Rating performance.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... only on the evaluation of actual job performance for the designated appraisal period. (2) An agency... limited to, assigning additional retention service credit under § 351.504 of this chapter. (5) Under the provisions of § 351.504(e) of this chapter, the number of years of additional retention service credit...

  17. 13 CFR 120.1015 - Risk Rating System.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 13 Business Credit and Assistance 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Risk Rating System. 120.1015 Section 120.1015 Business Credit and Assistance SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION BUSINESS LOANS Risk-Based Lender Oversight Supervision § 120.1015 Risk Rating System. (a) Risk Rating. SBA may assign a Risk Rating...

  18. Implementing Student-Level Random Assignment during Summer School: Lessons Learned from an Efficacy Study of Online Algebra I for Credit Recovery

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Heppen, Jessica; Allensworth, Elaine; Walters, Kirk; Pareja, Amber Stitziel; Kurki, Anja; Nomi, Takako; Sorensen, Nicholas

    2011-01-01

    Credit recovery is one strategy to deal with high failure rates. The primary goal of credit recovery programs is to give students an opportunity to retake classes that they failed in an effort to get them back on track and keep them in school (Watson & Gemin, 2008). Most recently, as schools across the nation struggle to keep students on track…

  19. 12 CFR 701.14 - Change in official or senior executive officer in credit unions that are newly chartered or are...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... following conditions: (i) Has been assigned (A) A 4 or 5 CAMEL composite rating by the NCUA in the case of a federal credit union, or (B) An equivalent 4 or 5 CAMEL composite rating by the state supervisor in the case of a federally insured, state-chartered credit union, or (C) A 4 or 5 CAMEL composite rating by...

  20. 12 CFR 701.14 - Change in official or senior executive officer in credit unions that are newly chartered or are...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... following conditions: (i) Has been assigned (A) A 4 or 5 CAMEL composite rating by the NCUA in the case of a federal credit union, or (B) An equivalent 4 or 5 CAMEL composite rating by the state supervisor in the case of a federally insured, state-chartered credit union, or (C) A 4 or 5 CAMEL composite rating by...

  1. 12 CFR 701.14 - Change in official or senior executive officer in credit unions that are newly chartered or are...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... following conditions: (i) Has been assigned (A) A 4 or 5 CAMEL composite rating by the NCUA in the case of a federal credit union, or (B) An equivalent 4 or 5 CAMEL composite rating by the state supervisor in the case of a federally insured, state-chartered credit union, or (C) A 4 or 5 CAMEL composite rating by...

  2. 7 CFR 1463.111 - Offsets and assignments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 10 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Offsets and assignments. 1463.111 Section 1463.111 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) COMMODITY CREDIT CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE LOANS, PURCHASES, AND OTHER OPERATIONS 2005-2014 TOBACCO TRANSITION PROGRAM Tobacco...

  3. Author Credit for Transdisciplinary Collaboration

    PubMed Central

    Xu, Jian; Ding, Ying; Malic, Vincent

    2015-01-01

    Transdisciplinary collaboration is the key for innovation. An evaluation mechanism is necessary to ensure that academic credit for this costly process can be allocated fairly among coauthors. This paper proposes a set of quantitative measures (e.g., t_credit and t_index) to reflect authors’ transdisciplinary contributions to publications. These measures are based on paper-topic probability distributions and author-topic probability distributions. We conduct an empirical analysis of the information retrieval domain which demonstrates that these measures effectively improve the results of harmonic_credit and h_index measures by taking into account the transdisciplinary contributions of authors. The definitions of t_credit and t_index provide a fair and effective way for research organizations to assign credit to authors of transdisciplinary publications. PMID:26375678

  4. 19 CFR 24.26 - Automated Clearinghouse credit.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ...; payer identification number (importer number or Social Security number or Customs assigned number); and...; payer identifier (importer number or Social Security number or Customs assigned number or filer code if... or warehouse withdrawal number for a deferred tax payment, or bill number); payment type code...

  5. 7 CFR 250.50 - Contract requirements and procurement.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... must also specify the method used to determine the donated food values to be used in crediting, or the actual values assigned, in accordance with § 250.51. The method used to determine the donated food values... agreements, and must ensure crediting of the recipient agency for the value of donated foods contained in...

  6. Validation of a Formula for Assigning Continuing Education Credit to Printed Home Study Courses

    PubMed Central

    Hanson, Alan L.

    2007-01-01

    Objectives To reevaluate and validate the use of a formula for calculating the amount of continuing education credit to be awarded for printed home study courses. Methods Ten home study courses were selected for inclusion in a study to validate the formula, which is based on the number of words, number of final examination questions, and estimated difficulty level of the course. The amount of estimated credit calculated using the a priori formula was compared to the average amount of time required to complete each article based on pharmacists' self-reporting. Results A strong positive relationship between the amount of time required to complete the home study courses based on the a priori calculation and the times reported by pharmacists completing the 10 courses was found (p < 0.001). The correlation accounted for 86.2% of the total variability in the average pharmacist reported completion times (p < 0.001). Conclusions The formula offers an efficient and accurate means of determining the amount of continuing education credit that should be assigned to printed home study courses. PMID:19503705

  7. 7 CFR 1493.330 - Miscellaneous provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... OF AGRICULTURE LOANS, PURCHASES, AND OTHER OPERATIONS CCC EXPORT CREDIT GUARANTEE PROGRAMS CCC... exporter may assign the proceeds which are, or may become, payable by CCC under a facility payment... than one party, and may not, unless approved in advance by CCC, be subject to further assignment. Any...

  8. 7 CFR 1493.330 - Miscellaneous provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... OF AGRICULTURE LOANS, PURCHASES, AND OTHER OPERATIONS CCC EXPORT CREDIT GUARANTEE PROGRAMS CCC... exporter may assign the proceeds which are, or may become, payable by CCC under a facility payment... than one party, and may not, unless approved in advance by CCC, be subject to further assignment. Any...

  9. 18 CFR 301.7 - Average System Cost methodology functionalization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... SYSTEM COST METHODOLOGY FOR SALES FROM UTILITIES TO BONNEVILLE POWER ADMINISTRATION UNDER NORTHWEST POWER... functionalization under its Direct Analysis assigns costs, revenues, debits or credits based upon the actual and/or...) Functionalization methods. (1) Direct analysis, if allowed or required by Table 1, assigns costs, revenues, debits...

  10. 7 CFR 1493.330 - Miscellaneous provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... OF AGRICULTURE EXPORT PROGRAMS CCC EXPORT CREDIT GUARANTEE PROGRAMS CCC Facility Guarantee Program... proceeds which are, or may become, payable by CCC under a facility payment guarantee or the right to such..., unless approved in advance by CCC, be subject to further assignment. Any assignment may be made to one...

  11. 7 CFR 1493.330 - Miscellaneous provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... OF AGRICULTURE EXPORT PROGRAMS CCC EXPORT CREDIT GUARANTEE PROGRAMS CCC Facility Guarantee Program... proceeds which are, or may become, payable by CCC under a facility payment guarantee or the right to such..., unless approved in advance by CCC, be subject to further assignment. Any assignment may be made to one...

  12. 7 CFR 1493.330 - Miscellaneous provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... OF AGRICULTURE EXPORT PROGRAMS CCC EXPORT CREDIT GUARANTEE PROGRAMS CCC Facility Guarantee Program... proceeds which are, or may become, payable by CCC under a facility payment guarantee or the right to such..., unless approved in advance by CCC, be subject to further assignment. Any assignment may be made to one...

  13. The Effect of Randomized Homework Contingencies on College Students' Daily Homework and Unit Exam Performance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Galyon, Charles E.; Voils, Kyle L.; Blondin, Carolyn A.; Williams, Robert L.

    2015-01-01

    Students in an introductory educational psychology course submitted answers to daily homework questions for which they received credit either for percentage of questions answered in every homework assignment or for the accuracy of their answers to 10% of randomly selected questions. Potential credit was the same under both homework contingencies,…

  14. 26 CFR 1.45G-1 - Railroad track maintenance credit.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... and J incurred QRTME in the amount of $1 million. Also, on December 6, 2006, J assigned for purposes... (b)(6) of this section) of a Class II railroad or Class III railroad during the taxable year, but... railroad track maintenance credit for the taxable year—(1) General amount. Except as provided in paragraph...

  15. 26 CFR 1.45G-1 - Railroad track maintenance credit.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... and J incurred QRTME in the amount of $1 million. Also, on December 6, 2006, J assigned for purposes... (b)(6) of this section) of a Class II railroad or Class III railroad during the taxable year, but... railroad track maintenance credit for the taxable year—(1) General amount. Except as provided in paragraph...

  16. 26 CFR 1.45G-1 - Railroad track maintenance credit.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ... and J incurred QRTME in the amount of $1 million. Also, on December 6, 2006, J assigned for purposes... (b)(6) of this section) of a Class II railroad or Class III railroad during the taxable year, but... railroad track maintenance credit for the taxable year—(1) General amount. Except as provided in paragraph...

  17. 26 CFR 1.45G-1 - Railroad track maintenance credit.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... and J incurred QRTME in the amount of $1 million. Also, on December 6, 2006, J assigned for purposes... (b)(6) of this section) of a Class II railroad or Class III railroad during the taxable year, but... railroad track maintenance credit for the taxable year—(1) General amount. Except as provided in paragraph...

  18. Collective credit allocation in science

    PubMed Central

    Shen, Hua-Wei; Barabási, Albert-László

    2014-01-01

    Collaboration among researchers is an essential component of the modern scientific enterprise, playing a particularly important role in multidisciplinary research. However, we continue to wrestle with allocating credit to the coauthors of publications with multiple authors, because the relative contribution of each author is difficult to determine. At the same time, the scientific community runs an informal field-dependent credit allocation process that assigns credit in a collective fashion to each work. Here we develop a credit allocation algorithm that captures the coauthors’ contribution to a publication as perceived by the scientific community, reproducing the informal collective credit allocation of science. We validate the method by identifying the authors of Nobel-winning papers that are credited for the discovery, independent of their positions in the author list. The method can also compare the relative impact of researchers working in the same field, even if they did not publish together. The ability to accurately measure the relative credit of researchers could affect many aspects of credit allocation in science, potentially impacting hiring, funding, and promotion decisions. PMID:25114238

  19. Will Commodity Properties Affect Seller's Creditworthy: Evidence in C2C E-commerce Market in China

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Peng, Hui; Ling, Min

    This paper finds out that the credit rating level shows significant difference among different sub-commodity markets in E-commerce, which provides room for sellers to get higher credit rating by entering businesses with higher average credit level before fraud. In order to study the influence of commodity properties on credit rating, this paper analyzes how commodity properties affect average crediting rating through the degree of information asymmetry, returns and costs of fraud, credibility perception and fraud tolerance. Empirical study shows that Delivery, average trading volume, average price and complaint possibility have decisive impacts on credit performance; brand market share, the degree of standardization and the degree of imitation also have a relatively less significant effect on credit rating. Finally, this paper suggests that important commodity properties should be introduced to modify reputation system, for preventing credit rating arbitrage behavior where sellers move into low-rating commodity after being assigned high credit rating.

  20. Earth System Science: Problem-based Learning Courses for Teachers Through ESSEA

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Close, E.; Witiw, M. R.

    2007-12-01

    One method that has proven effective in the study of Earth system science is to use a problem-based and event- centered course organization. In such a course, different events that occur in the Earth system are examined and how each event influences subsequent events in each of Earth's spheres (the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere and lithosphere) is studied. A course is composed of several problem-based modules, where each module is centered about a particular event or issue that is important to the Earth system. The Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) was recently awarded a grant by the National Science Foundation's Geo-Teach program to develop and implement courses for teachers in Earth system science. Through the Earth System Science Education Alliance (ESSEA), IGES subsequently made awards to a group of 24 universities. Under the ESSEA program, problem-based modules are being developed for courses for middle school and high school teachers. In a typical university schedule, each module is designed to last three weeks and includes both group work and individual assignments. In the first week ("Teacher as Problem Solver"), participants explore their own ideas concerning the event and exchange their ideas with other members of their group. In the second week ("Teacher as Scholar"), participants research the issue and become more familiar with the event and the sphere-to-sphere interactions that occur. In the last week ("Teacher as Designer"), each participant develops a lesson plan for his or her own classroom. Current ESSEA modules cover topics such as volcanoes, Brazilian deforestation, Antarctic ice sheets, coral reefs, and stratospheric ozone depletion. Many new modules are under development with topics that range from plate tectonics and tsunamis to agriculture and sustainable water systems. Seattle Pacific University, in cooperation with Seattle Public Schools, was recently awarded a three-year grant by IGES to provide Earth system science education courses to middle and high school teachers. Teachers who complete the course are eligible for Continuing Education Units or graduate credit through Seattle Pacific University. Both three-credit and five-credit courses will be offered. All tuition costs will be paid by the grant. The courses will be offered in a hybrid online-classroom format. Future plans include offering an Earth system science course for pre-service teachers. In this talk we will describe the structure and content of the ESSEA modules with examples from currently available modules. We will also outline the development and planned implementation of a five-credit ESSEA course for area high school teachers to be offered at Seattle Pacific University in spring of 2008.

  1. 12 CFR 567.6 - Risk-based capital credit risk-weight categories.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ...) [Reserved] (vi) Indirect ownership interests in pools of assets. Assets representing an indirect holding of a pool of assets, e.g., mutual funds, are assigned to risk-weight categories under this section based upon the risk weight that would be assigned to the assets in the portfolio of the pool. An...

  2. 12 CFR 167.6 - Risk-based capital credit risk-weight categories.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ...) [Reserved] (vi) Indirect ownership interests in pools of assets. Assets representing an indirect holding of a pool of assets, e.g., mutual funds, are assigned to risk-weight categories under this section based upon the risk weight that would be assigned to the assets in the portfolio of the pool. An...

  3. 12 CFR 567.6 - Risk-based capital credit risk-weight categories.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ...) [Reserved] (vi) Indirect ownership interests in pools of assets. Assets representing an indirect holding of a pool of assets, e.g., mutual funds, are assigned to risk-weight categories under this section based upon the risk weight that would be assigned to the assets in the portfolio of the pool. An...

  4. 12 CFR 700.2 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... CAMEL composite rating by NCUA; or (ii) A federally insured, state-chartered credit union that has been assigned a 4 or 5 CAMEL composite rating by either NCUA, after an on-site contact, or its state supervisor... union that has been assigned a 4 or 5 CAMEL rating by NCUA; or (ii) A federally insured, state-chartered...

  5. An Economic Analysis of Academic Dishonesty and Its Deterrence in Higher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Happel, Stephen K.; Jennings, Marianne M.

    2008-01-01

    Academic dishonesty--cheating--includes plagiarizing, receiving credit for work not one's own, copying assignments, copying from another's exam, taking another's exam, not doing individual work on individual assignments, failing to contribute to team projects, and other forms of deception about work and performance. Cheating is rampant on college…

  6. Performance Patterns of High, Medium, and Low Performers during and following a Reward versus Non-Reward Contingency Phase

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Oliver, Renee; Williams, Robert L.

    2006-01-01

    Three contingency conditions were applied to the math performance of 4th and 5th graders: bonus credit for accurately solving math problems, bonus credit for completing math problems, and no bonus credit for accurately answering or completing math problems. Mixed ANOVAs were used in tracking the performance of high, medium, and low performers…

  7. 77 FR 42024 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; New York Stock Exchange LLC; Notice of Filing and Immediate...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-07-17

    ...\\ SLPs in the original class (``SLP-Props'') are eligible for credits when adding liquidity on the Exchange. The amount of the credit is determined by the ``tier'' for which the SLP-Prop qualifies, which is based on (i) whether the SLP-Prop meets the 10% average or more quoting requirement in all assigned...

  8. 77 FR 1769 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; New York Stock Exchange LLC; Notice of Filing of Proposed Rule...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-01-11

    ... liquidity on the Exchange. Currently, under a tiered structure of credits, a SLP that meets the 10% average... 50529 (August 15, 2011) (SR-NYSE-2011-39). $0.0020 credit per share per transaction if the SLP adds... all assigned SLP securities; and \\4\\ Consolidated ADV is equal to the volume reported by all exchanges...

  9. 77 FR 47471 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; New York Stock Exchange LLC; Notice of Filing and Immediate...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-08-08

    ...\\ The amount of the credit is currently determined by the ``tier'' that the SLP qualifies for, which is based on the SLP's level of quoting and the average daily volume (``ADV'') \\4\\ of liquidity added by the SLP in assigned securities. \\3\\ SLP credits are not applicable to executions of securities with a per...

  10. 75 FR 9856 - Policies To Promote Rural Radio Service and To Streamline Allotment and Assignment Procedures

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-03-04

    ... credit. Still another alternative would be to offer a choice of either the appropriate new entrant... [email protected] , or call the Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau at 202-418-0531 (voice), 202-418-7365... station, a 25 or 35 percent tribal bidding credit; or to offer Tribes a choice of either the appropriate...

  11. Moving toward policy development on assigning publication credit for oncology nurses' contributions to scholarly and scientific work.

    PubMed

    Ginn, D; Butler, L J

    1998-05-01

    The policy implications of a 1996 national nursing survey on the allocation of publication credit form of this paper. An earlier article (Butler & Ginn, 1997) describes and analyzes the outcome of the survey; the purpose here is to draw on that analysis, and on the relevant literature, to propose a starting place for discussion within the specialty of oncology and the nursing profession regarding assignment of credit for various contributions to collaborative scholarly work. After identifying the growing need for such a discussion and briefly highlighting the findings of the survey, the paper goes on to examine unacceptable practices in scholarly work and identify issues which should be resolved before collaborative work is undertaken. The final portion of the paper makes tentative suggestions as to principles and guidelines which might be applied to avoid disputes about the value of different contributions to a collaborative project. It is emphasized that the intention is not to advocate acceptance of the guidelines suggested here, but to create sufficient interest so that an approach to allocation of publication credit may be developed which will be consistent and relevant to the needs of the nursing profession.

  12. Distance Learning Courses and Master of Arts in Physics Education

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lindgren, Richard; Thornton, Stephen

    2006-11-01

    More than twenty distance learning courses in physics have been taken by hundreds of High School Physics Teachers over the past 7 years. The success of these courses helped initiate our 30 credit Master of Arts in Physics Education degree program. We have graduated 28 teachers over the last 6 years and expect 13 more to graduate in 2006. The candidates earn 14 credits in residence at the University of Virginia and 16 credits online. This allows teachers to matriculate, while earning more than half the credits at home. Presently, there are over 50 Master degree candidates. Three of the five online courses utilize CD-ROMS with edited lectures of live Physics courses taught at the University of Virginia by Physics Professors recognized for their teaching. Homework and examinations are submitted using WebAssign. Local high school teachers and administrators proctor the examinations. General communication and pedagogical feedback on homework assignments and exams are submitted through Blackboard as well as email. Screen captured video shots of physics demonstrations are widely used in the audio chat room to facilitate discussion and also used on examinations. We will discuss the changes of our distance-learning model based on what has worked (or not) and new technology.

  13. The Role of Multiple Neuromodulators in Reinforcement Learning That Is Based on Competition between Eligibility Traces.

    PubMed

    Huertas, Marco A; Schwettmann, Sarah E; Shouval, Harel Z

    2016-01-01

    The ability to maximize reward and avoid punishment is essential for animal survival. Reinforcement learning (RL) refers to the algorithms used by biological or artificial systems to learn how to maximize reward or avoid negative outcomes based on past experiences. While RL is also important in machine learning, the types of mechanistic constraints encountered by biological machinery might be different than those for artificial systems. Two major problems encountered by RL are how to relate a stimulus with a reinforcing signal that is delayed in time (temporal credit assignment), and how to stop learning once the target behaviors are attained (stopping rule). To address the first problem synaptic eligibility traces were introduced, bridging the temporal gap between a stimulus and its reward. Although, these were mere theoretical constructs, recent experiments have provided evidence of their existence. These experiments also reveal that the presence of specific neuromodulators converts the traces into changes in synaptic efficacy. A mechanistic implementation of the stopping rule usually assumes the inhibition of the reward nucleus; however, recent experimental results have shown that learning terminates at the appropriate network state even in setups where the reward nucleus cannot be inhibited. In an effort to describe a learning rule that solves the temporal credit assignment problem and implements a biologically plausible stopping rule, we proposed a model based on two separate synaptic eligibility traces, one for long-term potentiation (LTP) and one for long-term depression (LTD), each obeying different dynamics and having different effective magnitudes. The model has been shown to successfully generate stable learning in recurrent networks. Although, the model assumes the presence of a single neuromodulator, evidence indicates that there are different neuromodulators for expressing the different traces. What could be the role of different neuromodulators for expressing the LTP and LTD traces? Here we expand on our previous model to include several neuromodulators, and illustrate through various examples how different these contribute to learning reward-timing within a wide set of training paradigms and propose further roles that multiple neuromodulators can play in encoding additional information of the rewarding signal.

  14. A Learning Theory for Reward-Modulated Spike-Timing-Dependent Plasticity with Application to Biofeedback

    PubMed Central

    Maass, Wolfgang

    2008-01-01

    Reward-modulated spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) has recently emerged as a candidate for a learning rule that could explain how behaviorally relevant adaptive changes in complex networks of spiking neurons could be achieved in a self-organizing manner through local synaptic plasticity. However, the capabilities and limitations of this learning rule could so far only be tested through computer simulations. This article provides tools for an analytic treatment of reward-modulated STDP, which allows us to predict under which conditions reward-modulated STDP will achieve a desired learning effect. These analytical results imply that neurons can learn through reward-modulated STDP to classify not only spatial but also temporal firing patterns of presynaptic neurons. They also can learn to respond to specific presynaptic firing patterns with particular spike patterns. Finally, the resulting learning theory predicts that even difficult credit-assignment problems, where it is very hard to tell which synaptic weights should be modified in order to increase the global reward for the system, can be solved in a self-organizing manner through reward-modulated STDP. This yields an explanation for a fundamental experimental result on biofeedback in monkeys by Fetz and Baker. In this experiment monkeys were rewarded for increasing the firing rate of a particular neuron in the cortex and were able to solve this extremely difficult credit assignment problem. Our model for this experiment relies on a combination of reward-modulated STDP with variable spontaneous firing activity. Hence it also provides a possible functional explanation for trial-to-trial variability, which is characteristic for cortical networks of neurons but has no analogue in currently existing artificial computing systems. In addition our model demonstrates that reward-modulated STDP can be applied to all synapses in a large recurrent neural network without endangering the stability of the network dynamics. PMID:18846203

  15. Neptune's Discovery: Le Verrier, Adams, and the Assignment of Credit

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sheehan, William

    2011-01-01

    As one of the most significant achievements of 19th century astronomy, the discovery of Neptune has been the subject of a vast literature. A large part of this literature--beginning with the period immediately after the optical discovery in Berlin--has been the obsession with assigning credit to the two men who attempted to calculate the planet's position (and initially this played out against the international rivalry between France and England). Le Verrier and Adams occupied much different positions in the Scientific Establishments of their respective countries; had markedly different personalities; and approached the investigation using different methods. A psychiatrist and historian of astronomy tries to provide some new contexts to the familiar story of the discovery of Neptune, and argues that the personalities of these two men played crucial roles in their approaches to the problem they set themselves and the way others reacted to their stimuli. Adams had features of high-functioning autism, while Le Verrier's domineering, obsessive, orderly personality--though it allowed him to be immensely productive--eventually led to serious difficulties with his peers (and an outright revolt). Though it took extraordinary smarts to calculate the position of Neptune, the discovery required social skills that these men lacked--and thus the process to discovery was more bumbling and adventitious than it might have been. The discovery of Neptune occurred at a moment when astronomy was changing from that of heroic individuals to team collaborations involving multiple experts, and remains an object lesson in the sociological aspects of scientific endeavor.

  16. E-Mail Molecules—Individualizing the Large Lecture Class

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wamser, Carl C.

    2003-11-01

    All students in the organic chemistry class are assigned a unique set of nine molecules to report on as optional extra credit assignments. The molecules are taken from a list containing over 200 molecules on the class Web site; they represent an assortment of biologically relevant compounds, from acetaminophen to yohimbine. Once a week, students may submit information about one of the molecules for two points extra credit (where the course includes a total of over 600 points from traditional quizzes and exams). The information requested about the molecules varies slightly each term as student expertise grows, for example, molecular formula, hybridizations, functional groups, or number of stereocenters, but always includes biological relevance and sources of information. Initially students submitted data directly to the instructor by e-mail, but submissions now are handled by a Web-based course management system (WebCT). The goal is to give students individualized assignments that are relatively realistic in light of their future careers in health sciences. Nearly all of the students do some of the molecules, and many students do all of them. About 30 40% of the students who do the assignments regularly gain a grade benefit. Student responses to the exercise have been positive.

  17. Student Credit Card Debt in the 21st Century: Options for Financial Aid Administrators.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Oleson, Mark

    2001-01-01

    Provides multiple workable solutions financial aid offices can offer students throughout their college experience to deal with debt: preventive solutions for avoiding problems with credit card debt, holistic solutions for other related problems, and remedial solutions for existing problems. (EV)

  18. Mammography screening credit card and compliance.

    PubMed

    Schapira, D V; Kumar, N B; Clark, R A; Yag, C

    1992-07-15

    Screening for breast cancer using mammography has been shown to be effective in reducing mortality from breast cancer. The authors attempted to determine if use of a wallet-size plastic screening "credit" card would increase participants' compliance for subsequent mammograms when compared with traditional methods of increasing compliance. Two hundred and twenty consecutive women, ages 40-70 years, undergoing their first screening mammography were recruited and assigned randomly to four groups receiving (1) a reminder plastic credit card (2) reminder credit card with written reminder; (3) appointment card; and (4) verbal recommendation. Return rates of the four groups were determined after 15 months. The return rate for subsequent mammograms was significantly higher for participants (72.4%) using the credit card than for participants (39.8%) exposed to traditional encouragement/reminders (P less than 0.0001). The credit card was designed to show the participant's screening anniversary, and the durability of the card may have been a factor in increasing the return rate. The use of reminder credit cards may increase compliance for periodic screening examinations for other cancers and other chronic diseases.

  19. How the credit assignment problems in motor control could be solved after the cerebellum predicts increases in error.

    PubMed

    Verduzco-Flores, Sergio O; O'Reilly, Randall C

    2015-01-01

    We present a cerebellar architecture with two main characteristics. The first one is that complex spikes respond to increases in sensory errors. The second one is that cerebellar modules associate particular contexts where errors have increased in the past with corrective commands that stop the increase in error. We analyze our architecture formally and computationally for the case of reaching in a 3D environment. In the case of motor control, we show that there are synergies of this architecture with the Equilibrium-Point hypothesis, leading to novel ways to solve the motor error and distal learning problems. In particular, the presence of desired equilibrium lengths for muscles provides a way to know when the error is increasing, and which corrections to apply. In the context of Threshold Control Theory and Perceptual Control Theory we show how to extend our model so it implements anticipative corrections in cascade control systems that span from muscle contractions to cognitive operations.

  20. How the credit assignment problems in motor control could be solved after the cerebellum predicts increases in error

    PubMed Central

    Verduzco-Flores, Sergio O.; O'Reilly, Randall C.

    2015-01-01

    We present a cerebellar architecture with two main characteristics. The first one is that complex spikes respond to increases in sensory errors. The second one is that cerebellar modules associate particular contexts where errors have increased in the past with corrective commands that stop the increase in error. We analyze our architecture formally and computationally for the case of reaching in a 3D environment. In the case of motor control, we show that there are synergies of this architecture with the Equilibrium-Point hypothesis, leading to novel ways to solve the motor error and distal learning problems. In particular, the presence of desired equilibrium lengths for muscles provides a way to know when the error is increasing, and which corrections to apply. In the context of Threshold Control Theory and Perceptual Control Theory we show how to extend our model so it implements anticipative corrections in cascade control systems that span from muscle contractions to cognitive operations. PMID:25852535

  1. Writing Performance of At-Risk Learners in Online Credit Recovery

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Leiter, Michael P.

    2012-01-01

    Online credit recovery is becoming a popular choice for students needing to recover lost graduation credit due to course failure. The problem is that high school students who take online credit recovery classes in order to gain writing credit for graduation are failing the writing section on the state merit exam (MME). At-risk students and…

  2. A Computer-Assisted Personalized Approach in an Undergraduate Plant Physiology Class1

    PubMed Central

    Artus, Nancy N.; Nadler, Kenneth D.

    1999-01-01

    We used Computer-Assisted Personalized Approach (CAPA), a networked teaching and learning tool that generates computer individualized homework problem sets, in our large-enrollment introductory plant physiology course. We saw significant improvement in student examination performance with regular homework assignments, with CAPA being an effective and efficient substitute for hand-graded homework. Using CAPA, each student received a printed set of similar but individualized problems of a conceptual (qualitative) and/or quantitative nature with quality graphics. Because each set of problems is unique, students were encouraged to work together to clarify concepts but were required to do their own work for credit. Students could enter answers multiple times without penalty, and they were able to obtain immediate feedback and hints until the due date. These features increased student time on task, allowing higher course standards and student achievement in a diverse student population. CAPA handles routine tasks such as grading, recording, summarizing, and posting grades. In anonymous surveys, students indicated an overwhelming preference for homework in CAPA format, citing several features such as immediate feedback, multiple tries, and on-line accessibility as reasons for their preference. We wrote and used more than 170 problems on 17 topics in introductory plant physiology, cataloging them in a computer library for general access. Representative problems are compared and discussed. PMID:10198076

  3. 7 CFR 1488.17 - Assignment.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... Agricultural Commodities From Private Stocks Under CCC Export Credit Sales Program (GSM-5) Miscellaneous... under the financing agreement, in whole or in part, without written approval of the Vice President, CCC, or the Controller, CCC. ...

  4. 7 CFR 1488.17 - Assignment.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... Agricultural Commodities From Private Stocks Under CCC Export Credit Sales Program (GSM-5) Miscellaneous... under the financing agreement, in whole or in part, without written approval of the Vice President, CCC, or the Controller, CCC. ...

  5. 7 CFR 1488.17 - Assignment.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... Agricultural Commodities From Private Stocks Under CCC Export Credit Sales Program (GSM-5) Miscellaneous... under the financing agreement, in whole or in part, without written approval of the Vice President, CCC, or the Controller, CCC. ...

  6. Specializations for reward-guided decision-making in the primate ventral prefrontal cortex.

    PubMed

    Murray, Elisabeth A; Rudebeck, Peter H

    2018-05-23

    The estimated values of choices, and therefore decision-making based on those values, are influenced by both the chance that the chosen items or goods can be obtained (availability) and their current worth (desirability) as well as by the ability to link the estimated values to choices (a process sometimes called credit assignment). In primates, the prefrontal cortex (PFC) has been thought to contribute to each of these processes; however, causal relationships between particular subdivisions of the PFC and specific functions have been difficult to establish. Recent lesion-based research studies have defined the roles of two different parts of the primate PFC - the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and the ventral lateral frontal cortex (VLFC) - and their subdivisions in evaluating each of these factors and in mediating credit assignment during reward-based decision-making.

  7. Neural Correlates of Temporal Credit Assignment in the Parietal Lobe

    PubMed Central

    Eisenberg, Ian; Gottlieb, Jacqueline

    2014-01-01

    Empirical studies of decision making have typically assumed that value learning is governed by time, such that a reward prediction error arising at a specific time triggers temporally-discounted learning for all preceding actions. However, in natural behavior, goals must be acquired through multiple actions, and each action can have different significance for the final outcome. As is recognized in computational research, carrying out multi-step actions requires the use of credit assignment mechanisms that focus learning on specific steps, but little is known about the neural correlates of these mechanisms. To investigate this question we recorded neurons in the monkey lateral intraparietal area (LIP) during a serial decision task where two consecutive eye movement decisions led to a final reward. The underlying decision trees were structured such that the two decisions had different relationships with the final reward, and the optimal strategy was to learn based on the final reward at one of the steps (the “F” step) but ignore changes in this reward at the remaining step (the “I” step). In two distinct contexts, the F step was either the first or the second in the sequence, controlling for effects of temporal discounting. We show that LIP neurons had the strongest value learning and strongest post-decision responses during the transition after the F step regardless of the serial position of this step. Thus, the neurons encode correlates of temporal credit assignment mechanisms that allocate learning to specific steps independently of temporal discounting. PMID:24523935

  8. Dual Credit: Creating Career and Work Possibilities for Canadian Youth

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Watt-Malcolm, Bonnie

    2011-01-01

    In this article, I investigated the problems that educators are addressing with dual credit initiatives and consider tensions that have limited the seamless implementation of dual credit programming. Stakeholder representatives clearly identified common resources and support required to sustain their dual credit programs. Study participants noted…

  9. Assignment Choice, Effort, and Assignment Completion: Does Work Ethic Predict Those Who Choose Higher-Effort Assignments?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Parkhurst, John T.; Fleisher, Matthew S.; Skinner, Christopher H.; Woehr, David J.; Hawthorn-Embree, Meredith L.

    2011-01-01

    After completing the Multidimensional Work-Ethic Profile (MWEP), 98 college students were given a 20-problem math computation assignment and instructed to stop working on the assignment after completing 10 problems. Next, they were allowed to choose to finish either the partially completed assignment that had 10 problems remaining or a new…

  10. An empirical research on evaluating banks' credit assessment of corporate customers.

    PubMed

    Tsai, Sang-Bing; Li, Guodong; Wu, Chia-Huei; Zheng, Yuxiang; Wang, Jiangtao

    2016-01-01

    Under the rapid change of the global financial environment, the risk control of the credit granting is viewed as the foremost task to each bank. With the impact one by one from financial crisis and European debt crisis, the steady bank business is also facing the severe challenge. Banks approve the credits for their customers and then make money from the interest. Credit granting is not only the primary job but also the main source of income. The quality of credit granting concerns not just the reclaims of creditor's rights; it also affects the successful running of banks. To enhance the reliability and usefulness of bank credit risk assessment, we first will delve in the facets and indexes in the bank credit risk assessment. Then, we will examine the different dimensions of cause-effect relationships and correlations in the assessment process. Finally, the study focuses on how to raise the functions and benefits of the bank credit risk assessment. In those five credit risk evaluation dimensions, A "optional capability" and D "competitiveness" are of high relation and high prominence among those dimensions, influencing other items obviously. By actively focusing on these two dimensions and improving their credit risk assessment ability will solve the foremost problems and also solve other facets of credit risk assessment problems at the same time.

  11. Planning and Implementing a Hospital Recycling Program at Naval Hospital, Camp Pendleton, California

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1992-08-01

    communities have refused to license incinerators, saying "not in my back yard!" Recycling is quick, it’s economical, it can save natural resources, and...total costs - total credits) 4. Net Savings <Costs>: Present disposal Net recycling Net savings costs program costs <costs> * Assign only a...RECYCLING PROGRAM COSTS $ 9,739 (total costs - total credits) 4. Net Savings <Costs>: $ 9.287 _ $ 9.739 - S > Present disposal Net recycling Net

  12. Simulated annealing algorithm for solving chambering student-case assignment problem

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ghazali, Saadiah; Abdul-Rahman, Syariza

    2015-12-01

    The problem related to project assignment problem is one of popular practical problem that appear nowadays. The challenge of solving the problem raise whenever the complexity related to preferences, the existence of real-world constraints and problem size increased. This study focuses on solving a chambering student-case assignment problem by using a simulated annealing algorithm where this problem is classified under project assignment problem. The project assignment problem is considered as hard combinatorial optimization problem and solving it using a metaheuristic approach is an advantage because it could return a good solution in a reasonable time. The problem of assigning chambering students to cases has never been addressed in the literature before. For the proposed problem, it is essential for law graduates to peruse in chambers before they are qualified to become legal counselor. Thus, assigning the chambering students to cases is a critically needed especially when involving many preferences. Hence, this study presents a preliminary study of the proposed project assignment problem. The objective of the study is to minimize the total completion time for all students in solving the given cases. This study employed a minimum cost greedy heuristic in order to construct a feasible initial solution. The search then is preceded with a simulated annealing algorithm for further improvement of solution quality. The analysis of the obtained result has shown that the proposed simulated annealing algorithm has greatly improved the solution constructed by the minimum cost greedy heuristic. Hence, this research has demonstrated the advantages of solving project assignment problem by using metaheuristic techniques.

  13. How To Be...Credit Smart. "Straight Talk" Series.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    American Financial Services Association, Washington, DC. Consumer Credit Education Foundation.

    Designed for first-time borrowers, this pamphlet describes the basics of credit as a part of personal financial planning. Following a self-quiz (with answers) that tests the reader's knowledge of credit, the pamphlet provides guidelines for responsible credit use and outlines steps to take if debt problems occur. Topics covered include the…

  14. The Crisis in Credit and the Rise of Non-Credit

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Arena, Meaghan L.

    2013-01-01

    With institutions of higher education experiencing lower completion rates than our international counterparts and with rising student loan debt, the American higher education system is in crisis. As faculty members and administrators work to solve these growing problems in the credit-bearing side of higher education, the non-credit side is largely…

  15. 75 FR 8104 - Information Collection for Tax Credit Bonds for Bureau of Indian Affairs-Funded Schools

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-02-23

    ... Affairs-Funded Schools,'' which has been assigned Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Control Number... Tribes interested in obtaining an allocation of the bonding authority to finance construction...

