Problem-solving tools for analyzing system problems. The affinity map and the relationship diagram.

PubMed

Lepley, C J

1998-12-01

The author describes how to use two management tools, an affinity map and a relationship diagram, to define and analyze aspects of a complex problem in a system. The affinity map identifies the key influencing elements of the problem, whereas the relationship diagram helps to identify the area that is the most important element of the issue. Managers can use the tools to draw a map of problem drivers, graphically display the drivers in a diagram, and use the diagram to develop a cause-and-effect relationship.

Analysis of general aviation single-pilot IFR incident data obtained from the NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bergeron, H. P.

1983-01-01

An analysis of incident data obtained from the NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) has been made to determine the problem areas in general aviation single-pilot IFR (SPIFR) operations. The Aviation Safety Reporting System data base is a compilation of voluntary reports of incidents from any person who has observed or been involved in an occurrence which was believed to have posed a threat to flight safety. This paper examines only those reported incidents specifically related to general aviation single-pilot IFR operations. The frequency of occurrence of factors related to the incidents was the criterion used to define significant problem areas and, hence, to suggest where research is needed. The data was cataloged into one of five major problem areas: (1) controller judgment and response problems, (2) pilot judgment and response problems, (3) air traffic control (ATC) intrafacility and interfacility conflicts, (4) ATC and pilot communication problems, and (5) IFR-VFR conflicts. In addition, several points common to all or most of the problems were observed and reported. These included human error, communications, procedures and rules, and work load.

System design considerations for a production-grade, ESR-based x-ray lithography beamline

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kovacs, Stephen; Melore, Dan; Cerrina, Franco; Cole, Richard K.

1991-08-01

As electron storage ring (ESR) based x-ray lithography technology moves closer to becoming an industrial reality, more and more attention has been devoted to studying problem areas related to its application in the production environment. A principle component is the x-ray lithography beamline (XLBL) and its associated design requirements. XLBL, an x-ray radiation transport system, is one of the three major subunits in the ESR-based x-ray lithography system (XLS) and has a pivotal role in defining performance characteristics of the entire XLS. Its major functions are to transport the synchrotron orbital radiation (SOR) to the lithography target area with defined efficiency and to modify SOR into the spectral distribution defined by the lithography process window. These functions must be performed reliably in order to satisfy the required high production rate and ensure 0.25 micron resolution lithography conditions. In this paper the authors attempt to answer some specific questions that arise during the formulation of an XLBL system design. Three principle issues that are essential to formulating a design are (1) Radiation transport efficiency, (2) X-ray optical configurations in the beamline, (3) Beamline system configurations. Some practical solutions to thee problem areas are presented, and the effects of these parameters on lithography production rate are examined.

Multi-Objective Constraint Satisfaction for Mobile Robot Area Defense

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-03-01

17 NSGA-II non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 jMetal Metaheuristic Algorithms in...to alert the other agents and ensure trust in the system. This research presents an algorithm that tasks robots to meet the two specific goals of...problem is defined as a constraint satisfaction problem solved using the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II). Both goals of

The Concept of Proportionality as a Predictor of Success at the University of Papua and New Guinea. E.R.U. Report 6.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, John

A main problem encountered by science and mathematics students at secondary and tertiary institutions throughout Papua New Guinea is that of dealing with ratio and proportion. The problem is most clearly defined in science, since this is the area in which the quantitative manipulation of physical variables is most frequently carried out. An…

Large scale systems : a study of computer organizations for air traffic control applications.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1971-06-01

Based on current sizing estimates and tracking algorithms, some computer organizations applicable to future air traffic control computing systems are described and assessed. Hardware and software problem areas are defined and solutions are outlined.

Alcohol and pleasure boat operators

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1975-06-01

This report presents an initial look at the involvement of alcohol in recreational boating. It attempts to identify a problem area. The report has three objectives: 1) to define drunkenness in small boating; 2) to describe a method of determining the...

Micro patterned surfaces: an effective tool for long term digital holographic microscopy cell imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mues, Sarah; Lilge, Inga; Schönherr, Holger; Kemper, Björn; Schnekenburger, Jürgen

2017-02-01

The major problem of Digital Holographic Microscopy (DHM) long term live cell imaging is that over time most of the tracked cells move out of the image area and other ones move in. Therefore, most of the cells are lost for the evaluation of individual cellular processes. Here, we present an effective solution for this crucial problem of long-term microscopic live cell analysis. We have generated functionalized slides containing areas of 250 μm per 200 μm. These micropatterned biointerfaces consist of passivating polyaclrylamide brushes (PAAm). Inner areas are backfilled with octadecanthiol (ODT), which allows cell attachment. The fouling properties of these surfaces are highly controllable and therefore the defined areas designed for the size our microscopic image areas were effective in keeping all cells inside the rectangles over the selected imaging period.

Research Instrument Sharing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coulter, Charles L.

1978-01-01

Discusses the scientific and financial aspects of large instrument sharing in natural science areas from the point of view of instrument centers, users and funding agencies. Concludes that effective actions, with well-defined goals, must be implemented to solve the problems of instrument sharing. (GA)

An Interdisciplinary Approach in Day Treatment of Emotionally Disturbed Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gritzka, Karen; And Others

1970-01-01

Explains how nurses, psychiatry aides, occupational therapists, and teachers combine skills to define each child's major problem areas and develop treatment plans. The approach provides consistency in the clinic and in relations between the clinic and the home. (MG)

Multi-UAV Routing for Area Coverage and Remote Sensing with Minimum Time.

PubMed

Avellar, Gustavo S C; Pereira, Guilherme A S; Pimenta, Luciano C A; Iscold, Paulo

2015-11-02

This paper presents a solution for the problem of minimum time coverage of ground areas using a group of unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) equipped with image sensors. The solution is divided into two parts: (i) the task modeling as a graph whose vertices are geographic coordinates determined in such a way that a single UAV would cover the area in minimum time; and (ii) the solution of a mixed integer linear programming problem, formulated according to the graph variables defined in the first part, to route the team of UAVs over the area. The main contribution of the proposed methodology, when compared with the traditional vehicle routing problem's (VRP) solutions, is the fact that our method solves some practical problems only encountered during the execution of the task with actual UAVs. In this line, one of the main contributions of the paper is that the number of UAVs used to cover the area is automatically selected by solving the optimization problem. The number of UAVs is influenced by the vehicles' maximum flight time and by the setup time, which is the time needed to prepare and launch a UAV. To illustrate the methodology, the paper presents experimental results obtained with two hand-launched, fixed-wing UAVs.

Promoting Self-Directed Learning in Developing or Poorly Defined Subject Areas: A Problem-Based Course in Molecular Biology, Genetics, and Cancer.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Edmondson, Katherine M.

A new problem-based course in molecular biology, genetics, and cancer for first-year veterinary students was developed at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University (New York). The course was developed out of a desire to foster student-centered and lifelong learning and to integrate basic and clinical science knowledge despite a lack…

Having it all: national benefit equity and local payment parity in Medicare.

PubMed

Dowd, Bryan; Feldman, Roger

2002-01-01

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) has identified two important problems with the Medicare+Choice (M+C) program: nationwide geographic inequity in government-financed benefits, and unequal government payments for M+C plans versus fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare in the same market area. MedPAC concludes that both problems cannot be solved simultaneously. We argue that both problems could be solved if Congress discontinued its policy of underwriting the cost of FFS Medicare. Instead, Congress should define a national entitlement benefit package and have all health plans submit bids on the package in each market area. The government's premium contribution should be equal to the lowest bid submitted by a qualified health plan in each market area. The contribution could be adjusted for health risk, the special obligations of FFS Medicare, and welfare enhancements associated with FFS Medicare that are valued by both beneficiaries and taxpayers but unrelated to beneficiaries' health status.

Computers Simulate Human Experts.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roberts, Steven K.

1983-01-01

Discusses recent progress in artificial intelligence in such narrowly defined areas as medical and electronic diagnosis. Also discusses use of expert systems, man-machine communication problems, novel programing environments (including comments on LISP and LISP machines), and types of knowledge used (factual, heuristic, and meta-knowledge). (JN)

Identification and development of countermeasures for bicyclist/motor-vehicle problem types. Volume 3, Model regulations

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1982-08-01

A detailed re-analysis of previously collected bicycle/motor-vehicle accident data (Cross and Fisher, 1977) was undertaken to define potential countermeasures. Countermeasure development was then undertaken in the areas of Training (see Volume I), Pu...

Identification and development of countermeasures for bicyclist/motor-vehicle problem types. Volume 2, Public information and education messages

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1982-08-01

A detailed re-analysis of previously collected bicycle/motor-vehicle accident data (Cross and Fisher, 1977) was conducted to define potential countermeasures. Countermeasure development was then undertaken in the areas of Public Education (this Volum...

Nurse Scheduling by Cooperative GA with Effective Mutation Operator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ohki, Makoto

In this paper, we propose an effective mutation operators for Cooperative Genetic Algorithm (CGA) to be applied to a practical Nurse Scheduling Problem (NSP). The nurse scheduling is a very difficult task, because NSP is a complex combinatorial optimizing problem for which many requirements must be considered. In real hospitals, the schedule changes frequently. The changes of the shift schedule yields various problems, for example, a fall in the nursing level. We describe a technique of the reoptimization of the nurse schedule in response to a change. The conventional CGA is superior in ability for local search by means of its crossover operator, but often stagnates at the unfavorable situation because it is inferior to ability for global search. When the optimization stagnates for long generation cycle, a searching point, population in this case, would be caught in a wide local minimum area. To escape such local minimum area, small change in a population should be required. Based on such consideration, we propose a mutation operator activated depending on the optimization speed. When the optimization stagnates, in other words, when the optimization speed decreases, the mutation yields small changes in the population. Then the population is able to escape from a local minimum area by means of the mutation. However, this mutation operator requires two well-defined parameters. This means that user have to consider the value of these parameters carefully. To solve this problem, we propose a periodic mutation operator which has only one parameter to define itself. This simplified mutation operator is effective over a wide range of the parameter value.

Chemical approaches toward graphene-based nanomaterials and their applications in energy-related areas.

PubMed

Luo, Bin; Liu, Shaomin; Zhi, Linjie

2012-03-12

A 'gold rush' has been triggered all over the world for exploiting the possible applications of graphene-based nanomaterials. For this purpose, two important problems have to be solved; one is the preparation of graphene-based nanomaterials with well-defined structures, and the other is the controllable fabrication of these materials into functional devices. This review gives a brief overview of the recent research concerning chemical and thermal approaches toward the production of well-defined graphene-based nanomaterials and their applications in energy-related areas, including solar cells, lithium ion secondary batteries, supercapacitors, and catalysis. Copyright © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Recent advances in applying decision science to managing national forests

USGS Publications Warehouse

Marcot, Bruce G.; Thompson, Matthew P.; Runge, Michael C.; Thompson, Frank R.; McNulty, Steven; Cleaves, David; Tomosy, Monica; Fisher, Larry A.; Andrew, Bliss

2012-01-01

Management of federal public forests to meet sustainability goals and multiple use regulations is an immense challenge. To succeed, we suggest use of formal decision science procedures and tools in the context of structured decision making (SDM). SDM entails four stages: problem structuring (framing the problem and defining objectives and evaluation criteria), problem analysis (defining alternatives, evaluating likely consequences, identifying key uncertainties, and analyzing tradeoffs), decision point (identifying the preferred alternative), and implementation and monitoring the preferred alternative with adaptive management feedbacks. We list a wide array of models, techniques, and tools available for each stage, and provide three case studies of their selected use in National Forest land management and project plans. Successful use of SDM involves participation by decision-makers, analysts, scientists, and stakeholders. We suggest specific areas for training and instituting SDM to foster transparency, rigor, clarity, and inclusiveness in formal decision processes regarding management of national forests.

AgRISTARS: Supporting research. Classification of corn: Badhwar profile similarity technique. [us corn belt

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Austin, W. W. (Principal Investigator)

1981-01-01

The same software programs used to classify spring wheat are applied to the classification of corn in 26 segments in the corn belt. Numerical results of the acreage estimation are given. Potential problem areas defined in an earlier application are examined.

Multi-UAV Routing for Area Coverage and Remote Sensing with Minimum Time

PubMed Central

Avellar, Gustavo S. C.; Pereira, Guilherme A. S.; Pimenta, Luciano C. A.; Iscold, Paulo

2015-01-01

This paper presents a solution for the problem of minimum time coverage of ground areas using a group of unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) equipped with image sensors. The solution is divided into two parts: (i) the task modeling as a graph whose vertices are geographic coordinates determined in such a way that a single UAV would cover the area in minimum time; and (ii) the solution of a mixed integer linear programming problem, formulated according to the graph variables defined in the first part, to route the team of UAVs over the area. The main contribution of the proposed methodology, when compared with the traditional vehicle routing problem’s (VRP) solutions, is the fact that our method solves some practical problems only encountered during the execution of the task with actual UAVs. In this line, one of the main contributions of the paper is that the number of UAVs used to cover the area is automatically selected by solving the optimization problem. The number of UAVs is influenced by the vehicles’ maximum flight time and by the setup time, which is the time needed to prepare and launch a UAV. To illustrate the methodology, the paper presents experimental results obtained with two hand-launched, fixed-wing UAVs. PMID:26540055

Optimization of Turkish Air Force SAR Units Forward Deployment Points for a Central Based SAR Force Structure

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-03-26

Turkish Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW& C ) aircraft in the combat arena. He examines three combat scenarios Turkey might encounter to cover and...to limited SAR assets, constrained budgets, logistic- maintenance problems, and high risk level of military flights. In recent years, the Turkish Air...model, Set Covering Location Problem (SCLP), defines the minimum number of SAR DPs to cover all fighter aircraft training areas (TAs). The second

Ground Systems Development Environment (GSDE) interface requirements and prototyping plan

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Church, Victor E.; Philips, John; Bassman, Mitchell; Williams, C.

1990-01-01

This report describes the data collection and requirements analysis effort of the Ground System Development Environment (GSDE) Interface Requirements study. It identifies potential problems in the interfaces among applications and processors in the heterogeneous systems that comprises the GSDE. It describes possible strategies for addressing those problems. It also identifies areas for further research and prototyping to demonstrate the capabilities and feasibility of those strategies and defines a plan for building the necessary software prototypes.

Dimensions of Educational Need.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johns, Roe L., Ed.; And Others

Roe L. Johns and J. Alan Thomas survey the problem of educational need; and Kern Alexander considers the implications of the dimensions of educational need for school financing. Dimensions of need in the following areas are defined: early childhood and basic elementary and secondary education, by William P. McLure; educational programs for…

Engineering potential for lunar missions after Apollo.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Burke, J. D.

1972-01-01

The need for continuing post-Apollo lunar research is defined by outlining problems in stellar, planetary, biological, and social evolution which require specific studies of the moon. Engineering capabilities existing immediately after the Apollo program are described in the areas of launch vehicles and spacecraft, lunar surface mobility, instrumentation, and communications.

Finding Strategic Solutions to Reduce Truancy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reid, Ken

2010-01-01

This article focuses on recent developments to find strategic solutions to the problem of truancy. It considers issues related to defining truancy and why reducing truancy matters before considering what causes truancy. The article concentrates upon seven areas where further work is needed: the role of parents (and carers); early intervention,…

Night Vision Manual for the Flight Surgeon.

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-08-01

by optic nerve and pathways to Brodmann’s occipital areas 17 and 18). Perception occurs - vision Sensitive material ( retinal pigment) must be...clearly may be defined as glare. Glare becomes a problem in patients with opacities of the ocular media or with retinal diseases. 3 FME tN [I.I Sl IN FM...reduction of pupillary area caused by the drug. 3. Retinal causes of abnormal dark adaptation. a. Congenital stationary night blindness. b. etinitis

Application of the SNoW machine learning paradigm to a set of transportation imaging problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paul, Peter; Burry, Aaron M.; Wang, Yuheng; Kozitsky, Vladimir

2012-01-01

Machine learning methods have been successfully applied to image object classification problems where there is clear distinction between classes and where a comprehensive set of training samples and ground truth are readily available. The transportation domain is an area where machine learning methods are particularly applicable, since the classification problems typically have well defined class boundaries and, due to high traffic volumes in most applications, massive roadway data is available. Though these classes tend to be well defined, the particular image noises and variations can be challenging. Another challenge is the extremely high accuracy typically required in most traffic applications. Incorrect assignment of fines or tolls due to imaging mistakes is not acceptable in most applications. For the front seat vehicle occupancy detection problem, classification amounts to determining whether one face (driver only) or two faces (driver + passenger) are detected in the front seat of a vehicle on a roadway. For automatic license plate recognition, the classification problem is a type of optical character recognition problem encompassing multiple class classification. The SNoW machine learning classifier using local SMQT features is shown to be successful in these two transportation imaging applications.

Quantifying Cyber-Resilience Against Resource-Exhaustion Attacks

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

Fink, Glenn A.; Griswold, Richard L.; Beech, Zachary W.

2014-07-11

Resilience in the information sciences is notoriously difficult to define much less to measure. But in mechanical engi- neering, the resilience of a substance is mathematically defined as the area under the stress vs. strain curve. We took inspiration from mechanics in an attempt to define resilience precisely for information systems. We first examine the meaning of resilience in language and engineering terms and then translate these definitions to information sciences. Then we tested our definitions of resilience for a very simple problem in networked queuing systems. We discuss lessons learned and make recommendations for using this approach in futuremore » work.« less

Study and design of cryogenic propellant acquisition systems. Volume 2: Supporting experimental program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Burge, G. W.; Blackmon, J. B.

1973-01-01

Areas of cryogenic fuel systems were identified where critical experimental information was needed either to define a design criteria or to establish the feasibility of a design concept or a critical aspect of a particular design. Such data requirements fell into three broad categories: (1) basic surface tension screen characteristics; (2) screen acquisition device fabrication problems; and (3) screen surface tension device operational failure modes. To explore these problems and to establish design criteria where possible, extensive laboratory or bench test scale experiments were conducted. In general, these proved to be quite successful and, in many instances, the test results were directly used in the system design analyses and development. In some cases, particularly those relating to operational-type problems, areas requiring future research were identified, especially screen heat transfer and vibrational effects.

Visual analytics of anomaly detection in large data streams

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hao, Ming C.; Dayal, Umeshwar; Keim, Daniel A.; Sharma, Ratnesh K.; Mehta, Abhay

2009-01-01

Most data streams usually are multi-dimensional, high-speed, and contain massive volumes of continuous information. They are seen in daily applications, such as telephone calls, retail sales, data center performance, and oil production operations. Many analysts want insight into the behavior of this data. They want to catch the exceptions in flight to reveal the causes of the anomalies and to take immediate action. To guide the user in finding the anomalies in the large data stream quickly, we derive a new automated neighborhood threshold marking technique, called AnomalyMarker. This technique is built on cell-based data streams and user-defined thresholds. We extend the scope of the data points around the threshold to include the surrounding areas. The idea is to define a focus area (marked area) which enables users to (1) visually group the interesting data points related to the anomalies (i.e., problems that occur persistently or occasionally) for observing their behavior; (2) discover the factors related to the anomaly by visualizing the correlations between the problem attribute with the attributes of the nearby data items from the entire multi-dimensional data stream. Mining results are quickly presented in graphical representations (i.e., tooltip) for the user to zoom into the problem regions. Different algorithms are introduced which try to optimize the size and extent of the anomaly markers. We have successfully applied this technique to detect data stream anomalies in large real-world enterprise server performance and data center energy management.

Defining Primary Care Shortage Areas: Do GIS-based Measures Yield Different Results?

PubMed

Daly, Michael R; Mellor, Jennifer M; Millones, Marco

2018-02-12

To examine whether geographic information systems (GIS)-based physician-to-population ratios (PPRs) yield determinations of geographic primary care shortage areas that differ from those based on bounded-area PPRs like those used in the Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) designation process. We used geocoded data on primary care physician (PCP) locations and census block population counts from 1 US state to construct 2 shortage area indicators. The first is a bounded-area shortage indicator defined without GIS methods; the second is a GIS-based measure that measures the populations' spatial proximity to PCP locations. We examined agreement and disagreement between bounded shortage areas and GIS-based shortage areas. Bounded shortage area indicators and GIS-based shortage area indicators agree for the census blocks where the vast majority of our study populations reside. Specifically, 95% and 98% of the populations in our full and urban samples, respectively, reside in census blocks where the 2 indicators agree. Although agreement is generally high in rural areas (ie, 87% of the rural population reside in census blocks where the 2 indicators agree), agreement is significantly lower compared to urban areas. One source of disagreement suggests that bounded-area measures may "overlook" some shortages in rural areas; however, other aspects of the HPSA designation process likely mitigate this concern. Another source of disagreement arises from the border-crossing problem, and it is more prevalent. The GIS-based PPRs we employed would yield shortage area determinations that are similar to those based on bounded-area PPRs defined for Primary Care Service Areas. Disagreement rates were lower than previous studies have found. © 2018 National Rural Health Association.

Applying AI systems in the T and D arena. [Artificial Intelligence, Transmission and Distribution

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

Venkata, S.S.; Liu, Chenching; Sumic, Z.

1993-04-01

The power engineering community has capitalized on various computer technologies since the early 1960s, with most successful application to solving well-defined problems that are capable of being modeled. Although computing methods have made notable progress in the power engineering arena, there is still a class of problems that is not easy to define or formulate to apply conventional computerized methods. In addition to being difficult to express in a closed mathematical form, these problems are often characterized by the absence of one or both of the following features: a predetermined decision path from the initial state to goal (ill-structured problem);more » a well-defined criteria for whether an obtained solution is acceptable (open-ended problem). Power engineers have been investigating the application of AI-based methodologies to power system problems. Most of the work in the past has been geared towards the development of expert systems as an operator's aid in energy control centers for bulk power transmission systems operating under abnormal conditions. Alarm processing, fault diagnosis, system restoration, and voltage/var control are a few key areas where significant research work has progressed to date. Results of this research have effected more than 100 prototype expert systems for power systems throughout the US, Japan, and Europe. The objectives of this article are to: expose engineers to the benefits of using AI methods for a host of transmission and distribution (T and D) problems that need immediate attention; identify problems that could be solved more effectively by applying AI approaches; summarize recent developments and successful AI applications in T and D.« less

Microgravity sciences application visiting scientist program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Glicksman, Martin; Vanalstine, James

1995-01-01

Marshall Space Flight Center pursues scientific research in the area of low-gravity effects on materials and processes. To facilitate these Government performed research responsibilities, a number of supplementary research tasks were accomplished by a group of specialized visiting scientists. They participated in work on contemporary research problems with specific objectives related to current or future space flight experiments and defined and established independent programs of research which were based on scientific peer review and the relevance of the defined research to NASA microgravity for implementing a portion of the national program. The programs included research in the following areas: protein crystal growth, X-ray crystallography and computer analysis of protein crystal structure, optimization and analysis of protein crystal growth techniques, and design and testing of flight hardware.

Interpersonal Problem Areas and Alexithymia in Adolescent Girls with Loss of Control Eating

PubMed Central

Berger, Sarah Shafer; Elliott, Camden; Ranzenhofer, Lisa M.; Shomaker, Lauren B.; Hannallah, Louise; Field, Sara E.; Young, Jami F.; Sbrocco, Tracy; Wilfley, Denise E.; Yanovski, Jack A.; Tanofsky-Kraff, Marian

2014-01-01

This study investigated the links among interpersonal problem areas, depression, and alexithymia in adolescent girls at high-risk for excessive weight gain and binge eating disorder. Participants were 56 girls (Mage = 14.30, SD = 1.56; 53% non-Hispanic White) with a body mass index (BMI, kg/m2) between the 75th and 97th percentiles (MBMI-z = 1.57, SD = 0.32). By design, all participants reported loss of control eating patterns in the past month. Adolescents were individually interviewed prior to participating in a group interpersonal psychotherapy obesity and eating disorder prevention program, termed IPT for the prevention of excessive weight gain (IPT-WG). Participants’ interpersonal problem areas were coded by trained raters. Participants also completed questionnaires assessing depression and alexithymia. Primary interpersonal problem areas were categorized as interpersonal deficits (as defined in the eating disorders (ED) literature) (n = 29), role disputes (n = 22), or role transitions (n = 5). Girls with interpersonal deficits-ED had greater depressive symptoms and alexithymia than girls with role disputes (ps ≤ 0.01). However, girls with role transitions did not differ from girls with interpersonal deficits-ED or role disputes. Interpersonal problem area had an indirect association with depression via alexithymia; interpersonal deficits-ED were related to greater alexithymia, which in turn, was related to greater depressive symptoms (p = 0.01). Among girls at-risk for excess weight gain and eating disorders, those with interpersonal deficits-ED appear to have greater distress as compared to girls with role disputes or role transitions. Future research is required to elucidate the impact of interpersonal problem areas on psychotherapy outcomes. PMID:24139852

Stereoscopic 3D graphics generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Zhi; Liu, Jianping; Zan, Y.

1997-05-01

Stereoscopic display technology is one of the key techniques of areas such as simulation, multimedia, entertainment, virtual reality, and so on. Moreover, stereoscopic 3D graphics generation is an important part of stereoscopic 3D display system. In this paper, at first, we describe the principle of stereoscopic display and summarize some methods to generate stereoscopic 3D graphics. Secondly, to overcome the problems which came from the methods of user defined models (such as inconvenience, long modifying period and so on), we put forward the vector graphics files defined method. Thus we can design more directly; modify the model simply and easily; generate more conveniently; furthermore, we can make full use of graphics accelerator card and so on. Finally, we discuss the problem of how to speed up the generation.

Flight experiments to improve terminal area operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Salmirs, S.; Morello, S. A.

1978-01-01

A brief description is given of the objectives and activities of the terminal configured vehicle (TCV) program and of some of the airborne facilities. A short analysis of some particular problems of CTOL operations in the terminal area is also presented to show how the program's technical objectives are related to the defined problems. The test aircraft was flown both manually and automatically with manual monitoring over paths including 130 deg intercepts and 2.0 km (1.1. n. mi.) and 0.8 km (0.44 n. mi.) finals. Some statistical data are presented from these and other flight profiles designed to address specific terminal in the next biennium and their application to the terminal area. A description of work being undertaken to study the addition of adjacent traffic information to present map displays is also given.

Rural Transportation in New York State: A Preliminary Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

New York State Legislative Commission on Rural Resources, Albany.

The report catalogs strengths, defines problems, and establishes goals for the next two decades for rural New York in the area of transportation. Describing where rural New York is today, section one lists 12 trends, 8 strengths, and 16 weaknesses affecting transporation. Trends include increased rural population inflow and demands on local…

Application of LAC-type processes and concepts to nonrecreation management issues in protected areas

Treesearch

Linda Merigliano; David N. Cole; David J. Parsons

1997-01-01

When Limits of Acceptable Change concepts are applied to nonrecreational issues, two primary problems are encountered: (1) developing zoning schemes which are compatible when multiple issues are addressed, and (2) defining the desired condition and establishing measurable standards for ecosystem attributes which change in unpredictable ways. Approaches to overcome...

Motivation and Productivity as a Function of Corporate Climate.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hellweg, Susan A.

The current status of productivity and motivation research, particularly as they relate to communication studies and climate studies, is delineated in this paper, largely by a review of literature in these areas. In the section following the introduction, the problems of defining productivity and its relation to performance and communication are…

Making research more relevant: give it a try!

Treesearch

David W. Lime

2002-01-01

Barriers to research use are common to most scientific disciplines and areas of investigation. This paper addresses three interrelated issues to enhancing the effectiveness of science to aid decision making specifically to outdoor recreation, leisure and tourism: (1) clearly defining and framing research problems, (2) enhancing the flow of research findings to those...

The Optimization by Using the Learning Styles in the Adaptive Hypermedia Applications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hamza, Lamia; Tlili, Guiassa Yamina

2018-01-01

This article addresses the learning style as a criterion for optimization of adaptive content in hypermedia applications. First, the authors present the different optimization approaches proposed in the area of adaptive hypermedia systems whose goal is to define the optimization problem in this type of system. Then, they present the architecture…

A Curriculum For Choosing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Winocur, S. Lee

This guide addresses the problem of decision-making in young children and the effect of a particular curriculum on the improvement of children's ability in this area. The term and the process of decision-making are defined, and career implications are discussed. The last section of the guide outlines a program designed to help teachers assist…

Location Decisions of Charter Schools: An Examination of Michigan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koller, Kyle; Welsch, David M.

2017-01-01

Using school level data we examine which factors influence charter school location decisions. We augment previous research by employing a panel dataset, recently developed geographic techniques to measure distances and define areas, and employing a hurdle model to deal with the excess zero problem. The main results of our research indicate that,…

Integration of Computers in Education: A Curriculum Perspective.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Plomp, Tjeerd

This discussion of a major problem area in education--the curricular and implementation aspects of the application of the computer or new information technologies--focuses first on the use and integration of computers in existing courses or subjects in the curriculum, and defines some key terms. The next section considers issues in the…

Framework for Multidisciplinary Analysis, Design, and Optimization with High-Fidelity Analysis Tools

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Orr, Stanley A.; Narducci, Robert P.

2009-01-01

A plan is presented for the development of a high fidelity multidisciplinary optimization process for rotorcraft. The plan formulates individual disciplinary design problems, identifies practical high-fidelity tools and processes that can be incorporated in an automated optimization environment, and establishes statements of the multidisciplinary design problem including objectives, constraints, design variables, and cross-disciplinary dependencies. Five key disciplinary areas are selected in the development plan. These are rotor aerodynamics, rotor structures and dynamics, fuselage aerodynamics, fuselage structures, and propulsion / drive system. Flying qualities and noise are included as ancillary areas. Consistency across engineering disciplines is maintained with a central geometry engine that supports all multidisciplinary analysis. The multidisciplinary optimization process targets the preliminary design cycle where gross elements of the helicopter have been defined. These might include number of rotors and rotor configuration (tandem, coaxial, etc.). It is at this stage that sufficient configuration information is defined to perform high-fidelity analysis. At the same time there is enough design freedom to influence a design. The rotorcraft multidisciplinary optimization tool is built and substantiated throughout its development cycle in a staged approach by incorporating disciplines sequentially.

Undergraduate Performance in Solving Ill-Defined Biochemistry Problems

PubMed Central

Sensibaugh, Cheryl A.; Madrid, Nathaniel J.; Choi, Hye-Jeong; Anderson, William L.; Osgood, Marcy P.

2017-01-01

With growing interest in promoting skills related to the scientific process, we studied performance in solving ill-defined problems demonstrated by graduating biochemistry majors at a public, minority-serving university. As adoption of techniques for facilitating the attainment of higher-order learning objectives broadens, so too does the need to appropriately measure and understand student performance. We extended previous validation of the Individual Problem Solving Assessment (IPSA) and administered multiple versions of the IPSA across two semesters of biochemistry courses. A final version was taken by majors just before program exit, and student responses on that version were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. This mixed-methods study quantifies student performance in scientific problem solving, while probing the qualitative nature of unsatisfactory solutions. Of the five domains measured by the IPSA, we found that average graduates were only successful in two areas: evaluating given experimental data to state results and reflecting on performance after the solution to the problem was provided. The primary difficulties in each domain were quite different. The most widespread challenge for students was to design an investigation that rationally aligned with a given hypothesis. We also extend the findings into pedagogical recommendations. PMID:29180350

Community rheumatology practice in Thunder Bay: a Canadian experience from northwestern Ontario.

PubMed

Koehler, M G; Koehler, B E

1981-01-01

The practice experience of a rheumatologist in Thunder Bay, within the well-defined, relatively isolated area of Northwestern Ontario, is described. The population base of approximately 200,000 results in a waiting period for elective consultations of 3 months. (The number of other consultants for musculoskeletal problems in the community compares favorably with national and provincial ratios.) The majority of patients had well-defined rheumatic diseases. Nonarticular rheumatism comprised a relatively small proportion of visits. A ratio of 1 rheumatologist: 100,000 population would seem to be a realistic one.

Application of Computer Simulation to Identify Erosion Resistance of Materials of Wet-steam Turbine Blades

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Korostelyov, D. A.; Dergachyov, K. V.

2017-10-01

A problem of identifying the efficiency of using materials, coatings, linings and solderings of wet-steam turbine rotor blades by means of computer simulation is considered. Numerical experiments to define erosion resistance of materials of wet-steam turbine blades are described. Kinetic curves for erosion area and weight of the worn rotor blade material of turbines K-300-240 LMP and atomic icebreaker “Lenin” have been defined. The conclusion about the effectiveness of using different erosion-resistant materials and protection configuration of rotor blades is also made.

STARSITE Program: Search To Assess Re- sources, Social, Institutional, Technical, and Environmental, toward a decision-making mechanism

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1972-01-01

The systems approach was used in the seminar on the complex multidisciplinary problem of housing and related environment conditions. The main areas of study are the following; historical overview of housing; diagrammatic presentation of the problem; technological innovations and contributions; management, economic, legal, and political considerations; environment and natural resources; human needs and behavior; model of the housing industry; and potential for implementation. It is felt that a greater attempt should be made to transfer aerospace technology to the housing industry; however, the emphasis of the conference was directed to the modern management techniques developed by NASA. Among the conclusions are the following: The extent and character of the housing problem should be defined. Increased coordination of housing programs within and between Federal agencies is essential. Development of physically sophisticated building systems requires Federal support. New towns of differing life styles need to be created. Physiological and psychological reactions to environmental enclosure need to be defined.

A new method of cardiographic image segmentation based on grammar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamdi, Salah; Ben Abdallah, Asma; Bedoui, Mohamed H.; Alimi, Adel M.

2011-10-01

The measurement of the most common ultrasound parameters, such as aortic area, mitral area and left ventricle (LV) volume, requires the delineation of the organ in order to estimate the area. In terms of medical image processing this translates into the need to segment the image and define the contours as accurately as possible. The aim of this work is to segment an image and make an automated area estimation based on grammar. The entity "language" will be projected to the entity "image" to perform structural analysis and parsing of the image. We will show how the idea of segmentation and grammar-based area estimation is applied to real problems of cardio-graphic image processing.

Chapter 10: Marbled Murrelet Inland Patterns of Activity: Defining Detections and Behavior

Treesearch

Peter W.C. Paton

1995-01-01

This chapter summarizes terminology and methodology used by Marbled Murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus) biologists when surveying inland forests. Information is included on the types of behaviors used to determine if murrelets may be nesting in an area, and the various types of detections used to quantify murrelet use of forest stands. Problems with...

Helicopter technology benefits and needs. Volume 1: Summary

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zuk, J.; Adams, R. J.

1980-01-01

Present public service helicopter benefits and the potential benefits of an advanced public service rotorcraft (200 knots to 300 knots) are summarized. Past and future public service growth is quantified and assessed and needs, problem areas, and desired vehicle characteristics are defined. Research and technology recommendations are formulated and the costs and benefits of research options are assessed.

Homeless, Not Hopeless. An Informational Guide for School Personnel: Understanding and Educating Homeless Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seifert, Elli; Stauffer, Carol

This guide explains how to educate homeless students within the public schools, focusing on the Saint Paul, Minnesota, public schools. Section 1 defines homelessness. Section 2 presents data on the increasing numbers of homeless students in the area. Section 3 describes common problems faced by homeless students, including family mobility,…

The Dynamics of Life Skills Coaching. Life Skills Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Curtiss, Paul R.; Warren, Phillip W.

This book is to be used in a Life Skills Coach Training course. Life skills are defined as problem-solving behaviors appropriately and responsibly used in the management of personal affairs. They apply to the following areas of responsibility: self, family, leisure, community, and job. A course aimed at training people in the life skills implies…

Teacher's Guide for the Basic Competencies in Reasoning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vermont State Dept. of Education, Montpelier.

This guide defines the basic competencies in reasoning and describes how to incorporate them into the educational program at all grade levels. Reasoning is the ability to approach day-to-day problems with intelligent decision-making skills. It is important for students to begin developing reasoning skills at an early age and in all subject areas.…

Writing as Problem-Solving in Interdisciplinary Programs: Literature and the Age of Technology.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gershuny, H. Lee; Rosich, Daniel

A proposed interdisciplinary course linking the areas of English and data processing is described in this paper. Expertise in both fields is perceived as a function of the processes of defining, recreating metaphors and models, locating assumptions within messages, and becoming aware of meaning. Potential enrollees include both students in the…

Large area silicon sheet by EFG. [Edge-defined Film-fed Growth

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rao, C. V. H.; Surek, T.; Mackintosh, B.; Ravi, K. V.; Wald, F. V.

1978-01-01

The edge-defined, film-fed growth (EFG) technique has been employed to grow silicon ribbons for photovoltaic applications. Considerable progress has been made in recent years in developing the technique to the point that long lengths of silicon ribbon can be routinely grown. In order to attain the full low-cost potential of the EFG technique, several further developments such as the growth of thinner and wider ribbons, increase in ribbon growth rate, and improvements in material quality are needed. The technological problems to be solved and the approaches employed to achieve these goals are discussed.

Distributed photovoltaic systems: Utility interface issues and their present status

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hassan, M.; Klein, J.

1981-01-01

Major technical issues involving the integration of distributed photovoltaics (PV) into electric utility systems are defined and their impacts are described quantitatively. An extensive literature search, interviews, and analysis yielded information about the work in progress and highlighted problem areas in which additional work and research are needed. The findings from the literature search were used to determine whether satisfactory solutions to the problems exist or whether satisfactory approaches to a solution are underway. It was discovered that very few standards, specifications, or guidelines currently exist that will aid industry in integrating PV into the utility system. Specific areas of concern identified are: (1) protection, (2) stability, (3) system unbalance, (4) voltage regulation and reactive power requirements, (5) harmonics, (6) utility operations, (7) safety, (8) metering, and (9) distribution system planning and design.

Recommendations of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Heart and Lung Xenotransplantation Working Group.

PubMed

Platt, Jeffrey; DiSesa, Verdi; Gail, Dorothy; Massicot-Fisher, Judith

2002-08-27

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) recently convened the Heart and Lung Xenotransplantation Working Group to identify hurdles to the clinical application of xenotransplantation, defined as the use of animal organs or tissue for transplantation, and to recommend possible solutions to these problems. The group consisted of experts in xenotransplantation from academia, industry, and federal agencies, and the discussions focused on those areas within the mission of the NHLBI. The areas covered included immunologic and physiological barriers to xenotransplantation, the limitations of the current animal models, the need for collaboration among groups, the high costs of studies using nonhuman primates and genetic engineering of pigs, and the unique problems of lung xenotransplantation. This report is a summary of those discussions.

Artificial intelligence within the chemical laboratory.

PubMed

Winkel, P

1994-01-01

Various techniques within the area of artificial intelligence such as expert systems and neural networks may play a role during the problem-solving processes within the clinical biochemical laboratory. Neural network analysis provides a non-algorithmic approach to information processing, which results in the ability of the computer to form associations and to recognize patterns or classes among data. It belongs to the machine learning techniques which also include probabilistic techniques such as discriminant function analysis and logistic regression and information theoretical techniques. These techniques may be used to extract knowledge from example patients to optimize decision limits and identify clinically important laboratory quantities. An expert system may be defined as a computer program that can give advice in a well-defined area of expertise and is able to explain its reasoning. Declarative knowledge consists of statements about logical or empirical relationships between things. Expert systems typically separate declarative knowledge residing in a knowledge base from the inference engine: an algorithm that dynamically directs and controls the system when it searches its knowledge base. A tool is an expert system without a knowledge base. The developer of an expert system uses a tool by entering knowledge into the system. Many, if not the majority of problems encountered at the laboratory level are procedural. A problem is procedural if it is possible to write up a step-by-step description of the expert's work or if it can be represented by a decision tree. To solve problems of this type only small expert system tools and/or conventional programming are required.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Economics of Higher Education. Bulletin, 1962, No. 5. OE-50027. [Foreword - Chapter VIII

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mushkin, Selma J., Ed.

1962-01-01

In the past few years an important beginning has been made toward defining and exploring the major issues in the economics of higher education. The research of economists covers a wide range of problems, from that of the Nation's requirements for college-trained people, to detailed questions of financing. Perhaps no single area of this work offers…

Economics of Higher Education. Bulletin, 1962, No. 5. OE-50027. [Chapter IX - Chapter XV

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mushkin, Selma J., Ed.

1962-01-01

In the past few years an important beginning has been made toward defining and exploring the major issues in the economics of higher education. The research of economists covers a wide range of problems, from that of the Nation's requirements for college-trained people, to detailed questions of financing. Perhaps no single area of this work offers…

Defining Characteristics of Diagnostic Classification Models and the Problem of Retrofitting in Cognitive Diagnostic Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gierl, Mark J.; Cui, Ying

2008-01-01

One promising application of diagnostic classification models (DCM) is in the area of cognitive diagnostic assessment in education. However, the successful application of DCM in educational testing will likely come with a price--and this price may be in the form of new test development procedures and practices required to yield data that satisfy…

Problems Court: The Role of the Reading Educator in the Training of Elementary School Principals.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kurth, Ruth Justine

The lack of interest in the development of competent principals who can serve as instructional leaders of reading programs is apparent in three areas: (1) lack of clearly defined research on the role of the principal in the reading program (2) lack of involvement of reading professionals in setting standards for evaluating, certifying, and…

Vanishing Viscosity Approach to the Compressible Euler Equations for Transonic Nozzle and Spherically Symmetric Flows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Gui-Qiang G.; Schrecker, Matthew R. I.

2018-04-01

We are concerned with globally defined entropy solutions to the Euler equations for compressible fluid flows in transonic nozzles with general cross-sectional areas. Such nozzles include the de Laval nozzles and other more general nozzles whose cross-sectional area functions are allowed at the nozzle ends to be either zero (closed ends) or infinity (unbounded ends). To achieve this, in this paper, we develop a vanishing viscosity method to construct globally defined approximate solutions and then establish essential uniform estimates in weighted L p norms for the whole range of physical adiabatic exponents γ\\in (1, ∞) , so that the viscosity approximate solutions satisfy the general L p compensated compactness framework. The viscosity method is designed to incorporate artificial viscosity terms with the natural Dirichlet boundary conditions to ensure the uniform estimates. Then such estimates lead to both the convergence of the approximate solutions and the existence theory of globally defined finite-energy entropy solutions to the Euler equations for transonic flows that may have different end-states in the class of nozzles with general cross-sectional areas for all γ\\in (1, ∞) . The approach and techniques developed here apply to other problems with similar difficulties. In particular, we successfully apply them to construct globally defined spherically symmetric entropy solutions to the Euler equations for all γ\\in (1, ∞).

Women's empowerment and its differential impact on health in low income communities in Mumbai, India

PubMed Central

Davis, Lwendo Moonzwe; Schensul, Stephen L.; Schensul, Jean J.; Verma, Ravi; Nastasi, Bonnie K.; Singh, Rajendra

2015-01-01

This paper examines the relationship of empowerment to women's self-reported general health status and women's self-reported health during pregnancy in low-income communities in Mumbai. The data on which this paper is based were collected in three study communities located in a marginalized area of Mumbai. We draw on two data sources: in-depth qualitative interviews conducted with 66 married women and a survey sample of 260 married women. Our analysis shows that empowerment functions differently in relation to women's reproductive status. Non-pregnant women with higher levels of empowerment experience greater general health problems, while pregnant women with higher levels of empowerment are less likely to experience pregnancy related health problems. We explain this non-intuitive finding and suggest that a globally defined empowerment measure for women may be less useful that one that is contextually and situationally defined. PMID:24766149

Program of research in severe storms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1979-01-01

Two modeling areas, the development of a mesoscale chemistry-meteorology interaction model, and the development of a combined urban chemical kinetics-transport model are examined. The problems associated with developing a three dimensional combined meteorological-chemical kinetics computer program package are defined. A similar three dimensional hydrostatic real time model which solves the fundamental Navier-Stokes equations for nonviscous flow is described. An urban air quality simulation model, developed to predict the temporal and spatial distribution of reactive and nonreactive gases in and around an urban area and to support a remote sensor evaluation program is reported.

Digital elevation data as an aid to land use and land cover classification

USGS Publications Warehouse

Colvocoresses, Alden P.

1981-01-01

In relatively well mapped areas such as the United States and Europe, digital data can be developed from topographic maps or from the stereo aerial photographic movie. For poorer mapped areas (which involved most of the world's land areas), a satellite designed to obtain stereo data offers the best hope for a digital elevation database. Such a satellite, known as Mapsat, has been defined by the U.S. Geological Survey. Utilizing modern solid state technology, there is no reason why such stereo data cannot be acquired simultaneously with the multispectral response, thus simplifying the overall problem of land use and land cover classification.

Taxation indices of forest stand as the basis for cadastral valuation of forestlands

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kovyazin, V.; Belyaev, V.; Pasko, O.; Romanchikov, A.

2014-08-01

Cadastral valuation of forestlands is one of the problems of the modern economy. Valuation procedures depend either on the profitability of timbering or forest areas are not differentiated according to value. The authors propose the procedure based on taxation indices of strata. The most important factors influencing the valuation are determined. The dependence that allows establishing the relative cost of a certain forest area is defined. Knowing the cadastral value of a model area, it is possible to determine the values of all other sites. The evaluation results correlate with the Faustman procedure with slight difference in the absolute value.

Differential contributions of executive and episodic memory functions to problem solving in younger and older adults.

PubMed

Vandermorris, Susan; Sheldon, Signy; Winocur, Gordon; Moscovitch, Morris

2013-11-01

The relationship of higher order problem solving to basic neuropsychological processes likely depends on the type of problems to be solved. Well-defined problems (e.g., completing a series of errands) may rely primarily on executive functions. Conversely, ill-defined problems (e.g., navigating socially awkward situations) may, in addition, rely on medial temporal lobe (MTL) mediated episodic memory processes. Healthy young (N = 18; M = 19; SD = 1.3) and old (N = 18; M = 73; SD = 5.0) adults completed a battery of neuropsychological tests of executive and episodic memory function, and experimental tests of problem solving. Correlation analyses and age group comparisons demonstrated differential contributions of executive and autobiographical episodic memory function to well-defined and ill-defined problem solving and evidence for an episodic simulation mechanism underlying ill-defined problem solving efficacy. Findings are consistent with the emerging idea that MTL-mediated episodic simulation processes support the effective solution of ill-defined problems, over and above the contribution of frontally mediated executive functions. Implications for the development of intervention strategies that target preservation of functional independence in older adults are discussed.

Distinctions between fraud, bias, errors, misunderstanding, and incompetence.

PubMed

DeMets, D L

1997-12-01

Randomized clinical trials are challenging not only in their design and analysis, but in their conduct as well. Despite the best intentions and efforts, problems often arise in the conduct of trials, including errors, misunderstandings, and bias. In some instances, key players in a trial may discover that they are not able or competent to meet requirements of the study. In a few cases, fraudulent activity occurs. While none of these problems is desirable, randomized clinical trials are usually found sufficiently robust by many key individuals to produce valid results. Other problems are not tolerable. Confusion may arise among scientists, scientific and lay press, and the public about the distinctions between these areas and their implications. We shall try to define these problems and illustrate their impact through a series of examples.

Avenues into Food Planning: A Review of Scholarly Food System Research

PubMed Central

Brinkley, Catherine

2014-01-01

This review summarizes several avenues of planning inquiry into food systems research, revealing gaps in the literature, allied fields of study and mismatches between scholarly disciplines and the food system life cycle. Planners and scholars in associated fields have identified and defined problems in the food system as ‘wicked’ problems, complex environmental issues that require systemic solutions at the community scale. While food justice scholars have contextualized problem areas, planning scholars have made a broad case for planning involvement in solving these wicked problems while ensuring that the functional and beneficial parts of the food system continue to thrive. This review maps the entry points of scholarly interest in food systems and planning’s contributions to its study, charting a research agenda for the future. PMID:24932131

Perceived risk associated with ecstasy use: a latent class analysis approach

PubMed Central

Martins, SS; Carlson, RG; Alexandre, PK; Falck, RS

2011-01-01

This study aims to define categories of perceived health problems among ecstasy users based on observed clustering of their perceptions of ecstasy-related health problems. Data from a community sample of ecstasy users (n=402) aged 18 to 30, in Ohio, was used in this study. Data was analyzed via Latent Class Analysis (LCA) and Regression. This study identified five different subgroups of ecstasy users based on their perceptions of health problems they associated with their ecstasy use. Almost one third of the sample (28.9%) belonged to a class with “low level of perceived problems” (Class 4). About one fourth (25.6%) of the sample (Class 2), had high probabilities of “perceiving problems on sexual-related items”, but generally low or moderate probabilities of perceiving problems in other areas. Roughly one-fifth of the sample (21.1%, Class 1) had moderate probabilities of perceiving ecstasy health-related problems in all areas. A small proportion of respondents (11.9%, Class 5) had high probabilities of reporting “perceived memory and cognitive problems, and of perceiving “ecstasy related-problems in all areas” (12.4%, Class 3). A large proportion of ecstasy users perceive either low or moderate risk associated with their ecstasy use. It is important to further investigate whether lower levels of risk perception are associated with persistence of ecstasy use. PMID:21296504

Communications processor for C3 analysis and wargaming

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clark, L. N.; Pless, L. D.; Rapp, R. L.

1982-03-01

This thesis developed the software capability to allow the investigation of c3 problems, procedures and methodologies. The resultant communications model, that while independent of a specific wargame, is currently implemented in conjunction with the McClintic Theater Model. It provides a computerized message handling system (C3 Model) which allows simulation of communication links (circuits) with user-definable delays; garble and loss rates; and multiple circuit types, addresses, and levels of command. It is designed to be used for test and evaluation of command and control problems in the areas of organizational relationships, communication networks and procedures, and combat doctrine or tactics.

GEODYN system description, volume 1. [computer program for estimation of orbit and geodetic parameters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chin, M. M.; Goad, C. C.; Martin, T. V.

1972-01-01

A computer program for the estimation of orbit and geodetic parameters is presented. The areas in which the program is operational are defined. The specific uses of the program are given as: (1) determination of definitive orbits, (2) tracking instrument calibration, (3) satellite operational predictions, and (4) geodetic parameter estimation. The relationship between the various elements in the solution of the orbit and geodetic parameter estimation problem is analyzed. The solution of the problems corresponds to the orbit generation mode in the first case and to the data reduction mode in the second case.

On the orbital evolution of radiating binary systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bekov, A. A.; Momynov, S. B.

2018-05-01

The evolution of dynamic parameters of radiating binary systems with variable mass is studied. As a dynamic model, the problem of two gravitating and radiating bodies is considered, taking into account the gravitational attraction and the light pressure of the interacting bodies with the additional assumption of isotropic variability of their masses. The problem combines the Gylden-Meshchersky problem, acquiring a new physical meaning, and the two-body photogravitational Radzievsky problem. The evolving orbit is presented, unlike Kepler, with varying orbital elements - parameter and eccentricity, defines by the parameter µ(t), area integral C and quasi-integral energy h(t). Adiabatic invariants of the problem, which are of interest for the slow evolution of orbits, are determined. The general course of evolution of orbits of binary systems with radiation are determined by the change of the parameter µ(t) and the total energy of the system.

A Matter of Millimeters: Defining the Processes for Critical Clearances on Curiosity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Florow, Brandon

2013-01-01

The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission presents an immense packaging problem in that it takes a rover the size of a car with a sky crane landing system and packs it tightly into a spacecraft. This creates many areas of close and critical clearances. Critical Clearances are defined as hardware-to-hardware or hardware-to-envelope clearances which fall below a pre-established location dependent threshold and pose a risk of hardware to hardware contact during events such as launch, entry, landing, and operations. Close Clearances, on the other hand, are defined as any clearance value that is chosen to be tracked but is larger than the critical clearance threshold for its region. Close clearances may be tracked for various reasons including uncertainty in design, large expected dynamic motion, etc.

Space station human productivity study, volume 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1985-01-01

The primary goal was to develop design and operations requirements for direct support of intra-vehicular activity (IVA) crew performance and productivity. It was recognized that much work had already been accomplished which provided sufficient data for the definition of the desired requirements. It was necessary, therefore, to assess the status of such data to extract definable requirements, and then to define the remaining study needs. The explicit objectives of the study were to: review existing data to identify potential problems of space station crew productivity and to define requirements for support of productivity insofar as they could be justified by current information; identify those areas that lack adequate data; and prepare plans for managing studies to develop the lacking data, so that results can be input to the space station program in a timely manner.

Policy implications of private sector involvement in correctional services and programs.

PubMed

Johnson, T A

1987-01-01

The movement toward private sector involvement in our correctional services and programs is growing. Before our focus is turned completely to privatization of these services, it would be prudent to analyze the "policy impact of such change. It is evident that the diverse and incompatible policies guiding the government approach to corrections and the absence of any rational planning to answer public interest goals is costly. Moreover, despite the increasing complexity of problems now confronting public authorities, little change has been made in their approach to resolving them. However, is it realistic to assume that the profit/loss barometer of the private sector can be applied in an area of social problems that are so pluralistic and ill defined? What of the many areas of potential legal concern, that is, vicarious litigation, First Amendment right of prisoners, and so forth? These are all areas that need to be researched so that any judgements or decisions made will be sound.

Paraffin problems in crude oil production and transportation: A review

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

Misra, S.; Baruah, S.; Singh, K.

1995-02-01

Problems related to crystallization and deposition of paraffin waxes during production and transportation of crude oil cause losses of billions of dollars yearly to petroleum industry. The goal of this paper is to present the knowledge on such problems in a systematic and comprehensive form. The fundamental aspects of these problems are defined, and characterization of paraffins and their solubility tendencies have been discussed. It has been established conclusively that n-paraffins are predominantly responsible for this problem. Comprehensive discussion on the mechanism of crystallization of paraffins has been included. Compounds other than n-paraffins, especially asphaltenes and resins, have profound effectsmore » on solubility of n-paraffins. In evaluations of the wax potential of a crude, the climate of the area concerned should be considered. Under the most favorable conditions, n-paraffins form clearly defined orthorhombic crystals, but unfavorable conditions and the presence of impurities lead to hexagonal and/or amorphous crystallization.The gelation characteristics are also affected the same way. An attempt was made to classify the paraffin problems into those resulting from high pipeline pressure, high restarting pressure, and deposition on pipe surfaces. Fundamental aspects and mechanism of these dimensions are described. Wax deposition depends on flow rate, the temperature differential between crude and pipe surface, the cooling rate, and surface properties. Finally, methods available in the literature for predicting these problems and evaluating their mitigatory techniques are reviewed. The available methods present a very diversified picture; hence, using them to evaluate these problems becomes taxing. A top priority is standardizing these methods for the benefit of the industry. 56 refs.« less

Geospatial techniques to Identify the Location of Farmers Markets and Community Gardens within Food Deserts in Virginia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sriharan, S.; Meekins, D.; Comar, M.; Bradshaw, S.; Jackson, L.

2017-12-01

Specifically, a food desert is defined as an area where populations live more than one mile from a supermarket or large grocery store if in an urban area or more than 10 miles from a supermarket or large grocery store if in a rural area (Ver Ploeg et al. 2012). According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a food desert is "an area in the United States with limited access to affordable and nutritious food, particularly such an area composed of predominately lower-income neighborhoods and communities" (110th Congress 2008). Three fourths of these food deserts are urban. In the Commonwealth of Virginia, Petersburg City is among the eight primary localities, where its population is living in a food desert. This project will compare those identified food deserts in Virginia (areas around Virginia State University) with focus to where farmers markets and community gardens are being established. The hypothesis of this study is that these minority groups do not get healthy food due to limited access to grocery stores and superstores. To address this problem, the community development activities should focus on partnering local Petersburg convenience stores with farmers and community gardeners to sell fresh produce. Existing data was collected on convenient stores and community gardens in Petersburg City and Chesterfield County. Rare data was generated for Emporia, Lynchburg and Hopewell. The data was compiled through field work and mapping with ArcGIS where markets and gardens are being established, and create a spatial analysis of their location We have localities that reflect both rural and urban areas. The project provides educational support for students who will find solution to community problems by developing activities to: (a) define and examine characteristics of food deserts, (b) identify causes and consequences of food deserts and determine if their community is a food desert, (c) research closest food desert to their school, and (d) design solutions to help residents who live in food deserts.

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

Ross, H.P.