  16. Large unbalanced credit scoring using Lasso-logistic regression ensemble.

    PubMed

    Wang, Hong; Xu, Qingsong; Zhou, Lifeng

    2015-01-01

    Recently, various ensemble learning methods with different base classifiers have been proposed for credit scoring problems. However, for various reasons, there has been little research using logistic regression as the base classifier. In this paper, given large unbalanced data, we consider the plausibility of ensemble learning using regularized logistic regression as the base classifier to deal with credit scoring problems. In this research, the data is first balanced and diversified by clustering and bagging algorithms. Then we apply a Lasso-logistic regression learning ensemble to evaluate the credit risks. We show that the proposed algorithm outperforms popular credit scoring models such as decision tree, Lasso-logistic regression and random forests in terms of AUC and F-measure. We also provide two importance measures for the proposed model to identify important variables in the data.

  17. Reward Activates Stimulus-Specific and Task-Dependent Representations in Visual Association Cortices

    PubMed Central

    Muller, Timothy; Yeung, Nick; Waszak, Florian

    2014-01-01

    Humans reliably learn which actions lead to rewards. One prominent question is how credit is assigned to environmental stimuli that are acted upon. Recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have provided evidence that representations of rewarded stimuli are activated upon reward delivery, providing possible eligibility traces for credit assignment. Our study sought evidence of postreward activation in sensory cortices satisfying two conditions of instrumental learning: postreward activity should reflect the stimulus category that preceded reward (stimulus specificity), and should occur only if the stimulus was acted on to obtain reward (task dependency). Our experiment implemented two tasks in the fMRI scanner. The first was a perceptual decision-making task on degraded face and house stimuli. Stimulus specificity was evident as rewards activated the sensory cortices associated with face versus house perception more strongly after face versus house decisions, respectively, particularly in the fusiform face area. Stimulus specificity was further evident in a psychophysiological interaction analysis wherein face-sensitive areas correlated with nucleus accumbens activity after face-decision rewards, whereas house-sensitive areas correlated with nucleus accumbens activity after house-decision rewards. The second task required participants to make an instructed response. The criterion of task dependency was fulfilled as rewards after face versus house responses activated the respective association cortices to a larger degree when faces and houses were relevant to the performed task. Our study is the first to show that postreward sensory cortex activity meets these two key criteria of credit assignment, and does so independently from bottom-up perceptual processing. PMID:25411489

  18. Video lottery: winning expectancies and arousal.

    PubMed

    Ladouceur, Robert; Sévigny, Serge; Blaszczynski, Alexander; O'Connor, Kieron; Lavoie, Marc E

    2003-06-01

    This study investigates the effects of video lottery players' expectancies of winning on physiological and subjective arousal. Participants were assigned randomly to one of two experimental conditions: high and low winning expectancies. Participants played 100 video lottery games in a laboratory setting while physiological measures were recorded. Level of risk-taking was controlled. Participants were 34 occasional or regular video lottery players. They were assigned randomly into two groups of 17, with nine men and eight women in each group. The low-expectancy group played for fun, therefore expecting to win worthless credits, while the high-expectancy group played for real money. Players' experience, demographic variables and subjective arousal were assessed. Severity of problem gambling was measured with the South Oaks Gambling Screen. In order to measure arousal, the average heart rate was recorded across eight periods. Participants exposed to high as compared to low expectations experienced faster heart rate prior to and during the gambling session. According to self-reports, it is the expectancy of winning money that is exciting, not playing the game. Regardless of the level of risk-taking, expectancy of winning is a cognitive factor influencing levels of arousal. When playing for fun, gambling becomes significantly less stimulating than when playing for money.

  19. The Effects of Low Income Housing Tax Credit Developments on Neighborhoods.

    PubMed

    Baum-Snow, Nathaniel; Marion, Justin

    2009-06-01

    This paper evaluates the impacts of new housing developments funded with the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), the largest federal project based housing program in the U.S., on the neighborhoods in which they are built. A discontinuity in the formula determining the magnitude of tax credits as a function of neighborhood characteristics generates pseudo-random assignment in the number of low income housing units built in similar sets of census tracts. Tracts where projects are awarded 30 percent higher tax credits receive approximately six more low income housing units on a base of seven units per tract. These additional new low income developments cause homeowner turnover to rise, raise property values in declining areas and reduce incomes in gentrifying areas in neighborhoods near the 30th percentile of the income distribution. LIHTC units significantly crowd out nearby new rental construction in gentrifying areas but do not displace new construction in stable or declining areas.

  20. Consumer Credit Counseling Services: The Need for Reform and Some Proposals for Change.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gardner, Stephen

    2002-01-01

    Describes the concerns of consumer advocates regarding consumers with debt problems, the deceptive practices of some credit counseling services, and the accuracy of their advice. Recommends changes in credit counseling services and protections for consumers using them. (JOW)

  1. Large Unbalanced Credit Scoring Using Lasso-Logistic Regression Ensemble

    PubMed Central

    Wang, Hong; Xu, Qingsong; Zhou, Lifeng

    2015-01-01

    Recently, various ensemble learning methods with different base classifiers have been proposed for credit scoring problems. However, for various reasons, there has been little research using logistic regression as the base classifier. In this paper, given large unbalanced data, we consider the plausibility of ensemble learning using regularized logistic regression as the base classifier to deal with credit scoring problems. In this research, the data is first balanced and diversified by clustering and bagging algorithms. Then we apply a Lasso-logistic regression learning ensemble to evaluate the credit risks. We show that the proposed algorithm outperforms popular credit scoring models such as decision tree, Lasso-logistic regression and random forests in terms of AUC and F-measure. We also provide two importance measures for the proposed model to identify important variables in the data. PMID:25706988

  2. Exploring Credit Mobility and Major-Specific Pathways: A Policy Analysis and Student Perspective on Community College to University Transfer

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hodara, Michelle; Martinez-Wenzl, Mary; Stevens, David; Mazzeo, Christopher

    2017-01-01

    Objective: Problems with credit mobility, or the transfer of credits from a sending to a receiving institution, may be one reason why community college transfer students have low rates of bachelor's degree completion. This study investigates different policy approaches to credit mobility and how college staff and students experience transfer at…

  3. 12 CFR 228.28 - Assigned ratings.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... bank's performance under the lending, investment and service tests, the community development test, the small bank performance standards, or an approved strategic plan, as applicable. (b) Lending, investment... credit practices. (1) The Board's evaluation of a bank's CRA performance is adversely affected by...

  4. Distributed Evaluation Functions for Fault Tolerant Multi-Rover Systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Agogino, Adrian; Turner, Kagan

    2005-01-01

    The ability to evolve fault tolerant control strategies for large collections of agents is critical to the successful application of evolutionary strategies to domains where failures are common. Furthermore, while evolutionary algorithms have been highly successful in discovering single-agent control strategies, extending such algorithms to multiagent domains has proven to be difficult. In this paper we present a method for shaping evaluation functions for agents that provide control strategies that both are tolerant to different types of failures and lead to coordinated behavior in a multi-agent setting. This method neither relies of a centralized strategy (susceptible to single point of failures) nor a distributed strategy where each agent uses a system wide evaluation function (severe credit assignment problem). In a multi-rover problem, we show that agents using our agent-specific evaluation perform up to 500% better than agents using the system evaluation. In addition we show that agents are still able to maintain a high level of performance when up to 60% of the agents fail due to actuator, communication or controller faults.

  5. 75 FR 11582 - West Virginia Disaster # WV-00015

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-03-11

    .... Economic Injury (EIDL) Loan Application Deadline Date: 12/02/2010. ADDRESSES: Submit completed loan.../2010, Private Non- Profit organizations that provide essential services of governmental nature may file... Economic Injury: Non-Profit Organizations without Credit Available 3.000 Elsewhere The number assigned to...

  6. 76 FR 56861 - Pennsylvania Disaster #PA-00043

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-09-14

    .../2011. Effective Date: 09/03/2011. Physical Loan Application Deadline Date: 11/02/2011. Economic Injury...- Profit organizations that provide essential services of governmental nature may file disaster loan... Economic Injury: Non-Profit Organizations without Credit Available Elsewhere 3.000 The number assigned to...

  7. 5 CFR 410.101 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... supports agency goals by improving organizational performance at any appropriate level in the agency, as... and performance objectives; (2) Improves an employee's current job performance; (3) Allows for..., United States Code. (i) Established contact hours are the number of academic credit hours assigned to a...

  8. 12 CFR 25.28 - Assigned ratings.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... on the bank's performance under the lending, investment and service tests, the community development test, the small bank performance standards, or an approved strategic plan, as applicable. (b) Lending... credit practices. (1) The OCC's evaluation of a bank's CRA performance is adversely affected by evidence...

  9. Earth System Science Online: An Innovative Course for Non-traditional Students, Offered by Hampton University

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Robinson, D. Q.; Kozusko, F.; Maggi, B. H.

    2003-12-01

    Hampton University (HU), a historically black university, is currently offering an innovative online course, Earth System Science Online, for teachers, future teachers, non-science undergraduate majors, and mature non-traditional students continuing their education. Supported by NASA and offered by the Interdisciplinary Science Center at HU, this course targets students interested in an asynchronous web-based learning environment. Often these students are working adults, such as those in the HU religious studies program, or undergraduate athletes who need the flexibility of taking their courses online in the evenings. Participants of this course earn three hours of science credit either graduate or undergraduate through their online explorations of the geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere. The incorporation of specific problem-based case studies, allows students to investigate weather phenomena, deforestation, and the various instruments and satellite data systems that are used to collect and analyze this data. This web-based course utilizes the unique capabilities of the web allowing students to work at a self-regulated pace and at times most convenient to their schedules. The course delivers all lectures, text readings, and course assignments online. Assignments are given on a weekly basis, and participants are expected to conduct independent research that will enrich their online experience. The nature of the web allows the students to easily integrate text and graphics into their assignments and have access to their classmate's work. Participants meet online weekly and interact as a team.

  10. Cracking the Credit Hour

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Laitinen, Amy

    2012-01-01

    The basic currency of higher education--the credit hour--represents the root of many problems plaguing America's higher education system: the practice of measuring time rather than learning. "Cracking the Credit Hour" traces the history of this time-based unit, from the days of Andrew Carnegie to recent federal efforts to define a credit…

  11. Institutionalization of Rural Credit in India: A Focus on the Cooperative Credit Movement.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1980-05-01

    Primarily the Government of India has relied on the Cooperative Movement in its effort to institutionalize the supply of rural credit. This thesis...examines some of the major problems and obstacles encountered as well as corrective measures taken with respect to the cooperative movement . (Author)

  12. Rewarding peer reviewers: maintaining the integrity of science communication.

    PubMed

    Gasparyan, Armen Yuri; Gerasimov, Alexey N; Voronov, Alexander A; Kitas, George D

    2015-04-01

    This article overviews currently available options for rewarding peer reviewers. Rewards and incentives may help maintain the quality and integrity of scholarly publications. Publishers around the world implemented a variety of financial and nonfinancial mechanisms for incentivizing their best reviewers. None of these is proved effective on its own. A strategy of combined rewards and credits for the reviewers1 creative contributions seems a workable solution. Opening access to reviews and assigning publication credits to the best reviews is one of the latest achievements of digitization. Reviews, posted on academic networking platforms, such as Publons, add to the transparency of the whole system of peer review. Reviewer credits, properly counted and displayed on individual digital profiles, help distinguish the best contributors, invite them to review and offer responsible editorial posts.

  13. Rewarding Peer Reviewers: Maintaining the Integrity of Science Communication

    PubMed Central

    2015-01-01

    This article overviews currently available options for rewarding peer reviewers. Rewards and incentives may help maintain the quality and integrity of scholarly publications. Publishers around the world implemented a variety of financial and nonfinancial mechanisms for incentivizing their best reviewers. None of these is proved effective on its own. A strategy of combined rewards and credits for the reviewers1 creative contributions seems a workable solution. Opening access to reviews and assigning publication credits to the best reviews is one of the latest achievements of digitization. Reviews, posted on academic networking platforms, such as Publons, add to the transparency of the whole system of peer review. Reviewer credits, properly counted and displayed on individual digital profiles, help distinguish the best contributors, invite them to review and offer responsible editorial posts. PMID:25829801

  14. 78 FR 20370 - Connecticut Disaster # CT-00031

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-04-04

    .../2013. Effective Date: 03/21/2013. Physical Loan Application Deadline Date: 05/20/2013. Economic Injury... organizations that provide essential services of governmental nature may file disaster loan applications at the... Economic Injury: Non-profit Organizations without Credit Available Elsewhere 2.875 The number assigned to...

  15. 78 FR 26667 - Sunshine Act Meeting

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-05-07

    ... first panel will examine issues in connection with the possibility of developing a credit rating assignment system. The second panel will discuss the effectiveness of the Commission's current system under.... The third panel will focus on other potential alternatives to the current issuer pay business model...

  16. 7 CFR 1488.17 - Assignment.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... AGRICULTURE LOANS, PURCHASES, AND OTHER OPERATIONS FINANCING OF SALES OF AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES Financing of Export Sales of Agricultural Commodities From Private Stocks Under CCC Export Credit Sales Program (GSM-5... payable under the financing agreement, in whole or in part, without written approval of the Vice President...

  17. 7 CFR 1488.17 - Assignment.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... AGRICULTURE LOANS, PURCHASES, AND OTHER OPERATIONS FINANCING OF SALES OF AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES Financing of Export Sales of Agricultural Commodities From Private Stocks Under CCC Export Credit Sales Program (GSM-5... payable under the financing agreement, in whole or in part, without written approval of the Vice President...

  18. 78 FR 48763 - Vermont Disaster #VT-00027

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-08-09

    .... Effective Date: 08/02/2013. Physical Loan Application Deadline Date: 10/01/2013. Economic Injury (EIDL) Loan... that provide essential services of governmental nature may file disaster loan applications at the... Economic Injury: Non-Profit Organizations Without Credit Available 2.875 Elsewhere The number assigned to...

  19. Astronaut Gregory Jarvis during KC-135 zero gravity training

    NASA Image and Video Library

    1985-01-25

    S85-26106 (25 Jan. 1985) --- Astronaut Gregory Jarvis gets a familiarization session in weightlessness aboard a KC-135 "zero gravity" aircraft. Jarvis was originally assigned as payload specialist to STS-51D but was reassigned to STS-51L. Photo credit: NASA

  20. Increasing radiographer productivity by an incentive point system.

    PubMed

    Williams, B; Chacko, P T

    1982-01-01

    Because of a very low technologist productivity in their Radiology Department, the authors describe a Productive Point System they developed and implemented to solve this personnel problem. After establishing the average time required to perform all exams, point credits (one point for every ten minutes utilized) were assigned to each exam performed, thereby determining an index of production. A Productive Index of 80% was considered realistic and was the equivalent of 192 points for a 40-hour work week. From 1975 to 1978 personal productivity increased from 79% to 113%. This resulted in an average yearly fiscal savings of over $20,000.00 for this three-year period. There was also a significant improvement in exam efficiency and quality, job attitude, personnel morale, and public relations. This program was highly successful because technologist acceptance and cooperation was complete, and this occurred mainly because the system supports the normal occupational goals and expectations of technologists.

  1. Increasing radiographer productivity by an incentive point system.

    PubMed

    Williams, B; Chacko, P T

    1983-01-01

    Because of a very low technologist productivity in their Radiology Department, the authors describe a Productive Point System they developed and implemented to solve this personnel problem. After establishing the average time required to perform all exams, point credits (one point for every ten minutes utilized) were assigned to each exam performed, thereby determining an index of production. A Productive Index of 80% was considered realistic and was the equivalent of 192 points for a 40-hour work week. From 1975 to 1978 personal productivity increased from 79% to 113%. This resulted in an average yearly fiscal savings of over $20,000.00 for this three-year period. There was also a significant improvement in exam efficiency and quality, job attitude, personnel morale, and public relations. This program was highly successful because technologist acceptance and cooperation was complete, and this occurred mainly because the system supports the normal occupational goals and expectations of technologists.

  2. Place preference and vocal learning rely on distinct reinforcers in songbirds.

    PubMed

    Murdoch, Don; Chen, Ruidong; Goldberg, Jesse H

    2018-04-30

    In reinforcement learning (RL) agents are typically tasked with maximizing a single objective function such as reward. But it remains poorly understood how agents might pursue distinct objectives at once. In machines, multiobjective RL can be achieved by dividing a single agent into multiple sub-agents, each of which is shaped by agent-specific reinforcement, but it remains unknown if animals adopt this strategy. Here we use songbirds to test if navigation and singing, two behaviors with distinct objectives, can be differentially reinforced. We demonstrate that strobe flashes aversively condition place preference but not song syllables. Brief noise bursts aversively condition song syllables but positively reinforce place preference. Thus distinct behavior-generating systems, or agencies, within a single animal can be shaped by correspondingly distinct reinforcement signals. Our findings suggest that spatially segregated vocal circuits can solve a credit assignment problem associated with multiobjective learning.

  3. Bernardino Ramazzini: the father of occupational medicine.

    PubMed

    Pope, Malcolm H

    2004-10-15

    Bernardino Ramazzini was born on October 4, 1633, in the small town of Capri located in the duchy of Modula, Italy. He is credited with establishing the field of occupational medicine during his lifetime. His major contributions came after 1682, when Duke Francesco II of Modena assigned him to establish a medical department at the University of Modena. He was installed in the title of professor "Medicinae Theoricae." In 1700, Ramazzini was appointed chair of practical medicine in Padua, Republic of Venice, the premier medical faculty in Italy. In 1700, he wrote the seminal book on occupational diseases and industrial hygiene, De Morbis Artificum Diatriba (Diseases of Workers). Although Ramazzini is perhaps most well known for his work on exposure to toxic materials, he wrote extensively about diseases of the musculoskeletal system. In particular, he warned of the problems of inactivity and poor postures inherent in some jobs.

  4. The Public-Service Tax Credit: A Proposed Solution to the Problems of Off-Air Videotaping.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Troost, F. William

    1982-01-01

    Proposes a public-service tax credit that would allow copyright owners of any television program broadcast on the public airwaves to claim a limited tax credit in exchange for school rights to copy programs and retain them indefinitely for face-to-face, nonprofit, instructional purposes. (Author/MLF)

  5. Efficiency and credit ratings: a permutation-information-theory analysis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fernandez Bariviera, Aurelio; Zunino, Luciano; Belén Guercio, M.; Martinez, Lisana B.; Rosso, Osvaldo A.

    2013-08-01

    The role of credit rating agencies has been under severe scrutiny after the subprime crisis. In this paper we explore the relationship between credit ratings and informational efficiency of a sample of thirty nine corporate bonds of US oil and energy companies from April 2008 to November 2012. For this purpose we use a powerful statistical tool, relatively new in the financial literature: the complexity-entropy causality plane. This representation space allows us to graphically classify the different bonds according to their degree of informational efficiency. We find that this classification agrees with the credit ratings assigned by Moody’s. In particular, we detect the formation of two clusters, which correspond to the global categories of investment and speculative grades. Regarding the latter cluster, two subgroups reflect distinct levels of efficiency. Additionally, we also find an intriguing absence of correlation between informational efficiency and firm characteristics. This allows us to conclude that the proposed permutation-information-theory approach provides an alternative practical way to justify bond classification.

  6. The Effects of Low Income Housing Tax Credit Developments on Neighborhoods

    PubMed Central

    Baum-Snow, Nathaniel; Marion, Justin

    2013-01-01

    This paper evaluates the impacts of new housing developments funded with the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), the largest federal project based housing program in the U.S., on the neighborhoods in which they are built. A discontinuity in the formula determining the magnitude of tax credits as a function of neighborhood characteristics generates pseudo-random assignment in the number of low income housing units built in similar sets of census tracts. Tracts where projects are awarded 30 percent higher tax credits receive approximately six more low income housing units on a base of seven units per tract. These additional new low income developments cause homeowner turnover to rise, raise property values in declining areas and reduce incomes in gentrifying areas in neighborhoods near the 30th percentile of the income distribution. LIHTC units significantly crowd out nearby new rental construction in gentrifying areas but do not displace new construction in stable or declining areas. PMID:24235779

  7. Astronaut Frank Borman during training exercise in Apollo Mission simulator

    NASA Image and Video Library

    1967-08-01

    S67-50590 (1867) --- Astronaut Frank Borman, assigned duty as commander of the Apollo 8 mission, participates in a training exercise in the Apollo Mission simulator in the Mission Simulation and training Facility, Building 5, at the Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas. Photo credit: NASA

  8. 49 CFR 80.15 - Selection criteria.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Selection criteria. 80.15 Section 80.15... § 80.15 Selection criteria. (a) The Secretary shall assign weights as indicated to the following eight selection criteria in evaluating and selecting among eligible projects to receive credit assistance: (1) The...

  9. 12 CFR Appendix A to Part 3 - Risk-Based Capital Guidelines

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... company are consolidated for accounting purposes, these assets (as well as the credit equivalent amounts... conducted or performed in the private sector of the United States economy; and non-central government... of assigning risk weights, the differentiation between OECD depository institutions and non-OECD...

  10. 12 CFR Appendix A to Part 3 - Risk-Based Capital Guidelines

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... company are consolidated for accounting purposes, these assets (as well as the credit equivalent amounts... conducted or performed in the private sector of the United States economy; and non-central government... of assigning risk weights, the differentiation between OECD depository institutions and non-OECD...

  11. 12 CFR Appendix A to Part 3 - Risk-Based Capital Guidelines

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... company are consolidated for accounting purposes, these assets (as well as the credit equivalent amounts... conducted or performed in the private sector of the United States economy; and non-central government... of assigning risk weights, the differentiation between OECD depository institutions and non-OECD...

  12. 12 CFR Appendix A to Part 3 - Risk-Based Capital Guidelines

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... company are consolidated for accounting purposes, these assets (as well as the credit equivalent amounts... conducted or performed in the private sector of the United States economy; and non-central government... of assigning risk weights, the differentiation between OECD depository institutions and non-OECD...

  13. 12 CFR Appendix A to Part 3 - Risk-Based Capital Guidelines

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... company are consolidated for accounting purposes, these assets (as well as the credit equivalent amounts... conducted or performed in the private sector of the United States economy; and non-central government... of assigning risk weights, the differentiation between OECD depository institutions and non-OECD...

  14. Incorporating Published Autobiographies into the Abnormal Psychology Course.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Norcross, John C.; Sommer, Robert; Clifford, Jennifer S.

    2001-01-01

    Explores six methods for incorporating into courses published autobiographies written by individuals suffering from mental disorders: (1) outside readings; (2) examples for classroom lectures; (3) primary texts for discussion sections; (4) remedial or extra-credit assignments; (5) information resources; and (6) source books for topical seminars.…

  15. NEEMO 18 (NCO-125)

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2014-07-22

    JSC2014-E-068003 (July 2014) --- NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet, who represent half the NEEMO 18 crew, waste little time in performing experiments and other assignments inside a 400 square-foot habitat housing them for nine days underwater off Key Largo. Photo credit: NASA

  16. 7 CFR 1488.14 - Interest charges.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... Agricultural Commodities From Private Stocks Under CCC Export Credit Sales Program (GSM-5) Bank Obligations and Repayment § 1488.14 Interest charges. The account receivable assigned to CCC and the related bank obligation... branch bank shall, when determined by the President or Vice President, CCC after consultation with the...

  17. 7 CFR 1488.14 - Interest charges.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... Agricultural Commodities From Private Stocks Under CCC Export Credit Sales Program (GSM-5) Bank Obligations and Repayment § 1488.14 Interest charges. The account receivable assigned to CCC and the related bank obligation... branch bank shall, when determined by the President or Vice President, CCC after consultation with the...

  18. 7 CFR 1488.14 - Interest charges.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... Agricultural Commodities From Private Stocks Under CCC Export Credit Sales Program (GSM-5) Bank Obligations and Repayment § 1488.14 Interest charges. The account receivable assigned to CCC and the related bank obligation... branch bank shall, when determined by the President or Vice President, CCC after consultation with the...

  19. Credit Assignment in Multiple Goal Embodied Visuomotor Behavior

    PubMed Central

    Rothkopf, Constantin A.; Ballard, Dana H.

    2010-01-01

    The intrinsic complexity of the brain can lead one to set aside issues related to its relationships with the body, but the field of embodied cognition emphasizes that understanding brain function at the system level requires one to address the role of the brain-body interface. It has only recently been appreciated that this interface performs huge amounts of computation that does not have to be repeated by the brain, and thus affords the brain great simplifications in its representations. In effect the brain's abstract states can refer to coded representations of the world created by the body. But even if the brain can communicate with the world through abstractions, the severe speed limitations in its neural circuitry mean that vast amounts of indexing must be performed during development so that appropriate behavioral responses can be rapidly accessed. One way this could happen would be if the brain used a decomposition whereby behavioral primitives could be quickly accessed and combined. This realization motivates our study of independent sensorimotor task solvers, which we call modules, in directing behavior. The issue we focus on herein is how an embodied agent can learn to calibrate such individual visuomotor modules while pursuing multiple goals. The biologically plausible standard for module programming is that of reinforcement given during exploration of the environment. However this formulation contains a substantial issue when sensorimotor modules are used in combination: The credit for their overall performance must be divided amongst them. We show that this problem can be solved and that diverse task combinations are beneficial in learning and not a complication, as usually assumed. Our simulations show that fast algorithms are available that allot credit correctly and are insensitive to measurement noise. PMID:21833235

  20. A Scenario-Based Parametric Analysis of Stable Marriage Approaches to the Army Officer Assignment Problem

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2017-03-23

    solutions obtained through their proposed method to comparative instances of a generalized assignment problem with either ordinal cost components or... method flag: Designates the method by which the changed/ new assignment problem instance is solved. methodFlag = 0:SMAWarmstart Returns a matching...of randomized perturbations. We examine the contrasts between these methods in the context of assigning Army Officers among a set of identified

  1. Optimal processor assignment for pipeline computations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Nicol, David M.; Simha, Rahul; Choudhury, Alok N.; Narahari, Bhagirath

    1991-01-01

    The availability of large scale multitasked parallel architectures introduces the following processor assignment problem for pipelined computations. Given a set of tasks and their precedence constraints, along with their experimentally determined individual responses times for different processor sizes, find an assignment of processor to tasks. Two objectives are of interest: minimal response given a throughput requirement, and maximal throughput given a response time requirement. These assignment problems differ considerably from the classical mapping problem in which several tasks share a processor; instead, it is assumed that a large number of processors are to be assigned to a relatively small number of tasks. Efficient assignment algorithms were developed for different classes of task structures. For a p processor system and a series parallel precedence graph with n constituent tasks, an O(np2) algorithm is provided that finds the optimal assignment for the response time optimization problem; it was found that the assignment optimizing the constrained throughput in O(np2log p) time. Special cases of linear, independent, and tree graphs are also considered.

  2. A Multiple Ant Colony Metahuristic for the Air Refueling Tanker Assignment Problem

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2002-03-01

    Problem The tanker assignment problem can be modeled as a job shop scheduling problem ( JSSP ). The JSSP is made up of n jobs, composed of m ordered...points) to be processed on all the machines (tankers). The problem with using JSSP is that the tanker assignment problem has multiple objectives... JSSP will minimize the time it takes for all jobs, but this may take an inordinate number of tankers. Thus using JSSP alone is not necessarily a good

  3. Achieving spectrum conservation for the minimum-span and minimum-order frequency assignment problems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Heyward, Ann O.

    1992-01-01

    Effective and efficient solutions of frequency assignment problems assumes increasing importance as the radiofrequency spectrum experiences ever increasing utilization by diverse communications services, requiring that the most efficient use of this resource be achieved. The research presented explores a general approach to the frequency assignment problem, in which such problems are categorized by the appropriate spectrum conserving objective function, and are each treated as an N-job, M-machine scheduling problem appropriate for the objective. Results obtained and presented illustrate that such an approach presents an effective means of achieving spectrum conserving frequency assignments for communications systems in a variety of environments.

  4. The role of bank credit for cattle raising in financing tropical deforestation: An economic case study from Panama

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

    Ledec, G.

    1992-01-01

    Panama's rapid deforestation for cattle pasture is causing serious environmental problems, as well as negative economic and social consequences. Bank credit encourages deforestation by making cattle pasture expansion more affordable, more profitable, or less risky. Two governmental banks in Panama supply most of the institutional credit provided to small- and medium-scale ranchers, through loans from the Inter-American Development Bank and World Bank. Panama's large-scale ranchers obtain credit mostly from private commercial banks at subsidized interest rates. This study estimates that at least 7-10 percent of Panama's annual deforestation is due to governmental bank cattle credit. Cattle credit is more importantmore » in the loss of remaining forest fragments in long-settled areas than in forest-to-pasture conversion in frontier areas. However, because of the high environmental value of these forest remnants, their credit-induced loss is a serious public policy problem. Other incentives for cattle pasture expansion include beef markets, securing land claims, land price speculation, tax advantages, and the prestige value of cattle ranching. With care, the findings from this study can be generalized to many other tropical Latin American countries. Options available for minimizing deforestation include prohibiting or reducing institutional credit to cattle ranchers, restricting cattle credit to areas where little or no potential exists for additional deforestation, and eliminating interest rate subsidies on cattle credit. Such credit policy reforms would also improve economic efficiency and income distribution. other policy variables also influence Panama's deforestation rate: road construction and improvement, establishment and enforcement of protected areas, land titling laws and procedures, taxes, commercial forestry policies, beef pricing and export policies, the siting of hydroelectric projects, and policies that promote alternative employment for forest settlers.« less

  5. Geriatric Technician.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Seton Hill Coll., Greensburg, PA.

    This curriculum for training geriatric technicians is geared toward developing an understanding of, as well as the skills to assist with, the visually or hearing impaired older adult. The curriculum is organized in four modules. Each module is assigned a time frame and a credit unit base. The modules are divided into four major areas: knowledge,…

  6. Geriatric Service Worker.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Seton Hill Coll., Greensburg, PA.

    This curriculum for training geriatric service workers is designed to incorporate additional communication and group skills along with the basic knowledge and skills necessary to work with older adults. The curriculum is organized in four modules. Each module is assigned a time frame and a credit unit base. The modules are divided into four major…

  7. 12 CFR 226.39 - Mortgage transfer disclosures.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... to the loan or it is assigned to the servicer solely for the administrative convenience of the servicer in servicing the obligation. (2) A “mortgage loan” means any consumer credit transaction that is secured by the principal dwelling of a consumer. (b) Disclosure required. Except as provided in paragraph...

  8. Library Instruction That's Out of this World! Information Literacy in Fort Lewis College.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Greenwood, Tina Evans; Frisbie, Jeffrey

    1998-01-01

    Describes a one-credit, theme-based library instruction course for freshmen and sophomores at Fort Lewis College (Durango, Colorado). Discusses benefits of theme-based instruction; assigned work; skills students should acquire during the course; course assessment and development; and future changes in the course. (AEF)

  9. CS 237--Fortran for Business. Course Guide.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chang, Y. F.; And Others

    This guide was prepared for a lectureless two-semester-credit introductory programming course for business students at the University of Nebraska. The guide lays out course objectives, course mechanics, exercises and programming assignments, and describes the SIMPLE program editor and job submission system in use at the university. However,…

  10. 78 FR 5802 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Comment Request

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-01-28

    ... Review and Comments Request. Form Title: EIB 92-31 Notification by Insured of Amounts Payable Under Multi-Buyer Export Credit Insurance policy (Standard Assignment). SUMMARY: The Export-Import Bank of the..., as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This form represents the exporter's directive to...

  11. 19 CFR 24.26 - Automated Clearinghouse credit.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... transmit statement processing payments (see § 24.25) or deferred tax payments (see § 24.4) or bill payments... number or CBP assigned number); and 3-digit filer code. (c) Routing and format instructions. Following... number, entry or warehouse withdrawal number for a deferred tax payment, or bill number); payment type...

  12. 19 CFR 24.26 - Automated Clearinghouse credit.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... transmit statement processing payments (see § 24.25) or deferred tax payments (see § 24.4) or bill payments... number or CBP assigned number); and 3-digit filer code. (c) Routing and format instructions. Following... number, entry or warehouse withdrawal number for a deferred tax payment, or bill number); payment type...

  13. 7 CFR 1493.530 - Miscellaneous provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... OF AGRICULTURE LOANS, PURCHASES, AND OTHER OPERATIONS CCC EXPORT CREDIT GUARANTEE PROGRAMS CCC... exporter may assign the proceeds which are, or may become, payable by CCC under a payment guarantee or the..., unless approved in advance by CCC, be: (i) Made to one party acting for two or more parties; or (ii...

  14. 7 CFR 1488.14 - Interest charges.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... Export Sales of Agricultural Commodities From Private Stocks Under CCC Export Credit Sales Program (GSM-5) Bank Obligations and Repayment § 1488.14 Interest charges. The account receivable assigned to CCC and..., CCC after consultation with the Controller, CCC, to be in the interest of CCC, be lower than the...

  15. 7 CFR 1493.530 - Miscellaneous provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... OF AGRICULTURE LOANS, PURCHASES, AND OTHER OPERATIONS CCC EXPORT CREDIT GUARANTEE PROGRAMS CCC... exporter may assign the proceeds which are, or may become, payable by CCC under a payment guarantee or the..., unless approved in advance by CCC, be: (i) Made to one party acting for two or more parties; or (ii...

  16. 7 CFR 1488.14 - Interest charges.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... Export Sales of Agricultural Commodities From Private Stocks Under CCC Export Credit Sales Program (GSM-5) Bank Obligations and Repayment § 1488.14 Interest charges. The account receivable assigned to CCC and..., CCC after consultation with the Controller, CCC, to be in the interest of CCC, be lower than the...

  17. Reply to Oreska et al ‘Comment on Geoengineering with seagrasses: is credit due where credit is given?’

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Johannessen, Sophia C.; Macdonald, Robie W.

    2018-03-01

    In their comment on the review paper, ‘Geoengineering with seagrasses: is credit due where credit is given?,’ Oreska et al 2018 state that some of the concerns raised in the review ‘warrant serious consideration by the seagrass research community,’ but they argue that these concerns are either not relevant to the Voluntary Carbon Standard protocol, VM0033, or are already addressed by specific provisions in the protocol. The VM0033 protocol is a strong and detailed document that includes much of merit, but the methodology for determining carbon sequestration in sediment is flawed, both in the carbon stock change method and in the carbon burial method. The main problem with the carbon stock change method is that the labile carbon in the surface layer of sediments is vulnerable to remineralization and resuspension; it is not sequestered on the 100 year timescale required for carbon credits. The problem with the carbon burial method is chiefly in its application. The protocol does not explain how to apply 210Pb-dating to a core, leaving project proponents to apply the inappropriate methods frequently reported in the blue carbon literature, which result in overestimated sediment accumulation rates. Finally, the default emission factors permitted by the protocol are based on literature values that are themselves too high. All of these problems can be addressed, which should result in clearer, more rigorous guidelines for awarding carbon credits for the protection or restoration of seagrass meadows.

  18. Research on Credit Evaluation of Mobile Medical APP Interactive Online Consultation Service-Take Haodaifu APP Online Payment Service as an Example

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xiong, Dandan; Zhao, Lei

    2017-10-01

    Mobile medical industry is developing rapidly, but the relevant credit evaluation system is still in the exploratory stage. Haodaifu in the interactive online consulting services more representatives and has a credit evaluation system, but the system is not perfect. There are many problems in the system, such as credits indicators cannot better reflect the results of user’s evaluation, the lack of user qualification supervision, evaluation index system and assessment channels are not perfect. On the basis of drawing on the advantages of E-commerce evaluation system and combining with the characteristics of mobile medical itself, two suggestions are put forward: Improve the credit evaluation model (Generate physician static credit index, Change the doctor 's dynamic credit index algorithm, Update the dynamic credit index), Improve the basic mechanism of credit evaluation.

  19. An Economical Analysis on the Lack of Credit Standing in On-line Transactions of Sports Goods

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ma, Hong-xia

    With the development of Internet and sports industries, on-line transactions of sports goods will become an important way to sell the sports goods. However, credit standing is a problem that can not be ignored. Beginning from the analysis of the types andfeatures of sports goods, this paper categorizes the online transactions of sports goods, talks about various problems existing in each category, and explains the reasons with economical theories. On the above basis, the paper puts forward the countermeasures and suggestions to solve these problems.

  20. Optimizing congestion and emissions via tradable credit charge and reward scheme without initial credit allocations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhu, Wenlong; Ma, Shoufeng; Tian, Junfang

    2017-01-01

    This paper investigates the revenue-neutral tradable credit charge and reward scheme without initial credit allocations that can reassign network traffic flow patterns to optimize congestion and emissions. First, we prove the existence of the proposed schemes and further decentralize the minimum emission flow pattern to user equilibrium. Moreover, we design the solving method of the proposed credit scheme for minimum emission problem. Second, we investigate the revenue-neutral tradable credit charge and reward scheme without initial credit allocations for bi-objectives to obtain the Pareto system optimum flow patterns of congestion and emissions; and present the corresponding solutions are located in the polyhedron constituted by some inequalities and equalities system. Last, numerical example based on a simple traffic network is adopted to obtain the proposed credit schemes and verify they are revenue-neutral.