The Cove Fort-Sulphurdale Known Geothermal Resource Area (KGRA) is located near the junction of the Pavant Range and the Tushar Mountains in south-central Utah. The area has been the site of an intensive geothermal exploration effort since 1975. The electrical resistivity data obtained by Union Oil Company and a subsequent survey conducted for the Earth Science Laboratory and a detailed numerical interpretation of both data sets are presented. The detailed modeling permits a characterization of the intrinsic electrical resistivity to depths exceeding 2000 feet. An area of over two square miles with bulk in-situ resistivities of four-to-five ohm-m is delineatedmore » at Sulphurdale near the Union Oil Co. well CFSU No. 42-7. The low-resistivities rocks define the area of extensive hydrothermal alteration in response to the presence of clay minerals and conductive thermal fluids. In contrast the area north and east of Cove Fort is typified by high (100-300 ohm-m) resistivities to depths exceeding 2000 feet. This is an area of Cretaceous and Paleozoic sedimentary rocks where two attempts to drill to reservoir depth failed because of extreme drilling problems. The high resistivities are not considered encouraging for the presence of a deeper reservoir. The electrical resistivity interpretation has defined several areas of probable upward migration of thermal fluids along north-trending normal faults. Some of these areas may have potential for direct heat geothermal utilization.« less

Defining competition in markets: why and how?

PubMed Central

Bernstein, A B; Gauthier, A K

1998-01-01

OBJECTIVE: To examine the variety of perspectives from which to study the measurement of competition in the healthcare marketplace. Based on a meeting held by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in 1996, the authors discuss the complications inherent in the way markets and products are defined by key stakeholders, including economists, policymakers, federal antitrust officials, purchasers, and the competitors themselves. CONCLUSION: The consensus among those who study this issue is that the way competitors, markets, and geographic areas are currently defined, and the ways of measuring competition, are inadequate, due mainly to the fact that both the measures and the definitions have been constructed from very limited data. Confounding this is the fact that analyses of competition are undertaken for such a wide variety of uses and that creating one database to solve the problems mentioned can be extremely daunting. RECOMMENDATIONS: Future research should examine ways to develop better definitions of the new healthcare structures that are competing with each other and ways to create measures of competition that include these new structures. To remedy gaps in the ability to measure competition, the field might also benefit from a public use data file, similar to the Area Resource File (ARF), that would contain HMO data according to geographic area, as well as provider data, employer data, payer data, and sociodemographic data. PMID:9865227

Rethinking Conceptual Definitions of the Criminal Career and Serial Criminality.

PubMed

Edelstein, Arnon

2016-01-01

Since Cesare Lombroso's days, criminology seeks to define, explain, and categorize the various types of criminals, their behaviors, and motives. This aim has theoretical as well as policy-related implications. One of the important areas in criminological thinking focuses chiefly on recidivist offenders who perform large numbers of crimes and/or commit the most dangerous crimes in society (rape, murder, arson, and armed robbery). These criminals have been defined as "habitual offenders," "professional criminals," "career criminals," and "serial offenders." The interest in these criminals is a rational one, given the perception that they present a severe threat to society. The main challenge in this area of research is a conceptual problem that has significant effects across the field. To this day, scholars have reused and misused titles to define and explain different concepts. The aim of this article is 3-fold. First, to review the concepts of criminal career, professional crime, habitual offenses, and seriality with a critical attitude on confusing terms. Second, to propose the redefinition of concepts mentioned previously, mainly on the criminal career. Third, to propose a theoretical model to enable a better understanding of, and serve as a basis for, further research in this important area of criminology. © The Author(s) 2015.

Ill-defined problem solving in amnestic mild cognitive impairment: linking episodic memory to effective solution generation.

PubMed

Sheldon, S; Vandermorris, S; Al-Haj, M; Cohen, S; Winocur, G; Moscovitch, M

2015-02-01

It is well accepted that the medial temporal lobes (MTL), and the hippocampus specifically, support episodic memory processes. Emerging evidence suggests that these processes also support the ability to effectively solve ill-defined problems which are those that do not have a set routine or solution. To test the relation between episodic memory and problem solving, we examined the ability of individuals with single domain amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), a condition characterized by episodic memory impairment, to solve ill-defined social problems. Participants with aMCI and age and education matched controls were given a battery of tests that included standardized neuropsychological measures, the Autobiographical Interview (Levine et al., 2002) that scored for episodic content in descriptions of past personal events, and a measure of ill-defined social problem solving. Corroborating previous findings, the aMCI group generated less episodically rich narratives when describing past events. Individuals with aMCI also generated less effective solutions when solving ill-defined problems compared to the control participants. Correlation analyses demonstrated that the ability to recall episodic elements from autobiographical memories was positively related to the ability to effectively solve ill-defined problems. The ability to solve these ill-defined problems was related to measures of activities of daily living. In conjunction with previous reports, the results of the present study point to a new functional role of episodic memory in ill-defined goal-directed behavior and other non-memory tasks that require flexible thinking. Our findings also have implications for the cognitive and behavioural profile of aMCI by suggesting that the ability to effectively solve ill-defined problems is related to sustained functional independence. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Modeling and water quality assessment during realisation of the coastal projects in Sochi region (Black sea coast of Russia)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prokhoda-Shumskikh, L.

2012-04-01

Sochi region is the unique subtropical resort on the Black Sea coast of Russia. Nowadays due to Sochi is the capital of the Olympic game 2014, the government of the Russian Federation accepts the special federal program of Black Sea coast development. Program foresees the existing and creation of new coastal recreational and touristic complexes along the Russian Black Sea coast, such as complex of yacht harbors, water centers (aqua-centers), network of port localities and etc. These coastal projects are different, but the main problems of the environmental impact assessment are the same. The environmental impact and the relative damage should be assessed at the stage of construction as well as at the stage of operation. The key problem for the recreation coastal zone is water quality management. The port localities network as example is considered. To increase the accuracy and informative of forecasts for the coastal zone conditions the system-dynamic model has been developed, what allows to estimate the quality of the sea water, including that in the semi-enclosed coastal water areas with the limited water exchange. The model of water quality in the coastal zone includes the equations of deposit concentration changes and chemical substances evolution in the studied areas. The model incorporates joint description of cycles of two biogenic elements - nitrogen and phosphorus. The system is completely defined by the biogeochemical reactions. The sizes of such water areas allow the applying the full mixing and zero-dimensional models of water quality. The circulation of water inside the area is taken into account additionally. Water exchange in the semi-enclosed coastal water areas is defined by the discharge through the open parts of area border. The novelty of the offered model is its adaptation to the specific conditions of semi-enclosed coastal water areas. At the same time, the model contains details of the biogeochemical processes to complete modelling of the water quality. The developed system dynamics model is realized in the «PowerSim Studio» media. The data of natural measurements of water quality are applied for the model verification, and the correlated numerical results for the Russian Black Sea coast are presented. The main objective of the present paper is to present the actual examples, and to generalise the problems and to discuss the possible approaches of their solution.

Private Graphs - Access Rights on Graphs for Seamless Navigation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dorner, W.; Hau, F.; Pagany, R.

2016-06-01

After the success of GNSS (Global Navigational Satellite Systems) and navigation services for public streets, indoor seems to be the next big development in navigational services, relying on RTLS - Real Time Locating Services (e.g. WIFI) and allowing seamless navigation. In contrast to navigation and routing services on public streets, seamless navigation will cause an additional challenge: how to make routing data accessible to defined users or restrict access rights for defined areas or only to parts of the graph to a defined user group? The paper will present case studies and data from literature, where seamless and especially indoor navigation solutions are presented (hospitals, industrial complexes, building sites), but the problem of restricted access rights was only touched from a real world, but not a technical perspective. The analysis of case studies will show, that the objective of navigation and the different target groups for navigation solutions will demand well defined access rights and require solutions, how to make only parts of a graph to a user or application available to solve a navigational task. The paper will therefore introduce the concept of private graphs, which is defined as a graph for navigational purposes covering the street, road or floor network of an area behind a public street and suggest different approaches how to make graph data for navigational purposes available considering access rights and data protection, privacy and security issues as well.

Environmental waste site characterization utilizing aerial photographs and satellite imagery: Three sites in New Mexico, USA

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

Van Eeckhout, E.; Pope, P.; Becker, N.

1996-04-01

The proper handling and characterization of past hazardous waste sites is becoming more and more important as world population extends into areas previously deemed undesirable. Historical photographs, past records, current aerial satellite imagery can play an important role in characterizing these sites. These data provide clear insight into defining problem areas which can be surface samples for further detail. Three such areas are discussed in this paper: (1) nuclear wastes buried in trenches at Los Alamos National Laboratory, (2) surface dumping at one site at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and (3) the historical development of a municipal landfill near Lasmore » Cruces, New Mexico.« less

The status of indoor air pollution.

PubMed Central

Esmen, N A

1985-01-01

Indoor air pollution, specifically restricted in its meaning to chemicals in home indoor air environment, presents a new and probably an important challenge to the researchers of the air pollution field. The general overview of this topic suggests that the voluminous data generated in the past ten or so years have only defined the rudiments of the problem, and significant areas of research still exist. Among the important areas where information is lacking, the exposures to contaminants generated by the use of consumer products and through hobbies and crafts represent perhaps the most urgent need for substantial research. PMID:4085429

Do Something, Even if It's Wrong! An Approach to Better Management and Planning in Public Schools through a Systematic Approach to Improvement of Basic Skills.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Noggle, Vernon R.

Maintaining that lack of action is one of the biggest errors school managers make, this author describes development of competency based education (CBE) programs as one example of how action can be taken by identifying a problem area and systematically approaching it. He defines CBE programs as those involving identification of basic skills, a…

Calculation of upper confidence bounds on proportion of area containing not-sampled vegetation types: An application to map unit definition for existing vegetation maps

Treesearch

Paul L. Patterson; Mark Finco

2011-01-01

This paper explores the information forest inventory data can produce regarding forest types that were not sampled and develops the equations necessary to define the upper confidence bounds on not-sampled forest types. The problem is reduced to a Bernoulli variable. This simplification allows the upper confidence bounds to be calculated based on Cochran (1977)....

Theoretical Underpinnings of the Other Social Effects Account

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-09-01

and to help focus on areas where capacity building is needed. The Civic Index focuses on 12 key themes of civic health and provides 363 example...be used in the emerging collaborative planning framework (also termed the four-account framework to stress the importance of all accounts), discusses ...conducting scoping workshops, generally as part of the EIS process Four-account framework defines problems more broadly and focuses on the full

An Action Resarch Proposal: Identifying and Addressing Problems Related to RACC's Writing Laboratory. Title III Curriculum Enrichment Activity: Faculty Development Project. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Horner, Annette; Jacobson, Karen H.

An action research project was undertaken to understand how the Writing Laboratory at Reading Area Community College (RACC) defines and accomplishes its work, what faculty and students expect of the lab, and how they make use of it. The investigation sought to foster discussion and reflection on the appropriate role and staffing of a college…

Studies in the Management of Social R&D: Selected Policy Areas. Study Project on Social Research and Development, Volume 3.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lynn, Laurence E., Jr., Ed.

Interviews with 180 federal agencies that conduct social research and development (R&D) were conducted and documents were examined to determine: (1) what types of social R&D are supported, and what levels of support are provided; (2) who defines the problems to be researched, who decides the level of support to be provided, and how investigators…

The Quest for Community in a National Republic: A Bicentennial Reappraisal. Final Report and Keynote Address, Virginia Assembly (Richmond, Virginia, April 8-10, 1988).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Virginia Univ., Charlottesville. Center for Public Service.

This Virginia Assembly document focuses on the concept of community as defined by the Founding Fathers of the U.S. Constitution. The final report identifies and discusses problems related to the modern quest for community in a national republic. Recommendations by the Assembly are offered in eight areas: (1) civic responsibility; (2) corporate…

NASA Formal Methods Workshop, 1990

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Butler, Ricky W. (Compiler)

1990-01-01

The workshop brought together researchers involved in the NASA formal methods research effort for detailed technical interchange and provided a mechanism for interaction with representatives from the FAA and the aerospace industry. The workshop also included speakers from industry to debrief the formal methods researchers on the current state of practice in flight critical system design, verification, and certification. The goals were: define and characterize the verification problem for ultra-reliable life critical flight control systems and the current state of practice in industry today; determine the proper role of formal methods in addressing these problems, and assess the state of the art and recent progress toward applying formal methods to this area.

Professional boundaries in the era of the Internet.

PubMed

Gabbard, Glen O; Kassaw, Kristin A; Perez-Garcia, Gonzalo

2011-01-01

The era of the Internet presents new dilemmas in educating psychiatrists about professional boundaries. The objective of this overview is to clarify those dilemmas and offer recommendations for dealing with them. The characteristics of social networking sites, blogs, and search engines are reviewed with a specific focus on their potential to present problems of professional boundaries for psychiatrists. The professional boundary questions that have arisen in the expanded world of online communication can be subdivided into three areas: ethical concerns, professionalism issues, and clinical dilemmas. Only the first category involves true boundary problems as normally defined. The expansion of the Internet has redefined traditional areas of privacy and anonymity in the clinical setting. Guidelines are proposed to manage the alteration of professional boundaries, as well as issues of professionalism and clinical work, that have arisen from the complexities of cyberspace. The author discusses implications for residency training.

[Surface disinfection in the context of infection prevention in intensive care units].

PubMed

Kossow, A; Schaber, S; Kipp, F

2013-03-01

The highest proportion of nosocomial infections occurs on intensive care units (ICU) and infections with multiresistant pathogens are an ever increasing problem. Preventative measures should consist of a bundle of different measures including measures that address a specific problem and standard hygiene measures that are relevant in all areas. Specific measures in ICUs primarily aim at the prevention of ventilator associated pneumonia, blood vessel catheter associated infections and nosocomial urinary tract infections. Surface disinfection belongs to the standard hygiene measures and plays an inferior role compared to hand hygiene; however, surfaces come into focus in outbreak situations. The Commission on Hospital Hygiene (KRINKO) at the Robert Koch Institute (the German health protection agency) published recommendations regarding the cleaning and disinfection of surfaces. The frequency with which cleaning and/or disinfection is required varies according to defined areas of risk. The frequency and the disinfection agents used are documented in the disinfection plan.

Extra-Pulmonary Tuberculosis and Its Surgical Treatment.

PubMed

Fry, Donald E

2016-08-01

Tuberculous infection has declined in the United States but remains a major infectious disease with morbidity and death for millions of people. Although the primary therapy is drugs, complications of the disease require surgical interventions. The published literature on tuberculosis was reviewed to provide a current understanding of the medical treatment of the disease and to define those areas where surgical intervention continues to be necessary. Multi-drug therapy for tuberculosis has become the standard and has reduced the complications of the disease necessitating surgical intervention. However, multi-drug resistance and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis continue to be major problems and require effective initial therapy with surveillance to define resistant infections. The roles of surgery in tuberculosis are in establishing the diagnosis in extra-pulmonary infection and in the management of complications of disseminated disease. Tuberculosis remains an occupational risk for surgeons and surgical personnel. Tuberculosis is still a global problem, mandating recognition and treatment. Surgeons should have an understanding of the diverse presentation and complications of the disease.

Applications of space teleoperator technology to the problems of the handicapped

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Malone, T. B.; Deutsch, S.; Rubin, G.; Shenk, S. W.

1973-01-01

The identification of feasible and practical applications of space teleoperator technology for the problems of the handicapped were studied. A teleoperator system is defined by NASA as a remotely controlled, cybernetic, man-machine system designed to extend and augment man's sensory, manipulative, and locomotive capabilities. Based on a consideration of teleoperator systems, the scope of the study was limited to an investigation of these handicapped persons limited in sensory, manipulative, and locomotive capabilities. If the technology being developed for teleoperators has any direct application, it must be in these functional areas. Feasible and practical applications of teleoperator technology for the problems of the handicapped are described, and design criteria are presented with each application. A development plan is established to bring the application to the point of use.

Loop Quantum Gravity.

PubMed

Rovelli, Carlo

2008-01-01

The problem of describing the quantum behavior of gravity, and thus understanding quantum spacetime , is still open. Loop quantum gravity is a well-developed approach to this problem. It is a mathematically well-defined background-independent quantization of general relativity, with its conventional matter couplings. Today research in loop quantum gravity forms a vast area, ranging from mathematical foundations to physical applications. Among the most significant results obtained so far are: (i) The computation of the spectra of geometrical quantities such as area and volume, which yield tentative quantitative predictions for Planck-scale physics. (ii) A physical picture of the microstructure of quantum spacetime, characterized by Planck-scale discreteness. Discreteness emerges as a standard quantum effect from the discrete spectra, and provides a mathematical realization of Wheeler's "spacetime foam" intuition. (iii) Control of spacetime singularities, such as those in the interior of black holes and the cosmological one. This, in particular, has opened up the possibility of a theoretical investigation into the very early universe and the spacetime regions beyond the Big Bang. (iv) A derivation of the Bekenstein-Hawking black-hole entropy. (v) Low-energy calculations, yielding n -point functions well defined in a background-independent context. The theory is at the roots of, or strictly related to, a number of formalisms that have been developed for describing background-independent quantum field theory, such as spin foams, group field theory, causal spin networks, and others. I give here a general overview of ideas, techniques, results and open problems of this candidate theory of quantum gravity, and a guide to the relevant literature.

Visual ergonomics in the workplace.

PubMed

Anshel, Jeffrey R

2007-10-01

This article provides information about visual function and its role in workplace productivity. By understanding the connection among comfort, health, and productivity and knowing the many options for effective ergonomic workplace lighting, the occupational health nurse can be sensitive to potential visual stress that can affect all areas of performance. Computer vision syndrome-the eye and vision problems associated with near work experienced during or related to computer use-is defined and solutions to it are discussed.

Bird population and habitat surveys in urban areas

USGS Publications Warehouse

DeGraaf, R.M.; Geis, A.D.; Healy, P.A.

1991-01-01

Breeding bird populations in six habitats in Columbia. MD, were studied to develop procedures suitable for measuring bird use of residential areas and to identify habitat characteristics that define the distribution of various common bird species. A procedure to measure bird use based on 4-min transect counts on plots measuring 91 m ? 91 m proved better than point counts. Transect counts reduced many of the problems associated with counting birds in urban areas, such as varying noise and visibility. Eighty percent of observations were recorded in the first 4 min. Habitat measurement procedures were examined also. It was found that a subsample of woody tree and shrub crown volumes made on 0.2 ha was highly correlated with similar measures made on 0.8-ha plots.

A study of sediment transport and erosion in the Fourchon area of south Louisiana

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Self, R. P.

1973-01-01

Aerial photography in the form of color infrared and color positive transparencies were used as aids in evaluating the rate and effect of erosion and sediment transport in Bay Champagne, a coastal marshland of Louisiana. Problems were found in the aerial photography method used. Vegetational differences do not always reflect sediment differences. Only areas containing different soils and sediments are easily defined with aerial photography. The shoreline erosion rate is 75 to 100 ft/yr. Areas which are undergoing erosion shift due to changes in wave refraction. In canals and channels with strong currents, erosion also occurs at a rapid rate. It is recommended that drainage patterns be studied carefully before breaches are made as man-made breaches could reverse drainage.

Membrane Packing Problems: A short Review on computational Membrane Modeling Methods and Tools

PubMed Central

Sommer, Björn

2013-01-01

The use of model membranes is currently part of the daily workflow for many biochemical and biophysical disciplines. These membranes are used to analyze the behavior of small substances, to simulate transport processes, to study the structure of macromolecules or for illustrative purposes. But, how can these membrane structures be generated? This mini review discusses a number of ways to obtain these structures. First, the problem will be formulated as the Membrane Packing Problem. It will be shown that the theoretical problem of placing proteins and lipids onto a membrane area differ significantly. Thus, two sub-problems will be defined and discussed. Then, different – partly historical – membrane modeling methods will be introduced. And finally, membrane modeling tools will be evaluated which are able to semi-automatically generate these model membranes and thus, drastically accelerate and simplify the membrane generation process. The mini review concludes with advice about which tool is appropriate for which application case. PMID:24688707

Urban Principle of Water Sensitive Design in Kampung Kamboja at Pontianak City

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hasriyanti, N.; Ryanti, E.

2017-07-01

This study will define the design principles of settlement area banks of the Kapuas Pontianak to approach the concept of water sensitive urban design (WSUD) in densely populated residential areas. Using a case study of a region densely located on the banks of the river with engineering literature to formulate the aspects taken into consideration and the components are arranged in the design, analysis descriptive paradigm rationalistic to identify the characteristics of residential areas riverbank with consideration of elements WSUD and formulate design principles residential area that is sensitive to water. This research is important to do because of problems related to the water management system in the settlement bank of the river in the city of Pontianak do not maximize. So that the primacy of this study contains several objectives to be achieved is to identify the characteristics of the settlement area riverbanks under consideration aspects areas design that is sensitive to water and principle areas design that will formulate the structure of the existing problems related to the needs of the community infrastructure facilities infrastructure neighborhoods and formulate and create guidelines for appropriate technology for integrated water management systems in the residential area of the riverbank and engineering design for the settlements are sensitive to water (WSUD). The final aim of the study is expected to achieve water management systems in residential areas by utilizing the abundant rainwater availability by using LID (Low Impact Development) through the concept of urban design that sensitive water

Analytical Approach for Detroit Urban Redevelopment and Rehabilitation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Korkmaz, Kasim A.

2017-10-01

Detroit had been the leader city in manufacturing in the 20th century in the US. The automobile industry created and continued the thriving economy in Detroit, MI in the early to mid-1900s. When outsourcing impacted the industry, people began to leave the city. That turned into a demographic catastrophe in Detroit. Economy had continuously felt and many of the properties were foreclosed. After the housing market crash in 2008, a big economic crisis effected all country. After such a strong economic crisis, Detroit has been desperately need of economic revival which has begun to turn around very slowly in last ten years. In this paper, while defining the nature of the problem, workable solutions for Detroit area are discussed with certain and framed techniques. The main purpose is to understand the current case for Detroit after a decade of the economic crisis and bring solutions for urban redevelopment and rehabilitation for Detroit area with real examples. A detailed evaluation is carried through comparison with other cities. Paper also details the problems in Detroit area, reasons behind the complications, components/parameters, constraints/limitations, solutions, people involved and expected results.

Preclinical testing for aortic endovascular grafts: results of a Food and Drug Administration workshop.

PubMed

Abel, Dorothy B; Beebe, Hugh G; Dedashtian, Mark M; Morton, Michael C; Moynahan, Megan; Smith, Loius J; Weinberg, Steven L

2002-05-01

Since their introduction into clinical trials in the United States, endovascular aortic grafts have shown various types of problems. Although details of design and construction vary between different endovascular grafts and failure modes have had a variety of causes and clinical effects, the inability of preclinical testing to predict these failures remains common to all endovascular grafts. The need to improve preclinical testing in an attempt to reduce clinical device failures resulted in a Food and Drug Administration-sponsored workshop on endovascular graft preclinical testing held in Rockville, Md, from July 31 to August 1, 2001. FORMAT: The workshop was not designed as a consensus conference. Instead, it provided a forum for bringing stakeholders together to define problems and identify areas of agreement and disagreement. The workshop had 34 invited participants who represented device manufacturers, the medical community, the Food and Drug Administration, and testing facilities, and international attendance was more than 120 people. Discussion centered on: 1, defining the physiologic, anatomic, and morphologic characteristics of abdominal aortic aneurysms before and after endovascular graft treatment; 2, identifying the types of failures that have been observed clinically; and 3, determining which characteristics should be considered during preclinical modeling to better predict clinical performance. Attendees agreed to the need to better define and address anatomic characteristics and changes in the aneurysm after endograft treatment to optimize preclinical testing. Much discussion and little agreement occurred on the importance of flow-related forces on graft performance or the need or ability to define and model physiologic compliance during durability testing. The discussion and conclusions are summarized in this paper and are provided in detail at: http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/meetings/073101workshop.html. The workshop raised awareness of significant performance issues and the challenges of modeling the extremely variable and relatively undefined environment of abdominal aortic aneurysms. Through the interactive format of the workshop, participants identified areas of preclinical testing, device design, and aspects of the simulated environment that need further consideration.

77 FR 30087 - Air Quality Designations for the 2008 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-05-21

...This rule establishes initial air quality designations for most areas in the United States, including areas of Indian country, for the 2008 primary and secondary national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for ozone. The designations for several counties in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin that the EPA is considering for inclusion in the Chicago nonattainment area will be designated in a subsequent action, no later than May 31, 2012. Areas designated as nonattainment are also being classified by operation of law according to the severity of their air quality problems. The classification categories are Marginal, Moderate, Serious, Severe, and Extreme. The EPA is establishing the air quality thresholds that define the classifications in a separate rule that the EPA is signing and publishing in the Federal Register on the same schedule as these designations. In accordance with that separate rule, six nonattainment areas in California are being reclassified to a higher classification.

Leading Causes of Death in Nonmetropolitan and Metropolitan Areas— United States, 1999–2014

PubMed Central

Garcia, Macarena C.; Bastian, Brigham; Rossen, Lauren M.; Ingram, Deborah D.; Faul, Mark; Massetti, Greta M.; Thomas, Cheryll C.; Hong, Yuling; Yoon, Paula W.; Iademarco, Michael F.

2017-01-01

Problem/Condition Higher rates of death in nonmetropolitan areas (often referred to as rural areas) compared with metropolitan areas have been described but not systematically assessed. Period Covered 1999–2014 Description of System Mortality data for U.S. residents from the National Vital Statistics System were used to calculate age-adjusted death rates and potentially excess deaths for nonmetropolitan and metropolitan areas for the five leading causes of death. Age-adjusted death rates included all ages and were adjusted to the 2000 U.S. standard population by the direct method. Potentially excess deaths are defined as deaths among persons aged <80 years that exceed the numbers that would be expected if the death rates of states with the lowest rates (i.e., benchmark states) occurred across all states. (Benchmark states were the three states with the lowest rates for each cause during 2008–2010.) Potentially excess deaths were calculated separately for nonmetropolitan and metropolitan areas. Data are presented for the United States and the 10 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services public health regions. Results Across the United States, nonmetropolitan areas experienced higher age-adjusted death rates than metropolitan areas. The percentages of potentially excess deaths among persons aged <80 years from the five leading causes were higher in nonmetropolitan areas than in metropolitan areas. For example, approximately half of deaths from unintentional injury and chronic lower respiratory disease in nonmetropolitan areas were potentially excess deaths, compared with 39.2% and 30.9%, respectively, in metropolitan areas. Potentially excess deaths also differed among and within public health regions; within regions, nonmetropolitan areas tended to have higher percentages of potentially excess deaths than metropolitan areas. Interpretation Compared with metropolitan areas, nonmetropolitan areas have higher age-adjusted death rates and greater percentages of potentially excess deaths from the five leading causes of death, nationally and across public health regions. Public Health Action Routine tracking of potentially excess deaths in nonmetropolitan areas might help public health departments identify emerging health problems, monitor known problems, and focus interventions to reduce preventable deaths in these areas. PMID:28081058

Toward an Explanation of Age Trends in Problem Behavior.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Osgood, D. Wayne

Problem behavior may be defined as behavior that is socially defined as a problem, a source of concern, or as undesirable by the norms of conventional society and the institutions of adult authority, and its occurrence usually elicits some kind of social control response. Key elements of problem behavior are: (1) problem behaviors are rare until…

Partially annotated bibliography for computer protection and related topics

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

Huskamp, J.C.

1976-07-20

References for the commonly cited technical papers in the area of computer protection are given. Great care is taken to exclude papers with no technical content or merit. For the purposes of this bibliography, computer protection is broadly defined to encompass all facets of the protection problem. The papers cover, but are not limited to, the topics of protection features in operating systems (e.g., MULTICS and HYDRA), hardware implementations of protection facilities (e.g., Honeywell 6180, System 250, BCC 5000, B6500), data base protection controls, confinement and protection models. Since computer protection is related to many other areas in computer sciencemore » and electrical engineering, a bibliography of related areas is included after the protection bibliography. These sections also include articles of general interest in the named areas which are not necessarily related to protection.« less

State-of-the-Art Study for High-speed Deceleration and Stabilization Devices

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Alexander, W. C.; Lau, R. A.

1966-01-01

Documented aerodynamic deployable decelerator performance data above Mach 1. 0 is presented. The state of the art of drag and stability characteristics for reentry and recovery applications is defined for a wide range of decelerator configurations. Structural and material data and other design information also are presented. Emphasis is given to presentation of basic aero, thermal, and structural design data, which points out basic problem areas and voids in existing technology. The basic problems and voids include supersonic "buzzing" of towed porous decelerators in the wake of the forebody, the complete lack of dynamic stability data, and the general lack of aerothermal data at speeds above Mach 5.

Dyads and triads at 35,000 feet - Factors affecting group process and aircrew performance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Foushee, H. C.

1984-01-01

The task of flying a multipilot transport aircraft is a classic small-group performance situation where a number of social, organizational, and personality factors are relevant to important outcome variables such as safety. The aviation community is becoming increasingly aware of the importance of these factors but is hampered in its efforts to improve the system because of research psychology's problems in defining the nature of the group process. This article identifies some of the problem areas as well as methods used to address these issues. It is argued that high fidelity flight simulators provide an environment that offers unique opportunities for work meeting both basic and applied research criteria.

Dyads and triads at 35,000 feet: Factors affecting group process and aircrew performance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Foushee, H. Clayton

1987-01-01

The task of flying a multipilot transport aircraft is a classic small-group performance situation where a number of social, organizational, and personality factors are relevant to important outcome variables such as safety. The aviation community is becoming increasingly aware of the importance of these factors but is hampered in its efforts to improve the system because of research psychology's problems in defining the nature of the group process. This article identifies some of the problem areas as well as methods used to address these issues. It is argued that high fidelity flight simulators provide an environment that offers unique opportunities for work meeting both basic and applied research criteria.

Analysis and design of a capsule landing system and surface vehicle control system for Mars exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Frederick, D. K.; Lashmet, P. K.; Sandor, G. N.; Shen, C. N.; Smith, E. J.; Yerazunis, S. W.

1971-01-01

Investigation of problems related to control of a mobile planetary vehicle according to a systematic plan for the exploration of Mars has been undertaken. Problem areas receiving attention include: (1) overall systems analysis; (2) vehicle configuration and dynamics; (3) toroidal wheel design and evaluation; (4) on-board navigation systems; (5) satellite-vehicle navigation systems; (6) obstacle detection systems; (7) terrain sensing, interpretation and modeling; (8) computer simulation of terrain sensor-path selection systems; and (9) chromatographic systems design concept studies. The specific tasks which have been undertaken are defined and the progress which has been achieved during the period July 1, 1971 to December 31, 1971 is summarized.

Quaternary Geology and Surface Faulting Hazard: Active and Capable Faults in Central Apennines, Italy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Falcucci, E.; Gori, S.

2015-12-01

The 2009 L'Aquila earthquake (Mw 6.1), in central Italy, raised the issue of surface faulting hazard in Italy, since large urban areas were affected by surface displacement along the causative structure, the Paganica fault. Since then, guidelines for microzonation were drew up that take into consideration the problem of surface faulting in Italy, and laying the bases for future regulations about related hazard, similarly to other countries (e.g. USA). More specific guidelines on the management of areas affected by active and capable faults (i.e. able to produce surface faulting) are going to be released by National Department of Civil Protection; these would define zonation of areas affected by active and capable faults, with prescriptions for land use planning. As such, the guidelines arise the problem of the time interval and general operational criteria to asses fault capability for the Italian territory. As for the chronology, the review of the international literature and regulatory allowed Galadini et al. (2012) to propose different time intervals depending on the ongoing tectonic regime - compressive or extensional - which encompass the Quaternary. As for the operational criteria, the detailed analysis of the large amount of works dealing with active faulting in Italy shows that investigations exclusively based on surface morphological features (e.g. fault planes exposition) or on indirect investigations (geophysical data), are not sufficient or even unreliable to define the presence of an active and capable fault; instead, more accurate geological information on the Quaternary space-time evolution of the areas affected by such tectonic structures is needed. A test area for which active and capable faults can be first mapped based on such a classical but still effective methodological approach can be the central Apennines. Reference Galadini F., Falcucci E., Galli P., Giaccio B., Gori S., Messina P., Moro M., Saroli M., Scardia G., Sposato A. (2012). Time intervals to assess active and capable faults for engineering practices in Italy. Eng. Geol., 139/140, 50-65.

Design considerations for composite fuselage structure of commercial transport aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Davis, G. W.; Sakata, I. F.

1981-01-01

The structural, manufacturing, and service and environmental considerations that could impact the design of composite fuselage structure for commercial transport aircraft application were explored. The severity of these considerations was assessed and the principal design drivers delineated. Technical issues and potential problem areas which must be resolved before sufficient confidence is established to commit to composite materials were defined. The key issues considered are: definition of composite fuselage design specifications, damage tolerance, and crashworthiness.

Study of quiet turbofan STOL aircraft for short haul transportation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Higgins, T. P.; Stout, E. G.; Sweet, H. S.

1973-01-01

A study of quiet turbofan short takeoff aircraft for short haul air transportation was conducted. The objectives of the study were to: (1) define representative aircraft configurations, characteristics, and costs associated with their development, (2) identify critical technology and technology related problems to be resolved in successful introduction of representative short haul aircraft, (3) determine relationships between quiet short takeoff aircraft and the economic and social viability of short haul, and (4) identify high payoff technology areas.

Intelligence Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific Region: Establishing a Framework for Multilateralism

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-03-01

responding in a manner consistent with an absence of diplomacy. The North is developing nuclear weapons out of self -defense. The participant remarked...capabilities, the support for terrorism. We see these things and feel self defense needs to be defined more broadly and needs to be more proactive. The...occur, which affected the tourism industry in the area. The Malaysian government is serious about stop- ping this problem and has recently devoted an

The Fourth Factor: The Case for Parity of Information as an Operational Factor With Space, Time & Force

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-10-31

problem is devoid of a factor, it incurs additional (and sometimes unacceptable) risk. Operational art exists in an area that inter mingles science ...Operational Art as defined in U.S. Joint Doctrine is an accepted process for use by operational commanders to visualize how to most efficiently and...effectively employ military capabilities to achieve a desired objective. Within Operational Art are three accepted factors in which all other

The Problem of Defining Intelligence.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lubar, David

1981-01-01

The major philosophical issues surrounding the concept of intelligence are reviewed with respect to the problems surrounding the process of defining and developing artificial intelligence (AI) in computers. Various current definitions and problems with these definitions are presented. (MP)

Problem Space Matters: Evaluation of a German Enrichment Program for Gifted Children.

PubMed

Welter, Marisete M; Jaarsveld, Saskia; Lachmann, Thomas

2018-01-01

We studied the development of cognitive abilities related to intelligence and creativity ( N = 48, 6-10 years old), using a longitudinal design (over one school year), in order to evaluate an Enrichment Program for gifted primary school children initiated by the government of the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate ( Entdeckertag Rheinland Pfalz , Germany; ET; Day of Discoverers). A group of German primary school children ( N = 24), identified earlier as intellectually gifted and selected to join the ET program was compared to a gender-, class- and IQ- matched group of control children that did not participate in this program. All participants performed the Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM) test, which measures intelligence in well-defined problem space; the Creative Reasoning Task (CRT), which measures intelligence in ill-defined problem space; and the test of creative thinking-drawing production (TCT-DP), which measures creativity, also in ill-defined problem space. Results revealed that problem space matters: the ET program is effective only for the improvement of intelligence operating in well-defined problem space. An effect was found for intelligence as measured by SPM only, but neither for intelligence operating in ill-defined problem space (CRT) nor for creativity (TCT-DP). This suggests that, depending on the type of problem spaces presented, different cognitive abilities are elicited in the same child. Therefore, enrichment programs for gifted, but also for children attending traditional schools, should provide opportunities to develop cognitive abilities related to intelligence, operating in both well- and ill-defined problem spaces, and to creativity in a parallel, using an interactive approach.

Problem Space Matters: Evaluation of a German Enrichment Program for Gifted Children

PubMed Central

Welter, Marisete M.; Jaarsveld, Saskia; Lachmann, Thomas

2018-01-01

We studied the development of cognitive abilities related to intelligence and creativity (N = 48, 6–10 years old), using a longitudinal design (over one school year), in order to evaluate an Enrichment Program for gifted primary school children initiated by the government of the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate (Entdeckertag Rheinland Pfalz, Germany; ET; Day of Discoverers). A group of German primary school children (N = 24), identified earlier as intellectually gifted and selected to join the ET program was compared to a gender-, class- and IQ- matched group of control children that did not participate in this program. All participants performed the Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM) test, which measures intelligence in well-defined problem space; the Creative Reasoning Task (CRT), which measures intelligence in ill-defined problem space; and the test of creative thinking-drawing production (TCT-DP), which measures creativity, also in ill-defined problem space. Results revealed that problem space matters: the ET program is effective only for the improvement of intelligence operating in well-defined problem space. An effect was found for intelligence as measured by SPM only, but neither for intelligence operating in ill-defined problem space (CRT) nor for creativity (TCT-DP). This suggests that, depending on the type of problem spaces presented, different cognitive abilities are elicited in the same child. Therefore, enrichment programs for gifted, but also for children attending traditional schools, should provide opportunities to develop cognitive abilities related to intelligence, operating in both well- and ill-defined problem spaces, and to creativity in a parallel, using an interactive approach. PMID:29740367

IMPROVED CORROSION RESISTANCE OF ALUMINA REFRACTORIES

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

John P. Hurley; Patty L. Kleven

2001-09-30

The initial objective of this project was to do a literature search to define the problems of refractory selection in the metals and glass industries. The problems fall into three categories: Economic--What do the major problems cost the industries financially? Operational--How do the major problems affect production efficiency and impact the environment? and Scientific--What are the chemical and physical mechanisms that cause the problems to occur? This report presents a summary of these problems. It was used to determine the areas in which the EERC can provide the most assistance through bench-scale and laboratory testing. The final objective of thismore » project was to design and build a bench-scale high-temperature controlled atmosphere dynamic corrosion application furnace (CADCAF). The furnace will be used to evaluate refractory test samples in the presence of flowing corrodents for extended periods, to temperatures of 1600 C under controlled atmospheres. Corrodents will include molten slag, steel, and glass. This test should prove useful for the glass and steel industries when faced with the decision of choosing the best refractory for flowing corrodent conditions.« less

Digital data processing system dynamic loading analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lagas, J. J.; Peterka, J. J.; Tucker, A. E.

1976-01-01

Simulation and analysis of the Space Shuttle Orbiter Digital Data Processing System (DDPS) are reported. The mated flight and postseparation flight phases of the space shuttle's approach and landing test configuration were modeled utilizing the Information Management System Interpretative Model (IMSIM) in a computerized simulation modeling of the ALT hardware, software, and workload. System requirements simulated for the ALT configuration were defined. Sensitivity analyses determined areas of potential data flow problems in DDPS operation. Based on the defined system requirements and the sensitivity analyses, a test design is described for adapting, parameterizing, and executing the IMSIM. Varying load and stress conditions for the model execution are given. The analyses of the computer simulation runs were documented as results, conclusions, and recommendations for DDPS improvements.

Space shuttle orbiter digital data processing system timing sensitivity analysis OFT ascent phase

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lagas, J. J.; Peterka, J. J.; Becker, D. A.

1977-01-01

Dynamic loads were investigated to provide simulation and analysis of the space shuttle orbiter digital data processing system (DDPS). Segments of the ascent test (OFT) configuration were modeled utilizing the information management system interpretive model (IMSIM) in a computerized simulation modeling of the OFT hardware and software workload. System requirements for simulation of the OFT configuration were defined, and sensitivity analyses determined areas of potential data flow problems in DDPS operation. Based on the defined system requirements and these sensitivity analyses, a test design was developed for adapting, parameterizing, and executing IMSIM, using varying load and stress conditions for model execution. Analyses of the computer simulation runs are documented, including results, conclusions, and recommendations for DDPS improvements.

Results of temperature gradient and heat flow in Santiam Pass Area, Oregon, Volume 1

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

Cox, B.L.; Gardner, M.C.; Koenig, J.B.

The conclusions of this report are: (1) There is a weakly defined thermal anomaly within the area examined by temperature-gradient holes in the Santiam Pass area. This is a relict anomaly showing differences in permeability between the High Cascades and Western Cascades areas, more than a fundamental difference in shallow crustal temperatures. (2) The anomaly as defined by the 60 F isotherms at 400 feet follows a north-south trend immediately westward of the Cascade axis in the boundary region. It is clear that all holes spudded into High Cascades rocks result in isothermal and reversal gradients. Holes spudded in Westernmore » Cascades rocks result in positive gradients. (3) Cold groundwater flow influences and masks temperature gradients in the High Cascades to a depth of at least 700 feet, especially eastward from the major north-south trending faults. Pleistocene and Holocene rocks are very permeable aquifers. (4) Shallow gradient drilling in the lowlands westward of the faults provides more interpretable information than shallow drilling in the cold-water recharge zones. Topographic and climatological effects can be filtered out of the temperature gradient results. (5) The thermal anomaly seems to have 2 centers: one in the Belknap-Foley area, and one northward in the Sand Mountain area. The anomalies may or may not be connected along a north-south trend. (6) A geothermal effect is seen in holes downslope of the Western-High Cascade boundary. Mixing with cold waters is a powerful influence on temperature gradient data. (7) The temperature-gradient program has not yet examined and defined the geothermal resources potential of the area eastward of the Western Cascades-High Cascades boundary. Holes to 1500-2000 feet in depth are required to penetrate the high permeability-cold groundwater regime. (8) Drilling conditions are unfavorable. There are very few accessible level drill sites. Seasonal access problems and environmental restrictions together with frequent lost circulation results in very high costs per foot drilled.« less

Microzonation Studies In District of Dikili, Izmir (Turkey) In The Context of Social Responsibility by Using GIS Tecniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karabulut, Savas; Cinku, Mualla; Tezel, Okan; Hisarli, Mumtaz; Ozcep, Ferhat; Tun, Muammer; Avdan, Ugur; Ozel, Oguz; Acikca, Ahmet; Aygordu, Ozan; Benli, Aral; Kesisyan, Arda; Yilmaz, Hakan; Varici, Cagri; Ozturkan, Hasan; Ozcan, Cuneyt; Kivrak, Ali

2015-04-01

Social Responsibility Projects (SRP) are important tools in contributing to the development of communities and applied educational science. Researchers dealing with engineering studies generally focus on technical specifications. However, when the subject depends on earthquake, engineers should be consider also social and educational components, besides the technical aspects. If scientific projects collaborated with municipalities of cities, it should be known that it will reach a wide range of people. Turkey is one of the most active region that experienced destructive earthquakes. The 1999 Marmara earthquake was responsible for the loose of more than 18.000 people. The destructive damage occurred on buildings that made on problematic soils. This however, is still the one of most important issues in Turkey which needs to be solved. Inspite of large earthquakes that occurred along the major segments of the North and East Anatolian Fault Zones due to the northwards excursion of Anatolia, the extensional regime in the Aegean region is also characterized by earthquakes that occurred with the movement of a number of strike slip and normal faults. The Dikili village within the Eastern Aegean extensional region experienced a large earthquake in 1939 (M: 6.8). The seismic activity is still characterised by high level and being detected. A lot of areas like the Kabakum village have been moved to its present location during this earthquake. The probability of an earthquake hazard in Dikili is considerably high level, today. Therefore, it is very important to predict the soil behaviour and engineering problems by using Geographic Information System (GIS) tools in this area. For this purpose we conducted a project with the collaboration of the Dikili Municipality in İzmir (Turkey) to determine the following issues: a) Possible disaster mitigation as a result of earthquake-soil-structure interaction, b) Geo-enginnering problems (i.e: soil liquefaction, soil settlement, soil bearing capacity, soil amplification), c) The basin structure and possible fault of the Dikili district, d) Risk analysis on cultivated areas due to salty water injection, e) The tectonic activity of the study area from Miocene to present. During this study a number of measurements were carried out to solve the problems defined above. These measurements include; microtremor single station (H/V) method according to Nakamura's technique, which is applied at 222 points. The results provide maps of soil fundamental frequency, soil amplification and soil sedimentary thickness by using developed amprical relationships. Spatial Autocorrelation Technique (SPAC) was carried out in 11 sites with Guralp CG-5 seismometer to predict the shear wave velocity-depth model towards the sismological bedrock. Multi-channel analysis of Surface Wave (MASW), Microtremor Array Method (MAM) and Seismic Refraction Method were applied at 121 sites with SARA-Doremi Seismograph. The soil liquefaction-induced settlements are determined in the frame of shallow soil engineering problems. Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) was carried out to define the presence of saltly and drinkable and hot/cold underground water, the location of possible faults and the bedrock depth which was estimated with a Scientrex Saris Resistivity Equipment. To define the areas which are influenced by salty water, induced polarization (IP) method was applied at 34 sites. The basin structure and the probably faults of the study area were determined by applying gravity measurements on 248 points with a CG-5 Autogravity meter. Evaluation of the combined data is very important for producing microzonation maps. We therefore integrated all of the data into the GIS database and prepared large variety of maps.

Design of Composite Structures Using Knowledge-Based and Case Based Reasoning

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lambright, Jonathan Paul

1996-01-01

A method of using knowledge based and case based reasoning to assist designers during conceptual design tasks of composite structures was proposed. The cooperative use of heuristics, procedural knowledge, and previous similar design cases suggests a potential reduction in design cycle time and ultimately product lead time. The hypothesis of this work is that the design process of composite structures can be improved by using Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) and Knowledge-Based (KB) reasoning in the early design stages. The technique of using knowledge-based and case-based reasoning facilitates the gathering of disparate information into one location that is easily and readily available. The method suggests that the inclusion of downstream life-cycle issues into the conceptual design phase reduces potential of defective, and sub-optimal composite structures. Three industry experts were interviewed extensively. The experts provided design rules, previous design cases, and test problems. A Knowledge Based Reasoning system was developed using the CLIPS (C Language Interpretive Procedural System) environment and a Case Based Reasoning System was developed using the Design Memory Utility For Sharing Experiences (MUSE) xviii environment. A Design Characteristic State (DCS) was used to document the design specifications, constraints, and problem areas using attribute-value pair relationships. The DCS provided consistent design information between the knowledge base and case base. Results indicated that the use of knowledge based and case based reasoning provided a robust design environment for composite structures. The knowledge base provided design guidance from well defined rules and procedural knowledge. The case base provided suggestions on design and manufacturing techniques based on previous similar designs and warnings of potential problems and pitfalls. The case base complemented the knowledge base and extended the problem solving capability beyond the existence of limited well defined rules. The findings indicated that the technique is most effective when used as a design aid and not as a tool to totally automate the composites design process. Other areas of application and implications for future research are discussed.

Risk factors for early lactation problems among Peruvian primiparous mothers.

PubMed

Matias, Susana L; Nommsen-Rivers, Laurie A; Creed-Kanashiro, Hilary; Dewey, Kathryn G

2010-04-01

The aim of this study was to determine the incidence and risk factors for early lactation problems [suboptimal infant breastfeeding behaviour (SIBB), delayed onset of lactogenesis (OL) and excessive neonatal weight loss] among mother-infant pairs in Lima, Peru. All primiparous mothers who gave birth to a healthy, single, term infant at a government hospital in a peri-urban area of Lima during the 8-month recruitment period were invited to participate in the study. Data were collected at the hospital (day 0) and during a home visit (day 3). Infant breastfeeding behaviour was evaluated using the Infant Breastfeeding Assessment Tool; SIBB was defined as < or = 10 score. OL was determined by maternal report of breast fullness changes; delayed OL was defined as perceived after 72 h. Excessive neonatal weight loss was defined as > or = 10% of birthweight by day 3. One hundred seventy-one mother-infant pairs participated in the study. SIBB prevalence was 52% on day 0 and 21% on day 3; it was associated with male infant gender (day 0), < 8 breastfeeds during the first 24 h (days 0 and 3), and gestational age < 39 weeks (day 3). Delayed OL incidence was 17% and was associated with infant Apgar score < 8. Excessive neonatal weight loss occurred in 10% of neonates and was associated with maternal overweight and Caesarean-section delivery. Early lactation problems may be influenced by modifiable factors such as delivery mode and breastfeeding frequency. Infant status at birth and maternal characteristics could indicate when breastfeeding dyads need extra support.

Practical application of game theory based production flow planning method in virtual manufacturing networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olender, M.; Krenczyk, D.

2016-08-01

Modern enterprises have to react quickly to dynamic changes in the market, due to changing customer requirements and expectations. One of the key area of production management, that must continuously evolve by searching for new methods and tools for increasing the efficiency of manufacturing systems is the area of production flow planning and control. These aspects are closely connected with the ability to implement the concept of Virtual Enterprises (VE) and Virtual Manufacturing Network (VMN) in which integrated infrastructure of flexible resources are created. In the proposed approach, the players role perform the objects associated with the objective functions, allowing to solve the multiobjective production flow planning problems based on the game theory, which is based on the theory of the strategic situation. For defined production system and production order models ways of solving the problem of production route planning in VMN on computational examples for different variants of production flow is presented. Possible decision strategy to use together with an analysis of calculation results is shown.

Nanoinformatics: a new area of research in nanomedicine

PubMed Central

Maojo, Victor; Fritts, Martin; de la Iglesia, Diana; Cachau, Raul E; Garcia-Remesal, Miguel; Mitchell, Joyce A; Kulikowski, Casimir

2012-01-01

Over a decade ago, nanotechnologists began research on applications of nanomaterials for medicine. This research has revealed a wide range of different challenges, as well as many opportunities. Some of these challenges are strongly related to informatics issues, dealing, for instance, with the management and integration of heterogeneous information, defining nomenclatures, taxonomies and classifications for various types of nanomaterials, and research on new modeling and simulation techniques for nanoparticles. Nanoinformatics has recently emerged in the USA and Europe to address these issues. In this paper, we present a review of nanoinformatics, describing its origins, the problems it addresses, areas of interest, and examples of current research initiatives and informatics resources. We suggest that nanoinformatics could accelerate research and development in nanomedicine, as has occurred in the past in other fields. For instance, biomedical informatics served as a fundamental catalyst for the Human Genome Project, and other genomic and –omics projects, as well as the translational efforts that link resulting molecular-level research to clinical problems and findings. PMID:22866003

The Buoyancy Approach to U-tube Problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Binder, P.-M.; Magowan, M. A.

2016-02-01

In this note we unify two physical situations treatable with hydrostatics: an object floating on a denser fluid and an open U-shaped tube with two immiscible fluids. We begin by reviewing the problem of a partially floating uniform, rectangular prism of horizontal area A immersed in a denser fluid, with respective densities ρ1 < ρh for the prism and fluid (the subscripts stand for light and heavy): see Fig. 1. We define three horizontal levels within the solid, y0, y1, and y2, corresponding to the bottom, flotation line, and top of the prism. The buoyant force is ρh (y1 - y0)gA upwards, and the weight of the prism is ρ1 (y2 - y0)gA downwards. By Newton's second law, these two forces balance at equilibrium. After dividing by the common horizontal area, one obtains y/1-y0 y2-y0 =ρ/1 ρh . A detailed derivation can be found for example in Ref. 1, Section 13-7.

Nanoinformatics: a new area of research in nanomedicine.

PubMed

Maojo, Victor; Fritts, Martin; de la Iglesia, Diana; Cachau, Raul E; Garcia-Remesal, Miguel; Mitchell, Joyce A; Kulikowski, Casimir

2012-01-01

Over a decade ago, nanotechnologists began research on applications of nanomaterials for medicine. This research has revealed a wide range of different challenges, as well as many opportunities. Some of these challenges are strongly related to informatics issues, dealing, for instance, with the management and integration of heterogeneous information, defining nomenclatures, taxonomies and classifications for various types of nanomaterials, and research on new modeling and simulation techniques for nanoparticles. Nanoinformatics has recently emerged in the USA and Europe to address these issues. In this paper, we present a review of nanoinformatics, describing its origins, the problems it addresses, areas of interest, and examples of current research initiatives and informatics resources. We suggest that nanoinformatics could accelerate research and development in nanomedicine, as has occurred in the past in other fields. For instance, biomedical informatics served as a fundamental catalyst for the Human Genome Project, and other genomic and -omics projects, as well as the translational efforts that link resulting molecular-level research to clinical problems and findings.

Making Changes: A Futures-Oriented Course in Inventive Problem Solving. Lesson Book.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomas, John W.

This textbook/workbook for secondary school students is designed to stimulate inventive problem solving of future world problems. It is organized into four units and contains 23 lessons. Unit I defines the nature of the course and provides methods for stating and defining problems, brainstorming, working in groups, and judging ideas. Unit II…

Method for spatially distributing a population

DOEpatents

Bright, Edward A [Knoxville, TN; Bhaduri, Budhendra L [Knoxville, TN; Coleman, Phillip R [Knoxville, TN; Dobson, Jerome E [Lawrence, KS

2007-07-24

A process for spatially distributing a population count within a geographically defined area can include the steps of logically correlating land usages apparent from a geographically defined area to geospatial features in the geographically defined area and allocating portions of the population count to regions of the geographically defined area having the land usages, according to the logical correlation. The process can also include weighing the logical correlation for determining the allocation of portions of the population count and storing the allocated portions within a searchable data store. The logically correlating step can include the step of logically correlating time-based land usages to geospatial features of the geographically defined area. The process can also include obtaining a population count for the geographically defined area, organizing the geographically defined area into a plurality of sectors, and verifying the allocated portions according to direct observation.

Estimating changes in urban land and urban population using refined areal interpolation techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zoraghein, Hamidreza; Leyk, Stefan

2018-05-01

The analysis of changes in urban land and population is important because the majority of future population growth will take place in urban areas. U.S. Census historically classifies urban land using population density and various land-use criteria. This study analyzes the reliability of census-defined urban lands for delineating the spatial distribution of urban population and estimating its changes over time. To overcome the problem of incompatible enumeration units between censuses, regular areal interpolation methods including Areal Weighting (AW) and Target Density Weighting (TDW), with and without spatial refinement, are implemented. The goal in this study is to estimate urban population in Massachusetts in 1990 and 2000 (source zones), within tract boundaries of the 2010 census (target zones), respectively, to create a consistent time series of comparable urban population estimates from 1990 to 2010. Spatial refinement is done using ancillary variables such as census-defined urban areas, the National Land Cover Database (NLCD) and the Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL) as well as different combinations of them. The study results suggest that census-defined urban areas alone are not necessarily the most meaningful delineation of urban land. Instead, it appears that alternative combinations of the above-mentioned ancillary variables can better depict the spatial distribution of urban land, and thus make it possible to reduce the estimation error in transferring the urban population from source zones to target zones when running spatially-refined temporal areal interpolation.

Changing Urbania: Estimating Changes in Urban Land and Urban Population Using Refined Areal Interpolation Techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zoraghein, H.; Leyk, S.; Balk, D.

2017-12-01

The analysis of changes in urban land and population is important because the majority of future population growth will take place in urban areas. The U.S. Census historically classifies urban land using population density and various land-use criteria. This study analyzes the reliability of census-defined urban lands for delineating the spatial distribution of urban population and estimating its changes over time. To overcome the problem of incompatible enumeration units between censuses, regular areal interpolation methods including Areal Weighting (AW) and Target Density Weighting (TDW), with and without spatial refinement, are implemented. The goal in this study is to estimate urban population in Massachusetts in 1990 and 2000 (source zones), within tract boundaries of the 2010 census (target zones), respectively, to create a consistent time series of comparable urban population estimates from 1990 to 2010. Spatial refinement is done using ancillary variables such as census-defined urban areas, the National Land Cover Database (NLCD) and the Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL) as well as different combinations of them. The study results suggest that census-defined urban areas alone are not necessarily the most meaningful delineation of urban land. Instead it appears that alternative combinations of the above-mentioned ancillary variables can better depict the spatial distribution of urban land, and thus make it possible to reduce the estimation error in transferring the urban population from source zones to target zones when running spatially-refined temporal areal interpolation.

Experiences of a health team working in a new urban settlement area in Istanbul.

PubMed

Bulut, A; Uzel, N; Kutluay, T; Neyzi, O

1991-10-01

A project aiming at creating a model for comprehensive maternal and child health care for urban underdeveloped areas was started in a new settlement area of migrants in the vicinity of Istanbul. The project had an impact on health care status, particularly among infants and children, but the results indicated that more effort was needed to reach the mothers. It was noted that building space and the appearance of the work place influenced the prestige of the team. Absentee problems could be partly surmounted by repeated home visits. Based on this experience, it was concluded that health services in underdeveloped areas need to be supported by non medical personnel to act as home visitors and as mediators between the community and the health team. It was also concluded that an established recording system to include both clinical data and attendance is needed to define the cases who need special care.