  1. A Program Evaluation of a Credit Recovery Program to Improve Graduation Rates for At-Risk High School Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Parks, David R.

    2011-01-01

    Research has shown that low graduation rates are a problem in high schools across the United States. The problem is significant at a small, inner-city charter high school in a southwestern US state that had a 2008 graduation rate of 34%. After assessing the situation, educators at this school developed the Credit Retrieval Program (CRP) to help…

  2. Integer Linear Programming for Constrained Multi-Aspect Committee Review Assignment

    PubMed Central

    Karimzadehgan, Maryam; Zhai, ChengXiang

    2011-01-01

    Automatic review assignment can significantly improve the productivity of many people such as conference organizers, journal editors and grant administrators. A general setup of the review assignment problem involves assigning a set of reviewers on a committee to a set of documents to be reviewed under the constraint of review quota so that the reviewers assigned to a document can collectively cover multiple topic aspects of the document. No previous work has addressed such a setup of committee review assignments while also considering matching multiple aspects of topics and expertise. In this paper, we tackle the problem of committee review assignment with multi-aspect expertise matching by casting it as an integer linear programming problem. The proposed algorithm can naturally accommodate any probabilistic or deterministic method for modeling multiple aspects to automate committee review assignments. Evaluation using a multi-aspect review assignment test set constructed using ACM SIGIR publications shows that the proposed algorithm is effective and efficient for committee review assignments based on multi-aspect expertise matching. PMID:22711970

  3. An Efficacy Study of Interleaved Mathematics Practice. Revised

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rohrer, Doug; Dedrick, Robert F.; Burgess, Kaleena

    2013-01-01

    In a typical mathematics course, the material is divided into many lessons, and each lesson is followed by an assignment consisting of practice problems. Most commonly, each assignment consists solely of problems on the preceding lesson. For example, a lesson on ratios might be followed by an assignment with 12 problems on ratios. In other words,…

  4. “Blogging” About Course Concepts: Using Technology for Reflective Journaling in a Communications Class

    PubMed Central

    Bouldin, Alicia S.; Holmes, Erin R.; Fortenberry, Michael L.

    2006-01-01

    Objective Web log technology was applied to a reflective journaling exercise in a communication course during the second-professional year at the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy, to encourage students to reflect on course concepts and apply them to the environment outside the classroom, and to assess their communication performance. Design Two Web log entries per week were required for full credit. Web logs were evaluated at three points during the term. At the end of the course, students evaluated the assignment using a 2-page survey instrument. Assessment The assignment contributed to student learning and increased awareness level for approximately 40% of the class. Students had few complaints about the logistics of the assignment. Conclusion The Web log technology was a useful tool for reflective journaling in this communications course. Future versions of the assignment will benefit from student feedback from this initial experience. PMID:17136203

  5. SuperSpike: Supervised Learning in Multilayer Spiking Neural Networks.

    PubMed

    Zenke, Friedemann; Ganguli, Surya

    2018-06-01

    A vast majority of computation in the brain is performed by spiking neural networks. Despite the ubiquity of such spiking, we currently lack an understanding of how biological spiking neural circuits learn and compute in vivo, as well as how we can instantiate such capabilities in artificial spiking circuits in silico. Here we revisit the problem of supervised learning in temporally coding multilayer spiking neural networks. First, by using a surrogate gradient approach, we derive SuperSpike, a nonlinear voltage-based three-factor learning rule capable of training multilayer networks of deterministic integrate-and-fire neurons to perform nonlinear computations on spatiotemporal spike patterns. Second, inspired by recent results on feedback alignment, we compare the performance of our learning rule under different credit assignment strategies for propagating output errors to hidden units. Specifically, we test uniform, symmetric, and random feedback, finding that simpler tasks can be solved with any type of feedback, while more complex tasks require symmetric feedback. In summary, our results open the door to obtaining a better scientific understanding of learning and computation in spiking neural networks by advancing our ability to train them to solve nonlinear problems involving transformations between different spatiotemporal spike time patterns.

  6. Single Machine Scheduling and Due Date Assignment with Past-Sequence-Dependent Setup Time and Position-Dependent Processing Time

    PubMed Central

    Zhao, Chuan-Li; Hsu, Hua-Feng

    2014-01-01

    This paper considers single machine scheduling and due date assignment with setup time. The setup time is proportional to the length of the already processed jobs; that is, the setup time is past-sequence-dependent (p-s-d). It is assumed that a job's processing time depends on its position in a sequence. The objective functions include total earliness, the weighted number of tardy jobs, and the cost of due date assignment. We analyze these problems with two different due date assignment methods. We first consider the model with job-dependent position effects. For each case, by converting the problem to a series of assignment problems, we proved that the problems can be solved in O(n 4) time. For the model with job-independent position effects, we proved that the problems can be solved in O(n 3) time by providing a dynamic programming algorithm. PMID:25258727

  7. Single machine scheduling and due date assignment with past-sequence-dependent setup time and position-dependent processing time.

    PubMed

    Zhao, Chuan-Li; Hsu, Chou-Jung; Hsu, Hua-Feng

    2014-01-01

    This paper considers single machine scheduling and due date assignment with setup time. The setup time is proportional to the length of the already processed jobs; that is, the setup time is past-sequence-dependent (p-s-d). It is assumed that a job's processing time depends on its position in a sequence. The objective functions include total earliness, the weighted number of tardy jobs, and the cost of due date assignment. We analyze these problems with two different due date assignment methods. We first consider the model with job-dependent position effects. For each case, by converting the problem to a series of assignment problems, we proved that the problems can be solved in O(n(4)) time. For the model with job-independent position effects, we proved that the problems can be solved in O(n(3)) time by providing a dynamic programming algorithm.

  8. Credit with Health Education in Benin: A Cluster Randomized Trial Examining Impacts on Knowledge and Behavior

    PubMed Central

    Karlan, Dean; Thuysbaert, Bram; Gray, Bobbi

    2017-01-01

    We evaluate whether health education integrated into microcredit lending groups reduces health risks by improving health knowledge and self-reported behaviors among urban and rural borrowers in eastern Benin. In 2007, we randomly assigned 138 villages in the Plateau region of Benin to one of four variations of a group liability credit product, varying lending groups' gender composition and/or inclusion of health education using a 2 × 2 design. Women in villages receiving health education, regardless of gender composition of the groups, showed improved knowledge of malaria and of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), but not of childhood illness danger signs. No significant changes in health behavior were observed except an increase in HIV/AIDS prevention behavior, a result predominantly driven by an increase in respondents' self-reported ability to procure a condom, likely an indicator of increased perceived access rather than improved preventative behavior. Women in villages assigned to mixed-gender groups had significantly lower levels of social capital, compared with villages assigned to female-only groups. This suggests there may be an important trade-off to consider for interventions seeking improved health outcomes and social capital through provision of services to mixed-gender groups. Although bundling health education with microcredit can expand health education coverage and lower service-delivery costs, the approach may not be sufficient to improve health behaviors. PMID:27895268

  9. The Grading System: Does an "A" Really Equal Learning?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Haley, Beverly

    1988-01-01

    Good grades on a report card do not necessarily mean the material has been comprehended. This article examines the relative worth of grades; extra credit assignments; categorizing students into A, B, or C boxes; and the role of parental pressures for higher grades. Grading systems should be subordinate to true learning motivation. (MLH)

  10. 5 CFR 6801.106 - Prohibition on supervisory employees' seeking credit from institutions involved in work assignments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... Personnel BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM SUPPLEMENTAL STANDARDS OF ETHICAL CONDUCT FOR... dependent child; (2) A company or business if the employee or the employee's spouse or dependent child owns... conditions available to the public. (d) Waivers. The Board's Designated Agency Ethics Official, after...

  11. Using Online Games to Teach Personal Finance Concepts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Huang, Chin-Wen; Hsu, Chun-Pin

    2011-01-01

    This case study explores the use of online games to teach personal finance concepts at the college level. A number of free online games targeting such topics as budgeting and saving, risk and return, consumer credit, financial services, and investments were introduced to the experimental group as homework assignments. Statistical results indicate…

  12. 76 FR 28265 - Solicitation of Comment To Assist in Study on Assigned Credit Ratings

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-05-16

    ... Commission requests, in Section II.B, that interested parties address these matters through a series of... in rating structured finance products. For example, in what ways, if any, does the issuer... structured finance products? For example, do certain types of structured finance products account for a...

  13. Violence and Objectivity in Psychology.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kenny, Wade

    The subject and the object are more strategically assigned than some might readily assume, both as people speak and as they live them. Subjectivity is associated with doing, hence responsibility, and therefore it noticeably slides in matters of credit and blame, with issues like Newton's or LaPlace's discovery. In scientific papers the subject has…

  14. KSC-2009-3467

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2009-06-01

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Hitching a ride on the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, a modified Boeing 747, space shuttle Atlantis has landed at Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi for a fuel stop on its journey back to Florida. Atlantis' next assignment is the STS-129 mission, targeted to launch in November 2009. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

  15. KSC-2009-3468

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2009-06-01

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Hitching a ride on the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, a modified Boeing 747, space shuttle Atlantis has landed at Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi for a fuel stop on its journey back to Florida. Atlantis' next assignment is the STS-129 mission, targeted to launch in November 2009. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

  16. 12 CFR 3.52 - Simple risk-weight approach (SRWA).

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... this paragraph (b). (1) Zero percent risk weight equity exposures. An equity exposure to a sovereign... International Monetary Fund, an MDB, and any other entity whose credit exposures receive a zero percent risk weight under § 3.32 may be assigned a zero percent risk weight. (2) 20 percent risk weight equity...

  17. 78 FR 22877 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-04-17

    ... Request. Form Title: EIB 92-31 Notification by Insured of Amounts Payable Under Multi-Buyer Export Credit Insurance policy (Standard Assignment). SUMMARY: The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank... Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This form represents the exporter's directive to Ex-Im Bank to whom and...

  18. 24 CFR 207.258 - Insurance claim requirements.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... § 207.255(c), it must, within 45 days thereafter, give the Commissioner notice, in the manner prescribed... acquire and convey title to the Commissioner, as provided in paragraph (c) of this section. (b) Assignment... undrawn balance under a letter of credit used in lieu of a cash deposit. (c) Conveyance of title to...

  19. Reducing Absenteeism and Rescheduling among Grocery Store Employees with Point-Contingent Rewards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Camden, Matt C.; Price, Virginia A.; Ludwig, Timothy D.

    2011-01-01

    The purpose of this research was to evaluate a reward program designed to reduce absenteeism among staff (N = 38) at a grocery store. The intervention included public feedback and a credit reward system whereby participants got store dollars for attendance and authorized rescheduling of work assignments. Results showed that absenteeism decreased…

  20. Relationship between Credit Recovery Programs and Graduation Rates for At-Risk Students on the Navajo Indian Reservation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fahey, John M.

    2010-01-01

    Low graduation rates of high school students are a problem for the Native American community. One possible solution for low graduation rates is a credit recovery program that may assist Native American students to recover credit not earned in their early high school years. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a credit…

  1. Credit Reform. Key Credit Agencies Had Difficulty Making Reasonable Loan Program Cost Estimates. Report to Congressional Requesters.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    General Accounting Office, Washington, DC. Accounting and Information Management Div.

    This report finds problems in the ability of the five major federal credit agencies to reasonably estimate subsidy costs related to the $216.6 billion in direct loans and $712.4 billion in loan guarantees issued by the federal government. The five agencies are the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the departments of Education, Housing and…

  2. A Parallel Biological Optimization Algorithm to Solve the Unbalanced Assignment Problem Based on DNA Molecular Computing.

    PubMed

    Wang, Zhaocai; Pu, Jun; Cao, Liling; Tan, Jian

    2015-10-23

    The unbalanced assignment problem (UAP) is to optimally resolve the problem of assigning n jobs to m individuals (m < n), such that minimum cost or maximum profit obtained. It is a vitally important Non-deterministic Polynomial (NP) complete problem in operation management and applied mathematics, having numerous real life applications. In this paper, we present a new parallel DNA algorithm for solving the unbalanced assignment problem using DNA molecular operations. We reasonably design flexible-length DNA strands representing different jobs and individuals, take appropriate steps, and get the solutions of the UAP in the proper length range and O(mn) time. We extend the application of DNA molecular operations and simultaneity to simplify the complexity of the computation.

  3. Measuring Conceptual Gains and Benefits of Student Problem Designs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mandell, Eric; Snyder, Rachel; Oswald, Wayne

    2011-10-01

    Writing assignments can be an effective way of getting students to practice higher-order learning skills in physics. One example of such an assignment is that of problem design. One version of the problem design assignment asks the student to evaluate the material from a chapter, after all instruction and other activities are complete. The student is to decide what concepts and ideas are most central, or critical in the chapter, and construct a problem that he or she feels best encompasses the major themes. Here, we use two concept surveys (FCI and EMCS) to measure conceptual gains for students completing the problem design assignment and present the preliminary results, comparing across several categories including gender, age, degree program, and class standing.

  4. The airport gate assignment problem: a survey.

    PubMed

    Bouras, Abdelghani; Ghaleb, Mageed A; Suryahatmaja, Umar S; Salem, Ahmed M

    2014-01-01

    The airport gate assignment problem (AGAP) is one of the most important problems operations managers face daily. Many researches have been done to solve this problem and tackle its complexity. The objective of the task is assigning each flight (aircraft) to an available gate while maximizing both conveniences to passengers and the operational efficiency of airport. This objective requires a solution that provides the ability to change and update the gate assignment data on a real time basis. In this paper, we survey the state of the art of these problems and the various methods to obtain the solution. Our survey covers both theoretical and real AGAP with the description of mathematical formulations and resolution methods such as exact algorithms, heuristic algorithms, and metaheuristic algorithms. We also provide a research trend that can inspire researchers about new problems in this area.

  5. The Airport Gate Assignment Problem: A Survey

    PubMed Central

    Ghaleb, Mageed A.; Salem, Ahmed M.

    2014-01-01

    The airport gate assignment problem (AGAP) is one of the most important problems operations managers face daily. Many researches have been done to solve this problem and tackle its complexity. The objective of the task is assigning each flight (aircraft) to an available gate while maximizing both conveniences to passengers and the operational efficiency of airport. This objective requires a solution that provides the ability to change and update the gate assignment data on a real time basis. In this paper, we survey the state of the art of these problems and the various methods to obtain the solution. Our survey covers both theoretical and real AGAP with the description of mathematical formulations and resolution methods such as exact algorithms, heuristic algorithms, and metaheuristic algorithms. We also provide a research trend that can inspire researchers about new problems in this area. PMID:25506074

  6. Problem-based learning biotechnology courses in chemical engineering.

    PubMed

    Glatz, Charles E; Gonzalez, Ramon; Huba, Mary E; Mallapragada, Surya K; Narasimhan, Balaji; Reilly, Peter J; Saunders, Kevin P; Shanks, Jacqueline V

    2006-01-01

    We have developed a series of upper undergraduate/graduate lecture and laboratory courses on biotechnological topics to supplement existing biochemical engineering, bioseparations, and biomedical engineering lecture courses. The laboratory courses are based on problem-based learning techniques, featuring two- and three-person teams, journaling, and performance rubrics for guidance and assessment. Participants initially have found them to be difficult, since they had little experience with problem-based learning. To increase enrollment, we are combining the laboratory courses into 2-credit groupings and allowing students to substitute one of them for the second of our 2-credit chemical engineering unit operations laboratory courses.

  7. Optimal replenishment and credit policy in supply chain inventory model under two levels of trade credit with time- and credit-sensitive demand involving default risk

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mahata, Puspita; Mahata, Gour Chandra; Kumar De, Sujit

    2018-03-01

    Traditional supply chain inventory modes with trade credit usually only assumed that the up-stream suppliers offered the down-stream retailers a fixed credit period. However, in practice the retailers will also provide a credit period to customers to promote the market competition. In this paper, we formulate an optimal supply chain inventory model under two levels of trade credit policy with default risk consideration. Here, the demand is assumed to be credit-sensitive and increasing function of time. The major objective is to determine the retailer's optimal credit period and cycle time such that the total profit per unit time is maximized. The existence and uniqueness of the optimal solution to the presented model are examined, and an easy method is also shown to find the optimal inventory policies of the considered problem. Finally, numerical examples and sensitive analysis are presented to illustrate the developed model and to provide some managerial insights.

  8. A Parallel Biological Optimization Algorithm to Solve the Unbalanced Assignment Problem Based on DNA Molecular Computing

    PubMed Central

    Wang, Zhaocai; Pu, Jun; Cao, Liling; Tan, Jian

    2015-01-01

    The unbalanced assignment problem (UAP) is to optimally resolve the problem of assigning n jobs to m individuals (m < n), such that minimum cost or maximum profit obtained. It is a vitally important Non-deterministic Polynomial (NP) complete problem in operation management and applied mathematics, having numerous real life applications. In this paper, we present a new parallel DNA algorithm for solving the unbalanced assignment problem using DNA molecular operations. We reasonably design flexible-length DNA strands representing different jobs and individuals, take appropriate steps, and get the solutions of the UAP in the proper length range and O(mn) time. We extend the application of DNA molecular operations and simultaneity to simplify the complexity of the computation. PMID:26512650

  9. Trade-based carbon sequestration accounting.

    PubMed

    King, Dennis M

    2004-04-01

    This article describes and illustrates an accounting method to assess and compare "early" carbon sequestration investments and trades on the basis of the number of standardized CO2 emission offset credits they will provide. The "gold standard" for such credits is assumed to be a relatively riskless credit based on a CO2 emission reduction that provides offsets against CO2 emissions on a one-for-one basis. The number of credits associated with carbon sequestration needs to account for time, risk, durability, permanence, additionality, and other factors that future trade regulators will most certainly use to assign "official" credits to sequestration projects. The method that is presented here uses established principles of natural resource accounting and conventional rules of asset valuation to "score" projects. A review of 20 "early" voluntary United States based CO2 offset trades that involve carbon sequestration reveals that the assumptions that buyers, sellers, brokers, and traders are using to characterize the economic potential of their investments and trades vary enormously. The article develops a "universal carbon sequestration credit scoring equation" and uses two of these trades to illustrate the sensitivity of trade outcomes to various assumptions about how future trade auditors are likely to "score" carbon sequestration projects in terms of their "equivalency" with CO2 emission reductions. The article emphasizes the importance of using a standard credit scoring method that accounts for time and risk to assess and compare even unofficial prototype carbon sequestration trades. The scoring method illustrated in this article is a tool that can protect the integrity of carbon sequestration credit trading and can assist buyers and sellers in evaluating the real economic potential of prospective trades.

  10. Prefrontal system dysfunction and credit card debt.

    PubMed

    Spinella, Marcello; Yang, Bijou; Lester, David

    2004-10-01

    Credit card use often involves a disadvantageous allocation of finances because they allow for spending beyond means and buying on impulse. Accordingly they are associated with increased bankruptcy, anxiety, stress, and health problems. Mounting evidence from functional neuroimaging and clinical studies implicates prefrontal-subcortical systems in processing financial information. This study examined the relationship of credit card debt and executive functions using the Frontal System Behavior Scale (FRSBE). After removing the influences of demographic variables (age, sex, education, and income), credit card debt was associated with the Executive Dysfunction scale, but not the Apathy or Disinhibition scales. This suggests that processes of conceptualizing and organizing finances are most relevant to credit card debt, and implicates dorsolateral prefrontal dysfunction.

  11. Diagnostic, Predictive and Compositional Modeling with Data Mining in Integrated Learning Environments

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lee, Chien-Sing

    2007-01-01

    Models represent a set of generic patterns to test hypotheses. This paper presents the CogMoLab student model in the context of an integrated learning environment. Three aspects are discussed: diagnostic and predictive modeling with respect to the issues of credit assignment and scalability and compositional modeling of the student profile in the…

  12. 12 CFR 390.466 - Risk-based capital credit risk-weight categories.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... ownership interests in pools of assets. Assets representing an indirect holding of a pool of assets, e.g... would be assigned to the assets in the portfolio of the pool. An investment in shares of a mutual fund... positions; (5) Use clear, explicit criteria to classify assets into each internal rating grade, including...

  13. Initial Experiences with Machine-Assisted Reconsiderative Test Scoring: A New Method for Partial Credit and Multiple Correct Responses.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Anderson, Paul S.

    Initial experiences with computer-assisted reconsiderative scoring are described. Reconsiderative scoring occurs when student responses are received and reviewed by the teacher before points for correctness are assigned. Manually scored completion-style questions are reconsiderative. A new method of machine assistance produces an item analysis on…

  14. KSC-2009-3466

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2009-06-01

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Hitching a ride on the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, a modified Boeing 747, space shuttle Atlantis has arrived in Lackland Air Force Base's Kelly Field Annex in Texas for a fuel stop on its journey back to Florida. Atlantis' next assignment is the STS-129 mission, targeted to launch in November 2009. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

  15. 5 CFR 6801.106 - Prohibition on supervisory employees' seeking credit from institutions involved in work assignments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... the supervisory employee learns that any of the following related persons are seeking or have sought... 5 Administrative Personnel 3 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Prohibition on supervisory employees... EMPLOYEES OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM § 6801.106 Prohibition on supervisory...

  16. 5 CFR 6801.106 - Prohibition on supervisory employees' seeking credit from institutions involved in work assignments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... the supervisory employee learns that any of the following related persons are seeking or have sought... 5 Administrative Personnel 3 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Prohibition on supervisory employees... EMPLOYEES OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM § 6801.106 Prohibition on supervisory...

  17. 5 CFR 6801.106 - Prohibition on supervisory employees' seeking credit from institutions involved in work assignments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... the supervisory employee learns that any of the following related persons are seeking or have sought... 5 Administrative Personnel 3 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Prohibition on supervisory employees... EMPLOYEES OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM § 6801.106 Prohibition on supervisory...

  18. 5 CFR 6801.106 - Prohibition on supervisory employees' seeking credit from institutions involved in work assignments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... the supervisory employee learns that any of the following related persons are seeking or have sought... 5 Administrative Personnel 3 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Prohibition on supervisory employees... EMPLOYEES OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM § 6801.106 Prohibition on supervisory...

  19. 22 CFR 19.5-3 - Residence of spouse during service at unhealthful post.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... unhealthful post. 19.5-3 Section 19.5-3 Foreign Relations DEPARTMENT OF STATE PERSONNEL BENEFITS FOR SPOUSES... Residence of spouse during service at unhealthful post. (a) The calculation of the pro rata share of... has received extra service credit for an assignment to an unhealthful post, depends upon whether a...

  20. 22 CFR 19.5-3 - Residence of spouse during service at unhealthful post.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ... unhealthful post. 19.5-3 Section 19.5-3 Foreign Relations DEPARTMENT OF STATE PERSONNEL BENEFITS FOR SPOUSES... Residence of spouse during service at unhealthful post. (a) The calculation of the pro rata share of... has received extra service credit for an assignment to an unhealthful post, depends upon whether a...

  1. 22 CFR 19.5-3 - Residence of spouse during service at unhealthful post.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... unhealthful post. 19.5-3 Section 19.5-3 Foreign Relations DEPARTMENT OF STATE PERSONNEL BENEFITS FOR SPOUSES... Residence of spouse during service at unhealthful post. (a) The calculation of the pro rata share of... has received extra service credit for an assignment to an unhealthful post, depends upon whether a...

  2. 22 CFR 19.5-3 - Residence of spouse during service at unhealthful post.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... unhealthful post. 19.5-3 Section 19.5-3 Foreign Relations DEPARTMENT OF STATE PERSONNEL BENEFITS FOR SPOUSES... Residence of spouse during service at unhealthful post. (a) The calculation of the pro rata share of... has received extra service credit for an assignment to an unhealthful post, depends upon whether a...

  3. 22 CFR 19.5-3 - Residence of spouse during service at unhealthful post.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... unhealthful post. 19.5-3 Section 19.5-3 Foreign Relations DEPARTMENT OF STATE PERSONNEL BENEFITS FOR SPOUSES... Residence of spouse during service at unhealthful post. (a) The calculation of the pro rata share of... has received extra service credit for an assignment to an unhealthful post, depends upon whether a...

  4. Student Response to Grading Incentives: Evidence from College Economics Courses

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chulkov, Dmitriy V.

    2006-01-01

    This paper aims to provide evidence on the response of various student types to the use of simple grading incentives. The results show that while the majority of students expend the effort to complete an assignment for credit, this response is not uniform. Using data from six semesters of college Economics classes, the study demonstrates that…

  5. Decision Making In Assignment Problem With Multiple Attributes Under Intuitionistic Fuzzy Environment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mukherjee, Sathi; Basu, Kajla

    2010-10-01

    In this paper we develop a methodology to solve the multiple attribute assignment problems where the attributes are considered to be Intuitionistic Fuzzy Sets (IFS). We apply the concept of similarity measures of IFS to solve the Intuitionistic Fuzzy Multi-Attribute Assignment Problem (IFMAAP). The weights of the attributes are determined from expert opinion. An illustrative example is solved to verify the developed approach and to demonstrate its practicality.

  6. Expanding access through public coverage: permitting families to use tax credits to buy into Medicaid or SCHIP.

    PubMed

    Weil, A R

    2001-01-01

    A new tax credit to help low-income families and individuals purchase health insurance can address the problem of affordability, but will not overcome other barriers these populations face in obtaining coverage. This paper proposes that families have the option of using a new tax credit to buy into a state-administered system such as Medicaid or the State Children's Health Insurance Program. This option has three advantages. First, it allows families to remain with a single health program and health plan as their income fluctuates. Second, it provides an alternative to the complex and confusing individual insurance market. This alternative is community rated, does not use underwriting, and allows health plan behavior to be monitored closely by the state. Third, it allows the state to act as a financial buffer-helping overcome the barrier to participation that cash-flow problems and year-end reconciliation concerns are likely to create among a low-income population. Many people would want to use their tax credit in the private market, but the buy-in option increases the likelihood that the tax credit approach would succeed.

  7. Credit with Health Education in Benin: A Cluster Randomized Trial Examining Impacts on Knowledge and Behavior.

    PubMed

    Karlan, Dean; Thuysbaert, Bram; Gray, Bobbi

    2017-02-08

    We evaluate whether health education integrated into microcredit lending groups reduces health risks by improving health knowledge and self-reported behaviors among urban and rural borrowers in eastern Benin. In 2007, we randomly assigned 138 villages in the Plateau region of Benin to one of four variations of a group liability credit product, varying lending groups' gender composition and/or inclusion of health education using a 2 × 2 design. Women in villages receiving health education, regardless of gender composition of the groups, showed improved knowledge of malaria and of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), but not of childhood illness danger signs. No significant changes in health behavior were observed except an increase in HIV/AIDS prevention behavior, a result predominantly driven by an increase in respondents' self-reported ability to procure a condom, likely an indicator of increased perceived access rather than improved preventative behavior. Women in villages assigned to mixed-gender groups had significantly lower levels of social capital, compared with villages assigned to female-only groups. This suggests there may be an important trade-off to consider for interventions seeking improved health outcomes and social capital through provision of services to mixed-gender groups. Although bundling health education with microcredit can expand health education coverage and lower service-delivery costs, the approach may not be sufficient to improve health behaviors. © The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

  8. The Salaried, Credited Internship in Environmental Studies.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schultz, Judith M.

    1981-01-01

    If carefully designed and arranged, the credited, salaried internship can serve as a transition to the real world of environmental problem-solving, performance evaluation, and ability to work with peers and supervisors. Presented are guidelines for operating such programs and samples of the internship agreement, responsibilities, and evaluation…

  9. Implementing a Web-Based Registration and Administration System for Credit-by-Examination: Graduate Education Course Test Case.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wang, Lih-Ching Chen

    2002-01-01

    Discusses the problems and successes encountered in implementing a Web-based registration and administration system for credit-by-examination in a required graduate course, detailing the ways in which this system improves upon its paper-based predecessor. (EV)

  10. Research on the Application of Persona in Book Recommendation System

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gao, Baozhong; Du, Shouyan; Li, Xinzhi; Liu, Fangai

    2017-10-01

    Currently, there still exists a host of problems in the book recommendation system, such as low accuracy, weak correlation and poor pertinence. Aiming to unravel these problems, this paper based on the theory of big data and data mining technology, through analyzing internet user behavior and the “5C” model of personal credit evaluation, combined with joint impact weight calculation method, which involves user grade, borrowing credit, book friend recommendation degree, book friend recommended adoption degree, borrowing frequency, borrowing number, and borrowing time interval. User activity and credit are also taken into account in the process of establishing user tagging system so as to build classified book recommendation service. This method is of universal meaning to the book recommendation service of smart campus with user as the core under big data environment.

  11. Evaluation of a Brief Homework Assignment Designed to Reduce Citation Problems

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schuetze, Pamela

    2004-01-01

    I evaluated a brief homework assignment designed to reduce citation problems in research-based term papers. Students in 2 developmental psychology classes received a brief presentation and handout defining plagiarism with tips on how to cite sources to avoid plagiarizing. In addition, students in 1 class completed 2 brief homework assignments in…

  12. Absolute Points for Multiple Assignment Problems

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Adlakha, V.; Kowalski, K.

    2006-01-01

    An algorithm is presented to solve multiple assignment problems in which a cost is incurred only when an assignment is made at a given cell. The proposed method recursively searches for single/group absolute points to identify cells that must be loaded in any optimal solution. Unlike other methods, the first solution is the optimal solution. The…

  13. Computing Role Assignments of Proper Interval Graphs in Polynomial Time

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Heggernes, Pinar; van't Hof, Pim; Paulusma, Daniël

    A homomorphism from a graph G to a graph R is locally surjective if its restriction to the neighborhood of each vertex of G is surjective. Such a homomorphism is also called an R-role assignment of G. Role assignments have applications in distributed computing, social network theory, and topological graph theory. The Role Assignment problem has as input a pair of graphs (G,R) and asks whether G has an R-role assignment. This problem is NP-complete already on input pairs (G,R) where R is a path on three vertices. So far, the only known non-trivial tractable case consists of input pairs (G,R) where G is a tree. We present a polynomial time algorithm that solves Role Assignment on all input pairs (G,R) where G is a proper interval graph. Thus we identify the first graph class other than trees on which the problem is tractable. As a complementary result, we show that the problem is Graph Isomorphism-hard on chordal graphs, a superclass of proper interval graphs and trees.

  14. Credit risk and the instability of the financial system: An ensemble approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Schmitt, Thilo A.; Chetalova, Desislava; Schäfer, Rudi; Guhr, Thomas

    2014-02-01

    The instability of the financial system as experienced in recent years and in previous periods is often linked to credit defaults, i.e., to the failure of obligors to make promised payments. Given the large number of credit contracts, this problem is amenable to be treated with approaches developed in statistical physics. We introduce the idea of ensemble averaging and thereby uncover generic features of credit risk. We then show that the often advertised concept of diversification, i.e., reducing the risk by distributing it, is deeply flawed when it comes to credit risk. The risk of extreme losses remains due to the ever present correlations, implying a substantial and persistent intrinsic danger to the financial system.

  15. 75 FR 2180 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed Rule...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-01-14

    ... (``SLP'') program.\\4\\ The Exchange proposes to establish a system of credits payable to SLPs when they... add liquidity to the Exchange in securities with a per share price of $1.00 or more, if the SLP meets... the SLP does not meet the 3% average or more quoting requirement in an assigned security pursuant to...

  16. Parent Choice versus Attendance Area Assignment to Schools: Does Magnet-Based School Choice Affect NAEP Scores?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Archbald, Douglas A.; Kaplan, David

    2004-01-01

    Inter- and intra-district public school choice, vouchers, tuition tax credits and other forms of school choice have been advocated for decades, in large part on grounds that the market forces engendered will improve public education. There are many studies of school choice policies and programs and a large theoretical literature on school choice,…

  17. Report on a Pilot Project Which Combined Speech Communication and English Composition Instruction.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Friday, Robert A.; Beranek, Bernard F.

    In reorganizing its core curriculum, Duquesne University (Pennsylvania) created a course that combined the required freshman composition and speech communication courses. A two-term pilot course offered eight hours of credit, meeting for one hour three times a week and for a two hour lab once a week. Oral readings were assigned in order to help…

  18. Top Contributors to the School Psychology Literature: 1996-2005

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Roberts, Gabrielle A.; Davis, Kim S.; Zanger, Dinorah; Gerrard-Morris, Aimee; Robinson, Daniel H.

    2006-01-01

    S.G. Little (1997) reported the top contributors to the school psychology literature from 1987 to 1995. The present study represents a follow-up by examining the top contributors from 1996 to 2005. Similar to Little, a list of the top 50 contributors was developed using a point system that assigned more credit based on fewer coauthors and higher…

  19. Boyle temperature as a point of ideal gas in gentile statistics and its economic interpretation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Maslov, V. P.; Maslova, T. V.

    2014-07-01

    Boyle temperature is interpreted as the temperature at which the formation of dimers becomes impossible. To Irving Fisher's correspondence principle we assign two more quantities: the number of degrees of freedom, and credit. We determine the danger level of the mass of money M when the mutual trust between economic agents begins to fall.

  20. Personality's Top 40: An Assignment to Motivate Students to Apply Personality Concepts to Their Favorite Songs

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wesselmann, Eric D.; Kassner, Matthew P.; Graziano, William G.

    2016-01-01

    We created an activity in an upper-level personality psychology course in which interested students created an "entry" for a contest in which they chose a popular song that illustrated a course concept. The class evaluated these entries and voted on their favorites in a tournament-style bracket system; winners received extra credit.…

  1. KSC-2009-3463

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2009-05-31

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, a modified Boeing 747, with space shuttle Atlantis on top, has landed at Biggs Army Air Field in El Paso, Texas, for an overnight stop. Atlantis is being returned to Florida on a ferry flight on the SCA. Atlantis' next assignment is the STS-129 mission, targeted to launch in November 2009. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

  2. 12 CFR 217.152 - Simple risk weight approach (SRWA).

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... than or equal to -1 (that is, between zero and -1), then E equals the absolute value of RVC. If RVC is... this section. (1) Zero percent risk weight equity exposures. An equity exposure to an entity whose credit exposures are exempt from the 0.03 percent PD floor in § 217.131(d)(2) is assigned a zero percent...

  3. 12 CFR 217.52 - Simple risk-weight approach (SRWA).

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... greater than or equal to −1 (that is, between zero and −1), then E equals the absolute value of RVC. If... this section) by the lowest applicable risk weight in this paragraph (b). (1) Zero percent risk weight... credit exposures receive a zero percent risk weight under § 217.32 may be assigned a zero percent risk...

  4. Self-regulated learning in a dynamic coaching model for supporting college students with traumatic brain injury: two case reports.

    PubMed

    Kennedy, Mary R T; Krause, Miriam O

    2011-01-01

    To describe a program that integrates self-regulated learning theory with supported education for college students with traumatic brain injury using a dynamic coaching model; to demonstrate the feasibility of developing and implementing such a program; and to identify individualized outcomes. Case study comparisons. University setting. Two severely injured students with cognitive impairments. A dynamic coaching model of supported education which incorporated self-regulated learning was provided for students with traumatic brain injury while attending college. Outcomes were both short and long term including decontextualized standardized test scores, self-reported academic challenges, number and specificity of reported strategies, grades on assignments, number of credits completed versus attempted, and changes in academic status and campus life. Students improved on graded assignments after strategy instruction and reported using more strategies by the end of the year. Students completed most of the credits they attempted, were in good academic standing, and made positive academic decisions. Performance on decontextualized tests pre- and postintervention was variable. It is feasible to deliver a hybrid supported education program that is dynamically responsive to individual students' needs and learning styles. Reasons for including both functional and standardized test outcomes are discussed.

  5. Web-Based Problem-Solving Assignment and Grading System

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Brereton, Giles; Rosenberg, Ronald

    2014-11-01

    In engineering courses with very specific learning objectives, such as fluid mechanics and thermodynamics, it is conventional to reinforce concepts and principles with problem-solving assignments and to measure success in problem solving as an indicator of student achievement. While the modern-day ease of copying and searching for online solutions can undermine the value of traditional assignments, web-based technologies also provide opportunities to generate individualized well-posed problems with an infinite number of different combinations of initial/final/boundary conditions, so that the probability of any two students being assigned identical problems in a course is vanishingly small. Such problems can be designed and programmed to be: single or multiple-step, self-grading, allow students single or multiple attempts; provide feedback when incorrect; selectable according to difficulty; incorporated within gaming packages; etc. In this talk, we discuss the use of a homework/exam generating program of this kind in a single-semester course, within a web-based client-server system that ensures secure operation.

  6. Microcredit in theory and practice: using randomized credit scoring for impact evaluation.

    PubMed

    Karlan, Dean; Zinman, Jonathan

    2011-06-10

    Microcredit institutions spend billions of dollars fighting poverty by making small loans primarily to female entrepreneurs. Proponents argue that microcredit mitigates market failures, spurs micro-enterprise growth, and boosts borrowers' well-being. We tested these hypotheses with the use of an innovative, replicable experimental design that randomly assigned individual liability microloans (of $225 on average) to 1601 individuals in the Philippines through credit scoring. After 11 to 22 months, we found evidence consistent with unmet demand at the current price (a roughly 60% annualized interest rate): Net borrowing increased in the treatment group relative to controls. However, the number of business activities and employees in the treatment group decreased relative to controls, and subjective well-being declined slightly. We also found little evidence that treatment effects were more pronounced for women. However, we did find that microloans increase ability to cope with risk, strengthen community ties, and increase access to informal credit. Thus, microcredit here may work, but through channels different from those often hypothesized by its proponents.

  7. Changes in alcohol consumption patterns following the introduction of credit cards in Ontario liquor stores.

    PubMed

    Macdonald, S A; Wells, S L; Giesbrecht, N; West, P M

    1999-05-01

    In 1994, regulatory changes were introduced in Ontario, Canada, permitting the purchase of alcoholic beverages with credit cards at government-operated liquor stores. Two objectives of this study were: (1) to compare the characteristics of credit card shoppers with non credit card shoppers at liquor stores, and (2) to assess whether changes occurred in alcohol consumption patterns among shoppers following the introduction of credit cards. Random digit dialing was used to interview 2,039 telephone participants prior to the introduction of credit cards (Time 1); 1,401 of these subjects were contacted 1 year later (Time 2). Independent sample t tests were used to compare credit card shoppers with shoppers not using credit cards, and paired t tests were performed to assess whether drinking behaviors changed from Time 1 to Time 2. The credit card shoppers were more likely than the non credit card shoppers to be highly educated (p < .001) and to have high incomes (p < .05). Credit card shoppers drank an average of 6.3 drinks over the previous week compared with 4.0 drinks among non credit card shoppers (p < .01). Although the overall amount of alcohol consumed among credit card shoppers dropped from 6.7 drinks at Time 1 to 6.3 at Time 2 (NS), credit card shoppers reported drinking significantly more often after credit cards were introduced (p < .05). The results suggest that credit cards may not present public health problems since significant increases in alcohol consumption among credit card shoppers were not found.

  8. Authorship and sampling practice in selected biomechanics and sports science journals.

    PubMed

    Knudson, Duane V

    2011-06-01

    In some biomedical sciences, changes in patterns of collaboration and authorship have complicated the assignment of credit and responsibility for research. It is unclear if this problem of "promiscuous coauthorship" or "hyperauthorship" (defined as six or more authors) is also apparent in the applied research disciplines within sport and exercise science. This study documented the authorship and sampling of patterns of original research reports in three applied biomechanics (Clinical Biomechanics, Journal of Applied Biomechanics, and Sports Biomechanics) and five similar subdisciplinary journals within sport and exercise science (International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, Journal of Sport Rehabilitation, Journal of Teaching Physical Education, Measurement in Physical Education and Exercise Sciences, and Motor Control). Original research reports from the 2009 volumes of these biomechanics and sport and exercise journals were reviewed. Single authorship of papers was rare (2.6%) in these journals, with the mean number of authors ranging from 2.7 to 4.5. Sample sizes and the ratio of sample to authors varied widely, and these variables tended not to be associated with number of authors. Original research reports published in these journals in 2009 tended to be published by small teams of collaborators, so currently there may be few problems with promiscuous coauthorship in these subdisciplines of sport and exercise science.

  9. New Challenges Facing Small Undergraduate Departments And The Role Of Faculty And Administrators.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    El-Shazly, A. K.

    2003-12-01

    Small geoscience departments with 5 faculty members or less in undergraduate institutions are facing serious challenges that will have a profound impact on their future, as well as the future of geoscience education. In addition to past and future budget cuts that affect all departments, small departments are more vulnerable to such problems as (i) decreased enrollments in introductory level classes, (ii) small number of geology majors, (iii) small number of graduates per year (iv) lack or paucity of equipment necessary for faculty and student research, (v) limited opportunities for external funding, (vi) need to offer upper division classes on an alternate year basis, (vii) difficulty in recruiting and retaining students, (viii) high teaching loads for faculty, and (ix) designing rigorous curricula based on 120 credit hours with a significant component of liberal art classes. These problems pose new challenges for faculty, department chairs and administrators. Faculty need to design curricula tailored to the need of the job market, without compromising rigor or the quality of the program. New classes/ concentrations in environmental science, hydrogeology and geographical information systems should be offered, and traditional classes in petrology, geophysics and tectonics should be maintained. Classes in Physics, Chemistry and Math should be core requirements. Student involvement in research should be encouraged at an early stage (sophomore/ junior levels). Department chairs need to assign duties in their department carefully to capitalize on the strengths of their faculty: faculty with strong research backgrounds should be helped in their efforts to pursue external funding opportunities, whereas those with strong teaching abilities should be evaluated primarily on their performance in the classroom. Student credit hour production should not be used as a criterion for evaluating faculty. Administrators should evaluate programs and departments based on the success of their graduates in the workplace/ graduate school, not their numbers, and the quality of faculty research and its impact on attracting new majors and acquisition of funds.

  10. Single-machine common/slack due window assignment problems with linear decreasing processing times

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Xingong; Lin, Win-Chin; Wu, Wen-Hsiang; Wu, Chin-Chia

    2017-08-01

    This paper studies linear non-increasing processing times and the common/slack due window assignment problems on a single machine, where the actual processing time of a job is a linear non-increasing function of its starting time. The aim is to minimize the sum of the earliness cost, tardiness cost, due window location and due window size. Some optimality results are discussed for the common/slack due window assignment problems and two O(n log n) time algorithms are presented to solve the two problems. Finally, two examples are provided to illustrate the correctness of the corresponding algorithms.

  11. Using blogs and wikis in a graduate public health course.

    PubMed

    Cobus, Laura

    2009-01-01

    Blogs and wikis are examples of Web 2.0 technology that facilitate collaboration in the online world. In the health sciences, the emergence of these social tools potentially increases the risk of generating harmful or biased information. Therefore, it is the health professional's responsibility to have the skills to critically appraise Web content that has not undergone traditional peer review. This was the focus in a three-credit graduate Urban Public Health course taught by a librarian and was addressed with assignments using blog and wiki technology within the course management tool Blackboard. The assignments fostered comprehension of the issues surrounding blogs and wikis as they relate to public health.

  12. Learning graph matching.

    PubMed

    Caetano, Tibério S; McAuley, Julian J; Cheng, Li; Le, Quoc V; Smola, Alex J

    2009-06-01

    As a fundamental problem in pattern recognition, graph matching has applications in a variety of fields, from computer vision to computational biology. In graph matching, patterns are modeled as graphs and pattern recognition amounts to finding a correspondence between the nodes of different graphs. Many formulations of this problem can be cast in general as a quadratic assignment problem, where a linear term in the objective function encodes node compatibility and a quadratic term encodes edge compatibility. The main research focus in this theme is about designing efficient algorithms for approximately solving the quadratic assignment problem, since it is NP-hard. In this paper we turn our attention to a different question: how to estimate compatibility functions such that the solution of the resulting graph matching problem best matches the expected solution that a human would manually provide. We present a method for learning graph matching: the training examples are pairs of graphs and the 'labels' are matches between them. Our experimental results reveal that learning can substantially improve the performance of standard graph matching algorithms. In particular, we find that simple linear assignment with such a learning scheme outperforms Graduated Assignment with bistochastic normalisation, a state-of-the-art quadratic assignment relaxation algorithm.

  13. STS-64 extravehicular activity (EVA) hardware view

    NASA Image and Video Library

    1993-01-21

    S93-26920 (8 Sept. 1994) --- Scott Bleisath, an extravehicular activity (EVA) engineer, demonstrates the hand control module for the Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue (SAFER) system making its first flight on the scheduled September STS-64 mission. Astronauts Mark C. Lee and Carl J. Meade are the spacewalkers assigned to test the system in space. Photo credit: NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration

  14. Inflight views of the crew of STS-7

    NASA Image and Video Library

    1983-06-25

    S83-35770 (18?24 June 1983)--- Astronaut Norman E. Thagard, STS-7 mission specialist, is actually performing a medical experiment though his appearance resembles popular depictions of an invading alien. Thagard, a medical doctor, has been assigned a busy project of evaluating physiological reactions of astronauts in space travel. He is on the middeck of the Earth-orbiting space shuttle Challenger. Photo credit: NASA

  15. Competency-Based Education, Put to the Test: An Inside Look at Learning and Assessment at Western Governors University

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Marcus, Jon

    2017-01-01

    Unlike conventional colleges and universities, Western Governors doesn't require students to spend a set number of hours in a classroom, average out their performance on assignments and tests, then hand out letter grades and credits. Using a complex system of assessments developed over the two decades the university has been operating, WGU's…

  16. 42 CFR 419.45 - Payment and copayment reduction for devices replaced without cost or when full or partial credit...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... of reduction to the APC payment. (1) The amount of the reduction to the APC payment made under... be applied if the device implanted during a procedure assigned to the APC had transitional pass-through status under § 419.66. (2) The amount of the reduction to the APC payment made under paragraph (a...

  17. Defense Industrial Personnel Security Clearance Review Program

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1992-01-02

    or on closed accounts. 5. Indication of deceit or deception in obtaining credit or bank accounts, misappropriation of funds, income tax evasion ...income tax evasion , expense account fraud, filing deceptive loan statements, and other intentional financial breaches of trust; (3) inability or...information; or any U.S. citizen nominated by the Red Cross or United Service Organizations for assignment with the Military Services overseas. The

  18. More reliable protein NMR peak assignment via improved 2-interval scheduling.

    PubMed

    Chen, Zhi-Zhong; Lin, Guohui; Rizzi, Romeo; Wen, Jianjun; Xu, Dong; Xu, Ying; Jiang, Tao

    2005-03-01

    Protein NMR peak assignment refers to the process of assigning a group of "spin systems" obtained experimentally to a protein sequence of amino acids. The automation of this process is still an unsolved and challenging problem in NMR protein structure determination. Recently, protein NMR peak assignment has been formulated as an interval scheduling problem (ISP), where a protein sequence P of amino acids is viewed as a discrete time interval I (the amino acids on P one-to-one correspond to the time units of I), each subset S of spin systems that are known to originate from consecutive amino acids from P is viewed as a "job" j(s), the preference of assigning S to a subsequence P of consecutive amino acids on P is viewed as the profit of executing job j(s) in the subinterval of I corresponding to P, and the goal is to maximize the total profit of executing the jobs (on a single machine) during I. The interval scheduling problem is max SNP-hard in general; but in the real practice of protein NMR peak assignment, each job j(s) usually requires at most 10 consecutive time units, and typically the jobs that require one or two consecutive time units are the most difficult to assign/schedule. In order to solve these most difficult assignments, we present an efficient 13/7-approximation algorithm for the special case of the interval scheduling problem where each job takes one or two consecutive time units. Combining this algorithm with a greedy filtering strategy for handling long jobs (i.e., jobs that need more than two consecutive time units), we obtain a new efficient heuristic for protein NMR peak assignment. Our experimental study shows that the new heuristic produces the best peak assignment in most of the cases, compared with the NMR peak assignment algorithms in the recent literature. The above algorithm is also the first approximation algorithm for a nontrivial case of the well-known interval scheduling problem that breaks the ratio 2 barrier.

  19. Single machine scheduling with slack due dates assignment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Weiguo; Hu, Xiangpei; Wang, Xuyin

    2017-04-01

    This paper considers a single machine scheduling problem in which each job is assigned an individual due date based on a common flow allowance (i.e. all jobs have slack due date). The goal is to find a sequence for jobs, together with a due date assignment, that minimizes a non-regular criterion comprising the total weighted absolute lateness value and common flow allowance cost, where the weight is a position-dependent weight. In order to solve this problem, an ? time algorithm is proposed. Some extensions of the problem are also shown.

  20. A Stochastic Employment Problem

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wu, Teng

    2013-01-01

    The Stochastic Employment Problem(SEP) is a variation of the Stochastic Assignment Problem which analyzes the scenario that one assigns balls into boxes. Balls arrive sequentially with each one having a binary vector X = (X[subscript 1], X[subscript 2],...,X[subscript n]) attached, with the interpretation being that if X[subscript i] = 1 the ball…

  1. A General Chemistry Assignment Analyzing Environmental Contamination for the Depue, IL, National Superfund Site

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Saslow Gomez, Sarah A.; Faurie-Wisniewski, Danielle; Parsa, Arlen; Spitz, Jeff; Spitz, Jennifer Amdur; Loeb, Nancy C.; Geiger, Franz M.

    2015-01-01

    The classroom exercise outlined here is a self-directed assignment that connects students to the environmental contamination problem surrounding the DePue Superfund site. By connecting chemistry knowledge gained in the classroom with a real-world problem, students are encouraged to personally connect with the problem while simultaneously…

  2. Pre-service teachers’ challenges in presenting mathematical problems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Desfitri, R.

    2018-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to analyzed how pre-service teachers prepare and assigned tasks or assignments in teaching practice situations. This study was also intended to discuss about kind of tasks or assignments they gave to students. Participants of this study were 15 selected pre-service mathematics teachers from mathematics education department who took part on microteaching class as part of teaching preparation program. Based on data obtained, it was occasionally found that there were hidden errors on questions or tasks assigned by pre-service teachers which might lead their students not to be able to reach a logical or correct answer. Although some answers might seem to be true, they were illogical or unfavourable. It is strongly recommended that pre-service teachers be more careful when posing mathematical problems so that students do not misunderstand the problems or the concepts, since both teachers and students were sometimes unaware of errors in problems being worked on.

  3. New optimization model for routing and spectrum assignment with nodes insecurity

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xuan, Hejun; Wang, Yuping; Xu, Zhanqi; Hao, Shanshan; Wang, Xiaoli

    2017-04-01

    By adopting the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing technology, elastic optical networks can provide the flexible and variable bandwidth allocation to each connection request and get higher spectrum utilization. The routing and spectrum assignment problem in elastic optical network is a well-known NP-hard problem. In addition, information security has received worldwide attention. We combine these two problems to investigate the routing and spectrum assignment problem with the guaranteed security in elastic optical network, and establish a new optimization model to minimize the maximum index of the used frequency slots, which is used to determine an optimal routing and spectrum assignment schemes. To solve the model effectively, a hybrid genetic algorithm framework integrating a heuristic algorithm into a genetic algorithm is proposed. The heuristic algorithm is first used to sort the connection requests and then the genetic algorithm is designed to look for an optimal routing and spectrum assignment scheme. In the genetic algorithm, tailor-made crossover, mutation and local search operators are designed. Moreover, simulation experiments are conducted with three heuristic strategies, and the experimental results indicate that the effectiveness of the proposed model and algorithm framework.

  4. Preventing and treating nicotine addiction: a review with emphasis on adolescent health.

    PubMed

    Alouf, Benjamin; Feinson, Judith A; Chidekel, Aaron S

    2006-07-01

    This article is the fourth in a series of four providing current, state-of-the-art information about the tobacco problem and how physicians can effectively intervene. The articles review the health effects of second-hand smoke, current treatment strategies for nicotine addiction and the implementation of best practices, such as the "5 As," to effectively intervene with families with smokers. Three of the articles are accredited for free continuing medical education (CME) credit for physicians. To obtain AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)TM for this article, please go online to www.PedsEducation.org, your source for free continuing medical education from Nemours. Choose "Online Education" and the article, and complete the post-test as directed. CME accreditation for this educational presentation is provided at no cost as a service of Nemours, one of the nation's largest children's health systems. Nemours is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians. Nemours designates this educational activity for a maximum of .5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s). Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. This article will focus on the prevention of adolescent smoking and discuss a global approach to the tobacco problem among youth. It also reviews the rationale for and pharmacology of treating nicotine addiction to empower physicians to assist smokers with quitting. By reading the article and completing the post-test, it is anticipated that the following learning objectives will be met: Physicians will become familiar with: 1) Options for treating nicotine addiction, 2) The unique aspects of the tobacco problem in adolescence, 3) The risk factors for teen smoking initiation.

  5. Tax policy as a lifeline: encouraging blood and organ donation through tax credits.

    PubMed

    Clamon, Joseph B

    2008-01-01

    This article, the second concerning the organ donation crisis, proposes the use of tax policy to encourage blood and organ donation. After critiquing the ethical and logistical problems posed by other commercial and non-commercial solutions, the author demonstrates how tax credits can be used as an effective and ethical solution to address the shortage of donors. The author also offers two model statutes that provide guidance as to how a nonrefundable tax credit for blood and organ donation might operate in the tax code.

  6. Trouble in Paradise: Problems in Academic Research Co-authoring.

    PubMed

    Bozeman, Barry; Youtie, Jan

    2016-12-01

    Scholars and policy-makers have expressed concerns about the crediting of coauthors in research publications. Most such problems fall into one of two categories, excluding deserving contributors or including undeserving ones. But our research shows that there is no consensus on "deserving" or on what type of contribution suffices for co-authorship award. Our study uses qualitative data, including interviews with 60 US academic science or engineering researchers in 14 disciplines in a set of geographically distributed research-intensive universities. We also employ data from 161 website posts provided by 93 study participants, again US academic scientists. We examine a variety of factors related to perceived unwarranted exclusion from co-author credit and unwarranted inclusion, providing an empirically-informed conceptual model to explain co-author crediting outcomes. Determinants of outcomes include characteristics of disciplines and fields, institutional work culture, power dynamics and team-specific norms and decision processes.

  7. 4. Credit WCT. Photographic copy of photograph, test Stand 'B' ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    4. Credit WCT. Photographic copy of photograph, test Stand 'B' set up for shock tube and research on ship-to-ship fueling problems for the U.S. Coast Guard. (JPL negative no. 344-3743-A, October or November 1980) - Jet Propulsion Laboratory Edwards Facility, Test Stand B, Edwards Air Force Base, Boron, Kern County, CA

  8. Online Dual Credit Mathematics for Rural Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Harris, Roy Joe; Stovall, Sarah T.

    2013-01-01

    Students from small rural schools (class 1A, 2A, and 3A) historically have not had access to dual credit courses for several reasons including distance from a college campus, affordability, and district teaching strength. In an effort to address these problems and to begin the college experience sooner, a new program was developed by the…

  9. A STUDY OF THE GOALS AND CHARACTERISTICS OF EXTENSION CREDIT STUDENTS IN NORTHWESTERN MICHIGAN.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    HAGELBERG, MILTON JOHN

    AN ANALYSIS WAS MADE OF THE GOALS AND CHARACTERISTICS OF STUDENTS ENROLLED IN EXTENSION CREDIT COURSES OFFERED BY MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY IN NORTHWESTERN MICHIGAN DURING THE FALL OF 1959. ALSO CONSIDERED WERE DATA ON STUDENT PROBLEMS AND ON CONTACTS AND RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE UNIVERSITY. GROUP ADMINISTERED QUESTIONNAIRES WERE USED TO COLLECT…

  10. Modeling instructor preferences for CPR and AED competence estimation.

    PubMed

    Birnbaum, Alice; McBurnie, Mary Ann; Powell, Judy; Ottingham, Lois Van; Riegel, Barbara; Potts, Jerry; Hedges, Jerris R

    2005-03-01

    Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillator (AED) skills competency can be tested using a checklist of component skills, individually graded "pass" or "fail." Scores are typically calculated as the percentage of skills passed, but may differ from an instructor's overall subjective assessment of simulated CPR or AED adequacy. To identify and evaluate composite measures (methods for scoring checklists) that reflect instructors' subjective assessments of CPR or AED skills performance best. Associations between instructor assessment and lay-volunteer skill performance were made using 6380 CPR and 3313 AED skill retention tests collected in the Public Access Defibrillation Trial. Checklists included CPR skills (e.g., calling 911, administering compressions) and AED skills (e.g., positioning electrodes, shocking within 90 s of AED arrival). The instructor's subjective overall assessment (adequate/inadequate) of CPR performance (perfusion) or AED competence (effective shock) was compared to composite measures. We evaluated the traditional composite measure (assigning equal weights to individual skills) and several nontraditional composite measures (assigning variable weights). Skills performed out of sequence were further weighted from 0% (no credit) to 100% (full credit). Composite measures providing full credit for skills performed out of sequence and down-weighting process skills (e.g., calling 911, clearing oneself from the AED) had the strongest association with the instructor's subjective assessment; the traditional CPR composite measure had the weakest association. Our findings suggest that instructors in public CPR and AED classes may tend to down-weight process skills and to excuse step sequencing errors when evaluating CPR and AED skills subjectively for overall proficiency. Testing methods that relate classroom performance to actual performance in the field and to clinical outcomes require further research.

  11. Problem-Based Assignments as a Trigger for Developing Ethical and Reflective Competencies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Euler, Dieter; Kühner, Patrizia

    2017-01-01

    The following research question serves as the starting point of this research and development project: How, in the context of a didactic design, can problem-based assignments trigger learning activities for the development of ethical and reflective competencies in students in economics courses? This paper focuses on the design of problem-based…

  12. Investigation of the Effect of Assignment Projects on Mathematical Activity of Graduating Junior High School Students.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zehavi, Nurit

    This study explored student mathematical activity in open problem-solving situations, derived from the work of Polya on problem solving and Skemp on intelligent learning and teaching. Assignment projects with problems for ninth-grade students were developed, whether they elicit the desired cognitive and cogno-affective goals was investigated, and…

  13. Evaluation tools for undergraduate program planning in times of financial austerity.

    PubMed

    O'Palka, J; Harris, P R

    1990-05-01

    This article describes the administration and outcome of two evaluation tools developed by faculty of the dietetic program for ongoing assessment of a Plan IV dietetic education program over a 4-year period. Interns and internship directors were asked to evaluate the level of skills and knowledge base of interns compared with their internship classmates. Interns were also asked to rate the effectiveness of undergraduate course assignments and activities for internship preparation. As a result of the surveys, the home economics core course work was deleted, credits were shifted from food science to nutrient metabolism courses, and credits in clinical nutrition were increased. Projects in clinical nutrition and food systems management were modified. The surveys justified program requirements and utilization of resources, and provided an additional, effective measure of faculty competence.

  14. Incorporating Inquiry into Upper-Level Undergraduate Homework Assignments: The Mini-Journal

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Whittington, Alan; Speck, Angela; Witzig, Stephen; Abell, Sandra

    2010-05-01

    The US National Science Education Standards (2000) state that science should be taught through inquiry. The five essential features of classroom inquiry are that the leaner (i) engages in scientifically oriented questions, (ii) gives priority to evidence in responding to questions, (iii) formulates explanations from evidence, (iv) connects explanations to scientific knowledge, and (v) communicates and justifies explanations. One difficulty in achieving this vision at the university level lies in the common perception that inquiry be fully open and unstructured, and that its implementation will be impractical due to time and material constraints. In an NSF-funded project, "CUES: Connecting Undergraduates to the Enterprise of Science," faculty developed new inquiry-based laboratory curriculum materials using a "mini-journal" approach, which is designed as an alternative to the cookbook laboratory and represents the way that scientists do science. Here we adapt this approach to a homework assignment in an upper-level Planetary Science class, and show that inquiry is achievable in this setting. Traditional homeworks in this class consisted of problem sets requiring algebraic manipulation, computation, and in most cases an appraisal of the result Longer questions are broken down into chunks worth 1 to 4 points. In contrast, the mini-journal is a short article that is modeled in the way that scientists do and report science. It includes a title, abstract, introduction (with clear statement of the problem to be tackled), a description of the methods, results (presented as both tables and graphs), a discussion (with suggestions for future work) and a list of cited work. Students devise their research questions and hypothesis from the paper based on a logical next step in the investigation. Guiding questions in the discussion can assist the students ("it would be interesting to evaluate the effect of ..."). Students submit their own minijournal, using the same journal-style format. A detailed grading rubric was supplied with the mini-journal, with credit given for formatting, accuracy of calculation, and quality of intepretation and discussion. In the examples we present, research is conducted via spreadsheet modeling, where the students develop their own spreadsheets. The key differences between the old and new formats include (i) the active participation of the students in defining the problem that they will pursue, (ii) the open-ended nature of the inquiry, such that students need to recognize when they have enough information to answer their question, (iii) presentation of results in graphical and tabular formats, and (iv) a written discussion of their findings. Based on detailed student and instructor feedback, our conclusions are: (i) Limited inquiry is achievable in upper-level science homework assignments, and is transferable to other topics and classes (ii) Students experience discomfort on being presented with an open-ended assignment, but like the freedom to define their own homework problem (iii) Students recognize that the reading, writing and critical thinking skills employed in the minijournal format increase their understanding (iv) Students suggest a combination of minijournal and traditional homework formats in this class, or replacing midterm exams with minijournals (v) Student written comments are far more useful than Likert scale responses in assessing instructional techniques and effectiveness

  15. Ant colony optimization for solving university facility layout problem

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mohd Jani, Nurul Hafiza; Mohd Radzi, Nor Haizan; Ngadiman, Mohd Salihin

    2013-04-01

    Quadratic Assignment Problems (QAP) is classified as the NP hard problem. It has been used to model a lot of problem in several areas such as operational research, combinatorial data analysis and also parallel and distributed computing, optimization problem such as graph portioning and Travel Salesman Problem (TSP). In the literature, researcher use exact algorithm, heuristics algorithm and metaheuristic approaches to solve QAP problem. QAP is largely applied in facility layout problem (FLP). In this paper we used QAP to model university facility layout problem. There are 8 facilities that need to be assigned to 8 locations. Hence we have modeled a QAP problem with n ≤ 10 and developed an Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithm to solve the university facility layout problem. The objective is to assign n facilities to n locations such that the minimum product of flows and distances is obtained. Flow is the movement from one to another facility, whereas distance is the distance between one locations of a facility to other facilities locations. The objective of the QAP is to obtain minimum total walking (flow) of lecturers from one destination to another (distance).

  16. A Pruning Neural Network Model in Credit Classification Analysis

    PubMed Central

    Tang, Yajiao; Ji, Junkai; Dai, Hongwei; Yu, Yang; Todo, Yuki

    2018-01-01

    Nowadays, credit classification models are widely applied because they can help financial decision-makers to handle credit classification issues. Among them, artificial neural networks (ANNs) have been widely accepted as the convincing methods in the credit industry. In this paper, we propose a pruning neural network (PNN) and apply it to solve credit classification problem by adopting the well-known Australian and Japanese credit datasets. The model is inspired by synaptic nonlinearity of a dendritic tree in a biological neural model. And it is trained by an error back-propagation algorithm. The model is capable of realizing a neuronal pruning function by removing the superfluous synapses and useless dendrites and forms a tidy dendritic morphology at the end of learning. Furthermore, we utilize logic circuits (LCs) to simulate the dendritic structures successfully which makes PNN be implemented on the hardware effectively. The statistical results of our experiments have verified that PNN obtains superior performance in comparison with other classical algorithms in terms of accuracy and computational efficiency. PMID:29606961

  17. STS-64 extravehicular activity (EVA) hardware view

    NASA Image and Video Library

    1993-01-21

    S93-26918 (8 Sept. 1994) --- Scott Bleisath, an extravehicular activity (EVA) engineer, demonstrates the hand control module for the Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue (SAFER) system making its first flight on the scheduled September STS-64 mission. Astronauts Mark C. Lee and Carl J. Meade are the spacewalkers assigned to test the system in space. Unidentified technicians and engineers look on. Photo credit: NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration

  18. Assessing the State of Procurement Knowledge Production: Implications for the Federal Government

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2011-12-01

    canonical knowledge base, quality control of published information, and assignment of priority and credit for their work to authors” (Rowland, 2002, p...The federal government recognizes the value of theory-based research and graduate education in 5 strategic purchasing—evidenced by its investment ...examination of the underlying trends present in the data. This finding also provided insights that may further other scholarly work in the field

  19. Comparing Looping Teacher-Assigned and Traditional Teacher-Assigned Student Achievement Scores

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lloyd, Melissa C.

    2014-01-01

    A problem in many elementary schools is determining which teacher assignment strategy best promotes the academic progress of students. To find and implement educational practices that address the academic needs of all learners, schools need research-based data focusing on the 2 teacher assignment strategies: looping assignment (LA) and traditional…

  20. Consumers with an intellectual disability and carers: perceptions of interactions with banks.

    PubMed

    Hayes, Susan C; Martin, Fiona B

    2007-03-01

    As more people with an intellectual disability reside independently in the community, there is both the need and the opportunity for them to use financial services, including banks and credit unions, and products such as cash machine cards, credit cards and loans. There is a dearth of information about interactions between consumers with intellectual disabilities and their carers, and financial service providers. This study investigated the perceptions of 94 consumers with an intellectual disability and 53 carers regarding interactions with financial service providers. Consumers and carers mentioned a number of problems with banks, and reported a low rate of successful resolution of these difficulties. Carers mentioned more problems than consumers, and more frequently reported intangible problems such as discrimination. The 'digital divide' was evident, with few consumers having access to Internet or telephone banking. People with intellectual disabilities need education programmes about electronic banking, their rights as consumers and their access to problem resolution strategies.

  1. Parameterized Complexity Results for General Factors in Bipartite Graphs with an Application to Constraint Programming

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gutin, Gregory; Kim, Eun Jung; Soleimanfallah, Arezou; Szeider, Stefan; Yeo, Anders

    The NP-hard general factor problem asks, given a graph and for each vertex a list of integers, whether the graph has a spanning subgraph where each vertex has a degree that belongs to its assigned list. The problem remains NP-hard even if the given graph is bipartite with partition U ⊎ V, and each vertex in U is assigned the list {1}; this subproblem appears in the context of constraint programming as the consistency problem for the extended global cardinality constraint. We show that this subproblem is fixed-parameter tractable when parameterized by the size of the second partite set V. More generally, we show that the general factor problem for bipartite graphs, parameterized by |V |, is fixed-parameter tractable as long as all vertices in U are assigned lists of length 1, but becomes W[1]-hard if vertices in U are assigned lists of length at most 2. We establish fixed-parameter tractability by reducing the problem instance to a bounded number of acyclic instances, each of which can be solved in polynomial time by dynamic programming.

  2. A user credit assessment model based on clustering ensemble for broadband network new media service supervision

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Fang; Cao, San-xing; Lu, Rui

    2012-04-01

    This paper proposes a user credit assessment model based on clustering ensemble aiming to solve the problem that users illegally spread pirated and pornographic media contents within the user self-service oriented broadband network new media platforms. Its idea is to do the new media user credit assessment by establishing indices system based on user credit behaviors, and the illegal users could be found according to the credit assessment results, thus to curb the bad videos and audios transmitted on the network. The user credit assessment model based on clustering ensemble proposed by this paper which integrates the advantages that swarm intelligence clustering is suitable for user credit behavior analysis and K-means clustering could eliminate the scattered users existed in the result of swarm intelligence clustering, thus to realize all the users' credit classification automatically. The model's effective verification experiments are accomplished which are based on standard credit application dataset in UCI machine learning repository, and the statistical results of a comparative experiment with a single model of swarm intelligence clustering indicates this clustering ensemble model has a stronger creditworthiness distinguishing ability, especially in the aspect of predicting to find user clusters with the best credit and worst credit, which will facilitate the operators to take incentive measures or punitive measures accurately. Besides, compared with the experimental results of Logistic regression based model under the same conditions, this clustering ensemble model is robustness and has better prediction accuracy.

  3. Artificial metaplasticity neural network applied to credit scoring.

    PubMed

    Marcano-Cedeño, Alexis; Marin-de-la-Barcena, A; Jimenez-Trillo, J; Piñuela, J A; Andina, D

    2011-08-01

    The assessment of the risk of default on credit is important for financial institutions. Different Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) have been suggested to tackle the credit scoring problem, however, the obtained error rates are often high. In the search for the best ANN algorithm for credit scoring, this paper contributes with the application of an ANN Training Algorithm inspired by the neurons' biological property of metaplasticity. This algorithm is especially efficient when few patterns of a class are available, or when information inherent to low probability events is crucial for a successful application, as weight updating is overemphasized in the less frequent activations than in the more frequent ones. Two well-known and readily available such as: Australia and German data sets has been used to test the algorithm. The results obtained by AMMLP shown have been superior to state-of-the-art classification algorithms in credit scoring.

  4. Multidisciplinary Environments: A History of Engineering Framework Development

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Padula, Sharon L.; Gillian, Ronnie E.

    2006-01-01

    This paper traces the history of engineering frameworks and their use by Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO) practitioners. The approach is to reference papers that have been presented at one of the ten previous Multidisciplinary Analysis and Optimization (MA&O) conferences. By limiting the search to MA&O papers, the authors can (1) identify the key ideas that led to general purpose MDO frameworks and (2) uncover roadblocks that delayed the development of these ideas. The authors make no attempt to assign credit for revolutionary ideas or to assign blame for missed opportunities. Rather, the goal is to trace the various threads of computer architecture and software framework research and to observe how these threads contributed to the commercial framework products available today.

  5. Methane generation from cattle residue at a dirt feedlot. Final report

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

    Lizdas, D.J.; Coe, W.B.; Turk, M.

    1980-08-01

    In order to investigate the feasibility of producing fuel gas and an energy-intensive refeed product from dirt feedlot residues by anaerobic fermentation, the Department of Energy awarded Hamilton Standard a contract to operate the Hamilton Standard mobile processing unit at the Monfort of Colorado Kuner feedlot. During the test program a stable fermentation was achieved utilizing aged feedlot pen residue after a sufficient adaption period was provided. Methane yields varied considerably as a function of feedstock source; as low as 1.3 cubic feet per pound of volatile solids from the feedlot stockpile, and as high as 3.5 cubic feet frommore » one of the feedlot pens. Average yield from all pens was 2.5 cubic feed of methane per pound of volatile solids processed. The fermentor liquid effluent and dewatered effluent were acceptable to cattle as a feed ingredient and were used to provide one-half the daily supplemental protein for two groups of twenty steers each. Weight gains and feed conversion were nearly the same as for cattle fed the normal ration. Data from the test program were used to evaluate the economics of producing fuel gas at a large dirt feedlot. A preliminary design for a full scale system to produce unscrubbed fuel gas for the Monfort Kuner feedlot was developed, from which capital and operating costs were estimated. The production cost of fuel gas was then established as a function of byproduct credit given to the fermentor residue as a refeed product. With zero credit, gas can be produced at $6.30 per million Btu. When a credit is assigned to the refeed product based on the cost of urea as a protein source, the production cost falls to $2.70 per million Btu. When a credit is assigned to the refeed product based on the cost of cottonseed meal as a protein source, the production cost is -$21, indicating that the system produces a net income from the value of the refeed product.« less

  6. Meta-cognitive student reflections

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Barquist, Britt; Stewart, Jim

    2009-05-01

    We have recently concluded a project testing the effectiveness of a weekly assignment designed to encourage awareness and improvement of meta-cognitive skills. The project is based on the idea that successful problem solvers implement a meta-cognitive process in which they identify the specific concept they are struggling with, and then identify what they understand, what they don't understand, and what they need to know in order to resolve their problem. The assignment required the students to write an email assessing the level of completion of a weekly workbook assignment and to examine in detail their experiences regarding a specific topic they struggled with. The assignment guidelines were designed to coach them through this meta-cognitive process. We responded to most emails with advice for next week's assignment. Our data follow 12 students through a quarter consisting of 11 email assignments which were scored using a rubric based on the assignment guidelines. We found no correlation between rubric scores and final grades. We do have anecdotal evidence that the assignment was beneficial.

  7. Determining the relationship between students' scores using traditional homework assignments to those who used assignments on a non-traditional interactive CD with tutor helps

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tinney, Charles Evan

    2007-12-01

    By using the book "Physics for Scientists and Engineers" by Raymond A. Serway as a guide, CD problem sets for teaching a calculus-based physics course were developed, programmed, and evaluated for homework assignments during the 2003-2004 academic year at Utah State University. These CD sets were used to replace the traditionally handwritten and submitted homework sets. They included a research-based format that guided the students through problem-solving techniques using responseactivated helps and suggestions. The CD contents were designed to help the student improve his/her physics problem-solving skills. The analyzed score results showed a direct correlation between the scores obtained on the homework and the students' time spent per problem, as well as the number of helps used per problem.

  8. Ontological Problem-Solving Framework for Assigning Sensor Systems and Algorithms to High-Level Missions

    PubMed Central

    Qualls, Joseph; Russomanno, David J.