The acquisition of problem behavior in individuals with developmental disabilities as a behavioral cusp.

PubMed

Robertson, Rachel E

2015-07-01

A behavioral cusp has been defined as a behavior change that produces contact with new contingencies with important and far-reaching consequences. The concept of behavioral cusps has most frequently been used to select target skills taught to learners and to evaluate the importance of those skills; however, the concept is equally applicable to behavior changes that bring about important and far-reaching negative consequences. Although it has been acknowledged that socially undesirable behavior change can also qualify as a behavioral cusp, this area of the cusp concept has been under-examined. In this article, an undesirable behavior change, the acquisition of problem behavior in individuals with developmental disabilities, is compared with criteria for behavioral cusps previously identified in the literature. The advantages of viewing problem behavior as a behavioral cusp are outlined, and implications for practice and research from a behavioral cusp approach to problem behavior are provided. © The Author(s) 2015.

Comparison between Two Methods for agricultural drought disaster risk in southwestern China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

han, lanying; zhang, qiang

2016-04-01

The drought is a natural disaster, which lead huge loss to agricultural yield in the world. The drought risk has become increasingly prominent because of the climatic warming during the past century, and which is also one of the main meteorological disasters and serious problem in southwestern China, where drought risk exceeds the national average. Climate change is likely to exacerbate the problem, thereby endangering Chinaʹs food security. In this paper, drought disaster in the southwestern China (where there are serious drought risk and the comprehensive loss accounted for 3.9% of national drought area) were selected to show the drought change under climate change, and two methods were used to assess the drought disaster risk, drought risk assessment model and comprehensive drought risk index. Firstly, we used the analytic hierarchy process and meteorological, geographic, soil, and remote-sensing data to develop a drought risk assessment model (defined using a comprehensive drought disaster risk index, R) based on the drought hazard, environmental vulnerability, sensitivity and exposure of the values at risk, and capacity to prevent or mitigate the problem. Second, we built the comprehensive drought risk index (defined using a comprehensive drought disaster loss, L) based on statistical drought disaster data, including crop yields, drought-induced areas, drought-occurred areas, no harvest areas caused by drought and planting areas. Using the model, we assessed the drought risk. The results showed that spatial distribution of two drought disaster risks were coherent, and revealed complex zonality in southwestern China. The results also showed the drought risk is becoming more and more serious and frequent in the country under the global climatic warming background. The eastern part of the study area had an extremely high risk, and risk was generally greater in the north than in the south, and increased from southwest to northeast. The drought disaster risk or loss was highest in Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality. It was lowest in Yunnan province. The comprehensive drought disaster loss were uptrend in nearly 60 years, and the trend of drought occurrence in nearly 60 years was overall upward in every province of Xinan region. Drought risk of all provinces has certain relationship with the regional climate change, such as temperature and precipitation, soil moisture and vegetation coverage. The contribution of the risk factors to R was highest for the capacity for prevention and mitigation, followed by the drought hazard, sensitivity and exposure, and environmental vulnerability.

Defining neighborhood boundaries in studies of spatial dependence in child behavior problems.

PubMed

Caughy, Margaret O'Brien; Leonard, Tammy; Beron, Kurt; Murdoch, James

2013-05-03

The purpose of this study was to extend the analysis of neighborhood effects on child behavioral outcomes in two ways: (1) by examining the geographic extent of the relationship between child behavior and neighborhood physical conditions independent of standard administrative boundaries such as census tracts or block groups and (2) by examining the relationship and geographic extent of geographic peers' behavior and individual child behavior. The study neighborhood was a low income, ethnic minority neighborhood of approximately 20,000 residents in a large city in the southwestern United States. Observational data were collected for 11,552 parcels and 1,778 face blocks in the neighborhood over a five week period. Data on child behavior problems were collected from the parents of 261 school-age children (81% African American, 14% Latino) living in the neighborhood. Spatial analysis methods were used to examine the spatial dependence of child behavior problems in relation to physical conditions in the neighborhood for areas surrounding the child's home ranging from a radius of 50 meters to a radius of 1000 meters. Likewise, the spatial dependence of child behavior problems in relation to the behavior problems of neighborhood peers was examined for areas ranging from a radius 255 meters to a radius of 600 meters around the child's home. Finally, we examined the joint influence of neighborhood physical conditions and geographic peers. Poor conditions of the physical environment of the neighborhood were related to more behavioral problems, and the geographic extent of the physical environment that mattered was an area with a radius between 400 and 800 meters surrounding the child's home. In addition, the average level of behavior problems of neighborhood peers within 255 meters of the child's home was also positively associated with child behavior problems. Furthermore, these effects were independent of one another. These findings demonstrate that using flexible geographies in the study of neighborhood effects can provide important insights into spatial influences on health outcomes. With regards to child behavioral outcomes, specifically, these findings support the importance of addressing the physical and social environment when planning community-level interventions to reduce child behavior problems.

Defining neighborhood boundaries in studies of spatial dependence in child behavior problems

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background The purpose of this study was to extend the analysis of neighborhood effects on child behavioral outcomes in two ways: (1) by examining the geographic extent of the relationship between child behavior and neighborhood physical conditions independent of standard administrative boundaries such as census tracts or block groups and (2) by examining the relationship and geographic extent of geographic peers’ behavior and individual child behavior. Methods The study neighborhood was a low income, ethnic minority neighborhood of approximately 20,000 residents in a large city in the southwestern United States. Observational data were collected for 11,552 parcels and 1,778 face blocks in the neighborhood over a five week period. Data on child behavior problems were collected from the parents of 261 school-age children (81% African American, 14% Latino) living in the neighborhood. Spatial analysis methods were used to examine the spatial dependence of child behavior problems in relation to physical conditions in the neighborhood for areas surrounding the child’s home ranging from a radius of 50 meters to a radius of 1000 meters. Likewise, the spatial dependence of child behavior problems in relation to the behavior problems of neighborhood peers was examined for areas ranging from a radius 255 meters to a radius of 600 meters around the child’s home. Finally, we examined the joint influence of neighborhood physical conditions and geographic peers. Results Poor conditions of the physical environment of the neighborhood were related to more behavioral problems, and the geographic extent of the physical environment that mattered was an area with a radius between 400 and 800 meters surrounding the child’s home. In addition, the average level of behavior problems of neighborhood peers within 255 meters of the child’s home was also positively associated with child behavior problems. Furthermore, these effects were independent of one another. Conclusions These findings demonstrate that using flexible geographies in the study of neighborhood effects can provide important insights into spatial influences on health outcomes. With regards to child behavioral outcomes, specifically, these findings support the importance of addressing the physical and social environment when planning community-level interventions to reduce child behavior problems. PMID:23642001

Multispectral processing based on groups of resolution elements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Richardson, W.; Gleason, J. M.

1975-01-01

Several nine-point rules are defined and compared with previously studied rules. One of the rules performed well in boundary areas, but with reduced efficiency in field interiors; another combined best performance on field interiors with good sensitivity to boundary detail. The basic threshold gradient and some modifications were investigated as a means of boundary point detection. The hypothesis testing methods of closed-boundary formation were also tested and evaluated. An analysis of the boundary detection problem was initiated, employing statistical signal detection and parameter estimation techniques to analyze various formulations of the problem. These formulations permit the atmospheric and sensor system effects on the data to be thoroughly analyzed. Various boundary features and necessary assumptions can also be investigated in this manner.

A new role for Women Health Volunteers in urban Islamic Republic of Iran.

PubMed

Behdjat, H; Rifkin, S B; Tarin, E; Sheikh, M R

2009-01-01

An action research project was carried out by a team from the National Public Health Management Centre in Tabriz, Iran to test the following hypothesis: Health Volunteers are more able to support health improvements by focusing on community participation and empowerment through facilitating communities to define and solve their own problems than by only providing information on health problems. Training on participatory approaches was given to Women Health Volunteers (WHV) in a pilot area. The results gave evidence that local people could identify and act upon their own health needs and request more information from professionals to improve their own health. Further research is needed however to assess how the pilot can be scaled up and how initial enthusiasm can be sustained.

Poland action plan for water and wastewater: Bielsko-biala and Warsaw, Poland. Export trade information

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

NONE

The Goczalkowice Reservoir in the Katowice voivodeship in the Upper Silesia area of Poland. It serves as a major source of water for the population of the Upper Selesia region. In 1987 a major shift took place in the ecology of the reservoir. The shift resulted in major algae blooms which caused problems at the water treatment plant. The primary purpose of the study was to more specifically define the water quality problem of the Goczalkowice Reservoir, to determine it causes and to develop a set of recommendations leading to a solution. The report would then become the basis formore » proposals for financing of one or more projects needed to implement its recommendations.« less

Defining the light emitting area for displays in the unipolar regime of highly efficient light emitting transistors

PubMed Central

Ullah, Mujeeb; Armin, Ardalan; Tandy, Kristen; Yambem, Soniya D.; Burn, Paul L.; Meredith, Paul; Namdas, Ebinazar B.

2015-01-01

Light-emitting field effect transistors (LEFETs) are an emerging class of multifunctional optoelectronic devices. It combines the light emitting function of an OLED with the switching function of a transistor in a single device architecture. The dual functionality of LEFETs has the potential applications in active matrix displays. However, the key problem of existing LEFETs thus far has been their low EQEs at high brightness, poor ON/OFF and poorly defined light emitting area - a thin emissive zone at the edge of the electrodes. Here we report heterostructure LEFETs based on solution processed unipolar charge transport and an emissive polymer that have an EQE of up to 1% at a brightness of 1350 cd/m2, ON/OFF ratio > 104 and a well-defined light emitting zone suitable for display pixel design. We show that a non-planar hole-injecting electrode combined with a semi-transparent electron-injecting electrode enables to achieve high EQE at high brightness and high ON/OFF ratio. Furthermore, we demonstrate that heterostructure LEFETs have a better frequency response (fcut-off = 2.6 kHz) compared to single layer LEFETs. The results presented here therefore are a major step along the pathway towards the realization of LEFETs for display applications. PMID:25743444

Identification of Quarries Rehabilitation Scenarios: A Case Study Within the Metropolitan Area of Bari (Italy)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dal Sasso, Pasquale; Ottolino, Maria Antonella; Caliandro, Lucia Patrizia

2012-06-01

This paper addresses quarries rehabilitation issue within a Metropolitan Area. Areas where mining activity is carried out have been subjected to physical and environmental degradation linked both to pursue the building materials extraction and to the city expansion continuously asking for new areas to be developed with residential and service functions. These changes also occurred where environmental and landscape values are present. It has been therefore pointed out the issue of such areas redevelopment that, to be functionally reintegrated, must be consistently linked to the activities and the territorial local contexts characteristics. In this paper the quarries reuse issue is carried out through parameters identification able to define the quarries relationship with the neighboring towns and with their surroundings besides to identify their physical, environmental and landscaping characteristics. Quarry reuse alternatives have been identified among those consistent with the rehabilitation goals, as defined by the planning sector and internationally approved, while their selection is derived from the application of a two-step methodology: a multi-criteria analysis related to punctual parameters at a "site-specific" level, followed by a further territorial indicators checking over the wide area. This application has led to socially accepted results identifying the examined quarries for reuses ranging from agricultural-forestry and urban to functional or naturalistic. The proposed method has also proved to be suitable to address the abandoned quarries reuse problem with a systemic and consultative approach, as it is able to correlate the many variables present in the social and spatial complexity of the Metropolitan Areas.

Envisioning Urban Farming for Food Security during the Climate Change Era. Vertical Farm within Highly Urbanized Areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Januszkiewicz, Krystyna; Jarmusz, Małgorzata

2017-10-01

Global climate change constitutes a serious threat to global security including food production in the following decades. This paper is focused on a new possibility and advisability of creating a systemic solution to resolve the problem of food security in highly-urbanized areas. The first part of the paper deal with historical development vertical farms ideas and defines the main environmental and spatial constrains also it indicates that vertical farms are going to be part of the future horticultural production. The second part presents results of the research program undertaken at West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin by authors. The program goes on to attempt to solve the problem through architectural design. This study highlights an integrating large-scale horticultural production directly into the cities, where the most of the food consumption takes place. In conclusions emphasizes, that the design will force architects, engineers and urban planners to completely revise and redefine contemporary design process and understanding of the idea-fix of sustainable design. To successfully migrate food production from extensive rural areas to dense environment of city centres, a new holistic approach, integrating knowledge and advances of multiple fields of science, have to develop.

Defining the questions: a research agenda for nontraditional authentication in arms control

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

Hauck, Danielle K; Mac Arthur, Duncan W; Smith, Morag K

Many traditional authentication techniques have been based on hardware solutions. Thus authentication of measurement system hardware has been considered in terms of physical inspection and destructive analysis. Software authentication has implied hash function analysis or authentication tools such as Rose. Continuity of knowledge is maintained through TIDs and cameras. Although there is ongoing progress improving all of these authentication methods, there has been little discussion of the human factors involved in authentication. Issues of non-traditional authentication include sleight-of-hand substitutions, monitor perception vs. reality, and visual diversions. Since monitor confidence in a measurement system depends on the product of their confidencesmore » in each authentication element, it is important to investigate all authentication techniques, including the human factors. This paper will present an initial effort to identify the most important problems that traditional authentication approaches in safeguards have not addressed and are especially relevant to arms control verification. This will include a survey of the literature and direct engagement with nontraditional experts in areas like psychology and human factors. Based on the identification of problem areas, potential research areas will be identified and a possible research agenda will be developed.« less

On the Relationships between (Relatively) Advanced Mathematical Knowledge and (Relatively) Advanced Problem-Solving Behaviours

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koichu, Boris

2010-01-01

This article discusses an issue of inserting mathematical knowledge within the problem-solving processes. Relatively advanced mathematical knowledge is defined in terms of "three mathematical worlds"; relatively advanced problem-solving behaviours are defined in terms of taxonomies of "proof schemes" and "heuristic behaviours". The relationships…

Symposium on Spina Bifida (Denver, Colorado, November, 1969).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Colorado Univ., Denver. Medical Center.

The objectives of the symposium were to define the problems of the child with spina bifida and to present practical means of management, using a multi-disciplinary team approach. Eight papers defining the problem cover the epidemiology of spina bifida, pathophysiology, musculoskeletal defects, incontinence of bladder and bowel, problems of…

Research on Decision-Making Support of Chineserural Land Tenure Information System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tan, Jun; Su, Hongyou

Since 1949, the information of land tenure has a positive effect on defining the scope of collective land and state-owned land, implementing the system of cultivated land protection and land use control, designing general land use planning, etc. But as the economic and social development, the existing land tenure information is not appropriate anymore and results in many problems. The emphasis in the near future should be placed on establishing rural land tenure information system including cadastral management system, the uniform property registration system and cadastral management information system, defining the scope and content of various collective land ownership, securing peasants' land tenure rights, shortening the gap between urban and rural areas, all of which will guarantee the effective use of information of land tenure for the government's decision-making.

IBM system/360 assembly language interval arithmetic software

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Phillips, E. J.

1972-01-01

Computer software designed to perform interval arithmetic is described. An interval is defined as the set of all real numbers between two given numbers including or excluding one or both endpoints. Interval arithmetic consists of the various elementary arithmetic operations defined on the set of all intervals, such as interval addition, subtraction, union, etc. One of the main applications of interval arithmetic is in the area of error analysis of computer calculations. For example, it has been used sucessfully to compute bounds on sounding errors in the solution of linear algebraic systems, error bounds in numerical solutions of ordinary differential equations, as well as integral equations and boundary value problems. The described software enables users to implement algorithms of the type described in references efficiently on the IBM 360 system.

Teaching community diagnosis to medical students: evaluation of a case study approach.

PubMed

Bair, C W

1980-01-01

A unique case study approach to training medical students in community diagnosis techniques was initiated at the Medical College of Ohio at Toledo. This paper describes the five elements of this teaching method: preliminary specification of target community and data base; group problem-solving requirement; specification of desired output; defined performance objectives; and regularly scheduled time for analysis. Experience with the case study method over two years was evaluated to identify specific strengths and weaknesses. The identified strengths include use of limited educational time to introduce community health problems, development of experience in a collegial team work setting, and specific awareness of the types of data useful to the analysis of community health service problems. Negative evaluations suggested that the method was not conducive to the development of skills in three areas: ability to establish the relative importance of health problems in communities; ability to identify an appropriate health system response to a community health problem from feasible alternatives; and ability to anticipate the community impact of health program modifications or improvements. Potential explanations for these deficiencies include: need for increased didactic support in the classroom for particular skill areas; need to establish a direct field experience in community diagnosis; inappropriateness of the data base used for evaluation of particular skills; and the probability that quantitative analysis, as used in this evaluation, may not be sufficient in and of itself to measure the outcome of a community diagnosis experience.

Concepts, Structures, and Goals: Redefining Ill-Definedness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lynch, Collin; Ashley, Kevin D.; Pinkwart, Niels; Aleven, Vincent

2009-01-01

In this paper we consider prior definitions of the terms "ill-defined domain" and "ill-defined problem". We then present alternate definitions that better support research at the intersection of Artificial Intelligence and Education. In our view both problems and domains are ill-defined when essential concepts, relations, or criteria are un- or…

THE POLITICS OF RISK AND EU GOVERNANCE OF HUMAN MATERIAL

PubMed Central

Farrel, Anne-Maree

2012-01-01

This paper examines the politics of EU risk governance in relation to human material. It is argued that the political context has informed the way in which risks in relation to various types of human material have come to be defined as policy problems at EU level. In turn, this has influenced the design and/or persistence of institutional arrangements to manage such problems. It is further argued that this political context has resulted in a significant level of disconnection in risk governance in the area. This has happened in two ways. First, there has been a growing level of disconnection between institutional and stakeholder demands for a more expansive approach to risk governance in the area and the narrowly-circumscribed competence under Article 152(4)(a) EC, which permits the adoption of risk regulation regimes that set minimum standards of quality and safety in relation to blood, tissue/cells and organs. Second, it has led to the development of institutional arrangements that promote a bifurcated approach to risk governance, specifically in relation to blood and tissues/cells. Although a hybrid of traditional and new governance mechanisms have been employed to address this problem of disconnection, this has nevertheless added a further layer to already complex institutional arrangements for risk governance in the area. It is suggested that a more integrated approach to EU risk governance in relation to human material is needed. Implementing such an approach would contribute to greater clarity, transparency and accountability in decision-making processes, and this could enhance public trust in what is a politically-sensitive area of governance at EU level. PMID:23326180

Results of the Software Process Improvement Efforts of the Early Adopters in NAVAIR 4.0

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-12-01

and customer satisfaction. AIRSpeed utilizes a structured, problem solving methodology called DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control...widely used in business. DMAIC leads project teams through the logical steps from problem definition to problem resolution. Each phase has a specific set...costs and improving productivity and customer satisfaction. AIRSpeed utilizes the DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) structured problem

An interdisciplinary analysis of ERTS data for Colorado mountain environments using ADP techniques. An early analysis of ERTS-1 data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hoffer, R. M.; Landgrebe, D. A. (Principal Investigator); Goodrick, F. E.

1972-01-01

There are no author-identified significant results in this report. The principal problem encountered has been the lack of good quality, small scale baseline photography for the test areas. Analysis of the ERTS-1 data for the San Juan Site will emphasize development of a preliminary spectral classification defining grass cover categories, and then selection of subframes for intensive investigation of the forestry, geologic, and hydrologic properties of the area. Primary work has been devoted to the selection and digitization of areas for topographic modeling, and compilation of ground based data maps necessary for computer analysis. Study effort has emphasized: geomorphic features; macro-vegetation; micro-vegetation; snow-hydrology; insect/disease damage; and blow-down. Analysis of a frame of the Lake Texoma area indicates a great deal of potential in the analysis and interpretation of ERTS imagery. Preliminary results of investigations of geologic, forest, range, cropland, and water resources of the area are summarized.

Disparities in Patterns of Health Care Travel Among Inpatients Diagnosed With Congestive Heart Failure, Florida, 2011.

PubMed

Jia, Peng; Xierali, Imam M

2015-09-17

Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a major public health problem in the United States and is a leading cause of hospitalization in the elderly population. Understanding the health care travel patterns of CHF patients and their underlying cause is important to balance the supply and demand for local hospital resources. This article explores the nonclinical factors that prompt CHF patients to seek distant instead of local hospitalization. Local hospitalization was defined as inpatients staying within hospital service areas, and distant hospitalization was defined as inpatients traveling outside hospital service areas, based on individual hospital discharge data in 2011 generated by a Dartmouth-Swiss hybrid approach. Multiple logistic and linear regression models were used to compare the travel patterns of different groups of inpatients in Florida. Black patients, no-charge patients, patients living in large metropolitan areas, and patients with a low socioeconomic status were more likely to seek local hospitalization than were white patients, those who were privately insured, those who lived in rural areas, and those with a high socioeconomic status, respectively. Findings indicate that different populations diagnosed with CHF had different travel patterns for hospitalization. Changes or disruptions in local hospital supply could differentially affect different groups in a population. Policy makers could target efforts to CHF patients who are less likely to travel to seek treatment.

Disparities in Patterns of Health Care Travel Among Inpatients Diagnosed With Congestive Heart Failure, Florida, 2011

PubMed Central

Xierali, Imam M.

2015-01-01

Introduction Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a major public health problem in the United States and is a leading cause of hospitalization in the elderly population. Understanding the health care travel patterns of CHF patients and their underlying cause is important to balance the supply and demand for local hospital resources. This article explores the nonclinical factors that prompt CHF patients to seek distant instead of local hospitalization. Methods Local hospitalization was defined as inpatients staying within hospital service areas, and distant hospitalization was defined as inpatients traveling outside hospital service areas, based on individual hospital discharge data in 2011 generated by a Dartmouth–Swiss hybrid approach. Multiple logistic and linear regression models were used to compare the travel patterns of different groups of inpatients in Florida. Results Black patients, no-charge patients, patients living in large metropolitan areas, and patients with a low socioeconomic status were more likely to seek local hospitalization than were white patients, those who were privately insured, those who lived in rural areas, and those with a high socioeconomic status, respectively. Conclusion Findings indicate that different populations diagnosed with CHF had different travel patterns for hospitalization. Changes or disruptions in local hospital supply could differentially affect different groups in a population. Policy makers could target efforts to CHF patients who are less likely to travel to seek treatment. PMID:26378896

The role of the public health nurse in a changing society.

PubMed

Nic Philibin, Caitriona Aine; Griffiths, Colin; Byrne, Gobnait; Horan, Paul; Brady, Anne-Marie; Begley, Cecily

2010-04-01

This study is a report of a study to clarify the role of the public health nurse in one Irish community care area in the light of acknowledged problems in defining boundaries of the role. Demographic developments and planned reorientation towards primary care of the health service in Ireland have changed the workload of public health nurses, which is unique compared with other countries. However, there is a lack of clarity and consequent problems in defining the role of the Irish public health nurse. A descriptive qualitative study was conducted with 25 representatives of community nursing from one county in Ireland with a population of 209,077 and a complement of 65 full-time equivalent public health nurses. Purposive sampling was used and 21 public health nurses, two registered general nurses, one assistant director and one school nurse participated. Tape-recorded, individual semi-structured interviews were conducted over a 15-month period from 2002 to 2004. The constant comparative method was used for analysis. Four themes emerged: 'Jack of all trades: the role of the public health nurse defined and described', 'the essence of the role', 'challenges to the role of the public health nurse' and 'communication'. The first theme is discussed in this paper. Public health nurses need to define and redesign their role so that they no longer think that they are the catch-all service in the community. This will enable them to deal with the rapid demographic, sociological and cultural changes in the population, a change that has international resonance.

Working toward quality in obstetric anesthesia: a business approach.

PubMed

Lynde, Grant C

2017-06-01

Physicians are increasingly required to demonstrate that they provide quality care. How does one define quality? A significant body of literature in industries outside of health care provides guidance on how to define appropriate metrics, create teams to troubleshoot problem areas, and sustain those improvements. The modern quality movement in the United States began in response to revolutionary gains in both quality and productivity in Japanese manufacturing in the 1980's. Applying these lessons to the healthcare setting has been slow. Hospitals are only now introducing tools such as failure mode and effect analysis, Lean and Six Sigma into their quality divisions and are seeing significant cost reductions and outcomes improvements. The review will discuss the process for creating an effective quality program for an obstetric anesthesia division. Sustainable improvements in delivered care need to be based on an evaluation of service line needs, defining appropriate metrics, understanding current process flows, changing and measuring those processes, and developing mechanisms to ensure the new processes are maintained.

Prediction and Stability of Reading Problems in Middle Childhood

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ritchey, Kristen D.; Silverman, Rebecca D.; Schatschneider, Christopher; Speece, Deborah L.

2015-01-01

The longitudinal prediction of reading problems from fourth grade to sixth grade was investigated with a sample of 173 students. Reading problems at the end of sixth grade were defined by significantly below average performance (= 15th percentile) on reading factors defining word reading, fluency, and reading comprehension. Sixth grade poor reader…

How do drug users define their progress in harm reduction programs? Qualitative research to develop user-generated outcomes

PubMed Central

Ruefli, Terry; Rogers, Susan J

2004-01-01

Background Harm reduction is a relatively new and controversial model for treating drug users, with little formal research on its operation and effectiveness. In order to advance the study of harm reduction programs and our understanding of how drug users define their progress, qualitative research was conducted to develop outcomes of harm reduction programming that are culturally relevant, incremental, (i.e., capable of measuring change), and hierarchical (i.e., capable of showing how clients improve over time). Methods The study used nominal group technique (NGT) to develop the outcomes (phase 1) and focus group interviews to help validate the findings (phase 2). Study participants were recruited from a large harm-reduction program in New York City and involved approximately 120 clients in 10 groups in phase 1 and 120 clients in 10 focus groups in phase 2. Results Outcomes of 10 life areas important to drug users were developed that included between 10 to 15 incremental measures per outcome. The outcomes included ways of 1) making money; 2) getting something good to eat; 3) being housed/homeless; 4) relating to families; 5) getting needed programs/benefits/services; 6) handling health problems; 7) handling negative emotions; 8) handling legal problems; 9) improving oneself; and 10) handling drug-use problems. Findings also provided insights into drug users' lives and values, as well as a window into understanding how this population envisions a better quality of life. Results challenged traditional ways of measuring drug users based solely on quantity used and frequency of use. They suggest that more appropriate measures are based on the extent to which drug users organize their lives around drug use and how much drug use is integrated into their lives and negatively impacts other aspects of their lives. Conclusions Harm reduction and other programs serving active drug users and other marginalized people should not rely on institutionalized, provider-defined solutions to problems in living faced by their clients. PMID:15333130

Sleep-related problems and urologic symptoms: Testing the hypothesis of bi-directionality in a longitudinal, population-based study

PubMed Central

Araujo, Andre B.; Yaggi, H. Klar; Yang, May; McVary, Kevin T.; Fang, Shona C.; Bliwise, Donald L.

2013-01-01

Purpose To evaluate the bi-directional association between urologic symptoms (urinary incontinence (UI), lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), and nocturia) and sleep-related variables. Materials and Methods Data were obtained from a prospective cohort study of 1,610 men and 2,535 women who completed baseline (2002–05) and follow-up (2006–10) phases of the Boston Area Community Health (BACH) survey, a population-based random sample survey. Sleep restriction (≤5 hours/night), restless sleep, sleep medication use, and urologic symptoms were assessed by self-report. UI was defined as weekly leakage or moderate/severe leakage, LUTS (overall, obstructive, irritative) was defined by American Urological Association Symptom Index, and nocturia was defined as urinary frequency ≥2 times/night. Results At the 5 year follow-up,10.0%, 8.5% and 16.0% of subjects newly reported LUTS, UI and nocturia, respectively, and 24.2%, 13.3%, 11.6% newly reported poor sleep quality, sleep restriction and use of sleep medication, respectively. Controlling for confounders, the odds of developing urologic symptoms was consistently increased for subjects who reported poor sleep quality and sleep restriction at baseline, but only baseline nocturia was positively associated with incident sleep-related problems at follow-up. Body mass index, a potential mediator, reduced selected associations between sleep and incident UI and irritative symptoms, but C-reactive protein did not. Conclusions These data suggest that self-reported sleep-related problems and urologic symptoms are linked bi-directionally, and BMI may be a factor in the relationship between sleep and development of urologic symptoms. PMID:23867307

Challenging Aerospace Problems for Intelligent Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Krishnakumar, Kalmanje; Kanashige, John; Satyadas, A.; Clancy, Daniel (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

In this paper we highlight four problem domains that are well suited and challenging for intelligent system technologies. The problems are defined and an outline of a probable approach is presented. No attempt is made to define the problems as test cases. In other words, no data or set of equations that a user can code and get results are provided. The main idea behind this paper is to motivate intelligent system researchers to examine problems that will elevate intelligent system technologies and applications to a higher level.

Challenging Aerospace Problems for Intelligent Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

KrishnaKumar, K.; Kanashige, J.; Satyadas, A.

2003-01-01

In this paper we highlight four problem domains that are well suited and challenging for intelligent system technologies. The problems are defined and an outline of a probable approach is presented. No attempt is made to define the problems as test cases. In other words, no data or set of equations that a user can code and get results are provided. The main idea behind this paper is to motivate intelligent system researchers to examine problems that will elevate intelligent system technologies and applications to a higher level.

NOx control techniques for the CPI

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

Lambert, D.; McGowan, T.F.

1996-06-01

After years of air pollution control innovation, the control of emissions of nitrogen oxide compounds stands out as an area where much work remains to be performed in the chemical process industries (CPI). Federal regulations, ozone non-attainment areas, acid rain provisions of the US Clean Air Act, and corporate goals for emission reductions are all motivators. Primary CPI sources are high-temperature combustion systems, including fired heaters, boilers and Kilns. Nitrogen-based processes such as nitric acid manufacture also contribute. The paper discusses the regulations which define the problem and some solutions. These include fuel switching, low-excess air burners, fluegas recirculation, stagedmore » combustion, out of service burners, and wet scrubbing of flue gas. The paper briefly discusses costs of these options.« less

Prediction of anthropometric accommodation in aircraft cockpits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zehner, Gregory Franklin

Designing aircraft cockpits to accommodate the wide range of body sizes existing in the U.S. population has always been a difficult problem for Crewstation Engineers. The approach taken in the design of military aircraft has been to restrict the range of body sizes allowed into flight training, and then to develop standards and specifications to ensure that the majority of the pilots are accommodated. Accommodation in this instance is defined as the ability to: (1) Adequately see, reach, and actuate controls; (2) Have external visual fields so that the pilot can see to land, clear for other aircraft, and perform a wide variety of missions (ground support/attack or air to air combat); and (3) Finally, if problems arise, the pilot has to be able to escape safely. Each of these areas is directly affected by the body size of the pilot. Unfortunately, accommodation problems persist and may get worse. Currently the USAF is considering relaxing body size entrance requirements so that smaller and larger people could become pilots. This will make existing accommodation problems much worse. This dissertation describes a methodology for correcting this problem and demonstrates the method by predicting pilot fit and performance in the USAF T-38A aircraft based on anthropometric data. The methods described can be applied to a variety of design applications where fitting the human operator into a system is a major concern. A systematic approach is described which includes: defining the user population, setting functional requirements that operators must be able to perform, testing the ability of the user population to perform the functional requirements, and developing predictive equations for selecting future users of the system. Also described is a process for the development of new anthropometric design criteria and cockpit design methods that assure body size accommodation is improved in the future.

Generalized vector calculus on convex domain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agrawal, Om P.; Xu, Yufeng

2015-06-01

In this paper, we apply recently proposed generalized integral and differential operators to develop generalized vector calculus and generalized variational calculus for problems defined over a convex domain. In particular, we present some generalization of Green's and Gauss divergence theorems involving some new operators, and apply these theorems to generalized variational calculus. For fractional power kernels, the formulation leads to fractional vector calculus and fractional variational calculus for problems defined over a convex domain. In special cases, when certain parameters take integer values, we obtain formulations for integer order problems. Two examples are presented to demonstrate applications of the generalized variational calculus which utilize the generalized vector calculus developed in the paper. The first example leads to a generalized partial differential equation and the second example leads to a generalized eigenvalue problem, both in two dimensional convex domains. We solve the generalized partial differential equation by using polynomial approximation. A special case of the second example is a generalized isoperimetric problem. We find an approximate solution to this problem. Many physical problems containing integer order integrals and derivatives are defined over arbitrary domains. We speculate that future problems containing fractional and generalized integrals and derivatives in fractional mechanics will be defined over arbitrary domains, and therefore, a general variational calculus incorporating a general vector calculus will be needed for these problems. This research is our first attempt in that direction.

The generativist-interactionist debate over specific language impairment: psycholinguistics at a crossroads.

PubMed

Shanker, Stuart

2002-01-01

Certain defining problems in psychology force us to clarify both the origins and the limits of a paradigm that has long governed our thinking in a particular area of research. The current debate over the nature and causes of specific language impairment is proving to be just such an issue. In particular, the existence of the KE family, 15 of whose 37 members suffer from specific language impairment, has raised far-reaching questions about the conceptual foundations of our current views about language deficits and, indeed, about language development in general.

Type II superstring field theory: geometric approach and operadic description

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jurčo, Branislav; Münster, Korbinian

2013-04-01

We outline the construction of type II superstring field theory leading to a geometric and algebraic BV master equation, analogous to Zwiebach's construction for the bosonic string. The construction uses the small Hilbert space. Elementary vertices of the non-polynomial action are described with the help of a properly formulated minimal area problem. They give rise to an infinite tower of superstring field products defining a {N} = 1 generalization of a loop homotopy Lie algebra, the genus zero part generalizing a homotopy Lie algebra. Finally, we give an operadic interpretation of the construction.

Agricultural aviation user requirement priorities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kaplan, R. L.; Meeland, T.; Peterson, J. E.

1977-01-01

The results are given of a research project pertaining to the development of agricultural aviation user requirement priorities. The raw data utilized in the project was obtained from the National Agricultural Aviation Association. A specially configured poll, developed by the Actuarial Research Corporation was used to solicit responses from NAAA members and others. The primary product of the poll is the specification of seriousness as determined by the respondents for some selected agricultural aviation problem areas identified and defined during the course of an intensive analysis by the Actuarial Research Corporation.

Calculating degree-based topological indices of dominating David derived networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmad, Muhammad Saeed; Nazeer, Waqas; Kang, Shin Min; Imran, Muhammad; Gao, Wei

2017-12-01

An important area of applied mathematics is the Chemical reaction network theory. The behavior of real world problems can be modeled by using this theory. Due to applications in theoretical chemistry and biochemistry, it has attracted researchers since its foundation. It also attracts pure mathematicians because it involves interesting mathematical structures. In this report, we compute newly defined topological indices, namely, Arithmetic-Geometric index (AG1 index), SK index, SK1 index, and SK2 index of the dominating David derived networks [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].

Foundations for Creativity in the Writing Process: Rhetorical Representations of Ill-Defined Problems.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carey, L. J.; Flower, Linda

This report examines the composing processes of expert writers to determine which cognitive processes in expository writing produce an opportunity for a creative response. The first section considers how the ill-defined nature of many writing problems and the cognitive processes experts use to solve these problems interact to provide an…

MHD memes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dewar, R. L.; Mills, R.; Hole, M. J.

2009-05-01

The celebration of Allan Kaufman's 80th birthday was an occasion to reflect on a career that has stimulated the mutual exchange of ideas (or memes in the terminology of Richard Dawkins) between many researchers. This paper will revisit a meme Allan encountered in his early career in magnetohydrodynamics, the continuation of a magnetohydrodynamic mode through a singularity, and will also mention other problems where Allan's work has had a powerful cross-fertilizing effect in plasma physics and other areas of physics and mathematics. To resolve the continuation problem we regularize the Newcomb equation, solve it in terms of Legendre functions of imaginary argument, and define the small weak solutions of the Newcomb equation as generalized functions in the manner of Lighthill, i.e. via a limiting sequence of analytic functions that connect smoothly across the singularity.

Distributed Method to Optimal Profile Descent

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Geun I.

Current ground automation tools for Optimal Profile Descent (OPD) procedures utilize path stretching and speed profile change to maintain proper merging and spacing requirements at high traffic terminal area. However, low predictability of aircraft's vertical profile and path deviation during decent add uncertainty to computing estimated time of arrival, a key information that enables the ground control center to manage airspace traffic effectively. This paper uses an OPD procedure that is based on a constant flight path angle to increase the predictability of the vertical profile and defines an OPD optimization problem that uses both path stretching and speed profile change while largely maintaining the original OPD procedure. This problem minimizes the cumulative cost of performing OPD procedures for a group of aircraft by assigning a time cost function to each aircraft and a separation cost function to a pair of aircraft. The OPD optimization problem is then solved in a decentralized manner using dual decomposition techniques under inter-aircraft ADS-B mechanism. This method divides the optimization problem into more manageable sub-problems which are then distributed to the group of aircraft. Each aircraft solves its assigned sub-problem and communicate the solutions to other aircraft in an iterative process until an optimal solution is achieved thus decentralizing the computation of the optimization problem.

Diverging strategies to planning an ecologically coherent network of MPAs in the North Sea: the roles of advocacy, evidence and pragmatism in the face of uncertainty.

PubMed

Caveen, Alex J; Fitzsimmons, Clare; Pieraccini, Margherita; Dunn, Euan; Sweeting, Christopher J; Johnson, Magnus L; Bloomfield, Helen; Jones, Estelle V; Lightfoot, Paula; Gray, Tim S; Stead, Selina M; Polunin, Nicholas V C

2014-01-01

The North Sea is one of the most economically important seas in the world due to productive fisheries, extensive oil and gas fields, busy shipping routes, marine renewable energy development and recreational activity. Unsurprisingly, therefore, the use of marine protected areas (here defined widely to include fisheries closed areas and no-take marine reserves) in its management has generated considerable controversy-particularly with regards to the design of a regional ecologically coherent MPA network to meet international obligations. Drawing on three MPA processes currently occurring in the UK North Sea, we examine the real-world problems that make the designation of MPA networks challenging. The political problems include: disagreement among (and within) sectors over policy objectives and priorities, common access to fisheries resources at the EU level increasing the scale at which decisions have to be made and lack of an integrated strategy for implementing protected areas in the North Sea. The scientific problems include the patchy knowledge of benthic assemblages, limited knowledge of fishing gear-habitat interactions, and the increased risk of unforeseen externalities if human activity (predominantly fishing) is displaced from newly protected sites. Diverging stakeholder attitudes to these problems means that there is no consensus on what ecological coherence actually means. Ultimately, we caution against 'quick-fix' solutions that are based on advocacy and targets, as they create confusion and undermine trust in the planning process. We argue for a more pragmatic approach to marine protection that embraces the complexity of the social and political arena in which decisions are made.

High resolution fire risk mapping in Italy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fiorucci, Paolo; Biondi, Guido; Campo, Lorenzo; D'Andrea, Mirko

2014-05-01

The high topographic and vegetation heterogeneity makes Italy vulnerable to forest fires both in the summer and in winter. In particular, northern regions are predominantly characterized by a winter fire regime, mainly due to frequent extremely dry winds from the north, while southern and central regions and the large islands are characterized by a severe summer fire regime, because of the higher temperatures and prolonged lack of precipitation. The threat of wildfires in Italy is not confined to wooded areas as they extend to agricultural areas and urban-forest interface areas. The agricultural and rural areas, in the last century, have been gradually abandoned, especially in areas with complex topography. Many of these areas were subject to reforestation, leading to the spread of pioneer species mainly represented by Mediterranean conifer, which are highly vulnerable to fire. Because of the frequent spread of fire, these areas are limited to the early successional stages, consisting mainly of shrub vegetation; its survival in the competition with the climax species being ensured by the spread of fire itself. Due to the frequency of fire ignition — almost entirely man caused — the time between fires on the same area is at least an order of magnitude less than the time that would allow the establishment of forest climax species far less vulnerable to fire. In view of the limited availability of fire risk management resources, most of which are used in the management of national and regional air services, it is necessary to precisely identify the areas most vulnerable to fire risk. The few resources available can thus be used on a yearly basis to mitigate problems in the areas at highest risk by defining a program of forest management interventions, which is expected to make a significant contribution to the problem in a few years' time. The goal of such detailed planning is to dramatically reduce the costs associated with water bombers fleet management and fire extinguishing actions, leaving more resources to improve safety in areas at risk. With the availability of fire perimeters mapped over a period spanning from 5 to 10 years, depending by the region, a procedure was defined in order to assess areas at risk with high spatial resolution (900 m2) based on objective criteria by observing past fire events. The availability of fire perimeters combined with a detailed knowledge of topography and land cover allowed to understand which are the main features involved in forest fire occurrences and their behaviour. The seasonality of the fire regime was also considered, partitioning the analysis in two macro season (November- April and May- October). In addition, the total precipitation obtained from the interpolation of 30 years-long time series from 460 raingauges and the average air temperature obtained downscaling 30 years ERA-INTERIM data series were considered. About 48000 fire perimeters which burnt about 5500 km2 were considered in the analysis. The analysis has been carried out at 30 m spatial resolution. Some important considerations relating to climate and the territorial features that characterize the fire regime at national level contribute to better understand the forest fire phenomena. These results allow to define new strategies for forest fire prevention and management extensible to other geographical areas.

Landslide and flood hazard assessment in urban areas of Levoča region (Eastern Slovakia)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Magulova, Barbora; Caporali, Enrica; Bednarik, Martin

2010-05-01

The case study presents the use of statistical methods and analysis tools, for hazard assessment of "urbanization units", implemented in a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) environment. As a case study, the Levoča region (Slovakia) is selected. The region, with a total area of about 351 km2, is widely affected by landslides and floods. The problem, for small urbanization areas, is nowadays particularly significant from the socio-economic point of view. It is considered, presently, also an increasing problem, mainly because of climate change and more frequent extreme rainfall events. The geo-hazards are evaluated using a multivariate analysis. The landslide hazard assessment is based on the comparison and subsequent statistical elaboration of territorial dependence among different input factors influencing the instability of the slopes. Particularly, five factors influencing slope stability are evaluated, i.e. lithology, slope aspect, slope angle, hypsographic level and present land use. As a result a new landslide susceptibility map is compiled and different zones of stable, dormant and non-stable areas are defined. For flood hazard map a detailed digital elevation model is created. A compose index of flood hazard is derived from topography, land cover and pedology related data. To estimate flood discharge, time series of stream flow and precipitation measurements are used. The assessment results are prognostic maps of landslide hazard and flood hazard, which presents the optimal base for urbanization planning.

Czynniki determinujące potencjał turystyczny regionu na przykładzie południowego Podlasia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Godlewski, Grzegorz; Zalech, Mirosław

2009-01-01

The aim of the following work is to indicate the most significant factors determining tourist potential of southern Podlasie and thus, to define basic problems which have to be solved in order to make the described area a place which may fulfil the demand of tourist market. Research material was obtained by means of typical techniques used for examining tourist potential, i.e. development determinants and stocktaking whose results were summarised in the form of a table. Research analysis indicates the fact that in the sphere of tourist management, transport, economic or political accessibility negative characteristics are overwhelming. It is very significant due to the fact that it concerns key areas as far as tourist services are concerned. However, the strongest advantages of the described area are its tourist values based mostly on natural qualities of the river Bug valley which can be used for doing various forms of active tourism.

A Layered Decision Model for Cost-Effective System Security

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

Wei, Huaqiang; Alves-Foss, James; Soule, Terry

System security involves decisions in at least three areas: identification of well-defined security policies, selection of cost-effective defence strategies, and implementation of real-time defence tactics. Although choices made in each of these areas affect the others, existing decision models typically handle these three decision areas in isolation. There is no comprehensive tool that can integrate them to provide a single efficient model for safeguarding a network. In addition, there is no clear way to determine which particular combinations of defence decisions result in cost-effective solutions. To address these problems, this paper introduces a Layered Decision Model (LDM) for use inmore » deciding how to address defence decisions based on their cost-effectiveness. To validate the LDM and illustrate how it is used, we used simulation to test model rationality and applied the LDM to the design of system security for an e-commercial business case.« less

Sustainable Remediation of Legacy Mine Drainage: A Case Study of the Flight 93 National Memorial.

PubMed

Emili, Lisa A; Pizarchik, Joseph; Mahan, Carolyn G

2016-03-01

Pollution from mining activities is a global environmental concern, not limited to areas of current resource extraction, but including a broader geographic area of historic (legacy) and abandoned mines. The pollution of surface waters from acid mine drainage is a persistent problem and requires a holistic and sustainable approach to addressing the spatial and temporal complexity of mining-specific problems. In this paper, we focus on the environmental, socio-economic, and legal challenges associated with the concurrent activities to remediate a coal mine site and to develop a national memorial following a catastrophic event. We provide a conceptual construct of a socio-ecological system defined at several spatial, temporal, and organizational scales and a critical synthesis of the technical and social learning processes necessary to achieving sustainable environmental remediation. Our case study is an example of a multi-disciplinary management approach, whereby collaborative interaction of stakeholders, the emergence of functional linkages for information exchange, and mediation led to scientifically informed decision making, creative management solutions, and ultimately environmental policy change.

Spatial partitioning algorithms for data visualization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Devulapalli, Raghuveer; Quist, Mikael; Carlsson, John Gunnar

2013-12-01

Spatial partitions of an information space are frequently used for data visualization. Weighted Voronoi diagrams are among the most popular ways of dividing a space into partitions. However, the problem of computing such a partition efficiently can be challenging. For example, a natural objective is to select the weights so as to force each Voronoi region to take on a pre-defined area, which might represent the relevance or market share of an informational object. In this paper, we present an easy and fast algorithm to compute these weights of the Voronoi diagrams. Unlike previous approaches whose convergence properties are not well-understood, we give a formulation to the problem based on convex optimization with excellent performance guarantees in theory and practice. We also show how our technique can be used to control the shape of these partitions. More specifically we show how to convert undesirable skinny and long regions into fat regions while maintaining the areas of the partitions. As an application, we use these to visualize the amount of website traffic for the top 101 websites.

UAS Integration into the NAS: Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Delegation of Separation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fern, Lisa Carolynn; Kenny, Caitlin Ailis

2012-01-01

FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 mandates UAS integration in the NAS by 2015. Operators must be able to safely maneuver UAS to maintain separation and collision avoidance. Delegated Separation is defined as the transfer of responsibility for maintaining separation between aircraft or vehicles from the air navigation service provider to the relevant flight operator, and will likely begin in sparsely trafficked areas before moving to more heavily populated airspace. As UAS operate primarily in areas with lower traffic density and perform maneuvers routinely that are currently managed through special handling, they have the advantage of becoming an early adopter of delegated separation. This experiment will examine if UAS are capable of performing delegated separation in 5 nm horizontal and 1000 ft vertical distances under two delegation conditions. In Extended Delegation, ATC are in charge of identifying problems and delegating to pilot identification and implementation of the solution and monitoring. In Full Delegation, the pilots are responsible for all tasks related to separation assurance: identification of problems and solutions, implementation and monitoring.

Expanding the Space of Plausible Solutions in a Medical Tutoring System for Problem-Based Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kazi, Hameedullah; Haddawy, Peter; Suebnukarn, Siriwan

2009-01-01

In well-defined domains such as Physics, Mathematics, and Chemistry, solutions to a posed problem can objectively be classified as correct or incorrect. In ill-defined domains such as medicine, the classification of solutions to a patient problem as correct or incorrect is much more complex. Typical tutoring systems accept only a small set of…

The Construction of Elder Abuse as a Social Problem: A Canadian Perspective.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leroux, Thomas G.; Petrunik, Michael

This paper focuses on the referral structure (and the primary definers within this structure) in terms of which elder abuse is being defined as a social problem in Canada and interest groups are being mobilized to deal with the alleged problem. Preliminary research indicates that the major impetus is, in the main, not coming from organizations of…

Reconciliation of Gene and Species Trees

PubMed Central

Rusin, L. Y.; Lyubetskaya, E. V.; Gorbunov, K. Y.; Lyubetsky, V. A.

2014-01-01

The first part of the paper briefly overviews the problem of gene and species trees reconciliation with the focus on defining and algorithmic construction of the evolutionary scenario. Basic ideas are discussed for the aspects of mapping definitions, costs of the mapping and evolutionary scenario, imposing time scales on a scenario, incorporating horizontal gene transfers, binarization and reconciliation of polytomous trees, and construction of species trees and scenarios. The review does not intend to cover the vast diversity of literature published on these subjects. Instead, the authors strived to overview the problem of the evolutionary scenario as a central concept in many areas of evolutionary research. The second part provides detailed mathematical proofs for the solutions of two problems: (i) inferring a gene evolution along a species tree accounting for various types of evolutionary events and (ii) trees reconciliation into a single species tree when only gene duplications and losses are allowed. All proposed algorithms have a cubic time complexity and are mathematically proved to find exact solutions. Solving algorithms for problem (ii) can be naturally extended to incorporate horizontal transfers, other evolutionary events, and time scales on the species tree. PMID:24800245

Developing Ill-defined problem-solving for the context of “South Sumatera”

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arifin, S.; Zulkardi; Putri, R. I. I.; Hartono, Y.; Susanti, E.

2017-12-01

This study aims to produce a valid and practical ill-defined problem-solving for context South Sumatera. The subject of the research is three students of the first semester of undergraduate students in the mathematics department of Raden Fatah State Islamic University. This study use development studies that consist of preliminary and prototyping. In preliminary stage have been analysis content curricula, indicator, and strategies of problem-solving. Meanwhile, in prototyping stage only consist of self-evaluation, expert review, and one-to-one. The data were collected through a walkthrough, interview, and test. The data were validated using expert review, but in practice, the data were obtained from test and interview to subject of the research. This studies produced two valid and practical problem-solving. The first problem is about “Benteng Kuto Besak”, and the second problem is about “Monpera”. From the expert review, the conclusion can be drawn that two problems which are developing are ill-defined problem-solving, and valid from content, construct, and its language. Besides that, the problems are practical because all students know and understand what the problems goal, but not the solutions.

The effects of occupational interventions on reduction of musculoskeletal symptoms in the nursing profession.

PubMed

Bos, E H; Krol, B; Van Der Star, A; Groothoff, J W

2006-06-10

The objective of the review was to gain more insight into the effects of occupational interventions for primary prevention of musculoskeletal symptoms in healthcare workers. The Cochrane Collaboration methodological guidelines for systematic reviews functioned as a starting point. Thirteen studies meeting the inclusion criteria were analysed for methodological quality and effects. Eight outcome effect areas were established and defined as areas in which an effect had been determined in at least two studies. A method based on levels of scientific evidence was then used to synthesize the information available. Strong scientific evidence for the beneficial effect of occupational interventions was found for the outcome effect areas physical discomfort, technical performance of transfers and frequency of manual lifting. Insufficient evidence was found for the effect areas absenteeism due to musculoskeletal problems, musculoskeletal symptoms, fatigue, perceived physical load and knowledge of risk factors at work and ergonomic principles. Training and education combined with an ergonomic intervention were found to be effective.

Epidemiology of pediculosis capitis among schoolchildren in the eastern area of Bangkok, Thailand.

PubMed

Rassami, Watcharawit; Soonwera, Mayura

2012-11-01

To determine the prevalence of infestation with head lice in primary schoolchildren in the eastern area of Bangkok, Thailand. The present study was to determine the head lice infestation (Pediculosis) levels in primary schoolchildren, during May, 2011 to July, 2011, A total of 3 747 schoolchildren aged 5-12 years old from 12 selected primary school of Ladkrabang district, the eastern area of Bangkok were examined for head lice. Pediculosis was defined as the presence of at least on living adult, nymph and viable egg. The overall head lice infestation rate was 23.32% and infestation rate was higher in girls (47.12%) than in boys (0%). The infestation rate among schoolchildren varied from 12.62% to 29.76%. The infestation rate among girls varied from 26.07% (12 years old group) to 55.89% (8 years old group). Pediculosis is a common public health problem affecting primary schoolchildren in eastern area of Bangkok and those levels are epidemic importance.

Epidemiology of pediculosis capitis among schoolchildren in the eastern area of Bangkok, Thailand

PubMed Central

Rassami, Watcharawit; Soonwera, Mayura

2012-01-01

Objective To determine the prevalence of infestation with head lice in primary schoolchildren in the eastern area of Bangkok, Thailand. Methods The present study was to determine the head lice infestation (Pediculosis) levels in primary schoolchildren, during May, 2011 to July, 2011, A total of 3 747 schoolchildren aged 5-12 years old from 12 selected primary school of Ladkrabang district, the eastern area of Bangkok were examined for head lice. Pediculosis was defined as the presence of at least on living adult, nymph and viable egg. Results The overall head lice infestation rate was 23.32% and infestation rate was higher in girls (47.12%) than in boys (0%). The infestation rate among schoolchildren varied from 12.62% to 29.76%. The infestation rate among girls varied from 26.07% (12 years old group) to 55.89% (8 years old group). Conclusions Pediculosis is a common public health problem affecting primary schoolchildren in eastern area of Bangkok and those levels are epidemic importance. PMID:23569868

Cryogenic fluid management in space

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Antar, Basil N.

1988-01-01

Many future space based vehicles and satellites will require on orbit refuelling procedures. Cryogenic fluid management technology is being developed to assess the requirements of such procedures as well as to aid in the design and development of these vehicles. Cryogenic fluid management technology for this application could be divided into two areas of study, one is concerned with fluid transfer process and the other with cryogenic liquid storage. This division is based upon the needed technology for the development of each area. In the first, the interaction of fluid dynamics with thermodynamics is essential, while in the second only thermodynamic analyses are sufficient to define the problem. The following specific process related to the liquid transfer area are discussed: tank chilldown and fill; tank pressurization; liquid positioning; and slosh dynamics and control. These specific issues are discussed in relation with the required technology for their development in the low gravity application area. In each process the relevant physics controlling the technology is identified and methods for resolving some of the basic questions are discussed.

Perioperative thermal insulation.

PubMed

Bräuer, Anselm; Perl, Thorsten; English, Michael J M; Quintel, Michael

2007-01-01

Perioperative hypothermia remains a common problem during anesthesia and surgery. Unfortunately, the implementation of new minimally invasive surgical procedures has not lead to a reduction of this problem. Heat losses from the skin can be reduced by thermal insulation to avoid perioperative hypothermia. However, only a small amount of information is available regarding the physical properties of insulating materials used in the Operating Room (OR). Therefore, several materials using validated manikins were tested. Heat loss from the surface of the manikin can be described as:"Q = h . DeltaT . A" where Q = heat flux, h = heat exchange coefficient, DeltaT = temperature gradient between the environment and surface, and A = covered area. Heat flux per unit area and surface temperature were measured with calibrated heat flux transducers. Environmental temperature was measured using a thermoanemometer. The temperature gradient between the surface and environment (DeltaT) was varied and "h" was determined by linear regression analysis as the slope of "DeltaT" versus heat flux per unit area. The reciprocal of the heat exchange coefficient defines the insulation. The insulation values of the materials varied between 0.01 Clo (plastic bag) to 2.79 Clo (2 layers of a hospital duvet). Given the range of insulating materials available for outdoor activities, significant improvement in insulation of patients in the OR is both possible and desirable.

Wrinkle-free design of thin membrane structures using stress-based topology optimization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luo, Yangjun; Xing, Jian; Niu, Yanzhuang; Li, Ming; Kang, Zhan

2017-05-01

Thin membrane structures would experience wrinkling due to local buckling deformation when compressive stresses are induced in some regions. Using the stress criterion for membranes in wrinkled and taut states, this paper proposed a new stress-based topology optimization methodology to seek the optimal wrinkle-free design of macro-scale thin membrane structures under stretching. Based on the continuum model and linearly elastic assumption in the taut state, the optimization problem is defined as to maximize the structural stiffness under membrane area and principal stress constraints. In order to make the problem computationally tractable, the stress constraints are reformulated into equivalent ones and relaxed by a cosine-type relaxation scheme. The reformulated optimization problem is solved by a standard gradient-based algorithm with the adjoint-variable sensitivity analysis. Several examples with post-bulking simulations and experimental tests are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed optimization model for eliminating stress-related wrinkles in the novel design of thin membrane structures.

First seven years of a new NHS mental handicap service 1974-81.

PubMed Central

Myers, A M

1982-01-01

A new community-focused mental handicap service was started in a single-district area health authority in 1974. Almost 90% of all the severely mentally handicapped people in a population of 250,000 are now known to the service. Although two-thirds of long stay inpatients originally admitted with major behavioural problems have had them resolved, the remaining one-third with persisting problems are noted to have spent many years in large understaffed wards before transfer. Specialist services to mentally handicapped people are not synonymous with beds. The learning opportunities during the waking hours of a mentally handicapped person are where professional help must be concentrated, and extensive support services for those caring for the mentally handicapped at home must be set up. Absence of shared philosophies, policies, and planning among the health and local authorities has produced the problems and frustrations familiar to many professionals in mental handicap. Future developments must be based on clearly defined and declared principles. PMID:6807447

Managing distance and covariate information with point-based clustering.

PubMed

Whigham, Peter A; de Graaf, Brandon; Srivastava, Rashmi; Glue, Paul

2016-09-01

Geographic perspectives of disease and the human condition often involve point-based observations and questions of clustering or dispersion within a spatial context. These problems involve a finite set of point observations and are constrained by a larger, but finite, set of locations where the observations could occur. Developing a rigorous method for pattern analysis in this context requires handling spatial covariates, a method for constrained finite spatial clustering, and addressing bias in geographic distance measures. An approach, based on Ripley's K and applied to the problem of clustering with deliberate self-harm (DSH), is presented. Point-based Monte-Carlo simulation of Ripley's K, accounting for socio-economic deprivation and sources of distance measurement bias, was developed to estimate clustering of DSH at a range of spatial scales. A rotated Minkowski L1 distance metric allowed variation in physical distance and clustering to be assessed. Self-harm data was derived from an audit of 2 years' emergency hospital presentations (n = 136) in a New Zealand town (population ~50,000). Study area was defined by residential (housing) land parcels representing a finite set of possible point addresses. Area-based deprivation was spatially correlated. Accounting for deprivation and distance bias showed evidence for clustering of DSH for spatial scales up to 500 m with a one-sided 95 % CI, suggesting that social contagion may be present for this urban cohort. Many problems involve finite locations in geographic space that require estimates of distance-based clustering at many scales. A Monte-Carlo approach to Ripley's K, incorporating covariates and models for distance bias, are crucial when assessing health-related clustering. The case study showed that social network structure defined at the neighbourhood level may account for aspects of neighbourhood clustering of DSH. Accounting for covariate measures that exhibit spatial clustering, such as deprivation, are crucial when assessing point-based clustering.

[Using sequential indicator simulation method to define risk areas of soil heavy metals in farmland.

PubMed

Yang, Hao; Song, Ying Qiang; Hu, Yue Ming; Chen, Fei Xiang; Zhang, Rui

2018-05-01

The heavy metals in soil have serious impacts on safety, ecological environment and human health due to their toxicity and accumulation. It is necessary to efficiently identify the risk area of heavy metals in farmland soil, which is of important significance for environment protection, pollution warning and farmland risk control. We collected 204 samples and analyzed the contents of seven kinds of heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd, Cr, As, Hg) in Zengcheng District of Guangzhou, China. In order to overcame the problems of the data, including the limitation of abnormal values and skewness distribution and the smooth effect with the traditional kriging methods, we used sequential indicator simulation method (SISIM) to define the spatial distribution of heavy metals, and combined Hakanson index method to identify potential ecological risk area of heavy metals in farmland. The results showed that: (1) Based on the similar accuracy of spatial prediction of soil heavy metals, the SISIM had a better expression of detail rebuild than ordinary kriging in small scale area. Compared to indicator kriging, the SISIM had less error rate (4.9%-17.1%) in uncertainty evaluation of heavy-metal risk identification. The SISIM had less smooth effect and was more applicable to simulate the spatial uncertainty assessment of soil heavy metals and risk identification. (2) There was no pollution in Zengcheng's farmland. Moderate potential ecological risk was found in the southern part of study area due to enterprise production, human activities, and river sediments. This study combined the sequential indicator simulation with Hakanson risk index method, and effectively overcame the outlier information loss and smooth effect of traditional kriging method. It provided a new way to identify the soil heavy metal risk area of farmland in uneven sampling.

[Evaluation of the psychosocial factors relevant to the quality of life in a white-collar population of a large company in the Milan area].

PubMed

Bertolotti, G; Tringali, S; Pollini, G; Zotti, A M

1986-01-01

In preventive occupational industrial medicine problems relevant to psycho-social factors always interfere in medical investigation by showing up as a not clearly organic symptomatology but as a phenomenon of somatization of anxiety or as working and social setting unfitness. CBA-2.0 Primary Scale Battery, a specific questionnaire for the investigation of some considerable clinical important traits, was administered to 414 white collar in order to facilitate a better discrimination between psychological and biological factors. Results show some areas (smoking habits, hurried eating, sedentary, Type A, conflicting social relationship on working setting) which are to be investigated thoroughly by both clinic and industrial psychologists for better defining distress causes in working organization and social environment.

Implementation of a Campuswide Distributed Mass Storage Service: the Dream Versus Reality

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Prahst, Stephen; Armstead, Betty Jo

1996-01-01

In 1990, a technical team at NASA Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio, began defining a Mass Storage Service to pro- wide long-term archival storage, short-term storage for very large files, distributed Network File System access, and backup services for critical data dw resides on workstations and personal computers. Because of software availability and budgets, the total service was phased in over dm years. During the process of building the service from the commercial technologies available, our Mass Storage Team refined the original vision and learned from the problems and mistakes that occurred. We also enhanced some technologies to better meet the needs of users and system administrators. This report describes our team's journey from dream to reality, outlines some of the problem areas that still exist, and suggests some solutions.

A prototype case-based reasoning human assistant for space crew assessment and mission management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Owen, Robert B.; Holland, Albert W.; Wood, Joanna

1993-01-01

We present a prototype human assistant system for space crew assessment and mission management. Our system is based on case episodes from American and Russian space missions and analog environments such as polar stations and undersea habitats. The general domain of small groups in isolated and confined environments represents a near ideal application area for case-based reasoning (CBR) - there are few reliable rules to follow, and most domain knowledge is in the form of cases. We define the problem domain and outline a unique knowledge representation system driven by conflict and communication triggers. The prototype system is able to represent, index, and retrieve case studies of human performance. We index by social, behavioral, and environmental factors. We present the problem domain, our current implementation, our research approach for an operational system, and prototype performance and results.

A non-linear optimization programming model for air quality planning including co-benefits for GHG emissions.

PubMed

Turrini, Enrico; Carnevale, Claudio; Finzi, Giovanna; Volta, Marialuisa

2018-04-15

This paper introduces the MAQ (Multi-dimensional Air Quality) model aimed at defining cost-effective air quality plans at different scales (urban to national) and assessing the co-benefits for GHG emissions. The model implements and solves a non-linear multi-objective, multi-pollutant decision problem where the decision variables are the application levels of emission abatement measures allowing the reduction of energy consumption, end-of pipe technologies and fuel switch options. The objectives of the decision problem are the minimization of tropospheric secondary pollution exposure and of internal costs. The model assesses CO 2 equivalent emissions in order to support decision makers in the selection of win-win policies. The methodology is tested on Lombardy region, a heavily polluted area in northern Italy. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Solving quantum optimal control problems using Clebsch variables and Lin constraints

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Delgado-Téllez, M.; Ibort, A.; Rodríguez de la Peña, T.

2018-01-01

Clebsch variables (and Lin constraints) are applied to the study of a class of optimal control problems for affine-controlled quantum systems. The optimal control problem will be modelled with controls defined on an auxiliary space where the dynamical group of the system acts freely. The reciprocity between both theories: the classical theory defined by the objective functional and the quantum system, is established by using a suitable version of Lagrange’s multipliers theorem and a geometrical interpretation of the constraints of the system as defining a subspace of horizontal curves in an associated bundle. It is shown how the solutions of the variational problem defined by the objective functional determine solutions of the quantum problem. Then a new way of obtaining explicit solutions for a family of optimal control problems for affine-controlled quantum systems (finite or infinite dimensional) is obtained. One of its main advantages, is the the use of Clebsch variables allows to compute such solutions from solutions of invariant problems that can often be computed explicitly. This procedure can be presented as an algorithm that can be applied to a large class of systems. Finally, some simple examples, spin control, a simple quantum Hamiltonian with an ‘Elroy beanie’ type classical model and a controlled one-dimensional quantum harmonic oscillator, illustrating the main features of the theory, will be discussed.

Crisis Intervention and the Military Family: A Model Installation Program.

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-03-07

abuse to less serious problems like budget management and good parenting techniques. Family dysfunction is defined in two categories: High and low...serious problems like budget management and good parenting techniques. Family dysfunction is defined in two categories: High and low intensity conflict. The...system activated to deal with the problem through the Family N, Advocacy Case Management Team. It is an excellent system that protects, helps and

Sustainability assessment of alternative end-uses for disused areas based on multi-criteria decision-making method.

PubMed

De Feo, Giovanni; De Gisi, Sabino; De Vita, Sabato; Notarnicola, Michele

2018-08-01

The main aim of this study was to define and apply a multidisciplinary and multi-criteria approach to sustainability in evaluating alternative end-uses for disused areas. Taking into account the three pillars of sustainability (social, economic and environmental dimension) as well as the need for stakeholders to have new practical instruments, the innovative approach consists of four modules stated (i) sociological, (ii) economic, (iii) environmental and (iv) multi-criteria assessment. By means of a case study on a small Municipality in Southern Italy, three end-uses alternatives, representing three essential services for citizens, were selected: Municipal gym; Market area; Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) separate collection centre. The sociological module was useful to select the most socially sound alternative by means of a consultative referendum, simulated with the use of a structured questionnaire administered to a sample of the population. The economic evaluation was conducted defining the bill of quantities with regarding to six main items (soil handling, landfill disposal tax, public services, structure and services, completion work, equipment and furnishings). The environmental evaluation was performed applying the Delphi method with local technicians who were involved in a qualitative-quantitative evaluation of the three alternatives with regarding to eight possible environmental impacts (landscape impact, soil handling, odour, traffic, noise, atmospheric pollution, wastewater, waste). Finally, the Simple Additive Weighting was used as multi-criteria technique to define alternatives priorities. The obtained results showed how the multi-criteria analysis is a useful decision support tool able to identify transparently and efficiently the most sustainable solutions to a complex social problem. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Identification of psychobiological stressors among HIV-positive women. HIV Neurobehavioral Research Center (HNRC) Group.

PubMed

Semple, S J; Patterson, T L; Temoshok, L R; McCutchan, J A; Straits-Tröster, K A; Chandler, J L; Grant, I

1993-01-01

This research describes major stressors in the lives of women who have been infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Thirty-one HIV antibody positive (HIV+) women infected primarily through heterosexual contact participated in a two hour semi-structured interview detailing the circumstances, context, and consequences of all stressful life events and difficulties experienced within the preceding six months. Qualitative methods of data analyses were utilized (Miles & Huberman, 1984). HIV-related life events and difficulties were classified into primary and secondary stressors based on the stress process model (Pearlin et al., 1981). Problems arising directly from one's seropositivity were defined as primary stressors. Stressful life events and difficulties occurring in other role areas were defined as secondary stressors. Six categories of HIV-related stressors were identified and quantified. Primary stressors were health-related, and included both gynecological problems (e.g., amenorrhea) and general symptoms of HIV infection (e.g., fatigue). Secondary stressors related to child and family (e.g., future guardianship of children), marital/partner relations (e.g., disclosure of HIV+ status), occupation (e.g., arranging time-off for medical appointments), economic problems (e.g., insurance "hassles"), and social network events (e.g., death of friends from AIDS). This research indicates that HIV-positive women are exposed to multiple stressors; some may be viewed as unique to women, whereas others may be considered common to both sexes. Identification of stressors has implications for the design of medical and psychiatric interventions for women.

Numerical investigation of three-dimensional pupil model impact on the relative illumination in panomorph lenses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhuang, Zhenfeng; Thibault, Simon

2017-11-01

One of the key issues in conventional wide-angle lenses is the well-known cosine-fourth power law problem causing the illumination falloff at its image space. This paper explores methods of improving illumination in the image space in panomorph lenses. By tracing skew rays within the defined field of view and pupil diameter, we obtained the actual position of the three-dimensional pupil model of the entrance pupil (EP) and exit pupil (XP). Based on the law of irradiance transport conservation, the relation between the area of the EP projection and illumination in the image space is derived to investigate the factors affecting the illumination on the peripheral field. A panomorph lens has been optimized as an example by providing a self-defined operation in the optimization process. The characteristic of the EP and XP in panomorph lenses is qualitatively analyzed. Compared with the conventional design method, the proposed design strategy can enhance the illumination with and without polarized light based on qualitatively evaluating the area of projected EP. It is demonstrated that this method enables the enhancement of the illumination without additional film coating.

SPAR electrophoretic separation experiments, part 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cosmi, F. M.

1978-01-01

The opportunity to use a sounding rocket for separation experiments is a logical continuation of earlier electrophoresis demonstrations and experiments. A free-flow electrophoresis system, developed under the Advanced Applications Flight Experiment (AAFE) Program, was designed so that it would fit into a rocket payload. The SPAR program provides a unique opportunity to complete the intial stages of microgravity testing prior to any Shuttle applications. The objective of the work described in this report was to ensure proper operating parameters for the defined experimental samples to be used in the SPAR Electrophoretic Separation Experiment. Ground based experiments were undertaken not only to define flight parameters but also to serve as a point of comparison for flight results. Possible flight experiment problem areas were also studied such as sample interaction due to sedimentation, concentration effects and storage effects. Late in the program anomalies of field strengths and buffer conductivities were also investigated.

Model systems for life processes on Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mitz, M. A.

1974-01-01

In the evolution of life forms nonphotosynthetic mechanisms are developed. The question remains whether a total life system could evolve which is not dependent upon photosynthesis. In trying to visualize life on other planets, the photosynthetic process has problems. On Mars, the high intensity of light at the surface is a concern and alternative mechanisms need to be defined and analyzed. In the UV search for alternate mechanisms, several different areas may be identified. These involve activated inorganic compounds in the atmosphere, such as the products of photodissociation of carbon dioxide and the organic material which may be created by natural phenomena. In addition, a life system based on the pressure of the atmospheric constituents, such as carbon dioxide, is a possibility. These considerations may be important for the understanding of evolutionary processes of life on another planet. Model systems which depend on these alternative mechanisms are defined and related to presently planned and future planetary missions.

A Sharp methodology for VLSI layout

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bapat, Shekhar

1993-01-01

The layout problem for VLSI circuits is recognized as a very difficult problem and has been traditionally decomposed into the several seemingly independent sub-problems of placement, global routing, and detailed routing. Although this structure achieves a reduction in programming complexity, it is also typically accompanied by a reduction in solution quality. Most current placement research recognizes that the separation is artificial, and that the placement and routing problems should be solved ideally in tandem. We propose a new interconnection model, Sharp and an associated partitioning algorithm. The Sharp interconnection model uses a partitioning shape that roughly resembles the musical sharp 'number sign' and makes extensive use of pre-computed rectilinear Steiner trees. The model is designed to generate strategic routing information along with the partitioning results. Additionally, the Sharp model also generates estimates of the routing congestion. We also propose the Sharp layout heuristic that solves the layout problem in its entirety. The Sharp layout heuristic makes extensive use of the Sharp partitioning model. The use of precomputed Steiner tree forms enables the method to model accurately net characteristics. For example, the Steiner tree forms can model both the length of the net and more importantly its route. In fact, the tree forms are also appropriate for modeling the timing delays of nets. The Sharp heuristic works to minimize both the total layout area by minimizing total net length (thus reducing the total wiring area), and the congestion imbalances in the various channels (thus reducing the unused or wasted channel area). Our heuristic uses circuit element movements amongst the different partitioning blocks and selection of alternate minimal Steiner tree forms to achieve this goal. The objective function for the algorithm can be modified readily to include other important circuit constraints like propagation delays. The layout technique first computes a very high-level approximation of the layout solution (i.e., the positions of the circuit elements and the associated net routes). The approximate solution is alternately refined, objective function. The technique creates well defined sub-problems and offers intermediary steps that can be solved in parallel, as well as a parallel mechanism to merge the sub-problem solutions.

Leading Causes of Death in Nonmetropolitan and Metropolitan Areas- United States, 1999-2014.

PubMed

Moy, Ernest; Garcia, Macarena C; Bastian, Brigham; Rossen, Lauren M; Ingram, Deborah D; Faul, Mark; Massetti, Greta M; Thomas, Cheryll C; Hong, Yuling; Yoon, Paula W; Iademarco, Michael F

2017-01-13

Higher rates of death in nonmetropolitan areas (often referred to as rural areas) compared with metropolitan areas have been described but not systematically assessed. 1999-2014 DESCRIPTION OF SYSTEM: Mortality data for U.S. residents from the National Vital Statistics System were used to calculate age-adjusted death rates and potentially excess deaths for nonmetropolitan and metropolitan areas for the five leading causes of death. Age-adjusted death rates included all ages and were adjusted to the 2000 U.S. standard population by the direct method. Potentially excess deaths are defined as deaths among persons aged <80 years that exceed the numbers that would be expected if the death rates of states with the lowest rates (i.e., benchmark states) occurred across all states. (Benchmark states were the three states with the lowest rates for each cause during 2008-2010.) Potentially excess deaths were calculated separately for nonmetropolitan and metropolitan areas. Data are presented for the United States and the 10 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services public health regions. Across the United States, nonmetropolitan areas experienced higher age-adjusted death rates than metropolitan areas. The percentages of potentially excess deaths among persons aged <80 years from the five leading causes were higher in nonmetropolitan areas than in metropolitan areas. For example, approximately half of deaths from unintentional injury and chronic lower respiratory disease in nonmetropolitan areas were potentially excess deaths, compared with 39.2% and 30.9%, respectively, in metropolitan areas. Potentially excess deaths also differed among and within public health regions; within regions, nonmetropolitan areas tended to have higher percentages of potentially excess deaths than metropolitan areas. Compared with metropolitan areas, nonmetropolitan areas have higher age-adjusted death rates and greater percentages of potentially excess deaths from the five leading causes of death, nationally and across public health regions. Routine tracking of potentially excess deaths in nonmetropolitan areas might help public health departments identify emerging health problems, monitor known problems, and focus interventions to reduce preventable deaths in these areas.

Integrated residential photovoltaic array development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shepard, N. F., Jr.

1981-12-01

An advanced, universally-mountable, integrated residential photovoltaic array concept was defined based upon an in-depth formulation and evaluation of three candidate approaches which were synthesized from existing or proposed residential array concepts. The impact of module circuitry and process sequence is considered and technology gaps and performance drivers associated with residential photovoltaic array concepts are identified. The actual learning experience gained from the comparison of the problem areas of the hexagonal shingle design with the rectangular module design led to what is considered an advanced array concept. Building the laboratory mockup provided actual experience and the opportunity to uncover additional technology gaps.

Mercury concentrations in three species of tunas collected from various oceanic waters

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

Greig, R.A.; Krzynowek, J.

1979-05-01

While the primary effort of the National Canners Association and Food and Drug Administration was involved with examination of the extent of the mercury problem in processed tuna, the National Marine Fisheries Service was defining the mercury levels as they existed in the tuna resource at sea. A study was therefore initiated early in 1971 by the National Marine Fisheries Service to relate mercury levels in tuna to such factors as species, size of fish, geographic area of catch and distribution within individual fish. The purpose of this report is to present the data that were accumulated.

Perimetric Complexity of Binary Digital Images: Notes on Calculation and Relation to Visual Complexity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Watson, Andrew B.

2011-01-01

Perimetric complexity is a measure of the complexity of binary pictures. It is defined as the sum of inside and outside perimeters of the foreground, squared, divided by the foreground area, divided by 4p . Difficulties arise when this definition is applied to digital images composed of binary pixels. In this paper we identify these problems and propose solutions. Perimetric complexity is often used as a measure of visual complexity, in which case it should take into account the limited resolution of the visual system. We propose a measure of visual perimetric complexity that meets this requirement.

Smile design: rules, tools and strategies to help plan aesthetic restorative dentistry.

PubMed

Holyoak, Matthew

2013-10-01

This article is intended to provide dentists with a framework to help in objectively assessing upper anterior aesthetic restorations. Not all of the areas discussed will be equally important in all cases, and a degree of subjectivity, based on clinical experience, is essential. There has been a huge increase in settlements in cases when aesthetic treatment has not led to patient satisfaction. The author hopes that this type of approach, in conjunction with good patient communication and detailed records, will minimise the potential for litigation, should problems arise. Success or failure is largely defined during the planning stage.

Young onset Parkinson's disease. Practical management of medical issues.

PubMed

Calne, Susan M; Kumar, Ajit

2008-01-01

Young Onset Parkinson's disease (YOPD) is defined as Parkinson's disease diagnosed between the ages of 21 and 40 years. Problems faced by this group are different from those faced by older subjects because they face decades with the illness. This article reviews current literature and offers suggestions for intervention when appropriate and practical suggestions in the areas of drug treatment, rehabilitation, nutrition, sexuality, pregnancy, menstruation and menopause. The suggestions are not exclusively restricted to the management of YOPD, but emphasis is placed on items where people with YOPD have either had particular difficulties or where they can proactively self-manage their illness.

Entanglement of a class of non-Gaussian states in disordered harmonic oscillator systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abdul-Rahman, Houssam

2018-03-01

For disordered harmonic oscillator systems over the d-dimensional lattice, we consider the problem of finding the bipartite entanglement of the uniform ensemble of the energy eigenstates associated with a particular number of modes. Such an ensemble defines a class of mixed, non-Gaussian entangled states that are labeled, by the energy of the system, in an increasing order. We develop a novel approach to find the exact logarithmic negativity of this class of states. We also prove entanglement bounds and demonstrate that the low energy states follow an area law.

Integrated residential photovoltaic array development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shepard, N. F., Jr.

1981-01-01

An advanced, universally-mountable, integrated residential photovoltaic array concept was defined based upon an in-depth formulation and evaluation of three candidate approaches which were synthesized from existing or proposed residential array concepts. The impact of module circuitry and process sequence is considered and technology gaps and performance drivers associated with residential photovoltaic array concepts are identified. The actual learning experience gained from the comparison of the problem areas of the hexagonal shingle design with the rectangular module design led to what is considered an advanced array concept. Building the laboratory mockup provided actual experience and the opportunity to uncover additional technology gaps.

Epigenetics: spotlight on type 2 diabetes and obesity.

PubMed

Desiderio, A; Spinelli, R; Ciccarelli, M; Nigro, C; Miele, C; Beguinot, F; Raciti, G A

2016-10-01

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) and obesity are the major public health problems. Substantial efforts have been made to define loci and variants contributing to the individual risk of these disorders. However, the overall risk explained by genetic variation is very modest. Epigenetics is one of the fastest growing research areas in biomedicine as changes in the epigenome are involved in many biological processes, impact on the risk for several complex diseases including diabetes and may explain susceptibility. In this review, we focus on the role of DNA methylation in contributing to the risk of T2D and obesity.

High Speed Photomicrography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hyzer, William G.

1983-03-01

One of the most challenging areas in applying high-speed photography and videography in the plant and laboratory is in the recording of rapid events at macro and microscopic scales. Depth of field, exposure efficiency, working distance, and required exposure time are all reduced as optical magnification is increased, which severely taxes the skill and ingenuity of workers interested in recording any fast moving phenomena through the microscope or with magnifying lenses. This paper defines the problems inherent in photographing within macro and microscopic ranges and offers a systematic approach to optimizing the selection of equipment and choice of applicable techniques.

What makes a problem an ethical problem? An empirical perspective on the nature of ethical problems in general practice

PubMed Central

Braunack-Mayer, A. J.

2001-01-01

Whilst there has been considerable debate about the fit between moral theory and moral reasoning in everyday life, the way in which moral problems are defined has rarely been questioned. This paper presents a qualitative analysis of interviews conducted with 15 general practitioners (GPs) in South Australia to argue that the way in which the bioethics literature defines an ethical dilemma captures only some of the range of lay views about the nature of ethical problems. The bioethics literature has defined ethical dilemmas in terms of conflict and choice between values, beliefs and options for action. While some of the views of some of the GPs in this study about the nature of their ethical dilemmas certainly accorded with this definition, other explanations of the ethical nature of their problems revolved around the publicity associated with the issues they were discussing, concern about their relationships with patients, and anxiety about threats to their integrity and reputation. The variety of views about what makes a problem a moral problem indicates that the moral domain is perhaps wider and richer than mainstream bioethics would generally allow. Key Words: Empirical ethics • general practice • qualitative research PMID:11314166

Wicked Problems in Natural Hazard Assessment and Mitigation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stein, S.; Steckler, M. S.; Rundle, J. B.; Dixon, T. H.

2017-12-01

Social scientists have defined "wicked" problems that are "messy, ill-defined, more complex than we fully grasp, and open to multiple interpretations based on one's point of view... No solution to a wicked problem is permanent or wholly satisfying, which leaves every solution open to easy polemical attack." These contrast with "tame" problems in which necessary information is available and solutions - even if difficult and expensive - are straightforward to identify and execute. Updating the U.S.'s aging infrastructure is a tame problem, because what is wrong and how to fix it are clear. In contrast, addressing climate change is a wicked problem because its effects are uncertain and the best strategies to address them are unclear. An analogous approach can be taken to natural hazard problems. In tame problems, we have a good model of the process, good information about past events, and data implying that the model should predict future events. In such cases, we can make a reasonable assessment of the hazard that can be used to develop mitigation strategies. Earthquake hazard mitigation for San Francisco is a relatively tame problem. We understand how the earthquakes result from known plate motions, have information about past earthquakes, and have geodetic data implying that future similar earthquakes will occur. As a result, it is straightforward to develop and implement mitigation strategies. However, in many cases, hazard assessment and mitigation is a wicked problem. How should we prepare for a great earthquake on plate boundaries where tectonics favor such events but we have no evidence that they have occurred and hence how large they may be or how often to expect them? How should we assess the hazard within plates, for example in the New Madrid seismic zone, where large earthquakes have occurred but we do not understand their causes and geodetic data show no strain accumulating? How can we assess the hazard and make sensible policy when the recurrence of earthquakes, floods, or hurricanes seems to be changing with time or is expected to do so due to human activity? A starting approach might be to assess what we know, what we don't know, what we think, and what can be done that might improve this situation. We should draw on what is known in other areas of risk assessment including social science, meteorology, engineering, and economics.

Undergraduate Performance in Solving Ill-Defined Biochemistry Problems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sensibaugh, Cheryl A.; Madrid, Nathaniel J.; Choi, Hye-Jeong; Anderson, William L.; Osgood, Marcy P.

2017-01-01

With growing interest in promoting skills related to the scientific process, we studied performance in solving ill-defined problems demonstrated by graduating biochemistry majors at a public, minority-serving university. As adoption of techniques for facilitating the attainment of higher-order learning objectives broadens, so too does the need to…

Defining Information Needs of Computer Users: A Human Communication Problem.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kimbrough, Kenneth L.

This exploratory investigation of the process of defining the information needs of computer users and the impact of that process on information retrieval focuses on communication problems. Six sites were visited that used computers to process data or to provide information, including the California Department of Transportation, the California…

What Is Violence Against Women? Defining and Measuring the Problem

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kilpatrick, Dean G.

2004-01-01

Violence against women (VAW) is a prevalent problem with substantial physical and mental health consequences throughout the world, and sound public policy is dependent on having good measures of VAW. This article (a) describes and contrasts criminal justice and public health approaches toward defining VAW, (b) identifies major controversies…

Applicability domains for classification problems: benchmarking of distance to models for AMES mutagenicity set

EPA Science Inventory

For QSAR and QSPR modeling of biological and physicochemical properties, estimating the accuracy of predictions is a critical problem. The “distance to model” (DM) can be defined as a metric that defines the similarity between the training set molecules and the test set compound ...

Whatever It Takes: How Beginning Teachers Learn to Survive

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Le Maistre, Cathrine; Pare, Anthony

2010-01-01

Reports of high attrition rates among beginning teachers suggest that new practitioners need help to develop coping strategies, preferably while they are still teacher candidates under the supervision of experienced teachers. Defining teaching as an ill-defined problem, where beginners have a limited repertoire of problem-solving strategies, this…

Information Needs of the Ceramic Industry; A Users-Need Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Janning, Edward A.; And Others

This report examines the problems in the flow of scientific and technological information in the Ceramic Industry. The research methodology used involved a panel of experts which defined the functions performed by ceramists and their corresponding information needs, listed sources of information available to ceramists, and defined problems and…

Precision agricultural systems: a model of integrative science and technology

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

In the world of science research, long gone are the days when investigations are done in isolation. More often than not, science funding starts with one or more well-defined challenges or problems, judged by society as high-priority and needing immediate attention. As such, problems are not defined...

Smart cities of the future

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Batty, M.; Axhausen, K. W.; Giannotti, F.; Pozdnoukhov, A.; Bazzani, A.; Wachowicz, M.; Ouzounis, G.; Portugali, Y.

2012-11-01

Here we sketch the rudiments of what constitutes a smart city which we define as a city in which ICT is merged with traditional infrastructures, coordinated and integrated using new digital technologies. We first sketch our vision defining seven goals which concern: developing a new understanding of urban problems; effective and feasible ways to coordinate urban technologies; models and methods for using urban data across spatial and temporal scales; developing new technologies for communication and dissemination; developing new forms of urban governance and organisation; defining critical problems relating to cities, transport, and energy; and identifying risk, uncertainty, and hazards in the smart city. To this, we add six research challenges: to relate the infrastructure of smart cities to their operational functioning and planning through management, control and optimisation; to explore the notion of the city as a laboratory for innovation; to provide portfolios of urban simulation which inform future designs; to develop technologies that ensure equity, fairness and realise a better quality of city life; to develop technologies that ensure informed participation and create shared knowledge for democratic city governance; and to ensure greater and more effective mobility and access to opportunities for urban populations. We begin by defining the state of the art, explaining the science of smart cities. We define six scenarios based on new cities badging themselves as smart, older cities regenerating themselves as smart, the development of science parks, tech cities, and technopoles focused on high technologies, the development of urban services using contemporary ICT, the use of ICT to develop new urban intelligence functions, and the development of online and mobile forms of participation. Seven project areas are then proposed: Integrated Databases for the Smart City, Sensing, Networking and the Impact of New Social Media, Modelling Network Performance, Mobility and Travel Behaviour, Modelling Urban Land Use, Transport and Economic Interactions, Modelling Urban Transactional Activities in Labour and Housing Markets, Decision Support as Urban Intelligence, Participatory Governance and Planning Structures for the Smart City. Finally we anticipate the paradigm shifts that will occur in this research and define a series of key demonstrators which we believe are important to progressing a science of smart cities.

Solving the problem of Trans-Genomic Query with alignment tables.

PubMed

Parker, Douglass Stott; Hsiao, Ruey-Lung; Xing, Yi; Resch, Alissa M; Lee, Christopher J

2008-01-01

The trans-genomic query (TGQ) problem--enabling the free query of biological information, even across genomes--is a central challenge facing bioinformatics. Solutions to this problem can alter the nature of the field, moving it beyond the jungle of data integration and expanding the number and scope of questions that can be answered. An alignment table is a binary relationship on locations (sequence segments). An important special case of alignment tables are hit tables ? tables of pairs of highly similar segments produced by alignment tools like BLAST. However, alignment tables also include general binary relationships, and can represent any useful connection between sequence locations. They can be curated, and provide a high-quality queryable backbone of connections between biological information. Alignment tables thus can be a natural foundation for TGQ, as they permit a central part of the TGQ problem to be reduced to purely technical problems involving tables of locations.Key challenges in implementing alignment tables include efficient representation and indexing of sequence locations. We define a location datatype that can be incorporated naturally into common off-the-shelf database systems. We also describe an implementation of alignment tables in BLASTGRES, an extension of the open-source POSTGRESQL database system that provides indexing and operators on locations required for querying alignment tables. This paper also reviews several successful large-scale applications of alignment tables for Trans-Genomic Query. Tables with millions of alignments have been used in queries about alternative splicing, an area of genomic analysis concerning the way in which a single gene can yield multiple transcripts. Comparative genomics is a large potential application area for TGQ and alignment tables.

Transit Oriented Development (TOD) index at the current transit nodes in Depok City, Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sulistyaningrum, Subekti; Sumabrata, Jachrizal

2018-03-01

Depok is a rural area which developed by Perum Perumnas in 1976. And growth rapidly since University of Indonesia moved in 1986. Afterward, Depok became a new city at periphery of DKI Jakarta with numerous development and urbanizations. Depok city is facing urban problems including population growth of 9% per year, the increasing regular and irregular settlements and transportation problems such as traffic congestion, the increasing of individual cars and motorcycles and lack of transportation development. Moreover, Jabodetabek Commuterline which is start from Bogor station and transits in 5 (five) stations in Depok city (Universitas Indonesia, Pondok Cina, Depok Baru, Depok and Citayam), become a potential alternative for commuters in Depok to go out of the city. Depok should have sustainable transportation such as Transit Oriented Development (TOD) masterplan in a strategic place of railways area to conduct a sustainable city. This study discovered that TOD planning should be proceded by understanding the existing condition through measurement of TOD level. Therefore, the measurement of TOD level around the existing nodes is inevitable as transit node plays a central role in TOD, so it was defined as 800 meters walking distances. This paper focus on 3 (three) station areas along the way of Jalan Margonda, which has a very significant growth development area in Depok with the indicators are devided into spatial and non-spatial indicators. Geographic Information Systems (ArcGIS) isused to quantify all of the spatial indicators.

Initial Investigation of Operational Concept Elements for NASA's NextGen-Airportal Project Research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lohr, Gary; Lee, Jonathan; Poage, James L.; Tobias, Leonard

2009-01-01

The NextGen-Airportal Project is organized into three research focus areas: Safe and Efficient Surface Operations, Coordinated Arrival/Departure Operations Management, and Airportal Transition and Integration Management. The content in this document was derived from an examination of constraints and problems at airports for accommodating future increases in air traffic, and from an examination of capabilities envisioned for NextGen. The concepts are organized around categories of constraints and problems and therefore do not precisely match, but generally reflect, the research focus areas. The concepts provide a framework for defining and coordinating research activities that are, and will be, conducted by the NextGen-Airportal Project. The concepts will help the research activities function as an integrated set focused on future needs for airport operations and will aid aligning the research activities with NextGen key capabilities. The concepts are presented as concept elements with more detailed sub-elements under each concept element. For each concept element, the following topics are discussed: constraints and problems being addressed, benefit descriptions, required technology and infrastructure, and an initial list of potential research topics. Concept content will be updated and more detail added as the research progresses. The concepts are focused on enhancing airportal capacity and efficiency in a timeframe 20 to 25 years in the future, which is similar to NextGen's timeframe.

Advanced Variance Reduction Strategies for Optimizing Mesh Tallies in MAVRIC

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

Peplow, Douglas E.; Blakeman, Edward D; Wagner, John C

2007-01-01

More often than in the past, Monte Carlo methods are being used to compute fluxes or doses over large areas using mesh tallies (a set of region tallies defined on a mesh that overlays the geometry). For problems that demand that the uncertainty in each mesh cell be less than some set maximum, computation time is controlled by the cell with the largest uncertainty. This issue becomes quite troublesome in deep-penetration problems, and advanced variance reduction techniques are required to obtain reasonable uncertainties over large areas. The CADIS (Consistent Adjoint Driven Importance Sampling) methodology has been shown to very efficientlymore » optimize the calculation of a response (flux or dose) for a single point or a small region using weight windows and a biased source based on the adjoint of that response. This has been incorporated into codes such as ADVANTG (based on MCNP) and the new sequence MAVRIC, which will be available in the next release of SCALE. In an effort to compute lower uncertainties everywhere in the problem, Larsen's group has also developed several methods to help distribute particles more evenly, based on forward estimates of flux. This paper focuses on the use of a forward estimate to weight the placement of the source in the adjoint calculation used by CADIS, which we refer to as a forward-weighted CADIS (FW-CADIS).« less

Community dermatology in Debre Markos: an attempt to define children's dermatological needs in a rural area of Ethiopia.

PubMed

Murgia, Vitalia; Bilcha, Kassahun Desalegn; Shibeshi, Dagnachew

2010-06-01

Skin diseases are very common in rural and urban areas in developing countries. Knowledge of the real frequency of the dermatological problems of Ethiopian children could help plan future intervention for early diagnosis and low cost "good practice" therapies. We involved in the project two primary Ethiopian schools, attended by 1765 children from grade 1 to grade 4, who were screened to assess their general skin health conditions. All children were examined naked in good day light. To record data we used an EPIinfo questionnaire. A total of 1104 children were screened. We registered a total number of 1086 dermatological problems, 876 of them were of infective origin mainly represented by fungal infections (36.1%). Tinea capitis represented 76% of the cases, tinea corporis 27% and tinea unguium 8%. Head lice affected 345 children. Viral infections accounted for 12%, most of them were warts. We think our work highlights the general health and living conditions of Ethiopian school children. The dermatological problems affecting most of the children could improve just by better skin hygiene conditions. The presence at the community level of health workers trained to perform a correct and early diagnosis and distribute efficacious, low-cost therapies would be a relevant step forward. We think this project could help draw attention and interest to these issues.

When holography meets coherent diffraction imaging.

PubMed

Latychevskaia, Tatiana; Longchamp, Jean-Nicolas; Fink, Hans-Werner

2012-12-17

The phase problem is inherent to crystallographic, astronomical and optical imaging where only the intensity of the scattered signal is detected and the phase information is lost and must somehow be recovered to reconstruct the object's structure. Modern imaging techniques at the molecular scale rely on utilizing novel coherent light sources like X-ray free electron lasers for the ultimate goal of visualizing such objects as individual biomolecules rather than crystals. Here, unlike in the case of crystals where structures can be solved by model building and phase refinement, the phase distribution of the wave scattered by an individual molecule must directly be recovered. There are two well-known solutions to the phase problem: holography and coherent diffraction imaging (CDI). Both techniques have their pros and cons. In holography, the reconstruction of the scattered complex-valued object wave is directly provided by a well-defined reference wave that must cover the entire detector area which often is an experimental challenge. CDI provides the highest possible, only wavelength limited, resolution, but the phase recovery is an iterative process which requires some pre-defined information about the object and whose outcome is not always uniquely-defined. Moreover, the diffraction patterns must be recorded under oversampling conditions, a pre-requisite to be able to solve the phase problem. Here, we report how holography and CDI can be merged into one superior technique: holographic coherent diffraction imaging (HCDI). An inline hologram can be recorded by employing a modified CDI experimental scheme. We demonstrate that the amplitude of the Fourier transform of an inline hologram is related to the complex-valued visibility, thus providing information on both, the amplitude and the phase of the scattered wave in the plane of the diffraction pattern. With the phase information available, the condition of oversampling the diffraction patterns can be relaxed, and the phase problem can be solved in a fast and unambiguous manner. We demonstrate the reconstruction of various diffraction patterns of objects recorded with visible light as well as with low-energy electrons. Although we have demonstrated our HCDI method using laser light and low-energy electrons, it can also be applied to any other coherent radiation such as X-rays or high-energy electrons.

Using integrated research and interdisciplinary science: Potential benefits and challenges to managers of parks and protected areas

USGS Publications Warehouse

van Riper, Charles; Powell, Robert B.; Machlis, Gary; van Wagtendonk, Jan W.; van Riper, Carena J.; von Ruschkowski, Eick; Schwarzbach, Steven E.; Galipeau, Russell E.

2012-01-01

Our purpose in this paper is to build a case for utilizing interdisciplinary science to enhance the management of parks and protected areas. We suggest that interdisciplinary science is necessary for dealing with the complex issues of contemporary resource management, and that using the best available integrated scientific information be embraced and supported at all levels of agencies that manage parks and protected areas. It will take the commitment of park managers, scientists, and agency leaders to achieve the goal of implementing the results of interdisciplinary science into park management. Although such calls go back at least several decades, today interdisciplinary science is sporadically being promoted as necessary for supporting effective protected area management(e.g., Machlis et al. 1981; Kelleher and Kenchington 1991). Despite this history, rarely has "interdisciplinary science" been defined, its importance explained, or guidance provided on how to translate and then implement the associated research results into management actions (Tress et al. 2006; Margles et al. 2010). With the extremely complex issues that now confront protected areas (e.g., climate change influences, extinctions and loss of biodiversity, human and wildlife demographic changes, and unprecedented human population growth) information from more than one scientific discipline will need to be brought to bear in order to achieve sustained management solutions that resonate with stakeholders (Ostrom 2009). Although interdisciplinary science is not the solution to all problems, we argue that interdisciplinary research is an evolving and widely supported best practice. In the case of park and protected area management, interdisciplinary science is being driven by the increasing recognition of the complexity and interconnectedness of human and natural systems, and the notion that addressing many problems can be more rapidly advanced through interdisciplinary study and analysis.

Decision-making for foot-and-mouth disease control: Objectives matter

USGS Publications Warehouse

Probert, William J. M.; Shea, Katriona; Fonnesbeck, Christopher J.; Runge, Michael C.; Carpenter, Tim E.; Durr, Salome; Garner, M. Graeme; Harvey, Neil; Stevenson, Mark A.; Webb, Colleen T.; Werkman, Marleen; Tildesley, Michael J.; Ferrari, Matthew J.

2016-01-01

Formal decision-analytic methods can be used to frame disease control problems, the first step of which is to define a clear and specific objective. We demonstrate the imperative of framing clearly-defined management objectives in finding optimal control actions for control of disease outbreaks. We illustrate an analysis that can be applied rapidly at the start of an outbreak when there are multiple stakeholders involved with potentially multiple objectives, and when there are also multiple disease models upon which to compare control actions. The output of our analysis frames subsequent discourse between policy-makers, modellers and other stakeholders, by highlighting areas of discord among different management objectives and also among different models used in the analysis. We illustrate this approach in the context of a hypothetical foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak in Cumbria, UK using outputs from five rigorously-studied simulation models of FMD spread. We present both relative rankings and relative performance of controls within each model and across a range of objectives. Results illustrate how control actions change across both the base metric used to measure management success and across the statistic used to rank control actions according to said metric. This work represents a first step towards reconciling the extensive modelling work on disease control problems with frameworks for structured decision making.

Evaluation of Losses Of Cold Energy of Cryogen Products in The Transport Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uglanov, Dmitry; Sarmin, Dmitry; Tsapkova, Alexandra; Burdina, Yana

2017-12-01

At present, there are problems of energy saving in various areas of human life and in power complexes of industrial plants. One possible solution to the problem of increasing energy efficiency is the use of liquefied natural gas and its cold energy. Pipelines for fuel or gas supply in cryogen supply systems have different length depending on the mutual position of storage and cryogen consumption devices relatively to a start construction. Cryogen supply and transport systems include a lot of fittings of different assortment. Reservoirs can be installed on different elevation points. To reduce heat inleak and decrease cold energy of cryogen product different kinds of thermal insulation are used. Cryogen pipelines provide required operation conditions of storage and gasifying systems. The aim of the thermal calculation of cryogen transport and supply systems is to define the value of cryogen heat. In this paper it is shown values of cryogen temperature rise due to heat inleaks at cryogen’s transfer along transport systems for ethane, methane, oxygen and nitrogen were calculated. Heat inleaks also due to hydraulic losses were calculated. Specific losses of cold energy of cryogen product for laminar and turbulent flow were calculated. Correspondences of temperature rise, critical pipeline’s length and Reynolds number were defined for nitrogen, argon, methane and oxygen.

Multidimensional Generalized Functions in Aeroacoustics and Fluid Mechanics. Part 1; Basic Concepts and Operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Farassat, Fereidoun; Myers, Michael K.

2011-01-01

This paper is the first part of a three part tutorial on multidimensional generalized functions (GFs) and their applications in aeroacoustics and fluid mechanics. The subject is highly fascinating and essential in many areas of science and, in particular, wave propagation problems. In this tutorial, we strive to present rigorously and clearly the basic concepts and the tools that are needed to use GFs in applications effectively and with ease. We give many examples to help the readers in understanding the mathematical ideas presented here. The first part of the tutorial is on the basic concepts of GFs. Here we define GFs, their properties and some common operations on them. We define the important concept of generalized differentiation and then give some interesting elementary and advanced examples on Green's functions and wave propagation problems. Here, the analytic power of GFs in applications is demonstrated with ease and elegance. Part 2 of this tutorial is on the diverse applications of generalized derivatives (GDs). Part 3 is on generalized Fourier transformations and some more advanced topics. One goal of writing this tutorial is to convince readers that, because of their powerful operational properties, GFs are absolutely essential and useful in engineering and physics, particularly in aeroacoustics and fluid mechanics.

Implications of Spatial Data Variations for Protected Areas Management: An Example from East Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dowhaniuk, Nicholas; Hartter, Joel; Ryan, Sadie J.

2014-09-01

Geographic information systems and remote sensing technologies have become an important tool for visualizing conservation management and developing solutions to problems associated with conservation. When multiple organizations separately develop spatial data representations of protected areas, implicit error arises due to variation between data sets. We used boundary data produced by three conservation organizations (International Union for the Conservation of Nature, World Resource Institute, and Uganda Wildlife Authority), for seven Ugandan parks, to study variation in the size represented and the location of boundaries. We found variation in the extent of overlapping total area encompassed by the three data sources, ranging from miniscule (0.4 %) differences to quite large ones (9.0 %). To underscore how protected area boundary discrepancies may have implications to protected area management, we used a landcover classification, defining crop, shrub, forest, savanna, and grassland. The total area in the different landcover classes varied most in smaller protected areas (those less than 329 km2), with forest and cropland area estimates varying up to 65 %. The discrepancies introduced by boundary errors could, in this hypothetical case, generate erroneous findings and could have a significant impact on conservation, such as local-scale management for encroachment and larger-scale assessments of deforestation.

Implications of spatial data variations for protected areas management: an example from East Africa.

PubMed

Dowhaniuk, Nicholas; Hartter, Joel; Ryan, Sadie J

2014-09-01

Geographic information systems and remote sensing technologies have become an important tool for visualizing conservation management and developing solutions to problems associated with conservation. When multiple organizations separately develop spatial data representations of protected areas, implicit error arises due to variation between data sets. We used boundary data produced by three conservation organizations (International Union for the Conservation of Nature, World Resource Institute, and Uganda Wildlife Authority), for seven Ugandan parks, to study variation in the size represented and the location of boundaries. We found variation in the extent of overlapping total area encompassed by the three data sources, ranging from miniscule (0.4 %) differences to quite large ones (9.0 %). To underscore how protected area boundary discrepancies may have implications to protected area management, we used a landcover classification, defining crop, shrub, forest, savanna, and grassland. The total area in the different landcover classes varied most in smaller protected areas (those less than 329 km(2)), with forest and cropland area estimates varying up to 65 %. The discrepancies introduced by boundary errors could, in this hypothetical case, generate erroneous findings and could have a significant impact on conservation, such as local-scale management for encroachment and larger-scale assessments of deforestation.

Research in geosciences policy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brunner, Ronald D.

1992-01-01

The general task was to look beyond the adverse physical impacts and to defining the policy problem. In order for policy actions to be effective, they must address the right policy problems, which will be different from and broader than the physical problems. We will work on defining the policy problems with a view to indicating how practical solutions might be implemented. In particular, public officials need advice on what should be said, and done, and for what purposes. That advice needs to be based on systematic analysis of: (1) the scholarly literature in the social sciences, and related disciplines; (2) the charging content of the policy debate at the center of attention; and (3) how citizens perceive and understand issues related to global change. We will conduct this analysis. Chapter 1 and 2 each reports work on defining the policy problem and analyzing the scholarly literature. Chapters 3 and 4, respectively, address the policy debate and citizen viewpoints in issues related to global change.

Action Research and Response to Intervention: Bridging the Discourse Divide

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Little, Mary E.

2012-01-01

The purpose of this article is to define and clarify the process of instructional problem-solving using assessment data within action research (AR) and Response to Intervention (RtI). Similarities between AR and RtI are defined and compared. Lastly, specific resources and examples of the instructional problem-solving process of AR within…

Future development programs. [for defining the emission problem and developing hardware to reduce pollutant levels

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jedrziewski, S.

1976-01-01

The emission problem or source points were defined and new materials, hardware, or operational procedures were developed to exercise the trends defined by the data collected. The programs to reduce the emission output of aircraft powerplants were listed. Continued establishment of baseline emissions for various engine models, continued characterization of effect of production tolerances on emissions, carbureted engine development and flight tests, and cylinder cooling/fin design programs were several of the programs investigated.

Exposure-response relationship of wind turbine noise with self-reported symptoms of sleep and health problems: A nationwide socioacoustic survey in Japan

PubMed Central

Kageyama, Takayuki; Yano, Takashi; Kuwano, Sonoko; Sueoka, Shinichi; Tachibana, Hideki

2016-01-01

The association of wind turbine noise (WTN) with sleep and physical/mental health has not been fully investigated. To investigate the relationship of WTN with the prevalence of self-reported symptoms of sleep and health problems, a socioacoustic survey of 1079 adult residents was conducted throughout Japan (2010-2012): 747 in 34 areas surrounding wind turbine plants and 332 in 16 control areas. During face-to-face interviews, the respondents were not informed of the purpose of the survey. Questions on symptoms such as sleeplessness and physical/mental complaints were asked without specifying reasons. Insomnia was defined as having one or any combination of the following that occurs three or more times a week and bothers a respondent: Difficulty initiating sleep, difficulty maintaining sleep, premature morning awakening, and feeling of light overnight sleep. Poor health was defined as having high scores for health complaints, as determined using the Total Health Index, exceeding the criteria proposed by the authors of the index. The noise descriptor for WTN was LAeq,n outdoor, estimated from the results of actual measurement at some locations in each site. Multiple logistic analysis was applied to the LAeq,n and insomnia or poor health. The odds ratio (OR) of insomnia was significantly higher when the noise exposure level exceeded 40 dB, whereas the self-reported sensitivity to noise and visual annoyance with wind turbines were also independently associated with insomnia. OR of poor health was not significant for noise exposure, but significant for noise sensitivity and visual annoyance. The above two moderators appear to indicate the features of respondents who are sensitive to stimuli or changes in their homeostasis. PMID:26960782

Exposure-response relationship of wind turbine noise with self-reported symptoms of sleep and health problems: A nationwide socioacoustic survey in Japan.

PubMed

Kageyama, Takayuki; Yano, Takashi; Kuwano, Sonoko; Sueoka, Shinichi; Tachibana, Hideki

2016-01-01

The association of wind turbine noise (WTN) with sleep and physical/mental health has not been fully investigated. To investigate the relationship of WTN with the prevalence of self-reported symptoms of sleep and health problems, a socioacoustic survey of 1079 adult residents was conducted throughout Japan (2010-2012): 747 in 34 areas surrounding wind turbine plants and 332 in 16 control areas. During face-to-face interviews, the respondents were not informed of the purpose of the survey. Questions on symptoms such as sleeplessness and physical/mental complaints were asked without specifying reasons. Insomnia was defined as having one or any combination of the following that occurs three or more times a week and bothers a respondent: Difficulty initiating sleep, difficulty maintaining sleep, premature morning awakening, and feeling of light overnight sleep. Poor health was defined as having high scores for health complaints, as determined using the Total Health Index, exceeding the criteria proposed by the authors of the index. The noise descriptor for WTN was LAeq,n outdoor, estimated from the results of actual measurement at some locations in each site. Multiple logistic analysis was applied to the LAeq,n and insomnia or poor health. The odds ratio (OR) of insomnia was significantly higher when the noise exposure level exceeded 40 dB, whereas the self-reported sensitivity to noise and visual annoyance with wind turbines were also independently associated with insomnia. OR of poor health was not significant for noise exposure, but significant for noise sensitivity and visual annoyance. The above two moderators appear to indicate the features of respondents who are sensitive to stimuli or changes in their homeostasis.

Determination of the Basin Structure Beneath European Side of Istanbul

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karabulut, Savas; Cengiz Cinku, Mulla; Thomas, Michael; Lamontagne, Maurice

2016-04-01

Istanbul (near North Anatolian Fault Zone:NAFZ, Turkey) is located in northern part of Sea of Marmara, an area that has been influenced by possible Marmara Earthquakes. The general geology of Istanbul divided into two stratigraphic unit such as sedimentary (from Oligocene to Quaternary Deposits) and bedrock (Paleozoic and Eocene). The bedrock units consists of sand stone, clay stone to Paleozoic age and limestone to Eocene age and sedimentary unit consist of sand, clay, mil and gravel from Oligocene to Quaternary age. Earthquake disaster mitigation studies divided into two important phases, too. Firstly, earthquake, soil and engineering structure problems identify for investigation area, later on strategic emergency plan can prepare for these problems. Soil amplification play important role the disaster mitigation and the site effect analysis and basin structure is also a key parameter for determining of site effect. Some geophysical, geological and geotechnical measurements are requeired to defined this relationship. Istanbul Megacity has been waiting possible Marmara Earthquake and their related results. In order to defined to possible damage potential related to site effect, gravity measurements carried out for determining to geological structure, basin geometry and faults in Istanbul. Gravity data were collected at 640 sites by using a Scientrex CG-5 Autogravity meter Standard corrections applied to the gravity data include those for instrumental drift, Earth tides and latitude, and the free-air and Bouguer corrections. The corrected gravity data were imported into a Geosoft database to create a grid and map of the Bouguer gravity anomaly (grid cell size of 200 m). As a previously results, we determined some lineminants, faults and basins beneath Istanbul City. Especially, orientation of faults were NW-SE direction and some basin structures determined on between Buyukcekmece and Kucukcekmece Lake.

Study of the Cherokee Nuclear Station: projected impacts, monitoring plan, and mitigation options for Cherokee County, South Carolina

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

Peelle, E.; Schweitzer, M.; Scharre, P.

1979-07-01

This report inventories Cherokee County's capabilities and CNS project characteristics, projects expected impacts from the interaction of the two defines four options for Cherokee County decision makers, and presents a range of possible mitigation and monitoring plans for dealing with the problems identified. The four options and general implementation guidelines for each are presented after reviewing pertinent features of other mitigation and monitoring plans. The four options include (1) no action, (2) preventing impacts by preventing growth, (3) selective growth in designated areas as services can be supplied, and (4) maximum growth designed to attract as many in-movers as possiblemore » through a major program of capital investiments in public and private services. With the exception of the no action option, all plans deal with impacts according to some strategy determined by how the County wishes to manage growth. Solutions for impact problems depend on which growth strategy is selected and what additional resources are secured during the impact period. A monitoring program deals with the problems of data and projections uncertainty, while direct action is proposed to deal with the institutional problems of delay of the needed access road, timeing and location problems from the tax base mismatch, and lack of local planning capability.« less

Influence of geomagnetic activity and earth weather changes on heart rate and blood pressure in young and healthy population

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ozheredov, V. A.; Chibisov, S. M.; Blagonravov, M. L.; Khodorovich, N. A.; Demurov, E. A.; Goryachev, V. A.; Kharlitskaya, E. V.; Eremina, I. S.; Meladze, Z. A.

2017-05-01

There are many references in the literature related to connection between the space weather and the state of human organism. The search of external factors influence on humans is a multi-factor problem and it is well known that humans have a meteo-sensitivity. A direct problem of finding the earth weather conditions, under which the space weather manifests itself most strongly, is discussed in the present work for the first time in the helio-biology. From a formal point of view, this problem requires identification of subset (magnetobiotropic region) in three-dimensional earth's weather parameters such as pressure, temperature, and humidity, corresponding to the days when the human body is the most sensitive to changes in the geomagnetic field variations and when it reacts by statistically significant increase (or decrease) of a particular physiological parameter. This formulation defines the optimization of the problem, and the solution of the latter is not possible without the involvement of powerful metaheuristic methods of searching. Using the algorithm of differential evolution, we prove the existence of magnetobiotropic regions in the earth's weather parameters, which exhibit magneto-sensitivity of systolic, diastolic blood pressure, and heart rate of healthy young subjects for three weather areas (combinations of atmospheric temperature, pressure, and humidity). The maximum value of the correlation confidence for the measurements attributable to the days of the weather conditions that fall into each of three magnetobiotropic areas is an order of 0.006, that is almost 10 times less than the confidence, equal to 0.05, accepted in many helio-biological researches.