    2011-01-01

    The lack of knowledge models to represent sensor systems, algorithms, and missions makes opportunistically discovering a synthesis of systems and algorithms that can satisfy high-level mission specifications impractical. A novel ontological problem-solving framework has been designed that leverages knowledge models describing sensors, algorithms, and high-level missions to facilitate automated inference of assigning systems to subtasks that may satisfy a given mission specification. To demonstrate the efficacy of the ontological problem-solving architecture, a family of persistence surveillance sensor systems and algorithms has been instantiated in a prototype environment to demonstrate the assignment of systems to subtasks of high-level missions. PMID:22164081

  9. Generalised Assignment Matrix Methodology in Linear Programming

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jerome, Lawrence

    2012-01-01

    Discrete Mathematics instructors and students have long been struggling with various labelling and scanning algorithms for solving many important problems. This paper shows how to solve a wide variety of Discrete Mathematics and OR problems using assignment matrices and linear programming, specifically using Excel Solvers although the same…

  10. Retaining a Resilient and Enduring Workforce: Examination of Duty/Position Rotational Assignments for Civilian Acquisition Positions

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2015-04-12

    decrease the number of errors due to fatigue” and improve production and efficiency ( Ivancevich , Konopaske, & Matteson, 2014, p. 151). “There are...Services, Ford, and Deloitte Services LP have utilized different forms of job rotation strategy” ( Ivancevich et al., 2014, p. 151). Further research...L. (2005, July). Job rotation. Credit Union Management, 28(7), 50–53. Ivancevich , J. M., Konopaske, R., & Matteson, M. T. (2014). Organizational

  11. Leading Change: Military Leadership in Civilian Organizations

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2012-03-19

    measured by one person; the military leader. Change is a bad word. “ Walt Disney is credited with saying that “change is inevitable, growth is...their careers . Once there, they may see a need for change or are directed to make change in these organizations. They assume that they can apply all...Military leaders are often assigned to largely civilian organizations, for the first time, late in their careers . Once there, they may see a

  12. STS_135_PostInsertion

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2011-03-24

    JSC2011-E-040284 (24 March 2011) --- NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Sandy Magnus set up the middeck in the Full-Fuselage Trainer as the crew of STS-135 participates in a post insertion training session March 24, 2011 in the Space Vehicle Mock-up Facility at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. Hurley is the pilot and Magnus is one of two mission specialists assigned to the flight. Photo credit: NASA Photo/Houston Chronicle, Smiley N. Pool

  13. NASA's New Horizons Pluto Mission: Continuing Voyager's Legacy o

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2014-08-25

    Dr. Fran Bagenal, senior scientist at the University of Colorado, speaks during a panel discussion at the "NASA's New Horizons Pluto Mission: Continuing Voyager's Legacy of Exploration" event on Monday, August, 25, 2014, in the James E. Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. The panelists gave their accounts of Voyager's encounter with Neptune and discussed their current assignments on NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

  14. NASA's New Horizons Pluto Mission: Continuing Voyager's Legacy o

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2014-08-25

    Dr. Alan Stern, Principal Investigator on NASA's New Horizons Mission, delivers closing remarks following a panel discussion at the "NASA's New Horizons Pluto Mission: Continuing Voyager's Legacy of Exploration" event on Monday, August, 25, 2014, in the James E. Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. The panelists gave their accounts of Voyager's encounter with Neptune and discussed their current assignments on NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

  15. NASA's New Horizons Pluto Mission: Continuing Voyager's Legacy o

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2014-08-25

    Dr. Fran Bagenal, senior scientist at the University of Colorado, far right, speaks during a panel discussion at the "NASA's New Horizons Pluto Mission: Continuing Voyager's Legacy of Exploration" event on Monday, August, 25, 2014, in the James E. Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. The panelists gave their accounts of Voyager's encounter with Neptune and discussed their current assignments on NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

  16. NASA's New Horizons Pluto Mission: Continuing Voyager's Legacy o

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2014-08-25

    Dr. Bonnie Buratti, senior scientist at NASA's Jet Propultion Laboratory, speaks during a panel discussion at the "NASA's New Horizons Pluto Mission: Continuing Voyager's Legacy of Exploration" event on Monday, August, 25, 2014, in the James E. Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. The panelists gave their accounts of Voyager's encounter with Neptune and discussed their current assignments on NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

  17. Topological numbering of features on a mesh

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Atallah, Mikhail J.; Hambrusch, Susanne E.; Tewinkel, Lynn E.

    1988-01-01

    Assume a nxn binary image is given containing horizontally convex features; i.e., for each feature, each of its row's pixels form an interval on that row. The problem of assigning topological numbers to such features is considered; i.e., assign a number to every feature f so that all features to the left of f have a smaller number assigned to them. This problem arises in solutions to the stereo matching problem. A parallel algorithm to solve the topological numbering problem in O(n) time on an nxn mesh of processors is presented. The key idea of the solution is to create a tree from which the topological numbers can be obtained even though the tree does not uniquely represent the to the left of relationship of the features.

  18. Retailer's optimal credit period and cycle time in a supply chain for deteriorating items with up-stream and down-stream trade credits

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mahata, Gour Chandra

    2015-09-01

    In practice, the supplier often offers the retailers a trade credit period and the retailer in turn provides a trade credit period to her/his customer to stimulate sales and reduce inventory. From the retailer's perspective, granting trade credit not only increases sales and revenue but also increases opportunity cost (i.e., the capital opportunity loss during credit period) and default risk (i.e., the percentage that the customer will not be able to pay off his/her debt obligations). Hence, how to determine credit period is increasingly recognized as an important strategy to increase retailer's profitability. Also, the selling items such as fruits, fresh fishes, gasoline, photographic films, pharmaceuticals and volatile liquids deteriorate continuously due to evaporation, obsolescence and spoilage. In this paper, we propose an economic order quantity model for the retailer where (1) the supplier provides an up-stream trade credit and the retailer also offers a down-stream trade credit, (2) the retailer's down-stream trade credit to the buyer not only increases sales and revenue but also opportunity cost and default risk, and (3) the selling items are perishable. Under these conditions, we model the retailer's inventory system as a profit maximization problem to determine the retailer's optimal replenishment decisions under the supply chain management. We then show that the retailer's optimal credit period and cycle time not only exist but also are unique. We deduce some previously published results of other researchers as special cases. Finally, we use some numerical examples to illustrate the theoretical results.

  19. Who Spends Money to Play for Free? Identifying Who Makes Micro-transactions on Social Casino Games (and Why).

    PubMed

    Kim, Hyoun S; Hollingshead, Samantha; Wohl, Michael J A

    2017-06-01

    Social casino games are online gambling-like games found on social networking sites. They are initially free to play, however, players are encouraged to make micro-transactions (i.e., in-game purchases) for additional game credits or functionality. As a result, they generate billions of dollars in revenue. Yet, little is known as to who purchases virtual credits, let alone why. In the present research, we assessed whether there are individual differences (impulsivity, reward sensitivity, competitiveness, and problem gambling severity) between who is and who is not likely to make micro-transactions during social casino game play. Moreover, we examined possible motivations for making micro-transactions (e.g., extend play, win back lost credits) and whether the individual difference variables of interest predict reported motivation(s) for making micro-transactions. Results showed that social casino gamers who engaged in micro-transactions reported significantly higher levels of impulsivity, reward sensitivity and problem gambling severity, but not competitiveness. In terms of motivation to make micro-transactions, desire to extend play was endorsed most frequently, followed by a desire to access additional features, chasing lost credits, and to speed up play. Lastly, among participants who made micro-transactions, reward sensitivity predicted making micro-transactions to chase lost credits. These results suggest the personality make-up of social casino gamers is important to understand who is likely to make micro-transactions as well as their motivation to do so-information that could prove useful for regulation of the industry.

  20. Classification of debtor credit status and determination amount of credit risk by using linier discriminant function

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Aidi, Muhammad Nur; Sari, Resty Indah

    2012-05-01

    A decision of credit that given by bank or another creditur must have a risk and it called credit risk. Credit risk is an investor's risk of loss arising from a borrower who does not make payments as promised. The substantial of credit risk can lead to losses for the banks and the debtor. To minimize this problem need a further study to identify a potential new customer before the decision given. Identification of debtor can using various approaches analysis, one of them is by using discriminant analysis. Discriminant analysis in this study are used to classify whether belonging to the debtor's good credit or bad credit. The result of this study are two discriminant functions that can identify new debtor. Before step built the discriminant function, selection of explanatory variables should be done. Purpose of selection independent variable is to choose the variable that can discriminate the group maximally. Selection variables in this study using different test, for categoric variable selection of variable using proportion chi-square test, and stepwise discriminant for numeric variable. The result of this study are two discriminant functions that can identify new debtor. The selected variables that can discriminating two groups of debtor maximally are status of existing checking account, credit history, credit amount, installment rate in percentage of disposable income, sex, age in year, other installment plans, and number of people being liable to provide maintenance. This classification produce a classification accuracy rate is good enough, that is equal to 74,70%. Debtor classification using discriminant analysis has risk level that is small enough, and it ranged beetwen 14,992% and 17,608%. Based on that credit risk rate, using discriminant analysis on the classification of credit status can be used effectively.

  1. Optimizing a realistic large-scale frequency assignment problem using a new parallel evolutionary approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chaves-González, José M.; Vega-Rodríguez, Miguel A.; Gómez-Pulido, Juan A.; Sánchez-Pérez, Juan M.

    2011-08-01

    This article analyses the use of a novel parallel evolutionary strategy to solve complex optimization problems. The work developed here has been focused on a relevant real-world problem from the telecommunication domain to verify the effectiveness of the approach. The problem, known as frequency assignment problem (FAP), basically consists of assigning a very small number of frequencies to a very large set of transceivers used in a cellular phone network. Real data FAP instances are very difficult to solve due to the NP-hard nature of the problem, therefore using an efficient parallel approach which makes the most of different evolutionary strategies can be considered as a good way to obtain high-quality solutions in short periods of time. Specifically, a parallel hyper-heuristic based on several meta-heuristics has been developed. After a complete experimental evaluation, results prove that the proposed approach obtains very high-quality solutions for the FAP and beats any other result published.

  2. Task Assignment and Path Planning for Multiple Autonomous Underwater Vehicles Using 3D Dubins Curves †

    PubMed Central

    Zhang, Meiyan; Zheng, Yahong Rosa

    2017-01-01

    This paper investigates the task assignment and path planning problem for multiple AUVs in three dimensional (3D) underwater wireless sensor networks where nonholonomic motion constraints of underwater AUVs in 3D space are considered. The multi-target task assignment and path planning problem is modeled by the Multiple Traveling Sales Person (MTSP) problem and the Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used to solve the MTSP problem with Euclidean distance as the cost function and the Tour Hop Balance (THB) or Tour Length Balance (TLB) constraints as the stop criterion. The resulting tour sequences are mapped to 2D Dubins curves in the X−Y plane, and then interpolated linearly to obtain the Z coordinates. We demonstrate that the linear interpolation fails to achieve G1 continuity in the 3D Dubins path for multiple targets. Therefore, the interpolated 3D Dubins curves are checked against the AUV dynamics constraint and the ones satisfying the constraint are accepted to finalize the 3D Dubins curve selection. Simulation results demonstrate that the integration of the 3D Dubins curve with the MTSP model is successful and effective for solving the 3D target assignment and path planning problem. PMID:28696377

  3. Task Assignment and Path Planning for Multiple Autonomous Underwater Vehicles Using 3D Dubins Curves †.

    PubMed

    Cai, Wenyu; Zhang, Meiyan; Zheng, Yahong Rosa

    2017-07-11

    This paper investigates the task assignment and path planning problem for multiple AUVs in three dimensional (3D) underwater wireless sensor networks where nonholonomic motion constraints of underwater AUVs in 3D space are considered. The multi-target task assignment and path planning problem is modeled by the Multiple Traveling Sales Person (MTSP) problem and the Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used to solve the MTSP problem with Euclidean distance as the cost function and the Tour Hop Balance (THB) or Tour Length Balance (TLB) constraints as the stop criterion. The resulting tour sequences are mapped to 2D Dubins curves in the X - Y plane, and then interpolated linearly to obtain the Z coordinates. We demonstrate that the linear interpolation fails to achieve G 1 continuity in the 3D Dubins path for multiple targets. Therefore, the interpolated 3D Dubins curves are checked against the AUV dynamics constraint and the ones satisfying the constraint are accepted to finalize the 3D Dubins curve selection. Simulation results demonstrate that the integration of the 3D Dubins curve with the MTSP model is successful and effective for solving the 3D target assignment and path planning problem.

  4. TRADING STORMWATER ABATEMENT CREDITS IN CINCINNATI'S SHEPHERD CREEK

    EPA Science Inventory

    The problem of stormwater runoff management grows apace with continued urbanization, yet the management tools for this growning non-profit source problem have not fully kept pace. The rapid growth of stormwater utilities around the nation is an important step toward providing an...

  5. 24 CFR 214.315 - Recordkeeping.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ...'s personal and financial information, including credit reports, whether the information is received... client meets his or her housing need or resolves the housing problem; (2) The agency determines that further housing counseling will not meet the client's housing need or resolve the client's housing problem...

  6. An Elective Course on Antimicrobial Stewardship.

    PubMed

    Gauthier, Timothy P; Sherman, Elizabeth M; Unger, Nathan R

    2015-12-25

    To implement an antimicrobial stewardship (AS) elective course for second-year and third-year pharmacy students and to assess its impact on students' perceptions regarding the application of AS principles. A 2-credit elective course focusing on principles of AS incorporated prelecture didactic recordings with primary literature and guideline-based reading assignments, in-class active-learning group work and student-led presentations, and student-generated examination items. Perceptions were assessed by precourse and postcourse survey items. Graded course assessments included completion of preclass assignments (readings, prerecorded lecture and writing assessment items), in-class active participation and group presentations, a midpoint examination, and a final examination. An AS-themed elective course in a doctor of pharmacy curriculum incorporating preclass, self-directed learning and in-class group-based active-learning strategies positively impacted students' perceived understanding of AS strategies.

  7. Preparing Science Teachers: Strong Emphasis on Science Content Course Work in a Master's Program in Education

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ajhar, Edward A.; Blackwell, E.; Quesada, D.

    2010-05-01

    In South Florida, science teacher preparation is often weak as a shortage of science teachers often prompts administrators to assign teachers to science classes just to cover the classroom needs. This results is poor preparation of students for college science course work, which, in turn, causes the next generation of science teachers to be even weaker than the first. This cycle must be broken in order to prepare better students in the sciences. At St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens, Florida, our School of Science has teamed with our Institute for Education to create a program to alleviate this problem: A Master of Science in Education with a Concentration in Earth/Space Science. The Master's program consists of 36 total credits. Half the curriculum consists of traditional educational foundation and instructional leadership courses while the other half is focused on Earth and Space Science content courses. The content area of 18 credits also provides a separate certificate program. Although traditional high school science education places a heavy emphasis on Earth Science, this program expands that emphasis to include the broader context of astronomy, astrophysics, astrobiology, planetary science, and the practice and philosophy of science. From this contextual basis the teacher is better prepared to educate and motivate middle and high school students in all areas of the physical sciences. Because hands-on experience is especially valuable to educators, our program uses materials and equipment including small optical telescopes (Galileoscopes), several 8-in and 14-in Celestron and Meade reflectors, and a Small Radio Telescope installed on site. (Partial funding provided by the US Department of Education through Minority Science and Engineering Improvement Program grant P120A050062.)

  8. World Bank Development Sector Adjustment Operation Life Line to Nigerian Universities: Impact on Information Demand and Supply in the University of Agriculture, Makurdi Library.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ozowa, Vincent Nnamdi

    1995-01-01

    Provides an overview of the rationale behind the World Bank credit line to Nigerian universities and examines the impact of the credit facility on the information demand and supply in the University of Agriculture, Makurdi Library (Nigeria). Discusses problems, such as poor quantity and quality of books and journals, lack of equipment, and lack of…

  9. Show, Don't Tell: Using Photographic "Snapsignments" to Advance and Assess Creative Problem Solving

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Machin, Jane E.

    2016-01-01

    Traditional assignments that aim to develop and evaluate creative problem solving skills are frequently foregone in large marketing classes due to the daunting grading prospect they present. Here, a new assessment method is introduced: the "snapsignment." Through photography, individual projects can be assigned that promote higher order…

  10. Assessing the State of Procurement Knowledge Production: Implications for the Federal Government

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2011-10-31

    NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) 5d. PROJECT NUMBER 5e. TASK NUMBER 5f. WORK UNIT NUMBER 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND...archiving of the canonical knowledge base, quality control of published information, and assignment of priority and credit for their work to authors...recognizes the value of theory-based research and graduate education in strategic purchasing—evidenced by its investment in an acclaimed strategic purchasing

  11. KSC-2009-3451

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2009-05-29

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – This Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, a modified Boeing 747, is prepared for its ferry flight to Florida, carrying space shuttle Atlantis. Atlantis landed at Edwards on May 24, which concluded mission STS-125, after two landing opportunities at Kennedy were waved off due to weather concerns. Atlantis is being returned to Florida on a ferry flight on the SCA. Atlantis' next assignment is the STS-129 mission, targeted to launch in November 2009. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

  12. Biotechnology patent challenged: ex-colleague seeks share of the credit.

    PubMed

    Budiansky, Stephen

    1982-11-25

    Dr. Robert Helling, supported by the University of Michigan, has decided to press a claim to co-ownership of two Cohen-Boyer genetic engineering patents assigned to Stanford and the University of California. This decision will likely delay further the issuing of the second patent, tentatively rejected by the Patent Office in part on the basis of Helling's unresolved role. It may also increase pressure for a re-examination of the first patent issued in 1980.

  13. Computational Cognitive Modeling of Adaptive Choice Behavior in a Dynamic Decision Paradigm

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2006-02-01

    Cognitive Psychology (Fu & Gray, in press), an exploration of the limits of ACT-R’s credit assignment mechanism published in the Cognitive System Research...Macmillan & Creelman , 2004) to "determine the optimal performance in a task, given the physical properties of the environment and stimuli" (Geisler, 2004...allocation for interactive behavior. Psychological Review, in press. Gray, W. D. 0., & Myers, C. W. (2005). From models to methods to models: Tools and

  14. NASA's New Horizons Pluto Mission: Continuing Voyager's Legacy o

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2014-08-25

    Dr. John Spencer, senior scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, speaks during a panel discussion at the "NASA's New Horizons Pluto Mission: Continuing Voyager's Legacy of Exploration" event on Monday, August, 25, 2014, in the James E. Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. The panelists gave their accounts of Voyager's encounter with Neptune and discussed their current assignments on NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

  15. NASA's New Horizons Pluto Mission: Continuing Voyager's Legacy o

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2014-08-25

    Dr. John Spencer, senior scientist at the Southwest Research Institute, answers a question from the audience during a panel discussion at the "NASA's New Horizons Pluto Mission: Continuing Voyager's Legacy of Exploration" event on Monday, August, 25, 2014, in the James E. Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. The panelists gave their accounts of Voyager's encounter with Neptune and discussed their current assignments on NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

  16. NASA's New Horizons Pluto Mission: Continuing Voyager's Legacy o

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2014-08-25

    Dr. Alan Stern, Principal Investigator on NASA's New Horizons Mission, left, delivers closing remarks following a panel discussion at the "NASA's New Horizons Pluto Mission: Continuing Voyager's Legacy of Exploration" event on Monday, August, 25, 2014, in the James E. Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. The panelists gave their accounts of Voyager's encounter with Neptune and discussed their current assignments on NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

  17. Autonomous Guidance Strategy for Spacecraft Formations and Reconfiguration Maneuvers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wahl, Theodore P.

    A guidance strategy for autonomous spacecraft formation reconfiguration maneuvers is presented. The guidance strategy is presented as an algorithm that solves the linked assignment and delivery problems. The assignment problem is the task of assigning the member spacecraft of the formation to their new positions in the desired formation geometry. The guidance algorithm uses an auction process (also called an "auction algorithm''), presented in the dissertation, to solve the assignment problem. The auction uses the estimated maneuver and time of flight costs between the spacecraft and targets to create assignments which minimize a specific "expense'' function for the formation. The delivery problem is the task of delivering the spacecraft to their assigned positions, and it is addressed through one of two guidance schemes described in this work. The first is a delivery scheme based on artificial potential function (APF) guidance. APF guidance uses the relative distances between the spacecraft, targets, and any obstacles to design maneuvers based on gradients of potential fields. The second delivery scheme is based on model predictive control (MPC); this method uses a model of the system dynamics to plan a series of maneuvers designed to minimize a unique cost function. The guidance algorithm uses an analytic linearized approximation of the relative orbital dynamics, the Yamanaka-Ankersen state transition matrix, in the auction process and in both delivery methods. The proposed guidance strategy is successful, in simulations, in autonomously assigning the members of the formation to new positions and in delivering the spacecraft to these new positions safely using both delivery methods. This guidance algorithm can serve as the basis for future autonomous guidance strategies for spacecraft formation missions.

  18. Estimating meme fitness in adaptive memetic algorithms for combinatorial problems.

    PubMed

    Smith, J E

    2012-01-01

    Among the most promising and active research areas in heuristic optimisation is the field of adaptive memetic algorithms (AMAs). These gain much of their reported robustness by adapting the probability with which each of a set of local improvement operators is applied, according to an estimate of their current value to the search process. This paper addresses the issue of how the current value should be estimated. Assuming the estimate occurs over several applications of a meme, we consider whether the extreme or mean improvements should be used, and whether this aggregation should be global, or local to some part of the solution space. To investigate these issues, we use the well-established COMA framework that coevolves the specification of a population of memes (representing different local search algorithms) alongside a population of candidate solutions to the problem at hand. Two very different memetic algorithms are considered: the first using adaptive operator pursuit to adjust the probabilities of applying a fixed set of memes, and a second which applies genetic operators to dynamically adapt and create memes and their functional definitions. For the latter, especially on combinatorial problems, credit assignment mechanisms based on historical records, or on notions of landscape locality, will have limited application, and it is necessary to estimate the value of a meme via some form of sampling. The results on a set of binary encoded combinatorial problems show that both methods are very effective, and that for some problems it is necessary to use thousands of variables in order to tease apart the differences between different reward schemes. However, for both memetic algorithms, a significant pattern emerges that reward based on mean improvement is better than that based on extreme improvement. This contradicts recent findings from adapting the parameters of operators involved in global evolutionary search. The results also show that local reward schemes outperform global reward schemes in combinatorial spaces, unlike in continuous spaces. An analysis of evolving meme behaviour is used to explain these findings.

  19. WWC Review of the Report "Effects of Problem Based Economics on High School Economics Instruction"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    What Works Clearinghouse, 2012

    2012-01-01

    The study described in this report included 128 high school economics teachers from 106 schools in Arizona and California, half of whom were randomly assigned to the "Problem Based Economics Instruction" condition and half of whom were randomly assigned to the comparison condition. High levels of teacher attrition occurred after…

  20. Optimal assignment of workers to supporting services in a hospital

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sawik, Bartosz; Mikulik, Jerzy

    2008-01-01

    Supporting services play an important role in health care institutions such as hospitals. This paper presents an application of operations research model for optimal allocation of workers among supporting services in a public hospital. The services include logistics, inventory management, financial management, operations management, medical analysis, etc. The optimality criterion of the problem is to minimize operations costs of supporting services subject to some specific constraints. The constraints represent specific conditions for resource allocation in a hospital. The overall problem is formulated as an integer program in the literature known as the assignment problem, where the decision variables represent the assignment of people to various jobs. The results of some computational experiments modeled on a real data from a selected Polish hospital are reported.

  1. A modified generalized extremal optimization algorithm for the quay crane scheduling problem with interference constraints

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Guo, Peng; Cheng, Wenming; Wang, Yi

    2014-10-01

    The quay crane scheduling problem (QCSP) determines the handling sequence of tasks at ship bays by a set of cranes assigned to a container vessel such that the vessel's service time is minimized. A number of heuristics or meta-heuristics have been proposed to obtain the near-optimal solutions to overcome the NP-hardness of the problem. In this article, the idea of generalized extremal optimization (GEO) is adapted to solve the QCSP with respect to various interference constraints. The resulting GEO is termed the modified GEO. A randomized searching method for neighbouring task-to-QC assignments to an incumbent task-to-QC assignment is developed in executing the modified GEO. In addition, a unidirectional search decoding scheme is employed to transform a task-to-QC assignment to an active quay crane schedule. The effectiveness of the developed GEO is tested on a suite of benchmark problems introduced by K.H. Kim and Y.M. Park in 2004 (European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 156, No. 3). Compared with other well-known existing approaches, the experiment results show that the proposed modified GEO is capable of obtaining the optimal or near-optimal solution in a reasonable time, especially for large-sized problems.

  2. Process-based Assignment-Setting Change for Support of Overcoming Bottlenecks in Learning by Problem-Posing in Arithmetic Word Problems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Supianto, A. A.; Hayashi, Y.; Hirashima, T.

    2017-02-01

    Problem-posing is well known as an effective activity to learn problem-solving methods. Monsakun is an interactive problem-posing learning environment to facilitate arithmetic word problems learning for one operation of addition and subtraction. The characteristic of Monsakun is problem-posing as sentence-integration that lets learners make a problem of three sentences. Monsakun provides learners with five or six sentences including dummies, which are designed through careful considerations by an expert teacher as a meaningful distraction to the learners in order to learn the structure of arithmetic word problems. The results of the practical use of Monsakun in elementary schools show that many learners have difficulties in arranging the proper answer at the high level of assignments. The analysis of the problem-posing process of such learners found that their misconception of arithmetic word problems causes impasses in their thinking and mislead them to use dummies. This study proposes a method of changing assignments as a support for overcoming bottlenecks of thinking. In Monsakun, the bottlenecks are often detected as a frequently repeated use of a specific dummy. If such dummy can be detected, it is the key factor to support learners to overcome their difficulty. This paper discusses how to detect the bottlenecks and to realize such support in learning by problem-posing.

  3. Fleet Assignment Using Collective Intelligence

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Antoine, Nicolas E.; Bieniawski, Stefan R.; Kroo, Ilan M.; Wolpert, David H.

    2004-01-01

    Product distribution theory is a new collective intelligence-based framework for analyzing and controlling distributed systems. Its usefulness in distributed stochastic optimization is illustrated here through an airline fleet assignment problem. This problem involves the allocation of aircraft to a set of flights legs in order to meet passenger demand, while satisfying a variety of linear and non-linear constraints. Over the course of the day, the routing of each aircraft is determined in order to minimize the number of required flights for a given fleet. The associated flow continuity and aircraft count constraints have led researchers to focus on obtaining quasi-optimal solutions, especially at larger scales. In this paper, the authors propose the application of this new stochastic optimization algorithm to a non-linear objective cold start fleet assignment problem. Results show that the optimizer can successfully solve such highly-constrained problems (130 variables, 184 constraints).

  4. Effective model development of internal auditors in the village financial institution

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Arsana, I. M. M.; Sugiarta, I. N.

    2018-01-01

    Designing an effective audit system is complex and challenging, and a focus on examining how internal audit drive improvement in three core performance dimensions ethicality, efficiency, and effectiveness in organization is needed. The problem of research is how the desain model and peripheral of supporter of effective supervation Village Credit Institution? Research of objectives is yielding the desain model and peripheral of supporter of effective supervation Village Credit Institution. Method Research use data collecting technique interview, observation and enquette. Data analysis, data qualitative before analysed to be turned into quantitative data in the form of scale. Each variable made to become five classificat pursuant to scale of likert. Data analysed descriptively to find supervation level, Structural Equation Model (SEM) to find internal and eksternal factor. So that desain model supervation with descriptive analysis. Result of research desain model and peripheral of supporter of effective supervation Village Credit Institution. The conclusion desain model supported by three sub system: sub system institute yield body supervisor of Village Credit Institution, sub system standardization and working procedure yield standard operating procedure supervisor of Village Credit Institution, sub system education and training yield supervisor professional of Village Credit Institution.

  5. An analysis of spectral envelope-reduction via quadratic assignment problems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    George, Alan; Pothen, Alex

    1994-01-01

    A new spectral algorithm for reordering a sparse symmetric matrix to reduce its envelope size was described. The ordering is computed by associating a Laplacian matrix with the given matrix and then sorting the components of a specified eigenvector of the Laplacian. In this paper, we provide an analysis of the spectral envelope reduction algorithm. We described related 1- and 2-sum problems; the former is related to the envelope size, while the latter is related to an upper bound on the work involved in an envelope Cholesky factorization scheme. We formulate the latter two problems as quadratic assignment problems, and then study the 2-sum problem in more detail. We obtain lower bounds on the 2-sum by considering a projected quadratic assignment problem, and then show that finding a permutation matrix closest to an orthogonal matrix attaining one of the lower bounds justifies the spectral envelope reduction algorithm. The lower bound on the 2-sum is seen to be tight for reasonably 'uniform' finite element meshes. We also obtain asymptotically tight lower bounds for the envelope size for certain classes of meshes.

  6. Towards Automated Structure-Based NMR Resonance Assignment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jang, Richard; Gao, Xin; Li, Ming

    We propose a general framework for solving the structure-based NMR backbone resonance assignment problem. The core is a novel 0-1 integer programming model that can start from a complete or partial assignment, generate multiple assignments, and model not only the assignment of spins to residues, but also pairwise dependencies consisting of pairs of spins to pairs of residues. It is still a challenge for automated resonance assignment systems to perform the assignment directly from spectra without any manual intervention. To test the feasibility of this for structure-based assignment, we integrated our system with our automated peak picking and sequence-based resonance assignment system to obtain an assignment for the protein TM1112 with 91% recall and 99% precision without manual intervention. Since using a known structure has the potential to allow one to use only N-labeled NMR data and avoid the added expense of using C-labeled data, we work towards the goal of automated structure-based assignment using only such labeled data. Our system reduced the assignment error of Xiong-Pandurangan-Bailey-Kellogg's contact replacement (CR) method, which to our knowledge is the most error-tolerant method for this problem, by 5 folds on average. By using an iterative algorithm, our system has the added capability of using the NOESY data to correct assignment errors due to errors in predicting the amino acid and secondary structure type of each spin system. On a publicly available data set for Ubiquitin, where the type prediction accuracy is 83%, we achieved 91% assignment accuracy, compared to the 59% accuracy that was obtained without correcting for typing errors.

  7. STS-29 Commander Coats in JSC fixed base (FB) shuttle mission simulator (SMS)

    NASA Image and Video Library

    1986-02-11

    S86-28458 (28 Feb. 1986) --- Astronaut Michael L. Coats participates in a rehearsal for his assigned flight at the commander's station of the Shuttle Mission Simulator (SMS) at the Johnson Space Center (JSC). NOTE: Coats, a veteran of spaceflight, originally trained for STS 61-H, which was cancelled in the wake of the Challenger accident. Following the Janaury 1986 accident he was named to serve on a mock crew (STS-61M) for personnel training and simulation purposes. Photo credit: NASA

  8. KSC-2009-3433

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2009-06-02

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Against a setting sun, space shuttle Atlantis, atop a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, is towed from the runway at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The SCA is a modified Boeing 747 jetliner. Atlantis returned from California atop the SCA after its May 24 landing at Edwards Air Force Base, concluding mission STS-125. The ferry flight from Edwards Air Force Base began June 1. Atlantis' next assignment is the STS-129 mission, targeted to launch in November 2009. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller

  9. KSC-2009-3491

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2009-06-03

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – With wheels lowered, Atlantis is placed on the ground via the hoist that is suspending it in the mate/demate device. Atlantis was separated from the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, a modified Boeing 747, that returned it from California after its May 24 landing at Edwards Air Force Base, concluding mission STS-125. The ferry flight from Edwards Air Force Base began June 1. Atlantis' next assignment is the STS-129 mission, targeted to launch in November 2009. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller

  10. KSC-2009-3470

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2009-06-01

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Hitching a ride on the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, a modified Boeing 747, space shuttle Atlantis is ready for takeoff from El Paso. Atlantis landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California on May 24, which concluded mission STS-125, after two landing opportunities at Kennedy were waved off due to weather concerns. Atlantis is being returned to Florida on a ferry flight on the SCA. Atlantis' next assignment is the STS-129 mission, targeted to launch in November 2009. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

  11. KSC-2009-3431

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2009-06-02

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – After a two-day trip from California, space shuttle Atlantis, atop a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, is towed from the runway at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The SCA is a modified Boeing 747 jetliner. Atlantis returned from California atop the SCA after its May 24 landing at Edwards Air Force Base, concluding mission STS-125. The ferry flight from Edwards Air Force Base began June 1. Atlantis' next assignment is the STS-129 mission, targeted to launch in November 2009. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller

  12. KSC-2009-3448

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2009-05-28

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – This Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, a modified Boeing 747, is fitted with struts on top that will attach to space shuttle Atlantis for a piggyback flight. Atlantis landed at Edwards on May 24, which concluded mission STS-125, after two landing opportunities at Kennedy were waved off due to weather concerns. Atlantis is being returned to Florida on a ferry flight on the SCA. Atlantis' next assignment is the STS-129 mission, targeted to launch in November 2009. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

  13. KSC-2009-3432

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2009-06-02

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – After a two-day trip from California, space shuttle Atlantis, atop a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, is towed from the runway at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The SCA is a modified Boeing 747 jetliner. Atlantis returned from California atop the SCA after its May 24 landing at Edwards Air Force Base, concluding mission STS-125. The ferry flight from Edwards Air Force Base began June 1. Atlantis' next assignment is the STS-129 mission, targeted to launch in November 2009. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller

  14. KSC-2009-3464

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2009-06-01

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – At Biggs Army Air Field in El Paso, Texas, the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, a modified Boeing 747, is ready to take off after an overnight stop at Biggs Army Air Field in El Paso, Texas. The shuttle and SCA left Edwards Air Force Base in California for its return to Florida.Atlantis is being returned to Florida on a ferry flight on the SCA. Atlantis' next assignment is the STS-129 mission, targeted to launch in November 2009. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

  15. NASA's New Horizons Pluto Mission: Continuing Voyager's Legacy o

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2014-08-25

    Dr. David H. Grinspoon, senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute, speaks about working on NASA's Voyager team while serving as moderator for a panel discussion at the "NASA's New Horizons Pluto Mission: Continuing Voyager's Legacy of Exploration" event on Monday, August, 25, 2014, in the James E. Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. The panelists gave their accounts of Voyager's encounter with Neptune and discussed their current assignments on NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

  16. SHEPHERD CREEK, CINCINNATI, OH: USING TRADABLE CREDITS TO CONTROL EXCESS STORMWATER RUNOFF

    EPA Science Inventory


    The problem of managing stormwater runoff grows apace with continued urbanization, yet the management tools for this growing non-point source problem have not fully kept up. The rapid growth of stormwater utilities around the nation is an important step toward providing an ef...

  17. Real Questions, Real Answers. Focusing Teacher Leadership on School Improvement.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Clarke, John H.; Sanborn, Stephen D.; Aiken, Judith A.; Cornell, Nancy A.; Goodman, Jane Briody; Hess, Karin K.

    This book examines how a relationship between the University of Vermont and school districts throughout the state enables teachers to earn graduate credits through year-long Problem-Based School Development Institutes. The institutes take participants through a cycle that includes identifying a problem, conducting background and action research,…

  18. 30 CFR 1220.011 - Schedule of allowable direct and allocable joint costs and credits.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... engineering design problems related to equipment or facilities required for NPSL operations. (4) The cost of any contract service related to research and development is specifically excluded, as are contract services calling for feasibility studies not directly related to specific engineering design problems or...

  19. Structure duplicating problem with solar array wing number one on Skylab

    NASA Image and Video Library

    1973-06-05

    S73-27406 (5 June 1973) --- This structure duplicates the current problem with solar array wing number one on Skylab. The wing is being held against the side of the Orbital Workshop by what appears to be a strip of metal from the Meteoroid shield. Photo credit: NASA

  20. Developing a feasible neighbourhood search for solving hub location problem in a communication network

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rakhmawati, Fibri; Mawengkang, Herman; Buulolo, F.; Mardiningsih

    2018-01-01

    The hub location with single assignment is the problem of locating hubs and assigning the terminal nodes to hubs in order to minimize the cost of hub installation and the cost of routing the traffic in the network. There may also be capacity restrictions on the amount of traffic that can transit by hubs. This paper discusses how to model the polyhedral properties of the problems and develop a feasible neighbourhood search method to solve the model.

  1. An automated framework for NMR resonance assignment through simultaneous slice picking and spin system forming.

    PubMed

    Abbas, Ahmed; Guo, Xianrong; Jing, Bing-Yi; Gao, Xin

    2014-06-01

    Despite significant advances in automated nuclear magnetic resonance-based protein structure determination, the high numbers of false positives and false negatives among the peaks selected by fully automated methods remain a problem. These false positives and negatives impair the performance of resonance assignment methods. One of the main reasons for this problem is that the computational research community often considers peak picking and resonance assignment to be two separate problems, whereas spectroscopists use expert knowledge to pick peaks and assign their resonances at the same time. We propose a novel framework that simultaneously conducts slice picking and spin system forming, an essential step in resonance assignment. Our framework then employs a genetic algorithm, directed by both connectivity information and amino acid typing information from the spin systems, to assign the spin systems to residues. The inputs to our framework can be as few as two commonly used spectra, i.e., CBCA(CO)NH and HNCACB. Different from the existing peak picking and resonance assignment methods that treat peaks as the units, our method is based on 'slices', which are one-dimensional vectors in three-dimensional spectra that correspond to certain ([Formula: see text]) values. Experimental results on both benchmark simulated data sets and four real protein data sets demonstrate that our method significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art methods while using a less number of spectra than those methods. Our method is freely available at http://sfb.kaust.edu.sa/Pages/Software.aspx.