Influence of geomagnetic activity and earth weather changes on heart rate and blood pressure in young and healthy population.

PubMed

Ozheredov, V A; Chibisov, S M; Blagonravov, M L; Khodorovich, N A; Demurov, E A; Goryachev, V A; Kharlitskaya, E V; Eremina, I S; Meladze, Z A

2017-05-01

There are many references in the literature related to connection between the space weather and the state of human organism. The search of external factors influence on humans is a multi-factor problem and it is well known that humans have a meteo-sensitivity. A direct problem of finding the earth weather conditions, under which the space weather manifests itself most strongly, is discussed in the present work for the first time in the helio-biology. From a formal point of view, this problem requires identification of subset (magnetobiotropic region) in three-dimensional earth's weather parameters such as pressure, temperature, and humidity, corresponding to the days when the human body is the most sensitive to changes in the geomagnetic field variations and when it reacts by statistically significant increase (or decrease) of a particular physiological parameter. This formulation defines the optimization of the problem, and the solution of the latter is not possible without the involvement of powerful metaheuristic methods of searching. Using the algorithm of differential evolution, we prove the existence of magnetobiotropic regions in the earth's weather parameters, which exhibit magneto-sensitivity of systolic, diastolic blood pressure, and heart rate of healthy young subjects for three weather areas (combinations of atmospheric temperature, pressure, and humidity). The maximum value of the correlation confidence for the measurements attributable to the days of the weather conditions that fall into each of three magnetobiotropic areas is an order of 0.006, that is almost 10 times less than the confidence, equal to 0.05, accepted in many helio-biological researches.

The Population Burden of Cancer: Research Driven by the Catchment Area of a Cancer Center.

PubMed

Tai, Caroline G; Hiatt, Robert A

2017-01-01

Cancer centers, particularly those supported by the National Cancer Institute, are charged with reducing the cancer burden in their catchment area. However, methods to define both the catchment area and the cancer burden are diverse and range in complexity often based on data availability, staff resources, or confusion about what is required. This article presents a review of the current literature identifying 4 studies that have defined various aspects of the cancer burden in a defined geographical area and highlights examples of how some cancer centers and other health institutions have defined their catchment area and characterized the cancer burden within it. We then present a detailed case study of an approach applied by the University of California, San Francisco, Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center to define its catchment area and its population cancer burden. We cite examples of how the Cancer Center research portfolio addresses the defined cancer burden. Our case study outlines a systematic approach to using publicly available data, such as cancer registry data, that are accessible by all cancer centers. By identifying gaps and formulating future research directions based on the needs of the population within the catchment area, epidemiologic studies and other types of cancer research can be directed to the population served. This review can help guide cancer centers in developing an approach to defining their own catchment area as mandated and applying research findings to this defined population. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Edge grouping combining boundary and region information.

PubMed

Stahl, Joachim S; Wang, Song

2007-10-01

This paper introduces a new edge-grouping method to detect perceptually salient structures in noisy images. Specifically, we define a new grouping cost function in a ratio form, where the numerator measures the boundary proximity of the resulting structure and the denominator measures the area of the resulting structure. This area term introduces a preference towards detecting larger-size structures and, therefore, makes the resulting edge grouping more robust to image noise. To find the optimal edge grouping with the minimum grouping cost, we develop a special graph model with two different kinds of edges and then reduce the grouping problem to finding a special kind of cycle in this graph with a minimum cost in ratio form. This optimal cycle-finding problem can be solved in polynomial time by a previously developed graph algorithm. We implement this edge-grouping method, test it on both synthetic data and real images, and compare its performance against several available edge-grouping and edge-linking methods. Furthermore, we discuss several extensions of the proposed method, including the incorporation of the well-known grouping cues of continuity and intensity homogeneity, introducing a factor to balance the contributions from the boundary and region information, and the prevention of detecting self-intersecting boundaries.

ModeLang: a new approach for experts-friendly viral infections modeling.

PubMed

Wasik, Szymon; Prejzendanc, Tomasz; Blazewicz, Jacek

2013-01-01

Computational modeling is an important element of systems biology. One of its important applications is modeling complex, dynamical, and biological systems, including viral infections. This type of modeling usually requires close cooperation between biologists and mathematicians. However, such cooperation often faces communication problems because biologists do not have sufficient knowledge to understand mathematical description of the models, and mathematicians do not have sufficient knowledge to define and verify these models. In many areas of systems biology, this problem has already been solved; however, in some of these areas there are still certain problematic aspects. The goal of the presented research was to facilitate this cooperation by designing seminatural formal language for describing viral infection models that will be easy to understand for biologists and easy to use by mathematicians and computer scientists. The ModeLang language was designed in cooperation with biologists and its computer implementation was prepared. Tests proved that it can be successfully used to describe commonly used viral infection models and then to simulate and verify them. As a result, it can make cooperation between biologists and mathematicians modeling viral infections much easier, speeding up computational verification of formulated hypotheses.

ModeLang: A New Approach for Experts-Friendly Viral Infections Modeling

PubMed Central

Blazewicz, Jacek

2013-01-01

Computational modeling is an important element of systems biology. One of its important applications is modeling complex, dynamical, and biological systems, including viral infections. This type of modeling usually requires close cooperation between biologists and mathematicians. However, such cooperation often faces communication problems because biologists do not have sufficient knowledge to understand mathematical description of the models, and mathematicians do not have sufficient knowledge to define and verify these models. In many areas of systems biology, this problem has already been solved; however, in some of these areas there are still certain problematic aspects. The goal of the presented research was to facilitate this cooperation by designing seminatural formal language for describing viral infection models that will be easy to understand for biologists and easy to use by mathematicians and computer scientists. The ModeLang language was designed in cooperation with biologists and its computer implementation was prepared. Tests proved that it can be successfully used to describe commonly used viral infection models and then to simulate and verify them. As a result, it can make cooperation between biologists and mathematicians modeling viral infections much easier, speeding up computational verification of formulated hypotheses. PMID:24454531

[Unusual location of giant seborrhoeic keratoses].

PubMed

Naciri, Ilhame; Ismaili, Nadia

2017-01-01

Seborrhoeic keratoses (SK) are benign tumors that mainly occur in the head and in the trunk. Their size generally varies from a few millimeters up to a few centimeters. Giant lesions are very rare but pose a problem in terms both of treatment and transformation. Their occurrence in the genital area is even more rare, posing a problem in differential diagnosis of genital warts. Differentiation is only based on histopathology. We report the case of a 80-year old man, with no particular past medical history, who presented with asymptomatic abdominal and genital lesions evolving over the last twenty years. Clinical examination showed four hyperpigmented, humped, well-defined tumors, with warty surface measuring 2-10 cm along its longer axis (A). Dermoscopic examination showed cerebriform convolutions appearance suggesting seborrhoeic keratoses (B). Histology confirmed the diagnosis, without signs of viral infection or malignant transformation. The patient underwent surgical resection resulting in permanent scar.

How to distinguish medicalization from over-medicalization?

PubMed

Kaczmarek, Emilia

2018-06-27

Is medicalization always harmful? When does medicine overstep its proper boundaries? The aim of this article is to outline the pragmatic criteria for distinguishing between medicalization and over-medicalization. The consequences of considering a phenomenon to be a medical problem may take radically different forms depending on whether the problem in question is correctly or incorrectly perceived as a medical issue. Neither indiscriminate acceptance of medicalization of subsequent areas of human existence, nor criticizing new medicalization cases just because they are medicalization can be justified. The article: (i) identifies various consequences of both well-founded medicalization and over-medicalization; (ii) demonstrates that the issue of defining appropriate limits of medicine cannot be solved by creating an optimum model of health; (iii) proposes four guiding questions to help distinguish medicalization from over-medicalization. The article should foster a normative analysis of the phenomenon of medicalization and contribute to the bioethical reflection on the boundaries of medicine.

Several problems in regard to national land management

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

Dong Wenlang

1983-09-21

This article examines several problems with regard to land management in China. National land management is defined as development of the territorial land (including the earth's surface and underground), territorial waters and territorial air space under the jurisdiction of a sovereign country. The Chinese State Council established the Bureau of National Land Management in 1981. Areas of concern include natural resources, or land resources (including continental land, rivers and lakes, territorial waters and what is beneath the waters and the airspace above the waters, also the continental shelves), mineral resources and biological resources; social resources, which include human resources, intellectualmore » resources, social and cultural traditions, and the material and technical foundations of a society. Untapped resources of land, waters, forests, grasslands and minerals are to be developed through reclamation, mining, and engineering projects. Geography and national land economics are the theoretical and applied sciences directly related to national land management.« less

Geothermal drilling in Cerro Prieto

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

Dominguez A., Bernardo

The number of characteristics of the different wells that have been drilled in the Cerro Prieto geothermal field to date enable one to summarize the basic factors in the applied technology, draw some conclusions, improve systems and procedures, and define some problems that have not yet been satisfactorily solved, although the existing solution is the best now available. For all practical purposes, the 100 wells drilled in the three areas or blocks into which the Cerro Prieto field has been divided have been completed. Both exploratory and production wells have been drilled; problems of partial or total lack of controlmore » have made it necessary to abandon some of these wells, since they were unsafe to keep in production or even to be used for observation and/or study. The wells and their type, the type of constructed wells and the accumulative meters that have been drilled for such wells are summarized.« less

An Ontology-Based Conceptual Model For Accumulating And Reusing Knowledge In A DMAIC Process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nguyen, ThanhDat; Kifor, Claudiu Vasile

2015-09-01

DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control) is an important process used to enhance quality of processes basing on knowledge. However, it is difficult to access DMAIC knowledge. Conventional approaches meet a problem arising from structuring and reusing DMAIC knowledge. The main reason is that DMAIC knowledge is not represented and organized systematically. In this article, we overcome the problem basing on a conceptual model that is a combination of DMAIC process, knowledge management, and Ontology engineering. The main idea of our model is to utilizing Ontologies to represent knowledge generated by each of DMAIC phases. We build five different knowledge bases for storing all knowledge of DMAIC phases with the support of necessary tools and appropriate techniques in Information Technology area. Consequently, these knowledge bases provide knowledge available to experts, managers, and web users during or after DMAIC execution in order to share and reuse existing knowledge.

Pride, empowerment, and return to work: on the significance of promoting positive social emotions among sickness absentees.

PubMed

Svensson, Tommy; Müssener, Ulrika; Alexanderson, Kristina

2006-01-01

Sickness absence is a great public health problem and there is a lack of knowledge concerning the hows and whys of success or failure in promoting return to work of sick-listed persons. Discussions of and research into social and psychological aspects of this problem area are in need of theoretical contextualisation. In this paper it is suggested that theories of social emotions may be useful, and that the concept of empowerment can be applied provided that it is reasonably well defined. The notions of pride/shame and empowerment are elucidated and discussed, and it is shown that they can be related in the context of research into emotional dimensions of sickness absentees' experiences of the rehabilitation process in a way that may help to guide empirical studies. A simple model of hypothetical relations between pride/shame, empowerment/disempowerment, work ability, health, and return to work is sketched.

An Interpersonal Analysis of Pathological Personality Traits in DSM-5

PubMed Central

Wright, Aidan G.C.; Pincus, Aaron L.; Hopwood, Christopher J.; Thomas, Katherine M.; Markon, Kristian E.; Krueger, Robert F.

2012-01-01

The proposed changes to the personality disorder section of the DSM-5 places an increased focus on interpersonal impairment as one of the defining features of personality psychopathology. In addition, a proposed trait model has been offered to provide a means of capturing phenotypic variation on the expression of personality disorder. In this study, we subject the proposed DSM-5 traits to interpersonal analysis using the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems – Circumplex scales via the structural summary method for circumplex data. DSM-5 traits were consistently associated with generalized interpersonal dysfunction suggesting that they are maladaptive in nature, the majority of traits demonstrated discriminant validity with prototypical and differentiated interpersonal problem profiles, and conformed well to a priori hypothesized associations. These results are discussed in the context of the DSM-5 proposal and contemporary interpersonal theory, with a particular focus on potential areas for expansion of the DSM-5 trait model. PMID:22589411

[Catastrophe hygiene, its contents and place in the federal surveillance service system in the protection of consumers' rights and human well-being].

PubMed

Shaposhnikov, A A; Lukicheva, T A

2005-01-01

In the past two decades, there has been an increase in the number of earthquakes, tidal waves, accidents at chemically dangerous enterprises, and other types of catastrophes, which have posed an emergency survival problem for society. The scientific development of this problem has given rise to a new area of preventive medicine--catastrophe hygiene that is designed to eliminate (reduce) the poor influence of emergency factors and to offer the suffered population safe conditions of accommodation and/or life, water supply, nutrition, and other elements of survival under these conditions. The paper defines the subject and objects of studies in catastrophe hygiene. It characterizes the value and role of this science in the organization and implementation of preventive measures to liquidate the medicosanitary consequences of emergencies, as well as the place of hygienic facilities and research institutes within the framework of the Russian emergency service.

Sixteen years of ICPC use in Norwegian primary care: looking through the facts

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background The International Classification for Primary Care (ICPC) standard aims to facilitate simultaneous and longitudinal comparisons of clinical primary care practice within and across country borders; it is also used for administrative purposes. This study evaluates the use of the original ICPC-1 and the more complete ICPC-2 Norwegian versions in electronic patient records. Methods We performed a retrospective study of approximately 1.5 million ICPC codes and diagnoses that were collected over a 16-year period at 12 primary care sites in Norway. In the first phase of this period (transition phase, 1992-1999) physicians were allowed to not use an ICPC code in their practice while in the second phase (regular phase, 2000-2008) the use of an ICPC code was mandatory. The ICPC codes and diagnoses defined a problem event for each patient in the PROblem-oriented electronic MEDical record (PROMED). The main outcome measure of our analysis was the percentage of problem events in PROMEDs with inappropriate (or missing) ICPC codes and of diagnoses that did not map the latest ICPC-2 classification. Specific problem areas (pneumonia, anaemia, tonsillitis and diabetes) were examined in the same context. Results Codes were missing in 6.2% of the problem events; incorrect codes were observed in 4.0% of the problem events and text mismatch between the diagnoses and the expected ICPC-2 diagnoses text in 53.8% of the problem events. Missing codes were observed only during the transition phase while incorrect and inappropriate codes were used all over the 16-year period. The physicians created diagnoses that did not exist in ICPC. These 'new' diagnoses were used with varying frequency; many of them were used only once. Inappropriate ICPC-2 codes were also observed in the selected problem areas and for both phases. Conclusions Our results strongly suggest that physicians did not adhere to the ICPC standard due to its incompleteness, i.e. lack of many clinically important diagnoses. This indicates that ICPC is inappropriate for the classification of problem events and the clinical practice in primary care. PMID:20181271

Computer-aided diagnostic approach of dermoscopy images acquiring relevant features

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Castillejos-Fernández, H.; Franco-Arcega, A.; López-Ortega, O.

2016-09-01

In skin cancer detection, automated analysis of borders, colors, and structures of a lesion relies upon an accurate segmentation process and it is an important first step in any Computer-Aided Diagnosis (CAD) system. However, irregular and disperse lesion borders, low contrast, artifacts in images and variety of colors within the interest region make the problem difficult. In this paper, we propose an efficient approach of automatic classification which considers specific lesion features. First, for the selection of lesion skin we employ the segmentation algorithm W-FCM.1 Then, in the feature extraction stage we consider several aspects: the area of the lesion, which is calculated by correlating axes and we calculate the specific the value of asymmetry in both axes. For color analysis we employ an ensemble of clusterers including K-Means, Fuzzy K-Means and Kohonep maps, all of which estimate the presence of one or more colors defined in ABCD rule and the values for each of the segmented colors. Another aspect to consider is the type of structures that appear in the lesion Those are defined by using the ell-known GLCM method. During the classification stage we compare several methods in order to define if the lesion is benign or malignant. An important contribution of the current approach in segmentation-classification problem resides in the use of information from all color channels together, as well as the measure of each color in the lesion and the axes correlation. The segmentation and classification measures have been performed using sensibility, specificity, accuracy and AUC metric over a set of dermoscopy images from ISDIS data set

Analysing the role of the PICU nurse to guide education of new graduate nurses.

PubMed

Long, Debbie A; Young, Jeanine; Rickard, Claire M; Mitchell, Marion L

2013-04-01

One strategy to address the current nursing shortage in specialty areas has been to introduce graduate nurse programs. However introducing novice nurses to specialty areas raises concerns around education and competency which, in turn, highlights the need to identify and prioritise the elements of competent paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) nursing care considered essential to safe practice. To determine the key knowledge, skills and attributes of competent level PICU nurses. A practice analysis survey of 15 nurse educators was conducted in all eight Australian and New Zealand PICUs during 2008. Three areas of practice essential to PICU nursing competence were explored: patients most commonly cared for; frequency and criticality of activities performed; and level of independence against critical care nursing competency standards. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Cardiac and respiratory problems accounted for over 50% of patients cared for by competent level nurses. Cardiac and respiratory activities were therefore also ranked as the most important activities. Respondents identified that competency domains of teamwork and professional practice are performed with minimal supervision, whereas clinical problem solving requires supervision and assistance. PICU nurses are performing activities and caring for a breadth of complex patients within a year of entering the workforce. Using a practice analysis to define actual practice and expectations can assist in the identification and prioritisation of content for graduate and other educational programs. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A review of research in rotor loads

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bousman, William G.; Mantay, Wayne R.

1988-01-01

The research accomplished in the area of rotor loads over the last 13 to 14 years is reviewed. The start of the period examined is defined by the 1973 AGARD Milan conference and the 1974 hypothetical rotor comparison. The major emphasis of the review is research performed by the U.S. Army and NASA at their laboratories and/or by the industry under government contract. For the purpose of this review, two main topics are addressed: rotor loads prediction and means of rotor loads reduction. A limited discussion of research in gust loads and maneuver loads is included. In the area of rotor loads predictions, the major problem areas are reviewed including dynamic stall, wake induced flows, blade tip effects, fuselage induced effects, blade structural modeling, hub impedance, and solution methods. It is concluded that the capability to predict rotor loads has not significantly improved in this time frame. Future progress will require more extensive correlation of measurements and predictions to better understand the causes of the problems, and a recognition that differences between theory and measurement have multiple sources, yet must be treated as a whole. There is a need for high-quality data to support future research in rotor loads, but the resulting data base must not be seen as an end in itself. It will be useful only if it is integrated into firm long-range plans for the use of the data.

Heuristics and Problem Solving.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abel, Charles F.

2003-01-01

Defines heuristics as cognitive "rules of thumb" that can help problem solvers work more efficiently and effectively. Professors can use a heuristic model of problem solving to guide students in all disciplines through the steps of problem-solving. (SWM)

Plan of study for the Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Regional Aquifer System Analysis

USGS Publications Warehouse

Meisler, Harold

1980-01-01

Sediments of Cretaceous to Holocene age compose the Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain aquifer system in an area of 50,000 square miles in parts of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. The aquifer system is a major source of water supply in the area. About 1.4 billion gallons is withdrawn from its aquifers each day. Increasing withdrawal of ground water has created or intensified several problems such as declining water levels, development of large cones of depression, saltwater intrusion, spreading of ground-water contamination, and land subsidence. The U.S. Geological Survey has begun a comprehensive study that will define the geology, hydrology, and geochemistry of the aquifer system. The effects of future utilization of the aquifer system will be determined and alternative plans for water withdrawal will be evaluated through computer simulation modeling. This report describes the objectives, organization, and work plans of the study, and describes the work to be accomplished in each U.S. Geological Survey District of the study area.

Backpropagation and ordered derivatives in the time scales calculus.

PubMed

Seiffertt, John; Wunsch, Donald C

2010-08-01

Backpropagation is the most widely used neural network learning technique. It is based on the mathematical notion of an ordered derivative. In this paper, we present a formulation of ordered derivatives and the backpropagation training algorithm using the important emerging area of mathematics known as the time scales calculus. This calculus, with its potential for application to a wide variety of inter-disciplinary problems, is becoming a key area of mathematics. It is capable of unifying continuous and discrete analysis within one coherent theoretical framework. Using this calculus, we present here a generalization of backpropagation which is appropriate for cases beyond the specifically continuous or discrete. We develop a new multivariate chain rule of this calculus, define ordered derivatives on time scales, prove a key theorem about them, and derive the backpropagation weight update equations for a feedforward multilayer neural network architecture. By drawing together the time scales calculus and the area of neural network learning, we present the first connection of two major fields of research.

Logical definability and asymptotic growth in optimization and counting problems

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

Compton, K.

1994-12-31

There has recently been a great deal of interest in the relationship between logical definability and NP-optimization problems. Let MS{sub n} (resp. MP{sub n}) be the class of problems to compute, for given a finite structure A, the maximum number of tuples {bar x} in A satisfying a {Sigma}{sub n} (resp. II{sub n}) formula {psi}({bar x}, {bar S}) as {bar S} ranges over predicates on A. Kolaitis and Thakur showed that the classes MS{sub n} and MP{sub n} collapse to a hierarchy of four levels. Papadimitriou and Yannakakis previously showed that problems in the two lowest levels MS{sub 0} andmore » MS{sub 1} (which they called Max Snp and Max Np) are approximable to within a contrast factor in polynomial time. Similarly, Saluja, Subrahmanyam, and Thakur defined SS{sub n} (resp. SP{sub n}) to be the class of problems to compute, for given a finite structure A, the number of tuples ({bar T}, {bar S}) satisfying a given {Sigma}{sub n} (resp. II{sub n}) formula {psi}({bar T}, {bar c}) in A. They showed that the classes SS{sub n} and SP{sub n} collapse to a hierarchy of five levels and that problems in the two lowest levels SS{sub 0} and SS{sub 1} have a fully polynomial time randomized approximation scheme. We define extended classes MSF{sub n}, MPF{sub n} SSF{sub n}, and SPF{sub n} by allowing formulae to contain predicates definable in a logic known as least fixpoint logic. The resulting hierarchies classes collapse to the same number of levels and problems in the bottom levels can be approximated as before, but now some problems descend from the highest levels in the original hierarchies to the lowest levels in the new hierarchies. We introduce a method characterizing rates of growth of average solution sizes thereby showing a number of important problems do not belong MSF{sub 1} and SSF{sub 1}. This method is related to limit laws for logics and the probabilistic method from combinatorics.« less

Prevalence and severity of feeding and nutritional problems in children with neurological impairment: Oxford Feeding Study.

PubMed

Sullivan, P B; Lambert, B; Rose, M; Ford-Adams, M; Johnson, A; Griffiths, P

2000-10-01

The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence and severity of feeding and nutritional problems in children with neurological impairment within a defined geographical area. In a cross-sectional study, a validated questionnaire was sent to 377 parents of children (aged 4 to 13 years) on the Oxford Register of Early Childhood Impairments with oromotor dysfunction. The return rate was 72%. Of these, 93% had cerebral palsy; 47% were unable to walk; 78% had speech difficulty; and 28% continuous drooling of saliva. Gastrointestinal problems were commonly encountered: 59% were constipated; 22% had significant problems with vomiting, and 31% had suffered at least one chest infection in the previous 6 months. Feeding problems were prevalent: 89% needed help with feeding and 56% choked with food; 20% of parents described feeding as stressful and unenjoyable. Prolonged feeding times (3h/day) were reported by 28%. Only 8% of participants received caloric supplements and 8% were fed via gastrostomy tube. Even though 38% of respondents considered their child to be underweight, 64% of children had never had their feeding and nutrition assessed. The results highlight that feeding problems in children with neurological impairment are common and severe, causing parental concern. Many of these children would benefit from nutritional assessment and management as part of their overall care.

Awareness and using of medical students about mobile health technology in clinical areas.

PubMed

Ehteshami, Asghar; Hachesu, Peyman Rezaei; Esfahani, Mahtab Kasayi; Rezazadeh, Esmaeil

2013-01-01

NONE DECLARED. Necessity of data transmission and getting contact with specialists is so evident in impassable regions. In order to solve such problems, there are different solutions one of which is mobile health technology. Being small and user-friendly, easy to enter data and having low expense are some of its advantages. This study aims to define the association between awareness of medical students in clinical stage about mobile health technology application and the rate of their using this technology in educational hospital of Isfahan in 2011. The study is a cross-sectional analytical application research. Sixty medical students were selected as samples from a society of 240 medical students. A researcher-made questionnaire was used. The questionnaire included 21 multiple choice and 15 yes no questions, which were corrected to reach a score. A researcher-made checklist with 5-fold Likert scale was used to define the rate of applying such technology. The reliability of questionnaire was confirmed through a test-retest. The collected data were analyzed with the help of SPSS software in descriptive and deductive statistics level. The highest percentage of awareness about mobile health technology among medical students in the clinical stage of Azzahra educational hospital is 45.6 in nature areas, and their lowest percentage of awareness is 17.8 in the infrastructure area. In addition, their mean awareness of all areas is 54.4. The highest percentage of using mobile health technology by medical students is 14.6 in the education area, and their lowest percentage of usage is 6.8 in the treatment area. Their mean usage of all areas is 9.4 as well. The rate of awareness and application of mobile health technology is not favorable. Except for treatment, there is no significant association between the rate of awareness and application of mobile health technology.

Remote sensing and GIS analyses for emergency manouvering and forced landing areas definition as a support for general aviation flights

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Skocki, Krzysztof

2016-08-01

This paper summarizes the preliminary analyses of using existing remote sensing data, medium and high-resolution satellite and airborne data to define safe emergency landing and maneuvering areas to be used by small aircrafts operating from small airports and airfields in Poland. The pilots need to know such places in the interest of safe flight operations. In common practice, flying instructors typically show the student pilot fields around the airfield supposed to be suitable for emergency or precautionary landing (or ditching) in the initial phase of the training. Although it looks to cover the most basic needs, the problem still exists in relation to guest pilots. To fill this gap, the unified safety map document covering the safe emergency areas around the airfields is proposed in this research. Use of satellite high resolution data, as well as aerial photos, infrastructure information, with use of GIS tools (like buffer zones, distance, equal-time circles or position lines) enable to check the terrain around selected airfields and define possible areas suitable for emergency operations. In the second phase of work, selected areas will be described in terms of easy navigation, possible infrastructure around them, rescue possibilities, radio signal coverage, and others. The selected areas should be also checked for typical cover and surface hardness and stability (eg. with use of moisture estimation on the base of middle-resolution satellite data). Its planned to prepare one combined and separate sheets of the final map for various aircraft characteristics (`classes' of small Cessna-related, big Cessna-related, fast low-wing Diamond-like, two-engine Piper-like). The presented concept should highly increase the safety operations for small aviation in secondary airports and airfields, where the information available is limited. There is also a possibility to make a similar maps for `cruise', which means the areas with dense traffic between the airports/airfields.

Awareness and Using of Medical Students About Mobile Health Technology in Clinical Areas

PubMed Central

Ehteshami, Asghar; Hachesu, Peyman Rezaei; Esfahani, Mahtab Kasayi

2013-01-01

CONFLICT OF INTEREST: NONE DECLARED Introduction Necessity of data transmission and getting contact with specialists is so evident in impassable regions. In order to solve such problems, there are different solutions one of which is mobile health technology. Being small and user-friendly, easy to enter data and having low expense are some of its advantages. This study aims to define the association between awareness of medical students in clinical stage about mobile health technology application and the rate of their using this technology in educational hospital of Isfahan in 2011. Method The study is a cross-sectional analytical application research. Sixty medical students were selected as samples from a society of 240 medical students. A researcher-made questionnaire was used. The questionnaire included 21 multiple choice and 15 yes no questions, which were corrected to reach a score. A researcher-made checklist with 5-fold Likert scale was used to define the rate of applying such technology. The reliability of questionnaire was confirmed through a test–retest. The collected data were analyzed with the help of SPSS software in descriptive and deductive statistics level. Findings The highest percentage of awareness about mobile health technology among medical students in the clinical stage of Azzahra educational hospital is 45.6 in nature areas, and their lowest percentage of awareness is 17.8 in the infrastructure area. In addition, their mean awareness of all areas is 54.4. The highest percentage of using mobile health technology by medical students is 14.6 in the education area, and their lowest percentage of usage is 6.8 in the treatment area. Their mean usage of all areas is 9.4 as well. Conclusion The rate of awareness and application of mobile health technology is not favorable. Except for treatment, there is no significant association between the rate of awareness and application of mobile health technology. PMID:24058250

Ecological security pattern construction based on ecological protection redlines in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zou, Changxin

2017-04-01

China is facing huge environmental problems with its current rapid rate of urbanization and industrialization, thus causing biodiversity loss, ecosystem service degradation on a major scale. Against this background, three previous examples (the nature reserve policy, the afforestation policy, and the zoning policy) are implemented in China. These all play important roles in protecting natural ecosystems, although they can sometimes cause new problems and lack rigorous targets for environmental outcomes. To overcome current management conflicts, China has proposed a new "ecological protection redlines" policy (EPR). EPR can be defined as the ecological baseline area needed to provide ecosystem services to guarantee and maintain ecological safety. This study analyzed the scope, objectives and technical methods of delineating EPR in China, and put forward the proposed scheme for the ecological security pattern based on EPR. We constructed three kinds of redlines in China, including key ecological function area redlines, ecological sensitive or fragile areas redlines, and forbidden development areas redlines. For the key ecological function area redlines, a total of 38 water conservation functional zones have been designated, covering a total area of 3.23 million km2; 14 soil conservation zones have been designated, covering a total area of 881700 km2; wind-prevention and sand-fixation zones across the country cover a total area of about 1.73 million km2, accounting for 57.13% of the total land area of the whole country. With respect to the ecologically vulnerable redlines, 18 ecologically vulnerable zones has been designated across the country, covering 2.19 million km2, accounting for 22.86% of the total land area of the whole country. Forbidden development areas redlines covered a total area of 3.29 million km2, accounting for 34.3% of the total land area of the whole country. We also suggest to form a complete ecological security pattern including patterns of protecting ecological function, residential environment safety, and biodiversity maintenance. Further emphasis should be put in supporting management and control measures in order to promote ecological protection in China.

Developing social standards for wilderness encounters in Mount Rainier National Park: Manager-defined versus visitor-defined standards

Treesearch

Kristopher J. Lah

2000-01-01

This research compared the differences found between manager-defined and visitor-defined social standards for wilderness encounters in Mount Rainier National Park. Social standards in recreation areas of public land are defined by what is acceptable to the public, in addition to the area’s management. Social standards for the encounter indicator in Mount Rainier’s...

Split diversity in constrained conservation prioritization using integer linear programming.

PubMed

Chernomor, Olga; Minh, Bui Quang; Forest, Félix; Klaere, Steffen; Ingram, Travis; Henzinger, Monika; von Haeseler, Arndt

2015-01-01

Phylogenetic diversity (PD) is a measure of biodiversity based on the evolutionary history of species. Here, we discuss several optimization problems related to the use of PD, and the more general measure split diversity (SD), in conservation prioritization.Depending on the conservation goal and the information available about species, one can construct optimization routines that incorporate various conservation constraints. We demonstrate how this information can be used to select sets of species for conservation action. Specifically, we discuss the use of species' geographic distributions, the choice of candidates under economic pressure, and the use of predator-prey interactions between the species in a community to define viability constraints.Despite such optimization problems falling into the area of NP hard problems, it is possible to solve them in a reasonable amount of time using integer programming. We apply integer linear programming to a variety of models for conservation prioritization that incorporate the SD measure.We exemplarily show the results for two data sets: the Cape region of South Africa and a Caribbean coral reef community. Finally, we provide user-friendly software at http://www.cibiv.at/software/pda.

A spatial decision support system (SDSS) for sustainable tourism planning in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aminu, M.; Matori, A. N.; Yusof, K. W.

2014-02-01

The study describes a methodological approach based on an integrated use of Geographic Information System (GIS) and Analytic Network Process (ANP) of Multi Criteria Evaluation (MCE) to determine nature conservation and tourism development priorities among the highland areas. A set of criteria and indicators were defined to evaluate the highlands biodiversity conservation and tourism development. Pair wise comparison technique was used in order to support solution of a decision problem by evaluating possible alternatives from different perspectives. After the weights have been derived from the pairwise comparison technique, the next step was to compute the unweighted supermatrix, weighted supermatrix and the limit matrix. The limit matrix was normalized to obtain the priorities and the results transferred into GIS environment. Elements evaluated and ranked were represented by criterion maps. Map layers reflecting the opinion of different experts involved were summed using the weighted overlay approach of GIS. Subsequently sustainable tourism development scenarios were generated. The generation of scenarios highlighted the critical issues of the decision problem because it allows one to gradually narrow down a problem.

Management of snakebites in France.

PubMed

de Haro, Luc

2012-09-15

Although not a major health problem in Europe, snakebite in the old continent was the focus of recent studies to evaluate their overall incidence and define management techniques. The purpose of this three-part report is to present the experience of the Marseille Poison Centre with snakebite in France. The first section deals with viper envenomation that now benefits from a validated therapeutic protocol using of purified antivenom of proven efficacy and tolerance in patients showing grade 2 and 3 symptoms. The second section describes the highly variable snakebite situation in French overseas territories that include areas where local species require specialized management, e.g. Martinique and French Guiana. The third section involves the emerging problems associated with the keeping of exotic snakes as pets with problems related to the use of antivenoms from foreign countries. The exotic-snake pets fashion was at the origin of the creation of a national antivenom bank by two French poison centers (Angers and Marseille) to ensure prompt delivery of antivenoms for exotic snake envenomation anywhere in mainland France. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Geophysical imaging of karst features in Missouri

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Obi, Jeremiah Chukwunonso

Automated electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) supported with multichannel analysis of surface waves (MASW) and boring data were used to map karst related features in Missouri in order to understand karst processes better in Missouri. Previous works on karst in Missouri were mostly surficial mapping of bedrock outcrops and joints, which are not enough to define the internal structure of karst system, since most critical processes in karst occur underground. To understand these processes better, the density, placement and pattern of karst related features like solution-widened joints and voids, as well as top of bedrock were mapped. In the course of the study, six study sites were visited in Missouri. The sites were in Nixa, Gasconade River Bridge in Lebanon, Battlefield, Aurora, Protem and Richland. The case studies reflect to a large extent some of the problems inherent in karst terrain, ranging from environmental problems to structural problems especially sinkhole collapses. The result of the study showed that karst in Missouri is mostly formed as a result of piping of sediments through solution-widened joints, with a pattern showing that the joints/fractures are mostly filled with moist clay-sized materials of low resistivity values. The highest density of mapped solution-widened joints was one in every one hundred and fifty feet, and these areas are where intense dissolution is taking place, and bedrock pervasively fractured. The study also showed that interpreted solution-widened joints trend in different directions, and often times conform with known structural lineaments in the area. About 40% of sinkhole collapses in the study areas are anthropogenic. Karst in Missouri varies, and can be classified as a combination of kI (juvenile), kIII (mature) and kIV (complex) karsts.

Problems and challenges in social marketing.

PubMed

Bloom, P N; Novelli, W D

1981-01-01

This article reviews the problems that arise when general marketing principles are applied to social programs. Social marketing is conceptualized as the design, implementation, and control of programs seeking to increase the acceptability of a social ideal or practice in a target group. These problems can occur in 8 basic decision-making areas: market analysis, market segmentation, product strategy development, pricing strategy development, channel strategy development, communications strategy development, organizational design and planning, and evaluation. Social marketers find that they have less good secondary data about their consumers, more problems obtaining valid and reliable measures of relevant variables, more difficulty sorting out the relative influence of determinants of consumer behavior, and more problems getting consumer research funded than marketers in the commercial sector. They tend to have less flexibility in shaping their products and more difficulty formulating product concepts. Problems associated with establishing, utilizing, and controlling distribution channels comprise another major difference between social and more conventional forms of marketing. Social marketers also find that their communications options are somewhat limited as a result of problems associated with use of paid advertisements, pressures not to use certain types of appeals in their messages, and the need to communicate large amounts of information in their messages. Moreover, social marketers must function in organizations where marketing activities are poorly understood, underappreciated, and inappropriately located. Finally, they face problems trying to define effectiveness measures or estimating the contribution their program has made toward the achievement of certain objectives. If all these problems are anticipated and handled creatively, social marketing efforts can succeed.

Geologic Map of the Wilderness and Handy Quadrangles, Oregon, Carter, and Ripley Counties, Missouri

USGS Publications Warehouse

Harrison, Richard W.; McDowell, Robert C.

2003-01-01

The bedrock exposed in the Wilderness and Handy Quadrangles, Missouri, comprises Early Ordovician aged dolomite, sandstone, and chert. The sedimentary rocks are nearly flat-lying except where they are adjacent to faults. The carbonate rocks are karstified and the area contains numerous sinkholes, springs, caves, and losing-streams. This map is one of several being produced under the U.S. Geological Survey National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program to provide geologic data applicable to land-use problems in the Ozarks of south-central Missouri. Ongoing and potential industrial and agricultural development in the Ozarks region has presented issues of ground-water quality in karst areas. These quadrangles contain significant areas of the Mark Twain National Forest, including part of the Eleven Point National Scenic Riverway and the Irish Wilderness Roadless Area. A National Park in this region (Ozark National Scenic Riverways, Missouri ) is concerned about the effects of activities in areas outside of their stewardship on the water resources that define the heart of this Park. This task applies geologic mapping and karst investigations to address issues surrounding competing land use in south-central Missouri. For more information see: http://geology.er.usgs.gov/eespteam/Karst/index.html

Engineering studies related to geodetic and oceanographic remote sensing using short pulse techniques

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miller, L. S.; Brown, G. S.; Hayne, G. S.

1973-01-01

For the Skylab S-193 radar altimeter, data processing flow charts and identification of calibration requirements and problem areas for defined S-193 altimeter experiments are presented. An analysis and simulation of the relationship between one particular S-193 measurement and the parameter of interest for determining the sea surface scattering cross-section are considered. For the GEOS-C radar altimeter, results are presented for system analyses pertaining to signal-to-noise ratio, pulse compression threshold behavior, altimeter measurement variance characteristics, desirability of onboard averaging, tracker bandwidth considerations, and statistical character of the altimeter data in relation to harmonic analysis properties of the geodetic signal.

Molecular similarity and diversity in chemoinformatics: from theory to applications.

PubMed

Maldonado, Ana G; Doucet, J P; Petitjean, Michel; Fan, Bo-Tao

2006-02-01

This review is dedicated to a survey on molecular similarity and diversity. Key findings reported in recent investigations are selectively highlighted and summarized. Even if this overview is mainly centered in chemoinformatics, applications in other areas (pharmaceutical and medical chemistry, combinatorial chemistry, chemical databases management, etc.) are also introduced. The approaches used to define and describe the concepts of molecular similarity and diversity in the context of chemoinformatics are discussed in the first part of this review. We introduce, in the second and third parts, the descriptions and analyses of different methods and techniques. Finally, current applications and problems are enumerated and discussed in the last part.

Study of quiet turbofan STOL aircraft for short-haul transportation. Volume 2: Aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1973-01-01

A study of the quiet turbofan STOL aircraft for short haul transportation was conducted. The objectives of the study were as follows: (1) to determine the relationships between STOL characteristics and economic and social viability of short haul air transportation, (2) to identify critical technology problems involving introduction of STOL short haul systems, (3) to define representative aircraft configurations, characteristics, and costs, and (4) to identify high payoff technology areas to improve STOL systems. The analyses of the aircraft designs which were generated to fulfill the objectives are summarized. The baseline aircraft characteristics are documented and significant trade studies are presented.

A strategy for Earth science from space in the 1980s. Part 1: Solid earth and oceans

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1982-01-01

The report develops a ten-year science strategy for investigating the solid earth and dynamics of world oceans from Earth orbit. The strategy begins from the premise that earth studies have proceeded to the point where further advances in understanding Earth processes must be based on a global perspective and that the U.S. is technically ready to begin a global study approach from Earth orbit. The major areas of study and their fundamental problems are identified. The strategy defines the primary science objectives to be addressed and the essential measurements and precision to achieve them.

A statistical procedure for fire risk mapping in Italy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fiorucci, Paolo; Biondi, Guido; Campo, Lorenzo; D'Andrea, Mirko

2015-04-01

The high topographic and vegetation heterogeneity makes Italy vulnerable to forest fires both in the summer and in winter. In particular, northern regions are predominantly characterized by a winter fire regime, mainly due to frequent extremely dry winds from the north, while southern and central regions and the large islands are characterized by a severe summer fire regime, because of the higher temperatures and prolonged lack of precipitation. The threat of wildfires in Italy is not confined to wooded areas as they extend to agricultural areas and urban-forest interface areas. In view of the limited availability of fire risk management resources, most of which are used in the management of national and regional air services, it is necessary to precisely identify the areas most vulnerable to fire risk. The few resources available can thus be used on a yearly basis to mitigate problems in the areas at highest risk by defining a program of forest management interventions, which is expected to make a significant contribution to the problem in a few years' time. Given the availability of fire perimeters mapped over a period spanning from 5 to 10 years, depending by the region, a statistical procedure was defined in order to assess areas at risk based on objective criteria by observing past fire events. The availability of fire perimeters combined with a detailed knowledge of topography and land cover allowed to understand which are the main features involved in forest fire occurrences and their behavior. The seasonality of the fire regime was also considered, partitioning the analysis in two macro season (November-April and May- October). In addition, the total precipitation obtained from the interpolation of 30 years-long time series from 460 raingauges and the average air temperature obtained downscaling 30 years ERA-INTERIM data series were considered. The analysis consists on the subdivision of the territory in classes based on the named information layers (elevation, slope, rainfall height, temperature, etc.) with a recursive algorithm that ensures the equal numerosity of each class. The number of fires occurred in each class is then assessed basing on time series in the last decade, in order to have an estimation of the fire hazard with a contant statistical confidence. The analysis was carried out at a spatial resolution of 500 m on the whole Italian territory by using a dataset of fires occurrences that spans from 2007 to 2013.

Consistent initial conditions for the Saint-Venant equations in river network modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Cheng-Wei; Liu, Frank; Hodges, Ben R.

2017-09-01

Initial conditions for flows and depths (cross-sectional areas) throughout a river network are required for any time-marching (unsteady) solution of the one-dimensional (1-D) hydrodynamic Saint-Venant equations. For a river network modeled with several Strahler orders of tributaries, comprehensive and consistent synoptic data are typically lacking and synthetic starting conditions are needed. Because of underlying nonlinearity, poorly defined or inconsistent initial conditions can lead to convergence problems and long spin-up times in an unsteady solver. Two new approaches are defined and demonstrated herein for computing flows and cross-sectional areas (or depths). These methods can produce an initial condition data set that is consistent with modeled landscape runoff and river geometry boundary conditions at the initial time. These new methods are (1) the pseudo time-marching method (PTM) that iterates toward a steady-state initial condition using an unsteady Saint-Venant solver and (2) the steady-solution method (SSM) that makes use of graph theory for initial flow rates and solution of a steady-state 1-D momentum equation for the channel cross-sectional areas. The PTM is shown to be adequate for short river reaches but is significantly slower and has occasional non-convergent behavior for large river networks. The SSM approach is shown to provide a rapid solution of consistent initial conditions for both small and large networks, albeit with the requirement that additional code must be written rather than applying an existing unsteady Saint-Venant solver.

Computational Fluid Dynamics Program at NASA Ames Research Center

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Holst, Terry L.

1989-01-01

The Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Program at NASA Ames Research Center is reviewed and discussed. The technical elements of the CFD Program are listed and briefly discussed. These elements include algorithm research, research and pilot code development, scientific visualization, advanced surface representation, volume grid generation, and numerical optimization. Next, the discipline of CFD is briefly discussed and related to other areas of research at NASA Ames including experimental fluid dynamics, computer science research, computational chemistry, and numerical aerodynamic simulation. These areas combine with CFD to form a larger area of research, which might collectively be called computational technology. The ultimate goal of computational technology research at NASA Ames is to increase the physical understanding of the world in which we live, solve problems of national importance, and increase the technical capabilities of the aerospace community. Next, the major programs at NASA Ames that either use CFD technology or perform research in CFD are listed and discussed. Briefly, this list includes turbulent/transition physics and modeling, high-speed real gas flows, interdisciplinary research, turbomachinery demonstration computations, complete aircraft aerodynamics, rotorcraft applications, powered lift flows, high alpha flows, multiple body aerodynamics, and incompressible flow applications. Some of the individual problems actively being worked in each of these areas is listed to help define the breadth or extent of CFD involvement in each of these major programs. State-of-the-art examples of various CFD applications are presented to highlight most of these areas. The main emphasis of this portion of the presentation is on examples which will not otherwise be treated at this conference by the individual presentations. Finally, a list of principal current limitations and expected future directions is given.

Communication architecture for AAL. Supporting patient care by health care providers in AAL-enhanced living quarters.

PubMed

Nitzsche, T; Thiele, S; Häber, A; Winter, A

2014-01-01

This article is part of the Focus Theme of Methods of Information in Medicine on "Using Data from Ambient Assisted Living and Smart Homes in Electronic Health Records". Concepts of Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) support a long-term health monitoring and further medical and other services for multi-morbid patients with chronic diseases. In Germany many AAL and telemedical applications exist. Synergy effects by common agreements for essential application components and standards are not achieved. It is necessary to define a communication architecture which is based on common definitions of communication scenarios, application components and communication standards. The development of a communication architecture requires different steps. To gain a reference model for the problem area different AAL and telemedicine projects were compared and relevant data elements were generalized. The derived reference model defines standardized communication links. As a result the authors present an approach towards a reference architecture for AAL-communication. The focus of the architecture lays on the communication layer. The necessary application components are identified and a communication based on standards and their extensions is highlighted. The exchange of patient individual events supported by an event classification model, raw and aggregated data from the personal home area over a telemedicine center to health care providers is possible.

Detection of Old Mine Tunnels in Mexico City Highlands by Electric Resistivity Image Methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chavez, R. E.; Tejero, A.; Cifuentes-Nava, G.; HernaNdez-Quintero, J.

2013-12-01

Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) methods have been applied to study cavities or subsurface subsidence threatening urbanized areas. Unfortunately, ERT-3D techniques carried out on heavily urbanized areas become a difficult task, since parallel ERT arrays cannot be deployed. Then, a conventional regular grid cannot be carried out. We present a subsidence problem located in a densely populated portion of Mexico City highlands. Since the damaged houses are in the middle of a highly populated low-class neighborhood, an unconventional ERT array had to be applied. At first, a ';T'-array formed by two perpendicular transects was applied, deployed within a small alley, that stretched from the house entrance. This study determined a tubular structure beneath the houses following an irregular path at depth. Finally, houses were demolished due to the extensive damaged in their foundations. This made possible to carry out a second ERT-3D study, which included a dipolar array called ';L' and ';Corner' arrays. Such a new work defined a similar tubular structure. The cavity entrance was discovered, when excavations were made, although its precise shape could not be defined. The ERT-3D interpretation contributed to locate and accurately determine the geometrical characteristics of the geological feature that caused the collapse of dwellings.

Development of a volumetric projection technique for the digital evaluation of field of view.

PubMed

Marshall, Russell; Summerskill, Stephen; Cook, Sharon

2013-01-01

Current regulations for field of view requirements in road vehicles are defined by 2D areas projected on the ground plane. This paper discusses the development of a new software-based volumetric field of view projection tool and its implementation within an existing digital human modelling system. In addition, the exploitation of this new tool is highlighted through its use in a UK Department for Transport funded research project exploring the current concerns with driver vision. Focusing specifically on rearwards visibility in small and medium passenger vehicles, the volumetric approach is shown to provide a number of distinct advantages. The ability to explore multiple projections of both direct vision (through windows) and indirect vision (through mirrors) provides a greater understanding of the field of view environment afforded to the driver whilst still maintaining compatibility with the 2D projections of the regulatory standards. Field of view requirements for drivers of road vehicles are defined by simplified 2D areas projected onto the ground plane. However, driver vision is a complex 3D problem. This paper presents the development of a new software-based 3D volumetric projection technique and its implementation in the evaluation of driver vision in small- and medium-sized passenger vehicles.

The Khida terrane - Geology of Paleoproterozoic rocks in the Muhayil area, eastern Arabian Shield, Saudi Arabia

USGS Publications Warehouse

Stoeser, D.B.; Whitehouse, M.J.; Stacey, J.S.

2001-01-01

The bulk of the Arabian Shield of Saudi Arabia is underlain by Neoproterozoic terranes of oceanic affinity that were accreted during Pan-African time (about 680- 640Ma). Geologicalmappingandisotopicinvestigations during the 1980’s,however, provided the first evidence for Paleoproterozoic continental crust within the east- central part of the shield in Saudi Arabia. These studies delineated an older basement domain, herein referred to as the Khida terrane (Fig. l), which is defined as that part of the southern Afif composite terrane underlain by Paleoproterozoicto Archean continental crust (Stoeser and Stacey, 1988). The isotopic and geochronologic work to support our current studies within the Khida terrane are discussed in a companion abstract (Whitehouse et al., this volume). The regional geology and geochronology of the region has been summarized in detail by Johnson (1996). The current study is based on the continued use of samples previously collected in the Khida area by the authors and others as well as new field work conducted by us in 1999. This work further defines the occurrence of late Paleoproterozoic rocks at Jabal Muhayil, which is located at the eastern margin of the exposed terrane (Fig. 1). Our isotopic work is at an early stage and this abstract partly relates geologic problems that remain to be resolved. 

The role of metadata in managing large environmental science datasets. Proceedings

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

Melton, R.B.; DeVaney, D.M.; French, J. C.

1995-06-01

The purpose of this workshop was to bring together computer science researchers and environmental sciences data management practitioners to consider the role of metadata in managing large environmental sciences datasets. The objectives included: establishing a common definition of metadata; identifying categories of metadata; defining problems in managing metadata; and defining problems related to linking metadata with primary data.

The role of stabilizing and communicating symptoms given overlapping communities in psychopathology networks.

PubMed

Blanken, Tessa F; Deserno, Marie K; Dalege, Jonas; Borsboom, Denny; Blanken, Peter; Kerkhof, Gerard A; Cramer, Angélique O J

2018-04-11

Network theory, as a theoretical and methodological framework, is energizing many research fields, among which clinical psychology and psychiatry. Fundamental to the network theory of psychopathology is the role of specific symptoms and their interactions. Current statistical tools, however, fail to fully capture this constitutional property. We propose community detection tools as a means to evaluate the complex network structure of psychopathology, free from its original boundaries of distinct disorders. Unique to this approach is that symptoms can belong to multiple communities. Using a large community sample and spanning a broad range of symptoms (Symptom Checklist-90-Revised), we identified 18 communities of interconnected symptoms. The differential role of symptoms within and between communities offers a framework to study the clinical concepts of comorbidity, heterogeneity and hallmark symptoms. Symptoms with many and strong connections within a community, defined as stabilizing symptoms, could be thought of as the core of a community, whereas symptoms that belong to multiple communities, defined as communicating symptoms, facilitate the communication between problem areas. We propose that defining symptoms on their stabilizing and/or communicating role within and across communities accelerates our understanding of these clinical phenomena, central to research and treatment of psychopathology.

Model-driven harmonic parameterization of the cortical surface: HIP-HOP.

PubMed

Auzias, G; Lefèvre, J; Le Troter, A; Fischer, C; Perrot, M; Régis, J; Coulon, O

2013-05-01

In the context of inter subject brain surface matching, we present a parameterization of the cortical surface constrained by a model of cortical organization. The parameterization is defined via an harmonic mapping of each hemisphere surface to a rectangular planar domain that integrates a representation of the model. As opposed to previous landmark-based registration methods we do not match folds between individuals but instead optimize the fit between cortical sulci and specific iso-coordinate axis in the model. This strategy overcomes some limitation to sulcus-based registration techniques such as topological variability in sulcal landmarks across subjects. Experiments on 62 subjects with manually traced sulci are presented and compared with the result of the Freesurfer software. The evaluation involves a measure of dispersion of sulci with both angular and area distortions. We show that the model-based strategy can lead to a natural, efficient and very fast (less than 5 min per hemisphere) method for defining inter subjects correspondences. We discuss how this approach also reduces the problems inherent to anatomically defined landmarks and open the way to the investigation of cortical organization through the notion of orientation and alignment of structures across the cortex.

Directory of aerospace safety specialized information sources

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fullerton, E. A.; Rubens, L. S.

1973-01-01

A directory is presented to make available to the aerospace safety community a handbook of organizations and experts in specific, well-defined areas of safety technology. It is designed for the safety specialist as an aid for locating both information sources and individual points of contact (experts) in engineering related fields. The file covers sources of data in aerospace design, tests, as well as information in hazard and failure cause identification, accident analysis, materials characteristics, and other related subject areas. These 171 organizations and their staff members, hopefully, should provide technical information in the form of documentation, data and consulting expertise. These will be sources that have assembled and collated their information, so that it will be useful in the solution of engineering problems. One of the goals of the project in the United States that have and are willing to share data of value to the aerospace safety community.

Primary relationship scripts among lower-income, African American young adults.

PubMed

Eyre, Stephen L; Flythe, Michelle; Hoffman, Valerie; Fraser, Ashley E

2012-06-01

Research on romantic relationships among lower income, African American young adults has mostly focused on problem behaviors, and has infrequently documented nonpathological relationship processes that are widely studied among middle-class college students, their wealthier and largely European American counterparts [Journal of Black Studies 39 (2009) 570]. To identify nonpathological cultural concepts related to heterosexual romantic relationships, we interviewed 144 low to low-mid income, African American young adults aged 19-22 from the San Francisco Bay Area, CA, metropolitan Chicago, IL, and Greater Birmingham, AL. We identified 12 gender-shared scripts related to the romantic relationship in areas of (1) defining the relationship, (2) processes of joining, (3) maintaining balance, and (4) modulating conflict. Understanding romantic relationship scripts is important as successful romantic relationships are associated with improved mental and physical health among lower income individuals as compared with individuals without romantic partners [Social Science & Medicine 52 (2001) 1501]. © FPI, Inc.

New Concepts in Indexing *

PubMed Central

Shank, Russell

1965-01-01

Recent trends in indexing emphasize mechanical, not intellectual, developments. Mechanized operations have produced indexes in depth (1) of information on limited areas of science or (2) utilizing limited parameters for analysis. These indexes may include only citations or both useful data and citations of source literature. Both keyword-in-context and citation indexing seem to be passing the test of the marketplace. Mechanical equipment has also been successfully used to manipulate EAM cards for production of index copy. Information centers are increasingly being used as control devices in narrowly defined subject areas. Authors meet growing pressures to participate in information control work by preparing abstracts of their own articles. Mechanized image systems persist, although large systems are scarce and the many small systems may bring only limited relief for information control and retrieval problems. Experimentation and limited development continue on theory and technique of automatic indexing and abstracting. PMID:14306025

A Web-Based Monitoring System for Multidisciplinary Design Projects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rogers, James L.; Salas, Andrea O.; Weston, Robert P.

1998-01-01

In today's competitive environment, both industry and government agencies are under pressure to reduce the time and cost of multidisciplinary design projects. New tools have been introduced to assist in this process by facilitating the integration of and communication among diverse disciplinary codes. One such tool, a framework for multidisciplinary computational environments, is defined as a hardware and software architecture that enables integration, execution, and communication among diverse disciplinary processes. An examination of current frameworks reveals weaknesses in various areas, such as sequencing, displaying, monitoring, and controlling the design process. The objective of this research is to explore how Web technology, integrated with an existing framework, can improve these areas of weakness. This paper describes a Web-based system that optimizes and controls the execution sequence of design processes; and monitors the project status and results. The three-stage evolution of the system with increasingly complex problems demonstrates the feasibility of this approach.

Deficits in visual search for conjunctions of motion and form after parietal damage but with spared hMT+/V5.

PubMed

Dent, Kevin; Lestou, Vaia; Humphreys, Glyn W

2010-02-01

It has been argued that area hMT+/V5 in humans acts as a motion filter, enabling targets defined by a conjunction of motion and form to be efficiently selected. We present data indicating that (a) damage to parietal cortex leads to a selective problem in processing motion-form conjunctions, and (b) that the presence of a structurally and functional intact hMT+/V5 is not sufficient for efficient search for motion-form conjunctions. We suggest that, in addition to motion-processing areas (e.g., hMT+/V5), the posterior parietal cortex is necessary for efficient search with motion-form conjunctions, so that damage to either brain region may bring about deficits in search. We discuss the results in terms of the involvement of the posterior parietal cortex in the top-down guidance of search or in the binding of motion and form information.