  2. Leveraging Psychological Insights to Encourage the Responsible Use of Consumer Debt.

    PubMed

    Hershfield, Hal E; Sussman, Abigail B; O'Brien, Rourke L; Bryan, Christopher J

    2015-11-01

    U.S. consumers currently hold $880 billion in revolving debt, with a mean household credit card balance of approximately $6,000. Although economic factors play a role in this societal issue, it is clear that psychological forces also affect consumers' decisions to take on and maintain unmanageable debt balances. We examine three psychological barriers to the responsible use of credit and debt. We discuss the tendency for consumers to (a) make erroneous predictions about future spending habits, (b) rely too heavily on values presented on billing statements, and (c) categorize debt and saving into separate mental accounts. To overcome these obstacles, we urge policymakers to implement methods that facilitate better budgeting of future expenses, modify existing credit card statement disclosures, and allow consumers to easily apply government transfers (such as tax credits) to debt repayment. In doing so, we highlight minimal and inexpensive ways to remedy the debt problem. © The Author(s) 2015.

  3. PAKDD Data Mining Competition 2009: New Ways of Using Known Methods

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Linhart, Chaim; Harari, Guy; Abramovich, Sharon; Buchris, Altina

    The PAKDD 2009 competition focuses on the problem of credit risk assessment. As required, we had to confront the problem of the robustness of the credit-scoring model against performance degradation caused by gradual market changes along a few years of business operation. We utilized the following standard models: logistic regression, KNN, SVM, GBM and decision tree. The novelty of our approach is two-fold: the integration of existing models, namely feeding the results of KNN as an input variable to the logistic regression, and re-coding categorical variables as numerical values that represent each category's statistical impact on the target label. The best solution we obtained reached 3rd place in the competition, with an AUC score of 0.655.

  4. Analysis of labor employment assessment on production machine to minimize time production

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hernawati, Tri; Suliawati; Sari Gumay, Vita

    2018-03-01

    Every company both in the field of service and manufacturing always trying to pass efficiency of it’s resource use. One resource that has an important role is labor. Labor has different efficiency levels for different jobs anyway. Problems related to the optimal allocation of labor that has different levels of efficiency for different jobs are called assignment problems, which is a special case of linear programming. In this research, Analysis of Labor Employment Assesment on Production Machine to Minimize Time Production, in PT PDM is done by using Hungarian algorithm. The aim of the research is to get the assignment of optimal labor on production machine to minimize time production. The results showed that the assignment of existing labor is not suitable because the time of completion of the assignment is longer than the assignment by using the Hungarian algorithm. By applying the Hungarian algorithm obtained time savings of 16%.

  5. Analyzing the multiple-target-multiple-agent scenario using optimal assignment algorithms

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kwok, Kwan S.; Driessen, Brian J.; Phillips, Cynthia A.; Tovey, Craig A.

    1997-09-01

    This work considers the problem of maximum utilization of a set of mobile robots with limited sensor-range capabilities and limited travel distances. The robots are initially in random positions. A set of robots properly guards or covers a region if every point within the region is within the effective sensor range of at least one vehicle. We wish to move the vehicles into surveillance positions so as to guard or cover a region, while minimizing the maximum distance traveled by any vehicle. This problem can be formulated as an assignment problem, in which we must optimally decide which robot to assign to which slot of a desired matrix of grid points. The cost function is the maximum distance traveled by any robot. Assignment problems can be solved very efficiently. Solution times for one hundred robots took only seconds on a silicon graphics crimson workstation. The initial positions of all the robots can be sampled by a central base station and their newly assigned positions communicated back to the robots. Alternatively, the robots can establish their own coordinate system with the origin fixed at one of the robots and orientation determined by the compass bearing of another robot relative to this robot. This paper presents example solutions to the multiple-target-multiple-agent scenario using a matching algorithm. Two separate cases with one hundred agents in each were analyzed using this method. We have found these mobile robot problems to be a very interesting application of network optimization methods, and we expect this to be a fruitful area for future research.

  6. Protein Side-Chain Resonance Assignment and NOE Assignment Using RDC-Defined Backbones without TOCSY Data3

    PubMed Central

    Zeng, Jianyang; Zhou, Pei; Donald, Bruce Randall

    2011-01-01

    One bottleneck in NMR structure determination lies in the laborious and time-consuming process of side-chain resonance and NOE assignments. Compared to the well-studied backbone resonance assignment problem, automated side-chain resonance and NOE assignments are relatively less explored. Most NOE assignment algorithms require nearly complete side-chain resonance assignments from a series of through-bond experiments such as HCCH-TOCSY or HCCCONH. Unfortunately, these TOCSY experiments perform poorly on large proteins. To overcome this deficiency, we present a novel algorithm, called NASCA (NOE Assignment and Side-Chain Assignment), to automate both side-chain resonance and NOE assignments and to perform high-resolution protein structure determination in the absence of any explicit through-bond experiment to facilitate side-chain resonance assignment, such as HCCH-TOCSY. After casting the assignment problem into a Markov Random Field (MRF), NASCA extends and applies combinatorial protein design algorithms to compute optimal assignments that best interpret the NMR data. The MRF captures the contact map information of the protein derived from NOESY spectra, exploits the backbone structural information determined by RDCs, and considers all possible side-chain rotamers. The complexity of the combinatorial search is reduced by using a dead-end elimination (DEE) algorithm, which prunes side-chain resonance assignments that are provably not part of the optimal solution. Then an A* search algorithm is employed to find a set of optimal side-chain resonance assignments that best fit the NMR data. These side-chain resonance assignments are then used to resolve the NOE assignment ambiguity and compute high-resolution protein structures. Tests on five proteins show that NASCA assigns resonances for more than 90% of side-chain protons, and achieves about 80% correct assignments. The final structures computed using the NOE distance restraints assigned by NASCA have backbone RMSD 0.8 – 1.5 Å from the reference structures determined by traditional NMR approaches. PMID:21706248

  7. Students’ Factors Affecting Undergraduates’ Perceptions of their Teaching and Learning Process within ECTS Experience

    PubMed Central

    la Fuente, Jesús De; Cardelle-Elawar, María; Peralta, F. Javier; Sánchez, M. Dolores; Martínez-Vicente, José Manuel; Zapata, Lucía

    2010-01-01

    Introduction: In the present study, we investigated the potential factors that influenced the level of students satisfaction with the teaching–learning process (TLP), from the perspective of students participating in the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) experience. Method: A total of 1490 students from the Universities of Almería and Granada (Spain) participated in an evaluation of their class discipline area. They completed the new revised protocol for evaluating the ECTS experience. Analyses of variance were carried out, taking the following factors as independent variables: student's grade average, year in school, study discipline, credit load in terms of ECTS credits assigned to a subject, the e-learning approach. Perception of the TLP was used as the dependent variable. Results: The data analyses showed variability of the degree of statistically significance among the factors that influenced students’ perceptions of the TLP. These factors included: Student's grade average (in favor of high performers), year in school (in favor of earlier years), ECTS load (in favor of subjects with a medium load of credits), and e-learning (in favor of its use). These research findings provided evidence to explore the delineation of a potential profile of factors that trigger a favorable perception of the TLP. Discussion and Conclusion: The present findings certainly have implications to deepen our understanding of the core beliefs, commitment, and the experience in shaping the implementation of the European Higher Education Area through the ECTS. PMID:21713171

  8. Optimization of municipal waste collection scheduling and routing using vehicle assignment problem (case study of Surabaya city waste collection)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ramdhani, M. N.; Baihaqi, I.; Siswanto, N.

    2018-04-01

    Waste collection and disposal become a major problem for many metropolitan cities. Growing population, limited vehicles, and increased road traffic make the waste transportation become more complex. Waste collection involves some key considerations, such as vehicle assignment, vehicle routes, and vehicle scheduling. In the scheduling process, each vehicle has a scheduled departure that serve each route. Therefore, vehicle’s assignments should consider the time required to finish one assigment on that route. The objective of this study is to minimize the number of vehicles needed to serve all routes by developing a mathematical model which uses assignment problem approach. The first step is to generated possible routes from the existing routes, followed by vehicle assignments for those certain routes. The result of the model shows fewer vehicles required to perform waste collection asa well as the the number of journeys that the vehicle to collect the waste to the landfill. The comparison of existing conditions with the model result indicates that the latter’s has better condition than the existing condition because each vehicle with certain route has an equal workload, all the result’s model has the maximum of two journeys for each route.

  9. The Brain as an Efficient and Robust Adaptive Learner.

    PubMed

    Denève, Sophie; Alemi, Alireza; Bourdoukan, Ralph

    2017-06-07

    Understanding how the brain learns to compute functions reliably, efficiently, and robustly with noisy spiking activity is a fundamental challenge in neuroscience. Most sensory and motor tasks can be described as dynamical systems and could presumably be learned by adjusting connection weights in a recurrent biological neural network. However, this is greatly complicated by the credit assignment problem for learning in recurrent networks, e.g., the contribution of each connection to the global output error cannot be determined based only on locally accessible quantities to the synapse. Combining tools from adaptive control theory and efficient coding theories, we propose that neural circuits can indeed learn complex dynamic tasks with local synaptic plasticity rules as long as they associate two experimentally established neural mechanisms. First, they should receive top-down feedbacks driving both their activity and their synaptic plasticity. Second, inhibitory interneurons should maintain a tight balance between excitation and inhibition in the circuit. The resulting networks could learn arbitrary dynamical systems and produce irregular spike trains as variable as those observed experimentally. Yet, this variability in single neurons may hide an extremely efficient and robust computation at the population level. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Computational simulations of frictional losses in pipe networks confirmed in experimental apparatusses designed by honors students

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pohlman, Nicholas A.; Hynes, Eric; Kutz, April

    2015-11-01

    Lectures in introductory fluid mechanics at NIU are a combination of students with standard enrollment and students seeking honors credit for an enriching experience. Most honors students dread the additional homework problems or an extra paper assigned by the instructor. During the past three years, honors students of my class have instead collaborated to design wet-lab experiments for their peers to predict variable volume flow rates of open reservoirs driven by gravity. Rather than learn extra, the honors students learn the Bernoulli head-loss equation earlier to design appropriate systems for an experimental wet lab. Prior designs incorporated minor loss features such as sudden contraction or multiple unions and valves. The honors students from Spring 2015 expanded the repertoire of available options by developing large scale set-ups with multiple pipe networks that could be combined together to test the flexibility of the student team's computational programs. The engagement of bridging the theory with practice was appreciated by all of the students such that multiple teams were able to predict performance within 4% accuracy. The challenges, schedules, and cost estimates of incorporating the experimental lab into an introductory fluid mechanics course will be reported.

  11. An Elective Course on Antimicrobial Stewardship

    PubMed Central

    Sherman, Elizabeth M.; Unger, Nathan R.

    2015-01-01

    Objective. To implement an antimicrobial stewardship (AS) elective course for second-year and third-year pharmacy students and to assess its impact on students’ perceptions regarding the application of AS principles. Design. A 2-credit elective course focusing on principles of AS incorporated prelecture didactic recordings with primary literature and guideline-based reading assignments, in-class active-learning group work and student-led presentations, and student-generated examination items. Assessment. Perceptions were assessed by precourse and postcourse survey items. Graded course assessments included completion of preclass assignments (readings, prerecorded lecture and writing assessment items), in-class active participation and group presentations, a midpoint examination, and a final examination. Conclusion. An AS-themed elective course in a doctor of pharmacy curriculum incorporating preclass, self-directed learning and in-class group-based active-learning strategies positively impacted students’ perceived understanding of AS strategies. PMID:26889069

  12. Toward an Integration of Deep Learning and Neuroscience

    PubMed Central

    Marblestone, Adam H.; Wayne, Greg; Kording, Konrad P.

    2016-01-01

    Neuroscience has focused on the detailed implementation of computation, studying neural codes, dynamics and circuits. In machine learning, however, artificial neural networks tend to eschew precisely designed codes, dynamics or circuits in favor of brute force optimization of a cost function, often using simple and relatively uniform initial architectures. Two recent developments have emerged within machine learning that create an opportunity to connect these seemingly divergent perspectives. First, structured architectures are used, including dedicated systems for attention, recursion and various forms of short- and long-term memory storage. Second, cost functions and training procedures have become more complex and are varied across layers and over time. Here we think about the brain in terms of these ideas. We hypothesize that (1) the brain optimizes cost functions, (2) the cost functions are diverse and differ across brain locations and over development, and (3) optimization operates within a pre-structured architecture matched to the computational problems posed by behavior. In support of these hypotheses, we argue that a range of implementations of credit assignment through multiple layers of neurons are compatible with our current knowledge of neural circuitry, and that the brain's specialized systems can be interpreted as enabling efficient optimization for specific problem classes. Such a heterogeneously optimized system, enabled by a series of interacting cost functions, serves to make learning data-efficient and precisely targeted to the needs of the organism. We suggest directions by which neuroscience could seek to refine and test these hypotheses. PMID:27683554

  13. Maternal education preferences moderate the effects of mandatory employment and education programs on child positive and problem behaviors

    PubMed Central

    Gassman-Pines, Anna; Godfrey, Erin B.; Yoshikawa, Hirokazu

    2012-01-01

    Grounded in Person-Environment Fit Theory, this study examined whether low-income mothers' preferences for education moderated the effects of employment- and education-focused welfare programs on children's positive and problem behaviors. The sample included 1,365 families with children between ages 3 and 5 at study entry. Results 5 years after random assignment, when children were ages 8 to 10, indicated that mothers' education preferences did moderate program impacts on teacher-reported child behavior problems and positive behavior. Children whose mothers were assigned to the education program were rated by teachers to have less externalizing behavior and more positive behavior than children whose mothers were assigned to the employment program, but only when mothers had strong preferences for education. PMID:22861169

  14. Supervising Unsuccessful Student Teaching Assignments: Two Terminator's Tales.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    St. Maurice, Henry

    2001-01-01

    Discusses problems that arise when there is a conflict between a student teacher and the supervising teacher and when a student teacher does not perform satisfactorily. Focuses on how supervisors deal with failed assignments and how beginning teachers improve their teaching and learn from failed assignments. (Contains 21 references.) (JOW)

  15. The Biomes of Homewood: Interactive Map Software

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shingles, Richard; Feist, Theron; Brosnan, Rae

    2005-01-01

    To build a learning community, the General Biology faculty at Johns Hopkins University conducted collaborative, problem-based learning assignments outside of class in which students are assigned to specific areas on campus, and gather and report data about their area. To overcome the logistics challenges presented by conducting such assignments in…

  16. A future data environment - reusability vs. citability and synchronisation vs. ingestion

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fleischer, D.

    2012-04-01

    During the last decades data managers dedicated their work to the pursuit for importable data. In the recent years this chase seams to come to an end while funding organisations assume that the approach of data publications with citable data sets will eliminate denial of scientists to commit their data. But is this true for all problems we are facing at the edge of a data avalanche and data intensive science? The concept of citable data is a logical consequence from the connection of points. Potential data providers in the past complained usually about the missing of a credit assignment for data providers and they still do. The selected way of DOI captured data sets is perfectly fitting into the credit system of publisher driven publications with countable citations. This system is well known by scientists for approximately 400 years now. Unfortunately, there is a double bind situation between citeability and reusability. While cooperation of publishers and data archives are coming into existence, it is necessary to get one question clear: "Is it really worth while in the twenty-first century to force data into the publication process of the seventeenth century?" Data publications enable easy citability, but do not support easy data reusability for future users. Additional problems occur in such an environment while taking into account the chances of collaborative data corrections in the institutional repository. The future with huge amounts of data connected with publications makes reconsideration towards a more integrated approach reasonable. In the past data archives were the only infrastructures taking care of long-term data retrievability and availability. Nevertheless, they were never a part of the scientific process from data creation, analysis, interpretation and publication. Data archives were regarded as isolated islands in the sea of scientific data. Accordingly scientists considered data publications like a stumbling stone in their daily routines and still do. The creation of data set as additional publications is an additional workload a lot of scientists are not yet convinced about. These times are coming to an end now because of the efforts of the funding organisations and the increased awareness of scientific institutions. Right now data archives have their expertise in retrievability and availability, but the new demand of data provenance is not yet included in their systems. So why not taking the chance of the scientific institutes sneaking in and split the workload of retrievability and provenance. Such an integrated data environment will be characterized by increased functionality, creditability and structured data from the creation and everything accompanied by data managers. The Kiel Data Management Infrastructure is creating such an institutional provenance system for the scientific site of Kiel. Having data sets up to date by synchronisation with institutional provenance system capturing all changes and improvements right where they happen. A sophisticated and scalable landscape needs to combine advantages of the existing data centers such as the usability and retrievability functionality with the advantages of decentralised data capturing and provenance. This data environment with synchronisation features and creditability of scientific data to future users would be capable of the future tasks.

  17. Multicasting for all-optical multifiber networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kã¶Ksal, Fatih; Ersoy, Cem

    2007-02-01

    All-optical wavelength-routed WDM WANs can support the high bandwidth and the long session duration requirements of the application scenarios such as interactive distance learning or on-line diagnosis of patients simultaneously in different hospitals. However, multifiber and limited sparse light splitting and wavelength conversion capabilities of switches result in a difficult optimization problem. We attack this problem using a layered graph model. The problem is defined as a k-edge-disjoint degree-constrained Steiner tree problem for routing and fiber and wavelength assignment of k multicasts. A mixed integer linear programming formulation for the problem is given, and a solution using CPLEX is provided. However, the complexity of the problem grows quickly with respect to the number of edges in the layered graph, which depends on the number of nodes, fibers, wavelengths, and multicast sessions. Hence, we propose two heuristics layered all-optical multicast algorithm [(LAMA) and conservative fiber and wavelength assignment (C-FWA)] to compare with CPLEX, existing work, and unicasting. Extensive computational experiments show that LAMA's performance is very close to CPLEX, and it is significantly better than existing work and C-FWA for nearly all metrics, since LAMA jointly optimizes routing and fiber-wavelength assignment phases compared with the other candidates, which attack the problem by decomposing two phases. Experiments also show that important metrics (e.g., session and group blocking probability, transmitter wavelength, and fiber conversion resources) are adversely affected by the separation of two phases. Finally, the fiber-wavelength assignment strategy of C-FWA (Ex-Fit) uses wavelength and fiber conversion resources more effectively than the First Fit.

  18. Contributions au probleme d'affectation des types d'avion

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Belanger, Nicolas

    In this thesis, we approach the problem of assigning aircraft types to flights (what is called aircraft fleet assignment) in a strategic planning context. The literature mentions many studies considering this problem on a daily flight schedule basis, but the proposed models do no allow to consider many elements that are either necessary to assure the practical feasibility of the solutions, or relevant to get more beneficial solutions. After describing the practical context of the problem (Chapter 1) and presenting the literature on the subject (Chapter 2), we propose new models and solution approaches to improve the quality of' the solutions obtained. The general scheme of the thesis is presented in Chapter 3. We summarize here the models and solution approaches that we propose; and present the main elements of our conclusions. First, in Chapter 4, we consider the problem of aircraft fleet Assignment over a weekly flight schedule, integrating into the objective an homogeneity factor for driving the choice of the aircraft types for the flights with the same flight number over the week. We present an integer linear model based on a time-space multicommodity network. This model includes, among others, decision variables relative to the aircraft type assigned to each flight and to the dominant aircraft type assigned to each flight number. We present in Chapter 5 the results of a research project made in collaboration with Air Canada within a consulting contract. The project aimed at analyzing the relevance for the planners of using an optimization software to help them to first identify non profitable flight legs in the network, and second to efficiently establish the aircraft fleet assignment. In this chapter, we propose an iterative approach to take into account the fact that the passenger demand is not known on a leg basis, but rather on an origin-destination and departure time basis. Finally, in Chapter 6, we propose a model and a solution approach that aim at solving the fleet assignment problem over a periodic schedule in the case where there is a flexibility on the flight departure times and the fleet size must be minimized. Moreover, the objective of this model includes the impact on the passenger demand for each flight of the variation of the flight departure times and the closing of the departure times of consecutive flights connecting the same pairs of stations. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

  19. Ordering policies of a deteriorating item in an EOQ model with backorder under two-level partial trade credit

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Molamohamadi, Zohreh; Arshizadeh, Rahman; Ismail, Napsiah

    2015-05-01

    In the classical inventory model, it was assumed that the retailer must settle the accounts of the purchased items as soon as they are received. In practice, however, the supplier usually offers a full or partial delay period to the retailer to pay for the amount of the purchasing costs. In the partial trade credit contract, which is mostly applied to avoid non-payment risks, the retailer must pay for a portion of the purchased goods at the time of ordering and may delay settling the rest until the end of the predefined agreed upon period, so-called credit period. This paper assumes a two-level partial trade credit where both supplier and retailer offer a partial trade credit to their downstream members. The objective here is to determine the retailer's ordering policy of a deteriorating item by formulating his economic order quantity (EOQ) inventory system with backorder as a cost minimization problem. The sensitivity of the variables on different parameters has been also analyzed by applying numerical examples.

  20. The effect of wind and moisture gradients on the arbitrary assignment of cloud motions to a vertical coordinate system in two Sesame cases

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Peslen, C. A.; Koch, S. E.; Uccellini, L. W.

    1984-01-01

    Satellite-derived cloud motion 'wind' vectors (CMV) are increasingly used in mesoscale and in global analyses, and questions have been raised regarding the uncertainty of the level assignment for the CMV. One of two major problems in selecting a level for the CMV is related to uncertainties in assigning the motion vector to either the cloud top or base. The second problem is related to the inability to transfer the 'wind' derived from the CMV at individually specified heights to a standard coordinated surface. The present investigation has the objective to determine if the arbitrary level assignment represents a serious obstacle to the use of cloud motion wind vectors in the mesoscale analysis of a severe storm environment.

  1. Multi Objective Decision Analysis for Assignment Problems

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2011-03-01

    needed data or try to get data from related databases. 2.3.8 Deterministic Analysis In order to determine an overall score for each...The views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Turkish Air...DECISION ANALYSIS FOR ASSIGNMENT PROBLEMS THESIS Presented to the Faculty Department of Operational Sciences Graduate School of

  2. Using the Same Problem with Different Techniques in Programming Assignments: An Empirical Study of Its Effectiveness

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Newby, Michael; Nguyen, ThuyUyen H.

    2010-01-01

    This paper examines the effectiveness of a technique that first appeared as a Teaching Tip in the Journal of Information Systems Education. In this approach the same problem is used in every programming assignment within a course, but the students are required to use different programming techniques. This approach was used in an intermediate C++…

  3. The allure of multi-line games in modern slot machines.

    PubMed

    Dixon, Mike J; Graydon, Candice; Harrigan, Kevin A; Wojtowicz, Lisa; Siu, Vivian; Fugelsang, Jonathan A

    2014-11-01

    In multi-line slot machines, players can wager on more than one line per spin. We sought to show that players preferred multi-line over single-line games, and that certain game features could cause multi-line game play to feel more rewarding. Reward was measured using post-reinforcement pauses (PRPs) following each outcome (the time between outcome delivery and the next spin). Gamblers (n = 102) played 250 spins on a 20-line game and 250 spins on a one-line game (answering questions about game experiences following each session). Playing one-line, a small credit gain (e.g. 2 cents) was a net win. In the 20-line game it was a net loss of 18 credits but was still accompanied by 'winning' sights and sounds. Most players (94%) preferred the 20-line game. PRPs for small credit gains (net losses) in the 20-line game were equivalent, or larger than in the one-line game where such gains were wins. The largest increase in PRP size was between the 0 and 2 credit conditions for both games. Thus 20-line players reacted as though these net losses of 18 credits were rewarding. Players' estimates of the number of true wins were accurate in the one-line game, but they significantly over-estimated the number of true wins in the 20-line game (P < 0.01). Problem gamblers felt more skilful (P < 0.01) and were more absorbed (P < 0.01) by multi-line than single-line game play. Multi-line games appear to be more appealing to gaming machine ('slots') players than single-line games. These games may be particularly absorbing for those with gambling problems. © 2014 Society for the Study of Addiction.

  4. Integrated consensus-based frameworks for unmanned vehicle routing and targeting assignment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Barnawi, Waleed T.

    Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are increasingly deployed in complex and dynamic environments to perform multiple tasks cooperatively with other UAVs that contribute to overarching mission effectiveness. Studies by the Department of Defense (DoD) indicate future operations may include anti-access/area-denial (A2AD) environments which limit human teleoperator decision-making and control. This research addresses the problem of decentralized vehicle re-routing and task reassignments through consensus-based UAV decision-making. An Integrated Consensus-Based Framework (ICF) is formulated as a solution to the combined single task assignment problem and vehicle routing problem. The multiple assignment and vehicle routing problem is solved with the Integrated Consensus-Based Bundle Framework (ICBF). The frameworks are hierarchically decomposed into two levels. The bottom layer utilizes the renowned Dijkstra's Algorithm. The top layer addresses task assignment with two methods. The single assignment approach is called the Caravan Auction Algorithm (CarA) Algorithm. This technique extends the Consensus-Based Auction Algorithm (CBAA) to provide awareness for task completion by agents and adopt abandoned tasks. The multiple assignment approach called the Caravan Auction Bundle Algorithm (CarAB) extends the Consensus-Based Bundle Algorithm (CBBA) by providing awareness for lost resources, prioritizing remaining tasks, and adopting abandoned tasks. Research questions are investigated regarding the novelty and performance of the proposed frameworks. Conclusions regarding the research questions will be provided through hypothesis testing. Monte Carlo simulations will provide evidence to support conclusions regarding the research hypotheses for the proposed frameworks. The approach provided in this research addresses current and future military operations for unmanned aerial vehicles. However, the general framework implied by the proposed research is adaptable to any unmanned vehicle. Civil applications that involve missions where human observability would be limited could benefit from the independent UAV task assignment, such as exploration and fire surveillance are also notable uses for this approach.

  5. Correlates of learning in introductory biomechanics.

    PubMed

    Knudson, Duane; Bauer, Jeff; Bahamonde, Rafael

    2009-04-01

    Characteristics hypothesized to be related to learning in introductory biomechanics classes were examined. Data from a 2003 national study were supplemented by additional instructor-reported data about experience, tests, laboratory hours, and average course-related expenditures. The number of credit hours of the course (r = .15) and money spent by departments on laboratory classes per year (r = -.18) were significantly and uniquely correlated with learning. Increasing credit hours from 3 to 4 with laboratory experience doubled learning. The results supported national standards for a 4-credit course and an emphasis on conceptual understanding rather than quantitative problem-solving. Researchers should seek to confirm these results as well as explore whether contact hours or the nature of laboratory learning experiences contribute to this effect.

  6. On the problem of resonance assignments in solid state NMR of uniformly 15N, 13C-labeled proteins

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tycko, Robert

    2015-04-01

    Determination of accurate resonance assignments from multidimensional chemical shift correlation spectra is one of the major problems in biomolecular solid state NMR, particularly for relative large proteins with less-than-ideal NMR linewidths. This article investigates the difficulty of resonance assignment, using a computational Monte Carlo/simulated annealing (MCSA) algorithm to search for assignments from artificial three-dimensional spectra that are constructed from the reported isotropic 15N and 13C chemical shifts of two proteins whose structures have been determined by solution NMR methods. The results demonstrate how assignment simulations can provide new insights into factors that affect the assignment process, which can then help guide the design of experimental strategies. Specifically, simulations are performed for the catalytic domain of SrtC (147 residues, primarily β-sheet secondary structure) and the N-terminal domain of MLKL (166 residues, primarily α-helical secondary structure). Assuming unambiguous residue-type assignments and four ideal three-dimensional data sets (NCACX, NCOCX, CONCA, and CANCA), uncertainties in chemical shifts must be less than 0.4 ppm for assignments for SrtC to be unique, and less than 0.2 ppm for MLKL. Eliminating CANCA data has no significant effect, but additionally eliminating CONCA data leads to more stringent requirements for chemical shift precision. Introducing moderate ambiguities in residue-type assignments does not have a significant effect.

  7. Due-Window Assignment Scheduling with Variable Job Processing Times

    PubMed Central

    Wu, Yu-Bin

    2015-01-01

    We consider a common due-window assignment scheduling problem jobs with variable job processing times on a single machine, where the processing time of a job is a function of its position in a sequence (i.e., learning effect) or its starting time (i.e., deteriorating effect). The problem is to determine the optimal due-windows, and the processing sequence simultaneously to minimize a cost function includes earliness, tardiness, the window location, window size, and weighted number of tardy jobs. We prove that the problem can be solved in polynomial time. PMID:25918745

  8. Learner-Centered Teaching and Improving Learning by Writing Down the Statement of Problems in an Introductory Physics Course

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Aurora, Tarlok

    2005-04-01

    In a calculus-based introductory physics course, students were assigned to write the statements of word problems (along with the accompanying diagrams if any), analyze these, identify important concepts/equations and try to solve these end-of- chapter homework problems. They were required to bring to class their written assignment until the chapter was completed in lecture. These were quickly checked at the beginning of the class. In addition, re-doing selected solved examples in the textbook were assigned as homework. Where possible, students were asked to look for similarities between the solved-examples and the end-of-the-chapter problems, or occasionally these were brought to the students' attention. It was observed that many students were able to solve several of the solved-examples on the test even though the instructor had not solved these in class. This was seen as an improvement over the previous years. It made the students more responsible for their learning. Another benefit was that it alleviated the problems previously created by many students not bringing the textbooks to class. It allowed more time for problem solving/discussions in class.

  9. Frequency assignments for HFDF receivers in a search and rescue network

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Johnson, Krista E.

    1990-03-01

    This thesis applies a multiobjective linear programming approach to the problem of assigning frequencies to high frequency direction finding (HFDF) receivers in a search-and-rescue network in order to maximize the expected number of geolocations of vessels in distress. The problem is formulated as a multiobjective integer linear programming problem. The integrality of the solutions is guaranteed by the totally unimodularity of the A-matrix. Two approaches are taken to solve the multiobjective linear programming problem: (1) the multiobjective simplex method as implemented in ADBASE; and (2) an iterative approach. In this approach, the individual objective functions are weighted and combined in a single additive objective function. The resulting single objective problem is expressed as a network programming problem and solved using SAS NETFLOW. The process is then repeated with different weightings for the objective functions. The solutions obtained from the multiobjective linear programs are evaluated using a FORTRAN program to determine which solution provides the greatest expected number of geolocations. This solution is then compared to the sample mean and standard deviation for the expected number of geolocations resulting from 10,000 random frequency assignments for the network.

  10. Using Reflection with Peers to Help Students Learn Effective Problem Solving Strategies

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mason, Andrew; Singh, Chandralekha

    2010-10-01

    We describe a study in which introductory physics students engage in reflection with peers about problem solving. The recitations for an introductory physics course with 200 students were broken into the "Peer Reflection" (PR) group and the traditional group. Each week in recitation, students in the PR group reflected in small teams on selected problems from the homework. The graduate and undergraduate teaching assistants (TAs) in the PR group recitations provided guidance and coaching to help students learn effective problem solving heuristics. In the recitations for the traditional group, students had the opportunity to ask the graduate TA questions about the homework before they took a weekly quiz. On the final exam with only multiple-choice questions, the PR group drew diagrams on more problems than the traditional group, even when there was no external reward for doing so. Since there was no partial credit for drawing the diagrams on the scratch books, students did not draw diagrams simply to get credit for the effort shown and must value the use of diagrams for solving problems if they drew them. We also find that, regardless of whether the students belonged to the traditional or PR groups, those who drew more diagrams for the multiple-choice questions outperformed those who did not draw them.

  11. Fleet Assignment Using Collective Intelligence

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Antoine, Nicolas E.; Bieniawski, Stefan R.; Kroo, Ilan M.; Wolpert, David H.

    2004-01-01

    Airline fleet assignment involves the allocation of aircraft to a set of flights legs in order to meet passenger demand, while satisfying a variety of constraints. Over the course of the day, the routing of each aircraft is determined in order to minimize the number of required flights for a given fleet. The associated flow continuity and aircraft count constraints have led researchers to focus on obtaining quasi-optimal solutions, especially at larger scales. In this paper, the authors propose the application of an agent-based integer optimization algorithm to a "cold start" fleet assignment problem. Results show that the optimizer can successfully solve such highly- constrained problems (129 variables, 184 constraints).

  12. Evaluation of Goal Programming for the Optimal Assignment of Inspectors to Construction Projects

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1988-09-01

    Inputs ..... .............. 90 Equation Coefficients . ....... .. 90 Weights, Priorities and the AHP . . 91 Right-Hand Side Values ........ .. 91...the AHP Hierarchy with k Levels . . 36 3. Sample Matrix for Pairwise Comparison ........ .. 37 4. Assignment of I and p for Example Problem...Weights for Example Problem ... 61 3. AHP Weights and Coefficient ci, Values. ........ 63 vii AFIT/GEM/LSM/88S-16 Abstract The purpose of this study was

  13. An Examination of Problems and Solutions Related to the Chronic "Revolving Door" Alcohol Abuser. DHSS Planning Guideline #1, Task Assignment #1.11. Long-Term Support, Chronic Alcoholism and Other Drug Abuse.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vick, John W.; Houden, Dorothy

    This report contains recommendations of a Wisconsin Task Assignment Steering Committee created to explore solutions to some significant problems facing adult chronic "revolving-detox-door" alcohol abusers (CRA's), persons with repeated admissions for detoxification services; and to examine the system that serves and funds them. This…

  14. Robotics and STEM Learning: Students' Achievements in Assignments According to the P3 Task Taxonomy--Practice, Problem Solving, and Projects

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barak, Moshe; Assal, Muhammad

    2018-01-01

    This study presents the case of development and evaluation of a STEM-oriented 30-h robotics course for junior high school students (n = 32). Class activities were designed according to the P3 Task Taxonomy, which included: (1) practice-basic closed-ended tasks and exercises; (2) problem solving--small-scale open-ended assignments in which the…

  15. Scheduling Jobs and a Variable Maintenance on a Single Machine with Common Due-Date Assignment

    PubMed Central

    Wan, Long

    2014-01-01

    We investigate a common due-date assignment scheduling problem with a variable maintenance on a single machine. The goal is to minimize the total earliness, tardiness, and due-date cost. We derive some properties on an optimal solution for our problem. For a special case with identical jobs we propose an optimal polynomial time algorithm followed by a numerical example. PMID:25147861

  16. Generation Wrecked.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Watson, Noshua

    2002-01-01

    Young adults in Generation X are facing financial problems. Because of their college and credit card debt, many in worse financial shape than anyone since the Depression and have little or no retirement savings. (JOW)

  17. Knowledge-based design of generate-and-patch problem solvers that solve global resource assignment problems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Voigt, Kerstin

    1992-01-01

    We present MENDER, a knowledge based system that implements software design techniques that are specialized to automatically compile generate-and-patch problem solvers that satisfy global resource assignments problems. We provide empirical evidence of the superior performance of generate-and-patch over generate-and-test: even with constrained generation, for a global constraint in the domain of '2D-floorplanning'. For a second constraint in '2D-floorplanning' we show that even when it is possible to incorporate the constraint into a constrained generator, a generate-and-patch problem solver may satisfy the constraint more rapidly. We also briefly summarize how an extended version of our system applies to a constraint in the domain of 'multiprocessor scheduling'.

  18. Static assignment of complex stochastic tasks using stochastic majorization

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Nicol, David; Simha, Rahul; Towsley, Don

    1992-01-01

    We consider the problem of statically assigning many tasks to a (smaller) system of homogeneous processors, where a task's structure is modeled as a branching process, and all tasks are assumed to have identical behavior. We show how the theory of majorization can be used to obtain a partial order among possible task assignments. Our results show that if the vector of numbers of tasks assigned to each processor under one mapping is majorized by that of another mapping, then the former mapping is better than the latter with respect to a large number of objective functions. In particular, we show how measurements of finishing time, resource utilization, and reliability are all captured by the theory. We also show how the theory may be applied to the problem of partitioning a pool of processors for distribution among parallelizable tasks.

  19. A Transition Course from Advanced Placement to College Calculus

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lucas, Timothy A.; Spivey, Joseph

    2011-01-01

    In the Spring of 2007, a group of highly motivated mathematics graduate students conducted a review of Duke's Calculus curriculum. They focused on two main problems. The first problem is the result of a very positive trend: a growing number of students are earning AP credit for Calculus I in high school. However, this results in Calculus II…

  20. Exploring the Use of Three-Dimensional Multi-User Virtual Environments for Online Problem-Based Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Omale, Nicholas M.

    2010-01-01

    This exploratory case study examines how three media attributes in 3-D MUVEs--avatars, 3-D spaces and bubble dialogue boxes--affect interaction in an online problem-based learning (PBL) activity. The study participants were eleven undergraduate students enrolled in a 200-level, three-credit-hour technology integration course at a Midwestern…

  1. The Long-Term Adequacy of Public School Pension Plans.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shapiro, Frieda S.

    A serious problem for retired teachers is the decreasing buying power of their retirement benefit. Older teachers who have been retired for 10 years or more face serious economic problems because of low salaries in the past, weak benefit formulas, lost service credit by teachers who moved from one State to another during their teaching careers,…

  2. Energy Efficiency Under Alternative Carbon Policies. Incentives, Measurement, and Interregional Effects

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

    Steinberg, Daniel C.; Boyd, Erin

    2015-08-28

    In this report, we examine and compare how tradable mass-based polices and tradable rate-based policies create different incentives for energy efficiency investments. Through a generalized demonstration and set of examples, we show that as a result of the output subsidy they create, traditional rate-based policies, those that do not credit energy savings from efficiency measures, reduce the incentive for investment in energy efficiency measures relative to an optimally designed mass-based policy or equivalent carbon tax. We then show that this reduced incentive can be partially addressed by modifying the rate-based policy such that electricity savings from energy efficiency measures aremore » treated as a source of zero-carbon generation within the framework of the standard, or equivalently, by assigning avoided emissions credit to the electricity savings at the rate of the intensity target. These approaches result in an extension of the output subsidy to efficiency measures and eliminate the distortion between supply-side and demand-side options for GHG emissions reduction. However, these approaches do not address electricity price distortions resulting from the output subsidy that also impact the value of efficiency measures. Next, we assess alternative approaches for crediting energy efficiency savings within the framework of a rate-based policy. Finally, we identify a number of challenges that arise in implementing a rate-based policy with efficiency crediting, including the requirement to develop robust estimates of electricity savings in order to assess compliance, and the requirement to track the regionality of the generation impacts of efficiency measures to account for their interstate effects.« less

  3. KSC-2009-3469

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2009-06-01

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Hitching a ride on the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, a modified Boeing 747, space shuttle Atlantis has arrived at Biggs Armuy Air Field in El Paso, Texas. Atlantis landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California on May 24, which concluded mission STS-125, after two landing opportunities at Kennedy were waved off due to weather concerns. Atlantis is being returned to Florida on a ferry flight on the SCA. Atlantis' next assignment is the STS-129 mission, targeted to launch in November 2009. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

  4. KSC-2009-3447

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2009-05-28

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Under the mate/demate device at Edwards Air Force Base in California, Atlantis is fitted with a sling to lift it for attachment to the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, a modified Boeing 747. Atlantis landed at Edwards on May 24, which concluded mission STS-125, after two landing opportunities at Kennedy were waved off due to weather concerns. Atlantis is being returned to Florida on a ferry flight on the SCA. Atlantis' next assignment is the STS-129 mission, targeted to launch in November 2009. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

  5. KSC-2009-3450

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2009-05-29

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Under the mate/demate device at Edwards Air Force Base in California, Atlantis is fitted with a sling to lift it for attachment to the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, a modified Boeing 747. Atlantis landed at Edwards on May 24, which concluded mission STS-125, after two landing opportunities at Kennedy were waved off due to weather concerns. Atlantis is being returned to Florida on a ferry flight on the SCA. Atlantis' next assignment is the STS-129 mission, targeted to launch in November 2009. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

  6. President Bill Clinton visits JSC

    NASA Image and Video Library

    1998-04-14

    S98-05025 (14 April 1998) --- President Bill Clinton tours a laboratory mockup used for training purposes by astronauts assigned to fly aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Astronaut William Shepherd (right), mission commander for the first ISS expedition crew, briefs the Chief Executive. Looking on are astronauts C. Michael Foale and Tamara C. Jernigan. Foale spent four months last year aboard Russia's Mir space station. President Clinton toured several mockups and other training components before speaking to a crowd of JSC employees. Photo Credit: Joe McNally, National Geographic, for NASA

  7. 2017 Astronaut Class

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2017-06-07

    nhq201706070006 (06/07/2017) --- Vice President Mike Pence takes a group selfie with kids that were in attendance during an event where NASA introduced 12 new astronaut candidates, Wednesday, June 7, 2017 at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. After completing two years of training, the new astronaut candidates could be assigned to missions performing research on the International Space Station, launching from American soil on spacecraft built by commercial companies, and launching on deep space missions on NASA’s new Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

  8. PORTRAIT - ASTRONAUT GROUP - NEWLY-SELECTED - MSC

    NASA Image and Video Library

    1963-10-18

    S63-18765 (October 1963) --- These fourteen pilots have been assigned to begin training for astronaut positions with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Front row, from the left, Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., William A. Anders, Charles A. Bassett II, Alan L. Bean, Eugene A. Cernan and Roger B. Chaffee. Back row, from the left, Michael Collins, Walter Cunningham, Donn F. Eisele, Theodore C. Freeman, Richard F. Gordon Jr., Russell L. Scweickart, David R. Scott and Clifton C. Williams Jr. Photo credit: NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration

  9. Problems on Divisibility of Binomial Coefficients

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Osler, Thomas J.; Smoak, James

    2004-01-01

    Twelve unusual problems involving divisibility of the binomial coefficients are represented in this article. The problems are listed in "The Problems" section. All twelve problems have short solutions which are listed in "The Solutions" section. These problems could be assigned to students in any course in which the binomial theorem and Pascal's…

  10. An agglomerative hierarchical clustering approach to visualisation in Bayesian clustering problems

    PubMed Central

    Dawson, Kevin J.; Belkhir, Khalid

    2009-01-01

    Clustering problems (including the clustering of individuals into outcrossing populations, hybrid generations, full-sib families and selfing lines) have recently received much attention in population genetics. In these clustering problems, the parameter of interest is a partition of the set of sampled individuals, - the sample partition. In a fully Bayesian approach to clustering problems of this type, our knowledge about the sample partition is represented by a probability distribution on the space of possible sample partitions. Since the number of possible partitions grows very rapidly with the sample size, we can not visualise this probability distribution in its entirety, unless the sample is very small. As a solution to this visualisation problem, we recommend using an agglomerative hierarchical clustering algorithm, which we call the exact linkage algorithm. This algorithm is a special case of the maximin clustering algorithm that we introduced previously. The exact linkage algorithm is now implemented in our software package Partition View. The exact linkage algorithm takes the posterior co-assignment probabilities as input, and yields as output a rooted binary tree, - or more generally, a forest of such trees. Each node of this forest defines a set of individuals, and the node height is the posterior co-assignment probability of this set. This provides a useful visual representation of the uncertainty associated with the assignment of individuals to categories. It is also a useful starting point for a more detailed exploration of the posterior distribution in terms of the co-assignment probabilities. PMID:19337306

  11. Dual learning processes in interactive skill acquisition.

    PubMed

    Fu, Wai-Tat; Anderson, John R

    2008-06-01

    Acquisition of interactive skills involves the use of internal and external cues. Experiment 1 showed that when actions were interdependent, learning was effective with and without external cues in the single-task condition but was effective only with the presence of external cues in the dual-task condition. In the dual-task condition, actions closer to the feedback were learned faster than actions farther away but this difference was reversed in the single-task condition. Experiment 2 tested how knowledge acquired in single and dual-task conditions would transfer to a new reward structure. Results confirmed the two forms of learning mediated by the secondary task: A declarative memory encoding process that simultaneously assigned credits to actions and a reinforcement-learning process that slowly propagated credits backward from the feedback. The results showed that both forms of learning were engaged during training, but only at the response selection stage, one form of knowledge may dominate over the other depending on the availability of attentional resources. (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved

  12. Skin Problems in Construction

    MedlinePlus

    ... credit: Contains public sector information published by the Health and Safety Executive and licensed under the Open Government Licence v1.0 materials you use at work. Find out more about construction hazards. To receive ...

  13. Women and finance.

    PubMed

    Seaforth, W

    1995-12-01

    This article discusses women's rights to inherit land, the impact of flexible loan schemes for women, and the paucity of available loan schemes for women. The poor without land ownership have many problems obtaining credit for shelter from conventional finance markets. The poor must limit loans to small amounts that banks do not want to bother with. Eligibility criteria for loans usually require collateral, such as a high and regular income, savings, or land. The poor, and particularly poor women, cannot acquire credit or can do so only through a husband or male relative. Female heads of households are discriminated against when the man is assumed to be the major income source. Most housing purchases in developing countries are made through cash payments from family savings or informal loans. Even small loans may place a heavy burden on women. The author gives several examples of credit groups and their success in generating income and housing security. There remains a need to provide training and education for women and to improve women's access to credit and land. Information should be available to women on how to obtain credit. Governments and nongovernmental organizations have a responsibility to provide support for women's efforts to provide housing and support for their families.

  14. Distributed resource allocation under communication constraints

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dodin, Pierre; Nimier, Vincent

    2001-03-01

    This paper deals with a study of the multi-sensor management problem for multi-target tracking. The collaboration between many sensors observing the same target means that they are able to fuse their data during the information process. Then one must take into account this possibility to compute the optimal association sensors-target at each step of time. In order to solve this problem for real large scale system, one must both consider the information aspect and the control aspect of the problem. To unify these problems, one possibility is to use a decentralized filtering algorithm locally driven by an assignment algorithm. The decentralized filtering algorithm we use in our model is the filtering algorithm of Grime, which relaxes the usual full-connected hypothesis. By full-connected, one means that the information in a full-connected system is totally distributed everywhere at the same moment, which is unacceptable for a real large scale system. We modelize the distributed assignment decision with the help of a greedy algorithm. Each sensor performs a global optimization, in order to estimate other information sets. A consequence of the relaxation of the full- connected hypothesis is that the sensors' information set are not the same at each step of time, producing an information dis- symmetry in the system. The assignment algorithm uses a local knowledge of this dis-symmetry. By testing the reactions and the coherence of the local assignment decisions of our system, against maneuvering targets, we show that it is still possible to manage with decentralized assignment control even though the system is not full-connected.

  15. Multisystemic Therapy and Functional Family Therapy Compared on their Effectiveness Using the Propensity Score Method.

    PubMed

    Eeren, Hester V; Goossens, Lucas M A; Scholte, Ron H J; Busschbach, Jan J V; van der Rijken, Rachel E A

    2018-01-09

    Multisystemic Therapy (MST) and Functional Family Therapy (FFT) have overlapping target populations and treatment goals. In this study, these interventions were compared on their effectiveness using a quasi-experimental design. Between October, 2009 and June, 2014, outcome data were collected from 697 adolescents (mean age 15.3 (SD 1.48), 61.9% male) assigned to either MST or FFT (422 MST; 275 FFT). Data were gathered during Routine Outcome Monitoring. The primary outcome was externalizing problem behavior (Child Behavior Checklist and Youth Self Report). Secondary outcomes were the proportion of adolescents living at home, engaged in school or work, and who lacked police contact during treatment. Because of the non-random assignment, a propensity score method was used to control for observed pre-treatment differences. Because the risk-need-responsivity (RNR) model guided treatment assignment, effectiveness was also estimated in youth with and without a court order as an indicator of their risk level. Looking at the whole sample, no difference in effect was found with regard to externalizing problems. For adolescents without a court order, effects on externalizing problems were larger after MST. Because many more adolescents with a court order were assigned to MST compared to FFT, the propensity score method could not balance the treatment groups in this subsample. In conclusion, few differences between MST and FFT were found. In line with the RNR model, higher risk adolescents were assigned to the more intensive treatment, namely MST. In the group with lower risk adolescents, this more intensive treatment was more effective in reducing externalizing problems.

  16. Maternal education preferences moderate the effects of mandatory employment and education programs on child positive and problem behaviors.

    PubMed

    Gassman-Pines, Anna; Godfrey, Erin B; Yoshikawa, Hirokazu

    2013-01-01

    Grounded in person-environment fit theory, this study examined whether low-income mothers' preferences for education moderated the effects of employment- and education-focused welfare programs on children's positive and problem behaviors. The sample included 1,365 families with children between ages 3 and 5 years at study entry. Results 5 years after random assignment, when children were ages 8-10 years, indicated that mothers' education preferences did moderate program impacts on teacher-reported child behavior problems and positive behavior. Children whose mothers were assigned to the education program were rated by teachers to have less externalizing behavior and more positive behavior than children whose mothers were assigned to the employment program but only when mothers had strong preferences for education. © 2012 The Authors. Child Development © 2012 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

  17. Mining Stable Roles in RBAC

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Colantonio, Alessandro; di Pietro, Roberto; Ocello, Alberto; Verde, Nino Vincenzo

    In this paper we address the problem of generating a candidate role-set for an RBAC configuration that enjoys the following two key features: it minimizes the administration cost; and, it is a stable candidate role-set. To achieve these goals, we implement a three steps methodology: first, we associate a weight to roles; second, we identify and remove the user-permission assignments that cannot belong to a role that have a weight exceeding a given threshold; third, we restrict the problem of finding a candidate role-set for the given system configuration using only the user-permission assignments that have not been removed in the second step—that is, user-permission assignments that belong to roles with a weight exceeding the given threshold. We formally show—proof of our results are rooted in graph theory—that this methodology achieves the intended goals. Finally, we discuss practical applications of our approach to the role mining problem.

  18. An automated system for reduction of the firm's employees under maximal overall efficiency

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yonchev, Yoncho; Nikolov, Simeon; Baeva, Silvia

    2012-11-01

    Achieving maximal overall efficiency is a priority in all companies. This problem is formulated as a knap-sack problem and afterwards as a linear assignment problem. An automated system is created for solving of this problem.

  19. "Ask Ernö": a self-learning tool for assignment and prediction of nuclear magnetic resonance spectra.

    PubMed

    Castillo, Andrés M; Bernal, Andrés; Dieden, Reiner; Patiny, Luc; Wist, Julien

    2016-01-01

    We present "Ask Ernö", a self-learning system for the automatic analysis of NMR spectra, consisting of integrated chemical shift assignment and prediction tools. The output of the automatic assignment component initializes and improves a database of assigned protons that is used by the chemical shift predictor. In turn, the predictions provided by the latter facilitate improvement of the assignment process. Iteration on these steps allows Ask Ernö to improve its ability to assign and predict spectra without any prior knowledge or assistance from human experts. This concept was tested by training such a system with a dataset of 2341 molecules and their (1)H-NMR spectra, and evaluating the accuracy of chemical shift predictions on a test set of 298 partially assigned molecules (2007 assigned protons). After 10 iterations, Ask Ernö was able to decrease its prediction error by 17 %, reaching an average error of 0.265 ppm. Over 60 % of the test chemical shifts were predicted within 0.2 ppm, while only 5 % still presented a prediction error of more than 1 ppm. Ask Ernö introduces an innovative approach to automatic NMR analysis that constantly learns and improves when provided with new data. Furthermore, it completely avoids the need for manually assigned spectra. This system has the potential to be turned into a fully autonomous tool able to compete with the best alternatives currently available.Graphical abstractSelf-learning loop. Any progress in the prediction (forward problem) will improve the assignment ability (reverse problem) and vice versa.

  20. The Farm Credit Situation: Implications for Agricultural Policy.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bullock, J. Bruce

    1986-01-01

    Examines issues regarding current farm finance situation from a public policy perspective: origins and causes of current situation, available policy options for dealing with the problems, and impacts of policy options. (NEC)

  1. The solution of target assignment problem in command and control decision-making behaviour simulation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Ni; Huai, Wenqing; Wang, Shaodan

    2017-08-01

    C2 (command and control) has been understood to be a critical military component to meet an increasing demand for rapid information gathering and real-time decision-making in a dynamically changing battlefield environment. In this article, to improve a C2 behaviour model's reusability and interoperability, a behaviour modelling framework was proposed to specify a C2 model's internal modules and a set of interoperability interfaces based on the C-BML (coalition battle management language). WTA (weapon target assignment) is a typical C2 autonomous decision-making behaviour modelling problem. Different from most WTA problem descriptions, here sensors were considered to be available resources of detection and the relationship constraints between weapons and sensors were also taken into account, which brought it much closer to actual application. A modified differential evolution (MDE) algorithm was developed to solve this high-dimension optimisation problem and obtained an optimal assignment plan with high efficiency. In case study, we built a simulation system to validate the proposed C2 modelling framework and interoperability interface specification. Also, a new optimisation solution was used to solve the WTA problem efficiently and successfully.

  2. Matching School Resources and Student Needs: Scheduling and Assignment Problems in High Schools Serving At-Risk Youth. Final Report.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Natriello, Gary; And Others

    By studying the process by which disadvantaged and low-achieving high school students are assigned to classes and special programs, how and why disadvantaged students are placed in inappropriate programs can be understood. Reasons exist to question the assumption that students are assigned to programs rationally on the basis of information about…

  3. Game theory and traffic assignment.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2013-09-01

    Traffic assignment is used to determine the number of users on roadway links in a network. While this problem has : been widely studied in transportation literature, its use of the concept of equilibrium has attracted considerable interest : in the f...

  4. Strengthening senior tax credit programs in Massachusetts.

    PubMed

    Kiesel, Kristin

    2002-01-01

    In the last decade, property taxes have increased, creating a financial burden on senior homeowners. In Massachusetts, senior property tax credit programs have arisen to address this problem, as well as to provide cost-effective volunteer assistance for municipal departments, offer seniors meaningful work that otherwise would not have been attempted, and foster involvement in municipal government among seniors. The success of the programs in retaining senior homeowners in the community remains to be evaluated. Program specifics are detailed, policy options are considered, and recommendations are made to strengthen existing programs and assist replication.

  5. Task Assignment Heuristics for Parallel and Distributed CFD Applications

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lopez-Benitez, Noe; Djomehri, M. Jahed; Biswas, Rupak

    2003-01-01

    This paper proposes a task graph (TG) model to represent a single discrete step of multi-block overset grid computational fluid dynamics (CFD) applications. The TG model is then used to not only balance the computational workload across the overset grids but also to reduce inter-grid communication costs. We have developed a set of task assignment heuristics based on the constraints inherent in this class of CFD problems. Two basic assignments, the smallest task first (STF) and the largest task first (LTF), are first presented. They are then systematically costs. To predict the performance of the proposed task assignment heuristics, extensive performance evaluations are conducted on a synthetic TG with tasks defined in terms of the number of grid points in predetermined overlapping grids. A TG derived from a realistic problem with eight million grid points is also used as a test case.

  6. Using Problem-Based Learning to Deliver a More Authentic Experience in Paleontology

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Montgomery, Homer; Donaldson, Katherine

    2014-01-01

    This study is a research project focused on the implementation of problem-based learning in an honors, paleontology-oriented, Earth Science course. The course, the Age of Dinosaurs, is taught at the University of Texas at Dallas to undergraduates from a range of majors who seek core-curriculum science credit. All class work is centered on fossils…

  7. The Conceptual Model of Future Teachers Training to Dual Education in VET (Vocational Education & Training)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zholdasbekova, Saule; Nurzhanbayeva, Zhanat; Karatayev, Galymzhan; Akhmet, Laura Smatullaevna; Anarmetov, Bahitzhan

    2016-01-01

    In the article the author presents the theoretical understanding of research problems of training of the future teachers-organizers of the dual training system in vocational education & training (VET) in the conditions of the credit technology of education. The author's vision of way to solve the problem is discussed in the description of the…

  8. How Do Colleges and Universities Assess the Education and Training of Military Service Personnel?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Palmer, James C.; Ludwig, Meredith J.

    1991-01-01

    In a study of the ways colleges and universities regard prior learning of military service members who apply for admission to undergraduate degree programs, 66 colleges evaluated prototype transcripts and assessed problems in awarding degree credit. A number of problems are seen as needing to be addressed by both schools and the military.…

  9. Teaching information literacy skills to sophomore-level biology majors.

    PubMed

    Thompson, Leigh; Blankinship, Lisa Ann

    2015-05-01

    Many undergraduate students lack a sound understanding of information literacy. The skills that comprise information literacy are particularly important when combined with scientific writing for biology majors as they are the foundation skills necessary to complete upper-division biology course assignments, better train students for research projects, and prepare students for graduate and professional education. To help undergraduate biology students develop and practice information literacy and scientific writing skills, a series of three one-hour hands-on library sessions, discussions, and homework assignments were developed for Biological Literature, a one-credit, one-hour-per-week, required sophomore-level course. The embedded course librarian developed a learning exercise that reviewed how to conduct database and web searches, the difference between primary and secondary sources, source credibility, and how to access articles through the university's databases. Students used the skills gained in the library training sessions for later writing assignments including a formal lab report and annotated bibliography. By focusing on improving information literacy skills as well as providing practice in scientific writing, Biological Literature students are better able to meet the rigors of upper-division biology courses and communicate research findings in a more professional manner.

  10. Teaching Information Literacy Skills to Sophomore-Level Biology Majors

    PubMed Central

    Thompson, Leigh; Blankinship, Lisa Ann

    2015-01-01

    Many undergraduate students lack a sound understanding of information literacy. The skills that comprise information literacy are particularly important when combined with scientific writing for biology majors as they are the foundation skills necessary to complete upper-division biology course assignments, better train students for research projects, and prepare students for graduate and professional education. To help undergraduate biology students develop and practice information literacy and scientific writing skills, a series of three one-hour hands-on library sessions, discussions, and homework assignments were developed for Biological Literature, a one-credit, one-hour-per-week, required sophomore-level course. The embedded course librarian developed a learning exercise that reviewed how to conduct database and web searches, the difference between primary and secondary sources, source credibility, and how to access articles through the university’s databases. Students used the skills gained in the library training sessions for later writing assignments including a formal lab report and annotated bibliography. By focusing on improving information literacy skills as well as providing practice in scientific writing, Biological Literature students are better able to meet the rigors of upper-division biology courses and communicate research findings in a more professional manner. PMID:25949754

  11. An attempt to estimate students' workload.

    PubMed

    Pogacnik, M; Juznic, P; Kosorok-Drobnic, M; Pogacnik, A; Cestnik, V; Kogovsek, J; Pestevsek, U; Fernandes, Tito

    2004-01-01

    Following the recent introduction of the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) into several European university programs, a new interest has developed in determining students' workload. ECTS credits are numerical values describing the student workload required to complete course units; ECTS has the potential to facilitate comparison and create transparency between institutional curricula. ECTS credits are frequently listed alongside institutional credits in course outlines and module summaries. Measuring student workload has been difficult; to a large extent, estimates are based only upon anecdotal and casual information. To gather more systematic information, we asked students at the Veterinary Faculty, University of Ljubljana, to estimate the actual total workload they committed to fulfill their coursework obligations for specific subjects in the veterinary degree program by reporting their attendance at defined contact hours and their estimated time for outside study, including the time required for examinations and other activities. Students also reported the final grades they received for these subjects. The results show that certain courses require much more work than others, independent of credit unit assignment. Generally, the courses with more contact hours tend also to demand more independent work; the best predictor of both actual student workload and student success is the amount of contact time in which they participate. The data failed to show any strong connection between students' total workload and grades they received; rather, they showed some evidence that regular presence at contact hours was the most positive influence on grades. Less frequent presence at lectures tended to indicate less time spent on independent study. It was also found that pre-clinical and clinical courses tended to require more work from students than other, more general subjects. While the present study does not provide conclusive evidence, it does indicate the need for further inquiry into the nature of the relationship between teaching and learning in higher education and for evaluation of the benefits (or otherwise) of more "self-directed" study.

  12. Encouraging science reading beyond the curriculum.

    PubMed

    Lamberson, W R; Smith, M F

    2005-08-01

    Students in genetics and reproductive physiology, junior-/senior-level courses with enrollments averaging 76 and 41 students, respectively, were encouraged to read popular science books for extra credit. The objectives of the readings were to reinforce basic class concepts by forming ties to everyday life, and to expose students to a genre that can provide information to prepare them as citizens to engage in the debate over current issues. The books for genetics were The Double Helix, Genome, Voyage of the Beagle, and The Engineer in the Garden; and the books for reproductive physiology were Clone, Lives of a Cell, Life Before Birth and A Time to be Born, and The Second Creation: Dolly and The Age of Biological Control. To earn credit (3% of the course grade for each of up to three books), students had to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of each book during a 15-min discussion with the instructor. Discussions focused on questions designed to stimulate critical thinking about each book's content. For example: "There is approximately 98% homology in DNA sequence between humans and chimpanzees; in aspects ranging from basic physiology to behavior, what makes us similar to or different from the species that is our closest living relative?" The numbers of students reading three books in Years 1 and 2 were 2 and 12 in genetics, and 4 and 3 in reproductive physiology; those reading two books in Years 1 and 2 were 5 and 20 in genetics, and 0 and 2 in reproductive physiology; and those reading one book in Years 1 and 2 were 21 and 31 in genetics, and 7 and 8 in reproductive physiology. The numbers of students that read no books in Years 1 and 2 were 33 and 27 in genetics, and 45 and 20 in reproductive physiology. Participation in the reading project occurred independently of course grades. Sixteen genetics students from the second year's class, eight that had participated in the extra credit reading and eight that had not, volunteered to be reexamined on material from the class. The reexamination was conducted 3 mo after the end of the class. With first exam score fitted as a covariate (P < 0.10), participation in the extra credit reading assignment did not affect score on the reexamination; participants averaged 67% correct answers, nonparticipants averaged 59% (P = 0.37). Comments on course evaluations indicated broad satisfaction with the assignments. Although no improvement of retention could be documented from this project, our objective of encouraging students to engage in reading material supplemental to courses in genetics and reproductive physiology was satisfied.

  13. Frequency Assignments for HFDF Receivers in a Search and Rescue Network

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1990-03-01

    SAR problem where whether or not a signal is detected by RS or HFDF at the various stations is described by probabilities. Daskin assumes the...allows the problem to be formulated with a linear objective function (6:52-53). Daskin also developed a heuristic solution algorithm to solve this...en CM in o CM CM < I Q < - -.~- -^ * . . . ■ . ,■ . :ST.-.r . 5 Frequency Assignments for HFDF Receivers in a Search and

  14. Overcoming an obstacle in expanding a UMLS semantic type extent.

    PubMed

    Chen, Yan; Gu, Huanying; Perl, Yehoshua; Geller, James

    2012-02-01

    This paper strives to overcome a major problem encountered by a previous expansion methodology for discovering concepts highly likely to be missing a specific semantic type assignment in the UMLS. This methodology is the basis for an algorithm that presents the discovered concepts to a human auditor for review and possible correction. We analyzed the problem of the previous expansion methodology and discovered that it was due to an obstacle constituted by one or more concepts assigned the UMLS Semantic Network semantic type Classification. A new methodology was designed that bypasses such an obstacle without a combinatorial explosion in the number of concepts presented to the human auditor for review. The new expansion methodology with obstacle avoidance was tested with the semantic type Experimental Model of Disease and found over 500 concepts missed by the previous methodology that are in need of this semantic type assignment. Furthermore, other semantic types suffering from the same major problem were discovered, indicating that the methodology is of more general applicability. The algorithmic discovery of concepts that are likely missing a semantic type assignment is possible even in the face of obstacles, without an explosion in the number of processed concepts. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Overcoming an Obstacle in Expanding a UMLS Semantic Type Extent

    PubMed Central

    Chen, Yan; Gu, Huanying; Perl, Yehoshua; Geller, James

    2011-01-01

    This paper strives to overcome a major problem encountered by a previous expansion methodology for discovering concepts highly likely to be missing a specific semantic type assignment in the UMLS. This methodology is the basis for an algorithm that presents the discovered concepts to a human auditor for review and possible correction. We analyzed the problem of the previous expansion methodology and discovered that it was due to an obstacle constituted by one or more concepts assigned the UMLS Semantic Network semantic type Classification. A new methodology was designed that bypasses such an obstacle without a combinatorial explosion in the number of concepts presented to the human auditor for review. The new expansion methodology with obstacle avoidance was tested with the semantic type Experimental Model of Disease and found over 500 concepts missed by the previous methodology that are in need of this semantic type assignment. Furthermore, other semantic types suffering from the same major problem were discovered, indicating that the methodology is of more general applicability. The algorithmic discovery of concepts that are likely missing a semantic type assignment is possible even in the face of obstacles, without an explosion in the number of processed concepts. PMID:21925287

  16. The generalized pole assignment problem. [dynamic output feedback problems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Djaferis, T. E.; Mitter, S. K.

    1979-01-01

    Two dynamic output feedback problems for a linear, strictly proper system are considered, along with their interrelationships. The problems are formulated in the frequency domain and investigated in terms of linear equations over rings of polynomials. Necessary and sufficient conditions are expressed using genericity.

  17. Formative feedback and scaffolding for developing complex problem solving and modelling outcomes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Frank, Brian; Simper, Natalie; Kaupp, James

    2018-07-01

    This paper discusses the use and impact of formative feedback and scaffolding to develop outcomes for complex problem solving in a required first-year course in engineering design and practice at a medium-sized research-intensive Canadian university. In 2010, the course began to use team-based, complex, open-ended contextualised problems to develop problem solving, communications, teamwork, modelling, and professional skills. Since then, formative feedback has been incorporated into: task and process-level feedback on scaffolded tasks in-class, formative assignments, and post-assignment review. Development in complex problem solving and modelling has been assessed through analysis of responses from student surveys, direct criterion-referenced assessment of course outcomes from 2013 to 2015, and an external longitudinal study. The findings suggest that students are improving in outcomes related to complex problem solving over the duration of the course. Most notably, the addition of new feedback and scaffolding coincided with improved student performance.

  18. Child-Level Predictors of Responsiveness to Evidence-Based Mathematics Intervention.

    PubMed

    Powell, Sarah R; Cirino, Paul T; Malone, Amelia S

    2017-07-01

    We identified child-level predictors of responsiveness to 2 types of mathematics (calculation and word-problem) intervention among 2nd-grade children with mathematics difficulty. Participants were 250 children in 107 classrooms in 23 schools pretested on mathematics and general cognitive measures and posttested on mathematics measures. We assigned classrooms randomly assigned to calculation intervention, word-problem intervention, or business-as-usual control. Intervention lasted 17 weeks. Path analyses indicated that scores on working memory and language comprehension assessments moderated responsiveness to calculation intervention. No moderators were identified for responsiveness to word-problem intervention. Across both intervention groups and the control group, attentive behavior predicted both outcomes. Initial calculation skill predicted the calculation outcome, and initial language comprehension predicted word-problem outcomes. These results indicate that screening for calculation intervention should include a focus on working memory, language comprehension, attentive behavior, and calculations. Screening for word-problem intervention should focus on attentive behavior and word problems.

  19. 29 CFR 785.37 - Home to work on special one-day assignment in another city.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 3 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Home to work on special one-day assignment in another city... another city. A problem arises when an employee who regularly works at a fixed location in one city is given a special 1-day work assignment in another city. For example, an employee who works in Washington...

  20. 29 CFR 785.37 - Home to work on special one-day assignment in another city.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Home to work on special one-day assignment in another city... another city. A problem arises when an employee who regularly works at a fixed location in one city is given a special 1-day work assignment in another city. For example, an employee who works in Washington...

  1. Spectrum-to-Spectrum Searching Using a Proteome-wide Spectral Library*

    PubMed Central

    Yen, Chia-Yu; Houel, Stephane; Ahn, Natalie G.; Old, William M.

    2011-01-01

    The unambiguous assignment of tandem mass spectra (MS/MS) to peptide sequences remains a key unsolved problem in proteomics. Spectral library search strategies have emerged as a promising alternative for peptide identification, in which MS/MS spectra are directly compared against a reference library of confidently assigned spectra. Two problems relate to library size. First, reference spectral libraries are limited to rediscovery of previously identified peptides and are not applicable to new peptides, because of their incomplete coverage of the human proteome. Second, problems arise when searching a spectral library the size of the entire human proteome. We observed that traditional dot product scoring methods do not scale well with spectral library size, showing reduction in sensitivity when library size is increased. We show that this problem can be addressed by optimizing scoring metrics for spectrum-to-spectrum searches with large spectral libraries. MS/MS spectra for the 1.3 million predicted tryptic peptides in the human proteome are simulated using a kinetic fragmentation model (MassAnalyzer version2.1) to create a proteome-wide simulated spectral library. Searches of the simulated library increase MS/MS assignments by 24% compared with Mascot, when using probabilistic and rank based scoring methods. The proteome-wide coverage of the simulated library leads to 11% increase in unique peptide assignments, compared with parallel searches of a reference spectral library. Further improvement is attained when reference spectra and simulated spectra are combined into a hybrid spectral library, yielding 52% increased MS/MS assignments compared with Mascot searches. Our study demonstrates the advantages of using probabilistic and rank based scores to improve performance of spectrum-to-spectrum search strategies. PMID:21532008

  2. A group-based tasks allocation algorithm for the optimization of long leave opportunities in academic departments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Eyono Obono, S. D.; Basak, Sujit Kumar

    2011-12-01

    The general formulation of the assignment problem consists in the optimal allocation of a given set of tasks to a workforce. This problem is covered by existing literature for different domains such as distributed databases, distributed systems, transportation, packets radio networks, IT outsourcing, and teaching allocation. This paper presents a new version of the assignment problem for the allocation of academic tasks to staff members in departments with long leave opportunities. It presents the description of a workload allocation scheme and its algorithm, for the allocation of an equitable number of tasks in academic departments where long leaves are necessary.

  3. Bankruptcy cascades in interbank markets.

    PubMed

    Tedeschi, Gabriele; Mazloumian, Amin; Gallegati, Mauro; Helbing, Dirk

    2012-01-01

    We study a credit network and, in particular, an interbank system with an agent-based model. To understand the relationship between business cycles and cascades of bankruptcies, we model a three-sector economy with goods, credit and interbank market. In the interbank market, the participating banks share the risk of bad debits, which may potentially spread a bank's liquidity problems through the network of banks. Our agent-based model sheds light on the correlation between bankruptcy cascades and the endogenous economic cycle of booms and recessions. It also demonstrates the serious trade-off between, on the one hand, reducing risks of individual banks by sharing them and, on the other hand, creating systemic risks through credit-related interlinkages of banks. As a result of our study, the dynamics underlying the meltdown of financial markets in 2008 becomes much better understandable.

  4. Bankruptcy Cascades in Interbank Markets

    PubMed Central

    Tedeschi, Gabriele; Mazloumian, Amin; Gallegati, Mauro; Helbing, Dirk

    2012-01-01

    We study a credit network and, in particular, an interbank system with an agent-based model. To understand the relationship between business cycles and cascades of bankruptcies, we model a three-sector economy with goods, credit and interbank market. In the interbank market, the participating banks share the risk of bad debits, which may potentially spread a bank’s liquidity problems through the network of banks. Our agent-based model sheds light on the correlation between bankruptcy cascades and the endogenous economic cycle of booms and recessions. It also demonstrates the serious trade-off between, on the one hand, reducing risks of individual banks by sharing them and, on the other hand, creating systemic risks through credit-related interlinkages of banks. As a result of our study, the dynamics underlying the meltdown of financial markets in 2008 becomes much better understandable. PMID:23300760

  5. Encouraging Sixth-Grade Students' Problem-Solving Performance by Teaching through Problem Solving

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bostic, Jonathan D.; Pape, Stephen J.; Jacobbe, Tim

    2016-01-01

    This teaching experiment provided students with continuous engagement in a problem-solving based instructional approach during one mathematics unit. Three sections of sixth-grade mathematics were sampled from a school in Florida, U.S.A. and one section was randomly assigned to experience teaching through problem solving. Students' problem-solving…

  6. Determination of production run time and warranty length under system maintenance and trade credits

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tsao, Yu-Chung

    2012-12-01

    Manufacturers offer a warranty period within which they will fix failed products at no cost to customers. Manufacturers also perform system maintenance when a system is in an out-of-control state. Suppliers provide a credit period to settle the payment to manufacturers. This study considers manufacturer's production and warranty decisions for an imperfect production system under system maintenance and trade credit. Specifically, this study uses the economic production quantity to model the decisions under system maintenance and trade credit. These decisions involve how long the production run time and warranty length should be to maximise total profit. This study provides lemmas for the conditions of optimality and develops a theorem and an algorithm for solving the problems described. Numerical examples illustrate the solution procedures and provide a variety of managerial implications. Results show that simultaneously determining production and warranty decisions is superior to only determining production. This study also discusses the effects of the related parameters on manufacturer's decisions and profits. The results of this study are a useful reference for managerial decision-making and administration.

  7. Preference in Random Assignment: Implications for the Interpretation of Randomized Trials

    PubMed Central

    Gold, Paul B.; Hargreaves, William A.; Aronson, Elliot; Bickman, Leonard; Barreira, Paul J.; Jones, Danson R.; Rodican, Charles F.; Fisher, William H.

    2009-01-01

    Random assignment to a preferred experimental condition can increase service engagement and enhance outcomes, while assignment to a less-preferred condition can discourage service receipt and limit outcome attainment. We examined randomized trials for one prominent psychiatric rehabilitation intervention, supported employment, to gauge how often assignment preference might have complicated the interpretation of findings. Condition descriptions, and greater early attrition from services-as-usual comparison conditions, suggest that many study enrollees favored assignment to new rapid-job-placement supported employment, but no study took this possibility into account. Reviews of trials in other service fields are needed to determine whether this design problem is widespread. PMID:19434489

  8. Assigning Oxidation States to Some Metal Dioxygen Complexes of Biological Interest.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Summerville, David A.; And Others

    1979-01-01

    The bonding of dioxygen in metal-dioxygen complexes is discussed, paying particular attention to the problems encountered in assigning conventional oxidation numbers to both the metal center and coordinated dioxygen. Complexes of iron, cobalt, chromium, and manganese are considered. (BB)

  9. College Students' Preferences for Psychotherapy across Depression, Anxiety, Relationship, and Academic Problems

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Joyce, Aaron W.; Ross, Michael J.; Vander Wal, Jillon S.; Austin, Chammie C.