32 CFR 245.15 - Appropriate military authority.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... (CONTINUED) MISCELLANEOUS PLAN FOR THE EMERGENCY SECURITY CONTROL OF AIR TRAFFIC (ESCAT) Procedures for... restrictions to be considered include: (1) Defining the affected area. (2) Defining the type of aircraft... appropriate portions of the affected area. (4) Defining restrictions for the volume of air traffic within the...

Computer analysis of multicircuit shells of revolution by the field method

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cohen, G. A.

1975-01-01

The field method, presented previously for the solution of even-order linear boundary value problems defined on one-dimensional open branch domains, is extended to boundary value problems defined on one-dimensional domains containing circuits. This method converts the boundary value problem into two successive numerically stable initial value problems, which may be solved by standard forward integration techniques. In addition, a new method for the treatment of singular boundary conditions is presented. This method, which amounts to a partial interchange of the roles of force and displacement variables, is problem independent with respect to both accuracy and speed of execution. This method was implemented in a computer program to calculate the static response of ring stiffened orthotropic multicircuit shells of revolution to asymmetric loads. Solutions are presented for sample problems which illustrate the accuracy and efficiency of the method.

Problem reporting and tracking system: a systems engineering challenge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cortez, Vasco; Lopez, Bernhard; Whyborn, Nicholas; Price, Roberto; Hernandez, Octavio; Gairing, Stefan; Barrios, Emilio; Alarcon, Hector

2016-08-01

The problem reporting and tracking system (PRTS) is the ALMA system to register operational problems, track unplanned corrective operational maintenance activities and follow the investigations of all problems or possible issues arisen in operation activities. After the PRTS implementation appeared several issues that finally produced a lack in the management of the investigations, problems to produce KPIs, loss of information, among others. In order to improve PRTS, we carried out a process to review the status of system, define a set of modifications and implement a solution; all according to the stakeholder requirements. In this work, we shall present the methodology applied to define a set of concrete actions at the basis of understanding the complexity of the problem, which finally got to improve the interactions between different subsystems and enhance the communication at different levels.

Alien plant invasions--incorporating emerging invaders in regional prioritization: a pragmatic approach for Southern Africa.

PubMed

Mgidi, Theresa N; Le Maitre, David C; Schonegevel, Lucille; Nel, Jeanne L; Rouget, Mathieu; Richardson, David M

2007-07-01

Plant invasions are a serious threat to natural and semi-natural ecosystems worldwide. Most management-orientated research on invasions focuses on invaders that are already widespread and often have major impacts. This paper deals with "emerging" invaders-those alien species with the potential to become important problems without timely intervention. A climate matching procedure was developed to define areas of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland that could be invaded by 28 plant species that had previously been classified as emerging invaders. Information on the location of populations of these species in the study area was combined with information on their distributions (as native or alien) in parts of Australia and the United States of America. These two countries had the best available distribution data for this study. They also share many invasive alien plant species with South Africa. Climatic data obtained for weather stations near points of known occurrence in these countries were used to define the climatically suitable areas for each species in the study area. Almost 80% of the remaining natural environment in southern Africa was found to be vulnerable to invasion by at least one of these species, 50% by six or more and 24% by 16 or more species. The most vulnerable areas are the highveld grasslands and the eastern escarpment. The emerging invaders with the greatest potential range included Acacia podalyriifolia and Cortaderia selloana. The globally important invaders Ulex europaeus and Lythrum salicaria had a more limited invasion potential but could still become major invaders. There was no relationship between the extent of the climatically suitable areas for the different species and an expert ranking of their invasion potential, emphasising the uncertainties inherent in making expert assessments based on very little information. The methods used in this analysis establish a protocol for future modelling exercises to assess the invasion potential of other emerging invaders.

What Are You Assuming?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kennedy, Nadia Stoyanova

2012-01-01

Students are often encouraged to work on problems "like mathematicians"--to be persistent, to investigate different approaches, and to evaluate solutions. This behavior, regarded as problem solving, is an essential component of mathematical practice. Some crucial aspects of problem solving include defining and interpreting problems, working with…

Dynamics of brain activity in motor and frontal cortical areas during music listening: a magnetoencephalographic study.

PubMed

Popescu, Mihai; Otsuka, Asuka; Ioannides, Andreas A

2004-04-01

There are formidable problems in studying how 'real' music engages the brain over wide ranges of temporal scales extending from milliseconds to a lifetime. In this work, we recorded the magnetoencephalographic signal while subjects listened to music as it unfolded over long periods of time (seconds), and we developed and applied methods to correlate the time course of the regional brain activations with the dynamic aspects of the musical sound. We showed that frontal areas generally respond with slow time constants to the music, reflecting their more integrative mode; motor-related areas showed transient-mode responses to fine temporal scale structures of the sound. The study combined novel analysis techniques designed to capture and quantify fine temporal sequencing from the authentic musical piece (characterized by a clearly defined rhythm and melodic structure) with the extraction of relevant features from the dynamics of the regional brain activations. The results demonstrated that activity in motor-related structures, specifically in lateral premotor areas, supplementary motor areas, and somatomotor areas, correlated with measures of rhythmicity derived from the music. These correlations showed distinct laterality depending on how the musical performance deviated from the strict tempo of the music score, that is, depending on the musical expression.

Responsive Urban Models by Processing Sets of Heterogeneous Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Calvano, M.; Casale, A.; Ippoliti, E.; Guadagnoli, F.

2018-05-01

This paper presents some steps in experimentation aimed at describing urban spaces made following the series of earthquakes that affected a vast area of central Italy starting on 24 August 2016. More specifically, these spaces pertain to historical centres of limited size and case studies that can be called "problematic" (due to complex morphological and settlement conditions, because they are difficult to access, or because they have been affected by calamitous events, etc.). The main objectives were to verify the use of sets of heterogeneous data that are already largely available to define a workflow and develop procedures that would allow some of the steps to be automated as much as possible. The most general goal was to use the experimentation to define a methodology to approach the problem aimed at developing descriptive responsive models of the urban space, that is, morphological and computer-based models capable of being modified in relation to the constantly updated flow of input data.

Measurement equivalence: a glossary for comparative population health research.

PubMed

Morris, Katherine Ann

2018-03-06

Comparative population health studies are becoming more common and are advancing solutions to crucial public health problems, but decades-old measurement equivalence issues remain without a common vocabulary to identify and address the biases that contribute to non-equivalence. This glossary defines sources of measurement non-equivalence. While drawing examples from both within-country and between-country studies, this glossary also defines methods of harmonisation and elucidates the unique opportunities in addition to the unique challenges of particular harmonisation methods. Its primary objective is to enable population health researchers to more clearly articulate their measurement assumptions and the implications of their findings for policy. It is also intended to provide scholars and policymakers across multiple areas of inquiry with tools to evaluate comparative research and thus contribute to urgent debates on how to ameliorate growing health disparities within and between countries. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Reduction in diabetic amputations over 11 years in a defined U.K. population: benefits of multidisciplinary team work and continuous prospective audit.

PubMed

Krishnan, Singhan; Nash, Fiona; Baker, Neil; Fowler, Duncan; Rayman, Gerry

2008-01-01

To assess changes in diabetic lower-extremity amputation rates in a defined relatively static population over an 11-year period following the introduction of a multidisciplinary foot team. All diabetic patients with foot problems admitted to Ipswich Hospital, a large district general hospital, were identified by twice-weekly surveillance of all relevant in-patient areas and outcomes including amputations recorded. The incidence of major amputations fell 62%, from 7.4 to 2.8 per 100,000 of the general population. Total amputation rates also decreased (40.3%) but to a lesser extent due to a small increase in minor amputations. Expressed as incidence per 10,000 people with diabetes, total amputations fell 70%, from 53.2 to 16.0, and major amputations fell 82%, from 36.4 to 6.7. Significant reductions in total and major amputation rates occurred over the 11-year period following improvements in foot care services including multidisciplinary team work.

New Windows based Color Morphological Operators for Biomedical Image Processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pastore, Juan; Bouchet, Agustina; Brun, Marcel; Ballarin, Virginia

2016-04-01

Morphological image processing is well known as an efficient methodology for image processing and computer vision. With the wide use of color in many areas, the interest on the color perception and processing has been growing rapidly. Many models have been proposed to extend morphological operators to the field of color images, dealing with some new problems not present previously in the binary and gray level contexts. These solutions usually deal with the lattice structure of the color space, or provide it with total orders, to be able to define basic operators with required properties. In this work we propose a new locally defined ordering, in the context of window based morphological operators, for the definition of erosions-like and dilation-like operators, which provides the same desired properties expected from color morphology, avoiding some of the drawbacks of the prior approaches. Experimental results show that the proposed color operators can be efficiently used for color image processing.

What matters most? Evidence-based findings of health dimensions affecting the societal preferences for EQ-5D health states.

PubMed

Andrade, Monica Viegas; Noronha, Kenya Valeria Micaela de Souza; Maia, Ana Carolina; Kind, Paul

2013-11-01

This study analyzes how different health dimensions defined by the EQ-5D-3L instrument affect average individual preferences for health states. This analysis is an important benchmark for the incorporation of health technologies as it takes into consideration Brazilian population preferences in health resource allocation decisions. The EQ-5D instrument defines health in terms of five dimensions (mobility, daily activities, self-care activities, pain/discomfort, and anxiety/depression) each divided into three levels of severity. Data came from a valuation study with 3,362 literate individuals aged between 18 and 64 living in urban areas of Minas Gerais State, Brazil. The main results reveal that health utility decreases as the level of severity increases. With regard to health issues, mobility stands out as the most important EQ-5D dimension. Independently of severity levels of the other EQ-5D-3L dimensions, the highest decrements in utilities are associated with severe mobility problems.

Exceedance probability map: a tool helping the definition of arsenic Natural Background Level (NBL) within the Drainage Basin to the Venice Lagoon (NE Italy)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dalla Libera, Nico; Fabbri, Paolo; Mason, Leonardo; Piccinini, Leonardo; Pola, Marco

2017-04-01

Arsenic groundwater contamination affects worldwide shallower groundwater bodies. Starting from the actual knowledges around arsenic origin into groundwater, we know that the major part of dissolved arsenic is naturally occurring through the dissolution of As-bearing minerals and ores. Several studies on the shallow aquifers of both the regional Venetian Plain (NE Italy) and the local Drainage Basin to the Venice Lagoon (DBVL) show local high arsenic concentration related to peculiar geochemical conditions, which drive arsenic mobilization. The uncertainty of arsenic spatial distribution makes difficult both the evaluation of the processes involved in arsenic mobilization and the stakeholders' decision about environmental management. Considering the latter aspect, the present study treats the problem of the Natural Background Level (NBL) definition as the threshold discriminating the natural contamination from the anthropogenic pollution. Actually, the UE's Directive 2006/118/EC suggests the procedures and criteria to set up the water quality standards guaranteeing a healthy status and reversing any contamination trends. In addition, the UE's BRIDGE project proposes some criteria, based on the 90th percentile of the contaminant's concentrations dataset, to estimate the NBL. Nevertheless, these methods provides just a statistical NBL for the whole area without considering the spatial variation of the contaminant's concentration. In this sense, we would reinforce the NBL concept using a geostatistical approach, which is able to give some detailed information about the distribution of arsenic concentrations and unveiling zones with high concentrations referred to the Italian drinking water standard (IDWS = 10 µg/liter). Once obtained the spatial information about arsenic distribution, we can apply the 90th percentile methods to estimate some Local NBL referring to every zones with arsenic higher than IDWS. The indicator kriging method was considered because it estimates the spatial distribution of the exceedance probabilities respect some pre-defined thresholds. This approach is largely mentioned in literature to face similar environmental problems. To test the validity of the procedure, we used the dataset from "A.Li.Na" project (founded by the Regional Environmental Agency) that defined regional NBLs of As, Fe, Mn and NH4+ into DBVL's groundwater. Primarily, we defined two thresholds corresponding respectively to the IDWS and the median of the data over the IDWS. These values were decided basing on the dataset's statistical structure and the quality criteria of the GWD 2006/118/EC. Subsequently, we evaluated the spatial distribution of the probability to exceed the defined thresholds using the Indicator kriging. The results highlight different zones with high exceedance probability ranging from 75% to 95% respect both the IDWS and the median value. Considering the geological setting of the DBVL, these probability values correspond with the occurrence of both organic matter and reducing conditions. In conclusion, the spatial prediction of the exceedance probability could be useful to define the areas in which estimate the local NBLs, enhancing the procedure of NBL definition. In that way, the NBL estimation could be more realistic because it considers the spatial distribution of the studied contaminant, distinguishing areas with high natural concentrations from polluted ones.

When math operations have visuospatial meanings versus purely symbolic definitions: Which solving stages and brain regions are affected?

PubMed

Pyke, Aryn A; Fincham, Jon M; Anderson, John R

2017-06-01

How does processing differ during purely symbolic problem solving versus when mathematical operations can be mentally associated with meaningful (here, visuospatial) referents? Learners were trained on novel math operations (↓, ↑), that were defined strictly symbolically or in terms of a visuospatial interpretation (operands mapped to dimensions of shaded areas, answer = total area). During testing (scanner session), no visuospatial representations were displayed. However, we expected visuospatially-trained learners to form mental visuospatial representations for problems, and exhibit distinct activations. Since some solution intervals were long (~10s) and visuospatial representations might only be instantiated in some stages during solving, group differences were difficult to detect when treating the solving interval as a whole. However, an HSMM-MVPA process (Anderson and Fincham, 2014a) to parse fMRI data identified four distinct problem-solving stages in each group, dubbed: 1) encode; 2) plan; 3) compute; and 4) respond. We assessed stage-specific differences across groups. During encoding, several regions implicated in general semantic processing and/or mental imagery were more active in visuospatially-trained learners, including: bilateral supramarginal, precuneus, cuneus, parahippocampus, and left middle temporal regions. Four of these regions again emerged in the computation stage: precuneus, right supramarginal/angular, left supramarginal/inferior parietal, and left parahippocampal gyrus. Thus, mental visuospatial representations may not just inform initial problem interpretation (followed by symbolic computation), but may scaffold on-going computation. In the second stage, higher activations were found among symbolically-trained solvers in frontal regions (R. medial and inferior and L. superior) and the right angular and middle temporal gyrus. Activations in contrasting regions may shed light on solvers' degree of use of symbolic versus mental visuospatial strategies, even in absence of behavioral differences. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Teaching Design in the First Years of a Traditional Mechanical Engineering Degree: Methods, Issues and Future Perspectives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Silva, Arlindo; Fontul, Mihail; Henriques, Elsa

2015-01-01

Engineering design is known as an answer to an ill-defined problem. As any answer to an ill-defined problem, it can never be completely right or absolutely wrong. The methods that universities use to teach engineering design, as a consequence of this, suffer from the same fate. However, the accumulated experience with the "chalk and…

Artificial intelligence approaches to software engineering

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johannes, James D.; Macdonald, James R.

1988-01-01

Artificial intelligence approaches to software engineering are examined. The software development life cycle is a sequence of not so well-defined phases. Improved techniques for developing systems have been formulated over the past 15 years, but pressure continues to attempt to reduce current costs. Software development technology seems to be standing still. The primary objective of the knowledge-based approach to software development presented in this paper is to avoid problem areas that lead to schedule slippages, cost overruns, or software products that fall short of their desired goals. Identifying and resolving software problems early, often in the phase in which they first occur, has been shown to contribute significantly to reducing risks in software development. Software development is not a mechanical process but a basic human activity. It requires clear thinking, work, and rework to be successful. The artificial intelligence approaches to software engineering presented support the software development life cycle through the use of software development techniques and methodologies in terms of changing current practices and methods. These should be replaced by better techniques that that improve the process of of software development and the quality of the resulting products. The software development process can be structured into well-defined steps, of which the interfaces are standardized, supported and checked by automated procedures that provide error detection, production of the documentation and ultimately support the actual design of complex programs.

Putting the ‘patient’ in patient safety: a qualitative study of consumer experiences

PubMed Central

Rathert, Cheryl; Brandt, Julie; Williams, Eric S.

2011-01-01

Abstract Background  Although patient safety has been studied extensively, little research has directly examined patient and family (consumer) perceptions. Evidence suggests that clinicians define safety differently from consumers, e.g. clinicians focus more on outcomes, whereas consumers may focus more on processes. Consumer perceptions of patient safety are important for several reasons. First, health‐care policy leaders have been encouraging patients and families to take a proactive role in ensuring patient safety; therefore, an understanding of how patients define safety is needed. Second, consumer perceptions of safety could influence outcomes such as trust and satisfaction or compliance with treatment protocols. Finally, consumer perspectives could be an additional lens for viewing complex systems and processes for quality improvement efforts. Objectives  To qualitatively explore acute care consumer perceptions of patient safety. Design and methods  Thirty‐nine individuals with a recent overnight hospital visit participated in one of four group interviews. Analysis followed an interpretive analytical approach. Results  Three basic themes were identified: Communication, staffing issues and medication administration. Consumers associated care process problems, such as delays or lack of information, with safety rather than as service quality problems. Participants agreed that patients need family caregivers as advocates. Conclusions  Consumers seem acutely aware of care processes they believe pose risks to safety. Perceptual measures of patient safety and quality may help to identify areas where there are higher risks of preventable adverse events. PMID:21624026

Nonstandard Analysis and Shock Wave Jump Conditions in a One-Dimensional Compressible Gas

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baty, Roy S.; Farassat, Fereidoun; Hargreaves, John

2007-01-01

Nonstandard analysis is a relatively new area of mathematics in which infinitesimal numbers can be defined and manipulated rigorously like real numbers. This report presents a fairly comprehensive tutorial on nonstandard analysis for physicists and engineers with many examples applicable to generalized functions. To demonstrate the power of the subject, the problem of shock wave jump conditions is studied for a one-dimensional compressible gas. It is assumed that the shock thickness occurs on an infinitesimal interval and the jump functions in the thermodynamic and fluid dynamic parameters occur smoothly across this interval. To use conservations laws, smooth pre-distributions of the Dirac delta measure are applied whose supports are contained within the shock thickness. Furthermore, smooth pre-distributions of the Heaviside function are applied which vary from zero to one across the shock wave. It is shown that if the equations of motion are expressed in nonconservative form then the relationships between the jump functions for the flow parameters may be found unambiguously. The analysis yields the classical Rankine-Hugoniot jump conditions for an inviscid shock wave. Moreover, non-monotonic entropy jump conditions are obtained for both inviscid and viscous flows. The report shows that products of generalized functions may be defined consistently using nonstandard analysis; however, physically meaningful products of generalized functions must be determined from the physics of the problem and not the mathematical form of the governing equations.

Steps to Independence for People with Learning Disabilities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Dale

The booklet is designed to help learning disabled (LD) adults become economically independent and fulfill their potential. Introductory chapters define LD and specify such types of LD as auditory perceptual problems, catastrophic responses, directional problems, disinhibition, perceptual problems, and short term memory problems. Psychological…

Skill Levels of Prospective Physics Teachers on Problem Posing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cildir, Sema; Sezen, Nazan

2011-01-01

Problem posing is one of the topics which the educators thoroughly accentuate. Problem posing skill is defined as an introvert activity of a student's learning. In this study, skill levels of prospective physics teachers on problem posing were determined and their views on problem posing were evaluated. To this end, prospective teachers were given…

Robust extrema features for time-series data analysis.

PubMed

Vemulapalli, Pramod K; Monga, Vishal; Brennan, Sean N

2013-06-01

The extraction of robust features for comparing and analyzing time series is a fundamentally important problem. Research efforts in this area encompass dimensionality reduction using popular signal analysis tools such as the discrete Fourier and wavelet transforms, various distance metrics, and the extraction of interest points from time series. Recently, extrema features for analysis of time-series data have assumed increasing significance because of their natural robustness under a variety of practical distortions, their economy of representation, and their computational benefits. Invariably, the process of encoding extrema features is preceded by filtering of the time series with an intuitively motivated filter (e.g., for smoothing), and subsequent thresholding to identify robust extrema. We define the properties of robustness, uniqueness, and cardinality as a means to identify the design choices available in each step of the feature generation process. Unlike existing methods, which utilize filters "inspired" from either domain knowledge or intuition, we explicitly optimize the filter based on training time series to optimize robustness of the extracted extrema features. We demonstrate further that the underlying filter optimization problem reduces to an eigenvalue problem and has a tractable solution. An encoding technique that enhances control over cardinality and uniqueness is also presented. Experimental results obtained for the problem of time series subsequence matching establish the merits of the proposed algorithm.

Diverse Planning for UAV Control and Remote Sensing

PubMed Central

Tožička, Jan; Komenda, Antonín

2016-01-01

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are suited to various remote sensing missions, such as measuring air quality. The conventional method of UAV control is by human operators. Such an approach is limited by the ability of cooperation among the operators controlling larger fleets of UAVs in a shared area. The remedy for this is to increase autonomy of the UAVs in planning their trajectories by considering other UAVs and their plans. To provide such improvement in autonomy, we need better algorithms for generating alternative trajectory variants that the UAV coordination algorithms can utilize. In this article, we define a novel family of multi-UAV sensing problems, solving task allocation of huge number of tasks (tens of thousands) to a group of configurable UAVs with non-zero weight of equipped sensors (comprising the air quality measurement as well) together with two base-line solvers. To solve the problem efficiently, we use an algorithm for diverse trajectory generation and integrate it with a solver for the multi-UAV coordination problem. Finally, we experimentally evaluate the multi-UAV sensing problem solver. The evaluation is done on synthetic and real-world-inspired benchmarks in a multi-UAV simulator. Results show that diverse planning is a valuable method for remote sensing applications containing multiple UAVs. PMID:28009831

Prevalence of depressive symptoms and associated developmental disorders in preschool children: a population-based study.

PubMed

Fuhrmann, Pia; Equit, Monika; Schmidt, Karin; von Gontard, Alexander

2014-04-01

Depression is an incapacitating disorder, which is often overlooked in preschool children. The aim of this study was to analyse the prevalence of depressive symptoms and co-occurring risk factors in a large, population-based sample of preschool children. All 653 children (of a total of 731) in a defined geographical area were assessed during the school-entry exam by community care paediatricians. In addition to clinical appraisal, parents filled out the Preschool Feelings Checklist, a 16-item screening instrument with good psychometric properties. The mean age was 6.2 years (range 5.0-7.6 years) and the sample included 344 boys and 305 girls. The prevalence of depressive symptoms of clinical relevance (total score ≥3) was 5.7% (37). There were no differences between boys and girls, and between younger (<6 years) and older (>6 years) children. Depressive symptoms were associated with parental separation and comorbid behavioural problems, but especially with developmental motor and speech problems and disorders. Migration to Germany had no influence. Depressive symptoms are common in preschool children and associated with developmental problems. Depression should be considered in children with speech and motor problems who are at special risk. Early detection and treatment are recommended.

Diverse Planning for UAV Control and Remote Sensing.

PubMed

Tožička, Jan; Komenda, Antonín

2016-12-21

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are suited to various remote sensing missions, such as measuring air quality. The conventional method of UAV control is by human operators. Such an approach is limited by the ability of cooperation among the operators controlling larger fleets of UAVs in a shared area. The remedy for this is to increase autonomy of the UAVs in planning their trajectories by considering other UAVs and their plans. To provide such improvement in autonomy, we need better algorithms for generating alternative trajectory variants that the UAV coordination algorithms can utilize. In this article, we define a novel family of multi-UAV sensing problems, solving task allocation of huge number of tasks (tens of thousands) to a group of configurable UAVs with non-zero weight of equipped sensors (comprising the air quality measurement as well) together with two base-line solvers. To solve the problem efficiently, we use an algorithm for diverse trajectory generation and integrate it with a solver for the multi-UAV coordination problem. Finally, we experimentally evaluate the multi-UAV sensing problem solver. The evaluation is done on synthetic and real-world-inspired benchmarks in a multi-UAV simulator. Results show that diverse planning is a valuable method for remote sensing applications containing multiple UAVs.

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

INSTRUMENTATION DIVISION STAFF

To develop state-of-the-art instrumentation required for experimental research programs at BNL, and to maintain the expertise and facilities in specialized high technology areas essential for this work. Development of facilities is motivated by present BNL research programs and anticipated future directions of BNL research. The Division's research efforts also have a significant impact on programs throughout the world that rely on state-of-the-art radiation detectors and readout electronics. Our staff scientists are encouraged to: Become involved in challenging problems in collaborations with other scientists; Offer unique expertise in solving problems; and Develop new devices and instruments when not commercially available. Scientistsmore » from other BNL Departments are encouraged to bring problems and ideas directly to the Division staff members with the appropriate expertise. Division staff is encouraged to become involved with research problems in other Departments to advance the application of new ideas in instrumentation. The Division Head integrates these efforts when they evolve into larger projects, within available staff and budget resources, and defines the priorities and direction with concurrence of appropriate Laboratory program leaders. The Division Head also ensures that these efforts are accompanied by strict adherence to all ES and H regulatory mandates and policies of the Laboratory. The responsibility for safety and environmental protection is integrated with supervision of particular facilities and conduct of operations.« less

Floods of 1971 and 1972 on Glover Creek and Little River in southeastern Oklahoma

USGS Publications Warehouse

Thomas, Wilbert O.; Corley, Robert K.

1973-01-01

Heavy rains of December 9-10, 1971, and Oct. 30-31, 1972, caused outstanding floods on Glover Creek and Little River in McCurtain County in southeastern Oklahoma. This report presents hydrologic data that document the extent of flooding, flood profiles, and frequency of flooding on reaches of both streams. The data presented provide a technical basis for formulating effective flood-plain zoning that will minimize existing and future flood problems. The report also can be useful for locating waste-disposal and water-treatment facilities, and for the development of recreational areas. The area studied includes the reach of Little River on the Garvin and Idabel 7 1/2-minute quadrangles (sheet 1) and the reach of Glover Creek on the southwest quarter of the Golden 15-minute quadrangle (sheet 2). The flood boundaries delineated on the maps are the limits of flooding during the December 1971 and October 1972 floods. Any attempt to delineate the flood boundaries on streams in the study area other than Glover Creek and Little River was considered to be beyond the scope of this report. The general procedure used in defining the flood boundaries was to construct the flood profiles from high-water marks obtained by field surveys and by records at three stream-gaging stations (two on Little River and one on Glover Creek.). The extent of flooding was delineated on the topographic maps by using the flood profiles to define the flood elevations at various points along the channel and locating the elevations on the map by interpolating between contours (lines of equal ground elevation). In addition, flood boundaries were defined in places by field survey, aerial photographs, and information from local residents. The accuracy of the flood boundaries is consistent with the scale and contour interval of the maps (1 inch = 2,000 feet; contour interval 10 and 20 feet), which means the flood boundaries are drawn as accurately as possible on maps having 10- and 20-foot contour intervals.

75 FR 972 - Nomination of Existing Marine Protected Areas to the National System of Marine Protected Areas

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-01-07

... key conservation gaps in important ocean areas. DATES: Comments on the nominations to the national... the Framework. Executive Order 13158 defines an MPA as: ``any area of the marine environment that has... national system may include both terrestrial and marine components, the term MPA as defined in the...

Determining specific competencies for General Internal Medicine residents (PGY 4 and PGY 5). What are they and are programs currently teaching them? A survey of practicing Canadian General Internists.

PubMed

Card, Sharon E; Pausjenssen, Anne M; Ottenbreit, Rachel C

2011-11-03

General Internal Medicine (GIM) has recently been approved as a subspecialty by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. As such, there is a need to define areas of knowledge that a General Internist must learn in those two years of training. There is limited literature as to what competencies are needed in a GIM practice. Draft competencies for GIM (4th and 5th year residents in internal medicine) training were developed over eight years with input from many stakeholders. Practicing General Internists were surveyed and asked their perspective as to the level of importance of each of these competencies for GIM training. They were also asked if training gaps exist in current training programs. The survey was offered widely online in both English and French to gain perspectives from as many different contexts as possible. 157 General Internists, in practice on average for 15 years, responded from all of Canada's provinces and territories. Practice profiles were diverse (large urban centers to rural centers). The majority of the competencies surveyed were perceived as important to attain at least proficiency in. Perioperative care, risk reduction, and the management of common, emergent, and complex internal medicine problems were identified as key areas to focus training programs on, with respondents perceiving these should be mastered to an expert level. Training gaps were identified, most frequently in that of the manager role (example managing practice). This is the first study we are aware of to attempt to isolate the opinions of practicing Canadian General Internists as to the major competencies that should be mastered as a General Internist. We suggest that "generalism" in the context of GIM, does not mean a bit of knowledge about everything but that defined objectives for training in this 'newest' of Royal College subspecialties can be identified. This includes mastery of core areas such as perioperative care, risk reduction, and management of common, emergent and multiple internal medicine problems. The training gaps identified need to be addressed to ensure that General Internists continue to provide excellence in health care delivery.

Spatial decision on allocating automated external defibrillators (AED) in communities by multi-criterion two-step floating catchment area (MC2SFCA).

PubMed

Lin, Bo-Cheng; Chen, Chao-Wen; Chen, Chien-Chou; Kuo, Chiao-Ling; Fan, I-Chun; Ho, Chi-Kung; Liu, I-Chuan; Chan, Ta-Chien

2016-05-25

The occurrence of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is a critical life-threatening event which frequently warrants early defibrillation with an automated external defibrillator (AED). The optimization of allocating a limited number of AEDs in various types of communities is challenging. We aimed to propose a two-stage modeling framework including spatial accessibility evaluation and priority ranking to identify the highest gaps between demand and supply for allocating AEDs. In this study, a total of 6135 OHCA patients were defined as demand, and the existing 476 publicly available AEDs locations and 51 emergency medical service (EMS) stations were defined as supply. To identify the demand for AEDs, Bayesian spatial analysis with the integrated nested Laplace approximation (INLA) method is applied to estimate the composite spatial risks from multiple factors. The population density, proportion of elderly people, and land use classifications are identified as risk factors. Then, the multi-criterion two-step floating catchment area (MC2SFCA) method is used to measure spatial accessibility of AEDs between the spatial risks and the supply of AEDs. Priority ranking is utilized for prioritizing deployment of AEDs among communities because of limited resources. Among 6135 OHCA patients, 56.85 % were older than 65 years old, and 79.04 % were in a residential area. The spatial distribution of OHCA incidents was found to be concentrated in the metropolitan area of Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. According to the posterior mean estimated by INLA, the spatial effects including population density and proportion of elderly people, and land use classifications are positively associated with the OHCA incidence. Utilizing the MC2SFCA for spatial accessibility, we found that supply of AEDs is less than demand in most areas, especially in rural areas. Under limited resources, we identify priority places for deploying AEDs based on transportation time to the nearest hospital and population size of the communities. The proposed method will be beneficial for optimizing resource allocation while considering multiple local risks. The optimized deployment of AEDs can broaden EMS coverage and minimize the problems of the disparity in urban areas and the deficiency in rural areas.

Solving a class of generalized fractional programming problems using the feasibility of linear programs.

PubMed

Shen, Peiping; Zhang, Tongli; Wang, Chunfeng

2017-01-01

This article presents a new approximation algorithm for globally solving a class of generalized fractional programming problems (P) whose objective functions are defined as an appropriate composition of ratios of affine functions. To solve this problem, the algorithm solves an equivalent optimization problem (Q) via an exploration of a suitably defined nonuniform grid. The main work of the algorithm involves checking the feasibility of linear programs associated with the interesting grid points. It is proved that the proposed algorithm is a fully polynomial time approximation scheme as the ratio terms are fixed in the objective function to problem (P), based on the computational complexity result. In contrast to existing results in literature, the algorithm does not require the assumptions on quasi-concavity or low-rank of the objective function to problem (P). Numerical results are given to illustrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

An Affordance-Based Framework for Human Computation and Human-Computer Collaboration.

PubMed

Crouser, R J; Chang, R

2012-12-01

Visual Analytics is "the science of analytical reasoning facilitated by visual interactive interfaces". The goal of this field is to develop tools and methodologies for approaching problems whose size and complexity render them intractable without the close coupling of both human and machine analysis. Researchers have explored this coupling in many venues: VAST, Vis, InfoVis, CHI, KDD, IUI, and more. While there have been myriad promising examples of human-computer collaboration, there exists no common language for comparing systems or describing the benefits afforded by designing for such collaboration. We argue that this area would benefit significantly from consensus about the design attributes that define and distinguish existing techniques. In this work, we have reviewed 1,271 papers from many of the top-ranking conferences in visual analytics, human-computer interaction, and visualization. From these, we have identified 49 papers that are representative of the study of human-computer collaborative problem-solving, and provide a thorough overview of the current state-of-the-art. Our analysis has uncovered key patterns of design hinging on human and machine-intelligence affordances, and also indicates unexplored avenues in the study of this area. The results of this analysis provide a common framework for understanding these seemingly disparate branches of inquiry, which we hope will motivate future work in the field.

The ZPIC educational code suite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Calado, R.; Pardal, M.; Ninhos, P.; Helm, A.; Mori, W. B.; Decyk, V. K.; Vieira, J.; Silva, L. O.; Fonseca, R. A.

2017-10-01

Particle-in-Cell (PIC) codes are used in almost all areas of plasma physics, such as fusion energy research, plasma accelerators, space physics, ion propulsion, and plasma processing, and many other areas. In this work, we present the ZPIC educational code suite, a new initiative to foster training in plasma physics using computer simulations. Leveraging on our expertise and experience from the development and use of the OSIRIS PIC code, we have developed a suite of 1D/2D fully relativistic electromagnetic PIC codes, as well as 1D electrostatic. These codes are self-contained and require only a standard laptop/desktop computer with a C compiler to be run. The output files are written in a new file format called ZDF that can be easily read using the supplied routines in a number of languages, such as Python, and IDL. The code suite also includes a number of example problems that can be used to illustrate several textbook and advanced plasma mechanisms, including instructions for parameter space exploration. We also invite contributions to this repository of test problems that will be made freely available to the community provided the input files comply with the format defined by the ZPIC team. The code suite is freely available and hosted on GitHub at https://github.com/zambzamb/zpic. Work partially supported by PICKSC.

A suite of benchmark and challenge problems for enhanced geothermal systems

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

White, Mark; Fu, Pengcheng; McClure, Mark

A diverse suite of numerical simulators is currently being applied to predict or understand the performance of enhanced geothermal systems (EGS). To build confidence and identify critical development needs for these analytical tools, the United States Department of Energy, Geothermal Technologies Office sponsored a Code Comparison Study (GTO-CCS), with participants from universities, industry, and national laboratories. A principal objective for the study was to create a community forum for improvement and verification of numerical simulators for EGS modeling. Teams participating in the study were those representing U.S. national laboratories, universities, and industries, and each team brought unique numerical simulation capabilitiesmore » to bear on the problems. Two classes of problems were developed during the study, benchmark problems and challenge problems. The benchmark problems were structured to test the ability of the collection of numerical simulators to solve various combinations of coupled thermal, hydrologic, geomechanical, and geochemical processes. This class of problems was strictly defined in terms of properties, driving forces, initial conditions, and boundary conditions. The challenge problems were based on the enhanced geothermal systems research conducted at Fenton Hill, near Los Alamos, New Mexico, between 1974 and 1995. The problems involved two phases of research, stimulation, development, and circulation in two separate reservoirs. The challenge problems had specific questions to be answered via numerical simulation in three topical areas: 1) reservoir creation/stimulation, 2) reactive and passive transport, and 3) thermal recovery. Whereas the benchmark class of problems were designed to test capabilities for modeling coupled processes under strictly specified conditions, the stated objective for the challenge class of problems was to demonstrate what new understanding of the Fenton Hill experiments could be realized via the application of modern numerical simulation tools by recognized expert practitioners. We present the suite of benchmark and challenge problems developed for the GTO-CCS, providing problem descriptions and sample solutions.« less

Making Changes: A Futures-Oriented Course in Inventive Problem Solving. Teacher's Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomas, John W.

This 1981 guide is designed to be used with a workbook offering students opportunities to engage in creative problem solving. The book contains four units with 23 lessons. Unit 1 addresses problem solving and contains nine lessons: (1) "New and Different Thinking"; (2) "Open and Closed Problems"; (3) "Stating a Problem"; (4) "Defining a Problem";…

Analysis of problem solving skill in learning biology at senior high school of Surakarta

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rahmawati, D.; Sajidan; Ashadi

2018-04-01

Problem solving is a critical component of comprehensive learning in 21st century. Problem solving is defined as a process used to obtain the best answer from a problem. Someone who can solve the problem is called a problem solver. Problem solver obtains many benefits in the future and has a chance to be an innovator, such as be an innovative entrepreneur, modify behavior, improve creativity, and cognitive skills. The goal of this research is to analyze problem solving skills of students in Senior High School Surakarta in learning Biology. Participants of this research were students of grade 12 SMA (Senior High School) N Surakarta. Data is collected by using multiple choice questions base on analysis problem solving skills on Mourtus. The result of this research showed that the percentage of defining problem was 52.38%, exploring the problem was 53.28%, implementing the solution was 50.71% for 50.08% is moderate, while the percentage of designing the solution was 34.42%, and evaluating was low for 39.24%. Based on the result showed that the problem solving skills of students in SMAN Surakarta was Low.

Problems in Defining the Field of Distance Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keegan, Desmond

1988-01-01

This discussion of definitions of distance education responds to previous articles attempting to define the field. Topics discussed include distance education versus conventional education; group-based distance education; differences between open learning and distance education; and criteria to define distance education. (13 references) (LRW)

The concerned significant others of people with gambling problems in a national representative sample in Sweden - a 1 year follow-up study.

PubMed

Svensson, Jessika; Romild, Ulla; Shepherdson, Emma

2013-11-21

Research into the impact of problem gambling on close social networks is scarce with the majority of studies only including help-seeking populations. To date only one study has examined concerned significant others (CSOs) from an epidemiological perspective and it did not consider gender. The aim of this study is to examine the health, social support, and financial situations of CSOs in a Swedish representative sample and to examine gender differences. A population study was conducted in Sweden in 2008/09 (n = 15,000, response rate 63%). Respondents were defined as CSOs if they reported that someone close to them currently or previously had problems with gambling. The group of CSOs was further examined in a 1-year follow up (weighted response rate 74% from the 8,165 respondents in the original sample). Comparisons were also made between those defined as CSOs only at baseline (47.7%, n = 554) and those defined as CSOs at both time points. In total, 18.2% of the population were considered CSOs, with no difference between women and men. Male and female CSOs experienced, to a large extent, similar problems including poor mental health, risky alcohol consumption, economic hardship, and arguments with those closest to them. Female CSOs reported less social support than other women and male CSOs had more legal problems and were more afraid of losing their jobs than other men. One year on, several problems remained even if some improvements were found. Both male and female CSOs reported more negative life events in the 1 year follow-up. Although some relationships are unknown, including between the CSOs and the individuals with gambling problems and the causal relationships between being a CSO and the range of associated problems, the results of this study indicate that gambling problems not only affect the gambling individual and their immediate close family but also the wider social network. A large proportion of the population can be defined as a CSO, half of whom are men. While male and female CSOs share many common problems, there are gender differences which need to be considered in prevention and treatment.

AUTOMATED UTILITY SERVICE AREA ASSESSMENT UNDER EMERGENCY CONDITIONS

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

G. TOOLE; S. LINGER

2001-01-01

All electric utilities serve power to their customers through a variety of functional levels, notably substations. The majority of these components consist of distribution substations operating at lower voltages while a small fraction are transmission substations. There is an associated geographical area that encompasses customers who are served, defined as the service area. Analysis of substation service areas is greatly complicated by several factors: distribution networks are often highly interconnected which allows a multitude of possible switching operations; also, utilities dynamically alter the network topology in order to respond to emergency events. As a result, the service area for amore » substation can change radically. A utility will generally attempt to minimize the number of customers outaged by switching effected loads to alternate substations. In this manner, all or a portion of a disabled substation's load may be served by one or more adjacent substations. This paper describes a suite of analytical tools developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), which address the problem of determining how a utility might respond to such emergency events. The estimated outage areas derived using the tools are overlaid onto other geographical and electrical layers in a geographic information system (GIS) software application. The effects of a power outage on a population, other infrastructures, or other physical features, can be inferred by the proximity of these features to the estimated outage area.« less

Inverse analysis of non-uniform temperature distributions using multispectral pyrometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fu, Tairan; Duan, Minghao; Tian, Jibin; Shi, Congling

2016-05-01

Optical diagnostics can be used to obtain sub-pixel temperature information in remote sensing. A multispectral pyrometry method was developed using multiple spectral radiation intensities to deduce the temperature area distribution in the measurement region. The method transforms a spot multispectral pyrometer with a fixed field of view into a pyrometer with enhanced spatial resolution that can give sub-pixel temperature information from a "one pixel" measurement region. A temperature area fraction function was defined to represent the spatial temperature distribution in the measurement region. The method is illustrated by simulations of a multispectral pyrometer with a spectral range of 8.0-13.0 μm measuring a non-isothermal region with a temperature range of 500-800 K in the spot pyrometer field of view. The inverse algorithm for the sub-pixel temperature distribution (temperature area fractions) in the "one pixel" verifies this multispectral pyrometry method. The results show that an improved Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm is effective for this ill-posed inverse problem with relative errors in the temperature area fractions of (-3%, 3%) for most of the temperatures. The analysis provides a valuable reference for the use of spot multispectral pyrometers for sub-pixel temperature distributions in remote sensing measurements.

Development of urban green space monitoring technique with remote sensing and its application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gradinaru, Cristian; Herban, Ioan Sorin; Gabor, Cristian

2016-06-01

City is the important area of earth's surface material, energy, and information exchanging; also it is the centre of national, regional political, economic, scientific and cultural aspects. A mere 10% of the global population were urban dwellers in 1900, but that percentage exceeds 50% now (Grimm et al. 2008). With the rapid economic development, city is suffering from a series of serious problems such as air pollution, solid waste pollution, vegetation reduction, deterioration of water quality and living environment. Threats to our environment represent a clear danger in the context of climate change, which is part of the "Global Change", and it is obvious that action is needed right now to protect our quality of life, particularly for those most vulnerable to health threats from environmental and technological disasters. Therefore, our top priority should be to avoid human and material losses. The security area is not only defined by disaster management, but by a wide variety of events that could affect the environment and the population's health. Following the rapid development of urban areas, a present tendency is represented by the study of those factors that place some areas in categories with high risk for natural and anthropic hazard.

[Foodborne disease outbreaks around the urban Chilean areas from 2005 to 2010].

PubMed

Alerte, Viller; Cortés A, Sandra; Díaz T, Janepsy; Vollaire Z, Jeannette; Espinoza M, M Eugenia; Solari G, Verónica; Cerda L, Jaime; Torres H, Marisa

2012-02-01

Foodborne disease outbreaks are one of the main health problems all over the world, which have an extensive impact on human health. [corrected] To analyze the foodborne disease outbreaks occurred in Chilean urban area from 2005 to 2010. We made a descriptive epidemiologic study. First, criteria were defined and classified according to previous epidemiologic investigations, clinical and environment samples, then. Variables of space, time, place and person were also analyzed. Among 2,806 reported outbreaks, 2434 (86.7%) fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Incidence rate of the period (2005-2010) were 32 cases per 100 inhabitants. A total of 12,196 people were affected, with an average of 5 patients per outbreak. The households (36.2%), restaurants (16.3%), supermarkets (6.3%) free fair (4.4%) have been the most important outbreak areas. The foods involved were seafood (15.4%), fish (15.1%), and fast food (13.5%). The etiologic agents were Salmonella spp, Shigella spp, Vibrio parahaemolyticus. Outbreaks foodborne diseases are frequents in the Chilean urban area, which make vulnerable a lot of people. The largest numbers happened in the households and were due to bad handling and/or inappropriate storage of the foods.

The Missing Curriculum in Physics Problem-Solving Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Williams, Mobolaji

2018-05-01

Physics is often seen as an excellent introduction to science because it allows students to learn not only the laws governing the world around them, but also, through the problems students solve, a way of thinking which is conducive to solving problems outside of physics and even outside of science. In this article, we contest this latter idea and argue that in physics classes, students do not learn widely applicable problem-solving skills because physics education almost exclusively requires students to solve well-defined problems rather than the less-defined problems which better model problem solving outside of a formal class. Using personal, constructed, and the historical accounts of Schrödinger's development of the wave equation and Feynman's development of path integrals, we argue that what is missing in problem-solving education is practice in identifying gaps in knowledge and in framing these knowledge gaps as questions of the kind answerable using techniques students have learned. We discuss why these elements are typically not taught as part of the problem-solving curriculum and end with suggestions on how to incorporate these missing elements into physics classes.

Inhibition and Language Pragmatic View in Redundant Data Problem Solving

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Setti, Annalisa; Caramelli, Nicoletta

2007-01-01

The present study concerns redundant data problems, defined as problems in which irrelevant data is provided. This type of problem provides a misleading context [Pascual-Leone, J. (1987). Organismic process for neo-Piagetian theories: A dialectical causal account of cognitive development. "International Journal of Psychology," 22, 531-570] similar…

Insight Problem Solving: A Critical Examination of the Possibility of Formal Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Batchelder, William H.; Alexander, Gregory E.

2012-01-01

This paper provides a critical examination of the current state and future possibility of formal cognitive theory for insight problem solving and its associated "aha!" experience. Insight problems are contrasted with move problems, which have been formally defined and studied extensively by cognitive psychologists since the pioneering…

Learning Problems and Classroom Instruction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adelman, Howard S.

Defined are categories of learning disabilities (LD) that can be remediated in regular public school classes, and offered are remedial approaches. Stressed in four studies is the heterogeneity of LD problems. Suggested is grouping LD children into three categories: no disorder (problem is from the learning environment); minor disorder (problem is…

Determination of Destructed and Infracted Forest Areas with Multi-temporal High Resolution Satellite Images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seker, D. Z.; Unal, A.; Kaya, S.; Alganci, U.

2015-12-01

Migration from rural areas to city centers and their surroundings is an important problem of not only our country but also the countries that under development stage. This uncontrolled and huge amount of migration brings out urbanization and socio - economic problems. The demand on settling the industrial areas and commercial activities nearby the city centers results with a negative change in natural land cover on cities. Negative impacts of human induced activities on natural resources and land cover has been continuously increasing for decades. The main human activities that resulted with destruction and infraction of forest areas can be defined as mining activities, agricultural activities, industrial / commercial activities and urbanization. Temporal monitoring of the changes in spatial distribution of forest areas is significantly important for effective management and planning progress. Changes can occur as spatially large destructions or small infractions. Therefore there is a need for reliable, fast and accurate data sources. At this point, satellite images proved to be a good data source for determination of the land use /cover changes with their capability of monitoring large areas with reasonable temporal resolutions. Spectral information derived from images provides discrimination of land use/cover types from each other. Developments in remote sensing technology in the last decade improved the spatial resolution of satellites and high resolution images were started to be used to detect even small changes in the land surface. As being the megacity of Turkey, Istanbul has been facing a huge migration for the last 20 years and effects of urbanization and other human based activities over forest areas are significant. Main focus of this study is to determine the destructions and infractions in forest areas of Istanbul, Turkey with 2.5m resolution SPOT 5 multi-temporal satellite imagery. Analysis was mainly constructed on threshold based classification of multi-temporal vegetation index data derived from satellite images. Determined changes were exported to GIS environment and spatial overlay and intersection analyses were performed with use of forest type maps and authorized area maps in order to demonstrate the actual situation of destructions and infractions.

Identifying problems and generating recommendations for enhancing complex systems: applying the abstraction hierarchy framework as an analytical tool.

PubMed

Xu, Wei

2007-12-01

This study adopts J. Rasmussen's (1985) abstraction hierarchy (AH) framework as an analytical tool to identify problems and pinpoint opportunities to enhance complex systems. The process of identifying problems and generating recommendations for complex systems using conventional methods is usually conducted based on incompletely defined work requirements. As the complexity of systems rises, the sheer mass of data generated from these methods becomes unwieldy to manage in a coherent, systematic form for analysis. There is little known work on adopting a broader perspective to fill these gaps. AH was used to analyze an aircraft-automation system in order to further identify breakdowns in pilot-automation interactions. Four steps follow: developing an AH model for the system, mapping the data generated by various methods onto the AH, identifying problems based on the mapped data, and presenting recommendations. The breakdowns lay primarily with automation operations that were more goal directed. Identified root causes include incomplete knowledge content and ineffective knowledge structure in pilots' mental models, lack of effective higher-order functional domain information displayed in the interface, and lack of sufficient automation procedures for pilots to effectively cope with unfamiliar situations. The AH is a valuable analytical tool to systematically identify problems and suggest opportunities for enhancing complex systems. It helps further examine the automation awareness problems and identify improvement areas from a work domain perspective. Applications include the identification of problems and generation of recommendations for complex systems as well as specific recommendations regarding pilot training, flight deck interfaces, and automation procedures.

Adversarial reasoning: challenges and approaches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kott, Alexander; Ownby, Michael

2005-05-01

This paper defines adversarial reasoning as computational approaches to inferring and anticipating an enemy's perceptions, intents and actions. It argues that adversarial reasoning transcends the boundaries of game theory and must also leverage such disciplines as cognitive modeling, control theory, AI planning and others. To illustrate the challenges of applying adversarial reasoning to real-world problems, the paper explores the lessons learned in the CADET -- a battle planning system that focuses on brigade-level ground operations and involves adversarial reasoning. From this example of current capabilities, the paper proceeds to describe RAID -- a DARPA program that aims to build capabilities in adversarial reasoning, and how such capabilities would address practical requirements in Defense and other application areas.

Photovoltaic systems sizing for Algeria

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

Arab, A.H.; Driss, B.A.; Amimeur, R.

1995-02-01

The purpose of this work is to develop an optimization method applicable to stand-alone photovoltaic systems as a function of its reliability. For a given loss-of-load probability (LLP), there are many combinations of battery capacity and photovoltaic array peak power. The problem consists in determining the couple which corresponds to a minimum total system cost. The method has been applied to various areas all over Algeria taking into account various climatic zones. The parameter used to define the different climatic zones is the clearness index KT for all the considered sites. The period of the simulation system is 10 years.more » 5 refs., 4 figs., 5 tabs.« less

Airline Crew Training

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1989-01-01

The discovery that human error has caused many more airline crashes than mechanical malfunctions led to an increased emphasis on teamwork and coordination in airline flight training programs. Human factors research at Ames Research Center has produced two crew training programs directed toward more effective operations. Cockpit Resource Management (CRM) defines areas like decision making, workload distribution, communication skills, etc. as essential in addressing human error problems. In 1979, a workshop led to the implementation of the CRM program by United Airlines, and later other airlines. In Line Oriented Flight Training (LOFT), crews fly missions in realistic simulators while instructors induce emergency situations requiring crew coordination. This is followed by a self critique. Ames Research Center continues its involvement with these programs.

The cholera epidemic as condenser of meanings: urban cultures, clinical narratives, and hygiene policies in Rosario, Argentina, 1886-1887.

PubMed

Pascual, Cecilia M

2017-01-01

This article investigates how the 1886-1887 cholera epidemic in Rosario, Argentina led to discrimination among city spaces associated with foci, the production of certain socio-moral images about the sectors most affected, and the development of emergency clinical practices. Based on analysis of the signifiers used to define areas of segregation, I seek to show how working-class living conditions were one of the most pressing problems of urban expansion, to identify tensions between the application of hygiene measures and the evacuation or eviction of working-class sectors and to examine the role of displacement in the definition of suburban spaces.

Program Administrator's Handbook. Strategies for Preventing Alcohol and Other Drug Problems. The College Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

CSR, Inc., Washington, DC.

This handbook is for administrators of programs in higher education settings which deal with alcohol and other drug (AOD) related problems. Chapter 1, "Defining the Problem, Issues, and Trends" examines the problem from various perspectives and presents the latest statistics on the extent of AOD use on campuses, specific problems affecting…

75 FR 38779 - Nomination of Existing Marine Protected Areas to the National System of Marine Protected Areas

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-07-06

... managing agencies to fill key conservation gaps in important ocean areas. DATES: Comments on the... conservation objectives of the Framework. Executive Order 13158 defines an MPA as: ``any area of the marine... term MPA as defined in the Framework refers only to the marine portion of a site (below the mean high...

MARS-MD: rejection based image domain material decomposition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bateman, C. J.; Knight, D.; Brandwacht, B.; McMahon, J.; Healy, J.; Panta, R.; Aamir, R.; Rajendran, K.; Moghiseh, M.; Ramyar, M.; Rundle, D.; Bennett, J.; de Ruiter, N.; Smithies, D.; Bell, S. T.; Doesburg, R.; Chernoglazov, A.; Mandalika, V. B. H.; Walsh, M.; Shamshad, M.; Anjomrouz, M.; Atharifard, A.; Vanden Broeke, L.; Bheesette, S.; Kirkbride, T.; Anderson, N. G.; Gieseg, S. P.; Woodfield, T.; Renaud, P. F.; Butler, A. P. H.; Butler, P. H.

2018-05-01

This paper outlines image domain material decomposition algorithms that have been routinely used in MARS spectral CT systems. These algorithms (known collectively as MARS-MD) are based on a pragmatic heuristic for solving the under-determined problem where there are more materials than energy bins. This heuristic contains three parts: (1) splitting the problem into a number of possible sub-problems, each containing fewer materials; (2) solving each sub-problem; and (3) applying rejection criteria to eliminate all but one sub-problem's solution. An advantage of this process is that different constraints can be applied to each sub-problem if necessary. In addition, the result of this process is that solutions will be sparse in the material domain, which reduces crossover of signal between material images. Two algorithms based on this process are presented: the Segmentation variant, which uses segmented material classes to define each sub-problem; and the Angular Rejection variant, which defines the rejection criteria using the angle between reconstructed attenuation vectors.

Tracking with occlusions via graph cuts.

PubMed

Papadakis, Nicolas; Bugeau, Aurélie

2011-01-01

This work presents a new method for tracking and segmenting along time-interacting objects within an image sequence. One major contribution of the paper is the formalization of the notion of visible and occluded parts. For each object, we aim at tracking these two parts. Assuming that the velocity of each object is driven by a dynamical law, predictions can be used to guide the successive estimations. Separating these predicted areas into good and bad parts with respect to the final segmentation and representing the objects with their visible and occluded parts permit handling partial and complete occlusions. To achieve this tracking, a label is assigned to each object and an energy function representing the multilabel problem is minimized via a graph cuts optimization. This energy contains terms based on image intensities which enable segmenting and regularizing the visible parts of the objects. It also includes terms dedicated to the management of the occluded and disappearing areas, which are defined on the areas of prediction of the objects. The results on several challenging sequences prove the strength of the proposed approach.

An evaluation of the spatial resolution of soil moisture information

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hardy, K. R.; Cohen, S. H.; Rogers, L. K.; Burke, H. H. K.; Leupold, R. C.; Smallwood, M. D.

1981-01-01

Rainfall-amount patterns in the central regions of the U.S. were assessed. The spatial scales of surface features and their corresponding microwave responses in the mid western U.S. were investigated. The usefulness for U.S. government agencies of soil moisture information at scales of 10 km and 1 km. was ascertained. From an investigation of 494 storms, it was found that the rainfall resulting from the passage of most types of storms produces patterns which can be resolved on a 10 km scale. The land features causing the greatest problem in the sensing of soil moisture over large agricultural areas with a radiometer are bodies of water. Over the mid-western portions of the U.S., water occupies less than 2% of the total area, the consequently, the water bodies will not have a significant impact on the mapping of soil moisture. Over most of the areas, measurements at a 10-km resolution would adequately define the distribution of soil moisture. Crop yield models and hydrological models would give improved results if soil moisture information at scales of 10 km was available.

Comparison of Multi-Scale Digital Elevation Models for Defining Waterways and Catchments Over Large Areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harris, B.; McDougall, K.; Barry, M.

2012-07-01

Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) allow for the efficient and consistent creation of waterways and catchment boundaries over large areas. Studies of waterway delineation from DEMs are usually undertaken over small or single catchment areas due to the nature of the problems being investigated. Improvements in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) techniques, software, hardware and data allow for analysis of larger data sets and also facilitate a consistent tool for the creation and analysis of waterways over extensive areas. However, rarely are they developed over large regional areas because of the lack of available raw data sets and the amount of work required to create the underlying DEMs. This paper examines definition of waterways and catchments over an area of approximately 25,000 km2 to establish the optimal DEM scale required for waterway delineation over large regional projects. The comparative study analysed multi-scale DEMs over two test areas (Wivenhoe catchment, 543 km2 and a detailed 13 km2 within the Wivenhoe catchment) including various data types, scales, quality, and variable catchment input parameters. Historic and available DEM data was compared to high resolution Lidar based DEMs to assess variations in the formation of stream networks. The results identified that, particularly in areas of high elevation change, DEMs at 20 m cell size created from broad scale 1:25,000 data (combined with more detailed data or manual delineation in flat areas) are adequate for the creation of waterways and catchments at a regional scale.