    2009-01-01

    The present study examined differences in college students' preferences for processes of change across four kinds of problems: academic, relationship, depression, and anxiety. Two hundred eighteen undergraduates were randomly assigned to complete either an academic problems, relationship problems, depression, or anxiety Processes of Change…

  10. Interleaved Practice Improves Mathematics Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rohrer, Doug; Dedrick, Robert F.; Stershic, Sandra

    2015-01-01

    A typical mathematics assignment consists primarily of practice problems requiring the strategy introduced in the immediately preceding lesson (e.g., a dozen problems that are solved by using the Pythagorean theorem). This means that students know which strategy is needed to solve each problem before they read the problem. In an alternative…

  11. KSC-2009-3446

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2009-05-28

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The sun casts diamond-bright light over space shuttle Atlantis under the mate/demate device at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Atlantis is being fitted with a sling to lift it for attachment to the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, a modified Boeing 747. Atlantis landed at Edwards on May 24, which concluded mission STS-125, after two landing opportunities at Kennedy were waved off due to weather concerns. Atlantis is being returned to Florida on a ferry flight on the SCA. Atlantis' next assignment is the STS-129 mission, targeted to launch in November 2009. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

  12. NASA's New Horizons Pluto Mission: Continuing Voyager's Legacy o

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2014-08-25

    Dr. John Spencer, senior scientist at the Southwest Research Institute, left, Dr. Jeffrey Moore, senior scientist at NASA Ames Researh Center, center, and Dr. David H. Grinspoon, senior scientist at the Plentary Science Institute, left, are seen during a panel discussion at the "NASA's New Horizons Pluto Mission: Continuing Voyager's Legacy of Exploration" event on Monday, August, 25, 2014, in the James E. Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. The panelists gave their accounts of Voyager's encounter with Neptune and discussed their current assignments on NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

  13. KSC-2009-3462

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2009-05-31

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Bolted onto the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, a modified Boeing 747, space shuttle Atlantis gets ready for takeoff from Edwards Air Force Base in California, headed for its first stop at Biggs Army Air Field in El Paso, Texas. Atlantis landed at Edwards on May 24, which concluded mission STS-125, after two landing opportunities at Kennedy were waved off due to weather concerns. Atlantis is being returned to Florida on a ferry flight on the SCA. Atlantis' next assignment is the STS-129 mission, targeted to launch in November 2009. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

  14. KSC-2009-3455

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2009-05-30

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – At Edwards Air Force Base in California, a sling in the mate/demate device hoists space shuttle Atlantis from the ground. A Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, will be moved underneath and Atlantis bolted to the top of the modified Boeing 747. Atlantis landed at Edwards on May 24, which concluded mission STS-125, after two landing opportunities at Kennedy were waved off due to weather concerns. Atlantis is being returned to Florida on a ferry flight on the SCA. Atlantis' next assignment is the STS-129 mission, targeted to launch in November 2009. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

  15. KSC-2009-3449

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2009-05-29

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – At Edwards Air Force Base in California, space shuttle Atlantis is fitted with a tail cone, which protects the aft engine area and provides a more efficient aeronautical dimension during its piggyback flight on the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, a modified Boeing 747. Atlantis landed at Edwards on May 24, which concluded mission STS-125, after two landing opportunities at Kennedy were waved off due to weather concerns. Atlantis is being returned to Florida on a ferry flight on the SCA. Atlantis' next assignment is the STS-129 mission, targeted to launch in November 2009. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

  16. Binary Bees Algorithm - bioinspiration from the foraging mechanism of honeybees to optimize a multiobjective multidimensional assignment problem

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xu, Shuo; Ji, Ze; Truong Pham, Duc; Yu, Fan

    2011-11-01

    The simultaneous mission assignment and home allocation for hospital service robots studied is a Multidimensional Assignment Problem (MAP) with multiobjectives and multiconstraints. A population-based metaheuristic, the Binary Bees Algorithm (BBA), is proposed to optimize this NP-hard problem. Inspired by the foraging mechanism of honeybees, the BBA's most important feature is an explicit functional partitioning between global search and local search for exploration and exploitation, respectively. Its key parts consist of adaptive global search, three-step elitism selection (constraint handling, non-dominated solutions selection, and diversity preservation), and elites-centred local search within a Hamming neighbourhood. Two comparative experiments were conducted to investigate its single objective optimization, optimization effectiveness (indexed by the S-metric and C-metric) and optimization efficiency (indexed by computational burden and CPU time) in detail. The BBA outperformed its competitors in almost all the quantitative indices. Hence, the above overall scheme, and particularly the searching history-adapted global search strategy was validated.

  17. GCSE Assessment Notes: Six GCSE Assessment Assignments.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Graham, Stephen

    1988-01-01

    Provided are copy masters, instructions for use, and grading criteria for six problems used as part of the practical assessment for a modular science course. Each problem gives a narrative and a list of materials necessary to complete the problem. (CW)

  18. Markov Chain Model with Catastrophe to Determine Mean Time to Default of Credit Risky Assets

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dharmaraja, Selvamuthu; Pasricha, Puneet; Tardelli, Paola

    2017-11-01

    This article deals with the problem of probabilistic prediction of the time distance to default for a firm. To model the credit risk, the dynamics of an asset is described as a function of a homogeneous discrete time Markov chain subject to a catastrophe, the default. The behaviour of the Markov chain is investigated and the mean time to the default is expressed in a closed form. The methodology to estimate the parameters is given. Numerical results are provided to illustrate the applicability of the proposed model on real data and their analysis is discussed.

  19. Real life working shift assignment problem

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sze, San-Nah; Kwek, Yeek-Ling; Tiong, Wei-King; Chiew, Kang-Leng

    2017-07-01

    This study concerns about the working shift assignment in an outlet of Supermarket X in Eastern Mall, Kuching. The working shift assignment needs to be solved at least once in every month. Current approval process of working shifts is too troublesome and time-consuming. Furthermore, the management staff cannot have an overview of manpower and working shift schedule. Thus, the aim of this study is to develop working shift assignment simulation and propose a working shift assignment solution. The main objective for this study is to fulfill manpower demand at minimum operation cost. Besides, the day off and meal break policy should be fulfilled accordingly. Demand based heuristic is proposed to assign working shift and the quality of the solution is evaluated by using the real data.

  20. Developing Online Oceanography at UCSB

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Prothero, W. A.; Dodson, H.

    2001-12-01

    Oceanography at UCSB is an introductory general education science course taken by up to 200 students per quarter. The emphasis is on learning science process by engaging in authentic science activities that use real earth data. Recently, to increase student motivation, the course has been modified to include an Earth Summit framework. The online support being developed for this course is the first step in the creation of a completely online oceanography class. Foundation software was first tested in the class during Spring 2001. Online activities that are supported are writing and instructor feedback, online threaded discussion with live chat and graphics, automatically graded homeworks and games, auto graded quizzes with questions randomly selected from a database, and thought problems graded by the instructor(s). Future plans include integration with commercial course management software. To allow choice of assignments, all course activities totaled110%. Since grades were based on A=90-100, B=80-90, C= 70-80, etc, it was possible to get a better than A grade. Students see the effect (on their grade) of each assignment by calculating their current course grade. Course activities included (most of which are automatically graded): weekly lab homeworks, weekly mini-quizzes (10 multiple choice questions selected at random from a topic database), weekly thought questions (graded by the TA), 3 written assignments, and "Question of the Day" from lecture (credit given for handing it in), The online writing software allowed students to enter their writing, edit and link to graphic images, print the paper, and electronically hand it in. This has the enormous advantage of allowing the instructor and TA's convenient access to all student papers. At the end of the course, students were asked how effective each of the course activities were in learning the course material. On a five point scale, ranging from highest contribution to lowest, the percentage of students giving ratings of 4 or 5 (highest) were: lectures: 27%, labs: 70%, earth summit activities: 57%, weekly thought questions: 36%, Questions of the day: 34%, weekly quizzes: 51%, weekly homeworks: 48%, writing assignments: 68%. Course difficulty responses were symmetrically peaked at a rating of 3, indicating that the course was taught at the right level. 64% of the students responded with 4 or 5 level to "I worked very hard in this class." Join the DLESE "Oceanography" interest group (www.dlese.org) to discuss and help develop oceanography course materials. >http://oceanography.geol.ucsb.edu/Support/CourseWare/Index.html

  1. 78 FR 36134 - Limitations on Terms of Consumer Credit Extended to Service Members and Dependents

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-06-17

    ... Internet at http://www.regulations.gov as they are received without change, including any personal... the use of defined products, problems caused by similar and emerging products, and the use of...

  2. 5 CFR 839.101 - What is the Federal Erroneous Retirement Coverage Corrections Act?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ...) is Title II of Public Law 106-265, enacted September 19, 2000. The FERCCA addresses the problems... retirement plans, (2) New rules for crediting civilian and military service that was not subject to...

  3. Measuring Human Performance on Clustering Problems: Some Potential Objective Criteria and Experimental Research Opportunities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brusco, Michael J.

    2007-01-01

    The study of human performance on discrete optimization problems has a considerable history that spans various disciplines. The two most widely studied problems are the Euclidean traveling salesperson problem and the quadratic assignment problem. The purpose of this paper is to outline a program of study for the measurement of human performance on…

  4. An investigation of the use of temporal decomposition in space mission scheduling

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bullington, Stanley E.; Narayanan, Venkat

    1994-01-01

    This research involves an examination of techniques for solving scheduling problems in long-duration space missions. The mission timeline is broken up into several time segments, which are then scheduled incrementally. Three methods are presented for identifying the activities that are to be attempted within these segments. The first method is a mathematical model, which is presented primarily to illustrate the structure of the temporal decomposition problem. Since the mathematical model is bound to be computationally prohibitive for realistic problems, two heuristic assignment procedures are also presented. The first heuristic method is based on dispatching rules for activity selection, and the second heuristic assigns performances of a model evenly over timeline segments. These heuristics are tested using a sample Space Station mission and a Spacelab mission. The results are compared with those obtained by scheduling the missions without any problem decomposition. The applicability of this approach to large-scale mission scheduling problems is also discussed.

  5. Parallel, Asynchronous Executive (PAX): System concepts, facilities, and architecture

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jones, W. H.

    1983-01-01

    The Parallel, Asynchronous Executive (PAX) is a software operating system simulation that allows many computers to work on a single problem at the same time. PAX is currently implemented on a UNIVAC 1100/42 computer system. Independent UNIVAC runstreams are used to simulate independent computers. Data are shared among independent UNIVAC runstreams through shared mass-storage files. PAX has achieved the following: (1) applied several computing processes simultaneously to a single, logically unified problem; (2) resolved most parallel processor conflicts by careful work assignment; (3) resolved by means of worker requests to PAX all conflicts not resolved by work assignment; (4) provided fault isolation and recovery mechanisms to meet the problems of an actual parallel, asynchronous processing machine. Additionally, one real-life problem has been constructed for the PAX environment. This is CASPER, a collection of aerodynamic and structural dynamic problem simulation routines. CASPER is not discussed in this report except to provide examples of parallel-processing techniques.

  6. MILP model for integrated balancing and sequencing mixed-model two-sided assembly line with variable launching interval and assignment restrictions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Azmi, N. I. L. Mohd; Ahmad, R.; Zainuddin, Z. M.

    2017-09-01

    This research explores the Mixed-Model Two-Sided Assembly Line (MMTSAL). There are two interrelated problems in MMTSAL which are line balancing and model sequencing. In previous studies, many researchers considered these problems separately and only few studied them simultaneously for one-sided line. However in this study, these two problems are solved simultaneously to obtain more efficient solution. The Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) model with objectives of minimizing total utility work and idle time is generated by considering variable launching interval and assignment restriction constraint. The problem is analysed using small-size test cases to validate the integrated model. Throughout this paper, numerical experiment was conducted by using General Algebraic Modelling System (GAMS) with the solver CPLEX. Experimental results indicate that integrating the problems of model sequencing and line balancing help to minimise the proposed objectives function.

  7. NVR-BIP: Nuclear Vector Replacement using Binary Integer Programming for NMR Structure-Based Assignments.

    PubMed

    Apaydin, Mehmet Serkan; Çatay, Bülent; Patrick, Nicholas; Donald, Bruce R

    2011-05-01

    Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is an important experimental technique that allows one to study protein structure and dynamics in solution. An important bottleneck in NMR protein structure determination is the assignment of NMR peaks to the corresponding nuclei. Structure-based assignment (SBA) aims to solve this problem with the help of a template protein which is homologous to the target and has applications in the study of structure-activity relationship, protein-protein and protein-ligand interactions. We formulate SBA as a linear assignment problem with additional nuclear overhauser effect constraints, which can be solved within nuclear vector replacement's (NVR) framework (Langmead, C., Yan, A., Lilien, R., Wang, L. and Donald, B. (2003) A Polynomial-Time Nuclear Vector Replacement Algorithm for Automated NMR Resonance Assignments. Proc. the 7th Annual Int. Conf. Research in Computational Molecular Biology (RECOMB) , Berlin, Germany, April 10-13, pp. 176-187. ACM Press, New York, NY. J. Comp. Bio. , (2004), 11, pp. 277-298; Langmead, C. and Donald, B. (2004) An expectation/maximization nuclear vector replacement algorithm for automated NMR resonance assignments. J. Biomol. NMR , 29, 111-138). Our approach uses NVR's scoring function and data types and also gives the option of using CH and NH residual dipolar coupling (RDCs), instead of NH RDCs which NVR requires. We test our technique on NVR's data set as well as on four new proteins. Our results are comparable to NVR's assignment accuracy on NVR's test set, but higher on novel proteins. Our approach allows partial assignments. It is also complete and can return the optimum as well as near-optimum assignments. Furthermore, it allows us to analyze the information content of each data type and is easily extendable to accept new forms of input data, such as additional RDCs.

  8. The use of writing assignments to help students synthesize content in upper-level undergraduate biology courses.

    PubMed

    Sparks-Thissen, Rebecca L

    2017-02-01

    Biology education is undergoing a transformation toward a more student-centered, inquiry-driven classroom. Many educators have designed engaging assignments that are designed to help undergraduate students gain exposure to the scientific process and data analysis. One of these types of assignments is use of a grant proposal assignment. Many instructors have used these assignments in lecture-based courses to help students process information in the literature and apply that information to a novel problem such as design of an antiviral drug or a vaccine. These assignments have been helpful in engaging students in the scientific process in the absence of an inquiry-driven laboratory. This commentary discusses the application of these grant proposal writing assignments to undergraduate biology courses. © FEMS 2017. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  9. Ecologically-Based Family Therapy Outcome with Substance Abusing Runaway Adolescents

    PubMed Central

    Slesnick, Natasha; Prestopnik, Jillian L.

    2007-01-01

    Runaway youth report a broader range and higher severity of substance-related, mental health and family problems relative to non-runaway youth. Most studies to date have collected self-report data on the family and social history; virtually no research has examined treatment effectiveness with this population. This study is a treatment development project in which 124 runaway youth were randomly assigned to 1) Ecologically-Based Family Therapy (EBFT) or 2) Service as Usual (SAU) through a shelter. Youth completed an intake, posttreatment, 6 and 12 month follow-up assessment. Youth assigned to EBFT reported greater reductions in overall substance abuse compared to youth assigned to SAU while other problem areas improved in both conditions. Findings suggest that EBFT is an efficacious intervention for this relatively severe population of youth. PMID:15878048

  10. Using sound to solve syntactic problems: the role of phonology in grammatical category assignments.

    PubMed

    Kelly, M H

    1992-04-01

    One ubiquitous problem in language processing involves the assignment of words to the correct grammatical category, such as noun or verb. In general, semantic and syntactic cues have been cited as the principal information for grammatical category assignment, to the neglect of possible phonological cues. This neglect is unwarranted, and the following claims are made: (a) Numerous correlations between phonology and grammatical class exist, (b) some of these correlations are large and can pervade the entire lexicon of a language and hence can involve thousands of words, (c) experiments have repeatedly found that adults and children have learned these correlations, and (d) explanations for how these correlations arose can be proposed and evaluated. Implications of these phenomena for language representation and processing are discussed.

  11. Programme impact on current contraception in Bangladesh.

    PubMed

    Latif, M A

    1994-03-01

    "This paper analyses the impact of three credit programmes--the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), the Bangladesh Rural Development Board's Rural Development-12 (BRDB RD-12), and the Grameen Bank (GB), on current rate of contraception. These programmes are targeted to alleviate poverty by providing group-based credit to the rural poor in creating self employment opportunities. With small credits, these programmes combine family planning activities in terms of consciousness raising, awareness building and motivation. Sample survey data are used to analyse the problem of impact evaluation. The analyses show that the BRAC and the GB programmes have [a] significantly positive impact on the current rate of contraception, while the BRDB RD-12 programme does not have any such impact. It is also found that education, both of female[s] and male[s] separately, and child survivorship have independently positive impact[s] on current contraception." excerpt

  12. Problem Solution Project: Transforming Curriculum and Empowering Urban Students and Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jarrett, Olga S.; Stenhouse, Vera

    2011-01-01

    This article presents findings of 6 years of implementing a Problem Solution Project, an assignment influenced by service learning, problem-based learning, critical theory, and critical pedagogy whereby teachers help children tackle real problems. Projects of 135 teachers in an urban certification/master's program were summarized by cohort year…

  13. Optimal UAS Assignments and Trajectories for Persistent Surveillance and Data Collection from a Wireless Sensor Network

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2015-12-24

    minimizing a weighted sum ofthe time and control effort needed to collect sensor data. This problem formulation is a modified traveling salesman ...29 2.5 The Shortest Path Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 2.5.1 Traveling Salesman Problem ...48 3.3.1 Initial Guess by Traveling Salesman Problem Solution

  14. American Viticultural Areas: A Problem in Regional Geography.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Macdonald, Gerald M.; Lemaire, Denyse

    1995-01-01

    Maintains that growing grapes for winemaking has increased dramatically in the United States. Describes a college class assignment in which students analyzed climate and soil type to identify appropriate viticulture areas. Reports high student interest in the assignment and includes four figures illustrating the approach. (CFR)

  15. Motion Planning and Task Assignment for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Cooperating with Unattended Ground Sensors

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2014-10-24

    problem was formalized as the Dubins travelling salesman problem (TSP). In the second phase of the research we have...given constraints on its motion. This problem was formalized as the Dubins travelling salesman problem (TSP). The contributions of the study in the... problem was formalized as the Dubins travelling salesman problem (TSP). The Dubins Travelling Salesperson Problem (DTSP) and its variants [8, 12,

  16. PROBABILISTIC CROSS-IDENTIFICATION IN CROWDED FIELDS AS AN ASSIGNMENT PROBLEM

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

    Budavári, Tamás; Basu, Amitabh, E-mail: budavari@jhu.edu, E-mail: basu.amitabh@jhu.edu

    2016-10-01

    One of the outstanding challenges of cross-identification is multiplicity: detections in crowded regions of the sky are often linked to more than one candidate associations of similar likelihoods. We map the resulting maximum likelihood partitioning to the fundamental assignment problem of discrete mathematics and efficiently solve the two-way catalog-level matching in the realm of combinatorial optimization using the so-called Hungarian algorithm. We introduce the method, demonstrate its performance in a mock universe where the true associations are known, and discuss the applicability of the new procedure to large surveys.

  17. NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    2018-05-01

    Eigenvalues and eigenvectors, together, constitute the eigenstructure of the system. The design of vibrating systems aimed at satisfying specifications on eigenvalues and eigenvectors, which is commonly known as eigenstructure assignment, has drawn increasing interest over the recent years. The most natural mathematical framework for such problems is constituted by the inverse eigenproblems, which consist in the determination of the system model that features a desired set of eigenvalues and eigenvectors. Although such a problem is intrinsically challenging, several solutions have been proposed in the literature. The approaches to eigenstructure assignment can be basically divided into passive control and active control.

  18. Probabilistic Cross-identification in Crowded Fields as an Assignment Problem

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Budavári, Tamás; Basu, Amitabh

    2016-10-01

    One of the outstanding challenges of cross-identification is multiplicity: detections in crowded regions of the sky are often linked to more than one candidate associations of similar likelihoods. We map the resulting maximum likelihood partitioning to the fundamental assignment problem of discrete mathematics and efficiently solve the two-way catalog-level matching in the realm of combinatorial optimization using the so-called Hungarian algorithm. We introduce the method, demonstrate its performance in a mock universe where the true associations are known, and discuss the applicability of the new procedure to large surveys.

  19. Complete virilization in congenital adrenal hyperplasia: clinical course, medical management and disease-related complications.

    PubMed

    Woelfle, J; Hoepffner, W; Sippell, W G; Brämswig, J H; Heidemann, P; Deiss, D; Bökenkamp, A; Roth, C; Irle, U; Wollmann, H A; Zachmann, M; Kubini, K; Albers, N

    2002-02-01

    In girls with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), genital ambiguity usually leads to a rapid neonatal diagnosis. Rarely, CAH causes complete virilization and male sex assignment with a delayed diagnosis. After being confronted with very specific problems in two of such patients, we collected data of patients with CAH and complete virilization in a nationwide study to delineate specific problems of these rare patients in order to improve their management. Through the German Working Group of Paediatric Endocrinology (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Pädiatrische Endokrinologie, APE), questionnaires were sent to all members caring for patients with CAH and complete virilization in their endocrine clinics. Data from 16 patients from 10 paediatric endocrine centres were assessed by questionnaire. The following problems have been encountered. (1) Sex assignment/gender identity: initially all patients had a male sex assignment. Six patients were diagnosed during the first month of life. Five were reassigned to female sex immediately, one at the age of 19 months. Except in one girl demonstrating some tomboyish behaviour, gender role behaviour in these patients did not differ from unaffected girls. Ten patients were diagnosed late at 3.4--7 years of age. In seven patients with a late diagnosis, male sex assignment was maintained; one of them expressed some concerns about living as a male. In three patients late sex reversal was performed, gender identity is very poor in one and new sex assignment is currently under consideration. (2) SURGERY: irrespective of the sex assigned, all patients had between one and three surgical procedures, including clitoris reduction and (repeated) vaginoplasties in patients with female sex assignment. Hysterectomy and ovarectomy were performed in patients with male sex assignment. (3) Short stature: patients with a late diagnosis of CAH had extremely advanced bone ages of +6.3 to +9.5 years, leading to severely reduced final height of 137 to 150 cm in adult patients. Patients tended to follow height percentiles of genetic females. One pubertal patient was suicidal due to short stature. (4) Central precocious puberty (CPP): prolonged exposition to adrenal androgens led to CPP in one patient. He was treated with GnRH analogues until gonadectomy. Patients with CAH and complete virilization have a high risk of being diagnosed late. There are major problems and uncertainties of the patients' families and the treating physicians concerning gender assignment. Gender identity is disturbed in some patients. In addition, multiple surgical procedures are necessary and short stature as well as central precocious puberty might be important to avoid late sequelae. While some surgical interventions are probably unavoidable, most of these issues could be resolved with an early diagnosis. Thus, especially for these patients, a neonatal screening programme for CAH would be of paramount importance.

  20. Do emergency medical services dispatch nature and severity codes agree with paramedic field findings?

    PubMed

    Neely, K W; Eldurkar, J A; Drake, M E

    2000-02-01

    Emergency medical services (EMS) systems increasingly seek to triage patients to alternative EMS resources. Emergency medical services dispatchers may be asked to perform this triage. New protocols may be necessary. Alternatively, existing protocols may be sufficient for this task. For an existing dispatch protocol to be sufficient, it at least must accurately categorize patient condition and severity based on an external standard. To examine the extent to which nature codes (NCs), or patient condition codes, and severity codes (SCs) currently assigned in one urban 911 center agree with paramedic field findings. The null hypothesis was that there is no routine agreement (75%) between dispatcher-assigned NC or SC and paramedic-assigned NC or SC for the same patient using the same protocol. Emergency medical services dispatch nature and severity code data and matching out-of-hospital data were prospectively gathered over six months. Dispatch data included the NC: caller-identified problem, and the SC: dispatcher-assessed severity. Each NC is modified by one of three SCs (1, 3, or 9): 1 is emergent, 3 is urgent, and 9 is neither. Paramedics verified and/or corrected dispatcher-assigned NCs and SCs using the same dispatch protocol. One thousand forty usable cases fell into 33 unique NC/SC combinations. The designation of SC 1 was assigned 275 times, SC 3 was assigned 736 times, and SC 9 was assigned 24 times. The SC was missing five times. The overall NC agreement was 0.70 (95% CI = 0.697 to 0.703). The overall SC agreement was 0.65 (95% CI = 0.645 to 0.655). The NC agreement exceeded 75% for ten (59%) NC/SC combinations. The SC agreement exceeded 75% for five (29%) NC/SC combinations. There was both NC and SC agreement for four (24%) combinations: urgent breathing problems, urgent diabetic problems, urgent falls, and urgent overdoses. The greatest NC/SC disagreement occurred within emergent and urgent traffic crashes. Paramedics adjusted SC toward lower severity 29% of the time and toward higher severity 5.4% of the time. There was no upward SC adjustment for eight (47%) combinations. Certain dispatcher-assigned NC and SC codes and NC/SC combinations achieved the study threshold. Overall agreement failed to achieve the threshold. The lowest SC level was rarely assigned, preventing a meaningful analysis of all severity levels.

  1. Three geographic decomposition approaches in transportation network analysis

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1980-03-01

    This document describes the results of research into the application of geographic decomposition techniques to practical transportation network problems. Three approaches are described for the solution of the traffic assignment problem. One approach ...

  2. Application of Decomposition to Transportation Network Analysis

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1976-10-01

    This document reports preliminary results of five potential applications of the decomposition techniques from mathematical programming to transportation network problems. The five application areas are (1) the traffic assignment problem with fixed de...

  3. Accelerated Math®. Primary Mathematics. What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Report

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    What Works Clearinghouse, 2017

    2017-01-01

    "Accelerated Math®," published by Renaissance Learning, is a software tool that provides practice problems for students in grades K-12 and provides teachers with reports to monitor student progress. "Accelerated Math®" creates individualized student assignments, scores the assignments, and generates reports on student progress.…

  4. (Explain It) x 3

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McGuire, Linda

    2014-01-01

    This article will describe a writing assignment designed for use in a liberal arts college whose mission stresses effective written communication both within and across disciplines. In this assignment, students write three separate solutions to the same mathematics problem: one for a mathematical peer, a second for a contemporary that does not…

  5. Using Portfolio Assignments to Assess Students' Mathematical Thinking

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fukawa-Connelly, Timothy; Buck, Stephen

    2010-01-01

    Writing in mathematics can improve procedural knowledge and communication skills and may also help students better understand and then remember problems. The majority of mathematics teachers know that they ought to include some writing assignments in their instructional plans, but the challenge of covering the curriculum and the time required to…

  6. Student's Lab Assignments in PDE Course with MAPLE.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ponidi, B. Alhadi

    Computer-aided software has been used intensively in many mathematics courses, especially in computational subjects, to solve initial value and boundary value problems in Partial Differential Equations (PDE). Many software packages were used in student lab assignments such as FORTRAN, PASCAL, MATLAB, MATHEMATICA, and MAPLE in order to accelerate…

  7. Listener Reliability in Assigning Utterance Boundaries in Children's Spontaneous Speech

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stockman, Ida J.

    2010-01-01

    Research and clinical practices often rely on an utterance unit for spoken language analysis. This paper calls attention to the problems encountered when identifying utterance boundaries in young children's spontaneous conversational speech. The results of a reliability study of utterance boundary assignment are described for 20 females with…

  8. Distributed Collaborative Homework Activities in a Problem-Based Usability Engineering Course

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Carroll, John M.; Jiang, Hao; Borge, Marcela

    2015-01-01

    Teams of students in an upper-division undergraduate Usability Engineering course used a collaborative environment to carry out a series of three distributed collaborative homework assignments. Assignments were case-based analyses structured using a jigsaw design; students were provided a collaborative software environment and introduced to a…

  9. Increasing Student-Learning Team Effectiveness with Team Charters

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hunsaker, Phillip; Pavett, Cynthia; Hunsaker, Johanna

    2011-01-01

    Because teams are a ubiquitous part of most organizations today, it is common for business educators to use team assignments to help students experientially learn about course concepts and team process. Unfortunately, students frequently experience a number of problems during team assignments. The authors describe the results of their research and…

  10. Teaching Case: A Systems Analysis Role-Play Exercise and Assignment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mitri, Michel; Cole, Carey; Atkins, Laura

    2017-01-01

    This paper presents a role-play exercise and assignment that provides an active learning experience related to the system investigation phase of an SDLC. Whether using waterfall or agile approaches, the first SDLC step usually involves system investigation activities, including problem identification, feasibility study, cost-benefit analysis, and…

  11. 38 CFR 21.198 - “Discontinued” status.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... personal or other problems; or (ii) Inability of the veteran to benefit from rehabilitation services... of entitlement. (4) Medical and related problems. A veteran's case will be discontinued and assigned... program because of a serious physical or emotional problem for an extended period; and (ii) VA medical...

  12. 38 CFR 21.198 - “Discontinued” status.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... personal or other problems; or (ii) Inability of the veteran to benefit from rehabilitation services... of entitlement. (4) Medical and related problems. A veteran's case will be discontinued and assigned... program because of a serious physical or emotional problem for an extended period; and (ii) VA medical...

  13. Separation anxiety among birth-assigned male children in a specialty gender identity service.

    PubMed

    VanderLaan, Doug P; Santarossa, Alanna; Nabbijohn, A Natisha; Wood, Hayley; Owen-Anderson, Allison; Zucker, Kenneth J

    2018-01-01

    Previous research suggested that separation anxiety disorder (SAD) is overrepresented among birth-assigned male children clinic-referred for gender dysphoria (GD). The present study examined maternally reported separation anxiety of birth-assigned male children assessed in a specialty gender identity service (N = 360). SAD was determined in relation to DSM-III and DSM-IV criteria, respectively. A dimensional metric of separation anxiety was examined in relation to several additional factors: age, ethnicity, parental marital status and social class, IQ, gender nonconformity, behavioral and emotional problems, and poor peer relations. When defined in a liberal fashion, 55.8% were classified as having SAD. When using a more conservative criterion, 5.3% were classified as having SAD, which was significantly greater than the estimated general population prevalence for boys, but not for girls. Dimensionally, separation anxiety was associated with having parents who were not married or cohabitating as well as with elevations in gender nonconformity; however, the association with gender nonconformity was no longer significant when statistically controlling for internalizing problems. Thus, SAD appears to be common among birth-assigned males clinic-referred for GD when defined in a liberal fashion, and more common than in boys, but not girls, from the general population even when more stringent criteria were applied. Also, the degree of separation anxiety appears to be linked to generic risk factors (i.e., parental marital status, internalizing problems). As such, although separation anxiety is common among birth-assigned male children clinic-referred for GD, it seems unlikely to hold unique significance for this population based on the current data.

  14. Multi-topic assignment for exploratory navigation of consumer health information in NetWellness using formal concept analysis.

    PubMed

    Cui, Licong; Xu, Rong; Luo, Zhihui; Wentz, Susan; Scarberry, Kyle; Zhang, Guo-Qiang

    2014-08-03

    Finding quality consumer health information online can effectively bring important public health benefits to the general population. It can empower people with timely and current knowledge for managing their health and promoting wellbeing. Despite a popular belief that search engines such as Google can solve all information access problems, recent studies show that using search engines and simple search terms is not sufficient. Our objective is to provide an approach to organizing consumer health information for navigational exploration, complementing keyword-based direct search. Multi-topic assignment to health information, such as online questions, is a fundamental step for navigational exploration. We introduce a new multi-topic assignment method combining semantic annotation using UMLS concepts (CUIs) and Formal Concept Analysis (FCA). Each question was tagged with CUIs identified by MetaMap. The CUIs were filtered with term-frequency and a new term-strength index to construct a CUI-question context. The CUI-question context and a topic-subject context were used for multi-topic assignment, resulting in a topic-question context. The topic-question context was then directly used for constructing a prototype navigational exploration interface. Experimental evaluation was performed on the task of automatic multi-topic assignment of 99 predefined topics for about 60,000 consumer health questions from NetWellness. Using example-based metrics, suitable for multi-topic assignment problems, our method achieved a precision of 0.849, recall of 0.774, and F₁ measure of 0.782, using a reference standard of 278 questions with manually assigned topics. Compared to NetWellness' original topic assignment, a 36.5% increase in recall is achieved with virtually no sacrifice in precision. Enhancing the recall of multi-topic assignment without sacrificing precision is a prerequisite for achieving the benefits of navigational exploration. Our new multi-topic assignment method, combining term-strength, FCA, and information retrieval techniques, significantly improved recall and performed well according to example-based metrics.

  15. Multi-topic assignment for exploratory navigation of consumer health information in NetWellness using formal concept analysis

    PubMed Central

    2014-01-01

    Background Finding quality consumer health information online can effectively bring important public health benefits to the general population. It can empower people with timely and current knowledge for managing their health and promoting wellbeing. Despite a popular belief that search engines such as Google can solve all information access problems, recent studies show that using search engines and simple search terms is not sufficient. Our objective is to provide an approach to organizing consumer health information for navigational exploration, complementing keyword-based direct search. Multi-topic assignment to health information, such as online questions, is a fundamental step for navigational exploration. Methods We introduce a new multi-topic assignment method combining semantic annotation using UMLS concepts (CUIs) and Formal Concept Analysis (FCA). Each question was tagged with CUIs identified by MetaMap. The CUIs were filtered with term-frequency and a new term-strength index to construct a CUI-question context. The CUI-question context and a topic-subject context were used for multi-topic assignment, resulting in a topic-question context. The topic-question context was then directly used for constructing a prototype navigational exploration interface. Results Experimental evaluation was performed on the task of automatic multi-topic assignment of 99 predefined topics for about 60,000 consumer health questions from NetWellness. Using example-based metrics, suitable for multi-topic assignment problems, our method achieved a precision of 0.849, recall of 0.774, and F1 measure of 0.782, using a reference standard of 278 questions with manually assigned topics. Compared to NetWellness’ original topic assignment, a 36.5% increase in recall is achieved with virtually no sacrifice in precision. Conclusion Enhancing the recall of multi-topic assignment without sacrificing precision is a prerequisite for achieving the benefits of navigational exploration. Our new multi-topic assignment method, combining term-strength, FCA, and information retrieval techniques, significantly improved recall and performed well according to example-based metrics. PMID:25086916

  16. CONTROLLING STORMWATER RUNOFF WITH TRADABLE CREDITS FOR IMPERVIOUS SURFACES

    EPA Science Inventory

    Stormwater flow from an impervious surface can lead to stream degradation, habitat alteration, low base flows and increased toxic loadings from nonpoint sources, a problem that has resisted traditional command and control regulatory approaches. We explore the thesis that a well ...

  17. When students can choose easy, medium, or hard homework problems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Teodorescu, Raluca E.; Seaton, Daniel T.; Cardamone, Caroline N.; Rayyan, Saif; Abbott, Jonathan E.; Barrantes, Analia; Pawl, Andrew; Pritchard, David E.

    2012-02-01

    We investigate student-chosen, multi-level homework in our Integrated Learning Environment for Mechanics [1] built using the LON-CAPA [2] open-source learning system. Multi-level refers to problems categorized as easy, medium, and hard. Problem levels were determined a priori based on the knowledge needed to solve them [3]. We analyze these problems using three measures: time-per-problem, LON-CAPA difficulty, and item difficulty measured by item response theory. Our analysis of student behavior in this environment suggests that time-per-problem is strongly dependent on problem category, unlike either score-based measures. We also found trends in student choice of problems, overall effort, and efficiency across the student population. Allowing students choice in problem solving seems to improve their motivation; 70% of students worked additional problems for which no credit was given.

  18. Examining the Preparatory Effects of Problem Generation and Solution Generation on Learning from Instruction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kapur, Manu

    2018-01-01

    The goal of this paper is to isolate the preparatory effects of problem-generation from solution generation in problem-posing contexts, and their underlying mechanisms on learning from instruction. Using a randomized-controlled design, students were assigned to one of two conditions: (a) problem-posing with solution generation, where they…

  19. Introduction of a Population Balance Based Design Problem in a Particle Science and Technology Course for Chemical Engineers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ehrman, Sheryl H.; Castellanos, Patricia; Dwivedi, Vivek; Diemer, R. Bertrum

    2007-01-01

    A particle technology design problem incorporating population balance modeling was developed and assigned to senior and first-year graduate students in a Particle Science and Technology course. The problem focused on particle collection, with a pipeline agglomerator, Cyclone, and baghouse comprising the collection system. The problem was developed…

  20. Investigating the Effect of Complexity Factors in Stoichiometry Problems Using Logistic Regression and Eye Tracking

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tang, Hui; Kirk, John; Pienta, Norbert J.

    2014-01-01

    This paper includes two experiments, one investigating complexity factors in stoichiometry word problems, and the other identifying students' problem-solving protocols by using eye-tracking technology. The word problems used in this study had five different complexity factors, which were randomly assigned by a Web-based tool that we developed. The…

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