Dosimetry for photo-coagulation by the use of autofluorescence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brodzinski, T.

1989-01-01

A basic problem when using lasers in medicine is that of dosimetry. The definition of the terms dose, effective value etc. will be dealt with in Chapter 2. This chapter is intended to give an insight into the problems of basic dosimetry and its technical realization within the field of photocoagulation, an established method used to treat the retina, or some skin diseases. Until now the coagulation process was assessed to be completed when the irradiated area became blanched. However in terms of dosimetry, it must be possible to predict or at least to monitor the biological effect using well-defined parameters for the laser or in achieving an objective measure for a feedback loop. In the case of coagulation, a prediction in this form is not possible. There are two ways of pro- ceeding further see Fig. 1. One can either determine the physical effect, i.e. temperature, by some kind of sensors, or even better, use some biological effect as a direct measure of the effective dose applied.

A diffusion model of protected population on bilocal habitat with generalized resource

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vasilyev, Maxim D.; Trofimtsev, Yuri I.; Vasilyeva, Natalya V.

2017-11-01

A model of population distribution in a two-dimensional area divided by an ecological barrier, i.e. the boundaries of natural reserve, is considered. Distribution of the population is defined by diffusion, directed migrations and areal resource. The exchange of specimens occurs between two parts of the habitat. The mathematical model is presented in the form of a boundary value problem for a system of non-linear parabolic equations with variable parameters of diffusion and growth function. The splitting space variables, sweep method and simple iteration methods were used for the numerical solution of a system. A set of programs was coded in Python. Numerical simulation results for the two-dimensional unsteady non-linear problem are analyzed in detail. The influence of migration flow coefficients and functions of natural birth/death ratio on the distributions of population densities is investigated. The results of the research would allow to describe the conditions of the stable and sustainable existence of populations in bilocal habitat containing the protected and non-protected zones.

[Errors in laboratory daily practice].

PubMed

Larrose, C; Le Carrer, D

2007-01-01

Legislation set by GBEA (Guide de bonne exécution des analyses) requires that, before performing analysis, the laboratory directors have to check both the nature of the samples and the patients identity. The data processing of requisition forms, which identifies key errors, was established in 2000 and in 2002 by the specialized biochemistry laboratory, also with the contribution of the reception centre for biological samples. The laboratories follow a strict criteria of defining acceptability as a starting point for the reception to then check requisition forms and biological samples. All errors are logged into the laboratory database and analysis report are sent to the care unit specifying the problems and the consequences they have on the analysis. The data is then assessed by the laboratory directors to produce monthly or annual statistical reports. This indicates the number of errors, which are then indexed to patient files to reveal the specific problem areas, therefore allowing the laboratory directors to teach the nurses and enable corrective action.

Manuel Stein's Five Decades of Structural Mechanics Contributions (1944-1988)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mikulas, Martin M.; Card, Michael F.; Peterson, Jim P.; Starnes, James H., Jr.

1998-01-01

Manuel Stein went to work for NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) in 1944 and left in 1988. His research contributions spanned five decades of extremely defining times for the aerospace industry. Problems arising from the analysis and design of efficient thin plate and shell aerospace structures have stimulated research over the past half century. The primary structural technology drivers during Dr. Stein's career included 1940's aluminum aircraft, 1950's jet aircraft, 1960's launch vehicles and advanced spacecraft, 1970's reusable launch vehicles and commercial aircraft, and 1980's composite aircraft. Dr. Stein's research was driven by these areas and he made lasting contributions for each. Dr. Stein's research can be characterized by a judicious mixture of physical insight into the problem, understanding of the basic mechanisms, mathematical modeling of the observed phenomena, and extraordinary analytical and numerical solution methodologies of the resulting mathematical models. This paper summarizes Dr. Stein's life and his contributions to the technical community.

Failed back surgery syndrome: review and new hypotheses.

PubMed

Bordoni, Bruno; Marelli, Fabiola

2016-01-01

Failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS) is a term used to define an unsatisfactory outcome of a patient who underwent spinal surgery, irrespective of type or intervention area, with persistent pain in the lumbosacral region with or without it radiating to the leg. The possible reasons and risk factors that would lead to FBSS can be found in distinct phases: in problems already present in the patient before a surgical approach, such as spinal instability, during surgery (for example, from a mistake by the surgeon), or in the postintervention phase in relation to infections or biomechanical alterations. This article reviews the current literature on FBSS and tries to give a new hypothesis to understand the reasons for this clinical problem. The dysfunction of the diaphragm muscle is a component that is not taken into account when trying to understand the reasons for this syndrome, as there is no existing literature on the subject. The diaphragm is involved in chronic lower back and sacroiliac pain and plays an important role in the management of pain perception.

[Methodologic and clinical comparison of four different ergospirometry systems].

PubMed

Winter, U J; Fritsch, J; Gitt, A K; Pothoff, G; Berge, P G; Hilger, H H

1994-01-01

The clinician who uses cardio-pulmonary exercise testing (CPX) systems relies on the technical informations from the device producers. In this paper, the practicability, the accuracy and the safety of four different, available CPX systems are compared in the clinical area, using clinically orientated criteria. The exercise tests were performed in healthy subjects, in patients with cardiac and/or pulmonary disease as well as in young or old people. The comparison study showed, that there were partially large differences in device design and measurement accuracy. Furthermore, our investigation demonstrated that beneath repetitive calibrations of the CPX systems a frequent validation of the devices by means of a metabolic simulator is necessary. Problems in calibration can be caused by an inadequate performance or by unclean calibration gases. Problems in validation can be due to incompatibility of the CPX device and the validator. The comparison study of the four different systems showed that in the future standards for CPX testing should be defined.

Issues in the conduct of therapeutic trials in palliative care: an Australian perspective.

PubMed

Maddocks, Ian

2002-01-01

Palliative care has been slow to demonstrate that its common interventions are supported by high levels of evidence. There are multiple reasons for this--historical and cultural, as well as the recognised difficulties of conducting studies in dying persons. There are problems in isolating the effect of a single intervention from the many other changing dimensions which attend the progress of terminal illness, and problems also in defining particular outcomes free from the contaminating effect of other simultaneous changes in a patient's situation. Sickness is an interaction between disease and patient, and science sits more comfortably with the study of disease than with the understanding of the patient. Nevertheless, the therapies commonly employed for symptom management in individuals with advanced and terminal illness deserve more rigorous investigation to establish their efficacy. In Australia, new levels of government support for research have stimulated a closer examination of principles and practical guidelines for the conduct of research in this area of healthcare.

Searching for patterns in remote sensing image databases using neural networks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Paola, Justin D.; Schowengerdt, Robert A.

1995-01-01

We have investigated a method, based on a successful neural network multispectral image classification system, of searching for single patterns in remote sensing databases. While defining the pattern to search for and the feature to be used for that search (spectral, spatial, temporal, etc.) is challenging, a more difficult task is selecting competing patterns to train against the desired pattern. Schemes for competing pattern selection, including random selection and human interpreted selection, are discussed in the context of an example detection of dense urban areas in Landsat Thematic Mapper imagery. When applying the search to multiple images, a simple normalization method can alleviate the problem of inconsistent image calibration. Another potential problem, that of highly compressed data, was found to have a minimal effect on the ability to detect the desired pattern. The neural network algorithm has been implemented using the PVM (Parallel Virtual Machine) library and nearly-optimal speedups have been obtained that help alleviate the long process of searching through imagery.

Who is a cardiologist: Usurpers spawn?

PubMed Central

Mishra, Sundeep

2015-01-01

Cerebrovascular disease is the number one killer worldwide. It is increasing in epidemic proportion in developing countries as well, including India. Trained cardiologists are few and scattered in urban areas and there exists a huge shortage of personnel in clinical arena of cardiology specialty. The problem is manifest not only in diagnostics but also in treatment. This space is appropriated by a large number of clinical professionals posing as true cardiologists. Thus, currently there is a critical need to define who can be called a cardiologist and who can be accorded the privilege to treat and even perform interventional procedures. Further, the only credible way to fill this gap is to increase the infrastructure, the staff and the number of teaching, academic hospitals so that there could be an increase in the number of trained cardiologists. Alternate approach to dilute the educational, skill, and experience requirements of the physicians so that more can qualify to be called as cardiologists is likely to be counter-productive since this approach will lead to dilution in the quality of cardiologists which will consequently lead to dilution in the quality of health-care delivery. Further, the irony of matter is that while the pool of cardiologist is increased with the plea of serving rural areas, the hard reality is that very few if any of these so-called trained physicians ever serve the rural area. Thus, it is in this context the tendency to follow the second course should be firmly resisted as also the need to define “who is a cardiologist.” PMID:26702675

Realization theory and quadratic optimal controllers for systems defined over Banach and Frechet algebras

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Byrnes, C. I.

1980-01-01

It is noted that recent work by Kamen (1979) on the stability of half-plane digital filters shows that the problem of the existence of a feedback law also arises for other Banach algebras in applications. This situation calls for a realization theory and stabilizability criteria for systems defined over Banach for Frechet algebra A. Such a theory is developed here, with special emphasis placed on the construction of finitely generated realizations, the existence of coprime factorizations for T(s) defined over A, and the solvability of the quadratic optimal control problem and the associated algebraic Riccati equation over A.

Adaptable Constrained Genetic Programming: Extensions and Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Janikow, Cezary Z.

2005-01-01

An evolutionary algorithm applies evolution-based principles to problem solving. To solve a problem, the user defines the space of potential solutions, the representation space. Sample solutions are encoded in a chromosome-like structure. The algorithm maintains a population of such samples, which undergo simulated evolution by means of mutation, crossover, and survival of the fittest principles. Genetic Programming (GP) uses tree-like chromosomes, providing very rich representation suitable for many problems of interest. GP has been successfully applied to a number of practical problems such as learning Boolean functions and designing hardware circuits. To apply GP to a problem, the user needs to define the actual representation space, by defining the atomic functions and terminals labeling the actual trees. The sufficiency principle requires that the label set be sufficient to build the desired solution trees. The closure principle allows the labels to mix in any arity-consistent manner. To satisfy both principles, the user is often forced to provide a large label set, with ad hoc interpretations or penalties to deal with undesired local contexts. This unfortunately enlarges the actual representation space, and thus usually slows down the search. In the past few years, three different methodologies have been proposed to allow the user to alleviate the closure principle by providing means to define, and to process, constraints on mixing the labels in the trees. Last summer we proposed a new methodology to further alleviate the problem by discovering local heuristics for building quality solution trees. A pilot system was implemented last summer and tested throughout the year. This summer we have implemented a new revision, and produced a User's Manual so that the pilot system can be made available to other practitioners and researchers. We have also designed, and partly implemented, a larger system capable of dealing with much more powerful heuristics.

A comparison of self-reported emotional and trauma-related concerns among sexually abused children with and without sexual behavior problems.

PubMed

Allen, Brian; Thorn, Brian L; Gully, Kevin J

2015-05-01

Numerous studies document concomitant features of sexual behavior problems (SBPs) among children 12 years of age or younger, but rarely does research involve child self-report assessments. This study provides the most comprehensive examination to date of self-reported concerns among children with SBP, using a large sample (N = 392) of clinically referred participants who reported sexual abuse histories. Children between the ages of 8 and 12 were categorized as demonstrating SBP (n = 203) or not demonstrating SBP (n = 189) as determined by scores on the Child Sexual Behavior Inventory. Children completed the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children, and caregivers completed the Child Behavior Checklist. Self-reports of children showed that those with SBP reported significantly greater concerns in all areas, including sexual preoccupation and sexual distress, than their peers not demonstrating SBP. Caregivers of children in the SBP group reported greater concerns of internalizing and externalizing problems than the caregivers of children who did not have SBP. Implications for clinical practice and future research are discussed. Specifically, it is recommended that future research improve on the manner in which sexual abuse and SBPs were defined and assessed. © The Author(s) 2015.

Foraminiferal faunal estimates of paleotemperature: Circumventing the no-analog problem yields cool ice age tropics

USGS Publications Warehouse

Mix, A.C.; Morey, A.E.; Pisias, N.G.; Hostetler, S.W.

1999-01-01

The sensitivity of the tropics to climate change, particularly the amplitude of glacial-to-interglacial changes in sea surface temperature (SST), is one of the great controversies in paleoclimatology. Here we reassess faunal estimates of ice age SSTs, focusing on the problem of no-analog planktonic foraminiferal assemblages in the equatorial oceans that confounds both classical transfer function and modern analog methods. A new calibration strategy developed here, which uses past variability of species to define robust faunal assemblages, solves the no-analog problem and reveals ice age cooling of 5??to 6??C in the equatorial current systems of the Atlantic and eastern Pacific Oceans. Classical transfer functions underestimated temperature changes in some areas of the tropical oceans because core-top assemblages misrepresented the ice age faunal assemblages. Our finding is consistent with some geochemical estimates and model predictions of greater ice age cooling in the tropics than was inferred by Climate: Long-Range Investigation, Mapping, and Prediction (CLIMAP) [1981] and thus may help to resolve a long-standing controversy. Our new foraminiferal transfer function suggests that such cooling was limited to the equatorial current systems, however, and supports CLIMAP's inference of stability of the subtropical gyre centers.

Spectrum Sharing Based on a Bertrand Game in Cognitive Radio Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Zeng, Biqing; Zhang, Chi; Hu, Pianpian; Wang, Shengyu

2017-01-01

In the study of power control and allocation based on pricing, the utility of secondary users is usually studied from the perspective of the signal to noise ratio. The study of secondary user utility from the perspective of communication demand can not only promote the secondary users to meet the maximum communication needs, but also to maximize the utilization of spectrum resources, however, research in this area is lacking, so from the viewpoint of meeting the demand of network communication, this paper designs a two stage model to solve spectrum leasing and allocation problem in cognitive radio sensor networks (CRSNs). In the first stage, the secondary base station collects the secondary network communication requirements, and rents spectrum resources from several primary base stations using the Bertrand game to model the transaction behavior of the primary base station and secondary base station. The second stage, the subcarriers and power allocation problem of secondary base stations is defined as a nonlinear programming problem to be solved based on Nash bargaining. The simulation results show that the proposed model can satisfy the communication requirements of each user in a fair and efficient way compared to other spectrum sharing schemes. PMID:28067850

An arbitrary boundary with ghost particles incorporated in coupled FEM-SPH model for FSI problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Long, Ting; Hu, Dean; Wan, Detao; Zhuang, Chen; Yang, Gang

2017-12-01

It is important to treat the arbitrary boundary of Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) problems in computational mechanics. In order to ensure complete support condition and restore the first-order consistency near the boundary of Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) method for coupling Finite Element Method (FEM) with SPH model, a new ghost particle method is proposed by dividing the interceptive area of kernel support domain into subareas corresponding to boundary segments of structure. The ghost particles are produced automatically for every fluid particle at each time step, and the properties of ghost particles, such as density, mass and velocity, are defined by using the subareas to satisfy the boundary condition. In the coupled FEM-SPH model, the normal and shear forces from a boundary segment of structure to a fluid particle are calculated through the corresponding ghost particles, and its opposite forces are exerted on the corresponding boundary segment, then the momentum of the present method is conservation and there is no matching requirements between the size of elements and the size of particles. The performance of the present method is discussed and validated by several FSI problems with complex geometry boundary and moving boundary.

Visual Reconciliation of Alternative Similarity Spaces in Climate Modeling.

PubMed

Poco, Jorge; Dasgupta, Aritra; Wei, Yaxing; Hargrove, William; Schwalm, Christopher R; Huntzinger, Deborah N; Cook, Robert; Bertini, Enrico; Silva, Claudio T

2014-12-01

Visual data analysis often requires grouping of data objects based on their similarity. In many application domains researchers use algorithms and techniques like clustering and multidimensional scaling to extract groupings from data. While extracting these groups using a single similarity criteria is relatively straightforward, comparing alternative criteria poses additional challenges. In this paper we define visual reconciliation as the problem of reconciling multiple alternative similarity spaces through visualization and interaction. We derive this problem from our work on model comparison in climate science where climate modelers are faced with the challenge of making sense of alternative ways to describe their models: one through the output they generate, another through the large set of properties that describe them. Ideally, they want to understand whether groups of models with similar spatio-temporal behaviors share similar sets of criteria or, conversely, whether similar criteria lead to similar behaviors. We propose a visual analytics solution based on linked views, that addresses this problem by allowing the user to dynamically create, modify and observe the interaction among groupings, thereby making the potential explanations apparent. We present case studies that demonstrate the usefulness of our technique in the area of climate science.

Development of geometry materials based on scientific approach for junior high school students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nurafni; Siswanto, R. D.; Azhar, E.

2018-01-01

A scientific approach is a learning process designed so that learners can actively construct concepts, encourage learners to find out from various sources through observation, and not just be told. Therefore, learning by scientific approach offers a solution, because the goals, principles, and stages of the scientific approach allow for a good understanding of the students. Because of the absence of teaching materials “polyhedron geometry based on scientific approach” which is widely published in Indonesia, then we need to develop the teaching materials. The results obtained in this study are the tasks presented on teaching materials with a scientific approach both in defining the cube and the beam, identify and solve problems related to the properties and elements of cubes and beams, making cube and beam nets, solving problems related to cube and beam nets, solving problems related to cube and beam surface area. Beginning with the difficulties students face. Then, based on the results of interviews with teachers and analysis of student difficulties on each indicator, researchers revise the teaching materials as needed. Teaching materials that have not found any more student difficulties then the teaching materials are considered valid and ready for use by teachers and students.

Assembling Appliances Standards from a Basket of Functions

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

Siderious, Hans-Paul; Meier, Alan

2014-08-11

Rapid innovation in product design challenges the current methodology for setting standards and labels, especially for electronics, software and networking. Major problems include defining the product, measuring its energy consumption, and choosing the appropriate metric and level for the standard. Most governments have tried to solve these problems by defining ever more specific product subcategories, along with their corresponding test methods and metrics. An alternative approach would treat each energy-using product as something that delivers a basket of functions. Then separate standards would be constructed for the individual functions that can be defined, tested, and evaluated. Case studies of thermostats,more » displays and network equipment are presented to illustrate the problems with the classical approach for setting standards and indicate the merits and drawbacks of the alternative. The functional approach appears best suited to products whose primary purpose is processing information and that have multiple functions.« less

Explaining the increase in family financial pressures from medical bills between 2003 and 2007: do affordability thresholds change over time?

PubMed

Cunningham, Peter J

2011-06-01

This study examines whether affordability thresholds for medical care as defined by families change over time. The results from two nationally representative surveys show that while financial stress from medical bills--defined as the percent with problems paying medical bills--increased between 2003 and 2007, greater out-of-pocket spending accounted for this increase only for higher-income persons with employer-sponsored insurance coverage. Increased spending did not account for an increase in medical bill problems among lower-income persons. Moreover, the increase in medical bill problems among low-income persons occurred at relatively low levels of out-of-pocket spending rather than at higher levels. The results suggest that "affordability thresholds" for medical care as defined by individuals and families are not stable over time, especially for lower-income persons, which has implications for setting affordability standards in health reform.

7 CFR 621.10 - Description.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

...; defining and determining the extent of the problems; and formulating alternative plans, including land treatment, nonstructural or structural measures, or combinations thereof, that would solve existing problems... require only inventories of available resources and associated problems to be used by other agencies in...

Evaluation: The Process of Stimulating, Aiding, and Abetting Insightful Action.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guba, Egon G.; Stufflebeam, Daniel L.

Part 1 of this monograph discusses the status of educational evaluation and describes several problems in carrying out such evaluation: (1) defining the educational setting, (2) defining decision types, (3) designing educational evaluation, (4) designing evaluation systems, and (5) defining criteria for judging evaluation. Part 2 proposes an…

Estimating Temperature Retrieval Accuracy Associated With Thermal Band Spatial Resolution Requirements for Center Pivot Irrigation Monitoring and Management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ryan, Robert E.; Irons, James; Spruce, Joseph P.; Underwood, Lauren W.; Pagnutti, Mary

2006-01-01

This study explores the use of synthetic thermal center pivot irrigation scenes to estimate temperature retrieval accuracy for thermal remote sensed data, such as data acquired from current and proposed Landsat-like thermal systems. Center pivot irrigation is a common practice in the western United States and in other parts of the world where water resources are scarce. Wide-area ET (evapotranspiration) estimates and reliable water management decisions depend on accurate temperature information retrieval from remotely sensed data. Spatial resolution, sensor noise, and the temperature step between a field and its surrounding area impose limits on the ability to retrieve temperature information. Spatial resolution is an interrelationship between GSD (ground sample distance) and a measure of image sharpness, such as edge response or edge slope. Edge response and edge slope are intuitive, and direct measures of spatial resolution are easier to visualize and estimate than the more common Modulation Transfer Function or Point Spread Function. For these reasons, recent data specifications, such as those for the LDCM (Landsat Data Continuity Mission), have used GSD and edge response to specify spatial resolution. For this study, we have defined a 400-800 m diameter center pivot irrigation area with a large 25 K temperature step associated with a 300 K well-watered field surrounded by an infinite 325 K dry area. In this context, we defined the benchmark problem as an easily modeled, highly common stressing case. By parametrically varying GSD (30-240 m) and edge slope, we determined the number of pixels and field area fraction that meet a given temperature accuracy estimate for 400-m, 600-m, and 800-m diameter field sizes. Results of this project will help assess the utility of proposed specifications for the LDCM and other future thermal remote sensing missions and for water resource management.

Assessing Natural Background Levels of aquifers in the Metropolitan Area of Milan (Lombardy)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De Caro, Mattia; Crosta, Giovanni; Frattini, Paolo

2016-04-01

The European Water Framework Directive (WFD 2000/60/CE) requires Member States to evaluate the status of groundwater bodies in order to reach a good water quality for human consumption. One of the preliminary steps for defining the status of groundwater bodies consists in the definition and evaluation of the so-called Natural Background Levels (NBL). The NBL or Baseline level can be defined as "the range of concentration of a given element, isotope or chemical compound in solution, derived entirely from natural, geological, biological or atmospheric sources, under conditions not perturbed by anthropogenic activity" (Edmund and Shand, 2009). The qualitative analysis for a large area (ca 4500 Km2) of the Po Plain around the Milan Metropolitan area (Lombardy, Italy) is presented in this study. Despite the aquifers in the Milan metropolitan area are an incredible groundwater resource for a very large population (3.195.629 inhabitants in the metropolitan area, data at November 2014) and a highly industrialized area, a groundwater baseline characterization is still missing. In order to attain the hydro-geochemical characterization a complete geodatabase was built (120.655 chemical samples from 1980 to 2014). This database has been explored by classical and multivariate statistical analyses to provide relationships among the more influential lithological, hydrogeological and hydro-chemical variables. Finally, the NBLs of different chemical species which may be anthropogenic sensitive (Na, Cl, K, NO3, SO4, NH4, As, Fe, Cr, Fe, Mn, Zn) and for multiple aquifer bodies (phreatic, semi-confined and confined aquifer) are evaluated. Two different approaches are applied: the Pre-Selection method (BRIDGE, 2006) and the Component-Separation method. The first one (PS) consists in the exclusion of samples from the available dataset that could indicate human activities then deriving the NBL as the 90th percentile of the remaining data. The second one (CS) consists in the fitting of the frequency distribution function of the concentration of a given chemical species under the assumption that the total concentration is composed by a natural distribution (lognormal) and an anthropogenic distribution (normal) then deriving the NBL as the 90th percentile of lognormal distribution. The NBL values are compared with the standard reference values (REF) for drinkable waters in order to assess threshold values. The results are similar for the two different method. The NBLs of major ions (Na, Cl, SO4 and NH4) never exceed REF values; on the other hand the NBLs of As, Fe and Mn exceed REF values in the southern sector of study area and in general tends to increase moving from superficial to deepest aquifers.The Fe-Mn-As distribution indicates important changes in redox conditions (from oxidising to reducing environment). The spatial-temporal analysis of the values exceeding NBL values from PS-approach indicates an increasing trend through time and close to area with high percentage of land urban cover. The CS-approach allows to compare anthropogenic inputs (normal distribution peaks) of chemical species such as Cl, Na, NO3 and SO4 with land cover use finding main relation with the percentage of urban areas, the percentage agricultural areas, the population density and the type of cultivation within a defined zone. The results are useful to define a series of chemical facies in order to solve groundwater management problems from the single public supply well to regional scale.

Determining the Effects of Cognitive Style, Problem Complexity, and Hypothesis Generation on the Problem Solving Ability of School-Based Agricultural Education Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blackburn, J. Joey; Robinson, J. Shane

2016-01-01

The purpose of this experimental study was to assess the effects of cognitive style, problem complexity, and hypothesis generation on the problem solving ability of school-based agricultural education students. Problem solving ability was defined as time to solution. Kirton's Adaption-Innovation Inventory was employed to assess students' cognitive…

The Role of Content Knowledge in Ill-Structured Problem Solving for High School Physics Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Milbourne, Jeff; Wiebe, Eric

2018-01-01

While Physics Education Research has a rich tradition of problem-solving scholarship, most of the work has focused on more traditional, well-defined problems. Less work has been done with ill-structured problems, problems that are better aligned with the engineering and design-based scenarios promoted by the Next Generation Science Standards. This…

The Factors Affecting Definition of Research Problems in Educational Technology Researches

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bahçekapili, Ekrem; Bahçekapili, Tugba; Fis Erümit, Semra; Göktas, Yüksel; Sözbilir, Mustafa

2013-01-01

Research problems in a scientific research are formed after a certain process. This process starts with defining a research topic and transforms into a specific research problem or hypothesis. The aim of this study was to examine the way educational technology researchers identify their research problems. To this end, sources that educational…

Soft Systems Methodology and Problem Framing: Development of an Environmental Problem Solving Model Respecting a New Emergent Reflexive Paradigm.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gauthier, Benoit; And Others

1997-01-01

Identifies the more representative problem-solving models in environmental education. Suggests the addition of a strategy for defining a problem situation using Soft Systems Methodology to environmental education activities explicitly designed for the development of critical thinking. Contains 45 references. (JRH)

The Cognitive Toolkit of Programming--Algorithmic Abstraction, Decomposition-Superposition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Szlávi,Péter; Zsakó, László

2017-01-01

As a programmer when solving a problem, a number of conscious and unconscious cognitive operations are being performed. Problem-solving is a gradual and cyclic activity; as the mind is adjusting the problem to its schemas formed by its previous experiences, the programmer gets closer and closer to understanding and defining the problem. The…

Big 6 Tips: Teaching Information Problem Solving. #1 Task Definition: What Needs To Be Done.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eisenberg, Michael

1997-01-01

Explains task definition which is the first stage in the Big 6, an approach to information and technology skills instruction. Highlights include defining the problem; identifying the information requirements of the problem; transferability from curriculum-based problems to everyday tasks; and task definition logs kept by students. (LRW)

[4th World Conference on Women].

PubMed

1995-06-01

The World Platform of Action is a document prepared by the secretary of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) that acknowledges commitments made by the subscribing governments. In the final preparatory meeting for the Fourth International Conference on Women in Beijing, official delegations of the world's governments discussed the draft of the Platform of Action. Throughout the Platform, there is evidence of a retreat from concepts internationally recognized at other conferences. The Vatican, in alliance with countries like Honduras, Argentina, and Guatemala, and with fundamentalist religious groups, is largely responsible for the obstruction. The draft indicates which topics have failed to gain consensus and require discussion at the full Conference. The Platform is defined as an agenda for seeking empowerment of women, an objective necessitating removal of obstacles to active participation by women in all spheres of public life. The Platform defines the critical areas for action as the persistent increase in poverty among women, unequal access to education and training, unequal access to health care, violence against women and girls, effects of persecution and armed conflicts, unequal access to productive processes, and unequal power and influence in decision making at all levels. Insufficient mechanisms for promoting women, protection of the human rights of women, women and communication, and women and the environment are other priority topics. Problems are discussed in each of these areas, and objectives and concrete actions are proposed. The work describes the types of institutional changes that will be needed if the objectives are to be achieved; defines sex, gender, and other relevant terms; and analyses some of the strategic objectives in greater detail. The final section contains recommendations for women's groups and other lobbyists in Colombia to present to the government.

42 CFR 412.602 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... data items into the fields of the computerized patient assessment software program. Functional-related... 1, 2005, an area as defined in § 412.62(f)(1)(iii). For discharges occurring on or after October 1, 2005, rural area means an area as defined in § 412.64(b)(1)(ii)(C). Transfer means the release of a...

42 CFR 412.602 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... data items into the fields of the computerized patient assessment software program. Functional-related... 1, 2005, an area as defined in § 412.62(f)(1)(iii). For discharges occurring on or after October 1, 2005, rural area means an area as defined in § 412.64(b)(1)(ii)(C). Transfer means the release of a...

42 CFR 412.602 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... data items into the fields of the computerized patient assessment software program. Functional-related... 1, 2005, an area as defined in § 412.62(f)(1)(iii). For discharges occurring on or after October 1, 2005, rural area means an area as defined in § 412.64(b)(1)(ii)(C). Transfer means the release of a...

A robust fingerprint matching algorithm based on compatibility of star structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cao, Jia; Feng, Jufu

2009-10-01

In fingerprint verification or identification systems, most minutiae-based matching algorithms suffered from the problems of non-linear distortion and missing or faking minutiae. Local structures such as triangle or k-nearest structure are widely used to reduce the impact of non-linear distortion, but are suffered from missing and faking minutiae. In our proposed method, star structure is used to present local structure. A star structure contains various number of minutiae, thus, it is more robust with missing and faking minutiae. Our method consists of four steps: 1) Constructing star structures at minutia level; 2) Computing similarity score for each structure pair, and eliminating impostor matched pairs which have the low scores. As it is generally assumed that there is only linear distortion in local area, the similarity is defined by rotation and shifting. 3) Voting for remained matched pairs according to the compatibility between them, and eliminating impostor matched pairs which gain few votes. The concept of compatibility is first introduced by Yansong Feng [4], the original definition is only based on triangles. We define the compatibility for star structures to adjust to our proposed algorithm. 4) Computing the matching score, based on the number of matched structures and their voting scores. The score also reflects the fact that, it should get higher score if minutiae match in more intensive areas. Experiments evaluated on FVC 2004 show both effectiveness and efficiency of our methods.

[Fitness to drive in dementia - theoretical framing and design of a recommendation for German general practice].

PubMed

Pentzek, Michael; Michel, Jacqueline Verena; Ufert, Marie; Vollmar, Horst Christian; Wilm, Stefan; Leve, Verena

2015-01-01

General practitioners (GPs) are among the first to be contacted by persons with dementia and their relatives. Fitness to drive in dementia is a subject of uncertainty and conflict for GPs. Development of recommendations for German general practice on managing fitness to drive in dementia. Specification of problem areas by using relevant parts of a metasynthesis of international qualitative dementia research with GPs; literature review on evidence regarding the pre-defined problem areas; deduction of a preliminary design for a recommendation in a multi-professional team. The difficulties include the assessment of fitness to drive in the office setting, concerns about damaging the patient-physician relationship by raising the issue of driving fitness, and uncertainties about the GP's own legal role. A diagnosis of dementia does not per se preclude driving. The majority of elderly people would accept discussing fitness to drive with their GP. In Germany, GPs are not obliged to assess fitness to drive, or to report unsafe drivers to the Licensing Agency, but under certain conditions they do have the right to report. Addressing the issue of driving and dementia early with the patient seems to be a prerequisite for a resource-oriented and patient-centred management. The distinction between medical, ethical-communicative, and legal aspects enabled us to break down this complex problem and thus provide the informative basis to draft tailored recommendations. In an ongoing project, this framework will be further developed and informed by the expertise of patients, family caregivers, and professionals from various fields. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier GmbH.

Determining land use changes by radar-optic fused images and monitoring its environmental impacts in Edremit region of western Turkey.

PubMed

Balik Sanli, Fusun; Kurucu, Yusuf; Esetlili, Mustafa Tolga

2009-04-01

Rapid and unplanned urbanization and industrialization are the main reasons of environmental problems. If urban growth is not based on resource sustainability criteria and urban plans are not applied, natural and human resources are damaged dramatically. In this study, land use change and urban expansion in Edremit region of Turkey is determined by means of remote sensing techniques between 1971 and 2002. To improve the accuracy of land use/cover maps, the contribution of SAR images to optic images in defining land cover types was investigated. To determine the situation of land use/cover types in 2002 accurately, Landsat-5 images and Radarsat-1 images were fused, and the land use/cover types were defined from the fused images. Comparisons with the ground truth reveal that land use maps generated using the fuse technique are improved about 6% with an accuracy of 81.20%. To define land use types and urban expansion, screen digitizing and classification methods were used. The results of the study indicate that the urban areas have been increased 1,826 ha across the agricultural fields which are in land use capability classes of I and II, and significant environmental changes such as land degradation and degeneration of ground water quality occurred.

Organization Development: A Case Study in Blockages.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McIntyre, Martin

1981-01-01

Organization Development is a management science that defines and solves organizational problems. Procedures include: (1) diagnosis of problem; (2) gathering of data related to problem; (3) obtaining feedback; (4) developing various change strategies; (5) developing an action plan; and (6) implementing the plan. (CJ)

Fast food purchasing and access to fast food restaurants: a multilevel analysis of VicLANES.

PubMed

Thornton, Lukar E; Bentley, Rebecca J; Kavanagh, Anne M

2009-05-27

While previous research on fast food access and purchasing has not found evidence of an association, these studies have had methodological problems including aggregation error, lack of specificity between the exposures and outcomes, and lack of adjustment for potential confounding. In this paper we attempt to address these methodological problems using data from the Victorian Lifestyle and Neighbourhood Environments Study (VicLANES) - a cross-sectional multilevel study conducted within metropolitan Melbourne, Australia in 2003. The VicLANES data used in this analysis included 2547 participants from 49 census collector districts in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia. The outcome of interest was the total frequency of fast food purchased for consumption at home within the previous month (never, monthly and weekly) from five major fast food chains (Red Rooster, McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Hungry Jacks and Pizza Hut). Three measures of fast food access were created: density and variety, defined as the number of fast food restaurants and the number of different fast food chains within 3 kilometres of road network distance respectively, and proximity defined as the road network distance to the closest fast food restaurant.Multilevel multinomial models were used to estimate the associations between fast food restaurant access and purchasing with never purchased as the reference category. Models were adjusted for confounders including determinants of demand (attitudes and tastes that influence food purchasing decisions) as well as individual and area socio-economic characteristics. Purchasing fast food on a monthly basis was related to the variety of fast food restaurants (odds ratio 1.13; 95% confidence interval 1.02 - 1.25) after adjusting for individual and area characteristics. Density and proximity were not found to be significant predictors of fast food purchasing after adjustment for individual socio-economic predictors. Although we found an independent association between fast food purchasing and access to a wider variety of fast food restaurant, density and proximity were not significant predictors. The methods used in our study are an advance on previous analyses.

Bioaccumulation of selenium from natural geologic sources in western states and its potential consequences

USGS Publications Warehouse

Presser, T.S.; Sylvester, M.A.; Low, W.H.

1994-01-01

Ecological impacts of water-quality problems have developed in the western United States resulting from the disposal of seleniferous agricultural wastewater in wetland areas. Overt effects of selenium toxicosis occurred at five areas where deformities of wild aquatic birds were similar to those first observed at Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge in the west-central San Joaquin Valley of California. These areas are: Tulare Lake Bed Area, California, Middle Green River Basin, Utah, Kandrick Reclamation Project Area, Wyoming, Sun River Basin, Montana, and Stillwater Wildlife Management Area, Nevada. Potential for ecological damage is indicated at six more sites in Oregon, Colorado, the Colorado/Kansas border, and South Dakota out of 16 areas in 11 states where biological tissue data were collected. This conclusion is based on the fact that selenium bioaccumulated in bird livers to median levels that had exceeded or were in the range associated with adverse reproductive effects. Selenium concentrations in samples of fish and bird eggs support these conclusions at a majority of these areas. Reason for concern is also given for the lower Colorado River Valley, although this is not exclusively a conclusion from these reconnaissance data. Biogeochemical conditions and the extent of selenium contamination of water, bottom sediment, and biota from which this assessment was made are given here. In a companion paper, the biogeochemical pathway postulated for selenium contamination to take place from natural geologic sources to aquatic wildlife is defined.

Bioaccumulation of selenium from natural geologic sources in western states and its potential consequences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Presser, Theresa S.; Sylvester, Marc A.; Low, Walton H.

1994-05-01

Ecological impacts of water-quality problems have developed in the western United States resulting from the disposal of seleniferous agricultural wastewater in wetland areas. Overt effects of selenium toxicosis occurred at five areas where deformities of wild aquatic birds were similar to those first observed at Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge in the west-central San Joaquin Valley of California. These areas are: Tulare Lake Bed Area, California, Middle Green River Basin, Utah, Kendrick Reclamation Project Area, Wyoming, Sun River Basin, Montana, and Stillwater Wildlife Management Area, Nevada. Potential for ecological damage is indicated at six more sites in Oregon, Colorado, the Colorado/Kansas border, and South Dakota out of 16 areas in 11 states where biological tissue data were collected. This conclusion is based on the fact that selenium bioaccumulated in bird livers to median levels that had exceeded or were in the range associated with adverse reproductive effects. Selenium concentrations in samples of fish and bird eggs support these conclusions at a majority of these areas. Reason for concern is also given for the lower Colorado River Valley, although this is not exclusively a conclusion from these reconnaissance data. Biogeochemical conditions and the extent of selenium contamination of water, bottom sediment, and biota from which this assessment was made are given here. In a companion paper, the biogeochemical pathway postulated for selenium contamination to take place from natural geologic sources to aquatic wildlife is defined.

The Integrated Soil Erosion Risk Management Model of Central Java, Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Setiawan, M. A.; Stoetter, J.; Sartohadi, J.; Christanto, N.

2009-04-01

Many types of soil erosion modeling have been developed worldwide; each of models has its own advantage and assumption based on the originated area. Ironically, in the tropical countries where the rainfall intensity is higher than other area, the soil erosion problem gain less attention. As in Indonesia, due the inadequate supporting data and method to dealing with, the soil erosion management appears to be least prior in the policy decision. Hence, there is increasing necessity towards the initiation and integration of risk management model in the soil erosion, to prevent further land degradation problem in Indonesia. The main research objective is to generate a model which can analyze the dynamic system of soil erosion problem. This model will comprehensively consider four main aspects within the dynamic system analysis, i.e.: soil erosion rate modeling, the tolerable soil erosion rate, total soil erosion cost, and soil erosion management measures. The generating model will involve some sub-software i.e. the PC Raster to maintain the soil erosion modeling, Powersim Constructor Ver. 2.5 as the tool to analyze the dynamic system and Python Ver. 2.6.1 to build the main Graphical User Interface model. The first step addressed in this research is figuring the most appropriate soil erosion model to be applied in Indonesia based on landscape, climate, and data availability condition. This appropriate model must have the simplicity aspect in input data but still deal with the process based analysis. By using the soil erosion model result, the total soil erosion cost will be calculated both on-site and off-site effect. The total soil erosion cost will be stated in Rupiah (Indonesian currency) and Dollar. That total result is then used as one of input parameters for the tolerable soil erosion rate. Subsequently, the tolerable soil erosion rate decides whether the soil erosion rate has exceeded the allowed value or not. If the soil erosion rate has bigger value than the tolerable soil erosion rate, the soil erosion management will be applied base on cost and benefit analysis. The soil erosion management measures will conduct as decision maker of defining the best alternative soil conservation method in a certain area. Besides the engineering and theoretical methods, the local wisdom also will be taken into account in defining the alternative manners of soil erosion management. As a prototype, this integrated model will be generated and simulated in Serayu Watershed, Central Java, since this area has a serious issue in soil erosion problem mainly in the upper stream area (Dieng area). The extraordinary monoculture plantation (potatoes) and very intensive soil tillage without proper soil conservation method has accelerated the soil erosion and depleted the soil fertility. Based on the potatoes productivity data (kg/ha) from 1997-2007 showed that there was a declining trend line, approximately minus 8,2% every year. On the other hand the fertilizer and pesticide consumption in agricultural land are significantly increasing every year. In the same time, the high erosion rate causes serious sedimentation problem in lower stream. Those conditions can be used as study case in determining the element at risk of soil erosion and calculation method for the total soil erosion cost (on-site and off-site effect). Moreover, The Serayu Watershed consists of complex landforms which might have variation of soil erosion tolerable rate. In the future, this integrated model can obtain valuable basis data of the soil erosion hazard in spatial and temporal information including its total cost, the sustainability time of certain land or agriculture area, also the consequences price of applying certain agriculture or soil management. Since this model give result explicitly in spatial and temporal, this model can be used by the local authority to run the land use scenario in term of soil erosion impact before applied them in the real condition. In practice, such integrated model could give more understanding knowledge to the local people about the soil erosion, its processes, impacts, and how to manage that. Keywords: Risk assessment, soil erosion, dynamic system, environmental valuation

Burnscar analysis using normalized burning ratio (NBR) index during 2015 forest fire at Merang-Kepahyang peat forest, South Sumatra, Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saputra, Agus Dwi; Setiabudidaya, Dedi; Setyawan, Dwi; Khakim, M. Yusup Nur; Iskandar, Iskhaq

2017-07-01

Forest fire, classified as a natural hazard or human-induced hazard, has negative impacts on humans. These negative impacts are including economic loss, health problems, transportation disruption and land degradation or even biodiversity loss. During 2015, forest fire had occurred at the Merang-Kepahyang peat forest that has a total area of about 69.837,00 ha. In order to set a rehabilitation plan for recovering the impact of forest fire, information on the total burnscar area and severity level is required. In this study, the total burnscar area and severity level is evaluated using a calculation on the Normalized Burning Ratio (NBR) Index. The calculation is based on the Near Infra Red (NIR) and Short Wave Infra Red (SWIR) of the satellite imageries from LANDSAT. The images of pre-and post-fire are used to evaluate the severity level, which is defined as a difference in NBR Index of pre- and post-fire. It is found that about 42.906,00 ha of the total area of Merang-Kepahyang peat area have been fired in 2015. These burned area are classified into four categories, i.e., unburned, low, extreme and moderate extreme. By overlying the spatial map of burning level with other thematic maps, it is expected that strategy for rehabilitation plan can be well developed.

Some new concepts in the n-body and 3-body problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kyrala, A.

1982-06-01

A new approach to the n-body problem in terms of an rms particle velocity and a harmonic mean particle separation has been constructed by using averaging procedures formulated in terms of a single parameter. A systematic classification of escape and collision processes by means of specific polynomials, which can be used somewhat like generating functions, is introduced. For n-body problems with non-null total angular momentum, an rms angular momentum is defined which together with a harmonic mean centroidal moment of inertia characterizes the rotational kinetic energy. Finally, a graphical construction for the equipotentials of the three-body problem is given and attention is drawn to the use of the apex, defined as the point of least average separation, in this problem. It is supposed that the n-bodies interact with one another via the Newtonian potential in an inertial system.

Use of Log-Linear Models in Classification Problems.

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-12-01

polynomials. The second example involves infant hypoxic trauma, and many cells are empty. The existence conditions are used to find a model for which esti...mates of cell frequencies exist and are in good agreement with the ob- served data. Key Words: Classification problem, log-difference models, minimum 8...variates define k states, which are labeled consecutively. Thus, while MB define cells in their tables by an I-vector Z, we simply take Z to be a

Defining of the BDX930 Assembly Language

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Boyer, R. S.; Moore, J. S.

1983-01-01

A definition of the BDX930 assembly language is presented. Various definition problems and suggested solutions are included. A class of defined recognizers based on boolean valued nowrecursive functions is employed in preprocessing.

Material mechanical characterization method for multiple strains and strain rates

DOEpatents

Erdmand, III, Donald L.; Kunc, Vlastimil; Simunovic, Srdjan; Wang, Yanli

2016-01-19

A specimen for measuring a material under multiple strains and strain rates. The specimen including a body having first and second ends and a gage region disposed between the first and second ends, wherein the body has a central, longitudinal axis passing through the first and second ends. The gage region includes a first gage section and a second gage section, wherein the first gage section defines a first cross-sectional area that is defined by a first plane that extends through the first gage section and is perpendicular to the central, longitudinal axis. The second gage section defines a second cross-sectional area that is defined by a second plane that extends through the second gage section and is perpendicular to the central, longitudinal axis and wherein the first cross-sectional area is different in size than the second cross-sectional area.

Framing 100-year overflowing and overtopping marine submersion hazard resulting from the propagation of 100-year joint hydrodynamic conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nicolae Lerma, A.; Bulteau, T.; Elineau, S.; Paris, F.; Pedreros, R.

2016-12-01

Marine submersion is an increasing concern for coastal cities as urban development reinforces their vulnerabilities while climate change is likely to foster the frequency and magnitude of submersions. Characterising the coastal flooding hazard is therefore of paramount importance to ensure the security of people living in such places and for coastal planning. A hazard is commonly defined as an adverse phenomenon, often represented by a magnitude of a variable of interest (e.g. flooded area), hereafter called response variable, associated with a probability of exceedance or, alternatively, a return period. Characterising the coastal flooding hazard consists in finding the correspondence between the magnitude and the return period. The difficulty lies in the fact that the assessment is usually performed using physical numerical models taking as inputs scenarios composed by multiple forcing conditions that are most of the time interdependent. Indeed, a time series of the response variable is usually not available so we have to deal instead with time series of forcing variables (e.g. water level, waves). Thus, the problem is twofold: on the one hand, the definition of scenarios is a multivariate matter; on the other hand, it is tricky and approximate to associate the resulting response, being the output of the physical numerical model, to the return period defined for the scenarios. In this study, we illustrate the problem on the district of Leucate, located in the French Mediterranean coast. A multivariate extreme value analysis of waves and water levels is performed offshore using a conditional extreme model, then two different methods are used to define and select 100-year scenarios of forcing variables: one based on joint exceedance probability contours, a method classically used in coastal risks studies, the other based on environmental contours, which are commonly used in the field of structure design engineering. We show that these two methods enable one to frame the true 100-year response variable. The selected scenarios are propagated to the shore through a high resolution flood modelling coupling overflowing and overtopping processes. Results in terms of inundated areas and inland water volumes are finally compared for the two methods, giving upper and lower bounds for the true response variables.

Analysis of oil-pipeline distribution of multiple products subject to delivery time-windows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jittamai, Phongchai

This dissertation defines the operational problems of, and develops solution methodologies for, a distribution of multiple products into oil pipeline subject to delivery time-windows constraints. A multiple-product oil pipeline is a pipeline system composing of pipes, pumps, valves and storage facilities used to transport different types of liquids. Typically, products delivered by pipelines are petroleum of different grades moving either from production facilities to refineries or from refineries to distributors. Time-windows, which are generally used in logistics and scheduling areas, are incorporated in this study. The distribution of multiple products into oil pipeline subject to delivery time-windows is modeled as multicommodity network flow structure and mathematically formulated. The main focus of this dissertation is the investigation of operating issues and problem complexity of single-source pipeline problems and also providing solution methodology to compute input schedule that yields minimum total time violation from due delivery time-windows. The problem is proved to be NP-complete. The heuristic approach, a reversed-flow algorithm, is developed based on pipeline flow reversibility to compute input schedule for the pipeline problem. This algorithm is implemented in no longer than O(T·E) time. This dissertation also extends the study to examine some operating attributes and problem complexity of multiple-source pipelines. The multiple-source pipeline problem is also NP-complete. A heuristic algorithm modified from the one used in single-source pipeline problems is introduced. This algorithm can also be implemented in no longer than O(T·E) time. Computational results are presented for both methodologies on randomly generated problem sets. The computational experience indicates that reversed-flow algorithms provide good solutions in comparison with the optimal solutions. Only 25% of the problems tested were more than 30% greater than optimal values and approximately 40% of the tested problems were solved optimally by the algorithms.

How learning one category influences the learning of another: intercategory generalization based on analogy and specific stimulus information.

PubMed

Nahinsky, Irwin D; Lucas, Barbara A; Edgell, Stephen E; Overfelt, Joseph; Loeb, Richard

2004-01-01

We investigated the effect of learning one category structure on the learning of a related category structure. Photograph-name combinations, called identifiers, were associated with values of four demographic attributes. Two problems were related by analogous demographic attributes, common identifiers, or both to examine the impact of common identifier, related general characteristics, and the interaction of the two variables in mediating learning transfer from one category structure to another. Problems sharing the same identifier information prompted greater positive transfer than those not sharing the same identifier information. In contrast, analogous defining characteristics in the two problems did not facilitate transfer. We computed correlations between responses to first-problem stimuli and responses to analogous second-problem stimuli for each participant. The analogous characteristics produced a tendency to respond in the same way to corresponding stimuli in the two problems. The results support an alignment between category structures related by analogous defining characteristics, which is facilitated by specific identifier information shared by two category structures.

Membrane architectures for ion-channel switch-based electrochemical biosensors

DOEpatents

Sansinena, Jose-Maria; Redondo, Antonio; Swanson, Basil I.; Yee, Chanel Kitmon; Sapuri/Butti, Annapoorna R.; Parikh, Atul N.; Yang, Calvin

2008-10-28

The present invention is directed to a process of forming a bilayer lipid membrane structure by depositing an organic layer having a defined surface area onto an electrically conductive substrate, removing portions of said organic layer upon said electrically conductive substrate whereby selected portions of said organic layer are removed to form defined voids within said defined surface area of said organic layer and defined islands of organic layer upon said electrically conductive substrate, and, depositing a bilayer lipid membrane over the defined voids and defined islands of organic layer upon said substrate whereby aqueous reservoirs are formed between said electrically conductive substrate and said bilayer lipid membrane, said bilayer lipid membrane characterized as spanning across the defined voids between said defined islands. A lipid membrane structure is also described together with an array of such lipid membrane structure.

50 CFR 660.399 - EFH Conservation Areas off the Coast of California.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

.... The boundary of the Harris Point EFH Conservation Area is defined by the mean high water line and... commercial and recreational take of living marine resources is allowed, exists between the mean high water... Scorpion EFH Conservation Area is defined by the mean high water line and a straight line connecting all of...

50 CFR 660.79 - EFH Conservation Areas off the Coast of California.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

.... The boundary of the Harris Point EFH Conservation Area is defined by the mean high water line and... commercial and recreational take of living marine resources is allowed, exists between the mean high water... Scorpion EFH Conservation Area is defined by the mean high water line and a straight line connecting all of...

42 CFR 485.610 - Condition of participation: Status and location.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... requirements: (i) The CAH is located outside any area that is a Metropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by... Statistical Area, as defined by the Office of Management and Budget, but is being treated as being located in... this section and is located in a county that, in FY 2004, was not part of a Metropolitan Statistical...

Evaluation of the Effects of Hidden Node Problems in IEEE 802.15.7 Uplink Performance

PubMed Central

Ley-Bosch, Carlos; Alonso-González, Itziar; Sánchez-Rodríguez, David; Ramírez-Casañas, Carlos

2016-01-01

In the last few years, the increasing use of LEDs in illumination systems has been conducted due to the emergence of Visible Light Communication (VLC) technologies, in which data communication is performed by transmitting through the visible band of the electromagnetic spectrum. In 2011, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) published the IEEE 802.15.7 standard for Wireless Personal Area Networks based on VLC. Due to limitations in the coverage of the transmitted signal, wireless networks can suffer from the hidden node problems, when there are nodes in the network whose transmissions are not detected by other nodes. This problem can cause an important degradation in communications when they are made by means of the Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) access control method, which is used in IEEE 802.15.7 This research work evaluates the effects of the hidden node problem in the performance of the IEEE 802.15.7 standard We implement a simulator and analyze VLC performance in terms of parameters like end-to-end goodput and message loss rate. As part of this research work, a solution to the hidden node problem is proposed, based on the use of idle patterns defined in the standard. Idle patterns are sent by the network coordinator node to communicate to the other nodes that there is an ongoing transmission. The validity of the proposed solution is demonstrated with simulation results. PMID:26861352

Perceptions of Chronicity and Recovery among Youth in Treatment for Substance Use Problems

PubMed Central

Gonzales, Rachel; Anglin, M. Douglas; Beattie, Rebecca; Ong, Chris Angelo; Glik, Deborah C.

2012-01-01

Purpose To explore how youth contextualize substance use problems and recovery, in general and for themselves, in relation to the commonly accepted chronicity framework. Methods Fourteen focus groups were conducted with 118 youth in substance abuse treatment settings (aged 12-24; 78.3% male; 66.1% Latino) located throughout diverse areas of Los Angeles County. Transcribed qualitative focus group data were analyzed for major substance use and recovery themes. Results Most (80%) youth do not accept a chronicity framework that conceptualizes substance use problems as recurring and constituting a life-long illness. Most (65%) view substance use problems as a function of poor behavioral choices or a developmental/social lifestyle phase. Youth perceptions of recovery tend to parallel this view, as most define recovery to mean having an improved or changed lifestyle that is achieved through making better behavioral choices (67%) and exerting personal control over one's behavior (57%) through willpower, confidence, or discipline. Other recovery themes identified by youth were substance use related (47%), wellness or well-being related (43%) and therapeutic or treatment related (14%). Conclusions Findings highlight the importance of considering youth perceptions about substance use chronicity and recovery in making improvements and promoting new developments in clinical and recovery support approaches to better meet the needs of youth with substance use problems. Findings are discussed under a theoretical context of behavior change to provide insights for the treatment and recovery communities. PMID:22824444

Evaluation of the Effects of Hidden Node Problems in IEEE 802.15.7 Uplink Performance.

PubMed

Ley-Bosch, Carlos; Alonso-González, Itziar; Sánchez-Rodríguez, David; Ramírez-Casañas, Carlos

2016-02-06

In the last few years, the increasing use of LEDs in illumination systems has been conducted due to the emergence of Visible Light Communication (VLC) technologies, in which data communication is performed by transmitting through the visible band of the electromagnetic spectrum. In 2011, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) published the IEEE 802.15.7 standard for Wireless Personal Area Networks based on VLC. Due to limitations in the coverage of the transmitted signal, wireless networks can suffer from the hidden node problems, when there are nodes in the network whose transmissions are not detected by other nodes. This problem can cause an important degradation in communications when they are made by means of the Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) access control method, which is used in IEEE 802.15.7 This research work evaluates the effects of the hidden node problem in the performance of the IEEE 802.15.7 standard We implement a simulator and analyze VLC performance in terms of parameters like end-to-end goodput and message loss rate. As part of this research work, a solution to the hidden node problem is proposed, based on the use of idle patterns defined in the standard. Idle patterns are sent by the network coordinator node to communicate to the other nodes that there is an ongoing transmission. The validity of the proposed solution is demonstrated with simulation results.

Prevalence and Risk Markers of Behavior Problems among Adults with Intellectual Disabilities: A Total Population Study in Orebro County, Sweden

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lundqvist, Lars-Olov

2013-01-01

The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of behavior problems among people with administratively defined intellectual disability (ID) and identify possible risk markers for behavior problems using the Behavior Problems Inventory (BPI). Sixty-two percent of the ID population (n = 915) had a behavior problem (self-injurious,…

Investigating Students' Success in Solving and Attitudes towards Context-Rich Open-Ended Problems in Chemistry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Overton, Tina L.; Potter, Nicholas M.

2011-01-01

Much research has been carried out on how students solve algorithmic and structured problems in chemistry. This study is concerned with how students solve open-ended, ill-defined problems in chemistry. Over 200 undergraduate chemistry students solved a number of open-ended problem in groups and individually. The three cognitive variables of…

Alternative Energy and Propulsion Power for Today’s US Military

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-05-05

the Problem ........................................................................................4 Real Illustrations of the Problem ...taken to reduce its grip on fossil fuels. Further Defining the Problem In 2006 testimony before the US Congress, a DoD representative stated that...necessities of our military.12 Real Illustrations of the Problem Warfighting commanders in the field are requesting alternatives to petroleum based energy. In

Mathematical Profiles and Problem Solving Abilities of Mathematically Promising Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Budak, Ibrahim

2012-01-01

Mathematically promising students are defined as those who have the potential to become the leaders and problem solvers of the future. The purpose of this research is to reveal what problem solving abilities mathematically promising students show in solving non-routine problems and type of profiles they present in the classroom and during problem…

NHEXAS PHASE I MARYLAND STUDY--STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE FOR PROBLEM MANAGEMENT (G06)

EPA Science Inventory

The purpose of this SOP is to describe problem management, and to define a set of reporting actions to be taken in the event of a problem during any phase of the study. This procedure outlines the steps for making a problem known in order that it may be systematically resolved b...

Teaching Elementary Mathematics through Problem Solving and Its Relationship to Mathematics Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bullock, Audrey N.

2017-01-01

Problem solving in mathematics has been a goal for students for decades. In the reviewed literature, problem solving was most often treated as the dependent variable and was defined very broadly; however, few studies were found that included problem solving as a treatment or independent variable. The purpose of this study was to investigate the…

Self-Similar Spin Images for Point Cloud Matching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pulido, Daniel

The rapid growth of Light Detection And Ranging (Lidar) technologies that collect, process, and disseminate 3D point clouds have allowed for increasingly accurate spatial modeling and analysis of the real world. Lidar sensors can generate massive 3D point clouds of a collection area that provide highly detailed spatial and radiometric information. However, a Lidar collection can be expensive and time consuming. Simultaneously, the growth of crowdsourced Web 2.0 data (e.g., Flickr, OpenStreetMap) have provided researchers with a wealth of freely available data sources that cover a variety of geographic areas. Crowdsourced data can be of varying quality and density. In addition, since it is typically not collected as part of a dedicated experiment but rather volunteered, when and where the data is collected is arbitrary. The integration of these two sources of geoinformation can provide researchers the ability to generate products and derive intelligence that mitigate their respective disadvantages and combine their advantages. Therefore, this research will address the problem of fusing two point clouds from potentially different sources. Specifically, we will consider two problems: scale matching and feature matching. Scale matching consists of computing feature metrics of each point cloud and analyzing their distributions to determine scale differences. Feature matching consists of defining local descriptors that are invariant to common dataset distortions (e.g., rotation and translation). Additionally, after matching the point clouds they can be registered and processed further (e.g., change detection). The objective of this research is to develop novel methods to fuse and enhance two point clouds from potentially disparate sources (e.g., Lidar and crowdsourced Web 2.0 datasets). The scope of this research is to investigate both scale and feature matching between two point clouds. The specific focus of this research will be in developing a novel local descriptor based on the concept of self-similarity to aid in the scale and feature matching steps. An open problem in fusion is how best to extract features from two point clouds and then perform feature-based matching. The proposed approach for this matching step is the use of local self-similarity as an invariant measure to match features. In particular, the proposed approach is to combine the concept of local self-similarity with a well-known feature descriptor, Spin Images, and thereby define "Self-Similar Spin Images". This approach is then extended to the case of matching two points clouds in very different coordinate systems (e.g., a geo-referenced Lidar point cloud and stereo-image derived point cloud without geo-referencing). The use of Self-Similar Spin Images is again applied to address this problem by introducing a "Self-Similar Keyscale" that matches the spatial scales of two point clouds. Another open problem is how best to detect changes in content between two point clouds. A method is proposed to find changes between two point clouds by analyzing the order statistics of the nearest neighbors between the two clouds, and thereby define the "Nearest Neighbor Order Statistic" method. Note that the well-known Hausdorff distance is a special case as being just the maximum order statistic. Therefore, by studying the entire histogram of these nearest neighbors it is expected to yield a more robust method to detect points that are present in one cloud but not the other. This approach is applied at multiple resolutions. Therefore, changes detected at the coarsest level will yield large missing targets and at finer levels will yield smaller targets.

Reservoir area of influence and implications for fisheries management

USGS Publications Warehouse

Martin, Dustin R.; Chizinski, Christopher J.; Pope, Kevin L.

2015-01-01

Understanding the spatial area that a reservoir draws anglers from, defined as the reservoir's area of influence, and the potential overlap of that area of influence between reservoirs is important for fishery managers. Our objective was to define the area of influence for reservoirs of the Salt Valley regional fishery in southeastern Nebraska using kernel density estimation. We used angler survey data obtained from in-person interviews at 17 reservoirs during 2009–2012. The area of influence, defined by the 95% kernel density, for reservoirs within the Salt Valley regional fishery varied, indicating that anglers use reservoirs differently across the regional fishery. Areas of influence reveal angler preferences in a regional context, indicating preferred reservoirs with a greater area of influence. Further, differences in areas of influences across time and among reservoirs can be used as an assessment following management changes on an individual reservoir or within a regional fishery. Kernel density estimation provided a clear method for creating spatial maps of areas of influence and provided a two-dimensional view of angler travel, as opposed to the traditional mean travel distance assessment.

Historical problem areas lessons learned

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sackheim, Bob; Fester, Dale A.

1991-01-01

Historical problem areas in space transportation propulsion technology are identified in viewgraph form. Problem areas discussed include materials compatibility, contamination, pneumatic/feed system flow instabilities, instabilities in rocket engine combustion and fuel sloshing, exhaust plume interference, composite rocket nozzle failure, and freeze/thaw damage.

Validation of a single screening question for problem drinking.

PubMed

Williams, R; Vinson, D C

2001-04-01

The researchers hoped to confirm the sensitivity and specificity of a single screening question for problem drinking: "When was the last time you had more than X drinks in 1 day?", where X=4 for women and X=5 for men. Cross-sectional study. Adult patients presenting to 3 emergency departments in Boone County, Missouri, for care within 48 hours of an injury. The answers to the question were coded as never, more than 12 months ago, 3 to 12 months ago, and within the past 3 months. Problematic drinking was defined as either hazardous drinking (identified by a 29-day retrospective interview) or a past-year alcohol use disorder (defined by questions from the Diagnostic Interview Schedule). There was a 70% participation rate. Of 2517 interviewed patients: 29% were hazardous drinkers; 20% had a past-year alcohol use disorder; and 35% had either or both. Considering "within the last 3 months" as positive, the sensitivity of the single question was 86%, and the specificity was 86%. In men (n=1432), sensitivity and specificity were 88% and 81%; in women, 83% and 91%. Using the 4 answer options for the question, the area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve was 0.90. Controlling for age, sex, tobacco use, injury severity, and breath alcohol level in logistic regression models changed the findings minimally. A single question about the last episode of heavy drinking has clinically useful sensitivity and specificity in detecting hazardous drinking and alcohol use disorders.

Horticulture Materials for Agricultural Education Programs. Core Agricultural Education Curriculum, Central Cluster.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Illinois Univ., Urbana. Office of Agricultural Communications and Education.

This curriculum guide contains five units with relevant problem areas for horticulture. These problem areas have been selected as suggested areas of study to be included in a core curriculum for secondary students enrolled in an agricultural education program. Each problem area includes some or all of the following components: related problem…

Affect regulation, brain development, and behavioral/emotional health in adolescence.

PubMed

Dahl, R E

2001-01-01

This paper addresses the importance of affect regulation (AR) in relation to a broad range of behavioral and emotional health problems that emerge during adolescence. AR is defined as the adaptive modulation of emotional experience to serve a goal or purpose. This conceptualization of AR emphasizes the use of cognitive skills to guide, inhibit, or modify emotion and behavior, including the expression of emotional responses, in learned, strategic ways-skills that ultimately underpin adult levels of social maturity and the ability to show "responsible" behavior across a range of emotional situations. Neurobehavioral systems that subserve these AR skills include areas of the inferior and orbital prefrontal cortex (PFC), with rich interconnections to several limbic structures and other cortical areas, including the dorsolateral PFC. Adolescence represents an important developmental period in the functional maturation of adult AR skills; it is also a critical time in the development of clinical disorders of AR (eg, rates of depression increase dramatically and gender differences in depression emerge). Maturational changes in AR that occur during adolescence-particularly with respect to the role of emotions influencing responsible decision making-are also relevant to understanding key aspects of the developmental pathways of some behavioral health problems, such as alcohol use and nicotine dependence. A strong case is made for developmental research in affective neuroscience aimed at this important maturational period, particularly the kind of transdisciplinary research leading toward mechanistic understanding of the development of adolescent-onset disorders. Improving understanding in these areas could ultimately lead to the development of early interventions in targeted high-risk populations, and has enormous clinical and social policy relevance.

Subclinical vitamin D deficiency is increased in adolescent girls who wear concealing clothing.

PubMed

Hatun, Sukru; Islam, Omer; Cizmecioglu, Filiz; Kara, Bulent; Babaoglu, Kadir; Berk, Fatma; Gökalp, Ayse Sevim

2005-02-01

Vitamin D deficiency continues to be a worldwide problem, especially in developing countries. The aim of this study was to investigate potential risk factors for vitamin D deficiency. Girls (n = 89) aged 13 to 17 y were enrolled in the study. Study subjects were stratified into 3 groups: Group I included girls living in a suburban area; Group II girls lived in an urban area, and Group III girls lived in an urban area and wore concealing clothes for religious reasons. At the end of winter (in April) serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels were measured and dietary data were collected using questionnaires. Vitamin D deficiency was defined as a serum 25(OH)D concentration < 25 nmol/L, and insufficiency as a 25(OH)D concentration between 25 and 50 nmol/L. The lumbar and femur neck bone mineral densities (BMD) were measured using dual X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA). Overall, 39 girls (43.8%) had vitamin D insufficiency and 19 (21.3%) had vitamin D deficiency. In group III (wearing covered dress) the serum 25(OH)D concentrations (28.13 +/- 12.53 nmol/L) were significantly lower than in the other 2 groups, and within this group, 50% of girls were vitamin D deficient. The lumbar and femur neck BMD of girls with lower 25(OH)D levels did not differ from those with adequate vitamin D levels. We conclude that vitamin D deficiency is an important problem in Turkish adolescent girls, especially in those who follow a religious dress code; therefore, vitamin D supplementation appears to be necessary for adolescent girls.

Everyday problem solving across the adult life span: solution diversity and efficacy.

PubMed

Mienaltowski, Andrew

2011-10-01

Everyday problem solving involves examining the solutions that individuals generate when faced with problems that take place in their everyday experiences. Problems can range from medication adherence and meal preparation to disagreeing with a physician over a recommended medical procedure or compromising with extended family members over where to host Thanksgiving dinner. Across the life span, research has demonstrated divergent patterns of change in performance based on the type of everyday problems used as well as based on the way that problem-solving efficacy is operationally defined. Advancing age is associated with worsening performance when tasks involve single-solution or fluency-based definitions of effectiveness. However, when efficacy is defined in terms of the diversity of strategies used, as well as by the social and emotional impact of solution choice on the individual, performance is remarkably stable and sometimes even improves in the latter half of life. This article discusses how both of these approaches to everyday problem solving inform research on the influence that aging has on everyday functioning. © 2011 New York Academy of Sciences.

Everyday problem solving across the adult life span: solution diversity and efficacy

PubMed Central

Mienaltowski, Andrew

2013-01-01

Everyday problem solving involves examining the solutions that individuals generate when faced with problems that take place in their everyday experiences. Problems can range from medication adherence and meal preparation to disagreeing with a physician over a recommended medical procedure or compromising with extended family members over where to host Thanksgiving dinner. Across the life span, research has demonstrated divergent patterns of change in performance based on the type of everyday problems used as well as based on the way that problem-solving efficacy is operationally defined. Advancing age is associated with worsening performance when tasks involve single-solution or fluency-based definitions of effectiveness. However, when efficacy is defined in terms of the diversity of strategies used, as well as by the social and emotional impact of solution choice on the individual, performance is remarkably stable and sometimes even improves in the latter half of life. This article discusses how both of these approaches to everyday problem solving inform research on the influence that aging has on everyday functioning. PMID:22023569

New bounding and decomposition approaches for MILP investment problems: Multi-area transmission and generation planning under policy constraints

DOE PAGES

Munoz, F. D.; Hobbs, B. F.; Watson, J. -P.

2016-02-01

A novel two-phase bounding and decomposition approach to compute optimal and near-optimal solutions to large-scale mixed-integer investment planning problems is proposed and it considers a large number of operating subproblems, each of which is a convex optimization. Our motivating application is the planning of power transmission and generation in which policy constraints are designed to incentivize high amounts of intermittent generation in electric power systems. The bounding phase exploits Jensen’s inequality to define a lower bound, which we extend to stochastic programs that use expected-value constraints to enforce policy objectives. The decomposition phase, in which the bounds are tightened, improvesmore » upon the standard Benders’ algorithm by accelerating the convergence of the bounds. The lower bound is tightened by using a Jensen’s inequality-based approach to introduce an auxiliary lower bound into the Benders master problem. Upper bounds for both phases are computed using a sub-sampling approach executed on a parallel computer system. Numerical results show that only the bounding phase is necessary if loose optimality gaps are acceptable. But, the decomposition phase is required to attain optimality gaps. Moreover, use of both phases performs better, in terms of convergence speed, than attempting to solve the problem using just the bounding phase or regular Benders decomposition separately.« less

New bounding and decomposition approaches for MILP investment problems: Multi-area transmission and generation planning under policy constraints

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

Munoz, F. D.; Hobbs, B. F.; Watson, J. -P.

A novel two-phase bounding and decomposition approach to compute optimal and near-optimal solutions to large-scale mixed-integer investment planning problems is proposed and it considers a large number of operating subproblems, each of which is a convex optimization. Our motivating application is the planning of power transmission and generation in which policy constraints are designed to incentivize high amounts of intermittent generation in electric power systems. The bounding phase exploits Jensen’s inequality to define a lower bound, which we extend to stochastic programs that use expected-value constraints to enforce policy objectives. The decomposition phase, in which the bounds are tightened, improvesmore » upon the standard Benders’ algorithm by accelerating the convergence of the bounds. The lower bound is tightened by using a Jensen’s inequality-based approach to introduce an auxiliary lower bound into the Benders master problem. Upper bounds for both phases are computed using a sub-sampling approach executed on a parallel computer system. Numerical results show that only the bounding phase is necessary if loose optimality gaps are acceptable. But, the decomposition phase is required to attain optimality gaps. Moreover, use of both phases performs better, in terms of convergence speed, than attempting to solve the problem using just the bounding phase or regular Benders decomposition separately.« less

Childhood Factors Affecting Persistence and Desistence of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms in Adulthood: Results From the MTA

PubMed Central

Roy, Arunima; Hechtman, Lily; Arnold, L. Eugene; Sibley, Margaret H.; Molina, Brooke S.G.; Swanson, James M.; Howard, Andrea L.

2016-01-01

Objective To determine childhood factors that predict attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) persistence and desistence in adulthood. Method Regression analyses were used to determine associations between childhood factors and adult ADHD symptom persistence in 453 participants (mean age = 25 years) from the Multimodal Treatment of ADHD study (MTA). Childhood IQ, total number of comorbidities, child-perceived parenting practices, child-perceived parent-child relationships, parental mental health problems, marital problems of parents, household income levels and parental education were assessed at a mean age of 8 years in all participants. Adult ADHD persistence was defined using DSM-5 symptom counts either with or without impairment as well as mean ADHD symptom scores on the Conners’ Adult ADHD Rating Scale (CAARS). Age, sex, MTA site and childhood ADHD symptoms were covaried. Results The most important childhood predictors of adult ADHD symptom persistence were initial ADHD symptom severity (OR = 1.89, SE = .28, p = .025), comorbidities (OR = 1.19, SE = .07, p = .018), and parental mental health problems (OR = 1.30, SE = .09, p = .003). Childhood IQ, socioeconomic status, parental education and parent-child relationships showed no associations with adult ADHD symptom persistence. Conclusion Initial ADHD symptom severity, parental mental health and childhood comorbidity affect persistence of ADHD symptoms into adulthood. Addressing these areas early on may assist in reducing adult ADHD persistence and functioning problems. PMID:27806861

Seasonal variation in orthopedic health services utilization in Switzerland: the impact of winter sport tourism.

PubMed

Matter-Walstra, Klazien; Widmer, Marcel; Busato, André

2006-03-03

Climate- or holiday-related seasonality in hospital admission rates is well known for many diseases. However, little research has addressed the impact of tourism on seasonality in admission rates. We therefore investigated the influence of tourism on emergency admission rates in Switzerland, where winter and summer leisure sport activities in large mountain regions can generate orthopedic injuries. Using small area analysis, orthopedic hospital service areas (HSAo) were evaluated for seasonality in emergency admission rates. Winter sport areas were defined using guest bed accommodation rate patterns of guest houses and hotels located above 1000 meters altitude that show clear winter and summer peak seasons. Emergency admissions (years 2000-2002, n = 135'460) of local and nonlocal HSAo residents were evaluated. HSAo were grouped according to their area type (regular or winter sport area) and monthly analyses of admission rates were performed. Of HSAo within the defined winter sport areas 70.8% show a seasonal, summer-winter peak hospital admission rate pattern and only 1 HSAo outside the defined winter sport areas shows such a pattern. Seasonal hospital admission rates in HSAo in winter sport areas can be up to 4 times higher in winter than the intermediate seasons, and they are almost entirely due to admissions of nonlocal residents. These nonlocal residents are in general -and especially in winter- younger than local residents, and nonlocal residents have a shorter length of stay in winter sport than in regular areas. The overall geographic distribution of nonlocal residents admitted for emergencies shows highest rates during the winter as well as the summer in the winter sport areas. Small area analysis using orthopedic hospital service areas is a reliable method for the evaluation of seasonality in hospital admission rates. In Switzerland, HSAo defined as winter sport areas show a clear seasonal fluctuation in admission rates of only nonlocal residents, whereas HSAo defined as regular, non-winter sport areas do not show such seasonality. We conclude that leisure sport, and especially ski/snowboard tourism demands great flexibility in hospital beds, staff and resource planning in these areas.

Seasonal variation in orthopedic health services utilization in Switzerland: The impact of winter sport tourism

PubMed Central

Matter-Walstra, Klazien; Widmer, Marcel; Busato, André

2006-01-01

Background Climate- or holiday-related seasonality in hospital admission rates is well known for many diseases. However, little research has addressed the impact of tourism on seasonality in admission rates. We therefore investigated the influence of tourism on emergency admission rates in Switzerland, where winter and summer leisure sport activities in large mountain regions can generate orthopedic injuries. Methods Using small area analysis, orthopedic hospital service areas (HSAo) were evaluated for seasonality in emergency admission rates. Winter sport areas were defined using guest bed accommodation rate patterns of guest houses and hotels located above 1000 meters altitude that show clear winter and summer peak seasons. Emergency admissions (years 2000–2002, n = 135'460) of local and nonlocal HSAo residents were evaluated. HSAo were grouped according to their area type (regular or winter sport area) and monthly analyses of admission rates were performed. Results Of HSAo within the defined winter sport areas 70.8% show a seasonal, summer-winter peak hospital admission rate pattern and only 1 HSAo outside the defined winter sport areas shows such a pattern. Seasonal hospital admission rates in HSAo in winter sport areas can be up to 4 times higher in winter than the intermediate seasons, and they are almost entirely due to admissions of nonlocal residents. These nonlocal residents are in general -and especially in winter- younger than local residents, and nonlocal residents have a shorter length of stay in winter sport than in regular areas. The overall geographic distribution of nonlocal residents admitted for emergencies shows highest rates during the winter as well as the summer in the winter sport areas. Conclusion Small area analysis using orthopedic hospital service areas is a reliable method for the evaluation of seasonality in hospital admission rates. In Switzerland, HSAo defined as winter sport areas show a clear seasonal fluctuation in admission rates of only nonlocal residents, whereas HSAo defined as regular, non-winter sport areas do not show such seasonality. We conclude that leisure sport, and especially ski/snowboard tourism demands great flexibility in hospital beds, staff and resource planning in these areas. PMID:16512923

Spatial Reasoning in Tenejapan Mayans

PubMed Central

Li, Peggy; Abarbanell, Linda; Gleitman, Lila; Papafragou, Anna

2011-01-01

Language communities differ in their stock of reference frames (coordinate systems for specifying locations and directions). English typically uses egocentrically defined axes (e.g., “left-right”), especially when describing small-scale relationships. Other languages such as Tseltal Mayan prefer to use geocentrically-defined axes (e.g., “north-south”) and do not use any type of projective body-defined axes. It has been argued that the availability of specific frames of reference in language determines the availability or salience of the corresponding spatial concepts. In four experiments, we explored this hypothesis by testing Tseltal speakers’ spatial reasoning skills. Whereas most prior tasks in this domain were open-ended (allowing several correct solutions), the present tasks required a unique solution that favored adopting a frame of reference that was either congruent or incongruent with what is habitually lexicalized in the participants’ language. In these tasks, Tseltal speakers easily solved the language-incongruent problems, and performance was generally more robust for these than for the language-congruent problems that favored geocentrically-defined coordinates. We suggest thatlisteners’ probabilistic inferences when instruction is open to more than one interpretation account for why there are greater cross-linguistic differences in the solutions to open-ended spatial problems than to less ambiguous ones. PMID:21481854

ALARA in European nuclear installations

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

Lefaure, C.; Croft, J.; Pfeffer, W.

1995-03-01

For over a decade the Commission of the European Community has sponsored research projects on the development and practical implementation of the Optimization principle, or as it is often referred to, ALARA. These projects have given rise to a series of successful international Optimization training courses and have provided a significant input to the periodic European Seminars on Optimization, the last one of which took place in April 1993. This paper reviews the approaches to Optimization that have development within Europe and describes the areas of work in the current project. The on-going CEC research project addresses the problem ofmore » ALARA and internal exposures, and tries to define procedures for ALARA implementation, taking account of the perception of the hazard as well as the levels of probability of exposure. The relationships between ALARA and work management, and ALARA and decommissioning of installations appear to be other fruitful research areas. Finally, this paper introduces some software for using ALARA decision aiding techniques and databases containing feed back experience developed in Europe.« less

Automatic identification of vessel crossovers in retinal images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sánchez, L.; Barreira, N.; Penedo, M. G.; Cancela, B.

2015-02-01

Crossovers and bifurcations are interest points of the retinal vascular tree useful to diagnose diseases. Specifically, detecting these interest points and identifying which of them are crossings will give us the opportunity to search for arteriovenous nicking, this is, an alteration of the vessel tree where an artery is crossed by a vein and the former compresses the later. These formations are a clear indicative of hypertension, among other medical problems. There are several studies that have attempted to define an accurate and reliable method to detect and classify these relevant points. In this article, we propose a new method to identify crossovers. Our approach is based on segmenting the vascular tree and analyzing the surrounding area of each interest point. The minimal path between vessel points in this area is computed in order to identify the connected vessel segments and, as a result, to distinguish between bifurcations and crossovers. Our method was tested using retinographies from public databases DRIVE and VICAVR, obtaining an accuracy of 90%.

Development of recommendations for the protection of short-stay travellers to malaria endemic areas: Memorandum from two WHO Meetings*

PubMed Central

1988-01-01

In the past, since malaria chemoprophylaxis was assumed to be of benefit and with no serious complications, it was recommended to all travellers who were at risk of acquiring the disease. The current epidemiological situation of malaria is marked by the increasing spread of Plasmodium falciparum resistance to chloroquine and by problems due to the toxicity of other drugs. Recommendations for malaria prophylaxis should therefore be based on an epidemiological approach which takes into account the risk of acquiring the infection, the toxicity and effectiveness of the available antimalarial drugs, the traveller's perception of these risks, and the human factors that influence the use of all possible protective measures against malaria. This Memorandum describes the epidemiological approach and the data bases required for the development of recommendations on prophylaxis for short-stay visitors in malaria endemic areas, and gives guidelines on the protective measures and drugs that may be used in defined situations. PMID:3293826

Generalized Minimum-Time Follow-up Approaches Applied to Tasking Electro-Optical Sensor Tasking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murphy, T. S.; Holzinger, M. J.

This work proposes a methodology for tasking of sensors to search an area of state space for a particular object, group of objects, or class of objects. This work creates a general unified mathematical framework for analyzing reacquisition, search, scheduling, and custody operations. In particular, this work looks at searching for unknown space object(s) with prior knowledge in the form of a set, which can be defined via an uncorrelated track, region of state space, or a variety of other methods. The follow-up tasking can occur from a variable location and time, which often requires searching a large region of the sky. This work analyzes the area of a search region over time to inform a time optimal search method. Simulation work looks at analyzing search regions relative to a particular sensor, and testing a tasking algorithm to search through the region. The tasking algorithm is also validated on a reacquisition problem with a telescope system at Georgia Tech.

Development and validation of a new method for the registration of overuse injuries in sports injury epidemiology: the Oslo Sports Trauma Research Centre (OSTRC) overuse injury questionnaire.

PubMed

Clarsen, Benjamin; Myklebust, Grethe; Bahr, Roald

2013-05-01

Current methods for injury registration in sports injury epidemiology studies may substantially underestimate the true burden of overuse injuries due to a reliance on time-loss injury definitions. To develop and validate a new method for the registration of overuse injuries in sports. A new method, including a new overuse injury questionnaire, was developed and validated in a 13-week prospective study of injuries among 313 athletes from five different sports, cross-country skiing, floorball, handball, road cycling and volleyball. All athletes completed a questionnaire by email each week to register problems in the knee, lower back and shoulder. Standard injury registration methods were also used to record all time-loss injuries that occurred during the study period. The new method recorded 419 overuse problems in the knee, lower back and shoulder during the 3-month-study period. Of these, 142 were classified as substantial overuse problems, defined as those leading to moderate or severe reductions in sports performance or participation, or time loss. Each week, an average of 39% of athletes reported having overuse problems and 13% reported having substantial problems. In contrast, standard methods of injury registration registered only 40 overuse injuries located in the same anatomical areas, the majority of which were of minimal or mild severity. Standard injury surveillance methods only capture a small percentage of the overuse problems affecting the athletes, largely because few problems led to time loss from training or competition. The new method captured a more complete and nuanced picture of the burden of overuse injuries in this cohort.

Information needs related to extension service and community outreach.

PubMed

Bottcher, Robert W

2003-06-01

Air quality affects everyone. Some people are affected by air quality impacts, regulations, and technological developments in several ways. Stakeholders include the medical community, ecologists, government regulators, industries, technology providers, academic professionals, concerned citizens, the news media, and elected officials. Each of these groups may perceive problems and opportunities differently, but all need access to information as it is developed. The diversity and complexity of air quality problems contribute to the challenges faced by extension and outreach professionals who must communicate with stakeholders having diverse backgrounds. Gases, particulates, biological aerosols, pathogens, and odors all require expensive and relatively complex technology to measure and control. Economic constraints affect the ability of regulators and others to measure air quality, and industry and others to control it. To address these challenges, while communicating air quality research results and concepts to stakeholders, three areas of information needs are evident. (1) A basic understanding of the fundamental concepts regarding air pollutants and their measurement and control is needed by all stakeholders; the Extension Specialist, to be effective, must help people move some distance up the learning curve. (2) Each problem or set of problems must be reasonably well defined since comprehensive solution of all problems simultaneously may not be feasible; for instance, the solution of an odor problem associated with animal production may not address atmospheric effects due to ammonia emissions. (3) The integrity of the communication process must be preserved by avoiding prejudice and protectionism; although stakeholders may seek to modify information to enhance their interests, extension and outreach professionals must be willing to present unwelcome information or admit to a lack of information. A solid grounding in fundamental concepts, careful and fair problem definition, and a resolute commitment to integrity and credibility will enable effective communication of air quality information to and among diverse stakeholders.

Energy-Efficient Deadline-Aware Data-Gathering Scheme Using Multiple Mobile Data Collectors.

PubMed

Dasgupta, Rumpa; Yoon, Seokhoon

2017-04-01

In wireless sensor networks, the data collected by sensors are usually forwarded to the sink through multi-hop forwarding. However, multi-hop forwarding can be inefficient due to the energy hole problem and high communications overhead. Moreover, when the monitored area is large and the number of sensors is small, sensors cannot send the data via multi-hop forwarding due to the lack of network connectivity. In order to address those problems of multi-hop forwarding, in this paper, we consider a data collection scheme that uses mobile data collectors (MDCs), which visit sensors and collect data from them. Due to the recent breakthroughs in wireless power transfer technology, MDCs can also be used to recharge the sensors to keep them from draining their energy. In MDC-based data-gathering schemes, a big challenge is how to find the MDCs' traveling paths in a balanced way, such that their energy consumption is minimized and the packet-delay constraint is satisfied. Therefore, in this paper, we aim at finding the MDCs' paths, taking energy efficiency and delay constraints into account. We first define an optimization problem, named the delay-constrained energy minimization (DCEM) problem, to find the paths for MDCs. An integer linear programming problem is formulated to find the optimal solution. We also propose a two-phase path-selection algorithm to efficiently solve the DCEM problem. Simulations are performed to compare the performance of the proposed algorithms with two heuristics algorithms for the vehicle routing problem under various scenarios. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithms can outperform existing algorithms in terms of energy efficiency and packet delay.

Burnout, anxiety, depression, and social skills in medical residents.

PubMed

Pereira-Lima, K; Loureiro, S R

2015-01-01

The medical residency is recognized as a risk period for the development of burnout and mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression, which have impact on the physician and clientele alike. There is a need for studies that address conditions of risk and protection for the development of such problems. This study aimed to verify the rates of burnout, anxiety, and depression presented by resident physicians, as well as the associations of these problems with social skills, as potential protective factors. The hypothesis was defined that the problems (burnout, anxiety, and depression) would be negatively associated with social skills. A total of 305 medical residents, of both genders, of different specialties, from clinical and surgical areas of a Brazilian university hospital were evaluated using the following standardized self-report instruments: Burnout Syndrome Inventory, Social Skills Inventory, and the Patient Health Questionnaire-4. High rates of burnout and mental health problems were verified and social skills were negatively associated with burnout dimensions such as emotional exhaustion, emotional detachment, and dehumanization, but positively associated with personal accomplishment. Furthermore, residents with indicators of problems presented significantly lower social skills means than those of residents without indicators of burnout, anxiety, or depression. More studies are needed, which include other types of instruments in addition to self-report ones and evaluate not only social skills but also social competence in the professional practice. These should adopt intervention and longitudinal designs that allow the continuity or overcoming of the problems to be verified. Since social skills can be learned, the results of the study highlight the importance of developing the interpersonal skills of the professionals during the training of resident physicians in order to improve their practice.

Energy-Efficient Deadline-Aware Data-Gathering Scheme Using Multiple Mobile Data Collectors

PubMed Central

Dasgupta, Rumpa; Yoon, Seokhoon

2017-01-01

In wireless sensor networks, the data collected by sensors are usually forwarded to the sink through multi-hop forwarding. However, multi-hop forwarding can be inefficient due to the energy hole problem and high communications overhead. Moreover, when the monitored area is large and the number of sensors is small, sensors cannot send the data via multi-hop forwarding due to the lack of network connectivity. In order to address those problems of multi-hop forwarding, in this paper, we consider a data collection scheme that uses mobile data collectors (MDCs), which visit sensors and collect data from them. Due to the recent breakthroughs in wireless power transfer technology, MDCs can also be used to recharge the sensors to keep them from draining their energy. In MDC-based data-gathering schemes, a big challenge is how to find the MDCs’ traveling paths in a balanced way, such that their energy consumption is minimized and the packet-delay constraint is satisfied. Therefore, in this paper, we aim at finding the MDCs’ paths, taking energy efficiency and delay constraints into account. We first define an optimization problem, named the delay-constrained energy minimization (DCEM) problem, to find the paths for MDCs. An integer linear programming problem is formulated to find the optimal solution. We also propose a two-phase path-selection algorithm to efficiently solve the DCEM problem. Simulations are performed to compare the performance of the proposed algorithms with two heuristics algorithms for the vehicle routing problem under various scenarios. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithms can outperform existing algorithms in terms of energy efficiency and packet delay. PMID:28368300

Lie theory and control systems defined on spheres

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brockett, R. W.

1972-01-01

It is shown that in constructing a theory for the most elementary class of control problems defined on spheres, some results from the Lie theory play a natural role. To understand controllability, optimal control, and certain properties of stochastic equations, Lie theoretic ideas are needed. The framework considered here is the most natural departure from the usual linear system/vector space problems which have dominated control systems literature. For this reason results are compared with those previously available for the finite dimensional vector space case.

A technique for increasing the accuracy of the numerical inversion of the Laplace transform with applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Berger, B. S.; Duangudom, S.

1973-01-01

A technique is introduced which extends the range of useful approximation of numerical inversion techniques to many cycles of an oscillatory function without requiring either the evaluation of the image function for many values of s or the computation of higher-order terms. The technique consists in reducing a given initial value problem defined over some interval into a sequence of initial value problems defined over a set of subintervals. Several numerical examples demonstrate the utility of the method.

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

Singleton, Jr., Robert

This report documents the implementation of several related 1D heat flow problems in the verification package ExactPack [1]. In particular, the planar sandwich class defined in Ref. [2], as well as the classes PlanarSandwichHot, PlanarSandwichHalf, and other generalizations of the planar sandwich problem, are defined and documented here. A rather general treatment of 1D heat flow is presented, whose main results have been implemented in the class Rod1D. All planar sandwich classes are derived from the parent class Rod1D.

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy investigations of functionally defined language areas in schizophrenia patients with and without auditory hallucinations.

PubMed

Homan, Philipp; Vermathen, Peter; Van Swam, Claudia; Federspiel, Andrea; Boesch, Chris; Strik, Werner; Dierks, Thomas; Hubl, Daniela; Kreis, Roland

2014-07-01

Cerebral dysfunction occurring in mental disorders can show metabolic disturbances which are limited to circumscribed brain areas. Auditory hallucinations have been shown to be related to defined cortical areas linked to specific language functions. Here, we investigated if the study of metabolic changes in auditory hallucinations requires a functional rather than an anatomical definition of their location and size to allow a reliable investigation by magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). Schizophrenia patients with (AH; n=12) and without hallucinations (NH; n=8) and healthy controls (HC; n=11) underwent a verbal fluency task in functional MRI (fMRI) to functionally define Broca's and Wernicke's areas. Left and right Heschl's gyri were defined anatomically. The mean distances in native space between the fMRI-defined regions and a corresponding anatomically defined area were 12.4±6.1 mm (range: 2.7-36.1 mm) for Broca's area and 16.8±6.2 mm (range: 4.5-26.4 mm) for Wernicke's area, respectively. Hence, the spatial variance was of similar extent as the size of the investigated regions. Splitting the investigations into a single voxel examination in the frontal brain and a spectroscopic imaging part for the more homogeneous field areas led to good spectral quality for almost all spectra. In Broca's area, there was a significant group effect (p=0.03) with lower levels of N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA) in NH compared to HC (p=0.02). There were positive associations of NAA levels in the left Heschl's gyrus with total (p=0.03) and negative (p=0.006) PANSS scores. In Broca's area, there was a negative association of myo-inositol levels with total PANSS scores (p=0.008). This study supports the neurodegenerative hypothesis of schizophrenia only in a frontal region whereas the results obtained from temporal regions are in contrast to the majority of previous studies. Future research should test the hypothesis raised by this study that a functional definition of language regions is needed if neurochemical imbalances are expected to be restricted to functional foci. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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

Tamrin, Mohd Izzuddin Mohd; Turaev, Sherzod; Sembok, Tengku Mohd Tengku

There are tremendous works in biotechnology especially in area of DNA molecules. The computer society is attempting to develop smaller computing devices through computational models which are based on the operations performed on the DNA molecules. A Watson-Crick automaton, a theoretical model for DNA based computation, has two reading heads, and works on double-stranded sequences of the input related by a complementarity relation similar with the Watson-Crick complementarity of DNA nucleotides. Over the time, several variants of Watson-Crick automata have been introduced and investigated. However, they cannot be used as suitable DNA based computational models for molecular stochastic processes andmore » fuzzy processes that are related to important practical problems such as molecular parsing, gene disease detection, and food authentication. In this paper we define new variants of Watson-Crick automata, called weighted Watson-Crick automata, developing theoretical models for molecular stochastic and fuzzy processes. We define weighted Watson-Crick automata adapting weight restriction mechanisms associated with formal grammars and automata. We also study the generative capacities of weighted Watson-Crick automata, including probabilistic and fuzzy variants. We show that weighted variants of Watson-Crick automata increase their generative power.« less

A medical digital library to support scenario and user-tailored information retrieval.

PubMed

Chu, W W; Johnson, D B; Kangarloo, H

2000-06-01

Current large-scale information sources are designed to support general queries and lack the ability to support scenario-specific information navigation, gathering, and presentation. As a result, users are often unable to obtain desired specific information within a well-defined subject area. Today's information systems do not provide efficient content navigation, incremental appropriate matching, or content correlation. We are developing the following innovative technologies to remedy these problems: 1) scenario-based proxies, enabling the gathering and filtering of information customized for users within a pre-defined domain; 2) context-sensitive navigation and matching, providing approximate matching and similarity links when an exact match to a user's request is unavailable; 3) content correlation of documents, creating semantic links between documents and information sources; and 4) user models for customizing retrieved information and result presentation. A digital medical library is currently being constructed using these technologies to provide customized information for the user. The technologies are general in nature and can provide custom and scenario-specific information in many other domains (e.g., crisis management).

Weighted Watson-Crick automata

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tamrin, Mohd Izzuddin Mohd; Turaev, Sherzod; Sembok, Tengku Mohd Tengku

2014-07-01

There are tremendous works in biotechnology especially in area of DNA molecules. The computer society is attempting to develop smaller computing devices through computational models which are based on the operations performed on the DNA molecules. A Watson-Crick automaton, a theoretical model for DNA based computation, has two reading heads, and works on double-stranded sequences of the input related by a complementarity relation similar with the Watson-Crick complementarity of DNA nucleotides. Over the time, several variants of Watson-Crick automata have been introduced and investigated. However, they cannot be used as suitable DNA based computational models for molecular stochastic processes and fuzzy processes that are related to important practical problems such as molecular parsing, gene disease detection, and food authentication. In this paper we define new variants of Watson-Crick automata, called weighted Watson-Crick automata, developing theoretical models for molecular stochastic and fuzzy processes. We define weighted Watson-Crick automata adapting weight restriction mechanisms associated with formal grammars and automata. We also study the generative capacities of weighted Watson-Crick automata, including probabilistic and fuzzy variants. We show that weighted variants of Watson-Crick automata increase their generative power.

Reconnaissance blind multi-chess: an experimentation platform for ISR sensor fusion and resource management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Newman, Andrew J.; Richardson, Casey L.; Kain, Sean M.; Stankiewicz, Paul G.; Guseman, Paul R.; Schreurs, Blake A.; Dunne, Jeffrey A.

2016-05-01

This paper introduces the game of reconnaissance blind multi-chess (RBMC) as a paradigm and test bed for understanding and experimenting with autonomous decision making under uncertainty and in particular managing a network of heterogeneous Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) sensors to maintain situational awareness informing tactical and strategic decision making. The intent is for RBMC to serve as a common reference or challenge problem in fusion and resource management of heterogeneous sensor ensembles across diverse mission areas. We have defined a basic rule set and a framework for creating more complex versions, developed a web-based software realization to serve as an experimentation platform, and developed some initial machine intelligence approaches to playing it.

Proceedings: Workshop on the Need for Lightning Observations from Space

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Christensen, L. S. (Editor); Frost, W. (Editor); Vaughan, W. W. (Editor)

1979-01-01

The results of the Workshop on the Need for Lightning Observations from Space held February 13-15, 1979, at the University of Tennessee Space Institute, Tullahoma, Tennessee are presented. The interest and active involvement by the engineering, operational, and scientific participants in the workshop demonstrated that lightning observations from space is a goal well worth pursuing. The unique contributions, measurement requirements, and supportive research investigations were defined for a number of important applications. Lightning has a significant role in atmospheric processes and needs to be systematically investigated. Satellite instrumentation specifically designed for indicating the characteristics of lightning are of value in severe storms research, in engineering and operational problem areas, and in providing information on atmospheric electricity and its role in meteorological processes.

Behavioural ecology cannot turn its back on Lévy walk research. Comment on "Liberating Lévy walk research from the shackles of optimal foraging" by A.M. Reynolds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bartumeus, Frederic

2015-09-01

Interdisciplinary research on Lévy walks at the intersection between physics and biology is here to stay, albeit the scope of its role and utility in different areas of biology, including animal foraging, are still to be defined. After a decade, the field is still sorting out relevant questions from misleading interpretations, separating the wheat from the chaff. This task should be easy but it is not. Some reasons are the interdisciplinarity of the subject (maths, physics, biology), which multiplies semantic problems and the questions of interest, and the tight combination of theory and data that is needed to advance in the field.

Theory of spectral radiance of pollutants at sea

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1978-01-01

Remote measurement of soluble pollutants that change the color of the water in the sea is reported. The sensor is a spectral radiometer that flies over the polluted area and compares its spectral radiance to that of surrounding clean seawater. A quantitative analysis of the concentration of pollutants using the measured radiance of the sea compared to laboratory measurements of reflection and transmission spectra of the pollutants is presented. The quantities involved are defined and means for measuring them are described. The equations for remote sensing with a low-flying aircraft, in which case the absorption and radiance of intervening air is negligible are derived. High-flying aircraft and satellites, in which case the radiance of intervening air is the major problem are applied.

Study of techniques for redundancy verification without disrupting systems, phases 1-3

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1970-01-01

The problem of verifying the operational integrity of redundant equipment and the impact of a requirement for verification on such equipment are considered. Redundant circuits are examined and the characteristics which determine adaptability to verification are identified. Mutually exclusive and exhaustive categories for verification approaches are established. The range of applicability of these techniques is defined in terms of signal characteristics and redundancy features. Verification approaches are discussed and a methodology for the design of redundancy verification is developed. A case study is presented which involves the design of a verification system for a hypothetical communications system. Design criteria for redundant equipment are presented. Recommendations for the development of technological areas pertinent to the goal of increased verification capabilities are given.

Plasma chemistry as a tool for green chemistry, environmental analysis and waste management.

PubMed

Mollah, M Y; Schennach, R; Patscheider, J; Promreuk, S; Cocke, D L

2000-12-15

The applications of plasma chemistry to environmental problems and to green chemistry are emerging fields that offer unique opportunities for advancement. There has been substantial progress in the application of plasmas to analytical diagnostics and to waste reduction and waste management. This review discusses the chemistry and physics necessary to a basic understanding of plasmas, something that has been missing from recent technical reviews. The current status of plasmas in environmental chemistry is summarized and emerging areas of application for plasmas are delineated. Plasmas are defined and discussed in terms of their properties that make them useful for environmental chemistry. Information is drawn from diverse fields to illustrate the potential applications of plasmas in analysis, materials modifications and hazardous waste treatments.

Study of the decay and recovery of orbiting artificial space objects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1976-01-01

The reentry of earth-orbiting space objects unconsumed in the atmosphere represents a potential hazard to populated areas of the earth. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory has conducted a program called Moonwatch, whose purposes were to observe orbiting artificial satellites and reentries of space objects and, if possible, to recover and analyze reentered pieces. In addition, through observations of low-perigee objects, data obtained by Moonwatchers have been instrumental in defining some of the factors affecting satellite decay. The objectives of the program are presented, and the problems that enter into satellite-orbit and decay predictions are addressed. Moonwatchers contributed substantially to increasing an overall prediction capability, and some of the specific achievements over the 6-year period are cited.

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

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Stephen F.; Pathak, Dhiraj K.

1991-01-01

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

The Process of Probability Problem Solving: Use of External Visual Representations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zahner, Doris; Corter, James E.

2010-01-01

We investigate the role of external inscriptions, particularly those of a spatial or visual nature, in the solution of probability word problems. We define a taxonomy of external visual representations used in probability problem solving that includes "pictures," "spatial reorganization of the given information," "outcome listings," "contingency…

Observations on Leadership, Problem Solving, and Preferred Futures of Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Puncochar, Judith

2013-01-01

A focus on enrollments, rankings, uncertain budgets, and branding efforts to operate universities could have serious implications for discussions of sustainable solutions to complex problems and the decision-making processes of leaders. The Authentic Leadership Model for framing ill-defined problems in higher education is posited to improve the…

Approaching messy problems: strategies for environmental analysis

Treesearch

L. M. Reid; R. R. Ziemer; T. E. Lisle

1996-01-01

Environmental problems are never neatly defined. Instead, each is a tangle of interacting processes whose manifestation and interpretation are warped by the vagaries of time, weather, expectation, and economics. Each problem involves livelihoods, values, and numerous specialized disciplines. Nevertheless, federal agencies in the Pacific Northwest have been given the...

Creativity and Insight in Problem Solving

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Golnabi, Laura

2016-01-01

This paper analyzes the thought process involved in problem solving and its categorization as creative thinking as defined by psychologist R. Weisberg (2006). Additionally, the notion of insight, sometimes present in unconscious creative thinking and often leading to creative ideas, is discussed in the context of geometry problem solving. In…

Journey into Problem Solving: A Gift from Polya

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lederman, Eric

2009-01-01

In "How to Solve It", accomplished mathematician and skilled communicator George Polya describes a four-step universal solving technique designed to help students develop mathematical problem-solving skills. By providing a glimpse at the grace with which experts solve problems, Polya provides definable methods that are not exclusive to…

Student Errors in Dynamic Mathematical Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Molly; Bossé, Michael J.; Chandler, Kayla

2016-01-01

This study investigates the nature of student errors in the context of problem solving and Dynamic Math Environments. This led to the development of the Problem Solving Action Identification Framework; this framework captures and defines all activities and errors associated with problem solving in a dynamic math environment. Found are three…

Marketing in College Admissions: A Broadening of Perspectives.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

College Entrance Examination Board, New York, NY.

Issues addressed at the conference are outlined in two introductory essays. It is suggested that marketing problems of colleges are not essentially admissions problems, but problems that involve both faculty and administrators. The marketing challenge for higher education is to define the quality and integrity of a college's educational services…

Training innovations in gastroenterology and educational resources: a new vision of gastrointestinal education across Europe.

PubMed

Berberat, Pascal O; de Wit, Niek J; Bockhorn, Maximilian; Lundell, Lars; Drenth, Joost P H

2010-12-01

To define a new educational strategy for the United European Gastroenterology Federation (UEGF) to be followed and implemented in the near future. UEGF organized a consensus-based strategy meeting with stakeholders and key decision makers in European Gastroenterology on Training Innovations in Gastroenterology and Educational Resources. In May 2010, in an 'open-face conference' at Starnberg, Germany, 59 specialists in gastroenterology, hepatology, and related fields from 15 countries and 16 societies participated. Breakout sessions identified the key problem areas, possible solutions, and formulated statements subsequently voted upon in plenum. A majority of the formulated statements (59%) reached a strong agreement. Topics in which UEGF should focus are the future educational activities that include developing ways to advocate multidisciplinarity and integration between levels of care and specialties, ways to improve quality of care, and the development of training tools. The successful outcome of the Training Innovations in Gastroenterology and Educational Resources conference was achieved with the production of a strategy layout for new UEGF educational activities. There was an agreement that improvement in topics related to multidisciplinarity and professionalism, which is crucial for further development. An open-face conference, such as that embodied by the Training Innovations in Gastroenterology and Educational Resources meeting, was shown to be an effective tool in identifying the key problem areas in education and in formulating new strategies.

Changes in farmers' knowledge of maize diversity in highland Guatemala, 1927/37-2004

PubMed Central

van Etten, Jacob

2006-01-01

Small-scale studies on long-term change in agricultural knowledge might uncover insights with broader, regional implications. This article evaluates change in farmer knowledge about crop genetic resources in highland Guatemala between 1927/37 and 2004. It concentrates on maize (Zea mays ssp. mays L.) in one Guatemalan township, Jacaltenango, an area with much ecological and maize diversity. It relies on a particular type of baseline information: lists of farmer-defined cultivars drawn up by ethnographers in the first half of the twentieth century. A questionnaire format based on two independent lists of local farmer cultivars dating from 1927 and 1937 was used to assess changes in maize diversity. Comparisons between attributes given to each cultivar in the past and in 2004 were used as a partial test of the stability of cultivar identity. In farmers' perceptions, cultivar loss was low and limited to certain cultivars adapted to the warmer environments. Crop production problems were mentioned as the main motives for change. No evidence for a loss of cultivars due to the political violence of the 1980s was found. In the lower areas many newly introduced cultivars were found, which reportedly provide solutions for the production problems the older cultivars have. The article contrasts these findings with those of an earlier study which suggested much cultivar loss due to political violence, and draws conclusions about the methodological implications. PMID:16507113

The first sustainable material designed for air particulate matter capture: An introduction to Azure Chemistry.

PubMed

Zanoletti, A; Bilo, F; Depero, L E; Zappa, D; Bontempi, E

2018-07-15

This work presents a new porous material (SUNSPACE) designed for air particulate matter (PM) capture. It was developed in answer to the European Commission request of an innovative, affordable, and sustainable solution, based on design-driven material, to reduce the concentration of air particulate matter in urban areas. SUNSPACE material was developed from by-products and low-cost materials, such as silica fume and sodium alginate. Its capability to catch ultrafine PM was evaluated by different ad-hoc tests, considering diesel exhaust fumes and incense smoke PM. Despite the fact that procedures and materials can be designed for remediation, the high impact on the environment, for example in terms of natural resources consumption and emissions, are not usually considered. Instead, we believe that the technologies must be always evaluated in terms of material embodied energy (EE) and carbon footprint (CF). We define our approach to solve environment problems by a sustainable methodology "Azure Chemistry". For the SUNSPACE synthesis, the multi-criteria decision analysis was performed to select the best sustainable solution. The emissions and the energies involved in the synthesis of SUNSPACE material were evaluated with the Azure Chemistry approach, showing that this could be the best available technology to face the problem of capturing the PM in urban area. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Alternative use of space in slum settlements case study: Kampong Gandekan Kampung Baru in Kali Pepe river Surakarta

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Darmastuti, Amalia Ji; Wardana, Agustinus Wisnu; Eng, Ir. Maya Andria Nirawati M.

2018-02-01

Slum areas are heavily populated urban informal settlements characterized by substandard housing and illegal land usage (squatting). Surakarta is one of many Indonesian cities that are still entangled by this problem. One of the slum concentrations in Surakarta is the slum settlement (kampong) alongside Kali Pepe riverbank. Within these slum settlements, people survive in substandard housing by effectively using the limited space. This research aims to discover the typologies of the alternative use of space. This research takes a case study approach in a few kampongs alongside Kali Pepe riverbank, based on the types and sizes of small houses within this area, considering the number of occupants and the space required. The data for this research is categorized as primary data which was collected through a series of site observations and focus group discussions. The data will be analysed, compared, and classified to find out the typology of the alternative solutions of space requirements. This research uses mixed-method analysis to define how Kali Pepe's slum residents alternatively use the spaces within their kampongs. Based on the typologies found through multiple analyses, this research concludes that the use of space in substandard housing cannot be bound by limited spaces. Furthermore, the main strategy to solve the problem of limited space is by using alternative spaces.

Marine molecular biology: an emerging field of biological sciences.

PubMed

Thakur, Narsinh L; Jain, Roopesh; Natalio, Filipe; Hamer, Bojan; Thakur, Archana N; Müller, Werner E G

2008-01-01

An appreciation of the potential applications of molecular biology is of growing importance in many areas of life sciences, including marine biology. During the past two decades, the development of sophisticated molecular technologies and instruments for biomedical research has resulted in significant advances in the biological sciences. However, the value of molecular techniques for addressing problems in marine biology has only recently begun to be cherished. It has been proven that the exploitation of molecular biological techniques will allow difficult research questions about marine organisms and ocean processes to be addressed. Marine molecular biology is a discipline, which strives to define and solve the problems regarding the sustainable exploration of marine life for human health and welfare, through the cooperation between scientists working in marine biology, molecular biology, microbiology and chemistry disciplines. Several success stories of the applications of molecular techniques in the field of marine biology are guiding further research in this area. In this review different molecular techniques are discussed, which have application in marine microbiology, marine invertebrate biology, marine ecology, marine natural products, material sciences, fisheries, conservation and bio-invasion etc. In summary, if marine biologists and molecular biologists continue to work towards strong partnership during the next decade and recognize intellectual and technological advantages and benefits of such partnership, an exciting new frontier of marine molecular biology will emerge in the future.

Revisiting Horton's laws with considerations of the directly drained VS source area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Soohyun; Paik, Kyungrock

2015-04-01

River networks have been regarded as excellent examples of self-similar patterns in nature. Fractal characteristics of river networks have been quantified through scaling relations between several morphologic variables (e.g., Hack, 1957; Flint, 1974). In particular, Horton's legendary study on scaling properties between numbers and lengths of streams in different orders (Horton, 1945) has significantly influenced research studies in this subject. Today, Horton's laws are referred to the log-linear relationships of three variables across stream orders, i.e., number, length, and area which is later added by Schumm (1956). In a closer look, there is a conceptual inconsistency between their definitions though. While length is defined as the length of stream of a specific order only, area by its definition includes drainage area of lower order streams. To deal with this inconsistency, there was an attempt to distinguish the average area drained directly by the stream of a particular order in the Hortonian formulation (Marani et al., 1991; Beer and Borgas, 1993). Nevertheless, there remains an interesting problem in the definition of directly drained area for 1st order and for the rest orders in these studies. While the whole area of 1st order stream is regarded as the directly drained area in these studies, for a channel to form it needs the minimum drainage area named source area. In this study, we evaluate how significant considering this zero order area separately is in understanding overall river network organization. To this end, we define new expression for the directly drained area and revisit Horton's laws with a generalized formulation. To test the proposed ideas, several river networks extracted from digital elevation models (DEMs) are analyzed. References Beer, T., & Borgas, M. (1993). Horton's laws and the fractal nature of streams. Water Resources Research, 29(5), 1475-1487. Flint, J. J. (1974). Stream gradient as a function of order, magnitude, and discharge. Water Resources Research, 10(5), 969-973. Hack, J. T. (1957). Studies of longitudinal river profiles in Virginia and Maryland. US, Geological Survey Professional Paper, 294. Horton, R. E. (1945). Erosional development of streams and their drainage basins; hydrophysical approach to quantitative morphology. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 56(3), 275-370. Marani, A., Rigon, R., & Rinaldo, A. (1991). A note on fractal channel networks. Water Resources Research, 27(12), 3041-3049. Schumm, S. A. (1956). Evolution of drainage systems and slopes in badlands at Perth Amboy, New Jersey. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 67(5), 597-646.

The Kadison–Singer Problem in mathematics and engineering

PubMed Central

Casazza, Peter G.; Tremain, Janet Crandell

2006-01-01

We will see that the famous intractible 1959 Kadison–Singer Problem in C*-algebras is equivalent to fundamental open problems in a dozen different areas of research in mathematics and engineering. This work gives all these areas common ground on which to interact as well as explaining why each area has volumes of literature on their respective problems without a satisfactory resolution. PMID:16461465

Problem Solving with Workstations. Program Description, Teacher Materials, and Student Information. Teacher Developed Technology Education for the Nineties (TD-TEN).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garey, Robert W.

The Randolph, New Jersey Intermediate School updated its industrial arts program to reflect the challenges and work force of the Twentieth Century in which students apply a design/problem-solving process to solve real-world problems. In the laboratory portion of the program, students circulate between workstations to define problems, complete…

Teaching Creative Problem Solving Methods to Undergraduate Economics and Business Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cancer, Vesna

2014-01-01

This paper seeks to explore the need for and possibility of teaching current and potential problem solvers--undergraduate students in the economic and business field to define problems, to generate and choose creative and useful ideas and to verify them. It aims to select an array of quick and easy-to-use creative problem solving (CPS) techniques.…

Prediction of shipboard electromagnetic interference (EMI) problems using artificial intelligence (AI) technology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Swanson, David J.

1990-01-01

The electromagnetic interference prediction problem is characteristically ill-defined and complicated. Severe EMI problems are prevalent throughout the U.S. Navy, causing both expected and unexpected impacts on the operational performance of electronic combat systems onboard ships. This paper focuses on applying artificial intelligence (AI) technology to the prediction of ship related electromagnetic interference (EMI) problems.

34 CFR 606.22 - What are the selection criteria for development grants?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

...) Realistic and defined in terms of measurable results; and (2) Directly related to the problems to be solved...) The strengths, weaknesses, and significant problems of the institution's academic programs...